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Features

The Wandering Minstrels of Bengal: A Story of Baul-geeti

By DU Beat September 28, 2022

The lesser known art forms of Bengal have seen a rise in popularity in contemporary times. This is the story of Baul-geeti, an integral part of Bengal’s Oral traditions, which posed questions two centuries back that are still relevant today.

Growing up in a Bengali household in North Kolkata, my summer break afternoons were often filled with an elaborate plate of jackfruit, mangoes and watermelons that my grandmother brought in after lunch. What would accompany this huge palette of the various shades of yellows and reds, were stories of Shantiniketan and Birbhum, where my grandma had spent a considerable portion of her youth. My drowsy eyes would look at her face light up as she spoke about the men who had no home, who wandered and stayed wherever their hearts wanted, who considered the world their home. Her broken, out-of-breath notes sang of these men in big alkhallas. She sang of the minstrels who have been a part and parcel of Bengal, she sang of the Bauls.

The Bauls are folk artists of Bengal. They renounce society and claim the open skies and lands as their country. They are nomads who sing of the Supreme One and their love towards the celestial entity. They believe in no discriminatory factors—religion, gender, caste, creed, race; they preach and practise Deha-tatta, which holds that every being is equal with the Supreme One himself, who resides in us all. It’s not just limited to living beings either. Bauls respect and love beings from all species, big and small. These wandering minstrels rejected social hierarchies and divisive constructs. Their radical rejection of social institutions manifests itself in the emancipatory enactment of this form of music where they find and celebrate love, life, and liberation. You, according to the Bauls, can only be one step closer to God by helping other living beings.

Baul music is often composed without any formal training or any record. The music of the ektara,
dotara and, at times, khonjoni, synthesises with their own voices to create, what can be called, one
of the greatest cultural symbols of Bengal. This culture was born in Birbhum and crossed boundaries to the different eastern regions of our country, including the international border of Bangladesh. The most fascinating aspect of this entire art form has to be its lack of recorded material. It forms a major chunk of the oral traditions of the region, with minimal written songs. The Bauls sing from their memory, and their heart. The complex compositions are passed down from one generation to another. Yet, almost everyone who listens to their music finds themselves in the peculiar daze of the heart-wrenching and soulful tunes of the dotara.

The Baul community also has a male-dominated image in popular culture where they are depicted in huge saffron robes, heavy beards and matted locks of hair, rudraksha around their wrists and neck and a dotara. The saffron alkhalla, or the loose garment, is a way of showcasing their association with the divine. The women of this community, on the other hand, wear simple white sarees and sport matted hair but ditch the rudraksha. They are seldom included by the general public in Baul narratives even though they have had similar contributions to the art.

We cannot talk about Baul-or Baul culture without mentioning the man who was responsible for
bringing it to the world—Lalon Fakir Shah, the greatest Baul artist to have ever existed. The origin of Lalon Fakir is still debatable. Nobody till date knows where exactly he was born, which religion or caste he was born into or who his parents were. Some say he was a Muslim while others claim he was a Hindu. Even his disciples, upon his death, never revealed his place of origin or his religion.

Fakir Shah was a monumental figure in composing Baul-geeti, with thousands of Bengali songs
to his name. Out of all these, only 600 were documented after his demise. He was the
person who inspired the whole concept of contemporary Baul gaan and their philosophies as
we know them today. What Lalon preached was essentially the result of syncretism of various
philosophies and traditions like Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and Jainism. Like today, he was a radical opponent of all established institutions, to the extent wherein one of his compositions, he
sang, “If the creator is one, why so many religions?”.

The captivating angle to his songs were his vocal approach to issues of caste, communalism,
and patriarchy two hundred years back. Songs like,

“Brahman, chandal, Chamaar,
Cobbler
Everyone is cleansed by the same
water”

opposed the oppressive system with such poetic poignance that it resonates with people till date. Even issues like patriarchy were addressed through lyrics which posed questions like,

“A Muslim is marked by the sign of circumcision; but how should you
mark a woman?”
(Translated by Azfar Hussain)

Personally, if there has to be one line by Fakir Lalon that really stirred
me, it would be-
“A person who secretly has rice
from the hearth of a prostitute
What does his religion have to do
with it?”

