2017

DUB Speak

I’m Your Average Anti National

By Niharika Dabral August 15, 2017

We are celebrating our 70th Independence Day in a time when terms like ‘independence’ and ‘azaadi‘ have become stigmatised. Our public discourse has been simmering with vivid debates about loyalty, freedom, and jingoism, and from the JNU row to the recent Ramjas College protests, we can identify that it is from the epicentre of universities that narratives of nationalism have been (and are being) shaped. As a college student for the past one year, I was directly exposed to new ideas on a daily basis. After hours of contemplating over them, I’ve discovered that I’m an anti national.

The many meanings of patriotism

When I say that I’m an anti national, it doesn’t mean I do not harbour love for my country. It’s just that my idea of what constitutes patriotism is different from the version portrayed in popular media. As Abhinandan Sekhri puts it, “Patriotism is not something that can be easily universally defined even by the most eloquent and evolved minds.” For some it is an expansive love for the territory of the nation, the laughter of its people, and their languages. For others it is an idea that is so narrow and flimsy that merely singing the national anthem is considered nationalism and attacking someone who does not stand for it in a cinema hall is considered an act of nationalistic passion. Whatever your idea of nationalism may be, the notion that there can be only one concept of what constitutes a nation, and that every other view is anti national, is intellectually void at best and authoritarian at worst.

For me personally, a nation is a free society where someone’s right to dissent is not questioned by those who disagree with them. Today when Gurmehar Kaur is trolled for espousing peace, and college plays are being censored because they talk about Indian insurgencies, it makes me wonder what people would call Ambedkar, whom the so-called nationalists are eager to appropriate when he supported the demand for plebiscite in Kashmir. What should we call Ambedkar then? Anti national?

Or for that matter, Gandhi, who in his meeting with a Naga delegation in 1947 said, “You can be independent. You are safe as far as India is concerned. India has shed her blood for freedom. Is she going to deprive others of their freedom? Personally, I believe you all belong to India. But if you say you don’t, no one can force you.” What do we call such a thought? Seditious?

Appropriating the Army

These days when the sacrifices of the armed forces are revoked at every instance and TV news panels have given space to retired officers, there is one observation that I would like to point out. Contrary to what prime-time news would like you to believe, there are armed forces personnel who don’t consider critique of the army as seditious.

When Major General G.D. Bakshi vehemently advocated that JNU students be booked under sedition, Admiral Ramdas (Vir Chakra awardee) and Retd. Colonel Laxmeshwar Mishra supported the students at JNU and espoused that sedition has no place in a democracy. In April when Major Gaurav Arya, now a prominent face on Indian television, was lauding the army for tying Kashmiri youth to an army jeep as a human shield, Param Vishisht Seva Medal awardee Lieutenant General H. S. Panag condemned that very act. I wonder if that makes these men anti-national.

The reason I’m making these comparisons is because even within the armed forces there are differences of opinion. Situations develop into problems when only one person is touted as the sole representative of the armed forces.

Soldiers are not holy cows

As students of social sciences, we all know that history is an important discipline and that our today is a product of our past. So, I would like to go back a little bit and talk about 15th June 2004 when 12 elderly women in Imphal stood naked behind banners proclaiming, “Indian Army, rape us” as a protest over the killing of Manorama. I would also like to mention 2nd November 2000 when Sinam Chandramani, a National Bravery Award winner, was killed alongside 10 other people when Assam Rifles personnel opened fire at Malom village in Manipur.

On 15 July 2004, women stood naked in front of the Kangla Fort in Imphal with a banner that read "Indian Army Rape Us" to protest the killing of Manorama Devi. Image Credits: Outlook — On 15 July 2004, women stood naked in front of the Kangla Fort in Imphal with a banner that read “Indian Army Rape Us” to protest the killing of Manorama Devi.
Image Credits: Outlook

In these contexts, with these histories, would you not question the men in uniform? The accusations of human rights violations are not imaginations of “liberal-sickular-minds”, but observations that the Supreme Court itself has made.

In July 2013, the Santosh Hegde Commission highlighted the rampant misuse of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) for fake encounters by the security forces in Manipur. Earlier in January 2013, the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee had recommended the suspension of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act on account of being “too sketchy” and “inefficient”. Other than this, the Justice Verma Committee also took cognise of the sexual harassment of local people by members of the armed forces.

