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In the 29th edition of As We Leave 2026, Nischay Mittal, a Y22 student from the Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, reflects on a college journey that took him from being a nervous fresher stepping onto a stage for the first time to becoming one of the driving forces behind Hall 2’s dance culture. He writes about the performance that made him “the MJ guy” across campus, the years spent building a team and culture he hoped would outlast his time at IITK, and the friendships that turned college into a place he could truly call home. Alongside these experiences, he recounts navigating a struggling CGPA, finding motivation and direction when he needed it most, and eventually making a comeback during placements. Looking back, he reflects on the people, challenges, and moments that shaped his years at IITK and the dreams that quietly became reality along the way.
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 IIT-K.
If there is one thing IIT Kanpur taught me beyond courses, grades, placements and sleepless nights, it is this:
Manifestation works.
Not the internet wala fake “just think positive and universe will reward you” type manifestation.
I mean the dangerous kind.
The kind where you want something so badly, visualize it so deeply, work for it so painfully, that eventually life has no option left but to surrender.
And maybe…
This entire IITK journey of mine was exactly that.
Because if someone had met 2021 Nischay, they would have never imagined this guy writing an “As We Leave” article someday with tears in his eyes and gratitude in his heart.
Back then, I was just another exhausted JEE aspirant.
Heartbroken after losing his first love due to what IITK mails would later teach me to call “unforeseen circumstances”.
Funny term honestly.
Nothing about that phase felt unforeseen. Everything felt painfully real.
I was tired.
Mentally drained.
Emotionally numb.
I did not dream of conquering IITs anymore – I just wanted the preparation phase to end somehow.
But life has a strange habit:
sometimes it rewards silent suffering in ways you never expect.
And somehow, after years of pressure, sacrifices and loneliness, life handed me the most unexpected gift:
IIT Kanpur.
Ironically, IIT Kanpur was never even my first choice.
I wanted IIT Delhi.
But thanks to JoSAA counselling and destiny doing destiny things, I landed in BSBE at IITK.
And honestly?
Thank God I did.
THE DAY EVERYTHING CHANGED
The day I entered Hall 13 for the first time.
And yes , Chhichhore was absolutely right.
Room shuru hone se pehle hi khatam ho gaya tha.
Orientation week felt endless.
Subah line banao,
Gaps cover karo,
“Ek do ek do.”
Core teams screaming.
Societies promoting themselves.
New faces everywhere.
For a guy who had spent 3 years trapped inside the suffocating cage of JEE preparation, everything felt unreal, Overwhelming, Chaotic & Free.
But somewhere beneath all this excitement, one passion had survived every difficult year of my life:
Performing.
I loved singing.
But dancing felt like home.
And then came 31st October 2022.
A random orientation buffer session.
A completely ordinary day.
The day that unknowingly changed my entire IIT life.
For context, these buffer sessions were basically open stages where anyone from the batch could perform anything they loved.
People sang songs.
Some recited poetry written during JEE prep.
A few tried stand-up comedy.
And then there was me.
A nervous guy sitting in the audience desperately wanting to go on stage… but too scared to do it.
I finally gathered enough courage and decided:
“Okay, poetry bol deta hoon.”
I had written one summarizing my JEE journey before Advanced. Simple. Safe.
But then right before my turn, someone went on stage and danced.
And suddenly a memory hit me.
Three years ago, I had prepared a solo performance for my school farewell.
Never got the chance to perform it.
I don’t know what happened after that.
Something inside me just snapped awake.
I changed my entire plan backstage.
Quick warm-up.
Shaking hands.
Heart beating violently.
And then my name was called.
The song?
Dangerous – Michael Jackson.
My GOAT.
During my entire JEE preparation, there wasn’t a single day when I didn’t imagine myself performing on stage like MJ.
I used to switch on my phone flashlight, place it in front of me like a spotlight, stand before a mirror and dance imagining thousands cheering for me.
EVERY SINGLE DAY.
And then suddenly…
I was actually there.
On a real stage.
In front of a real crowd.
The moment the music started, something magical happened:
all nervousness disappeared.
It felt like I had already lived this moment hundreds of times before.
I danced like my life depended on it.
I couldn’t see properly because of the adrenaline rush.
My legs were trembling.
My heartbeat was exploding.
But for four minutes…
I felt alive in a way words cannot explain.
And when the performance ended , the entire auditorium stood up.
A standing ovation.
Seniors.
Freshers.
Everyone.
I still remember one KOS member approaching me immediately afterward asking me to join the Inter IIT team when I didn’t even know what Inter IIT actually was.
