BITS Pilani, It’s Magic.  — Holds True !?!?

With all the negative news about fee , facilities and the administration you start to wonder whether you actually experienced the magic you dreamt of or whether it was all an illusion. The season is here , the counselling season and an aspirant needs to know the “Magic” that BITS promises to show you.

I’ll leave the whole fee debate out of this post and for obvious reasons. There are many out there and if you really search the blog you’ll find one here as well.

I have heard many BITSIANs say “Yaar ab BITS voh nahi raha jo first year mein tha.” I think I myself have used this phrase about a thousand times and it is true. The institute is not what it was in 2014 , it is not what it was in 1956 and will not remain what it is in 2018. In all fairness neither are we nor is the world. Also it will be sheer foolishness to assume and expect it to remain the same.

As I sit about 2300 kilometres away from the place whose name almost runs through my blood now , I cannot help but realise that the Magic you pursue is the one you yourself create.  All the secret ingredients just lay all around you : at Sky Labs, at Connaught, at LTC, at Library, at the redis, FDs, NAB, the Tower, the people, the Pilani sky….. I think you get the point. Its practically present everywhere you look. You need to put them together to conjure your own great act. The act that will mesmerise you whenever you think about it ; in which you can reminisce decades after graduating, be amazed by it and left wanting for more.

The place inspires you. It inspires you to be the best at whatever you do ; over and above that it inspires you to be whatever you want to be.

Pilani, with its latitudinal and longitudinal properties might not exactly seem to be a metropolitan place, rather it may look like “nothing to you” (as Dolores says in WestWorld) but it is the extreme opposite. Pilani is as metropolitan as it gets. It belongs to the “square peg in a round hole” category of the metropolitan set. You live with people that you din’t ever want to meet , experience things you loathed and taste food that blows your mind. (I still stand by the statement that everything is an ingredient for the Magic 😛 ) In principle this is exactly what you need as you step out of that wonderful home of yours into a world that just doesn’t care. A world that throws you like junk if you cannot realise how important it is to establish your individuality. Pilani makes you miscible with almost everything in the world.

If you ever happen to be at a place/situation/(with)people in life that discomforts you the most, lo and behold you are at home. Even if life conditions are only slightly better than mentioned, that becomes a vacation for you.

Its not just physical, it’s mental as well. I might not be the best person to tell you about the academic part (there are people who actually study and get really excellent at whatever discipline they are in) but I  can assure you of this: the surprise quizzes, the assignments , the unjust grading system (sometimes), taxing labs develop a strength in you. A strength that pulls you out when you are at the lowest points in your life, a strength that pushes you over the finishing line each time you fall a bit short of it, a strength that just makes you stronger in every possible way. As I read an alumni say recently:

‘A BITSian is one who can live anywhere, achieve anything and surpass anyone.’

The post can go on forever and I can describe a million magical moments that I created here but I shall not. This post is not personal. Its about the Bitsian spirit and every single Bitsian who has created his/her own magic. The spirit that I talk of is a phenomenon in itself. It aids you in imagining the the unthinkable and empowers you to achieve the un-dareable(if that is a word). It binds us all. Call upon a BITSIAN in any part of the world for help and they will never refuse. It has been one constant in the ever changing policies, administration, curriculum, campus etc of BITS. It is this spirit lets you indulge with any of your seniors or juniors without any hesitation. It is this spirit that has carried the legacy of Pilani. For those of you who think it is diminishing, you are wrong. The BITSIAN spirit lives strong and will continue to live on. Not because it has been in place for so long but because of the immense love and care that this place showers each and every person with who walks in that Welcome gate (Yes we have a gate now) ; you just cannot leave it behind. It sticks with you like a burr, for good or for bad. (Majority will vote for good, trust me.)

The place will change, it has to. You had beautiful life experiences at the time you were here and whenever you think of the place you will want it to remain as it was. If you are expecting this, you are being selfish.

Pilani still has the magic it boasted in 1956. It will contain the magic in 2050 as well. Its just that we have to scratch the surface a bit in order to realise that we had a winning lottery ticket the whole time. I hope the ones on campus who haven’t yet realised this dig deeper and enjoy the remainder of their Bitsian life more and even if you don’t now, you eventually will.

Wouldn’t it be better to enjoy the party while its still ON rather than waking up in a hangover and wanting to have done so much more. 🙂

For the people who are planning to get into BITS, you are in for one hell of a ride. I can surely tell you that it is not going to be perfect. It is not going to be smooth either. But once you take this ride you will NEVER want it to end…. 😀

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