“Ghadi (Clock)
Main 12 Bajte Hi,
Ab Mujhe Birthday
Bumps Dega Kaun?
Waise To
Naam Main Kya Rakha Hai Yaaron,
Par Phi Bhi,
Ab Mujhe ‘Sutho’* Bulayega Kaun?”
These were the last two lines of a ‘poem’ that I had
recited on stage on the day of my farewell. It was way back in 1999. Year 2000 was
knocking on the door. ‘Millennium’ was the latest addition to the vocabularies
of a lot people around the world (just like the word ‘Tsunami’ became a
household name after that unfortunate incident off the coast of Indian Ocean),
and Y2K was building up to be this Loch Ness monster that it eventually turned
out to be.
But the mention of ‘millennium’ and ‘Y2K’ is just
to set the context. It is definitely not intended to be a red herring. Because
the words that I want to draw your attention to, are right there in the second
line of the poem - ‘Birthday Bumps’!
If, I mean really if, by any chance, you have no
idea what it is or have not experienced it firsthand, don’t kick yourself in
the butt. Wait for your next birthday to come up and allow others to have that
pleasure instead. This seemingly well intentioned (more often than not) ritual
was in the news recently. IITB HAS BANNED BIRTHDAY BUMPS. Ouch!
Two boxes (besides a few others of course) according
to me, if you haven’t ticked in your life, you have deprived yourself of a definitive
dimension of a meaningful life:
Experienced a hostel life
Rode a bike (no, ridding pillion doesn’t count)
While it will be difficult to give birthday bumps to someone
while riding a bike (although it will make for an interesting new ritual), it
is not so uncommon to get that kick in the butt if you’ve had a chance to live
in a hostel. Having experienced some of the most beautiful time of my life in a
hostel setting, I find this ‘ruling’ by IITB particularly amusing.
There are two immediate and only plausible planks of
justification for this ban. One, it could prove to be perilous. Agreed. I myself
got hit on my tailbone on one occasion, as my pals lifted me and started
throwing kicks indiscriminately. But by that measure and logic, kissing someone
could well be suicidal! Just imagine the amount of bacteria that you so gleefully
and magnanimously allow to enter your buccal cavity when you smooch someone!
Mostly, things like birthday bumps are just well intentioned frolic. Little crazy
yes, but well intentioned. It’s a part of the brotherly dhamaal masti, without which hostel or college life would be as
regimental as the life at home that precedes it or the work life that follows!
Second and bit more sensitive reason, could be that it is associated
with and/or encourages things like ragging. Lately, some unfortunate incidents
have maligned, what was supposed to be an ice-breaker between seniors and
juniors or even between classmates. Yes, ragging in several cases has resulted
in mental and physical trauma for a lot of students. But again, it is the wrongful,
abused and twisted version of the act that results in such incidents. Well-intentioned
ragging (it’s not an antithesis, believe me) is only meant to ease freshers’ anxiety
and act as some sort of light-hearted initiation ceremony. But what’s the connect
between birthday bumps and ragging? Let’s say, what’s the connection between
kissing and rape? Zilch. None.
They say hostel life is a learning institution like none
else. Especially an engineering college hostel, where you get students from across
the geographies, culture, religion and even race. Like me, hostel life is the
first real taste of freedom for a lot of students. It’s probably for the first
time that you make your own bed, or do your own laundry. It’s for the first
time that you realise how liberating it is to live outside of the care of your
parents, yet how perilously difficult it is not to get carried away in the
process!
Hostel life is a time when you explore. It’s a time when
your adaptability is tested, in return of a bonhomie that you don’t get
anywhere else in the world. It’s one of its kinds. It’s that time of your life
when you make friends for life. Even if it entails getting kicked in your butt
once in a while!
1 comment:
jaadia rumal fadia or kasai or motu or panga what else how many names i had in my hostel life and how i wish this bumps could hit me again. i had chance to live it once again when seven years after graduation i joined irma but now i have heard it is being banned in IRMA also. purani yaadein taaza kar di. how i wish we meet on some birthday and may be i give you bumps or vice versa. Glad that you wrote this and made me remember those days again. (as if i have forgotten it even on any of the b'day even after 13 years have passed when v completed our bachelor degree)
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