By Toshit Aggarwal, Batch of 2014
Hostel Life:
“Memories unlimited” is what you can proudly say, when you live in NSIT’s hostels. It is a lifechanging experience which evolves your outlook towards life and your goals to a new level. As a person, you become more responsible, independent, and social. You learn to act as a basic doctor, a plumber, an electrician, a cleaner, a washer, and much more! You no longer have to request your mother to wash your clothes, to make snacks and tea or coffee for you, or to chase a lizard away. You would not mind your friends wearing your clothes, finishing off your entire semester’s supply of special home-made ladoos or other delicious ‘Ghar ka Khana’. You have no problem sharing your room with friends, and even trust them to access your room in your absence. In the hostel, you may call up your friends at two in the night for movies, songs, books, a drafter, instant noodles, or anything else; and you would not mind giving back in return as well. In the hostel, everybody is his (or her) own king, and lives like a free bird. There are no time constraints in NSIT’s hostels except the evening entry timings for the 1st year Boys’ Hostel and for all the Girls’ Hostels. You can stay up all night and watch late night movies with your friends. You learn to take decisions completely on your own; no one is there to correct or reprimand you. You learn to become self-dependant. You can listen to loud music when you want to, or watch any movie at any time. In the hostel, nobody is there to stop you from texting, or chatting on Facebook. Even seniors enjoy helping out their juniors at all times, be it day or night. In the hostel, you make an everlasting unbreakable bond with all the other hostellers and at the end, you might not have a trophy or medal to show for it, but you will carry great memories of hostel wing friends, class friends, study group friends, notes-sharing friends, and seniors with you when you leave. At the end of 4 years, you will find it hard to battle your tears while reminiscing the memories and the bonds that you shared with these friends.
On the academic level, the hostel houses many toppers who can possess the art of concentrating in death-defying situations i.e in hostel. You do not have to worry about notes, books, practical files, Engineering Drawing (ED) sheets and Machine Drawing (MD) sheets, or any other study material. You can procure them from any hosteller, at any time, even on the eve of the practical examinations! You get acquainted with the ‘’jugaad” technology called ‘Topo’ for mass producing ED and MD sheets. During exams, you just have to study for the last two or three weeks, depending on your abilities, and you will surely excel in the exams, and may even shine out as a topper. As a rule of thumb, there always exists a friend who is an authority on a particular subject who is there to clear all your doubts.
Considering future prospects, a hosteller always has the added advantage of a huge network to work with, and to take request guidance. Networking always helps, be it in the corporate world, or organizational favours during fests in the college, or in preparing for Graduate school as well as for competitive exams. Interacting with, and managing such a large network helps develop your communication skills. You become an extrovert, and learn to mix with different kinds of people. You come across people having different goals, backgrounds, and stories, which help you a lot in attaining knowledge from the sheer diversity of experiences.
Killing time is never as easy as it is in the hostel. Group discussions, known more popularly as Thass sessions could commence anywhere, at any time, on just about any issue possible, and the next moment you find everyone actively pitching in with their own ideologies and views about life. You will surely learn and perhaps, even invent new tricks, if you want to study – studying under a table lamp, covering the window pane with black paper, getting yourself locked in your own room from the outside to pretend that you are not inside, hiding your books under the mattress when your friends arrive suddenly, and many more. In the hostel, you become resourceful, ending up making room coolers and water coolers substitute refrigerators.
It’s not the end, hostels indeed have another face with questionable toilets, water shortage, salinated water, no Wi-Fi, and most importantly –unsavoury food. It makes your gastronomical organ crave for authentic ‘Maa Ka Khana’. However, you will gradually adjust to it and it would eventually prepare you for worse food that you might face in the future. Suddenly you discover your love for green vegetables and crave for non– vegetarian food items. You will certainly forget what cleanliness is. You may come across fellow hostellers who have not taken a bath for weeks or those who wear the same clothes every day. But, a hostel is the only place where you wake up at 9:20 A.M. and reach your class at 9:30 A.M.
‘It’s a home away from home’. Ultimately, you will cherish every moment spent in this heaven and feel nostalgic about it after your college days. You will be groomed to become a person with a strong sense of independence and self-reliance.
Day Scholar:
These words of resentment and jealousy are easy to be heard in the corridors of NSIT’s Hostels, and are well justified seeing the charming life of a dayscholar. Spending an eventful day at the college and a pacific night at home, this student community is not only able to develop a healthy body clock, but also has come out with phenomenal achievements in the past.
Day-scholars, or “dayskis” as we call them, are an integral part of NSIT’s culture. The question, “Are you a day-scholar or a hosteller?” sounds hackneyed in the campus in the first month of every odd semester. In fact, NSIT along with DTU has arguably one of the biggest crowd of day-scholars amongst the top technical colleges in India.
Dwarka Mor Metro Station, bickering rickshaw-wallas, and the deserted North Gate, these odd connected terms actually form the featured points in the virtuous cycle of a lot of students in the college which has displayed terrific cutoffs year after year, especially in the Delhi region.
Though a few elements of the sluggish hostel junta may be spotted saying that nothing can compare to their “interesting” daily routines, even they would not dare to overlook the fun dayskis have in the college. The pleasures of spending hours in the college canteens, sitting idle and daydreaming near the central fountain or just a random walk to discover the hidden areas of the campus; these joys remain unparalleled compared to the somewhat mundane act of taking a short nap in the hostel.
Why should you choose to stay at home?
1. Family, Friends and Food – If you can’t afford to miss any one of them for a week, you have an ideal dayski element in you.
2. Putting it simply, if you want to keep your nerves and veins dynamic and wish to recreate yourself via travelling, time to give it a try.
3. If you are just too homesick or lazy enough to register for the hostel!
4. NSIT offers a multitude of opportunities, and being at home one gets a rejuvenating atmosphere to pursue them.
Nothing can compare to your four years of stay at NSIT and, the experience gained in this time-frame could be relished either being a day-scholar or a hosteller. But give a second push to your thoughts if you stand a chance to commute from home, because the incredible opportunity to be a dayski welcomes you with full vigor!