Creating an atmosphere for ragging?
Nagamallika G.
HYDERABAD: September 8, 2006. Five students of an engineering college in AP sexually abused a junior and forced another to film the act on his cell phone.
PUNE: September 4, 2006. A first-year medical student of the B.J. Medical College (BJMC) was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Sassoon Hospital here on Sunday after he was allegedly ragged by his seniors at the college hostel.
Such shocking acts of ragging have become regular features every year, in almost all professional colleges, raising serious doubts about the professionalism of those involved in such acts. The number of such acts and the extent seems to be getting progressively worse, with the non-professional courses students wanting to join the ‘fun’, despite strict regulations and making it punishable in a court of law. And unfailingly every academic year, the menace of ragging makes it to the headlines of every daily, irrespective of size or circulation. Reports of extreme ragging incidents occasionally leading to suicides of young innocent students send the media and the law makers into a tizzy with lengthy discussions on a ban and severe punishments suggested and debated hotly. Soon other issues change media’s course in content, while the law decides to take its own course of action, making it ragging time again only when new admissions are on.
The inherent reasons for ragging seem to stem from a deep psychological malaise that develops into a saga of revenge much like our Bollywood films. The only difference being we are talking of young lives on the anvil of a long fruitful life that was nipped in the bud for no worthy cause. The scars of trauma for those living are nothing less than any other emotional harassment suffered in childhood. Although one might be adult enough to hide them or try to appear nonchalant enough to shrug the insults off, the shame and embarrassment that one suffers cannot be measured.
While the media seems to be all for bringing the menace of ragging to book, one cannot but help watch the undercurrents of ragging indulged by the media itself. Yes, the media that is said to be the voice for the silent sufferers, end up making bakraas or Chuppa rustums of unwary bystanders in the middle of a busy traffic junction making fools of themselves in the full glare of cameras for the entire nation to watch and laugh. If ragging done in colleges before the seniors is a crime where they are made to do some ‘harmless’ things, how is this ‘harmless ragging’ any different? If the trauma suffered by a youngster is a crime, why is this treatment of an adult in full public glare any less? Ofcourse they are appreciated at the end of the programme for being a sport. However, one cannot miss the parallel where the defence for college ragging has been ‘breaking the ice’ and knowing your seniors better.
If such programmes were thought to be fun for youngsters by channels whose predominant audience is the youth, (which itself is questionable of course) it is appalling to watch this menace spreading to other ‘serious’ channels too. It is alarming to watch that this nature of enjoying the discomfiture/shame/trauma/grief of another person is being made official and public thanks to our 24X7 media channels which are ready to catch all the action in close-ups. It is ‘fun’ no doubt at the expense of the victim. Similar to the vicarious pleasure that one gets when one sees a person slip on a banana peel! Instead of teaching our youngsters the basic tenets of empathy and understanding, the media seems to encourage such brazen acts of insensitivity all in the name of fun. At the expense of sounding a spoil sport, I feel its high time, the media starts thinking beyond their TRPs!
One can only worry and wonder at the lost sensitivity of an entire generation, where the rules have changed drastically over the years. The rat race coupled with the pressures of modern times where unlimited exhibitionism of opulence is coexisting with the suicides of starving debt ridden farmers probably is one of the reasons for this insensitivity. Moreover, the ‘mean world syndrome’ created and reiterated by the media is not helping things either. Is not a more sensitive media rather than just a commercial organization, the need of the hour to provide the much needed balance in a world that is dangerously tottering on the brink of a potential disaster to humanity and humanitarianism?