Thirty-third/Thirty-fourth

So writing's clear on the wall now. Events that have transpired in the last two weeks made me accept that the end is in a touching distance now. A beautiful era which has shaped me immensely as an individual is facing closure and I can't help but be emotional about it. Although my Facebook wall paints a pretty picture about the mentioned events, I am going to elaborate anyway. For they would always (I hope) occupy a special place in my heart.

I would begin sequentially. On 4th April, Aquatics Team hosted a farewell for the passing out buddhas (and a buddhi). Possibly the largest chunk of people associated with the team were passing out in a given year and we were told to expect a fitting farewell at the swimming pool. Surprisingly, I was the first one among seniors to arrive and was shocked to see the sheer number of juniors involved in organizing the farewell. I was almost convinced to return after 30 odd minutes when Manvi joined me. Others followed soon and after kidding around for some time with balloons, we were ushered in one-by-one. Kids ensured our welcome was kept under wraps and the hoots and screams from inside made me all the more curious. So I went in to find Pooja welcoming me on board with a rose. Photos were clicked, video was recorded and my social experience led me to classify the welcome into 'sweet' and 'fun' categories. (Though I seriously could not fathom any meaning out of it. Still kudos for the intent.)

*Resuming after a 50 day sabbatical*

What followed had perhaps never happened inside the swimming pool premises. A speaker was arranged complete with microphones. Positions were taken with Rajjo aka Varun on vocals and Atulya on the acoustic guitar. They presented superbly with two made for farewell songs. I had anticipated to get all emotional but things were going smoothly. Maybe because the atmosphere quickly turned from formal to strikingly relaxed. People started dancing, others joined in and soon there was not enough space to accommodate everyone. Dinner followed soon the lights were turned out to a beautiful video message projected - quite fittingly - on the pool. The 30 odd minutes that went into setting up the projector were perfectly worth it. We also wrote down messages on a specially made envelope-board kind of thing. And yes, for the first time, I found it difficult to gather even 50 words that could express my association with the team over the years.

This had, without any margin of doubt, turned out to be the best aquatics farewell I had witnessed over four years. Pool party ended with the customary and historic projectiles into pool. A change of clothes and we met again at Kasauti's room for a after-party which lasted, as usual, till dawn.

Passing down the 'Swimming Dance'

The Outgoing Batch (minus Mayura)

    

The next day (5th April), after a string of delays, we finally had our department photoshoot. This is one of the necessary final year traditions where students don their (or their wingmate's) finest formal pants (or skirts) and roam around the academic area with a DSLR. Usually, there is also a photo with the faculty members who tend to be surprised on seeing so many clean-shaven and showered students in one place. We too followed the cliched traditional route that so many batches of seniors followed. We started with the lawns in front of LHC, moved on to the sonic-boom monument/art-work and then made a pit-stop at CCD. Library fountain, entrance and FB were next on our path. After what seemed like posing for more photos in two hours than rest of my 22 years of existence, all of us unanimously decided to crash at Highway. ATMs were visited and half of us took a detour to AtoZ while directing others to reserve tables for us. It is on this detour that Mittal presented his iconic statements -

"Yaar ek aur round toh banta hai!"
"Yaar abhi toh mahoul ban raha hai!"

With much consideration about the other half of batch, we went ahead to Highway. Most of us can't recall what we ordered there. Finally, we decided to continue revelry at OAT. Things turned blur soon. We had stormed Dance Club. Everyone was dancing (obviously). And when things wrapped up, I was emotional about the people and the place I was leaving behind. With Aquatics Farewell the previous day, the weekend was pretty loaded with 'waiting for the end to come' feeling.

   

The very next weekend (11th April), Department people met once again for a farewell. The conduction of farewell was far from organised. Everyone (Senior, Juniors as well as us) wanted one but no one was ready to take up initiative. Finally, it was Abhishek Gaurav who took it upon his shoulders and distributed responsibilities among several factions. Ankur, Shoan and I were entrusted with PPTs for our batch. It was fun and we pulled an all-nighter which culminated with delegating to other sub-groups. I was particularly happy with the development as there was no one to prepare my slides. I was also the most vocal member against traditional dress code for farewell. Till the very last hour, I was set to turn up in tshirt and shorts. But Ankur somehow convinced me to opt for a kurta which I could borrow from his wing. I reached LHC rather late and we got on to the task of collating all the material for Y11 economics roast. And also, several people joined forces to prepare my slides (much to my disappointment). I would obviously not share details about the roast. But it was fun. We eventually again ended up at OAT. Some batti people also joined us, who were there post their photo-shoot. Usualities happened. 

