The Scholars' Avenue

Site Resurrected

2009-03-25T01:43:00.004+05:30

We are pleased to announce that we have temporarily resolved out server related issues. Our official website is back at http://scholarsavenue.targetiit.com/ . We thank the people at TargetIIT for hosting us on their server. Their support is greatly appreciated and we wish them all the best.

All the articles on this blog have been transported to the new site along with the associated comments. We will continue to post updates regarding the B.C. Roy hospital issue on the new site. Please post your comments on the new website henceforth. The inconvenience caused is regretted.

Click here to visit the new site

Another Student in a critical condition

2009-03-24T14:14:00.012+05:30

CLICK HERE FOR A COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE OF SUNDAY'S INCIDENT

In the wake of tragic events of the last two days, other such incidents have come to the fore. Rohit’s death is not the only recent case of negligence by medical authorities of IIT Kharagpur. Another civil engineering student Gaurav Tomar is fighting for his life at the ICU of Apollo Hospital in Delhi. Gaurav, a fifth year student from LLR hall, was admitted to BC Roy hospital on 10th March on complaining of fever and weakness after where blood tests and was diagnosed with possible hepatitis and urinal tract infection. After five days of medication, his condition continued deteriorating when his friends decided to get him discharged and take him home. On being diagnosed with malaria that had progressed to advanced stage and had affected his kidneys and liver, he was immediately transferred to Apollo hospital in New Delhi, where he is presently on dialysis in the ICU. His blood dilated and the blood platelet count reduced to below 20,000. In an adult, a normal count is about 150,000 to 450,000 platelets per microliter (x 10–6/Liter) of blood. If platelet levels fall below 20,000 per microliter, spontaneous bleeding may occur and is considered a life-threatening risk.(Source)

Gaurav is also a victim of incorrect diagnosis and delayed referral.

"My son, Gaurav is in ICU due to irresponsible acts of doctors at the campus hospital. They were treating him for jaundice and hepatitis for a week while he was suffering from malaria. In the end, I asked him to come back to Meerut. Doctors at B.C. Roy Hospital did not give him any reference letter, neither did they arrange for an ambulance. When he reached Meerut, he was in a terrible state and we had no option but to rush to Apollo Hospital Delhi," said Mr Jaibir Singh.

The students have decided to circulate a writ petition requesting funds to be allocated from the Student Brotherhood Fund for Gaurav’s treatment. Volunteers from all halls are collecting the signatures and the petition will be forwarded to the Fund for the same. We urge you to put your name down on the list.

We wish Gaurav a speedy recovery. Please watch this space for more updates.

The Campus at Present

2009-03-24T12:48:00.006+05:30

CLICK HERE FOR A COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE OF SUNDAY'S INCIDENT

Two days later, the campus is peaceful and calm. There have been extensive meetings between student representatives, senior students and the administration. It is quite apparent from the minutes of the meeting held on Monday morning that the administration is acting on the suggestions made by the students in the closed door meeting held on Sunday evening. Classes have resumed as normal after observing a day of mourning on Monday. There will be compensatory class on Saturday, the 28th of March. The maturity displayed by the students during the peaceful candelight march last night deserves much praise. It is hoped that the situation will not turn ugly again and that things will finally change for the better. All those reading this article, students, faculty and alumni alike are invited to air their suggestions here as to what concrete steps must be taken to improve the infrastructure on campus. Innovative ideas will not come from a small closeted group of people. The entire IIT Kharagpur community is required to air its views, ideas and suggestions; and we, at The Scholars’ Avenue, hope that you will do so right here by commenting.

We would also like to bring to your attention a document, authored by Kota Nagarjuna Rao and Subhendu Panigrahi (4th year students of LLR Hall), found here (http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dczr5869_31cb3bvpfx) that lists the contacts of medical professionals in and around Kharagpur. Their efforts must be commended in the highest manner possible. The document stands testament to the maturity and resourcefulness of the student community here. But it must also be pointed out that the reputations of these doctors are not known. Efforts are on to confirm and verify, if possible, the veracity of the information and the reputations of the doctors mentioned therein.

Another useful database of medical facilities in and around Kharagpur can be accessed at BC Roy Hall website (link).

Students should also note that insurance cards were issued last semester and sent to the departments for distribution. If you have not collected your cards yet, please do so from either the faculty advisor or the office of the concerned department.

