28.07.2009

this is in apology to my seniors in college. we were supposed to have our introduction cum interaction with seniors today evening. we had actually started that on a very friendly note but had to be discontinued since some of my batchmates found it inconvenient. they were offended by the event and went and informed the staff of the same. i want my PG friends to realise that it is essential to know our seniors and also get a feel of the place and i consider that such interactions are actually meant for that.
ragging has moved away from freshers and has now actually been redefined as harassing the seniors and putting them through lot of mental stress. the authority that is trying desperately to stop ragging doesn't seem to know where exactly to draw the line. i agree that physical and mental torture of a student should be condemned and believe it is a punishable offense. i am of the view that strong measures should be taken against people who indulge in such activities.
when our parent's friends come home and ask to sing and even our parents encourage that, we have no complaints and actually do it happily. but when seniors ask us to do that in an equally polite manner, we feel inconvenient and go around complaining about the "villanous" act. we were asked to introduce ourselves (our name, locality, previous academic qualification and hobbies). it is obvious to ask a person to sing if singing is his/her hobby. same goes with dancing.
i dont want to sound like i am writing this to get any favours from my seniors but i would close this post by mentioning an incident that happened in my final year. i had a junior named meera who was in the industrial engg. dept and she was more like a sister to me. she was in the third year. on this particular day, she was having her workshop and hence was wearing the uniform. i was talking to her in the bus bay and since there was no place near me for her to sit, i had to make her stand which she was comfortable with. that was the time when new batch was started and first years also had the same workshop and hence the same uniform. the team of 5 teachers (principal, dean, union counsellor and 2 other staff) came that way to monitor that no ragging was taking place. they saw me talking to meera and was so angry that they asked me for all my details, took away my id card and anything else that i was carrying.(okay.. now i was getting ragged. why don't you believe it? i went through mental stress.)they didn't even bother to ask meera about the scenario and it was with great difficulty that i convinced the team of my innocence and that i was not "ragging".
i close this post with a request to the HRD ministry people to sit together and reconsider a few things. i also thank my friends for not contacting the anti-ragging cell number and thus avoiding a formal complaint.
first impression was not that good an impression. hope second one is.