And I am back again, the same lousy dingbat having nothing better to do. It had been heavy bombarding of kgp in my previous post ( which has touched me from within). I guess I had been too hard on kgp. This post is thus dedicated to my love-hate relationship with KGP - My second home and ... the place which taught me how to live.
It would be the most befitting to start with MS hall of residence which was my first home in kgp. A bustling place with enthusiastic first years inducted through the hallowing IIT JEE (something which played such a massive part in deciding my destiny). First years( Alas except for me who was too doleful to take part in that marvellous celebration of life) who were extremely jubilant and eager to grind out a career out of this nostalgic place where legends have been made. It was a great place to live in with its small but snug single rooms ( a luxury which every IIT is not able to provide). Its spacious lawns and the ambience was charming ( not for me though who was befuddled being away from home for the first time in my life). I took my time finding my feet in this place. But boy when I found them I have since never looked back.
MS hall was kind of a rehabilitation centre for me. It mended out all the voids which had been so precariously concealed within me and presented me with the opening of new frontiers. It made me break the cast of that home grown boy, who had always some one near him to take care of when complications arose. Here that some one was 1000 miles away, so I learnt the first very important point of life: Befriend your neighbours ( obviously those with scruples( this itself is a very debatable word, but I have my ideas clear). I thus found solace in my newly discovered friends ( who are to remain for life). MS hall reinforced the bond and here I had discovered a new family which albeit being different from me in so many ways shared the same fundamentals which were instilled in me. Life now started rolling on and the doleful boy of yesterday moved on to start smiling(something he had not done since he had passed JEE).
It was a rigourous schedule, early morning classes meant that I had to wake up an hour early, brush, shave and bathe( something which people have taken for granted to be ignored in kgp). and then queue up in the mess( this topic has been justifiably dealt with before) to stuff up Toast bread and tea. The classes were a source of dissappointment for me. It seemed to me that I was losing my sharpness in attacking problems (something that had taken a couple of years and gala efforts to culminate). It seemed to me that the sharpness which all of us possessed was being lost out due to lethargy and also apathy from people who never pushed us far enough to go and tackle tough problems. Well, that sharpness has been lost but can be retrieved.!!.
I recall vikramshila of my first years, a complex which filled me with awe, I remember sitting in the afternoons after the class and beholding the breeze pushing the grass behind, the songs sung by the rains during sundays and also Prof TKB 's lectures. I especially recall the NCC training wherein we had to report religiously every saturday 5 minutes before time to a gruelling 3 hours of leg stamping and yelling. The NCC complex was another serene feature of the campus. I savour the moments at Tikka's when we used to club 3 rupees with our five rupee coupon( the award for patiently stamping legs and acting like robos) to purchase a bottle of 'Slice'. I fondly recall the TFS, where I watched movies ( duly censored to eliminate the last iota of skinshow). I had been ousted though for the same reason ironically ( actually I had dared to enter Netaji Audi in shorts, the most audacious attempt made to villify the sanctity of the place according to the authorities. anyways i had avoided causing any future furore by offering to change into jeans).
The examination times were always tense times for me ( I laugh when I recall them now, But those too played a part for the metamorphosis that took place in that year.)
The 10 day NCC camp was just enough to cement up my relationship with the institute for ever. It was a survival challenge to me and I emerged out of it wiser, those 10 exhaustive days of running, running and running convinced me that all a man required to get through life was patience. But then I enjoyed my time with my batchmates in that chilly kalaikunda cold. We savoured those four monaco biscuits with tea served on the dilapidated runway after a hard hour's march. The silence and the beauty of the thickets around the place astonished me, It also did proud to me that I was able to observe AIR FORCE planes which would in other cases not be accessible to me as a civilian. The evenings in the billet were all fun which used to culminate in deep slumber as we counted the days left on the camp.
I can't just believe that I have started writing how much I love kgp as a place and I have covered so many lines and yet not even started to break the crust over the mantle.
My first year went on, those saturday evenings which had mess off were another experience as we used to gobble Maggi Noodles ( Yes this comes better than what you can make at home) and tea. Springfest was another time when the same community feeling was rekindled as a croud of 7000 unanimously cheered STRINGS as they performed live in front of us. The victory feeling when kgp won the fashion show which made us erupt into tempo shouts ( seniors, juniors all together) is still fresh within me. Phew, and to think this would only be the starting of the journey which so far has always excited me.
To acknowledge your patience, I would stop here, First year ended with decent academic( though not outstanding) grades,butI had learnt my social lessons and cleared them with excellent grades. we were alloted senior halls ( though the road ahead for me was to be different) and It was a happy home journey for the summer with so much to tell my family( who still blinks when they see the amount of change in me).
