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Mecca Day 2: Drizzles and Dazzles

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Day 2 of Mecca, the annual cultural fest of Hindu College saw various music and dance competition and ended on a glorious note with Papon’s magical performance, Let’s look at the events that took place.

The unfortunate and perplexed weather conditions delayed many of the events at Mecca Day 2. However, despite the erratic weather shifting between sunlit and dewy, Hindu College hosted a massive crowd in its premises.

One of the first events to start today was Jagerbob: Battle of Bands organised by Aria: The Western Music Society. The event witnessed amazing musical performances by various societies from across the varsity.
The light drizzle managed to delay the event but failed to drizzle on the spirits of the performers. The winning band Firdaus from Ramjas College presented a deservingly winning performance. Anhad from Keshav Mahavidyala finished second.
Aarambh, the western dance society of Hindu College organised Firestone, the western dance competition as part of its Annual Dance fest “Aramya” sponsored by OMC, Insight One, Love Grill and Ozone. The event saw participation from 13 teams from across different colleges which was adjudged by Mr Sahil Aneja aka Sazzie, founder of BADA and a Dance India Dance participant. The auditorium was full of enthusiastic dance lovers who enjoyed all the dynamic performances. Enliven, the western dance society of Gargi College came first while the second position was shared by Spardha from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College and CVS Zest.
Also, as a part of “Aramya” Srijya, the choreography society of Hindu College organised Finesse, the choreography competition. This event was judged by Ms Jhilmil Modi, a trained dancer in Jazz, ballet and contemporary who has been teaching in Danceworx Academy and is currently heading the GK-1 studio along with Ragini Bhajanka, who has performed in various pieces of the Danceworx Company Repertoire choreographed by many Indian and International artists. LSR Dancesoc came first while second position was bagged by Sensation from Kirori Mal College and Adagio from Kamala Nehru College came third.

Alankaar, the Indian Music Society of Hindu College, organised two magnificent competitions. The perfect ambience was created with the venue covered with black sheets and fairy lights adorning the room, echoing with heartwarming music. First was the instrumental solo competition, where Soumendra from Sri Venkateshwara College emerged as the winner. Rohan Prasanna from Hansraj College and Nandu Krishnan from Satyawati College were awarded the second and third position.
The same society organised Jugalbandi, the duet competition where Upasna and Padmaja from Indraprastha College for Women bagged the first position with their soulful and splendid music. Shounak, from Ramjas College, and Nandu, from Satyawati College stood second. Daulat Ram College’s Navya and Vasudha came in third with their melody.

The Zoology Lawns hosted Snap, the annual photo exhibition of the college. Organised by Vivre: The Film and Photography Society, the exhibit saw some splendid shots clicked by the society members on display. Covering themes like culture, light, and symmetry, the exhibit was a vision for the eyes. Vivre also organised an On The Spot Photography Competition and a Film-making Competition with a unique one-minute movie-making concept. The results for both the events are awaited.
Manthan, Hindu College’s Quiz Society organised it’s quiz competition on the theme India. A team comprising of Kanika Yadav, from Miranda House College, and Ashish Singh, from Ramjas College, emerged as the winners of the competition. Abhishek Paliwal, from Ramjas College and Adil Jacob, from Jamia Milia Islamia University comprised the team coming second.
Day 2 of Mecca came to an end with Papon’s musically enchanting performance, opened by the band “Shadow and Light”, powered by Redbull Music India. Papon captivated the audience with his Assamese songs that won the crowd over, as everyone performed their own versions of Bihu. The crowd enjoyed his melodious tunes when he sang some of his famous songs like ‘Itti si khushi’ and ‘Moh moh ke dhaage’. The crowd was managed well and saw no ill behaviour.

However, once during the concert, Papon mentioned, “Believe in yourself, and not everything that you see on the internet.”

There had been some conflict about Papon performing at Mecca. The alleged accusations against him that had defiled his creative image, went on to trigger questions among the audience whether it was entirely justified to participate and indulge. As observed by us, the audience had conflicting views about the issue. Some of them felt that the alleged accusations could be overlooked. However, many others were of a more strict bent of mind. Despite the wonderful performance by Papon, it could not entirely remiss the stigma attached to him due to some allegations. The idea remained that even in this conflict of art and the artist, we must maintain a sensical sensitivity about the issue.

