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Gargi College

Faculty of Music and Sadhna Sangeet College gain top places at Reverie Indian Music Society events

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As part of Reverie 2014, Samranjini, The Indian Music Society of Gargi College organised the Indian Music (Duet) competition in the Seminar Hall. A total of 13 teams from the Delhi University and other universities outside DU participated in the competition.

The judges for the event were Dr. Neepa Choudhary, Arunadhati Bhattacharya- disciple of Padmashri Vidushi Sumitra and Deepika Chatterjee- the Teacher Convenor of Samaranjini. The time limit given to the teams for their performance was 5 minutes and the criterion for judgement being on the basis of Rhythm, Notes, Overall Performance and Coordination.

Alankar
Alankar from Hindu College performs Raaj Jaunpuri

The prize money for the competition was Rs. 3000, 1500 and 1000 for the 1st, 2nd and the 3rd positions, respectively. The 1st prize was bagged by Rahul and Kshitij from Sadhna Sangeet College (SSC). The second prize went to Kshitij, Saptak and Prateek from Hans Raj College and the third was a tie between Miranda House and Jesus & Mary College. Rahul from SCC said, “The competition was great event to be a part of. The level of competition helped us learn a lot.”

The event was followed by the Indian Classical Solo Competition with a total of nine teams participating in the event. The first position in the same was bagged by Faculty of Music, while the second position was a tie between Hindu College and Kirorimal College. Hansraj College took the third spot in the competition.

With inputs from Tushar Diwan

Catch live updates from Reverie 2014 here | Visit the Reverie 2014 Facebook Album here

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St. Stephen's

KMC’s ‘Room for doubt’ judged best play at Rajpal’14

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The Shakespeare Society of St Stephen’s College organised Inter-College Rajpal’14, the One Act play Competition on 24th-25th January, 2014. A total of 11 colleges performed and the plays piled up to be 12 in number (11 competitive plays and 1 non-competitive play from St. Stephen’s College). The competition dawned on Friday, 24th January with the performers of Miranda House, Sri Ram College of Commerce, Gargi College, Hindu College, Kirori Mal College, Jesus and Mary College and St. Stephen’s College. Rest of the colleges including Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Hindu College, Ramjas College, Sri Venkateswara College, and St. Stephen’s College staged their performance on 25th January. All teams were given an average time of one hour for their plays. The plays were expected to be mainly in English, but could be bilingual.

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Bhamini Lakshminarayan, the Convenor of Direction said “Colleges of North Campus are very active in the field of dramatics, so we provide all the students with a platform to compete with no specific theme for the competition”.

The Players from Kirori Mal College with their play ‘Room for Doubt’ bagged the first position, directed by Anuj Chopra and Upasya Goswami. ‘Speed Dating for Amateurs’ (Masque, Hindu College) and ‘Black Comedy’ (The Dramatics Society, Sri Ram College of Commerce) were the 1st and 2nd runner-ups respectively.

The winning play focused around a sexual harassment case and targeted on the mindsets of the university people- how they get caught up in the existing social norms. “This experience was extremely nice and illuminating at St. Stephen’s. We got to learn a lot from the competitors and we could give our best because of the supportive audience that we got from all over the university” said Anuj Chopra, the Co-director of ‘Room for Doubt’.

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Hindu College

DUTA stages dharna at Hindu College

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On Friday, 19th December 2013, the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) brought out a dharna at Hindu College counterclaiming the withdrawal of the suspension of two teachers of the college. The Staff Association of the college as well as many teachers from other colleges accompanied the DUTA in staging the same. In fact, there was unanimous support from the Staff Association of Daulat Ram College through means of an official delegation.

The two teachers – Mr. Jai Inderpal Singh and Mr. Arvind Chaudhry, allegedly manhandled some colleagues in a meeting of the Staff Association on 27th August 2013. On 25th September 2013, show cause notices were sent to these teachers by Mr. SNP Punj, the Chairman of the Governing Body. This memo asked both of them, the reason for not taking any action against them for maltreating their colleagues in that meeting with 25th October 2013 as the deadline for their reply. The notice also contained the complaint filed by the individuals who were supposedly manhandled.

On 12th October 2013, Mr. Punj released another notice to both the teachers stating their suspension, although their response to the previous notice hadn’t been received by that time. The response and proceedings taken by the Governing Body were rendered illegal by the representatives of the teachers as well as called them ‘against the principles of natural justice’.

