( 12 ) M A 1st Year - my hostel

 ( 12 )   M A 1st Year  - my hostel 

     When I joined hostel in Kothamangalam,  my mind was filled with memories of my one year stay in the hostel attached to St Peter's College, Kolenchery, while I was doing my Pre - Degree IInd year course. But, everything was different in the hostel, Kothamangalam.   The hostel warden, a middle aged lady was a widow with two children  - the elder one was a boy, doing his Degree IInd year, I think.   The younger one was a girl  who had just completed Xth Std.   

     How did the hostel  look like ?  There was a small sitout, then we would enter into a hall.   There were two cots, a table & two chairs, if my memory is correct.  From the hall, to the left side, there were two rooms.  One small room was for the warden 's daughter.  The other room in which there were four persons  - it was my room.   It was conjested  - but I lived there, applying that concept  - yes, adjustment.  From the hall, to the right side, there were two rooms, both of them alike in length and width.   Attached with these rooms, there were toilets, about which I have no serious complaints.   In the hostel compound, there was another building, which looked like a miniature form of a house.   There was a small living room and four or five small rooms. The kitchen and dining hall were situated in a small building, which is separated from the main building.   There was a small bedroom also in that building besides the kitchen and dining hall.  I remember that the Television was placed in the dining hall.   It was the time of Chithrageetham & Chithrahar in TV and I remember everyone running to the hall to watch these shows.  Anyway, the warden slept in that building which aroused fear in my mind.  

     There was a toilet outside the house in one corner.   Almost near it, there was a place for washing clothes. In the terrace, there were many cloth lines which we used to  dry our clothes.   I was almost satisfied in the life in that hostel. But, the fees  -there was a problem - as it was a private hostel, I had to give the fees and it created some problem in my family.   However, I could continue there with my lumpsum grant and my father gave me some amount of money, I don't forget.