# The pursuit of happiness

**Source**: https://ge.iitm.ac.in/rendezvous/the-pursuit-of-happiness/
**Parent**: https://ge.iitm.ac.in/rendezvous/

While
academic
pursuits
might
have
taken
her to
various
universities
including
the
University
of
Massachusetts,
Massachusetts
Institute
of
Technology
(MIT)
and the
University
of
Rochester,
Prof.
Preeti
Aghalayam,
who has
now been
appointed
as
Director-in-charge
of the
IIT
Madras
Zanzibar
campus,

feels
that
IIT-M
has
seeped
into her
blood
ever
since
she
walked
into the
campus
way back
in 1991

**Srivatsan
S**

The
first
time
Preeti
Aghalayam
stepped
into IIT
Madras
is a day
she
cannot
forget.
It is
now part
of a
memory
that
beautifully
resides
in a
bank at
the back
of her
mind.
With her
roots in
Mysore,
Preeti
vividly
recounts
arriving
on
campus
in a
rickety
taxi
with her
parents,
carrying
big city
dreams.
“We were
speechless,”
says
Preeti
Aghalayam,
almost
three
decades
later,
about
that day
in 1991
when she
was just
a
fresher
— and
long
before
she
became
an
alumna
and
later, a
faculty
member
of the
institution.

Even
after
all
these
years,
Preeti
takes a
moment
to pause
and
marvel
at the
trees
whenever
she
drives
down
Delhi
Avenue.
“It was
so quiet
and
peaceful.
Looking
at this
place
back
then, it
gave us
the
feeling
that one
can do
well in
academics.
That is
what my
parents
and I
thought,”
she
says.

“It was
love at
first
sight,”
smiles
Preeti
rather
sheepishly.
Mind
you, she
is
referring
to
IIT-M,
not her
husband,
also an
alumna
and whom
she met
on
campus
much
later.

While
academic
pursuits
might
have
taken
her to
various
universities
including
the
University
of
Massachusetts,
Massachusetts
Institute
of
Technology
(MIT)
and the
University
of
Rochester,
every
time
there
was a
call
from
IIT-M,
it was a
call
that was
hard to
resist.

For,
life is
full
circle
for
Preeti
Aghalayam
who has
now been
appointed
as
Director-in-charge
of IIT’s
first
offshore
campus
in
Zanzibar.
Her
appointment
has been
described
in the
media as
“breaking
the
glass
ceiling”,
while
for
women in
engineering
and
academia,
it has
become a
joyous
occasion
to
celebrate
the
spirit
of
representation.

Preeti,
however,
has been
trying
to dial
down the
attention.
“I’ve
been
trying
to tell
people
that it
[the
appointment]
is a
job, not
an
award,”
she
states,
characteristically.
In a
long and
elaborate
conversation,
Preeti
discusses
her
decades-long
association
with
IIT-M —
from
being a
student
to
becoming
the
Director-in-charge
— and
what to
look
forward
to, in
the new
campus.
Excerpts:

**I
cannot
not
ask
you
about
your
JEE
experience.**

I am
from
Mysore,
which
still
feels
like a
very
small
city.
And I’m
from a
family
of
academicians;
my dad
was a
Chemistry
professor
and mom
was
teaching
linguistics
at that
point of
time in
class. I
did not
have a
formal
coaching
for JEE
because
Mysore
did not
have
that
kind of
a set-up
for
coaching.
But I
used to
sit with
a Maths
colleague
of my
dad’s
and also
occasionally
with his
colleagues
from
Physics
and
Organic
Chemistry
departments.
They
also
didn’t
know how
one
prepares
for JEE,
but they
would
give me
conceptual
ideas.

I have
been in
and out
of
college
campuses.
My dad
took me
for my
NTSE
[National
Talent
Search
Exam]
interview
when I
was in
10th
standard.
Later we
went to
IISC,
and both
of us
loved
the
campus.
But when
I came
to IIT-M
back in
1991, it
felt
like it
has
seeped
into my
blood
since
then.

