Smiles and anxiety as DU’s ‘fucchas’ begin a new chapter of life in college
Miranda House plastered their campus with quirky anti-ragging caricatures and cartoons to make their stance on the illegal activity clear.
Finally, it was day one in college for approximately 50,000 students who stepped into Delhi University for a new beginning -- a day of smiles, a little bit of anxiety and very few tears.

Admitted to the 60-odd colleges over the last month, the students optimistically made their way to experience their first day of college life on Thursday.
Though some colleges such as Daulat Ram, Kirori Mal and Sri Ram College of Commerce already held their orientation programme on Wednesday and had classes scheduled for Thursday, many others such as Miranda, Lakshmibai, and Ramjas had their induction on Thursday.
Ragging can be a concern for many first-year students but the fears were laid to rest at colleges such as Miranda House and Ramjas where seniors welcomed freshers by a symbolic red tilak.
“I want the students to know they should not have to be scared of seniors. In fact, they should be able to approach us if they have any problem,” said Pragya (who goes by her first name), a final-year BA programme student at Miranda.
Miranda House plastered their campus with quirky anti-ragging caricatures and cartoons to make their stance on the illegal activity clear.
Finding that perfect peer circle may be the biggest fear of many students as they step into the new phase of their life. Though most students were both excited and nervous about their first day of college, many seemed to have been able to forge a bond with their peers, chatting away like they had known each other for ages.
Outsiders who might have caught a glimpse of first-year English (hons) students at Kirori Mal College -- Ishita Mehta, Jivisha Sachdeva, Yashaswi Gupta, Prachi Sharma and Shubha Mittal --having animated conversations about their first day of class may not be able to guess that these group of girls met only a few days ago.
“This was much better than we expected. We were not expecting to make friends (sic) so quickly. It’s almost like we are all family,” said Gupta.
For students like Anushka Kaliyal, a BA programme student at Daulat Ram College, the first day might have seemed lacklustre. The college had conducted its orientation programme earlier on Wednesday and had scheduled classes for Thursday but she found out about the mix-up only when she reached campus.
“No prior message about the orientation was given. I did not know it was done and we had classes on Thursday. Even though we had a schedule for classes, nothing really happened. No classes were held,” she said.
But Daulat Ram College officials said the date of orientation had been clearly mentioned in the prospectus and students had been informed at the time admissions.
“We had classes from Thursday. However, as the last date for admissions under the fifth cutoff got extended by a day, most teachers got busy in the procedure and were not able to conduct classes,” explained Savita Roy, principal of Daulat Ram College.
Admissions under the fifth cutoff list ended on Thursday. A sixth cutoff list will be released on Saturday by colleges that still have seats vacant.