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In this 24th edition of As We Leave 2026, Vaneesha S Kumar reflects on the defining moments of her time at IITK. Moving past the initial anxieties of fitting in and the stress of academic balancing acts, her story shines through memorable “girl gang” wing sessions, club management, and the high-stakes reality of securing her tech career. It is a heartfelt tribute to a classic campus journey, proving that the best part of IITK is the people who walk through it with you.
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 been 1 day since I left campus and as I sit to start this AWL, it feels like a race against time. Details are starting to fade away and I am starting to feel the need to write down everything I remember so that I can keep coming back and refreshing my memory.
So that is what this AWL is – a ride through memory lane (like most AWLs) and an archive for me and my friends. (coz let’s be honest, we’re the ones who’re gonna keep reading this time and again)
Chapter - 1.1
I entered campus as an introverted, quiet girl afraid that she won’t be able to mingle with these “hindi people”. But I think I did well, I made my first friend the day I came, bonded over harry potter and we stayed friends for a greater part of the year. We grew apart after that but hey, I have to give credit where credit’s due, coz if not for her I don’t think I would have my friend circle which has stuck with me since then.
First year orientation was uneventful for me, kind of a curse when your name starts with V and all your friends’ names start with M (iykyk). I was introduced to fan fiction and that’s all I read during the orientation.
But the wing meets were fun. We had a resident stalker among us who somehow managed to get a full list of senior couples just by talking to some senior.
And that is exactly how I got motivated to finally get an Instagram account.
Then classes started. Oh I must mention, my 10th grade long lost friend suddenly appeared in my life in this college and made this friend making process a hell lot easier. He kept introducing me to his wingies and I kept introducing mine and Ta-Da, friend group sorted. Well anyways, he introduced one of his wingies during one fine MTH period who I supposedly ignored (idr). And then came Integration Bee. That day I met a lot of people who have been with me since then. One particular interaction I remember started with me roasting him full on, no introduction nothing, and that dynamic has stayed the same ever since.
In first year there’s a lot of pressure to make an impression on everyone, seniors, your batchmates, people you know, people you don’t, that I think somewhere you forget to be the real you and you start faking so much that that becomes your personality. And I was prey to that as well, at least for the first month or so. I saw how my seniors acted around their friends and I assumed that is how everyone in college is and if I don’t shadow their actions, then somehow I’ll be left behind a loner.
But forcefully putting myself out there also had some advantages. I watched ZNMD at night in acad area with such a diverse set of people. People who have been reduced to hi-bye friends now. During first year fests, so many people used to come and dance with us randomly (well that had little to do with my charisma ig XD). Point being, I interacted a lot more than I thought.
So yeah, my first year was consumed by majorly two goals, don’t be a loner and get a decent cpi. First part was going well. The second part… ooof. Like every innocent unaware first year, I set my target high aiming for 9+ spi in the first year (lol). Then as the semester went on, that target reduced to 8.
There are 3 types of subjects: One which is just easy, ones where you need to put effort, but with the required effort you can score and ones where no matter how much effort you put, you just can’t score :). MTH111 was the third type. In retrospect, it was my fault, I couldn’t figure out how to study MTH till like the 4th semester. I studied it the wrong way and put effort the wrong way so no wonder I got a 4/15 in my first quiz :). But I only take like 40% of the blame. It is also the responsibility of the professor to realise that we are new to this and at least try and communicate a way of navigating this subject.
First semester ended, and I managed to get every grade from D+ to A*. And I told myself I just need to get an 8.3 next sem and I’ll cross 8. And this was a recurrent mantra till the 6th semester, “get x spi next sem so that you can cross 8”.
Chapter - 1.2
Second semester started within 2 weeks of the first. Way better subjects than the first. Way more activities than the first. By activities, I mean Galaxy. Loved the dancing part of it. HATED the warm-up part of it. I can dance for hours, but cannot do warm up. Our seniors (3rd year) were way more intense than I expected them to be. And for all the effort we put in, it wasn’t that great. I so so wish I was part of the Y23 Galaxy, it was so much better (loved the ghagras) and we actually deserved the 2nd place we got :). I literally shrunk that week, looked like a corpse but I would not trade that experience for anything.
This is the semester I realised I actually have friends. The semester I realised that there are people to whom I can talk to, and I don’t need to hide stuff from them. And maybe telling them things will actually give me the courage to do the right thing. This is when I poured my heart out one night, told her the wrongs I’ve done and how stuck I feel, and I realised maybe I won’t be alone. You might think this is trivial but for a girl who was always the last option in any friend group, it was a huge thing for me.
