Ho(s)tel California!

Don’t be misled by the title! This is not the story of a Californian experience, nor is it a sequel to the famous song by Eagles…
This is about the place where I live, my hostel. The infamous OCSC Hostel at Palayam, Trivandrum. In fact, every time I hear this song (Hotel California), I’m reminded of my hostel. The song even tends to speak a lot about OCSC.

After I got admission at GECB, Trivandrum, the next thing in hand was to get a place to stay. Great is our college that besides being a Government College, and established 8 years ago, it still doesn’t have a hostel. In fact the college doesn’t even have enough classrooms, let alone the possibility of a hostel! To every senior that me and my dad inquired about the availability of a near by hostel, their suggestion was the OCSC Hostel. I wondered what the reason behind this hype could be. One reason a few said was ‘cuz it was most near to the college’- it is only a 10minute walk. There were a lot of other reasons. The hostel is well disciplined as it is run by the MGOCSM- ‘I still don’t know what the heck that stands for! All I know is, the hostel is run by the Orthodox Christian Community’. And besides all these, it is a Ragging free zone!

The OCSC Hostel(the blue 5 storey bulding)

My dad and I walked to the so called OCSC hostel. Fortunately, we were accompanied by an inmate of the hostel, so we didn’t have any trouble spotting the hostel. As we walked up the road beside the AKG Centre, I could see a five-storey building looming ahead. The view of the hostel was large and I felt proud thinking that I’ll be spending the next four years in this hostel. But little did I know about what awaited me inside. I walked through the portal to the hostel and followed the sign leading to the Hostel’s office. There was an eerie silence all around, as though haunted by an evil spirit. A few feet from the gate, there was a small passageway to the right. I could see a small door at its end. I wondered what hid behind it. I looked up and to my surprise saw a bell hanging seven feet in the air just next to the door with a string swaying in the silent afternoon breeze. I walked ahead and reached the office. I looked inside hesitantly to see a man in his fifties clad in a cream shirt and a dhoti scribbling something intently. On our arrival, he raised his head a bit and looked at us peeping over his glasses which were resting low on his nose. We entered into the office. There was an array of questions that he threw on us, from my native place to my school, family, interests, hobbies, academics (to which he seemed to give a lot of stress!) and everything else. It was like attending an interview to get into a prestigious company. He told us about the hostel, rules, restrictions and fees. I half-heartedly agreed I’d comply by the rules of the hostel and he handed me the application form and asked me to fill it up. I was filling the application form when I felt somebody behind me at the office door. I turned around curiously in the hope to see somebody -like me- coming for admission. Against my anticipation, I saw a huge man dressed in an all white dress. He was over six feet tall and stoutly built. Fair and bearded, his whole body was covered in white except for his face and arms. From the first look I could figure out this could be none other than the warden himself. His large figure contradicted his silent entry into the room. His looks were frightening but still appealing. He took his cell phone and a bunch of keys and left the room without a word. We finished the other formalities for the admission, paid the advance amount and left. On my way back home, my mind was filled with the memories of the hostel and fear of the unknown. Even though tired of a hectic day, I could not take forty winks in the bus.

Two days later I returned to Thiruvananthapuram with my belongings to start my new life. We toured the city in the day and reached the hostel by around 6:30 in the evening. I took my mattress and my bags from the car and bid farewell to my family. It was a long way back to the hostel from the gate. It was already getting dark and I could see a few inmates scurrying out of the hostel. All this activity coupled with the dark atmosphere surrounding the hostel made me feel numb. I was allotted room no: 35 on the second floor. I walked in and followed the long dimly lit corridor in the ground floor leading to the stairway. The handrails were shaky and the stairs dusty. I walked past the reading lobby in the first floor which had an empty notice board on its wall. I climbed up the stairs and finally reached my floor. It was a long dark corridor with rooms on either side. All of them were painted yellow with the room numbers etched in white in a black circular background. My room was almost in the middle of the corridor on the right side. I opened the room with the key the hostel caretaker had given me and entered inside. I was flabbergasted at what I saw inside. The room appeared a concrete cubicle with two not so wide beds and two tables. Mine was a double room which meant I had to share the room with one more guy. There was no space in the room except for the narrow gap between the two beds and I wondered how I would be able to adjust with another guy in this rat hole!

