Shaurya Sahai, Author at DU Beat - Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper

If you are you tired of your usual boring routine and want to experience a difference in your life, or you want to enhance your dancing/music skills to extent where you can be called a professional, or may be, you have a wedding function coming up where you’ll be pulled on the stage to dance on or sing a song or two and you’re scared about making a fool of yourself in front of your nudging relatives because they’ll never let the memories of your embarrassing performance fade away, then you must read on! Here is a list of five institutes in the NCR which can help you transform from a beginner to a professional when it comes to dancing or singing.

Delhi Dance Academy (DDA)
DDA aims at teaching its students ‘authentic’ western and modern Indian dances. Besides the regular courses, it also offers crash courses in Kathak and various fitness workouts. The various dance forms taught at the DDA are salsa, jazz, modern-contemporary, Bollywood, belly dancing, hip-hop, zumba, B-boying amongst others. The Academy has a variety of schedules for the regular classes, based on the dance form and level of the course which includes 5 days a week, 3 days a week, twice a week, and Sundays. Private classes and visits to home/office are also provided by the Academy.

School of Symphony
If you wish to enthrall everyone with your music, then the School of Symphony can prove to be a great help for you. This western music school based in New Delhi offers courses for Western Vocal Training, Piano, Keyboard, Acoustic/Electric guitar, Bass Guitar, Drums, song writing and specialized courses like Music Production, Sound Recording and Music Therapy. If you apply to this institute, you can also appear for certification exams for Western classical music from Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music, UK and Western Rock Music Certifications from Rock School of Music, UK. The institute also conducts workshops by various artists and concerts to enhance the performing skills of the learners.

National Institute of Kathak Dance
If you are attracted by your country, its culture and its art forms then, the National Institute of Kathak Dance is the place for you. A unit of the Sangeet Natak Academy, the institute is primarily dedicated to Kathak, though it also offers courses in Hindustani classical music (vocal). Various courses offered by the institute for a person older than 17 years are a 3-year Diploma (Hons.) course, a 2-year Post Diploma course and 5-year Diploma courses in Tabla and Pakhawaj playing. The institute has two branches, one each in North Delhi and South Delhi.

Delhi School of Music
The Delhi School of Music is probably one of the best centres for Western classical music in New Delhi. The School provides courses for learning musical instruments like piano, guitar, violin, cello, and flute. It also provides training in singing and dance. The School also functions as a centre for the examinations of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, England, as well as of the Trinity College of Music, London. The institute also provides training in ensemble playing, aural development and music appreciation.

Shiamak Davar’s Institute of Performing Arts
Established by the renowned dancer Shiamak Davar, the institute aims to provide quality dance training and wants to make dance available to all. SHIAMAK dance classes run throughout the year at various locations for learners from ages four to eighty-four providing them with training in various dance styles by Davar’s faculty. Various programs include one year certification program, half yearly program and intensives which are short term programs that give dance enthusiasts an opportunity to learn various dance styles. The classes give them an opportunity to learn dance, express themselves creatively and perform on stage. Classes are available for children (4 to 6 years), juniors (7 to 11 years) and adults (12 years onwards).

So, it’s time for you to explore your hidden talents and let the dancer/singer inside come out and show itself to the entire world. And yes, you don’t need to worry about your nagging relatives anymore!

Image source: www.salsa.ie

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DUB Speak

A day in the life of a student

By Shaurya Sahai December 9, 2014

After years of living a life where discipline existed, where procrastination was a sin, where deadlines were not just some dates, and where listening to parents and doing as they said always seemed to be the right thing, we finally landed into college!

A day in the life of a college student usually begins with the snooze button on the alarm clock being hit a million times until they realise the likes of 8:00AM lectures exist. While some of us manage to get out of our beds (just for the sake of attendance), others just accept the fact that attending the first lecture is just not their cup of tea. Even after missing out on the first one, our WhatsApp is flooded messages of speculation and proxy requests and ways of dodging this cruel world. And most of the times, the conversation is ended with, “Aaj rehne de, kal se saari classes attend karenge!”

