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DU Annual Fest Season

Day Two of Montage 2016 at JMC culminates with The Local Train

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The final day of Montage – the annual cultural festival of Jesus and Mary College kicked off with ‘Stage Craft’ the Stage play competition, organised by Troubadours, the English dramatics society. The play had 5 participating teams. The judges for the event were Siddhant Choudhary (Founder,Focused Tales) and Jennifer Monteiro (Faculty and Convenor of Troubadours).

The best play was won by the team from Lady Shri Ram College for Women while the best direction was awarded to the team from Hans Raj College. Abhinav Kumar (Shaheed Bhagat Singh College) and Tanvika (Sri Venkateswara College) won the best actor award in the male and female category respectively.

  Awaaz, the street play event  organised by Kahkasha, the Hindi dramatics society of JMC was judged by Haneet Vohra, Sachin Gupta and Rahul Bhuchar. The first position was bagged by the Hindi Dramatics Society of SRCC for their production ‘The Defective War’. ‘Kalkothri’ the production of Shivaji College won the second position while ‘Sun Tu Rehne De’ and ‘Hawa Nai Rukh Vahi’ the productions of LSR and Hindu college shared the third position.  

Madrigal, the western music festival organised by Echo, the western music society of JMC was categorised into solo and choir competitions. The solo event was won by Shivash Chagti (Hans Raj College). Chewang (Aurobindo College) and Maya Bajaj (SRCC) won the second and third positions respectively. The first position in the group event was won by LSR while Kirori Mal college and Kamala Nehru college won the second position.

Colour marathon, an informal event which consisted of exciting rounds like scavenger hunting, balloon bursting and selfie hunting. It was won by Tanushree Mitra from JMC and Tanvi Sinha from IP College for women.

#JMC gears up for #WaterRun at #Montage2016. Image Credits: @aardhingra for DU Beat

A photo posted by DU Beat (@du_beat) on

The final day ended with performances by rock band, ‘The Local Train’ which sang some famous numbers like Bande and Aaoge Tum Kabhi.

Lovleen Kaur
Shreya Srivastava

Images by Alex Arthur, Uzma Rehman, Aarushi Dhingra and Paurush Bhardwaj for DU Beat.

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Features

IPCW Innovation Project ’15-’16: Outreach program for govt. school students

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Indraprastha College for Women’s current Innovation Project (IP-301) under the aegis of University of Delhi is a community outreach program for government school children. It aims to devise favourable circumstances for young, budding intellects to interact with the community on a regular basis, with activities which are carried out from time to time. A series of workshops and activities, led by the students of Indraprastha College for Women are conducted in two government schools. The school children are trained in the fields of Gender Sensitization, Disaster Management, and Library Management. The decision of choosing such off-stream topics was that these issues pertain to one’s involvement in the community, in the form of a citizen, a rescuer and a scholar. Also, students are enlightened about issues pertaining to such fields which keep their rational wheels churning, without losing their interest and grip, and at the same time, making sure that they are not missing out on anything that is being taught.

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This project is a one-year long program, which is being carried out by ten students namely: Asmita Jagwani, Divya Tripathi, Aishwarya Shri, Anamika Das, Ateka Hasan, Shayda, Musharrat Parveen, Pinki, D. Saran Prakash, and Nihita Kumari. The project is being carried out under the guidance of three internal mentors, the Personal Investigators of the project, namely: Dr. Jyoti Trehan Sharma , Dr. Harsh Bala Sharma and Mr. Vijay Gautam.
So far, two phases of the project have been concluded with one more remaining. School children in 9th-12th standards have been enlightened about ways to react against gender discrimination in the community, important steps to be taken when faced with disasters, the functioning of the library and many such significant facts pertaining to the three fields undertaken. The project is being carried out with an expectation that school children will, in future, bring all the knowledge gained through this project into implementation, and share it further.
With much hardwork and dedication displayed by the project members, and high levels of enthusiasm received from school children in return, there is certainly a hope that, this program is a step towards an improvement in the community.

Write up by Asmita Jagwani and Ateka Hasan, IP College for Women

Image Credits: Ateka Hasan and Asmita Jagwani

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Sex Amma

Sex Amma

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Sex Amma's

Dear Amma,
I have always had a feminine side but today I felt a keen urge for my male friend. I have always been with girls but more recently my body wants both the sexes. Please help me choose as I’m confused.

