India, April 15 -- She's leaving home. Jaya Sharma entered the Jawaharlal Nehru University eight years ago as a Master's student. By June, she will submit her 300-page PhD thesis and forever leave her "second home."

On this summer night, the JNU student is wistfully strolling through the campus, keenly feeling for the sights that shall soon cease to be part of her daily life. The trees and bushes are exuding a profound remoteness-the rugged terrain, after all, is part of the Aravallis, a range of hills more ancient than the Himalayas.

Jaya begins her walk from the slopes of Ganga Dhaba. Students are sitting on ketchup-stained rocks. "Only after leaving home you discover your true self," she says. "In JNU, I unlearned and learned afresh....