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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.
How it Started
The first person I met here was a second-year senior whom I called didi. When she corrected me, I remember thinking that this place was going to be very different from everything I had imagined.
I had just left my home in Patna. After my parents departed, an unfamiliar silence settled around me. Feeling restless and lonely, I wandered towards New Shop and somehow managed to get lost. At that point, the campus felt like a world of its own. I did not understand how people were connected, whom I could approach, or where I was supposed to go when I needed help. More than anything, I wondered how I would spend four years away from home.
What I did not know then was that this place would slowly become home itself.
That night, there was a knock on our door. We were asked to step outside, where our wing ammas introduced us to the idea of the CS family. It was the first moment when I felt that I had arrived somewhere truly unique. I was confused, slightly overwhelmed, and yet fascinated by everything unfolding around me.
Looking back now, I understand why the orientation lasted so long. A new place is not learned in a day. They were about slowly untangling the complexities of this place that we would call our own for the next four years.
I am glad I had some really nice behnes and roommate with whom I could be myself. I was not a very emotionally secure person in my initial days and, gratefully, I had people around me with whom I could express it all. While many people spent their initial days moving from one place to another, exploring and meeting new faces and building large circles, I stayed close to my comfort zone. I was shy, and a small group of familiar people felt safer than a crowd of strangers. My world during those months was not very large, but it was filled with people who made an unfamiliar place feel a little less unfamiliar.
During my first Galaxy, I participated in stand-up comedy and a few AniSoc events. Around the same time, the SnT teams were recruiting, and I wanted to join Team Humanoid more than anything. Two days before Galaxy, the results were announced, and my name was not on the list. I was deeply disappointed.
That night, I sat down to write a stand-up set, only to realize that comedy was not really my thing either. Out of ideas, I called my mother for help. She told me a funny story from her childhood, and I decided to use it.
Sometimes, life has a strange sense of balance. The disappointment of not getting into Humanoid was followed by an unexpected win. That story earned me third place in the competition and got me into HH club.
Towards the end of my first year, I applied for the Electronics Club Secretary position. I completed all the tasks and was very confident about getting selected, but I was rejected. Again. At that moment, I felt completely shattered. Looking back, it feels funny now, but I was miserable. I genuinely thought I would have nothing to put on my resume and no SnT PORs to show. Things worked out eventually though. I became Retro Secretary and later became one through the second round of recruitments.
When I look back at these small moments now, I realize how much I have changed. There was a time when even minor setbacks felt overwhelming, but over the years I learned to take them in stride.Â
Meeting Some Special People
One of the most vibrant memories of my second year is picking my bachis on that rainy day in front of Hall 4. I can still remember the excitement and nostalgia that were in the air that day, and during the 10 days that followed. I will be forever grateful for being an SG.
Then there were the clubs I was involved in, like Humor House, Electronics Club, and AniSoc. I spent a lot of time there with its people. I did some memorable performances with HH and met some amazing people like Sanya and Anwesha in that club.
Like any place where you spend a lot of time, there were good moments and difficult ones. Sometimes there were events and disagreements that made me feel a little out of place. Even then, leaving was not easy because I had already invested so much of my time and energy there.
Looking back, I think one of the things college taught me is that it is okay to move on from a place when it no longer feels right. Time already spent somewhere is not always a reason to stay. Sometimes it is better to appreciate what you got from an experience and then move forward.
Wing rearrangements introduced me to some new people like Sneha and her friends, and suddenly my life was filled with laughter, random explorations, dancing at public places. It was like finding a missing piece in puzzle. Life was at its peak when we sat next to each other in Neelakantan’s Class doing everything except studying. After that she remained my second half for most of my college life.
We were having fun, but in the background, we had a big sword hanging over our necks — the upcoming summers. I had left all my intern prep for the summer, and as it approached, the anxiety grew. I took a lot onto my plate that summer: doing a summer course, SURGE, mentoring the Air Drums project, doing an internship, and learning DSA for the first time. All this in the 40-degree heat of Kanpur. Library was the only relief during those summers and most of the time was spent there itself.
I was blessed to have some buddies in that suffering, like Sneha and Pranjali. Chats over lunch and dinner were full of intern talks; there was nothing else on people’s minds. We did discuss puzzles and DSA at the dinner table.
Everything became scarier and more intense with the first Google OA that started in July. During that phase, I met Srishti and others. The Pressure was not felt much because of them. It was like suffering in a group is a lot easier than suffering alone.
Day 1 of intern season felt endless. I watched rejection after rejection come my way. At some point, doing my best did not seem to matter. There was always someone who had done a little more, solved a little faster, answered a little better.
By the time I reached the JPMC interviews, I was exhausted. I was the last candidate they started interviewing that day. Four rounds later, they sent me back with no answer, only more uncertainty. I then walked into a Salesforce interview. When I finally came out, I noticed a few missed calls on my phone. Somewhere between all the waiting, interviews, and rejections, the answer had arrived. It was Shrasti who told me that I had made it to JPMC. After an entire day spent hearing “no,” it was a relief to finally hear a “yes.”
(The next time she talked to me about an offer was the best day of my life.)
College After Mumbai
My internship in Mumbai made me realize that life after college and friends would be monotonous, and that I had to enjoy the remaining one year fully. But there was one more thing I realized after coming back. I would not be getting a PPO. So even before the results came out, I started preparing, and the PPO results did not disappoint my expectations. I was not sad because I had accepted it beforehand.
Seventh semester was my peak. I prepared for placements, forgetting everything else. Most of the people around me had their PPOs, so I had to leave my wing to prepare seriously.
It was a fixed routine: wake up, prepare, and sleep. No classes. No academics.
All my group projects, and sometimes even the individual ones, were handled by friends who had the time to help, and I will always be grateful for that.
