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The Cut-Throat Cult of College Competitions

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The hustle culture at DU is never-ending. Just when you feel you can take a breather, the competition season arrives—the politics, the implications, and, most importantly, the cut-throat rivalry. Just winning a prize is not enough anymore. The hierarchies add a different dimension to an already competitive environment. Read on to find out a first-year student’s account and reflections on the competition season at DU.

Congratulations! You just cracked the Common University Entrance Exam (CUET), surpassing lakhs of students to get admission at Delhi University (DU). You have just started to dip your toes into the hustle culture that perpetuates every fiber of this prestigious university. In a fit of enthusiasm and a promise of progress, you inevitably fall into the maze of toxic society culture. You feel absolutely desolate and frustrated, but at least the fest season is approaching. In a fit of hope, you drag yourself through the tedious internal and semester examinations. You are on the brink of exhaustion, but at least now you rightfully deserve to celebrate during the fest season. However, something surprises you. You overhear murmured whispers among students discussing the competitions they will be participating in during college fests. Welcome to the plight of college students.

What are these Competitions?

By competitions, we are essentially referring to the events conducted by specific departments and societies during their annual fest. Competitions are an opportunity for departments and societies to interact with students from other colleges, leading to a lively spirit of collaboration. Among the most popular are case study competitions, slam poetry competitions, debate competitions, and quizzes. Participants are expected to register through Unstop and pass through the preliminary rounds before being shortlisted for further rounds. The hefty prizes as well as the CV boost incentivize the participants to compete with hundreds of other contestants scattered across the University.

This competition culture is a very integral part of the cultural intricacies that dominate DU. The close affiliation of colleges and their interconnected functioning play an essential role in organising competitions in such capacities. This allows students to easily navigate, network, build connections across various colleges, and participate. The number of colleges and the vast number of events that are conducted provide a plethora of opportunities for students to find a competition suitable for their niche interests.

“Immediately after our academic symposium, the craze to participate in competitions has shot up. It’s like everybody is on Unstop looking for case competitions suddenly. It feels like apart from academics, one must excel at this too” – Manvi Goel, a first-year student lamented.

The Politics of Competitions

Similar to most things in life, there is a fraction of luck involved in the process of participating in these competitions. It all begins with finding the right partner. Usually, most competitions require participation in teams of two to four, and so the hunt for the right partner begins. Working with the right partner greatly increases the morale of the student, and with the right efforts, their teamwork can drive them to great heights. Specifically, in the context of competitions, your rapport with your partner plays an important role, and your complementary attitudes will reflect heavily during the presentation of your competition.

“Mostly in competitions, the rounds that come up are extremely on the stop. If you have a good rapport with your partner, you will be able to explain things better, and your partner will be able to understand it well and translate it into better content for the presentation or explain it while answering during Q&A rounds. In case you are not comfortable with your team members, you will not be able to deliver to your 100% potential. Having that rapport gives you the encouragement that whatever may be the consequence, we did our best and we learned so much, and it then develops into a really nice friendship.” – Dhaani Sood, a first-year student discussed.

However, finding the right partner is a tumultuous task. This is certainly where the element of luck comes into play. Usually, students choose to partner with their friends because a background of understanding has already been established. However, when your friend circle is inclined towards different interests, reaching out to try and build a network outside of your friend circle can cause a great deal of stress.

“The process of finding the correct team is often rough and takes time. If there’s anything I have learned in the journey of finding a cohesive team, it’s that teamwork is the bedrock of success in any competition. I have had experiences where the lack of team coordination was the major reason for our underperformance. A team works better when each member takes accountability for the task assigned to them rather than burdening an individual with the entire work. One should remember that the sum is always greater than the parts” – Ananya Pandey, a first-year student

A lot of dirty politics come into play while enrolling in competitions through Unstop. Usually, the first round of elimination is conducted through an online quiz via UnStop. Often, students can be seen enrolling themselves through several fake emails to participate in the quiz and get an understanding of all the questions and answers. Later, they enrol through their official email address and answer all the questions promptly. This gives them an edge in the following rounds, where the participants with the least time are only allowed to proceed. Such malpractices are often hard to detect in an online and unsupervised space. Although some organisers may severely restrict the time limits, such unethical practises are unavoidable in the race for the first position.

