Matriculation Euphoria to College Ragging
Dev and Vasant for their industry and the support from their teachers went on making steady progress in studies and completed the elementary level, Grade-5 in flying colors. Of 75 students in his grade, Dev had tried to stand first but another boy from the town, Herbert Addison led him by only 2 percent. Vasant was but a boy of different interest than scores in the tests and examinations. He was more into music and painting, unlike his brother.
Dev took it to his heart, "How come Herbert or any other classmates outperform me in the Final Examinations when I have put all my heart and soul into the preparation right from the beginning?"
Unlike Dev, Herbert would not work as hard and long but he had his father to influence the results. Mr. Timothy Addison was a local politician who had a slight sympathy and support towards tribal politics that carried an ideology of one tribe rule and deportation of all the non-tribals from the state. The school management would therefore not dare to go against any imminent questions from the local leader, however unethical it might be.
Without much fret and frustration, the boy continued putting all his efforts and industry into his studies. Three years later when they were in Grade -8, Herbert himself did not feel it good to have been declared first in the finals in the past by means of his father's influence. By Now he was a teenager of 14 and he could easily make out what's right from wrong. He had indeed become a good friend to Dev. Dev would help him understand the difficult concepts of Geometry (Mensuration), Trigonometry, Algebra, and Arithmetic along with the numerical problems in Physics and Chemistry. Besides, Herbert even shared his lunch and tiffin with Dev. Sometimes he invited him to his home, but Dev would not feel it nice to visit him at home, not because of the class difference or the difference in their tribe but Dev was a boy of self-esteem and pride in his own lifestyle.
At 17, Dev was now taking the SSLC (Secondary School Leaving Certificate) Board Exams that were scheduled for March 20 to commence were to end by the month's end. There were three months to the test, but for him, every day was like the board exams and he had had a thorough preparation of the whole syllabi of all the 5 subjects like English, Maths, Science, Social Sciences, and Health & Physical Education. The most imitable way of his study and preparation was how readily he helped his classmates to understand the difficult concepts in the technical subjects, besides his interest in the discussions in regard to social sciences.
On July 16, 1996, the results of the board exams were published. Of 75 candidates from Dev's school, only 47 including Vasant could open their gates to colleges while many had to apply for a supplementary test. And guess what! Dev had topped the district. His score in Maths was 98 followed by Science 94, Social Sciences 92, Health & Physical Education 91, and English 89-all distinction marks.
When Dev's triumphant classmates were at school with sweetmeats to celebrate the achievement, he was in Mawmluh, Cherrapunjee with a taxi driver to drop the dead body of a child that had died in Nazareth Hospital. In the evening when he got the good news from his brother Vasant and other classmates, his happiness knew no bounds. For a moment he was lost in disbelief that he was not only a school but the district topper. When his parents reinforced, he was on cloud nine. He could neither eat nor sleep the whole night. He only imagined what he would do now and if his parents could afford to send them both to college for their higher studies. However, he had forgotten that he had worked for those three months' time as a helper for the taxi driver and made some Rs 3500.00 which was comfortably enough for the college admission in the stream of Science and Technology.
With some hesitation and a little sense of guilt, Dev along with his parents went to his school to express his gratitude towards his teachers and the staff for their roles in his achievement.
"We are a little worried about your higher studies, Dev. Have you thought about it?" said the Headmaster.
"We have no idea as to what we as parents and Dev as your student should do next", replied Mrs. Bharti.
"Actually looking at his prospects in the technical subjects, we were thinking of sending Dev to study science and prepare for the NIIT (National Institute of Information Technology), AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences), or IIM (Indian Institute of Management)" said the Headmaster.
Never knowing the future; being optimistic, and working accordingly are perhaps the sole attributes of human beings. The teachers expressed their happiness and applauded the unflinching spirits Dev had in achieving his goals. The responsibility had also fallen upon the school to not let Dev get distracted and discontinue his studies, unlike 9 years ago in 1987. It was the first time the school had ever produced a district topper since its inception in 1957.
The next week the Headmaster and his team created a fund to sponsor further studies of the most deserving students like Dev. He went to four different colleges to apply for his Pre-university course in sciences and he topped the entrance test in all the colleges. One of the colleges he was much interested to enroll in was St. Anthony's College. But the tribal student unions, in fear of his outstanding performances in the days to come, did not allow him to get enrolled there. They had simply threatened him by similar tortures they had meted out on some brilliant Bengali students leading them to commit suicide on the college premise. Dev was a clever student and did not take the chance at St. Anthony's.
His parents were all the more worried that their son might be assaulted or hurt in the crowd of the tribal students. He went to St. Edmund's College but the infamous ragging (Extreme rough practical jokes played by the senior students in most Indian colleges and universities that often lead to unimaginable psychological trauma and physical assaults to the freshers and newcomers) incident of the past year shook his confidence to stand out there too. In the end, he enrolled in Shankardev College which was a walking distance from his home and the fee was as little as a quarter of the other two. There was no provision of scholarship for a non-tribal student in spite of being the district topper.
It was not that there was no record of ragging in Shankardev College, but in control and under the tolerance limits of the freshers not speculating the future consequences. Dev and his group of students also suffered the evil practice where they had to organize a cocktail party for the seniors in a nearby restaurant on the following Sunday evening which fortunately saved them from the fear of future ragging. One of the wisest things Dev did was to be in a big group of the freshers which prevented the seniors from attempting any further ragging.
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