An Interview with Gopal Garg
Q- Being the first recipient of Director’s Gold Medal, how do you feel and what motivation do you think the juniors should take from it?
Well, it was a totally unexpected gift for me. I’ve received an award from the Gymkhana, IIT BHU Varanasi but it was totally based on my organization. I’ve always wanted to send a message to my juniors that academics can quite easily be managed with all other activities. However, the students generally lose track thinking that they need to choose between academics and activities and carry forward only one. Participating in activities is considered to be a bad omen for getting good grades. I’ve seen a lot of people who, when they join the college, are interested in a lot of activities such as astronomy, sports, cultural activities etc. but they don’t pursue them. That is one of the main reasons, why, we do not perform as well in the outstation fests. But surely, things are improving for the good.
Talking about me, it was really a great feeling. When I first watched a video of the convocation ceremony, I always wanted to get a medal at the ceremony. But it was really difficult to get that position of department rank 1, I’ll be frank here, sometimes it becomes really challenging. Let’s say you have a class from 11 to 12, then you’ve to attend a meeting at Gymkhana which lasts from 12 to 1, then you’ve got to rush to the mess to have lunch 1 to 2, then class again 2 to 5, then Gymkhana again. This sometimes frustrates you. But thankfully, luckily, coincidentally whatever it is, I was able to manage that and yeah I am quite happy about all of it.
Q — Being good at everything takes a lot of toll, both time and energy. You were also a branch changer, and so you must have maintained your academics as well. What was your time management skill?
A- This is quite a weird thing. I don’t really know how it happened. To maintain academics, I really used to attend all my classes. For example-In my 8th semester, due to me being involved heavily in Technex, I had to skip a few classes, which really reflected on my pointer. Therefore I strongly believe that attending classes is quite essential. The greatest benefit being that during exams, you have to devote less time to study. Activities only stop a week before the final exams. Hence, if you attend regular classes, prepare notes and listen to the professors then you don’t have to give a lot of time for exams and can manage academics. Talking about activities, if you are really interested in any genre of the Gymkhana, you can easily manage, you just have to pursue it. You just have to maintain a good balance between academics and activities.
Q — Freshers always find it difficult in choosing the clubs. There’s always a lot going on in the college and freshers are confused whether they should choose a club they have an interest in or should they choose a club which develops their skills. How did you prioritize?
A- I was lucky enough that when I joined the college, there weren’t many clashes. The number of activities were quite low as well. So I attended all the club activities, whether they be the 5 clubs of Cultural Council, the 4–5 clubs of Science and Technology Council or the developing Film and Media Council. Regarding the choosing part, I decided to choose one club from each council. I was interested in Indian Music Club and Masquerades in cultural council, so I went to Aagman with IMC but from Kashiyatra onwards I went with theatre. So rather than choosing various clubs from same council, I chose one from each council as every council has something different to offer. A cultural council club would improve your cultural skills, your interaction skills and such soft skills. A technical council club will improve your technical skills, you’ll learn to tinker stuff. Sports council club would improve your mindset and help you be fresh. That helped me to choose between clubs.
Q — There’s a funny story. When I asked my seniors who was Gopal Garg, they just showed me your Facebook profile and you have done literally everything in the college. Do you still feel that something has been left out?
Yeah, the problem is, I love sleeping a lot. And most of the photography events, the photo walks used to happen early in the morning and I missed them. I really wanted to attend at least one but yet I missed that. Also clubs like robotics and Indian Music, I hadn’t tried them in my school. But I stopped pursuing what I used to do in my school like fine arts. I loved to do fine arts a lot in my school, but unfortunately I missed that too. So photography and fine arts are what I’ve left out.
Q — Someone told us that if IIT (BHU) was a nation, you would’ve been its number one patriot. What makes you love IIT (BHU) so much and what do you miss the most about it after passing out?
I’ve been to 5 different IITs apart from IIT (BHU). And the best thing I love here is the interaction and the bond between juniors and seniors. I really got quite great seniors and even greater juniors. My love for IIT (BHU) is for the people present here. I’ll tell you a funny story. Just a week before convocation or even before that, I had been receiving many messages from my juniors asking me for when I would reach Varanasi and that really makes me very happy. Students were a major part but I also feel that it was in IIT (BHU) only, that I could manage academics and activities both so efficiently.
Q- Holding the dutiful position of General Secretary of Science and Technology Council last year, what new did it teach you? You also started a lot of projects, could you please elaborate on them? Also, what are your expectations from the present members of SNTC?
For this position I must really thank my seniors that they trusted me for handling this huge position because when I was asked to apply for this post, I was really reluctant. I had held the position of Chess Captain but that was from a different council and I really had no confidence for this one.
After becoming the General Secretary, along with my two Joint General Secretaries, we found that Technex was quite famous amongst the students and the clubs were famous but ‘Science and Technology Council’ was practically non-existent. So our first motive was to build SNTC. We brought all the clubs under a single umbrella. Ravi, the joint general secretary’s vision and my execution were the key. I guess we were lucky enough that under our tenure, the club’s secretaries were really passionate about their genre and they helped us a lot to proceed in the way they wanted to. They often used to ping us to do stuff and when the club approaches the general secretary for doing something, it really makes us proud and inspired to give in our best. We increased the number of activities and rather than focusing more on one or two clubs, we focused on all the eight pillars of the council. We also moved in reverse order and focused on the student’s expectation from the club. If a student believe that a club should do a particular activity, we tried to incorporate that.
My expectation from the new members is that one thing we are still lacking is a vision. We are very much constrained towards the Gymkhana. We see participation only from the first year students and from the few interested second year students. But I feel that the Council should try to reach out to the whole college and not only to the 400–500 members. Apart from that we are really waiting for the Planetarium. The Director is happy with the proposal and let’s see when do we succeed in getting it.
Q — What problems, in your opinion, does our institute still face when related to academics and departments?
The problem in the academics and departments is the lack of collaboration between departments. Every department tries to work as a single entity but it shouldn’t be the case. For example in IIT Madras, the academics is completely centralized. IIT Madras has a 50% elective system, i.e. , students choose fifty percent of their courses. More electives are only possible with centralized academics. Decentralization is the biggest problem in IIT (BHU). But we are moving forward. We have established a central timetable, central examinations etc.
Apart from that, I feel the students are very much concerned about placements. It’s good that one is worried about his career but one should focus on Research as well. Because IITians are meant to contribute to research as well. This problem is more from the student side than the department side. A student might complain that there are not facilities for research but I believe that if you are motivated, you find or you make ways. Academics can not only be improved by the administration, the students have to contribute as well.
Q — You are an inspiration to all the students of IIT (BHU). What message and tips would you like to give to the fachchas?
The message I want to give to all fachchas is that if you want to do something, never give it a second thought. I feel that second thoughts kill a lot many dreams. Do not think that doing activities would destroy your academics. Both can be managed. Secondly, don’t let your ideas be killed. If an idea pops up in your mind, start working on it. Share it with your friends, members of the clubs, mentors, and seniors of your department. Just don’t keep it in your heart or your mind. Let it emerge. You’ll definitely find a mentor or a friend who’d help you with them.
