and DU teacher Amitav Chakraborty in March this year, had filed a case under the RTI, questioning the exact number of laptops purchased to be distributed to the FYUP students and the Budget Head fromwhich the funds for the laptops were taken. There was news regarding the OBC fund being used for financing the laptops. And now, there aren’t clear instructions regarding the same. The decision from the DU authorities is awaited. Ishita Sharma ([email protected])]]>
3 o’clock in the morning and I was still up, sitting on the bed, my head buried in a book. I could hear footsteps coming from the room above mine. It was gramps’, up for his mid-sleep ritual. Halfway through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, night after night I dig into it, getting barely enough sleep, yet not having the slightest concern about being caught dozing off in class, yet again.
I was just 10 when I fell in love with Harry Potter for the first time. But it wasn’t until I finished the last book in the series that I started to feel a constant urge for a dose of J.K. Rowling. 1997 saw the release of the first book, which was seven years after she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series for the first time. Those seven years marked Rowling’s hardest times, tragedies only women of strength can live through. From writing in trains, on paper napkins to making every childhood magical, Rowling is one of the most influential women in Britain.
Four years after the release of the last Harry Potter book, Rowling’s novel for adult readers, The Casual Vacancy came out. Despite critics’ opinion on it being lousy, the author’s way of making me fall in love with a character that died in the opening chapter of the novel was astonishing.
Rowling quickly followed her previously under received novel with ‘The Cuckoo’s Calling’, a highly acclaimed crime fiction, written under the pseudonym- Robert Galbraith. The second installment to her crime series, ‘The Silkworm’ came out later last month. She said during a crime-writing festival that she wrote it under a fake name to see if she could “get a book published on the merits of the book”.
And as if my admiration wasn’t enough, she also got my respect.
With her birthday today, why not, give this creator of the-boy-who-lived, the author of the un-put-down-able stories, another tribute.
–Greta Khawbung
Q. Dear Amma, my boyfriend has this annoying habit of using his cellphone while we are in the middle of it. I mean, when I am busy at the “job”, he would pull out his phone, check his Facebook, WhatsApp (puts his status about how pleased he is right now; however flattering that is, it’s kinda embarrassing too) and even begin to take selfies and put them in his SnapChat story. I ask him to not do that, but he just doesn’t listen and this really puts me off. Please help!
A. Now Amma knows how addicted you young machhis are to your cellphones, but this is quite new to hear and a little weird, to be honest! Amma has had lovers who loved to brag about my amazing gifts at the art of pleasure-giving, but that was after the deed was done, not during it! You over-steamed-over-enthusiastic-idlies these days! Aiiyyoo!
Still, Amma believes in making the best out of everything! Here’s what you can do to make him pay attention to you rather than his social life, while he totally blows (heheh) his private life. Get kinky. No better reason to get your real freak on. Tie his hands and even blindfold him when you’re down at business. This will make his phone inaccessible and let him feel the waves of absolute pleasure, without any other distractions.
For more pointers, read Fifty Shades of Grey (only the sex scenes, because, hello we all know it’s not for the very engaging plot that they’re making a movie out of it). Get a whip too, if his hand strays anywhere from you, hit him. That’s how we get things done, Amma style!
Amidst the variety of cuisines Hudson Lane has to offer to students and by-passers, a new restaurant, Indus Flavour has opened that is offering dishes along the lines of authentic North Indian Cuisine, also introducing some new recipes that belong to the Indus Valley region i.e. dishes from North West Frontier, Punjab and Rajasthan, and also Far East Cuisines.
The Restaurant has two menus, one is Indian and the other is Chinese. While the Chinese Menu offers the regular food items and also Special Student Combos, the Indian Menu introduces a variety of dishes such as Peshawri Paneer Tikka Masala and Dahi Ke Sholay.
The food is tasty and experimental, thereby offering a getaway for foodies looking to explore new food joints. The restaurant is a quiet, peaceful place with minimal noise even though it’s located in the heart of Hudson lane. The large red cushion sofas instantly make you comfortable and relaxed.
An all day dining restaurant, they were the first restaurant in North Delhi to introduce Ipad menus, with Loyalty Programme, wherein the guests add points and can redeem these points on their subsequent visits.
They are the highest rated Vegetarian Restaurant in the whole of Delhi/NCR on Zomato.
