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In this 35th edition of As We Leave, Milan Anand Raj, a Y20 student with a double major in Computer Science and Biological Science departments invites us on a vibrant carousel of his IITK adventure, marked by challenges, camaraderie, and ventures. Each semester delineates a new phase in his evolving character, shaped by the Institute’s unique opportunities—and by friendships that transformed every corner of campus into home
Disclaimer:- The views presented below are the author’s own and are not in any manner representative of the views of Vox Populi as a body or IIT Kanpur in general. This is an informal account of the author’s experiences at IITK.
Prologue
It’s hall day celebration for hall 2 today. I am sitting with my legs crossed on the table and the laptop on my lap reminiscing about my entire IITK journey. If a time machine were possible, you would find me at the longitude and latitude corresponding to Hall 12-A408, three floors up, contemplating what to write in this AWL. (Which, btw, has a ghostwriter). Hall Day celebrations are amazing, but so are Rang Barse, Hakuna Matata, DE, ME, Antaragini, Techkriti, Udghosh, OAT movie screenings, Tamil New Year ceremonies, and those spontaneous nights out with friends. The list never ends. Almost every third day at IITK, something exciting is happening, and I’m sure I’ll often find myself nostalgic about these times.
Before I delve into sharing my stories and experiences here, let me introduce myself. मेरा नाम मिलन है। मेरे बाप का नाम केशव माहेश्वरी है। मैं यहां बिहार से आया हूं। भारतीय प्रौद्योगिकी संस्थान दिल्ली द्वारा आयोजित संयुक्त प्रवेश परीक्षा अग्रणीय 2020 को उत्तीर्ण कर मैंने यहां जीव विज्ञान एवं जैविक अभियांत्रिकी में प्रवेश लिया है। मेरी मुख्य अभिरुचियाँ गिटार बजाना, तैराकी ऐंव चित्रकला हैं। PS: I wish this Kholna culture continues!
My journey started from a village in Bihar named Chunni, in Supaul district. Although the place was small, my dreams and aspirations were big, and I was able to achieve them through the hard work and effort I put in. Henceforth what you can expect from my article is tons of hard work, academics, and, most importantly, the friends I made.
Online Kickoff (1st and 2nd Semesters)
My college journey kicked off with tons of enthusiasm, but the pandemic had other plans. The first three semesters were online, and while I was studying from home, I couldn’t help but wonder what the IITK campus looked like. The lush greenery and scenic views I saw online always caught my eye, and I thought about them often. The downside of online classes was that I couldn’t make many friends, except for my IITK bhais (Sarthak, Ujjwal, Aditya, Tejas, Nikhil) and Baapu (Keshav Maheswari). Thanks to video calls with them, I still felt connected to the IITK culture despite being physically distant. But oh, the online exams—my device always shut down at the worst times, leaving me in despair about my grades. Nevertheless, I managed to get a pretty decent CPI by the end of the first year. The second thing I loved, while at home, was running – come what may, I ran. The simplicity of the sport made me like it – just tie your shoelaces and get set to go.
First Friends (3rd and 4th Semesters)
I finally got the chance to come to campus in the RC(resource constraint) batch. For the first few weeks, we were constrained only to Hall 12. Thus, Hall 12 is where I commenced my IITK journey and little did I know that’s where it would end. There I naturally made many friends along with Prasad and Amanjit. We lived like an unnaturally big family, doing everything together, as the classes were still online in the 3rd semester. We ate together, played together, and studied and thereby cheated together. We were so happy to finally be on campus that we couldn’t stop smiling for the first 2-3months. At the start of my fourth semester, I was a bit bummed out knowing that Shubham would be Amanjit’s new roommate, and I’d be displaced. But things took a turn for the better— I ended up bonding really well with Shubham and Devansh, and the three of us became inseparable, thick as thieves. It felt almost like we were the “four feathers”—always together. And, oh, did I mention I got a Dassa!
On a different note, I joined the athletics team. One day, out of nowhere, one of my seniors, Bhaskar, asked if I could join him for an alumni wedding. We hopped on a train to Dewas (MP), and honestly, I had no clue whose wedding it was or what I was supposed to do there. But I ended up dancing like crazy with my seniors—Disha, Anshika, Bhaskar, Manoj, Ashutosh, and a bunch of others.
I also participated in MIMANSA, a math and bioscience competition hosted by IISER Pune, with Lavesh and Suyash, who were math geniuses. We ended up being the top scorers in the game! All in all, it was a semester filled with unexpected adventures, and I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. The summer that followed turned out to be quite special for me. I was hanging out in RM after a class when the big news hit—I got double major in CSE! I had been checking my email non-stop for the result, and I was overjoyed when it turned out exactly as I’d hoped. I jumped and nearly cried in happiness! With that sense of accomplishment, I realized I wanted to explore new areas. Having developed an interest in computational biology, I decided to dive deeper into the field. This led to an internship the following semester at a biotech startup in Massachusetts. The experience not only helped me build valuable skills but also provided opportunities to connect with young researchers and scientists from Ivy League schools.
Face Off (5th and 6th Semesters)
I used to study a lot, spending all day in the BSBE building and academic area. I had finally shifted to my parent hall 3, where I became buddies with my roommates, Aditya and Nikhil. Since the offline classes were now in full swing, I grew closer to my department mates—Kaushik, Yash, and Dev. I vividly remember sitting long hours with Kaushik and mailing random professors, applying for different research internship programs. I semi-qualified in many of them but didn’t get a final call from any of them—DAAD, MITACS, NTU, ANU, Stowers, Cornell University, or Khorana! Perhaps the dice were not in my favor! And thus, my determination to pursue a research internship in a foreign land was ultimately scrapped. There was one good thing in all this mess—I was clear that I am going to do a corporate job for the first few years.
