Gargi College

Oracle: The newsletter of Gargi College

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Oracle is the newsletter of Gargi College with a coverage of a widespread array of topics including economics, politics, entertainment, opinions, creative prose, poems and reviews of food, movie, books and current affairs.

The idea was born out of the minds of a group of students from English Honors in 2001. The names of founding members- editorial board names- Kakul, Namita, Bhavana, Aarathi, Neharika, Priyanka and Anandana Kapur. Now, the founding members have gone on to become journalists, teachers of literature, film makers and lawyers.

“The college – under Dr Hema Raghavan – had an open door, student oriented approach. We felt we needed a forum to express our ideas, build dialogue within and across the college and that our backgrounds in art and literature would equip us to shape and present popular opinion”, says Anandana, one of the founder members who is now a documentary film maker now.

Oracle has a vision-“to have a space for expression and articulation through words and images, to be a graffiti board, a space for debates and even creative outpourings of anonymous writers!” Earlier it also invited readers to send in open letters, draw caricatures and that is how it was to make a space for critical engagement as well as a site for popular ideas.

On being asked what gave Oracle its name, Anandana said, “Oracle was a tipping of the hat to our major – English literature. It was also a play on the ability of the oracle to be prescient, to be a medium to connect beyond (with the student body and teacher) predict the future (in this case trend) and reveal what lies within (creatively and intellectually). We also created an opinion box when Neharika and I became editors. Soon, oracle became a very sought after medium and inspired other discipline led newsletters. You can say, we started the fire! ”

The editorial team of consists of 11 members from Commerce, Science and Humanities including of the Editor, Arunima Sodhani, the Sub-Editor, Drishti Rongpipi and 9 columnists. There are three issues published per semester. The columnists are selected on the basis of the on-the-spot article that has to be written from 3-5 topics given for choice.

Twisha, a student from Gargi College said “The college newsletter provides us information from almost all backgrounds be it current affairs to entertainment and what not, it is a really nice platform and initiative that our college has.”

With funding that is allocated by the college annually and a variety of themes in purview, Gargi college’s newsletter is an interesting portal for the college’s students to explore.

With inputs from Sonakshi Agarwal

[email protected]; Studying in Gargi College, a final year B.Com(Hons.) student, she is currently the Associate Editor at DU Beat. She hates being idle and loves flexibility in life. She totally agrees with James A. Michener in his saying: “I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.”

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