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In this 6th edition of As We Leave, Aumkar Jahagirdar, a graduating Y20 student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, narrates his challenging yet transformative journey at IIT Kanpur, highlighting experiences beyond academics.
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 journey at IITK is not for the light-hearted but for those who know how to face challenges. Also, I would not be stating any facts/stories concerning academics; I guess everyone here is to explore what IIT Kanpur has to offer along with academics. It was November 20 when I received my first call from my SG. I was despondent, and for many, it was very frustrating to see their start at IITK in the online mode. Many of them didn’t wish to be home as they were missing offline orientation and fun activities, but for me, who was going through family disputes, it was tough to see things from a normal perspective.
Online mode made most people lazy(obviously me too). There were a lot of students who entirely depended on cheating for better grades. I was surprised when someone passed me the answers written by me! After witnessing such activity, students who used to study were the ones who became vulnerable. As time passed, I tried to keep myself engaged with the sport I excelled in during my school years.
One of my major achievements before getting to IITK was being a national level player in Mallakhamb.
April 21 was the first regular senate meeting where students discussed problems and proposals to return to campus. For me, who didn’t know how things worked, I thought the Gymkhana was to be blamed. During a GBM, as a first-year freshman, I had raised my voice in senate meetings to which seniors were shocked; shocked because no freshman should act in the same way as I did. I did gather a lot of attention from my batchmates, but for seniors, I did become an idiot. Many seniors I knew told me not to act the way I did, but I ignored them all.
After this incident, I knew I would not have a good image among seniors and some of my batchmates, but this entirely depended on what I would do in the future. After a breakout of online protests towards the reopening of campus, they called all the resource-constrained students to campus. I, too, had applied and got the opportunity to be on campus before my batch came here. I and my wingies enjoyed interacting with our seniors(Ajit, Vatsal, and Ridham, who eventually became Heads of Antaragni and many more). We got great exposure to what to do on campus and how to manage our academics, along with having fun on campus.
My seniors had advised me to stay away from the “Election”, to which I did not pay attention. Eventually, one of my wing chachas, Nirmal, was contesting for the post of PSG. He was COSHA convenor at that time and had a lot of fame. Since we all decided to support him for the cause, we made many mistakes. Also, there were a few instances that I used to consider as misconduct from the side of EC. I remember how I used to be angry and how aggression drove me when I heard the word EC. But I had my reasons to feel so.
I also considered contesting for senator in my second year, for which I started preparing much before the election announcement. In reaction, the EC of IITK warned me about my misconduct, and I agreed to stop all of my activities. Since I thought that EC was ahead of me, I started digging up EC members to be aware of what was coming next. To my surprise, I found about 70-80 members of my batch who were part of EC, many of whom were already my friends. From that day onwards, I understood that not everyone could be trusted who is around you.
02/01/2022
I was on my train to campus when I received a call from the EC manager. He told me I had to be present so EC could question me. On reaching campus, I had to show up at RT-PCR at the Health Center only, after which I could enter my Hall of residence. EC picked me up and started my interrogation. I had a lot of heated arguments with the EC- CEO and the managers, and in the end, I got fined. I was very angry at that moment that a student decided what penalty other students deserved. Also, I was not in a state to understand that I was very wrong at that point.
But destiny was cruel; with the time that passed, I withdrew my nomination from contesting for senator. After that, on the same afternoon, we found out that my chacha, who was contesting for the post of PSG, his nomination was cancelled. At the same time, there were 2 other candidates whose nomination was cancelled by the EC. We were furious about the ongoing events and tried to rebel in all possible ways. One of the candidates was driven to consider self-harm due to these events. That night was disturbing, but I had what we call our wingmates, “Brothers”.
One of my wingmates took me to meet one of the well-known seniors of my Hall, Mohit Gupta, whom I had never heard about. He was among the most amazing seniors I have met at IITK. He consoled me and made me realise what to look towards in the future. He did tell me about the infamous NOTA Campaigning, and did warn me not to get involved in any way.
