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In the 33rd edition of As We Leave 2026, Moni Dutt, a Y22 student, takes us through her bittersweet four-year journey at IITK, a real-life Bollywood movie filled with unexpected plot twists and immense character development. From her early days of existential dread and serving as an enthusiastic Student Guide, she goes on to find a family and comfort zone within the Finance and Analytics Club (FAC). She candidly shares her memorable campus moments, from leading the Shauryas during Takneek and surviving a hilarious 4th-semester end-sem alarm mishap, to navigating the high-stress intern and placement seasons that culminated in a Day 1.1 success. Concluding her final semester with newfound grounding at Prayas, she looks back at the sprawling scrapbook of ordinary moments that quietly became her entire world.She concludes her 8th semester, realising that she had built a new life for herself here in these past few years and how the reality of leaving hits much harder than expected.
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.
How do you begin to write about a place that has legal ownership of your late night sanity, your absolute favorite people, and a version of you that you’re not ready to leave behind? Yes that’s IITK for me
After multiple attempts of trying, writing, erasing, and then staring at the same blank page again,I realised writing AWL is a difficult thing for how do I pack all my experiences and memories in just a few pages.
I have always been a big fan of AWLs. Since my first year, I used to look forward to reading them -the nostalgia, the honesty, the way people somehow managed to fit years of memories into a few pages. Every year, I read them with excitement, except this time.
Because this time, it is my turn to write one.
And guess what? No matter how many times you watch the ending coming, you are never truly ready for your favourite movie to end. Every time I sit down to think about what to write, I get filled with emotions I don’t know how to name. I always knew leaving college would be hard, but I never imagined it would feel like such a big void.
It’s funny, because I still remember crying on my third day on campus, wondering when I would finally leave this place(in my defense it was my first time living away from my home). Back then, IITK felt too new, too unfamiliar, too far from everything I knew. I still remember my family saying, “Kuch time baad vaha se aate waqt royegi.”Couldn’t be more true.
To all the first years reading this: you are going to look back at your initial existential dread and laugh your head off. I used to wonder why people felt so much love for their college. Until it was my turn.
My college life was not extraordinary but it was everything. It felt like a Bollywood movie, just very different from the one I had imagined before coming here. There was chaos, drama, a few unnecessary plot twists, plenty of character development,questionable decisions, and somehow, a happy ending.
Still figuring whether i should write my firsts or lasts in the campus cuz honestly each and every event in this campus had its own importance. I feel writing my AWL is the last thing that is connecting me to my campus.Without wasting your further time, I’m gonna start this not so perfect movie hoping you’ll find a piece of yourself in it:)
The IITK Teaser:
I still remember being awestruck by the campus in the beginning. Coming from Kanpur to IIT Kanpur sounds like it should not be that big a transition, but somehow it was.(let’s be real, IIT Kanpur is the best Kanpur:)) The campus felt huge, beautiful, and a little intimidating. The roads, the trees, the hostels, the silence, the sudden rush during events , everything felt new.
I’m not going to lie, I had too many expectations from college like everyone else, maybe due to the fact how deeply Bollywood coded or maybe delusional person I’m. Instead, one week into the campus, I realized reality didn’t match my bucket list. I have never been an introvert my whole life, so I assumed making friends would be an easy task.
Spoiler alert: It wasn’t.
Although one thing I realised over these 4 years is that you eventually find out your people and trust me when you do, you don’t wanna let them go.
Y22 was the first batch to experience campus life normally right from the beginning without any COVID restrictions lagging in the background, so you can only imagine the kind of enthu we brought to orientation (enthu was def never a problem for our batch:)),so obviously, we
had a blast during orientation.( It was also one of the many reasons I ended up becoming an SG later. It was definitely one of the best 10 days of college-from shouting “cover the gap!” to enjoying Zumba night with fellow SG friends, everything still feels fresh )
The first few months were all about figuring things out and exploring new places: understanding the concept of night outs, having fried Maggi at DOAA( yes, the OG DOAA canteen we all miss now :p), learning names, forgetting names, and trying to make new friends without making it look like we were trying too hard. Also trying our best to get >0 in MTH 111(Ganguly haters assemble)
It wasn’t like I found my people in one dramatic Bollywood scene. It happened quietly.