It was during that period that I realized I had already gained something far more valuable than any offer. It was not something that could be written on a paper. It showed itself in small ways — in people covering for me, checking in on me, and quietly making sure I could focus on what mattered.
Nobody expected anything in return. They helped simply because they wanted to.
Even after placements were over, it never felt like it was my achievement alone. There were too many people whose support had carried me through those months. In many ways, that offer belonged to all of us.
Looking back, I am happy that I did not spend the entire semester behind a desk. I attended Diwali, Garba Night, and the fests with the same enthusiasm as always, and those breaks mattered more than I realized at the time.
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The Placements
When OAs started, the months of preparation finally began to show. Problems that would have looked impossible a few months earlier now felt familiar, and for the first time, I could solve most of them on my own. People often say that hard work creates its own luck. Somewhere along the way, I started believing that too.
I was not alone in that struggle. There were a few other friends going through the same thing, waiting for the same shortlists and sitting for the same OAs.
The season started around the mid-semester break and went on for almost a month. Most evenings followed the same pattern. OAs would begin around 8 p.m. and sometimes stretch well past midnight. During those weeks, my laptop felt like my closest companion.
Kanpur winters were settling in by then. Even cycling across campus felt like a challenge. The cold would bite into my hands, and by the time I made it back to my room, most people were already asleep.
That left a small window at the end of each day that belonged only to me. Just me, a cup of noodles, and a few episodes of Shinchan before sleep. Looking back, those quiet nights have stayed with me almost as much as the interviews themselves.
I was lucky to have a good number of shortlists going into Day 1. Many of the interview processes had already started before placements officially began, and Squarepoint was one of them.
It was easily my best shortlist. After that, I honestly did not care much where I ended up, as long as I got that one. By then, I had already cleared three rounds and had invested too much hope into it.
Around two days before Day 1, I was sitting in my room revising when Shrasti walked in. She looked unusually serious and said she had something to tell me.
The moment she said that, I felt my stomach drop.
A friend of hers had been selected at Squarepoint, she said, and the results were apparently out. Then she added one more line.
My name was on the list too.
For a few seconds, I did not know what to do with that information. It was not official, it was not confirmed, and yet it was the first time I allowed myself to believe that all those months of preparation might actually have been worth it.
Since nothing was official and even Shrasti could not confirm it with certainty, I went back to what I had been doing for months — preparing and assuming the worst.
Then, around midnight on Day 1, I got a call from Deutsche and was asked to come for an interview. At that point, I still had no official confirmation from Squarepoint, so there was nothing else to do except show up.
The interview process dragged on for almost an hour and a half. My phone stayed out of reach the entire time, and whatever was happening outside that room, I knew nothing about it.
Towards the end, they called in an APC and asked him whether I already had an offer. They even wanted to know how they could be sure that I would accept their offer and not sit for any other interviews.
I was so tired and confused that I did not know how to react, so I left it to the APC. Thankfully, he handled the situation perfectly and did not tell them about the official mailing process.
When we came out of the room, he told me that I had an offer from Squarepoint and that I should not be seen in that wing after that.
I happily evacuated.
If I were asked what the best moment of my college life was, that was it.
After that, Placement Day 1 was all about helping others.
Hall 13, during that time, became a world of its own. The air felt heavy with hope, fear, and anticipation. Some faces glowed with excitement; others carried the weight of disappointment, yet refused to let go of hope. Every conversation felt different. Every phone call mattered. In those moments, friendships were tested like never before. For a few weeks, Hall 13 was a lot more than a building.
The Goa Trip
The only trip all of us could make together before Goa was our visit to Mahakumbh, which was an experience in itself. But Goa had been a dream for months. After endless discussions, plans, and changing dates, the tickets were finally booked for midsem break of 8th semester. It felt strange and exciting at the same time, as if something we had talked about for so long was finally becoming real.
For me, it was also the first trip so far away from home without my parents. Even the shopping started months in advance. Every small detail was thought through, planned, and somehow executed perfectly. I will always be grateful to Harshita and Shriya for that. They handled everything so well that the rest of us could simply switch off our brains and enjoy the journey.
Looking back, I realize that Goa was never really about the beaches or the places we visited. It was about the people. The endless conversations, the inside jokes, the laughter that left our stomachs hurting, and those quiet moments when I would suddenly zone out and look around. In those moments, I became aware of how much these people meant to me.
One of the strangest things about growing up is realizing that some people enter your life at exactly the right time, and there is no guarantee that you will ever find the same bond again. That thought makes these memories even more precious. More than the trip itself, it is the friendship that stays with me. I can only hope that these bonds survive distance, time, and whatever life brings next.
The Final Chapter
Nothing remains forever. I never thought leaving this college would hit me this hard. Most of the people I was close to were going to Bangalore anyway, so there was no real reason to be sad… right? Still, there was something odd about the last semester. Academic pressure existed, but it did not bother us. The campus started looking more beautiful than ever. People changed. Nobody wanted to put on an act anymore. People became more real, and everyone seemed invested in what they truly cared about. I thought I would be the happiest in my last semester, but that was not the case. I spent a lot of time alone in my room trying to process that all of this was about to end. Most of the time, my wing was empty. It was like everyone had gotten tired and was trying to rest.
This is not what a lot of people experience in their last semester. There were a lot of departing events like Department Farewell, Batch Video, Abhinandan, and Scribble, but none of them felt as vibrant as they used to.
During the last few weeks, we (I and my param mitragan) tried to spend as much time together as possible. We went out, did morning walks, and had our last few breakfasts together until it was time to say goodbye, one by one, at the CD Gate — where it all ended.
Written by: Shreya Roy
Edited by: Shubham Singh, Suhani Joshi
