College Chronicles – More Than Just Studies

College is an amalgamation of academics and tons of memories. There’s so much to that place, beyond just concrete and a bunch of students. It is a place which helps students redefine their spirits and pioneer in their respective fields. It’s not uncommon to find students lingering outside classrooms and spending a good part of their time at canteens and food courts. After all, that’s what campus life is all about! Isn’t it? A fitting end to the days spent in college is just that tender bag of memories associated with different scores of people one bumps into during the tenure of the course. It’s the time that is bound to build memories and is sure to turn your lips in an upward curve, upon the thought of it at any point of life. And celebrating that special time is this story. Listen to the students from colleges across the city as they delve into the details of their campus diaries, and take us on a trip about their educational revelations and more.

Andhra University

As the picture of an ancient, vintage-looking and enormous campus with a number of entrances and a gazillion departments unfolds, it is no surprise that one feels mind-boggled when they think of AU. However, the confusion is soon replaced with awe as you enter those humongous gates. Come; walk through to know more about their college life.

Sravani Samantula

4th Year, B Tech

‘While our scenic campus will be my fondest memory of my days here, I also cherish the canteen ‘delicacies’, Bonda and Chilli baby corn in the South Campus and forever will remember our lecturer’s pet dialogue: Enduku, Emiti, Ela? (Why, What and How?). In my opinion, academics apart, life skills are being taught on point.’

Jayram Tulugu

2nd Year, B Tech-Metallurgy Science

‘I prefer wearing casual formals to college, primarily to impress the lecturers.  Speaking of them, my favourite lecturer is Paul Douglas who teaches Chemistry and is our Academic Coordinator too. And my college tenet is; ‘Target the mandatory 75% attendance, and then you rule!’

Sanah Kalagara

2nd Year, MBBS

‘Dissection. Dissection. Dissection.’

‘Life as a medico is made of three things: 9AM – dissection, 10AM – still dissecting, 11AM – Prepping up for tomorrow’s dissection! When it’s not about academics, college translates to: Sports and cultural fests! That’s what we look forward to. The highpoint in my college life was the day my friends and I literally crawled and sneaked out of class. We dodged the professors and got out of the building and ran to see X-Men: Apocalypse. After the movie, we decided to go have some ice cream and ran into a whole group of seniors who talked to us for long. We were mortified and didn’t know what to do at all, but it all went well in the end.’

Sai Pallavi Puppala

4th year, BA LLB

‘My style mantra echoes ‘AU Student’ – that is a traditional churidar; not even leggings and kurti! My favourite haunt is the gallery in the basketball court, where we chill out while bunking. And I also love the antiquated British-era buildings here, which are all steeped in history. Academics and chilling out aside, I do play badminton and throw-ball, but it’s only because the annual sports week is mandatory. While most lecturers are friendly and approachable, my favourite is A Subrahmaniyam, our former principal who retired recently. He was a pillar of support.’

Rupesh Kumar

2nd year, MSc

‘College is definitely fun, and the memorable aspects of college life for me are the basketball court and our beautiful campus. My lecturers too, help me achieve my goals. Sport-wise, the campus has plenty of courts to facilitate our talents, and I actively participate to hone my playing ability.’

Gayatri Vidya Parishad

With a vast sprawling campus, discipline and convenient timings are the first aspects of GVP that come to mind. But according to the students here, life is just as much fun; with bunking, chilling out and having meaningful interactions with lecturers, all being part of their daily agenda.

Mukta Nevatia

2nd Year, B.Com

‘My favourite adda at college is definitely the college’s ally, and I love to hangout there. An aspect that I truly love about our college is the timings, which are from 8AM to 12PM, as it allows us time for ourselves. My favourite lecturer is Raju Sir, as he is friendly with the mischievous students as well. In a nutshell, I’d say that college days will be the most memorable days of anyone’s life. So enjoy!’

Merrilyn Leonie

2nd year, Engineering

‘The choice whether to bunk classes or not depends a great deal on the movie releases of that week. The unique feature of our college is that the lecturers will help you even when you miss classes, which is cool. When I’m out of college, the one thing I’ll miss is definitely the excitement that college life brings. And to sum it up in one word, I’d say college life is AWESOME!’

