School life is not one size fits all. There is an array of experiences to take into account to pinpoint the golden ‘perfect school life.’ But there are some school lives which are unlike any other. When you live at school, do you even have a school life? Doesn’t school become life? The life of a boarder isn’t very different from the life of a day scholar. Except some experiences are exclusive to the students who live in the Greenwood Hostel.
The Greenwood High Hostel is a diverse place, home to students from a variety of places. These students left their homes and moved to Greenwood High, to call an unfamiliar city and an unfamiliar school their home and haven. They did succeed, and Greenwood may be more of a home to them than it is to the rest of the students. All the teachers and staff working there automatically become family. Living in the hostel facilitated the creation of unforgettable friendships along with lifelong memories.
In the words of Zarif Al Mamun, a member of the graduating class of IB, and a fun-loving hostel student, boarding is like having a sleepover with your friends every night.
Homesickness wears off quickly. Although it is difficult to live away from everything you’ve known, the discomfort quickly fades away to newfound freedom and independence. Of course, living at hostel means playing by its rules, but boarders don’t let that get in their way. However, there is one rule that gets on the nerves of every hostel student: limited screentime. Usage of phones is restricted to a maximum of forty-five minutes which surely isn’t enough time to browse mindlessly through YouTube and stay in touch with your loved ones back home. The vast majority of educationally ‘useless’ sites are blocked on the school computers, but the boarders had a trick up their sleeve. Enter ‘Psiphon’. Psiphon is a circumvention software for Windows and Mobile platforms that provides uncensored access to internet content. It opened new avenues of late-night content for the students, allowing them to access YouTube and Wattpad in the dorm study room. This did not last for long as the software was sniffed out by the teachers and deleted from all computers. There was nothing left to do for the hostel students except crying a river.
The fall of Psiphon did not signal the end of hostel shenanigans. You do not need the internet for prime entertainment. Divya Baranwal spoke of one night when she and her dorm mates were bored so they drew on the wall of the restroom. However, they did not know it was permanent marker, so the rest of the night was spent in covering the evidence up with whitener and colored pencils instead of studying for the exam on the next day. Supernatural experiences are another part of life at the dorms. On another night, she was studying in her friend’s room when they saw eerie lights outside the window along with a noise. This spooked the girls which led to Divya running out and locking her poor friend in the room. Rabbiyan Ahmed describes IPL nights as ‘lit’, “We used to have so much fun watching it together.” He told me about precious moments with his friends, involving Bluff, Monopoly, and Uno. Zarif recounted the times he encountered trouble for the water fights he got into, but he says that it was worth it.
There is one thing that is common to all boarders that were interviewed for this piece. Maggi. Maggi is an indispensable part of hostel culture, and the best memories come from making these culturally significant instant noodles in your dorm room with all your friends at ungodly hours in the night. According to Zarif, if you do not have maggi, you are not king of the hostel. Maggi is only a part of the unofficial cuisine of boarding life. One thing boarders like to flex is the hostel food, which is leagues better than the day scholar’s food. The snacks served after school are something to look forward to everyday. Special occasions mean special food which includes chocolate and chips, while dinner would be biriyani, mutton curry, or amazing grilled chicken. Birthdays entail cake and a dance party. Hostel students never go hungry. Zarif Al Mamun also describes the Saturday lunch biriyani as the most memorable part of hostel. If the food is good, there is nothing else to worry about.
Another exclusive experience is the outings. Hostel students go out once every two weeks to spend the day at the mall. This day evokes mixed feelings in the students. Some see it as a waste of time, while others thought it was ‘insanely fun.’ Rabbiyan reminisces all the time he spent with his friends in Taco Bell and at bowling. Divya, however, feels differently, as there are restrictions: they are only allowed to wear the PE shirts and not casual wear.
Hostel also has other particular activities. These include the bothersome compulsory morning jog, and the evening sports to inculcate an active lifestyle in the students. Evening football is something students will look back on fondly along with feeding the dogs after sports. Some feel that the time allocated for sports is simply not enough.
All the boarders interviewed looked back fondly on their days in hostel, and most had difficulty pinpointing their favorite, most memorable parts of it. The experience became a part of who they are, and they will carry the marks of boarding throughout their life. Hostel allowed the students to spread their wings and stand on their own feet. It allows them to be more independent and think for themselves, while sharing a space and creating bonds with people they are unlikely to ever forget. Although Zarif was initially against the idea of boarding, he now recommends it, as he left hostel and realized the true impact it had on him. It taught Rabbiyan to make the most of life and live in the moment. It truly is a school life like no other. As Zarif Al Mamun put it, “Boarding gives you a holistic experience of Greenwood High.”
- By Minal Shaik
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