Is it the 2:00am
Maggie? Or the never ending late night parties? Or the hurry to copy the
assignment from the ‘Chatur Ramalingham’ of the class? Ask the students staying
in the KIIT Hostels and they will say that it includes all of them. They would
also say that its little more than this – the walks around the corridors of the
hustling bustling building to notice the ‘recently fallen’ love-birds talking
whole night over the phone. The four years of my hostel life at KIIT helped me
derive a mathematical formula which says that the intensity of the love affair
in which a boy is, depends upon the mode of tele-communication he is using
while talking to a girl. If someone uses Rs. 399/- Reliance to Reliance free
phone, it means the proposal has been accepted and if he is found smiling while
reading the text messages which keeps on pinging whole night, it’s an
indication that he is trying to get into one. [PS: For the students who are
currently staying at Hostel, the formula has been upgraded. SMS has changed to
Whats App and Reliance has lost the race while Vodafone is leading it].
Each moment that one
spends in the King’s Palace unfolds an interesting story. King’s Place gave the
students something which we all are striving for at this age – Independence. It
not only provided a space to the KIITians but at the same time filled the rooms
of happiness, fun, joy and excitement. Going to bed at 10 at night was a signal
that a boarder was sick. One of the moment which helps me recollect a memory
was the one I lived during ‘Karmanya’ – The hostel fest of Kings Palace – 5 in
the year 2009. I still remember those words of a learned man which are still
safe in my memory and conscience. I shall not distort the words otherwise it
will take the spirit of the man away. He mentioned, “If a person hasn’t stayed
in Hostel in his life, his life is 50% incomplete. And while staying at Hostel,
if he hasn’t made a Girl-friend, his life is 100% incomplete.” Today, when I
look back to those instants, I feel the words were not false.
The life at KIIT
Hostel guaranteed Crazy Incidents and Wild Experiences. The actual fun happened
at 12:00am at night when it would be your friend’s birthday and your run fast
to ensure that you do not miss out giving him birthday bumps. But the actual pains
of these moments were felt while it was your turn to be there on the receiving
end. It was never unwise to hit people on 364 days in a year and receive all of
it together on that one day.
You would always
come across a bunch of students who will knock your door at 1:30 at night to
ask, “Bhai kuch khaane ko hai kya? Bahut
Bhook Lagi hai..!” and your reply would be, “Kuch hai to nahi par agar kahi se mile to bulana jarur.” Unfortunately
you would end up having Kissan jam, Dabur Honey or Jaljeera because it was
difficult to hunt food in a jungle where all of them were hungry for years. As
the time passes by and you grow from 2nd to 3rd year and
from 3rd to 4th year, the wants get upgraded from ’Khana’
to ‘Cigarette’. If the Reading Room of your hostel falls on the way to the
mess, god save them who go there every day to study.
Among all these,
there was a desire to share and live, a wish to help others, an aspiration to
fuel the friendship with which each one of them lived their life. Hostel Life
teaches you not only to live life independently but also to become a human
being – something which we all want to be today in the race of life. The entire
staff members and wardens at the Hostel may sound rude to you sometimes but
they are the actual guardians who are there to water you to grow from a seed to
a tree and at the same time hold your hands when you fall.
Today, its been more
than 3 and ½ year that I have left back the KIIT Hostel but the memories which
I could make them is still alive and green in my brain and shall always be. I
wish I could a be student again to live there and this time for a even longer
period.
