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

July 2014

Browsing
Top Picks

Ten ways to spend your travel time in Delhi metro

By

Amid the tall buildings, chasing cars and hustle and bustle of the city of New Delhi, the Delhi metro has become rather, what we call the lifeline of the city. As millions of people travel from one end to the other via the tube, it also has its own pros and cons to offer. Following are the ten unique ways one could think of to spend time while traveling in the Delhi metro.

1. Plug in some music, plug out the world!

Plug in your pair of ear phones, play some cool music, sing along with all the expressions. Tap your feet, nod your head, pace the nods up and down in sync with the beats of music and enjoy metro partying.

music

2. Eavesdrop on conversations

That middle aged man who is probably yelling at someone on phone,but his voice reaches couple of adjoining compartments. The agitated wives complaining about mother in laws and fighting with husbands on phone, the young couples flirting using cheesy pick up lines or the group of ‘cool’ college students apparently having loud fun.

Try overhearing or not, the voices shall fall on your eardrums and irritate, no matter what!

make it stop

3. Get used to casual lies and casual fights!

Don’t be surprised if the people in your coach are ready to fight at the slightest instigation, an unintentional push or a lame argument. The weather here is so, the blood of people is always ready to boil.

izzie

Neither be surprised as you hear people say on phone, “Yeah! I’m at Rajiv Chowk”, when they are actually not past Saket. Yes, no one would ever tell their exact location, that’s like the trend. Get immune to it and learn fast!

4. Unleash the mathematician in you!

Count the number of stations you’ve covered and the time taken. Then count the number of stations left until you reach your destination, multiply it with the time taken per station, and calculate total time you’re supposed to be doing practically nothing. Measure the accuracy of your estimated calculation once you alight and feel proud.

count

When bored of this, next time count the number of people in your coach, frequency of people boarding and deboarding etc.

5. Hone your observation and deduction skills

Observe the people traveling with you in the metro and try thinking about their stories, everyone has a story after all. The mustached man digging his face in the latest edition of TOI, the man who dozed off with a gaping mouth, the students studying for exams like it is the end of the world, everyone has a story of their own.

sherlock2

 

Smile, sit back and think.Yes.

6. Sleep!

Once when you completely get tired of sticking on to the moron maroon plastic thing, put your head down, acknowledge that you are tired, and give the body a rest with a power nap.

just exhausted

7. Strike random conversations with strangers

Your fellow passengers are all sailing in the same boat as yourself. Be nice to them, occasionally smile and strike up a conversation about the sun, the moon, the oilfields. Tell them what do you think about the Achche Din. You could seriously try your hand at date picking/ match making too, you never know, it might just happen.

ted

 

8. Unleash the poet in you!

After all the desperate attempts of finding a seat, stand by the door and gaze outside from the window. Tell yourself, ‘What is life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare’. As you see the amazing beauty of under construction buildings, packed houses, chasing cars and crowded markets, say to yourself ‘for men may come and men may go, but life goes on forever’.

leisure

PS- Don’t try in case of underground metro stations, you’ll be nothing but disappointed.

9. Here, are you the short one?

Are you the short/medium height Delhi metro commuter, and are sick of running into pot bellies and sweaty armpits in this scorching summer? Well, all you could do to get rid of this torturous predicament is to stay active and pounce upon a seat the moment someone’s body language indicates a  soon-to-happen vacancy. If that’s not possible, well then, wait for the summer to get over. Count the days, and brace yourselves!

winter

 

10. Be the dead man walking!

Not many people do it, but certainly one of my favorite ways to kill time in the metro. Keep walking, wandering aimlessly listening to music, from one end to the other, there are chances you might meet someone you know to talk to, unless that person ignores you thinking you are crazy too. (Of course others will!)

sleepwalking

 

Featured Image Credits: www.delhionclick.com

Gif Credits – www.tumblr.com

Keep Reading
By
Spo(r)tlight

CWG 2014: Let the game begin

By

The twentieth edition of the international multi-sport event involving the  53 Commonwealth nations, the CWG, has finally begun. The grand game shall witness around 6,500 athletes participating in  261 events in as many as 17 distinct sports. The Commonwealth games were founded by Melville Robinson, who organised this fourth largest sporting mega event for the first time in 1930 as the ‘British Empire Games’ in Canada.

