Life at IITR

Conclusion (4/4)

(This blog was originally written on Nov 8, 2017. Any updates have been mentioned alongside the text as felt necessary)

Welcome back everyone!!!
This is the last instalment of these series of blogs on Life at IITR; hence I would like to begin with some special words ‐

This blog is a must read for all those who think that all we do in IIT is study! In fact, this is completely wrong. The truth is, we hardly ever study (exceptions do exist!).

The real “life at IITR” begins after 6:00 p.m. every day, when you are done with all the lectures. Everyone gets indulged in various kinds of activities – some go out and play games like basketball, volleyball, cricket, etc. while others stick to indoor activities like chess, snooker, billiards, table-tennis, chess, foosball, etc. and yet others gather to enjoy in/work for their respective groups and societies to achieve a certain goal - be it getting out a magazine on time, or putting together a one-hour concert, or making a trip to a nearby village for social work, or organising talks/sessions on various topics/issues. This “togetherness” leads to a special kind of bonding amongst the students, which certainly adds spice to their lives. (Refer this link for more detailed info of the campus life). There are a ton of events going on round the year to keep you busy. Some of them technical, some of them cultural, whereas others related to sports or other socially relevant issues! (Recently, we even had TEDx talks on various topics in our campus!) Along with all of this, students usually opt in for night outs and also plan for various trips during holidays.

[UPDATE 2021: One thing that is definitely unique about IITR is the Himalayan Explorers' Club (HEC) which organizes treks all around the year to various destinations. I have observed that many students have this zeal to travel during their college life and HEC is definitely a good addition to all the other groups in the campus. However, if you are looking forward to more amazing experiences, checkout Byko Journeys. I have really nice personal experiences travelling with them, and can definitely say that you wouldn't be disappointed.]

Then there are the Cultural and Technical fests of IITR – Thomso and Cognizance respectively. As of now, I happen to have attended Thomso’17 and what a relief it is from the regular monotonous life. The campus is totally lit up (both literally and otherwise also) during the fest. The campus can really be called “happening” during these three magical days!! So many events and activities taking place at a time that it’s hard to choose where to go and what to do!! If you love city life, with all its hustle and bustle, this is absolutely the time for you!! Artists like NUCLEYA and Farhan Akhtar Live added to Thomso’s splendour this time!

(Here is a link to one of the performances during Step-Up event of Thomso'17)

To conclude these series, I would like to say that what really matters is how you shape the circumstances of your life to get what you want out of them. Once you are a part of IIT, don’t think your life is all set. Your life is never set; you need to keep working hard as long as you are alive. On one hand, there are cases when students just want to run away from the college, or even want to commit suicide (yes, suicides are real in IIT!), but, on the other hand, there are also students who relish these four years and make unforgettable memories for their lifetime. As far as IITR is concerned, it provides you enough opportunities to study and to have fun at the same time. But, if you only want to enjoy your college life to the fullest or if you totally want to dedicate yourself to study/research, IIT is not the place for you (I am not saying that academics here is not good, in fact it is excellent, but when it comes to the crowd, the harsh truth is that most of the students study here not because they are seriously interested in studying their particular subject, but they want to get good placement offers at the end of their course duration. Most of them have taken admission for the brand name of IIT only (even if they refuse to accept it). In fact, you’ll get better atmosphere at institutes like IIST, IISERs, NISER, etc. if you seriously want to study your areas of interest); but if you like to keep things balanced, i.e., you want to study and have fun at the same time, IITR will definitely not disappoint you. (I don’t know if I’m qualified enough to say this, but this is what I think so far)

[UPDATE 2021: The most important thing that you will get out of an IIT is the friend circle. You will learn a lot of things from each other. Infact, most of what you gain from IIT is not what you get from teachers or the college, but what you learn from each other and your seniors. You will understand that there will always be someone somewhere who is better than you at a given task. Studying at IIT will make you humble.]

With this, I would like to end this blog and therefore these series. I hope you enjoyed reading it and got a little familiar with the kind of culture we people have here at IITR.

Before signing off, I want to wish you all the very best for your JEE exam and now, I’ll leave you with the slang of IITRoorkee. Happy Exploring!! ‐ ChaPo, Ghissu, Machau, Kholu, JD, Dhakkan, TTMM, GPL …….

Nope, this isn’t the end, these series of blogs was just a beginning. I’ll continue this exercise of writing blogs, sharing my personal experiences with you all, and try my best to post a new blog every two months to update you on the fresh happenings in and around the campus 😀 !!

[UPDATE 2021: This ofcourse, as you might have guessed, didn't happen]

Have more questions? Feel free to comment below.

P.S. - Any fellow IITRoorkian reading this blog, please comment if you think I forgot to mention any valuable point or I said anything wrong. Also, feel free to share your thoughts and experiences with me, which you think should have been a part of this blog.