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The Fear Surrounding Arranged Marriages

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The evolution of relationships and the concept of love marriage has led to people fearing arranged marriages. Arranged marriages have now turned into an outdated concept and an un-cool thing. But is it really that frightening?

The concept of falling in love and relationships is not alien to our society. Relationships are quite common and college students are well aware of it. It is great that people are quite open to the concept of falling in love and this has pretty much led to the notion where individuals have started to think that love marriages are the only way one is supposed to get married. But are arrange marriages really that frightening?

India is a country where more than 85% of the marriages are arranged. A report published by Maps of India in 2013 states that the divorce rates in India are as low as 1.2%, in contrary to 53% in the United States of America. This data is also the result of many differences between the two countries and the way marriages are seen, but the difference reflects that there is mutual consent between two people to continue as a married couple.

It is no less than an achievement to see people having love marriages and it is great that people are becoming more receptive towards this concept. But as budding individuals, it is not right on our part to develop a mentality where we start opposing arranged marriages as a possibility. There are some legitimate lines on which arranged marriages are questioned. When asked about an opinion on arranged marriages, Shreya Singhal, a student of the University of Delhi said “I feel that arranged marriages are ridiculous. How can we expect two random individuals to live together for the rest of their lives?”

The concept of arranged marriages has been working since a long time, and to question it is to refute the many success stories of the prevailing generation of parents whose marriages were arranged when they were young. Something must be going right to make these marriages work. We are at an interesting phase where we can witness both kinds of marriages. We as burgeoning individuals should learn how these differing kinds of marriages work and figure out what’s best for us.

The other “problem” with arranged marriages is that it is seen as an outdated notion and people associate the preference of an arranged marriage with being conventional. In a report published by Medium in 2016, 75.4% women prefer having arranged marriages. The number is lower than the previous statistics but it still signifies that a large chunk of women are still affirmative towards the concept.

The idea of the piece and all the statistics is to not be conclusive about what is happening with both kinds of marriages. We are in a transitional phase where love marriages are becoming more and more socially acceptable which is a great sign of progress in the mentality of the society. But at the same time, opposing arranged marriages and being judgmental about it is not the way to go.

 

Feature Image Credits: Identity Magazine

Karan Singhania

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DUB Speak

The Carnival of Indian Cricket: Indian Premier League

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The eleventh season of the Indian Premier League is set to start from the 7th April. One can admit that it has been no less than a festival, celebrated for almost two months every year since the past decade.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has been a sensation in the world of cricket. The much beloved tournament has completed ten successful years, and is about to enter in its eleventh year on the 7th of April.

Idealized by Mr. Lalit Modi, the introduction of the event was a massive hit among the viewers since the very beginning. After all, who thought that players from different countries rivalling each other at the international level could play together? It was a big example of sportsmanship, friendship, and fraternity.

Over the years, it has served one of the major purposes it was introduced for. The tournament has been significant in terms of helping talented young players earn fame and money while benefitting Indian cricket simultaneously. A lot of players having good seasons in the IPL have gone on to represent the national team. The success of this sporting contest to help identify future stars has led various other nations to introduce similar tournaments, some of them being the Pakistan Super League, and the Caribbean Premier League.

But it has not been a smooth ride for IPL all the way. There were cases of match-fixing by players and team owners, which put the tournament in jeopardy. Experts and pundits all over the world criticized the level of corruption in the league that was defaming the spirit of cricket. One shocking incident was the suspension of two teams, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) for two years due to match fixing allegations. Also, the engagement of players from various nationalities in such a hectic and tiring tournament raised concerns over their fitness and commitment towards their national team.

But against all odds, IPL has made its way through to the 11th season, much to the delight of cricket lovers. This season is highly anticipated, particularly because of the return of the two suspended teams. Also, there has been a complete revamp of the teams in an auction that was held in January. Fans are excited to see new players playing for the teams they are rooting for, while a shuffle in the team composition means that many players will fight it out against their older franchises in the upcoming season.

A lot has been said, done, and discussed up to this point. But all eyes will now lay on the tournament which is expected to deliver to the hype with thrilling matches and some good cricket. As it has always been the case with IPL, viewers can now just wait and witness all the different surprises the tournament will unfold in this season.

