Four hundred students from East, West, North, North-East and South are meeting here to get exposed to diverse cultural backgrounds. The NSS mega summer camp being conducted at Andhra University for students from 29 States, gives them great scope to get acquainted with various lifestyles, languages and learn from each other. AU is hosting the camp for the first time. The students are excited about the entire programme with majority of them attending for the first time.

Arpita Bose from West Bengal claims that it's an opportunity to meet people at one stop with diverse cultural backgrounds. A place to learn new aspects and to explore South Indian cuisine, said Alok Mohanty from Odisha. "We get to meet many people, understand their lifestyle, learn how to accommodate with each other and improve our skill set. Adjustment is the keyword here and is rewarding too," explained Arunima Susan Oommen from Kerala. While many were enthusiastic about their stay, some were annoyed with water scarcity, humid climate, power failures and schedules not getting concluded on time. "There is no proper water supply here and I haven''t taken my bath for the day," cribbed Pranab Kumar Nath from Assam.

Naveen Sundi from Jharkhand finds it tough to follow English sessions as he belongs to Hindi medium but is positive about the constraint. "Without struggle there is no success," he added. Apart from yoga, meditation and physical exercise classes, the mega camp rolls out a list of sessions in developing interpersonal skill, communication skill, employable skill and entrepreneurship skill, time, stress and disaster management and cultural programmes. The programme also conducts a five-day educational excursion to Araku Valley, Borra caves, Rushikonda Beach, Submarine Museum, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and other places.

A professor of Department of Psychology of AU M.V.R. Raju conducted first aid and civil defence sessions for the day. The camp provides a good exposure to the youth in enhancing their skills that contributes to their overall personality development, said P. Ramachandra Rao, NSS Programme Coordinator of AU. The camp concludes on June 17.