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5 scary situations Delhi University students dread

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Halloween, as a festival, has always been associated with scary and morbid themes- after all many cultures remember the dead on this particular day. While it’s not a commonly celebrated festival in India (and let’s face it, we hardly have a dearth of holidays to celebrate), keeping with the spirit of the holiday, we decided to take a look at some situations that are scary enough to give Delhi University students nightmares.

The Metro stops functioning for a prolonged period of time

The beloved DMRC is essentially a lifeline for many DU students who travel from far off corners of the city (or to far off corners of the city-off campus colleges, anyone?) In such a scenario, if anything were to happen that disrupts our daily metro commute, whether it’s a technical glitch or a prolonged delay, we’d be left cribbing and annoyed, because most of the alternatives aren’t comfortable or cheap.

Any new change brought in for the current second year students 

Seriously, haven’t these poor kids had enough? DU has always introduced changes in the system, but I think we can all agree that the FYUP introduction and the eventual roll back of the same, takes the cake. Not just that, but this is the ‘guinea pig batch’ who also started off with the CCE system. Any more such changes might set these disturbed students off balance. It hurts to even joke about it!

Studying for the wrong paper/subject

Now, this may or may not have happened to me, but imagine a situation where. for whatever reason, you studied for the wrong exam (internal or external) and realised your mistake a few minutes before entering the exam hall. Terrifying, right?

Getting an ER or a ‘back’, as it’s affectionately called

As if studying for a paper you obviously didn’t understand much of wasn’t scary enough, imagine getting an ER in that dreaded subject! ERs are no joking matter- many students spend sleepless nights tossing and turning, praying that they avoid this ordeal in their college life!

A dangerously low attendance record

The semester is almost over, and the study break is about to start in a couple of weeks. Bunking all those classes now seems like a bad idea. This is especially true for those who study in colleges that are super strict about attendance records. If you’re from one of those colleges, you know you’ve had minor panic attacks over this! Of course, it doesn’t help when you hear of stories of students getting admit cards for exams despite getting an abysmal attendance figure.

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DUB Speak

Beyond The Obvious: Motilal Nehru College

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Motilal Nehru College(also known as MLNC or MNC), part of the south campus of The Delhi University is situated next to Ramlal Anand College and 1.8 Km away from Venkateshwara College and the bustling Satya Niketan market.

Entering the college, you will be greeted by the bust of late Motilal Nehru in-front of the gate and the “Jubilee Block” on the left which was constructed to mark the college’s 50th anniversary this year. The college has a seminar hall, well-equipped computer labs and one of the biggest libraries in DU, although it still lacks an auditorium. Apart from the infrastructure, MLNC has a huge campus that facilitates lush green parks, a football field, basketball and volleyball courts and the canteen adjoined by a unique rocky area which is suitable for spending time in-between classes especially in the winter sun.

The canteen provides an engaging menu serving both North as well as South Indian Dishes. Chinese is the latest addition to the menu.

In terms of the administration, the principal is very supportive toward both academic and non-academic endeavors by students and the staff is truly dedicated and enthusiastic. The teachers leave no stone unturned to bring students to their classrooms. Speaking of the crowd, there are three types of students. Firstly, the ones who are seen either in the classroom or library, secondly the ones seen only in the canteen (even after their final year) and lastly the ones who know the perfect recipe to a productive college life with the right balance of academics, fun and work. Work, here, includes a variety of activities by numerous societies who strive day in and day out to make a name for their college. Some of these societies are Malhaar (the music society), Electra (the dance society), Kritirang (the fine arts society), Bi Scope (social issues related film screening committee), Gandhi study circle and the society with most number of achievements, Abhivyanjana (the debate society).

Moreover, Motilal Nehru College has recently been registered under ‘Enactus’ and is the only college under the banner of Enactus in India to work for animal welfare as a part of their project. Thus, MLNC is set to make a mark in the field of social entrepreneurship as well.

Students can also enjoy a delightful movie after or in-between classes with PVR Priya and the malls at Vasant Kunj being Rs 60 away by auto.

The college, apart from being in a close proximity to Satya Niketan is also adjacent to Shantiniketan, which is within a walking distance making it the second-most popular hang-out spot after Satya for local students and the topmost one for out-station ones who mostly put up in PGs and flats at Satya and get outrageously bored of it.

Overall, MLNC might not be in the top ten colleges of DU yet but is surely a forerunner in the race to earn a position in the lot.

