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Korean delight at Shim Tur

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Hidden within the terrace of a tremendously down-trodden (could give it no stars whatsoever) hotel by the name of Navurang Guest House in Paharganj, the Shim Tur Korean Restaurant is one of the many eateries serving Korean food in the area. Unless referred to by someone, a visitor unfamiliar with Paharganj would not even consider looking for this place.

Started by Mr. Chang, nine years ago, this particular restaurant is not in plain view but can only be accessed after passing through a ‘shady’ corridor and climbing up to the third floor of Navurang Guest House.

But once you reach your destination, it is pretty much the warmest ambience to devour an authentic Korean meal at. With few tables for guests and a kind of peaceful serenity, one can eat away from the noise and crowd of Paharganj’s market area, while being very much in the heart of it.

For Delhi University students looking for not-too-costly Korean cuisine, this would be an apt location, serving not only scrumptious Korean food like Kimbap (rice wrapped in sea weed), Kimchi(a spicy and tangy side dish which Koreans eat along with almost every meal), egg-soup, pork, beef,squid and other vegetarian dishes; but also food which provides immense value for money. Here food is prepared with care and good taste, minus the taxes and VAT! Korean Coffee and Tea are also available, although there is no section for desserts.

Kimbap

Winter season is at its peak and the evenings here are absolutely enthralling. Most customers, about a 100 people a day, visit this small space during January and December, while in the summer, footfall would be approximately 30 people per day.

The crowd here is also mixed, ranging from Koreans visiting Delhi, Europeans and Australians to people from various parts of India. There is a board that has been filled up by passport size photographs of visitors. Also present is a small library made up of Korean Anime comics and Lonely Planet guides (all written in Korean).

The food here is terribly delicious, especially during winter’s spell when the air is crisp and cool, with the food being equally hot. Cutlery that we are used to is very much available, though eating with chopsticks has its own charm. So if you are a foodie who loves trying out newer cuisines, or simply a Korean fan (be it the sitcoms or the culture) or a DU student awaiting an exotic meal for not much money, the Shim Tur Korean Restaurant is the place to go.

Click here to view the pictures in high resolution

Sapna Mathur
[email protected] 

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Campus Central

Controversy stalks Venky President

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All those who thought nothing more could possibly go wrong with the semester system after the intense furore over the ‘brilliant’ semester results, are in for quite a big shock. It seems as if the semester system’s armour is not as impregnable as believed. To ensure classes began on time following the winter vacations, the Office of the Dean of Colleges had written to all colleges to submit their time table to the office and also to put up the time table on their college website.

However, according to The Daily Pioneer, since extensive construction work and repairs were going on Sri Venkateswara College, classes were put on hold. Moreover, timetables came up on the notice board only by the 9th of January. In fact a complaint had been dispatched to the VC by the student’s union regarding delay in the conduction of classes. The Daily Pioneer also quoted Amit Yadav, President of the college student union as saying that he couldn’t fathom how the vast course under the semester system would be completed with such few days of classes further reduced because of the ongoing construction.

This however is not the end of the story. The Principal of Sri Venkateswara College, Dr. Hemalatha Reddy took umbrage at this report by the Daily Pioneer. She issued a letter to the Editor of the newspaper informing them that the timetables had in fact been put up on the 2nd of January and classes had commenced from that day itself. She also mentioned that the renovation work was happening only in 4 classrooms, alternatives for which had already been provided for. In an extremely surprising turn of events, the letter also contained Amit Yadav’s denial at ever having been questioned by Ms. Rohini Singh; reporter of the Daily Pioneer who authored the aforementioned infamous article. He maintained that he had only received an SMS from her saying she wanted to interview him but never got in touch with him after that communication. View the letter at http://www.svc.ac.in/page282.html

Obviously the Daily Pioneer would not take this lying low. In an article dated January 17, the Daily Pioneer reported that although the Principal said that classes had only been postponed by four days and would be covered up on holidays; many teachers had raised objections to repairs bring carried out now. They thought it wiser to do the same in the summer break. According to the Vice Principal however, it was necessary to start the work in the winter break, since the funds for the OBC expansion given by the University lapse after March.