Institute's Press Release

2009-03-24T02:39:00.000+05:30

CLICK HERE FOR A COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE OF SUNDAY'S INCIDENT

Following was the Press statement released by the Institute on Sunday. A press conference was later held the next day.

Rohit Kumar, a third year student of IIT Kharagpur, was regularly visiting the institute hospital since the last three days on account of chronic headaches. On his way back to the hostel on the third day he fainted and fell off a cycle rickshaw and sustained serious injuries.He was again rushed to the hospital, upon which it was decided that he should be taken to Kolkata. However, on the way, his situation deteriorated and he was instead taken to Midnapore, where he was unfortunately declared brought dead.

This incident triggered off strong emotive response from the students as they felt that the medical facilities were inadequate. The students immediately met the authorities and lodged their strong protest. The institute has expressed its condolences to Rohit’s family and friends. The administration took note of the issues and met the student general body and assured them and laid out a plan in which they would work together with the students towards improving on campus medical facilities.

CLICK HERE FOR A COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE OF SUNDAY'S INCIDENT

Latest Update

2009-03-23T22:04:00.000+05:30

A peaceful candlelight condolence march was organized by the students in the evening at 7 PM. The students who had gathered in large numbers walked from the Gymkhana and placed candles around the Bidhan Chowk in front of the institute main building.

Meanwhile, the supposed address by the registrar to the students was only a rumour. The entire student community has been informed of the minutes of the meeting held between the student representatives and the administration through notices. The exact status on the resignations of the Director and Dean of Students’ Affairs is yet to be known. The arrival of the Board of Governors Chairman Dr. Muthuraman would be keenly awaited in this regard since the director’s resignation needs to be ratified by the Board of Governors before being forwarded to the HRD Ministry.

All classes will resume starting from tomorrow. The second meeting of the student representatives and the administration is scheduled to take place on Friday to look into the progress on the implementation of proposed reforms. The status of Gymkhana elections is obviously of the least concern at this point and hence no decision has been taken in this regard.

Also, regarding the construction of the multi-speciality hospital, the foundation stone for which was laid by ex-president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, it is to be noted that it was the Government and not the institute administration that cancelled the funding; and hence it would be wrong to blame the administration for the same. The institute can be expected to push for this proposal now, in the wake of the present happenings.

We at The Scholars’ Avenue appeal to all students to maintain calm and trust us to keep you updated with authentic information as it comes.

Minutes of today's meeting

2009-03-23T18:57:00.000+05:30

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
KHARAGPUR

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 23 MARCH 2009 AT 11-00 AM
IN THE BOARD ROOM OF IIT KHARAGPUR

The following were present

1) Prof. M. Chakraborty, Director (Acting)
2) Dr. D. Gunasekaran, Registrar
3) Prof. P.P. Chakrabarti, Member, Board of Governors & Dean, SRIC
4) Prof. Sanat K. Ray, Member, Board of Governors
5) Prof. S.K. Som, Dean, Under Graduate Studies
6) Prof. R.N. Datta, Dean, Faculty & Planning
7) Prof. Amit Patra, Dean, Alumni Affairs & International Relations
8) Prof. Manish Bhattacharya, President, Technology Students’ Gymkhana
9) Prof. S.K. Bhattacharyya, Chairman, Civil Construction & Maintenance
10) Prof. N.R. Mandal, Head, Dept. of Ocean Engg. & Naval Architecture
11) Prof. A. K. Ghosh, Head, Dept. of Biotechnology
12) Prof. A.K. Chattopadhyay, Head, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
13) Prof. B. Maity, Professor-in-Charge, Transport
14) Dr. N. K. Som, Head, B.C. Roy Technology Hospital
15) Mr. U. P. Singh, Security Officer
16) Mr. Arnav, Vice-President, Technology Students’ Gymkhana
17) Other Student Representatives

The following were the points discussed and resolved :

1) One-man Enquiry Committee be appointed preferably with a retired High Court Level Judge to enquire into entire episode of 22nd March 2009 leading to the resignation of Prof. D. Acharya as Director of the Institute. However necessary permission for appointment will be obtained. The Enquiry Committee shall be given thirty days from the date of appointment for the work.

