September 2015

Home , Leander Paes, Sania Mirza, Somdev Devvarman, Tennis in India, Vijay Amritraj

NASSCOM - Student Connect Program Not just magnitude but also the direction! …pg 2 Reader Engagement Initiative

Volume 12 SAMVAD 2015: Confluence of Industry Issue 03 and Academia September 2015 …pg 3 Circulated free to students of Vidyalankar (For private circulation only) India’s Tennis Greats …pg 4 In association with VIT students win VIT Snippets

Football Paradise - a blog by VIT alumnus Gaurang Manjrekar has been nominated as In- dia's ONLY entry in the world-acclaimed FOOT- BALL BLOGGING AWARDS, in not just one but two different categories - the Best New Blog laurels @ TCS Contests (Football Paradise), and the Best Social Ac- count (@LFC_360). This nomination would take students from the startup to a new level. VIT is proud of Vidyalankar In- Gaurang’s efforts and wishes him all the very stitute of Tech- best! May Football Paradise break global re- nology have cords for the highest social media connect made it to the among football enthusiasts! 16list of top 1000 teams across the world in the recent CodeVita Programming Contest conducted by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). CodeVita is TCS’ way of attracting young impressiona- ble college students to adopt the culture of looking at programming as a sport and experience the joy of programming. Af- ter having run two seasons of the competition in India, TCS CodeVita had gone global since 2014, and around 2 lakh students from India registered for the contest this year. These 16 champs from VIT are exempted from the aptitude test that will be conducted by TCS on the campus recruitment day. They will be going directly to the inter- view round. In yet another victory, Anuj Khandewal (BE INFT) and Rahul A student contingent from VIT bagged the Sec- Kothawade ond Runners Up position (ranked third best) at (BE INFT) have KALEIDOSCOPE FEST 2015 organized by been offered jobs Sophia College for Women. The contingent par- Anuj in TCS based on ticipated in 37 out of 40 events and was led by Khandewal their perfor- Brian Faleiro, who was assisted by Komal Bap- mance in TESTi- na, Om Dhamdhere and Viraj Deshpande. Con- mony contest by gratulations to all the winners and participants TCS. TESTimony from the victorious contingent! is a platform that encourages students to enhance their knowledge Rahul Exam Alert! in software test- Kothawade ing as well as re- Exam: GATE 2016 ward them for exhibiting exem- Exam Window: 30 January plary talent and knowledge in Automated testing, Performance 2015 to 7 February 2015 testing, Test Management and Exam Slots: 9:00 am to 12:00 other Software Quality related topics, helping them jumpstart noon and 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm their careers. Anuj and Rahul’s 19 March 2015 spectacular performance earned Results: them a coveted spot in the top 50 For more information check: teams. By virtue of being one of provisional offer of employment The icing on the cake to this dents on the very first day of the top teams in TESTimony, with Tata Consultancy Services happy turn of events proved to be campus placements, thereby pav- http://www.gate.iitb.ac.in/ they have been shortlisted for a Limited. when TCS recruited 163 VIT stu- ing the way for future glory! Not just magnitude but also the direction!

“Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed.” In association with —Dale Carnegie September 2015 2 NASSCOM - STUDENT CONNECT PROGRAM SIT’s Department of Information Technology (Software Engineering Cluster) organized “Student Connect Program” with NASSCOM on 2 Sep- tember 2015. More than 250 students Vattended an inspiring talk on “Job opportunities In IT” and “Entrepreneurship” by the Guest of Honour Mr Rajiv Vaishnav (Vice President – Member Outreach at NASSCOM). Mr. Rajiv is passionate about realizing the po- tential of the Indian IT Industry and is enthu- siastic about developing new IT destinations in the country and fostering platforms for industry-academia interactions as he believes that these are the two most critical requirements for the Indian IT Industry to maintain its globally advantageous position. The National Association of Software and Ser- vices Companies is a trade association of Indian Information Technology and Business Process tioned that to grow continuously in our life- Revolution”, “IT Industry from NoWhere To and eventually to the society. He said that there Outsourcing industry. Mr. Rajiv shared that time, one needs to identify the slowdown (lead- SomeWhere”, “India’s positioning in the world” is a lot of stability in India and a lot of job/ NASSCOM wanted India to gain recognition for ing to the bottom of the S-Curve) in one’s life and how NASSCOM contributes a major role in business opportunities for many and this will its software professionals. Today, they work on and act accordingly to again move up (which it by concentrating on the quality, productivity, increase in the near future. He encouraged stu- security, e-governance and innovation aspects. acts as the inclined in the S-Curve). He moti- innovation and cost every time there was a need dents to become entrepreneurs. Mr. Rajiv spoke about the passion and dedication vated students by mentioning the availability to provide IT services to clients across the It was a learning and interactive session for of Devang Mehta, the founder of NASSCOM. of a lot of start-up opportunities. He asked stu- globe. He mentioned, “Confidence is important students wherein he answered all the queries Mr. Rajiv beautifully explained the concept dents to identify their strengths, opportunities for each of us as a first step toward success”. put up by them. Mr Rajiv, through his excellent of ‘inclined’ and ‘declined’ as the phases in and challenges and try to generate solutions. He focused on the difference between an em- talk has really touched upon many important every one’s life with the concept of S-Curve He guided students on the approach one ployee and a contributor and that one should facts students should be aware of and follow for through which individuals and organizations should have towards becoming a successful per- always strive to be a contributor along with be- their continuous development and success. can rediscover themselves. According to him, son in life and about the thought process one ing a good employee which makes a big differ- - Ujwala Sav & Kedar Sawant one’s thoughts drive one’s life. He also men- should move on with. He focused a lot on “IT ence to an individual and his/ her organization Faculty, VSIT

life situations to the best of our abilities. And by facilitating such a workshop, something apart from the curriculum, Vidyalankar Institute of Technology is certainly striving to give its students an upper edge over the rest. The world is a plethora of eccentricity. And to deal with such people too in our social and professional life is a challenging task! The training taught us how to deal with various types of people and react in different situations. We were trained on our interpersonal skills, our interviewing and answering techniques. We were also given tips on our presentation skills and effective communication techniques. An interesting activity was conducted where we were split into groups of six where every person had to face a bombardment of questions from the remaining five. The swift- ness, diplomacy and creativity of our answers were critically judged. This experience of a formal face to face assessment will certainly become useful for the students studying in Third Year Engineering for their future job in- terviews and placements. We were also taught techniques of marketing and the methods of establishing a connection with the audience. It would consider it a crucial part of one’s all was emphasized how advertising works on round development and this indeed is a great three levels of interplay with our brains. The opportunity given by Vidyalankar Institute of most successful marketing techniques are the Technology to the students pursuing their engi- ones which make us believe, the ones which neering. The training started off with an activ- arouse in us a sense of strong trust and belong- ity for testing our emotional intelligence where- ing to the product. 2 Days of Training - in we declared unlikely and likely statements The training session was overloaded with ac- about ourselves and our partner had to guess the tivities and interactive events. It just got better true ones and the ones which were false. Such a and better with every module. I remember the simple activity, but this made us realize how of- team event where every team had the same be- ten we judge people just by their appearances lief that how this training in spite of being only Memories of a lifetime! and how can we read the body language of peo- two days' duration gives us such a great deal of he Dale Carnegie Training is hold on our career. And the way the ink never ple while conversing. We were also taught about knowledge just like the principle of physics an ink pen", our trainer Mr. Joe fades out, the training leaves an everlasting stress management and how to deal with diffi- where even a very less force at a particular place Verghese jubilantly exclaimed. mark on our lives ". And indeed, the training cult situations. We were asked to role play real gives enough leverage to lift a large amount of He added, "Just like the barrel proved to be a package of excellence. life crisis situations and the ways to deal with weight. It is stupefying how we got certified for of an ink pen stores ink, the The Dale Carnegie training not only focuses them and not let the stress affect us mentally and a two days’ duration capsule but took back home "Ttraining in itself is a comprehensive collection on effective communication skills, but it also physically. I believe this Dale Carnegie training with us memories of a lifetime! of excellent data. Just like we hold the pen for encompasses every aspect of one’s development session supplements the classroom training that - Oindrilla Chatterjee a directed grip, the training lets us get a strong in one’s professional and social life. Thus, I we receive and can really help us in facing real TE ETRX 1, VIT Not just magnitude but also the direction!

