WHAT YOU'LL FIND IN THIS MONTH'S GAZETTE:Page 2: The Editor Welcomes You to the Fall Issue.Page 3: The Biggest Shishukunj Model UN Yet.Page 4: Netflix and Chill?Page 5: How Amazon Is Changing Our Life.Page 6: How Marvel Revolutionised Cinema.Page 7: Alumnus Talks - a Letter from LSR Delhi.Page 8: Work with Us - the Opportunity That Will Shape You.Page 10: Shishyans Are Creative.

ISSUE #3

Greetings!

As we try and move on from the “farrago” of examinations with results in hand that leave abittersweet taste in our mouth, it is time for a number of events and programmes that willshape the month of October and November. Whether it be the Anugoonj practice or the firstever intra school Shishukunj Model United Nations Conference or a wide array of inter houseevents, they all are bound to skyrocket the spirit of growth and development to a new high. Butthere is a reason to rejoice for us students. The Diwali breaks are round the corner. If that doesnot put a smile on your faces, we don’t knowwhat will.

Themonth of September andOctober brought about a drastic change in the national as well asglobal narrative as we see changes in all sectors of our life, from the politics of India and theworld to the way companies like Netflix and Amazon are changing our way of life, for once andfor all. Two issues in, we have been overwhelmed by your contributions towards this novelventure as well as the valued constructive criticism we heard. We have tried to build up on itand we know perfection is still a long way to go. We may be halfway into the year, but thatdoesn’tmeanwe have to stop innovating.With new ideas, and a newer vigour, wewelcome youto the October issue of the Shishukunj Gazette.

May the Force be with us all!

Garvit ZalaniCo-founder and Editor-in-chief

2 | THE SHISHUKUNJ GAZETTE

SHIS

HUKU

NJMU

N20

18SH

ISHU

KUNJ

MUN

2018 One of the biggest endeavours of this year, with a participation of over 500

students as leaders and change makers over a course of three days,Shishukunj Model United Nations Conference 2018 was a massive success.Held from 05- 07 October 2018 in the Shishukunj campus itself, delegatesdiscussed issues ranging from disposal of nuclear waste to transnationalorganized crimes. Along with current issues, the crisis committees were aliteral blast from the past as they dealt with the 1990s Latin America.

Platforms like these always empower our fellow schoolmates to step up andgrab the opportunity. For the 3 days, our regular school students weretransformed into international diplomats, aiming to solve some pertinentworld problems. Opportunities like these go a long way in shaping thepersonalities and a number of skills of the young students and we areconfident that it was a learning experience for the delegates as well as thestudent led Secretariat which organized the entire show with months ofhard work and zeal.

The fifth iteration of the Shishukunj Model United Nations Conference wasthe biggest in number and size.

With participation of over 600 students in 11 committees, in various roles,from delegates to logistics members, it was a learning experience for all.With such an enthusiastic participation right from Classes VI - XII, it is hardto imagine anything else that could give such a learning platform to somanyShishyans.

Standing true to the theme, Ecology, Economy, Equity, all agendas werealigned to discuss the pertinent problems that threaten the fabric of thecountry. Delegates researched and prepared themselves. Conferences likethese help us to be more than ourselves, to empathize and sympathize, tolearn and grow, to learn and prosper.

THE SHISHUKUNJ GAZETTE | 3

The turn of themillennium changedmany things, but perhaps one of the biggest transition was from thetraditional media to the millennial media. From soap opera’s distressed dames to the Sacred Games, ithas been quite the journey. It has been a long and slow transition, but nonetheless, very effective. Overthe past half decade, India has seen a huge rise in the number of OTT or Over-the-Top service providers,from single digit numbers in 2014 to almost 30 different companies in this sector. There aremany reasonswhy this transition has taken place-

- Better Content: It is undeniable that there is a certain creative advantage when it comes to watching ashow on an OTT service rather watching some random show on the television. Creators are given moreliberty in the content theywant tomake and the stage of scriptwriting takes priority over anything, unlikethe mainstream media. Creators and show runners on these OTT platforms are allowed to experimentwith the conventional, the possibilities are limitless. With genres that were thought risky, they definitelymade something worthwhile out of it. Shows like Sacred Games definitely left long-lasting impressionson us.

- No censorship: Perhaps one of the most heated debate the urban society has been involved in is therequirement of censorship over the visual content they consume. While censorship holds great influenceover movies and television, OTT services have been exempted from it. Perhaps that is the reason why wehave been able to see the full potential of directors who were shackled by censorship laws. With no suchrestriction, they are able to create art in its truest form, unrestricted and uninterrupted.

