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Life at Delhi University: The Photography Society

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Being in a Photography/Visual Arts society is an enthralling and educating experience to say the least. Being in the company of people who know the skills of photography, and who are ready to teach and most importantly learn, has made me appreciate the beauty of insignificant things.

This is what my experience has been like being in The Darkroom, the visual arts society of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies. (We proudly call ourselves a visual arts society because we teach, share and set forth the spirit of not only photography, but graphic designing and film-making as well)

1.) Photowalks to the best spots in and around Delhi

Our craving to capture architectural beauty drives us all around Delhi; from Humayun’s Tomb to Feroz Shah Kotla Fort to Hauz Khas. Sometimes the photowalks happen in crowded yet colourful places like Chandni Chowk which give us abundant human subjects to capture.

2.) Knowledge of DSLR, even when you don’t have one

When I joined my society, I didn’t even know what the full form of a DSLR was (many of us still don’t know, that’s a fact) but eventually we start learning how to operate a DSLR even when we don’t own one. Some of us even save up money to buy it. More than the intuitiveness, I guess it’s the fact that our non-photographer friends who force us to learn about DSLRs. Earlier when my friends used to ask me about DSLRs, I just used to tell them something out of Wikipedia.

3.) Keeping track of photography society pages on Facebook

An arduous task is to keep track of different competitions that come up on Facebook. Most of us have a competitions database but miserably fail to update it. Sometimes we just stalk a particular society’s facebook page until they post a competition.

4.) Sharing the cameras in competitions

When on-the-spot photography competitions happen (mostly during the fest season), we sometimes have just one camera and 4 participants. But, we somehow manage to submit every photo.

5.) Where’s my tripod? Where’s my memory card?

We keep losing our stuff for some reason, either things get swapped with another person in the society, or we just lose our stuff altogether.

Kartikeya Bhatotia
[email protected]

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DUB News

No changes to be made in CBCS grading system

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Delhi University is likely to go ahead with the previous technique of grading in the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS). The news comes out after the University had sought suggestions from all departments regarding the proposed changes. The committee which was constituted to look into the CBCS system will have a final word on the formulae on which the CBCS grading system works.

Under CBCS, a student is marked by relative grading system where their marks are dependent in relation to that of other students’ and not their individual performance. It allows students’ seamless mobility across higher education institutions and transfer of credit earned by students.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked all Central universities to implement CBCS from the ensuing academic session following a meeting of vice chancellors of all universities, claiming it had a “cafeteria approach” to education. The system was met with protest from both students and the faculty when it was introduced last year.

CBCS is currently implemented only for the first year batch of University of Delhi. The students have complained about their grades suffering due to relative marking since grades are dependent not by their individual marks, but by their performance in relation to that of other students.

Kartikeya Bhatotia

[email protected]

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News

DU textbook calling Bhagat Singh a ‘revolutionary terrorist’ sparks major row

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A Delhi University textbook has been caught up in a political row after it was found that it mentioned revolutionaries like Shaheed Bhagat Singh as ‘revolutionary terrorists’.

The textbook titled ‘India’s Struggle for Freedom’ which has been in circulation for 25 years now also mentions Surya Sen and Chandra Shekhar Azad as ‘revolutionary terrorists’ with the Chittagong Uprising described as a terror attack. The context and the explanation in Chapter 20, where the nomenclature was used, however, is not being discussed.

Several historians and authors have come forward to correct the error. Veteran historian Irfan Habib, however, said that ‘this controversy is not new for him’. “This issue is in public domain for a long time. When I was writing a book on Bhagat Singh, I deliberately used ‘revolutionary terrorist’ for him.”

Terming the ‘error’ as an ‘academic murder’, Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani made it clear that no amount of intellectual cover could be used to demean those who have lost their lives. “If I am to be called intolerant to ensure that Bhagat Singh is not called a terrorist, then that is a tag I will proudly wear,” she said.

Janta Dal United (JD(U)) is expected to bring the issue up in Rajya Sabha

 

Kartikeya Bhatotia

[email protected]

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Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies

Highlights of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies

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With yet another academic session almost coming to an end at the University of Delhi, it is time to look back at the year that has gone by, before all of us get busy with semester examination preparation. Going by the thought, DU Beat brings to you its exclusive series ‘Colleges’ Round Up (2015-16)’, where we present the highlighting incidents of numerous DU colleges that took place over 2015 and 2016.  