“Unity is strength... when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.” In association with —Mattie Stepanek September 2015 3 TECHNOMANTRA – 2015

SAMVAD 2015 idyalankar Polytechnic has both Electronics and CO- IT depart- successfully organized a ments were awarded cash prizes of Rs. state level technical paper 7500, Rs. 5000 and Rs. 2500 respectively Confluence of Industry and Academia presentation competition for and certificates. The remaining partici- the third time in a row. This pants were awarded participation cer- idyalankar Institute of sion led by him, he made sure to take Vevent was designed for aspirants from tificates and the ‘Technomantra 2015 Technology is a pioneer in into consideration the ideas put Electronics and Telecommunication, Volume 3’ book in which their papers providing and motivating forth by students. Computer and IT Departments from are published. A special cash prize was its students to display their The 6th floor of MMS department various diploma colleges across Maha- also awarded to the best paper from out- unique talents. One such had a very professional ambiance rashtra to participate with zeal to put side Mumbai region. Vplatform provided to the third semes- with various projects on display by forth their research work and ideas. The winners from the EJ Department ter students of MMS was Samvad Human Resource, Marketing and Sys- The event received an overwhelming are: 2015, where the students showcased tem specialization students at the pre- participation from various technical 1. Akshay Bhopann and Omay Naik their efforts of two months at summer lunch session. The atmosphere was fields like Human Computer Interac- from Vivekanand Polytechnic internship projects (SIP) in the most pervaded with enthusiasm not only tion, Artificial Intelligence Data Min- 2. Aditi S. and Kabir Bhosale from Fr. innovative manner through presenta- from MMS students but also by the ing, Embedded System, IOT, Green Agnel Polytechnic tions, charts and models. students from various other engineer- World etc. Out of these 120 papers 40 3. Stutee Oza and Nuorain Panjwani It was a very proud moment for eve- ing departments across VIT who took papers were from places outside Mum- from Shree Bhagubhai Polytechnic ryone at VIT-MMS as the function was a keen interest in understanding the bai like Nashik, Pune, Dhule, Jalgaon, The consolation prize is awarded to inaugurated by Mr. Vinit Goenka, who projects in depth. The post lunch ses- Amravati etc. 24 papers were selected Harshil Patel and Ankit Karande of is a Member, IT Task Force at Minis- sion witnessed the projects displayed from Electronics and Telecommunica- Vidyalankar Polytechnic. try of Shipping, Road Transport & by the Finance and Operations tion branch and 23 from Computer and The winners from CO-IT department are: Highways, Government of India. The stream students, who with equal zest Information Technology branch. The 1. Drishti Gugal and Hamsika Shah function started with the opening ad- carried on the later part of the event. participants of the selected papers were from Shree Bhagubhai Mafatlal dress by Vidyalankar Chairperson Dr. Sanjeewani The whole event flowed seamlessly due the efforts called to present their papers in the con- Polytechnic Deshpande followed by an address by the Head of the put in by the entire MMS 2014-16 batch. Ms. Grishma ference “Technomantra 2015” on 7 Sep- 2. Angha Pasalkar and Yadnika Pawar MMS Department Dr. Ankush Sharma. Mr. Vinit Chunekar and Ms. Tanvi Shastrabuddhe played a ma- tember 2015. The Chief Guest for the from Vartak