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In this 49th edition of As We Leave 2026, Sneha Barman, a Y22 from the department of Electrical Engineering, shares a heartfelt tribute to the people who transformed IIT Kanpur into her home away from home. Through friendships that became family, unforgettable memories, and moments that felt straight out of her favourite movies, she celebrates a college life that surpassed every dream she once had, reminding us that the greatest gift IITK offers is the people we find along the way.
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.
The deadline for submitting this AWL is 2 days later and here I am starting to write it now. This habit of doing everything just at the edge of the deadline will one day, for sure, make me repent! But I feel so sad and excited both at the same time to have got this opportunity to write this without any word limit. This article is going to be the first one where I can pour out my thoughts generously without any character limit annoying me. So forgive me if this is a long one!
It all started on 11th September 2022, when in the morning I was running around the house with my heart thumping so loud I could literally hear it beating. The breakfast I had that morning didn’t digest I guess and I got this feeling in my stomach which I don’t know, was butterflies or a sick feeling. That day at 10am our JEE results were about to be declared. And I had calculated that even based on the marks vs rank analysis of the toughest paper yet which was of 2016, I would have got around 8000 rank which would have landed me somewhere I didn’t want to go. But when the result page loaded up, I cried up with tears in my eyes that only I knew were the results of hard work I had put in for 2 years. During JOSAA counselling, I was this close to not choosing IIT Kanpur, after listening to my dad who advised IIT Madras over it. But I don’t know if it was God’s way of signalling me or my gut feeling (which I always rely on and trust with) that made me fight for IIT Kanpur and freeze it as my final decision. That time, I chose it because I love winters and staying in Mumbai’s humid weather made me hate summers even more and I thought based on my rank, top 5 IITs, safety in the location I will be choosing, Kanpur was the best I could have. Little did I know what was yet to come!
Looking back 4 years later, I think I have been blessed with far many more things that I had wished for years in my childhood and even during high school days. All my school years, I had always felt left out even after having a friends group, I always felt like the plus one everywhere. I used to be forever jealous of those who could say they are so sad upon leaving the school and parting away from their friends. I had so longed for friendships and relations with people which would also have made me cry. But now that I do feel like that now, I feel blessed that I have something to take away with myself from this place that makes me cry loads of tears upon the thought of leaving it all behind.
There are so many things which I would be forever grateful for that this place gave me in my life. I might have not said this to the people concerned directly, because perhaps I was so living in the moment, I forgot to tell them, but I have always thanked God and have thanked for this opportunity where I can have it etched forever permanently.
I guess, I have met a thousand people on campus in these 4 years and out of those thousand people, 200 are ones whom I can call my friends. Out of those 200, there are around 50 people whom I can say, are close to me and will remain friends for life. But out of those 50, I have only 5-6 people that have made me feel like a family. We all are different like the different fingers on our hand and all of us have our own faults, but still at the end of the day it is them, to whom I go at 4 in the morning with my crying, and by 6 in the morning, I am reminded again to be grateful to have these people in my life. And this AWL will mostly be a biography of these people combined, so sorry in advance if this becomes too long to read!
I had grown up in my household listening to hostel stories from my dad who went to IIT Delhi and my mom who lived an amazing college life too and I had forever been a girl who dreamt of living in a hostel with the group of people, whom she will later call her family away from home. So, the day my parents dropped me off here, I couldn’t understand why people around me were crying their eyes out. Isn’t this utopia?
Sapna was the first person who was my first friend in this place. She was the one who taught me the same things my mom taught me till then and I found out that she is someone you can trust and pour your heart out to, she will never use it against you. We started off on slightly bitter terms but after a few attempts of ice-breaking, she became my big sister, my guardian angel and my family away from home. She explained things I was immature about and she guarded me with her life. I still remember when she cried for me one day because she cared for me and I didn’t listen to her. I will always remember living with her, doing her haircuts, putting face masks together, exchanging clothes and talking about life late till night. She was my highlight in my first year.
Soon days went by and I still was searching for MY PEOPLE where I felt like one of them and not just a plus one. Then came hall allocation time after the first year ended, and that was when I was actually introduced to people like Shreya and Shrasti, they were friends of Harshita whom I was friends with since first year, but we never ever LIVED together and were just friends till then. Then came the turning point in my life. Roy (nobody calls Shreya as “Shreya”, it’s “Roy” okay) soon became my class partner, study partner, doubt partner, “canteen chalegi?” partner, “library chalegi?” partner, “munh pe besan dahi mask lagayegi?” partner, “bhai yeh dekh main kya laayi!” partner and basically my partner in everything. She took fashion and skincare advice from me in return for teaching me the garble theories in courses under Electrical Engineering.
It is basically because of her that I probably have this degree from this university. She literally carried me on her shoulders throughout the 3 years I have known her.
I never misunderstood any scolding or any advice she ever gave me, I still remember all the times she told me what to do and what not to do and I still follow them. She is the person I have fought the most with and had the maximum number of arguments and misunderstandings with but even she knows this, that she is the person I have always loved the most and I know she loves me more. She is the person I always went to first to show even a parcel that came for me that day, or if I have a dead cockroach in my room, or to share the leftover pizza, whatever be it, she was the first person who pops up in my brain. I hope my kids love her as much as I do (no doubt in that, they surely will)!
