OK, finally, comes the time of your campus life when you try to recollect your memories and just want to relive them all over again, forgetting about the Vox deadlines. You try to compress all of your experiences and learning into a brief article. It’s really tough. This is the story of a guy who started confused, gained some clarity, and eventually cultivated his own path on campus.
By the way, I am Kumar Ashish Raj, a dual-degree Y17 student. Some of you may recognize me from Prayas, the Design and Animation Club, or as a Chemical Engineering Undergrad. Just a typical guy who loves to explore campus life tries a lot of things, fails at a lot of things, makes some really good friends, and is on a journey to find things he really cares about.
Well, I tried to become a student guide (bapu) for 6-8 freshers by the end of my first year. Instead, I ended up being a guide for 120 students at Prayas. When I could not get into Antaragni Core Team, my passion for design led me to co-found the Design and Animation Club. Furthermore, when I couldn’t get a third-year summer internship from the SPO, I started my own design freelancing business. I weighed 92 kgs once due to poor eating habits. But now, after developing a healthy lifestyle, I weigh 75! The point is,
“There will be times when you’ll think that all the doors are closed for you. But every failure opens a new door to something beautiful. “
It was July 22nd, 2017 when I entered the premises of Hall V with great ambitions to explore the most beautiful campus I had ever seen. I met two people, Srivar Burla (my roomie) and Aditya Shivaji Yamulwad, who would go on to become my best buds for years to come. I wanted to explore as many things as I could on the campus full of varied prospects (academic and non-academic). First-year is the time when you learn how to prioritize things out of the multiple things that keep on happening simultaneously.
I started my exploration with the dance club for the freshers’ dance. Even today, when I hear “tenu suit suit karda” I just pause for a bit and smile. After that, the Takneek started, where different SNT clubs started hoisting sessions. I explored Speed Cubing and the Electronics Club and stayed there for the whole year.
Then I joined Antaragni’s design team which rekindled my love for designing and photoshop. Then came The Galaxy, where I learned a lot just by participating in Fine Arts and Photoshop events. I remember the big backdrop that we worked on for weeks in the hall V Multipurpose room that was finally installed on the gate of OAT. It was the first time I witnessed the unity of a hall where everyone was trying their best to win a particular trophy and, in the process, learning new skills and making new friends.
My journey to the Prayas Room
I stayed at the campus for the summers for the SNT project under E-Club, a graphic design internship, Antaragni, and Fine Arts Club. Then came a day that literally changed my life and my priorities. Shobit Jagga (Y17), a friend of mine, told me about a club called Prayas, where they used to teach kids in the evening. I went with him that day and talked to the then-coordinator, Meghansh. He assigned me to a junior class. After taking my first class, I felt that I had finally found something I could commit to. I loved teaching in the past but did not realize that I could excel in this skill here on campus. I had the best sleep that day for a very long time. Then, afterward, I used to show up there almost every day, even when it was not my turn to volunteer.
In the second year, the departmental courses started and I met my chemical engineering friends. My goal was always to get above-average marks and I was happy with that. For the Family Man fans, I was a ‘minimum guy’ in academics – someone who puts in the bare minimum effort to get decent grades and focused mostly on the extra-curriculars.
During my time at Antaragni (in the design team), the most notable work was designing the T-Shirt for Antaragni’18. It took over a month to finalize the design and that too after 35-40 iterations, and finally, “TShirt_V_26.3.psd” was released. Having exclusive design skills was like a superpower on campus as it was in high demand but in limited supply back then.
In the evenings, I used to take classes at Prayas and got addicted to the love and affection I received from the kids. Whenever I used to enter the classes, the kids would just run and hug me — the feeling was surreal. I got along with Meghansh and Ekta, the then coordinators of Prayas and my closest people to date, and started hanging out with them more often, and those are still some of my best memories.
After that, all the clubs and fests were looking for new coordinators and core team members. After two years of dedicated work, I decided to fill out the form for the Head Design of Antaragni. The interview was long and mentally exhausting. The whole evening, I sat in front of my phone waiting for the only call I needed so badly. Surprise! The phone did not ring, and that was one of the weak moments in my life when the world seemed to collapse in front of my eyes.
