" And the danger is that in this move toward new horizons and far directions, that I may lose what I have now, and not find anything except loneliness. "

So we left college, it's nothing new, but since it was my first time, it was a bit difficult. I was always one of those people who used to hold onto things no matter what, so that's where my first lesson at IITR came in - I learnt to let things go.

Like any other JEE aspirant, I was taught that IITs are these beautiful holiday resorts where we enjoy our extended four year holidays and in the end get high paying jobs and a Bachelor's degree.

It wasn't that, obviously.

College is supposedly, ‘the best time of our lives’, at least that’s what I have heard since I was a kid. I can not be sure about ‘the best’, but undoubtedly, these four years have been the most impactful years in my life. I think IIT Roorkee has changed me in ways that I believe would stay with me for years to come. The decisions that I make later in my life would be heavily influenced by the kind of experience that I have had in these four years.

First year is the time when everyone comes to their senses. It's probably the first time we get to live away from our parents. The first time when there's no one to tell us exactly what will get us through. It does seem a bit scary but at the same time it's very exciting. Getting to do what we want, trying new things out, joining various campus groups. At first, I was a bit disappointed by the extreme exclusiveness of different groups but at the end it turned out just fine.

The thing about first year is that we feel a bit isolated. I think it's because in first year a lot of us are still hungover from our JEE days to fully understand how college life works. So it was in the second year that I looked beyond JEE and other little things that don't matter in the long run. This was the time when I met new people. I am glad that I met them because in my first year I didn't even know they existed. I was heavily influenced by the then fourth year. Some of them were doing extremely well in their lives, and I am glad that I had such amazing seniors. It was after meeting them, that I felt there were people who can actually guide me through college life. This was the year I completely adapted the college life, became used to the hostel and mess food, the assignments and lectures, but most importantly I became used to the people.

The third year was the year when I started looking outside the campus. Internship opportunities came in and the expectations from parents started to build up. I ended up getting a decent internship, but the thing that hit really hard was the internship experience. It was my first time at a corporate office. Corporate life is about doing monotonous work day by day hoping that the paycheck at the end of the month is somehow going to make things better. Only then I realized how blessed I was at the college campus. I think we don't realize how easy we have it in college. That was the time I started appreciating my life in the campus.

That final year started a bit slow because of the placements but once they were done I thought we would have all the time in the world. I have never been so wrong, time flew by so quickly I felt like I didn't even have time to properly say goodbye to the people and the campus.

I noticed one thing that hostels in general lack is a bit of personal space so I used to go for walks at 2 am just to take out some time for myself. Those who know me know that I love walking, and those random walks around the campus at night were some of the moments that I would never forget.

I think the most beautiful thing about Roorkee is that it's neither a big city nor a small village, it's perfect the way it is. You can go for a walk and you would end up exploring the complete city. I sometimes used to wonder how my life would have been different had it been IIT Bombay, or Delhi. Although, in the end, if I had a choice to go back, I would still choose IITR again and again.

Each year came by and I learnt a lot of things but the most important thing that I learnt was how important it is to have a great connection with people around you. I realized that if you have good people by your side you can get through anything.

Obviously life isn't perfect and I regret doing and not doing a lot of things. But at the end of the day, it's important that I learn from all those mistakes. I have seen people on campus coming from extremely difficult backgrounds and achieving things which seemed impossible at first. I think they did it because they kept moving forward, learning from their mistakes.

The most important thing that I took from college is to keep moving and keep learning. I think if you keep doing something long enough you eventually end up learning it and it's amazing.

It's never easy to say goodbye. IITR is one of the most beautiful things that has ever happened to me, which makes it even harder to leave. But as they say, “c'est la vie”, such is life. It keeps on going. Although, I'm not in campus anymore, but the memories are going to stay forever. Maybe a Solani walk someday will revive the old memories, until then goodbye.

With love. Akshat.