Birthday bumps. Credit: Coherent Cody

The money is collected and the gifts and the cake is bought. All the friends gather in the canteen and surround the birthday boy, to force his face into the cake. Though the incharge shouts, but it all falls on deaf ears. A huge mess is made, with students shouting with full enthusiasm and the leftover cake littering all over the place. The happy birthday chants are heard all around the campus. Usually this is done, after the college hours, but many feel that it is a ‘junglee’ way and only nuisance is created. All the students have different ideas. Aman of CSE says, “We usually land up at our friend’s place at midnight with cake and wish him. Then we go for long drives on our bikes. Its awesome fun. The next day we take our treat and give the gifts. “The long rides last for atleast an hour with loads of masti and music.” Srishti of ECE shares her experience, “Last time I took my friends to Durgam Cheruvu in Hitech city. It was a very a good experience and we thoroughly enjoyed the pleasant weather and long drive. Later, we went to the temple and then I made a donation in an orphanage.”

B'day blasts. Credit: Coherent Cody

Places like KFC, Bakers Inn and Chutneys are hugely popular among the students, where they give their birthday parties. Surprise parties are very common. “My 18th birthday turned out to be a day filled with surprises. My cousins arrived at midnight and we had loads of fun. The very next day my parents gifted me my first bike. I went to the temple to pray and then spend quality time with my school friends and classmates in the evening”, says Harsh, a student of 2nd year IT.

Birthdays are always special, since it makes one realize that with growing age comes more responsibility and one has to live up to the expectations of many people. One must enjoy and also self-introspect, to become a better person. Birthdays will always remain special and important and the people will celebrate and would remind them that how grateful and lucky they are to live each day of such a wonderful life!

The article deals with the way orientation day was held and organized. Parents and freshers share about their opinion about the college and the orientation day. The auditorium was cleaned, decorated, chairs were arranged and the dais was set up. Like someone said, “First impression is the best impression”  – the management took all care that the parents and future KMIT-ians form a very good impression of the college on the first day. The seniors were not left out of the pre-preparations. Seniors were asked to schedule and organize the entire session. The second year students got together and made up plans and schedules by having discussions with the director, principal and the lecturers. Seniors had requested the director for some entertainment even, so that the freshers do not get bored by the speeches. So, songs and prayers were planned to be sung. Later, it was even decided that from every branch one of the senior would come onto the stage and share his/her experience with the freshers so that they had a better idea about what KMIT is all about and that KMIT prepares all-round engineers.

Posters by the doorway. Credit: Coherent Cody

Posters by the doorway. Credit: Coherent Cody

When the clock struck 10 in the morning, the orientation day session began with a prayer sung by a group of girls from ECE. Archana was the lead singer of the choir. They sung  melodious prayers at the commencement and at the end of the program. The entire session was well planned and anchored by Mr. Sudhakar. The director, Mr. Neil Gogte, presided over the session. The audience was fully engrossed in his speech. He promised a lot of changes and additions in the college campus. He promised to build a cricket pitch and basket-ball court. When it came to the infrastructure, labs and faculty, he says, “KMIT and I, assure you one thing, the infrastructure and labs we have are the best. Apart from this, our faculty is well chosen and every faculty member is well trained and each one of them has an immense knowledge of their subject. So, students, your parents have brought you to this ocean of knowledge. Now it’s up to you to take as much of it as possible.”

Students and parents were pleased with the assurance given by the director and the principal. After all the speeches, there was an interaction round where the parents could ask any questions, queries or doubts to the director. They could give any suggestions too. It went on for about 40 minutes and the director was successful in clearing all the doubts that parents had. The end of the session was quite amusing as seniors were prepared to share their experiences about the college.

Shreya and Gowtami, from CSE,  gave their speech which was very helpful to the freshers and it mainly stressed on academics and faculty. Amruta, from IT, also gave a speech on the same lines. The most interactive speech was given by Mihir, from IT. His speech concentrated on all the different aspects of engineering life like friends; bunking classes, cultural fests, parties and along with all this how he balances between enjoyment, fun, studies and projects.

More posters for a hearty Welcome. Credit: Coherent Cody

The program ended with a prayer. Snacks and cool drinks were provided at the end. Students and parents were request to move about in the college and get themselves acquainted with the place. Parents were more interested in the lab facilities and hence had requested the director to assign a person, who could show them labs. Undoubtedly, students were more interested in the play ground, sports places, which to a certain extent brought their spirits down but they expect that the promises given by the director are soon fulfilled. We found some curious parents having a chat with the seniors on the different perspectives of the college.

