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Farewell

Tussi Ja Rahe Ho? : Bidding Farewell to College Societies

By DU Beat April 22, 2024

Bidding farewell to college is like bidding farewell to a sense of stillness amidst the chaos in your life. What’s even more difficult is sometimes bidding farewell to the societies within these spaces, which is perhaps way more difficult for the juniors left behind.

Disclaimer: Readers might be left with a bittersweet feeling in their heart and might shed a tear or two, so proceed with caution.

Dear Reader,

As we close a chapter on the batch of 2024, turning the page on perhaps the most personal part of our college lives – our societies – might be even more painful. As an anxious, scared, and confused college student, the author found comfort and solace in one such society, and as a second-year student, she finds it even harder to say goodbye to the senior who made college feel like home. Friends’ Corner, the Mental Health and Counselling Cell of Hindu College, became a warm cup of chai during the rain for this author, and its president, Suangouding Guite, became the rainbow after the rain. Some might say his infectious smile, quirky one-liners, and him saying “period” after every sentence just helped them feel comfortable and safe in an otherwise overwhelming college space.

You know when you’re anticipating that your drink might be too hot or too cold, but when you take a sip, it’s the perfect temperature. This happiness, satiety, and comfort were what I got when I first interacted with Gouding. He, along with our seniors Soham and Varnika, made an amateur at society work like me, feel appreciated, and feel at home, and this society soon became my comfort space.” – says Vidita Verma, a second-year English Literature student at Hindu College.

In conversation with DU Beat, Gouding, a third-year sociology student and the president of Friends’ Corner, shared his experience at FC and how bidding farewell to this space feels personal.

For me, bidding farewell to Friends’ Corner is more like closing a chapter on my life, to the important and beautiful people and memories that make FC, as it became a part of me in these past three years, which I don’t want to let go of. I want FC to be known for its safe space, open conversations, and belongingness, which allow others to be vulnerable, and I hope I was able to create that legacy. This space became synonymous with Hindu for me, and this goodbye just feels personal. It was a society I joined for its safe space and open conversations about mental health, as it won’t really fetch you any CV points, and I stayed because it allowed me to be whatever I wanted to be and to feel whatever I wanted to feel, as it exists for others to grow and for them to learn from.” – Suangouding, president of Friends’ Corner, reflected.

We’ve all had our fair share of uplifting and disappointing moments, intertwined with promises that sometimes fall short but are cloaked in sweetness. College societies have brought us together in unexpected ways, fostering beautiful connections for some and challenging experiences for others. The author did find herself in a pickle while writing this piece as she has been a part of the healthier and less emotionally daunting side of college societies, or rather has been quite lucky with the people, particularly the seniors she met, but a student from South Campus College who wished to remain anonymous remarked about its dramatics society.

I happened to have worked with seniors who would rather throw you under the bus for the sake of asserting their dominance. Favouritism, selective targeting, and insensitive manipulative behaviour, are some of the qualities they’d be passing onto their juniors. My seniors honestly sucked, and I’m more than happy to be bidding them farewell.” – they reflected.

Performing Arts societies in DU might be known for their (valuable) experience, hectic schedules, overwhelming work, and hierarchies, but despite their generalised perception, they do end up becoming free and homely spaces for students, and we might meet seniors who make it just that.

In conversation with DU Beat, Manya Mallika, a third-year Physics student from Hindu College, opened up about her fruitful tenure at Masque, the English Theatre Society, not just as its co-director but as a first-year student who joined the society through online inductions during the lockdown.

After coming to Delhi after an online semester, the only people aware of my presence were in Masque, which initially seemed like just another college club. Despite finding other ways to engage in theatre, Masque somehow provided me with an identity in college, where I could be myself, through its lack of hierarchy and uniting people through their love for theatre rather than fear. I stayed because I felt a sense of belonging, and some friendships just stayed. My biggest realisation here is that human beings are prone to making mistakes; we are all flawed in some way. College should be a time of exploration, learning, and growth, and being patient and kind to others and ourselves. Remind ourselves to take a deep breath, as we’re all going to die anyway.” – Manya discussed.

An anonymous first-year student from Hindu College, in conversation with DU Beat, bid a heartwarming farewell to their senior at Aria, the Western Music Society.

Priyansha (Yuhu) is a special person, not just for me but for the entire Acapella team of Aria. While being a great leader with her management and communication skills, she is a softie who cracks quirky jokes with her nasal voice, lighting up the mood of the entire team whenever we lose a competition (and that’s every time, lol). She built a family within a society, and while I wish her well for her dazzling future, bidding her farewell feels bittersweet as it’ll be very difficult to fill the void left behind by our very own Yuhu.” – they remarked.

Anvesha Tripathi, a second-year Economics student at IPCW, shares how La Cadenza, the Western Music Society, ended up being the biggest and most exciting part of her college life, mostly owing to the seniors that she found there.

My seniors at Cadenza were nothing short of supportive, understanding, kind, and so unabashedly funny that every doubt vanished the second I walked into the practice room and helped us navigate this crazy circuit. One senior in particular stands out though: Ashna Dongre, who is a vision to look at and an absolute honour to be around. Every second I spend with her is enriching and leaves me either smiling or laughing my guts out. She is an absolute breath of fresh air on dreary days. I have sought in her love, support, and a simple shoulder to share my burdens with, and practice without her will feel incomplete, and so will the rest of my time at college.” – Anvesha said.

