4. Enter the Hostel

Not making it to IIT was sad and my bypass for this life was Punjab Engineering College, where a beautiful experience happened to my life.
I remember the first day. It was a pleasant Sunday evening and I had just checked into the hostel on a rickshaw like a king. I mean it was loaded with my luggage and I was sitting right on top of it elevated like a king.
“What kind of a room would you like?” asked the hostel attendant.
“A good one” I said and smiled.
He looked back at me not much amused.
“What is your branch?”
“Metallurgy” I said.
He gave me a dirty look that said like ‘so you are not that intelligent’.
“So I will give you a room near your fellowmen”
“Thank you sir” I said and guessed that by fellowmen he meant ‘not so intelligent ones’.
On the first floor of C Block the attendant unlocked the second room, the bar above the door read 222.I opened the door and what a mess it was. It seemed the last occupant had played kabaddi there before leaving, newspapers littered all over, chips wrappers, beer bottles lined the entire shelf of the room, some dirty pieces of cloth, soap cases, old jogging shoes and a nearly brand new broom; I thanked him for that. After cleaning the mess I put my luggage in and sat down on the bed, it was already dark by now, and I didn’t feel like unpacking, you actually don’t feel like doing it. I felt sad and let me tell you that this is one of the most depressing moments when you go to live in a hostel, the first evening. I thought I’ll just go out in fresh air. I locked my room and left. Someone told me about where the common room was and I decided to check it out and hoped to find some others like me ‘not so intelligent ones’.