IIT Madras Hostel Nights

In the four and a half years that I have spent at IIT Madras, hostel nights used to be one event that all of us looked forward to. They were one big social event to close the academic year as well as say goodbye to passing out people. 

We used to have good food (not always though), loud music, RGs (bare it all testimonials written by friends), Wing Videos^{See PS} (hilarious and bare it all, sometimes literally, videos shot by friends), DJ, singing, dancing, photographs, morose speeches, sulking hostel wardens and their guests, awards and stuff. Sometimes (but not always) people also explored some forbidden borders and experimented with stuff which they were not supposed to. Not within institute limits. 

The parties usually start at 7pm when people started flocking into the hostels, followed by some ceremonies, awards, speeches and then the dinner. People would also go around the hostel reading RGs printed and pasted on individual doors or some convenient place. After the dinner the Wing Videos were shown. Saner people usually had left the hostel by this time. This included hostel wardens. After the Wing Videos it was a free for all with people largely doing whatever they wanted. You can sing, dance, drink, smoke etc. 

One of the biggest hostel nights was the Sharavati hostel night. It perhaps was the third biggest social event in institute after Saarang and Shaastra. This was our one chance of visiting the girl’s hostel and partying inside. Usually the whole institute would turn up. After a big dinner party at OAT (with song dance and stuff) people would move to Sharav. Sharav entrance would usually be crowded as the Tirupati on Vaikunth Ekadashi. Everybody wanted a peek inside that mysterious world. 

Over the years with the increase in institute population I have seen a general breakdown in restraint levels at hostel nights. A larger population meant larger number of guests and bigger crowds for dinner. And more jostling, shoving, pushing and bad food too. Suddenly hostel quadrangles (Open rectangular area inside the hostel) did not have enough space to accommodate people. This was exacerbated by the construction taking place in each hostel (to construct an additional floor and wings) which occupied a fair amount of space in the quadrangle. 

But the bigger cause of chaos was the general inability to exercise restraint. Larger fresher’s batches and anti-ragging measures have ensured that the senior-junior interaction is on decline. People do not get the chance to acquaint themselves with the rituals of the institute. Freshers, hardened by years of coaching and studies, are suddenly pushed into freedoms of the institute life without instilling in them the need to control themselves. They are not introduced to institute social norms in an organic manner. They also have a strong sense of entitlement, as if the institute has a responsibility of giving them a good life. But institute can only provide enabling conditions. It cannot coach you on how to enjoy your stay here. 

People usually take the shortest route to gratification. This lies in cigarettes, alcohol, non-conformism, subverting authority and getting delights from breaking simple rules. It is unfortunate and regrettable that some of the best brains in the country lack the simple faculty of exercising self-control and often misuse the freedoms. This is evident in the increased mayhem that follows hostel nights now. Bathrooms splashed with puke and floors redolent with its nasty smells. People who have different cultural norms are often bewildered by the freedom and culture inside institute. And when they lack the ability to control their actions it leads to embarrassing incidents. Some of which forced the administration to threaten to end the tradition of the hostel nights last year. And now all of us have to pay for behavioral illiteracy, poor social judgment and immaturity of a few. 

It is quite painful to see an IIT being forced to stoop down to levels of moral policing usually practiced by random private engineering colleges. Some of which apparently have floor marshals to ensure gender segregation, ban on mobile phones etc. 

Hostel nights will continue but with North Korean style regulations. Heavy punishments for drugs (NON-BAILABLE arrest warrants), alcohol (INR10000 with expulsion from hostel), Cigarettes (INR5000). Hostel nights have to finish by 10:30pm and guests should leave otherwise there is fine for that too. For Sharav hostel night only final year students can invite guests and that too only 2! It has been split into two parts where Hostel darshan will happen only between 3-6 pm. Then the scene will move to OAT where dinner, DJ, videos etc will happen. No guests can stay inside Sharav after 6pm. 

Given the skewed, adverse, unsympathetic sex ratio (6 boys to 1 girl now) I can totally imagine a scenario where the girl in her final year can auction the precious two invites. In some instances, it could be her previous boyfriends fighting it out amongst themselves. Many of the unfortunate ones will never have the chance to step inside Sharav. 

There are elaborate ISO style instructions, circulated last week, about how administration will ensure compliance with the new rules. But since we are not machines and neither are hostels factory floors, so I doubt the ability to enforce all of these instructions. 

Recently an additional floor was added to Sharav. There were concerns about the structural strength of the hostel. Keeping in mind the trends of the previous years when the entire institute would flock up to Sharav I wonder if the admin wanted to avoid overloading of Sharav. Imagine 2000 additional students moving inside the hostel one night and all the weight. 

PS: Hostels in IITM are arranged in rows of rooms called wings. People who live in same wings sometimes develop long lasting friendships.