By today’s standard when many civilians regard soldiers as holy cows and accusing the armed forces of atrocities is equated with infidelity, the truth remains. In Barkha Dutt’s words, “Sacrifices of the military, of which I am a huge admirer, have coexisted with unforgivable human rights violations of which we all must be outspoken critics.”

Tank Man vs. Tanks

Now that the University of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University have inaugurated the “Wall of Heroes”, chances are that soon army tanks will also be installed in the campus to instill nationalism in students. I don’t know how inspiring the tanks will be, but I know for sure that the picture of Tank Man, an unidentified person who stood in front of a column of tanks during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, is awe-inspiring. It teaches me to respect strength and not power.

tianasquare-1 — An unidentified man stood in front of a column of tanks on 5th June 1989 after the Chinese military had suppressed the Tiananmen Square protests. Image Credits: Jeff Widener

In 1908, Tagore wrote that “It is my conviction that my countrymen will truly gain their India by fighting against the education which teaches them that a country is greater than the ideals of humanity.” Even after 109 years, Tagore’s words remain relevant. It’s time we evaluate what we prioritise as a country – our nationalism or our humanity.

Feature Image Credits: Tsering Topgyal

Niharika Dabral
[email protected]

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Life in the Theatre Society: Of Painstaking Efforts and Rewarding Contentment

By DU Beat August 14, 2017

“Main shahifakeer wah bhai wah, main shahifakeer wah bhai wah,
main sona naa maangiya wah bhai wah,
main heera naa maangiya wah bhai wah,
yeh Kshitij humara wah bhai wah,
yeh gaana gaanda kyaaaaa…”

As freshmen, standing on the threshold of the seemingly crucial years of our life, intimidated by the novelty of the ensuing pursuits, the theatre society is a place that provides a reckless calm to the effervescent souls.

They say there are some things in life that leave an indelible impression on you, enough to last lifetimes. Those who have had the privilege of spending their hours and days and weeks in their college’s dramatics society know how well-meaning something as intangible as an art form can be. Swaying to the melodious cacophonies produced from an array of musical instruments, from the very well-known indigenous dholaks to the lesser known rope tuned, skin-covered goblet drums, djembe, are artists sworn to their intent to deliver justice wherever they find it lacking.

The very roots of street theatre embody a melange of progressive world views, portrayed rather comically with exaggerated gestures and bold expressions to allure the audiences into attention. Their sartorial uniformity is very pleasing to the eye. From the charcoal black kurtas to the flamboyant tones of green, red, and blue, all with the exception of nothing, makes them a picturesque act all of their own.

The gruelling months of research that goes into the making of a play, the very stringent workout regime custom-made to fit the requisites of a street theatre artist, and the several challenging acting workshops that one has to be put through to ensure riddance of mental blocks and innate inhibitions helps improve not just the performance but also positively contributes to their holistic development.

A much-needed value addition to life, as I like to call it, my theatre society is the culmination of everything that makes me want to to be proud of who I am and what I do. It is one of the very few things that you will do in your life that will seem fitting regardless of the cause and will tire you endlessly for all the right reasons.

For however long I choose to be here, I know that I made the right choice to steal a quick glimpse than to have not seen it at all.

Feature Image Credits: Chauraha 2017, IP College for Women

Lakshita Arora

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History Deleted from the ‘Books’ Akin to History Deleted from the ‘Minds?’

By DU Beat August 14, 2017

The recent decision by the Maharashtra State Education Board to exclude Mughal history for classes VII and IX and focus on the Marathas and Shivaji has brought to fore various discourses on the way education shapes the young minds.

