Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal
It was July 31, 2013, when I got my confirmation letter to NIT BHOPAL. My whole family was on cloud nine because of two reasons, the first one was that my uncle was already living there and the other one was that Bhopal was not very far from my home town (Jaipur). It is undoubtedly one of the best cities that I have ever visited, clean, peaceful and green. I reached bhopal on August 4, 2013 which also happens to be my birthday date. Next day was the admission day and a whole new and unpredicted life was waiting for me. I went to college with my uncle to complete the admission process. As I reached there a broad smile arose on my face seeing the entrance which was so astounding. There was 1.5 KM long ramp leading to the college’s main building. As I ascended the ramp, my curiosity increased with distance and the view became more and more breathtaking. The campus spreaded over 650 Acres in Bhopal.
I could see the main building now which was also beautiful. The admission procedure had started. It took me 4 hours to complete the whole process. After the completion of the admission process the struggle for hostel allotment began which was also time consuming. I was allotted Hostel no. 1 which was apparently safe form ragging. When I entered the hostel, it seemed like a jail in which the caretaker will provide you your jail room number. My room number was 1105. I thought that it would be a single room but each rrom was accomodated with 4 people. The rooms were not so large, but you had to live there somehow. Initially it was quite difficult for me to live with four unknown students, but as the the time passed everything became normal .Someone has rightly said that life teaches you lot at every step.
This was the first lesson of my college life. You have to learn to adjust in adverse conditions and share almost everything with your roommates. You can't hide anything and it’s better not to. This is a really helpful lesson that the hostel life teches you.
First year hostel
In my hostel there were 130 rooms and the hostel was divided in wings (A-F). As the days passed, the number of known faces around grew and many of them became good friends.
Mess
Everyone knows the Indian college’s mess. It was quite surprising for me that more than 250 students could eat food together. There were no people in the mess for serving the food, you had to do self-service. One awesome thing was that there were 4 meals (breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner) per day. So there was never a problem for me like: ‘Bhuk lagi hai'
First day class
My stream was MSME, so one would imagine that there would be no girls in the class. But thankfully there were 10 girls in my class. On the very first day, I was quite late for the class. When I reached there, an old teacher taught something in the high level language of engineering that was far beyond my imagination, but the time passed quickly. Next lecture was also boring and this time it was hard for me to spent time. In lunch break, some seniors came in my classroom. They were scolding the students for their dresses. They said to the class, “From the next day every student should be in formal dress. It is compulsory for students otherwise seniors… blah blah blah”
Also there were some rules according to seniors. These were called FUNDAS. So many rules were there. Like Intro format was…
(Excuse me sir…good morning sir…excuse me sir…my name is …, MSME…, Jaipur Rajasthan.)
Societies/Events
In my college there were different societies related to different activities (Rubaroo, Rotract, ISTE….). After spending one month in the college, regular events of societies began and it was compulsory to attend every event for the first year’s, otherwise your seniors would scold you. Because you were new in college so your seniors persuaded you by saying that this event had importance in your future life. But when you came in final year then you saw that there is no importance of these events and certificates. No one will judge you on their basis. But those were college rules and everyone had to follow.
In the second year, I switched my stream to Electrical. Then I got the feeling of engineering. It was the time when rotor rotated. That day I felt that I was in engineering college. I started to explore BHOPAL and my college. It was also nice experience for me.
Hostels
There are 10 hostels in my college. Some of them were newly built, but the condition of hostels was inversely proportional to your graduation year. But with time, these hostels became our second homes and we got attached with them.
Following a crowd blindly(going with the flow)
In second year, 3 semester, most students followed the bhed chaal. 70% students joined Made Easy as GATE/IES coaching. They spent lots of money on this just because their friends were doing the same. But when they came in 3 year many of them realised that this was never the thing they wanted to do. This is a fact, but you notice only when everything has happened.
Finally, the last year was very amazing, life full of surprises. In this year, campus drive, internships, GATE, CAT, GRE all happened. You choose your next step in life for your bright future. I chose higher studies. At the end I also felt nostalgic about my prestigious college (MANIT) and the beautiful city of BHOPAL.
Someone truly said that….
‘If you didn't live the college life, you can't experience the joy of life'
Thank you MANIT
Ek Muddat baad mili qaid se Aazadi,
per kismat to dekho…
jb Aazadi mili,
to Pinjre se pyar ho gya
You will be remembered….