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DU’s Voice on Fest Advisory: Critical Concerns Raised

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As the fest season unfolds, students offer a sharp assessment of Delhi University’s fest advisory, highlighting the associated concerns.

In light of recurring security and management lapses at Delhi University’s fests, the university has issued advisory/guidelines to be followed by all colleges and departments regarding the organisation of various programmes and events. The 18-point advisory, which has been updated three times between April 2023 and January 2024, focuses on the necessary rules of pre-registration of attendees, submission of their details to the police, and also a requirement of a NOC (No Objection Certificate) from the police, among the various other guidelines. A guideline among the 18 others mentioned: ‘Entry for events should be through pre-registration, like on Google Forms, with details of the event, i.e., date, venue, and the expected number of participants (to) be maintained and submitted to the police with a copy to other departments. The registration forms should include scanned copies of the college IDs of participants.’

Speaking to DU Beat, Rajnish Sah, a member of the Organising Committee of ‘Mecca’, Hindu College’s annual fest said:

It is almost impractical to keep an adequate track of all the records and documents on all the potential entrants and hand them over to the police. It might be feasible for small departmental events, but for events like annual fests, where people attend in thousands, it just proves to be an additional strain on the already burdened organising committee.

When asked about the tight cap on the number of attendees allowed to attend the festival, he added:

DU is known for its exposure and its exchange among the students, especially during the fest season, when students from various colleges connect. Tight attendance limits may hinder the fest’s true purpose.

The university-issued festival advisory guidelines also mention that ‘the concerned college or department is solely responsible for any untoward incident during any event organised by the concerned college or department.’

Considering the following statement, Rajnish added:

Putting all the responsibility of any incident with the college and authority would just put a constraint on the level of a fest. It is impractical to hold the college accountable for every incident that happens.

Anubhav, sponsorship head at Nexus, the annual fest of Sri Venkateswara College, supports this and adds:

The college can be held accountable only up to an extent. It is also necessary to ensure that the legal responsibilities are taken up well for the smooth conduct of a fest.

He also added that currently, there are no significant sponsorship issues arising from the attendance cap.

As per reports from The Hindu, a student claimed that there has been a problem in extracting sponsorships for the events:

Sponsors are brought on board based on the number of attendees. With a cap on this number, agreements are becoming increasingly difficult to secure.

–  said Harsh Dalal, President of the Student Union of Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), which will host ‘Crossroads’ in the first week of April.

The report also mentions how some students believe that the advisory would ensure security and make things better for the organisers.

Pre-registrations and controlled entry will make things easier and improve the quality of the fest.

–  said Aman Choudhary, president of the student union at Sri Venkateswara College.

 In March 2023, a group of men allegedly entered Delhi University’s Indraprastha College for Women by scaling the boundary walls and harassing students when the college celebrated its annual festival. A similar incident had also occurred in 2022 during Miranda House’s Diwali Fest, where men were allegedly seen climbing the college walls and indulging in ‘cat-calling and sexist sloganeering’. The rising and repeated cases demanded an advisory to regulate the incidents. As per the fest-advisory guidelines, ‘Prior to any big event in the institution, there should be an assessment of the boundary wall of the college. If found low, concertina wires should be installed to prevent outsiders from scaling the walls.’

A representative from Maitreyi College’s Student Union (identity withheld for anonymity) says:

Where are the notices outlining the repercussions for intruders if another incident occurs again? You can raise the walls, but when will you actually hold the intruders responsible for disregarding the boundaries? How can one ensure that the registered attendees do not create any nuisance on the college campus?

The representative acknowledges that the college has implemented strict measures like applications, registrations, and identity checks for issuing passes to outsiders. However, they highlight that there is no restriction on the number of passes a student from the college can acquire due to the ‘monetization’ of the passes. They then continue and add on to the ‘budgeting issues’ with regards to maintaining security at DU fests:

Since the beginning, many DU colleges have continuously encountered difficulties in securing adequate funding. Things like the security arrangements and illumination of the dimly lit places as per the advisory need funding and resources.

Continuing her statement, she asserts that colleges cannot and should not be solely accountable for all incidents occurring within the campus, stating that the fest-advisory guideline serves merely as a means to deflect legal responsibilities.

Read Also: The Invasion of IPCW: A Student’s Account

Featured Image Source: The Indian Express

Dhairya Chhabra

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Campus Central

What College Taught Me: From the Eyes of a First-Year Student

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With this semester, the first-year of college comes to an end for many students. Let’s take a look at the learnings of a first-year student.

