Aanal Sonara

Aanal Sonara was the Overall Coordinator of UMIC in 2022-23, and was an undergraduate in the Department of Electrical Engineering. Apart from rocking everything tech and core, she is an absolute food enthusiast who you can count upon for the best suggestions both within and outside campus. Also not to forget her love for all kinds of shows, K–Dramas, thriller or suspense. 

Q. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I was born and brought up in Ahmedabad, and have been there since forever. 

I have been a lot into reading and hands-on stuff lately. I have totally been binge watching on Netflix – all kinds of shows, although I have a soft spot for thriller and suspense shows. I like a lot of the Korean and Japanese shows. The Big Bang Theory has to be my all time-favourite. It cannot get more relatable, as they are geeks like me. It is my comfort show, I can always go back to it and rewatch. My favourite character on it is Sheldon.

Q. Tell us about your journey through UMIC. 

If I were to say in the briefest manner, I would call it a journey full of surprises, wherein I witnessed a lot of growth in myself. I did things I never thought I could do. In fact I wasn’t in UMIC in my first year, as I had not done a lot of exploration in the first year. I got my hands on some online courses in 2nd year on ML, deep learning, robotics. COVID made me long to try out some hands-on work, and I really wanted a team to share my journey with, and that is where UMIC really helped me. At that point of time, we had the IARC simulation challenge going on, and none of us knew each other very well, but each and every little success boosted the morale of the entire team. We finally ended up as the world champions in the simulation challenge!

As time went on, I delved into research work. I finally made the decision of going for the position of the Overall Coordinator of UMIC. The fact that I was able to see myself as capable enough of taking such a huge step up the ladder is proof of how much UMIC helped me grow as a person. 

Being in a managerial role came with its own set of surprises. There was a generational gap to bridge, especially between the third-year COVID batch, and the sophomores who had been around since their second semester. I quickly learned that freshers and sophomores shared an exploratory mindset, even if they arrived a bit late to the UMIC party. Being able to manage and foster their curiosity with the resources available was an interesting challenge to me.

Q. Something that you are proud of as your journey comes to an end.

One of my proudest moments during my UMIC journey was conquering the IARC simulation and hardware challenges. Building a drone from scratch, shooting videos, and dealing with components sourced from different corners of the world was a monumental achievement. The model itself was a whopping 1.8 meters diagonally! We had to rely on various parts from different countries, with the board computer being a crucial component sourced from Germany. Unfortunately, it wasn’t readily available in India, so managing the logistics and ensuring everything arrived on time was a considerable challenge. Also, managing our hectic schedules and mentoring juniors on the technical aspects of the project was no small feat. But when we saw our creation take flight for the first time, it was a moment of pure joy and accomplishment. Through all the ups and downs, UMIC has been an adventure filled with surprises, growth, and unforgettable memories. 

Q. Given that your batch has experienced a major part of their college life in an online mode, would you like to share your thoughts about it?

I think the online mode magnified stress when it came to acads. Being from elec, the 2nd and 3rd year are pretty stressful, and having no friends to study alongside you is not very fun. The added pressures of the incoming internship season in an online setting only added to the uncertainty in life then. Also in general, I think one is more in the moment when attending lectures offline rather than online, and the attention span just dwindles down. Moreover, watching recorded lectures at 1.5x, often takes more time than 1x, strange but funny. Not to mention, you do not have a night life in an online semester. 

Apart from all this, tech teams, being together offline helps you give 110%, online competitions such as simulations don’t make sense as problems in real life are very different. All the late nights working on the project, with 30 members on the gymkhana grounds are special memories. There was this one time when we ordered food from H2, we ordered 101 frankies and 10 noodle packets and the order never reached us for more than an hour. Apparently, the delay was because the H2 canteen people were taking a picture of our bill because it was a rare occurrence haha. 

Q. Favourite spot in insti to hang out and chill with people.

I think the gymkhana ground at night is a very cool place. To sit there, with three to four people you are most connected to, especially the place right under the rock climbing area, and watch the stars, is a whole vibe. Oh, don’t forget to keep your odomos handy though.

The basketball court is also a nice place if you are not fond of grass. Be careful of animals though and stay safe, wear your shoes.

Q. An interesting fact about you.

I am an absolute food enthusiast. Me and my friend would just go around to have food, hopping from one canteen to the next. We would run geeky cost analyses of canteens of different hostels, we always found a surprising amount of consumption at H1, H2 and H6. H2 maggi will always have a place in my heart. Other recommendations I have would be H2 frankies, H1 oreo shakes. Although none of these can match the night time street food of Ahmedabad. I am not advocating for junk food though :P. Definitely never skip breakfast!

Q. What are your plans for the future?

I will be joining Enphase Energy, and will be working on solar energy solutions, it is an electrical core role. I want to work at the intersection of sustainability and smart homes. I do have plans for masters, but am unsure of which field as of now. 

Q. What would be your message to your juniors?

Most importantly, don’t be afraid to fail. When I first got here, it was hard for me to admit that I was not good at something. But, the truth is that unless you accept yourself, you will not be able to improve further in anything. For example, I was bad at coding, and I still feel bad if my codes don’t work, however I have learnt to ask for help to debug. Be humble and grounded, it helps you handle stress much better.

Also, don’t self reject yourself. Apply for that position you have been eyeing, in that tech team, or that club, anything for that matter. Even if you think you are not going to make it, there is absolutely no harm in trying. 

And learn your limits and your emotional capacity. You will be able to understand these through experimentation in a controlled environment and IITB is a wonderful place for that. And if you do not have enough time on your hands for all activities, do not take up too much. 

Q. Do you have any regrets as you leave? And if you could trade back your time and do  something different in exchange, how would you design it?

My major regret is not participating in XLR8 and RC Plane even once, despite being a tech enthusiast. Seeing all my batchmates making such cool stuff made me sad about not participating in these. 

I would also have maybe read more and kept in touch with my hobbies from my pre JEE days. I would definitely have collected books every year in the Books by Weight fest.

Q. A message for your fellow batchmates.

Firstly, congratulations! We have been through a very difficult time together. 

Like anyone else, all of us would have at some point of time dealt with failure. Try to leave those in the past, and move on. I also hope to connect with a lot more I haven’t connected with yet. Being the COVID batch, we have been through a lot together, and if nothing, it has made us stronger for the challenges that lie ahead for us. So hold up, you will do amazingly well!

Take responsibility of your decisions, rather than feeling guilty about your choices. Do not bottle up your emotions, but rather express them, it is okay to be upset at times. Look at what you can do ahead, and consciously practice taking charge of your decisions.