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Attainability of New Year Resolutions

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New Year resolutions often end up being made with a lot of hope and promise, but end up being discarded about halfway through January.

New Year’s resolutions are very hard to keep. What starts off as an extension of the idealistic “New Year, New Me” ideas is then supposed to carry onto a whole year, which sounds just impractical. The idea that we can instantly, magically transform ourselves only at a particular time of the year defeats the purpose of self-improvement. Sure, for those who are able to accomplish these self-defined goals might see their value, but for most of the general population they seem unattainable.

Maybe, it has to do with the fact that the motivation for resolutions comes only once a year. After that initial push and flurry of excitement towards accomplishing a newly put forward goal wears off, we lack the motivation towards fulfilling that task. However, what must be understood is that instead of seeking constant motivation towards achieving something, we should instead look for discipline. On days when we don’t find the motivation to do things, we needn’t stop and hope for it to arrive by itself. We should continue preparation towards it constantly, even when we don’t feel like. So that, on the days we have the motivation, we are prepared to utilise it the best way possible. Even keeping realistic, easily achievable resolutions becomes difficult when we wait for things to just go our way. Instead, let’s work in a way so that we progress daily, little by little, by keeping our discipline, and not running after motivation. That way, we won’t need the push of “New Year, New Me” or other catchy slogans to remind ourselves of the fact that we hold the power to change, any time we want.

 

Feature Image Credits: Beyond Entertainment Blog

Rishika Singh
[email protected]

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DUB Speak

What to Expect from the Even Semester

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The even semester is supposed to be a period of intense activity with its various fests, competitions, and events. Here’s all that you can expect from them in the upcoming months in University of Delhi.

Depending on various things, your expectations from the even semester will be different. For example, based on what year you’re in, you can be excited about attending fests for the first time, be somewhat excited remembering the fun events you attended the previous year, or be seriously dreading facing your last few months in college. Whether these expectations from this semester will be underscored by feelings of “This is the semester where I get my life together” or “We’re all gonna die in the end so how does one semester matter”, will depend on your standing on the optimistic/pessimist-Nihlist scale. Therefore, this is where a person who’s in the middle of both of those scales can help provide something resembling a sense of objectivity.

Firstly, fests are okay. There’s the usual range of food and things you can buy somewhere else for a slightly cheaper price. There’s the DJ Nights and the Star Nights, which are really something of a luck thing, and by luck I mean how much money your college manages to raise through sponsorships and alumni. If you get a good performer and a good atmosphere (which means as less overcrowding as possible and a crowd that isn’t breaking through the stage barricading), then you’re in for an enjoyable time. But as is with all college activities, the quality of company is essential. I’d suggest you go with friends who don’t like to document every single moment with photos and stories, and don’t whine too much about delays and general tardiness in organising.

Competitions and society fests are quite enjoyable, too. Unless you’re in the organising society/participating, in which case you have responsibilities, no time to watch the performances, and basically get only a few glimpses of the actual event. However, it is a great time to see other performances when you can, and bond with your fellow members.

So, as you go into the remainder of the year, remember to have reasonable expectations. Try to attend things, to see what works for other people, and it just might work for you!

 

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat
Rishika Singh
[email protected]

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DUB Speak

Higher Education and The Amount of Stress it Causes

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If you type the words “University makes me” into a google search bar, the predictive text would read- depressed, anxious, miserable, sad, and suicidal. Higher education is a major stressor and most students experience a deep sense of anxiety and discomfort in college.

College life is an over-glamorised concept across all cultures. While Bollywood films portray college as a place where you dress up, drive sports cars and meet the love of your life, American films portray it as four-years of alcohol, debauchery, and fun. Imagery like parties, pranks, bonding, is recurrent in films related to college life. As a consequence of this conditioning, most of us are not prepared for college life. We anticipate higher education to mean lots of fun and freedom with a healthy dose of learning. However, it turns out to be a challenging experience where deadlines, attendance, and scores, matter more than ever.

