The students of the University of Delhi witnessed a sudden chaos on Sunday when there were lack of space issues at the centres of School of Open Learning (SOL) on the first day of the personal contact programme (PCP).
The students filed also alleged that they haven’t received any of the study materials so far. Many of them also alleged that certain colleges even barred them from entering the place thereby making their journey futile. One of the students at the centre described the situation as one of “complete mismanagement”.
Shubham Tiwari, a student who travelled all the way from Loni, Ghaziabad quoted, “There was no proper planning and several students had to stand in the classroom. However, nothing was taught due to the delay and only orientation was conducted.”
Another student from first year, B.A. Political Science added, “The entire day was wasted. They shouldn’t have announced that classes would be conducted if they hadn’t planned properly.”
Acknowledging and addressing the problems faced by the students, the members of SOL’s Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) said in a statement, “We condemn the mismanagement and complete lack of preparation.” It also alleged that colleges like Hansraj and Satyawati did not conduct classes citing that they hadn’t prepared the timetable.
One of the students of SOL said, “Thousands of students returned disappointed and angry as their travel expenses went waste. The hasty manner in which CBCS has been implemented will result in no study material for optional papers being made available to students, which would only result in mass failure in exams.”
In response to chaos that happened at the centres, Mr. C.S. Dubey, director of SOL quoted, “We are working towards improving the situation and have planned to add more classrooms at the 35 centres for PCP classes. The study material will be provided to students online by next week.”
On this Teacher’s Day, these alternative techniques of teaching give a newer perspective to the rugged old system. They highlight how education system can evolve with the ever-changing world, and keep up with the needs of the 21st century students.
It’s funny how my aunt and I share an age gap of 20 years, and yet she and I studied for our class 12th from the same book. The ideology followed in 1970s is the same that is being used today, even after witnessing an IT, economical and industrial revolution.
The students are often put to the same rat race, with lack of practical and relevant knowledge in pure, blind thirst of marks. This system shapes great cramming skills, but professional ones lack manifold.
Here are few alternative theories of teaching that need to be learnt by our education system:
Flip the classroom:
One of the best alternative teaching methods is implementing a flipped classroom. Rather than lecturing in class, students watch or read lessons at home, and complete hands-on experiences while in class. This helps the student to have their own interpretation of the topic and not feel left out in the class. The “homework” becomes the lesson, and the “lesson” becomes the action! It also gives them enough time to prepare questions and analyse the chapter well.
From the only one to one-to-one:
It’s amusing how countries like Australia have introduced robotics in their national development schemes but India, the country on the frontline of IT revolution is light years behind. One single teacher in a class of 40 students prevents holistic learning of each student, also adding pressure on the one teacher to reach all the students. Using personal technology as a tool will be a great boon. This could include the use of interactive websites, web quests, videos, and other activities, and could even be utilised as a tool for quick formative assessments and class dialogue. Many research have shown that because of class pressure, many students even hesitate to ask questions, this is a great alternative for that.
Nawang Dolma, first-year Philosophy student, Daulat Ram College said, “My history teacher only teaches in Hindi, which I don’t know well, being from Ladakh. It becomes a huge problem for me in class. I have to go back home and see video lectures in English.”
This method also helps to accommodate diversity in schools and colleges.
Colour scheming, all the way:
A lot of students have a huge problem memorising information, especially in Arts courses. Teaching through the medium of different colours helps in clarity and visual comprehension of information. This also helps in making mind-maps, which get imbibed in the mind much faster and stronger. This alternate method takes you away from the rusty book to a more clarified text.
How Genius is Genius Hour:
An hour dedicated to the practicality of the lesson. Throughout college and school, students always ask this question, “Where will I use this concept?” This hour will answer that question. Not only this, it will help students realise the scope of their text, but will also act as a navigation for their respective careers. A great tool for motivation and rejuvenation. It also helps in putting context to otherwise bundles of just paragraphs written unsystematically. Think how much less annoying Mathematics would’ve been if we had known where trigonometry would work, other than the dreaded exams.
Game-based Learning:
Turning philosophers to gamers is the most experimental ideology of all. This alternative method of teaching, uses games, both offline and online, to familiarise students with a concept. Offline games like playing hide-and-seek in monuments to learn the history of the era combine the exposure of the field trip, while making information more relatable to students. On the other hand, online games have an entire variety to choose from, games like Quiz Up that help in daily assessment, or one of the most popular games that is sure to get students’ attention is the new education edition of Minecraft.
