Don't panic!

The Freshman's Guide to IITR is a wholly remarkable reference book. Although it is just the third edition, the information present has been compiled and recompiled many times over the years and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless BTechs, MTechs, PhDs, Professors and Directors.

Even though Watch Out! is proud to be associated with this guide and for bringing it to its final shape, the exact authorship of this guide remains a mystery. While some believe that this guide is as old as the institute itself, others argue that it originated sometime  in 1993 when a slithering reptile was  observed in Govind Bhawan.

However, Watch Out! knows that none of these speculations are true at all. In fact, no piece of information about the origin of this guide will ever be completely correct. Because this guide doesn't exist at all. It is a mere twisted fabric of space and time which has temporarily suspended your grasp on reality. Right now, at this very moment, you dear reader, are experiencing vivid hallucinations which involve fainted visions of this guide. And slowly, but steadily, these words are taking shape exactly the way you want them to. This guide shall tell you only what you need to hear about your new institute- nothing more, nothing less. The entrails of this book shall be debated, argued upon and updated from time to time, but none of this shall ever physically exist anywhere. Even if you ever happen to chance upon a rare copy, it is probably your mind gone bonkers.

Nevertheless, this guide shall remain the ultimate authority over any matter legal, financial, or otherwise pertaining to the equitable distribution of bun-samosa inside the campus from now till infinity.

So long.

Introduction

IITR is big. Not as big as you might have thought. But it’s big enough to deter you from attending boring lectures at 8am. Heck, 8am lectures in general. Along with the other benefits, we can assure you the campus will always be more happening than the city outside. Well, probably because there is no city outside. But don’t let that worry you, the other cities outside are international partying places!

The mind bogglingly awesome institute of IITR was established somewhere around the middle of the 19th century. Although the exact year is mentioned somewhere in the depths of the official website, many archaeologists, historians and marketing analysts claim that the institute is as old as the Indus Valley Civilization. This claim has been rubbished many times by the Archaeological Survey of India but uncertainty remains in the minds of ECE undergrads who visit the Digital Hardware Laboratory every semester.

The institute has its roots way back in 1845. It was the time when speaking in a British accent did not make you a homo and wellington hats were very much in fashion, so much so, people dressed up in 3-piece suits just to go have dinner in the Bhawan messes (where they were served in silverware by turbaned waiters). In 1847 the institute was officially established. It was renamed as the Thomason College of Civil Engineering in 1854 in honour of its founder, Sir James Thomason, lieutenant governor 1843–53. Roorkee graduates played a role in maintenance of the Ganges canal, construction of dam and irrigation projects like Bhakra Nangal, the Rajasthan canal, the Aswan dam on the Nile in Egypt, and construction of Chandigarh.

Apart from all of these creations it is rumored that the engineers of IITR also built the Eiffel Tower, Leaning tower of Pisa, Great wall of China and Pyramids of Giza. The number of pictures people upload on their facebook profiles during their foreign internships every year substantiate this rumor. This guidebook aims at presenting an almost unbiased, unadulterated and unprejudiced picture of IITR to the incoming freshmen. You can use this guidebook as follows:

  1. Read through all the chapters one by one.
  2. As a reference.
  3. As an icebreaker in parties when trying to chat with the opposite sex.
 

You must not use it as:

  1. A textbook.
  2. Definitely not a textbook.
  3. Something that you’d want your parents to read.

So buckle up! And get ready to experience firsthand what it is like to be a freshman at IITR.