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A Clichéd Love Letter to North Campus from a Wandering Soul

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Fresh out of school, I was eager to join North Campus. I’ll put it simply. As cliché as it might sound and as annoying it might seem to my South Campus peers, North Campus is a world of its own. A world of the students, for the students, but not by the students.

A World where e-rickshaw drivers surround you like paparazzi, where Swiggy and Zomato give conveniently priced deliveries for the students, and where some lose their virginity. A world where some change their mentality (for good or bad reasons), some smoke their first cigarette or eat their first ‘malnourished’ momo in Kalyan Vihar, Vijay Nagar, or Kamla Nagar or non-Delhiites get to face some classic racist hate (again in Kalyan Vihar, Vijaynagar, or Kamla Nagar).

Where students, and even teachers come down to protest at the Arts Faculty when an obstacle arises, and great fests happen with mainstream musicians; and all the funds get drained with it. A world where all social classes have their own peer groups but unite under a common umbrella called the ‘College Canteen’. A world where attendance matters but doesn’t really matter.

A world where some sheltered kids get reality checks and try to change society in their little ways, and others become pseudo-intellectuals with their double-faced hypocrisy. A world where few become the future leaders by dominating student wings in the Students’ Union, like a gang of goons rather than a parliament of politicians, yet, there are more kids who tend to escape from the harsh realities and put their entire focus on studies. And then there are those who don’t exist in the real world; and only exist by the virtue of their involvement in the cultural societies of their college.

My point is that even though I have been living in this world for three years and I am to be a veteran soon as my course is about to end, I still can’t give you a guide to this world. That’s simply because it’s just so diverse as I have mentioned above. You are bound to be changed in various ways depending upon what path you take in North Campus. But that’s the thing about North Campus, most of us hardly chose paths consciously and some just choose us.

Okay, now, that just sounded ridiculously pretentious and poetically unrealistic. But what I mean to say is, if you are still going to be a student in North Campus (or even South Campus), try exploring the world which I tried describing in the aforementioned 400 words. This world might seem to get more Orwellian day-by-day, and soon after graduation we might become slaves to a larger system (I will have to see what happens when I reach that stage), so it’s better to make the best of our time in this Campus as much as we can.

I’m not saying burn your books, roll their pages into joints, smoke them up, and explore the city every day. Study, Wander, Write, Play, do whatever you want as long as you’re not harming anyone (so please don’t touch people at a college fest non-consensually, drive your car like you’re the DUSU president at a speed so high that a dog gets injured, or indulge in other miscreant behaviour of that sorts). If you hate the world of North Campus, then judge the living hell out of it and its people, and have a good laugh. Meet people, eat street food, throw around opinions, discern them, debate them, discuss them, sit idle in the college field. Study, surely study, but at the same don’t forget exploring this world you’re in. Because that world will give you knowledge that’s not in any sample paper or online module.

What knowledge awaits for you to be learned by in this Campus? That’s for you to find out.

So long,

Shaurya Singh Thapa,

Soon-to-be Ex-Web Editor, DU Beat.

Image Credits: Akarsh Mathur for DU Beat

Shaurya Singh Thapa

[email protected]

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Campus Central

The Stolen Sixth Semester: Woes of a Final-Year Student

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Read the words of our Editor-in-Chief for one last time, before she graduates, as she complains about her stolen sixth semester.

I remember last year, around this time, I was preparing for the farewell ceremony for my seniors at DU Beat- my phone would blow up with some 250 random messages on WhatsApp, endless calls discussing the venue, theme, gifts, and what not. At that time, I didn’t actually understand what the final semester meant to my seniors because I was too engrossed thinking about how life and work would be without them being around. But I also had the settling feeling that I would know when time comes.

Cut to 2020, the last semester of my college life as an undergraduate student, sitting at home, writing this article, and thinking about where my last semester went. I think of the stuff I would have been doing with my college friends and my team at this wonderful organisation.

