Category Archives: Students

What is Diwali and how is it celebrated?

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With Diwali 2022 taking place this week, from Monday 24 to Friday 28 October, Kshitij Sinha, Research Intern at Birkbeck’s Mycobacteria Research Laboratory, shares what Diwali means to him. 

Kshitij Sinha

Kshitij Sinha

Diwali is an eagerly anticipated and joyous festival in many Asian countries like India, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, and Nepal. Diwali is derived from the Sanskrit terms ‘dipa’, which means ‘light, candle, or that which burns, glows, and illuminates’, and ‘vali’, which means ‘an array, row, continuous line, series’.  

The festival of lights, as it is known, brings joy and illumination into the lives of Indian families. It commemorates Lord Rama, one of the Hindu Gods, returning to his kingdom of Ayodhya after a 14-year exile. Diwali is a five-day festival that marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year. During this time, you will see the jubilant life of Indian families as you walk through houses decorated with diyas, beautiful rangolis at the doors, and children on the streets with crackers. You can also see balcony lights strung in flats from the road.  

I remember my first Diwali celebration in London two years ago. My entire family was dressed in brightly coloured clothing. We lit up diyas in every room and lit ‘phool-jharis’ (sparklers), a little firecracker that releases a shower of sparks from the balcony. On the auspicious day of Diwali, it is one of the most important rituals done in many Indian households. It is often done in the evening to welcome the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi into the home and bless the occupants.  

A combination of diyas and candles laid out for Diwali

A combination of diyas and candles laid out for Diwali

Finally, Diwali has a special significance this year. This celebration represents the triumph of good over evil and has provided a glimpse of hope in our fight against Covid-19 through the development of vaccinations and the improvement of health.   

With this, I wish all the staff and students at Birkbeck, University of London a safe and incredibly happy Diwali! 

Student hacks for living in London

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BA Global Politics and International Relations student, Aditya Mukherjee, shares his favourite tips for enjoying life as a Birkbeck student in London, on a budget.  

Living in London as a student can be quite a challenge, especially for mature students like me, who might find adjusting to a student budget tricky. However, as the saying goes: ‘where there is a will, there is a way’. It’s therefore my pleasure to share the following hacks to enjoy life in London on a budget and as a Birkbeck student. 

Lunch and dinner parties 
Getting together for lunch and dinner parties at home is a brilliant way to swap expensive meals in restaurants for a cozier, low-budget time together with friends and delicious food. It’s also a very good way to make friends and explore the different cuisines and cultures of your fellow students. When my friends and I host our meals, we either get groceries together or decide in advance what we can cook together and who brings what, which brings out the best of what each person has to offer. It’s a great way to build relationships while enjoying great food and drink from all over the world. 

George Birkbeck Bar 
If going out for a pint or glass of wine becomes inevitable, the George Birkbeck Bar, located on the 4th floor of Birkbeck’s Malet Street building, is the perfect place. Open from 2-11pm, the George Birkbeck Bar offers spirits, drinks and snacks at very affordable prices compared to other pubs in Central London – you can get a pint for £3.50! Available to students right in the middle of campus, there is terrace seating overlooking Torrington Square, making it the perfect place for evening views of the city and lively pub conversations. Don’t miss out!  

Terrace 5 
Terrace 5 is Birkbeck’s canteen, located on the 5th floor of the Malet Street building. It offers a wide range of hot lunch selections every afternoon. For just £6, students can get a delicious and filling lunch that has a main, two sides and a salad. In addition to this, Terrace 5 is open until 6:30pm and there is always a selection of soups, salads, and sandwiches available to purchase even after lunch service has finished. This means a quick dinner before class can also be enjoyed. 

Bloomsbury Farmers Market
If you are ever in the mood for something exotic, the Bloomsbury Farmers Market in Torrington Square every Thursday is the place to be. Though on the pricy side for most students (£11- £15 for a meal), for those who would like to spice up their Thursdays, it offers a diverse selection of cuisines from all over the world right on Birkbeck’s doorstep. A good hack for getting around the slightly more expensive prices, is to go just at closing time at 2pm, when a lot of stalls are more than happy to sell their meals at half price. It may not work at every stall, but coming from experience, it is worth a try. 

Hare Krishna free lunches 
If you are in the mood for a healthy vegetarian meal, try the free lunch offered by Hare Krishna devotees of London’s Radha-Krishna Temple. The lunch is offered every day from 12-2pm just outside SOAS, which is very close to Birkbeck’s main buildings. It’s impossible to miss, as there are usually queues of students waiting to be served.  

Totum Student discount card and app
This is an absolute must-have, as you get discounts on a range of stores, restaurants and services, advertised on a weekly and monthly basis. The website updates the deals on offer regularly, and if used strategically, it can help save a lot of valuable pounds and pennies.   

Birkbeck student card
Did you know that your Birkbeck student card can also get you discounts while out and about? A vast array of retailers and restaurants offer student discounts if you flash your student card, including Honest Burgers, Yo Sushi, ASOS, Odeon cinemas and many more.  

