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Course Profile: B.Com (Honours)

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Here’s all the information you might be looking for about the B.Com (Honours) course.

  • What is the course about?

B.Com (Honours) or Bachelor of Commerce is a highly demanded course, especially by commerce students. It trains students about various aspects of business and finance.

Some of the core papers offered by University of Delhi (DU) for this course are Financial Accounting, Business Law, Corporate Law, Income Tax Law and Practice, Auditing and Corporate Governance, etc. Among various others, the electives include Banking and Insurance, Fundamentals of Investment, International Business, and Corporate Tax Planning.

  • What are some top colleges for this course?

 Many DU colleges are famous for their B.Com courses. Among these are, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Hindu College, Hansraj College, Ramjas College, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Jesus and Mary College, Sri Venkateswara College and SGTB Khalsa College.

  • What are some good career options?

 Students of B.Com (Honours) have multiple career options that they can pursue later on. A lot of the students go on to become Chartered Accountants (CA), or Company Secretaries (CS), or study M.Com or MBA. Many others take up banking jobs or become accountants, auditors or financial analysts and get employed in investment banking, mutual funds, legal firms, finance companies, and the public sector.

Many Indian and foreign institutes offer certifications that are considered highly valuable. Among these are Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Financial Risk Manager (FRM) and others.

Some go on to study law and get into the field of corporate law. Yet others can pursue civil services, academia or financial journalism. Hence, there is no dearth of options for a B.Com student.

  • Are there any notable alumni?

 A glimpse of the many famous people who studied B.Com Hons at Delhi University as youngsters include:

  • AK Sikri, Former Supreme Court Judge
  • Arun Jaitley, Former Union Minister and lawyer
  • S. Bassi, Former Commissioner of Police of Delhi
  • Naveen Jindal, Industrialist and former Member of Parliament
  • What do students say about this course?

 According to Aradhita Tuli, a first-year B.Com student at SRCC, “B.Com (Honours) is a course with a vast variety of subjects from business-related laws to taxation. It coincides with the syllabus prescribed for CA (exams). It has an interesting and understanding-based syllabus.”

 

Feature Image Credits: Money Control

Prateek Pankaj

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DUB Speak

A Refuge Called Hudson Lane

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The partition of 1947 is described as one of the greatest migrations in human history. The huge influx of refugees into India was one of the most historic and challenging events for India. Delhi took in nearly half a million refugees from Pakistan in those brutal months before and after August, 1947. The World Refugee Day, observed on 20th June has special importance, as many parts of Delhi were carved out of these refugee camps, one of the most prominent ones being around the University of Delhi (DU).                          

 

Refugees in Kingsway Camp during 1950
Refugees in Kingsway Camp during 1950

 

This might not look like a familiar picture today, but 72 years back, this was one of the most prominent places of DU. Post-independence, the Kingsway Camp housed 3,00,000 displaced people from Pakistan, making it one of the largest refugee camps in Delhi. Hudson Lane, which is one of the most vibrant places of the North Campus, was crucial to those seeking a new home back then. The Kingsway Camp included areas like Hudson Lane, Outram Lines, Hakikat Nagar, and Dhaka Village. Being central in the refugee movement, it came to be known as the ‘lost and found’ refugee camp, as the families separated on the other side of the border often found each other once they made it to this camp.

Partition transformed the destiny of millions of refugees, and has shaped the present-day Delhi. Tents at Kingsway Camp provided shelter to partition refugees who couldn’t be accommodated in the barracks. They moved into camps at Kingsway, Hudson Line, Outram Lines and Reeds Lines (present-day SGTB Khalsa College). Some were later shifted to Hakikatat Nagar. They started building houses on the allotted lands. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, some of them moved to Mukherjee Nagar, while others were allotted houses in Rajinder Nagar and Inderpuri – a settlement that came up on agricultural land acquired from villagers of Dus-Ghara. A large population of Sikhs had settled in Inderpuri.

Although India has taken in a large number of refugees, it is not a signatory to either the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention, nor its 1967 Protocol.

