Various Amenities of VIT.

                                                VARIOUS AMENITIES OF VIT

The founder and chancellor,Dr.G.Vishwanathan has really done wonders in the making of the VIT.The Infrastructure at first glance,seems full of grandeous and imposing buildings and amenities.On a closer look,you come to understand that it is extremely well planned architecture in play.Not only does VIT have clever architecture,it also provides students with every sort of amenity possible to make life easier and more enjoyable around campus.The various amentities provided by VIT are :-

All Mart!

A multi purpose shopping mall spread over 3000 sq.feet right outside the VIT gate that provides for every need of the student right from food to mattresses,clothing and accessories to greeting cards!There are many stationary shops and tailoring facilities are also provided.

VIT Souvenir Shop.

The VIT Souvenir Shop containse clothes(both sexes) and accessories like watches,handbags,caps and pens exclusively branded by VIT.All VIT merchandise is of excellent quality and available to all students.

  Bank and ATM.

There are 3 ATMS provided inside campus that work 24/7.They are-the Indian Bank,The State Bank of India and Centurion Bank.One is right before Silver Jubilee Tower,another is near the Technology Tower entrance and the last is across the Main Building.There is an Indian Bank outside the gates of VIT that manages all finances and accounts of the VIT students only.All students must have an Indian Bank account which I think is extremely useful as not only do we learn the nuances of banking and accounting,we also learn valuable lessons in handling money which is useful in later life.

  

Food Joints.

There are numerous food joints in and around VIT.The few main joints are Food court outside the Technology tower,Le Cafe at SJT,a huge canteen next to GDN  and a few Nescafe shops here and there.Students famished from skittering to classes can always catch a break around these placs.They are popular hangout sites.

Other facilities include post Office,STD/ISD pay phones,Courier service,a bookstore for all kinds of textbooks and stationary,copier facilities and even a Digital Photo Studio.!

                                        --SOHINI BAGCHI

                                                             

                         VIT  school buildings and classrooms


                  VIT is known for its excellence not only in the field of academics but also in its infrastructure. VIT has many school buildings, each for a particular field of engineering. 

                                             Technology Tower

                     Main Building


                The Main Building(MB) is for mechanical engineering, SMV or commonly called hexagon(due to its hexagonal shape) is for the biotechnology and other bio-engineering fields, Technological Tower(TT) is for electrical and electronics engineering, and Silver Jubilee Tower(SJT) for computer engineering and information technology. 
                The class rooms in all these buildings are quite advanced to suit the made of teaching. Every classroom is provided with a projector for presentations put up by faculty,in order to create a better understanding for students. presentations given by the faculties makes learning for the students much more dynamic and interesting, instead of the usual lectures which tend to be dry. VIT also has a number of smart classrooms, provided with a lavish gallery system. These rooms are used for seminars, workshops, meetings and presentations and are centrally air conditioned. VIT has a lot of laboratories, each used for carrying out regular experiments by students during lab classes, as well as for research and development in various different fields of engineering. The faculties in VIT are highly skilled personals, each highly qualified in their respective fields.


-Samhita Mahapatra

Huge Huge Campus !

VIT has a 360 acres campus and qualifies in one the biggest deemed universities in India . We have the campus in two folds - All the buildings on one side along with the girl's hostel and all the boys hostel on the other side separated by the Indian Railways. Sad part is that both the parts are equal in size and maybe the boy's hostel be bigger than the rest of the campus. 

We start from Allmart and the G.D. Naidu Block on towards Katpadi followed by Anna Auditorium and Main Building . Then we have Central Library and SMV or the Hexagon . These all are in a single file and this stretch is still manageable. After this there is the Lake ! There is no access to the lake sadly ( which could have been fun , lake in a campus sounds cool and even cooler when accessible ! ).

Technology Tower is next , one of the biggest buildings currently . Next to it are the Girl's Block - 4 of them .

And last but no the least is Silver Jubilee Tower ! The other end of the campus , The far end !

