I am very disappointed

This is me, venting out my displeasure the best way I know. If you noticed I haven't visited any articles all day and there is a very good reason for that. I will do my best not to make this article as short as I can even though there are a lot of things I would love to get off my chest. To summarize my disappointment, I wasn't successful in getting a bed space today during the hostel balloting exercise.

Tug-of-war

I am still an undergraduate in college, hence the need to get a "bed-space" in the school hostel since I live very far away from the University. So, the need to get a room in the school hostel - if only that were easy.

To get a "bed-space", you need to ballot for it. This process is usually done online and as such, it is important to get a very strong network provided as well as enough Data.

The term "Tug-of-war" as written above coins from the fact that getting a bed-space within the school hostel is a battle of "who has got the best network". With few available spaces, the odds of you getting a space are very low.

My Suspicions

This battle is as old as time and we have all learned to live with it but this time it was different. Something was off, I could feel it deep within the fibers of bones. You can call it a hunch.

Today was one of those days - Balloting for bed space - as we are about to begin a new session. For weeks, everyone had been preparing. Those who couldn't ballot on their own paid a large sum to those who can (and may I say that the chances aren't 100%).

I bought fuel to power the generator because the Power here can't be relied upon. They have a funny way of disappointing someone (and I was right, a few minutes into the time the balloting began, the power was off).

It was announced that this process would only last from 8 am today until 4 pm. It seemed like a good window of opportunity to make it work as the battle began. Just then the Server crashed. This was expected because the volume of people visiting the site was many. You would think things should have been put in place to prevent this from happening or at least reduce it.

Contrary to how it was when after a few hours you would have started seeing Testimonies of people who got spaces, it was different this time, the chat rooms were filled with complaints about the server which kept on crashing.

It would also seem that there were even fewer spaces left to ballot since only a few people (within my observational coverage and survey) got spaces. I kept on trying all day trying to get it but all my efforts and preparations meant nothing as I am now left to find a place to stay.

My Concerns

Officially, Squatting is Illegal. There is a rule against squatting people in the hostels and due to the recent events caused by the pandemic, measures have been put in place to try and reduce the number of people that stay in a room within the School Hostels.

This solution creates even bigger problems. Where would the greater amount of students who are still without accommodation stay? The few people that got spaces are ready to even sell it for extravagant prices, I wouldn't blame them since it's economically lucrative. It is simple economics, scarcity and high demand will lead to an increase in the price of the commodity, after all, money is very important in the life of students.

Solution

It's necessary to get good accommodation within proximity to the school. Security is another issue students face, although it is safer within the school campus it's not outside, these are the factors I will be considering as I look for accommodation around the school. I might consider squatting or not, it depends on how the search goes but I'm hopeful.

I think if the school had more hostels, this issue might just get resolved but I don't see that happening any time soon. It's just an experience we just have to go through I guess. It doesn't change how I currently feel but being sad and disappointed won't change the outcome of things. What I need to do now is to start working towards a solution and I'm confident that I will find a way.

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