Hello fellow-bloggers
We have a new contributor to this blog now - my dear friend Nishant. I think the more the number of contributors , the more varied the opinions, the less chances of this blog being one-man/woman's trumpet. Keep reading/writing.
Cheers
Archie
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
There is no doubt that we have been living in a male-dominated society since mankind (see what I mean … I should say humankind) has been around. This has of course been unfair to women; they have been suppressed until very recently, though this still continues in many parts of the world. History has taught us that any kind of suppression has always created problems. In today’s world I think such problems are visible, though they are very subtle.
Men have enjoyed unquestioned authority for ages. Naturally this has led to evils such as exploitation of women (e.g. not allowing them to have careers of their own), and accepted norms like women leaving their home after marriage to live with their husbands. As a result, the society expects men to be the heads of families, bringing in money to support the family. In such a situation, women who do succeed in making a career of their own, have to yet deal with another problem, typically an ego/chauvinism issue – if their husband is less successful than them. This is again extremely unfair to women.
In today’s world, I believe, these problems have manifested themselves in such a way that the situation has started to reverse, although probably very locally. What I mean is that men are generally assumed to be less trustworthy than women, they are assumed to have ego problems and to be chauvinistic. I’ll give a few examples (1) If a marriage breaks, it is generally thought that it must have been the man’s fault. (2) Let us suppose you have a friend who is a girl. She falls in love with a boy of another caste, and they both hope to get married. Suddenly the boy’s parents refuse to allow inter-caste marriage, and so the boy calls off the wedding. You may feel that the boy is a … and he should have known this before falling in love and making promises. Now let us reverse the situation. Your friend (who is still the girl) calls off the wedding because her parents refused to an inter-caste marriage. Would you call the girl a … or will you sympathize with her? (3) If a woman says “I want to be more successful than my husband”, this is interpreted as she does not want to be known by her husband’s name, she is ambitious, she may be head-strong, etc. If, on the other hand, a man says “I want to be more successful than my wife”, this is generally interpreted as – what a male-chauvinistic pig!
Now the above examples may seem to suggest that I feel that the society is being unfair to men. Well … yes, but they deserve it right? They are the ones who claimed superiority, and they are the ones who started exploiting women. But do all men deserve this, even those who do not have ego issues, who are not chauvinistic, and who completely love their wife and family? I guess the answer should be that not all men deserve this, exactly as women do not deserve the treatment they have got in the past, and continue to get in many places today. It seems to me to be a situation like men dug a pit for women and are falling in it themselves today. Some people may call this fair, others may call it unfair. But I think it is just unfortunate – the society needs to be more balanced when it comes to men and women for the benefit of BOTH!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
The Time Traveler's Wife
Media: Movie
Genre: Pathetic
Okay, I really wanted to write something on the blog. A new month has started and as it is unrolling, I see I'll find less and less time to wag my tongue online. So I thought that I might as well indulge in this soothing exercise of blogging right away and write about something even if it is pitiful. So it is about this movie which I watched with my friend at a Mall a few weeks ago -- recently released, and non-conventional title. I was intrigued...
It is a movie about this guy who time travels, all over the place without control. And when he does so in his hurry he leaves behind his clothes..captivating hunh (?). He starts this habit of 'never being in time' as a child when he time travels out of car in which he is traveling with his mother. The car gets crashed in an accident but he time travels and saves himself (after watching the movie you'd wish that he didn't). And then we all know, bad habits
Still I sat through this.... only to end up wishing ardently that I could also travel back in time to stop myself from buying the tickets and put my money to some good use instead..cheers to another bag of popcorn (without the movie of course!).
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Unaccustomed Earth
Media: Book
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri
Genre: Fiction
I had resigned myself to spend long hours at the San Francisco International airport. I was tired after a long and hectic day and was hoping to catch up with some good sleep on my flight. The announcement that my flight would get delayed by a good three and a half hours made me resume my battle against boredom half-heartedly. I was browsing through news-stands for some beam of interest to save myself from falling into usual torpor of such situations when I came across this one. I have not really followed Lahiri's work in any depth though she is frequently credited with churning out bestsellers.
