The B-Mid Obituary

The B-Mid Obituary

On the 30th of May, 2003 an entire group of students passed away. This obituary deals with the lives of those eighteen students who, in the last year of their lives lived in the middle ‘B’ wing of Hall-1 of IIT Kanpur.
Each had arrived here from different backgrounds and routed different paths during their stay. Each talked differently, lived in different fashions, had multifarious perspectives of life and morality and all of them were yet tied together by an imperceptible bond – that strand of propinquity more important than any inherited fraternity.
In the very first room of the linear wing lived Rohit. He hailed from the neighbouring city of Lucknow - a most simple, childishly mischievous boy who was honest to the brink of irrationality. He was sincere in his feelings and playful to the core. All that knew him loved him for his unpretentious nature. His dreams about his future were vivid and his determination enviable. He will be remembered and missed by many.
Next to Rohit lived his roommate of previous years, Parth. Parth had a deceivingly innocent face and a penchant for befriending the opposite sex. He had a complex mind, always conflicting with itself. With his outright manner of talking and cynical statements he never made a spontaneous favourite. A guy who would stand by his friends through thick and thin, people will often remember his writing talents.
Next in the order was muscular Neeraj. Neeraj was ebullient, talkative and loud, someone whose presence was unmistakable. A romantic to the core, Neeraj found friendship with the opposite sex indispensable. His sense of humour was scathing and everyone avoided messing with him for the same reason. He was extremely emotional under his ruddy cover and very responsible under his casual exterior. This good student will be long remembered for his repartees and perpetual cheerfulness.
Probably no one in the wing was as fickle as Samarth, who lived next to Neeraj. He meddled in life’s various hues, every time sure that he wanted his whole life painted in the colour he was singularly attracted to. It is so tough to now write about him because his nature and habits were as varied as the music he heard or the clothes he wore and as extreme as the climate of Kanpur. The memories of his smile and his ability to cheer others with it will torment people for quite some time.
Abhinav lived next door, or at least that is what the hostel records said. Few were as intelligent and fewer as undecided as he. When sure of his objectives he could achieve them with commendable ease. He could adjust easily and was an opinionated person. His forgetfulness and an unkempt room were his unmistakable characteristics. People alleged he set himself strange targets, but as long he had passion, be it for the basest of things, it made him respectable. His soulful voice and intelligence are indelibly printed onto the pages of our memory.
Parveen lived next door, the sharp, world-wise, street-smart boy from Faridabad. He was neat and arranged in his lifestyle and work. He hated disorder. At any particular time one could expect the most acerbic comments or the most thoughtful advice from him. His friends were many and he could speak with authority and camaraderie with equal ease. People will remember his smiling face and pranks.
The next room was always crowded at night for in it lived Abhilash, the butt of all jokes, the softest soul to hit, every prank’s brunt-bearer. Abhilash – who was very simple and caring, who was always worried about what others thought of him, who was polite and friendly. People loved teasing him because he was never flustered. He loved being teased and that made him a very unique person. He was an agony aunt to his closest friends. He did the most difficult tasks with alarming ease and then the simplest ones would ruffle him to desperation. His friends will recall the intensity of his emotions.
The burly, brown-eyed Bihari boy, Ajit lived next. His laughter was very infectious and his leg-pulling eschewed by one and all. He could be your best friend and your worst enemy. Ajit could not trust people easily and that meant that he considered very few his true friends. But to say that the opposite was true would be a sheer lie. Everyone was ever eager to entrust him with one’s darkest secrets. His ability to keep the same till his very end will make his loss ever tougher to bear for those left behind.
Ajit’s partner-in-everything, Sandip, was a tough mind to read, the nut that wouldn’t crack. Even Freud would hold his head in amazement, were he to unravel Sandip’s onion-brain. Sandip thought a lot and spoke much less. When excited he became refreshingly childish. His jokes were always laughed at and his troubles brooded over by many. In troubled waters he would be the last man standing beside you. His presence was a reassurance in itself. Though he was neither talkative nor loud, his decisions would usually transcend and become the group’s decisions. Such was his grasp over his clique. The demise of this faithful soul will be sorely felt.