So, go with the flow and view all what activities highlighted the near to end session at Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (SSCBS).

From hosting India’s largest street play festival, Manthan to getting a NAAC ‘A’ Grade, SSCBS, University of Delhi has had quite an eventful year.

Here’s an overview of all what happened at SSCBS, this session:

 

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Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies

Manthan, India’s largest street play festival comes to an end

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India’s largest street play festival, Manthan, organised by Verve, the street play society of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, University of Delhi, has finally completed its 9th edition successfully. The festival reached 35 cities of India which includes Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Shimla, Dehradun, etc, spanning across 19 states of India, with around 125 theatre teams performing for Manthan. This year, Manthan introduced it’s novel concept of Manthan Mahotsav, which encompassed performances by 35+ teams of Delhi University performing at 15 locations of Delhi at the same time, ie between 3-6 PM, February 28, 2016.

Running after ultimate excellence in theatre, Manthan reached out to international locations of Kathmandu, Nepal and Tomsk, Russia. Manthan’16 concluded with over 2000 artists performing for Manthan within the public, on the streets.

The closing ceremony of the event was a huge success, chaired by prominent playwright Atul Satya Kaushik and theatre personality Tanay Yadav, with all the Delhi teams gathered to celebrate the essence of street theatre. The event started with a discussion with the panelists and the teams talking about the essence of street theatre and the importance of public performances.

The teams participated in sharing their personal experiences of public performances and thanked Manthan for giving them an opportunity to perform for the public. The discussion was followed by a qawwali by Sultani Brothers, a popular qawwali Union of Delhi, who engaged the teams and everybody present in beautiful sufi music and set the stage on fire. The qawwaals said, ” We’ve never performed in college for students as audience. This was a new opportunity, and we would thank Verve for this chance. We loved performing for students, and we would look forward to further prosperous editions of Manthan. “

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DU Annual Fest Season

DU Fests from the perspective of media coverage teams

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The Delhi University fest season is something that most of us look forward to throughout the year. From the wide array of cultural competitions to the lively celeb performances, different people look out for fests for different reasons.

As hard as it is for the organisers to plan such fests, it’s as much difficult for media to provide coverage for the fests. This is a detailed perspective of the DU fests and the fest season from the media coverage teams:

Pre-fest planning

As soon as the fest organisers get in touch with us, we have to prepare a layout for the coverage. Correspondents and photographers are allotted a time slot in accordance to the events they would be best suitable for covering. More often than not, we are kept in dark about the fest schedule and we have to keep our best bets while allotting time slots to people.

Live coverage

Crucial things have to be kept in mind and decisions have to be taken accordingly during fests. Most of the time, the number of events taking place at one time are overwhelming. We are often seen running to and fro in the event venues, trying to gather the most. There are also numerous social media handles that are to be run live, to provide the best quality coverage. Results of competitions are given utmost importance and no error is acceptable. In a lot of fests, the organising committees refuse to cooperate and providing the best coverage out of what we have adds to the challenge.

Star nights

It goes without saying that star nights really make up the essence of all festivals, and if people are not present at the fests to see the stars perform, they at the least expect a glimpse of them online or on print. Therefore, there is immense pressure to cover the star nights. If it’s not the constant shoving and pushing from the berserk and often misbehaving crowd at the venues, it’s the bouncers and security personnel that block us from going near the stage.

Publishing and post-event work

A lot of time goes in on discussing each photo, video, article or results that go up online or in print. Still a lot of content goes unappreciated. Post event reports and highlights require the input of a lot of people from the team and then there is the task of compiling all the content that went up for a fest to send it to the organising committee. By the time all this gets done, another fest would start.

So wash, rinse, repeat.

 

Kartikeya Bhatotia

[email protected]

Feature Image by Chirag Sharma for DU Beat at Mecca, the annual cultural fest of Hindu College.

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QWERTY

QWERTY: Top 4 games from the world of MMORPGs

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MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Play Games) are online multiplayer gaming platforms where the player assumes the role of a character and takes control of it, often interacting with other users in the virtual world, which continues to exist even when the player is offline.

