Yr 1:"you've come here to learn..."

ET
No...that doesnt mean Extra Terrestrial.Its Electrical Technology...living here teaches you that most problems in life have abbreviations, for eg.ET: electrical technology, ABC: prof A______ B____ C_________(can't take names..these people can steer my career towards hell!),DC: Disciplinary Committee, a.k.a Disco...etc
Well to get back, the first class after a really irritating and perspiration ridden registration was ET, Raman Auditorium(f-142). Huge class.Looking up at the high ceiling i was surprised since the fans were as old as the institue, but way above them, embedded in the ceiling, were a large array of Bose™ speakers...
"First of all, congratulations on clearing the JEE and getting admission to IIT Kharagpur"...the prof's loud voice echoes in the large room(thats because of the sound systems, he cant possibly generate that kind of decibel level!)
I'm sitting with rapt attention now...a few familiar faces alongside me.
Most Freshers have a common "look"....this is an attempt to portray(foolishly enough) the following
1.I am a "stud".
2.Don't mess with me!
3.I'm gonna teach all these people a thing or two about life
4.I'm a "Super Stud".
In a few wiser cases, an honest bewildered look is usually more prominent, the so called "stud"s feeling it too...all the time...
This attitude is not very..umm...social.So in the first few days the average fresher evolves to a smug looking fresher..still bewildered though.In those first couple of days, you feel you are "God"(with a capital G,and in quotes), and usually somewhere around the mid-semester exams you turn to atheism...unless you are truly God(now without the qoutes).
So as all us "stud" feeling idiots sat listening to what the strange fat man in front of us seemed to be saying with an accent that i'd become too familiar with(Bongla).He told us one thing which put all of IIT into a perspective that i still haven't been able to get out of my mind..."It is you who have come here to learn. We haven't come here to teach you...if you take the initiative, we'll definitly help you, buit there won't be any spoon-feeding."
After that peak, however, he couldnt speak on anything inspiring enough..just some gibberish about DC motors and transformers(DANG! i still remember the Star-Delta conversion in electrical circuits!)
But fortunately that atitude is prevalent in all things in this place, even the facilities provided are to our convinience..the care-taking staff is always helpful, be it the swimming pool, your labs..the attitude of these non-teaching people is what ensures that we don't develop any grudges towards administrative authorities (sometimes we still do...)

Yr 1:The Rainy Hell-hole...

Platform...

The first idea about this place that any fresh student(and a few stale ones too)will get is that it is rustic...really rustic...infact it's so rustic that the next town you visit feels like a city...and any metropolis seems to be air-dropped from another planet...
As VK and myself arrived we got a look at one of the two things that make this speck of watercolour on a map famous..the railway platform...
we scrambled to the entrance as we saw the train pulling in...just ready with all our luggage...but the train didn't show any intentions of stopping...but it did..almost when we were sure we'd run out of the asphalt.
funfact:the length of the platform is more than 1km, don't ask me why,as all i know is that i hate it when the train stops as far away from the exit...bloody fools...just because they can..they'll put trains in series instead of parallel
All of those who arrived were stuffed in a joke of a bus..the heat had already numbed our senses..and the humidity...i never knew the human body could act like a wet sponge...
our luggage had a more comfortable ride..

MS

I got off at what they said was Meghnad Saha(MS) hall of residence(i still don't know why they can't call the damn thing a hostel)..after the short(chuckle!) formality part i was alloted a room...far away...
All the hostels..sorry halls here have abbreviated names. the list is a bit like
Radhakrishnan:RK
Pajendra Prasad:RP
Patel/Azad/Nehru: PAN loop
Lala Lajpat Rai:LLR
Sarojini Naidu:SN--->female residents only
and so on...
my room was on the second floor...and my heavy trunk ensured that i couldn't take a second step easily...i got some help eventually..so it wasn't all that bad.
i entered the room...and thought it was a broom closet,and i was told that the balcony can't be incorporated in my room either(for reasons of sanity,i wont elucidate much on the sanitation here!)
After 3 days i settled down(read:got a proper mattress)
The worst combination of weather is Hot and Humid...if u disagree..think of your underwear sticking up in places you can imagine..all soaked in sweat..yours, preferrably...do i hear a "UGH!"...exactly...
well..after the first day here..it rained as if all of humanity neede a nice common shower..and i looked forward to what this place might have to offer...besides a degree or two