ITER

“ 3 ½ YEARS DOWN THE LINE ”

SAIDUTTA BIBHU PRASAD BEHERA

ITER- This word barged into my ears when I was in my friend’s house in July 2002.His elder brother made me aware that he is getting admitted to a private engineering college named “ITER”. I was flabbergasted thinking why he is taking such a critical decision in haste and that too in a college which never ever found a place in any form of media be it newspapers, hoardings or ads. I was wondering what the hell he was doing?. Then I gave some tactless and callous remarks about “ITER” and advised him not to even think of getting into this crap college. After fleeting out of my 12th standard and going by my rank in JEE, I got a seat in mechanical branch of ITER as per counseling. But with the antagonism (about ITER) crossing my mind, I kicked away the seat without even giving a proper deliberation. I always thought I am made for IIT mechanical and no way for ITER mechanical. But after preparing (rather wasting) one year, I realized what for I was made. I did not leave any single stone unturned in wasting every single moment of the entire year. Then it came the turn of all entrance tests to unravel one by one which was horrendous and made me realize those moments which I ruined. Next to follow up was the inevitable and nerve-wracking counseling sessions. I was surrounded by pensive and grim opinions regarding various colleges which were almost same barring their names. But destiny will never let you go out of its clutches.

So, I landed up in ITER as per as pre-destination. At that juncture, I could not comprehend what sort of role reversal is it? (A stroke of bad luck or …). I was made to stand in a position which I despised a year before. With lots of apprehensions and hearsay, I decided to fancy my luck and give my future a ‘confused’ chance. My first hand impression of ITER was horrendous and made me panicky of where I was heading to. My first glimpse of ITER was nothing but two inefficient and inept buildings with infrastructure in poor light. Even our school was bigger. That made me aware of the present state of engineering prevalent in our state. No canteens, No playfields (including indoors), No sitting rooms…..just nothing. Nonetheless, ITER had substantial name in its field and the major contributor was none other than Prof. (Dr.) B.K Sarap Sir who was a complete authoritarian and stringent in nature. His stern and regimented attitude combined with his astounding persona is solely accountable for the heights that ITER has scaled. The day was 18th August, 2003. We all were introduced to the world of engineering in light pink and grey costumes with heads down and shirts buttoned up to neck which made us wheezing and gasping. We were looked upon as ‘BAKRAS” by our seniors. But thanks to Sarap Sir, 1st year went off smoothly and slickly with almost no ragging, tough study schedules, austere examination days (with almost no malpractice) and everyone ended up with luminous results.

BPUT was big revelation and most talked about in those days which had endless list of conventions and protocols promising to be on the guidelines of NITs and IITs. The course structure and exam papers were worked on to an enhanced level. But no one was sure of the extent of implementation of rules laid down by BPUT. Some predicted it will go down the same line as Utkal University. There were conjectures, rumors, gossips, presumptions…about BPUT. So, obviously we were baffled , bewildered, perplexed, mystified thinking about our future…1st year gave me the unique opportunity of traveling in college bus which gave me a different share of fun and togetherness thereby giving me close friends pertaining to different branches. In the meanwhile, two new buildings came up as ladies hostel and canteen stretching the boundary limits. Something you should not even dare to miss is the college function and picnic because that’s the ultimate spice and zing of technical life. We had a blast in our maiden college picnic beyond expectations which rather became an ice breaking ground for all of us to interact and know each other. The entire year passed by without any clue or inkling of our seniors. To make matters worse, we were even denied welcome function making us completely unaware of…

After wasting the entire summer vacation we geared ourselves to wear the gratifying and overweening badge of senior. In ITER something you cannot run away is the series of classes and sessionals going on in a rigorous and uncompromising regime hardly without a miss thereby making us tough and resilient. Second year was almost same with classes and classes and classes…we felt like we are still in school…..no fun n masti…hardly any Outdoor activities…life was monotonous, prosaic and stereotyped but still then we managed to get into the groove for some jollification and recreation which was the forte of ITERites. Our CGPA went down with every semester passing by but it no way proved to be an alarm for improving in the next. We started our semester with loads of promises of reading the entire semester thereby improving our CGPA. But…after all we sincerely believed ‘Promises are made to be broken’…

As expected, second year went off smoothly (but nevertheless boring) without any fuss or happening. We entered into the third year with an egotistical tag of ‘Super Senior’ and started making elaborate arrangement for an incredible and ripping ‘MechaMedjidie’, our welcome function which once again started the trend of intermingling with our juniors. It was a sensational day with stupendous dancing, remarkable singing,…and what not. We had a blast and rapport with our juniors was something we will never forget. I along with my friends and some juniors started the trend of technical festival ‘CHAKARVYUH’, a first of its kind in ITER that challenged every soul with innovative, pioneering and ground-breaking line up of events.

The following summer vacation was put to use by many as ‘campus recruitment’ was hanging over our heads. Meanwhile our seniors were grilled by different companies as we were grilled by our pedagogues in the third year. With each company passing by we could find certain amount of anguish, disconsolateness, wretchedness, dejection, gloominess…simultaneously euphoria, ecstasy, elation, jubilation…triumphed. With every passing day name and fame of ITER grew and so also our infrastructure. Still then our entire third year was as usual full of classes without any sessionals due to unavailability of requisite machinery and equipments which was someway frustrating especially for those who were aspiring for a core job. The inclination towards core sector was on the decline due to this. Nonetheless we were extremely fortunate to have being trained from our resourceful, inventive and intellectual faculty of our department especially our very lovable and endearing Professor P.K Kar Sir.

Time was flying fast and we could feel the wave of ‘campus recruitment’ drawing close…too close. The red letter day was 3rd March, 2006 and ‘WIPRO’ made its way to hit us like anything as the maiden company. We were highly-strung and some way apprehensive about our hysterical future. You could easily find flustered, timorous and fretful souls sheltered in formal clothing with butterflies in stomach waiting for their turn to be grilled and I was no exception. But with the grace of the Almighty and benediction of my parents as well as my mentors, I could see the way which was blocked hours before with a job in ‘WIPRO’ in my lap. I was floating on air in high spirits gleefully. And I was…The emotions was all the same as the previous year. With each company passing by I could find certain amount of pain, desolation, heartache, depression, affliction…simultaneously exultation, joyousness, ebullience, exhilaration…triumphed. However, the recruitment has been a record with maximum number of students getting placed and the obvious credit goes to none other than our very own Professor R. K Hota sir whose flamboyant persona and efficient managerial skills proved to be instrumental.

You hate it or love it, ITER has been victorious and booming despite having inefficient infrastructure and it boasts of students who are smart and hard workers known for astuteness and brainpower. Hopefully our juniors are resourceful and competent enough to carry the legacy miles ahead. In the meanwhile two new buildings, basketball court, centralized library have been constructed and is symbolic of our flourishing and affluent growth and escalation. Wherever we go from here but the images as well as reminiscences of Sarap Sir and his black dots, Hota Sir and his reverberating smile, our entire department and their cooperation…canteen…genesis…chakravyuh…will linger in our memory for years to come. As we say, you can take an ITERite out of ITER but not an ITER out of an ITERite. Anyways our 7th semester is 17 days far away….Mahindra and Mahindra 4 days away…and I am still into this article. Soon promises will flow but end up reaching nowhere as we sincerely believed ‘Promises….’ This is my story 3 ½ years down the line and hopefully my last contribution to the college magazine….completely unaware of another ½ …for the reason that where ITER is concerned, expect the unexpected…

MY EXPERIENCE

3 ½ years down the line