When I was studying for my double Masters, I spent a good 5 years in the University Hostel. Those 5 years were a gamechanger and played a huge part in shaping my future life. On the one hand I had my share of fun sneaking out to see late night movies, getting caught by the rector while scaling the wall on my way back, being threatened that a letter will be sent to my dad about my misdeeds, me calling my dad, breaking down and promising him that I will never do such a thing again only to discover later that no such letter was ever sent to him. Or staying back in the department overnight with colleagues in a bid to prepare for a presentation the next day, getting tired & bored in the middle of it and resorting to playing cards, not realizing that we were playing till late in the morning, getting caught by the professor and getting an earful about how irresponsible we were.

On the other hand, hostel life taught me a lot of lessons through the different characters and personalities that I came across during those days. I remember one night when I was washing my stainless-steel tiffin box, one box got caught in the other and just wouldn’t come free. In a desperate attempt to take it out, I ended up creating a huge racket hitting & banging the “dabbas” and waking up half the hostel who gathered around to see what was happening. Most of the senior girls did not leave a stone unturned to use the choicest cuss words at having thus woken them up or disturbed them in the middle of their studies or whatever they were up to. One particular girl though, who was probably the seniormost and the scariest of them all, sat next to me and after a bout of expressing her utmost displeasure, snatched the tiffin box from me and passed on one very important lesson. She said that not everything in life can be solved by force. “Sometimes, you need to take a step back, relax, think, and apply logic. When you do that, your problems are solved smoothly, quietly, quickly and without creating a commotion like you did”. And while saying this, she handed the 2 boxes to me which she had separated while talking to me with slow and steady movements which almost looked graceful compared to my dreadful ruckus.

I learnt my second big lesson when one day I was struggling to open a tap in the bathroom and it just wouldn’t budge. Determined to open it by hook or by crook, I gathered a group of equally determined girls who came armed with huge stones and other thingamajigs. When everything failed, we decided to call the hostel plumber. One look at the tap and pat came his answer – “Ma’am, the tap is open but there is no water supply”. We, who were pursuing our Masters and Doctorates in all imaginable fields of study on the face of this earth, were shown our true places that day by this most humble person who taught us that no matter how well learned you are, your education cannot replace common sense and practical knowledge garnered through experience.

I learnt my third big lesson when I used to work as a part time lecturer while doing my research in the same University. I used to start my day at 4.00 AM, prepare for my lectures (3 per day for an hour each) in a college that was about 15 to 20 kilometres away from the University. I had to change 2 buses to reach the college at 9.00 AM sharp, complete my lectures by 12.00 noon, get back to the University by 2.00 PM, have my lunch, work on my research till 11.00 PM, have my dinner, get back to the hostel and sleep at 12.00 midnight. In the midst of this hectic 5 days a week schedule, our department organized an event for all the colleges affiliated with the University to update their teaching staff with the latest happenings in the field of Microbiology with all us research students given the responsibility of logistics and practical demonstrations. I in particular, among other things, was given the responsibility of writing down the day’s schedule on a blackboard at the start of every day – I used to do it at 7.00 AM before leaving for the college. In the middle of the weeklong event though, fatigue caught up with me and when I woke up one day, it was 8.00 AM – not only was I going to miss my lectures, I also realized with a shock that I had missed updating the schedule on the blackboard. I staggered out of bed and made a beeline for the department. While I was half way there however, I saw the professor in charge bounding towards me and stopped me to give me some of the most valuable feedback of my life. With my head spinning, the sun shining in my eyes till they hurt, and the shock of a messed-up day for which I was answerable to a number of people, I couldn’t understand what he was saying in the beginning. But then it all started to make sense. First of all – to make me feel bad – he told me not to bother rushing since he had already updated the schedule. Then he told me that the world will not recognize or even acknowledge if you are doing everything right – even going out of your way to ensure that things are done right, even fighting against all odds to ensure that things are done right. “But the moment you drop the ball, they will let you know that you dropped the ball, they will rub it in, they will give you feedback just like I am giving you now, and you will have to take it, learn, move on, and ensure that you do not repeat your mistake again. Now please go and update the schedule, I haven’t done it!”

Still determined to carry on my hectic lifestyle, I overslept one other day and was woken up by a pretty little angel late in the morning. I thought I had died and gone to heaven but as I slowly gained consciousness, I realized that it was my little sister who had come along with my dad to pick me up for my cousin’s wedding and I had forgotten all about it. I eventually left the job after my dad agreed to increase my pocket money but all the sweat, toil, discipline and hard work of those days stayed with me for a long time after and I know that if I had to go through it today, I would not find it difficult at all.

Those five years were probably the best ones of my life. I made many friends (and a few enemies). We were each other’s family members, shoulders to cry on, punching bags, psychiatrists, mentors, first aid administrators, disciplinarians, motivators, ghost-story tellers, entertainers, love gurus, letter distributors, telephone message takers, among other things. I don’t think I could have studied for my degrees if I did not have this crazy bunch pushing me all the time – I learnt more from them rather than our esteemed professors. I used to study only for 15 days before the exam – that’s a month of study considering 2 exams per year but those 15 days used to be fun – all the night outs and endless cups of tea.

All the other days were filled to the brim with crazy stuff – sleeping on the terrace in summertime and getting battered by rain in the middle of the night, spending hours in the college canteen trying to figure out who is going out with whom, going to the library only for finding the most comfortable corner to sleep, whiling away the entire day but diligently studying in candlelight during power cuts at night, trying to focus on studying with music blaring away somewhere – giving up and dancing to it instead, I just want to go on and on.

“I never wanted to go away, and the hard part now is the leaving you all. I’m not afraid, but it seems as if I should be homesick for you even in heaven.”
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

@Rajini Menon, @Taru Deva, @Jayashree Pramod, @Vishakha Kapoor, @Manisha Gawande

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