IIT Hostel Life not a luxury??!!!

Hostel elections just round the corner and candidates come to our rooms for ground work and campaigning asking us what we want to change in our hostel life.

People say that if you can survive an IIT hostel life, you can survive any place in the world.
So, what do we infer from this phrase? That hostel life in IIT is so bad that enduring that is the worst that can happen to you from a habitat perspective?

Well, for me, staying in an IIT hostel is like staying at a country club as a permanent resident.

True the mess food may not be upto the 'maa ke haath ka khaana' or even 'domino's ke chef ke haath ka khaana', true that the cleaner only comes once a week to clean your room, true you need to do share your bathroom and toilets with other 30 people staying on your floor, and true that bliss is punctured by exams and compulsory attendance.

But the below standards stop there.

Other than that, IIT hostel life is a life of luxury.

1. Freedom and Independence: True that these were the two space ships in the movie Armageddon, these two words capture the mindset of every person living in Room No. XXX at Hostel No. X at IIT. No tension, no responsibilities, no answerability at all. You dont have to get up to help your mother do chores. You can pretty much live the way you want to. The 12ftx10ft abode is yours and yours truly.

2. Electricity and water without bill payments: Uninterrupted supply of electricity. Thanks to the deemed status of 'Temples of higher education' IITs enjoy an uninterrupted supply of water and electricity. Each hostel pays close to INR 1L in electricity bills, (the numbers coming down thanks to Energy GC). You can charge, keep anything you want on for how much ever time. I forget the last time I had switched off my laptop (except for the mandatory restart for updates installations). No one questions you on this.

3. Toilets and Bathrooms: IITians dont bathe for days on end, and hence its very improbably that at any point of the day you find any two of the three cubicles shared by 30 people filled. You never have to stand in line, you get hot water in the tap and even the bathrooms get cleaned twice a day. So even if you have soiled them dont worry, in a maximum of 12 hours someone will come and clean them. The only downside is the pigeons that annoy you especially when your half asleep in the morning.

4. Food Options: Go out at whatever time you want. No curfew. Atleast for IIT Bombay a plethora of food options both inside the campus and outside the campus available. In the mess too you pay hardly Rs.40 for four meals in a day. Your canteen is open from 6pm to 3am serving fresh best selling parathas. Domino's, Pizza Hut, Subway, Laxmi, everything delivers to your hostel and calls out your name when they arrive.

5. Internet option: High speed lan connection with DC++ that can last you for your life's entertainment. Apart from lan ban, its the fastest internet connectivity you can get in India.

6. Hostel Facilities: Gym, Football ground, cricket nets, pool table, foosball lounge, any newspaper, tv room, computer room, frisbee ground, volleyball ground, all sports equipments are available for the use of any hostelite. And this is available in all the hostels along with the other facilities that the institute provides.

7. Getting your work done: You always have juniors who will go fill your bottle, get your clothes from the laundry, get your order from the canteen, move around your furniture, in short 'help' you with anything you want just because you give good 'fundaes'.

8. Keep you socially entertained: Events happening at the hostel and the institute level, all festivals, make you feel at the epicentre of all activity in the universe. You are culturally catered to with not just your culture but with all cultures.

9. People around you: Through this country club you meet people from such diverse geographical backgrounds that, atleast for me, I know I do not need a hotel room in any state of the country.

10. Feedback to improve: Over and above all this semester after semester people come and ask, 'How do we make this better, do you have any ideas?'

Coming to the final one month of my stay at the country club called Hostel 3, I am sure I am going to miss this luxurious life.

From being a self-proclaimed 'ghaati' in the first year and a half to a 'lazy-to-go-home-that-is-half-an-hour-away' person lets hope that I learn to move on.

Cheers!