It is a collection of short stories centered around NRIs, mainly people of West Bengal in India, and their experiences on the U.S. continent (Lahiri is from Bengal herself and currently lives in Brooklyn , NY). It makes for a tolerable read. I quite liked the first story and it remained my favorite of the collection even after finishing the book. The author is definitely adept at capturing emotional dilemmas and intricacies of human mind and heart. The last three stories which form the second part of the book are also quite moving. They are independent accounts of experiences of two characters - Hema and Kaushik. Eventually the reader discovers deep connections in their stories as their paths cross unexpectedly.
I will recommend this book for a one-time read. But like many others in its league, it brought me yet again to this unanswered question - do the stories that aim to touch our heart necessarily need to be sad ... ? Most of them failed to do so but I still wasn't able to have a sound sleep on my flight.
Banker to the Poor
Media: Book
Author: Muhammad Yunus
Genre: Non-fiction
This was a present from my family on my M.S. graduation. The book is the story of an idea that started small and evolved into a movement, that aims to provide a novel economic solution to one of the most practical problems of the world --- poverty! The crux of this tale is about provision and impact of microfinance for the poor --- the idea that a little and timely help to the poorest of the poor can help them break the vicious circle of poverty and lead a life of dignity is really quite simple and practical. However, it has more to it and hence I abstained from restricting it to the genre of books on rich theories of microeconomics.
The first two chapters are totally autobiographical in nature. The childhood reminiscences of author leave you with a Malgudi-day like feeling (most of us R.K. Narayan fans would be familiar with this). The tale is so simply and wonderfully told that I didn't feel even a tinge of bitterness at the author's description (then a child) of partition of India in 1947 amidst chants of Pakistan Zindabad. He amalgamates you completely in his journey and you are hooked.
The real story of Grameen Bank* - the movement which has lifted millions of people out of poverty since its inception - starts in chapter 3 with author's return to Bangladesh in late 70s. You and I who have the luxury of reading and writing blogs in our spare time without worrying about two square meals a day are introduced to an existence which has to battle, struggle and win over the threats imposed by ruthless poverty everyday. The evolution of Grameen, starting from a small project in the village of Jobra to an international movement covering 2.5 million people worldwide is charted out with the ingenuity of a master storyteller. (You have to trust me for that, I am the first one to doze off on seeing reams of data and figures .) The author weaves an engaging tale of human triumph over the most hostile circumstances with application of concepts of banking and microeconomics as aides in this battle against poverty - of course with a twist. The reader is able to maintain the same level of involvement with the narrative be it the description of extraordinary lives of the ordinary people which were touched and changed by the Grameen movement or an account of bureaucratic and financial hurdles Grameen had to overcome to reach where it is today (anyone who has walked the official corridors in India would be painfully aware of this).
It also breaks some important and persistent myths, - I subscribed to some of them too before reading this book. For instance, contrary to the popular perception the repayment rate of loans by the poor is the highest. Most of us suffer from a subtle social arrogance which may sometimes manifest itself as distributing cash or alms to underprivileged on religious occasions or the like and any thought of such people recompensing our 'charity' is almost unthinkable. This book gives a reality check - the poor can be most ardent of workers and most faithful borrowers. They respect and cling to a ray of hope which can pull them out of their harsh reality and this makes them infallible to many temptations which, in fact, the privileged lot is more susceptible to.
I think this book should be read by one and all . Even if someone is not interested in the philanthropic aspects, it surely holds some lessons for all of us.
* 'Grameen' is a Hindi word which means 'of the village' (village is called 'Gram' in Hindi).
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Some beautiful lines...
I could not include it in the earlier post of Landmarks in Poetry - that's because it isn't one. Nonetheless, the simplicity of this piece touches a cord somewhere and hence I'm sharing it on this blog. Unfortnately, I am not aware of the name of the poet who penned the lines below.
कोई तुमसे पूछे कौन हूँ मैं
तुम कह देना कोई ख़ास नही .
