Learning From The Right People : FootSteps

On 19th March, Thursday, Students’ Alumni Cell, IIT Kharagpur had organized the event FootSteps. Its objective was to provide a platform for the undergraduate students to interact with the soon-to-be alumni and hear from them their own success stories. The event was also a springboard for the launch of Student- Alumni Mentorship Programme which assigns alumni mentors to students. Atal Ashutosh Agarwal, Finance Head of the Student's Alumni Cell and a contesting candidate for the post of Vice President, Technology Students’ Gymkhana opened the proceedings by informing the audience about the Mentorship Program and then introducing the speakers. There were five speakers at the event. Read on to find out what they had to say.

NSS Camp : 2014

Hello Everyone. It's been a long time. I'll be blogging regularly from now on. All my exams are over and I'm finally back home!

By Monster4711 (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Ok, this isn't my home. But after living in a hostel, my home does feel this good.

If you've never lived in a hostel before, trust me, there will come a day when you'll actually be dying to eat the food your mom cooks everyday. You'll actually prefer it over Pizza Hut and CCD. And if you think I'm lying or exaggerating, ask someone who is living in a hostel presently.

10 Things You Learn In Your First Month of College

College life isn't the dream I hoped it would be, but nevertheless I have to spend the next four years at least at college. These are the things I have realized in my first one and a half months at KGP.

1. Saving Water : There is absolutely no need to bathe everyday. Bathe once in two or three days. This way you save water and you save time (and there will be less clothes for you to wash). In a way many of us are environmentalists dedicated to conserving water. If you ever feel you are smelling, deodorants are there for you.
   
2. Clothes : Track pants and shorts are a blessing. I know a guy who doesn't ever wear jeans. He wears shorts in the hostel and for classes, he just puts on track pants over the shorts. Again this is a nice way to save time ( In college it seems as if we are always running to reach class on time. Time-saving tricks are always useful).
3. Food : If you eat mess food everyday you are going to fall ill. I don't know if that has actually happened to someone, but that is how everyone will feel about mess food. It doesn't matter if you are at a private college or a 'sarkari' college. And don't ever be fooled by the mess menu. Even our menu looks good on paper. I wish it looked equally good on my plate.

   

   This is called a Sandwich

4. Staying Up : This is something everyone learns ( even those who have a habit of waking up early :-P). You will be playing music, watching movies or playing games late into the night when it's not exam time. And even if you want to sleep, your friends won't let you. Honey Singh is the chief culprit ( It's easy to connect your laptop to a loud external speaker).
5. Pranks : This is the fun part of life ( as long as someone doesn't play a prank on you :-P). In the last month, ive seen so many pranks, locking people in their rooms, locking roomies out of the room when they've gone to bathe, prank calls ( beware, don't ever be intimated by a call or an email, it might just be your roomie :-P) and ..... (this list could go on forever, so i'm ending it here). Here's one example of a revenge :

   

   Revenge

6. Proffesors : I don't know if everyone has this problem or is it just me but, i really find classes very boring. The proffesors here are highly qualified ( I've gone through the CV of each of my proffesors, and I must say, they are also exceptionally talented in their respective fields), but somehow we just don't feel it when they are teaching us.
7. Seniors : You will have to respect your seniors if you want peace ( don't give too much respect and become a favourite, that way you will be ragged even more. It's all about maintaing the right balance). And also remember one year senior in college and one year senior in school are two diferent things. In college there is a huge gap between first and second years, I never felt my seniors in school were so far ahead of me).
8. Roomies : Your roomies are your best friends and your worst enemies. This is the truth of life. They will take care of you when you are sick, and when you are ok, they'll be busy plotting pranks against you. They may leak out your secrets or if you've really angered them, take pictures of you sleeping with your pillow. But they will be the ones you'll spend a lot of time with. And if you get good roomies, you are really lucky.
   
