Manipal Univer‘city’

Now don’t mistake it with Sikkim Manipal University that you might have heard of. The older one, Manipal University is one of the oldest and most popular universities in the country. But as they say, seeing is believing, so that’s exactly what I did. Packed my bags and left for Manipal!

To reach Manipal, you can take a flight or a train. I chose to fly and took a connecting flight via Bengaluru to the nearest airport – Mangalore. If you are not a flight person you can take a train till Udipi (2 kms from Manipal) or till Mangalore (65 kms from Manipal).

So my journey began with a flight that I almost missed from Delhi!

And then the ATR flying experience from Bengaluru to Mangalore was nothing less than an adventure.

But the best part about the journey from Delhi to Manipal was the drive from Mangalore to Manipal. The luscious greens and fresh air were a delight for this Delhi lad.

And finally, after a cherishing 2-hour long drive, I made it to my hotel in Manipal. As we entered Manipal, I noticed that every other building was a part of Manipal University. I started to feel as if the driver had got me to to the university area and not the main city.

Little did I know what was coming my way in the next few days. But before I head to the future and share my journey further. I’d take a step back and would share the reason why I was in Manipal when I’ve no immediate plans to study further. And the reason was that a group of fellow bloggers were planning a trip to Manipal for some work. And that’s when I decided to jump in and make use of the timings.

So coming back to how I felt that I was back in my 20’s with colleges all around me. In Manipal, be it a hotel or a hospital it has something or the other to a do with the Manipal University.

That’s when I realized that Manipal is a city entirely dedicated to education and Manipal University is not just a University but a city of its own. Henceforth, I titled my experience as – Manipal Univer‘city’ 🙂

After reaching the hotel, Fortune Inn Valley View, Manipal. I freshened up and then got pinged by fellow bloggers that they have reached and would be meeting me at the lobby.

Finally we all met and decided to go out and check a few local tourist spots before we started our university tour the next day.

I’m not a religious person but the first spot we picked was a temple to start our trip on a positive and holy note. We visited the temple where major celebrations were going on and due to which Manipal University had declared a holiday.

After we left from the temple we visited Kapu beach and I’ve to admit that is one of the most serene beaches I’ve ever been to. Here are some photos from the scenic Kapu beach –

Wasn’t that simply magnificent? In fact, I’d recommend all beach lovers to at least visit Kapu beach once in their lifetime.

Now let’s skip the night as I slept like a log and don’t remember a thing about it. Then came the big day when we had to tour the whole of Manipal Univer’city’. Yes, it’s spread in acres and isn’t an easy task to see the whole university in a day or two.

We started with a visit to Shree Krishna Mutt temple accompanied by Rahul and Archana (Alumni) from Manipal Marketing Team. Our first stop was the main campus of Manipal University. Where we met Mr. Prasanna Kailaje, Director, Alumni Relations, Industry Liaison and Placements who showed us around the state of the art main campus and illustrative tour of their technologically marvelled alumni portal.

Just when I thought that I was in the year 2020 and had seen it all. We were escorted to ‘Life at Manipal’ theatre experience. I’ve been to IMAX, Real3D and 5D experience arena’s world over but what we witnessed inside the experience theatre is beyond words.

Wasn’t that surreal? If I’d have been a student who had come to take admission in any of the programmes at Manipal University, I’d have been sold just by this.

From there we went all over the university to different colleges and museum like –

Manipal College of Dental Sciences

​Manipal College of Nursing
Manipal Institute of Technology
School of Communication
School of Information Science
School of Management
Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration

I was intrigued by everything I saw at Manipal University but holding double degrees, one in Bachelor of Journalism & Mass Communication and other in Bachelor of Computer Applications. I was drawn towards the institute of technology and the school of communication.

So when we finally reached MIT (Manipal Institute of Technology) it was a proud feeling to see India’s very own MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). And it’s not only the name that is same, but even the kind of talent it produces is also at par.

At MIT, I was thrilled to meet the enthusiastic students who devoted time to their projects after their classes to build stuff. And I’m not talking about some run-of-the-mill projects. I got to see all this in action –  Formula Manipal a formula 1/3 racing car built by the students, the Solar Car Prototype,  Mars Rover, Quad-copter and the ISRO approved 2U Nano satellite project by Parikshit that will be launched in outer space by next year.

Have a look at these projects –

Lastly, I’d like to talk about the School of Communications at Manipal University. Just like everything else at Manipal University, the School of Communication is also state of the art with a brilliant infrastructure. The studios they have over there are better than compared to national broadcasters in India. Be it the TV studio or the Radio Station, everything is a dream come true for a probable media student. In fact, after meeting the faculty and conversing with students. Even I was lured into pursuing a course from this modern and innovative school.

I’m almost done sharing my wonderful experience of Manipal but before I end. I’d like to touch upon a very important part that every student and especially parents would like to know about Manipal University. To keep it simple, I’d like to share my observations and experience in pointers for easier read –

• Faculty at Manipal University is like family (I can tell if they were pretending)
• The focus is OJT (On the job) training and real-life learning rather than just book knowledge
• Students and most of the faculty commute by bicycle from hostel/home to the MIT campus. Vehicles are banned at MIT for student safety and environmental benefits
• The mess can accommodate around 2000 students in one go be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. Here are some photos of the huge cafeteria –
• Kitchen for the mess produces food for 6000 pax/students each day. 2000 students x 3 meals a day = 6000 meals
• We had lunch in the same mess with the students and it was reminiscent of our college days. Only a few times bigger and grander 😀
• A student can avail 100% scholarship on the basis of merit. Manipal University supports many meritorious students each year by sponsoring their entire fees
• Hostels at Manipal University are literally home away from home
• Manipal University takes ragging very seriously and has an Anti-Ragging mandate