The Central Board of School Education (CBSE) has decided to begin its procedure of re-evaluating the class XII board examination marks of students from 24th May. On the other hand, the University of Delhi (DU) is expected to begin its admission procedure soon, thereby creating misalignment in the two schedules.
Media house NDTV reported yesterday that the CBSE had written a letter to Professor Tarun Kumar Das, Registrar, DU, to align its undergraduate admission procedure according to the CBSE’s own re-evaluation schedule in order to avoid hassles for the applicants.
This year, the CBSE had announced the class XII results on 2nd May, which is much earlier than it usually does. In fact, just 28 days after the exams got over. This was following a Delhi High Court order. According to the report, the results came around three weeks ahead of the usual schedule, and even prior to the Indian Certificate for Secondary Education (ICSE) exam results.
NDTV quoted a board official as saying, “The Delhi High Court had asked all the boards to finish the result process before the undergraduate admissions begin so there is no hassle about pending results and students being stuck.”
It also quoted a statement of the Board, “CBSE will be completing its re-evaluation process also at the earliest. Now, the University of Delhi has to fix the last date of submission of application in such a manner that the work of re-evaluation is over prior to the last date of the admission process.”
The directive of the High Court, acting on which the CBSE had declared its results earlier this time, came after a student was denied admission to Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR) last year because of delayed re-evaluation by the board, despite scoring the requisite marks to get admission through the first cut-off list, Indian Express had reported. “The student, who had originally secured 95.25%, qualified for admission in the college’s BA (Honours) History programme after her score was increased to 96.5% post-re-evaluation. However, her re-evaluation was completed by the CBSE, two weeks after admission to the course was closed”, the report said.
A clash between the dates of DU undergraduate applications and CBSE re-evaluation schedule could affect students who wish to apply to the university with their re-evaluated marks.
On 15th May, 2019, a girl named Paridhi (@the_centaur on Instagram) posted a series of stories, revealing the cyber harassment one of her friends faced while applying for an internship on Internshala.
Internshala is one of India’s largest website providing students with ample opportunities for internships at different companies across the country. As of 2018, the platform has 3.5 million students registered and 80,000 companies associated with them.
On 15th May 2019, a girl named Paridhi uploaded stories talking about the kind of cyber harassment one of her friends underwent with regards to an internship offer from a company named Zvaari.com. Paridhi’s friend went on Internshala to look for an internship, and was contacted by a person from the aforementioned company, who made claims about working with graphics for Nike, Facebook, and Apple. But, to her, these did not add up to the information present on the website. The person also asked her for a deposit of INR 2,400 to provide her with a secure laptop for work purposes, claiming that the money would be refunded. After realising that this offer did not sound safe, the girl decided not to go for the internship.
Thereafter, she received explicit and inappropriate images and messages on her WhatsApp. After multiple such complaints were reported to Internshala, they mailed applicants an advisory note to inform them that they have blocked the company from using their platform as the company “violated their policies”. Unhappy with such a response, Paridhi used her Instagram account to post her disgust for this issue and she gathered support from her followers to repost her stories so that Internshala would take some concrete action.
Part 1 of the stories shared by Paridhi. Image Source: Instagram account of ParidhiPart 2 of the stories shared by Paridhi. Image Source: Instagram account of Paridhi
Paridhi’s stories garnered an immediate outrageous reaction and Kavya, a worker from Internshala, went ahead to message a private apology to her. She updated her on the situation and told her the actions Internshala is willing to take to further strengthen their verification procedures, in order to avoid anything like this in the future.
When DU Beat contacted Kavya, she responded by stating, “This is a very unfortunate incident and no student should have to experience this. We deeply apologise to the students for the extremely poor experience. We have a huge sense of moral responsibility towards our students and while we are handling this issue, we are also looking on ways to strengthen our internship authentication process further so as to avoid any such issue in the future.” She also went on to elaborate the verification procedure undertaken by Internshala, and added that in this particular case, the employer had registered from an official email address, had provided a functional website link, Facebook page, and his phone number was verified via a one-time password (OTP) so that he could be traced if required. Kavya went on to add that Internshala has acknowledged the student’s complaint and, as per the standard operating procedure, has blocked the employer account on the platform and sent an advisory email to all the other applicants of the same internship. She also stated that given the gravity of the situation, they are also exploring possible legal actions that can be taken against the employer and have informed the student about the same. She stated, “We are deeply pained by this incident and are committed to providing all necessary support to the affected students.”
