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What To Do When You Have A Crush On Your Teacher

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Teacher and student relationships are generally sources of great warmth and discussion and occasionally even friendship. However, it takes a different turn when students start developing feelings for their teachers.

It is almost like a rite of passage to pass through the feeling of being awestruck by your teacher. Your teacher is most likely a highly intelligent person (with a good dressing sense, probably) and can make esoteric concepts not just understandable but interesting for you. In such a case, it is easy to develop genuine admiration and love for your teacher. But what happens when you start having a crush on the same person?

First of all, it is important to remember that in most colleges, romantic relationships between teachers and students are illegal and would generally lead to the termination of both the parties (if found guilty). Such a relationship thus contains an element of toxicity. So, for all purposes, know that it is highly unlikely that you will end up marrying your teacher.

Having mentioned this, there have also been certain extraordinary instances where teachers and students have actually gotten together, stayed like that and even married. This does not presuppose that their love is any lesser than that of age-appropriate relationships. After all, age is just a number, right?

But, it is equally possible that the feelings you develop for your teacher is only because of your idea of him or her, and not because of the person. A teacher exerts enormous influence over a student’s life because, through him or her, the student gets exposed to different views and learns new ideas and theories. Praise lauded by teachers feels like an incentive to start working harder. Yet, it is like falling for your therapist: you actually have no real idea of who your teacher is until you actually spend some time alone with them. Teachers are like public figures, whom we put on pedestals. This means that we rarely know about their true self, their likes and dislikes, desires in life and so on. Teachers appear like a guardian angel to us and we start to depend on them immensely, especially when we are away from home. Their experience and guidance give us a sense of security.

Students for generations have waited in bated breath for their favourite teacher to come, worked extra-hard in their classes and lingered after class to have discussions with them. While this is all harmless and part of the process of attaining maturity, exploring other options is always a good idea. So, go out with your friends, exercise, listen to music, dance, cook, work hard (and not just in your crush’s subjects). These are healthy ways of not letting your teenage crush turn into an obsession.

So while you tenderly look for his face in the hallways and try to catch his eye in class, remember that if you just wait for a little while, there is always someone better around the corner. And while you do that, go ahead and stare at his cute dimples. They always make your days better. I understand.

Feature Image Credits: Pretty Little Liars via Freeform 

Sara Sohail

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Campus Central

A Guide to Tackling Homesickness

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It is the third week of August. Congratulations on getting through the first month of this semester. However, if you’re an outstation student, the first month must have been quite difficult for you. Here are a few points on tackling homesickness.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a fresher yourself or have lived outside your hometown for quite a few years, whether your home is halfway around the world or half an hour down the road. If you’re living away from your home, you must have been through a dark phase called ‘homesickness’.

Ranging from the heart-warming goodbye at the steps leading to your front door to the teary eyes at the airport, you would inevitably miss home-family, friends, cuisine, atmosphere-when you live away from it. Let’s face it, there’s no way you can deal totally with this problem, but there are always ways in which this can be taken care of.

Mirroring Environments:

From drinking coffee in your favourite mug to reading your favourite book which reminds you of home, there are various ways in which you can mirror the lifestyle that you had at home. This shall not only make you feel better but shall also enhance your productivity when you are living in a different city for studies.

Comfort Food:

If you’re one of those whose spirits toil in the realm of food, then you’ll thank me for this tip. My personal experience has taught me that eating food from the place/region to which you belong, exercises scintillating effects on your thoughts and is known to help with anxiety and depression. Now that’s a win-win situation, isn’t it?

Understand your Situation:

If the above two weapons don’t work out, (Who are you kidding? Food does work) you can always introspect. Try to assign reason to all that is going on in your life.  You worked all through your life in senior secondary school just to be where you are. You need to acknowledge this and give yourself some credit for the same. This is the place you have longed to be at. Look at the bigger picture. Once you pass out from here after three years (I really hope you do), you will have an entirely different life. Who knows, maybe after these years you might work in your hometown. So you need to pull yourself through this because you’re way stronger than you think.

