Rule number one of living in a hostel is to leave behind the fussy, picky, spoilt brat that you were at home because this is a place where Darwin’s laws apply. It is the survival of the fittest.
Never mind if you have never stepped out of your comfort
zone before, never mind if you have led a sheltered, protected life until now,
never mind if you had an army of maids at home, who even made your bed. It’s
time to let go of all that and learn to adapt quickly!
If you want to survive, you have to learn to eat anything
that is edible. Too bad if you did not like potato sabzi (an Indian dish) because that was a daily must, and bad if you did not like brinjal because you’d
have to stay hungry.
Too bad if you could not identify the shapeless vegetable
disguised with plenty of oil and spice, you just ate it and soon used to it.
This skill to be able to eat anything that is edible in times of a crisis,
without complaining is something every hostile acquires in no time at all. It
is a life skill that stays and comes in handy even now.
Putting up with shared toilets and bathrooms, queuing up
bleary-eyed for basic amenities every day makes a disciplined person out of the
most reluctant, easy-going person.
Basic survival skills are tested. Fight or flight? Well,
you fight back the tears, pull yourself together, and gear up for a daily
struggle as you realize that living in a hostel is no flight of fantasy!
Learning To Live With All Kinds of People:
Being thrown in with hundreds of teenage boys from
various backgrounds, with different habits and varied temperaments, but all
working to become a part of the same profession is an eye-opener.
You realize there are people in the world other than
yourself who have grown up differently, think differently, and live
differently. You learn to accept, tolerate, ignore what is unacceptable, and
take it all in your stride patiently.
While you cannot be friends with everybody, you learn to
still live with people who may not be on the same wavelength as you. Your own
attitude towards people undergoes a sea of change as you get to know the real
personalities behind the facades.
You learn never to judge a book by its cover. The best friends
I have made in my hostel had nothing in common with me, and yet we connected as
humans.
Friends For Life:
Hostel living lifts the masks, bares the soul, and
reveals the true you. Hostel friends know you, the person, with all your little
oddities, your habits, good or otherwise, if you snore or not, if you stay up
late or get up early, if you keep the room clean or are a slob, how many times
you brush your teeth, how often you change your bedsheets.
There you are with all your human imperfections. If your
friend has seen you at your worst and still likes you in spite of everything,
you have made a friend of life. Hostel friends form a brotherhood that is
cherished and valued for a lifetime. The bond that forms is based on memories
of a shared, common past.
Looking After Yourself:
Living without family to protect and care for you is the
toughest part of hostel living. Fending for you becomes the number one
priority. In your own way, you acquire armor to protect you. Invisible spikes
grow on your persona, ready to attack if anyone threatens your existence.
It’s true; hostel life instills in you the toughness to
combat various situations, the strength to get you through hard times, and a
steely determination to survive against the odds. It imparts an education that no
books contain.
It is hands-on training in looking after yourself in
times of illness, being mentally tough when ragged during the early years,
coping with being away from your loved ones, and building a support system of
hostel friends who will help you to overcome hurdles during your stay in the
hostel.
Sharing:
In a hostel, you learn to part with your beloved
possessions. Slippers, clothes, soaps, mugs – all become the property of your roommates too. There is fun in lending and borrowing clothes, and sharing accessories
with your hostel mates.
The jar of homemade pickles given by your mother, which is
meant to last for 6 months, only lasts for 6 days thanks to your appreciative,
ever-hungry hostel friends who do full justice to her culinary skills! Besides
material things, you also share your thoughts, open up and discuss crushes, and
just about everything under the sun.
Money Management:
Money suddenly matters more than ever. When you live with
your parents, you know they will bail you out when you run out of pocket money.
But in a hostel, you are on your own, with no ‘Bank of Mummy and Papa’ to
finance you, midweek.
You value the money you have been given. Even small
change is carefully counted and safely stored away. You learn to look after
your valuables. Even if you lend a friend money, you learn to take back every
penny after careful counting. You learn to live within a budget.
Discovering Yourself:
Living in a hostel surprises you with the discovery of
your strengths and weaknesses. You discover facts about your personality that
never existed like how much fun you can be, and how tough you really are when
pushed to the limits.
How angry you can get, how fierce you can be, how to mean
you can be when the situation demands it, and just how competitive you can be
when making a beeline for the bathrooms on the morning of an exam.
You shed your inhibitions and realize that you can dance
and sing better than anyone else (or so you think). You forget what shyness
means after endless rounds of ragging, which is an inevitable part of hostel
life in the early months.
Living It Up And Having Fun:
Hostel life is all about fun, freedom, and friends.
Partying in the hostel takes on a different dimension. Without spending any
money, hostel guys know how to have a blast. Singing, dancing, drumming on
overturned buckets, sharing jokes and laughing into the night, feasting on
whatever is available (including Maggi noodles, which by the way is the gourmet
food of all host elite) is what makes hostel parties what they are.
What have you learned from your hostel life?
Hostel life is fun-filled and memorable. Anyone who has
spent a few years in a hostel would agree with me.
SHARING AND HELPING OTHERS!
DEALING WITH YOUR OWN PROBLEMS!
FRIENDS BECOME FAMILY
GAR KA KHANA
Adjustment -Many of us are intolerant. I suggest you go
and live in a hostel for a while. Hostel life teaches people to adjust to
different people and to a whole new environment.
These Are All Things I Experience:
I miss many more unforgettable moments of my life & my
cute friend
What are the best experiences of hostel life?
I, myself, was in a hostel for four years and I have many
sweet memories of the place. Words can't define completely those four years of
my life that were spent in my hostel. And those were the best days of my life; I
Will cherish the memories forever. These are the following points that I have
experienced,
Tearful first day-night at the hostel
Meeting new people and making new Friends
Roommates from different streams
Scary nit before fresher’s party
Learn to manage expenses and money management
Made friends for life
Days without breakfast
Small occasion and event is celebrated with utmost
excitement and pleasure
Gallery flooded with snaps and videos
Single plate to feed 10-15 people
That "RIGHT TO VOTE" moment for Hostel Council
Election
Weird feeling when some of our roommates started talking
at midnight while sleeping
Missing moms pamper during sick
Everyone will become a detective officer when a friend comes
from home town
"Dance and Movie screening"-Perfect Combo to
pass the Saturday night
That “No replacement found (BREAD & JAM)” menu for
Sunday breakfast
No one competes with the student who is running for the first hour of class
The best time passed if the boys and girls hostel is nearby
What they will speak?? This question will arise for every
Singles while seeing committed people talking on the phone mid-night for
hours with that 0 dB voice.
Fighting for silly things with friends and forgetting that
incident after getting up from sleep the next day
Mouths open wide like anacondas and water runs from the
eyes with every yawn while standing in a queue to get bathing and washing
clothes
Getting scolded by mess staff for taking extra Ice
creams and snack
12 AM Birthday bumps and whole day celebration
The epic fail moment when we wanted to cook something
Gang war and fight
Students become professors the day before the exam
Funny moment when treating our friend as a traitor when
he tops the exam
Never-ending talks with that worst hostel chips
Rooms become parliament while discussing IVs and
Outing
Writing an apology letter for attendance proxy, coming late
to the hostel, etc.
Kicking our friend for snoozing the alarm
The happy moment when some of our friends say, from tomorrow
"I will study whatever they teach for the day"
Every day morning will start with searching for our belongings
like toothbrushes, slippers
Sleeping in the same room with dozen people
After a year senior’s room is our room
Sleepless nights for placement preparation
Sleep till you get bored" dialogue in last semester
Hostel day fun
Finally the hell night before the last day at the hostel
Waving BYE with a heavy heart
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