Yogesh lived in the next room. He was haughty and temperamental. Everyone avoided ruffling his feathers. Though his fury was unforgiving he was mostly very friendly and accommodating. He was very determined; he could slog in the true sense of the word and never left any task unfinished. He was perennially surcharged with energy and was a good team-man. The loss of such a youthful man in his prime is regrettable.
The next room was open only at night. Nikunj would wake all night working hard at his innovative endeavours – those brainy contraptions they made from a keyboard. He would then proceed to sleep all day. He was blessed with an amazing brain and a sharp sense of humour. He could understand people, situations, feelings and problems better and faster than most others. He was the wise man to be consulted when it came to the academic troubles and he always had a cheerful disposition. Liked and respected by all, Nikunj, left behind a large and sorry group of followers and fans.
Nikhil, Nikunj’s neighbour, had a celebrity’s status in college. Few were strangers to this sharp, portly, good-humoured and hard-working Mathur boy from Jaipur. He liked attention and had everything in him to attract the same. One could not remain annoyed with him for long. He ruffled and soothed people’s tempers with equal ease. A daunting task of assignments would disappear in a day when the determined boy stepped into the shoes of the otherwise sleepy boy. He had a very balanced and mature mind and if there was a funeral, Nikhil’s must have been well attended.
Pradeep lived next. He was a silent, sweet and restrained. His face was always adorned with a smile and he rarely spoke without being asked a question. In fact he spoke so less that it is tough to gage his personality. Not just tough, nearly an insult. To try and measure up or classify the dignified ‘Kakoo’ will be nearly undue. Always calm and composed, he remained smiling to his very end.
Anuj, with his huge repertoire of jokes made an essential part of all wing-congregations. He suffered from periods of silence, when he stayed alone in his room, brooding with books and toiling with paper and pen. Then he was overcome by periods of insane cheer when he was neither in his room nor in his senses. Then he would laugh and make others laugh too. Till his very end he hid his softer emotional side very artfully. He left several people teary-eyed.
Anusheel was the wing’s most puerile individual. He was moody and did only those things he enjoyed doing which included among other things, watching animated movies and loitering in the most unearthly places and the most inhumanly hours. To say that he was a child in the guise of an adult would be an understatement. He was very intelligent but applied it to his fields of interest only. Probably he was not meant to mature. But that we will never be able to find out!
Abhinandan lived next door. He had a special talent. He knew best where and when to concentrate his efforts and also how to enjoy free time to the fullest. He was hard working and hence Lady Luck had no qualms smiling upon him. He laughed a lot, rarely panicked and always had backup plans. Though he was careless and unarranged, he never lost track of his progress. The loss of this cheerful and helpful person is an irreplaceable loss.
In the last and largest room of this wing lived two people – Tapish and Saurabh. Tapish was an argumentative boy and a fighter to the core. He never gave up easily and never accepted anything without a lot of questions and ensuring that it was really worth accepting. He was always honest while making judgments about himself or his abilities. Also he never beat around the bush and meant what he said. Thus having a clear picture of his status he charted his route of progress. Towards his end he made a sea change in his attitude and grew more receptive, more sociable. Saurabh, on the other hand, was not the kind who said everything he thought or felt. In different gatherings he was a different person altogether. He was so full of nicety that he made an easy target to jokes and pranks of others. Saurabh was not the most mature of all and had a lot of this big mean world to see. Probably his polite and friendly nature stemmed from this lack. These lads of 219 will be missed by all who met them.
Eighteen young men died that fateful summer night and eighteen passionate hearts stopped beating. Each had behaved differently and created his own realm within the shade-protected corridor of ‘B-Mid’. Their sounds are gone. All of them have moved on to a different, more scathing world, never to return to these lusty precincts. Yet, ‘B-Mid’ knows no silence or mourning. Eighteen new hearts are beating there only to pass away on another fateful summer night.