INSCRIPTION” on Behalf of the Editorial Team and the Students of IIT Indore
3 WHAT’S INSIDE From the Editor’s Desk 4 Hand Picked ~ Being an IITian… 5 We are IITIans… Some of My Memories at Starting of My Graduate Life 6 What is it that makes us IITians??? 7 To The Juniors 8 Local News 9 Let The Mind Speak ‘Success’ as a story of ‘Great Failure’ 11 Deje mi Corazon en Colombia 12 A Trek to Bhagoda-Patalpani 14 The Challenges of 2011 16 The Only Way is “UP” 18 Tech Talk Shape Memory Alloy 19 Mobile Telephony: A Journey With Time Part 1: The Early Days 20 Reviews Movie Review ~ 12 Angry Men 22 Movie Review ~ No One Killed Jessica 24 Book Review ~ Glimpses of World History 26 Restaurant Review ~ Bon Appetit!!! 27 Poets’ Paradise A Ballad Of Two Friends 28 A New Dawn 29 Love Forever 29 Why To Fear 29 Oh! The Thing That We Feel 30 Secretaries Speak… 31 The Growling Shriek ~ The Myths and Legends of and About IIT System 36 Art Corner 38 4
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
e are about to make history! I hereby present to you the W debut edition of IIT Indore’s Students’ Magazine “INSCRIPTION” on behalf of the editorial team and the students of IIT Indore. The seed for this cause was sown last year in November on the early inception of the Cultural & Literary Council. The Literary Council had foreseen a need for such a compilation to exist, for it would be a major source of encouragement for those who have the talent to express their thoughts in writing and wish to foster those skills. Christening the magazine itself took almost an era. After a long discussion on the name, Inscription was chosen unanimously for it justifies the cause... the cause of inscribing a masterpiece on paper, which implies that every write-up in this magazine would be an adorable art; not to mention it has the initials which qualify our institution—IITI—in sequence! I would take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the members of the editorial team whose dedication and sincere efforts made this debut edition a reality. Special thanks to the faculty, who gave us proper guidance and Editorial Team suggestions for the same. The pillars for this magazine to stand Bhushan Shah firm are you— the readers, this is our magazine and we will take this work-piece to higher dimensions. Nizar Ahamed Pankhuri Choudhary We hope we will complete the coming editions of this magazine with the same or even better fluency. The central Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal focus of the magazine will be the nurturing of students’ talents Romil Varadkar along with the miscellaneous objectives like entertainment Sarfaraz Qureshi and transparency. We are sure we will accord one more face Tushar Rokade to IITI through this initiative and this magazine will certainly identify IITI in a distinctive way in days to come. Executive Team
Aamedh Bhargava Megha Mantri Pankhuri Choudhary ~ Tushar Rokade Sarfaraz Qureshi Please feel free to submit your views, reviews, Tushar Rokade suggestions, articles, photo, puzzles, quotes and Design Team any type of feedback to [email protected]. Aamedh Bhargava Anjor S. Hemant 5 HAND PICKED Being an IITian
ove is in the Secret of Success’ rather relatives to some fine air’, than ‘The Lost Symbol’, gentleman you have met ‘L especially if CNBC instead of ESPN, right now and who has just you are back home after rather you are now realized that you are an quite some time. The clock supposed to be everything IITian. The Transformer lad speeds up like never but something you have did say something about before, but still fails to keep always been, the very thing ‘No sacrifice, no Victory’. pace with mum’s which got you where you But it seems that there are enthusiasm. “God! Back are right now… an IITian. more sacrifices expected home I really am special”, after this victory of There are little everyone is… But then, qualifying an exam that considerations these days soon you realize of having provides with four to the fact that Einstein too crossed some sort of a alternatives for each ‘mediocrity line’. Something that has made you special question. Something that has even beyond the confines of your own The transformation made you special from a ‘brainy kid’ to even beyond the sweet home, you are no longer a ‘branded scholar’ confines of your own ordinary, and you are just something appears delicious to sweet home, you are more. Now you move about as an be starting with, but no longer ordinary, with time the and you are just IITian… perception of how something more. Now an ideal IITian must you move about as an was a slow learner. Your be seems blinding. Goes IITian, not something you responses in lectures better the famous saying ’The best might always look forward be at lightning speed or rules are those laid for to! else you may face the themselves’. Aaaaaaah… You might have charges of not ‘morally’ seems like a enjoyed jumping on the belonging there. The paradox?????? You simply sports page so far, but now unraveled expectation or got no right to feel so, coz your dad’s scrutinizing gaze rather the mystical you are an IITian now! tells you that it’s the time for assumption for having a ’The Economic Times’. knack for anything and ‘Facebook’ simply can’t be everything that sounds apt the most visited website in to you being a part of the your links. Your interests are most prestigious institution, inconveniently supposed to grows exponentially from ~ Romil Varadkar be attracted towards ‘The friends to parents to distant
“Use what talents you possess. The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang the best.” ~ Henry Van Dyke 6 WE ARE IITIANS Some of My Memories at Starting of My Graduate Life
arrived in Indore a day before the name sounded weird to me, I took Registrations. It was raining some in my plate and tasted it. heavily. It was the longest KABOOOOOM!!!!!!. My god! It was sweet, journeyI of my life. I stepped into this city and when my newly made friends with a sad yet happy mood. Sad because I recommended to have poha with left home and happy because I left namkeen I was like “Damn! Do they home!!! Auto bhaiya helped us (my Father actually eat this”? Same problem at lunch and I) to find lodging. Thanks to him (as we people in south tend to consume (though he cheated us by taking more more spice amounts) but I did finally adjust! money), as we didn’t know where we After a week we Gultis decided to go would have gone in that rain! The following to a hotel and chose Pishori. We saw the days, after registration, my dad dropped menu and ordered for Biriyani (as we had me off at the our dad’s money in our hostel and left for I stepped into Indore with a sad yet hands for the first time home. With a happy mood. Sad because I left home without their eyes on heavy heart I us!). We waited with entered my hostel and happy because I left home!!! great anxiety (as we room. Here were fed up by the mess started my adventurous trip to discover food). Finally our order was served. We ‘INDIA’! People had come from all over the stared at the plate for five minutes and country and interacting with them made then stared at each others’ faces for five me familiar with places I had heard of only minutes. We expected something and in in my geography classes! the plate it was something else, nothing Soon started the problem of can beat Hyderabadi Biriyani! We ate that LANGUAGE. I couldn’t speak proper Hindi (so called) biriyani and returned (yet Pishori (but could understand though). I wanted is our favourite dhaba till date!). to communicate freely as I had always Here, I should mention my room-mate done with my childhood pals but people Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal. He changed me made a joke out of my speech (Hindi) from a calm and quiet boy to what I am when I changed genders! This is a problem now! He spoke about Punjab, not to with all the Gultis (APians’ popular mention ‘THE’ Punjab Police and their sobriquet!). Somehow I managed the first social customs, history, food styles and stuff! morning. First I was home sick but as days Then came the problem of FOOD. I progressed I became hostel sick! Those are went to the mess with less expectations (as the memories which I will always cherish! I already knew nothing can defeat home food). It was an item called poha. Though ~ Bharat Bhushan
“A ship is always safe at the harbor. But that is not what it is built for.” ~ John A. Shedd 7 What is it that makes us IITians???
