The Freshers’ Party is an adrenaline rush for every DU student. The post admission wait for the colleges to open, is more about the party rather than their choice of electives.
Students usually prep up and devote their time hunting for the best outfits that could work their way to fame at the Freshers’ Party.
They humbly abide by the rule of first impressions and dress up like there’s no tomorrow.
All the colleges managed to quench their bustling energy and excitement by organizing the best freshers’ parties for them. With an all-access pass to the sizzling most events, we at Wooplr too, tip-toed into every college doing some style search to spot the best fashion at Delhi University. As this ravishing season ends, we bring you the most trendy freshers parties of DU :
Institute of Home Economics
‘Red for committed, Yellow for complicated and Green for single!’, when the theme itself spells out some noise, there needs to be no more validation whatsoever! To our surprise, more than 70% of the girls in the college were wearing red, and some also followed the odd combination of yellow and red to express their on and off relationship status. The stars of the party though were the members of the student union whose style had us glued from start to end. What impressed us the most was that the girls at IHE did not just stick with the mainstream trend of ‘little red dresses’, but, were up for experiments of all kind. From jumpers to drapes, it was all well served on the platter. And, greens? Well, the universe has less space for singlehood, we think!
2. Lady Irwin College
You know a party when you see one, especially one where girls are decked up wearing heels and their pouts. But at Lady Irwin College, it was something else! It was about ‘literally’ letting loose and dancing their heart out. It wasn’t about first impressions but the focus was on just being yourself and having fun while at it. We spotted a handful of girls in maxi dresses, skater skirts apart from the usual crop tops paired with high-waist lowers. The girls here, do know the ‘current-world’ party ritual of staying casual yet classy, simple yet sexy! This effortlessly cool styling seemed to strike a chord with their seniors who were rather joyous than judgemental!
3. Kalindi College
Over the years, Kalindi College has made sure to revive the Indian hearts of the young girls out there and promote the theme of ‘Bollywood’. It was a great sight to see a bunch of young ladies draped in the most colorful and unique sarees. Sarees paired with interesting blouses, they surely showcased the richness of Indian wear. One cannot ignore the beauty of ethnic wear. There’s rap and hip-hop everywhere but there’s one thumka to die it all down at Kalindi!
4. College of Vocational Studies
It would be absolutely unfair for all the pretty senoritas, if we don’t tell them where the most trendy men are in DU. The boys at CVS did leave us amazed by their wardrobe choices. It was all about tight fitted shirts with ripped muscles, ankle length trousers, lusty loafers and classy suspenders. Dressed as gents just until the beat of the drums and they were simply Punjabi after that. They did not really feel the need of dhol, for, they’d ace their bhangra on any track. The girls took comfort in their trusted maxi dresses and LBD’s. The Debonair Divas and Jovial Gentlemen totally got our thumbs-up!
5. Maitreyi College
A college that is always known for its fashion definitely cannot miss out from our list now, can it? Maitreyi seemed to follow the mantra “My Life, My Fashion” which saw students stepping out in styles that suited them the most. The cutout trend seemed to be a major hit among the freshers this year. Be it cutout backs, crops or a peek-a-boo of their curves, they were surely very comfortable in their skin. The highlight, though, were the feather earcuffs that we noticed added charm to a majority of the looks! The seniors here looked no less than the newly entered freshers with their styling which tells us that the fashion tales only get better with every passing year.
To find out the ‘rocknrolla’ of these smashing fresher’s parties, download the Wooplr app at the earliest!
The Panorama Film Appreciation Society of Jesus and Mary College, in association with Recyclewala Labs, organized an interactive session with critically acclaimed Actor-Producer Sohum Shah to spread recognition of the National Level Story Search Activity campaign, on 28th October, 2015, at 1 pm in Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University.
Sohum Shah, who’s known for his exceptional production of films such as ‘Ship of Theseus’, ‘Gulaabi Gang’ and ‘Newborns’, conveyed how “every little spark of idea holds immense importance while writing scripts”, and that, “it’s mostly an overflow of different ideas which end up creating the unique soul of a movie.” He revealed the basis of his production’s Pan-India Story Search Activity which aims to encourage students all over the country to set free their stimulating power of imagination and submit their flood of ideas or accounts of interesting stories in at least five to ten pages, and unleash the hidden scriptwriter in them. An amalgamation of some of the best entries would then be taken into account and adapted into a movie, with great rewards kept in store for the selected writers.