The First Trips (7th Semesters)
The following summer I worked diligently to improve my coding/programming skills, sitting day and night in NCL. It had a big perk—I used to do it together with Shubham and Devansh—and that made the journey fun and exciting. In particular, I gave CF contests, solved Brainstellar puzzles, and brushed up on DSA concepts. Along came the interviews, and Databricks—one of the highest-paying domestic companies—took a liking to my programming skills and overall profile, offering me an internship. I was happy, very happy! I even applied and got selected for the Sakura Science exchange program, through which I did an academic trip to Tokyo. It was my first time flying in a plane, and I ordered whatever there was for free (apple juice thrice!). We took a tour of the major league universities of Tokyo, including Tokyo University, which has the best riches in terms of everything. What’s more, I got the chance to witness mesmerizing technological and cultural advancements in Japan. My most happening semester so far—one major reason being that I got to stay in the same wing as all my close friends. Life in Hall 9 was genuinely memorable with Devansh, Rajaji (Vikas), Lakshay, Amanjit, Atul, Tarun, Manvik, and Shubham. I always had a smile on my face, for I could see my buddies anytime I wanted. We had an insane load of fun! The following end-term break, we—the four feathers— decided on a trip to Nainital. Convincing everyone was an ordeal—thankfully, they finally agreed. We went horse riding, took evening strolls along Naini Lake, camped and rafted in Rishikesh, and enjoyed a safari in Corbett. On our way back, we conceived the plan to start a company—beginning by finding clients and building AI-powered software solutions for them.
Lucky Gamblers (8th Semester)
I worked diligently for our startup. Shubham would manage the operations, while Devansh and I would handle the technical aspects. It was challenging yet fun—we had clients from all over the world. Interacting with the clients and managing the technical side of the company kept me busy for the entire semester. Around the same time, we came to know about Harvard’s PETs for “Public Health Challenge” just a day before the deadline, even though it had been open for three months. We had low expectations of being selected, but they liked our fresh ideas in the proposal and we got selected. We were to be awarded $50,000 to build privacy-enhanced tools utilizing financial data to support epidemiologists in their research and policymakers to make well-informed decisions during a pandemic. We slowly started working on it. On the other side, I even dragged Devansh into a BSBE course with me so we could share some academic ride together. Most of my friends were graduating in 2025, so it didn’t hit me when some of my batchmates left. Plus, I headed off early for my internship at Dbx, so the goodbye barely sank in.
God is happy with me (9th Semester)
I had worked painstakingly hard for my PPO from Dbx. Luck did turn in my favor! Since I didn’t have to prepare for the placements, I spent most of the time working for the Harvard PET project. By virtue of being a research project, finding the right direction was particularly challenging. By the end of Nov’24, we had a workable solution that unlocked our one-week trip ticket to Harvard University (Boston). Shubham unluckily couldn’t get his visa on time, so only I and Divya Gupta got the chance. We decided to land in NYC. One word for NYC—wow! It was like a dream. Even with all those skyscrapers,countless cars and a big enough population, the air quality was excellent. I was enchanted by the Statue of Liberty, Empire state building, grand central terminal, Hudson river and Patrick’s Cathedral and … If I had to name one quirky mischief, it would be jumping over NYC metro fences to dodge the fare. Such extreme measures were the result of our unusual expenses on food and accommodation. This trip marked the end of 9th sem followed by endsems.
Speedrun (10th Semester)
Ah! Finally, I decided to do only 2 courses – compiler design and computer architecture. This left me with plenty of free time. First thing I did – I asked out Rui for a date. To my great surprise, it worked! I had a huge likeness for her and wanted to test whether we could evolve into a meaningful partnership, not just fleeting attraction. It seems the endeavor was worth it. Additionally, I tried my hands at – tennis, swimming (thank god Rui exists), guitar and badminton. Though I could learn the basics of swimming and guitar, my tennis skills made only trifling progress. The other thing we do in our final stretch is spending as much time as possible with friends. Naturally, I didn’t want to miss out. In the mid term break, I ventured with my whole pseudo wing (acha, I forgot to mention I mostly hung out with- A4 wing, H12- wing of Shubham and Amanjit) and Rui to Tirthan in Himachal Pradesh. Mesmerizing mountains, cool river waters, slippery snows, chilled beers! I spent a good amount of time with – Kaushik, Armeet, Yash and Ayush- as well. We had turned Kaushik’s room into a mini theatre room where he would play his bizarre psychological thriller movies- a Tale of Two Sisters, Forgotten, Heretic, Perfect Blue – are some I can recall. These late night movie sessions supplemented with parties by Armeet and my unyielding will to track down Lakshay—always buried in his lab—were my bonus shenanigans. All my missing friends—who had graduated last year—came for Techkriti and I had a blast.
And then came the time to bid farewell to this big family I made at IITK. It was hard!
Epilogue
As I leave, I extend my heartfelt appreciation to my friends, who made this journey playful and unforgettable. To the professors whose lectures I attended, I remain forever indebted for the knowledge I now possess. I feel privileged to have benefited from the countless opportunities made possible by those who envisioned and created them. IITK is the most beautiful place I will ever see, boasting lush greenery and stunning architectural landmarks. Thus, I sign off.
Written by: Milan Anand Raj
Edited by: Mudita Jalan, Divyanshi Agnihotri
Designed by: Pankhuri Sachan, Pragya Puri