My roommate arrived in a few minutes and as soon as he arrived, he took his bucket and rushed to the bathroom. I unpacked my mattress and was settling down when I heard a loud bell ringing. At first I thought it was the church bell in the nearby church. It was only when my roommate told me that I realized it was the ‘Hostel Bell’. He told me the reason he rushed to the bathroom- ‘everyone has to take their bath before 7pm, that’s when the bell rings indicating the commencing of the so called ‘study time’. It is weird to have a prescribed study time when you are no more school going students. I was reminded of the ‘mission bell’ described in the song by Eagles! After an hour, I heard the same bell ring once again- it was “prayer time”. Fear of getting ragged by seniors I joined a silent group of guys which I figured was the freshers in the hostel. We walked down, past the office and turned left to the dark passage way. The door to its end was open now and I could see inmates sitting down on the red coir mat in the hall. It was the hostel’s chapel. The evening prayer took 15 minutes to end and all of us walked to the mess hall for dinner. The bell rang once again indicating dinner time. It was needed to inform those non-Christian students to down for dinner. At 9, the bell rang indicative of the second session of study time. The hostel has a prescribed “mandatory study time” in the night. It is in two sessions- one from 7pm-8pm and the other from 9pm-10pm. During this time no inmate is expected to see outside their allotted rooms. Even though it is also forsaken to stay away from the allotted room after 10pm, it is a bailable offence!!! The Hostel Bell also rings at 7 in the morning- not as a wakeup alarm- but to beckon the believers for the Morning Prayer. This is compulsory too- for Christians. But since we being nocturnal, don’t even get out of bed unless it is 7:30.

The time for food is when the so called devils (inmates!) of the hostel ‘gather for the feast’. Well, we don’t have steely knives to savor our food, but instead we have to get it down our esophagus with our bare hand – which in itself is a tough job! OCSC is the best place to shed some fat. I personally have lost five kilos in the first week of my stay! The only thing that is eatable is ghee roast, which is served on Monday mornings. And the worst? Idlis – in order to keep the idlis soft, they don’t even cook it fully! What a tactic! After the sumptuous banquet :D, the devils return to their cells. Yeah, cells here refer to the rooms of the inmates. As I mentioned earlier, they are four walled concrete cubicles, which give a perfect Hell in a cell experience to the ones inside. And as always, hell is inhabited by devils, and we devils are a great community never observed in any other hostel.

The hell would be incomplete without the Leader – Lucifer! None other than the warden himself! He’s the one who reins supreme, the one who controls the three floors of Hell under his watchful eyes. Clad in an all white outfit, with a hood laid back behind his neck (I don’t know what purpose it serves!), the huge six foot figure prowls outside the cells of the hostel at night – in search of prey, literally. He’s on the lookout for some mischievous souls which roam around in the hostel after 10pm. He lurks around with his hands crossed behind his back (The Sethuramayyar CBI style!) and appears out of nowhere. Its only when the busted soul turns back that he realizes he is face to face with Lucifer. That’s when ‘he’ crosses his fingers!!! Once busted, they are given two more lives. The devils are given three excuses, and if busted a fourth time, the convict is penalized (fined). After that its sudden death – he can either be booked again (with fine) or exiled out of Hell (thrown out of the hostel, literally!). With the frequency of captures on the rise, each floor was assigned a watcher-cum-informer, who’d find out if Lucifer is on the prowl and pass on the message to representatives of the other floors. There has been a substantial decline in the number of captures since then!

A word on OCSC:

“You can’t check out any time you like (there are strict timings)
But you can always (at anytime) leave…!!!”

The legendary hostel is known for its three ‘-ells’. Bell, Cell and Hell!!


Epilogue
Nonetheless, the hostel in itself is a good one. And it is not a real Hell as it used to be a couple of years before. And the present warden – he’s the least strict in OCSC’s 32 year history. He’s one who understands the cry of the devils – probably because he is way younger than all his predecessors. And even though I hated my hostel in the first few months, getting busted thrice in a week, I soon got used to both getting busted and evading capture! But now, sometimes, I miss the place and the inhabitants more than my home.

PART III: The (not so Grand) Finale...

Continued from the previous post

Nirmalamatha Central School, Thrissur

Finding an old friend has always been very elating but not in this case. She was my high school classmate, a very close acquaintance. Her name, Manchu. I’ve known her since I was in my 7th grade. That was when I joined that school. We have not talked to each other since our 10th grade, for reasons I’ll explain later on. Finding her scrap in my Orkut profile was most unexpected. It was the usual ‘how are you, how’s life’ inquiry that anyone would first ask. And I replied in the almost formal way, answer to the point! Soon, it turned out that we were chatting almost on every weekend. I could not believe what I was into. The girl, with whom I hated talking, is my newest buddy! May be it was because I was lost and alone, and passing through, as I mentioned, my dull days. She turned out to be my good companion. In fact, she was the only one with whom I had good contact with among my old school mates. And I’m still figuring out how I got into this good contact! Cuz I once despised of her beyond limits and now, I found no reason to hate her.