Most students in college seem to be exceptionally unhappy with how things seem to be turning out. The truth is college life, from its very beginning, sets us up for disappointment. In a rat-race fuelled competitive world, only a few of us are able to make it into our dream college. Those of us who do are disillusioned by how different it seemed from what we had expected it to be; while those who don’t spend a long time fixated on their loss. Once we move out of the initial shock of not being where we wanted to be, the idea of engaging and participating in multiple activities beyond lectures comes forward.  Students are repeatedly told to make the best out of college life; they must seek participation in as many activities as possible. This results in a second rat race of better internships and opportunities that need to be grabbed. More often than not, these jobs are unpaid because of how readily available the interns are. Parallel to this runs the academic perspective where professors simply do not teach in as much detail as school teachers did. College means making your own notes and finding your own explanations.  The spoon-feeding that was encouraged in schools is over and we are supposed to deal with the sudden academic baggage of doing everything independently. This sudden shock of transitioning from school to college, adapting to a completely new environment, making new friends, and learning to become independent can be too much for a lot of us. A lot of students also start living independently during college, which means managing things like health and well-being, waking up on time, cleaning and staying organised and budgeting, all of which become our sole responsibilities.

College is one of the most major life events. It takes us out of our comfort zones and throws us into the deep end of the pool without second thoughts. It is one of a unique life experience but it can very easily turn  difficult one if we are not careful. To expect students to smoothly transition from schools into college without a hitch is completely unreasonable. Parents, college authorities and society at large need to recognise that college is an extremely challenging and stressful phase where students require immense external help and attention. To brush-off the challenges faced by college students is fairly easy, after all, popular culture does not even portray college as stressful. This is another significant reason why college life is so difficult because our expectations from it are very different from what it finally turns out to be. College is that phase when our metamorphosis from a child to an adult gets completed and to recognise its relevance and the challenges that come with it are important. College students are under the pressure to adjust to their new lifestyle, maintain good grades, and excel in extra-curricular activities, along with seeking experiences which would make them employable. This transition is not a cakewalk and mainstream media does gross injustice to college students struggling with the workload and academic pressure by projecting their life as one drunken party-haze. The acknowledgment that college is stressful and requires work is important because this prepares and gives a more realistic image of what college is to school students. More importantly, this allows college students to feel more comfortable in their current state and also busts the myth that their anxieties and insecurities which they had initially thought only plagued them. College is a life-changing experience, but for this experience to be beautiful, peer support, acknowledgment and validation are pivotal factors. They aren’t luxuries that college administration should provide if they so desire, these are necessities that must absolutely be met in order to ensure well-being and happiness amongst the student body.

Feature Image credits: Kinjal Pandey

 

Kinjal Pandey

[email protected]

 

 

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DUB Speak

Arts Stream and Liberty: Do They Move Hand In Hand?

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Let’s hope that in the future, people get rid of the contempt that they have for those pursuing arts stream, and treat this career option with the respect that it so truly deserves.

Against many odds and the better judgement of snoopy uncles and aunties, I decided to take up arts stream. My entire extended family was obviously unhappy with my decision, however my father’s confidence in my decision instilled me with courage and hope.

In my second year now, I am so glab about the decision that I made. This is so because it gave me the liberty that no other stream would have been able to. Here I would like to talk about liberty in two aspects- liberty of choice and liberty in thoughts. While talking about the former I would like to say that the sheer amount of options that I have to explore myself and career choices leaves me grateful. My college life is not just about studying my course and trying desperately to pass the examinations. This is because the arts stream gives me the opportunity and time to actually hone my hidden talents and try out something new. Had I taken up anything else, maybe all that I wanted to explore would have been restricted somewhat. Also the amount of career choices that I can take up in my future is ample. Most of these choices are unexplored by the vast population of this country. Hence the cut –throat competition in these fields remains absent leaving a lot of doors open.

Talking about liberty in thoughts, I would like to say that I have learnt to empathise with everyone, to raise my voice against any wrongdoing, to fight for people’s rights and has made me a concerned citizen and human being. I have learnt to question any regressive tradition and reason with irrationality, and learnt lessons on how to maintain my moral ground and never leave it no matter how testing a situation is.
Thus I am being shaped into a liberal in a true sense by my teachers, my course and my books. These perks should be discussed often so that more and more people become aware of this.