2) Prof. N.R. Mandal, Head, Dept. of Ocean Engineering & Naval Architecture be requested to coordinate with the district hospital, local authorities and parents of Rohit Kumar and also render all assistance to his parents.

3) Mr. N.R. Maity, Deputy Registrar (Academic) be requested to coordinate on behalf of the students with Insurance Company to expedite the claim processing including the present case of Rohit Kumar. Mr. Kumar Ritwik, one of the students will be a students’ coordinator for all students insurance policy matters. One responsible employee of the Institute be appointed as Liaison Officer for the purpose of Insurance Policy related matters like admitting in hospital, ambulance arrangement, payments, filing of claims, etc. He will work under the overall supervision of the Deputy Registrar, Academic.

4) Institute has been making all efforts to have a Multi-speciality Hospital at IIT Kharagpur during the past few years. The following hospital/individual were contacted in this connection :
a) Narayana Hrudalaya, Bangalore
b) Kanchi Kamkoti Trust, Kanchipuram
c) Sri Satya Sai Central Trust, Puttabarthy
d) Apollo Group, Hyderabad
e) Manipal Hospital, Manipal
f) Dr. Satadal Saha, Jubilant First Trust Healthcare Ltd., Kolkata

A committee of representatives from RBI Salboni, Tata Metaliks, Jindal Steel, AFS Kalaikunda, AFS Salua, Bharat Forge, Tata Hitachi, Tata Bearing, S.E. Railway, State Hospital, Midnapore Medical College & Hospital have been involved in the discussion. However, we are yet to reach a final shape on the issue.

5) Simultaneously, a 24X7 pharmacy can be set up at B.C. Roy Technology Hospital and
operationalised within 30 days.

6) A Diagnostic Centre be set up at IIT Kharagpur. The Diagnostic Centre shall be managed by a professional group. In the meantime the existing pathology laboratories at the hospital be upgraded. Dr. N.K. Som will prepare a blueprint of the proposed upgradation of pathology unit at B.C. Roy Technology Hospital including manpower requirements. This blueprint should be done with 15 days.

7) Some of the NGOs/Trusts for exploring the possibility of providing medical facility at IIT Kharagpur. Students may also help identify possible NGO/Trusts in this regard. Institute will work towards setting up a hospital at Kharagpur, to be run by a professional group who specializes in this area.

8) Commanding Officer, AFS Kalaikunda, be contacted for possible use of the medical facility availability there by IIT Kharagpur community including Air Ambulance, if available.

9) The following committee be appointed to work out the number and type of ambulances required :
a) Prof. B. Maiti, Dept. of Mechanical Engg. - Chairman
b) Prof. M. Bhattacharyya, President, TSG - Member
c) Mr. Alok, Students’ Representative - Member
d) A student with medical background - Member

They should submit the report including full specification for purchase by 31st March 2009. The procurement etc. shall be initiated by 1st week of April 2009.

10) Head, B.C. Roy Technology Hospital should ensure that the doctors and staff make conscious efforts to win the confidence of campus community.

11) The existing hospital management committee shall be expanded incorporating Vice President TSG and four other students to be nominated by Vice President.

12) Prof. B.K. Mathur be requested to crate a web based suggestions/complaint box for B.C. Roy Technology Hospital. The suggestions/complaints received shall be placed to the committee for immediate redressal. Prof. Mathur with the help of BCRTH doctors may also provide the medical data base of doctors/diagnostic centres/hospitals at Kharagpur/Midnapore and Kolkata to the community including the web.

13) An alert-helpline be created in the emergency of B.C. Roy Technology Hospital in line with helpline created by Security Section. Institute shall provide additional manpower for helpline and rendering other assistance to emergency patients.

14) The emergency unit should have a round the clock medical officer. The Institute will advertise Medical Officer positions to be filled on contract basis to overcome the present situation. We can also explore getting doctors on deputation from central/state governments.

15) Institute should appoint an external professional agency/expert to study the present facilities at BCRTH and suggest possible improvements.

16) Chairman BoG, Mr. B. Muthuraman, who is abroad, has been apprised and is deeply concerned. He is planning to return as soon as possible and will come to IIT Kharagpur immediately on return. He has asked a senior doctor of Tata Main Hospital to immediately come to IIT Kharagpur to assess the BCRT Hospital’s working.

17) Institute decided to send a message of condolence to the parents of Rohit Kumar.

