As We Leave #27: Pressure is a privilege, and IITK gave me plenty of both

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In this 27th edition of As We Leave 2026, Mantavya Upadhyay, a Y22 student from the Department of Electrical Engineering, takes us through a deeply personal narrative. Following a chronological path, he candidly recounts moments ranging from putting his head down and studying rigorously in his second year to working on his own startup and navigating difficulties during the placement season. He reflects on his time at E-Cell, his drive for entrepreneurship, the projects that inspired him, and the people who remained his constants and fueled his growth. He concludes by recognizing both the pressure and the privilege that the walls of our institute embody.

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.

From 9th to 12th standard, I was fortunate to be part of Fiitjee Gwalior, Resonance Kota, and Allen Kota. This phase of my life gave me a lot of friends, really enjoyed what I was doing before Covid stepped in to mess things up. Ended up at IITK Electrical anyways.

I was happy where I was, didn’t wanna study too hard to try for a branch change. Never did. Probably the best decision I made in my first year.

Went all out, explored and became a part of as many things as humanly possible.

I had no idea when the E-Cell volly nominations came and went by. Then, luckily, Srijan (Y21), my senior from Resonance got me into E-Cell. A place that would shape me as an individual and the way I think for the better.

Attended a lot of sessions, did a lot of volly work and then came the E-Summit. I got back into anchoring, something I enjoyed doing during my school days. Participated in a couple of competitions. Won Decrypt. But most importantly, worked with a lot of good seniors, people who would guide me a lot for the coming years (and still do). I think any place becomes special and memorable because of the kind of people that you meet there.

I later joined E-Cell as a secretary, but I couldn’t continue because I wanted to focus on a few things for the intern season (will probably always have a sense of regret for that). E-Cell will always be special for me for just that, and I’ll always have a sense of fondness towards the people and the place.

I also worked in the Outreach cell, PPOC, Raktarpan, AnC, ICG, Antaragni, President’s Office, and of course, as SG and AM.

Went out on a lot of outings with my wingies. Best wing I could’ve asked for. Paaji, Bundela, Gauti, Lalpuria, Harsh, Ishan, Dhiru, Asif, Hemant, Shivam Kumar, Shreyansh, Diwakar, and Sanskar. Probably the only few people I’ve met who haven’t changed one bit. No matter what, you can always just walk into their rooms and take your mind off things.

Chapter 2: My second year

A few days before the start of the 3rd sem, I accidentally ran into my baapu, Akshat, right outside my room, where my baap wing had come to get cold water (yes, that was and still is a luxury at IITK). We asked how their intern season was going. What he said then shaped a majority of how I’d approach things pre-intern season. He said you’d need a CPI of atleast 8 to get a good enough number of shortlists. I didn’t have 8 then cause I never focused on CPI in my first year. And that’s when something changed. I had always thought that PoRs alone would be sufficient (along with okayish CPI), but that wasn’t the case.

Sheer luck that I ran into him that day.

3rd sem onwards, I got my head down and studied hard. Had to leave a few PoRs to manage my time well. Some of the hardest decisions to date.

Really fortunate to have worked on the Net Zero Water Project at ICG and to have met some of the hardest-working folks I know there. Ritik, Pathi, Anya, Ayushi and Nandini. Working with Proj. Jindal has deeply influenced the way I approach problems and projects.

Worked on a lot of things at ICG.
– NLP Session feat. Harshita, Kanishq, Mudit and Harshit.
– G20 Report feat. Arush, Rashi, Praneetha, Rishav, and Vardan.
– Noora Project feat. Trijal, Vidhi, Rishav, and Mudit.

Working with these people has shaped the way I approach and solve problems to this day. Will always be grateful to them for picking up after me whenever I didn’t have the bandwidth.

I’ve tried to manage my time a lot better since then.
Dec’23: reached out to a lot of outside profs for projects. Finally accepted one with Bosch and IIT Indore; quite fortunate that I did.

Career Connect and CDec at AnC.

One of the most happening periods of time at IITK was while conducting the Career Connect. Aman, Manya, Krishiv, Hritvija, Mahak, Manoj, Raman, Roshan – really grateful that I met you guys during CC, absolutely enjoyed every second of it. Special mention to the Y21s – Arpit, Saumya, Siddharth and Utkarsh for letting us take ownership of things. We probably worked more as secies during CC than we ever did as managers, and that says a lot :p

Chapter 3: The Intern Season

Worked hard (although not hard enough, when I look at it in hindsight). Probably underestimated the chaos and randomness of the Intern season.

Really fortunate to have taken charge of CDev and Raktarpan during this period.

Don’t really remember most of the summers :p

Got 2 interviews on Day 1: ITC and Barclays. ITC’s rounds started a day before with group discussion (our group messed up, didn’t even have a conclusion; went into my mess thinking I wouldn’t qualify for the next one, somehow did; was the only one from our group to get an interview call), next round was late night technical – grilled on some of the projects, mainly Net Zero Water and Electricity Consumption Forecasting for IITK. Got informed around 4 am that I’ve proceeded to the final round from 8 am. Couldn’t really sleep a lot, woke up at 8, had no breakfast, went straight to TB201, waited till 12:10 pm for the interview. Lasted around 45 mins, grilled on the project with Bosch (why IIT Indore prof, why not IITK lol) and the Net Zero Water Project – most of it was around that. Asked for a sheet of paper and drew a flow diagram for it. Some questions around my PoRs; the games during the earlier assessment, what they wanted to test for, and the possible relation to industry problems.

