Abhishek Singh is a final year undergraduate in the Chemical Engineering department. Let’s have a look at his journey at IIT Kanpur and live the nostalgia and reminiscence with him.
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 moment I planned to write my story as a part of the As We Leave Series, multiple thoughts about what to include, what not and to what extent with a brief overview of my 4 years crossed my mind. As anyone close to me could testify that these 4 years had been a roller coaster ride with many triumphant moments and with equally embarrassing moments. Finally, I decided that I will quote them all because I genuinely wanted this to be an honest piece presenting the 4 most amazing years which I am going to cherish for the rest of my life.
Since I have attempted to be as true as possible and to mention every little detail, I have broken the article into independent modules, you can choose to read whichever parts you feel are interesting. Happy Reading!
Freshie Year: The Year of Mistakes and too many Lessons
My story starts from the very first day of the orientation, we were standing in a queue inside Hall X on a super-hot day, waiting for our turn to go inside the Hall Office and submit the DD post after which we were supposed to go to the adjacent room to have our very first “interaction” with seniors. Before I entered the hall office, the Notice Board with 10 photos on it caught my eyes. These 10 were the part of Hall Executive Committee; which obviously I had no idea about. The photo on the top had “President” written beside it and the very next moment I made a commitment to myself that I want my photo up there (too ambitious :P). Going ahead with the schedule, the moment I entered the room, one of them asked me “Baap kaun hai tera?”. To give you all the context, I was yet to meet my SG. So obviously I was unaware of the lingo and this question was enough to hurt my fragile small ego, hence I answered “Rajnikant”, and that’s where the trouble began.
When given a choice to go for the Gymkhana week or to stay back in the quads, I opted for the quads. I could have well built a repo with my hall seniors, but my mouth had other plans for me. I went to the Mess Secretary and asked him “HEC Kaise Bante Hain?”. There was a moment of silence there, he was probably trying to digest what he just heard, and then the news spread like anything. Seniors from all the wings came down to know ‘who is this guy who wants to be the next president’. Though it was sarcasm then, they soon witnessed it becoming a reality (:P). The coming weeks were very hard, though it made me emotionally strong, it also made me meet the vulnerable side of mine.
Next were the wing representative (repi) elections; by now you all can guess that I am surely going to try for it, and guess what? 3 people went for it, and out of 35 votes, I got nil, Siddhartha got elected, and from now on till the rest of his stay, he is called ‘Repi’. The excitement was not dead yet, in August, I contested for the post of Senator. This time too, my mouth did all the damage – because of a statement of mine, the HEC of my hall got fined and out of the 7 who contested, I was the only one not getting elected.
Shortly after Senate elections occurred the HC protests. The incident is still crystal clear in my mind, it was 6 in the morning, we were going for our PE class, and all of a sudden, a person came and started informing us about the protest and requested us to join it. And who doesn’t want to miss their PE class? We joined the protest; with time we came to know about the issue. I was witnessing the same person who came to call us, leading us almost everywhere, be it the IIT Gate or Chauraha or Academic Area gate. After asking one of my seniors I came to know that he is Ashutosh Ranka, the President of Students’ Gymkhana. Though I was not much aware about the post but the aura and authority of it made me commit to myself that I want this post in time to come. The irony was, I was losing the elections of wing repi and was aiming for the post of President, Students’ Gymkhana. Later, many events took place be it the GC, Festivals or Hall Events. I never missed any opportunity to try exploring something new which this campus had to offer.
Finally, it was that time of the year, the nominations for the HEC were called for. This was the post I was dreaming for the last 1 year, so I made all the efforts to ensure that I am not missing anything, be it being well versed with the functioning of HEC, be it the major issues in the Hall & innovative solutions to it or be it political activities that go behind the curtains in elections. I marked them all. I made the most elaborate manifesto with the motivation to complete each of those points. And finally, after so many lows, this was my moment, I got elected as the President, I finally experienced my first high in the campus. The year ended with a smile. 😊
Run Up to Presidential Elections
In my 2nd year, we got shifted to Hall 12, being a new hall, it lacked basic amenities and a lot was to be done to fulfill the promises made in the manifesto. Being motivated to accomplish the dream of becoming the PSG I started searching for avenues to get associated with the Gymkhana and to build relations with the seniors. I joined a couple of committees and worked equally hard to get my targets executed. The year felt too smooth to be true.