 

Feature Image Credits: India.com

Karan Singhania

[email protected]

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Arts & Culture

Book Review: The Happiness Equation

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The Happiness Equation is a Self-Help book published in 2016. It is written by the Canadian author, entrepreneur and public speaker Neil Pasricha who gives science-based secrets to stay happy.

“Want Nothing + Do Anything= Have Everything” reads the slogan of the book titled “The Happiness Equation”. It is a self-help book published by the Canadian author, entrepreneur and public speaker Neil Pasricha who talks about how people fail to stay content with their lives providing science-backed tips and tricks to achieve happiness.

Staying happy is the essential purpose and yet people struggle to do anything but be happy regardless of what they are doing. And this is not just about being financially solvent or well-qualified, people at every level are competing to be better and be happy. This is the basic focus of the book where the author addresses the issue giving reasons as to why people are not happy. Most importantly, the author attempts to answer the question “How to stay Happy?”

There are elements of science and various methods of their applications which can result in finding the solution. Some of them are like the “Ikigai” and the “Saturday Morning Test”. “Ikigai” is a concept followed by Japanese people in a far-off island which translates to “Reason for waking up in the morning”. He wants to convey that having a purpose to wake up every morning can stimulate a person to work and achieving the same at the end of the day can help people stay content. The latter concept is about asking oneself about the things we would like to do if we had no obligation to fulfil. The answer to these simple yet significant questions can help a person understand their needs and interests better.

As to how the book is written, it is unique and catches the eye. Pasricha has mentioned “Nine Secrets to Success” which when discovered can help us answer the question. The mention of different “tests” and concepts intrigue the reader and the content is as helpful. The book is not continuous as in it is not portrayed as a story moving along as the book progresses. The different chapters are more like independent topics that convey a different message with reference to something. It more like a collection of different elements placed together in a single but has been bifurcated on some broad lines.

Personally, apart from the various tips and tricks mentioned in the book, it is the presentation of the book that is particularly helpful to the cause of the book. The book has small chapters that are not bombarded with content; instead, they convey the idea behind the book with simplicity rather than imposing it. Leafing through the pages, one feels very relaxed and enjoys the book rather than being on a mission to unearth some miraculous secret. In fact, because the book is so simply presented, one can connect to the book helping in the assimilation of the lessons given.

Overall, the book can help us understand ourselves better. It provides a different viewpoint of attaining happiness. It is worth the read!

 

Feature Image Credits: Thought Catalogue

Karan Singhania

[email protected]

 

 

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Campus Central

The Reality Of Every College Group Project

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Completion of college group projects beholds the truth of last-minute panic and “just to get through” presentations. This comes in addition to the “apparent” plan of preparing an amazing project.

We can all admit that the completion of any group project in college is a giant mess which is dealt with last minute, just before the deadline. And even though we need to come up with presentations in almost every semester, we just don’t seem to learn from our experiences.

It all begins when the professor drops the bomb on a group presentation. Sometimes the group is decided on some parameters set by the professor, in which case the issue is relatively sorted. However, chaos erupts when students are expected to decide their own teams. There will be one to two groups that are filled with the class toppers and get decided quickly. However, they do get a lot of proposals from people eager to be a part of their team. This process goes on until the last minute before all the students without any group automatically turn into a team.

Having a team, however, is only the first part. The only thing that happens in time for the project is the creation of a WhatsApp group which is absolutely non-functional for the next few days. There might still be a couple of members enquiring about what to do but they also end up losing interest after the silence of other members. A bit of energy surges when someone all of a sudden suggests an idea regarding the project and the other members applaud the “concrete” effort made. Eventually, that idea is selected because it happens to be the only suggestion made so far.

Life is infused into the deserted group after the clock ticks down to the final few days and the members realize that they have little time left. They start selecting their topics and needless to say, the basis of their selection is the one they find the easiest and least time-consuming. And every group has that one unlucky person who isn’t online at that time and ends up with having to do the difficult topics. Oh, how they wish to exercise their freedom of choice and re-distribute the topics!

There will also be the one lazy person who simply copy-pastes the paragraph into the slides. Well, you can’t really blame him because he was low on time already. It is worthy to find out that the group also has an enthusiastic member hiding their potential until now but suddenly starts flooding the group with messages full of questions and doubts. But every group has that one hilarious member acting to be the one providing direction but does absolutely nothing.

