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Game of Thrones: Season 7, Episode 1 Review

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This post contains spoilers. Please read at your own discretion.

After a long, long, long time, the penultimate season of Game of Thrones is finally here. I’m sure a few of my hair strands have turned white. This season brings a lot of loose ends to a definite end – at least, that’s what everyone’s hoping. With only seven episodes this season, it’s shorter than the typical 10-episode seasons in the past. Season 7 will primarily focus on the battle between the living and the dead: the Great War is here.

The King in the North is busy gathering men, women (proto feminist Jon Snow), and children to fight against the ghastly Night King. This is one of the few times where Jon Snow knows something. The tension between Jon and Sansa is very palpable, predictive of massive disagreements between the siblings. Littlefinger continues to irk Brienne. He’s like a woodpecker that will keep pecking onto Sansa’s head unless he achieves what he wants. However, Sansa, who is seen subtly admiring the Mad Queen, Cersei, has learnt her tricks from the best manipulator in Westeros. It’s the least to say that she’s no longer a 14-year-old naïve dove. Amidst this brewing tension, Tormund is occupied with attempts to land a date with Brienne of Tarth.

From across the sea, Daenerys with her enormous armada, three fire-breathing dragons, and a witty Hand, Tryion, has crossed the narrow sea. Anchored at Dragonstone, Daenerys Stomborn has finally reached home. Khaleesi is now back in the game, and hopefully she’s to stick around for more than a minute. Back in King’s Landing, Cersei resumes to necking wine at an admirable rate and military plotting. Standing in the middle of the freshly painted map of all the kingdoms, she’s shown emphasising to Jaime the allegiance of Daenerys with Tryion, her younger brother whom she despises with all her heart. This conversation obviously leaves Jaime in an awkward situation and you can already see the possibility in which he would have to make a choice between his sister and his brother. Later in the episode, Cersei shocks Jaime with a prospective allegiance with Euron Greyjoy, who proposes marriage to Cersei in exchange of his fleet. This makes Jaime uncomfortable, leading to an overall not-so-great day for Jaime, to be honest.

Arya Stark after removing Walder Frey’s name from her list poisons the remaining Freys in their own castle. There’s one thing for sure – let the host gulp his wine before you sip it. Ed Sheeran makes an unsubtle cameo and Arya shares a roasted rabbit with him, and that’s a sentence I never thought I’d say. Oh wait! There was also blackberry wine and a couple of other soldiers. The Hound finally witnesses the Lord of the Light and cracks up jokes.

At the Citadel, Sam is bored with his monotonous routine and is curious to find substantial information about the white walkers. And Little Sam has learnt to say ‘Mom’, how cute! In one of the cells is an anxious Jorah who is desperately waiting for Khaleesi. The grayscale has gotten drastically worse.

The episode, Dragonstone, isn’t a very fast-paced episode with nerve-wracking tension. It serves the purpose of sketching out what’s to come later this season. It definitely prepares the viewer to witness colossal and interesting battles. As Game of Thrones lurks closer to the end, it’s becoming more and more difficult to wait for every episode. With all the hype that has been created around this season, and a huge filming budget, the viewers are definitely expecting a fantastic two months. Pretty much all the characters are at the peak of their journey and the show is inching closer towards the climax. The lingering question of who – or, as Ser Davos said, whose skeleton – will sit on the Iron Throne is yet to be answered.
Feature Image Credits: YouTube

Rashim Bagga
[email protected]

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DUB Speak

AIB: Comedy turns serious

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“Knock, knock”

“Who is there?”

“OFFENCE”

“I will take the entire batch.”

This is not a joke, and none of the Indian comedians are courageous enough to take the blame of such offensive and obscene content. The above joke shall therefore be buried as an act of public indecency, never to be talked about again.

In a country where comedians are taken too seriously and the politicians, every five years, tell jokes for a living, the favorite pastime of the people is marinating themselves in ignorance and narrow mindedness while they fill up their bellies with moral policing and irrational conventions.

