And So Life Began..

** FLASHBACK**

A sudden banging woke me up. It didn’t seem to stop as it was going on constantly. The first thing I wanted to do after opening my eyes was to find the guy who was making that dire sound and hang him upside down on the fan. I searched for the source of the sound and saw that it was our hostel warden doing something with the door latch. Finally what I could make out was that he was actually holding it and moving it left to right to produce that awful banging. For Christ’s sake! Who would come up with something like this? What’s gone into his mind? After a while it stopped and he went off to the other rooms to do the same.

I got up from the bed, and as told by the guy the previous night, I put on a t-shirt, shorts and wore my sports shoes. I went to the toilet to pee and after I returned back to the room I see that all the other guys are still asleep like babies. I was like- “Whatever!”, and ran off to the ground. My first sight of the ground was- Little boys walking here and there talking about new action series, some big guys dozing off on the ground itself. It didn’t seem to have many boys. I told my self, “Damn! Whatever happened to the ‘shakha’ shit and the strict regime.” I made five rounds of the ground and did some push-ups. The other guys at the ground now started making strange faces on seeing me exercise as if they had spotted their biggest fear building up muscles of iron and nerves of steel. Finishing up with the exercise I went off for another five rounds of the ground and thought of going back to the hostel after the last one. While going out, I see some familiar faces entering the ground. One of them is the guy himself who had warned me against being late. He’s shocked to see me too. “When the hell did you come up here?”, he asked. I replied, “I’ve been doing your god damned shakha since 5:15 a.m.!” He’s awestruck now. I continued, “What do you expect me to do now?” He patted me on my back and appreciated me for being so obedient the first day itself.

I returned back to the hostel and rested a while in the balcony. Hey! Wait a second. Did I tell you about the balcony that we have? Well, to let you know our’s is the only hostel amongst the other four to have separate balconies for all the rooms. Anyway, coming back to the rest that I was taking, the view from the balcony to the mangrove was worth watching. The cool morning breeze was equally enticing. And yes, there were still some guys sleeping on their beds probably dreaming about girls. On asking, they replied they were bunking it. They were pretty firm in answering it as if the next time I wake ‘em up for a question they would kick me out of the room. I thought it better to let them sleep.

I wanted to have a bath but I was still perspiring, so I had to wait. I roamed about here and there in the hostel exploring every corner in the absence of the other guys who were still out on the ground. I went into the other rooms to have a look and in the study room picking up books to read the names of the boys. Time passed by…

Suddenly there was a sound of many feet rushing towards the room. The first thought that came to my mind was that if the boys came to know that I had gone into their rooms, or picked up their books? I hurried back towards my room, but then I saw that they were dashing into each other to get into the bathrooms. At first, I wasn’t able to make out what was happening, but after I entered into the bathroom area to brush, I came to the conclusion that it was nothing but to be the first one’s to bath. All the bathrooms were occupied, but there were these guys who were constantly banging the doors and asking who was to bath after them. If they told them, they would move to the next door. If the guy inside says that nobody’s next after him, then he gets himself on line.

I was very surprised to see the whole system of boys putting themselves in number and then waiting for their turn. This was because, living in a house with an attached bathroom just for me was a very different experience.However, even I banged one of the doors and asked if anybody was to bath after him. He said no, and I told him my name. Incase he didn’t recognize me, I told him that I was the new guy to the institute. He replied, “Thik hai…(Fine)”. I thought to myself, there it goes… my first step in indulging with the school’s system.

Bidding Goodbye

**FLASHBACK**

And so... I stayed back in the hostel and bid my guardian ‘Goodbye!’. The whole situation seemed like a movie scene where the actor is forced to stay back somewhere in the middle of nowhere and the only way he can save himself from getting drowned in this quicksand of smoke and mirrors, is to scream out and just ask once for salvage. But all he can do is wait and watch as his saviors go away and disappear into the horizon. Even I couldn’t call out to them as I knew I had already been a moron to accept all that came.

So, the peon guides me to the hostel… seeing the school being surrounded by such glorified environment, the make of the hostels was not what I thought it’d be in my dreams. It was kind of a damn observatory or something! With six sides and being hollow in the middle, it really did look so…
Even the rooms weren’t so enticing as they were just – ‘rooms’?! Anyway, I thought of the inmates of this grand residence to be fine to dwell with atleast.
And so, not so unexpectedly, these guys keep on coming one by one to have an intro. Finally everything came to an end and I was relieved.


Afterwards everything went just fine. While setting up the wardrobe that was assigned to me, I was talking to one of my roommates. On asking when they use to wake up, he answered, “We’re bound to wake up at 5:30 a.m. and move off for shakha. So you’ll have to put on the habit of getting up early or else you’re done for.” The very first sound of the word, ‘shakha’ brought awkward thoughts into my mind. I asked him if it’s related to the nature’s calls, brushing teeth, etc. That was because it sounded so gooey and moreover was to be performed the first thing in the morning. He said it had nothing to do with the morning chores but was another word for exercises in Sanskrit. We both laughed. I continued, “And about getting up in the morning, I have a habit of getting up at 3:00 a.m. and marching off for my workouts.”

High School

Back then to my first day of thinking about a hostel..

My father always said that experiencing hostel life was just like a training for what I'm gonna face in life when I grow up and be alone… My first reaction was like- "Duh! What's so good in a hostel life?!" I meant, doesn't a hostel life mean- No puffin', no boozin', no…(I guess you can make out). Moreover, the institution being a boys' school was a great shock to me coz' 4years without girls would be like- "Oh man! I'm so rusted?!"

Naaah!! Who'd ever want to live this dreadful life choking out your youthful energy and turning it into a huge dose of nerdiness then feeding it back to you?

But then he said, "A hostel life isn't everyone's cup of tea. It's the survival of the fittest, both physically and mentally. Most people are notable to keep up and they either quit or pass out as losers. It's just like a game, play it or leave it! But once you take it up, there's no other option but to be the best where there's no room for a runner-up.

I thought, as I like taking up challenges losing which greatly annoys me, why not take this up too and leave a long lasting mark. And so I agreed…

He said again, "Life up there would be initially boring as hell! But it's up to you how you make and take the best out of it. If you take just the right steps, who knows you could rule the place?!"

My first impression of the school was like- "Wow! Am I back to my homeland?!" I never heard that Mumbai could also have a place like this. I mean the scenery, the flora, etc. just blew me off! If you want to get the idea, it was all oceans and mountains.

Somehow I did get an admission through other ways.

After talking to the other nine guys, I got to know that there's nothing going on. I was like- "Oh God! Am I going to get nothing but shit to lick the whole year?!" Hell No!! The very next thing I was going to do was to get my filthy ass outta this rotten prison. And so I told the same to my father. Nothing did he say but that it would all be just okay. Holy Cow!! What did he mean by saying "it'd be all okay"?! There were no teachers for the basic subjects, many wanted to leave, and I was starting my damn session on 14th of June! Nothing could I do but to continue…

My first words when starting this so called "Hostel Life" were –
"GOD SAVE US ALL!!"