Shaina Ahluwalia, Author at DU Beat - Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper

Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks. -Plutarch Words alone cannot express the impact of poetry in our lives. Precisely with that thought in perspective, we got in touch with Harnidh Kaur, the author of the trending book, ‘The Inability of Words’. Packed with hard-hitting insights through thoughtful expressions, Harnidh’s take on life through poetry is reflected through the book. The Inability of Words is one of those books that you would keep next to you to read and re-read, again and again. Every poem in its simplicity is relatable, hard-hitting yet truly honest. The pieces have the ability to draw the reader into the world of the poet’s perspective, where it is clear to see that each poem has a long story behind it. The book follows a unique approach – right from the cover of the book to the content of the poems itself. As you go through the poems, you can see the growth of the poet through her journey, forcing you think about your own perspectives. Each line of the book reflects the author’s personality, wit, observations and emotions. It is definitely an inspiring and motivational for all poetry fans. To know more, Harnidh further tells us about her journey and first book.

1. Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Well. I’m a Bombay-Delhi girl. I live (and love) between the cities. I’m currently pursuing my masters in public policy from St. Xavier’s, Mumbai, and balancing a writing, and policy career side by side. If anyone asks me what I want to do, I say I’m an UPSC aspirant (which I am!), but secretly, I want to be Nigella Lawson.

2. What was the inspiration behind writing this book?

I was in a state of transition in my last year of college. Between shifting cities, entering a new phase of life, and grappling with new paradigms, I found myself writing, furiously so. However, for however much I wrote, the correct expression never quite came together until I actually collated that work into a book. Hence, names it ‘The Inability of Words.’ [caption id="attachment_43947" align="aligncenter" width="512"]

Harnidh Kaur[/caption]

3. What was your journey like?

Hectic! Eight drafts, and so many editorials back and forth, fights over which poems to include, grammatical disagreements. All smack dab in the middle of starting a new college, and adjusting into a new city. It’s all worth it, though…all of it.

4. We’ve heard your book has been gaining quick growth. Could you tell us some interesting facts about the same?

Well, it sells out really fast. I ascribe it to the fact that I’m a fairly approachable writer. People can talk to me. And well, I hope it’s because my book isn’t too bad, haha.

5. What’s your typical daily routine?

Currently, I go to office at 8:30 am to 4 pm, then college from 5 pm to 8 pm. But usually, I’m up by 8; I study, read, get college work done, and attend class. I don’t have a specific writing time because I’m always writing. There’s no process. I literally wrote my entire book on my phone. That’s what writing is about for me – an unbridled explosion of observations and thoughts.

6. What advice would you give to your readers?

Firstly, buy poetry. Keep buying it. It’s your contribution to keep a dying art alive. Secondly, fit poems into your context. Don’t try to fathom mine. This book is for you, I promise.]]>

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Interviews

“Indian readers want to read more opinion and commentary” : co-founder, The Indian Economist

By Shaina Ahluwalia July 24, 2016

Many digital media platforms rise and fall with the rapidly growing startup culture, but one in particular caught the attention of college students – The Indian Economist. It is a digital media platform available as a phone app and web portal to provide unique content. DU Beat got in conversation with Mr. Manan Vyas, the founder of The Indian Economist, and a Delhi University graduate:

DUB: Could you tell us a little about what separates The Indian Economist from other similar platforms?

Two primary aspects – we are a pure-play opinion & commentary publication. We do not publish news, and we rarely follow the news cycle. We specialise in articles that either introduce a new subject, or introduce a completely fresh perspective on an existing subject.

The second aspect is the sheer quality of our writers.

The quality of our writers is hard to match, arguably even for mainstream publications. With more than 200 writers from over 25 countries across 4 continents, The Indian Economist brings together global experts that can speak about issues that matter with credibility and authority.

We host individuals from global financial institutions, think tanks, authors, artists, activists, entrepreneurs, professors and more from the best companies, universities and institutions in the world.

DUB:What was the inspiration behind setting up TIE?

