Edited by: Lavanya Goswami
0810 hours or 8:10 am- Breakfast time with a few people. Scanning the mess hall, you can find a singular, slightly overenthusiastic freshman eating cornflakes aggressively for an 8.30, or better yet a 10.10 lecture. They may or may not have taken a shower at 7.30 before this– not speaking from personal experience or anything. They may be slightly questioning their decision of making these decisions, but the spirit is there, nonetheless. Looking closer, you shall find people who are only there at this hour because they pulled an all-nighter. On final inspection, you will find a peculiar case of a person who has no sleep schedule but tries to wake up for breakfast to feel some semblance of motivation. They are all questioning the masala item song being played in the background.
1010 hours- Students are generally awake for this class while others will be getting notes from friends as they fight to comprehend the lecture in their varying degrees of alertness. We may have become acquainted with some of these students at the mess hall. Others scramble to the bathrooms in hopes of finding some magical hot water even though the hot water timings have ended. They are not entirely wrong in doing so.
1110 hours- A larger portion of the student population is now rising from their slumber but not entirely. Especially if they do not have any work lined up to do — or possibly because toil awaits them at their cognizant.
1200 hours- People have possibly started to think of the concept of studying, but also food.
1330 hours- The mess hall is to be explored once again but the scene is quite different now. Queues have now started appearing in the mess hall for both coupons as well as food. The food being offered will determine the buffet vs TKS line lengths. A lot of people are having their first meal of the day- snacks do not count.
1500 hours- Mess lawns are littered with people socializing and/or working, especially if the weather is pleasant. Productive behaviour can also be witnessed at the library, not exclusively but it is present. However, slight drowsiness can be felt in the dorm rooms as the afternoon slump approaches. The ones who have just awoken from their sleep can be seen at the Dhaba or other food outlets, getting a meal or just sweet chilli potato.
1600 hours- Caffeine enters the systems of many Ashokans, whether it be in the form of tea or coffee.
1700/1800/1900 hours- Some productivity has been achieved- whether it be in running errands, studying, attending classes, or exercising. More caffeine now runs through students’ bodies.
2000 hours- Dinner is being served and the mess hall student population increases as time increases until dinner timing at mess ends at which point, other food outlets experience a surge of visitors.
2200 hours- There is a final stretch of people trying to be productive. A subset of these students may be struggling against a deadline, hoping to produce some quality work that can be submitted. Student commons may be filling up but students are also starting to lose their grip on sanity.
2300 hours- Final final stretch.
2400 hours- After a slight moment of panic as you gamble submitting your papers a little bit late comes the time to celebrate — at the Dhaba or otherwise.
0100 hours- Time to sleep? Nope
0200 hours- Sleep time is nowhere near. The campus is alive. The commons are full and people are exploring the college grounds.
0300 hours- The student population is now hungry again, it is now time for snacks and ice cream- from The Hunger Cycle of course. And peri-peri fries!
0400 hours- Time for table tennis and maybe a bit of foosball.
0500 hours- People have now started to feel that resting with their eyes closed, on a bed might be important and leave the commons. Only to maybe do some work if they still have the capacity to do so.
0600 hours- It’s either time for an all-nighter or questioning if a couple of hours of sleep is really enough and maybe I should have planned this day better.
0700 hours- Hopefully asleep except for the people pulling all-nighters.