From fantasy worlds to science fictions, MMORPGS take many forms, here are the top 4 games you should definitely check out:

1. World of Warcraft (WoW)

World of Warcraft is currently the world’s most-subscribed MMORPG, and holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular MMORPG by subscribers. Players control a character avatar within a game world in third- or first-person view, exploring the landscape, fighting various monsters, completing quests. Considered one of the best online games ever made, unfortunately WoW is not free of cost to play. After a trial, you have to buy a subscription.

World of Warcraft | Credits: gamerant.com

 

2. Poptropica

Though targeted at children of the 9-15 age group, Poptropica gameplay experience can be fun for adults too. In the game, players can go to different ‘islands’ (game quest scenarios), compete in multiplayer games, and communicate with each other. The islands all have various difficulties, but all center on a problem that the player must resolve by going through multiple obstacles or completing goals. The game was created by Jeff Kinney, who also is the author of ‘Diary of A Wimpy Kid’ series

Poptropica | Credits: wikihow.com

3. Marvel Heroes 2016

With Doctor Doom as the main antagonist, players can unlock characters like Captain America, Wolverine, Iron Man and Deadpool in this game released in 2013 and rebranded recently in January 2016. Each location in the game is composed of several “instances” at any one time. This allows the game to run on one huge virtual server, rather than the game being split into different servers. Many missions take place within smaller instances. These instances are reset if the player leaves and returns.

Deadpool in Marvel Heroes 2016 | Credits: geek.com

 

4. Runescape

With a record of being the largest free MMORPG and the most updated game in the world, Runescape is based in a fantasy world divided into kingdoms, regions and cities. RuneScape does not follow a linear storyline; rather, players set their own goals and objectives. Players can choose to fight non-player character (NPC) monsters, complete quests, or increase their experience in the available skills. Players interact with each other through trading, chatting, or by participating in mini-games and activities

Runescape gameplay | Credits: polygon.com

 

Feature Image credits: mein-mmo.de

 

Kartikeya Bhatotia

[email protected]

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Campus Central

DU among the top universities of the world in 12 subject fields

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1. Anthropology – DU Ranks #51-100 in the Anthropology category which has not been calculated before by QS before. 2. Chemistry – DU continues to be in #301-400 position in Chemistry. Indian Institute of Science position is ranked as #51-100 with a significant number of IITs faring better than DU in Chemistry. Benaras Hindu University and University of Hyderabad are included in #301-400 as well. 3. Sociology – DU is included in #151-200 position in Sociology. Jawahar Lal Nehru University occupies a better position under #101-150 4. Geography – DU is the only University in India which features in the Geography Rankings under #151-200 position making it the best institution in India for Geography. 5. History and Archaeology – Both JNU and Delhi University are ranked #151-200 though JNU occupies a position above DU. 6. Modern Languages – DU occupies the best position among Indian universities with #151-200 ranking whereas University of Calcutta is listed under #251-300 7. Physics – DU slipped from #151-200 in Physics last year to #201-300 this year. DU ranks 6th in India in Physics. 8. Economics – DU is listed in #201-250 in Economics and Econometrics.  DU is ranked 2nd nationally with Indian Statistical Institute occupying a better position. 9. Mathematics – With a position under #301-400, DU grabbed the last position among a total of 9 Indian universities in the list. 10. Biological Sciences – DU is listed under #301-400 and again grabbing the last position among a total of 5 universities represented in this subject category 11. Computer Science and Information Systems – DU is listed under #401-500 in this category once again grabbing the last position among 13 Indian universities represented in the category. This includes multiple IITs including IIT Bombay at #51-100 and Jadavpur University, Kolkata and Anna University, Chennai. The University is not listed in categories like English Literature (after being listed in Top 100 for English in 2012), Art and Design, Business and Management, Communication and Media, Law, Linguistics and many more. The QS rankings were based on the expert opinion of 76,798 academics and 44,426 employers along with the analysis of 28.5 million research papers and over 113 million citations sourced from the Scopus Elsevier bibliometric database. Read the analysis of DU under last year’s QS World University Ratings Kartikeya Bhatotia [email protected]]]>

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DU Annual Fest Season

Crossroads’16 at SRCC: Events and highlights

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Crossroads’16 – the annual cultural festival of Shri Ram College of Commerce was a grand 4 day affair from 5th to 9th March which saw an amazing lineup of stars, activities and competitions. While the number of competitive events were far less than what we’ve seen in other college festivals this season, SRCC exceeded expectations when it came to star performances, with actor and director Farhan Akhtar with his music ensemble ‘Farhan Live’ performing on Day 1, music-composer trio Shankar Ehsan Loy performing on Day 2, Indian band Euphoria performing on Day 3 and finally Bollywood Singer Mohit Chauhan ending the fest with his performance on Day 4.

