It has been a long time since I blogged. I have been brushing aside the idea to write on the topic but let me bring forth the city of Raipur. Within this city lies the great institute of NIT Raipur where I study and together they have witnessed my struggle for survival in the past 4 years. Many haven't heard of Raipur. So, let me give a brief introduction of Raipur.
Raipur is the capital of Chhattisgarh and is a good 18 hours from Bombay by train and 5 hours from Nagpur. It does have a national airport which is sometimes frequented by human habitation.
The ruling party is BJP.
Talk about the weather, Raipur has no defined season as such. It may be bloody hot in the morning and might rain in the evening. In the summer, it is as hot as 45 degrees and above and renders human life impossible without a cooler.
Raipur is a just a couple of hours away from Naxal hideouts and yet remains largely uneventful.
The city houses a mere 2 multiplexes and 1 Domino s coupled with 2 CCD’s. It holds the distinction of playing English movies in the traditional language i.e. Hindi. Citizens of Raipur are largely aware of names like Amavasya, New Moon dubbed in Hindi, which people of other cities might be ignorant of.
Raipur plays host to all forms of transport ranging from buffalo’s, bullock carts and camels to city buses.The roads are wide enough to allow a city bus to park its ass on the entire road thus enabling smooth flow of traffic.
Raipur does have a cricket stadium though which has been lucky enough to host a 20-20 exhibition match.
A common word used by the people of Raipur is “how”. U may mistake that for the English word “how” but please do not.
Raipur was conveniently ignored by swine flu. Zero cases, a figure which manages to bewilder me often. I might sue swine flu though, as it ruined my chances of a vacation.
This is Raipur (TIR) as it known among us.Now that you have been through a tour of Raipur, an assumption I need to make in order to write the rest of the post. Let me take you through my experiences in this city, the people and my time here. I hail from Bombay and lived in the hostel for 3 years before making a switch to a rented room in my final year which would be 2010.
To lead a good life in a hostel(if u can call the life good), there are 2 important factors .
1: Peaceful co-existence with the mosquitoes. A hostelite always needs to be friends with the mosquitoes, otherwise you are in for a hard time. The mosquitoes are different to that of normal ones, the dreaded Raipur mosquito. Point to be noted, mosquitoes are like the Pakistani bitches. They agree on peaceful co-existence but then they send jihadis to wage bloody wars. Various methods are employed to battle them but none of them have been successful. People live with the hope that someday, the entire race of mosquitoes would be wiped out.
2: Food in the hostel mess is nowhere near to be called edible. They feed rotis unfit even for dogs, watery dal which is devoid of salt and milk devoid of milk itself. Don’t suspect any vengeance there. This is in the best interests of our health and our future as fit, healthy individuals. We aren’t susceptible to diabetes, blood pressure etc. We have mastered the art of hunger and can steer clear of food willingly or unwillingly for a day. Maggi is the biggest profiteer of this, yet they manage to dupe us into believing that it can be cooked in 2 minutes.
Some of my experiences:
1: Ask for a pepper in a restaurant and you are likely to be handed a (tissue) paper.
2: An artificially intelligent guy teaches you phonetics. You might want to change the way you pronounce words. So,
Add becomes Aid, Red becomes Raid, Gap becomes Gape and Short becomes Sort.
3: MNIK was delayed by a day in Bombay thanks to Shivsena but here by 3 days thanks to Shivsena, RSS and the VHP.
4: Shops are closed here on Sunday.
5: Half of the things in a restaurant’s menu do not exist.
6: They serve you diluted tomato sauce in the name of sambhar.
7: I can claim to have participated in 2 strikes against my college management which included sleeping on the college main road.
8: Girls here cover themselves from head to foot literally.
7: I can claim to have participated in 2 strikes against my college management which included sleeping on the college main road.
8: Girls here cover themselves from head to foot literally.
They are so many to say but nothing can justify the experience. You need to see for yourself.
Leading a life in the hostel is akin to Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest. You fight for food, u fight for taking a dump, taking a bath etc. These are just the basic factors. A lot many factors may contribute towards a pleasant stay.
But you know what; however much I may crib about this place and the people, the stay here has taught me many a things. You are never exposed to the harsh realities of life unless you decide to shun away the warmth of your house. I strongly feel one should stay away from their parents for a period of time just for the experience. You make not like it but trust me it will stand you in good stead in your life.
P.S: More of Raipur bashing in the next post.
P.S: More of Raipur bashing in the next post.