Don’t Spend Time Alone:

When feeling homesick, never sit alone in your room gazing at the vivid texture of the four walls of your room. Instead, pick anything that diverts your attention. Read a book. Listen to some music. Use your first month of free subscription on Netflix to binge-watch a series or go out with your friends.

Delve into Literature:

It has been observed that jotting down your feelings is a very healthy way of blowing off some steam or dealing with stress. Activities such as scribbling into a journal, writing poetry, fiction etc. are practically proven means of mood-lifting.

Talk it out:

You can always try having a heart-to-heart conversation with anyone you can confide in. Care needs to be taken that you must not let your feelings overpower you. Stay strong. Stay Happy. Stay Confident.

These are some of the very simple ways to deal with anxiety and stress related to homesickness. However, if the problem persists, professional help from therapists can always be sought.

 

Feature Image Credits: Her Campus

Aashish Jain

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Campus Central

What to Expect from the University of Delhi

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I’m pretty sure that all your dramatic expectations from college (courtesy of Bollywood) have been shattered by now, and you’re one with reality. Honestly, life at the University of Delhi (DU) is beyond estimation. It’s too thrilling to draw generalisations about. One moment, you may be sitting in your college lawns enjoying utter serenity, the next moment you’re part of a protest to get the back gate of your college re-opened for students.

Here is a skeleton of what you can expect during your three years of undergraduate study at the University:

Elections:

If you have been to college, you must have seen people reaching out to you with “May I Help You” cards. That’s mainly a precursor to the Annual General Elections to the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU). Each year, the student cabinet is democratically elected, the politics and campaigning of which remain a burning issue throughout the year.

Fests:

While the odd semester is dominated by elections, even semesters are dominated by cultural fests organised by colleges affiliated to the University. These fests give students an opportunity to have some fun after their strenuous battle with the semester exams of the odd semester. Now, what’s interesting is that these fests are marked by guest appearances by celebrities and entries to these are open to all. A totally fantastic way to while away your time, that is!

Strikes:

Student politics being a very important part of the varsity, the latter witnesses strikes from the student as well as staff associations on matters carrying mammoth importance to the stakeholders. These along with other factors form the essence of life at DU.

Exposure:

Apart from the aforementioned points, the University offers ample opportunities to all those who are looking for it. With college societies covering extensive realms and participating in intra-University competitions, there are also some out-of-college (external) societies and groups that extend opportunities to those who are scouting for them. With a full-fledged democratic political set-up existing in the university, there’s also necessary exposure to those willing to venture out into that field. We really need some educated politicians, don’t we?

 

Feature Image Credits: Reacho

Aashish Jain

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DUB Speak

Teachers Bunking Classes: Questioning a Common Trend

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The issues of teachers being unavailable, missing lectures, or cancelling classes last minute is a common problem across the University of Delhi (DU). Where does the problem stem from and what do students think of the same?

