I soon found out that there were a set of rules that juniors are supposed to adhere to in order to make their life more "pleasant". For example
1) Juniors should dress up in formal clothes only. This meant full-sleeve shirts and trousers, no belts allowed
2) Juniors are not allowed to ask seniors their CGPA
3) The senior is always right
4) If the senior is ever wrong, refer to rule no. 3
Although the last two rules are a direct ripoff from the age-old joke about how the boss is always right, the first two are pretty original. Initially I thought that the first rule was solely in place so as to make the first yearites as uncomfortable as possible, then I thought that the rule was in place so that the seniors guys could get their pick of first year girls, but then I inadvertently realized the true reason for this rule: It enabled seniors interested in "interacting with" juniors to easily pick them out in a crowd of guys.
And how did I realize this on my own? Well, as it so happens I hate formal clothes, so while coming here I packed my entire collection of t-shirts and jeans, and there was not a single button-shirt or pair of trousers in there, as a consequence of which I roamed about in casuals, and most seniors were none the wiser. This, along with the BITSAT score mentioned earlier, pretty much saved me from most of the "interactions" that took place in my second year. And those interactions were pretty rough on a few poor souls. I still distinctly remember the day Harold came back to him room with his eyes brimming with tears because a couple of seniors apparently asked him to swear at a tubelight.
But as far as interactions go, I guess that the first yearites from South India, and Tamil students in particular, drew the short stick. In my first year, the situation on campus was that the number of south indians there was steadily dwindling, as a result of which the remaining south indians on campus had gotten pretty close, despite their being from different batches. Hence, while the rest of the students had to interact mostly with their immediate seniors, the south indian first yearites had to contend with second, third and fourth yearites.
I can still remember days when Lucifer (my room-mate) would leave at 5 in the evening and return late at night, covered in bruises.
Ok, so the bruises part was false, but the rest of it is true. He didn't seem to mind it so much though, and would periodically describe particularly entertaining sessions, like the one in which he was asked to take a pick of three addictions: nicotine, alcohol, or pornography. And then there was the one in which he was asked to hump a pillar...