To be very honest, most people who’ve been posting how they are going to miss college post graduation are lying. The reasons might differ, but they’re lying alright. I agree there are a few people who are legit distressed about graduating (already?!) but a few of us are actually very glad that this is happening. I am just concerned that I don’t see more of people like that. Instead, all I have on my news feed are emotional messages about how transforming the past three years have been. Personally, they sucked. Somewhat yes. Maybe truly.
We all entered this phase of our lives with bright eyes and high hopes of getting a taste of what it’s like being in the ‘real world.’ Instead, regulations even worse than our school life greeted us. While the course curriculum remains as weak as ever (FYUP, give me that one year of my life back), placements are as ineffective as the administration even in some of the ‘better colleges,’ and extra-curriculars are restricted to dramatics and dancing.
I know everyone knows this already but what I don’t understand is how easily people are choosing to ignore that as we are graduating. This was not the ‘DU experience’ I was given hopes for, this will not be why I’ll ever put my younger sibling through all the Class 12 boards’ pressure. It’s simply not worth it.
While there are opportunities for you to build on your talents and creative genius in several extra-curricular activities, they are not the only parts of an amazing collegiate experience. Other factors like academics, infrastructure, volunteering opportunities, skill-training workshops, business seminars and conferences are all overshadowed and dwarfed each year. That is not acceptable.
I know leaving an institution is always a tricky affair because as you leave a certain place you also have to bid goodbye to a regular sense of comfort and certainty. Personally, I could not be more ready for it. By that, I don’t mean even slightly, I have my life plans all figured out. Thanks to DU and the FYUP debacle, some of us may take longer to get our plans right. What I mean instead is that being in as ‘floopy’ an environment as DU has opened my eyes to see beyond just the ‘stage moments’ of an institution.
As another batch of students enter Delhi University in the next semester, I want to caution them to proceed with the utmost care. Don’t just give into the media hype of being in Delhi or in DU. Decide your future course of action carefully and base it on your research. Look for the courses you’re applying to (hopefully you’ll get to do them all unlike the FYUP batch) and look for the academic faculty in colleges. These are important decisions, and an informed decision can only make the next three years of your life (consequently your next 5 years and 10 years and so on) better.
Just saying.
Signing off, your overly enthusiastic about graduating Senior,
Indraprastha College for Women organised a lecture on homosexuality recently which welcomed participants in huge numbers, including students from Miranda House and LSR. The Gender Sensitisation Committee in association with the Women Development Cell of the college invited speakers Dr. Akhil Katyal and Angana Sinha Ray to address students on the idea of visually defining homosexuals.
The talk began with a presentation by Dr. Akhil Katyal where he discussed the “roles protocols” that the society uses to recognize homosexuals.The idea he described was to visually apprehend and identify the homosexuals, thereby distinguishing them from the rest of the people. He established his point by drawing parallels from the contemporary world and elaborating the foundations of such judgements in the history of popular culture. He concluded his talk by debating the rationality of people in Law and Medical designing prototypes of a homosexual lifestyle and how the overarching moral code of our society still dictates our ideas of homosexuality.
The point was further elaborated by Miss. Angana, who is pursuing her final year of studies in Sociology from LSR. She opened her talk by discussing how the terms used to describe homosexuals are clinical and how India inherited this notion from the West. She describes how the society wishes to fit all its members into the normative design of this identity. It’s rare to grow up in an environment with representatives of the LGBTQ community and even rarer to see homosexuality portrayed on media screens in a tasteful manner. Owing in no small part of this, it has proven difficult to talk about homosexuality without the stereotypes attached to the concept. It is these stereotypes that form the foundations for visually configuring the homosexuals.
The discussion inspired several questions, a few of which dealt with the the effects and repercussions of this idea of visuality, the idea that the queer are distinguishable in their body language and intimate traits and can thus be seen as being different from the rest. While in reality, they are identical to the common populace and hence cannot really be “seen” as different from their peers. Not only does this divide needs policing but it’s time the society shed off the historically construed concept of a homosexual’s identity.
I still remember my teachers in school detailing some horrifying instances of happens when you step out into the “real-world” where you’re no longer sheltered and where you’d need to fend for yourself. Despite our worries, our lives in college turned out just fine. While there was freedom to pursue our interests there also existed a security net for us if we failed.