**This
was
the
1990s
and
it
wasn’t
too
common
for
women
to
take
up
engineering
at
that
point
of
time…**

Not in
mine
because
we come
from a
family
of
academicians.
My elder
sister
is also
an
engineer
from
Mysore.
Some of
my older
cousins
studied
science
and
engineering,
and
later
became
professional
teachers.
But you
are
right.
It
wasn’t
very
common,
but in
my
family,
it was.

**When
you
had
to
come
to
Chennai,
to
IIT-M,
was
there
any
apprehension
about
living
in a
new
city
and
away
from
your
family?**

My mom,
in fact,
pokes
fun at
me
saying
that I
entered
the
hostel
and
never
looked
back
[laughs].
There
was no
emotion,
as if I
was
moving
on and
moving
ahead.
Growing
up in a
small
city, I
had a
very
protected
upbringing
since
I’m the
younger
of two
daughters.

More
than
anything,
I was
excited
by the
possibility
of
living
by
myself.
In terms
of
academic
opportunities,
I was
beyond
excited
about
what
IIT-M
would
present.

**Let’s
roll
a
few
decades
back.
Preeti
Aghalayam
is a
student
now.
What
was
your
average
day
like?**

I was
just
crazy.
My
friends
laugh at
me for
how over
excited
and
enthusiastic
I was
about a
lot of
things.
In
Chemical
Engineering,
we
didn’t
have
labs in
the
second
year so
the rest
of the
departments
would be
very
jealous
of us
saying,
“You
have the
whole
afternoon
to
sleep.”

There
wasn’t
even
Netflix
or
anything
at that
point of
time;
one
shady
common
room
where
one
could
watch
some TV.
But my
friend
and I
would
occasionally
go to
the
British
Council
and also
walk or
cycle
around
the
campus.

We would
take up
every
Mardi
Gras
[later
renamed
as
Saarang,
the
annual
social
and
cultural
festival
of IIT
Madras]
related
opportunity
that
they
would
give to
us for
second
years.
One of
our
profs
said
that we
have to
do a lot
more
India
focused
extracurricular
activities.
So, we
organised
a lot of
quizzes,
vernacular-only
debates,
and
elocution.
I
remember
going to
Giggles
and
Scribbles
[a small
bookshop
back
then]
with my
girlfriends
asking
if they
could
give
some
small
coupons
as
prizes
for
IITans.

Right
from a
very
young
age, I
was into
basketball
and
running.
My
school
[Demonstration
School
in
Mysore]
encouraged
us to
take up
sports.
I
participated
in many
district
level
running
events.
When I
came
here, I
wanted
to make
sure
that I
continue
sports.
In fact,
I
remember,
right
from the
first
week on
campus,
I was
like,
“Where’s
the
basketball
court?”
One of
my
seniors
is
Shanti
[from
Electrical
Engineering]
and I
glommed
onto her
and
said,
“We have
to play
basketball.”

When
there
was
nobody
to play
basketball
with and
when I
would
have
excess
energy
to burn,
I would
run till
the gate
and
back.
During
my four
years
here, we
would
elbow
our way
into
every
inter-hostel
sport.

**I
remember
you
mentioning
about
having
a
reunion
with
your
friends
recently.
Could
you
talk
about
your
batchmates,
the
number
of
women
at
that
time,
and
how
has
it
changed
over
the
years?**

We were
5
percent
women in
my
batch.
It’s 20
percent
now and
evenly
distributed
year
upon
year.
Now when
I teach
in,
let’s
say, a
class of
100
students,
there
are 20
plus
women
which is
fantastic.
This
wasn’t
how it
was. Our
batch
was
considered
an
anomaly
because
we were
20 women
across
all
branches
in a
class of
360.

In the
beginning,
one of
the
batches
had
seven
women,
and if
you go a
little
further
down,
for
example,
in
Raghu’s
[Rengaswamy,
Dean,
Global
Engagement]
batch,
there
were two
women.
The
spread
was good
in our
batch
and
somehow
people
kept
telling
us that
we were
anomalous
and
special.

