As usual I was lazy to do a proper study of how to prepare for the trip, but I did check out some c stuff browsing the internet for around 4-5 hrs in total to figure out the basics of traveling in Europe. If you want a quick conclusion after the real experience, jump to the travel by planes section below.
Travel by Trains
Based on previous discussion with various people, I had concluded that I needed Eurorail pass to have efficient travel, I did some research on eurorail and decided to go for a 15 days Euro Global youth pass. The plus points I saw were
1) Unlimited travel to around 15 countries for 15 consecutive days, alowing me to postpone my planning of travel to a further later time (laziness has no limits)
2) The cost difference to the 3 or 5 countries select pass 15 consecutive days pass was pretty small and then Open Source conference participation was going to re-imburse some part of my travel
3) The other pass was for 2 months period with 10/12/15 etc days of travel, I found it no too effective for my case (which as I talk below might now be always true).
The website and the terms and conditions book that you get with the pass leaves some doubts in you mind which I tried figuring out over the net but couldn't for e.g The book says having euro pass doesn't confirm you a seat, you need to reserve your seats by going to the ticket window or through the conductor before boarding the train.
As I traveled around I figure out most of these things. Much as I as I understand here is how you use the pass:
1) For most short distance trains, like 1-2 hrs of travel mostly intercity trains, you don't need reservation (this is pretty much mentioned in train timetable if you get one from raileurope)
2) For most trains more than 3 hrs reservation is needed. Most trains have two Seats and berths for a night journey you might rather take a berth than a seat. Now in both seats and berths there is class 1 and class 2. Like business and economy, I usual the price difference is similar up to 3 times, I always traveled by economy (so do most tourists).
Reservations is similar to buying a ticket, so you may end up in long queue which should be avoided because you bought the pass but no such luck. Believe me each customer ends up taking 5-6 minutes on an average for buying a ticket. One alternative however is that you to do the train conductor and ask him for reservation. This turns out to be slightly costlier than buying it on the ticket window but saves loads of your time. My train from Paris to Nice ville for e.g I had to go through this option and I got a berth reservation for 20 Euros, while the Seat was free or 5 Euros (I don't recall)
3) Many students in Italy traveled by just hopping on the train and then sitting on the side seats instead of compartment seats. These seats aren't numbered so if you have them, you can sit without any problems, but every time someone pass by the corridor you are required to stand up. Nevertheless these seats are sometimes the best way to watch the scenery outside and you don't need a reservation for them.
4) Now about reservation costs for most long journeys you pay around 15 Euros with the pass for a seat, the cost for a berth various between 20-3o Euros. As per my conclusion journeys across countries are usually costly. When I inquired ticket cost from Rome to Barcelona I was given the number 85 Euros (only option) with pass. The cost for a night train from Rome to Munich however was 9 Euros for seat and 27 for berth. I am not very sure if my tickets included the 18-25 age advantage or not, I somehow feel they didn't because someone told me later that berths were cheaper for them.
Travel by Planes (the more economic option)
Sometime during the middle of trip I was told that I wasn't traveling the most efficient way. I didn't really change it during the trip but It should be important for next one.
Train aren't really the cheapest transport mechanism planes are. Now if you go look at any flight cost on the travel websites they are pretty harsh like 600$ from Paris to Genoa or Milan, but turns out that there are indeed low-cost airlines which operate at unimaginably cheap rates like 30 Euros between most cities e.g Rome to Barcelona was 30 Euros. One of the most popular once is ryanair.com. I forgot the name of the other one.
Traveling by Ferries:
Some countries (Italy, Spain and Greece) are well connected by Ferries. I initially planned to use my Free Italy to Greece ferry offer with my eurorail pass but some friends told about their horrible experience with the same and I quickly decided to avoid it. Seemingly unless you take a cabin you are gonna hate this experience. Reserving a cabin is like 60 Euros. So you should figure out the cost clearly before planning. As per my friends "traveling for 14-22 hours amid high winds and cold breeze sitting on an not so comfortable seat isn't the best experience of your life".
