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In this 38th edition of As We Leave, Archit Agarwal, a Y21 student graduating in the Department of Electrical Engineering, takes us through his journey at IITK. He takes us how IITK changed him through his ups and downs and shows us how one can face any challenge with the help and support of those around them. He shares with us his various experiences, including those with meeting new people and adjusting to the spontaneous life at IITK
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.
Chapter 1 – An introvert coming to campus
Having no friends since childhood and having an online Jee coaching experience, I came as a very shy and introverted seedha and shareef person to the campus jo online exams me bhi cheating karne se darta tha. At that point I used to think I am fine the way I am, staying that seedha insaan. Before coming to campus, I hadn’t joined a single whatsapp group other than my wing group and was completely cut off from all the meets that everyone was taking part in. I was completely inactive and no one knew of my existence. After coming to campus and meeting the friendliest bunch of people, I started to come out of my shell and started to participate in all the bakchodi we had as wing mates, playing truth and dare all night long, random ass talks all nights, Paani se geela karke gpl lena, jake dusre wings ki mcb down kardena, I slowly found my home away from home.
Chapter 2 – Being pushed out of my comfort zone
My friends pushed me to engage in activities, I became a part of ICG, got to know about Y22 batch as a Baapu, got to know people in my branch and my friend circle started to expand. My friends even pushed me to become a secy at Antaragni, a place completely different for someone like me, they even pushed me to confess to my crush, something completely out of my comfort zone!!!
Chapter 3 – Intern season
Life was going good and then bam! Intern season started, Initially I was hopeful because of my branch and cpi, but things quickly went downhill. I was unable to get shortlists in any company and that persisted for much longer than my expectations. I thought of not day 1, then day 2, if not then day 3. I extended my goals till a month but no shortlists. This made me very under confident in my skills and I stopped talking to people and stopped engaging in any activities at this point, It was after 2.5 months, after midsems, that I finally got an intern, and even though It wasn’t a big company I was still happy and relieved that I atleast got my “summer sorted”.
Chapter 4 – The Night it all fell apart
Fast forward to 6th sem, I was trying to make the best use of my time through projects, acads and having fun with my friends in random late night plans and randomly getting drunk on Mondays. Everything seemed to be going perfectly, until one night, it all came crashing down. Just a week before our endsems I got the news that my company has closed down and my intern offer has been revoked. It felt as if my career has been uprooted overnight, and it was the first time I had cried after coming to campus. It was because of my closest friend, Astha, that I could survive those toughest 24 hrs for me in these 4 years and get out of that trauma to start searching for jobs again. It was because of her and my wingies that I was able to survive through that time. That 1 week, I prepared for endsems, searched for job openings on linkedin, reached out to cofounders and gave interviews, which I was not prepared for at all. All thanks to god, I was able to get another intern offer some time later.
Chapter 5 – The placement season
The most stressful period for every person in their college life, it was filled with continuous exams, pehle jaake lecture halls ki seats reserve karna, coding sessions, resume banana, verify karvana, mock interviews all accompanied by constant breakdowns and hopelessness. It was again only because of companionship and support of my closest people Astha, Abhi Jain, Sathwik, Harshal, Lakshay, Aryan, Abhishek, Anshuman that I could see through this phase. It was because of their help due to which all the tests and interviews went smoothly and I was able to get my dream job offer. Once again I owe everything that I have to these people only.
Chapter 6 – The fun in the Finale
The last phase of my journey, this was when I had the most fun in campus and grew really close to all my friends . It was again filled with random plans, Cold ke liye raat me rum peena, randomly beer peene chale jana, Sunday nights ko pvr ka popcorn lootna. Before I was someone hesistant of impromptu plans, but this semester I went on to 2 sudden trips to Jaipur and Nainital and had the most bittersweet moments during the photoshoots, the farewells and roaming the kona kona of campus in night with everyone. When I found myself having fun while dancing on the stage in front of the entire batch for batti farewell and dance extravaganza without any hesitation, I realized that the old seedha and shy Archit is no more, and I have changed just like an uno flip card in these 4 years.
In the end completely contrasting to what I thought earlier I would like to say to everyone who is reading this – College ko College lecture halls nahi Dost banate hai
Written by: Archit Agarwal
Edited by: Sneha Jain, Sanchit Arora
Designed by: Pankhuri Sachan, Pragya Puri