  • Exposure and Experience

The first year of college is an eye-opener to the real world, it gives you a view of adulthood and brings along a sense of independence. It doesn’t come easy to many, makes life difficult for a few, and lonely for others. But what it does give you is exposure and experience to cure that gaping hole of leaving your home, friends, school, and your city behind. An outstation student of the University said “Yeh Delhi ne toh meri Lucknow ki saari Nawabi hi nikal di, Kahan main vaha maze mein ghoomti thi, aur yahan auto vaalon se dus-dus rupaye ke liye ladti hoon (Delhi has taken away all the Lucknow royalty from me, I used to a carefree child. Here, in Delhi, I have to fight with the auto-rickshaw drivers for INR 10)” She agrees that college life has transformed her to become a better version of herself. She is able manage her finances well.

  • Friends and Family

Himanika Agarwal from Gargi College commented, “Everybody used to tell me that you never find real friends in college, even I used to believe that. But Glass Eye, the Film Making Society of Gargi College has given me some of the best friends I have ever had, who have now become my family.” In the first-year itself, you find your close group of friends who become your family and confidants, be it your classmates or the members of your college society, college helps you to find people who you remember all throughout.

  • Fests and Euphoria

The cultural fests organised by the University of Delhi (DU) colleges is another enlightening experience for the students. Fresh out of taking the first semester examinations, students attend fests with their ‘college gang’ looking up wide eyed at the glittering lights of concerts and competitions, breathing in the chaos, and adapting to the crowds.

My first-year, personally, gave me The Local Train, another staple name associated with the DU fests. This musical band and their brand of music, their lyrics, and the performances are worth it. Another student added, “I can easily say that my checklist for a happening college life ticked off with after attending Vishal-Shekhar’s concert at Mecca, the cultural fest of Hindu College.”

  • The ability to study overnight

College is not only fun and games, academics also play an important role. This involves projects, class presentations, reviews, internals, and exams. These conclusively teach every student to study or make a presentation a night before the submission. This might be unhealthy, but it is a fact.

  • A new perspective

Above all, for me, the first-year of college worked as a stepping stone in the process of unlearning patriarchal norms and misogynistic conditioning, we as naïve little kids were subjected to, throughout our childhood. Classroom discussions with strong opinionated teachers, debates with your peers and seniors, revolutionary texts and readings, interactions about the rights of the LGBTQ community, these have changed my perspective for the better. Looking back, I can now remember instances in the past which were problematic, but I didn’t realise earlier. These realisations are my achievements of gaining new and better ideologies and of becoming a more ‘woke’ individual.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

 

Sakshi Arora

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Arts & Culture

Security Arrangements at DU fests: the Staff’s Perspective

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The college fests bring with them large and often overly enthusiastic crowds, necessitating tight security measures. DU Beat looks at what the security staff themselves have to say about this.

“Fest ke samay zyada satark rehna padta hai” (we need to be more alert during fests), tells us a security guard at Hindu College, requesting anonymity. Naturally, a larger crowd makes checking more difficult. The gentleman tells us that while they recognise 90% of the regular college students, strict ID checks are the first step before allowing entry to anyone – outsiders or not. The same sentiments are reiterated by a female security guard at Hansraj College, also wishing to remain anonymous.

Mr Damodar Singh, a security guard at Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) tells us that since it is easier for troublemakers to enter colleges during the fests, the security has to exercise extra caution – switching their phones off is the first thing guards do. Talking unnecessarily to anyone has to be avoided, lest some slip in checking may happen.

Colleges make extra arrangements during fests, especially for maintaining order inside the premises. Bouncers are often present around the campuses to control any chaos. Yet, perhaps their effectiveness is up for question.

Mr Singh tells us that bouncers have an important role to play if chaos erupts; security guards can’t get aggressive in controlling the situation as they have to encounter the students regularly. “Hum bas pyaar se samjha sakte hain” (we can only deal with students softly), he remarks. The lady at Hansraj also tells us how guards sit at the gates while bouncers handle the situation inside.

On the other hand, the gentleman at Hindu, says, with a chuckle, “Hungama hota hai to bouncers bhaag lete hain” (the bouncers run away if chaos takes place) – stating that in such cases, the guards themselves need to control the situation.

While the guards admit that some students get rowdy and try jumping on stages during music performances, they don’t really agree to alleged cases of misbehaviour or lapse of security happening at the fests.