Traveling within Cities
Most cities are very well connected by public transport like buses or Metros. Paris metro is probably pretty famous through the movies already. Venice is pretty well known to be connected by Ferries and buses where ever both of them run. Rome and Florence has great bus service, though I found it rather easier to walk around the whole city on foot. In fact, I went from Rome train station to Vatican city and came back walking involving around 2-3 hrs of real walking time. Most youth hostels are pretty close to the train stations. In fact except for Aloha hostel in Paris I don't remember taking public transport to any other youth hostel. Amsterdam's trams are pretty nice and useful for going across the city from train station if you don't like walking for 30-40 minutes oneway. In Paris, Munich and Amsterdam I took Sandeman's new Europe free city tours which are always by walking and which are a great way to explore the city with other travelers. In short:
Paris: Take a metro train pass for 7 Euros a day or walk around, renting a bike is option too.
Munich, Rome, Florence, Pisa: Walking around the city is easy.
Amsterdam: 1 Euro ticket goes active for 1 hour in any public transport, walking is easy too, many ppl rather rent bikes, as per my guide, be sure to look them carefully :)
Venice: The ferry pass was 12 Euros for 24 hours (IIRC) a good deal. You definitely need to take ferry for going around.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Backpacking around Europe Part 1 (Tourist Visa process)
At last here is the series of post of my first Europe Trip during the September and November this year.
As I had thought about earlier, if you go on a business trip through your company to US from India it makes a sensible choice to think about taking a stopover at Europe. I had thought about this during my second trip that I will definitely do it during the next one. As its well known travelling as youth ( below 26 years of age) has its own advantages.
I had little time to apply for Visa as the trip came up as urgency but various sources of information told that 5-7 days should be enough for a visa. Here are some (hard learned) realities (All info is about Schengen Visa applied at French Embassy in Mumbai) :
0) The main thing, almost all countries Visa office now issue Schengen visa for Tourists. This means once you get a visa you can travel freely between 22 nations. Usually you need to apply for Visa of the country where you gonna spent maximum number of days (This point is slightly elaborated in 5)
1) A Tourist Visa isn't as simple a deal, the big list of documents that I had to submitted included:
Hotel reservation proofs, No object letter and covering letter from Employer, Payslips for past 6 months, Income tax returns for past 3 years (I submitted 2 that I had worked for), return tickets printout, Medical Insurance proof, Two photograph white background 35 x 45 80% face, Visa Form, Credit card copy and of course a valid Passport.
2) The French Embassy in India didn't give me Visa based on these documents alone, they schedule an appointment date 6 days after submission of my application (due to high number of pending applications)
3) The interview process is pretty much similar to a B1 visa for US. The consulate tries to ensure that your documents are your intents are real and not harmful. You have to appear in Person for this interview, I had to visit the Nariman Point Visa office.
4) They issued the Visa the same day in a matter of 30-40 minutes after the interview.
5) On entry to France, they put the date of entry on my passport. The Visa was a 15 days, multiple entry, I guess based on the documents I provided (my plan showed I wished staying for 11 days and had insurance for 21 days and had slightly flexible requirements of date as my US return trip dates weren't fixed yet).
As much as I understand you would need to exit from the same Airport as they will have to put the exit stamp.
Against the general impression and opinions I heard from others, the Embassy isn't sitting there to solely reject the visa requests, they were pretty cooperative and in no sense non-welcoming. I was not really questioned about why I requested Multiple Entry (which I still don't know :D)
Oh, btw the Tourist visa was valid for a duration of 2 months, but 15 days in one trip, as against the usual notion that they will give very restrictive visa according to your itinerary, I guess explaining them that my US travel was flexible helped.
