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Vashi2Panvel.Com: Navi Mumbai: March 8: Hostels form a very important aspect of college life. Many see hostels as a way of life but besides there are also people who just see it is as a need. Like Tina Bhardwaj, a student of NIFT puts it, “There is nothing like liking or disliking a hostel I stay away from home so I prefer staying in a hostel with friends rather than in a paying guest accommodation.”

When you talk of hostels what comes to mind are the dingy rooms and the pitiable food. But this concept is fast changing today. Hostels in Navi Mumbai are breaking away from the clichéd outlook. According to the various students who reside in the hostels situated across New Bombay, the room and the facilities that they get are quite satisfactory and they say that the mess facilities that hostels offer are fast improving. “Although we have a self cooking option we still like eating in the canteen because off late the food in the canteen is really improving. Besides they have become very flexible with their timings. Now we even get Chinese food in our canteen,” says Preetika Khushritha who is an engineering student at RAIT and stays in the college’s girls’ hostel.

Although food is a comfort for a few it is even a problem for many. Like Harsha N, an engineering student of RAIT who stays in Vidyalankar Hostel feels that one thing he would love to change about his hostel would be the kind of food they get, “Though we have a mess we never eat in the canteen, we prefer eating out and besides we are not allowed to get food in the hostel premises so we have to go out and eat everyday.”
Voicing the same opinion is Isha Mukoo who stays in Jai Bharat Ladies hostel for the last three years and is a student of SIES (Nerul). She feels that one thing she would love to change about her hostel is the mess facilities that it gives.

Hostels on the whole are today going through a complete makeover so much and unlike some years back hostels today are very flexible about their timings. They realize that the students need to be given some freedom. So students these days are very pleased that the hostels do not keep them in house arrest and provide them the kind of freedom that every youngster needs, like Harsha N says, “The hostel authorities are very relaxed about their timings and give us a lot of freedom.” Likewise says Isha Mukoo, “We do have a bit of timing restrictions but that is not a problem because I feel a little discipline is required.”

Overall the complete concept of hostels is changing with time and they are going through an image makeover. Today hostels are not just seen by students as a need but as a lifestyle. Besides, students are so attached to their hostels that it is tough for them to even think about their lives without their friends, “I would be really sad if I had to leave my hostel and I am so used to having my friends around me that I can’t imagine my life without my hostel,” says Tina Bhardwaj.

Nidhi Anand