My Golden Days ...

The hostel life is memorable for everyone. The freedom, the responsibility and need to standup for yourself, makes you better equipped to take on the world. I’ve been lucky to spend my last few years of studies in hostels and that too in the best ones available in India, the BIT Mesra Hostels. The abode to exuberant individuals, all amazing, different from each other. Few of my best friends are my hostel mates.

The hostels in BIT gives you the feel of a glorified prison sometimes. The reason being, its distance from the city and outside world. The seclusion does helps you get along with the other prison mates well. During my stay in BIT, there were no mobile data and mobile internet. Orkut was yet to become a hit and Facebook was yet to be conceptualized. Sports, meals-together, interaction sessions, quizzes, studies, chit-chats kept us involved. Luckily, those days were less virtual. Even computer games needed physical presence of the opponents, barring some, with their networking skills for NFS games

It is said, the relationships established during adversity does not have longevity, despite that, the biggest adversity and misery of our hostel lives, the monotonous meals having monotonous taste, made some great connect. The feel that we are not the only ones to suffer the pain, made us feel connected, feel for others and that strengthen our bonding. To the credit of the BIT hostels, the good food were also served, sometimes, like the breakfasts, Chhole-Bhature, Puri-Sabzi were little soothing to taste buds. Apart from being little tastier, these options also ensured that there was no need to have another pathetic food during rest of the day. I hate eating alone, especially in public places, unless I'm too hungry. BIT hostels ensured, I never had to dine alone.

Some of the memoirs are of friendships. Debu, the unorthodox human, but orthodox Bengali. He was one off those few, with whom I was most comfortable. Memorable Saturday meals in Chhapra Dhabba and Tank war Games. Tanks was his favorite game. He used all his physics and mathematics skills, projectile motion and all, to demolish the opponent in the game. The other memories and the best one were to have meals in Chhapra Dhabba. If you accompany Debu, and because of you, he missed the Saturday's Fish Curry in Chhapra Dhabba, you are in soup. He will crib until next Saturday, and dare not to come in front of him, till his taste buds are satiated.

Nachi is the most weird friend of mine till date. He has his own fantasies, lives in his own world. He was probably the most modern studs in the entire campus. All the modern fashion statements, brands, style, everything was like a Shahrukh Khan-Karan Johar movie. He believed in creating environment for everything. Once he decides to have exam preparations, it was treated like a project. a week or so, he will end up purchasing chart papers, markers, new table lamps, study lamps, new set of sheets and top quality pens and what not. By the time the preparation project was done, the zeal to study was over. Then he will take you to the newly opened Nescafe Shop, where he will like to have snacks, coffee and pastries. But I enjoyed his company for our walks during chilling winters through the spooky fogs covering the jungles of the campus. Weirdo had all the qualities you like to have in your bestie, he was the one, I used to go to, when chips were down.

Sanjeet aka Thakur, was raw. Being from a political family, he was a natural politician. He was a deal maker, a singer and an ardent coder. Birthdays and Tough days, often ended with his singing. I think, his was the longest company, I was in, during my entire stay in hostels. Apart from coding and singing, he was boring. His "Purvanchal" tone, the "aggressive" Ram's poster in his room were something unique to find. In politics, the Gujju Karia was his biggest competition. But sadly, they never were opposite to each other to make it interesting.

Praveen, the undisputed president of the mysterious and widely talked about "Agla Group", was a gentleman. He was the leader of the coveted cabal, yet hardly dangerous. His style of grabbing the bag by it's neck was the only violent act he ever did. The cruel act reminded me of the duck hunt video game, when the hunted duck was carried like that. I felt pity on the ever suffocating future of that bag. Opposite to his behavior towards his bag, Praveen was humble and polite. He was not a politician like Thakur, but will form formidable alliances during exam preparations, irrespective of his friendships and comfort zone. Praveen is a friend forever.

If Nachi was wierd, the adjective for Basuki is yet to be discovered for dictionaries. He was serious threat to Nandy, the alien, in terms of humanly behaviours. Nandy was alien, Basuki was tribal. He had his own room, the haunted one, where he used to visit at the start of the semester, to put his stuffs and at the end of semester, to pick them back. Apart from these two occasions, he never ever went inside it. He spent his entire hostel life like a nomad, like a gypsy. He was the permanent member of all the groups, heading towards Dhabba. Basuki was secular, he never discriminated between a friend, an acquaintance or an unknown. Dhabba trip, he will go with you, invited or uninvited. Apart from toothbrush, nothing was personal for him, not even clothes. He was the real Baba of the batch, thou never earned the title. Basuki was the live wire in hostel, the only thread which connected every scattered group together. Despite being idiotically insane, he is one of the few great friends I earned. 

Nikhil was opposite to Basuki in every aspect. He was a technocrat. He used to plan like Nachi, was a politician like Sanjeet, miser like Karia , a businessman. But was a great friend, who stood by you, can give true advice. He was a serious guy, boring otherwise. 

A bunch of other creatures, who need mention. The horrible laughter king, Luv, whose laugh can put on shame even the demons, the Osho of BIT, Manish, an unique story teller from Koylanchal, the social worker Srivastava, BIT's version of Super 30. Then there was the popular among boys and girls and the solo anchor of events, Parashar, the hygienic and the first ambassador of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Abhishek, the duo always on high Kislay and Singhjee, the cute OP, the Chowkidar of BIT 2K3 Shailesh, the Dharam guru Rastogi, Bahubali Pandey jee.

A lot of memories flashed in. The Sharma Dhabba in the palm of mother nature serving samosas and tea, the sweet and sour memories of end semester nights, the night tea, the exciting trip to Puri,  trip to Rajrappa, the tough placement nights, the 3 AM TT matches, the overnight card games, Pandey's litti party, precision of Debu in tank games or excellent snook of Tiwari in snooker, the chappal kaand, MCA cup, 5 million badminton court, walk during spooky and rainy nights, the haunted rooms. What made these memorable were the company of wierdos, those idiots of my hostels.

It all happened in BIT. Over the time we may forget each other, but it’s the memoirs which will keep us along, it’s the institute that will keep us abide as the Alumni of BIT and that we were the most versatile batch 2K3.

I surmise, I construe those days as my golden days.

"Akhil"