It seems as if fissures are just continuing to widen and this new controversy shall only serve as an impetus for the same.

 

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DUB Speak

Moderation mayhem in LSR

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‘Cecilia you’re breaking my heart, you are shaking my confidence daily.’ This ancient Simon and Garfunkel classic resonated the feeling of restlessness and anxiety being experienced by the students of LSR till a few days ago. Make no mistake; it was no fair haired maiden but the moderation committee which was overseeing the correction of mid-term examination papers that had the students sinking into the depths of uncertainty.

Marking during internal evaluation has been a much debated topic in LSR. Students often complain about the stringent hand that college deals them while their counterparts in North Campus colleges are supposedly marked rather leniently which results in them scoring higher overall percentages.

This year the sudden need of moderation of internal marks of students in the annual mode may be a consequence of uncharacteristically brilliant results of the students under the ‘glorious’ semester system. While some students believed that moderation may help stabilize their marks as different teachers have varied marking patterns others opined that the delay in returning the answer scripts to their rightful owners was merely because teachers hadn’t corrected the answer scripts in time. However, the truth remains that the students of the English department of LSR had not received the answer scripts of the mid-term examination that they appeared for a month ago till very recently.

Sakshi Ghai, a 3rd year student of Philosophy was a recent victim of this sadistic mechanism. “After having scored 91 in my one of my papers I was shocked to hear my teacher contemplating reducing 4 marks in each question post moderation.” she said. It is important to note that it is only students studying theoretical subjects who would be affected by moderation. Meanwhile, students who chose to tread the path of ‘ignorance is bliss’ were delighted with the delay in knowing their impending fate.

The suspense created by the examiners was a heady one although anticlimactic in nature for many. “The hue and cry about moderation was for nothing as it hasn’t reflected in my marks at all.” Confessed Adilah Ismail, a 2nd year student of English Literature.

The moderation mayhem may have affected students of various departments differently but it has taught them an important life lesson which is to approach life with a tinge of irony instead of heroism or despair.

Pragya Lal
[email protected] 

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Spo(r)tlight

Football in India

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Football has really developed over the years in India. I had never even dared to harbour the hope of watching a great football giant playing a football game in India with their full strength squad up until a couple of years ago. We already had one big match at the Salt Lake in Calcutta last year when Argentina played Venezuela. Football fans from all around the country took this as an opportunity to catch some of their favourite stars in action, for example the mercurial Messi and the agile Aguero.  Those who were too unfortunate to miss that game did not have too long to wait to watch such players live in action in India for on January 10, 2012, a mere half a year after that game, the Bavarian Giants and Champions League runners up from the 2010-2011 season, Bayern Munchen came to town.

I was one among the 35,000 spectators who turned up at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to watch this much anticipated game, and I am sure that I can safely say that all those present had a brilliantly mesmerizing experience. You could see the excitement pulsing through the veins of the eager spectators as they thronged the box offices and collected their tickets. The look of glee as they read the names of the teams playing that evening said it all. It was unbelievable; Munich was here, in our very own Delhi.

The atmosphere in the stands was incredible. Electricity and energy were pounding through nearly every spectator present. The football summit also included the finals of the FC Bayern youth cup, contested between Delhi and Mumbai, the winners of which would win a trip to watch the Champions League final in May as well as win the esteemed opportunity of training with the football giants in Germany. Although this match was not the highlight, it was a very gripping match, and kept the audience biting their nails as the twenty two players ran hard, made telling tackles and dove to intercept seemingly impossible passes in order to impress the youth scouts from Germany. In the end the match was decided 4-3 in Delhi’s favour, after some nervous moments at the penalty shootout. However, we did get a glimpse of the visitors, who strayed onto the pitch and invited some deafening roars.