Soure: humanrightshouse.org
Soure: humanrightshouse.org

One such incident happened recently when the famous comedy group All India Bakchod, or more commonly known as AIB, posted an image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s lookalike at a railway station along with a photo of the PM with a Snapchat dog filter, captioned #wanderlust. This might be funny to some, but it gathered a lot of unnecessary heat. AIB was bombarded with criticism and this began a Twitter war of words (which, by the way, is a phenomenon more consistent than the Indian monsoon.) AIB was accused of insulting the Prime Minister and hurting “national sentiments” which might make a certain lot of the population wonder as to when did the country put all its nation’s respect, culture and emotions in the hands of a minister and what exactly is the “insulting” part in the above accusations.

 

Source: MediaNama
Source: MediaNama

An unexpected overreaction came on the part of the Mumbai Cyber Police when an FIR was filed against AIB’s co-founder Tanmay Bhat on Friday, 14th July. The FIR?was registered under section 500 of IPC and 67 IT act (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) at the cyber police station at Bandra-Kurla Complex.

Although this cannot be regarded as an obstruction of freedom of speech but in a very clear and bold manner, confirms the ill state of the narrow minds of the citizens. This entire drama testifies the intolerance instilled in our blood. Not only that, it brings out the fact that we as a nation are not only global leaders of the service sector but are also pretty good at picking up a not so significant issue, labeling it as one and then blowing it out of proportion. This is not the first time we have observed such an outrage questioning the basic institution of liberty. In many prior cases, comedians have received death threats, legal actions have been issued and have even been victims of public outrage both online and offline.

This  has become such a hobby that we have started taking offence in our liquor instead of ice and if “taking offence” was an Olympic sport, India will surely come second, because, well, we would still have corruption in sports.

 

Image Credits: india.com

 

Vardaan Suri
[email protected]

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Admissions 2017

Book Launch: A Feminist in the Making by Dipanvita Sehgal

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Dipanvita Sehgal’s Debut Novel, A Feminist in the Making was launched on 8th July 2017 at Oxford Bookstore, CP. The event was as glammed up as glammed up can be. For a first Book Launch, triple the amount of estimated guests turned up out of which more than 60% were random visitors and members of Oxford Bookstore and were simply awestruck by Dipanvita’s story’s Synopsis.

Everybody just grabbed seats and sat down to hear her speak and then a roaring applause followed after each and every question that Dipanvita answered in the Q and A round. She linked the idea to current affairs and topics. She explained the unfairness of GST on basic necessities like Sanitary napkins and explained to some readers why Feminism and Tolerance are of utmost importance in today’s sad era and state of affairs. Oxford Bookstore, CP worked as an amazing host, the staff was cordial, snacks were delicious and wonderful pictures were taken for four hours straight. Some of the most famous Bloggers of the city turned up for the show and while they usually listen to the event and go sometimes, Dipanvita’s repartee, well-articulated ideas and superb extempore answers were so impressive that they all took Dipanvita’s Publicist and Manager Nikhita Anil’s (CEO and Co-Founder, MadPro Media) number so that they could contact her to fix interviews with Dipanvita and to invite her for talks, discussions and Career Counseling Sessions.

Many people from the Literati visited and encouraged her and put some amazing and thought-provoking questions on the table to which Dipanvita had the most crisp, concise and witty replies. Many important people visited from Schools and want Dipanvita to drop in to share her inspirational story and to discuss Feminism and Gender awareness with the students. So many strangers walked up to her and said she is very inspiring, took pictures and autographs and hugged her before they left. Dipanvita got late and stayed on at the Store for everybody till 10 in the night because she did not want anybody who wanted to have their copy signed, to go back home disappointed. She patiently answered all the Interview questions and gave due time to everybody around including people who wanted to have a personal chat about life, love and depression with her. Idea Pulp Entertainment made a long cover Video of Dipanvita, of some close associates who had read the book and of new buyers and their inclination to buy a copy. The response was overwhelming from all the quarters. We have a strong feeling that this novel is on its way to becoming a Bestseller!

 Go grab your copy of A Feminist in the Making now by clicking on the following links:

 

Indian Readers can purchase their copy at Amazon by clicking here. 

Or at Flipkart by clicking here.

For readers across the globe, you can get the novel here. 

You can visit the Author’s website to know more about the author or check out her FB page to stay in touch and get the latest news about her novel.

