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The carnival of quizzes, Illume, which was organized by the Quiz Society of Shri Ram College of Commerce ended with four fun filled quiz events, starting from 9 am to 5 pm. The events included Biblios-Literature Quiz, Edens- Cricket Quiz, Fastrack- General Quiz and Ambiente- Environmental Quiz. The registration for all the four events was quite impressive and the Auditorium of the college saw a huge audience to witness the quizzes. The Literature Quiz was the first quiz of the day. The preliminary round witnessed many students trying to get through to the final round, but only 6 teams could make it to the final. As the final round began, the teams began answering at a brisk pace. The team from SRCC comprising of Deepak and Sandeep put up a scintillating performance, coming first in Literature quiz, while a team from Shri Venkateshwara College were placed second. The Cricket quiz was undoubtedly the best among all with entertaining questions and quick answers. The winners were awarded prizes of a considerable amount and internships as well, marking the end of this two-day extravaganza!   Sakshi Gupta & Aishwarya Chaurasia Image credits – Aditi Virmani & Avijit Sharma  ]]>

Illume, the quizzing competition hosted by Sri Ram College of Commerce is currently on for another day. Today, 28th January was the first day of the competition which has been organized by the quizzing society of the college. This society comprises of about 100 members including the President, Sushant Agarwal and the Secretary, Ashish Sen. Although SRCC usually only hosts one quizzing competition, this year they’ve played hosts to two. The first quiz fest took place in September – Quizignia, and the second one being Illume. This time Illume has also seen participants from Jaipur and BITS Pilani, and for this, Sushant Agarwal gives credit to the promotions. The fest has entertained over 500 teams on the first day itself. The main sponsor for the competition is the Ministry Of Environment and Mr. B. C. Sabat, Senior Scientific Officer, is the chief guest for tomorrow.

The competition will see a total of seven categories of quizzes over these two days. The Sports Quiz, Business Quiz and the Bollywood Quiz were held on the first day (28th January). The quizmasters for the business and sports quiz were- Vijay Anand Menon, one of the leading quiz masters of our country and Arnav Sinha, another leading quizmaster and a freelance writer. The quizmaster for the Bollywood quiz was Aparshakti Khurana, Radio Jockey at  104.8 FM and also the brother of the famous Bollywood actor. The second day (29th January) will hold the following categories of quizzes: The Literature Quiz, Cricket Quiz, General Quiz and Environment Quiz. One can register themselves online, or even on the spot to participate in any of the categories of quizzes. Tomorrow, i.e. 29th January, the day will start at 9A.M.

Illume, the quizzing competition hosted by Sri Ram College of Commerce is currently on for another day. Today, 28th January was the first day of the competition which has been organized by the quizzing society of the college. This society comprises of about 100 members including the President, Sushant Agarwal and the Secretary, Ashish Sen. Although SRCC usually only hosts one quizzing competition, this year they’ve played hosts to two. The first quiz fest took place in September – Quizignia, and the second one being Illume. This time Illume has also seen participants from Jaipur and BITS Pilani, and for this, Sushant Agarwal gives credit to the promotions. The fest has entertained over 500 teams on the first day itself. The main sponsor for the competition is the Ministry Of Environment and Mr. B. C. Sabat, Senior Scientific Officer, is the chief guest for tomorrow. The competition will see a total of seven categories of quizzes over these two days. The Sports Quiz, Business Quiz and the Bollywood Quiz were held on the first day (28th January). The quizmasters for the business and sports quiz were- Vijay Anand Menon, one of the leading quiz masters of our country and Arnav Sinha, another leading quizmaster and a freelance writer. The quizmaster for the Bollywood quiz was Aparshakti Khurana, Radio Jockey at  104.8 FM and also the brother of the famous Bollywood actor. The second day (29th January) will hold the following categories of quizzes: The Literature Quiz, Cricket Quiz, General Quiz and Environment Quiz. One can register themselves online, or even on the spot to participate in any of the categories of quizzes. Tomorrow, i.e. 29th January, the day will start at 9A.M.]]>

“The only festival that celebrates the artistic you, and lets you discover new horizons. Histrionica is about you, me and us. Four Days of celebrating life”

A fest that inspires such a plethora of emotions must definitely be something special. At the Dramatics Society of Shri Ram College of Commerce, Histrionica is nothing less than the unifying edifice on which the society is built. In the field of dramatics, and more specifically, in DU theatre, such tales of passion are what sustain the spirit of the art that they perform. And it is this spirit that shall be celebrated with full gusto, at HISTRIONICA.

