The Hunt for SP Jain.
The descision to find it.
Out of the blue, a friend of mine and me decided it is time to hunt down the infamous Sp Jain university... in Dubai...
We knew it was somewhere in Academic city... but where in academic city... was the big question haunting our minds...
The journey
So we head out, out bound, bearing towards this mystery land... and somewhere down the Hatta road, we followed the Academic city board sign... and we were on a double carriage lonely road, with a sign board daring us to cross 80 kmph...
The heat, the dust and endless span of nothing... was getting to us and we decided that we donot want to give any reason to be lost in this wilderness and took a collective decision to stick to air speed way below 80 kmph.
Driving down the road for 10 mins... nothing... we quickly compared our IQs to find a reason to blame each other just incase we were going no where... and before we could reach a conclusion... the sand storm decided to show us distant buildings of the academic city...
First the infamous Bits Pilani... a simultaneous node from both of us pegged us to drive further... why? cmon who would want to pay 100k AED for a course... in whatever... it is not possible that if we did spend the money to study and at the end of the course we will be driving out of the campus with a high profile job and in a porsche... (FYI for those who are wondering why porsche... it is my favourite car)...
As we moved ahead, with a cautious eye on the speed... i could feel the dust and its velocity working like a high speed sand blasting machine on my not so new car paint... But what the hell... we went ahead... we have to sacrifice something in the name of education...
Finally we came across familiar names, like Szabist, Murdoch, Michigan, Manipal... universities / colleges... but no sign of SP Jain...
It is a fact that men are 20% slower in making up their mind to ask for directions... and we drove around the set of building... twice... before my friend decided to jump out of the car to ask the security guys for direction...
Turn off: College parking
They said this is the closest parking area and we have to walk into the building for 5 mins... and I see myself, looking at the parking area just beside me but no access to it... and again after a complete go-around of the parking lot, I did find a yellow line parking space (technically illegal parking area)... and yes i took off on foot... in a while i can see my friend whistling from the other end of the road, reminding me to get his pack of cigarettes... ugggh... hell no... i am not going back... I left him a choice... Dunhil lights... my brand or starve for nicotine...
By the time i walked the parking lot, crossed the road and was heading down the tiled payment into a jungle of buildings... i couldn't help commenting that we are going to find information about a MBA course in a college that does not have a parking lot... Cmon i would prefer the olden days...like open air theatres, they should have drive in parking, park the car in front of a large projected image of a professor, with a drive through popcorn stall along the way... Yes we would have to call in advance to book seats in the last row of car park... okay this maybe asking for too much... well atleast an underground parking lot... where we can jump from our cars to these pneumatically powered capsules, that would float us straight to our classrooms... but I decided to accept reality by assuring myself with a feeling that the world needs to catch up a little to live up to my expectations...
Signage 1
And as we came close to the buildings, i noticed these interesting signage all over the place...
'Campus monitored by CCTV'...
ummm i wonder why... it could be a possibility that the courses are so frustrating that it would develop an exactly opposite reactive response among couples to relieve their desperation... and some how someone at the other end of the CCTV had something to look forward to, instead of doing nothing and seeing the same architecture / landscape again and again... for moment i did feel that the college was sensitive towards their employees and did provide them with a auxiliary form of adult entertainment, that they can look forward to everyday and be more attentive at work... I wonder if they had the archive of the videos in their library... ;)
We did try a small assignment on the way to the block 5... to find these cameras... couldn't find them... good job Mr College-campus-architect... so either these cameras are well hidden, or they dont really exist... and these pretentious signage work like a efficient scarecrow to keep the educated birds from mating within private properties... a very cost effective way to maintain the discipline...
Signage 2
The next important signage... this reminds me that I would need to carry a measuring tape with me if i end up in college... The sign said.
'No smoking within 25 feet from the enterance'...
ah maybe they meant...
Step 1 - 5: find your cigarete, or borrow it
Step 6 - 10: find your lighter
Step 11 - 15: Pick the cigarete and put it in the mouth
Step 16 - 20: Strike the flintstone... it is a windy place
Step 21 - 25: Keep trying again and again, till on the 25th step you have well lit cigarette...
Actually to make it easy, 25 feet away from the main enterance they should mark it as 'Assembly point incase of fire'... so it serves quiet a few purposes
1) we know were to stand in case of fire
2) culprit who caused the fire will be also in the crowd
3) he will definitely have lit a cigarette out of habit
4) finally we smokers, will be able to smoke among the non smokers, students and teachers alike
Turn off: The college Main Doors Locked
Ouch, i nearly hit my nose into the glass... didnt know that college main doors could ever be locked... what happen to the days when they said college doors are open to all those who wants to learn... ah forgot those were the days in the country that paid large funds to function and students contributed close to nothing to study... makes a lot of recessional sense...
Good wisdom walks through the glass doors of our minds and we begin to search for an alternate enterance... we did find it
Walked into a cool corridor... a sign they have air conditioners here... a little foot work, there was a strange reception, efficiently using the space on the L shaped edge of the corridor... two persons at the desk... they amount to the majority of the population in UAE... there was an indian guy and filipina lady... indian in formals no tie, broken english... filipina... in t shirt and strange jeans actually heading out for lunch... to help her indigestion, the indian guy had to stop her, because he didnt seem to understand much of the global language... not malayalam... i meant english... finally he asked,'admission?'... i say 'yeah' and he calls for the filipina in a funny attire... amusing till now... and she directs us to this little round table and we were immediately whisked away to a meeting room... wow meeting rooms... before we even applied for MBA... that was a good start...
The descision to find it.
