Ragging and More!

Last week, Jaihind College, Mumbai debarred a few students (the exact number varies from rumour to rumour, but the expulsion is confirmed) for ragging a few juniors. This surprised many people since it is the first time any college has taken strict action against, er, raggers. Even though it is a criminal offence in many states and the ragger can be jailed, no one has been arrested for ragging.

Ragging is a very common thing in many college around the country. Only recently has the government sat up and taken notice of ragging as a serious problem.

So what is ragging? According to Dictionary.com, it is:

1. Slang. To tease or taunt.
2. Slang. To berate; scold.
3. Chiefly British. To play a joke on.
The seniors command the scared, shy juniors do silly things, like sing a nursery rhyme or the national anthem loudly, do sit-ups and push-ups, dance.... anything, for that matter.

It has left a deep impact on many students, especially girls, like Indu Anto, and many others we will never hear of.

But those Jaihind guys are sure lucky they only got kicked out of college, and not thrown into a dingy Arthur Road cell.

Teasing and More

On the same note, I'd like to add that ragging per se is not restricted to a few places. It's everywhere, though in different forms.

Take the example of cool USA for instance. Though the Americans may have not heard of ragging, they sure do know how to tease.

Check out Drew Barrymore's movie- Never Been Kissed. Not for the sake of the movie, but for a taste of American teen culture. Among other things, the oh-I'm-so-cool teens call Josie Geller a loser and Josie Grossie just because she is shy, nerdy and clumsy.

But here's the prank that tops it all- the guy she has a crush on (Billy) asks her out for the prom and showers her with eggs outside her home on prom night.

And then there's Full House, a popular comedy about an American family. It has the usual stuff- dealing with child and teenage problems.

Some of them are alien to me, like when Stephanie refuses to wear spectacles, scared of what her classmates might call her- geeky and nerdy. And another time when she tries to bunk school so she won't be in the class photograph, the reason being she has a bandage on her broken nose, and will be teased for the rest of the year.

Now, I started wearing glasses in sixth grade, but I don't remember being teased. Just got a few surprised looks from my classmates. And then there was a time when I hurt the area between my nose and upper lip, but never heard any snickers or comments.

So that's the difference between their teen culture and ours, and I hope that ours remains the way it is.