Late Balraj Bahri, who started Bahrisons, one of the most famous book stores in Delhi, lived in this refugee camp. Before his demise in 2016, he said in one of his interviews, “Partition was painful and we witnessed the worst atrocities. We had to leave our ancestral home before August 15, 1947. Riots began, forcing us to take refuge in a local police station for a few days. We moved to Amritsar, and after a brief stay there, we made our way to New Delhi, which we heard had better arrangements for refugees. Once in Delhi, we settled in the refugee camp at Kingsway Camp. It resembled army barracks and the toilets were shared. It took us a while to adjust.”

The close proximity to DU has transformed Kingsway Camp. Once a  refugee camp, it has become one of the poshest localities in Delhi today, with thousands of students residing there. The past of this historic place is very intriguing with so many experiences of different people residing there. Although the refugees back then have assimilated in the society today, their struggles and memories of Kingsway Camp during partition remain afresh.

 

 (With inputs from The Wire) 

 

Feature Image Credits: The Nehru Memorial Library

 

Sriya Rane

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DUB News

Delhi Government Releases Three-Month Grants to 28 DU Colleges

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Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) representatives were able to get the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia to release the funds of 28 University of Delhi (DU) colleges funded by the Delhi Government on Saturday. This order comes two days before the protest planned by DUTA.

The Delhi Government has agreed to release grants to 28 DU colleges funded by it, despite them not having their governing bodies. In a letter to the Education Secretary, Sisodia had blamed the University for stalling the functioning of the colleges as it did not extend their tenure as directed. Due to this, the Government and the University were in conflict and all of these 28 colleges were denied funding.

The letter had stated, “The University delayed sending the University panel. Even when the names were sent, only 180 names were given, even though, as per the precedent, more than 250 names are to be sent. It is this reason that forced the Government of NCT of Delhi to stop the funds of these colleges.”

The official notice stated that the Delhi government-funded colleges’ functioning was stalled due to the funds being stopped to these colleges resulting in various problems and hardships faced by the teachers. The notice also directed the DHE to release the three-month grants to these colleges. It also stated that the flow of funds shall be resumed as soon as the governing bodies are formed.

The funds were sanctioned by the Deputy Chief Minister to all the colleges for three months, on grounds that the teachers should not face any hardships. This resulted in DUTA calling off the strike. Rajib Ray, President, DUTA, confirmed the same and added that they would now take up the various issues such as sanction of new courses, resolution of new posts as per the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), grants for partially-funded DU colleges, arrears following the seventh pay commission, etc., with the government.

The statement issued by DUTA also notes, “The DUTA will seek an immediate meeting with the Deputy Chief Minister to pursue the formation of governing bodies, ensuring 5% contributions towards partially funded DU colleges and grants for infrastructure creation and sanction of teaching and non-teaching posts towards EWS expansion in the 12 fully funded colleges.”

Governing bodies are responsible for the smooth functioning of the colleges and are known to take the important decision regarding issues like appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff. However, their tenure expired and the colleges were expected to appoint new governing bodies, failure of which led to the Government to hold off the funds.

 

Feature Image Credits: NDTV

Antriksha Pathania
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Admissions

DU Colleges to Verify Original Documents When Intake Gets Over

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The University of Delhi (DU) has tied up with the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) to inspect all the document of newly-admitted students to ensure nobody gets admission fraudulently.

As per a recent Delhi High Court order, colleges of DU will have to return the original documents to students immediately after the admission process gets over; however, this won’t stop the Varsity from verifying the documents after the intake is done. The order will facilitate students to withdraw from the college with ease, in case they wish to switch colleges, or quit the course.

The verification will either be forensic or with the respective boards. “During the verification, if any college finds any certificate to be fake, the admission will be cancelled immediately. It is a criminal offence to submit fake documents,” a DU official said. Some colleges like Ramjas and Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa had previously conducted forensic tests of all documents during the admission period. For the CBSE students, the marks details are uploaded during the registration process itself from this year, reports Times of India.

