Chapter 2 - Settlement

If you missed Chapter 1 here's the link:  Chapter 1: Migration

Blake Shelton must have lived in my hostel when he wrote the song "Boys 'Round Here." Why? That is how the hostel environment felt, just as the song "Boys 'Round Here."

On the first morning in the hostel, everyone's up early with a bucket, mug, and a towel in their hand. Going back to the first day - the hostel rector said, "Garam paani sirf subhe 8 baje takh he aayega" (Hot water is available only till 8 am), and everyone took it seriously, as no one was ready to face the wrath of cold showers. There was one smart person in the hostel who enlightened us with the concept of saving water and showering later, and that is how "FOGG" sales skyrocketed that year. The best sight of that morning after the queue to collect hot water was the expression on the faces of the first-time common bathroom users.

We were done with our classes for that day, and we wanted to have some snacks, so we all went out in search of a good place to have some snacks. "Snakes available" (that is how most of the food places near my college advertised the availability of snacks), and that is when we discovered Aasim’s Maggi Corner. If making Maggi is an art, then Aasim bhai is the Picasso of it. This Maggi corner had it all: Cheese-Maggi, Omelette-Maggi, Maggi with a half fry, and the list goes on. It reminded me of the permutations and combinations chapter from class 12. While I write this, I can smell and taste my Omelette-Maggi from six years ago with cold Bournvita. That was our first time at Aasim bhai’s, and later it became our dinner, especially when we had exams the next day. With an electric kettle and Maggi packets in our hands, everyone in the hostel aspired to be Aasim bhai - B.E Maggiwale.

After having our dinner, we had a routine, and that was to play Mini Militia, the PUBG of our days. With all our phones connected to the charger, our gaming sessions went on for hours. I had a Samsung Galaxy S3 which didn’t even let me start the game, and even if it did, others would complete 3-4 rounds of the game, and that is how Redmi Note 3 sales skyrocketed. Sia must have seen us playing and enjoying in the hostel, and that’s when she wrote “Cheap Thrills” or, as we sing it in our hostel, “Sasti Masti.”

Aasim’s Maggi corner:

B.E Maggiwale:

Hostel Nights:

Thanks to all my hostelmates.

Your feedback and support is what makes me a better writer and brings out the best in me . So do correct me if  I am wrong and don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comment section and also your hostel life experience.

~ Darshan Shanbhag

Chapter 1: Migration

                Hostel Life is a lot of fun and is part of one of those memories you will reminisce about throughout your life. Having lived all my life in at home except for 2-3 Months of hostel life at coaching institutes during my SSLC and PUC, this hostel life of engineering would be a proper hostel life and a far better experience, an experience where you learn to make maggi in a kettle, an experience where you no longer need iron to iron your clothes all you want is a bed and your body and most importantly an experience that helps learn the tactics of saving money, one among them being sleeping till noon to skip breakfast and having a heavy dinner later that night. This is one such place after Gokuldham Society where you can find people from various parts of India.It is a place where your washroom's wall art skills, singing, dancing and many other skills get recognition.

      It was raining heavily that day, I along with my parents got down in front of my hostel from the fully packed car with a wheel punctured. As it was raining heavily we grabbed maximum things possible and ran inside the hostel, the helpers there gave me my room key. My parents and I walked towards my room, the door was open and one of my to be roommate was already there; he was tall and thin with a goatee beard and light mustache. We introduced ourselves, his name was Makrand, and he was from India's party capital Goa. Whenever I meet someone from Goa, I always assume that the person knows Konkani and I start my conversation in Konkani without even asking them if they speak it or not, and even here I did the same. But my father (baba), he was more excited about my engineering than I was; he had already imagined me in my graduation hood (Black robe and hat) as if it was the sole purpose of engineering and with that excitement; he talked to my roommate and it seemed as if they knew each other since a long time and he was going to stay in this room. We then went to the remaining half session of the Orientation Program as we had missed the first half and after that, we had lunch in my hostel mess and you know what that was the first and the last day we got food that great and following that was Idli that could stop a bullet, Sambar that competed with water and Upit that could flow like liquid.

                I still remember that night me and my roommate both were sitting in the room busy with our mobile phones and suddenly a tall white guy with a fringe up hairstyle enters our room. He was our senior. He had this fierce look on his face; he asked my name, and he seemed to know my roommate's name, by the time I could process this he asked us to follow him and with him was another guy who was our batch. He took three of us to a room where there were two more people from my batch and also a senior who was his friend. My legs started trembling due to fear because I had seen 3 idiots and in my head, there were voices chanting please no ragging, no ragging, no ragging and then came this moment where they asked us all to sit and the senior started telling what would happen next, “Hey Everyone, this is friendly ragging, and we want everyone to co-operate with us “, I was sitting on one of the bed and as soon as I heard the word ragging I turned pale not even thinking it also had the word friendly as a prefix and the senior continued: “All you have to do is tell your Father's name Mother's name your name and your branch without any pause and if you take a pause you have to start from the beginning “. After hearing that I was back to normal and the task started each one of them had to sit on the chair that was kept in the center and had to take the names, that scene reminded me of the sorting hat scene of Harry Potter. It was my turn, and I started, “My father's name is…” even though I took all the names without any pause they asked me to start again and had fun. It was not at all ragging. After that task all the seniors were friendly, and we had a good time that night and also got to know a few people and made friends with them. All the people from Electronics and Communication branch and Computer science had come that day and the next day people from the Mechanical branch were about to join us and that's when I met my second roommate Padmaraj, a guy taller than me, with side fringed hair and specs he was the Rancho of our room, coincidentally he had built his own power bank somewhat like Rancho's Inverter. What awaited for next two years from that day was a whole lot of fun and happy moments.

My Roommate's Mac D and Paddu:

My Room S12  (Guess to whom that messy bed belonged to):

Lastly, It wasn't exactly ragging.

Thank You

Your feedback and support is what makes me a better writer and brings out the best in me . So do correct me if  I am wrong and don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comment section and also your hostel life experience.

Darshan Shanbhag