hostel

My college is some 17 kilometres away.. used to travel up and down by bus. i always wanted to stay in a hostel.. As a kid, i used to beg to be sent away to boarding school. When i was cranky and threw a tantrum, my parents would say.. that i was spoilt and needed some strictness in a boarding school (like it was a threat..) I would be inwardly happy at the prospect of being away then. Hostel for me evokes the ideas of freedom, midnight feasts, lots of sports and activities,cool set of friends and late night chats.. straight out of a malory towers book. dreamer that i am, i didnt stop fantasizing about staying in a hostel even after pre- university.
Well after my pre-university i thought this was my chance to get away from home and be on my own. i was wrong wasn't i? the best college was only 17 kilometres away. again i was to stay home.. (sigh)
In my new college i got three very close friends.. two of who were hostelites. their room became our hangout. lunch break, free periods, practise sessions for dances.. everything was in their room. so unofficially my localite friend and i were hugely a part of the hostel. saturdays were half days but we used to hang out in our friends' room till 7 or 8 in the evening.. we were asked questions from our classmates in the hostel "hey you two, dont you want to go home?" and we used to say with a sheepish grin "ah well... we like it here". their jaws used to drop.. they were missing their parents, see? we were jealous of the fun they had in hostel and they of the fact that we were with our parents...
then suddenly something unexpected happened.. my mom had to go away for a month to bangalore for work. my sister and my grandad decided to join her. dad was working for long hours. where would i stay? dad thought it wasn't safe to stay alone in the house.. so.... yup! you guessed right.. i was sent away to the hostel... the exams were nearing so another strong reason to shift was to avail the library till its closing time which was 11 pm.
so my bags were packed and i was going.... going.. gone!!! to the place i wanted to get the taste of since i was a child....... this is going to be fun.. i thought. and i wasn't wrong. i stayed in the hostel for a good three months. the joys and the tears we shared, the great parties, the joint cramming for the exams, the saturday outings, the campus walks late in the night, the bonds with friends which grew stronger by the day. those amazing friendships i forged with the hostelites i thought i would never talk to. feel damn lucky... it feels like i added a new dimension to my personality by staying there for a few months... really got the best of both worlds! home and the home away from home...