We wanted to provide access to a diverse pool of opinions and voices. We noticed that India’s English language print publications were publishing less than 300 articles a week in a country of a billion plus people with diverse tastes and interests. Moreover, Indian print publications rarely hosted foreign columnists, due to which a global perspective was missing.

We realised that Indian readers want to read more opinion and commentary, written by credible experts who know what they are talking about. We want to be the platform that could solve that problem.

Indian readers want to read more opinion and commentary, written by credible experts who know what they are talking about

DUB: Being a DU graduate, what influences from your college days went towards forming the startup?

DU has some of the smartest people in the country, and I am happy to have met and spoken to a few of them. Watching DU graduates do well is inspiring, and makes you feel proud to be a part of a cohort of driven, successful individuals. I met TIE’s co-founder, Abhisek Ghosh (St. Stephens, Eco Hons) at DU while at a competition in St. Stephens. ?We became friends, and eventually discussed the idea of TIE together. It took off from there.

DUB: What’d be your perspective on the directly involving students in curating content?

Students can do a great job with content. They are well read and intelligent and also form a readership group for magazines such as ours. If you pick the right kind of students (we pick the best, our selection ratio is less than 1%), we believe they can do a fantastic job with the content.

DUB: What advice would you give to college going students who would like to make a difference?

3 steps:

1. Figure out an area where they want to make an impact.? Ideally, pick an area that is under-served and does not have a lot of companies already fighting it out.

2. Scalable – whatever idea you pick, make sure it is scalable. If an idea involves you going door to door to speak to people, that is not scalable. If an idea restricts your area of impact in terms of distance or number of people it touches, it may not be scalable. Pick something that can scale.

3. Sustainable – this is linked to the scalable idea. If your idea requires massive investment in terms of time and money to succeed, it may never get off the ground. You will either (a) not be able to start (b) not be able to sustain. Pick an idea, just begin, get user feedback, adapt, and go back out there to get more users. Repeat.

Interview by Shaina Ahluwalia for DU Beat

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Interviews

In Conversation with WeConvert: A start up to change the waste management system in India

By Shaina Ahluwalia July 23, 2016

Jose Rizal could not have said it better when he exclaimed, “The youth is the hope of our future.” Today, we see many young individuals, both college and school students, achieving great feats at the social front. Recently, a similar path was taken by Ashutosh and Pranav, Co-founders of WeConvert to make an impact in the field of garbage disposal. These students from Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences (Delhi University) started their journey to revolutionize the waste being managed in the country. DU Beat gets up close and personal:

DUB:Can you tell us a little about We-Convert?

It was just another day for us when we were talking about how to put our engineering skills to something useful and creative. On our way to the platform at the metro station, a vending machine caught our attention. That is when we thought about a machine that could collect waste automatically. After a few minutes, both of us realised the only way to get people to use that machine would be by rewarding people.
Waste management has always been an issue in India. No organization, be it private or government, has come out with any solution that could prove to be successful. Therefore, to solve this problem, we created We-Convert. We introduced the concept of e-collectors that are meant to accept a user’s waste material and in return generate some rewards. These machines will be installed at various locations, initially only in Delhi/NCR.

DUB: What was the inspiration behind setting up a waste management domain?

There has been tremendous increment in the amount of waste material generated- almost 7% annually and we felt that there has been no practical solution to it. Around 500 billion bottles and beverage cans are discarded globally every year. Out of this, India contributes nearly 5.6 million metric tons of such waste generation (according to a report suggested by CPCB). Delhi alone is responsible for generation of 689.5 metric tons of such waste every day.
Most people never dispose their waste correctly. No one takes the pain to find a bin, identify the colour and throw their waste rationally.

In order to provide a solution to these problems, we let ourselves go with this idea of developing smart waste collecting machines that will reward people for disposing their waste correctly.

There has been tremendous increment in the amount of waste material generated- almost 7% annually- and we felt that there has been no practical solution to it.

DUB: What would be your perspective on the current waste disposal issues and how does your start up aim to resolve them?

