Audi Alteram Partem Issue 9

Issue 9, October 2015

CONTENTS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR EDITOR'S NOTE WORLD Tania Singla

THE ICONOCLAST HARSH MANDER

REFLECTIONS

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14

33

40

50

57

DEDIPYAMAN SHUKLA

LAW & POLICY DEEPAN SHAH

NLUD TALK VALETE DE COPAS TARUN SUNDARAM SANYA SUD

ALUMNI VOICE TANIMA TANDON

CAMPUS LUMINARIES ANWESHA CHOUDHARY

DELHI DIARY SAUMYA SHARMA DEVANSHI SAXENA

OPEN SPACE DVL VIDYA JAHNAVI SINGH ADITYA GARG

LITERATURE AKANKSHA SETH

FILM & TELEVISION BHARGAVI VADEYAR

SPORTS UTKARSH SRIVASTAVA

CROSSWORDS & QUIZZES POLL@NLUD

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11

18

37

44

56

60

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NOTE FROM THE VICE CHANCELLOR As

we welcome our eighth batch into the NLU Delhi family, it gives me immense happiness to reflect on our journey over the years and the efforts of everyone involved into transforming this University into what it is today. Along with our academic and co-curricular achievements, we have achieved the goal of setting extremely high standards for our personal and professional development and achieving them on a regular basis.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR We welcome letters for publication, but may edit them to fit.

Write to us at: aap@nludelhi.ac.in

The growth of student activities has led to an increased vibrancy on campus and it is heartening to see the sense of fellowship and community grow stronger as our family gets bigger. The evidence is there for everyone to see, and I am sure the new members of our family are as excited looking forward as the rest of us.

I am also delighted to see our very own college magazine – a very important form of creative expression – grow and achieve new milestones with every edition. It also serves as an important medium of discussion on various issues, and I am certain the new batch shall make valuable contributions towards the progress of this culture. I would also congratulate and applaud the students for their hard work in making this magazine successful.

facebook.com/aapnlud

Hello guys, I just came across the magazine in my classroom and I was flipping through it and the magazine seems great now.

The design looks really good and the content is very good too. The magazine looks different from what it was in its early days and its great to see it looks like this now :) Great job, you guys. All the best!

issuu.com/aapnlud

Kavya Tangirala

twitter.com/aapnlud

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

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We are delighted to present the ninth

EDITOR’S NOTE

issue of Audi Alteram Partem. We have had a tremendous start to the new academic year. The highlight of the semester so far has been the remarkable up-swell of campus activity. The new batch, while ‘flashing their flaming sword’ of enthusiasm, contributes significantly towards making the campus efflorescent. It also leaves the rest of us wondering which batch was more ‘enthu’ and whether the enthu index seems to be rising with each year.

Be that as it may, the college life at NLUD largely draws its sustenance from the ardour of the newcomers.

Over the years, we have witnessed the growth of student and faculty initiatives in various forms and on various scales, initiatives that give the extra piquancy to the image of NLUD. It would be interesting to see the nature of new initiatives that emerge this year, and the new narratives that they will bring. We

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

are all storytellers, but whoever tells the better story succeeds.

Through AAP, we really try to pursue (to borrow a Kerouacian phrase) a riot of radiant ideas. The magazine seeks to mirror the creative and literary talent of students. To this end, this issue covers articles ranging from tributes to writers to philosophical interpretations of day to day pursuits. This time, we have presented the first poll conducted on campus, which offers telling statistics about opinions held by the inhabitants of NLUD. With the benefit of hindsight on events that have affected the students here, we have provided an engaging deliberation on students discussing campus issues over social media.

Like always, we encourage you to write more often, as writing is also the quality of our tribe.

Happy Reading!

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World

humans of the greek debt crisis Tania Singla

Tania discusses potential solutions to the Greek economic crisis and suggests that the EU must be more humane.

Sometime in July 2015, a photo

It was also a reminder of how

clicked by an AFP photographer

often we lose sight of the smaller

in the Greek city of Thessaloniki

pieces and instead choose to focus

captured the attention of many on

only on the bigger picture. If you

social media. It was a picture of

have been reading about the

Giorgos Chatzifotiadis, aged 77,

Eurozone crisis, the odds are that

crying in despair after he failed to

you will be familiar with the

obtain a pension of â‚Ź120 on

statistics and the scale of the

behalf of his wife at four different

crisis; that is not what this piece

financial institutions. The sheer

will be about. It is about

helplessness and anguish of a

something far more important: it

fellow human evident in that

is about the Humans of the Greek

picture moved many; it was a stark

Debt Crisis (it doesn’t have the

illustration of how ordinary

same ring as HONY, but it will

Greeks were suffering in the crisis.

have to do).

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

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World The Bigger Picture

“It’s a beautiful country… (but) I

The Greek debt crisis has been couldn’t imagine living here and playing on the minds and pockets struggling every day.” of the Eurozone for a while now.

Six years and three bailouts later, the Greek economy remains down in the dumps. This could be attributed to several reasons, the “They are people next door who until yesterday had jobs and lead a normal life. Today, these

most prominent of which is widely touted to be the flawed policy of excessive austerity imposed by the T r o i k a ( I M F, E u r o p e a n Commission and the European Central Bank) without concomitant focus on rebuilding infrastructure.

people,

Since it was g overnment

swallowing

overspending that caused the crisis

their pride and

in the first place, the imposition of

dignity, are

austerity for the first bailout was

going wherever

not an option – it was a must. But

they can to find

for the successive bailouts, the

a little free

Troika did what their voters

food, standing

demanded: more austerity. No one

in line as they

asked the Greek citizens until the

did today in Vathis square,”

recent referendum, but as the fate of their referendum clearly suggests, their voice shall go unheard no matter how loud it is.

The Human Pieces

When the reports of Greece’s extravagant government spending and financial manipulation came to light, the life of the ordinary Greek citizen was transformed overnight.

The news was like a freak storm; it stormed across the cities of Greece leaving behind devastation in its wake. There was almost no household shielded from the effects of wage and pension cuts (slashed by an average 40%), soaring taxes and unemployment that, at 26.7%, is the highest in the EU and is unprecedented in Greece’s post-war history. That was, however, only the beginning of a hard and long road for the Greeks. In 2012, Spiridoula Apostolopoulou, a tax collector in the finance ministry had reported for work as usual when she was informed that she was being placed in “reserve” with 13 other people.

Her standard of living, like thousands of other Greeks,

“I worked for 50 years on the sea and changed with bewildering speed now I am a beggar for 120 euros.”

and soon she had to think about how she would put food on the table. A 2013 photo shows several ordinary Greek citizens scrambling

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

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The Politics of Blame and Resentment If you are wondering why the leaders of the Eurozone are not sympathetic, it is because in the EU, the Greeks are perceived as the proponents of the crisis and not as its victims. They are not entirely wrong. The Greek government spent close to half the country’s GDP every single year between 1995 and 2008, and food handouts outside the patients in need of medication

in 2009, it spent more than half

agriculture ministry in Athens. stand in panicked bank queues for

o f t h e G D P. H o w e v e r, a

“They are people next door who a measly sum of €60. Fond

substantial portion of this rather

until yesterday had jobs and lead a m e m o r i e s o f w h i t e wa s h e d

liberal spending was incurred not

normal life. Today, these people, villages under azure skies have

on efforts to stimulate the

swallowing their pride and dignity, been overshadowed by images of

economy out of recession but on

are going wherever they can to street protests — and fears about

populist social welfare

find a little free food, standing in the country’s European future.

programmes with questionable

line as they did today in Vathis

returns (read, non-productive

square,” stated the Guardian.

B l o w b y b l o w, a n e n t i r e generation of Greeks is being

Ever since the first bailout, their made to sink to their knees. fates have hung in the balance every single day awaiting the diktat of the Troika in the hope that their hardship will end soon.

Six years on, thousands of students have dropped out of school/college in order to help their family pay the bills, workers in state-owned enterprises have been laid off and relatives of

expenditure). The Greek government had a huge entitlement program (the

In a bleak scenario such as this, it

retirement age in Greece was 58,

is not surprising that many skilled

the lowest among all EU and

professionals have left the

OECD countries), a stagnant

country seeking better

economy and a dysfunctional tax

opportunities elsewhere. For a

collection system, and as a

country that must rebuild its

consequence, it relied upon

industry and infrastructure to get

sovereign debt to generate

back on its feet, the exodus of

liquidity to pay for social

skilled workers is very bad news

entitlements and other fiscal

in an already ongoing nightmare.

obligations. The Eurozone holds

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

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World – wait for the Greek economy to slowly rise to its Fond memories of

feet. For that, they must let the bailouts to be used

whitewashed villages

to stimulate the economy out of recession rather

under azure skies have

than service existing debt payments; that is the only

been overshadowed by

way the Greeks can pay back their debts.

images of street

Yes, Greece made a mistake. Several of them, in

protests — and fears

fact.

about the country’s

Yes, Greece must pay.

European future.

But it can’t if we don’t let it.

Greece guilty for such liberal spending in the past decades, and even more so for the reckless move of successive Greek governments to manipulate

“Greece will pay its

records of finances to stay within the 3% debt-to-

debts back, if you let

GDP limit of the EU. Taxpayers of stronger

us. But not with a

economies such as Germany and France resent their hand-earned money being handed out as bailouts, especially when Greece is singularly

German knife held to our throats”.

culpable for the crisis it finds itself in today. Fair enough. But breaking the back of the Greek economy is not the solution; it is retribution, and retribution with questionable returns. The ordinary Greek citizens were undoubtedly the beneficiaries of the flawed economic policies. The question is, when will the EU be satisfied?

Three bailouts have been handed to the Greek government and yet, the economy barely shows any signs of recovery. Clearly, this resentment needs to be swiftly replaced by prudence. Germany and France must realize that if they want to recover their loans to Greece, they will have to wait

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

6

The Iconoclast This column features persons who are committed to fighting the world’s fight.

In my years in government, I was sometimes called—both mockingly and, at times, affectionately—Comrade Collector in the districts where I served, but I think Marxists never know quite where to place me, because I speak of social and economic equality but also, in the same breath, of egalitarian compassion. From Mohandas Gandhi, too, I have learned much, but perhaps foremost is the importance of conformity between means and ends (and that no end, however lofty, justifies violent, unjust and untruthful means to achieve these), his idea of secularism as equal respect for all faiths, an alternate

my many

debts

Harsh Mander Friends sometimes ask me how I would describe my political beliefs. I clear my throat, embarrassed for many reasons, including that I cannot offer a concise answer. I am a secular democratic feminist humanist socialist, I sometimes venture. If I had to choose just one of these appellations, it would probably be humanist.

I add that there have been many influences on my politics. The earliest influence, in my college days, was Karl Marx, and from reading and discussing him I have absorbed class analysis, belief in an egalitarian society and a redistributive state, and a passion for the equal rights of labour and the oppressed.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

Harsh Mander, former civil servant, social worker and author explores the significant influences on his life- those who inspired him in thought, feeling and action- and charts out his vision for our society.

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The Iconoclast development economics ‘as if people matter’, non-violence, and the importance of struggling lifelong—even if hopelessly failing, as I have often done—for greater ethical consistency between a person’s beliefs and the way she lives her life. From feminist philosophers, I have learnt that biology does not, and cannot be allowed to determine a person’s potential, rights, dignity and destiny; about interlocking systems of inequality and privilege; about assertion, nurturing, caring and solidarities.

Decades later, in my many district postings and as the head of the department charged with Scheduled Caste Welfare in Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh, and my later research into the practice of untouchability, I found that in the majority of villages across large swathes of the country, Dalits are still barred from access to common wells and temples. In a village in the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh in 1991, Dalit youth raised the demand that since the uppercaste enclaves of the village had many handpumps from which Dalits were barred, at least one hand-pump should be drilled in the Dalit hamlet. But the upper-caste villagers were outraged at their assertion and punished them with boycott and violence which ultimately brought them to their knees. In Bilaspur, Madhya Pradesh, in 1996, a Dalit man touched a Hanuman statue in gratitude that his wife’s life had been saved, and was brutally attacked and exiled from his village. I wrote both their stories in Unheard Voices and Shyam Benegal made these into a film, Samar. But these stories are far f rom unusual. They continue to be so commonplace in rural India that they are, for

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

many, unremarkable. Babasaheb’s proud words during the Mahad satyagrah in 1927 still ring in my heart: “It is not as if drinking the water of Chavadar Lake will make us immortal. We have survived long enough all these days without drinking it. We are not going to the Chavadar Lake merely to drink its water. We are going to the Lake to assert that we too are human beings like others. It must be clear that this meeting has been called to set up the norm of equality…”

But, before I proceed with this long list of my debts, I must acknowledge a major point of departure from the belief systems of my own past. Wherever I saw inequality, injustice and suffering, I looked for ways to make the democratic state more accountable and effective in correcting these social, economic and political wrongs. Caste and gender oppression required better, stronger laws and policies to reverse these, as did debt bondage, discrimination against minorities, child labour and children denied education, the exploitation of workers, the crisis in farming, displacement, housing shortages, and corrupt and accountable governance. I therefore worked for and celebrated the advancement of the regime of rights legislations, beginning with the right to information; the rights to education, wage-work, forest lands and food. I was privileged to be part of both the public campaigns and the actual writing of these laws.

To end the injustice of communal pogroms, I sought and helped write a law which makes the dereliction of duty by public officials in preventing and controlling communal violence a criminal offence. A law which the out-going UPA government baulked in passing. Most of

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The Iconoclast my work through all my adult life has been to strive in many different capacities for changes in state laws, policies, programmes and state processes and institutions, and their implementation, to advance the rights and dignity of oppressed people through advancing the idea and practice of the good state.