- Bigger stars: It was touted that an actor or a director only moves towards online medium when theyhave been unsuccessful in the mainstream show business. But what we have observed is that there arebigger stars and bigger directors being attachedwith each and every growing project. The list includes bigshots like Anurag Kashyap and Saif Ali Khan. With the number of projects increasing, the star powerincreases too.

- Indian shows: We love anything Indian, when advertised by big, western companies. Well the frontrunner of the OTT Industry, Netflix Inc, dropped 3 Indian shows in 2018, each dealing with an entirelydifferent genre. Others are following suit. These shows are being produced with international levelproduction budgets and teams, which only adds to their appealability among the Indian public.

- Jio: As far-fetched as this reason sounds, it is true. When Jio was gifted to the public, majority of Indiawho found it difficult to log on to the internet, found it at the tips of their fingers and that too at free ofcost. As Indians, if there is anything we love, it is free stuff with no strings attached. Jio brought Indianscloser to the internet. Internet brought them closer to online visual content. That brought them closer toPrime Video and Netflix. Join the dots for the rest?

We have to acknowledge the fact that the palette of the normal, urban Indian is changing. We want goodcontent. Outlets like the OTT service providers give us shows, a some occasions, helmed by some of themost famous names in the industry like Anurag Kashyap, Karan Johar among others. As Indians aregetting younger, their taste buds are changing. If there is any constant it is change. With more than a 100million users using these OTT services, the market is expected to quadruple by 2020. From soap operasthat had the lead actor turn into snakes to Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Ganesh Gaitonde, things are certainlychanging for the better. Need we say more?

NETFLIX AND CHILLOR PAY THE DTH BILL?

Today, as my grandfather was reading the front page of the Times of India, he saw a full-page adof the festive season sale of Amazon. With the want of a newmobile phone for him being the dailytopic of discussion at the dinner table, he went ahead. Within 3minutes, he was a proud owner ofone of the latest phones that met his requirements and allowed him to avail the best offer. I amtalking about a man who considered the internet a “total time waster” until half a year ago andtoday he is one of its ardent users.

E-commerce came into India as an alleged pyramid scheme and today it is themost intensive andfastest growing sector of India’s economy. The leader of this market today is Amazon. Founded inthe dot-com bubble rage, Amazon has today established itself as the leader in, not only e-commerce, but also smart home appliances and other advanced domestic technology. Itsofferings like Alexa and Fire TV Stick has changed, quite literally, our entire homes. With Alexasimplifying our daily life, Fire TV Stick offers Indians the chance to consume global-standard visualcontent on their beloved television sets. In addition to this, Amazon has also offered us Prime, afeature that allows us to consume visual content of Prime Video, listen to latestmusic without anyhassle on Prime Music and give us better delivery options andmore products the next time we goshopping. It doesn’t end here. Amazon has been experimenting with delivering groceries withinthe day. Amazon may very well become an insurance provider too by the end of this year. Theramifications of these changes is astronomical to say the least.

The rise of a younger, urban demographic is positively correlated with the rise of Amazon andother companies. We live in an Amazon world where all our needs are catered with them. The“fiat” market is slowly and slowly starting to lose its shine because of a variety of factors. At thesame time, Amazon is using thesemarkets to be the local providers of goods. The entire market isslowly aligning towards partnering with these online retailers.

This shift reflects our own sentiment as we prefer buying commodities online for a variety ofreasons rather than the local store. With innovations in technology and Amazon’s continuousinvestment in R&D, who knows what might be coming out next from the world of Amazon?

Also, I just introducedmy grandfather to the world of Prime Video. He loved the Zakir Khan stand-up special. Did you?

THE SHISHUKUNJ GAZETTE | 5

LIVING THE AMAZON LIFE

W H E NWE WERE KIDSCinema is one of the most beautiful things about human creativity. It allows us to create a world of ourown, with characters balancing the right and wrong, making us laugh and cry. It was always predictedthat the superhero genre would never be the big blockbuster as the more traditional movies would be.Thanks to the advancements in technology and the creative palettes of the audience, this genre hasturned into the most successful one of today, both critically and commercially.

Therewas a timewhen superheromovies and showswere for the entertainment of the younger audience.Superheromovies for themoremature audience was experimented with the release of Daredevil back in‘03 and The Incredible Hulk in 2008, they tanked. However, the entire landscape changed whenChristopher Nolan brought the Dark Knight trilogy to our screens. The trilogy fluttered in a revolution thatgoodmovies starring superheroes could be catered to themodern audience. After all, how can one forgetHeath Ledger’s version of the Joker and his acting that still send chills down our spines?