It is our belief that the current waste disposal system has many flaws.This gave us an opportunity to develop our smart machines. No individual takes the pain to throw their waste correctly. This is the reason why our streets are full of paper waste, bottles, cans etc. The recycling procedure has always been an issue in the Indian context. The Indian recycling units tends to import scrap material worth Rs. 28 crores. Incentivising the entire process is an innovative technique to get ordinary people involved in recycling.

DUB: Could you elaborate more on how one can get involved?

We had our machines installed at various locations earlier and are waiting for the re-launch after development.A user who approaches the machine needs to follow the instructions written on the machine:
• Drop in your waste into the inlet of the machine. Then press the start button located on the upper left corner.
• Wait for the machine to scan. The machine takes 10-12 seconds to detect your waste material.
• If the waste detected is a bottle/can/glass, the machine will reward you else you won’t be rewarded for the rest of the waste categories.
• The machine will shred the bottles/cans and will store them in the inbuilt containers and the rest of the waste will be stored in a different container of the machine.
• The user will be given a 5-digit unique code that needs to be entered via USSD on your mobile keypad (No internet or Mobile App is required).
• Once the USSD number is dialed, the user will receive a message(SMS) with a link to redeem their credit points. The user needs to follow the steps as guided by the link in the SMS.
• The rewards include attractive offers from food chains and online retailers.

DUB: What advice would you give to college students who would like to make a difference like your team?

We started this project in our final year of college. Prior to that, we used to seek out opportunities so as to shape our interest and path for development. A start up is something that provides you with an opportunity to test your skills, understand people’s problems, solve the issues with your idea/concept, and most importantly, provide you with experience that no college can teach you. On behalf of We-Convert team, we suggest all students to get out of their comfort zone and seek experiences beyond what your books and classrooms have to offer.

DU Beat would like to congratulate WeConvert and wish its team all the success in the time to come!

Feature Image Credits: We-Convert

Interview taken by Shaina Ahluwalia for DU Beat.

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Lady Shri Ram College for Women

In conversation with LSR Student Union 2016-2017

By Shaina Ahluwalia May 7, 2016

Over one week, elections for student’s union take place alongside selection of new office holders across all societies and departments. The democratic process followed involves nominations, formation of core teams for candidates, preparing and releasing agendas; campaigning takes over a period of a week at the end of which elections take place through secret ballots. Once the new office holders of LSR’s student union, department and societies are elected, a formal handing over ceremony takes place to begin the session.

On 1st April, the outgoing student’s union of LSR announced the new team who would be taking the reins as follows:

President: Charu Maheswari

Cultural Secretary: Shambhavi Diggi

General Secretary: Aditi Dhillon

Treasurer: Smitha Sabu

The election campaign started from 28th March with informal confrontation, to 1st April when results were finally announced. 84% of the student body of LSR voted as elections came to an end with new office holders. We got in touch with the new union to learn about their vision, election experience and insights into their agenda.

Can you describe your campaign?

President, Charu Maheshwari: The focus of my campaign was two-fold. Firstly, it was increasing approachability of the students’ union by engaging with the students’ body on a personal level and eliminating the difference between the electorate and the elected. Secondly and more importantly, the goal is to unify the student body as one unit by bridging the gaps caused by differences on various grounds.

Cultural Secretary, Shambhavi Diggi: All we did in our campaign was having great fun! We made some songs for the campaign and we would sing them as loud as we could while playing our daphli. Every time we started singing, people would join in and everyone would start singing with us. One day, we even had a mime campaign where all of us painted our faces and went around college telling people to vote, it was definitely one great idea to implement.

Treasurer, Smitha Sabu: I have been working on my agenda for the past 3 months before elections. I made my agenda as realistic as possible. Apart from making a feasible sponsorship plan I also tried to address the general concerns faced by the student body in large. The campaigning and agenda were based on my principles – honesty, transparency and dedication

What was the process like?

