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In this 11th edition of As We Leave, Pragati Agrawal, a Y22 student in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, shares her four-year journey at IITK. She talks about everything from early homesickness and club rejections to late-night lab sessions, spontaneous trips, and finding a lifelong community.Â
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.
A piece of text trying to pour 4 years of my life transforming journey written directly from the heart – read when you have 10 mins of time and a cup of coffee!
Hi there! This is a collection of some memories of my journey at IITK that transformed me. I will be writing it keeping in mind a reader who comes here when they are going through a tough time and think things can’t get better now – maybe a junior or a future me reading it again on some of the bad days we have (c’mon who would have a perfectly happening day and think to go and read some long boring piece of text instead of enjoying their fav hobby!). I hope that I will be able to do justice to everything I learnt here and make you positively believe that if I could, amidst all this, then YOU surely will – and I trust, you’d do better than me!Â
The first semester was more like acclimatising to the new environment, the food, the academics, the people and most importantly the small unfurnished rooms of hall 4. I had never been out of my home since birth and hence this was a very difficult separation for me and my family. This was the first time I saw tears in everyone’s eyes and yet I felt so helpless. The only advice they gave me – was to try every damn thing, do everything I think I can and cannot do (ahh I feel glad now I could live upto this). I took part in almost all the events – Inferno, Takneek, Galaxy, Treasure Hunt, Scavenger Hunt, Freshers (attended but not participated in it, as it was just one week before the first midsem and I wanted to keep my acads firm since beginning)! I also taught at Prayas for 2 months – it was an amazing experience – a feeling of selfless service and charity.
One more thing, I wasn’t on Insta till the end of first sem. I had felt fomo a few times but I wanted to wait and stabilize before socialising more. I was in touch with a Y20 senior of CSE itself, and he had advised me on internships and importance of CPI (one very good habit to excel at a place is to be in contact with seniors who’ve achieved your aspirations – just keep bugging them shamelessly till they respond lol). First sem concluded in a rush and I had made a few good friendships who stayed with me through all good and bad times like the roots of a tree. It was not as good as I had expected in terms of cpi (yeah MTH sucks).Â
Sem Learning: How to sleep alone in a room – I had slept only with family till then and used to dread being alone in the house. Later I spent the entire 4th year in a single room happily!
Second semester was more dramatic for me than others- I had tried hard to get an SnT club or team POR but I got rejected in all of them. I didn’t try in MnC or GnS, but AnC also I got rejected. It had taken a pretty long time of the semester – first doing the summer projects under the clubs and then their secy recruitment tasks and then getting rejected. I was emotionally shattered. All my wingees, friends, everyone was spamming Insta and LinkedIn with their new recruitment and I was all alone on the terrace of Hall 4 crying (that was my fav place in H4). Some say it was because I was from CSE and not very reliable as a secy – I might leave the club under Acad stress. Don’t know how it would have turned otherwise, but now that I look back, I realize why some seniors said to me “it won’t matter”. I might have missed out on connections, gatherings, event management etc, but I could focus on my priorities – intern prep, acads, my close friends and my health. Luckily, I became an SG and AM for counselling service later – maybe it suited my personality more.Â
I went with my friend to rent a cooler for ourselves – my first non-parental step outside campus – to a cooler shop just outside campus gate lol. I got the Academic Excellence Award and an award for female rank opener 2022 from the institute – days when family is proud of us. The days were more enjoyable and happening throughout the semester – h4 ke aam, dinner talks, movie nights, RM days, SL nights, playing cards, park 67, wing outings and many more.
Sem Learning: Enjoying your own company – you can’t always find people to do what you want to do. Just step out, pick your bicycle and go to legit every place you wanted to go and explore. You got limited time when you truly are free and want to enjoy.