Throughout the college life, most of our valuable time is spent exploring various food joints and hang-out spots around the campus. While the tongue searches for the tastiest food, the eyes scrutinize the menu for the cheapest rates. On the other hand, outstation students usually grab bites from their friends’ tiffin boxes which carry home-made food.

Low attendance has a direct consequence of lack of notes, which are given the least of attention until an internal/external exam gets scheduled for the next day. This is the time when photocopiers feel like stars with students lined up in front of their shops with their bundle of notes to be photocopied. The nights before exams prove to be a raging battle between the drowsing eyes and the untouched books. Every room’s door in the hostel is knocked, at the middle of the night to ask for Maggi, coffee, milk, fruits or any other thing that’ll help them to make it through the night.

Amidst the race of meeting deadlines for the in-time, parties and treats, friends and friendships and a bit of lectures and studies, college life goes on and becomes the best part of one’s life!

Featured image courtesy: Dailymail.co.uk

Shaurya Sahai
[email protected]

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Campus Central

Personalities and star performers who visited BITS Pilani for OASIS 2014

By Shaurya Sahai November 7, 2014

Oasis ’14, BITS Pilani, turned out to be an exhilarating show for everyone when some great artists came down to the campus to give their best performances. This year, the fest saw entertainers like Benny Dayal, Raghu Dixit, Mysore Brothers, The East India Comedy and Sunburn, which helped the BITSians (as they like themselves to be called), the faculty and over 1400 outstation students to have a gala time. The fest was also studded with personalities like Dr. Kiran Bedi, as her session on ‘India in your Hands’ showed us the truth behind our country’s corruption, politics and policies.

Day 1 – Benny Dayal and Mysore Brothers

Benny Dayal

The evening of 1^st November 2014 at BITS Pilani welcomed Benny Dayal, the artist whose peppy numbers have always been able to make each and every one of us move our feet. The scenario seemed to be pretty much the same inside the BITS Pilani auditorium where the singer filled his audience with immense enthusiasm with songs like, “Batameez Dil”, “Disco Deewane”, “Bang – Bang” and “Locha-e-ulfat”. Besides these, he also gave his voice to many old Bollywood and Punjabi songs, which included “Yamma Yamma”, “Hayo Rabba” and many more. Once, during the show he also found a chance to jump down, amidst the audience, which got crowd even more excited. He ended the 100-minute performance by clicking a selfie with the crowd.

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Benny Dayal Live at Oasis 2014 | Image Credits: Chirag Sharma[/caption]

Mysore Brothers

Under the name of their concert as the “Violin Duet”, the Mysore Brothers, Dr. Mysore Manjunath and Mysore Nagaraj, performed stunningly in front of the audience. Their immaculate performance left the crowd in an enthralled state. The best part of their performance was the spontaneous selection of the raga depending upon their mood, the ambience and the audience. The concert was the first classical one to happen in BITS in six years organized by Ragamalika, the classical music and dance club of the college. Both percussionists given a free rein over what they want to play, they extracted every single sound possible from their instruments, the mridangam and the khanjira, leaving quite a few heads scratching. The violin maestros concluded wth ‘Baro Krishnayya’ and ‘Raghupati Raghav Rajaram.’

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Mysore Brothers for the Violin Concert | Image by Department of Photography, BITS Pilani[/caption]

Day 2 – Raghu Dixit, Dr. Kiran Bedi and Banana Man

Raghu Dixit

November 2, 2014 at BITS Pilani was the day when the fusion king of India, Raghu Dixit, with ankle bells tied to his feet, guitar in his hands and his smiling crew, stepped on the stage to set it on fire. He shared, with the audience his memories of how he had visited the college back in 1996, without telling his parents and without the money to get back home because he was sure that he would win the Western Solo event, which unfortunately, he did not. He then participated in a dance competition where he stood first and got the money to get back home. With songs like, “Hey Bhagwan!”, “No man will ever love you, like I do” and “Lokadakalaji”, he managed to revive the audience’s love for his kind of music. Apart from his performance, the crowd also appreciated his other band members who had their efforts devoted to guitar, drums and flute.