Kartik Chauhan 

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Sakshi Arora

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Shivani Dandhwal 

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Campus Central

A Detailed Account of Hindu College’s V-Tree Pooja Row

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Hailstones and rain weren’t enough to dent the spirits of the protestors and the supporters of the ‘Virgin Tree Pooja’ in their respective efforts to advocate their causes.

The Hindu College’s ‘ritual’ or ‘tradition’ of worshipping the Virgin Tree aka V-tree every Valentine’s Day in hopes of losing one’s virginity was met with huge protests this year. Women’s Development Cells and gender forums of colleges across Delhi University stood in solidarity against the tradition, which is widely held as being sexist. This year there were slight modifications to the ceremony – instead of posters of one male and one female celebrity, a poster of a married couple of Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma was put up, along with a poster that read ‘love has no gender’.

The hostel union modified the ceremony by using new posters.
The hostel union modified the ceremony by using new posters.

On the eve of Valentine’s Day, Pinjra Tod protested against the ceremony, demanding its cancellation this year. Protesters from various student organisations and Pinjra Tod gathered at and tried entering from gate number four of the college. The group was met with resistance and counter-sloganeering from the Hindu College boys’ hostel. Both parties claimed to have received threats from each other.

Around midnight, the residents of the girls’ hostel managed to break the curfew and joined the protest against the tradition. According to a Facebook post by Pinjra Tod, Dr Anju Srivastava, the Principal of the college, attempted to enter the college premises around 3 a.m.; she later congratulated the residents of the boys’ hostel for ‘keeping the tradition alive’ while threatening the residents of the women’s hostel for breaking the curfew.  Police present at the time of the incident tried controlling the situation.

Police was present even at the night of Valentine's Day eve, when the first round of protests began.
Police was present even at the night of Valentine’s Day eve, when the first round of protests began.

The first round of the ritual was conducted at 6 a.m. on 14th of February fearing backlash and protests later. As the hours passed and the weather turned worse, Hindu College saw dissenters and supporters gathering around the Virgin Tree. The Hindu College Progressive Front (HCPF) got in a heated argument with members from the boys hostel. Students from Pinjra Tod and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) also turned up in protest. Clashing slogans of ‘azadi’, ‘puja ho ke rahegi!’, ‘nahi sahenge’ echoed through the college.

The views of the crowds were split. On one hand there were clear advocates of the pooja, while on the other there were fierce protestors. Even among those who were opposed  to the pooja, some didn’t appreciate the involvement of non-Hinduite protestors, while others objected to the manner in which the protests turned out to be.

Student bodies like Pinjra Tod and SFI were a part of the protest.
Student bodies like Pinjra Tod and SFI were a part of the protest.

The aarti was performed in a hurry while some men encircled the tree, preventing any protesters from barging in as the Mr. Fresher of the hostel, Shaurya Pratap Singh  performed the rituals. “This V-Tree pooja became the grandest in the history of Hindu College”, said Shaurya Pratap Singh, the boys’ hostel Mr Fresher who did the pooja. “We decided to modify the pooja, but despite us cooperating, Pinjra Tod came last night and started sloganeering,” he said. Singh alleged that some students from the boys’ hostel who were defending the pooja were “beaten up” and “harassed”. Allegations of intimidation and confrontation were mutual between the opposing parties. Instances of fist fights were also seen during the ritual.

The situation turned dangerous when some students tried grappling for one of the posters.
The situation turned dangerous when some students tried grappling for one of the posters.

Ananya Bhardwaj, who led the HCPF during the college parliamentary elections and was on the forefront of the day’s protest, said, “Today is a victory because just the symbolic act of men leaving a public space and going back to their private space is a victory today we reclaimed the public space”. Asked about what was the objective they wanted to achieve, she said, “We just had to create a fear in these men that you cannot lay claim to our bodies and lay claim to spaces which also belong to us, which we did.” Diya, a student representing Pinjra Tod told us about similar objectives, saying that the idea was to not let the pooja go unchallenged and uninterrupted. The Prime Minister of the college Parliament, Shreyash Mishra, commented that the original intention of the pooja was to break the taboo towards condoms, which he appreciated, along with the modifications brought in to the ceremony this time by the hostel union.

Moral victories were claimed by both sides. Both ended up celebrating by dancing to dhols and shouting slogans of their preference. The police stood on standby as students celebrated.

