Accidentally at IIT Guwahati

I love fretting over small things like what to eat for a meal, what’s the best parking spot, how to optimize my laundry batches (the list is pretty much endless) but somehow don’t end up sweating the big decisions in life. I just find a way to believe in something and then take a leap of faith. In retrospect this has happened a few times now, enough for me to sense a pattern and realize. If I didn’t it would render me with crippling anxiety all the time. Just as making these small decisions, sometimes, renders me catatonic when thinking too much about them.

One such instance is the story of how I landed up in Guwahati. It is summer, 2009. I didn’t test as well as others around me hoped I would when taking JEE. I don’t know how I had internalized this pressure. So much so that after I looked up the answer key I shut myself up in my room for three days straight but that’s a story for another day. What is critical to the story is that I was horrible at Chemistry and my score didn’t prove otherwise. My All India Rank was only good enough to land me into Chemical Science and Technology at IIT Guwahati. A BSc. course on mastering Chemistry masquerading as a 4 year B.Tech degree. Notwithstanding commercial applications of Chemistry in Engineering, this was way beyond being ironic. Fortunately for me I did well on other competitive exams allowing me to accept it and move on, not giving it another thought.

The option of going to an Guwahati was so far removed from my thought process that we never really discussed it. My parents’ notions about the city being a victim of domestic terrorism didn’t help. I don’t think I ever thought about the concept of ‘fit’ as I think about career opportunities now. But I did actively decide against choosing to be a professor only to end up buying vegetables from the local cart on my way back from work. Sometime sterotypes do help. I decided that I am more practically inclined and industry oriented. Sometimes I think about what could have been. What would have come to pass if I had joined IIP.

And so Pilani it was! We submitted the fees for the first year and decided to drive down to Pilani to check it out. One fine weekend we did exactly that. Only to recieve a letter in the mail a few days later, informing us of “counselling” taking place in Guwahati. I never bothered myself with it, but I am not sure what overcame my dad that he suggested we fly to Guwahati to participate. Tour the campus at least. I had always wanted to travel to Guwahati. I had heard that it was scenic. The mighty Brahmaputra. Somewhere that wasn’t the mountains, at last!

The three of us (mom, dad and I) packed our bags for a two day return trip and flew to Guwahati one day before the date. We were booked in a hotel run by one of Dad’s patients in the city. I say in the city, as IIT Guwahati is quite literally outside the city. I’d like to believe all the old IITs were supposed to be outside the city. Delhi and Bombay, the cities, pretty much grew around the campuses. To be fair, I’ve never bothered to fact check this.

Just for visual gravitas and the uninitiated, Guwahati city (residential, administrative and commercial) is on one bank of the Brahmaputra and the IIT campus on the other. We made our way to the campus on the date of the counselling only to find other parents and students already settled in. By settled in, I mean that some of the families were living with their wards in their hostel rooms, some in the guest house and others were visiting. But pretty much everyone else seemeed to know what was going on. We were the only ones who had no clue. Arriving early at the campus had given us a chance to go around for a bit. Once I did that, I was speechless. This was the first time I was seeing an institution the size of IIT Guwahati. The largest campus I had seen thus far was the hospital in Delhi where my father works. I remember taking it all in. Later at the faculty organised session, we realised that the session was facilitated to answer the more practical questions students or parents had about the campus, facilities, academics etc. Like where to get bedding, how to travel within the campus, what times the classes would be scheduled, details about eating and sports facilities around. This was also the time that one learned which hostel one would be putting up in. Nobody apart from me, I think, was debating whether to go to school here or not.

My turn came and my parents and I met the counsellor with blank expressions and worse questions. We learned a lot during that session. We learned that it was mandatory for the student to stay overnight at the hostel. Come next day and the freshers’ week would officially kick off. We learned that a student could change their major after the first year, thanks to something called Branch Change (BC). This would obviously be based on merit and had some math (based on batch strength of both, the original and the new branch) associated with it.

I don’t recall exactly how it happened but my decision was already made. I don’t know if it was the fresh air, lush green campus or the mass cycle market that convinced me in the moment. There was this frenzy, this opportunity, hope and ambition in the air that I couldn’t put my finger on. My parents never asked for a reason, only that I am sure of the decision. Not sure I would have been able to give them a coherent one. The only condition I set upon myself was to ensure that I am able to qualify for the branch change. This was key to my survival, not learning Chemistry.

Once we had decided, we immediately mobilized. We cancelled our flights back home. Mom and Dad got me a couple of change of clothes, a mattress, a bicycle, a bucket and some other essentials to live off on. My parents decided to stay another night to ensure I was able to function in the hostel independently. My school friends and I were tight. I called a few of them informing them of what had transpired here and that I wouldn’t be able to say a proper goodbye. They were justifiably angry. We realized that I would have to go back to Delhi to get my luggage and other things but the schedule of the fresher’s week made that a little tricky. My parents didn’t want me to miss any chances to bond with the rest of my batchmates so the trip had to be extremely short and well planned. There was a football match that I desperately didn’t want to miss. We decided that I would fly to Delhi the day before, go and meet my friends directly from the airport, come home and leave early next morning. And that was that.

A decision for a lifetime, happened, arguably, in a moment. I moment in time that I can’t put my finger on. And all for the better, I guess. It’s in our nature to wonder about the path not taken. Isn’t it?

The next four years turned out to be a trip! Did anything and everything I wanted to. Made friends for a lifetime and more memories. I couldn’t have been happier with my decision.