Games will not only help the students learn the content, but also further develop their 21st century skills.
All of these new and contemporary teaching techniques will give rise to a new generation of thinkers who look beyond the old textbooks-notebooks, who are the need in today’s India. Students should be more about being vocationally skill-oriented, than being all about marks. They should be able to have different interpretations and knowledge than that of the ones who passed educational institutions 50 years back. These techniques focus on that very aim.
Let us explore a lesser-known tale of the plagiarism controversy surrounding Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the man whose birthday is celebrated as Teachers’ Day.
Before being ordained as the second
President of the Republic of India, Dr.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was a scholar
whose expertise on comparative religion
and philosophy was espoused with
extensive research and studies.
His academic career, which started as
an Assistant Professor at Presidency
College in 1911, allowed him to make
several disciples at various academic
stages of his life. When he eventually
became the President of India in 1962,
some of his students went to meet him
to seek permission to celebrate his
birthday on 5th September, which he
politely declined and rather asked them
to celebrate Teachers’ Day on that day.
And ever since then, 5th September is
celebrated as Teachers’ Day in India.
However, there is a controversial aspect
of his life that is not discussed very often.
It was an infamous case of literacy piracy
that blotted Radhakrishnan’s reputation
in the late 1920s.
In January 1929, Mr. Jadunath Sinha, one
of his students and a brilliant lecturer at
Meerut College, accused Radhakrishnan
of extensively plagiarising from the first
two parts of his thesis titled “Indian
Philosophy of Perception”. Mr. Sinha had
completed his master’s from Calcutta
University in 1917, and had then applied
for the prestigious Premchand Roychand
Studentship in 1922, for which he had
to submit his thesis in instalments. He
submitted the first and second parts in
1922 and 1923, respectively, and the
remaining installments by 1925. Dr.
Radhakrishnan was appointed as the
examiner for Sinha’s thesis, and had to
read the second volume, and the other
subsequent volumes of the thesis.
Professor Sinha revealed that though
Radhakrishnan’s book Indian Philosophy
Volume II was published in 1927, he
noticed the plagiarism in Radhakrishnan’s
book from his thesis only in November
1928. Two months later, Jadunath Sinha
vented out these allegations through
the magazine- Modern Review. In
the subsequent months, the matter
worsened for Radhakrishnan as another
book by him, titled The Vedanta
according to Sankara and Ramanujan was
accused to have paragraphs plagiarised
from Mr. Sinha’s thesis. Mr. Sinha wrote
three consecutive letters in the February,
March, and April editions of Modern
Review inhibiting his accusations.
In August 1929, Professor Sinha sued Dr.
Radhakrishnan in the Calcutta High Court
for the charge of copyright infringement
of his original works, claiming INR
20,000 as damages. In September,
Radhakrishnan counter-sued him for
defamation demanding INR one lakh.
Jadunath Sinha was a revered professor
and initially managed to get sympathy
as well as support from fellow Bengali
professors. They were convinced of
the plagiarism, but subsequently
refused to stand as a witness for him
in the court. On the other hand, Dr.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was a relatively
powerful figure at that time, too. He
was brought to Calcutta University by
the eminent academician Professor
Ashutosh Mukherjee, whose son and
the founder of Jan Sangh, Mr. Shyama
Prashad Mukharjee was a dear friend of
Dr. Radhakrishnan. He forced Professor
Sinha to settle the matter out of court
and, owing to the pressure, he finally
succumbed.
Power and politics play an essential role
in academia. The recent English syllabus
controversy proves that academics is
not free of powerful political influences.
The story of Mr. Jadunath Sinha and Dr.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan is symbolic of
this power-play in academics. It makes
us wonder if the traditions we follow
need to be reviewed and analysed for the
power dynamics they bring to life, over
and over again.
We all talk about the problems and difficulties in the lives of students, but we always forget to mention the difficulties that professors face.
The job of a teacher is considered as a fixed-time job by many. A lot of students talk about how a professor just has to come, speak for an hour, deliver lectures, and go back and enjoy the rest of the day. But the real question is that, is their job as easy as it is thought to be? The answer to this question comes in many forms.
