Finding My Path: Background

When I first joined IIT Roorkee, I never really thought I would sit for the on-campus internship drive. I had seen a few seniors land research internships at top universities abroad, and somewhere deep down, I felt I would follow a similar path — that being at IITR would give me that opportunity too.

I know my friends won’t believe me, but I never really stressed about academics — at least not in the conventional sense. I wasn’t someone who skipped every fest, outing or fun just to stay buried in books and sit in the library. In fact, during my entire time at IITR, I’ve studied in the library just twice — both times before ETEs. I never blindly copied tutorials either. I used to attend all my classes — well, except the 9 AM ones :/

I usually didn’t jump into solving tuts right away, but whenever no one was able to figure them out, I’d step in to help — and I was always able to score decently in exams.

In my second year, I got to know about programs like MITACS and DAAD-WISE. Around that time, I was spending a lot of time at the Tinkering Lab, where I was genuinely invested. That space gave me more than just hands-on experience. There, I had the chance to interact with an IITR alumnus who was pursuing his Master’s at MIT. His advice and suggestions significantly shaped the way I approached my academic and professional journey.

To anyone reading this: never hesitate to reach out to your seniors. Sometimes, clarity from someone who’s been in your shoes is the exact push you need.

Coming back to the programs — I found DAAD-WISE more competitive and challenging to get into than MITACS, so I decided to aim for that. Back then, it required a CGPA of 9.4+ along with a solid profile. I already had the CG (well above the cutoff), but I knew that strong letters of recommendation would be crucial. So, I started approaching professors in my department to work in their labs — which I eventually got to do. I also began mailing faculty members at other Indian institutions, looking for summer research opportunities.

Eventually, I received two offers — one from IISc Bangalore and the other from IIT Kharagpur. The Kharagpur offer came first, and fortunately, the professor allowed me to work remotely from my hometown, Ranchi, and visit the campus only when needed. Since Kharagpur is just four hours away from Ranchi, I decided to go ahead with it.

By the end of my 4th semester, I decided to give the on-campus internship drive a shot too. I knew the research internship would enhance my resume, but I didn’t want to be labelled as a “research guy” who would obviously go for higher studies and get rejected by companies on that basis. So, I started exploring corporate internships as well.

Through a referral from a senior, I managed to secure a Market Research internship at Loopworm Pvt. Ltd., a startup founded by an IITR alumnus. They were exploring expansion into the Tasar Silk market, and since the Central Tasar Research & Training Institute is located in Ranchi, I was a perfect fit for the role. The experience was rewarding, and the Loopworm team was incredibly supportive and generous.

So, during that summer, I was juggling between two internships — one research-based and one corporate. Alongside, I was also working on building my resume. I reached out to many seniors for feedback, refining and improving it wherever I could. Then came the crucial point — choosing which companies to target and beginning focused, strategic preparation.

Selective Strategy: When Two Companies Are Enough

I already knew about ITC and HUL — two companies well-known for offering handsome stipends to mechanical, electrical and chemical engineers, and more importantly, for providing core engineering roles. Unlike many of my peers, I was never into competitive programming or doing things just for the sake of getting a job. I tried looking for other companies that didn’t ask for coding skills, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find any worth targeting apart from these two.

To be honest, I had zero experience with coding (was proficient in MATLAB only) and never tried things like development, data science or finance. I was always inclined towards design — something I not only enjoyed deeply but was also quite skilled at. I had a strong command of mechanical engineering software tools too,so I decided to put all my focus on just these two companies.

At other IITs, a few more FMCG giants recruit mechanical engineers, but sadly, they don’t visit our campus. During our internship season, BCG also showed up — and while they don’t test on coding either, I wasn’t looking for a long-term consulting role. I did end up filling a rather messy form for them, but I had my eyes set firmly on the best-paying core profiles — ITC and HUL.

I reached out to some seniors for guidance, and the message was clear: solid command over core subjects and visible leadership potential is what these companies look for. I started googling common mechanical engineering interview questions and found that I could answer most of them right away — no special preparation needed. I knew my fundamentals were strong, and that gave me a lot of confidence going into the process — ki saare technical questions to easily answer kar hi dunga mai!

The Selection Process: But This Time with a Test

By then, my resume was completely ready. My OCD made sure I showed it to as many seniors as I could — I wanted to make it perfect to the pixel, and I was confident.

