national law school life

Dear would-be law student,

(Ermm‘Teenie weenie’ died of over-use)

A few days back, I got a call from a would-be law student’s dad. When he was done with queries regarding the college, the things his son would need, placements etc. he handed the phone over to his son who I could make out, reluctantly, only reluctantly, took it.

‘Hi’, he said. A reluctant Hi, mind you. ‘How are you’, he said. A reluctant greeting again. The chap was nervous. I was amused. But then a very sure question from his mouth, surprisingly:

"How is ragging"?

"You don’t need to worry about it at all", I answered smiling.

"5 Point Someone"?, he asked.

"Sorry"?, (I didn’t get him).

"Ermm...Have you read Chetan Bhagat"?, he clarified.

"A bit".

"Do the things mentioned there happen during ragging"? he asked. The kid was keeping me in good mood. I was amused first, I had smiled before and now I laughed.

The thing is this: if you are going to make ‘The Five Point Someone’ a Bible for deciding what constitutes ragging, you better be an atheist. Read five point someone for a perspective on ragging and you are a ten point loser. I don’t care if you adore Bhagat or think he is trash. I am not concerned. I am concerned about ragging. Why so serious, son?

Now, I am going into a little pedantic mood. Excuse me for that.

If a senior asks you to sing a song, dance, do a pole dance etc. and you consider this to be ragging; you’ll be ragged.

Now, this is not ragging. This is interaction. Positive or not; I don’t know. Some would say it demeans the junior. Not really. If it does, then you and I are being demeaned day in and day out by various stakeholders. Being demeaned then should be a habit by now.

So here is the verdict: interaction (read singing, cat-walking, pole-dancing) happens and a ‘reasonable’ person ought to take this in his stride. How and why? Read on.

Understand the psyche of such seniors. I did psychology till grade twelve. Even if you haven’t should have heard of ‘peer pressure’. These seniors want to be cool and a part of the ‘in-group’.

Secondly they are playing ‘tit-for-tat’. They were made to do to such things and thus they make you do it. They are playing with you. Just like your boss will play with you. Just like he’ll make you do menial tasks because he was made to do menial tasks when he was not the boss. But that is it. Most of them don’t want to harm you.

Now, be reasonable. If you are asked to sing; sing. If you are asked to dance; dance. They aren’t judging you for a competition. So don’t be conscious or shy. If you feel uncomfortable, do it still. Life makes you to do a lot many uncomfortable things, anyway. These are little, innocuous things. Just do it. Get over with it.

Another thing: feign sycophancy. Pretend that you can boot lick till the boot is shiny (just kidding). But still, be humble. I mean pretend that you are a humble guy. Do this with your seniors as you will have to do this with your boss. Don’t be cocky. Cut the red, upright cock’s plume for a while. Cut down the volume of the cock-a-doodle-doos. You will be fine.

Do I support this sort of interaction? No. I am all for having fun for a while, getting to know each other and then helping the junior out. But yes, some people will demean you, through words. Let them go on and on. You don’t listen.

And yes, no one can dare use sticks. I know gory stories that happen. These are sad, and very unfortunate. Its great that a great many voices were raised and action taken. But please don’t take these incidents to be the norm. Nobody will get physical. They won’t even touch you. You can take me on my word.

What if they do or try to do so? Most probably they’ll be stopped at the ‘trying’ stage. And even this is a one in hundred cases or less. If they do hit, don’t hit back. You’ll be sacked as will be your senior. It is a lose-lose situation. Instead complain to a senior or the warden. And complain it as loud as possible. Like a wounded cock. Fear no one.

The senior who did hit you (took you by the collar?) or tried to do so will be punished real bad. Some 20 thousand rupees fine will be slashed, letters sent to his mom and dad or even an expulsion. He might even be put in a correctional home. I mean ‘Jail’. And people hate jails. All thanks to the rules on ragging have really hardened in the last couple of years.

Someone may ask you to ‘moot’ on some problem. That happened to us. It is a law school, after all. I also did recite some Hindi poem when I told them that by hobbies included poetry. And yes, we were made to do some Indian army style marching, some Western pole dancing. All this was fun.

Some of those ‘raggers’ are now very good friends. And regarding sticks and stones and ragging, I’ll leave it to Chetan Bhagat. That happens in his books. Not here. You know, he needs some masala for his books. Just kidding.

Yours reassuringly,

LegalPoet

PS 1-  The recent definition of ragging is very wide and includes causing mental and psychological harm etc. Someone in IITD tells me how their seniors ran away from the first years fearing that they might accidentally rag their juniors. Ha! Food for thought for Bhagat.

PS 2- I think that is about it for this series? Or do you have any topic in mind? Please do suggest.


Some related posts

17 things that hit you in an NLU. How to prepare.

ABCs of an NLU. A is for Adjusting.

