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Ishika Gupta

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Dubbed as an amateurish gang of wishful attention seekers in the last Assembly Elections, Aam Aadmi Party has definitely jolted some and stirred many. Witnessing a landslide victory in the 2015 assembly elections, AAP’s victory could be accredited to its one of a kind campaign which was primarily based out of social media.

Today we are in conversation with Ankit Lal, the Operational Head for social media talking about the strategies used in branding and re-branding of Aam Aadmi Party with the frugal amount of campaign donations they had; turning it one of the most exceptional victories of the time.

Ishika: Hi, Ankit it’s a pleasure to be doing this interview with you. Thank you for taking out the time. To begin, let’s talk about your association with Aam Aadmi Party. What has your role been so far?

Ankit:  I was a part of the formation process of AAP and I have been with India Against Corruption (IAC) since April 2011, when the andolan started gaining traction. I was part of the process that deliberated what to do next and how to take this thing forward. I am a founding member of Aam Aadmi Party, so since day 1, I have been associated with it.

Ishika:  When Arvind Kejriwal resigned after being the Chief Minister of Delhi for 49 days, the public lost faith in him as their leader. This consequently had an adverse effect on his public image as well. What do you think went wrong and what did you do to rectify it?

Ankit: It didn’t happen immediately. That was something that was put in the mind of people by the media and other parties over a period of time. Immediately after Arvind resigned, the sentiment was not anti-him. It was like what has happened? People were questioning. What happened was that we were not able to provide the right answers and other people provided the wrong answers to those questions.

Ishika: Aam Aadmi’s party funding has always been a matter of scrutiny for both the party and general public. How important do you think social media has been for you bring about transparency and also motivate further donations?

Ankit: We are a party which is short of cash. So, social media was a way through which we could organically reach the target audience that we had. The news that is being created on social media gets percolated onto traditional media and the newspapers. So that’s why social media was an easy target, something that we could use with the frugal amount of money we had and it worked for us.

Ishika: When Kejriwal left office last year, several negatively connoted hashtags were doing the rounds on the Internet such as #Mufflerman but you managed to spin it off in a positive manner in just a few months. How did you make it happen?

Ankit: The Indian audience still needs to mature a lot. Humour is not understood as well as it should be by the Indian audience. So, that is something that will grow as we proceed. The Viral Fever and All India Backchod had been approaching us for quite a while, and then of course Kiran Bedi played a great role in our victory.

There were questions that were on people’s mind and we wanted to answer to them. So we found various ways to answer these questions. One of them was through hashtags and the other through Facebook videos. Similarly, #Mufflerman was a volunteer driven campaign. It was being used by BJP from September end onwards to October. Then one of our volunteers came up with the idea that let’s do something positive about it.

Ishika: Now that Arvind Kejriwal has become the Chief Minister of Delhi, what are you planning to do next? What are the steps you will be taking to maintain the stature you have built so far?

Ankit: We plan to improve on the image that we have created so far. In the next few months we will take this forward and try and see how exactly we can social media an enabler for people to reach out to government as such. This is a target that I have in mind. I would also encourage the DU students to use social media as a tool for change rather than just for fun.

Kyunki tum hi ho, ab tum hi ho, meri aashiqui ab tum hi ho” sang out the hearts of Miranda House girls on seeing Aditya Roy Kapur and his Daawat-E-Ishq co-star, Parineeti Chopra.

The duo and team had plans of visiting four colleges of Delhi University namely Miranda House, Hindu College, Hans Raj College and Ramjas College as a part of their ‘Daawat-E-Ishq Delhi University College Canteen Trail.’

Reaching almost three hours late for the promotion of their film, starting with Miranda House, they earlier left the girls anticipated with several false alarms. Until finally when they reached the event, they were welcomed by excited Miranda House girls vying to get Aditya’s attention by singing romantic songs from his previous blockbuster, Aashiqui 2 out loud. He reciprocated the love for his fans by clicking a selfie covering the entire audience present at the Miranda House hostel mess.

“It is crazy how these stars keep visiting the colleges. These are the perks of being in the Delhi University. I am awestruck”, remarked Inisha Chatterjee, a first year student at Miranda House.

