DU Beat Issue - 11th - 17th March, 2015

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When Harry met Draco and Katniss didn’t love Peeta

Star Performances at the Fest Season

Top Book Cafes around Delhi Volume 8, Issue 23 11th - 17th March, 2015

With the rain not dampening spirits, Crossroads 2015 manages to host big names and events Crossroads, Shri Ram College of Commerce’s four-day fest, began on the last day of February with mass attendance since morning. This year’s edition was a star-studded organisation with concerts by singers Amit Trivedi, Atif Aslam and pop group Akcent planned. The fest was also witness to glitches including an erratic entry system.

made for a lively morning.

Street dance competition and Amit Trivedi’s performance

At 7:00pm, Amit Trivedi and Coke Studio took the stage infront of a massive audience, singing popular numbers like Zinda, Shaam, Kinaare, Ha Raham, Gujaria, London Thumakda and Shubharambh, soulfully bringing the first day of Crossroads to an end.

The first day of Crossroads commenced with a noncompetitive street football event. At the same venue, The Traveller’s Society of SRCC organised Escapades, SRCC’s annual adventure sports festival.

There was a wide variety of activities to choose from, the options being body zorbing, zorbing, trampoline volleyball, flying fox, archery, paintball and tug of war that made up for the customary delay of the star night. The sports combined with a DJ playing dance music nearby

A street dance competition was organised at noon between teams from Dyal Singh College, Trinity Institue of Professional Studies and Maharaja Surajmal Institute of Technology. After a performance by each of these colleges and a heated face-off between its members, Zest, the street dance society of Dyal Singh College, was adjudged winners of the competition.

Rain wreaks havoc, postponing Atif Aslam’s performance It rained heavily throughout the day in the city, but the downpour could not stop Atif’s fans from

pouring into SRCC’s campus. Even though most events scheduled for the day had been cancelled, Atif Aslam’s concert seemed possible for once when stage set-up was in full swing. The preparations, however, all went down the drain when a very strong spell of rainfall dispersed the crowd and halted all preparations.

Atif Aslam and Akcent The Students’ Union of SRCC made up for a disappointing Day 2 by setting up a tarpaulincovered stage overnight that undoubtedly brought a smile to the face of every spectator. After a late morning announcement by the Students’ Union, Atif Aslam performed at Shri Ram College of Commerce’s parking lot at 1300 hours, a day after it was originally scheduled for. The Pakistani singer performed for about 20 minutes, singing his popular numbers like Doorie, Jeena and Ye Meri Kahani before before ending his performance with Gulabi Aankhein.

Choreo dance competition and EDM night Crossroads yet again witnessed a thick audience on its last day which was marked by a choreodance competition. Verve, the Choreo Dance Society of SRCC, organised a competitive event which witnessed participation of 5 colleges. The event was judged by external judges Mohit and Shefali Narang. The team from Lady Shri Ram College for Women bagged the first prize while there

was a tie for the second place between teams from Hindu College and Gargi College.

Crossroads concluded on Tuesday with British singer Amelle Berrabah and Indian DJ Mindrane taking the stage after dark. The duo performed for Random Collisions, Crossroads’ EDM night.

Ishaan Gambhir ishaang@dubeat.com With inputs from Arushi Srivastava, Ayesha Sareen, Kartikeya Bhanotia and Madhurya Sundar

Image Credits: Chirag Sharma

Exuberance and Excellence Mark KNC’s Ullas 2015 Hoping against all hopes for better weather conditions, Kamala Nehru College kickstarted its annual cultural festUllas 2015. The rain turned out to be least sporting since it forced the Union to postpone the star performance of the day, the live concert with celebrated singer K.K. The fest was held over March 2-3, 2015.

The fest began with the Indian Solo Dance Competition organised by Nupur, the Indian Dance society. The event was judged by Mr. Tej Prakash and Mrs. Nalini Jain. Following the Solo Dance, the Indian Folk Dance (Group) Competition saw the stage being covered in hues of Bhangara and Garba.

“This was our best performance so far. The entire group enjoyed performing and we were extremely confident about it all through”, said Manisha from Sri Venkateswara College.

Within no time, more music overwhelmed the audience with the commencement of Nrityakriti, the Choreography

competition. The event comprised Misra and Mr. both exceptional choreographers.

jury for this Ms. Bhavini Amit Kumar, dancers and

Along with this, Swaranjali, Indian Solo and Choir Music Competition was organised by the Indian Music Society of the college. Amidst substantial participation, Hindu College outshone the rest as it bagged all three positions in the solo category.

The most awaited event of the day, La ‘Vore, organised by the Fashion Society of the college, Glitz, saw miscellaneous issues being voiced out by the uniqueness of the participants’ costumes. The event was judged by famous photographers Mr. Akash Das, Mr. Hemant Sood and Mr. Neil.