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Raghu Dixit at Oasis for The Raghu Dixit Project | Image Credits: Kashish Madan[/caption]

Dr. Kiran Bedi

Apart from all the fun and frolic, there was also a learning session by Dr. Kiran Bedi, who preferred to come to BITS Pilani over a trip to Germany. The inspirational personality showed an interactive presentation based on the topic, ‘India in your Hands’. Through her talk, she tried to make the youth aware of what is going on in their country and what can the youth do to contribute. She also talked of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and how the present government was genuinely working towards the goal of a ‘Better India’ but at the same time she also cleared that she was not there to support any political party. At the end of the session she also asked for questions from the audience and answered them all, no matter how controversial some of them were.

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Dr, Kiran Bedi during her session on “India In Your Hands” | Image Crediits: Chirag Sharma[/caption]

Banana Man

Besides the popular and known faces, someone also made audience fall in love with him at the first sight. Pierrick St. Pierre a.k.a Mr. Banana was an unfamiliar face, which the students got to witness during this year’s Oasis. Popularly known for his juggling and hat – tricks, the Banana Man managed to bind the audience with his witty jokes and occasional rants. The crowd seemed to enjoy the unusual comedy as much as his juggling act.

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Banana Man performing his famous rope trick for the crowd at Oasis | Image Credits – Iresh Gupta[/caption]

Day 3 & 4– Sunburn Campus and East India Comedy

Sunburn Campus

On November 3, 2014 – Sunburn came down to BITS Pilani with the EDM Pro Night. Sunburn Campus gave all the inhouse BITSians and the outstation students the freedom to dance to the beats set by DJs Anish Sood, Lost Stories and Kash Trivedi. With security at its best, Sunburn at BITS Pilani attracted a huge crowd.

[gallery ids="27450,27447,27448"]

East India Comedy

Oasis had a lot to offer besides music. With their ‘intended’ puns and vulgar humour, comedians from the East India Comedy made the closing evening a hysterical one. Sahil Shah, Sapan Verma and Sorabh Pant came on the stage one-by-one to entertain their audience.

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Saurabh Pant, Sahil Shah and Sapan Verma from East India Comedy performing at Oasis | Shutter Released by Kashish Madan[/caption]

While some of the students took time to realize what the joke was about, the others laughed until their stomach ached. They had their puns revolving different kind of people in India, politics and of course students.

Feature Image Courtesy: Iresh Gupta

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Word On The Street

Students of Aryabhatta college celebrate Diwali with a difference

By Shaurya Sahai October 22, 2014

While most of us were busy criticizing and preparing ourselves for a smoke-filled Diwali, a bunch of students took an initiative to change the scenario. Students from PicWic, the film and photography society of Aryabhatta College, DU collectively prepared a series of images to spread out a message to the pubilc.

The main motive behind the collage is to urge people to change their ways of celebrating the festival. The students thought about all the people who live without a roof over their heads, while their surroundings get suffocated with smoke and cause a number of health hazards to these people.

“Besides the pictures, we also have an idea to buy all the stuff that we need for Diwali from the street-stalls, instead of those big shops, just to make their Diwali a little more happier. The main struggle during the entire execution has been to encourage people to support us”, said Mohit Jassoria, President of PicWic.

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Campus Central

Hans Raj witnesses musical evening organized by SPIC MACAY

By Shaurya Sahai October 16, 2014

Hans Raj College witnessed a musical evening on 15^th October, 2014 when Pt. Shubhendra Rao along with Sh.Shubh Maharaja performed at an event organized by SPIC MACAY. Under the name of ‘VIRASAT’, this series of events which is organized in the first half of the academic year is an annual series which comprises an eclectic mixture of performances by artists and workshops in classical music, classical art and folk.

