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When I joined hostel for the first time, I witnessed the horror of ragging, otherwise I had only heard stories about thrilling instances of being ragged. In my university (Aligarh Muslim University) ragging is prohibited by express orders of authorities but it is an open secret, even for the university authorities in administration, that Saturday nights of July, August and September are reserved for a full-fledged seniority show, called as “intro sessions”. During these months all the interested seniors gather in the lawn of hostel and all the juniors (referred to as “dhurra” which means donkey) are called in the lawn and then an unofficial seniority show starts. In our university a new term has been coined for ragging - intro. And every one boasts that there is no ragging in Aligarh Muslim University. These Saturday seniority shows include – comic parades, cracking jokes on juniors, making fun of freshers in all possible ways. Questions having double meanings are posed to juniors to be answered and failing which he is ordered “Murga Ban”. Unparliamentary language is frequently used and whenever there is no electricity in the hostel during these intro sessions, freshers are asked to shout abuses towards residents of other hostels. Many students break down during these intros and start to weep. Many students run away from hostel on Saturday nights but if they are identified there is a supplementary intro on Sunday morning and which is much more severe. I have myself witnessed many juniors spending their nights in the parks and play grounds because of the fear of ragging in bitter cold. This seniority show concludes on 17th September which is the birthday of the founder of our university Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, but till this day freshers have to suffer sleepless nights and humiliation. Of course, there are a few good seniors with whom juniors feel happy and enjoy talking to, but these noble and sincere seniors generally don't participate in intro sessions. These sessions are dominated by mischievous seniors who have only one agenda how to establish their seniority over helpless juniors. Attitude of university authorities Whenever any problem arises out of these intro sessions, as a first aid some seniors settle the dispute within the hostel and aggrieved fresher is prevented to approach proctor office. Occasionally if any student dares to avoid such pressure, the authorities do take appropriate action. On many occasions students have been rusticated because of ragging but the problem is redressed only when anyone dares to lodge a complaint. In spite of the strict actions initiated by the authorities on receiving complaints, a lot more can be done to proactively monitor the situation in the hostels. For example, wardens or officers of the proctorial team can take up surprise checks in the hostels especially at nights. Strong steps are expected from authorities to put a vigil on hostels during those months when ragging takes place. Responses to my efforts of anti-ragging activism As a first step towards my mission of creating a substantive offensive against ragging, I started to talk with seniors regarding the legitimacy of ragging. I was repeatedly told that there is nothing like ragging in our university. When I talked about the intro sessions, I was told that it was necessary in order to teach freshers the tradition of our university. Though they admitted that there were some problems with this tradition, they were of the view that since they had also suffered the same treatment, the juniors must pass through the same ordeal. Through such talks, I concluded that the central problem is a power game in which no senior wants to loose a privilege over the incoming batch of juniors. Though there were some nice seniors also who supported me but they were not willing to have confrontation with their own friends and advised me to keep quiet and concentrate on my studies. I was not discouraged with all this and I started to put some articles explaining the causes and evil attached with ragging on the notice boards. Unfortunately, I found that these articles were not tolerated by seniors and were removed every time. I became a victim of negative publicity through false propaganda and I knew that if I did not withdraw I would have to suffer. During student union elections one presidential candidate invited me to work on his agenda and I tried to put a complete ban on intros/substitution of intro with a more humane means of interaction, but no one was willing to confront the seniors. Thus my effort to raise this issue in the elections was undone. I arrived on final conclusion that, seniors being united to save their privileges, without organizing juniors no substantive step can be taken in this regard. Once we are able to talk to the juniors, there will always be some seniors and teachers who will come with us and will support us. In spite of the hardships involved, I firmly believe that by being courageous and formulating a strategy we can do what we want to do. Sustained efforts are essential in this regard. by Anant Asthana
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