I'm Listening

Recently, there was a peer counselling meeting to take forward what was taught to us a couple of months ago (yes, I'm a qualified peer counsellor. I have single handedly been associated with 4 suicide attempts). Moving beyond the obvious promptness of the meeting, I think the entire peer counselling training was quite a sham and beyond that, peer counselling even if done well would have absolutely no positive influence on the crud and slime that make up most of the NLS (myself included).

The training itself had a couple of slides and a bunch of women telling us how counselling is done and how one should look beyond oneself etc etc. Why then was it a sham? Well me, the hairy mallu and the scary gult sat together and tried very hard to be part of the activities on the first day, which was dominated by the decent chom and the red bull mascot. 

If something is to be dominated by the red bull mascot being the teachers pet, spouting statements like "I used to think smoking was cool". I think we can agree the teachers might not be all that astute. Maybe they  just needed someone to listen to them talking. That the mascot seemed to achieve, interspersed with the decent chom making statements like "I am the spirit", something which he seriously believes by the way. Taking nothing away from his spiritual beliefs, I don't think that it was a very relevant or interesting statement to make given the context.

Hoping the next day would be better, praying for an extension and not wanting to waste our 300 Rs. investment, all of us found ourselves at the centre, the second day as well. The second day started off with the decent chom recanting how one day of training had helped him achieve a different stance with people he talked to. (He told someone to relax, instead of telling him to chill)

Upon questioning, he refused to betray the trust of the person concerned and reveal his identity considering the exceedingly personal nature of the verbal intercourse (they discussed how the person had not yet started his projects 6 days prior to submission. A situation which would, of course, drive any law schoolite mad considering how early projects are normally submitted). This of course is a very good start to a life of peer counselling. Keeping secrets. Which brings me to why a peer counselling initiative, done right, would still serve no purpose.

The essentials of peer counselling include trust and being non judgemental. Both these are so easily achieved in a close knit community like law school. The person you are talking to would be refering to some problem within law school which would essentailly translate into someone else who you know, who you already have an opinion about. Regardless of the lack of use of names, the news is bound to travel. Law school is not a place for secrets. Hardly anything remains a secret. About being non judgemental, I dont see how the egoistic, self centered, bright upcoming citizens that law school is grooming CAN ever be judgemental.

So what is the purpose of peer counselling? Maybe it could transform into some kinda dating helpline cos we donr have enough of that in law school as of now. Maybe the college would even chip in and pay the phone bills of the peer counsellors. What we need is a counsellor. A neutral third party who knows absolutely no one on campus. Who can be trusted with a story cos he/she has absolutely nothing to gain spouting it. Not even entertainment value. At least it wont be spouted within law school or to a law schoolite. This is what we should be aiming at.

Peer counselling cannot handle people in alw school. Nothing would change. People need to go out more and integrate themselves with the surroundings. When was the last time you went to a college fest and saw, if not met, new people? Maybe the information interchange programme thought of by the Fat Odiya is something we all need. Definitely, the call of the hour is for people outside to be called in. 

We should stop being so egoistic as to believe we can solve all the problems within ourselves.  It's quite obvious we can't. We need to be self sufficient, understanding, sensitive, YES. But will that stop someone who wants to actually jump, from jumping? I say, no. Trust is hard to come by in law school, and even when found, it is easily betrayed. To create trust between new friends, old trust is always betrayed. I'm confident, you have never betrayed anyone's trust. I mean, how could you? You're a law schoolite. We're the epitome of morality and ethics.

What can be done about the worsening situation among law schoolites? GET A COUNSELLOR. GET PEOPLE FROM OUTSIDE TO TALK. When any such initiative is taken, get your asses out of bed and come take part. Meet NEW people for a change. Dont sit in your room and crib about how the localites dont understand how modern we all are. Go out, mingle, get to know people. Nothing wrong about knowing people outside your little circle of misfits. But most important of all, when there is an initiative for interaction with outsiders, be it a talk on jurisprudence or a talk on dope, sex and other adoloscent issues, try to make it to the talk instead of sleeping around or wasting time cribbing and moping. We, at law school need holistic development. It would be pathetic to be broken destroyed people who can only spout the law sitting at a desk cos litigation is obviously out of the question for most of us.

We need to understand our actions now will have a lasting effect later in life.  The fact that we are the spirit does not immunise our bodies from all the spirits and nicotine we consume. Maybe it was time to find alternate forms of distraction. Maybe support is all that is lacking. If people stopped being lazy, things could happen. Peer counselling is a good example. A badly conceived idea, with hopeless implementation got around 20 people to attend (each paying good money). Maybe a slightly better idea would get 40 people to attend, and this 40 might blossom into 400 over the course of a couple of years.

That, is my hope.