Assistant Professors and Professors in the University of Delhi often end up missing classes. For freshers, what is even more fascinating is that while teachers often end up cancelling lectures, they continue to mark the attendance in the attendance register by taking the list of names of the students present from the Class Representative (CR). This makes sure that their attendance records show that a lecture took place, even when it did not. A student of a reputed DU college recalled an incident that throws more light on the same subject. He said, “Usually what happens is that the professor asks the CR to take attendance, which is fairly normal. But one day, I got a call from the professor (being the CR) that the class wouldn’t take place and that I should write the names of the students who showed up physically to study what the professor had to teach. The next day, the professor took the piece of paper with the names of the students and entered the ones present in the respective column for the previous day.”
Another student said, “My professor asks me to randomly mark the attendance, or just copy the names of those present today for a day before, as the professor couldn’t show up due to some unforeseen circumstances.”
A student recalled an incident when his teacher made an excuse regarding his child having a school function which had to be attended. Later, the same teacher was caught red-handed as he had uploaded an Instagram story where he was socialising instead of attending the school function, much to the amusement of the viewer, who was a student. These lies do injustice to working parents, who, at times, skip work to be present for the milestones of their children.
The issue of online attendance has been a long standing problem. The teaching fraternity is largely averse to it because it will effectively act as a check-and-balance system that will monitor them just as much as it will monitor students. A professor from a prominent college on being asked about his views on online attendance, stated, “Most of the teachers at this college oppose the trend of online attendance, because then it won’t only be the attendance for you kids, but also for us teachers.”
While there are genuine reasons for teachers to miss classes, they have also been unwittingly subjected to multiple duties in college, which makes them feel overburdened. Since it is a legitimate problem, it cannot be solved through temporary fixes, and certainly not at the cost of compromising the teaching hours for the student body. A senior professor, when asked about the multiple duties he had to perform, he exclaimed, “A single person is made the head of various departments and asked to perform the duties for all of them. Being it taking interviews for ad-hoc teaching positions, to looking into a fight that broke out due to some party nuisance. Sometimes I need to miss classes in order to complete pending work.”
However, a third year student of Bachelors in Mathematical Sciences from Keshav Mahavidyalaya stated, “ Teachers in our college are very strict when it comes to studies, so they show up in classes almost all the time and miss them only if they have some extremely important work to do.”

This shows that while some teachers scarcely miss classes, others do it for frivolous reasons. The issue of teachers being overworked is a genuine one, but missing classes to complete pending work is a great disservice to the student body and to the art of teaching.

 

Feature Image Credits: Saubhagya Saxena for DU Beat.

Dev Chopra

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Campus Central

Advisory To Freshers: A Narrative of DU’s Student Politics

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The student community in the University of Delhi (DU) transcends state borders and every year welcomes lacs of students from all over the country. This dynamism has over time allowed rampant exploitation of students by political parties.

In one of the premier universities of India, every discipline teaches us to be more aware, opinionated and accepting. What no discipline teaches us is political correctness. Politics in DU is a facade of Red Ford Mustangs and bribery; an avenue for the rich. Money is power. If you are a returning wanderer to this political front of DU, well and good. But if you are another impulsive fresher, you need to be wary. For our sake of safety, I shall endeavor to advise you about the complexities of politics in DU.

Politics conventionally is supposed to represent concerns of the general public. But in recent times, politics has been attached with a more morbid connotation consisting of blame game and dark plays. In DU, the election season is around the corner. While the campaigns are yet to gain the requisite fervor, more apparent are the posters on Wall(s) of Democracy in North Campus. The misspelled names convey the message of the mystery related to the candidacy. As per the section in the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act 2007, such posters are unacceptable. Not only that, they are also punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine which may amount to INR 50,000, or both. But laws are bothersome, why fret?

Expressing alarm over the momentum gained by caste politics, an Indian news and media website had stated, “The Political front is increasingly becoming the battle of Jats versus the Gujjars.” While the success of a student-party is attributed to the money it spends on polls, Independent candidates are generally beaten and downtrodden. According to the Lyngdoh Committee guidelines, a candidate can spend up to INR 5,000 during polls. But it is known that during election campaigns, lavish parties and visits to water parks are funded while free movie tickets, pizzas, cosmetics, and alcohol are distributed to buy favors of the student voters. More desperate measures are not unheard of, as bribery takes the front seat. Justice is promised, not delivered. A platform for simulation becomes one that is stigmatised.

The Ramjas College incident of last year offers us lessons. Here are some ideas to guide you through the election season:

  • Stay cautious. Do not hesitate with your interactions, but be on your guard.
  • Do not fall for fancy promises. Judge the candidacy wisely.
  • Stay well-informed about the events happening around.
  • Practice diplomacy. Since your views are your own, express them. But learn to hold them back too (if need be).