एक दोस्त है कच्चा पक्का सा
एक झूठ है आधा सच्चा सा,
जज़्बात को ढके एक परदा बस
एक बहाना है अच्छा सा ।
हवा का एक सुहाना झोंखा है
कभी नाजुक तो कभी तूफानो सा,
सकल देख कर जो नज़रें झुका ले
कभी अपना तो कभी बेगानों सा ।
जिंदगी का एक ऐसा हमसफ़र
जो समंदर है पर दिल को प्यास नही,
कोई तुमसे पूछे कौन हूँ मैं
तुम कह देना कोई ख़ास नही ।
एक साथी जो अनकही कुछ बातें कह जाता है
यादों में जिसका एक धुंधला चेहरा रह जाता है,
यूँ तो उसके न होने का कुछ गम नहीं
पर कभी-कभी आंखों से आंसू बन के बह जाता है ।
यूँ रहता तो मेरे तस्सवुर में है
पर इन आंखों को उसकी तलाश नही,
कोई तुमसे पूछे कौन हूँ मैं
तुम कह देना कोई ख़ास नहीं ।
कोई तुमसे पूछे कौन हूँ मैं
तुम कह देना कोई ख़ास नही .
एक दोस्त है कच्चा पक्का सा
एक झूठ है आधा सच्चा सा,
जज़्बात को ढके एक परदा बस
एक बहाना है अच्छा सा ।
हवा का एक सुहाना झोंखा है
कभी नाजुक तो कभी तूफानो सा,
सकल देख कर जो नज़रें झुका ले
कभी अपना तो कभी बेगानों सा ।
जिंदगी का एक ऐसा हमसफ़र
जो समंदर है पर दिल को प्यास नही,
कोई तुमसे पूछे कौन हूँ मैं
तुम कह देना कोई ख़ास नही ।
एक साथी जो अनकही कुछ बातें कह जाता है
यादों में जिसका एक धुंधला चेहरा रह जाता है,
यूँ तो उसके न होने का कुछ गम नहीं
पर कभी-कभी आंखों से आंसू बन के बह जाता है ।
यूँ रहता तो मेरे तस्सवुर में है
पर इन आंखों को उसकी तलाश नही,
कोई तुमसे पूछे कौन हूँ मैं
तुम कह देना कोई ख़ास नहीं ।
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Scrapping the Section 377
There is so much happening around the world these days, that I sometimes feel disillusioned with my internet window for being unsuccessful in giving me an adequate peep into it. The attempts of keeping myself abreast of what's going on in other parts of the world seem to fall flat when I realize that I remain woefully ignorant of slightest hints of the storm in my cocoon.
The current storm pervading Delhi originates from scrapping of the anti-gay law by the Delhi high court --- strong enough to make me log into my blogger acct. and think aloud about the issue in front of you all. I would refrain from calling it a discussion because I understand very little or none of the underlying thesis, nonetheless like every other educated elite I should talk about it! I discovered that I belong to this category after I read some public opinions on the matter and tracked their source to everyone who could afford to worry about something other than two square meals a day.
As I said earlier, I can boast of neither an opinion nor an understanding of queer group. For starters, I would surely raise a strong objection to being referred to as 'queer' if I was one of them --- we lose half the battle there itself by proclaiming some sizable proportion of world's population abnormal/odd. Looking beyond the unfortunate nomenclature, there are a host of questions in my mind. There is a multitude of opinions on the source of this 'problem' as they say --- psychological, biological, genetic, social etc. etc. A more kind reference addresses the homosexual tendency as a latent inclination which a person is born with --- essentially we have as many opinions as we have heads under the sun. For me, even a 'usual' relationship between a boy and a girl is complicated enough to have any concrete views about homosexual relationships. I do find them 'odd' --- but on that count my relationships might look 'odd' to a gay, so that's not sufficiently reasonable to adopt godforsaken attitude towards this community. But just by sheer common sense and my little experience with a restricted variety of relationships till date, I can safely say that just because I love a person, I can't be called a criminal. Of course, that presumes that the person is not uncomfortable with the emotion. Just to be clear here, I am not propounding the consenting adults argument here --- even adultery involves adults consenting to cheat on each of their partners. I am talking about usual relationships with which we grow, formulate and live with - the good hindi movies ones! So in spite of my primitive knowledge about the issue, based on my rudimentary analysis above, I feel reasonably assured about the judgement scrapping 377. It is definitely a step in right direction.
