Life of an Engineer at SRM Institute of Science and Technology
Let me show you SRM through my eyes but you better wear glasses or it will be a blur just like the last three years I spent here. Time does fly past you when you have so many assignments to submit, internal exams to take, pass that bar of 75% attendance, have a social life, and still manage to work on skills, co-curricular activities, various projects, etc. Well what can I say? This is the life of an engineer!
SRM is a well-known private institute, having 5 campuses across India. I studied at the main campus, Kattankulathur (KTR) located in the outskirts of Chennai, 45 min from the airport, near a highway across the Potheri Railway Station which conveniently provided public transport to the students. The KTR campus is divided into two parts — the main campus comprising streams like mechanical, civil, mechatronics, and automobile along with the placement cell, while the other is the annexure campus which includes the university building (UB), the School of Biotechnology, Architecture, and Law as well as the bright and colorful Tech Park (TP) which harbors courses like Computer Science, IT, Software, Electronics, and Communication.
A normal day at college started with a rush to reach the 8 AM classes and getting coffee with Maggi for breakfast. For lunch, the campus food court, JAVA Green is where the whole college gathered. The Shawarma rolls were very popular here! The tech park canteen and the stalls in the main campus also can help satiate your cravings. Exhausting lectures were followed by meetings with your club members or fest organizers, while evenings were spent hanging out with friends near the UB hydrant pipes with the cool breeze fanning your face, till the security guard shooed us off! The day used to end with continuous cribbing about hostel timings and planning out the next day.
Aaruush, a 4-day techno-management festival organized by the students, gave a fun opportunity to interact with the seniors as well as imbibe event management skills. The expo and the various guest lectures helped us be updated about the current technologies with an added advantage of enjoying the amazing evening shows — from concerts and DJ nights to stand-up comedy and open mics. Every event brought mouth-watering but overly crowded food stalls which every student loved. Milan, a cultural fest organized by the Directorate of Student Affairs (DSA), helped the students showcase their talents. From fashion shows to dance competitions and rap battles to beat-boxing face offs, the campus glittered with creativity. The SRM MUN is a sophisticated national level conference where students from across universities debated over world issues. They also collaborated with the UN information center for Bhutan and India along with campaigns like HeForShe and Teach for India. There are many events arranged by every department as well. They have guest lectures, symposiums, and other such minor events to help the students explore new opportunities. I’ve also been an active participant, whether it be working in different committees as an over-enthusiastic volunteer or working as the Head of Event and Resource Management team in MUN. I strongly believe enthusiasm in various events helps you explore and expand your horizons which leaves you with some of the best memories in your otherwise mundane college life.
One of my favorite things about my college is my hostel room; it’s incredibly comfortable! If not in my room, I would probably be found at the Tech Park stairs on a windy day or at the Regency, a tea shop near the college. The former is a nice place to just hang out, chat, work, take meetings, and if nothing else, just sit peacefully with a warm cup of tea in your hands.
Surrounding the campus are numerous apartments, convenience stores, food outlets, and an alarming amount of Photostat shops. For all those who love traveling, there are some beautiful places to visit. Sadly you’ll have to travel a lot; it’s better to plan a weekend trip to Puducherry than spend two hours on the local train to go to the beach! That being said, Chennai does have the longest beach in India, Marina Beach, known for its touristic significance, but I would rather recommend Elliot’s beach; it is cleaner and better. Besides the generic malls and theatres, there are some unique must-visit places like Dakshina Chitra; a walk into this forgotten museum would reveal the ways of living of our ancestors in the southern region. You can also plan a fun biking trip to Mahabalipuram!
College is indeed a blur of an amazing transformative journey — to a new and a mature you.
