Every senior in college has gone through
the pressure of being a fresher; treading cautiously by the gang of students
loitering in the parking lot, making sure not to attract anyone’s attention.
It’s only when you step into your classroom that you are in the relative
‘safety’ of other confused faces, your batchmates. But between lectures, during
breaks and socials, you are at the mercy of your seniors.
As petrifying as this may sound, this isn’t
always a bad thing. It all depends on how you go about things and ‘handle’ the
situation. Your run-of-the-mill senior will be more curious than scary; curious
about the new lot that will take their place on the bottom rung of the
hierarchy and make their way up – the future geniuses, athletes, performers,
beauty queens, etc. Surprisingly, as the days pass by and if things are allowed
to run their natural course, these same seniors will bond with the juniors,
forging friendships and maybe even mentoring the younger lot.
Nethaniah Gracias is in her second year of
Post Graduation in Event Management at S S Dempo College of Commerce and
Economics, Altinho, Panjim. For her, the juniors are more like her babies.
“Many juniors who know me from before, come looking forward to seeing me. I am
a nice senior, according to them. It’s an honour to earn their respect and fun
to spend time with them, listening to their problems and fun stories. While
interacting with them, I also keep an eye out for smart kids to pick for
college competitions. As seniors, it’s our responsibility to lead them so that
they can take over next year.”
Juniors are always welcome as they add more
enthusiasm to the college environment with new ideas for festivals and
competitions. Jessica Pereira, a third year student of Mass Media at Don Bosco
College, Panjim, says, “I know that they have joined this college with the aim
to achieve something more than just theory based education. Since college is
about an overall development of a student, they will have many goals. I am
waiting to see the different changes they will come up with.”
Seniors are quite approachable when it
comes to notes and advice on studies and projects. “We are good to our juniors
and they approach us for notes. Since we are the first batch passing out from
this college, we don’t have any seniors to look up to. All we need is respect.
There are good relationships between juniors and seniors in our college. With
regard to ragging, no cases have been reported I doubt it could happen in the
future as our management is very strict,” says Kevin Fernandes, a final year
student of Mechanical Engineering at Don Bosco College of Engineering, Fatorda.
Coming from a small town, Ishita Mishra,
now a third year student at BITS Pilani, was nervous. “I was afraid in the
beginning but one interaction with the seniors and all fears disappeared. Now,
I have a lot of friends from the senior lot. In BITS, we have this culture of
calling everyone by their first names, no calling seniors ‘sir’ or ‘madam’;
everyone is very cooperative. I feel juniors should not be intimated. Just show
some respect and go with the flow,” concludes Ishita.
