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There are numerous inter college fests held in DU all around the year. However, there are very few events organised for school students by colleges. Fests for school students allow them to catch a glimpse of college life and the kind of competitive events that take place at a university level. Addressing this, the Department of Business Studies, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College is organising Orizzonte, its first ever Annual Management Festival for Schools.

Scheduled for Tuesday, the 16th of October, Orizzonte will be held at the North Campus Conference Centre. The selected events are sure to challenge the students’ creativity, analytic abilities and reasoning. The competitions include core management related events like Product Designing, Stalking the Stock (mock stock), Biz Quest (business quiz) and Think Pot (group discussion). In addition to these, a Movie Making competition will be held, with the theme ‘Black and White’ and an entertainment quiz, The Couch Potato Quiz, will be a fun event with students answering question about TV show sitcoms and Harry Potter.

The program will also allow students to get a feel of what it is like to study Bachelor of Business Studies, the only undergraduate management course in the University of Delhi. The theme for the event is “Exploring new horizons” and the entire proceedings of the day have been carefully laid out, keeping the theme in mind. The main aim of Orizzonte is to inspire school students to think differently, and compete with each other on a whole new level. As Sanchetna Kapur, the President of Spettro the BBS society of DDUC puts it, “Through Orizzonte we hope to provide students an opportunity to explore the various aspects of management education and the prospects of the same. It will radically change the way a school student looks at competitive events and allow them to challenge themselves in a healthy manner”.
Further details about the event can be found at https://www.facebook.com/Orizzonte.Dduc

Lying on a vividly-hued hammock in your backyard, on a breezy day (those not blessed with the expanse of a backyard and hence with a hammock can replace the imagery with a couch or what-please-you), poring over one of your favoured leisure reads, calling out for the mother whenever the glass of lemonade needed to be refilled…aah! THIS constitutes the paraphernalia of a perfect break, unlike the “break” the university had planned for us which, as I put, and most of my other fellow university slaves would agree to, was a blatant misnomer for one!

How would you exactly describe a break? Well, a period of time when there is complete detachment from anything paperback, hardcover, spiral-bound, containing the writings of a wasted someone (resemblance to “books” is purely intentional, yes). It does NOT entail being buried into a plethora of reading material, with eyes glued to the computer screen (for research purposes of course), counting the number of hours before we could finally shove that assignment away and take a breather!

Being an outstationer, a break is something I start looking forward to since the moment I set foot on the New Delhi Railway Station after coming back from one! This time I took more books and fewer clothes, owing to a string of tests after the college re-opens.

Also, the one thing that really upset hosteliers and day-scholars alike was the short span of the holidays. “Before the semester-system was put into practice, the break used to stretch for a minimum of ten days. These were over in a jiffy. Before I could raise my head from the ten thousand assignments that I had to complete, it was time to bid-adieu,” said an outraged Divya Mehrotra, a Pol. Science student of IP College, who also happens to be a hostelier.

The time of the month the break came about also did not go down too well with most students. “The break should have been clubbed with the Dushhehra holidays. This time of the year means more to us than just the festival. Now, I’ll have to miss classes to accommodate the festival,” quoted Nishita Banerjee, a student of History from LSR and a hurt Bengali.

So, the break which stands for a refreshing change from the mundane and routine life of attending classes, commuting, meeting deadlines, bunking classes (yes, that’s part of the routine, isn’t it?), didn’t really fulfill its promise. And, with the examination datesheet being declared JUST before the break began, it couldn’t get worse. Kudos to the VC!

 

Vatsala Gaur
[email protected]

Remember the time when one weekend in a month (or two) neared like impending doom? Remember the circulars, placidly inviting all the dear parents for a “healthy” interaction with the teachers, about how their children were doing at school? I remember dying a little bit inside every time we got one of those. I also remember trudging along nervously, as I would lead my parents up the stairs, to the dark chambers of classrooms and staff-rooms where the teachers waited for the next victim to be slaughtered, while a friend would pass by with a throat-slitting signal and a whispered “yaar aaj to lag gai.” I remember sitting there awkwardly, being talked about in grave tones of concern like I wasn’t even there, having everything from my marks, habits, activities, uniform and even my friends being discussed and dissected. I wasn’t that bad a student, so I would alternate between taking my mom to the teachers who would praise me and those who were sure to land me a lecture on the way back.