Polytechnic Goenka then took centre stage and moved the crowd jor role in designing and executing the whole event. event was Shree Tejandra P. Chaturve- 3. Utkarsh C from Vivekanand stating some unknown facts of history. He told how Contribution from the professors wouldn’t go unno- di, Head of Equipment Electronics Ser- Polytechnic India could have saved the invasion from foreign coun- ticed since they were the guiding light for the students vices division, BARC, Mumbai. Consolation prize is won by Pooja tries had it been cautious enough to close the small at each step. The day came to end with the students The event was judged by Dr. Saylee Dhede and Madhavi Metke from Jawaha- gap at Hindu Kush. He further elaborated how the one feeling elated with the appreciation and recognition Gharge (V.E.S. Institute of Technology), rlal Nehru Institute of Technology, Pune. driving force in self can make a difference to the na- they garnered. It is said, “Without discipline, hard Prof. Suhasini Shukla (senior faculty, The Technomantra team is looking tion stating examples of his students from his educa- work and commitment we would never have realized V.P.M.), Dr. Hemant Pardeshi (Govern- forward to organize ‘Technomantra tion institute Uttan Krishi Sanshodhan Sanstha who our dreams.” Samvad witnessed all of it and was the ment Polytechnic) and Prof. Harshvard- 2016’ on an even larger scale. found a pond of drinkable water in the middle of the first stone laid by the students to soar high and realize han Ahire (Somaiya Engineering Col- - Technomantra Team Arabian Sea. With the dynamic question answer ses- their dreams. lege). The winners and runners-up of R &D Committee, VP Kalnirnay - A Cultural Innovation DAC Committee of VSIT organized an that, he has developed a team of software engi- event to inculcate the seeds of entrepre- neers for the same purpose followed by register- neurship by inviting Mr. Jayraj Jayant ing (patent) of the research (HORN Measuring Salgaonkar (Co-Founder, Publisher and Meter) that he is working on. Managing Director, Kalnirnay-a hugely This session was enlightening as Mr. Sal- Epopular almanac used in India) as the resource gaonkar shared his real life experience towards person. In his address Mr. Salgaonkar shared the growth of Kalnirnay. He motivated students valuable inputs on the approach to be adopted to by supporting his statements through examples become a successful entrepreneur. He focused of Vikram Sarabhai, Ratan Tata, Thomas Edi- on ‘Innovation’ - the quality which reflects a suc- son, Barack Obama – all of whom owe their cessful entrepreneur. He defined an entrepre- greatness to innovative ideas. He expected neur as the one who starts his/her business and great advancement in health-sector, extensive runs it with innovative ideas. He further added use of solar energy, biotechnology of plasma that innovation is what distinguishes between a which will evolve the world bringing in sea leader and a follower. He insisted on ‘ideas’ in changes. He asserted that it is the serene mind the first place, which pave ways to generate in- which generates innovative ideas and thus ad- novative ideas. He feels ‘Kalnirnay’ owes its vocated peace through Yoga. The whole session growth and success to the KISS principle (Keep was centered on innovation and proved to be It Simple Silly) which is directly proportional to food for thought for the budding entrepreneur. innovative ideas. Mr. Salgaonkar emphasize on - Kedar Sawant continuous innovation. In this context he said Faculty, VSIT Not just magnitude but also the direction!