Since then its structure and organisation has undergone some significant changes. The games are organised by the Commonwealth Games Federation, which also selects the host city. This time the capital city of Scotland, Glasgow is hosting the event. The other cities involved in the bid for hosting the event were Abuja, the Nigerian capital and Halifax in Canada. Halifax however, later withdrew its bid in 2007.

The Commonwealth nations send their 71 teams to participate in the games, as the dependent territories compete under their own flag at the event. Though this year ‘The Gambia’ will not participate in the games, reducing the number to 70 teams.

‘People, Place, Passion’ is the motto, whereas Clyde is the official mascot of the 2014 Games.

clyde
Clyde, a thistle named after a river of Glasgow, is the official mascot of Commonwealth Games 2014. Image Credits: www.bbc.co.

 

This year the opening ceremony of CWG  featured the only Commonwealth-wide fundraiser for children, in collaboration with the UNICEF. The grand event at the Celtic Park showcased some memorable glimpses of Susan Boyle and Rod Stewart’s performance, the ceremony was directed by David Zolkwer.

The ceremony was attended by England Prime Minister David Cameron, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Imran, and many other dignitaries. Sachin Tendulkar represented UNICEF at the ceremony. Alex Salmond led a minute’s silence for the victims of the MH17 disaster, which claimed 298 lives.

At last the baton was carried on by the young girl form UNICEF to six time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy, and eventually it reached to the Queen. The Queen read her message and then declared the 20th Commonwealth Games open.

 

Image source: The Guardian

Rishabh Sharma

[email protected]

 

 

Keep Reading
By
Campus Central

New session in Delhi University starts with two cases of ragging reported

By

DU Beat, Neeraj, Vice-President of AISA, Delhi, said that the main accused and his fellow aides had been rusticated from the college, and had never cleared any examinations, but continued to visit the campus for no other reason but to create mayhem and disturbance. When Puneet and Ravi questioned them, it allegedly resulted in Puneet’s head being smashed by using a broomstick. The students later went and complained to a teacher as the Principal was unavailable. Sources say their complaint was brushed aside. They were, however, taken to the Sundar Lal Jain Hospital, bandaged and sent home with their parents. A report has been filed for the incident at the Ashok Vihar police station. Neeraj said that by taking no action against the “goonda element”, the college is somehow legitimising the ragging and bullying of freshers. He also mentioned that there is no culture of orientation programmes in evening colleges, something that the rest of Delhi University enjoys. He urges the college to at least begin an anti-ragging awareness campaign, so that students coming into the University know what is to be done in the times of bullying. In another case of alleged ragging today at Shyamlal College, students were bullied by an NSUI member. Reportedly, he grabbed the students’ collars and asked some of them to drop their pants. Some girls protested and were hit by the accused’s aides. One student was hit hard on the head, and an accomplice also received some minor injuries. Amrish Ranjan Pandey, NSUI Spokesperson has dismissed these as rumours. “This has been done to spoil NSUI’s name. An official NSUI member knows not to get into such activities. The accused in this case has been heavily involved in anti-ragging campaigns, so he would never rag a student”, he went on to say.  This case is said to be due to a political tiff between ABVP and NSUI.  ]]>

Keep Reading
By
Admissions 2014

Delhi University releases 9th cut off; seats vacant for OBC category

By

Delhi University  has released the ninth cut off list for colleges. Admission through this list is open till 24th July, 2014 from 9:00 am to 1:00pm.

While most colleges have closed admissions in the General category, admissions remain open for OBC category in few colleges.Hansraj college has seats available for English, History and Hindi for OBC category. IP college for women has seats in Mass Comm, Psychology, History and Political Science for OBC.