Becoming a professor is not just a day-job that can be turned off after working hours. It changes the way of life, as it changes the way one acts, and you cannot truly turn your academic brain off. Their job is not just restricted to the classroom. It is taken to their home as well. For instance, writing assignments is the work of students, but correcting them and offering ways for becoming better is the work of the teacher. Correcting assignments of 50 students is not done in a single day. If a student takes an hour to write a test, the professor will also need some time to read and correct it. It is a result of hours of hard work.
The work of a professor is also not limited to delivering lectures. It forms a much wider perspective. Once you become a teacher and are responsible for a bunch of students, you are not responsible just for their academics, but also their overall growth. Where the right or a positive professor can lead to the rise of a student, the negative one can lead to their fall. Everything a teacher does has the power to influence the students.
Bharati Jagannathan, a permanent faculty at Miranda House said, “The job of a professor is easier in comparison to other private corporate jobs as they have to work for longer shifts. However, there are other difficulties in our lives. It depends on what we are looking at. For instance, teaching the same paper over years is not difficult as we just need to brush up our knowledge. But taking a new paper increases the difficulty. We need to spend hours in college where we do not even have our personal space. The people in the administrative department have their cubicles, but we are required to share the same room with other professors. The work is also not confined to just college, as we need to prepare for our lectures, read and check assignments every day.”
Mridul Megha, an ad-hoc professor said, “Being a teacher is not easy, but it is exciting. Moreover, being an ad-hoc professor is a little difficult because the fear that we will have to sit for interviews again in the next semester and we might or might not get the job is always there at the back of our mind. As a result of this, we are also not able to associate ourselves with a single college.”
She further adds, “The notion that teaching is time-constrained is not very true. Teaching is a profession that is not restricted to just college. We need to prepare daily for our lectures and if we have 4 lectures then it is like preparing for 4 tests every day. We need to keep updating ourselves and that is not easy. In most of the other professions, the work stays confined to the workplace itself but as a teacher, we have to dedicate around 2-3 hours at home every day to reading.”
Balancing work, family, life, and self is demanding at times. Professional life is time-consuming and challenging. Thus, it can be said that the life of a professor is not easy. Just like every other professional, they have a hundred things to deal with, and they have a bigger responsibility of building the character of a student as well.
With some serious facts staring at us in the face, how are our educational structures evolving to cater to the deteriorating mental health?
In a study conducted by World Health Organisation (WHO) late last year, we were made aware of some devastating facts. India is one of the most depressed countries in the world, over five crore people suffer from mental health disorders and we recorded one of the highest numbers of work-place stress cases. From the 21st century, problems faced by teenagers have changed from excess alcohol consumption and teenage pregnancy to bullying, stress, depression, and body image and self-esteem issues. Distorted ideas of productivity, social media platforms, social stigma attached to mental health have all contributed to this, but our textbooks give the idea that these problems simply do not exist. The content in books in school, colleges and Universities remains largely outdated.
Societies can prove to be a good medium in college to initiate change. They can go beyond being performing and competitive, to providing guidance and support to students who need it. The biggest risk attached to mental health issues is that they are not visible, and so, regularly meeting people, developing friendships, finding a confidante can help in reducing stress.
Nithya, the President of Friends’ Corner of Hindu College, explained the impact of the society and peer counselling, “One can be an effective, empathetic listener, and a great shoulder to cry on among their own peers. We strive to make the college more empathetic, by making them realise every person is fighting their own battles, and if you are struggling, you are not alone. Conversations and sharing can really help in making individuals realise how similar their thoughts, anxieties and worries are.”
The Friends’ Corner also has a Good Vibes tree in the campus for freshers, who expressed on different coloured sheets representative of different emotions, how they felt on their first day, which was then put up on the tree. Beyond having discussions, group sessions, and a flagship event: ‘Mental Health Summit’, they also have a page called “Humans of Hindu” for people to share their life stories.
A cell or society working towards mental health can prove to be very beneficial for the whole college. It can begin with a small step of approaching your administration. Discussions and talks can take place on individual problems, mental health issues and the society, stigmas, therapy and support groups. In order to create a safe space, confidentiality becomes a key factor, so certain measures can be taken to ensure that members can have a medium to vent in privacy as well. The society needs to be run by dedicated and proactive students to prevent it from become an inactive society.
