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Entropy’13

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The Science Forum, Hindu College, in association with star college project organised their first ever fest, Entropy, on 8th March 2013. Under the presidency of Anagha Madhu, this one-day fest was a huge success. The guest lecturer was Professor Sanjay Jain of the Department of Physics and Astrophysics, Delhi University. He spoke on the origin of life problems, the emergence of complexity. The one-hour talk was very knowledgeable and provoked the listeners to think beyond their capacity. A highly intellectual individual, Professor Sanjay’s aura was unfathomable. There were other events that saw a huge turnout. The winners of the science quiz were Ayan Madhan of Hindu and Debobrata Sensharma of St. Stephens. Experimental Design, a new and innovative event also attracted people with scientific calibre. Along with these, other side-events like Sudoku kept the people from the non-science departments enthralled. After a lot of hard work and patience, Entropy’13 did take place and was indeed a huge hit.   Surbhi Grover With inputs from Prerna Srigyan]]>

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Events

All That Jazz

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The Indian Council for Cultural Relations organised its 3rd Delhi International Jazz Festival from 15th to 18th March this year. Day-1 saw performances by New Bone Quintet Band, Poland, Sylivie Bourban from Switzerland and Oscar Acevedo Quartet from Colombia. It was Sylvie’s first solo piano recital and she was ecstatic at having had the chance to perform in India. For all the jazz lovers, and even amateurs, the evening was beautiful.

The festival was held within the well-maintained lawns of Nehru Park, New Delhi, 6:30 pm onwards. Entry was free and most of the crowd seemed to have an understanding of how Jazz music works. Lip-smacking food items were available at the food courts, with the addition of local chaat walas and vendors selling tea, coffee, and chips. The ambience of the place, accompanied with twinkling stars overhead made it an awesome night to be spent with friends and family alike.

The second day of 3rd Delhi International Jazz Festival was not just an auditory treat, but a visually appealing one as well. The evening saw a great line up with UNK: The Radha Thomas Ensemble, India, Ararat-Israel, Imany-France, Oleg Butman Jazz Trio-Russia scheduled to enthral the audience. The audience came prepared with picnic baskets, mats, foldable chairs and even a smattering of wine and wineglasses. The best seating of the venue seemed to be the ground rather than the chairs, while the music was enjoyed by cuddling couples as the bands performed their romantic harmonies.

UNK belted out an interesting amalgamation of Indian classical-meets-western jazz music, performing songs from their recent album- Only have eyes for you. Ararat, a four membered Israeli based band led by Ofer Peled created an exotic mix of Middle Eastern and local influences. Employing the use of instruments such as tombak, Spanish cajon drum as well as didgeridoo and Turkish flutes, the band got the audience moving to their beats. Peled received a huge round of applause and cheer when he dedicated a song to the all Indian women translated ‘Kisses in the Sea.’ Imany, real name Nadia Mladjao, a rising star in the French music circuit mesmerized the audience with her deep, melodic voice and up-beat music. Imany and her troupe raised the energy level of the whole arena, performing their originals ‘Where Have You Been’, ‘Slow Down’, ‘Pray for Help’, ‘Please’ and ‘I’ve Got to Go’ as well as their version of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. The most heartbreaking moment of the day was when Russia’s Oleg Butman Jazz trio took over the stage and just as they were warming up, the party came to an end due to exceeding of time permitted by the concerned authorities. This was the only black spot to a simply amazing evening.

The final day of the Jazz Festival saw exhilarating performances by three bands, two from India and one from South Africa. The festival opened with Toshanbar, India, followed by The New South Africa Jazz Collective. Out of all the three bands, the South African one stood out as they stuck to familiar tunes and jazz progressions, and blended it with their own style of musical rhythms. The first two songs, ‘Milele’ and ‘love’, were highly appreciated by the crowd. Their sensual number, ‘Patah Patah’ that was translated as ‘touch’ in English, was also well received by the crowd. The evening concluded with a brilliant performance by Louiz Banks, a Grammy Award nominated Jazz keyboardist and singer from India. The four-day Delhi International Jazz festival enthralled its enthusiastic audience, leaving them with the hope of even better performances in the years to come.