As third sem started, the first few weeks went into orientation duties – made some amazing friends there. We had to shift twice within the semester (welcome to Hall 6 my gurl) which was chaotic, tiring, draining – yet fun. We were three roommates and we packed stuff together from H4 to H6 once, then within two months, from floor 1 of hall 6 to floor 5 of hall 6 again. The classes were now branch-wise and it was time to make new friends – people you can attribute your entire degree to. I was extremely lucky to have found someone whose interests aligned with mine – gradually we became inseparable best friends. Some courses required us to form groups which led me to become a part of a great friend group in cse. Amidst the assignments, labs, and projects we had fun time at KD lab, RM canteen, RM fountain, foyer – RM became my home! The pizzas of CS201 night classes, the capacitor blow of ESC lab (we were the only group in our lab to blow a capacitor and grab everyone’s attention xD), the ice-cream break after every lab, the group study sessions, the late night DoAA canteen visits, the first Diwali at campus, the open-internet midsem and take-home endsem of CS201 and the first Dassa – all bestowed in the same semester.
Sem Learning: You must socialize and create a community for yourself wherever you live. Humans are social animals and you need to be on good terms with neighbors and friends to lead a peaceful and happy life. They will come to your rescue even before family can.Â
The next semester’s biggest problem throughout was my EME elective – my first preference – ECO111. I was really bad at it and cried over it throughout the semester. Leaving it, there were more DC courses, two Google step internship interview rounds (and rejection idky), CSE labs and a 10 persons group project. I enjoyed doing CS220 labs and the course caused enlightenment – first course in degree which explains how a computer works, what bits 0 and 1 mean, what is its hardware, software etc – I thoroughly enjoyed it so much that we (I and my best friend) undertook 2 UGPs in the 5th and 6th sem under the same prof. I had officially become an RM dweller by now – 8am to 6pm all classes were at RM. Techkriti with friends, visit to Ganga Barrage, project presentations and a few more eventful days.Â
One gloomy day – my last endsem was on 30th April 8am. 29th night I was studying late night in the KD lab – where I got a strong electric shock and i fell on the ground. I wasn’t able to sleep the whole night – my hands trembling, my vision distorted, my body still in shock. Thank you to my friends who calmed me down that day and made me feel at home <3.Â
Sem Learning: Seniors FTW – the times I faced problems in my college life, it was solved by just one text to a senior. Believe me, they have been in the same steps before us and they would know exactly what would be the best option for any situation. Be it CS253 project or whether to drop ECO111, they always advised me the best. They are always happy to help.Â
The summer after that just drained into rigorous intern prep – daily targets, contests and quant puzzles. I secured an internship from Google before day 1 of internships, but I still wanted to try if I could get to a better company. There were hackathons, competitions, tests and mock rounds all going on during those days. I got shortlisted into a few top HFT firms (my dream since 12th to get into them) and some good SDE ones too. The sad part is that I could not get into any of them – the ones I interviewed for rejected me at the end (that broke me emotionally) and the others I couldn’t attempt (they had left). That day was the worst day I had at IITK, awake till 5am sitting on the stairs of L7 all alone since midnight trying to get placed after 2 rounds of crying, headache, sleep deprivation and zero confidence – I just gave up, decided to intern at Google and went back to my room.Â
Fifth sem started and I tried to convince myself that it is just an internship and Google is a nice company. But all the people around me would make me feel that I could have gotten into top quants – that made me cry even more internally. My dad gifted me a tablet during that time so as to bring me out of depression. My close friends were very supportive during those times – grateful again <3. Acceptance came, gradually. I decided to keep the sem light- so only DC courses + UGP were on my plate.Â
I also had my first college trip with friends – a trip to Shimla, Manali and Kullu – it was awesome. The road travels, the adventures, the food, the people – all of ’em the best. Also learnt to play Mafia there (my gurl gang owes me one for this game). OS labs were a bit traumatic but I was lucky to have him as my partner.Â
Sem Learning: Being an adult, you have to be your own help. Whether your train gets cancelled or your phone breaks during midsems or you are ill or there is an attendance issue or you failed at multiple interviews – at the end of the day you got only yourself.
