It all started in November, 2013 when I spoke to Viswanath Sir about an internship opportunity. I must say, I just got lucky! and he said IIT-Bombay. The first thing that struck my mind was the name "IIT". I stood speechless. I had to remind myself that it was just a proposal. I still had to send my resume, clear an interview and get selected. Nevertheless, it made me feel like I am on top of the world. To my good luck, I got selected and my internship was confirmed at IITB. But, this created so many problems and dilemmas. Along with me was Kshama. Both of us were in a fix many a times. We had to take some crucial decisions and for-go a few good opportunities to be here today. Another major problem that haunted us for days together was the accommodation here. Finally, after some struggle, accommodation was confirmed for at least one month. This relieved us to some extent. But, again accommodation for the next month became our concern or rather our parents' concern.
We then just made up our minds and reached here on June 10th, 2014 just after our semester end exams which ended on June 5th. It was the first time I came out of my house for such a long time. I felt like Farhan Qureshi of the 3 Idiots movie when I first arrived at the IIT main gate (of course along with my camera). Didn't find Racho (Wangdu) and Raju though :-P Anyway, after some walking between departments, we finally got a room in hostel 15 (which is the brand new hostel built for the freshmen). I was entering hostel life for the first time. Common bathrooms, leaking water taps, insects bites, odomos, late night walks, having dinner at 1 or 2 in the midnight, mess food (DAL :-D which I can never forget), watching English serials back to back. I can never forget those days. The biggest advantage in IIT is the internet speed! Trust me, it is amazing! All the labs here are equipped with AC. I am sure people cannot survive without AC here. Every small room has an AC. For the first few days, it was so hot that I used to keep myself hydrated only with nimbu paani. Later the weather completely transformed.
We started off with our respective projects also. Mine was related to spherical robot. I had to design feedback from the robot. Even though my job was quite trivial, the fact that it was a spherical robot made all the difference. So, we used to work from Monday to Saturday. But Sunday was our day. The first sunday, we went to the fashion street. the following sunday was a trip to the bandra band stand and the linking road in the local train. This was an amazing experience. The thing about Bombay (I prefer Bombay to Mumbai) that amazes me the most are the local trains and Bombay's rain. It was the first time we traveled in the local train and trust me, every one must try the local train at least once. Also, if you want to buy some good stuff at low rates, especially if you are from Bangalore, you must visit Bombay. The stuff you get here are just awesome. Never go empty handed if you ever come to Bombay.
IIT is a huge campus spread across 500 acres. It has a lake beside, a hill named Sameer inside the campus, house to animals like panthers and leopards and lots and lots of trees. The thing that impresses me the most here is the attitude of people. They are ready to work anytime. In fact, during our stay we went to the lab around 12:00 AM and stayed there till 1:30 AM in the midnight. There is absolutely no restriction for anything. People here chat about their respective subjects even in the midnight. You can see some young bunch of people walking and having a discussion about polynomials and variables. That is the environment you see here. Actually, this reminds me of my mentor during my PU days, Prof. J Ramakrishna. From the time I came to IITB, there is not a single day when I haven't thought about him. Every word he said is true.
My Mumbai experience involved a lot of outings. :-D We had been to Marine Drive, chowpatty, R-City mall, Hiranandani Galleria, etc. We even went out to a movie "How to train your Dragon 2". Mumbai is actually very cheap compared to Bangalore. I feel everything in Bangalore is over hyped.
Like a tip of an iceberg, my stay at IITB included the leopard fiasco. Yes, the leopard had entered IIT without clearing any exam. Unfortunately, we could not spot any leopard during our stay. We saw a snake near our lab though.
With respect to food, we have a lot more options for pizzas and sandwiches in Mumbai than in Bangalore. Not to forget the world famous vada pau. But the chats there are entirely different. We cannot compare to the ones which we get in Namma Bengaluru which has that masala in them. HUH... Heaven. I definitely missed them during the stay at IITB.
Finally, after 2 months of staying away from the house, we returned back to Bangalore on 11th August. These are some of the amazing pictures I captured as soon as I came to Bangalore.
Finally, we are back!
NAMMA BENGALURU!!
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