Hostel Life...

I had an opportunity to be a boarder during the four yrs of my graduation. If someone asks me now ,if I really enjoyed my hostel life…..I wouldn’t be able to give an instantaneous answer. Learning is a painful process. We need to put in some effort to learn a new skill or a chapter for our exams or anything else. Learning means some wear and tear…may be physically or mentally. So I’d say….my days in the hostel were a learning experience….on one hand there was the pain of learning on the other…the joy of having learned some valuable lessons of life….it was quite paradoxical indeed. I confronted life as it would be to any individual irrespective of the social background he came from. So you were known as a certain individual rather than who your father was, but there was obviously a group of people who liked being thrived upon the social status they had derived from their parents, this was the first glimpse of how small the society may be you’ll find al kind of people there…..I’m very sure this should be one of the major laws of sociology.
The hierarchy was set up within a few days….some of them were exempted for PDP sessions….but I guess we were the lucky ones as taking these sessions helped us to face our fears and stretch our limits of tolerance and suffering .Again learning…though it was painful it was rewarding at the same time as I was mentally tougher now.
First year days were the best in my life. I made some really good friends…..everyone was far away from home….every one was ready…ready to explore himself as an individual…within a short span of time I was lucky to make some very good friends….but I always craved for a group….I found my group in Samir, Spidy, Anshuman, Ankur and me(Some other friends were Arijit,Faizan,Veeru,Akash)…..we spent some unforgettable moments together…

“….the first of acquaintances will always be your good friends…..”
-hostel adage

Later during our college days we had many differences among ourselves…but today I discover that these are the names I can always trust.

First year days…(and long time after that as well)…I used to be a despo lad…(very normal for my age)….somewhere in my subconscious mind I was ready to have a crush on any of the eves in the college…I was lucky to find a girl on the very first day…but soon I realized that my desperate and unconventional attempts to talk to her, left her in jitters and she didn’t like me at all…..I tried to improve but every effort of mine worsened up things…so after 3 semesters of tireless efforts I decided to quit…again learning….which was painful but left me as a matured individual….(That is some reconciliation….:) )……So this time in the 4th sem I decided to have one major crush…and a series of crushes…..to balance any side effects…..I was such a fool though to practice such weird psychological theories….but by the time the college ended…all of these stories ended up as sweet yet heartbreaking memories….something of a
“dard-e-disco” .... …..it seems I should shift my focus to the hostel life from the college life....girls were an integral part of the life in the hostel though….we had loooooooooooooong discussions on every possible gurl on the campus….what made things worse was the fact that the girl’s hostel was out of campus…and our college was the only one to follow this tradition…as a result of which we suffered so much…(I hope the girls missed us as well)….One of the things that most of us enjoyed in the first year was hanging on our balconies and viewing the neighboring BimTech campus………..it was so disheartening to see couples walking within the campus at late nights…..some of us even went on to the extent of screaming at them….this was independence at it’s extreme…..later in the month we came to know that the BimTech authorities had reported the matter to our college authorities…much to our pride.
One of the things that I discovered staying there was my passion for walking…..we had a huge campus…..with lush green grounds……moreover I also enjoyed walking in the hostel corridors (nothing like it)…and of course the expressway…right in front of our college…..these sites are very close to my heart as I’ve some wonderful memories attached……

The Alpha Market was a happy hunting ground for us…….after the sessionals whereby most of the students went to the Noida Malls ,I preffered walking down to the Alpha market which was about 3km from the hostel……Walking the six lane highway was an experience of it’s kind……..I used to walk down merrily with the speeding motorcars zoom passing by me……..I enjoyed spending time with myself ,talking to myself on things which I thought no one else would lend a patient ear………On reaching alpha market the first thing which I did most of the time was to check out the khoka shop……and eat a pair of samosas and a chota pepsi…….what was special about these were the manner in which they were served i.e. with dahi and chatni…..and they had paneer stuffing……so it was like eating samosas and tikki at the same time something which I missed so much……………Then there was a “Mother Dairy” store….as well….which served delicious ice-creams …..a must hang out place after the hectic sesional season……we rarely found good food in the mess …..eating there was a formality …….”as the mess was quite a mess” most of the times…..so I enjoyed every bit of the small treat I gave myself  after the sessionals or the semesters….someone has rightly said

“Good things in life are for free”

 After the end of every semester Akash, Ankur and me checked out the alpha market and the khoka shop a tradition which we lived upto throughout our engineering. Often these trips where concluded by nightstays ,long walks,confiding secrets, investing faith,discussing the heart breaks and the heart aches …….things which bonded us as great friends.

 

...to be continued.......