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Game of Thrones: Season 7, Episode 1 Review

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This post contains spoilers. Please read at your own discretion.

After a long, long, long time, the penultimate season of Game of Thrones is finally here. I’m sure a few of my hair strands have turned white. This season brings a lot of loose ends to a definite end – at least, that’s what everyone’s hoping. With only seven episodes this season, it’s shorter than the typical 10-episode seasons in the past. Season 7 will primarily focus on the battle between the living and the dead: the Great War is here.

The King in the North is busy gathering men, women (proto feminist Jon Snow), and children to fight against the ghastly Night King. This is one of the few times where Jon Snow knows something. The tension between Jon and Sansa is very palpable, predictive of massive disagreements between the siblings. Littlefinger continues to irk Brienne. He’s like a woodpecker that will keep pecking onto Sansa’s head unless he achieves what he wants. However, Sansa, who is seen subtly admiring the Mad Queen, Cersei, has learnt her tricks from the best manipulator in Westeros. It’s the least to say that she’s no longer a 14-year-old naïve dove. Amidst this brewing tension, Tormund is occupied with attempts to land a date with Brienne of Tarth.

From across the sea, Daenerys with her enormous armada, three fire-breathing dragons, and a witty Hand, Tryion, has crossed the narrow sea. Anchored at Dragonstone, Daenerys Stomborn has finally reached home. Khaleesi is now back in the game, and hopefully she’s to stick around for more than a minute. Back in King’s Landing, Cersei resumes to necking wine at an admirable rate and military plotting. Standing in the middle of the freshly painted map of all the kingdoms, she’s shown emphasising to Jaime the allegiance of Daenerys with Tryion, her younger brother whom she despises with all her heart. This conversation obviously leaves Jaime in an awkward situation and you can already see the possibility in which he would have to make a choice between his sister and his brother. Later in the episode, Cersei shocks Jaime with a prospective allegiance with Euron Greyjoy, who proposes marriage to Cersei in exchange of his fleet. This makes Jaime uncomfortable, leading to an overall not-so-great day for Jaime, to be honest.

Arya Stark after removing Walder Frey’s name from her list poisons the remaining Freys in their own castle. There’s one thing for sure – let the host gulp his wine before you sip it. Ed Sheeran makes an unsubtle cameo and Arya shares a roasted rabbit with him, and that’s a sentence I never thought I’d say. Oh wait! There was also blackberry wine and a couple of other soldiers. The Hound finally witnesses the Lord of the Light and cracks up jokes.

At the Citadel, Sam is bored with his monotonous routine and is curious to find substantial information about the white walkers. And Little Sam has learnt to say ‘Mom’, how cute! In one of the cells is an anxious Jorah who is desperately waiting for Khaleesi. The grayscale has gotten drastically worse.

The episode, Dragonstone, isn’t a very fast-paced episode with nerve-wracking tension. It serves the purpose of sketching out what’s to come later this season. It definitely prepares the viewer to witness colossal and interesting battles. As Game of Thrones lurks closer to the end, it’s becoming more and more difficult to wait for every episode. With all the hype that has been created around this season, and a huge filming budget, the viewers are definitely expecting a fantastic two months. Pretty much all the characters are at the peak of their journey and the show is inching closer towards the climax. The lingering question of who – or, as Ser Davos said, whose skeleton – will sit on the Iron Throne is yet to be answered.
Feature Image Credits: YouTube

Rashim Bagga
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News

Delhi Government Mulls Holding Out on Funding for Some DU Colleges

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The Delhi Government is a part benefactor to some colleges which come under the Universiy of Delhi. There are 28 colleges; 12 of them are fully funded by the Delhi government, whereas the remaining 16 colleges are offered a 5% grant by the entity, with the supplementary 95% given by the University Grants Commission (UGC). As the University of Delhi has deferred the formation of a governing body in government-funded colleges, the Delhi government is considering withholding funds to these colleges.

The governing body of each college has 15 members, out of which five are nominated by the government. As on June 8, the government had written to DU asking it to speed up the notification for the governing body and to begin appointment of new staff in these colleges “only after constituting a new governing body.” “We are seriously considering stopping funding to all DU colleges. Why should we give money to them when our governing bodies cannot be constituted?” a government official said.

