Life in NLSIU

To all the starry eyed CLAT aspirants out there!

As important as it is to dedicate ourselves to prepare for CLAT, all of us at some point or the other have been tempted to look at what lies ahead of the exam.

We have all caught ourselves wondering about how our prospective colleges would look like and what would it be like to actually study there. Inevitably, NLS comes to mind. Like most of you, I had the same dreams and thoughts while preparing for CLAT and fortunately my dreams came true when I made it to NLS.

First Day at NLSIU, Bangalore

The first day at college can be quite intimidating once you take a look at the campus and the people that you’ll be spending the next five years of your life with.

Mind you, these are the prospective top 50 legal brains in the country and introductions in the form of an orientation session can get quite overwhelming.  It is here that you’re introduced to the all-consuming trimester system and the strict attendance requirement which have the potential to suck the happiness out of your life like a dementor.

But thankfully, NLS has built an amazing network of mentors and ‘families’ amongst your seniors who will make this difficult phase an experience to remember.

The system put in place allots a mentor and a project guide to every student from the incoming batch. You also get introduced to you respective Rank and Roll number families after your immediate seniors have ‘claimed’ you in the first week of college.

These people will always be there to help you out, listen to your anxious rants and treat you generously to good food and more! You also have the Vice Chancellor, who is one of the most friendly and charming individual on the campus.

A series of orientations will be lined up to help you acquaint yourself with the academic and administrative functioning of the college. These include project, database and library orientations in addition to orientations by various welfare committees that look after the day to day function of the hostels.

The Academic Schedule at NLSIU, Bangalore

The academic schedule consists of 4 courses a trimester which involve 4 hours of classes everyday.

For the first two years, your trimester is divides into phases where you either study for your exams or you’re occupied in writing research papers that are mandatory for every course. This cycle of projects-midterms-projects-endterms keeps you on your toes.

However, this cycle is punctuated with various activities organised by the Activity Based Committees in college. These Activity Based Committees, form a vital part of the academic calendar and structure that law school is built on.

These committees organize various events in the college depending on their mandate such as Sports, Mooting, Debating, Cultural activities, Law and Technology, etc. in your first month at college, you will be introduced to various activities like moots, debates and negotiations through demonstrations by seniors.

There will be a novice moot as well for all of those of you who want to try a hand at mooting.

Spiritus: India’s largest Inter-Law college sports festival

All work and no play can dampen your spirits and this is where Spiritus comes in. Spiritus is India’s largest inter-law college sports festival organised by the sports committee and this is achieved purely by the support extended by the first years to the organising committee.

As a first year, you’ll be the heart and soul of Spiritus. The college provides state of the art facilities in collaboration with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) where colleges from across the country fight it out to win the coveted Spiritus shield.

Spiritus is a fabulous opportunity for the first years and the seniors to interact with each other. But the buck does not stop at Spiritus.

After Spiritus, comes the Convocation and our Theatre fest, Admit One to give you some more occasions to interact with the seniors and bond with your batch. Admit One introduces to you the hitherto hidden actors within the law schoolites which is facilitated by our own production house- the Law School Productions.

September brings the University Rounds of selection for Mooting competitions across the globe.  With the trimester at its fag end, you’ll notice an unusual increase in the number of students visiting the library in a bid to get in that last minute preparation for the end term exams. These deadlines and long hours of work and working on multiple tasks go a long way in teaching you to effectively manage time which will be a great asset later in life.

The first vacation in October is something that most of the first years look forward to.

After a month of rest, care and adoration you must prepare yourself for a set of new courses and activities. It is a popular saying in college that the first trimester is the most difficult trimester and being able to survive that is sufficient enough for you to gear up for the second trimester.

The Second Trimester at NLSIU, Bangalore

The second trimester is relatively easy as now you have a fair idea of what to expect and not from the working of this college. Managing your schedule becomes easier and you get more time to devote to activities you might have missed in the first trim.

You can give a shot at inter-batch sports events, talks organised by LawSoc, Ltech etc. It is also the time for the biggest student run rock fest- Strawberry Fields. You can chill with your buddies on the field and listen to some of the most amazing rock bands that there could be. We’ve had Sky Rabbit, Skrillex and Agnee perform on our very own campus.

LeGala which is a cultural and literary fest is also co-hosted with SF. The artist in you doesn’t have to die with the intense college schedule and it is events like these which will give you a platform to exhibit your talent.

The second trimester ends for the internship break spanning over a month and college resumes in March for the third trim. Internships are compulsory only from the third year onwards, so you can choose to chill at home or travel around this time.

The Third Trimester at NLSIU Bangalore

The third trimester witnesses a lot of fests from different committees and also the much awaited Univ week. While academics can be all encompassing, the last week of May has a myriad of events and activities organised in an inter-batch format wherein every batch fights it out for the Cultural Shield.

For an entire week, days are designated wherein people have to turn up to class dressed up according to the theme. These include pyjama day, twin day, dress-up-as-your-favourite-character day and ethnic day. Inter-batch events are organised in the evening which include fashion show, dance, music, play, artmela and antakshari.

The culminating and the most awaited event of the Univ week is the NLS Ball when you have the liberty (and you need to muster the courage) to ask any one to the Ball, be it a batch mate, a senior or a junior.

On the whole though the college calendar is packed with a lot of activities throughout the year, the academics continue at their own pace and are not substantially affected by the fests organised by the committees. This is primarily because in NLS, every fest is entirely student run.

From picking a table to arranging sponsorships and handling logistics, everything is managed by the student body. Such an environment fosters independence, responsibility and the ability to make decisions. Another aspect where I’d call NLS an open space would be in terms of the encouragement given to all kinds of ideas (whether they are commonly accepted or not).

Interactions are not just limited between the student and the faculty but even amongst the student body which makes the atmosphere intellectually stimulating and also promotes individualism by giving one the freedom to do as he/she likes.

If I were to quote more instances of the liberty of thought and expression on campus, I’d mention the lack of a dress code and the famous 19(1)(a) board in the Academic Block which is a platform to raise any kind of concern whatsoever.

The campus is a cozy one with around 600 people only and a lot of greenery. The college life is made easy with the Chetta (our canteen) staying open till 12:30 am everyday and Bistro cooking lip smacking cuisines. He also prepares kebabs and samosas which are delight in the Bangalore rains.

The skies in Nagarbhavi are always picturesque and hostel terraces and chetta are the haunts frequented by all and sundry. With the debut of Namma Metro in the college vicinity, we are no longer on the edge of the civilisation and trips to the town are now cheap and less time consuming.

All in all, ours is a happy little space where you will be nurtured amongst inspiring achievers. It’s a great place to study, learn and grow.

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