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Kritika Narula

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As the time to bid farewell to your seniors and friends arrives, planning a memorable farewell dinner is one of your top priority occupations. We make the task easier for you by listing down five places to host a farewell dinner. These places will offer you the perfect environment, the perfect bites and the perfect memories:

Amreli Amreli

This place redefines what you call a “good ambiance.” It is the best place for bidding adieu and conveying those heartfelt parting words, as it allows you to have a good conversation over a decent meal. Amreli, with its beautiful atmosphere and exhaustive menu is bound to make you both, nostalgic and bemused, all at once.

Location: Chanakyapuri

Chicken Inn chicken inn

The Chicken Inn is one of the best places for authentic Indian, Mughlai and Tandoori delicacies. It is every non-vegetarian foodie’s fantasy come true. This place is apt for farewell dinners that might stretch into the wee hours of the night. Location: Pandara Road

Backyard

backyard

The reason we would like to feature Backyard on our list is because this place offers not just a breathtaking ambiance, but also lip smacking food like Crispy Ginger Chicken Strips with Jalapeno Mayo and Mezzé Platter, among other delicacies. Hosting the farewell dinner at Backyard guarantees a pleasant time with friends. Location: Punjabi Bagh

The Vintage Avenue

vintage Even with budget constraints, this is the perfect place for a farewell dinner in every aspect- the ambience, the food, and the service. This mesmerising place could prove be an excellent choice for making some bitter sweet parting memories. Location: Hudson Lane

Farzi Café farzi

Farzi Café is dimly-lit and sombre, with soft music playing in the background. A solemn ceremony such as the farewell dinner would surely be a success if hosted at a place like this.The tastefully done décor makes for the perfect backdrop to capture the final memories of camaraderie. Location: Cyber City

Indraprastha College for Women organized the second Round Table Conference on Gandhi on 6th April, after a successful first edition last year. Mr A Annamalai, Director, National Gandhi Museum was the Chief Guest. The event was also graced by Mr Uttam Sinha, Joint Director and Mr Ansar Ali, Curator, both at the National Gandhi Museum.

The event began with a welcome note by the Principal Dr Babli Moitra Saraf, in which she shed light on the various activities undertaken by the college, thereby keeping the discussion on Gandhi alive. Dr Jyoti Trehan Sharma, the Conference Convenor, also discussed the significance of the particular day as the date when the Salt Act was repealed in 1931.

The introductory remarks were given by Mr Anamalai, who made a presentation through a variety of media, tracing the life and times of Gandhi. He ended his speech by saying that it is a fitting tribute to the Mahatma for us to follow the path of truthfulness, non-violence and honesty laid down by him.

This was followed by a paper presentation competition, in which ten students presented their papers, which had gone through a rigorous screening process earlier. The judges for the same were Dr Saraf and Dr Rishi Nanda, Associate Professor of Philosophy at St Stephen’s College.

All sorts of perspectives were brought to fore. Questions such as, “Who killed Gandhi? An individual or an ideology?”, “Is he really dead”, etc. were answered. Many participants echoed similar sentiments on how the spirit of Gandhi still lives on and forms the moral compass of several individuals.

An original documentary on Dandi March was also showcased after the paper presentation.

The Principal applauded the research put in by the participants in their papers and appreciated how the students effectively articulated their papers, both in Hindi and English.

The first prize worth Rs. 5,000 was awarded to Nihita Kumari. Kajal Rana took home the second prize worth Rs. 4,000. Ateka Hasan and Divya Tripathi were awarded the third prize. Their paper discussed the dying words of Gandhi, ‘Ram Ram’. Shaonlee Patranabis, an Economics sophomore, was given the Judge’s Special prize.

The event concluded in an informal discussion of the topic over lunch. An exhibition was also put up to substantiate the findings of the researches. As Kavyayni Bhatt, the President of Gandhi Study Circle puts it, “It was a fruitful discourse, and it is clear that the idea of Gandhi still lives.”

 

Kritika Narula
[email protected]
With inputs from Surbhi Arora
[email protected]
Image credits: Sabhyata Badhwar

 

Being the representative voice for all students means responsibility: IPCW College President

Shatakshy Bhatt, a final year History (Hons.) student at Indraprastha College for Women, is the President of the Students’ Union and has been a part of it for two years now. She believes that at IPCW, any event, achievement, or accolade is a byproduct of the combined efforts of the faculty, the advisory board, the students’ body and the students alike. She opines that a sense of responsibility and belongingness is the key to long-term success in an institution.

DU Beat recently sat down to have a conversation with her, which gave us insights into the functioning of the system:

Kritika: How long have you been in the Students’ Union, or is it your first stint?

