Free hugs anyone? DU students hain na!
Whenever you feel short of love, just open your arms and let the feelings turn into the beautiful gesture of a hug. Several students at Delhi University are adopting this mantra and the “Free Hugs Campaign” movement initiated by Aussie Juan Mann in 2004 in an effort to share happiness at their college fests.
Holding placards to spread the word that they are available to offer free hugs, some youngsters aim to spread positivity in the minds of people. Vaidehi Mattu, a first-year student of Miranda House saw one such person and felt the urge to follow this “random trend”. “I saw someone holding a card, so I quickly tore a page from my notebook, and copied the act there and then. After that, I experienced a flow of happy hormones. Don’t even ask how many people I hugged that day because honestly, I stopped counting after a hundred.”
Mattu adds, “It’s just a hug. But, if it makes someone smile, then it’s worth going home a little late, no?” She cites Juan Mann’s campaign as well.
Throwing light on this
I held up a placard at Maitreyi college fest to not just offer hugs but also accept slaps. It’s a social experiment.
ADITYA, Student
campaign, Mayank Gulati, a final-year student at Ramanujan College shares, “Mann did so because he felt depressed and lonely. But the impact of that movement is such that even now, after two decades, he continues to remain an inspiration for many of us.” Gulati says and strongly feels “offering free hugs is a pretty nice idea to focus on mental health.”
Giving free hugs, however, isn’t the only gesture that DU students are ready to explore when it comes to healing one’s state of mind. “I held up a placard at Maitreyi College fest to not just offer hugs but also to accept slaps,” informs Aditya, a second-year student at Dyal Singh College. He explains: “It’s a social experiment. Within the first 10 minutes, 57 girls hugged me and 10 other people slapped me. Of course, I kept a count. And I plan to continue performing this experiment at many more college fests this season.”