The distance between an IIT campus and the house of a young boy or girl who could one day walk through its gate is, of course, not to be measured in terms of mere Newtonian space. More than the physical miles, there’s the psychological distance, the social distance. Think of all the things you don’t have because of penury, and convert those into miles. They might as well be different planets. It takes years of willpower to make that crossing—passion on a slow, sustained boil.