Then came the ITC application notice, but with a twist. Unlike previous years, where ITC would directly release a shortlist for GD after filtering resumes, they introduced a preliminary online test for the first time. Nobody had any clue what this test would include — and since IIT Roorkee was among the first campuses they visited that season, there was no help from folks at other IITs either.

While I was prepared for core mechanical questions, the test link arrived via Aon’s Assessment Solutions on the afternoon of the test, and I realized this wasn’t going to be anything like a conventional technical test. The online assessment had four parts:

• Inductive Reasoning – clx (Cognitive Assessment)
• MotionChallenge – Assesses complex planning, visual processing, and working memory
• Deductive Reasoning – gapChallenge – Think Sudoku, with logic grids and objects
• Numerical Reasoning – scales numerical (consumer compact)

I quickly googled everything about Aon’s testing interface and practiced like crazy. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the test! One of the puzzles was Sudoku-like and I totally nailed that one.

Eventually, the shortlist for GD came out and I made it. Although I knew my test had gone very well — well above what I believe the cutoff would’ve been — for some reason, I still feel the test was just a formality. I don’t know why, but that’s how it felt.

Before the GD, we were asked to fill out the famous “Mind Over Matter” form. It includes reflective questions about leadership experiences, decision-making,ethical dilemmas, and your views on handling real-world problems — and it plays a subtle but important role in shaping interview questions later. (It’s less about ‘correct’ answers and more about how you think.) ITC uses it to evaluate a candidate’s thought process, values, and vision.

Then came the GD round.

Our case was around a plane crash in the jungles of Assam, with a few survivors.We had to decide on a leader from among them. I had read earlier that ITC often chooses survival-based or ethically tricky group case studies, and this matched exactly with what I had prepped for.

Everyone rushed to start the GD — it quickly became a chaotic scramble to speak. I didn’t get the chance to open, but I made sure I was present consistently with solid facts and relevant data rather than just adding to the noise. I have to say, my UPSC prep came in very handy at this point. Haan mujhe UPSC hi dena hai finally, please don’t judge why I did all this :)

After the GD, there was a short Q&A by the panel — we answered some correctly, and some quite confidently wrong :\

We were told that interviews would be the next day, and I had it all planned — revise core topics at night. But then came a surprise: we were suddenly asked to come back for interviews in just 30 minutes. No time to blink.

The Technical Interview That Wasn’t All Technical

With only about 30 minutes to prepare, I rushed to my room, printed out all the required forms, and did a quick mental revision of key mechanical topics — mostly thermodynamic cycles and manufacturing concepts. I barely had time to catch my breath before my name was called.

I walked in confidently. The panel already had my resume. They offered me water and asked me to settle in. Then came the expected question: “With your CG, are you even planning to stay at ITC?” (For context, I’m DR1 with a CG of 9.68.)

I was expecting this. My profile leaned research-heavy, and I knew they would question my intent to join an industrial FMCG giant like ITC. I remained calm and confidently shared that I was looking for real-world impact — that I loved working hands-on with engineering systems and wanted to see the application of my skills in a large-scale, real-world setting. I didn’t waver, and that seemed to resonate with them. I knew this was a test. I held my ground and calmly reassured them that I was seriously considering a career at ITC.

The technical part came next — but surprisingly, it wasn’t a grill session. They asked me only three technical questions:

• Geneva mechanism — I explained its function, application in watches, and indexing mechanisms.
• Strain hardening — I broke it down with graphs, curves, and examples from materials engineering.
• Hyperelastic materials — a niche topic, but something I was familiar with due to my past research work at IIT Kharagpur.

Once I answered those confidently, the rest of the interview turned into a discussion about my extracurriculars, leadership roles, and why I thought I’d be a cultural fit at ITC. They seemed pleased. I left the room feeling relieved — ki ab to ho hi jaayega!

Then I came to know that one more round was left. I’m not kidding — I literally had no idea about the second interview at that time.

We were told to report at 6:30 AM the next day for the final round, and my turn came second-last. I was visibly tired but tried to stay composed.

The second interview was taken by much more senior people — some of them heading critical operations. The tone was different — slightly more conversational, but just as evaluative. What happened next, though, I could never have predicted.