Folk music, or any music that had subaltern roots, was looked down upon by the Bhodrolok i.e. gentlemen of Bengal. It rose as an alternate narrative and culture to the hegemonic forms of art that were prevalent. They were an attempt for some communities to establish their place in the existing power structures of society at the time, while in other cases, like those of the Bauls, they were a harsh critique of the ways of the world and the conditions that mankind had created in order to discriminate against others.

In contemporary times, the religious extremism that we often encounter was exactly what these
cultures opposed. The question of what religion you were born with and which religion you’ll leave the world with was one question that the Bauls asked society.

Interestingly, Baul-geeti, something that went against modern-day capitalism, has become a child of the same today. In the 60s and the 70s, the Bauls went global and dazzled the world with their talent. Purna Das Baul, the Baul Samrat, even played with music sensations like Bob Dylan and Tina Turner. In more recent times, Kartik Das Baul went from singing on the local trains of Kolkata for some loose change to being one of the top Baul artists in the country. This in no way is a claim that this commercialisation is bad. It was necessary for these unrecognised artists to spread their creations. And it was almost inevitable, since sustaining oneself in 2022 certainly requires a lot more monetary resources than at any other time in history.

For someone from the land of these artists, to witness the world enjoy their music without ever trying to decipher the underlying meaning in their songs seems like an insult to the art, the philosophy and the artists. It is a bittersweet feeling, as a bangaali, that something that
is so close to my heart, is not just mine anymore—it is the world’s to share; on the other hand, there is pride and pride only that the beautiful language and the songs reach millions today.

Read Also: My City, My Pujo: An Open Art Gallery

Featured Image Credits: Osho World

Debarati Mitra
[email protected]

Features

Dear DU, What’s Your Birthday Resolution?

By DU Beat September 27, 2022

With both achievements and adversities on its plate, DU completed 100 years this year. Is this milestone praiseworthy or an indication of stagnation over the years?*

100 years since the birth of one of the most prestigous educational institutions in the country. 100 years since history started soaking itself within the red walls of different corners of Delhi. 100 years since students’ voices began to gain prominence among the masses. Happy 100th birthday, University of Delhi. Thank you for being a rosy dream that took its time to reveal the thorns of hidden behind the petals of (in)excellence.

Surviving 100 years in this changing world is, indeed, an accomplishment. One that deserves congratulations. However when the world was changing, did DU care to change for the betterment of the base of its foundation, the students? To an extent favourable by the administration? Yes. To an extent aspired by the student community? No. DU is yet to be the university I was promised on my admission, yet to be the institution 70,000 students are sold as a dream every year. DU is so much more than the brand name it provides and we as students are being turned into believing the supremacy possesed by this clout alone.

Despite acting as the womb for students’ holistic development for a century, negligence towards their issues and demands is still a concern unaddressed. Despite acting as the breeding ground for student politics for a century, arbitrary assault and detainment of protestors is still seen. Despite claiming itself to be a melting pot of students from nooks and corners of the country, discrimination yet persists with stereotypes attached to each state, each community and each individual. I agree to the fact that such revolutionary changes can come about only gradually but wasn’t 100 years enough for the same? Will there be change in the next 100 years or will sluggishness be DU’s return gift to its students?

To DU, I say: instead of having pompous shows to ascertain your glory over other academic institutions in the country, maybe consider listening to the woes of your students. Listen to students who demand their rights through the medium of protests in front of Arts Faculty. Listen to the students who have to spend numerous hours looking for internships after graduation because of the lack of skill-based programmes. Most importantly, listen to the Professors who make DU what it is. The sea of expectations never ceases, I agree but does that mean even the basic ones should be ignored? If you ask me if I’m proud to be a part of DU, my answer would surely be positive. Yes, I’m proud to be a part and to become an alumnus of DU but…And this but always remain. DU, precisely, DU administration, it’s time for you to make your birthday resolutions. I hope you don’t break them like every other promise of yours.

