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NIRF Ranking 2019: Delhi’s Miranda House and Hindu college ranked as Top colleges

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The Ministry of Human Resource and development released its fourth edition of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) which was announced by President Ram Nath Kovind.

The Top Institute (overall) position was given to Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) whereas Delhi University’s Miranda House topped the list of colleges and Hindu College was ranked second. This year, six colleges of Delhi University featured in the top 10 which included St. Stephens College, Lady Shri Ram College, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Hansraj College and were respectively ranked as second, fourth, fifth, seventh and ninth.

“The credits for achieving this feat belongs to foremost the Principal of our college, the phenomenal support of the professors and obviously students who played a major role in achieving this position by participating in classes as well as in learning process outside the classes.” Says Prof. R.B. Azad Choudhary of Hindu college.

While Miranda managed a glorious hattrick for itself by taking the first position, Delhi University’s other 22 colleges also managed to get featured in the list of Top 100 colleges of India.

Snimar, the Vice president of Miranda House said, “I think I speak for every Mirandian when I say that we are more than proud to be recognised as the best college in India for the third time in a row. The atmosphere and environment of Miranda House, the inclusivity, the wonderful faculty, our former Principal and our acting Principal have all been a huge part of this success.”

However, as compared to previous year when Delhi University was ranked seventh amongst top universities of India, this year it saw its position dipping to that of 13th .

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) featured at seventh in overall category and bagged second rank in the Top 10 universities of India whereas the first rank in this category went to Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. IIT-Delhi was placed third in the overall category whereas was ranked second in Top 10 engineering institutions. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) retains its position as Top Medical Institute of India.

Nikita Mohta, a student of Miranda house sums up the excitement in these words, “I am privileged, blessed and grateful to be at an institution with this repute. While I couldn’t be happier, I also know that on other side this is a fraction of the women in the country receiving quality education. The rankings speak of the capabilities of women today and how we need to work for the education of every girl child in the country.”

Image credits: DU Beat archives.

Antriksha Pathania
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Miranda House

Miranda House Appoints New Principal

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Miranda House bids farewell to Principal Pratibha Jolly and welcomes the new Principal.

Miranda House, one of the most reputed colleges of University of Delhi, appointed its new Principal, Dr Bijayalaxmi Nanda. She was previously a professor of Political Science and Gender Studies in the College and holds a Master of Arts (MA) degree from Utkal University, a Master of Philosophy degree from Delhi University and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D) from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Dr Nanda belongs to the state of Odisha and has written books including Human Rights, Gender and Environment, Sex-Selective Abortion and the State: Policies, Laws and Institutions in India, Discourse on Rights in India: Debates and Dilemmas and several other renowned books.

Articles authored by her include Cinderella Goes to School, Girl-child Education in India, Does the Girl-Child Count? and Census and Other Stories. She also coordinates a self-funded initiative called Campaign Against Pre-birth Elimination of Females from the year 2002.  

Dr Nanda on talking about feminism in a video by Centre for Social Research said, “Feminism to me is personal, is political. It is about an equality consciousness, where we involve men, boys, and anyone around us to bring about an equal world.” She is also a part of feminist research and activism.

Dr Nanda is the awardee of Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) Doctoral Fellowship, given by the Teacher’s Excellence Award by DU in the year 2017. On speaking to Petals in the Dust she remarked, “Even at a very early age I was alert to inequalities perpetrated in terms of class, caste, gender, ethnicity, age and other hierarchies… I dreamt of being a bureaucrat like my father and to be able to bring about changes in the lives of people through creating an enabling policy environment.”

 

Feature Image Credits: Odisha News Tonight

Shivani Dadhwal
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Campus Central

Dr. Pratibha Jolly, Principal, Miranda House Retires

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Dr. Pratibha Jolly, the celebrated Principal of Miranda House, Delhi University, retired on 28th February, 2019. Let’s take a look at her contributions to the college in the past 14 years as the Principal.