In a few days we both had each others cell phone numbers and our communication became part of our daily routine. I still hated going to college but her company gave me a reason to be happy. Both of us had Airtel cellular connection and as everybody knows it was a time when Airtel gave its customers the best tariff plans. With cheap call charges and even cheaper SMS rates, calls lasted for hours in a stretch and messages were filling our inboxes!!! Moreover, she and I being hostellers favored our liberty. It was almost a secret affair between the two of us. No one at my hostel knew about our alliance in the beginning but soon my roommate, Jacob, seemed to sniff something odd. He was skeptical about my 24-7 mobile usage and incessant messaging. At times, he would ask me to whom I’m messaging so intently and I would say it was my college classmates. But one fine day, I made a mistake that drastically changed the way things were going on. I left my cell on the bed and went to take shower. Curious as he is(and my other friends who were in my room!), he took up my cell and to my misfortune, there was a new message in the inbox, and a pretty intimate one too! When I returned after my bath, there was a group of guys in my room. Finally the cat was out of the bag! It however did not stop me from communicating with her. I utilized every opportunity that I got to ring her up or message her.

In no time, our affair took an emotional twist, an even more intimate one. We talked about everything. We got to know each other better, our problems, aspirations and desires. I found myself at a point where I could not pass a day without talking to her.

I remember how we used to back in school days. I never wanted to talk to her. Even seeing her face would make me upset the whole day. I first met her in my 7th grade. I had not much talked to her that year, cuz I was new to the school. But towards the end of 8th grade, we were best friends. We would sit next to each other, share our lunch, we did everything together. But it did not last for much long. My attitude towards her changed. She would make blank calls (ring up and keep mum when somebody attends the call, and stay silent until the receiver hangs up the phone) repeatedly to my home phone. Its so irritating (to someone who had really experienced it!). She’d start her play as soon as she reaches home after school. I guess that’s when her parents go for the evening mass. One evening, she called the usual way and I attended the call. To my misfortune, my elder brother was on the extension line and he kind of overheard our conversation. He got the name of the girl, and well, that evening I had a question hour in the family room. Even my grandma joined in the conference and… aargh…you know how it feels to be advised by an elderly (or in this case, an olderly!!). Tired of her play, I approached her a couple of times and asked her to stop fooling around, but she’d never stop. I was looked upon by my family through eyes of suspicion in everything I did, especially if it had anything at all to do with the opposite sex. Apparently I had no choice but be rude to her and I did what anybody else would do for that matter- break the relation, be silent. The pretty good friendship that we had was no more. The next year, the students were shuffled and we both ended up in two different classes. I was relieved by it, literally.

Two years passed by without any involvement of either of us in the other’s affairs. After our 10th grade, unfortunately, or fortunately (for her), both of us took up the engineering stream and once again, we ended up in the same class (its true, history repeats itself, you like it or not!). This is the time when new gals and guys hit the town. The state’s best Entrance Coaching Centre (PC Thomas’ Institute, Thrissur. I think it still is the best!!) being at close proximity to our school attracted students from different cities of Kerala. First day in the 11th grade was one hell of a day! Man, I must mention- city girls are different!! Newbies arrived and my eyes fell on a girl from Cochin. Her name, lets say Ms. S. She was cute, dazzling and attractive- a city girl indeed! I got to know more about her and soon we were good friends. This apparently did not impress Manchu. She made friends with S and would try to intercept every conversation we had (maybe, in a way to get back to me- you know, reconcile). Soon both of them were seen together almost all the time and I had no chance to talk with S in person. My friendship with S did not end there but Manchu’s presence made me uncomfortable. I did not talk to her or S very much after that, in fact I did not feel like.

