Briefing or Ragging July 28, 2014

I learnt about the existence of “Ragging” as an issue when I bumped into a Bollywood movie titled, “Table No 21.” In simple words, ragging takes place when someone senior in an institution try to abuse, humiliate, or harass a new comer. Ragging is considered a sensitive issue because it is notoriously infamous for leading to serious consequences. Elsewhere, the victims of ragging have died/are dying and the culprits had been/continue to be slapped with fines or even put behind bars depending on the seriousness of the case. I have heard about there being ragging culture in some institutes in Bhutan too and even experienced one myself when I was in College. I was not ordered to unclothe myself or beaten by seniors like the way ragging case has been reported elsewhere. Fingers crossed, I do not think people have died due to ragging in Bhutan. Nonetheless, we cannot have the issue take root in a country like ours.

To describe ragging through my personal lens, it took place in four steps. The first step was a dramatic entrance, the second step was the introduction, the third step was the lecture and the fourth step was kept for conciliation. These steps will be highlighted in the following story.

As per the mentioned date, I reported to Sherubtse College on the last week of July. Room allocation for students had already been done in advance and I was given a room in Degree Hostel Eight (DH 8). Each room was supposed to house four students. I met with few of my schoolmates on the same day and we decided to be roommates. So Dawa and Kuenzang became my roommates. That evening when we checked the notice board in our hostel, a hand written paper caught our attention. It read, “New comers must wear Gho while going outside.” When we asked our Hostel Councilor to confirm if it was true, he said seniors might have pasted the announcement for fun. At night we could hear students shuffling their feet and talking loud as they climbed the stairs. We assumed it to be either second year or third year students because all the first year students were located on the ground floor. One student among them even shouted in a funny tone, “Ummm…I can smell the first year students.” By that time, we had heard rumors from here and there that there would be ragging very soon.

The next day, all the new students gathered outside the Multi-Purpose Hall (MPH) near the academic block. It took the whole day to register the new comers. We had to submit our documents, pay the College fees and even give a mandatory security deposit. It was a long day for all of us. So, my roommates and I had early dinner and decided to call it a day. The door was latched, lights were put off and we wished each other good night’s sleep.

The Dramatic Entrance

Suddenly, there was a loud continuous bang on our door and it scared the hell out of us. We did not know what was going on. Someone ordered from outside, “Open the door.” Lights were switched on and it was Kuenzang who opened the door. Dawa was up but still inside blanket looking towards the direction and I was on the bunk bed doing the same thing. A group of people entered the room and without wasting a single second one senior signaled me to climb down. “Hey Nuchu! Don’t you know, you have to get down when seniors are here?” asked one senior and another one added, “Nuchu, don’t you know you have to stand up when seniors are around?” Three of us were soon standing in line. Some of the seniors were sitting on the chair which we gave them while others stood behind them blocking our exit. I could see our Councilor among them who gave quick glance at the situation and left without saying anything. The room was filled with the stench of alcohol.

The Introduction

From right to left I was the first one standing. So they ordered me to tell about myself. So I told them my name, village, previous school and mentioned my hobby - to sing. As soon as I stopped, one senior told me to sing one song and I obeyed. Next was Kuenzangs turn to introduce. He introduced himself and when it came to his hobby he said, “I like singing….no no I like reading.” Dawa introduced after Kuenzang.

The Lecture

After introduction was done a senior began, “Nuchu, this is not ragging okay? We are here to brief you regarding hostel rules and regulation.” When we nodded, he continued, “Actually, there are not much things to keep in mind. Just keep the three rules in your mind at all times. Rule number 1 – Respect seniors. Rule number 2 – Respect seniors. And final rule – Respect seniors.” At that time, Dawa was leaning a little bit on the table in from of him and the senior lecturing us saw it. “Nuchu, what is your problem? Are you trying to disrespect us? You better not show your attitude” shouted the senior. Next, another senior beside him told us that we must not trust four things. He said, “Never trust wine, women, the weather of Yonphula and clock tower at the entrance of our College.” At the time, the clock tower was malfunctioning and the hour hand and minute hand of the giant clock would always point at 3. After that, few other seniors asked us few questions. We answered all the questions with the word “La” in the end. God knows the consequences had we not used the word. The Group finally stood up to leave our room.

The Conciliation

I thought finally everything was over but it was not. One senior remained in the room. But he told us to be seated. He told us that we should not be angry with him and his friends. He told us that he and his friends had to face the same thing when they were first year students and even presumed that we would do the same thing when we become seniors one day. We were told that briefing is done to remind some students who came with the class 12 attitude (senior in school) in College that they are no more seniors. The senior told us not to keep the night’s incident in mind and left our room. It was midnight when all the seniors left us alone. I climbed my bed and started noting the incident in my diary. We were all pissed off, complained and were back-biting our seniors. Dawa was the angriest among us and I could literally see his ears and face which had turned red as the anger raged in him. Kuenzang and I was angry too but we laughed occasionally by mocking his response and Dawas blushing face and ears.

The next day, most of the students were talking about what happened last night. Some students managed to escape being ragged by staying in the room of their senior brother or friends while few escaped by hiding in the toilet. We asked our schoolmates regarding briefing in their hostel and shared our experiences too. Everyone bursts into laughter. In the room of one of our schoolmates Samten, one roommate said that he had no ambition. When it was Samtens turn to introduce, he said his ambition was same as the friend before him. At that time, the senior in the front was annoyed with the response and even rolled his sleeves throwing the question, “Huh, how can it be same?” Another schoolmate of ours by the name Migma shared his experience. Migma had a muscular body and he was huge in size. Initially he thought that he would beat up the seniors if they came to rag him. A short guy followed by his friends came in his room and contrary to his thoughts he had to retreat. He said, he learnt what crowd could do to you that night.

During my 3 years stay in the college, I heard few rumors regarding ragging. In the past, seniors used to wait for the juniors at Trashigang Pam and Yonphula to welcome them and juniors had to wear our national attire from that point onwards. It is said that if juniors told the senior that their hobby was swimming, the seniors would spill a drop of water on the table and the juniors had to swim on that drop. There was a particular joke regarding ragging among students. Once a junior told senior that he liked cycling. So he was made to ride an imaginary cycle by sitting on a chair. He was made to peddle the imaginary cycle. Suddenly, the junior stopped. When the seniors asked him why he stopped peddling, he answered, “Right now, I am going downhill.”

I became a senior after two years. Ragging was still there but I did not take part in it because the night we were ragged, I decided that the chain had to be broken somehow. But Councilors during our time did a great job during the welcome tea session for juniors in our TV/meeting room. Welcome tea session was there even when I was a first year student. The only difference was that, during our time juniors and seniors spent extra time in room by sharing their feelings and experiences regarding ragging. By the end of the session, there was smile on everyone’s face because a truce had been called.

Ragging was never visible to the management because it was never called by its original name. “Briefing” was the alibi and euphemism used by the ones who used to rag juniors.