*This article first appeared in our physical newsletter Volume 16, Issue 5. Don’t forget to grab your copy of the latest edition of our newspaper every Wednesday!

Featured Image Credits: Devesh Arya for DU Beat

Himasweeta Sarma

Features

Dear DU, What’s Your Birthday Resolution?

By DU Beat September 27, 2022

With both achievements and adversities on its plate, DU completed 100 years this year. Is this milestone praiseworthy or an indication of stagnation over the years?*

100 years since the birth of one of the most prestigous educational institutions in the country. 100 years since history started soaking itself within the red walls of different corners of Delhi. 100 years since students’ voices began to gain prominence among the masses. Happy 100th birthday, University of Delhi. Thank you for being a rosy dream that took its time to reveal the thorns of hidden behind the petals of (in)excellence.

Surviving 100 years in this changing world is, indeed, an accomplishment. One that deserves congratulations. However when the world was changing, did DU care to change for the betterment of the base of its foundation, the students? To an extent favourable by the administration? Yes. To an extent aspired by the student community? No. DU is yet to be the university I was promised on my admission, yet to be the institution 70,000 students are sold as a dream every year. DU is so much more than the brand name it provides and we as students are being turned into believing the supremacy possesed by this clout alone.

Despite acting as the womb for students’ holistic development for a century, negligence towards their issues and demands is still a concern unaddressed. Despite acting as the breeding ground for student politics for a century, arbitrary assault and detainment of protestors is still seen. Despite claiming itself to be a melting pot of students from nooks and corners of the country, discrimination yet persists with stereotypes attached to each state, each community and each individual. I agree to the fact that such revolutionary changes can come about only gradually but wasn’t 100 years enough for the same? Will there be change in the next 100 years or will sluggishness be DU’s return gift to its students?

To DU, I say: instead of having pompous shows to ascertain your glory over other academic institutions in the country, maybe consider listening to the woes of your students. Listen to students who demand their rights through the medium of protests in front of Arts Faculty. Listen to the students who have to spend numerous hours looking for internships after graduation because of the lack of skill-based programmes. Most importantly, listen to the Professors who make DU what it is. The sea of expectations never ceases, I agree but does that mean even the basic ones should be ignored? If you ask me if I’m proud to be a part of DU, my answer would surely be positive. Yes, I’m proud to be a part and to become an alumnus of DU but…And this but always remain. DU, precisely, DU administration, it’s time for you to make your birthday resolutions. I hope you don’t break them like every other promise of yours.

*This article first appeared in our physical newsletter Volume 16, Issue 5. Don’t forget to grab your copy of the latest edition of our newspaper every Wednesday!

Featured Image Credits: Devesh Arya for DU Beat

Himasweeta Sarma

Features

The Subtle Art of Romanticisation

By DU Beat September 26, 2022

Lights, Camera, Action! What does it mean when you’re not just the main character of your life, but also the cinematographer? Does the subtle art of romanticisation actually resolve all the mundanities of life, or does it only blur them to the point of denial? Read more as we try to make sense of this era of romanticisation.

“Half love, Half regret. Dressing up for polaroids and cigarettes.” This ménage à trois between cute outfits, aesthetic pictures, and sleek French cigarettes is the perfect escape for any DU student in today’s day and age. But does it really save you from despair, or is it simply eating up your storage?

To understand the exact set of emotions, lighting, and reasons that go behind explaining how “August slipped into a moment of time”, one either needs to possess a creative mind or be accepting of one. The art of making the mundanity of daily life feel like a Bollywood movie is not an easy one, but is it as rewarding as social media makes it out to be? You spend 30 mins selecting the best, most “aesthetic”, and Pinterest-worthy clips and photos. Another 1 hour goes into compiling them in the right order, adding the right effects, choosing the right music, and then posting this 2363574th masterpiece you’ve made on social media at the RIGHT time (yes, there IS a right time for posting) with the right captions and hashtags (because of the algorithm, niche, SEO, and other paraphernalia), curating the perfect Instagram feed. A total of near about 2 hours in a day. The distraction these 120 minutes bring in the life of a generally overworked, anxious, done-with-existence student can actually do wonders. The hassles of the excruciating deadlines, haggling seats in the metro, and waiting in long queues at Rajiv chowk effortlessly translate into a moment of bliss and peace when there’s a lens behind which everything seems less glib and the world feels a little less real. And so, the “era of romanticisation” takes the wheel of your life. Every metro ride, every day at the college, every date, and every concert becomes a potential reel idea!