While attending one of my History classes this semester, my professor gave me the examples of the ‘education agenda’ being propagated by the Arya Samaj and the Christian Missionaries during the Indian National Movement. This was done for the ‘upliftment’ of Indian women (which is again debatable) – how both of them gave their own versions of ‘an ideal woman,’ remaining centric to the idea of how to evolve women into ‘good wives and good mothers.’ But, there was a slight difference in their respective definitions of the ideal woman; the Arya Samaj focussed on the formation of an ‘ideal Hindu woman’ and the missionaries were keen on transforming the Indian women into the ideal ‘Victorian woman’ model. So, through their ways of teaching mechanisms and syllabi, both of them promulgated their own ideologies. This also sheds light on the very recent changes happening across the country – be it the renaming of the iconic Mughalsarai railway station near Varanasi as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Akbar Road as Maharana Pratap Singh Road in New Delhi, or the placement of a tank at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Renaming iconic places, changing names of roads, and forcing cultural nationalism in educational institutions – all this points to a basic fact of how minds can be ‘hegemonised’ tacitly, and the best way to achieve this is to tamper with the school syllabus. The textbooks of classes VII and IX will now no longer include descriptions about the Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar, or the Red Fort built by the Mughals in India; there will be no mention of the Rupaiya that was first introduced by Afghan traders or the first woman to rule Delhi – Razia Sultan – along with the summarisation of Akbar’s rule being concentrated in three lines in the revised textbooks. The books have detailed ilk on the Bofors scam, Emergency period, struggles of Maratha rulers with Aurangzeb, and the portrayal of the medieval Indian history as being dominated by the Hindu Samrajya, which is broadly a skewed version.

Dr. Sadanand More, chairman of the History subject committee of the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research, justified the revision by saying it was relevant for students in Maharashtra. He says, ”The Central Boards have very little mention of our state Maharashtra, so what’s wrong in that?” Some people have validated a very substantive argument that Mughal history is not medieval history in India, and North Indian Mughal history overshadows the Ahom Kings of Assam, the Gonds of Garha Katanga, Deccani paintings and muraqqas in Bijapur (present day- Karnataka), Zamorin or the Hindu ruler of Calicut (Kozhikodhe), the Sangam literature, Bhakti, and Vaishnavite movements, etc. Lessening of Mughal history in school textbooks is maybe a better idea rather than its complete omission to make the students aware of the rest of the subcontinental heritage.

Speaking to my professors and friends from the History department of DU, finally, this brings us to a major thought-provoking question that I asked in the beginning – if you delete history from books, do you really think that you can alter the minds of the people? Of course, the Mughal history remains as relevant in books as in memoirs, archives, museums, architecture and most importantly, people’s memories. The agenda probes a question regarding the way along which we want to lead the young minds – through a tapered ideological strand of thought or a broad-minded, wholesome, and neutral education?

Feature Image Credits: Google

Oorja Tapan

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Weighing the Academic Shelf: DU Courses Unbalanced with Gender Disparity?

By Niharika Dabral August 14, 2017

Courses like the Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.El.Ed) and B.Sc. Home Science are only available to women, while girls’ colleges continue to dominate the available seats in Psychology.

With females venturing in male-dominated spaces and vice versa, our workspaces are slowly but steadily becoming gender-neutral. However, it seems that the University of Delhi (DU) is still perpetuating (and encouraging) gender stereotypes – even in 2017.

As of now, there are only five out of twelve colleges co-educational colleges in DU which offer an undergraduate degree in Psychology. None of the five options available for boys hold high reputation, whereas girls have the option of studying the subject at prestigious institutions such as Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) and Jesus and Mary College (JMC). The limited number of seats and absence of good colleges deter boys from studying Psychology from DU and ultimately, they have to seek admission in expensive private colleges. Anuradha Das Mathur, the Founding Dean of the Vedica Scholars Programme for Women, writes in an essay, “The benefits of diversity are as critical in the classroom as they are in the workplace. In areas influenced by psychology, the absence of men brings along even more exaggerated risks.”

While the situation is bad in Psychology, it is even worse (hopeless) in the elementary education programme. The Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.El.Ed), a four-year integrated professional degree programme which qualifies a student to practice as teachers at the elementary school level, is currently available at eight colleges – none of which are co-ed.

University of Delhi colleges that offer B.El.Ed.

Aditi Mahavidyalaya
Gargi College
Institute of Home Economics
Jesus & Mary College
Lady Shri Ram College for Women
Mata Sundari College
Miranda House
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee College

There are very good chances that during school we addressed more teachers as ‘ma’am’ as compared to the seldom-used ‘sir.’ Teaching is one such field where the male-female ratio is almost equal (as of 2011, 45.5% of teachers in schools are women). Teaching is believed to be ideal for women because the short working hours, holidays, and statutory work environment make it convenient for them to manage household responsibilities alongside their job. Also, stereotypical feminine traits like motherly affection and patience are associated with teaching. This is the reason why more and more women take up teaching as a career, but just because a career path is often charted by certain gender norms, this shouldn’t be an excuse for the public-funded educational institutions to limit the access for another gender.