Sixth sem was heavly overloaded – Compilers, Architecture, Networks, Parallel and UGP-II all together. Made a habit of running in the evening at PE ground – an activity that would give me confidence (+ license to eat junk iykyk xD). Went to NH91 with my friends, plucked sehtoot from RM trees, played cards, UNO, Sonu Nigam’s concert, Amma party, CS dinner – enjoyed them all soo much. Some days were traumatic – like the day our entire compiler project work was scrapped by the professor 20 days before final submission, while others are humbling – like the day our long-stuck UGP code worked (Eureka moment) and we nailed it. Our work provided artifacts and helped get the paper accepted 🙂
Sem Learning: Being unable to defend your opinions or views in a public setting and giving up under pressure – a big NO. Some people you meet might make you feel you are very uncultured or backward in mentality. You might try to do things you don’t feel like just to vibe with and be a part of the group. NEVER. Trust your instincts. True friends are meant to evolve and improve you, while embracing who you are – if it conflicts with your deep inner-self, think again. (My escape out of it has always been talking about it to family, yours may be some close friend/relative too. Their advice will always be for your good)
The next three months I spent interning at Google – it was amazing. Enjoyed my time there with my pg-mates and co-interns A LOT. The food, the facilities, the gym, the massages, the yogurts, everything was just woww. I went to shopping malls, church street, pizza place, cafes, escape rooms, aquarium, movies etc. I won an award at Google for best intern project from Search, but somehow I did not much like the work there – it felt stagnant and growth hindering (depends team to team). I talked to a few seniors and friends and family and decided to sit for placements. Frankly I wanted to give myself another chance after intern season – to get into quants.Â
The grill started. 7th sem was all about getting your dream job – coz now you have declined an offer at hand so you must do better and this time you can’t fail. No excuses. Disciplined days, focussed nights. My first sem where I copied assignments, bunked classes, studied just 2 hours before quizzes, got attendance proxied, left mid-class, dropped a course etc. I read many medium blogs at this time regarding placements, got in touch with a few seniors regarding preference, OAs, company interview experiences anol – really really grateful to them to be soo helpful throughout my placement journey. This was the only time I stayed back in midsem break and the hall felt so lonely – all rooms locked, empty mess, no reason to step out of the room. Special Thanks to my friends for being a constant support during placements – I can’t express what all they have done for me – my dishes, my room cleaning, my laundry, my assignments, my TA duty, bringing me food, medicines, coming to my room and giving words of encouragement, boosting my confidence throughout. Love you all!
I also went to Bangalore in August (some workshop at IISC) and Guwahati (a female CP competition offline finals – IIWCPC) – I got to learn a lot many things there and see new places – yeah I am a travelholic. The sem ended well, I got placed into a top SDE firm. Yeah couldn’t get into quants still, but now I feel for the long term they aren’t that good for me – I have a very outgoing and enjoyable personality, I want to learn, travel, explore – maybe it’s just that the grapes are sour but it is the way it is!
Sem Learning: Don’t stop chasing your dreams and settling into comfort. Once having cleared JEE, do not forget what you truly were and what you want to achieve. Don’t let people tell you that you have got enough or it will be fine or you might not be able to do it. The regret of giving up or not trying is surely heavier than what could go wrong.
After this starts a saga of masti filled days and games filled nights. I went to Goa in December – an ALL GIRLS trip (amidst the Indigo debacle I decided not to cancel plans and trusted that I would reach and comeback somehow – I didn’t know how). There we enjoyed a lottt in the airbnb and the beaches – strengthening bonds i would cherish forever.
Next sem had to be lowest on effort and highest on mastii. I took six courses (I wanted to do honors – but it had 3 HSS-II courses (all as OEs lol), CGS402 and two DEs as they were required for honors) but the academic load was just attending classes (all 10am onwards only 🙂 and studying one day before an exam. So I was having the bestttest semester of college – trip to Jaipur, galentine’s outing, random night game plans, movie plans, divyam pohe, sehtoot, bun makhan, tote bag painting, running, late night walks, cycling, photoshoot, strawberry yogurt, banana chips, farewell, DE, drams play, terrace visits, cafe hopping, Hall 1 ki baraat, scribble day, chaat, standup show and abhinandan – every day was happening.Â
A dream came true – I performed on stage – sung solo and duo the songs Saibo and Channa Mereya for the first time in my life LIVE. I also danced as a performance for the first time! These days are because I would miss these people and the place so much for life.Â
Ending my college journey with my favourite quote:
“Life is like a bicycle, to keep your balance you must keep moving!“
Written by: Pragati Agrawal
Edited by: Tulip Khatri, Shruti Sahu