As I had thought about earlier, if you go on a business trip through your company to US from India it makes a sensible choice to think about taking a stopover at Europe. I had thought about this during my second trip that I will definitely do it during the next one. As its well known travelling as youth ( below 26 years of age) has its own advantages.
I had little time to apply for Visa as the trip came up as urgency but various sources of information told that 5-7 days should be enough for a visa. Here are some (hard learned) realities (All info is about Schengen Visa applied at French Embassy in Mumbai) :
0) The main thing, almost all countries Visa office now issue Schengen visa for Tourists. This means once you get a visa you can travel freely between 22 nations. Usually you need to apply for Visa of the country where you gonna spent maximum number of days (This point is slightly elaborated in 5)
1) A Tourist Visa isn't as simple a deal, the big list of documents that I had to submitted included:
Hotel reservation proofs, No object letter and covering letter from Employer, Payslips for past 6 months, Income tax returns for past 3 years (I submitted 2 that I had worked for), return tickets printout, Medical Insurance proof, Two photograph white background 35 x 45 80% face, Visa Form, Credit card copy and of course a valid Passport.
2) The French Embassy in India didn't give me Visa based on these documents alone, they schedule an appointment date 6 days after submission of my application (due to high number of pending applications)
3) The interview process is pretty much similar to a B1 visa for US. The consulate tries to ensure that your documents are your intents are real and not harmful. You have to appear in Person for this interview, I had to visit the Nariman Point Visa office.
4) They issued the Visa the same day in a matter of 30-40 minutes after the interview.
5) On entry to France, they put the date of entry on my passport. The Visa was a 15 days, multiple entry, I guess based on the documents I provided (my plan showed I wished staying for 11 days and had insurance for 21 days and had slightly flexible requirements of date as my US return trip dates weren't fixed yet).
As much as I understand you would need to exit from the same Airport as they will have to put the exit stamp.
Against the general impression and opinions I heard from others, the Embassy isn't sitting there to solely reject the visa requests, they were pretty cooperative and in no sense non-welcoming. I was not really questioned about why I requested Multiple Entry (which I still don't know :D)
Oh, btw the Tourist visa was valid for a duration of 2 months, but 15 days in one trip, as against the usual notion that they will give very restrictive visa according to your itinerary, I guess explaining them that my US travel was flexible helped.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
A train trip to Lucknow (on Abhishek's wedding)
It was Abhishek Dixit's wedding on 29th November, 2008 that led a trip to Lucknow. The trip didn't add much to my tourist knowledge of the place but I learned quite some things about train travel. The prices for flights had gone up so horribly high that I decided to travel by train. Fortunately the sanity in flight prices is back. The Tax has decreased by 1,400 Rupees in past week making the ticket cost more reasonable once again.
So the train journey started with Gorakhpur express from Hyderbad. This time the good thing was that I made it to the train in sufficient time in advance, something I have almost not done since long. The train seemed to have a almost perfect timing all the way till Bhopal and "just" 1 hr delay at Jhansi, but then I got reminded of the old days of delayed train again. The train kept stopping at every random station for uncalled amount of time and eventually reached the destination Lucknow at 2:00 PM instead of 9:30 AM.
I must say I was surprised to see the city contradictory to my preconcieved notion about the city being part of a state which has been politically exploited based on caste politics. I had heard that parties whenever they came to power used to bring down old statues and errect new ones wasting loads of public money. Not having seen statues at every junction I felt relieved to know
that my information wasn't correct. But wait, the junctions all had lavish water fountains and should have been a big waste of construction and maintenence money, water and electricity anyways.Then I was pointed to one statue on the left of the road, it was Mr. Ambedkar's. I was told that he is the only person whose statues get put at every place and that I found true within next 2-3 Kms. Other than that the City indeed looks pretty developed seeing the flyovers and broad roads.