The restaurant offers a good variety of kebabs and starters; however the main course is tasty with a lot of variety. Apart from Mint Chutney, they also serve Mango Chutney and Apply Chutney, which are delicious!
They also have a wide array of Mocktails such as Rose Cranberry Martini and Mango Margarita .
Last but not the least, for Students, they have BOGO Offer between 1 to 7 PM, and on Wednesdays, you get flat 25 % off on your bill if you win the toss! On Thursays, for only girls’ table, you get a starter or main course dish, complimentary from the restaurant!
Not to Miss: Honey Chilly Potato, Dahi ke Sholay, Rose Cranberry Martini, Dal Makhni, Paneer Gravies.
Where: Hudson Lane, Opposite to Old Laxmi Dairy.
Nearest Metro station: G.T.B. Nagar on the yellow line (Exit from Gate No. 4)
Meal for two: Rs 500(plus Taxes)
If you are a DU student, chances are that you have interned at least once in your college life. And as the drill goes, after sifting through truckloads of resumes, a handful of companies call you for interviews and a fist full actually like you to take you in as their newest, least important member. Having interned during the year, I did not see the point of spending the entire summer strapped to a desk, working on a trivial project that these big wigs won’t even glean over, while chasing their multimillion dollar targets. And yet, as a craziest of crazy chances, I got into Google.
Yes, despite being one of the biggest giants in the world, you can walk in wearing slippers and shorts, even into the CEO’s office (who, by the way, is easily accessible to everyone). So the process started with an email and a resume attached. And so after resume selection and a few other rounds, I saw myself walking into the rainbow colored office of Google India. And a few weeks of imbibing the Google atmosphere, it became clear to me, in vivid Google colors, why Google is called the best employer in the world.
Everyone heard of the big bad corporates who inhibit your creativity in a suit and chain your free spirit with a noose of a tie- take from someone who has seen it, it is not a myth. Google pushes these boundaries; it is not just any other company of course. The concept of suits and ties is non-existent (thank god), so is the concept of desks and chains. All you need is to be sure of your work, and you could sit in the gym and do it- as long as it gets done. Self motivation is the one of the obscure concepts Google lives by and so is doing what you are best at.
That’s also one of the reasons Google faces so little problems when it enters new Geography- once you’re in these four walls, you are a Googler and not an Indian, American, Indonesian, Italian, black, white, brown, yellow or whatever other skin colors there are. On that note, and avoiding the risk of telling too much, I would conclude by saying- if you get a chance to intern here, don’t give up on it. I should get back to the snack counter now!
P.S- The Internship, the movie, like all other movies is exaggerated way beyond the real deal. But it’s all true!
After a summer full of confusion and many changes in the typical style the University seems to have mastered in the past few years, the new academic session finally began last week. After two months of sleeping in late, alarms were set at painfully early hours. The many weeks spent lazing around were quickly followed by the discomfort of having to fit into a regular schedule of classes.
But hey, despite these “gross atrocities”, I can’t really complain because I, along with the rest of the team, am back to working on our print issues! Now that the colleges have reopened, we’re back to doing what we do best: talking about everything that’s relevant to our readers. Or well, continuing our quest to do the same. We launched our Admissions Special issue in end June with the hope that it would serve as a guide and a friendly welcome note for the thousands of freshers who are now roaming the corridors in their respective colleges, slowly settling in and creating a place for themselves in Delhi University.
Each year, we have new students joining the team. Students from different corners of the city who’ve taken up disciplines that vary as much as their opinions, writing and reporting styles. We like to think of DU Beat as a representation of Delhi University, so it only makes sense that we bring together a group of diverse individuals. As the new recruits across all departments are getting the hang of things, our older members (and some rather ancient ones like me) are busy taking on new roles and responsibilities.
We recently conducted our annual induction over the weekend that just went by, to welcome the new recruits who’ve joined us. In the Editorial meeting, we covered everything from what makes for an unbiased news report, a light to read and relatble opinion piece and how to go about building a network of contacts and sources. And of course, certain topics like the latest YouTube videos (Pretentious Movie Reviews, anyone?), Akshar Pathak and his graphics, along with new eating joints to review were discussed thoroughly.