Some students allegedly managed to get alcohol and weed inside the barricades during Crossroads 2018. Mr Singh, however, maintains that beedi, cigarettes and alcohol are strictly banned.

As was reported by the Hindustan Times, the crowd stormed the barricades during singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh’s concert at Hansraj’s Confluence 2017. A stampede was caused following a gas leak, accompanied by the felling of a firework station that caused some electric shocks. The security guard at Hansraj, however, denied these claims.

According to an article in the Times of India, similar incidents of crowd rampage and breaking of barricades took place during singer Parmish Verma’s performance at Maitreyi College’s annual fest last year, forcing the gig to be stopped midway.

Regardless of whether the accountability for these incidents is acknowledged, the probability for security lapses remains high. Of course, the management and organisers need to be held accountable. However, with enthusiasm and excitement running high among overwhelming crowds, the responsibility also lies on the students to exercise precaution and alertness and to maintain civility in order to ensure a safer environment.

 

Featured Image credits: The Times of India

Prateek Pankaj
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Arts & Culture

Oiling the Machine: A different side to DU’s Fest Season

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DU’s fest season is the envy of most universities across the country, and yet, it has a harsh economic aspect to it which gets obscured in all the ‘fun’ and excitement.

Can you think of college fests in the University of Delhi (DU) as mega PR strategies in themselves?

Each one of them determines the college’s reputation. And if this economic perspective is applied, every decision taken to make a fest ‘grand’— students running from pillar to post to acquire sponsors within restricted deadlines, coming up with unique stalls, competing to invite the most high-profile celebrities — all cater to marketing a college’s name. Students must become entrepreneurs and ‘sell’ their fest to add to their college’s repute. It’s akin to saying that Nexus, Tarang, Mecca and others are brand names in themselves, as much as Venky (Sri Venkateswara College), LSR (Lady Shri Ram College) and Hindu (Hindu College).

Being a part of departmental associations and societies are all excellent means of keeping the co-curricular ‘alive’, alongside the academic. Some students do feel, in fact, that college-life should be a free playground in terms of experiences. “We all come to learn different things from college. Learning to speak to the sponsors or organising a fest is a part and parcel of it,” says Shivangi Bhasin, a second year student. On the other side of the spectrum, however, are students and teachers who feel that the increasing pressure to ‘perform’ in fests is taking away from the aura of the University. As ‘temples of education’, to borrow the often used metaphor, colleges should focus on improving the standards of teaching and learning and their infrastructures as well. Instead, thousands are spent every year on trivial decorations, merely to outdo other colleges.

DU’s fest season is notorious for making students miss classes due to practice or their various societies’ or associations’ meetings. Under the rigorous semester system and the  fragmented syllabi scheme of CBCS, even the teachers struggle to keep pace. And yet, the fests must be grander and better than before. Their mandate never changes. As a result, friction arises. The students can neither fully concentrate on their course nor on the fests within the limited time frame of semesters. Also, those who don’t wish to engage into the entrepreneurial aspect of gathering sponsors or promoting the fest are systematically left out in this space. Even within their association, they become involuntarily ‘inactive’ — sometimes it isn’t even their choice. Following a capitalist philosophy then, the University is fast becoming a space of ‘brand names’ and quantity over quality for many. And it is, indeed, a worrying trend.

Image Credits: Shiksha.com

Deepannita Misra

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Uncategorized

A Miranda House student sexually harassed at SRCC’s fest

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Meghna Singh, a student of Miranda House, recently went through a horrific incident when she attended KK’s concert of the last day of SRCC’s annual fest, Crossroads. When she came home from the concert, she noticed white spots on her black trousers. According to her, a man had masturbated on her during the concert and the evidence was all over her trousers.

She described the whole incident on Facebook. In her now widely shared Facebook post, she explained the details of the entire incident. She narrated that she could sense something fishy when she felt a guy behind her in the concert. Subsequently, she and her friends, who were scared but alert, held each other on to form a human chain during the concert for protection.  She had put up the Facebook post on a public platform in hopes that people would get to know about the harrowing things that can happen to women, even in public and to stand up against such incidents. But instead of the support she was expecting, she got mocked at and trolled.  and she was labeled a ‘liar’ and an ‘attention seeker’. On her Facebook post, which has over 8000 comments, many shockingly accused her of being a ‘liar’ and an ‘attention seeker’. This translated into a extensive battle-ground with many people in support of her rubbishing such claims and extending their sympathies to her.

The picture posted by Meghna Singh on Facebook while narrating the incident.
The picture posted by Meghna Singh on Facebook while narrating the incident.