Dear confused macchi,
It’s good that you know about what you like and what you desire. And since you know what you enjoy and prefer, there’s no need to be confused.

It’s important for you to know that there are multiple forms to express your sexuality and every person may not have the same conventional orientation. When it comes to sexuality, my little idli, there’s no black and white. It works in multiple shades of grey (in a meaning nowhere related to Christan Grey!) And it’s equally important for you to accept the way you are and be proud of it.

Being a bisexual is something perfectly normal, there’s nothing unnatural about it. There are different things that everyone likes, just like people have different choices of dosas and vadas! If you like the company of both men AND women, so be it. Don’t be intimidated by any sort of judgements. You don’t have to choose; if that’s how you are then you can have the best of both worlds!

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DU Annual Fest Season

Maitreyi, Venky and DRC shine on Day 3; MJ5 draws curtains on Gargi’s annual fest, Reverie

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The third and final day at Gargi College’s annual fest Reverie’16 started with the energy that was seen at both days 1 and 2. The day was filled with cultural dance events organized by Nazaakat, the folk dance society of Gargi College.

The first event was Alaap, the folk dance solo event which saw 12 artists from around the University performing major Indian dance forms like Kathak, Kuchipudi and Bharatnatyam. The event was judged by Smt. Ragini Chandrashekhar who was elated by the participation and appreciation of classical arts by such a large audience. “In an age where young generation is so attracted to western influences, not that anything is wrong with it, it is so inspiring to see youngsters taking the arts forward.”

Annanya Chatterji from Daulat Ram College won the first position. The second position went to Pekhna Kaur from College of Arts while the third position went to Raghav from Sri Venkateswara College.

The event was followed by Thumka, the group folk dance competition which saw participation from 8 teams around the University who showcased a variety of danceforms like Bhangra, Gidda, Bihu, Lavni and more.

 

The event was won by Maitreyi College who showcased a performance of Haryanvi Folk dance, the Bhangra performance by SGND Khalsa team gave them the second position while Sri Venkateswara gained the third position.

The much awaited star night initiated after a delay. MJ5 Dance group showed their impressive moves on many dance numbers and fusions. They night came to an end with Bollywood singer Keerthi Sagathia who performed on songs ‘Teri Deewani’, ‘Lungi Dance’ and ‘Tera Pyaar Chahida’

Reverie1
MJ5 performing on the final day of Reverie 2016. Image by Tejaswa for DU Beat!

Kartikeya Bhatotia
Shubham Kaushik

Images by Uzma Rehman, Gerush Bahal and Tejaswa Gupta

Feature Image Credits: Tejaswa for DU Beat!

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Uncategorized

Entrepreneurship Summit 2016 held at Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi

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Entrepreneurship Summit 2016 conducted by Entrepreneurship Cell, FMS Delhi, presented by Unitus Seed Fund in association with Jaarvis Accelerator kick-started with its flagship event “International Entrepreneurship Challenge” on 13th February 2016. The competition saw an enthusiastic participation from budding entrepreneurs who came to the campus from all over the country to present their business ideas. The panelists comprising of investors as Unitus Seed Fund and Jaarvis Accelerator, VCs and experts gave the finalists a good chance to not just participate in a B-Plan competition but to also pitch for funding to make their idea come alive. The winning team “Bluedrop” proposed the idea of an inexpensive durable water filter that can meet the requirements of rural India sustainably. 

 Responsible Entrepreneur, a Social entrepreneurship competition launched in association with Vihaan, social service cell of FMS, focused on B-Plans that would leave a social impact on society with a financially sustainable model. The finalists in this competition proposed business solutions to ubiquitous issues like sanitation, recycling, etc. Finally, the Frugal Innovators competition challenged entrepreneurs to come up with innovative ideas restricted to a meager budget of Rs. 20,000. Team Peco Labs, which proposed profitable Sugarcane farming, won the Responsible Entrepreneur competition whereas Team Nimori which proposed a Smart Pillbox was declared winner of Frugal Innovators. Start-up fair was also hosted as part of the E-Summit where start-ups setup stalls and were given an opportunity to showcase their ideas to students and investors and take feedback on the same.

