Birthday bashes in hostel

I always felt that atleast one year, everyone in his/her college days should be away from home - preferably in a hostel.

Being in a hostel makes you learn so many things. The foremost thing is to be indepent and next is you learn being accomodative. You might have room mates who have dress sense, hygiene level, etiquettes exactly in contrast to yours. There might be people who would use your combs, your shirts, your bathroom slippers - but the real challenge is to live cordially with them all.

I had great time when I spent 3 years in hostel during my post graduation days. We definitely had lows too but they were all part of hostel life. The worst ordeal, according to me, was when we run out of water in the toilets. Not taking bath is no big deal, but imagine not having water to... (hope you get the picture?).

The most exciting times were the birthday bashes. Actually we had improvised on the strategy each time. The speciality was the "solution". We used to make this solution with... hold your breath - ink, shoe polish, blue, soap, shaving creams, perfume, powdered incense sticks (this is to counter the awful odour), shampoo and any other harmless elements which is available. We even once used cowdung powder (which is readily available in stores there).

We would separate the solutions into three. First stage is dragging out the birthday boy and smashing with eggs. This, at times, is very painful especially when the egg hits with full force on your bare skin. And then we would cover our hands with plastic covers and smear the "solution". Then drag him to the bathroom and lift him aloft and drop him into the water tank (which is in every bathroom and is know for its "cleanliness").

Then we allow him to take bath and as he walks back on the corridor to the room, the second round awaits him. And then the third...

The first time we tried this "strategy" on our friend, his face and whole body was covered with bluish black stains (because of the solution). The next day he had to face our class girls to get their wishes and so it was important (to him ofcourse, why would we bother!) that he looked good and so as he was busy scrubbing his face (he thought he could cover his body with clothes anyway and so was just concerned about his face). He even had to use a scrubber to get the stains off. After rigorous scrubbing, he opened the bathroom door and showed me his face "Has it gone Ravi?". Before I could even reply, I burst laughing because inspite of all his efforts, I could only see his white teeth when he peeked out!

And all this would be followed with inquiries from our warden the next day for all the mess created in the corridor. The eggs give a very awful stench. Though we haven't tried this, we were told (by the other "experts" that eggs buried in sand for a day, turns rotten and would give a even worse smell which is supposed to stick on to the birthday boy for days!!!