That is the thing about college friendships. They don’t always begin with a big moment. Sometimes they begin because you sat near someone in ethics class, walked with someone to watch a Galaxy performance, met during orientation or a fest,or through clubs or ranted over some common RR so stupid that it somehow became a foundation. At that time, none of these moments felt important. They were just normal first year things. But now, when I look back, these were probably the first small scenes that made IITK feel a little less unfamiliar and a little more mine.
The Character Development Arc :
Looking back, a lot of my college story can be traced back to one habit: saying yes to things I had absolutely no business being confident about and getting involved in so many things in second year but maintaining priority(be it FAC, book club or any other commitments). I still remember my nervous self going to solve the FAC PS during takneek, without knowing the F of finance.
It turned out to be one of the best decisions I made in college. FAC did not just give me a council; it gave me a family, and memories I will cherish forever. I, for one, was definitely blessed to have the best seniors around. (One pro tip: always go annoy your seniors, though not too much:), atleast I always did annoy a few of them a lot). You never know when they’ll become the people listening to all your BTS, rants, intern stress, placement drama, and everything in between. If you guys are reading this thank you for surviving all of it till now.
FAC was always fun(both tenures) , from planning events to enjoying parties, too many of them honestly, to realizing how fast time passed when all of us were together. The fun banters within the team, the endless gossip with my Y22s, seniors and even juniors (they were one of the reasons i always had so many gossips), the chaos before events, and the comfort of knowing there were people around who had your back ,all of it became a very special part of my college life.Looking back, FAC was never just about finance or events for me. It was always about the people and will always be<3.
FAC meetings that we really enjoyed:)
One experience that stayed with me, and honestly made me a little sad, was Takneek, when I was the hall cap of Shauryas.No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t really convince enough girls that we were no less than anyone here. That hesitation was always there- whether it was the fear of being judged, the fear of not being good enough, or just the feeling that maybe this space wasn’t meant for us. And I get it. Most of us are unsure in some way or the other. None of us come here knowing everything or being confident in every room we enter. But somewhere, I wish more of us had allowed ourselves to try. Not to prove a point. Not to win everything. Just to experience things, mess up, learn, and maybe surprise ourselves a little. Because looking back, most of the things I’m glad I did, started with me not being fully sure either.(I really hope Shauryas win Takneek soon :))
If you’re bored of my POR stories then here is the mandatory dramatic plot twist for your entertainment. The one that feels like a Shakespearean tragedy when it happens, but turns into peak comedy over drinks later.
One such memory takes me to 4th sem.
After pulling three consecutive all nighters, I decided to take a small nap before my end sem.
(ik it’s a terrible idea, but being a person who always wakes up on first alarm,
I had full faith in myself )But these were not normal circumstances.Apparently I was also responsible for waking up my roommate for the exam.So naturally, the universe decided to test both of us at once.For reasons that remain a mystery to this day, my alarm simply didn’t ring. My phone wasn’t on silent. The alarm was set correctly. Everything looked perfectly fine.Except I realised my ringtone had some issue and decided that this was the perfect day to stop working.Out of the almost 1320 days I spent in college, my alarm chose violence on that particular morning.
The result?
Both of us overslept, we woke up to every student’s worst nightmare.
The exam had already started. Actually, by the time we fully processed what was happening, there were barely 20 minutes left.There was panic.There was regret. There was a brief phase of staring at the phone as if it had personally betrayed us.
And then, in true Bollywood climax fashion, we ran to the exam hall.I somehow made it there with around 20 minutes left, wrote whatever my sleep deprived brain could come up with, submitted the paper, and left with absolutely zero expectations. At that point, survival was the only objective.
The funniest part?
I still managed to get a handful of marks.
Not enough to call it a success but also not bad enough to call it a complete disaster. So yes, don’t be so hard on yourselves during exams, take rest whenever required.
I genuinely believed oversleeping through an end sem would remain the most horrifying academic story of my college life. I was wrong. The writers of this movie clearly felt I hadn’t struggled enough. Like every bollywood movie has a few recurring villains, ours had some too. Most of them assigned grades. Among them, one course taught by Kaistha sir deserves a special mention. If you’ve taken it, no explanation needed. If you haven’t, congratulations.
It’s so strange that college has this talent of turning your most traumatic moments into the funniest stories later.