It is said that first-year students enter DU with dreams in their eyes and passion in their hearts. Amidst the pool of batchmates, unspoken bonds, and sometimes fragile friendships, a lot of us struggle to strike a bond with any of our seniors in our respective departments. But lucky are the ones who end up discovering that friendship, solace, and guidance in that one senior in a society. An anonymous first-year student found such comfort in a senior at Vivre, the Film and Photography Society of Hindu College.

I learned a lot from them, and it’s definitely hitting me now that I have to bid farewell to them. It’s going to get hard for me because I don’t have a lot of friends or people I hold close to my heart in the second year. There’s one senior in particular, who I’m perhaps the closest to in the entire college. This is my person, and I hold them very close to my heart. Saying goodbye to them is going to break my heart, and I don’t want to think about it. What makes it sadder is that they are also leaving Delhi, so I might not see them ever.” – the student commented.

S. Bangshing Panja, a third-year philosophy student at Hindu College, shares how bidding farewell to his college and his society might be hard, but it’s time for him to make space for others.

Although societies haven’t become synonymous with Hindu, there’s definitely a bittersweet feeling in my heart while waving goodbye to the safe spaces I found in the North East Cell and Aria, as they have been a huge part of me. The kind of legacy I’d like to leave my juniors, especially in the North East Cell, is that we should not be ashamed or scared to take up space. We are here in such a competitive institution, and we are here for a reason, and that makes us equal to everyone else. We just have to prove ourselves visible to the world, the people around us, and back at home. It’s sad that I have to say goodbye to them, but it’s about time. I’ve been here for three years, and I feel I have to leave in order to make space for others to come and feel the same things I felt and share the same friendships I’ve shared.” – they shared.

Dear reader, while navigating the whirlpool of emotions college life at DU sometimes (certainly) pushes you in, some of us manage to find that one society and that one senior who just becomes your lifeboat. Bidding farewell to these small spaces within college that have become synonymous with home is difficult, to say the least, for the third years and the juniors left behind with a void in their hearts. How does one even journal such complex emotions and bittersweet memories in mere words? But I sincerely hope our words did justice to those feelings. Here’s a toast to the batch of 2024. We are forever grateful for your warmth, resilience, and comfort.

Featured Image Credits: Sukriti for DU Beat

Gauri Garg

Around the Campus

Security: The Overrated Inconvenience During Fests at Women’s Colleges

By DU Beat March 8, 2024

As DU gears up for the fest season, the supposed fortress of security seems to crumble each year. Are women’s colleges equipped with the required security measures?

For the past few years, Delhi University (DU) has consistently witnessed incidents of unwarranted male trespassers into women’s colleges every time there is a fest or any event for that matter, with students being sexually harassed, catcalled, and their safe spaces violated. In light of such incidents, the University issued an advisory with guidelines to be followed by all colleges during events likely to be attended by outsiders. Between April 2023 and January 2024, the notifications have been updated thrice ahead of the upcoming college fest season.

Surely, such an advisory may appear to be the need of the hour and perhaps even reassuring, but is it the case that the University has finally recognized the persistence of such pressing issues, or is the advisory, just like security in most women’s colleges, merely performative? Isn’t it high time that the University’s administration, instead of issuing such performative guidelines, actually addressed the larger issue of male entitlement, beyond just ensuring their students’ safety? College spaces, be it women’s colleges or co-educational spaces, should certainly not be places where women (or anyone for that matter) live in a sense of fear, apart from obviously the external world beyond college boundaries.

It is also important to note that some of the security measures, for instance, the installation of CCTVs, pre-registration through Google Forms, and deployment of security personnel, have already been in place in many colleges, and yet there have been repeated violations. Most instances have been when the ones who “lawfully” entered the college premises became perpetrators of assault. So, a No Objection Certificate (NOC) is completely ineffective when it comes to the “male gaze” and entitlement towards women’s spaces in a patriarchal set-up.

“Because our college restricted male entry this year, apart from the participants, it did make the fest safer than last year, where a lot of chaos had ensued with guys passing lewd remarks at female students performing during the dance competition. Although such incidents didn’t take place this year, I believe restricting male entry is just an instinctive response to a much larger problem, that is, patriarchy, which is so deeply rooted in our society. Such measures end up putting the onus on women to protect themselves, as apparently “boys will be boys.” If the administration is unable to restrict students inside the campus, their immediate response is to just stop male entry. We need some long-term solutions to such problems, and sensitization of not just students but even the faculty needs to take place to uproot the actual cause of this problem.”

-said a student from Janki Devi Memorial College.

Students believe that the advisory is just the bare minimum, and the larger problem needs to be taken into account while ensuring security in women’s spaces.

Google Form registrations certainly do not amount to character screenings; thus, the University has no appropriate solution to this issue. At the college’s annual fest last year, the administration, as a security measure, made it mandatory for every male attendee to have a pass with a particular student’s name on it to ensure that they were invited by any of the students. Also, it was ensured that no guys entered the fest in groups. It’d be great if there was security present not just at the gates but inside the college, where a large crowd usually gathers, because that’s where fights usually break out. It would have been great if the University advisory came with a preface condemning the actions that took place not just at IPCW last year but what has been happening in women’s colleges almost every year. They need to realize that such incidents mostly just take place in women’s colleges because patriarchy allows men to feel entitled to women’s spaces and men fear other men, rather than respecting women as equal human beings.”