However, I have always believed ‘expect the unexpected’ and I think that this is the only thing that is keeping me sane in such uncertain times. As kids, most of us might have experienced an unsettling feeling when somebody would snatch out a lollipop from our mouth. This is exactly what happened to our final semester.

Having said this, I would not talk only about the sad situation we are in. As a graduating student, a host of memories flash in front of me right now- the day I got admitted to the University of Delhi(DU), the day I met my college best friend, and the day I joined this organisation.

The three years of my college life have been the most challenging, yet the best years of my life. From being a student coming out of the protected cocoon of school life to graduating college with confidence and an identity, this is what these three years have made me. As college students, we are stuck with assignments, internals, submissions, deadlines, placements, societies, and endless preoccupations.

The nationwide lockdown gave me enough time to introspect and surprisingly, all that mattered to me during this difficult time were the people. I realised that my college life was not only defined by a degree or my friends, but also the security guard of my college who would wish ‘Good morning bacchon’ every morning, the canteen staff who would talk about their families, and the housekeeping staff of the college who would smile and wish me luck before every exam.

I wish I could get to relive all this one last time because I didn’t know that the chai I had on 6th March in my college canteen was the last cup I would have with my college friends while Ravi bhaiya (college canteen staff) talked about his Holi plans. You know something impacts you a great deal when you are unable to write about it without being cheesy and clichéd. It’s a faux-pas I’m willing to indulge in for the sake of honesty.

As much as I have talked about the final year students, I would also like to talk about the juniors. They are also the ones who hope to give their seniors the most memorable days of their college life. The end semester is also a reminder that they have become older, and are now themselves seniors. It’s a nostalgic time for the third-year students but what we often forget is how overwhelming it is for the juniors as well.

Dear Delhi University, the batch of 2020 will miss their last fest season, internals, college parties, night stays, bunks, submissions, and the last lectures and yes, they will miss you too- a place which gave them friendships, lessons, and lots of memories.

Feature Image Source: Anoushka Sharma for DU Beat

Anoushka Sharma

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DUB Speak

Journey of a Final Year Student

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The last year in the life of a college student comes and goes in the blink of an eye. But it brings with it a lot of ups and downs, highs and lows.

The final year comprises more of tension and panic than enjoyment. The stress and anxieties of college ending and a newer and more difficult life coming up is always there in the minds of a final year student. Amidst this stress comes a lot of other important events. Assignments, placements, semester exams, entrance coaching’s and the last fests are among them. It is the time when we want to catch hold of everything. This article will trace the journey of a final year student and talk about some of the events that most of the students go through in their last year of college.

 

  • Spending Hours in Coaching Classes: 

All those who wish to take admissions in postgrad courses or LLB or plan to give any other competitive exams spend more time in their coaching centres than in colleges. Juggling between college and entrance preparation becomes a huge task as entrance preparations are just an add on to the already busy schedules. What are your weekend plans? being the most annoying question that can ever be asked to the students who take entrance coaching. These people do not have a weekend. They go and sit through three or four hours of classes and give mock tests and mock examinations on the weekends.

  • Internals for the Last Time: 

After giving tests and submitting regular assignments for two years, we might become habitual to it but we do not like doing it. The regular assessment system is something that just keeps on pissing us off. The deadlines of assignment submission keep on coming every week and the dates for tests are always planned well in advance. But this also leads the students towards the one last internal that they give in their undergrad college life as the clock keeps on ticking bringing them towards the end of their college life.

  • Semester Exams: 

Amidst all the things going on, the semester exams come on their time. December and May being the most difficult months. Scoring good marks in semester-end examinations becomes more difficult for students who are preparing for entrance exams or professional courses. One brain, one body but so many things to focus on.

  • Sitting Through Interviews: 

Various colleges have Placement Cells that have collaborations with some great companies. Most of the time in the last year of college goes by preparing for interviews and sitting through them to bag a great job. Coming out of college as an employed person is an achievement in its own. The pressure that it builds is also something that needs to be talked about. The formal wear, the anxious atmosphere and the dreams of being employed with a great package are what a lot of people aspire for.

