Tag

Gargi College

Browsing

 After protests in Gargi College campus against the violence endured by students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, and the government’s anti-people policies, the administration prohibited students from protesting in campus premises.

 On 6th January 2020, the students of Gargi College carried out a peaceful protest and discussion in the campus against police brutality in campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and against Citizenships (Amendment) Act (CAA)-National Register of Citizens (NRC). The gathering was supported by the Students’ Union and was attended by students with posters and placards.

However, on behalf of the Principal, Dr. Promila Kumar, the Union Advisor asked for the protest to be shut down as the posters, apparently, were inappropriate. The advisor also asked the students to carry out the discussion indoors and prohibited sloganeering.

As a result, the students of Gargi College proceeded to recite slogans outside their Campus.

 On 7th January, the Principal, then, in a discussion with the protestors, said that no gathering would be permitted without the principal’s written permission.

The administration of the Gargi College released a notice prohibiting students from participating in any protests unapproved by the principal, stating that all students found doing so would be punished. Moreover, the college now requires prior permission from the police for any gathering outside the college.

IMG-20200110-WA0015

Official Notice by the administration

The notice read, “All students are hereby informed that no gathering or protest of any form in the college premises is allowed without the prior approval of the Principal. Further, the prior permission is required from the police for any protests/gathering outside the College. In case, any student is found protesting in the College premises, disciplinary action shall be taken against such student. Further, if any student protests outside the college, such students shall be solely responsible for his/her action.”

 Ashwini, an Applied Psychology student of the college says, “The gathering was actually something which was approved and put forward by the Students’ Union for which the permission has been granted. However, seeing this bipolar behaviour has upset me to my very core. My college has always been a safe space for something like this, so this wasn’t really something I expected.”

A student, who wished to remain anonymous, stated, “On one hand, by calling it a form of protection the College administration and Principal wanted the College to remain away from tangible issues, as they feared misrepresentation. At the same while, the students wanted to stand up and speak out together. It became a conflict inside the College itself where the positivity of solidarity transformed into negativity and resentment amongst students, students’ union, and the authorities.”

The Gargi College Student Union, on 10th January, along with college Department Presidents, organised another gathering in support of students and against the acts of brutality, which went on peacefully.

Students and teachers were witnessed reciting Hum Dekhenge, Hum Honge Kaamyab and other songs in solidarity. Members of Upstage, the stage play society of Gargi College also enacted a small performance on the ongoing distress in the Nation. The gathering ended with a recitation of the Preamble of the Constitution.

 

IMG-20200110-WA0050__01__01 IMG-20200110-WA0049__01__01

Official statement by Students’ Union, Gargi College

Image Credits: Instagram @studentuniongargi

 

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Satviki Sanjay

[email protected]

 

 

Delhi University’s School of Open Learning (SOL) students protested at various education centres on Sunday, following cancellation of classes for two consecutive weeks.

A students’ group belonging to the School Of Open Learning staged protests across many colleges of the Delhi University (DU), that act as study centres, causing huge chaos at these institutions. The students were protesting against the cancellation of Personal Contact Programme (PCP) classes for two consecutive weeks. According to the students, the classes were cancelled without any prior notice of intimation regarding the same to the students. The protests were organised in Gargi College, located in South Campus as well as Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, located in Shahdara on Sunday, September 15th. At Gargi College, female students surrounded the entrance gate and blocked the road, in protest against cancellation of classes.

Besides the classes being cancelled, SOL students also face problems of inadequate study material, and denial to entry in their study centres. According to the students, the classes were cancelled last week as well.

Moreover, the Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) alleged the classes of B.A. Programme students were cancelled on Sunday at all SOL centres without the SOL administration informing students. “Thousands of first year students from B.A. Programme had reached their centres in the morning, as early as 8 am, but were forced to return after being told that classes for Sunday stood cancelled. Thousands and thousands of students who reached their centres were left clueless as to where to take classes after they were abruptly cancelled,” The classes have been cancelled due to “unpreparedness of SOL administration in implementing Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) curriculum from this year,” it asserted.