As they glanced through my resume, one of the interviewers chuckled and said: “Ayush, tumhe 9 aur 6 ke saath kya obsession hai?” (My 10th, 12th, and CG all started with 96…)

And then, he realized what he had just said. The unintended pun (96… 69…) wasn’t lost on the room. The other panelist chuckled. I smiled. Barely held back laughter. The ice broke instantly, and what followed was more of an informal chat than an interview.

From that moment on, it became a friendly conversation. They asked about my mess menu, life at IIT Roorkee, even joked about the food I missed from home. It felt like they were trying to get a sense of who I really was — beyond the resume, the numbers, the technical jargon.

Toward the end, one of them even said: “We’ll try to give you a project that matches your interest area, so don’t worry.” That one line reassured me more than anything else — ki iss baar to pakka ho gaya, haha!

A few days later, the official list was out. I made it. I still remember calling my parents after that. I hadn’t told them anything about the internship process, so it took me a while to explain everything to them.

From Munich Dreams to Bhadrachalam Reality

Before jumping into the start of my internship at ITC, I know you must be wondering — what happened to my first love, DAAD-WISE?

Well, during the summer before the internship process, I had already begun mailing professors in Germany, hunting for research opportunities. I paused the process briefly while focusing on the ITC internship drive. But once that was done, I resumed my search — and this time, it clicked.

I received an interview call from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) — the best university in Germany and the one I was specifically targeting. Fortunately, I cracked the interview and secured the internship offer. In February, the result for DAAD-WISE was released and I had made it there as well. It was a dream come true — and I was overjoyed.

But here’s the catch — both internships, ITC and DAAD, were scheduled for the same time. I had to make a choice.

I found myself at a difficult crossroads, and I chose ITC because PIC had floated a form at the beginning of the internship drive which we were supposed to fill if we planned to opt for a research internship over an on-campus offer. I missed filling it, and due to that — and some complications on their end — I wasn’t allowed to skip ITC’s internship.

It wasn’t that I gave up on DAAD completely. I had already started working on my intern project remotely during the winter break and had completed a significant portion of my assigned tasks in December. After explaining my situation to the professor at TUM, he kindly agreed to let me finish the rest of the internship remotely.

So, while I was working at ITC, I was also simultaneously finishing my DAAD project remotely.

Here’s a fun coincidence: the same day I decided to drop my Munich plan and informed my professor, I got my project location from ITC — Bhadrachalam. From planning to walk through the streets of Europe to landing in a remote forested area in Telangana… I honestly just laughed at my fate. It was surreal.

But life has a funny way of rewarding you when you least expect it. What initially felt like a downgrade turned out to be one of the most transformative and fulfilling experiences of my life. Bhadrachalam wasn’t Munich — but in its own way, it gave me lessons, stories, friendships, and growth that no fancy skyline ever could.

Into the work at ITC

Our internship kicked off with a grand induction at ITC Sonar, Kolkata — a five-star hotel stay, onboarding sessions, and logistics all taken care of by ITC. (Usually, the induction for KITES interns happens in Bangalore, but ours was held in Kolkata.)

After the induction, we were escorted to our respective project locations. Now, let me tell you — ITC’s Bhadrachalam Unit is massive. It’s the largest integrated pulp and paperboard manufacturing unit in India. As a mechanical engineer, it felt like I had stepped into an engineering paradise.

There was everything — turbines, turbo-generators, pumps, motors, heat exchangers, cooling towers, chillers — all with Industry 4.0 technologies implemented across the plant. I could finally see in reality what I had only read about in textbooks.

My accommodation was shared (which I initially grumbled about), but that too turned out to be a blessing in disguise. My roommate — a sharp, easygoing guy from IIT Kharagpur — became a great friend, and together we made some of the best memories of our internship.

Despite my initial disappointment, those two months became one of the most cherished phases of my journey. And I must say — ITC truly gives its interns a lot of freedom. Just like you read in other interns’ blogs, we had the liberty to explore, experiment, and even challenge norms — all while having full supportfrom mentors and engineers around us. The work culture was professional, yet warm and respectful.

While I can’t dive into project specifics due to confidentiality, I can share this:

My core project was about developing Data Historian Pages for Heat Exchangers — aimed at shifting from scheduled maintenance to predictive maintenance. I picked up all the relevant industrial software tools quickly, and by the end of the first month, I had already completed my assigned project.

Impressed by the pace, my guide organized a meeting to extend the project scope — and over the next month, I ended up completing four additional projects. By the end of my internship, the work I implemented had a projected annual savings of more than ₹2 Crore.