  • The Final Fest Season:

The fest season never sees a dull moment. Attending college fests for one more time before the ID cards become invalid for entry is what most of us aspire to do. The fun that the fest season brings with it is something that most of the students look forward to. a lot of students wish to attend the fests of all the known colleges before they graduate and final year is like the last opportunity for them to fulfil this wish. They want to make the most of their college life and the do the most in these three years. Making sure that they attend concerts of all the famous singers becomes a point in their lives.

  • The Final Day – Farewell 

 

The final day in college, the Farewell arrives sooner than people think it would. Time flies faster than anything else and there comes the day that people would remember and cherish for the rest of their lives. The ‘Graduation caps’ and the ‘Bachelor Scrolls’ shows the paths to the future. This day tells the students that what future holds for them is something very bright and they need to keep moving ahead to embrace the beautiful experience of life. Farewell tells the students to ‘Fare thee well’.

The journey from the freshers to the farewell is a short but exciting one. Final year is the time when we all want to make the most of our college lives. At this time when we realise that there won’t be another year, another semester, we wish to do everything that we might have missed upon in the first two years. This makes it more difficult. The year is full of many important events and people go through many highs and lows throughout. But what is important is that we live our lives to the fullest and work for the future as well. All you need to know is that it might be difficult but you will sail through. At this time, everything might feel to be slipping out of your hands but you will find your way out and everything that happens is going to lead you to a more beautiful side of life.

 

Feature Image Credits: Let’s Intern

 

Priya Chauhan

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Campus Central

Seniors and Juniors: We are a Family!

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Seniors, Thank you for being a family away from home.

College gives you many experiences: your first crush, boyfriend or girlfriend, multi-tasking, monetary-crises, exposure to the real world and above all, a family of your own. In this family, first-year students generally play the role of lost little kids who need guidance, second-year students are slightly older, wiser selves who fear becoming seniors and the third-year students are truly your guides in the journey. They act like your parents and in this cute little niche, you unravel to become the best version of yourself.

Seniors play a severely essential role in this development; they scold you and care for you simultaneously, to a point where their embraces become your safe space to spiral out of control and stress out, and their hugs of appreciation become the best reward of your hard work. Riddhi, a student of B.A (History) Hons from Gargi College stated that for her, her seniors became her family when she opened up to them. She said, “In the first meeting, they made us talk about ourselves, our views, our families, our lives. Now, it has come to a point where I can share absolutely anything with them, just the way I would do with my family back home.”

One of the essential reasons first-year students thrive for love from their seniors is that most of the leave the comfort of their houses and come to a new place to embark on a new journey. The support of someone older, wiser, and smarter gives them immense confidence to find their footing in a new world. Another reason might be the bond of being in a society and creating new memories with their seniors while working with them throughout the year. “I feel the bond between seniors and juniors is more than just a bond; over the years, it has become a sort of tradition. Our seniors do for us, what their seniors did for them. And we will surely take this legacy forward,” said a student from the Theatre Society of Lady Shri Ram College for Women.

Mahi, a student of Miranda House shared that her seniors have always played the role of her parents whenever she needed them. “There have been so many instances where Saubhagya (her senior) has practically acted like my father. He has scolded me for being reckless on roads and has taken care of me when I was sick. Others too have essentially become my family, with whom I could crib all day about my problems.”

Sarah Jalil, a B.A (English) Hons student from Gargi College added that she doesn’t even like the term ‘junior’ anymore. She said “They are, in fact, my equals. The time I spent with them was truly special. I will cherish it as long as I will live.” Similarly Kinjal Pandey, Editor-in-Chief  2018-19, DU Beat applauded the enthusiasm she has seen and experienced in her juniors from DU Beat and her society. She stated “They had more ideas and enthusiasm. Saying that it’s a generation thing would be very dramatic since we are only a year older but I do see more enthu-cutlets in my juniors.”