Just when we thought all goodbyes are done and we would need to start preparing for end-sems, we received an email from the department inviting us for a dinner on 17th April. This was rather unexpected as the department always complained about the lack of funds. (Only later did we realize that the dinner wasn't funded by department). 

But before I move on to Farewell 2.0, another interesting event happened in the week. For our only compulsory course of the semester, we had a term project. And for strange reasons, the maniac professors insisted on attending final presentation of every group. That meant blocking a complete day for presentations which we anyway weren't going to listen barely 5 days before end-sems. The only silver lining was a working lunch (we were promised Dominos Pizza). But all our hopes were washed away when we were told lunch would be held in Campus Restaurant. Now, I had a very tragic experience while ordering some Chinese food on the first day in campus (yes, way back in 2011). Naturally, I wasn't very receptive of the development even though subsequent visits with Indian food were average. The food was pre-ordered and well, many levels below expectations. As they later confessed, the profs had knowingly not ordered good food as it might lead us to sleep off in the post lunch session. And well, guess what-

The day was a complete waste and it was only a thread on our facebook group that helped us survive the trauma. 

Moving on to Farewell 2.0. It was scheduled on the last working day of my stay in IIT-K. More specifically, right after the last class of my campus life. Class witnessed unusually high levels of attendance (this could be expected). I had anticipated this would be one lecture I would never want to end. But 15 minutes later, I harbored absolutely antithetical feelings. SKM and Pampu do that to you. Every time. After the class, we captured our last moments in FB656, in memory of the countless hours we had spent there. We moved on to VH, the venue for the evening to find the Y10 batch in full attendance and no one from Y11. People poured in leisurely and then began the ceremonial formalities. Each of us was presented with a souvenir (which was, honestly, very touching) which was followed by dinner many notches above our expectations. The dessert was exceptional. It was again a memorable night, one which marked the end of student life. Some snaps from the last day:

  

These events signaled the end of an era. I still remember the day I first came to Kanpur. There were dreadful images in my head that one generally associates with UP. Ride on the GT Road from Lucknow airport made the matters even worse. And the relief when I actually entered the campus. I would also always remember the last day in campus. The rush for No Dues. Goodbyes to wingies at Hall 9 gate. And to friends near Hall 1 gate. And of course, the freaking roller coaster ride between those two days. 

Thirty-first/Thirty-second

Its 4:27 in the morning. I have been awake for the past one hour now. Desperately trying to sleep. After all, there is a 9:30 alarm on my phone which I just cannot avoid. Well, rewinding the hour that past by, I can put it down in following points-

1. Heat and a strong pang for water wake me up.
2. Reach out for my bottle. Find it empty. Curse myself for not being far-sighted while gulping down that last sip.
3. Put on my t-shirt and proceed to refill my bottle and quench my thirst. I stay in top wing and all water-coolers in my hall are in bot wings.
4. I find temperature surprisingly pleasant outdoors. Or maybe my room's relatively warmer. Decide to throw open those glass windows after 4-5 months.
5. Come back and finish that chore. Lie down to sleep but there are bloody mosquitoes all around me.
6. Try to ignore them. Can't.
7. KILLING SPREE!
8. I try to keep count. Fail miserably. 
9. Give up. Turn on my laptop.

But the past few days weren't so depressing. Except for the Institute Blues Fiasco. Which was both sad and distasteful. Patty is one person who deserves the top honors without an iota of doubt.

Coming on to the happening things. We finally had a departmental outing. Well, there was just a lukewarm response (13 out of 39) but we went forward with the plan. We had zeroed in on Barbeque Nation for a sumptuous lunch. And we traveled all the way to Lucknow for that. And boy, that was one memorable trip. I wonder why didn't we plan such outings before. And I never realized when between those boring lectures, project discussions and assignment deadlines we forged such close bonds of friendship.