Admission to Economics remain open for General category in Kalindi college while Janki Devi college has availability for Bcom and Bcom Hons for general category.

Hindu College keeps admission open for BSc.Maths for both general and OBC category. Quite a few number of colleges have seats available for ST and SC category of admission in the Science courses.

http://www.du.ac.in/du/uploads/Admissions/Cut-off/2014/Ninth/Artscommerce.pdf

http://www.du.ac.in/du/uploads/Admissions/Cut-off/2014/Ninth/Science14.pdf

Keep Reading
By
Campus Central

Ghosts of the British Raj: Of North Campus and its architecture

By

Viceregal Lodge Initially the house of the Viceroys, the present Vice-Chancellor’s office is nothing short of a historical piece. It has witnessed several balls, sheltered families of British troops and even held capture Bhagat Singh and his two comrades in the Lodge’s dungeons. The high-ceiling rooms are a prominent characteristic of British style. The several arched entrances are also another feature that reminds one of the old days, irrespective of one’s actual presence during those days. St. Stephen’s College Designed by Sir Walter Skyes George, who accompanied Sir Edward Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker in laying down the design of the capital complex of New Delhi, St. Stephen’s College shifted from a number of locations in Chandni Chowk and Kashmere Gate to its present site in the University complex in 1941. Another creation of Sir George is the Chapel housed in the college premises which is one of the most stunning highlights of the college. The red-brick walls of the college welcome you through the several arches on the ground floor. The college has had Englishmen as principals, lecturers and students for a very long time. Stephen's 2   Indraprastha College for Women With origins lying in Indraprastha Girls School, founded on the call of Annie Besant, IP College is the first women’s college in Delhi. After a number of shifts from Old Delhi to Chandrawali Bhawan to the present Alipore House site, its first Principal was Leonara Gmeiner. Alipore House, the then office of the Commander-in-Chief had hosted many parties and balls during the British prime. As a matter of fact, the current conference hall of the college was the actual ballroom and is known to have retained the original pillars and the arches. The college was declared a heritage site and thus, is bound to stay with the colour scheme, arches, high-ceilings, large windows and doors, and the ground floor in its architecture. The frontal appearance of the college cannot be altered. A major contributor of women in the freedom struggle, the front view of the college is a stark reminiscence of the British taste. ipcollege     Teaching and administration has since time immemorial commenced in these historic buildings, including participation in the freedom struggle. But, where exist such a plethora and deep reminders of our past, it is disappointing to know that Delhi University does not offer any Architectural courses. Infact, the monotonous History courses lack the much-needed practical landscaping and touring of these marvels. The city’s rich past is visible in the North Campus of its University. If any of you first-years get admitted in these colleges or get to have a tour/glimpse of the Lodge, remember: here, in the University loom the ghosts of the British Empire, and the dancing, drinking and merrymaking elite ghosts in the ballrooms. And, if you are lucky, you might just hear the howling in the dungeons of the Lodge.]]>

Keep Reading
By
Miranda House

The Dutch Connection: The Annual Indo-Dutch Collaborative Program

By

Being a student of Miranda House for the past two years now; I was always taught to apply my acquired knowledge in real world scenarios. With the concept of ‘globalisation within boundaries’ looming at large, we struggled to recreate a true version of how our peer groups on the other side of the continent study and compete with the growing standards of modern-day excellence and achievement. In order to instil the very same in its students; Miranda House, Shri Ram College of Commerce and the Utrecht Business School, Netherlands have been participating in the much coveted Annual Indo-Dutch Collaborative Program, since 2008.

Recently, I had the honour of being hosted by the Utrecht Business School alongside 7 other students from Miranda House, and 10 from SRCC. With our backgrounds ranging from Philosophy, Political Science, Economics, Geography and so on, we were selected to represent our college to take part in an exercise testing our patience and ability to adapt and acclimatise.  The selection process was a fairly simple one, which included the filling of an online form, and then a personal interview.