The pressure keeps building with each minute that passes by and finally someone from the group steps up and takes control of the situation. They try to coordinate all the members and their work, explaining how to go about things. Clarifying everyone regarding what they need to do and setting deadlines, the person seems to have made sure the plan goes through. But the suffering just doesn’t seem to end and we all know why. How many of us have actually adhered to deadlines?

The night before the presentation and after a lot of “brainstorming” the presentation seems to finally be done. But the drama doesn’t end there. The one guy who set up the idea and co-ordinates everything keeps on repeating and clarifying things to the others minutes before the presentation. It will be wrong not to address the last minute panic some doubts of the members create. Finally, the presentation begins and with God’s grace and a bit unorganized team effort, things seem to go well. What a relieving moment it is when the presentation ends.

We do realize that this time things were not sorted and a lot of avoidable glitches happened. But hey, we always have the next time, right?

 

 

Feature Image Credits: Dreamstime

Karan Singhania

 [email protected]

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Campus Central

NAZARIYA organizes Bloody Pad Campaign, Questions Rape Culture and Holi

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Nazariya- an LGTBQ+ Straight alliance organized a Bloody Pad Campaign on 28th February near Lady Shri Ram College raising their voice against rape culture and the misbehaviour women need to face during Holi.

Nazariya- an LGTBQ+ Straight alliance organized a Bloody Pad Campaign on 28th February near Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR). They conducted a march, held a public discussion on consent, the perpetuation of rape culture and Holi. This campaign took place after the incident where a balloon filled with semen was thrown at an LSR student near the college.

The campaign started at around 1:30 pm near Lady Shri Ram College. They marched from LSR to Amar Colony carrying posters and shouting slogans. Some of the slogans they chanted were “Semen Go Back”, “Ghoomne ki Azaadi” (Freedom to Roam), and “Pitrisatta se Azaadi” (Freedom from patriarchy). The march was also attended by Guremehar Kaur, who is an activist and an author currently studying at LSR itself.

The march was followed by a speaking session where the co-founder of the organization, Ruth Chwangthu and member Devyani Mahajan talked about the online and offline safety of women and consent. After the completion of the speeches, a public discussion was held on the subject. In one instance, an auto-driver came up to the members and talked about his grievances saying the hardships they need to go through Holi. He said they had to face being hit by balloons filled with semen and even piss. Talking to DU Beat, the co-founder said “Student alliances are fed up with such incidents. We felt like we had to do something. Colleges are not interested in taking action and even if they do, it feels as if they are forced to do so.”

The final event of the campaign was a play called “Dastak” performed by Asmita Theatre Group. The play was based on acid attack victims and sexual harassment. The play too emphasized on the balloon incident. The play was much appreciated by the audience. After the play, one of the members of the theatre group, Mr Sunil Prajapati said “We have been performing such plays since 8 years. We don’t want to perform such plays but certain incidents keep taking place that compels us to perform such plays.” The campaign concluded after the play.

Before the commencement of the campaign, the members of the organization along with the co-founder had to face backlash by a man who spammed the organization’s WhatsApp group and also called them up. After the completion of the campaign, he put up a post on Facebook along with videos targeting them.

 

Feature Image Credits- Nazariya

Karan Singhania

[email protected]

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Relationships and Stress: Combat the Bad

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Being in a relationship has its own complications–there are a hundred things that stress us. But, with sheer will and understanding, things can be sorted.

What a beautiful moment it is to reminiscence of the time when the person you liked said “yes”, and you certainly thought “this is the one”. To be together with someone we have always wished, is a blessing. However, it is only with time that we realise that the initial stages of forming a relationship and being in one for a while are two very different scenarios, where the latter is the more difficult one.

Relationship stress is a gradually increasing process. The initial phase is marked by the stress we experience due to being possessive and worrying about not doing anything stupid. It is the most amateur phase when the two people involved start integrating each other into their lives. We fume at the sight of our partner texting another person. We try hard to avoid acting or saying anything silly.

After entering the second stage, our compatibility is put to the test. All of us say that one of the factors for coming into a relationship is that we are compatible with the other person. This is the time we start having arguments. We quarrel over petty things. We have these so called “fights” every day and sit in a corner of the room trying to make ourselves fine. A major reason for the occurrence of such fights is that we start disagreeing with our partners. All this while the relationship seems to be a roller coaster ride. After a point, we start putting our opinions above theirs and start feeling a bit dominated. And, not to mention, neither of the two are ready to accept other’s opinion.