As the dust settled and normalcy is restored, a few questions still hang in the air. Does merely adding a rainbow heart to a sexist ritual make it acceptable? Do Hindu College boys’ hostel union claim to be truly progressive only because they include a “Love Guru” in addition to “Damdami Mata”, but stay absent when the girls’ hostel in their own college fights against curfew? Should a decade’s old unique ritual, that adds vibrancy and character to a place, be completely removed instead of being reformed? What modifications are needed and should be accepted? What can be the correct ways of protesting and initiating dialoge? Who decides what’s correct?

Image Credits:  Pinjra Tod, unknown sources, and Prateek Pankaj for DU Beat

Feature Image Credits: Prateek Pankaj for DU Beat

Jaishree Kumar
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Prateek Pankaj

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Hindu College

Straight from the Horse’s Mouth: Hinduites on the V-Tree Pooja

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The tradition of the ‘Virgin Tree pooja’ at Hindu College, wherein students pray in front of a tree on Valentine’s Day with the hope of losing their virginity, is viewed with diverse and opposing perspectives.

“I’m just young, rich, and tasteless,” says rapper Pusha T in the song ‘Runaway’. It might be an apt slogan for the tradition of the Virgin Tree (V-Tree) pooja at Hindu College. “Young” because maybe we’re the youth desperate to get laid; but also “tasteless” because maybe we recognise the problems with the tradition and go on regardless. “Rich” is slightly irrelevant here.

The tradition, which takes place at Valentine’s every year sees students worshipping the V-Tree. A female celebrity is chosen as the ‘Damdami Mai’ and the Mr. Fresher of the boys’ hostel, dressed as the pandit, does the pooja. Recently, the same has begun for the girls’ hostel also, wherein a ‘Love Guru’ is worshipped by the Ms. Fresher. Water filled condoms are hung on the tree, an aarti is sung, the water is showered on the crowd and a Holi-like celebration follows. Apparently, thou shall loseth thy V-card should thou showereth in the condometh watereth. Hindu 6:9, perhaps? Students view the pooja in a variety of ways. Defenders say that the motive is spreading awareness about safe sex. Others say that it’s patriarchal, misogynist, and excludes many. Yet others fall somewhere in between. “(The pooja) serves the purpose of spreading sexual awareness. It tries to do away with the taboo associated with sex,” says a second-year History Honours student. This was reiterated by Shubham Yadav, the Girls Students’ Welfare Minister. She said that while posters about AIDS awareness are also put up, the aarti is very demeaning.

This reasoning isn’t convincing to many.
Kareema Barry, a second-year English Honours student says that the inclusion of the male celebrity was only “tokenistic.” “What about transgenders? Aren’t we neglecting them? The solution is not to put their picture but to remove all of them,” says Sakshi Priya, Vice President of the college’s Women’s Development Cell while proposing a discussion on safe sex instead. Parakram Chauhan, a Philosophy Honours fresher comments on the “toxicity” behind the the pooja in terms of “seeing getting laid as some sort of prize or blessing.”

What are the freshers expecting?
One such expectation is to see a proper way of disposing of condoms, according to Mrinalinee Sharma of the History department. Khushi Gupta of the same department says “I want to see how they hang condoms after filling them with water, I’m very excited.” Parakram says he’s expecting “nothing at all.” However, a large chunk of them seems to be unaware of what the pooja is. Various students have protested against the tradition and some tell us that the crowds had declined last year. While Pinjra Tod’s article on the subject, which condemns the pooja as a contributor to “rape culture — which slut shames women who assert their sexuality,” is a bit overblown, not even the defenders deny that it could be made more inclusive and less demeaning.

Whether it’s a silly tradition or a serious issue, and whether it needs amendment or abolition, is for us to decide. We must ask if we’re just being tasteless, or something much more serious than that.

Image Credits: DU Beat

Prateek Pankaj
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Arts & Culture

Security Arrangements at DU fests: the Staff’s Perspective

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The college fests bring with them large and often overly enthusiastic crowds, necessitating tight security measures. DU Beat looks at what the security staff themselves have to say about this.

“Fest ke samay zyada satark rehna padta hai” (we need to be more alert during fests), tells us a security guard at Hindu College, requesting anonymity. Naturally, a larger crowd makes checking more difficult. The gentleman tells us that while they recognise 90% of the regular college students, strict ID checks are the first step before allowing entry to anyone – outsiders or not. The same sentiments are reiterated by a female security guard at Hansraj College, also wishing to remain anonymous.