Friends have long argued with me that I place too much faith in the state and, indeed, in law.

I have replied that I cannot conceptualize redistributive justice without a strong state. I know strong states can and do become corrupt and arbitrary. This is why Gandhi was suspicious of strong states. But it is the business of citizens to hold governments accountable, and rights-based laws place powerful instruments in the hands of people for democratic non-violent resistance. I worry about advocating weak states. A weak state, for instance, would also mean the private provisioning of public goods like education and healthcare. My faith in the central role of the state for social and economic justice and protection of the rights of people disadvantaged by class, gender, caste, faith, and other social identities, remains undimmed. The change within my thinking is my growing recognition that a just and caring state can only be located ultimately in a just and caring society.

All the inequities and injustice which I have encountered in all my life’s work represent profound and culpable failures of the state, and its laws, policies and institutions. But these state failures are predicated in the last analysis in the social sanction given by the influential middle and upper classes to inequality,

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

prejudice, caste and communal injustice, patriarchy, the differential treatment of c h i l d r e n , t h e o p p r e s s i o n o f l a b o u r, discrimination and violence against minorities and their criminal profiling, and the denials of healthcare, social protection, housing, clean water and sanitation, and a hundred other basic requirements of a decent, healthy life.

A just and caring state can only be located ultimately in a just and caring society.

This does not mean that progressive laws should not be passed even far ahead of social consensus for these measures. It only means that it is important to be mindful that it is not enough for us to agitate for changes in laws and policies. For instance, it is futile to make states more accountable for the protection of women without fighting battles in our own homes for gender equality, for raising men to be kinder and women more assertive, and in schools and work-places for the equality of men and women. It means that it is not enough to fight for stronger laws to end corruption, without recognizing and resisting ways in which the middle and upper classes are not just victims of corruption, but also participants in and beneficiaries of corruption.

9

The Iconoclast Of course, to achieve greater justice and equity we need better state laws and policies.

This is absolutely necessary but this is not enough. We must recognize the ways in which we—people of relative privilege and power—are also acutely culpable in these injustices and inequities, for our failures to fight these more intimate battles, including with our loved ones and colleagues, within the popular discourse, and with ourselves.

Baldly, what I realize today is that India will not change until we — the middle classes— also change.

As society pursues the goal—or mirage—of galloping economic growth, even with all of these caveats, it must care for those who are left out of this growth story, because of gender, age, poverty, social identity, stigma, discrimination, education, alternative sexuality and physical, mental and disabilities. I believe

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

that in a good society, people of every social class and identity should be involved in a huge public debate about what is the floor of human dignity, socially, below which no human being should be allowed to fall.

For me, this is the floor of human dignity below which it is morally not acceptable for any human being, any human being, to have to live. We should build a new social contract in new and rapidly growing India that we seek an country (and world) in which no child will sleep hungry, no child will sleep under the open sky, no child will be sent to work instead of a school which is as good a school as for any other child her age, no person will be subjected to discrimination or violence because of her identity, no person will be denied free health care of quality, and no old person will have to work or beg to live with dignity.

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REflections

Is this what passes for air these days?

Dedipyaman Shukla The article discusses Delhi’s growing air pollution problem and urges us to include certain calculations in our conception of the ‘good life’ if we are to have one at all, and to treat the problem with the urgency it warrants.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

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REflections

Equality and I n r e c e n t times, my justice for all do view of the wonderfully not make much b r i g h t b l u e has been sense without a sky obstructed by world left to live am e t ri cautlho eu sr in, yet nature is coverage of evil cancer left to defend f o g w h i c h does not seem to itself.

budge. I have witnessed it approach at dawn like a swarm of locusts on the horizon, gaping in horror as it banished the sun into obscurity. To say the least, that sight has had an uneasy effect on me.

As ‘aspirational’ young professionals, a fair number of us plan on living ‘the good life’ and enjoying all the comforts that it entails to persons of our ( future) economic status. Perhaps, some plan to show up at work in a Rolls-Royce and put on a pair of aviators as you gleefully walk by the ‘peasants’ working under you in the most pretentious manner possible. I do not mean to deride your aristocratic fantasies. By all means, oppress as you please. My problem is strictly with that Rolls-Royce. You see, apart from being a gas guzzling monstrosity, it is a symbol of a wider problem.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

All people seek a better life in some respect, yet few seem to understand what that choice entails. Economic growth, as it is understood today, consists mostly of pillaging nature and consequently spitting in its face. Directly or indirectly, it is precisely on the basis of this method that you plan to get rich as well. Most of us remain oblivious to nature’s plight. This is not surprising as humans have never been very good at empathy. Logically, it is the foremost cause towards which advocates should be diverting their energy. Equality and justice for all do not make much sense without a world left to live in, yet nature is left to defend itself. The trouble is that plants, as it turns out, are poor lobbyists and have shown a deplorable deficiency in tact while dealing with governments. This will no longer be an issue, and let me explain why.

As one arrives in Delhi, one is greeted by the true ‘flavours of India’. A distinct odour consisting of a variety of noxious fumes produced by automobiles and factories fills the air.

In fact, we have bragging rights in this regard as Delhi has the highest PM 2.5 levels of any city surveyed by the WHO.

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REflections

‘Going green’ doesn’t mean that the world has to turn on its head.

There is no need for social upheaval.

Sulphur dioxide, for one, has been described by one observer as rotten eggs m i x e d w i t h sta l e o ra n g e j u i ce .

Unfortunately, the gas will proceed to burn one’s nose and throat as you sample its rich bouquet. Nitrogen dioxide is another common gas described as akin to having wasabi shoved up one’s nostrils.

However, it is far more considerate in that it will anesthetise the nose preventing one from detecting it any further. However, this result may not always be convenient as overexposure to this gas can be fatal.

This nasty concoction brewed by our city is supplemented by a steady supply of PM 2.5 particles from traffic as well as the burning of agricultural fields in the surrounding rural areas. In fact, we have bragging rights in this regard as Delhi has the highest PM 2.5 levels of any city surveyed by the WHO. These particles have a rather nasty habit of causing lung damage, which I thought was inconvenient.

By now, most you would have understood the big picture. Soon, you too could be diagnosed with your very own case of Asthma, or maybe the more exotic Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

And who can forget the Grim Reaper’s personal favourite, lung cancer.

Make no mistake of it. Our prosperity is being built on the trampled ruins of

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

nature. Now, people too shall become a part of the sacrifice. With so many sick people, finally, advocates will be able to represent a clientele with money while still fighting for the environment. It will become less of a fight for the environment and more about our own survival.

However, you really want to own that Rolls-Royce anyway, don’t you? That shimmering hood ornament, it calls to you. In any case, you certainly don’t plan on becoming a vegan ‘tree-hugger’ who lives off the grid. I hear you and my request is simple; how about a Tesla instead? How about a big solar instead of big oil? ‘Going green’ doesn’t mean that the world has to turn on its head. There is no need for social upheaval.

Delhi’s drivers will continue to run over civilians, but quietly in their electric cars.

USA will still be able to invade other countries, perhaps for their renewable energy instead of oil. So proceed with fighting your wars, oppressing your people, and making the lives of others miserable; but make sure you enjoy a breath of fresh clean air while to do it.

At the very least, try to ensure that humankind does not go down in history as the only species to have deliberately killed itself off. Though, quite frankly, it would be doing the rest of the planet a favour.

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Deepan Shah charts the political history of the Kashmir Conflict and attempts to bring clarity to the legal issues at hand.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

DEEPAN SHAH

Kashmir: Beyond the Mist

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law & Policy Kashmir. The word itself evokes strong emotions of nationalism and entitlement in masses in both India and Pakistan. It is therefore surprising how little we know of the conflict that has plagued the region and has, at times, threatened to engulf the whole world. This article is an attempt to give the state its deserved attention not only as a region of strategic importance but also as a part of Indian history.

Brief Background of the Conflict

Even if it is accepted that the people of Kashmir have a right to unilaterally secede from the Indian Union, the chances of a sustainable, stable and independent Kashmir look bleak considering the geographical position of

After India attained independence, the integration of princely border states in India or Pakistan was taking place on the basis of religion of the majority population as per Jinnah’s two-nation theory. The precedent was fir mly established in the case of Junagadh which had formerly acceded to Pakistan but on persuasion by Sardar Vallabhai Patel (on the ground of majority population) and a popular agitation, the administration was handed over to India by the Dewan and wa s l a t e r l e g i t i m i s e d t h r o u g h a referendum. Hence, Pakistan was hoping for a similar conclusion in the case of Kashmir which had a Muslim majority.

However, the Maharaja of Kashmir, Hari Singh, was moonstruck, in the complete sense of the term, with the idea of independence and therefore did not accede to either India or Pakistan. In the meanwhile, ‘tribal’ invaders from the North West Frontier Province wellequipped with guns, mortars, trucks and petrol invaded the valley and marched towards Srinagar leaving behind a trail of death and destruction in their path. The complex nature of the invasion and the forming of a logistical supply line clearly pointed to the involvement of the Pakistan Army in the attack. This forced Maharaja Hari Singh to hastily sign the agreement acceding Kashmir to India and

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

subsequently Indian troops cleared the Kashmir valley of invaders. However, one-third of the Valley remained in Pakistan’s control till 1948 when a ceasefire was called by the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan.

Later, this ceasefire line was renamed as the “Line of Control” through the Simla Agreement. The UN commission also resolved that a plebiscite with all three options: India, Pakistan and Independence was to be given to the Kashmiri people. For reasons detailed later, this plebiscite could never take place and, ever since then, the Valley has been a point of conflict between India, Pakistan and its people.

The Right of Self-Determination Post World War II, International law has given recognition to the right of all peoples to self-determination. By virtue of this right, they are free to determine their political status and pursue their economic, social and cultural development. The nature and content of the right varies from merely a right to be governed by a government representing the people without discriminating on the basis of race, creed, or colour on the one hand to a right to unilateral secession on the other. This article only examines the right to unilateral secession because it is the most extreme interpretation of the right to self-determination. If this is negated, the other interpretations of the right remain only for a purely academic discourse.

In International law, the right to unilateral secession is to be balanced with the principle of territorial integrity of the parent state. Due to this, the right to unilateral secession can be exercised only in exceptional circumstances. This is possible if the people are repeatedly 15

law & Policy denied the right to be governed by a

secede for the people of the State

“Jammu and Kashmir Question” to

fully representative non-

under international law.

the “India Pakistan Question”

discriminatory government or if

Even if it accepted that the people

encouraging the nations to resolve

human rights, and access to

of Kashmir have a right to

the issue bilaterally.

unilaterally secede from the Indian

Pakistan’s claim to Kashmir on the

Union, the chances of a sustainable,

basis of religious identity of the

stable and independent Kashmir

people is not only unsubstantiated

look bleak considering the

in International law; but is also

geographical position of the state.

against its own actions as it had

Kashmir is a land-locked state with

previously accepted Junagadh’s

huge strategic importance in the

instrument of accession (despite the

region which shares long permeable

fact that Hindus for med the

borders with three nuclear powers:

majority population in the state).

I n d i a , C h i n a a n d Pa k i s t a n .

Hence, the only plausible option for

However, it has to be noted that

T herefore, even if K ashmir

Pakistan to make a claim for the

while AFSPA may be draconian in

becomes independent, it is unlikely

state is that the will of the people of

that it provides a wide range of

that it will remain so for long (ref:

the state was not taken into account

powers and immunities to the army,

the tribal insurgency and Chinese

in order to legitimise the instrument

the Act does not completely take

occupation of Aksai Chin). While it

of accession as was (a) stipulated by

away democratic processes such as

may be argued that states are not

the UN and (b) promised by India.

production of the accused on arrest

permitted to use force against other

While a seemingly fair point, there

and the right to approach judicial

states in international law, this

are two problems with this demand.

tribunals for a remedy. This is

assurance is hollow in light of the

further accentuated by the fact that

increased presence of non-state

Firstly, the UN resolution for a

it was possible for this law to be

actors engaged in terrorist activities

challenged in the SC and the SC has

in the region. Therefore, the only

even imposed certain guidelines to

solution for a peaceful Kashmir in

be followed in the exercise of this

the long-ter m is a bilateral

law. It is not my contention that the

agreement between India and

AFSPA is a just law, it is surely not

Pakistan.

democratic processes, are systematically denied to the people.

While it is difficult to argue that Kashmir does not possess a representative government, it seems attractive to argue that the people of

Kashmir have been

systematically denied basic human rights due to the enactment of draconian laws such as the AFSPA.

and hopefully it will be done away with sooner rather than later. My

Between India and Pakistan

contention is solely that the

The impossibility of the option of

situation it creates in Kashmir does

independence was clear even to the

not allow for a unilateral right to

UN and therefore its agenda item on the issue changed from the

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

plebiscite was conditional on Pakistan removing its nationals and withdrawing from the region so that a free and impartial plebiscite could be held. However, Pakistan never relinquished control of the region and so a plebiscite could never be held. Secondly, India’s promise was time and context specific and since the plebiscite could not be held then, it cannot be claimed now after more than 60 years have passed.

