After I finished my schooling, I went to a university in a city some three hundred kilometers away from my hometown. I had to stay in the university hostel. This was my first experience staying away from home. All around were people I didn’t know and all I thought of was the number of days left for the first vacation.

A month after my arrival, the campaign for hostel election started. This was a new experience for me since I hadn’t witnessed any such thing in school. It seemed like a mini version of state and national elections. I was told that the winner (one who became hostel president) would have a large sum of money at his disposal. Besides, for those wanting to pursue politics as a career, this was a good starting place.

I stayed away from the campaign and concentrated on my studies. The candidates, however, did not leave any hosteler alone. They’d come to our room to try to sway us in their favour. There was one particular candidate who was extremely sweet. When he spoke to me it felt like he was the closest person to me in the hostel.

One evening when I was having my dinner in the hostel mess, he came and sat next to me. He asked the server to give me an extra helping of a dish I said I liked. Next day, when he requested me to make some posters for his campaign, I readily agreed. And when the voting day came, I obviously voted for him. I was glad he won.

The day election results were declared was also the day our association ended. He even refused to recognise me if we our paths crossed any time. After a week, he was barely visible in the hostel or the university. The condition of the hostel remained the same. I learnt soon that he made a killing from the hostel funds.

In my first venture into the huge world outside my small township, I had learnt very soon that things may not be what they seem and they may be what they don’t seem to be. This is often true if ‘things’ are ‘people’.

(Ravenshaw University, Cuttack. My hostel is on the left side behind the main building)

-Rahul Shrivastava, IFS