-remarked a student from Maitreyi College when asked about safety in women’s colleges ahead of the fest season.

A student from Indraprastha College for Women (IPCW) spoke about how the college’s environment has changed significantly since the unfortunate incident at last year’s fest.

The college administration, just like the administration in almost every DU college, loves to put the entire blame on the student body, despite the Student Council being a mostly performative entity in our college now. Since the college is busy with its centennial celebrations, we are not even sure if the annual fest ‘Shruti’ will even take place this year. The advisory issued by the University just goes on to show that the onus of protection is always going to be put upon women rather than holding the perpetrators accountable. Despite there being extensive measures like Google Form registrations and screening of bags at the gate, they were certainly not enough to prevent overcrowding and its aftermath. Our college did not have enough security to handle such a large crowd, and sadly, it took the University that incident and many more past occurrences in women’s colleges to even issue an advisory, which was also the bare minimum, to say the least.”

Thus, the question is: are women’s colleges even equipped with effective security ahead of the fest season, or is just locking up women and not questioning the root cause of the problem, which is patriarchy, going to be the immediate response from the administration in most colleges?

Featured Image Credits: Hindustan Times

Gauri Garg

Mad Women in the Attic: The MH Hostel, A Take

By DU Beat December 15, 2023

This is a narrative of dissent, dissatisfaction, and a culture of resistance.

On a sunny winter morning, five young women sit on the bricked steps of Miranda House (MH) with a single tiffin in their hands. Inside the tiffin are meagre portions of flaxen Lauki and three stiff rotis. This is food they have collected from the hostel mess, and it is food, they decide, that must be served to the college principal. Not out of the graciousness of their hearts but out of an overwrought sense of frustration that they allege has been building up since their first semester at the Miranda House hostel.

Dissent runs rampant in the history of the hostel. The Pinjra Tod movement arrived at its gates in 2018. Demands for the removal of curfews were initially met with a pity extension of 30 minutes. Today, the MH hostel stands as one of the only DU hostels that does not lock up its women at night. The strain of resistance that went into this achievement belongs solely to its residents. Today, however, it has been reduced to a tussle for basic necessities.

Food. It is truly as basic as it gets. The major grievances put forward by the hostel residents include two-pronged complaints of quality and quantity. General complaints of food quality have now pervaded the hostel for quite some time, with instances of people falling ill after having consumed the mess food. In one instance of the burner supposedly having broken down, the residents claim to have been served partially cooked chicken, paneer, and later burned food. On the other hand, I am told that food getting over before the end of meal times is a regular occurrence.

Even as I write this piece, a message circulates in the hostel WhatsApp groups about “uncooked aloo” having been served for dinner. At night, under the lofty palm trees that feature vibrantly in every single equally vibrant photograph of the illustrious institution, residents sit and compare the circumferential edibility of the rotis. Some claim to have stopped eating in the mess altogether.

These grievances are met with rationalisations on the part of the authorities, which residents cite as ranging from “taste is subjective” to, at times, blatant denial. While the gallows-humour approach adopted by the residents is indeed laudable, what of those who cannot afford to eat outside? Must they be punished for entrusting reliance on promised subsidised food and quality residence? A second-year resident aptly asks,

After such a competition to get a seat in the hostel, why do we have to face issues regarding basic things on a regular basis?

Hostellers claim that they are reminded, upon complaints, that they are paying less and hence should learn to adjust. While a comparative analysis of hostel fees in the North Campus domain confirms the assertion that the 27000 (rough per semester standardisation) being paid by Miranda Hostellers is indeed moderate, whether nominal fees are justification enough for compromise on basic tenets of existence is left to the discretion of the reader.

To track the quality of water, some residents recounted a diarrhoea outbreak in the month of January. Such an account is provided with the backdrop of the NAAC visit in mind.

In doing so, residents recall the Student Federation of India’s (SFI) threat to protest in front of the NAAC delegation should their needs remain unmet. The memorandum containing the same was said to have been signed overnight. This raises another point of contention on the part of the hostellers, wherein the authorities are credited with being responsive to concerns, but only after the residents have reached a point of saturation, which only precipitates dissent.

An analysis of this point of contention rings true, as one observes that UV filters have been installed since the last few months had featured reports of illnesses and mass mailing. Rat holes were filled, and hair strands in Dal were addressed with plastic caps for the mess workers. The fact that authorities address issues only in the face of dissent is perhaps emblematic of larger, more systematic problems.

The hostel union, for instance, consists of third- and second-year residents. As a medium of communication between the administration and the residents, the existence of a student body makes complete and perfect sense. What does not, however, make sense is the delegation of responsibilities for looking after the hostel to the students, who are also burdened with their hefty academic degrees, which is what ex-union members allege has been happening. This has led more than once to multiple resignations, even, at one point in time, the dissolution of the union, as well as an unwillingness on the part of the residents to be part of the hostel’s students’ bodies.

