Originally posted by: koolsadhu1000
Im firmly of the opinion that ragging shud be sTOPPED.
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Coz when it gets out of hand , students die or commit suicide .Sometimes it gets out of hand and the cruelty in the teasing is horrific .The weak minded r jeered and made to feel worthless
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The peeing on hotplate shown in 3 idiots is something my husbands seniors did to the youngsters in Pune ...........It may look very funny on screen but its electrocuting a delicate spot and anything can happen
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Some were asked to jump from first floor sill , one was asked to sit on buffalo and got gored
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Sorry , I dont like it at all .I was not ragged but I had decided to say NO if any senior girl tried to bully me . They dont have a right to do this .Its basically carrying forward the abuse . I was abused so I will abuse .I feel college youngsters shud themselves put a stop to it by saying NO .
I hope you are in the mood for a long post Kools.
Kools, I have faced ragging. My sis has faced it (engineering college). My uncle has faced it. My cousins have faced it.
And they are all in favour of it.
Kools, I agree that there have been some horrible stories in the media about ragging. A few cases were highlighted where ragging crossed limits. And led to injuries or deaths.
But no news channel has ever carried a report about why people still carry on ragging.
Most people, who have not been ragged and who have seen the horrible stories on TV, think that it is the age old theory- I was ragged so I will rag. But I have not seen any case like this. All the cases I have seen have been- I had a good experience so I will take ragging of my juniors so I can bond with them.
Bcos thats what ragging does in many cases. It BONDS- it is an ice-breaker btw the seniors and the juniors who would never have bonded in any other way. If any senior goes casually to a junior saying 'I will help you', the junior replies back- 'no thanks', I have my friends.
Consider a fresher of 18 who joins college suddenly- out of home, enjoying new found freedom. Not used to handling such freedom, they often get into bad ways. And they really don't want anyone to monitor them. Many of them also have this attitude that 'we are the super-intelligent ones who made it after a national entrance exam'. Most IITians have this attitude. People start considering them SNOBS.
As such, an external force, an authority becomes necessary to monitor them. Bring them to ground level. To tell them that there is no difference btw one who got rank 280 and one who got rank 550. They are told to stay in discipline. A friend in IIT was told to smoke a cigarette and he coughed on doing it. Seniors let him go. Another boy smoked easily and on prodding, accepted that he was a smoker. By the end of ragging the seniors made sure he quit.
Most top colleges (IIT, JJ or my own) have ragging. The authorities know it, but seldom take action, bcos they have an idea about what actually happens in these ragging. They know it is not harmful, cos they have faced it themselves.
I will give you an example of my ragging. Byculla is the biggest RED LIGHT AREA of Mumbai. As such we were given limits by seniors- not to roam alone, to return to hostel before a certain time, not to frequent so and so area at a given time, etc (we got a good blasting if these rules were not followed in the first six months). Then again, they prepared us be composed and not shy away if we had to take the medical history of, say, a prostitute (many come to the hospital for treatment of HIV or STD's). These are things which we had NEVER KNOWN BEFORE.
The seniors told us to be very careful with boys and yet be friendly with them. Eventually we developed a big circle of very good friends. They taught us gaalis so that any crude person making passes (the type who visit brothels in the area) would get a good one back. Also a bit of sex education.
And what did we do in return- sing and dance, tell jokes, make them laugh- do some work of theirs (for which we were given chocolate treats and ice-cream treats), and make their journals(more treats- and then those journals were given to us later so that we could copy from it😆). The reason- final year is hell!!! Many people fail final year in medical college (even get suicidal thoughts) and so any little time saved for studying counts a lot. This is again one area where seniors help- they make you stronger. There was a friend of mine who had gone into depression due to home sickness in the first few weeks after joining college. So what did the seniors do???- they called us EVERYDAY for ragging and made the rest of us do idiotic stuff, (behave like a hen, stick to the wall like a lizard, sing a song dedicated to milk etc.) so that she laughed at us, felt at home, and ultimately recovered.
The whole experience made us bolder. It also made us more sensitive and care for each other. (Remember Chak De India- SRK's high-handedness causes the girls to unite together. It happens that way) During ragging, juniors are given EXPENSIVE BOOKS AND BONE SETS, which not everyone can afford here. One senior gave me her bed, the other gave me a mirror. They told me till we are here, you won't have to spend a penny. And it was true.
