Anuj Shah is a Y17 graduating student from the Material Science & Engineering department. He presents his journey through academics, careers and extracurriculars over the course of his 4 years at IITK.
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.
And things will mellow. And all this love will turn to friendship, tinged forever. After that, there will be only accidental meetings, a stray email, a long-lost text. Bojack…you all right?
I was watching Bojack Horseman, and we received an email from the DoSA office:
Keeping in view the well-being of the students, the Institute has mandated the UG students to leave the campus by 5 PM Monday (April 26th).
We were forced to pack up our college experience in less than a week and leave the college that we’ve spent years making our home in the midst of one of the most uncertain times of our generation. It was for the first time it hit me that we have to leave this beautiful place and never meet these people again. I felt nostalgic about the area, which had become home to many of us for four (3 years to be specific, credit to the person who ate bat soup 🙁 ) years. Four years have come and gone in the blink of an eye, and here I am writing “As We Leave” as a graduating senior. Four years ago, it felt like we had all the time in the world to figure everything out. Those years have passed, and here we are, ready to face the real world as a grown-up.
When I walked in as a fresher, “I knew exactly what to do, but in a much more real sense I had no idea what to do.” ( pardon me if I quote too much from “The Office”, but it is the best show ever and watch it if you still haven’t). I entered IITK with the pretty common mindset of “branch hierarchy.” Choosing IITK was easy for me as at my rank, for a “better institute,” you had to compromise on the branch. Plus, I had heard that IITK offered more flexibility in its curriculum and that MSE here is one of the best in the nation. So the plan was simple: To study hard and get a branch change and at the same time explore all the opportunities that the campus provided.
The first semester in college is like rewinding to childhood, where everything seemed fascinating, awe-inspiring and full of mystique. We were warmly welcomed to the college by the CS team. Instructions, orientations, and fun began soon after. This sem of your IITK life is meant for exploring and experimenting. I made new friends, tried out new sports, picked up new activities—basically did everything that I was unable to during my JEE preparation. I tried my best to learn and score well in every class while also trying to be part of multiple societies and participating in every workshop or talk. I even tried to mingle with various seniors to “network” ( which sometimes backfired). I remember once I asked one of the HEC members to act in our short movie for the ART105 course stating “natural lagega” He was like “, Apne baap se acting karaega”, and screamed at the top of his lungs, roaring the widespread cuss words. I was horrified, but now that I recall this memory, it always brings a smile to my face, and I feel lucky to have experienced this phase of IITK. The bond that was formed with the seniors while “interacting” was something that would remain forever. These were the same seniors who helped me in my 4 years whenever I was in doubt.
Then there were my wingies who turned to family in no time. Somewhere between “ How will I SHARE MY ROOM WITH 2 people !!” to “How will I live alone in a room” ….we learnt to share our lives!
We gathered in the common area at 9 o’clock sharp and played LOCO, a trivia game. The sheer happiness and the satisfaction of winning that small amount of money was priceless. I was charmed by the kind of solidarity that developed among us. This solidarity resulted from sticking with each other through some hard times or even being around to drive a lizard out of a friend’s room.
While trying to participate in everything that came constantly, I realised that I wasn’t able to excel in anything. My so-called “simple” plan of doing a branch change had failed, and I ended up with an SPI of 8.1 ( decent enough but inadequate to do a branch change). Through that semester, I realised the importance of prioritising and time management. It taught me that sometimes it’s okay to prepare less for an exam if it means giving your best in some CP contest. However, there will also be situations when it’s essential to prepare for that quiz rather than cheer for your hall in galaxy performance. It is making these decisions and continuously balancing your time amongst academics, extra-curriculars, friends and responsibilities. That was my first prized lesson from IITK.
I made peace with the fact that I was going to stay in Materials Science and engineering. By the start of my second semester, I was pretty convinced that I had to do coding ( thanks to ESC101 and my wingmates who introduced me to CP and online learning resources). I was lucky enough to get internships in my first and second year summers. These internships helped me decide what I wanted to pursue as a career. Over the next 4 semesters, I learnt a few things which I’ll like to share:
1)Figure yourself out College is the time many following people find out who they are, me being one of them. You will make mistakes, but you must learn from them. Take this piece seriously; finding yourself is one of the most important things you’ll do in life.
2) Don’t treat your CPI like a life and death situation. I know that you don’t accept anything other than an A, but sometimes your best effort might fall below the mark. Don’t let your grade mania destroy the meaning of what you’re learning. Soak in the knowledge, try your absolute best, and you will get what you deserve.
3) Have more fun! Don’t wear yourself down to the point of having no energy to go out with your friends or to go to that cool event that only comes to campus once. You will remember the memories made with your friends and those once in a lifetime experiences
4)”Given a 10% chance of a 100 times payoff, you should take that bet every time.”
