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College Misfits

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Every college of Delhi University has a culture of its own which defines it. The culture is as instrumental in getting the college a ranking on the glossy pages of the most-prestigious education magazines, as it is in getting its students to feel what they do about the dynamics of the subject that is, “college and me”.

One of the most unfortunate things that could ever happen to a student, all strapping him up for the big-bad world is that he finds himself fenced in by people, fellow students he is not able to associate with. (This statement is made, notwithstanding the age-old adage- “It’s all in the mind”).

Following is what the self-confessed misfits had to say about the college they are still struggling to adapt to the ethos of.:

Shri Ram College of Commerce:

I have always been rather flippant about things and more creative and subjective than moulded into a thought frame which gives me opinions about what’s happening in this world in general. Encountering people by the dozen everyday in college, who would kill to glamorise their CVs and who swear by the “B-plan and Case Study lexicon” in all their discussions, and with little encouragement by the college authorities to talk about activities I could more relate to, like music and Art, I have just never been able to feel that sense of belongingness to this place, or more precisely, to the crowd. Also, the course (in my case) has never been an incentive to feel happy about the place.

Lady Shri Ram College:

I longed to find nutcases of girls around me in the campus, but in vain. The girls were (with no offence meant) always prim and proper, with hair in place, and a certain “LSR twirl” on their tongues. The fantastical college world I had imagined for myself in my dreams came crumbling down when I first set foot on the grounds of this institution. I almost resigned, calling “this” part of the world extensively phony. Though I still feel lost, I think I have come to terms with the culture of the college.

College has a huge role to play when it comes to shaping the person you would be. When they regurgitate the idea of, “choosing course over college”, they’re not entirely wrong, as when the chips are down, you have the refuge of your books at least because if the college refuses to choose YOU, you’re in for trouble for the next three years of your life.

 

Vatsala Gaur
[email protected]

Image credits: Additi Seth
[email protected] 

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Events

Bhaasha 2012 at St. Stephen’s

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India, with its cultural and linguistic diversity, has among the richest traditions of theatre in the world. Nearly every language, every region, has its own form of theatre. In an attempt to bring all these onto a common platform and learn from the various traditions in theatre characteristic to different Indian languages, the Shakespeare Sabha of St. Stephen’s College initiated Bhaasha, a Multilingual One-Act play competition in 2011.

In addition to this attempt, Bhaasha was also initiated to reflect the idea that that language, while being an important tool of theatre, is not the be-all and end-all. Bhaasha is the manifestation of our belief that theatre transcends language.

The idea of a multilingual theatre competition is pretty new to Delhi University and was conceived only last year. In its first year ‘Bhaasha’ was a bit of an experiment and entries were restricted to within Delhi University. We received wide and enthusiastic participation and the audience was treated to a feast of theatre over two days. The Shakespeare Sabha entered two non-competitive entries. The first was a short mime and the second, was ‘Ibn Batuta’, far more elaborate and wider in its scope. The production embodied the spirit and the underlying idea of ‘Bhaasha’. ‘Ibn Batuta’ featured seven regional languages. Actors recited poetry in Punjabi, Malayalam, Rajasthani, Manipuri, Tamil, Bangla and Urdu evoking themes and emotions varying from pathos to revolution. The concept and execution of the play was widely acclaimed. Of the competitive entries, it was Shunya, the dramsoc of Ramjas College that carried the honours with its brilliant play, “Bang! Bang! You’re Dead!” The honour of best director went to Aarushie Sharma and Heena Aggarwal of Ibtida (Hindu College) for their play “Us Paar”.

Having tasted success with our experiment, we have looked to expand the scope of Bhaasha. In only its second Bhaasha has gone national and much to our relief, multilingual. The entries this year are diverse in character and presentation.

This year, we open with ‘ABOHOMAN’, a play by St. Stephen’s based on an episode from the Mahabharata followed by ‘WHAT THE HELL’ – a comedy of emotions by Ibtida (Hindu College) inspired by Jean Paul Sartre’s ‘No exit’. Next up is ‘KUTTE’, Vayam’s (Shivaji College) adaptation of Vijay Tendulkar’s comment on the modern workplace. We wrap up the first day with Ankur’s (SGTB Khalsa College) take on Manto’s ‘THANDA GOSHT’.

First on 6th November is ‘LAAL PENCIL’, Astitva’s (Dyal Singh College) play on the association of a girl with her red pencil. Jadavpur University, Kolkata present their play ‘HARADHAN PRAMANIKER PROSTHAN’ – a growing up tale that connects six drastically different lifetimes together.  Following this, is ‘NOISES OFF’, a play by SRCC about the multi-fold, quieter behind the scenes narratives that play out their stories even before the real tale can begin. Last year’s winner, Shunya (Ramjas College) then presents ‘SAINTS AND SINNERS’, four stories, of four unscrupulous men. The concluding performance is that of the Hansraj Dramatics Society. Replete with songs, the play revolves around the passionate misery of Topan Lal Keshwani.

A brilliant experience and a celebration of Indian theatre, Bhaasha has been a treat for the audiences, performers, judges and organisers. We expect Bhaasha 2012 to be twice as good, twice as entertaining. And we hope that in the years to come Bhaasha will grow further and its underlying idea will come to fulfillment.

 

Visit their Facebook page for more details, http://www.facebook.com/Bhaasha.SSC.

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Events

Orizzonte- A Management Fiesta for School Students by DDUC

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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

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Campus Central

Mid-semester Break – A Break? Really?

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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]

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Campus Central

PTMs in DU: Hello, Military Camp!

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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.

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Campus Central

Biometric Attendence for Teachers Quite a Possibility

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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] 

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Campus Central

Entrepreneurs of DU

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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.    ]]>

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Campus Central

The Plight of a Student of a College Not Affiliated to DUSU

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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?

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News

St. Stephen’s Girl Kidnapped, Boyfriend Arrested for Hatching the Plan

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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]

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Campus Central

Let's Hangout!

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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]]>

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