Come college, I thought all that was over. But now after I’ve settled down into the comfortable routine of doing things my way, without having to worry about having my activities discussed later, DU decides to burst my bubble. Delhi University’s reported proposal to form a parents’ coordination committee sounds to me like taking a huge leap backwards in the process of student development. What has been supposedly proposed for better administration and policy making seems like not just another way to poke moral reprobation on students’ campus activities, but also as destroying the fundamental difference between college and school life.

When you become a college kid, you’re suddenly in a zone where you’re the only one looking out for yourself. There’s no one you’re really accountable to, be it about your attendance, your studies or the kind of friends you make. Your choices are your own and you’re the one who has to face the consequences. College is also probably the time when most of us learn to become responsible and somewhat independent, be it paying the fee (which I’ve experienced by now to be an extremely harrying process in DU), filling the forms on time or maintaining your attendance and proxies to be able to scrape through and give the exams. Part of the vibrancy and culture of college, which distinguishes it from school, is that when we’re dissatisfied, we can raise our voices because we know what we say counts, and the administration is accountable to US. If parents are going to be introduced in the college scene, for more “accountability” towards the students, what are the students going to do? We’re adults now, we hardly need parents as mediators. But I guess by the end of the year we might be seeing parents hawking around campus and parent-teacher meetings being held, in a back-to-school atmosphere where all that college will be left signifying would be a lack of uniforms.

Last month, the court had issued a notice to DU authorities after a PIL was filed by the Indian Council of Legal Aid and Advice, seeking to introduce a biometric system to register the attendance of lecturers and other teaching staff of the university. The PIL said that the attendance system should be introduced to ensure that a teacher “adheres to the teaching hours and days prescribed by the UGC and the university rules”. As per the UGC norms, the workload of teachers should not be less than 40 hours a week for 180 teaching days, apart from being available for at least five hours daily in the college. The working hours actually put in by a lecturer in Delhi University daily are just about three and half hours per day currently.

The affidavit filed by the registrar said: “The University of Delhi is committed to adopt and implement measures which are favourable and beneficial to the university system as a whole, such as the biometric system of attendance for its teachers in order to ensure their presence in colleges and ensure the participation of all teachers in the teaching/learning process.” Emphasising on the perquisites of teachers the affidavit read, “The teachers after the implementation of sixth pay commission have lucrative pay packets and are expected to fully justify the trust and confidence reposed by the society on them by working tirelessly for the betterment of the taught so as to prepare them for facing the challenges of life with confidence and knowledge.” The plea also stated that it seemed that the university was not implementing the biometric system under pressure from teachers’ unions. The university had tried to introduce the system in 2009, but had to hastily withdraw the order after Delhi University Teacher’s Association (DUTA) went on strike in protest.

This time around however, Delhi University has assured the Delhi High Court that it would adopt and implement the biometric attendance system for teachers to ensure punctuality. Following the assurance, the court disposed of the plea saying, “On the assurance given by the university, the court hopes and expects that biometric system of attendance would be introduced expeditiously.” The teachers are not expected to stall the move, which is aimed at uplifting the standards of teaching facilities.

 

Sakshi Gupta
[email protected] 

