A Survey of Indian Engineering College Students Desk Grafitti

Dad just took a quick trip to BITS, Pilani, a college campus in the wilderness of Rajastan, to do some recruiting. After barreling through five hours of thick fog in the dark through the bumpy country roads and a few hours sleep at the local guest house we arrived at the campus.


I often think about how lucky I am not to have had to fight my way through the tough school and college entrance process that these good people have to do. Now after seeing the job selection process for these "freshers" I think about how lucky I am not to have to had do that either.

After putting on a short PowerPoint presentation about our company (including data about the starting salary) we give an hour and a half written exam in a FREEZING cold room:


About half of these students were sitting for my software exam, out of which the top three or four were to be selected for a face-to-face interview. While wondering around waiting for the students to finished, I noticed the grafitti on the desks.

Now when we think of grafitti back home, the themes I can remember typically run like this:

• Somebody's name
• Somebody's name with their girlfriend.
• Gang-related scribbling
• Doodles
• Unspeakable obscenities

So to further probe the psyche of this young and vibrant country, here are some examples of Indian College Student desk grafitti from with some accompanying thoughts. I put these in order of the amount of each type that I saw:

1. Technical Doodlings

Lots of Matmatical Formulas

Some C code

An electrical circuit

I asked some students what this was all about. Was this a way to cheat on exams if you happened to get the right desk on test day? It didn't seem like that kind of scribbling and the students said that your chances of writing down the exact right problem were not that high anyway.

What they said was that on a lot of their tests, they are not given any scratch paper and they end up working things out directly on the wood of the desk instead.

Lesson: Even in the face of scarcity, these students are able to make do...or they cheat a lot in obvious ways.

2. Multinational Company Names

Microsoft- Mahish Babu

Wipro happened here

Preeti, Priya Dipu, Rimpy, Rakhi : Got ekas (first) job offer: Infosys, ..., Scomain

Lesson: This was really interesting. These students have beaten all odds, one out of thousands, working harder than you or I can ever imagine to get into a place at a good school like this one. The ultimate pinicle of their success will be landing a good job at a multinational company, making a starting salary of ten to twelve thousand a year, living the good life.

When sitting in a boring class they dream of days ahead, doodling on their desks the names of these companies like we would doodle the name of a high school girlfriend, lovingly circling the name, filling it in: Wipro...Microsoft...Oracle... *sigh*

3. Inspirational

Information Systems Association Prestya - Where Excellence is the Criterion!!!

Will Miss U BITS Pilani

Dare to dream - Care to achieve

Paul Priya Aarthi - Friends Forever

Lesson: One thing we love about India is how unabashadly sentimental it is. It's a very nice break from all the cynicism and sarcasm that is around these days. The actors in the movies still burst into song, run through the fields and hug trees. And why not? Dare to dream! Care to achieve!

3. Doodles

RIP: In memory of all the people who have died of boredom in this class.

The swastika here is a Hindu symbol of God (not a Nazi thing)

Lesson: In this regard, we are all the same. When class is boring, might as well draw a picture. When the exam is tough, calling on the powers of heaven by drawing some religious symbol may be your only hope!

4. Love

Some like one
Some like two
I like one
That are you
Ninnu aa lahi hai (Ninnu is coming!) - Chubham
Where are you my sweet?

Lesson: Out of the hundreds of desks I looked at, this was the only love note that was to an actual person instead of a multinational company. Clearly that sort of thing is not really on these students' minds, or at least it is buried down deep. Maybe the prospect for many of an arranged marriage when they turn 27 is enough. This may be more representative of the typical attitude:

Girls stay away from them