However, as graduation approaches, the thought of stepping out into the ‘actual real-world’ seems daunting. There will be no teachers looking out for our interests or professors grading us on our answer sheets. We’d all have to, eventually, wear our adult pants and begin the terrifying process of becoming a self-sufficient adult. No matter how efficient you are at procrastinating, life post-graduation is nearing.
Yes, it’s time to become a real-life employed adult. Here our tips to help you ease into this frightening process!
1. Craft a Resume
The first step to the long and tiresome process of securing a job is to build a resume of your accomplishments, talents and internships you might have pursued in college You can start by skimming through some formats, and then continue listing your most recent achievements.You can refer to our guide to slaying your resume, here.
Stalk your college’s Placement cell
Always stay updated with information about the upcoming placement sessions in your college. Don’t be afraid to ask your advisors to skim through your resume. They might not be experts in finding jobs for you, but they might just guide you towards your path to a successful employment.
Look for job postings online
Don’t just rely on your placement cells for availing job opportunities. You can also look for job postings online on portals like monsterindia.com and Naukri.com. Go to the websites of companies you’re interested in and search for anything that says “hiring,” “jobs” or “careers” (or it might just be surrounded by a mystical glow and flashing money signs). If you do come across something you’re interested in, all you would have to do is fill an online form and attach a resume and submit it.
Create a LinkedIn profile
When you’re looking for jobs online, LinkedIn is a good place to start. The platform helps you connect with people who have the same interests as you and it enables you in growing your network. Once you have an actual profile, you can highlight your key achievements and start branching out to build connections with people. You can read more about navigating LinkedIn to jumpstart your career, here.
Call and follow up
Whether it’s your career guidance cell or a mentor from LinkedIn, always make sure to follow up with them. If you asked someone on LinkedIn to go through your resume and they reverted with their recommendations, compile them and get back to them with a revised version of your resume. Connect with hiring managers and keep in touch with them for future job postings. Try to make an unforgettable impression so you can be remembered and you could be one step closer to employment.
To avoid being known as “that annoying kid that keeps calling,” it’s important to know when you should call. When everything fails use your own judgement.
While following these tips might prepare you for the roller-coaster ride mentally, nothing can truly prepare us for what lies ahead. Inevitably, for better or for worse, we will prioritize our lives differently. But no matter what happens or what we end up doing, may we always remember that it will be totally legit to still hate Mondays!
Final semester kicking in just a few more days, I’m willing to bet polishing your resume is right on top of your To-Do’s or New Year’s resolutions list. While those of us who’ve already been placed need to worry about this a little less, buffing our resume (or creating one *cough cough*) becomes a priority for those of us who will be sitting for placements in this cycle. While the perfect resume format is a myth, the internet is replete with good advice. But the amount of information available can be very overwhelming at times. For your ease, we bring you a compilation of the some of the best tips out there. Feel free to tailor them to your skill set or requirements!
1. Assess your skills
Being only an undergraduate student limits your exposure in the real world. While internships expose you to different kinds of scenarios, chances are that your overall skill-set will not be very different from your fellow classmates. How then would you go ahead distinguishing yourself from others? The only way you can do is by crafting your own brand, by marketing yourself in a way that an employer would want to meet you in person. It’s all about figuring your own individuality and finding possible job outlets in order to develop yourself further. You can start by pondering what skills and interests you do possess. Your interests and hobbies will guide you, and once you have an inkling of an idea of what you can do, you can start working towards establishing that goal.
2. Grow your network
Once you have an idea of where your interests lie, try to understand how you can market them. For example, if your hobby is bookworming, and you think you could make a good editor, try to understand how media works, or how the industry of Publishing is organised. Connect with people who’re already employed in the same industry, or who’re working towards similar goals. When you have a good knowledge of what your dream job actually entails on a daily basis, you can shape your resumes better by tailoring it to specific job requirements.
3. Gain experience
Most people believe your chances of landing an internship exhaust when you’re past your sophomore year. This is far from the truth. There are good chances of finding an internship post-graduation, if you’re still not sure of committing to a specific job yet. Try and gather as much experience as you can, with internships, field projects or research work in your field. If you couldn’t kickstart your career in college the past 5 semesters, you don’t need to suffer an existential crisis this semester.