This form of cyber bullying and harassment has increased over the years. Girls receive explicit images, texts, and even rape threats on their personal mobile numbers. For it to happen via a seemingly secure platform, popular among the youth, like Internshala speaks a lot about the lack of cyber security, as well as the sexually violent and frustrated mindsets of men who feel safe enough to harass girls under the veil of technology. Such acts of oppression against females are examples of power struggle and hypermasculinity girls all over the world are fighting against.
Social media, in such cases, has turned out to be a boon in some cases by empowering the violated ones to speak about the problems. These people, or their well wishers, have fortunately come up, sharing their stories of such unfortunate instances on their social media platforms and garnered support from people. More power to these young women who are not shying away from taking a stand, going out there and telling their stories. It is a jarring world and support does change things.
Feature Image Source: Instagram account of Paridhi (@the_centaur)
The youth forming a dominant share of votes, is a major vote bank for the political parties. Despite this, the representation of youth in the Lok Sabha is a concern in our country.
India is a young country with a median age of 27.9 years. By 2020, youth will make up 34% of the country’s population. 45 million young people, having become eligible to vote as they turned 18, have been added to India’s electoral roll since 2014, according to 2018 data from the Election Commission of India. This has expanded the voter list by 5% since 2014.Thus, the youth forming a dominant share of the vote bank, certainly forms an important determining factor of 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The irony here is the pride that India takes in being a young country but has the least representation and an ageist prejudice towards the representation of youth in the political arena. Only 2.2% of the members of Lok Sabha are below the age of 30. The gerontocracy problem of Indian political system makes politics inaccessible to the youth with their issues and representation not being addressed. Though we are set to exercise our vote on 12th May 2019, 670 million young Indians including many first time voters don’t have a fair representation of the youth demographic through young candidates fighting for Lok Sabha elections.
Ignorant, immature, impulsive, carefree are some of the adjectives associated with the youth in India. It is believed that youth can’t understand politics and stand for the issues of their community therefore, the age of candidacy to fight for the elections being 25.The youth with their strong will to be the change makers in their community find it difficult to navigate their way forward in the ageist prejudice existing in the Indian Political system. To solve the fundamental social evils of the society politics should be taken as a serious tool to bring about change and not just post retirement plan of people. Mobilization of the youth and their increased representation in the Lok Sabha will surely act as a lubricant for social change.
While we cast our vote on the 12th May, we need to be prudent while choosing our leader and take a step towards solving the gerontocracy problem of India.
The world has started seeing a rise in parents adopting the method of homeschooling their kids. Let us understand what it actually is and how it functions.
Homeschooling is a method of schooling adopted by numerous parents across the globe where they choose to educate their children at home instead of sending them to traditional public or private institutions.
Parents follow this route for a variety of reasons like dissatisfaction with the traditional curriculum and methods of teachings at school, lack of progress of their children among others. Padmashree Tapepalli, an education consultant while discussing the reasons which led her to homeschool her kids said, “In a class of 30 students, you can’t expect a teacher to teach according to the need of each of them. She can only follow a single method of teaching within a stipulated time given to her. So, it’s obvious that every child doesn’t get individual attention.”
Though homeschooling has become a common phenomenon in many countries, it is still emerging in India. There is an absolute lack of awareness regarding the method in the country. Government of India doesn’t legally allow homeschooling, but on the other hand, if someone wishes to take his/her kid out of school and homeschool them, the government wouldn’t interfere. Thus, this confusing contradiction has restricted its proliferation even further in India.
Homeschooling has resulted in some shining examples. Sahal Kaushik cracked IIT JEE, at the age of 14 with AIR 33. He was also the first rank holder in Delhi. He was homeschooled by his mother who quit her job as a doctor to focus on her son’s education.
Homeschooling offers a variety of advantages. It opens the possibility of a plethora of innovative learning ideas. Unlike schools, it provides flexible learning timings and atmosphere. Instead of getting mixed in the crowd of numerous students, the child gets undivided focus. Thus, individual student needs can be fulfilled. Apart from learning experiences, it helps strengthen the bond between the parents and the children which otherwise gets weakened due to lack of time spent with each other.