s it just the fact that we could who always envy you and want to prove clear one of the toughest that you are no better. Well I wouldn’t exams in the world?? Well if blame them for anything; it is in human anybodyI thinks so, I would humbly say that blood to be jealous of someone who will he/she is sadly mistaken. be better than you always. IITs are not just a group of colleges. In When I came here I was very scared fact, it is a system designed to bring out the of joining a newly opened IIT, but I was told very best an engineering student can give. by everyone that it didn’t matter much And for that system we need the finest of and that the brand name of an IIT is all the students in the country. Therefore enough to get a good job and be happy we have the JEE which is rightly one of the for the rest of your life. Well not only that, toughest exams in the whole world. what I have learnt here, in my college, is to take all the problems But just What I have learnt here, in my in life as challenges clearing the JEE and, to succeed, I does not make you college, is to take all the problems in must pass these an IITian. It is the life as challenges and, to succeed, I challenges. phase that you must pass these challenges! have been able to Coming here has withstand the never ending test of time. made my way of seeing things much You have been able to face all the different— I am no longer afraid of the problems in life and that you have met all small things that may not matter in my life. expectations in all fields. As for now I am only afraid of two things in life, first being God and the second being There is not only the problem of my parents humiliated because of me. No endless courses and never ending other thing can scare me. This is my evaluations but a whole lot more than an college, I may say a hundred thousand ordinary man could think of. When you are rubbish words about what it lacks and how in an IIT people expect you to be an things should be run in it; the fact remains Einstein and a genius in any and all fields, that it is MY College and no one in the they expect from you a lot more than they world can take that away from me. would do of an ordinary person in any circumstance. Then there is the problem of the other engineering college students ~ Ashwani Bhagra
“I feel very humble. But I think I have the strength of character to fight it.” ~ Bob Hope 8 WE ARE IITIANS
To The Juniors…
ello little fellas, must say that we learnt a lot; indeed in engineering, but in management too. It is Your senior speaking… make like we were (and still are) doing a non- H way! certificate course in management studies. Here, I shall be sharing with you my This is the best example of how sometimes (our) experience in our first year. This ain’t you can benefit due to lack of something meant to create an epitome to be very basic! Paradox! Being the first batch emulated or to lay a path for you to gave us the opportunity to be the boss! In follow… you decide if you are really lucky other institutes usually students from 4th or to be the second batch after reading at max 3rd year do the core job of this— management like approaching the It all started with the JEE results; people sponsors, fixing the optimized schedule and came, saw and thought of conquering the managing the finance. We had the golden difficult situation at which they were put to. opportunity of being the relatively young All new faces; some happy; some regretful; management force. And now with some excited; some acquaints! The first confidence I can say that we did our job day in hostel— a different experience for very well! To justify: our batch organized an some & nostalgic for the remaining. industry simulation event “Road To Rutas” Students were surveying the hostel which which is the prime epitome of our victory in was quite unique in itself. I mean, it was far the concerned department! This was from a typical IIT hostel; these were the participated by teams all over the country. 3BHK flats with Saint-Gobain glasses & It was a smooth and perfect management Jaguar accessories, & with a gift of an display of mature decision-making skills extremely beautiful vista at the outlook. We which made the event a success in-spite of never expected any help from the all the hurdles. Moreover, we also administration as we had experienced the organized our first cultural night with scenarios when the naïve had turned deaf success; it had everything from drama, with a buffer of excuses to basic amenities dance, singing and rapping. ;-) like transport for medical aid! In short, we We barely had the facilities that you organized almost every activity in our first people cherish now. Still I can say that I feel semester on our own strength; starting with lucky to be a hardcore senior as I am “Ramp on fire— a Boys’ Fashion Show” nobody’s junior! But you fellas can feel which was indeed a hit followed by a series lucky in this institute for different reasons— of events like a Carom Tournament, an for having a senior batch like us! I say, let us inter-branch general quiz, an inter-floor work hand-in-hand and build trust arm-wrestling competition, “Ad-spoof”. between each other to flourish fraternity Moreover, we also celebrated festivals like and unity for if some nerds think ‘divide Ganpati and Diwali formally in typical and rule’ will work against us then you Indian style. Academia was not a cake know what to show: may I say— the one walk without seniors to guide. second from your pinky? Whatever be the problems faced, I ~ Tushar Rokade 9 LOCAL NEWS FootWars 2: The Beautiful Game is Back
or those who haven’t heard about it yet, FootWars is a highly-competitive intense, but nontheless, entertaining football league similar in the lines with the Barclays Premiere League, La Liga and so on. Last year 4 teams battled it out in an 8 on 8 football tournament in the backyardF of IET, but this year, it’s gonna be bigger and better, promise the organizers Mukul Dilwaria and Pritesh Kanani. The newest version of FootWars kick started on Sunday, 9th January, 2011 night with the bidding round hosted by Auctioneer Aditya Kadur, who randomly called out the names of the 58 players— juniors and seniors alike. The four managers were put under the hammer as they sweat it out to build a team and outsmart the other with only 1000 million chilies in their kitty. Managers: Bhushan Shah, Gaurav Parchani, Nitesh Kumar and Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal.
Bhushan Gaurav Nitesh Kumar Ranjodh 1 Anirudha 1 Aamedh 1 Abhishek 1 Aditya Kadur 2 Archit 2 Apoorv 2 Abhyudaya 2 Aditya Patwardhan 3 Ayush 3 Arpit 3 Aditya Nagori 3 Chirag 4 Darshan 4 Bhupesh 4 Akshat 4 Deepak 5 Jayesh 5 Brahm 5 Amit Prakash 5 Gaurav Bishnoi 6 Keshav 6 Devesh Rawat 6 Anuj Chopra 6 Jaswinder 7 Kiran 7 Nischay 7 Ashwani 7 Jayant 8 Malay 8 Nitish Rathi 8 Hemant 8 Jhalak 9 Nilesh 9 Rahul 9 Mukul 9 Kapilan 10 Nizar 10 Ravi 10 Piyush Lahoti 10 Karan Sharma 11 Pritesh 11 Ravindra 11 Rohit Joshi 11 Mohit 12 Rohit Saini 12 Sahil Bindra 12 Sahil Agarwal 12 Nitin Tyagi 13 Sandesh 13 Sahil Dhoked 13 Satyam 13 Palash 14 Sanjeev 14 Satish 14 Siddarth Srivastava 15 Siddarth Gupta 15 Tushar Dudi 16 Yeshwant
Institute Goal Keeper Aamedh Bhargava was the most expensive player sold for 235 million chilies followed by the dynamic junior Neelesh— 185 million chilies, last year’s Golden Ball Mukul Dilwaria—175 million chilies and the skillful workhorse Nitin Tyagi— 175 million chilies.
Crazy Auctions
oming into ‘IICL’ and ‘Foot Wars’ this season, the ‘commonwealth’ seemed better prepared. With the proposed ‘KV ground’ covered with more potholes than the Mumbai streets, the only consolation could be that BMC wasn’t the one covering them. Maybe that spurred the C managers into taking that ‘extra effort’. Immensely regretted choices aren’t exactly new when it comes to an auction of any sort but then when those very choices blossom out on the field shadowing mighty heroes it does give people the very reason to go aloud and to me a chance to ridicule… Hope many such things happen all through the upcoming ‘season’. The IICL auction did actually break all records, most of which are even yet to form when Chirag was auctioned for 60% of the ‘monetary’ investment for the entire team. His counterpart in football, Aamedh, I would say must have been rather disappointed with only 23.5% being associated with his name. I doubt if anyone on this planet can actually come up to these heavenly expectations, but I hope they come good… In short… No Pressure guys!!! 10 LOCAL NEWS Inter IIT Sports Meet 2010 Nonsense made into Sense IIT is a benchmark for against competitive teams. The The first literary The entries were worth excellence, not in academics performances in football and event of the new reading and once alone. The inter-IIT sports the other sports were academic year, was again IITians proved meet hosted by IIT-Delhi appreciated and encouraged christened ‘Ransense’ that they can make displayed a fine sense of by the other teams too. whose etymology sense out of sportsmanship blended with The hospitality of the assimilates random anything... we always magnificent talent of over 1500 hosting IIT— IITD deserves a sense! The theme was do, don’t we? Though IITians from all over the mention for the efforts taken by simple and creative, Ranjodh Singh country. the organizers. The 10 day