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Nikhil Kumar

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There is a gargantuan vacuum between the triads of the life in and around college, the internal anxieties, and all the post-modern ways you try to mask it in. This piece was published in the farewell edition of DU Beat for the session 2018-2019.
In spite of the million diversities which form the demography of the University of Delhi (DU), what creates an eternal mutual sympathy is the fact that we all come out of the conveyor belt of a strict school system, having braved the long twelve years of mechanical monotony, and the teenage crises, under the constant surveillance of parents.

Naturally then, the idea of a promised land of unfathomed independence called college is firmly romanticised in our mental spaces. In perpetuum, the countless young-adult movies, the many high-school drama based books, and all those young-love songs, create an utopia: about a future in the dreamish college, which ultimately develops into clearly unrealistic expectation from, and hence for, the future self; a red zone by all aspects.

Then starts college, and with it, dance heavily and noisily on our heads all the expectations that the 13-year-old, and later the 16-years-old self had from this 18-years-old self. As if that being not enough, the present self adds extra expectations when one sees the other guy in the class who has a really confident air you had always wanted to have, or the girl over there is interning with a big-shot media firm, or some guy on the first bench has read all the books a human, for you, possibly can.

First year, hence, goes by in ticking the boxes. Studies, internships, dressing well, the right genre, a romantic endeavour, a friend circle – there are just too many to tick. Additionally, the university keeps its tricks in tact – the freshers’ parties, elections, and fest; a first-year kid, the prince of this promised heaven, has to ace all of them.

But the second year brings the disillusionment. You realise that there will be this person who would always score better, because the marking system is inherently flawed, that college societies can be really toxic, and any number of smoked cigarettes won’t fit you in with the cool kids, that the relationship is just another game of power dynamics, that capitalism is a lie, the god is dead, and there is no point of doing all the freelancing and internships because any tangible outcome is impossible. Overall, there is no point striving because at the end of the day, nothing actually is worth the struggle. Unsurprisingly, social media, where your friends show off their unflinching state of happiness in weekly parties and monthly trips, where success stories are a regular tune, only increases this existential malaise. Clearly, this is the huge boulder of failing expectations and hard-hitting realities, and the Sisyphean second-year kid finds increasingly impossible to ascend with it to the following year – the third and the final year of this tryst with life.

However, as Albert Camus famously concluded, one must imagine Sisyphus happy. Since the reality has finally set in and the ultimate truth of being caught up in indomitable constructs is a universal act, by the final year, one starts understanding existential angst in its own terms. Living is full of complexities, it is up to the individual to give the meaning to life. It is up to one to find the order in this chaos. And so one does.

“More often than not, one stops looking for the answers in the third year, and starts taking delight in the mess that is life, comes at peace with the hypocrisies, cultural anxieties, emotional and individual insecurities and, well, life,” remarks a professor, who has also been a student of this university, in a casual conversation.

Summing up, if you have spent these three years at the university and have, by some deux ex machina, succeeded in saving your sanity, you know where you are heading. Even if nothing makes sense right now, with patience, it will. Product of the Indian social constructs and the education system as you are, good things are waiting for you.

Feature Image Source: Google

Nikhil Kumar
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As Natuve, The Theatre Society of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College comes up with its annual street play fest, Paigaam ’19, the showstopper to the University fest season, our correspondent traces their success journey through the fabled hippodromes of the capital this far.

A typical day at Safdar Hashmi Theater. Delhi’s play going coterie, an endangered species, the entire crowd, standing on their feet, clapping, like a part of them knew that they hadn’t seen anything of this warmth for a time. A mere college theatre society, Natuve’s original production Mx. Mute had just got over.

There are many words which come to mind when one tracks the progress of this theatre society over the last four years. If you happened to take a walk down the left wing of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, any day of the year, the weather bleak or rosy, the sun on your shoulders or shying away from your eyes, you can count on finding the kids from Natuve, drifting in their black kurtas. Right from the soul scorching heat of the Delhi summer to the glorious winters, the society works to bring out the best in themselves, and magically makes their very own amateur effort, with a world of experiments, imperfections, and innocence, rise and shine.

