by Sudipto Banerjee
Ragging at educational institutions in India (particularly in the residential campuses) is a very common phenomenon. Many students go through this humiliating and often physically abusing experience at the beginning of their college days. This is, without a doubt, a widespread social menace. And adding regional, cultural and socio-economic differences in student backgrounds only make things worse. Sometimes, I hear arguments (in defense of ragging) which claim ragging to be an ice-breaker between the old and new students. This is a ridiculous defense of a ridiculous practice. If humiliation and abuse are the essential ingredients of a conversation starter then we are not living in a civilized society. One cannot imagine similar practices at the workplace. Then why does it exist in colleges?
But the one development that disturbs me more than the act of ragging itself is its acceptance in our popular culture. Recently, I was watching an Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match which was airing on prime time Indian television. These matches generally garner high TRPs and are watched by millions and millions of Indians. And, when I watched an apparently innocuous advertisement of Cadbury�s Dairy Milk chocolate I was shocked. The ad used a stage of ragging to promote its product. It shows the ragging victim distributing chocolates to his tormenting seniors and their hearts melt so much so that they forget ragging and return hugs to him. This was not the first time I observed such callous depiction of ragging in front of millions. I have seen ragging stages used as comedic backdrops in blockbuster Bollywood movies as well. �Munnabhai MBBS� and �3 Idiots� are the ones that immediately come to my mind. Not surprisingly, in all three instances the victim of ragging comes out �victorious�. Such is the demand of our popular culture! But in my experience as a student, I have never heard of or seen anyone who came out �victorious� from their ragging. The truth is, if you try to be a �hero� in front of your seniors on a ragging stage, you are only making your college days more miserable. And the pain, anguish, humiliation and abuse that follows is never portrayed in a culture which is used to see actors as �heroes�.
The way the Cadbury ad depicted ragging, it looked more like an innocent fun act than ragging. True, not every ragging episode goes to extreme ends. But some do. And certainly most of them are neither innocent nor fun and very few of them end with hugs. Ragging is a criminally punishable offense and it would be better for the society if our popular culture depicts it that way. I imagine it would be absolutely wonderful for parents if they could send their kids to colleges with bags full of sweets and chocolates and not worry about their son or daughter getting ragged. Until that day comes, why not treat ragging as what it is?
Author's website: http://web.econ.ohio-state.edu/~sudipto