Sincere thanks to all the seniors who are graduating this year. May all your dreams come true. In one way or the other you have brought a change in your juniors’ life, be it your daant (scolding) or your pyaar (love) , we will treasure those moments forever and ever.

 

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Sakshi Arora

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Arts & Culture

Of Goodbyes and Partings: A Bittersweet Oxymoron

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Goodbyes are meant to be cathartic, period.

The very first time I experienced a goodbye in my life was bidding adieu to my neighbour in Mumbai, to whom I was the closest to, as she parted to move to New Zealand. I was five and very oblivious to what a goodbye meant. A bye for me was customary to say when I parted with my friends, after an evening of playing with them by the swings; to kiss a goodbye to the elders as they would leave from their short stay at our place or to part from my cousins as we would come back home after the sweet summers. What all of these were to me were temporary, with an assurity of coming back. But the goodbye to my friend, as she went for a journey crossing seas, and starting a new life there, was new. The feeling never sunk in, of the fact that I will in fact never be seeing her soon enough and this is how the fear of a goodbye grew-because it grew so over bearing and emotional.

Image Credits: American Gallery
Image Credits: American Gallery

As we approach the time when we will be bidding adieu to many people- our beloved friends who will all graduate and go to different places, to our family from whom we will render away, and to so many other things which will come our way, because they are cyclical in their nature. For a beginning, there has to be an end. Everyone has a different sense of affiliation when it comes to parting. For me, it starts with the initial step of developing a sense of a slight fear, you know the one where you need to heave deep breaths and where you want to lure away into this whimsical land, as it is more peaceful than the reality next to you. It then starts with formulating skillfully crafted personalized messages, to each of the parting member, as you want that last proper conversation to mean something; after all we all value every single thing. The finality where you know this will be the present conclusion and then a dramatic vision of them fading away.

Why goodbyes are this bittersweet oxymoron is that they can be so sudden and they can be so drastic. The calculative element that surrounds a goodbye seems to get away into some other dimension. When I realised while typing this article out, this would be my last article for this workplace, a thousand ideas as vast and clueless as the seven oceans whizzed past me, and after keeping this one on hold for quite a long time, I knew that I needed to develop something which was ultimately, heartfelt. To peruse the thread, and not glide on to the hobby horse, i.e. memories for me; the keys started synchronising in a choir I half knew and half came magically as I scanned my brain for everything I did in the past ten months here with a calming bliss.

Image Credits:Torrie Smiley
Image Credits:Torrie Smiley

How does this upsetting feeling, feel better? Well, thanks to different arts of venting it out, for photographs which serve as a perennial memory, to the paranoia which will keep surfacing, but above all, to submitting yourself to Sinatra and lights out eyes closed feels, the realisation that the need to move on comes with a subconscious hope that we are moving onto something better. A supervisor of mine, from where I was last interning said, “The correct time to leave, will never really approach, but a point of satiety will. That is when you know to call it quits and move on.” From her verses, I gaze through my journey on so many different paths that I have crossed in these past nineteen cruising on twenty years. Every place you land on and are ready to take off from, remember to take the part of it you adore the most (which whilst explaining to people I say, “jaise kisi jagah ki mitti ko lekar aa rahe ho apne saath” as a touché’ souvenir), alongside a spiritual maturity you receive at every end.

Waving goodbye by FR Harper Image Credits: American Gallery
Waving goodbye by FR Harper
Image Credits: American Gallery

Its good and it’s a bye, it is bitter and it is sweet, paradoxical, but fortunate enough to depict us, this is what a conclusion to a current chapter in life is. The next battle is to move on, and while I cannot guarantee out of the two which would be relatively smoother, but the fact that when you will look up to the sky and realise every cloud has a silver lining, rise and shine to seize the new day!

And here as I will sign up for the last article, I thank every single reader, every single editor and team mate who has sailed with me for so far, and when I am here to place my anchor on the good shore, you will tread forward and I hope for the very best for you!

