When I say my friends back home that I live in Kolkata and stay as a paying guest near my work place, the first reaction they give is a loud `wow'. Maximum of them have attended girls' schools, went to nearby colleges and then got married or waiting for marriage. They have never been to hostels or never faced any situation all alone. When ever in my holidays, I went to meet them or called them, they keep raving and chanting about how lucky I am for getting such a chance. How much independence I am getting. How I can do whatever I like, go places wherever I like and have ultimate freedom away from home. I just smile at them! They paint the rosy picture but thorns are always there with a rose. Hostel life brings a lot of insecurities with it. Though it may sound silly as a first timer, I faced a lot of pressure to maintain myself alone in a hostel. The thought of my mother not waking me in the morning was devastating to me. We used to have classes in morning in 7 o' clock and I used to sleep like a log of wood when others line for a bathroom. Next thing comes the stale quality of food. The cooks prepared food in morning. By late noon when all of us were almost dying of hunger after returning from our respective classes and practical sessions, the cold half shrunken rice with some watery dal and tasteless curry was all we can get. My case was more serious as I did not know how to talk properly with others, how to comb my curly long and ever unmanageable hair properly, how to dress well, how to wash cloth and more. The list was quite long for me to learn and time was quite short. Apart from that there were numerous study related assignments and lessons to keep up with.
Suddenly there was an enormous amount of vacuum around me where previously my mother, father and brother used to feature. There was no one to enquire about my progress every night. No one to give me a good hot glass of horlicks when I was dead tired after a whole day's running with classes and numerous tuitions. There was no one to sit beside me when I read and did my lessons in the night. No one to run after me asking numerous questions or always irritating me by doing something wrong always that I later discovered was deliberate and purely intentional. It is the hostel that taught me a lot of valuable lessons in life I came to understand that how pure and precious were those small little gestures that my family members showed me.
When the initial shock of adjustment and time management subsides, more grave issues like dealing with different kind of personalities comes abreast. At home along with many restrictions, many securities also lie. People at home don't stab at back or think of harming you in any sense. But at hostel these kinds of creatures are omni-present. Finding a good loyal friend to share your thoughts is most crucial. But slowly and steadily every one learns the hard way to thrive and cope in a hostel. Being in a hostel enables a person to experience a lot of things. One can attend the secret whole night get togethers, can watch people applying lipstick at 2' o clock in the night, skip to the roof after curfew hours and moreover sit transfixed in the bed for whole night when there is rumor that thieves entered the hostel premises. Isn't it funny?
After so many years of being outside home, it seems the most cozy and alluring place to me where I am still perceived as the silent little girl sitting in a corner with a storybook. What to say more. I cannot say all these to my old buddies back home. I don't have guts to smash their pinky imaginations. So better be this way and I smile at them.
Suddenly there was an enormous amount of vacuum around me where previously my mother, father and brother used to feature. There was no one to enquire about my progress every night. No one to give me a good hot glass of horlicks when I was dead tired after a whole day's running with classes and numerous tuitions. There was no one to sit beside me when I read and did my lessons in the night. No one to run after me asking numerous questions or always irritating me by doing something wrong always that I later discovered was deliberate and purely intentional. It is the hostel that taught me a lot of valuable lessons in life I came to understand that how pure and precious were those small little gestures that my family members showed me.
When the initial shock of adjustment and time management subsides, more grave issues like dealing with different kind of personalities comes abreast. At home along with many restrictions, many securities also lie. People at home don't stab at back or think of harming you in any sense. But at hostel these kinds of creatures are omni-present. Finding a good loyal friend to share your thoughts is most crucial. But slowly and steadily every one learns the hard way to thrive and cope in a hostel. Being in a hostel enables a person to experience a lot of things. One can attend the secret whole night get togethers, can watch people applying lipstick at 2' o clock in the night, skip to the roof after curfew hours and moreover sit transfixed in the bed for whole night when there is rumor that thieves entered the hostel premises. Isn't it funny?
After so many years of being outside home, it seems the most cozy and alluring place to me where I am still perceived as the silent little girl sitting in a corner with a storybook. What to say more. I cannot say all these to my old buddies back home. I don't have guts to smash their pinky imaginations. So better be this way and I smile at them.
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