Bikaner Technical University B.Tech Review By Sanjay Chandak

I prepared for IITs but due to lack of facilities in Bikaner, I couldn’t reach there. However, this is not the excuse as the city has more IITIians than many other 2-tier cities of India. Keeping the goal if IIT in my mind, I reached BTU Bikaner as it one of the top ranked engineering colleges in the state. Erstwhile it was known as University College of Engineering and Technology but it is now known as Bikaner Technical University. Just the name has changed as the college is still the same and many facilities have been updated but more or less not many changes have been made. Mechanical Engineering was not out of choice because CS was my choice but because I didn’t had the rankings that can led me to CS, I chose Mechanical as it was my second option. Well, the second option college and second option course and yet I am writing in mesmeric tone about BTU is because BTU have us wings to fly and elevated us to dream big in life.

Mechanical engineering is indeed one of the toughest as it was not at all easy to clear all the subjects because subjects were added in between the semesters and practical labs was like a twice or thrice a weekly thing. I found it tough to land my foot because every time I landed; they were in troubled waters. The mechanism of the course was such that it allowed us no time to spare at the college as we have to maintain attendance and labs which were never repeated has to be attended at all costs. Luckily, our batch was the second smallest after Civil and therefore it became easy to make friends and take their help as the crowd of the college was quite friendly.

Not just the students but even the faculties were quite friendly. Faculties were chosen on merit before they joined the college, so if I have to describe them in one word, they were sheer class. Most of them carried an unmatched teaching experience on their shoulders. Their quality teaching ensured that we are aware of all functionalities that a mechanical engineer should. The lab sessions were highly productive as their teaching methods were equally effective. They were considerate about students and this quality of theirs made them student’s heartthrob.

After internship I thought, we will have placements and because the students were less, I thought, we all will be placed. Well, two big companies dealing in oil and they are ONGC, and Cairn India were the ones who came for placements. Most of us were offered placements but trust me they were quite poor and because I already started preparing for competitive exams, I knew I will crack it one way or the other. So, I avoided getting paid peanuts after doing so much and importantly gaining the knowledge that I could. I decided to put that to use by continuing studies rather than bearing around the bush with some mediocre salary.

Since, I was a localite, I didn’t stay at the hostel but there are hostels inside the college and some private boy’s hostel just outside the college. The hostels were fantastic as the worrisome of any hostel is food and food here was just too good. Every Sunday noon, the students were offered feasts and it kept changing every week of the month. Like Daal Baati, one Sunday, Chole Bhature on the next, and Kheer Puri, the next, and so on. So, students who stayed at the hostel were happy with the food and other facilities that were provided were kind enough to accommodate students without any fuss.

The campus is divided in two parts as the college that came first after entering the campus is Engineering College Bikaner and ours is behind that. The campus is desert as after all its Rajasthan and therefore expecting green campuses like they are in Bangalore is impossible. There were around 50 labs including all the departments. There’s one huge workshop area which is shared by both the colleges. The classrooms were average as it didn’t have AC nor the fancy benches as it looked like an ordinary school classroom. There were multiple playgrounds and we used to play football, volleyball and cricket in those grounds. There were many canteens too and provided food quite cheaply indeed.

Life at BTU was the best as there was no ragging but seniors had that in them to show a little extra. However, they were helpful in many ways as people have started losing interest in Mechanical engineering and therefore to make sure that we stick to it, they gave us insightful inputs. One may suspect that Bikaner colleges and fests can’t go hand in hand but it wasn’t meant to be as our annual fest Resonanza was no less.