The one thing that is common in all Delhi University students is their tendency to dream big. Everyone wants a posh car, a big house and of course, a job that pays well and keeps them satisfied too. But some students take it a step further to actually work on their dreams by starting their own enterprises while balancing college life. Here’s presenting a few entrepreneurs of DU. Mayank Jain of Keshav Mahavidyalya’s  venture, SocialBuzzar launched in November, 2011 can be described as ‘The One-Stop Shop for all your Social Media needs!’  The team takes care of every aspect of social media marketing from content creation to campaign strategy development for a firm. With big names like McKinsey & Company and HCL already featuring in their clientele list, this undertaking is all set to take on even bigger projects in the future. Entrepreneurs Shoury Gupta, Medha Bankhwal and Prateek Handa, students of Shri Ram College of Commerce aim to commercialise theatre and bring together students approaching expertise in finance, acting, directing set management and so on from institutes across Delhi. ‘It started with a random conversation of starting our own business. Then we realized that theatre is what we love. So why not combine theatre and business? The result was Turntable Productions’, said Gupta.Started just in February 2012, this enterprise has already staged 4 shows of a bilingual play ‘Footnotes’ at Alliance Francaise, earning a total profit of over Rs.50, 000. Madhav Sethi, a second year student from College of Business Studies, is the brain behind Muro, an interior decoration company with a mission ‘To Poster the World’. Launched in June 2012, they can turn any wall into a canvas using themed posters, wall arrangements and single posters, amongst other products. ‘We’ve already finished quite a few individual posters and are currently working on 3 orders for full walls’, said Madhav. They plan to collaborate with interior designers and architects in the near future to expand their operations.    ]]>


Last year was my first year in college and as the elections approached, I started to root for that holiday that all my friends were getting. The election day holiday. But my bubble burst when I realized that my college is not a part of Delhi University Student Union (DUSU). I study in Indraprastha College for Women, yet another all-girls college which is not a part of Delhi University Student Union (DUSU). So election time for us is just like any other time, dull and drab with no new excitement. It’s the same old life of everyday. In spite of being located in North Campus, all we get to do is hear about how alive other colleges are- campaigning, rallies and demonstrations- and not get to see it. Nobody is shouting slogans or bribing us to vote for them, no graffitis and no agenda fliers littered all over, nothing.  We completely miss the election hullabaloo that happens in most other colleges. We’re never a part of any election scandal! No candidate barges into to our college and (to our major disappointment) disrupt our classes or create a commotion! And the worst part, we do not get a holiday on the election date. We have regular classes throughout the day since we don’t have to go and vote. We miss being a part of one of those DU cults that define it.

What we don’t miss is well the hooliganism that is rampant during this time, mobs, fights, eve teasing and the likes of these. We all saw the extremities it could go to when a girl was molested during a rally. I guess this is why all girl colleges abstain from being a part of DUSU. Better safe than sorry, but safe is sure boring! We feel rather left out and it’s not like people spend that holiday voting, they have fun, we don’t even get to do that. So it’s just really sad! There are too many disadvantages and not enough advantages to balance it out. But let me make one thing clear, it is not about who wins to represent us; it’s the whole experience that is worth having which we are deprived of.

So, where is the democracy which everyone claims to live in and how come we don’t get our adult suffrage rights?

In what comes across as a rather deplorable episode, a third-year student of Mathematics Honors from St. Stephen’s college was allegedly abducted on August 15 by her 24-year-old boyfriend who held her in custody at a hotel in Paharganj area of Central Delhi before police extricated her the following day.

Apparently, the accused, identified as Abhishek Deep, a journalism graduate from IP University, had called the girl to the Shastri Nagar Metro station, subsequent to which he took her to Hotel Ashoka in Paharganj. There he had already reserved two rooms, one of which was in the name of the victim. After forcefully locking her in one of the rooms, he made a call from her mobile to her father and demanded ransom of Rs. 1.5 crore.

However, his plans met with a disaster when the girl’s father, who is a consultant at an iron ore firm in Bangalore, informed the police and after registering a case, a rigorous interrogation kick started. It was actually through phone surveillance that the location of the number was unearthed following which the victim was rescued. At the same time, the police also collared Abhishek and arrested him on the grounds of kidnapping a girl.

During the aftermath interrogations, it was garnered that the accused, a native of Chattisgarh, was in desperate need of money and hence concocted this entire conspiracy. In fact, he was unemployed but had a longing to lead a prolific lifestyle and had earlier taken a handsome amount of money from his previous girlfriend as well. The two met at a fest in January this year and were in association since then.

Reportedly, the girl in question did a year of her graduation in United States before migrating to India three years back. She was now putting up in a flat in Kingsway camp near North Campus. According to some of her acquaintances who refused to be quoted or named, she didn’t share an emotional bond with her parents and their relationship was more or less confined to matters related to finances. She had also flunked in her second year exams, the result of which came on the day of this incident. She has now gone back to Bangalore and is perhaps planning to shift to United Stated again.