KYS had also said it will organise a protest demonstration at SOL Building in North Campus during the coming week. In response, Professor C.S. Dubey, Director of SOL, said, “B.A. programme classes were not scheduled for this Sunday. The classes of B.Com were scheduled for this Sunday.” Dubey also informed that SOL is likely to complete all the necessary arrangements and commence B.A. classes from next week onwards. The delay is being caused due to the change in the SOL curriculum in accordance with the latest Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) of the Varsity.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Bhavya Pandey

[email protected]

With less than a month left for the new academic session to begin, the University has hiked the annual fee for many undergraduate courses.

A bulletin released on the Delhi University website on 19th June 2019 announced the revised annual fee structure for undergraduate courses. It saw an increase of at least INR 2,000 to INR 8,000 this year.

According to Hindustan Times, the fee structure of most of the courses in Gargi college has been revised by INR 2500 to INR 3000, the fee for B.A. (Hons.) Business Economics has gone up by as much as INR 14,000. The fee for the course was INR 26, 875 last year. Now, it is INR 41,220.

As reported by Hindustan Times, Promila Kumar, Principal of Gargi College said, “The University has approved B.A. (Hons.) in Business Economics as a self-finance course.” She added, “We have to generate our own funds to pay salary to teachers besides other expenses. We are not getting any grant from the University for the course,”

The insufficient funds were considered as the main reasons by the authorities for hiking the fees.

This pattern was noticed in Hindu College also. The fee structure for many courses including B.A. (Hons.) English was INR 14,790 previously but now has been increased to INR 17,310. Ramjas College saw the fee hike from INR 10,395 to INR 13,495. The average increase in fee ranges lies between INR 1500 and INR 3500 in many colleges including Aryabhatta College, Bhaskaracharya College for Applied Sciences, Delhi College for Arts and Commerce, Deshbandhu College, Hindu College, Indraprastha College for Women, Miranda House, Motilal Nehru College, and Ramjas college.

The new bulletin also mentions the increase in fee for many courses by INR 8,000 in Ramanujan College and Institute of Home Economics. Previously, the fee for courses such as B. Sc. (Hons.) Home Science and Microbiology were INR 19,675. It  now amounts to INR 28,890.

In Janki Devi Memorial College and Shaheed Rajguru College Of Applied Sciences For Womem, the increase in fee structure is somewhere between INR 4,000 and INR 5,000.

Rakesh Jha, a member of Executive Council of the University said, “We strongly demand the rollback of fee hike as it is very much against the higher education accessible to every section of the society. The drastic cut in UGC grants has brought such a situation. Just imagine what will happen when we will be force to take loan from Higher Education Financing Agency. The result will be students’ fees in lakhs to repay the loans.”

The authorities blamed “routine revision” which has resulted in demands for rollback of the increase in fee as it was against making higher education more accessible.

(With inputs from Hindustan Times and Scroll)

Feature Image Credits: The Indian Express

Antriksha Pathania
[email protected]

During Sabrang, the annual cultural fest of Deshbandhu College, extreme mismanagement led to disappointment among the participants of the group folk dance event.

On 5th March 2019, Riwayat the folk-dance society of Deshbandhu College organised Ruhaaniyat, a group folk dance competition as part of their annual cultural fest, Sabrang. The event saw extreme mismanagement on the part of the organisers due to which there was a time clash between the folk dance and fashion society’s event. Although, the event saw participation from 11 teams but only nine were able to perform, out of which Ramanujan College was disqualified.

Abhishek, the President of the Bhangra Regiment, the folk dance Society of Ramanujan College stated that the competition at Deshbandhu was cancelled by the teachers due to mismanagement after more than half of the teams had already performed. He stated, “Even our team was disqualified. According to them, we took time in microphone set-up when it was discussed with their co-ordinator before hand.”  Shubhanshi Bharadwaj, President of Nazaakat, the folk dance society of Gargi College claimed that it was one of the worst competitions they took part in. “While we were performing , we were asked to step down during the performance because of time constraints. Fashion societies were also waiting for their event to begin. In all this ruckus, two societies couldn’t perform.”

