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A Day in the Life of an Intern

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7:30 am:  My eyes open most reluctantly as the alarm goes off. I hit the ‘Snooze Button’ and pretend like it never even went off in the first place. I promptly go back to sleep.

8:15 am: My mother forces me to wake up by shaking me rather violently. I realise what time it is and panic for 2 minutes before I remind myself that I go through the same process every day, and hence have no reason to worry.

8:45 am: After getting ready quite hastily I drag myself to the Metro Station near my house and sleepily enter the Ladies’ Compartment.  I head off towards Noida where I’m interning this summer.

9:40 am: I finally reach the office and I’m only 10 minutes late. I make an expression like the ‘Not bad meme’ and sit down at my cubicle after greeting the other interns and my boss.

10:30 am: I’ve basically been going through a pile of paperwork and articles online, highlighting the information relevant to the project I’m supposed to research on. I look around to see what the other interns are up to and find all of them texting away at their phones. I pull my phone out to do the same.

11:15 am:  I feel (a little) guilty about being on my phone for such a long time and close all my chat and social networking site apps. I go through some more documents.

11:50 am: I decide to get myself a cup of coffee.

12:30 pm: Still going through documents and making entries in an Excel sheet. Lunch is just half an hour away, I realise happily.

1:00 pm:  Bring out the food! The interns and I head off to the canteen and sit at our usual table. The lunch thaali looks tasty today and we each buy one. Lunch hour is spent teasing each other and discussing trivial tales of our respective colleges. We also talk extensively of what would we would be doing right now if we were not interning – watching the latest movies and TV show seasons  are popular responses.

2:00 pm: Now that my stomach is full, I’m already feeling sleepy. My eyes threaten to close and my brain wants nothing more than to just doze off at the moment. But that is definitely not possible since the team has a meeting with the boss in about an hour.

2:45 pm: No one seems too pleased about the meeting. We’re all frantically finishing off our work and keeping an anxious eye on the clock.

3:30 pm: Well, I suppose it wasn’t that bad. In fact, the boss seemed happy with our progress! We spend the next hour brainstorming ideas on how to go about the next part of the project. I’m unusually alert right now.

3:50 pm: Time for another cup of coffee. Hmm, maybe some snacks too.

4:15 pm: Little more than hour to go.

4:30 pm: I strike up a conversation with the guy in the next cubicle about the latest Khaled Hosseini book. We both end up placing an order for it on Flipkart.

5:00 pm: I’m tempted to drink another cup of coffee but I manage to control myself by Googling ‘Health hazards of too much caffeine’ and convince myself that coffee is an evil addiction that must be curbed. For now, that is. I type out the weekly report I’m supposed to submit.

5:25 pm: I’m done with my work for the day but I can’t leave yet. I try to beat my Temple Run 2 high score-followed by Fruit Ninja and Paper Toss. I also list out all the things I’m going to buy with my stipend once I get it.

5:45 pm: FREEDOM AT LAST! I leave the building super-fast, as though I’ve been possessed by Flash’s spirit.

6:45 pm: I wake into my house, exhausted. I WhatsApp a few friends and sip some cold coffee.
Then I just lie down for a while. If nothing else, my internship has at least taught me to appreciate the beauty of coming back from a day’s work and doing absolutely…nothing!

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Admissions 2013

DU Cut Offs 2013: What You Can Expect

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Soon after the declaration of class XII board results, DU has again found a place in news. Only this time, it’s about a new course structure, amidst expectations of a rising cut off.

Let’s have a glance at this year’s results. About 7231 students crossed the barrier of 95%. While high percentage surely would have come as relief to both parents and students, how good would be the chances a student who has scored, say, 93%, would only become clear once the cut offs are declared.

Since the 95%+ club has been inundated with students, specially Science students, an average of about 3-4 % rise seems inevitable in the cut offs of science courses, as is also evident from the fact  that 754 students have scored 98% and above in physics and 426 people got merit in biology.

Altogether 44,676 students have scored 90% and higher in the Class XII CBSE boards, and their best-of-four aggregate for undergraduate admissions is likely to be even higher as 701 students have scored 100 in Maths and 1,498 have scored 96% and above in English. A spiralling rise was seen in Accountancy were 403 students earned merit in comparison to 223 in last year and in Business Studies it is 901. It is expected that increase in cut off for commerce course will range from 0.75%-1%. With SRCC, last year, announcing an unbelievable 100% cut off (for non-commerce students), it will be very interesting to see how this year’s increase takes shape. St Stephens which announced 98% as economics honours cut off is now expected to announce cut off around 98.75% – 99%. Humanities courses are also expected to see a rise of about 1%- 2%.

(For entire Admissions 2013 coverage click here)

However, not all subjects have witnessed an increase in marks scored. In Core English, the merit certificates have gone down from 1,782 to 1,498 this year, a decrease of about 19%. In Elective English, the decrease has been around 2-3%. CATE has been scrapped and the University will be admitting students on the basis of marks after many years.