16

law & Policy Even if we assume that India has

over the years and is now essentially

important, resource of the state

indeed acted illegally by not

conceptualised as a set of powers

covering about 8000 sq. miles and

conducting the plebiscite, the claim

which may be given or refused. With

have degenerated rapidly due to the

for a plebiscite now cannot be

this understanding, it is possible that

conflict. Moreover, the youth have

sustained because of the time lapse

parts of Kashmir are given the right

to be given opportunities for human

in between. In International law,

to choose either to join the Indian

development through free and

time does heal all wounds, no matter

union or be “sovereign” with India

perhaps incentivised education (73%

how deep, as can be seen by the fact

controlling only extremely necessary

cited poverty as the reason for

that in November 2010, the UN

departments such as defence. Once

dropping out).

removed Jammu and Kashmir from

we get beyond the emotion of

its list of disputed areas (see

nationalism and independence, this

These are but baby steps through

Javellana v. Executive Secretary).

seems to be the most pragmatic

Therefore, Pakistan’s demand for a

solution for India.

plebiscite on Kashmir, while bold, is

Another point to be noted is that

India needs to take these steps and

without any grounds, legal or moral.

while people on both sides of the

other well-intentioned steps if the

border were concerned about

valley is to be restored to its former

statehood and human rights

glory because the current

So, the obvious question that still

violations, the most pressing

methodolog y of suppressing

lingers is “what now?” At this stage,

problem for the Kashmiris is that of

violence with violence cannot be

the first thing to be seen is what the

unemployment. This suggests that

expected to bear much fruit... apart

people of Kashmir want. While no

the underlying problem for the

from further violence.

plebiscite has taken place in the

continuing conflict is economical or

Valley, studies conducted in the

at least that the conflict has created

region have shown that while joining

huge economic problems for people

India continues to be the will of the

in the state. The United States

majority, a sizable number of people

Institute of Peace (USIP) in its

in the state have an inclination

report has characterised that,

towards an independent Kashmir.

because of lack of economic

To claim on this basis that Kashmir

opportunities, the Kashmiri youth

Christophe Jaffrelot,

should be freed from India (reasons

live in a “state of perpetual anger

The Pakistan Paradox –

aforementioned), is naïve at best and

and frustration” which further fuels

ignorant at worst. However, it does

violent activities in the state. In

Instability & Resilience,

not also mean that India and

order to remedy this situation urgent

Kashmir have reached an impasse.

attention, for instance, needs to be

Sovereignty as a concept has evolved

given to the forests of the state

The Way Forward

the mesh of a large and complicated issue but, if data is to be believed, probably steps in the right direction.

Suggested Reading:

2015.

which constitute the most October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

17

NLud Talk

To the First Year Students Valete de Copas An empowering guide to law school, for the first years. Among the many things it discusses, it asks you to always remember one thing – Believe in yourself.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

18

NLud Talk

So

you’ve all said your goodbyes, made

your resolutions and boarded your ships for this five year journey. This trip will mould you indelibly; testing your resolves against your resolutions and making you question whether this farewell was really for the good. It is a journey that starts off with anxiety and for a lot of us, anguish. I still remember Dr. Risham teaching us HLCD in class on the first day, and I remember myself on the second seat from the

help and guidance goes a long way in soothing the pain. When I was in first year, as a shy, introverted and cultureshocked small-towner of this college, I was too afraid (and perhaps too full of myself) to ask for help. At that time, something like this article might have helped. It might not help you, for a variety of reasons, not the least being that you’re already comfortable and you’re probably putting this page to better use as crushing paper. But let’s not allow that to stop

middle on the 4th row,

You’ll find hope in

tears streaming down my

the fact that you’ll be crying for an entirely different reason when you

face. I remember meeting my

parents

in

the

evening, telling them that I’m going to leave this place, that I’m done

leave college, and

with education, or at the

you’ll look back and think how silly you were in first year.

very least I’d go back and study at some state university

doing

a

nondescript degree and

me from writing what I have to.

Here’s a very personal opinion about what to expect from this place and how to survive. Mind, I

can’t

document

everything that happens, especially the really fun activities that are against the rules, which I’ll let you discover.

then we’ll figure things out in the

However, allow me to give you a quick

future. In fact, for the first month or

run-through of the most popular

so, my bright, big eyes so filled with

things, and my two cents worth on them.

dreams only days ago could only see things through a filter of moisture.

First and foremost, congratulations on making it to one of the best legal

Well, I didn’t go home and open a pan

institutions in India. You’re going to

shop, I stayed. And I did learn a great

have a hell of a time learning new

deal. But that does not take away from

ideas, making new friends, new enemies,

the fact that my first year was

and well, you’re basically going to

difficult. It was depressing. Adversity

have a lot of fun. You’ve beaten off

does make you stronger, but a little October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

19

NLud Talk

Mooting is like opium, you must use it as morphine, but never as heroin. more competition than any one of us

you are here to build your life, and

here to make it to this place.

every great monument needs some

Theoretically, you’re the smartest 80

sacrifice. This too, shall pass.

students on campus. At the same time, you were the ‘kewlest’ things that

M for Mooting

happened in your respective schools,

Let’s get the most important thing out

but here you’re unknowns. You’re

of the way first, shall we? No no, not

pitched with 79 equally good students

academics. What we’re referring to is

and 320 others who’ve been there and

the difference between mortality and

done that. The race for you, has begun

immortality,

afresh.

obscurity:

Emotionally, it will be difficult for many of you. Hostel, washing your own clothes, nobody to pamper you, mess food, rude people, missing your dog, missing your bed and missing your people. This is one phase you will have to endure, for the sake of your future. I wish I could tell you how to save yourself this distress, but there isn’t any fix. It’s a storm you’ll have to weather. One way to deal with it is not to sit still, and to keep yourself

between

Mooting

glory

and

(Capital

M,

something this huge surely deserves personification). For the uninitiated, it’s a mock court that looks nothing like a real court. Mooting is a great experience,

and

does

give

you

important lessons in team work, advocacy, structured thinking, and a whole lot of fancy things. The exposure

you

get

when

you’re

representing college is something every

single

one

of

you

must

experience.

engaged. Maybe you’ll find hope in the

And for those who are lucky enough to

fact that you’ll be crying for an

make it international, lots of more

entirely different reason when you

exposure (and shopping). However,

leave college, and you’ll look back and

mooting is not the end of life. You

think how silly you were in first

must take whatever you can from it,

year. On the upside, it’ll teach you how

but don’t immerse yourself in it, don’t

to value the good people in life

let it take away things from you.

better. Find solace in the fact that

Mooting is like opium, you must use it

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

20

NLud Talk as morphine, but never as heroin. The

become a better speaker, but so does

trick with mooting, as with every other

debating. Debating is a great way to get

activity, is to pick up the best things

started on your speaking. It’s going to be

from it, and move on. Don’t get drawn into

hard initially; you’re going to get a good

it too much that it takes away a genuine

‘whipping’. But good speaking is not like a

opportunity to learn something better or

good voice, it is something you can

to make a difference elsewhere. And if

acquire. And as a lawyer and in life if

you’ve fallen truly, madly, deeply in love

you want to be successful and assertive,

with mooting, God bless you.

you must acquire that skill (and let

Some of you coming might have a problem with public speaking, or even speaking a lot, and you want to speak like a lawyer, which is usually to talk absolute gibberish for minutes without as much as pausing to breathe (but hey, the best ones speak non-stop and a lot of it makes sense. That’s one ideal that you must

nobody tell you otherwise). Just wait for the Pol. Science class till you hear that Delhi guy with the oversized Metallica shirt spew words that sound like music to Dr. Maheshwar’s ears, and you’ll know how important it is to speak (Side story: that guy with the Metallica shirt is in every batch.

aspire to). Mooting obviously helps you

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

21

NLud Talk Might seem a bit imposing (‘2 Kool

the oooooh-so-blinding vacation

4 U’ types) initially, but once you

schemes. You can buy three

get to know them those guys are

iPhones with a month’s salary.

the nicest mofos you’ll find).

One for personal use, one for

Human society is governed just by

office and one, well, because

a more sophisticated form of the

you

‘survival of the fittest’ and

tempting, but it’s not often

speaking is one major parameter

that anyone loves that kind

for the world’s definition of

of a job. If that job has been

fitness. You’re here to conquer,

your dream, well and good. But

and remember, a good battle cry is

if

half the battle won.

something else, then forsake

can.

It’s

you’re

immensely

meant

to

be

that glory, for your own sake.

Almost Mooting - ADR

Go out there and struggle if

In the same breath, ADR is one

you have to, struggle for

exercise that will really help if

years.

you want to be a commercial

temporary

lawyer. Often touted as a lazy

permanent. Leo Messi would not

man’s

an

have made a great or happy

international trip, all this

ballet dancer, even if it paid

BATNA WATNA stuff even helps you

him in truckloads. If you’re

get a good deal out of a lot of

meant to be a dancer, singer,

everyday negotiation scenarios

actor, theatre artist, writer,

as well (or at least it makes you

footballer

feel better about them). There’s an

anything else will not give

internal selection with this too,

you happiness. A part of the

and don’t think you need to know

empowerment that law schools

anything to participate in it. Go

must strive hard to provide is

in and take that plunge. The

to make you discover what

worst that will happen will be

you’re meant to be, but a lot

that you’ll learn a great deal.

of it is killed by society

Not a bad WATNA at all, I must say.

glorifying one or the other.

shortcut

to

While we’re at glory, it’s a long way off for you guys at the moment but let’s have a word on the dazzling law firm jobs, and October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

But

don’t win

or

let

the

over

the

whatever,

A part of the empower ment that law schools must strive hard to provide is to make you discover what you’re meant to be, but a lot of it is killed by society glorifying one or the other.

But you, you must go out and find what you were meant to do, and as Charles Bukowski would say, find what you love and let it kill you.

22

NLud Talk Well Yeah… Academics Coming to academics, it’s going to be amazing. There were phases in first year when I used to actually listen in class, and the amount of new and revolting ideas that are thrown at you is amazing. One of my regrets, apart from the fact that I didn’t debate, is that I should’ve listened more in class.

Law and social sciences are brilliant disciplines, and there’s so much you learn about society. You’ll have good professors and bad professors and good professors who are bad and bad professors who are good, but it’s all a part of the dance. And dance you must.

Our college is quite generous with the facilities it provides, make the best out of it. And remember, while you’re doing everything else, don’t forget to pass your courses. Five years is already a long time, let’s not elongate it further.

Sports I was quite into sports when I came into this place. I’m not now, and I’m partly to blame for it. We have a badminton court and a volleyball court, and a basketball court that doubles up as a football field, a tennis court, hockey field, frisbee (park?) place and dance floor for DJ nights. That doesn’t stop us though from having our own miniature leagues, which are a lot of

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

fun with good athleticism and even better banter. We weren’t fortunate enough to have a full-fledged field, but with the new land and everything, you might have it sometime. We also go to a couple of sports fests but the response to sports is slightly more lukewarm across law colleges than what you’d have at other colleges where one doesn’t have five term papers to submit – full with synopsis, first draft and blah blah. In economic terms, it’s a trade off, one that I also made in order to absorb the other aspects of law school better, not the least of which was sleep. However if you’re damn serious about getting something done you can obviously be a trailblazer for the rest of us, and nothing will give us more joy.

Be the Change - Social Work You also get to participate in a lot of change. Delhi, being the hub of activism it is, you also have a good set of teachers and students that are trying to bring a number of changes – changing social norms, helping the underpriveleged, rebuilding lives, and lot of nice things. College-affiliated clinics are going out there in the world and making a change. If that has been your aim, and I know many of you see law schools as an institution which will permit you to bring in a lot of change, you’re in good company.

23

NLud Talk Miscellaneous We also have a set of other activities, such as Glasnost (the online thing, you know), theatre (!!) where hotshots like Shashi Tharoor have graced occassions, Kairos (our college fest which will be a blur because of, well..), Hafta Vasool (a mini intra-fest, where among other things you get to throw eggs at each other and another event that awards the most besura singer) the Cinema Club (the weirder the movie, the better), the Law Journal boards (serious, serious), poetry workshops (organized by Dr. Prasannanshu), a Harry Potter club which I believe is going to start, watching the Premier League in the

possibility, it is wisdom, it is humility, it is learning, it is hope, for yourself and for the world. That is something you will have a chance to acquire here.

Participate, in the classroom and outside, more outside than in the classroom. Exchange ideas, don’t be afraid to express yourself. Every moment you do something like that, you start a chain reaction that culminates into something beautiful. Go headlong into everything that interests you, who knows where you will find your calling and how it’ll connect. Steve Jobs was so vella

in

college

he

took

the

calligraphy course, and that is why we have so many fancy fonts on both

common rooms (with pathetic tactical

Microsoft and Apple computers today.

commentary from seniors), mango shake

It’ll all come together, trust me.

at Amul shop (so delicious, deserves to be called an activity by itself), throwing paper balls at each other and getting thrown out of Anju Ma’am’s class (we love you, Ma’am!), elections, the more difficult activities of trying to stay awake in Torts and of comprehending Political Science and the most fun activity of writing friendly banter on the best magazine on earth – AAP. While it’s not very similar to what you might expect from college after seeing American series’ and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, it’s still fun.

Be yourself. If you’re not meant to change the world, don’t. And fear no one.

Don’t let political correctness get in the way of honesty (Honesty I said, not stupidity, which is to say, make an informed choice). True liberty consists not only in being politically correct.

It is much more. In fact, politically correct libertarianism is no more than Marxism wearing a Libertarian mask.

