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An Ode: 20 years of Harry Potter

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Harry Potter is a series of fantasy novels written by J.K Rowling which first appeared in 26th June, 1997 after being rejected by several publication houses. The books have found immense popularity, critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide. The series has now been translated into multiple languages including French, Irish, Spanish, German and Swedish to name a few. They have attracted a wide adult audience as well as younger readers, and are often considered cornerstones of modern young adult literature. As of May 2013, the books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide, making them the best-selling book series in history, and have been translated into seventy-three languages. The last four books consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history, with the final instalment selling roughly eleven million copies in the United States within twenty-four hours of its release.

The plot of the story needs no introduction, it seems that almost every young adult in this generation is familiar with Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, studying at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Their struggle against Lord Voldemort, the dark wizard who killed Harry’s parents has become an urban legend. Even after 20 years of Harry Potter’s first appearance, the hype created around this magical tale has persisted over time. As our generation grew, we saw parts of us and our lives reflected in the character’s laughter, tears, struggles and determination. A part of us waited with bated breath for our Hogwarts letter to arrive as we yearned to be a part of their magical world. We fantasized about being on Platform 9 ¾ , using Floo Powder, disappearing into the Room of Requirement, exploring Hogsmeade and Honeydukes, eating our hearts out at the grand feasts, possessing a Marauders Map, fighting in the resistance against Lord Voldemort and hoping for a love as deep as Severus had for Lily.

Harry Potter and his story lives amongst us and our hearts. It is a story we grew up with and we hope our future generations would grow up with as well. Today, we celebrate 20 years of Harry Potter in our lives, and here’s hoping we celebrate this momentous occasion again in another 20 years from today.

Till then, I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!

Feature Image Credits: YouTube

Joyee Bhattacharya

([email protected])

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DUB Speak

The Great Indian Budget 2017

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Widely seen as an optimistic panacea to the aftermath of demonetisation and the precursor to the GST Bill coming in July this year, we analyse what all Mr. Arun Jaitley’s attaché case has in store for the nation.  We will also tell what the student community can take away from the Budget.

 

On the 1st of February this year, the world watched as the 2nd fastest growing economy of the world came with its economic report card for the previous financial year and its economic aspirations, hence the resource allocation for the next term. In every way a far lesser populist with more fundamental and less big-ticket reforms, long term results driven, this minimalist and fiscally prudent budget can well be seen as being the better one of the NDA regime. Finance supremo Jaitley has presented this fourth budget with acute attention on distinct areas concerning, inter alia, agriculture, rural India, infrastructure, education, youth and, most importantly, digital economy.

On the face of it, Budget 2017 is aimed to the reduction of tax burden on the endangered section of the population and aims at more wealth creation from the richer section of the society, given the expectations of higher tax compliance post demonetisation. With the deduction in tax rate of the Rs. 2,50,000 – 5,00,000 income category from 10% to 5%, the purchasing power of the lower middle class is bound to increase, mitigating the pains of the class worst hit by demonetisation. The fiscal deficit, which is the difference between the total revenue and the total expenditure of the government, is projected to come down to 3.2%, much in compliance to the 3%, as laid down in the economic survey of India. Pushing forward to its commitment to digital economy, a mission has been set up with a target of 2,500 crore digital transactions for 2017-18 through UPI, USSD, Aadhaar Pay, IMPS and debit cards. The fund for NABARD (Rs. 35k crore) and MNREGA (Rs. 48k crore) has been increased, further making room for direct investment in agriculture and dairy giving a much needed impetus to the rural development. Affordable housing is the cherry on the cake as the government has granted it an infrastructure status, thereby enabling housing developers to avail benefits granted to infrastructure sector, along with tax relaxation and other incentives.

On the objective side of things, the prices of generic medicines, railways tickets among other things will be slashed. Cost of undergoing non-residential courses at IIM’s is set to become cheaper to an extent after the proposed exemption of service tax. Prices of mobile-phones, in lieu of the hike of the price of circuit boards, currently unavailable indigenously, and tobacco products are slated to increase.

Fuelled by the reduction in income tax rates for smaller companies with annual turnover up to INR 50 crore from 30% to 25% and hence granting more flexibility on loss carry forward and liberalisation of tax holiday regime for start-ups, announcements of further liberalisation and abolition of Foreign Investment Promotion Board to increase FDI and ease of doing business, extension of the sunset clause of the 5% concession tax rate on qualifying foreign debt from June 2017 to June 2020 and the extension of profit-linked deductions to 3 out of 7 years and timeline to claim MAT credit to 15 years, government has made its intention clear that more start- ups shall mean more efficient employment.