President, Charu Maheshwari: Even before we started preparing for the elections, our seniors had told us – “It is going to be a time like never before”. And so it was. The preparation period, which extended as long as a few months for some candidates is nothing short of life-changing. There is far more learning in these two months than any of us had imagined. Falling, learning, getting back up – that is what it was all about.

Cultural Secretary, Shambhavi Diggi: The election process was extremely hectic and exhausting. We were completing our assignments, trying to attend classes, making our agendas, preparing our posters , trying to plan a campaign, talking to as many people as we could together with performing in all the fests. However, in the end it all paid off.

Any particular moment you’d like to recall from the elections?

President, Charu Maheshwari: So, this happened around 15-20 days before elections. It wasn’t the best day I had had. I was having a tough time coping up with the circumstances, and was on my way to the incumbent union member’s room to withdraw my candidature. My roommate happened to cross me on the way and noticed I was uneasy, and there it was, an hour long therapy session in the middle of the corridor. We took a U turn, and started preparing for the next two weeks with double the enthusiasm.

Cultural Secretary, Shambhavi Diggi: I was really nervous during my confrontation , but as soon as I went onto the podium, I fixed my vision on my friends sitting right in front of me, I knew that they were there for me and hence I was able to answer all the questions. When the results were out, I recall calling up my mother as all of us shouted into the phone. She couldn’t figure out a word but she heaved a sigh of relief because she knew that we won. At last it ended.

What are your future plans for the college?

President, Charu Maheshwari: The only ‘future’ I am looking at right now is the next one year, and how it will be about reaching new heights and setting new benchmarks. Although it has hardly been a few days since we as a union have started working together but, take my word when I say this – the coming year for LSR looks better than what you can imagine.

Cultural Secretary, Shambhavi Diggi: We’ll be focusing on things one step at a time to make the year a grand success!

General Secretary, Aditi Dhillon: I feel truly lucky to have a great team to work with for the upcoming year. We hope to make this year unforgettable.

Treasurer, Smitha Sabu: I truly hope to live up-to the expectations set upon all of us and give back twice as more, than the support I received from the student community. As I intend to follow Martin Luther King Jr’s quote, “I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.”

Image Credits: Shaina Ahluwalia

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DUB Speak

Getting back into focus for exams

By Shaina Ahluwalia May 7, 2016

Even though exams are just around the corner for students of Delhi University, most of us simply can’t resist the pull of social media, that new TV series you just started or, well, Game of Thrones. Some have attempted to start preparing; the smart ones have resisted all the temptations to procrastinate and are revising their notes, while the remaining ones are still hoping to make some sense out of all those notes they scribbled throughout the semester.

We know you cannot wait to get over with these exams to finally begin with the summer break! To get you through the last few days of the semester, here are 5 tips that can resurrect that focus to study for semester-end exams:

1. Time to block out the distractions

With only a few more days left, the first step must be clearing out as many things which stand in the way of you and studying with focus. Yes, that includes less use of social media and not finishing just one more episode again. Remember, it’s just about a few more days of hard work before weeks of freedom.

2. Keep your study material in plain sight

Having all your notes, books and other study material right where you can always spot them in the room will be a stark reminder of tasks at hand. If you aren’t already past this stage yet, do it as soon as you can. Make sure you’ve fixed up sufficient hours to study during the day with your piling notes as reminders of all that needs to be done. It triggers a small amount of stress which is optimal for narrowing down focus.

3. Getting ready with your study plan & acting on it

As clichéd as this tip is, chunking your syllabus into smaller bits to be done over a period of time can really help in keeping track of all that’s left to be done. After that, focus on finishing your first separated chunk of the course. Once the plan is in action, you will automatically move towards finishing what’s left of it.

4. Visualize the final goal to get the motivation

What’s the point of it all? Whenever you take a break, try to visualize the end goal of it all. You’re smart enough that you’ve made it here so far. If you manage to study really hard and somehow score well, it could actually impact your future in a good way. Think about it, if you manage to pass this, you can actually grow independently and be satisfied internally as well. All of that for the cost of just a few days worth of hard work, so get to it!

