HYDERABAD: In what was considered to be a great way to start off the New Year, University of Hyderabad administration led by vice-chancellor, Prof Ramakrishna Ramaswamy, organised a walk across the extent of the campus. Titled ‘Campus Walkabout’, the walk, which saw a massive participation of students, teachers, staff and faculty, aimed at creating a sense of belonging among the campus fraternity.
“The idea was to get acquainted with the campus — most of us know very little about the place; the extent of the land that remains and what exactly has been happening to it,” enunciated Prof Ramaswamy in his blog.
The trek started from the university main gate at 8:30 in the morning, with a participation of more than a 300-strong crowd despite the fact that the university was on a semester break. The train of people walked along the boundary walls of the university which, at one point of time, was spread across more than 3000 acres. They covered the entire campus, circling back to the administration building just in time for lunch at 1:30 in the afternoon.
The campus is also a house to wide variety of flora and fauna, which includes a couple of natural lakes and a check dam, apart from hillocks and forest cover. For the 37 year-old Central University campus, though a boundary wall was earlier built by the first VC Prof Gurbaksh Singh, there have been a lot of land disputes regarding the same.
Shared Aditi, an MA student at the college, “We walked from the main gate, covering the new school of life sciences building at the south campus, to the popular mushroom rock within the campus to coming back to the administration block by afternoon. It was an amazing and a most unexpected way to start the new year.”
Another student, Abhishek, who is pursuing his Masters in Philosophy, felt that this perhaps was the first time the university administration, and more specifically, any vice-chancellor (VC) has tried to communicate directly with the students.
“A walk on the first day of the year, along with the VC was something special”. The trek approximately covered five to 10 kilometers on the Sunday morning, the first Sunday and day of the year.
As for those party animals who found 8:30 am too early for a walk, a get together over high tea was organised at the Lake View guest house around four in the evening.