Jadavpur Diary: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

When I first stepped onto Didi's Shonar Bangla, I wondered if I would be able to survive the two months here. It has been seven days since then. One long week in Kolkata and I am still living, although barely. I seem to be getting used to the climate, and more importantly, the traveling. So, I would like to share my opinion on the pros and cons of the combination of Kolkata, the department of Geological Sciences in Jadavpur University and Me.

The Good

The Food:

As I mentioned in my last post, the food is great, especially if you're from a place like Roorkee. I wish I could literally lift the canteen and take it with me to Roorkee! In addition, they provide the food at subsidized rates, so you can have more than enough for really cheap rates.

The Prof:

Before taking up this intern, on mentioning his name, every senior or Professor in Roorkee would have kind words for Dr Nibir Mandal. And they were absolutely right. He is someone who would guide you, but in a way that you could control. It's as if I am steering on my own.

Programming:

C++. PHP. Java. Python. And now, Matlab. My internship was not that much appealing to me until the introduction of Matlab. As I have experienced earlier, when your program gives the desired output, it brings about so much happiness!

The Bad

 

Water Coolers:

There is nothing bad about water coolers, but think about this: there is no goddamn water cooler in the whole of Jadavpur University. No more comments on that! Anyways, the research scholars have a nice break when they go to fill their water bottles (I still dunno where).

 

The Dogs:

There are dogs everywhere, and although they are far more friendlier than their counterparts in Roorkee, I don't like them. In fact, I don't like any other species other than humans. Dogs, Cats, Snakes, Hamsters, Guinea Pigs! None. Maybe I'm just the anti-non-human!

 

The Proxy System:

Jadavpur University has a weird system of LAN. After sweating with the settings and handling the IP conflicts and setting the proxy server, I finally configured it! For what? Just 5 minutes of facebook-less, twitter-less internet. It did not work for the rest of the day.

 

 

The Ugly

 

The Metro:

Don't think this is Delhi. Think of the no of people in the Delhi Metro. Add another person every square feet. That is Kolkata. If you are lucky enough to get a seat, the sweat of the person sitting next to you will make your time go slower than that of the Prince of Persia! Ugly indeed. The silver lining is the introduction of the new metros with working AC, but even now those are just about a tenth of the total number.

 

Humidity:

This is one thing I hate about Kolkata. Something which I feel is worse than the soaring temperatures. This drains you out of all the energy you have!

 

The Bus Conductors:

This class of people are $%#&^$&#*$&%^#&#&@#$^%. Enough said.