5. Go through previous year exam papers

This is extremely important as you gain a basic idea of how your paper might really be. Practice past exam questions papers, sample papers and revise answers for all of them thoroughly. Do remember, practice and thorough focus is the key to all of this. Just going through a few questions and their answers from past papers can trigger the need to finish a certain chunk of course, reeling that focus in.

Featured Image: bbc.co.uk

Shaina Ahluwalia

[email protected]

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DU Annual Fest Season

LSR gears up for Tarang ’16

By Shaina Ahluwalia February 2, 2016

One knows that the fest season is nearby if you clear either one or all from the following checklist – diving into your wardrobe to find out that perfect outfit for the day, making an array of phone calls, desperate for arranging that one pass for a hassle-free entry, and spending a sizeable amount of time strategising, “Of course, I will manage to find my way through the crowd and shake hands with the pro-night star. Right?”

The fest season has finally arrived and it’s time to equip ourselves because it promises to be greater and grander. In the season of firsts, Lady Shri Ram College for Women’s Tarang ’16 deserves special mention – for those who aren’t sure why, it was the first inter-college fest organised in the University of Delhi. Find some warmth this winter weekend as LSR brings to you a cultural extravaganza on the 5th, 6th and 7th of February.

With events ranging across dance, music, drama, photography, quiz, elocution, creative writing and debate amongst others, Tarang has received an enormous amount of registrations so far and they continue to pool in as we inch closer to the fest. All competitive events are a striking mix of conventional and unconventional, and the attempt is to cater to diverse interests. Tarang has an exuberant list of artists for its pro-nights of which DJ Sameer, Jochen Miller and Aerreo are set to perform on day 2, and Agnee for day 3. Informal events will also be held across all three days, through which one can not only enter the fest but also experience the good vibes.

With the pre-Tarang events and contests doing the rounds across social media, the excitement is surely kicking in. A series of crossword contests were recently held, the winners of which were given passes for all three days! The days to follow will bring with them more such opportunities. With over 150 colleges invited, this is the first year of Tarang going national.

In Image: LSR Ttarang 2015

Image Credits: Eminence Group of Entertainment

Shaina Ahluwalia
[email protected]

With inputs from Swastika Jajoo

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Top Picks

5 Stages We Go Through When Results are Uploaded

By Shaina Ahluwalia January 13, 2016

It seems like another fine day – back-to-college hustle, eating that one dish you’ve been craving since last night and finally snuggling back into the comfort of your bed after a long day; till you notice the messages on WhatsApp and your newsfeed on Facebook. As per them, results are out. Yes, the results for the semester-end exams you have mixed feelings about ever since you handed your answer sheet to the examiner.

The dreadful feeling intensifies once you see the list of declared result on the official website. It’s true, the results are definitely out. The anxiety for 1st year students touches high limits as it’ll be their first statement of marks from college. While the experienced 2nd and 3rd years know, the tedious struggle of attempting to load your result has begun.

So here we’ve compiled 5 stages a DU Student goes through once their results have been uploaded:

The panic – You’ve just found out that the results are out and suddenly you want to leave everything and just open the website to see your result. Suddenly you remember the incomplete question in the answer sheet, that one really stupid mistake in the paper and that last question you completely messed up. As you suddenly turn into a devotee of the god who grants good marks, you hesitantly open the website as you attempt to find your exam roll number.
The anguish – This is the definitely the longest stage. Slowly, the panic subsides as the website simply fails to load or crashes. You sit there constantly filling each field in the form only for the page to say, “Sorry! There is an error occurred. Please try later” after you spend good 25 minutes. About two hours later, you’re at least able to open the website with just a little ease. All the tension about the result has subsided by now because you just want the page to load. The struggle is real, folks.
The patience test – About 10 or 20 tabs are open with the Statement of Marks link. You’re slowly entering your details in the form as the page reloads after each field. Some people give up during this stage and simply sleep off, planning to open the page tomorrow with relative ease. The remaining ones patiently stagger on. Some people manage to see their results and inform their classmates about miracle, lifting up everyone’s hopes. Your patience is tested at its peak when you click “Search Score Card” and wait for 5 nervous minutes, only to see Runtime error.
The Desperation – You’ve given your Roll number to your friends or family members by now in hopes of someone managing to open your result. Procrastination sweeps in with your favourite movie or TV series latest episode as you keep altering between them and the result page. Your pockets are out of ‘care’s to give, unless you see that one tab which shows ‘untitled page’ after clicking the Search Score card button.
The Result – You’ve seen it. Finally, it opened (praise the lord). Suddenly the anxiety crashes in as it takes you a good moment or two to comprehend your marks. Phone calculators come out as you quickly begin to look at your percentage. Relief, shock, sadness or surprise overcomes, depending on your marks. “Next time, I’ll start early. Sacchi,” is the mantra every student says, ever.

