"My native home is Biratnagar and I came to Kathmandu for higher education," she explains.[break]
A girl´s hostel was the safest option for her. It was her parents who made the choice. Like most other parents Neha´s dad thought of his daughter´s safety first. "In a new city a girl coming and living alone in a rented apartment was not a good idea," Neha smiles.
Similar to Neha´s story is Shreejana´s tale. She is currently living in Rohini Girls Hostel at Puarano Baneshwor. Having lived all her life in Bhurigaun, a village in Bardiya, she could not have thought of a better option. She is currently in her 11th grade and says she is happy with her hostel life. "Apart from the security factor, living in a hostel gives you plenty of time to study," she says. Another thing Shreejana loves about her hostel is that she made friends on the very first day.
In the past few years many girls have taken to living alone to either study or earn their own living. The best option for these girls is to find a girls hostel. There are girls hostel mushrooming all over town and these places have girls who are either working or are at college.
Neha, now heads toward the kitchen and shows the dining area. "Food is always prepared in a huge amount," she explains. These hostels have around 25 to 45 girls living and eating together.
The Kathmandu Hostel at Kamaladi has around 50 girls residing. Sita Shrestha, the founder of the hostel, began running the place some 10 years ago. "It´s been a long time and I have seen girls grow into women and I have seen the good turned bad and also bad turned good," she sighs.
Neha too recalls a few incidents when girls in her hostel have not been able to utilize the freedom they get staying away from home. Many girls tend to misuse their freedom and land themselves in trouble. There have been a few instances in Rohini Hostel, Kathmandu Hostel and in Matribhumi too.
Tulsi Bhattarai, the co-coordinator of Rohini Girls Hostel says in such cases the hostel staff provide counseling to the girls. "Such cases are like challenges for us, we try our best to sort things out," he says.
After taking a peek into her TV viewing area, the lobby and the terrace, Neha´s room is the next observation. Along with her bed she has two other beds in her room. Girls living in hostels share their rooms. The least number of girls in a room would be two and if the room is a large one as much as five girls stay.
The beds there are neatly made and each girl has their own small shelf. "We keep our clothes and other belongings here," she says. The girls living in such hostels have to buy their personal stuff like toiletries and snacks if they desire.
"It is fun most of the time, but there are times when you want to flee home," says Neha. Along with the amenities there are also hardships that come along.
The frequent complain of most of the girls living in hostels is food. The menu is quite repetitive according to most of the girls. Mostly in the case of veggies the cheapest in the market is frequent in the girls´ plates.
Also there are times when your roommate is different from the way you are. Rojina KC who has been in a hostel for the past one year is still struggling. "Not everyone is like what you expect them to be," she says. Most of the time girls have to compromise in the cleanliness factor, some girls seem less interested in tidying their rooms, and also there is lot of backbiting. Girls also complain of the sleeping and waking hours. "Your roommate might be the kind who likes to go early to bed and you a late night learner" explains Neha.
There are always bad things that come along with the good things. These girls seem to overlook the bad sides of their hostel. They have well learnt the lesson of compromise. All of them agree that rather than renting a room and living alone in a city where there are frequent ´bandas´, hostel life is much better for at least they don´t have to worry about household necessities.
"Sometimes, the ´bandas´ last up to a week, unlike some of my friends who live in a rented place I am sure that I will get my daily meal and that I am safe from the riots," says Shreejana and all others agree.
The best part about such living in hostels, according the girls, is that they get to stay with their friends all the time. Sharing queries and secrets which they would never do with parents is a part of their life.
"When you can have so much fun every day and still get enough time to cover up your studies, we can always ignore the little complaints we have," all of them have one voice this time.
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