SVNIT — An unexpected second home

“Where we love is home — home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.”

When we walked through those college gates for the first time, neither of us had the faintest of idea what this sprawling campus really had in store for us. You might have had been told dozens of times about the significance of your college life. But no pep talk could have ever prepared you for what was about to come. The writer surely didn’t have an idea.

Engineering; now that is a quite a popular buzzword in our country. Love it, hate it, or downright loathe it. You can’t ignore the fact that engineering is a big part of our youth culture. And in spite of our own aversion at times to it, the fact remains that we are a part of this system.

But what makes this the life-altering experience which it eventually turns out to be? Not the classes, the curriculum or the exams (even though they are somewhat of a part.) Quite simple, the people. The tremendous diversity of people an Indian engineering college holds within itself, from techies to writers to musicians (fortunately or unfortunately.) And I am not talking just about your friends or your classmates. Oh no, sir. I am talking about every single person who has had an impact, even if a minuscule one, during your stay in your college.

Even the most reserved or the most detached person gets impacted eventually; no matter how much the person might try not to be. The writer is a prime example. From the one amazing ACM fresher orientation which drove this Chemical major enough to eventually end up in GSoC, to the amazing college magazine editors who got him published and also introduced him to the awesomeness that is Quora. Or the hordes of amazing seniors you never even met but did amazing stuff, and inspired you to push yourself. The list is endless.

We will get affected in our own ways; some at the Galla (tea-spot), others while working late night for a technical project or even during a cricket match.

But one thing is for sure, if you shed your inhibitions a little and try to explore a bit, you will walk out much more than the kid who had walked in. You would have found a second home, and an extended family. So have fun, and explore yourself as much as you can during these years of transition.

As a Renesa Chief-Ed had somewhat put it in his farewell column during my fresher year, “You will discover yourself much more during these college years than you would during an exile in the Himalayas.”

I have. You too have your chance.