Day 2 saw more exuberance with Ol’ That Jazz, the Western Dance Competition organised by Enigma, the Western Dance Society.

The event was judged by Ms. Bhavini Misra and Mr. Amit Kumar who looked for “innovation in technique along with co-ordination and clarity in the performance.”

Zephyr,

the

Western

Music

Society organised their event, Rhythm & Blues. Melodious voices with the added effect of beat-boxing managed to enrapture both spectators and critics. The jury comprised of Mr. Anmol Rai, Mr. Samson Ezekiel and Mr. Abhishek Thapa.

At the end of the competitive events, as promised, K.K., the star performer at Ullas ’15, took the stage timely at 4 p.m. The crowd went hysterical as he dedicated his performance to friendship and love, beginning

with “Yaaron dosti badi hi haseen hai.” In no time, his super-hits like “Tune Maari Entriyaan” and “Zara Si” managed to win all hearts. Needless to say, it was the perfect culmination to all the festivities and happy faces could be seen flocking across the college ground as K.K. finally left with one of his most popular hits “It’s the time to disco”.

Arushi Pathak aruship@dubeat.com Image credits: Arushi Pathak

11th - 17th March, 2015

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IPCW explores the importance of Plurilingualism and Orality in Translation through four-day meet Indraprastha College for Women hosted an International Translation ConFest on “Plurilingualism and Orality in Translation” from March 1-4, 2015. The first day of the ConFest saw the inauguration of the newly constructed Translation Centre in the college premises in the evening, after which the guests moved to the auditorium to witness two plays. The first play “I Translate My Life” was a self-composed one and saw the simultaneous incorporation of different forms of translation namely, music, poetry, painting, singing, dancing, acting as well as the use of various languages. The second play was titled “The Reichenbach Falls”, a Julius Caesar cum Sherlock Holmes rendition. Both the plays were widely appreciated by the audience, especially the international guests. The day ended with dinner.

Day 2 began with welcome remarks by the Principal of IP College, Dr. Babli Moitra Saraf, and a keynote address was delivered by Prof. Judy Wakabayashi from the Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies, Kent State University, USA. Both of them stressed upon the need for translation in various fields and its expansion in the present.

The second session was called “Travelling Texts: Theory and Practice”; it discussed the variations in translation and plurilingualism in texts across regions.

The third session, on “Voices from the Grassroots”, saw presenters talking indepth about orality in different parts of India and during different time periods.

The day also saw two performances, first being Dastangoi directed by Mahmood Farooqi and second being a puppet and shadow show by Anuroopa Group, who depicted Ramayana.

Day 3 started with the introductory remarks and a keynote address by Prof.

Roma Chatterji, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi. This was followed by a session on “Translation across genresTheatre, Music and Visual Arts” which witnessed various live and practical examples of translations in music and singing by various international guests.

The final session for the day was on “Myths in Contemporary Context” in which the speakers used mythological stories, characters and epics from not just India but also global mythologies. A folk music performance by Malini Awasthi and a tour of Delhi for the international delegation concluded the day.

The final day of the ConFest had a keynote address by Prof. D. Venkat Rao, Department of English Literature, The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad.

After this, the day’s first session began on “Transcending National Boundaries” where the speakers talked about the extension of the field of translation, in academics and across geographical regions. The last session of the day was called “Orality in Translation”. It mesmerised the audience with live musical performances and videos of songs. The valedictory speech and the vote of thanks ended the ConFest wherein the efforts of every member of IP College, international and national guests and the contributors, Siri Nergaard, University of Florence, Italy and Edwin Gentzler, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA were lauded, acknowledged and appreciated.

Ayesha Sareen ayeshas@dubeat.com

“My doors are always open” Dr. Sharma addresses the students of LSR Dr. Suman Sharma, who has newly been appointed as the Principal of Lady Shri Ram College for Women addressed the students of the college on Wednesday, the 4th of March. Appointed after six months of the former Principal’s retirement, Dr. Sharma’s address was attended by a packed hall of students eager to hear from their new Principal.

A graduate of Political Science from LSR, Dr. Sharma reminisced about her days amongst the red walls back in the 1970s and expressed how delighted she was to be back. The address was directed at the students and she asked them how they got notes and contacted their teachers in the technology-enabled age of today and then recounted her days when photocopy was not an easily-available facility and as a result, friendships blossomed in libraries and over tutorials.

Dr. Sharma was also delighted to have two of her Professors around; Ms. Pamela Batra and Dr. Renu Behl, who taught her during her graduation, are faculty members from the Department of Political Science at LSR. She has also known the former Principal, Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath, from her college days. She expressed her gratefulness to her teachers who she said had made her feel comfortable during her first few days at college when she felt skeptical about fitting in.