Marvel saw this opportunity and realized the untouched goldmine of cinema. It launched the Iron Man in2008, starring the then-struggling actor Robert Downey Jr. Little did they know that they had set inmotion the wheels that would create an entire cinematic universe spanning 21 movies and would earnover $20 billion dollars in its decade-old run. Furthermore, movies like Logan and the Deadpool series,made exclusively for the 18+ audience became some of themost successful ones in the adult genre. Eventhe business like merchandising and selling toys, which were considered as a side venture for the comicbook companies in the early 90s have become billion dollar businesses today.

Marvel broke the conventional genre as it brought in directors whom people hadn’t heard of and actorswhowere on the verge of being forgotten by the entire industry. At a time when producing a sequel was arisky venture, Marvel put great faith in its content and went on to create an entire cinematic universe ofits own. A universe that keeps attracting more and more fans in its admiration. This statement can easilybe held true by the hype built by Avengers Infinity War as late as this year and how it went on tomint over$2 billion dollars worldwide.

Bigger names are being attached to each superhero project, production companies are shelling out topbucks for them and the audience is consuming them with much welcome and “fan”fare. The boyishfandom today has become into a large audience with a want of quality movies and a good payoff for theprice of the movie ticket. And that does put a smile onmy face.

6 | THE SHISHUKUNJ GAZETTE

The day when Papa told me “Beta! Opt for sciences to keep your options open so that you don’t restrictyourself” hasn’t been a distant memory. Filled with self doubt and inhibitions, yet having a belief that hewould never guidemewrong, I submitted the stream selection formwith PCMwith Economicsmarked asmy stream for +2. The thought that first struckmewas “Oh fish not again! I have to studyMath for anothertwo years” and being a girl who always feared Math the journey that I had set upon was definitely notgoing to be easy. I made upmymind to do engineering in future and had even started taking coaching forit and this is when it all started.

Life was hectic, dayswere turning out to bemore intimidating, andwithme trying to take every challengethat comes my way in its stride but as they say you can’t enjoy doing a thing you don’t want to. Afterseveral emotional breakdowns because of intimidating studies and daunting schedules, it finally dawneduponme that the thing I wasworking so hard for was not what I wanted ,that waswhen I realized I did notwant to do Engineering and that Economics interested me more. So ,one fine day, I mustered up thecourage to leave all my inhibitions behind and trust my intuition, and went ahead to tell my parents thatI really valued their opinion but what I see myself doing in the future is definitely not Engineering, I wantto do something in the field of Economics. But still the constant doubt of having made the right decisionalwaysmanaged to creep into the crevices of mymind and the air of dilemma and self doubt lingered on.But once I set upon my chosen path, I was adamant on proving it to myself that the decision I had takenwas the right one. Working hard day in and day out towards my goal of making it to a top college of DelhiUniversity was not an easy one. The only certain thing about making it to an A level college of DelhiUniversity was that everything is uncertain. There is always a possibility of cut-offs to steeply increase inthis highly competitive educational scenario of India. There was always a fear attached tomy goal that allthe hard work would go waste because cutoffs are the things that one cannot really predict. The fear ofnot getting through haunted me even after the boards and even after receiving my 12th grade marksbecause the cut offs were not out still. I braced my heart and had faith in my hard work that it was surelygonna pay off, and I was finally dazedwhen I got into LSR and I am happy that I got in because the collegedoes not fail to surprise me every day with the kind of diversity of the student body it has, the kind ofpropeller it serves to be for our dreams, and the magic of LSR leaves me awestruck always…

Themessage that I want to pass on to my juniors is that trust in the power of your dreams and have faithin the decisions you make and miracles would come your way. Never hesitate to take risks, becauseunless you put yourself out there and stretch out your limits, you wouldn’t know what the future mayhold for you…

Rashmeet MuchhalBSc.(Hons) Statistics with Minors in EconomicsLady Shri Ram College for Women

FINDING MY DESTINY - LSRALUMNUSTALKS

CALLING OUTALL EDITORS,

WRITERS, ANDGRAPHIC

DESIGNERS

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE APART OF THE SHISHUKUNJ

GAZETTE TEAM?To the young thinkers, creators and visionaries

School is all about learning and growing. It gives you opportunities where you can find yourstead and build to develop on it. Today, the team at The Shishukunj Gazette is proud toannounce such an opportunity.

The Shishukunj Gazette team comprises of 12th graders only and unsurprisingly, we will bepassing out next year. But that doesn’t mean that this newsletter, this young venture passesout with us. We want to pass down this legacy to the people who can build up on it, who canhelp the Shishukunj Gazette reach new heights.

