Chronicles of KGP: Those were the days!
“Fresher…chase that cow!” a voice boomed out from the first-floor balcony.
I had just gleefully past the frayed curtains that separated the innards of SN Hall from the world outside. Startled, but contemplating ways of executing the order, I saw another girl about my age come out of a room on the ground floor with a scared face and obediently chase the meek animal with a stick. Twenty-five years later, when I visited my best friend in her sprawling home in the suburban US and found her chasing stray deer that ate up her manicured garden, the memories of the day we had first met had us both in splits.
So that is how my first day at KGP began. Growing up in the boonies of railway colonies I had somehow missed the JEE, but my rank in the National Science Talent Search (NSTS) got me admission to my chosen stream of Physics. Mine was a late admission though. Earlier in the week when I had first walked into the Institute for the admission formalities, I had stood for a moment in awe looking at those inspiring lines “Dedicated to the service of the nation”, wondering whether I would ever be able to live up to expectations embodied there — that feeling is perhaps shared by every KGPian as a fresher! Perhaps those words struck such deep roots in every one of us that the spirit of giving back to the Institute and to the nation remains uppermost till this day.
So finally, here I was — suitcase, trunk, mattresses rolled in a hold-all bedding — with dreams of turning into a research scientist. Having been in day school all my life, and an only child for long, I was overjoyed at the prospect of living in a hostel with friends my age. But my joy was short-lived. The seniors had spied us while we were introducing ourselves, and I was summoned upstairs — a fresher is always fresh meat. My friend whispered that the seniors are “mean”, but I scampered upstairs. After quick introductions, I was let off to complete the formalities of settling in my room, seeing off my parents and was asked to report upstairs after dinner.
That evening my batchmates were relieved that they would be spared since now the attention of the seniors was diverted to a recent acquisition. The fun started after dinner. I was so excited with the whole experience of being in IIT and having hostel mates, that the seniors' attempts at heckling me seemed so much more like fun — dancing on the table, playing badminton with two rackets and a host of other antics till midnight… and even then my enthusiasm had not waned.
This was indeed a bonanza year for SN hall. After the large batch of 17 in 1971, who quickly nicknamed the “Joy Bangla” batch, there was only a trickle of two or three in the next two years.
The next task was now to enlist for the various activities after class which the seniors would drag us to. The rest of my batchmates complained about these after-class bouts. “No time to study,” they would say. I volunteered for the Technology Music Society (TMS) practice. My mother had given up on my singing talent after a few years, but this fact was not to be shared with the seniors. As we practised for the freshers’ introduction song, someone spotted an off-key note. After having each fresher sing alone, the culprit in question was spotted. Some of my close buddies are yet to forgive me for inflicting the torture on that day. I was asked to step out while the practice continued!
The next day a senior gently told me that I was no longer to go for TMS practice. In today’s terminology, I had been benched. But did that mean that I now had the evening alone to myself? No. A free resource is snapped up soon enough. There were three of us now deputed for English TDS fresher introductions. We went, we sulked! We sat huddled up in a corner and said little except our names for the introduction. After the meeting, we were free to go and the three of us walked ahead of the group, hurrying to get back.
As we walked out of the Institute gate, suddenly we felt a hard nudge at our back. Which of the seniors had dared to do that? We turned around to see and stood staring at a cow who had merely asserted its right of way by nudging us. Amid guffaws of laughter, the seniors came by to check if we had been genuinely hurt!
The next day I was deputed to play the role of a post office clerk in the freshers’ play and perhaps many remember me to this day as “Missie”, the name that stuck for quite a while. The rehearsals began. Not only did we have to practise the role, but we also needed to immunize ourselves against the hoots from those testosterone-fuelled adolescent male spectators. Over the years, I have had many opportunities to speak to large audiences in the course of my professional career and have often been commended on my public speaking skills. To this day I thank my seniors who had put me through those years of practice to remain unflinchingly composed, no matter what the audience’s reaction.
I still remember my senior — in today’s jargon, mentor — who stood by me during the most traumatic experience in the course of a debate when my neatly written speech flew away from the podium, leaving me blank. Recently, I was invited for a guest lecture at KGP and I specifically requested for the session to be held at the Raman/Bhatnagar auditorium. It’s strange how human memory works, and entering those rooms was like a key to the locked up memories. It was pure ecstasy to share those experiences with the youngsters there, youngsters who have the same beliefs and dreams that we had half a century ago!
The KGP spirit was most apparent during the four days of Spring Festival. A participant from a college at Calcutta once complimented us on the programs and enquired on the last day of the festival, “So it must take you guys a month to dismantle everything and get back to classes?”
“A month?”, we answered, “We have a day off tomorrow and then it’s back to classes and exams in another two weeks!” I still remember the shocked disbelief on his face.
Perhaps it was this attitude and the organizational ability that many of us learned at IIT KGP that made each one of us successful in our own right. Like me, they have migrated effortlessly from physics to IT, or from chemical engineering to banking, from mechanical engineering to administrative services, from electronics and communications to journalism and so on. Perhaps this is the core of the learning we received at IIT Kharagpur — the ability to learn for the rest of our lives and the ability to question.
For me perhaps this was best epitomized at my convocation, where the then director as per norm shook hands with the boys and did a “Namaste” to the ladies. I questioned that and as I held my hand out to shake, the photographer froze that moment for eternity!
Yes, forty years has been a long journey. But when we meet, the words we share in our hearts the dreams are still the same. “KGP ka tempo high hai!”
By: Alakananda Rao (PH | SN Hall| 1979)
