Being back in college has brought about a lot of simplicities. Be it 2 AM maggi sessions, sharing notes, avoiding knocking like the plague, or just the intrinsic ability to socialise, we’re now less than a call away from each other.
The hostel provides a convenient medium to one day find out by chance that your dear friend Pushpa has an unhealthy obsession with plastic spoons, among other things.
With the convenience however, comes the slippery slope of learning how to live in a shared space.
For most of us, this may be our first time in a home away from home. With this in mind, hostel life can mean a sudden surge in freedom for many. The idea that your best friend lives right next to you sounds dreamy, considering the fact that after college, you may not even live in the same country.
If you came here looking for nostalgia and got a truth bomb instead, that’s on you.
In common spaces, we experience a certain intimacy regarding the lives of even those who may look or seem intimidating. Getting to know the people around you on such a personal level with just a few interactions helps you navigate through the possibilities of living in a hostel.
With just a few weeks of sharing spaces behind us, it’s important to understand the idea of being considerate. Considerate, not just in your actions, but in your words too.
Every whisper echoes through the off-white walls of each corridor, every question bounces off the roof to a curious ear.
With the comforts of being nearby, comes the necessity of being empathetic. The past two years have been hard on all of us, for some harder than others.
In each celebration of victory or every birthday song with outstretched, waving hands, we unknowingly become a part of someone else’s life. Years from now, when you’d only see someone’s life updates on Instagram, the same echoes will encircle your mind, blocking out the possibilities of a new relationship.
Our interactions tend to become more closed off and huddled up in closed rooms as we move ahead, the implications of this being the creation of a barrier between you and those around you.
In my very limited experience of living here, I’ve come to realise that while the scars of broken friendships may fade away, we’re often left with a sense of unfinished business, the disappointments and the could-have-beens.
But the quality of living in a space where everyone knows everyone is that while you may move on with your life and structure your circle around it, these stories are never forgotten, often retold in the most unlikely places.
We often get enveloped into our own little world, forging on and setting little ticking time bombs, unaware of the consequences.
Now that we’re all finally here, the price of freedom is stipulated by the way we connect with one another. A large part of it lies in the mutual respect between the different batches.
There needs to be a balance in the way we manage exchanges with the people we know and the ones we don’t, because for every little misconception, there are a hundred different versions flying about at any given moment.
Despite there being hesitation in the air, the campus truly does magically match you up with people you’d never have imagined being pally with.
As I’m sure the batches of the yesteryears (pre-covid era) will agree, the bond you share with your roommate hugely changes the way you perceive life in college. I’m going to openly consider myself very lucky in this regard (hopefully my roommate will now volunteer to do jhaadu-pochha this week).
They say, you never know who you’ll end up being friends with by your final year here, and I think I agree.
Do yourself a favour, be nice to someone today. Make new bonds in unlikely places.
On a less poetic note, don’t leave your dirty dishes lying around please.
See you around!