The delegation for the program from Miranda House, Delhi University

 

The primary purpose of this program, which took place in June and July this year, was to provide us with an opportunity for an inter-cultural interaction on an academic platform, and this exchange program was definitely our quest to build and work in a home away from home. The atmosphere was one completely different from what we witness in our country in various ways; where their outgoing practicality in the field of academics was balanced out by our deeply enrooted theoretical one.

The program was mainly an interdisciplinary management-based and application-based procedure; commonly known as the ‘LINKS Strategic Marketing Simulation’. An internationally adopted real-to-life marketing simulation, the program encompassed product development, manufacturing, service, forecasting, and information technology, plus associated marketing research study resource options.  The participants were students from the mentioned partner colleges and also, the Szechenyi Istvan Egyetem University Gyor, Hungary.

 

The week-long interaction session had in store for both us and our European colleagues, a very colourful and vivid exchange of culture through elements of food, music, dance, academics and of course, camaraderie. With students from almost 10 different countries, like Aruba, Belgium, Germany, Philippines, Netherlands, Hungary and India; it was a mass confluence of various differing traditions and cultures.   From visiting houses, to sharing the occasional beer; our host university left no stone unturned to incorporate us into their usual lifestyle.  Our week was a flurry of fancy dinners, get-togethers, decision making sessions and of course; football tournaments! With the Netherlands team leading the FIFA World Cup roster, we got to witness first-hand – the ‘oranje’ euphoria!  A heartening experience, our Dutch friends were always around to provide us with any sort of assistance required, and to help us feel truly at home!

The program saw its end with the closing note, from where we departed to explore other parts of Europe after visiting the friendliest one! With the Indian leg of the ‘Indo-Dutch Program’ scheduled to be held in Miranda House sometime in the month of October, I will definitely be looking forward to meet my friends from Utrecht again. Till then, good bye and goeiedag!

 

 Akriti Gupta
Miranda House

Keep Reading
By
DUB Speak

Things to look out for at the Orientation

By

College orientations are a great way to familiarize yourself with a glimpse of  the next three years of your life. Even though they aren’t mandatory to attend, we highly recommend that you do. Here are a few things that you should try and learn on orientation day that you probably won’t find on any online fact sheet:

College building and amenities: Chances are, that you’ve only visited the college once before the orientation, during the admission rush. With no classes or hurry, this is an ideal day to explore your college. Check out the common rooms, library, canteen, and of course, the photocopy shop. This way, you wouldn’t feel quite as ‘dis-oriented’ on the first day of classes!

parks

Batch mates: Here’s your chance to get your feelers out and interact with as many people as you can from across all courses, chat up with the cute guy you noticed during the admissions, or get busy forming cliques. First impression might not necessarily be the last one, but it certainly has an impact, so make sure you put your best foot forward, shed all inhibitions and get to know your batch mates.

cute guy

Seniors: These guys have been around for a year or more now, and they know how to get things done. Orientation day is a great opportunity for you to befriend a few seniors. Not only will they help you ease into this new life, they can also help you procure old notes and give tips on which teachers’ classes you can bunk!

got
 
Faculty: The faculty teaching at your department will be introduced to you at the orientation, and there’s no harm in trying to get into a teacher’s good books even before the classes commence. After all, a few extra marks never hurt!

chang

Keep Reading
By
DUB Speak

The story of the Israel–Palestine conflict

By

The Israel-Palestine issue is one that is frequently being discussed across media platforms these days. The pandemonium going on in this region has affected opinion worldwide but the plot of this tragic play spanning across centuries is comprehensibly understood not by many.

We bring you the backdrop of the whole issue for your better understanding of the conflict and its repercussions on the society in the present scenario.

