Ragged to Shreds

It was a hot summer afternoon when I finished my lunch and was preparing to doze of by listening to the Sansani Taza Khabar on AajTak - Supreme Court Bans Ragging across colleges in India. Some synapse in my brain triggered and I was lost in that unfamiliar territory called “Memories of N.H.L.M.M.C.” - In case you’re wondering N.H.L. stands for Nathiba Hargovinddas Lakhmichand Municipal Medical College (that pathetic little place which I called college for 5.5 years of my life)

The following is an excerpt form an article by Phalgoon Shah in our class magazine “Aqueous Humor” published in Jan 2002:

The author of this article excuses himself for any agony caused to the reader while reading this article.

The incidents described here are true (i swear…man!) but the names have been changed to protect privacy.
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Ragging: the very word would give me the shudders before I came to college. I was so afraid of it that I even considered the option of coming to coll. a few days after the beginning of the term, just to escape this menace.

It started as soon as we, the “juniors” started gathering. we were literally herded like cattle so that the seniors could choose whom to “rag” at ease.

In this article you will read some of the experiences of our classmates. Names have been changed to protect privacy.

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#1

Hi! my name is Vis**** Va**r. My friend Uj***l and I were quite safe as we knew our way around. But in the end even we could not escape. We were asked by our senior to urgently bring “an anatomical snuff box” and “the pouch of douglas”. There are some ppl who are losers, u know who end up getting ragged 20 times, who are simply BAKRAS………………….while there are COLLOSAL LOSERS like us, who don’t even know that we are being ragged.

We were asked to go to any book stall (even on relief road ) to find these items.

So here we are speaking to Mr. Bharat( i guess) and told him that we wanted to buy an “anatomical snuff box”. He looks at us as if we asked him whether he knows Babar’s sixth wife!( it’s a joke, Babar had only 3 wifes, officially).

Man! this medical stuff is sure hard to find. :neutral:

Then we go to another medical store and ask for the pouch of douglas. If someone had told me then , that the pouch of douglas (P.O.D.) was a fold of peritoneum found in females, :oops: I would have drowned myself in the sabarmati ( it was dried up that time of the year….so!). :lol:

Anyways we ended up being experts in explaining to ppl what an anatomical snuff box was and where the pouch of douglas( P.O.D.) could be found. Uj***l even dared to ask the senior that I could get him a P.O.D. for Rs. 5000/- only. Which resulted in further ragging. :cry:

Hey, if u want one just mail me at : order-POD@nhl.edu. :idea:

Asta!

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#2

Hi! My name is Naomi (name changed to protect privacy).

My ragging expereince was merciless. U see I am quite good looking and the eyes of my seniors popped out when they saw me :cool: . I was proposed to about a million times ( it was all part of the ragging…….don’t get any ideas!) . I even had to bear the proposal of a particular boy in my class. It was tough.

The experience of being proposed was not as pathetic as compared to hearing that shit. would I have had the freedom, I would have kicked some ***t. :mrgreen:

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#3

A friend and me were already tired. We had been ragged before we came to our classes. There we were given the orientation and then a break.

We thought it would be a good idea to get a drink. So we went downstairs and started searching for a canteen. On the “quest for the lost canteen” we met a senior. We had heard the seniors talk that “they are there to help us and ragging was only a way to know each other ” so we thought…….why not ask the senior that we had just met, where the canteen was. ??:

That was the biggest mistake I made in my life. On the pretext of showing me where the canteen was, I was taken to a group of seniors who hadn’t had a chance at ragging yet. :mad:

They were very kind……They taught me the rules of the game:

when they said …………

1: I had to do a pelvic thrust forwards.

in case u don’t know what a pelvic thrust is, GOD help u! :shock:

2: a thrust to the back
3: left
4: what’s left..eh? ya, u got it…to the right.

They were very good indeed……they knew 1 to 4 very well. they even knew how to count backwards.

ya……now i know how the actress feels when she gives the “thumkas“.

for those of u who still have no idea what a pelvic thrust is well…
Thumka = Pelvic Thrust.

LUCKY ME!
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I also had ppl tell me about miscellaneous incidents in which they were asked to count the stairs to the basement or find what n.h.l. stands for… Man, laxmi is a nice name…but who wants to be called “laKhmi”???

Gross!
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On a concluding note, it is imperative that I add here that the ragging at N.H.L. was friendly and mild. And be it during our first anat viva (we was soooo scared) or our exams, the very seniors who had done the ragging, helped us eventually. Also this article is not written to complain about ragging but to promote it: in true N.H.L. spirit………after all how do u expect us to complain when we ourselves will do it in the coming 5 years! !

GO RAGGING!

GO N.H.L.!!!