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On Goodbyes and Lessons Learned: Signing Off, Print Editor 2019-2020

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Here are a few words by the Heads at DU Beat, sharing the experiences which built their journey, as they bid adieu to this family. While this journey comes to an end, the memories last forever. Anushree Joshi, Print Editor 2019-2020, shares her honest words with us. 

In an Instagram live session with singer-songwriter Ali Sethi, renowned lyricist, writer, and stand-up comic Varun Grover said something which I’ve taken the liberty to paraphrase here – we miss places only after we have left them behind. As I sit here today, thinking about saying some profound parting words as the Print Editor, I am unable to feel a kick of overwhelming nostalgia – partly because I’m not a very sentimental person, and partly because I’m eager to see what comes next for me, outside the mind-numbingly time-consuming and not-for-profit shenanigans of DU Beat.

Let’s call a spade a spade because being a part of this team takes a lot of dedication and patience. I remember being in 12th grade, over-dependent and over-enthusiastically invested in every news update or graphic DU Beat put up because they were the most reliable source for all the information that sustains an anxious high-schooler and a Delhi University aspirant. I knew I had to be there, so I applied to DU Beat immediately after applying to DU, and the rest – as the cliché goes – is history. Never in those moments of peak worry about making the cut in their editorial team did I imagine I would be so invested in something that didn’t even pay me back. However, I also didn’t imagine that I would ever be recognised as the ‘Print Editor’ in the halls of my college, and across DU.

In this daunting vast sphere of diversity, DU Beat gave me a lot of nauseous panic-worthy days, but it also provided me with a stable center to come home to. There may be a lot this organisation has to learn in terms of team diversity, intersectionality, and sometimes empathy too – but it gives one some takeaways for the ages too. In working with excellent designers, photographers, correspondents, and resource-persons across the University, I somewhere became a little more capable. From brainstorming memes to microscopically sifting through PDFs for alignment errors, from dancing at fests to negotiating with the most headstrong authorities, from cursing WordPress as a copyeditor to breaking stories at student protests – DU Beat is the hub of lessons I didn’t even know I needed. There have been a lot of sleepless nights and tiring weekends that I lost to DU Beat, but I gained the ineffable pleasure of holding a newspaper, week after week, and knowing that I had been instrumental in creating it from scratch.

If you are reading it as a DU Beat-aspirant or as a current DUBster, I don’t want to paint a rosy lie and say that there is nowhere else you would enhance your skills in writing, editing, reporting, designing, photography, etc. But I can take a gamble and claim that it won’t be an experience as agency-giving as working with a bunch of students who don’t know everything they are doing, but they figure it nonetheless (and how). DU Beat is a memorable place for friendships and relationships for many – I found some great people along the way too, but the most significant difference this organisation made in my life – and can make in yours too – is the power to believe that I can learn and I can create something, for the ages.

 

Signing off,

Anushree Joshi

Print Editor 2019-2020

 

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Bidding Adieu to the Journey of a Lifetime : Vineeta Rana, Editor 2017-18

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Vineeta Rana, Editor 2017-18 writes her farewell note, bidding goodbye to DU Beat. 

I first came across DU Beat during my college research post my Grade 12 examinations and recognised instantly that it was a platform like none other. It had the perfect blend of credible University of Delhi (DU) news that I required and light-hearted college-oriented content that I couldn’t wait to consume as a student studying in the varsity. In one of my first weeks in college, I watched with awe as one of my seniors who worked at DUB distributed a print issue. I wanted so desperately to be involved with the organisation, but when she told me I should apply at the end of my first year, I was doubtful. I wasn’t sure I was good enough for such an esteemed platform and I didn’t want to face the possible rejection. But I went ahead and applied anyway, and I can confidently say that it was the best decision of my college life.

I was recruited as a correspondent but started copyediting only a few months into my tenure, and had the opportunity to realise my passion for print publications by working with DUB’s print core. From getting to cover BITS Pilani’s Oasis with no senior member in the team in my third semester to heading LSR’s Tarang in my fourth, fest season became my favourite time of the year. I couldn’t get over the media privileges and interviews that a press ID card granted me, but more importantly, I couldn’t get over how much fun I had during it all with some of my best friends by my side. Before I knew it, my passion for writing had seamlessly expanded into my passion for the organisation and its members.

By virtue of its dynamism, DUB offers a steep learning curve that is rarely seen in other establishments. My tenure as Editor has been the single greatest learning experience and has taught me through practice what I would not have had the opportunity to learn anywhere else.       The 2017-18 team accomplished certain unprecedented feats for the platform – daily videos, regular graphic series, and our first-ever on-ground event, Mushaira, to name a few. All of these projects allowed me to drastically hone my journalistic, interpersonal, and leadership skills. But the extraordinary feature of DUB lies beyond these professional accomplishments.

