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Teacher’s Day celebrations across Delhi University

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the Yagyashala where the Principal, Dr.V.K Kawatra, teachers and many students gathered and prayed for everyone’s happiness and prosperity. This was followed by a cleanliness drive organized by NSS Hansraj and a speech by Mr.Poonam Suri, Chairman of the DAV College Managing Committee. Lady Shri Ram College for Women also organized an hour-long program which started with an instrumental performance by the music societies of the College. There was also a collaborative performance by the Indian Music Society and the Western Music Society which impersonated the teachers and students respectively, voicing their emotions through well-chosen and witty songs. This performance was followed by an act performed by the Dramatics Society of the College with the Dance Society performing in between. The movie presented by Projekt, Film and Photography Society of the College, received a standing ovation by the Vice Principal. Cultural events were hosted at Jesus and Mary College. Students from the Commerce department at JMC gave dance performances which surely brought smiles to the faces of their teachers. Thus, the day which also marks the birth of Dr.Radhakrishnan was celebrated with great enthusiasm in colleges across North as well as South Campus. Shaurya Sahai [email protected] Image Credits: Mugdha [email protected]]]>

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Sex Amma

Sex Amma: My boyfriend buys ‘L’ sized condoms while in reality he needs size ‘S’!

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Q. Dear Amma. I have a boyfriend whom I love very much and we have regular sex. It’s all good except the fact that he keeps buying ‘L’ sized condoms while in reality he needs size ‘S’. It makes the sex rather awkward because the condom keeps slipping off and he keeps blaming the companies for making lousy products. How do I make him see that the companies aren’t at fault? I have no qualms about his size, but I’m sure it’ll offend him if I told him. Help!

A. A disillusioned dosa is just what Amma loves! I have seen some really petite dosas in my time. It is so difficult to make men understand that size doesn’t matter just as it is hard to make women believe that beauty doesn’t depend on their skin colour.

My dear macchhi, you will have to bring him out of this illusion in order to bring both of you at ease during the boom-boom.

Tell him that these are just standards created by those evil people working in corporate firms so that their penis-enhancing products can be sold. He doesn’t have to be ashamed of buying a small sized condom. Not everybody roams around with an eight-incher; four or five inches are perfectly NORMAL. Just be loving and be prepared for some days of cold-shouldering, but know that it’ll be worth it!

 

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Bazinga

BAZINGA: DU gifts teachers a trip to Goa on Teachers’ Day

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Recognising the effort teachers put in all through the year, the DU administration has decided to celebrate Teachers’ Day on a high and ‘beachy’ note. The varsity has gifted all its teachers a week-long trip to Goa commencing on Tuesday, as a result of which classes will remain suspended.
While most teachers welcomed the present, there were few who were apprehensive about the choice of location. “I would prefer Haridwar anyday. Hari om..” said a Sanskrit teacher.
Rumour is that teachers have asked their students to conduct a class explaining the things they should know before visiting Goa. “I’ve heard people ride bikes all day wearing nothing on their upper bodies. Had I known earlier, I would’ve joined a gym,” said a teacher in the canteen. Some teachers were also requesting a Russian language teacher to teach them a few sentences, in an attempt to enjoy the trip to the fullest.
Reportedly, a group of students cancelled their long-planned trip to Goa after they learnt of DU’s move. “What a scene that would’ve been!” sighed one of them. The group suffered a loss of Rs.10,000.
Studens have welcomed this one week long break with gusto. While some are rejoicing, others are asking their teachers to bring back bracelets and seashells as souvenirs.
Disclaimer: Bazinga is DU Beat’s weekly column of almost believable fake news.

imagecourtesy: transtechpackersandmovers.com

 

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Lady Shri Ram College for Women

The Legend Lives On- the Retirement of Meenakshi Gopinath

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The final word has been said and the stage’s been set for her farewell. As Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath officially retires as the principal of Lady Shri Ram College for Women, we take a look at her extremely dynamic career.  From her initial years as a student at LSR to the principal of the same prestigious college in the country, her journey has been long, but it’s a path lit up with achievements and laurels. Over the years, she has truly lived up to the title of the “phenomenal woman”.

