The article that I've written for the IT Yearbook, Nostalgia :
The memories of the first day in our college would still be fresh in many of our minds, the day we were asked to report and complete the remaining formalities of the admission process. The air was filled with anxiety, which could easily be seen in our faces – curious to find out everything. After settling down in our allotted rooms and the initial round of introductions, new bonds were formed and new friends made. One of the most discussed topics at that time was the anticipation of ragging by our seniors – various instructions were conveyed through messengers like the 90-degree bend, an elaborate salutation and a few unlucky ones did have to complete pages of assignments from another hostel. However, the real thing wasn’t really that bad and didn’t last very long. The grand way in which our seniors welcomed us into the IT family of KIIT, during the Fresher’s Party, UTKARSH was overwhelming and we were thrilled to bits. The boys were seen dishing out red roses to seniors and classmates by the dozen, as instructed by the seniors.
Labs in the first year never ceased to amaze us – be it the physics lab where some of us had experimentally proved that the speed of sound could vary anywhere in the range of 150-850 km/hr, or the Engineering Drawing Lab – which gave most of us a horrid time with our drafters for meager A’s. The Basic Manufacturing Systems lab or the workshop was where the boys had to sweat it out, while girls were lucky to giggle away to glory, not only during the lab, but also when the grades were finally awarded. However, the lab which most of us looked forward to was the Basic Electronics Lab, where the actual experiment took not more than 15 minutes and the remaining time was spent in chatting with each other – it was the place where interactions and conversations flowed freely across the boundaries of the King’s Palace and Queen’s Castle. The true realization of the power of IT came upon us when finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we were granted internet access in our hostels. The IT branch boys were swift enough to use the hostel reception table as a makeshift arrangement and the huddle in the reception became a daily routine after dinner. There were numerous instances when a guy enthusiastically tells his friend that he finally gets a reply from a certain girl, only to see his friend is busy chatting with the same girl. The online group, ‘kiit_dudes’ was a huge hit and everyone was more than eager to post his/her best mails on the forum. We thank Google Inc. and Yahoo! Corp. for their wonderful contributions to mankind.
Our memories of the first year of our engineering would be incomplete without the mention of the famous ‘bathroom incident’! Boys, desperate to run away from another monotonic (read robotic) & torturous physics lecture, holed up in a bathroom, which got locked from outside. What followed when sir himself opened the bolt is something which still manages to make us laugh till it hurts. We also got a feel of how serious college violence could be when a ‘sine die’ was declared for our super-seniors.
The second year started with the season of heartbreaks, with IT being divided into IT1 and IT2. Few of our friends bid us goodbye, some changed their branches but still are as much a part of IT as every one of us. Some new ‘late entry’ friends joined us but were not late to mingle with us and the only regret they have is why they didn’t join a year earlier. We had our first brush with responsibility with the organization of the Freshers’ Party. Nights after night were spent discussing various programs, scripts and other nuances, which finally ensured that all of us and our juniors had a fabulous time during the function. The fact that we bunked our Network Theory lab exam while preparing for the function stands testimony to the effort put in by us. The true spirit of IT was what came forward during the open dance on stage after the party. Uninhibited enjoyment was the flavor of the evening as everyone danced till we were forced to leave. The Dandiya Nite was looking nothing less of a page 3 party with the boys looking dapper in their sherwanis and the girls looking their gorgeous best in lehenga-cholis. After the fun and frolic, we were reminded of the important times to come during the first personality development program we had. Then we had to toil in the summer heat to learn Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, after which the dreaded project evaluation took place, which many of us avoided till it was absolutely inevitable.
The third year of our college was probably the most important one of all, as it brought us the thing we were all waiting for – Placements ! Good things usually don’t come so easy. We understood the word ‘hectic’ in its entirety – apart from regular classes, we had math, English and reasoning aptitude classes, technical aptitude classes, personality development classes and numerous group discussion and personal interview sessions. Finally, we did prove that no challenge is too tough for us and almost all of us got placed successfully. We re-created history when a sine-die was declared for our year. Though it might not be something to be proud of, but nevertheless is a part of our memories. Another important event in the third year was the bold protest by the girls, fed up by the strict rules, regulations, dress code and atyachar of the authorities. The boys were fully in support of their counterparts, however for not entirely selfless reasons and were naturally elated on their success.
On reaching the final year, many of us felt that enough was enough. We have already become 3/4th engineers, and the remaining part of our college life needs to be spent in the comforts of our cots rather than the benches of the classrooms. Attendance registers saw new lows and didn’t seem very surprised. The terrace started to be used for more ‘innovative’ and ‘indulgent’ purposes, other than becoming the most popular destination for lovebirds who stay glued to the phone all-night long. The feeling of attachment among us grew so strong that many of decided to mourn the loss of our branch in the final of a cricket tournament by bunking a mid semester examination. The hostelites managed to create an indoor cricket arena within the hostel, with elaborate floodlights for day-night matches. We were spared the effort to select our playlists on our laptops as some or the other generous, over-enthusiastic soul usually played the latest chartbusters on his speakers, full volume. Project-reports were completed within a couple of hours – in true engineering style.
It seems like 4 years have just whizzed past in a jiffy, we’ve been together in the ups and downs, ridden together the crests and troughs. Its tough to believe that there wouldn’t be anyone next year to give us the dreaded ‘B-Day bumps’ and no more wild, watery and fun-filled celebrations. We might be parting ways now, but the world is a very small place and we hope to bump into each other as often as possible.
(Anand Biswas) with invaluable inputs from Amrit, Ankit, Smaran, Revant, Tapan, Vineet and of course the whole branch without whom there wouldn’t be anything to write about !