ten random words Dhaliwal captured the Lack of proper facilities stay was facilitated by various were given with an apex of the podium, and coaching staff could not band performances, plays, and equally random the most celebrated dim the spirit of IITI’s movie screenings delighting all sentence and the winner was the juniors’ participants. The IITI won its the participants after a tiring participants were topper— Gagan first Gold medal, thanks to day. The ‘Director’s dinner’ supposed to make a Jakhotia for being Kanika Sankle in a 100m was the highlight with a sensible piece out of it! outstanding in them! sprint. The sports meet also sumptuous meal followed by included fine performances in the dance which catalyzed the team sports. Cricket, interaction between the various When Brains were badminton, basketball (girls), students from different IITs Scratched! chess and table tennis teams thus sharing each other’s recorded a victory each cultures. Two major called ‘Cache Of The competitions were held Lexis’ which is an in Narmada in early exclusive IITI event; it Cricket Fever hits IITI September. They were did check the English a real work-out for the along with the IICL start did see the blow due to the untimely thinking machines. common sense and pitches favoring bowlers (I intervention of the ‘priceless’ The first being ‘LogiQ’, logic. Astonishingly, don’t mean the bowling PhD students who felt perhaps the logic quiz, which the junior trio: Archit, pitches, they are carefully that they could ‘reach out’ to speaks for itself in this Ishan and Saket made to be that way and these the disappointed audiences by department; the other outsmarted everybody were a careless outcome). The playing ‘big’. The participation one was quite an and beat the previous day saw a lot of low scoring of yet another team perhaps innovative contest, an year’s high score too! games with 51 and 61 being was ‘not the only’ reason for English word-game the targets that were chased the IICL Chairman, Mr. Saini with ease. With just a six and a asking to reschedule the few fours, clearly not much to matches, thus offering a new Extreme Engineering for be cheering about, a relatively beginning. That day did hurt a ‘not so happening’ day for the few self prides, and they Young Engineers audiences. certainly are looking forward to make it even. Certainly The first crafty brains of the The league did suffer a something to watch for.... engineering event was participants. The organised in mid teams came up with a September. The lot of innovative ideas; Footwars is Back! objective was to some using everyday engineer a trebuchet / stuff like rubbers, ‘Foot Wars’ went and star striker Neelesh. That catapult out of carrier stand and pipes beyond its literal name on the feat however was more than a everything one could but the undisputed first day of the second season. mere ‘chamatkar’ with the think of and which winners were With talented young crop strikers taking on the could stand the test of “Challengers 13” with announcing its presence loud opponents with ease. Another accuracy and could their “Pneumac Pro and clear, the ‘experience’ did game between the Punjab also takeover the 3.0” which was take a beating, so did the Police and the KFC’s was others’ assembly on outstanding in every ‘sportsmanship’ .The dead after an interesting 70 the grounds of range aspect except the less defending champions went minutes of play. of the pellet. It indeed important point of down 2-0 to the Chamatkaris tested the scientific expense. with goals from captain Pritesh instincts along with the 11 LET THE MIND SPEAK ‘Success’ as a story of ‘Great Failure’
et me start with a question— Let me share a well known how do we define success? To biography. This man lost his job at the age L some people it means wealth. of 21, defeated in a legislative race at age To others it is good health, good family and 22, failed again in business at 24. His peace of mind. Let us consider two sweetheart died when he was 26. students in our college— one, who gets a Moreover, he had a nervous breakdown 9.9 CPI, and the other, who gets a gold when he was 27. He also lost a senatorial medal in Inter-IIT Sports Meet. Both are race at age 34, failed in an effort to happy as they achieved their target, and become vice president at age 47 and lost thus are successful. But who is more a senatorial race again at age 49. And successful? finally he was elected the president of United States at age 52. He was no other Let us first define success. According than the great Abraham Lincoln and it to Earl Nightingale, would be criminal not “ Success is “Success is progressive realization of to call him successful. progressive a worthy goal”. ~ Earl Nightingale realization of a There are worthy goal”. many more such ‘Progressive’ means success is dynamic— a examples. It is said that Thomas Edison journey, not a destination. ’Realization’ failed around 10,000 times before inventing means an internal feeling. And ‘worthy the light bulb. He quoted, “Try not to goal’ determines the quality of journey. become a success, but rather try to become a man of value.” Now coming back to the question— how do we measure success? According It’s well preached that without hard to the author Shiv Khera, “Success is not work, there’s no success. I believe one measured by our position in life but by the cannot obtain success sans failure too. obstacles we overcame to get there. It’s Thus, we should not be discouraged by our not how we perform compared with failures. others, but by how we perform when “They won because they refused to compared to our ability. It’s not how high be discouraged by their defeats.” we go in life but how many times we bounce back when we fall down”. ― B.C. Forbes When we fall down, we say that we Therefore, it is clear that every failed in achieving our target. But it’s success story is a story of great failure. wrong. Failure is the highway to success. According to Tom Watson, “If you want to ~ Anand Kumar succeed, double your failure rate.”
“A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him..” ~ David Brinkley 12 LET THE MIND SPEAK Dejé mi corazón en Colombia
OLA, my friends! Last semester We were greeted by this beautiful interpreter Anic, was a really tiring one, wasn’t it? who took us to our resort in Guarne. Because of H Some of us achieved milestones the jetlag we were nothing short of sleeping they never dreamt of. Well, I am one of them, one beauties for the next 5 days. Our competitions of those privileged ones who got an FR. I salute began by a mesmerizing opening ceremony put up those 23 comrades who laid down their pen in by the hosts, folk dances from all across the world examination. However, my present wish is to share were put on display and it ended with never‐seen‐ my thoughts and experiences of Colombia, the land before bombastic fireworks. My first event was of cocoa and cocaine. 300mts time trial in which I clocked my life’s best time and also the team’s best. I also ran 500mts, It was somewhere in September and 1000mts and 3000mts relay. elections were just around the corner. I was busy preparing my manifesto when I received a call Just watching other races was a breathtaking saying I was short listed for the 2010 Roller Skating and once‐in‐a‐lifetime experience. Perhaps I was World Championships. It was surprising and not the only one who was loving it, so were a hell unexpected, to say the least. I went to lot of spectators shelling out anything between Rs. Vishakhapatnam for the final selection trials and 3,000 to Rs. 5,000 to experience it. Well the best came second overall. With this achievement, came part was when me and my friends went out to buy a lot of responsibility of handling my academics as some drinks there were people waiting outside our well. Mid‐semester examinations were rooms for autographs and some even wanted to be approaching and I was not ready to call the shots. photographed with us. With a lot of hustle and bustle, I finally chose The crowd was really crazy over skating. If I to skip my mid‐sems and took off on 20th Oct. say that Colombians regard skating as high as (23:50 HRS). It was an 8—hour journey to Indians regard cricket, you start to imagine what it Amsterdam (Holland) where I enjoyed the is all about. When we went to the main city European hospitality just before getting ready for another 11 hour journey across the Atlantic to Panama City, a small country connecting North and South America. After a brief stay I flew to my final destination— Medellin (Colombia). Guarne is a town on the outskirts of Medellin and at an altitude of around 7,054 ft above sea level, which is very uncomfortable for an athlete. Our journey from Medelin to Guarne was 20 minutes by road. 13