The original plan was Sandeep and team would be coming from Delhi and we would go sight seeing around but they couldn't make it because of not getting their seats in the train out of waiting list and also not being allowed to take a taxy out of city boundaries due to some rule of Election commision to "Seal" the boundary of state during election, another seem
ingly stupid rule. Arvind and Sreejith did make it to the wedding being in IIML also Piyush Bhargav came.The marriage had all the traditional north Indian wedding stuff like Baraat walking with a band playing some famous songs, some of us dancing and also some fireworks on the way. Something that was different from the wedding in MP was that the Dullah came in a car all the way to the venue instead of coming on a horse. The dinner was pretty good and I found it pretty much similar to the one we have at weddings in MP. After the dinner was over there were some private/family events including the Pheras that went on over the night again another similarity.
I had an early morning train n
ext day. The train started on a bad note with a delay of 2 hrs, keeping me worried if I will catch my connecting train from Allahabad. I came to know later that my choice of train the Nauchandi express was a bad one. I should have rather taken an intercity train which people say is much better in maintaining timings.My train kept adding more and more delay so instead of reaching Allahabad at scheduled time of 9:55 AM I reached at 2:10 PM. At once the train was at a station 5 KMs or so away from Allahabad for approximately 30 minutes. Someone knowledgable proposed us leaving the train and taking an auto rickshaw to avoid wasting another 30 minutes as this train waits for another train to cross. I was interested because I could have caught my connecting train, some others had a appointment at the (Army?) office at 1 PM.
Turns out that despite the delay of 2 hrs my connecting train left the station before I could reach it. I came to know some interesting stuff about trains:
1) If my ticket was a normal ticket (not an e-ticket), the station superintendent could have given me a seat in another train based on availability without me going through pains of cancelling this ticket and reissuing another.
2) Even with my e-ticket, I could still claim my refund for this ticket because I missed the train because of the delay and I had PNR numbers of connecting ticket.
3) You can buy a general ticket when reservation is not available and contact the TT to get you a seat in Sleeper category. The TT issues a "panelty" reciept for 320 Rs for the distance from Allahabad to Jabalpur and I could use that along with my general ticket worth 87 Rs to travel. Effectively paying 400 Rs instead of may be 300 Rs ticket.
The journey from Jabalpur to Hyderabad was much more peaceful with no major delays or hiccups. As I understand it train delays are a thing of past for many places in India but not for UP still, be careful about giving ample extra timings between your trains and reserve extra time for the delays in your plans.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Kerala Trip Onam-2008
My much awaited Kerala trip finally happened last month. Was pretty busy to blog about the awesome experience rt away, but I will try doing justice to the trip now.
The trip started with as much planning as two flight tickets booking, To and From Coimbatore, none of us really had time to plan out and also all 3 were okay with on-the-fly decisions. So we started from Hyderabad to Coimbatore on Wednessday evening. At around 10 PM we were in Comibatore looking for bus to we didn't know where, it could have been Munnar or Alleppey, wherever the routing worked easier :). We didn't find bus for either but were told how to reach Munnar in one hop or two via Polaci and Udaimallaipet and also told that Allepey was gonna be hard. We took the bus to Pollaci (after going to the different bus stop, there are seeming 3 bus stops in Coimbatore)[will try giving info abt the stops sometime].
At Polaci where we reached by 12:00 or so, we had to wait till 1:30 for the bus to Munnar. This was a nice Kerala Transport bus which had enough free seats and which was also driven very well reaching Munnar in morning around 6:00. As soon as we got out of bus, we realized what Kerala rains were. Its basically a 5 minute on/off thingy which keeps going all through. People are very used to the same so much that an Umbrella seems like as regular an item to carry as a wallet. We quickly looked around for hotels/lodges though the Lonely plannet book, but cudn't get a satisfactory deal. Then we walked a bit too see some nearby hotels. We were able to find "Issacs Residency" as sweet 3 star hotel very near to the bus stop. The guy gave us a good deal because of the "Off-season".
