In TJC Campus Hostel..

Cannot forget the days we spent in the College Hostel, as first year students.

We were the bunch of juniors, who had the control of the third and fourth floors of the hostel, from 2009 - 2010. It was a combination of students from many parts of the world, who shared a time of splendid mischief. None of the seniors in the hostel, ever dared to enter into this territory of gangsters, who were passionately referred to as "Upper floor guys", by everyone in the hostel.

Midnight birthday songs, smashing "birthday bumps", water fights, corridor ramp walks, attacks on lift users, midnight conferences on each and every girl in the college, were all part of the lifestyle of this so called "Upper floor guys".

Most of us remembered, each and everyone of our birthdays, and without failing we planned our "birthday raids" into the birthday boy's room, exactly at 12 o'clock. These raids usually began with a rushing birthday song; usually sung without the proper tune, and ended up with smashing birthday bumps shared by all the raiders. The worst part will be, the pitiful birthday boy's face, which will be covered with the cake icing.

Whenever there was a "power cut", all the boys from 3rd and 4th floor come out of the room as if some bees coming out of the hive, and all of us silently settled in one of our rooms. It will be a joyful night vigil. All kinds of topics will be taken as the subject of discussion without missing the topics about girls and attractive female lecturers in the college. Any newly made love relationships will be confessed in front of everyone. Old love stories also came out in the style of sonnets.

There were times when the vigil went throughout night until early morning. In between, a lot of snacks which were hidden in the cupboards and suitcases will be brought out and shared.

We all witnessed many World War III, which occasionally took place between 3rd and 4th floors. But in these wars, water replaced dynamite, and any equipment having the potential of projecting water to a specified aimed goal, was used as our weapons. The lift, which was provided in the hostel, helped us in transporting our gangsters and the watery weapons, to and fro. We even loaded the lift with buckets of water, and transported it form 3rd to 4th floor to launch attacks. Not a single journey of lift from top to bottom and vice versa, went passing through the 3rd floor, without being stopped and checked for security reasons. Such a monitory movement. Usually, it was us, the 3rd floor guys who initiated most of the attacks, and we deliberately made the 4th floor get involved.

Very often, the invitation for a troublesome night came from 4th floor gangsters, in the manner of banging all the 3rd floor room doors and running back to their own rooms. It was all well planned guerrilla movements, so that our 3rd floor "intelligence" found it very difficult to find out the culprits. But one day, one of them, in his excited hurried run after banging some doors, left his sandals behind and ran. The Sherlock Holmes of the 3rd floor, later found from his investigations that it belonged to one of the 4th floor guys. That day was the beginning of all these joys and mischief of "Water Attacks", that I'm writing about.

We had some wonderful wardens who were friendly enough to keep smiling at all these mischief silently, as if they never noticed. They were also strict enough to make sure that, nothing went beyond limit. But, if we are to name them they all will acquire military designations.

It was a nice time we had, and now we are missing those precious moments we had as first year students in the hostel.