“Tennis was never work for me, tennis was fun. And the tougher the battle and the longer the match, the more fun I had.” In association with —Jimmy Connors September 2015 4

won 1990 Wimbledon Junior title and further was ranked as the No. 1 junior player in the world. Sport runs in the blood for Leander. His father, Vece, was a member of the bronze medal Indian field hockey team in the 1972 Munich Olympics, and mother, Jennifer, was a captain of the basketball team. Paes proudly carried the Indian tricolour during the opening ceremonies of 2000 Sydney Olympics. He has made the most number of appearances at the Olympics by an Asian athlete. He is famous for his several mem- orable Davis Cup performances and is a former team captain. One of the most successful professional Indian tennis players, he has received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India's highest sporting honour, in 1996-97; the Arjuna Award in 1990; the Padma Shri award in 2001 and its third highest Civilian Award the Padma Bhushan in January 2014 for his outstanding contribution to tennis in India. Sania Mirza Sania Mirza is currently ranked number one in women’s doubles. From 2003 until her retire- ment from singles in 2013, she was ranked by the Women's Tennis Association as India's No. 1 player, both in singles and doubles. Through- out her career, Mirza has established herself as the most successful female Indian tennis player in history and one of the highest-paid and high- profile athletes in the country. In mid-2007, however, a major wrist injury forced her to give up her singles career and focus on the doubles circuit. Sania has won 5 Grand Slam titles (2 in Women’s doubles and 3 in Mixed doubles). She has also won a total of 14 medals (including 6 male player in the Open era with nine titles - Gold) at three major multi-sport events, namely taking his total Grand Slam titles to a stagger- the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games ing 17 (8 in Men’s doubles and 9 in Mixed dou- and the Afro-Asian Games bles). The following day, another Indian ace Sania Mirza was announced as UN Women Sania bagged her second consecutive Grand Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia. She is the Slam title of the season, and fifth overall, as she first South Asian Woman to be appointed as a won the US Open women’s doubles with Hingis Goodwill Ambassador in the organization's his- as well. In 2015 itself, Paes and Sania Mirza have tory. In 2004, Mirza was awarded the Arjuna won five titles in 12 doubles event in the four award by the Indian Government. In 2006, Mir- Grand Slams combined. za was awarded a Padma Shri, India's fourth India’s The history of Indian Tennis dates back to highest honour for her achievements as a ten- the early 1990s. Many notable contributions nis player. This year she was awarded the Khel were made by greats like Ramanathan Ratna award by the Government of India. Krishnan, M Saleem, and Vijay Amritraj. From India has still a lot to grow in the world ten- here on, the scene of tennis in India just kept nis circuit. Hopes are at a high with Rohan Bo- on improving. Leander Paes rose to the occa- panna, Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhamri. sion by winning the coveted bronze in the 1996 However, none of them have so far been able to Atlanta Olympic Games. In 2003, Indian tennis emulate the same level of success as shown by saw the arrival of Sania Mirza. Sania became their predecessors - either in singles or doubles. Tennis the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam New leagues such as Bhupathi's Indian Premier when she won the mixed doubles titles with Tennis League and Vijay Amritraj's Champions Mahesh Bhupathi at the Australian Open in Tennis League are coming up which have 2009. She became the face of women’s tennis in helped build on the excitement to throw up a India and carried the baton forward. challenge to other sports such as cricket and football. It is now for the corporate and the fed- eration to get behind the sport in the same. ndia may not have as strong a connect with association is poised for an overhaul. Still going Here is a quick look at the Hopefully, the next few years will bring out Greatstennis as the country has with other popular strong at 42, the Indian tennis veteran Paes two Indian tennis greats more young talent and will improve the condi- sports such as cricket, football or hockey but scripted history by notching up the US Open tion of the game in the country. with back-to-back triumphs of Leander Paes mixed doubles title with Switzerland’s Martina Leander Paes - Suman Pandit Iand Sania Mirza at this year's US Open, the Hingis to become the format’s most successful The Kolkata born Paes became noticed when he TE ETRX 1, VIT

famous aqueducts. Today, engineering covers a broad range of ideas all devoted to keeping the "engine" of our modern civilization running. Without engineers, the hard work of all pop- Life without an Engineer ular scientists like Lord Kelvin, Boyle, Charles, magine you wake up suddenly at night, but piece of architecture or a scientific program. Galileo, Isaac Newton, Thomas Young, etc. have no means to find out what the time is. But these highly specialized fields just depend would have gone in vain. It means that Archi- I be able to type this article on a system and get You are not able to find your clock, which is on basic concepts. Engineering has created medes would have shouted ‘Eureka’ in vain, if it printed. made by an electronics engineer, or your cell nearly every aspect of our daily modern lives engineers failed to build ships floating on the Thus, it can be concluded that we do forget phone - a device made by a computer engi- and it is more than just a skill or design — it's sea; obeying the principle of floatation; carry- the importance of an engineer in our daily Ineer. Not only to find out what the time is, engi- a fundamental way of thinking and interacting ing luggage and people from one place to lives, but an engineer never forgets to simplify neering skills are used in every aspect of one’s with the environment around us. another. our lives from all trying jobs to just a press of life from bathing to watching T.V. In real life we Engineering is one of the oldest fields in the A world without engineers would have been a button. So, it can be said that life without an never bother to think about these things. world, arguably as old as civilization itself. The a world where you would not be able to ping on engineer would be a life full of hardships. “Sci- When we think of engineering, we usually first engineers were those who developed the Blackberry Porsche, browse Google on Sam- entists dream about doing great things. Engi- think of devices, computer software, compli- lever, the pulley and the inclined plane. Egyp- sung Galaxy, call your girlfriend and say good- neers do them” cated mathematics and elaborate building pro- tian engineers designed and built the Pyra- night, watch movies on iPod, read novels on - Prem Bajaj jects that look beautiful to the eye; a stunning mids, and Roman engineers conceptualized the Android tablet, board an aeroplane , nor would CO1GA, VP