Shaina Ahluwalia
[email protected]

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Arts & Culture

Away from the cliche of ‘New Year Bash’

By Shaina Ahluwalia December 31, 2015

We all know about the typical New Year’s eve drill – the clock strikes 12, everyone celebrates in their respective time-zones and blaring cheers from various parties are heard across. New Year indicates a fresh start, clean slate and a new beginning; but a lot of clichés still revolve around the idea of how one must celebrate their New Year. One might say that going out for a party on New Year’s Eve is the ultimate thing to do because of the celebrations going on around everywhere.

Yes, a lot of us would rather go out and enjoy the festivities. However, many would rather enjoy the night in their own way, without relying on that one planned night of high expectations with parties never turning out the way they thought it would. After all, there is no law which states that one must party on a New Year’s Eve night. Here, after hearing the opinions of many we have 3 reasons why you’d rather do something different from the cliché New Year’s Eve midnight party.

The Picture perfect party – It’s that one time of the year when our expectations bump up leading up to the anticlimactic 12am. The struggle with finding the perfect party and outfit just doesn’t worth it a few minutes after midnight. You feel just same after a few minutes. It is definitely worth it for anyone who’s a party lover; but for those who look forward to this one party of the year, it might not be worth the wait. Or the cold.
Swap it for: Just about anything you love to do. Really. It’s that one time of the year when everyone tends to take a pause for a few hours before the clock strikes twelve. Use that break to enjoy the company of your friends or family, eat a nice meal, watch a movie, write something or just be with yourself and have fun.
Attempts to reach the venue and back home– Or spend the night wherever you are if it’s a house party, because trying to reach home on New Year is just as quick as the buffering speed when you’re trying to view a YouTube video with 2G on your phone. The traffic is intense enough that you might as well celebrate on your way. If you’re not the kind of patient person to deal with the hassle of safely reaching anywhere on New Year’s eve, then perhaps reaching way before time or changing plans would your best companion.
Swap it for: Walking it out to nearby places. If you happen to live close to any New Year events going on, it’s always a better option to hang out with your closest friends over there. Your home is of course a more convenient option.
The crowd when the clock strikes 12 – Unless you’re a fan of happening parties and social events, navigating your way through the crowd after 12am is not recommended for everyone. There are a lot of drunk-driving cases which are reported. Though, this is not as extreme. If anything, the level of excitement which buzzes around once the clock strikes 12 is actually something one should ideally witness. But if you’d rather spend it at home or elsewhere with the people closest to you…
Swap it for: Simply observing it all. From a distance. You need not literally be at the centre of the buzz to enjoy it. Or if staying up tillmidnight isn’t your thing, there are no rules that you can’t simply sleep off early. After all, the clock strikes 12 at different time zones across the world.

Let go of old baggage of regrets and bad habits, try changing for a better version of you for this year, and hope for better times to come as we move on to a more exciting and eventful New Year.

Happy New Year from DU Beat team!