Dr. Pratibha Jolly has been the Principal of Miranda House since 2005. She is an alumna of the college, having pursued B.Sc. Honours in Physics and M.Sc. from 1970- 1975. After gaining a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from the University of Delhi (DU) in 1980, she went on to work in the areas of physics education research and curriculum development at the tertiary level. She was a faculty at Miranda House (1980-1988) before she moved to the Department of Physics and Astrophysics at DU as a UGC Research Scientist (1988-2002). She served as the Principal at Acharya Narendra Dev College (2002-2005) before moving back to Miranda House. Dr. Jolly, in her vibrant tenure, has brought several positive changes to the college.

One of her major contributions is making Miranda a disabled-friendly institution. Through her continuous efforts, Miranda House now has the Amba Dalmia centre within its library for the visually challenged students, and it also has computers that read out the text. There’s also an enabling unit called Lakshita. ‘Digital Vision’ is an app introduced in her tenure, installed in the phones of differently-abled students and is used at the time of admissions.  This app scans QR codes (which can be found outside every room) and gives directions/number of steps to be taken to reach a particular place. There are a number of ramps across the college. Braille books in the library and a Braille notice board are also available. There are scanners, e-book readers, voice recorders, and a Braille embosser that converts printed text to embossed Braille dots for easy reading. All these developments are feathers in Dr. Jolly’s cap for inclusive development of her college. Dr. Pratibha Jolly will surely be missed for all her good work at Miranda House.

Feature Image Credits: Mahamedha Nagar

Sakshi Arora

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(With inputs from DU Beat and Miranda House)

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Fest Season

Highlights of Tempest 2019 organised by Miranda House

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The three-day fest of Miranda House, Tempest 2019 presented different events and an amazing line-up of the performance nights.

Tempest 2019- the Annual Cultural Fest of Miranda House- University of Delhi kick-started on 14th February 2019.There were a plethora of events scheduled by the college but most of them got delayed due to unfavourable weather conditions. Nevertheless, the events ran smoothly and the first day of Tempest turned out to be a fulfilling and vibrant experience for the attendees.

The Duet Singing Competition organized by Geetanjali, the Indian Music Society of Miranda House saw various performances that had the audiences captivated. It concluded with Sukriti and Saksham from SGTB Khalsa College in second position, with the winner’s title being claimed by Pranava and Ram of Hansraj College.

Adwitiya, the Fine Arts’ Society, in a stunning display of powerful art, transformed SAC to an exquisite art gallery. From portraits to abstract brushstrokes, all the artwork presented had a story to tell. An art-piece labeled ‘Nirvana’ captured the modern world in a representative manner. A symbolic display promised and delivered aesthetic pleasure.   The day concluded with the performance by PARASHARA- a popular Delhi-based progressive band, with an idea conceived and brought to action in the mountains. The audiences swiveled to the beats as they played their melodies, revolving around the realities of life, with an interesting modern touch to it. This wraps up the Day 1 of the fest and all the festivities stuck true to the theme of the fest: “Future of Fun”.  

Day 2 of Tempest 2019, the annual cultural fest of Miranda House witnessed a refreshing hustle-bustle as the day started with a perfect weather, as opposed to the weather conditions prevailing the first day. The day witnessed different societies conducting their competitions.

Anukriti, the Hindi Dramatics Society of Miranda House organised ‘Izhaar’, a stage play event after four years. Amongst preliminary rounds between 27 competing team, 6 teams made it to the finals. The event kicked off with ‘Three Tall Women’ the annual production of The Ariels, the English Dramatics Society, followed by SRCC’s annual production ‘Anidra’ and Anubhuti, the Hindi Dramatics Society of Sri Venkateswara College’s annual production ‘Kolahal’. After the break, ‘Fourth Wall Productions’, the dramatics society of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies presented their annual production ‘Bhunde’. The event ended with Leher, the dramatics society of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce’s production ‘Mahua’ and Hansraj dramatics society’s play ‘Word of Mouth’.

