Divyansh Natani

“Love you insti junta. Hope we meet while dancing in a club, Hope we meet in the Alum meets, Hope our paths cross more often than we can think.”

Let’s hear from the MI CG and Chemical DR who made us senti with these words, about his life at insti. 

Q. What have been your best moments so far?

Being on the stage of Mood Indigo, when the MI anthem “Chaar Din ka Sapna” was played and all the hard work, efforts, and memories played in front of my eyes while seeing a never-ending sea of people watching us, that was my most memorable moment.

Recently, I participated in AIDS too, and that was the time when I realised that performing on stage is a completely different experience from being behind the stage.

Q. What were some of the most memorable experiences you had in insti?

The time for Mood Indigo had come. My most remarkable memory is when a stampede was about to occur. A huge crowd was running towards me, and I was standing there alone in front of the entrance, managing a crowd of 500+ people. In a split second, I decided I couldn’t stop them; hence, I ran back and shut the doors so that we could manage the crowd outside the auditorium rather than the inside. I was finally able to manage the crowd, but it was really a bizarre experience.

Although I came back to campus in the 5th semester after the COVID lockdown, and had some great hostel memories in H3, the real continuation of hostel memories from the 1st year started in semester 6, when everyone was back. I had a fun time exploring Mumbai, watching IPL live and even going to Imagica.

I was also an ISMP. On the day when the freshies arrived with their parents, I was really busy managing all the students. I had to greet them at the entrance of H16. The parents asked me about my branch, how I am free in the 4th year to be a mentor while being in chemical, and other personal details. When the parents of every one of my mentees placed their trust in me that day, I felt like the messiah. 

I also participated in numerous other activities. I went to Chennai for Inter IIT (which was a 24 hour long dreadful train journey). I found a new interest in dance, and thus participated in AIDS. I got a chance to give a talk about finance interns, speak in a Git workshop, and speak about CS Minor in a DAMP event, all of them with 100+ attendees. I think I have managed to tick off almost all of the things mentioned in my bucket list.

Q. How did you manage yourself during the internship season while being an MI CG?

I was a convener in WnCC and was pursuing a CS minor, so I had a good exposure to coding.  I was in Mood Indigo Creatives and Web Team as well. I was confused between WnCC manager and MI CG for the third year PoR. Finally, I decided to go to MI.

Most of my time was consumed in Mood Indigo during the summer after the second year.

I started practicing coding diligently. I was burned out with coding in summers, and decided not to go for software profiles in internship season

There was a professor, called H. Folger from the University of Michigan, who used to come and recruit Chemical DRs. I kept his project as my first preference.

When the internship season began, I applied for non-core profiles and got shortlisted in almost all of consulting, finance and FMCG firms on Day 1, maybe because of my strong non-core profile and a good CPI. But I wanted a chill life, and with H. Fogler’s offer in hand, I didn’t want to go in hectic profiles just for the sake of exposure. When Day 1 ended, I didn’t have an internship in hand, and a few days later, I found out that the professor had expired.

Post midsem, the number of opportunities from placement cell reduced compared to earlier, and I felt a little insecure because I hadn’t applied for any companies after Day 1. I found an IAF of Citi Bank and applied for it. I began apping, while trying to manage the hybrid mode of Mood Indigo, along with the chemical academic “BTs” and the labs. I applied for CitiBank, and aced the test while sitting in Rude Lounge (the time of the test and the party coincided). Thus, I finally ended up with the software profile. 

My internship was remote and pretty chill. I used to work on the weekends and chill on the weekdays. I was able to impress my manager just by completing the work on the weekends and showing it up on Monday. I got PPO, but ditched it and decided to sit for the placements.

Through my experience of the internship season, I realised that good companies don’t keep coming after Day 1. That year, very few tech companies came.

Q. What are your major learnings from your life here at insti?

I used to say No a lot to my friends whenever they made plans. I realized later that if I don’t participate, I will miss out on a lot. In the fourth year, a major part of my time was devoted to trips with my friends to various places, like a department trip to Alibaugh, and a Wingie trip to Daman. The last semester was about trips and parties.

We visited Marine Drive when the midsems ended. In the middle of the night, we were walking on Dalal street, Kalaghoda street etc., looking at the old buildings. We waited for the morning local from Churchgate station while sipping tea.

Exploring insti is also fun. We used to go to different terraces, the best ones being the H17 and the Energy building. Visiting the boathouse without getting caught by the guards was another fun/scary thing to do.

I always feel glad that my batchmates will always be there, whenever I would need help, and this is the biggest gift IIT Bombay has given me. 

Q. What message would you like to give to your juniors?

I recommend going for a semester exchange – the 4th semester is the best for chemical engineering.

Exploring is a big part of a student’s life, especially in insti that gives so many opportunities and facilities. Never stop exploring. Life will never be the same once you pass out from this great institute.