Digital publication | Page 38

FAR FROM HOME – HOSTEL LIFE One of the driving forces which made studying day and night for two years possible was the motivation of getting into a college after it. All that I could relate college with were new friends, fun, freedom and everything else but studies. It does not mean I did not expect to see course books again. I wanted to be somewhere where explanations and reasons are not kept secret, where I get to know rather than simply hit the books. Joining college came at a price. I had to come far away from home and live in a hostel. Hostel life, they say, is the best thing that happens to you in college. You make lifetime friends and become a whole new family. Watching late night movies, laughing madly, studying one night before exams, taking care of each other-these are the memories that stay with you forever. As of now, I find it very difficult to adjust to the new lifestyle. On the first day of college, I couldn’t concentrate on classes very well. It was easier to laugh and say to my siblings” I am going to have loads of fun and you will have to deal with Mom and her ‘nutritious’ food”. There are a lot of first year students in the hostel. Till now, I have been able to learn a few names and the places they belong to. In spite of hardly knowing each other, what all of us have in common is the sadness of getting up early in the morning, having to deal with everything all by ourselves and longing to go back home for as many days as possible.