Credited to the lively personality of Sohum, the students talked about everything and held back nothing. There was a buoyant exchange of ideas for screenplays and self-made stories by all budding writers. Discussions on the ‘likes and dislikes’ of different types of films and the wide range of changing themes that have recently gained popularity was a subject happily covered by all movie-buffs and Bollywood lovers.
A moment of sweet nostalgia was then triggered on being asked about his inspiration to enter the movie industry. “As a kid,” he recalled smilingly, “I was a die-hard fan of Shah Rukh Khan and his romantic movies, with my all-time favorite being Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.” He recollected being lost in his fantasy world most of the time, which he felt, instead of holding him back, as most of the people around him normally suspected, helped him move forward in life. He said, “It helped me create beautiful visions and ignited the spark of my imagination, through which I only learnt to create more realistic stories later. It also helped me to believe in myself.” He further declared that, “Without a meaningful degree of passion and love, it’s very difficult to sustain one’s dream.”, and so, “it’s only by constantly believing in yourself and in your dreams, that you can create means to fulfill them one day.”
On being asked what he enjoyed watching more- Parallel lines or mainstream cinema movies, he replied, “For me, the world is full of surprises. In fact, life is itself a surprise- a fascinating contradiction. Therefore, one must never limit themselves to any one range but enjoy all kinds of movies.”
In the end, he was only more than overwhelmed to achieve such great responses and ideas from the audience, and expressed that he loved each and every minute of their interaction. In reciprocation, he wanted everyone to catch his upcoming movie ‘Tumbad’, a fantasy-horror film which will be released very soon.
With a vehement passion to take the discipline of Sociology beyond classroom levels and create a strong platform for change in the society, the Department of Sociology of Maitreyi College released its very first Newsletter- ‘Sociologue: Aao Baat Karein’ followed by a talk on ‘Why Gender? Need for Feminist Thinking’ by Professor Rajni Palriwala on the 27th of October, 2015, from 11 a.m. till 1 p.m. in the Seminar Hall of Maitreyi College, New Delhi. The programme began with a short speech by Dr. (Mrs.) Yamini Gautam, Vice-Principal of Maitreyi College, on the great value of newsletters in today’s times for disseminating information and spreading awareness on various issues around the world, which are otherwise left unvoiced. Professor (Mrs.) Maala was then, called on the stage to give a warm welcome to the guest speaker, Dr. Rajni Palriwala, who is a Professor of Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University. Her research interests include gender, kinship and marriage, care, citizenship, feminist theory and politics, agrarian and development studies and comparative sociology. She is also an eminent author of many novels and journals, some of which include Changing Kinship, Family and Gender Relations in South Asia; Planning Families, Planning Gender; and Marriage, Migration and Gender.