 

Vatsal Verma
[email protected]

What a glistening mirage college life radiates! To each of  those dreamy eyed ones, campus  life is a gift wrapped experience of enthralling fun, persistent chilling, some really cool signature hangouts, and truly the incidence of  “the best things in life” with a validity of three years! This picture perfect imagery might just be shattered with some mundane schedules and chores that we hate to get around with, but that isnt too much of a problem. Delhi University offers you some splendid locales, that would be just enough to reconcile all the pieces of the broken hour glass. The more happening north campus has much to allure. With attempts to modify classrooms to student’s interests, what happens around in the haven of students is not worth the miss! It’s the ever so famous Kamala Nagar market that you will splurge on, you’d live to die for QD’s scrumptious delights.  The more desi ones will take refuge in Chatte de Hatti and monsoon rains will pour on Kamala Nehru ridge, to all lovers’ glee. The more popular colleges will leave you spellbound with blissful experiences.  Whether it is the iconic sports complex of SRCC and the adored Irfan’s canteen or the ultimate café of St. Stephen’s, ranging to the unexplored ones like a supposed Bhoot Bangla, a Graffiti wall, SPIC MACAY’s Canteen and the Tibetan market, you would want to venture into every barricade and every locked iron door, simply because this place breathes youthfulness and freedom. To satiate your drive to explore some more irresistible places, do not hesitate to visit all that south campus has to offer you.  Lined up in Satya Niketan is an array of enticing cafes including student’s paradise QD’s. The elite Taj’ CCD is a host to a number of campus birdies too. Contrary to that is the incredibly popular Chowrangee in Satya Niketan which feeds you to your heart’s satisfaction. Living up to the popular perception of Delhi’s malling culture, Delhi University students will never refrain from spending days together in malls like they were their second homes. Many of whom have attained nirvana in our favourite Select City walk. The ones in Vasant Kunj have supremely come up with the ice skating and bowling trends, which is truly GenY’s thing to do. Delhi University is a world in itself and it’s unbelievable how seemingly short the time we have here seems. It has a myriad of joys to spread and heaps of experiences to retain forever and for life. So, cease this year here and set out on the journey to unveil new avenues. Hope you have a Xing on experience! Picture Credits: Additi Seth]]>

Most people who take up History in college expect a lot from the subject. One can usually see enthusiastic first years say on the first day of college, “I want to do archaeology, hence I took up history”, “I like history as I love memorising dates”, and then one can also hear the clichéd line, “I want to crack the Civil services, hence I took up history”. Well, all first year history students should brace themselves for something completely different! History is not just about dates and wars, it’s a discipline that transcends all conventional notions of education. I am sure teachers must have already started giving out huge bibliographies to you all, which must have tired your wits out! It’s completely understandable, that after coming from diverse backgrounds and schools, you will find it difficult to initially adjust to the incessant xeroxing and fragmented readings. But like our NCERT and Frank brothers, we also have some base books for History (hons.), which will help you garner a good grounding in your subject. But the million dollar question is:  Which are the books that will help me sail my way through the first year? Don’t assume that I am creating a guide book list for all of you: this is just a preliminary guideline, to help you in your initial days through this indecipherable course called History (hons.) in Delhi University. The first honours paper: Ancient India, seems like a very difficult paper in the beginning, but one book will save everybody’s souls and studying time- ‘A History of Ancient and Medieval India: from the stone age to the 12th century’ by Dr. Upinder Singh (yes, she is Manmohan Singh’s daughter). The name of the book may sound daunting, but trust me; it is your bible in the first year. Not only will this book save you hours of reading through subsidiary readings, it is also an excellent resource for the section on Harappa. But at the same time, it is also quite inadequate for a lot of stuff, so don’t do the mistake of reading this book alone! You can also buy R.S Sharma’s ‘Ancient Past’ if you want (but for those people who are content with buying Upinder Singh: it won’t be much of a loss). But the real joy of Ancient India comes through reading up lots of stuff, so please do not miss out on that. The paper requires a lot of debate, so make sure you read up as much as possible, so that you can substantiate your paper with relevant arguments. The second paper: Social Formations and Cultural patterns of the Ancient and Medieval world (don’t worry about remembering the name, most of us forget it by the time we reach our third year), or popularly called, “Sofo”, can be cracked with the help of Dr. Amar Farooqui’s famous book (every student in DU reading history has read him once in their lifetime), ‘Early Social Formations’. This is undoubtedly the most comprehensive and detailed book on the subject. There is just one problem- in case your college teaches you Shang China, then the only person who can save you is K.C Chang. Otherwise, it’s Amar Farooqui all the way! And as for the qualifying paper: Hindi, life would have been so much easier without this paper wouldn’t it? The only guidance I can suggest is guide books. They will be enough to make you pass with a decent grade. The second semester will hopefully be less hard for you all, as by then you would have learnt to navigate your way through this course and of course your college! And above everything, there are always teachers and seniors to help you all out, so keep them on your reference list too!  ]]>

