Massachusetts Institute of Technology

People refer to IITs as IITs. And everybody understands what they are referring to.A few years ago, when I was in IIT, well, make it eons ago, we at IIT Bombay used to laugh at when common people on the street used to get confused and used to call it ITI. A good techical school, but not IIT.

Nowadays I am seeing more and more of “Institute of Technologies.” I am guessing to make them sound like IITs though they succeess is questionable.

Yes, I studied or better not studied in electrical engineering at IIT Bombay. I lived next to Powai lake. Let there be no doubt about this fact.

One thing that irritates me  is growing use of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Last time I saw that use was for a person whose web site description was Mr. ABC, BSEE Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MSCS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It was 20 years ago. Why couldn’t he just use BS, MS, MIT? To make things worse he changed his email address to xxx@mit.alum.… and mentioned on the web site so that nobody, even a poor farmer from say Punjab, was left with any confusion where he did he studies. Impressive but not IIT, though. (My comment.)

Let’s move forward 20 years. I read an article by a young Indian woman who had put the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology after her name. What is going on? My first impression was that her father paid five million collars (guess) to earn the right to use MIT’s name and being a shrewd businessman told his daughter to use the full name. Both of them had difficulty using the full name but for paisa cassol reason…, why waste it on a name like MIT which sounds so cheap. Price of 5 million was non-negotiable.

Wait a minute. The name MIT might in vogue again thanks to Microsoft. During my IIT days we used to laugh at that “MIT” name associated with a certain South Indian town known for its Udupi restaurants. Not any more I guess. Crepe Suzette?

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