A full year lies ahead of us, one that will surely bring in new challenges along with a lot of scope for new columns, issues to highlight, events to cover and partner with and initiatives to applaud. We’re already working on a few ideas that we’re very excited to launch in the coming months. Phone calls and messages are exchanged on a daily basis between Niharika, the Web Editor for the session, me and the Core Editorial group, with Ishika, Geetika and Swati, from Marketing, Operations and Design respectively, pitching in with new ideas. The possibilities are endless, but sometimes one needs to focus on what to skip, rather than on what to take up.
In the end it’s all about listening to our readers through various means (web analytics, for example) and delivering what they want; along with delighting them with pieces and posts that they didn’t know they’d enjoy. Here’s to thoroughly delighting our readers in the coming year.
Welcome (back) to DU!
Featured illustration by Mehr Gill for DU Beat
There are probably hundreds of apps which appear and disappear on daily basis from the app stores. From this cluster of umpteen apps, we have selected a few; in order of their utility and convenience that will come in very handy for freshers:
Evernote
It is one of the simplest yet most useful apps introduced till date. It helps you to save anything you might find worth remembering in the form of text note, voice reminders, to-do lists or snapshot. Subsequently, you can give your notes tags and titles and browse them whenever you wish to revisit it. Since it can sync all your notes across the devices and apps you use, it provides you with a platform to save all your vital information. One can even search for texts inside a saved image.
Image credits: cbronline.com
Delhi Metro Rail app
This is another user- friendly app. It helps you to search the nearest metro stations, check fare rates, and explore the Metro routes. Besides this, it provides you with all the information about feeder buses, helpline numbers, metro museum, tourist spots near stations, parking places, travel time between stations and so on. For those who travel by bus frequently, the Delhi Transit Bus Info makes for a handy app to check routes and tracking for GPS enabled Orange Line buses.
Image credits: play.google.com
SOS-Stay Safe
This is one of the top safety apps for girls. It can turn out to be quite a life saver in hours of need. This app can help you sends a quick SOS alert to your emergency contact list by merely shaking your cell. You can intensify your alerts by changing shake gesturers per your convenience. Another feature is that when you send in the emergency message, the battery level of the device, your location as well as a one minute audio recording is sent immediately.
Image credits: trak.in
Surbhi Sharma
Three months ago, I was asked to do a feature on the western music society of my college. In an interview with the President of the society, I was told that one of their major influences was a bloke named Ed Sheeran.
I kept on telling myself in the Metro that I would go home and browse YouTube for Ed Sheeran as I had heard a lot about him but had never had the opportunity of listening to his music. As soon as I reached home, I had my dinner and sat down on my computer to search for Ed Sheeran. The first video that cropped up was of a song named ‘The A Team’ which had close to 150 million views. Nonetheless I clicked on the video and waited for it to buffer completely. Twenty seconds into the song I was mesmerised by the simplicity of his voice as well the emotion behind every word he sang.
In an interview to an Australian Radio Station, Ed mentioned how he met a homeless girl in a homeless shelter while he was playing a show when he was 18 years old. He mentions that the ‘girl’ was later found out to be a prostitute who sold ‘love to another man’ for the sole purpose of smoking Cocaine. The A Team was about this girl ‘Angel’ who is so rightfully mentioned in the song. Till this day The A Team has stayed in my playlist along with few of his other songs.
2 months later, on 24th June I had the opportunity of buying a digital version of Ed Sheeran’s new album ‘Multiply’. From the first to the last song this album kept me craving for more. In few of his interviews this year, Ed mentioned how this album was ‘way too personal’ and how it had ‘variety’. He mentioned how this album consisted of both his original style of music and his experiment with Hip Hop as a result of him working with contemporary hip hop artists and producers (which he has managed to pull off splendidly).