Mr Damodar Singh, a security guard at Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) tells us that since it is easier for troublemakers to enter colleges during the fests, the security has to exercise extra caution – switching their phones off is the first thing guards do. Talking unnecessarily to anyone has to be avoided, lest some slip in checking may happen.

Colleges make extra arrangements during fests, especially for maintaining order inside the premises. Bouncers are often present around the campuses to control any chaos. Yet, perhaps their effectiveness is up for question.

Mr Singh tells us that bouncers have an important role to play if chaos erupts; security guards can’t get aggressive in controlling the situation as they have to encounter the students regularly. “Hum bas pyaar se samjha sakte hain” (we can only deal with students softly), he remarks. The lady at Hansraj also tells us how guards sit at the gates while bouncers handle the situation inside.

On the other hand, the gentleman at Hindu, says, with a chuckle, “Hungama hota hai to bouncers bhaag lete hain” (the bouncers run away if chaos takes place) – stating that in such cases, the guards themselves need to control the situation.

While the guards admit that some students get rowdy and try jumping on stages during music performances, they don’t really agree to alleged cases of misbehaviour or lapse of security happening at the fests.

Some students allegedly managed to get alcohol and weed inside the barricades during Crossroads 2018. Mr Singh, however, maintains that beedi, cigarettes and alcohol are strictly banned.

As was reported by the Hindustan Times, the crowd stormed the barricades during singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh’s concert at Hansraj’s Confluence 2017. A stampede was caused following a gas leak, accompanied by the felling of a firework station that caused some electric shocks. The security guard at Hansraj, however, denied these claims.

According to an article in the Times of India, similar incidents of crowd rampage and breaking of barricades took place during singer Parmish Verma’s performance at Maitreyi College’s annual fest last year, forcing the gig to be stopped midway.

Regardless of whether the accountability for these incidents is acknowledged, the probability for security lapses remains high. Of course, the management and organisers need to be held accountable. However, with enthusiasm and excitement running high among overwhelming crowds, the responsibility also lies on the students to exercise precaution and alertness and to maintain civility in order to ensure a safer environment.

 

Featured Image credits: The Times of India

Prateek Pankaj
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Photo Story

The Fore Challengers of North Campus

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Every sport event is more than just a contest for the testing of physical fitness. Each player represents his or her own dedicated effort and expectations in the act of living their favourite sport. Stories of the following sports teams and societies go on to show just how passion drives human endeavor.

 

Image Credits:Surbhit Rastogi for DU Beat.
Image Credits: Surbhit Rastogi for DU Beat.

Winning their first match in an official tournament, the Girls’ Basketball Team of Hindu College defeated a presumptuous patriarchy. Being the first team of its kind in more than two decades, a team with minimum amenities, these self-trained ‘underdogs’ thrive on passionate interest and intoxicating energy for their game.

Image Credits: Surbhit Rastogi for DU Beat.
Image Credits: Surbhit Rastogi for DU Beat.

Championing the second most expensive sport, the Ramjas Archery Team has registered itself as a leading team in the varsity. The girls’ team has won gold for four consecutive years. Playing at the national and inter-college level, the team is expecting even brighter prospects in the upcoming Nationals; for which, two women archers of the team have already qualified.

 

Image Credits: Aakarsh Gupta for DU Beat.
Image Credits: Aakarsh Gupta for DU Beat.

Defined for its individuality, the game of Shooting tests every player’s talent to add up to the team’s overall performance. Four members of the team have been selected for the World University Trials. With the vision of representing India in Olympics, every shooter plays importantly for a sense of gratification and satisfaction. Hansraj College is known for its excellent produce of opportunities for these young shooters.

 

Image Credits: Aakarsh Gupta for DU Beat.
Image Credits: Aakarsh Gupta for DU Beat.

With the background score of players indulging in a game of Cricket, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College’s cricket team’s coach recounted countless achievements of the team. The team won Lala Raghubir Singh Tournament this season. Looking forward to a better and more rewarding season ahead, the team exudes dedication.

 

The housing of agile talent in University’s North Campus is only a fraction of the vast multitude of achievers and to-be olympians in the varsity. DU Beat wishes all of them luck.