Day Two of E-Summit 2016 began with Entrepreneurship Conference –a panel discussion moderated by FMS faculty Prof. Vivek Suneja on the topic, ’Demystifying Aggregation based Start-ups’. The audience comprising of students and entrepreneurs witnessed eminent personalities like Mr. Brett Stevens (VP, Jaarvis Accelerator), Mr. Vijay Singh (CEO AraamShop), Mr Anirudh Kumar (Investment Professional, Matrix Partners) and Mr. Angad Rikhy (VC, Unitus Seed Fund). The conference was followed by lunch sponsored by Bueno, a gourmet food start-up by FMS alumnus Mr. Rohan Arora.

The event then moved on to “NewAge Innovators”, a talk series where founders like Mr. Vinay Kumar (Arya), Mr. Rohan Arora (Bueno) Mr. Ankit Singh (MyPoolin) and Mr. Rahul Prasad (Juvenile Care) shared their entrepreneurial journeys and the struggle along the unexplored path.  

“Acquire customers cheaply, give them magic moments and repeat those moments: it’s a linear process” said Ankit Singh founder MyPoolin. MyPoolin recently won the $250,000 Qualcomm Ventures’ QPrize. The talks reflected the deep insights that the start-up founders had gained through their experience- “The product is the message,” the emphasis was resonated by Vinay Kumar as he explained Artificial Intelligence; “AI is more than Google now and Siri. It is your doctor, financial advisor and more.” The day concluded with the FMS Entrepreneur Award presented by The FMS Forum to joint winners Mr.Ankit Singh, Co-Founder, Mypoolin and the team of Mr Somak Ghosh and Ms. Aditi Gupta, co-founders, Contrarian Capital. The FMS Entrepreneur award was conceived under the guidance of  Mr. Sunder Hemrajani, former MD, Times Innovative Media Ltd., former President-Distribution, Reliance Capital .The jury comprising of Mr. Sandip Das, Chairman & Parner Maitreyi Capital, former CEO Hutchisson Essar, former CEO Reliance Jio and Prof. Vivek Suneja,former  Dean(Planning) of Delhi University and teaches Strategy at FMS, appreciated the immense entrepreneurial capabilities that students of Faculty of Management Studies have showcased through their business ventures and encouraged the audience to take up entrepreneurial activities in the conducive start-up environment of today.

E-Summit 2016 was made possible under the guidance of Dean, FMS-Delhi, Mr. M.L.Singhla and Placement advisor Ms. Kavita Singh.

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DU Annual Fest Season

LSR’s Annual Fest Tarang 2016 culminates with a performance by Agnee

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The final day of Lady Shri Ram College for Women’s Tarang 2016 had multiple events lined up all day. While most events culminated before dusk, the Western Dance Competition, Baila continued till early evening. This was one of the most awaited events of the entire fest, a fact which was evident by the long queues that waited for entrance into the auditorium.

Daila was judged by Mr. Rohit Raj of the Brooklyn Academy and Ms. Blossom D’Souza who trained at Dance Works Performing Arts Academy. A total number of 9 teams participated. The audience was enthralled with the multiple energy-fused performances that took over the stage. Every performance enraptured the judges and spectators alike.

Harshita, of Misba, the Western Dance Society of Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce said, “Our practices were really hectic and we had a very long day today. Despite all odds, our performance went great. We love to perform in LSR and the energy of the audience inspires us to perform well.”

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It was vivid that the judges agreed with them since Misba bagged the first position in the event followed by Sri Aurobindo  College and Sri Venkateswara College in the second and third position.

Following the western dance event was the Star Night where the band Agnee performed. The popularity of Agnee and the exhilaration of their fans was evident from the fact that the audience for the Star Night was the highest of all three days. And the band did not disappoint their fans and sang all of their favourite numbers including Yaariyan, Aahatein and Saaware.

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A performance that was equally mesmerizing and enthralling, the three day extravaganza Tarang 2016 ended on a musical note and with zeal and happiness dripping from the faces of union members and faculty of the college!

 

For details of the entire fest, refer to:

Day 1: https://dubeat.com/2016/02/day-1-of-tarang-16-ends-with-east-india-comedy/Day 2, Morning: https://dubeat.com/2016/02/day-2-at-lsr-tarang-2016/
Day 2, Evening: https://dubeat.com/2016/02/day-2-at-tarang-16-winds-up-with-edm-night/
Day 3, Morning: https://dubeat.com/2016/02/kmc-and-hrc-start-day-3-of-tarang-2016-with-a-win/

 

Team Tarang: Day 3
Arushi Pathak
Sudisha Misra
Kartikeya Bhatotia
Tarushi Verma
Mridul Kumar
Alex Arthur

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DU Annual Fest Season

KMC and HRC start day 3 of Tarang 2016 with a win

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Day 3 of LSR Tarang 2016 started off on 7th February with a non competitive event, Nukkad Natak. A total of 8 teams participated. The jury consisted of Pallav Kumar, Director of Manthan, and Sonalini Kumar, Professor of Political Science.