The other reason spotted for rise in this year’s cut off might be the risk of over-admitting students. Earlier, there was rampant over-admission in spite of high cut-offs. But with the increase in the number of available seats under the four-year undergraduate program, there are contradictory views that this might get balanced out too.

Moreover, it’s a new system and colleges might be very cautious and conservative, especially for the first cut-off list, but in subsequent lists, cut offs are expected to normalize. Overall, there are a number of factors to be considered—the four-year undergraduate program that will increase the total strength of Delhi University’s undergraduate classes by about a third, redistribution of seats that formerly belonged to ‘Program’ courses, removal of entrance tests in several courses and, finally, the Class XII CBSE results. The abolishing of the BA, BCom and BSc program courses has added seats to many of the honours courses and the impact this has on cut-offs, will depend largely on how many seats have been redistributed and among how many subjects.

This year it’s going to be very tricky.

Update: The cut-off for St. Stephen’s College was declared on June 21st. Check the details here.

Image credits: Surbhi Bhatia 

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Campus Central

Students of Law Fac Organise Protest March Against University Authorities

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The students of the Faculty of Law, as well as the students who are trying to take admission in the Faculty of Law, organized a huge protest march starting from the main gate of the Arts Faculty and it culminated inside the Faculty of Law. The main reason for organising this protest march was to make the University authorities aware of the malpractices that are going on with total support from the admission committee and with full guidance and support from the Dean, Faculty of Law.

There have been several cases of mental harassment as well as vulgar abuses against the existing students who have been detained due to personal biases and also against girl students who are trying to seek admission in the Faculty of Law. Several cases of students seeking admission in the Law Faculty being booed with filthy abuses have been reported. There have been several complaints regarding this from the students to DUSU. Students seeking fresh admission to the Faculty, as well as those currently enrolled, came out and joined hands, expressing their solidarity against the Dean in what has been described by some students as a “tyrannical” rule.

Current students of the Faculty have been facing constant harassment at the hands of the Dean as they have been detained on account of shortage of attendance, the stipulated requirement of which is 66%. These students spread out overall three years of the LL.B. course found themselves in these unfortunate circumstances only 4 days before the start of their end-semester examinations. When they approached the Dean and other members of the Faculty, they were humiliated, verbally abused and made to run from pillar to post. They allege that they have been detained without warning and have fallen victim to the rivalry between the Faculty and the administration. As if the testimonies of the current students did not disincentivise an admission seeker from applying to the Faculty of Law, students have been made to wait for hours on end to be able to procure and submit their LL.B. Entrance Forms in the sweltering heat. The counter to submit the forms opens an hour late and the lunch hours are flexible to the whims and fancies of the staff. Upon making a complaint, students were abused verbally and the staff did not even heed to the presence of female students and continued to use filthy language which is not expected from a faculty of their caliber.

Students, fed up with the situation, approached the DUSU Office and through its President, Shri Arun Hooda, a complaint was made. Instead of readdressing the grievances of the students, the faculty, hand in glove with the college administration, falsely framed the student leader of misconduct. The Dean’s attitude and approach has made many a student regretful of their association with the Faculty and fresh admission seekers are thinking twice before applying for admission on account of the harassment meted out to them. The protest was carried out in the Faculty premises and the students marched near Gate No.4 and a memorandum of their grievances was submitted to the University authorities. Appeal has been made by these angered student community for stringent action against the Dean and an enquiry into the issue at hand.

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Flicks

Movie Review: Go Goa Gone

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Film – Go Goa Gone
Starring – Vir Das, Kunal Khemu, Saif Ali Khan, Pooja Gupta, Anand Tiwary
Director – Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK

Go Goa Gone finds three hip young dudes in the throes of a quarter life crisis, facing extreme situations with more derring-do than smarts. Vir Das plays Luv, the typical lovesick, bad-boy trying to go good, but vows to live life on the wild side after getting dumped by his girlfriend, who entails on the vacation of a lifetime to Goa with his pothead and self-proclaimed casanova friend Hardik (Kunal Khemu), and uptight goody-two-shoes, Bunny (Anand Tiwari).

Go Goa Gone’s charming young cast and fresh premise has driven the film to earn positive word of mouth among urban audiences in India and overseas, suggesting lively returns for producer and co-star Saif Ali Khan, who plays the hilariously intimidating desi turned Russian zombie killer, Boris. ‘I keel dead people!’, he snarls.

The directors rely on smart writing and a genre awareness that ensures it isn’t another illogical blood-and-gore thriller. Go Goa Gone is neither a Night of the Living Dead nor a Shaun of the Dead; neither a generic horror film nor an overt parody. It is a fairly conventional slacker comedy. In simpler words, a watered-down Delhi Belly.

