Vedika had enrolled in the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) Aizawl, a regional campus within Mizoram University (MZU). Her decision combined the prestige of the IIMC brand with a chance to explore the "frontier" of the North-East. At twenty-two, she dreamed of a life beyond city lights and the freedom to explore new places.

On arrival, Vedika's excitement was quickly replaced by fatigue. The lush scenery between Lengpui Airport and the MZU gates built up her anticipation, but she was surprised to find that there was still a challenging distance to the IIMC campus.

The road from the MZU gate to the IIMC campus was a punishing, five-kilometre stretch of hilly, unpaved terrain that seemed to mock the concept of distance.

With every turn, she wondered if her campus was finally coming into view, only to be met with the disappointment of another curve of dilapidated road.

To make matters worse, the bumpy, poorly maintained path added to her frustration. Eventually, she reached the campus, which was located roughly five kilometres from the MZU gate. In the hills, distance feels much greater than it does on flat ground, a reality Vedika didn't fully realise until she first stepped out of the campus to explore the city.

The stretch from IIMC to MZU would soon become the central focus of the students' lives, as the journey from IIMC to the city involves a multi-leg relay: from the campus to the MZU gate, then to Ramrikawn, and finally to Temple Square.

Temple Square offers the first real glimpse of the city and is where students find all their college essentials. However, the distance is not short, and the commute is incredibly expensive. Coming from Delhi, where the Metro connects every corner of the city, to Aizawl, where travel is both difficult and costly, was the first major shock for Vedika.

Soon, the money to book autos to the MZU gate ran out. Vedika and her friends decided to start trekking to the MZU gate, a walk that takes around 60-70 minutes one way. While the walk is fine during the day, the real problem occurs on the way back. In Mizoram, the sun sets early, usually by 5 PM.

Since college classes wrap up at 4 PM, students have barely an hour to explore before the light fades. Once the sun sets, students have to rely on mobile flashlights to navigate their way back because there are no consistent streetlights. This leaves the tumultuous path dark, surrounded by the "hill jungle", and filled with the fear of wild animals.

The students of IIMC, most of whom come from metropolitan states across the country, were shocked by this reality. They are often left with no choice: they either trek or book a cab, which is only possible during the first two weeks of the month when they still have their pocket money.

Once that money runs out, they are stranded. Unlike the Mizoram University students, IIMC students have no bus facility. The road to IIMC is barely surviving, and each monsoon leaves it with more potholes. At night, students have been greeted by snakes on more than one occasion.

The danger of this trek is not merely theoretical. On one occasion, the darkness of the road turned into a scene of genuine panic. Around 7 PM-a time of pitch-black stillness in the hills-Vedika had to rush out to rescue a group of her friends who were being chased by animals.

In the confusion and shadows, it remained unclear whether they were wild dogs or foxes, but the terror was real. Her friends were forced into a desperate, lung-bursting uphill climb back towards the hostel.

Sneha Kumari, a student from Bihar, highlighted how the transport issue affects her daily life. "It is an issue; it is costly, we can't afford it," she said. "Even if you rely on a lift, it is rare, and there is a trust issue-how can we rely on people? The crime rate is low, but it still exists."

Sneha came up with the idea of exploring the state, but the costs have made it impossible to even reach Ramrikawn regularly. She thought about renting a scooter, but she doesn't feel confident enough to drive on the steep hills.

While some, like Pukhraj from Rajasthan, enjoy the long walks when the weather is pleasant, the darkness remains a threat. Pukhraj recalled being scared at night by someone's presence on the road, which eventually scared him off.

For others, the displacement is also felt through food. Shubham Singh shared that food was his biggest challenge. "I thought I would relish street food here, but I was disappointed," he said. He found that the local people rely heavily on chow and boiled food, with no familiar street food in sight.

This is how the students have been navigating their lives in Mizoram-the complete opposite of their dream picture. It is, as they describe it, "oxymoronically beautiful."

At the heart of these struggles is a complex administrative knot. Shashwati Goswami, the Regional Director of IIMC Aizawl, explained that the cost of providing a private bus is exorbitant. "While MZU has enough students to make a bus service affordable, the IIMC batch is small. This year's batch of 34 is the highest in the campus's history, but even then, a bus service costing 90,000 rupees a month is difficult to fund," she stated, though she remains hopeful for a solution.

There is a possibility of a fix next year. Goswami is in talks with the MZU student union, which runs the bus service. If IIMC students can become part of the union and pay a nominal fee, they might finally be able to avail themselves of the buses. However, she admitted that these negotiations "might take up some time."

Despite the "dilly-dallying" of administrative decisions and the daily grind of the five-kilometre climb, there is a resilient beauty to the life these students have built. It is, as the students describe it, "oxymoronic." They are surrounded by some of the most stunning landscapes in India, yet they are often confined by the very geography they came to admire.

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