Depending on their schedule, the colleges will ask for the documents after the admission. “Then these documents will be verified. For the authentication of documents, DU administration has tied up with CBSE. The document of students from Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) and state boards will be examined by the Varsity itself,” they added.

A member of the standing committee of Academic Council explained to The Morning Standard that 80% of the application that the University receives come from CBSE pass-outs. The other 20% come from ISCE or state boards. “CBSE has undertaken the task to verify the documents of its students, while the University will verify the documents of students from other boards,” the official added.

This decision comes an academic year after the infamous controversy of Ankiv Basoya, who, after being alleged of submitting a fake degree, and the allegations proving right, lost his position as the President of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU). His admission was cancelled by the Department of Buddhist Studies on 14th November last year.

“Returning the documents is a great step. Not only will it help students switch to other colleges easily, but the documents will also be safer with us,” said Tuba Afreen, a second-year student pursuing a five-year integrated course at DU. “In the month of March when there was a fire in our college, all the documents were kept in the room on the same floor. Fortunately, there was no incident but it could have ruined our lives even if a single document would have caught fire.”

 

Feature Image Credits – Quora

Priyanshu

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Admissions

PwD Candidates in a Predicament Over Quota Certification

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The Delhi Government has allocated 27 government hospitals in 11 districts to issue disability certificates to the applicants under the new central Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PwD) Act 2016, for 21 conditions.

Differently-abled candidates applying to the University of Delhi (DU) are in a dilemma as the Government of Delhi has notified the Varsity to accept disability certificates only from these 27 government hospitals.

This move could prove to be disadvantageous for many students as the certificates issued by other hospitals will not be considered for admissions under the PwD quota. Applicants are also discouraged because the procedure for availing these certificates may take a lot of time, and the students do not have that kind of liberty due to the fast closure of admissions.

According to the abovementioned Act, not less than 5% of seats in all institutions are to be reserved for PwD candidates. It also states that a relaxation of 5% is to be made for the candidates with respect to course-specific eligibility in the qualifying examination and the entrance test.

Akhilesh K Verma, who is in charge of DU’s Grievance Cell, stated that students have brought about this issue during open-day sessions, but his team has not received any formal written complaint against the same. “Without a written complaint, it won’t be possible to take any kind of action,” Verma said. “The department is following admission protocols.”

Verma further added that the students could submit provisional certificates that they have at hand, and proceed to make the authorized certificate from the respective hospitals.

Bipin Kumar Tiwari, Officer on Special Duty at the Equal Opportunity Cell, too, stated that many students did make inquiries about the decision of the Government. He said that it was not a new announcement and students had prior information about this change. “It should not be a problem for these students to get these certificates. Uniform certificates would make the procedures of admission smoother for the staff,” he added.

The procedure for acquiring the certificate is very simple. All that a candidate has to do is submit the needed disability documents to the selected hospitals and get them approved.

There is hope as the students can use the certificates they have at hand for now, but is important for them to get the certificates as soon as they can, to ensure smoother admissions.

 

Feature Image Credits: Hindustan Times

 

Stephen Mathew

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Admissions

Protesters Burn Effigy of DU VC

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The effigy burning, along with a rally, organised on 14 June, came as a follow-up to the protests of 11 June.

On the morning of 14 June, student organisations gathered at the Gate No. 4 of the Arts Faculty building to protest against “fee hike and faulty admission process in Delhi University.”

Over ten student organisations – among them, All India Students’ Association (AISA), Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch (BSCEM), Collective, Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), Parivartankami Chhatra Sangathan (Pachhas), Pinjra Tod, Students’ Federation of India (SFI) – organised a protest rally and burnt the effigy of the University Vice-Chancellor to raise their demands.

The rally began from the Arts Faculty building and went around the North Campus of the University. The proceedings ended with a public meeting and the effigy burning. This came as a follow-up to an earlier protest by these organisations, raising the same issues, on 11 June.