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DUB Speak

Beyond the cliché: Philosophy Honours  

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While there are general ways of looking at things, not everybody thinks the same way. Popular belief holds that philosophers tend to think differently, unlike most people. Another popular belief holds that a major in Philosophy will be followed by a Masters in Philosophy, eventually taking one to more in-depth study. If you are a Philosophy Honours student planning to pursue your career in Philosophy, it is doubtful that you’ve never pictured yourself in a room, meditating on studies, thinking your brain out and taking the place down with whatever comes within your aura of concentration. Scares you, doesn’t it? Perhaps it scares you even more when you start to doubt that you’ll make it to the top notch in the thinking department. Some may even come to terms with the realization that ‘professional philosopher’ jobs are all but non-existent. Not to worry brethren, there are so many doors open.
Over years of battling with philosophy, one grows to be very inquisitive. Although a degree in Philosophy does not lead directly to many jobs, a Philosophy major is already well trained for research fields. Efficient logical reasoning, critical analysis, open ideas and the ability to put up strong arguments are all the plus points a Philosophy student earns unknowingly from all those toils with the professors.

 

After a graduate degree in Philosophy, one can also hit the business sector. Keeping in mind all the positive qualities already mentioned, just a little more training will easily lift you up to high places in the professional line, maybe in marketing, retail management or public relations.  If you happen to realize your enthusiasm in journalism a little less soon than others, you’re not too late either. There still are many courses open for you. All you require is to use your already acquired skills smartly.
Besides these, there’s the writing line, publishing, art and the list goes on. A certain saying goes, “In Philosophy, we do not train people to be lawyers, doctors, or business leaders – we train them to be better lawyers, better doctors, better business leaders, and better practitioners in general.” So hold your head high deduce whatever is happening around you and consider all the logical relevancies of the paths laid ahead.

 

Greta Khawbung

[email protected]

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Campus Central

DU likely to introduce short term courses in North-Eastern languages

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In a new initiative, Delhi University is planning to introduce short-term courses in eight north-eastern languages. The University, which already offers Assamese and Manipuri as an elective course in the three-year undergraduate program, is now aiming at introducing other north-eastern languages in course content which include Nagamese, Arunachali and Tripuri. Dr. Santacruz, Deputy Dean of Students’ Welfare and Co-ordinator for north-eastern students was also quoted saying that there shall be foundation courses in Nepali and Bengali.

As many as 900 students would be given the opportunity to travel on Delhi University’s “Dharohar-Gyanodaya Express” which shall travel to North-Eastern India from 20th December, 2014 to 30th December, 2014; to spread awareness amongst students about the richness and diversity of the culture of that region.

The University has also opened applications for proposals by interested students stating the kind of projects they wish to undertake while on the tour. The courses in these languages, however, shall be free to be joined by all students irrespective of whether they are a part of the tour or not.

DU Vice Chancellor, Dinesh Singh stated that the linguistic department is currently working on the course structure and content of these languages and they’re likely to finalize it soon. The course, most likely, would be related to basic working knowledge of the language and not the detailed scripts.

The decision is yet to be finalized on whether these courses will be one-time courses or would be offered in the future as well. The University is likely to come out with an official statement soon.

Arushi Pathak [email protected]

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DUB Speak

Halloween in India: Why it might work

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With its population of over one billion, India is quite the giant cauldron of different cultures, customs and traditions and naturally, this means we celebrate a wide array of festivals from across religions. Halloween is one festival that we all have a very vivid idea of, thanks to American TV shows and Hollywood movies. Ask me what a typical Malayali family does on Onam and I might not know, but I definitely know (or think I know) how Halloween is celebrated. From what I do know of Halloween, here’s why I think the concept will work well in India if it were to be an official holiday:

The Diwali festive season gets extended
For many of us, Diwali time is the best time of the year. Since Diwali usually falls a week ahead of or after Halloween, here’s one more excuse to party!

We are a creative people who love to dress up
Once this festival becomes official, I seriously hope the scope of dressing up for Halloween extends beyond the Angels versus Devils or Sexy Nurse themes that seem to prevail in the clubs that host Halloween parties currently. I’d love to see a zombie Indian bride or an armless Thakur seeking revenge.

Trick or treating late in the evening
Though I don’t think many families would let their preteen kids wander door to door for candies after sundown, the concept could work brilliantly under supervision and help rebuild the deteriorating neighborly relations. Plus, we already have the festival of Kanjak in North India, making the concept not so alien.

Carving kaddus
Honestly, who has seen this in a movie and not wanted to give it a try? Not only is carving faces on pumpkins to make decorations a brilliant way to put your creative genius at work, it also works as an outlet of any aggression you may have.

Nobody minds an extra holiday
For those who aren’t too keen on the festive season, Halloween could be just another day you get to sleep in till late!

Image source: www.bpcblockparty.com

Vani Vivek
[email protected]

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DUB News

Frequently asked Questions- Editorial Department

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1. Do I have to be a student in Delhi University?
Yes. The newspaper is based in Delhi University and hence all our correspondents are from one of the colleges.

2. Is it a paid job profile?
No. It is an unpaid position like every other in DU Beat.

3. Do I have to be excellent in English?
While we do not necessarily look for a Shakespeare we do require a certain level of command over the language.