In no way does this cell or society take the place of a counsellor or therapist. The dire need for college counsellors still remains and needs to be stressed on. Most colleges either lack a counsellor or have a temporary one, often close to no student approach this largely unavailable counsellor, and the whole process goes in vain. But this (society) can become a facilitator in that journey of betterment. Furthermore, creating these spaces can also set a chain reaction in other colleges. With around 90 colleges in DU, the reach can be tremendous. One can also reach out to other colleges, like Hindu College, to know more about a mental health and counselling cell.
Recently what gained traction was the introduction of a six-month certificate course on Happiness in Ramanujan College. It is a free of cost course, for which forty-five students have already been enrolled. It will judge students based on their attendance, project and course work. This step sets precedence for other institutes to also follow its lead.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal introduced Happiness Curriculum till class eighth in all government schools. This pioneering step will tackle mental health problems from a young age, yet for now it stands the test of time.
While the reason behind mental health deterioration are many, it has been romanticised by shows and memes, further aggravated by our economy and job pressures, and absence of acceptance. When the recent budget came out, I anticipated whether our country would also take a step like New Zealand. In a revolutionary step, Prime Minister Jacinda Arden’s Well Being budget prioritised poverty and mental health. What cannot be ignored is that this issue creeps in through some crevices. Different steps are being taken, but more comprehensive and structural changes need to be brought by all bodies, including our University.
One person was injured by a black sedan that rammed into pedestrians near the Old Gupta Colony in North Campus.
A speeding car ran over a crowd in Old Gupta Colony area in North Delhi on Sunday. The incident took place around 9 p.m. According to a source, a young man who was driving the car was harassing a woman. A group of people tried to stop the car and get him out, but he rammed the car into the crowd and fled.
A video recording the incident has been going viral on social media. It records the terrifying moment when the black sedan drove into a group of people. The car went a little ahead, and then reversed, hitting more people from the crowd. A few people also tried to stop the car by jumping over it. But the driver managed to flee.
An eye witness of the incident told DU Beat, “Around 9 p.m. in the night, I was walking towards Old Gupta Colony Chowk where I saw some guys slapping another guy and asking ‘teri himmat kaise hui haath lagane ki’ (How dare you touch her). Crowd had gathered there and I could infer that the guy had harassed a woman on the main road. I kept walking towards the market when I saw that the guy who was slapped had entered in his car, which was destroyed by the people with steel dustbins and other things. The car then went backward hitting some people and then it went forward in full speed.”
One man has been seriously injured in the incident. The victim, named Kamal Arora, has reportedly been admitted to a hospital nearby, and has a fractured leg. He has filed a case against the driver and he told police that there were two men inside the car.
“A case under Sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 337 (causing hurt by endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered at Model Town police station on the statement of the injured person,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest) Vijayanta Arya, as quoted by PTI.
The driver has not been identified yet. The police have been examining CCTV footage of the nearby areas in order to identify and arrest him.
Old Gupta Colony is a hub of PG accommodations for students of the varsity. This absurd breach of security poses serious questions at the security of college students in the campus.
As per reports, CBCS curriculum being adopted at SOL and NCWEB allows students to shift to vacant seats in courses in regular colleges in their second year. SOL also introduces new changes in online learning.
Students from the School of Open Learning (SOL) and Non-Collegiate Women’s Education Board (NCWEB) of the University of Delhi (DU) will now be able to take admission in regular colleges in their second year of Undergraduate study.
This move has been brought about by the introduction of the Credit Based Curriculum System (CBCS) at these open learning institutions, which entails that the students at SOL and NCWEB will also be studying the same curriculum as the regular college students. Under this CBCS system, a new curriculum has been introduced for students in the distance learning mode along with options of choosing elective courses which were earlier available only in regular mode.
Director, SOL, Chandra Shekhar Dubey in conversation with the Indian Express said, “Every year, there are several seats that are left vacant in the second year due to a candidate leaving, failing to pass, or changing their college. Each college thereafter releases a cut-off of marks required to fill those seats. Students making it through the cut-off will have to obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from both colleges (the one they are shifting from and the one seeking transfer too) and their seat will be shifted. They can also seek transfer from one college to another, in the same mode.”
The SOL will also hold online classes for students, through their respective online dashboards, along with webinars and chat-based counselling sessions. The institute is aiming to hire two thousand new Personal Contact Programme (PCP) counsellors. They will hold counselling online and offline and will also create and disseminate the content material for their respective subjects. With the aim of making the SOL system blended-learning-based, the study material and library access to online classes along with doubt-resolution will also be made available to students online, making the entire process of open learning easier for students through the aide of technology.
