Ishir Roongta is a Y19 Electrical Engineering graduate. He was the Associate Head Teams for the SnT Council ’22 as well as the head of the Aerial Robotics Team ‘21. In his As We Leave, he reflects upon the journey that he has had throughout his four years on (and off) campus. Join him in his chaotically enticing story.
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’s a surreal feeling, from reading your favourite senior’s AWLs to writing one of your own, thinking, okay, do I even have something useful to tell about? Do I focus on the academic journey, the experiences in clubs and teams of IITK, the social life, or the unimaginably fun and borderline insane stories with the wingies? This is an attempt to summarize all my significant experiences and learning at this institute which has changed me forever.
Fresh out of the celebration of JEE results, I arrived at Hall 13, a shy, introverted kid with the usual expectations of strict seniors, a high-paying FAANG job, long hours of studying, getting into a relationship (yeah, own it up, no shame lmao), and crazy fests. I was introduced to my SG Kshitij Kabeer, whom I’ll luckily join in my graduate studies at CMU xD, and the ‘upar se sharif, andar se harami’ wingies. During the first few weeks of orientations and intro sessions, I made sure to break the shyness out of me and interact with as many seniors as possible. The ultimate goal, which I’ve iterated to many juniors since, was to explore everything I had even a little interest in. We had followed a strict plan till now and left all our hobbies and interests behind during JEE, and the various student bodies of IITK were the perfect opportunity to explore. Glad to recollect I was heavily involved with the Robotics Club and the Electronics Club, earning the tag ‘the Arduino wala bacha’ during Takneek. I explored my interests in photography by participating in Galaxy and football during Aagaz. I also dabbled in content writing and coverage for the fests Udghosh and Techkriti, which, sadly, Covid stripped away from us in 2019.
Winter Camp was another amazing experience. For 14 days, we were grilled with work. With 4 hours of sleep in Kanpur’s bitter winter, I attended the winter camp for Electronics Club and Aerial Robotics Team with attending Robo Club’s lectures as well. The routine was simple, wake up at 9:50 for the 10 AM class, rush down, glancing over the anxious seniors waiting for interviews in Hall 13, attend lectures and workshops of clubs and teams till 8 PM, head back for dinner, play COD Mobile for 2 hours, complete assignments till 2 AM, bulla session till 4 AM and repeat! We looked like shit by the end of these two weeks, but this was when I learned the most during my undergrad.
The first year was filled with jam sessions, flexing to each other about teams and clubs we got in, bulla sessions with SGs and wing ‘baapus,’ pehla pehla heartbreak, and ****ing covid. Ah, covid!
What was meant to be a meager one-week midsem break turned out to be a rollercoaster ride of nearly 3 semesters. I’ll refrain from delving into the experiences during the Covid period as neither they are relevant to be part of the ‘IITK Jounrey’ nor anyone really wants to hear that. Just the courses became quiz intensive with the number of quizzes in a week exceeding the number of days, and night out ‘bullas’ shifted to discord VCs, the canteen food was replaced by 2 AM Maggi in the kitchen, and everyone learned ‘how to google’ efficiently hehe.
Academically, during my second year, it became somewhat clear that the FAANG idea was not for me as I had somewhat made up my mind to pursue Robotics. I became the secretary of the Robotics Club and a member of the Aerial Robotics Team. I’ve had some of the best times in this Team, and the seniors helped us immensely, from debugging the silliest errors to teaching us to work independently. We worked towards participating in InterIIT Tech Meets and international competitions. The community one forms in these entities is one, I believe, that sticks around the longest apart from your wing-mates. Even today, we have random conversations with the members of the Team, both senior and junior to us, with some seniors pursuing robotics in the most notable universities and some working towards their own startups. The motivation and inspiration that I got from everyone on the Team changed my work ethic and attitude immensely, and for that, I’m thankful to my seniors.
