Shit happens… I keep coming back to this particular statement. Looks as if this statement is destined to stick around with me for as long as I am alive. Then again, I guess it happens to everybody and most of them don’t care enough to notice or react.
PDPs (aka Personality Development Programme) have been the legacy of IIFT for as long as people have known but the batch of 09-11 gave another meaning to it. Ragging ! I mean, come on guys give me a break. Asking students to dance, shout, act and learn the names of seniors and batch mates cannot be termed as ragging in any sane part of the world but at IIFT, it is a grave and punishable offence to the extent that the entire senior batch (barring a few case studies :-p and in my friend Hari Singh’s words, people with needs to indulge) was stripped of any and every little iota of self respect. (then again these are my opinions and my opinions only). What followed was not the silence after a storm, rather it was the sudden tsunami of feelings, violent, destructive and angry from the entire senior batch, but didn’t last long enough to even cause an impact among the seniors.
Few things are pretty clear, the juniors would have the best time of their life. No PDPs, full on fun and lots of benefitting interactions from the seniors. The junior girls would not have any problems getting things don’t with so many testosterone rich seniors (already exemplified). Then again, it is just six or seven asses who give the entire junior batch a bad name. But is there a way out?
Either punish the people who were involved, which the authorities would not agree or just forgive and forget. The second option seems more feasible upon deep thinking because the boycott is not possible for an entire batch especially with so many traitors around.
I told Manish, that we all are nice people deep down in our heart, at least most of us are (again exceptions already mentioned) and we would not be able to stay angry with the juniors for a very long time. Only the 4 affected and a few of them like me who can’t forget the humiliation and the arrogance. I for one can’t forget the ones in the juniors who did it and the seniors who were still kissing their asses the very next day. Period.