After some rest we decided to go out for a sight seeing tour which was available for 1000 bucks for full day tour. We got a indica car at our disposal. From here started the nice sight seeing tour which covered Tea Estates, Waterfalls, echo points, Tea Factory tour and a trip to Evarikulam national park. In the evening we witnessed the famous Kathakali dance and then treated ourselves with the famous ayurvedic massage (available from 500 to 2100 bucks).
Next day we started for Allepey via Cochin. We decided to stop over and spend time as Cochin. In Cochin (Ernakulam) you would want to go to Fort Kochi via Ferry, there are a couple of things to see their including Fishing Nets, Churches, etc. most of which were close that day for onam. It was turning out to be a dull day until I was lucky to spot a board about . the Keralan Martial art show which was one of the major things I wanted to see in my Kerala trip. The show was amazing and just that show made up for the whole day which wasn't very well spent. We left for Allepey in the night around 11:00 PM reaching there by 3 AM.
In Allepey the book Lonely plannet gave us a good help finding the right accomodation. We had figured out the plan for next day already. We hired a covered boat for out 4 hours backwaters tour. The tour started on a bad note as I observed the city pollution on the canal where the boat starts and was pretty skeptical about the whole thing, I was soon glad to be proven wrong. Backwaters in kerala are indeed an awesome experience and they deserve all the great mention ppl do about them. I will let the photos speak more but it was a four hours of relaxation tour among very beautiful sceneries. The rest of the evening was spent at the Allepey beach, which wasn't a great experience except for my first successful kite flying one. I am told that they have better beaches at Kollam and Vikara(?), I would trust the opinion. I am quite sure there is another trip necessary to cover atleast some part of the Kerala including the widelife and the snake boat race.
Other Imporant facts:
Food : Keralan Famous vegetarian food includes Iddiappum and appam with Chana curry. We never really looked for a place to have a great meal but the tiffin centre we at Munnar served awesome Appam. Priyam the only non vegeratian found some good Fish curry, which seems another famous food item. Parrothas are available almost everywhere and vegetarian would probably end up surving on them or appam only. Lots of north indian restaurant are also available if you don't care to enjoy the ethnic food.
Onam turns out to be a very in-family festival. You won't find major celebrations all around at least, in fact on the last day of Onam the Cochin city was completely shut down like a Bandh. In Munnar we learned that the best place to see the onam festivities is the 3 star hotels around, which organize some programmes as part of package and also let visitor with some nominal feest. Best time to go to Kerala we are told is Decemeber to April (just after and before rains). But I believe anytime is good time to visit Munnar and Allepey.
Best mode to travel as I found out was Buses or Trains, the roads are too winding to give a pleasant experience to the passangers and quite difficult time to the driver to sure specially because of the slippery roads due to contant rains and also the narrow width which at many places effectively makes the road oneway. Also the bus drivers drive pretty fast and that might cause some scare to the cars too :D
Kallaripayat and Kathakalli are available through out the year (will put address soon). Boat races timings are pretty much unclear to even localites, some say they happen in August, some say September, some mentioned that they happen on various days at various places during the onam festival.
 |
| From Kerala Trip Sep 2008 (Onam) |
The trip started with as much planning as two flight tickets booking, To and From Coimbatore, none of us really had time to plan out and also all 3 were okay with on-the-fly decisions. So we started from Hyderabad to Coimbatore on Wednessday evening. At around 10 PM we were in Comibatore looking for bus to we didn't know where, it could have been Munnar or Alleppey, wherever the routing worked easier :). We didn't find bus for either but were told how to reach Munnar in one hop or two via Polaci and Udaimallaipet and also told that Allepey was gonna be hard. We took the bus to Pollaci (after going to the different bus stop, there are seeming 3 bus stops in Coimbatore)[will try giving info abt the stops sometime].