Image Credits: American Gallery
Image Credits: American Gallery

 

Feature Image Credits: Fine art America

Avnika Chhikara

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DUB Speak

This is a Farewell, Not a Goodbye

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Read our Print Editor’s words of gratitude to the friends who anchored her and made her grow up at the same time. Share them with yours, because letters never go out of style.

Dear College Best Friends,

I would ideally start this letter by recalling a fond childhood memory, or saying how the last fifteen years of my life would not have been the same without you. However, as shocking as it seems, we technically did not grow up together, but we did, in so many more ways than age could ever define the terms “growing up.” When I entered the dynamic world of being a university student, I had this preconceived notion about not finding anyone better than my school mates. I am glad you proved me wrong (for once).

To my college best friend whom I met in the first week of classes in the first year, thank you for being scared with me. First year was a rollercoaster ride in terms of emotions and to have someone to share the fear and nerves, was comforting. Thank you for being my cheerleader during my society auditions, for being as shocked to hear how much the academic structure was so different and advanced from CBSE (which seemed like the toughest thing we would ever tackle in life during twelfth grade), and for pretending to be grown up mature adults, when we were so naïve and foolish.

To my college best friend whom I met in the second year college, thank you for being reckless with me. Second year in college is the year for all the mistakes and you stood by me through all my phases. Thank you for being a shoulder to cry on when I went through that one (or multiple) breakup(s), for being my partner in crime (sometimes, literally), for being the person who discovered how much capacity I had in terms of intoxicating substances (you know what I mean), for being my cover in front of my parents (who love you more than they love me) when I needed to get out of the house, for standing up to the professor who hated me for no reason, and for never judging me or abandoning me through all the mishaps and my embarrassing moments.

To my college best friend from third year, thank you for being my support system. Third year, although it has not fully culminated yet, has been the scariest year thus far, in which, we have done the most “growing up.” Thank you for always taking my late night calls, listening and relating to my rants. You could not always give me the best advice, but the fact that you were there to listen to help me think out loud, meant so much to me that I could not possibly address it adequately in words. You helped me through countless points of existential crises, comforted me through multiple breakdowns, and held my hand through job / grad – school rejection letters.

Some of you, I have known for all three years of my college, and some I got the pleasure of meeting through my journey as a college student. But each one of my “best” friends has contributed substantially to the person I am today. From deciding our outfit for our freshers’ party to going shopping for our farewell saree, it has been a wild ride and I am glad I had you as my companion. Thank you for being the Siddharth and Sameer to my Akshay, the Avi and Aditi to my Bunny. This may be a farewell from the classrooms we have spent three years sleeping in, but this certainly isn’t a goodbye. I look forward to hearing your rants about your future colleagues / Master’s professors. I look forward to growing up some more, with you.

Dear college best friends, for you, I am eternally grateful.

Yours truly,

Bhavya Banerjee

[email protected]

Image Credits: Deepesh Varshney for DU Beat

Image Caption: Graduating Seniors of DUB (from left to right; Saubhagya Saxena, Sharvi Maheshwari, Vijeata Balani, Bhavya Banerjee, Akarsh Mathur, Kinjal Pandey, Niharika Dabral, Adithya Khanna).

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Beyond the Obvious of Delhi University Colleges

2019 So Far: Exploring the First Trimester of the Year

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With the first three months of the year gone, let us look back at how these months went ahead for us and what will the rest of the year have in store for us.

In the blink of an eye, I remember dosing off to sleep at 4 a.m. on 1st January, after all the New Year wishes were attended to, and now as the fourth month of this year has started, I simply wonder how and where did these three months go.

The first trimester of the year, for any student of University of Delhi (DU) is absorbed in the fest season, either in attending it or as a participant running every other day for competitions in some or the other hosting college. The intensity of the course takes a back seat with the incessant strikes, which we callously enjoy, without truly acknowledging their purpose.

