CELEBRATIONS
5th September, 2021
Acharya Devo Bhava
On the 5th of September 2021, The Elysian conducted a live session on Instagram titled 'Acharya Devo Bhava', to celebrate the memories of mentors throughout our lives. Hosted by one of the Joint Convenors, Jatin Shivdasani, the conversation was the perfect medley of fun and reflection, speckled with hints of nostalgia. Guest speakers included Co-Joint Convenor Mrinalini Goyat, Literary Editor Tannishtha Chatterjee, and Joint Literary Editor Manaal Jahan. As each of them brought unique experiences to the table and shared their opinions, thoughts, and memories on mentors throughout life, the live session carried on for almost 40 minutes. As the conversation flowed from "what is your favorite memory with a teacher?" to "what makes a teacher?", stories were shared, laughs were aplenty, and one thing was blatantly clear- we were all there because someone along the way had chosen to shape us and mould us into people worthy of sitting there and conducting the live session that day. Be it Jatin's Economics teacher who decided to look out for him even when she had no reason to, Tannishtha's tuition teacher who was the sole reason she survived high school Organic Chemistry, or Mrinalini's mother who has always been the biggest mentor to her, the live session proved that while a teacher truly can be anyone at all, the impact they leave is indeed everlasting.
15th August, 2021
Independence Day Ensemble
On August 15th 2021, in commemoration of Independence Day, The Elysian hosted 'Ensemble with Elysian'- a grand celebration with extremely talented guests and entertaining performances. The artists, all of whom brought such diversity and variety to the audience, were Aditi Chopra, a storyteller, Sagnik Roy Choudhury, a singer, Raunak Singh Hooda, a poet, and our own Co Joint Convenors, Mrinalini Goyat and Jatin Shivdasani. Conducted via Zoom, 'Ensemble with Elysian' saw quite a large turnout, and felt like the most ideal way to celebrate India's Independence in the modern era- by providing a platform to young artists who seek a platform to raise their voices.
'Ensemble with Elysian' also saw the announcement of results of Ode to the Obscure- a writing competition that gave the participants a chance to delve into India's history and analyse it for themselves. As the artist's performances came to a close, and winners Siddhanth Srikanth and Debapriya Biswas gracefully accepted their awards, Ensemble with Elysian was thereby concluded and marked as yet another feather in The Elysian's cap.
25th July, 2021
Legal Forum Inauguration
The Elysian of English Literary Society, Amity Law School, Noida, U.P inaugurated their sub-department "Legal Forum" on the 25th of July, 2021. The idea behind this forum is to disseminate ideas and literature relating to law, for the convenience of law students as well as the general public. The inaugural event was hosted by the current convenor of Legal Forum, Ms. Aadya Dang, and the then convenor Ms. Aadhya Sarna, in the presence of the esteemed guest for the event, Adv. Rakesh Jha, who is an advocate in the Supreme Court of India. He also enlightened the members present in the meeting, upon the concerningly important topic of "Evolution of Law as a Career". We were absolutely thrilled to hear of the diverse opportunities we can pursue. He also highlighted our responsibilities and duties towards society as law students. With much appreciation and congratulations towards the convenors and Team Elysian for the conscious efforts of setting up the Legal Forum, Adv. Jha also wished us luck for all our future endeavours. With this insightful and defining event, the Legal Forum was successfully inaugurated.
17th July 2021
Open Mic Session
The pandemic brought an unexpected change in everyone’s lives that no one expected – a change that left many in a mentally vulnerable state. On July 19th, The Elysian organised an open mic session with Dr Bhavna Chadha, a renowned clinical psychologist and the founder of the Skills Hub named 'Adhyapann', where we discussed the psychological impact of the pandemic; specifically on students. We discussed the sudden spike of cases of mental health issues in the youth and its causes, along with exploring the effect of social isolation and the sudden transition from offline to online mode on both the students and their education. Dr Chadha also highlighted the need for resilience in today’s youth and encouraged the audience to explore their limits and boundaries. In the end, we talked about the importance of understanding as well as validating the problems faced by the youth and how it is no less than the issues faced by adults.
8th March, 2021
Women's Day
Celebration
On the occasion of International Women's Day, The Elysian hosted a webinar on the topic-"Celebrating the Strength and Success of Women" with our guest speaker Actress Hasleen Kaur.
5th September, 2020
Teachers Day
Theme : Acharya Devo Bhav
The event was a campaign for though and revolution, initiated by the creme de la creme of the law society. It was in remembrance of our first Vice President and second President Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan who was an acme of academia and statesmanship. The various speakers led an invigorating discussion which was informative and enlightening for the audience.
3rd July 2021
Pride Month
Open Mic Session
On July 3rd, The Elysian hosted Sue, the President of the Hindu College Queer Collective, for a conversation on queer presence in Indian popular media. We spoke of inaccuracies in the media portrayal of the queer community, of gender identities and pronouns within the LGBTQIA+ community, and of the struggles faced by queer individuals by the onset of COVID-19. At the end of the conversation, they left us on the very important note that Pride month is often used by companies and industries to queerbait, which is highly tokenistic, and it's important to keep in mind that this month is so much more than rainbow-themed logos and queer hashtags. Pride month is a commemoration of the Stonewall riots (1969) and it serves as a reminder of all the queer individuals who paved the way for a new generation of political activism for queer voices.
12th January, 2021
In the light of National Youth Day, a panel of discussion was initiated on the topic "Relevance of Swami Vivekananda's thoughts in the present day India and the world." It would not be wrong to say that Swami Vivekananda was a man ahead of his time. Our panelists discussed the pertinence of some of his teaching for the youth and kept the audience engrossed.
29th August, 2020
The Elysian
Magazine Launch
The inaugural ceremony was a witness to several literary luminaries. The event was enriched with several discussions and speeches where the zenith was the moment of launch of the magazine. The audience was captivated, and the event was a great success in its totality. It was augmented by the presence of Mr. Rahul Ram as the guest of honor. With his words and best wishes, The Elysian Magazine was launched.
26th June 2021
Pride Month
Open Mic Session
Being queer comes with a lot of struggles; not only in society, but within yourself too. On June 26th, The Elysian had a conversation with Shivangi, a member of the Jamia Queer Collective, JMI on the intricacies of being queer. The perpetuation of cis-heternormative family standards, the recent amplification of queerphobic voices, and the struggles of internalised homophobia were some of the topics we traversed during our conversation. Shivangi also helped us see the relevance of activism through sensitization, the clarity that literature portrayals of queer relationships bring, and most importantly, the value of the acceptance and love that queer individuals can find within their chosen families. In a nutshell, this discourse helped shed perspective on the arduous challenges faced by those individuals whose identities don't adhere to society's cis-heternormative standards
12th January, 2021
National Youth Day
Open Mic Session
On the occasion of National Youth Day, Elysian, the English Literary society of Amity Law School, Noida, organized an open mic with its members. They recited a few self written poems, portraying the ideologies of the youth now a days. There was a thorough interpretation of the respective poems and individual perspectives of the poets were asked. The discussion enlightened us with the nooks and corners of the ideals of the current generation. The 158th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda was marked by paving ways for all the principles he wanted the youth to follow.
15th August, 2020
74th Independence Day
Ensemble
The pandemic has introduced us to a new way of life. Life blooms from misery, and such was seen in our virtual Independence Day celebration when although each one was distanced, united hearts rejoiced. The event was a melody of spellbinding performances by students and exalting words from the faculty. The event was a much required respite from the monotony of lockdown and melancholy of the pandemic.