What is Beauty ?

WHAT IS BEAUTY ? HOW CAN YOU DEFINE IT ?


Have these questions ever plagued you ? Then read on to find out what true beauty really is.

Let's talk about beauty. It must be terribly hard to conceive of something so intangible. Don't you disagree? Surely you have notions of beauty? You might think that you can spot beauty in a glossy Ferrari, or in that statuesque girl on the May page of the calendar. But the truth is, or as it appears to the writer of this article, that you cannot touch beauty. Everything goes by in lightning speed and as you begin to think that you have grasped beauty, you lose sight of it.

"Everything goes by in lightning speed and as you begin to think that you have grasped beauty, you lose sight of it."

Your beauty might lie in the ocean-blue eyes of a boy. Your beauty might lie in a cup of steaming coffee. Your beauty might lie in your mother's arms around you. Your beauty might lie in the fragrance of crisp dollars. I suppose you would agree that all of this, very naturally, delights someone or the other. And all of it is tangible. You still disagree with me when I tell you that I think we do not understand beauty. You will tell me you aren't materialistic, you love to travel to remote places just to watch an alien sunset. But think again. Do you understand beauty?

Think of John Keats' famous lines where he proclaims that truth is beauty and beauty truth, and how that is all you know on Earth and all you need to know. So can you touch the truth? Here we are, together in this mighty world, but it is so wide that our versions of truth are miles and miles apart. So how do you capture the truth? Gautama Buddha said that the sun, the moon and the truth can never stay hidden for long. But even the sun and the moon become subjective reality to people on two opposite poles.

I have a friend who, when he looks up into his father's eyes, sees no beauty. I know someone who, at the thought of sunset, trembles and sighs with loneliness. I know of this lady who regularly chops off her little boy's hair because she thinks it grows out untidy. They see no beauty in those places.

I suppose what I am trying to say is that beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder, but also in his soul. Do you ever look at a pile of rubble the construction-workers have left near your backdoor and think it beautiful? Do you ever see the flatness of the summer sky in a tropical country and as it scatters perspiration across your forehead, think it beautiful? Do you ever see a cat excrete and cover up the rubbish in a hole that he digs up with his paw and think it beautiful? If you do, it is your own vulnerability that you are in love with.

We find the things we love beautiful. And if you open up that very fragile heart of yours so much so that it so very easily conceived of beauty, then yes, you have loved your own vulnerability. If you have let your mind lose control and let it ride the wind, so much so that each thought comes into focus and strikes you into amazement, then yes, you have loved your own vulnerability.

|| " We find the things we love beautiful. And if you open up that very fragile heart of yours so much so that it so very easily conceived of beauty, then yes, you have loved your own vulnerability. " ||

You are your own beauty. You are your own truth. The moment you lose sight of your own trembling tenderness, these smokey notions disperse into nothingness. So come, be intangible. Be obscure. Come, be confused. In your own vulnerability, you might chance upon beauty. And that is the nearest you can go to the absolute truth.

"You are your own beauty. You are your own truth."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR :-

A student of English literature from St. Xavier's college, Kolkata, Shaoni Sarkar is a new addition to our ExPRESS Family. She, apart from writing, loves to read.

Meet the A-Team

Are you a dancer or someone who appreciates or enjoys a good dance performance? If yes, you HAVE TO read further. 

Just recently, I happened to interview this brilliant dancer from my college who, along with his team has been stepping the stones of success for years now. Meet Alexander Joseph and his dance crew, The A-Team. Now, if you are from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata; this name is not new to you. The A Team has been making us Xaverians proud with their exuberant performances. They have been the winners of most dance based events in college and well, that’s not it. Having students from St. Xavier’s only, they have also taken part in national level championships and risen to fame.

The very talented Alexander Joseph

In an interview with Alexander, I managed to ask him a number of questions about himself, his team and their further plans. For Alexander, dance is his way to channelize his emotions. What he feels, he expresses it on the stage. For him, dance is not just an art but a form of living,

⦁ How was the team formed?

- Basically, when I joined the team, the name was ‘Team A’ because there were a lot of western dance teams already. After that, we actually started working really hard and people came to know about us. That is when we changed our name to ‘The A-Team’ and then we took over, one step after the other. The team was formed in 2012.

⦁ What are your most memorable achievements?

The A-Team at Spring Fest, I.I.T Kharagpur

- We started with college events and once we were successful, we felt a lot more confident and took ourselves to the national level. We were runners up in the 2014 Hip Hop International, India Finals in the Mega crew division. That was a very big achievement for us. Apart from this, we have also taken part in the IIT Kharagpur fest in 2013, 2014 and 2016 where we secured the 2nd and 1st positions respectively.


