Saturday, 20 July 2013

42 Things to do before you graduate from IIT Delhi

1. Make friends. Get close to them. Let the
boundaries dissolve. Let the ego melt.
Trust them. Understand them. Let them be
what they are. Be what you are
2. Fall in love. But don't let your boyfriend/
girlfriend cut you off from the remaining
world.
3. Do atleast one course with absolute
interest, such that it brings sparks to your
eye whenever you think about that course.
4. Find a mentor (senior/professor). Get
friends with him/her.
5. Climb on the hyperbolic-parabolic roof.
Lie down facing stars. Hear soft music
6. Go and sleep on your hostel roof, when
it's too hot or when it's drizzling. Don't
get caught.
7. Write a personal mail to each and
everyone who has touched your life in last
4 years. Thank them.
8. Go to the Himalayas with your friends on
a challenging trekking expedition. It
strengthens your friendship.
9. Participate in some highly competitive
cultural activity: Inter Hostel, Rendezvous
etc...Atleast go for the audition. You will
never get a chance to experience such fear
again; and an opportunity to overcome it.
10. Participate in some highly competitive
sports activity: Basketball, Water Polo,
Hockey. Try playing rough and soft; for
yourself and for your team. Experience
how different emotions does each thing
arouse in you and others.
11. Go to Chandni Chowk: Eat chaat, parantha,
lassi, sweets and kulfi. (Some of my visits:
Chawari Bazzar , Chandani Chowk )
12. Surprise your parents/close relatives with
a surprise visit. Invite them to IIT Delhi;
especially during some festival. Introduce
your friends to them. Give them a chance
to relive their college life.
13. Treat freshers (and all juniors) with love
and respect.
14. Go and visit the house of all your close
friends. Talk to their parents, siblings. Dine
with them. It strengthens your bonding.
15. Blog about your experiences, feelings,
ideas: anonymously or otherwise. Express
yourself.
16. Get access to the IRD conference room
and sneak through a door to its right. You
will find yourself on the unexplored Insti
Roof of IIT Delhi. Don't get caught.
17. Do a fascinating project. Something you
always dreamed of doing since your
childhood. Give the project everything.
Years will not be able to fade the joy of
working on your own ideas. I have heard
people who graduated 10-15 years back
talk with child-like joy about their college
projects.
18. Visit Delhi University (of course find
someone who you can talk to, once there!).
Apart from other things, they are awesome
in their right brains where we suck, and
can teach you a thing or two about arts
and literature among others...
19. Buy a good camera. Develop a good sense
of photography. Take a lot of picture of
your friends throughout your stay here.
Have a friend who can take a lot of equally
good pictures of you. But don't get
obsessed with it.
20. Watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S
21. Talk to Juniors. See where IIT Delhi's
future is going. Relive your past.
22. Devote yourself to at least one
organization within IIT Delhi. (For me it
was Technocracy)
23. Get out of your comfort zone: visit slums
in Delhi. Work with an NGO/NPO.
24. Write an anonymous letters to a professor
in the middle of a course: Critically
comment on his/her teaching methods and
how can they be improved. Note the
professor's reaction in the classes
onwards. If there is no difference write
another letter.
25. Go to India Gate with your guitar (or
someone who can play guitar well) and
your friends. Sing songs till wee hours.
26. Talk to people about their dreams. Things
they are really passionate about. Discuss
with them things which you are really
passionate about.
27. See people getting wasted. Make a
complete fool of yourself: once.
28. Try penning down a paper. It needn't be a
core technology paper. It can be
something on Environment, Literature,
state of education in India...Just try to
write an essay at some
competition...especially about something
you like doing. It makes you introspect a
lot.
29. Put a night out at Wind-T when the
weather is nice and breezy. Spend it
reading a book you like.
30. Write examination for someone else. Don't
dare get caught.
31. India is a very diverse country. Your peers
are the best people who can educate you
about real India. Talk to them about it.
Ask them to tell about their city. Discuss
the problems you think India is facing and
it's solutions. Discuss each others religious
believes. Try to understand others religion.
32. Don't get ill. The simple way of doing it is:
Get regular sleep. Eat proper food.
Exercise. I didn't do either in my 1st year.
I was constantly ill. After I started doing
all of these things: I haven't been ill even
once from last 3 years.
33. For once in a while, do what other tell you
to do. Let them decide. Let them lead.
Enjoy the joy of having no responsibilities.
34. Develop a habit of questioning. Try to find
how can you do it in a polite way so that
you don't put people on their defensive.
We Indians, as a culture, ask very little.
Change that.
35. Talk to kids who are yet in their school.
Visit your school sometimes. Talk to
principal. Don't worry - you will always be
treated very highly. It will bring back all
the fond school memories.
36. Don't do all spartan stuff. Do things in
group. Even when you watch movie or TV
try to do it in a group. You will anyways
watch movies alone for the rest of your
life.
37. Do some part time job. Don't do
something boring on computers. Go out
and do some intern/teaching/journalism/
marketing etc. Do something where you
will meet a lot of new people completely
different from what you get to meet here.
Don't make this work your priority. Just
try it for 1-2 months. Don't do it without
good pay.
38. Play kho-kho near WindT. And also all
those childhood games: Vish-Amrit, Unch-
Neech, Tipi Tipi Top, Chain Chain, Sitolia
etc.
39. Try appreciating things. It's hard to do
that. Give people credit for what they are
doing. They will do better. If you feel
things are not upto mark - give them
suggestions; don't criticize them.
40. Carve out time for yourself each day.
Think about your goals, priorities,
mistakes etc.
41. Hunt for home food. Day scholars make
excellent preys.
42. Decide a date when all of your closest
friends will meet, once a year, on a
vacation trip. This is something you should
do on the last day, the day when you are
leaving IIT Delhi. For ever. (We have gone
to several places, some of them being:
Laddakh, Har ki Dun & Dodital)
These 4/5 years are never going to return.
Ever. You will never be a free bird again.
Enjoy your freedom. Responsibly. And do
something that justifies your belonging to
this institute. To the least, become a good
human and a good citizen.

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