A Kgpian for ever!!!!
P.S: Second year tales to follow.
It would be the most befitting to start with MS hall of residence which was my first home in kgp. A bustling place with enthusiastic first years inducted through the hallowing IIT JEE (something which played such a massive part in deciding my destiny). First years( Alas except for me who was too doleful to take part in that marvellous celebration of life) who were extremely jubilant and eager to grind out a career out of this nostalgic place where legends have been made. It was a great place to live in with its small but snug single rooms ( a luxury which every IIT is not able to provide). Its spacious lawns and the ambience was charming ( not for me though who was befuddled being away from home for the first time in my life). I took my time finding my feet in this place. But boy when I found them I have since never looked back.
MS hall was kind of a rehabilitation centre for me. It mended out all the voids which had been so precariously concealed within me and presented me with the opening of new frontiers. It made me break the cast of that home grown boy, who had always some one near him to take care of when complications arose. Here that some one was 1000 miles away, so I learnt the first very important point of life: Befriend your neighbours ( obviously those with scruples( this itself is a very debatable word, but I have my ideas clear). I thus found solace in my newly discovered friends ( who are to remain for life). MS hall reinforced the bond and here I had discovered a new family which albeit being different from me in so many ways shared the same fundamentals which were instilled in me. Life now started rolling on and the doleful boy of yesterday moved on to start smiling(something he had not done since he had passed JEE).
It was a rigourous schedule, early morning classes meant that I had to wake up an hour early, brush, shave and bathe( something which people have taken for granted to be ignored in kgp). and then queue up in the mess( this topic has been justifiably dealt with before) to stuff up Toast bread and tea. The classes were a source of dissappointment for me. It seemed to me that I was losing my sharpness in attacking problems (something that had taken a couple of years and gala efforts to culminate). It seemed to me that the sharpness which all of us possessed was being lost out due to lethargy and also apathy from people who never pushed us far enough to go and tackle tough problems. Well, that sharpness has been lost but can be retrieved.!!.
I recall vikramshila of my first years, a complex which filled me with awe, I remember sitting in the afternoons after the class and beholding the breeze pushing the grass behind, the songs sung by the rains during sundays and also Prof TKB 's lectures. I especially recall the NCC training wherein we had to report religiously every saturday 5 minutes before time to a gruelling 3 hours of leg stamping and yelling. The NCC complex was another serene feature of the campus. I savour the moments at Tikka's when we used to club 3 rupees with our five rupee coupon( the award for patiently stamping legs and acting like robos) to purchase a bottle of 'Slice'. I fondly recall the TFS, where I watched movies ( duly censored to eliminate the last iota of skinshow). I had been ousted though for the same reason ironically ( actually I had dared to enter Netaji Audi in shorts, the most audacious attempt made to villify the sanctity of the place according to the authorities. anyways i had avoided causing any future furore by offering to change into jeans).
The examination times were always tense times for me ( I laugh when I recall them now, But those too played a part for the metamorphosis that took place in that year.)
The 10 day NCC camp was just enough to cement up my relationship with the institute for ever. It was a survival challenge to me and I emerged out of it wiser, those 10 exhaustive days of running, running and running convinced me that all a man required to get through life was patience. But then I enjoyed my time with my batchmates in that chilly kalaikunda cold. We savoured those four monaco biscuits with tea served on the dilapidated runway after a hard hour's march. The silence and the beauty of the thickets around the place astonished me, It also did proud to me that I was able to observe AIR FORCE planes which would in other cases not be accessible to me as a civilian. The evenings in the billet were all fun which used to culminate in deep slumber as we counted the days left on the camp.
I can't just believe that I have started writing how much I love kgp as a place and I have covered so many lines and yet not even started to break the crust over the mantle.
My first year went on, those saturday evenings which had mess off were another experience as we used to gobble Maggi Noodles ( Yes this comes better than what you can make at home) and tea. Springfest was another time when the same community feeling was rekindled as a croud of 7000 unanimously cheered STRINGS as they performed live in front of us. The victory feeling when kgp won the fashion show which made us erupt into tempo shouts ( seniors, juniors all together) is still fresh within me. Phew, and to think this would only be the starting of the journey which so far has always excited me.
To acknowledge your patience, I would stop here, First year ended with decent academic( though not outstanding) grades,butI had learnt my social lessons and cleared them with excellent grades. we were alloted senior halls ( though the road ahead for me was to be different) and It was a happy home journey for the summer with so much to tell my family( who still blinks when they see the amount of change in me).
A Kgpian for ever!!!!
P.S: Second year tales to follow.
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