A lovely time ahead!
Well I guess I am becoming pretty irregular in posting new messages. However I am still getting used to the idea of typing down my feelings and experiences. A new week has started and the weekend is already around the corner. This time we have an extended weekend which is due to the Spring Fest which starts from thursday evening. Friday being a holiday we have no classes till monday.
Myself not being particularly addicted to english rock,metallic or in a more generic sense English music at all, this Spring Fest will be a low key affair for me. In all probabilty bands like Indian Ocean, Parikrama and Srings will be arriving. I plan to restrict myself to the quizzes and the Guest Lecture series. Apart from this the usual sight seeing goes without mention. Staying in a place like Kharagpur our eyes are starved of beautiful faces of the opposite sex. This is the only time of the year when the students get an oppurtunity to do so. This is mainly because of the fact that many outstation participants come to kgp during the fest. The usually deserted roads of kgp become clogged with students of different colleges.
What we kgpians rue during our entire stint at kgp is the lack of city life within the campus. Night bhaattings often revolve around the central theme that our fellow brothers in the other IIT's get to enjoy life much more than us. Barring Roorkee which has recently acquired the status of IIT the rest are all located within or in the vicinity of a major town. The student community feels that we have been segregated from the mainstream. For example take the case of IIT Delhi. It is located in the heart of Delhi, bordered by JNU on one side ISI Delhi on the other. Even the Delhi University is not far from the IIT campus. The students not only enjoy their hostel life but they can also avail of the facilities of the nation's capital.
The one question that repeatedly comes up in such discussions is why IIT Kharagpur was started in Kharagpur. About fifty years back when the first IIT was set up there was plenty of land available in both Calcutta and Bhubaneshwar( these are the nearest cities of some national significance barring Jamshedpur). So why was IIT not set up in either of these two places. Instead an old detention camp near the Hijli station was chosen as the site of independent India's first IIT. All the theories that it symbolises the emergence of a new and self dependent India rising like a phoenix from the ashes of colonialism do not much interest the students. The idea of a Gurukul type of learning as we have seen in the blockbuster movie Mohabbatein is pretty impractical in today's world.
From the academic point of view too, the location of Kharagpur is a major disadvantage. Many eminent researchers and teachers often shirk at the idea of coming to kgp. The same might be applicable to many companies which do not visit the campus. The idea of taking a flight to Calcutta, catching a train from the eternally crowded Howrah station and then taking a taxi from the station to the campus can scare any person out of his wits. Instead dont you think that it is far less cumbersome to go to IIT Chennai when it is only an hour's drive from the main airport? Atleast I would have chosen to go to the IIT which would offer me the least cumbersome travelling experience.
IITKgpians miss out on the city life. There can be no doubt about this statement. Yes, there a number of extracurricular events which are regularly held in order to keep the students busy. This leads to the all round development of the individual. All these points are acknowledged and accepted but it remains a fact that the junta out here is very frustrated. I have often heard many of my friends and seniors saying they will never return to kgp, leave kgp, they are so upset that they are not willing to come back to eastern India at any cost. The reasons for such comments are diverse but the the village like atmosphere in and around this lovely campus plays a certain( might be minor ) role in this. As a result the average kgpian is a pretty frustrated lot. As has been rightly pointed out by Mr. Sandipan Deb in his book " The iitians" students in Kgp are desperate to somehow get a degree and leave this place for good. Hardly any of us would like to stay here after completing our courses. However, there are plenty of good things about IIT Kgp as well, which makes it one of the best enginnering colleges of the country. I guess every coin has two opposite faces and one can not do anything about it apart from accepting it.
Spring Fest is the only time when we get a feel of the actual college life so typical of a city. It brings cheers to the faces of all and the students( myself included) forget our petty frustrations of assignments,seminars and enjoy to the hilt. Many go home, specially those hailing from Calcutta or Jamshedpur. But even they enjoy , don't they? Their source of enjoyment is from meeting there near and dear ones.
Even I have also gone home during the spring fest last time. However as I am unfortunately in a dual degree course( 5 yrs duration) and my friends in a btech course I shall be missing them next year. So my plans are to roam around with my friends as much as possible.