Thus, we would like to sound the bugle for finding the next team which will continue ourlegacy. We are looking for graphic designers, editors, writers; an all-round interestingpersonality. If you are an aspiring content writer and want your first big shot, we are giving itto you.

Eligibility: Class 10th, 11th and 12th.

Qualification: Your belief that you can be a good writer and have the desire to show the worldthe same.

If you want to apply as a writer/editor, drop amail at gazette@shishukunj.in.

If you want to apply as a graphic designer, contact our resident maestro, Apoorv Kohli atapoorvkohli1@gmail.com.

The team at The Shishukunj Gazette will provide you with training, help you build up on yourskills and hone them so that you can become an Editor or a Graphic Designer. All we ask ofyou is, don’t hesitate to apply.

Details will follow in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned!

The old banyan tree has seen everything. The older he grows,the more he has to say (you won't hear him, neither would I-You know, it is commonly only the younger soul that has thetendency to let the world know what it knows. The older itgets, that world seems to squeeze into that little heart, whichis much more satisfied by silence, than any external sound.)The old tree stays there. He has developed strong roots withits place of origin, and so many of them, that it's impossibleto uproot it from there. He has seen life; he has experiencedlife. He has, I believe, understood life more than anyoneelse...for that kind of patience can't be seen in any humanever born. Countless number of times he has seen his leavesturning brown and crumpling away, leaving the tree bare-shivering with cold and hoping for them to return someday.Then that day comes too. He starts again; he nurtures everysingle leaf into the green beauty. The leaves also in turnadorn the tree and please him with their comforting ruffling.The tree becomes new every spring, yet grows older yearafter year. A spider has woven its web on one of his branches,while a bird has made its nest. There might be hundred oflittle insects thriving on his long, ever-growing roots, but hepleasantly lets them be there. You can always spot that faintsmile through his wrinkles. No matter how hard the rain hitshis body, no matter how the cold freezes his movement, hehas learnt to bear all that. He stands still and strong whenwetend to hide ourselves under an umbrella or try to findcomfort in the cozy sweaters. He is proud- proud to be unlikethe never satisfied humans- while being down to earth (itsnatural tendency, right?). He might not know about what'shappening in the world far-off, but he knows all what's in hisfront. Every time I see him, it seems to tell me something(perhaps, he tries to tell everyone that thing). I neverunderstand what he really means, nor I think I would, ever.But whatever he says, he is right, as I know that he is the oldbanyan tree, who has seen everything.

- Riddhi Singhania, XI

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- Gauri Ratnaparkhe, XII

Is Western Influence Destroying the Indian Culture ?

Indian culture is one of the oldest and richest culture in the world which is now beenthreatened by theWestern influence and is slowly beenwiped away by it. Westernisation hasalready affected our traditions, our customs, our family, our respect for others and at last ourlove for others.

The concept of joint family is becoming rare and one wants to remain aloof. It is totallycontradictory to our Indian culture which teaches us to be a part of one's joys ad sorrow butwe are only bother about ourselves. This is giving rise to smaller families. Marriagesnowadays have started to break quickly because the tolerance and patience level of ouryouth has decreased. India is famous for its culture but young Indians themselves want towesternise the country. Foreigners are fond of our heritage but we are trying to ignore it.

We should keep in mind that western world is looking towards India for it's rich culture andheritage. There is no harm in taking good things from western culture but completelyadopting it is also wrong. We should feel proud to live in such a culture rich country.

- Rachit Ranka, IX

THE SHISHUKUNJ GAZETTE | 11

A Day Outside

Bright blue skies speckled with clouds make it worth.Getting out of the house,away from fluffy beds and conditioned air,beautiful lush bushes and shady treesmake it worth.Not just reading all day while drinking coffee,sitting by the window.The short grass,with dew drops making it sparkle makes it worth.Exploring places I haven’t been to leaving the face of tedium,but also the comfort of familiarity.The birds singing,chirp chirp chirp,makemy spirits dance.I drown out the noisy cars,their honking and loud engines.Just focus on the sound of nature and relax.The sun shining bright rays let the water prancemaking it worth.Delaying urgent workto take this short walk,and discover the beauty of nature all over again.

- Vidhi Dev, X

The Cover page of this month’sissue has been aptly titled, “TheNew Dawn.”October is the month of autumn,the season of being out with theold and in with the new. At leastthat is what the trees do. Thismonth is the optimum timewhere we begin to understandthe areas of our strength and ourweaknesses. It is also the time towork on them to make ourselvesbetter. Like the leaves of autumn,let’s shed the old and grow thenew.

THE TEAM

Reach Outgazette@shishukunj.in

Editor-in-chief: Garvit ZalaniCreative Director: Kartik DevpuraDesigner: Apoorv Kohli