My first day in college

It was my first day in college. The biggest day of my 16 years so far. I went through a rollercoaster of emotions. But most importantly I was free. I mean FREE!!! I took one gingerly step then another….. Well of course “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” I was well prepared. I was armed with some of the most powerful prayers of this era. I had mugged them in great desperation from my grandmother coz I had a premonition that there was grave danger lurking around. It was like the “Sword of Damocles” hanging over my head I was in terrible fear of being ragged…… And what could be scarier than that. Now that I managed to walk the first few bold steps, I mustered the courage to drag a few more moving my lips fervently chanting the magic mantras much to the chagrin of my friend who thought college could make me delirious so soon. Only if I had special sensors which could forewarn me of any such move. We rolled on oblivious to the many times we were eyed upon. And finally we reached “Commerce Block” where our classes were to be held and were reveling in the fact that we had been victorious. Victorious all the way from the gate through the drive and to the classroom. The walk felt like one on an international ramp with hundreds of pairs of eyes scanning you through their mind’s eye.

And then all of a sudden out of the blue, “Hey Freshie, freeze…...” And we frrrroze. How I wished I had Harry Potter’s Invisibility Cloak or Sabrina’s magic spells. And then we turned around and gave the most sheepish grins of our life. We were engulfed by five ‘mighty’ seniors who with their cold disarming looks quickly scanned us from top to bottom, right to left. They stood rolling their sleeves and licking their lips hatching a plot in their evil minds to make the most of the situation. We were now into the lion’s den and couldn’t do a thing about it. Then immediately the order came from the high command “Bury your damn smile!” We dutifully wiped the smile off our faces and dug the grave meticulously with our fingers and buried our poor smiles. And then we had to publicly mourn it all the way down the drive for a good 100 metres. Memories of good old school kept haunting me. Then suddenly out came a familiar little safety pin from one of the senior’s pockets. It was a milder version of one of those weapons used by our geography teacher just to ensure we don’t forget where Timbuktu or Neverfoundland was located. Then pat came the order “Measure the entire drive using this” Not a bad one I thought. After all my prayer seems to have been of some use. And then after 15 whole minutes under the scorching sun we found our poor selves counting 56, 57, 58 and then half an hour later 3001, 3002, 3003 ….. Finally our misery was put end with 5286, 5287, 5288. Whew! What a relief! All this was taking place right under the nose of a bear shaped dustbin which screamed “Ragging is strictly prohibited!” Can you beat that? And just as we were cursing our fate, the bell rang. The sound of the bell has never ever sounded so good before. Not once in twelve whole years in school. We grabbed the opportunity and scooted to the classroom.

All this was just a part of some warm up exercises to the real thing. It was supposed to be a prelude. It was just a preparation. Fortunately we did not face the real thing, although we did appear to college the next day with books in a bucket and stationery in a mug.

Now after three years of being in college, the first day is not much different. Only the roles are reversed. It may seem absurd to many of us that ragging is legally banned in most colleges. Ragging is fine provided it has its limits. Its one of the most creative introduction you can make by making a fool of yourself and breaking the ice.