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Day 2 of Confluence saw Choreo’15, the choreography competition of Confluence 2015, the annual cultural fest of Hans Raj College being held. The competition had two teams battle it out for the final title of the winner. Dance societies from Lady Shri Ram College and Kamala Nehru College took part in the competition whereas Terpsi Choreon, the host choreography society performed as a non-competitive team. Abhinaya from Big Dance and Aniket from Danz N Buzz judged the competition.

The show started with LSR performing their annual production, ‘Leave Us Alone’, an act based on the women tribes of Amazon forests and their dwindling numbers. Through contemporary, they depicted the problems faced by such people because of the industrialised and corporative world. Their performance was followed by a solo performance by Prateek Aneja, a member of the Terpsi Choreon. The next performance was the dance act by KNC on a theme revolving around the soldiers of our country, who bravely defend the borders and even sacrifice their lives in the process.

Towards the end of the event, Terpsi Choreon performed their annual production, ‘Void’. LSR bagged the first position, while KNC won the second spot at the event.

#Confluence2015: Congratulations to the dance society of #LSR College for winning Choreo’15, the choreography…

Posted by DU Beat on Friday, March 27, 2015

The other highlight of Day 2 at Confluence was Bol Bala, the street play competition as a part of Eclat, the annual theatre festival of the college. Bol Bala was organised by the Hans Raj dramatics society on the theme of ‘Navras’, the nine emotions. The participating teams included dramatics and street societies from colleges like Indraprastha College for Women, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Gargi College, Shivaji College, Lady Shri Ram College, Jesus and Mary College and Guru Teg Bahadur Institute of Technology.

Vipul Pachori and Shiv Kanunga judged the event. Vipul Pachori has been associated with the Ateliar Theatre group, while Shiv Kanunga is an active member of the Asmita Theatre group.

The street play of IP College, ‘Manmarziyan’ was adjudged the best among all the seven plays. ‘Kab tak Khayega’ by JMC and ‘Jaane Kaha Gaye Vo Din’ by Shivaji College bagged the second and third positions, respectively.

#Kahkasha, the dramatic society of #JMC performs live at Bol Bala- the street play competition at #Confluence- Annual Cultural Fest of Hans Raj College

Image Credits: Mugdha for DU Beat

A photo posted by DU Beat (@du_beat) on

Feature Image Credits: Iresh Gupta

Iresh Gupta
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Ishita Sharma
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Éclat, the annual theatre festival of Hans Raj College, was held on the 24th of March at FICCI Auditorium. The line up of plays for Éclat 2015 was quite impressive with the best of DU’s theatre circuit coming to perform at the state of the art auditorium at Mandi House.

There were five plays performed starting 4:00 pm, the first play being Algaav by Ramjas College, a thought provoking play with its strong storyline and brilliant acting on the fight for freedom and identity by Tibetans.

Algaav  Ramjas

The next play on schedule was Smell of Lemons by Lady Sri Ram College starting at 5:00 pm. The play is an invigorating performance by the girls of LSR being unapologetically artistic as well as well directed. The script is in four parts with one part being self written by the director herself. It scores extra for the individuality.

Smell of Lemons - LSR

The third on the list is Ilham by Shaheed Bhagat Singh Evening College, the riveting plot was accompanied by an excellent script with a special mention going to their main actor Jitendra who had won the award for the best actor that evening.

Ilham - Shaheed Bhagat Singh

The second last play of the evening was Fools by Khalsa which opened up the simplicity of the human mind, The satire was very engaging with a tight performance by the team. It had the audience engaged from empty stage.

Fools - SGTB Khalssa

Rumours by the Shri Ram College of Commerce was the last show of the evening. The ensemble cast had the audience in laughs from the beginning till the end with an exciting plotline. Their direction was preceded by the strong individual performances by all the characters.

