SVCE

Inspired by a post from a fellow SVCE-ian, and struck by the fact that I would have left SVCE a year from now, I thought I'd put down my experience, more as a caveat to prospective students..

June 2002: After a haranguing experience with entrance exams, pretending to study for them but never quite doing so, writing them(trust me, I would've known the best trees and niches to sit under/in better than any Loyola graduates!), interviews at Stella and Ethiraj, I finally come to the conclusion that engineering is what I'm going to do, specifically computer science. Going to be one of those elite few, whose day-to-day vocabulary includes front-side bus, computational complexity, daisy chaining, calling by reference. Little did I realise that it was more likely to include cycle gap, scene, loose, mokkai, biscuit. Spent half a day at Anna University, for the counselling session, being extremely judgmental, commenting to my mom about every other person around. Was convinced that Venkateswara(wasnt used to SVCE yet) was the place to be. With everyone talking about the hip and happening crowd, the recognition, and the 'excellent quality' of education, I guess I was just another of those prospective students, lured by the rumours of Chennai. Ditched SSN for SVCE.
Spent the next week, preparing for college. Enthusiastic as I was, I bought a new bag, 5 subject notebook, pens.. I'd outgrown the eraser, scale, pencil and lunch 'koodai'.

July 2002: First week at SVCE: A deluge of new faces, overwhelming and making me feel lost amidst the crowd. India's population never struck me more than when I was sitting in class, squished for place with almost 65 other students, trying to catch what the man with glasses on the podium was saying. The only other significant things I remember are one: never assume that all professors necessarily possess one of the following characteristics- old, balding, bespectacled, bearded, grey-haired; and two: its normal to eat, listen to music, play on your cellphone, read a novel, pretend to take notes in class in college.

September 2005: Three years later, I realise that college at SVCE is more long tiring rides in the bus, implying a lot of time for introspection, music, books, gossip; hazy, sleepy, disheveled mornings followed by cups of tea which are more sweetened, flavoured, over-priced water, than tea; rice, sambar, fighting for and swiping appalams, and typical South Indian food; mass bunking where mass excludes those 10 diligent students who'd not give up their daily lessons for a movie at Sathyam; classrooms where you come early to 'put' place, to sit under the fan; absurd usage of words you've never heard before; English that has been so mutilated, ripped, torn apart by most staff and some students, that you cannot recognise it anymore(and I know, for this, I shall be called the 'scene podara peter' for the rest of my SVCE days!); grumbling about college the way I am right now; getting used to frequent visits by monkeys, rare extinct birds & insects; bans on cell phones; wearing salwar kameez and collared shirts everyday and getting a 'she thinks she's in a beauty pageant' or a 'she has no morals' from teachers and fellow students like, if you're female and wear anything remotely tight, transparent or short-sleeved; fraternising with the opposite sex being considered a violation of principles.. I could go on, but the best way to find out would be to board one of those bright blue buses, which even featured on the Sun TV tsunami shots, with the SVCE name on them.. ofcourse, you'd be extremely lucky if you survived the bus ride.