Well if the list of buildings all in one line is not enough , I have a list of hostel block starting from A to N on the other side in a similar fashion covering so much of area and such a long length that it is so tiring to see all on foot ! It takes 20 minutes from the new blocks to be made to reach the SJT and 10 minutes on foot to reach the other buildings which are practically closer but still. 

If a guy has to go from his block to any of the building it He has to cover about Half a kilometer and if from his block to AllMart and then SJT then One kilometer is a distance truly to be covered !

I am happy with the large campus indeed proud of it but walking is tough. It is nice to see so many buildings and large open spaces and I feel proud when some one external comes to our campus and it is a true delight to see envy in their eyes .

Well everything coin has two sides and this feature of VIT is proud thing with a little pain to the feet but everyone enjoys it !

Adhirath Sikand (11bbt0179)

Youth Red Cross VIT

                              Youth Red Cross.

VIT is affiliated with many organizations like Make A Difference(M.A.D),Uddeshya and a host of other NGOs.One of the more renowned organizations is the Youth Red Cross.Don't confuse this with the Indian Red cross society.There are branches throughout India but the YRC works from VIT exclusively.All the core commitee members are students from VIT. YRC came into existence in 2002.it is essentially a humanitarian organization which believes in easing suffering wherever it is found and helping the underpriviledged be it with knowledge or medication.YRC also provides training to develop leadership qualities and overall personality improvement of the students by organising and

participating in the activities of YRC.It has several highlighted events which it works on every year.A list of them are

·       Blood donation drive

·       Orphanage Visits

·       Anti smoking and drug abuse Lecutres

·       Health screening camps

·       First aid Training programs

·       Environment awareness camps

·       Other voluntary/Social Service Activities.

This year it has organized quite a few events.There was a health camp which was set up at the Anna audi where students and faculty had the priviledge of getting a full body checkup completely free.Right from Oral hygiene,dental hygiene,eye checkup to BMI checkup,it covered almost everything.The next event was the women's training program where women from the city and students from various schools in Vellore were given a two day seminar on health issues relating to women.Another event that YRC recently orchestrated was the blood donation drive.They called in staff from the CMC to help them with the medical facilities required for taking blood from various students who had signed up for it. The chancellor came to oversee the program and appreciated the efforts of the students.

Each year this organization has been expanding its horizons in order to promote promary health care and healthy living.

Young volunteers make a significant contribution to meeting

the needs of the most vulnerable people within their local communities through Youth Red Cross programme.
                                                                                       -Sohini Bagchi

Vellore is a small town, and amidst that small town one finds VIT, which is a mini satellite town by itself. It has every thing that one needs to live happily. It has its own water purification units, has its own electricity generation units that generate electricity from a variety of sources like windmill,water from lake,electricity from wastes. It has a departmental store from where we can buy all that we need daily. VIT has provided grocery stores and restaurants within the hostel premises as well. It has a clothes shop which is pretty good as it keeps getting new designs of t-shirts and trousers. The most amazing thing that I find in VIT are the restaurants. There are three big food joints in the college campus,apart from the ones present inside the hostel campus. these are namely Food Court(which also has a fast food joint attachment called Java Green), the SJT canteen(Le Cafe) and the GDN Canteen. Food Court and SJT offers a multicuisine menu which includes Indian, Chinese, Mughlai, South Indian and Italian.They also offer soft drinks, juice, shakes, ice creams, granitas, etc. GDN Canteen is well known for the delicious South Indian food that it offers. Even the sandwiches, shakes, and other starters like potato croquet are absolutely yummy! VIT has set a very good standard for all its food joints. The quality as well as Quantity of food served is indeed quite satisfactory. Being a complete foodie, I have quite an enjoyable time trying out newer items on the menu, and I must say that I like it! 

-Samhita Mahapatra

Periyar EVR Central Library

Ever been to the VIT campus? You have missed something if you haven't seen the library then. Yes. We are proud of our library. 

Periyar EVR Central Library (Central library previously) is one of the best things the University has given to its students. 

