Latest
DU Beat – Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper
Tag

Venky

Browsing
Campus Central

Amidst Heavy Rain, Ankit Tiwari Concludes Nexus

By

Ankit Tiwari performed on the last day, as heavy rain engulfed Nexus, the annual cultural fest of Sri Venkateswara College. However, the star night was delayed and issues arose, even after strict security. 

On 29th February, the final night of Nexus’20, Sri Venkateswara’s Annual Cultural Festival, everyone was excited for the fest to be concluded with the performance of renowned singer and songwriter, Ankit Tiwari. The performance which was arranged to be at 5 pm, was extremely delayed due to unexpected showers and thunderstorm that ensued in the evening.

 Before the performance began, the huge crowd which had gathered to listen to the artist, shuffled back and forth between the performance ground and the college building to take shelter from the excessive downpour. The rain kept everyone on their feet, and the muddy grounds were a dangerous territory for people who had dressed their best for the fest.

There was extremely strict security maintained for the star night. Many items were prohibited to be carried. There were staff teachers, and administrators on the main gate as well as inside the barricade. However, the heavy rain tested all.
During the beginning of the performance, the sound system switched offmid-song due to technical errors, causing a ruckus.

A student inside the barricade, told DU Beat, “The issue was that there were a lot of people who wanted in, and as they were trying to enter photographers were getting shoved. Barricade did have administrators and College staff inside to see if everything is okay.”

Despite of security being maintained, the large number of crowd was a test for all. Female photographers present at the venue faced harassment by other photographers and Tiwari’s team while doing their job, with people pushing and shoving others around to get a barricade entry, photographers got shoved and hit as the crowds around the barricade became unmanageable. However, there were administrators present inside the barricade for safety of students.

A female photographer covering the event, in conditions of anonymity said, “The people with Ankit Tiwari told me that if you want a picture then you need to come to his room. As I was the only female photographer, the other male photographers told me to go to the back.”

These events occurring mostly in isolation and behind closed curtains clearly didn’t dampen any spirits as the crowd wholeheartedly enjoyed after the singer arrived on the stage. Tiwari sang some of his greatest hits, like Sun Raha Hai Na Tu, and also invited members of the audience to join him on the stage as he performed, hyping up the crowd. The event ended at 8 pm at last, with rains showing no signs of satiating. People ran helper-skelter to take cover and rush towards the closest metro stations wading through the muddy roads while people struggled to exit the campus due to the excessive crowd.

Rajat Sharma, President, Students’ Union, said, “Day 3 of Nexus was going well even after the heavy rains but some incident occured between the authority, photographers and delhi police which was very unfortunate to happen. I being unaware of the complete situation from all the three sides cannot give my verdict over right and wrong but anything of this sort is obviously not good for tge reputation of the college and if there was any misconduct I am extremely sorry for the same taking the responsibility and blame wherever required.”

However, in Sri Venkateswara College, Nexus, the annual cultural fest is organised by Fine Arts Association (FAA) as well.

Hrithik, President, FAA, said, “Keeping in mind about conditions prevailing , we tried our level best to assure strict security and efficient management . Entry inside the college on the three days was strictly provided to only those who had the valid ID cards . Our officials were present at the main gate and near the barricade to make sure there was no issue .
We appreciate all our media partners including all the videographers and photographers who stood by even in the unpleasant weather conditions to cover our event . My team and I would also like to thank our enthusiastic crowd which helped to make Nexus 2020 a grand success.”

The star night was memorable for all. The pleasant chilly weather soon washed away everyone’s trouble.

Nexus ended on a chilly note, yet witnessed warmth on all three days. The college was filled with iconic Bollywood mementos, the decor was remarkable with them being able to put a ship, owing to the Pirate in all of us, between the College. Nexus, unlike other fests, is organised not just by the Students’ Union, but the Fine Arts Association, as well. The entire college perfectly imbibed the theme of “Lights, Camera, Nexus.”