All through her academic career, during which Dr. Suman has mostly served in the capacity of a teacher rather than an administrator, she said that she had seen a lot of sexism with respect to higher education for women and that it gladdened her to see LSR grow as a space where women led the way.

that the doors of her office were always open to the students and formally specified the timings that one could see her between. The approachability and transparency that she appeared to advocate struck the right chord with the students. Later in the day, the new Principal also visited the Residence Hall of the college.

After 27 years under the leadership of Dr. Gopinath, LSR hopes to keep its “magic” alive with Dr. Sharma in the coming years.

Alankrita Anand alankritaa@dubeat.com Image source: www.dsec.in

On a hopeful note, Dr. Sharma reiterated

Lakshmi Bai College wraps up Vividha 2015 with a performance by Raftaar The annual cultural fest of Lakshmi Bai College, Vividha organised by its Student Union, kicked off on 26th February with an enthusiastic approach.The two day event was exclusively for girls. Being the Golden Jublee year, the fest was organised with much pomp and show.

Day 1 began with lightning of lamp by the Chairman Dr. Patnayak, followed by a dance offering tribute to Lord Shiva. The fest fun began with artistic competitions like Rangoli making and poster making.

The Rangolis were on issues like women empowerment and “Dream Delhi”.

Interesting posters on “Green world” and “Say no to smoking” were exhibited by various students across Delhi University.

The first prize was bagged by Anushka Arora of LBC followed by Jeevankar of Delhi College of Art and Commerce and Sandeep of Ramjas.

The stage of LBC witnessed some great solo and group dances next up. Umesh of Sataywati College (Evening) wooed the Audience with his hip hop moves on romantic numbers. Again, in group performance Satyawati College (Evening) rocked the stage. Winning the hearts of audience with classical mudras was Abhinaya, the dance society of LBC

of students from north east states Ladakh and Darjeeling and all foreign Countries) also walked the ramp wearing their Traditional outfits.

who secured first position followed by Satyawati College (Evening).

The melody was in the air when the singing competition began. The first prize in group song competition was won by Hamsdhavani, the music society of LBC and the first prize in solo singing was Kriti Bharti of the same college. Apart from this many bands also performed, but the band of Aligarh Muslim University stole the show winning the first prize.

The students of LBC walked the ramp for the designers of Apparel Designing and Construction department of LBC. The students had worked on designs creating new fashion and trends to depict the “Beauty of Women” in various looks.

The walk showcased three themes- “The Ethnic Beauty”, “The Beauty of elegance” and “The Beauty of Royalty”. The designers

A special dance performance by Urvashi, the winner of “Ab meri bari” Season 1 was applauded by all. In between Urvashi’s performance, Raftaar entered rapping, taking everyone by surprise. opted for creative ideas showcasing dresses made of bangles, newspapers and peacock feathers. Designer Ridhi Bansal’s peacock feather gown was most appreciated.

The most anticipated event of evening began with arrival of Shivam and Swar Band. The audience could not stop tapping their feets and clapping their hands to the heart thumping music of Shivam and Swar band.

Day two began with cheerful voices of nukkad natak performers. Navrang, the Hindi Dramatics Society of LBC talked about the Naxal incidents on the farmers.

The winning society of Shaheed Rajguru College questioned about the need for sex education in Indian society.

The college society N.E.S.D.A.L.F (Society

The student’s grooved to the tunes of Raftaar and Big Dhillon. The crowd sang along with the rapper to the songs like “Swag Mera Desi”, “Dhup chik” and of course “Happy single”. The crowd went crazy seeing him but to assure that no one gets hurt he stooped the song and restarted once the commotion was over.

He gave message of women empowerment with some interesting raps. He mocked at the men who rape women to show their masculinity. He quoted himself “a Poet with a little swag”.

The evening ended with the crowd dancing and singing “Dal makhni” his latest Bollywood flick, along with the singer.

Kamakshi Luthra Swapnil Pareek

11th - 17th March, 2015

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Diverse Environmental Concerns addressed at Hindu Earth Summit Panchtatva and Earthlings, the two environment societies of Hindu College, took a giant leap forward in the field of environment conservation through the vestibule of the Hindu Earth Summit on 2nd and 3rd March. The leap not just addressed some of the recurring issues in the field but also hovered over the debate of whether the “Save the Earth” campaign is actually about saving the planet or a common disguise used by the human race to save itself.

Day one began on a rainy morning, but this failed to dampen the spirits of attendants. Huge numbers turned up at the College from across the University to take part in panel discussions and various competitions. Green Meadows, the inaugural talk initiated by Sir Chandi Prasad Bhatt, who founded Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh in Gopeshwarin in 1964, which later pioneered the Chipko movement, spun around his journey around the Gangetic course and various other rivers of north India. Sir Bhatt is also a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Community Leadership and Padma Bhushan recipient. He engaged

audience in various debates and discourses about water pollution and participation of women and youth in environmental movements. His talk was succeeded by Dr Shekhar Pathak’s, founder of People’s Association for Himalaya Research and Padma Shri awardee, who spoke on environmental concerns around the Himalayan region. Later, a photography competition was held for enthusiasts and the day ended with a panel discussion among experts from WWF.