Since its inception  in 2004, it has been the endeavour of the Dramsoc to not remain confined by the proverbial mould of DU festivals, and hence, DIFFERENT has always been synonymous with Histrionica. It is the only festival of its kind in Delhi University, where the entire Dramatics community of DU celebrates and rejoices in each showcase as an expression of some unique creative idea and thought. And this year, Histrionica goes one step further.

Histrionica 2013, which will be taking place from the 14th to the 17th of February, promises to be the Mecca of all theatre lovers and the Holy grail of all music enthusiasts. To put it in their words, they’ve got “a li’l something for everyone.” From Charades, the Stage Play Festival, to Aahavan, the Street Event, they’ve got it all. Not only theatre, the festival this year round has a distinctly musical note to it. Livewire, a Battle of the Bands followed by a star band performance, and Saaz: the Classical Music Night will surely delight our music lovers. Apart from theatre and music, Histrionica also has a lot to offer to amateur photographers in DU. In association with the Delhi University Photography Club (DUPC), they are organizing SHUTTERS, a photography competition. And for all those who have secret dreams of acting or just like to have a bit of fun, SUM OF PARTS, the Skit Competition guarantees both. Last but not the least, comes JUST FOR LAUGHS, a comic afternoon with one of the best stand-up comedians of the country.

Looks like Histrionica 2013 is the place to be at? So follow them on their facebook page and website to know more exciting details, and also watch this space for more.

www.facebook.com/Histrionica.SRCC

www.histrionica-srcc.org

Introduced merely ten days ago, Facebook’s Graph Search didn’t get the best market reception: the company’s shares plummeted by almost 6 percent following its announcement. It did, however, set the tech world abuzz.

Touted as Facebook’s “third pillar” after newsfeed and timeline by CEO Mark Zuckerburg himself, it is, simply put, a personalized search engine that sifts out results from within the website, at present available only in the beta version to select users of American English. There are some visible changes in the webpage’s organization and display, but nothing too hard to keep pace with.

Here’s how it works: You can look up your friends through customized searches based on the information they’ve made public, through phrases such as “Friends from Delhi University who subscribe to DU Beat” or “Friends in New Delhi who play golf”.

So how good is Facebook’s latest offing? Tech observers, analysts as well as users stand divided in their opinions. While some view this foray as an avant-garde move that incorporates even search as a social activity, others show mild acceptance and reject any apparent threat to traditional search engines. Yet far too many ordinary users remain concerned about privacy settings.

The issue of privacy was addressed in the introductory press conference itself, with Zuckerburg giving the assurance that the data unearthed through a graph search would not bring up any content that has not previously been made public. But in case you still haven’t made changes to your profile, pages you’ve liked and tags following the major revamp last year, it would serve you well to do so before Graph Search takes the scene and digs out something even you may have forgotten about.

Next, what about the threat that Graph Search may pose to traditional search engines such as Google Search? It is unlikely that it may ever be able to displace Google off its throne. After all, it mostly draws search content from within your connections on Facebook and Bing as an extension, therefore with an altogether different target from Google’s broad search.

On the other hand, it helps you build on these already established social connections, effectively assuming the same importance as that of word-of-mouth in the daily non-virtual setting. And in doing so, goes beyond anything else we’ve seen thus far. You want to find friends to accompany you to a Coldplay concert next month? Graph Search comes to your aid by displaying friends who you may be able to get on board.

Graph Search, therefore, might just turn out to be the key to recover all those losses that Facebook made upon going public last year. It is indeed a great stride ahead in the realm of social communication and media, provided it extends its focus beyond people, photos and places. Only then are Google, Foursquare and LinkedIn likely to get a serious run for their money in the future.

 

Tanya Dua
[email protected]

Personally, January 26th is my most favourite national holiday. There’s something about the unabashed display of Indian might that gives me a feeling akin to a sugar rush. It’s probably one of the few days of the year when I wake up early of my own will and park myself in front of the television with a cup of tea in one hand and a huge smile plastered on the face; the excitement has never once waned in all these years.

Needless to say, The R-Day parade is definitely the highlight of the day. I’m both awed and overjoyed, for reasons inexplicable, when the grand muscle flexing exercise begins. I make comments about every missile or rocket launching equipment that passes by even when I’m unsure of what I’m saying; sometimes I just repeat what the commentator is saying with a lot more excitement. I stand upright, sing the national anthem both the times that it is played, and hum along to the songs played by the marching bands.