Much has been said about the first ever Gyanodaya Express – the educational train journey for NSS & NCC girl students. Aimed at broadening the horizons of learning beyond the classrooms, this excursion toured Ahmedabad, Wardha, Mumbai, Goa, Bengaluru and Mysore this summer. But did the journey actually live up to all the hype? We get to you a first-hand account of Gyanodaya and an answer to that question.

July 8, 7:30 am, Safdarjung station: Aboard the Gyanodaya Express, we had little idea about the journey we were going to embark upon. Only high excitement levels. Pure adrenaline rush. A traditional welcome with shehnais and garlanding at the station awaited us followed by a warm send off by the Vice Chancellor himself. Counting heads, shifting seats, and managing the luggage, 940 girls aboard the train started their journey of knowing one’s own country, the Gandhian way!

Day long journey till our first stop, Ahmedabad, and we were all assigned multiple projects, given books and laptops with internet dongles so as to facilitate the process of preparing travelogues, book reviews and reports. The announcements of singing, sketching, photography and poetry competitions kept us on our toes. Sounds of antaksharis and dumb charades echoed the compartments and the tinkling sounds of raindrops outside made life in the moving train absolutely blissful.

July 9-10 – Destination One – Ahmedabad – We deboarded only to find Mercedes Benz buses waiting for us (ooh yeah!) to take us to our respective hotels. After wash and change, we were taken to Tri Mandir followed by Vaishno Devi Mandir (yes, Gods first, after all!). Greeted by Bapu’s three bandars, we spent the evening by the banks of the Sabarmati river at the Sabarmati Ashram which gave us a first hand experience of life at Gandhiji’s residence.

Interactions with the students of Gujarat Vidyapeeth the next day was followed by a visit to the magnificent Akshardham Temple – an architectural delight, a beautifully carved stone edifice, surrounded by expansive gardens with the backdrop of heavy and heavenly monsoon rains. The buses took us straight back to the station – where the Gyanodaya express was waiting to be boarded for our next destination – Mumbai.

July 11-12 – Arrival at aamchi Mumbai and departure straight to The Naval Base, Colaba. Our excitement knew no bounds because well within sight were a fleet of ships and frigates of the Indian Navy all marked with initials INS – Indian Navy Ships. Our contingent was taken inside INS Viraat – the second largest ship (aircraft carrier) in the Indian Navy. The disciplined (and handsome!) Navy officers not only exhibited how a ship this big rules the sea but also gave an insight into the tough life of the defense wing of the country.
Colaba to Juhu was a journey to remember – crossing Santacruz, Ville Parle, Bandra, Marine Drive, Worli Sea Link, Taj Hotel and the ‘dwellings’ of The Ambanis, The Jindals, The Bachchans and The Khans and Kapoors caught our fancy. An evening at the Juhu Beach with friends in tow, what more could one ask for!

Day two at Mumbai began with a visit to the Marine Drive, the famous Mahalaxmi temple and the Dargah of Haji Ali. No stopping at Gateway of India while in Mumbai and giving the girls no time for shopping – surely a criminal offence of it’s kind! With long faces, we were dropped at the station at 1 pm while the train was scheduled for 6!

