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Dosa at 3 am, deer begging for food: IIT Madras student captures candid campus life

Aryan Kala's Instagram video captures IIT Madras students studying and enjoying late-night snacks at the campus.

Published on: Nov 25, 2025, 11:37:33 IST
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An IIT Madras student has captured what campus life at the prestigious institute looks like. Aryan Kala shared an Instagram video showing how students study and chill at IIT Madras during exam time. His video shows students preparing for exams, enjoying late night snacks and interacting with animals that roam the campus freely.

Campus life at IIT Madras

Aryan Kala's video captures campus life at IIT Madras (Instagram/@aryan_kala_)
Aryan Kala's video captures campus life at IIT Madras (Instagram/@aryan_kala_)

Aryan, a second year student pursuing a BTech in Biological Engineering, shared his video on Instagram, where it has crossed 1 lakh views in four days. The video was taken on November 20, when he and his classmates were preparing for their end-semester exams.

In the clip, Aryan explained that after taking an exam in the morning, he slept during the afternoon and woke up at night. After waking up, he and his friends decided to grab dinner at the campus food truck.

(Also read: Viral clip from IIT Delhi captures the real 3 am campus life with students roaming, posing and looking for tea)

It’s “very common” to see wildlife at the campus, Aryan told HT.com.

IIT Madras occupies an area of over 600 acres. The campus was formerly part of the adjoining Guindy National Park.

“If you go for a walk for 5 minutes outside you will see around 15-20 deers at least. There are also 80-90 blackbucks in IIT Madras which is very rare in India. Every hostel will have approximately 10-20 cats roaming here and there,” he said.

While their dosa was being prepared, the students went to an on-campus event where they played some games. The video also shows the deer trying to beg for food. However, Aryan explained that feeding the deer is not allowed, so the animal did not get any snacks from the students.

Back in their hostel room, the IITians were joined by one of the aforementioned cats.

Aryan’s video shows the cat napping peacefully on the bed while the students studied for their upcoming exam.

“Other than cats and deers there are blackbucks, monkeys which are seen often. After this there are snakes, crocodiles and a lot more animals but they usually stay inside the forest part of campus,” Aryan told HT.com.

“When we first came to campus, our director reminded us that we are here for only four years. This campus belongs to the wildlife — we are merely guests — so it is important that we remember it is their home. They have adapted to this environment and, in many ways, accepted our presence,” he added.

 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanya Jain

Sanya Jain is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Digital. She has nearly a decade of experience in covering offbeat stories that speak to the everyday experience -- from viral videos to human interest copies that spark a conversation. Her interests stretch across business, pop culture, social media trends, entertainment and global affairs. Before joining Hindustan Times, Sanya spent two years with Moneycontrol and five years with NDTV. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and a master’s in journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai. Sanya has a sharp eye for spotting emerging trends and finding newsworthy angles in viral content. She writes about a wide range of topics, from business leaders and social issues to everyday people and internet trends. She enjoys speaking to content creators, newsmakers and entrepreneurs and turning their experiences and stories into engaging, relatable articles.

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