Semester was going pretty smoothly, MTH courses (ez), TA (loved it), CHM (bleh but what can I do). But I had to mess up something, and that was ESC112. My first 0. In the lab exam. It was even more frustrating coz I had done it right, I just erased the whole thing at the last second and saved it. Yeahh so that cost me a grade, but it’s fine, overall I did good this semester. Crossed 8 and I thought it would stay that way. HAHA LOL.
Chapter - 2.1
So remember when I said my mantra was “get x spi next sem so that you can cross 8”. This sem my mantra was “Just please cross 7 spi”. So this semester is gonna be majorly acads, coz that is legit all that I can remember this semester, feel free to skip to the next.
Reasons for acads sucking this semester:
a) MTH 🙂
Set theory & Logic and Linear Algebra. One course was good professor, bad subject and one was bad professor, bad subject. Now the first course I knew I was doing bad but at least I knew I won’t fail. The second one I was so so scared of failing till the last second.
This is the semester which made me realise I won’t be able to score in MTH if I don’t attend classes. I personally need to be disciplined and make my own notes and attend my own classes.
I tried to make up so hard with every non-MTH course I had and with everything, I just scraped a 7.
b) Time Management Issues
Caused by an acute case of FOMO. I wanted to be involved everywhere, not miss out on anything, make a good impression everywhere and I did that at the cost of my courses coz everyone else was. But I didn’t realise that others could afford to. They could study last minute and somehow pull it off but I could not.
Idk who needs to hear it, but it is okay to have to study more than others for the same result. It is okay if someone else gets a concept in one go, but you need two to three tries.
Every person in college needs to realise their own potential and capabilities and balance their bakchodi accordingly. Needless to say, I spent the rest of my semesters just trying to figure out this balance.
Chapter - 2.2
So with this semester started the craze of third year PORs and second year interns. This was a semester of realisations.
Realisation Number 1 – CTMs are overrated
Well my friend is a CTM, but I’m sure she’ll understand. CTMs are supposed to counsel students, they are supposed to show them how to navigate college and like it or not, first years idolize CTMs.
Then how is it justified to give this title to a person who has a known history of being a certified bully just because he faked it very well during the three rounds of interviews? Was this person really ratified just because ✨It doesn’t look good to deratify a CTM✨? It just proves how much this POR has shifted towards valuing politically correct persona over actual genuine character. Maybe the situation was better a few years back, but today, the culture leans too much into over-protectiveness. I mean not every first year with problems needs to be coddled. Some need a serious talking to and a knock on the head (figuratively) to buckle up.
I am not calling out the idea of a CTM. I think the interview process needs to change. I think a rigorous background check needs to take place. (not like anything’s gonna happen just coz I think something so let’s get on to the next realisation)
Realisation Number 2 – I am not good at coding 🙂
I was above average. But nothing more than that. And that showed during my interview in Google Step Round 2. How did I clear Round 1 you might ask? By the privilege of being female and in MTH. But that’s as far that branch and gender will take you. The moment it was 100% up to me, I messed up royally. And I also could not clear Uber She, but those qns were too tough anyways, so that didn’t hurt. So I took it upon myself to finish the Striver playlist. Only later did I realise that while this was enough for getting an internship, it’s not really the right way to learn “coding”. But after getting an internship, I never tried again, hence Realisation Number 2.
Realisation Number 3 – Good at management, not so good in Electronics
It is what it is. I do have a knack for it, but I didn’t get enough opportunities as a secy to build my knowledge base. Ig I also did not use the opportunities given well enough. So when I had to lead a summer project, I was terrified. Not so terrified of leading the club, that I could do, coz majorly management. But very terrified of summer project. And also the fact that I wouldn’t be there to manage any of it. When 10 first years are staying in college for the summer because you are going to teach them to build something, it’s a lot of pressure. So me, Mansi and Shreya tried our best. But idk if our best was enough. We need to come up with a better way to choose and orchestrate these summer projects.
Realisation Number 4 – I take too much tension
Half my college life done, and all I’ve done is stress out in the first two years of college. Not such a good ride through memory lane is it? Any friend of mine will agree, that I was too disciplined, I took too much tension, I tried too hard. So this next half of my college life, was to rectify that. To find the balance. Because everything that you want happens when you least expect it. So I kept no expectations. Or atleast I tried.