The soundtrack of the movie keeps you engaged and makes you want to try to focus, whereas the pretty, post- F.A.L.T.U Pooja Gupta provides you with enough eye-candy to survive through the bad graphics and zombie killing. Post-interval, the film does a zombie on us — it becomes dead, lumbering and tedious. The plot drags on to strangely sober zombies who were obviously chosen as cast from one of the Baga Beach rave parties itself.

The stoner jokes, sexual innuendos and gore keep the audience entertained, and the cast does a mighty fine job of portraying the characters. Overall, Go Goa Gone is a gloriously trippy ride.

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Arts & Culture

Bombay Talkies – Ajeeb Dastan Hain Yeh

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100 years of song and dance, technicolour expressions and the classic Bollywoody Maa came to their age. New stamps were released by the government and hordes of desi actors landed up on Cannes’ shores, finally with some half-baked reason of representing the century old Indian film industry to get their 15 seconds of limelight. In all of these, the irony fell on the 100 year old dame of the industry itself. It would have been expected that the industry of million films would churn out at least a few dozen to celebrate the century, but no. Its most visible face internationally, Bollywood, came out with only one and in aapna filmy language, it was hugely thanda.

Divided into four short films directed by four very different directors, Bombay Talkies starts with Karan Johar’s ‘Ajeeb Dastan Hain Yeh’. Gayatri and Dev are a very good looking couple who for some reason don’t have enough sex. Avinash is Gayatri’s young gay colleague who happens to ascertain using his superior gaydar that Dev is gay. No reason is offered as to why he goes out of his way to act all creepy with his office bestie’s husband. Johar leaves a lot of loose ends untied and all of the characters flat. They never get explored enough and given the time constraints Johar had, it is understandable, given the fact that the average runtime of his films is 2 Kumbh Melas and all the episodes of ‘Kyunki Sans Bhi kabhi Bahu Thi’ put together. Talking about acting, while Rani played the bored wife to the T, the parts showing her in her “highflying working woman” avatar felt phoney. Randeep Hooda looked and acted his character well, the silence of his words and intensity of his stare going well with the role he was playing. Saqib Saleem looked as if he was trying too hard to act his part convincingly and was much pleasant in his debut film.Bombay Talkies POSTER_0

Nothing about the film was ‘ajeeb’, if we don’t limit our understanding of the word ‘ajeeb’ to only the very superficial treatment of the theme of homosexuality and female sexuality. Yes, female sexuality because for me, the segment may deal more visibly with the sexuality of the two men in the story but the woman’s sexuality is given ample, if not enough, screen time too. The intentions might have been in the right places and placing this particular segment at the first certainly points to the more progressiveness of the film makers, but it falls flat on the execution. Playing with one stereotype after another, Johar shows an unhappy couple, a sassy gay friend and the very clichéd moment of realisation for the husband. What happened in the west in decades past is only peeping in here now and Bollywood in its 100th year should have shown more maturity.

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Events

Reclaiming the streets: From Agenda to Action

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Street Vendors Dialogue with Political Leaders and Civil Society Representatives to Convert Street Vendors Livelihood Protection Bill into the Act

New Delhi, 1 May: Thousands of street vendors’ representatives gathered on  International Labour Day at the” Street Vendors Dialogue with Political Leaders and Civil Society Representatives’ at the Kamani Auditorium, with the Union Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Ajay Maken, sending a message to the National association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) that the much awaited Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill had been approved by the Union Cabinet.

The main purpose of organizing the dialogue was to build momentum on getting effective central law in the current session of parliament through bringing key stakeholders together in support of early enactment of Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act. The national dialogue was organized by the NASVI with support from Centre for Civil Society. Besides several street vendor leaders of Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the Congress leader and Delhi MP JP Agrawal, former director general of Labour and Welfare S.K. Das, FSSAI functionary Suniti Kumar Gupta and CCS associate director Shantanu Gupta also addressed the convention. Mr. Maken, who was to address the street vendors’ convention, could not turn up because of his presence in the Cabinet meeting. However, his office sent message of the development related to the Bill.

The Bill vetted by the cabinet incorporates the issue of inclusion of vendors doing their business on railway lands.  Earlier version of the Bill had excluded the railway vendors and the NASVI had strongly objected to the exclusion.  The revised Bill also has greatly empowered the Town Vending Committee (TVC) and given it power to decide ultimately on almost all issues of determining the vending zones. The Bill does also have strong grievance redressal mechanisms.

Describing an inclusive and effective central law as a critical social-political imperative of urbanizing India, NASVI coordinator – Mr. Arbind Singh said, “Once enacted by the parliament, the Act would go a long way in protecting the rights and entitlements of street vendors who earn their livelihood in tough and harsh conditions in cities and towns across India”.

 

Akriti Gupta

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