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Poet Akhil Katyal’s Discusses Poetry and Delhi at Gargi College

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Dr. Akhil Katyal graced the Department of English of Gargi College afternoon for a workshop on ‘Poetry on Delhi’ on Monday afternoon. Dr. Katyal is an assistant professor of English Literature and Creative Writing at Ambedkar University, Delhi. He was warmly welcomed by the students and teachers of the department and expressed his pleasure at being back in the college.

He began his workshop by quoting Muhammad Ibrahim Zauq on his love of Delhi. He also read out excerpts from Ishq Mai Seher Hona, a book of poetry written by the eminent journalist, Ravish Kumar. The poems spoke of the insecurity of love by comparing the relationship to areas of Delhi. Dr. Katyal asked if the students could connect to the verses and they narrated their incidents of similar feelings and situations. He explained to the audience how similes and metaphors work in the art of poetry.

He said that the ‘Toolbox of Poetry’ consists of the tool of language, sound, and visual. The poet can use these components attract the attention of the reader. Dr. Katyal also taught students the art of enjambment on the paragraph. He also discussed A Butcher written by Agha Shahid Ali, a Kashmiri-American poet. Dr. Katyal discussed each student’s point of view in changing the prose paragraph to poetry and later revealed how the poet himself had done it. He asserted the importance of location, softness, action, speed, etc. He also underlined the subconscious forces at play based on Rebecca Hazelton’s essay, Learning the Poetic Line.

For the last session of his workshop, he showed the map of Delhi and asked the audience to mark the areas of the city according to certain questions. He commented how the answers reflected theoretical studies by Shilpa Phadke in Why Loiter? Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets. This explanation and left the audience in awe. Students shared their poems on Delhi and got pictures clicked with the eminent professor, poet, and author.

Feature Image Credits: Pavini Suri
Prachi Mehra 
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News

Gargi College Celebrates its Golden Jubilee Year

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Gargi College celebrated its Golden Jubilee on 15th February 2017. All the ex-teachers, as well as principals, were invited. The auditorium was full to its capacity, brimming with laughter, cheers, and excitement for the event to begin.

The Chief Guest of the event, Dr. Pranab Mukherjee, the 13th President of India was escorted by the Principal of the college, other dignitaries, and NCC cadets to the main auditorium. Prof. Yogesh K. Tyagi, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi, was the Guest of Honour along with Prof. Pradeep Burma, Chairman of Gargi’s Governing Body, Dr. Shashi Tyagi, Co-Convenor of the Golden Jubilee Committee, and Ms. Promila Kumar, Principal of Gargi College.

The guests were felicitated with the print edition of 50 years of Gargi College and a crassula plant as a token of appreciation. Ms. Promila Kumar welcomed the guests and audience and praised each dignitary in their efforts for bringing changes in their respective fields. She prayed to the departed souls for bringing Gargi College to its current stature and reflected on the college’s 50-year journey. She added that Gargi stands for service to humanity.

Prof. Tyagi congratulated the faculty on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee and for choosing Dr. Mukherjee as the Chief Guest. He encouraged the audience to set higher and extraordinary benchmarks to be achieved in the future. He was grateful to the ex-President to have given him his current position. He ended his speech on a funny anecdote by sharing that he had not seen a more vibrant audience in his life before.

The ex-President of the country applauded the faculty in its efforts of bringing the college to its current position. He repented that in his 43 years as a member of parliament, he could not serve in the Ministery of Human Resource Development  and discussed the current state of education in our country. He emphasised on the need for research, innovation, and development. He also expressed remorse on the fact that six lakh Indian students go to foreign universities for higher studies because the current education system cannot create the environment to fulfill their educational aspirations. He added that the government is working to provide quality education in the hope of being able to match with the best universities in the world.

Dr. Shashi Tyagi paid the vote of thanks on behalf of all the faculty members and the guests left the audience absolutely enthralled.

 

Feature Image Credits: Prachi Mehra for DU Beat

Prachi Mehra
[email protected]

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Events

Literary Society Flea Market of Gargi College

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As Gargi College buzzed with the crowd of society fests and the hum of music on the morning of 24th January, the Literary Society set up a Flea Market with the slogan: “Come break capitalism!” After weeks of both students and teachers bringing in jewellery, household utensils, clocks, photo frames, scarves, etc. in good condition, and things like milkshake bottles and coffee jars that could be repurposed into something new, stalls were set up to sell the same at extremely affordable prices.

