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Apart from the regular range of spicy street chaats and traditional comfort-food dishes, Delhiites are never too hesitant (or in fact, full) to try something new, and always welcome delectable varieties with both their eyes and mouths open (even with wallets empty). While Chinese, Thai and Italian may top the list of the most preferred international cuisines for now, it’s not too late for tummies of all foodies to be growling just at the mere thought of soft scrumptious sausages being served with braised cabbage and sweet mustard or a mouth-watering plate of juicy pan fried schnitzels surrounded by crispy potato wedges.

Zu Tisch
Zu Tisch

To make this experience of German cuisine even better, we have the new restaurant Zu Tisch to thank. Nestled in the heart of the capital in the bustling M-Block market of Greater Kailash-1, Zu Tisch is the first one-of-its-kind European Bistro bar and restaurant which serves authentic German cuisine. It was founded by a group of IIT-ians who quit their jobs to open up a restaurant and decided to devote all their time to two things which they loved more than anything else in the world- food and music. It is highly likely that whenever you walk in you’re your friends in the evening, you’ll be welcomed with a live gig. On more than a couple of occasions every week, they have renowned artists performing at the bistro, which not only builds up an exciting and fun venture for all music lovers, but also instantly enhances the whole dining experience altogether.

Apart from its perfectly crafted German menu, impeccable service, rustic vintage charm and beautiful ambience, what also makes this place extremely popular among all students is the fact that it proudly hosts music societies of different colleges every “Thursday Night, Live!” in an acoustic intimate setting. It includes college A Cappella, trio or solo performances with a specific headline act. They not only provide opportunities for college societies to perform in front of a live audience and gain confidence, but also serve as a platform where they can take chances, become spontaneous and different, learn from their mistakes and grow into better artists with each new performance. Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Gargi College, Shri Ram College of Commerce, St. Stephen’s College, IIT Delhi and Sri Venkateswara College’s Western Music Societies are some of its past performers.

Rhea Mahanta of Western Music Society, LSR, tells us, “Playing at the Wine and Music Fest at Zu Tisch was an experience of simply loving what you do. The crowd was so interactive that it felt like a space where we could play around with the boundaries of music and do our own renditions, and people welcomed it! It was a close knit community of souls genuinely wanting to see what we had to share and be a part of that musical exchange.”

Special discount offers for all college students, such as 1+1 pizzas and drinks on all Thursdays, Happy Hours on pizzas, pastas and drinks everyday till 6 p.m., and many other fun deals on food and drinks also make this place too irresistible to be missed by anyone.

They are also further introducing a campus ambassador program called ‘My office desk is a bar station’. Any student who is currently studying/ has graduated from Delhi University’s college can apply. The program allows students to work at a bar and work closely with their college music society based events. They will get free FnB, an opportunity to collaborate with other artists and fixed monetary bonuses every week. To apply, contact 9953469902/ [email protected]. Zu Tisch also requests more and more music societies, bands or musicians to come forward and approach them for gigs.

Image credits: Facebook Page, Zu Tisch

All Quiet is a 1930 classic American anti-war film based on the Erich Maria Remarque novel of the same name. As it turns out, both the novel and the movie are a fantastic find.

The movie kick-starts with the following quote cited directly from the novel, “It is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war.”

The film unfolds in a boys’ secondary school in Germany at the beginning of World War I. The instructor, Kantorek, gives a rather stirring speech about the glory of serving in the Army and hails it befitting and sweet to die for one’s country (also referred to as “Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori.”) It has been recorded in various pieces of anti-war literature how the children ardent for some desperate glory were persuaded to join the Military. In several of such literature the children are convinced to throw away all personal ambitions and serve one’s Nation. Such impressionable children as in this movie, a class of 20 young men, ‘many of whom proudly shaved for the first time before going to the barracks’, were convinced they were born for a higher purpose in life, that of serving their Fatherland. And they did allow themselves to be persuaded lest they be labelled ‘cowards” and be ostracized.