Also Read: #DUBeat Review – Pavsacha Nibandh: An Essay of Dissolving Rain and Romanticism

Someone might see a leaf on the road, but you see the beauty of the rain and the nature tethered to the leaf that has fallen too far from the tree it was once attached to. Full Imtiaz Ali moment. The once “unrealistic expectations” from Bollywood movies feel a tad too realistic, now that you’ve tapped into your creativity. Maybe keeping the delusion alive is how you attempt to ape a life less ordinary. But that’s also exactly where Bollywood is to be blamed. The uncertainties of starting a new life in a new college in a new city with people you’ve never met before can’t all be washed away just by hitting the record button. It might feel like you’re trying to make sense of everything by this but it can take mere seconds for the cloudiness of romanticisation to fade. What is it, if not a coping mechanism? On some days the skies are pretty, the concerts hit a little too well, sunlight adorns the classrooms just right, the art date with your friends develops into a core memory, and the day ends on such a high that nothing ever could top it off. What follows is the next day where you’re in bed all day, just lying there and existing, while the sky out there is painted in grim hues of blue and grey. Or even the day when you have the abhorring realisation that your college fans don’t actually work. That’s when the yearning for another good day kicks in; the addiction of never having another dead day. That erstwhile feeling of contentment gets laundered by the echo chambers of your extravagant “carpe diem” needs. Your emotional, mental, physical, and GPay capacities all take the brunt of your #PinterestEra.

Enhancing this pantomime attempt to “romanticise life” is this baarish. Delhi might be literally flooding with the September rains but people are trying to make something out of this too. Great attempt, but just no.

When I look up, the sky is pretty and pink, and the tiny little droplets on my coffee mug, the metro windowpanes make everything all the more bearable and prettier, but that’s when I look down and realise my shoes are soaking wet in muddy water and an insect is trying to climb up my trousers.”

Rain might seem like a good excuse for all your chai-pakora, Mr-Darcy-saying-I-love-you-most-ardently, Barso-re fantasies, but only up to a certain point. After that, it’s just a menace and a week-long recovery from the cold you contracted because of it.

This subtle art of romanticisation could be a product of all the conditioning we’ve garnered as Bollywood or literature babies, or it could also be an artist’s eccentric take on life. Seeing that the realisation of the former will only bring us despair, so for the time being (as we struggle to meet the deadlines and maneuver our college lives), let’s just stick to the latter and pretend we’re all in a Karan Johar production of ‘Student of the Year: Delhi University edition’.

Featured Image Credits: Vidushi Sinha for DU Beat.

Vidushi Sinha

Campus Central

Power and Politics in the Delhi University Student’s Union

By DU Beat September 20, 2022

If we turn the pages of our history, we will realise that our freedom struggle was an essential chapter in the history of the University of Delhi. It has been about 80 years since Mahatma Gandhi gave us the slogan “Do or Die”, and within weeks of the pronouncement of the slogan at the Bombay Session of 1942, protests started to take shape across the colleges of DU. From burning down an electric sub-station (by the students of Ramjas College) to marching in protest on 10 August 1942, against the authorities who jailed the Congress leaders the previous day (students of Hindu College, Indraprastha College, and St, Stephen’s College), DU was the political hub during the time. So, this culture of protest so firmly entrenched among DU students even today can be traced back all the way to our country’s struggle for independence.