The Day 2 of Tempest 2019 came to an end with an exhilarating performance by DJ Mojojojo. He performed some of his famous mixes like ‘Sapne’ and also played the famous track ‘Udd Gaye’ by Ritviz. The audience grooved to the tunes of his enthralling showcase. The crowd then peacefully dispersed.  

Day 3 witnessed four events taking place. Orpheus, the Western music society of Miranda House organized their annual event Euphony 2019. The event had two competitions: Accapella, the group singing competition and the solo singing competition.Echo the western music society of Jesus and Mary College won the first position in group singing.

Mridang, the Indian dance society of Miranda House presented their annual fest Tarangini’19. The solo classical event witnessed a number of participants portraying classical dance performances followed by a montage of peppy group performances by participants ranging from different colleges.

On the last day of Tempest 2019, renowned singer, Jubin Nautiyal, created an enchanting musical aura at Miranda House. He began the night by interacting with the audience, and telling the enthusiastic crowd that he had been excited to meet them and perform for them since the past few weeks. Soft romance was the vibe in the air as he sang popular numbers like Meherbaani, Kaabil, Gazab ka hai din, and Baawra Mann among many others. In a medley that had the audience captivated, Nautiyal sang covers of old favourites such as Gulaabi aankhein, Dheere dheere se, and Roop tera mastana. The singer then moved to songs like Aaj ki raat, Tamma tamma, Ilahi et al, as the audience grooved in delight. On the same climatic note, Nautiyal bid adieu to Miranda House with the joy and rhythm of The Humma Song.

Tempest 2019 was a success with an amazing line-up of performance nights and multiple events organised by the college societies.

 

Feature Image Credits: Saubhagya Saxena for DU Beat.

Sakshi Arora

[email protected] 

Shaurya Thapa

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Kartik Chauhan

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Akshada Shrotriya

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Shivani Dadhwal

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Anushree Joshi

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Jaishree Kumar
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Aman Gupta
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Anoushka Sharma

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Campus Central

Jubin Nautiyal Closes Tempest 2019

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Day 3 of Tempest 2019 saw the hustle bustle of the fest along with a melodious end to the evening by Jubin Nautiyal.

 

Orpheus, the Western music society of Miranda House organized their annual event Euphony 2019. The event had two competitions: Accapella, the group singing competition and the solo singing competition.Echo the western music society of Jesus and Mary College won the first position in group singing.

The solo singing competition was won by Jessjit Singh from Delhi Technological University and Riya Khattar from Kamala Nehru College. The second position was also a tie between Shruti Parasarthy and Janice Joe from Jesus and Mary College.The Western Music Singing competition brought in an awesome load of societies who competed to take home the glory of victory. The group as well as the solo competition filled the atmosphere with melodious voices singing the tunes of some of the best classical songs.

The group competition witnessed 10 societies performing in the final round. The participants seemed enthusiastic as they were seen cheering not only their own team members but members from other societies as well.

The solo competition had 9 performers in the final round. The participants had brought an accompanist for a musical instrument. Though there was a little in the technical aspect, the singers handled it very well. The judge, while announcing the result acknowledged it and appreciated the performances by also giving useful advise.

Mridang, the Indian dance society of Miranda House is presenting their annual fest Tarangini’19. The solo classical event witnessed a number of participants portraying classical dance performances followed by a montage of peppy group performances by participants ranging from different colleges.

On the last day of Tempest 2019, renowned singer, Jubin Nautiyal, created an enchanting musical aura at Miranda House. He began the night by interacting with the audience, and telling the enthusiastic crowd that he had been excited to meet them and perform for them since the past few weeks. Soft romance was the vibe in the air as he sang popular numbers like Meherbaani, Kaabil, Gazab ka hai din, and Baawra Mann among many others. In a medley that had the audience captivated, Nautiyal sang covers of old favourites such as Gulaabi aankhein, Dheere dheere se, and Roop tera mastana. The singer then moved to songs like Aaj ki raat, Tamma tamma, Ilahi et al, as the audience grooved in delight. On the same climatic note, Nautiyal bid adieu to Miranda House with the joy and rhythm of The Humma Song.

