Sleepless in Manipal – A tale of Friends, broken hearts and unsatisfied appetites

Well, it’s been a long time I watched a romantic classic. I found one on my desktop, lying there for a while now and I wonder why I did not watch it before. After all, with the internet speed reaching new heights in the 13th Block, downloading movies is a feasible thing now. Sleepless in Seattle. This is the movie I’m talking about, which I downloaded some weeks back.. the title of the inspiration for this post.

The word ‘Sleepless’ kind of resonates with all the students, be it Manipal or any other place for that matter, doesn’t it? You can’t stay in a hostel and not turn into a nocturnal creature. Staying awake late nights has become such a habit, people roll their eyes if they find you hitting the sack as early as 12 in the night too! It’s like sleeping early is not a KEWL thing anymore. And waking up early before the sun rises is considered no less than a lifetime achievement. Anyway, let me try to list out a few reasons for the sleeplessness in Manipal.

The main reason I believe that changes someone into a night person is the hostel. If you were an early bird before, you would nod your heads with me when i say, the first few months here have been terrible for you. The super noisy corridors which never seems to quieten up don’t really qualify for a lullaby. And for a bad sleeper, it’s a total turn off. Birthday parties, folks jabbering non-stop on the phone for hours just outside your window etc…

If that is not the problem, then there is this ache of sharing rooms. Coming from homes having your own room – your heavenly abode, sharing your room with one, or worse two people is a real challenge especially if you don’t get along. Not all are lucky to get their perfect roomies the moment they shift in. You can’t really sleep well and early if your room-mate is an all-nighter, can you? Nor if he/she is super-noisy, or is super-social and has friends over all the effing time!

And then there’s the light issue. Some people just cannot sleep with the lights on! Again if you’re an early sleeper, you probably will be the first one to collapse, and you can’t expect the others to switch off all the lights for you! So it’s better you gift your room-mates with table lamps at the earliest. Don’t wait for their birthdays! 😉

Next comes one of the most important reasons, that not just doesn’t let you sleep early, but also changes you into a night person… Your FRIENDS!!! They will not let you sleep until and unless the same stories have been repeated a 1000 times, the same gossip has been discussed a million times, each followed by loud crackling laughter or suppressed hushed whispers! And after a while, you ll be one of them too trying to convert yet another early bird into the new you. You wouldn’t want to be an outcast especially in the first year, would you? Nor do you wish to be termed as the boring, nerdy, geeky friend. So, you are not really left with an option, u love it or not!

When you aren’t a fresher anymore, you are used to this new routine of sleeping late and waking just in time to make it to the class missing your breakfast. (Did I just say ‘Breakfast’? What’s that?) You can always catch those extra winks in class right!  After a year or two, there are new reasons for the sleeplessness.

The all time girl/guy problem.. broken hearts, betrayal, tears, loneliness… they all come together and effect your sleep the most, don’t they? You toss and turn, drowning into your new-found insomnia. You reach a stage where you want to sleep, but still are unable to. That’s a total bummer. Dark circles appear, and to worsen the situation – the sessionals, the never-ending quizzes, the lab exams, the placements do not let you squeeze in even a little time to catch a few peaceful zzzzz’s!

Then there are those countless night outs and parties which take toll. But all this sleep lost has to be balanced somewhere right? And this is adjusted by the ‘putting-your-head-down’ in the classes on the last bench which ends up in a few attendance shortage for sleeping in class! The best sleeping pattern is followed during the exams, when nothing comes your way as you enjoy the deepest of your slumbers. It’s a total slumber party. The only time, when the loudest of the noises, and the brightest of the lights don’t matter anymore. All you see is an inviting bed and the tempting sheets. And before you know, your head hits the pillow and you sleep like a log!