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Protest Culture: The best lesson that you’ll learn in your time at Delhi University

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A true democracy is where everyone is equal. The one who sits on the chair and the one who stands below have equal rights and powers. This equality comes when everyone has the right to question those in power. This makes the authority accountable to people and also allows those who don’t hold any position of power demand the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution. In the Indian scenario, where questioning elders is deemed as disrespect, a majority of the country never learns this art of critical thinking which is essential for the soul of every democracy to survive on.

The University of Delhi (DU) is considered as one of the most politically active campuses in the country. Every other day, you can find a protest, gathering or a rally for various reasons in its north campus. This protest culture of the University offers a lot to learn from the students. These protests not only gather support for various demands but also become an important chapter in your learning process. It teaches you how to question authority and how to register dissent in person or as a community. This lesson further helps you to speak your mind and share your thoughts without any fear of authority.  Regardless of the immediate goal at hand, be it high hostel fees or poor infrastructure, it trains you to be proactive against larger issues throughout your life.

These protests also instil in you the courage to fight and the resilience to survive opposition from systemic forces. Many a time, people face oppression because the victim either lacks the courage or the knowledge required to speak up. This courage won’t just help you grow as a leader but also helps you in articulating your opinions on public platforms. Be it in corporate boardrooms or political meetings, courageous leaders are the need of the hour today. Given the history of the University, some student protesters such as Arun Jaitley and Shashi Tharoor have grown up to become senior politicians in the country. The ability to stand up for what you believe in determines your position in the society.

Be it the case of adhocism of teachers, a fake encounter in a Naxalite area or the plight of Syrian refugees, every major injustice, be it local or global is highlighted through protests in the University.

Today, as incumbent governments across countries are cracking down on dissent and vilifying the protest culture as ‘anti-national’, the time requires you to learn how to protest more than ever before. The next time you see a protest or find an invitation regarding something you feel strongly about, make it a point to participate. By staying silent or avoiding protests you are killing someone who is most important to your future, the leader inside you.

 

Srivedant Kar

[email protected]

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DUB Speak

For the Seniors Lost in a Tide of Freshers

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The beginning of the year brings with it countless pieces of advice for the first-year students. From where to eat and shop to how to ace society auditions, there’s no dearth of literature to help guide the fucchas through this tumultuous time. What inevitably ends up happening during this time is that the second- and third-year students lack any sort of guidance as they attempt to navigate the remainder of their college lives. So here we are, doing our bit to ensure the seniors aren’t left out.

Let’s start with the second-years. With barely anything to lose, this batch is the most relaxed of all DU students. Having gone through society auditions and having dealt with the hectic trauma of internals and attendance woes, second year students are inherently wiser and calmer. While it sounds great at first, this laid back attitude can often get the better of them. Case in point: yours truly. My second year, especially the fourth semester, was a whirlwind of non-academic activities. Attending debsoc sessions and covering fests for DU Beat provided me with legitimate reasons (read: excuses) to skip class on an almost daily basis. With deep regret, I confess that if I could go back and do it all over, I’d prioritise my lectures over my cosy bed and a boring fest. So there you have it – don’t relax too much, or you’ll come to regret it.

For the third-years, as much as it pains me to say this – think about your future. You don’t want to end up in a pile of tears when the fifth semester ends, when all your friends have already applied to foreign universities and you still aren’t sure about what you want to pursue further. The task is daunting but necessary – take out some time, maybe an hour each day, to do substantial research for your future plans. If you want to continue your education, look at all possible options – foreign universities, Indian universities, DU. Find out whether the admissions are entrance-based or merit-based. For foreign universities, it’s essential to have a variety of documents which you’ll need to have ready well in advance. If, on the other hand, you want to work straight out of college, keep an eye out for job opportunities. Try to intern as much as you can. Be proactive and work quickly to avoid those pangs of guilt when you later realise that you could have accomplished so much more had you just started earlier. And, of course, give it your all when it comes to DU – actually study for your internals, go to all those crowded star nights, and make memories that will last a lifetime.

So the next time you feel smothered by freshers-related content, refer to this for an insight of what to do and not to do as a senior!

 

Feature Image Credits: Equinox 

Vineeta Rana
[email protected]

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DUB Speak

Your Next Three Years, Defined by Your Next Three Weeks

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The University of Delhi is undoubtedly a breeding ground for personal growth. For 60,000 students each year, the central university becomes a new home, out of which students leave as the best versions of themselves. This is not the work of solely DU itself, though – it requires students to make the best of what the University has to offer.

