CDAC: My Second Home (Part Twelve)

Staying in hostel

When I told Vijeta, “I am staying in hostel at CDAC”; she was surprised, “What! You and Hostel!” And then all the caring words from a loving friend followed. From my experience I tell you, at least once stay in a hostel! Hostel experience is a must. It will make you more independent and confident.

Sunday 14^th Aug, 2011: I took a haversack and a handbag and arrived at CDAC early in the morning with Papa. Like all fathers do, he did all the checks again and again (this happens more for girls) and kept asking “Are you sure, you want to stay in a hostel, away from home?” I had NULL feelings, those who know SQL can understand better. Though the Journey to CDAC was exciting, but you can’t do that every day. I was firm on my decision. So, the first thing is to make up your mind for it. After completing all the hostel formalities, I got the room keys and we along with the security guard headed towards the hostel. It was Room no. 201; there was no one in the room at that time. Papa and the security guard left. I locked the main door, opened the balcony door, put on the music and started unpacking. There were six beds (four + two extra), four chairs, four study tables and four cupboards. Three corners were already occupied by my roommates Bhavya, Neha and Rekha. So I had no choice; my corner was adjacent to the door. I put on the bed sheet and pillow cover and all the stuff went into the Godrej cupboard. I gazed the whole room from ceiling to floor; washroom to balcony. I had to stay here for a year with three girls. 

Now there was no Mom’s Alarm to wake me up in the morning. You have to do things within time frame: brushing teeth, taking bath, washing clothes, etc. Sometimes I used to go jogging on the CDAC track. There will be Mali kaka as usual doing the gardening and housekeeping folks watering the plants in the campus.

Breakfast: 9am to 9:30am strictly: All used to come down from the hostel. We could make out from the aroma, “Aaj breakfast mein kya hai”. We had to stand in a queue; pick up the small rectangular plates and spoon and fork/knife; canteen staff will serve the food. Alternatively we had bread and butter/jam. We had to toast that using the toaster. There will be a bowl of boiled eggs at the end of the counter. We even got omlettes on demand. Food-wise we were very lucky. Each day something new, delicious and healthy dish to eat; though parathas on Saturdays and toast sandwich on Sundays were fixed.

Sofa-sets at the Reception Area: Our lectures were at 10am. So there was enough time in between to read newspapers, periodicals, have a casual talk with other hostelites, etc. Most of these times were spent doing the Jumble words by Namrata and me. But it was fruitful for the aptitude test. We used to spend the first half in the lecture room, with a tea break at 11:30am. Lunch was served at 1pm in the round plates, plus there was some juice to drink.

Again the lab sessions; from 2pm to 5pm, with a snacks break at 3:30pm (each day a different dish, similar to the Khau-Galli). Time used to pass so quickly doing lot of stuff. Then the evening walks and talks at the parking area; playing badminton and table tennis. Dinner at 7pm: It was too early for all of us because then the breakfast was at 9am, 14 hours gap. But we got used to this, hostel makes you adapt to many things.

In hostel you are responsible for yourself. You have full freedom to do things you want at whatever time you want to: study anytime, sleep anytime, play anytime, etc. There will be some people with whom you can easily connect; some with whom you cannot connect at all; and some with whom you will take some time to connect. There will also be a time when you will get a taste of Hostel life. You really need to be careful of what you speak, about whom, when, where, etc. There are some things you will do on purpose. There are some things you happen to do unintentionally. Knowing that you have gone wrong and taking measures not to commit those mistakes again is what counts. It makes you improve yourself. Staying eight hours in company of friends and staying twenty-four hours in company of those same friends gives a different experience. You start identifying people, which is really required when you go out in the real world. You learn how to deal with people according to the situation.

The lab was available 24/7: most of the quiz preparations happened over here, sessions by Shivnath Sir, problem solving, group discussions, cracking the MGPAs, playing CounterStrike too. You get to learn new things from others; teach what you know to others at anytime. It was so nice of Piyush to teach me the tips and tricks of Carrom at 11pm. And I am also a good student to keep practicing it till 1am. Even Neha did practice Badminton every evening.

The Mid-night birthday parties were a big reason to bring out the singers, dancers, mimicry artists, comedians, etc amongst all of us. We did overcome stage fear to some extent by performing in front of hostel audience on the entrance stairs (included the security guards). One thing we did make sure that we did not keep extra work for the housekeeping folks; we did the after party cleaning ourselves.

Those were Golden days and nights, now as memories. If you have stayed in hostel, do share your experience in the comments.

Read from start: CDAC: My Second Home (Part One)