Adding to the list of eating joints in Kamala Nagar is 9 75, a multi cuisine restaurant, literally located right in the heart of the market. In the same lane as QD’s and other such restaurants, 9 75 simply stands due to the sheer attractiveness of its ambiance both from the outside as well as the inside. Another high point of the restaurant is the expertly prepared wide range of cuisines available here. The restaurant offers Chinese, Italian, Mexican and Indian besides a host of scrumptious deserts. The pastas are good to taste, prepared in a wide variety of sauces and made available in numerous pasta types and accompanying toppings. I would even recommend the Mexican food here! Its my personal opinion that the pizza could certainly be improved upon, specially if one was to compare it to the other tasty dishes being offered. A word of caution: Do not be driven away from the swanky appearance of the restaurant presuming it out to be of your budget for 975 is a total value for money. It is definitely worth a try once, if not regular visits. A thumbs up for 9 75. ]]>
So what do you get when a botany honours graduate, a graphics designer, an astrophysicist and an electronics honours genius get together to make some music? One of the best rock bands in the history of music of course. As is justly said by music critic Rickey Wright, “Queen brought a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘over the top’ The quartet’s canny sense of melody and sophisticated vocal harmonies–not to mention Mercury’s raised eyebrow–have travelled well through the years.” The band was formed in 1969 but it was not until 1974 that they marked their first milestone in rock music, and it is also the period, which made music reach an all new landmark. What makes Queen’s music so different from the others in the age is their originality, flow, diversity, zeal and the ability to connect with their audience. And Queen- Greatest Hits 1 gives you just that. It is a culmination of all their biggest highlights from the period of 1974 to 1981. And as is unanimously declared according to popular demand and global votes, out of all the three compilations, Queen’s Greatest Hits 1 is arguably the best Greatest Hits compilation ever released by any band. This best selling album of UK was first released in November 1981 under the label of EMI/ Parlophone. Although a US version later became available with quite a few editions, the UK version with its 17 hit singles remains the one still in popular demand. The U.S. however was able to add “Under Pressure” (Queen’s duet with David Bowie) to its collection, as it was released during that interim of the month taken by the album to be released in the US. The album opens with Bohemian Rhapsody, perhaps Queen’s most famous song till date, which with its blend of various musical styles including acappella, ballad, guitar solo, opera and hard rock in one piece of music created a whole new definition of fusion in rock. The same versatility can be seen throughout the album, with each song an original magnum opus in its own rights. And though it wouldn’t be wholly fair to mention just a handful, their other famous favourites include Another One Bites the Dust, Killer Queen, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Somebody to Love, Play the Game and the unanimously loved, We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions, whose covers can be seen being done by many a famous artist to this date. The multi-layered crazy vocal harmonies of these songs definitely heighten their appeal. The lyrics for all their songs have mostly been written by Freddie Mercury, the founder of the band, and consist of a lot of experimentation and innovation, which has played a vital role in the success of Queen’s music. With more than 60 platinum certifications and millions of copies sold till date, Queen has not just become music but a way of life and the Queen Greatest Hits 1 album is a must keep for every new and true Queen fan]]>
The 3rd Atelier Youth Theatre Week was held from 15th– 21st November. Organised by Atelier Expressions, the week-long event offered college teams a chance to perform in front of audiences outside of the regular competitive fests. 10 street plays and 10 stage plays were chosen from among various college entries through rigorous line-reading sessions.
Asmita Theatre’s “Ambedkar Aur Gandhi” was the opening play at the Hotel Ashok amphitheatre on the 15th. The next two days were devoted entirely to street plays. Colleges from across campus performed plays that dealt with a broad variety of problems, from drugs to terrorism to poverty to time-wastage. Colleges on the first day were Hansraj, Khalsa, SRCC and Kamla Nehru and Hindu College. The second day’s teams were Sri Venkateshwara, IP College, JMC, Lady Irwin and LSR.