St. Joseph’s College for Women

Walk through the massive gates of the St. Joseph’s College to find the oomph and glory of the historic building resonating. Justifying their mission to empower women since 59 years, they are still going strong. Few young women share their stories and take us on a stroll through their memory lane.

Poojita Thammina

3rd Year, BA

Yamini Kameswari

2nd Year, BBA

Sashmita Dash

2nd Year, BSc

The chill-out zone:

P – The corridor because, that’s the place where we gossip, play and study during the exams.

Y – The dining area beside the canteen. That place revives me after a long day.

S – Obviously, the canteen.

Lecturers’ pet dialogues:

P – “Exactly my dear students!”

Y– “Don’t mug up!” “Complete your tasks regularly”

S – “Girls start becoming serious”

Highpoint in College life:

P – Definitely the first time we bunked college. It was a Saturday towards the end of our first year, the day of St. Joseph’s School farewell. We decided to bunk and go for a movie, but getting past the ever-vigilant watchman was a real task. As if it was meant to be, in front of us came an auto filled with school students in saris, about to leave the campus. We jumped into the auto and hid behind their saris. The watchman signalled the auto to leave. That day will forever go down in history for me.

Y – The birthday celebrations we have for our hosteller friends under the trees, behind the college campus. The fact that we are consciously missing a class just gets easily forgotten, our preference right then and there is making sure that they have the time of their life. It is surprising how we never get caught doing it, considering the ruckus we make.

S – Oh! The time where we had to run from the dining hall to the back of the college when we saw our principal heading towards us to catch the students who were bunking. We are talking Olympic-medal-worthy running here by the way.

Memorable aspect of College life:

P – For our last college fest, my friends had kept a horror house and I was one of the ghosts. We had to scream our lungs out and be really creepy. It was so much fun since we saw a different side of our classmates and lecturers. I mean, they knew that it was us inside, but that didn’t keep them from shrilling, even the male lecturers!

Y – I really enjoyed myself in the 2016 fresher’s party. It was a really good day, and I have a bunch of memories from that day.

S – Receiving prizes from the principal during assemblies are always moments that make you proud.

Shanice Anne Ranade

Lecturer, Department of English

Graduating from being a student to a teacher at St. Joseph’s, Shanice shares her experience in the campus over the past 7 years.

‘St. Joseph’s is as awe-inspiring as it was the day I entered as a 16 year old; and it still exudes the old-world charm. The lecturers are as warm and supporting as they were during my student years. The only changes or should I say “developments” are the improvements in technology to facilitate the students better. My experience here as a teacher has been enriching; I still get to learn so much every day and I get to do it at the place that’s close to my heart. Although initially I was a little intimated sharing the desk of my former lecturers, but their support and guidance made me feel worthy of being called their ‘colleague’. The difference between now and my student days is the lack of responsibilities and freedom I enjoyed back then. As a student I was carefree, but now there is no room for that.’

Pydah College

Young brains from Pydah College share snippets of their exciting life in the campus with great zeal. Are you all ears?

Rohit Neela

2nd year, B Tech

‘I think Pydah is a great place and here I really like the system whereby Saturday is dedicated to cultural activities. It actually makes us look forward to a day of fun and masti, at college! Dosa is a must try at our canteen. And yes, if there’s one thing I could change about the campus, it would be on the sports front. Hope that too gets equal attention like the cultural events do! My favourite lecturer is Ms. Komali, who is our DLD lecturer.’

Y V Vineela

4th year, B Tech

‘Don’t bunk classes!’

‘Our lecturer’s pet dialogues include “Make one mistake and I’ll cut marks” and the standard one, “Don’t bunk classes”! . But for us bunking only translates to trying not to get caught! Our chill-out zones are the canteen and the bus stop. Our canteen is akin to a dhaba on the highway.’