Nowadays, just securing a prize has become the bare minimum. A certain hierarchy exists along with the nature of competition. Case study competitions are usually considered the most prestigious competitions to secure a prize in, specifically those surrounding the topics of entrepreneurship and finance. The obsession with securing a prize in such competitions is hugely fueled due to the immense benefits they add during the recruitment process for internships and companies. Although the amount of effort required for the preparation of case studies is immensely more demanding than other competitions, it often creates a demoralising spirit among participants who are not inclined towards such interests. An additional layer is added when the prestigious factor of colleges is added. Students specifically choose to compete in the so-called Tier-1 colleges across the University due to the spark it adds to their CVs.

So is it worth it?

In some sense, you can’t escape the demands that accompany the very being of a college student. Competition is a fundamental requisite of the environment you are exposed to. It can be very discouraging, but at the same time, when you succeed, it provides you with a boost of confidence. The solution always comes down to your priorities and passions. You cannot compete with everyone for everything, so choose the battles that will genuinely challenge you.

Read also: Toxic Culture of DU Societies: Seniors with Junior Mindsets

Featured Image Credits: BM Law College

Sri Sidhvi Dindi
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Campus Central

HR Connect: Connecting Perceptions Concludes at SRCC

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The Human Resource Development Cell of Shri Ram College of Commerce organised its annual event, HR Connect on 7th and 8th November 2019 with a plethora of activities lined up which witnessed amazing participation.

HR Connect: Connecting Perceptions,  organised by Human Resource Development Cell of SRCC kicked off its two-day event studded with diverse speaker sessions and various competitions. The drizzly weather conditions caused a slight delay however, the enthusiasm of participants was intact.

The first event for the day started with the Master Plan Accelerator competition where students from different colleges competed to pitch in their business plan to win the Master Plan challenge. Some of the teams that presented their ‘ Master Plan’ included project Dhreya from Enactus, Miranda House which aims at efficient usage of crop wastage by making biomass briquettes. Other teams included Project  Asbah, dealing with making clean drinking water accessible from SRCC. The competition was judged by Ashish Kila, Director Perfect group and Shailendra Mishra, CEO,  Design Cut. Project Asbah, from SRCC, emerged as the winner of the competition and Team Book a Plant  from Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce was the first runner up.

The second event of the day was ‘Fusion Et Encheres’ which started off with a bit of a delay. A scattered room and enthusiastic bidders waited for the screen to flash the names of the companies up for grabs! The first round was bidding round, followed by the second round of inter-trading. The participants were in for a slight twist with the introduction of a previously undeclared casino changing the entire game plan.

Day 2 of HR connect at SRCC began with a speaker session. The first speaker is Mr.Samish Dalal,  an associate professor at SP Jain School of Global Management , who spoke about HR and entrepreneurship stating that “HR and entrepreneurship are very good friends”.  What was a very passionate speech about the importance of taking the jump in business and failure. He was able to catch the attention of the audience by giving real life examples such as that of sky diving  and linking them to business.

The second speaker was S Suresh, the managing director of E.I.D Parry Ltd. One of the leading sugar manufacturers in India.  Some of the topics he enlightens us about is self worth, industry expectations, and human Resources. Industry expectations and the expectations students joining the corporate sector have from their organisation forms a very important part of HR. He also spoke about the importance of getting feedback, saying that people believe that when they “start earning, learning stops”. He elucidated on how this is not the case and how important it is to continue practical learning while working through feedback.

The third speaker session was presided by Mr. Shyam Paliwal, the Head of operational effectiveness at Pfizer. He is also the director of  Valuevault consulting, a company which he launched in 2016.