4. What kind of writing samples do you need?
Anything from a report of an event to a review of a book/movie/TV show. It would be advisable if you could go through our website and make yourself familiar with the kind of content before applying. Please avoid sending poetry and fiction.

5. How many hours of my week will I have to give?
Allotments of stories are done once a week but news reports can be assigned at any point. Enough time is provided to complete them though.

6. My CV got selected, what now?
Congratulations! You are one step closer. We will have another session of conversation with you which could be from an Interview to a group discussion.

7. Can I be terminated at any point?

Definitely. There is a probation period once you join in which you can choose to leave or we can ask you to leave.

Reasons for termination:

If you are lacking in your work and do not complete your assigned reports or submit them late.
You refuse to take up assignments a number of times.

We are not satisfied with your stories and your writing.

8. That sounds harsh! 

Don’t worry, we’re nice people. As long as you laugh at our jokes, of course.

9. I’ve applied before. But haven’t heard back/wasn’t selected. Can I re-apply?

If you think you match all our criteria, then sure, go ahead!

10. What does an ideal candidate look like, for you?

Some one who:
-Has a good command over the language
-Is well versed with DUB’s usual content and likes the kind of work we do
-Is ready to bring their A game and contribute to the team’s effort
-Wants to develop a writing style and experiment with various types of pieces (news stories, opinions, review, event coverage and so)
-Has a good sense of humor and work ethic

 

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Lady Shri Ram College for Women

LSR organizes DU Inter College Lawn Tennis Tournament

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Lady Shri Ram College for Women organized the Delhi University Inter College Lawn Tennis Tournament on 17th, 20th and 21st October, 2014. The Finals were played between Jesus and Mary College and Shri Ram College for Commerce. The JMC Team, captained by Rishika Sunkara,  succeeded in winning the title. The team consisted of Megha Sehrawat, Teertha Iska, Samriti Punyani, Renu Sharma and Rinisha. The team believes that their coach Mr. Abid Ali has been the driving force behind the winning team. The runners’ up team, led by Ravnoor Kaur, consisted of Shehnaz, Anukriti Chaudhary and Shivani Dabas.

JMC defeated SRCC with a score of 2-0. Rishika, took on Shehnaz in the finals and defeated her by    6-2 and 6-1. Rishika, who is ranked number 3 in India right now is riding high on her success at the recently held Asian Games, where she was a part of the Indian Tennis contingent. Teertha Iska defeated Ravnoor Kaur in a pulsating match.

The third position was secured by Gargi College with Likitha Shetty, as the captain and Anushka Rajkumar, Morisha Dutta, Shubh Gulati, Dipti Rana and Stuti Punjani as team members. Gargi defeated LSR with a score of 2-0. In the Quarter Finals, Shubh Gulati defeated Diksha Agarwal from LSR. This approximately one hour long, exhilarating match proceeded to a tie breaker where Gulati succeeded in leading by a point. The score was 6-1, 1-6, 7-6. On the other hand, Lithika defeated Bhavika by 6-0 and 6-0.  LSR and Gargi had defeated St. Stephens and Miranda House, respectively to enter the Quarter-finals.

This 3 day long tournament, saw 11 teams from different colleges, across Delhi University, participating in the nail biting matches held on the synthetic courts of the LSR sports grounds.  The matches which typically started at 9 am and went on till early evening were attended by the students, coaches and teachers from the participating teams. Ms. Meenakshi Pahuja, the Head of the LSR Physical Education Department and the Convener of the tournaments said, “It was heart warming to see the entire talent cauldron of the Delhi University on our grounds. As a sports’ professional, I feel women players, require such events to be organized at the grassroot level to give them a platform to hone their talent.”

Encouraged by the success of this event, LSR will organize the Delhi University Women’s Tennis Team trials on its grounds on 27th and 28th October, as per the schedule.

 

Mugdha

[email protected]

Picture Credits: Mugdha

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QWERTY

New messenger in town: Skype Qik

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WhatsApp, iMessage, Viber, BBM, Line, WeChat,, SnapChat, Hike, Kik: there seems to be an overflowing number of messaging apps in the market these days. This article itself is about one! But what’s special about this? This is no ordinary messenger – this one is from Skype! Known worldwide for its VOIP & video calls, Skype is now entering the world of IMs. But can Qik separate itself from the herd?

Qik is not an instant messenger-it’s an instant video messenger! The messenger allows you to interact with your friends ‘Face to Face’ by recording and exchanging short video messages. The app also supports group messaging. Now video messaging is nothing new. The feature is already present in all popular messengers. The novelty, however, lies in the fact that unlike others, Qik supports only videos – no photographs, no texts, no audio. Though this may seem limiting, once you get the hang of it, keyboards begin to feel ancient!

