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Dear Women, the Length of Your Hair Determines Your “Femininity”!

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DU Beat spoke to many amazing women who had their hair trimmed short, and others who shaved them all off, in order to get an insight into their opinions and experiences.

Though the world has undoubtedly made progress, gender stereotypes still persist in the way you look, dress, and style yourself, for your choices are still enslaved to age-old socio-political oppression, including hairstyles, where the length of your hair determines the extent of your femininity.

Shraddha Iyer, a second-year LSR student, cut 9 inches off her hair.

“Most people expect a dramatic reason for why I cut my hair short. They asked me if I got dumped or how my parents ‘allowed’ it. Whereas, I cut it simply because I can – people need to stop assuming that every time a woman makes an unconventional choice, they are trying to make a statement. Also, it’s not a ‘boycut’. Please keep your gendering to yourself.”

What then becomes pertinent to understand, is that such attempts are not only directed at making a difference in the gender sphere but also in one’s way of living. Syeda Iram, another LSR student, chose to go bald because she didn’t like her mother telling her to take her Hijab off. “I wanted to make her choose between a Hijabi or a bald daughter. My mother saw me and she said, “Have you lost it?”. I love styles that defy societal norms,” she commented. She was, however, conflicted because Islam prescribes women to avoid shaving their heads. “If someone is considering shaving their head, do it! Beauty standards are fake products of capitalism. You’ll feel free,” added Iram.

And at the same time, for some, cutting their hair short may not be a strong leap for feminism, and can simply cut it because it’s their body. Bani Singh, an entrepreneur said, “To me, it is really amusing that every act of a woman is a form of rebellion or a statement in itself. I just find this the safest way to experiment with my hair, as opposed to using colour or other chemical treatments.”

“People would stare at me, trying to figure out which gender I’m from. I even remember some coming to me, and saying what I did was so courageous but here’s the thing: shaving your hair shouldn’t be gutsy but just normalised,” explained Aishwaryaa Kunwar, who shaved off her hair completely, two months back.

In the end, as long as you know opting for a certain thing is what’s right for you and your body, it’s solely your choice and nobody should or has a say in it.

Also Read: Gender Based Beauty Stereotypes and How to Break Them

Also Read: Most Indian women professionals judged based on looks: study

Featured Image credits: Samsara news

Annanya Chaturvedi

[email protected]

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Arts & Culture

DUB Review: Pagglait and Progressiveness of Indian Households

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With its skillful cast and brilliant script, Pagglait is a 2021 dark comedy-drama that was released on Netflix on 26 March 2021. It’s a must-watch for everyone interested in deconstructing the hypocrisy and blatant misogyny of Indian households within a patriarchal setting.

Written by Umesh Bist, Pagglait is a narrative about Sandhya, an Indian woman caught in the ugly shackles of a meaningless marriage. With the passing away of her husband, she gradually becomes the woman she needs to be. The thirteen-day ritual of her husband’s passing, brings her to self-growth and self-worth, thus giving her a rebirth. Thus, devoid of a very dramatic or scintillating plot, the Netflix drama revolves around Sandhya who has to die in order to be reborn, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

While Sandhya struggles to rediscover her newly gained identity, one can see a number of plotlines weaving a narrative that points towards the oddity surrounding the institution of marriage and the convenient ignorance of a woman’s wants. Such ironies can only exist in an Indian context where death brings more enlightenment than life, itself.

Set in the grimy streets and ancestral abode of Shanti Kunj, the plot opens with men and women grieving in their own little ways, while they also struggle to meet ends. What follows is a series of complex rituals so as to perform the last rites in a rightful manner. It’s not much later that the audience is also introduced to the “log kya kahenge” ritual with quirky comments including a relative saying how Sandhya “is not inauspicious as their horoscopes were compatible” when someone tries to question Astik’s passing. 

We are introduced to a rather bored Sandhya in the following scenes who casually yawns while reading the condolences, and later demands coke instead of chai so much so as to let everyone believe that she is not really grieving the death of her husband. The audience remains rather perplexed if she is in denial or was her marriage too hollow to even allow her to grieve. The rest of the storyline, then, becomes a quest of answering such questions so that Sandhya can gradually embrace her unresolved feelings and move forward as an individual. 

Acts such as the disgust of Sandhya on seeing the white sari that her mother brought for her or the frustration of her brother-in-law having to shave off his head further allow us to deconstruct and reassess the depth and effectiveness of such rituals, and if they really stand for anything at all, especially in the face of individual identity and pursuit in the 21st century. Other concerns such as the disgust of Sandhya’s in-laws at one “Nazia Zaidi” and the religious discrimination still prevalent at large hover in the background which all come to the forefront in this patriarchal framework of an Indian setting. 