Even if some of us 'usual' ones (I won't use non-queer, there is enough 'strangeness' prevalent among heterosexuals also --- ask any girl who has walked the streets of Delhi!) think that we have a moral responsibility to dig into sexual inclinations of a particular group and set it right (ahoy.. the religious leaders), the first step is to create a level ground for discussion. You can't make criminals out of people and then lie the burden of proof on them, occasionally indulging in kind interjections of 'whats-your-problem-dude' ---- this is like terrorists asking a captive to do an appraisal of the food and hygiene conditions in the terror camp. And the judgment of the Delhi high court is the first step in building an even platform. The blackmail of the gay group which persists behind the cover of this law should not be acceptable in a civilized and just society. For that matter, our men in uniform do not need any laws to make a travesty of the 'Citizens first' motto of the police force (for instance rape cases of women, irrespective of their sexual backgrounds, at the hands of policemen and soldiers continue to make shameful headlines). But why give another weapon in hands of a loutish and corrupt force?
Besides, there is an urgent need to bring the homosexual group into mainstream of the society. If the numbers are to be believed, there is a higher than average prevalence of HIV-AIDS and other STDs amongst this group. The problem is worsened by social and legal ostracization of gays, which pushes any solution farther from sight. Delhi high court has done well in attempting to alleviate the latter, the former remains to be remedied by us 'usuals'. So let us disembark from our moral high horses and try to do this right!
The current storm pervading Delhi originates from scrapping of the anti-gay law by the Delhi high court --- strong enough to make me log into my blogger acct. and think aloud about the issue in front of you all. I would refrain from calling it a discussion because I understand very little or none of the underlying thesis, nonetheless like every other educated elite I should talk about it! I discovered that I belong to this category after I read some public opinions on the matter and tracked their source to everyone who could afford to worry about something other than two square meals a day.
As I said earlier, I can boast of neither an opinion nor an understanding of queer group. For starters, I would surely raise a strong objection to being referred to as 'queer' if I was one of them --- we lose half the battle there itself by proclaiming some sizable proportion of world's population abnormal/odd. Looking beyond the unfortunate nomenclature, there are a host of questions in my mind. There is a multitude of opinions on the source of this 'problem' as they say --- psychological, biological, genetic, social etc. etc. A more kind reference addresses the homosexual tendency as a latent inclination which a person is born with --- essentially we have as many opinions as we have heads under the sun. For me, even a 'usual' relationship between a boy and a girl is complicated enough to have any concrete views about homosexual relationships. I do find them 'odd' --- but on that count my relationships might look 'odd' to a gay, so that's not sufficiently reasonable to adopt godforsaken attitude towards this community. But just by sheer common sense and my little experience with a restricted variety of relationships till date, I can safely say that just because I love a person, I can't be called a criminal. Of course, that presumes that the person is not uncomfortable with the emotion. Just to be clear here, I am not propounding the consenting adults argument here --- even adultery involves adults consenting to cheat on each of their partners. I am talking about usual relationships with which we grow, formulate and live with - the good hindi movies ones! So in spite of my primitive knowledge about the issue, based on my rudimentary analysis above, I feel reasonably assured about the judgement scrapping 377. It is definitely a step in right direction.