[caption id="attachment_35899" align="aligncenter" width="767"] Dr. Rajni Panriwala[/caption]
The event was followed by Dr. Rashi Bhargava, Assistant Professor and Editor-in-chief of Sociologue, who explained the true purpose of their newsletter, which was to initiate a platform for social discussion and dialogue, and to promote interactions and liberation of ideas on issues of everyday life which must be confronted, but are mostly neglected. A presentation on an overview of the whole newsletter was thus, demonstrated to give a brief on all the major Editorial features such as Feature Articles, Editors’ Choice, Department Updates, News Headlines, Reflection Box, and Letters to the Editor and Issue Specific Features which would include Stories/Poems/Reviews, Comic Strips/Visual Pieces and Food For Thought, built around one particular theme, every year.The entire team of Sociologue, including the Editorial Board, Creative Team and Publicity Team along with Dr. Rajni, Dr. Yamini, Prof. Maala, Dr. Rashi, Associate Professor Dr. Gopi Tripathy and Prof. Koyal were then, all, invited on the stage to perform the inauguration ceremony. Having run the theme ‘Gender Matters’ this year, it was crucial for someone as prestigious as Professor Rajni to address her few words of wisdom during the launch of Sociologue. She started by reminiscing her childhood days wherein she was surprised to observe that despite being treated equally in the arena of education, her family would always create differences among her siblings when it came to cooking, and every time, she would persuade her family into finding her a groom who could cook instead, a wave of laughter would fill the air. Growing up, she realized that such differences, which she earlier took as being natural, were in fact, cultural- that is, made by the world around us, and which have always been prevalent, ever since the times of Suffrage and the Indian National Movement. She explained that the reason “Why Gender?” is debated upon so much is because of the fact that people always took gender differences as being natural, especially in the dimension of work. She said, that, “People always required women to cook, take care of the ‘unpaid domestic work’ and become the bedrock of their families. They thought that women did all this naturally, and it was thus, considered as their ‘real job’. Even if middle-class or poor women did go out for work to subsist their family, they were still required to finish their entire household ‘work’ as well.”She then, emphasized that the reason why unequal treatment of women in the public sphere of education and employment is still very much prevalent in our society, is because our constitution has only acquired formal equality for women, and not a substantive one. She referred to the popular saying, “Personal is political” by justifying that our lives are deeply political as it’s all about the personal ‘power’ of a person, whether it’s men who may dominate their power over others or women who may succumb to the oppression of powers by others.She further elucidated that many women have now become victims of the ‘Stockholm syndrome’ which means that after being imprisoned or bounded by the dominant structure of the society for so long, women have started accepting such ways of life where they no longer feel the urge to break away. This is also one of the reasons why most of them do not raise their voice anymore and choose to stay silent despite being treated unfairly repeatedly by anyone. She also enlightened everyone with the fact that the equality which women ask for is not of being treated exactly as men, but of that in which men and women of all castes and classes must be different. She said that, “the idea of true equality does not call for exact sameness, but of enhancing and appreciating the idea of differences among them, and being treated with ‘equal’ dignity and respect.” She, therefore, encouraged all the girls to continue the fight against unjust treatment and to continue discussing such topics with those having opposite perspectives until they realize that they are wrong. According to her, there must be a very strong sense of collectivity and uniformity among women, or a need for Feminism, as the battle to remove all gender inequalities may be slow and hard, but will eventually bring about an epicenter of change.Shagun Marwah[email protected]Image Credits: Bayar Jain and Vibhana Kanwar, Members of Vista- The Photography Society of Maitreyi College]]>
Arthritis affects over 180 million people in India, with 10% of arthritis patients being among the youth. Considering the alarming prevalence of this condition, Yogindra Malik, a 24 year old software engineer by profession, is leading a unique initiative powered by the youth to spread awareness regarding arthritis and its associated symptoms and conditions. Recognising the fact that people with arthritis face unique barriers such as high costs of treatment, and difficulty accessing medication, this initiative is geared towards reducing the burden of the patients and their families through a committed network of volunteers.
Personally affected by a number of sports injuries, Yogindra believes in the life-altering significance of disseminating information. “There is a definite lack of knowledge pertaining to arthritis, particularly among the youth. Awareness can help in preventing the condition from aggravating,” he says. Further, juvenile arthritis is a serious condition that affects thousands of children and their families in the country. Through this initiative, Yogindra seeks to facilitate access to resources and care for arthritis patients, by partnering with health care providers to ensure powerful health tracking tools and local resources to persons affected by the condition.
Through social media communities and fund-raising events, this initiative aims at bringing individuals with arthritis and their families together, to get the support they require while supporting others in need at the same time.
Yogindra hopes to involve the Delhi University student community in spreading trusted awareness in order to ensure timely intervention in the case of this debilitating condition. Students are invited to volunteer with this initiative or register as campus ambassadors, by sending in their CV to [email protected].
For all the believers of destiny, it wrote for each one of us, three years, that were purely dedicated for a phase called ‘young and reckless!’. This phase starts when we enter the college and ends when we finally grow up to face the realities of life! While, in these years, we tend to do what everyone would do, behave like we are the coolest alive but, wear what we really love to wear. How others would think about your style is something that you will never pay heat to. And, that is how the humans of Delhi University, created a trend of its kind – Campus Style, the young, wild and reckless Fashion that you will only find in DU and nowhere else. What you might not know is that the girls here have their own Fashion secrets. How about we leak out some to you?