Whatever I write next, is an ode to my friends who helped me enjoy college like it is meant to be and also supported me without question.
Chapter - 3.1
Intern interviews would not have been possible without my friends. I remember I got a call at 5 AM in the morning that I had my first interview. Mansi woke up as well, helped me get ready, took some photos and sent me off. When I went to the interview place, Tamoghna and Nischay were there at 6 AM. They had no business there, but they still showed up. I had 6 shortlists that day, and if not for them, I think I would have lost all of them. It is so confusing to navigate Day 1 interviews because everyone keeps calling you everywhere. If you leave one company in between, it gives them a bad impression and you’re immediately at a lower priority for that company. But you also want to give the interview at another company coz the POC is like “last call, last call”. It is a mess.
I had just finished Round 1 of Microsoft and I was ready to get up and give Google interview because I did not want to miss that. I waited for 2 minutes for Microsoft and assumed I wouldn’t get into Round 2. My friends told me to chill tf down and sit and wait for Microsoft. Ik it seems like a small thing, but these small decisions can cost you so much. And you need someone to tell you to chill tf down sometimes.
While on the topic of internship, I also need to talk about diversity hiring. I’ve seen girls prepping hard throughout summer for the intern season, and I’ve seen girls starting at the last moment and landing internships. Some girls take diversity hiring for granted, and because of this, in general, girls don’t get the appreciation they deserve when they land an internship.
Obviously diversity hiring isn’t going anywhere. So what if instead of using this as a safety net, girls actually prepped to the level they would if it didn’t exist? If you are already capable, nobody can make you feel bad about being a “diversity hire”, because even if that policy didn’t exist, you would have cracked the interview anyway. You would’ve deserved it regardless. And I’m saying this because that’s exactly the trap I fell into, feeling like just because I was a girl, making it into MSFT wasn’t as massive of an achievement as it would’ve been if I were a guy.
The good thing is in placements, diversity hiring was wayyy lesser so that was a good reality check.
Some “traditions” me and my friends followed which concluded with this semester:
1) Birthday Cards: Mansi and I (with some help from Manya and Axi) made elaborate birthday cards for each and every one. It started with Mansi making a card for Manya and it just became a thing we did for every one. And they were humungous cards. So… you’re welcome.
2) Birthday Parties: We used to club 2–3 birthdays together, go to a cafe, and get treats from them. After 1 or 2, we were like is it really required? But I’m glad we followed through coz if not we wouldn’t have the huge amount of photos and memories that we do. And we discovered so many new cafes because of this.
We went to our first trip at the end of this semester. Getting 10 people onboard to a plan is a NIGHTMARE. And when the trip is a 30km trek with 3 days in a tent, it is even worse. It was hard making some of the lazy ones (sry) agree to this trip. We had some of the craziest shouting matches and debates. But I would do it all again to go on this trip. Once we set out on the trip, noone complained one bit. It was so energizing and refreshing to be off your phone, just with your friends, playing bluff on top of a mountain after the day’s trek.
Chapter - 3.2
Honestly, the main thing I can remember from this semester is the sheer number of parties I either got or gave.
I guess this is also the perfect time to acknowledge the friends Eclub gave me. The secies during our coordi tenure were ridiculously energetic, enthusiastic about literally anything that wasn’t actual club work (jk). From the first Eclub meeting till the last, I looked forward to every one of them because of the team that I had and the gossip that I used to get :).
Eclub also brought two more friends into my life. I have Bansal to thank for introducing me to pool this semester (and playing way too much of that), and Rachit for keeping me fully updated on all the election politics and other hall-6 stuff (iykyk).
This was one of those rare, golden, chill semesters where everything just clicked. All your friends have sorted internships. Everyone is happy. It was a perfectly placed semester, no underlying tension, no looming urgency about it ending. That security gave rise to a sense of leisure, where we casually grinded courses, binged movies, went for long walks, and fully leaned into our newfound obsession: bluff and poker.
Let’s keep this sem short and sweet, since the next two are going to be long.
Chapter - 4.1
You might have noticed that I haven’t mentioned wing dynamics much. Well it’s time to change that. Till now we had our share of misunderstandings and differences and we never prioritized the wing much. We were busy in our own other friend groups. Something changed over the summer, and we started spending a lot of time in the wing. We kept planning stuff, and doing some stuff impromptu.