She started out on her enriching voyage by graduating from her Alma Mater, LSR, in Political Science. She went on to get her masters degree from the University of Massachusetts, USA and her doctorate from the University of Delhi. Her post doctoral work, as a Fulbright scholar was at Georgetown University, USA, but she clearly yearned for more. Having acquired so much knowledge and gathered a resourceful mind, she went on to conquer the world.

After having joined her college once again, as a teacher this time, she became the principal of LSR in 1988. And since then there’s been no looking back for this symbol of grace and intellect.  She is the Founder and Honorary Director of WISCOMP (Women in Security Conflict Management and Peace) a start-up which she founded in 1999, which  promotes the leadership of South Asian women in the areas of international politics, peace, security and diplomacy.

Dr. Gopinath has piloted and fostered confidence building measures through regular workshops and collaborative projects among intellectuals of the SAARC region and especially between Pakistani and Indian young students. She has authored Pakistan in Transition (1975) and co-authored Conflict Resolution – Trends and Prospects (2003) and Transcending Conflict: A Resource book on Conflict Transformation (2004) and Dialogic Engagement (2005). Her list of credentials continues to form a long list.

PHEW! This woman can blow your mind with her persona and her personality. To hear her speak is mesmerizing. She utters words with panache and confidence. Everything about her drips of excellence. That is why she has received various awards including the Padma Shri Award, Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi Award, the Rajiv Gandhi Award for Excellence in Education, the Mahila Shiromani Award, the Delhi Citizen Forum Award and Qimpro Platinum Standard Award for Education and Celebrating Womanhood South Asian Recognition Award for Social Harmony.

She’s been an inspiration, a teacher, a guiding force and in short, an enigmatic person. No wonder as she retires on 28th August, 2014, the entire college will skip a beat, because MG bids adieu to her home.

Concluding, I would just like to quote lines from Maya Angelou’s famous poem, (slightly altered) which truly sum up the magic of LSR and its association with MG.

“It’s in the click of her heels,
The bend of her hair,
The palm of her hand,
The need of her care,

‘Cause she’s a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s her.”

Image source: Headlines Today

Ishita Sharma

([email protected])

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Small Screen

TV Show Review: Penny Dreadful

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When I say Penny Dreadful, I expect half of the people to assume the gothic leading lady from the poster to be the ‘Penny’- supposedly, the villainous and thereby the dreadful. Somehow reminding us of shows like The Vampire Diaries and True Blood.

But we can’t help it, can we? Well, she is wearing a necklace made of scorpions and no matter how badass it appears in the posters, it does warrant an assumption of her being a good old vampire goddess. Though I assure you, this is definitely not the case.

The show derives its name from a 19th century British publication type under which ‘Penny’ stood for the fact that these books were rather cheaper to purchase than any other publications running in the market. Similarly, ‘dreadful’ stood for the lurid and suspenseful storylines that this publication offered. So, just to clear it out, there isn’t a ‘Penny’ in the show.

Set in the same century as the actual Penny Dreadful publication, the show is extraordinarily refreshing, considering the fact that it delves into the genre of fantasy, which is repeatedly churning out the same story lines again and again. Penny Dreadful is a psychological coaster running for about 60 minutes as it aims to keep you at the edge of your seats and at the same time satiating your appetite for science fiction and the supernatural. Not to mention, its standards to adapt from the classics. Yes, not ‘classic’ but ‘classics’ given that several adaptations like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Frankenstein, Van Helsing and even Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Grey have been successfully made into one single show.

And I must add, Penny Dreadful has an amazing cast helming the project. Eva Greens (the women with the scorpion necklace/ Vanessa Ives) and Josh Harnett (as Ethan Chandler) being the crown jewels of this loaded casket.

As they say it rightly ‘There is something within us all.’

 

Priyanka Kapoor

[email protected]

 

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DU Dhaba

5 Reasons Why Social Offline is The Place To Be

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The chances of you going to Hauz Khas village and not finding a new, flashy, easy on the eyes eating joint are slim to none. Social Offline is yet another one of Hauz Khas’ new additions. But before you write it off as yet another pretentious café, here is what makes it stand out:

The Space:

Strategically located in an endearingly filthy alley in Hauz Khas village, Social Offline has an undeniably kitschy-industrial vibe which becomes apparent as soon as you walk past its hashtag plastered bare-brick walls lined with exposed piping. Inside, the café-cum-workplace has the ambience of a buzzing countryside pub set in a rusty warehouse, accentuated by stray pulleys hanging in corners, bare lightbulbs and rustic wooden furniture all overlooking good old Huaz Khas lake. Overall, the look is undoubtedly innovative, even down to to the trademark hashtags on the toilet rolls that double as napkins.