How tolerant am I if I am intolerant of the intolerant? Oh also, be a Marxist if you have to, just make sure you choose for yourself. Let nobody impose ethical

Now, coming to an interesting bit –

standards on you and tell you what is

education. Education is ideas, education

right and what is wrong.

is knowledge, it is truth, it is October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

24

NLud Talk

You have tonnes of resources, discover

your own moral compass. And along the

everything for yourself and make a

way if you manage to offend someone, so

choice and defend it. One story you’ll be

be it (and please don’t make taking

told in Torts class is of a gentleman

offence a hobby, for your sake). I would

swinging his umbrella in a park and

slightly modify Churchill’s line and

hitting someone’s nose in the process. To

say that if you’ve managed to offend

the claim that the gentleman had the

someone, good. It means you have stood up

right to swing his umbrella, the other

for something in life. Don’t engage to

person says, ‘Your right ends where my

win, engage to learn.

nose begins!’ In today’s time, however, try asking people with noses too long that their noses must also end where your umbrella begins. Ethics isn’t science; there is no one true answer, no one true point which cannot be refuted. Ethics overlap and conflict. Be free to choose October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

Also, also, if you’re having any trouble with first year, be it academics, homesickness,

love,

friendships,

whatever, just drop us a mail at aap@nludelhi.ac.in

and we’ll get in touch

with you. ;)

25

NLud Talk

Looking Back at The

IMS 2015 Tarun Sundaram Tarun takes us through his experience with the Quidditch of NLUD - Mooting.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

26

NLud Talk To moot in our college you have to first go through the IMS or Internal Moot Selection. It makes for a few hectic weeks where it’s long hours in the library and very little sleep. For all of us in the first year, this was obviously the first time we had experienced this, so we had no real idea as to how the IMS was conducted in the past. For a horde of reasons, it’s probably safe to say that this

the moot of their choice.

However, a selection is only locked once a particular number of ranks below have completed their selections as well.

year isn’t going to be the one to beat in the future. Once the rounds are done and ranks are out, there remains the allocation. Gruelling is the nicest word that can be used to describe that evening.

were deciding whether an allocation at this stage was fair or not, given the IMS was yet to be recognised as legitimate (which is a different story altogether).

How it works The process sounds simple enough and has been designed to satisfy all the considerations of justice and fair play that underlie anything that goes on in a law school. It proceeds in order of rank and each individual is allowed to select

The allocation began at 6PM. In the worst case scenario, we’d be done by dinner time, we innocently thought. Four hours later (time frames may be exaggerated) the mess workers were asleep and we

The process went on and on and on. Moots were selected and just when you thought a team would get locked in place, someone on it would realize that there’s another moot where they put you up in a nicer hotel. Selections would be changed, and we would start over from the highest unlocked rank. At that point, it

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

was too late to even order in food. While it isn’t a bad thing for a person to change their minds, and it may be perfectly fair and reasonable for them to h ave d o n e so, i t wa s undeniably annoying.

By the time the selections were made and then changed and then made again, it was sometime early next morning, and the last few people crawled out of the room. All the while

the utmost level fairness was ensured and the process was just. Each individual was given the chance to think, rethink and double check before picking a moot. It made the six hours of our lives and the meal that we missed that much nicer.

Here it must be said that the experience is different for different people. Just because a few friends and I found it painful, dull and never ending, it doesn’t mean the process was the same for everyone. For some it was worse. Never did I

27

NLud Talk

Be prepared to be put to the test. Find out how willing you are to climb your way up while stepping on a few people on the way up. think that the words tears, rivalry, enmity, deceit, cunning, misdirection, abuse and ‘IMS allocation’ would make perfect sense when put in one sentence. All of these things were a big part of that evening.

Seniors had warned us that the IMS would be a time when friendships were put to the test, and the sides of ourselves that we never thought existed would reveal themselves. I thought it was nonsense; at the end of the day we were all classmates or college mates. But of course, they were right and I was severely wrong. For all the new first years joining us, I will say just this: be prepared to be put to the test. Find out how willing you are to climb your way up while stepping on a few people on the way up.

The worst thing you could do is be that team mate (I was).

You see, the funny thing is, I’m sure we’ll all do it again next year in spite of all this. It would be great if we could make a few changes to the process, like locking teams in place within shorter brackets of ranks or getting the VC’s permission before the process is at its’s final stage.

Maybe someday we’ll come up with a process that’s a bit more efficient and involves less bloodshed, but until we can figure out a better way to do this, I suppose we can look forward to struggling through a few more of these IMS allocations and all the blood, sweat and tears that go with them.

At some point in our college lives, we all decide whether mooting is something we want to do or not but its’s probably a good idea to give it a try.

It’s guaranteed that in the process you will learn a solid amount. So the difficulty of the allocation aside, I’d say it’s worth the experience. If I were to offer any advice to the first years for the IMS to come: start formatting early, it turns out judges don’t appreciate the funny side in a bad citation. On allocation day, research and ascertain the moot you would like to pick and have a backup in mind. Try your best to have your team formed beforehand and don’t go and stick into a spot that ruins someone else’s team. The best thing you could do is convince your team mate to stay there and select a moot on your behalf.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

28

NLud Talk

The article philosophically examines the two sides to the debate.

Sanya Sud

Should students discuss campus issues on

social media?

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

29

NLud Talk society. This process repeats itself several times over

and makes

sure that obsolete ideas, ideas,

unfair

unjust ideas, and also

inefficient ideas , are discarded and replaced by newer, fairer, more efficient, more just ideas.

Thirdly, is it permissible for a teacher or an administrator to express views on social media, but not the student? Does this c r e a t e a s l i p p e r y, w h e r e potentially unlimited number of situations likely to be misused for curbing dissent? Are these

While it is an established

circumstances, by themselves,

position that there exists a broad

enough to warrant enough ‘harm’

and unequivocal normative

to create exceptions to free

are no two ways about it. Any

commitment towards the

speech? Also, is ‘harm’ the

discussion, comment or

promotion of free speech, both

principle we should espouse in

expression about any event, is

in our Constitution as well as

free speech adjudication? Is it

salutary and must be

morally, the question we are

better perhaps to take the

e n c o u ra g e d . I t i s h a r d t o

faced with is whether we can

deontological approach, which

envision opposition to this

carve out any exceptions to this

advocates that an action be taken

principle. As Mill put it, even a

principle in specific situations.

(or not taken) for its inherent

belief which is true becomes

Firstly, the question to be

rightness or wrongness,

reduced to a “dogma” or a

addressed is whether the

regardless of its ‘goodness’ i.e.,

“prejudice” unless it is fiercely

‘campus’ be taken as any

the effect of its consequences?

contested by opposing

different from society when it

viewpoints; and this is possible

comes to free speech -

only in an environment

members of the institution have a

conducive to free speech.

Free

sense of solidarity towards one

speech gives value to ideas and

another and owe some ethical

is undoubtedly, a cornerstone of

responsibilities to the institution.

a successfully evolving society.

Secondly, the question for

Speech

is always good. There

Promoting free speech in a society ensures that the dominant discourse is challenged, and the resulting contest between the dominant discourse and the challenging idea either results in the affirmation of the former or the latter displaces that discourse, whichever is more suitable to the

where

consideration is whether social media is any different for the expression of free speech, in light of its wide reach, lack of accountability for views expressed, or difficulty in retraction or correction of views, and other such distinguishing criteria.

evolving ideals and needs of

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

30

NLud Talk allegedly false or misleading)

views to be voiced and clash

perceptions about an

against each other in a free

institution, other persons have

battle of ideas, which is one of

Deontology would say that

the same power to spread

the biggest achievements of this

only because the consequences

information about why the

century towards making speech

may not benefit the institution,

reader should not be misled.

freer.

or the author, such speech must

Any other person in the

b e p r e v e n t e d . Th u s , n o

institution has an equal power

exceptions may be made to

to make the receiver of the

freedom of speech surrounding

original information hear

campus events, even if, say for

another side of the story before

instance, the expression may

making a judgment. It is one of

negatively affect recruitments,

the (few) joys of social media

or that it may negatively affect

that it is equal in all respects,

the choice of potential

and it does not (?) exclude

Next, coming to the question of institutions and reciprocal obligations. We are governed by a Code of Conduct, . Do these obligations trump our ability to freely express ourselves? Is my writing about the (unfortunate) quality of my

A free speech environment balances itself out. If one person has the power to create negative (albeit allegedly false or misleading) perceptions about an institution, other persons have the same power to spread information about why the reader should not be misled. students, . However, what if the

speech based on the arguments

teachers likely to bring down

speech is not true or is

or on the background of the

the marketability of my

u n s u b s t a n t i a t e d ,

author. Further, in this age , the

institution and hence violate

uncorroborated, or maybe just

time lag between the spread of

my ethical conduct duties to

exaggerated? (as often might be

allegedly false information and

the institution and the other

the case with social media, or

its opposition by another

members? Am I only

even

Whatsapp forwards).

member of the institution is

‘permitted’ to write about

Would it then be fair to then

extremely short, thus rendering

events that show my university

create exceptions to speech

n e g l i g i b l e a ny p e rc e ive d

in a good light to outsiders,

where it is proved to be not

negative effects of the original

even though this might be far

true? The answer, simply put, is

information.

removed from the truth? The

no. This is because; a free speech environment balances itself out. If one person has the power to create negative (albeit

Th i s a n sw e r s t h e s e c o n d

answer is no.

question. Indeed, it is social media which allows divergent

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

31

NLud Talk comes to free speech and hence The reason is that writing about the institution in a way that criticizes it, might, at a very

no fetters must be placed.

Dissent must always be encouraged, not stifled.

same status as anybody else.

Another argument that might be raised against ‘children’ engaging

superficial level, seem bad for its

A final and brief point to be

in social media discussions over

members since it might alter

addressed is whether students, by

campus events can be that we

public perception and job

virtue of being students, suffer

are biased and have a narrow

prospects, among other things.

some special disqualification

vision of the events, which a

However, it is important to note

from speech expression. As you

teacher or administrator may not

the same criticism is essential to

guessed it right, the answer is,

have. Again, this position seems

improve the quality of life of

yet again, No. I see no reason for

to be incorrect. A teacher or an

those in the institution and hence

the proposition, except maybe

administrator can suffer from the

is in furtherance of the duties

that perhaps students are viewed

same one-sided myopia a student

owed to the institution and not

as incapable of rational thought

(allegedly) suffers from, with the

against it. Perhaps revealing that

and debate, owing to their

simple difference that their

the institution suffers from a

‘young age’, and somehow

myopia is from a perspective that

severe dearth of good quality

teachers and administrators are

is likely to favour those in power

teachers may limit job prospects

better equipped at that role. This

(namely, the administration) and

for all students in the short run,

position is

no doubt fallacious;

hence is promoted as

due to doubts cast on the quality

once we are part of an academic

authoritative in regard to the

of education being provided by

institution after a strenuous

issue. In a free speech scenario,

the institution. However, in the

entrance examination process,

both potentially one-sided

long run, the same article shall

and besides that, even as an

arguments should be allowed to

be responsible for creating

adult with the right to vote and

engage and clash with each

awareness about the problem

elect one’s government, no

other, and the reader should be

and resolving the problem,

possible questions with regard to

then considered competent to

thereby providing top-notch

our ‘competency’ to engage in

make his own decision with

teachers to the future batches,

public debate over issues that

regard to the issue. Thus, an

which is likely to then increase

concern us can be raised. This

acknowledgement that all adult

job prospects overall. The

viewpoint arises from a

citizens are rational and capable

administration might have been

tendency of those in power to

of understanding debate and

blissfully unaware about the

view the subject of their laws

discussion leads to only one

issue of dissatisfactory teachers.

from a patronizing lens. This

conclusion; that no fetters can be

The same line of reasoning can

patronizing approach can never

placed on speech in any way, in

be extended to any issue where

be supported in a society or even

society or in the campus.

the university may be criticized.

in a campus; as students, we

‘Campus’ is not specifically

suffer no disqualification on

different from society when it

account of our age and are at the

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

32

ALumni voice

What Mediation Taught Me Tanima Tandon ADR has been a tremendously rewarding experience for some. Tanima elaborates on her voyage of discovery.

Having

been asked to write about what

mediation taught me forces me to look back at the journey of my tryst with mediation and cull out the highlights of how the process has helped shape my understanding of dispute resolution in general as well as personally how its impacted me in my way of thinking about certain problems and situations.

Back in my first year of law school, a lawyer could only mean a straight-backed poker faced figure in black and white attire and a stride as purposeful as though on a mission for his client. Whenever I heard the phrase ‘dispute resolution’, inevitably my mind wandered to the judicial system or maybe to arbitration; but that was the extent. Five years of law school helped turn my understanding of dispute resolution on its head and made me realize that my notion was but a mere fragment of the gamut of available options. The first step towards broadening the horizon is simply accepting the fact that there are a wide array of tools above and beyond the conventional court

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

hearings and arbitration. When in a dispute, we can advise clients to opt for: i. Arbitration ii. Mediation iii. Conciliation iv. Negotiation v. Court hearing

While you can (and should) Google each of the above mechanisms to understand their nuanced differences and out of curiosity research on their acceptability in India, let me make your task easier and tell you that after court and arbitration, Indian society has made a snail’s pace move towards embracing only mediation but that too is restricted to mostly family disputes that are court-annexed and not necessarily the first choice of the parties.

My experience with ADR In my third year of law school, I gained accreditation from a London based institute and was living in a happy bubble of my own wherein I imagined that society can be a much

33

ALumni voice better place because we have finally started understanding and embracing ADR mechanisms.

