My Experiments with Life @ #IITKanpur

A Brief Introduction

Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, a place which makes us feel home, is so good, that it can't be better, and so bad, that it cannot be worse! A world in itself, with all the freedoms and restrictions. This place, with all its biological diversity and asthetic beauty, is the place of the "First Encounter with Reality" for thousands of young scholars every year. And one such young scholar was me...

"I am Avikalp Kumar Gupta, the name of my student-guide is Rohit Agarwal. I am from Surat. I secured all India rank Ninety-nine in IIT-JEE 2012. I have entered the department of Computer Science and Engineering. My hobbies are playing football, dancing, painting and playing music" .. you will here this everywhere in the campus in pure unadulterated Hindi if you visit IIT Kanpur in the starting of August. No, of course the details will be different. This template of "Introduction" is taught to every newcomer by his/her student guides (SG in short). And how proud each of these newcomers feel while they declare their AIRs, not realizing that everyone here has achieved the same to get into this place! And imagine how proud I felt when I did it, while knowing that there was only 1 person in my batch who has a better rank than me! Oh yes, all that pride is gone now, as over these 2 years that I have spent in IIT Kanpur, I have realized that it was just a matter of chance that I was better than others on 8th April 2012, and that most of the others were far far better than me.

But thanks to Counselling Service, for making us tear that chit with our ranks written on them, I was always down to earth.

Lesson 1: Life is all about Choices

Yes, it is a hundred percent true. Life in IIT Kanpur is all about choices, given the amount of freedom and diversity of opportunities. Out of all things I know that a person can do, the only things a person can't do in IIT Kanpur are ice-related sports and a few extreme sports like bungie-jumping. And with so many options, you start feeling that twenty-four hours in a day are too less!

When I came to IIT Kanpur, I had not expected that one could do so many things in a college, and so I jumped into any activity which came my way first. And as you know, the first thing that happens is fresher's night! I got myself into dancing and somehow, whatever you start doesn't seem to stop by its own. If you dance once, you dance again. I also got into the football CPA team. Okay I don't blame the options for this, I was always passionate about playing football. And unfortunately, because there are very few new things taught in the first year, I stopped studying at all. I got my time-table set so terribly that I could not connect with anyone out of the campus. I used to wake up in the evening, go play football, then have dinner, then dance all night, then may be go to classes and labs before sleeping.

With these activities, I was always busy in the semester, as my activities corresponded to performance in both major events in the semester, i.e. Udghosh and Antaragni. But as a first year UG student, you have something to do for your Hall of Residence as well. You have to participate in Hall activities and Intra-IIT competitions, which are Inferno & Takneek for the odd semesters. I did that as well. Our hall won the football tournament in fresher's inferno, with me as a player, and in Takneek, I participated and won in Morse-code quiz, Rube-goldberg and a robotics event. And this way I got through my first semester. I had not set my priorities right, as a result of which, I was crying over by report card. Still, staying strong, I justified it to myself by saying that this is the part of my life where I 'experiment'.

And before entering my second semester, I said to myself - No more activities, now it is time to study!

Lesson 2: Time is always managable

Life could have been so much better if you could always do as you planned! I started off with my second semester really well. I had started to go to all my classes and sit will the sincerest students of the class. Then we had to start practicing for the Dance Extravagance, and I said no. But was obviously forced by friends into doing it ultimately. But I still got things right. I had exact restrictions on the practice time for myself. And I held my stand even if someone had a problem with it (which is really difficult if the one who has the problem is a senior). And till mid semester I was performing really well! I had done nice, new and noticable dance in the Extravagenza and performed very well in my studies.

Then I went Delhi with the football team for Sportech sports meet, which was immediately followed by a 6 day Intra-IIT competition called Galaxy (in which I had to work), which was immediately folled by Techkriti. By the time Techkriti had started, I was exhausted. And I started thinking that I need some rest. And if the brain starts thinking of rest, it takes more than it needs. And unfortunately, mine took too long. Although my report card was better than the previous semester, but that was solely due to my excellent performance in mid-semester exams. I had ruined my end-sem exams and thus my grades once again.

Lesson 3: Bad Habits die Hard

Then came the long long summer break! And I was back to my old activities - Dance and football. I captained the summer camp football team, and got majorly injured halfway through the camp. It was okay, but I still did the dance workshop, along with the treatment. Entering the 3rd semester, I had big plans of performing in Antaragni again and trying for Inter-IIT Sports Meet as well!! I had fallen for the distractions and I danced and played my semester out till the end of Antaragni. I performaed in Antaragni, and was not taken in the football team for Inter-IIT Sports Meet.

Now I had nothing to do and I thought of studying. But it was too late to start, and hence to hard to cope up. But I tried hard, and got a report card similar to my first semester. And now was determined on leaving all activities for once and for all.

Lesson 4: Girls are Bad for Health

This one is not specific about IITs. It is a problem of every teenager in the world. You get a ping on facebook from a beautiful girl, and you leave the world behind to get her. You forget to study, and keep checking your account to see if she is online. You do special things for her instead of doing necessary stuff for yourself. And things are worse if you succeed!! You go to meet her on weekends.