The first fact is that the VIT central library is a truly good place as far as books are concerned. There are more than 1.3 lac copies of almost 50k books out of which a hopping 15k is added in the last year and thus the library has a good collection of almost all sorts of books ranging from the technical ones to English novels.

Another truth is that the Library is a well built structure and is one of the most beautiful spaces in VIT. In fact according to many people it used to be the best place where every person felt good.

There are MANY rules in the library and you wont get tired of listing them and the rules are applicable to Indians only and foreigners can always talk something out of them if ever somebody catches them by mistake.

Now come to the rules.

1. Library is not for discussions and teaching. As a consequence of this rule, if you are seen with your lips moving, (especially in case of two people with opposite sex) then whether sound came out of your mouth or not, you are sure to get a warning from the staff, which is never going to be less than 20 decibels, since they need everybody to know they have caught someone talking. Of course, it does not disturb anybody sitting there.

The staff members discussing with their discussions audible at all the seats on the ground floor is a matter that you are not supposed to talk about.

2. You are supposed to keep your cellphones switched off (Indians only, again) and anybody who is seen even reading a message under the table must be punished. But if the library staff members' cellphones ring, from the librarian to the attender, may be it's for students' entertainment.

3. You must wear an ID card. In case you are not wearing the card, staff members can not only bully you, they do not have problem even humiliating you with their fillips. Of course, it does not disturb the students of the library. It's just discipline which needs to be kept.

4. You cannot take more than 3 notebooks or notepads inside the library. Actually it's something that totally depends on the mood of staff sitting there.Also issued books are not allowed inside the library. Why ? If we are taking a book from the library and bringing it back to the library then what is the problem ?

There are some small things too, like you cannot get into the library clad in 'casual' dress, or even jackets. But foreigners are allowed inside with half-pants (probably half-pants made outside the country are formal) and bottles of soft-drinks. But I do not want to bother you with petty things like these and in-time details. Or may be I did. Anyways, long live the library.

Adhirath Sikand (11bbt0179)

Gender Biasing in VIT

                  Unnecessary Gender biasing in VIT.

                              

VIT being an internationally acclaimed institute,what with the pictureque landscape,amazing infrastructure,flexibility in the education system(Numerous MoUs,FFCS) and the importance given to sports education, has almost succeeded in emulating an international standards University.When I say almost,there is a reason.Fact remains that it is situated in India.Thus there will always be a slight irregularity in their treatment towards girls and boys,There is a ratio of almost 5:1 of boys and girls respectively.I feel that preferential treatment is meted out to boys.Freedom is given much more to them than girls.This is understandable in most cases.After all it is an Engineering college and containing so many boys becomes a problem. So the girls fall prey to all the pressure.The in-time for them is 6‘o’clock on weekends and 8:30 on weekdays whereas the boys can stay out till almost 11:30 on weekends!Moreover the girls have to go through a myriad variety of letters,faxes and signatures in order to go on leaves and parents are mostly called up to be questioned about their daughters whereabouts even after this.It is most like releasing a prisoner from captivity.Its a breeze for the boys to take a vacation as getting permission is easy as winking an eyelid for them !The girls need to wait in line to sign in and sign out and are not allowed to go out if they do not have their Hostel  Ids.The bus services are also mostly used by the boys as they don’t have any stops near the girls hostel.Also,girls are deemed daring and outgoing if spotted with boys as for instance,in one class a girl was sitting among a few boys.The teacher,noticing this said’This isn’t a garden. A certain decorum should be maintained in college and you cannot sit wherever you like.Sit with the girls from now on’.The girl was visibly embarrassed.I personally do not agree to this policy.We are 18 and above and we should have the freedom to sit as we wish in class just as long as attention is being payed.Thus there is generally more sternness when it comes to handling girls in VIT.And this gender biasing is sometimes quite unfair.

                

There are quite a lot of positive points to this as well.

