Went to the Immaculate Heart Of Mary Church today to attend Elaine's wedding. My 1st time in a Catholic church. Took some pictures using Stickman's camera, which sucked to the skies. A Samsung camera... Too bad did not bring my Nikon. 

Was bored so I took a photo of my watch, close up. Edited using photoshop CS3. If not it can never look this good. Cause its a samsung.

Stickman bought some snake sweets just in case we fell asleep. $3.40. The same cost I paid to take a cab to the church, cause I didnt really know where it was. 

And the service ended quite fast, the entire service being only about an hour and a half. Then after that went to the HP service centre to collect my laptop. Finally, I'm free from Acer. $84 just to replace the damn keyboards. 

Went home and did my essay on 'ragging' for CRS. And found out that my English is getting crappier. I cant really write as well as before. Take a look at my essay.

Should ragging be banned?

Ragging, to some, it is a bonding exercise between the seniors and freshmen of a college. To others, it is an experience so traumatising that the victims suffer from life long disabilities and serious psychic disorders. Some even result in death, both intentional and unintentional. 

 So what is ragging? This term ‘ragging’ has different meanings for different people. Some may consider it performing fun and frolic activities such as singing and dancing or maybe even being teased in front of the seniors of a college. Others may be subjected to physical, mental and/or sexual abuse. However, there is a general term for this ragging. According to the dictionary, ragging is the act of aggression committed by an individual or party on another individual or party over a prolonged period of time. The victims usually the junior.

 Ragging is most scenarios, is usually by the freshmen of a school, being subjected to teasing or torture by the seniors as a way to form a bond and wash away the feeling of shyness and homesickness in the freshmen. Some examples of ragging is forcing the freshmen to perform embarrassing acts against his own will, such as stripping, or maybe even locking them up in a toilet cubicle and pouring water down on them.

 However, in worst cases, some of the victims may be so disturbed and traumatised that they suffer mentally, or even commit suicide. There is a case in India, where an engineering student, was subjected to severe ragging, and could not take the humiliation and killed himself by jumping in front of a speeding train.

 The debate on whether or not ragging should be banned is still on going in some countries. Some have banned it completely, and made it illegal.

 But some say that ragging is all in the name of fun. Some raggers claim that ragging is a form of icebreaking and generates a sense of unity and bond. Others say ragging kills the shyness and awkwardness a freshmen feels, and brings out the true self of that individual, as they only have one thing to focus on, which is to free themselves from the ragging, and hence do not think of how far away they are from home or how lonely they feel in this new place.

 Ragging, no matter what, is still considered a socially unacceptable behaviour. It not only violates human right and privacy, but also causes hurt to the physical and psychological parts of the victim’s body.

 What I personally feel is that ragging should be replaced with other activities if the main objective is to form a bond between the seniors and freshmen. Why include torture and humiliation in your regime if the main aim is to let everyone have a good and fun bonding session? What good will come out of ragging? The feeling of manliness and boldness experienced by the ragger is nothing but the sadistic nature of that individual expressed and taken out on another.

Hence in conclusion, it is clear that ragging is a psychological and social problem in our society today. And yes, ragging should be banned. But by merely banning ragging is not enough. We have to condemn this act of selfish human nature, and educate people on the effects of ragging, before this act can finally be eliminated from our society.