Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Machau! - A Fresher's look at Life in IIT Delhi - Shivam Verma


However hard one may try, the newly "baptized" IITian cannot help but recall his pre-JEE days, those strenuous nights of tension, when the sounds of names like DC Pandey and MS Chouhan were music to our ears, and the times of anxiety that filled our hearts with a doubt - Will i make it?
Strangely, as eight-hundred and fifty-one pairs of nervous eyes gazed in awe at the Campus Royalé of IIT Delhi, arguably one of the most prestigious Engineering Institutes in the country, the past seemed like a memory evanescent, fading away to give way to what is to be our identity for the next four-five years.
As the gates of IIT Delhi were summoned open by the lucky few, an entirely new life waited ahead. The long walk from the Academic Area to the Hostel Area became a journey - from the old to the new, from yesterday to tomorrow.
Yet with each step forward, home seemed a glance further away.
The first three weeks have been days of transformation - every second, a new experience awaits. From entering, somewhat hesitantly, a senior's room- a step forward, two back- to making friends you never knew you could have had. Eating maggi at the kiosk(!) outside IIT gate,late into the night, or running about the main building, searching for MS XYZ! Every moment carves out a stronger,better person out of us.
And while the hostel experience can be satirically termed "elite", one has learnt that we live in "houses", not hostels.
Everyone, from the 3rd year "dadajis" to our honorable Professors hold a certain allure that gravitates you towards them, for better or for worse.
Hence, while at the one end, the mess food is strikingly "tempting", and one struggles to resist the delicious aroma that fills the dining hall, the tender affection with which Butler-sahab offers us those hand-crafted pieces of abstract art(read Chapatis), one cannot but be fascinated by the strange fusion that life at IIT Delhi is.

All in all, life here seems to be a heterogeneous blend of dualities - Happiness and loneliness, excitement and anxiety, infatuation and heartbreaks.

Note: "Machau" is a hindi word signifying or implying something that is enticing,exciting and fun! It is formally a part of IIT Delhi's informal lingo.

5 comments:

  1. Bhai this was awesome , saale bosco ke vo din jab hum tughse milne aate the nd u standing on d entrance wall of bosco , thinkin of IIT Delhi ... kya din the naa yaar ... miss u bro. ... ENJOY ...

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  2. Yaaay I'm following your blog now ! :D

    keep in touch! :)

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  3. bhai awesome u talking like an iitian !!!!!
    waise himanshu is rite...ur hard work has made u ahead of everyone ...my salute to ur determination!!!!

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  4. @himanshu - thanks. Btw, i wasn't dreaming of IIT Delhi,i was dreaming of something 'else' :P
    @ujwal - sure :)
    @sanjana - thanks :)
    @uzair - i'm still trying to catch up to you :) Mr.Actor :P

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