There were plenty of college hangouts even five years ago. Today however sees a decline in places where kids can congregate and there are several reasons why.
College days are reminiscent of lectures, friends, funtimes, functions and last but not the least, college hangouts. It’s the place tobe, where everyone meets everybody (even if it is on a daily basis), wherethere might or might not be a source of entertainment, food and beverage andmost importantly, great company. Regardless of exams or holidays, hangouts wereplaces where everyone gathered to talk, share or simply while away their time.Most colleges had their signature hangouts like Sakharams Gado in Chowgules,Rafters and Hanuman Soda in Mapusa, Monginis for Damodar College and so on andso forth. However mostof these places have either shut down or gone out ofbusiness and the students have now moved elsewhere or hardly have any places tohangout any more.
Saloni Dias, who studied at Chowgule College says, “Collegehangouts used to be something that was used as a form of identifying whichclique you were a part of, or what mind-set you had. Over the years, I thinkthat sometimes the closed approach that people sometimes have that results‘blacklisting’ of sorts, as well as the management looking down upon people onsaid blacklists, has made them turn away from these hangouts. This has led tothem shutting down. This is a shame. I believe that these hangouts are anessential part of the college experience.
One other factor for hanging out in places was food, if thecollege did not have a canteen, students would often go to a nearby college anduse their canteens. Also theentertainment of the time in question also is an important factor. At one timeplaying pool was extremely popular and students would flock to various cafesthat offered this amenity. Falon D’Cruz who was an ex student from XavierCollege says, “When we were in college we used to go to Rafters, It was a pooljoint. To be honest, I don’t really know why we would go there in the firstplace as it was not particularly entertaining. If one person would go there therest of us would follow. It was basically just the experience of hanging outwith your friends.”
Most of these places have now shut down for various otherreasons as well. College students now have fewer places to hangout and haveprogressed to the malls, food joints like KFC etc. However the experience ofcollege hangouts and the special ambience that used to be their signatureattraction is a culture that is slowly dying.
