I still wonder, after years of passing out of a Delhi University College, as to what is that makes (or made) ragging cool? Still can't figure out a thing. You have to have some inferiority complex to put a guy down in front of a crowd.
I wrote a post on ragging a few months back. It was a detailed post bringing out various facets of the issue. It was Ragging - Who Is Responsible?
I got reminded of the post, as the colleges have started. I was reading how parents are anxious now, because there had been so many ragging related deaths in colleges of late. Many parents are accompanying their daughters and sons to the colleges (at least for the initial days). It's so unfortunate. Loss of human life is unfortnate and losing a child because he/she went out to study in a college and was harassed to death is a very painful thought.
We are reading that police personnel have been deputed in colleges in plain clothes. Also, some NGOs and senior students are too helping in checking the menance of ragging in Delhi colleges. I hope and pray it works.
Isn't that so disturbing a thought that the society is churning out youth who need to show off, get into using muscle power, or money power or political power to prove they are superior than others? Isn't money and power not intoxicating them.... so young? When they still have to earn some worth for themselves, they don't mind swelling their chests on the exhaled carbon dioxide of their wealthy and influential fathers.
There is a lot of awareness now but the anxiety of the parents is understandable.
Have you ever wondered what made ragging so cool all these years? How were you ragged during your college days? Or are you a parent? how do you feel about it? Do share.
RESTLESS
15 comments:
Ragging was meant for casual banter and understanding the seniors. Over time it became a tool for harassment and sadistic pleasure....The colleges are very strict about it now and its good news.
The anguish is understandable.. still, i will be on the student side for i was past that age.. (well, we all are past that stage, but i feel the need to point out to both the sides of the coin... ragging initially was restricted to only medical colleges and was a way by which the seniors imbibed some 'guts' on the freshers for they needed to do a lot of things that made them grow weak on their knees.. but of late, ragging has really turned its face and became a sort of a symbol of machismo...and arrogance.. that truly must be curbed...
just to quote what i know about some violent instances, I remember, one of my college mates, after getting admission in IIT Roorkee, ran away and came back home to Palakkad, Kerala because of the torture he was made to undergo. On the first day in IIT, he was slapped 100 times both on his left and right cheeks by his room-mate and this was the part of ragging. This was only mild compared to what he was made to do in subsequent days. He was compelled to urinate from his balcony, to the corridor down below where girls walked.. he couldnt stand all this.. and he came back.... he still shudder to think about his three months of IIT days. later on, he completed his studies from REC Calicut and is now working in Microsoft as a systems engineer.
I have been ragged, that too at IIT, the so called pinnacle place for ragging, believe me 99% guys who talk all the negative and alarming things about ragging don't know a thing about it, atleast in more contemporary form. Its nothing but fun and an effective way of socializing.
I am of firm opinion that ragging is the best way of interaction between seniors and juniors. Every single person I know on campus without exception is interacts freely with only those seniors who ragged them. After our batch, due to concerns like yours ragging was strictly banned in campus and since then no junior has any interaction with any senior. In fact, objective of seniors is not to hurt someone but to loosen up things and quickly bring them into freedom of college environment which is entirely different from that of home - and it works. From where I see it, its entirely a fault of over-protective parents who rear up overtly sensitive and high-headed children. In addition, if a student expresses 1% concern / reluctance for ragging, he is simply not ragged. I'd humbly suggest people to not form any opinions in their head first without getting the field information right.
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An IIT Delhi undergraduate
we were ragged in college...but none of them were physical...infact it helped us know each other and our seniors better...it helped us overcome fear and made us smarter....
but many times ragging can cross the limit...i think this happens because the education system puts a lot of stress on students...it is that stress that is making the students rough and aggressive....
I went through ragging in a medical college about 40 years ago. For me personally it was not a negative experience.
But even then, forty years ago, it could at times be a terrible experience for some persons. I remember one of my classmates leaving the medical college because of ragging.
I wrote about my experiences a couple of years ago: http://kyabaat.blogspot.com/2006/10/ragging-lessons.html
I had gone through ragging in a medical college almost forty years ago. For me, it was not a negative experience.
But even then, forty years ago, it could be a terrible experience for some. I remember one of my classmates, who left the medical college because of ragging.
I had written about my experience in a post a few years ago at:
http://kyabaat.blogspot.com/2006/10/ragging-lessons.html
Hi, ragging in an unregulated form is a menace otherwise it's a morale booster. Even my latest post is about ragging, hope you will like it.
Weakest LINK
Hi, ragging in an unregulated form is a menace otherwise it's a morale booster. Even my latest post is about ragging, hope you will like it.
Weakest LINK
There is indeed a thin line between ragging and healthy interaction. Last year I adviced my batch mates not to go off limits. For those who turned senior just from freshers, it's intriguing to rag for them regardless of considering the intensity.....
Hi Restless, I studied in Chennai. Here, we find inter-class bullying more common than ragging.
Restless,
Ragging as a tool to make freshers learn ways of college norms in a healthy manner is what is acceptable but the moment it becomes physical or sexist it is a menace. Making a fresher sing or dance or copy some scene from film is fine but not pushing or punching or making him or her strip is absolutely NO NO. Unfortunately a lot goes unreported in hostels for which I hold college authorities responsible. There has to be close watch kept. May be let wardens take rounds all the times. Those found guilty of causing body harm should be punished without delay and these should be publicised.
Take care
i agree with every bad word that you have to say about the ill-consequences of ragging.
but i think ragging has two forms-there is also a good one, which though is seen very rarely. i was fortunate to experience that ragging in my college-IIT Kanpur, and i guess it made me grow up as an individual.
It comes as a side-thought that now when government has penalized ragging, and it is showing good effects all over India, the atmosphere is IITs have been kinda degrading as a result of student isolation. I wish colleges all over India could adopt a healthier policy of student interaction.
Thanks everyone for your valuable comments. I'm sorry, i could not respond to each one of you earlier and now it seems a bit late. thanks!
Here is my take on ragging..yes, I was ragged during college but it made a stronger person :)
ohh forgot the link http://opinionsandexpressions.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/memories-of-ragging/
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