GREEN IS GONE!!

          Anna University! One of the proudest landmarks of Chennai. Spreading about 200 acres, this plush red campus has history in each and every brick of its buildings. For the students at their last two years of school, this is the dream destination. Everyone has the right to step in to this magnificent campus but only a few have the privilege of studying here. I take pride in the fact that I am one of those few. But, this is not the story about me.

          When the +2 results came, I was delighted to be the topper. But, what enthralled me even more was the truth that I would be entering one of the premier engineering colleges of the country. On the day of counseling, a sense of awe dawned upon me as I set foot into the university. “This is one small step for a man, but one giant leap for mankind”, beamed Neil Armstrong in me. Love at First Sight attacked me in the form College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG) – the main campus of the Anna University. As I was directed towards the counseling venue, leaves flew under my legs and cold breeze whooshed past my ears. I first thought I had over – imagined the situation, thanks to the entry of protagonists in Tamil movies but these were happening truly. As I threw a look around the area, there were trees, plants and saplings of various sizes and aroma.

          After my counseling session was over, there were still health details to be taken from my body and I was asked to go to the Health Center, whose distance from the briefing hall staggered me. Despite that, the mesmerism that took control was in no mood to leave me just like that. Each and every step of my stroll towards the Health Center was followed by trees. Oh gosh, they were everywhere such that they seemed to overtake the huge mass crowding there for deciding their fate in Engineering. Canteen was quite nearby from where I started but within that short expanse, a large number of trees were nodding their branches and leaves like a kindergarten child singing rhymes taught by his/her teacher by shaking heads from left to right in a rhythmic manner. The umpteen voices of unknown birds were being heard everywhere, which seemed to welcome the freshers for a successful start.

          Just after the canteen, there were three ATMs, following which there were a row of green benches, which I later on learnt to be the place of romance for the so – called lovers. The spot was heavenly indeed with shady trees providing the perfect place of conversations between a boy and a girl and a 180 degree turn provided a glimpse of the playground. Just then, I noticed the corridors of the red building. When I walked through them, the right proportions of trees and pathways transformed the place into a botanical garden.

          The entrances of all departments were lined by trees, whose omnipresence stunned me. It should have been almost 35 degrees in Chennai that particular day but nowhere could that heat be felt. This was a different city, a different place altogether. I prepared my mind to say, “Anna University does not belong to Chennai. It is not in Chennai. Never! It is a demarcated universe” to whoever asked me the location of my place of study. The day was over and I was depressed by then because I didn’t belong there. I had got admission into some other college in some other city far away from Chennai. My final thought before sleep was. “I’ll get back here. Soon!”

          Sure! Fate and luck chose me as I was called in for a second round of counseling, especially meant for the OC people. (Let’s not discuss the politics involved in this quota system. That would divert the topic of interest) Hurray, I wanted to yell like a rock singer, tearing my vocal cord into a thousand pieces in fraction of seconds. First semester was a memorable one with the most enviable classroom being provided to us. There were six set of doors with one for the conventional entry and the other five for those who steal in and abscond during most of the classes after getting attendance. (Perhaps, this is called the lateral entry!) The professors had varying attendance timings – some would mark it at the beginning of the class and some others at the end. After knowing their templates, it became quite easy for our batch to make use of this rarest advantage. But more than this, the eternal plus of this particular room was the fresh air that freely entered through all the doors and sent us easily to a state of trance and hypnotism. Very often, being physically present and mentally absent was the state of us as the scented air often effected in yawns and snores, how much ever interesting the topic of discussion was. This, combined with the mingling of students from various departments, made the first semester memorable.

          At the end of my semester holidays, a sense of incompleteness loomed as the fact that we would be separated by the names of departments struck me. But, right in front of the proud Department of Mechanical Engineering stood a deep – rooted tree, whose trunk symbolized why they were named so. There were some benches for sitting and the mere tree was enough to comfort me. This would later on go to be the spot of assembly during the breaks for students to eat samosas and drink flavored juices.

          Suddenly now, all the luster looks like history. The beast, which provided shade to all budding Mechanical Engineers, is no more. Instead, there is a WiFi hub where some students, I don’t know how they manage, sit all day with their laptops browsing something (Though in most cases, it happens to be Facebook) There are several other WiFi ‘trees’ like this one. Thank God, some other trees are still alive to make our recess enjoyable but this is not a fact of relief because nobody can assure how long they would stay. Some trees near the main building have been cut down for ‘beautification’, many others for the construction of hostel blocks. I have personally seen some blocks not being occupied to the fullest but responsible people would have found an answer to this question by now.

          A subject called Environmental Science, shortly EVS, with equal credits as a core paper, has been included in the curriculum. What is the use of getting marks in that subject if we can’t stop the deforestation taking place right before our eyes? At this rate, the whole of flora in this old and prestigious region would narrow down to zero in no time. So, why then should we study the preventive measures against pollution and deforestation? Why mug the scientific names of various species of plants unnecessarily when we won’t be seeing them in a short span? In the next two or three years (or may be even the next year), students who come in for counseling would be suspicious if they had entered the right place. For, Anna University is not Anna University without the endless trees surrounding it.

          Even our national flag would become incomplete without green in it. Replace the saffron by red and it is Anna University. This red would become imperfect if there is no green.