It is easy to dismiss these grievances with the refrain of ‘controlled expectations’ from all things ‘Sarkari’. In doing so, however, we reward structural and governmental complacency. Resistance thus has a degree of inflated importance within the walls of the hostel because things are scarcely resolved without it. As residents grapple with the resolution of basic necessities, it only makes sense that they uphold the legacy of the hostel, as they appear to have been doing: the letter accompanying the tiffin calls it “a signal of distress.”

Featured Image Credits: Telegraph India

Deevya Deo
[email protected]

DUB Speak

Who Protects Our ‘Safe’ Spaces?

By Sanika Singh October 14, 2023

Against the background of an ongoing onslaught on the University’s gender-minority colleges, we seek to explore what it means to exist in DU’s so-called ‘safe spaces’ and why any threat to their sanctity must be dealt with the gravity of an ‘invasion’.

Introducing yourself as the student of a women’s college is an act that elicits a wide range of responses. From blatant objectification of yourself and your peers as ‘dream girlfriend material’ to feigned concerns about how the institutional absence of men is hindering your ‘holistic’ development, it is evident that gender-minority spaces are no safe haven from patriarchy. If anything, patriarchy operates in covert ways within and outside the walls of these institutions.

Beyond sexist stereotyping and disparaging remarks, it manifests as the very real and physical threat of gender-based violence, of which these students often become primary targets. As our campus witnesses a rise in public displays of male entitlement and territorial chauvinism, it is imperative that we learn to contextualise these incidents and understand that no violation of a safe space happens in isolation.

Before delving into the subject of gender-minority spaces and what threatens them, it is crucial to understand what these spaces symbolise for their students in the first place. The very need for exclusive spaces for women and gender minorities points to a history of sexual violence that has endangered these groups for simply existing in public. Delhi itself hosts the track record of being one of the most unsafe metropolitan cities for women in the country, with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recording 14,277 registered cases of crimes against women in the Union Territory in 2021 alone. The fear of violence is thus statistically backed up and deeply embedded in the collective psyche of gender-minority groups, who are forced to live much of their lives on ‘survival mode’.

In the midst of an overwhelming threat to life and autonomy, gender-minority spaces emerge as a cocoon of safety for historically marginalised groups. Hence, Priya Agrawal, a student of the Indraprastha College for Women (IPCW), Delhi University’s (DU) oldest women’s college established in 1924, comments,

There is a reason why our parents and relatives feel very comfortable with the fact that their daughter is in an all-girls’ college. They feel that she’ll be safe there.

In fact, this dichotomy between unsafe public spaces and the safe space of gender-minority colleges is epitomised by the daily experience of commuting to the latter. Any student of these institutions is all too familiar with the sense of relief that rushes over you as soon as you step inside your college gates and are no longer bound to check the length of your skirt or feel the gaze of a man staring down your chest. As Sobhana, a student of Miranda House, relates,

The journey from my house in Vijayanagar to the Miranda House campus, which is no longer than 3 minutes by rickshaw or 10 if you walk, gives me more trauma and catcalls than the entire day I spend on campus.

It is apparent why, despite the conflictual nature of the inner workings of these colleges, they hold sanctity as a form of ‘private space in public’ universities (to borrow author Shelly Tara’s idiom, who used it originally in the context of women-only coaches on the Delhi Metro).

All of this is not to paint gender-minority colleges as infallible institutions above any and all forms of discrimination. Caste, class, religion, queerness, and other social cleavages dictate the inner anatomy of these institutions, and indeed, the very notion of a ‘safe space’ comes to be contested in the face of social hierarchies and exclusionary cliques. Any sense of safety is accorded on the basis of privilege and it is crucial that we keep this intersectional standpoint at the back of our minds while examining the remainder of this issue.

So, it is not the case that DU’s gender-minority colleges represent some sort of progressive, feminist utopia, but more so that they unite students under the banner of shared experience and solidarity against patriarchal injustice. Payal Krishnan, an LSR alumna from the batch of 1996, says,

Even in a women’s institution, you would routinely face instances of internalised misogyny and homophobia, and it takes time and dedicated efforts to shatter. Just stepping inside a women’s institution doesn’t automatically make you a certain way. But luckily, we always had people come out in support of individuals and communities which were discriminated against, and that unwavering support and dedication towards creating a safe space is what mattered.

Despite the numerous problems that permeate such institutions, she speaks of a “culture of cooperation, respect, and holistic growth” and concludes, “There is power in the collective.” This power—this collective front put up against the omnipresent violence of gender norms—is what poses an existential threat to patriarchy. While it is not within the scope of this article to delve into the rich history of these colleges, it is true that dominant society has always felt a sense of unease in the presence of such highly-educated and liberated women. Whether it be the 1990s matrimonial ads declaring ‘Girls from JNU, LSR or Miranda House need not apply’ or the aforementioned judgemental remarks, the autonomy of gender-minority spaces has always existed as an open challenge to the hetero-patriarchal foundations of our society.

Perhaps it is this challenge, this daring not to conform, that has resulted in the repeated targeting of these spaces and attempts to infringe upon their boundaries. Case in point is that of the recent DUSU election campaigning rallies that have barged into women-only campuses, but also of much earlier incidents, such as the 2020 Gargi College fest, the 2022 Miranda House Diwali mela, and the 2023 IPCW fest. It is evident that these are not isolated incidents but rather a pattern of invasions that legitimises male entitlement to spaces clearly not meant for them. Even relatively normalised behaviours, such as men deliberately hanging around outside women’s college gates, are not to be dismissed either, since they form the root of this very patriarchal problem of ‘space and who occupies it’.