He spoke on how to chase down our goals from the undergraduate level and the next “5-8″years. How to build a trajectory to become financially independent . He stressed on the importance of people skills and social skills while working professionally.  Another theme in his session was the importance of connectivity, stressing how we lived in a “connected world”. He stressed the importance of college in character building, how college can help improve our adaptability through extra curricular activities

Ankit Aggarwal, CEO and Founder of Dare2compete was the fourth speaker of the day who started his talked with an interesting topic of ‘Resume of deviations’.

“Grab all the opportunities that come to you”, said Aggarwal as he elaborated upon the chances he missed. From his first start-up which didn’t take off to the regret of turning down an important position in Deloitte, he encouraged students to make their own resume of mistakes and learn from the same. He also shared his journey of starting Dare2compete and its success making it a leading platform in India for competitions. He concluded by emphasizing on the importance of maintaining connections and building a personal brand.

Del-a-mark was a marketing based event held on Day 2. With the tagline “How you deliver your marketing skills” the event tested the marketing aptitude of its participants by giving them a company and asking to devise a marketing strategy for it.

The prelims were based on digital marketing, with emphasis on Social media. After careful scrutiny of their marketing plans, out of the 43 teams that applied, 17 were called for prelims and 3 were chosen to deliver their marketing strategies at finals held at HR connect.

The final three teams were :

  1. Team SRites, which had students of Shri Ram College of commerce
  2. Team Marverik, a cross college team of Daulat Ram College and Shri Ram College of commerce
  3. Team Anonymous, with students of Shri Ram College of commerce

The entire event was judged by Mr. Sudhanshu Yadav, Associate Professor, SRCC. All the teams were given 15 minutes to present their self-designed marketing strategies followed by a question and answer session. Team Anoymous from SRCC won the event.

Feature Image Credits: Navya Jindal for DU Beat

Prabhanu Kumar Das

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Chhavi Bahmba

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Shreya Agrawal

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Avni Dhawan

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Anandi Sen

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Sriya Rane

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Life at Delhi University

Debating Tournaments: An Account of a Debater

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When debating is an enriching and fun activity, how do debating tournaments turn out to be strenuous and tardy?

One of the first things you learn after joining the debating circuit in the University of Delhi is how every tournament might be different, but they all have that one thing in common, they all run late. The schedules will always ask you to come at 8:30 or 9 am, and as a novice debater, you will go to the respective college on time. You will reach on time i.e. 30 minutes before schedule, only to find the college empty or with other naïve fresher debaters as yourself. Despite Whatsapp messages from the Organising Committee a night before the tournament, requesting you to be on time, the affair will, certainly, not start before 11 am.

Apart from the delays, what comprises a debating tournament are the jitters you get as you come with your entire college contingent, waiting for the roll call to end, seeing other teams, recognising people – mostly the ones you lost against at the previous tournament and for the motions to come out.

As the round begins, you see people immediately fall into their teams, the serious whispers, arguments being constructed, people rushing towards their rooms. The tension in the room is self-evident. What is stressful about Parliamentary Debating is how you do not get to prepare a speech and do not know what the other side will bring to the table.

It is just you using the 20 minutes of preparation using all the training you have received in mocks, the news you were grilled to read up on by your seniors, the techniques you learned while missing classes; all these things culminate to determine whether you win or not. And this goes on till the five rounds come to an end.

Debates get more intense in senior tournaments, against people who are third years or, sometimes, Law students who are much older than you. Their age and experience are unfair assets they hold against you, which can often lead to them not taking you seriously. Post breaks. the pressure is quadrupled, because a single unrebutted argument or poor analysis does not mean you can go on to the next round but you are out of the tournament itself.

Five rounds usually spread over two days might sound like a comfortable schedule. However, the small delays gradually add up to massive interludes not allowing participants to leave before 8 pm. With some tournaments even ending around midnight, security is a major concern, given that there are no provisions for transportation.

