Tuesday, July 03, 2007

MDI Gurgaon finally :)

Dreams of a b-school had finally set foot on real ground - Me reached Delhi on 21st June with parents. The next two days were spent in nice sight-seeing at Delhi. The first day comprised the normal Delhi darshan which was tiring enough. The following day we had a nice experience at the Nehru Planetarium near Teen Murti. I guess this was the first of its kind. The sky show was fabulous and very informative. We also had a nice experience in the Metro at Delhi - thats how we found our way back to Karol Bagh where we had lodged. Had to switch trains etc in between - but it was really an interesting experience :) .

The morning of June 24th - and it was time to leave for Gurgaon. The weather was like any normal day - and it took us around 40 min to scale the super empty highway from Delhi to Gurgaon. There was nothing one could make out on the way - it was simply barren land. Asked people how to get to the place - and reached there soon enough. As compared to the two 'campuses' I had seen earlier, this one really took my breath away - I was expecting something nice - but this was beyong expectations. Much more than just decent. Thankfully it wasnt as crowded as I had expected as we had reached early. Collected the room lock and keys, and proceeded. The room was really decent too - bought a mattress from the student run store Prayas for my comfy bedding - and then Mom and me did most of the unpacking and setting up in the cupboard etc. 1.5 hours down the line my half of the room was complete in all respects. Details of the room included a decently large cupboard (bit bigger than my PG wala at Bangalore), a table with 3 drawers, a comfy chair, a bed and a shelf.

Following this I went out with parents to search for the Bank ATM's etc. They were all located at a very close distance in Sector 14 market, which relieved me. My parents were off after dropping me back at the institute - and well - I was on my own.

Before continuing with what happened later - here is a brief description of what I can see and feel at MDI ;)

37 acres - but its not just the magnitude - the campus itself tells a lot of tales - its one BIYOOTIFUL campus - about da same size as dat of IIMB - though IIMB was covered almost entirely with trees - the campus here is maintained with the utmost decorum - seriously clean to say the least !!! The buildings are named after great educational institutions - Gurukul, Nalanda, Parthenon etc. The hostel is named Change Masters - and is one of the most happening places in town. The boys and da gals mess is connected via the 1st floor mess - and well there is another mess on the ground floor (yep Mandevians - thats the main one )... The mess serves great food with loads of dessert (unlimited ice cream etc ;) ), fabulous breakfast (my fav part), but a small prob for non-veggies like me as its only non-veg thrice a week - one day of which I am veg - so core non-veggies life me suffer a bit - though the veg food is of more than decent quality.

The campus is sexy for a nice stroll late in the evenings (not mornings as u dont want to bake ureself out - the climate is EXTRA-SUPER HOTTT )... the library is one of the best in Asia - its been one week and I am yet to see it properly - there is a computer center running around 20 hours per day - and of course the other things like AC classrooms, an AC audi etc... There are coffee stalls like Nescafe, Jhaji etc besides a canteen called Sharmaji which remain open very late into the nite and are great social spots. Besides all these there is a football ground, lots of greens where there is a small golf course, a badminton court, a lawn tennis court, a basketball field (unused though), a gym, and well a NEW gym being inaugrated now, a TT room and so on.

The description might speak high of MDI - but well the hectic student life probably might not let you enjoy all the facilities to the fullest extent. Though as of now I can say that besides the weather and a slight homesick feeling , I am enjoying almost evrythin else here.

More to come on how I began off here - as of now I am off to count the stars...