Birkbeck Film Club 
For movie buffs, who want to keep their viewing up but can’t afford weekly cinema trips, consider joining the Birkbeck Film Club. A club for students to discover films, including those you may not encounter on big commercial screens, Birkbeck Film Club hosts regular film screenings for its members. Themed weeks showcase films from different categories, including French, Spanish, LGBT and more. It’s a great platform to discover arthouse, international, documentary and classic films right on Birkbeck’s campus – for free. Membership is open to current students and alumni, so it’s also a great way to make friends and have interesting conversations after screenings too.  

So, there we have it, those are some of my favourite hacks for living on a student budget in London. But for good measure, here are some final quick-fire hacks too:  

  • Save money on haircuts by joining Facebook groups of ‘@Hair Models in London’ 
  • Sign yourself up for a National Rail Card to get discounts on train travel around the UK   
  • For affordable clothing on a budget, Primark offers stylish options  
  • Get 30% off travel on the Transport for London network, by purchasing and registering a student Oyster card  
  • Fever: an app for various events in London, featuring discounts  
  • Unidays app: similar to Totum, this offers discounts for many retailers   
  • Poundland: get homewares, snacks, and miscellaneous items for just £1  
  • Savers: grab yourself toiletries, beauty products other personal care items for affordable prices  
  • Supermarkets: make use of Meal Deals for £3, which include a drink, a main, and a snack  
  • Too Good to Go: an app that lets you collect, for free or very cheap, perfectly good food from stores that would otherwise be thrown out at the end of each day   

 

Uniting as a community to support bisexual awareness and visibility

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With Bisexual Awareness Week running from 16 to 23 September 2022, Birkbeck Students’ Union LGBTQ+ officer, Tonya Moralez (Xe/Xem), talks about why it’s an important week, and what their plans are as LGBTQ+ officer to support the bisexual community.

Bisexual Awareness Week (also known as Bi Week) is an important part of the LGBTQ+ calendar and is different from Bisexual Awareness Month, which takes place in March. It was co-founded in 2016 by charities GLADD and BiNet USA to celebrate bisexuality and bring awareness to bisexual or bisexual plus (Bi+) people within the LGBTQ+ community. As well as celebration, the aim is to educate about obstacles faced by the bisexual community and to encourage positive action and policies.   

One of the well-known challenges unique to individuals identifying as Bi+, is that those who ‘accept’ homosexuality can still be prejudiced or condescending towards Bi+ people by not taking their sexual orientation seriously. 

Examples of this include Bi+ people being told that they’re ‘greedy’ for ‘wanting’ more than one gender, or that they must be ‘confused’ about their orientation. Often these types of comments come not only from conventional heteronormative, cis-gendered people, but also from members of the LGBTQ+ community itself. In my early years within the community, I regularly heard people claim with mocking frustration that they wouldn’t date bisexuals, out of fear that Bi+ people couldn’t be monogamous or loyal due to having multi-sexual interests. Without question, this sentiment is Bi-phobic. 

The fact that Bisexuality has often been fetishized in the media does little to help this. Often portrayed as changeable, overtly attractive, desirable and trendy, Bi+ characters are either reduced to sexual objects or plot devices. This sort of reductive portrayal can contribute to the false idea that Bi+ people’s challenges are trivial, and make it difficult for them to feel truly seen and accepted by both sides: ‘straight’ and ‘gay’. 

I think most LGBTQ+ people can agree how patronizing and invalidating it is to be told that you don’t actually know who you are, or that you should be something else. To hear these sorts of comments still regularly directed towards Bi+ people from both outside and within the LGBTQ+ community, is not only annoying, but deeply saddening. Enough of this repeated invalidation of your identity over time, can start to take its toll emotionally and psychologically. That’s why Bi-visibility Day and Bisexual Awareness Week are so important; those identifying as Bisexual, Omnisexual or Pansexual, should be visible and listened to in the LGBTQ+ community. 

I personally feel that the LGBTQIAA++ community is reaching such a large and diverse scale, that sections within the community need to have sub-groups and communities to support each category’s individual needs as much as possible. Bisexuals (along with all other identities) have their own unique social needs and issues to be accommodated and considered. Part of the solution, in my view, is to have Bi+ specific events, educational channels, and spotlight whenever possible, to raise awareness of these needs. The hope is that these activities will not only empower Bi+ people with words, resources, and information allowing them to find their voices and express their sexual orientation and identity with confidence, but also create plans for positive social action.   

As the LGBTQ+ officer at Birkbeck, I will organize events to celebrate each sub-group within the LGBTQ+ community, and ensure that a healthy portion of these are focused on Bi+ specific themes. I will work with requests and feedback received from Bi+ students within the LGBTQ+ network at Birkbeck to host Bi-visibility focused events, workshops that are shaped collaboratively and sensitively. I will also ensure I use Birkbeck Student Union’s LGBTQ+ platform to create Bi+ awareness content, to increase understanding within the LGBTQ+ community itself. 

Let us work together to ensure our Bisexual students feel as visible and supported as others within the community, let us work together to have Bisexual voices amplified by the LGBTQ+ community and allies at Birkbeck and beyond. 

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