The third stage is when we have been into the relationship for quite a while. But with the aging relationship, the issues amplify as well. This stage puts the mettle of the relationship to the test. Issues such as time, truth, and commitment start cropping up. Not being able to talk every day or giving the other person adequate time puts both the people in a huge state of bother. This is followed by doubt over whether our partner is entirely true or has started keeping secrets. And the most ground-shaking issue is when our commitment is questioned. We start questioning if the relationship is even worth it or if the person we chose is really the right one?

The stress is natural and there are a few ways to combat the issue. They are:
1. Act as if it’s the first day – Counting the number of years we have been in a relationship doesn’t really help during fights. We should take a deep breath and start as if we are in the first day of our relationship. How precise and full of promises we are. Doing so will put our ego beside and make it easier for us to convince our partners.

2. Know that we are in it for a reason – Whenever things aren’t going fine and our relationship woes just don’t seem to end, we need to always remember that we came into the relationship for a reason. We knew that tough times would come. But we chose our very partners to go through all the ups and downs. So why back out?

3. It is okay to accept we are wrong – When there is a conflict of interests, we fight to prove that we are the right ones when there is no need to. It’s okay to tell your partner that you are wrong and that you’re sorry for it. Now we have things like self-respect coming up in our heads, but it absolutely okay to be the wiser one and be more understanding. Maybe we can respect ourselves for that.

4. Listen – This is probably the basic rule to end quarreling and resolve issues. The other person might be fuming upon us for a small reason or even no reason at all. We have questions like “Why should we hear so much from someone?” But we need to understand that there is no harm in remaining quiet. They do that in the first place because we are the only person they can talk that way. And we should responsibly ensure that we make our partners feel better, shouldn’t we?

 

Feature Image Credits: iStock

Karan Singhania
[email protected]

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DUB Speak

The Buzz Around IPL Auction

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With the IPL auction due to happen on the 27th and 28the January, there is a lot of hype regarding the teams and players participating in this event.

The auction for the 11th season of the Indian Premiere League (IPL) is going to be held on the 27th and 28th of January. More than 570 players will be going under the hammer this season. The event will take place in Bangalore at the ITC Gardenia. It will be broadcasted by Star Sports India who acquired the broadcasting rights earlier this year. The broadcast will commence from 9:05 am.

Cricket has been a sensation in India and the Indian Premiere League has just added to the love and excitement of the fans. Just above a decade ago, the commencement of this tournament where they could see international stars playing together send all the cricketing fans in a frenzy. Ten years forward, the tournament remains one of the most anticipated tournaments of cricket. And just like any other season, there will be an auction held where franchises will bid for players they want. But there’s a catch.

There will be a complete revamp of teams as the players have finished their contracts with their respective franchises. The franchises were given an option to retain a maximum of three players with subject to reduction in the total purse of Rs. 80 crore. One of the major reasons for the added excitement for this season is the return of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) who will make a comeback after serving a suspension of two years for match fixing. The return of CSK also means that the former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead the team much to the delight of fans.

The retention strategy adopted by some franchises has also set the enthusiastic tone for the upcoming auction. The release of Gautam Gambhir by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the retention of Sarfaraz Khan by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) certainly put the pundits and fans under deep thought. However the franchises also have an option of exercising the Right to Match (RTM) card on some players. The RTM card enables a team to buy back its player during the auction by matching the highest bid made for the player. The players on whom the teams have decided to use RTM will be known on the auction day itself.

The likes of players like Ben Stokes, Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle, and Dwayne Bravo going in the auction has set the fans on their toes who are hoping to see their favorite stars play for their favorite franchises. The commercialization of the auction due to the huge fan base has led to teams and broadcasters doing extensive advertisement for the same. Each franchise has set up portals asking their fans to vote for the players they want the franchises to buy.

It will be very interesting to see the various franchises battling it out for some of the biggest cricket stars. And as always, everyone will keep an eye on which player bags the highest price. With the franchises and fans all ready, it is now a matter of time until the bidding war for one of the most enthralling cricket tournaments to begin.

 

Feature Image Credits: Logo & Tagline

Karan Singhania
[email protected]

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