The unprecedented trolling that Meghna faced, forced her to post another status update explaining herself. She explained the hollowness of the claims made by those who opposed her and thoroughly explained the incident further. She said that initially, she didn’t realise what was happening and it was only after coming back to her PG and changing, she noticed the spots on her trousers. She also added, “There was a guy right behind me who,after a while, started feeling me up. I wasn’t sure as I couldn’t recognise if it was his hand or his fingers. Then after a while I could smell the odour, I could feel that something fell on my left leg which I thought might have been sweating and since the place was quite crowded I couldn’t be sure about it.” After the guy tried to get closer again, she along with her friends resisted him and tried to form a human chain to avoid any accidental touches. “After a while, that guy again tried to get closer when I pushed him away shouting “Please bhai tum niklo yahan se” then he whispered something to his fellow partner. They were 3 guys who were there & they exchanged some gestures and then abruptly left. After I returned to my PG and changed, I saw these spots on my pants along with some white discharge. I realised that my intuition of “sweat landing on my left leg” was actually his semen because of his convenient masturbation amongst the crowd of around hundreds of people.” 

 

 

“We obviously thought we avoided that situation when she pushed him so we went back home,” says Antara Kashyap, one of Meghna’s friend who was there with her at the time. When Meghna found out what had happened, her friends asked her to speak up about it.“She sent us the picture in a WhatsApp group saying it was semen. It smelled and it was definitely discharge. We asked her to put it on Facebook and speak up about it. It was the right thing to do. The first negative comment was from an old “friend” who laughed it off. Then one guy said it could be srikhand and it shocked us.”

Meghna and her friends had not anticipated so many negative comments on the post. Antara said, “We never realised there would be thousands of such people, literate ones at that, who’d comment, slut-shame her and make this something to laugh about. Meghna and all of us, we have gone through a lot. We don’t deserve this hate. Meghna is a strong girl, she’s unfazed. I can’t say that about myself. Maybe that’s why thousands of victims of sexual abuse do not speak up. If you speak up they try to break you down.”

Meghna’s post was meant for people to see the unspeakable truths of harassment which are not absent in the campus, especially during the fest season. Parismita Talkudar, one of Meghna’s classmate, recounts a similar story, “I went to see one of my favourite star of Bollywood. We waited for 3 hours to have a glimpse of Shah Rukh Khan at Hansraj College last year. We were surrounded with a whole lot of people and we decided to stay together holding each other. One of my friend was behind a guy who looked innocent . In fact when some people were pushing her, he told them not to. When SRK came after so long, the crowd pushed each other like a wave and we got separated. There was a guy who helped me get out of the crowd. As I waited outside the ground for my friends I saw one of them almost in tears. The guy who was behind her, and who we thought was a nice person, actually came on her. She was disgusted as she could feel something wet on her top and when we looked at it, we could clearly see semen. This isn’t something that happened for the first time only with Meghna. This happens, with a lot of girls. But some decide to keep quiet.”

 Featured Image: thealternative.in

Anagha Rakta

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Arts & Culture

The Rise And Rise Of Creative Writing Competitions

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February is ending and by now, you’ve probably acquired a taste for the fest season already, nevermind the fact whether you are or aren’t a part of any college society. The University of Delhi (DU) is known for its vibrant culture of college fests featuring multiple activities ans star nights, providing a platform to every student to showcase his or her talents. And if you aren’t a trained dancer, musician, or slam poet, fear not. Creative writing is here to the rescue.

Recently, as witnessed in annual fests right from Jesus and Mary College’s (JMC) Montage to Sri Venkateswara College’s (Venky) Nexus, creative writing competitions have gained momentum. They have become exceedingly popular, partly because of the attractive prizes (cash too, if you’re lucky) given as rewards to the winners. Some of these competitions may have a broader theme which one is required to stick to, while others are free flowing. Either way, it’s a challenging proposal — you’ve got to pen down your thoughts exactly within the set time limit.  

These events are a great way to bring back the might of the pen to the forefront, not to mention the fact that they help to boost up your organisational skills by twice the current level. Even if you don’t consider yourself to be a poet or a master storyteller, these competitions are worth taking a shot at. You don’t need to be an aspiring author. They’re equally helpful for students wishing to get over their fear of public scrutiny. Minus the fear of public speaking involved in recitation or slam events, and without the instant judgement that comes along with it, these pen and paper events can play a crucial role as stepping stones in boosting your overall confidence. Some of the winners from the recent fests even confess to not having had any intentions of winning, in the first place.

