Disclaimer: Originally published in January 2018. It is being republished since it still remains an interesting topic till today.
Tucked away in the not-so-idyllic, hustling and bustling Janakpuri in West Delhi is a triplet of brick buildings which loom menacingly over you as you walk in.
That my friends is the Maharaja Surajmal Institute AND Maharaja Surajmal Institute of Technology. Confused yet?
Here’s more! There used to be another college inside this triplet, but it closed down.
3 (rather 2) colleges in the land area of one!
For those of you looking for more clarity, this Sangam is 2 separate colleges, under the same umbrella management. Maharaja Surajmal Institute is for BCA, BBA, B.Com, and B.Ed courses whereas Maharaja Surajmal Institute of Technology is for India’s favourite pastime, B.Tech.
MSIT and MSI, as they are commonly called, are top colleges in the University they are in. MSI even has a national top 5 ranking.
But this didn’t seem apparent to me, as I walked in as a fresher into its imposing entrance with great long halls made of pine and teak… I am just kidding, this ain’t Stanford, it’s Surajmal, we have a corridor and a staircase.
You might have judged from my tone that I am not the biggest fan of my college. I am not.
Maybe it’s just limited to me because of my unique circumstances and bent of mind. Maybe not. But going to college in year 1 was NOT a pleasant experience.
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Things that I expected from college life did not happen. No strolling in the college aimlessly, discussing stuff (teachers threaten you to go to lectures), little to no dance/ music/ public speaking/ dramatics (because apparently colleges are for just ratto-fying and vomiting on the paper).
Be that as it may, I still like my college. It took me a full semester to do so, but my visceral hatred evaporated. This was mainly because of two factors.
The area outside college and the people in it
Janakpuri is this vibrant, always bustling mostly Punjabi enclave with a LOT of food outlets. All my worries inside college were stomached with a healthy dose of fat-filled food of every cuisine on earth. From the C4E market to the Aunty’s eating joint outside college to the mall nearby, I removed worries and gained calories.
And as for the people, I found some wonderful ones, and they are the main reason I was able to enjoy whatever little time I spent in college.
From outward appearances, it seemed that the people studying there would be like the people who ran it. Focused on the exact opposite of college life. But that was not the case.
In MSI and MSIT, I found thinkers, writers, actors, quizzers, debaters, coders and designers, all genuinely amazing people who ran this little rebellion of keeping the flame alive. These were seriously talented and dedicated people who made me look forward to coming to college.
I also found some really good friends, friends who made me sit in class to make up for attendance lost in competitions, who marked proxies for me, who chilled out with me in the winter sun even as teachers came to shove us back into the temple of learning.
PS: the teachers are also amazingly supportive and take interest in what I do
And so I finally liked my college, for its people, and the area around it. Sounds strange but it is what it is. Fin
Image Credits: Google Images
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