The ladies hostel unlike the men’s hostel had a curfew of 6.30 PM. All inmates had to check in within the stipulated time, meanwhile the security on duty usually acquired “Hodor”ic sensibilities, ensuring no transgressor got in without the matron almighty, descending to assess the situation and thereafter announcing her verdict (no one was ever turned away but not without some empty threats). There was the get in free card of course, provided that the inmate had already provided advance notice to the matron. Of course, as a fool proof mechanism, there was the roll call at 6.30 PM where all the inmates gathered in the common corridor to give attendance. Since there were close to 300 inmates, and roll call began with the hostel blocks in ascending order, pretty much everyone had an idea when they needed to be present to give attendance. It was common to have a few miss their roll call on any given day. They were either late to come down from their rooms, some may have broken curfew whil
In our uneven and bumpy ride through college life, there have been several occasions that have tested our patience, our sanity, our levels of endurance, our sense of humor (or lack of one) and our ability to stay united for a cause big or trivial. There have also been instances where one among us has stood up to stage a spirited soliloquy of sorts, say perhaps to question the harmless yet annoying ribbing of a professor (this professor for some reason found humour in always ending her sentence with a rhetorical question that suffixed a particular classmate’s roll number, for eg, “ This seems an interesting way to design the kitchen, eh roll no 23!”, “You people look bored, eh roll no 23 ”, until one fine day he decided enough was enough and confronted her on her aforesaid unnecessary practice. She too a master of words, tried to charm her way out of it, however the lone warrior was determined not to give in. She finally receded realizing that to lock horns with a disgruntled arke