Natuve came up with two plays this year. Mx. Mute and Vyavsaaya Me Tarakki Paane Ke Chamatkaari Totke. While the formeer gave a subtle spin to the issue of assimilation of the LGBTQIA+ identity in the society, standing out particularly for the phenomenal work of the chorus to showcase genders, characters and societal reactions, Vyavsaaya, on the other hand was a hilarious musical comedy, keeping the audience at the edge of the seat at all times, not missing to prickle, however, with its sharp, nuanced satire.

The plays had many an innocent flaws. A few hiccups in transition, a tad too overexcited lightwork, a few rookie mistake in the sounds, and a few mis-directed laughs, yes. Nevertheless, what stood out was the hard work of every last person, what won hearts was their sisyphean desire to make their play the best it could be. The constant fire to give as much life to the art as possible. This won them awards, yes, the most in the college circuit this year, but more importantly, they continued the meteoric rise of Natuve. Yes, that’s the word we were looking for. Natuve continues to be a beloved.

Join them at their fest tomorrow. With Natuve, you have my word, the sun would be a bit kinder to you.

 

Image credits: Nikhil Kumar for DU Beat


Nikhil Kumar
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Standing against the Police mis-constructions, and in solidarity with the victims, the residents of Gaya and the people protesting nationwide, the JNUSU today protested the Gaya Rape case.

Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union (JNUSU) today organised a protest call-out against the inefficiency of the police and government in the two instances of rape and murder of minor girls in Bihar in the last fifteen days. The representatives also burnt the effigy of the Janta Dal United (JDU) and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) alliance- lead by the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, calling them out for the deteriorating law and order system of the state.

The event was the immediate response to the alleged gang-rape of a sixteen-year-old girl in Manpur Patwatoli locality of Gaya District of south Bihar, and the later allegations of Police inactions and pressure-manipulations, falsely calling it an instance of Honour Killing.

The girl was allegedly kidnapped on 28th December 2018. After looking for their daughter for two days, the family finally approached the police on 31st December 2018. However, according to the local accounts and the family’s statements, the Police at the Buniyaadganj station constantly refused to file the FIR, and on the later persistence of the residents and media, finally filed the complaint on 5th January 2019. The dead body of the girl was found on 6th January 2019 in Baksariya Tola, a few hundred metres away from her home, badly mutilated, and the face burned with acid. The Police, in response, arrested the family members, constructing the murder as Honour Killing, allegedly on the basis of the account of the other 5-year-old daughter.

Addressing the crowd here at Sabarmati Dhaba, Ramesh Kumar, a native of Gaya, called the Police Department’s inconsistent constructions as Honour Killing, Horror Killing and Blind Case, insensitive. “The residents have no hope from the local police. The case should be handed over to the CBI,” he said.

Sarika Chaudhary, Vice President of JNUSU, called this cold-blooded murder a link in the bigger chain of caste-based targettings across the nation. “Before the nation goes out to vote this general elections, questions about women’s safety and rights should be asked.”

Picture credits- Nikhil Kumar for DU Beat.

Nikhil Kumar
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 AISA will nominate candidates for the positions of President and Vice-President while CYSS will contest for the posts of Secretary and Joint Secretary.

In a joint press conference, Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Delhi convenor Gopal Rai today announced the alignment of the party’s student wing Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) and Communist Party of India’s (CPI-ML) youth wing All India Students Association (AISA) to tackle the NSUI-ABVP hegemony in the University political sphere. Also attending the press conference were Kawalpreet Kaur, President of Delhi wing of AISA and CYSS student leader Sumit Yadav.

The alliance would be key to the resurgence of CYSS as the party returns after a hiatus of two years and would be heavily banking on the experiences of AISA in the DU elections and its recent successes in pitching student relating issues.

Gopal Rai alluded to the degrading quality of campus politicians and the money-muscle dominance as the chief motivation behind the joint contention. “This coming together is for the students who want a clean politics in the campus, a politics of total participation, and a politics of a change in the educational climate in the campus.”

However, AISA president Kawalpreet Kaur indicated that rather than considering this an ideological merger, this move should rather be seen as a necessary political move to tackle campus anarchy.
In a conversation with our correspondent, she maintained, “It is in no way a compromise on the ideology rather as Marxists we have responded to the immediate vaccum in this country as this is the last DUSU election before 2019 Lok Sabha polls. We wanted to provide a platform which rejects goondaism. As all of us were hoping that NSUI has defeated ABVP last year and will be an alternative but it has so far proven that both of them are similar as NSUI stood silent on all anti-student policies of the government and the ABVP-NSUI nexus gave each other support. This is a historic time where our campus can send a big message, establish an alternative model and set tone for 2019”.