Everyone was pleased with the proceedings and one could find the parents and freshers  satisfied with the college they got admission into. Juniors  had a very warm welcome from both the college management and the seniors. They wish them all the best and hope to see their lives rock at KMIT!

Half an hour later, Srikar, a student of IT was approached by a guy, who told him, “Hi, come over there. My friends and I want to ‘interact’ with you”. A fully conscious Srikar quickly realized that the second years were present in the canteen and he was in no mood to get ragged. He politely shoved him away telling him that he had to attend a class. Well, the others weren’t so lucky. The news spread and people could soon differentiate, they at least pretended they could. The smart ones left their drinks and ran back to their classes.

Friendly interaction with the juniors. Credits: Poet's Revenge

Krishna, a student of ECE was reportedly the first victim. “Come on now, don’t worry. We won’t eat you up. Stay comfortable. And remember, the first thing you will say when someone asks you why you are here, is that we are your friends and nothing else”. He was asked to give his BD (Bio-data) and then was asked to repeat it in Telugu till he got it perfectly right. Words like ‘school’, ‘college’, ‘10th’ were corrected and translated into Telugu by the language pro seniors. Then he was asked to find out every senior students’ name. “I was literally shivering when I was called for. But it helped me find out that I have awesome seniors, who I can look up to. I thoroughly enjoyed this ragging session”, he says sporting a huge smile.

“Though ragging is fun in this college and serious ragging is not entertained even by the students, there are a few people (seniors), who you need to stay away from though”, says Susheel, a second year student. A few fresher enthusiasts went over the edge to have a better look and were easy prey for the seniors. “I was surprised to see a specimen junior, who came up to us and forced us to rag him. I was totally awed and there were others, who thought he needed real treatment”, says Roopak, another second year student. “There was an incident last year, where a fresher was beaten up brutally by the seniors because he refused to obey their orders. The incident showed extreme results and I don’t want to take any risks by annoying a junior”, says Karthik. It’s a known fact that every senior wants to create a friendly bond with his junior, but a few seniors at KMIT, say they have better things to do.

Action Arena! The Canteen. Credits: Poet's Revenge

Aman, a first year student, was thoroughly disappointed at not being ragged. He blames his attention seeking ability for that. There are many others, who support ragging because that is the only way they can have a freshers party organized. So, is every senior involved in ragging? A few are bold enough to admit that it is only the senior CSE students, who risk starting new relationships with their juniors. “What fun is college life if you can’t interact with people around you? At least know their name?” asks Varun. In spite of the friendly ragging scenario that can be seen at KMIT, there a few others like Snigdha, who is too shy to face it. “Not my kind”, she says.

KMIT is a beautiful place to learn and grow. It is here that one can really develop life skills. Being chosen by a senior and a face-off with the group is a real privilege and something that can be cherished for the rest of life. But then there is always the self-constraint, certain rules that every human puts to himself. It is in the students’ hands to decide whether his moral limits have been breached by his seniors. The management of KMIT extends its full support to anyone, who feels that he or she has been victimized and been treated unethically. Student friendly ragging can be supported but only in controlled environments. It is only when seniors resort to mild forms of ragging in every college that factors like legal punishment, rustication from the college and the fear of being a fresher be totally eradicated from the student society.

The ‘School Of Electronics’ at KMIT (Keshava Memorial Institute of Technology) offers Electronics and Communication (ECE) and Electronics and Instrumentation (EIE) as the two branches of study. It is common knowledge that ECE has been a highly popular choice amongst the students and parents as it offers a large scope for a better career. Instrumentation is also not far behind and seems to be catching up, with its growing demand in the industry. Instrumentation is a core subject, which deals with the various instruments used in R & D and in almost every industry. The popularity of Electronics is evidently on the rise.

When asked on what makes this field a popular choice, Amrita says, “The growing popularity of electronics even in the times of recession, make it the best and safest option”. Mr Kumar, a parent, whose son recently took admission into KMIT says, “Electronics is a happening thing at present and will be in the future too. Added to this, it has great prospects”. With electronics stream being the most sought after, the colleges demand a hefty donation ranging from anywhere between Rs.5 and 6 lakhs in addition to the the annual fee of Rs.92,000 as prescribed by JNTU. Such is the demand that the seats get filled just in two to three days. Mr Amin, who admitted his daughter into ECE (Electronics and Communication Engineering) through the management quota, justifies the decision, “If my daughter’s future is going to be secure by spending a ‘little’ extra amount, then there is nothing wrong in it”. 60 is the intake for each of ECE and EIE, out of which 70% is under the convener quota and the rest 30% is under the management quota. Even though it is popular, many find it difficult to cope up with the subject. Narain, a student of 2nd year admits, “I regret choosing EIE because it is really exhaustive at times and is only for the hardworking and determined ones. So, a student should choose this field only if he likes the subject and is dedicated”.

