"My name is bla bla.... I got 10 CG in 10th.... I'm preparing for JEE..." My introduction 30 seconds including personal details when I was giving an Interview for NDA. I obviously didn't have a 'personality' as interviewer remarked. What did he even mean by personality?

Well, I was a studious student, the kind who follows rules, sits on the front bench and raises hands on every question teacher asks. But if you take those books and results away, there weren't really any stories of my school life that I could tell. ( I do now, cause I'm a good storyteller, Shh 🤫)

Fast forward to college, I knew what I wanted from my college life, besides placement. And for sure, TIET had a lot to offer. I started exploring my interests. I attended as much Orientations and Fests as possible. I built off-road vehicles, robots, learned dancing, singing, started doing poetry, and all kind of fun.

But the significant portion of learning and experiences came from my journey of joining TAAS at its inception to becoming Gensec of society. In TAAS, I started learning more about myself, socializing, developing soft skills, learning team work, setting up my own networks and methodologies, refining ways of working and interest areas, increasing knowledge and using it.

I learnt how to manage events and how much effort goes in organising one, the type of multi-tasking needed, the leadership skills required to make people work in unison. Being a leader also makes you responsible and accountable. Moreover, I was gaining all this experience in a safe environment. Alongside, it gave me much needed break from studies, made me learn to work for a dream, and guess what? Adds a lot of weight to your resume. I could almost spend half of interviews talking about this. Most importantly, I had fun.

Best part? You know, you can talk to some for years, and stay friends but you talk to someone for the first time and find a connection. Everyone in TAAS was like that. They were my kind of people. That's what I love most about TAAS."

"TAAS was not just a society for me, but a cheerful gift, which came into my life in my third year. I along with Bandhan Goyal (founder) and others, started TAAS with very few enthusiastic workers. Gradually, the zeal of knowing ourselves in this vast cosmos- who we are? Why do we exist? What's the purpose of life? And endless questions to discover ourselves apart from the academic framework of the institute. Gradually, number of TAAS members increased and we started celebrating astronomical events and days, organising educational tours, visiting stronomical observatories, guest lectures from prominent scientists, sky gazing nights, etc. TAAS is now recognised by all the reputed schools of the city. After 2 years of leaving the institute and being a day scholar, what makes me still bonded with TIET is TAAS only. Educating and promoting science is an ultimate goal of myself, and TAAS is the backbone. We all here at TAAS not only share our knowledge, but also gain a lot of more about space stuff from our fellows. It's difficult to explain in words but TAAS has certainly been the best out of all things happened to me during my life at TIET."

"As someone who generally stays in his own shell and doesn't like getting out of his comfort zone, joining TAAS was a key decision in my life. My interest in astrobiology and terraforming led me to take this decision, and my time in TAAS turned me into something of an astrophile myself. I also gained much-needed life experience in the society. In my final year, I also contributed graphically, by designing posters using stock images, bringing out my creative side. Overall, I would say TAAS brought out the best in me."