As far as trends go, the creative writing competition has caught on like wildfire. It is here to stay and with good reason. It gives each one of us a great outlet for creativity, for penning down thoughts which may otherwise go unwritten in the humdrum curriculum of work and assignments. Plus, it can always be a pleasant surprise to discover that latent ‘creative bone’ in your body. Who knows, you may win at the next event…

Image credits: www.udemy.com

Deepannita Misra

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Cultural Festivals

Hacks for the DU Fest Season

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There are a few elements within the peripheries of life which are known to flourish magnificently in association. Food and happiness, heartbreak and ice cream, weekends and binge-watching, and University of Delhi and the fest season. With a multitude of colleges bringing forward numerous reasons to escalate excitement levels with intriguing competitions and enthralling events, have a look at the musts to guarantee a satisfying fest experience!

  1. Classes, Society, and Work Management

All fun and no work make Jack an even duller boy. Amidst the excitement to sway to the rhythms of fun, take a step back and engage in some Time Management 101. There are a plethora of legendary fests which wait for your presence, so juggle between events by squeezing in the occasional classes between fest and society meetings, and treat yourself to some fest-fun later!

  1. The Entry Logistics

With Facebook reminders of fests and events also come reports of buying passes in black or selling fake IDs. While some colleges relax entry restrictions, others tighten them to reduce the possibility of non-DU students getting into the realms of the fun which everyone is talking about. Find out about the requirements of your scheduled fest, and be prepared.

  1. Wardrobe Woes

As the weather transcends from the chilly winters to the warmly-pleasant summers, it is important to plan your outfits keeping the weather in mind and so as to not go through the ordeal of repetition. Keep up with the trends, do smart shopping, and go for outfits which are easy to handle and maintain!

  1. Get Ready to Roll

As you set the stage to make the best out of this period, make sure all internal matters are taken care of. Shield yourself from the cold, for a fever can put your fest plans to rest. Eat and drink at regular intervals so as to not tire quickly, and come prepared with some Chandler Bing-unlike moves to grace the DJ nights.

With the energy levels full to the brim, are you ready for the season of fun?

 

Image Credits: DU Beat

 

Saumya Kalia

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Campus Central

Behind The Scenes: Organising a Department Fest

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Have you registered for any upcoming fests? Or are you too keeping a tab on the future ones? While Delhi University has all kinds of students, the fest-regulars, the specific-event participants, the highly competitive win-them-all, or the just-having-fun kinds, fests are a time wherein we can jump from our course to another. However, does the participant ever realise what goes behind the scenes in organising those events, keeping them running and smooth and awarding money? Nah! That is why I take you backstage to the nitty-gritties of department fests, where the Unions work hard to capture that one shot at glory.

Expectations

While the mantle falls on the present Union to live up to the standards of the previous fests and set a future precedent, expectations are the first thing that they are worried about. Trust me, they may refuse, refute or even confess, but everybody is worried about how to make their fest the most popular in the circuit. Everything depends on how memorable your fest is, not just for winners but also for participants, till the next year.

Participation

How much footfall you see matters a lot, almost the same as the above factor. Participation, or footfalls at any event are the single-most significant determinant of the popularity of the event and the fest. How you harbour participation is dependent upon the various logistics, posters, social media marketing, spamming, email invites, calls and other aspects of Marketing and Branding.

Planning

The events, where you participate with so much enthusiasm, are the brainchild of the Union. To even plan the content, various rounds, every little detail, question and query, the Union tirelessly thinks, re-thinks and formulates in what you see as a well-organised activity. The events have to be of a wide variety, ranging from the mainstream to creative first-timers, to fusion of fandoms and field-specific. It is all about giving something that is worth experiencing and piques the interest. Carefully chosen Event Committees work on the set guidelines and facilitate them to your amusement and maybe even victory.

Budgeting

Taking on the role of the Finance Ministry of the department, the Union crosses its fingers in the hope of a college-approved and granted budget that is never too less. Actually, no matter what, it always is less. Add to the disappointment, the soaring budgets of other, more affluent fests. There are also some colleges that go looking for sponsors, which undoubtedly requires how well can you sell your fest and its idea. Some portion of the budget or some goodies are also sponsored by those companies. Left without much choice, then begins the breaking down of the event awards, the cash prizes, the logistics, Honorariums, refreshment budget and the marketing budget. Keeping track of each and every penny used with proper invoices and bills collected, is a major stress factor.