Out of the blue, a friend of mine and me decided it is time to hunt down the infamous Sp Jain university... in Dubai...
We knew it was somewhere in Academic city... but where in academic city... was the big question haunting our minds...
The journey
So we head out, out bound, bearing towards this mystery land... and somewhere down the Hatta road, we followed the Academic city board sign... and we were on a double carriage lonely road, with a sign board daring us to cross 80 kmph...
The heat, the dust and endless span of nothing... was getting to us and we decided that we donot want to give any reason to be lost in this wilderness and took a collective decision to stick to air speed way below 80 kmph.
Driving down the road for 10 mins... nothing... we quickly compared our IQs to find a reason to blame each other just incase we were going no where... and before we could reach a conclusion... the sand storm decided to show us distant buildings of the academic city...
First the infamous Bits Pilani... a simultaneous node from both of us pegged us to drive further... why? cmon who would want to pay 100k AED for a course... in whatever... it is not possible that if we did spend the money to study and at the end of the course we will be driving out of the campus with a high profile job and in a porsche... (FYI for those who are wondering why porsche... it is my favourite car)...
As we moved ahead, with a cautious eye on the speed... i could feel the dust and its velocity working like a high speed sand blasting machine on my not so new car paint... But what the hell... we went ahead... we have to sacrifice something in the name of education...
Finally we came across familiar names, like Szabist, Murdoch, Michigan, Manipal... universities / colleges... but no sign of SP Jain...
It is a fact that men are 20% slower in making up their mind to ask for directions... and we drove around the set of building... twice... before my friend decided to jump out of the car to ask the security guys for direction...
Turn off: College parking
They said this is the closest parking area and we have to walk into the building for 5 mins... and I see myself, looking at the parking area just beside me but no access to it... and again after a complete go-around of the parking lot, I did find a yellow line parking space (technically illegal parking area)... and yes i took off on foot... in a while i can see my friend whistling from the other end of the road, reminding me to get his pack of cigarettes... ugggh... hell no... i am not going back... I left him a choice... Dunhil lights... my brand or starve for nicotine...
By the time i walked the parking lot, crossed the road and was heading down the tiled payment into a jungle of buildings... i couldn't help commenting that we are going to find information about a MBA course in a college that does not have a parking lot... Cmon i would prefer the olden days...like open air theatres, they should have drive in parking, park the car in front of a large projected image of a professor, with a drive through popcorn stall along the way... Yes we would have to call in advance to book seats in the last row of car park... okay this maybe asking for too much... well atleast an underground parking lot... where we can jump from our cars to these pneumatically powered capsules, that would float us straight to our classrooms... but I decided to accept reality by assuring myself with a feeling that the world needs to catch up a little to live up to my expectations...
Signage 1
And as we came close to the buildings, i noticed these interesting signage all over the place...
'Campus monitored by CCTV'...
ummm i wonder why... it could be a possibility that the courses are so frustrating that it would develop an exactly opposite reactive response among couples to relieve their desperation... and some how someone at the other end of the CCTV had something to look forward to, instead of doing nothing and seeing the same architecture / landscape again and again... for moment i did feel that the college was sensitive towards their employees and did provide them with a auxiliary form of adult entertainment, that they can look forward to everyday and be more attentive at work... I wonder if they had the archive of the videos in their library... ;)
We did try a small assignment on the way to the block 5... to find these cameras... couldn't find them... good job Mr College-campus-architect... so either these cameras are well hidden, or they dont really exist... and these pretentious signage work like a efficient scarecrow to keep the educated birds from mating within private properties... a very cost effective way to maintain the discipline...
Signage 2
The next important signage... this reminds me that I would need to carry a measuring tape with me if i end up in college... The sign said.
'No smoking within 25 feet from the enterance'...
ah maybe they meant...
Step 1 - 5: find your cigarete, or borrow it
Step 6 - 10: find your lighter
Step 11 - 15: Pick the cigarete and put it in the mouth
Step 16 - 20: Strike the flintstone... it is a windy place
Step 21 - 25: Keep trying again and again, till on the 25th step you have well lit cigarette...
Actually to make it easy, 25 feet away from the main enterance they should mark it as 'Assembly point incase of fire'... so it serves quiet a few purposes
1) we know were to stand in case of fire
2) culprit who caused the fire will be also in the crowd
3) he will definitely have lit a cigarette out of habit
4) finally we smokers, will be able to smoke among the non smokers, students and teachers alike
Turn off: The college Main Doors Locked
Ouch, i nearly hit my nose into the glass... didnt know that college main doors could ever be locked... what happen to the days when they said college doors are open to all those who wants to learn... ah forgot those were the days in the country that paid large funds to function and students contributed close to nothing to study... makes a lot of recessional sense...
Good wisdom walks through the glass doors of our minds and we begin to search for an alternate enterance... we did find it
Walked into a cool corridor... a sign they have air conditioners here... a little foot work, there was a strange reception, efficiently using the space on the L shaped edge of the corridor... two persons at the desk... they amount to the majority of the population in UAE... there was an indian guy and filipina lady... indian in formals no tie, broken english... filipina... in t shirt and strange jeans actually heading out for lunch... to help her indigestion, the indian guy had to stop her, because he didnt seem to understand much of the global language... not malayalam... i meant english... finally he asked,'admission?'... i say 'yeah' and he calls for the filipina in a funny attire... amusing till now... and she directs us to this little round table and we were immediately whisked away to a meeting room... wow meeting rooms... before we even applied for MBA... that was a good start...
Labels: college, dubai, management, SP Jain, travel
posted by JD at
4:48 AM
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