Fourth

Another year. Another Independence Day. And another annual bustle along with my wing-mates. It has been a wing ritual to celebrate I-Day with partially pompous and borderline bizarre activities (not necessarily out of patriotic feelings) right from our first year. It started with an Independence Day parade across the hall in our first year at the stroke of midnight, followed by wing-screening of 'Border' (which has achieved a cult status in our wing) in the second and third year. This time around, courtesy new speakers in the wing, deshbhakiti geet were in flavor. Special playlists were created and a little while after midnight, Lata Mangeshkar, Md Rafi and A.R. Rehman enchanted through the corridor of E-Top, Hall 9. Most of us struggled to attend the flag-hoisting ceremony the following morning, but thanks to our conditioning did savor the breakfast. And for the first time in four weeks, I missed Hall 3 mess. 

The day did not end there. Responding to Balaji Viswanathan's call for a Grand Quora meetup on 15th August, Journalism Society of IIT Kanpur had organized Kanpur meet in the evening. Over 15 folks turned up and engaged in a stimulating conversation for more than 3 hours. Topics ranged from patriotism, IITK culture, the problem of plagiarism to introduction of new (planned) IITs. Everyone seemed happy with the meet and open to meeting regularly every fortnight or so. I genuinely hope this sustain momentum as it provides a much-needed discussion platform in the campus.