The Hide and Seek Game at College of Science and Technology (CST) 2016-2017
The wind is knocking violently on each and every window pane of the building. The force and the noise have not changed a bit from the start (around 5:00 PM) till now. A while ago, not only the wind but the CST hostel coordinators also came knocking the doors and checking the rooms for cooking gear. The corridors were filled with chaos and commotion and the scene of people engaged in 'hide and seek' game brought into my mind, the long gone days of hostel life as a student.
Teachers at evaluation camp have brought rice cooker, curry cooker, and water boiler (to be precise) to prepare breakfast and dinner. The trend is not NEW! This practice has been in place for quite long. However, THIS YEAR they were instructed to not to cook in the hostel. Some were "CAUGHT RED HANDED" (the term all the markers of 12 for 2016 knows by heart) preparing food in the hostel and were warned to not to repeat. Defy the rules and the cooking gear will be "seized" and the security deposit will not be refunded. Nu. Four Thousand Eight hundred and Fifty was paid in cash (1000 security deposit included) for 15 days per room.
The instruction was loud and clear. Some teachers with and without family have checked out the very next day and put themselves up in Reldi HSS and Phuntsholing MSS. Many looked for the same but the rooms were packed and the hotels too. Transportation is one of the challenges for them while parking has become another problem.
The CST Canteen provides a PAID lunch which is seemingly sufficient for 600+ and the 'hostelers' have to manage breakfast and dinner on their own. Inside the campus, there are about three standing , open stalls. We have and we are contributing to these stalls (stalls???) too but for how long can we continue? The queue, huh! It is like an old train, long and slow and dusty. The only solution is to drive 5 kilometers to Phuntsholing town, have the meal, and rush back to the hostel or to the evaluation rooms.
We have still 6 more days to go. Living here has become extremely difficult and the paper evaluation is not going to end here. Are we prepared to play this game for all the coming years??? Are we prepared to drive for 20 kilometers a day just for the meals??? Are we prepared to run to CST marking camp in the morning from Reldi HSS because we parked our car on the road in the evening and could not get it out from the parking as someone double parked??? Or are we prepared to DONATE the hard earned evaluation WAGES in the hotel paying for rooms???
I am slowly developing DRAPETOMANIA.
