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Meditation may not seem like the most reliable form of stress reliever, but it can do one wonders in stressful times.

Every day one faces one or the other obstacle in life. These obstacles could be as silly as a five-minute delay to a destination, or as huge as the death of a loved one. As a student, life can be stressful with overbearing assignments and internals. This becomes stressful as all this piles up right after the midsemester break with no time to relax. We all face obstacles, which is how life works and ironically, it is these obstacles that keep us occupied in our routine-based lives. It gives us a push away from the everyday rituals and monotonous behaviour. Many of us enjoy these little pricks, some resent them, and the remaining do not want to face them at all. Some become so used to these daily hassles that they often do not even realise the gravity of what has happened to them. On the other hand for many, the slightest inconveniences hold the power to ruin their day. It is here that the idea of inner wellbeing comes to mind. We have all heard of stories of people transforming their lives through books, classes, and seminars, and becoming better 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.

Feature Image Credits: Mindful

Stephen Mathew

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Time spent travelling back and forth from college in metro is perhaps, the worst waste of time as a student. Here are a few suggestions to utilise that time better.

It is not new knowledge that students at the University of Delhi (DU) travel from far off places. We all have a friend (or are the friend) who comes from the peripheries of Noida, Gurgaon, Dwarka, and Ghaziabad in metros. Unfortunately, that also means that there’s almost a three-hour long travel waiting every day. The hours in the metro almost all go to waste. However, here are a few ways you can use your metro hours better-

  1. Read books:

It is rightly said that books are everyone’s best companion. Reading is not only a form of entertainment but also, an exercise for the brain. There are books on everything under the sun, be it on romance, or on how to become the next billionaire. Small book shops can also be found near Metro Stations, such as the one in front of the Vishwavidhayala metro station, where books are usually available at a much cheaper price.

Lenro Books Near Me

If carrying heavy books in your already heavy bag isn’t your thing, you can also invest in an E-Book reader, or download the various apps that are available to read on your phone. Not only are they convenient to use, but also usually provide books on heavy discounts.

  1.   Watch a TV show:

Through the various apps available for your phone, watching shows has never been easier. One of the easiest forms of entertainment, watching TV shows is a perfect way to pass your time and get into something new. Travel time provides the perfect opportunity for you to finally watch Sacred Games and shut up all the friends who’ve been asking you to watch it only to hear you say, “time kaha hai.”

Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, all provide a wide variety of content to download and binge on. Depending on how long your travel is, you could catch up on (or re-watch) the twenty-minute episodes of Friends or the hour-long Game of Thrones.

  1.   Listen to podcasts/audiobooks:

If you would rather prefer to gaze outside the window or observe the funny kid in the metro, you can do so while listening to podcasts. Recently gained popularity, podcasts are audio episodes which are recorded as a part of a series. There are podcasts on history, food, comedy, news, fashion, and practically everything else. Usually available for free, you can download apps specifically meant for podcasts or listen to them on music apps like iTunes or Spotify.

Image Credits:
Image Credits: Lopscoop

If you are into reading but don’t have the patience, you can also explore audiobooks, that has your favourite books read to you by someone. Takes less energy and can also make the story come alive, if read well.

  1.   Learn a new language:

You’ve perhaps been planning a backpacking trip in France and need to brush up on your French, or want to learn Japanese to understand your favourite anime better. What better time to finally learn a new language than in the metro? Apps like Duolingo have daily 10 to 20-minute tutorials where you can learn any language you want. Travel hours provide the perfect space for you to learn and practice new languages. And being multilingual is always an attractive trait!

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Image Credits: Indian Institute of Legal Studies
  1.   Finish your assignments and reading:

Contrary to popular opinion, hours in the metro can be used to finish your assignments and readings. It gives you an extra edge over your procrastinating self and you don’t have to slog much when you get back home. Use the travel time in the morning to finish the assignment you have to submit that very day and haven’t started yet. it can even be used to revise the morning before your exams. Not to forget, also leaves you feeling accomplished and productive for the day.

