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Anisha Ahuja

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The first day of Economiska started with great enthusiasm and economic fervour that lasted the entire day .The fest had the perfect ingredients for people who have any kind of economic inclination. The day started with a discussion on the Indian economy and FDI by an eminent member of the faculty of IBS. The session was highly interactive and informative. This was followed by a debate on the topic “social cash transfers –A utopian dream for India”. The event witnessed a huge participation and the debaters showcased brilliant oratory skills and put forward vital economic arguments, keeping the audience glued to their seats. The main catch of the day was the treasure hunt where numerous teams from various colleges actively participated to get hold of the final treasure. The day ended with the case study competition where the participants were tested for their business and economic sense, making it a very thrilling event. The wait is now for the second day where events like ‘mock stock’ and ‘undercover economist’ are bound to be a witty stimulation to the enthusiastic participants.]]>

The first day of the annual fest of Maitreyi College, “Rhapsody”, was held on 27th February. The fest started with a wonderful inauguration ceremony followed by breath taking dance performances by dance societies of various colleges under the western dance competition.IIT Delhi once again bagged the first prize in this competition.  The first day of this two day cultural festival had a lot to offer for everyone in a mood to enjoy. The debate competition also witnessed huge participation, where speakers enthusiastically debated on the topic “juvenile rapists should be tried as adults”. The “one act play “event attracted a large participation and a keen audience.  Various exciting food joints and fun games also thrilled the students. “Snap shot”, a unique photography competition and exhibition was one of the most delightful events of the day. The best part of the fest was the DJ session with the famous Sumit Sethi who rocked the students with his exhilarating beats and gripping music. The union president along with her committee put up a fabulous show with great hard work. Today’s events includea fashion show and a performance by “Neeraj Shirdhar“ with Bombay Vikings, promising to take your breath away.]]>

The delicate ties between India and Pakistan have become strained yet again after two Indian soldiers were killed and mutilated during fresh clashes at the Kashmir border. It is believed that one of the soldiers was beheaded and his head was taken as a trophy by the Pakistani troops. This incident is one of the most serious violations of the September 2003 ceasefire signed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pervez Musharraf, where both sides agreed to end the frequent artillery and machine gun duels along the 740 km Line of Control (LoC).  Post the incident of 8th January 2013, where an Indian soldier was beheaded, each side has bitterly accused the other of violating the de facto border in Kashmir, which both sides claim in its entirety. It is unfortunate that even now barbaric cross border head hunting raids are followed and have been Pakistan’s calling card for long.

The border doesn’t appear to be a peaceful place anytime soon as both sides are not willing to make dialogue. Such a situation makes most of us raise questions of why efforts directed towards building peace between the two nuclear states often go in vain. When will India and Pakistan culminate this never-ending political and cultural rift on a disputed state?

The conflicts between India and Pakistan have risen due to various reasons over the last few decades, starting with the partition, into the Kashmir dispute, followed by the Indo-Pak war of 1971 and the war of Kargil. It is important for us to understand that all these tensions are actually just symptoms of the conflict and the root cause lies much deeper within.

One of the major reasons is the difference in the theological and sociological aspects of the major religions in both the nations. This has been a major cause of global conflict since centuries and has become prominent between both the nations as well. Religious fanaticisms have been the foremost cause of global terrorism and have claimed hundreds of lives across the world, including the Subcontinent.

Another major reason of conflict could be due to Pakistan’s foundations being in sharp contrast to that of India. Pakistan became even more radicalized and islamicized, in many ways more extreme than the founder’s vision after the death of Jinnah. Hence the tragedy of 1971 was a huge blow to the people of Pakistan and their ideology. The same goes for the conflict of Kashmir as it disregards the ideology of both the nations; therefore, India has not been in favour of international intervention in the Kashmir issue, for it defies the sovereignty of the nation.

It is important for both nations to respect each other’s integrity and sovereignty, and not let the interest of few religiously and politically motivated groups to spoil the sincere efforts on part of both nations to establish peace and harmony.

 

The administrative block of JMC is unlike any other found in the university colleges. Located within the corridors of the main JMC building, the administrative block has the look of a well-established private office. As you enter the office you will definitely stop to admire the false ceiling, sophisticated wooden cabinets and the working desks. The room temperature, because of the air conditioning, is so comfortable that it makes you want to stay longer in the office. The administrative clerical in JMC is definitely a pampered lot and remarkably this is not accompanied by any slack in work. The proceedings are carried out in a very organised and systematic manner. Chaos and long queues are a rare sight. Most often, happy faces can be seen coming out of the office doors. Students remain contended as their work gets done quickly and efficiently. A third year student, Shinny exclaimed, “The staff is very friendly and helpful, and I have always had a good experience while getting my work done.” The work environment here in JMC is very conducive and healthy. Nevertheless, some students do feel differently and commented, “We admit that our work gets done proficiently, but the clerks have an immense attitude problem, they rebuke us and always bring us down complaining against our casualness”. However, the atmosphere that is very typical of a college administrative office is to a very significant degree absent here. The head clerk sincerely expressed, “It is our duty to ensure the timely completion of accounts and it gives us great satisfaction to resourcefully assist the students”. She further added on by saying, “Our attitude is very straight forward. We tackle different students according to their varied requirements, and we appreciate the fact that everybody’s time is precious”. It is very evident that JMC’S administration block is a composed place where students and officials voluntarily cooperate and co-exist.]]>