Here are the main highlights of Crossroads’16

Day 1: Farhan Akhtar Live and Asmita Theatre Group

Day 1 began with the setting of the stage and sound testing for Farhan Akhtar’s performance later at night. Asmita Theatre group began the performance of their production ‘Dastak’ based on atrocities against women.

Asmita Theatre Group performing 'Dastak' at SRCC Crossroads | Image by Vegh Dawani for DU Beat
Asmita Theatre Group performing ‘Dastak’ at SRCC Crossroads | Image by Vegh Dawani for DU Beat

Despite a brief spell of rain, the performance by Farhan Akhtar Live started in the evening without interruptions. Farhan along with his music ensemble performed various songs like ‘Socha Hai’ ‘Khwabon Ke Parindey’ ‘Rock On’ and ‘Mai Aisa Kyu Hu’

 

Day 2: Informal events and performance by Shankar Ehsan Loy

Day 2 started with informal events like Stomp the Yard, the hiphop dancing competition. A bike stunt event was organized as well.

The Bike stunt competition at the Parking Lot. | Image by Prateek Singh for DU Beat
The Bike stunt competition at the Parking Lot. | Image by Prateek Singh for DU Beat

 

 

Shankar Ehsan Loy started their performance in the evening. Shankar Mahadevan, the lead singer was in awe with the audience and expressed his gratitude to be performing in SRCC twice in four years.

The music-composer trio proceeded to perform their hit numbers ‘Breathless’ ‘Hindustani’ ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’

 

Day 3: Choreography, Fashion Competitions and Euphoria

Day 3 of Crossroads started early with Verve, the choreography society of SRCC organizing the choreography competition ‘Requs’ on the mainstage. Hindu College’s Srijya emerged as the winners of the competition while Hansraj College’s Terpsichorean were declared the runner ups.

IMG_9736
Kamala Nehru College’s choreography society Adagio at SRCC Crossroads’16 | Image by Mridul Kumar for DU Beat

The event was quickly followed by the fashion walk competition organized by Demeanor, the fashion society of SRCC.  The results are currently awaited.

As the fashion competition ended, sound check started at the mainstage for Euphoria’s performance. The band entered in their iconic outfits. Palash Sen, the lead singer of the band was ecstatic to see the crowd and expressed his love for playing for students. He also emphasized his likeness of the audience’s knowledge of non-Bollywood music.

The band proceeded to perform on their hit compositions ‘Dhoom’ ‘Mairee’ and ‘Meri Gali’. They also played renditions of various Bollywood music numbers.

Day 4: Western dance and Mohit Chauhan

The fourth and final day of Crossroads started with the Western dance competition organized by Panache, SRCC’s Western dance society. The competition was judged by Sahil Aneja, founder of Brooklyn Academy. Misba from Shri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce emerged as the winners while Tanz, Miranda House and Afroza, Indraprastha College for Women shared the second position.

SGGSCC emerged as the winners of Thirak'16 | Image by Sahil Chauhan for DU Beat
SGGSCC emerged as the winners of Thirak’16 | Image by Sahil Chauhan for DU Beat

 

Later in the evening, Bollywood Singer Mohit Chauhan graced the stage with his performance of various songs like ‘Tumse Hi’ ‘Pee Loon’ ‘Jo Bhi Main’ ‘Saada Haq’ and more. Though at the last few minutes of performance, the crowd went a little out of control and people were caught up in horde as Mohit Chauhan made an exit.