Then the time came when my life turned into a dream come true. It was just a regular Neelkanthan’s literature class in the evening of August 2023 and I was already late running to the class. When I entered and came towards my seat I saw a boy sitting at my usual seat and I made a gesture to him, panting, to move aside to the next seat. He didn’t flinch and quietly moved to the seat beside. I realized I shouldn’t have been rude to him like that and after a couple of minutes when my breath normalized I started a conversation with him. That day, I didn’t listen to a word Neelkanthan taught us and that was the day I was introduced to the person I am most grateful for, to God. Param.
Since that day, he became my best friend, my person whom I go and rant about anything and he patiently listens. He became the one person who God sent to look after me in the absence of my family. In the days when I was admitted to HC, he made sure to give me fresh apples, coconut water and reminded me of how I was taken care of in days of sickness. Never has he let me go to even repair a watch at the campus gate alone, wherever I went, he went along just to accompany me. Never has he ever let me go to the station and board a train alone. Every period, he has provided me with the care that I never taught him but which I craved since always. Never has he ever left my hand when we walk on roads, no matter how familiar they are. Never has he ever said no to me whenever I even wished in my mind to have ice-cream. He has shown me what I needed and has always been my number 1 supporter, my biggest cheerleader and the person to always love whatever I like. He has fulfilled every item from my college bucket list and he is the reason behind the booming confidence I have always had.
Time went by quickly and then came the intern season. Which started off with great excitement in the beginning, the everyday long hours in the library or RM, with Roy, Param and others too, soon started feeling like a test for surviving every single day. It started feeling like the people I knew started behaving differently and suddenly everyone was concerned only about their own placements. After getting rejected from 4 companies on day 1, and seeing my friends getting placed, it suddenly felt like perhaps this is when my bad times are going to start. But thank God, I didn’t give up on anything, anyone and most importantly on myself. I soon got placed in Adobe just 2 days later, which later got converted into a PPO and it felt like this was meant to be for me. God saved this for me. That day I became a strong believer of “when you have worked hard, success sits for you patiently ahead”. But one thing I got out of this time was a new found friendship with Srishti. She became the funnier person than me and I realised how much I loved laughing at the way she narrates things. She became the mother I looked up to and admired with beaming eyes. She is not just beautiful by face but she is even more beautiful by heart. She has a heart of gold and will open up her entire tijori of clothes – all you need to say is “tere paas kuch hai kya fest mein pehenne ke liye?”. She is the sassiest, the baddest, my idol, a literal mother! I want to become like her one day and I love how she balances her attitude with her overpouring intellect. I am going to live with her for the coming few years and I am sure one day I will sound exactly like her! She takes her ambitions very seriously and I love that about her.
Moving on, I realised by the time around, in between third year to final year, that who my people are. I have people like Harshita, who will comfort you with the most calmest words in your bad times. I remember after coming back from Mahakumbh, I broke down in front of her, overwhelmed with emotions. She comforted me in the exact way I wanted, without sugar coating any of her words but still everything she said felt like a soft cloud to lay your head on.
I found out what living with Shrasti felt like, during 3rd year when she was my roommate. It is her, with whom I have had the deepest conversations on important topics till 5am until we hear the birds chirping and after 15 warnings to each other, saying “yaar chal chal, ab so jaate hain!”. Whenever I want someone to talk to about something serious, she is the person I will go to and knock on the door.
I have Shriya in my life, who, till this day, surprises me with something new every time I meet her. She is the perfect packet of calm and roast. She is the most intelligent girl I have been friends with and it feels like an honour that she is my friend. Not just a friend, I am going to live with her in Bangalore too! I have lived with her in my 2nd year along with Sapna too.
I have Sanya, who will keep smiling even when she is sad. She will not fight with you if she is angry with you. She is going to smile and say that what you said then, actually hurt me. I need people like her to learn to live life with more kindness and soon life looks more colourful.
I have thoughts on random days thinking how eventful my college life has been and exactly how I had imagined it to be. It is the perfect combination of Chhichhore, 2 States and Student of the Year. Watching these in my childhood, I had secretly wanted my college life to be a perfect blend of these movies, but used to hit myself with reality that it only happens in movies Sneha! But no! To those reading this and yet to join this phase of their life, take notes: No, it does become a perfect blend of your favourite movies and shows, if, and mind my words, if you find the right set of people. I have had the exact kind of Goa trip I imagined and made my manifestation board like. I have found love in the exact way I imagined since I was like 12. I laughed and danced in the exact same way I saw in movies. I sang in karaoke with the exact same energy with the exact type of people I dreamt of. I can proudly say this to my future self, in case I don’t remember the finer details in my old age, that these 4 years of my life were the golden days and this was my prime. This was the time I glowed the most and this was the time I was the happiest, nothing can ever top this. Every birthday here felt like the most special day of the year. Every walk around the campus felt like the nature healing me after a rough day. Every fest felt like the biggest concert I have ever experienced. Every get ready together with my girls felt like getting ready for the Met. Every date felt like I fell in love all over again. I will pay anything to live these 4 years again and it breaks my heart to think that this time will never come back again ever for as long as I shall live in this birth.
Written by: Sneha Barman
Edited by: Saanvi Singh, Shriya Suravarapu