Courtesy Lohia-ji and his brand new DSLR, we had some amazing snaps. Here are some that didn't find their way on Facebook:

Everyone minus Lohia

Photo-bombing 

Cheers to Y11 Economics!

After the beer was stolen

Customary 'birthday' celebrations for a free cake

Well, awesomeness didn't end with the trip. For the first time in four years Techkriti had me excited. They had managed to do the unthinkable. Every music fan in the campus had listened with envy tales of POTF (Poets of the Fall) grooving the campus sometime in late 2000s. And Techkriti brought them back to campus. And to say their performance was mind-blowing would be an understatement. I could feel the reverberations from their performance and my heart-beats syncing to their beats even hours after their concert. Thank you Techkriti team for this experience.

  

Among other things, swimming pool reopened this week. It always feels good to get back to kicking water and treading over those black lanes. 

Thirtieth

The countdown has begun in my head. Its 42 days till the end of end-sems. To the end of a journey. And to the end of perhaps the most amazing phase of my life. Well, I'll cut the senti feelings for later posts.

Focusing on the week that passed by, the high-point was the Budget Panel Discussion we (Abhishek & I) organised. We convinced two of our professors to take some time out and be the panelists for the session. We had to indulge in a bit of haggling but eventually all the doubts were ironed out. I utilized my newly developed Adobe Illustrator skills to make a poster in our quest to attract junta. And things fell in place. Over 100 people turned up, right on time - a rarity for student organised activities on campus. When the session concluded, almost everyone left with a satisfied expression. Hope this momentum is sustained.

Moving to the Adobe Illustrator story. So we had this 20% mid-sem project for the communications design course. We had to design some logos, icons, indexes and symbols for Indian Olympics. Although I intended to give 3 days for this project, but that's too ideal a scenario. So on the d-day, I install Illustrator and open up some tutorial videos. Last-minute panic fueled creativity and I designed/edited my project way beyond my personal expectations. Here are some of the best ones:

Indian Olympics Logo

Hockey Icon

Mallakhamba Icon

Kushti Index

   

27/28/29

Yes, from the title you could easily say laziness is getting better of me. So, the last line I wrote on this blog talked about writing about Delhi elections and Galaxy'15. To begin with, I lost some bucks on Delhi elections. Sometime in late December or very early January, I had bet against AAP with a couple of my wingies. I was pretty sure I would win comfortably but BJP pulled out a Kiran Bedi out of nowhere and my chances went for a toss. Just hours before elections, I scouted for a bhakt to rationalize my risks. I found one, again in my wing. I brought in a loophole in one of the deals I was losing and eventually I am down by just 40 bucks.

Regarding Galaxy'15, well, Hall 3 won it again. Not that I harbor any hall feelings, but that does make up for a good case study. As far as I recall, they have won last 6 editions. And with a big margin almost everytime. And this is achieved mostly by the efforts of a set of chaps who were selected to reside in Hall 3 randomly. I do remember hypothesizing some theories and also explaining India's world cup record against Pakistan with some of them. But I fail to recall even one right now. Perils of not being regular with my blog.

Jumping to the main topic for this post - the Brahmatal trek. Or what happened of it. So we (Aditya, Bansal, Paul & I) left with overflowing enthusiasm in a rather uncomfortable bus to Kathgodam from Delhi. Sometime later, a co-passenger struck up a conversation with me which would remain memorable for various reasons. We already had a bumpy ride to Delhi with some train derailing and we had to get down at Chandra Vihar station (some 15 kms from NDLS). Anyways, we reached Kathgodam around 7:30 and within 30 minutes packed ourselves into a tempo traveller for a 10 hour journey to our base camp. I personally had no complains for this part. In fact, I rather enjoyed it. Also, it is during this journey that I started conversing with this another set of trekkers who would eventually turn out to be great friends over next few days.