It doesn’t matter how angry I might be at the government or the political society of this country for their gross inefficiency and incompetence, I’m still proud of being an Indian. Because it’s not the government that I’m patronizing by celebrating the Republic day. Because to me, being able to recognize myself as part of this nation, with all its shortcomings, comes second to nothing. Because honouring the soldiers who fight each day to protect us comes above berating the corrupt government.

It pained me to see the calls for boycotting the R-Day parade following the uproar caused by the Delhi rape case, as it seemed to entirely miss the point of commemorating the day. But at the same time, it amused me that the people who treat the day as just another holiday were the ones calling for the boycott.

I might seem like an idealist with all those statements, but I have my reasons. The day marks the adoption of that grand constitution that Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and his committee worked hard to devise. There is no doubting the fact that the document is beyond par and it is the ideals enshrined in that document that we should celebrate. At least we have a general sense of direction as to where we want to go. It is now up to us to make sure that we’re on the right path.

Member of Parliament, Shashi Tharoor, tweeted yesterday about how being a true Indian wasn’t about hoisting the tricolor on the 26th; it was about being the one who picks up a discarded flag on the 27th. If that’s the measuring stick, I know I’m a true Indian. Maybe it’s time we start recognizing ourselves as part of a bigger entity and do our bit as a spoke in the wheel.

 

Surya Rajappan
[email protected]

Hello Amma,

I am doing my B.A (Hons.) first year from one of the All Girls Colleges of the University.

I am a Lesbian, and although I make no efforts to hide it, I haven’t really ‘come out’ to my classmates. My classmates, atleast most of them are pretty open-minded and accepting when it comes to homosexuality, but inspite of that I don’t know how to let everyone (or atleast those who are chill with it) know I am a Lesbian. I am single, so I can’t use the ‘I-was-talking-to-my-girlfriend’ trick either.

Could you tell me how to come out, without really having to shout it out? Or should I just let it be?

Sorry, if I have bothered you.

Thank You! 🙂

 

Before coming to your query let Amma show you the bright side in your life: you are in an all girls college… a place full of ripe coconuts for you to tap, secondly and more importantly there are open minded people around you… now macchhi shouldn’t you capitalize on these things!

Well before coming out of the closet you must be confident in yourself, and should have made peace with the fact that you are attracted to the same sex. The key is to choose the right person to begin with. If this target macchi of yours is hooked well, the rest of the sea shall be a piece of banana cake with filter coffee. And since you can’t slip it in casually, do go through a sort of script or be confident and careful with the words and tone you use. Once you have your close friends taken care of, go on further and let others or more casual friends know, this will help with your self confidence.

You will also have to brace yourself for awkward questions or homophobic behaviour. Girls’ colleges usually have some separate group or society to help and counsel the baffled macchiis like you, so if not in your college do get in touch with such a group.

So once you have let the people (those who matter) know Amma would love to hear from you and your girlfriend. Do make sure you let Amma know how your curry is boiling and buzz me anytime you want help in spicing it up!

 

Have a query? But don’t know who to ask? Mail  your queries to Sex Amma a[email protected].

Respected Vice Chancellor Sir,

It was an honour to see the University inviting its students to witness the “Flag-in ceremony” to celebrate what was tagged the “Badhte Kadam IV” , in early December, supposedly aimed at spreading awareness regarding equal opportunity for the differently-able students or in the University’s own words “to highlight the social and cultural integration of people with disability”.

Hats off to the initiative and I pray that it meets its desired end.

Sir, with all due respect, I beg to say that to me this is sheer waste of time and energy. The University pompously speaks of an equal opportunity cell but the bitter truth is that the differently able students are being discriminated against in the university and also being denied what they are officially entitled too.

I understand that as per the norms of your Equal Opportunity Cell, all the differently abled students are to be strictly allotted classrooms in the ground floor by the colleges. Have you ever tried to find out how many colleges actually implement these directions? Has any college in your recent memory been issued a show-cause notice for their violation by your office? If not, then I would like to inform you that sadly the ones violating the directions are in majority.

The head of the Equal opportunity Cell has gone on record (as reported in The Hindu) to say that he has very little powers to see that the directions are actually taken seriously and implemented by the colleges. He agreed that every year such incidents are reported from various colleges. This in itself speaks volumes about the state of affairs in the University. Unless the cell is empowered to take strong actions, the intentions with which it was established (noble no doubt) will never be realized.

