The fresh whiff of freedom that a student experiences with his first steps in college is just one of the more colourful aspects that college life has to offer. What the same carefree student doesn't realise, is that it comes with a warning of sorts -- stress and strain of the college syllabus, peer pressure and anxiety about love life -- all vying for top honours to jeopardise his all happy life.

While every mass medium from television channels to radio stations have come up with a popular space of expression, anonymously turning a personal problem into a public one, the idea of introducing a column in college magazines too is catching up, with students sharing problems and seeking answers from each other.

"We have a column in our college magazine that we devote to answering problems of the students of the college. The very fact that students are helping out fellow students makes a difference to both parties. The students who help out others feel confident and those being helped out can relate to the fact that someone understands their problems," says Shailey Asthana, of Sinhagad college of Commerce, and chief editor of the college magazine.

Another newsletter at the Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication (SIMC) serves the same purpose. Sidharth Kawadia, a student at SIMC says, "Through the newsletter Write Click, we not only share our experiences, but also our problems. There has been a good response from the students."

Ritika Bharadwaj, a fourth year engineering student from AISSMS college of engineering says, "Speaking on a personal level, with the amount of issues, both professional and personal, that students deal with, it would be a good idea to have something of this sort in the college magazine. Sometimes, students feel comfortable asking strangers for advice. Besides, the answers provided to them might act as a solution to other students who are struggling with similar problems."

Seconding her opinion is Sunny James, a BSc student from Fergusson College. "This is a wonderful idea. Students do go through a lot during their college days; a major issue that stresses them out is peer pressure and pressure from their parents to perform well academically. Students may even resort to various forms of addiction to counter these feelings. The idea of being able to vent it out in a college magazine is definitely a good one and should be taken up by various colleges."

Anthony Bansode, a second year BCS student from Modern College says, "An agony column in the magazine will help students because it's a known fact that students feel more comfortable in asking for advice from strangers who will give them a patient hearing and not judge them or make fun of them."