The Parliament of Hindu College in its history organised for the first time, an extravagant two-day conclave like never before. The event saw a power packed line up of an array of eminent speakers and personalities from all walks of life, holding debates and discussions on various topics ranging from media, responsibility and power; global society to social causes such as Sex, marriage & society; women and malnutrition still thronging Indian children; intolerance and the internet in today’s world; everything was taken bare at Vaktavya.
The two day conclave kick-started with an inaugural speech by the Principal, Dr. Anju Srivastava. Everyone’s’ hopes got higher and higher as the event kick started with the first session named, ‘My Entrepreneurial Adventure’ with guests like Ankur Warikoo, Ajay Chaturvedi, Sachin Bhatia, Adarsh Shastri, along with the moderator, Punit Moudgil on the panel. Punit Moudgil gave the much needed engagement of the audience; he not only interacted with the audience but also involved the panel, making a sense of understanding between the two. Every guest took some time to present their speech and perspective towards Entrepreneurship and after they laid their view points, a question-answer round ended the session which gave the audience to target questions and queries to the panel.
The upcoming session built excitement and the auditorium started to fill upto its maximum capacity because it was none other than, RJ Naved. He didn’t let the excitement die and entertained the audience with his much expected comedy and humour. He told us about how he came up with ‘Mirchi Murga’ and shared many of his memories related to the show. We were fortunate enough to get a personal interview from such an established celebrity, get rolled up with his spontaneous interview which will be up soon, so stay tuned.
After the round of laughter, Pankaj Pachauri set up a rather intense mood in the auditorium. He talked about journalism and his perspective towards it. He very comfortably shared the highs and lows of the sector and inspired the crowd. The session was followed by a small Q&A round, the interactions proved helpful to the aspiring journalists.
Rajdeep Sardesai was the next in the queue. He directed his words towards the evils of journalism and how we seem to have lost their ethnic compass which is leading to paid media. He emphasised on providing space in newspapers during elections for publicity purposes which is misused a lot these days. Nowadays people don’t respect journalists but fear them, because they have the medium to influence public opinion. He said that debates nowadays have taken a whole new shape in journalism, “Jhagda karo,TRP milegi” he said. He felt sad for the situation of media these days. People are running for TRP and catching the words of celebrities, because anonymity doesn’t give TRP.
Prabhu Chawla entered the stage and with his presence the event became serious and more directed towards journalism. With so many journalists in the event, it became easy for the people to choose the line. The thoughts of all the three were different and colliding with each other which gave the event a sense of uniqueness and distinctness.
After all the jounalist sessions, LGBT session started with the Rainbow community gracing the stage. The very well known activists like Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, Manvendra Singh Gohil, Anand Grover, Gautam Yadav. Everyone shared their personal stories with the audience with no hesitation. They all spread the word loud and proper that one’s sexuality is noone’s business. They also talked about social evils like HIV, AIDS, its causes and symptoms. They touched some social dogmas and taboos and conveyed their point of view without offending anyone. The day ended with a soulful performance by the famous Nizami Brothers who sang beautiful Qawwali for the students.
The second day of the grand conclave witnessed Mr. Varun Gandhi sharing concerns about Global Society and issues concerning todays youth,inspiring every student present in the audience to work harder in achieving everything they wish to stand for. Mr. Abhishek Manusinghvi enlightened the audience with a talk on Intolerance and how it is slowly grappling the society,while Mr. Manish Tewari touched upon the relevance of the Internet in Todays world.
A brainstorming session on women empowerment was moderated by Ms. Rakhee Bakshi,participated by Chhavi Rajawat, Geetanjali Babbar. To throw light on the courage required to choose a path not chosen by many were the likes of Dualist Inquiry, famous chef and food blogger Ruchira Hoon who ignited many a hearts to follow their passion. The event was successfully concluded by an enthralling evening in the presence of the poet and actor who has won the hearts of many, Mr. Piyush Mishra, captivating the audience in the campus and making us long for more.