My cousin completed his B.Tech from Nirma Institute of Technology who stayed in the community hostel named Saurashtra Kadva Patel Samaj situated in Gandhinagar. However, he had friends from various hostels, and here is his insight about the hostels.

Hiramani: This is the most liberal hostel for students in terms of rules and timings. You can return late at night and can indulge in typical hostelling activities like playing LAN games, watching movies on the laptop, etc, as long as you aren’t disturbing others. However, many students complain about the bad quality of mess food.

SGVP: It is a gurukul of Swaminarayan, thus making it quite religious and strict in terms of rules and decorum. Honestly, if you belong to a religion other than Hinduism then you might feel uncomfortable at times. However, the food quality is one of the best as they provide really healthy and tasty breakfast, lunch and dinner. The biggest drawback of this hostel is that there are no doors in the room hence no privacy at all.

Also, check out the following restrictions you have to face if you live in SGVP.

• You have to wake up by 6:30, take a bath, do Pooja and assemble for prayer in the evening and return to the hostel before 10:00 pm.
• You are not allowed to make noise by playing loud games.
• You can not watch any objectionable things on your laptop, because the rector can barge into the room at any time.
• If you break any rule you will have to pay a fine.

Saurashtra Kadva Patel Samaj: Here, my cousin chose to live for 2 years out of his B.Tech journey. The hostel was neat and clean and fees were just 20000 for a year, however, the food was just satisfactory.

Overall, it is highly recommended for freshers to join SGVP because of cleanliness, great food, and discipline. But, if you have budget constraints, the fees might seem high. Nevertheless, it is worth the fees.