A Shubho Bijoya to everybody. And a happy Dusshera. And have a great Diwali.

Pray for a ragging free year.

Wake Me Up When September Ends...Or Don't.

Its the first of October. Time to take a look at the horror that last month was.

Its been a common perception that we focus too much on Kolkata. So this time we will explore the barbarism throughout the length and breadth of this nation.

A scuffle broke out between South and North Indian students at Vivekananda Institute of Technology, ironically named, which left 8 injured. Apparently 3rd semester students were ragging the first semester students badly,especially the ones who hailed from Bihar. They were allegedly locked up in a room and "treated like animals". They decided subsequently to take matters into their own hands and a brawl ensued.
The authorities made no F.I.R.s. Oh and they said it was a minor fight over meals.

University of Aligarh has decided to impose fines on ragging offenders. We hope it works.

On a more sombre note, we remember Chetan, who used to be a student of Mysore Medical College who was traumatized by ragging. He committed suicide. As Achebe said, things have fallen apart; people vowed to change things. Nothing has.

Chennai colleges have moved on from physical to semi-physical and psychological ragging...
And so Uday Anand, a final student at the University of Goa, lives in constant fear of assault because he asked the juniors to stand up against ragging and not be afraid of him. He lives under an atmosphere of constant persecution and heavy handed intimidation. His room is broken into by batch mates and what do the authorities do? The Registrar proudly declares that an undertaking has been taken from the offenders that their behaviour won't be repeated.
And so all we need to do is ask Dawood to say that he will leave crime. Mission accomplished.

Its been a wretched month. And the future looks glum. For us. For you. For the first years. For Uday. And for the millions of you who feel the same way but will never speak up. Thanks to all the people who read this and go on to another page, the saga of violence will go on.