July 13-14 – Destination Goa, Let’s give time a break! The land of silver sands, grey rocks and rushing waters awaited the Delhi damsels! Worth a mention is our Goan Resort with the pool and spa that refreshed our tired travelling souls and the day was spent at the beautiful and picturesque Calangute, Baga and Anjuna beaches and shacks that looked majestic in the monsoon rains!

Being among the lucky few who had the opportunity to peep into the second half of the defense wing and visit the air base in Goa, found it an extraordinary experience. Fascinated by the grandeur of INS Hansa and the expertise of the Indian pilots, we saluted our security wings for safeguarding the nation. The Portuguese architecture of the Goan Churches caught our awe and the afternoon was spent at the Old Goa Church after which we returned to our hotel-on-wheels, the Gyanodaya Express!

July 15 – The Garden City of Bengaluru beckoned us! A visit to the Indian Space Research Organization(ISRO) provided a sneak-peak into the space world and the working of the satellites. We made the most of our leisure free evening at Brigade road and MG Road satisfying our junk food appetite!

July 16 – City of Palaces, Mysore was our destination next! Starting with a visit to Tipu Sultan’s Museum to handicraft shopping and buying the famous Mysore silk sarees for our mothers back home, we girls spent hours in the streets of Mysore culminating it with a visit to the Chamunda Devi Temple. Next stop was the profusely decorated Mysore Palace, the majestic, mystical and mesmerizing beauty of which left us absolutely spellbound!

July 17 – Back on the tracks (quite literally!) as it was another full day in the train heading towards Nagpur and Wardha, our last stops. The projects were in full swing with everyone occupied head on. The library-on-wheels, providing us food for soul and the doctor aboard attending the homesick-ness cases!

July 18 – Nagpur neglected, we were dropped off directly at Wardha. The university arranged for a hundred and thirty Innova cars to take us to Wardha University. Their VC addressed the DU-ites after which we headed towards the Village of Service, Sevagram. The journey in its last lap made us very ambivalent about the fact that we were returning to Delhi. While we were making the most of the last moments of being together, the night saw an unforeseen and unfortunate event of the express being looted at around 2 in the night. Laptops, purses, chains, mobiles, cameras and other valuables in coaches 8 to 15 were robbed leaving the entire train shocked and terrified in the middle of the night. In spite of high security provided by the university, the unwanted visitors had a field day as they managed to have their way. After the investigations and FIR formalities and a delay of five hours, we headed towards Destination Delhi.

The goods – We owned an entire train, the staff not only made sure we were comfortable with leaving our luggage and carrying just one bag for two days to every state but also took care of the lost and found. As promised, the buses and hotels were all air conditioned. Providing internet did help us stay connected with our family through skype besides facilitating making of the projects. Also, we stuck to the itinerary, so everything went as planned.

The bads – Food. Main problem. Food. Sure, they hired the best catering services of the railway industry and having it while in the train was never a problem, but we had little idea this food would be given to us thrice a day for 12 days, even in the hotels! But a Delhiite’s appetite is never complete without hogging on KFC, Mcdonalds, Pizza Hut and the chatpata street food – thepla, khakhra, dhokla while in Ahmedabad, panipuri and vada pav in Mumbai, Sea food in Goa and Sambhar Dosa while in Bengaluru and Mysore, we had it all by cutting on our leisure hours or getting it room delivered!
Another important thing that the trip organizers overlooked was arranging for a guide to guide. We wish the security agencies were vigilant enough not to spoil the trip of those who lost their valuables. Little hiccups here and there like not letting us wear shorts(even knee-length) on the beach or not giving us time to shop in Mumbai, did not matter much with friends around to have a merry time with!

Overall, the journey was an experience of a lifetime and also a wonderful initiative taken by the University and well conceived by Professor Dinesh Singh. Not only did it teach us lessons of trust, patience and endurance, but the unexpected and unusual intrigued us to delve into the place’s very heart as life drifted by in slow motion for us to discover its simple joys…

 

Surbhi Bhatia
[email protected]