Breaking Barriers, Claiming Spaces: LSR Gender Congress opens with Hum Mukhtara

Lady Shri Ram College held the inauguration of its Annual Academic Congress “Breaking Barriers, Claiming Spaces: Women, Leadership and Change” today. The Congress, currently in its second year, is a three-day event which started today and will hold the next sessions on March 9-10, 2015. A considerable success in its opening year, the Congress had hosted personalities like Bhanwari Devi and Kamala Bhasin. This year, it will see panels on law and gender and the changing equations of gender along with simultaneous student panels called “Youthspeak”. The Congress also features a number of performing arts workshops along with self-defense workshops. As a prelude to the Congress, the college also held a totem carving workshop where students and teachers were invited to carve out a totem from a log of wood, a symbolic gesture in many African societies.

The Academic Congress, presented by the Aung San Suu Kyi Centre for Peace, LSR, was declared open by the Principal, Dr. Suman Sharma, to much applause and enthusiasm amongst the students and teachers. Dr. Sharma spoke about women breaking barriers and claiming spaces citing the example of the allwomen contingents during the Republic Day parade, she also juxtaposed this show of courage with the condition of women

in South Asia owing to their systematic discrimination. She talked about the Khap Panchayats and how eradicating such a mentality is the collective task of society at large, its many public and private institutions and the mind and heart of every person. She also thanked all the staff and students who organised the Congress and said that the Congress was not a male versus female war but a fight for equality; she added that it was also to acknowledge gender-sensitive male voices.

The inauguration was followed by the staging of a play titled “Hum Mukhtara” which enacted the story of Mukhtara Bibi, a poor, illiterate woman from Punjab in Pakistan. The story follows Mukhtara Bibi’s trials and tribulations to which she is subjected after her brother is found in another community’s fields by a woman who had forcefully taken him there. In retaliation, the community in question demands apology from Mukhtara who goes to seek forgiveness but is subsequently raped and abused. After much grit and grief, she fails to get justice but decides to continue to fight instead of giving up. The play is a comment on society and its institutions like the police and the courts and also on the prejudices that we hold in our minds. A provocative play, Hum Mukhtara hit the right notes and set the cadence for the Congress which seeks to explore women’s leadership and change.

Alankrita Anand alankritaa@dubeat.com Image Source: https://www.facebook.com/ LSRAcademicCongress

Day two began with competitions like Terra Firma (Quiz) and Clash of Thoughts (Debate). This was followed by a talk by eminent environmentalists Dr. Anil Joshi, who is the founder of the Himalayan Environmental Studies and is also a Padmashree awardee, and Dr. Vasudha Mehta, a botanist and founder of Jaagruti, an NGO. Both the speakers spoke addressed the concerns in a generic sense linking debates to their specific areas of engagement. The documentary - An

Inconvenient Truth, which is an Academy Award winning movie (2006), was then screened to let the participants gain insight into the 21st century phenomena of global warming.

Image credits: Hindu Earth Summit’s Facebook page Sidharth Yadav sidharthy@dubeat.com

Third edition of Josh Talks brings together entrepreneurs, artists and sportsmen Josh Talks – a platform to showcase India’s inspiring stories, held its third session on Saturday, 28th February, in the American Excelsior Auditorium at Gurgaon. The event witnessed 20 prolific individuals – entrepreneurs, artists and sportsmen among many more who came together to share their stories of struggles and obstacles they overcame to achieve success.

One of the first speakers was Franz Gastler, an American social activist based in Ranchi.

His organisation, Yuwa, uses football to combat child marriages and human trafficking and inspires and empowers girls of rural Jharkhand. One such girl is Chanda Kumari, who shared the story of how she beat the odds and went on to play football in Spain.

Simran Shaikh, a transgender activist known for being a key member of Alliance India’s Pehchan programme, also came forward to share the story of her journey from being a sex worker to a bar dancer and to finally being a member of the World Bank. “We need to fight homophobia and transphobia in our communities and transform our fear of our own gender and sexual identities,” she said.

Sonia Chaudhary, a beauty salon owner, came forward to share her experience of recovering from an acid attack that changed her life. “The attacker just ruined my skin, not my courage and determination,” she said as she urged people not to ignore and be insensitive to such incidents.

Among other prominent speakers was Mr. Arunachalam Muruganthanam, a common man who took up the cause of women’s health to register a company, Jayashree,

which not only has branches in 27 states in India but various chapters worldwide. He also shared humorous stories and mocked the double standards of the corporate world.

Image credits: Hardik Chadha Kartikeya Bhanotia kartikeyab@dubeat.com

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11th-17th March, 2015

The syllabus dilemma of the erstwhile FYUP student college has assigned us one single DC-II paper. Besides these issues, students are facing problems of their own in their majors.

