An IIT Visit Part II - IIT n Lucknow Episode

A Campus of Wonders - IIT Kanpur

Soon I was looking at the proud name of IIT Kanpur carved in steel in front of the main gate. I had heard that the campus had a village within it and a school too. There was more in store for me. The taxi approached the campus and stopped in front of a check post. I hadn’t really expected a check post, but came to know that, IIT has got a very efficient security system which has been given in contract to a private security firm. Guarded by gunmen, the campus allowed entrance only to academicians, and village people were provided IDs to pass. We had to give our names and full details at the check post and then we found ourselves on the road bounded on both sides by thick greenery. I felt like I was riding through some sanctuary because such was the peacefulness and calmness inside the campus. No buses were allowed inside the campus and students used cycles for their purpose.

Within some time, we found our accommodation and were a bit disappointed to see that it was inside the reading room of one of the hostels; they had laid beds and pillows for us on the floor. But later we were to understand the real advantage of this. We found ourselves interacting with the North Indian students who shared the room. They were from Pune, Rajasthan, etc. Soon we got out to have our lunch. Our competition was scheduled to be on the third day and so we had plenty of time to test our item and to explore the campus. Towards evening, we had to register for the whole event and get our coupons. At the venue which was just full of buzzing youth, there was a long queue at the registration desk.

Shortly we realized that we were supposed to bring in our photos to be affixed on our ID cards. But as is usual in competitions in South India, we expected we could some how get through without the photo. To be on the safer side, we decided to ask a senior IIT guy whom we happened to meet in the queue. He thought for sometime and said, “Well this happens all the years. And they are going to send you guys back to get a photo. That’s what they do always. So the only logical solution I can find to your problem is to go outside the campus now and get those 5 minutes passport photos.” Needless to say, we were really alarmed to know that this was a problem for which a “logical solution” had to be sought. Anyway, we decided not to try our luck and got a “cycle rickshaw”, the form of transport inside the campus and got our photos. After another long wait in the queue we got our ID cards by midnight. Another IIT guy who was explaining to us how to fill in our forms, was so much tensed that he was shivering while explaining and made us think that we are writing our JEE Entrance exam.

The next day we were exploring the campus. As time passed, we were amazed to find the various facilities inside the campus. Some labs had names we haven’t hadn’t heard of, like “powder metallurgy lab”, “liquid systems lab”, “thermal lab” etc. The library building is a very huge one and the attractive part is that, all other buildings in the campus were connected to the library building by walkways. SBI had its own branch inside the campus and there was a whole village too. There was a small shopping place with a bookstore selling second-hand books, and shops selling traditional North Indian dishes. It was quite interesting when we happened to ask a guy about the route to this shopping place. He appeared to be walking but I guess he was more or less engrossed in his own dream world (most probably, ultra-quantum world). On receiving our request, he seemed to be putting his current processing on hold, acknowledged our request by looking at us and answered by pointing his hand in a particular direction and without another word, continued his stroll (processing). For the rest of the day, we got the electronics laboratory opened for us, to complete the finishing touches of our project. We were surprised to see that, all the lab desks had individual power supply boards and a computer with internet connection for instant doubt-clearing.

The Fun
At night, we took a walk visiting the various competitions that were going on. For the first time in my life, I saw small model flights flying under remote control. It had its own fuel chamber and the guy was telling that it uses some mixture he himself developed. Other attractions were a walking robot which obeys our commands and can distinguish between opaque/transparent or conducting/non-conducting materials.

There was also a “robo-romeo” contest, where the robots were supposed to pluck a flower and drop it in the centre (Juliet). The contest was accompanied by one of the most excellent commentaries I had ever heard in my life. It was making everyone laugh and completely enjoy the event.

Next day, we had our event and it went well. Everyone appreciated our design as there was something unique about it. Half an hour before the event finished, we decided to get out and have some food, as we couldn’t have our lunch. We asked a guy there if we could go. We didn’t know that we were about to get a really confusing answer to this. He appeared to be in deep thought and then told us that “I can’t find a logical solution to your problem. Come let’s ask someone else”. Then and there we decided not to ask anyone anything inside the campus. Needless to say, we didn’t get permission as they said we were still participants of the event until it got over and were not supposed to get out till then.By evening, the results of our event came and we were happy to find out that we had got third place.