After some basic training, the “Young Heroes” are shown arriving at the combat zone. This particular scene truly describes the essence of warfare. The scene that portrays mayhem all around, with soldiers everywhere, incoming shells, and horse-drawn wagons running about is supremely realistic and it makes you wonder how the World ever survived the War. The film takes a dramatic turn when one person of the Second Commandment (as their group is referred to) is killed by an explosion. The message conveyed as the movie progresses is identical, that of just how violent the war was and how innocent people died for no fault of their own.

The most thought provoking scene in the film is when the protagonist and other characters ask themselves, “How does someone start a war?” Goethe Paul Bahmer (Lew Ayres/the protagonist), the lovably cantankerous Katczinsky (Louis Wolheim) and Tjaden (Slim Summerville) deliberate on this for long when one of them says, “ I have never seen an Englishman till I had to shoot one on the border. Same as they won’t have seen a German till before. The civilians don’t want a war, they want peace.” Tjaden echoes the same by saying that it is when two countries offend each other; it is then that a war begins. The innocent ones are simply collateral damage. It really makes one think that these men marched sleep, fought for food, killed people who they believed were their enemies, but for what? What is it that they were fighting for?

The exact notion has been recorded in series of Anti-War literature like the poems penned by Wilfred Owen. And to think that the director, Lewis Milestone, could evoke the same message in a span of a minute is truly amazing.

The film captures all emotions accurately and the performances by all actors are exemplary. True to form, all actors have enacted their roles to perfection. Whether it was a dramatic turn of events or an emotional scene, the film envelops and overwhelms the audience. The film does get tragic in places but has been kept true to reality.

One of the most striking scenes in the film is when Paul (the protagonist) returns to his old school where Kantorek is delivering a similar impassioned and patriotic speech to the young students calling them out to their “greater purpose” in life. Lew Ayres who portrays Paul gives his best speech of the movie where he states that enlisting oneself purely to extract glory isn’t a heroic deed. He describes how men, even when they return from war, are broken and lost. This particular act would leave anybody in awe because in a period of 60 seconds he conveyed what this entire film is truly about. It is melodramatic but extremely convincing. It tells the audience perfectly how the patriotism of these ideal students was crushed by the harsh realities of combat. One is left to wonder if anything will ever kill the myth that every soldier lives to be a hero.

All in all, this film deserves all the praise it has received till now. It is incredible how even after all these years All Quiet, has survived and continues to be (rightly) considered one of the most honest cinematic works on the subject of a soldier’s life on the battlefield. It has been correctly stated that the film’s power and emotional clarity has not faded in the nearly 80 years since its initial American release.

Image Credits: warmoviebuff.blogspot.com

Surbhi Arora
[email protected]

 

Football has really developed over the years in India. I had never even dared to harbour the hope of watching a great football giant playing a football game in India with their full strength squad up until a couple of years ago. We already had one big match at the Salt Lake in Calcutta last year when Argentina played Venezuela. Football fans from all around the country took this as an opportunity to catch some of their favourite stars in action, for example the mercurial Messi and the agile Aguero.  Those who were too unfortunate to miss that game did not have too long to wait to watch such players live in action in India for on January 10, 2012, a mere half a year after that game, the Bavarian Giants and Champions League runners up from the 2010-2011 season, Bayern Munchen came to town.

I was one among the 35,000 spectators who turned up at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to watch this much anticipated game, and I am sure that I can safely say that all those present had a brilliantly mesmerizing experience. You could see the excitement pulsing through the veins of the eager spectators as they thronged the box offices and collected their tickets. The look of glee as they read the names of the teams playing that evening said it all. It was unbelievable; Munich was here, in our very own Delhi.

The atmosphere in the stands was incredible. Electricity and energy were pounding through nearly every spectator present. The football summit also included the finals of the FC Bayern youth cup, contested between Delhi and Mumbai, the winners of which would win a trip to watch the Champions League final in May as well as win the esteemed opportunity of training with the football giants in Germany. Although this match was not the highlight, it was a very gripping match, and kept the audience biting their nails as the twenty two players ran hard, made telling tackles and dove to intercept seemingly impossible passes in order to impress the youth scouts from Germany. In the end the match was decided 4-3 in Delhi’s favour, after some nervous moments at the penalty shootout. However, we did get a glimpse of the visitors, who strayed onto the pitch and invited some deafening roars.