Before the FYUP was rolled back, we had two options. Either we’d have continued with the same system which compelled us to study irrelevant subjects in the name of Foundation Courses or adjust with having extra subjects in all the upcoming semesters.

We were badly stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. Two weeks prior to the reopening of Delhi University in July, the new

structure was hastily created.

Since then, our stance has gone unnoticed.

According to FYUP’s new structure, we are now supposed to study six DC-I papers instead of four in the second year. Likewise, in third year, we have eight DC-I papers instead of six. Earlier, we could choose our minor from a pool of DC-II papers, but now the

One of the primary issues is the absence of the last two DC-I papers from each course.

These papers were meant for teaching students how to write a research paper. This decision has sadly taken away the actual meaning of holding an Honours degree. Students from a lot of other courses are studying less core papers due to the revised structure of FYUP. Ishaan Gambhir, a 2nd year B.Com Honours student of CVS says, “For our batch, FYUP is a nightmare.

We’ll be the only batch to have studied less core subjects. Before FYUP, B.Com had 28 papers. But now we’re studying only 18. Even our juniors have 28 subjects.

With this fact, our employability reduces drastically.”

Call for liberation, not patriarchal protectionism A case against India's daughter

Film maker Leslee Udwin's documentary titled "India's Daughter" was recently released on YouTube and has been the subject of much controversy ever since. The high amount of attention that the documentary has seen all this while is not only because it is based on the highly sensitive and soul stirring incident of Nirbhaya's rape case, but also because the Indian government sought to ban its release in India, saying it was a sensitive issue and does not bring about a good impression of the country.

The very first problem that catches my eye is the title of the documentary, which mentions "daughter". Since time immemorial, patriarchy has sought to enslave women in roles of motherhood, sisterhood, and daughterhood as ways of legitimising the restrictions put upon them. For example, "You're a single mother of 40 years age.

How can you go out partying alone at night?" By using relationships and moral codes of conduct as the sole criterion to define a woman's identity, and by naming a woman with her father's and

subsequently husband's stamp surname, we have very gradually and efficiently developed what the defence lawyer of Nirbhaya rapists M.L. Sharma called "the best culture in the world", where we have "no place for women" The women of India, are not India's daughters, they're people, they're human beings without any burdens of imposed relationships upon them. One of the most vehement protests by Feminists across the world have been against the use of statements like ,"she is somebody's mother/ daughter/sister, think before harassing her". Point being, she doesn't deserve respect because she is someone's mother/ daughter/sister, but because she is someone, and that is enough to give her the dignity she deserves in a civil society.

When M.L. Sharma says that women are precious diamonds that need to be protected, he's doing nothing but projecting the rather perverse mentality of patriarchy that reduces women to objects that need protection and care because, through social conditioning you've made them

realise they can't take care of themselves alone and will be always dependent on a man for financial, emotional and physical support. This highly hypocritic stance is disguised in the form of chivalry that romanticises the figure of “knight in shining armour” because women influenced by patriarchy are ready to become the “damsels in distress”. Yes, statistics point towards the increasing cases of rape and a large female population of the country faces exploitation in various modes and disguises, but that doesn't take away the individuality of the woman and neither does that make her a daughter of the country.

This according to me is the primary problem of patriarchyit affects women as much as men, and in such a way that they don't realise the point when they themselves become the spokespersons for the ideology out there to bring civilised society to its ruins.

The solution is not to put blank assumptions about the men of India being rape - friendly but rather opening up a larger debate on cross cultural parameters that determine the growth of patriarchal mentalities and how in every country and culture there should be different ways to curb these anti social elements, rather than putting India in the limelight as the country symbolising exploitation of women .

Siddhi Goel siddhig@dubeat.com

B. Tech students are still facing issues with their course despite the continuous protests. Shaurya Sahai, a 2nd year B.Tech student of Hans Raj College tells us, “We don’t have AICTE approval as yet.

We’re not studying the subjects in detail, which is essential for the course. The colleges have no proper labs for us. And worse, syllabus for the next two years hasn’t been decided yet.” BMS students are being forced to study eight DC-I papers in a single year. Unlike other courses, they have been completely deprived of choosing a minor subject.

Students of other courses like those of Arts and Sciences are complaining about the lack of proper course structure in their majors. English Honors students were made to study Classic Literature in the first semester itself, something that was a choice in the 2nd year for erstwhile batches. Before,

students could pick different eras and specialize in that.

Now, every semester is huddled with a plethora of books which students are unable to complete.

Economics Honors students are especially facing problems because of the haphazard way in which their course has been designed.

Under enormous pressure, teachers are only concentrating on getting over with the subjects every semester. We are barely able to absorb anything worthwhile from the papers we’re studying.