Established in 1922, a time when India was engulfed by its struggle for freedom, both students and teachers were active participants in the anti-British movement. However, soon, the students realised a need for a union. It was in 1947, under the founder of the Delhi School of Economics, Vijayendra Kasturi Ranga Varadaraja Rao (V. K. R. V. Rao), when a provisional committee consisting of presidents of all the colleges was bestowed with the responsibility to draft the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) Constitution and take necessary steps for the creation of this institution. On 9 April 1949, DUSU came to life and was inaugurated by our first Prime Minister, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. Since its inception, DUSU has become the first step toward the political scenario of the larger part of the country. Students belonging to various groups, having a range of ideologies, contest to be part of its panel. Some of the most notable student organisations that it represents are the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), All India Students’ Association (AISA), and many more.

Delhi University is as well known for its politics as well as for its historical significance and educational culture. Its political atmosphere is so important that at times, even mainstream political parties take keen interest in it. Nevertheless, it is worth noticing how the culture of protest and dissent was born in the sensitive pre-independence independence and how it has transformed since then to take its present form. Are the organisations doing their jobs correctly or are they just practicing dissent in the name of vote-bank politics? This is one of the most crucial questions we must seek the answer to.

The ABVP, a right-wing student organisation affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has had the most successful run in DUSU history in recent years. The root cause of this success can be traced back to the period of the Emergency in 1975, when DUSU once again became a centre of political resistance. Arun Jaitley, a former member of ABVP and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), was elected as the president of DUSU in 1974. He is known to have played the most instrumental role in bringing reform to DUSU. Until 1973, colleges used to elect 10 DUSU councilors, who further used to elect the panel of DUSU. However, from 1973 this policy was transformed into ‘one-student, one-vote’, turning the system from an indirect to a direct democracy. Also, Jaitley is famously known for being the first satyagrahi against the imposition of an internal emergency. In 1977, Vijay Goel, who was affiliated with ABVP, became the President of DUSU. His focus during the campaign was the excesses that occurred during the emergency.

More recently, Nupur Sharma, a former BJP national spokesperson, was elected DUSU president as the ABVP candidate in 2008. This broke the ABVP’s eight-year wait for power in the DUSU, which had been dominated by NSUI. That year, the other three posts (Vice President, Secretary, and Joint Secretary) went to the NSUI.

If we look at the last 10 years, the NSUI has only held the President’s seat only twice. This does beg the inevitable question of why the ABVP has found so much success. During the internal emergency, it can be credited to the country’s political atmosphere, which helped in garnering support. In its initial days, it is safe to say that people were more focused on work than their political inclinations and other interests. But what about today? Is it functioning the way the students desire or is it enjoying an undue dominance? Is it standing for the students and working for their demands, or are they too invested in getting memorandums signed in the name of vote banks? On the other hand, the left-wing parties, which emerged as a force to content with in DU politics quite recently, have centred their existence around fighting for or against various issues through protests and rallies. In this respect, their innovation and resourcefulness is beyond compare.

But the larger question remains: are any of the organisations working for the students, or has their functioning been overcome by their self-interest and blinded by lofty goals of perhaps being a part of the ‘real deal’?

But what is the real deal now, apart from the “glorious” past that DUSU holds? Since 2019, DUSU elections have not been held and even for this year as I type this out, there is no clarity or instruction about them. For a Student’s Union that has not seen elections in the past three years, to term this period as worthy of congratulations to the DU fraternity is a disaster in itself that reflects what sort of bizarreness surrounds DU politics today. At nearly every step the recommendations of the Lyngdoh committee (set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) in 2006 as per the direction of the Supreme Court to reform students’ union elections and to get rid of money and muscle power in student politics), are sidelined. Even a short conversation with those batches who have witnessed the famous DU elections is enough to know the huge amounts spent to buy students’ votes with freebies.

Every party in this arena carries its burden of faults. With major players being invisible throughout the year, some parties have engaged themselves in constant show politics. earning a name for themselves as “far protestors”. Be it any event or protest, you are most likely to see the same faces appearing everywhere, carrying faulty lies around.