⦁ Why don't you shed some light about the members?

The A-Team in one frame

-  A-Team was originally founded by Sagar Sharma and Ananya Chatterjee. It was taken over by Vincent Sammy Gomes, Ahaana Mahanti, Arjama Das Gupta, Raj Mathur, Debjyoti Saha, Zoe Dominique Subbiah, Rohit Nitin Kispotta and me. Arjama left college the previous year and this time it is our turn. The crew will now be headed by Raghav Nevatia. The rest of the crew members include Roshni Banerjee, Udisha Agarwal, Sunandrita Chatterjee, Gairik Dutta Paul, Reuben Lama, Mohit Daga, Suny Minj, Tanmoy Das and Prakash Ganpat, the team’s manager.



⦁ What's the genre that you like to follow the most?

-  Our team is essentially a Hip Hop crew, but everyone puts in their own moves and styles. We follow the urban dance style.

Alexander Joseph at one of his workshops

⦁ What in your opinion makes your team stand out from the rest?

-  I believe we have an out of the box thinking. When it comes to our performances, we do not use the same theme twice. Our ability to come up with novel themes is what makes us different. And sure if you were to follow our Facebook page, you would find it in our bio!

 ‘...we live our moves and in doing so, leave a bit of our volcanic energy for the crowd to feel and remember!’



⦁ You, along with the other core members, are leaving college. Would you come back again to preside over the upcoming auditions and participating in the upcoming fests?


- That’s hard to say. I’m moving out of town so if I am present here at the time the auditions and the fests take place, I’d surely be a part of it. I have been in this crew since the past 4 years and never missed even a single performance and took part in some 41 performances!

The A-Team in action

⦁ Which upcoming fest is The A-Team looking forward to?

-  The team, being headed by Raghav will now hopefully be taking part in the Hip Hop Internationals, which will take place in Goa by the end of May this year. I really hope that we bag the trophy this time!

It was really fun interviewing Alexander and interacting with his team. You can follow the A-Team on their Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/The-A-Team-1410845089182271/?fref=ts , and most certainly subscribe to their YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/MrSammybboy to stay updated about this brilliant dance troupe!

The A-Team is an unstoppable force which has never, till date, failed to mesmerize their audiences with their fantastic moves. Express wishes The A-Team loads of success for their future! 

















P.S :- One of our many objectives is to promote the budding stalwarts in our society, regardless of any field! If you come across some similar remarkable organisation or person, try to document his stories, we would be more than obliged to publicise him/her! Your simple assist might just act as a much necessary boost for a creative mind! Thanking you in advance!








About the author :-




A student of English literature from St. Xavier's college, Kolkata, Eva R.Sachdeva is called "The Powerhouse" by many at the ExPRESS family! And true to her nickname, this aspiring Journalist and PR officer's enthusiasm and dedication is barely rivalled by anyone in our organisation! 

The Stories that make me!

Each one of us  are struggling in our own secret world,
in our own heroic ways.
Each one of us are fighting a battle, you and I will never hear about.
Every happy face is hiding a story , a secret never to be told.
Every piece of colourful clothes is hiding a scar,
almost every energetic soul in that late night party,
for at least  once wants to run away to a faraway land,
away from the chaos ,far away from the people around.
But, at times these stories are revealed.
the scars are shown
the souls break free.
it is when that I have heard these stories,
seen these scars
and helped a lost soul to their way back home.
it was then I came across a few new stories  of the  old faces.



I have heard stories of a pretty little soul,
of her mother who died,                                         
of how her father is not bothered about her,
about her step-mother that she does not share a good relationship with.,
of her grand parents, the one's she calls her own,
and how old they are to be with her for all the years to come.
her stories of  the outside world keeps abandoning her one by one ,
she keeps fighting her own battle with life, with herself for every hour every minute every second of the day.
yes,I have heard it all.
and I want to tell her that
I will be there by her side even when everything falls apart.




I have heard stories of a girl
who was raped when she was in class four.     
i know, that she was raped by her own brother,
by the drawing teacher, over and again.
then she was too small to understand the hideous act she was going through,
and now when she finally did,
all she wants is to wear a white frock and roam around freely,
without the fear of those  dirty hands touching her body again,
                                                                      now all she wants is a little protection,
                                                                      a little kindness from the world,
                                                                      and to recreate her childhood.
                                                                     Yes, I know her secret now.
                                      and I promised her to fulfil this secret wish of her someday.