Feature Image Credits: Manav Ahuja for DU Beat

Shreya Juyal

[email protected]

 Satviki Sanjay

[email protected]

 

 

Keep Reading
By
Campus Central

Day 2 of Nexus Ends With EDM Night of DJ Lijo George

By

Nexus, the annual cultural fest of Sri Venkateswara College, concluded its second day, which was full of flagship events, with the EDM night of DJ Lijo George, however, the EDM night was cut short due to security reasons.

Mudra: Classical Solo Dance Event
The Indian Classical solo dance event, organised by Nitryangana, the dance society of Sri Venkateswara College, soothed the minds of its spectators with ravishing ethnic performances.

The event filled Nexus, the annual cultural fest of Sri Venkateswara College, with much vigour and enthusiasm with its colourful display.

In the event, Ann Afreen, Janki Devi Memorial College bagged the first position, while Sawmya, Laxmi Bai College bagged the second position.

Kurukshetra: Street Dance Battle

Verve, the western dance society of Sri Venkateswara College, organised Kurukshetra, Street Dance Battle, where street form of hip-hop and freestyle was wildly displayed in its true essence.

Battles were aggressive, highly energetic and full of vigour. The event was conducted in Audi Lobby, and was a definite flagship event of Day 2 of Nexus.

The street dance battle periphery was one of the most crowd attractive ones, with people chanting for their favourite team. Spardha, western dance society of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College won the event.

Goonj: Classical Choir Competition

The second half of the sophomore day of Nexus 2020 resonated with the melodious musings from the seminar room that hosted 12 societies from Delhi at Goonj – The Indian Classical Choir Competition organised by Alaap, The Indian Musical Society of Sri Venkatashwara College. The delightful talent was well praised by the Judge of the event, Ghulam Hasan Khan sahab, who is an eminent classical vocalist and has achieved multiple feats at a very young age, in a stiff affair, Ghulam Sahab adjudged Riyaaz, the music society of Maitreyi College as the winners and Music from Kirori Mal College as the runner-ups of the event.

Corner Taken Quickly: The Sports Quiz

As part of Sri Venkateswara College’s annual cultural fest Nexus, the quizzing society of the college, Conquiztadors organised  – “Corner Taken Quickly”, the Sports Quiz, on the 28th of February. The event received a significant turnout from colleges across the city. After two rounds of intense quizzing, written in the first, and oral in the second, Gokul S of the Delhi School of Economics, who dominated the quiz throughout, won by a considerable margin, while the team from IIT Delhi consisting of Partha Dhar and Akshay Gurumoorthy managed to clinch the second position. “The quiz was extremely well researched and a valuable learning experience even for the ones who didn’t win”, opined Satyakam, a member of Conquiztadors.

Battle of Bands

The second day of Nexus featured the most awaited event, Battle of Bands, organised by Crescendo, the Western Music Society of Sri Venkateswara College. The event saw powerful performances from five of the prominent bands in the circuit. The event took place at the main stage, with the same strength and passion as the Yellow Diary and the soon to be DJ Lijo George and witnessed equal enthusiasm from the crowd.
The first prize was bagged by Doob, a band majorly constituted by students of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College of Commerce and the runners up was Calico Skies, a band majorly constituted by students of College of Vocational Studies

Kavyanjali: Slam Poetry Competition

Among other cut throat cultural society competitions, Petrichor, the Creative Writing and Performance Poetry society of Sri Venkateswara College organised “Kavyanjali”, a bilingual annual slam poetry competition.
The event took place in a classroom, but was fairly beautiful decorated owing to the handmade decorations, fairy lights and the fluorescent lights being turned off.
The event saw many participants speak their heart out, talking about their heartbreak stories, insecurities and the political scenario in India right now.

