As a shocking video clip of seniors whipping school juniors at a Sainik School in Jharkhand came to light, the High Court issued a suo motu notice to the school seeking its reply. With former students claiming that such 'ragging' incidents are fairly common, have the authorities completely failed in checking this crime?
My experience is that usually, people who indulge in extremely violent forms of ragging are in a minority in any institute, and they are generally bullies/cowards (a bully and a coward are two faces of the same coin). This kind of ragging happens in many places, but generally, it is around 10% of the overall student population that indulges in severely violent ragging. As a student in 11th standard, I had gone to Kendriya Vidyalaya Kharagpur (with schoolmates) for a competition. There were students from all over the country there, and we were staying in the classrooms of the Kendriya Vidyalaya. The next day, a few students of that KV (10th standard guys) were doing some severe ragging to their juniors. One of our classmates got mixed up in it by mistake, and got a few slaps and kicks. Later, we ganged up and chased them around the campus and gave them a good hiding - all their bravado went for a piss, and turned to, "Bhaiyya, maaf kar do, hame nahi malum tha ki wo bhaiyya aap ke saath the, dhobara nahi hoga aise". The people who indulge in such violent ragging usually fall into a nice pattern - total bullies in their comfort zone, and complete cowards outside.
Damn them liberals. This is how it works in the Sainik schools and military academies. If you can't take it, join a ficking fashion school or something. Indian army is an extremely disciplined army and this is the reason for it. What a sissy.
I got admission in a prestigious collage in my home town .I knew the whole place the seniors had all their routes closed .It worked that way for me it won't happen that way for everyone who live in large Metro's only works in small and medium scale towns
Yes, ragging is a British public school fallout and it is known there as 'fagging for a senior' (fag also means a cigarette, but that is not the reason). However, what all this has turned out to be is disgusting, and I would go as far as to say, criminal acts.
I understand what you are saying and how being able to endure difficulty builds up a mental and physical will to endure. But then, I am afraid you may not have got the horrors of the clip, if I may say so. I wonder if physical punishment of the third degree is essential to inculcate discipline; and that should not happens in Military academies. It ruins self respect and can maim people for life! Command is earned through respect and not through orders and legal laws. And all those under training are to command their troops and people follow leaders and even lay down their lives because of respect and faith in their leaders. And not through fear! If I may explain, I have personally gone through four years of military training. Indeed, there are very difficult, physical and mental punishment that I had to endure, but I can say this openly, that I or anyone in my time, was never physically hit! And we had a Honour Code actually in vogue and practised. Not theoretical as it is today! It is this riff raff, who now join military academies, who bring in their criminal culture, into the academies. It is such people who have no compassion and fail to bring up the camaraderie amongst the troops that is essential to fight wars. They are merely BULLIES. It is these chaps when they become officers are punch drunk with power and knowing fully well that the junior cannot retort, misuse their position and create the situation where there is 'fragging'. It is these chaps who are ambitious and so they ride the shoulder of their men for personal gains and career improvement by doing anything their seniors want without a thought for the welfare of their command and the troops! These are the chaps who learn only to be selfish sods. It is not to say that all who are joining these days are riff raff. When I was a Battalion Commander at one of these Cadet academies, I read them the riot act and even had one boy withdrawn from the academy. To maim or break a person's self respect is not the aim of inculcating discipline. It, as far as the military is concerned, is to inculcate the ability to obey a legal command, even if it is not to one's liking (attacking in war would not be to one's liking since it could mean dying) and work as a team (and that will save one from dying wantonly because all are operating and have learnt to obey a legal command). I think Gen Wavell said that Discipline is subjugating the self for the Good of a Team.
@Brigadier why do they torture the cadets with dining etiquette?Does this happen only in India or anywhere else?
Are you a troll? Why does it happen at State Banquets in Rastrapathi Bhavan where half the chaps would not know a fork from a tuning fork? But then you are inquiring because you cannot get invited to either a military do or at the Rashtrapati Bhavan?! May I also remind you that in certain parts of the world, it is necessary to break wind loudly after a meal, since it is taken to be a sign of having enjoyed the meal and as a sign of respect to the host. Do you break wind?
I don't know abt Sanik school but its very much in KVs in Punjab, Army School though are very different and quality of teachers are lot better than KVs.. And Air-Force Schools I know are very High Stander ed..
^^ I am also a KV student, and I have also experienced and taken part in ragging - but never anything like physically whipping or bashing up the kids. Physical fights and maarpeet used to happen only during/after cricket/football matches, sometimes over some girl, or similar stuff. There was never any organized ragging that involved extreme physical violence. The Brigadier is right - there is a line between ragging (no matter how aggressive) and sadism. The people who indulge in this kind of ragging are bullies who are generally failures in life - the kind who take 2-3 attempts to pass 10th standard, and then join some factory. They are bullies who are usually cowards when outside their comfort zone. One common ragging method was to get a newbie alone somewhere, and then 2-3 guys begin shouting at him - loudly. More and more guys come into the room, and each one shouts abuse at him. One says, "Abe haraami, kahan se aaya hai tu, bhosadi ke?". Another shouts, "Betichod, kyon aate hi saath bakchodi kar raha hai?". A third one says, "Oye lund - tu hi hai na us ladki ke peeche? Maa chod denge teri, bhadve!!" Different people react differently. At the end though, we would loosen up, shake hands, pat him on the back, introduce ourselves, crack some jokes, maybe share a cigarette. But there would never be any ganging up and physical brutality the way these guys are doing in the video. LOL at the guy who claims that this is 'necessary' to 'inculcate discipline'. This can have a traumatic and catastrophic effect on the kid's mind and psychology, and his self-confidence, for years to come.