After this fifty minute match, all that remained between the huge match and the lot of impatient and fully charged spectators was an opening ceremony, and might I add, the ceremony – which consisted of a few short speeches, a brilliant cello recital and a well-co-ordinated dance routine to some popular numbers – was well worth the wait.

The happiest moment for each spectator present at the stadium though, would’ve been when both the teams, India as well as Munich made their way onto the pitch for their warm-ups. We finally got to see both teams in full gear exercising, stretching and of course, doing ball drills. While most eyes were on Robben and his juggling antics, and Ribery with his passing practices, and Neuer repeatedly being bombarded with jarring shots taken by Schweinsteiger and Tymoschuk among others, India too were working on opening up their muscles just beyond in the other half of the pitch. Seeing the two teams at their workout and knowing that the match was finally within a stone’s throw just made us all the more impatient.

Then was the big moment, the kick off. Two great icons, Phillip Lahm and Baichung Bhutia, the Sikkimese Sniper, for whom this match was the swan song, met for the toss, and Bhutia was gifted a Munich Jersey signed by the Bavarians. Finally the game started. Munich got into their stride easily, and troubled India and the ball rarely left the Indian half, and the audience cheered the home team on as the Bavarians mesmerised us with their swift passes and accurate balls. India held them off for a good 14 minutes of frantic defending, after which Mario Gomez finished beautifully with composure. This invited groans of discontent from the audience; however, it was only half disconcerted as they were excited too. They had just seen one of the finest teams in the world doing what they do best. This goal invited a torrent of goals, one header and a two touch finish from the young Muller and a swift well placed shot by the steam engine, Schweinie and no matter how hard Team India tried, they could not trouble the Bavarians who simply swatted them away.

The second half however was a whole different ball game altogether. Bayern made a huge number of changes in the line up and weakened the team considerably. This slightly weaker team was definitely a little easier for India to cope with and their confidence levels soared as they made blazing runs, made some bone crunching tackles and posed some threat to the visitors. They could not finish with a goal however. The defining moment of the match had to be during the 84th minute however when Bhaichung Bhutia, the legend of India made his way to the dugout in the Indian jersey one last time. The entire team stood up in an ovation to the great man, and play even stopped for a few minutes as each and every player on the pitch congratulated him on his great career and bade him farewell. Every person who follows football as much as I do, would have really mourned this loss to Indian football, and wondered who would ever be able to fill the gap that he left behind. After the tears were shed, the few remaining minutes were played on a similar note, and the game ended 4-0 to Bayern.

Team India put up a valiant fight against the German Champs. They struggled, they ran, they dived, in the end both teams won. Bayern Munich won the game. India earned a reason to be proud. They had a chance to play against the greats of football, and they held their own and tried their best. We, in India do not yet have access to the kind of infrastructure and opportunities that world class teams like Munich possesses, so the fact that we were able to keep our chins up after such a brilliant display is an amazing feat in itself. All in all, the match was enchantingly enthralling and brilliantly mesmerizing and the fact that we are able to watch such great games in India is a living testament to the fact that football is definitely growing in India. After this and the International game in Kolkata, I’m sure more such matches will definitely take place in India. India is gaining exposure in the scene of World Football. It is rising up the ladder of rankings. Such events will greatly help the situation of football in India.

India is no longer just a cricketing nation. The day is fast approaching when India will embrace football just as it embraces cricket. The day is near when England will play cricket at the Kotla ground and also football at the JLN. The day is coming when India’s I-league will have star players from around the world. There shall also be a day not too far away when we will finally hear the National Anthem at the FIFA World Cup and break into screams as we say the words “Jaya jaya jaya, jaya he”, with our heads held high in pride and our faces beaming with energy, excitement and exuberant enthusiasm.

I eagerly await that day.