Criticisms also surrounded the budget citing the less capital allotment to education, healthcare and PSUs. Sure, capital investment has always been considered extremely important for the long-run growth of any modern economy. But current capacity utilization across sectors in India is around 67%. This means that there is substantial spare capacity and any move to artificially force investments into the system will lead to the kind of capital inefficiency that has brought China to its knees. Of course, as per the budget, overall capital expenditure is up 25.4% but most of that should be on infrastructure to support the theme of bringing the markets to the under-served.

With its agenda of Transform, Energise and Clean India and thrashing the Universal Basic Income, a message resounding clear is that this government has no plans of distributing freebies and unearned largesse. As the government paves way to the minimisation of its role in the economy, it consolidates its vision of a different route to development, not doles and all-appeasing benevolence.

Image credits- Businesstoday.in

Nikhil Kumar

[email protected]

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Arts & Culture

A Serving of Flesh- The Santa Clarita Diet

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Want to feel younger, sexier and more energetic? Try the all new ‘Santa Clarita Diet’, a show so absurd, funny and real- that you’ll be hooked on forever.

Starring the cannibalistic come back of Drew Barrymore , this Netflix Original belongs to the satiric genre that manages to make a flesh-eating zombie a casual, rather uneventful happening. The show follows a married couple (Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant) whose lives are transformed when Barrymore is turned into an undead cannibal. The show follows the attempts of the couple trying to maintain a normal life while parenting a sassy sixteen year old and killing people for food at the same time. The show may be extremely silly with Barrymore coughing up human fur balls and farting corpses, but it does so in a rather endearing manner, one that makes you root for this crazy couple right to the end.

With plenty of rather graphic images right from human smoothies to devouring fingers and excessive vomiting, it’s not for the weak in the stomach and is downright entertaining for anyone who’s ever been fascinated by the supernatural. Complete with quirky elements like a nosy repellent neighbor, a Serbian baka and even tear-gas, this is one show you cannot miss.

Barrymore plays a zombie cannibal in the gory, silly comedy that is packed full of bloody encounters and tasty fingers. It’s certainly not for everyone –after all it is an acquired taste.

 

Anahita Sahu

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DUB News

Is Hollywood’s Response to Sexual Assault Coloured?

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We’re all with familiar with the phrase ‘OscarsSoWhite”, however this year the Oscar diversity drought came to a temporary halt with a sizeable number of black nominations. However, is this just a farce? The tussle between Casey Affleck and Nate Parker makes us think so.

At the Sundance Film Festival last year, Nate Parker’s directorial debut The Birth of a Nation about a 1831 Virginia slave rebellion and Casey Affleck starrer Manchester By The Sea about a Boston janitor promised to make the Oscar rounds. With the coming of 2017, there seems to be no trace or mention of Parker while Affleck has picked up a Golden Globe for his portrayal of the heart broken janitor. So what changed? When Parker’s film released in October, it was overshadowed by the news that back in 1999, nineteen year old Parker and the film’s co-writer Jean Celestin had been accused of raping a fellow student in college. Parker was acquitted on grounds that he had consensual sex with the victim prior to the incident. Amidst the uproar, sexual harassment charges against Affleck resurfaced which allegedly took place on the set of his 2010 mockumentary, I’m Still Here. According to the Guardian, “original allegations included claims that Affleck hired transvestite prostitutes ‘for his personal gratification’ and during filming, referred to women as cows, manhandled her when she rejected his sexual advances and instructed a camera operator to flash his genitals at her.”

The one thing that has particularly galled a number of observers is the profiles of Affleck that make only a mere passing mention of his indiscretions. In stark contrast, when the news of Parker broke out, The Daily Beast says Academy voters said that they won’t even watch the movie while the American Film Institute cancelled a screening. Rev Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist, told the Root , an online magazine of African American culture, “Is the standard now that you can take an almost two-decade acquittal and deny him the Oscars, but it’s all right for others who’ve done crazy stuff to be Oscar material? I just want to know, what’s the standard?”

There is no escaping Affleck’s privilege as Ben Affleck’s younger brother who has one of Hollywood’s most enduring friendships with the influential Matt Damon. There is definitely no escaping the race factor as The Daily Wire rightly puts, “Black man acquitted of a single incident involving one woman 17 years ago, has his entire career destroyed. White man who settled two sexual harassment suits from two separate accusers that involve alleged behavior on a film set just six years ago, is well on his way to Oscar glory.”