 |
| From Kerala Trip Sep 2008 (Onam) |
 |
| From Kerala Trip Sep 2008 (Onam) |
At Polaci where we reached by 12:00 or so, we had to wait till 1:30 for the bus to Munnar. This was a nice Kerala Transport bus which had enough free seats and which was also driven very well reaching Munnar in morning around 6:00. As soon as we got out of bus, we realized what Kerala rains were. Its basically a 5 minute on/off thingy which keeps going all through. People are very used to the same so much that an Umbrella seems like as regular an item to carry as a wallet. We quickly looked around for hotels/lodges though the Lonely plannet book, but cudn't get a satisfactory deal. Then we walked a bit too see some nearby hotels. We were able to find "Issacs Residency" as sweet 3 star hotel very near to the bus stop. The guy gave us a good deal because of the "Off-season".
 |
| From Kerala Trip Sep 2008 (Onam) |
 |
| From Kerala Trip Sep 2008 (Onam) |
After some rest we decided to go out for a sight seeing tour which was available for 1000 bucks for full day tour. We got a indica car at our disposal. From here started the nice sight seeing tour which covered Tea Estates, Waterfalls, echo points, Tea Factory tour and a trip to Evarikulam national park. In the evening we witnessed the famous Kathakali dance and then treated ourselves with the famous ayurvedic massage (available from 500 to 2100 bucks).
 |
| From Kerala Trip Sep 2008 (Onam) |
 |
| From Kerala Trip Sep 2008 (Onam) |
Next day we started for Allepey via Cochin. We decided to stop over and spend time as Cochin. In Cochin (Ernakulam) you would want to go to Fort Kochi via Ferry, there are a couple of things to see their including Fishing Nets, Churches, etc. most of which were close that day for onam. It was turning out to be a dull day until I was lucky to spot a board about . the Keralan Martial art show which was one of the major things I wanted to see in my Kerala trip. The show was amazing and just that show made up for the whole day which wasn't very well spent. We left for Allepey in the night around 11:00 PM reaching there by 3 AM.
 |
| From Kerala Trip Sep 2008 (Onam) |
In Allepey the book Lonely plannet gave us a good help finding the right accomodation. We had figured out the plan for next day already. We hired a covered boat for out 4 hours backwaters tour. The tour started on a bad note as I observed the city pollution on the canal where the boat starts and was pretty skeptical about the whole thing, I was soon glad to be proven wrong. Backwaters in kerala are indeed an awesome experience and they deserve all the great mention ppl do about them. I will let the photos speak more but it was a four hours of relaxation tour among very beautiful sceneries. The rest of the evening was spent at the Allepey beach, which wasn't a great experience except for my first successful kite flying one. I am told that they have better beaches at Kollam and Vikara(?), I would trust the opinion. I am quite sure there is another trip necessary to cover atleast some part of the Kerala including the widelife and the snake boat race.
 |
| From Kerala Trip Sep 2008 (Onam) |
 |
| From Kerala Trip Sep 2008 (Onam) |
 |
| From Kerala Trip Sep 2008 (Onam) |
Other Imporant facts:
Food : Keralan Famous vegetarian food includes Iddiappum and appam with Chana curry. We never really looked for a place to have a great meal but the tiffin centre we at Munnar served awesome Appam. Priyam the only non vegeratian found some good Fish curry, which seems another famous food item. Parrothas are available almost everywhere and vegetarian would probably end up surving on them or appam only. Lots of north indian restaurant are also available if you don't care to enjoy the ethnic food.
 |
| From Kerala Trip Sep 2008 (Onam) |
Onam turns out to be a very in-family festival. You won't find major celebrations all around at least, in fact on the last day of Onam the Cochin city was completely shut down like a Bandh. In Munnar we learned that the best place to see the onam festivities is the 3 star hotels around, which organize some programmes as part of package and also let visitor with some nominal feest. Best time to go to Kerala we are told is Decemeber to April (just after and before rains). But I believe anytime is good time to visit Munnar and Allepey.