The Food:

Keeping step with the laid back atmosphere, the menu is essentially a plethora of every imaginable kind of comfort food, all served in their signature eccentric urban style. The Mexican lamb poutine was devoured in seconds, leaving us watery eyed and satisfied, while the Biryani was wholesome, delicious and brilliantly simple. Even the Thai Thali was as delectable as it was pleasantly humble, without any of the pretentious add-ons and exorbitant prices so typical to Hauz Khas Village. If nothing else, can you really go wrong with an All-Day Breakfast Platter?

The Booze:

It’s probably safe to say that I remember only the bare minimum after the ‘Booze’ section came into the picture considering I indignantly decided that I could take on one of their ‘Longest Long Island Ice Teas’ unassisted. I was tremendously mistaken. This ‘L.L.I.I.T’, which looks essentially like a gigantic test tube, tasted like the floor of shady theka in Delhi, though in its defence, it did get me adequately hammered.

The Crowd:

A pleasant blend of overly- energetic teenagers pumping their fists to EDM and a slightly more sophisticated, but equally inebriated, hipster working crowd, Social has it just right. Another plus is that the size of the place gives you plenty of room to escape whoever it may be you want to keep a safe, no-hands-on-ass distance from.

The Concept:

Obviously keeping with the ‘Work Hard, Play Hard’ motto, Social Offline is a concept in itself. During the day, upcoming freelancers, small companies and designers who don’t have the luxury of renting their own workspace can rent a table or conference hall, helping them to meet new people and, well, Socialize. The idea is to help people stay connected without a screen in front of their faces, and Social Offline has executed it brilliantly.

Imagecredits: http://theyellowsparrow.in

-Damini Gupta

St. Stephen’s College

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Spo(r)tlight

A time to ponder: Indian Cricket Team’s recent performance

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Following the 4-0 loss in 2011, Indians again had to face humiliation at the hands of the Englishmen. This was their second successive test series defeat in England, where they lost 3-1 to the hosts. India claimed their first overseas win since 2011 when they won the second Test at Lord’s, but surrendered the final three matches meekly, the final indignity being their downfall at The Oval when they lost by an inning and 244 runs within three days. Such poor performance has triggered speculations about M.S. Dhoni’s and Duncan Fletcher’s future.

Ever since their world cup victory in 2011 India has slumped in test series on foreign soil without an exception. Duncan Fletcher’s tenure too has been like a rollercoaster ride with few important victories including the Champions Trophy and some major setbacks like the loss in the finals of the recent T20 World Cup and the overseas test series loss to Australia and New Zealand.

Such debacles have drawn heavy criticism from all corners of the cricketing world. “I must say his (Test) captaincy has been very poor of late, especially in this series. Then again, who would you replace him with? We don’t have a replacement available,” said Vengsarkar (former Chief Selector), speaking to The Indian Express.

“Not only the captain, there’s a dearth of quality Test talent at the moment, which is the real tragedy of Indian Cricket. The selectors can’t be held responsible. They didn’t have other options apart from those 18 players who were picked for England. This was the best available squad but it failed to perform.” Vengsarkar added.

Following the Test defeat BCCI has decided to act decisively to ensure some damage control for the remaining five-match one-day series against England. Ravi Shastri’s appointment as the Director of Cricket is one such temporary measure or a sign of deeper changes ahead in the Indian Cricket team management.

Other changes are that, bowling coach Joe Dawes and fielding mentor Trevor Penney have been given a break for the ODI Series, while Sanjay Bangar and Bharat Arun have been made assistant coaches and R. Sridhar named as fielding coach.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has also assured that the changes are for the next five matches, but as India is the defending champion for the upcoming World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in February next year, more “big” decisions will be needed to retain the crown.

 

Rishabh Sharma

[email protected]

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Features

Project LEAP- Be an Educator, Be the Change

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Poverty, population and illiteracy are perhaps the biggest hindrance in the progress scale of India. There are thousands of children in our nation who either have no accessibility to schools or are a target of social and economic problems that hinder them from continuing their school life. Project LEAP primarily trains sincere and active volunteers as Educators, who further help in educating these  children.