The Bhangra Society of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College and Bhangra Inspire from Shri Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa College even after waiting till 6 p.m, all ready with their outfits, were not able to perform at the competition. The President of Bhangra Inspire said, “The organisers started the fashion show abruptly and told us that we will perform after. But they continued with the fashion show for a long time. We asked them to let us perform since we had been waiting for long in our costumes. But we weren’t allowed.” Post this, the teams had a heated discussion with the teachers and the Student Union where the teams demanded that the event be cancelled.  But the Union opposed this and an announcement to conduct the event the next day was made. However, it became impossible for different societies to return to perform the next day for the competition. A week later, the President of Riwayat, the folk dance society of Deshbandhu College texted the members of Mridang, the folk dance society of Miranda House and Nrityakriti, folk dance society of Maitreyi College that they have secured first and second position respectively.

Shubhashini also stated that teachers were being extremely disrespectful towards the teams. She added “When the presidents of different societies went to talk to the teacher, she told them she will slap them or ask the bouncers to throw us out. It was so disrespectful and  disheartening to see a teacher behave this way.”

The President of Riwayaat accepted the occurrence of mismanagement. She said, “The event began extremely late because of the inauguration. Everything got delayed and the fashion society started demanding the stage to conduct their own event. All this led to a huge ruckus.” Talking about their decision to release the results a week after the even she said, “Other teams who had performed demanded that the results should be announced. We understand it was a mistake on our part  but it was our duty to disclose the results.”

 

Feature Image Credits: Rishabh Gogoi for DU Beat

Sakshi Arora

[email protected]

 

By bringing a popular star, organising committees think their fest was a success, conveniently ignoring the ruckus and lack of security beside the glamorous stage.

Perhaps, it’s an Indian thing: no regard for personal space and history of crowd disasters. Everyone- the organizers or the participants- has normalised trampling and minor injuries. It’s seen as an indispensable part of fest experience. This explains why the President of Lady Irwin College, Nikita Tiwari, bombarded the comments’ section of our Facebook post that reported the injuries and mismanagement suffered by the guests at Quintessence’19 instead of accepting responsibility. In the same breath where they admit to being crowded, she stated how such incidents are common and regaled the tale of hard work that goes into organising fests.

At Reverie’19, the annual cultural fest of Gargi College, reports of rampant sexual harassment were especially shameful, considering the fest theme emphasised consent’s significance. Gargi’s Union had substantial time to craft a sensible reply and do a self-assessment but it chose to deliver a response devoid of any apology, even taking credit for victims who voiced their experience, by stating- “Their standing against the discomfort experienced by them due to some ill elements present in the crowd, stood testimony to the success of our theme.”

Maghendra Pratap Singh, Cultural Secretary of Hindu College Parliament, told DU Beat that the medical room in a building in the sports’ ground was open, and volunteers were available to assist anyone who needed help. Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) was on the same bandwagon, but both the colleges failed to provide concrete answers about why this information wasn’t publicised. In case of an emergency, how can a non-Hindu or non-SRCC student be expected to know where the medical room is? Does the union expect the aggrieved to look for volunteers, instead of rushing to a designated help desk that should have been placed?

In the backdrop of Pulwama attacks, India is vulnerable to terrorist attacks; fests, like all mass gatherings, have a risk of being a terrorist attack target, which makes the first line of security at the entrance gate crucial. The top colleges of India seem to forget this and open their gates for all. On the last day of Mecca (Hindu College), the gates were left open without guards at later hours of the fest. The Parliament had no response for this. In SRCC, the entry (that was initially via passes for non-SRCC students) was opened for all. When asked about it, a union member said the decision was made by the administration to curb passes’ sale.

There is also a trend of hiring bouncers from private firms to guard star nights. The SHO of Maurice Nagar, Mr. RA told DU Beat that police can provide close to 100 personnel for a DU fest, but witnesses present only saw a maximum of 12-15 men.

