Author

Sudisha Misra

Browsing

Though there are innumerable places to visit around Shaheed Bhagat Singh College and College of Vocational Studies, students had always been wishing for an eating joint that serves great food at minimal costs, with a proper seating area. Eatlo is one such place which offers the best of both and is located right in front of College of Vocational Studies. The restaurant serves mainly Italian and fast-food, but has some really innovative dishes, along with some great shakes and drinks.

Ambience

Eatlo is a small eating joint but the place is much better as compared to other restaurants in the same place. The walls have really quirky things to look at, and the place has great decoration. It’s a great place to chill out with your friends with seating areas both inside as well as outside the restaurant.

Delicacies

Everything we ordered at Eatlo was delicious and affordable at the same time. Their Cheese Storm Pizza beats the Dominos bland pizzas any day. We also ordered a veggie burger, oreo shake, choco fudge waffles with ice-cream, iced tea, and fire-fries. Though the waffles were a tad bit bland, dry, and hard, everything was scrumptious. They provide with a choice to pair waffles with an oreo/kitkat shake, making both even more affordable.

Affordability

The place is extremely affordable after the kind of service and food they provide. Our bill amounted to lesser than 500 rupees even after ordering such a lot of different items. They provide a 20% discount to students once you show your college id, which makes the food even more affordable.

Service

The people in the restaurant are extremely nice, and talk in a friendly way.

Ratings

Ambience- 4/5
Food- 3.5/5
Prices- 4.5/5
Service- 4.5/5

Image Credits: Sudisha Mishra

My college days are about to end, and I feel really old looking back at the hectic three years that I’ve spent as an FYUP student. I still remember the time when my boards were about to end. I come from a small town and it’s easy to opt for Science in class 11th there thinking you will be able to handle it just like everyone else. But it never really happens according to the plan, which is why I decided on following my passion and pursuing English Honours right after boards ended.

This wouldn’t come as a surprise to many, but my only choice was Delhi University. Unaware of the entire overhaul of the system, I had complete faith thinking nothing would be better than being a DU student as an undergrad. I couldn’t have been more wrong. If I say that the last three years were difficult for me because of an entire new system, it would be an understatement. The last three years were exhausting, sapped me off my entire energy every single day, and made me question ‘did I ever deserve this?’

Maybe there are other FYUP students who do not agree with me. But, let’s start with measuring the flaws that the entire system had which affected us majorly. Our entire first year was wasted in pursuing Foundation Courses, something that we should have never been done at college level at all. A lot of colleges conducted FC classes after 12 which affected our college timetable the most. In CVS, my first lecture started at 9 in the morning and college ended for me at 4:30 in the evening, making it almost difficult to manage anything. Nearly all students attended college till evening thinking that attendance mattered, and after one year a notice was issued that attendance isn’t an issue for us at all.

Let’s talk about the course structure. B. Tech courses were started without being given a single thought. Shaurya Sahai, a 3rd year B.Tech student of Hans Raj College said, ‘In such a competitive world, we put trust in DU and now it has landed us in such a messed up situation.  We have no proper infrastructure, no proper course structure; labs are in a condition which cannot, at any cost, enable an engineering student to perform practicals properly. We have to take care of our studies and how should we cover up for the things that we haven’t been taught and then there are issues like AICTE approval which divert our attention because we are fighting for it. University is chilling and has no concern for the 2500 students.’

Other courses like Economics Honours, English Honours, B.Com Honours, were improperly structured, with a lot of important papers getting deleted from the syllabus. When FYUP was rolled back, our third year became exceedingly difficult with an abundance of subjects and no proper teachers to provide the right kind of cohesion needed. This is true especially for English Honours where each paper is being taught by 3-4 teachers, mostly ad-hoc, perpetually failing to strike a balance between all the books and teaching us in the right order. The restructuring also deleted an important DC-1 paper that taught us about research methodology, thus defeating the purpose of enrolling in an Honours course.

