My tryst with the Indian Institute of Technology : Chapter 3

First year at IIT Kharagpur

The first year at IIT has a common syllabus irrespective of the admitted course of study. It would be dishonest to say that I was sure to do well. I knew I was among the lower ranked students at IIT Kharagpur. I definitely had apprehensions regarding my performance while I studied and competed with bright students from all over India There was this system at IITs, by which a student was allowed to change his course of study at the end of the first year, popularly known as depC (department change). But that required obtaining a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). For students admitted to the B.Tech course, it was 8.25/10.00.

I didn’t aim for a depC. But I did aim to do well in my exams.

I attended classes regularly, was among the first few benchers, took down notes, completed assignments on time, and was pretty satisfied with how things were going. In the meantime, I had made some friends. My first friends at the Indian Institute of Technology were my wing-mates at the hostel or hall of residence, as they were called – Tapas, Someshwar, Aakash, Karan, Sharma, Silver and Suvrat.

My mid semester results were good. That motivated me to study harder and score as much as I could. I realized later that I was pretty stupid to believe that involvement in extra-curricular activities would hamper my studies. Another wrong notion was that getting a computer would kill all my time, leaving nothing for studies. One can always find time to get involved in all sorts of activities, yet maintain a good academic record. The first semester went off well and I managed 8.71/10.00. Pretty good score, indeed. I found that I had scored ahead of many students with better AIRs than me. That was a confidence booster, for sure! It also made me realize that the AIR was nothing but just a reflection of one’s performance on that fateful IIT JEE Mains day. Was it really? Well, ok it was perhaps.

The second semester consisted of some dreaded subjects like Electrical Technology and Chemistry. Chemistry, because it was a low scoring subject. Not to mention Engineering Drawing which was our first exposure to core engineering. I kind of liked it. Perhaps, engineering was my cup of tea. The second semester witnessed the purchase of quite a few computers in the wing – 4 to be precise. Well then, the rounds of movies and games started. I was not too keen on computer games, but yes movies! I started to bunk few classes-not entirely because I was not interested, but they were really boring! Things were getting loose. Mid semester results were kind of okay and I needed to do well, to have a good CGPA. The chance of a good depC had started to play on my mind. I would calculate the grade point required to have a decent CGPA at the end of first year, on many occasions.

With 5 days to the end semester examinations, I contracted Chicken Pox, perhaps from Tapas who had just been cured of it. I had to be admitted in the hospital, within our campus. My parents were very worried, especially my mother. My father rushed in overnight to see me. He lived there for a couple of days. Since it was a contagious disease, I was to be kept isolated in the hospital. So, I had no alternative but to study there and appear for my exams from the hospital bed. Tapas brought me books and notes. Thank God, IIT has this system to allow hospitalized students to appear for the examinations. Else I would have been doomed for sure! I managed to score a modest 8.16/10.00. My final CGPA was 8.45 and I was very much eligible for a depC. I filled out the forms giving my choices, starting off with the impossible Computer Science and Engineering.