The administrative block of JMC is unlike any other found in the university colleges. Located within the corridors of the main JMC building, the administrative block has the look of a well-established private office. As you enter the office you will definitely stop to admire the false ceiling, sophisticated wooden cabinets and the working desks. The room temperature, because of the air conditioning, is so comfortable that it makes you want to stay longer in the office.

The administrative clerical in JMC is definitely a pampered lot and remarkably this is not accompanied by any slack in work. The proceedings are carried out in a very organised and systematic manner. Chaos and long queues are a rare sight. Most often, happy faces can be seen coming out of the office doors. Students remain contended as their work gets done quickly and efficiently. A third year student, Shinny exclaimed, “The staff is very friendly and helpful, and I have always had a good experience while getting my work done.”

The work environment here in JMC is very conducive and healthy. Nevertheless, some students do feel differently and commented, “We admit that our work gets done proficiently, but the clerks have an immense attitude problem, they rebuke us and always bring us down complaining against our casualness”. However, the atmosphere that is very typical of a college administrative office is to a very significant degree absent here. The head clerk sincerely expressed, “It is our duty to ensure the timely completion of accounts and it gives us great satisfaction to resourcefully assist the students”. She further added on by saying, “Our attitude is very straight forward. We tackle different students according to their varied requirements, and we appreciate the fact that everybody’s time is precious”.

It is very evident that JMC’S administration block is a composed place where students and officials voluntarily cooperate and co-exist.

The Central placement cell has been one of Delhi universities most successful initiatives. It has been started to bridge the gap between the bright, energetic and aspiring young talent of the University of Delhi and the Industry for meeting their personnel requirement. It is surely a great platform for students of those colleges which don’t have their own placement cell. ”CPC not only helped me to get recruited in a world class bank like Citi bank but also helped me in boosting my confidence and further developing my personality”, exclaims Paras Khanna ,an alumnus of Deshbandhu college.

The main endeavour of CPC is to get students placed in reputed Multinationals, government jobs, NGO’s and the private sector and enable them to reach the top echelons of the society. All registered students with CPC are also entitled to placement assistance, counselling for employment and even self-employment. This year the CPC went online and enabled both students and companies to register online itself. The registration started on29th September and ended on 2nd November.

The placement process mainly comprises of three major steps, the first being the pre placement process where placement presentations and slot allocations would take place, the next major step would be of placements where students would have to go through written tests, group discussions and personal interviews  and this would finally be followed by the job offers and monitoring.

The CPC website also contains the important guidelines and do’s and don’ts for students who are willing to sit for placements. CPC also held workshops to groom the students, brush up their communication and analytical skills.

 

As you enter this Milk Bar situated right next to Chowringhee Lane in Satya Niketan, you wouldn’t help but notice your favourite chocolates and your nose will savour some of the best aromas. Fat Cow is an exclusive milk bar serving you some of the most scrumptious and exotic shakes. The menu will excite you as it has numerous options of cookies, cakes and chocolates freshly being converted into mouth-watering shakes. You can choose from a wide variety of the finest chocolates and cookies like Cadbury, After-Eight, Ferrero rocher, M&M’s, Oreo and Mc Vities. Fruit and Energy shakes are other options that can be explored.

The most appetizing of all shakes are the assorted ones consisting of world-class flavours like peanut butter, marshmallow, vanilla-mint, muffin and pudding. The shakes are absolutely delicious and succulent. Further on, you can top up your shake with toppings like almonds, choco chips, crumbled cakes or brownies which make every sip even more delightful and lip smacking. “The shakes at Fat Cow are much cheaper and tastier than what you get at most of the cafes and fast food joints”, says Vibha Chaudhary a student of Maitreyi College.

The shakes are served in huge take away glasses, and a hearty glass will cost you not more than 80 -90 bucks.

In the month of September, every year for the last 4 decades, the Students Union of AIIMS organises ‘Pulse’, their annual fest that can be easily considered as one of the most magnanimous fest in India. Also called as “Annual South Asian Socio-Cultural, Literary and Sports meet”, the fest this year was held from the 16th to the 22nd September and witnessed participation from 90 colleges and around 6000 students. The fest is like a seven day carnival taking you through the vivid aspects of music, dance, literature, knowledge, drama and culture.