Feature Image Credits: Surbhit Rastogi for DU Beat.

 

Kartik Chauhan

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Mahi Panchal

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Surbhit Rastogi

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Aakarsh Gupta

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Biblio

Akhil Katyal’s Poetry Session in Hindu College

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Akhil Katyal came to Hindu College on 5 November and did a reading of his different poems among which were his famous pieces that have captured the youth through social media.

It wouldn’t be wise to make it sound generic and limit it to calling it solely an enriching experience, although it was, but it truly was mostly poetic. Katyal had an interactive session that followed it. Questions ranged from his most favourite poet Agha Shahid Ali to Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Shahid was quoted multiple times in the course of the beautiful session. From questions that were targeted on pieces within “Country Without a Post Office” to his newest works.

A lot of talks were also targeted on the young adult approach to poetry wherein a student asked if he could invent his own style. To which Katyal said, styles become recognised if everyone else starts doing it which of course also involves a process of keeping indefinite patience on the creator’s behalf.

Katyal was witty, sharp with his words and understood things that went on in our minds. Whether it be the comparisons of longingness in poetry in Faiz or the same in Shahid. Whether it was Katyal’s own pieces on 377 and queer support or just general perceptions of our messed up city and world, he did leave behind a mark of his own in that hour of curiosity, love and more.

It truly was lovely to hear, “the world is full of paper, write to me.”

Katyal went on to talk passionately about his professor from his time at Hindu College, Dr. Lalita Subbu. He heartily credited her as his model of inspiration to enter into this frenzy of poetic liberty and its explorations into the social backgrounds. In a candid session, Katyal discussed the politics of Section 377 and humored the audience with his sarcastic sadness upon the decriminalization of same-sex relations; claiming the Supreme Court’s decision to rendering his “two poems invalid”.

Interestingly Katyal also talked about the essence of language as a medium. Katyal has a background wherein he works with translations extensively. The idea of “lost in translation” is of little importance to him. Emphasis was laid on having the sentiment, the emotion to work on poetry, language being a medium to translate such powerful emotions into art. It was meant to show the young students the power of our aboriginal languages of Urdu and Punjabi. Katyal recited a beautiful piece translated to Punjabi by his student in Ramjas College to display the exuberance.

“Jivein haan ovein hi haan,

Apni marzi di kardi haan,

Jivein ivein hi pasand haan,

Toh ad ja meri aad vich.

Ni te zara suni,

Tu khunje maar bhaad vich.”

He said, “Go back to your poetry and you will observe patterns in your writing when you are write in a particular language.” His love of urdu and urdu poetry is inspiring, to say the least. The passion with which he talks of his favorite poets Faiz or Shahid Ali or Amrita Pritam inspired the room full of enthusiastic Hinduites willing to learn from Katyal the intricacies of effective and hard-hitting poetry.

It was in totality a mesmerising event where the spirit of poetry, the mutual love of language and expression was celebrated in such a way that it still reverberates in all our hearts and ignites a spark of inspiration to just, as Katyal put it, “keep reading to find great influence, write and most importantly experiment with your ideas because who knows when you might actually succeed in inventing a new form in which we all might be writing our next poems.”

Feature Image Credits: Brown Paper Bag

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Hindu College Parliament Recruits “The Squad”

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After a controversial budget session, the Hindu College Parliament conducted “interaction sessions” to recruit a team called “The Squad” that will be closely working on flagship college events.

On 31st October the registration forms for the “The Squad” recruitments were released. The form explained “The Squad” as “an impeccable team of highly adept Hinduites with a wide range of abilities and an untiring work ethic. It is an opportunity to be a part of something great, and to create something great. It is an opportunity to prove your mettle, make friends, and have fun and at the end, come out as a more rounded and evolved version of yourself.”

The interviews were scheduled for 1st, 2nd and 3rd of November 2018 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Prime Minister’s office. They were taken in a batch of five on the first come and first serve basis. On 1st and 2nd November, Prime Minister Shreyash Mishra was present during the sessions.
On the condition of anonymity, a member who was part of the screening panel from the Parliament said, “We have changed the interview format to the interaction format so that we get to know the prospective team members and they get to know us. We also aim at making the atmosphere more approachable. You can all these sessions as a way to familiarise the recruits with our agendas and faces.”

