HOSTEL
Life is like
a canvas which is gradually filled with various colors with the passage of
time, our growing age makes beautiful paintings on the canvas of life and the
respective stages of life fill the colors in those paintings. Hostel life is
one such stage, which can be either miserable or filled with fun, depending on
the time and the place in which that stage began in your life. I know a person
who has been through this and has seen the extreme ups and downs of hostel
life. Raju had been admitted to one such hostel when he was just eight and was
far away from home, which was the very first time that he had been so far from
home. He hardly knew what he had to do to survive in that kind of environment
and he had no one there to help him. Adapting to new people and a completely new
place like Agra and learning their accent were the biggest barriers which he
had passed easily but hard times were yet to come. Extreme level of torture was
waiting for him and he was ignorant about that. He loved to live in the present
and hardly cared for the future, there are very less kids who are of eight and
start planning their future but it was that time when torture dawned on him and
he was really very worried. He was beaten up by some bullies; he was helpless
and could not even complain as he was threatened. He was a victim of ragging
that too of extreme level, he was ragged physically. He was so weak that he was
not even able to defend himself, he was looted all the time, all his pocket
money was snatched and his food too. He could not tell anything to his parents
as they would not ask about it and he would go home only twice a year. He always
remained afraid and panicked from inside and prayed for the end of that life
and asked for strength. Soon after the death of his grandfather his father
decided not to educate him in that residential school and that marked the end
of his early hostel life and all the torture that he had to face.
So this was
one color of hostel life which is completely red as far as Raju is concerned
and after reading that most of the parents would not love to send their
children to hostels. This does not mean that hostels are bad, only the
situations are wrong and the people too. But today if you ask Raju about his
hostel life experience he will tell you something else as his worst memories
are replaced by some beautiful memories and experiences at his college hostel.
Raju is
studying Civil Engineering from a college under a state university in India
which is a very different place from Agra and Raju was 19 when he had entered
the hostel room this time. Unlike most of them Raju was experienced as far as
hostel was concerned, he used that to his advantage and that helped him a lot.
It hardly took moments to become comfortable with the pupils out there. He was
the superstar out there, he was everybody’s friend and hardly hesitated to do
anything, of course the good things and was there for anybody’s help. It seemed
as if hostel was his home. First year of any under graduate is normally filled
with an unwanted fear of ragging but this was not the situation for Raju, he
was ready for anything as nothing can be worse than what he had been through.
It was like a fairytale for him, as everything was perfect but nothing stays
perfect and as I always say change is the only thing that is permanent.
Situations changed in a blink of an eye for Raju as he had thought that
situations would remain the same for him but it can never be possible. In his
second year, he met with an accident and when he returned to his hostel after a
month or two, situations were completely different. There were groups everywhere;
unity was just a word by then as everyone was busy managing groups. Raju could
see the upcoming politicians of the hostel, but that still did not concern him
as he thought that things could still remain the same for him but it was not
that easy. Politics was hovering around the hostel and inside it too. It was
really chaotic out there; still he was enjoying the hostel life. One thing that
reduced all the tension was the fun they had and they were thirsty for fun all
the time, which was something that united all the groups. Everyone out there
was pretending and no one was ignorant about that and no one was ashamed about
it too. Still that made him happy that he was staying in that kind of hostel
where fun was the USP.
Raju is in
third year now and is striving to fight all the politics around him but he does
not miss out on the opportunities of making the most of the happy moments. He
doesn’t know what is there for him when he graduates and is ready to make his
future bright.