The last three days saw college teams as well as professional groups performing stage plays at the Sri Ram Centre. LSR was the first to perform its English play “Hairy tales from Here and There”, followed by SRCC with “Maujood”, “Kindertransport” performed by Miranda House and finally “Lights Out” by Gargi College. These were followed by a professional performance of “iLHAM” by the aRanya Theatre Group.
The next day started with Hansraj performing “A Million Little Pieces”, followed by Hindu with a Hindi adaptation of “The Black Comedy”, Ramjas with “On a Muggy Night in Mumbai” and Kamla Nehru with “Bravely Fought the Queen”. The day ended with Atelier and Ankur’s professional performance of “Antigone”.
The last day of the festival opened with “Aadhe Adhure”, performed by Hansraj, followed by Deen Dayal Upadhyay College’s “Gul-Guli Circus”, “Bombshells” by Gargi College and finally “Romeo Juliet Aur Andhera” performed by Khalsa. The final theatrical performance was “The Leela Tapes” performed by the Actor Factor Theatre Company.
The 3rd AYTW was attended by well-known theatre personalities such as Piyush Misra, Saurabh Shukla Gul Panag, Lushin Dubey and Vinay Pathak. They not only watched the plays, but also offered their feedback and advice to the performing teams. The closing ceremony was held at Turquoise Cottage, with a headline performance by Them Clones, who were supported by U8 Noise, the winners of the Rock Castle Acoustic Hunt.
Annual Rajpal Memorial Inter College One-Act Competition
The Shakespeare Society of St. Stephens College organized its Annual Rajpal Memorial Inter College One-Act Competition. It was a three- day event, which commenced on the19th of November and culminated on the 21st. The event saw the participation of 12 colleges including Hansraj College, Kirori Mal College, Lady Shri Ram College, Miranda House and St. Stephens itself.It was judged by the famous Sabina Mehta Jaitly and Bhaskar Ghosh of the Yatric Theatre Group . Rajpal saw Dramatics Societies of various colleges in DU taking theater to another level altogether. As always, the quality of all the scripts was outstanding and the event, like every year, maintained its prestige.
“The Problem” ,- the St. Stephens play directed by Mikhail Sen was adjudged the best. This was followed by Hansraj College who were the first runner-up. Their play was the famous translation of “Aadhe Adhure”. It also won Shireen Parihee the Best Director title. Miranda House was the second runner-up. The Best Actor was tied between Anuja Vaidya From St. Stephens and Sahil Chawla from Hansraj College.
Chacha, previously known as Khan Chacha, created quite a stir within a few days of its launch, and the reason goes beyond the kebabs. Also, the stunt definitely earned the joint enough popularity to arouse one’s curiosity and appetite. Located right across the road from Sri Venkateswara , in the bustling Satya Niketan complex, the first thing you notice about Chacha are the huge glass doors spelling style. What you also don’t fail to observe is the chic ‘Chacha’ banner with the ‘Khan’ poorly hidden behind black paper. However, as soon as you step into the ‘restaurant’, the similarity ends. The ambience, from the presumed casual hangout zone you expect of kebab joints, changes to being both elegant and sophisticated.
Though the space is limited, the minimalistic layout with the contemporary furnishings definitely makes for a pretty picture. It also gets you wondering how much this pretty picture would cost you. Impressed nonetheless, you make it to the counter and ask for the menu, and that is where the skeptic in you swells again. The menu again has ‘Khan’ roughly cut out with a marker, which yet again gets one comparing the two. The food variety offered is the same as any kebab outlet without many choices, including your usual paneer, chicken and mutton tikkas, rolls and kebabs. The price list doesn’t seem too offensive for the deal though, ranging from Rs. 75-90. They also make an attempt to make their menu more interesting with the inclusion of the Warqi and Mughlai Paratha, and Firni (Rs.30) and Shahi Tukra (Rs.40) for dessert. The biryanis are also complemented with shorba and burhani raita. All this coupled with the ambience does make for good value for money and you don’t mind another visit. So is it as good as the established little big Chowrangee Lane next door? Probably not for the average college kid. But at the end of the day Chacha is not a bad place to splurge your pocket money.
