Pinakita Gupta, Author at DU Beat - Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper

It’s election time again and all Delhi University political parties are coming out of hibernation. They really wanted to make a mark and what a way they chose.

On 31st August, a girl from Indraprastha College for Women was molested in North Campus. The incident happened in the afternoon on the road opposite Daulat Ram College when a DUSU rally passed by. The girl was in a rickshaw when she got caught in the middle of the procession, was pulled down the rickshaw and harassed by several men.

While this incident happened, several policemen were on duty and did absolutely nothing to help her. One of her close friends described this behavior of the police as preposterous and inhuman. When the university authorities were contacted the first question asked was whether the girl was wearing decent clothes or not. “I was shocked to hear them ask me this question and felt like strangling them through the phone” said another of her classmates.

On 1st September, the college union and several of her close friends along with the victim went to the Commonwealth Sports Complex in North Campus to talk to the Vice Chancellor. The VC had already heard of the event as it went viral on the social network and denied entry to each and every student of IP College. Special orders were given to the guard to not allow the students inside. The students waited outside for half an hour. Finally when the principal Ms. Babli Saraf intervened, the students were allowed inside and given a chance to speak their demands. The students wanted action to be taken on the behavior of the policemen and wanted all such rallies banned. The VC promised to look into the matter and insured that some action would be taken.

Later on the same day, the proctor issued an order banning all rallies and demonstrations in North Campus. Also, not more than four people will be allowed to canvas the area at a time. This probably must be the fastest that DU authorities have responded after filing of a complaint. One of the contesting parties ABVP however, was quoted saying that it will “go ahead with a rally in North Campus in favour of women’s safety despite the ban.”

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Arts & Culture

Ek Tha Tiger Review

By Pinakita Gupta August 24, 2012

Ek Tha Tiger has more story than Ready and Bodyguard put together and still it does not have much of a story. Throughout the movie, a song was playing in my head called Titanium. The lyrics go like “I’m bullet proof, nothing to lose, fire away fire away”! Not a single bullet so much as grazes Salman khan and finally when one does he acts like it’s a prick and not a bullet!

The movie revolves around a superhero RAW agent (Salman Khan) who fights villains without breaking into sweat, is committed to his task and has not taken a leave from work in twelve years. Things change when he goes to Dublin for an assignment and encounters Zoya (Katrina Kaif). The assignment is pretty simple and requires him to only observe a scientist and check if he is leaking information to the ISI.

The first half just has the love story brewing with only fits of action in between. It is slow and the romance lacks chemistry. Tiger to too flustered to find himself in love and Zoya doesn’t really have much to do. They have tried a few cracks at humor which thankfully don’t fit the usual Salman brand and that is a relief.

If you survive the first half, the second half is far more entertaining. The story is predictable. It is filled with action sequences coming one after the other. It has the same old bollywood story of the lovers running form the world that is trying to keep them apart. Ek Tha Tiger is one of the few if not the only bollywood movie with the female protagonist doing action sequences. It’s a refreshing change to see the female protagonist stand up for herself than playing the damsel in distress. The chase even though unrealistic is well shot and crisp.

Salman Khan has stepped away from his comic avatar and quite successfully pulled off this serious role. Surprisingly Katrina Kaif has also tried her hand at acting and Ek Tha Tiger might just be her best. However the songs in the movie were really not required and the movie would have been faster and better without them. If you start to look for loopholes, there are one too many.

In order to enjoy this movie, you need to leave your brains at home and then watch it.

Rating it, I would say two cheers for this romantic thriller!

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Indraprastha College for Women

Exam Results Fiasco

By Pinakita Gupta August 11, 2012

After the overnight reduction in marks of students, this is the second time Delhi University has messed up marks of first year students. Two second year students of Indraprastha College for Women, the Mass Communication department suffered due to university negligence as they were marked absent for two exams which they actually sat for, thus getting ERs in those subjects.

When the web results were displayed, there were ERs against their names for two subjects. It was only after they were handed the mark sheet that they discovered their ERs were not due to bad performance but because their papers never reached the examiners and thus they were marked absent. Perplexed, they went to the examination officer of IP college Mr. Aakash, as advised by their teacher.

Akanksha Chitkara, one of the girls who suffered said that she was so disappointed to see an ER in the same paper for which she got a merit certificate in class 12, and could not believe her eyes. Both the girls were flabbergasted as neither expected ERs.

They were asked to write an application and attach photocopies of their mark sheets, attendance proof and ID cards to it and send it to the university office. “When we told the officer at the university about what happened and gave him our application, he just nonchalantly tossed it aside and asked us to come after 15 days” said a dejected Akansha Chitkara. There have received no word since that day.

The overnight reduction of marks, the mix up of question papers and now this fiasco. The question it raises is whether DU is equipped to handle the semester system. The university will have to tread carefully in future and avoid such blunders.

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