But, homeschooling has also met with certain apprehensions from various corners. Some people strongly object the concept of homeschooling and argue that schools aren’t just about academics but they also inculcate confidence and life skills.
Tania Joshi, Principal of The Indian School said, “As a concept, homeschooling is more popular in the US. In the Indian context, it seems difficult. I do not recommend it. If a parent opts for homeschooling, they have to be of a level where they can match the capacity of three to four individual teachers in a school. Teaching a child is not an easy job and unlike a school, a home does not have the resources.”
Minimal interaction with the outside world and lack of capability among parents to teach their kids distinct subjects are some of the drawbacks of homeschooling.
Homeschooling, as a concept holds immense potential with few cons here and there. Careful regulation and fulfilling the shortcomings might do wonders if homeschooling is adopted as seen in various cases.
The University’s contracted sanitation workers continued to raise their demands by organising a hunger strike, two days after the May Day protest.
Starting around 9:30 a.m, the safaikaramcharis (sanitation workers) of the University of Delhi (DU) supported by multiple student organisations, sat on a hunger strike to raise demands of securing their livelihoods, among other things. This comes after a protest that was organised on 1st May 2019 on the occasion of International Labour Day.
The safaikaramcharis were supported by various student organisations. Among these were students from Students’ Federation of India, Parivartankami Chhatra Sangathan (Pachhas), Pinjra Tod, Collective etc.The hunger strike was marked by sloganeering, speeches, songs sit-ins, and a display of solidarity, went on near the Faculty of Arts building of the University from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
The protesters demanded reinstatement of jobs following change of tender, permanent jobs for permanent work and payment of held up salaries, Provident Fun, Employees’ State Insurance and bonus amounts.
However, unsatisfied with the response of the administration, the protesters had decided to carry out a signature campaign and a hunger strike on the following two days.The following day, the protesters organised a signature campaign. Over 400 students from different courses and colleges joined in to express solidarity with the safaikaramcharis.
However, even after today’s proceedings, the protesters said there had been no response from the side of the administration. Thus, to carry on the demonstrations, a protest outside the Deputy Proctor’s office and a rally have been scheduled for 4th May and 6th May 2019 respectively.
On talking to DU Beat, Diya Davis, a member of Pinjra Tod and one of the protesters present at the venue today, said, “It is very clear that the University is hand in gloves with NexGen in terminating the workers. This is to simply teach a lesson to all workers that if they demand for fair wages and other constitutionally granted rights, they will be easily replaced. Workers organizing and raising voices against their exploitation threatens the admin and these private contractors.”
University of Delhi (DU) saw an assembly of professors and teachers standing in solidarity with the safaikaramcharis who faced a threat of losing their jobs.
On the occasion of May Day, gate number four of the Arts Faculty of DU saw hundreds of safaikaramcharis (sanitation workers), professors and students assemble today in a protest to fight for the rights of the contract sanitation workers of the varsity who, working for over a decade, were now in a position to lose their jobs.
The protest saw active participation from various student organisations like Parivartankami Chhatra Sangathana (Pachhas), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), Pinjra Tod and others.
Various student organisations and sanitation workers protested on May Day.
Since 2005, the safaikaramcharis had been contracted by the University administration – the principal employer – through a company called Sulabh International. However, the company, branded as a ‘social service organisation’, had allegedly not provided fair wages, bonuses and payments to savings and social security schemes like Provident Fund (PF) and Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) of the workers.
Moreover, with a shift of tender to a new company, Nexgen Manpower Services Pvt Ltd, a large number of safaikaramcharis were said to be in the danger of having their jobs laid off from 1st May onwards without any prior notice.
We were also told by Sumit Kataria, Vice President of SFI Delhi State, that some safaikaramcharis who had filed a labour court case against Sulabh International were being specifically targeted and denied jobs.
In light of all this, the protesters put forth the following demands: one, immediate reinstatement of jobs; two, permanent jobs for permanent work; three, payment of pending PF and ESI amounts.
