I wanted to study at KREC but could not get a seat of the
state quota and got Calicut on the inter-state quota. Possibly the happiest day
of my life should be collecting the admission order from KREC now called NIT-K
meaning National Institute of Technology - karnataka at Surathkal near
Mangalore for admission to NIT Calicut. Sometimes and quite often I visit NIT-K
may be as a subconcious thanksgiving for having given me a seat. My brother and
father had accompanied me during the admission process to NIT K and we stayed
at Vasanth Vihar hotel on K S Rao road in Mangalore. I will compare these two
NIT's in another write-up. Note that both these places Calicut and Mangalore
are almost equi-distant from Bangalore and to my experience travelling to
Calicut is a more enchanting experience considering the travel is through the
steepest part of the Western Ghats and the Bandipur forests. Calicut is not
very far from Ooty and must be around 5 hours by bus and many of my friends
used to visit ooty when the attractions of calicut become surfiet.
Though may not be relevant but still it would be consistent
to mention that there are three approach roads to NIT Calicut from Calicut
city. The one through nadakavu into the wayanad road and into kunnamangalam and
then to chathamangalam where the institute is located. All government buses
take this route.To get on to this route turn left from mavoor road at Baby
Memorial Hospital. Yet another route and possibly the shortest is through
medical college-karanthur-kunnamangalam and NIT. Most private vehicles take
this route. The most circuitous one is through mavoor but you get to enjoy the
rustic beauty of Calicut as you take this route but a highly time consuming
one. The beauty of Calicut is the many hills that surround the place and sadly
so many of these hills are being tonsured of their natural flora a phenomenon
that must be contained. IIM K has come upon one such hill and the view from IIM
K is truly breath-taking.
The social population at an REC (NIT) of our days was truly
heterogenous with a uneven scatter of students from across the country and
creates some kind of a culture shock for a sizable duration of time and
students do take some time to adjust in. Some of them do not have this problem
but in the shadow lies such a scenario. The students from the local state
always have an advantage in that they get a large posse of students from their
like -minded domain and so do people from the hindi belt . Take the case of a
student from Assam studying at a south indian NIT who finds himself in a
minority and a huge challenge ahead of him to acclamatize with the collective.
This can sometimes be painful for some time but becomes a treasure in the form
of a unique experience of having tided over a cultural gap. This kind of
transitions and transformations are what make REC products truly different and
unique from students from any other institution. This is what makes an REC
product priceless in many social contexts. REC concept must have truly
contributed to national integration AND KEEPING IN VIEW THE DIVERSE BACK GROUND
FROM WHICH THEY EMERGE MUST BE preferred for SOME TECHNICAL AND NON TECHNICAL
assignments of the government.
I think to a large extent a REC product must be allowed to
retain the identity of the sponsoring institution alongside the institution
where he had presented himself. This can put many a ambiguity in perspective.
This means he successfully combines to purposeful use his dual lineage. For an
instance a student who has graduated from Durgapur on being sponsored from
Silichar could project himself prima facie as a Silichar-Durgapur product and
the identity of the REC that sponsored him must be removed from the background
and projected upfront without delay to settle with urgency the dual nature of
his nurturing. I also feel from experience that REC products must be given and
tried at managerial positions rightaway on their exit from their institute and
not to while away in functional jobs at the outset as a sizable amount of
maturity and toughening being inbuilt by default by the nature of the
circumstances through which he has emerged. Some law of this nature must have
been enlisted in the NIT act atleast or else some injustice of a serious nature
is meted out inadvertently on these products and their unique capacities not
harnessed and made futile.
I have visited personally only three rec's in my life.
Calicut and Surathkal out of purpose and REC Nagpur out of spite. REC Nagpur or
MVNIT as it is called now is almost in the heart of nagpur as against the other
two which are away from the mainstay. However I have visited almost all the
NIT's on the web post internet era and have atleast an inkling of what a
particular institute looks like thanks to the internet. May these institutes
blossom and so must its products and all blessings and priveleges that are
directly and indirectly due may accrue upon them aplenty is one of my fervent
wishes and all the trials and tribulations through which a NIT product passes
to which I was a personal subject and witness may not go into waste but bear
fruit for himself and the community. On having passed through an NIT I have a
solemn feeling which I carry every day the pride which is uniquely ours of
having got a kind of education that is truly unique, different and special and
the joy of an ever complete education not yearning for any more leave alone the
Harvard Business School.
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