college ragging

The second day of college had started. There was a lot of work, new study material, a new place – everything was very good.

Neha had forgotten Rahul for a little while amidst these activities, but Rahul's name kept coming up intermittently and bothering her.

Rajani and Neha were at the college gate when they saw a long queue. They started wondering what was happening.

Then they saw some senior students engaging in ragging ahead. It was the most unpleasant aspect of college life – ragging.

Neha and Rajani also joined the line. Everyone's turn was approaching slowly. (⚈̥̥̥̥̥́⌢⚈̥̥̥̥̥̀) They were quite scared.

But they didn't know what to do. They didn't want to go against the seniors and become targets themselves because that would be worse, so they remained silent there.

Some were dancing, others were applying makeup without looking at their faces. A girl was kissing a tree for the past five minutes.

The spotlight was now on Neha, with a lot of fear and silence.

Senior :- "Where are you from, freshie?"

Neha :- "I'm from Delhi."

Voice from behind: "Oh, Delhi folks! Welcome, boss, this calls for a celebration."

Senior, arriving towards Neha: "Why isn't there a college in Delhi? Or did you get kicked out of Delhi and ended up in Mumbai ?" huh ?

answer me ? ?

Neha was shockingly listening; she couldn't understand how to react.

Neha didn't know that a Delhi vs. Mumbai debate was going on here, and she had made a big mistake by saying Delhi.

{In college, discussions about Delhi or anything related were uncommon. Those from Maharashtra, who were mostly seniors, had a strong aversion towards students from Delhi, leading to extensive ragging.}

Senior :- "Now that students from Delhi have arrived, there should be no shortage of pride in them."

Another guy :- "What skills do you have .? Come on, tell us."

Neha :- m . mai....

v vo... mujhe... (darte huye)

(Neha :- "I, um... mm

Speaking with a stutter. (she was afraid... )")

Anatomy lecturer :- "What is happening here ?" (loudly)

Everyone suddenly fell silent.

Senior :-"Nothing, sir. We were just giving the freshers a tour of your campus."

Anatomy lecturer :- "You stay quiet."

Anatomy lecturer :- "Looking at Neha asked, you young girl tell me what's going on. They aren't ragging you, are they ?"

Neha :- "Nothing, sir. Our seniors were giving us a tour of the college."

Senior :-"See, sir, we were just telling and showing them around."

Anatomy lecturer :- "Okay, but no need to be scared. Alright. Go to the anatomy hall, all of you." Saying this, he motioned for them to leave.

Seniors gave Neha a weird smile. Neha couldn't understand its meaning, but she was scared.

Rajni approached Neha, gave her a hug, and both headed to their lecture hall. As it was a day off, Neha and Rajni were chatting.

Neha :- "Finally, this day is over."

Rajani :-"Yeah, it was such a weird day."

Neha :- "We survived today, but who knows what's coming next."

Rajani :-"Yeah, what will happen next, who knows."

Taking a deep breath, they entered the room. It was already night.

At 1 am, someone knocked on the door. Neha was already awake.

Neha :- "Rajani, someone's at the door, wake up."

Rajni :- "What happened? Let me sleep. No, I don't want to get up, please."

Another knock on the door, and a voice said, "Wake up quickly and come to the music hall."

Rajni :- "Who was that ?"

Neha :- "How would I know ?"

Rajni :- "What is this? Was it some senior? God knows, save us."

Neha :- "Maybe this is another senior, and our ragging is about to happen again."

Rajni :- "But that's already done, right ?"

Neha :- "It's not like that. The earlier one was by boys, and now it seems like the girls' turn. Since we stay in the girls' hostel, there could be senior girls planning to rag us. I've seen or heard that it happens in girls' hostels too."

Rajni :-"What the hell, I don't want to go."

Neha :-"We have to go. Let's see what happens. We can't stay in our room; it might create more problems. Come on, let's go and see."

Neha and Rajni reached the music hall.

There, not only were they alone, but there were also 4-5 senior girls and all the girls who had taken new admissions.

The scene in front seemed quite ominous because neither had they ever seen nor heard of something like this before. Some girls were standing in a line, and ragging had already begun for a few.

Neha and Rajni were unsure of what to do. They were witnessing some girls standing – one with a dog-like pose, another as a tree, and one girl being told to cut her hair, causing her to cry. It was extremely frightening, especially because the hair-cutting seemed a bit excessive.

Neha and Rajni also joined the line, with 4-5 girls ahead of them.

At that moment, a senior unintentionally placed their phone on the table. Neha, standing near the table, went unnoticed by them due to the line.

At that moment, Neha's mischievous mind kicked in, and a cute smirk appeared on her face.

Today, when Neha went to college, she saw the director's number. Remembering numbers was an old habit of Neha's; any number she looked at tended to stick in her memory.But today, she realized the advantage of her ability in a way she had never imagined. Knowing the director's number, she thought, "If I want to escape from all this, I'll have to do something about it."

To put a stop to all this, and the best part was that there was no lock on the phone; it was unlocked. She dialed the director's number, and as she was about to speak, a senior started approaching her.

In a rush, she flipped the phone upside down and remained silent. She didn't say anything, just contemplating that now nothing could go wrong.

The senior picked up her phone without checking it, which was a significant relief. The night before at one in the morning, a call had been made from the girls' hostel to the director, and he had answered, attempting to communicate amidst the commotion.

However, no one responded to his inquiries. Then he paid attention to the noise coming from the phone; the girls were saying things like "dance," "pretend to be a tree," and much more. Listening to all this, the director had now understood clearly that ragging was taking place there.

Neha was still ahead, followed by Rajni and a couple of other girls. Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the hall door, and a voice exclaimed, "What's happening in there ? We're hearing everything—shockingly hearing all of you!"

The director asked, "How did you muster the courage to do all this at night ?"

The boarders and many professors had entered the hall; everything fell silent.

Senior :-"How did they find out about this ?"

The eldest among the five girls was the daughter of our lecturer's friend. Perhaps that's why she wasn't afraid. The director asked her to accompany him, saying, "Come with me. What happened today will not occur again in the future."

Everyone went back to their rooms. Perhaps, due to being the lecturer's friend's daughter, she was forgiven. What happened next is unknown to us. After reaching their room, they were all very scared. Rajni started crying and said, "What's happening ? Whose college doing this kind of things ?" She was extremely frightened.

Neha, trying to reassure, said, "This is normal; it happens in every college. Why be scared ? We've been through ragging twice before. But the interesting thing to think about is that whenever we go somewhere, something or the other stops us."

Smiling, Rajni asked, "So does that mean nothing will happen to us in the future ?"

Neha replied, "Just like I stopped it today, I'll continue to do so in the future. Don't worry."

Rajni asked, "What do you mean ? What did you do ?"

Neha replied, "Oh, nothing. When I was going, I remembered the director's number."

"So, I made the call."

Rajni exclaimed, "Are you crazy? How could you make the call ? If something had happened, and they found out you made the call..."

Neha responded, "If they don't find out today, they won't find out in the future either."

Rajni insisted, "But what if they had found out ?"

Neha reassured, "Just like they didn't find out today, they won't find out in the future. And the good news is, nothing happened to us. Let's stay happy, enjoy the moment, and relax. So, go to sleep."

After taking deep breaths, both of them fell asleep. Today had been a very long day, but finally, it was coming to an end. They slept peacefully, but Rajni still felt a lingering fear. She wondered, "If this is how my second day is, how will the days to come be ?"

Neha said, "Good night, go to sleep, don't think too much. 'I am here, right ?'"

Rajni, with a smile, replied, "Yes, you are."

Good night... ? ?