“70% of students have filled Event Management as their interest area, but since the field of works is pretty fluid there won’t be any demarcation of work immediately. We will be having regular meetings and brainstorming sessions about the upcoming events and those who are regular, sincere, and show initiative will be given important positions accordingly,” he further added. The people representing the Parliament (interviewers) were not identified by the DU Beat correspondent and their identifies were guarded when we questioned about the same.

Line outside the PM's Office for the interaction session.
The line outside the PM’s Office for the interaction session.

Sharing her experience post the session, Nimilitha, a first-year Statistics Honours student said, “The interaction was really fun and engaging. I told the interviewers our expectations as well as the criticisms of the Parliament. They responded to both very sportingly. I look forward to hearing from them and working closely for the college events.”

When asked about the absence of Naveen Kumar, the Leader of Opposition, from the process, DU Beat was informed that Naveen Kumar was duly invited but he did not choose to come. However, Naveen Kumar denied about the invitation and said, “See you can’t just tap on my shoulder and say ‘Bro, come to the PM’s office for this thing no’ and call it an invite. I will only accept an invitation if it’s formally communicated from PM’s office.” He also added that during the Freshers he was not given a formal invite.

Niharika Dabral

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Feature Image Credits: Kartik Chauhan for DU Beat

 

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News

The Hindu College Annual Budget Session 2018-19

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The Parliament of Republic of Hindu College presented its annual budget for the present session on 29th October 2018. But the day was not without some political friction.

In a crowded auditorium amid cheers and jeers, the Republic of the Parliament of Hindu College presented its annual budget finally, on Monday. The budget session was delayed due to the non-submission of important documents in accordance with the Republic of Parliament of Hindu College. The inauguration-cum-budget session of the cabinet for this session was however, not organised without controversial intervention. The oath taking ceremony of the newly elected Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and cabinet ministers was interrupted by the questioning of the legitimacy in the claims of the Prime Minister Shreyash Mishra in his agendas as issued before the elections last month.

To revisit the election campaign, the Shreyash Mishra team was proud to wear the badge of reservation of 40% seats in the cabinet for women candidates as the highlight of his campaigning. Even in the Prime Ministerial Debate, the current Prime Minister had outrightly mentioned the same agenda in his speech. However, hours before the election day in the college, two candidates merged to form an unprecedented coalition. The coalition government, having won the highest number of votes, came to power after the elections. The same government was expected to work its thoughts into actions through the capturing of power. But as it appeared to the students sitting in the auditorium of the college on Monday, only two ministers and two secretaries are female. As opposed to the promised 40%, approximately 18% of the cabinet comprises of women now.

The list of ministers and secretaries was only displayed on the day of inauguration of the Parliament. As a group of students raised their voice against the deceptive promises and non-fulfillment of agendas — amongst them Ananya Bhardwaj, a Prime Ministerial candidate herself a month ago — the highly supervised environment of the auditorium grew tense. The repeated questions shouted out were about women representation in the cabinet. Many students agreed with the questioning of inappropriate representation. However, the dissent was met with fierce indifference and later ordered to die lest the dissenters be shown the way out of the auditorium. The Prime Minister addressed the audience then, explaining the questionable representation. Also, he stated that if any woman displays the initiative to work, he will never begrudge her the opportunity. He went on to discredit Ananya Bhardwaj for never volunteering to take the charge or responsibilty and instead only opposing and raising questions now for the sake of it.

As for the allocation of the budget, the maximum increment that can be allowed to a society is 25% as per the rules. While the Literary Society received only a tenth on the 25% increment from last year, with a hike of a mere ?50, the appeals to increase the budget were ignored in the second and third rounds of updates. Likewise, many other societies received minimum increments. All in all, the total budget allotted to all the activities was a significantly small amount. The Leader of Opposition, Naveen Kumar, said regardingrthe allocation of the budget, “The allocation of budget has been quite appropriate for the societies, keeping in mind that only 25% can be increased in each consecutive year.”

Even as it is very difficult for everyone to be satisfied with democratic decisions, the financial element just adds to the mess. As many societies maintained their appeals, and as those appeals were filtered by the supporters of the coalition, never to reach the higher authorities, the budget session came to an end.

As the speaker for the Parliament, a faculty member, announced departure of the session, the group of dissenters went up on the stage to discuss the betrayal. But the accountable man in question chose to walk away.

