Following a first yearite at 'Gamchha' (IT Girls' Hostel)
Chronicle Editor @ Aug 22, 2008
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(Written by: Ms. Akanksha Trigun, 2nd yr Electronics. Email: aksbest@gmail.com)
(This wonderful article is written by Ms. Akanksha Trigun, who describes her feelings about meeting a girl student of incoming batch, in the IT Girls’ Hostel. She describes the life in the Girls’ Hostel with a sense of humour. The nickname “Gamchha” is derived from the hostel’s official name: Gandhi Smriti Mahila Chhatrawas. All views expressed are her own).
(Ms. Akanksha in the Girls’ Hostel lawn)
Hey folks! We are back and all set for a yet another exciting semester. The old premises of the campus have seen the coming and going of zillions of batches. Another year! Another batch of excited young minds…and all curious to unfold the surprises, of the green backdrop of the campus…Apprehension, excitement, fears and surprises, all dangling in the air… The charming excitement on the faces clearly tells that sometimes ‘not knowing what’s up next’ is enjoyable indeed.
In the course of a few months, all the first yearites will hear different things about this place, from different people and form different opinions. Well! We are talking about one of the most ‘talked about places’ here at IT. Yes, we are talking about GAMCHHA (the IT girls’ hostel named ‘GANDHI SMRITI MAHILA CHHATRAWAS’ and knighted ‘GAMCHHA’ by our fellow beings at IT). Even after one fourth of my scheduled stay at IT is already over, I am still intrigued by this funny name. I have learnt a few different theories behind this name. Indeed, all the first yearites will be hearing different things, because its one of the old folklore here at IT.
Let me account my own first experience about the girls’ hostel through a hypothetical first year girl whom I supposedly follow while she takes her first trip to GAMCHHA. Here’s a comparison between the feelings of two persons, one of them, all new to the place and the other already in acquaintance with it. The statements in { } are the ones said/thought by the new girl and the ones in [ ] tell my own opinion.
Let’s start…
I was rewinding my own previous experience about this place, in the back of my mind, when I saw this new entrant in our world. Our little ‘hostel world’ situated just beside the real normal main stream world….A world where happiness, sadness, thrills and boredom, all have their own different ways of expression…. A little world, sprouting and blooming, inside the grand fortification of THE GAMCHHA….
Well! The girl steps out of the auto-rickshaw while the parents, though still fumbling about the unfairness of the fare being asked by the auto-wala, unload her luggage, and the very first thought that crosses my mind at this scene is…Oops! Déjà vu! The description of our new fellow goes, kind of without stating. Looks and attitude perfectly suggest that the poor fellow has been freshly baked by some popular coaching brand. The girl eyes the grand building of THE GAMCHHA with all the apprehension and excitement that the eyes could muster to behold. [It’s admitable that the grandeur of the building is undoubtedly enough, to bewitch its first-time-visitors].
She steps inside and takes a look of the garden at the entrance. All expressions clearly shouting out… {Man! This place is heaven. What a beautiful garden!} She seems to be mentally recapping the entire dilemma which she went through a few weeks back about - Whether IIT or IT-BHU? (Let’s face it. We all go through the same phase during the counseling procedure, when we need to choose between the two. Though, now we all wonder if the former was even an option!J) She passes the walkway eyeing the cycle-stands (picturing her own cycle in between the others) and at the same time wondering, how much fun would it be to ride in the campus? [Gal, I agree with you on that one. But never think of riding a bike in the campus. Their wheels are now officially squared and their axles broken. Nevertheless, go ahead. There’s a lot more in store].
The moment she gets inside the channel gate, she is faced by a sign saying ‘gym’ and an embedded marble illustrating its ‘glorious’ history. She gets almost ecstatic. {You gotta be kidding me. They have got a gym! It’s exactly the thing that I ever wanted. Just see… Just see how, I come and keep in the perfect shape now.} [Girl, that’s bait! No one actually works out. Soon you’ll come to the same gym with a stack of books to study for your summer end semesters, as ants come looking for damp walls when there will be nothing but scorching heat everywhere.] She steps into the lobby trying her best to keep her face straight and making no effort to look into the rooms of her seniors. [I can understand dear. You do not want your prospective ‘gamchha’ mates to think that you are a sneak-peak. That’s natural, but all that inhibition would be shed soon and you’ll be found in every room other than your own!].
She climbs the stairs to the first floor where her room is supposed to be. She ascends… {It is surely the stairway to heaven.} [No! It is actually and exactly, the stairway to hell. In the month of April-May, you’ll get roasted up there.] She sticks a plastic smile on her face. (After all she’s going to meet all her new batch-mates and since the first impression counts, she wants to be her best.) [Don’t worry dear. Soon the plastic smile will become real and you won’t even know when. Moreover, the term ‘batch-mates’ will eventually and surprisingly turn into, ‘friends’.] She steps into her room and suddenly the face drops down. {You mean, I am supposed to live here! Do people here stand and sleep? How am I supposed to lie down in such a small space? And then add a roommate on top of everything!} [Now come on dear! What were you expecting in the middle of nowhere? Five star luxury? Very soon, you will be glad that the room is small, else it would have been a bigger mess.J] {Oh! Not a single ventilator? How am I supposed to breath?} [Well! I agree with you on that one. The rooms not facing the road are stuffy enough to make you gasp for breath.]
She goes into the balcony and the first thing in the line of sight is the small office room beyond the garden. [Absolutely, no comments about that place! If you get into the administrative complicacies and the rules and regulations of that place, then there won’t be any room for anything else!] She steps into the adjoining common room. {Wow! Such a big hall! And yes, it has got a TV!} [Ok! That excitement is worth it, because a big part of your hostel life would be spent there.] Now she’s on her way to visit ‘THE MESS’. [Oh! My dear, I didn’t want you to come out of your beautiful and ecstatic excitement so soon, but well, it’s completely your choice.] She steps into the mess. {Ok! So, it’s the mess. Though there is no home-cooked food, but the place seems to be a good substitute. Hey! The food is cooked right before your eyes! Cool! They have got a fridge as well.} [Don’t they! Just don’t open that fridge at all, if you still want to stay in your beautiful dream. It doesn’t work! And about the food-being-cooked-before-your-eyes thing, you’d soon understand that, had it not been cooked before your eyes, it would have been easier to digest!]
While she was still evaluating the mess, someone called me. When I came back, I discovered that I had lost track of her. I found myself smiling at the beautiful feeling of adventure and uncertainty that one gets, when one sees someone else in his/her own shoes. At times like this, one feels so strange seeing a special part of his/her own life being replayed by someone else. All the excitement and fun of my own first time experience of this place came rushing back, all afresh and renewed, with the only added difference that, this time I had the answers to all the questions.
At times like this, one feels the strangeness and unpredictability of life. At times like this, one understands the way, life makes us meet new and completely different people, makes us live in a totally strange and different place, and makes us live in a way which is completely different from the one, in which we had been living so far. Looking at the innocent face of my new junior, I wondered if she even had a shred of the idea, that she’ll be spending four of the most beautiful and glorious years of her life at this place, which would always remain etched in her memory like some fantastic fairy tale.
“Often in this crowd, there is loneliness to see,
Often this loneliness crowds around me.
These memories are so strange, curious and forlorn,
They are all mine and come to me when I am alone...”
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GOD BLESS YOU
April 25, 2009 5:59 PM