The stalls lined the garden boundary of the college, greeting everyone who entered the premises with an array of clothes, photo frames, accessories, and even footwear. Accessories saw starting prices of as low as ten rupees, while useable things like earphones too were sold at just thirty-five rupees. Coffee jars were transformed into cute home décor with ribbons and glittering hearts – just in time for Valentine’s Day! – and glass bottles into vases that looked as good as new. Handmade notebooks and folders were a couple of the biggest attractions, with their printed covers giving them a unique advantage over the ones seen in markets.

Fliers were distributed all over the college, to Gargi students and students from other colleges alike; the Flea Market attracted throngs of people to its display of affordable goodies. The accessories stall, glittering in the sunlight of the afternoon with its golden bracelets and rainbow earrings, attracted the largest crowd – mostly consisting of girls, but guys found themselves browsing the stall too! The handmade and repurposed goods also found themselves being sold by the minute.

Most things were sold out by the end of the day as the Flea Market began winding down and the crowds in the college started dwindling. As a few people browsed the remaining items lazily, the evening winds fluttered the stringed decorations and the colourful banner proclaiming “LIT SOC FLEA”, which itself was made out of newspaper. By the end of the day, most things were sold out, and teachers and participants who had been waiting till the end to buy their share bought out the rest.

Everyone who had participated in the Flea Market had lent a hand to the breakdown of capitalism, the competition of rising and falling prices and the rat race of one company trying to outrun the other. In contrast, this was a uniquely peaceful experience for all involved, not having to be bothered by things that look good but have prices to beat out their looks.

 

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Nashra Usmani

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Events

Cascade’17: Department of Commerce, Gargi College Organises Seminar on GST

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Cascade, the annual national level seminar of Department of Commerce, Gargi College was held on 1st November 2017. The theme of this year’s seminar was ‘GST: An Epoch-Making Revolution’. It was thoughtfully themed on Goods and Services Tax, which is the current talking point in India regarded as a revolutionary step in the indirect taxation regime.  

In pursuit of the theme, the fest was structured into the formal seminar and informal events.

The formal event was graced by Mr. Sachin Jain, Additional Commissioner, GST South Delhi Zone as the Chief Guest and four panelists: Mr. Ram Singh, Professor of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, Mr. Amit Bhagat, Partner in Tax and Regulatory Services, PWC India, Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal, FCA, FCS, ACIS(UK), Managing Partner in Aggarwal Sanjay Co., Mr. VikashDugar, Chief Financial Officer, Ashiana Housing Ltd., and Mr. Vivek Gaba( Moderator),a Chartered Accountant.

The formal event commenced with the felicitation of the speakers by the Commerce Association team followed by the release of Comascent magazine.

Carrying the event forward, Mr. Sachin Jain addressed the audience with a presentation on GST and gave a glimpse of key areas of changes in the indirect taxation law post the implementation of GST.

The panelists engrossed the audience with an impactful discussion. They delved on the impact of GST on economic growth, profits and gain of business houses, and real estate sector. Further, a comparison between GST and pre GST indirect taxation law was also brought to the table. The discussion drew important questions from the audience on the lines of anti-profiteering law, inclusion of petrol and diesel under GST’s ambit, and impact of GST on the education sector.  

The informal event consisted of four interesting and carefully picked competitions: Make it or Break it, Managers of Mayhem, Think Tank, and Mind in Motion. These competitions were tagged with attractive prizes worth Rs. 1, 10, 000 and certificates. An overwhelming participation was witnessed from across various colleges of Delhi University as well as other institutes such as Symbiosis, Noida.  The procedure of selection of teams comprised of an online preliminary round where 80 teams had registered out of which 14 teams were shortlisted for the on-campus rounds. The teams were judged by the alumni of Gargi College.

Cascade 2017 was highly appreciated by the participating students and faculty members for acting as a thorough knowledge sharing platform and organizing interesting competitions for the students.

 

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Events

Huma Qureshi and Gurinder Chadha Visit Gargi to Promote Partition: 1947

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Two eminent personalities – Huma Qureshi, actor, and Gurinder Chadha, British director – reached the premises of Gargi College at 2:30 p.m. on 10th August 2017 and proceeded to the Auditorium immediately. Escorted by their bodyguards and the college’s student council, the two celebrities were welcomed with ear-piercing roars and claps as they began to talk about their upcoming move Partition: 1947.

After being introduced formally by the General Secretary, Huma proceeded to address the Gargi girls. She reminisced about her college days, classrooms, and teachers. She thanked her alma mater and her drama society’s exposure for making her who is she today. She also mentioned that she was a regular at Mithas and CCD across the street.

Huma, expressing her gratitude on working with the established British Punjabi director, welcomed Gurinder warmly to the stage to talk about her new venture. Huma stated that she chanced upon the director’s work in her time at Gargi through its Film Club. She aspired to work with Gurinder since.