I would like to ask a simple question- all of us make resolutions, but, do we even stick to them? While I genuinely don’t believe in the concept of making resolutions particularly when the calendar flips the date to 01/01, I believe any time can be the perfect time to turn over a new leaf. Without digressing further, let me get back to my question. What is the strategic realism to these resolutions, as I feel hardly a few make it past the first week of their marked promises, before narrowing back to their old lifestyle. Annie Rana, a literature student of Maitreyi College feels, “The fact that every week, month or situation asks out of us different ways to react or behave, so keeping resolution as a sole means to discipline, won’t really help.”

As every year has something or the other in it, something to look forward to, 2019 has so far witnessed a lot in these three months. Talking about the personal, national and the international front, we have faced a tough three months to begin with, and while the next trimester has already started, the election fury will reign over as the midtown madness this summer. The next trimester will look forward to ‘voting for the first time’ for a majority of us, or having to take career related choices, or entering a new path of life, every demarcation of the calendar has been split with a beautiful finesse.

“Every month, I track my growth. Some acts are bound to be childish, but I tend to see a progression in the maturity,” says Heena, a student of Maitreyi College as she looks at her journey in 2019 so far. To map out your journey is a really important thing and when most of us miss out on this, a sense of existential crisis hits us. To look back when I started college, the change from 2017 to 2019, not just as a big bracket of 730 days, but as the mental growth which chartered into me is also something which can be represented as a progressing draft, in the fourth quadrant!

The sentiment that each year holds is also important. As I look at the batch which will graduate this year, 2019 marks as this primal year which will witness a major change in them, and while the three months which buzzed past us, have gone, the sinking of them in the memory and action won’t. It was a series of lasts. Talking to my seniors I could figure out how every competition, every fest, every department activity associated with the college, would be their last, and with that emotion flaring in, the efforts, the smile and the hidden tears were a mixed bag of emotions through the entire three months. As this month will go ahead as the ‘vidaai’ or the farewell time for them, the bucket-full of memories they take on with them is sublime.

To 2019 so far, you haven’t been particularly kind, and I don’t expect you to get sweet and mellow, anytime soon. Conclusions are sweeter, cathartic. I have been exhausted and drained completely, and in these three months, the motivation has been sucked out of me, too bad the exams are right around the corner. As the summer will settle in with the hope of getting off a daily routine, i.e. college, I will find a relief (I suppose so),  from the experience which was- the daily running to Sadar Bazaar, as the department and college fests lined up, being on the phone 24×7, for sponsorships, scripting my real conversations as well! To not being able to take time out with the friends and sit in the comfort or solace of each other like we do as a routine, to finding the infinitesimal balance between studies, society, interning and working in a media house, to forming mental ticks in my mind as the work load started gliding away, one after the other, swiftly, to sitting back and sipping tea in nostalgia and having the worst phase of constant bouts of low self-esteem and worth, to finding the phase of confidence back, I can say these three months took a lot from me and gave me back a bitter sweet collection of everything.

To 2019, I promised myself this year will be a sole devotion to travel and exploration- the physical and the mental aspect of this duality. And as every month, a new travel destination finds its spot in my heart and I set forth to plan it out, every place I visit, makes a spiritual connection within me and with this hope, the year will progress with its own set of ups and downs which I will look forward to with an open heart.

Image credits: DU Beat

Avnika Chhikara

[email protected]

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DUB Speak

A Checklist: Things to Do Before Graduation

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As college comes to a close, here is another cliché checklist about things to do before graduating. Don’t fail this checklist by our Associate Editor, even if you failed your New Year resolutions because you get to graduate only once.

This list is not based on expert advice; neither should it be the ultimate measure of doing college right (as if #goals on Instagram were not enough to make us feel inadequate). Here are a bunch of things, outgoing students should do in April:

–    What is more impossible than a Goa trip? A mass bunk. Execute a successful one before the last working day.

–    Refer to page seven and visit the touristy spots near campus one more time (or even better, for the first time). Don’t forget to use #wanderlust.

–    Channelise all your krantikaari (rebellious) vibes and attend a protest.

–     Pick a quiet day to sit in the library and just read. Experience the quiet solitude as you finish the assignment; it’s quite meditative. Some people say that on a lonely day if you press your ear against the bookshelves, you could hear them whispering.