SHIRT IT UP!
For the usual lousy days at college, the girls at DU prefer to keep it light. No! They won’t specially go for a casual shopping spree, they will rather sneak into their guy friends’ cupboards and steal their shirts. Checkered or striped shirts with rolled up sleeves and denims make a perfect free day college look for them. They might as well feel like dressing up sometimes, but, for the rest, they are absolutely in love with their shirts! So, if you’re DU lover, we are sure you have aced this trick by now!
2. JIFFY JUNK!
With due respect to the late nights and late wake ups, these girls still know how to sizzle up their look in a jiffy! They won’t give much time to their look, but, their Junk jewellery will be up for a save. A clump of bangles on one hand, a worn leather band on the other and the most pretty looking jhumkis has always been the perfect route to styling for them. And, the main reason why they have an undying bend towards street shopping is the junk jewellery that they spot from anywhere and everywhere.
3. POUT OUT!
Being in college, makeup would be the last resort for any girl. What makes them look sinfully stunning is their ‘no-makeup’-makeup look. Irrespective of all the essentials in their bag, you will find the most poppy shades of lip colors in them undoubtedly. One hot pink shade on their lips, aviators, and they are pout ready! But, if you think it’s all about being jazzy, let us remind you they are also in love with the nudes! Afterall, that is how they define campus styling. The main make mantra for these gorgeous girls is – ‘Pout out and K.I.S.S’, Keep it simple silly!
4. HELLO ARM CANDIES!
What intrigues us the most about DU is how these DU Divas have a secret collection of Bags in their trunks! From fringed slings, to spongebob backpacks to rugged leather bucket bags, you name it and they have it. The catch though, is that they honestly follow the bag bible and know it right when to carry which bag to complete their looks. For the skater dress girly look, they have their cute slings out while for the ripped jeans attire, they will hop out of their houses with their backpacks on! Unaware of this trick? You definitely need to get out for some bag shopping!
5. I’M FEELING ‘EM SHOES!
And, when you hear ‘after diamonds, shoes are a girl’s best friend!’, it falls completely true for a DU girl. They do know their shoes well! Among the massive amount of women traveling in metro, if you spot ladies in their quirky slippers, it goes without a guess that they are from Delhi University. ‘Opt for the easy way out, but, don’t forget to nail it!’ – is what they believe. Thong sandals are their regular summer flings and for winters, ‘oo la la!’, the leather boots are out! And hey! Don’t forget how toms became popular in Delhi! All credits to DU girls and their fun cravings!
The style secrets are out ladies, get going with these fun tricks and do tell us when all eyes are on you in your college. Think you can add to this list? Download the Wooplr app and reveal some of your campus style secrets! ASAP!
START-O-NOMICS 2K15, an event by the Economics Department of Dyal Singh College (Morning), Delhi University was held on 16th October. This event had everything which a budding entrepreneur’s mind craves – from the inspiring start-up stories to investment strategies, from the myth of glamorous life of start-up busted to getting an exclusive peek into the airline scene, from learning the perfect pitching to marketing strategies. And yes, a talk with a best-selling author!
This event was kick-started with an inspiring session with The CFO & co-founder Ms. Supriya Paul. She talked about the indisputable influence of others on career choices and urged the youth to break free from the shackles of societal norms to carve their niche in life. Further, she talked about the evolution of Josh Talks to its aim of making, “Inspiration accessible to youth”.
Next in line was Nikita Burma, Founder of The Blue Beans, a marketing firm for restaurants based out of Gurgaon. They are a rapidly growing marketing startup in the food industry. Nikita and her colleague, Shiva talked about the restaurant and food business marketing strategies. They went on to say that, “Marketing is not about stuff that you make but, stories you tell. Brands have stories and all successful marketing does is to make stories out of them.”
After deciphering the marketing myths, Varun Malhotra, CEO and founder of EIFS, talked about smart investments and stock market. According to him, “Sensex and NIFTY is not a barometer for stock market but, for economy of India”. He urged the youth to start early as investors to live a financially secured life and gave a lot of advices regarding smart investments.
