Deepanshu

INTRODUCTION:

Meet Deepanshu, an undergraduate who pursued a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering. Having worked as the overall coordinator and operations head of AZeotropy, in the h5 council,and in techfest, he sheds light on his insti experiences. He tells us about the importance of friends in insti life, and the vast exposure that the institute has to offer.

Tell us about your journey coming here. Why did you choose IIT Bombay?

I am from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. IIT Bombay was never my plan during my preparation days. I wanted to pursue Computer Science in whichever college I could get into. However, with my rank the best I was getting was Computer Science in IIT Dhanbad. I spoke to a lot of people who advised me to not push myself into CS since I was not exactly passionate about it. Hence, I ended up choosing a college over a branch and landed at IIT Bombay to pursue Chemical Engineering.

What were your expectations before coming here, and how well were they met?

I had heard a lot about the exposure that IIT Bombay offered, but I didn’t exactly understand what exposure I would get. After coming here, I realised how I could explore every single thing that I could ever think of. I had a passion for music and entrepreneurship, which I did end up pursuing further. Academically, I had no intention of doing rigorous work even after coming to IIT Bombay, and I also knew that a lot of people would be very good at it, hence I did not burden myself with academics. However, I did end up doing decently well, so I’m happy.

Which clubs and teams were you a part of?

I was the Overall Coordinator of AZeotropy in my final year. Prior to that, I was the operations head of AZeotropy. Also, in my 2nd year I was a part of the hostel council of H5 as a music secretary and was a coordinator in Techfest.

Are there any changes you have noticed in the Insti culture as your time here progressed?

Yes, I think the insti culture has changed a lot, especially since the introduction of the new Dean of Student Affairs. The previous deans had their flaws, but in the end, they supported the insti culture. The new dean is the complete opposite. He restricted the SAC timings and restricted the use of bikes on campus. We had fourthies coming in to play for their parent hostels, another thing that he stopped.

He reduced all the in-sem fests to just one day. For 16 years, AZeotropy had been a 2-day fest; however, since last year, it has been reduced to just 1 day purely because of the dean. Thus, overall, the insti culture has taken a bad hit since the introduction of the current dean

How did the academic competition or competition overall affect your mental health? Did you feel overwhelmed by the pressure to excel?

Initially, I did not attend lectures regularly, nor did I study properly. Thus, I kept facing setbacks and saw a downtrend in academics. However, all hope was not lost since every group has that one person who studies. I, too, had one such person in my wing who was a DR (Department Ranker).However , the support system thing did not go well and eventually we were in trouble. This went on till the 4th semester, after which we realised that we needed to study. I started attending lectures and studying, and thus, 5th semester onwards, my CPI gradually increased.

If you could turn back and change one thing, what would it be?

My biggest regret is that I did not explore the sports opportunities at IIT Bombay. For example, in our first year, my ISMP mentor mentioned that he was a squash player. One of our batchmates was a national-level swimmer. I wanted to learn these sports; however, since our first year was online, I could not do it, and after that, I got so engrossed in academics, PORs, polting, internships, etc. that I neglected sports. I tried out swimming in my last semester here and regretted that I hadn’t pursued it since the very beginning. If I got one more chance at insti life, I would love to explore different sports.

What’s the longest you have stayed awake without sleeping? Why?

Around 60-65 hours is my longest time staying awake. It happened very recently, in the last week of college. The thought process was that you can sleep when you go home, and even if you fall ill, you have parents who will take care. I was going on walks with friends, spending as much time as I could with them. 35-40 hours without sleep was pretty normal during endsem exams; however, in the end, when it hit that I was never going to experience this again, I did not want to miss any moment.

What was your favourite insti rumour?

In my first year I heard that almost 90 percent of H3 residents are drunk almost all the time. They drink in front of the guard as well, but even the guards don’t say anything. Of course, it turned out that nothing of that sort happened (at least at that time it didn’t).

How has your time at the institute changed you as a person?

Before I came into the institute, I had thought that I’d do a good job and would be happy making 4-5 lakhs a month after a few years, and that was something big for me. However, my time here at IIT Bombay made me realise that my dreams weren’t big enough, with 5-10 lakhs per month being my idea of big dreams.

My time here changed my dreams from that to having a business with a valuation of amounts like 100 and 200 crores. I have a friend, together we worked on several ideas for startups and ways to make money. In my hometown, I was a person with small ambitions, but now, at least in a monetary sense, I have bigger and better ambitions for which I am thankful to IIT Bombay and the friends and community I got here.

Moving ahead, what are your future plans?

I am currently placed as a project manager in the Sanco Group. I do not have any big plans for now and would like to do a job for at least 2 years. After that, I am planning to do an MBA from one of the IIMs. In the long term, I see myself doing a job but with a business on the side, not a startup, just a traditional business, since they have a strong backbone and do not fail as easily as a startup. I am also a musician and would love to try out making money through music.

Any message you would like to give your fellow batchmates?

Thank you so much! Insti life is incomplete without your batchmates.

What advice would you like to give the junior batches?

Do not just focus on the conventional things, there are a lot of other things to explore in the institute. Explore everything and use the facilities offered by the institute to their maximum. The institute has everything, if you look for it you will find it. Also, don’t go for PORs because it may help in resumes and internships, go for them because you get a FAMILY out of it.

Insti Favourites:

Favourite hangout spot?
Manas building
Favourite food joint?
Chaayos and H5 canteen
Favourite prof?
P. Sunthar
Favourite course?
CRE, chemical reaction engineering
Even sem or odd sem?
Odd sem all the way