9. Complains : For the people who've moved out of their homes for the first time, it's time you learn this reality. No one is going to do their work till you remind them hundreds of times and submit the correct applications and lodge complains and speak out ( repetitive use of 'and' is intended). One of the drains behind our hostel was blocked, we complained and the drain was cleared, but the rubbish was dumped on the road. So now we have to complain again. The sweeper will finish his job in 5 minutes if you don't remind him to clean the corners. It's hard to get used to this system.
10. Lastly and most importantly, you will miss your family. In school you may have dreamed of running away to a far away college and enjoying yourself, but in college, all you want to do is go home as soon as you can. At home you'll get good food and a clean bed and your family will treat you differently. In college, you are going to miss your family a lot. It is always an advantage to be in a college close to your hometown.

This is what college life has been about (for me). Do comment what your college life was like. Thank You.

By Photo taken by de:Benutzer:Alex Anlicker using a Nikon Coolpix 950. (Own work Source: [1]) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons
By Saugato Banerjee (Scanned image. Personally taken after permission.) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

Hostel Life : My Early Experiences

Hello Everyone. Thank You for sending in positive reviews. Feels really nice to get good reviews when I'm starting out. Luckily i didn't get any negative reviews, but i welcome criticism too and I'll surely try to improve.


Before I start with the main topic, another brief introduction about me. I'm a shy person ( introvert might be more suitable ), I don't talk much, don't have too many friends and most of the time, I'm immersed in my own thoughts. I'm the kind of person who'd b shy to even say hi to someone if i meet them at the market ( so don't be offended by it :-P ). And also, I haven't lived in a hostel before, this is the first time I'm living away from my mom and dad and I'm really missing them.

The people who've never lived in a hostel before, don't be too excited, at least in the first few months you are really gonna miss your family. You may want to go away from them right now, but you'll realise later how important your family is.

"You realise something's value only after it's gone."

You will have to wash and dry and even fold your clothes! ( Laundry cannot always be trusted). You will have to wake up on time yourself, (koi aake pyar se nhi uthane wala :-P). You will have to clean the mess you create, make your bed, remember to carry your towel to the bathroom ( My friend forgot his towel :-P His roomie finally gave him the towel, after making him shout in the bathroom that he loves XYZ (some girl) ) and above all adjust to the mess food !!

And once you get used to these, you'll slowly but surely start enjoying your hostel life. You will make new friends ( and hopefully good ones ). You will be beaten up at 12 in the night on your birthday, and if you are lucky your friends might even give you a gift :-P. You will be eating Maggi and drinking coffee at crazy hours, playing loud music in your room ( till the warden gets to know about it ), making fun of each other to no end (which leads to fights sometimes), playing pranks on each other ( I have been locked in the room quite a few times. For some people its worse, their roomies lock them out of the room when they go to bathe. Imagine roaming around in a towel while its getting late for class ). Your parents won't be there to shout at you for watching too many movies. You and only you, will be in control of your life (isn't that what you always wanted? ).

By Saikat Sarkar (Personally taken by author) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

And when something goes wrong, your friends will support you. And that's when you will realize that you miss your family, that you would do anything just to go back to your mom. No matter how good your friends are, you will miss your parents, and your brothers and sisters. You will want to go back home and just switch on the ac and sleep with absolutely no worries. And thus your life will be, switching like AC ( Alternating Current ) between fun and happiness on one end and hardships at the other end.

Everyone is going to do some or the other crazy stuff ( even the nerds... according to our definition, studying for long periods of time is crazy stuff too :-P). Everyone will have a story to tell. Life as you know it will change. Your friends will be the biggest part of your life ( you are living with them 24 hours a day, cant get any bigger than that ). And you will have the freedom to do what you want. Just remember :

"With great freedom, comes greater responsibility"

Edited and Adapted from the spiderman movie.

Fresher's Robosoccer

Is this the first thing that came to your mind when you read the heading?

If yes, you'll probably be disappointed. This was our robot ( actually, it is better described as a truck or a battering ram) :

The Robosoccer event is organised by the Technology Robotix Society. It was the second fresher's event i participated in and our team stood second in a competition of almost 64 teams. ( Yes you heard it right, that ugly thing up there stood second !!).

The matches were held over the weekend and our bot had to be ready by Friday evening to get us registered. We started work on the bot on Thursday night after dinner, less than 24 hours before the deadline. Making the bot was the easy part, we just had to attach motors and tires to the frame. Making the circuit for the controller was the headache.