“We are seriously considering stopping funding to all DU colleges. Why should we give money to them when our governing bodies cannot be constituted?” a government official said. University officials could not be reached for a comment.

The 12 colleges, which are fully-funded by the Delhi Government include:

Image Credits: University of Delhi
Image Credits: University of Delhi

The 16 colleges which are partly funded are:

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At present, over 20,000 students are studying in these 28 Delhi Government-funded colleges. Earlier, there were apprehensions that the Delhi Government will set up a separate university by taking over 12 DU colleges, fully-funded by it. And now, due to failure in forming a governing body the government is rethinking about providing funds to these colleges.

 

 

Feature Image Credits: The Indian Express

 

Radhika Bouah

[email protected]

 

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Admissions 2017

DU Closes Admissions for Fourth Cut-Off List; Seats Full in Majority Courses

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July 15th marked the commencement of the fourth phase of University of Delhi’s merit-based undergraduate admissions. Filling up to 90% of the seats in various colleges, the candidates will be hard-pressed to secure a seat considering most courses have closed admissions.

The undergraduate admissions cycle branches out into merit-based and entrance-based mode of admissions every year; with 50,000 seats out of a total of 56,000 reserved for merit-based procedure, through the announcement of cut-off lists. Officials of the varsity have remarked that 3,500 seats were secured in this leg of admission cycle, with a marginal figure remaining to complete the process.

Eyeing individual colleges, Sri Venkateswara has hit the cap on the number of seats. The Hindustan Times quoted the Principal P Hemalatha Reddy, who delineated, “We have approximately 1,150 seats, and we have approved 1,198 admissions. Almost all the courses will be closed for admissions, especially under the general category, in the next list.” Following close behind, Kirori Mal College has a hundred seats remaining; but, have declared closed the admissions for popular courses. Moving to Daulat Ram College, Principal Savita Roy briefed, “Even in sought after courses such as B.Com, B.Com (Hons) and English (Hons), we have a few seats remaining.” Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College still has doors open, especially for Science students. “We have filled approximately 570 out of our 800 seats. Though most courses are going to be closed, we still have seats in the science courses,” said an associate professor.

Like the previous cut-off trends, this admission cycle too applicants had to endure technical snags and cut-off chaos which plagued their experience. The next, and anticipatedly the last cut-off list, is scheduled to be announced on the evening of July 17th. The new academic session of the University begins on July 20th.

 

 

Feature Image Credits: Hindustan Times

 

Saumya Kalia

[email protected]

 

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Arts & Culture

Adding to the ‘super’ in Superwoman: Lilly Singh appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador

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When the glittering stars of the YouTube realm transcend barriers to splash the offline space, it’s bound to add to their awesomeness. The online sensation Lilly Singh, who with her YouTube alias of Superwoman has managed to garner millions of subscribers, was appointed as the UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador at a special event in the capital.

Source: Twitter
Source: @UNICEF_uk on Twitter

The Indian-origin Canadian Vlogger, comedian, and writer travelled with the organisation to rural Madhya Pradesh, where she had the opportunity to meet children and adolescents who were ravaged by the realities of poverty. But, her appearance was the flicker of hope to their grievances being recognised.

Owing to the online ripple this YouTube star has created with her channel, her campaign will aim to engage children and youth from different backgrounds and empower them to do what they’ve been striving for: to voice the struggles that have plagued all their lives. She visited the UNICEF supported ‘Youth4Change’ initiative, an avenue for young people to experience the clutches of leadership and supporting their communities against issues that affect them; including, violence, exploitation, health, hygiene, gender equality, and quality education.

The revered feat formed a source of inspiration and the spark to incite action. She says, “I am honoured to join UNICEF as a Goodwill Ambassador, and to use my voice to support its mission of reaching every child. It’s time to stand for what your kids want and not society.”

“The children I have met here are overcoming so many challenges — and they are living proof of what a child can achieve, if given a chance,” she added.

Her channel will showcase the efforts put in by the humanitarian organisation in different areas, with the aim of inspiring people to invest their passion to work for children rights. She has also conceptualised the #GirlLove initiative on social media, to nullify the traces of girl on girl hate. The engagement factor for children and youth hailing from every background would enter the scene by the usage of Hindi subtitles as well as the production of some videos entirely in Hindi.