Surbhi Grover
([email protected])

Niharika Singh
([email protected])

Vishakha Darbha
([email protected])

Picture Credits: News.lotsbuzz.com

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Campus Central

Colloquium – NSIT’s debut Debating and Literary Fest

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While all colleges usually boast of their own fests in a very boisterous manner, we at NSIT believe otherwise. We truly believe that our actions will speak louder than words can ever hope to establish. But we’ll give our best shot at an explanation nevertheless. Colloquium – NSIT’s debut Debating and Literary Fest promises a feast for all those out there waiting for an intellectual space to interact in. If you miss this, then know that you’re truly missing a unique and once in a lifetime experience (well we know we’ll do this again next year, and the year after that, and keep getting better at it…but you get the gist of it right?) Scheduled from 29th to the 31stof March, the fest will be feature events like never before. For the first time in collegiate level,Colloquium will host a JPC – Joint Parliamentary Committee – an Ad hoc committee simulation to investigate into the matters of a national crisis (the provided agenda). The committee will be presided over by Smt. Sharada Subramaniam, Joint Secretary, Rajya Sabha. Apart from the classics and the usual plethora of events like the Conventional Debate and the Literary Quiz the fest will also have a case study competition Crack the Case. Continuing the tradition, after the immense success of NSITMUN ’12, the second edition of NSITMUN this time will have four committees to choose from and will be held as a part of Colloquium as well. The other major attractions are Graphic Novel – a one of a kind event, where one can interact with their comic idols, the first speaker for which is none other than Pran Kumar Sharma, the leading pioneer of Indian Comics and the creator of ChachaChaudhary, followed by AkshayDhar of Comic Addicts fame. The most awaited and premier event of Colloquium will bethe‘Panel Discussion’ with speakers like author Mr. AshwinSanghi and dancer par excellence Mrs. Mallika Sarabhai honoring us with their participation and sharing with us some wise words. So, rest assured, this is one fest you wouldn’t want to miss. So mark the dates on your calendar folks! For further information visit: colloquiumnsit.org/  ]]>

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Campus Central

Locating A Foreign Legend

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Indraprastha College for Women and Shakespeare Society of India organized an international seminar on “Revisiting Shakespeare in Indian Literature and Culture” from March 7 to 9, 2013.The exhaustive 3-day seminar witnessed illustrious personalities putting in dynamic efforts to pull strands of Shakespearean fibres out of the embroidered cushion of History for the world to see. A tribute to that man’s plain genius. The first day of the seminar saw Paper Reading sessions by august people like Prof. Ganesh Deshpande, formerly, JNU on “Classical, Vernacular, the Abhijata and the like;” Prof. Shormishtha Panja, Delhi University, on “To Confine the Illimitable: Visual and Verbal Narratives in Two Bengali Retellings of Shakespeare.” While on one hand, there was collation of Tagore and Shakespeare, on the other hand, Prof. Sarbani Chaudhury, University of Kalyani, narrated “Macbeth to Mobarak: A Coming of the Age Journey.” In the parallel sessions, scholarly papers like “Hamlet, Tuglaq and Machiavelli: The Discourse of Sovereignty”, “Shakespeare Outside England: A Case of Odia Translation of Hamlet”, “Parsi Shakespeare” among others were read to saturate the air with literary fundamentals. The day closed with plays by Sri Venkateswara College “Homlette” and Indraprastha College “Lear’s Daughters.” Day two opened with the paper presentation by Prof. Claire Cochrane, University of Worchester, UK, followed by Prof. Jyostna Singh’s, Michigan State University, paper titled “Local and Global Indian Shakespeare. Subsequently, Mr. Andrew Dickson, The Guardian, and Ms. Thea Buckley helped trace Shakespearean roots of today’s Indian culture. The following parallel sessions concluded with the Screening of BBC Arts Documentary “Felicity Kendal’s Indian Shakespeare Quest.” If an outsider were to claim that Shakespearean reference had been extracted completely from the context of Indian Culture in the first two days, they could not be more wrong. Day three, the incoming of brains only increasing by minute, start the ball rolling with the paper reading by Prof. Jatin Nayak, Utkal University, on a future without Shakespeare. More papers were read, more depths were explored. There were cunning moves to resurrect the legend, so that the present generation could see him. Ms. Preti Taneja, Royal Holloway, University of London presented paper titled “Does Shakespeare’s Text Even Matter?” This was followed by a panel discussion: The Directors’ Shakespeare; the National School of Drama members aptly constituted the panel. Consequently with yet another round of session the seminar came to an end, subtly proving the omnipresence of William Shakespeare in the World, especially Indian Literature. As Elizabeth Barrett Browning put it: There Shakespeare, on whose forehead climb, The crown o’ the world; oh, eyes sublime With Tears and laughter for all time…… Shreya Bhardwaj [email protected] ]]>

