Padmabhushan Vasantdada Patil Pratishthan College

Running a place like Padmabhushan Vasantdada Patil Pratishthan College is a big job, mostly because of where we are. We’re situated right on the Vasantdada Patil Educational Complex along the Eastern Express Highway. If you’ve ever driven past Everard Nagar toward Sion or Chunabhatti, you’ve definitely seen our buildings. It’s a very busy part of Mumbai, and the noise from the highway is something we’ve all just gotten used to over the years. Students come from all over the city, many of them jumping off the train and walking or taking a rickshaw to get to class on time. The campus is pretty large, and there’s always someone rushing across the courtyard to get to a lab or a lecture. We have a lot of different departments, and the staff is constantly moving around to keep things functioning. It’s not a quiet, peaceful place; it’s energetic and a bit chaotic at times, just like Mumbai itself. During the monsoon, we really have to watch out for the rain coming off the highway. We don’t use a lot of fancy words to describe what we do here. It’s a college where people come to get their degrees and move on to their careers. We just provide the space and the teachers to make that happen. The canteen is usually the loudest spot, filled with students complaining about exams or talking about cricket during their short lunch breaks.