UNICEF representative in India Yasmin Ali Haque said, “Lilly is a role model to so many young people, especially girls, and we look forward to the role she will play in generating greater discussion – and greater action – around the value of girls in India and everywhere.”

The Deputy Executive Director Justin Forsyth added, “Lilly Singh is already a Superwoman, helping empower girls around the world and we are delighted that she will lend her passion and her powerful voice to speak up on behalf of the most vulnerable children.”

The YouTube star has been thriving in other domains; with being ranked number one in Forbes Magazine’s Top Influencers List in the entertainment field, having acquired a whopping 11 million subscribers online, authoring a book, and recently being cast in an HBO adaption movie.

 

With inputs from IANS

 

Image Credits: Hindustan Times

 

Saumya Kalia

[email protected]

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Arts & Culture

Jagga Jasoos: The wonderland for movie lovers!

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DIRECTOR: Anurag Basu

CAST: Ranbir Kapoor, Saswata Chattopadhyay, Katrina Kaif, Saurabh Shukla and others.

DURATION: 2 hrs. 42 mins

GENRE: Musical drama

Jagga Jasoos is a simple movie that tickles your funny bones along with knocking at your sentiments, making you teary-eyed quite often; with a strong message in its undercurrent.

Set in the backdrop of the Purulia Arms Drop case in the district of Purulia in West Bengal in the year 1995, the movie is of two loners; who resort to each other for happiness and the relationship of father-son merging them.

Having grown up on Sherlock Holmes and Feluda, Jagga (Ranbir Kapoor) has a thing for solving mysteries and has aided the local police officer (Rajatava Datta) on several occasions. Despite having speech impairment (stammer), his brain works at the speed of a bullet train while connecting the dots.

When he sets on his journey to find his father (Saswata Chattopaadhyay) who had left him years ago, he is accompanied by Shruti Sengupta (Katrina Kaif), an investigative journalist from Kolkata and the most “giri-huyi” (pun intended) person in the entire film. While Ranbir excels as an actor yet again, the comic timings of Shruti (Katrina) prove to be hilarious and also drive the film. Even the evil intelligence of the officer (Saurabh Shukla) contributes to it.

The movie is in a lyrical format (similar to that of ‘The Sound of Music’) which embellishes the story even more; including Tukka Laga and Bad Lucky to name a few. The story, however, snowballs into a much larger issue during the second half. This is where the plot tends to lose its pace but still remains well-managed.

If read between the lines, the entire movie talks about the futility of war and portrays how and why it is being kept alive by the nations today who feed off it. Anurag Basu excels as a director with an amazing vision and the guts to paint such a truth on the canvas of relationships without a drop of brutality and with the power of innocence.  Furthermore, the ostriches, zebras and Jagga’s cycle tend to transfer you to a land of wonder and definitely justify the movie as a Disney production.

Overall, the film succeeds in striking a chord while the music by Pritam and especially the lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya seem to come straight out of the heart. The best part about the movie, however, is that it cuts across all age groups.

While Jagga continues his tryst with mysteries, you have to go to the theatres and watch ‘Jagga Jasoos’ in order to decipher the meanings.

 

Image Credits: India Roundup

 

Shrija Ganguly

[email protected]

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Admissions 2017

PG Admissions: DU Announces Schedule and Procedure

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The fervour for postgraduate admissions under the University of Delhi is all set to hit full swing, with the varsity announcing the admissions schedule and process on its technical-snag prone website.

Under PG admissions, all departments have two modes of admission – merit and entrance. Students from the University of Delhi who have performed well at the undergraduate level will take up 50% of the seats. This mode of direct admission is not available to students of other universities. The other 50% of seats will be filled through entrance tests and interviews or group discussions.

The timeline for the admission process dates July 17th-19th for the release of the first admission list and the subsequent steps to secure a seat in the desired college. Entrance for a plethora of courses was conducted in the first week of July; with reports of an assortment of cheating tactics surfacing across different colleges. The varsity announced the results for these entrances over the last two days.