On 23rd October, the two teachers lodged a complaint that was forwarded by the Acting Principal of the college to a Grievance Committee, which in turn held the suspension unwarranted and the complaint as false.

Nandita Narain, President of DUTA says “The decision should be quite clear at the level of the governing authorities but their decision is absolutely ridiculous. It’s a case where inner differences of the college teachers are being exploited showing larger politics at higher level. This is a step that is taken by the Vice Chancellor to gain control over the teachers’ union. The innocent who took a stand against a tainted nexus, have been victimized. We want the withdrawal of this suspension and an apology to these teachers and we’ll continue our protest till the two get justice”

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Features

TroubleSeekerTeam: Pranking away to glory

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With a tradition that started with endeavours such as Just For Laugh Gags, Chupa Rustam and MTV Bakra, the culture of pranks is something we all love! However, have you met the serial pranksters of Delhi? TroubleSeekerTeam, a group of five popularly known as TST, make hidden camera prank videos in the city and upload them on their YouTube channel.

Wondering what we are talking about? Here is an example!

We caught up with Rahul Sharma, the founder of TST to know more about the ordeal of putting common people in possible awkward situations and capturing their reactions.

When and how was TroubleSeekerTeam formed?

I loved watching funny prank videos on YouTube. What started from Just for Laugh Gags, went on to pranksters like JackValeFilms and Edbassmaster. I was almost certain that when I would type “Pranks in India” there would be a long list of videos. To my utter surprise, the only videos I found were the videos by American pranksters in which they used to prank people at WalMart or McDonalds while talking in a funny Indian Accent. I was really shocked that no one ever tried this kind of stuff in India. It didn’t look that difficult and it was entertaining as hell.

Then and there I thought I could be the one to do this. After doing some research online and I decided that the first one would be the Farting Prank because I thought it was funny and Indian people would definitely give some weird reactions to it (laughs). So I ordered “The Pooter” online, a rubber device that can make farting sounds when you squeeze it. Meanwhile when I told my friends about my intentions they agreed to company me too.

We were waiting for the pooter to arrive and when it did, we went to shoot the very next day and came up with our first 2 videos on 24th of May 2012.

How many people are there in the TroubleSeekerTeam?

After the idea was conceptualised, I was joined by my friends Deepak Chaudhary, Rishabh Sharma, Prince Thareja and my brother Ankit Sharma. So majorly, we are a team of five. We also keep trying to make different videos, for which we often invite our other friends or fans to be a part of. For example for the “Awkward Beat Box Dance Prank and Taking Pictures of Strangers” we invited two of our top fans – Ekansh Pilani and Meher Talwar.

What was the mission behind such an initiative?

What started out as a way to have some fun is now a Brand. We always loved making people smile and we want to do it for the rest of our lives. We want to make TroubleSeekerTeam the No.1 Indian YouTube Channel. The idea was to prank Indian people and see how they react. We always were the “funny guys” of our school. The ones who could make even the strictest teachers laugh. We never knew that we would be making people laugh for a living one day.

What was the reason behind keeping this name?

I was sure that the name must be unique. I am a fan of Harry Potter and he was the seeker in Quidditch, I got seeker from there and what we seek isn’t a magic flying golden snitch but ‘Trouble’. We seek trouble – that’s how we came up with TroubleSeekerTeam.

Have you ever been caught by someone while playing pranks ?

Yeah! Sometimes, people who have already seen us playing prank somewhere earlier make it out. And then they tell us “bhaiya mujhe pata hai aap bakra bana rahe ho”. And we laugh it off.

Have you ever pranked Delhi University students? How was your experience?

A: Yes, the ‘Document drop and go’ was done at Vishwavidyalaya metro station. They are easy going and every person involved in the making was a good sport. Further, we have plans to shoot pranks specific to students.

Which of your pranks you find the funniest and unforgettable?

It was definitely ‘the twins teleport’ prank. It is one of the best pranks where we used twins, the reactions were priceless. It is indeed the most viewed video on our channel. It was my dream to recreate this prank, as it was originally done by ‘Just For Laugh Gags’.

Any future plans to cover cities other than Delhi?

Yes definitely, we don’t just want to end up being the Delhi Pranksters on YouTube. We want to take pranks to every state in India! Perhaps, in the future we might just be able to do so.

How can interested people join TST?

Anyone interested can drop us a message on Facebook or Google+.