4. Research potential employers
Many ‘perfect’ resumes have been rejected in the past, because the candidate’s skills and the needs of the employer are not the right match. So many people apply for jobs they have zero interest in for fear of being unemployed after graduation. A person who wishes to be in Editing and Journalism might never make a good accountant, and vice versa. Research potential employers in areas/sectors you’d like to work in. Look for what they seek in an ideal candidate and assess if your skills match to those requirements. Your resume should reflect your interests and ambitions in accordance with an employer’s requirements.
5.Build your resume/cover letter
Your resume/cover letter should reflect all the research you did. Content is king. Start listing several projects you undertook in college like being part of a society in college, including any volunteering initiatives in your college department. If you were elected in a leadership role, list down key achievements during your tenure. Make sure that when you’re done with crafting your resume, it makes sense as a whole. It should be cohesive and the information should flow easily. Make sure to proofread it for any grammatical errors!
6. Prepare for interview
While a resume can get you inside the glassdoors, a perfect interview will guarantee you the job and seal the deal! Take advice from your placement cell advisors. Several internship portals and channels on YouTube are devoted to helping students make a good first impression. Take help from them, and continue to practice key interview questions.
The last semester as an undergraduate is an exciting and unnerving time. Being prepared is the key to making sure you never miss out on any fun, while at the same time landing a favorable job for you! Goodluck for the upcoming placement sessions!
We know all about the grape-eating tradition in Spain on New Year’s eve, thanks to Modern Family. On further inspection, when it comes to celebrating the New Year, it seems that everyone has a bizarre way of doing things and celebrating the ushering of a new year. In no particular order of peculiarity, we bring you the strangest of these traditions to herald in the new year!
1. Suitcase Walk, Ecuador
Image Credits: www.telegraph.co.uk
While some people go out for a little walk right before the clock strikes 12, many in Ecuador take their empty suitcase for a stroll around their homes in the hope of travelling more in the new year.
2. Funky Underwear
Red Underwear, Turkey
While opening the tap and letting the water run is one tradition said to bring abundance to the home, the women in Turkey wear red underwear which is meant to bring love in their lives.
Speaking of wearing funky underwears on New Year’s eve is not limited to just Turkey. In some South American countries wearing colored underwear will determine your fate for the new year. Red underwear means you’ll find love. Gold means wealth, and white signifies peace.
Changing Underwear At Midnight- Bolivia
It is much like the New Year tradition followed in Mexico where people wear yellow underwear for inviting luck with the only difference being that Bolivians wait for midnight put on yellow underwear. Bolivians believe that with the change in the undergarment at the strike of midnight on New Year’s Eve will also bring about change in their fortunes.
3. Gluttonizing, Estonia
Image Credits: mic.com
Estonians followed a custom of eating SEVEN times on New Year’s day to ensure food abundance in the coming year (and of course increasing their chances of obesity) It was believed that if a man was able to eat seven meals, he would possess the strength of seven men the following year.
Graveyard Camping, Chile
Image Credits: blog.crystaltravel.co.uk
Chileans take celebration with their families to a whole new level. Apparently, locals in central Chile, celebrate the new year’s eve in the company of their dead relatives. The town mayor opens the graveyard after late-night mass and thousands sit surrounded by the graves of their dear ones.
Underwater tree planting, Siberia
Image credits: shlok.mobi
This is the Siberian custom of cutting a hole in the ice covering Lake Baikal and diving to the lake’s bottom while carrying a New Year’s tree. Of course, only professional divers are bestowed with this task!
Broken Plates, Denmark
Image Credits: http://www.oddee.com/
Don’t be surprised if on New Year’s Day you have a pile of broken glass on your doorstep. In fact, you should be concerned if you don’t. In Denmark, throwing plates and glass at a door is a symbol of affection — the more shards on your porch, the more loyal your friends are. The more dishes thrown at you, the luckier you are!
Round things, Philippines
Image Credits: list25.com
Round food, round clothes, as long as it’s round it’s supposed to represent coins and usher in wealth. Additionally, the people turn on all the lights in the house on New Year’s Eve to ward off evil spirits. Some also open all the doors, cabinets, and windows and then run around shutting them after it hits midnight. If that wasn’t strange enough, many natives fill pots and pans with water and throw the water out the front door once the clock strikes midnight.
Takanakuy Festival, Peru
Image Credits: qcostarica.com
This annual Peruvian festival held at the end of December is all about people beating the living daylights out of each other. Competitors face off in a ring for a round of bare-knuckle brawling, which is overseen by local policemen. Takanakuy literally means ‘when the blood is boiling’, but apparently all of the fights are friendly, and represent a fresh start for the year. Battling their way they start the year off on a clean slate.
