Ghar me mana ke meri izzat nahi thi, lekin hostels me to mujhay insaan hi nahi samajhtay. Ghar se nikal ker, broiler murgiyo ke darbay me daal diya, and that is primarily why I ask ‘mujhay kiyu nikala’?
My mother says it’s because of getting a better higher education and I think that’s a good enough reason but living in an institution’s hostels is no easy feat. It started with me getting into a good university. Initially I rejoiced, until the dread set in. I suddenly realise how the institution is in the other city, and that means moving into the (gasp) hostels!!
My mother started preparing the stuff she wanted to send with me. Sara ghar ka samaan ikatha krkay jahaiz me de deti hain jesay aglay shehar nahi balkay mureegh per jana ho. She knew the city I was to go to is just 4 hours away, and she also knows she takes a lot more time than this in shopping trips. But I am her first child and she was just as nervous as I. Pehlay din to esa lagta he jesay koi yateem khanay chor aya he, suddenly I was in enemy territory. I was expected to do my own laundry, washing my own utensils aur garam paani sonay se zyada nayaab lagta he! My roommates are like the zits on my forehead: I despise them but I have to learn to live with them. They seem to need to be awake whenever I felt like sleeping and sleep whenever i felt like working. Aur hostel ka khana to masha Allah. Lagta he saray hotels ka kharab bacha hua khana idhar rakhtay hain. It literally is inedible. Someone should call the Punjab Food Authority on them. The wardens here feel like the guardians of the gates to hell. Jahanum ke gate ke farishto se guzarain to asli jahanum ka manzar samnay ata he. The rules are suffocating; the rooms unclean and the bathrooms are unusable. The biggest crime is that they take away your identity, reducing it down to just the random digits that are your roll number.
Pehlay mahinay to khub ammi abbu ne callain ki, now I think they’ve forgotten that they had a daughter. Chalo koi nahi, one semester down, only 7 more to go.