Rumours  - SRCC (1)

Eclat being a non-competitive fest does not distribute prizes to the teams, nevertheless, awards were given out to the best performers of the evening along with some noteworthy mentions. Jitendra from Shaheed Bhagat Singh Evening College and Hemanshi from Shri Ram College of Commerce won the Best Actor prizes for their stunning performances in ‘Ilhaam’ and ‘Rumours’ respectively.

The street play section of the event will be taking place on the 28th of March.

Madhurya Sundar
[email protected]

Image credits: Ankit Kumar Meena

Miranda House is one of the premier colleges of Delhi University in all respects. From academics to sports to cultural activities, it has kept itself at the forefront of all fields since its foundation in 1948. It has served as the abode of learning and development for some of the strongest female personalities in India today who influence public discourse in and about the country. Here’s taking a look at some of the strong women from diverse spheres of life who were once ‘Mirandians’:

 1. Brinda Karat

She is one of the most known female faces in Indian politics and activism. A communist politician, she also became the first woman member of the CPI(M) Politburo and served as the general secretary of the All India Democratic Women’s Association. She graduated with a degree in Bachelor of Arts from Miranda House and then pursued a Masters in History at the University of Calcutta. She has been a prominent campaigner for Gender issues in the country from the beginning of her political journey and gained prominence in the campaign for reform of rape laws in the 1980s. She has authored Survival and Emancipation: Notes from Indian Women’s Struggles which is a comprehensive book on the wide ranging concerns of the women’s movements in India from a left perspective.

Brinda Karat

albooksinthecity.blogspot.com

2. Sheila Dixit

Another influential female politician from the ranks of Miranda House, Sheila Dixit is best known for having been the Chief Minister of Delhi for nearly 15 years. She pursued her Masters in History at Miranda House and today is one of Indian National Congress’s most recognisable faces. She led INC to three consecutive victories in Delhi from 1998 to 2013. She also represented India on the U.N. Commission on Status of Women for five years, from 1984 to 1989. Controversies about corruption and some insensitive comments made about the Nirbhaya Rape Case have marred her image in recent years.

 

dhoomimalgallery.com

3. Nandita Das

A conversation about the most influential contemporary Indian women cannot miss out on Nandita Das. She has carved a niche for herself as an actress and director, hailed as a champion of alternative cinema about important humanitarian issues. She is known for her roles in the movies Fire, Before the Rains and for her directorial debut Firaaq, which was based on true stories, set in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots. She also has a Masters in Social Work and continues to advocate on issues of social justice. Among the many awards she has to her name, including the Filmfare awards and those won at International film festivals, she was also bestowed with the award of ‘Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters’, a very prestigious civil award by the French government and in 2011, she became the first Indian to be inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Women’s Forum, Washington DC.

nandita das

 verveonline.com

4. Mallika Sherawat

She has scorched not just Bollywood but Hollywood screens as well, infamous for her strong expression of sexuality and for being one of the few Indian actresses to try and cross over to Hollywood. Born Reema Lamba, Mallika obtained her degree in Philosophy from Miranda House. She is famous for her bold roles in the movies like Murder, Pyaar Ke Side Effects and International films Hisss, The Myth and Politics of Love. She received Honorary Citizenship of Los Angeles in recognition of her career achievements and charity work. Mallika is known for her strong views and reactions, which saw her being embroiled in some controversies as well.

Mallika-Sherawat-6

dailymail.co.uk

5. Anita Mazumdar Desai

Shortlisted thrice for the Booker Prize and recipient of the Sahitya Academy Award for her 1978 novel ‘Fire on the Mountain‘, she is considered to be one of India’s most influential female authors. Throughout her novels and short stories, she has been known to focus on the cultural and social changes in the Indian Society through relatable characters and their relationships. She is a graduate of English Literature from Miranda House and has won several awards for her work. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she is also the Emerita John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and writes for ‘New York Review of Books’.

Anita Desai

mid-day.com

6. Meira Kumar

Known for being the first woman Speaker of Lok Sabha, she is a 5 time MP and started out as a lawyer and diplomat. She served as the Lok Sabha speaker from 2009 to 2014. She has also served as Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. She is known for actively participating in movements pertaining to social reforms, human rights and democracy.