Finally, after a riveting session on investments came the time to meet India’s best-selling author, Preeti Shenoy. She started her interactive session with telling about her journey of becoming a ‘best-selling author’. Further, she emphasized on the importance of ‘reading a lot’ and ‘writing a lot’ in order to expand one’s views to become a good writer and storyteller. When asked about the must have qualities to become a successful author, she said that, “Only four qualities are there – persistence, fearlessness, accept being different and make peace with your personality, and lastly, have thick skin to face the criticism.” Her session ended with book signing.
The next session was with Mr. M.S. Balakrishnan, Air India Director Finance (Retd.). He spoke on the present airline crisis and gave a detailed story behind the terrible failure of Kingfisher Airlines. Next up was an entrepreneurial talk session by Ranjeet Passi, a seasoned digital marketing professional and founder of SnapCape. He defined ‘the journey of a middle-class entrepreneur’.
Last two sessions were with Rishav Kumar, CEO and founder of University Express, and Sahil Baghla, CEO and founder of Bluegape. In their respective session’s they both took questions from the audience. Therefore, START-O-NOMICS 2K15 was a one of a kind event which gave the aspiring entrepreneurs a chance to have one-on-one interactions with the young successful entrepreneurs from different fields of – airlines, food, media, graphics, investment, app-development and an author!
Image Credits: Strobe (Photography society of Economics Department, DSC)
With the issue attracting multitudes of attention with every passing day, the Dadri lynching incident has been a subject of regret ever since it surfaced. The primary question in each mind is whether this is the kind of development and leadership India wishes to progress under. While communal tension is something that has always been existing in India, the exploitation of this tension to such gravity is what concerns everyone. DU i
The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) organised its Executive meeting earlier this week, where all members unanimously condemned the incident. The members expressed utter shock on the fact that the activities of the mob, which took away the life of that 50 year old man, were pushed by rumours that the family had eaten beef. The Association believes that this tragedy highlights the rising climate of hatred and tension across the nation.
Prof. Satish Deshpande, a DUTA member remarked, “I believe that under the present government, such incidents are not new. It’s the climate in which these incidents occur which is dangerous. The idea that the victim deserves such treatment is something of grave concern. The aberrational element is that the wrong people feel empowered, especially because of the fact that the government is not actively negating or condemning the incident. Strict law and order is needed to combat such situations.”
Areeb Mohammed, a student from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, remarked that incidents like Dadri should not be allowed to disrupt the communal harmony of the country. “We are a free and secular country and that is what I’m proud of. We should raise our voice against such incidents to ensure they do not happen again.”
Sharad Kumar knows what it’s like to deal with the highs and lows of life. From being diagnosed with polio myelitis at the age of two which left him with asymmetric paralysis in one leg, to excelling in sports during his school years, he learnt how to deal with it all at a very young age. He was on a high after winning the high-jump title in Malaysian Open Para-Athletics Championship and had his eyes set on being a part of the 2012 London Olympics, but an unfortunate ban because of allegations of doping forced him out of competition for two years.
A graduate in Political Science from Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, he went on to pursue a masters in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Sharad returned with a bang in the 2014 Para Asian Games at Incheon, winning the gold medal in high jump and also breaking a 12-year Asian Games record.
All set for the World Championship next month in Doha, Qatar, he talks to DU Beat about the importance of sports in his life, and his goals:
Q- Disabilities are hard to deal with, especially for a child. How did you deal with getting affected by it at such a young age? How much do you think being involved in sports helped you in this?
Ans: At a personal level, dealing with disabilities is not tough, but it is tough to deal with people who think of people with disabilities like they belong to a different category. Luckily, I was in an amazing boarding school where everyone was treated equally, and that made me do the same things that other kids did. I think sports activities are the best kind of therapy for any problem, not just disabilities.
2. What drove your interest in sports and motivated you to pursue high-jumping?
Ans: My brother was an amazing athlete. We studied in St. Paul’s School in Darjeeling where he was popular for being good at sports. He was an outstanding high jumper. His popularity compelled me to take up sports too. I got to know about Para-sports from my favourite teacher Mr. Dennis who had taught me right from my primary classes. He told me that I would do wonders in Paralympics after I broke my brother’s high jump record in inter school meets.