About my
girl
friends,
they
have all
taken
different
paths
and are
doing
extremely
well in
their
professions.
Even at
the
reunion,
they
were so
enthusiastic
about
coming
to the
campus,
maybe
more
frequently.

**Is
there
a
favourite
memory
you
have
as a
student?
I’m
sure
there
are
lots
but
if
you
could
pick
one,
what
would
it
be?**

There is
one
memory
that
captures
what
IIT-M
is. What
happened
one year
during
the
inter-IIT
tournament
was,
there
were a
lot of
injuries.
This is
normal
even now
in
sports.
But back
then,
one of
the
professors
from the
Aerospace
Department,
who was
our
sports
advisor,
said,
“Let’s
stop
contact
sports
for
women.”
I hadn’t
even
heard
that
word
before
but I
figured
that it
means no
more
basketball.

I was
livid. I
sat
outside
his
office
and
said, “I
cannot
let you
do
this.” I
don’t
know why
it meant
so much
but
somehow
I felt
it was
so wrong
to make
a rule
like
pulling
a horse
out in
the
middle
of the
race.
Also
because
I was 18
and
rebellious.

But what
I really
appreciate,
though,
is when
I went
to him
and very
passionately
and
probably
over-emotionally,
made the
case, he
was so
good
about
it. I
don’t
exactly
remember
what he
said,
but he
didn’t
go
forward
with the
rule.
So, I
think
that
typifies
IIT
Madras.

That, we
have the
best
interests
for
students
at
heart.
Although,
I mean,
there
are
generation
gaps and
our
world is
different
from
theirs
but we
are
open. We
listen.
We
listen
to
students
and try
to
accommodate
different
viewpoints.

**After
you
earned
a
B.Tech,
you
did
a
PhD
and
worked
briefly
at
IIT
Bombay.
Later
when
you
came
back
to
IIT-M
as a
faculty,
what
were
some
of
the
aspects
that
you
brought
to
your
teaching?**

First of
all, I
love
teaching.
I think
it feels
so
satisfying
to be a
teacher.
It’s
stressful,
by the
way,
even
today.
My
family
makes
fun of
me
because
they ask
me why I
still
prepare
for
classes.
I’ve
seen my
dad do
it.
After
teaching
Chemistry
for 35
years,
one can
expect
him to
walk
into the
classroom
with his
eyes
closed
and be
able to
write
whatever
that is
missing
on the
board.
But I
saw him
every
day
thumb
through
the
books
and made
new
notes.
This is
what I
do as
well.

Monday
morning
8am
classes
are
religious
for me.
I have
picked
up many
things
from all
my
academic
experiences
including
this
textbook.
It’s a
very
basic
Chemical
Engineering
textbook.
When I
left
MIT,
even
though I
was
there
only for
a
year-and-a-half,
they saw
how
passionate
I was
and gave
me this
book,
which
has an
inscription
by my
guide.

So
methodology-wise,
a little
bit from
various
universities
I have
been to
[MIT,
University
of
Rochester,
University
of
Massachusetts].
There is
science
and
methodology
behind
teaching.
This is
what I
have
grown up
with and
imbibed
from
other
places.

The
important
thing I
believe
is the
interaction
between
faculty
and
students
and not
creating
any
barrier
where
none is
needed.
In
recent
times we
have
been
doing
some
game-based
learning
and
small
activities
for the
class
that
will
help
them
realise
this
interaction
in a
more
practical
way.

**Before
you
joined
the
Office
of
Global
Engagement
as
an
Advisor,
at
what
point
during
your
teaching
career,
did
you
warm
up
to
the
idea
of
‘internationalisation’?**

It was
absolutely
only
after
being in
the
Office
of
Global
Engagement.
Before
that I
have
participated
in a lot
of
non-department,
non-teaching
type of
activities
in the
institute.
But I
did not
have any
particular
exposure
to
international
students.
In fact,
now it
has
really
exploded,
even our
international
visits.
It
wasn’t
this
many
earlier.
We have
at least
two
visitors
a day.