After this fifty minute match, all that remained between the huge match and the lot of impatient and fully charged spectators was an opening ceremony, and might I add, the ceremony – which consisted of a few short speeches, a brilliant cello recital and a well-co-ordinated dance routine to some popular numbers – was well worth the wait.

The happiest moment for each spectator present at the stadium though, would’ve been when both the teams, India as well as Munich made their way onto the pitch for their warm-ups. We finally got to see both teams in full gear exercising, stretching and of course, doing ball drills. While most eyes were on Robben and his juggling antics, and Ribery with his passing practices, and Neuer repeatedly being bombarded with jarring shots taken by Schweinsteiger and Tymoschuk among others, India too were working on opening up their muscles just beyond in the other half of the pitch. Seeing the two teams at their workout and knowing that the match was finally within a stone’s throw just made us all the more impatient.

Then was the big moment, the kick off. Two great icons, Phillip Lahm and Baichung Bhutia, the Sikkimese Sniper, for whom this match was the swan song, met for the toss, and Bhutia was gifted a Munich Jersey signed by the Bavarians. Finally the game started. Munich got into their stride easily, and troubled India and the ball rarely left the Indian half, and the audience cheered the home team on as the Bavarians mesmerised us with their swift passes and accurate balls. India held them off for a good 14 minutes of frantic defending, after which Mario Gomez finished beautifully with composure. This invited groans of discontent from the audience; however, it was only half disconcerted as they were excited too. They had just seen one of the finest teams in the world doing what they do best. This goal invited a torrent of goals, one header and a two touch finish from the young Muller and a swift well placed shot by the steam engine, Schweinie and no matter how hard Team India tried, they could not trouble the Bavarians who simply swatted them away.

The second half however was a whole different ball game altogether. Bayern made a huge number of changes in the line up and weakened the team considerably. This slightly weaker team was definitely a little easier for India to cope with and their confidence levels soared as they made blazing runs, made some bone crunching tackles and posed some threat to the visitors. They could not finish with a goal however. The defining moment of the match had to be during the 84th minute however when Bhaichung Bhutia, the legend of India made his way to the dugout in the Indian jersey one last time. The entire team stood up in an ovation to the great man, and play even stopped for a few minutes as each and every player on the pitch congratulated him on his great career and bade him farewell. Every person who follows football as much as I do, would have really mourned this loss to Indian football, and wondered who would ever be able to fill the gap that he left behind. After the tears were shed, the few remaining minutes were played on a similar note, and the game ended 4-0 to Bayern.

Team India put up a valiant fight against the German Champs. They struggled, they ran, they dived, in the end both teams won. Bayern Munich won the game. India earned a reason to be proud. They had a chance to play against the greats of football, and they held their own and tried their best. We, in India do not yet have access to the kind of infrastructure and opportunities that world class teams like Munich possesses, so the fact that we were able to keep our chins up after such a brilliant display is an amazing feat in itself. All in all, the match was enchantingly enthralling and brilliantly mesmerizing and the fact that we are able to watch such great games in India is a living testament to the fact that football is definitely growing in India. After this and the International game in Kolkata, I’m sure more such matches will definitely take place in India. India is gaining exposure in the scene of World Football. It is rising up the ladder of rankings. Such events will greatly help the situation of football in India.

India is no longer just a cricketing nation. The day is fast approaching when India will embrace football just as it embraces cricket. The day is near when England will play cricket at the Kotla ground and also football at the JLN. The day is coming when India’s I-league will have star players from around the world. There shall also be a day not too far away when we will finally hear the National Anthem at the FIFA World Cup and break into screams as we say the words “Jaya jaya jaya, jaya he”, with our heads held high in pride and our faces beaming with energy, excitement and exuberant enthusiasm.

I eagerly await that day.

Anirudh Chakradhar
Sri Venkateswara College