The Conflict

The problem dates back to the year AD 71, when the Roman Emperor drove the Jews out of Palestine, their homeland. This led to their relocation towards Europe, mostly in the eastern part. Having to face persecution in Russia, Germany (anti-Semitic policy) and France; the situation worsened during the World Wars. Thus, in an attempt to regain lost ground they started to trickle back to Palestine nearly around 1700. Under such hostile circumstances the World Zionist Organization was founded in 1897 in Switzerland. The members believed that the Jews ought to return back to their righteous “Jewish Homeland”. The number of Jews in Palestine by the end of the 19th century alarmed the Arabs there. Conflicts occurred; the USA and the British government intervened, but no agreement could be signed. The Arabs wanted the migration of Jews to end, whereas, the Jews wanted to return back to their land following the horrors of the World Wars.

Finally in November 1947, the UN voted to divide Palestine. One half of the land would become the independent state of Israel and the other half would be with the Palestinian Arabs. In May 1948, Jewish leader Ben Gurion declared the independence of the new state of Israel. This outraged the Arabs and Israel was attacked immediately by Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon.

Israel defeated the Arabs in this war and captured even more of Palestine. They now had half of Jerusalem under their control. The USA and Britain guaranteed Israel’s frontiers. Since then numerous conflicts and wars have continued. The Suez war of 1956, the Six-Day war of 1967 and the Yom Kippur war of 1973 are the most prominent ones. It was during these wars that Israel acquired the much disputed Gaza Strip, West Bank and Jerusalem.

Meanwhile an organization named The Palestine Liberation Organization under Yasser Arafat carried a series of terrorist attacks to draw attention towards the injustice being done to the Arabs of Palestine. The Arabs living in these occupied areas are worst affected by the whole issue. According to the UN report Israel is accused of causing humanitarian catastrophe among the Palestinians: the economy has been destroyed, 65 to 70% of the population is unemployed, the houses and schools have been bulldozed and demolished. They are also accused of disproportionate violence and use of force against the enemies which has led to many civilian deaths.

To ease the conflict a Peace Conference took place in 1993, in Oslo. Here Israel agreed to give away parts of Palestine back which they had acquired during the war of 1967 (Gaza Strip and West Bank). PLO in return agreed to give up terrorism. Everything was going well, however in 1996 four suicide bombing incidents carried out by Palestinian militia group Hamas killed 63 people; another incident happened in the northern Israel where Hezbollah shelled villagers. Any possibility of peace was lost and hard-liner Binyamin Netanyahu managed to exploit the situation to become the Prime Minister of Israel. In 1994 Israel granted the right of self-governance to Gaza through the Palestinian Authority.

Hamas continued its strikes and in retaliation Israel assassinated a leader of PLO and surrounded Arafat’s headquarters in 2002. Temporary ceasefire lasted for four weeks and the Palestinians started their attack again. Israel this time sent 150 tanks and 20,000 soldiers into West bank and Gaza Strip, what followed was an unfortunate massacre by the Israelis. Kofi Annan condemned the offense and accused Israel of “illegal occupation”.

In 2007, after the Battle of Gaza, Hamas fighters took control of the Gaza Strip and removed Fatah officials after Fatah lost the parliamentary elections of 2006. The battle resulted in the dissolution of the unity government and the de facto division of the Palestinian territories into two entities, the West Bank governed by the Palestinian National Authority, and Gaza governed by Hamas. Since then continuous conflict has occurred between Israel and Hamas.

Current scenario

The world stands spectator as Israel bombs Palestine civilians in Gaza, calling it their fight against the militant group Hamas. Recently two incidents – the killing of three Israeli’s in West Bank and burning of a Palestinian youth in East Jerusalem – have triggered events which may endanger thousands of innocent lives. The air strike carried by Israel has cost more than 193 lives and thousands have been injured. According to the UN 77% of casualties have been civilians. Israel authorities say they are retaliating to the 700 rockets launched by Hamas targeting their cities even though in actuality not  a single rocket has managed to go beyond the Iron Dome of Israel.

This forces us to ponder that whether the retaliation of such scale and nature by Israel is justified? And that should the international community play a more important role to ease down this conflict which is only causing more misery and suffering to the Palestinian Arabs.