I vividly remember 10th August 2019, Day 1 of the Internship season, when I was shortlisted for an interview with Goldman Sachs. As told by most of the seniors that MSE students never get a day 1 intern, I felt lucky as I would at least get to experience the coveted “day 1 hype”. The day turned out to be the best day of my life till now. I went to the interview and gave it naturally and calmly because, during the entire duration, I had in my mind that I was going to be rejected. I gave two rounds of interviews before lunch, and after that, we were told to leave. I will be deluding If I know that I wasn’t expecting a call for the third round. But after waiting till 2 pm, I felt that this was it for the day and decided to sleep. At 3:15 PM, I got a call from one of the IC that your third round is scheduled in 15 mins and asked me to report to LHC. I was still half asleep and couldn’t believe it. I somehow changed my clothes and reached LHC within 15 mins in the scorching heat. Now the pressure and anxiety were getting over me. Each minute felt like an hour. I was constantly discussing with my wingies the concepts or questions that they might ask. After spending nearly 2 hours waiting, one of the company representatives came and informed us that they had already selected the candidates and we all could leave. This came as a shock to me because I was waiting for an interview but left satisfied that I at least got an opportunity to be interviewed on day 1, and this experience would help me in future. Things went pretty standard after this. Me and Vaibhav, one of my wingmates, were going to our room after dinner and all of a sudden, I received a call from an IC, who was a friend, and he said, “ Bhai 1 lakh ke kitne % ki party dega ”. I got numb for a moment and couldn’t speak for a minute.
I have included this day in this article because this was the best day of my college life and holds a special place in my heart. Also, I learnt a lesson that can be very helpful in your stay at IIT Kanpur, and that is the power of positivity. Sometimes the things you want most to happen, don’t happen. And sometimes the something you never expect to happen does indeed happen. Wins are sweeter when the odds are low and stakes are high.
To all non-circuital branch students, you may have heard that getting an intern or placement is difficult. It’s true, but I’ll just say that the probability isn’t zero. Always give it a try. This holds for almost everything that you want to do in your life. There would always be people/statistics telling you that this is beyond your reach or isn’t meant for you. But to achieve it, you only need one person’s belief, and that is you. If you believe in yourself, just give it a try because as Michael Scott quotes Wayne Gretsky“‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.’” There is no absolute right or wrong when you decide. Just try your best not to regret this choice you made. From my experience, I can say, life is not linear. Every decision you make will only set you on the path of progress.
After getting an internship, I had ample time to explore new realms and thus decided to be a part of the Techkriti Core team as Head Web & App. Being a part of the core team gave me the best of my times, be it the experiences of the learning opportunities through the work or the bond I have with some of my friends. It pulled me out of my shell and moulded me into a guy who went on to explore all the “non-trivial” stuff. It was these people with whom I experienced the Friday Nights and the best of “trips” 😛
Then Covid-19 hit, and Techkriti’20 got cancelled, virtual internships and attending zoom calls became normal. This Corona didn’t taste bad; it just completely removed the sense of taste. This virus may have robbed us of our senior year, but it did not rob us of our happiness. I got to find some of my best friends who I can say would remain with me for the rest of my life. Friends that I know will always be there for me and bend over backwards for me. A special thanks to Sunit, Raghav, Nimish, Vaibhav, Gavish, Ananya and Prakhar, without whom I cannot imagine my campus life. The lockdown made me realise life is precious & that nothing/no one should be taken for granted.
Our batch got lucky, and we indeed got a month to relive all the moments, have those weird photoshoots and tick off all the things that remained on the IITK bucket list. This one month made me realise to party hard while you still can. Because once you go out of the campus, you are going to miss those carefree days. You’ll miss those final over drama with over 100+ people watching together in Lala ji’s canteen, that late-night mafia or poker games which would end up with some silly fight, those high drama cricket matches that you played in your wing where even scoring 10 runs was celebrated as a century, those bulla sessions in someone’s room who we forcefully entered and refused to vacate until the following day ( kyunki ab soye to breakfast miss ho jaega :P), those multiple rounds of GPL that you got from your squad after getting your internship, those gratuitous roaming around campus discussing grand philosophical theories derived by one of your friend, those sitting in front of the laptop to request a course at 2 PM only to see server error, those Friday afternoon lunch or Saturday breakfast and the list can go on because the memories made in these 4 years are countless.
“I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.”
Andy Bernard, The Office
…. As cliche as it may sound, believe me, this line hits hard when you realise that you have to leave this beautiful place.
As We leave, the song is ending, but the melody will continue to linger on for a long time!
Written by: Anuj Shah
Edited by: Ahmad Amaan Jafri, Aryan Pandeya