KMIT is situated in the ‘heart of the city’, near Narayanaguda. So the students here have an slight edge over others because a lot of their commuting time is saved, which in turn reduces the exhaustion that students of most colleges generally face. The studious atmosphere and the reasonably good infrastructure with spacious classrooms and  labs are an added advantage. But Balakrishna, a second year student complains, “The infrastructure is not good when compared to other colleges and the labs are below par. It needs a lot of improvement. There is only one ground,which is not well maintained”. The college, located in a congested area, has a less scope for expansion and lacks a spacious campus. But all these factors can be overlooked because there are many academic activities going on in the campus. “Something or the other keeps going on in the campus. We have so many people coming and going. People from reputed companies like IBM, Adobe, Adtran, Sun etc., keep visiting and give us guest lectures”, says Kartik, a first year student. The campus has a Wi-fi network and has recently started the e-learning initiative, in which the student with just a computer and a headphone can have access to thousands of recorded lectures by renowned and famous persons belonging to various industries and universities. This program runs on a web component designed by KMITians themselves.

In KMIT, the faculty of electronics is well trained and qualified. Dr G R Babu is the HOD of the department. But as usual, the students are divided in their opinions on the staff. Zeeshan says, “The lecturers lack communication skills and are very strict”. But Rupesh begs to differ. He says, “Overall, the lecturers are good and they teach us the complex electronic concepts in a simple language. At times, the lectures get a bit tedious and boring, but it’s a part and parcel of this studies”.

As a KMITian, a student has the advantage of being up-to-date with various technological advancements and industry needs through programs like TRISHUL and various seminars by experienced people from the industry. So the student is shaped into a complete engineer with a very good knowledge and strong basics. There are so many initiatives going on like the recently conducted “XILATHON”, a Short Term Course covering VLSI, FPGA and Embedded Systems, which was introduced to promote Industry Institute Interaction by the department of ECE, JNTU  and Keshav Memorial Institute of Technology (KMIT) in collaboration with Xilinx. There is also IBM’s TGMC (The Great Mind Challenge) going on, which is open to both the Electronics and Computer groups. Brainchild of Mr Neil Gogte, the director of KMIT and founder of Genesis, the ‘Incubation Center’ was established in the college, which aims at training the students of ECE and EIE to take up projects from the IITs and industry under the supervision of Mr Vinay Patankar.

An Electronic kit. Credit: Coherent Cody

A good engineer needs to have a good knowledge of the subject as well as extraordinary practical knowledge and experience. The electronic labs at KMIT are ‘chalta types’ (just okay and not great). The instruments are a bit old and the lab faculty are also not well trained. Krishna says, “Good labs are very essential for us to get acquainted to the practical knowledge. The labs are not very good and they have to be be improved”. The college management has assured the students that it would definitely bring about some changes by next year. There are, in all about three labs and only three lab in-charges managing them.

Lastly, KMIT assures that the engineers are ‘Complete’ in their spheres. So all the geeks out there, who are fascinated by technology; here’s the right college you seek!

We interviewed some people about the KMIT (Keshav Memorial Institute of Technology) college canteen and the reply, in short was , ‘the canteen sucks, dude!’. The canteen is situated to the right side of the first year block and is a tiny shed. It can hardly accommodate 30 people at a time. The tables and chairs are never properly arranged and there is a noticeable dearth of them. Students find the canteen as an excellent place to have their tiffins but not the canteen food.  The only pleasurable aspect of the canteen is that students can enjoy the cold breeze that passes by.

The canteen works on the ‘tokens system’. Tokens have to be purchased and need to be produced, to buy food . The students had lots of problems in buying the tokens as they were insufficient and unavailable most of the time. Thanks to the hell lot of complaints put forward by the students, the tokens are finally available at anytime in the canteen itself. The menu at the canteen is  limited as it just provides meals and curd rice daily and noodles, manchurian, dosas and puris on alternate days. The costs are nominal with the noodles and manchuria costing 20 bucks and other items costing 12 rupees. The quantity is quite sufficient for 2 people to share it.

Vijay says, “I never have anything in the canteen. It’s just so disgusting. Early morning there is nothing at all you could find, except for the lays, and a couple of samosas. Then the lunch is all about meals and whenever we have manchuria, it is either extra-salted or over-fried to carbon black. So, I and my friends, go out for lunch”. When asked if he complained to the management about the same, he replies, “We all friends did complain to the management about the canteen food and asked them for more variety. We first complained about the place, then about the menu, but the management turned a deaf ear to our complaints”.