Here are a few details about how this organization is effective at large measures. LEAP is a one year project that requires volunteer presence in school every working weekend (on the basis of specific school calendar).

Becoming I Foundation

Each Becoming I member is carefully trained to spearhead as well as create projects, the main idea behind it being to connect young people with community development projects on an international level. To instill the audacity to bring about powerful, sustainable change from within- remains the prime objective of this project LEAP.
Project LEAP

Project Leap is a planned and innovative intervention aimed at providing a wholesome learning and growing environment to every child in India. Students with underprivileged backgrounds are provided with a specialised curriculum which focuses on integrating dance, music, theater, art & craft, sports and public speaking with the NCERT curriculum

Thanks to its dedicated volunteers trained as ‘Educators’, this special integrated course helps to achieve a  three-fold impact:
– Increased Admission rates

– Decreased Dropout rates

– Greater learning outcomes

Volunteer role in LEAP

The Project Leap volunteer program is designed to provide an immersive leadership experience to young people interested in diving deep into the Impact Space. Volunteers, who have expertise in any one of the art forms mentioned above, should definitely be a part of such an effective and dedicated project. One must be equipped with qualities like utmost sincerity, professionalism and commitment to be an Educator. Those who wish to take up this challenge do sign up at:

http://www.becomingifoundation.org/apply-for-project-leap/

The meeting schedules will be created based on your convenience.

 

Image source: www.becomingifoundation.org

Surbhi Sharma

[email protected]

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Biblio

Harsh Agarwal shares his experience with ‘Nazaqat’

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The KNC Book Club held its first book reading session for this semester with Harsh Agarwal, author of three books the most recent being ‘Nazaqat’.

The session started out with Harsh talking about what it took to get where he is, his experiences along the way and also what it means to be an entrepreneur and author in the present day scenario. He talked about his transition from an engineering student from the National Institute of Technology (Silcher) to an author and how he dealt with problems along the way, what was expected of him and what people thought of him. In fact, he has published the book ‘Nazaqat’ under the name ‘Sasha H Singhal’.

Students present shared their  views on why they write and what it is like to share their writing on social media platforms. Harsh also went on to talk about his previous two books ‘An Incursion of Insight’ and ‘Life In A Nutshell’. He read out short excerpts from ‘Nazaqat’, giving  an idea of the trajectory of the storyline and introduced  the main protagonist- Nazaqat, a prostitute turned entrepreneur who documents her need to have her biography written and also deals with issues like legalization of prostitution.

The book reading was followed by a question and answer session and a book signing session where the students got a chance to interact with the author on a personal level.

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DUB Speak

The Curious Case of the E Rickshaw

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E-rickshaws, initiated by former CM Sheila Dixit around the time of the Commonwealth Games, have been flourishing ever since. Be it Delhi University’s North Campus or outside metro stations all around the city, the e-rickshaw is what stands out amongst the rickshaw lot. E-rickshaws, due to their fixed, convenient cost of rupees 10 per person and by virtue of being faster than their non-electronic counterparts, have been a favored option.

However, with rising prices, the e-rickshaw drivers have been soaring their prices to up to Rs.30 making them unattractive to commuters who would rather take an auto for the same cost. In addition to this is the question of safety in these “eco-friendly” vehicles. Although fit to be included in the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 due to its battery of up to 650 watt, these light weight, open rickshaws are not only excluded from many legal implications but are neglected to the extent that they do not even possess a number plate, neither are they registered.

As a result, it is almost impossible to even register an FIR in case of an accident which seems very likely as the drivers are mostly inexperienced, non-licensed profit-seekers who ferry an overload of people in the vehicle meant for four. Furthermore, they refrain from spending on battery maintenance which makes these rickshaws even more prone to fatal accidents.

Amidst allegations from the Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT) and the NDA government’s effort to keep its promise of legalizing them, e-rickshaws have become subject to a ban and await a final decision from the High Court. In my opinion, this ‘humane’ alternative to manually pulled rickshaws can become the star of ‘extra-mile’ transport if systematically regulated by the government.

Ishani Rajkhowa

[email protected]

Image source: www.thehindu.com

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