This SRM University Prof Wants You To Know More Than Jon Snow

Does anyone really read exam instructions? They might start to, after this.

Karthick Nanmaran

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@8nk Altered By The Quin)

“Sir, I know nothing about this subject. Can I take a retest?”

“You know nothing? Are you Jon Snow?”

...And that’s what led 27-year-old Assistant Professor Karthick Nanmaran to set THIS savage question paper.

Screengrab of the question paper in question. 

If you thought cool college professors (like Heisenberg from Breaking Bad) only exist in fiction, this professor from SRM University’s Engineering faculty will prove you wrong. His sass quotient is through the roof.

“Students end up writing stories – often really lengthy and boring ones – in their answer sheets. They think if the answer is long enough, marks would come their way. It made me wonder if they even read the instructions on the question paper. They clearly skipped it. So I tailor made it for them this time. I am glad it got their attention,” Nanamaran told Quint Neon in a phone interview, when returning from another invigilation round.

Of course, Nanmaran probably didn’t expect that screengrabs of his paper would resonate so much that it would acquire virality.

“The credit should go to the student who ‘Knew Nothing’ before the exams,” said the unsuspecting professor who is also an unabashed admirer of Pandas, and Panda videos online.

When asked about the possible connection between an engineering question paper and Nuclear Weapons & Stethoscopes, Nanmaran chuckled and explained:

“It’s simply exhausting to see them ask for things during the exam time just to pass the time. Things they won’t need. So I had to reiterate what all they won’t need, like an extra sheet... or a Nuclear Weapon, for that matter.”

While this viral incident has given him national fame, Nanmaran is generally popular among his pupils for his ‘hatke’ approach to conducting his lessons.

He is known for also using pop culture references frequently to get his pupils interested in the subject.

I am fan of House of Cards, and an episode of FRIENDS (even if it’s a re-watch for the Nth time) always makes my day. So it isn’t hard to infuse pop culture examples with a bit of engineering.

Karthick Nanmaran, SRM University, Engineering Department, Associate Prof.

Keeping himself up-to-date with what’s cooking on the Internet also helps him stay on top of his teaching game.

Juxtaposed against the strict rules that engineering students are made to observe, ‘Nanmaran is a beacon of shining light’ making Engineering cool again, as per his students who posted the screengrabs online.

This isn’t the first time a teacher has written a question paper this savage. Take a look at these engineering question papers that tried to grab their stressed students’ interest:

Jon Snow Seems To Be The Favourite Among Teachers:

Jon Snow Question Set by IISER Pune.(Photo Courtesy: Reddit/Question paper in IISER, Pune)

When IIT-Bombay Pulled an Alok Nath On Us

IIt BOmbay’s Alok Nath reference in exam sheet.Photo Courtesy: Reddit

To Lock Kiya Jaye?

(Photo Courtesy: Reddit)