An unforgettable detour - Lucknow
We had decided to visit Lucknow, as we had some family relatives there. Soon we found ourselves at Lucknow station, waiting for our friend to pick us up. As we didn’t have much time to spend there, we decided to go on an outing that night itself. He showed us a jist of Lucknow, which I felt was a very good and clean city with spacious roads. After visiting a couple of multiplexes, we had a dinner consisting of traditional Lucknow delicacies. Early morning, in a hurry, we boarded the train back to Kanpur and found a seat for ourselves. Soon there was a local magistrate (I wonder why) coming up and checking the tickets. We were totally surprised when he asked us to get up and get out. The train had stopped at some isolated place half-way between Kanpur and Lucknow and it was all empty fields on both sides and only farmers around. We found out that we were asked to get out because the train was an express and we had paid only local fare. The judge couldn’t speak Hindi and we found difficulty in communicating to him that we didn’t have enough money to pay the fine, and that we had to reach Kanpur as soon as possible as we had our trains back to Kerala that day afternoon. With slight difficulty we understood from his symbolic language when he held his hands together in the shape of a bouquet that he was telling us that we could go to jail in handcuffs if we didn’t pay the fine. After some more struggling, he agreed to do away with the fine and we had to pay the fare of express ticket. But the saddest part was that, the train left the place before we could board it again and we were left out in that horrible environment. Shortly, we understood that, it was a place where only local shuttle trains stop. It was not even a station, just a place where farmer gather together when they wanted to go somewhere in a train. To understand the tension of being in a totally unfamiliar environment under the pressure of time, one needs to experience it.After half an hour of waiting, we were lucky to get a snail paced local train to Kanpur.

Back to Home
We reached the IIT Campus in haste and collected our bags and managed to get our certificates from those guys. I couldn’t say a proper good bye to the campus as I was rushing back to the station. But as is always the case with the Indian Railways, the train was running 2 hours late. The return journey was fun, with some of the Chennai-walah guys whom we had met at IITK. We enjoyed getting out of the train, when it made some odd stops, and plucking flowers that grew on both sides of the track.

I was slightly upset as I couldn’t make my visit to the Himalayan Nation, possible. But the trip had left me with a lot of experience, contacts and memories to cherish. Moreover I was happy that I could spend those days in that beautiful campus to which I had once wished so badly to belong to. Whew!!! There it goes, at last i have got it completed and that happens to be my very first blog!!! Thanks for your patience, readers if anyone managed to reach this part :-)

An IIT Visit Part I - In the Train

It’s been almost two weeks since I came back from my trip to Kanpur. I have always wanted to write something about it and share my experience with u. To be frank, I wanted to write about it as soon as I got back without missing out any interesting accounts. Well, like many other things in my life, this also got put off to this two weeks time and here I am now typing this out. Hey, don’t get the wrong idea that I had a sudden inspiration to put this on paper; I am just playing around with my computer. So I guess I will start and since I know myself, I wonder where this will stop.

The Inspiration
I think I should tell you the background of what made me make a trip to Kanpur. Well, I have a habit, be it good or bad as you may decide, of checking every single paper that’s hung on the college notice board or even littering around the common post box. It was somewhere there that I found this website link of a contest that was going to happen at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. As I am always an admirer of these premier tech institutes of my country, I was longing to visit and see what the going was on inside these acres of campuses. That was just one reason. Another major cause was my desire to do something in practice. Back in my class rooms I never had a complete passion for these theories and mile long derivations, until I saw them work in practice well within my limits of tolerance. I just wanted to learn to do things and know things the way they are being used in practice. This question that the IIT people had put forward for the contest in Electronic Circuit Design attracted me that way. So I decided to move on with it. I always had friends whose capabilities I believe I knew. I invited one of them soon and another one at a later time to join me. My beliefs on their capabilities seemed to be true because I have never faced a failure by entrusting something to them until this moment. I am quite ignorant of the basic layout of the major cities of my country. So I hadn’t known that Kanpur was two days and a half away from my city. Even though it wouldn’t have stopped me from going there, I think I should mention it here.

Thus we started working on the very thing. Slowly it turned out that we would have to work overnight. There again the IIT people proved their difference. The question was no simple one. We had good support from the staffs of our college and we had our labs opened for us until midnight. It was fun, working with my friends and knowing things as we made gradual progress to the final answer. I was enlightened, I should say, by the capabilities and potentials of our professors and the very limitations of the hefty theory that we mug up in the class rooms.

The Last Minute Rush
It was on a Thursday that we had to board the train. We lagged a lot in our work; a lot, that we had no sleep, working in the lab till 6.30 AM of the cool morning of the very Thursday. Rushing back home in my bike, hoping to get a one hour nap before boarding the train at 9.30, I was half way through when it suddenly flashed in my mind that I had forgot to get the BenQ portable mp3 player from another friend. I badly wanted it because I enjoyed listening to music and the coming 50+ hours in the train had left me with no other ways to kill time. So I got back home and took a nap and got ready. I decided to check on my friend and get the player. But I was thoroughly disappointed when none answered to my knocks on the door of his room. He had left for his volley ball match in our university. Well, I blamed myself, for I had gone the previous night to his room and copied my favourite songs into the player and put it for charging and promised to get it from him before midnight and the hectic stuff in the lab made me forget that. I didn’t have any choice. There was less time to go and get the keys from him. So I rode back to my home, trying to find out a reason that will make me happy. And I did. What use is that 10 hr playback mp3 device in a 50+ Hr journey like this?? I would be sadder when it turns off inside the train. After all, I had some novels and other interesting tales with me back home which I could read once more in the train.

Back home, I started packing my bag. Now, that is something I am really bad in. I usually forget half of the necessary things wherever I go. Then I was in a hurry and my mother was out of station. So I had to collect everything myself and manage to put them inside the single bag. Needless to explain, I later found out that I had forgotten many things which I don’t want to mention here. To add to my disappointment, I couldn’t find the book I was hoping to take with me, as my brother had taken it for his reading and carelessly put it somewhere. There again I had no choice and found another good solution. My friends would be bringing books.

