[vivekiny2k]

@steeroid, you will be surprised to see how many parents line up in front of these "cultured" colleges to ensure their "kids" do not get in bad company and do not lose their morals.

No wonder colleges get down to such levels. This news will only increase their popularity in chennai.

[csentil]

My niece studies in one of these culturally sensitive colleges on OMR. Its absolutely fantastic to hear her stories. No jeans, t-shirts, bags are frisked, no bright bindis, should not move in groups, should not look up and walk (if you are a girl), even if you have only 5 classes a day you should carry a minimum of 8 notebooks.... list goes on and on.... She treats it like a concentration camp !!

[motorheadinc]

What more can I add.
My sister was studying (thankfully her days in the concentration camp are over) in a chennai college and when I had gone to meet her she told me all this and more.

She said that in chennai you cant even help an elderly woman to get down from a bus.

I have been always taught to help people especially elders and this was something shocking. Seemed as if I have come to a different planet altogether.

[vivekiny2k]

and it's same chennai where people's happiness quotient goes sky high upon seeing Namitha's pelvic (and other) shakes.

but the moment she talks about it in a public forum, she is doomed.

reminds me of story I wrote about a father who manages to hide his honesty and convinces his son that small compromises in morality were needed to get success in bigger picture. I got so many angry mails, but nobody complained about the gangster glorifying stuff others wrote.

[supremeBaleno]

I think this is the same across India and not something specific to Chennai. It is not like the other metros/cities do not have cultural policing. In fact in Mumbai, big brother role is played not just by the cops but also local thugs (masquerading as party workers) who would create disturbances during Valentine's day, preventing public from buying/selling V-day cards etc.

Since this is a problem endemic to India, the "Chennai" in the title is not appropraite IMO and could end up giving an impression that this is only about Chennai.

And BTW, incident-5 in the originally quoted article of this thread (Post-1) is just a figment of the author's imagination and not something that happened - maybe added to give effect to the cultural policing being done. The first 4 did happen though.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

I think this is the same across India and not something specific to Chennai.

@SB, even in my small town Jabalpur, College admin doesn't care if girls talk to boys. and they are not considered morally challenged if they do so. don't know about other states.

other problems exist in other places though. I think the problem creators are those who can't get into a relationship, first because they do not know what a relationship is, second because everybody is busy morally protecting their girls more than getting their own life.

[supremeBaleno]

I have heard of some colleges in Chennai with stupid rules like these, but that is not to imply that this is the case in all colleges here. It IMO is an exception rather than the rule. I did my Engineering here and we did not have any such rules.

How about the incidents we read about from small towns up north where it is quite normal for eloping lovers to be killed in the name of honour or due to caste differences ? Atleast in Chennai, they would max get a spanking at home and the incident soon forgotten.

And if you analyse deeper, atleast some of the issues mentioned in the first post happened due to other reasons than cultural policing.

eg. Incident 2 in the disco was an isolated incident and IIRC happened due to personal animosity of some guys who were evicted from the disco for unruly behaviour and being connected, they let the cops loose on the joint.

Incident-4 was because the actress in question had made a big issue about a director who had made a bad comment about film actresses, and to get even the guy used his clout with some fringe political outfit to make life difficult for her.

Go to the Marina beach on any evening and all you would see on the sand are pairs of lovers. Not much policing happening there, unless these couples move to the shady areas.

Small town or big city, no place in India is sacrosant in this respect.

[nitrous]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWQC0XSpua8

A video about chennai engineering colleges.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by nitrous

YouTube - Segregation of sexes in Chennai colleges
A video about chennai engineering colleges.

Holy Cow, I can't believe we still have these kind of sad jokers around!

In fact, things have grown worse since my college days (80s) in Bangalore when we had absolute freedom in dressing and mingling with everybody. Most lab partners were mixed, usually 50:50 ratio. Even in the early 90s when my wife attended the famous Mount Carmel (Bangalore), that place was like a everyday fashion parade, many Burkha/Saree/Salwar clad girls from conservative homes used to switch to micros and mini after reaching the college everyday. Few years back my wife was shocked to find that even Mount Carmel now has dress code. So much for 21st century.

In my college days, there was only college (MES) in Bangalore that was run by jokers like this, they had separate staircases and gender gag order, etc. Of course, they were the butt of joke for all other colleges.

Today's premier college Christ College was then the least sought after college since they didn't have co-ed. So the poor guys used to get very territorial about Jothi Nivas.

With college managements twisting Indian culture like this, can we really blame Taliban. Why... they can recruit from here.

[nitrous]

I went to a school with these stupid rules and my college wasn't too different.
"Conservative", old school men from villages own these colleges and you can't do anything about it.
Unless ,you're Shah Rukh Khan in Mohabattein

[aah78]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

Mr. Prinicipal, my mind is already very puzzled at your statement. And greatly saddened.

Off Topic - but U. B. Jangam was an Applied Mathematics professor in RAIT, Nerul when I was a student there. He was one of the few teachers who knew what he was doing and he came across as an open-minded jovial individual - didn't know he'd turn out to be so conservative.

Guess, being a principal now, he can't really afford to make open statements - else the hippocratical junkies will come knocking on his doors next.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by nitrous

I went to a school with these stupid rules and my college wasn't too different.

This is not entirely confined to TN.

We have a very famous school in TVM (Famous for academics), where there are separate stairs for boys and girls, separate classes for boys and girls (although its a mixed school, separate class system prevailed till recently), and talking with a girl will get you in trouble with the management.

And yes, i had the privilege of studying there for few years, and yes, got a warning from a vice-principal for exchanging a few words with a good friend of mine (a girl of our class) just outside the class, during lunch break!

[csentil]

Well I did all my schooling in Chennai and college in Coimbatore and Madurai. The most liberal minded people were in Madurai. I was initially surprised at the ease in which a lot of topics were spoken about in Madurai. I then realized that the taboo on the word s*x was probably a middle class mentality and probably more evident in cities like Chennai/Coimbatore than anywhere else.

Studying in an Anglo Indian school certainly has its advantages too. I fully agree that moral policing is actually in a minority of colleges and as usual the media has tended to blow it up.

[maddy42]

The more you try to ban something the more of it is done. All the guys trying to do stuff like segregation please get a life. Reproduction does not happen through a butterfly!!

[ajitkommini]

Originally Posted by maddy42

The more you try to ban something the more of it is done. All the guys trying to do stuff like segregation please get a life. Reproduction does not happen through a butterfly!!

Absolutely. It has more to do with birds and bees