ISMP Diaries: Mentors, Memories and More

Panel: Hi, thank you for joining us. Please tell us about yourself.

• Anokhi – I am from the Energy dept, 5th year. My first semester was during COVID. I have been a convener and manager of the energy club, and have also been part of E-Cell. I love to travel and am interested in the energy domain.
• Anubha – I am from the Mechanical dept, 4th year. My first semester was also during COVID. I love to explore and meet new people. I have been a sports convener, part of the racing team, the Insync, and Roots club. I am fascinated by dance and swimming.
• Naman Jain – I am Naman Jain, a fourth-year Civil Engineering student from Mumbai. In my 3rd year, I was part of the placement team as an internship coordinator, as well as a DAMP mentor. I am also an ISMP mentor. In my 2nd year, I was a part of the Hostel 4 Council as the Sports Secretary.
• Kartikey Kawale – I am Kartikey Kawale, a final year student of MEMS department from Mumbai. Currently, I am the DAMP coordinator for the MEMS department. Before this, I was a product manager at Devcom, a Partner at CCG, a DAMP mentor, and an E-cell coordinator.
• Mohammad Kadiri: Hi, I am Mohammad Kadiri. I am from Ratnagiri, which is famous for its mangoes. From my first year, I have been a part of NCC, which has played a major role in my life at the institute. Besides that, I used to play volleyball. I was selected for the inter-IIT volleyball team and played for three years. I like playing sports, and as for hobbies,  I love anime, especially One Piece and Naruto.

Panel: If you were to describe your four-year journey as a movie, what would it be?

• Anubha –  I think it would be like coming of age, finding yourself, something like that, because you don’t know what each semester or each year brings. I learned so much through every semester, every year.
• Kartikey Kawale & Naman Jain – It was a thriller, and it kept me engaged the whole time. It wasn’t too heavy on the horror, but there was still a good amount of suspense. What I liked the most was the ending; it was really well done and wrapped things up nicely.
• Mohammad Kadiri: Shutter Island.

Panel: What motivated you to be an ISMP mentor?

• Naman Jain – I was a DAMP mentor, and it was a great experience. My mentees used to contact me, and I loved helping them out, solving their doubts, and answering their queries. As a DAMP mentor, you were always responsible for six people, which gave me valuable experience and made me more excited to become an ISMP mentor. I was not in touch with my ISMP mentor, and I felt that made me miss out on a lot of opportunities and guidance. That is what I wanted to provide as an ISMP mentor.
• Kartikey Kawale – My ISMP was the DAMP coordinator that year, and later he became the SMP coordinator. He was an excellent mentor and also helped me a lot in deciding on PORs and figuring out what to do, as well as how to consider my interests when making decisions. My DAMP experience was also great. I feel I was a good DAMP mentor as my DAMP mentees were also great. That’s why I chose to become an ISMP mentor.
• Mohammad Kadiri – I was in NCC for three years, and after the first year, I got the chance to mentor a lot of students. I really enjoyed those interactions, not just guiding them, but also spending time and connecting with them. Honestly, I didn’t have very close friendships within my batch, so mentoring gave me that sense of connection I was missing. Another big reason I wanted to be a mentor was my experience with my ISMP. My mentor wasn’t very approachable, and since everything was online, I ended up missing out on a lot. So when I got the chance to be a mentor myself, I knew exactly what not to do.

Panel: What’s your best memory as an ISMP mentor? Also, what’s your best memory with your ISMP mentor?

• Anokhi – I think it would be when we went around the campus together, especially when we went to the Energy Terrace. I really love that place and taking you guys there and seeing all of you love it so much. Also, the first day meeting all your parents, it was memorable in a different way, as it was very overwhelming, it reminded me of what it would have been like for me to come to campus if it were a normal semester. 
• Naman Jain – The best memory as an ISMP mentor would be the first meeting with my mentees’ parents. We were the ones who were taking the meeting, and it was the first time for me as well, speaking in front of many people. And everyone held us responsible for you guys, and even your parents expected us to stay connected with you. So I think that was a very significant moment. And the best memory with my ISMP mentor was when he met us once for a treat.
• Mohammad Kadiri: My mentees and I went to Marine Drive. The Marine Drive part wasn’t that exciting, but as we were returning, there was a storm. We were all drenched, and our umbrellas flew away when a taxi was waiting. That was the best memory. As for my ISMP mentor, I never actually met him in person. But if I have to choose a memory, it would be the first message he sent me about what to expect in these four years at IIT Bombay.

