DORM NIGHTS AND DANCING LIGHTS

Edited By: Antara Joshi

We are often the first things to be unpacked, pulled out from the countless boxes of belongings of an oblivious freshman, ready to turn the stark, unfamiliar dorm into a cozy corner of comfort. 

We have a way of making things feel like home, you know. We may not be grand chandeliers or even fancy lamps, but our soft glow wraps around the room like a hug, easing the bizarre transition into this new chapter of life. 

Our moment arrives as dusk settles and the harsh ceiling lights are flicked off in the room that still feels like a hostel that someone else stayed in. String by string, we come to life—draped over bed frames, strung across windows, or tacked carefully along walls like tiny stars in a personal galaxy. We help define this space, and for the first time, it feels like home.

We’ve truly seen it all. From the first night calls to mom and dad, to witnessing the laughter of new found friendships over a massive box of Chicago Pizza. We watch these young lives unfold as they all go through similar rites of passages as a freshman. 

We witness the late night study sessions where the room is silent except for the scribbling of a pen or the typing of a laptop. We’ve also seen spontaneous dance parties the very next day, the kind that break out when the stresses of academics get too much. It’s in these moments that we feel truly alive, as if we were dancing along with them. 

We are a silent confidant for the anxious freshman living away from home for the first time, an unobtrusive part of the background while being deeply intertwined with their life. 

We are storytellers, without the voice. We’re always there to seize the snapshots of life—our soft glow is preferred over the blinding white lights of the room every evening. From our viewpoint, we see every corner of a room, watching them start out as blank slates every fall and slowly get filled with photos and posters, reflecting a major part of the student’s personality. 

We get to know each student, every one unique trying to figure out college in their own ways. 

But college really isn’t about the highs and lows, it’s mostly about the in-betweens, which really shapes the students—the ordinary moments that, strung together like lights, make something extraordinary. 

We see the quiet mornings when they sit at their desks, coffee in hand, staring at the sunrise through the window, and the way they steal glances at the empty bed of a roommate who hasn’t come home yet, wondering if they’re okay. We witness the shared silences between friends who don’t need words, and the nervous pacing before a phone call that could change everything. We see them learn to navigate independence, balancing the thrill of newfound freedom with the weight of newfound responsibility. In these moments, we become more than just decor; we become part of their journey, bearing witness to the small but significant steps that lead them from who they are to who they’re becoming.

Every year, as summer approaches, we see them pack up again—this time a little more confident, a little more grown. We get tucked away in boxes, tangled but not forgotten, only to be unfurled in a new room, ready to tell new stories. We are constants in this ever-changing world of new faces and new places. 

We can always leave the Christmas lights up till January.. but what if we left them up the whole year?

• ASHOKA UNIVERSITY
• college
• dorm