But what’s the real issue here? Are parties facing problems in mobilising the students of DU? Or has its flame died down? Maybe it has just become a mere shell of what it used to be with constant clamping down on dissent at the college level. Though efforts by left parties in the form of reading circles can’t be ignored, ABVP too has attempted to mobilise students. But the fault of parties lies majorly in being unable to maintain a connection with the students. Even with these events and attempts to get closer to the students’ community, student parties cling to rigid ideologies rather than adapting to the circumstances, often barring those without political influence from engaging in what remains of student politics at the university. Indiscriminate fights and beatings do the rest of the work of turning students away from politics, with only 39% voting recorded in the last elections.

One of the biggest shortcomings of the DUSU is the exclusion of various colleges, especially ‘women’s colleges’, whose students have been visibly political in their stance. The absence of political presence on these campuses is clear exclusion by the administration and the silence of student parties over this issue makes clear their lack of concern over diverse representation in their parties, which is often stressed upon by them to win brownie points.

With fringe protests occurring only for some matters chosen specifically to grab as much attention as possible, the majority of student issues largely remain ignored. So, it is the right time to question what is being done of the legacy DUSU had in the name of power and politics and, more importantly, to start a conscious and organised movement to politicise (or rather, repoliticise) DUites.

Image Credits: Times of India

Ankita Baidya

Kashish Shivani

Features

To Second-Years, Please Listen

By DU Beat September 12, 2022

Here’s a note from our Editor-in-Chief for the second-year students as they shed their layers of freshness to enter the second year; with (in) experience.*

With the hump of an adventurous (read: chaotic) first year coupled with the exhilaration and exhaustion that college life brings, congratulations on making it to the second year. Hurray! I know it has been tough for each of you with unlearning age-old habits and stepping into an entirely new realm of customs, traditions, and most importantly, individuals. I’m glad to see you doing the best you can. I’m proud of you.

I would be lying if I said that the second year would be more or less similar to the first year. No. For every student irrespective of the differences that exist, the second year would arrive at your doorstep with an eerie silence followed by a thunderstorm. You’ll find yourself trapped in the cage of stress, all thanks to the curriculum consisting of five subjects along with the rat race to expand your LinkedIn profile. Because, well, college is all about hustling, right? No matter how much I want to disagree but this is the sad reality. Experiencing a burn-out will be inevitable, unfortunately.

This is what I would like to tell you via the medium of this editorial. When you will be swarmed by countless assignments with deadlines that always make an appearance a day before and (sad)istic internships that make you churn out every bit of your skill, take a break. I acknowledge the need for personal growth during college life but at the same time, don’t throw yourself into the maze of productivity only to give birth to mishmashes that literally drain your soul.

Take a break to lie down on the green fields of your college while the warmth of the autumn sun hugs you gently. Take a break to get acquainted with your classmates, know about their roots and grab a bite to eat at different (and affordable) places across Delhi. Take a break to resume the book that you had left unfinished owing to the offline semester exams. Take a break to stream ‘Masakali’ and dance your heart out while you breathe in the smell of (rare) Delhi rains. Take a break to remember and do what makes you happy. Or has hustling made you forget the little things that gave you joy?

In a nutshell, don’t deny yourself of the simple pleasures of life, dear junior. I empathise with the splashes of peer pressure that conversations and experiences tend to leave, however, balance is what is the need of the hour. Divide time between leisure and academics added with career pursuits. You cannot expect yourself to be at your best when you are burned out. Sorry, Bunny but rukna bhi kabhi kabhi zaroori hai oochi udaan ke liye.

*This article first appeared in our physical newsletter Volume 16, Issue 2. Don’t forget to grab your copy of the latest edition of our newspaper every Wednesday!

Featured Image Credits: alamy.com

Himasweeta Sarma

Arts & Culture

Lost Land, Losing Languages

By DU Beat August 31, 2022

What is necessary – cultural unification or the recovery of culture? Read ahead as the writer weighs these arguments with her Sindhiyat experience.

“May I, a grandchild of Partition, be able to walk the streets of Anarkali…”, read a postcard addressed to the city of Lahore at an exhibition based on Partition held at the National Gallery of Modern Arts. Ghar, Zameen, Jaidad of millions, all lost in the wake of a tragedy that still largely engulfs our nation. Apart from the daily vendetta, what engulfs us more is the culture, and that, for me as a writer, is the language.

