New surroundings

A warning to you, the reader. What I pen down is expected to be quite disconnected as this is my attempt at trying to clear out my thoughts about my experiences in IIT.

It could have been the high expectations of beauty and cleanliness that ultimately caused my disappointment. It could have been that I wanted to enjoy my subjects free from pressure… that now I feel lost at sea, gasping and trying so desperately to find the shore.

I arrived at IIT Kharagpur on the 21st of July 2012. Curious to see where I would be living for the next to years, I visited my hostel. With the expectations that the room would be clean and spacious. I arrived to find just the opposite. The previous tenants had decorated the walls with pictures and words that I wouldn’t want to wake up to every morning. The attached bathroom; shared by my room-mate and I along with the two in the ad joint room; was filthy, walls and toilet bowl included. It suffices to say that I was quite disappointed. 

My life at IIT Kharagpur officially began on the 23rd of July 2012. The first day of registration turned out to be very un-organized. The day was filled with standing in long queues, waiting for thousands of students before me to pay their fees. Each one speaking in his or her own native tongue. With my excellent language skills in Hindi, I managed pretty well (Haha… NOT!). Once all formalities were complete, it was time to discover who my classmates were and who was part of the faculty of the Computer Science Department. The batch of CS2012, I found, was quite down to earth, different from most others that shared the campus with us. I was now one amongst a batch of 37 other graduates from all over the country pursuing their MTech at IIT Kharagpur.

The faculty introduction was quite interesting, more so because I was thoroughly confused at the end of the introduction. It seemed that everyone was sailing in the same boat with me. When our student advisor Prof. PPD listed the subjects offered to us this semester, I was quite disappointed as I would not be able to choose the subjects of my choice. I was looking forward to learning about Ubiquitous computing. Anyway, little did I know that the end of the week would bring me closer to choosing a similar subject that would begin to satisfy my networking appetite.. After speaking to our seniors, I was sure of which subjects I surely didn’t want to take up. If I could, I would have taken up just four subjects this semester, knowing what I know now.

As the days past by, I was re-introduced to the subjects of Algorithms, Theory of Computation and freshly introduced to Embedded Systems, Wireless Adhoc and Sensor Networks, and Cognitive Sciences.

Algorithms felt and still feels like a subject out of my grasp. I am waiting for my AHA moment to arrive when I can say… “I finally get what the subject is all about”. In my time here since, I have realized that the pressure in every subject just seems to build. However I have still not been able to enjoy any of the subjects the way I was hoping to.

The pressure seems to be building ever so much, leaving me breathless and in desperate need of a break. And alas, my break has arrived. A long weekend… Its time to wash all of the dirty laundry and start afresh.

I am determined to not let the pressure get to me. I am determined to do my best and enjoy it.