Delhi University is most popular for its numerous societies. Whether performing or non-performing, these societies usually hold their auditions in the first couple weeks of August. While they may be daunting, auditions are one of the best ways to get out of your comfort zones, especially right out of school. They also work as a quick method of getting to know both your seniors and your peers and finding a group of people who are passionate about the same things as you. College is about exploring and growing – whether that’s excelling in a field you’re already experienced in or going out of your way to developing a new skill. Many a time, your fellow society members will go on to become your friends for life.

These friends are, of course, as diverse as they come. As a DU professor once said, “During our times, classrooms were mostly filled with students who came from Delhi itself, but now every classroom is a picture of Pan-Indian culture.” It is likely that your class has a substantial composition of students who aren’t from the same background or region as you. This diversity gives you a special window into the different parts – and more importantly, the different people – of India. Make an effort to befriend them. You’ll definitely learn about the diversity our country offers, but in addition to that, there’s a good chance you’ll also get to enjoy the cuisines and cultures of other states.

The next three weeks are when you’ll probably pick your college friends and stick with them during your time in DU. As we know, a man’s friends define who he is. The people whom you will choose will play a huge role in influencing your life decisions for the next three years. In both your difficult times and happy moments, they will become your family. They say we can’t choose our family, but college is when lifelong friendships are made. Choose wisely and you’ll have a new, handpicked family in merely a few years.

When it comes to growth, we can’t forget about the sudden shock that college gives you. Prescribed books, reference books, guides, sample question papers, and everything else that previously made your academic journey a set road are now a thing of the past. Xerox readings, partial syllabus coverage, and delayed exam results reflect the sad state of higher education in our country, but on the other side also give you an opportunity to build your skills of self-reliance and forge a personality that seeks success on self-efforts. So when DU gives you a hard time, use it to hone your confidence and spontaneity.

With two weeks of college already completed, make the most out of the coming days to make your mark. Get ready to embrace Delhi University – it’ll be your home before you know it.

ImageDesign by Kartik Kakar for DU Beat

Srivedant Kar

[email protected]

Vineeta Rana

[email protected]

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DUB Speak

Your Next Three Years, Defined by Your Next Three Weeks

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The University of Delhi is undoubtedly a breeding ground for personal growth. For 60,000 students each year, the central university becomes a new home, out of which students leave as the best versions of themselves. This is not the work of solely DU itself, though – it requires students to make the best of what the University has to offer.

Delhi University is most popular for its numerous societies. Whether performing or non-performing, these societies usually hold their auditions in the first couple weeks of August. While they may be daunting, auditions are one of the best ways to get out of your comfort zones, especially right out of school. They also work as a quick method of getting to know both your seniors and your peers and finding a group of people who are passionate about the same things as you. College is about exploring and growing – whether that’s excelling in a field you’re already experienced in or going out of your way to developing a new skill. Many a time, your fellow society members will go on to become your friends for life.

These friends are, of course, as diverse as they come. As a DU professor once said, “During our times, classrooms were mostly filled with students who came from Delhi itself, but now every classroom is a picture of Pan-Indian culture.” It is likely that your class has a substantial composition of students who aren’t from the same background or region as you. This diversity gives you a special window into the different parts – and more importantly, the different people – of India. Make an effort to befriend them. You’ll definitely learn about the diversity our country offers, but in addition to that, there’s a good chance you’ll also get to enjoy the cuisines and cultures of other states.

The next three weeks are when you’ll probably pick your college friends and stick with them during your time in DU. As we know, a man’s friends define who he is. The people whom you will choose will play a huge role in influencing your life decisions for the next three years. In both your difficult times and happy moments, they will become your family. They say we can’t choose our family, but college is when lifelong friendships are made. Choose wisely and you’ll have a new, handpicked family in merely a few years.

When it comes to growth, we can’t forget about the sudden shock that college gives you. Prescribed books, reference books, guides, sample question papers, and everything else that previously made your academic journey a set road are now a thing of the past. Xerox readings, partial syllabus coverage, and delayed exam results reflect the sad state of higher education in our country, but on the other side also give you an opportunity to build your skills of self-reliance and forge a personality that seeks success on self-efforts. So when DU gives you a hard time, use it to hone your confidence and spontaneity.

With two weeks of college already completed, make the most out of the coming days to make your mark. Get ready to embrace Delhi University – it’ll be your home before you know it.