Shortly began the second year summer of the IITK UG, and I had to make the ultimate decision to whether to prepare for a corporate internship or aim for a foreign research internship. It was clear to me that I loved Robotis and hated CP. After some conversations with seniors, a little self-hyping, and preparing myself to face insecurities, I decided to not sit for internship tests and focus on cold mailing and research internship programs. After making a heavy 300-350 list of professors and 15-20 programs, I began the process in late August. When I was regularly mailing professors and applying for programs during the months leading up to December, most of my friends had already secured internships, and that’s when the insecurities crept in. I held firm, believed in my process and my profile, and started getting some positive responses. After declining a few remote opportunities, I was selected for the MITACS Research internship program in December. Finally, I slept like a baby for the first time in 3 months without having to worriedly check my emails in the morning. As a side note, I’ve cooked up a very basic guide for apping in Robotics, and feel free to contact me for the same. I hope it makes the process a little bit less troublesome.
It was the 6th semester when we were called back. One would think it would be weird when we came back, right, I mean not having seen each other for nearly 2 years, but ‘boys hostel kuch alag hi hota hai’. The minute we opened our dusty rooms, we were back with random water fights, endless nsfw conversations, 2 AM Maggi in canteens, dancing to Bollywood item songs, and finally feeling like college students again. Everyone just wanted to experience the semester, or what was left of it, to the fullest before leaving for their internships in third-year summers. IITK had changed somewhat with new rules, different food outlets, and 2 batches of juniors, but it was still home. This was also the time to say our goodbyes to our favorite Y18s and regularly hang out in Hall 1, taking in all the ‘gyaan’.
After completing my tenure as the Team Head of the Aerial Robotics Team, I decided to contest for the Associate Head Teams position in the SnT Council, which led to a tiresome 4-hour interview/debate session. I remember calling my wingies outside senate hall at 3 AM to bring me some food and coke as I was dead tired. After this, the newly elected Gensec and we three AHs were faced with the task of conducting the SnT Code, the hallmark event of Takneek, for all the Halls. The preparations, the fights, the accusations, the contentions, and the frustrations were all completely different experiences and I believe these helped a lot in polishing my communication skills as well as leadership skills. This semester helped me realize the importance of having a dynamic personality, adjusting, handling frustrations, and still working under immense pressure. Another important lesson passed down by a beloved senior is ‘compartmentalize karna sikho’. Still trying to do that and whole-heartedly passing it down to juniors whenever I get a chance; thanks, Ashwin!
As the summers started, we bid adieu to Y18s and headed off to our internships. I remember frantically packing before my flight to Canada on 6th May 2022. The last-minute thing tbh becomes a habit in college, not something I would suggest being proud about though haha. The internship was another invaluable experience: learning to live and work in an entirely different place, managing food prep, costs, and rent, and traveling to some of the best cities of east coast Canada. Some of the most amazing moments were catching a sunrise at Niagra Falls, sitting by the pier stargazing near river Ontario in Toronto, attending the Kygo concert in Montreal, and sneaking in drinks in a club in Ottawa. With my friends being in different time zones, it was always tough for us to stay in touch, but luckily we had messed up sleep schedules, so getting on a quick call was always possible. Conversations filled with rants from India, Europe, the US, and Canada will always stay with me from that time.
During the internship, I loved working on a research project, and the idea of solving a new problem seemed intriguing. The professor was extremely kind to help me at each step and regular interactions, thanks to the training at IITK, with graduate students from varied cultures cemented by the idea of pursuing graduate studies after my completing my undergrad. Without delving into more details of the internship, let’s dive back to IITK
The internships ended, and everyone came back for the final year with a plethora of experiences to share and more mature personalities; okay not fully mature, but you can’t really expect us to behave when we get together. The 7th semester is supposed to be a serious one, as is this paragraph, where some are tediously working towards the placement season, and some are writing numerous iterations of SoPs to apply to universities. This semester was all about getting that perfect profile to apply for grad schools and seriously hoping the decision to not sit for placements wasn’t a bad one. I took relevant courses this sem and started working under Prof. Twinkle Tripathy through a UGP which I continued in my final semester as well.
(A side note I’m working on creating a guide for grad school applications with info regarding GRE, LoRs, and SoPs as well, to any juniors who are interested, feel free to reach out for the same)
This semester was also filled with interactions with numerous juniors regarding internships, courses, and finally, the reality of being in the final year set in. We were placed in Hall 9, which eventually turned out to be a blessing in disguise as our wing made it routine to hang out on the rooftop solar panels lying down and watching the sunset. Decorating the rooms and the wing was always our thing. As expected, each room felt like a gaming zone with LED lights, dual monitors, posters and art on the wall, and fidgety electronics lying around all the time. Everyone plugging in for playing Valorant with a drink and chips, light off and LEDs on, shouting and swearing till our throat hurt, is a core memory that will stay with me for a long time, one I will miss the most as everyone’s moving away. Another would be 4-5 of us going to the gym regularly, not pointing fingers, but those who skipped you know who you are xD, motivating each other in the psychologically unhealthiest ways possible haha, and coming back to have a samosa chai in the canteen.
As the sem ended, everyone became serious with long nights of placement interviews and, for me, long applications to universities, finishing up my SoP as usual at the last minute, gathering and sorting up my Letter of Recommendation, and praying for acceptance. Once again, this is for people planning to apply for grad schools; remember the insecurities faced during intern season as, once again, your friends are placed in December already, and we have to wait till March for the results of grad school applications.
The last semester! As the dust of placement season and graduate school applications settled, we began our last semester with the worry of making sure we complete our credits haha. With both fests, Antaragini and Techkriti lined up, we were just happy to experience that rush one last time before we left. All this, along with the pressure of the InterIIT Tech Meet being hosted by Kanpur, the General Championship, handing over elections, and the cliche boys Goa trip lined up, made this semester full of moments.
First was the InterIIT Tech Meet, personally my third. This time taking on more of a managerial role allowed me to interact with and identify juniors and help them lead the problem statements. Next came the GC, and the campus was vivid again, showing glimpses of our first year with all the halls working non-stop for the events in GC. We (us core team members of SnT) geared up for Takneek and even though it was frustrating and very tiresome to conduct the SnT Code again, I’m sure we loved every moment of it. Looking back, the fights, the arguments, the SnT room meetings, and getting those first reactions while tallying up the points remain the best moments from Takneek. Next came the fests, and they were so beautiful. We felt like first years again, dancing and jumping endlessly in pro-nites, heading to Hall 11 for dinner to avoid the rush, roaming around with a camera, getting a temporary tattoo on the neck, and having random jam sessions after everyone got tired.
The last few weeks were tough to process. We tried to just live like we always did, slog through the end-sems, and just try to capture this beautiful campus as much as possible. Recording songs at 3 AM in the hall, watching the feel-good Priyadarshan movies, random outings to Zsquare to window shop, heading up to the rooftop whenever it rained, exploring random rooftops in the Acad area (legit a checklist should be made for this haha), our standard order at Hall 11 canteen of four rice and chicken curries, farewell photoshoots, and jam sessions with every person I could find with a guitar is how I will remember the last few days. Of course, mixed with the worry of passing in EE301 ( don’t leave both basket DEs for the last sem batti walon ). Meeting so many people for the last time became somewhat easier as I continued to live in denial and refuse to accept that college was finally getting over. With final hugs and goodbyes, I can fully accept I did break down on the auto ride out of the campus. In those 5 minutes, around 5 PM, 8th May 2023, each turn and path of IITK flashed a memory, some good, some bad but all I’ll keep close to my heart. Writing ‘pass out’ while exiting the hall gate and finally submitting the gate pass at the main gate felt so suffocating, and the campus never looked so serene.
As I leave, I take away with me so many good memories, invaluable learnings, crazy experiences, and of course, what I learned from my courses :P, and I am thankful to every person I met here. This place took in a shy kid and gave me a small family that will now be spread all across the world. Thanks to these beautiful souls FyeD, Terren, and Muffin, for the late-night VCs that kept me sane during Covid. Thanks, Tanidroid, for the chori wale coolers. Thanks to Pixel, Blueboi, and Hackeryg for those jam sessions!
If I may leave the juniors with some piece of advice, it would be this, JEE was a rat race, but this doesn’t have to be. Now is the time you can actually find out what you’re good at, and IITK would give you an opportunity to pursue that as a career. Explore as much as possible, make crazy friends, don’t fret over things you cannot control, sing, dance, fill your time here with experiences, and also haan! thoda sa study bhi.
And the people who’ve met me know I say this all the time, but for the last time here, ‘Kuch ho toh message karlena, baat karke ho jayega sort’.
Written By: Ishir Roongta
Edited By: Zehaan Naik,Rudransh Goel, Zainab Fatima
No Comments
Leave a comment Cancel