Medellin in the one day off really did move the mountain, and finished with we got after the rink events, the pack. Though they could not win any medal, we were treated like hot hopes are high in the coming years. commodities. People had In the latter half of my trip I got a chance to watched us on TV so there visit one of the farms owned by our interpreter’s was crowd surrounding us in every mall we went. uncle. Her uncle had a After the short break, road races followed which bunch of stallions who were even more exciting than rink ones. In the hills gave us great show, of Colombia, rains were a constant concern for the dancing and walking in organizers and players, and there were times when different styles. Then he we had to skate on wet roads, making the races showed us his arena for slow and/or resulting in massive crashes that bullfight. When we pleaded him to show some of upturned many results. Koreans were the ones real action, he agreed and called some of his who got the most benefit out of it. USA’s Joe ferocious fighters. The risk they took while the bull Mantia made his fans proud by winning road and charged and how they got away without hurting rink 500mts. He was the most sought after athlete themselves made everyone stand on their toes. among the fans. On the last day we had a closing ceremony at Colombian the Continental hotel in Medellin. It was one of the players won grandest parties I had ever seen. Along with most of the delicious cuisine were exotic wines, champagnes medals and and beautiful women all around. It was quite a were more memorable event, and we hoped it would go on decent as and on. compared to the USA ones who We boarded our plane the next day and bid came second. adieu to Colombia— The land where we left our Italy slipped two hearts (Dejé mi corazón en Colombia). It was an positions from uncomfortable journey on my way back as we had what they finished last year but the major change a 12—hour stay in Panama City and a 25—hour was with France vanishing in the medals tally, a stay in Amsterdam. With little money left (all spent poor performance when you compare it with their on shopping), we were very hungry and unable to glory days in 2005. Comparing 2005 world sleep but the sweet memories of Colombia were championship (in which I participated as junior, sufficient enough for our empty bellies and tiring held in China) with this one, it seems Asian bodies to complete the journey. When I recall countries are getting better and giving Americans, those days, it makes me wonder what if they had Colombians and Europeans a run for their money. lasted for some more time. However, since they And among the Asian countries one country that say all good things must come to an end, then good it was!! needs special mention is Iran, since Iranian girls ~ Gulsagar Singh Jassar 14 LET THE MIND SPEAK A Trek to Bhagoda-Patalpani
e boarded the bus to half, we were finally there. Bhagoda is a Bhagoda village at 10am small waterfall with the Ambazar temple at and reached there by 11:30 its origin. Though the fall is small, the am. WeW were carrying with us a water scenery is too good, especially the valley bottle and some basic food items. We of flowers. We had our lunch and rested for bought our lunch there, which, in fact, only a while which was enough to energize us. consisted of two samosas and two packets We had enough time, thus we decided to of Parle-G biscuits. Thus began the hike to climb down the fall and so off we went! the waterfalls. We climbed down and reached the The trek to Bhagoda was three rail-track (meter gauge) that runs through kilometers long. On the way, we crossed the valley. We had no idea what lay in fields with potato and wheat plantations store for us. As we trekked along the track and reached Patalpani view point. The nature started unfolding its beauty and water, falling from a height of aura. The view of the river from the bridge approximately 200 metres, was making a and the sound of water flowing enthralled pleasant roaring sound. We were us. The path was narrow with the hills on mesmerized by its majestic beauty and one side and the valley on the other. We enormity. After clicking a few photos we walked till we reached Patalpani, the resumed our trek to Bhagoda falls. largest and the most beautiful fall around Indore. On the way we crossed two small After walking for nearly an hour and tunnels, bridges, flora and fauna and 15
the mesmerizing beauty of nature that kept us always excited. We returned with a heavy heart and unforgettable memories and an eager desire to go through such an adventure again. structures made on the hill due to continuous erosion by the water. Unknowingly we had walked for three hours and we felt no pain thanks to ~ Sanidhya Naikwad Fact File : Bhagoda Falls
PlacePlace Bhagoda-PatalpaniBhagoda-Patalpani waterfallswaterfalls
HowHow toto reachreach ByBy busbus oror ownown vehiclevehicle
NearestNearest BhagodaBhagoda busbus standstand NearestNearest PatalpaniPatalpani railwayrailway stationstation LengthLength ofof trektrek 5-6km5-6km
ThingsThings toto seesee BhagodaBhagoda falls,falls, PatalpaniPatalpani falls,falls, AmbazarAmbazar temple,temple, ValleyValley ofof flowers.flowers.
16 LET THE MIND SPEAK The Challenges of 2011
he New Year has arrived and Following are some of the challenges all of us have welcomed the which form the root-cause of the major New Year with all desperate problems our country faces: aspirationsT to achieve something Trend-follower: We are the integrated extraordinary in our life. What do we form of the line-follower robot. We emulate expect for this year? Do you think that a those in the society who have already “masiha” will come and throw away these made their mark independently. This tragic things away from us like Batman or society could be of any form from a hostel Spiderman? group to a nation. To follow someone is not Let this be your resolution for this New always wrong but to follow someone just to Year that you will try to solve the issues be recognized by others is the way leading concerning the nation, open mindedly. Try to ones doom. Encourage independent to find your own existence for a cause. It thinking. Try not to be like a leaf going on was not only Gandhi who brought freedom with the stream but be like a bird which to our nation; it was the hard work of all decides its path. those people who followed his ideologies Debatophobia: Merely barking or just and supported him with all their will and thinking won’t help much to win the battle. wish for a common cause, not to mention For firstly, many of us don’t even know our his initiatives which lead us to constitutional rights. Many of those who independence. It is true that every effort know the rules are just the storage for some doesn’t bring success but it is equally true quizzing occasions. It turns out to be very that success cannot be achieved without diplomatic for me to suggest fighting for efforts. Also success is not guaranteed, so your rights but it is a challenge for me to we need to put our consistent efforts to fight for my own. Why don’t we help those reach somewhere in the path towards who can’t help themselves? Simplest case “Excellency”. This well explains the loosing is the exploitation of the villagers by the of our independence. cellular companies and villagers due to What does “independence” mean to their ignorance are not aware of the a nation? Is it only for the hypocrites of the consequences. Why don’t we stand society or for every citizen of the nation? against these companies and force them Some might consider it to be fanatic or to use media only as a medium for the illogical. For we know that we are free. promos of the products? Literally they are correct. What in the 21st Media-filtration: Media plays a crucial century is the point of dependency? Let role in the society. Despite of all the me put it the other way. Do we live our advantages media has, it acts as the own life?
Expecting others to be always good to you is like expecting a lion not to eat you because you are a vegetarian. 17 catalyst in the problems existing today to were not given wings. some extent. We are required to use our Thus rightly said by a brain and block the elements of folie à great teacher: deux. Thus analyze the information “The Biggest sin is to provided by the media and if required, limit the idea”. raise your voice against it. Develop the ability of positive criticism. As Einstein said: “To see with one’s own eyes, Do these points stand near the to feel and judge without challenges or are they even the succumbing to the suggesting challenges? How do I link these to the power of thee fashion of the major challenges our country is facing? day, to be able to express If all of us are good at these points what one has seen and felt in then the problems like poverty, corruption, a trim sentence or even in a and illiteracy will actively erode. This may cunningly wrought word— is seem a utopian view, but trust me… little that not glorious? Is it not a drops do make mighty oceans! proper subject for congratulation?” Extrapolation of ideas: Let our ideas flow for the wellbeing of all. Extrapolate those ideas which are productive and will prove to be a boon for the society. Let not your ideas to be restricted instead give them enough height and endure yourself to implement them to the best of your abilities. No big discovery would have been possible if the ideas behind them ~ Sarfaraz Qureshi
BRAIN TEASER 1 "You are tied to your chair and can't get up. Here's a gun. Here's the barrel of the gun, six chambers, all empty. Now watch me as I put two bullets in the gun. See how I put them in two adjacent chambers? I close the barrel and spin it. I put the gun to your head and pull the trigger. Click. You're still alive. Lucky you! Now, before we discuss your résumé, I'm going to pull the trigger one more time. Which would you prefer, that I spin the barrel first, or that I just pull the trigger?"
Send your answers to [email protected] Solutions will be displayed in next issue. 18 LET THE MIND SPEAK The Only Way is “UP”↑
- a two letter word from body needs a check up and even Mario “Up” the vast English needs a one up after each level up. Vocabulary
constituting the twenty-first and sixteenth You can go up the hill, alphabets placed in that order, is probably come up with an idea; the most widely used assembly of its kind, in do sit up to get built, term of the ideas it conveys. Have a and stand up for the viva. doubt??? Then you need to read this up…
You wake up in the morning, shake Love starts when you call up and up your body, dress up for work, run up to ends with a break up. Disasters just show up the bus, look up to your friends and speak and the government needs to cope up. up these words— “Hey buddy! What’s up?” Your medicine is not done till the glass is You move up the class, take up your seats, bottoms up. As a matter of fact everything a professor walks up to the dais and is up to you. You pick up, you lick up, you shouts— “Shut up!!!” take up, you stick up, difficulties do build up and you need to patch up, you simply You may lie down some time but you don’t like it but still you do grow up. always need to get up. You are inspired up by your parents to live up to you dreams Now I am totally fed up, but you keep and reach up to the mark. You start up the spirit up and go on adding up, with full enthusiasm but then give up the because this race of ‘up’ is never up. idea and end up with nothing. But Wait!!!.... You need to write up the paper Have you ever wondered that even before time up. In fact you can watch up Samosa needs ketchup!?!?!? the movie ‘Step up’ while you drink up the beverage ‘Thumbs-up’. While the ladies need make up, Arnold needs push up, hooligans need lock ~ Pranjalya Singh up, your PC needs to boot up, applications Born in U.P. need set up, every plan needs a back up,
BRAIN TEASER 2 You have two lengths of fuse. Each will burn for exactly one hour. But the fuses are not necessarily identical and do not burn at a constant rate. There are fast-burning sections and slow-burning sections. How do you measure forty-five minutes using only the fuses and a lighter? Send your answers to [email protected] Solutions will be displayed in next issue. 19 TECH TALK
Shape Memory Alloy
~ Sagar Tatipamula
he development of new structures associated with a SMA. The materials is of central phase corresponding to higher importance for technological temperature is called the 'Austenite Phase' advancement.T Our expectation of higher and the one corresponding to lower functionality along with higher reliability temperature is called the 'Martensite from our technology has made the use of Phase'. advanced materials inevitable. The current SMA have large applications in day trend is to replace conventional materials to day life. The Shape Memory effect is by “functional materials”. With the increase currently being implemented in in the complexity of the physical systems, Coffeepots, Space Shuttles, Thermostats, there is a need to incorporate biological Vascular Stents and Hydraulic Fittings to capabilities like self adaptability, self name a few. Some examples in which sensing, memory and feedback into the pseudo elasticity is used are Eyeglass systems. Frames, Undergarments, Medical Tools, Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) are such Cellular Phone Antennae and Orthodontic functional materials. Their unique properties Arches. They also find a great use in aerospace and medical applications. ‘Shape Memory Alloys’ are a group of There are still some difficulties with metallic materials that, when sub- these material that must be overcome jected to appropriate thermal proce- before they can live up to their full dures, demonstrate the ability to re- potential. SMA are still relatively expensive turn to some “previously remembered to manufacture compared to other materials such as steel and aluminium. shape”. Most SMAs have poor fatigue properties; i.e. while under the same loading conditions (like twisting, bending or make it is possible to design systems that compressing) a steel component may are more compact, more automatic and survive for more than one hundred times possess previously unthinkable capabilities. more cycles than an SMA element. For these alloys, it is possible to imprint For more details, visit: some shape in its memory. This ability of 'memorizing' a particular external shape is http://www.sma-inc.com/ a direct consequence of a http://www.nitinol.com/ thermodynamically reversible transformation of the alloy's crystal structure. In general, there are two crystal 20 TECH TALK
Mobile Telephony: A Journey With Time Part 1: The Early Days ~ Anjor S. Hemant he father — or maybe time. In the very next year he produced a grandfathers — of the present pocket version weighing just 500 grams. mobile phones are perhaps So much for the handsets, but what the wirelessT telephones developed nearly about the network? Even the first landline 70 years ago for specialized use. The telephones had no network but were used passenger trains in between Berlin and privately, wired together in pairs. Users who Hamburg, commercial airplanes and the wanted to talk to multiple people had to German tanks during World War II were keep as many telephones as necessary. among the first users of these radio Later, with the introduction of PSTN (Public telephones. In all these applications the Switched Telephone Network) it became equipments were used only by the possible to call multiple people with a professionals trained to use them, and single phone using telephone exchanges. often the communication was only possible Same story goes for the mobile phones as one-to-one, between two equipments. well. Although the radio phones did not In 1940s, the radiotelephone systems have to be only in pairs since they used air started to spread significantly among the to transmit and not wires, still they could be general population. Following the used only in closed circuits. People could backpacked two-way radios developed contact only those who were on the same by Motorola for the U.S. military, two Soviet local loop. Closed networks of this type are engineers successfully tested their version still found in police radios or taxi dispatch of a radio mobile phone mounted inside a system. car. In 1957, L. Kupriyanovich created the Motorola, in conjunction with the Bell first ‘portable’ mobile phone. It weighed System, operated the first commercial just 3 kg – indeed portable as compared to mobile telephone service in the US in 1946. the car-mounted phones used during This was the first time ever that calls could those times, which took up almost the be made and received in the car while entire trunk space in the car and weighed using the public telephone network system. around 40 kg. Besides that, their price was Though they had their own telephone comparable to an ordinary small car at the numbers, an operator was needed to connect the call. It can be regarded as the world’s very first mobile telephone, and it is most appropriately called 0G — the Zeroth Generation Mobile Phone. The 0G mobile phones were nothing but wireless landlines — the only difference between those and traditional landlines being the cable from telephone exchange was replaced with a wireless transmitter- receiver system. Although still used in remote or inaccessible places where 21 cabling is difficult, the metropolitan areas call for a different subscriber. The limit is still were soon demanding much more than there, but since it’s now just on the number that. of calls that can simultaneously take place, the total number of subscribers could be The technological development that greatly increased beyond this limit. distinguished the First Generation mobile phones from the previous generation was The first commercially automated 1G the use of multiple cell sites, and the ability cellular network was launched in Japan by to transfer calls from one site to the next as NTT in 1979. By 1981, Nordic Mobile the user travelled between them during a Telephone System (NMT) followed, offering conversation. Another notable feature was international roaming as well. However, the dynamic frequency allocation, which international roaming offered in first helped in making the mobile service widely generation networks was highly limited as available to the general public. Different there were very few other operators in the telephone numbers are assigned different world operating at same frequency. The frequency bands to distinguish their brain behind NMT was Östen Mäkitalo, communications from each other, known seen by many as the father of the mobile as Frequency Division Multiple Access, or telephone. Together with Ericsson’s main FDMA. Earlier, this allocation of different GSM developer Jan Uddenfeldt, he was frequencies was static. Since there are also one of the main architects of today’s limited frequency bands that can be GSM system. supported by the network, there was an upper limit on the number of subscribers a mobile operator can have. In dynamic allocation, the actual frequency band To be continued... used during the call is determined during the initial signalling while placing the call, which later could be reused for another 22 REVIEWS Movie Review 12 Angry Men
~ Bhushan Shah
webcomic from xkcd can The premise of the movie is probably tell you a lot about a extremely straightforward. A jury of 12 A book, a person, a movie, or a people, none of whom know anyone else, mathematical formula. When I first read this is to deliberate the guilt of the accused in one, I was unaware of 12 Angry Men. It an open-and-shut case, on the basis of seemed like a stupid movie though. Twelve reasonable doubt. The movie is not about characters, all of them together the case per se, though. The movie instead throughout the movie. Weird. I decided to focuses on the psyche of the twelve look it up anyway. I was surprised to see people discussing the case. the movie in the IMDb Top 250 Movies list. There are several reasons why this In fact, as of today, it’s ranked 7th, one movie is different than most other movies place above Inception. Sure enough, it you’d ever watch. For once, it has been turned out to be a great watch. 23 made in real-time format, meaning that awesome job. He manages to extract time in the movie goes by at the same rate powerful performances from almost all the as in real life. Secondly, it’s a black-and- actors. Henry Fonda, as the protagonist, white movie. We don’t usually watch B/W gives quite a realistic performance. He movies, do we? Thirdly, of the 96 minutes won the 1958 Academy Award for the Best that the movie runs, 93 minutes are spent in Actor for this movie, which had also been nominated for the Best Picture. Another performance worth a mention is that of Lee J. Cobb, a legend in American Broadway and cinema. His portrayal of his hateful, abrasive, aggressive and arrogant character was excellent, to say the least. Apart from the performances, the movie succeeds due to its outstanding camera work and brilliant dialogues. The cameras at the beginning of the movie are placed at a height, thus giving us a broad view of the entire room and all the characters, and offering us an outsider’s perception as we familiarise ourselves with the characters. As the movie progresses, however, we see greater detail. Towards the end of the movie, we are shown mostly close-ups, thus making us believe we are in the room and standing next to the character who is speaking. The dialogues are kept as real as possible. It’s as if you are listening to an actual conversation between real people. Though a lengthy monologue by Juror#11 towards the end and the final breaking down of Juror#3 in the last scene, however, feel a bit a claustrophobic jurors’ room. This melodramatic. somehow works to the movie’s advantage, as it engrosses the viewer and makes him To sum it up, the movie boasts of a feel he’s present in the room. Thus, despite great storyline, really good performances, what may seem like a deliberate effort to fine cinematography, outstanding bore the audiences, the movie manages dialogue, and a 100% fresh rating on to grip the viewer until the end. There is not Rotten Tomatoes. Go watch it. And if you a single dull moment in the entire movie. figure out why the Primer panel was made that way, do let me know. The screenplay of this 1957 movie, shot in seventeen days, has been adapted from a 1954 play of the same name. Sidney Lumet as the director has done an
“One day you are a signature, next day you are an autograph.“ ~ Billy Wilder 24 REVIEWS Movie Review No One Killed Jessica
~ Srikanth Star Cast: Rani Mukherjee as Meera Gaity Vidya Balan as Sabrina Lall Myra Karn as Jessica Lall Neil Bhoopalam as Vikram Jai Singh Shireesh Sharma as Pramod Bharadwaj
Director: Rajkumar Gupta
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala
Music Director: Amit Trivedi
Image courtesy www.santabanta.com STORY PERFORMANCES On April 29, 1999 a shot was fired Performances add great strength to from a 0.22 bore pistol whose loud the movie. Both Rani Mukerji and Vidya reverberations lasted over a decade. The Balan have very distinct characters and shot that killed a vivacious, aspiring model they play their part with equal aplomb. It's Jessica Lal was fired in the presence of a delight to see Rani back on screen and more than 100 ’socialites’ present at a this performance should go a long way in party in New Delhi. Yet, accused Manu re-establishing her lost position in Sharma walked free in 2006 prompting a Bollywood. Vidya in the meantime seems newspaper headline that read “No One to be on a dream run. Paa, Ishqiya and Killed Jessica”. now NOKJ— all three one after the other have been solid stamps on her command In the ensuing decade, Venod as an actress. The supporting cast which Sharma, father of the accused and a high includes Neil Bhoopalam, Mohammed profile congress leader, paid millions of Zeeshan Ayub and Rajesh Sharma are very rupees to silence witnesses. Will justice be good too. Also Myra, who plays Jessica, served?? Will corruption overrule?? Exactly shows promise. this is the story of “No One Killed Jessica”...
