So I thought I’d share this because honestly, I still think about it and cringe. First year MBBS. I was that hopeful, excited kid who thought, “New college, new life, let me dress up a bit and make a good impression.”
So one fine day, I wore this new mustard yellow kurti. It wasn’t even fancy, bro just a simple kurti my mom picked out, but I felt kinda nice in it. You know that rare confidence boost you get after a week of surviving lectures, anatomy dissection, and bad hostel food? Yeah, that.
I walked into the hostel common area thinking nothing of it. Big mistake.
The seniors were sitting there like lions in a jungle, waiting. The moment I entered, I felt it. The silence. The way their eyes zoomed in on me.
And then came the comments:
“Ayyyo, first year freshie showing off in a new kurti ah?”
“Yellow means you think you’re gold or what?”
“Let’s see if your brain shines like your kurti in anatomy viva.”
They made me introduce myself to everyone loudly, while standing on a chair (
the humiliation). Asked me to sing a song (I can’t sing to save my life). And when I fumbled, the classic:
“So smart in your kurti, but can’t even sing one line?”
That kurti went straight to the back of my cupboard after that. I didn’t touch it till second year.
Looking back, yeah I laugh about it now. But in that moment? I wanted the earth to swallow me. Ragging sucks, not gonna sugarcoat it. People say “It’s harmless fun” but it’s not fun when you feel like your identity is being picked apart over something as stupid as what you’re wearing.
If you’re going through it hang in there. Seniors eventually get bored and move on. And you? You’ll grow thicker skin, learn how to give subtle savage comebacks, and someday wear that kurti like a badge of “I survived.”