[gallery ids="26188,26186,26192,26185"] South Indian delicacies such as Utthappam, tri-colour idlis, Upma, muffins and Litchi juice were offered to the stars, who tasted the various dishes and appreciated the food. Later on, both of them stopped in the auditorium to give away some ‘Daawat-E-Ishq’ t-shirts and talk to several media houses present there to cover the event. The second visit was a short one to Hindu College, where the actors spent barely 10-15 minutes tasting the canteen food. “I enjoyed Miranda House a lot, it was amazing, and all the attention from my female fans was giving me positive energy. I feel it was a great privilege to have freedom after so many years of school. I would advice college students to go enjoy with their minimal budget, eat street food, maggi, vada pav or whatever the trend is in Delhi, but never to carry dabbas.” Agreeing with Aditya, Parineeti added, “It is not cool to carry dabbas in college, do whatever but don’t carry dabbas. Also, there were no boys in Miranda House and I was getting bored there. Miranda and JMC should start getting some boys. Though, it was fun dancing in Hindu.” Image Credits: Swati Verma for DU Beat]]>

Kyunki tum hi ho, ab tum hi ho, meri aashiqui ab tum hi ho” sang out the hearts of Miranda House girls on seeing Aditya Roy Kapur and his Daawat-E-Ishq co-star, Parineeti Chopra.

The duo and team had plans of visiting four colleges of Delhi University namely Miranda House, Hindu College, Hans Raj College and Ramjas College as a part of their ‘Daawat-E-Ishq Delhi University College Canteen Trail.’

Reaching almost three hours late for the promotion of their film, starting with Miranda House, they earlier left the girls anticipated with several false alarms. Until finally when they reached the event, they were welcomed by excited Miranda House girls vying to get Aditya’s attention by singing romantic songs from his previous blockbuster, Aashiqui 2 out loud. He reciprocated the love for his fans by clicking a selfie covering the entire audience present at the Miranda House hostel mess.

“It is crazy how these stars keep visiting the colleges. These are the perks of being in the Delhi University. I am awestruck”, remarked Inisha Chatterjee, a first year student at Miranda House.

South Indian delicacies such as Utthappam, tri-colour idlis, Upma, muffins and Litchi juice were offered to the stars, who tasted the various dishes and appreciated the food.

Later on, both of them stopped in the auditorium to give away some ‘Daawat-E-Ishq’ t-shirts and talk to several media houses present there to cover the event.

The second visit was a short one to Hindu College, where the actors spent barely 10-15 minutes tasting the canteen food.

“I enjoyed Miranda House a lot, it was amazing, and all the attention from my female fans was giving me positive energy. I feel it was a great privilege to have freedom after so many years of school. I would advice college students to go enjoy with their minimal budget, eat street food, maggi, vada pav or whatever the trend is in Delhi, but never to carry dabbas.”

Agreeing with Aditya, Parineeti added, “It is not cool to carry dabbas in college, do whatever but don’t carry dabbas. Also, there were no boys in Miranda House and I was getting bored there. Miranda and JMC should start getting some boys. Though, it was fun dancing in Hindu.”

Image Credits: Swati Verma for DU Beat

In sports like cricket and football you have a stadium full of 80,000 fans cheering for you. In mountaineering, it is the opposite. In the solitude of white mountains and blue skies you have to motivate yourself to win against the vagaries of nature while at the same time live your dream of reaching the top.

Such is the story of Saachi Soni, 20, a BA (Hons.) Mass Media and Mass Communication student from Indraprastha College for Women, who has gone on to achieve laurels for herself and her country as India’s youngest woman to have been selected for an expedition to Mount Everest by the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. She was also the first from the country to reach Mount Elbrus, Europe’s highest peak.

Unlike other students of her age who used to spend their vacations watching movies, visiting grandparents or joining summer school, Saachi, then 7, used to go snow skiing in the valleys of Gulmarg and Manali. That’s where she fell in love with the Himalayas. Seeing her admiration for the mountains and realizing her potential in adventure sports, her father got her enrolled for basic and advanced courses in mountaineering, snow skiing, water and rescue search operations.

The young girl’s passion for mountaineering defeated every hardship that came her way. Throughout her teenage years she trained and scaled summits in Gharwal and Sikkim Himalayas like Mt Bandarpunch (21,600 ft), Mt Renok (18,000 ft), Mt DKD (17,800 ft) and Mt VC Roy (20,000 ft), before getting selected by the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling for the first ever student expedition to Mt Everest (8.850 ft).