MEIRA_KUMAR

itimes.com

7. Anjolie Ela Menon

She is one of India’s leading contemporary female artists and has had her work on display in solo exhibitions all over the world. She studied English Literature in Miranda House and talks of her time in the college fondly, remembering her teachers who were trained from Oxford or Cambridge and whose portraits she used to paint. She has represented India at various shows and was awarded the Padma Shri in 2000.

Anjolie Ela Menon

weeklytimesofindia.com

8. Mira Nair

One of India’s most well known film-makers globally, Mira Nair is famous for her films The Namesake, ‘Salaam Bombay!’ and Monsoon Wedding which are known for their accurate portrayal of Indian culture to the rest of the world. She studied Literature at Miranda House before moving to Harvard to learn about documentary film-making. She also famously rejected the offer to direct ‘Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix‘ stating that she was s“better suited to emotions, human beings, and less interested in special effects.” Mira Nair has been the recipient of a number of honours globally, including those at Cannes and Venice Film Festivals. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2012.

mira nair

thecrimson.com

9. Anuja Chauhan

Often hailed as the best chic lit writer in India and “the only Indian writer of popular fiction really worth buying” (sic), Anuja Chauhan has authored three popular books- ‘The Zoya Factor‘, ‘Battle for Bittora‘ and ‘ Those Pricey Thakur Girls‘. She is also behind many of the catchiest tag lines in contemporary Indian Advertising from her time working at JWT, including- Pepsi’s ‘Yeh Dil Maange More!’, Kitkat’s ‘Kitkat Break Banta Hai‘ and Lay’s ‘Be a little Dillogical‘. She was also one of the youngest Vice Presidents in JWT before resigning in 2010 to pursue a career in writing. She has regularly featured in ‘Brand Equity’ as one of the hottest creative directors in India. . Her book ‘The Zoya Factor’ has won Cosmopolitan Magazine, India’s Fun Fearless Female award for literature in 2008 and the India Today Woman award for Woman as Storyteller in 2009. Her writing is often compared to Jane Austen’s, especially for ‘Those Pricey Thakur Girls’ and she is known for her fresh ‘Hinglish’ dialogues and witty, colourful characters.

anuja-chauhan

pinkvilla.com

10. Shovana Narayan

Known as one of the best Kathak danseuses in the world, Shovana Narayan is a holder of a Masters in Physics from Miranda House. She is well-known for her dancing and choreographing abilities, lauded for being the embodiment of the great artistic and social traditions of India. She has also trained several Kathak artistes, some of whom are leading artistes of the young generation. She has been an active researcher as well, having discovered 3 Kathak villages near Gaya with documentary and official records with 80 published articles in several journals and newspapers. She has mesmerised audiences globally and was awarded the Padma Shri in 1992.

shovana narayan

anandway.com

Shubham Kaushik

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The annual fest of Jesus and Mary College, Montage 2015 began on the 26th of March amidst all the excitement of the ICC World Cup 2015 semi final between India and Australia with a projector screen in the common room. The CR quickly filled up to accommodate enthusiastic fans from among the attendees, students, staff and even college sisters.

We're watching #IndvsAus at @montage2015! Where are you?

A photo posted by DU Beat (@du_beat) on

The Indian dance society, Nrityanjali, hosted the first event of the day, Adaa, which comprised of two competitions- Solo Classical Dance and Folk dance (group). Apoorva and Rhe Mahajan from Gargi College secured first and second positions at the solo event, while Prathama Gosh from Daulat Ram College coming third from the five teams that participated in the folk dance competition. Teams from Gargi, Sri Venkateswara and Maitreyi landed the top three positions.

Congratulations to Gargi's folk dance team for bagging the first prize at Adaa in #JMC today! Venky and Maitreyi College came second and third respectively. #Montage2015

Posted by DU Beat on Thursday, 26 March 2015

On the main stage, the first event was the Western Quartet competition organised by the western music society of Jesus and Mary College. A good number of teams participated and eventually ‘Chords of Conduct’, a cross college team comprising of 4 versatile vocalists won the competition. In second position was awarded to Gargi college. The judge for the event was Stephanie Samuel, who is a trinity drummer, and is the founder as well as the conductor of Wilson College, Mumbai. She is also a singer for Capital City Minstrels.