 

Feature Image credits: Saubhagya Saxena for DU Beat.

Akshada Shrotriya

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Shivani Dadhwal

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Anushree Joshi

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Cultural Festivals

MojoJojo Closes Day 2 of Tempest 2019

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Day 2 of Tempest witnessed different society events taking place and closed with the EDM night.

Day 2 of Tempest 2019, the annual cultural fest of Miranda House witnessed a refreshing hustle-bustle as the day started with a perfect weather, as opposed to the weather conditions prevailing the first day. The day witnessed different societies conducting their competitions.
Vivekananda Society, Miranda House organised three events judged internally by Mrs Aastha Kalra, Mrs Nidhi Gupta, Mrs Nisha Balatyagi, and Mr Raj Verma Singh. The first competition was Essay Writing on the topic- “How pervasive are racism and sexism among youth,” and saw participation by 17 participants. Ananya Reddy and Umang Bhadauriya from Miranda House won the first and second prize respectively while Sniti Raj from Kirori Mal College came third. The Open Mic saw different genres of poems and stories being recited by 12 participants. Harshita and Upasa from Miranda House came first and second respectively while Astha Deepaki from Lady Shri Ram College and Vallary Shukla from Miranda came third. The competition of Impromt story making on the Topic- “you are stuck for 45 min in a lift” saw participation by 4 teams. Team from Ramanujan College won this event.
Shama Kohli Conventional Debate Competition was organised by The Debating Society of Miranda House. It saw powerful bilingual debates by 14 teams on the topic- “This house regrets the narrative of logic and science to interpret the world.” The event was judged internally by Nanda Ma’am, Vice Principal, Miranda House and Mrs. Meeta from the Economics Department of the college. The title of Best Interjector were awarded to Sukhin from Keshav Mahavidyalaya and Siddhartha from Hindu College. The second best Speaker for the motion was Abhipsha from Daulat Ram College, while the Second Best Speaker against the motion was Adit from Kirori Mal College. The Best Speaker For the motion was Yukta, Jaypee and the Best Speaker Against the motion was Abhipshita, Sri Venkateswara College. Second Best Team was Daulat Ram College and Shyam Lal College while the title of the Best Team was given to Shree Ram College of Commerce.
Anukriti, the Hindi Dramatics Society of Miranda House organised ‘Izhaar’, a stage play event after four years. Amongst preliminary rounds between 27 competing team, 6 teams made it to the finals. The event kicked off with ‘Three Tall Women’ the annual production of The Ariels, the English Dramatics Society, followed by SRCC’s annual production ‘Anidra’ and Anubhuti, the Hindi Dramatics Society of Sri Venkateswara College’s annual production ‘Kolahal’. After the break, ‘Fourth Wall Productions’, the dramatics society of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies presented their annual production ‘Bhunde’. The event ended with Leher, the dramatics society of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce’s production ‘Mahua’ and Hansraj dramatics society’s play ‘Word of Mouth’.
The Quiz Society of Miranda House organised the Annual Rachita Dasgupta Quiz on the 14th and 15th of February. On the 14th, Ashish Singh conducted an Open General Quiz which was followed by an Eco-biz quiz. On the 15th, quizmaster Anukriti Rai conducted the Open Mythology quiz which happened in two rounds. The winners were Novoneel and Riya (first place), Amlan Sarkar and Ria Chopra (second place) and Shivan and Antariksha (third place).
After the break, the final leg of the event, the Indian cinema quiz kicked off which resulted in Ankur and Ayush winning the first place and a tie in between Amlan, Paliwal and Kartik Puri, Tushar Anand.
The Day 2 of Tempest 2019 came to an end with an exhilarating performance by DJ Mojojojo. He performed some of his famous mixes like ‘Sapne’ and also played the famous track ‘Udd Gaye’ by Ritwik. The audience grooved to the tunes of his enthralling showcase. The crowd then peacefully dispersed.