–    Reflect on the conflicts you had in college, be it with any society member, a classmate, or a faculty. Analyse what happened and try to resolve it. But, most importantly, if you don’t find a closure, then let it go. Recall the hurt, anger, guilt for one last time, and let it evaporate.

–    Scribble your initials on a college desk, and if you are feeling more adventurous, then make graffiti on campus walls (inspiration: Free G.N. Saibaba). Don’t get caught.

–    Visit Central Library, University Stadium (there is a free gym with treadmills and the usual works), and spend some time around the VC lodge.

–    Sample canteen food. Remember the suspicious – looking dish that you have been avoiding? Order it now.

–    Click pictures of your college in the morning light, during the golden hour, and post 6 p.m. Capture your friends, college pets, and yourself. Catalogue the mundane sans the filter; these pictures will be precious later. Don’t click it for Instagram, do it just for the memories.

–    It is the final semester; sort your reading material.

–    Attend a full day of classes (including the 8:30 a.m. lecture) and actively participate in every lecture.

–    If you don’t dress up extra in college, then when will you?  Hence, unleash your #OOTD genius and dress to impress.

–    Tell your crush you like them #AajKuchToofaniKarteHai (#LetsBeCrazyToday).

–    Lay your outfit on Sunday night, declutter your college bag, and for once, be excited for Monday.

–    Write a letter to your college, department, society, or anyone. Lay bare your thoughts and feelings.

–    Graduation is inevitable, and life is only going to get real from now on. Rather than waiting for the withdrawal symptoms to hit you in the face, start the process of letting go already.

–    Forgive yourself for not being “productive” or “good enough.” What made you think you could survive college without breakdowns and disappointments? Overconfidence – that is the answer. College is a coming out of age experience for many of us. It is the first time when we get drunk, take responsibility for ourselves, and bargain for freedom. In this process, we make several mistakes (or worse, we assume to have made mistakes). As long as you learn your lesson, it is fine. Early adulthood is tough already, so congratulations on making it to the last semester. In the words of Frank McCourt, “You have to give yourself credit, not too much because that would be bragging.”

 

Afterthoughts: For some of us, it is a shame we can’t just admit that college was dreadful and that one can’t relate to the nostalgia. We would rather dump the farewell, get that degree, sell our books, and leave. A quick goodbye, ta-ta!  Well, we can do it by all means; yet regardless of how uneventful these three years were, everyone deserves to have pleasant memories. I wish you would give this phony checklist a chance.

Feature Image Credits: Saubhagya Saxena for DU Beat

Niharika Dabral

[email protected]

 

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Campus Central

It Is What It Is: Frustrations of a Graduating Literature Student

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Here’s a culmination of thoughts about what I have come to feel and believe in.

“Turning and Turning into the widening, The falcon cannot hear the falconer. Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold, Mere anarchy is loosened upon the world.” – W.B. Yeats (The Second Coming)
In my three years of studying English Literature, I do not think I have come across lines that better define the times that we have become a part of, both partly willingly and partly reluctantly.
With the turn of the year and the ever-nearing elections, we are seeing the worst that this country has to offer. We had a near war-like situation with Pakistan, there have been various accounts of Muslim lynchings, the situation of Kashmir is continuously falling into an everlasting non-conclusionary void. We have become the community that loves cows more than the girl child while rapes are still growing more in number and less human in grit.
Netflix, seemingly the only hope of escape from the brutal reality, has started cancelling shows that we want to watch and I do not understand what this Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) system in the University of Delhi (DU) is, in which you can’t even get marks.