Just like B.El.Ed, there are no DU colleges that offer Home Science to boys. Currently, only two all-girls’ colleges – the Institute of Home Economics and Lady Irwin College – teach B.Sc. (Hons.) Home Science. In popular culture, Home Science as a subject has been described as “cooking or stitching,” a course that teaches you how to be a good housewife. People often overlook that a Home Science student can very well be a nutritionist, dietician, counsellor, or a textile specialist. It’s true that enriched prejudices and clichés are reasons which deter boys from pursuing Home Science, but the lack of seats/colleges shouldn’t be one.

Yatin Arora, a hotel management and catering student of Ansal University says “I had Home Science in class 12th, and I wanted to study it further. However, there were no options available for me in the University of Delhi. The girls who scored less than me in Home Science have secured seats in Lady Irwin College, while I’m studying in a private college.”

It is indisputable that we need more female engineers and scientists, but we also want more boys in the capacity of therapists and crèche owners. The idea that culinary art, elementary education, and psychology are women-oriented fields is a patriarchal construct. The University of Delhi, as a progressive-feminist space, shouldn’t reinforce these gender stereotypes by segregating some so-called feminine courses from interested male students.

Feature Image Credits: The Next Regeneration

Niharika Dabral

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Global Zero Event: Indian Activists Show Their Respect for A Victim of Nuclear Bombings in Japan

By DU Beat August 14, 2017

The world changed – for the worse – after it witnessed nuclear bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during the World War II.

72 years later, the situation isn’t any better. With more than 15,000 nuclear weapons in the world, the human race is at an alarming risk of extinction even if a few of them were to be ever launched.

These weapons, if not launched by intent, are at a risk of being launched by accident or miscalculation. To raise awareness and teach citizens about this imminent danger at hand, Global Zero India organized ‘Teach–Ins’ in Delhi and Bangalore on the 72^nd anniversary of Hiroshima bombing on 6^th August, 2017.

These ‘Teach-Ins’ started with a short introduction by Vibhana Kanwar, a Grassroots Team Leader with Global Zero, about the kind of threat and dangers a nuclear war across Indian and Pakistani borders can bring to the table.

Since India and Pakistan are two nuclear-armed countries sharing the same border, the threat of a nuclear war is a very likely possibility. Dr. Reshmi Kazi pointed out later that if Pakistan were to declare a ‘No First Use’ policy, then India, China, and Pakistan could this way form a club – hence, taking the first step towards disarmament.

The day witnessed the presence of many keen Indian activists and participants attending the event, from making origami cranes denoting peace to paying homage to Sadako Sasaki, a victim of the atomic bombings in Japan.

According to Rashi Jauhri, the South Asian Field Organiser with Global Zero, “The existence of nuclear weapons poses an existential threat not only to India and Pakistan but to human civilisation as we know it.”

The participants engaged in public dialogue about the growing risks of nuclear weapons usage, the catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences of such use, and the ethical importance of the elimination of these weapons of mass destruction.

At the end of the three-hour event, the participants tweeted the pictures of their handmade origami cranes to PM Modi, using the hashtag #NoNukes.

The origami cranes along with a rakhi were then delivered to the Prime Minister’s office on the 8^th August by Rashi Jauhri and Vibhana Kanwar to commemorate Sadako’s life.

“On the occasion of Rakshabandhan and the tragic anniversary of the atomic bombings, we’re asking the Prime Minister to do everything in his power to ensure that nuclear weapons are never used again. The only way to do that is to eliminate them once and for all,” said Jauhri.

Global Zero is the international movement for the elimination of nuclear weapons. It is led by more than 300 eminent world leaders and backed by half a million citizens worldwide. For more information, please visit www.globalzero.org.

Image Credits: Raghav Juneja and Sahil Chauhan for DU Beat

Sahil Chauhan

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Percussion by the New Generation

By Priyal Mahtta August 13, 2017

Third-year B.Com (Hons) student and the President of SGTB Khalsa College’s Music Society, Vaibhav Kanwar’s love for music and entrepreneurship has led to the founding of “Clapbox”, a startup that manufactures and sells the percussion instrument, Cajon. With a six digit monthly revenue and listing among the best sellers on Amazon, Clapbox is all set to reach new heights.