Saarang: Solo Indian Classical Instrumental Competition

Alongside this, the mini stage featured “Saarang” the Instrumental Solo Indian Classical Competition, organised by Aalap, the Indian Musical Society of Sri Venkateswara College.
The competition saw various participants with their classical Indian Instruments, but some with really out of the box instruments, like an electric guitar.
The competition began in the morning and since it was in the centre of the main building, it created a very soothing vibe for someone who would roam about in the campus.

Dard-E-Quizco: The General Quiz

Conquiztadors organised “Dard-E-Quizco”, the General Quiz. The event, conducted by Akhilesh Budhiraja and Shanya Sinha, received a huge turnout, with many seasoned quizzers and some enthusiastic first-timers. After an intense preliminary round, six teams qualified for the final. In a nail biting finish going down to the last question, the team of Adil Jacob and Rabin Jacob pipped the team of Akshay G and Kunal S to clinch the first prize. “It was a pleasure to be host to such a brilliant group of participants and even more endearing to see the quiz go down to the wire”, said Akhilesh Budhiraja, the quizmaster.

EDM Night: DJ Lijo George
To a hustling day of events, and competitions, the EDM Night with DJ Lijo George made everyone in the vicinity grove to the beats of his Bollywood mashups.

However, the night was cut short due to security reasons. Allegedly, people climbed up the stage and badmouthed the students’ union members. There were also rumours of a women being slapped in the process.

A student of Sri Venkateswara College, in conditions of anonymity, said, “A girl reported to the police that a guy hit her, the guy was drunk and when this girl went to the police, the guy came to trash the union.” Hence, to maintain the safety of students in the fest, the college vicinity was immediately vacated.

 

Feature Image Credits: Mayank Gulati for DU Beat.

Akshat Arora

[email protected]

Faizan Salik

[email protected]

Araba Kongbam

[email protected]

Chhavi Bahmba

[email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

Keep Reading
By
Around the Campus

Parivartan In Progress: Students of Sri Venkateswara College

By

The students of Sri Venkateswara College took to the roads and metros of the city to spread a word of change.

Being the capital state of the country; the city of Delhi has all the rights in the world to flaunt its extravagance. It has to its attribution- a rich cultural heritage with a pinch of apparent haunting, a tumultuous yet boastful past, a humongous yet solitary diversity, and the tag of a metropolitan. A metropolitan form only the frame to the entire portrait of the city of Delhi; the colors and the strokes come from the lanes and the by-lanes that intersect life in the different parts.

To get a taste of the city and to improve it, the volunteers of ‘Parivartan’- the independent social service society of Sri Venkateswara College- carried out an awareness cum cleanliness drive in different parts of the city. The volunteers were divided into groups and sent to cover several areas in around the metros. Ten places were covered in total, including- Hauz Khas, Rajiv Chowk, Saket, INA, Chandni Chowk, AIIMS, Central Secratariat and Race Course.
All the student volunteers were armed with self-made posters, each of which had very strong messages pertaining to the two issues that were being addressed, namely, food wastage and the upcoming reiteration of the saga of bursting crackers; which at the end of the day leaves the city in deep despair, thereby, turning a blind eye to the blind city.

With the approaching season of Diwali, the amount of crackers burnt becomes quite evident through the aftermath- ‘THE GREAT INDIAN SMOG’ that covers the entire city till winter sets in. The other groups were involved in spreading a word against smoking and littering in public spaces. The presence of two different-coloured dustbins for wet and dry waste was acknowledged. The volunteers also urged the passers-by not to litter their own spaces, thereby, keeping the city clean. After all, Rajpath is not the face of the city!

Slogans like- ‘Burn your ego, not crackers’- were eye-capturing enough to draw a large part of the crowd towards the volunteers. Sharing his experience, Tushar Bhatia, a first year student states, “The drive was an interesting experience. Initially, everything did not go as planned and all of us had to improvise on the spot which made it even better”. From the metro station to the park and through the distributary lanes to the main road till the Red Fort and back; this was the exact course through which Chandni Chowk was covered. The Sun was at its peak and so were the volunteers. The weather only ignited their enthusiasm that could not be dampened by their perspiration or the scent that the hot breeze carried.

