The Era of B.Tech (Part-1, 2014–15)
Yepp, it was IIT Hyderabad. After three rounds, it’s the college I have to spend next four years. And so started the preparations, mentally as well as physically, to march towards the new destination. Parents started bombarding guidelines & instructions for new place, to protect their adolescent child from ‘foreign’ knowledge. But at that time, our minds were such that we had habit of nodding with possibly ‘Hmm’ sound. Having train reached on the morning of 24th July 2014, we decided to rehearsal the next day thing- the visit to campus (Believe it or not, that was my first journey by the train). On the security post of campus, there was the first batch mate I met, Prakash Singh, the boy from the village of Rajasthan, which is 2 km away from Pakistan border. I won’t comment about first impression of campus, because it had left with so many unforgettable memories.
There came 25th July 2014- the Registration Day. Parents are always good at taking care of documents & so are mine. With the complete set ready in file, registration started. I guess I was one of the first three guys to finish process and to reach the desk of room picking. There were two boys, already written their name on that desk. And I was the third to write and to be their third roommate with no idea of them. Ours was the first room to get allotted and I was the last one to reach the room. As expected, I was the one with the middle bed, as others occupied the corner ones. Subsequently was the introduction of all of us to each other with awkward faces.
Avinash, the boy on the left side of my bed, was from Chennai, who had his photograph with Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam as laptop’s wallpaper, for his level of art. Bade Log!! And Vikas, the boy(more than boy actually) on the other side, from Gorakhpur, UP(nam hi kafi hai), who was companion in computer lab because of no laptop. Apne vale log!! This is how it felt initially. These two were the only first friends at that place, for many months. We had the lots of memories together, though the conversation between those two was confined upto ‘its okay’ and I was the connecting bridge for them.
Then orientations & only orientations for next few days. Another best thing about next few days was the Mentor group with amazing mentors, where I also learnt that there can be girl with same name as mine one. This caused another funny incident in second year while distributing answer sheets due to confusion of names. Our mentor group would have been one of the best ones among all. The influence of orientation used to be for limited time at that time. And then started the classes and the weekly tests. Yeah, you read correct, weekly tests, which came with Fractal Academics. People with out of marks started existing soon, which were unknown to me for long time. By that time, the speed of making new friends picked up. And on 14th September 2014, the simple Facebook conversation led to the Best Friend (might be because of many common interests, though we came to know about them later). And that friendship will be counting for forever.
With all academics, I went to Marketing domain of ELAN as volunteer. This is the place where your mobile balance will get exhaust but people won’t agree to sponsor with single penny. Also people(I might be one of them) used to join some domain because of impression of coordinator too (I don’t how many got this formal language *wink*). Yeah, diplomatic language is better here. :P
One thing about ODF campus which everyone will agree is the surrounding nature and the walks through it. The romantic & sereneness of it will never fade away. The sunrise and sunset time used to be my favorite ones. In second semester, fortunately I got the chance to participate in Inter IIT-Tech meet at IIT Kharagpur. As a standard habit, our team started working before 3–4 days of departure. Our team consisted of third, second year and me from first year. Unwillingly I had to go through last two sleepless nights for first time but it was worth for the Bronze Medal which we won there with third prize. That was my first longest journey of around 29 hours.
Academics was another subject, which was more or less in okayish way for me. In this time, I have seen people getting out of marks and learnt many lessons. My sleeping habit in boring subjects got shape in this year itself. Many new people became friends from various parts of India. Many school friends got connected through social media. That year was beginning of many new friendships.
Though there were many new friends, but I used to be with my roommates, as they are more acquainted more than others. Although we three spoke three different languages, their support was eminent in that new phase. The dealing of Vikas with my sleep-talking stories/questions were unexplained mysteries. I don’t know how he used to listen it patiently and used to say something/nothing to it. The future life and dream talks with Avinash till late night made me far-sighted, at least for those some effective days. The exchange of mobiles with Vikas and managing contacts felt like the easiest dare in life. Doing the assignments by sharing half questions with Avinash was gate way to complete them fast. Sharing about crush and deep secrets with Vikas while jumping in puddles in heavy rains was one of the easiest ways to enlighten heart. And many more memories to dig out. I didn’t see this kind unity and co-operation between other roomies around me. I am not self-praising but yeah, we were the example of ‘Unity in Diversity’, though Vikku and Chhotu didn’t talk anything other than ‘it’s okay’, I think so.
I guess, this is all about my first year at IIT Hyderabad. Oh, forgot to comment about Hyderabad itself. Hearing about the history of this city’s name made me proud. Also, Hyderabad Metro is the first one to use four languages for all instructions. That’s how, this city (of Biryani, Love and Pearls) isn’t just a place, it’s a feeling!
Finally, I will wrap of my ‘kahani’ of first year by dedicating this Blog to the ones, who were my first friends in that new place and my roomies, Avinash and Vikas. #roomies_of_701. :)