Still, this mind does not wish to stop at all. After thorough planning with my fellows, we started promoting NOTA campaigning in a way that was never thought of by the campus. We did not succeed in the end, but the impact was very bad on the campus community. I was scared that I could be easily grabbed by the fingers of SSAC. I remember pulling all the strings that I could to stop my name from getting into the list of SSAC, just to prevent any harm to my career at IITK due to someone’s personal vendetta. Mohit was really angry at me as I was the one who dragged myself into the same situation. It reminded him of the situation when 52 students(including him) got disciplinary action against them for NOTA promotion during by-elections. But by grace, somehow, action was not taken against me. At last, the EC-CEO was impeached by the Senate for unfair conduct.
After that, I started to work for my Hall and aimed to become hall president. I was never in any sub-committee, but I managed to get the work done. At that time, H-12 had severe maintenance problems. To start with culture, I began to learn about many seniors, and along my journey, I met a lot of Y’18s. I shared my vision with them, taking their experience before they left us.
A few days later, I had knee surgery, so I could not take the lead at the SNT code organised by Y ’18s. It was the most amazing night that my batchmates experienced. A blessed night to witness the Hall Rivalries with all the seniors of my Hall and other Halls. During these days, the code of conduct doesn’t allow slang and imposes penalties for doing so, but Y20s experienced the night when there were no such barriers. An open field of battle where there is no one to stop you. Indeed, it makes those nights a wonderful memory for my batchmates. This is why my whole batch of Y20 had such a good Hall bonding.
Culture Awaits All, Just Embrace it
Along with my fellow batchmates, we pushed for the new HEC, which was accepted by the Warden on July 22. There were a lot of challenges & there were very few seniors on whom we could count to help us. I still remember my first day of becoming Hall president. A few students of my Hall visited Bithoor and had a situational accident where a Y’17 lost his life. I was too inexperienced to handle the situation. There were a lot of visitors to my Hall from the administration, and I never knew how I should deal with them. Still, we handled the situation. Believe me when I say the most challenging thing in this world is to see the parents cry and collect the belongings of their child, who is no longer in this world.This incident was the reason which led to the continuation of entry-exit registration for students at the main gate.
A few days later, with my HEC and Warden’s permission, we called the GBM of my Hall juniors residing in H-13. After letting them know about the Hall rivalries and a lot of shouts of slogans, we let them go back to their Hall. But it had the opposite impact on them. With heated arguments, there was a mishap where a Y’21 had used a knife to threaten one of my juniors. I got a call from H-13 and ran there ASAP. Being just in time, 2 security guards were to call the control room to report everything, but I intervened and explained to them not to do so to save him from disciplinary actions. He felt sorry and apologised, and there was a compromise between those two. One should not let heated arguments be the reason for getting their career sacced here. After the very same, I was criticised by many people for intervening in the situation; most of them felt it was wrong to have them compromised. But in the end, what matters is to save someone’s career rather than making him feel the mistake for the rest of his life.
A new HAP was proposed, and to my information, I was about to manage a hall of 900+ students. My HEC had to address many issues daily, assuring them it would be done soon. It was August, and there were only debates in the Hall group about maintenance issues. There were plans in order, but they took time due to the official process. In the same way, to divert their attention from the thinking that no one is working, we organised some cultural events that made them believe that work is undergoing but taking time.
Around this time, I had a heated argument with one of my hallmates, and I had some miscommunication issues with my Warden sir, too. It made me realise that, being nominated, there were a lot of people who were ready to suppress me. Around the same time, I met with another great GEM of IITK, Snehil Saluja(founder of Overlayy), ex Hall- President of H-12 during the Y’18 batch. Even though he was Y’17, he took up the responsibility of Hall president during the Y’18 batch, and he made me realise the importance of being elected rather than nominated. His journey of life had been very rough, with a lot of financial issues during college life, losing his father just around the days before the JEE exam; really seeing his situation would give anyone goosebumps. He, too, was nominated president due to some issues in the HEC election of Mohit Gupta(Y’18) Vs Deepak Kumar(Y’18- Former Udghosh Festi). I resigned from being nominated president and requested my Warden sir, to have by-elections so that I could finally be elected. By-elections took place in October, and I won the election with a massive margin of 600+ votes.