Furthermore, it is rare that colleges provide accommodation only with higher registration fees. As it gets late, the college is closed and so you can find the last round being wrapped up in the college grounds or near the gates.  

Being from a girls’ college, safety is an even bigger issue. It being a new experience, in the beginning, parents worry incessantly with frequent calls, texts, scolding and requests to reconsider this activity. Some even come to pick their children up on late nights. Gradually they become well-acquainted with this pattern and you begin to hear about how you do not go to ‘college’ but to ‘debating society’.

You will come home to see stories of your friends out on weekends while you went to debate. And despite the stress, anxiety, mental and physical exhaustion and feelings of self-doubt you will be willing to compromise on your social life next weekend as well, and the reason is very simple. The feeling of learning, knowing, being smarter than the smartest and the thrill you experience is indomitable.

 

Featured Image Credits– DU Beat

Shivani Dadhwal
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Events

Day 1 at Rendezvous, IIT Delhi, Witnesses The Local Train; Day 2 Oversees Battles and Vigour

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Day 1 of Rendezvous, the Annual Cultural fest of IIT Delhi started with the Lifestyle Prelims, the college fashion competition, which saw models strutting in themed ensembles and high heels. Galore, the Fashion Society of Maitreyi College delivered a body positive walk. “We want the heart high and the chest bigger,” they quoted. The society, anxious about probable mishaps such as tripping and slipping during the performance, complained about the dusty stage and careless placement of wires. A slight delay was experienced, owing to the inadequacy of housekeeping staff. Among the 13 participating societies were Delhi University’s Motilal Nehru College, Dyal Singh College, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, College of Vocational Studies and Hindu College. Due to the unavailability of a proper backstage area, inconvenience and congestion was experienced by the heavily costumed participants. The Fashion Society of Manav Rachna University emerged as the winner at Lifestyle, with their fashionable take on Sikhism. 

At the Western Group Dance Prelims, the blaring music surely impaired some auditory senses but the exuberant dance performances were a treat to the eye. The audience burst into hoots as societies dropped groovy moves. Peppy playlists combined with flashy lighting set the mood at the Seminar Hall of IIT Delhi. Outside, the venue, a chaotic queue of youngsters were seen behaving rowdily towards the gatekeepers who were reluctant to allow entry into the already-packed room. Gargi College, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Motilal Nehru College, Shivaji College, Hansraj College and IIT Delhi qualified the first round, with Sri Aurobindo College and Daulat Ram College in the waiting list. Gargi College’s Enliven bagged the first position at Kaleidoscope followed by Spardha of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College and Dance Club of IIT Delhi.

The Acapella competition contestants from 14 previously-shortlisted societies were spotted at Allegro, in their monotone society T-shirts. The audience of LHC121 also comprised non-participating societies and acapella admirers, who came to survey the performances. Encore, the Western Music Society of Daulat Ram College performed a medley of five songs. Euphony from Gargi College sent the audience into a state of idyll through their thoroughly rehearsed harmonies. Judges Joshua Peter and Akash Gadamsetty awarded the first position to Jesus and Mary College’s ECHO. Madhurima from Delhi Technological University bagged the second prize, and the third position was shared by Sri Venkateswara College’s Crescendo and Gargi’s Euphony.

The second half of the day commenced with the  inauguration ceremony and the lightning of the lamp by Deputy Director of IIT Delhi, Prof M. Balakrishnan. The ceremony was anchored by Shubendu Sumbli, an IIT Delhi alumnus. It was followed by a short speech by Prof Mausam, VP of BRCA and Prof Rajesh Khanna, Dean of Students Affairs. The inauguration event ended on a musical note with Harmononium performing on stage. It performed a wide range of songs including Chaakar, Fakiri, Jhakar and Gubbare which took the audience’s breath away. It later on, added Marwaari songs to pep up their set.