Protests and campaigns will begin soon with the hurling of stones, soap-bars and blame on each other. Remain true to yourself. If you are intrigued by politics, seek some reliable guidance before you enter it. The ideas of sedition, nationalism and patriotism cannot be set for you by anyone. This independence day, break free from the unnecessary indulgence. Your will is your own, so long as you are true to yourself.

 

Feature Image Credits: The Indian Express

 

Kartik Chauhan

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Campus Central

With the Placement Season Started, Here are Tips to Help Ace Placement Interviews

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The ­ corridors of almost every DU college have one thing in common this time of the year –  all of them are abuzz with throngs of final year students anxiously awaiting their next interview, riffling through resumes one last time, and trying not to sweat through their fancy formals.

The placement season is upon us, and fortunately, the University of Delhi is generous with its college employment resources. All DU students can apply through the Central Placement Cell of DU, while colleges like Hansraj College, Miranda House, Hindu College, and Sri Venkateshwara College, among others, have their own placement cells. Below are a few pointers you should be aware of, before you sit for an interview:

  • Most companies follow a 3-step recruitment procedure consisting of aptitude tests, group discussions, and personal interviews.

 

  • Resume building is the key to landing a job interview – attention to detail, emphasis on what the applicant brings to the table, including co-curriculars, projects, and internships, and a powerful cover letter to accompany the resume are crucial. One needs to be well versed with the job profile being offered and the mission statement of the company. On the day of the interview, multiple copies of the resume must be kept handy, for the perusal of the interviewers.

 

  • Personal Interviews require a fair amount of preparation. Clothing, hygiene, and body language are the paramount preliminary tasks. Additionally, recruiters look for students whose goals and aspirations align with their requirements and work environment of the company. Which is why, it is imperative to understand that if a company is hiring someone with no actual work experience, they’ve sacrificed the return on investment from day one and are effectively paying these college graduates while imparting knowledge and training through their business. Accordingly, they expect proper contribution and sincerity. People often overlook the importance of asking questions during interviews, which gives the employer an impression of apathy and lack of enthusiasm. It’s an interaction, not an interrogation!

 

  • All social media accounts must be cleared of any undesirable or embarrassing data. The sacking of James Gunn from Marvel Studios is an important example of the attention companies pay to their employees’ online presence. To avoid sticky situations, Facebook and Twitter profiles must be maintained respectably!

 

  • Following up on resume submissions and interviews displays commitment to potential employers. That persistence can help separate one from the rest of the crowd and increase one’s chances of successfully obtaining their ideal first job.

Here is what a 3rd year student at Jesus and Mary College had to say about her experience after being interviewed by Deloitte;

“Before sitting for any placement, the person needs to be well versed with the job profile and the company because recruiters ask questions like “Why Deloitte”. The key is to convince them that you’re the perfect fit for that particular job, and no one else.”

DU Beat wishes all applicants the very best for upcoming campus placement drives!

Nikita Bhatia

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DUB Speak

Rahul Gandhi and His Changed Style of Politics

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Rahul Gandhi, who was for long treated as fodder for political jokes, seems to have dynamically changed and challenged the naysayers, in his recent fiasco at the parliament. 

Rahul Gandhi has been an interesting figure in Indian politics. He is a media favourite, his smallest of actions carefully dissected and disseminated for public scrutiny. On Friday, 20th of July, what Rahul Gandhi did took the nation by surprise. The no-confidence motion and the visuals it offered, have fascinated the country even today, almost two-weeks later. While it was clear the Bharatiya Janata Party  (BJP) had the numerical strength but it was an unsatisfactory one. The motion itself was nothing special but the action of the Amethi MP and Congress president Rahul Gandhi created a perfect digital moment which went viral, triggered conversations and has already become a trending meme. The nation is well aware how fond our Prime Minister is of hugs. It seems Mr. Gandhi decided to beat him in his own game.