‘Raag’, The classical singing competition organised by Tarannum, the Indian music society of JMC saw over 28 participants from different colleges such as Kirori Mal College, Miranda House and their next door neighbours Maitreyi College. With peaceful symphonies and rhythm, Raag was one of the toughest competition as the vocalists gave their best, each as good as the other. The judges, faced with a tough decision, finally announced ‘results pending’.

In picture: Hindu College performing at Awaaz, the street play competition of Montage 2015, the annual cultural fest of Jesus and Mary College. The 2 day fest kicks off today!

Posted by DU Beat on Wednesday, 25 March 2015

Vani Vivek
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Tarushi Varma
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Ishaan Sengupta
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Techkriti is the annual inter-college technical and entrepreneurial festival organised by the students of Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. The first ever Techkriti was organised in 1995, and has since grown into one of the largest technical festivals in Asia. This year’s Techkriti was spread across 19 March – 22 March.

 

techkriti (3)(1)
Glimpse from Techkirit held at IIT-Kanpur

The fest began with the talk by Dr. David Hilmers. A veteran of four space flights, he has logged over 493 hours in space. He talked about his experience as a United Nations Marine Corps, flying the A-6 Intruder as a bombardier-navigator, as a NASA astronaut, and now as a researcher in global health and malnutrition. His zero-gravity experiences left the audience

The afternoon on the second day kick-started the ‘Leadership Summit’ with none other than the host of famous TV talk shows ‘Seedhi Baat’ and ‘Teekhi Baat’, Prabhu Chawla, the Editorial Director of The New Indian Express himself. The journalism legend shared his experiences and views on diverse topics. This was followed by a talk by Davide Scaramuzza, an expert on artificial intelligence at University of Zurich and then a session by Naresh Gupta, the Managing Director of Adobe India.

The late afternoon saw the much awaited talk by Dilip Chhabria, founder of DC Design. The pioneer who shot to fame by designing Tarzan, the ‘Wonder Car’ and the Aston Martin Vanquish that appeared in the James Bond Franchise “Die Another Day”, was the star attraction of the second day. He shared his thoughts on the growing demand in automobile industry and the need for innovative thinking in this area.

The evening talk session by Meera Sanyal, former CEO & Chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland in India, also saw a huge turnout. She shared her valuable expertise in the banking sector and also her experiences while working with both NGOs and Aam Aadmi Party.

Another highlight of the event was the competition for Innovation in Manufacturing Practices. The sole objective of this activity is to provide a common platform for the engineering college and University students in the country to show their innovative capabilities in the design and manufacturing practices. One has to design an effective and innovative model, and make a prototype of the same by applying innovative manufacturing practices. This year twenty seven entries were received from all over the country and only five have been short listed to make their presentation during Techkriti.

 

Credits: Organising Committee, Techkriti

 

Delhi University Women’s Association (DUWA) recently opened up a souvenir shop in North Campus to help students from the underprivileged classes buy university related accessories at minimal costs. The souvenir shop sells various things including t-shirts, mugs and file folders, etc. at prices below the market rate.  “The shop has been opened to promote Delhi University’s brand name, the reason all the products come with a small DU logo”, said Dr. Karabi Majumdar, Secretary, DUWA. The items available at the shop include files and folders, bags of different sizes, sweatshirts, mufflers, etc. all of which come with the logo of Delhi University.

“The DU logo has been brought in place so that the students feel proud to be the part of India’s top ranked university”, added Dr. Majumdar.

The DUWA Souvenir shop was opened on 20th of November with a marginal footfall which increased subsequently in the forthcoming days.