Anirudh Chakradhar
Sri Venkateswara College

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DUB Speak

The Work of the Devil

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Were a long flowing white beard synonymous with immense wisdom, discord would cease to exist and peace would reign supreme. Unfortunately however, that is not as rampant as we would like. On the other hand, the aforementioned white bearded men seem to have an addiction to spice and sensationalism; sentiments they are usually bereft of by virtue of their religious beliefs. As a result these geriatric souls leave no stone unturned in trying to make the most of a scandal.

In such a scenario had Salman Rushdie’s impending arrival in India for the Jaipur Literature Festival not caused a stir, more than just a handful amongst us would’ve sat up and taken notice. Why should his return be such a cause for concern though? We’re all fully aware that India as a country does not dwell in the past and always believes in looking forward; therefore, to find the answer we must go back to the year 1988 when Mr. Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses was released.

Another exercise these mullahs are particularly adept at is misinterpreting any written statement, be it from a novel of from a cookbook for that matter. So it didn’t come as a surprise when they mistook Mr. Rushdie’s choice of title to imply that the Quran itself was being touted as the ‘Satanic Verses’ or when translated in Arabic, ‘verses from evil’.

Anybody who is familiar with Mr. Rushdie’s writing and appreciates it would not run screaming blasphemy to the nearest police station knowing fully well that Satanic Verses is meant to be a fictional piece of work. But that is exactly what happened. The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, went to the extent of issuing a fatwa against this modern Islamist. The fatwa called upon Muslims to execute this heretic for he must ‘incur the wrath of God and be unsuccessful in his quest towards maligning the Prophet’. It also served as a warning to those who might be foolish enough to insult the ‘sacred belief of the Muslims’.

Considering the novel was written in English for a Western audience and was much appreciated for the literary skill it displayed, the book along with its author was banned in several countries including India. Moreover, that wasn’t the end of the atrocities. A reward was announced for the one who would ‘terminate that anti-Islamist’. Apart from several assassination attempts on Rushdie, bookstores were bombed, copies of the book were burnt, several translators and publishers were attacked and quite a few were killed.

Whatever the time period, to say the furor was justified would be pushing things more than just a wee bit. This reaction which gave fanaticism an entirely new meaning took half the world with surprise. The concept of freedom of speech and action became the hypocrite’s fable and mullahs were pleased.

Although the fatwa has been withdrawn and Mr. Rushdie has paid a visit to India in 2007 causing not more than a few excited whisperings, elections and a controversy are quite a potent combination. While BSP has turned the EC ruling of covering up Mayawati’s statues to its advantage, the Samajwadi Party in an ingenious move has sought to turn the Rushdie advent as its own trump card. The fact that the Doeband Seminary has demanded that Rushdie be not allowed to attend the Literature Fest later this month has therefore come at the most opportune time. Obviously, since Muslims account for 18% of the vote bank, their sentiments have to be taken into consideration.

What these Politicos and the Fatwa-issuing Mullahs have failed to grasp however is the fact that we are no longer living in the 90s! Much to their dismay the youth, be it Islamic or non-Islamic, condemns this ideology of banning any work of art or culture that may be bold. A shielded atmosphere is regressive and banal in the extreme.

I have a feeling that this year’s Lit Fest will see the maximum turnout. Not because of the literary greats that’ll be gracing the Festival with their presence this year but because of our tendency to revel in the scandalous and the sensational. The hype will make it all the more worth it.