The cases of women’s college fests being invaded by men are some of the most publicized events within this scenario. These incidents, which become grounds for rampant sexual harassment in the form of catcalling, groping, and unwanted advances, and actively put the students’ safety at risk, have been meticulously covered by national media houses as well. What is often left out of the conversation, however, is the aftermath of such events. Sharing her traumatic experience during the IPCW fest invasion and how that permanently changed her perception of the college environment, one student relates,

The purity of the place was gone for me. I did not go to college for 1-2 weeks straight because there were many protests, but also because I didn’t feel like it. Many of my friends didn’t go either. Even months after, as soon as we’d enter, we’d get flashbacks from that night.

It should be made clear then that men climbing walls and trying to barge into gender-minority spaces are not a case of them doing just that. These are incidents that reinstate the fear of violence and re-establish the norm of male proprietorship over women and gender minorities. They serve as a painful reminder to the latter that no space that they construct with love and care for themselves is truly theirs forever. It is forever dangling under the threat of patriarchal violence and could be overcome, at any moment, by the ever-destructive male ego. As the above-quoted IPCW student went on to share,

Even after all this went down, people still don’t realise that this was not about a college having a concert, where people simply climbed the walls and chaos and stampede happened. No, it’s not about that. It’s about men trying to enter the space of women, trying to harass us in our own spaces, and telling us, ‘We can come here too; what will you do about it? Your administration is not going to help you out either.

Indeed, it is only within this context that one can begin to understand the visceral reaction of gender-minority students against their spaces being invaded. Recently, when the political rallies for the DUSU 2023 elections barged into Aditi Mahavidyalya and Miranda House, students of both colleges were quick to label these as ‘invasions’ and expressed dissent against them. Unfortunately, they were dismissed under the claim that such hooliganism is just ‘part and parcel’ of the DUSU election fever. Such statements, that ring too close to the common adage of ‘boys will be boys’, fundamentally fail to understand the sanctity that safe spaces hold for gender minorities and the reason why they might get so protective about them.

It is no far-fetched remark to also suggest that the way elections season has panned out over the past month in DU has been nothing but a display of power under patriarchy. Yes, money and muscle power reign supreme in this University’s (and by large, the country’s) electoral politics, but must we be so quick to accept that as the norm, as students and conscious voters? Must we allow our gender-minority spaces to be violated for the sake of more noise and pamphlet-litter? Of course, one also wonders why it is always the same political outfits, like ABVP and NSUI, that choose to engage in this chauvinist brand of student politics. Perhaps, someone will tell us to quietly accept that just as boys will be boys, ABVP and NSUI too will be ABVP and NSUI.

Ultimately, what matters, however, is the safety of our spaces. One of the most disheartening outcomes is always the immediate reaction of administrative authorities, who seem quicker to police the gender-minority students than take action against the perpetrators. Whether it be barbed wire being put up on college walls or student protestors being detained before the men who invaded IPCW, the question of who will protect our safe spaces remains unanswered.

Featured Image Credits: Anshika for DU Beat

Sanika Singh
[email protected]

Miranda House Hosts India Today’s Campus Face-off

By DU Beat January 21, 2020

On 17^th January 2020, Miranda House hosted India Today’s Campus Face-off, which took a controversial turn after some students started protesting.

On 17^th January 2020, India Today’s Rajdeep Sardesai and Aaj Tak’s Anjana Om Kashyap came to Miranda House for an edition of their show Campus Face-off. Campus Face-off is a special program where the anchors invite speakers from major parties, who debate and are questioned by the student audience. In Miranda House, they invited representatives from the three major parties of Delhi- Charu Pragya, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Radhika Khera, Indian National Congress (INC) and Atishi Marlena, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The anchors, Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai and Ms. Anjana Om Kashyap, conducted an informal session for 30 minutes before the taping, while waiting for the representatives of the parties to arrive. The anchors were asked questions on the current political scenario. When asked about the pressure on media, Ms. Kashyap replied, “Everybody’s perception of how news is being presented is different. We’ve become a very politically polarized country right now.” Rajdeep Sardesai also used this time to promote his new book How Modi Won India in 2019.

While the debate was to be on the issue of “Women Safety, Judgement on Nirbhaya Case, and other issues” in the face of upcoming elections, the panelists also discussed various other issues too, such as Kashmir, the violence in student campuses, economy and unemployment, and the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act-National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Mid-taping, a group of students stood up in the top-left corner of the room, and started silently protesting by holding up posters questioning police brutality, CAA-NRC, internet shutdowns, state of Kashmir, and such ongoing issues. The protestors, who were silent initially, started chanting, “Shame, Shame, Shame” on a comment made by the BJP representative denying the existence of the NRC. When the protestors began sloganeering, Mr. Sardesai asked them to come to the podium, and express themselves. The students expressed their discomfort at the suggestion saying that they stood as a collective, and asking one of them to represent them all would make that representative vulnerable to being targeted.

