With glittering lights sparkling my eyes, cool breeze soothing my heart and light music easing through the winds, the horizon of skies end and Life at SIBM begins!
Sitting on the stairs of Amphitheater, looking at the sunset amidst the clouds, I muse over this place – a world away from the world. A place which has embraced me with both its arms, and made me feel like home in less than just two weeks. On the day of arrival, with the sideline of an amazing Graffiti and the onset of high hills, when I entered the huge gates of this college, I realised that this is the kind of place where dreams are perceived and achieved. The vivacious sculpture of Goddess Saraswati in the very front declared to the world that this institution believes in bestowing knowledge to the ones who truly seek! The Portrait of flags of diverse nations empowered our adage:
वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम - The world is a family
. Boundaries divide nations, Education provokes Cultivation.
A walk from the college to the hostel is just like a trekking expedition, with slopes steeping here and there and clouds sneaking in and out! And if you are not convinced yet, oh there’s a waterfall too! As my eyes move away from the water gushing through the rocks, I see an amazing sight of green amalgamating with blue in a seamless manner. The great Sport Ground with a backdrop of the skies is a sight worth enduring. With all the nature slowly assimilating in me, I enter my hostel room, open my window just to see a whole lot of nature in front of my eyes again! The enthralling scene just out of my rooms fills me with delight as I discover that this is the panorama to which I will wake up every morning.
The landscape, in spite of being calm and serene, is full of energy and enthusiasm. The constant murmur of birds and the relentless babble of the students doesn’t let you drown in idleness. You keep on moving all over the campus, meeting new humans and spotting new places. And to add to the excitement is the excellent sports facility – Badminton, Table Tennis, Squash, Snooker, Basket Ball, Volleyball and so on. Oh, did I forget to mention the most exciting entity of this place – The Swimming Pool? With water beneath you, mountains in front of you and skies above you, who would mind taking a dive?
Cycling against the winds of time, I reach just on time for the Induction program in the auditorium. The feeling of sitting on the same seats as that of current business stalwarts invokes a sense of pride within us. The world class infrastructure of this college does impress you – Central Library, Convention Hall, Research Centre, Bloomberg Lab, blustery classrooms, greenly corridors and a stylish canteen – SymbiEat. Buildings are big (and sleek) but bigger are the aspirations of the students here! Evenings are the most happening times of this locale. As the sun sets, Celebration kick starts! Young guys and girls moving all over the campus, playing songs and dancing to trendy tunes eases the worries of the entire day and lightens the atmosphere. The night canteen makes sure you don’t go to sleep empty stomached!
After your thought that you have seen everything in this exciting place and the campus has nothing new to offer, a miracle happens –
It RAINS. The sky seems to narrow down on the premises. With clouds hovering all over us and darkening the azure, a chaotic rhythm of winds fills up the spirit with wilderness. Amidst all the pandemonium of thunders and gusts, bubbles burst out of the wide blue yonder. The dance of drops on the fields and the music of rains in galore creates a divine art – an experience that can hardly be penned down! Rains at Lavale make you feel like Kings and Queens of the Hilltop. Needless to say, it’s a sight reserved for only a handpicked lucky ones. The cool breeze after the rains and the wet smell of grounds gets even more endearing when coupled with hot snacks. The heavenly spell is not yet over – You get to see a rainbow too (and if that’s not enough, you get to see a double rainbow sometimes!)
In less than a fortnight, an unknown place becomes so dear to us that we almost forget to miss our family residence and unknown folks become so close to us that we almost forget to feel homesick for our old friends. With excitement and jubilation, as I post pictures of this lush green campus, I encounter questions like “Is it a kind of hill resort?” or “Are you on a posh vacation”, or “Is it a dreamy film sequence?” to which I reply concisely as
“No, this place is my home!”
With dreams and aspirations, as I embark on a journey to a new beginning, I tell myself proudly
“This is the place where I will live in for the next two years, and this is the place that will live in me for the rest of my life!”