DAY 1:

Rains washed out our expectations. Our trek was called off for the day. We were asked to buy ponchos and were given free time till lunch. So we switched on our exploratory mode and started moving towards Wan. We spotted a trail and diverted towards it. It felt just like a monsoon trek in the Sahyadris. Just 15 degrees colder. But it was fun.

Lunch followed and then we decided to explore Eigen Top very close to the village. It was a very easy 3ish kilometer trail. On our way, we also came across the first patch of snow for the trip. Though it wasn't my first snow experience, its always fascinating for folks residing below Tropic of Cancer. Weather was turning beautiful and colder with every passing minute which in turn led to amazing photographs. 

DAY 2:

It had poured all night. All my hopes of ascending to Brahmatal were dashed. But we decided we should at least do a day trek to Maling (9350 ft). And it was on this trek that I experienced my first snow fall. We returned to Lohajung by 15:00 and a completely different sight awaited us. The green/brown surroundings were acquiring a layer of white. 

Post-lunch Lohajung

 We spent our evening by the fire playing dumb charades and sipping steamy soup. Also, we awakened our nocturnal selves and initiated Mafia/Judgement sessions well past midnight.

DAY 3:

And for the third consecutive day I wake up to open our door for tea, a beverage I avoid by all possible means. All 3 assholes in my room conveniently pass on this responsibility to me. And I wake up to see a bright sun over Lohajung for the first time during our trip. The shimmer of snow from all around all the more brightens the ambiance. Post-breakfast, we start our journey on the Lord Curzon trail towards Kuling. It was a gentle trail with a steep climb in the end. Comfortable, except that rain emerged with flirting appearances about an hour after we left. 

  

Moderate sprinkles greeted us back at Lohajung. The white had completely disappeared from the local scenery. And we continued our bulla/mafia sessions right until early hours of morning. 

DAY 4:

The final day of the trek started with an insatiable reluctance to get out of the bed. It was only after I heard we would be proceeding to Bekhaltal (~11000 ft) for the day did I make a move out of my bed. This was undoubtedly the high-point of our trip and also relatively more challenging than other days. We packed our lunch packets and embarked on our trail. Just past the halfway mark, we cross the snowline. There also might be a little snowfall, but I can't recall for sure. As we keep moving skywards, sights keep getting prettier (Sadly, I can't think of any comparative word of pristine. That would have been technically correct.) It was impossible to be not spellbound by nature. And the soft snow effortlessly seduced every human soul on the trek. We crisscrossed over a feet deep snow in the final stretch to reach Bekhaltal in about 3 hours.

A camp-fire awaited us back at the base-camp. But we found it more interesting to gather back in a room and hold our own session there. All sort of randomness happened and we finally tucked into our beds out of necessity. 

Next morning we scurried around to pack our bags. Goodbyes were announced. And the usual farewell pleasantries followed. But events din't end there. We reached the cab owner's village in an hour or so. And he came along with a gulaal packet to greet us for Holi. Ideas picked pace and soon, we were having our own session there. Some local sweets were also brought in. Some home-made gujiyas were gifted by Shahji (the cab owner). 

We reached Kathgodam the same evening. Boarded a train and reached campus next morning. I have been sleeping more than 10 hours daily since then. 

PS: Indihikes guys have this awesome policy wherein we get to do a free trek in one year period as we couldn't complete ours because of unfavorable weather. 

Group Snap

Twenty-fifth/Twenty-sixth

Mid-sem weeks. Don't even expect. Might write about Galaxy and Delhi elections next week.

Twenty-fourth

Another boring week. But the good thing was that the weather improved. It just feels so liberating to move about in the balmy sun without those extra layers. If the temperature keeps up to this trend, I would very well be writing the mid-sems in shorts \m/ The weather also helps a bit in keeping up with my resolve of hitting the gym as frequently as possible.

This week witnessed some frenzied activity on my side. Though I can recall just one any right now, significantly less number of post-it notes next to my study table does validate my claim. Coming to the task I ticked off, I finalized my essay and project topics for the Behavioral Economics course. For the project, I decided to work on identifying key drivers of social networks in IIT-K students. I had initially thought of a simplified version of this project for the Social Media Analytics project but had ditched it for the lack of data. And then in a random discussion with Shoan at CCD, a scope for improvisation struck me and I decided to pursue the idea.

