Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Student hostel was...

bullet-proof chappatis, bread and jam
the local bakery, a luxury.

5 girls in an auto to the nearest cinema hall
popcorn, coke and the total divided by 5 to the last 50 paise.

waiting for calls from home between 7 to 9.30 pm
and for money every month with a short note from dad to study well and to use money prudently.

girls on the steps
applying henna on each other and all kinds of face packs.

burning the midnight oil and feeling hungry
dinner being served too early.

sneaking into friends’ rooms with a torch after the curfew hours
searching for food.

trying to bring everything from home during vacations,
needle to pen and a lot of eatables.

attacking the supply of foods of friends
who visit home frequently.

counting the days to go home
only 74 days left to go home

washing clothes every weekend on the stone slabs
singing the latest hits at the top of our voices.

perfecting the art of mango plucking and
the escape from the warden

stealing vegetables from the garden
and cooking it using candles.

maggie, soaked it hot water
wai-wai straight from the pack.

christmas secret friends and
small notes to her with the left hand.

sharing a room with two more people
yet respecting their space.

accepting people from different places,
languages and habits.

going to barista and coffee day outlets once in a blue moon
and feeling cool.

walkman and audio cassettes
rewind and forward with a reynolds pen to save battery.

circulating novels
reading MBs in candlelight
sleeping off while waiting for the love scene
waking up to see my bed on fire
going panicky and waking up roomie in the lower bunk
pouring water, dipping the pillow in the sink to put the fire off
calling friends from other rooms and sharing the tragedy
laughing out loud on seeing the thrid room mate blissfully asleep amidst all the commotion.

30 comments:

Goli said...

It is so nice to read all these everytime someone puts it... But I just dont agree to this one
"counting the days to go home
only 74 days left to go home"
It was only during the first semester, after which i never wanted to go home :D

Anonymous said...

I wish I ....

d4u said...

So aptly put...bang on:)

Anonymous said...

i read ur blog after a long time... it is alwayz fun t read ur blog

Vivek Malewar said...

penned it so well ! cheers :)

Mahesh Kokadwar said...

Many of them applies only to girls.
Here is something from Boys.

sneaking into friends’ rooms with a torch after the curfew hours
searching for cigarettes.

counting the days to go for a friends birthday party
only 12 days left

Gathering other friends every Friday to decide on a daaru party.

GuNs said...

"rewind and forward with a reynolds pen to save battery"

LOL, your account seems to be a LOT of fun. I always knew I was missing something by not living in a hostel but I never thought the life full of dirty rooms and smelly clothes lying all around the rooms, no TV, no mom-cooked-food as a very exciting proposition. I've been through much graver adventures but this - I missed.

Sadly have to do something similar now that I am living away from home for the first time in my life. I did live in Muumbai alone but then I did get home-cooked-food at my cousin's place !

-PeAcE
--WiTh
---GuNs

P.S.: Came here from Claytonia's blog and I ALWAYS comment when I find an interesting post. Do drop in and see my blog when you get any time.

sinusoidally said...

Food seems to be a theme in this posy here. :-) Emjoying days of hostel life!

Unknown said...

I wish I too could have stayed in a girls hostel. Seems it was lot more of fun than we had imagined ;-)

Arunima said...

@sinusoidally: yes, very much. Those days we only thought about food.

Rajavanya Subramaniyan said...

@Goli

well thats very true... but i have seen girls in my college not too attached to other as we boys were..

and i never knew all these happen in girls hostel too..really cool

Anonymous said...

Those days.. Hmmmmmm...
Why do we ever have to grow up?

Anonymous said...

hmmm...so different from life at boy's hostel!
miss those times :-(

sanguine said...

the post is so relatable ..
to add -
listening to music till wee hours of morning
then bunkin the first lecture coz no one wakes up in time
teacher in the hostel , askin everyone to report in the common room
girls in various state of dishevel standing in line in front of the warden,
tryin not of giggle as they see each other looking more outrageous than the other..
*sigh*

APUGONNAB said...

aah.. the life u lead when away from family.. I dont miss it, I'm living it :-))

Happy New Year!!!

± said...

boys hostel aint all that different :)
happy new year...

junat said...

cool seems you had the time of your life out there.
yeah hostel life is really amazing .

Aqua said...

your post brought back memories of hostel days...both school and college :) bittersweet and yet so much fun! i was the queen of wai wai in school...still love it!

Happy New Year Arunima!

d4u said...

A very happy 2007 to u and ur family:)

austere said...

Staying up till 3 in the night gossiping abt who knows what.. ironing clothes with a watchful eye on the wardy on her rounds as this was not allowed... you brought back some memories.. thanks..
AND A SUPER 2007!

Anonymous said...

You brought back memories from my own hostel days. Wai wai....sigh! In fact, the taste was never the same when years later i ate it in Nepal; during hostel it was no less than a pakwaan ...we used to regularly hav it during tough exam nights, with just a 'coil-wala' heater on, in dreadful Delhi winters!

Best Wishes for the New Year

Unknown said...

This really reminds me of my good ol hostel days. Keep blogging.

Anonymous said...

Wish you too a Happy New year (and nothing more.. ;) )

shub said...

Happy birthday and a happy new year sweetheart! :)

Anonymous said...

I still love reading M&B's by candelight. :)

Shobana Jayaraman Srikumar said...

i did the maggi in hot water stuff and also used reynolds pen to save battery! reading what you'd written was like going thru little things that we did. enjoyed.

Anonymous said...

Excellent !

I wish to go back to the student days.

Anonymous said...

tussi great likti ho...

Jyoti said...

I Miss my Hostel : ((

Vinod Ramamoorthy said...

Its strange that we always end up feeling so good about the things when we get nostalgic while we never enjoy these things while experiencing it !! Nice post