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Campus Central

Nexus 2013: The Good and The Bad

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The three day cultural fest of Sri Venkateswara College, christened Nexus, was part of the last batch of fests in DU. Having had a bad run for the past few years except maybe last year, Venky faced the daunting task of restoring its image. Nexus kicked off on the 7th of this month with Member of Parliament, Mr. Shashi Tharoor gracing the inaugural ceremony as the Chief Guest. As he addressed the gathering, he reminisced about his time in college and spoke about how times had changed. The first day of the fest undoubtedly belonged to the talented actors of DU. The day saw the best of acting talent come forth onto the stage with not just the street play but also the theatre competition setting the tone for the day. Eventually, the Street Play competition saw SRCC grab the top prize, with Hansraj College and Hindu College standing second and third respectively. The theatre competition was a fresh break from the usual competitions held during such fests for the actors managed to effortlessly touch the hearts of their audience. The second day of the fest saw a wide variety of events ranging from choreography to debating to the crowd favourite, the Battle of the Bands. Members of the band The Barefaced Liars, which was set to perform later on during the day, judged the Battle of the Bands contest. However, the sound system was quite a dampner during the performances. With Pentagram set to perform on the last day, Venkites pinned their hopes on the last day to turn out better than the second. The morning of 9th March saw The Nizami Brothers put up a show in the Seminar Hall. After that performance, students waited impatiently for Pentagram to take the stage, which they did after a delay of almost three hours at around 7 in the evening. The crowd response after their show, however, was mixed. While some felt that they put up a great show, others were disappointed by the lack of Bollywood music. All in all, there seemed to be no show stealer at this fest. A lot could possibly be done to make it more interesting. The OC should probably jot that down for reference next year. Surya Rajappan [email protected] Image credits: Sonam Satija ]]>

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Campus Central

Catalysis by the Chemistry department of Hindu

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Catalysis, the annual fest of the chemistry department Tatva, Hindu College, was held on 5thand 6th March’13. The theme for this year was Environmental Chemistry. The 2-day event started with the inauguration and release of the department magazine, Substance. There was a talk by Dr. Alok Mukherji, Scientific Secretary, Centre of Global Change. The lecture left the audience spellbound. Both the days were filled with various events like poster presentation, fun with lab, general quiz, paper Mache, Antakshari, debate, ad mad, chemical tambola, Pictionary, bring your own waste and treasure hunt. The participation was mostly from the department itself but there were participants, as well as winners, from Physics and Sociology as well. The fest was a huge success, enjoyed by all present.   Surbhi grover ([email protected])]]>

