Rings & Hallucinations. It's flashback time now. Yours truly was in the first year of college. I remember it all. It was my first Sunday in college and I was having a very "healthy interaction" with my seniors. I wanted to make an impression ( what a wrong choice) and started asking the names of the seniors around me. I found quite a few seniors staring at me. Just then a senior whom I knew since school days walked in and I lost no time in greeting him "Hi Shankar, How are ya!!!". Awwwh... I didn't know that the as per college rules ( senior rules) a junior should address a senior only as "Sir" or "Madam" and not by their name. The seniors found a bakra in me. And the quizzing errr I mean healthy interaction went on till 12:45 in the night. As I was about to leave, one senior told me his room no and asked me to wake him up by 6:00 am. Huh! I thought. I went to my room and lied down on the bed. But I couldn't just sleep. till about 4:00 am. The alarm rang at 5:45 am and woke me up. I went to my senior's room ans woke him up. He didn't wake up instead he asked me leave. I came back to my room but couldn't sleep again. That day was just the beginning. In the next few days, we marched round the campus, measured distances using a 1 rupee coin, counted the number of steps at every place steppable place ( I mean a place with steps), gave impromptu dance/singing performances and what not. We also did a Fashion show, draped in bedsheets ( a saree replacement) posing like the sexy babes on FTV. And at the end of the event there was a Miss Boys hostel as well :) . All this lasted till the Freshers party where we had a DJ ( my first and the best) which lasted till early hours of the next day morning.
Although I do remember instances where I really got fed up, I thought the overall experience of ragging was fun. It made us know our seniors and more importantly helped us shed our inhibitions. Most of us there were shy, introverts ( who had cleared a tough entrance exam and hence had the "studious" image hanging around) who preferred staying in their own rooms. We could no longer do that once a senior had asked us to shake a leg or strain our vocal chords.
What's happening right now in the universities of Delhi seems to be the exact opposite. Of course one can always say that "Ragging should not be taken to an extreme. It should be within limits". But guess we can only imagine or else at best blog about such things. Once the freedom is provided, there seems to be an equal chance of it being taken to the other undesired extrme . It is unfortunate that ragging has now become a criminal offence. Ragging mana hain aur students ko yeh maan na hain!
Huh! I can only hum the Pink Floyd anthem " We don't need no education ..!" shaking my head in disbelief.
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