 

Feature Image Credits: Fear from Exams
Anukriti Mishra
[email protected]

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DUB Speak

How to Have a Productive Winter Break

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Half an academic year is over, and now you have a few weeks of leisure before the next semester begins. How can this period be utilised for maximum efficiency?

Before the season of examinations begins, and as soon as one opens their books and readings, there is a strong urge to make plans regarding the post-exam season. The mind wanders off towards things that cannot be done then- the shows and movies that cannot be watched, the restaurants that cannot be gone to, the pointless sleeping that cannot be done, and so on.

Now the word ‘productive’ has different interpretations for different people. It can mean taking up multiple internships and earning, doing social work, spending time on hobbies, and so on. But no matter what you hope to accomplish, unless it is pointless sleeping, you should set a pattern to your activities. What usually ends up happening is that with multiple priorities, we end up having only a rough idea of what we want to do. There is never any clear structure given to things. Periods like a winter break begin with a lot of hope about what all we hope to accomplish. However, with a lot of things happening in our heads, combined with the inertia we have regarding starting a task, not a lot ends up happening. We meet a few people we wanted to meet during exams, watch the same three movies rather than diversifying our tastes, and end up saying how bored we are. It needn’t be like this. After you get done with exams, you can start by making a structured layout which should include things like the order of your priorities, their urgency in terms of completion time, and the tasks you need to do in order to cater to them. Make further divisions on what you hope to achieve the most and set deadlines and timeframes for those activities, to achieve them realistically.

It’s only through making concrete, time-bound plans that you will be able to accomplish all you want this break, and nothing is more satisfying than a period where one can proudly claim of time well-spent.

 

Feature Image Credits: Law School Toolbox
Rishika Singh
[email protected]

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Fandom

Homage To Grey’s Anatomy: 300 Episodes and Counting

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Grey’s Anatomy has guided me through the dark just like my parents and teachers. Here is to hoping that it keeps on inspiring everyone for as long as possible.

“The most amazing thing about Meredith, though, is that she takes all that pain, all that loss, and she turns it into drive: to save lives, to make things better. And despite all that she has lost, she continues to find joy in her work; as a surgeon, as a teacher, as a mother. That she managed to share that joy through her spirit of discovery, and of possibility, and of hope, right in the face of darkness, I am profoundly grateful for the lessons that I have learned from Meredith Grey.” – Jackson Avery

Grey’s Anatomy recently achieved a milestone when it aired its 300th episode. It has been twelve years and the journey does not end here. This is a show that has given me the strength of character and helped me march forward in the darkest of times. Meredith Grey and Christina Yang taught me how to face obstacles head on and never shy away from displaying courage. Alex, George and Izzie taught me to not be ashamed of my vulnerabilities. Derek, Mark and Lexie Grey taught me to open my heart and be ready to unconditionally love someone. With each tragedy that Meredith faced over the course of these fourteen years, she taught me to stand up no matter how dire the circumstances are.

The soundtrack has comforted me in my heartbreaks. The strains of ‘Chasing Cars’ has the power to make me weep at any moment just because of this series. Everyone who watched this series nurtured the dream to become a doctor. I obviously did not pursue this ambition but there are many people out there who were inspired by this show to take up this stream. Over the years I realised that it was not so much about becoming a doctor but about becoming a good human being. And I can never be more grateful to Shonda Rhimes for teaching me that.

Grey’s Anatomy has the power to transform a person’s life. It tells you to seize the day, to value the loved ones, to be more acceptable about other people’s weaknesses, to value life, to be selfless and to hope. All these lessons have proved crucial to me in the past and continue to do so. Over the years this reel family has become as real as possible to me. I have watched these characters struggle and have struggled with them. They have now become an indispensible part of my life. I only hope that I am able to experience my life with them for as long as possible.
Cheers to the many more episodes of this series that will colour our life.

