DU gets jugaad

Six DU students set up a website, Dujugaad.com, to make sure fuchchas feel at home.

Where will I live? What will I eat? How will I get a mobile phone connection? Which is the best beauty parlour in the campus? Can I rent a two-wheeler? Freshers are full of questions, as usual, but this time, DU has all the answers. The answer is Jugaad.

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Six students have set up a new website named Dujugaad.com (jugaad is a Hindi slang for “getting things done”), which hopes to make college life easier for fuchchas. The portal’s tagline reads, “100 kaam ka ek naam, solutions ka baap,” and users say it quite lives up to that.

The interactive forum provides tips on everything from paying guest accommodations and tiffin services to the markets and admission processes, apart from answers FAQs on college life. A couple of clicks more, and you come across a comprehensive directory of cybercafés and restaurants in the campus area. The site also provides information on courier services, electronic care, mobile recharge, nearest ATMs and cab services. And yes, there is a list of hair stylists, too.

Ashish Kumar, co-owner and a student of Ramjas College, says, “When we were freshers, we faced many problems. So we wanted to help the new ones. We also want it [the website] to be useful for senior students.”

Ashish and the rest of the team have started registrations for their Jugaad club. If things work out, the website’s members will get discounts in food outlets and book shops in Kamla Nagar Market, the popular North Campus adda. But what about freshers who have joined colleges in the South Campus? “Since we are a small team, we have limited our services to the North Campus,” says Sidhant Ghai, the site’s spokesperson. “But we hope to hit the South within six months.” Feel half-year happy.