And its not just about material possessions. In their free time, they TAUGHT US. Yup, they actually did. Later, we all dined together. they taught us the nuances of each lecturer and how to get good marks from him during vivas. They took care of us when we were ill or admitted, and marked the most important questions during exams.
And I followed it. I loved the experience and I wanted to extend the same to my juniors, so that we could have a group again after my seniors left college. And I did.
This is not just my story Kools. Its a common story of many people. When I joined college- my parents were scared of the 'ragging' and wanted to complain. But my sister was very firm and told them not to complain. 'She will handle herself' was what she said. And I did. Today, I have become less sensitive than before and do not cry if someone hurts me. I do not lose my temper easily. My seniors told me I had good writing skills and painting and singing skills cos of the ragging, (I was told to draw the portrait of a senior cos I said my hobby is sketching) and they encouraged me to focus on it. I think I handle pressures better now. There was a senior who blasted me for any little mistake I made. In those days I hated her. Today she is my favourite. the seniors sent us for errands like railway ticket reservations, demand drafts etc.- which our parents had never made us do at home. So we became independent. Today I do all these things for my Mom and Dad.
When we had our cultural festival (in March, remember???) and I was chief coordinator, a lot of people left work and ran away and I was standing horrified about how to manage everything alone. Then my juniors, the ones I had ragged, came to help, and helped till the last moment. Recently one junior was ill, she was getting anxiety attacks, and everyone was of the opinion that she should not sleep alone- someone elderly should be with her. I had a test the next day- but still I stayed with her and slept with her that night. Test jaye bhad mein.
that is the way people bond after ragging. And I have seen so many cases Kools, you will not believe. My sister stays in a flat with her junior right now (she had ragged her mercilessly) and they are such good friends. she is in touch with all her seniors and they love her so much. They helped her get a job when she wasn't getting one due to the recession.
If you have the patience to keep raeding, pls read further.
I hate the fact that in movies, ragging is portrayed as a villainy ALL THE TIME. True, there have been cases where things have gone wrong, but why blame everyone as bad???? These were cases in which extreme measures were taken and the juniors and seniors both did not know where to draw the line. Usually it is not the case.
I have read so many articles where ragging is condemned so badly by people who have not faced it even. That makes me sad, cos they do not know the whole facts. There may be one wrong case, but there are 99 other positive cases. There was a junior who literally stayed in his shell. My friends took such ragging- and he developed such confidence- today he is on the post of sports secretary. And I'm not lying.
In 3 idiots, there was no scene of peeing on hot plate (where did you see this???) The senior did so outside Amir Khan's door when he did not come out. It was Amir Khan, the junior, who gave him an electric shock with an apparatus he had made. So Kools, it was actually the other way around.😆 no ragging here.
Again he did not do it cos it was wrong of the senior to pee outside his door, cos later in the movie he himself did it outside his dean's door!!!
My whole point in this long post is not to say tht you are wrong and do not have an idea what it is about. Not at all. You are elder in years and experience, and have a right to have an opinion. Its just that I hate the fact that the raggers are made out as villains always. It has become a cliche in the case of many writers (and the media as well) , who write articles against it and ridicule it. This whole abuse issue has sort of become a show.They can give their opinions, but should not pass judgements without going through the relevant research first. A writer who wrote a little about it in an understandable way is Chetan Bhagat (graduate IIT Delhi- writer of 5 point someone on whom 3 Idiots is loosely based).. In the book, the 3 boys are ragged on the first night( very badly). Later one of the same seniors becomes a very close friend of theirs and they have fun with him.
Similar is the case in another book- 'Bombay Rains Bombay Girls'. It is written on my college.😃
I hope this post will help you see ragging in a broad light. Trust me, its not that bad. Nowadays juniors do not give ragging and you should see how much the lecturers are pissed off with them. "why don't you rag them?" they ask us. "They do not know how to behave in front of teachers, or what type of clothes to wear in a MEDICAL COLLEGE."
If everyone advocates it, (even the dean, who by the way, has got a padmashree recently) there must be something right, ha???
All the same, I hope that juniors and seniors both realise where to draw the line. Cos, ragging when it goes out of hand, gives a bad name to all those who have literally brought up juniors like kids. But at the same time, I also hope people accept the idea that not every 'ragger' (if there is a word like that) is a villain. Me included. 😃
Thanks for having the patience to read till the end.
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