We never really had a ‘back’ system, and mostly were not failed. Thanks to this norm, we lost any kind of motivation whatsoever to study our subjects sincerely. After asking a lot of students from different colleges, I was convinced that it was not just the University, but professors as well who wanted to get rid of us because we are just a batch of students meant for experiments alone.

Thank you Delhi University for considering us as guinea pigs that you needed for your experiments. And for giving us this life where we don’t know what we did in the past three years because of the improper structure, never really learnt the importance of marks, assignments, attendance, and are not even close to being proper graduates (according to the course we pursued) who can be recruited.

Sudisha Misra

[email protected] 

The concept of Doctor Faustus is something that has been used by writers/artists/musicians/filmmakers throughout the world. One man set out to change the world by killing people with criminal records, is something that all of us have probably come across. On the lines of Deathnote,  Yama by Kevin Missal follows the same story, in the bustling and ever fast-paced Delhi.

The story talks about a man who dresses up in the form of Yama- or one of the Yamduts working under Yamraj- the God of death. Every killing that he makes is peculiar in its own way, exactly like Igor’s killings in The Winner Stands Alone.

The novel is told in the first person by Iravan, an ex Black Cat Commando, who investigates the entire issue from the start. The revelation of the man who was disguised as Yama in the end isn’t surprising and can easily be assumed. But the thrill and the constant clues, conversations, digressions keeps a reader sticking to the story which makes this book a page turner.

The author Kevin Missal is a student of St. Stephen’s College and released this book recently. Though the ideas in the book seem to be taken from a lot of other, different books, the story is compelling and not something you come across written by an Indian author.

Image Credits: Google Images
]]>

The student union of College of Vocational Studies organised Tatva’16, their annual fest from 9th to 11th March. On Day 1, Bailando-Western Dance competition organised by Zest- the Western Dance society of CVS was judged by Charlie Frost, a total of 13 teams took part in the competition. Misba Dance Crew of Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce emerged as winners while Natya, GTBIT were the runner ups.

Other dance competitions included Groove Circle- solo dance competition and Berzerk- Street Dance Battle. Both the competitions were judged by Charlie Frost. Zorks, the street dance team of Trinity Institute of Professional Studies won the Street Dance competition. Manthan, the Fashion Society of CVS organised Aafroze- Fashiow Show Competition. The winners of the competition was DCAC and runner up was Dyal Singh College. Day 1 ended with EDM evening which was interrupted for a while out of security issues. Since DJ Carnivore could not continue with his performance, a Bollywood DJ ended the event.

tatva2
DJ Carnivore at Tatva 2016 | Credits: Sahil Chauhan for DU Beat

Day 2 began with Psycho Symphony, the Battle of Bands competition organised by Arpeggio, Music Society of CVS and judged by Siby Matthews. The winners of the competition were the Hans Raj Projekt, and runner up were Mufils, an independent collaboration of students from different colleges. The main event of Day 2 was Indian Ocean’s performance, the crowd enjoyed the Indian classical-rock fusion music played by the band members and sang along with some of their most popular numbers like Bandey, Mann Kasturi etc.

The main event for the third day was Thespian- the Street Play Competition organised by Dramanomics, the Theatre Society of CVS. A total of 10 teams participated, out of which Kshitij, Gargi College and SRCC emerged as winners and runners-up respectively. Special mention was given to Shivaji College and the best performer award was given to Avikal Parashari from SRCC.

Shaastrarth- The Debating Society of CVS held it’s first ever annual event- Alacrity’16. Witnessing a participation from 13 teams across Delhi University, the event was a huge success and we got to hear diverse views from various speakers on an interesting topic. The topic of the debate was, “Gender based stereotyping: Social Construct or Biological Imperative.”

The top 3 positions were bagged by speakers from Gargi College, MBICEM and Lady Irwin College respectively. The best interjector went to a speaker from Dyal Singh (E).

Other minor events were conducted by Zephyr- The Photography Society, Aaghaz, the Women’s Development Cell, and the Edge Squad. In a first, around 20 events took place in the fest, something that has never been attempted before.

