R.I.P. FYUP : Musings of the "Lab-rat" batch

Can you see the 2013-14 FYUP batch students n the image below? Well, of course not, because they have been embroiled in this mess for so long and so deep that they seem to have lost the way.

Rescue us from this maze, please?

 Or maybe, we were just following the path shown by the University which has brought us to this labyrinth. But, let us borrow words from our favorite author (read: John Green), "The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive"

As we hear the news of FYUP being scrapped, among other exasperating reforms (or is it reversal of reforms? In any case, we are too exhausted with rage to ponder over these frivolous details!), we experience a sort of unprecedented confusion. The future is a cliffhanger, which is nothing new for the guinea pig batch because for as long as we remember our future has always been a cliffhanger. 

As Charlie says in The Perks Of Being a Wallflower,  “So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be.”

It is not that bad for the coming batch. Their admissions got deferred by what, a week, ten days? What about us? Why isnt anyone talking about how we are feeling upon knowing that all our anxiety, all our projects, all our experiences, all our marks, all our group work was illegal? The past year wasn't a smooth ride AT ALL! In fact, it was the opposite: that unavoidable group work, eliciting work out of people, strict attendance rules, longer hours at college, an abundance of presentations. And then a bunch of people tell us it was outside the periphery of legality! Dear reader, the marks humans leave are too often scars. (We never knew our favourite author, who is not even Indian, could teach us so much about The Great Indian education System Chaos, thanks John Green). Our point is, we have been scarred for life. We are warriors, we have survived so many battles, and yet there are more to come.

And to make matters worse, our present can give us no consolation either, what with a fickle-minded fantastical Academic Council taking no decision on our fate. Leaving us utterly perplexed. And heart-broken. And perplexed.  And sick. And perplexed. And hopeless. And perplexed.

What the hell is happening? Anyone care to explain?

Whenever someone used to ask us, how our college studies are going on, we rolled our eyes. Now when someone asks us what are we planning as a career, we roll our eyes. If the University can take our careers for granted, can't we be a little less ambitious? After all, we have been treated well for having ambitious thoughts of the next three years, now we are not going to plan. The next time someone asks us, beta kya karne ka irada  hai, just ROLL. YOUR. EYES.

Sing with us: ROLL YOUR EYES!

They say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. So, after the tyranny of tiresome tirades of taking away our tranquility, we better turn into freaking Hercules. This turmoil has set the wheels of our minds rolling, and so much so, that we've come up with a new tagline for DU: bored, potential catastrophe raising university seeks the careers of naive students.

Because no one gets it!

The thing about DU is, it demands to be remembered and criticized. It just couldn't stomach the fact that we were gradually getting acclimatized to the system, embracing it with all its faults, and probably, had we been given the good fortune, would have fallen in love with it like you fall asleep, slowly then all at once. But this was a frivolous notion that we FYUPians (or FYUPiites? No longer matters, does it?) had begun to foster. How could we forget that DU gets its kicks by peppering our lives with uncertainty and histrionics of the most superior degree.
   

All our emotions in this article!

But even the hell hole we've been dragged to has one perk: it has made us adept at hanging by a loose strand of thread, even when the pedophilic swing of our life oscillates between the  UGC and DU, neither relenting nor stopping to ask if we are okay. Because okay, my friends, is a very filthy word. It is bursting with assurances of a state of contentment or oblivion, the two polar ends of our lives currently, which neither of these giant pushers have kicked our ass hard enough to reach.

 So, we have decided that it is perhaps okay that we stop planning for the future, or etching our future ahead, because one step from DU, and boom, all our plans go straight to their funeral. The funny thing is, those plans actually attend their funeral. Okay, not funny, it is rather sad.

Our last words: If someone ever told you that this batch loves surprises, we, on behalf of that inebriated person, take our words back. We hate surprises. Do not surprise us anymore.  

P.S. The authors are themselves victims of this system and want you to sympathize. If you disagree on any point, be kind in your criticism, for we are in a very fragile state now, and can fall apart any moment!

Five things they didn't tell us about FYUP

First of all, those of you, who at the mention of the dreaded acronym "FYUP" have their adrenaline rushing with the excitement to read how it has dampened the spirits of their class-mates, a big salute to you. Just skip to the next paragraph.
And for those of you still wondering what FYUP is, dear person-from-another-planet, it's the blood-sucking, atrocious educational reform that stole the limelight from the soaring cut-offs and bestowed on the guinea pigs batch "perennial uncertainty about the future".
So, while we feel tortured by the gruelling work schedules, envy our seniors who get home before we do, and venture into college life, here's a list of five things they didn't tell us about FYUP.