India, as a nation, has achieved a feat of having killed 30 million women, from unborn children, to honour killings. To put it in comparison, even Hitler killed six million Jews. We, however are the nation of the woke and the ancient dharma. These are the deeds of Indians and religious fanatics – both Hindus and Muslims alike. No Pakistanis, no Chinese, no West – we are stuck protecting the cows and calling ourselves chowkidars, forgetting the duty we hold for our girl children. When will this play – pretend end? Many men have started becoming a part of the equal rights movement, yet where are the mainstream movements against lewd advertisements and songs? When will we realise silence is supportive only for the oppressor?
Another thing that bothers me is the society’s ignorance at how men are the victims of patriarchy too. We need to let go of the stigma that toxic masculinity and patriarchy put us men at a pedestal that damages us as well. We need the equality, the normality, as much as women do. It isn’t men versus women; it’s us together versus this social construct of patriarchy.

As the elections draw closer, we are seeing everyone choosing sides on this mindless battle of two parties with people going like “I will vote for Modi ji” or “I will vote for Rahul Gandhi.”

Everyone has blatantly forgotten that these elections are to vote for the person standing and delivering in your area. Vote for them based on facts and accountability, not based on propaganda jingoism.There are many more gloomy things that could have been entailed in this rant. However, I believe I have done my bit to share my thoughts enough to make at least one man think of what is happening in this great, beautiful nation, that has merely become a playground where the rich kids have the toys and we are stuck eating sand.
“It is what it is,
The playground of the puppets,
The ‘woke’ with strings attached, Those asleep completely detached.
In the great circus of life,
With the audience and the Joker, Maybe its all a dream, or maybe it’s over, When will we wake up to see things closer?
It is what it is.

A play with no players, and no god watching us over.”

Haris Khan
[email protected]

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DUB Speak

Letter to My Outgoing Best-friend

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Dear Best Friend,

As I write to you today, after delaying for so long, I am searching for the million words I had in my mind; words and thoughts I had to share with you. I am searching for the emotions and the ideas; the same emotions and ideas that wanted me to write to you because I failed to express them. As I falter in an ocean of feelings, relying on my capsizing emotions, I am given to perplexity and heartbreak. I could say a thousand words, and yet I wouldn’t. Partly because of my fear that having said these words to you would leave me wordless in this turbulence, and everything that reminds me of this finality; of this end.

Somehow, from a very remote idea of formality and airy pretensions, we blended into this solidarity. All about the senior-junior dynamics- the courtesy of conduct and the sense of staunch ‘devotion’- we were, all as juniors are, fed with these ideas of behaving with seniors. Notwithstanding all these regulations, the edict of our relationship has seen us becoming entirely friendly and in that, immensely devoted to each other, informedly and out of concern more than courtesy. Can I possibly thank you for being so annoyingly understanding, frustratingly mature, and hopelessly loving? Having established my incapacity at gratitude, how can I ever possibly say anything in mere words? I am flustered today, because there is so much to say, but there is not enough time.

Characteristically varying and settled in the spectrums of extremisms, we came to find a part of us in each other. Home away from home, a safe place, humanising the objects of oppression and love, you have been an absolutely delightful friend. An uncanny familiarity has it been that inspired such confidence in each other. How this loss of a home renders me bereft of the warmth and the comfort and the joy of a haven. All this time, I am sure has been for always. Knowing that this would last forever is no consolation at all, because I know better that that.

To an endless flow of gossips, radical discussions on literature and life, and the countless conspiracy theories and crises, there must be an end. And so it comes to an end, this endless joy. This joy, the acknowledgement of which was only ever multiplied by the constant sorrows that we lived through. I could say this and much more in a thousand words, but what’s more than saying that I would do it all over again with you? But I guess this is all the time we had; simply because we are all too familiar with broken promises made in faith. I wish you everything best in the world that awaits you. And I want you to know, that great things await you.

It would pain me to lose you to time. In fact, I might be losing you even now. Strangely, I knew you would go away, but I never feared I would lose you, and that kept me going. Fading away is only natural, but maybe we will not fade away so easily. Maybe in this parting, there is something more becoming. This reminds of a quote from Frodo Baggins at the end of The Return of The King, “How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand… there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend.”

Even if time draws people apart, it truly is something I expect will not affect us.

I think we will be fine, after all, so long as we are a ‘we’.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat archives

Kartik Chauhan

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