 

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Campus Central

CBS FinX : A step towards financial education

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FinX: The Finance Society of CBS[/caption] In a world where pragmatic knowledge is essential, a unique initiative such as that of the Finance society of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies goes a long way in bridging the gap between the classroom culture and the real world understanding. Incepted in 2008, FinX is a unique initiative taken by the students of S.S.C.B.S with the intention of providing financial education and testing the financial acumen of students. The society runs a weekly e-paper, the Weekly Pulse, throwing light on major developments in the world of business and finance and giving insights on the effect of policy decisions in the macro economy. The USP of FinX though is its mock stock trading game – FinWiz. Among the various stock trading simulations doing the rounds in colleges, FinWiz comes closest to matching the bullish and bearish trends of the stock exchange market. Chirag Jain, student coordinator of FinX says:

“Since we believe in matching up to the standards of our highly intellectual and stimulating participants, each event entails a proper format depicting the vagaries of the stock markets, its dynamic spirit, of being moved by the forces of real demand and supply, its uncertain nature and the thrills of playing with virtual money. Apart from pioneering mock stocks, we organize finance quizzes, bidding wars and online contests.”
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="227"] FinWiz[/caption] This year Fin Wiz is scheduled for January 31 and is being hosted in partnership with the Bombay Stock Exchange. Chirag adds, “BSE is helping in making the event grander. Also their representatives will be explaining the concepts of stock markets that are going to be tested within FinWiz. So, for those who don’t have previous knowledge, BSE will ensure you are quickly equipped with the needful acumen.” The society also indulges in holding other competitions such as Fight of the Knights, FinQuizzitive, Bulls and Bears and Debt o Blast throughout the calendar to test the skills of finance enthusiasts from Delhi University. As Rich Dad from Robert Kyosaki’s series would proudly put it, ‘Anyone who is not financially literate cannot see into an investment’. Shashank Gupta [email protected]      ]]>

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Events

SRCC Histrionica: Day 1 & 2

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DAY 1 (16th January, 2011)

The Dramatics Society of Shri Ram College of Commerce with their sweatshirts reading ‘100 percent cut off, 200 percent dramebazi’, began the first day of their annual fest ‘Histronica’ by singing their official ‘Oha!’ song. Though the event got delayed as a consequence of campus placements going on in the college, as well as the Indo-US meet, the fervour and energy was soon on display as they filled the air with calls of ‘aao aao..natak dekho…srcc ka..natak dekho’ in tandem with their dafli beats.

The main event of the day , ‘The Street Play Festival’ began soon after. With a stupendous footfall of hundreds of people, the street play festival was filled with scintillating performances by CBS,Hindu,IP (for women), Hansraj, SRCC, DRC, Khalsa and GGS. The street plays through their songs, squeals, screams, calls and subtle satire, spoke of a wide array of themes such as whistle blowing, child abuse, right to education to name a few. The event was judged by Ms.Tejaswini (LSR passout currently practising street theatre in Law Faculty) ,Soumyajeet (Indian representative for Lok Theatre Group) and Mr.Shirish (works with National School of Drama).

Plays titled ‘Tu maar de seeti’ (cbs), ‘zaruarurat kyat hi ‘(hindu),’albert pinto ko gussa kyun aata hai’ (ip for women), ‘dharm’(khalsa), ‘laalsa’(hansraj), ’prathmik’(srcc), ’ugte suraj ka sapna’(ggs), ’mehfooz’(drc) kept the crowd gripped and staring on in awe at the sheer brilliance of it all.

Students devoured on food at the various stalls which included Kolkata Biryani House, Dominos, Brown Sugar and Kwality Walls. After the street play exhibition, the side events commenced. The main filler events were –Shutter (photography event), Twister (game) and Poem Writing. With a staggering participation of 100 students in shutters, 150 students in twister and 35 students in poem writing, the competition was palpable at the fest.

Later as the evening progressed, it started to rain. The judges sat with the teams for comments and suggestions till 9 pm and in their 3 hours dialogue they expressed how they loved the creativity exhibited in the performances. In a well decorated college with ‘angeethis’ to warm the students in the evening, an intellectually stimulating talk with the judges was the perfect way to call it a day.
Navika Chaudhary, member of the SRCC dramsoc, went on to say, “drama is more than just a passion, it’s a way of life, and the dedication and commitment with which the teams performed today proved exactly that.”