It was when I realised that most of my Hallmates looked up to me for leading them, and I never wished to let them down. Within 2 months, I had spent 14 Lakhs and rectified all the problems in my Halls. I purchased 4-250 LPH RO machines with the plan of centralising RO and 6 front-load washing machines worth 3 lakhs, which no other Halls had. I could do so only due to the Warden’s support, but it was based on only one condition, to regenerate the amount in my tenure. I took up the challenge and had all the spent money regenerated by renting common rooms to Festivals, residential rooms to ARs, and SPO for placement activity. After completing the challenge, I was motivated enough to contest for PSG in the upcoming elections. 5 candidates were rivals in doing so, but it was not something that gathered my attention. I was stuck up in my academics, and I had a CPI of around 6.67, which was not good in terms of placement.
Around the same time, there was a significant issue of workers being fired from the water department. Many workers used to visit every known Hall president, asking them to help. I, along with the president of H-7(Sudama) & H-10(Parth), formed a strategy to reinstate them in the Institute. Consequently, PSG(Rohit) intervened and asked the DoIP/IWD to reinstate them. Due to contract issues, he could not intervene more, but he ensured those workers got jobs in different departments of IITK. This was the moment when I understood that we are not alone & we should always help the worker community because they are the ones who help students in dire need.
12/12/22
It was the day that changed my career here completely. Results of the 6th semester were out, and my current CPI was 6.51, just 0.01 above that for me to contest elections. I was already motivated enough to contest the election and didn’t care about the competition. I was thankful to Snehil, who motivated me well enough & made me realise my worth. But all of these expectations & desires ended when I met my senior Nirmal, who used to guide me on these matters. He advised me not to contest elections and scolded me, “You have a lot of family disputes, low CPI, no preparation for placement, no intern for upcoming summers, and still you wish to accomplish everything. Also, your opponents have everything they need; what do you have?”. He advised me it’s better to give up this dream now and do something for which I came here. At first, I almost cried, but later, I understood what he meant, and it would benefit me in the future. Also, looking at the placement drive of Y’19s did scare me a lot.
My network of friends was extensive. I had excellent relations with the PG community & workers community as well. As I had accomplished many feats during my tenure and people had already seen me working hard, many people asked me to contest, but I declined. I still remember the day when six Hall presidents and a few leaders of the workers’ union asked me to contest & they assured me that they would support me. Eventually, all started asking what was the reason I was not taking part in the election, but I was unable to explain it to them at the core. Sometimes, silence is the best answer you can give.
Freshers inferno was about to commence. Due to family problems, I was taking a long time to return to campus. Aman, Yatharth and Kaushal completely took responsibility for Freshers Inferno. With a lot of hard work and dedication, Marathas won the Freshers Inferno. It was a proud day for all of us.
Now, the only thing that I needed to perform was the duty as the organiser of Ritambhara at Antaragni. If anyone asks me what is the best POR on campus, I would reply without hesitation that it’s an organiser in any Festival, preferably “Antaragni”. You get an enormous amount of exposure, bonding, and knowledge. After facing several challenges, we conducted Ritambhara at the main Auditorium after 3 years. It was a great experience which I would never forget. If you are an Organiser during those 4 days of Antaragni, the things you will see will never allow you to get demotivated & will give you enormous confidence to withstand anything in your life.
Many students do fear interviews in Antaragni. The interviews of Antaragni, whether for the Heads or Organizer, are taken only to check the determination level, presence of mind, and the quality of pressure handling inside a person. It has no relation with what he knows or has accomplished earlier. So don’t fear and give it a try; the worst that can happen would be you would be asked to leave….XD. Once the interview is over, you would feel that you are a liability to this world, but be strong; that check-up was to make sure you can handle any amount of pressure to commence in the future.