Lecturers have a good time at the canteen, because it provides excellent tea and coffee. The only thing that the college canteen could be praised of,  is the hygiene that it maintains. No one has had any problems with college food yet. It’s all safe and hygienic to have food here. Students put forth a lot of suggestions about many aspects about the canteen but then it seems that the management has decided to not pay heed to the complaints. “Let alone the complaints or suggestions we give, the college managements is not even  ready to have a bigger area for the canteen. It’s hardly taken any steps for its improvement. They promised to change the menu, supply with lots of other snacks like popcorn and sweet corn, but it never happened”, says Meenakshi.

When the college management was approached, it provides us with a different picture saying, “As far as the canteen menu is concerned, we can not afford a huge loss by putting up a number of items, because there is no serious demand for the canteen food. The number of students, who eat in the canteen is minimal. Most of them either go out or get their tiffins from home. For a bunch of 20-30 students we can’t have a five star menu. If students want to have five-star dishes, they can go to restaurants, we allow that. We never put the students’ health at a risk and we run a hygienic canteen. Secondly, we are building a new place for canteen. It is going to be open for the seniors this year by the end of this semester. It is about double the area of the previous canteen and we will try our best to meet the demands of students. The previous canteen will be the canteen for only juniors, who will be joining us this September”.

The students were then informed of the upcoming new canteen and all of them are excited and eager for  it. Students expect a grand new place with a brighter look and delicious items on that menu list. One of the IT senior, Siddhartha, mentions, “At least we could be hopeful of a new place, where we would be having some good stuff and hangout with our buddies. Thanks to the media, rather the Vidyouth reporters, we came to know that there is going to be a new canteen. We can surely pressurize the management guys. Vidyouth is doing a great job. College management, the Principal,  are all now a bit more alert and we hope they become a bit more active”.

Harsha, an aspirant of IIT, was forced to join this college. He describes the entire scenario in detail. “It was about this time last year that I was totally depressed. I couldn’t get into the college I wished for (IIT). I was not ready to join any where except an IIT.  Since I couldn’t get into it, my dad asked me to take admission into KMIT. The simplest reason and a strong reason for him being, the proximity of the college to our home. Dad gave me no other choice but to join this college. He told me, as the college is near by, I could even study for my IIT entrance and attempt the JEE  in the next year. We then came to see the college. It didn’t make things any better because the campus was not that awesome. The grounds were empty and barren lands of sand. Only the first year block and the greenery around was attractive.”

The miniature college ground. redit, Coherent Cody

He continues, ” I never had an option but to join here. The beginning was tough. As the days passed by, the fear I had in my heart slowly started converting into my strength and confidence. The lecturers were very good. The director was one man everyone looked up to.  The college management took a good number of steps for the development of students and to create ‘engineers’. They re-defined the term ‘engineering’. I am happy that I am a part of such a wonderful college. I am confident and sure that with the training I receive, I will compete and stand out even in the present economic slow down”.

Another student, Anusha, a fantastic artist says, “I never wanted to do engineering. I always knew that my interest was something artistic. I wanted to become a painter but my parents never listened. They came to know about this college KMIT and they kept on brain washing me. I took admission in here. I was sure that my artistic side would have an end here. I was so upset about these things. I then came to know about Narendra Rai, who is a well known professional painter and then joined his classes that are held in the college premises. I learnt a lot; the exposure was wide. I now handle and manage all the inter college competitions. This is engineering for me. Classes go on smooth, I live in a creative world of my own. This is what I always wanted to have”.

The reply to the question – ‘Do you regret or rejoice the decision you made at this point of time the last year?’ by every student was a strong ‘I rejoice’.  Students in KMIT have a variety of options. It is not only the academic perspective that makes the college a favorite but there are other activities as well, which go on on a regular basis. Students, who think engineering is all about bunking, movies and enjoyment are allowed to do so because attendance is not a problem for them. But it comes at a cost of  getting  failed in lab by the college. Surprisingly, there are students, who wish to choose that option. KMIT evening is a regular event that pops up in about 3 months. Different quizzes, elocution, debates, presentations are held. The sports area is now being developed.

“The best thing about the college is that it has the Indian culture and tradition deep rooted in it. It allows us to celebrate many of the festivals in the college. Its a great fun and zeal to come to college on a festive day. Last year, we had organised and arranged the ‘Patang Utsav‘. It was a big hit. The whole day couldn’t be a more fun than that as we enjoyed it with our friends. There are a lot more other cultural activities that keep the year relaxing”, Akhil tells us.

