“Jwalamukhi”, I said with a smile on my face. The word means more to me than just the reply to a common question “Which hostel?”. It has been a year, even though it seems as if yesterday I received my admission letter and with it the name of my hostel – “Jwalamukhi”. My curious first reaction to it was ‘fire-E name’. But almost to my astonishment, things have changed really fast. Today , Jwala is home – a place where I live, a place close to my heart. This really makes me wonder, what’s so special about it?
The last year has been great. I turned 18, but more than just a turn of age, it has been very much a turn of attitude, maybe ‘growth’ in its real sense. I have come a long way in a rather short span of time. Looking back, I can recall a stream of memorable events. From night-outs to day-sleeps, from bunking classes to messing up examinations...it’s been fun. Beating up friends on birthdays is perhaps the weirdest of traditions I have ever seen, and even though it defies most people’s stretch of logic, the joy it brings to everyone is amazing. What would you do if you have an assignment due and you are badly stuck, well...get a game of ‘CS’ or ‘AOE’ to get yourself going again. If you want to see some of the ‘hostel spirit’ go to the inter-hostel competitions, push your throat to the limit or even further. Quite surprisingly, you end up being happy about it all, independent of whether you win or lose, and whether you can speak for a week or not. I remember celebrating holi with a hosepipe, with an exam waiting that afternoon. There is something about everything we do here, as long as we do it together. You realise the meaning of caution less living, taking innumerable risks, learning a lot from success, and learning even more from failures. Hostel life at jwalamukhi is magical in many senses, and I can say this with great conviction having tasted it myself.
Perhaps, more than the freedom we get, and the amount of time we have purely at our own disposal (despite our classes), what fascinates us more is the idea of living with people who share the same ambitions, same goals and most importantly the same zeal for getting ‘more’ out of life. IIT-ians are supposedly the best minds of India, and IIT has lived up to my expectations, and probably even exceeded it. As I sit in my room, having had a near dream run in my first two semesters, it feels great to see ahead and find three more years to come, and at the same time my heart gives me a little twitch, boy! you now have a year less....it’s difficult to imagine the day when I pass out. I’ll take the easy way out, and think about it only when I need to. As far as the present goes, Jwalamukhi - I look up to you, to be all that I have felt you to be, and all that I want you to be. One thing is rest assured – ‘Jwala’ is going to stay with me forever, close to me, and with a place just as prominent as it has today.
