Bhilai for PS 1

When I was allotted Bhilai our reaction was

Bhilai Steel Plant was established by SAIL (Steel Authority of India Ltd.) in collaboration with the erstwhile USSR in 1957. It is spread over an area of almost 40km² in Bhilai, Chhatisgarh. It is one of the most prestigious government enterprise and the largest steel plant in Asia and also the only producer of rail-tracks in India. In short, it is quite a name on your CV.

This is what a CS guy can do in Bhilai. Well we just created a home page for the portal and showed it to our instructor because this project was assigned to us by our instructor  B.Pharm. Professor from Hyd. C & IT Dept of SAIL didn't know we were coming for intern and our instructor didn't allow a group to be in one Dept for the Entire summer. We were asked to visit various departments each for 1 week which included wire rod mill , merchant mill etc (sadly yes even CS people had to go to these places).

Well as Tejas said in his guide.

There is no work as such. All you have to do is visit your assigned department, collect some info, write it in your PS diary. Not much. Besides, you get to see a lot of huge Russian machinery, huge infrastructure,etc. It is a once in a lifetime experience. More about my views later. Lets first get the facts straight.

The pain starts when you realize that your department is 5km away from the main gate and you have no transport available than your 20 year old legs! Yes. BITS does not provide any fucking transport facility. This is when and why the attendance starts dropping because no-one wants to walk 5km on a hot Chhatisgarhi 48^oC day. Enthusiastic students like will try to get lifts from employees. Bikers often give lifts. Some truckers are generous too! Truck ride huh!? Exciting!

How to reach

Well the accommodation provided by BITS is in BIT Durg (Bhilai Institute of Technology).

By Train:

Nearest Railway station Durg. 1.5 Km shared auto will take around Rs.10
Well you can travel via Nagpur also. Nagpur is 3 hours from Durg. Durg-Raipur falls in Mumbai -Howrah route and its summer time , u wont get tickets.u can also booking to and fro tickets in around June when u want to go Home in Between. I couldn't because i didn't get any ticket.Yes u can go home because there was a time when we didn't went to Bhilai Steel Plant for 2-3 weeks :D

By Flight:

Raipur Airport

Taxi fare from Raipur to BIT Durg

Rs. 1100  -  Non AC innova

Rs. 2700  -  AC innova

yes it very costly

well u can also travel through Bus for that ask Tejas.

Life, Accomodation, Food

Welcome to the land of Naxalites.

Rooms

The acco is inside Bhilai Institute of Technology, Durg, i.e the boys hostel of a local engineering college. For us it was Rs.1500 for whole stay (need to pay to the SWD after your PS) . Here are some of the features of the rooms:

1. Shared by 3 or 4 guys depending on the size of the room. It is quite large.
2. Attached bathroom (bigger than our hostel room)
3. 1-2 cupboard,1-3 table, 1-3  chair, 1 cot per person
4. Coolers are needed and can be rented at 750 per room. There is a fan in the room
5. Almost 24x7 electricity (just had two instances of power cut for more than 15 minutes)
6. A lot of plug points, my room had 8.
7. Good ventilation
8. Free daily newspapers and weekly room cleaning
9. There is wifi inside the campus. It is decent. Some of us were lucky to have range in our rooms. But still, you get free internet and can always access it by going to your friends' room or main building.
10. Laundry: okay.
11. You need to buy a 

• Mattress - Rs.500 but then you can sell it of at the end of PS for 200-250.
• Pillow - Rs.100
• Bulb - Rs.100/each socket (my room had 3 we bought just 2)
• Bucket  + Mug - Rs 100 + Rs 50 one per room
• Door Lock - Rs.70

Reach 2 Days early and go for the rooms numbered 21-30 first (Big rooms, Big Trees covering the corridor) or rooms adjacent to that corridor.Because the Wi-Fi range is good and they will allot you room number 61-80 etc which are the hottest room in the entire BIT Campus.You can change the allotment of rooms in this few days time also pre book some of your friends place in your room.The warden doesn't trouble you so much there.

Post by Arnab Nandy.

Well the room is Big so spread as much as u can.

Food

Inside campus

• What will you say to mess food everyday "Not Today"
• NesCafe outlet which sells coffee,maggi,pasta,pattice,etc.
• Student Store - Do check out the Rs.7 butter milk, Home made Mango juice , etc
• In July, a canteen opens inside campus which serves Samosa/Kachori/Pulao/Paratha at cheap rates. Quality? Well by July, you'll start eating anything. But still, not mess food.

Life, in general sucks. It sucks so much that some of us got inspired to do something worthwhile in life. Most of "BhiB's" (pronounced BhhhiBbbie), i.e Bhilai Bros have decided that mess food in BITS (atleast in Goa) is godlike, after suffering in Bhilai. 

Post by Arnab Nandy.

Outside Campus

• Just Outside Campus gate they have these stalls which provide Cheap Egg Roll , Chow mein , Poha , Lime Soda , Omelettes , Aloo Paranthas , Cigarette and Pan Stalls too.
• Friends Cafe, I will never forget this place. lassi , butter milk ,tea ,coffe,amul cool , maggi, biscuits,idli,samosa,khakra , various cigarettes. Well loose cigarette are costly in bhilai and they wont sell the whole pack, even if they will but Rs 20 etc .In Supela you will get it in MRP. 
• Mandoli Thali Serving Restaurant, travel 1 Km to Malviya Nagar. Cheap and Good food at approxiamtely 50 per thali. I really liked the Dal. You can also order curd rice , idli , dosa , special Chai \m/.
• Tulis - 500 m more from Mandoli (station Road) very good Non-veg Serving Hotel. Also there is a Dhaba in the same station road oppsite side of Tulis. The Quantity is damn good.
• 4 Seasons - 200 m from Mandoli toward Tulis. Good Food. It has a very very small swimming Pool Rs.400 for 2 weeks pass.
• In Civic Center, Rs 10 share auto ride.Try Chocolate Shots and chocolate toast . This place has lot of food outlets & Restaurants.
• Well u have Dominos delivery (30 mins nahi toh free) Once i got lucky :-) . Thanks to +Abhishek Damodara

Things To Do and My Experiences 

Well I'm Updating it soon.

Till then just think of it as a good thing . Me and My BhiB's are missing these Bhilai moments and In the Ends A grade to all.

Post by Arnab Nandy.