Not many people here will know who Nitish Saxena is. But with nearly 850 facebook friends and many more in real existence, he is a popular chap. Add to that some amazingly deft hands at painting, an articulate mouth which shuts every other and a great brain at work; Nitish Saxena makes for an interesting profile.

Presently in 2^nd year at UILS (University Institute of Legal Studies) of PU (Punjab University), he is doing enough to put the slackers at NLUs to shame. Here is his story:

CLAT

For Nitish preparing for CLAT never felt like carrying a burden but was like a trip meant to be enjoyed, a breezy journey in which he learnt from all; the LST modules, the tutors and his classmates. He kept is cup empty and it got filled; every time.

Clutter and Struggle

Alas! It seemed he should have had more helpings of the drink in the cup. With a rank of 442 in CLAT he had the option of GNLU, an option he had never thought upon. NLS, NALSAR, NUJS were the words he had sworn by. However, he still felt the uncontrollable urge to grab an NLU seat; as strong as the need of a drowning man for Oxygen.

Oxygen! Inhale!

But Nitish Saxena grew gills. Also, fresh air came through an expected quarter. With a rank 3 in the PU’s combined entrance test there was a dilemma before the young lad. PU’s UILS offered him the comforts of home, the closeness to his family, the luxuries of being a day scholar and the love of a city known to him for over 15 years!

The Decision (very corporate)! Exhale!

Both GNLU and UILS were new institutions then, barely 5 years old, still making a name for themselves and placements hadn't happened yet in any of these colleges. His family adopted a very corporate style approach to solve the kid’s dilemma. A pros-cons analysis was drawn up (Wonder if PPT slides and laser pointers were used too) J.

GNLU attracted him because of the NLU brand. Other reasons hinted loudly towards UILS (Loud even by Punjabi standards).

Never Stop Dreaming

“Here I was, at UILS, and there was no looking back now. At this point, it was sheer optimism which made me feel that it hardly mattered whether one dream was shattered [CLAT-NLU dream]. What mattered was that I must never stop dreaming”.

UILS: an amazing amalgamation

“There is something to this place [UILS] which makes you look forward to come to college every day, sometimes even on lazy Sundays. Perhaps it is the campus and the crowd. Most of my time was of course taken by studies (your exams aren't that easy), projects (which involved field work too) and presentations”.

“The best thing about PU has to the amazing amalgamation of a students coming from various streams of education. Facilities in the university including a huge library (Asia's largest), a gym, cricket/football grounds, swimming pools, and lots more make PU far better than many of the NLUs”.

Things to do

“The other opportunities which UILS provided me, and which I immediately grabbed were seminars, research papers, conferences, moot courts and internships”.

Moots

• Came 2nd in the Surana & Surana National Trial Advocacy Moot Court.
• Participated in a National level Human Rights Moot organized by NHRC.

Paper Presentations

• Presented a research paper on "IPRs: Bio Piracy" at the National Law & Technology Seminar.
• Presented a research paper on "The Maintenance & Welfare of Senior Citizens Act 2007: A Bold Legislation or Mere Eyewash" at the All India Law Congress.

Internships

• A 6 week summer internship at Punjab SHRC, Chandigarh.

Extra-Curricular Activities

• Came 1st in the inter-college on-the-spot Debate held at PEC's Literary Fest, Chandigarh.
• Came 1st in the Business Marketing Plan Competition held at PEC Fest, Chandigarh.

The worst thing about NLUs

“The worst thing about NLUs, undoubtedly, has to be the intense competition which students face. It is so severe that most of them are unable to cope with it. Although the place refines you and makes you a person ready to take on the monstrous corporate world, it also takes a bit of life out of you”.

“I often hear my fellow NLU students brooding about too much pressure, studies, exams etc. NLSIU has a trimester system to add to the miseries of the poor souls”. [Ha!]

Familial drugs, fatal distances?

“Moreover, they are away from family which too affects them. Another rampant problem is drug abuse. Almost 8 out of 10 friends of mine who went to NLU's took up smoking, drinking or drugs. They call it a measure to break free from stress. I call it self-destruction. I fail to understand why NLUs compel them to resort to such means”.

Envy

However Nitish doesn’t deny being envious; envious of the practical training that NLU students get, the academic atmosphere of an NLU, the intelligent pan India crowd and their desire to be the best.

The murder

Nitish didn’t opt for an NLU by a conscious and deliberated choice. There he had stabbed the pride. And when you realise that he has no qualms about not joining an NLU and actually believe that he is better off at UILS, you can’t help but ponder, wonder and pat on the back of the murderer.

Nitish can be reached on Facebook here www.facebook.com/nitishsaxena

Disclaimer: Please, this is nothing against GNLU which I think is a top notch law college. Please note that I am of talking about 2-3 years ago. And Nitish too is a sort of 'rebel', who goes against the normal and then succeeds. Anyone now in his situation would prefer GNLU, of course. (Except him, maybe. That is why I interviewed him). :)