Freshers’ Guide to Hostels (Boys)

MIT Hostels: your home away from home. When it comes to living in a college hostel, there can only be two kinds of people: those who love it, and those who have never lived in one. So as a first year it becomes very important to fully know your place of accommodation before you choose it, or as usually happens, it is chosen for you. Here are the options available for the freshers who are joining this year:

5TH BLOCK

Block 5 is the purest hostel experience in manipal. Albeit at the cost of a few amenities. Located the closest to most messes worth eating at, and the closest boy’s block to the academic blocks means block 5 is as convenient as it gets to getting to breakfast and class on time. Airy rooms, good ventilation mean it’s hard to miss ACs, mostly.

Rooms: The block provides triple and double accommodation. Also while choosing rooms, keep in mind the room is in reality a floor lower than the number shows. Yes, that means room numbers starting with 0 are below ground. The rooms are spacious and well ventilated, the triple accommodation one’s boast even more space than usual. Being an open to air hostel means it’s easier to dry the clothes outside the room under the sun, with clotheslines provided. Also, there are no attached bathrooms, which means the floor has a row of bathrooms that are cleaned daily. The showers don’t have hot water, but the taps do so a bucket is must. A windy hostel ensures you find it difficult craving for an AC, for the odd semesters anyway.

Location: The block is situated right next to student plaza and food court 1. It is also the closest boy’s block to the academic blocks, a pleasant ten minute walk. It is also close to KC which means picking up parcels and food orders is easy even for the lethargic.  Also feel free to explore other messes close by.

Wi-Fi: The WiFi is standard Manipal WiFi. It’s as unexpected as the rains. It’s reliable for the most part with a stable 600kbps download speed on a good day to 150kbps on a bad day. It also has a brand new 60gb cap per month. Signal strength isn’t really a issue as the block is relatively smaller than the others.

Discipline: While the caretakers are alright and there are no surprise visits by the warden, be wary of sneaking past them or bending any rules, a smaller block leaves a smaller pool of suspects for them to pick from. Also adhering to timings is a must here, the population of the block gives the caretaker the ability to individually go to each room and remind them to sign in.

Night Canteens: There is no canteen inside the block. There isn’t any shop either to buy snacks from but you can always order in from any other night canteens and pick your orders up by the door.

Utilities: There are 2 TV rooms in the block, one on the ground floor and another on the third, with enough space for the gang to get together for some late night banter over high intensity games. There is no in block gym being a smaller block, yet it is the closest block to the on campus D block gym. The rooms are cleaned everyday, there is a laundry service and the bathrooms are also cleaned everyday, sometimes even twice.

16TH AND 17TH BLOCKS

m4
The 16th Block
m3
The 17th Block

The two blocks are almost mirrored images of each other. Among the more comfortable boys’ blocks of the college, the 16th block is notorious for hosting one of the toughest wardens around, he-who-cannot-be-named. With their off-putting distance as well as the overall adherence to rules and curfews these blocks turn a few heads, but they more than make up with their quality of rooms, decent Wi-Fi speeds, and the view from their rooms overlooking the valley.

Rooms: Every room in both the blocks is exactly the same, (save for the middle ones that come with an almost obscene amount of space) with an attached bathroom, the only differences being between Single/Double and AC/Non-AC. Having ample space with newer furniture, these rooms are quite aesthetically pleasing and comfortable. The bathrooms are also pleasant, with most of them receiving hot water around the clock.

Location: The 16th and 17th blocks are conveniently located right in front of Food Court 2.  So meals, whenever you’re lazing around in your room, won’t be such a hassle. Food Court 1 is a little less than a kilometer up the slope.  The distance to the academic blocks, however, is a little over one kilometer, or an 18-minute walk. More than the long distance is the incredibly in-your-face walk up the steep slopes, at the bottom of which this block sits. Although, within a month or two, everyone gets acclimatized to the arduous walk.

Wi-Fi: The Wi-Fi in these blocks has its bad moments, with the random and unpredictable drops and occasional surges; but during its peak hours (maximum speed, minimum users) the Wi-Fi is fast enough to play YouTube videos at 360-720p. During the day between lecture hours and post-midnight, the speeds are reasonably fast with downloads maxing 150 kbps (upgradable to 550 kbps).  A few rooms that are not close enough to the routers are doomed with permanent bad internet, but that can be fixed with a simple complain to the authorities.

