Hostel Life: The Start

My entry to the college was purely based on search over the internet. The procedures to enrollment was all decided over the emails. I was to show up at college and finish the formalitites. Trust me when I say that I had no idea where Vellore was on the map. I had got a rough idea from the map provided at the college website. The journey from north to the south of India was an experience that is still fresh in my mind. Along with me on this journey was my dad. We had checked into a lodge for the night and decided to go to college first thing in the morning. The next day we showed up at the admission office to finish up the formalities. I had come to the college a few days in advance before the classes (orientation week) began just to get the hang of things.

When one is going somewhere, we like to be prepared. I had heard a lot about the interaction between seniors and junior (More roughly used word: Ragging) at colleges from friends and articles from newspapers & magazines. Some incidents can give people goose bumps just hearing it, let alone the thought of remaking it in one's head. On my way to the hostel I came across a senior who had seen me at school. I was kind of shocked to find out that someone from my school was in the same college. I was to check out the hostel and choose a room for myself. Since I was one of the earlier students to check in the hostel, I had an opportunity to look at some of rooms which were vacant. After choosing my room, I had picked up all the necessary stuff required for staying in the room. I checked into the Hostel room around the start of the weekend while my classes were to begin on the first day of the coming week.

My first night was one of the most memorable as I can still remember the sequence of numbers that led me from one room to another making me know about my seniors. That night, the exhaustion and fatigue was pretty high. What was the cause of it is still questionable? Was it those long hours of talking or was it the long hours of standing or worst, was it that huge load of data or information of all the seniors in the hostel. The names of the seniors, their rooms, branches, their hometowns, some of their hobbies and many more. I still remember feeling the softness of my bed at the crack of dawn. I was woken up by the knock on the door, opening it revealed my dad standing with the background of bright sunlight. When I checked the watch it was way after the zenith of the sun (afternoon).This was the weekend and my seniors were enjoying the holiday by also getting up late. The previous night had led me to meet 2 of the other guys in my batch who were also staying at the hostel. The 3 of us were spared on that Saturday night because of the arrival of a newer batch of students. The most puzzling moments were when we tried to find out who were in our batch or otherwise we ended up infront of a senior who was waiting for amusement. But that weekend was the beginning of the glorious memories and friendship that lasts until today. It made the word IH form a new meaning of looking out for each other and ofcourse being one of the most partying people or better known as Revellers. (IH stands for the 'International Hostel")