 

Feature Image Credits:TVNZ
Anukriti Mishra
[email protected]

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Events

XIMB Hosts Xpressions, The Biggest B-School Fest of India

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“Xpressions’17”, the flagship Management-Cultural fest of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, concluded successfully on the 12th of November. Spread over three days from 10th to 12th of November, the fest witnessed a huge number of participants from several reputed institutions across India. Around 3000 students participated in various events such as Gladiator, Helios, Goonj, Skill City, Aaghaz etc, and the final night, which had Farhan Akhtar performing, saw a footfall of over 25,000 people.

The festival witnessed several rounds of business simulation games taking place. These mega-events were organized by Gladiator, Kurukshetra, Skill City and Helios- XIMB’s various gaming committees. Gladiator finals saw A. Vignesh as the first prize winner and Akash Jain as the runner-up. The winners of Skill City were “Glamsters” and the runners-up were “Lightning Boltz”. In addition, there was an MUN conference organized by Speak Up, XIMB’s oratory club. “‘Case In Point”, the case study competition organised by HR Association judged the HR skills of participants.”Nirnay”, an in-house business simulation game conducted by X-Ops, XIMB’s operations committee, attracted several participants. Goonj, the marquee singing competition lifted the spirits of the crowd. Paint@XIMB, conducted by Spicmacay chapter of XIMB showcased the students’ expertise in painting. Flights of Fancy, a literary society event witnessed enthusiastic participation. Parikrama, an online treasure hunt organized by XSys, the Systems association of XIMB, kept the participants on their toes. Paint It Up, organized by XIMB’s International Relations Committee, was particularly well-received: its final round was a ‘Paintball’ round, something that XIMB hadn’t been seen before, in which “X-Vrak” won. The inaugural edition of Vakritva, conducted by Social Responsibility Cell and Speak Up committees, emphasized on how management skills are utilised for the betterment of the society. HR Express also saw participation in huge numbers by HR management students. On the evening of 10th November, “Carnival De Vogue”, XIMB’s fashion competition went underway. The day was closed out with an enthralling performance by Lost Stories and Paranox as a part of EDM night.

Some of XIMB’s flagship case-study competitions, namely Maven and Case Connect were held amidst great enthusiasm.  Urbaniac, a business model competition was conducted by the Urban Management functional committee, HabituX. Inquizzitive, the flagship event of the quiz committee of XIMB, XQuizzite saw huge participation. Xpress on Air, an RJ hunt competition organized in association with Sarthak FM was one of the highlights of the second day of Xpressions. A CSR plan competition, Vriddhi along with Ascend, a case study presentation competition was organized on the day hours. Pratibimb, a face painting competition organized by Spicmacay chapter of XIMB, presented a means to the students to unwind from the daily curricular activities. The second day of the festival concluded with MTV Beats Decibelz, which is the band hunt competition of Xpressions.

Spardha, a social entrepreneurship competition was won by “Team Cityzens” and the runners-up were “The Misfits”. Mpower, the marketing case study competition was won by “Kotler Mafia” whereas the team,“A Team Has No Name” bagged the first prize in Trade Wars, the online trading simulation event. Aaghaz, the nukkad-natak competition witnessed huge participation from several colleges. Informal games such as Baal Baal Bachey and Chakna Hai Kya provided a different view to the day’s events. Viraasat, organized by Spimacay chapter of XIMB; provided a platform to compete in various Indian performance arts such as classical dance, classical singing, and instrumentals. Thirkan, the dance competition of Xpressions finished with several laudable performances.
XIMB

The curtains came down on Xpressions ’17 with Celeblitz, the celebrity night, held outdoors. XIMB was honoured to host the magical Bollywood star, Farhan Akhtar, who enthralled the crowd with a night they will cherish for years to come. His set-list was a combination of his compositions, which were deliriously lapped up by the enthusiastic crowd. His performance was a fitting coda to Xpressions ’17, and left everybody who was there begging for more.

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Arts & Culture

Memes: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

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Millennials are often ridiculed for all that they do (and don’t do). But the truth is, this generation has had more unique challenges as compared to its predecessors. More often than not, memes are regarded as a problematic mode of communication. We discuss the phenomenal rise of this medium and deliberate how it negatively affects discourse the of ideas.