The dissent erupted in the evening with a renewed fervour as Ananya Bhardwaj posted the entire story of the same discussion with Shreyash Mishra on her Facebook timeline, with the words, “…it was said explicitly by me that if he doesn’t find women in his panel, he should approach me. And of course, he never did. E-mails were written to him along with messages by women of the college to which there weren’t any replies.”

Naveen Kumar, the Leader of the Opposition posted on his Facebook account, “He rightly pointed out the fact that previous governments have been no better in giving women representation. Alas, he had to follow the same legacy.” Shreyash Mishra also announced that this was the “maximum number of women representatives in the cabinet”. Also exonerating himself, he said that the team could not harvest the incentivised and necessary number of women candidates willing to take up positions of responsibility. Kumar also mentioned in the same post, “Progressivism was talked about in his agenda but it clearly has not been interpreted well for progressivism stands for inclusiveness. But Mr. Mishra was anyway, proud to have given the maximum token representation so far.”

In the same post, Kumar works on subtlety. “Congratulations to his team, for not standing up to their promises, for reassuring Hinduites that Politics and Power is not a woman’s job and for not letting the voices be heard. Congratulations Hinduites, patriarchy will once again drive your student body around the vicinity of the boys hostel.”

As the new cabinet celebrates power, all Hinduites look forward to their exercising the same. Kumar writes, “With a hope that the same will not happen with the other agendas mentioned in your manifesto, and voices of students will not be suppressed by calling it an opinion of ‘a particular group’, I, Congratulate your entire team once again for indeed a very successful inaugural session.”

Disclosure: Ananya Bhardwaj has previously worked with DU Beat as a correspondent.

Feature Image Credits: Kartik Chauhan for DU Beat

Kartik Chauhan

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Campus Central

Shout, Vote, Repeat: An Account of Hindu College Parliament Elections

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An account from the perspective of a first-year student trying to find his voice in the clamour of the Hindu College elections.

 

The first year in DU is like the age of discovery. You get to breathe new air, walk on a new road and see new faces and new places. One such exciting phenomena which these “straight out of school” recruits get to experience is the politics. The DUSU elections obviously create the most buzz in the campus, but the college elections have their own charm too. Hindu College is no exception. In fact, it is the only educational institution in the University which has an exclusive Parliament of its own.  Over time, some have regarded it as an unnecessary dramatic institution of power while some feel it can actually be an effective collective to bring a change. Whether you love it or hate it, you just cannot ignore the Hindu College Parliament.

I still remember my first year when I was all too naïve in this politics game (I think I still am). As the days towards the Parliament elections grew close, Facebook friend requests to random juniors started being sent and Whatsapp screenshots exposing each side’s fallacies began to be circulated. There were two major panels, each of which got engrossed in beating the drum of their achievements and aspirations, trying to draw in as many juniors as they could.

There were some freshers who genuinely began to understand the issues highlighted by these panels and started getting actively involved in the electoral melodrama, while there were others who just regarded this as a quirky shouting match between two sides and distanced themselves. There was also a category which hardly understood what was going on around them but were just feeling a mixture of emotions, eager to get into the crowds and experience this parliamentary hullabaloo. I was one such curious fresher.  

The leaders on each side, the representatives for the post of PM and CC, they all talked in mature voices with mature promises. The clash of words in the crowded canteen and the PM debate in the even more crowded auditorium gave a very Athenian aura of democracy. Funnily mature Athens turned into an immature Sparta during the marches and the slogan shouting where opposite sides got as petty as showing each other middle fingers and exchanging cheap profanities. Ah! These were a few moments when college began to feel like it’s high school. “5 saal Bemisaal.” “arey kyu pade ho chakkar mei, koi nahi hai takkar mei.” 

Everyone was being dragged into a particular side, so I shouted slogans too, even though I hardly understood the leader I was supporting and his objectives. Come to think of it, I was supporting this particular candidate as he had been very warm with me and I hardly cared to understand the other panel. In my first year of college, I can still excuse my lazy unaware self, but I hope people don’t follow this pattern while voting for their actual parliamentary leaders of the state and national level. 

