I am a modern Ekalaivan of IIT Madras

They call me Ekalaivan of IIT.

If you know the Mahabharata, you know why that name means something to me. Ekalaivan learned archery without ever formally sitting before his teacher. He absorbed the craft through devotion, observation, and relentless practice. That is my story too. I never held an IIT degree, yet IIT shaped the engineer I became.

Let me take you back.

Where It Began

In the early days of my IT journey, I joined NMSWorks Software, a company incubated inside the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. It was there that I met the man who would change the trajectory of my life: Mani Subramanian, my Guru.

Mani was no ordinary professor. He held a Ph.D. from Purdue, managed research at Bell Labs, founded companies acquired by Scientific Atlanta and later Cisco, and authored the network management textbook used in over fifteen countries.

At IIT Madras, he set the standard. He served as the Analog Devices Chair Professor and led NMSWorks to world leadership in Optical Transport Network Management. To be near a mind like that was an education no classroom could sell.

For three years, I worked under Mani on telecommunications projects, and for that time I lived on the IIT Madras campus. I breathed the air of one of the most demanding institutions on earth. I ate in its mess halls, walked its corridors at midnight, and worked alongside research scholars who treated problems not as obstacles but as invitations.

The Master I Chose

Here is the truth about Ekalaivan that most people forget. He did not passively receive knowledge. He chose his teacher, built a discipline around that choice, and out-practiced everyone who had the formal privilege he lacked.

I chose Mani. And in choosing him, I chose a standard.

I was preparing to pursue a Master's at IIT Madras under his guidance. It was my dream. Personal circumstances meant it never came to pass, and for a long time that felt like a door closing. But looking back now, twenty years later, I understand something I couldn't see then: the preparation itself became the gift. The rigor I built while chasing that dream became the engine of a lifelong learning curve that has never slowed down.

What IIT Actually Taught Me

People assume the secret of IIT is its entrance exam or its brand. It isn't. I lived inside that campus, and I watched closely. The real secrets are quieter, and they are available to anyone willing to live by them.

Intensity without permission. Nobody at IIT waits to be told to work hard. The late-night hustle I learned in those NMSWorks labs, solving telecom problems that had no textbook answers, is a habit I carry into every GenAI system I build today.

Learning by proximity. I did not need to be enrolled to absorb how the best engineers thought. I only needed to be in the room, paying attention, asking questions, and being useful.

Problems before credentials. At IIT, your worth is measured by what you can solve, not what certificate you hold. That belief carried me further than any diploma could have.

The Long Road to Canada

In 2010, I moved to Canada for higher studies, and I have called it home ever since. But I never stopped being that campus engineer at heart.

Every weekend, I took on freelance projects, not for the money but for the fuel. Each project was a chance to sharpen my edge on whatever technology was emerging. While others rested, I was learning. That discipline, first forged inside IIT Madras, is the reason I sit where I sit today: a Senior GenAI Researcher and Engineer at one of North America's top ten banks.

The mantras I learned on that campus did not expire when I left India. They compounded.

Why I'm Sharing This Now

For years, I kept these lessons to myself, treating them as private fuel. But knowledge hoarded is knowledge wasted. Ekalaivan's story ends in sacrifice, but mine doesn't have to. I would rather pass the craft forward.

So I am ready, finally, to share the secrets of IIT, but only in the domain I have earned the right to teach: computing. Specifically GenAI, Linux, Ubuntu, and Mac. These are the tools I have spent two decades mastering, and these are the areas where my hard-won lessons can actually serve you.

If you are self-taught, if you never got the formal seat you dreamed of, if you feel like the outsider looking in, hear me clearly: the seat was never the point. The devotion is the point. The practice is the point. The refusal to wait for permission is the point.

Ekalaivan learned archery by aiming at a target no one gave him. You can learn GenAI the same way.

Let me show you how.

In gratitude to Mani Subramanian, who taught me that the walls of a classroom are the smallest part of an education.