The Climax:Dreadful arc of intern and placement
We can’t talk about IITK without addressing the intern and placement season. The intern season was surprisingly gentle to me(comparatively),although I remember crying the whole night just before my interviews(cuz believe me even though people here thought i was a confident person, i had my own sessions of breakdowns& self doubt and that too very frequently and this place can crush your confidence like nothing else but it’s your job to not let it win). I majorly prepared for finance and consult (yeah ik consult was never an option bcoz cpi:/). Honestly there were two reasons for this:
- I hated coding, still do (but that should never be the reason to skip, honestly i tried but i was too bad that i felt i was wasting my time)
- I literally enjoyed finance and had a hope only from there in case I get an intern
I never really thought I would land a Day 1 intern at JP Morgan, until I did(again thanks to FAC here).You really don’t need to panic if you don’t get a Day 1 intern, or even an intern at all. Intern season and placement season are very different movie genres.
One thing internships make us realise is the freedom and comfort of college life. Coming back after intern, with a whole familiar batch gone and a new batch arriving. The chances of seeing familiar faces in the campus decreasing exponentially over time. And the feeling of you being the seniormost batch takes time to sink in.
Placement season felt like a long, long journey. I was waiting for my PPO results, and because of that, I almost wasted a month before properly starting my prep. Eventually, I had to begin the thing I had been procrastinating for way too long. So yes, one small tip: start preparing for placements before your PPO results. Future you will thank you. And weirdly enough, I am somehow grateful for placements too. Not because it was easy, because it definitely was not, but because it showed me the real connections I had made here.
On Day 1 of placements, the air on campus is thick with anxiety. The stress is everywhere- in rooms, corridors, calls, texts, and even in people’s faces. Placement season is probably the one time that makes you realize the actual importance of the friendships and connections you build in college. I still remember my wingies, my friends, and even a few juniors running here and there for me on Day 1.After multiple interviews, I finally got sorted on 1.1, and yes, there was relief. A lot of relief.But it does not fully end there. Because then you start looking around for your friends. You start praying they get placed as soon as possible. You refresh updates, ask around, wait for messages, and feel every bit of their stress too.
I remember things got so intense that it honestly turned into a full Bollywood movie. On day 3, when one of my friends got stuck in what felt like an endless interview loop. By that point, luck had not exactly been on our side. One rejection after another, one disappointment after another, and things were looking so bleak that we had almost given up hope. The vibe was heavy, the energy was low, and we didn’t know what to do. So, what did the rest of the group do? They literally ran to the temple right then and there, aggressively praying for a miracle while she was still inside the interview room. It sounds incredibly dramatic, but in that moment, it was our absolute reality. And somehow, against all the odds, she got that job.
The amount of happiness in that moment was unreal. People who had been stressed for hours suddenly remembered how to smile. It felt like we had all gotten placed together.
That was when I realized college was never just about my own journey. Somewhere along the way, their happiness and relief started mattering just as much as mine.
Pillars behind placements. Don’t have pictures with others
Happy ending: The lasts of everything
Seeing Y21s leaving and realising the next turn would be ours was already hard. Idr how one year went too fast. Last sem was beautiful in its own ways, maybe because everything had started feeling like a countdown, we did everything that we imagined doing in our final years.Enjoying fest as much as we could. Everything was bittersweet this time cuz deep down we knew this is the last time we are doing all of this together. Not saying no to any plan, convincing and manipulating others to join us in that plan. Be it a random cooking sesh, late night walks, playing random ass games in the name of bakchodi, doing n number of parties,painting, we did it all. I think the one thing I will always love about IITK : this place gives you enough chances to have fun, especially in the last few months ,from photoshoots to DE, scribble day to abhinandan, testimonials and what not , each and every event in itself was enough to bring tears in our eyes. I’m glad we showed up for plans, clicked too many pictures, made those cringe reels,laughed at things that made no sense, stayed out longer than we should have, and made the kind of memories that will probably hurt a little later.
Last sem shenanigans, sorry i had too many photos :p
I’m also happy that i finally joined prayas too in the last sem(something which i wanted to do way earlier), the people there are so warm it never felt that i’ve only known this place only for a sem. This is the place where you’ll receive more love than you give.The home visits were a profoundly grounding experience.