Her selection for the expedition was based on a rigorous training program, in which she had to scale two technical peaks wearing shoes weighing 2kgs each and carrying 25kgs loaded bag packs. Saachi says these were the 14 crucial hours when she felt she was carrying her entire life over a distance of 40kms.

And as she describes the obstacles she faced, her travails take on a new meaning.The young mountaineer experienced low oxygen levels, bleeding through the mouth, an empty stomach, fierce wind, steep crevasses, and avalanches. The most devastating was seeing the dead bodies of her fellow climbers lying on the way and being faced with the dilemma of whether to help them or move forward and save oneself.

Towards her ambition to climb the highest peaks of all the seven continents, she recently scaled the summit of Europe’s highest peak, Mt Elbrus in Russia. “We were 12 climbers from different parts of the world. I was also named the “mountain machine” of the team because I was the first person to summit the peak. The climate was extremely harsh and there were moments when I wondered if I’ll be able to return back to my family and friends. When I looked down from the crevasses, I could see no end,” she recalls.

“My expedition was flagged off by the Home Minister of India. Despite winds blowing on my face at the speed of 200kmph and standing with my feet bleeding due to shoe bites, I was emotional when I unfurled the tricolour and sang the national anthem. It was a proud moment, I kissed and bowed at the peak and thanked the mountain for allowing me to step on it.”

Saachi’s daily 6 hour rigorous training schedule on an average includes running for 10-15kms, weight training, push-ups, swimming, yoga and playing football in the college grounds with the children of the staff quarters and nearby slums.

S-quicktime

Often, her ability to manage college studies with training comes into question. But she is strongly supported by Dr Babli Moitra Saraf, Principal, IP College who says the college believes in walking the extra mile to enable those who show special abilities. Saachi Soni has been bestowed several awards like The Best Student Award, Principal Honor Roll Call and Young Achievers Award by the college. She is also grateful to the Vice Chancellor of DU for providing her waivers for examinations and helping her achieve her dreams. Funding for expeditions can sometimes be a task as arduous as climbing a mountain peak itself and Saachi relies heavily on government and private firms for sponsorships.

The young ‘mountain machine’ is determined to bring a change in the perspective towards mountaineering as an adventure sport and career option. Currently she works with WWF India as a motivational speaker to promote mountaineering by the producing videos and photo journals on the topic.

Her future plans include improving infrastructure facilities for mountaineers in India and introducing mountaineering and climbing as sports at the school level. She feels this would be the best way to hone leadership qualities in students and prepare them for hurdles in life.

We wish Saachi Soni all the very best for all her ventures!

The second day of Illume 2014 carried forward the quizzing sentiment from the first day with students from various different colleges turning up for the event in large numbers. 90 teams from DU, engineering institutes as well as a unique team from DPS Siliguri competed with each other, out of which 5 teams were selected for the final face-off.

The day was divided into two quizzes – Estadia, the Sports quiz and Ambiente, the Environment quiz. Mr. Harneet Singh of Quizworks fame was the quizmaster for the day. Adding to the second half of the day was the presence of people from the NGO – Aman Biradri invited as guests.

The winners who stole the day away with their performance were Manan, Shraishth and Arnav from Hansraj, second prize was won by Vinayak, Prashant and Raghav and the third prize by Harshit and Prateek for the sports quiz. Mukund, Fardeen and Debobroto from St. Stephen’s College won the first prize for the environment quiz with Vinayak, Raghav and Paras and Akshay, Anurag and Utkarsh bagging the second and the third positions respectively.

The winning team from St. Stephen’s said, “The level of the competition is mind-boggling and the quiz master makes the event all the more interesting. The kind of effort put up by the quiz society of SRCC is praiseworthy.”

Apart from the cash prizes being offered by the college, another thing that caught everyone’s eye was the prestigious trophy called the Illume Cup which would be awarded to the most consistent team with the best performance on the third day.

Ishika Gupta is BA (H) Mass Media and Mass Communication student at Indraprastha College for Women. Working with the Marketing department is giving her the much required exposure to the corporate world which enables her to build strong customer relationships and create a value for customers and DU Beat. Dancing, designing, journalism, fashion, traveling, exploring new avenues are some of her things that interest her a lot.