There are a lot of important things that Delhi University grants us with, in order to make our college life easy and happy. One such aspect would be the Mind and Body centre at DUWA (Delhi University Women’s Association), which has opened recently. This association started in 1964 before which only a men’s club existed and women did not normally move out much. The aims of this association as quoted from their website duwa.du.ac.in are:

  • To promote and to carry on social, cultural, recreational, educational and economic activities for the benefit of the women members on the staff and female family members of those on the staff of the Delhi University and its affiliated and constituent colleges and recognized institutions and also for the women relatives of the students studying in colleges of the University and who are residents in the Campus of the Campus of the University and of the surrounding areas.
  • To organize and maintain, as far as possible, limited residential accommodation with cultural and educational amenities for the members of the society coming to participate in the activities of the society and other bodies with cognate object as well as non members specially invited to participate in the activities of the society.
  • To invite as and when feasible, cultural leaders, scholars, scientists and creative artists, who may or may not be members of the society, to take advantage of the facilities offered by the society.

The Mind and Body centre provides homeopaethic treatment for problems like dandruff, acne, allergies, headaches, anxiety, cold, fever, etc. It also offers free counselling services by psychologists/counsellors to Delhi University girls about various issues regarding relationship problems, drug, alcohol abuse, stress, sleep deprivation, difficulty in concentration, etc. The sessions are open to students from 11am to 6pm from Monday to Saturday. One can go for a walk-in consultation by paying 50 rupees, which is the admission amount; also, all information shared remains strictly confidential.

Another important project started by DUWA is called “Sahyog”. This project is for the girls who needs extra academic help. Here, they are provided with extra classes from 3-5 pm, six days a week. Students are guided and given encouragement to do better. The fee charges are much subsidised.

“Drishti” is another programme that is for the visually challenged. Members provide them with support and help them learn by reading out lessons to them, etc. This programme requires more volunteers so if anyone is interested, they can register at the DUWA office.

This organisation has a variety of committees that fall under it like the educational committee, hostel committee, sports committee, etc. The newest addition to DUWA is the University Souvenir Store and the Mind and Body Centre which is located at 7 Chhatra Marg, Delhi University. You can also contact them on their email id- [email protected]. The registration fee for a year is 50 rupees (no consultation charges).

Brij Pahwa
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Meghna Mitra

India Habitat Centre played host to a literary festival organised by Penguin India from 14th to 22nd march. Under the name Spring Fever, the festival features eminent personalities like Amitav Ghosh, Ram Jethmalani, Gulzar, Shashi Tharoor, Shobhaa De and Gurcharan Das, and also includes variety of cultural and theatre performances. Here we bring you a glimpse of some of the literary discussions that took place this year!

That the fest is principled on the exchange of stimulating and diverse ideas was conspicuous on the first day when eminent author Amitav Ghosh previewed his last novel in the series Ibis Trilogy. This novel is to release next month by bringing out some unknown aspects of the Indian military history in the 19th century. The trilogy which is set against the first Indo-China opium war brings out a historical narrative that is both untapped by any other scholar and is engaging. As Ghosh denied delving into the realm of non fictional characters, he said choosing fictional characters within a non fictional setting allowed him fluidity.

The session started with Ghosh making the first book reading of the novel Flood of Fire. The reading accurately brought the experiential part of the wars through fictional characters that were fought by Indians and were mainly undocumented. He claimed that there is only one firsthand account by an Indian soldier among the Indian soldiers who fought for the British.

Many in the audience associated with Delhi University were elated when a brief discussion with Ghosh in a lighter mood came up after a question about Shadow Lines, another of his great works was posed to him. The novel features in the BA English Honours syllabi of the university. The question was about the whereabouts of the character Tridib. Ghosh also recalled messages sent by readers to him on his facebook page. The session ended with the author dedicating 30 minutes to the signing of the books that the audience bought at a stall in the amphitheatre.

Spring Fever 2015 also included a discussion on the impact of social media in new writing. Eminent Hindi writers like Ashok Vajpayee and Nidheesh Tyagi were in conversation with novelist Yasser Usman. Also present in the discussion was Mr. Shashi Tharoor, a writer and a politician who’s known as the “Twitter Minister”. All the personalities shared their views on the changing trends in social media and censorship. The panel seemed to have agreed that social media ensures democratisation of speech but hate speech and abuse runs free, too.

