A hostel is a home away from home for students who come from far off places. Initially one feels lonely and isolated, but gradually, the magic of hostel begins to seep in. Slowly this becomes the student’s second home. One learns to become independent, social, friendly and duty-bound. Students harbour confidence, courage and try to find happiness from everything.

Hostel life teaches discipline, cooperation, unity, and humility to name a few. Parents send their children to hostels so that the child might have a brighter future, achieve full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potentials. So it becomes an obsession for students to not let their parents down.

It depends on the student whether to be in good company and be the architect of a better

future or ruin the life staying in a bad company.

I can still remember the day when I left my home for my home away from home — hostel. I mark it as a milestone in my life’s odyssey. My experience of living in a hostel at the age of 16 is not a trifle subject. I was far from my family but close to many, many friends from different parts of the nation. Initially I used to miss my father’s wake-up calls and even the chapattis. But with passage of time, everything became normal. Life was no more an uneven path but a highway.

— Vipul Kabra, Class XI, White House International College