This is reminiscent of Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird” where a black man is accused of rape simply because he is black and such violence is attributed to his race. Thus, ladies and gentlemen we observe that Nate Parker has disappeared of the Oscar radar while Ben’s little brother is on an award winning roll.

Image Credits: www.newyorker.com

Anahita Sahu

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Uncategorized

The Realism of Escapism

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To escape is to create a safe haven for the perturbed minds and souls yearning for a different reality, but when do we need to snap back to the truth from our imagination?

Shirley Jackson in her book said, “No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality.” Through Alice we were taught that “Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.” These words of wisdom resonate far and wide; for, the realms of truth can be bitter and harsh, and it is a coping mechanism of the mind to resort to ideas which provide the cushion of comfort. To be able to pursue the pleasures of distraction and engage in the happiness of fanaticism is what an escapist seeks, and to evade from the emotional turmoil of our hearts is what an escapist needs.

The aesthetically pleasing movies, the heart-engrossing books, and the time-warp periods of daydreaming are the portals to a different you, and that’s endearing. The vexations and sometimes overwhelming aspects of life are minimised through this, giving you the freshness and strength to get back at the troubles with a recharged dose. However, the excess of anything is deemed to be perverse, and so goes for the issues of the mind. The theories of Economics oddly fit the gaps of this puzzle; for like the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility states, the more we invest ourselves into the realm of escapism, the more its value and advantages disappear into delusion. Think of escapism like chilli flakes or oregano on your pizza. You can sprinkle it on the top to savour and relish the taste, but too much of it will ruin the whole thing.

The indulgence in a different space, in enjoyment or indifference, can be instrumental only to a certain degree. Resorting to a hobby can transport you into a dimension of relaxation and give you the time you need to cope with the uninvited eventfulness. But the other times, the human mind fails to distinguish between escapism and avoidance, and everything is then ignored in the name of ‘distraction.’ It can hinder parts of your life in ways incomprehensible. So often do the bifurcations of right and wrong fade away into shades of grey, and in a similar fashion does the minute line between these two entities becomes consciously irrelevant.

Stop. Ask yourselves: How to wake up from that dream we would like to live every day? Transcend the ideas of fun from the confines of our mind to the stretches of real life experiences. There’s so much to do, so much to explore. Moments are limited, cherished, and yearned for; and to live in the moment is one of the greatest joys of life. With the fact that one wishes to ‘escape’ work, love, or life in general, it becomes monumental to ask yourself why. Why the need to hide away from the perturbing parts of life? The ‘whys’ and ‘whats’ need to be answered before its late, for the defence mechanism we so conveniently employ can only shield us from the monochromes of life for so long. Maybe, what’s harsh and bitter doesn’t need to be stressful and disconcerting; they are just renditions of unhappiness which your escape mode constructs. The mind is fascination and beautiful, but the vastness and depth of your untampered vision are what makes all the difference.

In the words of Haruki Murakami, “Closing your eyes isn’t going to change anything. Nothing’s going to disappear just because you can’t see what’s going on. In fact, things will even be worse the next time you open your eyes. That’s the kind of world we live in. Keep your eyes wide open. Only a coward closes his eyes. Closing your eyes and plugging up your ears won’t make time stand still.”

 

Image Credits: Fine Art America

 

Saumya Kalia

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Arts & Culture

College Fests from the Eyes of…

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picture collage

A multitude of people bear witness to the magical fest period; for each eye views the enigma on stage in a different light. What do your eyes see during these vibrant days?

Between the starry nights and stimulating events; between the pre-fest anticipation and the post-fest remembrances; between the excitement of a fresher and the nostalgia of a third year lies the magnificence of the fest season. The long affair is the product of months of diligent planning, hours of tiresome execution, and transcendence of the vision into reality. Read on to explore what strings in the back of the mind of the college factions!

The Enthused Fresher’s

Stories, anecdotes, and experiences are often parted to the first years as the extensive bits of pearls of wisdom. The first thing to grace our minds in relation to DU is the grand affair of fests which lasts for weeks. With elevated expectations do the first years get ready to grace their first cycle to witness the glory!

The Nostalgic Soon-to-be-Pass outs

As the graduation phase draws to a close for the topmost layer of students, a wave of beaming nostalgia hits the hearts and souls of the those who shall bid adieu to the varsity which has managed to envelop our lives. With a stream of flashbacks clouding their thoughts and vision to capture anything and everything, this set of the audience is sure to make the best of the bests!