Shaina Ahluwalia
[email protected]

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Arts & Culture

Thespian Theatre Company: Giving theatre an edge with dedication

By Shaina Ahluwalia December 21, 2015

“Even the most mundane tasks can be made interesting if a touch of drama is added to them,” as conveyed by the members of the unconventional Thespian Theatre Company. The company was started by two graduates of Hans Raj College – Ishan Soni, who was an active member of Hans Raj College’s Dramatics Society and Pranav Sachdeva, who was the President of the Society. It started with the aim to change the face of Delhi theatre. Their company aims to promote theatre as an art form and inculcate it in daily life.

Their upcoming play, ‘Kya Family Hai’ starring Mr. Asrani, is directed by Mr. Raj Upadhyay who is very passionate about theatre and has been teaching the art form for many years.
To spark on the Christmas excitement, they invite DU Students on 25th December at Shri Ram Centre at 5pm or 7.30pm to witness the fun. The play called ‘Kya Family Hai!‘ follows along the tycoon of comedy ‘Asrani’, the ‘Angrezon Ke Zamane Ka Jailor‘ who guide the viewers through the satire on the fading morality of society, on how we have become so greedily self-centered that we trample on the wishes of our own loved ones. Though they surely say, “A word of caution- On the day Christ was born, you might just die laughing!” To throw light on their wonderful venture, we tell you about their founders, aims and vision.

So, what is this venture all about?

Thespian Theatre Company is an amalgamation of love for the craft, passion for teaching, and a distinctive vision that aims to build a strong platform for budding enthusiasts. They essentially cater to the needs of many aspiring and existing actors who require the right kind of guidance and look to nurture the potential of numerous kids and adults.

At thespian they aim at inculcating the ability to find the means to the end. Being equipped with a team of experienced faculty, stalwarts of the field and regular guest lecturers, they promise to deliver not only proficiency in the art but also counsel and consult based on one’s individualistic needs.

Through the different modules based on varying age groups and interests, they aim to provide an invaluable skill set, enthralling learning journey and a gratifying life experience.

That sounds amazing. Who are the founders of this company?

The visionary founder of Thespian, Ishan Soni is one of the strongest and most grounded roots of Thespian. Belonging to a staunch business background, he always wanted to be a businessman with heavy bank balances. It is in his third year of college that he along with Pranav Sachdeva, after a number of overheated ‘Subway’ discussions, conceptualized this strikingly magnificent idea which led to germination of the seed of Thespian School of Acting.

We have Pranav Sachdeva who has always lived by the saying “Aim high and soar higher.” Having done lead roles in more than a dozen professionally staged plays, he has also received thirty odd best actor awards at the university level. Post doing a corporate film for domino’s and playing the protagonist in the T.V. serial- ‘zindagi dot com’ he kick started his film and television career.

The Creative head and Director, Mr. Raj Upadhay is a governing council board member for Ministry of Art and Culture Children Academy New Delhi. He is a noted actor, director and an acting teacher in India. He contributed immensely for CBSE board in designing the syllabus of Theatre. He has also produced and directed one of the most popular radio serial ‘Vishwa Katha Collage’ for all India radio, Delhi. He has also worked as a Research Scholar for the Government of Uttar Pradesh to revive the folk art forms of Eastern U.P.

How do they go about this?

School and college students have impressionable minds and are brimming with energy. To channelize this energy, they have designed several workshops for them, as well as for teachers. They organize workshops for children, both from schools and colleges. They use a child-centric approach and design programs for children keeping in mind the needs of the child.

Functions have a very important role for any educational institution. It is a stage for communication between the staff, parents and community. Previously, schools and universities were viewed simply as academic institutions, but today every school and college tries to provide a complete set of curricular and extra-curricular activities. They help direct the school/college functions professionally. They organize Plays, Ballet, Choir, Orchestra, Vandana and Light and Sound programs.

They welcome everyone, from all walks of life and add a spark to every life it touches. They believe that theatre can prove to be an immensely beneficial tool to corporations to motivate employees and increase employee efficiency. It is also an unconventional, yet extremely effective form of promotion.

In Images: Behind-the-scenes of ‘Kya Family Hai!’

Shaina Ahluwalia
[email protected]

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