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