Harshit Verma is a graduating Y17 student from the Department of Chemical Engineering. He talks about his 4 years at IIT Kanpur and what he learnt through the semesters at college. Read and find out more about how his journey unfolded!
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.
It was 21st May 2017, after struggling for straight six hours, I somehow managed to write the two sets of JEE Advanced 2017. As soon as, I left the centre it started raining, I was like, did I perform that bad, even God is crying. I reached home, it was 7 in the evening and solutions were out from Resonance. I locked myself in a room, started matching from the physics section, and oops, the first three answers were incorrect. The ache in my heart triggered, blood pressure went up, confidence was in the mantle of the earth, instead, I went on. Then the most dramatic thing happened, I opened “Rank Predictor 2017” xD. Yes. IITR or IITG CSE it is, confidence went to Mars before Elon Musk SpaceX. Now here I am, writing the AWL, Harshit Verma, IITK CHE, well S got replaced by H, no regrets, beautiful memories, a lot to take back. You remember the rain on 21st May, god cried because he was not awarded the bonus marks by IITM xD.
It was a beatific sunny morning, after the rain stormed Kanpur a night before, yes guys, again xD, I do not know what connection this rain has with me. It was the 22nd of July 2017, the day Y17 first time stepped on campus, with a sack full of enthusiasm, hope and excitement. Having read all the funny incidents on Quora, I was excited as well as nervous. To be honest, Chemical Engineering at IIT Kanpur was never a strong preference for me. My family being full of Mechanical Engineers, I was called “Chm-Akal” as a witty remark xD. Being from Kanpur, and having visited the campus multiple times before, an entry into the campus was not that exciting for me, but the excitement was what is kept ahead. The first person I met here was this person whom we called a Baapu. Extremely thin guy, a small blow of air is enough for him to take off, with an extremely gentle voice, standing on the reception, showed me my room D-209 H5, which was FCC packed with two beds, one table, I was like – “Ye kya h, isme kon rhega!”. Now at present, D209 instead of having two beds and one table has an infinite number of memories. The second person I met is not my roomie, instead, a tall guy, taller than me, cleaning his room, I was stunned by his height, “mere se lamba”, and that guy later became one of my closest friends I have at IITK, KreeRonan xD.
On the very first night, the reality of senior-junior interaction kicked in only on my first GBM. The executives of Hall 5 jampacked us in the TV room, locked the door, the atmosphere in the room was made such that in just 5 minutes I felt unconscious, a consequence of not having Lunch and Dinner lmao, and there was like – “uthao isko, kya hogya”, and then my eyes opened in Health Centre, my Bapu and Chacha were there in HC, both shocked. The days of orientation, the Zumba session, and the Harlem Shake competition, well we won the competition, #DMID Forever, was one of the best days that I had spent in IITK.
In the first semester, I had a habit, back from JEE days of extreme competition, due to which I remain unsatisfied with my quiz performance, even though marks were above average, I tried to go to a single concept repeatedly, which in consequence brought a huge lag with the lectures in my courses, henceforth my Midsem performance was drastic. The Midsem event had a huge impact on me and on the top this homesickness was killing me inside, as I have never been away far from my family, I was in a state of anxiety, distress and depression. I started to doubt my capabilities. I used to sit on the OAT rooftop for hours just overthinking about what was going on in my life. I literally remember how I went to each room in my wing, CS Office, those talks with counsellors, telling them my plan to drop IITK, all those crying and stuff that I did. How stupid I was in 1st-year xD, but it is common and is normal, nothing to scream out. It would have been impossible for me, to be who I am at present (frivolous, jubilant, you know this if you have ever interacted with me ) and how I overcame that situation of the first semester if I have been not blessed with such great friends and Bhais in IITK, Lambora, Samu, Amru, Ramji, Bandar, Akshat, Dhamaka, Yadav, TP and many more, and a big, big thank to my Bapu, my hero at IITK, Bharat Jindal, for supporting me throughout my struggle in the first semester. Jayant made a perfect roommate, with whom I share a very special bond. I was now well adjusted to life at IITK and had made lots and lots of good friends. But I did pay the price for it, My Grades! All this chaos, eventually lead to an SPI of 7.56 in the first semester, with a lovely C (called Sikka) in ESC101A xD. Well, Branch Change was not my cup of tea so not that downhearted though with the SPI.
The first year then passed away, and so the dream of Branch Change of almost all the batch students. Those night outs completing TA assignments, Baap Treats (we looted our Baap too much, I recommend you too :P, just call him/her after perusing this xD). This time, in the second semester, I tried my best on academics, with utmost confidence and discipline, being consistent with the lectures (which I guess is the key), I ended up with a fair SPI of 8.8 in the second semester, I still don’t know why there is a course of LIF101A, bitching it, as I lost A grade by 0.5 %, small matters :)). I made peace with the fact that I was going to stay in chemical engineering. In the summers, I stayed back and did a departmental project.