  1.   Sleep:

When nothing works out, sleep! Use this time to catch up on your precious sleep before you go back home and get back to work. Be mindful of your surroundings though, lest you end up missing your station, or worse, your wallet!

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Satviki sanjay

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Imagine not joining any society in college: would things be different? How would you make friends or create experiences? See college life from the eyes of someone who is not in any society!

The University of Delhi (DU) is prestigious for several things, including its societies and co-curricular activities. Societies are sought after, and the students look forward to joining these. Students in these societies are deeply passionate and spend hours every day practicing before and after college, going to competitions, missing classes. With so much time spent in one place, it is inevitable that you find friends and create experiences there.

But it is unfair to generalise these experiences; for many students, college is simply being able to have the gift of time and freedom. They can invest these wherever they want. They could miss a class or attend all, they could make friends slowly and organically from their own class or simply stick to their school friends, and they could make spontaneous plans after college because there is no practice or spend hours talking in their usual favourite spot in college. College fests are a fun time as they get to attend it with their college friend circles.

A common factor that all students who were not in any society talked about was the commitment that societies demand. The practices during college, missing of classes, hectic schedule, extra work, and drained energy every day were reasons to not join. Although they also struggled with notes and assignments, and not all of them attended every single class or kept 100% attendance, but they simply prioritised academics or a better mental and physical health.

Sumati from Kamala Nehru College comments, “I am pursuing Psychology without having studied psychology in school, so I had a tough first year and I only wanted to invest time here. I agree societies help people live college life to the fullest, but they can also put a huge burden or stress.”

Sanyukta Golaya of Indraprastha College for Women commented, “When I joined college, I was never quite as interested or inclined towards societies, the way I was towards my course. I was very clear that any time that I had after my classes would be spent making detailed notes and reading up for the lectures, I had the next day. I didn’t care whether not wanting to be involved in society work made me come off as a bore- I freely choose what I wanted to do with my spare time, and till date, I’m very content with my decision. I’ve managed to make friends, I’m happy with the way I’ve turned out in college, and I couldn’t be bothered whether others believed it to be ‘productive’.”

This perfectly brings out the false ideas of productivity that exist today. Contrary to the popular belief, these people are also able to pursue their passion outside of college through dance or music classes, writing for student magazines, going for MUNs, etc. Many of them find a way to hone their skills and follow their passion without investing their energy in any college society.

Being someone in the debating society, I know that a society can grow on you and you cannot imagine a life without it. Upon speaking to several students, I realised how life in its absence is also very special. Very few students said that they found college boring and, finding college life dull or lonely, they now look forward to joining something next year and the experiences it will bring. Others also talked about the perspective that having observed college for a while and settling in, they now felt ready to join something. But all students were happy with the choices they made, the effort they put in academics or outside and with the routine they chose in college.

Featured Image Credits: DU Beat

Shivani Dadhwal

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We as college students have a lot to get done in a very limited amount of time. As a result, we find ourselves rushing from one place to the other, both physically and mentally.

This is an age and time when overwork is overtly glamorised. Excuse my sexism, but the pop-culture-induced image of a woman in a tight top-knot, computer in one hand and a cup of coffee from Starbucks in the other, rushing to her workplace, is seen as something that demands reverence and is ideal.

The influence of this is that we, as a part of society, subconsciously become like that. We think that being a part of three societies, the head of the college magazine, interning with a remarkable company, whilst maintaining a good GPA is ideal. When in reality, it is anything but ideal. We strain our bodies to such an extent that when we get back home, we fall on our beds like corpses and have just enough breath left in us to fall asleep. And it is the same thing over and over again, one day after the other.

We have been conditioned to say ‘yes’ to opportunities, they may potentially be the next big thing for us. We have become so accustomed to getting to college for a 5:30 practice session because it may potentially win us the next tournament, taking up the summer internship instead of going to your hometown because it will look good on your resume, getting less than five hours of sleep because there is always so much text to read.