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TECHNICALITIES Technically ‘No One Killed Jessica’ has some inconsistent camerawork. Extreme close-ups of faces on many occasions are unappealing, while many other scenes are remarkably well shot. Interestingly, the way the candle protest scene is shot; it seems quite inspired by Rang De Basanti— up to the camera movement. Also, the film probably could have been edited by a dozen minutes more. Amit Trivedi's music is excellent, as usual, and works splendidly for the film. Director Raj Kumar Gupta tries his best to keep his narration true to life. However there are times when he lets go of his restraint and the speed goes slack. A very long first half and quite a short second half give a disproportionate feeling. While the second half moves swiftly, the lack of punch and drama is felt miserably after the built up that the elaborate first half creates.
Image courtesy www.ndtv.com ANALYSIS The movie is definitely worth watching. Though it is a known story and with no popular actor, the way which the director handles the story with nice screenplay is appreciable.
BRAIN TEASER 3 One of your employees insists on being paid daily in gold. You have a gold bar whose value is that of seven days' salary for this employee. The bar is already segmented into seven equal pieces. If you are allowed to make just two cuts in the bar, and must settle with the employee at the end of each day, how do you do it?
Send your answers to [email protected] Solutions will be displayed in next issue. 26 REVIEWS Book Review Glimpses of World History
~ Kratitva Khandelwal he "Glimpses of World History" is of Nazism and Fascism. one of the three classic books Nehru has written a lot about China in which Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru this book which shows how much he was has written.T This book comprises of a series influenced by Chinese culture. A lot is also of letters which Pt. Nehru has written to his written about India, beginning with our daughter (Smt. Indira Gandhi) when he ancient village republics; about the golden was in Jail because Nehru wanted her to period under Moryas and Guptas; be familiar with the world and how it colonization of south-east Asia by Indians; changed over thousands of years. India under Harshavardhana; about The book begins with Mughals, Sikhs, Marathas, the ancient days of Rome, mighty Vijaynagar Empire Greece, Persia, India, and coming of Europeans China, Korea and Japan. to India; causes of our He has written about poverty and backwardness Buddhism, Christianity and and about our Islam and their effect on independence movement the world; about Maya which was at its peak when civilization of America, the this book was written. Crusades, Renaissance Upon reading this book, and discovery of new sea one comes to know about routes; about warriors from the ups and downs which Alexander to Napoleon civilizations have faced and travellers from Fahein, over centuries. Many Marco Polo right up to empires were built, attained Magellan; about Political, glory and were destroyed. Social and Industrial Yet the root cause of their fall, in most of Revolutions and factors which lead to the cases, lied not so much in the strength them; about Feudalism, Capitalism, of outside attackers as in the sufferings and Imperialism and their effects; about how agony of civilians, atrocities of rulers and modern countries took shape; about internal weaknesses. One also gets puzzled factors which led to rise of England as a to observe how at different occasions in world power and about growth of Science history, religion has served as a weapon in and ideas of Socialism, Marxism and the hands of rulers in order to rule. Though Democracy. it is impossible to walk forward while looking The book concludes with the World backward at the same time, one should War I and events following it such as the not ignore past experiences and mistakes Russian revolution, rise of Nationalism in which can help a lot in moving forward Asian and African countries, League of and this is the cause that history serves. Nations, Great Depression of 1930 and rise 27 Restaurant Review BON-APPETIT!!!
~ Susrutha Gongalla & Deepti Kochar
ick of the same old, boring hostel food? Here are some great places where you can grab a bite! S FYI (Chappan) – Got a craving for some hot, steaming maggi? FYI’s the place to go for all die-hard maggi freaks! It’s got some seriously wacky flavours of maggi which may sound bizarre but after the very first bite you’ll go “WOW”! ;) Don’t miss the BRB and FAQ flavours!
GURU KRIPA (Sarvate Bus Stand) – This is the best place to give a treat! You can get a large variety of North Indian food at extremely reasonable prices. The upstairs section is worth beholding and eating there is an experience in itself.
OLIVE ROOM (near Mangal City, A.B. Road) – If you want to go to a restaurant with a quiet, pleasant atmosphere and DELICIOUS Indian and Chinese food, Olive Room is what you’re looking for! It’s a little pricey but it has great service and if you want something off the menu they are willing to oblige.
UDIPI KING (Tower Chouraha) – Now for some South Indian cuisine! Dosa, idli, vada, uttapam, tomato rice... You can experiment with a variety of fusion dishes (manchurian uttapam, cheese dosa etc) too. P.S.: Do NOT go there for the rasam.
CHLOROPHYLL (Khandwa Road) – Those from Narmada Hostel can walk down to Chlorophyll any time they want. It’s got some different kinds of pizzas, some of which are quite yummy. It’s a nice, quiet place with a spectacular view of the lake.
“The best number for dinner party is two— myself and a damn good head waiter.” ~ Nubar Gubenkian. 28 POETS’ PARADISE A Ballad Of Two Friends ~ Pankhuri Choudhary I shivered in the dawn as I set out for a stroll, The world, a statue, the wind’s pace not even a crawl. Everything’s at a standstill, as though playing hide-and-seek. The wrinkled leaves crackled under my feet; Guilt ridden, as though having crushed someone; I suddenly felt driven by the urge to fly. Lost in the labyrinth of thoughts silent, But nudged suddenly into wakefulness of some movement, I gave an apathetic glance up at this prank. This made me stop in my track. Facing me, equally shocked, stood my friend of past; Bosom friends, embittered while in moulds of change cast. The gravity displayed its clemency on the sand in the hourglass; Silence got more quite, its quality surpassed! Memories came flooding, nostalgic waves drowning us. Oh! The happy times in the park, class and the bus! As inseparable as Siamese twins, not in tales or myths. We were that dish of friendship, a gourmet wouldn’t deny. Unsaid, unheard, we knew we had each other to fall back on In times of luck or trouble to laugh or to mourn. All those years now fitted past our eye. Then she had changed, or had I? Differences cropped up into arguments; then in came a stranger, Called ego, he fed the flames of destruction and danger. Like in the past, our eyes outran our tongue, Our gaze mockingly questioning; same with our lungs. Then pierced deep into that silent pristine Came a sound joyous, warm and divine. A child’s sweet laughter rang through the air. On hearing this music, the sun came out of his lair. The stubborn wall between us was shattered. Suddenly, the world had a whole new meaning that mattered. Like sisters lost, but reunited and bound tighter, We sobbed and hugged our shoulders now lighter. It was her SMS ringtone that achieved this victory. For us, that day, it opened up the garden of joy’s entry.
