Bhaskar Lamba is a graduating Y18 student from the Department of Mechanical Engineering. In this edition of As We Leave 2022, he recalls his journey and how sports was a significant part of his four 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.
I remember the first day I came from Kanpur central railway station to IITK, watching Kanpur city slums. I didn’t particularly like the city, but as soon as I crossed the gates of IITK, it was a different world. I instantly liked the vibe of it. I loved all the greens, with peacocks cooing, a whole new world for me.
I am a person who tries to be very clear about the direction of my life every instant of time. So, when I came here, I knew I wanted to do Track & Field. Being a sportsperson has been a dream of mine for a long time. I didn’t have time to pursue it in the past as my parents wanted me to get a secure future job, anywhere, not be unemployed. So, that thing was taken care of already, and this was my time to pursue it more rigorously. I already knew there was a good sports culture here (unlike others, I had my research done :P). So, learning about the inter-IIT sports meet, I had my goals set already, and I was onto it from the first day.
Performing in Inter IIT sports meets at an exceptional level is no joke. We are talking about being the best player considering all IITs in the country. It becomes more hectic because of all our commitments in the institute, not to mention all the practice that goes into it. Being exceptional at something requires an outstanding work ethic. It is a fact, believe it or not. Doing exceptional work for something leaves little to no time for other things. So, that’s why they say you can be average in many things, but you can be exceptional in just one or two things at a given time. Academics was always on my priority list because I wanted a job at the end of four years and sports was what I loved, so it became Academics and Athletics for me. I made the inter-IIT team in the first year. I saw that meeting to check the competition level because I knew there had not been enough time for me to prepare for medal performances. I did not get any individual medals, as expected. Still, it ended with a silver medal, with our relay team missing out on gold. I was OK with that. But inside me, I knew next year should be it. So, the first semester ended with the inter-IIT, and I had performed well in acads, too, so the year ended well.
Experiencing the sports meet in my first year made me more focused, driving me towards Athletics, practising more and more. I tried to fit in more practice sessions whenever I got the chance. I was practising more than ever, and guess what, practising more requires you to rest more, taking more of your time, which led to my acads taking a hit. I could not do well in my studies. The second sem was the one with the least SPI for me. But at least I performed well at sports. It was a plus point :P. But anyway, I needed to readjust next semester.
Summer camp came up, and I Completed it. I knew my performance would shoot up, and it did! I was happy. In the third semester, I needed to readjust myself so that my acads wouldn’t suffer. For me, readjustment was all about “showing up everyday”. Just show up everyday for the grind. No matter how little you do, how you feel, or what is going on emotionally with you, show up and do what you can. People these days are playing themselves short. They are afraid to push their limits.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frighten us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be?”
— Marianne Williamson
People who perform at a different level do not have the most talent; they always show up for the grind. That’s it. And it has become my mantra for the next couple of years.
The third semester was the one after which the inter-IIT meet was going to be conducted. So, it was all about tunnel vision for me. Wake up, attend classes, study, workout, eat, sleep, repeat. The semester went well. The performance went well. Just perfect. It was my time to shine.
Winter camp was going on, which happens in the first two weeks of December, just before the inter IIT happens. And, as we all know, everything doesn’t go as we plan. I got a boil in my right ankle just10 days before the meet. I couldn’t wear my slippers, let only the shoes. Practice sessions became out of the question. But, I was not only worried about that. I knew that I had practised all year, done what had to be done, so that should be it. It should not matter that much. We went to the doctor and took the medication. It took two weeks to heal fully. And right then was the meet.
I was pretty confident while going into my first race. But as soon as it ended, I knew that something was wrong. My body wasn’t the same. It was not responding. As I went through race after race, I knew I was not in shape needed to get medals. It was heart-shattering. It was time for me to make a choice. Either I could give up or churn the cream into butter.
“Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned. The second mouse wouldn’t quit. He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out.”
– Frank Abagnale Sr., (Movie: catch me if you can)
I participated in 5 events at that meet; every event had heats, semis, and finals. So, if you count, I had to run 13 races in 7 days. I was going race after race, pushing myself as hard as possible, not giving up. Participating in the races two times a day for six days in itself served as a medium for my body to catch up and get into shape. So, the last day was the 400th relay. I was feeling quite well and performed quite great according to my capabilities at that time, and that, added with an exceptional final leg by Ajay (47.95s _/\_), we got the Gold medal! (snatching the inter IIT record, too!). I was overjoyed at that moment. The last six days had been quite a toll on me, losing races when you aimed to win. Now, I could finally let go of all the frustration I had.
It was Ajay’s final year of college; he had just had his last race at the inter-IIT sports meet, and he felt it. I then thought that at some point in the coming years, I would also be having my last race, just like him, so better make these years count. Little did I know then, it was my last race too.