It was the first time we were soldering, and while we understood the circuit and how it was supposed to work, soldering things in place wasn't easy. And the circuit refused to work properly, even after countless adjustments and alterations. Finally we gave up on it the next evening, after working on it in turns for more than 10 hours!! This is the mess we created in 10 hours :


Deadlines however are meant to be extended, and we had time till Saturday evening 6:00 P.M. We made a new complete circuit, with all new stuff (extra expenditure), in less than half the time we spent on the old one. Everything was ready by noon on Saturday, when one of the four relays decided to stop working. We were in a complete mess now, without that relay, our bot could move forward, but not back, and turn left but not right. Somehow we managed to get the controller right with help from some friends ( Kshitij, Sandeep and Amlendu .. Thank You guys. We really appreciate your help. Couldn't have won without you).

Finally, match time. Our strategy was to hit and smash and push the opponents out of our way. Here's a sample in which we almost pushed the other bot out of the arena. ( This was a semifinal match ).

Unluckily we couldn't win the final, our opponent was as strong as us, so pushing would often lead to a stalemate. Anyway, we are happy to have come second. It was a fun (and seriously tiring) experience, we learned lots of stuff, hands-on experience. And it's nice when after all your hard work you win something.
Thanks to my teammates Sumeet ( He did all the controlling and the designing of the bot) and Aditya ( he worked on the wiring and the circuit, and also was present at the matches, and also controlled the bot a bit).

Actual robo-soccer picture by everyone's idle from berlin, germany (DSCF4250s  Uploaded by Mewtu) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

A Day of Our Life : What is it like to live at Kharagpur

Wondering what life is like at IIT Kharagpur ? Is it worth living in a boring village? The IIT's at Mumbai, Delhi, Madras and even Hyderabad may have much better surroundings but don't discriminate against KGPians. Our campus is our world and we have access to everything within the campus itself (except good food, particularly if you are a vegetarian :-P).
(Edit: Found a canteen yesterday that serves very tasty veg biryani. Also, Maggi is always available)

A typical day in our lives is something like this:

Every morning the hardest thing for us is to wake up on time. Normally we try to wake up at 8:00 for a class of 8:30. On many days however, we can reach class on time even if we wake up at 8:15 (Not an exaggeration). You can call it wonderful time management or our extreme laziness!!

In classes many of us sleep, unless the professor is particularly good at teaching (the professors are extremely knowledgeable, but not all of them are excellent at teaching). At-least in the first year, you have to study most of the topics on your own ( or with friends :-P) , but then you are an IITian so it shouldn't be that much of a problem. Lab classes are taken much more seriously (and most of us will reach labs on time), because attendance is much more important at labs.

In the lunch break, unless you really love 'pathal' (i don't think anyone does) there is no real urgency to have lunch. After that classes again, and sleeping during classes again. Sleeping in a class is a very real thing here. Ive never slept in a class throughout my school life (except once, but that was only for 5 minutes after which the teacher woke me up ) but at KGP I've slept quite a few times. Sleeping is better i guess than chatting on Facebook (that's how i justify sleeping).

Life for us begins after classes end at 5:30. The biggest advantage that an IIT gives us is : " We can pursue our interests in whichever field we like ". You can go and play whichever sport you want, you can play musical instruments, sing, dance, attend lectures, swim, debate, code.....(this list is never ending). We have students who are good at each and every extra-curricular activity you can imagine. This is the best part of our college. You have to live here and see for yourself to believe it.

Going to sleep before 12 doesn't happen often. You can watch movies all night if you want. We have access to unlimited, but heavily restricted ( for which we have workarounds) internet access. Watching movies throughout the night with your friends = Lots of Fun. Some people play football in the hallways late into the night, others listen to music, play table tennis, hang out at their friend's room and study together. Forgot to mention, the night isn't only meant to enjoy, it is also the time to study, complete assignments, write reports for labs, go through lectures and drink coffee every once in a while (with friends obviously no fun alone :-P).

It obviously isn't all fun and games. We have to cope with lots of pressure too, but in the end IIT Kharagpur is one of the only colleges in the country where you can enjoy without having to step out of the campus. Being in Kharagpur has its advantages too ( I don't need to mention the disadvantages, they should be pretty obvious ).

IIT Main building image : By Ambuj Saxena (Own work) [CC-BY-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons