-By Aryansh Singh,19HS20011
19th August 2022
To,
The Institute
Subject: Letter to the Institute
KGP is not a word. It is an emotion. For every hour spent hanging out with friends, for every hour spent learning from our professors and seniors and for every hour spent making those memories, it’s an emotion. I was also a kid post-JEE, wondering what college life had in store for me. Engineering counseling is a highly stochastic process, and eventually, I got admitted and thought to myself: KGP it is?
The journey was too dynamic to be true. Four years down the line, there has been a paradigm shift in the way we think, the way we behave and the way we work. I always had a habit of observing behavioral shifts, and the university is a hell of a place to test this. I saw my friends grow, from getting rejected in society interviews to getting selected for 8 figure jobs! I saw that introverted guy in the corner room in the wing grow to become the Hall President. I saw the most irregular child in the cell go on to become the most hardworking one and lead the cell.
A thing I adored the most was the diversity: diversity of all kinds. There were people from all around India, from cities many of us hadn’t heard about and with hobbies we’d never witnessed. Once while talking to a professor, he asked me, “What do you think about PG & UG interacting in the university?” I answered, “Sir, that is the concept on which the nation is based, unity in diversity, and this is not a discriminatory factor but rather an opportunity to learn about different facets of life.” Sometimes you get the opportunity to be friends with the coolest Christian guy from Andaman & Nicobar Islands; on some other day, you find out that your roommate is a squash champion; thanks for all the surprises and events, KGP.
Thank you to the institute, for the rich heritage and culture we learned over time. Be it Illu, GC, AP, SF or Elections, the uniqueness of KGP cannot be put into words. While interacting with alums, be it from the batches of 1970 or from 2015, there was always something interesting and enriching to learn. I had the fortune of visiting multiple institutions, but I’d choose KGP over any of them any day. The growth, the struggle, and the bonding defines it all in the long run and is one of the many things worth mentioning in the letter to the institute.
Often things get tough too. It is not always a fairytale ride, to be honest. Some children had coping issues initially, some facing their own battles, and some facing financial setbacks or losses due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, we tried to strive harder and get ahead, but not always everything was in our hands. But I am sure that the experiences, no matter the nature, made every KGPian a more learned person. From struggling for society selections to graduating with a “Forever Indebted” post on the feeds, the change is real. Yesterday was the 72nd Foundation day of IIT Kharagpur, and I wish nothing but the utmost success and growth for everyone involved with our beloved institute in the years to come.
Thank you KGP, for this letter to the institute can’t encapsulate the thousands of memories you have given us since the day we joined the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Today I’ll say to the kid in July of 2019: “You made the right decision, KGP it is.”
Yours Sincerely,
Aryansh Singh
19HS20011