Even if some of us 'usual' ones (I won't use non-queer, there is enough 'strangeness' prevalent among heterosexuals also --- ask any girl who has walked the streets of Delhi!) think that we have a moral responsibility to dig into sexual inclinations of a particular group and set it right (ahoy.. the religious leaders), the first step is to create a level ground for discussion. You can't make criminals out of people and then lie the burden of proof on them, occasionally indulging in kind interjections of 'whats-your-problem-dude' ---- this is like terrorists asking a captive to do an appraisal of the food and hygiene conditions in the terror camp. And the judgment of the Delhi high court is the first step in building an even platform. The blackmail of the gay group which persists behind the cover of this law should not be acceptable in a civilized and just society. For that matter, our men in uniform do not need any laws to make a travesty of the 'Citizens first' motto of the police force (for instance rape cases of women, irrespective of their sexual backgrounds, at the hands of policemen and soldiers continue to make shameful headlines). But why give another weapon in hands of a loutish and corrupt force?
Besides, there is an urgent need to bring the homosexual group into mainstream of the society. If the numbers are to be believed, there is a higher than average prevalence of HIV-AIDS and other STDs amongst this group. The problem is worsened by social and legal ostracization of gays, which pushes any solution farther from sight. Delhi high court has done well in attempting to alleviate the latter, the former remains to be remedied by us 'usuals'. So let us disembark from our moral high horses and try to do this right!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Rampaging ragging
It is one of those pieces where I feel angry with myself for writing so late. Not that I was unaware of the incident which brought this ever-prevalent monster back to light, but the thoughts had flickered and died out amidst the platitudes of routine life. The revival was triggered when I recently caught up with episode of 'We The People' on NDTV. The discussion was covering recent acts of violence committed in the name of ragging, particularly the one which took place in Dr. Rajendra Prasad Medical College in Himachal Pradesh leading to death of a teenager Aman Kachroo due to severe beating by his drunken seniors.
One of the panelists was the father of deceased boy --- Dr. Raj Kachroo, who had the courage to come out and voice a balanced opinion against this growing menace even in the wake of his own terrible loss. There were a few other noted names on the show --- like Deepak Paintal, the VC of University of Delhi who took the controversial yet sanest stand of complete eradication and defended it adequately, famous columnist Jug Suraiya who insisted on discriminating between 'good' and 'bad ragging, based on the halcyon days of his adolescence. He recounted, to the glee of some members of the audience, how ragging used to be indeed quite innocuos in his hostel, and just involved hurling water-filled condom balloons --- really innocuous and stupid....yeah! Other panelists included R. K. Raghavan of the Raghavan committee which submitted a report with the government in 2007 advising certain measures to eradicate the evil, filmmaker Manish Gupta who has made a movie 'Hostel' based on his real experiences of ragging in engineering college and who was ballistic in his support for complete ban and also towards likes of another movie maker Apoorv Lakia. Lakia is an alumnus of Lawrence School Sanawar, which was the spot for a recent incident involving beating of some junior students by their Class XII seniors. He, however, expressed surprise of a 10-year old on the occurrence of this incident at his revered school and tried to make us believe in the golden days he had spent there interspersed with being made 'murga' by the prefects (form of punishment where the defaulter crouches and holds his ears_more details on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murga_Punishment) --- but that was it, he insisted.
I think the show was pretty good and covered most of the related issues, giving space to all viewpoints (.. how else can you get Lakia on airwaves for so long a time - it exceeded the combined run-time of all his movies at the theaters !!). Nonetheless, I still want to share my sentiments on this through this blog. The reason in part being that, though I have had a fair share of fun in my college life spanning DU's St. Stephen's and IIT Delhi without perpetrating or suffering this menace myself, yet I kept seeing around myself and reading about varying forms of it - consensual, coercive, light fun, sick - really the complete spectrum! And again and again I have been convinced of the complete futility and hypocrisy of this mindless exercise, which had reared its ugliest face in the case of Aman Kachroo and cost him his life.
Let us face it guys (and girls) - there is really no justification of ragging. If we are making ourselves or someone else believe that, without ragging, the students who attend the same institution for 3-4 years will be left exchanging nods as strangers at their graduation ceremonies, the whole argument crumbles on being dealt with an iota of logic. Alas we never-got-to-know-you-better excuse because there was no ragging, is so hollow and cliched that even a political speech before elections will sound fresh to that. If there is a sincere intention of both seniors and juniors of extending a hand out, I don't see why such an awkward, and often embarrassing, interaction required to break the ice. And seriously, if a senior refuses to help you and makes the above excuse, it's good that you escaped the clutches of that psycho. 'Dance for me so if you need this set of notes' - sounds like a perfect gentleman, isn't it! So once and for all, let us give a rest to this friendship argument for ragging - we all know that there are much healthier avenues to know each other better.
