Revisiting The Beginning

Spartacus-Spartacus-Spartacus

The Colosseum is filled with a deafening cheer from the crowd. Acknowledging the sounds of the trumpets and drums, Spartacus unleashes his sword that makes a blaring sound while cutting through the atoms of the air in Capua. Suddenly the world around me disintegrates into pieces like a jigsaw puzzle.

It took me some time to differentiate the reality from the dream. Time was 4:07 AM. Train had come to a sudden halt. This probably described how swords were smashing atoms while the scientists at CERN are still having a tough time with billion dollar equipment. Just to clarify, the credit for trumpets goes to the uncle in the coach who snored his way to the morning.

A gentle breeze brushed across my face when I stepped out of my compartment after reaching Mumbai. The dream lingered along while I was on my way to NITIE in the cab. During that time, I was reading “The Interpretation of Dreams” by Freud, and hence kept on looking for the subtle hints and meanings in the dream I had the previous night. Did the arena signified NITIE? Will I be burdened by a bundle of expectations? Or will I carry my sword with panache and dignity right till the end? The answers are still wrapped safely in time.

NITIE-Mumbai

Despite the high humidity we have in Mumbai, time evaporates within no time. I reached NITIE at around 10 AM, after waiting for a while, I got the keys for my room and along with my roommate(a friend from college), I steadily made my way to the center of the arena.

Yes, the dream had meaning after all, the arena instead of being NITIE was the hostel we have at NITIE. I have to ignite the Spartacus in me every time I encounter a new specie of spider or a moth making its way to my room. Though after the initial adjustments and the sacrifice of sharing my cupboard(quite close to shedding one's blood in arena) I can proudly say that I am in love with this arena.

Students everywhere with bright smiles, partly because of NITIE and mostly because of feeling unburdened after getting relieved from the coding they did at their respective organizations is a sight to cherish. The seniors have been the strength of the new batch. The mentorship they provide to us is invaluable.

I feel humbled sharing the same space with people having so many varied talents. The singers, the actors, the footballers, the cricketers, the dramatists, the adventurists, the bibliophiles and many more facets of the engineers we have at NITIE certainly provides answers to all the diversity questions that have been floating around haunting future MBA aspirants preparing for CAT.

The irony of NITIE is in the way it operates. The SCM and Operations being the strength of the college, it hurts to see the long stagnant queues for issuing library cards, the buildings getting constructed at snail's pace, time-tables going through all possible permutations and combinations and all of us trying to bring about the change in country's  future. In my opinion, considering the strength of the students we have in terms of intellectual capital, we have the potential to be one of the best management institutes in terms of organization and functioning.

During my first week, the observations I have had speak for opportunity and hope. Falling in love never seemed so effortless till I found NITIE. The arena, the crowd, the sword it's all coming true. The Spartacus in our heart is in the making....