I was suddenly in a space where people were always ready for a discussion or debate
Having completed my first semester at SCMC, I look back at how the fulfilment of the dream of being a student at Symbiosis itself had been questionable for me. Already I felt like I had the disadvantage of being from a Science background unlike my fellow college applicants. Whilst others seemed bored by concepts they’d already learnt about, the subjects in college were so unfamiliar to me. I was beginning to grow certain that I’d made a mistake in not taking a gap year. What was I thinking walking into a media school with my head filled with mathematical derivations and Silver Nitrate burns still visible on my skin?
However, soon enough, I found people who’d dropped out of engineering colleges and people who were unsure of their careers. I realised soon enough that perhaps I was one of the luckier ones. I had the opportunity to explore varied courses for the first time under the guidance of some of the most diligent professors at SCMC. While the novelty had worn off for others, endless discussions with my professors had me pouring over books and articles on diverse subjects. For the first time I was really and truly learning things that mattered to me.
I was suddenly in a space where people were always ready for a discussion or debate on topics like the Balochistan issue, Nikola Tesla’s Free Energy and everything in between. Before I came here, a place where young adults like I would be willing to discuss politics, authors and poems and controversies, was a utopic idea. One I thought only existed in romanticised versions of a University in books. I really thought college would be a big beautiful old Victorian building whose walls held knowledge in every block of stone, and bore witness to intellectual discourse every second, where every professor was someone I would look up to and the library would be my home.
I cannot keep track of the number of voice-notes I’ve sent to my friends back in Dubai, taken in by the moments when the reality of how lucky I am to be here overwhelmed me.
Sure, it is still not close to being the University from all those books. Nevertheless, it’s the best I could’ve had and I don’t shy from thanking my lucky stars.
Article by: Michelle Patrick (Batch of 2019)
Photograph by: Akhil Reddy (Batch of 2019)
