The “CAMP” theory.

I can only imagine what life could have been if everyone started believing in the so-called theory of “camps” or groups” in college. Some immature and infantile students constantly refer to other students belonging to certain camps, and every time I hear this strange word being used to describe our professional and social interactions, I wonder what it really means.

Does it mean we while away our days sitting around in our very own “adda” ( the one room where group meetings take place), scrutinizing and scheming the actions and trials of other groups, designing exclusive members only jackets and coining code words that we would use with each other in public to threaten a rival camp.  

Funnier still is how they would expect us to be at social do’s and functions. Standing around in clusters, blowing smoke rings as we sneer down at lesser beings, guffawing loudly and greeting, all the while staying firmly within the invisible but glaringly obvious “lakshman- rekha” we’ve drawn around us. God forbid we step into anyone else’s territory! How gloriously camp all this sounds!

Truth be told, I believe camps are so retro, and the word itself is pretty cagey in definition. But really now, do our supposed camps come with rules and codes of conduct, dress codes and oaths to swear on, verbally binding contracts and silent sacrifices expected to be made? To me this all sounds very high school, it’s about time we come out and say we’re all grown ups now, perfectly capable of working and playing together without feeling bound by false notions of loyalty or professional fidelity.

Unfortunately, very few people believe in what I say. The true nature of relationship between two not-so-socially-interactive persons is not necessarily one of hatred. While we may not be brothers in arms, and quite possibly not as fraternal as I would have wished, we aren’t sworn enemies either. The maintenance of balance instructs that we need to work in harmony, without constantly needing to harmonize together. We are supportive, yet not overtly so, but we are also human and competitive.

As utopian as it could be, I can’t make everyone my family, and I really wouldn’t want to either. I value relationships, but just give them different manifestations and degrees of importance in my lives. Just because I spend time with my friends a lot doesn’t mean they’ve pledged themselves to me alone, and just because they chose to spend some time with others doesn’t make me feel betrayed. So, very sadly, to pop your voyeuristic bubble, selfishness should overtake jealousy, and we should all be too focused on our own work to invest negatively in someone else’s projects.

So I’m campaigning for an end to this camp theory. Healthy life needs a lot of support, and at the end of the day, when you call the college to gather together for a cause, an issue, or even just a fabulous party, we band together in unison. We may show up in clusters, but we are there as one. We don't have camps, and there isn’t a head counselor or a don calling the shots.

We are ‘one’ there and that’s how I would wish it remains elsewhere as well.