The fact that her mother regards Sandhya topping her batch in MA English as the “qualification” required to get a nice groom with a 70,000 salary further makes one contemplate how deep the roots of such blatant misogyny and orthodox upbringing really go.

The discovery of Astik’s pre-marital affair, then, only becomes a catalyst in allowing Sandhya to break through this rotten carcass of a marriage, thus giving her closure. She gradually moves forward on the path of knowing what love is and understanding that she can only love someone else when she falls in love with herself.

Such discoveries are underlined and garbed in the layer of humor and mocking of Indian funerals, in general. In fact, the comic scenes are a relief to the serious undertones throughout. There are a number of parallel scenes running at the same time, in an attempt, of perhaps contrasting the same. Although the ending does become somewhat predictable with unnecessary build-up, it succeeds in its aim of communicating the larger message. The numerous characters and their respective growth and storyline allows us to see a bit of grey in each and every one of them. Malhotra’s acting in particular would be an apt one, especially for the role. She brings to her character, an unsaid obligation to give in and yet the need to break free.

Thus, Pagglait, with its progressiveness is a groundbreaking narrative in the Indian cinema. It’s not just the story of Sandhya but of every Indian woman: the pagglait for whom “everyone is ready to decide what’s ‘right’, and what she ‘should’ or should not do, but nobody once actually asks her about what ‘she’ wants”. The dialogue “Jab ladki log ko akal aati hai na, toh sab unhe pagglait hi kehte hain!” leaves the audience with more questions, allowing them to take such discourses home with them: into their own lives and of those around them.

Click here to watch the trailer! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xVqPbvLzX4)

Also read: #DUB Review- The White Tiger: A Gripping Tale on the Class Structure of Indian Society

(https://dubeat.com/2021/03/dub-review-the-white-tiger-a-gripping-tale-on-the-class-structure-of-indian-society/)

Featured Image Credits: Wikipedia

Annanya Chaturvedi

[email protected]

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Sex Amma on Pregnancy: Conceptions & Misconceptions

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Along with the angel of conceptions, the twin of misconceptions is around pregnancy. No subject of this world is spared from its presence including sex. For this week, Amma takes a look at the popular misconceptions associated with conceiving.

My beautiful idlis,

Many of you, my cute maachis have written to me on how scared you are to cook sambhar with your medu vadas because of the popular yet unverified statements associated with the cooking of sambhar and conceiving. Some of you are so frighteningly scared of becoming pregnant even without cooking sambhar due to some ‘gossip’ that you had once heard. Even though I would love to be a nani but the misconceptions which are giving you sleepless nights will neither make you an amma nor me, a nani.

Idlis, let’s have a sneak peek into some of the popular misbeliefs that are hovering over our minds since eternity.

Fingering can Cause Pregnancy: 

My cute kuzhambus, the above statement is both true and untrue in nature. Your pregnancy via fingering depends on what your medu vada has got on his fingers. While preparing the masalas for the sambhar, traces of jizz might be present on your medu vada’s fingers and fingering with those might lead to pregnancy. Fingering with clean hands will not cause any worry. So, experience the joy of getting fingered and fingering but with attention. (wink!)

Jizz on a Toilet Seat Roots to Pregnancy:

You don’t have to worry about this, my mini idlis. Jizz on a toilet seat cannot cause pregnancy as the jizz cannot survive while residing in a toilet seat or any other such thing. Once it becomes dry, it dies. It needs moist surroundings to exist which a toilet seat doesn’t possess.

Oral Sex Lead to Conceptions: 

Image Credits : Metro

Oral sex is that one sexual affair that will not result in conception. My cute machlis, let your body experience the pleasures of oral sex without any hesitation or worry about being pregnant as jizz doesn’t get anywhere near your hidden yoni during this process. Also, there is no linkage between your gastrointestinal tract and your reproductive system, so if you ate the sambhar while making love to your medu vadas, it is completely fine!

Pull-Out is a Safe Method of Contraception:

Image Credits : Greatist

Amma does not approve of the pull-out method as it possesses chances of making her mini idli an Amma! It is onerous to match the timing of ejaculation with the removal of the arati from the yoni and might result in pre-ejaculation. Also, the low level of sperm in pre-ejaculation paves the path for pregnancy even without adequate deposits of jizz in the yoni.

