A Day in the life at IIT Kanpur

A day in my life at IIT Kanpur is pretty hectic but rewarding and fun at the same time! I would go to the extent of saying that it’s pretty darn awesome as well.

I wake up in the morning sometime between 7:30 AM and 7:50 AM when I have compulsory 8 AM lectures. I usually skip breakfast and attend the lecture. If time permits after the lecture, I go back to my hall (that’s what hostels are called in IIT Kanpur; mine is Hall 5) and have breakfast. Although the truth is that I mostly end up grabbing something from the academic area Cafe Coffee Day. I’ll usually sit at CCD until about 10:50 AM and attend 11 AM - 1 PM lectures. Coffee helps me fight sleep during lectures.

A generic square placeholder image with rounded corners in a figure. — ₹35.00 cafe latte

I go back to my hall to have lunch and a shower. Fridays are my favorite days for lunch because they serve chicken curry during lunch.

On days when I have a lab session to attend, lunch usually turns into a 10 minutes affair. I rush to complete the write-ups and head to the lab by 2 PM. Labs usually run from 2 PM - 5 PM. After that, I attend another lecture from 5 PM - 6 PM. I usually head to CCD after lectures and sit there until 7 PM or so.

Dinner is served from 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM, allowing me to be flexible about the time I walk into the mess. On days when I miss out on the shower, I usually have a quick shower before going for dinner. It’s flexible though, sometimes I have the shower around midnight and then head to KD Building (Old CSE building) for some work.

I love CCD and KD Building and spend most of my time there. My friends complain that they always find my room locked but they’ve started accepting my love for these spots. I try to grab a bar of chocolate from the campus E-Shop when I pass by the shop and eat while cycling along the way.

Whenever possible I try to head to the OAT (Open Air Theatre) after working at KD until 2 AM or so or when I feel like, I spend the night at KD itself. I love OAT, and whenever I go there I grab a chicken roll and sit there listening to music on Spotify for about 30 minutes or so. Yes, the Kathi roll shop remains open until 4 AM in the morning.

I usually sleep about 4-5 hours during weekdays and sleep until 10 AM, sometimes into afternoons when there are no lectures. It’s probably not healthy to do so, but I can’t seem to find ways around it. I try to walk around the campus if I’m not in a hurry or with friends. Otherwise, I cycle around the campus mostly. The campus is a big one, but most of my activities are centered around Hall, Academic Area, CCD, KD, and OAT.