Kritika Kushwaha
Eng (Hons) 2nd Year
Sri Venkateswara College
For all the literature maniacs, it’s all at the same place. The Jaipur Literary Fest, which has been described by an international magazine as “the greatest literary show on earth”, is back for the fifth consecutive year and on a much grander scale. The fest has a history of hosting some of the biggest and most well-known names in literature, theatre, art and music such as Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Kiran Desai, Pico Iyer, Nadeem Aslam, Thomas Keneally, Donna Tart, Suketu Mehta, Chetan Bhagat, Vikas Swarup, Hari Kunzru, John Berend, Christopher Hampton, Julia Roberts, Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Anoushka Shankar and many others. The five day fest kick starts on the 21st of January at the Diggi Palace in Jaipur.
The fest this year offers the finest mélange of literature, art, theatre and music. Each day will host a variety of events such as thought-provoking and invigorating talks, panel discussions, films, theatre performances, lectures and dramatic readings by renowned personalities. Moreover each day shall culminate in some refined and delightful music. The festival aims at showcasing the best works in Indian languages as well as in English. This year it will host some of the best of literary talent the world has to offer, including a Nobel laureate, a winner of the Samuel Johnson prize, two Booker prize winners, and five winners of the Pulitzer prize for literature. Accompanying them are writers who have won acclaim in the field of travel, literary criticism, history, biography, fiction as well as non-fiction. Some of the eminent writers who will be present at the fest this year include Wole Soyinka, Orhan Pamuk, Haneif Kureishi, Niall Fergusson, Amit Chaudhari, Tina Brown, Vikram Chandra, Claire Tomalin, Mahasveta Devi, Shobhha De, Indira Goswami, Steve Coll, Pavan Varma, Krishna Baldev Vaid, Stephen Frears, Lawrence Wright, Christopher Jaffrelot, Wangmo Wangchuk, Alexander McCall Smith, Krishna Sobti, and many many more.
Some of the most anticipated events are readings from Girish Karnad’s ‘Tughlaq’ by the much acclaimed actor Om Puri, readings by Shabana Azmi from her mother’s memoirs, performances by Titi Robin, Cheb I Sabbah, Susheela Raman, the Baul singers of Bengal, Rajasthan Roots, Djaima and readings and performances from William Darlymple’s Nine Lives.
The fest wraps up on the 25h of January. By the sound of it, there is a lot to look forward to in just five days alone. It’s the perfect way to celebrate the end of exams, especially since its located in the beautiful Pink City!
Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University, is organizing its Annual Literature Festival, LITMUS, on the 29th and 30th of January. The fest will see a wide range of literature related events, both competitive and otherwise, over a two day period. The festival is one of the most popular of its kind in Delhi University, and draws participants from numerous colleges.
LITMUS is a vibrant platform for students from across disciplines, with literary interests, to interact and exchange ideas on contemporary culture, society and politics. This year Litmus is hosting two central, academic events. One will be the students’ seminar, the topic for which is Indian Literature. The second, is a book discussion on ‘In Search of Sita: Revisiting Mythology’, with the editors of the volume. Professor Malashri Lal and Ms. Namita Gokhale shall conduct the discussion, examining the role of Sita in the Ramayana and develop issues that have been raised in the anthology through the collection of essays, conversations and commentaries.
The key note speaker for the seminar shall be Aijaz Ahmad and the chair will be headed by eminent professor and writer Alok Rai. The seminar will include a paper presentation competition on the topic ‘Indian Literature from the Canonical to the Popular’ and is open to all students of DU.
Day 1 (29th Jan):
Key Note Speaker Professor Aijaz Ahmad on ‘Indian Literature’: Revisiting the debate.
Paper Presentation: ‘Indian Literature form the Canonical to the Popular’
Book Discussion: In Search of Sita: Revisiting Mythology
Day 2 (30th Jan):
Creative Writing Competition
Literary Quiz
Literature based JAM (Just a Minute)
Pictura Poesis (A competition where participants will be required to illustrate a poem/piece of prose)
JMC’s long awaited fest took place on the 10th and 11th of December, featuring a wide range of competitions and fun activities, topped off with an incredible performance by Junkyard Groove. The results were as follows:
Stage play
Best Play –Hindu, for Infidels
Runners-up – Miranda, for Kindertransport
Best Actor – Aman, from Hindu College
Best Director – JMC, for the direction of The Hysterical History of Troy
Street play
1st: Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce
2nd: Hansraj
WMS (Solo)
1st: JMC
2nd: Maharaja Agrasen College
3rd: JMC
Avantika Sukhia
Ishan Marvel
Krishnamani Bhagabati
Lee Wie Mien Jackson
Maria Zafar
Neharika Gupta
Payal Kalra
Siddharth Upasani
Tilak Jha
Vrinda Agarwal
1. Kidnap all the polar bears and stuff them into your fridge
2. Give the cattle a strict talk on etiquette and the inappropriateness of farting in public
3. Puncture the tyres of all vehicles in your locality and offer your cycle on rent instead. This way, you save the planet and make money as well. W00t!