With the sounds of “o baake chunar…munariya hoye…o baake ammi boli hoye…o beta…jeet ke aana..’ still in their hearts, everyone went home a winner.

DAY 2 (17th January, 2011)

The second day of the SRCC dramsoc fest ‘Histronica’ was as thrilling and eventful as the first. With more people coming in, despite the chilly winds and extremely cold weather; it was the day for stage plays. The entrance to the college was elaborately decorated with painted matkas and masquerade masks.

The list of people judging these plays is worth a separate mention. The first being Geeta Sudan who herself happens to be an SRCC alumnus and is presently a director at Paradine. She has also acted in accomplished films such as ‘No One Killed Jessica’ and ‘Udaan’. The second being Deepak Dhamija who is currently an entrepreneur, as well as the founder of Shoelace Production. He has also directed 10 plays. The third being Amrita Laalji, who teaches theatre at Shri Ram School and National Open School. She also happens to teach a practical course in ‘drama in exploration’ in Delhi University.

After a warm welcome to the judges, the four plays commenced in the auditorium. The acting was par brilliance and so were the themes and scripts. The sets only added to the sheer brilliance of it all. SRCC performed ‘The Untitled,kyunki kuch cheezon ka zikr nahi kiya jaa sakta’ centred around the electra complex. The second was a brilliant adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel ‘A Mousetrap’ and was titled ‘The Three Blind Mice’. The third play titled ‘Mr.Kolpert’ was a dark comedy and was presented by Ramjas. The last play was based on schizophrenia, was titled ‘Uss Paar’ and was acted out by the team of Hindu College.

Once the plays ended, the judges as well as the audience lauded the efforts of the teams and the judges went on thave a discussion with them. In the dialogue that followed they said that the script of ‘The Untitled’ was commendable because the concept of electra complex is difficult to portray, therefore writing a script on it was a brave move. Also Hindu and Ramjas were appreciated for their remarkable acting. And the adaptation of script of the ‘Three Blind Mice’ was exalted as well.

This was followed by a musical rendition by Harpreet Singh as well as a magictricks performance by Karan Singh. The filler event which happened later was ‘Ad Mad’ and it was won by Akshay and Mariam from Hindu College. They won Rs.1000 and special mugs sponsored by Worlds of Wonder.

It was yet another brilliant day hosted by SRCC’s dramsoc. And in Ayusha Kaul’s (who is a part of SRCC dramsoc) words ,”drama is life,you must live it well,enough said.” This was definitely another ‘well lived’ day.

Mannat Sandhu
[email protected] 

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Sex Amma

Sex Amma

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Q. We are friends from two years. I like her very much and now see also gave some sign that see also like me. So how can I propose her. Plz give me some suggessions.

Amma: First, my boy, can Amma tell you to pay a little more attention to your English? Or join one of those Rapidex English crash courses! You are very lucky that the girl already likes you (i.e. with your excellent command over language. You must be such a looker that she’s showing interest!) so half the job is done. As for asking her out, I think you should limit the number of words you should say to her, given your, er, disability. So just take her out someplace nice with candles and flowers and music and take the old school route – you like me, I like you, let’s go out?

Q. Amma my boyfriend wants me to have cyber sex with him, he wants me to strip in front of the web cam!!! I am shy, and he is annoyed with me. What should I do???

Amma: Aiyyo, my sweet-chocolate-covered coconut, I understand your dilemma! I know despite all the MMSs this generation makes, etc., it’s still largely nervous about phone sex and cyber sex and such likes. But there’s nothing wrong in being shy, girlie! Love means having to make compromises for each other, if one is ready for something before the other. Tell him you aren’t ready yet and maybe can do something else in exchange for him. If he’s still got his boxers in a twist, dump him. You are young and there are many more fish in the sea.