Editor adds: Thanks to our reader Firdosh Khan for the heads up! Had a great time laughing? We leave you with one of our favourites.

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News

Delhi University launches creative writing online journal

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Delhi University launched its creative writing e-journal- DU Vidha on Friday, 13th December 2013. The proceedings started at 3:30 at the University Conference Centre, North Campus. Accompanying the issue were ‘Iqbal, the humanist’ a talk by Prof. Abdul Haq , Professor Emeritus, Department of Urdu, University of Delhi and a book release- TAZKIRA-E-ILAHI a rare 17th century Persian text by Prof. Abdul  Haq. The first issue of DU Vidha, which is a half-yearly journal, was launched by Prof. Harish Trivedi, Advisor, Academic Publications and the editor of DU Vidha. This journal is a bi-lingual (English and Hindi) issue with “free open-access online”. Vidha in the name of the journal bespeaks the literary forms of writings.

The editorial board consists of Prof. Harish Trivedi, the Editor, Dr Sunita Paul Kumar, Ms Ruchi Kaushik and Mr Vasant K. Sharma as Editorial Co-coordinators and the Student Editor, Paromita Patranobish. The contributions for the journal are invited by email or snail mail in the form of short stories, poems, paintings, sketches, photographs and other literary genres in both Hindi and English. The pieces in the current issue are contributed by students from all corners of the University, be it first year students or those pursuing PhD, with colleges ranging from SRCC to Non-Collegiate Women’s Education’s Board. The contributions are mainly from the students but the faculty and staff members are also free to give their entries.

There were more than 500 entries by the students from all over the university, of which 32 were shortlisted for the issue. The short listing has been a rigorous process of selection. The entries were collected using three ways; direct submission by email, entries that were collected at Antardhvani, the cultural fest of the university and contributions from two colleges- SRCC and DCAC through the literary fests.

“The contributions for the journal are from the young minds which are still shaping up their talent. While short listing we could find some pieces of perfection and were outstanding. Students are really enthusiastic about this initiative and I hope that this gets better and better” said Prof. Harish Trivedi.

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Gargi College

Oracle: The newsletter of Gargi College

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Oracle is the newsletter of Gargi College with a coverage of a widespread array of topics including economics, politics, entertainment, opinions, creative prose, poems and reviews of food, movie, books and current affairs.

The idea was born out of the minds of a group of students from English Honors in 2001. The names of founding members- editorial board names- Kakul, Namita, Bhavana, Aarathi, Neharika, Priyanka and Anandana Kapur. Now, the founding members have gone on to become journalists, teachers of literature, film makers and lawyers.

“The college – under Dr Hema Raghavan – had an open door, student oriented approach. We felt we needed a forum to express our ideas, build dialogue within and across the college and that our backgrounds in art and literature would equip us to shape and present popular opinion”, says Anandana, one of the founder members who is now a documentary film maker now.

Oracle has a vision-“to have a space for expression and articulation through words and images, to be a graffiti board, a space for debates and even creative outpourings of anonymous writers!” Earlier it also invited readers to send in open letters, draw caricatures and that is how it was to make a space for critical engagement as well as a site for popular ideas.

On being asked what gave Oracle its name, Anandana said, “Oracle was a tipping of the hat to our major – English literature. It was also a play on the ability of the oracle to be prescient, to be a medium to connect beyond (with the student body and teacher) predict the future (in this case trend) and reveal what lies within (creatively and intellectually). We also created an opinion box when Neharika and I became editors. Soon, oracle became a very sought after medium and inspired other discipline led newsletters. You can say, we started the fire! ”

The editorial team of consists of 11 members from Commerce, Science and Humanities including of the Editor, Arunima Sodhani, the Sub-Editor, Drishti Rongpipi and 9 columnists. There are three issues published per semester. The columnists are selected on the basis of the on-the-spot article that has to be written from 3-5 topics given for choice.

Twisha, a student from Gargi College said “The college newsletter provides us information from almost all backgrounds be it current affairs to entertainment and what not, it is a really nice platform and initiative that our college has.”

With funding that is allocated by the college annually and a variety of themes in purview, Gargi college’s newsletter is an interesting portal for the college’s students to explore.

With inputs from Sonakshi Agarwal

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News

AISA to hold referendum on FYUP on 22nd August

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All India Students’ Association (AISA) will hold a referendum on the new FYUP on 22nd of August.