“Old friends are gold. New friends may be diamonds, but remember, you still need the gold to support the diamond .” ~ Helen Steiner Rice 29 POETS’ PARADISE A New Dawn ~ Jeet Peswani A young red ball of fire blasting its thrusting rays out the humanely world, my eyes squinting back and forth at the glimpse of that heavenly light. Under whose domain is the entire world twirled, on the direction of whose Mother Nature abides. Amidst the breathtaking milieu set up by this mystic star! How can one stop oneself from basking into its beauty awesome? While its memento everyday seems to be a magical and healing scar, Relieving every creature from what may seem to him things troublesome. Its infinite rays kissing the waters vibrant; Blossoming the blushing buds and setting the cool greenery ablaze. No creature devoid of its blessings invariant, its unaltered beauty leaving behind an indelible trace. The heaven descends in all its glory to become the rising sun, The sensational aura sparkling up feelings inexplicable, Given to be better than the best and desire to zenith in every soul does burn, Greatness of mind and goodness of heart inseparable! Let this sunrise reignite the suppressed burning perspective opportunities, Make it a blissful beginning and messenger of compassion; Never let it sink into the dark evening’s horizon’s property, Work with dedication, determination and keep on emanating rays of passion.
Love Forever Why To Fear ~ Tushar Rokade ~ Megha Mantri Oh lord! Bless me with no fame, Life is a game— mere, For I know, it is earthly shame. With all its aspects here. Bless me with contentment, I pray The game is a race it does appear, And the contentment lies in love’s way. With no one ever ready to bear.
The pelf, the crown melts like a chime; Though you’ve a very few year, A time comes when it’s not worth a dime. Having sparkling eyes without fear, Who have head high & have love’s shade, With the smile on face that you wear, They did and will find themselves unafraid. Keep telling yourself “why to fear?”
They who have power, now, fear no fall; Your ambition let your heart hear, They will be humbled once and for all. Because in this racing show— sheer, No secure seclude you can find, but love; No one is to the goal— near! Believe & bask in it― it’s a word from above! So relax; you are not in the rear!
Ignorant were those who didn’t understand, I think, I am justified and I am clear— Who didn’t love & now are buried under land Don’t just ever at your life leer. And of those who love― they die never, To your goal, promise, you will adhere! For them there was love & love is forever! & keep encouraging yourself— “why to fear?” 30 POETS’ PARADISE Oh! The Thing That We Feel ~ Shivani Gupta Oh, the thing that we feel as we walk through our years; As we look back and survive in the lake of our tears. Oh, the thing that we learn as we walk through our youth; As we lose our first love as we lost our first tooth!
Oh, we walk through our days through days with our heads in the sand; How we look up and find— we are holding a hand? Oh! The thing that we saw as we look to the past; How we always assumed that it will forever last!
We question decisions and analyze words; Of a time that is gone, that flew south with the birds. We remember the advice from a time so far back; And we see it is a gift, it is not an attack.
We envision the names of the people we knew Wondering— what with their lives did they do? We look at the old pictures; hear songs which we once sung, We discover the beauty; we missed being young.
How we never were happy and never at ease, as we plunged into waters deep as we pleased. To discover that beauty is not we’d thought, It was there all along, it was not what we sought.
And we view our parents in a whole different light, Though we always knew deep inside— they were always right. Oh! How they prepared us for oceans and streams! How they taught us to swim and to follow our dreams!
We look up from the water to see that we’re there, And we open our doors to the people who care. As we look back and swim in the lake of our tears, Oh! The things that we feel as we walk through our years!
BRAIN TEASER 4 How many points are there on the globe where, by walking one mile south, one mile east, and one mile north, you reach the place where you started?
Send your answers to [email protected] Solutions will be displayed in next issue.
‘Brain Teasers’ contributed by Varun Joshi 31 SECRETARIES SPEAK... "Democracy is the worst form of the government under the sun— except for the rest." ~Winston Churchill
We gladly present before you the enthusiastic ideas, thoughts as well as plans and work experiences of the Institute Secretaries who form the Student Gymkhana. Through this we aim to provide a space for the secretaries to let the students be well aware of their plans while simultaneously projecting the transparency of their posts.
Reporters: Sarfaraz Qureshi & Tushar Rokade General Secretary Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal What was the centre point of your manifesto? »»The center point was to frame the constitution of the student body of our institute.
Why a constitution and your role in framing? »» The Constitution will serve as an aid for the better functioning of the student council. It will clearly state the role of the secretaries and their powers. It will lay down the general rules and regulations for the students’ government. Moreover, it will also lay crystal-clear protocols for elections and for approaching the right person from the administration in the right situation. My job is that of a convener of the drafting committee presenting the initial draft of the ideas for the common cause.
What was the main idea behind a constitution? »» At the crux of the constitution lies the very fact that we the secretaries are not aware of our powers and work. Thus to convert this haphazard situation into a much simpler, stable and sustainable one, there is a requirement for the constitution. This will give an identity to our system which will differentiate us from other institutes.
What according to you should be the structure of our gymkhana? »» We are working on a presidential system comprising of two representatives from each branch i.e. one per twenty students. So that will make a senate of not more than 20 members. The students will directly elect the president from themselves and he/she with the consent of the rest of the senate will form the committees that will function under the gymkhana for the institute affairs. I expect to get it active before the upcoming elections for which “I might have to curtail all the instincts of mine”.
32 SECRETARIES SPEAK... What would you like to comment on the work of other secretaries? »» All the secretaries are striving hard, especially, Siddhartha is very clear in his ideas and has done a good job with utmost dedication, Aamedh is fit for the post but had some difficulty due to some students’ [non-cooperative] attitude.
“I am personally against the idea of organizing a C-Fest”... »» I am a little selfish for my views on having a C-fest but I equally respect the idea if the majority favors. It creates a lot of disadvantages for the organizers until and unless we find crucial participation from other IIT’s and IIM’s. Also C-fest is not a platform to shape our talent for which we can go to other institute’s cultural festivals. I would also like to add that none of the best foreign universities conduct a C-fest or a Tech-fest.
“Uncertain response from the authority”... »» Few of them (authority) are very cooperative but some of them are dormant. Sometimes, our demands are not considered constructively which results in us not enjoying our college life and it looks as if we are confined to a cell, especially in the case of juniors since they are not allowed to hold any events in their hostel due to issues well known to everybody… “It is pathetic”.
How would you like to rate your council? »» On a scale of ten, I would rate myself a 3.5, the Cultural Secretary a 7.1, Sports Secretary a 7 and the Academic Secretary a 6.5.
“What improvements do you wish to see in the student council members?” »» I wish Bhushan was a little more persistent; Aamedh— stricter and less welcoming on ideas; Siddharth— a bit more communicative and as for me, all of the above. Sports Secretary Siddarth Srivastava What were the main points in your manifesto? »» My main priorities were Gym, Cricket-Kit, Playground and Coach.
What is the procedure for the approval of requests? »» It goes as follows: Demands are given to the SAC convener (Dr. T K Sharma) which are forwarded to the authority which are then produced in the meeting with the Director, the Director then hands over the work to the SAC convener (again! A rigmarole!) then the outcome reaches the Registrar.
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In general, what is the response of the authority to the proposals? »» The primary response is quite positive but sooner or later the work reaches saturation hence is delayed.
What events did you organize in your tenure? »» Following major events have been organized in the institute: Cricket Tournament (IICL) Foot wars (Football tournament) Badminton Championship (Kshipra hostel) Trials of all games to be played in Inter-IIT. Cyber games (NFS, CS etc)
Can you describe some of your future plans? »» Very soon we are hopefully going to have an experienced coach. After our incredible performance in this year’s INTER-IIT sports meet, I hope that we will get many more medals in the next INTER-IIT in all the major sports events.
What problems did you face in sanctioning the Cricket team for Inter-IIT sports meet? »» All IITs except IIT-I had registered their cricket teams for Inter-IIT meet; in spite of our request to send our team to participate, the authorities turned a deaf ear. They rejected the request; this was backed up by a series of re-scheduling, re-grouping and getting a no-objection-certificate from all the other IITs to make our team a legal participant. Cultural Secretary Aamedh Bhargava Why did you choose to be a cultural secretary? »» On considering the possible posts for contention, I was (and still am!) unaware of the duties of a General Secretary and I definitely look in a better shape to be a Cult Secy than a Sports Secy!
What were the major points in your manifesto? »» My main motto was “to promote the talent and foster a happy environment”. I promised to organize various cultural activities viz. dance, dramatics, literary etc.