As precedent, CoSHA Convener used to be the strongest contender for the post of PSG and there were talks that the eligibility criteria to contest could change and only senators will be allowed to contest for it. So, I had 2 major elections in front of me and both were equally important to reach a step closer to my dream.
Again 7 people contested for the post of the senator and yes, I was the last one in the race. The only satisfying thing which happened was, the eligibility was not changed, so I could still contest for the post of CoSHA Convener. I gave a lame excuse to myself that I never wanted to be a Senator, I contested just because there was a possibility of change in the criteria.
This time I was motivated as hell and was prepared with all my energy for the post. I made the most elaborate manifesto, gathered the views of the previous office bearers, hall presidents, senators, and God knows not whom. But this time again, luck was not on my side, I got defeated again. This loss actually made me hollow from the inside, the excitement was overpowered by sadness and the road from New-SAC to Hall-12 felt non-ending. The best thing that day was that the members of my HEC with whom I never shared such a strong bond before this, were there in the Senate Hall to support me.
The days became gloomy, I stopped attending classes until a meeting one afternoon, which changed everything. I was having my lunch in the mess and the then Head Events of Antaragni came and sat beside me. He said “CoSHA ke baad toh President nahi ho payega na? Antaragni mein try karna hai?”, that question sounded very surprising to me because I had never worked in any capacity in Antaragni before this, so I was equally unaware of the functioning as a fresher could be. I decided to go out of the shell to witness what’s going outside. There were rumors that I am finally out of the PSG race, in a sense that was true but it was a tight slap to my dream and I was not able to digest it. I decided that I will join Antaragni and will still run for the post of President.
“Chaar Din ki Chandani”
After 2 rounds of Interviews each lasting for 2-3 hours, I was finally made the Manager of Synchronicity, the event which has a history of producing bands like Parikrama. In the summers of my 2nd year, I was interning in a start-up based out of Kochi. The work which Synchronicity demanded from me was so satisfying and interesting that even during my office hours I used to engage myself with Synchronicity stuff, and I didn’t realize this becoming a routine until my MD threatened of not approving the PVF if I continue to work this way. Even after coming back to campus, I spent the major chunk of my time in C-Bot. The association and the feel for the festival grew at such an exponential rate, that I was considering dropping the plan for PSG and going for the Core Team next year.
Somewhere between this, on 5th Oct an interesting episode took place. It was the first day of Udghosh, I was the Acting President then because Pratyush (the then PSG) was not on campus. The same firm was contacted by Udghosh as well as Antaragni for the sponsorship and I was to make the final decision in the matter.The matter was serious enough that 2 Core Team Members of Antaragni came to my room at 3:00AM to wake me up and convince that I take decision in their favour. As the story became clearer, I tried multiple times to contact Pratyush but I was not able to. Any sane mind with plans of contesting for PSG or to try for the Core Team of Antaragni would have made the obvious choice, isn’t it? I took the completely opposite decision based on my learnings! Once Pratyush returned back to the campus, even he appreciated the decision after understanding the whole matter.
The Antaragni days were the four most amazing days of that year! We could very well witness the results of our months of hard work in the enjoyment and liveliness with which participants were enjoying the festival. The best moment of those 4 days was when we were on the top of the stage after the final show and hugging each other to show our happiness for what we all as a team had done. That was when one of the Core Team members said “Ab bhi President banna hai ki Core Team banega?” And my very next response was “Core Team!”.
But I was still in a big dilemma because on one side it was the dream which I was wishing to convert into a reality from my first year and on the other it was the feeling which I wanted to relive. After discussing with a few of my trusted seniors, I took the final call of going for the PSG.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
It was finally that time for which I have been making plans from the very first year of my campus life. To ensure that no stone remains unturned, I gave my best shot to it, my day used to start at 9:00 AM and end at 4:00 AM. I made all the efforts to build relations with people, identify the genuine issues which they have, consulted with alums to understand the best solutions to it, identified the major areas where IITK was lacking in comparison to sister IITs and wrote it all in my manifesto. During this process, several rumors spread across the campus, but that’s okay, I feel it is an inevitable part of the process.