The event began at 5:30 in the evening with both the artists lighting the lamp along with the principal of the college, Dr. V.K. Kawatra and Dr.MonikaKoul, convener of SPIC MACAY which was followed by a detailed introduction of the artists which helped in getting the audience familiar with them.The stage was set in an immaculate manner with floating candles, flowers, incense sticks and was lit up with dim lights which perfectly suited the evening that followed.

Pt. ShubhendraRao, a protégé of world renowned sitar maestro, Pt. Ravi Shankar shared the stage for the first time with Sh. Shubh Maharaja who was born in a musical family of table maestro, Pt. Kishan Maharaja as his grandson. The program was inaugurated with RaagMadhubanti, a raag played in the early evening, with Pt.Shubhendra Rao on the sitar accompanied by Sh.Shubh Maharaja on the tabla. This hour-long program was concluded with light classical dhun based on some folk melodies.

“Indian culture is fast losing its aura with the youth swaying towards the western lifestyle. SPIC MACAY is a national movement of the youth and for the youth. We welcome every student to join this movement of promoting Indian tradition and culture. It is our goal to reach every child of this nation by the year 2020 and make people realize how beautiful our heritage is. Since actions speak louder than words, it is performances like these which will create awareness for the youth”, said Arjun Adit, president of SPIC MACAY, Hans Raj College.

Feature Image Credits: Pixels, Photography Society, Hans Raj College.

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Events

BITS Pilani to kick off Oasis’14 in end October

By Shaurya Sahai October 13, 2014

OASIS 2014, the cultural fest of BITS-Pilani is once again set to fill up the college youth with immense enthusiasm and bring out the hidden talents in them. This fest will be held from 31^st October to 4^thNovember. Under the theme of ‘The 90s Show’, this fest will host a lot of competitions and professional shows.

The highlights of this mega event are being promised to be the Professional Shows or Prof Shows, which will feature artists like Benny Dayal, the voice behind super hits like ‘Badtameez Dil, ‘Locha-E-Ulfat’,’Bang Bang’ etc, Raghu Dixit who has been able to take Indian folk music across seas and the trio from the East India Comedy – Sorabh Pant, Sahil Shah and Sapan Verma who will be there to tickle the funny bones of their audience.

Besides these entertainment filled Prof Shows, OASIS, this year will also offer a number of events related to to the fields of drama, literature, music, dance, art, photography, quizzing and many more. While most of the competitions are on-the-spot, there are some online events as well. Students interested to take part in any of the events would need to register themselves prior to the event to be eligible participants.

“We are very much excited about this year’s OASIS which is in its 44^th edition and is themed on the 90’s. We have performances of Benny Dayal, Raghu Dixit and East India Company lined up this year along with at least 80 more events including the historic Rocktaves. We have Sunburn coming to our festival this year. The list goes on but I would say that we will make these 96 hours some of the best of your life”, said Srikanth Garimella, a student of BITS, Pilani.

For more information and registration links, visit: http://www.bits-oasis.org/

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Hans Raj College

In conversation with DU gold medalist archer and Arjuna Award winner ‘Abhishek Verma’

By Shaurya Sahai October 1, 2014

Hans Raj College has always been known to produce sports persons who not only conquer national level championships but also prove themselves in the international world. Once again the college has managed to get itself into the limelight with one of its students, Abhishek Verma, who did his college and University proud by receiving honorary Arjuna Award for his performance in Asian Archery Championship where he won three gold medals.

Verma who works as the Income Tax Officer for the Indian Government, has also won World Archery Federation’s Gold Target Award in 2013 and Rajiv Gandhi State Award in 2007. The 25 year old also participated in Asian Grand Prix tournament recently in 2014 and bagged one gold and two silver medals.

Abhishek, who started off with his journey as a student at Hans Raj College, went on to become the coach of the archery team of the college and succeeded in proving his mettle when he won one gold in the men’s compound event and one silver medal individually at the recently concluded Asian games. In conversation with Shaurya Sahai, he spoke of archery, how his college contributed to getting him to the peak of success and his experience as a coach.

