The first semester at IIT

I had this idea.. ok ok, I borrowed this idea from SKG. I am gonna write about my experiences in these 4 years at IITK. and to ensure that I do not miss out on anything interesting / important, i'll write them in 8 parts... one for each semester.

Having spent 4 years in hostels, i had some idea of what hostel life is like. But the image of IIT as a place of maggus was deeply entresnched in my mind. i thought people would be too pre-occupied with studies/books etc to worry about each others' ancestors and/or body parts. i was mistaken... by miles!
in the beginning, i was quite reticent and not keen to make new acquaintances. The A A A trio was good enough, for all i cared. But yes, there was this one interesting guy i liked. i didn't like some of his mannersims though. he wud snap back at u if u dared to ask him something. but he seemed to be reasonably smart ( a perception that was eliminated over time :-)) ). there was another guy i was quite friendly with, but then, somehow things didn't go well in that direction. first semester was all about those quizzes, mth 101, phy 101, esc101, phy lab reports... second yearites giving us directions for everything. and playing politics.
we had a very vibrant wing. a wing which had an active wing committee as well. and all sorts of amusing(on hindsight) things happened.
first semester was also about ABS. after coming into IIT, i felt surrounded by so many bright and intelligent people that my own self-worth seemed to have taken a nose dive. you know, there were people who could score high without having to slog into the wee hours of the day. there were people who had gone into olympiads at the international levels. there were all sorts of studs. i felt so overwhelmed. and then ABS happened. the timing was impeccable. i got the very much needed boost. now i could say to myself there are people who think i am worth more than zilch. why else would one spend so much money on an undergraduate student? i felt great. i had prayed very hard for it, and i had wanted it very badly. it brought me a lot of things. recognition for instance.
in my first semester, i also did that course, psy151, introduction to psychology. that was a course i had chosen out of interest, and i am proud i did that. very often people chose those HSS subjects that were 'cool'. i had shown the guts to do what i wanted, even against the advice of a few seniors who warned me that the isntructor would really make you work hard. The instructor (LK) was superb. Just too brilliant. Soft-spoken and firm. Knowledgeable and keen. Serious and interesting. I worked a lot in her course but apparently, my marks were inversely tied to the amount of efforts i put in! the first subject for which i had a nightout was this. though the marks i got won't bear testimony to the fact :-)). or may be they will, if u can appreciate the inverse correlation! _grin_ i still remember the remarks i used to find scribbled on my anser scripts. often they implied that the teacher liked my writing style, but the answers were found lacking in content... :-)) i remember every compliment i received from her! we'll revisit this last part again!
throughout the semester, i did not study very hard. i used to score mediocre (close to average) marks in most quizzes and mid sems. except for esc101 of course. that was my favorite course ( apart from psy151). i used to score well without resorting to hard work. that made me feel special. other than this subject, i think i was getting along pretty average. then end sems happened. and i couldn't believe it. i had scored great marks in _all_ subjects. except my favorite subject, the one in which i had maaroed a night out. anyway, i ended up with wonderful grades. and ABS. could i have asked more of my first sem?
well, not exactly first sem, but in the intervening period between the first and the second semester, i did get something. new friends. :-)) . we will definitely revisit this topic, and in great details ;-)
and yes, a description of first semester can definitely not be complete without the mention of this other friend of mine. we met while preparing for this interview. and we liked the experience. it was the beginning of a wonderful partnership. since then, we have partnered in umpteen activities and we have gelled extremely well. more on that later. through him, i met more friends, and some of them, long-lasting ones.
the first year drew to a close with a tinge of sadness. unknown to most people around me, i had gotten so used to living with them that when the news of reshuffling of wings spread out, i was very sad. i wondered if i wud survive the torture. i really prayed to God that things don't change, and luckily they didn't. we still lived together, me and my wingies, and i was very happy about it ...