The audience witnessed great camaraderie between the two women. At one point, Gurinder spoke fluent Punjabi while Huma fell short of words and started laughing. Gurinder complimented the actor, her talent, and her film character’s fierce strength and grit. It was revealed that the film Viceroy’s House, which has been renamed as Partition: 1947, is based on secret documents which were concealed for a period of 50 years from the public. “Being a mother, it is my duty to teach our children topics in an unbiased manner, which we are trying to accomplish with this film”, said Gurinder Chadha.

A dance performance by Nazzakat and Sparx, the dance societies of Gargi, was presented before the august audience that left everyone mesmerised. At the end of the performance, Huma and Gurinder joined in with the girls to dance on the latest version of Duma Dum Mast Kalandar from their movie.

The director also cleared the air when a question to her asked whether she has always done political films. She said that her films have dealt with political issues in the past such as racism and domestic violence but that this is her first direct film on politics.

In answer to another question, Huma revealed that she had dreams of studying at St. Stephen’s but the dream was shattered due to the lack of examination marks. Eventually, she took admission in Gargi, the college being nearest to her parents’ home. She felt blessed and grateful for coming to Gargi as it shaped her into the woman she is today.

Towards the end of the event, Huma asked the audience to tweet their pictures along with the movie tickets next week and promised to send an individual reply to everyone. The movie releases in cinemas on 18th August.

 

Photos by Kartik Kher for DU Beat.

Prachi Mehra
[email protected]

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Top Societies of DU Fest Season 2017

Top Societies in DU Fests 2017: Samranjini, Gargi College for Indian Music

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The societies from across Delhi University showcase the exceptional talent of students in various activities during the annual Cultural Fest season. Competing neck to neck this year as well, the societies put up enthralling performances in different activities displaying their dedication towards their art and winning positions in college fests across the varsity.

From all the societies that participated, a tally of top 3 positions was created and from those, the society that emerged as the top society was selected. Every society that won the 1st position was awarded with 3 points, the 2nd with 2 points and the 3rd with 1 point.

Following this scheme, the societies that bagged the 1st,, 2nd and 3rd positions in the Indian Music (Choir) category were Samranjini, Gargi College with 17 points, Swaranjali, Hans Raj College with 7 points and Tarkaas, Institute of Home Economics with 6 points respectively.

 

The Winning Society at a glance

Samranjini- The Indian Music Society of Gargi College, with their belief in diligence and dedication towards music sought to present ideas that serve as the springboard of thought and activity across the field of music; through their music composition.

Quoting the society’s president, Samridhi Sinha, “We at Samranjini believe that diligence and dedication helps achieve one’s goals. This year we knew what we wanted early on. Keeping that in mind we approached Mr Avinash Kumar for his able assistance.”

For the year 2016-17, Samranjini’s music composition comprised of two raagas namely Raageshri and Lalit and a moorchana showing a shade of raaga Todi. The composition is a unique combination of a sweet,romantic raaga with a deep and serious raaga.

“One of the factors that worked in our favour was using two contrasting raagas that no other college went for. After selection of the raagas and preparing the basic structure; a lot of work had to be put in to refine the piece”, she added.

Performing members:

  • Samridhi Sinha
  • Sonali Dey
  • Ananya Samajdar
  • Poorvi Gaur
  • Aishwarya Unni
  • Meera Kalyani
  • Monika
  • Sharvini Shivapuri
  • Pooja Joshi
  • Anisha Jhawar
  • Sohini Chakravorty
  • Teertha Sukesh

Accompanists

  • Ashutosh Verma (Tabla)
  • Anshuman Sharma (Keyboard)

 

Winners Tally : Samranjini

A total of 8 fests was included in our analysis for this series. These were, : Reverie; Gargi College, Montage; Jesus and Mary College, Nexus; Sri Ventakteswara College, Crossroads; SRCC, Mecca; Hindu College, Confluence; Hans Raj College, Ullas; Kamala Nehru College and Tempest; Miranda House.

 

The fests in which Samranjini bagged positions are:

I Position: Crossroads, Nexus, Reverie and Montage

II Position: Ullas and Tempest

III Position: Mecca

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

Design by Alex Arthur

 

Priyal Mahtta
[email protected]

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DU Annual Fest Season

Day 3 at Reverie’17 : Shalmali Kholgade and Sanya Malhotra enthral the audience at Gargi

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Day 3 at Reverie, the annual cultural fest of Gargi College, kicked off with enthralling performances in the Western Acapella competition by various groups. A total of eleven colleges performed at the event which was judged by Sherry Matthews and Clayton Dubbeam. Echo, the Western Music Society of Jesus and Mary College, emerged as winners, and the first runner-ups and the second runner-ups were Kamla Nehru College and Shiv Nadar University respectively. 