We only concentrate on passing, every semester. The whole point of majoring in a certain subject has lost its purpose. Despite the rollback giving us false hopes, we continue being the guinea pigs of DU. Sudisha Misra sudisham@dubeat.com

When Harry met Draco and Katniss didn't love Peeta: Of Fantasies and Fanfiction Where books, bands and TV shows rule conversations, it's no wonder that fandoms have become second nature to us. No matter what you are a fan of, you cannot escape the discussions about possible scenarios or pairings (called 'ships') or what the author/director could have done differently.

These discussions are no longer limited to just conversations but have manifested themselves into organised written works called Fanfiction. Popping up on blogs and entire communities dedicated to full-fledged stories written about pre-established characters, the concept of Fanfiction has exploded in recent years and has become an inseparable part of fandoms.

What was often spoken about only in undertones on discussion threads has gone mainstream, with the '50 Shades of Grey' trilogy being the most apt example. For the unaware, '50 Shades of Grey' actually started out as fanfiction of the popular Twilight franchise.

The literary community is still in two minds about this entire concept, one side of the house considering it an amateurish form of literature with limited creativity since the writing is being done in a pre-established universe, while the other side sees it as a welcoming change and an effective way for young adults to express. Despise it or embrace it, there is no denying the growing appeal of Fanfiction with sites like Fanfiction. net, LiveJournal and Wattpad

catering to this emerging form of expression.

Considering fanfiction to be just nonsensical, ill-written fantasies by teenagers is a misconception, given that most of what is read and circulated in fandoms is better written and structured than some of the so-called 'actual' books. Just like there are good and bad books, there is good and bad fanfiction and what you read is entirely up to your preferences.

Another misconception is not considering fanfiction writers to be 'creative' enough. Studies prove that the 'paracosms', or fantasy worlds, developed by fanfiction writers encourage creativity. Fleshing out a universe demands not just imagination but an attention to detail, consistency, rule sets, and logic.

There are constraints to be grappled with, in the form of an existing universe and character roles.

It all boils down to the basic fact that these 'what-ifs' are being demanded, read and written even as we debate over them.

So as long as we're getting to read a full-fledged story where Draco Malfoy is secretly in love with Harry Potter (the pairing, a popular one, is called 'Drarry') or where our favourite bandmember falls in love with us, who cares about the criticisms and nay-sayers, right?!

Shubham Kaushik shubhamk@dubeat.com

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11th - 17th March, 2015

Highlights from the Fest Season in March

With quite a few back to back fests in the last week of February, one might have expected the fest fever to die down in Delhi University. However, the fests in colleges like SRCC and Kamala Nehru College have proven otherwise! Despite the weather conditions, and cancelled or post poned events, students still turned up in large numbers, ready to see their favourite stars perform live; whether it was Atif Aslam at SRCC or KK at KNC! Picture Credits: Chirag Sharma, Tejaswa, Mugdha, Bharat Mohindru, Abhay Makhija, Kashish Madan, Greta Khawbung and Paurush

Happiness, as we should know it!

In our everyday lives, we are all busy men and women. We wake up and tune into the rut. We shower, eat, take the metro, plug in our earphones, reach college or workplace, devote all our time, energy and efforts to our job, come home, eat and sleep to only start the same routine again. The moribund city life has pretty much made us all into mechanically operated bodies devoid of emotion, reason and ability to pay heed to our conscience.

So consumed by the idea of being ‘busy’, we forget to prioritise things and people. We don’t even feel guilty of it, because we always have ‘work’ to work as an excuse for almost all the wrongs we end up doing; for all the plans that don’t materialise, for all the words we don’t say, for all the feelings that we ignore, for all the hurt that we cause, we always end up telling ourselves, “I was busy! I couldn’t have helped it.”

We take good time to realise it, but

the real happiness in life doesn’t come from work or money alone.

It comes from small things. Not the dramatic ones like waking up to the morning sun or sleeping under a star-full sky, but real small gestures like thanking your mother who has your clothes ironed and meal ready early morning while you’re in hurry to leave, or perhaps, thanking the auto-wala who drops you to your stop instead of paying him quietly and appreciating the person who cleans up your office

desk before you arrive. It goes on to offering a stranger your seat in a metro, texting a simple “Hey!” to a friend who has always had your back or simply spending some time with your own self, listening to your favourite song and unwinding while watching your favourite TV show.

and being happy isn’t certainly one of those.Don’t let anyone walk away with or hold the key to your happiness. Instead of trying hard enough to be with someone who makes you happy, try to be someone who makes you happy.

