The history of science in India has not focused on the nature of legacy of scientific institutions. Overly absorbed in critically evaluating Bhabha’s scientific leadership of India’s Atomic Energy Programme, historians of science in India have not paid attention to Bhabha’s institution-building practices at TIFR, the older and more significant Institute he had founded. As a result there has been very little historical understanding of the nature of Bhabha’s legacy. What elements of that legacy defined TIFR as an institution? This talk will reflect on the nature of the Nehruvian scientific vision as well as the nature and significance of institutional practices that Bhabha put in place at TIFR by analyzing archival records and oral histories. In what ways did colonialism shaped institutions created in postcolonial India? How do we understand the residual effects of colonialism within nationalism and internationalism? Through the excavation and analysis of stories of institution building this paper will offer alternative ways of understanding histories of scientific institutions.