Jay Gupta is a Y17 undergraduate student from the Department of Economics. He talks about the choices he made during his journey and how his undergraduate days shaped his career.
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.
When I sat down to write my ‘As we leave’, I wanted to start with a quote that could summarise me. However, I couldn’t go through with it because I realised I was a different Jay Gupta every semester. I believe this happens because everything around you, what you choose to do and its outcome, leaves its imprint on you. For instance, almost nobody knows this, but from classes 5-9, I faced continuous verbal harassment from my friends, which made me really pessimistic towards life. But within the first two months of coming to IITK, I realised I was at a place where I could do whatever I wanted to, which gave me a really positive approach towards life. This place had the kind of potential that could make Michael Scott’s statement, “You have no idea how high I can fly”, come true. But, unfortunately, COVID put a stopper to our journey sooner than usual.
The only difference was that we were unaware our entire year was going to get washed away the last time. So, this time, I went back to campus and made sure to relive all the memories — the ground reportings, photography sessions, discussions, movie nights, parties; to put the crux of my time spent in a nutshell to take away with me.
“आप नहीं जानते की आप कहाँ गिरेंगे, मगर जब तक उड़ रहे हैं तब तक तो शौक से उडें!”
“लोगो की न सुने, लोग कुछ तो कहेंगे उनका काम है कहना!”
And I followed it sacredly for the first two years! I tried everything that was possible and seemed interesting. My interests were like rolling stones, which didn’t want to settle! I started with Aeromodelling, which changed into a passion for Robotics when we won the 3rd position in Takneek, which changed to entrepreneurship and then to Management. I realised that engaging yourself in different activities is not only the most fun part about staying on campus, but it actually helps you decide what kind of career you want to pursue.
Unfortunately, our campus community has a problem of following seniors blindly. People tend to choose their goals based on what they have just heard from these seniors and then do everything to achieve them without engraving their own path. But I firmly believe one should always explore things on their own first, and only then choose to do something!
At the end of my 1st year, like everyone else, I thought I knew a lot about the Department of Economics at IITK and started giving excessive advice on counselling forums. Now when I think about this, it was ridiculous! When someone enters IITK, all they think about are placements, packages, etc. I did too. But believe me, getting a job is the smallest thing that I am taking away from IITK. The most important thing that IITK teaches you is ‘the process of learning!’.
Perhaps this is why I don’t get why people in core branches crib so much about poor placement/internship opportunities because belonging to a core branch makes you strong enough to learn everything on your own! I appreciate core branches so much that I regret not to have explored core fields like Robotics and only things pertinent to my branch. Of course, Economics is not an easy, unworthy subject. Still, it’s sad that many people from our department spend their four years without doing much hard work and miss out on learning the temperament required to achieve a bigger output. But let’s not forget,
“If 1 is your output from academics, then each extra 0 ahead of it comes from your extracurriculars”
During my 2nd year, I had multiple PORs, from Students’ Opinion Society Secretary, E-Cell Senior Executive, SPO Company Coordinator, to Techkriti Manager. But for my 3rd year, I chose to stick with SOS, which then was just at its inception. I enjoyed the work and my association at SOS the most and am grateful that I became a part of its journey — from a hobby group to a club! This feeling of happiness that comes with being a part of someone else’s success is by far the best feeling one can have, and IIT Kanpur has been the best place for me to realise this.
Kaam se ishq
कुछ इश्क़ किया कुछ काम किया,
वो लोग बहुत ख़ुश-क़िस्मत थे
जो इश्क़ को काम समझते थे
या काम से आशिक़ी करते थे
Faiz Ahmed
Though I wanted the 3rd line to be true, the 4th one ended up standing closer to the truth.