So while answering questions arising from confusion over my surname, the dialogue outside is overtaken by the dilemma inside. Sindhi? But how? Just because of the surname? Because the river after which the entire community was named is almost on the verge of drying up and the place called Sindh was left almost 75 years ago. So what’s left of all is the language, the shores of which are drying up quickly.

Even if you go somewhere empty-handed, you will take your language with you”, said my Urdu Professor.

In the case of Sindhi, I guess it travelled too long, losing its tids and bits on the way, where it got disintegrated to the extent that we only got Johnny Lever in almost all movies adding Sai at the end of each sentence in the name of cultural representation and cracking some chindi jokes. So it does make one sad when you realise the collective damage that so many of such communities have suffered at the altar of history, at the hands of those who tried to shape it according to their whims? Such whims today talk of “our” heritage, culture, and its preservation; funnily such, “our” does not aim at identifying the dynamic and diverse reality of this land but rather in the imposition of one culture, one language. That’s how politics is, the language used by poets and lovers to carve out confessions of love can be shaped fluently at the behest of ideologies to spew hatred in disregard of those very languages.

Linguistic hegemony has been a major tool for controlling the narratives, be it the attempt to impose Urdu on Eastern Pakistan– later Bangladesh, a Bengali speaking region that became a major reason for the partition of Western Pakistan and Eastern Pakistan– or the unannounced but underlying duel of Urdu and Hindi that goes on amidst the deemed “champions” of Linguistics.

In this fight for hegemony, no language appears to be a winner. Hindi imperialism does no good to Hindi with its negligence in academia or the ignored writers in the publishing scene, whose achievements are not even appreciated by these very “champions of Hindi”.

A lot has been lost already. Recovering and preserving what remains can’t be done with the imposition of one language. Attempts to promote linguistic diversity should be made with utmost necessity, not just with language centres but with the sharing of what is “ours”, rather than the imposition of what is being termed as “ours” on a national level.

Kashish Shivani

Features

The Time Barkha Met Chandni Chowk

By DU Beat July 2, 2022

When comeback worth reports and passionate speeches marry the DU aesthetic, what consummates is a jugaad style that could put a seasoned stylist to shame.

When they aren’t busy being unapologetically themselves, they’re secretly knocking some much-needed sense into those bull-headed skulls. Whether it’s gatekeeping the truth and defending themselves from pesky politicians or inspiring and influencing a whole generation with their style, these fiery women journalists and their proverbial capes are at the forefront of a revolution!

An eye for an I

Do you know what’s the fastest way to coax out those deep dark secrets? (No, ‘Truth or Dare’ is a scam) A hypnotising kohl-rimmed smoky eye works better than a Truth Serum. Make up for the lack of drama in your life by lining your eyes with Kohl and finishing the look with a sizzling palette of brown shades. Emulate the style of the newsroom greats like Shaili Chopra and Barkha Dutt with the stroke of a brush and a steady hand (along with a fleeting attention span). Be it complementing it with an LBD or elegant Indian wear from your local street market, a smoky eye never fails to impress!

When it Rains Janpath Jewellery

One look at their feed, and it would appear that the oxidised silver gods have blessed them with a ceaseless supply of silver embellishments. Repeat after me: ‘Go big, or go home’. Yes, the DU aesthetic demands it (even if they are ear-tearingly big). Legend has it that resident DU alumn, Nidhi Razdan, often the dinghy brown streets of Lajpat Nagar to hone her oratorial prowess while bargaining cutting silver jhumka prices with an equally obstinate bhaiya there! Look no further than Arfa Khanum Sherwani if you want to spruce up that drab white shirt and straight fit denim. No one does big bold quirky neckpieces better than her. Pair a chunky silver choker with a colour block kurta and say goodbye to haters.

Suit up!

