Thursday, May 24, 2007

Nostaligia or Making the most out of your Undergraduation

Four years of hostel life changes a lot of things. Though I see myself as the same person as I was when entered IIT Madras, I kind of know that I have changes a lot in these four years. This post will reflect what I have learned from the four years of my undergraduate life. It is unfortunate that many us miss out on so many opportunities, while some of us explore a part of it. And there are very few, if any, who make the best use; I so envy them. I wanted to write this while at IIT Madras, but laziness got the better of me.

Statuary Warning : Long post

The Tech. Part

It was only in my final year that I indulged myself in the robotics, robotics-like activities because the courses I took demanded them. My college has a fairly active "hobby club" which caters to people with such interests. In fact, the robotics club started in my first year. It now provides a reasonably good platform for the students to start their work. What many of us fail to realize is that when you get your hands down and dirty, science and technology can be fun too. In the final semester, I was involved with a project where a miniature model of a lift had to be made. To be frank, it was the first time that I actually learned about handling micro processors, assembling mechanical components and electrical components together and actually put some of the workshop skills to use. The best part of the whole deal is the fact the you get to know people better, you interact with lot more and make more acquaintances. I can only wonder why I chose to distance myself from such activities in the past.

After the first year, it was only a matter of time before many more clubs like Physics clubs, Astronomy club popped up. I am sure that those involved in their functioning would have had loads of fun. Mostly, I was part of the Programming team in IIT Madras in four years. It was amazing being part of that. Met awesome team mates and that even took me to Tokyo. As part of the technical festival called 'Shaastra', projects such as building a hovercraft, tensegrity tower, remote controlled aircraft etc would have been an immense learning experience. Yet again I stress the fact that it is the people who you meet during the period that you value the most.

The Management Part

Many people miss out on being volunteers and coordinators for different events and facilities that help massive cultural and technical festivals (Saarang and Shaastra respectively) run smoothly. It is a common misconception among students that by being a part of mangement, the "fun" of Saarang and Shaastra is gone. That is true only to an limited extent. Given the ample number of events that take place, and given that fact that there are only a handful of event which really confined to your interests, you are not missing out much. Work on Saarang and Shaastra begins months before the actual event. During the run-up when you are loaded with tonnes of work other than acads, it is very satisfying targets falling one by one during the entire course. It is a pity that many of us take academics so seriously that it is considered a 'waste-of-time' to find yourself doing "other" things.

I have been a 'volunteer' three times and a 'coordinator' five times. Each time, I have had great fun being a part of both technical and cultural festivals. More than half the people I know in IITM can be traced back to acquaintances I made as part of the organizing team. In 2006 Saarang, I was part of the Production team which ended up being a great group to hang out with. After that, I was part of the event "how things work" for Mechanical Engineering Department's technical festival 'mechanica'. I was forced into it, but I have to thank all those who forced me into it because the people I got to know were the most enthusiastic bunch I had ever seen. Also because, I managed to win "how things work" in the following shaastra. In other occasions too, I have always loved being responsible for whatever I was in-charge of. Any youngster today, I would advice him to be both technically inclined as well as be ready to work on cultural activities to earn a wholesome experience. Plus, a coordinator in Shaastra would mean 400 bucks worth of freebies and 900 bucks in Saarang :)

It is often complained that students more time of computer these day and less on social interations. I think more such activities undertaken by the institute will help in building Social interation skills among students. Instead, today we find the Dean reducing the number of days of Saarang as it not in academic interest. Earlier, a real show-case of Indian Culture was observed in the name of "Bharath Utsav" in IIT Madras. Again, as it was not a part of academics, the entire fest was canceled six years ago.

