Now, very very few things jolt this dreamer out of his dreams, so such incidents are definitely worth mentioning here.
The IIT Roorkee Campus can be divided in two main parts: The Administrative building circle and The Village. Most of the departments and hostels have been built around the Administrative building (Main building from hereon). Then there exist three hostels that are situated far downhill, Rajendra Bhawan (1st year hostel), the Ganga and the Cautley Bhawan. These are painfully away from the central location as one has to take a treachourous journey up a "steep" inclined road.
The only departments close to these hostels are the Metallurgical and Material Engg and the Chemical Engg Dept. So the general view is that students of these branches are given the "village" hostels after 1st year.
No one wants to be in the village. The very nickname signifies people's attitudes towards it. Infact people sympathise with the Meta guys for getting "The Village", far from the hustle bustle of central IIT Roorkee.
The next bhawan i will mention is the Jawahar Bhawan. Its like any of the non-village hostel. Just one teeny weeny difference. Its opposite to the only girls' hostel for girls in 2nd year or ahead.
So mechanical and archi guys (who genearally expect to get this bhawan) have a hayday sympathising with their "village" brothers.
Here is a representative dialogue between the "city mouse" (cm), the "village mouse" (vm) and the "Jawahar mouse" (jm):
Note: these mice are still in Rajendra Bhawan, but are expecting their foretold hostels.
(I guess most of us remember them as the prime characters of some Aesop's fables story...)
cm : Dude, you must be really thinking of getting a branch change. Otherwise you will be stuck here in the village for the rest of your course!! 3 to 4 years!!! Man!!!
vm : (tired of having this dialogue with n no of people) Yeah, you are right. But whatever yaar, now with two new hostels coming up in this area, its more like a Gurgaon or Dubai you know.
cm : Yeah dude, totally! (to jm, standing with them) Man is so adaptive, na? See how our bro here has started to think positively about living in the village!!!
jm : Ha! Right! By the way dude, you appear to me the same!! I am going to the Jawahar bhawan my dear, not just any other bhawan. Right in front of the "Sarojini Bhawan"!!! Oh yeah! Whats your bhawan in its comparison? (smirks)
vm : As if it will make any difference. You will still be a single despo for the rest of your 3 years.
jm : (stung, as he knows its likely to be true) Atleast i am not in the village! I will not be in some godforesaken corner of earth when Thomso (cult fest) and Cogni (tech fest) are going on!!!
vm : Look its not that godforsaken. The SBI ATM is close by. The canteens are better than any of yours, especially yours, jm. And our departments will be close by.
cm : Hmm... You are right...
jm : I propose a two minute silence to show our sympathy with vm...
P.S.: This happens many times over the first one and a half semesters.
The Great Flip Flop!
It was 1st April. One of the Meta guys told the other, "We are getting Jawahar Bhawan". The other one says, "Thats so obvious yaar. You think you will fool anyone with this?". The first guy, "NOO!!! I am serious!!". He is brushed of rather uncermoniously.
That night during dinner, the first guy comes up to the Meta table (well the entire Meta usually dines together), "Look I have proof!!!". And then he shows the picture he took of the notice put up in the Main Building. Obviously, even this was passed off as an industrious joke on Meta.
Then on the 3rd when the notice was put up at the hostel and turned out to be official, everyone was in for a shock!
Meta was going to Jawahar!
ONLY Meta was going to Jawahar!!!
This jolted not only this dreamer out of his dreams, but also everyone else and also the inter-branch rivalry!
While no friends were lost, everyone was crying foul and demanding an explanation. The only one was the true one : This happens regularly in some years intervals.
Students grumbled, some even went up to the Dean of Students' Welfare, but as of now, the notice remains unchanged.
Now one noticed a different tone altogether. The erswhile village Meta guys were going around telling people about their future bhawans, while the others (those who were deprived of the non-village hostel and put in village hostel) were telling them how bad Jawahar really was and why the village is better.
vm : Dude, life's good. You heard na? Meta is going to Jawahar!!! And i guess you are going to The Village??
cm : So? Its going to be easier to shift our stuff. Plus with the new hostels coming up its going to be Dubai, not a village. The SBI ATM is nearby, the canteens are better-
vm : (cutting in) Deja-vu anyone?
cm : And so what if Jawahar is in front of Sarojini bhawan? What's the big deal?
vm : That's so gay, man!!!
jm : Its totally unfair and illogical, we have been the farthest possible from our departments.
vm : Like I care...
And such is the condition now. I am forced to quote the great Albert Einstien now, "Its all relative..."
;)
Cheers Meta!!!