Anal Sex doesn’t Cause Pregnancy:

This holds an exception within itself, my cute idlis. Since the vaginal opening and the anus are situated immensely close to each other, hence there is always a chance for the semen to flow into the former. So, enjoy with care!

Pregnancy can be Prevented by Vaginal Cleaning:

Do not get fooled by such hilarious statements, my kuzhambus. The implantation of jizz gets deep rooted in your reproductive system which is not possible to be removed by mere cleaning of the vagina. Douching won’t help either, machlis. 

My idlis, these were the myths that Amma thought were necessary to be busted. Follow the required tips and discard the unnecessary ones from your mind. Keep on cooking sambhars with love, wildness and presence of mind. Do not forget your Amma as well!

With love,

Sex Amma

[email protected]

( For sex related queries, write to Sex Amma on [email protected])

Read Also : https://dubeat.com/2020/10/sex-amma-a-guide-to-fingering/ 

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Arts & Culture

Male Gaze: Stereotypical Feminization and Sexist Generalisations in Cartoons

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The male gaze, for a long time, has been a subject of investigation in popular discourses such as cinema and literature. This article attempts to explore and substantiate the same using cartoons in the Indian and Japanese context which have consciously or subconsciously yielded into this system of stereotypical feminization and sexist generalisations.  

The Young girl feels that her body is getting away from her… on the street men follow her with their eyes and comment on her anatomy. She would like to be invisible; it frightens her to become flesh and to show flesh”, Simone De Beauvoir in Second Sex. 

The Male Gaze refers to the act of depicting womxn and the world told through the idealist perspective of the heterosexual masculine cis viewer, which is warped by the hyper sexualisation and objectification of womxn. The term was originally coined by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey in her 1975 seminal essay ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ to describe the cinematic angle with which a heterosexual male character looked at a female character. Thus, the ‘male gaze’ invokes the sexual politics of the gaze by which the woman is simply reduced to a sense of aesthetic pleasure for the man which, in turn, empowers men, while objectifies women. It’s visibly comprehensible in films or video games where the camera deliberately pans cover women’s bodies, often zooming in and out in slow motion, on their various body parts. 

Arguably, viewing our bodies as separate to our minds, promotes objectification and self-surveillance, that is, viewing one’s body from an outsider observer’s perspective”, Nadia Craddock, a research fellow at the Centre for Appearance Research.

Therefore, it becomes pertinent to study and challenge this further in other visual mediums including cartoons, mangas, and anime, for instance. While the cartoons we were so fond of as kids may have been a wellspring of amusement and laughter for us, it’s only now that one can attempt to understand and identify the blatant sexist generalisations and objectification of women, persistent deeply in the very sources of amusement. In fact, if you’re familiar with contemporary animation ,  or the entertainment industry as a whole , it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise: from writers’ desks to character rosters, cartoons have long been a boys’ club.

Hibbeler (2009) analyzed masculine representations in Disney animated feature films and concluded that Disney does not appear to be making progress toward more accurate and positive representations of male characters. Male characters that were heroes and central were portrayed as being younger, slender, sexual and romantically involved, aggressive, and as having family structures not commonly seen in society. These representations of male characters are very stereotypical in nature and further propagate misogyny at its core.

Often, the female protagonists in such cartoons represent a heavily gendered stereotype of a silly and frivolous person whose only positive trait is to attract men. This way, they simply get reduced to merely a two-dimensional, porcelain symbol of femininity meant to be rescued and provided for by a man who simply knows better and has a higher purpose in life diminishing women as pervasive and exploitative caricatures.

We may have been elated at hearing the news of Shizuka and Nobita finally getting married, but how much progress have we really made? The Japanese Manga fails to distinguish from its other contemporaries in stereotyping women. The female characters, though strongly determined, are shown as either too aggressive, unexplainably rude, and irritated beings like Nobita’s mother, accompanied with an uncomfortable feminine imagery, or often meek and modest damsels in distress like our very own Shizuka. For instance, even though Shizuka is in the top scorers of her class and quite smart and intelligent, her pastimes include going to piano lessons, baking cookies, and learning to paint. Often, she is attacked by the supposed ‘villain’ of the episode only to be rescued by Nobita and Doraemon’s gadgets. 