The schedule for admissions, as well as the list of documents required at the Reporting Centres, are as follows:

Graphic by Kartik Kakar for DU Beat
Graphic by Kartik Kakar for DU Beat

Here’s a rundown of the admissions process of the applicants:

  1. All the registered applicants should have successfully updated the details of their qualifying exams on the portals (which were reopened till July 14th).
  2. For the ‘merit category,’ it is mandatory for the candidates to upload the aforementioned marks on the portal to be considered for inclusion in the Admissions List. For the ‘entrance category,’ there is no such clause.
  3. Departments who announce the results will declare the First Admissions List on their websites on July 17th, 2017. The list will be comprehensive in terms of both the mode of admissions and for all categories. The allotment of the applicants has been calculated on the basis of the rank and availability of seats in the desired college. The applicant will have to visit the college to verify the documents and pay the fees to complete the admissions process.
  4. Having met the allotment list, the applicants is required to log on to the PG portal, and download and fill the Admission Form. The Form will distinctly mention the Reporting Centre (where the applicant will report) and the Place of Admission (where the applicant will be admitted).
  5. The applicant can then proceed to the Reporting Centre with the Admission Form and the required documents for the verification process. The applicant will then be marked ‘verified’ or ‘reported’ depending on whether he/she has the mark-sheet of the qualifying examination; with the former category possessing the said document. These applicants will then move to the Place of Admission for allotting the original documents, and certificates will be retained at these colleges.
  6. The applicants can then log on to their portals to make the online fee payment within the stipulated period, which would watermark their admission in a particular college.

You can peruse the detailed process here.

The list of centres marked for distinct departments can be looked up here.

 

 

Feature Image Credits: University of Delhi

 

Saumya Kalia

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DU steps up its Anti-Ragging and Women’s Safety measures

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The University of Delhi, in its supervisory meeting with the officials of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), Delhi Metro and Delhi Police on 14th July, 2017, decided upon taking certain measures for making the campus ragging free and more disciplined in the upcoming session.

As per the press release by the University, two Joint Control rooms would be set up in North and South Campus from 20th July to 2nd August, so as to ease the induction process for the freshers. It has also been decided to deploy Delhi Police’s women personnel from the Special Police Unit for Women and Children (SPUWAC) trained in martial arts in the campus for keeping a check on eve-teasing and ragging inside. It has also been decided to provide special defense training to female students.

The measures also include extra vigilance around food joints inside the campus along with picket points providing special assistance to women’s colleges.

Moreover, sensitive areas of the campus have been put under electronic surveillance along with prohibiting unauthorised entry of outsiders in college hostels to curb ragging or any kind of indiscipline inside the campus.

The University has also issued steps on filing a compliant in such cases. This can be done by calling on the national anti-ragging helpline at 1800 180 5522, the North Campus Control Room at 011-27667221 or South Campus Control Room at 011-24119832.

The University’s authorities seem to be taking these measures as a step towards reducing indiscipline, however, it would be interesting to ask why such activities continue in the campus, keeping in view the already existing measures. With mandatory anti-ragging cells in every college and several women’s safety measures already in place, the efficiency and their implementation in campus becomes an important question to be pondered over.

 

Image Credits: The Indian Express

 

Priyal Mahtta
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Delhi University deputy proctor heckles Scribe, apologises later

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Yesterday, in an apparent case of misplaced aggression, Deputy Proctor Swasti Alpana abused and snatched a Times of India (TOI) reporter’s phone. The TOI journalist was trying to record the violence created by ABVP members for evidence.

On Friday, some members of the Right-wing students’ association Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had come to meet the Dean of Students Welfare around 2 pm. When they came out, some of them broke flower pots outside the dean’s office and were soon joined by others. According to Press Trust of India (PTI), DUSU had demanded to resolve issue of 400 final year B.Com. students who had failed in Computer Applications practical examination. 

The TOI reporter alleges that she was recording the vandalism on her cell phone and that’s when Deputy Proctor snatched her phone and threatened to lodge a FIR against her. The Deputy Proctor then asked the other journalists who had been speaking to officials there about the strike to sit in the Media Room.  She was joined by another deputy proctor Ritu Chowdhary in the screaming act. Others in the office kept quiet even as the two women officials kept on abusing the TOI reporter.

When the TOI reporter requested the phone be returned, Alpana refused to budge. Instead, she ordered that all journalists be removed from her office and taken to a “media room”. However, about 20 minutes later, when the reporter went back to the office to ask for the phone she handed it over and quipped that the photograph could have been taken “in a certain way, subtly”.

