“Anything that ends well, dwells well in one’s memory”. Now we come to an end of Kaalkram’21 the three-day historical festival organized by the History Society of Dyal Singh college aimed to inspire the generation before us and beyond and nurture their minds with a historical conscience.
The History Society, Dyal Singh College has been one of the most dynamic students-led societies in the Delhi University Circle. It endeavours to empower the learners with expert guidance by Historians, Scholars, and Heritage Activists. Currently, the official Facebook page of The History Society has over 2K likes and 4K views.
The three days of fun and learning started with a heartfelt tribute to all the pioneers of Historical studies whom they lost in the near past. It was followed by the DN Jha memorial lecture presented by Prof. Vishwa Mohan Jha on ‘Alcohol in Ancient India’ in which the society dealt with the various process of production of alcohol in ancient India it was indeed a fascinating lecture. This was followed by a cultural event in which they got indulged in the classic dance and got a remanence of our cultural past.
Then the stage was shared with Prof. TKV Subramanian and they delved into the various aspects of research in the contemporary context and also talked about Noboru Karashima and his ways of interpreting history and he also discuss his research in the context of south India it was indeed a fruitful experience. This was followed by an enchanting Bihu performance.
It was followed by a lecture by Vivek Atray sir, the man who inspired millions. Being an ex-IAS officer sir taught our audience what it is like to be a balanced civil servant and he also gave some tips on how one can excel in civil service and be an ideal officer.
To end the first day the society conducted a refreshing prelim of India quiz “Histrivia” which got 100+ registrations and saw a thrilling zeal from its participants.
The second day of Kaalkram’21 started with a beautiful lecture on Architecture and dealt with a burning question “Does architecture have a religion?” by Sohail Hashmi sir. The majestic monuments covered our screens wherein everyone got to know the origin of each architectural form; it was indeed a heart-wrenching experience. This lecture was followed by an enriching poetry competition Mehfil-e- Shabaab which has 100 participants among whom Swati Jha of Kirori Mal college emerged as the Queen of competition.
After a brief lunch break, the society had Prof. Pushpesh Pant on the virtual podium talking about the various colours of food and flavour in India, this was indeed an enlightening lecture and everyone got to learn about various cuisines of India and why their colour was important to us and the story behind those colours. This lecture was followed by another enlightening lecture by professor B.P. Sahu talked about various aspects of medieval India and took us back into the days of kings and feudal lords.
After a day full of knowledge and brain-boggling lectures, the society came to the most loved event of our fest viz. IPL auction this event saw huge participation from students all over Delhi and beyond. After a quiz, 12 teams made it into the pre-final, and then in the finals, the qualifying teams took the name of famous IPL teams and started the bidding of the valuable players. After a stiff competition team, Mumbai Indians emerged as the victor with the highest points in their hands.
The final day of Kaalkram was indeed a memorable one with blood gushing through the brains of our participants. After a brief lecture by Dr. Snigdha Singh on “Gendering spaces: A glimpse into early historical India,” the day was delved into debates, games, and quizzes.
Our Emoji Game and Scavenger hunt saw an overwhelming response fetching 100+ participants who were super active all through the event; These events were followed by indeed an interesting quiz final of Histrivia and Shubham Jha emerged as its winner. The fiery debate competition on “Democracy in India: success or failure” also got a humongous response from the participants.
To end the 3-day fest they had a play by the Asmita Theatre group on the title ‘Amritsar aa gya’ based on the collection of stories by a renowned Hindi writer Bhisham Sahni. The scenes of plays and their story satisfy our theme of time as an ever-changing ever-evolving entity.
The enriching three-day-long event by the student-led History Society of Dyal Singh college thus came to a closing.
This was indeed not the first time the student-led History Society of Dyal Singh College has left a mark in University. In their previous annual fests and our regular events, they were joined by numerous renowned historians. Prof. Harbans Mukhia, Dr. Amar Farooqui, whose books are known to every student of Delhi University gave a lecture at their events. It was a colossal opportunity for everyone to interact with one of the greatest historians like Uma Chakravarti and Prof K.M Shrimali who blessed our eras with an enlightening lecture in 2017. Prof Aditya Mukherjee, professor of contemporary History and director of Jawaharlal Nehru University of advanced study also honoured our stage in 2017.
The pandora’s box of History Society of Dyal Singh College will surely have something much more enlightening and interesting for the next. After a brief break, they will be back to teach and spread historical consciousness.