Came out of it, was offered the role (Join karega? They’re very impressed with you – were the exact words). Accepted it on the spot, never went for the Barclays interview. Called bhai, home and went straight to my home on campus 🙂

Chapter 4: My Third Year
I got sorted around 3rd August, and the next 15-20 days went by in a flash. Conducted the Independence Day blood camp at Raktarpan and the AnC’s Placement training programme. Realised I hadn’t studied much when quizzes started; got back into the groove. Studied hard, led the Net Zero Project. Honestly, the most chill I’ve been after my 1st year.

December’24: wrote a couple of research papers that were published later.

6th sem:
Probably realized ITC might not be the best fit, and it would be good to be prepared in that case. Worked really hard this sem to pump up my CPI (as this would be the last sem to be included in CPI calculations before placements). Priortized acads over everything else from PoR to Projects (still regret some of them, but I think I made the better choice). This was my hardest sem academically; wanted to graduate one sem earlier, so loaded it up to 65 credits.

Worked on only one project – led to a publication.
NIT Calicut – you were great. Loved the food 😉 Now I know what conferences are for :p

My intern started with orientation at ITC Windsor, Bengaluru. Couldn’t have asked for a better start :p

There were four of us from IITK – Abhishek, Rishav, Shristi, and me. Really enjoyed the time with them.

Then came Bhadrachalam, the biggest plant I have seen to date (it is actually India’s largest pulp & paper manufacturing plant). The scale at which they operate is massive, simply unthinkable. My project was to reduce the entire plant’s electricity consumption. It started well; my mid review went really well. Then I got sick, took some time off and started again. My end review went well. Didn’t get the PPO, but for the better, I guess.

Met some really great people here. Special mentions: Suyash, Deep, Anwit and Adrija.
My co-interns: Aditya, Divyaratna and Satya.

Chapter 6: Placement Prep
I got really sick when I came back from Bhadrachalam. Lost around 15 kgs. Went back home to recover. Took me a month to be okay, not good though, just okay. Came back before the midsems, focused only on them. Didn’t get any time to prep for placements until after them. But I knew what I needed to do.

One thing that went well for me during this time was my courses. I didn’t attend any classes for a month, so I dropped the harder ones. Kept only 4 courses – IDC607, PHI441, DES698 and CHE657. Really fortunate to have attended IDC607 and PHI441. Prof. Sushruth Ravish is, honestly, one of the best professors I have studied under. I actually looked forward to attending his classes throughout the semester, which gave me a lot of confidence while I recovered.

Devotedly studied for the placements. One of the hardest times on campus. Not being physically and mentally up to the mark, while having to prep harder than ever.

I was really fortunate during the placement season. Really grateful to everyone who helped along the way.
If you ever need help with placements, career-related or anything in general, please reach out. I’ve been in your shoes, and I know how overwhelming it can feel. You don’t have to figure everything out alone.

Chapter 7: CarbonTatva AI
To be very honest, I never imagined my last sem to go the way it did.

Started working on my own startup. Ever since my time at E-Cell during my first year, I have been very intrigued by startups. The burning question was always the same – “How do people actually come up with startup ideas?”

Well, I found mine when I wasn’t even looking for it.

It all started with us working for the Andhra Pradesh Govt. Their chief minister wanted to create a net-zero plan for his home constituency, Kuppam.

The problem? There were no other organisations doing what we wanted to do; the ones that did exist were not technical enough to do the job well. So, we eventually went ahead and did it ourselves.

This lesson stayed with me, though, there is a gap here.

Talked to a lot of people in the industry since then, my contacts at ITC, and other alumni working in the corporate sustainability domain, to understand the problem in depth. Ideated around what possible solutions could be built and what exact user pain points we should be solving.

Showed our solutions to a small cohort of ESG professionals, got ~80% interest rate, which further validated what we were working on. Got the Andhra Govt as a client and are currently doing pilots in ~20 industries. Really excited for what we do next 🙂

Chapter 8: The Last Frontier
Lots of very hard goodbyes. Would probably talk more about this some other time :p

Thank you, IITK, for giving me the people and opportunities that have shaped who I am today.

I would have loved to meet and talk to a lot more people during the last sem. To everyone of you: I’m sorry for not managing my time better.
Going forward, I’d love to stay in touch with many more of you. I genuinely hope you achieve everything you’re working towards, and I hope I can be of help along the way.
If you ever want to talk, ask for advice, share an update, or just catch up, please text me. I’d love to hear from you.

Special mentions:
– Akshat: Best Baapu ever. Thanks Akshat, for always helping and guiding me. You were like a big brother. Thanks for believing.

A big part of my college life has been possible because of the “family” that IITK gave me. From my baap wing to my own wing and then continuing with my bachha and pota wings. I am very fortunate to have been an SG, the only PoR that never felt like one.

– Anjali: Thank you for always being there for me and taking care of me. In case I don’t tell you enough, thank you for being on my side. Thank you for being my home on campus.

– C1: Best wingies ever. Thank you, guys, for everything. I will always cherish our late-night canteen visits, poker nights (even though I still don’t know how to play :p), and much more.