The protesters gathered in front of the Arts Faculty building, where slogans were shouted, speeches were delivered and voices were raised. A memorandum, addressed to the Vice Chancellor, was submitted to the Deputy Proctor. The memorandum stated the aforementioned demands along with asking for payment of amount deducted from the salaries of the workers from August to October 2018.
Memorandum submitted by the safaikaramcharis to the University administration.
However, as told to DU Beat by Sumit Kataria, no firm response or assurance was given to the protesters by the administration. The administration supposedly told the protesters that they could only request both the companies to come to some form of agreement to provide jobs to the workers on ‘humanitarian’ grounds.
This was also reflected in a press release issued by Pinjra Tod today, which also read, “The workers made it clear that their struggle against the administration as the Principal Employer will continue and only intensify”. According to the press release, the protesters have also planned a signature campaign and a hunger strike in order to keep raising their demands.
Another statement by SFI read, “This struggle is also in order for the university to take back the 100 workers who were fired this year due to the changing of the contractor. It is also a struggle to realise the necessity and importance of the work done by the safaikarmacharis. It is the legal responsibility of the university to provide a stable workspace that provides financial security to its workers.”
Deepak, a member of Pachhas, said, “Poore desh ke andar thekedari ka kaam karaya ja raha hai, basically theke ki system ke khilaf ladai hai” (contractual work is prevalent across the country, this is a larger fight against contract-based work).
A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court on 24 April set aside a previous Single Judge judgement, which had called for starting afresh the process of appointing the Principal of Hindu College.
The appeal was made by the Governing Body (GB) of Hindu College against a previous judgement of the High Court, dated 27 November 2018, which had said that there was “no transparency in the whole process” (of appointing the college Principal) and had issued directives for the procedure forward.
The previous appeal had been made by Dr Ratan Lal, Professor at Hindu College, who had alleged that the selection procedure had been arbitrary and had discriminated against him owing to his Scheduled Caste (SC) background. He had alleged that the selection procedure was an “eyewash” and that the selection of the Officiating Principal of the college, Dr Anju Srivastava, as Principal had been “pre-decided”.
However, the Division Bench of Justices S. Muralidhar and I.S. Mehta set aside the previous judgement of the Single Judge. Broadly, this judgement touched upon three questions – of the composition of the Screening Committee, of awarding Academic Performance Indicator (API) scores to the applicants and of allegations of mala fide against the committee.
The Screening Committee was supposed to be formed by the GB of the college to form the list of applications eligible for the post of the Principal. According to University guidelines, if any of the applicants was an SC/ST/OBC/Women/Minority/PWD candidate, it was required for the Screening Committee to have an academician – nominated by the GB – representing those categories, if a member of the committee did not already belong to those categories.
Dr Lal had earlier alleged that the committee lacked an academician representing the SC category. The Single Judge had acknowledged this and directed the formation of a new committee, ensuring SC representation.
The Division Bench, however, ruled differently. “The learned Single Judge erred in holding that the person so nominated has to belong to the very category to which the candidate belongs. For instance, if the Applicant is a person with disability of a particular kind, like for e.g., hearing impairment, it is not necessary that the said academician has to himself or herself be hearing impaired. Such an interpretation would make the provision unworkable. It is sufficient that the academician nominated belongs to anyone of the categories”, the judgement read.
Moreover, the Court also ruled in favour of the appellant in concluding that Screening Committee did not discriminate against Dr Lal. The Court said that the Chairman of the GB was only one of the members of Pre-Screening Committee (PSC) – constituted by the University to scrutinise the applications – and the Screening Committee and that it would not have been possible for him to influence the decision of each of the other members of those committees, who themselves were “experts in their respective fields.” The judgement further read, “apart from some vague allegations which remained unverified, and unsupported by credible material, Respondent No.1 (Dr Lal) has not been able to substantiate the plea of bias or a deliberate attempt by the PSC and the Screening Committee to keep him out of the race.”
An API score of 400, based on criteria like research publications, was needed for an applicant to be shortlisted for the interview stage of the selection process. Dr Lal had self-assessed an API of 496, however he was awarded 95, which was later revised to 128 points. The Court recounted previous judgements of the Supreme Court and opined that it should “leave the decisions of academic matters to the experts who are more familiar with the problems they face than the Courts” as long as “there is no allegation of mala fides against the experts”.
