# Legend hs it that

**Source**: https://ge.iitm.ac.in/rendezvous/legend-hs-it-that/
**Parent**: https://ge.iitm.ac.in/rendezvous/page/2/

Did you
know
that
there’s
a third
elephant
and a
supposedly
haunted
well on
the
campus?
Rumours
and
myths
passed
down
from
seniors
to
juniors
keep the
fresh
batch of
students
entertained
every
year

**Aenakshee
Roy**

No
educational
institution
is
spared
from
myths
and
rumours.
Apart
from
survival
tactics,
what
also
gets
passed
down
from our
seniors
are the
must-see
places
on
campus
and
relatable
stories;
some
shared
with
laughs,
some
with
hushed
whispers.

At
IIT-M,
take the
Aerowell,
for
example.
It’s the
most
famous
spot on
the list
given to
us. Ask
any
student
what
happened
there
and they
all
claim to
know.
Yet, it
is
likely
that
each
version
of the
tale
will
contradict
one
another.
For
instance,
people
say that
someone
jumped
into the
well and
died.
Regardless
of what
people
claim to
know,
almost
everyone
seems to
believe,
to some
extent,
that the
Aerowell
is
haunted.

This
well is
usually
a place
to tick
off the
bucket
list for
freshers.
That
too,
from a
list
that one
can
easily
ignore.
But
those
who
visit
the well
are
often
spooked
by the
eerie
atmosphere
of the
area. Or
they get
confused
by the
scribbling
on the
nearby
walls;
one of
which
says:
“Kalyan
Kumar
(with
roll
number
and
department
name)
was
here.”
The
adjacent
wall has
this
written:
“Until
he
wasn’t.”

People
who see
the
scribblings
on the
wall
tend to
return
to their
hostel
rooms
thinking
about
what
really
led
someone
to write
those
words
there.
Who
knows,
it could
well
just be
a prank
or an
attempt
to scare
freshers.
But only
a select
few are
privy to
the
mysterious
tale of
Kalyan
Kumar,
the boy
who
existed
until he
didn’t.

Perhaps
the
older
batch
might
recall a
boy in
the
Aerospace
Department
who was
exactly
like any
other
student:
attending
classes,
holding
PORs
(post of
responsibility),
living
in the
hostel
and
making
friends
with
people.
Except
one day,
the
person
everyone
knew as
Kalyan
was not
even
Kalyan
to begin
with.
Apparently,
he was a
different
person
who took
the
identity
of
Kalyan
Kumar on
campus.
The most
impressive
part was
that he
somehow
managed
to get
all
documents
verified
as
Kalyan
Kumar.
The only
time he
was
caught
was when
he
attended
a class
that the
real
Kalyan
hadn’t
registered
for. Now
whether
or not
the real
Kalyan
Kumar
was on
campus
is yet
another
unsolved
mystery.

Legend
has it
that the
imposter
just
disappeared.
No one
knows
where he
went.
Some
joke
that he
lived
near the
Aerowell
and
hence,
the
creepy
evidence
on the
walls.
We
cannot
ignore
the
mysterious
graffiti
in front
of
Godavari
Hostel
if we
are
talking
about
mysterious
things.
There
are so
many
spray-painted
faces
and
caricatures
on the
walls,
most of
which
were
done by
seniors
from the
2015
batch.
But the
graffiti
in the
middle
remains
unclaimed.
No one
knows
who drew
it. The
graffiti
now
stands
tall as
you
enter
Godavari.

Another
interesting
IIT-M
trivia
is the
existence
of
railway
tracks
in the
midst of
trees.
If you
look at
it in
passing,
nothing
would
seem out
of the
ordinary.
But if
you look
at it
closely,
you will
find
that the
tracks
don’t
lead
anywhere,
nor do
they
have a
starting
point.
What are
these
random
railway
tracks
doing
here? We
never
know.

Of
course,
no one
really
knows or
has any
explanation
for
these
myths
and
legends.
For
example,
as silly
as it
may
sound,
once you
spot a
white
blackbuck
on
campus,
you wish
you saw
it on
the
morning
of the
quiz.
There is
a belief
that the
animal
would
fetch
you an
‘S’
grade.
The
reasons
might
seem
silly
but
these
legends
make our
experiences
memorable.
For
example,
the
noise
from the
jet
propulsion
lab that
we hear
randomly
in the
thick of
the
night.

There is
no rhyme
or
reason.
But
these
campus
myths
get
passed
down to
the next
generation
and
someone
would
end up
believing
that the
Sangam
Ground
is the
safest
place on
campus.
Like
J.R.R.
Tolkien
in the
Letters
of
J.R.R.
Tolkien,
we too
tend to
believe
that
myths
and
legends
are
based on
some
“truth”.
Like the
existence
of the
third
elephant
(excluding
the two
at
Gajendra
Circle)
proves
this
point.

Originally
meant to
be a
treasure
hunt
question,
freshies
would be
asked to
locate
the
rumoured
third
elephant
in
IIT-M.
Now,
over the
years,
many
people
were in
fact
able to
locate
the
third
elephant,
although
how it
ended up
there is
not
known.
But at
some
point,
people
were
made to
believe
that
this
particular
elephant
was once
part of
the
Gajendra
Circle.

And so
the list
goes on.
Whether
you
believe
this or
not is
up to
the
individual.
But it
doesn’t
hurt to
look out
for the
lucky
blackbuck.

This
article
first
appeared
in The
Fifth
Estate,
the
official
student
body of
IIT-M.
You can
check
out its
official
website:
<https://www.t5eiitm.org/>

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