Feature Image Credits – Navodaya Times

Nikhil Kumar
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The conference registered the presence of a string of politicians and speakers from CPI-M, AAP, RJD and Congress party, each unequivocally calling out the UGC roster for its “unconstitutional nature”.

The Delhi University Teacher’s Association (DUTA) today held a press conference at the Press Club of India, Raisina Road. The occasion saw DUTA gain the support of the major political parties in its on-going movement against the 5th March University Grants Commission  (UGC) roster which potentially curtails the reservation in the appointment of teachers.

Rajib Ray, President of DUTA, began the conference by highlighting the implications of the 5th March 2018 UGC notification regarding Reservation Roster for SC, ST, OBC category in teaching posts in universities and colleges across the nation, which directs institutions to make the roster treating a Department as a unit in place of the UGC guidelines of 2006 which considered College/University as a unit. He further spoke over how the latest provision could only lead to delays in fulfillment of required seats, hence pushing a large number of teachers from the SC, ST, and OBC background out from university spaces and putting the future of ad-hoc teachers at jeopardy.

Image by P.V. Purnima for DU Beat
Image by P.V. Purnima for DU Beat

Among the political figures present were Sitaram Yechury, secretary general of the Communist Party of India, Manoj Jha, Member of Parliament, RJD, Amarjeet Kaur, Udit Raj, and Dev Rajan. The politicians of all the parties overtly blamed the government for systematically scaling down the constitutional values in the academic administration and called for the roster development to be seen in the backdrop of a larger national narrative. They also asked the government to restore the status quo till the Supreme Court comes with a decision over the Special Leave Petition ( SLP).

In addition to these major actors, sources later claimed that DUTA resistance has also found support from Samajwadi Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and, interestingly, Anusuchit Jaati Morcha of BJP.

However, questions regarding the evaluation boycott were strategically dodged, keeping the final year students and their higher education application prospects at loss. On being asked about the same, a Professor/Member of DUTA told our correspondent, “ The ball is in the government’s court. Rather than questioning the morality of the teachers, the government and the association should engage in a positive dialogue and resolve the deadlock, for everyone’s sake.”

Interestingly members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged a peaceful sit-in and handed out roses to the teachers, requesting them to begin the evaluation.

 

Feature Image by P.V. Purnima for DU Beat

Nikhil Kumar
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In addition to the many prejudices, errs, and the copacetic oversimplifications of the modern man, is the idea that Nazi Germany or Mussolini’s Italy are dystopian concepts which do not have, or never had, the requisite thrust to manifest in the modern circumstances, where it is widely acknowledged that the communication and information technology have made the present world a better place. In simple assumptions and beliefs, Nazism or fascism are rudimentary concepts, unpractical, theoretically unrealistic, and utterly irrational.

In the article, Umberto Eco on Donald Trump: 14 ways of looking at a fascist, released 10 days after the death of Umberto Eco, one of the profound thinkers of the 20th century, the author Lorraine Berry suggested that the Nazis represented the ultimate instance of the rational state and Hitler had a complete philosophy as a dictator. The article further went on to establish the fascistic instincts of Donald Trump, not missing, however, that Donald Trump was actually too dumb to be compared to Adolf Hitler.

So what point am I driving to when I establish the practicality of another Nazi regime, or when I further tell you that according to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, there were only 19 countries that had a full democracy in 2016? What trend the world is actually following when extremism and alt-right politics is increasingly taking the global center stage. Everything is pointing to a picture of the world politics which is far removed from the ideals of a democratic society, inching towards a dictatorial world. We may find solace in denial, but the realities are thrown at our faces every other day. But as it is always with realities, they are scrambled pieces, waiting to be put together in a wholesome picture.

In his famous pamphlet, Fourteen Defining Characteristics of Fascism, Lawrence Britt gives a list of 14 features of a dictatorship. Here are 14 signs of a fascist regime:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause – The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe which is manifested in racial, ethnic, or religious minorities.

4. Supremacy of the Military – Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorised.

5. Rampant Sexism – The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion, and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government. Or else the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in wartime, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security – Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined – Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology are common among government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is protected – The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business and government relationship between the power elite.