“Everyone has a right to speech but I’ve seen that users of social media seem to think that they also have a right to prematurely judge which is unethical in my opinion”, Mr Vajpayee was quoted as saying.

However, everyone agreed that censoring is not a way to tackle abusers and trolls on the internet.
“There will always be a certain section of society which will disagree with you and use the means of abuse when they’re not satisfied with your opinion”, said Mr. Tharoor. The discussion ended with the conclusion that social media should be embraced as a powerful literary tool in a democracy.
This was followed by Dastan Alice Ki, an Urdu rendition of Lewis Caroll’s books Alice in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking Glass.

Sampooran Singh Kalra, popularly known by his pen name Gulzaar, also visited the Penguin Literary Fest at India Habitat Centre on the 21st of March. A huge crowd gathered at the foyer to watch the Indian film fraternity’s legendary director and lyricist.

Some of his most celebrated songs from Bollywood were played and then translated into English. Each song was followed by memories recalled by the veteran who has bridged the gap between Bimal Roy and Vishal Bharadwaj in the 59 years of his career.

He showed his humorous side as he cracked jokes with the audience on the non-translatable nature of some of his songs like ‘Ibn-E-Batuta’ and the pronunciation of lyrics in songs like ‘Challa’. A lady from the audience was bestowed with the opportunity to sing ‘Mera Kuch Samaan’ live in front of the crowd which she did beautifully after which Gulzaar narrated how R.D. Burman mistook the song for a movie’s scene when he read it first and how he ended up composing it in one sitting itself.

The other songs that were mentioned included Dakiya Daak Laya, Chor Aaaye Hum and the foot tapping Chaiyya Chaiyya the credit for which he dedicated to A.R. Rehmaan.

Gulzaar ended the interaction with a fresh poetry called ‘Main Nazmeim Odh Kar Baitha Hun’ which stole a loud round of applause from the audience. A collection of his songs has been compiled into a book by his name which was on sale at the fest and the owners of each copy were given the gift of Gulzaar’s signature on it towards the end of the event.

Kartikeya Bhatotia
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Sidharth Yadav
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Ishani Rajkhowa
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Image credits: Raagini Sharma

Our guest columnist, Chhaya Tyagi, feels that though there are problems, the ‘solution’ of de-recognizing Faculty of Law seems completely unjustified. Here’s her perspective on the issue-

You say we lack tables, that benches are broken, classrooms are small and infrastructure is inadequate to bear the burden of affirmative action. Delhi University’s Law Faculty surely cannot boast of being the most well-equipped in the world. And so can’t India. First things first: We’re a developing country, we have an acute scarcity of resources, and add to that population pressure. Law Faculty is trying to utilize the paltry little infrastructure it has to support a swarm of students. Needless to say, the per capita investment is low, pathetically low. The question is: What do you do about that?

Millions of schools in India’s villages aren’t housed in world-class buildings with cutting-edge technology. How do you respond to that? Do you go around shutting them down, simply because they don’t have as much money to throw into laptops and air-conditioners? That could be an elite’s drawing-room decision, a snobbish apathy towards the common man but such an approach would jeopardize the wider interests of society. Wasn’t that the whole idea behind public sector – to not let commoners be priced out of the market for essential commodities?