At the risk of being highbrow, LSR practices strictness like no entry post 4 p.m. and pass-entry only. Kaushiki Arha, President of the LSR Union, explains how the security team of Tarang had a total of nine heads and sub-heads, around 30 core team members with close to 600 volunteers who were divided into different slots over three days. She said that in addition to basic medical facilities available in the campus, they tied up with Apollo Hospital, who provided them with a doctor and an ambulance on the second day of the fest since it was expected to see the highest turn-out. LSR doesn’t hire any private security, and has proven to be self-sufficient in terms of crowd control. If Tarang can have this sorted, then why can’t others

If organising committees can spend to book popular celebrities, then it is realistic to expect that they make sure that barricades, police, ambulance, entry-exit procedure, etc. are in place. The only reason why we see a pattern of crowd disaster is that unions don’t care enough about security. No doubt that immense efforts are invested in organising a fest, but the argument here is of a continuous negation of apt security measures. With manpower, money, and time, the organisers don’t get to play helpless when things go south.

Feature Image Credits: Rishabh Gogoi for DU Beat

Niharika Dabral

[email protected]

The opening day of Reverie 2019 commenced with the lighting of the lamp by the chief guest and actor, Sushma Seth, followed by her speech. Performances by Professor Ruchika Sharma, Euphony – Western Music Society, and Enliven – Western Group Dance Society ensured of the fun that is to follow at Gargi College’s Annual Cultural Fest, Reverie. The theme of the fest: “A brave new world; an ode to Diversity” works on the basis of 3 C’s- Choice, Consent, and Conservation. These cover broad topics like LGBTQ empowerment, sexual harassment, female empowerment, equality, wildlife preservation, and protection.

 


 

Dhanak, India Group Folk dance competition organized by Nazakat saw a participation by 11 teams who had cleared their online prelims. The event was judged by Mrs. Swagata Sen Pillai, who gave the third position to Delhi Technical University, 2nd position to the Bhangra Society Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, and Annhad, Daulat Ram College came 1st .

 

 

The day came to a magnificent close with The Local Train’s performance, which swept the crowd off its feet. With songs like Choo Lo, Dil Mere, Aaoge Tum Kabhi the band ensured that the crowd didn’t lose their energy.

 

Day two of Reverie 2019, the annual cultural festival had an enthralling start. Aabhas, the street play competition was organised by Khistij, the street play society of Gargi College. The event witnessed 11 teams delivering power-packed performances. Kunal Arora and Pallav Kumar judged the event.

 


 

The second day at Reverie 2019 ended with an enthralling and euphoric showcase by DJ Zaeden. Students from across SU, DTU, and IIT came to enjoy the DJ night and were seen dancing to the tunes of DJ’s famous remixes of  Magic, AnimalsDon’t Wanna Know, and Love Yourself. It was a glorious close to an eventful day full of soaring talents and dreams.

 


 

The day three of Reverie’19 witnessed eight western dance societies which cleared the prelims on 24th January performed with great enthusiasm and set the stage on fire at Zenith, the western dance competition organised by Enliven, the western dance society of Gargi College. Adjudged by Mr Anand Singh the event saw powerpack performances in which Crunk from Sri Aurobindo College was awarded the first position. Vdefyne of IIT Delhi came second, while Electra of Motilal Nehru College came third.

 


 

The last day of Reverie 2019 came to an end with a melodic and beautiful performance by Prateek Kuhad. The over-enthusiastic crowd went silent and enjoyed his soulful love ballads. He sang some of his famous songs like Tum Jab PaasTune Kaha, and 100 Words and ended his enthralling performance with his most loved song ‘cold/mess’.

 

 

Stay tuned for the fest season has just begun, DU Beat will go on to cover the largest fests of Delhi University.

 

Feature Image Credits: Adithya Khanna for DU Beat

Anoushka Sharma

[email protected]

Avnika Chhikara

[email protected]

Maumil Mehraj

[email protected]

Sakshi Arora

[email protected]

Haris Khan

[email protected]

Numerous victims wrote to us their incidents of harassment and molestation during fests.

The fest season has kicked off with the annual cultural fest of Gargi College, Reverie which took place from 30th January to 1st February 2019. Despite having a number of competitions, some of the best societies coming to participate, and a glorious celebrity line-up with The Local Train, DJ Zaeden and Prateek Kuhad, the fest failed on a basic ground level service of providing a safe environment.

