The Fifth Estate

Exchange Stories: When in Montreal

“The semester abroad had however made me realize the depth to which I loved my life and friends at IIT. This was probably the most valuable lesson that I had learnt — to appreciate the advantages that my life as an undergrad at IIT had to offer while simultaneously being aware of what I was missing out on.”

Siddharth Gupta, a fifth year student, writes about his experience as an exchange student at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

An Open Letter to ISRO on the Eve of Mangalyaan’s Tryst with Mars

“In the elite club of space faring nations, ISRO, you remind me a lot of the poor school kid. The richer nations do have a lot of resources and capabilities at their disposal, and to be sure, some remarkable achievements as well. Sometimes they may be helpful to you, sometimes just polite, and sometimes plain condescending to you regarding your achievements. Regardless of what the great space powers think about you, please remember that you will be cheered by millions of people in India every time you launch a mission. “

Getting Rid of The R-Word

“I am not advocating censorship here. I do think there are certain rape jokes that can be funny (like this one). However, the next time we’re making comparisons, let’s just look at the scale of the ordeal we are trivializing, and what our flippancy implies. Let us judge whether we want to perpetuate the normalization of rape in society. We can all “put our peace” and “gen put wing fart”, but let us agree to think before we use “rape” out of context.”

Are we contributing to rape culture by using insti lingo? Akshay Rangamani, alumnus, shares his take on the matter.