A meme (/?mi?m/ MEEM) is an idea, behaviour, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture — often with the aim of conveying a particular phenomenon, theme, or meaning represented by it. A meme can be described as a cultural unit that channels political discourse and agitation and is a representation of interaction in the contemporary digital world.

Unlike other forms of communication, memes are visual, faster, and more likely to adapt to change. Memes tend to evolve and adapt in order to be tailored to be relatable to every new audience it is introduced to. They are very malleable and can be edited to suit the ideology of particular groups of people. Memes are an extremely popular form of communication that is gaining popularity amongst millennials because of the elusiveness that comes along with it. Since most memes are in the form of images, they are cryptic to an extent. Therefore by sharing memes not only do people get to communicate about topics of common interest, they also get to share and understand inside jokes. It is interesting how memes are not just limited to mainstream media and pop-culture. Everything and everyone interesting including Vladimir Lenin, Barack Obama, Mckayla Maroney, Elizabeth I, Robert Mugabe, and even SpongeBob have been turned into memes. Memes are not just limited to what everyone is talking about; there are also unique memes for special occasions and jokes. For instance, “wholesome memes” spread positivity and love and are extremely popular on social media. Communism memes that try to highlight the pros of communism in a humourous way, and doggo memes i.e. memes related to interesting dogs and their activities are also seemingly popular. These memes are an extremely casual and a popular way to communicate with friends.

Believe it or not, these days tagging friends in memes or getting tagged in good memes is one of the best identifiers of close friendship and affection. To be tagged in memes by friends is an extremely popular method of interaction amongst millennials. It is regarded as polite and appropriate to incorporate our friends through memes and make them an active part of it.

Meme culture is a societal and cultural revolution that has allowed people to control the narrative that surrounds popular culture. When people have the autonomy to not only make memes talking about issues they are passionate about, but also share them as they please, they are being given greater freedom in how we discuss major events in everyday life.

However, even though the concept of memes started out on the internet as a way to spread humour, the status quo reflects a different, more negative side of the very popular expression of wit. The so-called “meme lords” fail to recognise the level of influence they have on young internet users. Since memes have made their way into mainstream journalism, with popular online media websites posting them to gain more traction, the fact that the question of ethics with regard to memes has still not been raised is unfathomable. A lot of the times, memes are made using pictures and videos (mostly without adequate permission), taken out of context and are blown out of proportion to ridicule. Recently the memes of “Durgesh” and “Kamlesh” went astoundingly viral within the Indian meme culture. The reality that soon came to light though, uncovering two very serious issues, being that of child drug abuse and mental health. The family of the person whose picture was used to create the character of Durgesh issued a public statement which urged the public to stop using and spreading the meme as they felt harassed. The Kamlesh meme was picked out of a BBC documentary on the drug abuse highly prevalent in the rural areas of India. The purpose of the documentary was to spread awareness about this problem as opposed to express amusement at the way the underage child was talking.

The origin of memes on the internet was to perpetuate and spread hilarity and positivity, and not to ridicule, mock, and deride. However, memes have now been reduced to disregard and parody a social issue which is highly problematic considering the instant access and exposure that memes warrant.

 

Feature Image Credits: Image Flip

Kinjal Pandey

[email protected]

Bhavya Banerjee

[email protected]

 

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The Need for Queer Collectives in Colleges

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Queer collectives are still a new idea within the colleges of University of Delhi. While there is an overall need for collectives of other kinds of minorities as well, let’s explore the case for queer collectives in colleges.

Queer collectives are basically groups that lie somewhere in between the spectrum of support groups/forums and representative organisations. Their purpose is to provide a space for the LGBTQ+ community, which is still very much marginalised in a country like India.

Even around the world, the focus on recognising queer identities has increased in the past few years with increased visibility in the media, increased protections through legislation, and greater focus in general. Of course, a lot of focus was never put on the community to begin with, hence the levels we are currently operating at our abysmally low. In India, along with the legal hurdles faced by the community, there is the added issue of how the society views the community. It’s not just the fact that queer folks are mostly treated with an utter lack of basic respect, bullied or mocked for who they are, and treated as punch lines for jokes in movies that show a stereotypical representation; there is also a bigger issue of people simply not understanding them. The idea that sexual orientations are naturally, biologically determined and that ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ are two different concepts, where ‘gender’ is a social construct that involves personal choice, is alien to most of the population. This is not surprising, considering the absolute lack of proper sex/gender related education imparted at school levels.