Shatakshy: I’ve been a part of the college union for past 2 years now. I was the Vice-President of the college student union last year. Needless to say, two very great years.

Kritika: What enables you to manage all the events and activities, along with classes, and other academic requirements?

Shatakshy: The task is not an easy one at all. Herculean is what describes it. It is the support of our Principal, the teachers of my departments, my Union Advisor and ECA convener, along with my entire union members who have been a strong pillar for my strength and smooth functioning of the college events. It is with their support and help that it has become possible. The Union really does work in unison.

Kritika: How active has the Students’ Union been this year? Give us some details of the activities that the union has been involved in.

Shatakshy:Honestly, this year the union has been the most active and enthusiastic since all my almost three years in college. Since the beginning of the session, we’ve been very active from the celebration of Independence Day, Freshers’ party, Gandhi Jayanti, Swacch Bharat Abhiyan(still in work), Festival Mela, DMRC self-defense workshop, Run-for-unity to name a few. All these events took a lot of hardwork and dedication and the support of the union who have helped me in organizing and executing it with no difficulties.

The Swacch Bharat Abhiyan has been one of the greatest achievements, and is a constant work-in-progress.

Kritika: How important do you think is the role of the Students’ Union for the overall development of the college?

Shatakshy: The students’ union is major part of the college functioning. It is what represents the students on the level of both college and university. We’re the voice of all the students in college. It is our crucial role to mobilize them about anything in college and also imbibing in then a sense of belongingness towards the college. The college is also in some way dependent on the union for the smooth working.

Kritika: What advice would you churn out for other college students who would acquire leadership positions in the coming years?

Shatakshy:There is as such no advice to students from other colleges. But just a point, if you take up power, be responsible towards it. Justify your role with full dedication and determination. Push your boundaries, go out of the way to a level so as to do better every time compared to the last one.

Kritika Narula

[email protected]

Image credits: Students’ union, IP College

For those of you who have seen the Television series, The Originals, reading the book is a sacred duty. You can never have enough of the Mikaelson  siblings, and the book by the producer Julie Plec, who began this series as a spin-off from The Vampire Diaries, is a way of knowing your favourite characters better.

For those of you who don’t have any idea about it, a little summary of The Originals – The Rise: The Mikaelson  family is ruined and broken beyond repair. In New Orleans in 1722, the city is marred with anarchy and a mild war is raging between the enemies: the witches and the werewolves who are not ready to live together. The twist in the tale is brought by our favourite Klaus. His impending marriage to Vivianne is counted upon to be end the hostility. But it’s apparent that Klaus is volatile and short-tempered.

There had been much furor and excitement about this book.  It makes sense because a book AFTER the TV show is a welcome change, since usually it is the other way round. To top it off, we have an inexplicable alacrity to know as much as we can about the Originals family and siblings specifically.

Initially, the narrative was difficult to read and grasp, and it is a little difficult to relate to the series. But the book and the series are set in different time periods. The only thing that perhaps remains unchanged is their evil father. The book is too detailed for its own good. Although the story and its characters, with all their eccentricities do everything, even disappoint you; one cannot really pin-point as to what was extraneous. Eventually everything falls into place, and one only craves for more of it.

It ends well, and some really strong quotes, coupled with the vividness of the characters, make it worth reading. Because one’s loyalty to The Originals  is Always and forever!

 

Image credits: harlequin.com

th March. Through a variety of events, the Women’s Development Cell (WDC) of the College explored hitherto unexplored dimensions of womanhood. One example was the photography exhibition on the theme – Women and Ageing. A competition was held earlier in the month on the theme and the entries received were displayed on the occasion. The day-long celebrations began with a panel discussion, which intended to explore the ‘Possibilities of Justice’. Dr. Veena Gupta, advisor of WDC explains why justice was at the core of the discourse, “We need to be aware about our struggles in the past, so that we can take it forward and realize our strength within.” The speakers on the panel were Pamela Philipose and Madhu Mehra. Philipose is currently a senior fellow with the Indian Council of Social Science Research. Till June 2014, she was the director and editor-in-chief of Women’s Feature Service (WFS). Madhu Mehra is a lawyer, founding member and Executive Director of Partners for Law in Development (PLD), a legal resource group working on women’s rights and social justice. The discussion was chaired by the Principal, Dr. Babli Moitra Saraf, and the Question-Answer session that followed was really engaging, eliciting thought-provoking questions from both the students and staff in the audience. The talk took an interesting turn with the panel imploring the audience to ask themselves questions which are considered taboo, to find out who their body and mind really belong to, and whether their decisions are their own or dictated by societal norms in implicit or explicit manner. As a part of the celebrations, the other events organized included Turncoat Debate, and a creative writing competition. ‘‘Our efforts do not end with the day. As we leave the audience and participants introspecting about the theme, we intend to embark on research projects on these themes to further dig deeper into these issues, which is what the Cell stands for’’, said the President of WDC as the celebration culminated with the prize distribution.     Kritika Narula [email protected]   Image Credits: Tarunima    ]]>

Indraprastha College for Women celebrated International Women’s Day with much fervor on 9th March. Through a variety of events, the Women’s Development Cell (WDC) of the College explored hitherto unexplored dimensions of womanhood. One example was the photography exhibition on the theme – Women and Ageing. A competition was held earlier in the month on the theme and the entries received were displayed on the occasion.

