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Backbeat, the music society of Ramjas College of DU, alleges being harassed and thrown out by the administration of IIT Kanpur at Antaragni 2018.

The team from Ramjas College reached Kanpur on the 24th of October. Members of the team allege that there was a delay of about three hours to get them checked into their rooms. They claimed that the rooms allotted to the girls hadn’t been cleaned at all and were unhygienic to the point that there were sanitary napkins thrown here and there in the washroom. The second problem was that the room wasn’t entirely allotted to the girls from Ramjas College. The administration had apparently told them that only six-seven more girls from different colleges would be staying in the room, and yet, the next morning 30 more girls barged into their room.

After a heated argument that ensued with the coordinator, the girls were provided a three-bedroom flat in the non-teaching staff area of the campus. At around 1:15 – 1:30 a.m. of the penultimate day of the fest, the girls received a call at their accommodation, assumingly by the IIT Kanpur electricity board on grounds that there is a logistical complaint regarding their flat. However, the girls claimed that they had neither made any such complaint nor was there any issue regarding the electricity. The callers kept on asking for the house number of their accommodation even after they had been told that there is no problem or complaint made by them regarding the electricity. Eventually, the girls cut the call without divulging information about the house number, thinking it to be some silly prank. However, they claimed that they were alarmed and called the other members of the society about 20 minutes after the incident had taken place. The male members had been given an accommodation facility about 2.5 kms away from that of the girls and had to walk the whole distance in the night.

After half an hour of the phone call, there was heavy knocking on the door. The same persisted for around five to ten minutes, without any voice or explanation. The Backbeat members further claimed that in an attempt to protect themselves, they went to the end of the room and armed themselves with whatever they could find and did not open the door. Ten minutes after the banging had ceased, the male members reached the girls’ accommodation and made the guards check the whole building. The guard did claim that a certain individual from the students’ team was there at the door and then kept changing his statement as to who it was. Later, the police arrived at the scene and the security guard apparently changed his statement and admitted to be the person who knocked on the door saying that it was a routine patrol.

While on the way to a new accommodation, the students were stopped by the officials who claimed that they had a meeting with the chairman who deemed them (Backbeat) as ‘anti-social’ elements and a threat to the fest. The officials then demanded the students to vacate the premises at the earliest. The students immediately asked for an official notice for the same and were told, “Fifteen-twenty minutes main bhago nai toh maar ke bhagayenge” (Evacuate within fifteen-twenty minutes or we will hit you till you’re forced to leave).

As the male members made way to their hall, they were greeted by a horde of guards who were stationed to ensure that they pack and leave immediately. After a while, a car stopped outside the hall and the IIT Registrar allegedly stepped out and started pushing the society kids around. The members claimed that this behaviour also hurt one of the kids who had visual impairment.

 


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Regards to everyone, First of all we’d like to state that we’re thankful to each and every society in the university circuit who stood up for us and would also like to show some very heartfelt gratitude to ‘Escape Artist’ who even came with us to the police station and stood by us, after the whole incident went down, we’re grateful to people who actually did boycott the competition and to all those who didn’t, we’re grateful for your verbal support too, we realise that everyone invested a part of their heart in making, practicing and finally polishing their piece, and the only reason to come to a 6-7 day long fest is to perform it, so we’re sorry to ask all of you to boycott the competitions, the request to boycott all competitions and the fest was something which got added to the verbatim in the heat of the moment, Now addressing the elephant in the room, this is not about the struggle of a single society, rather an attempt to make people aware of what goes down behind the curtains and how recklessly as important issues as physical safety, health and mental health are handled by a college fest administration, So it all began on the very first day, students of our society reached the IIT Campus at about 9:45 – 10:00 pm on the 24th of October, we had to wait for 2-3 hours to just check in and then rooms were alloted to us, The girls’ room was not cleaned at all and it was unhygienic to the point where there were used sanitary napkins just thrown around in the washrooms (find attached pictures), the commode had blood stains on it, it was already a very tiring day for everyone from the journey and then the whole registration process, the hospitality team of Antaragini was informed and they blatantly refused to take any solid action then and there, and instead laughed and chuckled about the whole situation, they were willing to take no action, after a lot of deliberation they gave the students a key to a common room, The coordinators assured us that apart from Ramjas female participants, only 6-7 more girls will stay in the room, which did happen eventually only till about 7:30 in the morning, 30 more girls from a different college barged into our room,(to be cont.)