Feature Image Credits:  Akarsh Mathur

Sakshi Arora
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Jaishree Kumar
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Aman Gupta
[email protected]

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Arts & Culture

PARASHARA Closes Day-1 of Tempest 2019

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Here is a recap of Day 1 at Tempest 2019, the annual cultural festival of Miranda House.

Tempest 2019- the Annual Cultural Fest of Miranda House- University of Delhi kick-started on 14th February 2019. There were a plethora of events scheduled by the college but most of them got delayed due to unfavourable weather conditions. Nevertheless, the events ran smoothly and the first day of Tempest turned out to be a fulfilling and vibrant experience for the attendees.

The Annual Rachita Das Gupta Quiz was organized by the Quiz Society of Miranda House. They conducted three quizzes on Day 1. The Open General Quiz saw participation of 30 teams with 2 members in each team. Mukund and Dhruv bagged the first position, while Rorik and Rohan came second, and Basab and Amlan stood third. Eco Biz Filler witnessed Kirti and Pragati win the competition. In the Open India Quiz, Ashish and Abhishek Paliwal came first while the duos of Jayant and Amlan, and Ankur and Kartik Puri stood second and third, respectively.

Vaatavaran, the Eco Club of Miranda House organised Enviro Quiz, a short-film-based quiz. It saw participation from 20 teams from across different colleges. The first prize was awarded to Poornima and Yash, while Karishma and Garima, and Pragati and Niharika bagged the second and third prizes, respectively.

E-Cell, Miranda House, organised three Inter-College events at Tempest 2019. Combination- an event related to geographical locations of companies, saw participation of 20 teams with two students in each team. Addictive- a marketing competition of pitching products in the style of Bollywood, was won by Ashok, while Pinku came second. Boss Hunt- a Treasure Hunt had 35 teams compete, where Aditya Sah came first, while Neeruganti Purnima came second.

11 Dance Societies from across different colleges, which qualified the online preliminaries, performed at Burlesque, the Western Dance Competition, organised by Tanz, the Western Dance Society of Miranda House. The event was judged by Mrs. Sameeksha and Mr. Nitin Theo Kerketta. Enliven (Western dance society of Gargi) won the competition, while Crunk (Western dance society of Sri Aurobindo) came second.

The next event was the Hindi Debating Competition where the students battled their wits on the topic- “Sadan ke math mein loktantra maatr ek saashan pranali nahi, jeevan mulyo ka srot hai (In the opinion of the House, democracy is not only a regime conduct, but it is the source of life values).” It was judged internally by teachers- Mrs. Kusuma Krishna Subha and Mrs. Meeta Kumari. Smriti from Lady Shri Ram College was awarded the title of Best Speaker in favour of the motion while Happy from Ramjas College was awarded as Best Speaker in opposition.

Amid the melody of raag Darbari and Yaman, Sangam- the Indian Classical Music Competition- organised by Geetanjali, the Indian Music Society of Miranda House saw various performances that had the audiences captivated. With 14 participants in the Duet Singing Competition and 13 teams representing their colleges in the Choir Singing Competition, the event was a huge success. The Duet Singing Competition concluded with SGTB Khalsa College’s Sukriti and Saksham bagging the second prize, with the winner’s title being claimed by Hansraj College’s Pranava and Ram.

Adwitiya, the Fine Arts’ Society, in a stunning display of powerful art, transformed SAC to an exquisite art gallery. From portraits to abstract brushstrokes, all the artwork presented had a story to tell. An art-piece labeled ‘Nirvana’ captured the modern world in a representative manner. A symbolic display promised and delivered aesthetic pleasure.

The day concluded with the performance by PARASHARA- a popular Delhi-based progressive band, with an idea conceived and brought to action in the mountains. The audiences swiveled to the beats as they played their melodies, revolving around the realities of life, with an interesting modern touch to it. This wraps up the Day 1 of the fest and all the festivities stuck true to the theme of the fest: “Future of Fun”.