But that’s all it was; a bubble which was burst when I started attending mediation sessions at the local mediation center. Court-annexed mediation at the local district courts is a mere formality to comply with the court’s orders for referral to mediation and whether they like it or not, the parties find themselves flung in the midst of a busy center buzzing with activity and are asked to sign/ initial/ thumb print their identity across a variety of documents after which a complete stranger attempts to meet them with the admirable yet futile objective of reconciling their differences. On the flip side, in UK and USA, mediation is increasingly being used as an effective means of resolving both commercial as well as civil matters with enrollments and trainings for young mediators seeing numbers that haven’t been grossed before! While the approach is standard, its implications, execution and acceptance may vary from society to society.

However, that is a topic that merits discussion on its own and I won’t delve into the cultural challenges presently.

what Mediation can teach us In this section, I’ll briefly outline the key takeaways from a mediation session. After attending mediation sessions, court hearings where matters are referred to mediation as well as participating and judging International mediation competitions, I can safely say that I have a fair understanding of how the mechanism works both in India and overseas. While the execution may differ due to peculiar cultural and systemic circumstances, the thought process that October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

drives the mediations essentially remains the same. Therefore, we can crystallize the salient points as follows: i. Power of Thinking with Clarity: Before sitting in a mediation session, it is important for an advocate to understand from his clients the objective of what they want to achieve from the session and have a clear understanding and ability to distinguish between interests and positions of the client. Achieving this clarity makes it easier to think of solutions to attain the goal by shifting positions but not necessarily compromising the interest.

For example: the position of the client may be to want an orange but his interest may actually lie in drinking orange juice. ii. Taking a Flexible Approach: The above clarity of vision of the client’s needs brings with it the ability of being flexible in order to achieve those interests by aligning it in the best possible way with the interest of the other party.For example, on accepting that the interest of Party A lies in the pulp, ways may found of changing the position from wanting an orange to wanting the orange pulp. In a similar manner, the mediator will elicit the interest of the other party which may well be in sync such as wanting the orange rind. In this way, the orange need not be split into 2 as per conventional notions of compromise where each party receives 50% but the split of the common interest happens in a manner to strive for 100% satisfaction of both parties.

34

ALumni voice iii. Thinking Out of the Box: Like the title says, its important to be creative and think out of the box for a mediated settlement. Here’s where we try to enlarge the pie rather than split it in proportion with who has the deeper pockets and the better lawyer. Simply put, there’s no one way out of a mediation. There is also no right or wrong solution basis which one can proclaim whether justice is served or not. Mediation merely provides a forum to evaluate options that may not necessarily be conventional. As long as it’s not illegal, its permissible! iv. Reality Testing: Being as it is not a court decree, a mediated settlement has a much larger scope of solutions to pick from. This brings with it the challenge of implementation of these creative solutions we discussed above.

This is where the mediator plays a crucial role and asks parties to consider stepping into the other stakeholders’ shoes and evaluate whether a proposed solution will be practicable or not.

The above are a few techniques ingrained in the mediation mechanism which have had an influence on my way of thinking. Even in my daily life, I have learnt to appreciate the power of simple conversation to resolve potential conflict.I recognize the power of an admission and/or apology which can work wonders and go a long way in securing relationships. (I have personally witnessed cases being withdrawn on the grounds of one party merely accepting that they were wrong. I am now able to evaluate positions of all

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

involved stakeholders from a neutral perspective.

Believing that what we learn in ADR stays within the 4 walls of the room is a myth.

Even in my daily life, I have learnt to appreciate the power of simple conversation to resolve potential conflict.

Mediation is a conditioning of one’s thought process. In my case, each of the above qualities helps me handle my communications, behavior as well as responses and recommendations in particular situations at my current corporate job profile that has nothing to do with dispute resolution per se. In mediation, unlike the law, there is no one-size-fits-all solution; the mediator has to work painstakingly with the parties to develop a solution that they can not only live with but embrace wholeheartedly. Similarly, while working in a team at a corporate house, it is important to understand that each team member will have a different perspective and it is in the interest of the entity to take into account this

35

ALumni voice difference of interests and work towards a solution that harmonizes rather than divides them. For example while working as a legal and compliance officer, it is not enough for one to simply reject all proposed sales strategies of the Sales team. One will have to consider the perspective of the Finance team that has to crunch numbers, the Sales team that has to meet targets and the business growth team which needs the sales numbers in order to plan expansions of the business and so on and so forth. Hence, the simple point being made here is that it is not enough to divide the pie but the need of the hour is to enlarge it to an extent where it can accommodate the interests of all relevant stakeholders. Unlike a conventional litigation, where a lawyer’s job is to advocate for his client vociferously and not consider the other party’s situation, a mediation gears you with the reasoning and analytical way of thinking which helps you evaluate the risk of all involved stakeholders and work towards a solution that provides the maximum happiness to the maximum number (Yes, I just quoted Bentham!)

that mediation is an intuitive skill which will automatically imbibe itself into them. They could not be more mistaken. Mediation is an acquired skill which requires conscious effort to be practiced and mastered. My advice to any of you reading this who want to explore ADR seriously, is to reach out to your seniors who’ve participated in the internal selections before or have attended competitions and trainings and understand from them what it takes to succeed in them. Trust me, it is not merely a free trip but an enriching experience that you’ll gain for a lifetime (and thank me for later.) All the best for the ADR competitions this year.

Please feel free to reach out to me in case of any queries/ guidance/ questions/ advice/ feedback/ suggestions.

[Tanima Tandon: tanima.tandon10@nludelhi.ac.in]

ADR at NLU Delhi Disappointingly enough, the culture of ADR at NLU, Delhi is still in a nascent stage being met by the callous and careless attitude of students who claim that an ADR competition is merely an easily obtainable college-sponsored international trip. This is evident from the feedback received from judges year on year after the internal selections. Students do not prepare for internal selections and if selected, not even for competitions because they have the strange belief

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

36

CAMPUS

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

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CAMPUS

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CAMPUS

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39

Luminaries

After his stint at the RBI Rajan intends to go back to academia, firmly dismissing any interest in climbing the rungs of political ladder unlike his predecessor and former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, and hopefully, away from the limelight. Unless of course, he becomes the prophet that people already consider him to be.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

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Luminaries

ON A TOUGH RIDE: RAGHURAM RAJAN Anwesha Choudhary

Raghuram Rajan, the rockstar economist heading the Reserve Bank of India has managed to pull off one of the most positive and stable regime with regard to monetary policy. Here’s his journey, with all the twists and turns.

2013 marked a not-so-happy year for the Indian economy. The Rupee had plummeted to new depths, hitting a record low on August 28, posting its biggest percentage fall in 18 years.

Other challenges included a record current account deficit and the weakest economic g rowth in a decade.

Desperate measures by the government to tackle the situation yielded no results.

Fortunately, the accident-prone UPA government did get a chance to redeem itself. DY Subbarao, was to demit the office of Governor of the Reserve Bank of India of 4th September, and UPA, in one of its more commendable decisions, appointed the then Chief Economic Advisor, Raghuram Govind Rajan, as the 23rd RBI Governor.

Living up to the Hype Raghuram Rajan had returned to India in 2012 with an academic superstar’s reputation – a tenured job at the University of Chicago, one of the world’s top economic schools, and

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

non-Westerner Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund, for three years. In 2005, Rajan had famously presented a paper at an event for Alan Greenspan wherein, instead of praising the outgoing chairman of the US Federal Reserve, he criticized the financial establishment, and predicted many elements of the soon-to-follow global financial crisis of 2008. Soothsayer extraordinaire he may have been, even so, Rajan had never led an institution like the RBI, let alone at a moment as perilous as this. But, “Rajan started with a bang” and how!

By the time he completed the first year of his tenure, the Rupee had stabilized and the current account deficit was under control. To the surprise of many, he made good on his promise to tame inflation and raised interest rates even as the economy slowed. The move brought comparisons with Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, who killed inflation in the early 1980s, despite causing a recession in the process. Thankfully, Rajan’s gamble paid off. The rupee gained 10% against the dollar year-onyear, and inflation fell by over two percentage points. Most importantly, 41

Luminaries fight against inflation found favour with the government thereby putting him under no pressure to cut interest rates to boost growth in Asia’s third largest economy.

What Next?

Having successfully secured the promised inflation target, Rajan has now sought to revive a long dormant reform as he seeks to modernize India's financial architecture: a freely floating currency. While this ambitious goal is unlikely to be realised during his current term, he intends to at least lay the ground work for it to happen.

The move, fortunately, is in tune with the BJP-led government's ambitions to increase India's economic weight on the international stage. After all, it is not uncommon for relations between the RBI and the government to be fraught with tension.

NaMo versus Rockstar Rajan?

Benegal Rama Rau, the fourth RBI governor, had resigned abruptly in January 1957 due to differences with the t h e n f i n a n c e m i n i s t e r T. T. Krishnamachari. Subbarao shared an uneasy relationship with P. Chidambram, with both parties frequently resorting to the media, almost in a child-like manner, to take digs at each other. Similarly, the kind of relationship existing between the Central Government and the RBI presently has interested many a people.

When the Modi government came to power last year, the position of the RBI boss, an appointee of the outgoing Cong ress g over nment, seemed precarious. In the initial months, senior members of the Prime Minister’s Party had expressed their displeasure with Rajan’s tough stance on interest rates, which then seemed to threaten the Prime Minister’s pledge to reboot Rajan has economic growth, and the Governor in maintained turn had cautioned the government that the against putting too much faith in the Bhartiya expected exports under the “Make in Janata India” policy. Even though Rajan has Party’s throughout maintained that the Bhartiya Janata Party’s victory, is the “single victory, is biggest positive development for the the “single economy” and recently, the Prime biggest Minister himself praised Rajan, calling positive him “perfect” , for explaining complex development economic policies to him and said there for the was “similarity in thinking” on both economy” sides, the revised draft of the Indian Financial Code issued by the Finance Ministry suggests otherwise. The draft seeks to take away the veto power of the RBI chief while taking rate-related decisions, a move which has been criticised as a deliberate, crafty attempt to dilute the Governor’s powers, which Moody’s Analytics predicts, would make i t d i f f i c u l t t o a n ch o r i n f l a t i o n expectations and adversely impact the stability of India’s financial market. In a rather amusing turn of events, the government has now disowned the proposal, saying it in no manner reflects the government’s views!

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

42

Luminaries

India’s Most Desirable

On a lighter note, ever since he has taken over the coveted office, his good looks have attracted as much admiration as his “hawkish” inflationary stance.

On a lighter note, ever since he has taken over the coveted office, his good looks have attracted as much admiration as his “hawkish” inflationary stance. The local media has taken to describing him as "rock star" and a "sex symbol" with "chiselled" good looks and a tall frame; in Shobhaa De’s words, “The guy’s put ‘sex’ back into the limp Sensex”.

While Rajan is concerned that this may distract people from the very important task of policy making, he does admit that introducing glamour into some professions attracts young people–“If a boring economist can become glamorous, maybe economics is something worth pursuing.” He cites his own fascination with John Maynard Keynes as an example –while he hadn't really internalised what Keynes had to say, the idea of a superstar economist did influence him greatly. In the same breath, he flags the issue that a lack of enough economists with good understanding of the fundamentals of economics, such as price theory and general equilibrium, in the

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

country,inevitably hurts policymaking and hopes that we will be able make up for the loss of one generation of good economists.

This is a cause of concern as he is quite unsure of whether the RBI as an institution will be welcome to foreign policy makers, at least in the near future.

After his stint at the RBI Rajan intends to go back to academia, firmly dismissing any interest in climbing the rungs of political ladder unlike his predecessor and for mer Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, and hopefully, away from the limelight. Unless of course, he becomes the prophet that people already consider him to be.

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Delhi diary

The Delhi Food Trail Saumya Sharma This is an attempt to introduce this year’s freshers to the gastronomical tradition of Delhi. The list has been curated keeping in mind that all of you have a long way to go before you start earning—that is, this is a list of inexpensive to moderately priced restaurants and food hubs in Delhi.

Yours truly has not included any home delivery options in this list, as the idea is to inspire you to explore the city.

In alphabetical order, 1. BArbeque NAtion Unlimited starters and buffet lunch and dinner- all under 700 bucks per person! The food taste and quality is very good, ensuring you get full value for your money. Located in Janakpuri, it is very convenient for us at NLUD to reach this place also it’s only a few stations by the metro.

Nearest Metro Station: Janakpuri West

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

2. BENGALI MARKET This small yet popular market houses Nathu Sweets and Bengali Sweets, with both serving North Indian, South Indian, and Chinese fare. Low prices and good taste is what draws crowds here. Don’t miss the gol gappas and paan at Bengali Sweets!

Nearest Metro Station: Mandi House 3. CHANDNI CHOWK Paranthe Wali Gali. Period. That said, you must head to Chandni Chowk. Word of Caution: The paranthas served here are stuffed with a plethora of ingredients and deep fried, thus having a tendency to break friendships on the decisive lines of whether deep fried paranthas are the way to go or not. Irrespective of that, you must not form your opinion based on what others have to say. Head there and try them out for yourself!

Once you are there, have lassi

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Delhi diary from the same gali, and aloo tikki from Nataraj Chaat located opposite the Paranthe Wali Gali. If you head there in winters, which is something I would highly recommend given that paranthas warm your soul and so does tikki, do try out Duaulat Ki Chaat from one of the go-carts in Chandni Chowk. This chaat is a whipped cream based dessert served only in winters.

Nearest Metro Station: Chandni Chowk.

4. Dilli Haat Find cuisines from almost all Indian states under one roof (or actually none, since it is open-air) here. It is the culture and handicraft hub of Delhi.

