As We Leave #10: A Lifetime in 4 Years.

Rishab Agarwal is a Y17 graduating student from the Mathematics and Scientific Computing department. He presents an account of his stay and his trysts with both academic and non-academic choices.

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.

I still remember how excited I was before joining college. Having done my share of research about the campus through YouTube videos, I desperately waited for 22nd July. Every second felt like moments before your final examination. Finally, the day arrived, and I experienced my first 24 hours on the campus that I didn’t know would give me great memories and become so close to my heart. I opted for Mathematics as I knew that it would be a lot different from what I had studied previously. Revelation time: I haven’t regretted my decision to date. 

I can’t thank this place enough. Four years on this campus helped me gain maturity and taught me to face hardships with confidence.  This place added a lot more to my intellect and brushed up my personality as well.

My journey at IITK was like that of a piano with white and black keys. Happiness and sorrow both took turns and made me dance to their tune. Although I regret some of the decisions I took here, all in all, it all added up to the treasure box of the incredible experience of my life.

When I stepped onto the campus, I was an introvert but still got lucky enough to make lifelong friends in the first few weeks itself. I still remember how during my first year, all our wingmates would gather in a room to play mini-militia, pick to play cricket on weekends and also to go out at times to grab a bite, booking a massive table for 32. We had loads of fun during all the wing activities, especially during the Harlem shake video. During the fests in the first year, our wing would always gang out to hang out together.

During my first year, though I didn’t know many people, I wanted to contest for the senate elections and hit a try. I knew there were high chances of losing, but I also knew that I would regret it if I  don’t give it a try. I worked hard on my manifesto but still had an instilled fear of presenting it in front of a big unknown crowd. My wingies, especially Pranav and Manish, helped me prepare and had more confidence than I could ever have in myself. Finally, the results were out, and I was elected. 

The second-year was the happiest year of my life as everything worked out the way I had expected. The sun always shone, and there were no worries. I was performing well in academics and enjoyed college at my best. Sleepless nights during  Antaragni is something that I will always cherish. I met and conversed with new people playing dumb charades, singing, dancing etc. My friends and I successfully went on a trip to Goa (without cancelling the plan this time xD), and my brother joined us too. I had also managed to get an internship in the second year as I was very excited to work for a company and gain some corporate experience. Moreover, I was on cloud nine for being in a relationship for the first time in my life.

A wise man once said, “Life is best lived and enjoyed if the odds of life are faced boldly and fearlessly”, and little did I know that I would have to learn that lesson quicker than I could fathom.

The third-year was the most challenging year that I had to go through. I got overstressed on trivial things when things weren’t smooth. The year started with spo internship season as I had prepared a lot for it. My relationship ended roughly. I felt very lonely during the time, blaming rough patches in life for being so harsh on me. Further, I was overburdened with pressure and nervousness when I couldn’t get any internship offer in the first two days: a broken relationship and the perpetual menace of “ log kya kahenge” caught up with me. I  got depressed, and my health started deteriorating. I had trouble sleeping and also had a panic attack on campus. My family was worried about me. I decided to approach a counsellor who helped me understand my feelings. I won’t be doing justice if I don’t thank my friends Atharv Tyagi and Himanshu Gupta enough, who helped me immensely, and Mudreka Arif helped me a lot in academics. My anger issues escalated, and I mainly started avoiding people. As they say, everything heals with time, so it did in my case. Eventually and gradually, everything got healed, and at the end of the day, it all made me stronger.

I managed to get a good internship opportunity and got happy about it, but I was informed that it was cancelled as I was about to join my internship. All my friends joined good companies while I failed to do anything productive that summer. It was quite a saddening episode for me. But life moves on, and so do we.

I didn’t want to face placement pressure at the time, so I converted my degree to a dual program (though I didn’t want to do it) and secured an internship in a company that I wanted. I was pretty confident of landing an excellent off-campus full-time offer and dropping my dual degree program. So, initially, I went on with my plan.

I started applying off-campus and was able to get two very good job offers (better than I thought I could muster). My senior, Himanshu Gupta, helped me a lot during the process by motivating me in my lows, helping me prepare and connecting me with all his friends in good companies.

Since then, my life has been a lot happier. I feel more confident in life than ever. I owe a lot to Himanshu and Pranav, who constantly stood by me.

IIT Kanpur always helped me explore my inner self further, and now I know that,

to me, staying happy was never about being successful, getting the perfect job or having an excellent ideal relationship but following my heart, exploring new things, and prioritising taking care of myself over anything else.

My advice to anyone out there would be academics is important but not as much as sacrificing your college life for fun. One should always maintain a healthy balance between fun and academics. No matter how challenging the circumstances are, it’s always important to know that the hardships are only a part of the game (JEE taught us that). We need to believe in ourselves and a few fools like us that we find in this journey and cherish as friends to come out of these hardships stronger than ever.

Lastly, I want to thank myself for not giving up on every stage and trying to keep an optimistic approach in life, which I feel is the most essential element of my story.

Written by: Rishab Agarwal

Edited by: Tulika Shukla, Aryan Pandeya