Of
course
Raghu
and I go
a long
way
back.
Our
paths
didn’t
cross
that
much
when we
were in
IIT
Bombay.
But it
was only
after he
called
and
asked me
to work
as the
Advisor
that I
had any
exposure
to this.
Plus, it
has been
really
intense
the past
couple
of years
because
post-Covid,
things
opened
up in a
really
dramatic
way.

It’s
mind-boggling
if you
look at
the
number
of trips
we had
taken to
Sri
Lanka,
Nepal
and even
to the
US. Of
course,
Africa
was the
one that
sort of
solidified
in a
very
dramatic
fashion.

**Does
this
stamp
— of
being
the
first
“woman”
Director
—
bother
you
or
have
you
come
to
terms
with
it?**

It
didn’t
bother
me but
it feels
like a
big
burden.
This is
what I
sometimes
try to
tell
people:
this
appointment
is a
job, not
an
award.
It’s a
job that
I’m
really
excited
about.
To be
honest,
I hadn’t
thought
about it
till the
whole
woman
Director
thing
blew up.
It is a
job I
would be
really
excited
to do
even if
I was a
man
[laughs].

While I
do
believe
that we
should
have
equality,
not just
in
gender,
but in
other
aspects
as well,
I think
in
academia,
we are
all very
similar.
So it
feels
like all
these
barriers
are fake
or
false.
If you
see our
training,
there is
no
difference
between
the way,
um,
women

professors
train or
are
trained
from
men.
Likewise
our
students
and
researchers.

I mean,
yes,
there
are
aspects
like
physical
safety.
And
experiences
for men
and
women
are not
always
identical.
But
within
the
walls of
this
campus,
it can
be. I
believe
in that.
While
one has
to be
conscious
about
gender
equity
and not
just
assume
that
it’ll
happen
in due
course
of time
and make
efforts
to
achieve
that, I
also
believe
in the
fact
that, as
academicians,
we
should
work
hard at
gender
equity.

**How
has
the
reception
been
for
admissions
at
IIT
Madras
Zanzibar?**

It has
been
very
good. We
started
things
late in
the
cycle.
We are
also
simultaneously
recruiting
faculty
and the
responses
have
been
phenomenal.
It’s
been
lovely
to
interview
candidates
and it’s
been
lovely
to see a
very
good
gender
mix –
both in
the
student
and
faculty
talent
pool.

Apart
from
East
Africa,
Ethiopia,
Kenya
and
Tanzania,
where we
have
students
from
these
countries
studying
at
IIT-M,
we have
been
getting
a lot of
questions
from
other
parts as
well.
The
interest
has been
phenomenal.
Locally
also, in
India,
parents
and
students
have
been
reaching
out
which is
very
heartening.

Aside
from
what
people
have
been
saying
about
the
Zanzibar
campus
outside,
the kind
of
reception
we have
been
getting
from
faculty
within
IIT-M
has also
been
heartening.
So many
faculty
members
from
various
departments
have
enthusiastically
said
that
they
will
help us
out.

**For
someone
to
come
all
the
way
from
Mysore,
to
study
at
IIT-M
and
then
become
a
faculty
member,
and
now
getting
to
head
IITs’
first
international
campus,
it
does
feel
like
a
long
journey.
If
there
is
something
you
wish
to
tell
that
20-something
Preeti
Aghalayam,
what
would
it
be?**

Right
now,
when I
am
talking
to you,
I feel
I’m the
same
over
enthusiastic,
jump-at-everything
Preeti.
So it
doesn’t
feel
like
that has
changed.
But it
has been
a long
journey
with
pregnancy,
childbirth
and
raising
a
teenager
among
other
things.
Sometimes
it has
felt
hard
because
our work
itself
is such
that it
doesn’t
start at
9am and
finish
by 6pm.
There
are so
many
things
we do
and it’s
very
difficult
to
compartmentalise.
And
there
are many
threads
to keep
track
of,
aside
from
home,
family
and
friends.
So yeah,
the
thing I
would
tell my
younger
self,
even
though
it feels
strange,
is to be
myself
and
believe.

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