Shaurya: Hello Abhishek! First of all congratulations for gold and silver medal at the Asian Games. How does it feel to being back pride to your country?
Abhishek: Fetching two medals at the first games is a big achievement in fact the biggest of my life so far. I am really happy. This was really special for me and my teammates with whom I won a gold in the men’s compound event.

Abhishek Verma with his teammates Rajat Chauhan and Sandeep Kumar after winning a maiden gold in the men's compound team event for Archery at Asian Games 2014. — Abhishek Verma with his teammates Rajat Chauhan and Sandeep Kumar after winning a maiden gold in the men’s compound team event for Archery at Asian Games 2014.

Shaurya: Would you like to tell us more about yourself?
Abhishek: I am very simple boy. Archery is my passion. It is not only a game for me it is the way of living for me. When I am free my all time is spend with my family. My hobby apart from different forms of Archery is travelling.

Shaurya: How was your experience coaching the archery team of Hans Raj College?
Abhishek: I am feeling very proud because I was also a student of Hans Raj College and then I was a coach of my college team. It was an honour to coach, as my college team is Number 1 in Delhi University.

Shaurya: How has Hans Raj College contributed to getting you to this point in life?
Abhishek: College has contributed in a great way because college life is very different from school life and here I got a chance to represent my country in World University Games as well as World University Archery Championship. That was the first time I was selected for any games and it was awesome experience for me because when I came back, I felt that I got lots of experience and knowledge about archery, which was all because of Hans Raj.

Shaurya: So Abhishek, how does it feel to be an Arjuna award winner?
Abhishek: It is a huge honor for me to be an Arjuna awardee.

Abhishek Verma receiving Arjuna Award from Shri. Pranab Mukherjee, President of India

Shaurya: Abhishek, what is your take on sports in Delhi University as a whole?
Abhishek: I can only comment about Archery for which DU is great. I started my Archery career in Delhi University ground itself. Currently the ground is known as rugby ground of Delhi University after Common Wealth Games.

Shaurya: If not an archer, what else you think you could have been?
Abhishek: Sorry, I do not know about that but if now I think about myself I can’t think of anything but Archery.

Shaurya: Also, to whom do you credit your success the most?
Abhishek: All credit goes to my mom. She supported me at every level. She is my real inspiration.

Shaurya: Would you like to give a piece of advice to the aspiring archers in the University?
Abhishek: Yes, I want to tell only one thing – Go Hard or Go Home. When I am at the ground I am only thinking about archery. So all do need to practice well and concentrate. Before you sleep just think about yours faults in your game for that day and next day try to improve those faults.

Shaurya: Thank you Abhishek! DU Beat wishes you all the best for your future plans.

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Uncategorized

Food Review: Al Zaitoon

By Shaurya Sahai October 1, 2014

North Campus of Delhi University has added a new name (though an unusual one this time) to its already existing long list of food joints. Al Zaitoon, situated in front of Hans Raj College, serves mainly Lebanese grilled food with its USP being the traditionally made shawarmas.

With perky music playing along this place has a capacity to accommodate around 25 individuals at a time. The interior is pretty decent with wooden textured walls and dim lights. The food is served straight out of an open kitchen and if you visit this place you need not worry about cleanliness at all. The staff already takes good care of it.

For the review we were served the special ‘Arabic chicken shawarma’. Unlike others, which are usually served with mayonnaise, this one was presented with a special dip and pickle. The stuffing was properly made with additional elements like tomato and onion which you usually don’t expect when you take the first bite. All in all, it was a dish which had the capabilities to allure one’s taste buds and could easily satisfy a not-so-hungry person.

The menu has options which can fit every college-going student’s pocket. While the specialties of this place seem to be shawarmas and platters, the place also serves kebabs, tikkas, samboosa and dips as well. The staff was very responsive and owner himself took reviews about the food from his customers. As far as I noticed, there was no one who left with an unsmiling face.

Al Zaitoon is a place which will make you happy if you want to try something different. If you are a person who likes to experiment then you should definitely visit this place at least once.