Before the Antaragni results were announced, I was approached to apply for the post of Prayas Coordinator. I applied and got selected, which felt like a silver lining of hope in my life.
While I was happy at Prayas, losing Antaragni and, with that, designing was something I was still recovering from. The story of design in my life was almost over for me, and it was eating me from the inside. One day, I heard that some of my design friends were talking about opening a new club. This was a little ray of hope for me. It was like a new door revealing itself. We joined hands, and we drafted a detailed proposal and put it in the senate. Fast forward to April 10th, 2019, we finally got our own Design and Animation Club (DnA) approved. We used to rant a lot about the type of design and posters that are made in the fest with tough deadlines and an innate need to change them, and then God was like “Okay, show me what you have got.”
Third-year was supposed to be hectic. This year, I came close to knowing who I really was (yet figuring out) and tested my dedication and work ethic. I was the coordinator of DnA and Prayas simultaneously, which was tough. A typical third-year day started with the regular classes and labs, followed by Prayas from 4:30–8:00 pm, and ended with DnA club meetings and activities. The days were enjoyably hectic. I did not usually spend enough time in my wing. My wingies used to complain that my room was always locked, and I wish I could have spent more time with them. They are nice people, xD.
Design and Animation Club foundation
The most challenging part was laying the foundation of the DnA club. I still remember Chirag’s Room, the official headquarters for the club, where we used to discuss everything with colorful markers on his whiteboard. We gained a lot of appreciation from the campus junta, which kept us motivated. The real game-changer for our club was the Y19 orientation video which was and is an overnight sensation. It was a showreel of all of our past works combined with great motion graphics and music. Writing this down, I can still hear the screams of Y19 students on that day in the auditorium. The whole campus was talking about it and wanted to be a part of the club. Back then, everything was new and people had never seen things like this done on the campus. We laid the whole roadmap of the club’s activities, from the design workshops, freshers’ events, competitions in the galaxy, and club personal projects, to the Inter-IIT Cult meet and online tutorial-based workshops during the pandemic. Lack of guidance made it challenging yet exciting. We were running a start-up in some sense.
I used to be actively involved in Prayas activities too. I got a lot of guidance from the ex-coordinators on how to run things here. We used to regularly visit the kids’ houses which certainly widened our perspective about society and made us realize the privileges of the campus. For me, Prayas is a small effort to give back to society. The Prayas culture is more like a family, and you kind of get along pretty well.
Internship Season
The real setback I got was during the internship session. While a lot of my friends were seriously preparing for internships for the next summer, I did not bother much, which is why I really got confused about my career options after each failed attempt at tests and interviews. Even with a resume filled with varied experiences and a decent CPI, I could not get any internships from the SPO.
I specifically remember two HR questions that I was asked during a practice session in the Departmental COM class- (a) Tell me something about yourself, and (b) Where do you see yourself in 5 years? These questions created an atmosphere of self-doubt, fear, and lack of confidence in me. I could not write a single word for half an hour. I had read about how to answer HR questions, but at that time, they all seemed artificial. I started answering the first question, “Frankly, I do not know who I really am. I love to teach kids and design in my spare time, but no one is going to give me a job for that. So, I am going to write several answers to this question based on the profile I might apply…” I left the second question blank. Tears rolled from my eyes sitting on the last row of L12.
The end of the third year was really tragic due to the pandemic. It was like someone had cut off the lifeline wire.
The pandemic was the first time in many years that I had stayed away from active campus life for so long. I finally got some time for myself and gained a little clarity about my future and career. I wrapped up an animation video project called “Unsaid” from the club, which was the club’s biggest project. Every frame of the video was custom-made by the team, and it helped me understand the typical workflow of an animated movie. The video was finally released during the lockdown, making people nostalgic about the campus.
There was a huge responsibility on the team to figure out how to run Prayas online. Through distribution drives, we ensured every student had access to the books and stationery. Finally, after huge efforts, the classes went online and I volunteered for the high school classes.