The Acad. Part

In the final semester I took a course named "technology and development" taught by Prof. D Veeraraghavan one of the most eminent profs in Humanities Department in IIT Madras. In one of the classes, an old student of his, an alumnus of my college's electrical department, gave a small talk. He had done is Ph.D. in social sciences unlike his peers who stayed on in core engineering. That talk was an eye-opener for me on research in Social Sciences. He explained about indigenous cotton seeds, imported cotton seeds and how it affected the rural textile industry as the looms were designed for indigenous harder cotton seeds. Frankly, until then, though I had often wondered, I had no clue as to research in subjects other than science and technology. It is true that IITs (and all engineering colleges for that matter) provide a one dimensional view of education, ie technology. A "full-fledged" engineer from my college will have completed just 12 of 180 credits in non-engineering subjects. This is a dismally low number. It is sad that people don't realize this.

Apart from numerous (a lot more than even MIT actually) core engineering courses, we are given a free choice for two courses (free electives) from any department. Also, we several have a minor streams which are designed to different from our engineering Major. In my opinion, these options aren't enough. But, many fail to consolidate even on this limited choice. For instance, almost three-fourth of computer science students opt for operation research as minor as it complements some of their courses. Though I appreciate their enthusiasm, I have to remind them that the whole point of minor stream is to do something different from the regular routine. A lot of students end up taking courses from their own department in the 'free-elective' slot. They are simply not making the most of what the institution has to offer.

I should refer to Steve Jobs speech in Stanford convocation where he talks about "connecting the dots" on his calligraphy course which he later used in Apple mac OS(youtube link, text link). I would advise any fresher to explore his options completely before resorting to "safe" choice of following the herd.

The get-together, treks part

This is one part, where, I don't think many would have missed out. I have been to places in last two years of stay. Traveling, photography are cherished by all. It is inevitable that people end up in a clique of 5-6 people who constantly hangout together. It is in treks and traveling that people with common friends get together and have the time of their lives. The network of friends grows very fast on such occasions. Hopefully, I will go to one more Himalayan trek that is being planned now :) When you travel, invariably, you have stories to bring back and envy a lot of people.

The treats part

Chennai, though the climate sucks, is blessed with beaches. The treats, get-together, parties happen a lot across the east coast. When it comes to choosing colleges for your under graduation, I would recommend a place on the coast, a big city preferably. A city a lots to offer. Chennai, for instance, has places like Tanjarine (sizzlers), Don Pepe(mexican), Eatalica (Italian-American), Pupil (formerly Veronas, Junk food heaven), Buena Vista (on East coast road, for secluded beach with nice stuff ;) ), New Yorkers, Lil Italy etc. It's no use lamenting about the city not being as "cool" as Bangalore (in every sense), enjoy the place while you are there. Make sure you visit all the eat-out places

The LAN part

Gaming, surfing, movies on comps, sitcoms etc form a integral part of any hostel life when it is connect to LAN and internet. You gotta enjoy all of that while it lasts. When you watch movies in CFD lab meant for academic purposes late in the night because of the AC to beat the summer heat, the experience will remain imprinted in your mind for a long time.

Bottom Line: Be tech savvy, be geeky, be cool, have fun! Believe me! All of them can happen at the same time

On a personal note:

I am headed to Pennsylvania State University (PSU) for Ph.D. in scientific computing in Computer Science and Engineering Department. I am sure I will miss the name 'coolshankin' three months on, though i hate it as of now. Many of my friends have told me that all I have to do to tell them my email address and the name will stick. If that happens, I will surely hate the name all over again. :)

I am sure a lot of people will hate me for saying this, but I will say it anyway. When people have no reason to meet, they don't. Though we all promise that we will keep in touch, it is only once in a while that we actually bother to mail the friends. When there is a reunion, there simply isn't any common topic to talk about. The conversations are mostly formal. Given orkut, facebook and gtalk, I am sure people will make an attempt to keep in touch. After convocation, I got no idea when I will be meeting my friends again. Perhaps in US or perhaps in India itself after one, one and a half or two years. By then, all of us would have moved on and meeting over the net will also be a rare thing.

