Brij Pahwa, Author at DU Beat - Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper

Spotlight: Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College

By Brij Pahwa July 5, 2016

Infrastructure:

Situated at the north campus of the university, the college boasts of a 5 building structure with a world class sports stadium along with a lawn tennis and a basketball court. The college’s newly opened multi-storied air-conditioned library (also half of the college’s class rooms have air-conditioning system in place) has books on almost all the topics available to mankind. The topmost floor of the library is glass-walled and honestly speaking, looks like a squash court. [gallery size="medium" ids="43282,43280,43281,43279,43278,43277,43283,43284,43285"]

What to do in between classes:

As you head your way out from the library, you will see cafe coffee day’s ‘cafe day express’, welcoming you to try its hot coffee along with exotic vegetarian and non-vegetarian snacks.
If you prefer something more sub-continental, you can head straight using a narrow passage to the college’s canteen. There, you will find all the mouth watering foods from aloo-ki-tikki to North Indian Thaali. Though the odd thing about the canteen is that the bill you get features the name of Miranda House instead of the college’s own name. Too much affinity, I guess.
The college is almost perfectly located, with the Kamla Nagar market, the Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar market and the Hudson lane at just a walking distance.
If you are visiting for the first time, it is recommended that you do visit the Tom Uncle’s Maggie point and the Wood Box cafe.
The college has its own Gurudwara in the premises for you to seek peace at.

[gallery size="medium" ids="43286,43288,43287"]

Delights to catch on:

If you really want to enjoy such an environment and are bored of your boring college routines, you should visit SGTB Khalsa College and especially its standout area, ‘jannat’. Jannat is located at the centre of the college and is a hub of almost all the activities that take place in the premises. From the art society displaying various art forms to the photography society featuring its best photo shoots, from the dramatics society’s street plays to the Music society’s foot-tapping performances, Jannat sees it all through the year. The name comes from the fact that the place is beautifully maintained and also has an exquisite lawn. [gallery size="medium" ids="43289,43292,43290,43293,43291,43347"]

Annual Fest, Lashkara:

So, once you are here at the North Campus, SGTB Khalsa is a college you must surely visit and since the fest season is near, you should also attend the college’s annual fest ‘Lashkara’ which features almost all the Punjabi celebrities from the music world. [gallery size="medium" ids="43348,43349,43351"] [gallery columns="2" size="medium" ids="43352,43350"] Images by Gerush Bahal for DU Beat Brij Mohan Pahwa [email protected]]]>

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Why participating in department fests is a good idea

By Brij Pahwa January 17, 2016

Well, for those who are always interested in something new coming their way; department fests are just tailor made for them. With a totally new area of a different department, many new things can come your way and you might also find yourself interested in many of those. But what makes department fests that interesting? That when you hear about one in your neighboring college, you always compel your friends to visit and attend the same?

The reasons are fairly simple to point out. Department fests cater to the surprise appraisal in you. More if you are coming from a totally different subject. A student from economics background might find political science’s department fest quite attractive, simply because of the reason that politics and economics go hand in hand in the contemporary world. An English honors student might similarly be interested in another language’s department fest.

Other than bringing a factor of novelty, department fests also bring with them certain subject adhering fun activities. From treasure finding games to quizzes, they serve to both the intellectual and adventure side of you. It becomes a totally different experience when teachers are also involved in the games and add their experience.

And now the best reason to go to a department fest! Yes, you can also win huge amounts of cash prizes since departments in campus colleges of Delhi University are amply funded by the college as well as the university. A marketing department fest of Shri Ram College of Commerce raises around ten lakh bucks each year. Certain other departments raise even more than that.

So well, the season has come and department fests would soon be starting, some within the college fest as it sees more footfall; while certain other more popular departments separate their fests from the college one. Our advice is to take some time out and do visit some of the department fests this year.

Brij Pahwa

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The Auburn Umbrella

A Guy’s Guide to acing the New Year’s eve look

By Brij Pahwa December 29, 2015

So you thought we won’t give your needs their fair share of attention, eh, boys?After helping our beautiful women, we’re here to rescue the day and help our handsome studs with their perfect New Year’s eve look.So if you’re still wondering what to wear this New Year’s Eve, don’t worry! We have selected a perfect blend of attire for you! Take a look:

1) The Evergreen Suits
Going for a formal party this New Year’s Eve? Wearing a classic three piece is something you should think of.This fall winter has already brought in some trendy amalgamation of the classic and the contemporary in suits. Do give them a try.