 

By

A Feminist in the Making Team 

 

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Admissions 2017

The Great College Debate: College Vs Course & North Campus Vs South Campus

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The long and tiring admission process in Delhi University which dominates the imagination of aspirants since the beginning of March means taking multiple important decisions. With the onset of this season comes the dreadful pressure of making life-changing choices. While we certainly can’t dictate what you ought to do, we can list some pros and cons to help you make a worthy decision.

 COLLEGE VS COURSE

The juncture where most students get stuck is the great debate of college vs course. On one hand, you have your dream college and on the other, you have your favourite course. It is a tough call to make but there isn’t any one answer that is right for everyone.

The faculty members of Delhi University are good at their jobs all over and great professors aren’t just restricted to a few colleges. So the difference in the ranking of colleges is usually a result of other factors and not solely because of a lack of the quality of the faculty. However, it is a fact that a high-ranking college does make a positive difference to your CV. Therefore, for those who feel this factor to be essential in their chosen field can choose course over college. On the other hand, if one aims to pursue research and higher studies in one particular subject then choosing course over college might just be the right decision. As a Department of English professor says, “Before choosing a stream, the student should understand that a college tags for three years while the discipline tags throughout the career.”

The choice of college or course also depends on the career path one has chosen. If your career is leaning towards co-curriculars, it makes sense to choose a college that has the best society or team for your chosen field. At the end of the day, what matters is if you are getting the most out of your choice.

(Anagha Rakta)

[email protected]

 NORTH CAMPUS VS SOUTH CAMPUS

The north campus of the University is the natural first choice of all Delhi University aspirants thanks to its sprawling Lutyens-esque buildings and its rich alumni. But with the perennial growing standards of and around the colleges outside the University enclave, are north campus colleges really worth blind-shots?
A majority of students and professors around the University deny the supremacy of the north campus colleges and believe that the chosen course is what really matters. A University professor from the Department of English opines, “The faculty across the University are evenly qualified. Hence, there is no scope of relatively mediocre teaching standards in any college of the University. The professors across the University would unanimously agree that the preferred course should not be compromised at the cost of campus, or college, for that matter.” In this light, the varsity also allows the student to switch colleges in the second and third years on the basis of the marks scored throughout the year.

For non-educational aspects, both the campuses have a culture entirely unique to themselves, without either being inferior. Satya Niketan in the south and Hudson Lane in the north, along with other marvelous hangout zones around almost every DU college, ensure a brilliant time for every student of the University.

Both campuses have their own special charms and unique factors and it is impossible to say which one is superior. Whatever side of the city you choose, your campus will give you immense opportunities to make the most of your college life.

(Nikhil Kumar Thakur)

[email protected]

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Admissions 2017

LIVE: DU Colleges begin releasing the second cut-off list

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After the first phase of admissions done and dusted with, the University of Delhi will be releasing the second cut-off list tonight. Before that, individual colleges have started releasing lists on their respective websites. The varsity has received over 2 lakh applications for admission into 60 undergraduate programmes.

The University has uploaded a consolidated second cut-off list for all colleges on its website. You can access it here.

Here are the live updates on the cut-off lists as well as colleges. (You can check the cut off list by clicking on the names of individual colleges) 

College wise list:

6:55 PM : Maharaja Agrasen College  has also declared its second cut off with 94.5% for B.Com Hons. The college also offers B.A Hons. Journalism for 93.5% for the general category.

6: 40 PM: Maitreyi College has also declared opened its portal which would declare the second cut off.

6:35 PM: Shivaji College has declared its second cut off with B.Com Hons having the highest cut-off at 96.5%. The college offers 1% relaxation to girl candidates for all its courses.

5:55 PM: Zakir Hussain College has also declared its second cut off with cut-offs for several courses going down.  The college would be admitting students from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM starting from 1st July to 4th of July.

5:45 PM: Daulat Ram College has released its second cut-off with B.A Hons Psychology grossing the highest at 96.50%. Meanwhile, the admissions have been closed for several courses like B.A Hons. Political Science and B.A Hons. History.

5:20 PM: Kirori Mal College releases its second cut off with B.A Hons Economics  at 96.75%. Admissions for course like B.Sc Hons Physical Sciences, B.A Hons. English, B.A hons.Urdu and  B.A Hons. Sanskrit have closed admissions in general category.