 

Positives

Where Qik really scores is its simplicity. The app is very (VERY) easy to use. Just swipe a finger down and start recording! It also doesn’t require any registration or signup, just a simple number verification and you are good to go. An excellent feature, not yet available across other IMs, is the ability to switch between front & rear cameras while recording a message. Another cool feature (and my personal favourite) is Qik Fliks – a better way to share emotions. Qik enables you to pre-record upto 12 short clips, which you can insert anytime during a conversation. From a smile or a frown to a wink, hello, bye, it aims to make emoticons more personal!

Qik also respects your privacy. If you want to erase any of your chats, simply delete it from your device and it will automatically get deleted from the receiver’s device too!

Also, old messages (two weeks or older) get deleted automatically, to keep your conversations (and the phone) clutter free. The app itself doesn’t allow saving of any messages on the device.

 

Negatives

Talking about the limitations, there are a few. Though the app provides a great ‘video chatting’ experience, sometimes you want to type instead of talk. The lack of text messaging (or file sharing) would require you to still keep WhatsApp around. Also, Qik feels like a better version of Snapchat, but then, even Snapchat offers text and pictures!

Another drawback is that the length of each clip must not exceed 42 seconds.

Though it’s more than optimal for daily use, you can’t broadcast long video messages. The storage space might be an issue as well (as videos are bound to be heavier than images and texts).

 

Verdict

To be honest, Qik is not for everyone. But that’s how it’s supposed to be. It’s not a WhatsApp, Viber or BBM alternative. Instead, it approaches the whole concept of instant messaging from a different perspective which seeks to merge video calling with instant messaging. It’s not a ‘must have’ app but is definitely worth a try.

Happy Video Messaging!

Qik is available on Android, iOS & Windows for FREE.

Here’s an introductory video:

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Bazinga

Bazinga: Students to now get a lifeline while writing semester exams

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It’s that time of the semester again when students wipe the dust over their books (in some cases, buy books) and prepare to prepare for finals. The ritual, however, it all set to become a little easier this semester onwards as leads from DU’s latest Executive Council meeting suggest that limited assistance, in the form of lifelines, will be provided to all exam-takers.

“We do not prepare students for zombie-apocalyptic situations. In real life scenarios, a worker sure can ask their colleagues for a little help. Then why be so hard on students preparing for those same scenarios?” said an official of the Examination Branch, on condition of anonymity. He went on to say that limited assistance is just as okay as providing log tables.

As per the final draft of the new system, each student will be allowed to ask questions worth 10 marks from their teachers during each exam. “It’s better to re-teach a student something he doesn’t remember or did not prepare, even if it needs to be done in the examination hall, instead of leaving no choice for him but to leave questions. Our ultimate aim is the impartment of knowledge,” DU’s vice-chancellor said.

Disclaimer: Bazinga is DU Beat’s weekly column of almost believable fake news!

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Biblio

Book Review: How Google Works by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg

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When my Dad gifted me book vouchers of a popular bookstore for my birthday last month, I was itching to buy some interesting non-fiction books. While browsing through the store, I noticed a white book titled ‘How Google Works’ under the section of newly released books and ended up buying it without a second thought. The book turned out to be exactly what I’d hoped it would be-insightful and engaging with many stories from Google’s journey and bits of humour and sarcasm in between.

Contrary to what one might initially assume, the book is not about the technology that Google uses to power its many products (search engine, Gmail, YouTube, Drive and so on), but how the organisation functions. Written by Google’s ex CEO and now Executive Chairman, Schmidt and former Senior Vice President Rosenberg, this book is divided into sections about hiring, creating a work culture, decision making and innovation.

As a Business Studies student, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the unique principles and factors that have shaped the way the company runs; factors that make it so successful and a company that thousands hope to join one day.

The one principle that stands out the most and is stressed on repeatedly is how important a company’s employees and work culture truly is. Google is known to have one of the best work cultures in the world (the book even mentions how one of the early engineers wanted to bring his pet ferret to the office and was told to go right ahead) and a very rigorous hiring process to ensure they hire what is referred to in the book, as a ‘Smart Creative’, each time. Google aspirants would find this chapter particularly useful as it roughly outlines the four categories used for evaluation of candidates; Leadership, Role related knowledge, General cognitive ability and ‘Googleyness’.

Another theme common to all sections in the book is the importance of data while making any decision, whether it’s about hiring, solving a problem, creating a strategy or starting a new product.

The chapter on Innovation was my favourite part of the book. It only makes sense for a company like Google to talk about such a factor, what with its ambitious projects of building self-driving cars and Project Loon, which hopes to provide wireless broadband service to the world through huge hot air balloon like devices.

All in all, whether you’re hoping to join Google one day or are just simply curious about the foresight and culture required to build a quality product and team, How Google Works should be next on your reading list for sure.

Image credits: hachettebookgroup.com

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