Girls were catcalled, groped and grinded left, right and centre during not just Prateek Kuhad’s concert but during EDM night too. Samra Shahzad, a first-year student of  Gargi College reported to DU Beat that a guy stared at her when she was dancing and came up to her saying she dances well, the look on his face was suggestive and horrifying, it certainly wasn’t a compliment. Several guys then, forced her to give them her contact number and became quite aggressive when she refused which made her feel extremely unsafe during her own college fest. Her friend pushed, scolded, and glared at numberless guys who were trying to get questionably close to her while she was dancing. DU Beat members faced aggressive masculine misbehaviour first-hand. Our photographers caught some boys pushing girls near barricades on EDM night.

Not only boys, but girls were also seen misbehaving and physically harassing other girls. An anonymous source commented, “I kept count. 4 groped me, and 7 touched me inappropriately. They were like- relax, that’s the fun about swinging it both ways.” There were no volunteers,  administration or union members in the crowd to report such incidents to. The crowd outside the barricades was left unattended, at the hands of minimal security.

Security at fests is one of the most important duties of the organisers. While the entry was supposed to be closed at 5:00 pm, students reported that many people entered the college even till 6:30 pm. Even though only students of the University of Delhi, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, and Delhi Technological University were allowed, but students from other universities entered without proper checking at the gates.  A student reported that a boy asked her if she knew someone in the student union to get back ‘some of’ his confiscated weed. The fest on-lookers also saw empty liquor bottles lying around the campus.

When girls at Gargi College personally messaged their own stories of harassment to the  Student Council, the President responded by saying, “It is very unfortunate how the line of incidents went down even when we tried to make sure security is handled. We tried to manage our best but there were so much nuisance and many ill elements present in the field. In terms of checking, we shall make sure right people are caught hold of who didn’t do their work properly.” She also thanked girls who came up to tell their stories.

The irony is that the theme of Reverie was “A Brave New World: An Ode to Diversity” which worked on the principles of 3C’s, Consent, Choice and Conservation. Celebration of such empowering themes now stands ironically juxtaposed.

Students on the condition of anonymity have come forward with their stories of groping and harassment from previous year fests like Crossroads (Shri Ram College of Commerce), Tempest (Miranda House), and others.

However, the Reverie incident was only the recent episode of ongoing experiences of harassments in the college fests. On the assurance of anonymity, a final-year student of Miranda House accounts, “These incidents are so common in fests that over the years, you get used to them. There is almost never anyone to make complaints.” She goes on to add, “The fest organising team has to understand this as a major issue. Unless the weeding out of such acts is as much a priority as the fest itself, things will not get better.” Security and gate-checking should be one of the prerogatives of the teams to ensure a good time by all and for all.

 

From niche events like Sanskrit singing contest and crowd favourites like western dance, the last day of Reverie 2019 had something for everyone.

The day three of Reverie’19 witnessed the Sanskrit singing and speech competition Sangchhadhwam conducted by the Sanskrit Department. It was divided into two segments. The singing and speech competition. Sonali from Gargi College bagged the first position in the singing competition followed by Vrishabh and Bharati from Janaki Devi Memorial College. The Speech competition saw Ambrish Gupta from Rajdhani college secure the first prize, followed by Reenu from Gargi College and Sohan Arya from Ramjas College, who got the second prize.

Eight western dance societies which cleared the prelims on 24th January performed with great enthusiasm and set the stage on fire at Zenith, the western dance competition organised by Enliven, the western dance society of Gargi College. Adjudged by Mr Anand Singh the event saw powerpack performances in which Crunk from Sri Aurobindo College was awarded the first position. Vdfyne of IIT Delhi came second, while Electra of Motilal Nehru College came third.