Rishabh Sharma

[email protected]

 

Keep Reading
By
DU Dhaba

Food Review: The Booty Call

By

The Booty Call is a pocket-friendly cafe and another addition to the wide range of cafes in Satyaniketan, opposite Sri Venkateswara College. To locate the cafe you’ll have to navigate a little deeper into the market. Its USP is that the cafe also undertakes deliveries from dusk to dawn (which explains the off beat name), coming as a huge boon to college students living as paying guests in South Campus.

The cafe cannot exactly be said to have ‘dine-in’ facility. However it can accommodate 6-8 people on the mattress laid on the ground and another 2-3 on the bunk-bed style loft. The walls are covered with interesting one-liners like, “Live by the booty, die by the booty” and posters of popular culture references including The Joker from the Batman series. The cafe also provides some popular books and a few board games for customers to enjoy as their food is prepared, with the dishes being served on bed trays. Overall, The Booty Call offers quite a ‘jugaadu‘ experience as far as arrangements go.

For the food review, we were served cheese burgers, pasta in Alfredo sauce and tandoori sauces, grilled chicken sandwich and paranthas.

One can literally taste the freshly melted cheese slice between the buns. In spite of being an ardent chicken devotee, I found the vegetarian burger to taste better than the chicken variant. Next came the pastas. The sauce was a bit sour for my tongue, and olives dominated the dish more than the pasta itself. Nevertheless, ‘tandoori pasta’ isn’t an item you see on menus everyday. Full marks for innovation!

20140714_173956

We were told that one of the chefs has previously worked in Old Delhi’s famous Paranthe Wali Gali. With that information came the final serving of paranthas and grilled chicken sandwich. The parantha did not match the hype it was surrounded with. On the other hand, the regular-looking grilled chicken sandwich turned out to be one of the best I’ve had in a while. The chicken was as minced as required and the bread was perfectly grilled. I did not even share the sandwich with my team!

In totality, I would go to The Booty Call again if I were a South Campus student. Although it faces stiff competition in Satyaniketan, the café is rather different when it comes to its concept and has a relaxed and easy going feel to it-perfect for those lazy late afternoons after grueling classes during the day.

Featured image courtesy: The Booty Call’s official Facebook page

Keep Reading
By
QWERTY

Here’s Timberman! : The new Flappy Bird?

By

With Flappy Bird pulled down by GEARS Studios, there was a vacuum that needed to be filled. Flappy Bird taught us a new way to kill time – traveling long distances, waiting in never ending ques or attending a boring lecture (specifically!), it made it all seem fun. Though now, there are many (MANY!) alternatives to the game, it seems we somehow got over it – We don’t need to tap & flap anymore! But what if I tell you there’s an antidote – a viable alternative to the Flappy Bird! To base my claim, this game has recorded over 2.5 million downloads already in under 2 months on AppStore alone, with 1 million of its downloads occurring in the last three days!! So what makes Timberman special?

timberman-gra
To be precise, all you’re doing is chopping down a tree trunk, by tapping on either side while avoiding the descending branches. Simple. However, after a few games (along with a few infuriating deaths), it hits! You soon find yourself drowned… Once you figure out the controls, timing & pacing and are able to hold on for a while, things get more interesting – the speed changes & you are required to tap faster, observe quicker and of course, shout louder if & when you fail! Once you make a good score, you can’t help but try and beat it, again & again… That’s it! You are now addicted to Timberman. You are playing it everywhere – couch, dining table, bedroom (bathroom anyone?).

timberman

One of the reasons it resembles Flappy Bird is because of the similar 8 bit look they share. Yet unlike Flappy Bird, it offer character & scenario customizations.  Much like Flappy Bird, the time between consecutive games is less, so you are constantly hooked to your phone! Incase you still need a testament, the game is among the top 5 apps (overall) in more than 20 countries and is the most-downloaded game in 8 countries (as of today)! The game is available for FREE on both Android & iOS So girls & guys, pick up your phones & indulge… ^-^

Keep Reading
By