so this was my 1st week in aiims bhopal. everything was so new man… hostel ka room, new people, new schedule, i was still acting like i’m on a school trip. anatomy ka 1st dissection had already traumatized me and i had started questioning all my life choices.
one night around 10:30 pm, me and my roommate were chilling (read: staring blankly at grays and scrolling insta) when someone knocked. one guy from our floor – he looked normal, chill types – just said, “bhai seniors bula rahe hain… 319 mein intro dena hai. sab ja rahe hain.”
i was like… bas yahi din baaki tha 
we looked at each other. wore decent t-shirts, carried our ID card (coz everyone said they’ll ask for it) and went like bakre being taken for halal.
room 319 was already filled with around 6–7 seniors. one of them was lying on the bed scrolling phone. another was half asleep. a third guy looked up and said, “haan bhai fresher ho? aao baitho. kya naam hai?”
intro session shuru.
basic stuff – name, rank, state, hobbies, aim in life (like bro i just want to pass biochem at this point).
then they asked “one weird thing about you”.
i said, “i talk to myself before vivas.”
they laughed and said, “tu toh med school ke liye hi bana hai.”
then came the tasks.
they told me and my roommate to do mirror task. one acts, one copies. sounds simple. but bro we both were so awkward we ended up looking like broken mannequins. one of them shouted “arre synchronize toh karo… aise kaise mbbs banoge?”
next thing i knew, i was dancing to sheila ki jawani with no music. just vibes.
they said “imagine the beat in your head bro”.
and there i was. dancing with full emotion like my spot in aiims depended on it.
roommate joined in. ek point pe toh mujhe apni hi zindagi se doubt ho gaya.
then they made us do a fake “hostel pledge”. line by line repeat karna tha.
stuff like “i swear to never cry during viva” and “i accept that mess food is love, mess food is life.”
i tried to control my laugh, but one guy said, “hasna mana hai bhai. sincerity chahiye.”
poora drama ho gaya wahan.
finally after almost 45 mins, they said “chalo thik hai jao, bas ek kaam karna – apne juniors ko feel mat dena ki tumhe kuch nahi hua. sabke share mein likha hota hai.”
and i swear uss night ke baad hum 4–5 juniors jo ek saath ragged hue thhe, ek hi gang ban gaye. mess, lectures, even padhai… sab ek saath. it kinda broke the awkwardness between us.
also, the seniors – they weren’t scary or anything. no abuse, no touch, no actual ragging. just intro and tasks. thoda fun, thoda awkward but not toxic.
ek senior ne end mein bola, “kisi ne kuch zyada bola ya uncomfortable feel hua toh batana, ye bonding ke liye hota hai… not to scare.”
and i really respected that. because before joining aiims, i thought ragging matlab torture. but yahan, it felt more like a tradition, jisme thoda naach gana hota hai, aur zindagi bhar ka meme content mil jata hai.
also never dance on an empty stomach bro. pura mess ka rajma chawal ulta aa gaya tha almost.
mbbs is wild.