“Take part in events enthusiastically”... »» I just wanted to encourage the students to take part in events whether at hostel or institute level, such as literary, dramatics, quizzing, etc. 34 SECRETARIES SPEAK... Are you striving for a full-fledged Cultural Fest? »» “The General Secretary and I share different views” on the part of organizing Cultural Festivals. The other reason is the lack of interest or incapability of the cultural committee to inspire the students. Now I have only two and a half months left in my tenure. It is very difficult to get things done in a short span.
What would you like to comment on the facilities available for events? »» We don’t have proper infrastructure for dramatics which void us from organizing events on a large scale. The Student Activity Committee, especially the Convener, is supportive and encouraging. They don’t say no to us but they won’t give ideas on their own too.
About the Hostel Cultural Secretary Rahil? »» He is planning a major inter hostel event and has come up with an idea of dividing the students in a group of ten and conduct miscellaneous competitions.
How would you rate yourself and other Student Gymkhana members? »» I would rate myself 5.9/10, since I couldn’t perform what I originally had in mind. For the General Secretary, I would give a rating of 4.87/10, suggesting that he should get a hold of the constitution. For the Sports Secretary, a rating of 6.83/10, since we do not have full-fledged coaches yet, but still has done a good job. And as for the Academic Secretary, a 6.2/10, since we have not had many guest lecturers, on the other hand he has been brave enough to put forth his points in front of the concerned authority and has also come out successful! Academic Secretary Bhushan Shah Why did you choose to be the Academic Secretary? »» I was also the victim of the poor academic standards. I wanted the quality of academics to improve for "my own betterment”.
Do you consider academics to be the only front an Academic Secretary should be good at? »» Merely academics should not be the soul criteria to be an academic secy. It should also depend on the way he/she evaluates the post.
What does your manifesto comprise of? »» (remembering his manifesto…) My main motto was to achieve the transparency in my work (between the Institute and myself). I have shared all the interaction that I have had 35 with the authorities through email.
What are your achievements? »» On my request to Director, in an email dated 16th Nov, 2010, we now have a Training and Placement Cell. In a meeting with the Director and UGAPEC held on 25th Jan, 2011, we proposed a self-study mechanism for students with backlogs. Thus, students obtaining an FR grade would only have to appear for the exams while repeating the course, without any compulsion to attend classes. Also, the attendance issue was clarified. Apart from that, it was proposed that a new feedback procedure should be adopted which would include evaluation of both the course and the faculty. The Director has asked the Student Gymkhana to redesign the forms. Another point discussed was the non-compliance of faculty members regarding the distribution of study material, which was collectively condemned by the students, UGAPEC members and the Director. Also, I demanded that we be awarded an Honours degree since we do more credits than our counterparts in IITB doing an Honours programme, and we would be competing with them after graduating.
What efforts did you inculcate in exploring the internship opportunities and information on collaboration with other Academic or Non-Academic Institutions? »» For this, as I said, I demanded a separate cell and now we have the concerned committee for all the departments. Regarding the collaboration issue I know as much as you do, as I am just a student.
What if we have/are having problems with the faculty for a course? »» It is recommended that students follow the following steps if such a situation arises: 0. Discuss the problems with the concerned faculty. 1. Talk to the respective head of the school. 2. Let the officials (UGAPEC) know about the problem. And the last option is the feedback.
How would you rate yourself and other Student Gymkhana members? »» Before the meeting (on 25th January) I would’ve rated myself a 4, but now I would rate myself 7 on 10. As for Ranjodh, I would rate him 7. He has those rare and momentary outbursts of energy and enthusiasm. He should be having those more often. I would give a 9 to Aamedh, since he’s been multitasking and doing a fantastic job, and a 6 to Siddharth.
“If you want the rainbow, then you gotta put up with the rain.” ~ Dolly Parton 36 END NOTE The Growling Shriek
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VOL. 1: THE MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF AND ABOUT IIT SYSTEM
have gone over this again IITs are imperfect imitations of the and again in many of my universities abroad. In fact, Pt. Nehru, while heated and not-so-heated inaugurating IITKGP in Hijli detention camp discussionsI about IITs with my friends, and stated that IITs shall be modelled on MIT, perhaps thought that the first edition of our Stanford, etc. and shall look to produce Student Magazine was a good platform to excellent employable Indians (not present my broader viewpoints about this employing!). So, we borrowed the sense— of being in an IIT. I tend to be very semester systems, the CPI format, the ‘infi- critical but appreciate the journalistic corridor’ and some other architecture freedom that our own magazine gives me (yeah, it’s a rip-off!!) and pride (You are in to write and say things that many might an IIT!!!) but failed to or didn’t want to not agree with (Mr. “I love my Ind…” borrow academic flexibility (How on earth included). Now, I would not be stirring a can a kid in 12th decide whether controversy when I say not all of us are Chemical Engineering is better for him or genius grade [Oh by Civil when he the way, I myself am There is a sense that we have perhaps doesn’t even have a a proud owner of 4 become too engulfed by the IITian taste of topics), Backlogs (and tag. Sometimes, we should try to flexible degree counting...)] but that systems, impeccable is not the bone of enrich the tag rather the other way faculty (no offence contention. The point around… meant but multiple I wish to make is noble laureates must about our academic quality and abilities. I have done something better) and a personally am of the opinion that though wiiiiiiiiiiiide arena of courses on offer (How I we might be amongst the more fortunate long to have been able to do Geology, ones in our country, there is still more hype Gardening, Maths and Comparative than substance in our claims. Literature along with drama and music while doing Computer Engineering). Our I shall take up our claims one by one Faculty-PhD ratios aren’t really optimum and compare them on a broader and our research output has been largely perspective with the best universities across invisible, to say the least. The way classes the globe. Strange, coz we take pride in go about is very high-schoolish here as the fact that we aren’t a university; compared to the open-end approach whereas, the best educational hubs on there. And student activities encompass a earth pride themselves in being called a wider range of spectrum. After all, the aim University. I might be overly critical but I of education should not be to create personally can take the liberty to say that clones but to teach people what they 37 want to learn (even if it is rapping to forced ambitions be curtailed at a national level rhymes, being a text-ka baadshah, then?? creating fights amongst the best friends or I frankly believe that our sense of cracking Sid-Jokes). being an IITian does us more harm than Not that the foreign universities are good in the sense that we become over- without their flaws. They have been reliant on the tag. Yes, it might be good severely criticised for their entrance sometimes to flaunt those funky tees, systems which resemble job applications listening to some really enlightened songs more than a definitive process, a-la-JEE and being called intelligent geniuses by (Although that system also yields some some of our not-so-enlightened relatives great results). Also, their flexible system also (while others might ask “Kisi paas ke ITI me means that sometimes, the products are nahi hua kya??”). I can go on and on and jack of all trades and masters of none. I on (and all my claims here aren’t claims. I have always wondered why the have brute statistics to prove them) but I endowments in IITs are so little when believe some parts of these must have compared to the ones in foreign enraged you already. universities and the answer is simple, I will So, as we sit back and contemplate pay back to my institute only if it made me as to how we can be world beaters, it is feel like an integral part of it (Are students important for us to understand that we just standing trespassers in all IITs or is it just cannot rest on our IITian tag and expect here??). I think you are getting my point. laurels coming our way. It is too preliminary We still have yet to produce really path for it. We might be the king of well-frogs but breaking research, though we are we still have a long way to go before we progressing on that front. Entangled in the rule the frog-o-sphere. There is a sense that bureaucracy and red tape, we refuse to we have perhaps become too engulfed look up, encompass one and all, and be by the IITian tag. Sometimes, we should try welcoming to ideas rather than throwing to enrich the tag rather the other way awful looks when someone criticizes us (As around… happened with most IITians in PanIIT 2010 that I attended. They were too proud of the tag but few did justice to it, at least in Cya next time, with a far more powerful what they presented. All my batch mates growling shriek. with me agree to the point). The main idea of getting better and better is being lost somewhere in the middle after getting to Until then, the pinnacle of national rankings. Aren’t Bbye. we trying for a permanent UNSC seat?? Ur own, Don’t we want to be a world superpower, Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal…. a developed nation?? Why should our 38 ART CORNER BRAVO GUYS!!