A post shared by Backbeat (@backbeatramjascollege) on

In the video posted by Backbeat on its Instagram page, an adult can be heard saying, “Thappad marunga keech ke, dimag theek ho jayega sab“, in response to “Bhaiya, haath mat lagao.” 

The incident caused a major stir in the music circuit of Delhi University, with several societies sharing the video on their respective platforms. “It is important for people to know what really happened and to voice out against this unjust behaviour and call out the perpetrators to accept punishment for their wrongdoings. Stand with Backbeat. Stand with Justice,” said Neeraj Brahma Boro, a member of the Music Society of Kirori Mal College. There can be valid reasons to debar the participation of any society for misconduct, however, to ask an outstation society, with female members, to vacate accommodation immediately in an unfamiliar city (Kanpur) compromises the safety of students. The organisers should address this issue with the utmost importance as it sets a wrong precedence and may discourage the future participation of outstation societies.

DU Beat correspondents contacted the members of Antaragini’18 team but didn’t get any statement as the representatives refused to comment.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Haris khan

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One of the many things that make the University of Delhi happening and enchanting is the performing arts societies and their marvelous annual productions. In the past few months, we saw cut-throat competition across several Delhi University colleges. The hours and hours of practice and hard work were put to test this fest season and from amongst the pool of massive talent, some groups emerged brighter than the others. We attempt to select the best society of the lot.

Methodology
The best college society in each category was selected by creating a tally of the top 3 positions that could be won at various events. The society that secured the 1st position was awarded 3 points, the society that secured the 2nd position was awarded 2 points, and finally, the society securing the 3rd position was awarded 1 point.
Eight college fests were referred to while evaluating the top societies tally this fest season. They were: Tarang, LSR; Ullas, KNC; Tempest, Miranda House; Montage, JMC; Mecca, Hindu College; Reverie, Gargi College; Confluence; Hansraj College, and Nexus, Sri Venkateswara College.

The Top Three

Backbeat of Ramjas College and 6 In The Evening of Hansraj College are at the top position. Second position is shared by Commonthread of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Tapas of Motilal Nehru College, and Musoc of Kirori Mal College. Third position is secured by Conundrum Drive of PGDAV College.

Points Tally: Battle of Bands

The Winning Society at a glance

6 In The Evening, Hansraj College
This year they composed three original songs. A band member told us that all three songs varied in their style and approach owing to the diverse background of team members. The first song they wrote, ‘Afterlife’ was a result of the band’s first jam together. Afterlife revolved around Rohan’s infectious melodies on the sarod which sets in a mood of beauty and introspection. The second song ‘Home’, was more upbeat and groovy thanks to the skills of drummer Dimpal and Bassist Puru. The third song they wrote was named ‘Third eye’, which was high piched and aided by powerful drums and enticing Sarod.

President, Aditya Paul told DU Beat, “Since the starting of the session we just had one simple goal, which was to serve the song and let the music flow while allowing each band member to put forward his ideas. This approach definitely helped all of us to grow as musicians. I personally felt so proud of the Puru and Saksham who are in their first year, but adapted to the process so quickly and made this entire experience even better.

Performing members

Aditya Paul – Vocals and Guitar
Dimpal Kumar – Drums
Saksham Kumar – Keyboard
Puru Aggarwal – Bass Guitar
Rohan Prasanna – Sarod
Kartik Balan – Mridangam

Backbeat, Ramjas College

BackBeat, the music society of Ramjas College, had been inactive for a few years. However, this year they made an inspiring comeback.

The President of Backbeat told DU Beat, “We had to put extra efforts to establish a system again. This year’s band production was based out of individual thought procedures combined together. The primary state of mind while composing the songs was to deal with all complexities, rhythmic and harmonic in the songs tastefully. While the songs had parts inspired from Shakti, the band also made sure the songs sounded equally groovy and fun for everyone who is listening.”

Performing members
Shreshth Chawla, President (former – Drums
Akshay Bhatnagar, Parijat Kirti – Guitar
Devmitra Thakur – Percussions
Puru Agarwal- Bass
Sanchayan Joardar, Santur Kundu – Vocals

Winners Tally

Out of all colleges we considered, Backbeat won at:
1st: Mecca, Tempest

Out of all colleges we considered, 6 In The Evening won at:

1st: Nexus, Tarang

(Hover over the icons to know more about their victories)

 

Images Designed by Kartik Kakar for DU Beat  ([email protected])

Vaibhavi Sharma Pathak ([email protected])
Niharika Dabral ([email protected])