Adios Patel

As I come to the end of it, that is the stay in the Patel Hall of Residence, I must say that instead of getting emotional, I am getting rather retrospective -- about all these days, the vastly satisfying and enriching experience that this stay has been. And as I look back, I definitely have a lot of moments to recollect, some nice and some unfortunate but all of them to cherish for sure. It is very true what they say – “You enter a boy here, and you leave having become a man.”

Patel Hall to me has been what others might call a celebration of life. I don’t know why, but so very often during the last four years, the best and the happiest moments for me have been those when Patel Hall has excelled in a certain field. This began right on the first day of my association with this Hall, when after the hall allotment in our first year, on the day of the tea-party, we had a march all along the way from the Netaji to Patel holding aloft the Sports GC that the hall had won that year. More than anything, it was an indication of many more of such occasions to come during the course of my stay here in the coming years. And this very much turned out to be a reality as the days went by. Some of the biggest moments that I can recall when we had lots to celebrate were the prizes in Illumination and Rangoli in 2nd year, silvers in athletics in 2nd and 3rd years, “matki-phod” of VS after illu in 3rd year, the election victory in 3rd year, the English drams performance in 4th year, a number of golds in sports and the subsequent GC in the 4th year, golds in Eastern groups in 4th year and in choreo in 5th year… well these were just some of the big moments.

While we at Patel have always considered ourselves to be a complete unit and have stood for one another whenever the need has arose, the one occasion when this fact came to the fore was during the unfortunate chaos at the beginning of my 3rd year when the whole 2nd batch year had to be sent off to a different hall. While the solidarity the hall showed then was phenomenal, the way the alumni of the hall grouped together and pressurized the administration, also established the fact that the spirit of a Patelian doesn’t wane a bit even after leaving this place.

As I pass out, there have been certain issues which I have observed over these last few years and would like to convey to my juniors and to the coming batches. As the new batches come, they are enthused with all the tempo and it is really heartening to see them doing all that it takes to carry forward the traditions of the hall and in some way or the other trying to contribute towards the hall’s cause. But at times I have been dismayed by the changing attitude in the senior years. While I totally agree with the fact that we are all here to build careers and need to give due importance to our academics, let us not forget that we are here to gain much more than what is written in those books and what is taught in those lectures. And for all those who dream to make it big in life someday, the Hall is very much a starting platform towards such a dream. The hall is a “tool” through which you can exhibit and utilize all your talent and thereby also getting an opportunity to learn about your strengths and weaknesses which definitely will go a long way in preparing you for your professional lives. One can show forth his qualities in numerous ways in the hall. To give some examples, by being a part of the teams discussing various strategies, sitting through the meetings deciding the validity of various budgets, taking leadership roles in various capacities, doing all you can to get your own problems solved like the ones regarding mess, maintenance etc. The very essence of life here is being able to grow up so as to take care of oneself in every possible way. IIT Kharagpur provides a great platform for all this, and not making use of it would be to let go off a unique opportunity of a lifetime. I have met various alumni in the recent times and all have stressed upon this point – the “real life” doesn’t begin after Kgp, but to a large extent it does while staying at Kgp itself. The logic of “time getting wasted” for say working for illu or cheering the Hall in an event is as foolhardy as it can be.Its well-known that how much time the Kgpians spend in their studies and other seemingly “important” stuff.

Well, all this was just for those who need a proper justification for coming out of their rooms and possibly devoting some time for the hall which they would have anyway spent loitering around. But above all this, I have always enjoyed working in big or small groups in the company of thoroughly dedicated people working towards a common goal. When I look back at my life at Kgp, the best memories I have are not the ones sitting in the classes or working in the labs, but sitting with all the people on the Patel Hall flagpost during the Illu nights or giving those enormous tempo shouts.

To talk about the changes that the hall has been through over these years, the hall’s position in the soc-cult front is nothing short of a dream saga which I have seen being unfolded right in front of me. And I only hope that things only get better in the coming years. Sports also have got just better over the years and the GCs in the last two years have been a mere cakewalk. Illumination not being held in my final year was a major disappointment and I sincerely hope that things will be normal next year onwards. While opinions regarding Illu will always remain varied, it will always have a special place in my heart. I am pretty sure I am going to miss those continuous night-outs trying to give proper shapes to the figures on the chatais. And I have always kept telling that the feeling that is generated by a 23 feet high chatai being lighted by the whole hall together can’t be likened to any other.

Well, I have decided not to take any individual names here, my concern being that I’ll always miss out on several other names. But as a whole the stay at Patel would have never been the same without the seniors who guided us during the initial phases and then went on to become some of the closest friends. And then the juniors who provided their full support in whatever decisions and steps we have taken during this period. My batchmates have been obviously the ones with whom I have shared this journey in its entirety, but apart from them we have been pretty close to our senior and junior batches as well – this being a remarkable feature of Patel Hall. I am extremely confident that the bonds which we have built here will stay as intact over the later years if our lives as well.