5:00 PM :  Shri Ram College of Commerce

The admission process for phase 2 will commence from tomorrow and will register applicants till July 4th. Candidates who meet the requirements can visit the college between 9:00 am to 1:00 pm on July 1st, 3rd, and 4th. The subsequent steps to complete the admission process can be found here.

Admission process under the first cut-off list culminated on June 28th, 2017. The first bout witnessed a low uptake, with the students experiencing technical glitches, confusion about the requirements, and the high cut-offs dampening the admission day reach.

If you want to withdraw your admissions from any college you can follow the procedure mentioned here. 

We will keep updating the list as and when the colleges announce their cut-offs. Stay tuned!

 

Feature Image Credits: University of Delhi

Saumya Kalia
[email protected]

Srivedant Kar
[email protected]

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Features

Love Matters India launches India’s 1st Virtual Reality film to generate awareness on ‘Intimate Partner Violence’

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Keeping in tune with its agenda on creating awareness on key issues among the youth in the country, Love Matters India launched the first 360/VR film on the issue of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in Delhi and Mumbai on the 17th June 2017. The film ‘Kya Yahi Pyar Hai’ uses virtual reality to narrate a powerful story and connect with young people through immersive storytelling experience.

The film ‘Kya Yahi Pyar hai’ was conceptualized by Love Matters India to generate awareness against controlling relationships that are seen and understood by the young people as caring ones, reiterated by the popular culture. Intimate Partner is defined as “any behavior within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological or sexual harm to those in the relationship, including acts of physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviors.” Social norms are identified as the dominant drivers for IPV in India. However, there is a high level of reluctance from both men and women victims to talk about violence in their relationship.

Bollywood celebrities like Swara Bhaskar, Gul Panag and Konkana Sensharma took to twitter to support the campaign and talk about this issue.

Speaking on the above initiative Vithika Yadav, Head of Love Matters India said”-“We managed the film launch in both Delhi and Mumbai simultaneously and it feels great. The response to the film has been very good. People are interested in knowing about more screenings that we’ll organize across the country. Next we”ll be organizing free screening of the film across Delhi Metro stations using VR booths, from 21st to 30th June (2017) . The panel discussion on popular culture was really engaging and though provoking views shared on how it can inspire, guide, motivate, rule the mind and even sometimes mislead people.”  

Sharing her experience while making the film, Co-Director of the film, Gayatri Parameswaran said, “Directing this 360/VR experience was challenging on many levels. Firstly, we had to leave the scene every time we hit record because we couldn’t be in the film. In 360, everything is captured. So it helped that we trusted the actor, Arjun, quite a lot. And for him it was difficult too – acting with a camera as your opposing character, isn’t easy! But I’m glad about how it has all shaped up.” 

As part of this campaign Love Matters India  partnered with Social Offline in Delhi and Mumbai, a chain of pubs/ restaurants, to install 360 film viewing booth with VR headsets. The Delhi Metro will also have film viewing booths set up across 10 metro stations in Delhi for 10 days. The launch was kickstarted by a Panel discussion on the topic “Control and Care in popular Culture in India” followed by the screening of the film.

About Love Matters:

Love Matters is a global multimedia project engaging young people to talk about love, sex and relationships, with a presence in 5 countries around the world: India, Kenya, China, Latin America (Mexico and Venezuela) and Egypt. Love Matters believes love, sex and relationships should be a right, a choice, and a pleasure. The first step towards making this possible and having an impact on young people’s lives is offering access to information. LM India is the first bilingual sexual reproductive health (SRH) site to offer comprehensive youth-friendly information in English and Hindi. Since the launch of the bilingual site on January 14, 2014, it has had over 20 million yearly visitors, and has the current website monthly reach of 2 million visitors. Their Facebook community has a following of more than one million making it the most popular sexual health Facebook page in India.

 

By Love Matters India Team

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Daulat Ram College

Admit Card Blunder Leaves Students Miffed

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Many students studying Journalism Honours and Psychology Honours under CBCS guidelines received information about the Skill Enhancement Course’s external and internal assessments’ final marks distribution from their college’s faculty members close to the date of their final examination. With the dates of receiving this information varying in different colleges, students from Journalism Honours in Kamala Nehru College (KNC) learnt about the same from their teachers hours before their examination. Interestingly, the confusion of the Psychology Honours’ batch of Daulat Ram College (DRC) was clarified only upon receiving the question paper.