Nearest Metro Station: INA 5. Drool Kitchen This is closer home, being located under the Sector 10 Dwarka metro station. It has very good thin crust pizzas, thus saving you a trip to Khan Market.

Go here if you want to eat out in a nice ambience but are too lazy to travel long distances for it.

Nearest Metro Station: Sector 10, Dwarka 6. GTB Nagar Although we are not DU students, Art. 19(1) (d) guarantees our right to chill out in this North Campus hangout spot.

This place has a number of inexpensive eateries whipping out good stuff. Ricos, Big

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

Yellow Door Café, QD’s and Woodhouse Café are recommended. Do not miss the legendary milkshakes of Woodhouse café, served in cut Grey Goose vodka and Heineken beer bottles!

Nearest Metro Station: GTB Nagar 7. Guruprasad Udipi This eatery should be visited at night because of its open air seating arrangement. Its proximity to the IGI Airport ensures that airplanes cruise overhead as you enjoy a hearty meal with large portions. Offering South Indian, North Indian, and Chinese cuisines, this place is thronged by students from the neighboring IIT and JNU, and families alike.

Nearest Metro Station: None. This restaurant is located in Munirka and it is advisable to go there by car.

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Delhi diary

8. Jama Masjid The area around the Jama Masjid is a non-vegetarians’ delight. Special mention goes to Aslam Chicken Corner and Haji Shabrati Nihari Wale. Visiting this place during a Ramzan evening is bound to take you to foodie paradise.

Nearest Metro Station: Chawri Bazar

9. Rajouri Garden Rajouri garden has a vast array of trendy cafes and restaurants to choose from, all at a walking distance from the nearest metro station. California Boulevard is highly recommended although it is a bit steep on the pocket. The locality also houses one of the best chaat shops in West Delhi, namely Atul Chaat Bhandaar located in the main Rajouri Garden market.

Nearest Metro Station: Rajouri Garden

only on Sundays for lunch has a huge fan following and deserves to be tried atleast once. Bihar Niwas houses a branch of the acclaimed Bihari cuisine restaurant, The Potbelly. In addition to the bhawans, the Delhi Karnataka Center’s Karnataka Food Center should be tried for its great Kannada food.

Nearest Metro Station: Various, depending on the location of the Bhawans.

Goes without saying, this list is not exhaustive and is not meant to be so. There are amazing food joints hidden in the nooks and crannies of Delhi, which I hope you all do explore. Enjoy gorging on the delicious fare that this city has to offer!

10.State Bhawans The States of our country have their own bhawans in the capital, and some of these bhawans have very popular canteens. Andhra Bhawan’s biryani served

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

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Delhi diary

Odisha Bhawan - Review Devanshi Saxena

Delhi promises a foodie a huge variety of Indian and Foreign cuisines. The easiest way to do so is to visit the State Bhawans of each State. In my 4 years of staying here I’ve had the opportunity of visiting only 3 of them but I hope the final year will leave me with enough time to visit the rest. The most recent one was the recently opened Odisha Bhawan at Dwarka. Our campus has less than 10 people who hail from Orissa and I could find only one who was enthusiastic enough about the Oriya cuisine to take us there. Amrutanshu is a regular at the Odisha Bhawan and guarantees that they serve authentic Oriya dishes though there menu is limited. You also have need to call them up and tell them in advance if you plan a group lunch/dinner. The place is located less than a km from campus though it isn’t very easy to find unless you go with somebody who’s been there before or you ask around.

18th July this year was the day of a significant year of the Jagannath Yatra. It coincided with Eid and while Akram Bhaiya treated everyone to Sevaiyaan on this occasion at dinner, I got to sample the Oriya cuisine for lunch. That’s just one of the benefits of living in a multi-cultural, multi-religious country, each being as fascinating as the next.

The canteen at Odisha Sadan is run by Mr. Santosh Tripathi and his family with the main motive of giving fellow Oriyans a taste of home cooked food and to

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

introduce others to this cuisine. It’s a small dining area with only 4-5 tables and the ambience isn’t the best part but they’re working on it. I tried the Vegetarian Thali there and Basi pakhala (Pronounced pokhal) with a choice of fried vegetables. The non-vegetarian options like fish, chicken and prawns are also available but It’s recommended that they are informed in advance.

The thali included saggo, kottha, dalma, khichdi, achaar and kheeri. The saggo is made of spinach, coconut and brinjals. The kottha was made of ripe mangoes and was sweet and spicy at the same time reminding me of Chocolat Boulangerie Patisserie’s Spicy chocolate ganache. I couldn’t finish it but it’s worth a shot. The Dalma which I really liked tasted a lot like Bisi Bele bhaath minus the bhaath. It looks like sambhar but doesn’t taste the same. It has unpeeled potatoes and other vegetables. The khichdi was as delicious and exactly the kind that’s made at home. If you miss ghar ki khichdi then you’ll love it.

Finally the kheeri which was made of rice, milk, raisins and cashews. It was just the right kind of sweet.

Next was the Basi pakhala which is fermented rice.

It is served with fried fish or bhaja (fried vegetables). It is recommended that you use your hands to eat it. It is an ideal summer dish. After finishing the rice, you have to drink up the water which is not only delicious but will have you slightly buzzed (Google handia). If that and the lure of home cooked food (read: non greasy and light) available at a walking distance from the hostel doesn’t interest you to give this place a shot, nothing will. So go on!

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Majeed’s

Dwarka

The Delhi Column

Drool CafĂŠ, Sector 13 Recommended: Piri Piri Burger

Spice shot

Mutton-te-kukkad

Paradise Biryani Recommended: Chicken hyderabadi dum Biryani

Pasta Express Recommended: Veg Lovers, Golden Delight

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

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Delhi diary

Cafés in Delhi

• Glenz café • Red brick, karol Bagh • elma’s café • big chill cakery • wengers

Bookstores

• Oxford bookstore • full circle for second hand books, • daryaganj

Events

• skrillex • nh7 weekender • delhi half marathon • indian super league

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

Entertainment

• indian habitat centre • kingdom of dreams • heritage walks around Paharganj, daryaganj, and chandni chowk.

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open space

My Tryst with Anime Everyone has an escape from the vagaries of life.

What’s absurd is the way people judge you for unconventional choices about the same. DVL Vidya speaks about her love,and escape - Anime.

DVL Vidya During

my 3rd grade summer

holidays I did something that surprised each and every member of my family. I woke up every-day at 6 AM to watch Anime on AXN. I loved sleeping, still do in fact, but every day, without fail, I woke up at 6 AM to watch an Anime…about some extremely intensive competitive fishing. I vividly remember the main character saved the world a number of times. People died, and the bad guys were reformed. This entire Anime, with its reckless main character who was obsessed with fishing, and the villain who wanted to take over the world (you know, by fishing) was meant for kids. Pokemon was meant for kids too. So was Dragon Ball. There might be a few people who argue that Dragon Ball and Pokemon had some pretty intense problems. But so did Courage the Cowardly Dog and we all know that it was meant for kids. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not going to judge people who still watch Dragon Ball and Pokemon. The entire point of this article is to prove the opposite; just October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

50

open space

because the show is based on someone’s drawings, it doesn’t become something of Animes are based) meant exclusively for children. When someone that has made me squeal says that they watch Anime, the first response louder than any book has. I they get is usually someone mocking them for was glued to Animax from 7th watching stuff meant for kids, or creepy smiles to 8th grade and threw a fit, a because they automatically assume that you watch literal hissy fit, when it stopped hentai (the Anime equivalent of porn). It’s strange airing and then turned to the that people associate anime with either children or internet to satisfy my Anime needs. I porn. When I first started watching Anime I became reclusive and associated it with really serious and prolonged stayed at home a lot more I’m tired of battles. But as I continued watching, I than usual. While other being told that I realized that I was watching only a certain people went ahead and should “Grow type of Anime. I have watched Anime dabbled in various extrathat has messed with my head and up and stop curricular activities, I sat made me see things with an entirely at home and read the watching new perspective. I have read Manga 200th chapter of a Manga cartoons.” (the comics based on which a lot I wasn’t even sure I liked.

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open space It was unhealthy and clearly obsessive, but I loved every minute of it.

How I’m tired of being told that I should “Grow up and stop watching cartoons.” Or for being judged by my friends for lusting after an It is not as awesome as I make it out to Anime character. It’s weird. My mom can watch be. Homophobia, sexism and other forms a show where the biggest scandal is the female of bigotry are still a running theme in a lot lead holding hands with someone other than of Anime. I cringe every time the male lead her husband, and somehow the shows that I tells the female lead to “stay back” and that watch are childish. My friends can squeal over a he’ll “protect her” and that “girls shouldn’t do one-dimensional actor who spouts pseudo stuff like that”. More often than not the romantic lines to the female female lead cowers behind, lead and performs stunts and lets the male lead takes Reality is never as pretty which defy the laws of physics, over. But there are a lot of as it is made to seem in and somehow I’m the weird Anime where the female lead films. It’s weird and often one. Reality is never as pretty tells the guy to bugger off and completely messed up; and as it is made to seem in films. kicks some serious ass. Needless It’s weird and often completely to say, I live for those moments. It people seek to escape such messed up; and people seek to isn’t just the amazing character an existence. Whether it be escape such an existence. alcohol, drugs or the development that gets me so Whether it be alcohol, drugs or hooked. I’ve never seen a more internet, people turn to the internet, people turn to diverse range of plots ever in my things that would make things that would make reality life. I have seen a lot of great TV reality a little less crappy. a little less crappy. But the shows but where else would you thing is, we have made this find a show where the main escapism a sort of competition. character is living in denial about a zombie The need for competition and a form of apocalypse, and roams around her abandoned school escapist hierarchy is so engraved into us that attending imaginary classes, while her two there is literally nothing we can do to escape companions feed off her superficial happiness in it, not even when we seek to escape order to stop themselves from drowning in despair? everything else. So the next time Or a show where a group of teenagers who are somebody tells you what they do in their trying to find and fight God after dying a horrible free time and it isn’t very conventional, death and getting stuck in purgatory? The complex and I’m not talking solely of Anime characters, the wonderful plot and the beautiful art, and Manga here, take off your what else could you possibly ask for? I can refer to judgemental thinking cap and be loads of Anime that have complex plots which can open to experiencing new things. be deemed ‘adult’, to make you realize that Anime is For all you know their form of not exclusively for kids. But that isn’t the point of escape is much healthier or even this article. The point of this article is to show how more entertaining than yours. frustrated I am on being judged.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

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open space

THE SHEER

STUPIDITY OF THE SUBWAY SURFER Jahnavi Singh Jahnavi revels in the enchanting appeal of Subway Surfers and tries to make philosophy out of a mobile game.

We have all played this particular android game called 'The Subway Surfer'. It starts with a short scene which shows a vagabond vandalizing public property by drawing some spray paint graffiti on a wall and a cop giving him a heated chase after that. As the game progresses, we see how the teenage boy runs for his life, jumps off trains, even flies in the air in order to grab those gold coins which he gets as a reward for dodging law by deftly running past moving trains and stalled bogies.

I was also introduced to this game when I bought my new android phone. People would play this game for hours at a stretch; at metro stations, in trains, in classrooms, in offices, in beds. This game was addictive. I also tried my luck at it and failed miserably. I laughed at the sheer stupidity of this game and got back to whatever I was doing in life. It was then that I realized that it wasn't as stupid as it seemed to be. It was the most simplistic games of all but in its simplicity it taught us the most important lessons. Subway surfer is much like our lives. We are the teenage boy

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

running on the tracks of life. The cop running behind us is the pressure to do something useful (rather something which according to the general social perception is considered to be useful). We keep running, being rewarded with gold coins for not falling and not stopping. The pressure of the cop behind us gives us speed for sure but it takes away from us our perspective; it takes away our creativity. Barring the point of public property vandalism, I think painting graffiti was much more creative than just running on deserted railway tracks in the hope of collecting more and more gold coins.

The story doesn't end here. As the game progresses, the numbers and positions of coins change in a manner that they become more lucrative, yet more dangerous. The person running on the tracks now has to balance his greed with his self preservation instinct. One small slip and the cop is ready with his baton to give him a good thrashing.

This pressure creates the required thrill for this game I guess. It is much like a game of

53

open space wager. Even if you lose you feel that winning was so close that you are coaxed to try again.

One attempt leads to another and you don't even realize when you got addicted to it. But the truth is it is just a mirage. There is no end to it. The subway surfer doesn't have a destination.

There is no goal or target pulling him. There's just an immediate reason pushing him to run. His motivation to run is external. That's exactly what is happening with our lives in modern times. We run in directions where the social norms are pushing us. We are so much under pressure of that baton that we are scared to even halt and reason out for a second. So we keep running.

Till the time we are able to dodge the cop, we think we are being successful. The coins that we collect en route make us happy. The sheer number of those coins makes us happy. They are of no use to us because we don't even stop to look at them. We can't afford to. But the very fact that we have them makes us happy. Why? Is it because they are capable of giving us some ecstatic, overwhelming joy? Or is it actually because we have been conditioned to believe that their possession should make us happy? I think it is the latter. The rules of the game of our life also force us to believe that the more the number of gold coins we have, the higher is our happiness quotient.

But the question is, do all of us actually want to be the subway surfer? The subway surfer seems to be very brave, a maverick, a good runner, a good schemer and a risk taker. He has millions of gold coins now. He has some superpowers as well! (He can fly, run at rocket speed and pull coins with his magnets). But even after all these he is a fugitive. He cannot stop to catch his breath; he can't make the cop stop chasing him.