The protesting students demanded the following:

1. Decreasing the registration fee for Other Backward Classes (OBC) to Rs. 300 and apologizing for the “inconvenience caused.”
2. Decreasing the fee for unreserved category students from Rs. 750 to Rs. 500.
3. Refunding the “extra fee” collected from students.
4. “Immediately resolving” the technical problems in the online registration form.
5. Giving two days to applicants to make corrections in their form after filling it up.
6. Setting the entrance exam question paper in Hindi as well.
7. Providing “proper facilities” should be at the exam centres.
8. Revoking the fee hike in Ramjas College & Bharati College.
9. An “unconditional apology” from the Dean of Students’ Welfare (DSW) for giving “false information” regarding the eligibility criteria for OBC and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) reservation.

The University had set the registration fee for undergraduate admissions at Rs. 250 and Rs. 100 for OBC and EWS students respectively. The ‘additional registration fee for each entrance-based course’ for the former was Rs. 750 and Rs. 300 for the latter. The same distinction of Rs. 750 and Rs. 300 also applies to the application fee for the postgraduate, MPhil and PhD courses. Even though one of the demands of the protesters was refunding the “extra fee collected from students”, the admission guidelines of the University mention that the registration and entrance exam fees are non-refundable.

The first eight demands had been raised in the previous protests as well. A memorandum had been submitted to the Dean by the protesting organisations, which detailed their position. The protesting students had argued that since the income cut-off limit for both the ‘non-creamy layer’ OBC category and the EWS category was similar; and that the former had been given reservation on three bases – social, economic and educational backwardness – while the EWS was given reservation only owing to their economic backwardness, the fees charged from OBC students should not be higher than that of the EWS ones.

According to some protesters who had met the Dean on 11 June, they were allegedly given wrong information by him about the reservation criteria of the OBC and the EWS categories. Upon discovering the alleged falsehood of the information, the protesters had begun a dharna outside the Dean’s office. Hence, the protesting parties this time demanded an “unconditional apology” from the Dean for the alleged false information as well.

According to Amarjeet Kumar Singh, the DU Law Faculty In-charge of AISA, “The Dean refused to meet today and we were informed that he will response (respond) only on Monday.”

A statement issued by SFI alleged, “Before the rally could even start, the police started manhandling SFI activists and detained several protestors. Seeing pressure mounting from the student community, the police was forced to immediately release the detainees.”

Sumit Kataria, Vice President of SFI Delhi, told DU Beat that he and Ravi Shankar, also an SFI member, were “manhandled” by the police, but didn’t suffer any bruises.

Pachhas also issued a statement which read, “Protest ke dauran police ne apna tanashahi roop dikhate hue Pachhas ke sathi Deepak aur BSCEM ke sathi Ujwal ko maarpeet karte hue giraftar kar liya. Baad mein chhatron ke dabav ke baad unhein chhod diya gaya” – during the protest the police showed their dictatorial nature and arrested Deepak of Pachhas and Ujwal of BSCEM. Later, the police released them due to the pressure of students.

Speaking to DU Beat, Deepak Gupta said that he and Ujjwal were arrested by the police and taken to the Maurice Nagar Police Station. There they were allegedly detained for around half an hour. As the rally approached the police station, the police were brought under pressure to release both of them. He also alleged that he had suffered bruises from the encounter with the police.

We also spoke to Ujwal of BSCEM, the other person who was detained by the police. “SI (sub-inspector) Rohit of Maurice Nagar police station started tussle with a comrade named Deepak who is from PACHAAS (Pachhas). SI was trying to bully him by saying that you don’t have the permission to meet the DSW. I intervened in the conversation and said that we are students of the university and we don’t need police permission to meet the administration officials. I also asked him to show me the notice/permission by the university administration that lead (led) to the entry of police in campus. At this he got ignited and pushed me in the van. He asked another policeman to arrest us. I and Deepak were pushed into the van, we were beaten up by the policeman. Deepak’s slipper also got torn. In a van we were carried to Maurice Nagar police station, the police illegally detained us and ensured that we (do) not join the march. (Afterwards) when the protesting students started approaching the gates of (the) police station they released us,” he said.