The Quizzing Club, IIT Delhi organised A fan’s notes, an open sports quiz. Over 50 teams participated in teams of two or three. Eight teams made it to the final round. The quizmaster was Ashish Kumar Rai, an alumnus of IIT Delhi.

The Literary Club of IIT Delhi organised a Slam Poetry Competition, Slam Blues. Twenty six participants were short listed for the event which was adjudged by Aditi Angiras, Indrajit Ghoshal, Saumya Kulshreshtha, and Ravie Solanky. The winners of the event were Seep Agrawal (1st prize, English), Ayushi Dwivedi (2nd prize, English), and Mohit Sethi (1st prize, Hindi). My Jottings, a Creative Writing Competition was also organised by the Literary Club of IIT Delhi. The results for it will be declared on October 15th.

In the prelims for the beatboxing event, a total of 33 teams participated in the prelims consisting of the Showcase Round and the battles. 16 teams proceed to the final round to be conducted on 14th October. The event was adjudged by Mr. Ishaan Nangia, Vice Champion of the first ever Indian Beatbox Championship.  For Battle of the Bands, Acid Pit was declared the winner followed by Mirage and Over Root Third.

The day came to a magnificent close with The Local Train’s performance, which swept the crowd of it’s feet. With songs like Choo Lo, Dil Mere, Aaoge Tum Kabhi the band ensured that the crowd didn’t lose their enthusiasm even for a single minute.

 

 

Day 2 was packed with back-to-back competitions and the events went on till the wee hours.

At Tatva, the Fusion Band Competition, bands presented their creative compositions. The amalgamation of Hindustani Classical and Western tunes combined with an interactive stage presence enthralled the audience. Parameters performed a combination of Hindustani classical music, western rock and rapping through their compostion, ‘Alone’. The competition was adjudged by instrumentalist, engineer, and producer Yatin Srivastava. In his small feedback speech, he pointed out that no society exceeded the time limit and that the bands paid careful attention to music mixing. He also advised the bands to use a better stage presence for livlier performances. IIT Delhi’s MoonShine won the first prize. The second position was bagged by Parameters from the College of Vocational Studies, followed by Amity University’s Metronome who was the second runner-up. As announced by IIT Delhi’s Music Society, Ruhaaniyat, the top three best performances were Sri Venkateswara College’s Where’s My Bag, followed by Five One Nine from Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, and then Black Beat from Ramjas.

Sprightly vocal percussions left the crowd spellbound at the second round Beat Boxing Competition of IIT Delhi’s Rendezvous’18. The shortlisted 16 participants were adjudged by Ishan Nangia, Sri Venkateswara College student and Vice Champion of the first ever Indian Beatbox Championship. At the LHC Informal Stage area, a large crowd of beatboxing enthusiasts turned up despite changes in the event’s schedule not being properly conveyed. Aranya Banerjee, received a congratulatory hoist for bagging the first position. The winner received a cash prize of Rs. 5000, followed by first runner-up Jatin Pant who received a prize of Rs. 3000.

An exciting array of performances focusing on a multitude of poignant themes ranging from menstrual and religious regression to Indian education policy, displayed all day from the morning to the evening in Mimansa, the street play competition. Out of the 12 finalists, the team of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Natuve won the event with the title of overall best performance as College of Vocational Studies and Maharaja Agarsen Institur of Technology followed. The best actress went to Shivaji College whereas the best Actor was a student of Maharaja Agarsen Institute of Technology. Best music was unsurprisingly won by Sri Venketeshwar College; best director was won by Hindu College; best entertaining play went to the hosts, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. The event was sponsored by Theatreleela and adjudged by Varun Sharma, director and owner of Theatreleela.

The highly anticipated Campus Princess pageant was also organised. The event was judged by Viren Barman, Peter England Mr. India 2016. The judge acknowledged the extensive participation of 51 contestants this time when he said, “I was trying to take a picture but I couldn’t fit you all in the frame!”. Last year’s title winners were also conducive in enhancing the morale of the contestants as they shared their own experiences with everyone and narrated their transformation stories after winning the title.