Pitch Please, the Acapella competition opened with Ashoka University’s performance. The judges included the members of ‘Nouveau’ – Sherry Matthews, Ritwik De, and Subatra Kamat, who work together in a music initiative called ‘Nouveau’. The last judge was Apoorva Gandhi. 15 teams participated in the competition, and it was hosted by the Western Music Society. The winners of the competition were Kirori Mal College with Sri Venkateswara College and Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies as runners up.

The judges said that every team had their unique style, and performed well. Special mention was given to teams from Amity University, DTU, and Delhi College of Arts and Commerce.

Along with Pitch Please, the fashion show competition Anarchia- Breaking Stereotypes took place. The competition witnessed a participation of 7 teams, with the winner being Hans Raj College. The judges of the competition were Kamla Bhasin, Vikramaditya, an LGTB rights activist and Ms. Ishita from the Department of Sociology, LSR.

Sri Venkateswara Western Music Tarang 2016
Team from Sri Venkateswara College performs at Pitch Please

There were many other events like TV Show Quiz, Turncoat, and Elocution. The Indian Music Society also hosted a duel competition called Jugal Gaayan.

The college now gears up for the star night featuring the music band Agnee.

 

 

Arushi Pathak

Kartikeya Bhatotia

Sudisha Misra

Alex Arthur

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DUB Speak

The journey of an introvert

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Right from our high school days, we conjure up an image of the perfect college life. We steal some snippets from films and novels, some we borrow from the stories of our parents’ carefree youth. Blending it all up with the colors of our personal ambitions on a palette, we paint a grandiose portrait on our mental canvas. With each brush stroke, we aspire to become a wholly different person. The first day of college becomes a carnival of quirky earrings, unique haircuts and eccentric shoes. After all, who didn’t begin in the hopes of turning over a new leaf…

I was no different. Ready to pursue literature, I came hauling an over sized bag comprising a register, a few pens, all of my heavy dreams and a few apprehensions to college. I was warmly welcomed into Venky’s campus with a red tilak, placed on my forehead, plus a toffee for good luck. College had officially begun.

But the real question was, would I ever fit in? And how? Was my life merely going to be sandwiched between prose and poetry?

Two weeks had passed by and everything was evolving. Everything except me, that is. I struggled with being an introvert. I could see a matrix of friendships growing and expanding, where there had been none before. And it was expanding fast. People who had never even spent a minute in each others’ company before, had begun to greet with hugs in the hallways. It was as if everybody had known everybody for years.

Meanwhile, I waited alone awkwardly in a corner for the fifteen minutes before class began. In my own batch, I had barely talked to two people (that too only to inquire about the timetable). The one girl I’d genuinely bonded with over the span of ten days, left Venky to join a different college altogether. And with her, my only string of familiarity wound to this college’s gates snapped.  

I wasn’t just quiet. My silence had, apparently, completely engulfed and shattered everything I had hoped college life would be. The worst part was that I felt trapped-thinking it was all my fault, yet being unable to do anything about it.

This was how I felt up until two months ago. But come second semester, my perspective has taken a three-sixty degree turn. I have managed to make some lasting relationships outside the sphere of my comfort zone. I might be quiet, but my friends are capable of the most boisterous racket. The classroom has expanded my horizons and stretched my limits, like a rubber band which refuses to snap back on itself. There are contradictions everywhere, but there are also the wonderful opportunities to explore one’s self.  

How did my perspective change?

Maybe because this is how college works after all, forcing you to look within yourself. You must discover the front that you want to present before the world, all on your own. I realized that some of the happiest people secretly cower under the shadow of gloom. Those who pretend to enjoy popularity, secretly reach out for solitude. In many ways, I haven’t changed much. In the masquerade of pretenses, I’m still the introvert that I used to be. But I wear it like a badge of honor instead.       