Image credits: Mahi Panchal for DU Beat

 

Sakshi Arora

[email protected]

 

Shaurya Thapa

[email protected]

 

Kartik Chauhan

[email protected]

 

Shivani Dadhwal

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Mittika organises ‘Festival of Voices’ in Miranda House

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The feminist organisation Mittika, in collaboration with Oxfam India, organised an interactive session called ‘Festival of Voices’ in Miranda House.

The Women’s Development Cell of Miranda House organised an interactive session with students who identified themselves as feminists with Mittika (in collaboration with Oxfam India), a Delhi-based organisation on 5th October 2018. Mittika, which claims to work for “enriching life spaces” is primarily a research and advocacy organisation that works through on-ground direct intervention, disseminating knowledge and information, and by building stakeholder capacities. The session witnessed two representatives from the organisation, Radhika and Saransh, coming forward to encourage conversations between the audience members about various narratives surrounding experiences of women living in Delhi.

In her own words, Radhika said, “I am here not just as a representative of Mittika, but to share my experience of what it means to be in the city and what it means to be a Delhite.” The conversation that flowed from there was informal, spontaneous, and largely audience-driven.

The audience talked about the various ways in which the city was liberating in terms of providing spaces to wear clothes that they wanted to, have conversations on topics that would be otherwise uncomfortable such as gay rights, and also escaping the often stifling atmosphere of their families and hometowns. “I have been in a boarding school since fifth grade so I have been independent, but living alone brings its own challenges. The metro stations were initially very confusing, however with help of fellow commuters I learned to navigate across the city. Living in a flat also gave me the freedom to wear shorts and over the months I have gained confidence to call out people who just can’t stop staring,” said Khushali Jaiswal, a student from Miranda House.  

“Even in our families, little things like the Satyanarayan puja which was only to be performed by boys, can be very patriarchal, now, after coming here, I understand this,” said Manishi Divya, another student from Miranda House.

The conversation then flowed into related topics like politics, protest culture in the university, and the recent instances of sexual harassment such as the Brett Kavanaugh case, the Tanushree Dutta allegations, as well as those made against Utsav Chakravarty.  

DU Beat talked to Tanvi and Shambhavi, both Economics students from Ramjas College who had attended the event. “It was good to know that a lot of people think the way I think. The atmosphere in Miranda is very open and engaging and we usually don’t have such conversations in Ramjas,” Tanvi said.

“This session is a testament to the fact that when women are in a safe space, they slowly reveal how they feel harassed or discriminated against, even at the hands of their family or a cab driver. We need these spaces to encourage dialogue and build a sense of solidarity,” said Simran Pachar, a third-year Political Science student from Miranda House, as the event concluded with a group photo.

Feature Image Credits: Mahi Panchal for DU Beat

 

Sara Sohail

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News

Radhika Apte and Ayushman Khurrana promote ‘Andhadhun’ at Miranda House

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Radhika Apte and Ayushmann Khurrana promoted their upcoming film Andhadhun in Miranda House today, amidst loud cheers.

In a packed auditorium filled with teachers and students (and some bouncers) actors Radhika Apte and Ayushmann Khurrana greeted the audience for the promotion of their movie Andhadhun. The members of the Miranda House Students’ Union who had organised the event, welcomed the actors.

The trailer of the movie was showcased to the students as well as an unplugged version of a new song Naina Da Kya Kasoor, sung by Mr. Khurrana that was shot in a school for the blind in Mumbai. The audience were extremely appreciative and reacted with loud cheers and claps. Pratibha Jolly, Principal  Miranda House, welcomed the actors, reminding them of the “historical place” that was Miranda House with a number of films that had been shot in the college in the past including Tamasha, Half Girlfriend and Fukrey, and its list of illustrative alumni in the performative arts such as Mira Nair and Nandita Das.

Mr. Khurrana and Ms. Apte thanked the college for inviting them. On the request of the audience, Ayushmann sang two songs. Ms. Apte described her role in the film as “twisted, but true”. She said that she enjoyed the twists and turns that the movie is replete with and hoped that the audience would also enjoy it. The movie narrates the story of a blind piano player (played by Mr. Khurrana) who witnesses a murder. Tabu, a member of the film’s cast was also supposed to be there for the event but could not make it.