Far from all this, the atmosphere was an absolute envelope of peace at Aagaz, the group Indian Classical Music competition was organised. In the baritone and the soft yet bold lilting of the participating 15 teams from across the state, the audiences were left swooning. Girls took the first two positions as Alahyaa, the Indian Classical Music society of Daulat Ram College and Sangeetika of Kamla Nehru College won the first and second positions respectively, with Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College in the third place.

The Debating Club of IITD hosted the annual edition of its freshers’ parliamentary debate titled Debutant. Constituting five rounds, a plethora of debating themes were up on offer as twelve teams from a variety of colleges, including but not limited to CBS, JMC, Ashoka, and Hindu, finally made it through to the prequarters stage.

The KTM roadshow was another contrast to the peace. With breathtaking stunts defying the laws of gravity, the performers left the audiences’ jaws wide open. As their tires dusted gravel around, a crowd of a hundred students found a thrilling experience becoming real.

Another interesting event of the day, the Comedy Hunt was also organised. Judges Milind Kapoor and Anubhav Singh Bassi, renowned stand-up comedians themselves laughed heartily with a crowd of 500 students cheering for the participants sharing their ridiculous stories. Mohak Arora was named the winner of the event. Most stand-ups focused on deeper social causes, striking just the right balance between conedy and reality.

During the late hours of the evening, Barkha Dutt was in conversation with Prashant Kishor at the Dogra Hall. In the beginning, Prashant Kishor talked extensively about his personal equations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. He also spoke about his bond with Rahul Gandhi. He believes that BJP is going to lead in the 2019 elections. He further said that it’s good to have an ideology. However, he asks the youth to not get intoxicated by it. After the session, when asked by one of the audience members whether it’s possible for commoners to enter politics, he says, very frankly that it is very difficult to enter politics if you don’t happen to have a popular surname. Prakash Kishor also very cheekily mentioned that the country could have done without demonetization. At the end of the interview, he mentions that he would have loved to work with LK Advani for he believes that he’s a great campaigner.

Follwing this, the final rounds for Lifestyle and Kaleidoscope were organised, and the day culminated in fervour and renewed energy for the next day’s events.

 

Feature Image Credits: Rishabh Gogoi for DU Beat

 

Ananya Acharya
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Muskan Sethi
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Disha Saxena
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Kartik Chauhan
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Adeel Shams
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Bazinga

Winners at college fests to get full marks in internals, ‘Non-ECA’ students left in dismay

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Are you one of those students who have no idea about their classmates and subject names? Are you the epicentre of low attendance jokes and are often called ‘Eid-ka-chand’ because of your hectic society practices and competitions? If the answer to these questions is a yes, then you have a reason to rejoice my friend!

Recognising the fact that a lot of students participate and win competitions at various annual college fests but don’t get any academic benefit of the same, DU has issued a notice regarding imparting of full marks in internals, to students who have won first positions at various college fests this year.

Insiders tell us, the administration was compelled to make such a move owing to the constant complaint by students, especially ECA students, who are often subject to bias of teachers and low internal marking due to their inability to attend classes all through the year because of society commitments. Thus, acknowledging the unfairness of the situation, the University has decided to accord full marks in internals to first position holders and 75% marks to second position holders in competitions such as Western Choir, Solo Dance, Street Play and many more. In order to maintain the credibility of this new scheme of marks distribution, colleges have been instructed to collect original winning certificates of the relevant students by second week of April.

While the move is being applauded by societies across various colleges, it has also invited criticism from various ‘Non-ECA’ students who think this move is unfair to hard working and academically inclined students who attend classes the whole year.

Expressing her disappointment at this announcement, a student said, “ I am appalled at such a strategy being introduced. People like me work day and night, attend all classes to fetch decent marks in internals, and some students will now be served marks in a platter”. Some students however are celebrating this move, “  I am glad some sense dawned upon the authorities to give us the credit and respect we deserve for representing our college and winning”, remarked an overjoyed ECA student.

