Wednesday, August 31, 2005

The 'SO-first year-engineering' look

Ok fine. In 1999, I ragged a junior guy in uni and made him cry.

I was young and foolish. And on a perpetual high about being the only girl in the group of hockey-stick wielding guys I hung out and ragged juniors with.

Am not very proud of it. So don't ask me for details. Those who know, know.

When I related the incident to one of my friends, he asked me, "How on earth did you get away with ragging your juniors? Didn't the fella just refuse to do what you ask him to do? And what would you do if he did?"

I could not answer him at once. But I thought about it later. Pehaps my gang days' experience played a part. Perhaps it's the fact that I showed the authority on my face. The authority of a senior who knows her way around too well. And the fact that sitting in the canteen, you can instantly identify the freshies, they have that certain "SO-first-year-engineering" look, the way they dress, the way they talk, the way they behave, it's easier to intimidate them because they know you know your way around and you know they don't.

Just like the look you can find on the face of 'the contract programmer who flew in from India this morning' or 'the first year master's nerd', there is a typical 'SO-first-year-engineering' look. I suppose I had that look too when I first came to uni. And that look got me ragged too!

Actually, it was never called 'ragging'. They called it 'orientation'. And yes, I was oriented too. Starting with getting severely reprimanded for calling the senior guys "Bhaiya" (elder brother), to being asked to stand on the steps and play antakshari against myself for an hour while the guy who ragged me said, "Am gonna get a coke. You continue singing." And sing I did. Just because he had the "I've been around" look while I tried desperately to get rid of my 'So-first-year-engineering' one.


I was reminded of all this because of something funny that happened in uni today.

I was almost hit on by two first-years.

Could be the jeans and the T-shirt. (This morning, I blacked out again so went for my blood test. Since I did not go to work, I went to uni in casuals.)

Could be the horrifying demographics I saw -- higher number of Indian guys, barely any Indian girls.

Could be the fact that I was working on my assignment in the library where the undergrads go. (I prefer to work there instead of the postgrad one because it brings back memories of my undergrad days.)

Could be the casual shirt I had on top. To protect me from the freezing cold temperature of my classroom. (When I go to uni from office, I usually take a blazer or a shawl.)

Could be the hair. (I had washed it this morn and hadn't bothered to straighten it so it was in its wildest punk glory.)

Could it be that today I had the 'SO-first-year-engineering' look?????

As I stepped out of the library, I heard some shuffling of feet behind. Two Indian guys, both 'SO first-year-engineering'! One of them said, "Main bulata hoon, tu baat kar!" I don't blast music on the ipod so I could hear them clearly. Besides, Jaggu was crooning a very soft number. I heard some more scuffling of feet, and some pushing and shoving as I walked off. As I walked further away from them, I heard the ring of disappointment in the final statement, "Kya yaar..."

I couldn't stop laughing as I walked away.


What if they'd dared to approach me? 18-year-old kids trying to hit on who they thought was another 18-year-old?

Would have been fun.

I'd have made them cry.



30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Man ur cruel :)

virdi said...

me first again.... yahooo!!!
firstly>> send me the punk wala foto...
secondly>> ragging is fun
third>> i was ragged so i had to rag someone
and>> u took off because you had to go for blood test?? you are such a big cheater. you try to find out stupid reasons not to go to office (you are just like me.. hehehehe.. calvin laughter)
and>> you still look like a kid what can they do??
and>> you said this: Laughed my ass off in my head. now its my turn to laugh my ass of my bumpy. its not on my head. hehehehe...
finally>> being ragged brings you closer to seniors.. so happy ragging..
V..

virdi said...

oh no i second
:-(
jab dil hi toot gaya fir jee ke kya karenge..
V..

Siddhu said...

Oh Sayesha you still look THAT young. And you were just as cruel as an 18 year old? tut tut. ;)

Btw, i object to the first year master's nerd' bit!! Hey...!!! x-(

Siddhu said...

it shld have been 'you still look THAT young?' ;)

Sayesha said...

Vijay,
You bet I am! :P

Virdi,
Phir se photo chahiye?? Pitega Priya se yeh!

Siddhu,
Where were you man?? Busy with "studies", huh? ;)
ps: Hey, I am first year master's too!! x-(

Siddhu said...

Lol you too? Chi chi... n u make fun of us :D

No course not started yet. Was running around meeting relatives, getting stuff and choosing courses. *YAY! Courses in me area of interest *

Anonymous said...

anonymous alert ...treen...t treeeen ...treeeeeeeeeen... t trin trin trin.....

Anonymous said...

hahaha...reminds of an ad tt used to come on tv (abt some cream or sth)..whr the guy approaches a lady in a shop and says "hum dhoona saath mein college padtete na?"
and the lady replies "haan, main tumhare teacher ti"
(or sth like tt...)

Sayesha said...

Siddhu,
//*YAY! Courses in me area of interest *

I second that!! Yeayeay!
ps: And me no nerd, okay?? :P

Spam,
Damn the anonymouses. Virdi ki dhamkiyon ka koi asar nahin hua! I had to enable the word verificaton thingie. I know it's annoying, but anon comments are more so!

Angelsera,
Hahahahaha!! Yeah, that was one funny ad! :)

Jagan said...

for orientation we used ask our juniors to take an ant for walking :-). they had crawl on the floor beside the ant and guide it along with their hands.they werent allowed to touch the ant.they could only tap somewhere near the ant.

Anonymous said...

yaar! so many blackouts? is everything okay?

Sayesha said...

Jag,
Hahaha! That was a brilli-ant idea! :D
ps: During orientation, we had to do something weird (and yucky) called 'complex numbers'. Will write a post on that some day.