10. Labour Power is Suppressed – Because the organizing power of labour is the only real threat to a fascist government, labour unions are either eliminated entirely or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts – Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment – Under fascist regimes, the police is given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption – Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright be stolen by the government.

14. Fraudulent Elections – Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. The assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers, and manipulation of the media, these tricks are blatantly practiced. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

To quote Eco from Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt to conclude, “Ur-Fascism is still around us, sometimes in plain clothes. It would be so much easier for us if there appeared on the world scene somebody saying, “I want to reopen Auschwitz, I want the Blackshirts to parade again in the Italian squares.” Life is not that simple. Ur-Fascism* can come back under the most innocent of disguises. Our duty is to uncover it and to point our finger at any of its new instances — every day, in every part of the world.”

*Ur-Fascism was his umbrella term for Nazism and similar regimes.

 

Feature Image Credits: The Federalist Papers

Nikhil Kumar
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As the top football leagues across the world take a break while their players are busy with international duties, we take a look at the major developments before it all gets to the final rounds.

  1. City the new Kings of England

Pep Guardiola’s side will be having mere formalities left to lift the elusive premier league title once the match days begin. Sitting at the top sixteen points clear of the second place Manchester United, the silverware is quite under their radar. They would be giving it all in their European campaign now, as they face Liverpool in the Champion’s league quarter-finals.

 

  1. Unstoppable Barcà

When Madrid crushed Barcelona over two legs last September, even their mouthpiece, Gerard Pique conceded that their team felt inferior to the Madrid giant but has since changed their statement. The Catalans transformed their playing style, relied on their talisman in Lionel Messi, and it has been a fairytale since then. Once the play resumes, they would look well set to lift the Spanish league, once again.

 

  1. The Madrid resurgence

Madrid had the dream start of this season. Beginning the season with the formidable win over the Catalans, they were widely regarded as the best in the world. On the back of this confidence, they let Morarta and James Rodriguez on loan and found confidence in Asensio and Lucas Varqueuz, something which did not quite turn up according to the expectations. But then, it all always depends on Ronaldo. Cristiano’s form dipped, and so did Madrid’s. And as the knock-out stages came, the Los Blancos were back at their royal best. When the house opens up again, expect the whites to win it all and claim the Champion’s league trophy for the record third consecutive time. Once again, on the back of the form of their Midas- Cristiano Ronaldo.

Feature Image Credits: Metro

 Nikhil Kumar

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As we celebrate the 216th birth anniversary of one of the greatest novelists of all times, our correspondent takes you through a stroll of his life and what exactly made an aristocrat come with the greatest texts on the million shades of exploitation and poverty.

In a letter to M. Paul Meurice, a cordial friend of his, dated in December 1880, five years before his death, and almost 18 years after the publication of Les Miserables, Victor Hugo (1802-1885) writes,

“It is with deep emotion that I tender my thanks to my compatriots.”

“I am a stone on the road that is trodden by humanity; but that road is a good one. Man is master neither of his life nor of his death. He can but offer to his fellow citizens his efforts to diminish human suffering; he can but offer to God his indomitable faith in the growth of liberty”

To examine the significance of the philosophy and hermetic sentiments being reflected in these lines one needs to fall back to the ideologies in which he was nurtured as a child, and ponder over the trends of his political stints and writings. Despite being born in royalty, he was not always destined to be the champion of the average frenchman and the socialist these lines established him to be. What made the crowd of his times shout “Vive Victor Hugo! Vive la Republique” in the same breath requires substantial pondering to testify our reverence for a man whose every action commands our admiration and respect; for the writer who has infused new life in the antiquated diction of our literature; for the poet whose verses purify while they fascinate the soul; for the dramatist whose plays exhibit his sympathy with the unendowed class; for the historian who has branded with ignominy the tyranny of the oppressors; for the satirist who has avenged the outrages of the conscience; for the orator who has defended every noble and righteous cause; for the exile who has stood up undaunted to vindicate justice, and finally, for the master-mind whose genius has shed a halo of glory over France, requires a delve in countless pages of literature.