Adding cherry on the top is Nobita’s continuous obsession over her so much so that he somehow, always lands up in her house only to see her bathing, which is creepy, to say the least, and, a sexual offense in the 21st century. The makers of the show, for some reason, repeatedly use such bathing and flying skirt scenes in an attempt of, perhaps, weaving a ‘cute’ love story. The reason for the same can be cited as male ideologies monopolising the conversations over female identity and characters in visual representations and theatre across the globe. It can be argued that Japanese society is traditional and the cartoon was created in the 1970s, so maybe it is reflective of a certain time and place, but the pertinent question, then, becomes: why are we seeing it in 21st century India?

 

Featured Image: The Dot and Line

Annanya Chaturvedi

[email protected]

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DUB Speak

Trying to Reclaim Universities: A Melancholic Story

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What happened to the voices of the campus? Where are we with the freedom to express dissent?

 

How do you manage to live in a highly polarised world? Being an apolitical person you can ignore, or if you hold the responsibility of calling yourself political, you can “allege” or “accuse.” But how do you manage to make sense of things when the world being ravaged by hate is your future workplace? For student journalists or the students of media, it’s the most worrying question. There is no doubt that we are facing a massive downfall of the media in the last few years, from the very orthodox and conservative relative to the very vocal and performative activist group. Everyone alleges that it is the media that is creating the ruckus, just the different ones for them.

 

From constantly and directly promoting hatred in the name of religion, targeting minorities, lobbying and creating propaganda around deliberately selective issues, and heckling, there’s almost no ditch that our mainstream media has not stepped into. This is nothing less than a moment of crisis for future workers in this arena. But as I look around, the worry of the future leaves me and the present stress grips me harder. 

 

A few months back, a notice was released to all the DU students that they would need permission from the Proctor to protest. Moreover, there has been an erasure of resistance art from campuses, section 144 was imposed in Jamia for two long months, deployment of police forces inside the campuses has been frequent, violence in Jamia’s library by the police came to light,cancellation of Sarfoora Zargar’s degree, and hundreds of other actions that signify the movement at large to  distance students and campuses from the larger political movement. The administrations, which were supposed to be benefactors of students, have turned into watchdogs bent upon making the vocal universities into apolitical centres of study.

 

 After the pandemic, such tendencies have increased with the batch that did not get to live their campus life. It feels like a gap altogether, as if something was lost that could not be recovered. The admin has taken advantage of this opportunity in the worst way possible. There is an urgent need to revive political deliberation on campuses again.

 

 The trampling down of dissent in any form across all the university campuses is worrisome that should be a public topic for distress. The concept of universities as free spaces for deliberation and discussion has eroded, as has the opportunity for Indian students to have a space to themselves free of hatred and censorship.

 

 So, how do you manage to make sense of things when the world being ravaged by hate is the one you are currently living in? With the help of students who still hold the bravado of sitting on protests, well aware that there can be consequences, and those who are determined to maintain the same atmosphere on campus. With the help of Meenakshi, who did not deter from filling a petition in the court against the arbitary removal of her candidature from the LSR SU elections, with students of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and St. Stephens not letting enablers of hegemony and patriarchy into their campuses, and with the students of National School of Drama (NSD) singing Dheere Dheere yahan ka mausam badalne laga hai while their Chairperson arrives to meet them after a long protest and hunger strike.

Kashish Shivani

[email protected]

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Dear Academic Calendar, Please Have Mercy

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With the pandemic disrupting life around the globe, education faced a severe hit along with all other spheres of society. Unlike other universities, Delhi University’s academic calendar started months after most universities in the country started. But how does this impact life in the varsity?

Delhi University formally commenced the academic session for first-year undergraduate students on 18 November 2020. This was after the delay of almost five months, partly due to the non-declaration of the 12th Board results and partly due to a conscious management decision. Formally, kicking off the admissions in October with the first cut-off list, things have been hectic at the varsity.

The current academic calendar for the first-year is segregated into two parts: November to March and April to July. On paper, this leaves around three months for teaching including the conduct of Internal Assessments. What the varsity failed to consider was the length of the admission process itself. The final date for admissions kept getting pushed and finally came to an end on the 31st December 2020. To get things into perspective that is one and half months of a four-month semester. Interestingly, admissions under all supernumerary categories took place only in December. The loss of academics is to be in some way considered negligible and ignored.

Even if that was to be excused, the calendar is tormenting and tiring. The University scraped off all vacations and holidays except ‘Public Holidays’ which some colleges refuse to recognise as well. Continuous classes, six days a week is draining. Moreover, the varsity doesn’t factor in how this pans out with college societies and extra-curricular culture. Even societies due to the sheer lack of time- pushed and compressed activities, and doubled the workload. There is no time whatsoever to self or any other activity. And before someone plays devil’s advocate to give the argument of time mismanagement, I already plead guilty, but it still doesn’t change that the calendar is suffocating and inhumane.