It is a fact that though we all keep promising that we will keep in touch, in the end we all tend lose touch. To know whats happening with my life, you can always see my status messages and read my blog posts :) :P. After a lot of complaints from friends and family alike, I promise to take more pictures with myself in it and post them at flickr, orkut, picassa or wherever. It was great knowing you all

I am reminded of a song by Amy Grant which goes, "Oh how the years go by, oh how the love brings tears to my eyes ...." It's very apt here. Don't mind the video .. listen to the song.



I remember my first day at the college when my dad was about to leave me and I was missing home already. I was thinking, "I can't believe this is happening". Couple of days back, when I was packing stuff in my room to leave home I was thinking again, "
I can't believe this is happening." Emotions were exactly the same. How good a place can be measured by how happy you are while you were at the place. How good a place can be measured by how sad you felt when you left the place. I think the latter is more appropriate. Lemme know what you think.

Comments:
Neat post, shanks.. About the last part, the beauty is we just need like an hour to get back in track with all that is happening in our lives. And I am sure, your status messages will continue to be a treat. Never miss out on any link you post. Cheers! Tak
 
Good fun reading your post! Reminded me about my various deeds and misdeeds at IITM. :)

However, I still think I was quite lucky to get away with my aimless dabbling during the 4 years. If the new attendance rules had been there, then I couldn't have had the varied experiences that I did have.
 
Regarding meeting up, I guess annual meets would be destined to lesser attendance. But as Tak has pointed out, we will surely look out for the status messages!
 
One more thing :)

As much as one would like to do the Steve Jobs kind of thing, it is simply not in our mindset to take arbit risks or do arbit things just for fun. And that is a problem because, I would like to advise people to do their own thing, but what if it doesn't work out? Then isn't it better to go with the herd?
 
I dont know about u but I for sure have changed a lot in the last four years and it is very clear to me. Also I feel that we were all lucky to experience hostel life as undergrads bcos thats when it is really fun.

About keeping in touch... I am sure we will have an occasional long chat and catch up with each others lives. But as u might have heard "Out of sight is out of mind". It doesnt mean that we will forget each other just that we will stop missing each other and move on . I for sure will miss the regular gurunath fart sessions with u guys.

S.Manohar
 
acads:

i feel that iitm laid too much stress on acads and did not give us much free time to pursue our interests. one could argue that if we had managed our time better we could have done more things but the fact remains that doing 24 odd credits in a sem is just too much and that is the reason that most foreign univs have a lower credit requirement.
there are so many things that i would have liked to do if i had the time to do so - participating in contraption, the air glider competition, etc. only once the credit requirement reduces can the students engage in more extracurricular activities.

non acads:

the insti does give us a lot of opportunities to enhance our skills and you will never hear me say otherwise. shaastra and saarang offer a plethora of options from the chance to hone your tech skills, management skills to literary skills,musical abilies, etc. the litsoc and techsoc do a great job of promoting such interests in students. but this again often cannot be conducted properly due to academic pressure.

as far as trekking, going out for dinner and movies etc are concerned, we had a great time. having the college at the center of the city [albeit a kinda boring one] has its advantages.

of course the friends that we made at iitm may move away to other cities, countries even. we might lose touch soon but i can only hope that sometime our paths will cross - perhaps we end up working in the same office or in living in the same city. that alone can make a huge difference in our lives then.

maro
 
ps - u really should have tried the water tower for the water

maro
 
Seriously nice post! We will surely miss your perseverant efforts to make us read your blog from now.. (or will we?) :-)
 
Well.. for one.. that's a pretty exhaustive summary of 4 yrs of IIT life! I was just wondering my fate 2 yrs from now....

None the less, this post does signify the end of a phase. All the best for you at PSU!! And of course, _keep in touch_ !
 
@tak
yup, all we need is just a hour to get back on track ..