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Campus Central

NEXUS 2013 – Cultural Extravaganza at Sri Venkateswara College

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The Student’s Union of Sri Venkateswara College will be presenting Nexus 2013, its annual cultural extravaganza on the 7th, 8th and 9th of March this year. Among the fest rankings that emerge in DU every year, Nexus almost always scores among the top 3 in terms of most-awaited, best organised and most glamorous. Over the years, Nexus has hosted on its stage a galaxy of brilliant singers that have included the likes of Indian Ocean, Euphoria, KK, Sonu Nigam, Shankar Mahadevan and many more! Spread across 3 days, Nexus 2013 is a cultural haven and is among the most sought-after platforms for cultural societies across the University to display their prowess. One of the most high profile competitions at Nexus is the Choreography competition that brings together the best teams to participate in an artistic display par excellence. In fact, Nritya, the Choreography society of SVC is one of the star attractions of the show, renowned for the perfect coordination, brilliant conceptualization and spell-binding performances. Another prominent event is the quintessential “Mr. and Miss Nexus” competition that encourages talented individuals to forward and showcase their confidence, talent and abilities in front of a large audience. This competition has the dual ability to attract both participants and audience members in large numbers! The evenings are dominated by 2 inter-related events. The Battle of the Bands is an intensely fought competition, allowing a large number of varied and exciting bands to play in front of an equally enthusiastic audience. The celebrity judges invited for the Battle of the Bands will themselves play the next night, appropriately labeled “Rock Night”. The most looked-after event is of course, “Star Night”. Occurring on the last day of the festival, Star Night is the ultimate chance for a college to showcase its brand, its organising ability and its scale of ambition. “Each year the suspense builds as to which singer/band will perform on star night. I am eagerly looking forward to this year’s announcement and will make plans accordingly”, is the opinion of a student from Venky. Alongside, there are a wide range of other events awaiting the students at NEXUS 2013. Visit their official Facebook page for further details, http://www.facebook.com/svcnexus Vernika Awal Sri Venkateswara College]]>

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Campus Central

Ullas 2013: Day 1 Enthralls All

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After entering the college premises in the morning on Day 1 of Ullas, one would probably have been disappointed to find little fest-like environment and only a few students scuttling about and the stall area. But then my ears caught the sound of booming music which led to the college auditorium. The music was loud and peppy and already jumping on my toes I made way to the door where the guard on duty squashed my spirits by promptly informing me that there were no seats available of the 1000 present in the auditorium and no, not even the steps. Ultimately, and fortunately at that, I found myself seated in the auditorium balcony, a whole seat to myself. The auditorium was bustling with laughter, cheers, whistles, dancing, everything which the outdoors lacked. Nupur- the Indian Dance competition inaugurated the events of the day with a myriad of colorful costumes, peppy soundtracks and everlasting enthusiasm. This event saw participation of various colleges like LSR, Hindu College, Gargi College and DeshbanduCollege amongst others in the categories of Solo Classical and Group Folk. The crowd cheered every participant, but it became a scream fest when Kamala Nehru took the stage and performed a Punjabi Folk Dance, and eventually also bagged the winner’s position in this category. JMC, which stood second in the Group category performed a lavani act, while Gargi College which stood third enthralled the audience with a Haryanavi act. Alongside, the Seminar Room saw the conduction of Crossfire, The English Debate competition. The participants were given three topics to choose from, all in keeping with the theme – Politics sans ethics? Eventually, a cross team of Deshbandu College and Kamala Nehru College walked away with winner’s title while the best speaker was from RijulKataria from Hindu College. Next up was the choreography competition, which began at around at 1:00pm in the college auditorium and was nothing but riveting, keeping the audience glued to their seats. Every participating college was performing a unique theme and must have managed to do complete justice to it, for the judge was all praises for them. HIndu College displayed a graceful performance on the theme ‘Blind Trust’ while Lady Shri Ram had ‘Competition’ as theirs. Gargi gave a new meaning to ‘Run’ while Kamala Nehru’s ‘Ab Bas’ which was based on the rape incidents managed to raise goosebumps. The auditorium was jam packed and leaving your seat was not an option, for re-entry wouldn’t have been possible. Glitz, the Fashion Show began an hour late. The students, not the one to sit idle, started dancing on the music being played in the background giving a head start to the DJ night scheduled later for the evening. Glitz, of course was a huge success and was witness to themes as polar opposite as ‘Seven Sins’ and ‘Bohemian Culture’. Institute of Home Economics took away the first prize and College of Vocational Studies followed with the second. While the Auditorium was buzzing with these events, there was activity outside as well. Swaranjali-the Indian Music were witnessed by audience who appreciated their talents. Business Plan organized by the Commerce Society saw a lot of enthusiastic participation with Indraprastha University winning the first position on their plan of a Warehouse. The day ended with a lot of students, their friends, strangers shaking their legs to popular Bollywood and Punjabi music. In the midst of dancing, the crowd was surprised by a flash mob organized by the dance societies of Kamala Nehru who took it upon themselves to teach the crowd a few winning moves. The area was beefed up on security with lot of police and security guards roaming around, but fortunately, no incident of misbehaviorwere reported. Overall it was a good day, setting a benchmark for the next and final day of Ullas 2013.   Niharika Singh ([email protected]) and Cheshtha Gupta ([email protected])]]>