My rating: 3/5
]]>Authors: Steven Levitt and Stepheb Dubner
Publisher: Allen Lane
Cost: MRP 395
Yes, they’re back! Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner are back with the second edition of their best selling book Freakonomics, SuperFreakonomics. Four years after the duo got together and wrote their first book, the second one was released a fortnight ago.
If the first one got you hooked on to economics and made you laugh, then the second one will certainly blow you off your feet.
The cases mentioned in the second edition, are what some may consider by far rather outrageous, (for example why are prostitutes patriotic?) while some cases are completely illogical and point towards things that never ever comes to our mind in the ordinary course of life. Often , it puts into perspective unconventional questions like ‘why terrorists must buy life insurance?’ The book however erases the belief of humans not being altruistic, giving hope that the world may survive after all in spite of great environmental threats like that of global warming.
The book is an interesting read, providing an analysis that is not very common to come across in everyday life, hilarious as various instances and otherwise just gripping. It opens your eyes beyond the normal economics we get to read everyday. Every student, including non-eco students must read it, if not for anything else , then its sheer entertainment value.
A 7.5/10 for this fabulous book.
]]>Human civilization has been progressing at an astronomical rate. As human population grows, we have started conquering previously unconquered territories on earth, taming them and converting them into urban concrete jungles. However, it seemed that the eyes could get a break from the grayish hues when we saw trees within our cities, inhabited by birds, bees and other arboreal animals. It seemed that if we tried hard enough, we could still get closer to the nature we chose to conquer to lay the building blocks of our civilization. However, this too now seems to be rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
A recent study revealed that bees, which pollinate almost all fruits and vegetables and in a way help sustain all life on earth, have started to disappear. The buzz of bees is being muffled by the buzz of vibrating mobile phones. This phenomenon of disappearing bees has been noticed in not only the US, UK and other developed nations, but closer home in Kerala. It seems that this is happening because of the electromagnetic radiations emitted by cellular transmission towers which hamper the bees’ navigational abilities and leads to a collapse of their colonies. A study also revealed that these radiations also result in thinner membranes of sparrows’ eggs and result in underdeveloped embryos and weaker sparrow chicks. This has already caused a decrease in the numbers of several species of birds founds in cities.
The way things are going, in the near future, all signs of nature- animals and plant life- will eventually disappear. It really isn’t as preposterous as it sounds. As civilizations have progressed we have slowly and steadily encroached upon the territories of already existing animals. Forests were cut down to make way for cities, so in order to make our homes we destroyed the homes of all the creatures that already lived there. For a moment it seemed we could co-exist. But this evidence proves otherwise as really nothing much can be done about it. Cell phones are absolutely indispensable today. So reducing the number of phones and hence towers is completely out of the question. Then we could consider moving the birds and the bees to the forests, but eventually those forests will also be encroached upon.
It isn’t really only about mobile phones either. It’s what they signify. They signify the changing necessities for the human race. Ten years ago, cell phones were a luxury, but today they cannot be done without. So what might be a luxury today and still can be done without if it, say, harms other creatures it can be done without. But ten years down the line, if it becomes an indispensible necessity. And when the essentials are considered, all aesthetic sense and the interests of all other creatures can take a backseat. So as the human race moves forward it inevitably walks all over all other life forms. However, this disregard is bound to come around and prove catastrophic for humans. It’s just a matter of time.
Delhi University for a good number of years now has three percent seats reserved for students with disabilities. However, a large portion of these seats are left vacant. This speaks volumes about the conditions of the facilities for these students and their accessibility to the disabled students. This apathy of the university, which is clearly reflected in the state of these facilities, makes it difficult for an average student with a disability to fare in DU.