GITAM University

The long, isolated roads to GITAM guarantee you the most idyllic ride. It leaves you wondering “Wow! Could the view get any better?” After all, a college by the beach is to swear by. Students of GITAM boast about their college, fun and more. Read how!

Nikhil Chowdary

2nd year, B.Com

‘On the very first day I joined, I was asked to sing a song during my ‘interactions’ (a meet-and-greet for freshers), which became a stepping stone to prove myself in the cultural aspect; I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction. So yes, I love my time here. College is home, and my friends here are my family; and while we do fight, the patch-ups are pretty quick. We all hang out at the rack near the open auditorium – the chill-out zone in the campus!’

Mohith Gorli

4th year, B Tech

‘ The sprawling green campus of GITAM is perhaps what draws me here every day. And yes, then there’s the beach view that we have. Good placements, a lot of encouragement to participate in sports, Frankie’s, GITAM down… there are a lot of plus points to our days here. Added to that is the faculty, especially Ms. Sowjanya from the Comp. Sc. Dept.’

Babitha Palla

2nd Year, BBM

‘Frankie used to be our favourite hang-out zone, but since it became crowded, we have shifted to the Vennela Canteen. Life at GITAM is fun, especially when you are a part of the marketing team of the GITAM Excellence Meet (GEM), the one ‘club’ I’m proud to be a part of. And yes, we do bunk, especially when we need a break from our reading hours!’

Rakshita Reddy Koyya

3rd year, Dental Sciences

‘An instant decision made by my parents to join me at GITAM became the best thing to have happened to me; it couldn’t have been a better choice. For me, college is a basic phase of life and the beginning of a new chapter. Even in my first year here, during the ‘interactions’, I loved the way we were asked to sing out our SD (self-details), that marked the beginning of the bond we share with our seniors. In all seriousness, I have to admit that the lecturers are either way too important or interesting that I never had a chance to even consider bunking! Though the one time we did bunk, we went for a movie, only to find our HOD sitting in the next seat!’

MVGR college

The royal-touch is pretty obvious when one gazes at the palace-like edifice that serves as the main building of the Maharaja Vijayaram Gajapathi Raj College. Based in Vizianagaram, the grand name and founder are the only connection to the royal family; else MVGR is a college as modern as the rest. The students share their views.

Smriti Aravind

3rd year, MBBS

‘My life in college is very disciplined; One has the freedom to do whatever they want as long as expectations are met. The biggest plus point here is the location, it is breathtakingly beautiful, and our favourite spot is the canteen, obviously. In my opinion, the coolest lecturer here is Raghu Raam; as he is very approachable and his lectures are to the point.’

Sai Charan

3rd year, B Tech

‘College life is, in a word, majestic! We have the best faculty here. In fact, there is something for every student. But bunking, the integral part of college life is quite a rarity, at least for me, as attendance is very important.’

Surya Yashaswi

3rd year, MBBS

‘I like it here; we have an enormous campus of 25 acres with an excellent ambience. This is a good place to live in, and as a hostelier, I would perhaps define it as adaptable! However, I wish we were allowed more time to pursue our interests other than academics, such as sports and extracurricular activities. We are very comfortable with our professors and yes, I do bunk, at least once a week when we catch the latest movie in town, or just to catch up on my sleep – though I do ensure that my attendance is more than 80%.’

ANITS College

The Anil Neerukonda Institute of Technology and Sciences (ANITS) is a sizeable campus that’s home to engineering aspirants who  talk their heart out when questioned about their life in college. Read on about them!

Aashish Kumar

2nd year, B Tech

‘I believe that college is a phase in life where you get a practical outlook on the world. And amongst all, my favourite lecturer is Mr. Jagganandh Rao, who teaches Chemistry as he sees education from a different perspective.’

Manikanta Vemavarapu

4th year, B Tech

‘This is my final year here, and looking back, the best times I had here were during the College Fest where all the departments come together and work in unity to put up an extravagant show. Other than that, I enjoy the noodles dished out at the canteen. It is the canteen or the library that I frequent when I want to chill.’

With inputs from: Hasitha Sharon, Archisha Das & Christy Rose

Photography: Gayatri, Chandu