Love, thy art beautiful!

By COVER BOY

This account here is purportedly fictional, as we found it in the 'short stories' section of the Gay Delhi website. However, only that part of the story has been excerpted by The Stop Ragging Campaign as was relevant to the theme of ragging, with the aim of generating thought on the possible links between ragging and homosexuality, or at least the implications of the emphasis on sexual abuse as a component of the institution of ragging.

The Sri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi

It was the first day after the summer break and all of us were dying to get to college cause now we weren't 'freshers' anymore and had made it to the second year. And we were definitely going to get our pound's worth in terms of ragging the new batch which was going to be exciting. I rubbed my hands in glee at the thought and joined my friends at the bus stop, waiting to catch the morning U-Special.

It was a warm sultry day, with overcast clouds and the promise of rain. But we were oblivious to it all and were instead awaiting the arrival of the new 'recruits' to college. The bus arrived and we boarded, the ragging beginning in earnest in the bus itself. There were at least a dozen newbies in there and they were already being meted out the initiation rituals by the seniors in the bus. We soon joined in and started to joke around, laughing when the freshers were made to propose to each other and dance on a 25 paise coin or don the dupatta of another and play pretend drag.

One of them caught my eye. He was around 18 years of age, freshly out of school with the clean scrubbed look of a preppy boy, wearing faded denims, which clung to his long muscular legs, highlighting the strongly developed quadriceps, and a black T-shirt which showed off his well developed arms. Tall, at 6 feet, with a slim, athletic body and long slicked back hair, he looked like he belonged between the pages of GQ rather than amongst a bunch of unruly immature seniors who were bent upon getting him to drape a dupatta around his waist and dance the ek, do, teen, Madhuri Dixit number. I watched him from the corner of my eye, quickly averting my gaze when he too looked towards me. But I couldn't help myself and before I knew it, my eyes were on him again. We exchanged a few glances but each time I looked away. You see, though I had known for a while that I was attracted to men, I had never done anything about it. Technically, both mentally and physically, I was the vestal virgin. Not due to lack of opportunities, but out of choice.

Suddenly I felt the bus lurch and stop in front of The Sri Ram College of Commerce or as us students fondly refer to it, SRCC. I was amongst the first to get down since I was near the exit and imagine my surprise when 'he' also disembarked. I beckoned him over and demanded, 'hey fresher, which college are you in?'. SRCC, sir, he replied.

This was great, he was in my college! I was destined to meet him. However, before I could talk any further, we were whipped up in a melee of friends greeting each other after the holidays, freshers being ragged to do the Bharatnatayam or sing songs from Amitabh Bachhan movies. I soon lost sight of him and wandered from one group of mates to another, laughing, joking, exchanging news and gossip.

After a few hours of this, we retired to the canteen to replenish our expended energies and ordered a few plates of samosas and cold glasses of nimbu paani. We were all on a high and were behaving like typical teenagers, celebrating our youth and boundless energy. Whilst speaking to one of my friends, I noticed that the boy from the bus was being led out by a group of 7 or 8 seniors who weren't day scholars but hostelers. This puzzled and perturbed me cause if they took him to the hostel, God alone knows what they may do to him. One has heard of horror stories of stripping and molestation in these places and therefore I was worried.

I decided to go along since I knew the boys who were taking him. I went upto them and laughingly said, 'hey let's get this fresher, guys'. They laughed and asked me to come along to their room at the hostel which was behind the main college building. I tagged along and managed to catch the fresher's eye and gave him a reassuring wink since by now, he had started to look a little worried.

Soon we were seated in one room, in a semi circle with the boy (whose name I learnt subsequently, was Vinay) in the centre standing and gyrating to some house music which was blaring out of the two-in-one in a corner. Vinay was definitely not enjoying this and I could sense his embarrassment but, of course, I couldn't say or do anything at this point since the rest of them were my seniors. At this point, one of them asked Vinay to take off his shirt. He looked as if he was going to protest when another one of them got up and made a threatening move towards him. Reluctantly, Vinay removed his shirt and I nearly gasped out loud. He was perfectly shaped starting from that beautiful face and adorable dimples, down to his long lovely neck, his perfect pectorals with taut dark nipples, rippling muscles, his six-pack, well defined and his laterals flaring out in a perfect V. He was a sight to behold and many of the others started whistling and making cat calls. I couldn't take my eyes off that perfect hairless torso, it's proportions so much in harmony that even a sculptor couldn't have done any better.

Of course, the inevitable followed. One of the seniors asked him to take his trousers off too. Vinay was, by now, in acute discomfort and I could see that he was having a tough time but I was powerless to do anything then. And to confess, a part of me wanted to see him without his trousers on. Slowly and extremely reluctantly, he took them off and stood there like Adonis, perfect in all his glory. His legs were long and tapered, beautifully muscled and perfectly shaped. His calves were bulging with muscular striations and his feet were most beautifully formed. He was wearing a pair of Y-front Calving Klein's which fit most snugly around his perfect butt and could barely hide the distinctive bulge of his ample manhood. I was transfixed and kept closing my eyes so that I could record this moment for posterity. The seniors were laughing and making obscene gestures to Vinay and then one of them suggested that he take his underwear off too.

I could sense that Vinay was about to break down at this humiliation and I finally got up and took a stand stating that this was no way to rag someone and that making him take his underwear off would be stretching things too far. Don't know why but they listened to me and agreed that fine, they wouldn't make him strip completely. I could see the gratitude in Vinay's eyes and I gave him a reassuring smile back in return.

[...]

The narrator eventually has a sexual relationship with the character of Vinay.


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