Step outside and you will find broken pavements, open drains, cows roaming around in the muck of the drains, honking buses and beggars. This is your first contrast. Some distance away from IIM is a huge building that is the training center for at least 1000 tailors- all women. Sharply at 5.00 P.M. everyday these women stream out into the streets. There is the second contrast.
Unlike US universities that try to milk the students as much as they can while in school here everything is relatively cheap. The fees are about $16,000 for two years. This is inclusive of living too. Food for students in the mess is free and delicious. Others can get a meal in the canteens for Rs 15 which is about 1/3rd of a dollar and tea/coffee for Rs 4 which is roughly 1/10th of a dollar. Given that most students once they are out of the Institution make about $60,000/annum after taxes n India you would think that they would be heavily penalized while they were studying. But that's another contrast between this world and the west.
The crowd in IIT is relatively homogeneous. Engineers, Economists and Mathematicians abound. Most students have PPO's or pre-placement offers to join some foreign firm in a very respectable position. Given the world outside - recession in the US, bailout in Greece and austerity measures in the rest of Europe you would think that India is in some parallel universe of its own. Jobs are (for the first time) not scarce. Almost everyone from a trainee tailor to an MBA student has a future to look forward to. This is the best contrast. All power to youngistan :)