Pro tip for the Prayas Farewell: Prayas farewell is the best. Don’t forget to keep a handkerchief with you on farewell. Actually, keep extra too, because your students will probably need it more than you 🙂
Was never ready for the love I received here🥹
Maybe that is what the last sem did. It made every small thing feel big. Every plan, every goodbye, every photo, every random walk, carried the weight of being one of the last few.
Maybe that’s why it felt like a happy ending. Not because everything was perfect. But because we got to share it with the right people.
Deleted Scenes: Things I learnt along the way.
If there is some senior gyan I can give without sounding too much like a senior, it would be this: don’t wait for college life to become perfect before you start living it. Maybe cuz it’ll never seem perfect to you until it’s over.
- Say yes to things. Not blindly, not at the cost of yourself, but enough to surprise yourself. Make new hobbies, join diff clubs for the sake of exploring. Participate even when you’re not sure you’ll be good at it.
- Go on random walks for you’ll not get such a beautiful place ever again (especially that hall 6 k piche wala rasta, yes that one near the director’s bungalow). Don’t blame me if you get lost
Pro tip: If the SIS guards catch you, look bewildered, tell them you’re lost & looking for Kargil, and ask for directions. Works like a charm every time:)
Walk!Walk!Walk!
- Explore every rooftop you can, because every rooftop on this campus will give you a different story. And yes, each being special in its own ways
- Be vulnerable, be kind. Show emotions. You don’t know what the other person is going through. Help others and ask for help as well without any shame(remember this).
- Be confident. (Understand the diff btw confidence and over confidence, learnt it in an interview:p)
- Never ever fuck your first sem cpi(ik it’s too late for this gyaan)
- Reach out to your seniors, they are a lil more experienced than you’re:)
- Most imp one:Stop comparing your timeline to the person next to you. This place isn’t a bed of roses but one day when you’ll look back, you will only be able to remember good moments. Enjoy it while you can
Picture Abhi Baaki Hai: Some stories don’t really end…
When I look back now, I don’t think I have one big story to tell. I don’t have a perfect arc, a dramatic plot twist, or a neatly written ending and it’s fine.
What I have is a sprawling scrapbook of small, ordinary moments filled with mostly sweet and some sour memories which were also important, else how will we appreciate the beauty of our happy endings?
Random 2 am walks, the gossip after meetings, the panic before deadlines, the rants, the bulla session,the blurry group photos. They don’t feel important while they’re happening. But one day, while writing your AWL, you’ll realize those were the moments you were trying to hold on to all along.
And maybe that is enough.
Maybe college was never supposed to be one extraordinary story. Maybe it was always supposed to be a collection of small, ordinary moments that quietly became everything.
When I first came to IITK, I was expecting a Bollywood movie and a fairy tale.
Instead, what I got was four years of random plotlines, questionable decisions, unexpected friendships, academic jump scares, recurring characters, and enough emotional damage to qualify as character development. I do have my regrets and what ifs situation but honestly, I wouldn’t have written it any other way for it has shaped me in what kind of person I’m now.
IITK, you were not always easy. You were confusing, overwhelming, exhausting, random, and sometimes too much.
But you were home.
IITK taught me one thing and it’s that life isn’t a movie with a perfect climax.Writing this AWL made me realise: ‘Yaadein mithai ke dibbe ki tarah hoti hain… ek baar khula, toh sirf ek tukda nahi kha paoge.’ Thank you, IITK, for filling my box with the sweetest ones.
Acknowledgements:Credit Where It’s Due
A movie is nothing without its production crew, its co-stars, and the people who hold the safety nets just out of frame.
- To the Y22 Batch: The most energetic, restriction-free, chaotic group of people for giving this campus some blasting and epic stories(iykyk)
- To FAC: My unasked family, seniors, juniors, my co-cordies and friends i gained cuz of this club
- To My Day 1 constants: My wingies, closest friends with weirdass group names lol(which should not be disclosed, hehe), without whom this place wouldn’t be the same. You’ll always have a special place in my hear
- To IIT Kanpur: For the rooftops, the walks, the memorable fests and the harsh lessons. None of it would have been possible without you.
As I end this AWL I realise, the lights in the corridors will stay on, the cycles will still rush past DOAA, and someone else will get lost in this campus. The campus will move on, but a part of us will always remain right here, frozen in the best four years of our lives.
Written By: Moni Dutt
Edited By: Kashish Varshney, Pratyush Sandhwar