9. Wearing white and jumping over seven waves, Brazil
The most obvious custom is wearing a completely white outfit to symbolize peace and renewal, but there’s another tradition stemming from the Afro-Brazilian religion called Candomblé that originated from slaves in Bahia. After the clock strikes midnight, people head to the sea and jump over seven waves. This is so that they earn the goodwill of Iemanjá, goddess of the sea.
During the traditional celebration of Kaliady, still-unmarried women place a pile of corn is before them, and a rooster is let go; whichever pile the rooster approaches first reveals who will be the first to marry.
Cheese and sweet cakes
Big Cheese Drop, Plymouth
Image Credits: www.visitsheboygancounty.com
While the people in Switzerland herald in the new year by dropping ice cream, the town of Plymouth, Wisconsin witnesses a big cheese drop. Every New Year’s Eve the town holds the Big Cheese Drop to help celebrate the dairy industry. Supposedly, a local artist creates an 80-pound chunk of Styrofoam cheese which is dropped from a height of 30 metres at the stroke of midnight. Naturally, you’ll find plenty of cheese-related refreshments, music, and games to fuel the lively atmosphere!
Sweet Coins, Bolivia
Image Credits: viralluxury.com
While food is concerned, people in Bolivia are not far behind. In Bolivia coins are baked into sweets and whoever finds the coins has good luck for the next year.
While each of these customs appear strange to us, they do share an optimism that’s hard to not appreciate. To some the New Year is just another set of months and days, for others it’s an avenue to begin afresh and open their doors for new experiences and new beginnings! Here’s to creating our own traditions this New Year’s eve!
Out with the old, in with the new. Happy New Year!
The plot of Gilmore Girls follows the life of a single mother Lorelai Gilmore and her daughter Rory living in the fictitious town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. It captured the hearts of fans and critics in early 2000s for its rapid fire dialogue replete with numerous pop-culture references and for showcasing a unique mother-daughter relationship. At a time when mothers all over were pondering the idea of “being their child’s friend,” the show went beyond just creating the perfect mother-daughter relationship. Family values, education, ambition are at the very centre of the plot of Gilmore Girls. Due in no small part to this, the show garnered acclaim, including being listed as one of TIME magazine’s “All-TIME 100 TV shows” in 2007.
After over an eight year absence, it has been confirmed that Netflix has closed a deal with Warner Bros. for a limited-series revival slated for arrival by 2016. The revival will be via four 90-minute episodes/mini-movies — a relatively unusual format for a TV continuation. According to an interview with the cast earlier this year, each episode will represent a different season over the course of one calendar year. In other words, there will be a fall chapter, a winter chapter, a spring chapter and a summer chapter. “Winter, spring, summer or fall… all you have to do is call…” just as the opening theme goes.
Amy Sherman-Palladino, the creator of the series who left before the show concluded owing to contract negotiations, remained hopeful that she would get to conclude the Gilmore story on her terms, via a limited series or movie. “The beauty of Gilmore, and the beauty of family-relationship shows, is you never really run out of story,” she said. “Ten years later, there’s still going to be [material] there to mine and to delve into.” The storyline of the episodes/mini-movies will be based in the present day.
While we eagerly await more news, here are a few things we are looking forward to see!
Richard Gilmore’s funeral
The news of the renewal of the series is bittwerseet, knowing that Edward Herrmann won’t reprise his role as Richard Gilmore. But we have no doubt the series will honor its family patriarch with the dignified, classy farewell that Richard (and his portrayer) deserve.
Team Dean, Team Jess or *cringe* Team Logan
An update on Jess and Rory’s other romantic interests wouldn’t be half bad. There are only two scenarios that come to mind when we think of where Jess could’ve ended up. Either he wound up dead in a ditch somewhere or he really did get his act together after all. I, for one, will always be loyal to Team Dean (Jared Padalecki FTW)
Friday Night Dinners
Although it won’t be the same without Richard at the head of the table, Gilmore Girls without Friday Night Dinner is like Lorelai without a dying need of coffee and tacos.
A Luke/Lorelai Wedding
I want Luke and Lorelai together as badly as Emily Gilmore wants a competent maid. The show’s finale never really resolved the question of whether they actually end up together. Curious minds will be curious.
