IIM Calcutta has 4 hostels namely Ramanujan Hostel, Tagore hostel, New Hostel and Lake view Hostel in ascending order of their distance from the academic block. Among these Ramanujan and Lake view are coed hostels and the other two are boys only. I spent the first year of my MBA in the Lake view hostel.
At Lake View Hostel the first 2 floors are for boys and the top 2 for girls. When we come as first years we are allotted rooms at random in any hostel. We don’t particularly get a choice unless in special circumstances. Each student has their own room which has a table, chair, cupboard, bed, rack for books and a balcony. The washrooms, washing machines and water filters are in common spaces. There is a 24x7 supply of cold water for drinking and hot water for bathing.
Each hostel has a mess in or near it which serves pre-decided meals 4 times a day. The menu for the week is circulated to the students via email and WhatsApp groups. To request a change in the menu one needs to contact the Mess representative who is a student of the senior batch. These messes also function at night and one can order food which is delivered to your room upto 4 am in the morning. There are retail stores in every mess from where you can purchase snacks and other day-to-day items.
To keep the students entertained, there are various sports facilities in every hostel. This varies from hostel to hostel but it can be table tennis, pool, carrom, and other indoor sports. There are nets in the open area of every hostel for volleyball. There are screening rooms as well for movie and live sports streaming. Students have unlimited high-speed wifi and access to all websites except some.
However, your room is yours only for a year. After the end of an academic year rooms is again allocated at random to everyone. You can make a wing of 6 people and get a hostel of your choice as an exception. During the summer breaks all your luggage is supposed to be packed in common rooms or taken back with you as the rooms need to be emptied out for renovations and repairs.
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