The next day, something bizarre happened.
Everywhere I went – mess, canteen, classes – people recognized me as:
“The MJ guy.”
One girl even joked:
“CSE in India is as famous as that MJ guy in Hall 4.”
And that night, sitting in the audience alone after all the noise settled down, I cried uncontrollably.
Because for the first time in years, life whispered back to me:
“See? The dream was never stupid.”
GALAXY’23 — THE BEGINNING OF AN EMPIRE
Then came Galaxy.
And honestly?
Initially, I didn’t care much about it.
I had already represented IITK through Dance Club at Antaragni’22.
Hall competition felt secondary.
But because I was one of the only freshers with prior dance experience, selection was almost inevitable.
So I joined.
And that changed everything.
Galaxy ’23 was special because it was the first proper Galaxy after COVID.
The seniors from Y19 wanted to revive the culture before graduating.
But when practices started, reality hit hard.
Nobody took Hall 2 seriously. Not even us.
Most people didn’t know dance properly.
The environment lacked seriousness.
Compared to the strong hall cultures elsewhere, we felt like underdogs nobody expected anything from.
And eventually…
we lost.
Badly.
But what hurt wasn’t the ranking.
It was watching my own teammates cry backstage.
Watching people mock Hall 2.
Watching our efforts get dismissed.
That night changed me forever.
Because for the first time, I understood something powerful:
It is easy to become part of something already legendary.
But building something from scratch?
That changes you.
That night, I made myself a promise:
“The day I leave IIT Kanpur, nobody will dare underestimate Hall 2 dance culture again.”
And from that moment onward…it stopped being a competition.
It became personal.
GALAXY’24 — WAR
The months that followed were madness.
Spotting talented freshers.
Building a team from scratch.
Finding songs. Planning concepts.
Practicing endlessly.
I was obsessed.
Obsessed with removing this vulgar image associated with Hall 2 dance.
Obsessed with making people take us seriously.
And life, as always, decided to increase the difficulty level.
This time there were barely any seniors helping us.
No proper choreography support.
No established culture.
It was literally:
“Tu dekh le bhai.”
And somehow…that motivated me even more.
I had grown up idolizing Virat Kohli.
Aggressive leadership, Pressure, Intensity. Belief against impossible odds.
So I embraced the chaos.
There were nights I stayed awake for 3 straight days. Practices till sunrise.
Quizzes and midsems in between.
Managing a horrible CGPA.
Dark circles under my eyes.
Skinny exhausted body running entirely on caffeine, stress and passion.
And strangely…
I was happy.
Because for the first time, I felt like I was building something meaningful.
Not for a resume.
Not for PORs.
Not for validation.
But for legacy.
We lost Galaxy ’24 too.
And yes, I cried again.
But this time?
It didn’t feel like defeat.
Because something had changed.
Hall 2 now suddenly had dancers who believed.
Freshers who wanted to continue.
People who carried hunger.
The hall that once barely had 1-2 Dance Club secies for years suddenly had EIGHT.
And nobody mocked us anymore.
People from other halls themselves said the results felt unfair.
For the first time, Hall 2 earned respect.
And then came Galaxy ’25.
The same juniors we had trained…
the same kids who once knew very little about dance…
went on to win GOLD in Cypher Hustle.
One-sided domination.
Hall 2 shocked everyone.
And I stood there behind them with teary eyes and the heaviest heart imaginable.
Because at that moment I realized:
We didn’t just build a team, We built a culture.
An empire.
From absolutely nothing—
2 coordies, 8 secies.
Then again next year 2 coordies, 9 secies.
And somewhere deep inside, that broken JEE kid from 2021 finally smiled.
Because he had always dreamed of leading people and building something larger than himself.
And somehow…
he actually did it.
THE VOID NOBODY SAW
But while all this was happening externally, internally there was still a huge emptiness inside me.
Friends.
Real friends.
I always imagined college would give me brothers for life.
People with whom life would feel lighter.
Warmer.
Safer.
But for the first two years, I never truly felt that connection.
I had wingies.
I had acquaintances.
I had popularity.
But loneliness can exist even in crowded rooms.
And then life again did what it always does:
it delivered things unexpectedly.
Through a random BSBE lab group.
One random innocent-looking guy walks up to me and casually asks:
“Bhai MT chlega kya?”
I was excited yet
Confused.
But my extrovert and emotionally desperate self immediately agreed to hang out.
That single decision changed my next two years completely.
I entered his Hall 12 wing…
and instantly felt something with the people, I had never experienced before.
Comfort.
Warmth.