Check out a glimpse of the Western Acapella

The day continued with the Western Duet Competition and the Western Solo Competition. For the Duets, Kishore and Riya from Amity University, Noida were declared winners. The runner-ups were Kislaya Rishiraj from Sri Venkateswara College and Piya Podder from Kamla Nehru College. In the Solos, the winner was Isha from Gargi, the first runner-up was Kishore from Amity and the second runner-up was Anurag from Delhi Technological University.

RJ Khurafati Nitin from Fever 104 also came to the fest as a speaker at the event. He promoted his new talk show At Fever 104 and made the audience laugh with his sketch. Q.E.D. the Debating Competition saw the participation of many colleges. Anmol from Sri Venkateswara College secured the first position and Aditya from P.G.D.A.V. College secured the second position, while Saumya Verma from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College stood third.

The next event was Cursive-iti, which was the Western Choreography Competition, which saw nine participating groups from various colleges. Gargi College came first for their performance on the lines of Alice in Wonderland. The first runner-ups were Hansraj College and the second runner-ups were Lady Shri Ram College.

Sanya Malhotra, who played Babita Phogat in the Aamir Khan starer Dangal, and an alumnus of Gargi College, graced the stage of her alma mater with co-star Aparshakti Khurana. The two actors danced to hits like Dhaakad and London Thumakda and answered some questions from their fans.

 

 

Reverie ended with an electrifying closing performance by popular Bollywood singer Shalmali Kholgade. She charmed the audience with her melodious voice and super hit tracks like Pareshaan, Raabta and Agar Tum Saath Ho among other popular Bollywood tracks. Reverie, the annual cultural fest of Gargi College wrapped up with a powerful performance, which shall be cherished until next year!

 

Feature Image credits: Jasmine Chahal for DU Beat 

Joyee Bhattacharya

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Anagha Rakta
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Nikhil Kumar
[email protected]

Srivedant Kar

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DU Annual Fest Season

Urvashi Rautela and EDM night highlights of Day 2 of Reverie

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With quality performances in varied events, informal and competitive, the second day at Reverie 2017, the annual cultural festival of Gargi College, was a day full of activity.

The Indian choir event, organised by Samranjini, the Indian music society of the college, was the first event of the day. Samranjini, the Indian music society of Gargi College, and Alahyaa, the Indian music society of Daulat Ram College, bagged the first position. The second position was shared by Dhwani, the Indian music society of Lady Shri Ram College for Women, and Alaap, the Indian music society of Sri Venkateswara College. The third position was bagged by the MuSoc of Kirori Mal College

The street play competition, Aabhaas, was held by Kshitij, the Hindi theater society of Gargi College, and was one of the most sought after events of the day. After a string of stirring performances on various social themes, Anubhuti, the dramatics society of Sri Venkateswara College was adjudged the winner. Et Cetera, the cultural society of Guru Tegh Bahadur Institute of Technology, for their performance called Coming Soon, centred around the forced opinions in modern times were given the second position.  Natuve, the dramatics society of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, were awarded the third position for their act about the child sexual abuse called Thora Dard Hi Sahi.

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EDM night on Day 2 of Reverie with the Progressive Brothers

In the ad making competition held by Cinematrix, the film making society of the college, Anish Sagar from Deshbandhu College, Digvijay from Deshbandhu College, and Mallika from Indraprastha College for Women, rose above the rest to win the first, second and third positions respectively.
The next event was, Reverie Idol, the Hindi solo singing competition, where Ridhima from Miranda House and Ishita from Dyal Singh College (Morning) jointly emerged as the winners, while Vaibhav Sakshi from Miranda House and Sarat from Hansraj College jointly came second. Sukriti and Sourabh from SGTB Khalsa were give  the third position.

Next up in the line was stage play completion, Nivacanna, hosted by Gargi College’s stage play society, Upstage. A total of six teams participated and they were judged by a panel of Narendra Bhutani, Shatrupa Sinha and Anusuya Aggarwal. Shunya theater society of Ramjas College secured first position for their production Evam Indrajit. Second position and the Best Production were awarded to The Players, the theatre society of Kirori Mal College, for the staging of Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time. Ibtida, the dramatics society of  Hindu College, was awarded third position for  their play There Stands Alone.