His father, Joseph Leopold Sigisbert Hugo was born in Nancy, France. He was enrolled in the french army at the minor age of fourteen years. Victor’s parental side may, without exaggeration, be described as a race of heroes; five of his brothers were killed during the wars of Revolution, the sixth became a major in the infantry while his father rose to the rank of a general in the army of Napoleon Bonaparte the first. The ideals of his father, thus, were that of a freethinking republican who considered Napoleon a conquerer. His duties very frequently took him into Nantes, where he became acquainted with a ship owner named Trebuchet, who had three daughters, one of whom, Sophie, soon stole captain’s heart, and became his wife. In a stark contrast to the ideologies of her husband, Sophie Hugo was a Catholic Royalist who was romantically involved with General Victor Lahorie, executed in 1812 for plotting alongside Moreau against Napoleon. Victor writes in his memoir about Lahorie,

 “Child!, he would say to me, while expatiating on the Roman Republic, “Child, everything must yield to liberty.”

The mother followed the father in the initial days of Victor’s childhood through his campaigns in Italy and Hugo and learned much from these travels, but this soon was minimised when Sophie settled in Paris in 1803 with the children, when Victor was just one year old. Her relentless affection and care for Victor extended to his education. The basis of her teaching apart from being vehemently Vendean Royalism, as one of her contemporaries has remarked, with elements of Voltairianism, with a woman’s positivism, however, did not instil into her son the doctrines of any special creed. Later, Victor Hugo himself writes,

“Certain it is that the brains of children imbibe the ideas of those that bring them up. Parents and tutors have a fertile soil wherein to show the seeds of prejudice, which, developed by education and matured by love, become the giant plants of which the man full grown and reasonable will have unbounded trouble to dislodge the roots.”

The period that followed was of the fall of the empire, as the Napoleonic forces conceded to the Bourbons, reinstating the monarch’s “by right divine.” To Madame Hugo, the fall of the Empire was a satisfaction and she did not endeavour to curtail or disguise it. However, in the view of Victor Hugo, a lad of twelve, it seemed at first as if France must have sustained a humiliation in coming down from an emperor to a king. He had always felt a certain amount of admiration for the great Buonaparte, but his mother’s training, combined with that of his priest tutor Pere Lariviere, had prepared him to love royalty, and accordingly he was ready now to love it with all his heart. Subsequently, it would be his father, who, as a veteran, and his later monumental life experiences, would influence his mind towards republicanism.

Victor Hugo’s  belief in the ideals of Monarchy faded fast, but nevertheless, his trust in the institution remained more or less unaltered. Hugo began planning a magnanimous novel about social misery and injustice as early as the 1830s, but the dream of Les Miserables was not to be realised until 1862. Hugo was perfectly aware of the magnitude of his undertaking. At the age of twenty-one, reviewing a novel by Walter Scott, he called for a new type of fiction that would give an epic scope to the moral and social consciousness of his period. Years later, as he approached the writing of Les Miserables, he wanted more than ever to achieve a fusion of an epic with dramatic elements. Such a synthesis, he felt, was the proper business of the novel- that new and unique literary phenomenon which was also a powerful social force. At the end of his career, surveying his own words, he was more than ever convinced that the novel- his kind of novel- was a drama too big to be performed on any stage.

The power and scope of Les Miserables was terrifying- not only to the audience but also to the author. The novel developed a whole new insight in the atrocities of the noble class and the ruling institutions, the interpretations of religion, duty, and faith, and the crisis of existence at the hands of perpetual poverty. The stories of Fantine, Valjean, Cosette, Javert, MariusGavroche and the Thenardiers have repercussions way beyond the mundane ideas of resemblance to reality or departure from it, and Les Miserables is quite clearly the greatest contribution of the French to the whole world.

However, the novels of Victor Hugo are as much of an anomaly as the legend of the man. To judge Les Travailleurs de la mer or Les Miserables by the standards of the French realist novel from Balzac to Zola is to miss the surprisingly modern nature of his fiction making, which undermines the subject, using character and plot to achieve the effects of a visionary prose narrative. Hugo is as far removed from Stendhal’s self-conscious and ironic lyricism as he is from Flaubert’s obsessive concern for tight construction and technical mastery. The dramatic and psychological power of Hugo’s novels depends in large part on the creation of archetypal figures. Their poetic and thematic unity derives from his ability to conceive the linguistic analogue for larger forces at work. The sweep of his texts and the moving, even the haunting visions they project are a function of the widest range of rhetorical virtuosity.

Feature Image Credits: Mental Floss

Nikhil Kumar

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The tech showdown of CES was full of surprises, ensuring that the year will be full of thrilling electronic goods for everyday use.