With the idea of encouraging the fellow student musicians, Vaibhav’s “Clapbox” has announced a giveaway of 10 Cajons to the Music Societies of colleges in Delhi University.

What was the idea behind starting this venture?

Seeing the unreasonable pricing of cajons in the market, I tried making one for myself. With a lot of research and trial and error, I finally came up with a possible frame for my Cajon. I approached many percussionists for trying out my prototype which allowed me to reach out to more like minded people. I realized the gap that there was in the market for good quality cajons, which led to the birth of this venture. Being a portable music instrument, it works perfectly for percussionists during band practices and drummers with space constraints at home.

What do you think has been your key to success?

With the goal of creating something unique, our team of product designers has been constantly studying the market and developing new models made of different wood. Each model, with its different specifications, competitive pricing and strict sound quality checks have led to the success of Clapbox.

What has been your biggest challenge in this journey?

Competing with the already established foreign brands on the same platform while minimizing the cost of production without compromising on the quality was a big challenge for us. However, we were able to overcome this problem by constantly interacting with customers and being responsive to their feedback. Being a drummer myself for the past eight years, my passion for music did not let me give up during hard times.

Tell us more about your range of products.

We at Clapbox; in addition to our growing range of Cajons are planning to introduce a highly affordable line of other instruments soon. The success of our new models, the ‘Jingle Cajon’ and the ‘Adjustable Snare Cajon’ has inspired us to work on new models like ‘Electric Cajons’, ‘Travel Cajons’ and ‘Practice Pads’ for drummers.

What are your future business expansion plans?

We are in talks with music stores across India and have been approached by some established business houses for an alliance. Let’s see how it pans out.

To stake a claim for a free Clapbox Cajon for your music society, please send in a request on your College Letterhead, duly signed by the President of your music society and attested by the College Principal to [email protected]

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Priyal Mahtta

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Book Review: Em and the Big Hoom

By DU Beat August 13, 2017

Described as “95 percent fact and 95 percent fiction”, Jerry Pinto’s novel Em and the Big Hoom deals with the trauma of bipolar disorder with honesty and humour.

We should never judge (and pick) a book by its cover, but Em and the Big Hoom is so beautifully designed that you can’t help but notice (and eventually buy it). Its deep-set purple colour, glossy red flyleaf, and coloured text block are eye catching. That’s how it tempts you first and then you pick it up, only to discover that it is as interesting as its cover promised.

The novel's glossy red flyleaf and purple block text are eye-catching — The novel’s glossy red flyleaf and purple block text are eye-catching

Em and the Big Hoom is a Sahitya Akademi award-winning novel written by journalist and writer, Jerry Pinto. It is the story of a boy growing up in a one-bedroom-hall-kitchen flat in Mahim, Mumbai, with his mentally unsound mother, Imelda (Em); father, Augustine (Big Hoom); and his elder sister, Susan. The story starts after Imelda suddenly falls into a deep-rooted bipolar disorder which ends with her death.

Imelda is an uncouth, tea sipping and beedi smoking lady (who doesn’t consider discussing sex with her children a taboo), but despite her crassness, you will end up liking her. However, it’s the stoic father who wins hearts. He is the one who holds things together; he pays the bills, cooks, and washes the metallic smelling blood off the floor each time Em is rushed to the hospital after her failed suicide attempt. While The Big Hoom is the comfort, Em is an adventure. The story is narrated by unnamed son who is endearing, vulnerable, and loves his mother with “a helpless corroded love”. The characters feel so humane and real that it seems unfair to label Em and the Big Hoom as fiction instead of a memoir.

A major part of the story has references made to the letters and journal entries, from which Imelda and Augustine’s history is unearthed. Unlike Augustine, who seems like one of the “solid–as-a-rock men of the world who rarely give the impression that they have any past or a private life”, his letters offer insight into his romantic feelings for Imelda. Sample this letter he wrote from Paris: “You would like Paris, I think. There is a casual beauty about it, rather like yours.”

The 235 page long book is littered with ample of feminist-y snippets: like, the moment when Imelda asserts control over her salary, her reaction when she discovers a vacuum cleaner (“I cried when I saw my first vacuum cleaner, I felt it was kindness to women everywhere”), and when Augustine assures her before marriage that “Your body is yours to give or not”.