Another peculiar feature is the mismatch of the first-year calendar with all other years. So while the first-years panic about exams, one might perceive that the seniors are enjoying the prime of their life in the middle of their semester. A role reversal will soon debut in May as well. This incongruence is very likely to affect societies too, especially in colleges that follow the two-year society system.

This makes things quite cumbersome and toxic as the teachers unload magnanimous hours of syllabus per lecture and the students grapple to keep up. Before someone hurls “Even they couldn’t have done anything,” well they sure could have. The Delhi Technical University, more popularly DTU opted for a continuous evaluation system. The likelihood of you reading another one of these pieces with me cribbing about the system is equal, but that way I would’ve learnt much more than I am doing right now. With OBEs and practically no time to study, things seem beyond repair.

Dear Academic Calendar, please have mercy.

Read also: https://dubeat.com/2020/12/freshers-guide-to-online-examinations-obe-2-0/

Image Credits: Indian Express

Mehul Joshi

[email protected]

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Sex Amma: Into The World of Vulvodynia

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A quotidian experience in the lives of numerous women, both young and aged; Amma is here to share her take to make sure it doesn’t hamper your sex life!

Dear Idlis,

A few of you, my cute macchis have been revealing to me about the sensation of pain around the opening of your vaginas on a regular basis or while trying to pleasure yourselves or when your handsome medu vada tries to touch it while cooking up the delicious meal of sambhar for my idli.

No need to worry my macchis as your Amma is here for you, always. A medical condition in nature, the experience of chronic pain around the opening of your vagina is termed as ‘vulvodynia’ and more than 1 million idlis per year suffer from this; with many of them, shying away to disclose the same to their doctors. The pain, irritation or burning sensation becomes unbearable when an idli sits at one place for a long period of time and sex seems like an impossible journey to travel.

My smart idlis do not shy away when you encounter symptoms such as burning, itching, sourness or stinginess around the vaginal opening coupled with painful intercourse with your cute dosa. The pain might be a temporary friend that only makes its entrance when my little idli is provoked while for some idlis, it has become their best friend that makes one feel his/her presence always even without any provocation.

In the same way, some macchis might feel the stinging sensation in their entire vaginal area while some bear the not-so-desirable feeling only around their vaginal opening. One can decipher a similar condition known as vestibulodynia where pain occurs only when pressure is applied for penetration around the entrance of the vagina.

Causes for the above medical condition has still not been deciphered by the doctors but they have delineated some of the factors why my macchis are going through the situation such as hormonal changes, injury to or irritation of the nerves surrounding your vulvar region, allergies or sensitivity skin, past vaginal infections and muscle spasm or weakness in the pelvic floor, which supports the uterus, bladder and bowel.

While vulvodynia can act as a barrier in your sex life, it can also be seen as the beholder of several emotional complications as well such as the birth of another medical condition known as vaginismus due to the bottling up of the fear of sex, anxiety, depression, relationship problems, sexual dysfunction, etcetera; thus making my little idli forlorn. But, don’t worry while Amma prepares for you the remedy curry!

First things first, Amma would advise you to immediately see a doctor or seek a referral for a gynaecologist for the same. Be frank to your gynaecologist about the area of pain, the intensity of pain and the history of your medical life if any; with the aftermath treatment following medications, counselling, physical therapies, etcetera.

My idlis on your part, avoid wearing tight undergarments. Choose cotton ones over any other cloth material. Whenever you wash your malar, make sure you do it with plain water without the usage of any soap or lubricant that will be harsh on your delicate skin. When you try to cook sambhar along with your dosa, use an unflavoured lubricant and also, don’t force yourself to do it just to maintain your relationship. If the pain persists, talk to your dosa and I am sure, my dosa will listen and understand you. Most importantly, make sure you get enough sleep and don’t take too much stress, my macchis!

So, Amma is done for the week on this important yet hidden topic that most of my macchis face daily. If you have any further sex-related doubts, just ping me up.

Wishing all of my macchis and idlis, a healthy genital well-being!

Read Also: https://dubeat.com/2020/10/sex-amma-a-guide-to-fingering/

With love,

Sex Amma

[email protected]

Feature Image Credits: Uncomfortable Revolution

Write to me your sex-related queries at [email protected] and Amma will sort them for you!