The protestors then moved to the centre of the room, near the podium, and began sloganeering again. A Kashmiri student then took to the podium and addressed the crowd in a very emotionally charged speech. “Do you know what is AFSPA? What about it’s victims? We are raped. Understand this… I am not against them (pointing to the panelists). I am against you all (pointing to the crowd). Shame on you… Fuck you. Fuck you sir. Fuck you three also.”

At this, Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai asked them to be removed from the taping, “Madam, you are allowed to speak your views, but you cannot hijack the program.” The Congress representative, then, came and stood with the protesting students.

“The face-off that took place yesterday at the Campus darkened the face of any form of dissent, dialogue, and debate that Miranda has known in the history of its existence. Yes, the anchors allowed questions, but what they also did was make the entire engagement futile… In the midst of it all, what actually suffered a setback was the culture of radical politics that Miranda prides itself on. The complacency, privilege and comfortable applause of the audiences stood out. The very audience that shamed and policed the tones of the voices of dissent in Miranda, never once questioned the nature of the ongoing debate and their lack of discussion on issues of the marginalized communities. The ones that gathered spine enough to register their protest on a platform as major as this have been let down. The culture of Miranda hangs its head in shame and silence. To begin with, it never was inclusive and ‘woke’ enough to accommodate the marginalized,” said a statement released by the Instagram handle, @mh_studentscollective.

View this post on Instagram

What went wrong when India Today came to campus: A trajectory of events.

A post shared by Non-Starbucks kids of MH (@mh_studentscollective) on Jan 19, 2020 at 7:38am PST

Anshula, a student present at the taping, said “ Rajdeep Sir, according to me, handled it professionally and asked them to protest silently if they want to. He asked them not to hijack the mic, saying there were other people also waiting to raise their concerns. I, too, support the cause, but feel like they could have used the platform better. They raised valid concerns and questions which are important to all of us, but using foul language invalidates the cause.”

The taping went on for more than two hours and ended around six in the evening.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Satviki Sanjay

Eco-friendly Campuses of DU: A New Face of Miranda House

By DU Beat November 12, 2019

With plastic becoming a major menace, here is an insight into how the students as well as the authorities of Miranda House have taken up several steps to make their campus a plastic-free space in the University of Delhi (DU).

Plastic is one of the most ubiquitous materials in the economy, but with the increasing awareness about its ill effects and negative impact on the environment, and the spreading of the news of its complete ban by the Government, several colleges and institutions have started substituting plastic with other less harmful or biodegradable options. Miranda House has also taken many such initiatives to discourage the usage of single-use plastic.

The first step taken by students and societies was to conduct a plastic-free fresher’s party to welcome the freshers to a “Green Miranda”. Vatavaran, the Environmental Cell of Miranda House, along with the Department of Geography, encouraged the Student Councils of all the Departments to conduct their respective Department fresher’s without the usage of plastic in decoration and food. As a novel and creative initiative, the “Green Departments”, which successfully conducted a “plastic-free fresher’s”, were provided with certificates. individuals.

The bigger question becomes, how many end up staying the same throughout? Inner healing does not happen in a day, the lives of Buddha and Mahavira are examples of the years of mediation that one must do to achieve such unearthly feats, to begin with. It is a gradual and slow process, like medical treatment or a fitness regime. The transformations are always temporary in nature, and one needs to mould their mind with continual practice to achieve maximum results. The human mind is a very complex enigma that has wonderful, and miraculous features to it that surpass the earthly plane. For thousands of years, the sages of India called ‘rishis’ had proved the same. They had, through continual and rigorous mediation, opened their chakras and achieved feats that seem inhuman in today’s age. One may desire to achieve such transformative abilities, yet not all of us can invest the time and energy to be able to achieve them.

Being part of an age where everything in our lives mostly revolves around speed and technology, it does not mean that selfactualisation cannot be achieved. The answer to it is as simple as the Sacred Games chant we have become used to hearing now – Aham Brahmasmi. Brahma, the creator, resides in one’s soul or Atman, and is nothing but the abode of creation and creative power. We believe what we wish to believe, and we hold on to our perceptions and inhibitions, but the moment we prepare ourselves to see beyond our rigidity of thoughts, we become free of our bonds. Thus, you must understand that eternal bliss or happiness of the being is possible for every one of us. If one wishes to invest even a few minutes of their time in life-altering activities persistently, one will achieve peace, calm, and a stress-free environment where creative energies can be released to bring a positive change in the mind and space that we occupy.

The most effective and simple exercise would be to concentrate on one’s breathing as one assumes a comfortable position for a span of just five minutes. It is all but a matter of faith – not in any external idol, religion, or God-men, but in the power of our intrinsic energy as a vehicle to transform our stress into positivity. One’s present should be of concern only if one wishes to change it for a different or a happier future. There is a need for change. It all begins today, if we keep our buzzing phones aside, and take a few moments to ourselves for the sake of positive mental health. Aatreyee Tamuly, a student of B.A. (Honours) History at Miranda House, said, “I think Miranda has taken the ‘No Plastic Campaign’ pretty well. It was great seeing all the departments taking part in the no plastic campaign during the Department fresher’s party.” The usage of plastic in the canteen has decreased, as they have started providing steel plates and spoons instead of plastic plates for serving food. Providing straws has been stopped completely. Nescafé has substituted plastic cutlery with wooden cutlery and plates with paper bowls.