Glass Eye, the film making society of Gargi College, organised a 48-hr film making competition and a Cine Quiz. For the 48-hour film making an event, themes were sent to eight teams across colleges who had to submit their short films within a deadline of two days. Three shortlisted films were screened and were announced winners. The first position was bagged by First Cut, film making society Ramanujan College. Xposure of Dyal Singh College came second and 35mm of Amity University came third. Cine Quiz saw on spot registrations of cross-college teams. Cinephiles came first, Buddies came second, and Go Glass Eye came third.

Rangchunaav, the open theme mix media painting competition, witnessed participation from 17 painters. The event was adjudged by Mr Avinash Gautam.  As many as 40 contestants participated in Reverie’s T-shirt painting competition. Archana Jaideep, a freelance artist, who has put up exhibitions in London, and also serves in the ECA committee of Delhi University was the judge. The contestants were given a plain white T-shirt, which acted as a canvas for their artistic talent.

The last day of Reverie 2019 came to an end with a melodic and beautiful performance by Prateek Kuhad. The over-enthusiastic crowd went silent and enjoyed his soulful love ballads. He sang some of his famous songs like Tum Jab Paas, Tune Kaha, and 100 Words and ended his enthralling performance with his most loved song ‘cold/mess’. The student Union followed with a vote of thanks and the crowd dispersed peacefully. Reverie was all the beauty and grace it had promised to be and was a prestigious platform for young and upcoming talent. Stay tuned for the fest season has just begun, DU Beat will go on to cover the largest fests of Delhi University.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Anoushka Sharma

[email protected]

Avnika Chhikara

[email protected]

Maumil Mehraj

[email protected]

Sakshi Arora

[email protected]

Here is a re-cap of Day 1 at Reverie 2019, the annual cultural festival of Gargi College. 

The opening day of Reverie 2019 commenced with the lighting of the lamp by the chief guest and actor, Sushma Seth, followed by her speech. Performances by Professor Ruchika Sharma, Euphony – Western Music Society, and Enliven – Western Group Dance Society ensured of the fun that is to follow at Gargi College’s Annual Cultural Fest, Reverie.

Events and competitions began soon after the inauguration. Students participated in the Talent Recognition competition and showcased their prowess in the form of dance, singing, slam poetry, and more. A number of students also participated in the English creative writing competition organised by Quilluminati, the English Creative Writing Society.
The first event in the seminar hall, Khayal, the classical solo singing competition, was supposed to begin at 11 a.m., got delayed due to the late arrival the two judges; Sriparna Nandi and Arundhati Bhatacharji, the total number of contestants that took part in the event was 11 from across University of Delhi (DU) colleges. The contestants had to perform one classical piece each and the participants were allowed to bring one instrumental player to accompany them. The minimum time limit was 4 minutes per performance. The winner of the event was Chinmay from Kirori Mal College, Abdul from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College bagged the 2nd place, and Daksh from Zakir Husain College came third.
The second event if the day in the seminar hall, featuring The same jugdes as before, Jugalbandi the semi classical duet competition saw, a total of 6 teams with two participants in each team performing a piece with one additional instrument player. The winners of the event were Minatullah and Rupanshi from Kirori Mal College, Sukriti and Sukprit tied from SGTB Khalsa College tied with Yugandha and Sakshi from Lady Shri Ram College for Women for the second position and Abdul and Hardik bagged the third prize.
The final competition of the day in the seminar hall also had the same judges with an additional judge, Mr. Debu Bhatacharya. Vadaan, the instrumental solo competition saw only 4 participants playing various different classical instruments like the tabla, harmonium, dhol etc. They had to present an instrumental piece within a maximum time of 5 minutes. The results for the same were: Anant Raman from Dyal Singh College in first place, Nabeel Khan from Zakir Husain College in second and Sarveshwar from PGDAV (morning) College in third place.

The Western Acapella competition was conducted by Euphony in Gargi’s annual cultural fest Reverie. A total of 16 teams from across different colleges had passed the online prelims competed to win the cash prizes. The event saw delay and the management had to shift their venues from the Auditorium to the seminar hall after the 11th performance owing to the demands from Sparx, the choreography society, for them to begin their own competition. The competition was judged by Mr. Joshua Peters and Mr. Maker Kashung. The acapella society from Sri Venkateshwara College came first, there was tie for the second place between societies of Jesus and Mary College and Lady Shri Ram College for Women, St Stephen’s College came in third.