The protests are expected to continue in some or the other form if the protesters don’t receive a satisfactory response from the Dean by Monday.

Image credits- Sumit Kataria from SFI

Prateek Pankaj
[email protected]

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DU allocated additional funds for EWS quota

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With the introduction of reservation for ‘Economically Weaker Sections’ (EWS), the intake of students this year has increased. To manage this, the University Grants Commission has made an additional fund allocation of about Rs. 191 crores to the university and its colleges. This allocation has been made for the academic session of 2019-20 and 2020-21.

According to the letter, the funds allocated by UGC amounts to that of Rs. 143.76 crore. These funds cover ‘capital’, ‘salary’ and ‘recurring’ heads. The ‘capital’ has got the highest allocation of Rs. 120 crores whereas Rs. 47.24 crore has been allocated to the college under the salary and recurring heads.

The letter also stated that the additional funds granted under the capital head are to be sought from the Higher Education Financial Agency (HEFA).

Under this new scheme, Delhi University will have to pay 10% of the principal amount, while 90% is payable by the government.

However, this raises various concerns amongst the faculty over the EWS and funding issue as Rajib Ray, the President of the Delhi University Teachers’ Association, was quoted by The Hindu, “Till posts are sanctioned, imposition of EWS quota will cause displacement and the nature of appointment of additional teachers will be a matter of dispute.” This comes as a response to a direction given to DU to submit its proposal for the creation of posts as per requirement within the allocated funds. However, these funds were considered to be insufficient for this process. He also wanted the formation of a standing committee to look into how the grant would be divided.

Rajib Ray also says, “A Rs 120 crore loan entitlement from HEFA has been offered to the university for the building its own additional infrastructure and sharing the loan amount with colleges for theirs. So, the EWS reservation has been used to tie everyone to loan-based funding. What we are demanding is that the government should release grants for expansion, not loans. Students can’t be charged high fees to implement this expansion.”

He further elaborates that under the salary head, the university gets Rs 6.85 crore and colleges get Rs. 42.25 crore. The salaries include salary for additional teachers and non-teaching staff but additional posts have not yet been sanctioned as reported by Newsclick.

With the introduction of the EWS quota, the number of students will increase to that of 60,000 approximately. However, limited infrastructure, staff recruitment, and funds were major concerns felt by faculty across the university.

 Featured Image Credits- UGC

Antriksha Pathania
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Arts & Culture

Margarita with a Straw: A Refreshing Tale of Exploration and Acceptance

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Directed by Shonali Bose, this heart-warming story about young Laila suffering from cerebral-palsy and undergoing life changing experiences is an underrated gem that you must watch.

Margarita with a Straw begins with a montage of simplicity, with sequences of a disabled girl taking active part in routine family car rides and having fun with college mates. This cuts to a scene where Laila (played to perfection by Kalki Koechlin), in her wheelchair is being carried by two men to the upper floor of her college. Kalki’s expressions evoke Laila’s disgust with this way of transport.

Unlike other portrayals of differently abled characters in Bollywood, the viewers aren’t made to feel pitiful or sorry for Laila. Laila is like everyone else. She makes mistakes and owns up to them. Her explorations might hurt others emotionally, but she is unapologetic for undertaking her journey.

Revathy, who plays Laila’s Aai is earnest and sincere. She is understanding yet a typical prude Indian woman who can neither accept that her daughter has a boyfriend nor that she watches porn. Still her apprehensions to accepting her daughter’s sexual preferences are not melodramatic; they are subtle, veiled and anti-climactic.

This isn’t a coming out story, or a love story. Rather, it is a journey of a young girl, going through changes, going into the real world, breathing in independence and exploring her sexuality and preferences.

It takes her half the film and romantic relationships with four different characters to finally say that she is bisexual. The film takes liberty in not only making others realise that Laila is attracted to both men and women, but also lets the audience see how she herself comes to that conclusion.

