DU’s hostels: A home away from home
Those who have been lucky enough to get through Miranda House, Indraprastha College for Women, Lady Sri Ram, St Stephen’s, SRCC, Ramjas, Daulat Ram and Sri Venkateswara can hope for a hostel seat based on their marks. Swaha Sahoo reports.Spl: Campus Calling
For women students from all over the country, securing a seat in Delhi’s top colleges is not enough. With only a handful of colleges providing hostel accommodation for them, finding the right place to call home for three years can be challenging.
Those who have been lucky enough to get through Miranda House, Indraprastha College for Women, Lady Sri Ram, St Stephen’s, SRCC, Ramjas, Daulat Ram and Sri Venkateswara can hope for a hostel seat based on their marks. In all colleges, the hostel seats are allotted on the basis of merit and a separate application for one.
At LSR, a variety in the menu makes the hostel stand out. From cornflakes, milk, toast, upama, poha to all kinds of eggs — boiled, scrambled and fried — you have options galore for breakfast. “Once in a week, we serve non-vegetarian food for dinner and also a Chinese dinner such as noodles and manchurian,” said Kasturi Kanthan, Director of the Residence Hall at LSR.
LSR has close to 300 seats. “This year, we are renovating another floor. The rooms will now have two bunk beds, foldable study tables and two cupboards with full-length mirrors,” said Kanika Khandelwal, media coordinator.
Outstation students studying in Sri Venkateswara College in South Campus will not have to look too hard for accommodation from this year. The college will now start its complete co-ed hostel from the new session. The hostel will house 150 students in two wings, for male and female students.
“Allotment of the rooms will be on the basis of the percentage and distance. For example, if two students are from the same city, we will consider their percentage,” said A. Sankara Reddy, Principal.
The brand new hostel has facilities like Internet, table tennis and other recreational facilities. The hostel mess will provide various south Indian delicacies, among other food items.
At SRCC, there are 150 seats for boys and 50 for girls. Hostel expenses for one year can amount to anything between Rs 7,000 and Rs 8,000, excluding mess charges. Both Hindu and Hans Raj have accommodation available only for boys. While Hindu College has 121 rooms to accommodate about 200 boys, Hans Raj has 200 seats for boys. St Stephen’s has 242 seats for boys and 108 for girls.
The women’s hostel in Ramjas, with its brightly painted dining hall and comfortable beanbags in the common room, has the most progressive timings. Girls can stay out till 10 p.m. twice a month and can take five leaves for night-outs every month. While residents have to be back in the hostel premise by 7.30 p.m. in most colleges, Daulat Ram Hostel goes back into the medieval-era with its policy of not allowing students to use cell phones in the hostel. “This is so old-fashioned. At Indraprastha college, students are allowed to keep laptops but here they are not even allowed to use cell phones,” said a highly placed source.