And I got into an auto, went to the ATM and took some money for my travel and headed straight to the station. I was quite exact in time. I knew I had tensed the parents of my friends who were accompanying me for they were calling me on my mobile without giving me a break. There inside the auto, I realized something else that made me most disappointed. I had forgotten the charger of my mobile phone!!! Those who know me well know that I have a special relationship with the phones. Thoughts of the long 8 days in front of me made me miserable. There again I found a solution which I will explain later. The auto driver, as if he knew my nature, took a really adventurous route and reached the station exact 5 minutes before the scheduled arrival of my train. I was expecting an angry face out there to welcome me at the station, but I was lucky in that. As is the usual case with Indian railways, the train ran quite late.

The Journey
Thus! There we were in the train without any ways of killing time and with no absolute idea of the route we were going to take and with no map of the places we were going to see. Inside we looked at each other and laughed at the stupidity we have done. The whole compartment was empty save for a couple with a kid and a few nuns in the nearby berths. Soon two North Indians joined us. I was happy that I got a chance to test my Hindi proficiency before reaching the North Indian cities. I am sure I got them on their nerves by asking many things. They were Arun Tiwari and Binod Mishra going to their home town of Gorakhpur. It is a town in India bordering Nepal. They were working in Cochin doing some business and were on their annual trip to meet their beloveds. I had a plan to visit the Himalayan nation just mentioned above, though it was another 7 hour journey from Kanpur. Those who know me close know of my interest in that nation. I was blowing a thousand questions at them about how to reach that place.

We enjoyed the journey for a couple of hours. And then my friends started taking out some books, which luckily I also could share. Slowly came the night and I was quite reluctant to pull down the window panes. Feeling sorry for the fellow passengers, I took my friend who had not yet slept and found for ourselves a place near the door of the compartment. With a paper laid down for us to sit, and the cool wind blowing right on our face, we sat staring into the dark outlines of the trees we passed by and the tiny light spots which I guessed were coming from the huts on the other side. I really couldn’t make out what was really there in the dark. Much to our irritation, the train stopped or slowed down frequently and still it bore the name of an express. It was quite enjoyable getting down at stations and seeing if we could get something to eat. But I realized that once we had left our native places, we couldn’t find any single food stalls in these stations.

The morning came along and we had our breakfast from the train itself. Once again I was back with some books and my friends decided to take advantage of the still empty compartments and moved ahead to find a place to have a nice sleep which was to turn a bit unlucky for them later. We saw some major rivers of India. Having procured a map of India, I understood that we were almost making this journey right through the middle of my country. The journey, touching almost 4 states, I could see the difference in the style of living and houses and stuffs like that. In the middle of enjoying this view came the sound of loud clapping, and I first thought that someone was having fun. Slowly I came to realize that it was “Hijadas”, a category of people found in North India, who are themselves neither male nor female. They would come, sometimes to boss you up, sometimes to cuddle you. All for the 5 rupee note you are supposed to give them. This time they had got inside the train, and I heard from the fellow passengers that it’s a routine for them. Collecting money from the passengers and blessing them soon after that. In these parts of India, seeing Hijadas are considered to be a good omen.

The funniest part of it was when my friends, who had gone for a fine sleep in other compartments, returned. They had had a nice experience with Hijadas who cornered them up; and one of my friends gave 50 rupees in a hurry to escape from them. It was quite funny to see him cursing them. The rest of the day went normally and I was trying to talk to people around. A friend of mine started playing with the kid and it was quite nice. The kid seemed to be quite used to the train journeys and was very friendly with all of us. I came to know that the couple was traveling from kanyakumari to gorakhpur. The husband was in the army and they were going back after vacations.

That night I was asleep soon, as it was getting cold. I hadn’t taken a sweater or anything of that sort thinking I could manage without one. So I had to borrow one from my friend. I woke up after sometime and found that the train was not moving and most passengers were still asleep. I stepped out of the compartment found my friend talking on the phone. It was really cold outside and at a distance, we saw the red light of the signal post, and knew that was why the train had stopped. Unlike the night before, I could not see any tiny light spots around. So I guessed there were no houses around. We moved a little forward and found that the native passengers had made a small fire out of dry leaves and other stuffs and were sitting around. We also joined them. It was a different experience for me.

Soon the train was blowing its horn and we saw the signal turning green; we got back into our compartment. The night went as usual. And next afternoon we reached our station. Sighing after a long journey and after making calls back home, we looked around. We were not surprised to find the station filled with youngsters of our age sitting in the main hall grouped around their suitcases. IIT Kanpur was, after all, a famous place. We found a volunteer of the fest there outside the station. But we were quite disappointed to find out that, the bus had already left, packed, and the next one will come only in an hour. So we decided to take an auto or a taxi. Getting out, we found ourselves stormed by the clever auto drivers and taxi people. After a heck of a negotiation, we got ourselves into a taxi together with some participants from Tamil Nadu.