For the essay, I took inspiration from the much-needed crusade against unfair means in IIT-K. I plan to use research from Dan Ariely's 'Honest Truth About Dishonesty' and apply them to common cheating practices I have observed over the past years to come up with (maybe?) feasible solutions. I am pretty excited about both the project and the essay given that they are in ideation stage. As I have experienced quite often, this expected is expected to fizzle off quickly with every passing day towards deadline.

Twenty-third

An extended weekend. And I can think of absolutely nothing to write. There was a Vox treat. And the Gymkhana elections. And also the Republic Day. Yet just don't feel like writing.

Twenty-second

The only highlight of the week was the cycle trip to Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary, located roughly 60 kilometers from Hall 9. It was a little ambitious to cover 100+ kilometers on cycle in single day but we anyhow went ahead with the plan. Amit sir had posted on Bumpy Trail Bicyclist and about 12 people turned up for the ride. My wingies had a little issue to sort out on their cycles and they started 15 minutes later.

I don't know how but flu hit me hard around 30 minutes after we started. My nose was clogged and riding became a bit tedious. Eventually, I had to stop for 20 odd minutes near Unnao crossing of Lucknow-Kanpur highway. My wingies caught up with me and now genuinely uncertain about finishing the ride, we continued after chai from nearby katta. We stopped at a shady dhaba for breakfast and the guy took frustratingly long to finish our order. Finally we reached the sanctuary at noon.

Place was like an oasis. Never expected such serenity around Kanpur. We lazily went around the place and by the time we were ready to start our return journey, it was already 2. We had already planned to hop onto a bus to Kanpur. The cafe guy at the sanctuary suggested hitchhiking on trucks. We heeded his suggestion and 15 minutes later, we were on a truck heading towards Kanpur. The driver said he would drop us at some place about 20 kilometers from insti. Helped our cause. We wanted to visit downtown Kanpur for a foodie session.

So, we cycled for about 6 kilometers to reach Phool Bagh, which like the Zaveri Bazaar of Kanpur. We had some chaat and quickly found our way to the malai-makkhan vendors. For those who don't know about malai-makkhan, its like ecstasy for people with a sweet tooth. Try the one in front of the famous Banarsi sweet shop. While you are there, also relish the kesar laddu from Banarsi.

It was getting dark. And I was reluctant to ride on Kanpur roads in such conditions. Convinced others to book one of those green things that dropped us at the main gate. And finally, we reached back and finished the ride exactly 12 hours after we started.  

Twentieth/Twenty-First

Happy new year people! Yes, I know its almost 2 weeks since 2014 lost its place on the calendar but laziness got better of me and this happens to be my first post for the semester. So my first week of last semester had a strong element of anti-climax. Plans for the week started with a trip to Singapore, which was later diluted to Rishikesh (most of us realized the power of the phrase 'lol aukaat' then). Eventually, even Rishikesh fell out and I was stuck in the vicious loop of add/drop. The 'E-Commerce fiasco' compounded the misery and I ended up attending classes for over 9 courses in relatively extremely challenging conditions. I finally settled things with an overload, which could be used as a safety-net/backup/last-sem-feel as per convenience.

The only positive for the week was that I got a new phone which in turn made me realize I am terrible at clicking selfies. I could have used New Years Eve revelry in my defense but I am awful quite thoroughly.

For those who would just refuse to believe I am really bad at selfies

Week 21 had interesting things in store. I traveled to Delhi for the Harvard US-India Initiative (HUII) conference. Other than a superb line-up of speakers and panelists, it also seemed a cool networking opportunity. Well, I had a very specific target - folks not from engineering background. I met several interesting folks but in majority, hearing the other delegates talk made my ears bleed (To the people I met at the conference and happening to be in my friend list and also happening to read this post - I might have fretted a lot about this). Even an OC member agreed with me on this part. But overall, it was a pleasantly different experience.

Would I attend such conferences again? Maybe.

Would I elaborate about the key-note speakers and the panels I attended? Yes. I am in a writing typing mood currently.

