Rivers
land of
Time Zones
International Students’
Experiences
From the
By Archis Banerjee
I
still remember that queer afternoon
when a personnel from the High
Commission of India called me and
my brother to inform us that we had been
granted scholarships to the same institute NIT Karnataka. I address the afternoon as
queer because when I asked him about how
long we had to reach the institute and report
for admission, the answer that he came up
with was - two days. Yes, in two days we had
to leave our country, our culture and everything else that goes with it, if we were to
accept the scholarship. After a lot of confusion, the decision was finally made - hola
NITK! It was one of the top engineering
colleges in India, and one of the very few
colleges in the world with a beach.
first semester and gave myself a huge pat
on the back.
By the second semester, things started
improving. I got used to the mess food and
the teaching style and started appreciating
how beautiful South India was. I guess the
thing that amused and bamboozled me most
in the first year was the cultural diversity of
India, and it still continues to do so. People
from different states were indeed very different even though they were all from the
same country and this fact was really astonishing to me.
Archis is a final year
undergraduate student of
Electrical and Electronics
Engineering. He is a huge fan of
Manchester United, and can be
found on most days curled up in
his room reading a book
Early Days
We landed at the Mangalore International Airport on the 21st of September,
2010. It was a bright sunny day, and no
sooner had we got on the taxi than the
driver started chatting happily with us. The
funny part was that he was speaking in Kannada and we had absolutely no clue what he
was talking about! Nonetheless, his enthusiasm and smiling face was very much appreciated by both of us and in that taxi, I guess
for the first time we realized that we are in
for quite a culture shock. My first meal on
campus was in Samudra Darshini - South
Indian thali served with an enchanting view
of the Arabian Sea! My brother and I were
accommodated in the 7th block - the one
with the awesome terrace. We made some
very good friends there, ones that we would
cherish for the next four years.
Settling In
The first week was a total disaster for
me. I did not have the slightest clue about
what was going on. On the second day we
had a quiz, and after the first week, the midsemester exams began. “What the heck!
I am doomed! I am finished!” were some
of the phrases that kept popping up in my
mind. I reckon the whole of the first semester was very challenging and difficult not
only because I was in a new country, and
the culture, weather and food were different, but also due to the major reason that I
was two months late in joining the B.Tech
program. Nonetheless, the terrace and the
friends kept me going and I finished off the
34
The Shoreline
Bangladesh:
My Home
As my friends and I started roaming
around, I found out that this particular region of India is a lot like Bangladesh. Why?
Because of the greenery! When one goes
to places like Gokarna, Goa and Madikeri,
one starts to really appreciate the natural beauty that this region has been gifted
with. It’s green, green, green and green all
around, like Bangladesh! It’s all about nature
putting on the color green in Bangladesh.
Located on the fertile Bengal delta, Bangladesh has an amazing rainy season and a
not-so-intense winter. Being a small country
with huge potential, Bangladesh has a culture that encompasses the elements of both
new and old. With amazing food and great
places to see, it has everything - the biggest
mangrove forest in the world, a 120 km long
beach, hill tracts and what not! Although the
country is overpopulated, has a low literacy
rate and has gone through phases of huge
political tension, it does not stop its people
from being cordial, good-hearted and hospitable.
Packing My Bags
Time passed by in a whirl. Soon I got
used to the culture, food and weather to
some extent. There have obviously been
highs and lows during this time at NITK,
and all of these experiences have been exciting and amazing. Living in India is an adventure in itself. The institute has great fests
and Mangalore is a city that one ca n most
certainly fall in love with.
Can four years of highs and lows be
summarized in one article? No, but writing
this article did make me remember all those
eventful days. Not all of them were exciting
and fun but those days were certainly well
spent with the Indians, the Nepalese, the
Maldivians, the Africans and so many others. And India, as a country, has undoubtedly been very kind to me, and these four
years in NITK have been well spent
.