My 'orientation' experience

19 July, 2004. My second day in NTU, Singapore. All alone. Just trying to settle in the hostel room. Surviving with bread and jam, bun and biscuits. Lost, confused and angry.
Map in hand, I was going about the whole place getting all the settling-down formalities done. My eyes bled (!) as I gave the old fat lady in the Office of Finance $300 (man, that’s huge, isn’t it?) for the hostel fees. Off I went again, running my finger across the campus map and recognizing landmarks, to reach Hall 9, my home for at least a year. As I got ready to climb the seven floors uphill to reach my room, I noticed the chaptas (that’s how we call the Chinese and Singaporeans…god only knows what they call us!!!) involved in ‘ Hall 9 Orientation for Freshers’. My god, what ruckus they made!! I tried to get away from them hidden. I didn’t want to be ragged without any company! Maybe I should look out for Indian seniors. They will help me. They will tell me how to stay away from this ragging (crap). Ah! I thought. ‘That was a nice idea. Now start looking for an Indian.’ I didn’t have to wait long to meet one. I didn’t have to wait long to realize how mistaken I was, too.
I had successfully escaped the chaptas down there. As I was going up, I saw the computer room. Doubtful if I could start using the computers there right away, I went in. hey! There was an Indian! Overjoyed, I approached the girl and got my doubt cleared. Still shy, I didn’t want to ask her for any help. I remained silent. She, however, didn’t.
“Where are you from?” she asked.
“India” I said. That did sound a bit silly, I knew, but you never know. For all you know she might be a local and think I’m one too.
“I know that. Which part of India?” she asked.
“Chennai.” I decided to ask her something too. I asked her what her name was and which course she did, with due respect. (She might be a senior! I’d better be humble!!)
She was Rajashree from Bangalore, Bioengineering, year 1. (Oh! What a waste of respect!!)
After a few formal enquiries, she asked me to come to Canteen 1 at 7 in the night.
“It is an orientation for Indian freshers. Be there at 7.”
Well, I was happy to great limits. More Indians! Probably they are calling us one day to tell us about the conditions here, where to get help, and hey, maybe even how to escape getting ragged by the chaptas!
I was thrilled. By 6-30, I again set off, well - dressed, with a map in hand, to find canteen 1.
As I had guessed, there were a lot of Indians. I wanted to befriend some, but I didn’t know who were freshers and who were seniors. So I looked about the canteen searching for Rajashree. She was nowhere to be found. And boy, there was an Indian stall! I went and bought food. Well, it was at least better than the dull and drab bread. I looked around for a place to sit and finally found an empty one. But the table was full of guys! Hmm…being from a girls’ school, I was totally unaccustomed to interacting with this big a group of guys.
“But hey, you have to learn sometime,” I thought. I went and sat there.
“Who asked you to sit here?”
I looked up.
A thin guy with glasses was asking me this question.
“I didn’t ask anyone permission,” I said, hmm… quite proud of the reply, though without thinking of its consequences.
He was enraged.
“Get up!” he screamed.
“How rude!!” he commented to another.
“Rajashree!” he called.
I was relieved. I could ask her who this irritating guy was, and why he was ordering me about.
She came and I tried to give her a smile.
“Tell her who I am and what she should do here,” he told her.
“Now get lost with her,” he told me.
I followed her blindly, my mind buzzing with questions.
What the hell is happening around here??!!!
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“If you still haven’t realized,” said Rajashree, “its ragging.”
I was dumbstruck as I listened to her detail to me as to how I should give my introduction and so on.
“God!!” I thought. “She has brought me into a trap!”
And so I went to that irritating guy, religiously gave him my intro and did all bizarre things he asked me to do.
After this minor shake-up, we were all lined up and taken to the SRC. There I faced and understood the full face of the ragging business. Sitting there were about 50 seniors, hungrily waiting to rag us, their prey. The 50 of us freshers walked towards them and I felt like I was going to my grave.
Well, the first day was bad for me as I was shaken by their “wonderful” language and mustered enough courage to tell them this fact, only to become an object of ridicule.
My second major shock came when they asked me to do an ad to advertise ‘Kargil’ condoms.
“God!!” I thought. “why did I choose this fate for myself??”
And with great difficulty, I found ‘team’ members (ha!!) who had to be coaxed to do this ad for me, ‘finalized’ a script and put up the ad.
Well, it did take some time for the new shock to set in into me. But once it did, the whole experience was actually turning out to be enjoyable. Getting to know your own batch mates in and out (after all those ceremonies of monotonously repeating ‘He is ------ from --------- doing ------staying in Hall -----. His hobbies are ------‘ , who wouldn’t?), knowing seniors who could help you, well, ‘orientation’ wasn’t that bad after all. It helped me settle down in NTU, find new friends, helped me know whom to approach for what and what to do when faced with a situation completely unexpected. It mentally prepared me to face drastic situations. (The first day in orientation was enough experience!)
Well, maybe it’s just too early to say, but I’m looking for my own sweet revenge the next year!
Vani Viswanathan