Living in hostels is part and parcel of pursuing higher education (most of the time) which requires you to make an unfamiliar room your new albeit temporary residence. Therefore, it is important to make sure that you have everything you need to make living in that room a viable option.

This guide will give you a basic idea of what items should fill your suitcases and bags. However, it is only suggestive, and one should adjust it according to personal needs. The guide also does not mention the items made clear to be brought along by the Institute, such as academic and medical records.

Clothing and related items

The number of clothes a student must bring depends on how often they intend to bathe and how much of a fashionista they consider themselves to be. The average BITSian goes through about ten sets of clothes every two weeks.

Pilani faces harsh weather conditions of all kinds. Adequate winter wear—jackets, sweaters, hoodies, woollen caps and socks, mufflers, gloves, thermal innerwear—is a must. For laundry purposes, laundromats and dhobis are available if washing by hand is too much of a chore.

A student’s first academic year at BITS has a lot of lab courses which require students to wear shoes and lab coats. These are available at the campus supermarket that goes by the name of ‘Akshay Supermarket’.

A pair of shoes will be useful for most outdoor activities and a pair of sandals may also come in handy for daily use. More than one pair is suggested to account for wear and tear.

Once in a while, a formal or ethnic outfit might prove to be useful, although these can be borrowed as well. An umbrella will also come in handy, given the unpredictable rains.

Hostel Room Essentials

A hostel room is equipped with cots, tables, chairs, wardrobes and shelves—2 of each. Most hostel rooms come with a whiteboard as well. Other than these, students settling in will need various necessities:

• Bed mattresses and pillows can be bought from either Akshay Supermarket or Connaught Place, BITS Pilani (C’Not).   Bedsheets, blankets, and curtains can be brought from home or bought here. Additionally, a quilt or a razai is necessary as temperatures drop to very low extents during the winter.
• Table lamps, shoe racks, hangers, laundry baskets, mirrors, and other items are needed for organising one’s room are available on campus.
• If a student wishes to decorate their room, they are free to bring along pictures, posters, fairy lights, tapestries with them.
• A set of utensils—a plate, spoons, forks, a knife, water bottles—may be of use occasionally and it is a better idea to bring them from home.
• A basic first-aid kit may lie without much use in a student’s wardrobe for a very long time until it becomes a lifesaver at the most unexpected moments. It is recommended to have one of them with you.

Toiletries and Cleaning Supplies

Considering that most hostel bathrooms do not have shower heads, buckets and mugs are available on campus. It is suggested to bring a towel and bathroom slippers from home. Most required toiletries—toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, sanitizer, face wash, deodorant, toilet paper—and cleaning supplies—detergent, disinfectant wipes, tissues, brooms, dustbins—are available at Akshay Supermarket (rule of thumb is that if an average household requires an item for smooth functioning, Akshay has it). Although, if you are brand-conscious, it is recommended that you bring them from home.

Electronic items

It is necessary for a student to have a phone, a laptop and required chargers. Laptops are useful for studies as a lot of the academic material is available online and courses such as “Computer Programming” and “Engineering Graphics” require hands-on practice.

It is recommended to bring an extension cord as all hostel rooms have at most two outlets per person, which may prove to be two too few.

It is recommended that other items such as speakers, power banks, and torches be brought from home or ordered online if needed, as quality might prove to be an issue in campus stores. 

Classroom requirements

Items in this section include notebooks, textbooks, pens, pencils, files and other important stationery. These are all available on campus. Stationery can be bought from Akshay Supermarket, C’Not or S9. Calculators are also necessary for various courses and are available on campus.

Textbooks can be purchased from on-campus vendors, mainly Ashu Book House and Roongta Book Store, who set up book stalls when freshmen start arriving. They can also be bought from seniors who sell books at a cheaper price. PDF versions of most textbooks are also available. However, only physical copies are allowed for open-book exams.

Miscellaneous

• Visitors may require some equipment to use the facilities available in the Gym-G and the Students’ Activity Centre (SAC). While the equipment for some sports such as basketball, football and volleyball is available on campus, it is better to get equipment for other sports from home. Akshay Supermarket has a limited range of equipment, so bringing them from home is recommended.
• Online retailers such as Amazon and Flipkart do deliver items on campus.
• Mess food, although palatable, can never quite be the same as what you are used to at home. It may be convenient to bring snacks of personal preference from home.
• Since the campus is quite large and the academic blocks are spread wide apart, having a cycle could be useful. It is convenient to buy them on campus rather than from home. Add-ons such as cycle locks may be bought on campus or online for safety reasons.
• Bringing a few locks from home will be useful for locking hostel rooms, wardrobes and trunks.
• It is advised to have a spare pair of contact lenses or spectacles. 

 Glossary

1. Akshay Supermarket: Campus general store
2. S9: Campus stationary store which also provides printing services.
3. Gym-G: Campus grounds with facilities for basketball, football, tennis and various other sports.
4. Students Activity Centre (SAC): Area for student engagement, with facilities for many indoor sports and activities.
5. C’Not: A collection of eateries and small stores including a pharmacy, a laundromat, tailor stores and more.