Q. Hello Amma, so I’m not sure about how I should deal with this. I’m a bisexual girl and I have been with women. My boyfriend never had a problem with that and all was great until he decided it was cool for him to swing both ways as well. I mean it’s sexy for women, but guys?!

Amma: Tch Tch. Amma wonders why this happens. I mean, it is quite understandable if you do not want your boyfriend to be in any other relationship other than the one he has with you (although Amma pioneered the concept of open relationships) but that does not seem to be the concern here! Kutty, homophobia is conceivable as long as the person in question is someone brazen enough to not understand the joys of being free of heterosexual constraints. And you aren’t that person, are you? If you want him to stop, look within you. Oh and as an aside, Amma thinks gay men are hot.

You can mail her your queries at [email protected].

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Campus Central

SRCC does it again

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After the big shots McKinsey and Bain, came the much awaited Deutsche Bank in the placement scene. It has always been pristine in every sense, as far as the job and pay package goes. Contrary to the jaw dropping odds which come to the front whenever Deutsche Bank comes for campus placements (of only one or two odd applicants being selected from a huge pool of hundreds and he/she being offered a whooping figure of 49 lakhs p.a.) this year they adopted a different strategy by employing more number of people and offering a lower package than what they usually offer.

Deutsche Bank visited SRCC campus on January 2, 2012 and invited candidates from SRCC, St. Stephens and LSR. The speaker of the day was Mr. Amit Bordia. The profile they offered was that of an analyst in the investment banking sector (domestic placement). Fortunately, there was no cut-off stated by the company to decide the eligible applicants. The package was an astounding figure of 10.5 lakhs + 3 lakhs + bonus (yearly). This pay package ranks as the highest so far in the brigade of dream companies with others like Bain offering 8.3 lakhs p.a and McKinsey giving 7.5-9.3 lakhs p.a.

50 students from SRCC were shortlisted for the final round of interviews which took place on January 7, 2012 at the Imperial hotel, Janpath. Out of these 50, 6 applicants (all from SRCC) got through and were offered placement in the Mumbai centre of Deutsche bank. The remarkable league which got through is – Mehak Nanner, Vijendar Aggarwal, Jennifer Sung, Chinmay Golecha, Tanvi Agarwal and Mayur More. With its 100% cut off, and 99% Economics Honours first semester toppers, SRCC surely continues to set newer and higher benchmarks. The dynamic students, who got through, help reiterate the same.

Mannat Sandhu
[email protected] 

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Events

SRCC presents Histrionica

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The 4th edition of Histrionica, the annual theatre festival of the Shri Ram College of Commerce is here, but with a changed format. A four day festival, it will be held from the 16th-19th January 2012. The previous editions of the festival were competition based, but this year, productions won’t be competing for any prizes but the participating teams would instead be felicitated with certificates, cash, and mementos.

The four day festival is slated to see performances of nine stage plays including three by the dramatics society of SRCC, eight street plays, ‘Groove’ the choreography competition and a number of filler events which include Shutters- the photography competition, Ad-Mad, Imagery-the poetry writing competition, ‘This, then that’- the act and react competition, Mimmikry Gimmikry. Along with these events, there’ll be a street play performance on the ill effects of tobacco by the children of NGO Hriday. These children were subjected to tobacco torture and have now been rescued. As a part of its roadtrip, Lok, the theatre group from Kolkatta will be performing its musical. It will also be conducting workships during the fest.

The festival received 21 stage play entries out of which 13 were shortlisted based on the content, and the idea was to select a spectrum of genres. The judging at this level was done by the faculty of the dramsoc of SRCC and certain alumni. These teams went through another round of selection in which they showed a few select scenes from their play. Acting, direction, execution, basic lights, music and use of the sets were some of the parameters on which they were evaluated. The judges’ panel in this round included two alumni of the dramatics society of SRCC, and one each from that of Sri Venkateswara College and Hindu College.