I am not saying that we should reduce ourselves to doing the bare minimum, or hazardously doing nothing at all. Boredom is more exhausting than overwork. Rather, we could find the few things that truly interest us and then give our heart and soul to them, even if it means giving up on the one thing that everyone else seems to be after. What college students essentially lack is the art of saying no. There may be an underlying feeling of guilt or culpability of missing out on opportunities associated with the same.

My contention is that every person, ever more so the college students, should have at least a couple of hours every day where they can reflect on life, see if their reality is in line with their dreams. Life doesn’t need to be a mad race where we are ascending on a pedestal which is so far away from our own. We ought to say nowhere no is deserved, and when our health is in question, no opportunity is big enough that we may need to compromise.

 

Feature Image Credits: Le Soir

 

Maumil Mehraj

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1 PM has the lingering quest of being one of the most ignored hours of the day, for a lot of us and let us explore how!

Bringing in a little personal excerpt before diving into the article.

‘I look at the clock rounding about to at least six to seven times a day, or maybe even more. The little gizmo in my hand keeps me up to beat about the time. The first time I peer at my clock is when I have woken up, which is usually around 8-9 AM on the weekends, being an early bird for the morning classes in the weekdays.

The next time would probably be around eleven or twelvish when I have completed the morning routines and have set my mind to work or plan out a way to relax, if I am into the aura of celebrating two free days. There are days when my eyes catch the clock treading on like a steam boat at the 12:57 mark, or sometimes, lucky me at dot 12:59, but never ever at 1 PM. It is this hour of the day which just vanished without me being responsible for noticing its presence. There are luckier days when my eye may catch the clock running like a jet plane at 1:59, indicating and luring me into the world of slumber as afternoon naps are a must. But how did the 1 PM go away? When? How? Why? What? The WH family keeps pestering my brain as I try to find an answer to this ranting, but unfortunately I don’t.

Am I travelling time? Does my clock jump from a twelve to a two directly? How is the 1 PM so invisible in my life?’

1 PM feature image
Image Credits – MIT News

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1 PM is often the time of the day, which goes away in a whiff! While for most of us 1 PM might be a reminder of a lunch party but apart from that in a normal day, where does the 1 PM go away? How is it an hour which un-intentionally gets ignored or marks an un-triumphed glory around it? Is it our bad to not witness how quickly it flows away, or is our day so loomy gloomy that we simply do not wish to pay attention to the hours we spend away being un-productive?

I usually am never free at or around 1. On the weekdays, my classes take up my time, or if I get free early, then it is the travel time with my earphones plugged in ramming up the music, letting time pass on the long journey back home, and on the weekends, I guess I just sleep through it” remarks Anoushka Raina, a second year student of B.Sc. Life Sciences in Miranda House.

If a cumulative is taken, showcasing the hour wise allocation of activities, on a normal day, 1 PM for a lot of people goes away in classes, for college students and professors, or in the corporate sector in the form of a lunch break. While it is an active time for a majority of colleges in which either classes take place or the red-bricked campus is flooded with excited and tired students, food plates in one hand, phone in the other, giggles and gossip on the mouth. Individual productivity is compromised, when taking the individual as a microcosm.

Well days apart from college, 12 noon is considered as a benchmark to fulfill numerous tasks and the time period around 1 passes unnoticed due to the continuity of me being busy in some stuff.” says Nikki Chaudhary, a second year student of English Honors in Maitreyi College. She further adds, “Or sometimes I am just preparing myself for some lunch with a friend or outing with family or even sleeping, therefore 1 pm becomes the preparatory unrecognized hour”.