Mridul Sharma mriduls@dubeat.com

If you wait to work today and be happy tomorrow, the tomorrow might never come. Leave on for the future, what you’re ready to die with it being unaccomplished,

Editor: Priyanka Banerjee | Web Editor: Niharika Singh Associate Print Editor: Shaily Sharma, Associate Web Editors: Mridul Sharma, Vani Vivek Copy Editors: Arushi Srivastava, Alankrita Anand, Ishaan Gambhir, Shaurya Sahai Operations Head: Geetika Varshney | HR Head: Priya Bhalla | Design Head: Swati Verma Marketing Head: Ishika Gupta | Tech Head: Arjun Khosla Correspondents - Siddhi Goel, Namrata Gupta, Pallab Deb, Sidhant R. Seth, Isheeta Sharma, Brij Mohan Pahwa, Sidhant Malhotra, Ambiso Tawsik, Iresh Gupta, Ishaan Sengupta, Ishani Rajkhowa, Ishita Sharma, Ayesha Sareen, Ashish Matthews, Meghna Mitra, Arushi Pathak, Kritika Narula, Arindam Goswami, Kriti Sharma, Surbhi Arora, Sudisha Misra, Kartikeya Bhatotia, Tarushi Varma, Sidharth Yadav Photograpers - Abhinav Arora, Mugdha, Bharat Mohindru, Chirag Sharma, Greta Khawbung, Kashish Madan, Ankit Kumar Meena Marketing – Shaily Jha, Sarvin Singh, Abhay Makhija, Aashna Chauhan, Jatin Sangwan, Keshav Singhal, Ritvec Gupta, Shivangi Sharma, Shradha Mour, Shubham Aggarwal, Ishaan Jain, Harsh Gupta, Antar Atreya Designers - Kartik Lav, Himanshu Jain, Chaitanya Choudhary, Naman Sehgal, Meraj Habib Ansari, Atmika Atmana, Suhasini Sharma HR - Prabhat Raghavan, Abhinn Khanna, Sahil Narang, Shivam Rawal, Tanvi Shekhawat, Gauri Sahni Web Developers – Sidhant Malhotra, Kavach Chandra, Vijayant Kumar

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11th - 17th March, 2015

A New Galaxy! : Samsung’s Latest and Greatest - Previewed visible enhancement, and the ‘Selfie’ (front) camera has been kicked up to 5MP (Full HD).

With the biggest annual fest for mobile devices the Mobile World Conference coming to an end last week there are a lot of new devices unveiled. While new phones are launched every week, the ones launched at Barcelona are special. So here’s the most promising (and much awaited) device from the top Android smartphone manufacturer Samsung Galaxy S6!

To be very honest Galaxy S5 was not a successful phone (it sold 40% less units than its predecessor) and with Apple recently dethroning Samsung to become the world’s top smartphone manufacturer, Samsung really needed to pull out an ace! At MWC Samsung launched a successor to its Galaxy S lineup - the S6. For the past 5 generations a major complaint users have had with this lineup has been its cheap-looking plastic exterior which overshadows the exceptional hardware-software performance. With the S6, Samsung has specifically fixed

this issue. The phone is a beauty with premium glass-metal design.

Though we aren’t complaining but you can’t help notice some striking similarities between the designs of S6 with its arch-rival the iPhone6! Samsung never compromises on the displays for its flagships and S6 is no exception. With a 5.1’” QuadHD (1440 x 2560 pixels) Super AMOLED screen the display is simply jaw-dropping! For those who seek durability it comes with the latest Gorilla Glass 4 frontback panels. The overall build is solid and slim at around 6.8 mm.

In terms of hardware, Samsung Galaxy S6 unapologetically kills the competition. Packed with a 64bit Exynos octa-core (Quad 2.1GHz + Quad 1.5Ghz) processor and coupled with 3 gigs of ram calling it fast would be an understatement. The CPU is both sufficient and very efficient in handling all routine and rigorous tasks hailed at it. The rear camera though unchanged at 16MP has been made more snappier with

Mehfil-e-Qawwali With Nizami Bandhu Category: Music & Dance Schedule: On Saturday, Mar 14, 2015, 7:30 PM Onwards Venue: Club Patio (South City I) Gurgaon

In terms of software, the phone runs Android Lollipop topped with Samsung’s new and minimal Touchwiz UI. It’s simple, minimal and capable in terms of usage and utility. The phone supports Wireless Charging and apart from Samsung’s “Fast Charging” technology. The company also introduced its version of Apple pay, but it’s Indian introduction is uncertain. Samsung also offers 115 GB cloud storage for Free with each device!

Though the phone comes in three storage options; 32, 64 and 128GB, Samsung in pursuit of visual perfection sacrificed the option to expand the memory.

The Galaxy S6 doesn’t have a microSD card slot (like iPhone, Just Saying :P). Also, the new ‘Premium’ design doesn’t feature a removable batter. The phone comes in four colors and should be available in India by April end.

Also launched along, is a variant with an AMOLED side panel Galaxy S6 Edge; with exact same configuration as the S6 and functionalities of last year’s Note Edge. This too would hit Indian shores in April.

