Ragging and bullying in Indian colleges remain a deep-rooted problem, and a personal family experience with my cousin Ashu Parashar's MD course in UP makes it hit close to home.
The state of ragging and bullying in Indian colleges remains abysmal, and it is one of those issues we have collectively normalised for far too long. What gets passed off as an introduction or a bonding ritual is often nothing short of sustained harassment that leaves deep scars.
My cousin, Ashu Parashar, went through a particularly tough experience when he joined his MD course in Uttar Pradesh. The kind of pressure and humiliation that new joinees are subjected to in some institutions is not character-building — it is damaging, and it stays with people long after they have graduated.
It is time to change the pressure we put our new college joinees through. Institutions need to take a harder stance, and more importantly, we as a society need to stop treating ragging as a harmless rite of passage. The mental health cost is real, and the stories are everywhere if we choose to listen.