2) MixMatch
Late this year, jeggings for men stole the show at every fashion week,showcasing men’s collection. If you are going for a casual party, you can go forward and see if jeggings suit you!

3) Round Sunglasses
Night parties these days are incomplete without a few people flaunting their trendy, round sunglasses. Available in multiple colours, try the new shades this New Year’s Eve and see if they add that extra bit to your attire.

4) Suede Shoes and Heels
An attire is incomplete without adding a pair of good footwear. Why not wear the suede ones on this special evening? These soft velvety shoes might suit your attire perfectly at the eve’s party.

5) Cologne on the go
Now that your attire seems perfect, a pleasant cologne has to be added. It is advisable to go for ‘not so strong’ yet ‘lasting’ colognes for the party, since you might need them for longer hours. Choose wisely.

Brij Pahwa
[email protected]

Image credits: Google Images

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DUB Speak

Best Picnic Spots Around Delhi

By Brij Pahwa December 20, 2015

It’s that time of the year again when you sit at home with nothing to do! So then, why not pack your bags? No, not for college but a weekend trip with your friends to one of the few incredible picnic spots around Delhi. Have a difficult time choosing? We have prepared a list for you to select among one of the finest picnic spots around Delhi. Take a look:

Manesar: Located right on the periphery of New Delhi, Manesar’s Heritage Village Resort and Spa is a place to try if you really look forward to a luxurious weekend with your friends. You can also come close to nature by visiting the Sultanpur bird sanctuary, a yearly destination for migratory birds located in Manesar only.
Distance from Delhi: 45 km

Sariska: Located close to the infamous Bhangarh palace, Sariska is the place to be if you are a nature and wildlife lover. Inhabited by some rare species, luck can bring you close to seeing tigers here in their natural surroundings. Lake Siliserh located in Sariska is a beautiful retreat for the eyes.
Distance from Delhi: 167 km

Damdama Lake: Located in Gurgaon, this natural reservoir serves as an amazing spot to see the beauty of nature. The backdrop highlights the majestic Aravalli hills. Boating and bird watching are the activities you can pursue here.
Distance from Delhi: 50 km

Nuh: This place is especially for the history buffs. Nuh is located in the mewat district of Haryana and is an abode to several historical monuments. The chui mui pond, the town of sheikh Musa are a few among the several medieval monuments you can visit here.
Distance from Delhi: 72 km

Brij Pawah
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DUB Speak

US Elections and impact on India

By Brij Pahwa November 12, 2015

India and the United States have not always been partners in adverse situations and the relationship has seen its sweet as well as sour periods during the course of history post 2nd world war. The current stream of a stabilized period in the US-India relations which started right at the advent of this century with Clinton’s visit to India still continues and the credit for maintaining the friendly status quo goes to leaders from both sides. The question though is, will the sweetness remain with the coming of a new president post the US elections which take place early next year?

To answer this question, let’s take a look at the most popular republican and democratic presidential aspirants and their perception towards India.

Well, for the democrats, it’s someone who is popular not only in US but in India as well. Yes, I am talking about Bill Clinton’s wife, Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, who is the most likely presidential candidate from the Democratic Party. Mrs. Clinton has not only been a friendly acquaintance of India but has also supported the country during its standoffs with neighbor, Pakistan. This became pretty evident when she stood beside former Indian foreign minister S.M. Krishna and urged Pakistan to end terrorism on its soil. Her election as the next presidential candidate will also help in advancement of the important India-US nuclear deal which has always been backed by the Democratic Party.

When it comes to the Republican Party though, there is no single stand out candidate yet for the presidential elections next year, more so after Donald Trump’s rating backed down last month. This however does not impact India directly. We have in the past seen a mixed relationship between Indians and the republicans which kind of came on track after George Bush’s election as the president. The republicans though have always been critical of the H1B visa which they say hampers employment possibilities of Americans by outsourcing jobs to professionals from India and other countries. Certain republicans have also shown apprehensions about the unfair trade practices in India.

Thus what we can clearly see is that by large, there won’t be any direct but issue based impact on India and its relations with US post the 2016 US presidential elections.

