At NID, students relax at BMW, UFO & BBC!

Did you know that students of the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, spend their leisure time in a BMW? That’s not all, NID also has its own UFO and BBC! However, hold your thought of announcing that the Paldi-based institute is the richest educational institute of the city.

BMW, UFO and BBC on NID campus have nothing to do with what one usually relates them to i.e. a luxury car, Unidentified Flying Object believed to have been sighted by some, and the well-known British Broadcasting Corporation.

Instead, these are the creative abbreviations of various famous locations on the campus. BMW stands for Behind Metal Workshop or canteen or dhaba. Similarly, UFO is Under Faculty Office and BBC means Basket Ball Court. Students even often refer to the NID itself as simply ‘insti’ than using the full name.

Cooling in NID’s BMW is brought about by rickety fans, thin net curtains protect the occupants from harsh sunlight and instead of ultra luxurious

cushioned seats, one has to sit on cement and wooden benches here.  Even new students joining NID get the meaning of these abbreviations from their very first day on campus. 

Nitish Maurya, a postgraduate student of product design, says he was able to understand what students were referring to when he was first asked about the BBC. “We don’t know how the names have stuck. Our seniors used these words for identifying locations. In fact, it’s good to use them as outsiders don’t know what they mean,” he said with a chuckle.  

Prof Shilpa Das, one of the faculty members at NID, however, had her share of problems in understanding the meanings of these acronyms when she joined the ‘insti’. “Someone asked me to wait at the BMW. I was very impressed. I thought NID owns a BMW and that an appointment venue couldn’t get more luxurious than that.

\However, when I learn that it meant dhaba and reached there, it was funny,” she says recalling the incident.