The clear distinction between a lesbian (Sayani Gupta’s brilliant Khanum) and bisexual is a feat achieved by this film because it clearly and aptly represents not one, but two people identifying in different ways with the LGBTQ+ community.

The depiction of Laila’s journey isn’t like a fierce roller coaster ride. It is like water currents of a river, which eventually end up finding its way to the calmness of the sea. It is an emotional, compassionate and humanistic portrayal which will certainly move you.

Feature Image Credits: Variety

Sakshi Arora
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Arts & Culture

Queer authors and poets to read this pride month

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The pride month is here! A time where us queer folks gather in solidarity as big corporates indulge in ‘rainbow capitalism’. Here are 8 Asian authors you need to read this pride month.

 

Hoshang Merchant

Born in 1947 to a Zoroastrian family in Mumbai, Merchant studied in Los Angeles and Purdue. He is known as the first openly gay poet in Modern India. He edited India’s first gay anthology Yaraana: Gay Writing from India. Merchant is the author of 20 books of poetry and 4 critical studies. He even taught poetry and surrealism at the University of Hyderabad for more than two decades.

 

Akhil Katyal

Katyal is a New Delhi based poet, teacher and translator. His openly queer poetry revolves around cities and the remnants of the past. Katyal was an Asst. Professor at the Department of English of SGTB Khalsa College, Ramjas College and St. Stephens’ College, he even taught at the Shiv Nadar University. He currently teaches at Ambedkar University, Delhi.  Katyal is best known for his collection of poems, How Many Countries does the Indus Cross? And his collection Night Charge Extra.  He also translated Ravish Kumar’s collection of poems, Ishq Mein Shahar Hona (A city happens in love).

 

Sara Farizan

Iranian-American Sara Farizan is the author of the 2013 novel If You Could Be Mine, a novel set in Tehran, Iran revolving around two girls who fall in love. The book went on to win the Lamba Literary Award. Farizan wrote the novel after realising her own sexuality and the taboo around it, especially in the Persian Community. She is also the author of Here To Stay and Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel.

 

Aditi Angiras

Aditi Angiras is the founder of Bring Back The Poets, a spoken word poetry collective. She founded the collective in 2014, after her tryst with music, cinema and rap. Angiras is also a queer activist, intersectional feminist and a TED speaker. One of her notable poems is My Mad Girl’s Love Song based on Sylvia Plath’s poem  Mad Girl’s Love Song. Angiras is also the co-editor along with Akhil Katyal of a digital anthology of South Asian queer poetry.

 

Vikram Seth

Author of A Suitable Boy and  Mappings, a poetry collection, Seth is possibly one of the most well-known Indian writers of the English language. He is the author of 3 novels, 8 poetry collections and 1 childrens’ fiction book. In 2007, Seth became one of the voices against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. His mother, Leila Seth also refers to his sexuality in her memoir. In 2017, Seth was awarded the Makwan Prize for his queer activism.

 

Suniti Namjoshi

Born in 1941, Namjoshi is a poet and fabulist. She is best known for her book  Feminist Fables. Her main influences are Virginia Woolf, Adrienne Rich and Kate Millett. She was also an activist for queer rights. Her work explores her lesbian identity and its definitions in a heteronormative world.

 

Saleem Kidwai

Kidwai is a medieval historian, queer rights activist and a translator. He taught history at Ramjas College, University of Delhi till 1993. He was one of India’s first academics to come out as queer. His work focuses on Urdu literature, the history of desire and courtesan culture. He is the co-editor of the book Same-Sex Love in India: Readings from Literature and History along with scholar Ruth Vanita.

 

Shyam Selvadurai

His name might ring familiar to the English hons students, Selvadurai is the critically-acclaimed author of Funny Boy, a story set in Sri Lanka, building up to the 1983 rights. Selvadurai also released an essay in 1997 titled Coming Out which spoke about the bias and discomfort him and his partner faced in Sri Lanka. He released his fourth novel in 2013, he also has a spider named after him.