@middle
i was talking about people who do only tech for free electives and minor, one or two courses wont do much harm to anyone's app chances. And yeah, thank god they were not strict with attendance :)

@manohar
gurunath sessions will be missed :(

@maro
yeah, too much stress on acads. we all got around it well i guess. should be thankful to iitm for the litsoc and techsoc.

@kvm
thanks :)

@frame
will surely keep in touch
 
I enjoyed reading this post though I didn't attend IIT. I like what you said about the talk from the social sciences professor and the whole thing being an eye opener.

The talks given in the local Google campus have speakers from diverse backgrounds. Definitely broadens or at least gives a fresh perspective.
gg
 
Nicely written. Don't worry too much about friends and meeting up. I feel the time spent apart is really useful. It is such a joy to meet them after long periods of time, I can hardly find another more awesome feeling.

PSU is a very nice place. You'll have fun there. Good luck.
 
Yes, youdo have a point. Indian Science and Technology Institutes are famously non-inlusive vis a vis Humanities, and that does make for a very one-dimensional stretch of education.
 
I took that course by Dilip too, and it was an extremely enjoyable course. The best part of the course was the hours I spent in his room after the classes, talking about what-nots and excerpts from his immense library.

He's a most interesting person to speak with, especially about religion and history.
 
I was a fool not to be involved in organization of Shaastra or Saarang. I did take part in competetions but I simply wasnt good enouh to win any of them. What a collosal waste. Anyway, lets let bygones be bygones.
Its true people drift apart, but it has been a special time in IIT meeting so many brilliant people. I dont know how other colleges are, but I think IIT experience is unique in itself.
I am going to post a response to this post on my blog. Check it out when its up.
 
@ggop
this post was more about under graduation than about under graduation at iit ... it is very nice to listen to diverse views from non-engineering background. they have a completely different set of ideas

@TheTobacconist
i hope psu will be fun too like you say

@anil p
education system has to be revamped to include a few more courses and reduce specialized courses at undergraduate level

@chennu
i really did not get to know him that well unfortunately .. some of his classes were very good.

@mahesh
everyone misses out on a few things :( will respond to your post as and when its up
 
Nice post Shankar. I concur with most of what you say. But, I think why people miss out on so many things during undergraduation is that they simply don't know it's there. although many people I know have a record of some sort of spending more time in the canteen than the classrooms in 4 years..
and ya.. we'll keep in touch man.
 
alritey!
first of all...yeah m back to putting up comments on ur blog so congratulations!

hmph! as an engineering student in final year..i share 'almost' the same feelings as u n d numerous others who ve posted there comments over here!

As i figure..most of em are ur frens n so inevitably IITians..but as an outsider's point of view an inside view into ur lives I did find interest in d way u mention about saarang and shaastra! (Does ur insti have a thing with 's' like ekta kapoor? :O)
Organizing anything that involves loads of people (..and chicks) is good!
u get 2 meet loads of people...(i remember my batch mates hovering around 'the catch of the junior batch' esp @ these times) ;)
Coming to hostel,parties, treats and frens!
ahh!they are inevitable and FUN!
pure and memorable..
i still ve one theory external and a project viva to give..but i am already missing college!

what u said about 'meeting up' and 'keeping in touch'..(sigh) evidently its because of d 'school reunion' we had this year!
As all ur frens ll agree...u were pissed cos u dint get ur 'chance 2 YAP'!
believe me..college reunions will be a LOT different and a lot more FUN!
u will see when u have one!
cos i have total confidence in mine already!
anyways college is a phase in every man's life..he never forgets it cos some of us 'actually' grow up then!
Life dancing in its full colour...Funny!it ll take breaks 4m now on! :(

hopefully ll blog about this in my own blogpad...ll let u kno wen i do!
ciao!
 
eye opener..might actually try my hand at robo stuff now... and the statutory warning at the start of the post was totally unnecessary!

(Shatto)
 
Hey Shanks!
Nice Post.. Really liked it... On a vague note.. When you did a HTW, I won and when I did a HTW, you won..
Will miss you...I hope
 
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