I was not allowed to take part in athletic events at the beginning because being new to the school and having a disability, but I still used to stand near the high jump arena and watch. I loved high jumping from the very beginning, from the first time I saw the event.
3. How was the experience of representing India and winning the gold medal at the 2014 Para Asian Games held at Incheon after 2 years away from
competing?
Ans: I very much needed this experience. The medal is getting me support from the government too. It feels like being wronged to anyone who is ignored and misjudged but I knew I would triumph, if given the chance. I am still living on the success of the Asian Gold medal, but my next target is the World Championship in Qatar next month.
4. You are going to represent India at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. Would you consider winning a gold medal there your ultimate achievement?
Ans: Winning the Paralympic Gold medal is my only dream now.
5. Based on your experience, what do you think is lacking in the way Para-sports are treated in India? What all improvements do you think are necessary for more of our Para-athletes to be able to compete internationally?
Ans: Things were terrible 6 years back, but now Para-sport in India is gaining momentum. I think the future is bright for Para-athletes and their mistreatment will soon stop. The government has done a tremendous job by making Paralympic medals equal to that of Olympic medals, which will surely benefit Para-athletes.
The Department of Journalism at Lady Shri Ram College for Women kicked off its Annual Academic Meet, Juxtapose 2015 on October 7. The theme for this year’s meet was ‘Deconstructing Identities, Reconstructing Perceptions’ and shined through in the topics of the various events.
Team from LSR at Media Quiz
Panel Discussion Day 1
Hall of Panel Discussion
Aamir Bashir, in Panel Discussion
Adil Hussain, in Panel Discussion
Winners of Ad Mad
Pre Juxtapose, 7 October- All India Media Meet
The issue of freedom of expression in the light of recent killing of journalists was subjected to heated discussion at The All India Media Meet of Department of Journalism, Lady Shri Ram College on 7th October 2015. The discussion shed light upon the subjective issue of freedom of press. The major issues of whether killing of journalists is an ultimate resolution to the “offensive” content produced by media was put to discussion. The major issues addressed during the course of discussion were the need of media and government to be independent bodies, inadequate self-regulatory mechanism prevalent in media, how killing of journalists is a direct consequence confrontational journalism.
The conference finally sought to address the two major issues of implementing an ideal law exclusively for the safety of journalists and the question of the actual identification of journalists considering how the concept of citizen journalists has led to ambiguity in the definition of journalists. Other issues of media blackout,the thin line of difference between hate speech and criticism and the leading consequences of defamation of judiciary by the press were address.
The debate whether an independent body other than the Press Council of India is required for safeguarding the interests of journalists was the final question addressed towards the end of the discussion. The discussion concluded with the following recommendations by the delegates of the committee –
Creation of a committee that gives licenses to freelancers and not citizen journalists and ensures that these licenses are not misused.
Ensuring that the committee formed shall ensure legal safety of journalists.
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting should put forward these recommendations to the Parliament.
Periodic meetings like AIMM must happen frequently to address these issues.
Day 1, 8 October- Turncoat Debate, Panel Discussion and AdMad
The topic for the Annual Turncoat Debate – Vox Pop at Juxtapose 2015 was whether film certification works in favour of the state or the public. Ideas like state propaganda, state mandate, to name a few, surfaced. Speakers spoke of how the Indian government compresses its citizens into a monolithic identity while at many a times completely disregarding the plurality of the country and on the other hand, how the state’s “parental attitude” was essential and justified.
‘Kissa Kursi Ka’ was a movie cited as an example by many speakers. However, as felt by the judge, Ms. Ishita Tiwary, what happened to the movie after it was banned wasn’t talked about by the speakers. This was an integral part as it shows the lengths the state can go to, to prevent anything that goes against its interests. After drawing comic reactions to a reference by speaker Chandrashekhar to Ragini MMS and how it had a “mentally scarring” effect on children, he went on to win the debate. The second and third positions were bagged by Naman Malhotra and Kushal Mishra.