The most interesting aspect of the novel is that even though there are many books written about Mumbai, it is Jerry Pinto who paints Mumbai from the rare perspective of Goan Catholics against a rare backdrop of Mahim and city’s psychiatric wards.

You should read this masterpiece if you are looking for a story of vulnerability, tragedy and strength.

Feature Picture Credits: Amil Sayed

Niharika Dabral

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Mental health facilities for students

By DUBeat August 13, 2017

According to a 2012 Lancet report, India has one of the highest suicide rates across the world for youth aged 15-29.

The reason for this is primarily the high cost associated with personal counselling sessions by professional psychologists. The stigma attached with resorting to professional facilities is another reason why students prefer easily accessible and cheaper methods. The following is a non-exhaustive list of sources that students can avail for free, or at very nominal rates-

The Delhi University Women’s Association (DUWA) offers counselling services ?through a toll-free helpline number(1800-3000-7303), where individuals can contact them from Monday-Friday, between 3 to 5:30 p.m. Students can also write to them at [email protected], the response to which would be delivered within 48 hours. The Mind Body Centre wing of DUWA also offers one-on-one counselling sessions to faculty members and female students, for an annual fee of 50 rupees. An appointment for the same can be booked by calling at 27667742.

Ehsaas, the psychotherapy clinic at Ambedkar University, Delhi, offers psychotherapeutic support for free to students and individuals out of AUD too. You can reach out to their psychologists and psychiatrists at [email protected]

Sanjivini Society for Mental Health: It is a non-profit organization that offers free counselling services since 1976. People with problems who seek intervention in their stressful lives can interact with the counsellors, who come from different educational backgrounds. The organisation has two main units- the crisis intervention centre and the rehab centre. The former unit aims to provide confidential psycho-social counselling, while the latter is a full time therapeutic facility for people with chronic illnesses. You can contact them at- 24311918/ 24318883(available between monday to friday).

You’re Wonderful project: This student-run organisation aims to reach out to people who are succumbing to depression or showing signs of a stressful lifestyle. It advocates the importance of mental health and is open to answering queries on their multiple virtual platforms. Though not a substitute to medical professionals, it acts as a supplement and guide to help students and individuals deal with mental health issues.

College level counsellors: A lot of colleges within DU have an in-house counsellor that offers counselling on issues other go beyond career. A few such colleges are- Daulat Ram College (open to students across DU), Miranda House, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Jesus and Mary College, SRCC, Hansraj etc.

Online portals: If you want to avoid face-to-face sessions, online services like YourDost connect you to experienced counsellors and psychotherapists, whom you can talk to anonymously.

The stigma around mental illnesses is still so strong that most individuals are reluctant to seek external help. Mental health helplines can, however, bridge the gap between patients and professionals. If you are, or know someone who is feeling suicidal, contact the following helplines immediately:

Vandrevala Foundation- 1860-266-2345,

Aasra- 91-222-754-6669

Feature Image Credits: mbc.du.ac.in

Vijeata Balani

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An afternoon with The Third Space Collective, on their latest production ‘Dastaan-E-Bhook’

By DU Beat August 13, 2017

Which smell reminds you of home?

It was the simplest of questions, posed by one of the members of The Third Space Collective. He tried to ease us all into the informal ‘Adda’ that transpired on a humid afternoon at Green Park, under the faint turpentine and peach coloured shades of the gazebo.
Answers varied from mutton curry cooked in mustard oil, to drift woods; from the wet smell of laundry to the fresh smell of soil embraced by the first rains.
On a lazy Friday afternoon, The Third Space Collective, a collective of theatre practitioners held, what they insist on calling, an ‘Adda’ to involve people in their craft of storytelling, as their latest production ‘Dastaan-E-Bhook’, an adaptation of Sam Shepard’s ‘Curse of the Starving Class’ approaches the calenders.

One might wonder, why the name, Third Space? In a conversation with the Director of the play, Dhwani Vij, a graduate of Kirori Mal College (KMC) and the Founder member of the Collective, passionately explained it to us. In any form of art and performance, a multitude of spaces is created. The first and foremost space is of the performers and the artists who weave the elaborate fabric of stories with their bodies, ideas, and training. The second space is created by what the artist encounters in this creative affair, from the co-actor to the stage, from the audience to the blank sheet of paper on their desks.
Then comes the third space, the conjunction of the first and the second, the most sacred place where creation takes place.