The number of protests has been increasing with the introduction of the FYUP into the scene and teachers as well as students have been remonstrating from the very inception. After the hot off press demurral by AISA at north campus, they have resolved to hold a referendum on 22nd August, Thursday. The big idea behind this mandate is to know what exactly students think of the new programme.

Harshvardhan, Secretary of Delhi University AISA, acquainted, “It’s the first time in Delhi University that such a referendum is coming into being. Our proposition behind this poll is to reach out to maximum people in the university and voice out their opinion in this regard”.  With such an episode, AISA is raising concern over the syllabus of many subjects under FYUP and students’ reaction over the matter. “We are trying to have a desk for casting votes at many spots including North campus colleges and some South campus colleges too.”  added Harshvardhan.

The balloters will counter ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ on voting chits, which will be provided by the AISA. The result and harvest of the poll will be acknowledged to Dinesh Singh, Delhi University Vice-Chancellor. Ramjas College, Kirori Mal College, Hans Raj, Hindu and Miranda House are some of the colleges of North and Deshbandhu College, Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, Ramjas college and Sri Venkateswara College are some of the South Campus colleges where the party is planning to put up the poll booths, with a total of 16-17 colleges in focus.

For the purpose of monitoring the mandate in colleges, committees will be made comprising of the students (mainly I year students) and some teachers of their respective colleges.

Along with the referendum, the party is conducting a signature campaign with a target of collecting over 10,000 signatures. A hard copy of these signatures will be submitted to the President of India and other appropriate authorities. Under this campaign, the party is getting sound response and has already been aggregated over 2000 signatures.

In the picture: A poster from the AISA protests in May.

Image Credit: Official website of AISA

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News

Kalindi College inaugurates multi media studio for Journalism department

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Prof. Dinesh Singh, Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi inaugurated the Media Laboratory at Kalindi College on the 31st of July.

The media laboratory for the journalism department incorporates a TV Studio, Audio Studio and a PCR. Also the lab is equipped with professional accessories and equipments including 3 Handheld HDV Camcorders, a Canon DSLR, various mikes, flood lights and an Editing System. The studio also broadcasted, in the campus, its first live interview (of 10 minute duration) with the guests.

Along with the media lab, the college also inaugurated a Chemistry laboratory and a Special Cyber Café for teachers. At the event, VC Dinesh Singh also exchanged views on the proposal and contemplation of the Four Years Undergraduate Program.

Prof. Dinesh announced, “We are in conversation with the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises to help aid the students in the ambitious entrepreneurship projects which they aim to take up after graduation”, while introducing the idea of the Incubation centre to the students. Mr. Ved Prakash Sharma, the Chairman of the Governing Body of Kalindi College and Prof. B.P. Sahu were also a part of the the inaugural ceremony.

DSC00173“Students of the University will be entitled to a special lease in attendance and bonus marks in academics for a year round dedicated performance in NCC”, informed Prof. Dinesh Singh. A grant of Rs. 5, 00,000 has been given to the college by the University for the augmentation of infrastructural facilities. “The newly admitted students of first year will all be provided a laptop each by September”, he added. This initiative has been taken to make the system more technology sound.

Inspiring the students to participate in the Gyanodyaya Express Programme, Vice Chancellor notified that 100 students from Great Britain will be joining the programme this September in Punjab.

Arunita Tiwari, Student of Kalindi College said “We had an interactive session with Sir Dinesh Singh, he threw light on the Gyanodaya Programme and the Incubation Centre. Predominantly, the programme was a success.”

Here is Kalindi’s Multi-Media Journalism Studio in pictures:

Kalindi Studio
The studio from where the students made their first broadcast.
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Students in the Production Control Room. (PCR)
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A student handling the sound equipment in the studio.
Kalindi Journalism Students with Cameras
Students with the three Sony Z100 HDVs available in the studio.
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News

Delayed results affect Ph.D admissions of over 50 Delhi University students

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Refusal of admissions to Ph.D. program in Modern Indian Languages (MIL) and Literary Studies Department to over 50 Delhi University students by the university has lead to outrage and animosity among them. The preeminent problem here is that the university did not declare the post-graduate results at the apt time that is in May. The applicants are not guilty but the university is at pitfall. Also, the applicants from other departments who qualified their entrance exams and were wait-listed were called for Viva after two days but were denied consequently.

“There are limited seats for every course and in case the university, being the Central University of the country, announces its results late then it is apparent injustice to the candidates. It is none less than a crime being held. Why should the students suffer when the university is inefficient”, said Harish Khanna, Vice-President of DUTA.