My guide and buddy were thrilled, and during my final presentation to the CEO of my division, I received great feedback. It felt immensely rewarding.

But what truly made those two months at Bhadrachalam unforgettable were the moments outside the factory gates — the unexpected, unplanned bits of life that added color to an otherwise industrial routine. Every week, we looked forward to our spirited football matches under the open sky until one day I actually broke my right leg while playing, and somehow, even that turned into a joke that lasted for weeks. The factory campus was surrounded by dense greenery, and monkeys roamed so freely that we used to walk in groups, sticks in hand, just to save ourselves from surprise encounters. I became an absolute fan of the rawa dosa they served in the mess, so much so that we often raced there just to get our share before it ran out. These small things- the after-work hangouts, the quiet sunset walks, the endless banter with fellow interns, they stitched together a feeling of comfort I had not expected. For a place I had once dreaded going to, Bhadrachalam ended up giving me some of the most wholesome memories of my life — memories I’ll carry far beyond the gates of ITC.

Final Takeaways

To my juniors and anyone preparing for ITC — if there’s one thing I’ve truly realized through this journey, it’s that confidence is key. The way you speak, the way you carry yourself, the clarity in your thought — it all adds up. Technical knowledge does matter, but how you present it matters more.

So don’t get overwhelmed by the process. Don’t overthink or over-stress. And most importantly — don’t tie your self-worth to one internship or one company’s PPO.

Yes, I received a Pre-Placement Offer from ITC and I’m grateful for the recognition. But to be honest, I was never desperate for the PPO, and I wasn’t chasing it. From the very beginning, I focused on doing justice to my project — giving it my best — not because I was aiming for a PPO, but because I genuinely enjoyed the work. I delivered far more than what was expected of me, and I was fully aware of the value I added.

For me, the PPO wasn’t a surprise — it was simply the natural outcome of that. But even more valuable than the PPO was the experience itself — the learning, the growth, and the people I got to work with.

And let me be very honest: Getting the PPO doesn’t mean I — or anyone who did — was better than those who didn’t. In fact, many were more talented, more sincere. But maybe luck just didn’t play in their favor that day.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that ITC’s internship projects vary drastically in complexity — some are relatively easier, while others are far more challenging. Sometimes, missing a PPO isn’t about performance; it’s about the project context, timing, or evaluation criteria.

Every intern is assigned a guide and a buddy — and with the right approach, everything is possible. Just focus on what’s in your control — or as they say, “control the controllables”. Don’t lose sleep over things beyond your hands.

If you’re preparing for FMCG companies, know that there’s not a massive amount of separate preparation required — but what’s essential is being thorough with your resume. Be honest, and be ready to defend every single point you’ve written. Authenticity always leaves a better impression than exaggeration.

Also, understand the selection process well. Read blogs like those on Watchout! IITR, and also check out the Medium page of the Student Welfare Group, IIT Kharagpur. And if you want the best prep resources, don’t miss BSP, IIT Delhi.

Yes, I know it’s easier to give such gyaan after getting the PPO. Maybe I would’ve broken down too, had I not made it. I’ll be very honest.

I’m the kind of person who gets affected deeply by failure. When things don’t go my way, it doesn’t just disappoint me — it breaks me from the inside out. It’s not like I don’t put in the effort — I always give my 100%, every single time. But when that effort doesn’t translate into results, it used to feel unbearable.

Resilience wasn’t something that came naturally to me. A perfect example of this was during my hunt for a foreign research internship. I had applied to MITACS as well — a program that many (including me) considered slightly easier to get into than DAAD.

Ironically, I was not selected for MITACS — the one I thought would be easier to crack. But I was selected for DAAD-WISE — which is statistically much harder to get into.

Results won’t always make sense immediately, and effort doesn’t always pay off the way we expect. But that doesn’t mean it’s wasted.

It’s important to develop the ability to withstand, to bounce back, and to keep going even when things don’t go your way. While I didn’t face many setbacks in college, I now understand that setbacks are a part of the process.

So trust me when I say — give your 100%, every single time. The law of averages will always catch up with you. You might not succeed right away, but your efforts are never wasted. You may not succeed every time — but if you keep showing up and giving your best, success will follow. Maybe not immediately — but definitely.

So go after everything you want. Stay grounded. Stay humble. And don’t forget to enjo the journey.