Hostel

Dinesh Wagle stayed in two different hostels in his school days. Both hostels were totally different in nature as were the schools that ran them. So were his experiences!

By Dinesh Wagle

Initial Period
The hostel in Dorji High School was big compared to the hostel of Adarsha Janapremi English Secondary School(AJESS), where I spent a year at my 10th grade. There were many friends, some were good ones, in the first hostel but I missed my family and house a lot. In fact, I cried when my great grandfather visited me in the hostel at the end of the first month of my stay there.

Me and my friends used to gather in one of our beds in the dormitory hall and talk in the evenings. Everyone had a story to tell- some horror tales- some used to crack jokes, and others were always willing to tell about their adventures. Girls lived in a separate floor which was restricted for the boys.

We used to make plans about bunking classes in those evening gatherings. Sometimes those plans were executed. We would go for swimming in the muddy waters of Bagmati River. During those ‘outings’ we used to secretly carry the hostel provided lunch in school bags. Fighting was a part of our life. I remember a friend, Michael, with whom I fought at least twice. He was also one of my good friends. I played football a lot though I was never a good player.

Principals: Angry and Kind
I remember a vice principal of Dorji School- fat and always angry. One day he ordered me to go to the front of the class and caned me on my bare butt. That was because I failed to spell a word correctly. (Set, I forget the word. Believe me I can spell that now if I remember!).

There were kind hearts too. Once, my principal, L. Dorji Lama, no wonder why I remember the name, let me go without punishments when I failed to recall the morning prayers in hostel. There was a reason. He had seen me the last evening, in his regular inspection tour, sitting on the floor outside the room (because everybody was sleeping in the room and lighting was prohibited after 9 pm) reciting the Tibetan language prayer written in Nepali scripts! He understood my problems. I still hate that part of those days when students have to go in front of an apparently angry Principal with a bamboo stick or the one made up of plastic pipe on his hand, letting their tea and tea momo become cold, to recite prayers with both hands holding together up to the chest doing Namaste. But I still like the person L. Dorji Lama though I have never seen him after leaving the school.

Oops! Those Girls
I also remember those girls in Dorji High School, who, most of the time in the classroom, teased, nagged, annoyed and disturbed, yes they did all this, me because I was sitting on the their side, surrounded by at least 10 girls. Sometime they used to pull my hair, sometime ear, sometime run their fingers or pens on my back. When I see back to find who was doing all that, they would pretend as if I was looking just because I wanted to see their ‘beautiful’ faces. They, you can guess, would laugh, producing no sounds because teacher would be doing that job, when I helplessly looked back at the suspect.

Once, believe me I complained about this with my class teacher, but there was no place at the boys’ side of the classroom to sit. What a catch-22! Probably, now I think, I was too young and small for them, but they were also small, I guess, and they were just kidding with me!I still wonder about that, and I am not kidding.

Hot in his Mouth
While in AJESS hostel days, I was already 16 years old. I didn’t miss my house much, because, first, that was near to my hostel, five minutes walk, second, I was already grown up. Most of the friends of our class were semi-hostellers who come to hostel early in the morning to take classes and return to their houses in the late evening.

There were three of us from my class, 10, as the full residents of hostel- Me, Ujjwol Acharya, a more than average and talented boy, and Suraj Karki, who was interesting and of his own kind of boy. Another classmate Binod Bista, along with a junior fellow Suraj Khadka, was also with us for a brief period. How can I forget Suraj Khadka! In one evening, he soon fell asleep on his study table with his mouth wide open. We were there, and an idea hit in one of ours’ mind promptly.We brought a red chilli, put that into his mouth and started laughing.

Soon, our warden saw that, and he too started laughing. Ha.. ha.. ha.. Don’t disturb, Suraj is still sleeping! When he finally woke up because of the loud noise of the laughter, he partly bit the chilli unknowingly. The sound became even louder.

WWF with the Warden
Yes, I also remember our hostel warden and science teacher (how can I forget him!), Buddha Pramod Sing Rai, who was also of his own kind of warden and a teacher. We four shared the same bedroom. I had a WWF style fighting with him in one occasion because I wanted to go outside the hostel and he was using all his force to prevent me to do so. I went because Achyut Ghimire, my uncle who is 9 months older than me, and a close friend of mine since our childhood days, and me had make a plan to go somewhere that day. Yes, Achyut saw that ‘wrestling’ free of cost from outside the hostel building! He was there to see me off. These days I regret about that incident but I am happy that Mr. Singh still loves me.

In a Catch-22

We three did so many ‘adventures’ fooling Mr. Rai, sometimes secretly sneaking into the storeroom to steal breads, eggs and Jam. Once, I was in a catch 22 situation, in the dark storeroom. I heard on of my teacher calling my name meaning that someone is there in the gate of the hostel to see me. In fact, he was not calling me be I was a sort of terrified. Anyway, good communication signals from Ujjwol and Suraj (because that was their job for that operation!) helped me get out of that ‘panic room’ without the knowledge of our warden, who was making rounds from one room to another inspecting if anything is going wrong.

Back to the Future

There are several stories from our hostel days. This one is hard to forget, at least for me. Once I nearly died, yes, I am telling the truth, when I accidentally swallowed a thorny fruit that we (Me, Suraj and Ujjwol) were playing with, by putting that on ones head and rubbing it on there so that it sticks the hair. Seeing me struggling to survive, and I told him what was going on in my throat, with signs, Suraj seemed a little bit worried. With his life saving instincts, Suraj hammered on my neck with his fists (and they were like the showers of roses for me!) so hard that the ‘dangerous’ thing immediately get out of my throat. Oh! He really saved my life.

Who Sleeps So Quick?

I remember, with due respect, our AJESS principal, Rabi Prasad Acharya (seen standing, far right, in the pic along with me, far left, Umesh and Ujjwal in a School picnic), who, in the very first day of my school taught me something about uniforms and dresses, along with his wife, and two daughters, used to live with us in the hostel, fell in sleep within seconds, may be in 5 seconds, while talking with us. That, probably is the only one incident I have ever seen before: a man falling asleep in such a quick time. Never mind Mr. Acharya! That incident was interesting, particularly, for me who needs more time than average to fall asleep in the bed.