Days and months passed by and unexpectedly I found Manchu online, as I said on Orkut. We talked about our past and she apologized for what she’d done back in school days. But now, I could not consider it all anything more than fun. I look back and feel “why did I even make a big deal out of it?”. She was still trying to get back to me. But the only difference this time was that, there was no ‘resistance’ – from my part. Was I falling in love? Well, frankly I didn’t know. But all I knew was that I no longer hated her. My day would be made if she just rang me up. It was like everything was flipping around and running in the wrong direction, but I loved the change. We continued our companionship for a couple of months and in the August of that year-2007; we decided to limit our correspondence- for the good of both of us (yeah… you guessed that right too..!).

But as always, its not easy to break up a relation in just a jiffy. It takes time. And it did. Both of us rang up each other a couple of times after that. The relation soon came to an end in a few months.

And today afternoon, after months of communication with her, I got a message from her cell number and I thought there could be no other finer day to end this post…This is what she wrote:

"Anup, I think I need to stop all correspondence with you as we can never remain friends. And that’s why I started avoiding you recently… Just wanted to let you know…"

PART II: The Dull Days

Continued from the previous post

The classes soon commenced, made new friends. Days were just dragging by. Boring classes, teachers reaching on time, strictly taking attendance, it all made me feel like I’m back at my ‘school of restrictions’ (I studied in a Christian Convent School)! And as usual, the classes got more and more boring every passing day. We had to find new methods to stay awake in class, let alone be attentive! A few of them came up with Bingo and Housie but a breakthrough was made by my dear friend Hari Shanker- the pioneer in exploiting the use of a USB MP3 player in classroom! It was best implemented in the Electronics and Communication classes in which the teacher barely left the podium to interact with the students. In no time college life was getting to be in its true sense. Bunking classes, making proxy attendance hoaxes and mobile gaming became the usual phenomena in class.

But all this while, something was missing. A girl. I’ve always had this starting trouble in talking to anyone-particularly girls. And the same reason made me stick to the boys’ side of the class. Shameful as it is, I seldom left my bench to interact with the opposite sex. I wondered what they would feel if I ever talked to them, how their response would be. The 1st semester was coming to an end and I had not talked to more than eighty percent of the class, while a few were in their pursuit to ‘happiness’…(yes you thought it right)!!! In my case there was just this formal talk with girls, we talked about weather…
Me: ”Hey do you think it’ll rain today?”
She: ”I hope it doesn’t, I haven’t taken my umbrella”.

and studies…AArgh…
Me: “Did the assignment?”
She: ”Yeah kinda, just half way through”.

I started hating myself. Why do I even start such stupid conversations?, I used to ask myself. But it never helped. I remained the same old shy guy when it came to talking with girls. As it is said, Birds of a feather flock together, all the guys on my bench were similar to me. But there was a slight difference - while I had the urge to talk, they seemed to lack even that. It was as though they did not care. I somehow had to device a way to fill the emptiness in me. Besides all these, the thing that haunted me most was that I had not talked to my angel. I had just a few good friends among girls and I once had to pay a price for being friends with one of them. A senior caught me accompanying her back to the college bus after an afternoon Graphics drawing class. He summoned the both of us. On knowing that she was to catch the college bus, he let her go. It was the first time I was caught by a senior and I did not know what to do. I tried to keep calm and kept smiling as I approached him. I expected a cool reaction from him seeing my seemingly innocent expression! But I was very wrong. He broke the momentary silence with a roar…

He : “Enthada ithrem santhosham ninakk? Entha ninte bharya petto?”
(“You seem very glad, has your wife delivered?”)
Me: (keeping mum)
He : “Ni pennungalude koode mathre nadakkuo?”
(“Is it that you only walk with girls?”)
Me: “Illa chetta, angane onnum illa”.
(“No, nothing like that brother”)
He : “Ni mixed schoolil ano padiche?”
(“Did you do your schooling in co-ed school?”)
Me: “Athe chetta”.
(“Yes”)
He : “Veruthe alla payyanu ithrem moda”.
(“No wonder he behaves so audaciously”)
Me: (standing still, no comments for this one!)
He : “Ni oru karyam cheyyu, ninte classile ella penpillerudem perum veedum ezuthikkond nale

enne lunch breakinu vannu kanu”
(“Do me a favor, bring the details of all the girls in your class by tomorrow afternoon”)
Me: “Ayyo chetta…”
(“But…”(hesitantly))
He : “Paranja pole cheytha mathi, manassilayoda?”
(“Do as I say”)
Me: “Hmm…chetta chettante peru?”
(“Brother, what’s your name?”)
He : “PPa m@!** ninakk seniorinte peru ariyanoda?”
(“A$$***e, how dare you ask the name of your senior?”)
Me: (keeping mum)
He : “Aa po po, pinne adikam angu pennungalodu olippikkalle…”
(“Eff off, and don’t ever let me see you flirting with your girls again…”)

That was my first ever treat that my seniors gave me! I had not dared to even pass by the senior block since that incident. I had to lurk around in the college to evade from this senior. How am I supposed to ask the details of the girls in my class when I haven’t even talked to most of them? Days passed by and my senior almost forgot about the assignment he’d asked me to do.