In the second year, I met my so-called CHE Batchmates, especially Aviral, we were about to face all the heat of courses together, and hence we bonded strongly for the tough times that lay ahead. It was time to find a new goal and get my act together. After a small internship that I did in a Nuclear Power Plant in winters, it was crystal clear that my interest lies in Core chemical, and back from then, I pushed my limits to explore my department and the opportunities it offers. I started taking core chemical courses seriously with interest. Things were getting back on track on the academic’s fronts, and I was open to getting involved somewhere on the campus, and then I joined Chemineers.
Halfway into the journey, I was happy, having scored double dassa in the second year (not flaunting xD) maybe it is the product, if you go through things with deep interest, desire, and consistency, you will surely get astonishing results. In conclusion, my grades and CPI improved a lot, having done multiple departmental projects and a core intern, I felt a step closer to getting my dream intern in a reputed core chemical company. On the personal front, I was also spending the golden summertime with my friends, that awesome Goa Trip which we did at the start of summer of 2019 was the best experience for me (I recommend you guys to plan a trip, even planning is fun xD), playing cards, those PUBG night outs, bulla sessions, DPL (cricket), Little did I know that things were going to get pretty bad for me really soon.
When summers of 2019 ended, mighty storms of the intern session were ahead of me because I was applying for core interns only, there were only a few opportunities available for me, ITC, HUL, Reddys and that is it, rest of other companies arrive late. During the intern, on Day 1, I nailed the Group Discussion for ITC quite well, but by some unearthly power, I was unable to crack the GD for HUL. That was the first shock to me, on Day 1 itself, the next day the other breakdown happened, ITC did not qualify a single CHE student, that’s it for Day 1. Everything seems to be over, no core intern, I was devastated. During these tough times, I had constant support and motivation from Aviral. From practising GDs at night after a long busy day to some random debates, I have spent some of my toughest and best moments with them. I feel one should never lose hope and continue believing in himself/herself however adverse the situation becomes because one day surely the hard work pays off and things turn out your way. On 22nd August 2019 came, showcasing the core skills, this time being precautious, I got my internship offer at Dr Reddy’s. After my intern offer, the “Vaastu” of my wing changed, within a week, almost everyone got their internship, I do not know, maybe I was the gamechanger 🙂 xD.
Then, after the intern, things started getting better. We used to go to the morning classes without breakfast, MT used to be our department hangout place after morning classes for important debates on some useless topics, Labs which we just somehow managed to go on time, surprize quizzes at 8 AM in the morning, that I somehow managed to attend. Going to sleep at 4 AM and waking up at 7:50 AM regularly is the most difficult yet exciting thing that campus life offers to you. I just enjoyed the remaining time of the semester with my wingies, playing PUBG, outings, dinners and parties. We all were happy back then, enjoying to the fullest, and then we were struck by CoVID. It was the most unanticipated thing which happened across the campus.
Surviving the pandemic, the online virtual intern, online courses for more than a year, led to a 0.5 increase in eye power, better typing and googling skills and good MooKIT skills xD. We got a truthrevealer32 who made my and my batchmates life like hell xD, still don’t know who he is. Meanwhile, I got the pre-placement offer from Dr Reddys. I got the core professional success I had wanted all through my campus life. Later, we planned a trip to Rajasthan, in December 2020, yes you heard it right – we did a trip in the middle of the pandemic, as to be together and had fun, as we realized that we would be heading home and not back to the campus to finish the final chapter, yet again it was an exciting trip, thanks to god, no one got infected. Kudos to the administration for calling us back in March, although we were sent back home, we lived one and half months on the campus, in those serene rooms with loving friends. We almost lived the whole 4 years of the campus life again and for the last time in those few months. In the short-lived yet fantastic last semester, I reconnected with all my friends and had the most amazing times, badminton, cricket, rubish ki report xD, Mama-Mio, 3 AM bullas, parties, made an excellent full stop to those lovely days.
The journey was sure a rollercoaster ride, it had its ups and downs, it was the people that made the journey possible what it is. The best part of the campus life will surely be the friends that I have made throughout the ride. From making awesome friends in my wing, Rohit, Samarthya, Akshat, Shubham, Sohail, Abhishek, Vikram, to learning and attending CHE classes with Aviral, Anirban, Atishay, and many more, I have enjoyed every moment of the process. To add to the ‘learning’, I am lucky to have a friend like Aviral who not only supported me throughout in those late-night mug ups before endsem but also helped me in taking the proper life decisions xD. Those table discussions in mess will be remembered. It’s a big thank you to IIT Kanpur for being the host and providing me with such career opportunities, skills and the most important the loving friends, which will be together for my whole life. It was unfortunate that I wouldn’t have the entire stay, but this is how experienced is, this is what life is. Coming to end, (if you are still reading a big thankyou ♡) I wish all the upcoming batches enjoy their time, make good friends, expand their interaction circle, talk to seniors, and make their best memories here at IIT Kanpur. IIT Kanpur offers two things one is the degree and the other is the beautiful memories. Take Care! Stay Safe! Goodbye!
Written by: Harshit Verma
Edited by: Tanush Kumar, Aryan Pandeya