The day-long celebrations began with a panel discussion, which intended to explore the ‘Possibilities of Justice’. Dr. Veena Gupta, advisor of WDC explains why justice was at the core of the discourse, “We need to be aware about our struggles in the past, so that we can take it forward and realize our strength within.” The speakers on the panel were Pamela Philipose and Madhu Mehra. Philipose is currently a senior fellow with the Indian Council of Social Science Research.

Till June 2014, she was the director and editor-in-chief of Women’s Feature Service (WFS). Madhu Mehra is a lawyer, founding member and Executive Director of Partners for Law in Development (PLD), a legal resource group working on women’s rights and social justice. The discussion was chaired by the Principal, Dr. Babli Moitra Saraf, and the Question-Answer session that followed was really engaging, eliciting thought-provoking questions from both the students and staff in the audience.

The talk took an interesting turn with the panel imploring the audience to ask themselves questions which are considered taboo, to find out who their body and mind really belong to, and whether their decisions are their own or dictated by societal norms in implicit or explicit manner.

As a part of the celebrations, the other events organized included Turncoat Debate, and a creative writing competition.

‘‘Our efforts do not end with the day. As we leave the audience and participants introspecting about the theme, we intend to embark on research projects on these themes to further dig deeper into these issues, which is what the Cell stands for’’, said the President of WDC as the celebration culminated with the prize distribution.

 

 

Kritika Narula

[email protected]

 

Image Credits: Tarunima

 

 

As the placement season culminated, the Faculty of Management Studies had 217 of its students receiving 236 offers with an average cost-to-company of Rs 17.04 lakh per annum. Offers were made across sectors like Consulting & General Management, Sales and Marketing, BFSI, E-Commerce and IT & Operations.

While over 40 offers were from the finance sector, including Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and HDFC amongst others, there was a considerable increase in the quantum of recruitment made in the e-commerce sector. The placement report of Faculty of Management Studies says that the latter recruited five times more than previous years, with major players like Amazon, Snapdeal, makemytrip recruiting in large numbers, and a number of first-time recruiters like CarTrade, Housing, Magicbricks, PayTM, Shopclues, to name a few.

The placement process at FMS, which is conducted in two phases, lateral and final placement, was quite comprehensive. Of the 60 pre-placement offers made, 42 were accepted.

Accenture Strategy and Deloitte USI (S&O) made the highest number of offers – 11 and 10 respectively. Asian Paints, Coca-Cola, Henkel, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, PepsiCo, RB, etc. hired in the FMCG category. Major participants in the technology segment were Ericsson, Google, HCL, Samsung and Wipro. The report also states that the average compensation of the top 50% of the offers accepted was INR 20.46 LPA.

With a variety of sectors hiring for a variety of job profiles, it was a golden year for placements at FMS.

Kritika Narula

[email protected]

Picture Credits: FMS Placement Report

One of the most talked about aspects of hostel life in any DU college is the taste of the food served in the mess, or the absence of the same. Hostel messes become the breeding ground for gossips and socialization over meals. It is also a very important consideration in choosing whether to stay in a hostel or to opt for a paying guest accommodation instead.
We bring you a comparison of hostel messes of three colleges:

Hans Raj College


The ambiance ranks well, so does the food and hygiene; the variety appeases all palates. The mess serves both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, which give it the brownie points. There have never been any grave issues regarding the taste or hygiene, however, some instances of corruption set into motion a strike which ultimately led to the ouster of the manager. Overall, a good bet. Meals are prepared according to Indian palate and the menu is set up only after proper consultation.

Miranda House


The menu variety is decent, although potatoes dominate the menu much to the agony of the students.The hygiene is great, except the part where leftovers are thrown. The food always tastes reasonably good. The downside, however, is that there’s too much oil in everything, which may get nauseating. And while all palates are taken care of, the portion sizes are disappointing. However, the hostel seems to have had a blemish-free track record, with no complaint whatsoever against the food, staff or hygiene!