The National Service Scheme (NSS) of Miranda House conducted various events to discourage the usage of single-use plastic. One such event was a collection drive on the campus to collect all the plastic bottles and other plastic waste. The collected items were then handed over to the plastic recycling centres. Another major step by the NSS was to celebrate Onella, a social mela (fair), with the theme of “No Single-Use Plastic”. Several posters were circulated with the message of avoiding plastic usage. Onella successfully encourage secularism, raised funds, and promoted the social cause of avoiding plastic usage. A Replaft competition was organised by the society where the students were supposed to reuse plastic to make craft items. The decorative material made from reused plastic was sold at Onella. A signatory campaign to discourage the usage of single-use plastic also found its way into the celebrations. Another initiative by the society was to organise a “Plog Run”, which involved plastic-picking plus jogging.

Priyanshi Singh, a final-year student of Miranda House, expressed her views on the initiatives. She said, “I feel that the initiatives taken by authorities and students to avoid usage of plastic are really good, but I feel more could be done to it. For instance, created tautology are still being sold on the campus, asplastic cold drink bottles and water bottles are being sold and used. Instead, they could only sell glass bottles or cans. Selling some packaged items like chips can also be avoided, which could also lead to a healthy lifestyle. Whatever has been done to minimise it is good, but still some more steps like substituting aerated drink bottles with cans and glass bottles should be done.” However, the initiatives taken by societies and authorities can only be successful if one takes steps on an individual level as well. The words of Margaret Mead ring a bell at this moment – “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Feature Image Credits: Namrata Randhawa for DU Beat

Priya Chauhan

Miranda House Students Protest for Removal of Curfew

By Kartik Chauhan November 4, 2019

30th October, 2018, became a historically significant day for the Miranda House Girls’ Hostel, as the Hostel gates stayed open into the dawn, as the students protested outside. To celebrate the completion of one year to this day, and mandate authoritative action to allow the hostellers more liberty, another sit-in was organised by the Miranda House Girls’ Hostel residents.

The protest was led by Pinjra Tod, a student’s collective that works for secure, affordable and non-gender discriminatory accommodation for women across Delhi.

The events of the said night happened in this chronological order:

Activists of ‘Pinjra Tod: Break the Hostel Locks’ called for a protest outside the gates of Arts Faculty, Delhi University, on the night of October 30th, demanding that the Miranda House hostel curfew be rolled back completely. Earlier, on October 8th and 10th, Pinjra Tod had organised protest marches and all-night sit-ins in North Campus, Delhi University.

Previously, on October 10th, the activists of Pinjra Tod had given the deadline of October 30th to the University administration to accept all their demands. The Principal of Miranda House, Pratibha Jolly had talked to the protesters and listened to their demands, giving the assurance that the issues would be discussed by the administration, and appropriate measures would be taken.

Ishika, participant at the protest, a Miranda House student told DU Beat, “The protest began very calmly, there was no aggression or violence. The hostel committee and the principal cooperated well with us, and when demands were put forward, they agreed to all.”

Pratibha Jolly, Principal of Miranda House, in reply to Pinjra Tod said, “As a constituent college of University of Delhi we have been discussing the issue at the highest level.”

However, most of the demands were not met. The hostel curfew was extended from 8:30 PM to 9 PM only, with a few extra night-outs added and number of leaves increased.

The college had put up notices stating that “due information must be given to the Hostel Administrative Staff before Night Out is availed. This must be duly recorded in the Leave Book.”

An informal WhatsApp message had been circulated, which stated that the late-night timings will remain the same, and night leaves will be sanctioned on the same day only in case of emergency.

The student collective Pinjra Tod termed the extension of 30 minutes for hostels as a “joke” and demanded complete abolition of curfew timing at Miranda House.

Pinjra Tod said, “This extension of half an hour is a cruel joke, another attempt at humiliating and infantilising the dignity, dreams and struggles of women students.”

The true reason for an intensified reaction to these rigorous hostel curfews was allegedly that the college had put up notices stating, “Residents can return to the hostel at any time of the night on a night-out and short-notice/ emergency night-outs can be availed by filling in a form at the gate and (there) is no need (for) one day advance notice,” which was far from the reality.

Following the student’s protest, the students in defiance organised a sit-in that continued all night. The students protested outside the hostel gate and the gates of the hostel remained open.

The agitators said, “These new changes are important relaxations in the existing rules, but we really refuse to get dragged into this bureaucratic non-sense, which continues to reinforce power in the hands of the administration.”

The series of protest led by Pinjra Tod, paves way for new meaning of freedom for many hostellers.

Feature Image Credits: News Ink

Chhavi Bahmba

Eco Friendly Campuses: A New face of Miranda House

By Amrashree Mishra October 25, 2019

Plastic is one of the most ubiquitous materials in the economy but with the increasing awareness about its ill-effects and negative impact on the environment and the spreading of the news of its complete ban by the government, several colleges and institutions have started substituting plastic with other options.

Miranda House has also taken many such initiatives to discourage the usage of single-use plastic.

The first step taken by students and societies was to conduct a plastic-free Fresher’s party to welcome the freshers to a ‘Green Miranda’. Vatavaran, the environmental cell of Miranda House, along with the Department of Geography encouraged the student councils of all the departments to conduct their Department Freshers without the usage of plastic in decoration and food. As a novel and creative initiative, the ‘Green Departments’ which successfully conducted a ‘plastic-free freshers’ were provided with certificates.