ImageDesign by Kartik Kakar for DU Beat

Srivedant Kar

[email protected]

Vineeta Rana

[email protected]

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Voter turnout takes a downturn: Is it time to rethink the DUSU elections?

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The Delhi University Students Union election season just culminated and there’s clearly something wrong. Voter turnout for the DUSU elections have been slipping for a while but dropped to the abysmally low level of 36.9% this year, down nearly 7% from last year. If no one cared about the student union and hence the elections for it, the numbers would be worrisome but would still make sense. The fact that DUSU elections are one of the most talked-about periods in DU, even if just due to the inconvenience they cause with the layers of pamphlets and disruption of classes for campaigning, and that the Union is criticised and cribbed about, makes me believe there’s a bigger question to tackle – are we alienating students from participating in a process to elect their own student union?

The sanctity of a democracy comes from its election process but we must remember that while all modern democracies hold elections, not all elections are democratic. If the majority that is going to be affected by a governing body is not participating in the process of electing it, in a system that means ‘rule of the people’, we should have serious qualms in calling the process democratic. As soon as we question the voting process, the democratic system also loses its legitimacy.

Apathy is not a good enough explanation, especially when I see multitudes of people discussing the relevance of a student union and giving valid reasons why they think the existing union is problematic. Clearly, they don’t consider the entire exercise irrelevant and know what they don’t want. The question then is, are the candidates available to them to vote for giving them what they want? Has the so-called ‘political class’ of DU lost touch with the very people it’s supposed to stand for? The possibility is valid enough, given that the general student gets to experience the pamphlets, the noise and, this year, people wearing inflatable suits, and hear rumours about freebies being distributed, more than they get to know what the parties actually stand for and plan to do if elected. The political groups who stay away from the money and the muscle either talk just about the others using unfair means or are simply drowned in the general cacophony of a typical election season. I also find the assumption that freebies and the noise is a better way to get an average DU student to pay attention than addressing the actual issues insulting to their intellect. Surely, we’re capable of more. We definitely deserve more.

Another line of thought that makes sense emerges from an argument that socio-linguist Deborah Tannen makes in her book ‘The Argument Culture’. Maybe the elections have become more about winning and losing than the reasons why someone wins or loses. The stances of various political groups on important issues are also usually so polarised, often just for the heck of it and to show that they’re distinct from the others, that there remains no middle ground for people who don’t agree with either to access, and they end up opting out of the entire process.

I wish the newly elected student union my best, but at the same time, the entire process has left me with no illusions about what a general DU student can expect from them, mostly because we’ve resigned ourselves to opting out (although, hey, I did vote.)

Image credits: telegraph.co.uk

Shubham Kaushik

[email protected]

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DUB News

An editor’s ‘good’ bye note

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A year back, I was asked to be the Web Editor at DU Beat. Not having edited a single article in my life, I was unsure where that came from. Having been a student of Journalism, I knew a bit about the profession. But would I make a good editor? That was a question I didn’t have the answer to.

Today, after 10 months, of allotting, editing, filtering and a bit of bossing around, that tenure has come to an end. As I head out of the door and join the Ex-DUB editors’ club, here’s my goodbye note.

Starting with a bit of boasting – last year has been one of the key years for DU Beat as an organisation. We witnessed record growth in our readership and social media community and simultaneously explored new approaches to storytelling. The year saw us join Instagram and cross 500 followers in 15 days (the number crossed 1500 recently). We closed June 2013 with 11,000 Facebook followers; today the number has crossed 60,000. The fest season saw live updates. We experimented with different forms such as live blogging and video as well as interactive tools such as timelines and info graphics. It is not as much about numbers, as it is about the fact that we were doing something right. We know that there is still ample amount of potential that we hold as a news organisation, but we are constantly working towards getting better each day.

An outgoing DUBster (the cool name our team members associate with) recently said that the best thing about DU Beat is the creative space that you get here. This is a factor that is truly defined by the tagline our founders came up with – ‘Freedom of Expression’. It is also a right that we have been struggling with, during the past few years in the University. While there are strong voices from the student and teacher community against the administration, there is often an attempt to curb those. The University’s education structure has changed dramatically in the past three years, and from what is forthcoming, there are going to be even more changes. Last year we saw over 20 protests from DUTA members, most of which were against what they term as the VC’s ‘authoritative regime’ and the (un)popular FYUP. AISA’s referendum stated that 91% of the people who participated in the same were against the FYUP. Another feedback conducted by DUTA had 43 college faculty associations out of the 47 that participated, condemning the FYUP. Despite these voices, not much has changed. Yet this means that there are voices that need to be given space and amplified. As the current leadership of DU Beat steps back, and a new set takes over, we hope to be platform for the diverse voices this University is proud to have.