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Dear Academic Calendar, Please Have Mercy

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With the pandemic disrupting life around the globe, education faced a severe hit along with all other spheres of society. Unlike other universities, Delhi University’s academic calendar started months after most universities in the country started. But how does this impact life in the varsity?

Delhi University formally commenced the academic session for first-year undergraduate students on 18 November 2020. This was after the delay of almost five months, partly due to the non-declaration of the 12th Board results and partly due to a conscious management decision. Formally, kicking off the admissions in October with the first cut-off list, things have been hectic at the varsity.

The current academic calendar for the first-year is segregated into two parts: November to March and April to July. On paper, this leaves around three months for teaching including the conduct of Internal Assessments. What the varsity failed to consider was the length of the admission process itself. The final date for admissions kept getting pushed and finally came to an end on the 31st December 2020. To get things into perspective that is one and half months of a four-month semester. Interestingly, admissions under all supernumerary categories took place only in December. The loss of academics is to be in some way considered negligible and ignored.

Even if that was to be excused, the calendar is tormenting and tiring. The University scraped off all vacations and holidays except ‘Public Holidays’ which some colleges refuse to recognise as well. Continuous classes, six days a week is draining. Moreover, the varsity doesn’t factor in how this pans out with college societies and extra-curricular culture. Even societies due to the sheer lack of time- pushed and compressed activities, and doubled the workload. There is no time whatsoever to self or any other activity. And before someone plays devil’s advocate to give the argument of time mismanagement, I already plead guilty, but it still doesn’t change that the calendar is suffocating and inhumane.

Another peculiar feature is the mismatch of the first-year calendar with all other years. So while the first-years panic about exams, one might perceive that the seniors are enjoying the prime of their life in the middle of their semester. A role reversal will soon debut in May as well. This incongruence is very likely to affect societies too, especially in colleges that follow the two-year society system.

This makes things quite cumbersome and toxic as the teachers unload magnanimous hours of syllabus per lecture and the students grapple to keep up. Before someone hurls “Even they couldn’t have done anything,” well they sure could have. The Delhi Technical University, more popularly DTU opted for a continuous evaluation system. The likelihood of you reading another one of these pieces with me cribbing about the system is equal, but that way I would’ve learnt much more than I am doing right now. With OBEs and practically no time to study, things seem beyond repair.

Dear Academic Calendar, please have mercy.

Read also: https://dubeat.com/2020/12/freshers-guide-to-online-examinations-obe-2-0/

Image Credits: Indian Express

Mehul Joshi

[email protected]

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Campus Central

In Conversation with The DUTA Treasurer on The Impasse Between the Delhi Government, and DU Teachers

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Abha Dev Habib (treasurer of DUTA), in conversation with DU Beat, sheds light on the impasse between the Delhi government, and the DU administration and teachers, requesting the students to stand in solidarity with the teachers of Delhi University and gauge what has been happening on this front.

On 9th March, DUTA called for a complete DU shutdown, requesting teachers across its 70+ colleges to go on strike. Ms Abha, in this interview, goes on to elaborate on the .. of the issue.

Can you brief us about all the major developments, action steps and a timeline of all the events until now?

The whole standoff between the Delhi government and the University of Delhi started in 2019. And there was a very ugly tussle between the University of Delhi and Delhi Government over Governing Body formation: the formation of Governing Bodies was delayed, and also, who will become the chairperson kind of situation. And this standoff resulted in the stopping of grants-in-aid by the Delhi government to these colleges. 

There are 28 colleges out of which 12 are hundred per cent funded by the Delhi government. The centre gives money to the Delhi government so that the government can forward it to these colleges. So a hundred per cent in that sense, the money comes from the Delhi government. Now, they stopped the salaries of the employees and ever since then, the tussle began. DUTA would intervene and would hold protests, and only then there was a release of salary.

It is extremely unfortunate that through the pandemic, the Delhi government maintained this style of functioning where they would withhold the grants-in-aid. Employees today include a large number of non-teaching staff working on a contract basis, and ad-hoc teachers, thus making it impossible for them to sustain themselves in an expensive city like Delhi. A lot of state universities have already been destroyed by this kind of attitude of the government that salaries are not released on time, and therefore, nobody wants to work in such units.