To know more about US Elections 2016, watch the Youth Forum on Foreign Policy’s interview with State Senators from the United States of America here:

[youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abe2PP4c50I” width=”500″ height=”300″]

Image Credits: cnn.com

Brij Pahwa

[email protected]

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S.G.T.B Khalsa College

Dastaan, history society of SGTB Khalsa organizes a talk on the ‘Zafar Mahal’

By Brij Pahwa October 30, 2015

Dastaan, the history society of SGTB Khalsa College organized a talk on an infamous monument of the Mughal era, the Zafar Mahal on 29^th October 2015. The talk was held in continuation with another event which saw the students of the department take a tour to the monument only to find it in a miserable condition and the apathy shown towards it by the Archeological Survey of India. The talk was thus organized to raise a concern on the condition of the monument.

Dr. Amita Paliwal, a Teen Murti House fellow, was the guest speaker on the occasion. Dr. Paliwal provided her invaluable insights into the issue and enlightened the students with her knowledge on the monument’s architectural style, history of construction, its social and cultural impact and the rulers under the rule of whom the monument was constructed.

The event also saw the launch of the 4^th edition of the Wall Magazine of the society by college principal, Dr. Jaswinder Singh. Dastaan also premiered their Heritage Walk movie, ‘That Thing in History’, wherein the students, faculty and the society office bearers shared their experiences and emphasized the need of the heritage walk and talked about how important it is to ensure a healthy environment for our monuments and the need to preserve them to help save our cultural and traditional legacy.

Image credits: Mridul Kumar

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DUB Speak

The Quint case: Are we still not ready for ‘sex waale’ questions?

By Brij Pahwa October 12, 2015

“If your partner is drunk and says yes to sex, but then passes out while you’re about to have sex– is it okay to proceed to have sex with them?”

2 journalists from the popular media house ‘The Quint’ were posing questions such as this to the students of DU on Wednesday as a part of their media house’s #MakeOutInIndia campaign. While two students got ready to answer their questions, a third party came in to raise doubts on the appropriateness of the topic and started falsely alleging the two journalists of instigating ‘innocent’ girls to answer their ‘immoral’ questions.

Yes, the third party was literally the party which won all the seats in the DUSU elections this time. Led by Satender Awana, DUSU president, supporters of ABVP (almost 20 in number) walked in and gheraoed the two female journalists and started asking them why they were asking ‘sex waale’ questions to ‘innocent by-standers’. ‘If these recordings are opened in public, no one will marry these girls’, one of the ABVP members proclaimed.

It would be a disgrace to even wonder whether what the journalists were doing was appropriate or not (the SHO of a police station in North Campus stated that the journalists were not committing any crime). The fundamental question that arises in this country every day, be it in this case or for the Dadri case or other matters of moral policing, is this: Is the opinion of the powerful equivalent to the law of the land? The occurrence raises a larger question and highlights the still naïve average mindset of our patriarchal country. At a time when we are seeing a sexual revolution which has grasped the young of this country to come out and talk about the subject, there are those who still want to hide this so called ‘taboo’ subject behind a pall.People still consider talking about sex in public as a sin and believe that it infringes upon their ‘traditional’ value structure.

According to several researches done in both India and abroad, it has been found out that the less we talk about sex, the more rampant are the crimes related to it, and that the more we educate people on sex, the rate of crime falls down significantly. Such scientifically-driven researches suffice to end the argument if it ever actually existed.

Another aspect which is appalling here is the fact that our country still shows abhorrent signs of a patriarchal mindset, highlighted by the recent incident mentioned above. While the ABVP members were not concerned about the marriage of the boy who answered the question, they felt ‘infuriated’ by the fact that such questions if let out in the open will hamper the marriage concerns of the girl who was answering them. How agonising is the fact that 15 years into the 21st century, some of us still think that a girl’s marriage depends on how ‘moral’ she has been in her life?

Brij Pahwa

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S.G.T.B Khalsa College

Fine Arts Society of SGTB Khalsa organises ‘Chauraha’

By Brij Pahwa October 2, 2015

Strokes, the fine arts society of SGTB Khalsa organized ‘Chauraha: 15 artists, 15 tales’, their annual art exhibition on 29th and 30th of September. As the name itself implies, the theme of the exhibition centered around 15 different tales of 15 different artists who contributed their art work around the idea of crossroads: a place where 4 roads meet. The exhibition was also located strategically inside the college campus. Also known famously as ‘Jannat’, this place leads to 4 different paths inside the college.

Displaying beautiful paintings inside a small circular tent house, the organizers had pretty much arranged everything in the most orderly manner possible, adhering to their central theme of Chauraha. The apt setting reflected on the faces of the audience, all of whom looked absolutely mesmerized by what they were seeing. The art work also very much focused on the theme. With realistic paintings of how people use a crossroad to welcome haunted spirits to the abstract concept of how we deal with small crossroads daily in our life, the exhibition pretty much covered all the parameters of this unique concept.