The first one and half months of this semester was spent doing everything a “girl gang” should do, i.e, Just Dance, karaoke, cooking, movie nights, air clay, gossip sessions. And it was just pure fun. The sheer volume of content was so much that almost every spam account in the wing was active. There are some things which can only be done with girls and not with guys. And to finally have a group of people to do that with was everything I didn’t realise I was missing.
Ohh it was also our last Antaragni. I could not have asked for a better pronite lineup. Mohammad Irfan – felt like a full circle moment. And obviously.. SUNIDHI! SUNIDHI! I am so grateful for this college for giving me experiences like these. So many memorable fests, so many memorable concerts all because I cleared an exam. I would also like to mention, I had more fun sober than the others did drunk.
Then came placement season. Lucky for us only 3 out of 8 of us (in the wing) were sitting for placements so they had ample amount of help. Not to take away anything from those who were sitting for placements, but it was HECTIC. That whole period was a rollercoaster of emotions, so many tests but no shortlists, companies opening for everyone but shortlisting only circuital branches for tests. That first one week of tests always seem so pointless. Because you’re giving tests for companies which are 100% not going to take you but you sit for them anyways. And you see the shortlists and you know your name isn’t going to be there. But it is a demotivator nevertheless. But as Day 1 of placements draw closer, the shortlists pick up and you feel like all hope’s not lost.
You as a bystander can’t do much when the interviews are going on, all you can do is be at their side, act as an escort, lead your friends from one interview to another. Well it was another good end to the semester, because by Day 3 everyone I cared about had been placed and it was like a weight was lifted off my chest.
Chapter - 4.2
This has to be the best semester by far. Maybe it is recency bias but who cares. Again, the first half of this semester had that sense of leisure, where we were having fun thinking that we still had more time.
I am going through my gallery right now and honestly there is so much content, but I’ll try to keep it short.
This semester started off strong with a new hobby. Badminton. Until almost a month back, ig me and my friends played badminton almost everyday and I am as bad at it as I was ₹on Day 1. Two hours or more every day was spent playing in Hall 4 with the girls or in Hall 3 or 2 with the guys. It was so refreshing to play something regularly and to see everyone else turn up with the same amount of enthu as well.
Our cooking was in full swing – burgers, cupcakes, brownies, pancakes, pasta, bread pizza, spaghetti. Yeah, we could open a shop at this point. And we did. We set up a stall on Hall-6 hall day and I think it was one of the best decisions ever. Having so many people come back just to tell you that the cupcakes you spent three hours baking were delicious, and asking for more? It feels so fulfilling. 10/10 I recommend every junior to try it out XD.
Oooh then came the Meghalaya trip. This time it was less of a nightmare because we were all experienced. We were prepared and for a change we were sleeping on beds. I might as well say it was a joy planning this trip (Am I a bit of a control freak? Maybe). I could not have asked for a better trip. I still catch myself reminiscing the nature and the experiences from that time. And I could not have asked for a better group of people to share this experience with. Mkmtch ftw.
Now less than two months were left and the urgency began to hit. Batch videos, so many undone bucket list stuff, Dance extravaganza, Scribble day. Every deadline now seemed real. I got to unleash my talent as a dance teacher in most of this stuff and well I loved it. Idk about my students though XD. When you’re awake from 4 AM learning a dance for a 5 sec batch video, you know it’s serious. We made so many reels throughout this semester, really went beast mode with our cringe side.
I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking for these last 2 months coz no amount of words or explanation can do it justice. And anyways these are memories which aren’t going to be forgotten. These last few experiences are something which everyone needs to live through and define for themselves. Me over-explaining it might just take away from what it feels like to experience it first-hand.
Closing Thoughts
I started off this AWL thinking that it’ll be a nice ride through memory lane. But now it’s become a mish mash of a lot of things. Well these were my raw thoughts which I had when I thought of each semester. I’ve said my thank yous to all my friends in the testimonials. The only thing left ig is to say thank you to this college as a whole. I don’t think I will have this much freedom to roam at night, to eat what I want, whenever I want, to keep my room however I want, to not care about maids, cooks, cooking, provisions, houses. To have everything provided to you and spoon fed just so that you can have a college experience that you can cherish for the rest of your life. Ig I can safely say I finished living my good ol’ days.
Written By: Vaneesha S Kumar
Edited By: Aditi Narain, Pratyush Sandhwar