Even after gaining so much he is still a slave to

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

Even if you lose you feel that winning was so close that you are coaxed to try again. One attempt leads to another and you don't even realize when you got addicted to it. the wish of the cop. He has to keep running till the time the cop is chasing him. And the chase seems endless because that is the central theme of the game. The poor boy shall never rest in peace now. The race has started. He took up the challenge of running it and now there is no looking back. Those powers and gold coins cannot buy him the time or opportunity to paint graffiti in life. He has already sacrificed his creativity; his peace of mind; his life for this race.

If I were the designer of this game, I would have certainly created an option for the poor boy; an option to bargain with the cop in lieu of his gold coins; an option to buy back his freedom. But alas, the futility of the coins is shown with the lack of this option. There will come a time when the poor boy would run out of breath; when his legs would give way and when his superpowers would be exhausted.

Then, I think, he would realize the futility of the gold coins he would have collected and crave for the freedom he had in their absence.

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open space

Who Runs the Internet Aditya Garg

Aditya Garg talks about ICANN, and its role in IANA Transition Stewardship.

If one were to sit down today and make a list of things they cannot live without, the Internet would make the list for mostly anyone who has had access to it in the past. In the 21st century, Internet is nothing less than a necessity for most of the people who use it for multiple purposes ranging from researching for a paper to staying in touch with family and friends. Internet has also increasingly become an avenue for people to voice their concerns against Governments, Multinational Corporations, etc, where they are read by anyone who is able to access the internet. In some senses, Internet has increasingly started to become the place with full freedom to express one’s views, which is why people are drawn to it.

ICANN – Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers – is a not-for-profit organization based out of California which is responsible currently for taking care of IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) Functions of the Internet. IANA Functions, simply put, is maintaining a central repository for protocol name and number registries used in many Internet protocols; coordinating the allocation of Internet Protocol (IP) and Autonomous System (AS) numbers to the Regional Internet Registries, who then distribute IP and AS

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

numbers to ISPs and others within their geographic regions; and processing root zone change requests for Top Level Domains (TLDs) and making the Root Zone WHOIS database consisting of publicly available information for all TLD registry operators.

But, hang on - what does that have to do with Facebook or YouTube or anything that matters to an average internet user? Well, it does. ICANN, in managing the IANA functions, actually maintains the so-called ‘directory’ of the Internet. So, every time you go to GoDaddy or BigRock and purchase a domain name, it is ICANN which ultimately ‘adds’ your website to the root of the Internet (through a fairly long process, which I shall not take up here).

Until now, the role of ICANN in managing the IANA functions was under the oversight of NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) of the US government. But, in the March of 2014, NTIA decided to leave the Stewardship and instead bring in a more Multi-Stakeholder based approach. For this, they asked ICANN to convene a series of meetings of all the Global Stakeholders. This was done so that the process for the transition could be devised by the community which would ultimately use the Internet.

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open space

The Stakeholders, in the process, were to give in their comments on how process of this transfer should take place and who should the Stewardship role pass on to.

NTIA also laid down certain conditions for any plan that was proposed by the community; which, amongst others, asked for NTIA to not be replaced by either a single body or the government of another country.

The real problem arises with the way this process is taking place. The document released by NTIA called on the global stakeholder community to discuss the process of the IANA Stewardship Transition but never explicitly mentioned whether the community should also discuss the role of ICANN as the manager of these Functions, and if it should change. ICANN, having the power to organise the community, has subtly hinted in its Policy Document of its desire to continue in the role and that it’s not up for debate. However, this has come under severe criticism by community arguing that the management of the IANA functions is also up for debate, since the revamp should be a complete one.

Once NTIA steps down, there will be a new multistakeholder approach (which is yet to be defined) to oversee the management of IANA Functions. ICANN is currently empowered to decide on the Policies governing October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

the IANA Functions under its Bylaws. Critics of the process are now worried that if the management is not taken away from ICANN, they might have unlimited power over both - the policies governing the IANA Functions and its implementation. With a brann e w Mu l t i - S t a k e h o l d e r approach which hasn’t passed the test of time. Unlimited power with ICANN would give them the right to decide what website stay on the Internet and what doesn’t. Which would seriously jeopardise the freedom of the Internet!

Although, credit must be given to ICANN for initiating proceedings to discuss its own accountability, critics remain unsure of whether this will bring about a significant. Stakeholders from all over the globe have been coming together, and working together, since March 2014 to be able to come up with an approach which ensures for maximum accountability once the Stewardship Transition occurs, and that Internet remains a free space for everyone. Even if ICANN is not deprived of its role as the manager of the functions, the community is trying to come up with the strongest approach to make them fully accountable so that the Internet is not governed by one body, and the ability to access it is enjoyed by all.

So, as people who use the Internet regularly for all that we do, it is our duty to be aware of what is going on and how will it affect our beloved Internet. Ours is a duty to ensure that with the IANA Stewardship Transition, will also make our transition into more informed ‘netizens’.

So the next time someone asks you about who runs the Internet - tell them that ICANN doesn’t, and shouldn’t be allowed to.

56

Literature

Agatha Christie ~ Remembering Agatha on her 125th birth anniversary, Akansha Seth traces the genius of the queen of whodunits.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

57

Literature

Hailed

as one of the most invaluable

forerunners of classical detective stories, celebrated British crime-fiction writer Agatha Christie’s works still enthral most of our early teenage summers. September 15 this year marks her 125th birth anniversary which shall see much fervour and gaiety culminating into the International Agatha Christie Festival, a nine day literary extravaganza (September 11-20) at her birthplace Torquay in England.

Fondly christened ‘the Queen of Crime’, Christie created the likes of Parker Pyne, Jane Marple, Hercule Poirot, Harley Quin and Tupper Beresford; the heroes who have personified investigative brilliance for

fascination with the city of New York, the

generations spanning across geographies,

geographical thematic basis of some of her

races and nationalities. Her maiden stint

work (a part of detective Poirot’s journey,

(The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920)

too). It’s an emotion she poignantly

chronicled the retired Belgian police officer

captures in these words: “It is ridiculous to

Poirot; a crisp, short man with ‘little grey

set a detective story in New York City. New York

cells’, sporting an immaculate ‘waxed’

City is itself a detective story.”

moustache; who went on to become one of the most abiding characters in the genre of suspense. About a decade later the world saw the quirky Jane Marple who appeared in print for the first time in Murder at the Vicarage in 1930.

Her writings, at some points, engrain her

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

Her carefully woven plots were oft a reflection of her life and travels. It’s not a widely known fact that the much acclaimed Queen of Crime had a pen name to veil her sojourn in the genre of romance. Marie Westmacott has half a dozen novels to her credit.

58

Literature has intrigued the fourth estate for the times

That her genius at characterisation and knitting tersely racy plots is not complemented by the same level of literary brilliance is a criticism oft-levelled against her.

to follow with dozens of conspiracy theories being fuelled including the one in which the compass of doubt pointed towards her unfaithful first husband.

Christie’s pen also wielded magic and catapulting her to dizzying heights of success as a playwright, with her creation ‘Mousetrap’ having seen the longest,

In 1971, the title ‘Dame of the British

unbroken run at a London theatre. Her

Empire’ was conferred upon her.

writing has also inspired over thirty feature

In the autumn of 2006, The Guardian

films.

published biographer Andrew Norman’s

That her genius at characterisation and

claim of having cracked the mystery of the

knitting tersely racy plots is not

author’s much hyped 11-day disappearance

complemented by the same level of literary

that had increasing grapevine growing

brilliance is a criticism oft-levelled against

around it, as time elapsed. Over the years,

her.

her fan quarters have been abuzz with speculations about what transpired on the evening of December 3, 1926 that led to her astonishingly slipping out of her home.

Norman attributes it to a unique medical state of stress-induced amnesia termed as the 'fugue state' characterised by a period of trance; one of the many attempts to explain her sudden absence.

This episode was so uncannily like a leaf out

The Mistress of Crime lived a life as abuzz with controversy and romancing mystery as the fiction that she created. October 1975 saw the appearance of ‘Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case’ which resulted into a front page obituary for Hercule Poirot. Written during the Second World War, it had been kept in a safe and scheduled to see the light of day following her own death. She died in January, 1976.

of one of her mystery novels that it is famed to have inspired the acclaimed novelist Dorothy Sayer’s work Unnatural Death. It October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

59

Film & Television

“

The Honourable Woman is a

breathtakingly ambitious

series, dealing with ideas of nationhood, identity,

revenge and the power of information, all against the backdrop of the

�

Isreal-Palestine

conflict.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

60

Film & Television

Review: The Honorable Woman Bhargavi Vadeyar A gripping insight into the tangled web of the Israel-Palestine conflict

Title: The Honourable Woman Director: Hugo Blick Written by: Hugo Blick Starring: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Stephen Rea, Lubna Azabal, Andrew Buchan, Janet McTeer, Katherine Parkinson

The

Honourable Woman is that most wonderful of TV programmes – a BB C miniseries. It tells the story of Nessa Stein (Maggie Gyllenhaal), the Anglo-Israeli daughter of a famous Israeli businessman who provided weaponry for the Israeli Defence Army. In the opening sequences of the first episode, we see her father being assassinated, and Nessa’s guilt for his actions haunts her throughout the series.

When the adult Nessa takes over her father’s business, therefore, she takes a more pacifist approach to the Israel – Palestine conflict.

Instead of bombs and walls, she donates to universities and lays communication cables in the West Bank. Nessa has a mysterious relationship with her brother Efra’s housekeeper and nanny, Atika Halibi (Lubna Azabal), a relationship that becomes clearer as the show progresses.

who was working with the Stein Group commits suicide in rather suspicious circumstances. Both of these catch the attention of MI6, in particular the spy Hugh Hayden-Hoyle (Stephen Rea) and his boss Julia Walsh (Janet McTeer).

As the remainder of the story unfolds, it provides a vivid cross-sectional look into the Israel – Palestine conflict, serving as a simplified representation of the various powers and players in the region. The first half of this eightpart series is slightly slow, but it is well worth sticking with it. The writer and director, Hugo Blick, is masterful in his handling of the complex history and relationships that characterise the conflict, and successfully resists the urge to hero worship or vilify any one party.

The Honourable Woman is a breathtakingly ambitious series, dealing with ideas of nationhood, identity, revenge and the power of information, all against the backdrop of the Isreal-Palestine conflict. At its heart, though, it is really a story about the relationship between the two women, Nessa and Atika. This human grounding is what elevates the show from an espionage thriller about the Middle East to a story that stays with you long after the credits have rolled.

In the first episode, we learn about two seemingly unrelated crimes: Atika’s son Kasim is kidnapped and a Palestinian businessman

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

61

sports

And Then There will be None.

As

Utkarsh Srivastava Utkarsh Srivastava writes about the improbable longevity of Roger Federer and our obsession with compressing the careers of our heroes to one drab statistic.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

Novak Djokovic bends down to

pull out some grass from the lush green lawns at SW19 and puts it into his mouth to experience the sweet gluten free taste of his Wimbledon victory, Roger Federer sits close by.

Federer is a dejected man who has once again failed to be the last man standing at a Grand Slam tournament.

A similar fate awaits him at the hard courts of New York, a couple of months later. Once again, the same Serbian machine is Federer’s tormentor, beating him in four tight sets and entering the elite club of players with Grand Slams running into the double digits. More than three years have now rolled by since the last taste of a major victory for Roger Federer. That adds up to more than 38 months – 160+ weeks – 1000+ days – a period spanning 13 Grand Slam tournaments. It is a period over which Djokovic has had that moment of glory five times, Nadal got there thrice, Murray and Wawrinka decorated their trophy cabinet with two pieces of major silverware each and even Marin Cilic managed one of his own.

But Federer has none. So does that mean that it is time for him to pack up his bags and retire? Does it imply that he is too old to hop around in his shorts with a tennis racquet in hand?

Absolutely NOT. 61

sports Today, every time Federer is on the wrong side of a tennis match score line, debates over his future kick off. Tennis pundits begin to question his ability to ever win Slam No. 18 and subtly but invariably remind him that his glorious tennis days are now well past him. Isn’t this entire routine of

find the gaps between the

Today, every time Federer is on the wrong side of a tennis match score line, debates over his future kick off.

fielders or the Maestro still creating magic with winners at unknown and im possible angles, their dexterity was evident. Another feature has been their innovativeness.

Images of a five and a half f o o t Te n d u l ka r b e n d i n g backwards a la the Matrix,

‘wait for the next failure and

and sending a 140+ kmph

then make an issue out of it’

Brett Lee bouncer over the

reminiscent of what another

respective sport and

wicketkeeper’s head has been

Master from another game

remarkable longevity.

etched in the memories of

had to face in his twilight

No matter who you are and

many a cricket fan. Just as

years? Our very own Sachin

where you are from, there is

iconic, has been Roger

Tendulkar went through more

one thing that you would not

Federer’s masterpiece

or less the same experience. If

dispute, and that is the

‘between the legs tweener’

one sits down and ponders, it

exceptional talent that these

against none other than Novak

is interesting to note that the

two players possessed. When

Djokovic at the US Open

two of them have had very

a player is arguably t he

2009. Six years down the line,

similar sporting careers. Their

greatest to have ever played a

he continues to reinvent himself

sports were starkly different in

particular sport, the element of

with tactics such as the very

the sense that the Master was

talent is bountiful. That has

r e c e n t ‘ S A B R ’, w h i c h h e

involved in a team spor t

been the case with Tendulkar

employed at the US Open

whereas the Maestro operates

and Federer, both of whom are

2015. This points towards a

individually, but three broad

considered to be legends of

player who refuses to conform

themes run down their career

their respective games.

to the conventional mode.

paths – exceptional talent, an

Whether it was the Master

These innovative shots were not

unmatched passion for their

moving his blade with surgical

merely flashes in the pan.

precision on the cricket field to

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

62

sports These shots were regularly

climber who possibly got to

and continues to attract

conjured up by these players,

the top of Mt. Everest before

Federer to the tennis courts.

as and when they pleased. In

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing

And from the love of the

the years to come, both of

Norgay (but that is a

game flows longevity. A

them will be remembered as

separate issue with various

career spanning almost a

individuals who were better

theories for and against him

quarter of a century would

than the rest on normal days

being the first one to scale

not have been possible

and ethereal virtuosos on

Everest), who was asked why

without that undying desire

days when they were in their

he wanted to climb Mt.

to hammer bowlers around

elements.