The first thing I did after that meeting was to take a rest (partly because of the frustration). I haven’t done it in a long time. I took a week’s break, returned to campus, and returned to business. Having more experience and more learnings aided in practice sessions. Then comes the day of 15th February 2020. I clearly remember this day. I was doing some workout on hurdles; we had their heights increased that day, and the workout was to jump over them. I did the workout, went to my room, and slept. The next day, I couldn’t get up straight. There was this extreme pain behind my right knee. Walking was difficult, let alone running. I tried to take some rest and played volleyball behind the back, which added to the injury.
The condition was terrible, and Udghosh’20 was fast approaching. I was not ready for the competition, but another story twist came (Covid’19). Udghosh’20 cancelled. We were sent home and locked down. So, I’m at home, trying to rehab my injury, balancing academics on the other side and having no idea of what will happen in the future. So, the remaining 4th semester and summers prepared for internship season, different ways to rehab, maintaining my fitness for inter-IIT, and trying not to be infected with the coronavirus. As for my Athletics at the Inter IIT sports meet, I kept trying to maintain my fitness for the inter-IIT sports meet for two years, but it never happened.
Next semester comes up with the internship season. I prepared well for the season. I was confident that I’d get the internship. But when the season began, it turned out that I was getting shortlisted but never got an offer in the whole semester. I took an online course to prepare my profile side by side as the season continued. The entire semester went away, and I wasn’t selected, having zero idea why. But I knew I’d get the internship next semester off-campus (I was well prepared until the end of that semester) So, yeah, the 6th semester comes, which gives an unexpected twist to the story.
My interests have been very singular in the past. I usually choose to do one or two things and excel in them. But this time, I had to adapt to new things. It started with a bang of General Elections 2021, where Anshika decided to contest for elections, and I, her teammate, had to go all in with that. So, here I am, having no internship working in elections, leaving my studies aside. It was a foggy path, but I wanted to do it that way. Involving in elections demands every bit of patience and effort from the individuals. Keeping one step in front of the other does the trick in fog. It was a big step outside my comfort zone, and I was a different person coming out of that experience. This experience taught me the importance of getting outside your comfort zone. Fortunately, we won, and I instantly returned to searching for my internship (even before the result :P).
I went to LinkedIn, applied for off-campus, and searched a lot. So, one day, I was searching for internships as usual, and a call came from SPO asking if you were free and Oracle wanted to give me an internship. I was utterly shocked. Apparently, I was on their waiting list from the interview they took during the SPO season, and now the seat was empty. It was something else for me. A boy searching for off-campus free internships suddenly gets an intern at Oracle. But some people reacted differently. They thought it was a fluke. He had luck, that’s it. And it ate at me.
So, the semester ends well, and the internship starts. My aim going into it was to get a PPO. That’s it. So, I worked extra hard those two months. Those two months were something else. I was also the team captain at that point, and we decided to start online workout groups, where senior people gave workouts daily to keep people engaged. Those workout groups went on for six more months. Also, I was overweight until that time, as I was not able to not run due to my injury, to which doctors said everything was alright. I was working out two times, working as an intern for up to 10 hours a day (Our team pushed extra hard, that’s not how internships need to be) and giving workouts daily to the team. It went on this way until the internship ended. It included many ups, downs, happy, sad moments, everything. But we completed the project in time, and it was over. And there comes a call from my manager (which I missed at first :P) that they are offering me a pre-placement offer at Oracle, which I accepted. I remember this day clearly as I had my vaccine too. I was lying on my bed and thinking: This is it, I got a good job to start my career. My parents were overjoyed, and I felt somewhat relaxed.
Seventh semester was all about helping out my friends to get placed well. We all pushed each other together, and finally, they got good offers. SPI was not a problem anymore. I went on to trip with my friends in December, which was quite fun.
During the final semester, we all were called on campus. It was all about just savouring our final moments on campus, exploring more about ourselves, and enjoying every fest more, which I could not do previously. And gradually, this semester too, came to an end. Here we were, preparing to leave campus, packing our stuff. I wanted to stay on campus as long as possible, so I was among the last ones to leave. Being the last one also has disadvantages; watching your friends go one by one was difficult to carry around.
It was my day to leave, packed all my stuff, called the auto, just waiting for the auto to come and take me far away from this life. Some friends were present there to bid me off. It came. I took the last selfie with them, trying to smile as hard as I could, shook hands, went inside the auto and waved my hand until I could not see them, leaving behind all the ups, downs, memories, fears, assignments, deadlines, achievements, losses, regrets and some incomplete tales.
One piece of advice for my juniors: You would be very confused at this stage of your life, which is quite normal. Confusion pushes a lot of people into a state of indecisiveness. I would advise you not to stay in that state for long. Decide something and start working on it. You will get your answers on the way. You don’t wait until all traffic lights turn green.
“A bad decision is always better than no decision”
– Jordan B. Peterson
Written by: Bhaskar Lamba
Edited by: Shreya Verma, Bhavya Sikarwar