Dhanak, India Group Folk dance competition organized by Nazakat saw a participation by 11 teams who had cleared their online prelims. The event was judged by Mrs. Swagata Sen Pillai, who gave the third position to Delhi Technical University, 2nd position to the Bhangra Society Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, and Annhad, Daulat Ram College came 1st . In her speech, she said that Bhangra Society of SGND Khalsa could not win because they exceeded the time limit, whereas according to the members of the society they had not exceeded the time limit at all. While talking to DU Beat, Jaskaran Singh, President of the Bhangra society of SGND Khalsa College said that it was cleared with the organisers beforehand that their time would be counted once the dhol beats begin after the sher but somehow the judges had counted their time just after the sher began. It is to be noted that the teams from SNDT, SSG and DTU almost backed out from the competition when an allegedly intoxicated guard misbehaved with them at the entry early in the morning.

9 teams across different colleges participated in the Choreography competition organised by Sparx, called the Creative-iti. The event began after a 3-hour delay because of a domino effect of all the previous events being delayed. Capella, NSUT won the competition while the second and third place was awarded to LSR and Sparx, of Gargi College respectively. The event was judged by Ms. Surya Sharma and Deva Smita.

Day 1 of Reverie witnessed power packed performances by the participants in the Talent Show event, organised by the Students Union of Gargi College. Both solo and group performances were allowed. Students performed on latest Bollywood hits. The show also witnessed solo and duet singing. The theme of the fest: “A brave new world; an ode to Diversity” works on the basis of 3 C’s- Choice, Consent, and Conservation. These cover broad topics like LGBTQ empowerment, sexual harassment, female empowerment, equality, wildlife preservation, and protection. Individually these are significant and necessary issues of today’s world but interlacing all of them together as a theme for one of the largest annual cultural fest of Delhi University brings down its gusto.

The day came to a magnificent close with The Local Train’s performance, which swept the crowd off its feet. With songs like Choo Lo, Dil Mere, Aaoge Tum Kabhi the band ensured that the crowd didn’t lose their energy.

 

Feature Image Credits: Surabhi Khare for DU Beat

Prachi Mehra

[email protected]

Anoushka Sharma

[email protected]

Haris Khan

[email protected]

Sakshi Arora

[email protected]

In an effort to ensure hygiene in terms of food preparation, the administration of Gargi College has tied up with the management of Diggin, Chanakyapuri, making it the official caterer for the college canteen.

Nootan Mishra, Vice Principal of Gargi, was quoted by DU Beat as saying, “Our administration had been facing multiple issues in terms of hygiene with our previous caterers. The consumption of such food led to multiple cases of students falling sick or getting food poisoning. The college has also received complaints from worried parents and it is our responsibility to provide food that is safe for consumption.”

As per the contract, Diggin would be providing all the items previously sold at the canteen, at subsidised prices. Vishal Katooni, Vice President of the Diggin Management says, “Our aim is to provide DU students with healthy and tasty food at affordable prices. For the first few months, we will be experimenting with our menus to see what suits their appetite best.” The contract has officially been signed for one year after which it will be renewed, depending upon the response of the students.

Vania Verma, President of Gargi College’s student union, says, “I’m really glad to bring this change during my tenure. I hope this venture becomes successful and the students feel satisfied with the services.” Rahina Sharma, a first-year student of B.A. (Hons.) Mathematics at Gargi College, says, “As I stay in a PG, it becomes very difficult for me to bring a tiffin and the food in our canteen used to be so unhygienic. I’m really looking forward to this change since I wouldn’t have to worry about my meals now.” The catering is expected to begin from 1st November 2018. Till then, the Nescafe stall would be stocked with all the items of need.

Tihana Verma, a second-year student of B.Com. (Hons.) from Kamala Nehru College, says, “It’s really unfair that Gargi College is getting such catering services and not Kamala Nehru. I urge our administration to take the same step.”

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

Feature Image Credits: WhatsHot

Muskan Sethi

[email protected]