Freelancing
In the summer of 2020, I started looking for internships. Since it was a pandemic time, the opportunities were limited. This was the time when I became serious about the freelancing world. I created my account on Fiverr and posted all my past work. I figured out that new businesses require an explainer video to sell their products. It took me about a month to finally get my first client from Australia, who compensated me well for my work. This was the biggest earning I had with my animation video back then. After that, I started getting regular clients and continuously improved my animation skills through a series of self-projects posted on my Instagram. Instead of getting an internship, I found freelancing.
Coming to the dual story, I had never thought about pursuing a masters in the Chemical department, mainly because I had very little interest in my department. But a very close friend of mine convinced me to pursue it by justifying it for three reasons: (a) a master’s may drive my interest in this department; (b) we may get one more year of offline semesters, and (c) better placement opportunities. Then I finally pursued it, and I think it was worth it.
From XL to M
Staying at home for around 1.5 years with my family improved my mental health. But, the lack of movement due to lockdown seriously distorted my physique—I weighed 92 kgs back then! I finally, on January 5th, 2021, decided to do something about it and started gymming. Yes, it was my New Year’s resolution (xD) and after around three months, I lost around 15 kgs. Gyming and a proper diet have become a part of my lifestyle now and have changed my life forever. On campus, I used to go to the gym with my favorite gym bros, Chirag and Aditya Tiwari. Having a small group keeps you consistent.
Placements
Even though I was freelancing, I wanted to work in corporate for some time. So I decided to sit for the placements. I had seen the craze of coding in my internship. I had never given a fair chance to coding and decided to explore this field. I got two internships with a few online courses on machine learning, data science, and product management.
Eventually, by solving problems on Leetcode consistently, I started to get good at coding. I think many people do not like coding, maybe because they haven’t tried it well. It is intimidating in the beginning, but once you get past the threshold, it serves you well.
I came back to campus in September to start my thesis work and placements. My work was completely experimental and could not be done online. My friends and I used to update each other about our placement preparations. Having a group of 2-3 people around during such stressful times really helps avoid burnout. For me, they were Abhishek, Zeeshan (the man with many names, officially Jeeshan xD), Sunamya, and Anirban who were there for me at all times.
Placement tests started in October. The frequency of tests started to increase as we got closer to D-Day. I got shortlisted for some SDE and product roles. After a series of interviews on Day 1 and Day 2, I finally got placed on Day 2 at VMock as a Product Analyst. The interaction I had was very friendly, and in the end, the interviewer also asked me for tips for fat loss xD. Although I was happy to be placed on Day 2, since my preparations were mostly for SDE roles, I was a little disheartened as well to land in a product role.
Last Semester
The last semester is something that every batch deserves for closure. With things getting back to normal, we had to reinitiate the workings of Prayas in offline mode. It was my dream to see kids again in offline classes. The current coordinators of Prayas, Nishant, and Darshana really kicked it off, and finally, after lots and lots of follow-ups, on the 30th of March, 2022, we got a 2-word response from the DOSA: “Approved, SP.” Prayas went offline, and it was really great to see that energy as kids reentered the premises of Prayas after two long years.
I really believe that this campus has a lot to offer, and it all depends on what you are looking for. Get out of your rooms and explore every bit of it if possible, because that’s the only way to figure out what you actually love. Try out different things. You might suck at those things in the beginning, but that’s okay because you will get better at things you like by staying consistent. Comparing yourself with others is the worst thing that you could do. These were the best 5 years of my life and if given a chance, I would not change a single event.
Feel free to reach out if you need any kind of help. My days at Prayas have taught me that helping someone is obviously the best thing you can do for them, but the point is that it’s mutual; the best thing for you as well. This journey would not be possible without some very special people in my life. Zeeshan, Abhishek, Anirban, Sunamya, Chirag, Aditya Tiwari, Srivar, Aditya Yemulwad, Rakshit, Archit Mishra, Ashish Gupta, Ekta, Meghansh, Nishant, Darshana, and Prayas Family ❤️.
And last but not least, I would like to thank Vox for providing this wonderful opportunity.
Written by: Kumar Ashish Raj
Edited by: Talin Gupta, Sanika Gumaste