The Over-worked Organisers

From the department fests to college fests, leave it to the Organising Committee to be flustered with an incessant supply of work and a shortage of time to do it. To see all ideas translated into action is a thing of beauty, but the degree of hard work and hectic schedules which go in the behind-the-scenes is exhausting. Running through the event, they are the architects of the wonderful creations!

The Omnipotent Media Team

Once the stage is set, from hunting for information to endeavouring to achieve the perfect click, the media teams (yours truly!) circle the campus with recording devices, ready to spread all reins of our coverage. The goal of this faction lies in the belief of covering and capturing the very essence of the event, to be chronicled for the world to remember!

 

Image Credits: DU Beat

Image Caption: The varying perspectives of the different sections of people who visit fests!

 

Saumya Kalia

[email protected]

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Cultural Festivals

Hacks for the DU Fest Season

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There are a few elements within the peripheries of life which are known to flourish magnificently in association. Food and happiness, heartbreak and ice cream, weekends and binge-watching, and University of Delhi and the fest season. With a multitude of colleges bringing forward numerous reasons to escalate excitement levels with intriguing competitions and enthralling events, have a look at the musts to guarantee a satisfying fest experience!

  1. Classes, Society, and Work Management

All fun and no work make Jack an even duller boy. Amidst the excitement to sway to the rhythms of fun, take a step back and engage in some Time Management 101. There are a plethora of legendary fests which wait for your presence, so juggle between events by squeezing in the occasional classes between fest and society meetings, and treat yourself to some fest-fun later!

  1. The Entry Logistics

With Facebook reminders of fests and events also come reports of buying passes in black or selling fake IDs. While some colleges relax entry restrictions, others tighten them to reduce the possibility of non-DU students getting into the realms of the fun which everyone is talking about. Find out about the requirements of your scheduled fest, and be prepared.

  1. Wardrobe Woes

As the weather transcends from the chilly winters to the warmly-pleasant summers, it is important to plan your outfits keeping the weather in mind and so as to not go through the ordeal of repetition. Keep up with the trends, do smart shopping, and go for outfits which are easy to handle and maintain!

  1. Get Ready to Roll

As you set the stage to make the best out of this period, make sure all internal matters are taken care of. Shield yourself from the cold, for a fever can put your fest plans to rest. Eat and drink at regular intervals so as to not tire quickly, and come prepared with some Chandler Bing-unlike moves to grace the DJ nights.

With the energy levels full to the brim, are you ready for the season of fun?

 

Image Credits: DU Beat

 

Saumya Kalia

[email protected]

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Arts & Culture

The Jaipur Literature Fest 2017 experience

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Jaipur Literature Festival celebrated ten successful years of organisation in 2017. The event was organised from the 19th to the 23rd of January at Diggi Palace, Jaipur. The 2017 edition of the festival featured writers, poets, speakers and artists from a variety of genres of literature.

 

The event began on the first day with an enthralling musical performance by the Shillong Chamber Choir, followed by the keynote address by Gulzar and Anne Waldman. The five day event went on to witness a huge crowd from India and abroad, acknowledging international authors and artists like Emma Sky, David Park, Roberto Calasso, Hyeonseo Lee and Rachel Dwyer. Indian authors who added to the festivity of the event were Devdutt Pattanaik, Ashwin Sanghi and Dhrubajyoti Borah. Other artists who spoke of their field at the festival were Javed Akhtar, Shashi Tharoor, Sudhir Mishra, Imtiaz Ali, Rishi Kapoor and Neel Madhav. After a long day of sessions and interactions, the organisation held a Music Stage: Cultural Night of Jaipur Literature Festival at Hotel Clarks, Amer from 19th to 22nd January, 2017. These cultural nights saw splendid performances by some of the best greatest performers in the international and Indian music industries. The musical genres ranged from indie and electro to folk and sufi, ensuring that there was something for everyone.  Artists like Rajasthan Josh, Band Kabir Cafe, Raghu Dixit, Inna Modja, Lisa Hannigan and others put up breathtaking shows on all four days.

Image Credits: jaipurliterarturefestival.org
Image Credits: jaipurliterarturefestival.org

 

Apart from literature and music,  Ojas Art, has been an annual fixture of JLF, instrumenting and incorporating visual arts into programming, and providing a platform for artists to showcase their work and also awarding the best to encourage them. Since 2008, JLF has seen growth in numbers of both speakers and spectators. Appreciating the grand tenth anniversary celebrations, a spectator was overheard saying, “India is very rich in literature and the growth of partisans in these literary events in the recent past is highly appreciable.”

