Two years full of life
I stood at the entrance with my luggage waiting for the train to reach its destination. And my destination was not so far. I heard a group of passengers insisting me to avoid keeping my luggage close to the door as the luggage could get vanished in no time. It was Dhanbad, so I had to be little careful about it. We all had heard about a place named Wassseypur from the movie “Gangs of Wasseypur”, Dhanbad being close to Wasseypur had a different notion in my mind. But these two years of my stay had managed to subdue all the existing notions quite well.
I stepped out of the train around 3:30 AM and reached the guest house of IIT(ISM) within half an hour. I couldn’t sleep that night as the journey was quite hectic and I had to report to Student Activity center for admission next day around 7:30 in the morning. I reached the venue in time the very next day. Later I realized that I was also among one of the students waiting for their turn to complete the formalities of admission as soon as possible. The arrival of dawn settled down all the formalities and let myself relax so that I could proceed to the allocated hostel for accommodation.
This is how a new phase of life commenced. Opal hostel was like a centroid connecting three main parts of campus such as Central library, canteen and Penman Auditorium. Canteen always came to my rescue when I missed my lunch especially during days of summer. The mess menu had to be mouthwatering and equally tasty when the cooks were from West Bengal. There was an advantage of getting a variety of dishes along with tempting deserts to add on the list. Grand dinner at the end of every semester was like surprises from Mess authorities with lots of additional dishes and decorations to keep you moving towards Mess before the actual dinner time.
The first year of the postgraduate program was packed with lots of classes and lab sessions which were held in the second half of the day. The interesting thing was to prevent one from falling asleep during the lab hours. As it became quite difficult to resist from taking a nap (maybe of millisecond) during those crucial hours. Submission of assignment and lab records before the deadlines were enough to make us busy for one year and mid-sem and end sem examinations did not let us in peace. Preparation for examinations from notes and books would be fuelled by the idea of scoring a good grade. Celebrating birthdays together was one of the exciting memories followed by throwing parties at the restaurant.
Although returning from home to reach hostel used to be painful yet I would always receive a warm welcome from my friends who would be waiting desperately to discuss what had happened in those days and what I had missed actually. The arena of friendship extended more in the second year with the closure of mess during summer when we had to stay at the hostel for the purpose of the minor project. We created a mini mess with a group of people by ordering food (catering service) for lunch and dinner. This was the best part of the day when we shared some quality time free from project stuff by beating the outdoor scorching heat.
The second year was dedicated to project work which provided a wide angle to the world of research. Research is a systematic way to investigate a specific area of interest by gathering information or relevant facts to come up with some innovation in technology by implementing your ideas. End of the year opened up the door to present my work at different conferences which also boosted up my spirit to move ahead. Remaining five months proved to be very much hectic with a bunch of tasks to be accomplished. Sometimes those hours of anxiety, fear and dilemma of future would make my vision blurred for long. But I always had a group of influential people who would elevate me and kindle a new hope to rise again. Those phone calls from my parents would make me realise my true potential and push me hard to come out of the cobwebs of negativities. But it was like I had to wait for “hard work would pay-off moment” in each venture of life then. Sometimes, my hobbies would accompany me up to a great extent in dealing with the uncertainty of future. When nothing moves according to your plan, just believe that God has a better plan for you. Being a theist, I would chuck out all the possibilities to rise up again by beating the defeats. Sometimes adversities make you explore different versions of yourself by letting you know what extra you can actually do which may not have experienced in past. This season of frustration gripped me for a short span. And the line from PB Shelly’s poetry was applicable in my context as well: “if winter comes, can spring be far behind”. I was successful in unlocking the doors with my placement and higher studies. Success would never have delivered a pleasant effect if you have not experienced failures. And yes, without failure, success is just hypothetical.
Then arrived the most critical point of these two years: when each one of us had to defend his/her Master’s thesis through a presentation. We had already spent many hours at laboratories to conduct experiments and analyse the data. It was just the convenient time to give justice to our work. Everyone would be fired by a series of questions by panel after the presentation that would assess the thesis work. It ended up quite well. Department bided us farewell by arranging a dinner. I am indebted to all the faculties of the department for their generosity and expertise that I received from them that helped me to improve my understanding of important aspects of chemical engineering.
I must say that I am grateful to the almighty for providing me an opportunity to not only taste each and every flavor of these two years so minutely but also strengthen my conviction.
This place was so serene that unknowingly attracted me towards it like a magnet. Destiny always has a better role to play. If I would have not spent two years of my academics here, I would have definitely missed a chance to meet wonderful people and at the same time miss a chance to weave a lot of memories which would always remain in my heart forever. When I browse the folder containing photos captured displaying memories of past, I still feel relieved to come across with so many genuine souls who are not only beautiful by face but beautiful by heart also. Even after being away from the place for the last three months, there is still a sense of connectivity which is invisible.
I would end up this article with a note that, “These two years of journey displayed me an improved version of myself and I would always remain indebted to those who encouraged me to move forward.”
Long live my friends!!
Long live IIT(ISM), Dhanbad!!
26-8-2018
SWETA SARANGI