Finally, the D-day arrived. Crowds were assembled in the auditorium with sweaty students clutching on their identity cards waiting to be done with the voting. While sitting at my usual spot in college, I could feel a rumbling under my feet as if some hundred mad bulls were running together. Looking ahead, I saw it was a bunch of enthusiastic fellows, members and supporters of the other panel. As they ran together in a fit of merriness, dust flew all over and I knew my panel had to bite the dust. I don’t remember my exact feelings at that moment. In fact, I hardly felt anything.  “Cool. One panel won. One panel lost. That is democracy.” 

The elections for the college parliament had been a tumultuous journey indeed.  Lectures had been cancelled. Factions had been created in classes during this phase. Throats were affected with the constant shouting (I myself began sounding like Farhan Akhtar for a few days!). Each side had portrayed themselves as the side of righteousness with the other one being a collective of Inferno-dwellers.

Still, on the next day, I stepped in my college and I felt no change. The aura was all the same only that the people seemed less hyper now. I stepped in my college a week later and it felt normal again. The storm had started settling. The lines between factions got thinner and I could meet and greet anyone without thinking about their economic background or which state they belonged to. My panel had lost but it’s not that the other panel turned the college into a rotten wasteland. The normal circle of life in college had resumed.  

Now I have entered my second year and I see a couple of freshers sitting at the same spot where I felt the rumbling of a hundred bulls. There is no rumbling at the moment. It’s a calm atmosphere. Maybe, they are judging their seniors or talking about any expectations they had from this institution. Their conversation gets interrupted as a senior appears out of nowhere. This is no joke session. The senior is mentioning some names and terms like ‘candidature’, ‘department’, ‘panel’ and ‘elections’. I laugh and I walk on. I can feel a few stormy clouds above me…

 

Shaurya Singh Thapa

[email protected]

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Campus Central

Hindu’s Hostel Residents Protest Against the Fee Hike

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On 4th August 2018, 40-50 residents of the Hindu College Hostel staged a strike to protest against the recurrent hike in the yearly fee. The students demand a decrement in the yearly fee, or they wish to see tangible benefits in the living conditions of the hostel.
During the first week of August, the students residing in the hostel of Hindu College staged a protest against the recurrent hike in the yearly fee of the hostel. The protest was in the form of a strike, which began at 9 a.m. on the 4th of August, according to the sources who participated in the protest.
As per the sources, the students who are vehemently against the fee hike settled themselves outside the hostel, in order to peacefully get their concerns heard and resolved by the authorities. After protesting in front of the hostel gates, the crowd went outside the Principal’s office. The sources have revealed that the Principal, Dr. Anju Srivastava, readily listened to the issues the students were fighting against.
Inputs from numerous residents of the Hindu College’s hostel can be used to understand that the 40-50 students who sat for the strike are in opposition of the lack of transparency in the monetary matters. A student, on the condition of anonymity, told DU Beat that the ceilings and the ‘renovations’ in the hostel could be used as a clear evidence of the dearth of justification for the fee hike. The students are appalled by the yearly increment in the fee, when there have been no improvements whatsoever, in the way the students were housed.
The sources conferred that the yearly fee, for the first-year resident students, has increased from an approximate of INR 51,000 to INR 70,000 within a duration of three years (2016-2018). A collaborative account of the protesters inferred that the yearly increment in the fee has been attributed to the government’s policies pertaining to the workers’ daily wages. Since the policies are revised on a regular basis, it allegedly becomes inevitable for the authorities to adjust the residents’ fee accordingly.
On the condition of anonymity, a source revealed that despite the allocation of a yearly fund of INR 62 lakhs by the University Grants Commission, the hostel runs into a deficit almost every year. There had been a surplus amount on certain occasions, a few years back, and the authorities had hired more workers. The reasons behind the hiring remain unclear and the students have no idea as to why the hostel must employ two managers in one mess, unusual for any college hostel.
To resolve the mentioned issues, the source claimed that the students met with the warden and both the parties have been thinking of possible ways to accommodate the extra workers, four to five in number, instead of terminating them. The students think that the surplus hiring occurred in order to please certain groups or individuals. The clear explanation or understanding for this has not been provided to the students.
A meeting will take place on 13th or 14th August, where the Hostel Managing Committee and the Principal would attempt to meet the student’s demands- to either reduce the fee or to justify the hike by showing tangible results in the hostel’s conditions.
A student told DU Beat, “She (Dr. Srivastava) wasn’t in denial. She agreed that the reasons for the protests are genuine, and she was keen on helping us. The overall response has been very positive.”

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Anushree Joshi

[email protected]

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