*Disclaimer: Bazinga is our weekly column of almost believable fake news. It is only to be appreciated, not accepted.

Image Credits: www.dailymail.co.uk 

Riya Chhibber

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DU Annual Fest Season

IP College inaugurates Troika ’16 as a precursor to annual fest Shruti

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Indraprastha College for Women hosted in its first ever edition of Troika, a three-day festivity. It brought a mélange of events, from Panel Discussion to Kavi Sammelan to Stand-up Comedy and Battle of Bands during a period of three days from 28th January to 30th January. Troika has been introduced this year with the echo “Teen din teen rang, Kavi vicharo Aur gayak ke sang.”

Radhika Dua, the college treasurer explains how Troika is a precursor to the annual fest Shruti, “Troika’16 is first of its kind inter-college festival of Indraprastha College. As its name puts forward, it’s a three day event organised by the Students’ union to encourage fellow students to exhibit their talent and gain some food for thought. Additionally, Troika is also an opportunity to foster relations between students of different colleges and interests. The idea behind the event was devoted to creating a platform for students to enjoy, experience and explore. Troika is just a trailer for our annual fest Shruti.”
The festivities were ushered in with a riveting and engaging panel discussion on the topic, “Impact of Dating Applications on Youth”. Attended by a packed audience in the college auditorium, the Panel discussion was moderated by Suanshu Khurana, Music Correspondent/Critic, Indian Express.
The other panelists included Shalini Evelyn Shah, Head of English Editorial, Ratna Sagar, Manish Malik, Director, Manifest Training Solution and Aakanksha Maheshwari Sewani, Head of Knowledge Management, Microsoft, who is also an alumna from the same college.

Photo by Shivani Malik
Photo by Shivani Malik

The panel discussion brought many facets and quirks of modern-day dating. While some remarks made the audience double up with laughter, some serious questions were raised. Followed by a Q&A session, the discussion was engaging with the right amount of scandalous remarks and controversial comments to make the audience fire up questions like bullets.

Wannabe Anonymous after their performance, Photo by Shivani Malik
Wannabe Anonymous after their performance, Photo by Shivani Malik
IMG_4089
Wannabe Anonymous

The first day ended with a stand-up comedy act by Wannabe Anonymous, a first of its kind Stand-Up Comedy community started in Delhi by Siddharth Singh and Prakhar Maheshwari. They made all the right jokes, from  mocking the burning topic of modern dating to cracking meticulous jokes about the idiosyncracies of the college.
The Second day’s highlight was Kavi Sammelan, which saw participation from colleges like Hansraj, Hindu, Kirorimal, CIC, SOL, among others.

 

Photo by Shivani Malik
Photo by Shivani Malik
Photo by Shivani Malik
Photo by Shivani Malik

The first prize was bagged by Manju for her poem Mazdoor, while the second prize went to Nidhi Kumar Jha from Kirori Mal College. The judges for the event were Dr. Sanjay Seth and Mr. Pranjal Dhar.
Troika culminated in Battle of the Bands on the third and the last day of the round of festivities. The last day saw performances by Slaves of Rock, The Hindu College Collective, Alanwesha, Ricochet, Hightime, Zhankaar, Chapstick and Rubberband and Playtime. Playtime from Hansraj College bagged the first position, while Hightime from Kirorimal College came second.

Sanchita Makkar, the President of the Students’ Union, says it has been a successful endeavour, “We wanted to increase number of events and level of participation in our college. These three events  in troika were a mix of experience,enjoyment and learning. We wanted to give a different experience to students of all colleges.”