Over five lakh students who are associated with the Delhi University’s open learning courses will be affected by these changes.
With most of us being outstation students, we should be teaching you how to wash your clothes, but here we are, with a better alternative, or is it?
At times, we find ourselves standing in front our closet door, exclaiming, “Kuchh pehen-ne ke liye nahi hai,” (I don’t have anything to wear) and wearing the same tried and tested clothes again and again, without giving a second thought. Here are five tips to make the best out of your limited wardrobe, and to add some style to your boring old clothes.
Tailor it out!
This goes out especially to those who love a casual day bargain at Sarojini Nagar. Get your clothes tailored, from the money you save, it might take some time to find your perfect fit or your perfect tailor, but trust me, it’s worth it.
Shirt Tail Guard
Being college students, we don’t generally feel the need to tuck in our shirts. But once in a while, when that special interview, or that special date comes along, that’s where the troubles begin. Tucked in shirts have a potential to get baggy in response to the slightest movements, and that gets annoying to adjust repeatedly. A simple shirt tail-guard will attach to your shirt’s and socks’ ends, and keep the shirt tucked in, appearing freshly ironed throughout the day. While being hidden beneath your pants, these tail-guards do the trick , without that suffocating belt.
More Confidence Than Cologne
Every now and then, you would get some ideas of mix-and-match that you would like to give a go, but are afraid to do so. Confidence to pull of anything is essentially more important than knowledge of fashion or colours. Don’t worry, you have got this.
Ek Anaar, 100 Bimaar (White Sneaks, Colour Mischief)
Most of us own a classic white or black pair of sneakers. Sneakers are the best casual wear. You can buy some different coloured shoelaces to go with your pair, and mix-and-match according to your will. Remember, it’s the shoes that get noticed first!
Beg, Borrow, Steal
If nothing works for you, you can always borrow from your roommates or friends!
Meet the band, When Chai Met Toast , that embodies happiness and performs it in their music.
Kartik: The band name is a very creative fusion of Indian roots meeting western elements, so what kind of musicians or bands from India and abroad influence your music? Ashwin: Actually, a lot of them! I mean, there is a lot of inspiration from English folk, but we are experimenting with a lot of other stuff as well, which includes English and European folk. Achyuth: Not really folk, more like pop. Ashwin: We do not want to really define ourselves into a category or genre, as such. Achyuth: Some of the artists that we have been listening include The 1975, Coldplay; Coldplay is an all-time favourite. Ashwin: There is Sufjan Stevens as well. There is a bunch of artists we listen to, and are inspired by.
Kartik:What qualifies as good music for you? Achyuth: Anything that sounds good, I guess. Ashwin: Very difficult question! Achyuth: Anything that is true, actually. Anything that comes from the people, whatever genre it is. Something that comes from within. Ashwin: I will be very honest. More than what qualifies as good music to me, what my ears hear as good music is what I like. For instance, you cannot really ‘name’ good music or music that you like. You are not very fond of something at one point, and other times you love something. You cannot really classify or clarify what good music is, and we have not really given it a thought, so I think there is no generic or specific category of good music. Achyuth: For me, it is anything that has some soul to it, in whatever way. It can be any artist, but as long as there is passion, there is good music.
Kartik: Your songs are multilingual. Notably, the transitions in the languages are very smooth in the songs, which make the composition very cohesive. How do you think the audience reacts to this aspect of your music? Achyuth: First of all, we are glad you think so! Ashwin: We have heard positive reviews till now, thankfully. Nobody has as yet, thrown anything negative at us. We try not to force the elements into a song just because the song has to carry out something which is multilingual or some meaning that has to be conveyed. We try to keep whatever we write as what it is. Achyuth: The fact that we all speak multiple languages helps. So, we are not really restricting ourselves. If we want to convey something through a song in Tamil, we have the freedom to do that, because Ashwin knows how to speak Tamil. It gives us many options, as a band.
Kartik:I was justlistening to your latest song, “Nee aara”, and I loved it! This is your first Malayalam single, please tell your listeners about the song and what it means. Achyuth: Thank you very much! It starts off with self-introspection, and then it moves into the ideas of new beginnings, in various metaphorical forms. Ashwin: In one sentence, it is like understanding your mistakes and then trying to rectify them, and finding what is wrong with you. It’s about finding the new you, to some extent.
