Freshers at the College

Come September and we see a new batch of freshers in college.The college gets a new hue,freshers bring a whiff of fresh air to the college.Rest of the college is also excited about the news.But Hey!There is a caveat!This is the ragging season,these days even a phatic enquiry by a senior makes national news.Better safe than sorry ,stay away!Ask any one of freshers what is that he/she is looking forward to or is excited or scared about in the new college .It's ragging ,they would repartee.It has become such a bugboo that the freshers move in groups of not less than five .Noticeboards across the college,classrooms and canteens flash notices about the punishments if found 'ragging'and newspaper articles featuring the plight of students who got ragged by their seniors.But has anyone stopped over to think if all the seniors the villians that they are projected to be?Is every senior that keen about scaring the living lights out off his juniors?The media has cast such an image in the minds of the fresh admissions that as they think about the seniors an image of a blood sucking vampire might come in first.There are a few myths regarding ragging that got to be busted .The cases that the news channels report are only a few isolated ones,these are the kind of people who donot deserve to study in a civilized society.You may pick up a couple of cases at maximum.Rest of the seniors are not so keen about doing such things nor does any sane individual derive any pleasure out of such acts of babarism.Students planning to get a new admission look at these and lose their nights sleep thinking that they might be next.The second thing is ,it is a suggestion rather,donot do things that you don't like,never;so that the issue ends there and then.So what is the whole fuss about ragging,it is actually a misnomer,what they mean by ragging is an interaction,small meetings or simply schmoozing with the seniors at the canteen or somewhere else.What good will it do to you or your seniors you might ask.It's just like talking to your elder brother or a cousin.Why?because you are new to the place it's like asking a new acquaintance about his place and whereabouts that further gels into a relationship of a lifetime.Furthermore if the course you are into is a professional course.It is not going to be like your school,it's college, you will not find everything you want in the books,there are other resourses including the online ones.Finding all these all alone is not all that easy.Added to that is the fact that it is not all about the curriculum,there are half a million other factors aswell,professors might not always tell you all these.It is your seniors who will tell you which way to head and what is the right way of doing things.Five to six years down the road may be you come back to your alma mater may be you won't ;may be you meet the members of faculty may be you don't but at the end of the day the people who will be there all along will be your seniors at the college,they will help you with your projects,at your work place , in all walks of life .What I am saying is purely out of personal experience.Thanks to the exquisite coverage by certain sections of media,we donot even have an interaction session that we previosly had.The chummy relationship we had with our seniors ,we don't have it with our juniors.For us the relation has been anything but amicable.They sure are missing something so are we , it's a give and take.We cannot match their energy levels,alacrity,passion and ideas.Whatever it is,wherever we might be heading ,we would like to wish the freshers all the very best.May they excel in whatever they do.Just a reminder,any sort of help no matter how silly it might sound,don't hesitate to meet your seniors and discuss.No matter what the college or people around you might say we are always there.