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Campus Central

Free and Equal

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The afternoon of 1st march 2013 proved to be an exciting one for Gargi college. A panel discussion of feminist activists that was held in the auditorium of the college was the reason behind the exuberance. The session was a collaborated effort of Gargi college’s women’s development cell and the NGO CREA.’ Free and Equal’ was the name given to the talk that addressed issues related to violence against women and women human rights. The session saw overwhelming attendance and participation by the students and teachers from within and outside the college. It was the combined effort of the Teacher Convenor of the society, Ms. Mudita Mohile and other panelists  Ms. Jagmati Sanghwan , Ms. Pramada Menon , Mr. Dhruv Arora , Ms. Urvashi Bhutalia and Ms. Nandini Rao that enticed the audience and made the event a success. All the panelists are working towards equal rights for women as well as other “othered” group of people . Ms. Jagmati Sangwan highlighted the fact that it is the assertion of Power by Patriarchy and not just the desire to rape that leads to violation of women’s rights and honour. She quoted the infamous Khaap panchayat’s derogatory view, ” Janana aur khazana khula hoga to loota jaega! “, and seriously condemned the idea. Ms. Pramada Menon threw light on “offline” and “online” forms of violence, that is, violence in social media Ms. Nandini Rao familiarized the audience with Justice Verma Commission’s report and how it has changed the law for the better. Ms. Bhutalia then concluded the discussion by highligting the role of media in the recent activities and protests, post the Delhi gangrape case and how media has matured now. Questions from the audience ,particularly students , raised the issues of custodial rape and position of Police in the society that were addressed by the panelists in a comprehensive manner. The session left people with hard hitting questions to ponder upon and with a ray of hope that society can change if transformation starts at the grassroots  level. The alarming need of the hour, to recognise and fight the naturalised forms of violence was a thought that took roots in the hearts of the students.  ]]>

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Medina 2013: A three-day theatre Festival

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The Dramatics Society of Hindu College, Ibtida organised their annual fest – Medina 2013 this weekend. A three day event, it began with a street play competition; where teams were given different themes and told to prepare their acts within two hours. At the end of the eventful day, GTB IT secured first position, CBS secured second and SRCC came third. The second day of the event comprised of a bi-lingual play competition. Colleges across Delhi University showcased their annual productions – constrained by a time limit of 40 to 60 minutes. First to go on was Lady Sri Ram College with their play “Attempts on her Life!” – an energetic show put up by four girls. Following this was SRCC with their play “Noises Off” – filled with the right pinch of comedy, it kept the audience well entertained. “Saints and Sinners” was the most talked about play of the day – nearly everyone in the hall was excited to watch this Ramjas production. Though the fest started off with a low crowd turnout, more people could be seen entering the hall as the day progressed. By the time Hansraj and Hindu began their performances, the entire place was filled with an absorbed audience. The judges for the event were Keval Arora, a theatre enthusiast and professor of English at Kirori Mal College, and Ankit Chadha, who works for Dastan and is the founder of the Heptullah Society. The awards for Best Director went to Garima Jaju from LSR, Best Actor went to Praveen Shukla from Ramjas and the Best Stage Setup went to Hindu College. The award for Best Lights and Sounds was cancelled due to the poor coordination of each team in handling the equipment. It actually took SRCC twenty five minutes to get started with their performance once LSR finished! The third day of the fest saw an Alumni Meet – very thoughtful to bring back to college all those students who loved theatre during their time at college. The fest was well conceptualised, but could have been made better with more organisation among members of the society. However, there’s always room to learn for the next year. All in all, a thumbs up to the event!   Adita Bhatia ([email protected])]]>

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