Apart from just the ambience, it is quite interesting to note that they got encouragement form the passers-by as well. Prateek Mittal shares, “I felt really good during the drive. I could see that our posters had attracted a lot of attention and people got our message. It felt very nice when a policeman walked up to us and said”, “achchha kaam kar rahe ho” (you are doing a great job)”.
Apart from just interacting, a signature campaign was also carried out- #NoMoreHungerNoMoreShor- wherein, volunteers were seen getting people to sign the chart that they were carrying. The signature campaign added further impetus to the entire drive with people coming up themselves and asking questions regarding the two issues. Slogans like-“What your tongue likes to taste, would you let it go to waste?”- were successful in garnering people’s attention as well as support. The volunteers were successful in dealing with the passers-by in a much matured manner, since, the entire thing was unplanned. The volunteers used heavy statistics that proved their stance like the number of bird-deaths and how it is harmful to the ecology as well. Aparajita Choudhary, a second year student shared, “All Delhiites have been experiencing the smog that covers the city for weeks after Diwali. It was enough to indicate the perils of burning crackers, peril for both humans as well as the ecology. Many people shared with us, their stories of mishandling of crackers that led or could have led to major accidents. Older people reflected apathy since they had lost interest over the years. They expressed that even though it made them irritable, they did not mind saying anything in the interest of the youth”.

46c1e2c2-219a-4691-a02a-b3b4435f9dfd
The volunteers experienced helping hands from the crowds as well. There were people who came up to them and upon clarifying their queries, chipped in their ideas as well.

Talking about the effectiveness of the drive; it was definitely a red-letter day event. But a lot of hands need to join to bring about a big change. As Rajat Sharma, a first year student from the same institution puts it, “I guess this initiative was effective as well as highly potential to bring about a change in the society. Those who genuinely wish for the betterment of the society will definitely put their best foot forward. After all, one is enough to make a difference, and we were quite a lot.
As Kamalika Anand, one of the executive heads’ puts it, “This was just the first step”.

Image Credits: Parivartan Society, SVC

Shrija Ganguly
[email protected]

Keep Reading
By
Cultural Festivals

Day 1 at Nexus’17: Venky’s Bollywood themed fest kicks off with ‘Sufi Night’

By

Sri Venkateswara College’s 3-day annual fest ‘Nexus’ began today. This year, the extravaganza is centred around the theme of ‘Bollywood’, something that reflected in the inventive and breathtaking decorations, events and general atmosphere.

Based on the theme of ‘Bollywood, Nexus’s ambience definitely did the theme justice

The event began with an inauguration ceremony, which began with invoking Goddess Saraswati, followed by the lamp lighting by Dr. Pawan Sharma, an alumna of the college, along with the principal. The dignitaries were joined by the members of the student advisory board and student union.

The first competition of the day was held by the Western Choir Society and was an A- Cappella competition. The event saw participation from eleven colleges and was a huge success. The first prize was won by Echo, the Western Music Society of Jesus and Mary College. Swaranjali- Music Society of Hans Raj College and Western Music Society of Lady Shri Ram College secured the second and third positions respectively.

This was followed by the Folk Dance Competition. High on energy and vibrant to the core, the event saw huge participation. Gargi College, which presented Badhai, a dance form from Madhya Pradesh secured the first position, followed by SGTB Khalsa. Maitreyi College earned a special mention.

 

Mudra, the solo classical dance competition saw Unni Vishwanathan from Hansraj College securing the first position, followed by Reetuparna Vishwanath from Lady Sri Ram College.

The afternoon session began with the Western Solo Competition. The event saw a string of soulful performances. Among the eighteen participants from across the university and the city, Mayank for his cover of the Eagles’ Despererado’ was adjudged the winner. Kishore, with Felix on keyboard from Amity University ended up as the runner-up for his cover of  ‘Over the rainbow’ by Judy Garland. Taeysha Kohli from Jesus and Mary College and Rohan from St. Stephen’s College received a special mention for their outstanding performances.