Says Mukesh, a first year visually impaired student, “Since I am new to the college, it is rather difficult making my way around. The bus stop is fairly far from the college which makes my task of travelling to and from college harder. As far as notes go, I record the lecture in the class and type it out later. My peers have helped me out greatly. However, there are very few course books in Braille, none in the library. This makes compiling my notes much more difficult.” He was unaware of the existence of a Braille Notice Board. Another visually impaired student, Yogesh, although aware of the recently installed Braille notice board pointed out that no substantially helpful notices have been put up on it yet, rendering it quite redundant. A similar situation exists in several colleges like Hindu college, Kirori Mal college, Hansraj College, St. Stephen’s College and others.
It is relatively easier for wheelchair bound students as there are ramps in most DU colleges. However, barring Lady Shri Ram College for Women, almost no other DU college has special washrooms for them. Even though there is very little regard for these differently abled students in terms of physical infrastructure, the condition of these students is somewhat ameliorated by the attitude of other students towards them. Most people are very friendly and helpful and treat them like any other student. However, this is a substitute for the essential facilities that the university is supposed to provide to its students.
- Walk in with a huge pile of flowers and present them to the interviewer with a big smile saying “I just happened to have these lying around at home so I thought I’ll get them for you. Not that I’m hoping for any signs of gratitude in the form of this job, of course!”
- Tell the interviewer about your thatched house with holes in the roof which you occupy with your 23 siblings and ailing parents, all of whom are looking to you for sustenance
- Stuff a banana up your jacket and keep patting it from time to time. When the interviewer enquires, say “Oh nothing, it’s just my gun. Had to settle a score with a moron who refused to me a job in his company, you see…”
- Kidnap the interviewer’s son/daughter and refuse to let them go unless you’re given the job
- Take that banana out of your jacket and shoot the rest of the candidates!
The Score Foundation is a non governmental organization, steadily thriving amidst challenges of sustainable resource generation to continue its mission of providing the most comprehensive knowledge that informs inspires and includes blind and vision impaired people in India. Their project Eyeway is a one stop knowledge resource for sensitizing people regarding the cause of the visually impaired.
The organization’s founding member George Abraham’s idea of the Score Foundation sprang from a realization that the blind and visually impaired in the country and society in general, are not aware of the existence of opportunities for people with disability. Abraham fell prey to meningitis at the age of 10 months and subsequently suffered vision impairment at an early age. However, having had a pragmatic set of parents and with the background of a sound education, Abraham decided to pool in the scattered information in an organized manner necessary to the people who need them.
The project Eyeway was launched in 2002 with the website www.eyeway.org and their magazine, Beyond the Eye. Eyeway has evolved into a knowledge gateway that gathers packages and makes available information not only through the website, but a radio programme, helpdesk and other accessible channels like SMS alerts.
In January 2008, 2 fulltime counselors were hired to work on the increasing number of helpdesk inquiries. Their radio programme Yeh Hai Roshni Ka Karwan was started in 2005 with the aim of inspiring visually impaired person through an accessible channel. It has a reach through about 30 radio station, ranging from Gujarat to Guwahati. The website www.eyeway.org contains information ranging from tips that will develop basic skills to information on available facilities for the visually challenged. It is a core service offering of Score Foundation in terms of accessibility and content. A special software knows as JAWS is used by the visually challenged to read computers. The Eyeway Helpdesk became a subproject after they started getting regular responses to the radio programme. It complemented both the radio programme and the website in that it provided specific information and other services based on individual issues raised on a telephone conversation.
Through such useful services, the Score Foundation has done a great job in empowering the vision impaired persons in India.
Mr. George Abraham, CEO, Score Foundation is himself visually impaired. He received his degree in Mathematics (honors) from St Stephen’s College where he relied on combined studies and d teachers for help. He was also part of the Student’s Council there and served as Secretary of the Music Society. His hobbies include cross country running and cricket.
Eyeway Helpdesk Number: 01146070380