If there’s one thing that’s more reliable than DU’s notices, then it’s undoubtedly a power blazer! To make a structured blazer your best friend, throw it over a pair of sweatpants and hoodie for a barely-made-the-assignment-deadline-but-looking-fab look or over your favourite turtleneck like Rana Ayyub. For the times when it seems like all the world’s weight is on your shoulder, rest assured, opt for a padded shoulder jacket. Want to look sharp (for once)? Take style notes from Shweta Singh and her bevy of tailored jackets that she wears over virtually anything. From shrugging it over a plain white kurta and lace hemmed pants to a crisp white oxford shirt, her undying love for all things power blazer knows no bounds.

The OG Desi Girl Fit

Let’s bust this myth once and for all: no, you don’t have to speak fluent Fabindia to be a journalist. Since the perpetual cycle of brokenness is a part of being a student in Delhi (walking is good for your health and pocket), mixing and matching your crop tops with sarees shouldn’t come as a surprise. College fest fashion crisis? Fret not! Raid your mom’s closet for a saree and pair it with an unintentionally intentional (Read: broke) mismatched top from yours like Sharda Ugra. For extra oomph, style your favourite kurta (yes, the one you spent 15 minutes haggling) with the style hacks mentioned above and slay all day!

Featured Image Credits: Own

Tanvi Varigala
[email protected]

Arts & Culture

Of Loneliness and Heartbreak

By DU Beat June 26, 2022

This June, remember to hold onto your anger and pain as you set out to celebrate your pride. Pride was, never a celebration alone to begin with. It was and will always, remain a fierce riot.

When I joined DU Beat, I was a lost correspondent with too many opinions on Netflix and zero knowledge about graphics ideation. But one thing I knew for sure was that I wished to write stories rooted in my immediate cultural experiences. Stories about people. Stories about students. Stories about queerness.

I never viewed queerness as something that was associated with a sexual identity but rather as something that served as a deviation from a set norm. Queering of narratives, discourses, readings and even something like non-linear documentation of time always interested me. As a marginal figure in my most immediate circles while growing up, I felt the need to understand and by extension empathise with anything that occupied a position of marginality around us.

Ever since I stepped foot into DU, I realised that there are hardly any places more queer than those afforded by educational spaces – where marginal social identities offset hundreds of students from the larger crowd of normal adherence. And such varsity spaces become intersectional convergence points for glorious bonhomie – and sometimes sites of extreme cruelty. Taking pride in visiblising intersectional identities in university spaces like ours are more often than not the share of a privileged few – their economic and social position allowing them affordances most are denied. The same identity that becomes the pride of a select few – comes at a cost for others. For most people of such social minority identities, making common knowledge of your lower caste identity comes at the cost of having your narrative being baited by upper caste saviours, your gender identity becomes a double edged sword in your path of progress and your sexuality a constant site of speculation and amusement for those around you.

But amidst the pride colours, pride watchlists and other glittery extravaganza is the overlooked loneliness of growing up queer. To survive a childhood of conflict with your truest point of self-identification, knowing that perhaps the biggest truth about you will always be held as a questioned truth by those around you and eventually coming to a city this big and finding yourself lost amidst a sea of unknown faces – each presenting to you hierarchies of power previously unknown to you. You are immediately swept into a whirlwind of heterosexual college romances, and your heart yearns for that singular same-sex romance that you only see in your annual token queer Netflix romantic comedy and before you know it you have set sail on the flood-prone waves of the hookup culture. Eventually your life is a string of making your way from one bed to another, from looking for ‘spots’ and asking for ‘places’.

But every year in June, corporations and allies around you urge you to forget this language of heartbreak and make you drown in their definition of a glitzy celebration of queerness. To all those queer souls lost this Pride month – to you I say, remember Pride began as a protest, a riot to be precise. Take the anger in your heart and hold onto it – for being queer comes at great pain of surviving a staunchly heterosexual society. To all the allies planning your next pride march, make sure to administer a consensual hug to the next queer you meet this month – queerness is a struggle with loneliness and for all your good intent some loneliness of the self that will take this community an entire life to overcome.

Anwesh Banerjee