Due to all the rules and regulations when it comes to girls, parents are generally more prone to sending their daughters to VIT as ofcourse it is one of the safest places for them.Extreme caution is exercised in regard to girls and they are treated with respect.They are taken very good care of.So I would like to conclude that although VIT is regarded as very safe,it still needs to tone down its strictness towards girls a tad, as setting down so many rules and regulations eventually leads to rebelling against them.

                                                                                           -Sohini Bagchi

Foreign Students.

VIT, being an internationally recognised university, has many students coming from other countries. In VIT, being a foreign student there are many advantages. They get preferences in academics from faculties. They get better rooms in the hostels. Female students coming from abroad are at a much better positions in the hostel as far as  leaves and outings are concerned. While Indian students have to negotiate with the wardens to get leaves or permissions for outing, wardens are much easier on the foreigners. Choice of clothing is also an issue. There are no restrictions as such to the type of clothing they wear, but Indian girls have to wear full pants and covered tops and Indian wear. The girls from abroad can wear short skirts, shorts, very trendy revealing tops, but this is not allowed for the Indian girls. Also they are allowed to enter the library wearing these, while the Indians are not. Such differences based on nationalities is quite unjustified. Thus I feel that everybody should be treated equally and the same rules should apply for all.

-Samhita Mahapatra

Fests of VIT!

VIT, as we all know, is an internationally recognised university. It has many students of different nationalities. Due to the efforts of the administrators of VIT, who frequently make national as well as international trips, VIT has been able to achieve its recognition worldwide. Each year, VIT organises two college fests, namely GRAVITAS  and RIVIERA. Gravitas is the technical fest while Riviera is the cultural fest. Riviera is an international inter college event and invites many colleges from abroad. It hosts many fun events throughout the 3 days that the fest is held. The events are mostly based on singing, dancing, painting, art and other co-curricular activities. It hosts shows in the evening, where many well-known artists are invited to perform each year. Riviera 2012 hosted shows of Shreya Ghoshal, Neeraj Shreedhar ,Natalie Diluccio, well known Tamil artist Suchitra and the famous German Metal band, Suidakra. It organised a DJ night for the students on the last night of Riviera where the music was played by the well-known DJ Marina. Various food stalls are put, serving different cuisines.   The most amazing thing about Riviera is that the entire event is managed by the students of VIT. Each year, Riviera becomes a bigger hit than the one held the year before. All in all, Riviera is always a lot of fun and activities, and when we tell our acquaintances about the standards that VIT maintains for these fests, one can surely notice the awe and envy at the same time! ;)

         

The RIVIERA 2012 logo

 The stage created by VIT for the performances for RIVIERA 2012

Painting by the Fine arts club

Street art - a painting of Hulk

Shreya Ghoshal during her performance

-Samhita mahapatra

First Time College and all the Complexity ! The FFCS !!

Well it was the first time for most of us to realise there was more to time-tables and 8 to 1 classes . And this was the time we were introduced to the system of FFCS ! The one thing about VIT that is fantastic and also dreadful .

Okay , so the system is Fully Flexible Credit System . Probably the only in the country . It allows the students to choose their teachers , their time tables , their class locations and what not . But for a first timer it is hair-splitting ! The night before the FFCS registration was crazy for every fresher cause no one knew what to do and after it was done no one knew what they had done !

It is a great system,I mean what else can you ask for?Today we like to make decisions on our own and like to plan their future by ourselves. The choice available of selecting the subject is great and better than any other system present where you have to do what the college decides for you . How monotonous can that be !

 Personally ,There is no doubt that this system works ! And to be very honest if someone from another university is told about it  the Only thing to be heard is Envy ! And it is just not me who thinks that way,the entire country does and that is probably why the Vice President (University Affairs), Sekar Viswanathan was selected for the 'Young Achiever National Award'. This award was given mainly for the success of our FFCS system . So in the end you can't deny that the system in all its complexity is the best !But being the best has to be accompanied with efficient management and right now,most students are finding it a tad difficult to cope with it as they aren't aware of how to work it to their advantage.So I'd say the FFCS in all its glory still has a long way to go to win our(students) hearts completely! :)

Adhirath Sikand (11bbt0179)