Aatreyee Tamuly, a student of B.A. (Hons) History, Miranda House said, “I think Miranda has taken the ‘No Plastic Campaign’ pretty well. It was great seeing all the departments taking part in the no plastic campaign during the Department fresher’s party.”

The usage of plastic in the canteen has been decreased as they have started providing steel plates and spoons instead of plastic plates for serving food. Providing straws has been stopped completely. Nescafe has substituted plastic cutlery with wooden cutlery and plates with paper bowls.

All along, the National Service Scheme (NSS) of Miranda House has conducted various events to discourage the usage of single-use plastic. One such event was a collection drive on the campus to collect all the plastic bottles and other plastic waste. The collected items were then handed over to the plastic recycling centre.

Another major step by the National Service Scheme (NSS) was to celebrate Onella, a Social Mela with the theme of ‘No Single-Use Plastic’. Several posters were circulated with the message of avoiding plastic usage. The regular Diwali Mela (Onella) was celebrated as a Social Mela this year to encourage secularism, raise funds and to promote the social cause of avoiding plastic usage. A REPLAFT competition was organized by the society on the eve of Onella in which the students were supposed to reuse plastic to make craft items. The decorative stuff made by reused plastic was sold at Onella. A signatory campaign to discourage the usage of single-use plastic also found its way into the celebrations. Another initiative by the society was to organize a ‘Plog Run’, which was plastic picking plus jogging.

Priyanshi Singh, a final year student of Miranda House expressed her views on the initiatives. She said, “I feel that the initiatives taken by authorities and students to avoid usage of plastic are really good, but I feel more could be done to it. For instance, plastic bottles are still being sold on the campus, as plastic cold drink bottles and water bottles are being sold and used. Instead, they could only sell glass bottles or cans. Selling some packaged items like chips can also be avoided, which could also lead to a healthy lifestyle. Whatever has been done to minimize it is good, but still some more steps like substituting aerated drink bottles with cans and glass bottles should be done.”

However, the initiatives taken by societies and authorities can only be successful if one takes steps on an individual level. The words of Margaret Mead ring a true bell at this moment.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Image Credits: shiksha.com

Priya Chauhan

Miranda House

The Arts and Sciences Divide in Miranda House

By Shivani Dadhwal October 24, 2019

Students of the prestigious University of Delhi institution, Miranda House, feel like there are a lot of differences in the so-called Arts and Science blocks of the college.

Miranda House is an Arts and Science college in North Campus. It offers eleven B.A. (Honours) courses, a B.A. Programme course, five B.Sc. (Honours) courses and two B.Sc. Programme courses. The college building is broadly divided in such a way that the right blocks have labs and classes for students pursuing Science courses are conducted there, while classes for students pursuing Arts courses are conducted in the left block.

Recently, a new building was constructed, which is also termed as the “Science Block” by the students. The building is equipped with better infrastructure and more facilities, as compared to the Arts block. Elevators are installed, as are sensor-driven taps which speak of better infrastructure. Science students are more than those pursuing Arts, and that their events are given more priority.

Another fact pointed out by many students is ‘the Science canteen’. A comparatively small canteen near the front-gate of the college called the science canteen is located close to the Science block. There is another main canteen and other cafes in the college, but there is no such place called the Arts canteen in the college. However, the so-called Science canteen can be accessed by all the students, but the name given to it by the students is enough to raise a question.

A student of B.A. (Honours) Political Science said, “The Arts and Sciences divide becomes very visible by things like infrastructure and facilities in the buildings. While there is a lack of basic facilities like properly functioning fans in classes for Arts students which aren’t looked at even after repeated complaints, there are several rooms in the science block which are equipped with air conditioners also.”

The Wi-Fi network is another issue. It is the strongest in the science block while there is negligible to none network in other areas of the college. Wi-Fi works in almost all the rooms where science classes are conducted, and near the Physics Department where the network is the strongest. A recent survey conducted on the college campus for testing the quality of drinking water revealed that the Science block had the most suitable water for drinking, as compared to other places.

Mani, a third-year student of B.Sc. (Honours) Physical Sciences said, “There are many instances which show this bias. The theme of ‘Tempest 2018’ was based on the technology where robots and gadgets adorned the campus. Many big scale events and competitions of the Physics Department are organized by D.S. Kothari Centre, which witnesses high footfalls and requires more space. Science Conclave, which is a three-day event with various competitions and international speakers sees mass participation. While there are no such events for the Arts department.”

Another student of B.A. (Hons) History who wished to remain anonymous said, “A general bias can be seen in the facilities for Arts and Science students. However, according to me the reason for this bias is the academic background and inclination of our ex-principal, Dr. Jolly. As she was a Science faculty, more preference was given to events conducted by science departments, and this could also be the reason for better infrastructural facilities in their department. However, with the appointment of Dr. Bijayalaxmi Nanda as the acting Principal, there are chances of change in the situation.”

All these instances make the differences between Arts and Sciences in Miranda House evidently foregrounded. A number of these issues were also put forward during the manifesto reading, but the Student’s Union hasn’t addressed any of them yet. The President of Miranda House Students’ Union (MHSU) has also denied speaking on the issue.

Image Credits: shiksha.com

Priya Chauhan