If you are a person who loves romantic ballads as well as well constructed contemporary hip hop, this is definitely the album for you. I have tried to group the songs in the album into three groups namely Love Songs, Hip Hop and Assorted and I shall be addressing each song accordingly:
Love Songs
- One
- I’m a Mess
- Nina
- Photograph
- Tenerife Sea
- Thinking Out Loud
- Afire Love
- Shirtsleeves
Hip Hop
- Sing (Produced by Pharell Williams)
- Don’t
- Bloodstream
- The Man
- Runaway
- Take it back
Assorted
- Even my dad does sometimes
- I see fire
Let us start with the Love Songs;
‘One’, ‘Tenerife Sea’ and ‘Photograph’ are slow, melodic and high pitched songs with well executed vocal harmonies which complement the guitar and the drums perfectly. These three songs are pretty personal. ‘One’ is like a traditional ballad which is dedicated in a general fashion but ‘Photograph’, as speculated, describes his relationship with Nina Nesbitt. ‘Tenerife Sea’ is speculated as a song dedicated to Ellie Goulding, because Ed mentioned that “in a difficult time when there was too much buzz, a ‘lady’ helped him cope with the hustle and bustle of life.” A few weeks later a photo was revealed which showed Ed holding Ellie’s hand in an Award Ceremony, which somehow portrayed that Ed was troubled with the buzz of the Awards and he was relaxed when Ellie met him.
‘I’m a Mess’, ’Shirtsleeves’ and ‘Nina’ are faster songs but they are all addressed to Nina Nesbitt, describing a few instances of their relationship. ‘Thinking out loud’ is another general love song which has a ‘Jazzy’ vibe to it. In an album promo, Ed plays ‘Thinking out loud’ with Jazz Pianist Jools Holland and both of them complement each other perfectly. ‘Afire Love’ describes the love amongst his grandparents. He sings about how his ill grandfather once used to sing to his grandmother. The chorus of the song is partly what his grandfather used to sing to his grandmother.
Now moving on the Hip Hop Songs;
‘Sing’ was the first single that Ed released in February and surprisingly it was produced by Grammy Award winning artist Pharell Williams. It is a funky song and it even has a music video where both of them feature together. The song received positive criticism and showed a new face of Sheeran’s music. Next on the album is ‘Don’t’ which is another extremely personal song. The song mentions “Me and Her we make money the same way, two cities and two planes the same day” and “I never intended to be next, but you didn’t need to take him to bed that’s all. I never saw him as a threat, until you disappeared with him to have sex of course”.
The next song is ‘The Man’ where he addresses this to song to Nina Nesbitt. It is an intense rap and he delivers the whole story in the Rap. ‘Runaway’ is a song that depicts Ed’s feelings when he was just 16 years old and he left his town for a career in music in London; how he loves his father but has to busk in the streets to carry on his passion for music…’Bloodstream’ is a general song where he portrays his mood when he is drunk and there are women surrounding him. He depicts a very dark side of his mind in this song. It also has a catchy and a melodic guitar pattern to complement the lyrics. ‘Take it Back’ is like an answer to his critics. For anyone who wants to learn about Ed Sheeran’s life this is the song he/she should listen to. It’s a fast rap song and has a catchy chorus as well.
Moving on to the Assorted songs section,
‘Even my dad does sometimes’ is like a slow ballad where he describes how it’s okay to cry and enjoy life as it unfolds with the passage of time. It’s like a message to the modern youth who look for an excuse to give up their lives and finally ‘I See Fire’ is the song Sheeran made for the movie ‘The Hobbit: Desolation of the Smaug’. This song was pretty well received and has been covered more than 5000 times on YouTube.
Overall this album is awesome. It provides you with super cool music and it creates a perfect balance between love songs and hip hop songs. I can’t wait for radios in Delhi to play these songs. Some of my favourite songs in the album are ‘Don’t’, ‘Bloodstream’, ‘The Man’, ‘I’m a Mess’, ‘Nina’, ’Thinking Out Loud’, ’Sing’, ‘Runaway’ and ‘I See Fire’. You should definitely buy this album as it is worth it.
In other colleges students have been given a few options to choose from but this disparity is not just limited to colleges but also to different courses in colleges. At the Shri Ram College of Commerce, students of B. Com were directly allotted Economics as their allied course while students of Economics were given an option to choose between Mathematics and Political Science. St. Stephen’s college has provided students with options for the allied course as well but these options haven’t been extended to students of all courses. Other colleges are still in the dark when it comes to the allied course and are expecting news by Monday. There seems to be no directive from the University to ensure that colleges follow a uniform policy on the issue. Information on the Delhi University Website is limited to the allied course papers of different subjects. The students continue to remain uncertain about the exact details of their course structure and are hoping for some clarity soon.]]>