We, I along with a friend of mine, left for Chennai from Cochin on 2nd October. I thought we will reach there early in the morning. But unfortunately we reached there only at 10 AM. I thought the time will be more than sufficient to do meet my appointment. We got fresh and started at 12 noon. Strange to city we asked people about the places were we had to reach but no one was sure. We had opposite opinions. Finally we boarded bus to Adayar and time was 12:20 PM. Destination was St. Josephs College, Satyabhama Deemed University. It took us 10 INR per head and 40 minute to reach there. We inquired again. Insecure and worried about our time management we decided to take an auto to the University. The toll was 100 INR but we managed to reach there by 13:20 hours. I was suffering from mobile roaming blues. I accessed my cell phone to remind my senior that we are here. Suddenly I saw an SMS which said “DO NOT USE MOBILE PHONES IN CAMPUS AND DON’T TALK TO GALS IN CAMPUS.”
I had heard about the cell phones banned in the campuses but not about the other thing. I thought he must have been joking. Finally we were in the campus of the college after two security checks. I was surprised to know that the SMS was 200% correct. If any male student is found talking to his female friend he is fined heavily. You are not allowed to communicate with your female friend even if she is your classmate. The first thought that came in my mind was “DISGUSTING.” If this is what they want to implement then why not make college for BOYS ONLY and GALS ONLY. What is the sense of making a co-ed institution where the interaction level is Zero!!! The people whom we went to meet were trainees of some reputed software companies. The code of conduct applied to them also (which is very obvious). This was the biggest irony. The environment of any MNC or software companies is designed in such a way that there is a healthy interaction every member irrespective of their sexuality.
After the meeting we hired an auto for Alwarpet for 150 INR. This was not at all an easy task. There was a lot of bargain involved. He came down from 210 INR to 150 INR. I still think if I gave him more than what he deserved or what. The appointment was favorable by God’s blessing.
From there we got an auto to IIT Madras to meet my friends there. I was just amazed by the greenery and eco-friendly measures taken by the administration. The temperature inside IITM was at least two to three degree less than the rest of Chennai. The eco-friendly battery operated buses was something worth noticing.
This was the end of day in Chennai. We had to board our train to Cochin at 8 PM. So we had to leave. We reached Chennai Central an hour before scheduled departure of train then had our dinner and boarded the train.
# posted by Sumant Kumar Raja (SK) : 7:06 PM