Timings:

Dine-in: 9 a.m. – 11p.m.

Home-delivery: 11 a.m.- 11 p.m.

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Top Picks

5 things that made Orkut special to the Indian teenager

By Shaurya Sahai September 30, 2014

It’s time to bid farewell to Orkut and the average Indian teenager is bound to walk down memory lane. Here are 5 things which made Orkut special!

1. Stalking: Orkut proved to be a boon to the lives of Indian teenagers. They were finally able to stalk their crushes while still being under the constant radar of their parents. Often the stalking went down the drain when they realised that their crush is apparently a Justin Bieber/Miley Cyrus lookalike.

2. Fake profiles: With the evolution of Orkut many of the ‘Premlatas’ took no time to turn into ‘Pamelas’.
Well, thanks to all such Pamelas, even the nerdy Shayam had a sexy international friend to chat with!

3. Lingo: January, 2004 marked the birth of a whole new language. Izn’t dat kewl?
An Orkut scrap wasn’t just a message from one friend to another – it seemed like a bouquet of weirdly spelled words. Srzly lyk..Oh Mah Gawd!

4. Alias names: Teens with names like Tamil Movies such as ‘Rajendra-The Phoenix’ popped out in large numbers. Also, e-mail IDs like [email protected] and [email protected] had a whole new purpose in life.

5. Password – key to everything!: An Orkut account’s password used to be the most precious thing a teen ever owned and losing it to their sibling meant ‘death in disguise’. After all, it would be just a matter of seconds before their parents, grandparents, maid and the family dog would know their personal chats – and personal chats pretty much say it all!

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Spo(r)tlight

YMCA organizes Basketball tournament for students

By Shaurya Sahai September 18, 2014

Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) succeeded in pumping enthusiasm through the veins of college students with their invitational Basketball tournament. YMCA has been hosting such events since past 10 years with the sole intention of promoting sports among students. The tournament began on 8^th Sept. and attracted a huge lot of crowd which enjoyed the matches and cheered for their favorite teams.

This six-day long tournament saw more than 30 teams (including teams of both girls and boys) from different colleges from University of Delhi, ITM University and Jamia Millia Islamia as well. The stadium at Patel Chowk, where the tournament was held, witnessed around 6-7 matches per day. The matches between various teams took place from afternoon till evening with the last match ending at around 8:00 p.m.

The competition throughout was intense. Among some breath-taking moments were the ones where Hansraj College lost to Venkateshwara College in the last 10 seconds of the quarter finals. Teams from Venkateshwara College (Boys) and Jamia Millia Islamia (Boys) defeated Kirori Mal College and St. Stephens College, respectively to make their way to the semi-finals. This broke the ritual of teams from Hindu College and Hansraj College being the semi-finalists from last 3 years which were knocked out during the quarter finals this time. Girl’s teams from SRCC and St. Stephen’s College stood against each-other in the semi-finals.

Kirori Mal College (Boys) won the final match against Jamia Millia Islamia (Boys) with a lead of 11 points. On the other hand, girls’ team of St.Stephen’s College was defeated by the team of SRCC. Thus, Kirori Mal College and SRCC took away the titles with utmost pride and glory.

“YMCA gives us a golden opportunity to brush up our skills and showcase our talents through such matches and they also reward us back which boosts up our enthusiasm to another level. No one usually pays much attention to this sport and we don’t get proper facilities but events like the one held at Patel Chowk keeps us from losing faith”, said Dilshad Singh, a third year student from Hansraj College, captain of the college Basketball team.

YMCA encourages students to take part in such events by offering attractive cash prices. This tournament offered a sum of 11 thousand to the winner team and had in store cash prizes worth 8 thousand and 5 thousand for the first and second runner up, respectively.

This tournament gave a pleasant start to the sports season in Delhi University with events in colleges like St. Stephen’s and BITS, Pilani waiting round the corner and are hoped to be filled up with even more excitement.

Shaurya Sahai

[email protected]

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