In such a scenario, it is imperative to have an organisation that can bridge this information gap, and provide a space for queer people to tell their stories, voice out their fears and confusions, and find others like them for support. They can also organise events in the college, helping to normalise the attitudes of the administration regarding them. For people who have struggled to find those like them or non-queer folk who would support them (called ‘allies’ by the movement), such collectives can be great agents of change and bring much needed comfort. It is high time we take this initiative.

 

Feature Image Credits: Hindustan Times

Rishika Singh
[email protected]

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News

Kawalpreet Kaur’s Picture Morphing Issue: From Bullets to Photoshop, the Many Shades of Pakistani Offense

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Every second of the minute, every minute of the hour, every hour of the day, Southeast Asia runs the threat of a full-fledged war between the two nuclear-enabled countries, India and Pakistan. If the grave possibility of a nuclear (the N word is to Southeast Asia what Voldemort is to Hogwarts) threat wasn’t bad enough, now we have Pakistani websites adding fuel to the ignited tension between the two neighbours.

The Pakistan Defense Forum (PDF), which is famous within the Indian and Pakistani defence enthusiasts circles, as a forum for debate and deliberation on Pakistani defence, strategic and security issues, has drawn flak internationally. Their move to upload a morphed picture of Indian student activist Kawalpreet Kaur had led Twitter to suspend the verified account of this unofficial forum on Saturday.
In the original photograph, Delhi University student Kawalpreet is standing infront of the Jama Masjid, holding up a sheet of paper that bears the message: “I am a citizen of India and I stand with secular values of our Constitution. I will write against communal mob lynching of Muslims in our country #CitizensAgainstMobLynching.”

But in the image the Pakistan Defence Forum tweeted, the text had changed: “I am an Indian, but I hate India, because India is a colonial nation that has occupied nations such as Nagas, Kashmiris, Manipuris, Hyderabad, Junagard, Sikkim, Mizoram, Goa.” Attached to the image, Pakistan Defence Forum tweeted, “Indians are finally realizing the truth; their country is actually a colonialist entity.” It deleted the tweet later. Having both retired and serving military personnel among it’s members, this is not the first time the PDF has attempted to perpetuate hate propaganda against India.

With almost 308,500 followers, Pakistan Defence Forum’s Twitter handle interestingly had more threads about India than Pakistan. But what is more interesting is the element of choice exercised by PDF’s social media team. Kawalpreet, a senior member of the All India Student’s Association, has been active in DU politics for long and is a well-known face in the student politics of Delhi. A crucial question to be asked at this point of time is, why her? For all that PDF’s social media expertise is worth, it could have morphed any photograph to communicate their hate propaganda against India, but it chose to target a student’s union leader studying in the premier institution of the country. In this context, is a controversy afoot to deliberately target a high-flying student activist, or can it simply be considered a PJ by the PDF? Using a morphed picture on such a sensitive issue not only has the possibility of fuelling greater tension between the two neighbours but could also put this girl’s life in danger. To this effect has been outrage expressed by the student community of DU and other institutions. The issue of Kaur’s photo being doctored was also flagged by Shehla Rashid, the former vice president of JNU Students Union, who contended that forum should not use such images in the name of the Kashmir issue.

Considering its legacy, PDF must have strategised their actions and policies more carefully if they wish to remain relevant in their chosen crusade of helping Pakistan’s image. Food (read: feud) for Thought: Substance will win over image any time, all the time.
What is astoundingly outrageous is the instance of a senior member of the Pakistan Defense Forum retorting back to the criticism in the official page of PDF in the words, “The amount of shameless fake propaganda Indians do against us, there is-nothing wrong in us doing the same against India. Well done PDF.” If offense is the best defense that PDF could muster, they could have atleast recruited better photoshop experts.

 

Feature Image Credits: Times of India 

Vaibhavi Sharma Pathak

[email protected]

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