Belonging.
It felt like a welcoming home.
He made me believe in myself, cared for me!
His room became my permanent address rather than my own.
Every exam felt easier after that.
I finally had people I would always miss after my college life.
I finally got – My Own Wing,
Not the one counselling service gave me, but the one life gave!
The people there changed my whole personality.
From all-nighters to random gaming sessions.
From every goated wing parties to Goa Holi trips.
From Smash Karts till sunrise to placement prep breakdowns.
From silly stupid talks to mind bending & heart-touching conversations,
Life suddenly became beautiful in a completely different way.
Now I had people who made me feel complete,
Now I had brothers whom i never wanted to say ‘NO’ for anything,
The first two years and last two years of my IIT life honestly feel like two different stories starring two different versions of me.
And for that,
I will forever remain grateful to that one person – My buddy Pushkar.
THE COMEBACK
By the start of third year, reality arrived.
My CGPA had dropped to 5.2.
No major internships.
No exceptional projects.
Average resume.
Placement chances?
Almost dead.
And somehow…
That challenge excited me too.
Around the same phase, life brought back Khushi into my life unexpectedly.
And despite all our fights – and trust me, there were MANY – she became one of the biggest reasons behind my growth.
I carried baggage from past relationships.
Trust issues.
Trauma.
Overthinking.
She experienced love for the first time.
We were different in many ways.
Maybe even incompatible on paper.
But somehow we balanced each other beautifully.
She taught me discipline.
Consistency.
Hard work.
I taught her emotional understanding.
Social confidence.
How to slow down and breathe sometimes.
At the same time, I had finally found my people too.
And slowly, for the first time in years…
my mind became peaceful.
And once mental peace arrived, everything changed.
The guy who never attended classes suddenly started sitting on the first bench.
Making notes.
Recording lectures.
Attending every class seriously.
And surprisingly…
I enjoyed it.
That semester, I scored an SPI of 8.
For someone who struggled to cross 6, it felt unreal.
Slowly the CGPA climbed: 5.2 → 6.85.
Still slightly below 7.
Still imperfect.
But honestly?
I was proud.
Because nobody except me knew how impossible that comeback once felt.
Placements then became another battlefield.
Competing against people with stronger resumes.
Higher CGPAs.
Better branches.
Better internships.
But strangely enough…
I had already visualized myself getting placed.
I kept telling myself:
“Day 3 will be mine.”
And somehow,
exactly on the morning of Day 3-
I got placed.
Again.
Manifestation.
Belief.
Hard work.
The same cycle repeating itself one last time.
AS WE LEAVE…
I did miss out on many things here.
Could’ve become a CTM.
Could’ve gone for major hall PORs.
Could’ve chased titles and positions.
But maybe life knew better.
Because if I had taken those paths,
I might have never met the people who changed me forever.
And today, as I sit here writing this, I realize IIT Kanpur never simply gave me memories.
It rebuilt me.
It took a heartbroken, emotionally exhausted JEE aspirant and slowly transformed him into someone who learned:
how to perform fearlessly,
how to lead,
how to lose,
how to rebuild,
how to love,
how to trust,
And importantly , how to dream again.
And maybe that is what IIT truly means.
Not the degree.
Not the placements.
Not the CPI.
But the version of yourself you accidentally discover while surviving it all.
So if some junior somewhere is reading this years later, let me leave you with this:
There will be moments here when you’ll feel invisible.
Moments when you’ll feel lost.
Moments when everybody around you seems better than you.
But please don’t stop dreaming loudly.
Because sometimes the universe listens.
Sometimes the lonely kid practicing Michael Jackson in front of a mirror at 2 a.m. actually gets his spotlight.
Sometimes a hall everyone laughs at creates champions.
Sometimes a 5.2 CGPA student makes a comeback.
Sometimes strangers become family.
And sometimes…
the life you once imagined while staring at your hostel ceiling quietly becomes reality before you even realize it.
IIT Kanpur gave me stories I will spend my whole life retelling.
And as we leave,
I don’t think we are taking memories away from this campus.
I think we are leaving tiny versions of ourselves behind –
in the corridors,
the wings,
the practice rooms,
the OAT screams,
the late-night canteens,
the empty auditoriums after performances,
and in the people who continue the stories we started.
Thank you IIT Kanpur.
For every heartbreak.
Every miracle.
Every lesson.
Every person.
And thank you to that scared 2021 version of me for not giving up too early.
Because he had absolutely no idea how beautiful life was about to become.
Written by : Nischay Mittal
Edited by : Ankita Narang, Riddhi Shingte