Image Credits- Sahil Chauhan

Sudisha Misra

[email protected]

th February to 2nd March, 2016, and was organised by the theatre society of the college- Sangharsh. On 29th February, the preliminary round took place in Muktdhara auditorium. A total of 25 teams took part in the preliminary rounds, after which the selected teams were to perform in the main events. IMG_5304 11 teams were selected for the street play event, which was non-competitive, and took place inside the college premises. The colleges selected for their nukkad natak included College of Vocational Studies, Gargi College, Maharaja Agrasen College, Hindu College, etc. Despite the event being non-competitive, some esteemed judges were invited to witness the diverse street plays. For street play, the jury consisted of Arjun Singh, a professionally trained actor from the Barry John Studio, and Prabhjot Singh, ex-president of Ankur, SGTB Khalsa’s theatre society, and a prominent actor/director in the Delhi theatre circuit.

A total of five teams were selected by Sandeep Raway, the judge for stage-play preliminary round.  A prolific actor, he has been working as an international storyteller with a Korean Cultural centre. The main event was judged by Neel Chaudhary, artistic director of the Tadpole Repertory, and took place in Little Theatre Group auditorium. The stage play event was non-competitive, however the best artist award was given to Riddha from St. Stephen’s College. IMG_5335 The principal of the college Mr. P.K. Khurana was present in all the events, and presented an honorary amount to all the teams participating. Featured Image Credits- Sahil Chauhan for DU Beat Image Credits- Sahil Chauhan for DU Beat Sudisha Misra [email protected] ]]>

Hindu College’s annual college fest Mecca was a grand three-day event that was hosted by the Hindu Parliament from 24th to 26th February, 2016. The fest witnessed participation in different competitions from colleges all across Delhi University. The star nights featured several artists including Dariya, The RaghuDixit Project, DJ Funk, Anish Sood, Dualist Inquiry, and Salim Sulaiman.

Day 1: Inaugration, Battle of Bands, Western Dance Competition, and the RaghuDixit Project

Day 1 of Mecca’16 saw a huge footfall as a large audience had gathered for Battle of Bands and the Western Dance Competition. The day started with the Inaugration ceremony with one of the students performing a ‘Vandana’. The lamp was lighted by Hindu College’s principal Dr. Anju Srivastava and Parliament’s Prime Minister Ashish K Holaria.

The two main events took place in the auditorium. Aria, the Western Music Society conducted Battle of Bands which saw participation from around eight teams. The first prize was bagged by Play time from Hans Raj College and a Mufills, a collaboration of students from different colleges. The Western Dance competition saw a huge amount of participation and the audience thoroughly enjoyed each one of those. The first prize was given to Misba Dance Crew of Guru Gobind Singh College. The runner up was Verve dance crew of Sri Venkateswara College and the third position was given to IIT Delhi.

Aria also conducted Instrumental Solo Competition which started with KNC’s Anshuman Sharma’s performance. The star night featured The RaghuDixit Project, an Indian folk band that formed in Bangalore. Dressed in typical Indian attires, they enticed the audience with several songs, especially from their new album Jag Changa. The crowd immensely enjoyed their performance and even enjoyed the Kannada songs they performed and sung with them together.

Day 2: Rising Standup Comedy Competition, Nukkad Natak competition, Panache, the fashion show competition, and EDM Night featuring Anish Sood and Dualist Inquiry

The second day of Mecca’16 hosted Nukkad Natak competition and Panache, and several other minor competitions. Nukkad Natak competition saw participation from 10 teams with Dramanomics, CVS bagging the first prize and Kshitij, Gargi College, winning the second. Panache was hosted by Nakshatra, the fashion society of Hindu College. Guru Gobind Singh College emerged as the winners.

  Other competitions that took place were Photography Competition, Treasure Hunt, etc. The star night featured DJ Funk, Anish Sood, and Dualist Inquiry who closed the day with some great EDM numbers.

  Day 3: A Capella, Western Music Solo competition, Indian Music Choir competition, Salim Sulaiman Day 3 began with A Capella competition hosted by Aria once again. Several groups came and sang songs in the A Capella format. The winners of the event were The Western Music Society of LSR College. Second and Third positions were held by Gargi College and Kamla Nehru College.


