Piyush Kumar is a graduating Y19 from the Department of Electrical Engineering.In the 30th edition of As We Leave, Piyush recounts his time on campus, from superfun Orientation sessions to his last Among Us session in the wing, he shares all his experiences and some significant learnings he has made in college.
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.
To be honest, I was not sure whether I should write my AWL or not. But then, I took it as an opportunity to retrospect and recollect the cherishable memories and learnings that readers may find worth reading. I will put down some anecdotes from here and there which have shaped my beautiful four years at IITK.
First Year
On my first day of college, I had to take some printouts, and I didn’t have change to pay for it. Then my baapu immediately gave me some coins without hesitating. To my surprise, I found that college seniors can be sweet. Orientation was fun. The first week really felt great.
I played cricket in the interhall cricket tournament, Agaaz, in my first semester.The way trials were being taken, I thought the game was going to be similar to what we see on television.. But it turned out that we played in the Hall 12 basketball court with rules such as getting declared out if you hit the ball out of the fence xD. But overall, it was fun.
Wing A3: Center of my world in IITK
I couldn’t have asked for better people. There are countless memories with them. Before the lockdown, my interaction with my wing was not to the level it happened post it. Things so turned out that I pinned my wing group on WhatsApp and it’s still there. We used to go for lunch and dinner together at a roughly fixed time. Don’t ask why not breakfast xD. Whenever I used to go to the library or any other place, I always left for the hall 15 minutes prior to our wing meal time so that I could have my meal with them. Although they didn’t notice it until the last semester, when I told them myself. After our meals in Hall 9, we used to gather in F bot at the intersection which led to the H block. We used to have daily bulla sessions there. Things got interesting when my wingies started taking GPLs of people crossing that intersection xD. Of course those people were friends of at least one of us and not totally random strangers. Some of those people started changing their routes on seeing us gathered there. The intersection thus was named “GPL Chauraha”.
I couldn’t go to Goa during the lockdown, but I went to Delhi, Manali, Lucknow, and Varanasi with them. Those were very beautiful trips. Do go to at least one trip with your buddies while in college.
We used to play FIFA together, and almost every time it was in the same room, hence it was declared the FIFA Zone. Sometimes, people used to hear different types of weird sounds coming out of that room at 3 a.m. while one of us was trying to tackle the ball or save a goal.
We clicked a group photo of the wing and then made jerseys by putting that photo on the front of it.
On the back, we had our names and jersey numbers. It’s cool, isn’t it? Also, can you guess why I chose the number printed on my jersey?
Friends outside wing
I already had friends from Kota who came to Kanpur, so from the very beginning, I was well connected with at least a few people here. Then, as time progressed, I made a whole lot of new, awesome friends. There is a bit of reluctance in mentioning names here because there are plenty of them who are close to my heart, and I don’t want to miss out on a few names by mentioning others because if I start mentioning each one of them, then this AWL will be too long to read.
Aerial Robotics (ARIITK)
In the first year, we were introduced to SnT teams and clubs. I wanted to join Team ARIITK. All the teams had given us materials to study from. I used to study those, especially the Aerial one, in between the regular courses. I finally got selected in ARIITK. My joy was profound. Getting into the team was one of the best things that happened to me here. The seniors were great, and I made very good friends there. The connection and bonding are so strong that two of our seniors who were building their startup held a meeting informing us about it, seeking feedback, and welcoming us to work in it if we wished to. We participated in the International Aerial Robotics Competition and secured a position in the top 10 teams. We participated in the Inter IIT Tech Meets for two years and got bronze medals. I learned a lot of things here. A big thanks to the whole ARIITK team.
The Gym
Before coming to IITK, I had seen a campus tour video. I found the facilities amazing with a gym, swimming pool, lots of sports facilities, airstrip, etc. I had planned that I would go to the gym daily and learn swimming as well. The latter never happened, lol. I forgot about these plans when the classes commenced, for reasons I believe you can guess. However, during the lockdown, I had already started doing workouts with dumbbells at home, and when we returned to campus in the 6th semester, I did go to the gym. And yes, it helped me a lot. No intentions of any flex but I was too skinny in my first year with a weight around 57-58 kg and till my fourth year I was able to put on some muscle mass, and my weight was 73-74 kg. Thanks to the awesome OSC gym and to my wingies, from whom I learned a lot. I put it here to emphasise that health is important, and yes, you too can be fit no matter what people around you say about your physique. We had a great gym culture in our wing. At one point in time, most of my wingies used to go to the gym. The feeling was as if the gym was a part of our wing.
Last Days
In the last few days, we roamed around the campus, clicked photos, and had fun. We went to the Blueworld water park and Bithoor. Blueworld was fun. A few of the rides looked frightening at first sight, for I had never been on those, but later, it surely was an empowering experience. I recommend you visit it once. You’ll like it.
In my last semester,I felt many times that I am living one of my best times, in one of the best places with one of the best sets of people, and I very well used to realise that it’s going to end very soon. It was a bittersweet experience. I was saddened by the fact that it was going to end, but at the same time, I was happy and grateful that it happened.Post endsems, everyone was going one by one. Yes, we knew we weren’t going to meet a lot of us so easily, except once in the convocation. In one of our last parties, I tried to console one of my wingies when he was a little teary after some Gyaan. But the very next day, when I was leaving and the auto was there at the gate and everyone was hugging and bidding farewell, I couldn’t control my emotions, and they could be seen streaming down my face. But, we are still connected and will be forever. Last night itself, we played Among Us together and are waiting for the next session!
Gyaan
Oh, had you patience to read till this? Thanks buddy!
Wait, were you here for some kind of learning? Well, there are many. But my core motto has been to have humility and respect for every single individual, be it a junior or a senior. Work hard, seek guidance, and have confidence. Good things will keep coming your way! Make a few very good friends. Don’t live in isolation. You must have heard the phrase, “Friends are the most important ingredients in the recipe of life,” and I have felt this so many times during my stay at IITK. Without them, it would not have been so memorable and so lively. Thank you all for being there!
That’s all! Feel free to ping me if you wish to talk about anything! I’ll be more than happy to have a chat. Enjoy!
Written By: Piyush Kumar
Edited By: Likith Sai, Vrinda Sharma