The Court did not find any discrepancies in how the API scores were awarded. “Respondent No.1 was not being singled out by the PSC for the reduction of his API score to 95. This downward revision took place for other candidates as well… If, as alleged by Respondent No.1 the Screening Committee was ‘hand-picked’ in order to eliminate him from the race, it need not have revised his API score upwards (from 95 to 128) at all.”
Dr Lal had also raised objections over the API of 405 awarded to Dr Srivastava, who had also applied for the post. However, the Court, being of the opinion that it fell beyond its expertise to decide the merit of individual applicants – “The Court cannot substitute itself for the Committees and decide who is the best among the candidates for the post” – did not adjudicate on whether the API awarded to Dr Srivastava was justified.
On the count of mala fides submitted by the advocate appearing for Dr Lal, the Court said, “Here it is pointed out by Mr. Kapur (the advocate of the appellant) that despite Respondent No.1 having been barred from holding any administrative post, consequent to disciplinary proceedings against him, an NOC (No Objection Certificate) was given to him for applying for the post of Principal that showed that there was no bias harboured against Respondent No.1 by the Appellant.
In the present case, the pleadings concerning mala fides were nonexistent. Even the allegation made during arguments in this appeal regarding the education expert in the Screening Committee being ‘a close relative’ of an Advisor to the Appellant, is too vague and general to merit serious consideration particularly when it is not even pleaded in the writ petition. Further, it is not shown how this has affected the decision of the multi-member Screening Committee… there was no basis on which the learned Single Judge could have come to a conclusion as regards mala fides”.
To conclude, the Court stated, “the impugned judgment of the learned Single Judge is hereby set aside.” Image credits- Scroll.in
In the second part of the ‘DU Mandate’ analysis series, DU Beat examines the opinions of the students regarding the opposition – strengths, weaknesses, leaders and more.
The opposition parties have tried coming together using various permutations and combinations. The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have formed an alliance along with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) to contest the crucial UP polls. Other leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Chandrababu Naidu and H.D. Kumaraswamy, among others, have shared the political stage and given the call to “save democracy”. There seems to be an understanding within the opposition parties that defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won’t be easy without some form of an alliance.
The BJP has targeted the coming together of parties who have previously been hostile towards each other and has questioned the “mahamilawat” (great adulteration) for having no clear indication of a possible prime ministerial candidate.
A majority of respondents felt that lack of a clear prime ministerial candidate from the opposition would do it average to fairly high degree of harm.
The narrative of the BJP seems to be resonating with the people. On a scale of 1 to 5, corresponding to the degree of harm, 29.6 percent respondents were of the view that lack of a single prime ministerial candidate from the opposition will do average harm to them, while an almost equal percentage (29.3) said the harm would be of a “fairly high degree”.
Perhaps this idea of a single face being a crucial factor for winnability could have been tempered by a coherent agenda, which could have been seen as a major selling point. However, as per the survey, when asked to select three biggest strengths of the opposition, ‘visionary agenda and programme’ drew the second lowest percentage of votes (12.3 per cent) (This was before launch of the Congress’ manifesto). The biggest strength was considered to be ‘consolidation of non-NDA votes’ with 61.19 per cent votes. ‘Dissatisfaction with the current government’ was voted by 49.3 percent respondents as one of the three biggest strengths, while ‘strong voter bases of individual parties’ stood third. Hence, while the opposition may not have been able to offer a constructive alternate agenda, the government’s disappointing performance could make people turn to it, especially because of the popularity of the regional parties. However, with the recent release of the Congress manifesto, a largely welfare-based document, this shortcoming might be mitigated to an extent.
A similar sentiment was seen in the results for the biggest weaknesses of the opposition. ‘Incapable leaders/unclear leadership’ drew 54.7 percent votes while ‘lack of a strong agenda and programme’ and ‘possibility of forming an “unstable” government’ were selected among the three biggest weaknesses by 51 percent and 44.8 percent respondents.
Opinion was evenly split up on nature of the opposition alliances.
One issue perhaps lying at the root of these alliance complications was the nature of the coalitions. Since each party would try to cater to its own interest, it won’t be willing to ally with every party everywhere. Hence, a single nation-wide coalition hasn’t come about.