DAY 1:

Keynote Speaker Jairam Ramesh: A balanced and diplomatic talk. Exactly what could be expected from politicians. Answers were too generalized or way off topic. Kept his distance from the audience. This talk gave me negative vibes about the rest of conference.

Liberal Arts & Conservative Societies: Pramath Sinha (Founding Dean, ISB, Founder, Ashoka University & Dheeraj Sanghi sir's UG roomie) was the reason I was so excited about this panel. Mainly revolved around need to change perceptions about liberal arts. And that there are jobs and careers for liberal arts graduates. Nice panel. The negative vibes I mentioned before started diminishing. Also got a special video message from Pramath Sinha \m/

Hello, World: I went in with no specific expectations. Lakshmi Pratury started off with a fine talk on need to showcase our stories to the world. And it was followed by an electric elocution by Atul Singh. Filled with nationalistic fervor, he appealed the audience to move around with India's cultural swagger. Though I dint agree on most parts, it was indeed worth attending.

Curating India's History: Mark Tully had been to IIT-K some time back but for reasons I can't recall, I couldn't attend his talk then. This seemed like an ideal substitute. He delivered a talk in a manner like that of an old-school professor. It was hard to pay attention to what he was talking and the topic had digressed to influence of religion on Indian politics and society in general. But the questions that followed were of quality and that more than made up for the boring speech.

Keynote Speaker Piyush Goyal: The strongest impression he projected was of approach-ability. He came across as a person who works rationally and as someone who is willing to listen and implement new ideas. He even stayed back for over 30 minutes interacting with the audience. It felt good to see people of caliber (and not just dorks like Uma Bharti) holding ministerial positions.

DAY 2:

Keynote Speaker Mirai Chatterjee: Way too early for me to be completely attentive. In patches, heard about policy framing to address supply side problems in primary health-care. Later, I went and inquired about inculcating equally pressing demand side problems in the policy design. It was just acknowledged as a very important issue and we moved to the next question.

Human Rights in India: Meenakshi Ganguli and Jaqueline Bhabha formed the panel. I have always felt that human rights activists, though they raise important issues, fail to provide feasible alternative solutions to the problems. I came back with the same feeling from this panel.

Policy Making & Evaluation: Rohini Pande (Economist and a big-shot at J-PAL) was the obvious attraction for me. She talked about setting up an effective policy to control and check pollution. Sandeep Ahuja (Co-founder, ASHA) ranted about suffocating problems existing in bureaucracy that eventually lead inefficient implementation of policies in India.

Social Entrepreneurship: Excellent panel in Akansha Hazari (Founder, m.Paani) and Deval Sanghvi (Co-Founder, Dasra). Touched upon all relevant issues in running social ventures and philanthropy-funded NGOs. I personally am not very motivated towards contributing in the social sector. But someone needs to take initiative and action. Its great that so many talented people are up for it.

Keynote Speaker Jayant Sinha: The rock-star of the conference. An amazing talk that comprised of three stories of his life. In many ways it gave a feel of Connecting the Dots speech by Steve Jobs. 'Kabir ke dohe pel die' will perhaps be the etched in my memory along with his name. Completely changed my perception of ministers at the upper level. He happens to be among the very few ministers I can trust to lead the country forward.

We weren't very sure but we did go to the delegate party after the conference. Ridiculously priced. It only got relatively better in the later half. Last day in Delhi had its share of ups and downs. After having amazingly delicious breakfast at Samarth's place, we went on to explore Old Delhi. Red Fort was welcoming but the kilometer long line to get in repelled us to Jama Masjid. Parathe waali galli & Haldiram followed for an amazing spread which would definitely lead to oral orgasm. Also, whose daily consumption can kill you in a month.

Clicked from the Jama Masjid tower with Red Fort in background

For the down part of the trip, our train got delayed by over 4 hours. Misery din't end there and it took about 10 hours to finally reach Kanpur.

Pro-tip: Use the Executive Lounge on the station in such situations. Worth every buck.

Also, a very good friend of mine went completely berserk because I didn't meet/call/text her while I was in Delhi. I'll have to figure out a way to ease things out. Suggestions are welcome.