With my Antaragni team, the best team to work with
March’ 23. This was the month when I contributed to IITK with my experience as Hall president. HMC meet was to be held after 3 years, & since I had a lot of experience in Hall affairs, I had proposed 2 proposals with the help of my Warden, one of which was approved by the committee as a dire need of the campus community. It was none other than the “Standards Monetary Committee (SMC)”. It was the only proposal approved by the HMC, whereas all other proposals were discarded or never floated.
April 23. A lot of things were conducted simultaneously. Conduction of GC in just 10 days is not a joke. Even though the former Gymkhana tried their best, it will always result in the same. We won the inferno but felt cheated in Takneek. It was the main reason we took part in the impeachment of SNT Gen-sec, but kudos to them; they never showed up on the floor and saved themselves.The chairperson(Sanidhya) and I felt the need for a code of conduct for GC to avoid these situations.
After summers, focusing on placement was not easy. There were a lot of issues going on with me. It is not easy to see your parents getting separated. Even after that, I had to hold them together and look after my placement preparation. I started doing some coding and clearing basics, but I was late in preparing them during the placement phase. When I look back, I question whether I really belonged to the wing where my closest friend was an ICPC finalist. Also, I was not so good in core as well. I was a great fit for APM roles & consulting, but a CPI of 6.34 doesn’t allow one to get even an interview in these roles.
I had no opportunity on Day 1, which was valid since I never had such preparations. On day 2, I had only one interview in VVF, but it was in a core company, and I wasn’t a great fit there, so I already knew I didn’t stand a chance. On the night of day 2, I was broken as I didn’t see any hope of further shortlists, but at 4 am, I got a shortlist in 2 companies, Javis & Blitz. I had an interview in Javis around 12. Just after my interview, I got to know that no other student cleared round 1 & the company has visited campus just to maintain relations; the same kind of stuff had occurred in the past as well. After leaving there, I had one hour remaining for my blitz interview. I tried my best to get a walk-in interview at GLS, an oil-based company in Dubai. I was so involved in preparing for the interview with GLS and forgot about the interview at Blitz. I got rejected by GLS as they already had a lot of better candidates, but due to my mistake, I could not appear at the Blitz interview. When I reached the spot where the Blitz interview was taking place, I saw that my friends were having their HR round(round 3), looking at which I guessed I had no chance here.
As my day worsened, I learned about IPAC and thought, why not try political consulting? I have a lot of experience in the political field. On the same night, with the help of my friends Siddharth and Animesh, I made the ppt and made a wonderful introduction video that would outstand 600+ applicants. On day 4, I had no interviews and was waiting for any company to open a walk-in, but luck was insufficient. The very same night, a few alumni who visited for hiring took me along with them to VH. We had a small party and interaction. They assured me they would help me if I did not benefit from campus placement but asked me to try hard until I could. No shortlist on day 5 made me realise I should start pulling all the strings I can. To my surprise, I finally met Snehil during placements. He also helped by giving a few alumni connections and referrals for this situation.
Finally, I got shortlisted in IPAC for day 6. When I saw the shortlist’s order, I was pretty sure that it was their preferred hotlist, too. So I knew this was my chance and I should not miss it. Since I have always been doing the same election stuff on campus, I was confident that I would withstand the same. I cleared both rounds and got recruited as an Associate at IPAC. A special note, seniors and alums are always ready to help, but you just need to approach them humbly; god knows what magic can happen.
Finally, they say whatever you do here pays you off, and I found it true. I was indeed very happy, and now I was free from all the burden. Jan ’24, it was election time, and this time, I was happy that finally, there was no one to stop me from getting involved. I was happy that all of my preferred candidates took my advice, and they won their respective positions. I felt it was an internship for my job profile. Also, there are a lot of loopholes in the code of conduct that can be overcome easily. Hence, candidates can work together(collusion), but they should know how to save themselves. A tip for future candidates: no one can stop you from winning the elections if you have the support of the workers’ community. Also, remember, “No elections are fair; you need to struggle and win it, no matter what it takes”.