The panel discussion, the second event of the day, was on the topic, “Media’s content: A state of compromise or progression?” The panelists included eminent personalities from the field of media – Abhinandan Sekhri, Shoma Chaudhary, Ritu Kapur and Supriya Sharma. Anshul Tewari, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of YouthKiAwaaz.com, was the moderator.
“Digital media has really shot up in the last 7-8 years. Though it has received a fair share of criticism but it has emerged as a powerful tool for people to speak up,” said Anshul Tewari. “Yes, digital media is limited there is no denying but I think over the next few years it will go deeper,” said Ritu Kapur, co-founder- The Quint. They further went on discussing the impact of digital media to which Abhinandan Sekhri’s stance was very unambiguous. According to him it’s a screen and it doesn’t really matter whether it is NDTV or News Laundry or Scoop Whoop. Also, he said that he believes that the number of views is not a yardstick to judge whether something has impacted people or not, rather, it’s the time they are spending in reading it which speaks.
On comparing the online media with print, Supriya Sharma, recipient of the Chameli Devi Award, given for excellence in Journalism, pointed out that online media is an interactive media with young readership and a sense of feedback. For her it is really very exciting to be able to influence the young minds of the country.
Towards the end the panelists discussed free speech and reasonable restrictions to which Abhinandan responded by saying that he is an absolutist and does not believe that any restriction is reasonable. His opinion was seconded by Ms. Shoma but with two caveats, which were – factuality and incitement to violence. The session concluded with a question and answer session with the audience where in issues like gate keeping, hate speeches and corporate ownership were discussed.
The AdMad competition was judged by Professor Shikha Jhingan and Professor Vibhushan Subba, from the Department of Journalism at LSR. One team that stood out was the one given a “mind reader” to sell. Their mind reader was a pair of flashily lit glasses. Team 4, consisting of Khushwinder and Dhruv, from who advertised an online grocery store bagged the first position, followed by Team 8, Manan, Akhil, Ishan and Vikas from Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology. The second runner up was Team 10, consisting of Manan Batra and Tushar Singh from Sri Venkateswara College.
Day 2, 9 October: Paper presentation, Panel Discussion, Media quiz
“Media presents to the audience what the audience wishes to see.” A paper presentation competition, Samantha vs. Savitri, organized by the Department of Journalism at LSR, kicked off the final day of their Annual Academic Meet – Juxtapose 2015. This platform acted as a podium where speakers presented their papers, on the question of representation of gender identities in 21st Century Sitcoms. The five participants present here had been shortlisted on the basis of their abstracts submitted much in advance. The event was judged by Ms. Abhija Ghosh, a student of Cinema Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
The presentations highlighted how women in particular are stereotyped as being submissive, prudent, and emotional with lack of strength. While the debate concentrated move over the roles of women, reference to other genders were also brought in by speakers. They mentioned how genders apart from the males and females are hardly mentioned as they are considered “unnatural”.
One of the participants, Sukanya, from Daulat Ram College, said, “Ironically, the small screen acts a harbinger of change”. But what change are we talking about if the whole concept of sitcoms dwell on reinforcing stereotypes in just a “funny or new” manner. Indian television serials show mainstream drama projecting the relationship between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law as being manipulative and competitive to gain the sympathies of the son/husband.” Another participant, Azra Qaisar, who also happened to be the winner of this event, quoted Naomi Wolf, “Women are allowed to have a body or brain but not both”. A student of LSR itself, her paper focused on the women characters in the famous American sitcom The Big Bang Theory.
The title of the panel discussion of Day 2 was Alternative vs. Mainstream Cinema, will the spectrums ever converge? The panelists on board were Mr. Pankaj Butalia, an award winning documentary filmmaker known for his films like Moksha and Textures of Losses; Mr. Aamir Bashir, a renown Indian actor and filmmaker, known for his work in films like Harud and A Wednesday; Mr. Adil Hussain, an Indian stage, film and television actor most known for his work in Life of Pi and English Vinglish; and Ms. Shohini Ghosh, is the Zakir Hussain Professor of media at the AJK Mass Communication Research Center, an essayist on popular culture and a documentary filmmaker. The discussion was moderated by Ms. Abhija Ghosh, who is a student of Cinema Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University. The discussion began with the moderator asking each panelist to define what mainstream and alternative films are to them.
