‘Please don’t forget to smile, if we meet again’

FM Team | 05/11/2014

Campus Health/ Romance

‘Please don’t forget to smile, if we meet again’

Campus romance has been a very sensitive subject ever since people started going to schools and colleges. No parents would allow this as they think falling in love with someone when you are still studying is detrimental and will affect the studies and life later. But is it that bad as they think?

By FM Bureau

Campus life is exciting. Especially for the first timers on the campus, entering a college just after their high school studies can be a wonderful experience. When they were in high schools, there were only studies as they had to prepare for the college entrance exams. Now they are free from the pressures of their parents, away from home, out of range of the roving eyes of the elders. It is time to have new friends, fun and have the first taste of romance. In fact, it is not love, it’s only an infatuation. Yet it’s genuine as one falls for him or her here is not because of the other person’s social status, caste, religion or wealth. But in most of the cases, this wonderful life doesn’t last for long. Many are forced to part their ways abruptly. Many girls get married even during their studies and settle down. Boys move to faraway places for higher studies or employment. Yet, these are a few things we love to cherish all through our lives. No doubt romance on campus makes our life really beautiful and complete.

“Forget about the heartbreaks and disappointments,” says counselor and psychologist Dr S Shankar. “It can be beneficial too. There are many incidents where the Cupid played a larger role in pushing people to think unconventional and find new meaning to life. Love is inspiring and it makes people more creative and brings in great achievements,” he adds.

“This is the time when students start knowing about other people and interact with them closely. For them, it is a different experience, different from what they experience at home. It does not mean that encourage them. Just ignore it and love your children more intensely. It is natural that children seek to establish friendships and relationships outside home, especially if they feel neglected or ignored at home. Remember love is the most powerful antidote in one’s life,” says Dr Shankar.

“My college days were at a time when parents and the college authorities were very orthodox and strict. We, boys and girls were not allowed to talk on the corridors or at the library or go for a tea together at the canteen, let alone walk around the campus.

The only place we talked freely was at the bus stop, under a fully blossomed Gulmohar tree. The students were really scared of the principal who could appear in front of you at any time. Still people fell in love. It did not affect their studies generally. But there was one case, I remember, that a girl became a mental wreck after a failed love affair. In fact, the boy got a job in a faraway place and the contact was lost. The only mode of communication those days was writing letters. This was an exceptional case. Most other relationships ended up with a sentence in the autograph, “Please don’t forget to smile, if we meet again.”

“Though as a parent I don’t fully agree with the idea of a campus love maturing into an inseparable relationship, I am also against students being put on a leash to protect them from campus romance. The students should also know one thing that there is a life after the campus and it is entirely different. Get into friendships, but avoid relationships. Then the memories of your campus adventures will be sweeter,” says Dr Shankar.