Defines your win in an almost-lost battle
At last, being a 4th-year senior, I preferred not to be involved in Galaxy, but in the end, when 3 pool captains & former pool caps met me and told me about unfair conduct they faced, it was sufficient enough to convince me that they were at the vulnerable side and should be helped. I started planning on scrapping the Galaxy 7 days before the PCR was to be presented on the floor. Indeed, we did have only 8 senators in support, and making a majority was very challenging, but making the numbers up was my task, and I knew how to do the same. Even though the outgoing Gymkhana had a majority of senators who favoured current position holders, making it to the majority was not simple. At last, I got my task done with the plan. Believe me, it was such a well-devised plan that the loophole to the plan was known only to a few people, and I guess neither Gymkhana nor the Senate ever knew about it. At last, everything worked out as planned, and we finally scrapped the Galaxy.
I faced much criticism and hate towards me, which I accepted happily. Among all the allegations, I did feel for one allegation: you could never see girls win the Galaxy, and you took it from us. I assure you, I was the happiest person when girls proved that they were better than boys, but petty politics towards the ranking of GC made me realise that getting emotional is not the way. I was ready, and I am ready to accept all the hate that comes with it. My beginning of college life was in the very same situation, so it never bothered me.
At last, leaving my goa trip with the boys, I visited my family to end the conflicts, but I guess I was too late. Things had escalated towards the divorce of my parents, and I could no longer hold them. It is very disturbing to see this situation where your mother cries in your arms, and there is nothing you can do other than console her. I guess this is what life is. You can never predict what’s up next.
After returning to campus, I was on my last task to end it here. I had proposed a no-confidence motion for the upcoming chairperson and got it done the way it is. The GBM should understand that the leaders leading them should be clean and have no political plans involved. I am proud that I got an opportunity to set an example that no one is above law and order. Also, I want everyone to know you are precious as a GBM with no position. Believe me, you can do whatever you wish if your will is strong enough.
“No need to be ‘SG’ when you can be Godfather”- A famous Y’13
April 16, 2024: I got the news of the UPSC exam results and called Mohit to congratulate him on his feat. He cleared his first attempt at the UPSC exam with AIR-192, and guess what? He is an IPS officer now. I say life is very unpredictable, and one never gets to know the beauty of it. A student who got disciplinary action against him in SSAC, a student who lost his mother during UPSC preparation, cleared one of the toughest exams of the world and is esteemed to get a white collared job. Just imagine his state of mind during those times.
I used to have a lot of arguments with another senior, and I literally hated her earlier. It was none other than EC-CEO Samiksha. However, my perspective on her changed when I learned what she was going through while teaching at Prayas IITK. She literally fought with everyone when she was opposed by her family and close friends to help someone out of hand. She was helping a girl financially who had lost her family, and she supported her to become an independent, strong woman.
This is the kind of personality that IITK develops, and according to me, it is best to go with the flow and do whatever you wish to do. Just do not waste your time in your hostels; instead, spend it with friends to live your 4 years here. Participate anywhere you wish; there is a lot to try at IITK. Also, there is a lot of community service that you can deliver, and you don’t need to hold any post to give it. It’s all upon you.
There are a lot of seniors on our campus who inspire us but never follow anyone blindly. Finally, it’s your call for what you shall be, so think, analyse, and act. We all have problems in life but remember that these problems are the ones that make you strong.
Some wins from almost- lost leagues at IITK
Lastly, I would say to learn to respect yourself first. If you learn to do so, you will achieve whatever you want to. Also, you are the only one who can help yourself out when no one else can. Take care.
Written by : Aumkar Jahagirdar
Edited by: Brinda Fadadu, Vedanshi Aggarwal
Designed by: Sanyam Shivhare