Hoping this Spring Fest will be a grand success!!!
Myself not being particularly addicted to english rock,metallic or in a more generic sense English music at all, this Spring Fest will be a low key affair for me. In all probabilty bands like Indian Ocean, Parikrama and Srings will be arriving. I plan to restrict myself to the quizzes and the Guest Lecture series. Apart from this the usual sight seeing goes without mention. Staying in a place like Kharagpur our eyes are starved of beautiful faces of the opposite sex. This is the only time of the year when the students get an oppurtunity to do so. This is mainly because of the fact that many outstation participants come to kgp during the fest. The usually deserted roads of kgp become clogged with students of different colleges.
What we kgpians rue during our entire stint at kgp is the lack of city life within the campus. Night bhaattings often revolve around the central theme that our fellow brothers in the other IIT's get to enjoy life much more than us. Barring Roorkee which has recently acquired the status of IIT the rest are all located within or in the vicinity of a major town. The student community feels that we have been segregated from the mainstream. For example take the case of IIT Delhi. It is located in the heart of Delhi, bordered by JNU on one side ISI Delhi on the other. Even the Delhi University is not far from the IIT campus. The students not only enjoy their hostel life but they can also avail of the facilities of the nation's capital.
The one question that repeatedly comes up in such discussions is why IIT Kharagpur was started in Kharagpur. About fifty years back when the first IIT was set up there was plenty of land available in both Calcutta and Bhubaneshwar( these are the nearest cities of some national significance barring Jamshedpur). So why was IIT not set up in either of these two places. Instead an old detention camp near the Hijli station was chosen as the site of independent India's first IIT. All the theories that it symbolises the emergence of a new and self dependent India rising like a phoenix from the ashes of colonialism do not much interest the students. The idea of a Gurukul type of learning as we have seen in the blockbuster movie Mohabbatein is pretty impractical in today's world.
From the academic point of view too, the location of Kharagpur is a major disadvantage. Many eminent researchers and teachers often shirk at the idea of coming to kgp. The same might be applicable to many companies which do not visit the campus. The idea of taking a flight to Calcutta, catching a train from the eternally crowded Howrah station and then taking a taxi from the station to the campus can scare any person out of his wits. Instead dont you think that it is far less cumbersome to go to IIT Chennai when it is only an hour's drive from the main airport? Atleast I would have chosen to go to the IIT which would offer me the least cumbersome travelling experience.
IITKgpians miss out on the city life. There can be no doubt about this statement. Yes, there a number of extracurricular events which are regularly held in order to keep the students busy. This leads to the all round development of the individual. All these points are acknowledged and accepted but it remains a fact that the junta out here is very frustrated. I have often heard many of my friends and seniors saying they will never return to kgp, leave kgp, they are so upset that they are not willing to come back to eastern India at any cost. The reasons for such comments are diverse but the the village like atmosphere in and around this lovely campus plays a certain( might be minor ) role in this. As a result the average kgpian is a pretty frustrated lot. As has been rightly pointed out by Mr. Sandipan Deb in his book " The iitians" students in Kgp are desperate to somehow get a degree and leave this place for good. Hardly any of us would like to stay here after completing our courses. However, there are plenty of good things about IIT Kgp as well, which makes it one of the best enginnering colleges of the country. I guess every coin has two opposite faces and one can not do anything about it apart from accepting it.
Spring Fest is the only time when we get a feel of the actual college life so typical of a city. It brings cheers to the faces of all and the students( myself included) forget our petty frustrations of assignments,seminars and enjoy to the hilt. Many go home, specially those hailing from Calcutta or Jamshedpur. But even they enjoy , don't they? Their source of enjoyment is from meeting there near and dear ones.
Even I have also gone home during the spring fest last time. However as I am unfortunately in a dual degree course( 5 yrs duration) and my friends in a btech course I shall be missing them next year. So my plans are to roam around with my friends as much as possible.
Hoping this Spring Fest will be a grand success!!!
posted by An Unknown Citizen at 10:56 AM
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