The Leap of faith

I was in the last semester of my MSc at IIT Bhubaneswar. It was quite a hectic time since I was working on my project and constantly questioning what I would do after my MSc. However, during my MSc period, I developed an interest in the pure tech field. Until that point, I had been deeply involved in rigorous mathematics and theoretical physics (if I may say, I was doing fancy stuff). I wanted to transition into the tech industry, specifically AI.

I had already decided to pursue an MTech, and admission to MTech programs at IITs/NITs obviously required a good GATE score. Since I was in my last semester and occupied with my project, the GATE exam was just 14-15 days away. I remember one fine morning when I woke up and decided to crack GATE at any cost one more time with a good score. (I had already cleared GATE before joining my MSc.) My goal was to secure admission to a reputed institute in Data Science or a technical background—one way or another, I wanted to join a technical course to transition into the tech world, especially AI.

So, I pulled myself together and started preparing for GATE from morning to night while also managing my project. (It was like Captain America in Endgame when he tightens his shield and says, “Avengers Assemble!” For me, it was “Tejas Assemble!”). When the GATE results came, I was thrilled because I knew I would land in a good MTech program at an IIT.

I applied to several IITs and received multiple MTech offers. The first offer was from IIT-BHU, but it was for Metallurgical Engineering, so I rejected it. Then, I got an offer from IIT Delhi’s MTech in Atmospheric-Oceanic Science & Technology. I was very excited—after all, it was IIT Delhi! However, I waited for other offers and eventually received an offer from IIT Madras. Initially, I was hesitant to choose IIT Madras over IIT Delhi, but my father advised me to consider it. Given IIT Madras’ stellar reputation (NIRF-1:), I decided to enroll. Ultimately, I joined the MTech program in Electrical Engineering at IIT Madras!

Now, the challenge was that I had never properly studied circuits or electronics due to my physics background. Plus, I never really liked studying circuits—or perhaps I never gave them enough attention. In my first MTech semester, I had a core course on Analog and Digital Circuits. Since I was now an Electrical Engineering student, most of my peers were from BTech backgrounds, making it relatively easier for them. However, I struggled since the professor assumed everyone had prior knowledge of circuits or electronics.

To cope with this gap, I devoted one hour daily to studying electronics and circuits from scratch while making detailed notes using two colors for clarity. Despite this effort, in my first quiz on analog and digital circuits, I scored only 5 marks out of 20—the second-lowest in the class. This result made me tense since I had put in so much effort yet scored poorly. After this setback, however, I continued with my approach—dedicating proper time to areas where I struggled—and importantly received help from a special person who taught me digital electronics concepts that really helped me improve. In the second quiz, I scored 18 marks out of 20—it felt like a comeback scene straight out of a movie!

IIT Madras is an amazing institute, both academically and socially. Since I had completed most of my core courses in the first semester, I focused on electives in the second semester. I chose courses related to Data Science and AI. These were some of the toughest courses at IIT Madras, but I took the risk and successfully completed them.

In my third semester, I joined Prof. Kaushik Mitra’s Computational Imaging lab for my MTech thesis (ongoing). My MTech project is on the 3D High Dynamic Range reconstruction of static and dynamic images using Gaussian splatting. It’s a very cool topic with applications to AR/VR technologies. I mean, sometimes it feels like a dream to me that once I dreamt of doing MTech into AI but landed into electrical; however, I finally landed in the field of data science and AI through IIT Madras’s great curriculum/academic structure, which allowed me to explore what I like. This institution has changed my life to a great extent, both academically and personally. I will always be grateful towards the institute.

Well, all this requires a leap of faith with hard work, as we say in Marathi, “केल्याने होत आहे रे, आधी केलेची पाहिजे,” which means “It gets done by doing, it should be done first.”