However, several complaints regarding the arrangement of such an event during the college hours were raised by students. The issue of allowing commercial events like movie promotions to happen within the college premises was also deemed problematic by several students our correspondent talked to. The volunteers of the event also raised several objections. For instance, Aafreen Fathima of B.A. Programme told DU Beat, “We were told that because they are avoiding bouncers and security, human chains have to be formed. We planned out strategies and got instructions for an hour and a half, but then just 10 minutes before they arrived, bouncers came out of nowhere and asked us all to move, and that there was no need of us volunteers.”

The volunteers were also asked to dance blindfolded for two minutes when the actors were being welcomed and “act surprised” upon their arrival. Amola Shrivastava, a volunteer, said, “At the end the people who were the backbone of the event were not allowed inside the venue and were told off saying that they are done with us. I understand the importance of such events but the way it was organised and we were treated is categorically unacceptable.”

Andhadhun is a romantic thriller film directed by Sriram Raghavan.   It is set to be released on 5th October, 2018.

Feature Image Credits: Vaibhav Tekchandani for DU Beat

Sara Sohail

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Uncategorized

Minissha Lamba Re-visits Alma Mater Miranda House

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‘I finally got my degree!’, exclaimed actress Minissha Lamba while receiving a copy of her admission form, as she visited Miranda House along with Saif Hassan to discuss their play Mirror Mirror.

It was a sunny afternoon in the calm and ambient campus of Miranda House. The Heritage Hall of the college started to get filled by the evening. The reason for this crowd was a Master Class, a series of talks and discussions by Saif Hyder Hassan and Minissha Lamba, the director and lead actress of the play Mirror Mirror which will soon have an exclusive performance out here in Miranda House.

mhevent-1-2 (1)

The idea was that both Hassan and Lamba would attend the event together but the actress missed her flight so she made an appearance about an hour later. The principal gleefully recalled how in Minissha, an alumnus of the same college used to bunk or attend classes late. One can say that some things never change. The discussion was initiated with Saif Hassan who talked in great detail about failures that life gives us and how we need to face them, citing several personal examples. He talked about how while growing up, subjects like mathematics were his Kryptonite and how his father used to consider him a ‘dramebaaz’ (the dramatic one), which ironically, he went on to become in the future.  Casually dressed in an orange tee, he went on to utter snippets of wisdom that he has picked up like ‘Being critical is good. Being over critical is plain stupid’ and ‘Don’t take anybody seriously except…yourself.’

mhevent-1

All heads were turned towards the door on the right when Minissha made an entry. She walked up to the stage with grace and laughingly apologised for her late appearance. She talked about her journey as an actress, the high and lows that performers have to face and how there are different thrills for getting to act on stage as well as the screen. An interesting aspect of acting she pointed out was that not all actors need to be exactly like their characters, just paint a realistic and believable picture. The very essence of acting is for the actor ‘to act’ like someone making the audience feel that the actor and the someone is one or the same thing.  To take a trip down memory lane, the principal also gave Minissha a printout of her original admission form. The funny thing was at first glance, Minissha thought this is her college degree (even though she left the college in the middle of her course back in the day) and yelled out ‘OH! I’M FINALLY GETTING MY DEGREE!’. This resulted in a roar of laughter in the hall.

mhevent-2

 

A lot of people amongst the crowd were drama enthusiasts or members of the theatre society so naturally the concept of on-stage acting was also heavily discussed. Saif felt that there is a misconception that theatre is eroding. He added that in fact, cities like Delhi have given birth to diverse and modern concepts that can be portrayed on stage. ‘Theatre is the new romance. Right now, things seem to be good, it is like theatre is having a honeymoon phase.’ All in all, it was an amusing event for enthusiasts of creativity and this has just set the ground for the ‘Mirror Mirror’ that is to be held at the auditorium tomorrow.

Image Credits – Aakarsh Gupta and Adithya Khanna for DU Beat.

Shaurya Singh Thapa 

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