Many things have been said aloud
Within these sound proof walls
After every word, cheered the crowd
But no sound seeped through the halls.

If listened to by a complete stranger
These words were enough to enrage,
For every word spoke of instilling danger,
To those outside this gross cage.

The boys’ locker room is no longer secret,
The sound proof walls have broken it seems,
But those inside don’t deserve a clean chit
Not by any amount of not-all-men memes.

But let’s not pretend we didn’t know,
About the locker room at all,
It was only a matter of time, in status quo,
Before these walls were meant to fall.

The movies we watch, the songs we hear,
Are testament of the fact,
It’s not just ‘them’, but all of us peers,
That are participants in the act.

Although individuals make up society,
It’s society that an individual would ape
But did we really go wrong in entirety?
What led to the normalisation of rape?

I’m angry. I’m sad. I want to scream
At this dire state of things,
But I also want to hope and dream
Probably escape on some unicorns’ wings.

But problems aren’t solved by running away,
Of this much I am sure,
Check your actions and what you say,
Mentalities needs to change from their core.

The conditioning and structures we see,
Although pervasive, aren’t set in stone,
Support others and share your story,
In fighting this patriarchy, we’re not alone.

For everyone to fight we call,
So that equality and respect we bring,
But girls, we’ve already torn down the locker room walls,
Now we just have to break the glass ceiling.

[Image Description: The focus of the picture, in the centre, is the NLS library. Surrounding it are doodles of various things in Law School. There are mentions of all the food places in and around campus – Bistro, Chetta, Rohini, Hungry Hub, Juice Shop, Atithi and Gokul. Law School events are depicted – Spiritus (with a basketball hoop), SF (with a strawberry wearing headphones), Univ Week (with a banner), GCL (with a cricket bat and ball), Mooting (with a trophy) and Nego (with client and counsel placards). There are doodles of Dan, Dominos, Pride, a laptop running out of charge, a bookshelf, a hot beverage, weak wifi, a clock with the bell – various aspects of Law School. These are accompanied by mentions of Nagarbhavi skies, field scenes, Maggi and bun butter bhujia, tort v torts, “pedagogy” and “academic rigour” – all those little things that make Law School, Law School.]

P.S.: We still love you, Law School.

We know you’d rather be hearing your favourite professors sing this after a sleepy 8:50AM class but check out this lyric video by Arth for some close enough tonal reference XD. Scroll on for the lyrics display designed by Smriti Kalra (Batch of 2021).

Here’s the video for the original song to get into the rhythm! Sing along to raise the standards!

Designing credits: Smriti Kalra (Batch of 2021)

Like threads woven together to make art
Criss-crossed thoughts intertwine
As we grope around in the dark to tie up the ends
Of the ongoing debate and the questions thrown at us
Stupefied, yet clear about what the art should look like

The clock keeps on ticking
There’s a fading light
As we inch closer to dawn
Our amateur hands slowly weave the narrative
Firmer, stronger and clearer.

The echoes of these actions resonate
And the threads pull in the whole world
Me too, you too want to contribute
And we lend a hand to the fallen artists
Weavers whose stories have been painted red

And we repaint.
Slowly, one thread at a time,
One question at a time
One answer at a time.
And the potpourri of colours, of styles, of rhythms
Add to the narrative
And make it more prominent

And this should give cause to celebrate
Not the fact that there exist fallen artists
But that there are now a thousand more hands to support them
And keep the art going
The threads of the debate have been picked up
Loose ends will be tied together
The red paint will lead to red jails
And as the sun rises, we shall see that time is indeed up.

NLS Inmates Review journalists had conducted a famous sting operation in the Cauvery Bunker in 1942. They managed to catch on tape the popular mooter Adolf Hitler (ID no: 0273) bursting into a furious monologue following the release of his first year Reval results.

In light of the growing resentment against the structural problem of Reval, we are now declassifying the video from our archives.

Original video from: Der Untergang

The featured image of this post has been sourced from The Fearless Collective.

वो चिनगारी सरकारी थी,
जो आग बनी है सीने में।

जंगल से, दरिया से, घर से-
सबसे बेघर जब कर डाला,
रोटी की, बेटी-बहनों की-
चिन्ता में पागल कर डाला,
अब मौत भी महँगी लगती है-
हम शाद नहीं है जीने में।
वो चिनगारी सरकारी थी,
जो आग बनी है सीने में।

लोहा-कोयला तुम रखते हो,
साहू का घर भर देते हो-
जन-गण-मन हमको कहते हो,
हमको बेघर कर देते हो,
कड़वी तो ज़हर की है प्याली,
पर आदत सी है पीने में,
वो चिनगारी सरकारी थी,
जो आग बनी है सीने में।

किस दिन फिर कोयल बोलेगी,
नदिया की लहरें गाएँगी,
महुआ की गंध से हो पागल,
कब बस्ती जश्न मनाएगी?
कब इश्क़ आबाद पुनः होगा,
खेतों में गिरे पसीने में?
वो चिनगारी सरकारी थी,
जो आग बनी है सीने में।

On a dark BU highway, CLAT rank in my hand
Giant library tower , rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I hear of submission deadlines
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to look for lifelines.
There it hung on the noticeboard;
The list of placements was swell.
And I was thinking to myself,
“This could be Heaven or this could be Hell”
Then he kicked open the door and he showed me my cube
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say…

Welcome to the Laa School Life, macha.
Such a BT place (Such a BT place)
But there’s a saving grace.
Plenty of fun at the Hostel Himalaya
Any time of year (Any time of year)
It’s lit af here.

The system is fully twisted, it’s got some crazy demands.
It’s got a lot of shitty, shitty ploys, to bring you despair.
How they dance in the Acad quad, Trying to forget.
But they’ll always remember, and they’ll always regret.

So I called up the alumnus,
“This place is breaking my spine.”
He said, “Be the monster it wants you to be, then the rest will all be fine.”
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of Torts class
Just to hear them say…

Welcome to the Laa School life, macha.
Such a BT place (Such a BT place)
Until you match its pace.
Then you’ll be livin’ it up at the Hostel Himalaya
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)
Can I live this life?

Results on the website,
That F by my name looks so nice.
I thought, “We are all just prisoners here, of our own device”
And in my roommate’s chambers,
They gathered for some scenes.
They had won it with skills and belief
But I just couldn’t take this grief.

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the gate
I had to get that Uber fast
But the app just won’t book it.
“Relax, ” said the night man,
“We have blocked all these sites.
You can drop-out any time you like,
But you can never leave! ”

Welcome to the Laa School life, macha.
Such a BT place (Such a BT place)
Until you match its pace.
Then you’ll be livin’ it up at the Hostel Himalaya
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)
Can I live this life?

हर कदम थमती है धड़कन मेरी

हर कदम सहमति है हिम्मत मेरी

हर कदम मुकरती है किस्मत मेरी

हर कदम झपकती है पलके मेरी।

आम है मचलना मेरा इस सफर में

आम है मुकरना किस्मत का सफर में

सफर, जो होता है छोटा इन कदमो से

रास्ता जो बना है इन कदमो से।

ये रास्ता जो जोडें मेरे सफर को मेरी मंज़िल से

उस मंज़िल से, जिसके इंतज़ार में पूरा योवन बीता

जिसके दीदार ने मेरे सफर की थकान को तोडा

जिसके लिए हमने इन कदमो को थमने से रोका।।