Not only this, the exhibition had a stall called ‘Kreartivity’, where some unique purchasable items ranging from bookmarks to book-jackets were showcased. The art focused event also saw a segment under the banner of ‘live art’ where artists were literally creating paintings then and there for everyone to see. A competition with the theme, ‘best out of the waste’ was also organized.

Mixed with unprecedented segments and a few surprises, the event saw a huge footfall not only from colleges under Delhi University but other colleges as well. Badal Chitrakar, a renowned artist in India and abroad was the chief guest of the event.

Photos by Prateek Singh for DU Beat

Brij Pahwa

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DUB Speak

4 things DU ‘still’ expects from the Kejriwal Government

By Brij Pahwa August 3, 2015

Expectations often go down the drain, but these days, even drains are revealing gold. Now let us relate this metaphorical statement to the topic this article adheres to. Expectations of the students’ bodies, college bodies and yes, the students themselves were very high when the Kejriwal government took office in Delhi this year, but those expectations are now fading with time only to see a new light on the horizon. Yes, the DUSU elections and with them the ever increasing-mostly unfulfilled demands of DU’s students to their elected leaders and the demands of leaders to the elected governments.

But well, let’s not be mere pessimists and at least point out our demands, the most crucial ones to the elected Delhi government; may be a new dawn is awaiting us this year? The dawn of fulfilled promises! Anyway, here is a brief list of urgent needs the students of DU seek out of the government in power:

1) Better Campus Facilities: Wether it be narrow roads, weathered out buildings, compact classroom spaces, inadequate sports facilities etc. the most crucial demand still stands out to be alleviating the basic facilities of both the campuses at DU so that may be one day, ‘a day in paradise’, we might be able to compare DU’s infra with those of world class universities.

2) Hostel Upliftments: The biggest stress of our fucchas these days is not the studies at DU but their stay here in the capital. Lack of university residential facilities, poor infra of already structured hostels adds to the same. Thus, alleviating hostel conditions remains a growing demand of the outstation students studying at DU.

3) State sponsored canteens: We all know the quality of food served at college canteens. And we all know the high prices of privately owned cafes at both the campuses. Thus, state sponsored canteens is a very crucial demand that I am adding to this list. To summarise this in a shorter way, ‘clean and cheap food’ is something most DUites want. Something positive to state here is that the government has already started taking measures with respect to this demand.

4) More Colleges: Well, let’s not forget that a mere 54,000 of the 3 lakh applicants got admission into DU this year. Kejriwal sahab, that is a mere 16 percent, and that makes me put this demand into the most crucial demands the university expects. More new colleges with better infrastructure automatically takes out the problem related to ‘overstuffing’ classrooms. In turn it will ensure that DU takes in more students and provides quality education it boasts of to more aspirants.

Brij Mohan Pahwa
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DUB News

Revolutionising football: North Campus Football League (NCFL)

By Brij Pahwa June 28, 2015

Seldom do we see initiatives arising at college level that promise to leave a benchmark in their respective field. One such initiative, taken up by the students of North Campus certainly promises to leave an impact and bring a change in the game of football as it is currently practiced at the university level. NCFL, acronym for North Campus Football League, is that dream tournament being planned by a bunch of young talented football players and is scheduled to launch next year in January. The preparations though have already begun. The layout of the whole tournament seems promising enough to ensure an unprecedented sports league, something which the university has never seen.

The tournament will see 7 football teams of different north campus colleges. The franchisee for the teams will be auctioned for a 5 year term, preferably to the alumni of these colleges and the entire event will be webcasted live. The matches have been scheduled at the iconic Delhi University stadium which is also situated in North Campus.

The tournament assures to alleviate budding talent in the game of football not only in the colleges of North Campus but from other university colleges as well since the franchisees will be able to take in players from other colleges of DU. So the tournament will be limited in its reach at the team participation level but not when it will come to the participation of players, something which will ensure the rise of latent talent in football players from different colleges. That being said, the professional players will be allowed to participate up to a certain limit.

Promising in its nature, the initiative is still going through the early stage of clearances and is getting a satisfying response from authorities both at college and university level. Once having all the clearances, the event will be slated to finally transpire into a reality and embark on a journey to revolutionise the game of football at the university level in India.

Image Credits- ncfl.in

Brij Pahwa
[email protected]

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