Cluster Innovation Centre, University of Delhi Campus Experience
Hello readers! In this short article, I would like to describe my campus experience at Cluster Innovation Centre, University of Delhi.
The main academic building of DU CIC is the University Stadium, University of Delhi, which is located within Delhi University’s Sports Complex. Institute in a stadium – sounds unorthodox, right? Well, back in 2011, the then Vice Chancellor Prof. Dinesh Singh assigned the building that was built as the Rugby Sevens Stadium for the Commonwealth Games, 2010, as the main academic building of his brainchild, his own creation, the Cluster Innovation Centre. I will talk about his genius and how he made CIC so special in another article.
This centrally air-conditioned building is not that big though; however, it is certainly more than enough to host a small pool of intimately bonded students. CIC is an institute where everyone knows each other by their name and face, seniors are like elder siblings and teachers are like elders of one’s own family, always enthusiastic, ready to explore and walk new paths along with the students, guiding them along the way. Well, coming back to the campus, just behind the academic building is the green field of the stadium. Although it is not totally legal to play there at any random time, you can always sneak into the field to play football when you feel bored, you can use the soft grass as a picnic spot or a green bed to take a short nap. You can choose to sit in the gallery and focus on your work or spend time with your loved one, while being soothed by the cold winds. Apart from the building and the field, the entire Sports Complex is full of greenery, laden with colourful flowers, winds bearing the fragrance of exploration, an open-ended yet exciting future, and dreams that want to express themselves through the activities we do at the institute. The Sports Complex also happens to be one of the most restricted areas of the entire North Campus. You can imagine the feeling when you are someone who has full access to this “confidential” area, you just need to present your ID card to the cautious guards at gates 2, 2A or 5, depending upon which one you choose to enter the place; the ID sometimes feels like a special card carried by special agents which they use to enter their own Area 51.
Wait, did you think that was all? Not really. The Sports Complex is directly connected to Delhi University’s Faculty of Science, the Vice Regal Lodge and the Administrative Block through gate number 5, and it is always a treat to spend time in our “extended campus” while going to for some food in one of the departmental canteens or elsewhere, or while visiting CIC’s labs located at Design Innovation Centre (DIC), which in turn is located inside Delhi University’s DREAM building. On the way, we can always sneak into some other department and spend time in their gardens or corridors, amidst Masters and Doctoral students, such as the Physics and Astrophysics Department, Chemistry Department, Anthropology Department, the Faculty of Technology or the Law Centre I. One might want to paint pictures and make stories while lying down under the shades of green trees at the Gautam Buddha Centenary Garden, or imagine about which flower would their future significant other like the most while strolling in and around Nehru Garden, located just behind the VC House or the “White House” of DU as we like to call it. Not to forget that if you are alone while strolling, you will often think about being with someone else too. This is just a tiny trailer of the experience which you will get to cherish and cheer for only if you get admitted to this University. Outside the 67 acre block is the rest of the North Campus, beyond which is the city of Delhi, “a city of dreams.”
I am immensely thankful to God for giving me the opportunity to live this life. Until the next time, signing off.
God bless you. ?
To watch more amateur and a few pro-shots of the DU CIC Campus you can visit yt page: Abitatha Roy [DU CIC]