DUTA wrote to the government, enlisting all these concerns, and even held physical protests during the pandemic, but the government did not melt. Grants should be released so that salaries come on time which then, in turn, helps the teachers and employees to perform to the best of their abilities. Now, I mean, with a lot of restraint due time, these teachers function because we did not call for a strike through the pandemic: teachers were involved in admissions, and OBE examinations; teachers continued to teach despite the fact that they had not got salaries, and they also had to go to court for release of salaries. It was only in November that the salaries were finally released Saturdays and in November, that is released only because the court instructed the ligament to do so, or, uh, November Quebec, uh, uh, there was a, such a short one is, or the inordinate delays in grant. 

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Arts & Culture

Poetry to ‘Prosetry’: Free Verse through Ages

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Giving rise to a new style of writing – prosetry – free verse has been an essential tool since ages ago, and has been increasingly relevant till date.

Free verse reminds one of the voices of resistance and anecdotes of expression, be it as vocal as it was at the Shaheen Bagh protests or as subtle as ‘Instagram poetry’. It has contributed, ironically, what cannot be measured in verses or penned down in words – an abundance of artistic expression, breaking free from what really ‘art’ is to narrate what can be referred to as ‘prosetry’ of individual as well as the collective self of one’s confrontations with the world.  While some have dismissed it as “not worthy” or “not having much to say”, free verse poetry is one of the rawest and most passionate forms of expression. 

Types and Styles of Free Verse

Some free verse poems are so short, they might not resemble poems at all. In the early 20th century, a group who called themselves Imagists wrote spare poetry that focused on concrete images. The poets avoided abstract philosophies and obscure symbols. Sometimes they even abandoned punctuation. 

The apparition of these faces in the crowd:

Petals on a wet, black bough.

  • Ezra Pound’s poetry, Imagist Movement

More reminiscent of a haiku than of Pound’s Anglo-American poetic forebears, this poem packs enormous meaning into a mere fourteen words. In just two lines, Pound describes both a setting and an unspoken mood, as well as a speaker’s perspective.

Other free verse poems succeed at expressing powerful emotions through run-on sentences, hyperbolic language, chanting rhythms, and rambling digressions. Perhaps, the best example is Allen Ginsberg’s 1956 poem “Howl“. Considered to be one of the greatest works of American Literature, the poem consists of 112 paragraph-like lines in more than 2,900 words and can be read as three strikingly lengthy run-on sentences. 

Therefore, free verse goes on to compose a story, tell a tale, and weave a narrative – something that Geoff Ward, a renowned writer and poet, refers to as “prostery”. Even though it doesn’t look exactly the same as prose when penned down, when read out loud, it does make more sense as prose, which further tells us that free verse poetry ‘must be heard’.

Am I good enough?
I’m not really sure.
In fact, I’m sure I’m probably not.
What made me think I could write this poem?
Everyone will laugh at it when they read it,
Or worse, they will be silent and hold their criticism in.
Or worse yet, they’ll say exactly what they think and I’ll be crushed.
Or worst of all, they’ll tell me it’s great but not mean it.
And even if they truly love it, I’ll still wonder if it’s good enough

– ‘Endless Self-Doubt’, Kelly Roper

 

Origin of Free Verse

Tracing its origins can be a daunting task as they appear to be rather ambiguous: the first poets of Ancient Greece composed in lines unstructured by syllables and rhythm at the time lyric poetry was being developed. There are traces of free verse in the Middle English ‘alliterative revival’ (c1350–1500), which was differentiated from Old English verse by its looser structures and many rhythmic variations. Clear instances of the same are ascertained in the translations of The Song of Songs and particularly, King James Version of the Bible (1611) – for instance, Psalm 23, ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,’ which went on to influence one of America’s most influential poets, Walt Whitman. He contributed more to free verse than anyone else of his contemporaries. In his early 30s, Whitman decided to focus on his poetry and began writing what would become “Leaves of Grass,” a collection of poems using free verse with a cadence based on the Bible. 

(Read also: A Brief History of Free Verse)

When ‘Leaves of Grass’ was first published in 1855, his readers didn’t know what to make of Whitman’s unheard-of informality with the reader (‘Listener up there!’– he gestures toward the end of ‘Song of Myself’) and his shockingly raw, revolutionary subject matter… He was criticized for breaking every rule of good form and good taste — of course, this was all intentional on his part.

  • Karen Karbiener, a scholar of 19th century American Literature, NYU

Matt Cohen, a professor of English at the University of Texas, notes that part of what made Whitman special was that he broke the rules of poetry, which at the time meant “writing in rhyme and meter, in stanzas with traditional shapes.” Instead, Whitman wrote in “long, unrhymed lines, with a sort of conversational cadence rather than iambic pentameter or some other meter, and played fast and loose with stanzas and other sorts of organization.” Whitman’s innovations went even deeper. He broke the boundaries of poetry that he believed restricted freedom. In a sense, Cohen believes, by choosing free forms, “Whitman built democracy into his very style.”