All Image credits: Shivani Malik

Kritika Narula
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Events

Antaragni: Unleash The Fire Within- 7 Days To Go

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Antaragni- Antar + Agni(hindi)-The fire within. Antaragni, the annual intercollegiate cultural festival of IIT Kanpur, is a tribute to the fire that remains kindled in the hearts of people, the fire that drives them to melt boundaries and achieve the extraordinary. The fest started as “Culfest” in the 1960’s before being rechristened Antaragni in 1993. The generic name was to emphasize the fact that it was the first and only such event at that time. Antaragni’12, with the theme ‘Medieval Fantasy’ will be held from the 11th to the 14th of October and is scheduled to be opened by the multi-lingual sensation Raghu Dixit.

Antaragni is one eclectic mix of a lot of things- competitions, professional shows, talks, exhibitions, street shows, workshops and the list goes on ad infinitum. It becomes a classic case of having too many options and one wishes to be present at a lot of places simultaneously. Competitions form the backbone of this festival. Events catering to dramatics, dance, musicals, photography, English and Hindi literature and quizzes have seen extensive and intensive participation from colleges, especially those from Delhi. The situation is such that this year two of the events (Synchronicity- Rock competition and Quizzes) have dedicated Delhi rounds.

In order to cement its position as Northern India’s favourite festival, Antaragni’12 has initiated the ‘Dream On’ campaign. It is an ambitious idea which attempts to give the winners a shot at national fame and creative satisfaction of learning from the best in each field. The winners of different competitions in addition to monetary incentives will be provided with internships, mentorships and recording deals  with leading academies like Shimak Davar’s Institute of performing arts, Barry John Acting Studio, Delhi College of Arts, Delhi School of Photography etc. In fact, Ritambhara has been especially opened to individual participants with coverage in MAXIM and photo-shoots in Hollywood at stake.

To add spirit and flesh to this skeleton of competitions, there would be national and international artists (more than 10 in number) ranging from rock bands to Irish folk musicians to sand artists to Odishi dancers. There would be fun informal activities while Mridaksh will continue its search for Ms & Mr. Antaragni. If it’s the intellect that needs simulation, there would be a panel discussion with eminent people like Arun Maira and Ayaz Memon. To take care of the glamour aspect there would the likes of Sudhir Mishra, Rajiv Khandelwal and Abbas Tyrewala who’ll have special sessions with the students.

The festival seems to be shaping up well with a holistic cultural showcase and it’s only a matter of time before, as the motto says, the fire is unleashed.

Visit www.antaragni.in and https://www.facebook.com/antaragni.iitk for more information.

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Debating Societies in DU

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n515107959_781827_1769Debating in Delhi University is very different from debating at the school level. The main difference stems from the existence of Parliamentary Debating.

While conventional debating (the kind you did in school) involves a team with one person for and one person against an idea, Parliamentary Debating (PD) involves different teams with one team for and one team against an idea. A team can consist of two or three people (depending on the tournament) and teams typically fight in multiple preliminary rounds during a tournament, at the end of which the top 8 teams are selected to go into the quarter-finals.

PDs are different, not only because of their tournament style or the fact the one side will “win” but also because of the values involved. Your oratory ability is considered second to your points and adjudicators (who are also students and not the teachers or IAS officers you had in school) award the debate to the team that can best prove their case rather than the team that has the most fluent speaker.

While there are many Debating Societies that take part in PDs, there are many that don’t. Indeed, there are even colleges which don’t have Debsocs. Debsocs are vital, not only because of the network that allows you to be invited for PDs, but also because they provide the training that is crucial to winning.

The money in both conventional debating and PDs is good (although one has to be very good at PDs in order to win). In conventional debating, the writer’s records put the average prize at around Rs.900. Almost every department in every college in DU has their own festival which usually includes a debate. Therefore there are plenty of debates to take part in, especially during December. Most Debsocs that participate in PDs organize one or two every year.

Debsocs vary from college to college: some are very active and drill their juniors into shape, while others do not. In the end it depends on you college and priorities. Debating teaches one not only how to speak but also how to think logically about a situation and express one’s thoughts clearly, skills that will be of great use in the real world.

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