The survey result on this question illustrates this complexity. While 35.2 percent respondents believed multiple state-wise alliances would be better than a single national coalition (29.1 per cent), the supporters of the latter aren’t few either. More interestingly, the ‘can’t say’ option, in fact, drew the maximum vote share of 35.7 percent – indicating a general lack of consensus on the matter.
Rahul Gandhi was voted the leading face of the opposition.
When asked to select a maximum of three leading faces of the opposition, 78.1 percent selected Rahul Gandhi, while Mamata Banerjee pulled in 52.7 percent. Akhilesh Yadav stood third with 38.2 percent respondents selecting him as one of the three leading faces of the opposition. Some respondents even came up with some creative responses.
The opposition drew a majority of 3 or less rating points out of 5.
Another question asked the respondents to rate the opposition parties and leaders on a scale of 1 to 5, the latter being the highest. Like the rating for the government, the opposition too peaked at a rating of 3, with 30.5 percent votes. A 2-point rating was nearly neck to neck with 29.8 percent votes. However, the contrast between the ratings for the opposition and the government seemed to be on the extremes. While the government had been rated 1 and 5 by 14.3 and 13.3 percent voters respectively, the opposition drew a higher percentage (24.1) of votes at the lowest extreme; only 4.4 percent respondents gave it a 5-point rating.
In a nutshell, 84.4 percent voters gave the opposition a ‘very low’ to ‘average’ rating. In this same range, the government drew 62.1 percent votes. Conversely, 65 percent respondents had given the government a rating of 3 or more, that is, ‘average’ to ‘very good’; the opposition got 46 percent cumulative votes in the same categories.
Conclusion
The government with its largely mediocre performance, some major detrimental decisions and failures resulting in deteriorating conditions in various spheres, still seems to be slightly more popular than the opposition. The narrative about the opposition as comprising “corrupt” and “opportunist” parties that could form an “unstable” government if in power, as publicized by the BJP and its allies, seems to be resonating with the people. The loss of credibility that the opposition parties have suffered since before the 2014 elections and after, despite some state election victories, perhaps makes them a worse option in the eyes of people. So, even if voters are disappointed with the current government, some of them might still lean towards voting it back to power due to a perceived lack of alternatives.
Where the opposition can get its game right, is by forming strong regional alliances to challenge the BJP. Consolidating non-NDA votes can happen by tapping into the strong voter bases of individual parties. Breakthroughs in states where these parties are powerful can help sway the election results at the national level.
Image credits –
(Feature image) HuffPost India
Graphs – ‘DU Mandate’ by DU Beat
New to Podcasts? This guide will help you with a list of four Indian podcasts that will open your eyes and of course your ears to this incredibly informative platform.
There’s a war going on and it’s being fought for your attention. Every day, new applications mushroom in dorm rooms across the world. Existing tech behemoths are spending millions to convince you to spend just a few more minutes on their product. Your attention has never been valued as highly as it is today and the corporations will do just about anything to grab a larger portion of the cake.
In a war like this, you are the sole protectors of your attention and your brain, in extension. There are myriad options and you can choose where to spend that attention. It’s safe to say that for a lot of us, books have gradually disappeared as contenders and the video format is emerging as a strong winner in this race. When we’re not watching Netflix, we’re watching Prime Video.
The podcast, while being a widely known format is surprisingly not widely used. It’s probably because we as a generation have been bombarded with so much visual content that it has become our standard for stimulus. Shifting to a new format of receiving information can require a little time and effort. But, the podcast universe has plenty to offer, it has something for everybody and it’ll be nice of you to give your eyes some rest during the long metro rides to college.
The Indian podcast scene is booming with new ideas and discussions and with some research you can find what suits you best. However, to get you started, here’s a list of four Indian podcasts that will open your eyes and of course your ears to this incredibly informative platform.
Ask Aakar Anyhing
Mr. Aakar Patel is a writer and a columnist who has an answer to every question. The weekly show witnesses Aakar answering questions that readers send from across the country. Their topics of concern cover everything from architecture to pornography. The show is out of the ordinary, it teaches you and makes you think. The answers are witty and insightful and without realizing it, twenty minutes later you’re an expert conversationalist on Japanese architecture.