The highlight of the Reverie day 2 was actress and model Urvashi Rautela’s presence. An alumuna of Gargi College, Urvashi charmed the crowd with her inspiring speech. “Only way to do great work is to do what you love and you must find what you love. If you haven’t found what it is, then keep looking”, she said. She also remembered her college days when she was a part of Enliven, the western dance society and danced with the faculty and the union members on her popular hits.

The crowd danced to the EDM duo of Sunny Sharma and Karan Bhalla, known by their stage name, Progressive Brothers, a name populated after their debut at Sunburn and Supersonic, as the second day at Reverie 2017 drew to a close.

Images by Vegh Daswani and Gerush Bahal for DU Beat

Joyee Bhattacharya ([email protected]), Nikhil Kumar ([email protected]) and Niharika Dabral ([email protected])
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DU Annual Fest Season

Ratna Pathak Shah and Bismil star on Day 1 of Reverie, 2017

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There are events which do not kick start but rather simmer and build up. The first day of Reverie 2017, the annual cultural festival of Gargi College reached its crescendo on similar lines as the event, starting serenely and gradually growing in terms of the crowd and activity.

The fest started with an address by the Principal, Promila Kumar. She talked about the college completing 50 years and wished for the success of the three days of the festival. The inaugural guest was Ratna Pathak Shah, actress and theatre veteran from National School of Drama, known most popularly for her role as Maya Sarabhai in Sarabhai vs. Sarabhai. She set the perfect precursor to the day ahead, sharing her experiences as a student and the role of competitions in shaping lives.

Ratna Pathak Shah at Reverie 2017 Picture credits: Gerush Bahal for DU Beat
Ratna Pathak Shah at Reverie 2017
Picture credits: Gerush Bahal for DU Beat

Competitive events for the day started with Saptak, the duet singing competition.  The event saw brilliant performances one after the other, much to the delight of pouring crowd. Swardhana and Pramansi from Daulut Ram College won the third position, Aishwarya and Megha from Gargi College tied with Gagan and Kavya from Hansraj College for the second position, and Vaibhav and Vidhi from Jesus and Mary College won the first position. The second major event of the day was Dhanak, the folk dance competition. After a string of colourful performances, Nrityangana, the Indian dance society of Sri  Venkateshwara College were adjudged first for their brilliant show of a dance form from rural Telangana. Nrityakriti, Maitreyi College were awarded the second position  and Nupur, Kamala Nehru College, the third position.  Khayal, the solo singing competition ended with Vaibhav from Miranda House, Swaradhana from  Daulat Ram College, and Taranjot from Venkateshwara College bagging the first, second and third positions respectively.

Possibly the most popular event of the day, Zenith, the western dance competition, was a spectacle of excellent performances. At the end of the event,  the Misbah group from Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, Zeal from Maitreyi College, and Verve, from  Sri Venkateshwara College, stood out above the rest, winning the first, second and the third positions in that order.

The reverberations of the first day of the three day extravaganza at Reverie 2017 ended with the epic bacchanalia at the main stage. The performance of Bismil had the audience mesmerised as they covered popular Bollywood numbers. The night concluded with hands waving cellphone flashlights to the music.

Here’s forward to two more phenomenal days at Reverie 2017, and its Fiesta for Renaissance.

Feature Image: Gerush Bahal for DU Beat

Joyee Bhattacharya ([email protected]) , Nikhil Kumar ([email protected]) and Niharika Dabral ([email protected])

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Gargi College

The Commerce Department of Gargi College hosted its national seminar, Cascade

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Cascade, the national seminar of the Commerce Department, Gargi College gets bigger and
better every year. Cascade 2016-17 themed ‘Fintech: A Renaissance in Finance’, was in
conjunction with the Golden Jubilee celebration of Gargi College. It was graced by four eminent
speakers; Professor Raj S. Dhankar, Vice Chancellor, Ansal University, Professor I.M. Pandey,
Director General, Delhi School of Business, Ms. Neha Punater, Managing Partner, KPMG and
Mr. Gaurav Kachru, CEO, Today Retails, India Today Group. The speakers took the floor and
drew the audience’s attention on the paradigm shift in transacting finance in 2016, throwing light
on how fintech has opened doors to a bevy of startups which are exploring its opportunities
amid certain challenges, in the Indian economy.
The seminar was followed by an interactive
session where students and faculty interacted with the speakers. Added to this, we received
about 600 registrations, and participation from all over NCR. Students from Delhi University
enthusiastically participated in the competitions held like, B-Prompt, Mock Stock, Minting Money
and QFiesta. An overwhelming appreciation was showered from the contingent teams of the
participating students in their feedback for the high level of competitions chosen in Cascade.
Best Winning Contingent was Finergy from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies. All
things considered, Cascade 2016-17 was a success through and throug
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