Croondoodle,
Will know on Saturday.
ps: You're turning into a Virdi, man. Picking the most insignificant part of the post to comment on! :)

Virdi,
No offence, man. We love you and your comments! :)

Anonymous said...

=)...ain't i honoured? ;P hehehe... sorry yaar Virdi! just kidding!

sayesha...guess a big 'kaala til' would save you from the blackouts! A black for a black? ;P...take care girl!

Ravi said...

arey kya yaar. you should have talked to these 18 yr old's. mazaa aaata.

i bet you would have been 'feeling like god' at that time. you could have tortured them but you let them go. what a feeling...

PS: to word verification daal hi diya...

Sahil said...

You made a guy cry? My God Sayesha, you're a total bad-ass, u know that?

and I can't believe u were made to sing Antakshri with urself? Guys come on, am I the only one who finds this funny. Picture her standing by herself in a canteen - hands behind her back, singing away and enjoying herself! Well, gotta say u were a good sport....

...and why did u walk away from those guys. You should have waited for them to make their 'move'. Would have been a blast to hear about it...

Bhavesh said...

hahha :) I remember d first time i was ragged too..!! was asked to do a strip tease aka DEMI MOORE.. God I cried at d end of it.. hhehhe :)

18 year olds hitting on u...mmm... u look so young uh..??!! ;)

Anonymous said...

hey hi Sayesha hey btw what does Sayesha mean ? its unique name haven’t come across earlier

coming back to the topic… hehehe looks could be deceptive … even I remember going the first day to college thinking all prepared that I would be ragged but then .. there no ragging rule.. even had anti ragging squad hehe volunteer going around to make sure the new baccha are safe….

Don’t know if I missed out on all fun… or it was for better .off..... coz have few friend in medical.. stream and they had embarrassing experiences when it comes to ragging

Angelsera said...

Sayesha,
I have heard "horror" stories abt the way ur batch oriented ours...
n how u gave nicknames to the entire Hall 7 gang

Angelsera said...

BTW, found abt sth abt ur thalassemia...
u cant marry..well,u can marry but..u cant have kids w some1 who also has thalassemia...ur kid mite die like prematurely...

im sorry to tell u this...but its jus tt this was discussed in my lecture y'day n I thought in case u din know alredy..better to tell u...

PuNeEt said...

Gosh...
lots of updates...

will catch with u r blog soon

cheers

Priya said...

its really easy to make sum of my classmates cry.. :-)
one gal came upto me n said.. u know we were ragged like crazy yday in the hostel...it was so humiliating,embarassing.. i thought maybe they asked her to strip.. was listening really intently... she says" they asked me to find out the top ten heroes in the country" and broke down to tears.. i jus kept waiting for the part tht was meant to be humiliating.. im still waiting..

..p..

Siddiqui said...

Interesting read. Sayesha.

I always lvd being ragged and njyd ragging fucchas too!!
This is the best way to break the senior-junior differences...

and Yes this always worked.
I remember on the second day of me joining Master's course in the Univ. I was ragging Bachelor's students. And so there came Bachelor's seniors and .....I picked up a fight with them...
and you know what by that time I was a part of my senior's gang and they were the one to rescue me out of the tussle.

Sayesha said...

Croondoodle,
I already have a kala til man! Didn't seem to help!

Ravi,
Heehaa! Yeah, I felt like quite the goddess of kindness and compassion,
ps: Yeah, I had to enable the word verification yaar... damn the anons.

Sahil,
Well, the nervous chaps did not make any 'move' man! I had to make a move. I was getting late for class.
Would have been a blast though! ;)

Justme,
You did a striptease? Hahaha! :D

Hi Puneet,
Sayesha has two meanings -- 'princess of hearts' and 'attained with great desire'.
No ragging???? That sucks, man!!

Angelsera,
Hahaha! Hall 7 horrors huh? :D
ps: Thanks for the tip about thalassemia, marriage is not on the cards yet. :)

Hi Puneet original,
Yeah, loads happening! :P

Priya,
Hahahahaha!! Some girls will cry at anything!

Ashy,
Ragging was one of the most fun parts of uni! Loved it! :)

Sahil said...

uhh... angelsera? What's up with that comment about thalessemia man?

random facts that u learn in ur class like that need not be announced in this way over the blog. thora soch samajh kar comment kardiya karo yaar.

sorry if i'm outta line here Sayesha - lekin yaar... its not right.

bachi ho, naadan ho, issliye maaf kardiya. aiynda aise mat karna, or me and my gang will have to come over and shut down ur blog... and do God knows what else.

Bhavesh said...

I had to do it yaar.. either a strip tease or get hit by 20 odd AMZAD KHAN kinda looking seniors!! looking back now.. it was fun.. :)

patiala pataka said...

Kya yaar climax mein mazaa nahi aayaa! I expected the two nerds to get a severe scolding for trying to tackle an aunty!

Anonymous said...

Posting for the first time on your blog, and speaking as I am from the experience of being a first year when you were "orienting" us, I can vouch for a lot of people who would have cried if you were'nt around. That would hardly qualify you as cruel! If anything, those two kids would have been relieved to know that from now on, they have someone who'll look out for them :). Thats the "real" sayesha.

- One_Year_Your_Junior

Sayesha said...

Sahil,
Thanks :)

Justme,
Hahahahha! :D

Pat Pat,
Nahin yaar... jaane diya bachon ko ;)
ps: Aunty??? Hey!

One_Year_My_Junior,
No point trying to even guess who you are, I suppose! (but I would like to!)
ps: I was nice to some, but hard on others I suppose, especially those who gave attitude on Day 1.

Sayesha said...

#Aye Kay,
Hahahaha! That would be funny! :P