The Western Music Solo was won by Kishore of Amity University. Isha Chakravarthy of Gargi College and Sparsh Vajpayee of LSR won the second and third places respectively. The Indian Choir competition was hosted by Alankar, the Indian Music Society of Hindu College. The winners of the competition were Maitreyi College, with Sri Venkateswara College and LSR winning the second and third positions.

The main event of the day was Salim Sulaiman concert. The duo and their band impressed the audience with their concert renditions of some Bollywood numbers like Aye Khuda, Haule Haule, Ainwayi Ainwayi, etc.

 Mecca’16 in an overview:

Here’s all what Mecca 2016 at LSR was all about.

Individual Highlights of all the days:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

Check out DU Bear’s entire album of Mecca here.

Sudisha Misra
[email protected]

Lashkara, the annual fest of SGTB Khalsa College, ran high as the day flagged off with the street play event, called Pratyaksh. The event was held at the Nukkad right at the centre of the college campus. For the first time, Pratyaksh was a non-competitive event with the aim of eliminating the rat race from amongst the teams, and promoting a greater understanding of the themes that each of the play represented. A total of eight teams, including Hans Raj College, Indraprastha College for Women, Lady Shri Ram College and others. The judge for the event was Mr. Ulas Samrath, an alumnus of the SGTB Khalsa College and the former president of Ankur, the theatre society of SGTB Khalsa College. IMG_4520 Swarang, the music society of the college also hosted their annual fest under the name, Syncopation. The fest saw Western Solo Singing competition and the Western Duo and Trio Singing competition on day 2 at Lashkara. The Western Solo Singing competition witnessed participation from almost 15 students, among which Srimayi Laddagiri of Dyal Singh College (M) bagged the first position followed by Megha Khandelwal of Rajdhani College, and Samarth Mehta of SGTB Khalsa College, at the 2nd and 3rd positions, respectively. IMG_4873 This was followed by the Western Duo and Trio Singing competition. The competition, which took place at the main stage in the sports ground, saw teams from Sri Venkateswara College and GTBIT college sharing the first position, followed by another team from Sri Venkateswara College. Tarushi Varma With inputs from Shaurya Sahai [email protected] [email protected]  ]]>

Lashkara, annual fest of SGTB Khalsa College’s first day culminated today with the stage play competition Abhivyakti, by Ankur, dramatics society of the college. The first day of the three day fest saw many other events take place respectively arranged by different societies of the college.

IMG-20160225-WA0024

 

Pinhole, the photography society of SGTB Khalsa showed a photo exhibition which was at display right at the center of the college premises, also popularly known as ‘Jannat’. Other societies such as Strokes, the fine arts society of the college showcased their exclusive pieces alongside the college’s flower garden, which one could see as soon as they entered the college premises. Strokes had also welcomed a distinguished artist who was being seen painting live, ‘the fire graffiti’, something which they claimed has never been done by anyone else in the entire world.

 

Among other major events, Swarang, the music society of the college held eastern music solo and eastern group competitions in the college’s main field. Both the events were judged by Prateek Narsimha, who is a leading vocalist of a popular world fusion band Raagleela. In the eastern solo category, Ramjas’ Rahul came first while Kshitija from Faculty of Music bagged the second position. In the eastern group event, the first position was secured by Institute of Home economics while Daulat Ram college and Kamla Nehru college secured the second and third positions respectively. ‘It was a beautiful experience for the society to organize and pull off such an event which witnessed some scintillating performances’, said Rajkanwar, Vice President of the society.

IMG-20160225-WA0027

Among the very well-known societies of the university, Ankur- The Dramatics society of SGTB Khalsa college organized a stage play competition which enthralled the audiences to their core. Several performances including one of taboos associated with women won huge applause from the audience. The event was being judged by actor, designer and director, Vandana Vashisht and Ravindra Tripathy, a known journalist and a theatre critic.

Brij Pahwa, Shaurya Sahai

Photo Credits- Paurush for DU Beat