To an outsider (and even to me when I first joined), DUB is a credible platform for university-related news and a media publication that churns out impressive content on a daily basis. However, being part of this team, and having the privilege of leading it for the past year, has opened my eyes to what this organisation actually is – a team in the truest sense of the word. DUB is made up of the most talented and hardworking individuals in the University of Delhi who come together to fulfil a shared vision of responsible journalism and student-based issues. We pitch in for each other when it is required and take on responsibilities we technically have no obligations to fulfil. I have been lucky enough to work with a team of department heads who have now become my closest confidantes, and even more fortunate to work with an immeasurably skilled team of copyeditors who have played a crucial role in the growth of our newspaper. Moving ahead, I am immensely proud to pass the baton to Kinjal Pandey as Editor and Vijeata Balani and Bhavya Banerjee as Associate Editors for web and print. I am confident that with their leadership, the next year holds great things in store for the platform.

Being a part of DU Beat for the last two years has been the experience of a lifetime and I am beyond grateful to everyone who made the journey as fruitful as it has been. To DUB and all the DUBsters I have ever had the honour of working with, thank you for everything.

Vineeta Rana
[email protected]

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The Last Presser: Bidding Adieu to another journey of a powerful purpose, values and love.

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In an undertaking where ability and the character counts, diversities accepted and promoted, and facts held precedence over comments, I learnt the best lessons of my college life, for life.  

Back in 2016, a day before Valentine’s Day,  an array of the surprise addition to new WhatsApp groups and welcome messages from strangers marked my joining of the largest campus publication of India. Little did I know then that this small attempt to get an internship experience will end up being the love of my college life. This experience which constituted a major learning adventure in my college life will be treasured forever.

Three years is a very ‘small time’ to have spent in the newspaper, which has built up a legacy of ten years, but having worked, grown and later led the paper as its associate editor in the final year, I can speak with certain intimacy of acquaintance about the values the paper has held for years. Facts, ethics, credibility and liberal values have always remained the guiding principles of the paper, the baton which I hope the upcoming batches will uphold with care. In these years the paper has largely widened its reach among the student community through various social media platforms, amidst this growing amalgamation of digital technology and journalism where the ethical lines are becoming thinner, the newspaper has been successful in upholding its values.

Being caught amidst sudden riots during covering a protest, contemplating over societal norms during covering a street play competition, watching democracy function even in the small spaces of classrooms and colleges where students fought against issues like discriminatorily high fees for girls hostels, tireless coverage during the popular admissions session, organising the first on ground event marking the ten years anniversary of the paper are those small bits of larger professional experience that I was privileged enough to receive. Meeting Deans, university officials, student leaders and students, listening to their side of the story and yet adhering to non-partisan reporting is something I have learnt in the past three years. Teaching the same to the youngsters who joined the team during the past year will always be remembered as the best part of the time I spent here.

Meeting the best people in the University because they were all on the same team has been the most rewarding so far. Meeting excellent academics who travelled abroad for their masters and offered their invaluable advice can be credited for the success of my study abroad plans. Seeing juniors from colleges joining the team and then falling in love with the paper, young writers taking up reporting assignments, colleagues turning into the best of friends and this heady journey of getting inspired to turning an inspiration have been exceptional.

J P Scott, the longest-serving editor of the ‘The Guardian’ often believed the press as an institution that can take authority into account and can turn things around for a better society. And I believe that I have worked to the best of my ability to ensure the same during my time here.

Wishing the very best for the future to the new kids.

Signing Off

Srivedant Kar

Associate Editor 2017-18

 

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Bidding Goodbye with a Tinge of Sorrow: Saim Akhtar, Head of Marketing 2017-18

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The fact that journalism has emerged to be one of the most challenging professions of recent times is a well accepted reality these days. Surprisingly though, thanks to the highly efficient team, DU Beat (DUB) emerged triumphant against the face of the anti-liberals as it always valued students’ interests the most, and made it its priority.

Be it dealing with clients for marketing and online publicity, or meetings with international commissions; the remarkable group of Heads and the dedicated team of workers undertook each task responsibly and delivered near perfect results. Brainstorming sessions, building networks for widespread coverage, coupled with hours of interaction with the beautiful souls of DUB has made it extremely difficult for me to part with this family, which has helped me evolve both professionally and socially.

I feel delighted to see the baton of independent student journalism being handed over to the next set of capable young individuals, and wish them luck for their upcoming endeavours.

 

Saim Akhtar

Head of Marketing 2017-18

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