The KMIT Website. Credit: http://www.kmit.in

We then asked, “Is the college really as good as the students consider it to be?” Bhavik then replies cleverly saying, “Tell me which college doesn’t have flaws and loop holes? We, as KMITians are not in that crowd of lay students, who keep whining and blaming the college management for every damn thing. It is like the people of this country, who keep blaming the dirty politics, the filthy government but never as citizens think that it is their duty to change things around them, after all democracy dude. Yeh Youngistan hain, meri jaan. Every problem that we face in the college is first discussed among students. We chalk out plans and then the soft copy of the problem and its possible solutions is presented to our Director and Principal. This attitude has changed the world of KMIT”.

Freshers, who already joined the college and who might be in a chaos whether to join KMIT or not, can hopefully take a right decision by joining the college, for their all round personality development. The college has got quite a good response from the students and has also been doing well at academics. The director, Mr. Neil Gogtey,  owns the famous companies, Genesis solutions and Telepad. He gives the surety of placements. Over all, students are very happy to be a part of this integrated college and they say, it’s a part and parcel of their home now.  More information about the where and how-abouts of the college can be retrieved on the official website, http://www.kmit.in.

Pranav, as mentioned, the mind behind this fabulous idea and one of the major person arranging and handling the event, talks to us about how he managed to get things done. “The daily cricket matches and the usual play was getting dull day by day. It was time to invoke that zeal and enthusiastic spirits among ourselves, so it was my friends and me, who thought that some competitions would do the job. We then discussed the different issues regarding it and then we thought to name this event as the KPL. I then approached the management and put forth my idea. The management was very much pleased with the basic idea of these cricket matches. I guess the name KPL fascinated them more than anything else. The Principal asked me to present all the details regarding it so that the next semester could begin with a bang.”

The news about KPL and what it is, spread like fire among the students. Students dicussed more about the advancements in KPL, than discussing about the exam papers just after they were out of the examination halls. When different people were asked about whether KPL could actually make it to reality or if it would just be in air, a very diversified reaction was seen. Nikhil, an ECE junior says, “The  idea of having these matches is a fantastic thought. I appreciate the seniors for coming up with it. If we can approach and convince the management for it, then I surely look up for some fun and entertainment this semester”. It was a very tough job for the organizers as they had to figure out the budget and then convince the college management for the approval.

Teja, a very good player, on the other hand presents the hard facts and the bare truths. He says, “Baigan ki, college management kucch nahi karne wali hai. The idea seems very amazing but how do we expect it to be such a big hit? Have you even seen that ground? They call it the pitch! A hell lot of developments have to be done on it. I don’t think the management will bear any financial issues. It would just be great enough if we could implement a basic idea of a competition. Its no use thinking this event would take the shape of some 20 -20 matches”. It took a week for things to finalize. Things took their turns. A very exorbitant budget was presented, which had to be later modified and made reasonable.

The modifications were followed by the approval of KPL matches. All branches had to select one team. Each team member had to pay a cost of 150 bucks as an entry fee. Eight such teams, 4 from juniors and 4 from seniors, are competing for an award of five thousand (5000/-) rupees. The runner up team also gets an award of three thousand (3000/-) rupees. Special rewards of thousand five hundred (1500/-) rupees are to be awarded to the most-scoring batsman and the person, who takes the largest number of wickets. The college management agreed by implying a condition that matches should be held only on weekends, i.e., Saturdays and Sundays so that it did not tamper the regular academics.

The first exciting KPL match. Credit: Coherent Cody

The efforts paid off when the matches actually began just in a week as the semesters started. Money was collected, the pre – requisites were taken care of, a plan was made and it was very soon in action. The whole college geared up for the matches on the second Saturday of this month. Pranav and his team of organizers did an excellent job. Some of the lecturers joined hands for umpiring so that the game could be played on fair lines, others decided to cheer up the teams. “I was looking forward for this day. The matches actually began. KPL is in action. It was fun watching the matches and being in the audience. It was no less than the  20-20 matches we see, the only difference being that its 12 over here”, expressed Mathur.

Overall, three matches kept the KMITians busy in college on Saturday as well as sunday. Teja, now looks quite satisfied with how things have shaped up, says, “It’s good to see that the college management has put in efforts to improvise the pitch. Although its not completely done with but the efforts are quite visible. And thanks to the organizing team that we are having so much fun. Now, its my prime duty to entertain the audience by hitting fours and sixes”. The matches will last for about 4 weeks. The final match will be on the fifth weekend.  This is the biggest and most happening event in the KMIT campus at present. Students are looking forward for a whole month of entertainment and joy, waiting for the final match to begin and having the wild guesses about who that winning team would be.