 

Feature Image Credits: Live Mint

Jaishree Kumar

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Admissions

Things to Keep in Mind Before Taking Admission in DU

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Dear Aspiring Students,

Here is a list of things I feel you should keep in mind before taking admission into the University of Delhi (DU).

  • ADMISSION PROCESS

The admission process for DU seems tiring, laborious, and everlasting. Trust me, it is. After carefully filling in the forms, wait and have the patience for the cut-offs to come out. Keep in mind your favorable course and calculate the Best of Four (BoF) percentage accordingly. Keep all your documents ready and extra photocopies as well. Upload all essential documents on your Email ID’s and Google Drive for it to be easily accessible in case you forget something. Keep extra passport size photos and Aadhar-card copies of your parents and yourself. Read the UG Bulletin of information available on the website and check if you are applicable for any of the quotas. Keep dates in check (I had marked my calendars), stay in touch with your friends and peers, help each other and support each other.

(Read the DU UG Bulletin 2019-20 here: Click) 

  • EXPLORE

Going for admission procedure to colleges once the cut-offs come out takes time. It might take you a whole day, in the Dilli ki Garmi to get your admission done, and you might have to do this more than once, after subsequent cut-offs come out and you upgrade to different courses and colleges (I did it thrice). You might get tired, but don’t sit in one corner waiting, scared and anxious. The college you go and visit will most probably end up being your home for the next three years. So, explore the canteens, the gardens, the classrooms, the staircases, the markets nearby, the metro stations and bus stands. Familiarise yourself with the environment. It helps in the long run. Take a good company with you, take friends and family, take loads of food and make a picnic out of your admission visit. Make it as fun as you can, as it will be your first experience of being inside the college you will call your own for the next three years.

  • COURSE VS COLLEGE

Many of us don’t score high enough to get our favourite courses and colleges. So, once the cut-off comes out, it becomes a hysterical decision, to chose which course to pursue, and from which college. It will end up in a series of heated discussions between you, your family members, and your well-wishers, and constant visits to websites like collegedunia to read about the ‘scope’ of different courses. Your father will suggest one course, your mother will suggest another college, while you will be at the center of this dilemma, choosing your career just after finishing off with boards (I felt like taking a year-long vacation to decide my college). But in the midst of all this, keep in mind that while making this choice, you might end up losing your preferred course or college or even both, but in the end it won’t matter because once in college, you can helm the journey of your college years to follow the awaited dream you had. You can take your preferred course as an elective and earn a minor degree and participate in different colleges all over the DU circuit to make friends in your favourite college. Although, this decision should be taken with the utmost care, but in the end, you will never regret giving up on one particular thing, because the college life will reward you with so many others that you will be filled up to the brim with happiness and satisfaction.

  • LIFE AT DU

The life at the University is not what you might be envisioning right now, it is not all fun and games, but it is so much more. It is exposure and experience, new friends and families, perspectives and politics, fests and euphoria, academics and attendance, and crowds and metro. It is the flavour of chai that burns at your tongue, and sleepless nights you pull off to finish that one academic paper. It is commuting in an empty metro early in the morning to reach your college on time for an extra class, for it to get cancelled. It is crying, curled up in your bed missing your families, small events and birthday celebrations back home. It is managing the month end with minimal finances asking for udhaar because you are broke. It is also listening to your favourite songs non-stop in the long metro rides, reading your favourite authors or academic papers, it is also celebrating the small festivals you miss back home with your newfound family at college, it is also the breath of relief when you see your parents face to face on a skype call and it is also filling your tummy up with freshly-made Maggi on days you don’t like the PG food. It is a rollercoaster of freshness and it is going to be a beautiful journey!

All the best, students! Make a good choice without any regrets, and enjoy this time to the fullest, you will surely miss it once it is over.

Regards,

Sakshi Arora

 

Feature Image Credits: Saubhagya Saxena for DU Beat

 

Sakshi Arora

s[email protected]

 

 

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