Soon seniors got friendlier with us and the fear of them was gradually receding. Despite all the fun with boys, there still was this something missing. It even reflected in my self. The glow in my face – as my parents said- was no more there. I guessed them to suspect if their son had started drinking. So I started to fake. I always faked a smile on my face that got everyone believe that I was very happy indeed. But deep within, I was the same guy who’s bored of college life, whose dreams of a rocking college life was shattered the very first day he entered the college. Well, the only thing I liked about my new life was my hostel. Staying away from home gave me a lot of freedom which I’d always dreamed of. The camaraderie at the hostel was great. Indeed it was a new home for the lonely me. Often I felt to stay at the hostel and not attend college. College was that boring.

In no time, the mid-sem exams were underway and I couldn’t concentrate on nothing more than my text books. Night-outs, combined study, record work, last minute preparations… There was a chaos in the hostel; I would rather say an ordered chaos! The study lobby at the hostel is the place where we are supposed to study in groups. But everything except studies was prevalent there! A few of us would gather there in the hope to study over-night and we end up cracking jokes and imitating the hostel warden. It’s true we stay awake all night, but with the same page of the text book open till dawn!

The exams got over and so did the Christmas vacation. And once again I was back at college in my old state of an apparent depression. It was a period when I was hooked to several social networking websites and I came in contact with many friends and incidentally I stumbled upon one of my old classmates, who happened to be, well… to be precise my ex-girlfriend…

(To be continued...)

PART I: Rendezvous of a Different Kind…

The four months gap after the engineering entrance exams made me sick of holidays. I no longer wanted to stay home, confined to the four walls. But the hope of getting admission into a Government Engineering college was far from distant. With each exam result being published, I was further going down the drain. First it was the IIT-JEE result (in which I got disqualified, which means I did not have the minimum cutoff mark), then came the AIEEE in which I secured a appalling 3000+ state rank (while most of my peers got in to reputed RECs with respectable ranks) and then it was the CUSAT result in which I had no chance of getting even a Management Quota Seat. By the time the CUSAT result was out, my home was no more a home, in its true sense. Dad had lost all his hope of getting his son into a national college, and besides, the chance of getting even a merit seat in a Government College was fading. An abominable lull crept in and home soon turned out to be a graveyard. Everyone barely spoke. My doubtful future was looming above. The so called “best friends” never bothered to ring me up. The ones who called twice or thrice daily no more called. And being away from home town made me confined to home almost 24-7.

Finally the Kerala State Entrance Examination result was published and I was in the 3000+ position. The online counseling began and I got admitted to the excessively hyped Govt. Engineering College, Trivandrum. Elated to know that I had got into a Government College, far from home, it made me happy beyond limits. No uniforms meant no restrictions. My picture of college life was exhilarating. I had pictured my college to be a huge one spread across acres of land, with a dozen playgrounds, vast open areas and greenery. I had no idea of what was awaiting me at Trivandrum.

The college was situated within a kilometer in the city and to my surprise, even the auto rickshaw driver had no idea where the college was located! All my dreams were shattered the moment I reached the college gate! Instead of seeing a huge gate, what I saw was something similar to the entrance to a stable! The college was a set of discrete old limestone buildings with tiled roofs. I was reminded of my village L.P school. Even that seemed to be much better than my college.

The counseling started and the first thing I had in mind was to somehow get a re-allotment to some other college. But I had no choice but to cling on to what I got and be satisfied with that. The next thing that sprouted in my mind was to see if there were any good looking girls in my stream. That way, may be I could make up for my ill maintained college. I thought however the college maybe, college life would be cool with nice girls around! As I filled up the form and was about to enter the counseling class, a pretty girl was coming out after her admission. I could not believe my eyes. She was an angel in disguise. Dressed in a white salwar, her smile was enchanting. I entered into the class and to my surprise, there were so many of them!! But none of them compared to the angel I’d met at the door… I no more wanted to shift colleges. In fact I wanted the classes to commence as soon as possible…

(To be continued...)