Lady Shri Ram College


The menu variety is the best here. Although the staple is standard continental breakfast and Indian for lunch and dinner, there is quite a variety when it comes to lunch and dinner. The menu is never repeated within the same week and it’s always put up on the mess’s bulletin board. Students are probably spoilt for choice here, what with dinner sometimes having noodles and cutlet, along with the option of having bread and/or curd rice which are also on offer. Both vegetarian and non-vegetarian demands are taken care of, and eggs are served for breakfast every day, which comes as a huge relief. Tea is perhaps the best part of the day, and on the best of days, a McFloat look-alike can be spotted!

Kritika Narula
[email protected]

With inputs from Iresh, Greta and Alankrita

Image source: www.miranda.ac.in

Indraprastha College for Women celebrated its Annual Sports Day on 16th of February, 2015, after two pre-events earlier on 30th January and 14th February.

The Principal announced the meet open as the Sports Union, comprising of President Chitra Anand, Vice President Smriti Kandari, General Secretary Pinky Polowalia, Joint secretary Tarunima and Anamika, stood together for the oath-taking ceremony.

The Chief Guest on the occasion was Mr Navin Gulia, who famously made a Limca world record by being the first and only person to drive non-stop from Delhi to Marsimikla to 18,632feet, the highest motor-able pass in the world in 55 hours without sleep or break, despite his handicaps.

IP sports

He has been awarded a string of awards and medals including, Haryana Gaurav Award to Navin Gulia, Indian People of the Year, Global Indian of the Year, Kavin Care Ability Mastery Award for 2006, Karmaveer Chakra, CNN IBN Real Heroes Award 2012, ICONGO Karmaveer Puruskar 2011, Indira Youth Kranti Award 2012. Major Gurmeet Singh and Major Inderjeet Singh were the special guests.

After the oath and the welcome address, the events began. All the departments brought their hard work to the fore as weeks of practices reflected in the competitive Inter-departmental March Past.

After the March Past, Mr Gulia addressed the audience. His speech included inspirational anecdotes to poetry, and his message was clear: one needs to hold on to his/her emotional strength.

This was followed by a series of competitive events, beginning with skipping race, sack race, three-legged race, and a race for the Visually-challenged.They had separate races for male and female, teaching and non-teaching staff with the categories of 50metres, 100 metres and sack race. There was also a race for children of the staff members, below 5 years of age.

To ease the excruciating wait for results, Mridang, the Indian dance society of the college,

This was followed by the elaborate prize distribution ceremony, wherein the achievers from all sports: archery, baseball, basketball, swimming, athletics and boxing were awarded with certificates, medals and prizes. The winners of the staff matches and cross-country race held as pre-events were also distributed. The March Past results were the defining moment. The Commerce Department stood third, Hindi stood second, while the Computer Science Department stood First. The winning teams cheered as the results were announced. With a note of thanks, the programme came to an end.

 

Kritika Narula

[email protected]

Image credits: Keerthi Thilakan

Social Entrepreneurship meets online retailing in the unique initiative of MadOverStreets by Kartavya Society of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies. MadOverStreets has been started with the mission to provide a platform to small street shops so that they can sell their products online, thereby helping them enter a hitherto unexploited distribution network. Started by a group of six students as a not-for-profit enterprise, it aims to provide an online platform to markets like Nayi Sadak and right exposure to small businesses of India.

Bumper cases available on www.madoverstreets.com
Bumper cases available on www.madoverstreets.com

The venture has come up with the tagline “Giving worth to your wallet” which highlights its nature of being student pocket-friendly. The products available on this site are the simple items seen on roadside stalls and small shops. Currently, they are dealing in college books of several courses and mobile accessories.

The core team includes Chandan Singh, Harshit Jain, Manu Prabhakar, Pulkit Buddhiraja, Rajat Garg and Tarannum Rajpal. Tarannum Rajpal, who heads the Marketing Department at MadOverStreets says, “It is how the venture seeks to diversify, taking one little stride at a time. For example, this Valentine’s Day we came with a new range of neck pieces. With the ongoing trends we plan to keep adding products to our list.”

Range of low-priced necklaces introduced on Valentine's Day
Range of low-priced necklaces introduced on Valentine’s Day

Adding products to the list is their sole objective as of now. However, the future plans will be met with a plethora of challenges. “People do not easily trust online retailers which is the biggest challenge. Social media is also way too diverse and we have to keep a tab on every possible platform. Online retailing is prone to fraudulent activities so we only believe in payment after delivery. Online ventures like Flipkart, Amazon give a big competition”, adds Rajpal.

The team believes that this venture will help everyone like the  small retailers and also the buyers which are primarily the college-going youth.

Kritika Narula
[email protected]

Image credits: Facebook page of madoverstreets.com