After the incident was brought to light, Ms Swasti Alpana said in her defense that she mistook the trainee journalist for a Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) member, who was clicking her photographs without her permission. She reasoned, “I remember all regular journalists who visit the campus and this one was not carrying any identity card and I mistook her for DUSU member who was trying to click my photographs without my permission.”

Another journalist who witnessed the entire incident alleged that despite informing them about our identity, the two deputy proctors never stopped misbehaving.

However, a day after the incident took place, Ritu Chowdhary, Deputy Proctor, rendered an apology and a clarification. “I always stand for freedom of expression. I deeply apologise for not helping out the girl and not condemning the criminal act of Swasti Alpana. However, I never abused or shouted at the journalist. I condemn the criminal act of Swasti Alpana that she snatched the girl’s phone and bullied her,” she said.  Talking to DU Beat, Ms. Ritu Chowdhary asserted that in the message she sent to the TOI journalist she offered to depose as a witness if TOI decides to lodge a FIR against the harassment.

(With inputs from Press Trust of India)

Image Credits: du.ac.in

Niharika Dabral
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DUB Speak

AIB: Comedy turns serious

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“Knock, knock”

“Who is there?”

“OFFENCE”

“I will take the entire batch.”

This is not a joke, and none of the Indian comedians are courageous enough to take the blame of such offensive and obscene content. The above joke shall therefore be buried as an act of public indecency, never to be talked about again.

In a country where comedians are taken too seriously and the politicians, every five years, tell jokes for a living, the favorite pastime of the people is marinating themselves in ignorance and narrow mindedness while they fill up their bellies with moral policing and irrational conventions.

Soure: humanrightshouse.org
Soure: humanrightshouse.org

One such incident happened recently when the famous comedy group All India Bakchod, or more commonly known as AIB, posted an image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s lookalike at a railway station along with a photo of the PM with a Snapchat dog filter, captioned #wanderlust. This might be funny to some, but it gathered a lot of unnecessary heat. AIB was bombarded with criticism and this began a Twitter war of words (which, by the way, is a phenomenon more consistent than the Indian monsoon.) AIB was accused of insulting the Prime Minister and hurting “national sentiments” which might make a certain lot of the population wonder as to when did the country put all its nation’s respect, culture and emotions in the hands of a minister and what exactly is the “insulting” part in the above accusations.

 

Source: MediaNama
Source: MediaNama

An unexpected overreaction came on the part of the Mumbai Cyber Police when an FIR was filed against AIB’s co-founder Tanmay Bhat on Friday, 14th July. The FIR?was registered under section 500 of IPC and 67 IT act (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) at the cyber police station at Bandra-Kurla Complex.

Although this cannot be regarded as an obstruction of freedom of speech but in a very clear and bold manner, confirms the ill state of the narrow minds of the citizens. This entire drama testifies the intolerance instilled in our blood. Not only that, it brings out the fact that we as a nation are not only global leaders of the service sector but are also pretty good at picking up a not so significant issue, labeling it as one and then blowing it out of proportion. This is not the first time we have observed such an outrage questioning the basic institution of liberty. In many prior cases, comedians have received death threats, legal actions have been issued and have even been victims of public outrage both online and offline.

This  has become such a hobby that we have started taking offence in our liquor instead of ice and if “taking offence” was an Olympic sport, India will surely come second, because, well, we would still have corruption in sports.

 

Image Credits: india.com

 

Vardaan Suri
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DU to open registration portal online for NCWEB

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The admission committee of Delhi University has decided to open registrations for Non Collegiate Women’s Education Board (NCWEB). Female applicants who had applied in Delhi University’s web portal back in May and had selected BA Programme and/or B. Com Programme are eligible to register themselves at NCWEB.

The officials reported that because several students, who had not made it in the cut off lists for many colleges, made requests, the decision was made to open registrations for NCWEB. Anju Gupta, the officiating director of NCWEB, told that the portal will be reopened for admission, which will be done on the basis of its third cutoff list released on Wednesday. The Times of India reported her saying: “This move is especially useful to those who did not choose NCWEB at the time of registration, but would like that option now,” She said around 6,700 girl applicants would benefit from it.

The NCWEB only offers BA (Programme) and B. Com (Programme) courses, and holds its classes on Saturdays and Sundays.

 

With inputs from Times of India

 

Image Credits: du.ac.in

 

Anagha Rakta

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