In ‘Saarang’, the solo instrumental competition,  Aditya from Kirori Mal College and Megha from Miranda House stole the show, bagging the gold and silver respectively.

The crowd turned up in huge numbers at the choreography event, which saw some engaging performances follow one after another. At the end of the event, Terpsi Chorean, the western dance society of the Hans Raj College and Sensation, the western dance society of Kirori Mal College were adjudged first and second for their superior performances.

But the highlight of the day was the much-awaited ‘Sufi Night’. Returning to Nexus for the second time in a row were the fabled Nizami Brothers. Their music mesmerised the crowd. Their performance resonated with the large numbers that flocked Venky’s grounds to get a taste and sense of Sufi in its pristine form. The concert set the tone for a great start and one can anticipate more action to follow in the next two days of Nexus ’17.

 

Feature Image Credits: Hitanksha Jain

Akshara Srivastava
[email protected]

Nikhil Kumar
[email protected]
Kriti Sharma
[email protected]

Keep Reading
By
Sri Venkateswara College

North East Students Association of Sri Venkateswara College organises Oneness’16

By

The second edition of ‘ONENESS ’16’, the Annual Cultural festival of the North East Students’ Society of Sri Venkateswara College was held on 15 March 2016 at Sri Venkateswara College.

The major attractions of the event included, songs and dances, photography exhibition, attires display, a performance by the band Mixers , and a short talk.

The Guest Speaker Ms. Binalakshmi Nepram, Founder, Manipur Women Gun Survivor’s Network; Secretary General, Control Arms Foundation of India, urged the students to embrace the oneness that we all share as Indians. She also stressed on the opportunities that Delhi offers and encouraged the audience to utilize the capitals’ most striking feature- its multi diversity in making friends

oneness2

The showcase of folk dance exemplified the richness and culture of the tradition and the ‘Mixers’, a band from Manipur, based in Delhi performed their songs. Photos of people, landscapes and culture of the North East were also on display.
The finale was the ramp walk in which the attires of the states and major tribes of the region were represented on stage. Where outfits ranged from Mizoram to Ladakh to Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.


“Our society was formed and recognized two years ago, so this is the second edition of the fest. We formed this Association to facilitate interaction between students from our region along with others in order to debunk stereotypes and raise awareness, to ensure that the students from North East do not face any major problems due to their ethnicity at Delhi, to promote the rich culture and diversity of the region through events like this” said Kakho, Vice President of the society

 

Shefali Bharati

[email protected]

 

Image Credits: Shivananda Sharma

Inputs from: Kakho Thaoli

Keep Reading
By
Uncategorized

Sri Venkateswara College Organizes Photography Workshop

By

‘EFFULGENCE’- The Film and Photography Society of Sri Venkateswara College organized a Photography Workshop on Thursday 1st October. Renowned photographer and senior faculty member of Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, Professor, Mr. Ashwani Juneja conducted the workshop.

All aspiring Photographers, beginners and photography societies of colleges were invited in the workshop.

IMG_6821 (1)

In a session of two hours, Prof. Ashwani in his presentation discussed topics such as what is photography? Principle of photography, depth of field, light controlling device and exposure triangle among others.
More than 50 photography enthusiasts attended this workshop. An interaction session was followed by the presentation where the students asked their queries and doubts.

A photo walk has been scheduled for next week where the students can practically apply the tips and information acquired during the workshop.

Inputs from Shaira Chaudhry

Image Credits- Abhishek  Saini

Shefali Bharati
[email protected]

Keep Reading
By
Sri Venkateswara College

Fine Arts Society Orientation at Venky

By

The Fine Arts Society at Sri Venkateswara College which is a culmination of most of the performing societies of the college, organised their orientation on the 7th of August, 2013.

