boarding now...

hostel |ˈhästl|

noun

an establishment that provides cheap food and lodging for a specific group of people, such as students, workers, or travelers.

Now, when I look back at my time spent in my hostel, the food and lodging sure as hell wasn’t cheap. But sure as hell wasn’t value for money either.

Well, my grudge was mostly against food, so that’s what I’ll reminisce about. There are a few things that one becomes aware of at a very tender age, that gut feeling (literally), that seem to chalk out the path you take eventually. Mine was that I was a hardcore non-vegetarian and no religion/religious holiday could ever form a boundary between what I ate or didn’t. It was and shall remain my first true love. I think my parents had an inkling of what was happening, and apart from the obvious behavior modifications they thought would come along, the hauled my ass to boarding school/hostel. A vegetarian one.

From day one, all I looked for was an ally, a comrade , a friend (dare I say side-kick, for the fear of getting one…..hell, im the writer!), a SIDE-KICK! So me and my turbaned friend, would wait, fantasize about burgers (yes, McDonalds had just opened in New-Bombay) and butter chicken , during our ‘Study time’. No, we were too young and stupid for porn (yes, its possible).

Then would come the monthly ‘Parent’s Visit’!! where we would salivate at the idea of the awesome NON-VEGETARIAN food that was going to come. Even during our later years, we continued salivating, but the attention was directed more at the opposite sex (boy’s hostel…..yippie). Just recalling the effort put in to sneak in eatables into the hostel makes me exhausted. We could put cocaine smugglers to shame. Stuffing them in our pants, sometimes underwear, our mouths, bribing wardboys, watchmen, throwing bags over fences….come to think of it, it WAS pretty good training !

And the checking of the dorms! It once rained chocolates because some mastermind thought it was a good idea to store it above a ceiling fan. The septic tanks weren’t spared! We reached heights of athleticism, pushing our bodies beyond their limit to save and store these ‘eatables’ from the evil clutches of the AXIS OF EVIL (DIXIT-SHIVASHANKAR-MATHEW!). That’s probably why I peaked so early, but that’s for another day.