20th Century Verse

Free Verse went on to become the centre of the Imagist movement in early 20th century America. Looking back from the 1950s, T S Eliot denoted Imagism as the starting point of modern poetry, when more and more poets began taking up free verse.

The new poetic inclination was not without its detractors, however. In the early 1900s, critics riled against the rising popularity of free verse. They called it “chaotic” and “undisciplined”- the mad expression of a decaying society. In 1916, the American scholar and critic John Livingston Lowes (1867–1945) remarked: ‘Free verse may be written as very beautiful prose; prose may be written as very beautiful free verse. Which is which?’ Robert Frost once commented famously that writing free verse was like ‘playing tennis without a net,’ while the poet and physician William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) said: ‘Being an art form, verse cannot be free in the sense of having no limitations or guiding principles.’ 

On the other hand, proponents of free verse claim that strict adherence to traditional rules suffocate creativity and leads to convoluted and archaic language. A landmark anthology, Some Imagist Poets, 1915, endorsed free verse as a “principle of liberty.” Early followers believed that “the individuality of a poet may often be better expressed in free-verse” and “a new cadence means a new idea.”

Modern Day Verse

In contemporary times, free verse has evolved to produce some of the best forms of artistic work and expressions, which is a testimony to centuries of altered discourses and changed narratives. Einstein introduced his theory of special relativity. Picasso and other modern artists deconstructed perceptions of the world. Technological freedom and the rise of online platforms has to lead to an abundance of artists, writers, poets, just waiting to be heard. With a newly acquired sense of discontentment from the rat race and the search for meaning in life, while also dissenting against what is considered to be the ‘norm’, poetry has come a long way in terms of personal exploration and experimentation. 

Especially with the rise of ‘Instagram poetry’, free verse has broadened, both in existence and understanding. Not unlike before, free verse still implies breaking free from rules and rhymes to express what is necessary – what needs to be written and heard, in a manner free from elitist categorisations or exclusionary meters. The most popular of these ‘Instagram poets’ would be Rupi Kaur, her signature style being short sentences, lower case, free verse, and accompanying illustrations with hidden philosophical implications of self-doubt and self-discovery. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKpo3JAhL5T/?igshid=1ddpud736y0wn

Even though Kaur’s poetry has been controversial and sometimes criticised for being overly formulaic and monetised, penning it down with the purpose of writing what sells. However, despite the existence of such beliefs and notions, from a personal opinionated space, Kaur’s poems are liberating, to say the least for what or who really defines ‘art’ or if it is ‘worthy’ enough or not. Drawing any conclusions as to what is the ‘acceptable’ form of writing or how to create ‘art’ is up to no one.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIzAPqzhKa8/?igshid=110l71no1uxsw

Another one of my personal favourites would be Live Wire which publishes poetry submitted by anyone and everyone pertaining to dissent, expression and everything art.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CLzKU36h7ue/?igshid=1r660qphklv2a

It can turn out to be one of the strongest means of dissent and asking the right questions and sometimes, just having a voice to pen down verses of resistance.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CC1iNyqJUIo/?igshid=vg5fhzmazzny

Such poetry also becomes an outlet for altered discourses and deconstructing, and then reconstructing narratives. The purpose, then, is not to create ‘art’ or pen down something to be read by generations to come but just voicing out your epiphanies and ensure your being amid the uncertainty of things. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CLbPN9NBWMI/?igshid=1f4pc5kvpiuij

And sometimes, that’s exactly what they are – ‘prosetry’, narrating beautiful memories and telltales.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CL1_LW5ADIU/?igshid=1f6l2rzppm2xr

What, then, becomes rather interesting is how the continued digressions from its commonly perceived understandings, free-verse poetry today stands for anything and everything devoid of any limitations, accompanied with illustrations, colours and paints, so as to achieve its sole absolute purpose – expression. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CER6rKsACI0/?igshid=py8qbbohb5wr

Therefore, today, poetry dominates the literary scene and only time would tell its lasting impression as wheels on the sand of passing time.

Read also:

https://dubeat.com/2020/03/from-ghalib-to-rupi-kaur-poetry-in-modern-times/

https://dubeat.com/2018/03/slam-poetry-history-culture-and-views/

Featured Image Credits: Unsplash

Annanya Chaturvedi

[email protected]

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