In Pulse 2012, from the very first day till the last, one was busy enjoying various events in the fest.  The fest definitely offered students a lot to savour on. Beginning with the P-wave – a musical drama, the first day saw a variety of events like quizzes, debates, painting competitions etc being organised at various places within the institute. Classical Night took place on the first eve where the great Sarod players, Ayaan and Amaan Ali Khan mesmerised the audience with their splendid performance. One of the best fragments of the fest was the MRC (with the DJ) which continued late into the night for all the seven days. Here the loud and sizzling music surely made even the non -dancers hit the floor.

Events like western dance, light vocal music, street plays, one act plays, girls arm wrestling, Mehndi Competition, Make a Proposal were held in the subsequent days which showcased huge amounts of talent and enthusiasm. There were many teams from DU as well. The Battle of the Bands and the fashion competition displayed emerging talent of the youth. Hogathon – another unique competition – gave an opportunity to all the gluttons to eat the maximum amount of Baskin-Robbins ice cream and drink unlimited cold drink as fast as possible and win fabulous prizes.

The most popular event was undoubtedly the pop- night where Sunidhi Chauhan rocked the stage with her magnificent performance, singing popular Bollywood numbers. The Laughter Night saw the old and the young sitting together and enjoying hilarious anecdotes and jokes by many popular TV artists. Rock Night took place on the last day where an amazing performance by Suraj Jagan made everyone run around on the beats of Bhaag-DK Bose.

All in all pulse 2012 was a rollercoaster ride for anyone who got a chance to be a part of it. It was undoubtedly a journey full of fun, drama and joy, a fest that surely enunciates life.

For true bibliophiles, Delhi book fair could surely be called as a paradise on Earth. The aura inside the fair was mesmerising for whereever you might look you would find only books. The Fair was organized from the 4th -9th September at Pragati Maidan and was a grand success. Every day thousands of book lovers poured in and bought dozens of books.

While walking across the hall, one would be tempted to stop several times at the various stalls where books were being sold at the most amazing prices. At most of the stalls one could easily pick up their favourite novel priced of only 99 rupees. The crimson smell of old and new books filled the air, tantalizing the visitors to stay longer. New popular trends in reading were clearly evident. Books by authors like James Patterson, Jeffrey Archer, Dan Brown and John Grisham were being sold like hot pancakes. Though books of high literary value were difficult to find, but one could try their luck at a few places and get hold of some old classics. Chetan Bhagat was definitely the favourite book seller among all age groups. Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James, popularly known as “mommy porn” was in huge demand.

A large part of the crowd also comprised of children accompanied by their parents and the book fair had lots to offer them. Story books, colouring books, encyclopedias, books based on school curriculum were in abundance. The stationary mart was another major attraction. Most of the big stationery companies like Reynolds, Luxor, Uniball and many others had set up their stalls and were peddling their goods at highly discounted rates. The sale at the Archie’s arcade was a steal were most of the goodies were being wholesaled at a discount of 50 %.

Another major section of the fair had huge galleries set up by some popular names like Rupa, Om Book Shop, S.Chand etc. Foreign publishers like Cambridge had also put up their booth where the research papers and manuscripts written by reputed teachers and students were made available to the public. Spiritual organizations like ISCKON and the Art of Living had also set up their arcades where books, CDs and posters that propagated their teachings were being sold. The major attraction however was the e-book stall. The audience, especially the young were appreciative of the inevitable change in the style of reading that has taken place over time. Since, this book fair also celebrated 100 years of Indian cinema, classics of different genres and languages were also screened in the evenings.

Visiting the book fair can prove to be an enlightening experience- it helps us to realise how much knowledge and wisdom can actually be gained by reading books- as if in a time machine, you are transported to a different world altogether where the absurdities of daily life don’t hinder your thought process. Hence if you couldn’t make it to the fair this year, do try not missing it the next year for it is worth a visit.

It has been known since decades that St. Stephen’s College is a very unique college in campus, and that it follows its own rules and has always remained very set in its ideas. There is no denying the fact that it is one of the most sought after college in Delhi University, but it is also true that it has the image of being quite fixed in its ideologies.

This comes very evidently to us today after Unmukt Chand captain of India’s under 19 side, who just brought the country great pride by winning the world cup and hitting a 111 runs in the final match was detained by his college for low attendance. A student who should have been given great honour for his remarkable performance in the World Cup was shown a chit of no promotion in college shortly after he returned. Earlier also, Unmukt, a student of BA Programme was barred from taking the second semester exams owing to low attendance.

The entire Indian cricket fraternity is baffled at the state of affairs. MS Dhoni also tweeted “This incident shows the lack of importance and respect given to sports in India”. Unfortunately this incident has taken place besides the fact that Unmkut Chand has been academically inclined throughout the year, he had earlier secured a first division in his exams which is credible for a sportsperson with such hectic schedules. An international player who has dedicatedly played for the country can certainly be excused by the college for low attendance.

However, the Stephen’s principal Valson Thampu on his part said that he had no control over the University rules, and only the administration can make an exception. All are now geared up for the court hearing on 16th September that will decide our young captain’s fate.

 

Picture credits: Additi Seth