 Acceptance took its time, but it did finally come through, like a rainbow at the end of heavy rainfall. And looking back at the tremendous changes that a mere three months’ journey has brought about, I can’t wait for the next two years. I know that college can accommodate all kinds of personalities-introverts too.

 

Guest post by Deepannita Misra

[email protected]

 

Feature Image credits: introvertspring.com

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DUB Speak

Competition, a threat to learning

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The sense of competition is a poison instilled in our minds so fiercely that we seem to lose touch with the concept of analysing our personal progress. Ever since we started working hard for achieving anything, be it grades, prizes or anything, we are constantly reminded of how much someone else is getting as compared to us. When I was a kid, I first had my personal objection on the column of “highest marks obtained” in our report cards. The only question that kept nagging was why and how can I compare my improvement by a standard set up by someone else? We are always told to score the best, do our best. What we seem to overlook is the very sense of our honest hard work and the result that presents us our calibre.

 

Every semester, the same story does it rounds. We give our exams and wait for the results and then as soon as we get them, the first thing everyone looks up for is the highest marks scored and by whom. I wonder why people can not compare their progress by what they got in the previous semester. Every time, it is the same old thing. You do your best, get the result and then compare it with others and insult yourself for being yourself. In this world of competitions, it is suffocating to be happy and satisfied with what you get. It’s not only our parents or teachers who are concerned with the highest or lowest, but even us. It’s a mandatory ritual that is followed. Those who scored less are bashed up and insulted. Sadly no one ever bothers to even scrutinize the insides but just the papers. Meanwhile the ones who really do score well get a chance to feed their ego.

 

It is said to not compare, for if you do, you are only insulting yourself. But there comes a point when you feel insulted and pathetic when over your batch group people start discussing someone else’s result; the one that scored the highest last time and how it has deteriorated this time. It’s derogatory especially when that someone else is a part of the group. It is not only rude and stupid but indeed a pathetic act. Comparisons and competitions have the ability of making a person feel dissatisfied and incapable of everything they could do or have done. Due to this constant reminder of competition and the ever lasting impression of beating others, most of us have assumed education as a system of mugging up and pouring it out on sheets than actual learning and understanding. Our generation is so heavily influenced by the standards others have set up for them that they overlook their personal development and start rushing for the undesirable. Most of the students fall prey to acts of dishonesty and cheating. Carrying chits or looking up to your partner for answers is the very evidence of how much we have lost the correct sense of education. Indeed, competition and the want of being the highest scorer are blunting the edge of learning. Marks only present to you what you could do in three hours. Life and educations is not limited to three hours.

 

From primary school to the life in college, this poison seems to be an inevitable enemy to me. This idea of highest scorer and being a topper seems absurd to me. It’s hard to find people who actually learn and understand. This poison constantly controls and limits the growth, development and progress of a person. We all have heavily compromised on our broad scope of growth just to focus on reaching the column of “highest marks scored”. Every student these days need to understand the importance of improvement, personal growth, and development. Marks have narrowed down our capabilities and the broad frame of possibilities. This needs to be replaced and understood. Marks are a way of analysing a person’s personal growth and not a race to be won or lost.

 

Guest post by Afeefa Nishaat

[email protected]

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Bazinga

Bazinga: University introduces cut-offs to attend fests

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In a shocking turn of events, the University of Delhi (DU) has issued orders for all the students scoring less than 45% marks in the last semester examination to be banned from all the cultural activities in the University including, college fest participation. All these students would not be allowed to attend any college fest this semester and would instead have compulsory tutorial classes from 6 pm-9pm, everyday. Every student would also be provided with a cab service, if required.

“Students with less than 45% marks need to concentrate on their academics, but the fest season with all its distractions would only prove fatal for such low-scoring students and further worsen their academic result. So in an effort to improve their result, the varsity has started with these extra tutorial classes,” said a senior professor, Delhi University.

The official notification has reached all the college departments and a cab service provider has also been hired. These classes would start after Republic Day and anyone failing to attend them would be terminated. Moreover, the college fest entry passes would only be issued after the verification of result of the students, student with less than 45% marks would not be issued the entry pass.

In a bid to improve students’ academic result, the varsity’s latest effort comes as a shock for a lot of students and fest enthusiasts. Student Unions of all the colleges have called up an emergency meeting. According to sources, a lot of protesting and marches are on the nearby horizon against varsity’s new notification.

Featured Image credits- du.ac.in

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