Already performed at the prestigious Prithvi Theatre at Thespo 2015, a youth theatre movement that began in the year 1999, and which has impacted the Bombay theatre scene considerably, ‘Dastaan-E-Bhook’ is a play tracing the journey of a family struggling to cope with each other. Packed with ideas of belonging, ownership, and home, the play is a dark absurdist comedy, about an all-consuming hunger, fed by the ripples of urbanisation. Questions of home and its definitions, an exploration of gray areas, percolates within the theme of the play.

The Third Space Collective’s charm lies in its simple endeavour to create an evening of discussion and conversation on a story that they wish to paint on stage. Most of its members, now graduates, hail from different colleges from the University of Delhi and their respective theatre societies. The ‘Adda’ was coloured by heart-rending poetry pieces on themes of home, musical performances, and to lure us more into the afternoon, multiple cups of ‘adrak wali chai’. Artists from different cities, backgrounds, theatre circuits participated in the afternoon of conversational hues of what home is and means to each of us, which soon segued into a cathartic evening.

The motive of this informal ‘adda’ was to familiarise the audience with the craft, the characters, the story. A play is not just the director’s child or the actor’s craft. It needs the voice of its audience, and that was the goal of the event, to tie up strands of truth and interpretations.

‘Dastaan-E-Bhook’ hits the theatres from September 1st to September 3rd, starting at 8.pm at The Instituto Cervantes Nueva Delhi, at Connaught Place.

Photo Credits: Vansh Sabharwal
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– Ankita Dhar Karmakar
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Ceiling Falls at the College of Vocational Studies, Minor Injury Reported

By Saumya Kalia August 12, 2017

Yet again in an infrastructural flaw in the colleges of the varsity, a section of the ceiling came crashing down in a classroom of the College of Vocational Studies on Friday, 11th August 2017.

The false ceiling in the newly-constructed building of the college proved to be immensely unsafe in room no. 107. Around 9:15 a.m. in a Hindi class of the Human Resource Management programme, the roof collapsed with about 30 students occupying the classroom. According to sources, one student faced a minor injury while the others relatively remained unharmed.

“One student needed first aid care… this is scary. It is a new building, that was handed over in 2015. Even the fan was left dangling,” a faculty member of CVS quoted to the Hindustan Times.

However, the chairperson of the governing body of CVS RNP Singh asserted that the incident was on a minor scale and did not consequent substantial damage. He remarks, “It was the light thermocol pieces that are used for false ceiling that came undone. It was not heavy enough to hurt anybody.”

Another teacher commented about the intensity of the accident to The Indian Express, remarking, “Fortunately it was a false ceiling, which is probably why not many children received injuries. But even then, some large chunks fell down. Thankfully the fan did not fall, otherwise it would have been a bigger accident.”

Until the safety regulations can be confirmed with the building construction, RK Chopra, a retired Associate Professor of the Commerce department of CVS, has appealed to the governing body to seal the hazardous building. He insists that a FIR should be filed against the contractor for this construction failure.

Further commenting on the financial shortfalls of this construction, Chopra delineates, “Just five or six months ago, Room number 104 had been completely caved in… According to data we got in response to an RTI we had filed, the college had spent close to Rs. 5.5 crore. That means close to 20 lakh rupees have been spent on ‘porta cabin’ rooms. Rooms made with cement and concrete may have been cheaper.” According to officials, ten classes are being run from the new academic block.

Countering this, RNP Singh believes that the cost estimates can be left for a correct adjudication by the contractor or architect only. “Only they can tell exactly how much such rooms cost,” he said.

The construction shortfall has sufficient precedent within the University of Delhi. Last year, a portion of the ceiling collapsed in Daulat Ram College, leaving several students injured. A similar instance occurred in a room of the Hans Raj Hostel. The startling incident had brought to the fore the deplorable condition of some classrooms of the College as well as the dampening structures of other colleges in the varsity. It remains to be seen whether the governing body aligns itself with accountability or falls in a rut of blaming and dismissing.

Feature Image Credits: The Indian Express

Saumya Kalia

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