Dignitaries

If you call a famous author, or the Governor of RBI, or any other well-known veteran of your field or not of your field, half of the audience you witness is there to hear that dignitary speak. After all, these are what young undergraduates aspire to be. If you are lucky, during your tenure as a college graduate, some department fest may invite your idol, and that will change your entire college experience.

 Committee members

Apart from just the events, every fest has some behind-the-scenes committees as well, that are majorly responsible for everything from the functioning of an event, to handling conflicts, keeping tab on refreshments, participants, technical equipment and guarding the money. They are the hawk-eyes of the fest, stealthily sliding by your side and never letting you know their agenda. All this requires the acquiring of the role of a Human Resource personnel, interviewing, testing and trusting people to be efficient and up-to-the-mark in their jobs.

 Setting The Date

Everybody wants that the fest be at a time when it is not clashing with any other college fest or department fest, lest it reduce the footfall. After all, a lot of the students go on to attend the concerts and thereby reduce a large portion of the participation. March is the most feared month, my friends! The later you place yourself, the more scared you are.

Department Fests are no cake-walks! They are that stepping stone into the real world, that is forgotten after every year. If you are in a Union, I think you know what I am talking about. Have you started receiving those calls for sending delegations to other colleges? Irritating, right? And if you are a student, well, pity and be proud of your Union and give them a break. Help, applaud and appreciate them.

However, on a general note, please don’t be intimidated by the above, it looks scary but a Fest is the most fun-filled event of the year. I recommend you to be there, to enjoy, to quarrel, to run and to experience the re-birth of a new fest every year.

Happy Fest-ing!

Featured Image Credits: DU Beat

 

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DUB Speak

Trends and Lessons from the DU Fest Season

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Festival season at Delhi University has almost touched the finishing line. In hindsight, certain trends dominated the culture and the crowd over these few months. From main college fests to department fests, from star performances to sponsorships, from food stalls to fashion (and its disasters), the University witnessed the most vibrant period of the year.

This year, star performances, the greatest deal of the big college fests attracted huge crowds at most of the colleges. Unions with high budgets went to call performers like Arijit Singh, Mohit Chauhan, Shaan, Papon and Kailash Kher to name a few whereas many colleges saw Punjabi stars like Diljit Dosanjh, Bohemia, Indeep Bakshi among others. This new trend of hooking up Punjabi stars for the fests seems to be a fair deal, mainly because they aren’t buried under extensive Bollywood rage and it ends up being a less costly affair. Not only that, Punjabi performers create that insane mood among the spectators by singing party numbers.

With many star nights overlapping, DUites had started blabbering to themselves about where to go and where not to. Though looking at it from a broad perspective, artists performing this year were more appreciated and attracted large audiences compared to last year. The college fests that were tagged as “big” last year might have disappointed a few, while few others (probably the ones that are not usually listed in the top 5 college fests of Delhi University) attracted many young heads from all over the University. This also encouraged better participations in various main and filler events of the fests. In terms of creativity and organisation, most of the colleges did not fail to impress.

The individual department and society fests within the colleges were almost as big budget affairs as were college fests. Histrionica and Eclat, the Theatre fests of Shri Ram College of Commerce and Hansraj College respectively, Appulse – the Commerce fest of Kirori Mal College and Scoop – the Journalism fest of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce to name a few were bigger this year. The cash prizes and awards at all the fests around the University were inciting enough to grab the attention. Sponsorships remained an issue with most of the colleges as all the decisions were taken at the last moment but in the end big brands like Coca Cola, BBM, Radio Mirchi, BlackBerry etc. were seen as partners with the fests.

The food stalls at most of the fests, however, disappointed majority of students. While the usual chaat, bhelpuri, pasta were commonly found at colleges, at certain times, the college canteen was seen to be more occupied than the food stalls at the fest. Local new eating joints and restaurants in the University area were also catering to students occasionally.

After attending classes late for the whole year, dressed up in night suits and pyjamas; the fest season practically changed the routine of all university students. Reaching 4 hours before the arrival of the star performer and dressing up to impress others were most the trends among the youngsters, especially girls. Fashion disasters weren’t missing nevertheless.

Largely, the colour and flavour of all these elements during this season will surely make up all for the messed up schedule during the other time of the year. Finally comes a time, when students stop thinking about the confusion going on and struggle to get to the classes on time. The time is here.

See you all next year at the fests!

Illustration credits: Mehr Gill for DU Beat

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