Radhika Boruah

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Your Beat

Putin-Trump Romance: What do we need to fear?

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trump

 

It is official. Donald Trump is the new occupant of the Oval Office.  But the recently uncovered ‘golden shower’ fiasco and the alleged election scandals against him need not be proved. The mere possibility of an anti-thesis to the Cold War times is equally disturbing, and dangerous.

We tell you how.  We also tell you how this couple is similar to the infamous Hitler-Stalin duo.

Soon after the American elections, The Guardian came out with a report citing that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had applied for a warrant to look into contact between four Trump campaigners and Russian officials. We later came to know of memos penned by a former British spy about Donald Trump’s Russian links. Taking lead from Trump’s preference for obscenities, Putin called those ordering the infamous dossier, the documents which investigated Trump’s Russian ties, as nothing less than prostitutes.

Some of these allegations might just be a hysteria against the Trumpism. But an undeniable product is the fact that Vladimir Putin has developed his interests in America’s internal affairs, with Donald Trump, the real-estate-mogul-and-not-a-politician president as his ally. He knows that the novice will trust him in spite of all odds, and together they would make Russia great again.

Mr. Putin, though cynical about everything western, has had a particular disdain for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).  With Trump, he will strongly cut short the Western European alliance in the western Russian front.  He surely will love to lessen the European influence in the Russian periphery and the Arctic circles by flexing his muscles and trashing the Article 5 of Washington Treaty which says that war for any European nation means a war for America. With America checked and EU neutralized, he shall plan doing to many more parts of the world what he recently did to Aleppo.

 

Tom Tugendham opines in a leading English daily that as Donald Trump shall remain hypnotized by the allurements of economic possibilities, Putin shall slowly make his way into the American system. Dismantling the Paris climate deal and hence revoking the $500 billion Exxon oil and gas drilling sanction in the arctic region will be among his premier agendas.

One thing for sure, Putin shall never care for American greatness. He cannot be America’s or for that reason any other nation’s ally. With Trump already been compromised, as reports say, Putin may use cyber attacks, energy and economic pressure, psychological warfare, targeted use of bribery, disinformation, military intimidation and espionage at all diplomatic levels. With the premier infiltrated, the rest does not seem impossible.

For the global environmental, economic and security concerns, let us hope that these two don’t walk down the aisles.

 

Feature Image Credits- NYbooks

Nikhil Kumar

[email protected]

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Your Beat

Changing World Politics – The Rise Of The “Top-Lobby”

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To a certain section of the global political thinkers, the election of Mr. Donald Trump as the president of United States of America was not unprecedented. They were the same people who happened to know of Brexit once the referendum was called for.

What and where are we missing?

 

Democracy and Nationalism- these are  the two similar contemporary cause-effect couple. The very element of eventual acknowledgement of a common higher identity after a millennium of mass chaos and anarchy is what led to the rise of the utopian concept of Democracy. But the definitions and individual perceptions kept evolving over the time, giving rise to Nazism in Germany in 1933 and that of Trumpism, as political scientists describe the phenomenon,  in 2016.

A renowned political science professor from University of Sydney opined in his blog post after the U.S. elections, “Voters globally wanted a change. They were fed up of the prevailing hypocrisy in the mainstream politics. They had been angry over the establishment and the politicians. They did no more want to caste the namesake votes and let the ball  bounce from the court of the Leftists to the Rightists and sometimes the Centre, something which they had been doing for centuries to no avail. Poor remained poor and the Rich got richer. Disappointment, Dissatisfaction and Unemployment- remained undressed. So the middle class finally got a change, a substitute to the conventional,  in Trump. They didn’t care about his being racist, misogynist or anything lest he was different.”

We step into a world where the people, for some decades, shall either choose their version of Donald Trump, a leader who has promised changes which have ironically appealed some masses, over a conventional politician who has done them no good. Essentially, the rise of Narendra Modi in India can also be viewed on the same lines. We can also assess the success of Theresa May in Post-Brexit England, Marine Le Pen in France and Malcolm Turnbull in Australia on similar lines.

A “want for change” describes it all in a nutshell. The “Top-Lobby” shall be chosen for many years to come not because it has quality, but because it is the only choice to the left-right-centre.

Image Credit- today.com

Nikhil Kumar

[email protected]

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