Discipline: With Block 16th’s no-nonsense warden, the bending of rules is tougher and consequently more punishable. Among the other blocks, 16th is most prone to surprise checks and visits from the warden, but by no means does this entail that the amount of freedom or competence for ‘jugaad’ is diminished. It just necessitates a more careful and wary eye when indulging in pesky pandemonium. On the other hand, Block 17th is extremely chill as the warden almost never visits and the caretakers are pretty friendly.

Night Canteens: These blocks come with a good range of assorted snacks that are enough to keep immediate hunger at bay. Packets of chips, biscuits, and instant noodles are available along with other heavier snacks including a couple of rolls and a few egg items. You even get ice-creams and a few beverages. The night canteen is open from noon to 2 AM, but with most of the food arriving later in the evening, its full use is availed after dinner, during nightly hunger pangs. Apart from this the 17th block also has a restaurant in the basement that serves Chinese and Indian cuisine.

Utilities: 3 TV rooms along with 3 TT rooms are spaced evenly across each block, alternating as you move from the top down. The TV rooms are decent and more than sufficient to catch those late night, high profile matches. The only drawback is that this block does not have a modest weight room or any gym equipment unlike those present in the 18th block. The famed Spiffy crew that is in charge of all cleanliness are top-notch, with the rooms being cleaned every alternate day on request.

 

19TH AND 20TH BLOCKS

Block 20
View of Block 19

The two blocks are often viewed as the most chilled out blocks. They’re tucked away in a quiet corner of the campus and offer a pleasant atmosphere.

Rooms: The 19th and 20th Blocks boast of ‘Deluxe’ rooms, that is, one common attached bathroom for every two rooms, with a common room attached with a washing sink. The rooms are for single occupancy and are well fitted with new furniture, whiteboards and notice boards. Since half the rooms face the valley towards the east, one can wake up either to amazing sunrises or to the road winding up to Food Court, which isn’t that bad either given the fact they are some of the coolest non-AC rooms. The ground floor(LG) of both blocks consist of AC rooms. The common room can be used flexibly; some use it to air their laundry (and save money) while others use it to cook, given the availability of a sink. The bathrooms, needless to say, get hot water round the clock.

Location: The major drawback of these blocks is that they are the farthest from the Academic area, with the route being riddled with two steep slopes. It takes approximately 15 minutes to get to the NLH. They’re a small walk away from the new Food Court. On the other hand, this isolation also makes them peaceful blocks. But the blocks also have quick access to the 18th Block Back Gate. So if you’re ever late for class, you can always quickly take an auto from the back gate.

Wi-Fi: Since one router is being shared by only two people, the Wi-Fi speeds in these blocks are unparalleled by any other block. There are almost no server downtimes, and the speed is consistently good. Hello, 720p YouTube video.

Discipline: These are some of the most relaxed blocks ever. You can waltz in up to 30 minutes late, debilitated and yet not get penalised (not that we promote this behaviour in any form). Raids in the blocks is a rarity. The wardens are almost never seen in the block, which is good news for a certain subset of people (not that we promote that behaviour either).

Night Canteens: The blocks lack a night canteen, but thankfully enough they’re very close to Campus Grill. So if you’re hankering for a grub post-midnight, don’t you worry, just make sure you have their number. But do make sure to store up on snacks if you’re the kind of person who needs something to eat now and then. Utilize the common room available to you and your roommate, and make yourself some food.

Utilities: Being small, each block has one Table Tennis room, and one weight room with considerable gym equipment. And of course, Spiffy is in charge of the cleanliness, and will clean your room every alternate day on request.

– by the MTTN Crew

6 thoughts on “Freshers’ Guide to Hostels (Boys)

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  1. Hey in the 16th block, which rooms have the worst wifi(room nos.) and what do people do during surprise checking or where do they hide stuff which has to be hidden(not really bad things like drugs but anything)

    1. About rooms, it really depends on your luck. The access points for WiFi have been spread across the whole hostel in a particular fashion. Now there can be cases where your room may be a bit far away from the nearest access point which will be rarely the case. Whatever it is, you will get a good enough connection. If at all you are not satisfied, you can give the ION customer care a call and with some luck, they should fix even your very small problems.

      Regarding surprise checks, don’t keep anything you may have to hide from the administration. You are coming to this college with loads of other people and I would simply request you to maintain some boundaries.

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