One particular analogy given by Shohini Ghosh, was that of “the king’s highway and the detours” referring to the mainstream and alternative films, respectively, was used extensively througout the debate. Ms. Ghosh looked more towards the intersection of the two ways, and the ways in which each has its own importance. She quoted the example of Christopher Nolan, as to how he converged the king’s highway and the detour to completely redefine film form. She said, she prefers the term ‘independent cinema’ over alternative cinema. Documentaries, she believes, create the ground for content based movies in the mainstream cinema and have an invisible network of screening and reaching the audience.
Mr. Aamir Bashir wondered where the “dung on the detours” would go with the “swachh abhiyaan” happening. He said that the problem was of appropriation of alternative into the mainstream and how the mainstream tries to proach the alternative. He questioned the distribution system and market economy and how these forces were not willing to back alternative content. He also clearly mentioned, how he wasn’t very optimistic for the future of alternative films in India.
Mr. Butalia was concerned with documentaries and the lack of importance given to them in conversations about films in general, saying that it was “almost as if they do not belong to the category of films“. In the words of Mr.Batalia, we look at the “content” and “form” to distinguish between alternative and mainstream cinema. As the content gets more and more acceptable, it gets appropriated into mainstream media. The demands of commerce do not constrain the alternative film whereas a formula is literally laid out to govern the mainstream cinema; while the alternative cinema experiments more with the form. According to him, creativity is the defining factor in alternative media.
Adil Hussain said that all people who act, make or criticise movies are only human. Human nature and tendencies lead to mainstream media to be more widely accepted than the alternative, simply because it is more familiar and more acceptable to the masses. According to him, the greatest flaw in the medium of film is the need for money to begin making it. While comparing films to theatre, he mentioned how theatre needs no such investment. He defined alternative or more artistic films as those which put the characters and content under an electron microscope, giving them a completely new perspective rising from extreme curiosity and respect towards the arts.
The final event of Juxtapose 2015, was the media quiz. This year’s quiz was conducted by QuizCraft Global Knowledge Solutions. The Quiz Master was Mr. Adittya Nath Mubayi, Director of QuizCraft Global.
The quiz began with a preliminary round of 25 questions. A total of 65 teams participated out of which 6 made it to the final. Each team consisted of two members. To break the ice, Mr. Mubayi interacted with each of the final teams and asked them which journalist they would become, if given a chance, for 60 seconds.
The teams that made it to the final quiz had some really interesting names like Inter Galactic Hanuman Sena, Merry Pranksters and Bazingaa to cite a few. In the first round, each question was backed up by 2 hints. Each team had to recognize a person. First the audio was shown then the first hint would be a fact and the second would be the photo. Answering without using hints meant 60 points while it came down to 40 and 20 with the use of the first and the second hint respectively. The second round had direct oral questions. The third round was named Look here, Look hear which included audios and visuals. It covered questions right from the iconic interview with Princess Diana to who the voice of the Delhi Metro is. The fourth round again had direct questions. The last round was the buzzer round. This was a +40 and -20 round and had eight questions. The interesting part about the quiz was that each round began with a question from the audience and ended with the same and also when no team could answer, it was passed on to the audience. For every correct answer from the audience Amazon Kindle e-vouchers were given as gifts.
Team Chapter 11 which had Sreshth Shah of Amity University and Raletim of IGNOU won the quiz with a total of 440 points, they were given a cash prize of Rs. 5,000 and gifts from Support Foundation, Muskaan the NGO and Print Octopus. “The quiz was quite tough and interesting and we are lucky to win it,” said Sreshth Shah after his victory. They were followed by Merry Pranksters which had Gokul and Arunav, students of Atma Ram Sanatan Dharm College and Aryabhatt College. There was tie between LSR’s Bazinga and Gulabbo for the third position and with a tie breaking round, Team Gulabbo grabbed the third position. The runner ups were awarded with cash prizes and gifts from the sponsors.
Compiled by: Sakshi Jain Megha Kalia, Maitreyee Misra, Tanvi Jalan and Saloni Singla