At the end of my 3rd semester, I had engaged myself in multiple research projects. I think my wing’s environment itself motivated me to explore research. So much so, I ended up doing SURGE during the summers with nearly all my wingies! I was also fortunate enough to have found the perfect work partner. We didn’t know anyone who had actively worked in financial research, so we went to one of the most humble professors (a friend/mentor out of the faculty), and fortunately, he accepted us for one of his long-term projects. We even ended up studying some PhD level courses on our own to understand tens of research papers! Things were difficult to manage then, but working on two research projects was the best part of my professional life. And though my sleep cycle ended up turning into a joke, my wingies, thankfully, made that enjoyable too.
इस सफ़र में नींद ऐसी खो गई
हम न सोए रात थक कर सो गई
I soon realized, while walking around Hall 12 at night, discussing projects, bugs in code, conceptual issues with my friend, research could never tire me. Research is that form entrepreneurship where you need to drive the project with your persistence, passion and energy; where you are not answerable to anyone, but yourself. I ended up getting rewarded too when my papers got accepted at various conferences, including IEEE!
Apni toh yaari atrangi hai re..
“Without them, every achievement is incomplete, and with them, any failure is a success.”
My favourite senior once told me, “You are merely the average of the five people you are most attached to”, and I think that’s very true!
My relationship with my friends was a roller coaster ride! It started with D506, moving on to E511, and lastly, to E606. These were not only my rooms but the wing’s headquarters. Behind these walls, I made some of my fondest memories. From getting the responsibility of bringing everyone together to planning three remarkably optimised trips, I met some bakchod people who, further down the line, I connected with on an emotional level. These people became my mentors, wisest counsellors, human diaries, and my strongest critics. Listening to them, discussing, planning and executing even the smallest things with them was ‘lub’ (Munna bhaiya wala lub).
However, the intern season was the time I realised these guys were my oxygen cylinders. I still remember, a day before my Credit Suisse interview, one of my friends simply hung out in my room to help alleviate anxiety and make me feel comfortable. My favourite senior came to my room at two in the night to take a mock interview, and a friend even threatened not to talk to me if I failed to crack the interview! Another friend could detect my nervousness simply over a phone call, and one of them even came to my interview location, just to give me company!
In my opinion, it indeed was the best feeling to have seen people be happier about your successes than you yourself. Now, though we’re all about to go our separate ways, we know we’ll be there for each other, unfailingly.
Life at IITK is not a fairy tale
Someone said this correctly, “You are the most vulnerable when you are the most comfortable”.
When things in life seemed as though they were sorted, a series of events transpired at the end of my fifth semester, which pushed me back to my dark-old days. I kept questioning myself, had gigantic expectations from others, all the while spreading negativity to everyone close to me. I was constantly irritated and kept pushing people away. Should I call it depression or just an ill-experienced phase of life? I don’t know. But today, I know I will always find someone at IITK who will listen to all of my sorrow-filled depressing thoughts, to my whining and crumbling-downs, without complaining.
Now, as I leave, I have realised that I am the only one who truly knows what kind of life I want to live; to not be driven unknowingly by people around me, even if I have to live alone. A balance must exist between how much you care about other people, and what will be necessary for your personal satiation. (Lol, zyada ho gaya. xD)
Nevertheless, during my journey on campus, I was fortunate enough to have gotten the best hall (Hall 12), the perfect PORs, some remarkable professors, professionally stable partners with lots of connections, the smartest roommate, the most dependable people you could do courses with (that’s why I passed my OEs xD), the best possible senior-cum-mentor, and pals who empathised, inspired and helped me get the best out of myself. At times, I was so afraid of losing these people that, I ended up not taking the full advantage of all of the opportunities that had been offered to me. Nonetheless, this part of my life at IITK was genuine happiness. I am not sad that my journey at IITK is over, because it was the best thing that ever happened to me!
I suppose one of my professors did say it right, “IIT Kanpur is IIT Kanpur not because of the professors, facilities, or infrastructure. It is IIT Kanpur because it has IITians like us. So, believe in yourself, and enjoy!”
IITK ka tempo high hai!
Written by: Jay Gupta
Edited by: Atharva Dehadrya, Namgyal Lhamo Dolma
