Being Brave

Hi everyone again ! Just returned from lab in the intense chill of January, the least enjoyable feature of this part of the country (even more than the scorching heat!). Before diving into soem desperate manuscript writing towards the end of my thesis, I thought of sharing this wonderful scenery on my way back.

Just beside the narrow winding way back to the hostel, there happens to be a bowl-shaped woody cover that kind of descends from the road into scrub and ascends into another road on the other side. Tonight I found this really ghostly fog slowly descending into the bowl and covering it up........... straight out of a Hitchcock movie! And then it suddenly struck me that that must be the reason why they say that valleys between hills are always more moist and feel colder in the morning than even the hilltops. Such a simple thing (to think of now) seemed so weird at the time i first heard it........ and really, this is a no-brainer ! But then again many great discoveries have seemed later to be "only natural", but just that people were not brave enough to ask the right question !!!

Thinking about it, one of the most fascinating things about IIT Kanpur is ........ no not its academics ..... or its status..... or the fat-pay jobs.......but the really weird way in which it helps you to be BRAVE ! No, there is absolutely no compulsory military training or killing a tiger or that sort of stuff ........ its just after 2 years in this institute you suddenly realize you have started questioning yourself or the world in a way it never happened before !!! How ? Well, I honestly don't know......i mean, maybe the intense peer pressure.....maybe expectations back home....big-shot alumni success stories.....16 credits per sem....it can be anything. But, now I realize something and this is especially important for the many young IIT aspirants out there : IIT doesnt make you great, it just helps you understand your potential ..........trust me friends, all it takes is loads of curiosity and a touch of guts ! And IIT doesnt teach you either......it just grows in you while you are here. So if you want to be "brave" and "great" and "successful", you can be so anywhere you are ... you dont need to join this brand !!!

I just realized the last para looks more like "gyaan" than "friendly advice"........ oops..... but hey, my fingers are freezing from the cold through the window..... so i gotta go- more later. And as they say ........ "AAL IZZ WELL" ! Chow.