I have a classmate who is visually impaired and literally had to scrounge for a scribe during the first semester exams in spite of the fact that the University, through its Equal Opportunity Cell, proudly claims that it shall provide him (and the like) with one.  Had the University been concerned enough and been infatuated with its proclamations, he and many like him wouldn’t be searching for scribes for the semester exams with absolutely no help from the University or the colleges.

Under the University’s norms, all visually impaired students are to be provided with electronic reading devices by their respective colleges. Sir, the reality is that only a handful is provided with them. Most of them are subjected to procrastination by the staff.

Far from providing an environment of equality to them, the University, thanks to its many unscrupulous colleges, has rather aggravated their misery. Incidents where the writers brought in by the students were not allowed in the colleges were aptly reported in The Hindu after the semester exams in early December.  Instead, peons and people who can’t even read and write are being provided as writers to these students under the watchful eyes (I sincerely doubt if they are) of the staff of your great colleges.

Respected Sir, I by no stretch of imagination wish to doubt the University’s intention in this regard. All I want to highlight is that making rules and directions is one thing, while implementing them on ground is a different matter. Nothing great will be achieved by holding such ceremonies when the lethargic attitude of the staff continues to haunt the differently abled students.

These events shall remain nothing more than utopian fantasies if they are never to be realized, felt and implemented. I sincerely feel that instead of spreading awareness regarding the said matter, it is imperative that the University staff itself  be morally and psychologically counseled well enough by some experts though seminars and trainings. This will help to tackle the problem to a relatively greater degree and thus meet the desired end.

Thanking you in anticipation, and looking forward to a speedy and positive action from your side.

Sincerely Yours

 

Mukesh Rawat
BA(H) Pol Science
[email protected]

 

TIBETAN PEOPLE’S SOLIDARITY CAMPIAGN

NEW DELHI PROGRAM

29 January – 2 February 2013

Press Conference

Date:     Tuesday, 29 January 2013

Venue:  Press Club of India (New Delhi)

Time:    15.00hrs  

Day 1:  Wednesday, 30 January 2013

Public Gathering with Address by Prominent Indian Political Leaders

Venue:  Talkatora Indoor Stadium

Time:  12.00hrs – 16.30hrs

Day 2:  Thursday, 31 January 2013

Interfaith Prayer and Peace March from Rajghat to Jantar Mantar

Venue:  Rajghat and Jantar Mantar

Time:  10.30hrs – 16.30hrs

Day 3:  Friday, 1 February 2013

Mass Prayers and Daylong Fast

Venue:  Jantar Mantar/Parliament Street

Time:  10.30hrs – 16.30hrs

Day 4:  Saturday, 2 February 2013

Public Gathering with Indian Supporters and Speeches by Indian MPs/Prominent Indians

Venue:  Jantar Mantar/Parliament Street

Time:  10.30hrs – 16.30hrs

For more information:-

www.solidaritywithtibet.org

www.indiatibet.org

www.tibet.net 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hyjFBg8mwiU

Now that the MBA entrances are over, it’s time for the Group Discussions, Interviews and so the preparations are in full swing. When it comes to mock GDs, there are always those clichéd topics that never seem to get old and make the students feel like they’ve hit the jackpot.

One such evergreen topic relates to the success (or the lack thereof) of democracy in India. This seems to ignite such passion in the contestants that the best you can do is to hide under your chair to prevent being caught in the crossfire as they try to rip each other’s throats out. But the one emotion that seems to stand out in such a heated discussion is the absolutely loathsome outlook that they share for the politicians across the country.

While some argued that the numerous scams that pop up each day spelled the death of democracy, yet others argued that it wasn’t irreparably damaged and that effective policies could go a long way in helping it rise from the ashes. One gentleman vehemently argued that there was no antidote, for the system had completely failed. He went on to add that India should emulate the American bipartisan system of democracy and that he would rather migrate to the USA than live in India. There were a few who tried feebly to counter his arguments but were soon convinced by his arguments and nodded meekly as they were swayed by his ‘eloquence’.

Conclusion: We’re tired of such rampant corruption and lack of even a shred of morality in the political structure of this country. But we’re much too involved with our own lives to take a step forward and own up to our responsibility; to ever make an active contribution to cleaning up the mess that is politics for the fear of tarnishing our own image by mere association.

That right there, I believe, is the death of democracy; where the people have the freedom to make a choice but don’t want to exercise it. If we can’t forgo our own selfish interests, regardless of what they might be, and choose to curse from afar, then why do we expect the politicians to put national interest ahead of their own needs? Be the change you want to see, isn’t it?

 

Surya Rajappan
[email protected]