Kartik: Do youguys have any just-the-band or personal rituals to do before performing on stage? Ashwin: We definitely pump each other up! Achyuth: There is like a band-huddle before the performance.
Kartik: How many shows have you done in the last one year? Which show has been the best in terms of audience and the derivative artistic gratification? Achyuth: Around 80-90 shows. All of them were great shows. Ashwin: As for the latter part of the question, I think both of us might have differing answers, let’s see. Achyuth: Weekender Pune 2018 was a great one. Ashwin: Oh, then it is the same. We played our 70s set for the second time at Weekender Pune. Achyuth: We were still learning our parts for that, but we managed to do well, I guess. Ashwin: Narayan on violin, Prashant on bass, along with trumpets, we had a proper ball of a time. It was great to see five thousand people in front of you, while Joe Satriani was playing on the other stage. The sound was amazing, thanks to Yogi for mixing that day, Guru did an amazing job with lights as well. It was a crazy good day for us, altogether.
Kartik: Can you describe what do you feel when you’re performing on stage and a massive crowd jams to your songs along with you? Achyuth: I think that’s what we live for. Ashwin: Yes, we dance with them. And live the moment, that’s it.
Kartik: So how would you describe this feeling in one word? Ashwin: D-E-D, DED, a very millennial term. (laughs)
Kartik: What are your views on failures and/or criticism? And what do you think stays with the audience, the artist or the art? Achyuth: The art definitely. Ashwin: I think both. Like when the artist feels the art is when the people feel the art.
Image Credits: Adithya Khanna for DU Beat
Kartik: All the band members have had professional training in Indian classical music. In times of rap and hip-hop, and pop rock, where do you think Indian Classical music is leading to? Ashwin: It’s leading to world music, buddy. Bands like Agam, and Shadow and Light and so many other independent artists are working on Carnatic and Hindustani music. There are a lot of jazz singers who are blending Carnatic music with jazz. Carnatic music is in a completely different scale altogether than what we think is Indie. Achyuth: There is immense potential in the genre. It’s already massive. Ashwin: Totally, I mean a Carnatic music show in Singapore selling more than 2500 tickets that is the substance of the genre.
Kartik: In a lot of your music videos, there is a running metaphor of creative and artistic blockade, and coming out of it. One of these videos that has stayed with me is that of the song “Believe“. What are your views on creative expression and its ability to transgress social obligations or expectations? Ashwin: That’s too tough for me, man! (laughs)
I have been doing music for ten years now (professionally), and I have been learning from almost twenty years. It is definitely a very difficult task coming from a state like Kerala, to build up something what we are trying to do. There is always this hurdle, always this blockade that hits you, and you don’t know what you have to do. You have to find out the right door to move across. It’s not like you sign with a label and you are there. It gets very difficult when you are independent, when you are doing everything by yourself. Within the band, all of us have certain roles, and it becomes this division of creative people, coming together and doing so much together. Everybody’s struggle to get out there speaks for freedom of creativity. We have also come from different social backgrounds. My father worked in a bank, and later retired as an architect. So, we have to tackle all that when we are doing something like curating music on a full-time basis.
Even though our parents and families support us in whatever ways they can, there’s always this element of social obligation that comes to the fore. Achyuth: Our listeners also relate to it. (the struggle) Ashwin: At the end of the day, whatever you are doing, you need to be happy with it.
Kartik: Which conveniently brings me to my next question. When Chai Met Toast identifies itself with ‘The Happy Project’, it focuses on creating music that makes the listener happy. How do you think it impacts your credibility and influence as a band in a Rockstar-world obsessed with romanticising sadness? Ashwin: Funny, funny part! (laughs)
See once you are broken, hope for one day that you will be happy. Life is all about it, is it not? I mean if there are songwriters who are writing about this state of being broken, we are trying to get out of it. Achyuth: I think you can call our music being on the ‘positive’ line. We are looking at the brighter side, even when we are talking about a break-up, for instance. Ashwin: There are a lot of other factors that get into you in the form of anxiety and depression, now that is entirely different. There is another thing. Generally, in music, we do not wish to depend on emotions too much, right? Every emotion has its own set of feelings that it gives out. But think of this: somebody for instance, thought that she would die of cancer, but having worked hard, she comes out of it. She has definitely channelised her positivity in that fight. She discovered herself, and fought it back. So, it’s always greener on the other side, we just have to look at the green from our side, and just go for it.