Two young and extremely intelligent journalists take you through a journey about India, its rich history and cultural complexities. This podcast talks about seemingly random things with global implications. Unlike the two podcasts above which talks about multiple things in one episode, the intersection chooses to focus on one topic and both the hosts have substantial and well researched material to assist their arguments. The topics range from India’s homegrown dog breeds to fundamental errors in the Taj Mahal. Random? I warned you.
Our last week is a weekly comedy podcast hosted by comedian Anuvab Pal and actor Kunaal Roy Kapur. In every episode, they discuss the week that went by in terms of the news and the events that occurred in their personal lives as well. They describe themselves as “just two guys trying to make sense of it all.”
This show can be considered a veteran in the Indian Podcast scene; it has been on air for the past six years and is hosted by well-known comedian and political satirist, Cyrus Broacha. Every week the hosts invites other Indian personalities pursuing their hatke careers and another segment follows where a panel is formed to discuss news, politics, culture, and urban life in India.
For a city that has all kinds of people under its fold, the Keralite is no different. The experience of being a mallu in Kerala may seem like it is for any other outstation students but is that the case? The reality may seem far from commonly understood notions. Here is a thought on the same
Dilli walo ki Dilli. A beautifully, polluted city, with its noises, midnight weddings, and of course varied people and cultures. A mini India on its own, here lies the famous Delhi University. A University, that many aspire to live ‘the’ college life in. A University that attracts thousands of students from all over India and to the students from Kerala is no exception.
Like everyone else who comes to this interestingly unorganized mess, the Malayali ventures forth, not knowing the language or the culture, mostly because of an uncle or aunt that migrated years ago. Otherwise in hopes of seeing places beyond home beyond the watchful eyes of his/her parents. Struggling to fit in and learn the language otherwise fitting in too well. Being a Malayali in DU means you are not alone. There is and always will be a Kerala fraternity to look after you. A community that you somehow become part of, not even realizing that you never stepped out of your birthplace “The God’s own country”. One leaves Kerala, only to be back here again.
The Malayalis have and always will remain in DU. They are leaving behind their cultural legacy. A reminiscence that shall follow. The community has not only become an integral part of the university campus but has also contributed immensely to its growth. The Malayali community has been successful in establishing literary circles and societies on the campus. An apt example would be Maithry an organization started by a few Stephenians in 2015 and has been active till now. It has a democratic election that includes every single Malayali in DU, who are democratically elected. The members of Maithry provide help desks to make it easier for Keralites to have smoother admissions all around the DU Campus. It also organizes Freshers for the students. Maithry was able to contribute around ten lakh rupees in the chief minister’s relief fund for Kerala Floods. It also organized Onam an ethnic festival of Kerala, which had Mr. Shashi Tharoor as the chief guest. “Maithry was also able to provide scholarships to six students last year that included their annual fees, an initiative that we began in memory of two Malayali students who passed during their college here in DU,” informed Mr. Mehroof, the president of Maithry that that is the Malayalai Student’s fraternity, Delhi University.
In fact, the Malayalis have also been able to establish their cultural identity in individual colleges as well. The Malayali literary society of St Stephens College is a very good example. The society was successful in organizing a fund collection drive for Kerala victims. It also celebrated Kerala Piravi and Onam in the college, where hundreds of students both Mallus and non-Mallus came together with women wearing the traditional set saree and men, wearing the mundu. Du beat was able to speak to Mr. Ashish the present of MLS (Malayalam literary society, St Stephens college)
Being a mallu in DU is equivalent to being in a world of its own with its own differences. There seemed to be a subtle difference amongst the community with respect to the community. A faction referred to as, the Delmals. The individuals, who are born and brought up in Delhi being Malayalis. The chemistry between these two kinds of people may at times be not the most perfect but they do learn to live together though having cultural difference despite having the same identity.
The simple fact cannot be overlooked that each Malayali will have his own subjective differences with respect to the experiences gathered from their college lives. One thing is but certain that no matter what, the Malayali community in DU has always been together in supporting homesick students, helping them find another home here and spread the Malayali “thanima” all around, for many more years to come.
