Students keep me questioning about hostel life, food quality and living conditions of hostels. But frankly speaking I don’t even remember a single struggle in my hostel life but still I cherish each day spent in hostel. Want to know what made my hostel life memorable? Want to know how I survived 4 years of hostel life and why I would pay any cost to live those days again? Read this article till end and you will get all your answers.
So how did it all started? It was first time I was away from my parents. It was first time I felt responsible for my own stuff. It was first time I was wishing someone to hold my hand and tell me I was not alone. It was first time I was among them as a stranger. It was first time when I met my friends. My hostel buddies. My life. My Memories. My everything.
Everything that happened between the time of our first hello and last goodbye was hostel life. This one sentence is enough to sum up hostel life but I would like to elaborate that “everything” a bit. What happened between this time were countless sleepless nights, late night cooking, hostel lawn cricket matches (trust me those were intense than India Pak match), late night campus walks, gym resolutions that were never fulfilled and night canteen sessions. I might be missing many points but if I mentioned all then there would be nothing for you to explore in your hostel life. I will discuss few chapters of this book called hostel life and will leave rest for you to explore.
Let’s start with chapter one. It is about night before exams. You will really get to know the worth of last night group study in hostel room because that will be the only time you will get to study (at least happened with me). And still one thing that will beat overnight study is revising notes and discussing topics you studied last night while you are heading towards your examination hall. Wait, story is not over yet. Suddenly you will see your topper friend explaining biasing of bipolar junction transistor and Mosfets and many other horrendous topics. That will be the time when you will realize you have ruined your whole semester just sleeping in hostel, playing guitar and discussing startup ideas which were never implemented. The silent words and enigmatic smile that you will exchange with your best buddy would act as your armor as you will walk towards the battle field. Story continues but I will leave this chapter for you to complete because I don’t want to give you spoiler about how one-night study will help you to survive those exams.
Second chapter talks about how hostels enhance your skills. Apart from providing you with 4-5 hours of sleep in non-exam days (don’t dare to sleep in exam days) hostels will make you multitalented. You will learn how to wash your own clothes using a manmade device called washing machine. Most of us would have heard this word once in a life time but while operating, first thing we will be figuring is, “Where the hell should I put my dirty clothes?”. Once you figure it out, other thing that will bother you is how much detergent to put and where to put? Wait detergent! Why nobody told me that I need to bring my own detergent? Yes, you will surely shout these words. Now how to arrange for that detergent and finally manage to wash your clothes after 7-8 hours of struggle will be your task to complete this chapter successfully.
Chapter three is about phone calls. Finally, at night when your parents will call you to ask about your wellbeing you will notice changed behaviors of your friends. They will try to distract you and assume that the person you are talking to on phone is a girl/boy (assume according to your interest) and will try their best to make you uncomfortable. How you will manage to successfully discuss your day with your parents? Till now you must have figured out what I am going to write. Yes, you are right my friend. That’s your job to complete this story.
There is no limit to the chapters that can be added to this book and yes you again guessed it right. That’s your job to as you will be writing your own book of hostel life. What! I forget to mention about some other common points? You must be waiting for a chapter about disgusting food, bad facilities, everything bad about hostels. I have survived all these evil elements and after my 4th year of college I am at that point where I don’t even remember worst mess dish. These memories don’t even deserve to be a part my book as I had some wonderful people who never let me bother about such experiences.
I would like to end this by saying “At some point, you have to realize that some people can stay in your heart forever but not in life”. All I have is nostalgia about hostel memories.
Best of luck for writing the book called “Hostel Life”. Write worth remembering.
Happy Reading 😊
PEACE!
In case you are reading my writings for first time this was Sahil Gogna- a normal guy who survived hostel life. You can know about me in about us column. And comment your chapters down here in comment sections. I would love to read yours. Thanks for reading.