The Curious Case of the IIT Baba: Abhay Singh in the Indian Public Imagination

Abhay Singh, an alumnus of IIT Bombay and former aerospace engineer, has garnered significant attention at the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 in Prayagraj, earning the moniker ‘IIT Baba’. His journey from a high-paying engineering career in Canada to embracing a spiritual path has intrigued many. At the same time, he has won over a section of young people, by synthesizing the vocabularies of Sanatan Dharma, on one hand, and modern-day existentialism, on the other. His sudden popularity, I discuss in this essay, is to be situated within the paradigm of subversion of bourgeois aspirations, as well as juvenile explorations of philosophical existentialism.

Abhay Singh, now hailed by mainstream news media as the famed ‘IIT Baba’, has been one of the most talked about finds of the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025.

Ever since the discovery of the trajectory of his life, from a successful engineering career to sainthood, mainstream news channels have flocked to interview Abhay. For the Indian Everyman, it is almost inconceivable that a former aerospace engineer and graduate of IIT Bombay, with a penchant for bourgeois hobbies like photography and philosophy, would forgo a successful career and take the path of ascetic spirituality. Abhay’s frustration with corporate life, and his disillusionment with the concept of marriage, prompted him to leave his job in Canada, after having spent three years working there. He claims to have taken an interest in philosophy while in college, which spurred him on in later life to quit domestic life in search of enlightenment. This, as the news networks correctly predicted, turned into well-accepted fodder for a vast middle-class audience, who could relate well to Abhay’s philosophy of life, being no stranger to any of the predicaments that Abhay routinely brings up in the interviews.

Abhay’s interviews on YouTube have garnered views in millions. The reason? For one, Abhay satiates the demand for ‘content’, leaving the audience to consume the spectacle of the aerospace engineer-turned-baba with incredulity, and quite paradoxically, with reverence too. The representation of Abhay on national television is primarily catered towards middle-class bourgeois aspirations. There is, also, the subversion of the idea of irreconcilability between science and religion. Quite paradoxically, since the fairytale story of educational and corporate success comes tinged with the pathos of disillusionment, it becomes all the more appealing to the audience. First as an anomaly, then, as content.

Abhay has also been vocal about how bad parenting in Indian households can leave lasting trauma on children. He professes to have embarked on a quest for spirituality after becoming disillusioned with the affairs of domestic life, having witnessed inter-parental conflict while growing up. This also resulted in a strained relationship with his then-girlfriend, whom he eventually split up with. On camera, he emphasizes that familial attachment, or love, is incapable of delivering inner fulfilment and satisfaction in the long run.

The glorification of Abhay Singh on mainstream news media, also caters to the affective mechanism of ressentiment, in certain audiences. He has openly disapproved of holding parents on a pedestal, or as revering them as unquestionable sources of authority - a social malady which he sees as being entrenched in contemporary Indian society. For a lot of teenagers, ridden with the rebellious desire to break free of their parents’ authoritative control, this comes off as intensely relatable, transforming the adolescent angst into feelings of hostility towards one’s family, and society, at large.

A large section of social media users, especially the youth, have already come to recognise Abhay as a spiritual guru, who exhibits, in a world marred by conformity, the courage to defy societal expectations. It is important to remember, on the other hand, that his rhetoric of enlightenment is mired in the ideology of Islamophobia, and cultural chauvinism. His views on communism boil down to a Batman quote. In short, barring his critique of the stronghold that Indian parents impose and exercise on their children, Abhay’s philosophy of life reveals itself to be half-baked, and pretentious, almost as if moulded to appeal primarily to angsty teenagers who feel like they have been wronged by society, and deprived of the things they were promised of - attention, recognition, love, admiration, sex, and so on.

The phenomenon of the ‘IIT Baba’ underscores the complex interplay between modernity and tradition, personal ambition and spiritual fulfilment. At the same time, it also brings to light the challenges and controversies that can arise when traditional religious practices intersect with contemporary journeys of self-fulfilment outside the purview of societal norms and expectations. In donning the persona of the existentialist wanderer, Abhay seems to insist that complete liberation is not attainable through the conduits of worldly pleasure and success.

In the weeks that have followed the ‘discovery’ of the IIT Baba, news channels have effectively bestowed upon Abhay the status of a celebrity. Moreover, this public interest, if sustained for long, might make him a cult figure in the imagination of a generation that sees itself as strayed, isolated, and misunderstood by the rest of the world.

Prantik Ali is a student pursuing Master’s in English Literature from Jamia Millia Islamia.

Edited by Sana Faiz

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of The Jamia Review or its members.