There’s another aspect of Law Faculty – the lesser known and strictly experiential one. Whoever has been to its classes would know it well – the excellent (and may I add, adorable) teachers. You complain of paucity of benches. Who’s sitting on benches anyway? With them, you’ve already been transported to ideational spaces. Anyone who doubts it might try sneaking into Ms. Monica Chaudhary’s class. Yes, do that. You can’t sit outside and pass comments. Try uploading some lectures online, and let people vote. ‘It’s not about legalese and procedure; it’s about somebody’s rights. A person’s liberty is at stake. If we’re trading off someone’s freedom for a bit of our security, bail must be a human rights issue…If non-interference in private lives is the justification for excluding marital rape from the definition of rape, I wonder why the same reasoning isn’t applied to consensual relations between homosexuals behind closed doors… If you think a demand for the right to die is unreasonable because life is sacrosanct, you’re still judging, not understanding.’ Such are our platonic realms. Alas! But these are finer matters, can’t be quantified like ratio of students to benches. However, that doesn’t mean that qualitative factors don’t matter. Under Dr. S.K. Gupta, we’ve travelled across six centuries in less than three months. Do you know the pleasures of time travel? When your teachers can recreate an entire era of history in minute detail and you see Dharmashastra evolving; when you almost witness the gradual conferring of proprietary rights upon women – a process spread over decades, it can be beautiful. It can be so beautiful that even if there were no benches, no classrooms, no building, believe it or not, we would sit under trees as long as they agreed to impart knowledge.

I’m a first year student. Still too early for me to think that Bar Council’s recognition is all it takes to validate my education in law. There’s something more profound about what we’re doing. Something that can’t be observed in few hours of inspection, that can’t be contained in a simple compliance report. At its inception during the 1980s, Public Interest Litigation (PIL) promised to privilege essence over form – you could write your grievance on a simple postcard and send it to the Supreme Court, and if the court concurred, it would take up your cause. Ironically, today, the same PIL is being used to demand form (infrastructure) over essence (education). We may have fallen short of ticks in a checklist, but we’re deconstructing an entire apparatus that had guaranteed equality of opportunity to all.

Chhaya Tyagi,

1st year LL.B. student in Campus Law Center, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi.

Trampling, groping, fighting, waiting, depleting, pushing and shoving… no, I’m not talking about a sleazy movie from the 90’s or the story line of an erotic thriller, I’m talking about the other side of Delhi University’s fests.

Every year, students’ unions of various colleges, across the university, work tirelessly over a period of months to garner the funds. The funds are then, at once, invested to bring in the next big thing from Bollywood (or even Hollywood) to win the DU crowd over. This endless parade of muscle show by one college to another is what we’ve christened college fests. The year of 2015 brought to us various stories ranging from the bashing up of student union presidents under the pretext of delayed celebrity performances to stampedes at fests.

We’ve actually seen it all, what never fails to perplex me is why would the union of a said college work so efficiently to make something that is three days long such a success, whilst basic requirements like bathroom sanitation or the cafeteria in a college that are much more long lasting than any celebrity are overlooked once the student body has been decided. Spending union funding on things like a renewed waste segregation disposable system or a rain water harvesting plant for environmental awareness can prove to be more meaningful. Maybe incorporating sanitary napkin vending machines would also make a sustainable difference. Also, some of the largest fests are seen to have multiple food stalls but the very same colleges are left powerless with options in the college canteen. Using the funding to renew everyday requirements like security or faculty would be much more commendable than a one lakh production set.

Fests are evidently important but we cannot deny that on the completion of this extravaganza you will always find the college dustbins teemed with non-degradable junk and plastics, the lawns become non-existent with barely any grass beds, a few instances of groping and ogling of your friends will be making the rounds, the students’ union will be working with a vengeance to cover the upcoming deficit and you’ll be recovering from the blisters on your heels.

It’s true, I like getting dolled up for the next ‘big’ thing as much as the other girls, but it would be downright stupid for me not to acknowledge the effort it takes up to put up 3 days of pure muscle show. You need the right contacts in all the right places, and the right influence in all the wrong places to keep everything from funds to bouncers within your authority, this comes from the experience of overlooking one of these ‘fests’ myself. And I quite openly look up to the individuals who’ve been working continuously to make sure this tradition doesn’t become a legend. But there’s always been a moment where I thought to myself, why couldn’t DU be like other universities that spend their major time and funds on things like seminars and old people talking about success but obviously, who am I kidding? That wouldn’t be DU, would it?

Madhurya Sundar
[email protected]