A related issue is that of 'good' and 'bad' ragging. But 'good' for one can be a 'torture' for other. If you are a dancing sensation in your school, asking to burn the dance floor on a hip bollywood number is a cakewalk and surely a lot of fun (On second thoughts, even if I dance like Hrithik Roshan, I will not be willing to shake a leg on someone's command) - but the person standing next to you might have been born with two left feet. The prospect of dancing in front of a group including his own peers and seniors can be horrifying. Yet another excuse often furnished by seniors/raggers is 'you-need-to-open-up' program. Not every student thinks that he/she requires a majors in dance/drama/poetry.. and maybe harassment by the end of program! Another hazard of letting even non-physical ragging unabated is the danger of it quickly devolving into something more perverse. Unbridled authority is dangerous, esp. in hands of 20-year somethings. There have been ample examples of physical and sexual abuse in the name of ragging - it might just have started with the usually thought to be innocent song and dance routine or something of that order. And really, the whole idea of any sort of authority exercised in this hierarchical fashion is quite perverse in itself. As far as lighthearted teasing goes, that is a usual riot even in close-knitted friend circles - but demanding such a right just because of academic seniority is pretty baseless. All the people who pass off as teasing seniors are just a bunch of deeply insecure people who vent their insecurities and impress themselves in a twisted fashion through an aggressive act of ragging - rest all the excuses are rubbish and mere hypocrisy. So we need not bother ourselves with drawing lines between good and bad ragging - there is just one line to be drawn, that of ragging (in any form) or no ragging.
This also brings us to an important question of responsibility. I think besides meting out irrevocable punishments to those directly involved in propagating this menace, the relevant authorities should also be held accountable. The importance of the institutional responsibility cannot be diluted, esp. after the report tabled by Additional District Magistrate of Kangra makes it clear that, in Kachroo case, the college authorities behaved imperviously to student complaints of rampant ragging in the institution. Moreover, evidence for physically abusive ragging in the college dates back to at least 2006. Such apathy on the part of the institution should lead to charges of criminal neglect against the top management and in absence of remedial measures educational licenses may be revoked. Also, each student, junior or senior, should feel responsible towards curbing this menace and fearlessly report the perpetrators to the authorities. To ensure and encourage the report of such incidents without any fear of retribution, setting up anonymous helplines for students should be helpful. It has reached a proportion where any price is a small price to pay because nothing is more precious than human life and dignity.
One of the panelists was the father of deceased boy --- Dr. Raj Kachroo, who had the courage to come out and voice a balanced opinion against this growing menace even in the wake of his own terrible loss. There were a few other noted names on the show --- like Deepak Paintal, the VC of University of Delhi who took the controversial yet sanest stand of complete eradication and defended it adequately, famous columnist Jug Suraiya who insisted on discriminating between 'good' and 'bad ragging, based on the halcyon days of his adolescence. He recounted, to the glee of some members of the audience, how ragging used to be indeed quite innocuos in his hostel, and just involved hurling water-filled condom balloons --- really innocuous and stupid....yeah! Other panelists included R. K. Raghavan of the Raghavan committee which submitted a report with the government in 2007 advising certain measures to eradicate the evil, filmmaker Manish Gupta who has made a movie 'Hostel' based on his real experiences of ragging in engineering college and who was ballistic in his support for complete ban and also towards likes of another movie maker Apoorv Lakia. Lakia is an alumnus of Lawrence School Sanawar, which was the spot for a recent incident involving beating of some junior students by their Class XII seniors. He, however, expressed surprise of a 10-year old on the occurrence of this incident at his revered school and tried to make us believe in the golden days he had spent there interspersed with being made 'murga' by the prefects (form of punishment where the defaulter crouches and holds his ears_more details on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murga_Punishment) --- but that was it, he insisted.