The hug has received both criticism and accolades but one thing can be said for sure that the Congress has learnt the importance of “symbolism and imagery “which is a key tool for a politician in the digitalised world today. So one could come up with a few explanations for the hug. It may have been an attempt to project the ruling party leaders as aggressors. Modi has often weighed down the opposition leader under his Nehruvian- Gandhi legacy. Maybe Gandhi’s hug could pre-empt the Prime Minister’s and other BJP leaders’ personal attack on him and his party in the course of the debate during the no-confidence motion.

The act could have been a tongue in cheek jibe at Modi’s act of hugging eminent political leaders in his attempt to establish cordial international relations with them. While the foreign policy at this moment is in shambles, his act may have been a clever attempt to remind the country about the government’s failure at this front. One might call it a shady move to highlight a contrast between the ideologies of the BJP/Sangh Parivar and the Congress. The Congress has often accused the Sangh of spreading the ideology of hatred and “angry hindutva” whereas the party asserts that its ideology stands for love and inclusiveness, especially in light of the recent incidents of killings and mob lynching of the poor and marginalised sections of the society.

Although there’s no denying that the hug was awkward, bizarre, unnatural, and most un-parliamentary.  Rahul Gandhi invited a well-deserved rebuke from the speaker. He was finally put in his place, by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Hugging the prime minister might make a mockery of parliamentary rules, decorum and regulations, but it ensures that for once, people will keep talking about Rahul instead of Modi. One cannot deny it was a political masterstroke.

It is impossible to find out whether the hug was impromptu or a well-planned move.  It would be to much of an exaggeration to state that a hug would completely change congress fortunes in the 2019 elections though. While this “hugoplomacy” might get congress media attention a serious change in campaign and policy strategies is what congress needs at this hour.

Feature Image Credits – NDTV

Bhavika Behal 

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An Issue Of Equality Not Entry: Sabarimala Temple 

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Located in the Pathanamthitta District of Kerala the Supreme Court ordered the Sabarimala temple to do away with the practice of prohibiting women’s entry in the temple 

“Those who believe religion and politics are not linked don’t understand either “. This statement by Gandhi has proven itself to be true time and again. In the Indian context it has taken the form of Partition, Hindu Code Bill, Khalistan movement, Godhra riots, etc. The entanglement of religion and politics resurfaced again this month as the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court took up the Sabarimala case. 

It may become “another Ayodhya ‘if the court tries to tinker with the religious practices”, warned the defendants. The complex issue began when a petition was filed challenging rule 3B of the the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship Rules which puts restrictions on women’s entry. The Sabarimala temple prohibits entry of women between the age group of 10 and 50, because of the celibate nature of Lord Ayyappa. He is believed to be a Brahmachari and in mythology women are viewed as a source of distraction to them. 

The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Mishra on Wednesday ruled “what applies to a man applies to the woman as well, woman’s right to pray was not dependent on any law but actually a constitutional right “ It was further added that entry can only be prohibited on grounds of health and public morality. The defendants of the practice led by organisations like Kshetra Samrakshana Samiti argued that it was based not on sex but menarche (the onset of menstruation) which is absurd since menarche is a physiological condition applicable on women only.

There’s a great need to break the religious taboos that associate menstruation with impurity as it is used as the basis of religious practices that are discriminatory to women. Patriarchy in India has been systematized through a number of religious customs and social practices, which need legal assistance to be dealt with. It is essential that these customs are tested by constitutional provisions. Keeping women out of temples is not simply denying them a place of worship but a public statement of their social inferiority and subordinate status. The values enshrined and promised to every Indian woman in the constitution are far from reality however there’s still hope.  Cases such as that of Sabarimala temple as put by a Supreme Court advocate “help bridge the gap between constitutional ideals and our social reality “.

Feature Image Credits – OPIndia

Bhavika Behal 

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News

Hackers Write Pakistan Zindabad on Maharaja Agrasen’s Website

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With the college website being hacked for the second time in eight months; a question on data privacy and security arises.

On Friday, 3rd August 2018, the website of Maharaja Agrasen College was hacked for three hours. Everyone, including the students, faculty, and the college administration were in a state of shock by this development. The photograph of the college on the website was replaced with a photograph of stone-pelters.

