NITK campus

The National Institute of Technology Karnataka is one of the top engineering schools in India.  6,000 students attend. 

My friend Yaneesh outside the Civil Engineering Building.

All students live on campus and so do most of the faculty and staff.  Most male students live in these megahostels, what in the US are called dormatories.  Each one houses a different class (first year, second year, ...).  They are not air conditioned. 

 

My faculty colleagues enjoy tea and coffee at the equivalent of Starbucks on campus.  The cost, however, is only Rs10-15 (20-30 cents) for a cup. 



I have been here one month and there has been no rain.  It has been warm and moderately humid. The monsoon begins in 3 months or so.  All around campus there are these huge open storm drains.  Everyone says they are not big enough to handle the monsoon rain. In Sacramento we get about 18 inches of rain a year, here there is 137 in/year almost all during the approximately 3 month long monsoon season.

Female students are about 15% of the student body and live in their own compound.  They hang out together and sit in class together.  Here is a Ladies common room.  There are few signs of courting.  I am told that young people prefer arranged marriages. I expect that less than 15% of the faculty are female.  The rabbit is made of ceramic and is holding a trash can.  They are scattered around campus. 



Shops and labs.