4. Save paper, save trees – another wonderful reason to not submit assignments and miss exams (not that we need any, but still)
5. Resuscitate Captain Planet
While most of us are going to be busy this winter break studying for internal home exams, if you do ever decide to take a break then here are a few movies you could watch:
1) 3 Idiots: Aamir Khan is back again, this time teaming up with Raju Hirani of Munnabhai fame in an adaption of Chetan Bhagat’s bestselling book “Five Point Someone”. Also starring Kareena Kapoor, Madhavan and Sherman Joshi, 3 Idiots is a comedy of ideas that is provocative, funny, wildly entertaining and insightful. A laughter-riot that talks about the most important of human pursuits: self-actualization. The movie is releasing on 25th December, 2009.
2) World Cup 2011: While most of us might have seen trailers of this movie, the movie has an unknown star cast and deals with the nexus between cricket, match fixing and the underworld. With characters like Indulkar and Vallya one can imagine what the director is trying to say.
3) Raat Gayi Baat Gayi : Rajat kappor and Vinay pathak are back too, this time with Neha Dhupia in Raat Gayi Baat Gayi. Raat Gayi Baat Gayi is a film about three couples and a keen observation on the modern day marriage. The film should be funny and is worth a watch, releasing on 31st December, 2009.
4) Avatar: James Cameron, the famous director of the super-hit ‘Titanic’ is back, producing the most expensive Hollywood Film Avatar, which cost $237 million. Every scene in the movie has special effects and is worth a watch with an awesome story line. It hits the theatres on 18th December 2009.
A few other good movies to catch would be Julie and Julia, Its Complicated, Up in the Air. There are few movies that release on January 8th 2009, but that’s when the home exams start so you can catch them once your done or if you just cant study anymore and would prefer seeing a movie
- The Supreme Court has asked the Centre whether it can legalize prostitution, if it is not practically possible to curb the world’s oldest profession with punitive measures.
- Wednesday, saw huge controversy at the Copenhagen climate summit after a draft by Danish government was leaked.
- Michael Owen scored a hat-trick on Wednesday to give injury-depleted Manchester United a 3-1 win over Wolfsburg and top spot in Group B of the Champions League.
- LeT operative David Headley’s cellphone and his Chicago apartment were registered in the names of dead persons and investigations have found that he was leading a double life under directions from the Pakistan-based terror outfit, according to the FBI. Headley changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006 to further his cover, the FBI said.
Q: So I have my best friend’s birthday party coming up and you know, I’m the
kind who’d never wear a dress because it’s so “pink” and “girly”. But this time
something inside me wants to feel, errr, “pink and girly”. So I’ve bought this
dress and it’s got a deep neck. My friends told me it’s fine and the boys won’t
even stare at me. But you know, it’s deep for me. The larger problem is that I
have zits on my chest and I desperately need to get rid of them. It’s next week!
Help me.
A: Oh so the tom boy finds a suitable extreme away from the uncomfortable
middle space. Let me tell you, I’ve seen girls, who never got out of their ill
fitted jeans and loose sweatshirts, look absolutely stunning in dresses and guys
don’t stare, but ogle at them. So please be inspired and carry that little piece
of clothing very confidently. For the zits, you can use the same spot treatment
you use on your face. But my prior research stated this. I went through bundles
of dust laden books in the library(not), to get you the most viable acne-busting
recipe.
So you need to crush two Aspirin tablets and mix it with water and honey to make a paste. So you need to apply it on the spots and leave it on for 10 minutes before you wash it off. Aspirin has something called a “acetylsalicylic acid” to dry out pimples and. And if nothing else works, just conceal it with an oil-free powder or concealer. Life is not so tough and complicated so don’t make it sound like that.
Am I inspired to wear my black prom dress? Next issue will witness amma in a hot black dress and the drab pink sari will be a token to the garbage collector. No, I’m kidding. You guys just need a reason to get excited. Go Conceal!
Q: I’ve been dating only for about 2 months and I think the time to, “lift my heel off the floor” and “bat my eyelashes endlessly” is coming closer. So I’ve been using excessive amounts of mouthwash everyday and brushing uncountably, but it’s not helping. Is it in my genes? Is bad breath in my genes!? No, it can’t be. It’s too absurd to make it sound like a hereditary problem. What do I do differently?
A: This question is so highly rated that one day my fans will “de-fan” me and follow this. Reason enough for you to believe that you’re not the only one? So now that we’re done convincing you against your solitude, let me put forth the practical solution. YOU NEED TO FLOSS GIRL! Yes, it’s as loud as the font. YOU NEED TO FLOSS, EVERYDAY. This one wasn’t any sober. Flossing is a crucial step and many people conveniently forget about it. Even if you brush and swish with mouthwash, left-over plague still lingers between your teeth. It loves hanging out with you. So hit it hard with a gentle floss and tell it to get lost. Erm, more politely, if you can.
Please remember, the only way to dislodge bad-breath bacteria is with FLOSS.