Amidst all the speculation, all fans echo the same sentiment and hopes of getting an ending worthy of the series. I have no doubt Amy Sherman-Palladino will deliver most exceedingly, as she always has. Nothing to do now but wait!
The VIIth Episode of the series, Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened almost a week back capturing the heart of fans and critics alike. Disney and LucasFilm’s sci-fi adventure has earned several box office records to its name already. Owing in no small part to this impressive opening, the movie was eagerly awaited by the Indian audience. So did it live up to the anticipation and the fans’ expectations?
The overall review of the Indian fans, in general, will be determined in the coming weekend, but it’s safe to say that this episode truly compensates for the decade long absence of the Star Wars series. While Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher reprise their roles from the original trilogy, the movie features several newcomers as well.
As regards the storyline, there are some overlaps with Episode IV: A New Hope, but the plot distinguishes itself rather tolerably. While some people found the episode too close to the trilogy’s roots, I’m going to go ahead on a leg and call it a unique combination of the director’s vision and the essence of George Lucas’s original characters. The plot does justice to the characters, and lives up to the brilliance of the saga.
Seeing Han Solo in action again on screen, in all his glory, was worth the expensive 3D tickets and the younglings bring energy with their rapid fire lightsaber action and sarcasm. The movie’s a treat for those awaiting aerial battle and TIE fighters action scenes!
While some questions remain to be answered yet, several more have emerged. Is Ren really a Darth? Is he ‘villainous’ enough? What we witnessed in the movie was only a conflicted and weak character who got seduced by the Dark side. Very much like his predecessor.
Just as it seemed he was about to redeem himself, he goes ahead and does something befitting a Vader. In Spite of that, I’m going to go ahead and hold a torch for Solo. I know the chances are bleak (very bleak) but the one rule about the death of our beloved characters is: no body, no death. Case in point: Poe Dameron who was shown all but dead and alive next, and Anakin Skywalker who was resurrected by Palaptine.
While Ren is clearly not worthy of being called a Sith lord (yet), Rey does justice to all that the Force stands for. It’ll be exciting to see the war continue, this time between the Supreme Leader Snoke and the last Jedi knight Luke. Each with their protégés, Ren and Rey respectively, will battle for supremacy in the upcoming episodes.
Next up, the countdown begins for the first spinoff Rouge One: A Star Wars Story scheduled to be released December next year, and Episode VIII of the series slated to arrive by May, 2017. Suffice to say, Disney has no plans to slow down anytime soon. May the Force be with them!
Michael Lewis was fresh out of Princeton when he was rejected from several investment banking interviews. His background in art history certainly didn’t aid his aspirations to become a banker. But fate had something else in store for him. Subsequently, while he was living in London in the winter of 1984, finishing a master’s degree in economics at the London School of Economics, he received an invitation to dine with the Queen Mother. It was his interaction, at the dinner, with the wife of a more senior Salomon Brothers managing director that led him to his appointment in the Salomon’s training program. Liar’s Poker is the hysterical and hilarious account of his journey from being an overpaid trainee to a bond salesman.
The book flows in an instructive manner detailing financial intricacies. It is a nonfiction account of how Wall Street’s premier investment firm was led to its curtain call owing to a deep financial crisis that was essentially perpetrated by the greed and gluttony of Wall Street executives. The book is a piecemeal work of investigative journalism. It develops further as the author’s exploration of the ideals and motives behind the trading floors of the firms at Wall Street. It gradually evolves into an often profane, but “wickedly funny” review of the series of events that led to a deep crunch in the global economy.While the author graduates from the level of a “geek” to a “big swinging dick,” his narrative captures one of the most important period in the history of Wall Street. The plot keeps you glued and shocked as more of Mr. Lewis’ journey manifests. Two of Wall Street’s most important figure heads, Lewis Ranieri and John Gutfreund, feature prominently throughout the text. The storytelling technique is bound to keep you on edge while you dive deeper into the obsessed and enclosed world of unprecedented greed. The events are, however, detailed in a way that you might find the information overwhelming. Despite that, the book distinguishes itself as one of the most colourful and comical account of behind-the-scenes look at a heady and frenzied time in the American economy. I’ll strongly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to further understand the financial world. The gripping and compelling narration sure makes it an excellent addition to your bookshelves!Image Credits: jpupdates.comSurbhi Arora[email protected]
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