By Peter Wittek and Krishnan Satish, GRIP Jan 08 (NUS College in Bangalore), Batch 1

After much delay and bureaucratic hassle, the first batch of GRIP students has finally commenced their studies in Bangalore. Our numbers have dwindled to a mere two, but nothing can curb our enthusiasm.

The city buzzes with life. Infinite number of stores and pubs await the local and expat customers to relax after their days spent busy working at one of the many large IT companies present in Bangalore. The happening intensifies as the sun sets. If you had enough of buzzing, you flag down an auto-rickshaw, hope he won't cheat you too badly, and enter the fortified walls of the Indian Institute of Science.

IISc campus sprawls over an area of the size of the entire Clementi district. A shuttle bus would be a sensible idea, but not here. However, abandoned bicycles can be taken over by current students, after collecting several signatures on the application form. The campus itself is beautiful, it is more like a forest than a university with some catching buildings scattered among the trees. Horning is banned on campus and traffic is restricted, nothing is better than taking a stroll in the afternoon.

	First batch of GRIP students posing infront of the statue of the IISc founder, Sir Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata.

Application forms played the most important role in our first days. we had to apply for the hostel, the meals at the mess, wifi access, library access, security id, department email id, and we also had to register for the courses. Wifi access is particularly difficult to obtain, but we got it after about two weeks.

The infrastructure does need some adjustment from the students' side, but to our advantage. The lack of internet access in our dorm rooms helps us keep fit, as we have to cycle back to the labs if we have an idea that needs immediate checking and googling after work hours. Just before noon the IISc proxy server tends to die, giving us a good opportunity to gather our thoughts and stop the constant looking for new information on the web. The whole way of living is engineered towards reducing our CO2 imprint, giving us the feeling of being good environmentalists.

Our favorite site for socializing with local and not so local students is a place called Tea Board, which sells tea for four rupees (SGD0.12). If not Tea Board, then Coffee Board, depending on their haphazard opening hours. Native students' friendliness is beyond any expectation, it is easy to bond with them, and the small international community also welcomes the newcomers. The hostel office wisely accommodates all international students on the very same corridor, therefore we were able to join the latter group immediately.

We are yet to explore all facilities of the campus, but we do know that there is a swimming pool, a gym, a cricket pitch, a basketball and volleyball pitch, a tennis and badminton court. There are also regular screenings on campus, we can catch both popular Bollywood flicks and more profound documentaries exploring contemporary social issues.

Expectations are high from all participating parties. NOC expects us to participate a record number of business seminars and make thousands of connections to local businessmen so that we would set up start-ups in Singapore on our return and become the most successful entrepreneurs ever. NUS expects us to publish a number of papers and paint our bicycles to NUS colors for good publicity (an idea originated in the mind of one of the students of the batch). IISc expects us to excel in the courses we took, publish an even higher number of papers than NUS expects, and help improving a budding international atmosphere. We expect that we will be able to manage our time and will not be even more overwhelmed by work.


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