The latest edition of the International Consumer Electronic Show- CES 2018 was held from 9 – 12 January at Las Vegas Convention Centre, Nevada, The United States of America. The exposition was power packed with the best innovations from the biggest global brands, but the teeming companies and promising start-ups were not far behind.

We bring to you our pick of CES products and services which would be hitting the Indian market in 2018:

1. The Voice Assistants:

Be it Alexa or Google Assistant – voice assistance technology was virtually seen everywhere at the CES. They were integrated with a staggering range of products, from cars to water systems. Google also introduced “Smart Screens”, purely dedicated to its Assistant. This device would let you use all the Google services including YouTube, something its nearest rival Amazon Alexa is not yet capable of.

2. Your Latest 2017 TV is Now Outdated:

The biggest take-away from the tech show has been the exciting range of televisions that are to hit the market. LG introduced a 65-inch, 4K OLED rollable-like-a-poster TV. It comes with an aesthetic box which the screens-pops out from. The best part, it can roll up to different sizes – it can be an ultra-wide TV for movie or gaming experience, or just be a notification panel. LG also introduced Crystal Sound technology which would mark the end traditional speakers. Samsung, not being far behind, introduced “The Wall”, mammoth 146 diagonal-inch TV.

3. Wireless is the New Normal:

Wireless charging and wireless headphones would be taking over the market this year, going by the CES trends. A lot of brands have debuted into the market, and it would be no surprise if the upcoming releases from One Plus, Pixel, and Galaxy ecosystem come with wireless audio and charging features.

4. VR becomes more real.

Virtual reality headsets have become a lot better this time. HTC introduced Vive Pro with high resolution display and the wireless adaptor. The biggest player however would be the Lenovo Google collab- Lenovo Mirage Solo. This would end the need to place the phone before your eyes and has an additional 3D recording feature.

 

Feature Image Credits: Business Insider

Nikhil Kumar
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A speech “to express gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and assault, because they — like my mother — had children to feed and bills to pay and dreams to pursue”; and to much more. In the times of #MeToo movement and the big and powerful of the Hollywood opening up with sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Oprah’s Winfrey’s address made an emphatic statement for a global audience, raising and answering questions on the same. The 75th Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California would be remembered for many things. As the biggest names of the Hollywood turned up draped in black in solidarity with the victims of the sexual harassment, a winners list drawn from a global cultural and geographical background also stood remarkable. But, save for the statement made by the award reception of Oprah Winfrey, the gala would have been miles short of greatness. After being introduced to the stage by Reese Witherspoon for the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, Oprah Winfrey knew exactly what needed to be said. She knew the perfect address the crowd sitting in the Grand Hall needed and the follow-up the applauds sought. She delivered a speech which was to be the preamble to the event curated to the MeToo and Time’s Up campaign, intertwining the political, social, and gender nuances but not exceeding the decorum and scope of an award show stage. She made a political commentary which was derived from her personal life and her acting career, and with the ring of “dreams”, “incredible men and women” and “new dawn”, she made it know to “all the girls watching” among others that hope has a new day. It began with her story, “a little girl sitting on the linoleum floor of my mother’s house in Milwaukee, watching Anne Bancroft present the Oscar for best actor at the 36th Academy Awards”, as she went on to tell the story of the stories, the struggle of dreams being the daughter of a lady, “bone-tired from cleaning other people’s houses”. Her energy gradually culminated like a soprano, cinematically developing from Sidney Poitier to Dennis Swanson, and from the soul wrenching effect of Recy Taylor to the hope in Rosa Parks. Her address was a story of hope that could not have come from any other place in the universe. Here was a tale which would have been too dramatic for a presidential speech and far too powerless without the jingle of the applauds by the most distinguished professionals in the global cinema. Stories had magic, she knew, and she used stories to create a narrative no number of articles in newspapers and tweets could have ever created. “So I want all the girls watching here and now to know that a new day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say, ‘Me too’ again. Thank you.”, thus concluded the most beautiful speech, in all the beauty’s sense, and Oprah Winfrey descended to the thunder of applauds, smiles, and tears. New York Times, the very next day, came up with an article about her presidential potential and NBC in a since deleted tweet referred to her as “OUR future president”. But all said and done, we could all leave the White House speculations for some time and just bask in the glory of a wonderful speech made with a wonderful motive.   Feature Image Credits: Getty images Nikhil Kumar [email protected]]]>