The IITian Diaspora

As I was penning these words, I received an e-mail from an alumnus, who was writing in from Deir Ez Zor, located near Damascus, Syria. Which of his wing mates from Hostel 7 would have ever guessed that one of them would be in Syria ? Or for that matter, in Barbados, Canberra, or Nairobi ? While the NRI waves continue to cascade across the globe, the leading edge especially in major cities and in corporate and professional circles continues to be us IITians.

It is common knowledge that for IITians from the San Francisco Bay Area, where I used to live at one time, you cannot possibly go even a hundred yards without bumping into a fellow IITian, quite possibly even a batchmate.   Stories of Treasure Hunts in the AMD building are probably exaggerated, but hearing IIT lingo like "boss, hajjar, and fundas" is not unusual even on Manhattan trading room floors. Even more surprising is the wide range of professions that we have ended up in outside of the world of engineering ... management consulting, investment banking and trading, retail businesses, even someone in the New Delhi Police Department !

Given how well positioned IITians are in organizations across the globe,  I firmly believe that we IITians can - and should - improve our networking so that we can help each other in our professional careers. It is important to ensure that networking does not result in people being harassed for jobs or for buying some unwanted product. However, networking done in an appropriate manner can help all of us achieve more in our careers. The example we need to emulate is the Harvard or Wharton alumni organizations, which use their Alumni Directories to effectively build such networks.

Speaking of Wharton, I noticed in my current issue of the Wharton Alumni Magazine that the Class of 1998 alone raised close to $200,000 amongst 650 graduating students, and two Taiwanese alumni contributed $10 million for a new facility. Our goals are far more modest ... even $100 from each of us per year could easily raise over $200-250,000 if we also ensure that our employers match the contributions. Please take a moment to send in your tax deductible contributions to the IIT Bombay Heritage Fund. All it takes is a check and a first-class stamp ... the address is Treasurer, IIT Bombay Heritage Fund, 10489 Rampart Avenue, Cupertino, CA 95014. While we may not raise millions like Wharton, let us at least raise a quarter million by year-end 1998 ...