This part of my campus life is too big to quote it all here, it was filled with multiple emotions and dynamic lifestyles. I made a strong team for myself, those were the people who were standing with me during all the lows and the highs of the process. As the elections were coming closer, each moment was getting as dynamic as it could be. Even a single wrong word could have impacted it all. Finally, the longest battle came to an end with the record voting percentage and I was elected as the President, Students’ Gymkhana! The dream of my first year was a reality! “Repi” posted the story of Abraham Lincoln on my wall comparing my story with his.
But the happiness was short-lived, multiple allegations were filed against the elections and finally, it got called off. The years of hard work and dream – shattered. I was badly in need of a break to recollect the broken pieces. By this time, I was mature enough to not go into the shell again, rather go out the very next day with a smile on the face.
THE FINAL EPISODE
The year started with a lot of uncertainties, as expected I was rejected by McKinsey, BCG and Bain and insecurities within me forced me to accept the PPO from Axis Bank even though I was not sure whether I actually wanted that or not. Days later I finally realized that it is surely not Axis Bank which I want post-graduation. I started making attempts to find the substitute and the feeling of helplessness started making me feel frustrated from whatever was going around me.
The best thing which happened to me during this time is my group PRANK (Parth, Rahul, Abhishek, Navneet & Krishna) although I must admit that I have been quite lucky in this regard, in the earlier years, Nilay and my wingmate Vaibhav played a very crucial role. The days when I was going through the phase of frustration and was hating myself for such myopic plans if these people won’t have been there, I surely would have experienced a more decaying trajectory. I still thank them for taking me out of that phase. I finally decided to give a try to the emerging “Public Policy & Social Development” sector.
Within a month of learning about the sector, it started making me feel that I am finally back home. The rich theory, complex logic, sheer brilliance and the impact which the sector was created in the lives of fellow citizens motivated me to the core to pursue a career in it. I finally started searching for opportunities in the sector and after learning about the kind of work that various firms do, ‘Samagra | Transforming Governance’ became the dream firm to work with, for me. To understand the sector better I attended the ‘Good Governance Yatra’ to witness the good work taking place around us. I also invited Mr. Anil Swarup Sir for a talk in the campus to understand his perspective about the domain and career in it.
Today I feel that in case the elections might not have called off, I could have never realized my interest and motivation to work in this domain. I am finally enjoying each day of life to the fullest, be it hanging out with my favorite set of people i.e. PRANK, be it reading books (this is a newly developed interest of mine), be it writing narrative poems or be it playing cricket.
I have lived my four years to the fullest. There was nothing in these four years which I had postponed to the future. Whatever my biggest desires were, I really did well to fulfill them, whether they got fulfilled or not. But the way I lived my four years were really phenomenal. I experienced everything which I wanted.
FINAL WORDS
IIT Kanpur is a bundle of opportunities, each one among us has a very unique story to narrate, the learnings, the highs, the lows and the trajectory of each one of us is very different and that is the beauty of this campus. Each of those 7500 stories is as ideal as it could be in its own ways. If you will ask me my biggest learnings it’s surely the act of perseverance of not giving up till the end, being true to my ideologies even if it means the world going against me, building relations because let it be how many superlative terms you are, you always need someone to trust to and come back to and my biggest victory is the transformed perspective about the world.
Once I went to meet one of the Ex-OPC, there was a quote written on one of his photos which stated “One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching”, the quote stayed with me. As I close my eyes today to witness the four most magnificent years of my life, the story is actually worth watching. I will just ask you all to go out, do stuff, make the best out of these four years, make memories, even if you fall once don’t worry, the life will surely give you another opportunity to fly; just don’t give up, try out everything which is in your limit and make your story worth reliving.
The list of people which made these four years’ worth remembering is too long to quote here, I will like to thank each of them be it the PRANK, Nilay and Vaibhav, my HEC, Antaragni team, Gymkhana team, hall seniors & juniors, my wingies, my elections team and whomsoever I have interacted with during my stay.
Written by:- Abhishek Singh
Edited by:- Devansh Parmar.