I have also known of a few happy-go-lucky boys,
crying over their messed up career.
I have heard about the years they lost trying to find what suits them the best.
I know how horrible they feel, when they meet their friends of the same age,
established and well settled.
I know how hard they work to prove the world that even they are capable enough.
so what it took them a few years to find the right path, its never too late to start all over again.
I know their stories of proving the world and also to themselves that they are not losers.
Not hopeless cases or complete failures!
I have known them close enough,
and I know they are not.

I have seen the strong girl,
who always puts up that bright smile on her face.
who helps everyone in need,
who provides them with a shoulder to cry upon,
I know how lonely she herself is.
I know her everyday struggle of choosing between a need and a wish.
I have seen her burying a wish each day,
to fulfil her needs of survival.
for she is financially struggling from that day onwards, ,when her father was murdered,
the only working member of the family.
I know her wishes,
her dreams
chained by financial crisis,
I know of her brave mother too.
and of her, my friend
the bravest of all.




I also know
about,
the happy couple of the class falling out of love.
the girl wondering what went wrong and the boy finding ways to tell her that he might have to leave her now.
about,
the children from the broken families,
faking a smile the minute they step out of their house..
about,
the girl who is afraid of falling in love for her fears of getting her heart broken,
also because she has seen her best friend being cheated by the guy she trusted the most.
I have seen their souls dancing in the rain,
and also crying their heart out.
I have seen them escaping the realities
and I have seen myself doing the same as well.
and after all this while, I have seen myself growing stronger, kinder and wiser.
maybe because ,I have not only heard their stories, but I have felt them and also experienced them to some extent.
I can simply connect with each story out there,
maybe because,
I have a silent role to play,
the role of a listener,
or maybe because,
these are the stories that,          that make me
who I am today.
the stories of my loved ones.




ABOUT THE AUTHOR :- 

A member of an N.G.O, Voices For Animals, Priyanka Chatterjee is a first year student of Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University! Apart from being a responsible citizen, she is a voracious reader and a social critic! J.U students you know?

NOTA: Just Another Myth in Indian Politics?

                                  

"Donald duck is a big bird in politics."

"Mickey always gets votes."

Did these statements startle you? Then you should definitely read on.

If you don't think of Donald Duck as a political figure, you aren't aware of Swedish politics. With apologies to Bugs Bunny, SpongeBob SquarePants, and even Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck has a fine tradition of scoring high in Swedish national elections. Whereas in California, Donald Duck is a close second to Mickey. If you've already taken me to be a riddle-talking psychopath then let me elucidate a bit more on the system of protest voting in several European nations including Sweden, Finland, UK and also in America.

A protest vote is a vote which is caste in an election to demonstrate the caster's dissatisfaction with the choice of candidates in his constituency. This may explicitly imply either a requirement of immediate change in candidature in his constituency or overall grievance against the whole system.

Closer to home, Bangladesh introduced the option of  “না ভোট“ (no vote) in 2008. Pakistan too introduced this option on the ballot paper for the 2013 Pakistan elections, but the Election Commission of Pakistan later rejected it. When such an insertion is made, there is a possibility of “no vote” receiving a majority, in which case a variety of formal procedures may be invoked, including office remaining vacant or holding fresh elections.

Introduction of NOTA (None Of The Above) in India has been hailed by many to be a spectacular step towards capturing the true spirit of democracy. However, whether NOTA can be described as an “electoral renaissance” still remains uncertain as NOTA is simply a right to register a negative opinion and not a right to reject. This means that even if there are 99 NOTA votes out of a total of 100, and candidate X gets just one vote, X emerges as the winner. Hence giving citizens the right to reject will ensure the two-fold purpose of candidates with a clean background as well as inducing citizens to cast their vote.                                                                                                                                                                                               

  

The  decision of the Supreme Court of India in PUCL vs. UOI, is no doubt a watershed judgement that changes the face of Indian electoral process by reducing ‘rigging’ of votes. However, it falls short of achieving the democratic goals that the citizens of India are entitled to. A major criticism against this is that citizens would rather refrain from voting than standing in the queue for hours only to register their disagreement, which ultimately makes no difference whatsoever. And this is when one feels the quintessential need for the RIGHT TO REJECT (Rule 49-0).

Introducing NOTA in the electronic voting machines is no doubt a major step in reforming electoral procedures, bringing it closer to the end a democracy seeks to achieve (well that “end” is again a much debated issue, and I soon plan to write an article on the same). However its true effect and purpose can be realized only when it is allowed to be used in its complete and free sense, i.e. not only the right to register a negative vote but also the right to reject.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR :-

A bibliophile, writer and a passionate music lover, Utsa Ghosh, is seeking her majors in English from St. Xavier's College. At the same time she takes a keen interest in politics  and is a vehement supporter of social and political reformism in India.