According to a source, this was noticed by the administration in the morning when they reached college. Along with the photograph of stone-pelters, a message also featured on the website. The message said, “Do you know why you got hacked? Stop killing Muslims. Give free rights to Kashmiri’s.”The message also mentioned that the credit card and bank details of the college were not secure and the authorities should be ready to face the hackers. The hackers also mentioned that they had dumped the whole database and server of the college. To prove themselves, the hackers not only uploaded a photograph of Pakistan’s national flag, but also wrote Pakistan Zindabad.  The web-page also mentioned that the website was hacked by Blackscorpion and ProBro’s.

 

Harsh Verma, a student of Maharaja Agrasen College said, “There were rumours in the morning about the college website being hacked. People said we should not open the website on our mobile phones or our personal details might be leaked. This has happened for the second time in the last 7-8 months and the college authorities are not serious about the student’s data. The security system of the college should be worked upon or else students can be easily targeted by such activities.” Another student, Ira, a graduate from Maharaja Agrasen College spoke to DU Beat about the same. She said, “ Hacking the college website is very immature and might be a prank played by a student. Hacking a college website to put out a message has become some sort of trend these days. The same happened in Jamia Milia Islamia University a few months ago when a message was displayed on the website to wish a girl on her birthday.”


Information about the website being hacked spread like a fire. The college took this matter seriously and informed the police without delay. The administration also informed the computer cell of the University. The website was cured with the help of Delhi Police’s IT cell. In this regard, a FIR has been registered by the college in New Ashok Nagar police station under the IT Act.

Feature Image Credits: Confirm Admission

Anoushka Sharma

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DSJ Students Continue to Protest Against ‘Poor’ Infrastructure; Classes Suspended

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Students staged a peaceful demonstration against the lack of basic amenities, non-availability of a media lab, and failure of the administration to allocate all General Elective options.  

The students of Delhi School of Journalism (DSJ) on Monday staged a sit-in in their college against the administration. They alleged that the promised media lab was never established and they were not given options in the GE paper. The students refused to attend the classes because of the heated ‘greenhouse’ like classes which lack ventilation. The air conditioning has been repeatedly breaking down since the last six months. The administration has responded by suspending the classes till the air conditioners are repaired. 

The students of DSJ have been protesting for quite a long time now. There have been a number of protests in the recent months. A student recently wrote a letter to the Vice Chancellor about the problems they have been facing. However, many of them have alleged that the administration is not being serious about their demands. Some students have also alleged that they are being targeted for speaking against the administration.

“I have been writing against the VC for not being able to solve our problems. I posted a few memes on Facebook. I was later called to the office by Manaswini M. Yogi, the Officer on Special Duty (OSD), and was reprimanded for writing against the VC. The OSD said that I should leave the college if I don’t like it here. I topped the first semester and I was told by the OSD that I won’t top in the second semester. I feel threatened,” said a student of the Hindi medium at DSJ, on the condition of anonymity. 

Alishan Jafri, another student from the English medium said, “DSJ started as a so-called dream project of the VC. However, it is turning out to be a nightmare for the one hundred twenty of us. The classes have been suspended in order to fool the students who are coming to the campus for admission these days. They don’t want them to know the terrible state of affairs in here.”  

The honorary director of DSJ, Prof. J.P Dubey, had earlier held a meeting with the students to listen to their grievances. However, he refused to give a deadline for the establishment of a media lab. In the past, the students were told that the lab would be ready by the third semester but that never happened.

DU Beat spoke to the OSD of the college about the issues faced by the students. She said that the water cooler was not working properly from a past few days and it has been repaired. The AC stopped working twenty days ago and engineering department repaired it but it again malfunctioned. She explained, “There are some technical glitches and the engineering department has assured us that they will be fixed in a couple of days. We are in a constant touch with them.”

Feature Image Credits: Neel Madhav

Maknoon Wani

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