For all that we have been able to achieve as an organisation, I want to thank the team and our readers. Adding a bit of gratitude to my note, thank you Cheshtha for working in way where we could integrate the web and print operations. Another shout out to Priyanka Banerjee, the Associate Web Editor who always supported me when I came up with crazy ideas that most people thought were a lot of work.  Thank you to each correspondent who often missed a lecture to cover a ‘boring’ event and photographers who spent the day constantly up on their feet, slogging in the sun. Whatever our readers saw happen to this space, is hugely because of them.

For times when we failed, I apologise and hope that the forthcoming leadership will learn from our mistakes. Speaking of which, it is a pleasure tell you that Niharika Singh will take over my position as the Web Editor. Further, Mridul Sharma and Vani Vivek will be stepping up as Associate Web Editors and Raghav Chopra as the Copy Editor.

Keep reading and keep voicing your opinion through your comments and feedback, for it is one way to keep track of when we go right, and when we are wrong.

It is indeed a ‘good’ bye. For today as I leave, DU Beat is in a good place (and in good hands).

Over to Niharika!

Signing off,
Gurman Bhatia
Web Editor (2013-14)

P.S.: I need to mention that serving this community has been the most fulfilling experience of my college life. If at any point you feel that you fit into this crazy place full of crazy people and have a keen inclination to learn and take bashing positively, drop us a mail at [email protected]. This organisation needs people like you.

Read the farewell note of Editor Cheshtha Gupta here.

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LESSER LIVES

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How important is your life?

Will you squander it over a dead Icon?

The hysterical mass suicide over the death of a prominent figure is not a new phenomenon. Upon the death of MGR heaps of so called loyal fans chose to follow suit. Was that really loyalty? Were their lives of so little value to themselves that they could give it up for an unrelated outside entity? Did all their lives have no meaning save as an attachment to Ramachandran’s?

I accept the sense of loss people must have felt upon losing a beloved star, as indeed I fully understand the loss YSR Reddy’s constituency and indeed the whole country must feel upon losing a significant political figurehead. We can all sympathize with his family’s grief.

Does it make sense then to end your life in order to have it synchronize with his? Should the fact of his premature death provide a reason for you to waste yours too? Surely the twenty three lives lost to suicide was the most flagrant waste possible!

If the report concerning the number of deaths due to heart seizures caused by news of Reddy’s death is true, it heavily reduces my faith in the common sense of the populace.

 

Perhaps it’s the media turning hysterical on us. Conceivably atleast part of the suicides and a significant portion of the other deaths are largely unrelated to the event, some of them being the normal toll the state faces but which goes undetected when not under the glare of an ‘important’ event. This wouldn’t be all that surprising considering that incidences unrelated to important personnel often tend to go entirely unnoticed. The last helicopter crash which wasn’t fortunate enough to be carrying a VVIP wasn’t discovered until three months later and that too by chance, while the recent one had everybody in the nation working overtime to seek it out.

When the helicopter crash had been confirmed the news mongers went hoarse announcing the death of YSR Reddy and four others. The “four other occupants” -to quote from a popular daily- didn’t even deserve to have their names mentioned when in the company of a much superior being.

Possibly all lives really aren’t equal. Maybe its fair to splash the headlines with a single name while leaving the rest of the lost lives to crowd one short sentence forgotten somewhere in the passage. Perhaps the 122 deaths were really just 122 deaths.

If the ones dying valued their lives so little who are we to treat them any differently?

 

We shall know when we reach the other side, whether there’s a separate golden gate for the important lives and a small wooden one for the insignificant unnamed ones. It will serve us right if that does indeed prove to be the case.

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The daughter dies, the son shines…

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Olina Banerji

It’s frightening when real life begins to imitate art. A popular, resurgent leader, a homecoming, a failed attempt at her life, a near-fascist government losing ground, a cowardly competitor to the throne and finally a fatal attack that took away not only a life, but yet again, the subcontinent’s political credibility. It’s all terribly reminiscent of a movie, except that in this case, the redemption has not yet begun.

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