Applicants were being called for entrance examination held on July 22, followed by the Viva on 24th July for those who qualified the entrance exam. But the most opaque and cloudy concern was that it was the only during the admission process that it was revealed that the students will not be given admissions unless they had their results. An applicant said, “This partial decision by the authorities regarding our admissions to the Ph.D. programme is really unjust. How can a university conclude over a matter when it is the one which is at fault?”

75 marks are awarded for the entrance exam, 25 for the Viva, 5 marks for NET- qualification and 20 marks on the M.A. and M.Phil. results, thus the  students who have their results awaited are not eligible. “When the case is so, the University is liable to coordinate and should extend the deadline for admissions or provide provisional admissions to the short-listed students. It is like violation of the Right to Education”, added Harish Khanna.

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Sounds

Music Review: Amok – Atoms for peace

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Band: Atoms for Peace
Title: Amok
Genre: Alternative rock, Experimental rock, Electronics, Thom Yorke
Producer: Nigel Godrich
Label: XL Recordings
Release date: 25th February, 2013

The debut album by the Alternative rock band Atoms For Peace, Amok features Thom Yorke, the Radiohead Singer (vocals, guitar, keyboards), bassist Flea, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Joey Waronker of Beckand R.E.M at drums, Radiohead engineer/producer Nigel Godrich  and percussionist Mauro Refosco. An arduous intricate exercise in micro-produced digitalia, it’s a pertinent artistic album.

It has such lavishly diverse participation, which essentially results in a collection of buoyant, moderate rock songs. This 9 track album is an enthralling listen full of compelling contrasts.

Let us dig into its striking features then.

Track-1: Before Your Very Eyes

‘Before Your Very Eyes’, the inaugural track floats along gloriously. A well nigh tribal composition intact with dulcimer, drum and bass rhythm. The track opens with looped guitar and the bass guitar that clamps along. The distorted synthesizer and synth bass line makes it more compelling and forceful.

A great addition to the album!

Track-2: Default

“Default” is the album’s first single, which somewhere falls short of a song’s emotional value. Apparently, listeners will have a tendency to relate it with Thom Yorke’s The Eraser. Whole track is wrapped up with throbbing, rattling or drizzling. It’s a jittery five minute ride that may leave a cold impression on the listener. The drums are louder in this track.

Track-3: Ingenue

Thom’s shift to electronic core from indie rock has been an interesting one. A soul carol “Ingenue” is a compassionate and nostalgic turn, yet also most enigmatic. Yorke performed a wild, visionary number with contemporary dancer Fukiko Takase. It is worth getting just for this song alone. This track is characterized by its warped and shimmering layers.

Track-4: Dropped

“Dropped”, is more high-strung track displaying lively instrumentation. It showcases the true meaning of heartbreak and pain. Here, Yorke’s voice combines with clipped orchestrated sounds. “Ingenue”, “Dropped” and “Unless” form a trio of throbbing tracks.  Dropped- weakest of all, but okay.

Track-5: Unless

“Unless” blends variations of boom bap with drum and bass. It creates a sense of paranoia, markedly while listening with headphones. However one may find the track distracting from the cadence of the music.

Track-6: Stuck Together Pieces

This is a jazz-jungle-hued track that gives a feeling of an anxiety attack. And the peaceful guitar melody accompanying the obsessive vocal is really soothing. Flea’s talent on the bass comes through on “Stuck Together Pieces”.

Track-7: Judge, Jury and Executioner

Second single track of the album and is the shortest off all tracks. On “Judge, Jury, And Executioner” Thom wails, “don’t worry, baby, it goes right through me/ I’m like the wind and my anger will disperse.” It is mellower and more harmonious than “Default”.

Track-8: Reverse Running

“Reverse Running” revolves on its opening groove for really long. It passes on into a crowd of electronic bees which gives a contemporary feel. The music is tangled and knotted behind Yorke’s voice which is the focal point of the track.

 Track-9: Amok

It is the swan song of the album. On AMOK, Yorke’s lyrics incline to drift in and out of precision. This track is featured by its deep bass undercurrents and chaffs of crackling and snapping drums. It has justifiable hooks and crooks.

Broadly, it is a frail, praiseworthy record well worth investigating. This satisfies all my carvings for mind-boggling progressive rhythms. I recommend everyone go pickup ‘Amok’ today.

With inputs from Anup Sharma

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