The plays that will be performing are ‘Mr Kolpert’ by Ramjas College, ‘Us Paar’ by Ibtida, the Hindi Dramatics Society of Hindu College, ‘Ek tha Gadha’ by Hansraj College, ‘Skeleton Woman’ by LSR, ‘Park’ by Ramjas College, ‘The Blue Moon’ by KMC. Plus, SRCC’s own dramsoc will be putting up the plays titled ‘The Untitled’, ‘Three Blind Mice’, and the ‘Studio Ruins’.

‘Skeleton Woman’ by LSR is a story about two people who defeat fantastical odds to be together. Swinging between reality and make believe it weaves together an Inuit folktale and a modern day story about a young fisherman turned writer with a potent imagination and his long suffering wife. Raksha Thakur plays the young man, Saumya Deojan plays young woman one and Garima Jaju plays young woman two.

‘Us Paar’ by Hindu College revolves around Meera, an ordinary homemaker, a mother but an extraordinary wife who sees a hero in her poet husband – Sagar, whom the world has conveniently tagged a failure. To reassure Sagar of his greatness, Meera takes it upon her to make him believe that he will essentially complete that one composition with which he has been struggling. The play is directed by Aarushie Sharma and the charcters are played by Anuran Das Gupta, Vishakha Singh, Vedi Sinha, Shreya and Animesh Panwar.

For the street play part, nineteen entries were received out of which eight were selected. The plays that would be performing during the festival are ‘Tu Maar De Seeti’ by CBS, ‘Zarurat Kya Thi’ by Hindu College, ‘Albert Pinto ko Gussa Kyun Aata hai’ by IP College, ‘Mehfooz’ by DRC, ‘Praathmik’ SRCC, Dharm by Khalsa College, Laalsa by Hansraj College and ‘Ugte Suraj ka Sapna’ by SGGSC.

DHARM- the street play of Khalsa College tries to question the concept and relevance of religion in the contemporary world. The focus of the play lies on the creation and establishment of religion/religions and their interpretations in today’s times. The play tries to explore the control on and fear of religion in the common man. The play is an attempt to look for answers to a few difficult questions like-‘Is religion a creation of man’, ‘Has religion become an escape for us’, ‘Has man become a puppet in the hands of his own doing’ and ‘Do all religions preach the same things’

‘Albert Pinto ko Gussa Kyun Aata hai’ by IP College disapproves the apathetic outlook to daily news headlines of rape, murder and abuse and questions human nature.

The theme of the play ‘Tu Maar De Seeti’ by CBS primarily revolves around the phenomenon of ‘Whistle-Blowing’. The motivation for the play came from the tragic fate of Sh. Satyendra Kumar Dubey, who was murdered for raising his voice against the corruption in NHAI. The play aims to awaken the conscience of the masses and encourage them to speak out against anything wrong.

Histronica is one of the finest and the most popular theatre festivals in campus. It was started four years back by four of the alumni members of the society. Talking about changing the format of the festivals, Medha Bankhwal, organizer, Histrionica says, “ The idea of holding a performance based festival is to bring together theatre enthusiasts to appreciate the art and not rank them as first, second and third. Street plays can’t be judged. Because you can’t label one social issue as more important than the other”.

Street theatre today, as we see has evolved a lot. Its not only about a group of young men and women performing a street play using danda, chunni and daffali as props. Today we see innumerable musical instruments, jute sacks, powdered colors, placards, banners, huge cloth pieces, et al being used as props. Talking about this change, Dhruv Raj Gupta, an alumnus of SRCC dramsoc says, “If using different props makes conveying the message of a play easier, then why refrain from using it. Theatre after all has no boundries”.

Medha agrees with him, “Street theatre gets audience who aren’t even vaguely interested in theatre. It spreads a message through entertainment. So if using certain props makes the play more interesting, then why not use it. And anyway there isn’t any hard and fast rule that you have to stick to a chunni danda and daffali as props”.

 

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