1) They turned the guinea pigs into rats. Yes I am talking about us!

Remember, how we were tempted with laptops? And we took the bait. What they forgot to mention was that out of the meager 1 year that we would actually have the laptops, one semester would be spent (read:lost) in arranging them. The result is that, now, when we need them the most, we are deprived of them.

You know, watching movies or doing internet research on an everyday basis for the purpose of studying might sound enormously amusing, however, neither is it viable to rush home to use your desktop, nor can you sit glued to it for the rest of your day (that is, whatever might be left of it after the long hours at college). Further, at the risk of sounding very practical, you cannot possibly surreptitiously slip your laptop into your bag against your mother's wishes, use your smartphone 2 hours more than its battery allows, or for that matter, be merciless to your eyes.

2) The Collapsed FOUNDATIONS...

What they never told us was that the joy of holistic development  from the Foundation Courses (or FCs, as they are lovingly/angrily called) would be all too soon surpassed by the hectic schedule, and the mind-boggling quantities and volume of presentations, projects and tests et al would dampen our vivacious spirits.They said the FCs aimed at strengthening our concepts. Reality check: They are belittling them. Because oh, I got so enlightened after attending the GD about prime numbers. College is meant to facilitate specialised study, not send us back to 10th grade.
The scene of a classroom(almost everywhere, barring a few exceptions):The lecturers were as clueless about the impending reforms as we were. They started using the catchphrase "You are a Commerce/Chemistry/Computer science student, you do not need to study History in depth." Enter 55 marks devoted to practical work, and you can find every student researching the most obscure websites on the most ambiguous topics, to dig out some information which is both news to the teacher as well as intellectually stimulating. And someone said something about defeating their very purpose, eh?

3) Ready, set, go. . .

They pretended they had everything organised, all allocation of marks done...but till last week we were getting notices on their website as to the distribution of marks.... 

Alas! and then they so confidently proclaim that there are no infrastructural hurdles. I am amazed the media was right this time in being pessimistic about such hasty decisions-cum-reforms.

Right where it stings

4) IMBH: Integrating mind, body and HELL!

So, you caught me texting in the middle of a lecture elucidating Gandhi and his achievements? Yeah, that is something totally new n interesting, you totally have my attention with you. Grrr

And you were asking me to draw parallels between his life and mine ..but how can I possibly do that..he is the father of the nation and I am a guinea pig, have you forgotten? Wouldn't it be a disgrace to him?

5) College? Did you just misspell "school"?

Also, they forgot to tell us that no longer college means studies AND fun. With back to back classes from 9 to 5, we are working office hours, without the remuneration obviously. Sometimes we feel doing an internship has better prospects for us... rather than a system which shall provide us with a degree after 4 years (notice the sarcasm), "Bachelors in Multiple Disciplines" declaring us as the survivors of DU's large hadron collider experiment. How I love my life. Sigh.

And here I am , in the middle of mid-sem break, surrounded by to-do lists. Whoever said college meant freedom, definitely didn't meet the FYUP batch.

Yeah mate, we are all in this together...

Delhi University's FYUP (four-year undergraduate programme)

I recently attended a workshop on DU’s undergraduate programme. Owing to the reforms that the university is planning from  this year onwards, for the batch that’s always been the harbinger of reforms and the “gold” on which all acid tests are done, the brouhaha over its pros and cons was only obvious. Considering that It can even prove career-altering for many, its justibiable too.

Here's everything everyone wanted to know about it.

The new programme is divided into 4 broad categories of subjects, viz., Major, Minor, Foundation, Applied.

As  the Vice Chancellor stated in his bilingual speech  aimed at decluttering the confusion that he claimed is being created by media. While our major subject is going a transmutation itself, including a research in the fourth year. The second discipline provides us scope to broaden our field of work by increasing our knowledge base.

The applied courses aim at increasing our employability or facilitaing/imparting entrepreneurial abilities. The foundation courses, although adding too much weight to the curriculum, would develop the basic skills.

there's a catch for all those opposing it: free laptops loaded with lectures and notes will be provided. 

Last word:I must say that he succeeded in convincing us but ultimately our destiny would be determined by the success of its implementation. Despite a great intention, action is everything after all....

http://web4.du.ac.in/FYUP/

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