 

This is what Crossroads’16 was all about

Find the full album here

Kartikeya Bhatotia

[email protected]

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DU Annual Fest Season

Reverie’16 at Gargi College: Events and highlights

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Gargi College hosted its annual cultural fest, Reverie’16 from 24th to 26th February 2016. Besides seeing a remarkable footfall, the fest was a vibrant cultural showcase with numerous events in theatre, dance and music. The second day was EDM Night and the third day was the Celeb night attended by MJ5 Dance group and Bollywood singer Keerthi Sagathia.

Day One: Theatre and Western Dance

The first day, though void of star visits surprisingly saw a remarkable footfall thanks to a plethora of events in theatre and dance. The stage play event, Nivacanna was hosted by the stage play society, Upstage. Ramjas College’s ‘Deluxe Hair Cutting Saloon’ was declared as the winner at Nivacana. It was also declared as the Best Production. SRCC and Hans Raj College were declared as second and third top plays respectively.

 

The street play event, Abhaas was organised by the street play society of the college, Kshitij and  the venue Arts Quad constantly attracted a huge audience with the various street plays Abhaas had to offer. It was won by Hindu College’s Dramatics Society with SRCC coming in second place and Ramanujan College holding the third place. College of Vocational Studies was given the honour of ‘best music’.

 

Reverie also hosted Battle of Bands in the evening which was won by The Hans Raj Project from HRC and the second position was bagged by High Time from Kirori Mal College.

 

The much awaited event, Zenith took place in the evening witnessing a jampacked auditorium. Zeal, the dance society of Maitreyi College emerged as the winners with Tanz, Miranda House coming at second place and Verve, Sri Venkateshwara College occupying the third place.

 

 

Zeal, Maitreyi College emerged as winners of Western dance competition. | Paurush Bhardwaj for DU Beat
Zeal, Maitreyi College emerged as winners of Western dance competition. | Paurush Bhardwaj for DU Beat

Day Two: Western and Indian Choir competitions, Choreography and EDM Night

The second day at Reverie started with western solo and group singing competitions organized by Euphony, the western music society of Gargi College. The team from St. Stephen’s bagging the first position while Musoc, Kirori Mal College came second and the team from Gargi College coming third.

 

 

 

The Indian group singing competition at Reverie, Sangam followed the western singing competition. Organized by Samranjini, the Indian music society of Gargi College. Alankaar, Hindu College emerged as the winner with Miranda House’s Indian music choir coming second and the third position was tied between Gargi College and Sri Venkateswara College.

The final competitive event of the day was Cursiv-iti, the choreography competition organized by Sparx, the choreography society of Gargi College. The event saw 10 teams showcasing their productions. The first position was secured by Srijya, Hindu College with getting the second position going to Sparx, Gargi College and Terpsi Chorean, Hansraj College getting the third position.

For the EDM night Lost Stories performed to close Day 2.

 

 

Day 3: Folk dance and star visits by MJ5 and Keerthi Sagathia

 The first event of Day 3 was Alaap, the folk dance solo event which saw 12 artists from around the University performing major Indian dance forms like Kathak, Kuchipudi and Bharatnatyam. Annanya Chatterji from Daulat Ram College won the first position. The second position went to Pekhna Kaur from College of Arts while the third position went to Raghav from Sri Venkateswara College.

The event was followed by Thumka, the group folk dance competition which saw participation from 8 teams around the University who showcased a variety of danceforms like Bhangra, Gidda, Bihu, Lavni and more.

 

 The event was won by Maitreyi College who showcased a performance of Haryanvi Folk dance, the Bhangra performance by SGND Khalsa team gave them the second position while Sri Venkateswara gained the third position.

 

The much awaited star night initiated after a delay. MJ5 Dance group showed their impressive moves on many dance numbers and fusions. They night came to an end with Bollywood singer Keerthi Sagathia who performed on songs ‘Teri Deewani’, ‘Lungi Dance’ and ‘Tera Pyaar Chahida’

 

MJ5 Dance group at Day 3 of Reverie'16 | Image: Tejaswa Gupta
MJ5 Dance group at Day 3 of Reverie’16 | Image: Tejaswa Gupta

 

Keerthi Sgathia at Day 3 of Reverie'16 | Image: Gerush Bahal for DU Beat
Keerthi Sagathia at Day 3 of Reverie’16 | Image: Gerush Bahal for DU Beat

 

This is what Reverie’16 was all about

 

Read the details of Individual days here:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Go through our full event album here.

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