Behind The Scenes: Lectures

A definite criteria for the college student’s utopian life is having no attendance requirement. However, as we all know, utopia is imaginary. Where other colleges are pretty lax about their attendance criteria, Manipal is ill-famed for never bending its minimum 75% attendance policy. This brings lots of bleary-eyed mornings where the only motivation to attend the 8.00am lecture is – ‘Attendance’!

However, seldom does attending a lecture mean listening to what is being taught. Definitely not when there are other infinitely more interesting things that beg our attention. For some, the sound of the professor’s voice drone on about various broth cultures or the spectrum of antibodies in SLE, provides the perfect background score for an hour of uninterrupted sleep. While strategically positioned behind an unsuspecting classmate, or at least till they are rudely nudged awake by people around them, they miss the all-important attendance. Lectures are often seen to be the ideal place to attempt to cross another (or multiple) levels of Candy Crush, figure out how to get the ever-eluding 2048 or even finish reading the ASoIaF series before season 6 is released. Some also choose to methodically peruse Flipkart or Amazon in search of the perfect dress for the next Saturday night party with invaluable inputs regarding the pair of heels that would look ‘perf’ with the dress in question.

For the artistically inclined, lectures are the best time to engage in doodling while pretending to earnestly take notes. Lecture halls with a strong Wi-Fi signal are a haven for those trying to stalk their crush on Facebook or upload their latest selfie on Instagram. If a lenient professor is taking class, often pictures or videos are Snapchatted with most of the class seen sleeping. For some dauntless souls (and before sessionals, even the not-so-dauntless), these classes provide the perfect place to complete their records or even study an entirely different subject.

Every rule has its exceptions and similarly, every class also has its own share of people who sit in the first row, diligently take down notes and answer every single question the teacher asks. These people are the ones who save the rest of the class from the humiliation and effort of having to wake up from their beautiful slumber to tell the professor that, they have no idea what the answer is, or for that matter, even what the question is!

 

Leave a Reply

Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Baskerville 2 by Anders Noren.

Up ↑