Last Days in Kgp...a brief note

Now that I'm done with the kerala experience, I guess I should move on to the next phase of my life, namely, the last semester at IIT Kharagpur. After that, I'll come to life at IIMC but that'll have to wait for now. Kgp beckons first and I guess, always will!!!

First let me describe the location where I spent my last two years at Kgp -as we defined it, it was the Eastern Wing on the Middle Floor of the Farthest Block of the Oldest Hall in the Oldest Institute in the IIT Community - so respect!!! Here lived 13 very good and nice people and they really lived their life to the fullest! I'll give but one small example to highlight what I meant by respect - 7 of those 13 guys passed out this year and there was something unique about all of them - one was the Hall President, one was the Best Allrounder (passing out), one was the Patel Trophy (highest hall honour) recipient, one made it through the highest paying job on campus (that wud be Schlumberger Inc.), one was the erstwhile General Secretary (Social n Cultural) of the Institute Gymkhana, one made it to IIM Calcutta (yours truly) - really there was no end to what we had achieved in our time on the campus. And we had also had some of the greatest fun in our lives!!!

In the last two years, we had the added advantage of feeling that we owned the hall - though it will not please many of my friends, I guess it was but natural to feel that way. Since most of what happened in the hall happened because we made it happen, acquiring power was a necessity. But one thing was for certain, the fact that we had the Hall President among us was not the sole factor that made us feel we ruled the hall. There was more than that. There was the wing. Without the wing, the HP is nothing more than a decorative position, as I feel, many present Patelians would surely be feeling, and though I do not want to be embroiled in the present political scenario, I feel the boarders made a terrible mistake last time around when they chose an individual over a wing. The repurcussions are surely being felt, and will be felt for a long time.

Of course, I am not terribly concerned with the current state of affiars. Instead, what I'll remember and cherish is the Hall we had when we came in our 2nd years and the Hall we left in our final year. Final year is of course, a term which holds special meaning to all Kgpians. Well I am not talking about the 5 % "muggu" populace, but for the rest of us, it signifies a period of time when we can finally let our hair down and RELAX! Especially in the post campusing period, its "peace" all the way to graduation!

I didn't enjoy all of the peace though, mainly on account of the IIM interviews which were held in the latter half of my final semester, but still I guess I had more fun than the other IIM aspirants. From January to March, all we did was booze, dope and play 29. Upto our final semester, we were not aware of each other's card playing capabilities when suddenly, we found that most of us could play this dastardly addictive game of 29, and those who couldn't - after two months of being a very supportive audience - found themselves well equipped to match us veterans!

When I had come into the wing in my 2nd year, I was the only guy, apart from Tripathy (who has always remained a very casual smoker), who fagged - but by sheer perseverence, I converted 6 others to take the tally to 8 by the end of final year. Most of us were committed 'Flake'rs, owing to the paucity of cash reserves. As to boozing, we had Harsh Singh and our very own pub-owner, Sachin Shukla whose Cloud #9 hosted innumerable parties over the final four months. Most of my wingies were very concerned that I did not seem to be taking the GD-PI part of the IIM selection process very seriously since most of the other aspirants had been taking classes and all and I, simply did nothing apart from reading up on all material available. No mock GDs, no mock PIs for me at all. The first GD I faced was at IIMK!

Actually, post campusing season, I had come to the conclusion that I had no means of improving my GD-PI skills and so better leave it to divine intervention to save my ass. I almost relied on the fact that since my percentile was passably good, I would by default, get a call from one of the big three, at least. In the end that was what actually happened, but I cut it too close for comfort. Indeed by the time I had got down to checking the IIMC website, I had checked all the other 5 and all of them were negative. It was a strangely disconcerting feeling and I cannot describe how I felt while waiting for the IIMC results - it is a dark and painful thought even now! (Later of course, i qualified for L also, I'd like to kick their bloody asses for keeping me confounded for one day before the Cal results came).

Post IIMC i.e. 9th April, days passed like a dream - everything was too easy - a SGPA of 8.5 in the final semester, with an A in my BTech Project (I bow to my guide) and an EX in my Comprehensive Viva Voce was what i eventually achieved - and finally a sem in which there was not even a single C! When it came to the part when we were actually bidding goodbyes to each other, I couldn't but help not feeling too sad, because somehow I knew that this was not the end, that we were not being separated, that nothing, actually, could separate us. Finally, this is to thank my wingmates for being there for me, supporting me and giving me two of the best years in my life - this post is dedicated to u guys!!!

~Cheerz