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In this 25th edition of As We Leave 2024, Isha Agrawal, a Y20 student in the Department of Material Science and Engineering, takes us through some of her best memories from her time here at IITK, all the way from the fun she had with the Dance Club, E-Summit and Udghosh, to the times when she had to prioritise what she wanted and what she could do.
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.
My college life is all about trial and error, whether it’s choosing the right career path, the right people to have in my life, or the right clubs and cells to be involved in.
For those of you who don’t know me, you might have seen me in CCD, library (studying/designing mostly)
Places you might have not seen me would be my room (cause I was always found in A101 in my 4th sem, B101 in my 3rd year and Hall 1 A-315 in the last year)
As I begin writing this AWL, I might not delve into the sad parts of my college life but mostly focus on the ones I’ll cherish for a lifetime 🙂
Leaving college is like stepping out of a bubble of memories. I still remember 7th November 2020, when I got into IIT Kanpur in the final round of JoSAA counseling. I was over the moon, binge-watching campus videos, and dreaming about campus life.
The first year whizzed by with online bulla sessions, not-so-intensive election campaigns, and virtual hangouts. Then came the second year with a switch to MSE, meeting new folks, and those late-night Zoom calls that blurred into dawn. No matter how much we tried to make our long-distance college work out, deep down I wished every day for the college to open up.
On 29th December 2021, we finally came to campus amid COVID times. A whole month of night-outs went into discovering new rooftops for bakchodi, finding new people, remembering the campus routes (my direction sense is fucked up), and another set of not-so-intensive election campaigns 🙂 Btw Sirothia won.
Right after then real college-life began and that is what you’ll find in this piece written by me. Enjoy your time reading 😛
- Dive into different cells/clubs without hesitation; you never know what you’ll love. As the saying goes “if you have the enthu for it, just go for it!”
At the end of the first year, our interviews began. The first interview I gave was for Student Guide, and I failed horribly. It was a humbling experience, but it taught me a crucial lesson: “talking to seniors before diving into interviews can make all the difference”.
So after that, I gave interviews for Dance, Music, Dramatics, and Unmukt. I became secretary in all three except Drams (because I said I’d prefer dance over it :/). I later decided to part ways with the music club when I realized I couldn’t manage it all. Dance was and is the first thing that has always excited me, and seeing the dance club culture on campus, the little dancer in me was always overwhelmed. We used to have online dance workshops that we thought were intense—little did we know what awaited us. The real adventure began in March (when we finally came to campus) when we started preparing for Flashmob. I had the best time of my life dancing with the people here. However, my health took a toll from the rigorous physical activity and erratic sleep patterns, forcing me to step back from the Flashmob. After putting in so much effort, I felt like a loser for not performing, but yeah, I had to prioritize. Although I went to watch the performance and was happy to see my friends on stage.
As more offline activities began, the more I started taking on my plate and started the hustle of college life – collecting those third-year PORs and resume points.
I wanted to become the dance club coordinator but realized it wasn’t in my cards due to health issues, so I started looking for other positions. I contested for president elections—learned a lot and met seniors with a plethora of experience; however, I realized I hated politics :/
Later, a friend of mine introduced me to the entrepreneurship cell, and what interested me the most was the Media and Publicity role as I have always been active on social media. I had given two interviews and finally got the position of Manager Media and Publicity at E-Cell.
Gradually, things began falling into place, and I started to feel a sense of rightness. Plus, my health regained, so I joined the Dance Club again and performed at Thomso held at IIT Roorkee—a core memory!
I didn’t do the Inter IIT cult meet as I had E-Summit coming along at the same time. So again, I had to prioritize. Conducting E-Summit was among the best experiences of my college life. I still remember back in December 2022, how we spent our whole day in the E-cell room filled with one two many DOAA canteen breaks. Last one week was us against the cold weather, it was funny how we all coughed in sync and then laughed about it. A whole month of rigorous preparations for those 2.5 days was all worth it. It was THE SUMMIT of our college time and I have learned tremendous things not just from the seniors, my core team but also the juniors, they were some of the few hardworking and good juniors I have met who were motivated & dedicated in their work.
Right after that, I began preparing for my Udghosh interview and became the Head of Media and Publicity at Udghosh. However, this time it was easier coming from past experiences. But it was a challenging task to hold a POR along with the placement season. My seventh semester’s first half went into fest preparations due to which my placement prep suffered; however, I picked up on it in the latter half of the semester.I never imagined I would be able to conduct 2 major festivals in the same year but with the right people, right motivation everything is possible.
The power that a walkie talkie and a metal id card hold. I knew there was a reason I took another POR even though it would be troublesome 🙂
2. Give different career options a try and choose what interests you the most. Don’t do anything just because everyone’s doing it or because it’s considered mainstream. Have your own version of everything.
Just like I said, my college life is all about Trial and error. So similarly, my career decisions have switched from coding-> designing-> product. However I never doubted myself for wanting to explore various options, I took online courses and tried my hands at different domains. In the summers of 2022, I tried coding along with my friends but within a month realized my loss of interest in it.
I didn’t take my intern season seriously because, at that time, I was interested in design and did courses in UI/UX and was considering opting for dual in MDes. So just to have a clear idea, I did a course in the Design department. Des603A was the most chill and fun course I have ever done. Made Cad models from scratch, saw real time 3D printing, visited ballpoint factories.
However fun the course was, I could see that only some part of design excites me and not as a whole.
It was only in the summer of 2023 when I learned about Product Management after talking to seniors. I joined a product bootcamp, read a few PM books and started solving cases, making decks and preparing for PM thoroughly. That is when I realized this is something that aligns with my interests and excites me to have innovative ideas and use my tech and design skills that I have gained in my 2nd and 3rd year altogether.
However I didn’t have a single product shortlist from a week before placement days began, which made me reconsider my options. But then finally on Day 2 of placement season I got shortlisted in Pine labs ( which was 15 min before my interview). The 3 rounds of interview went smoothly and yes! there I had it. My dream role in one of the best product companies.
This was me on the night of Day 2 preparing and smiling for yashanki:D
Things I learned from Placement Sem:
- No preparation ever done had gone wasted (I prepared for HR questions specific to accenture but It helped me in Pine Labs.)
- Always have your friends by your side. You’ll need it
On a side note: My academic journey had stayed constant throughout the college life with a funny number of 6.9 CPI (which finally switched to above 7 in placement sem, Thank god)
- Finding home in the people here:
To all those people who said no one finds healthy female friendship in college: WHAT A LIE!
- I’m everyday thankful to Ananya, Yashanki for accepting me as your half roomie and Rishika, Rashmi for being so including & caring at times.
Left to Right : Rishika, Yashanki, Rashmi, Me and Ananya.
I have been procrastinating on an Upreti appreciation post for almost a year now, so here it is.
- It was the summer of 2022 when we grew tired of the dance club workshops in that unbearably sweaty dance room. So we decided to skip and head to the BSBE building instead. That’s where we first talked and became genuine friends. Since then, you’ve been my constant “pta hai aaj kya huya” friend. You’re always the first person I call when I face minor inconveniences, whether it’s during college or my internship. Thankyou for listening and giving me those “I didn’t know I needed” advice. And for introducing me to my first group of friends – Bajaj, Anirudh, Gupta and Adarsh.
Personally, throughout my college life I found it mentally exhausting to tackle multiple instances in a single day. When I think back to it, all I can remember is taking too much on my plate and then struggling with it. And then yapping about it during late night walks with my friends, or constant rr’s with Ananya and Yashanki. Apart from fucked up sleep schedule College had given me major core memories for lifetime- performing on stage for the first time with the dance club fam and winning 2nd runner up in Thomso; conducting E-Summit and Udghosh,the two massive events in the campus; Manali/ Banaras/ Goa trips with my friends; and the whole placement season was a rollercoaster ride.
As my AWL comes to an end. Here are the “13 reasons why” I survived college:
Rishika
Adarsh
Rashmi
(Utkarsh) Gupta
Ananya
Akshat Bajaj
Mayank Upreti
Anirudh
And of course, Yashanki
Prasang and Shubham (Gande lab partners)
My parents(cause I had a weird tendency of falling sick every semester that I have to summon them here on campus)
P.S: convocation pictures are cute.
Chalo bye!!!
Written by : Isha Agrawal
Edited by: Aashika Gupta, Sruthi Subramanian
Designed by: Sanyam Shivhare