Image Credits: Saubhagya Saxena or DU Beat
Kartik: In an interview you talked about a school in Kashmir (Haji Public School) wherein your song “Firefly” is now sung by the students in assembly. What was your reaction to this discovery and how great of an achievement do you think it is for you? Achyuth: I think, things like these make what we do, all the more worthwhile. I cannot give it a word, for sure, but the spontaneous reaction to the news was: immensely gratifying. To see our art reaching out and being accepted and loved by people who are like miles away. There have been multiple schools across the country like Patna and Kerala, where students have sung our songs. This is another part that makes our music meaningful. There are no age barriers, our listeners’ ages range from six-year-olds to seventy-year-olds.
Kartik: Please tell us about your upcoming album, tours, and shows. Ashwin: We are working on the album. Pre-production is going on, song-writing is going on. We are trying to figure out when we are going to release it. We are also trying out different things, and experimenting with new elements and instruments. Achyuth: We do not know, as yet, when exactly it will be ready, but it is definitely on the cards. Ashwin: One thing that we know for sure is that we are all very stoked and looking forward to the fun that the process is going to be. Achyuth: As for the shows, we will be playing at three shows in North India this month. We have not played in North India in a while. We have performances in Delhi, Chandigarh, and Jaipur. Tours are still being planned out.
Kartik: How do you like performing in the North Indian states? Ashwin: There is no barrier such as North Indian states. We love performing everywhere. People accept our music, they come and dance, they have a happy time, we have a happy time. Everybody has their own share of happiness, and we just enjoy that whole ground of people singing and dancing. There is no differentiation as such. Achyuth: For us, we are equally happy when we are playing in any part of the country. Anybody who loves music is loved by us.
Kartik: Now that you have a huge following as a band, where do you see yourself in another five years? Achyuth: Hopefully playing outside India as well, I don’t know. Ashwin: To be honest, would love to win a Grammy, but that might be too much to ask for. We would love to play at international festivals, that would be great. Achyuth: Yes, spreading our vibe, now that we have reached many people in the country, and making difference in whatsoever way we can in the larger community.
Kartik: Will we be seeing you anytime soon in some University of Delhi fest? Achyuth: You should be telling us! (laughs) Kartik: We would love to have you! Ashwin: Oh, we would love to play there, as well! It is very mutual.
Feature Image Credits: When Chai Met Toast via Facebook
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced his plan to incorporate the Deshbhakti Curriculum in schools from 2020.
On Wednesday, 14th August, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced the introduction of a “Deshbhakti Curriculum” in Delhi government schools, from next year. The main motive behind this decision is to induce patriotism among young students, and to make them feel proud and responsible for the country.
The announcement came during the launch event of “Constitution at 70” campaign where the Deputy CM and Education Minister Manish Sisodiya was also present. While addressing the crowd at the event, Kejriwal said that the aim of ‘Deshbhakti Curriculum’ is to make every citizen proud of their country, aware of their duty and responsibility towards the nation, and instill a sense of passion to make sacrifices for the nation.
“When our children grow older and start working, and at any point if they accept a bribe, then they must feel from within that they are betraying ‘Bharat Mata’. When they jump a traffic light, they must feel they’ve wronged their country,” said Kejriwal during the event.
On Thursday , 15th August, he also quoted a tweet by Manish Sisodiya referring to the Curriculum in which he wrote, “We want that every child, after completing his education, becomes a good person, is capable of taking care of his family and becomes a true patriot.”
“Constitution at 70” campaign is a Delhi government initiative to make sure the future generations understand the values of Indian Constitution. It will encompass students studying in Class 6 to 11 and will continue till 26th November 2019, the date which marks 70th Year of inception of Indian Constitution. The three-month course will focus on the principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, said Meghnad S., a constitution expert who also hosts the show Consti-tuition on Newslaundry.
The decision to induct a Deshbhakti curriculum came just two days before Independence day, and is being looked as a step to neutralise Aam Aadmi Party’s image in current political ecosystem marred by nationalism. The NCT of Delhi will tentatively have assembly elections next year as well.