I think the show was pretty good and covered most of the related issues, giving space to all viewpoints (.. how else can you get Lakia on airwaves for so long a time - it exceeded the combined run-time of all his movies at the theaters !!). Nonetheless, I still want to share my sentiments on this through this blog. The reason in part being that, though I have had a fair share of fun in my college life spanning DU's St. Stephen's and IIT Delhi without perpetrating or suffering this menace myself, yet I kept seeing around myself and reading about varying forms of it - consensual, coercive, light fun, sick - really the complete spectrum! And again and again I have been convinced of the complete futility and hypocrisy of this mindless exercise, which had reared its ugliest face in the case of Aman Kachroo and cost him his life.
Let us face it guys (and girls) - there is really no justification of ragging. If we are making ourselves or someone else believe that, without ragging, the students who attend the same institution for 3-4 years will be left exchanging nods as strangers at their graduation ceremonies, the whole argument crumbles on being dealt with an iota of logic. Alas we never-got-to-know-you-better excuse because there was no ragging, is so hollow and cliched that even a political speech before elections will sound fresh to that. If there is a sincere intention of both seniors and juniors of extending a hand out, I don't see why such an awkward, and often embarrassing, interaction required to break the ice. And seriously, if a senior refuses to help you and makes the above excuse, it's good that you escaped the clutches of that psycho. 'Dance for me so if you need this set of notes' - sounds like a perfect gentleman, isn't it! So once and for all, let us give a rest to this friendship argument for ragging - we all know that there are much healthier avenues to know each other better.
A related issue is that of 'good' and 'bad' ragging. But 'good' for one can be a 'torture' for other. If you are a dancing sensation in your school, asking to burn the dance floor on a hip bollywood number is a cakewalk and surely a lot of fun (On second thoughts, even if I dance like Hrithik Roshan, I will not be willing to shake a leg on someone's command) - but the person standing next to you might have been born with two left feet. The prospect of dancing in front of a group including his own peers and seniors can be horrifying. Yet another excuse often furnished by seniors/raggers is 'you-need-to-open-up' program. Not every student thinks that he/she requires a majors in dance/drama/poetry.. and maybe harassment by the end of program! Another hazard of letting even non-physical ragging unabated is the danger of it quickly devolving into something more perverse. Unbridled authority is dangerous, esp. in hands of 20-year somethings. There have been ample examples of physical and sexual abuse in the name of ragging - it might just have started with the usually thought to be innocent song and dance routine or something of that order. And really, the whole idea of any sort of authority exercised in this hierarchical fashion is quite perverse in itself. As far as lighthearted teasing goes, that is a usual riot even in close-knitted friend circles - but demanding such a right just because of academic seniority is pretty baseless. All the people who pass off as teasing seniors are just a bunch of deeply insecure people who vent their insecurities and impress themselves in a twisted fashion through an aggressive act of ragging - rest all the excuses are rubbish and mere hypocrisy. So we need not bother ourselves with drawing lines between good and bad ragging - there is just one line to be drawn, that of ragging (in any form) or no ragging.
This also brings us to an important question of responsibility. I think besides meting out irrevocable punishments to those directly involved in propagating this menace, the relevant authorities should also be held accountable. The importance of the institutional responsibility cannot be diluted, esp. after the report tabled by Additional District Magistrate of Kangra makes it clear that, in Kachroo case, the college authorities behaved imperviously to student complaints of rampant ragging in the institution. Moreover, evidence for physically abusive ragging in the college dates back to at least 2006. Such apathy on the part of the institution should lead to charges of criminal neglect against the top management and in absence of remedial measures educational licenses may be revoked. Also, each student, junior or senior, should feel responsible towards curbing this menace and fearlessly report the perpetrators to the authorities. To ensure and encourage the report of such incidents without any fear of retribution, setting up anonymous helplines for students should be helpful. It has reached a proportion where any price is a small price to pay because nothing is more precious than human life and dignity.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)