Panel: Do freshers actually listen to your advice?

• Anokhi – “When I was a freshie, I didn’t listen to everything. That’s how it should be, honestly. I mean, it’s like you are supposed to give advice, and it’s their decision. I feel that at the end of the day, they are also adults and need to decide what to do. We can share our experiences and what our opinion is, even if we might not be 100% right about what suits them the best.
• Anubha – And even our advice is based on our opinion. So we hope they’ll listen to it in terms of, you know, maybe we have more experience and guide them hopefully.
• Naman Jain & Kartikey Kawale – I don’t think so. They are adults, they can decide for themselves what would be best for them. Still, we believe it would be good for them to step out of their comfort zone, as it would help them grow, as they don’t always make the best decisions.
• Mohammad Kadiri: Whenever I advise my mentees, I’m more or less sure that most of them are not going to follow it. Even if I say, “Don’t go to the Energy Building rooftop—that’s not safe,” people will still go. Honestly, though, my inner self wants you to explore and try to solve the challenges that come your way, but without doing anything that might be beyond repair. My main motivation in giving you advice is to encourage you to face challenges. When you make mistakes, you’ll remember that I warned you, and maybe you’ll act on that. I want you to learn from your mistakes.

Panel: What’s your success rate in convincing freshies that life isn’t over after the first quiz?

• Anubha – Yeah. I mean, I hope the success rate is good because everybody has exams where you don’t do as well as you thought, or you come with a certain mindset that I want to do this well, but it doesn’t work out. So we hope you don’t take any particular exam to your mind. We hope you don’t take stress because of any particular exam results.
• Mohammad Kadiri -It’s pretty high. I mentor my wing, and since I play volleyball, many freshers who come to play also share things with me. A lot of you contacted me after the first quiz, and it was easy for me to convince you that there is scope for improvement in the mid sem and end sem.

Panel: If you could go back in time, and change one thing about your journey with your mentor. What would it be ?

Kartikey Kawale -I would like to have interacted more with my ISMP mentor. I think when we are mentees ourselves, we expect the ISMP to take the initiative. But that’s not how it should be. Like you, the mentees are the ones who need information from their ISMP mentor, and mentors are not obligated to provide it unless asked. So, if I could go back in time, I would have asked my ISMP mentor for more information. It would have helped me a lot.

Panel: How do you deal with freshies who think they know everything? Or do you just let them learn the hard way ?

• Kartikey Kawale & Naman Jain -Instead of correcting overconfident freshers, I prefer to let them learn from mistakes. When they face challenges and realize their gaps in knowledge, they eventually understand the need for guidance and come back on their own.

Panel: What was your first experience of meeting your mentees? What was going on in your mind that day?

• Anokhi – I remember I was very jet-lagged because I had just come back that morning, so I just wanted to sleep but when I met them, I felt very energetic suddenly, and it was really nice, and I felt excited and overwhelmed; it was like living experiences that I didn’t get to have in my first year.
• Anubha – I was really excited. Even before we got to know who our mentees were, I kept wondering what it was going to be like, what they’d be like, whether we’d get along, if they’d like us. I remember thinking that so many things on campus feel normal to us now, almost mundane. But I knew you all would bring a different kind of energy and curiosity. It was really refreshing to see how excited you were about even the smallest things, the stuff we’ve gotten used to. It made me see it all in a new light.

Panel: What white lie did your ISMP mentor tell you that you figured out now?

• Anokhi and Anubha – I feel ISMP is one position of responsibility that doesn’t lie. But a white lie they told would be that the Mumbai weather gets better after the monsoon.
• Kartikey Kawale – My mentor told us he would give his ISMP treat soon, but it finally happened at the end of our second year. Since he was a five-year student, he gave it at the end of my second year. We had to wait until then.

Panel: When freshers ask, “Is IIT Bombay worth it?” What’s your go-to motivational line?

• Mohammad Kadiri – I usually say, “You will realize it after you pass out from IIT.” While you are here, you might not notice, but once you leave the campus and compare your experience with friends from other colleges, you will see the perks of being an IITian. I’m not sure if that’s a fake motivational line or not, as I haven’t passed out yet.