1 pm addt. image 2
Image Credits – Alvin Imine

When taking the consensus of the weekend, it is usually associated as the rest hour or an hour when a lot of commitments are not put forth! I feel 1 PM is usually the rest hour or something in which a lot of people don’t put their commitments to. My weekend morning classes go on till a maximum of 12:30 PM. Parents and even students prefer to keep it either in the evenings or the early morning. That for me is also I reason I pack up early and usually spend that 1 PM taking a rest”, states Miss Pompy Gogoi, Founder Director of Pompy Nrityalaya, a popular Bharatanatyam dance institute in South-West Delhi.

Jon Udell, a blogger at WordPress.com, feels that there is a need to go by the rule that eleven-thirty AM to one PM should be the noted brunch-lunch hours. While lunching is more perceptive with people laying out their own times, statistics reveal that 1 PM is the lunching hour for a majority of people.

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Image Credits – Julienne Millien

 

If time is seen through a snack and break point of view, it is the mornings, when the first tea break is taken and usually before the work starts to ensure one is wide awake.  And then I feel at around 4 PM is my team time. It is when I need a break, to walk around and relax for a bit. Lunch time for me is usually around 1-2 PM, depending on the work situation”, remarks Arpita Chhikara, a business analyst at KPMG.

While so many of us complain we do not have a sufficient amount of time, a lot of us actually forget the soulful hours of the day we just miss upon or do not assign something productive for it. Is 1 PM simply forgotten or is it just ignored in the lieu to succumb to relaxation? If only, we could truly enjoy the beauty and try to figure out the possibilities of 1 PM, other than the set idiosyncrasies’ of this lost and unexplored hour.

Feature Image Credits:   Quora

Avnika Chhikara

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As students aiming to make a mark in the world, we are always trying to read more- Books. Newspapers. Journals. Because, well, “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” But we never seem to get enough time for reading. For most of us, there isn’t much incentive to divert our social media time to reading, many others are perennially in the guilt of not being able to read more than what they do now.
Lectures, internships, extra-curricular activities, society work take most of our time. Amidst all this, there is hardly any time left to read. Or so it may seem.

Here are a few ways that’ll help you sneak in extra reading time from the hectic schedule of college life.

1. Use your commute time

Majority of us use the publish transport aka Delhi metro to commute to our colleges, and the commute time is more often than not, at least half an hour. This time can be effectively put to use by reading. All you need to do is carry a book or the days newspapers before you leave from your home. Reading would be far more productive and fruitful than the elusive hunt for a seat in the metro.

2. Try audiobooks

The bad news is that even in metro, reading a book might seem like a struggle at times when you don’t have enough space even to stand on two feet. Good news is that there has been technological progress and guidebooks are your savior. An added advantage is on days when you are too tired to hold a Boolean or flip through the pages. If the book is good, this might make the commute less of an ordeal.

3. Join a reading challenge. Join a Book club

Joining a book club will help you keep a track of your reading progress. The virtual world is yet again at your rescue, what with sites like Goodreads helping you set a challenge for yourself. Decide the number of books you want to read in a year and get going. When it’ll rub in your face how you are ahead of your target or falling behind it, let your guilt do the work.

4. Read before going to bed.

If we ask you about the one thing you do before bedtime, the answer for most would be browsing/chatting/posting through smartphones. Unless you are reading an e-book, we suggest you turn it off at least an hour before sleeping. (We’d prefer a couple of hours, but an hour seems more doable, right?) Now when you realize that you have plenty of time to do something other than burning the battery of your tab/smartphone and strangling your WiFi network, go and grab a book. Reading just before sleeping, is also known to be therapeutic and a good tranquilizer.

5. Carry some reading material everywhere.

Mark these words. Have at least some reading with you at all times. When in college, we don’t realize but we waste a lot of time. These interstices can be filled by reading. In between two lectures, or if a professor dismisses the class early, you can conveniently read snippets from the reading material that you are carrying.

Who said reading can only be done on the bean bag with a cup of coffee? Nothing beats that, but we don’t need no couch when the mystery book keeps us hooked!

Image Credits- goodreader.com

Kritika Narula

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