Best mode to travel as I found out was Buses or Trains, the roads are too winding to give a pleasant experience to the passangers and quite difficult time to the driver to sure specially because of the slippery roads due to contant rains and also the narrow width which at many places effectively makes the road oneway. Also the bus drivers drive pretty fast and that might cause some scare to the cars too :D
Kallaripayat and Kathakalli are available through out the year (will put address soon). Boat races timings are pretty much unclear to even localites, some say they happen in August, some say September, some mentioned that they happen on various days at various places during the onam festival.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
10th Anniversay of IIIT Hyderabad, remembering good college old days :)
On 2nd September 2008, IIIT Hyderbad its 10th Foundation day. It was a Tuesday so not many Alumni could make it but few of us did. As expected it was great time to recall some of the great memories of college time.
I heard some great speeches from some of the profs and then from Hemanth Gogeneni and Vipul amongst Alumni. The great moments were recalled about how the first batch students took the risk of joining the college when there was little name and assurance but just promises. I recalled when I was joining the college and all that was known about the college was the great course structure and quality of education and that the college was going to get a deemed university status soon. Many of us remained confussed even after joining but on August 21st, 2008 when we got the Deemed status, we celebrated, we danced around the bonfire.
Vipul helped recalling some of the moments, like the "interraction with the seniors", the "holi at the hostels" and the similar others.
Prof Sangal reminded of the great days we had at the beginning of our UG, when the college didn't have too many rules and when internet was made available in the hostles, some of us from the first few batches would recall missing those classes in the morning because we played TT or Quake all night :). Remembering the second semester whenever I used to come out of my room and think of going to classes all the neighbouring rooms would be bolted from inside, giving me enough reason to go back to sleep :)
I recall a particular semester where the attendance rule was introduced and ppl didn't seriously believe that we would lose grades for not attending the classes and ended up losing 2 to 3 grades in some cases :)
Beyond these there were some discussion about how IIIT H, should we reaching newer heights in next decade and what kind of help we cud be to the society etc...
I cudn't catch the whole of it, but the little that I did was totally worth taking half day off from work. It feels great proud to be Alumni of the institute. As Vipul said, the upcoming batches would definitely miss the kind of experience the early batches had in the kind of bonding that we had in the moment of uncertainity and when we didn't have a great brand name to leverage upon, but sure they get to be part of a great college's early years when every one can contribute very significantly to taking the name of the college to next level.
I heard some great speeches from some of the profs and then from Hemanth Gogeneni and Vipul amongst Alumni. The great moments were recalled about how the first batch students took the risk of joining the college when there was little name and assurance but just promises. I recalled when I was joining the college and all that was known about the college was the great course structure and quality of education and that the college was going to get a deemed university status soon. Many of us remained confussed even after joining but on August 21st, 2008 when we got the Deemed status, we celebrated, we danced around the bonfire.
Vipul helped recalling some of the moments, like the "interraction with the seniors", the "holi at the hostels" and the similar others.
Prof Sangal reminded of the great days we had at the beginning of our UG, when the college didn't have too many rules and when internet was made available in the hostles, some of us from the first few batches would recall missing those classes in the morning because we played TT or Quake all night :). Remembering the second semester whenever I used to come out of my room and think of going to classes all the neighbouring rooms would be bolted from inside, giving me enough reason to go back to sleep :)
I recall a particular semester where the attendance rule was introduced and ppl didn't seriously believe that we would lose grades for not attending the classes and ended up losing 2 to 3 grades in some cases :)
Beyond these there were some discussion about how IIIT H, should we reaching newer heights in next decade and what kind of help we cud be to the society etc...
I cudn't catch the whole of it, but the little that I did was totally worth taking half day off from work. It feels great proud to be Alumni of the institute. As Vipul said, the upcoming batches would definitely miss the kind of experience the early batches had in the kind of bonding that we had in the moment of uncertainity and when we didn't have a great brand name to leverage upon, but sure they get to be part of a great college's early years when every one can contribute very significantly to taking the name of the college to next level.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)