Everest. He replied with what

the world. 17 years and

Passion and love for what

has become a quotable

counting as a world-beating

one does is a necessary

quote over t he years,

professional tennis player is

ingredient written down in

“Because it’s there.” That is

unimaginable. Yet Tendulkar

the recipe for success. The

the answer to the question of

and Federer redefined career

Master and Maestro

Tendulkar’s and Federer’s

spans. They made a mockery

epit omise suc h passion.

motivation. The game is there

out of the aging process. The

Sachin Tendulkar’s love for

to be played and top players

fact that Tendulkar became

the game was such that he

feel a sense of calmness and

the first man to score an ODI

had no idea about his future

tranquillity in the hustle-bustle

double century at the age of

after he retired from the

and roar of the competitive

37 and was the second

game. He had never planned

arena. The charm of another

highest run scorer at the

it. He had not imagined a

great battle lures them to the

2011 World Cup at the age

world without cric ket.

centre. Not money (they

of 38 clearly indicates that

Similarly, if you ask Federer

already have enough of it),

age was just another double

about his driving force in the

not fame (how much more of

digit number in his life.

autumn of his career a single

it can you have) but the pure

Similarly, the Swiss champion

sentence having “love” and

magnetic proper ties of

continues to be the world no.

“tennis” in the same sentence

another chance to fight it out

2 at the age of 34 when most

would be his answer. This

in the middle is what used to

tennis players would prefer

reminds me of George

pull Tendulkar to the stadium

to be in the commentary box,

Mallory, an avid mountain

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

unable to bear the grind of

63

sports the tennis circuit. The last time a

then when will he do it? And there

Grand Slam championship did not

lies the problem.

feature Roger Federer was in the

Our obsession with records and

last millennium (1999 US Open). He

numbers drives us to an extent

has been a part of

64 straight

where we enter a world of what

Grand Slam competitions, and the

‘could be and should be’ and simply

streak is still unbroken.

forget that which ‘is’. It blinds us to

What else can longevity in

the beauty which lies in the present.

a spor t be all about?

That is what we did with Tendulkar.

Unfortunately, all of the

We f o r g o t t o g a s p a t t h e

above is considered

magnificence of that straight drive

secondary. The fact that

and at the crispness of that cover

time slowed down for these

drive. We missed out on t he

two legends is insignificant

brilliance of those scores of 50s and

for us. That they hold

60s in our narrow minded approach

almost ever y record

which was blindly clamouring for a

possible in their respective

century from the Master’s willow.

fields does not matter.

The bigger picture of being

What matters to us is that

enthralled by the brilliance of a

No. 18 for Federer is just

once in a lifetime player got blurred

l i ke N o . 10 0 wa s f o r

in the background. Instead, the

Tendulkar, a few years

pressure to score that landmark

back. A few years back,

century became an albatross around

India’s sole obsession was

Tendulkar’s neck. It took him 34

wit h Tendulkar ’s 100

innings to move from No. 99 to 100,

Our obsession with records and numbers drives us to an extent where we enter a world of what ‘could be and should be’ and simply forget that which ‘is’.

It blinds us to the beauty which lies in the present.

th

hundred. Ever y news

a far cry from his average of a

channel, newspaper, cricket

hundred plus score every eight

exper t, self-proclaimed cric ket

innings which he maintained

expert, ex-player, cricket fan, man,

throughout his career. This was

woman and child had the same

nothing but disrespect shown to the

question – Will he ever do it? If yes,

player. We belittled those 99

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

64

sports centuries he had scored for the nation. Even if

us roar for the man and the magic that flows

he had failed to score century no. 100,

out of his racquet. He might have lost to Novak

Tendulkar would still have been 28 centuries

Djokovic twice in two months at Major finals,

clear of Ricky Ponting who is next in the list of

but let us not forget that Roger Federer is still

batsmen with maximum international centuries.

the player to beat right after the Serbian. He

Many a great player fails to score 28 centuries

still has it in him to demolish players of the

in his entire career, let alone being the highest

highest stature with his superior tennis

century scorer by that margin. In short, we

(example: Andy Murray getting pounded by

forgot that Tendulkar is a human being after

Federer in the semi-finals at Wimbledon 2015,

all.

the hammering of Stan Wawrinka at the semi-

Fast forward 3 years and there is a sense of

final stage of US Open 2015 or the methodical

dĂŠjĂ vu attached to the Federer situation. Once

dismantling of Novak Djokovic himself at the

again we are raising questions over a champion player. Doubts are being raised

Cincinnati Open 2015). And in that we must all rejoice.

about his ability to compete at the highest

There is no denying the inconvenient truth that

level. And we are once more trivializing what

Federer is no more the player he was. Age

Roger Federer has already achieved by

might have hurt him at a slower pace than

constantly reminding him of what he has not.

normal, but it will, one day or another catch up

That quest for the next major seems to be a

with him. As Tendulkar retired at the opportune

perennial thorn in his back. Tomorrow the

time, Federer too would know when the time

world might witness him lifting his 18th trophy

arrives for him. He might or might not go out

and the very next morning we would be

with a bang. His departure might be with a

questioning his ability to get the coveted singles

fairy tale Grand Slam victory, which he is very

Gold medal at the 2016 Olympics. This

well capable of achieving, similar to the one

constant bickering is therefore a never ending

scripted for Pete Sampras, or it might be the

process.

horror that was Don Bradman’s last match

We got it horribly wrong with Sachin Tendulkar when we forgot to celebrate every run in his final years and pestered him with the retirement dilemma day in and day out. Let us not go down that path again with Roger Federer. Let October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

where he was dismissed for a duck. No matter what it is, I ask how does it even matter in the larger scheme of things? All that matters is that the man is still up and running on the court and still drawing gasps from the crowd.

65

sports At a personal level, the

AAP Recommends

game of cricket lost its charm after the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar. We might have the Kohlis and the de Villiers but cricket without Tendulkar is not the same anymore. The world of tennis threatens to go down the same way whenever Federer walks off the court for the last time. Therefore, the need of the hour is to soak in

Fiction 1. The Lowland (2013), Jhumpa Lahiri 2. Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), Gabriel Garcia Marcez 3. Rustom and the Last Story Teller of Almora (2015), Gaurav Parab 4. On the Road (1957), Jack Kerouac 5. A Clutch of Indian Masterpieces (2014), David Davidar (ed.)

every Federer moment that comes our way with

Non-Fiction

open arms, without

1. Identity & Violence (2006), Amartya Sen 2. How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life (2014), Russ Roberts 3. Shadow Divers (2004), Robert Kurson 4. World Order (2014), Henry Kissinger 5. The Great Divide (2015) – Joseph Stiglitz

cribbing about the moments that did not. For we m u s t re a l i s e t h a t e a r l i e r we h a d b o t h Tendulkar and Federer enthralling us, then Tendulkar retired and there will come a day when Federer too will walk away into the sunset, with no worthy heir to take over the throne. And then there will be none.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

66

Crossword & quiz

Quiz 1. This film courted legal trouble when Jain monks protested against the film as the title of the flick X is also the name of a deity, who is worshipped as Lord Gomateshwara. The Jain Mutts were worried that the makers will show the peace loving God in a violent way. Soon, it was made clear that X had nothing to do with

Gomateshwara

and

is

in

fact

a

fictional

story

of

a

protagonist. Identify X. 2. Connect the following: Parliament, Harvester, Oil Rig, Satellite, Himalaya Mountains, Dandi March etc. (List is not exhaustive) 3. The following is the explanation of a newspaper's crest – ‘sun is the source of energy and vitality; India is the mother country; elephant represents strength and power; conch within the map of India symbolises the voice of the people; lotus stands for purity and independence; blade of grass stands for multiplicity and fertility; Kamdhenu

suggests

auspiciousness;'

Identify

the

newspaper.

4. X is not a lawyer. His career path starts with a steering wheel manufacturer before moving on to a petrochemical industry and later a financial services company. Teaming up with Sanjiv Saraf, he started Y, India's most recognizable online legal precedent database. Identify X and Y. 5. X was established in 1949 and edited by Sachin Chaudhari. It obtained its current name in 1966 and was edited by Krishna Raj for more than three decades and is among the most prestigious scholarly journals in India. It is published by the Sameeksha Trust. Identify X.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

67

Crossword & quiz 6. In 1999 after the Kargil War, the Kargil Review Committee was formed to study the state of national security. One of the recommendations was the proposal to X the citizens in the villagers

in

border

region. A

GoM

headed

by

L.K. Advani

submitted its report in 2011 and recommended the X of citizens.

However the current form was only established in 2009 after Planning Commission issued notification. Finally the logo and brand name was launched in 2010. Identify the current brand name or programme.

7. X taught law at faculty of law, University of Delhi where he remained

dean

f rom

1975-78

and

later

ser ved

as

vice

chancellor of the same. He was awarded Padma Shri in 2011.

Identify X, who is also associated with our University.

8. X

was

an

Ind ian

jur is t,

who

has

been

Unite d

Natio n’s

International Law Commission from 1952 to 1966. He was the only South Asian person appointed to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East’s trials of the Japanese war crimes committed during the WWII. Among all the judges, he was the only

to

have

submitted

the

judgement

which

insisted

all

defendants were not guilty.

9. Some sources tell that when Nanak Dev was a young boy, his father gave him some money and instructed him to conduct a business operation in order to make a profit and learn business skills. Nanak Dev used the money to buy food to feed the poor, and explained to his father that in doing so he had done ‘true business’. Thus,

the name came into

being as not

just

an

identity, but a philosophy of true deeds that serve humanity.

What name? Founder of the Organization with the same name was very much in news last year for his self-produced, selfacted film.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

68

Crossword & quiz 6.

7.

8.

9.

5.

3.

4.

1.

2.

Bahubali Various things printed on the back of Indian currency notes The Hindu X is Deepak Kapoor and Y is Manupatra Economic and Political Weekly Aadhar Upendra Baxi Radhabinod Pal Dera Sacha Sauda

Crossword #4

Answers to the Quiz

The Harry potter puzzle Across 1. Stunning Spell (7) 3. Year in which all Seven H u n d r e d Fo u l s we r e committed in Quidditch (4, in numbers) 5. Stone Basin full of Thoughts (8) 11. Voldemort’s Wand (3) 12. The Galleon Price of Harry’s Wand (5) 13. Founder of Gryffindor (3)

14. Colour of Hagrid’s Umbrella (4) 16. The Curse used to make Things you torch burn (9) 17. Spell Amos Diggory used to revive Winky (8) 19. Incantation which causes You to dance (13) 21. She’s a _____: Ron said hoarsely to Harry (5) 22. Instruments used to scare Gringotts’ Guard Dragon (8) 24. Aragog’s Mate (5)

Down 2. Washes Away all Magic Concealment (6, 8) 4. Moony (5) 6. Bewitched Corpse (6) 7. _____ is a Fickle Friend, Harry (4) 8. Everlasting Fire (11) 9. Hufflepuff (5) 15. Fred & George’s Assistant (6) 1 8 . Vo l d e m o r t ' s S t r e n g t h a n d Weaknesses (7) 20. Owl Emporium (7) 23. The Head of Giant (4)

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

69

Winners of Crossword #3

Answers to Crossword #3

hemant kothari And vivek Singh

CLUES to Crossword #3 Across

Down

3. Kashmiri Separatist (4) 4. Chaitanya Tamhane (5) 7. Introductory paragraph (7) 9. Recurring theme (9) 10. Blurred lines (4) 13. Basque country village painting (8) 14. New capital (10) 15. First SA hat-trick (6) 17. All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility (4) 19. Dadasaheb Phalke award (6)

1. Leftist computer (7) 2. Check your ___ (9) 5. Highest scorer (7) 6. Replacing Planning Commission (4,5) 8. From the beginning (2,6) 11. Obama's beast (8) 12. Form of leave (8) 13. Churchill's new neighbour at Westminster (6) 16. Urdu for opportunity (5) 18. Asian statesman (3)

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

70

Poll @ NLU Delhi A poll was conducted during tea breaks in the canteen and in the classrooms on various campus related issues.

Disclaimer: While we have tried to approach maximum number of students, the results are not indicative of the mood of the entire student body.

Cultural Events 64% students feel

82% students think

that the student community should work harder to make cultural evenings more special.

that there is no easy

Mess food

access to university’s

70% students think

sports equipment.

that the mess food on

sports equipment

weekends is worse.

87% students feel that there is

Legal AID

inadequate food variety in the

65% students do

Cafeteria.

47% students have

cafeteria food

not met their BOB.

not know what the Legal Aid Committee

Bob

does.

October 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

71

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