This is something which I wrote for the Godav Blog .
Seniors. Woah!, the name reminds me of all those awesome people we had in or hostel; each of them who taught us a lot of things. To learn is to observe and surely we have all done that. It is quite a trend at IITs for juniors to emulate what seniors have done here and to follow their footsteps. All of us learn a lot from our seniors here. After thinking over a bit on what would be, an apt topic to write on; I thought this article would make sense if it could remind all of us, how important a role ,our seniors have played in our lives.
So once upon a time there was this guy. He stepped into a 4 floored green coloured building with a beautiful garden on the front with Godavari engraved on a piece of rock. Like any other freshie, he had no clue of what was in store there. Scared he was, shy he was, a bit nervous he was. A lot happened in his mind. Random thoughts about home , parents and siblings. Strange people, having conversations with ‘raas’ and ‘daas’. The pressure of acads looming dark over him. And on top of all this, there were seniors.
We(our batch) were, like any freshie batch, shit scared of them , to start off. Our very first roll call, and I remember one senior coming in and saying: “Rajasthan waale sab get up!..aah you..come to room no: XYZ”. Back then, we sincerely hoped other states never had such an issue. But that was our first impression, which we realized was wrong after actually knowing them better. There are a lot of incidents that each one of us could share in our hostel days, wherein our seniors have taught us lessons. Let me enlist a few similar incidents.
While during the frequent quadi matches, me and a couple of first years were waiting outside the ground depserately awaiting our turn. In general freshies do not get a start in the first 10 in the quadi. Suddenly there is this senior(Let us call him X) who happens to be one of the best players of our hostel, slowly moving out and asking one of us to replace him. He comes out and tells us very silently with a pat on our back: “Guys I’m here only for a few more months and it’s your hostel from now on. You guys need to keep up the spirit and keep playing”. This gesture by him was genuine and he waited till all of us got a chance.
Then there was this senior (let us call him Y) who I remember kept alternating from one Schroeter match to another simply because he was good at all sports on earth. I still remember him coming to our footer match in our first sem, from a water polo match, fully cramped. For a second he was down and then he was up with a bottle of cramp spray, spread all over his body . “This is my last Ganga match and I need to play”. Both these incidents, in my first sem taught us what it meant to be a Godavite, and to be passionate and dedicated to what one was committed to.
I still remember those sports grooming sessions that we used to have in our freshie sem. Most of us would attest to the fact that, those fundaes from seniors actually laid our foundation in whatever we have done today. I can vaguely recollect those gyaan sessions when our seniors gave away footballing fundas, ranging from, passing the football around, to giving through balls, that would win goals. We sure had picked up a lot during those days. I am definitely sure, the same was with TechSoc and LitSoc. We truly had seniors who used to tell us like brothers, what they knew, so that we grew better, ultimately for a better Godav.
Then there was this very famous wing, the FIRST WING of Godav, which surely has inspired many juniors to follow. The wing taught us what it meant to be together, despite language, state, branch or whatever on earth. One of my wingies even went to the extent of saying : “Oye I was XYZ core daa and so was LMN the first wing senior , in our first year. I still cant believe it man!”
In short seniors at Godav have inspired us .They have taught us, guided us and essentially made things easy for us. Today we are seniors and sooner or later , all you juniors will be in our shoes. Have we inspired you, influenced you, motivated you? We hope yes! It was simply then, giving back the feeling we’d got from our seniors. I was talking a little before, about all the pain and pressure in the first sem. Most of it were sorted out after having these conversations with these people. From internship gyaan, to useful fundaes and life advices, they have influenced us in major ways and most importantly have taught us what life at Godav was.
A lot has changed in a span of 5 years here at Godav. We have a new block built up, we have a better common room today , we have lost our volley court. But even amidst all these changes, it’s quite amazing to see that there is still the same spirit of Godav within its inmates living on. It’s quite nice to find the same senior-junior bonding that was there in my first year exist even today. We sincerely hope it continues .
Well now, a lot of things go through my mind, the festival matches, wing sports, QoS, Inter-Hostel matches, Schroeter practice sessions, LitSoc. All of them suddenly pass through my mind in a jiffy. Good things come to an end they say. I hope this end comes slow.