The discrepancy was found out in various colleges upon receiving the admit card. Students of Journalism Honours in KNC and Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) found a 50-50 marks distribution for external and practical assessment for SEC in their admit cards. While KNC students had been studying the course keeping the 50-50 distribution in mind, LSR students were uncertain as they had been following the 75-25 marks distribution, with 25 being allotted for internal assessment. Students from other colleges also underwent similar confusion. “Our admit cards said that the SEC paper that was documentary production would be of 50 marks. But the paper actually was for 75 marks.”, said Aditya, a Journalism Honours student from DCAC.

The situation varied across different colleges and different departments. In certain colleges, the final distribution came to the students’ knowledge quite late, while in certain colleges like Indraprastha College for Women (IPCW), there had been no discrepancy about the same neither in the admit cards, nor with the faculty.

The entire situation around the distribution of marks created confusion and hustle among students. “We were pretty confused since we didn’t know how the marks would be divided and how we are supposed to answer had it been for 50 marks.”, said Utkarsha, a Psychology Honours student from Daulat Ram College, where no clarification from the faculty had been received regarding the SEC Emotional Intelligence paper.

DU Beat reached out to faculty members, but received no comments from their end. There is still uncertainty whether the discrepancy had been for the Journalism Honours and Psychology Honours courses only.

Such action by the college administration as well as the faculty members makes us question whether the students’ best interests are really at heart. After all the formalities and unnecessary steps the students are forced to go through to receive their admit cards, such a massive error with regards to the marks distribution is a careless mistake by the authorities. Students who prepared accordingly, having faith in the college administration and the teachers, were shocked on the day of the examination. With all the buzz around exams and the pressure on students, why was this matter handled so inadequately by the authorities?

 

Priyal Mahtta
[email protected]

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Miranda House

Miranda House Installs Digital Signages

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Under the “mapped by digital vision” program, Miranda House has installed a hundred QR Code acrylic scanning sheets at several important places across the campus like the library, canteen, classes etc. Miranda House’s Principal, Dr. Pratibha Jolly, feels proud on taking a step towards making technology more accessible to the visually challenged.

The digital signages work through a customised smartphone app that sends out digital signals when a user is found in a proximity of three feet of the QR Code. The app identifies that location and gives  signals in the form of verbal messages. These messages direct the visually challenged to the direction and number of steps to be taken to enter a place. “If a student wants to meet me, the digital signage in the office corridor gives a warning about the glass door and verbally directs the student on how many steps she should take to reach the spot”, said the college’s principal.

The digital mapping program was undertaken by the college’s “Enabling Society – Lakshita”. The society also carries out a program, “Samdrishti” under which student volunteers guide the visually challenged around the campus, to metro stations, or to bus stops. The initiative of installing digital signages is an extension to the program which adds to making the college’s campus more accessible to disabled students.

By taking such an initiative, the college has taken a big leap towards making Delhi University’s campus more disabled-friendly. The technology may prove to be a boon for students as well as volunteers during the admission season, enabling students to move around in the campus independently.

 

Feature Image Credits: The Indian Express

Priyal Mahtta
[email protected]

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Campus Central

Off-Campus Colleges’ Highlights – 2016-17

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The University of Delhi (DU) has always been recognised by its top league colleges, such as St. Stephens, Hindu, and SRCC. But of late, even its off-campus colleges have been garnering attention. What with their exceptional performance in both the academics and fine arts, these colleges have become just as worthy of a shoutout as any other college in DU.

Here’s a brief timeline about the highlights of the off-campus colleges in the last academic year:

Feature Image Credits: Lakshya, Kamala Nehru College

Deepannita Misra
[email protected]

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DUB News

A Beautiful Journey at DU Beat – Aditya Rathore, Design Head (2016-17)

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I still remember the day when I was called for my DU Beat interview. After 3 continuous rejections, it actually happened. But why did I so badly want to get into DUB? Because I used to think that this organisation has rockstars in its team and damn, I was right!
Had it not been for DU Beat it might have taken me a lot more time to discover what I love doing. Thank you DUB for making my college life a beautiful journey and giving me a bunch of amazing people as friends who are passionate about what they do. Each moment spent here will be missed :’)

Signing off

Aditya Rathore
Design Head 2016-17

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