The orientation comprised of performances from Verve – The Dance society, Alaap – Indian Music society as well as the Dramatics society of the college. As a closing note to all these performances, a movie about the college made by the students of the Film and Photography society was shown to the freshers.

Choreo
Choreo performing their Annual piece.
Verve-western dance society.
Verve – The Western Dance Society showing their moves!
Alaap-indian music society
Alaap – The Indian Music Society
Free redbulls to welcome the freshers.
Free Redbulls to welcome the freshers! As said – ‘Art’ gives you wings!

Sonam Satija and Geetika Varshney

Keep Reading
By
News

Leaders for Tomorrow conducts Anti-Ragging campaign

By

Leaders For Tomorrow, who have a partnership with the Delhi Police, held an “Anti Drugs Anti Ragging” campaign on 29th July in Sri Venkateswara College where the members informed the students about the ill-effects of drug abuse and shared their views about the negative aspects of ragging as well. The campaign focused on all students so that the seniors as well as juniors could be made aware about the purpose of this campaign. Students who wish to become members as well as those who have queries about the campaign can contact [email protected].

IMG_0428

IMG_0429

By Sonam Satija ([email protected])

Keep Reading
By
Sri Venkateswara College

Sri Venkateswara holds orientation in recently inaugrated auditorium

By

The orientation for freshers and their parents at Sri Venkateswara College was held on Tuesday, 23rd July. The ceremony was led by Principal Dr. P. Hemlatha Reddy and she was joined by most (however not all) heads of departments.

The recently inaugurated auditorium was used to conduct the ceremony. Evident from a packed auditorium, the orientation initially received good response from students and parents.

venkyo-1
In a ceremony that lasted for about one and a half hours in a not so well ventilated auditorium the Principal touched upon general topics about the history of the college, code of conduct, the fest- Nexus, the various departments and other aspects on college life at Venky.

While having the ceremony in the auditorium (in the presence of parents) was a step well appreciated, the audience complained that the various speakers were hardly audible from the dais. This resulted in a lukewarm response from the audience towards the end of the day.

(Also see: College orientations in pictures)

Image Credit: Sonam Satija

Keep Reading
By
Campus Central

Nexus 2013: The Good and The Bad

By

The three day cultural fest of Sri Venkateswara College, christened Nexus, was part of the last batch of fests in DU. Having had a bad run for the past few years except maybe last year, Venky faced the daunting task of restoring its image. Nexus kicked off on the 7th of this month with Member of Parliament, Mr. Shashi Tharoor gracing the inaugural ceremony as the Chief Guest. As he addressed the gathering, he reminisced about his time in college and spoke about how times had changed. The first day of the fest undoubtedly belonged to the talented actors of DU. The day saw the best of acting talent come forth onto the stage with not just the street play but also the theatre competition setting the tone for the day. Eventually, the Street Play competition saw SRCC grab the top prize, with Hansraj College and Hindu College standing second and third respectively. The theatre competition was a fresh break from the usual competitions held during such fests for the actors managed to effortlessly touch the hearts of their audience. The second day of the fest saw a wide variety of events ranging from choreography to debating to the crowd favourite, the Battle of the Bands. Members of the band The Barefaced Liars, which was set to perform later on during the day, judged the Battle of the Bands contest. However, the sound system was quite a dampner during the performances. With Pentagram set to perform on the last day, Venkites pinned their hopes on the last day to turn out better than the second. The morning of 9th March saw The Nizami Brothers put up a show in the Seminar Hall. After that performance, students waited impatiently for Pentagram to take the stage, which they did after a delay of almost three hours at around 7 in the evening. The crowd response after their show, however, was mixed. While some felt that they put up a great show, others were disappointed by the lack of Bollywood music. All in all, there seemed to be no show stealer at this fest. A lot could possibly be done to make it more interesting. The OC should probably jot that down for reference next year. Surya Rajappan [email protected] Image credits: Sonam Satija ]]>

Keep Reading
By