IIT Kanpur Sojourns

Having spent 2 years of college life closeted inside NSIT ( and Delhi ), I decided that it was time to get some experience of going outstation. So , when Manan ( close friend and former NSIT-ian ) invited me to come to Antaragni - IIT Kanpur's fest and take part in the quizzes, I decided to go.

The trip certainly was a great learning experience. Firstly, IIT Kanpur is a nice place to be in, with wide roads, a large ,fairly green campus and good hostels. The Rest of Kanpur however (at least the part I saw), seemed to be a study in contrast. It was dusty, had bumpy,narrow roads, small,rickety shops, black-chimneyed polluting factories in the horizon- It bore every notion of the small town. Thankfully, our stay was pretty much confined to the former other than the trip to and from the railway station.

The quizzes were good. We won the Bollywood quiz ( hosted by Anusree Mazumdar ), came 2nd in the General Quiz(hosted by Joy Bhattacharya ) and 3rd in the Sports Quiz ( hosted by Gautam Bhimani ) and finished 4th and 5th in the Diva and MELA quizzes. Decent Enough. Enough to ensure that people at IIT Kanpur would remember NSIT for some time.

Some of the memorable moments included quizzing from midnight to the wee hours of the morning ( incidentally this was the Bollywood quiz, which we won in the end ) , losing your bag and spending anxious moments only to realise that another guy from your college has taken it along with him, sleeping in a dormitory with unknown people and loads of insects ( Now Diwali is over, you dont see them anymore ) , watching 'The Motorcycle Diaries' till 2 at night and walking through a kilometre of desolateness to get to the hostel room afterwards all alone.

Antaragni as a personal experience was great. As a fest, it had shortcomings and could have been better. Accomodations could have been a tad better. The guys in charge of Security were downright rude many a times. And if Manan hadnt been there with us, I would have certainly felt at sea.

Thanks to -

1. The guys at the hospitality desk. Decent job done.
2. The guys coordinating the quizzes. It is good enough that you managed to bring the best quizmasters to Kanpur.
3. The people who run the mess at the halls. I have never had more value-for-money food in my life !


Sadly I didnt have a camera. So couldnt click any photos. Will put some photos up if I get a few.