To sum it up, if you are looking for a premium device with powerful performance, on paper, the S6 might just be the best smartphone you can buy. It’s both bold and beautiful!

DU to grant air travel allowance to outstation students In a most welcome move, the Students’ Welfare Department of the University of Delhi has decided to grant air travel allowance to outstation students living more than 300 km away from Delhi. The cherry on the deal being that they are willing to grant allowances for as many as four round trips to home and back in one academic year, starting this winter vacation!

The procedure for this is simple, all one needs to do is procure the ‘allowance form’ from individual colleges’ Students’ Welfare Offices as soon as the dates for the holidays are announced, fill it up and attach a receipt of the flight ticket and an address proof.

The student shall then receive a full reimbursement of the amount within the next five days, either in cash or through a DD. The form makes students agree to certain ground rules as wellthe address proof is tallied with the ticket so as to avoid cases wherein students may take undue advantage and fly to vacation spots like Goa. Another rule is that only economy class tickets will be paid for and if the student wished to upgrade the ticket to a business class seat, the balance will not be paid for

by the University. This formula works well with most outstation students but some are still left in the lurch, those whose hometowns fall within the 300 km radius (towns with airports like Agra and Jaipur) and those who fly international. For the former category, the Office has argued that the students will not be saving any time since airport travel requires early check-in and other formalities which amount to the travel time taken by road or rail. For students traveling abroad, the university is planning to give up to two round-trip grants a year. For those of us who have already booked out tickets (or are home already), keep the ticket receipts safe and produce them to your Students’ Welfare Office as soon as the vacation finishes.

“This is a wonderful step taken

by DU, I have been spending an insane amount on my tickets home and especially so with sudden changes in the exam schedule like the one which happened due to the Delhi elections last year. I don’t have to be on tenterhooks to grab the earliest discounts and special offers anymore. This is great!”, a final year undergraduate student said.

Khamosh Adalat Jari Hai: Play Category: Standup & Theater Schedule: On Sunday, Mar 15, 2015 Venue: Lok Kala Manch(Lodhi Road)

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.”

- Thich Nhat Hanh

In 2008, Mexican scientists found a way to make diamonds form tequila.

court, track & feild 11th - 17th March, 2015

Angel di Maria- An exceptional talent getting wasted at Manchester United 24th May, 2014- Real Madrid vs Atletico de Madrid, Lisbon.

People sat all over the world, glued to their TV sets and clenching their fists anticipating the results of the finals of UEFA Champions League 2013-2014.

It wasn’t Atletico’s night. No, that night was solely meant for Real Madrid’s La Decima. And who made that possible? Sure, it was the collective effort of each member of Ancelotti’s team. But let’s not forget the contribution of Angel di Maria who zigzagged all over the pitch making things possible for Real Madrid. A match which could have been easily won by Simeone’s force was won by the major efforts of Angel.

Post La Decima, a series of events has happened in di Maria’s life.

His big transfer to Manchester United, his perpetual failure to perform in EPL, the rift between Angel and Real Madrid and so on, are just a few incidences.

However, my primary focus is on

what could be the exact reasons for di Maria’s fall at Manchester United. For that, initially we ought to debunk a few myths.

1. Burglary Angel receives 280,000 pounds a week at United. So is it necessary that we assume the burglary is what’s distracting him from playing good football at United?

I’m sure his exorbitant pay has covered up the damage costs by now. Gary Neville writes in his blog how ‘unquestionably’ the burglary has affected di Maria. No Sir, that’s not what I think, is the plausible cause of his downfall.

2. He did not want to leave Real Madrid Unless di Maria himself clearly says that he wanted to stay in Bernabeu forever, again, it would be wrong on our part to assume things. And with Real Madrid’s letter, United being his dream club and the reception he receives at Old Trafford, isn’t it completely worthless to spend

how the stats are screaming that United is not attacking.

4. Injuries The fact that United has had an injury-prone season could be one of the major reasons why di Maria is not performing well. His career graph has been similar to that of Mezut Ozil. Yet, di Maria is fit now and he should be providing chances if only the formation was more sensible.

our time thinking he’s missing Bernabeu?

Here’s my take on the actual reasons why he’s failing to perform for Manchester United every week 3. Van Gaal’s ‘philosophy’ The kind of philosophy (read fail-osophy) Van Gaal is trying to implement at Manchester United, isn’t clearly working out for the team. Sure, 3-5-2 could have

excelled at Ajax or Barcelona or other clubs he’s managed but not for an English club. United has got the most versatile attackers in the league. But is that making a difference at all? The midfield is so compressed that di Maria hardly ever gets a chance to do anything. Blind is busy giving long balls and di Maria is left angry and disappointed. United barely has any shots on target this season and it’s a shame

It’s time that LvG introduces the classic 4-4-2 to Manchester United’s game and gives di Maria the chances and the position he rightfully deserves.

Sudisha Misra sudisham@dubeat.com