Accommodation in Pune comes with strings attached

So where do girls find a roof, with college hostels falling miserably short of the demand? If you were an outstation student admitted to a college of the Deccan Education Society DES, you would be competing for accommodation with quite a few hundred outstation girls from Fergusson, BMCC, and IMDR for just 142 seats available at the DES girls8217; hostel at Fergusson College!

Your only choice is between a private hostel and a paying guest accommodation. For as little as Rs 500, you can get a room as a paying guest in Vishrantwadi, or shell out Rs 12,500 for the swank Sharada Niketan Girls8217; Hostel in Karvenagar, complete with gym, swimming pool, library, computer and aerobic classes. Its counterpart, the Vaidya Pratisthan at Patrakar Nagar, offers similar facilities for boys.

And the question is not solely what money can buy. For whether it8217;s a paying guest or a private hostel you opt for, there will be a distinct culture and discipline that the students will be expected to respect and adapt; or else, Get Out!8217;

With paying guest accommodation in the city ranging from roughly Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 meals may or may not be included in areas like Kothrud, Ganeshkhind, Deccan, Vishrantwadi etc to Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,500 in Bundgarden, Koregaon Park, Aundh and Prabhat Road, with breakfast, electricity, 24-hour security, hot water and attached bathrooms, the hosts believe that their guests8217; are getting an excellent deal, so they better maintain their part of the bargain.

Which means you8217;ve got to pay up on time: 8220;Our toughest job is to ask for the monthly payment, because we get attached to our guests. If they don8217;t pay up on time, we find it awkward to ask for money,8221; says Adv P L Kumar, who offers tea, dinner and a room for Rs 2,500 in Bundgarden area.

Need a quick puff or a nightcap? Do it outside the premises 8212; whether you are a paying guest or at a college hostel. 8220;Last year, we rusticated a girl when we found beer bottles in her room,8221; says S R Kulkarni, rector of Fergusson College ladies8217; hostel. It was unfortunate, because her admission had been given priority only because of a physical handicap.

If you8217;re a party animal, restrain those entertaining instincts, because inviting guests over and playing loud music is out of the question. 8220;We don8217;t admit ladies even inside our compound,8221; says Manohar Jain, who charges Rs 500 for a room in Vishrantwadi.

8220;My guests would party on week-ends when I wasn8217;t home,8221; says Regina, who thinks her guests take advantage of her leniency and generosity. 8220;They would play the TV loudly all night, finish the food in the refrigerator, keep the geyser and iron running all day, and litter the house.8221;

You have to be back at a reasonable hour8217;, which varies between 8 to 10.30 pm, or inform the hosts about it well in advance.

Opening your home to paying guests thus brings with it mixed blessings. While some blend into the family, others nonchalantly help themselves to cosmetics, tiny show-pieces, trinkets, spoons etc from the kitchen before they walk away, sometimes without paying.

Yet, students seem to prefer a private hostel to paying guest accommodation, primarily because they don8217;t have to worry where their next meal is coming from. At the Women8217;s Hostel at Deep Bungalow Chowk, you have to pay Rs 750 per month for vegetarian meals. In Sharada Niketan, it8217;s Rs 7,000 for the whole year. And it also boasts of a cafe to buy breakfast and snacks. It8217;s Rs 1,300 per month at the Mona Ladies Hostel, Paud Road, where most students from MIT college end up staying. Paying for the meals is compulsory in most private hostels.

Admissions to these hostels generally begin during the end of May and early June, but the NRI quota is opened up in early April. Unlike college hostels, where merit is a prime criteria, it8217;s first-come-first-serve for private hostels, but they sometimes insist on an impeccable family background.

Though hostels have stricter rules, the companionship they offer makes up for the restrictions students have to obey. 8220;In a hostel you can choose like-minded girls for your friends, so you8217;re never lonely,8221; says commerce student Preeti Gargi, who8217;s seen both sides of the coin.

8220;You have a caring warden and girls you8217;ve built a bond with by living together to lean on when you need them,8221; thinks Sunita Menon from Mumbai. As a paying guest, she says, you simply have to fend for yourself.