Latest Situation Update

2009-03-23T18:34:00.000+05:30

Our Site ( http://tinyurl.com/kgpnews ) has crashed due to heavy traffic. As we try to get it back up and running, you may refer to the current blog periodically for updates.

As promised yesterday at the TOAT open house session, a meeting was convened by the Institute Administration earlier this morning to chalk out and finalize the action plan in entirety. Student representatives along with hall presidents have come up with a detailed action plan which will be made public to the students today evening.

As of now, an independent judicial enquiry process has been initiated to be supervised by an external judicial officer. Institute has also been asked to send a detailed report of yesterday's incident to the HRD ministry.

1. The candle-light march that was scheduled for 6 pm and then cancelled is now back on track with a minor delay. All those on campus are requested to attend this event at Bidhan Chowk, 6 pm. A slight delay is likely. Wear black, bring a candle. Make your protest count. Registrar will not be addressing the students later tonight.

2. A separate student meeting for fifth year undergraduate students was organised at the Jnan Ghosh Stadium earlier this evening. The suggestions discussed will be updated soon on our site.

3. Classes will resume as scheduled from tomorrow.

The Scholars’ Avenue will be tracking further developments today. The action plan will be displayed on our site soon after release. Subscribe to our RSS feed (link) or bookmark this page.

We can be reached at editor [at] scholarsavenue [dot] org

Explanations

2009-03-23T18:31:00.000+05:30

What follows below is a comprehensive look at the events of the 22nd of March 2009 and it’s possible outcomes. This website will be updated as and when new information comes in. Keep checking back for more.

The Incident

This Sunday, the 22^nd of March, shall go down as a black day in the history of IIT, Kharagpur. It was with great sadness and considerable anger that the residents of the campus received news of the demise of one of its own; third year Electrical Engineering student, Rohit Kumar. A resident of the LLR Hall of Residence, Rohit had been visiting the hospital since Friday, the 20^th of March, complaining of headaches. On Sunday, the headaches became increasingly painful and it was on his way back from the doctor that he fainted and fell from the rickshaw, resulting in major injuries. Following this, he was taken to BC Roy hospital by two students of LLR. The doctor on duty (who was present at the time when Rohit was taken to the hospital), Dr. N.K. Som, recommended that he be taken to Apollo Hospital, Kolkata and shown to a neurosurgeon. He stated that BC Roy did not have facilities to handle such cases and that it was best to take him to Kolkata as soon as possible. However, problems (such as filling of petrol) and the extensive paperwork involved in arranging an ambulance caused a delay of 2 hours during the course of which nothing much could be done.

He was finally sent on his way to Kolkata with 2 students for company and an untrained attendant. En route it was realized that though the oxygen mask had been placed over his mouth, the tank had still not been turned on. Soon after this, Rohit started coughing up blood. The students who accompanied him had the attendant call up Dr. Som and the students followed his instructions; pumping out blood without any help from the attendant. At the time, it was decided to take Rohit to the Spandan Hospital in Midnapore since his condition was deteriorating rapidly. In spite of asking the BC Roy officials to call ahead and inform Spandan of the impending arrival, there was no one there to receive them. By the time a doctor was found, Rohit had passed away and the hospital declared him dead on arrival. At present, his body lies in the mortuary at Midnapore medical college.

Questions and Answers

There are a lot of questions being asked and a lot of unfounded rumours flying around. Some of these questions can be answered and some of the rumours quashed. One of the major questions being asked is about the absence of a trained medico in the ambulance. The rules of BC Roy stipulate that no doctor can accompany a person in the ambulance. Unbelievable but a possible reason for this is that since there is only one doctor on duty, such action would mean that the hospital is left unmanned.

Another confirmed fact is that the doctor was present when Rohit was taken to the hospital. All delays were entirely due to the unavailability of an ambulance. The problems with the ambulances were apparent a week earlier when Mithun Madhusudhan, a 4^th year student had to be taken to Kolkata for an operation after he fractured both his hands. At that time, the ambulance broke down and could move only in reverse gear. This is a very serious problem that hopefully will be corrected at the earliest.

The Reaction

An incident such as this, calls for the strongest possible reaction, and it was with this intent that the students on campus walked out of their hostels in protest. A crowd started forming with about 100-150 people gathered in front of the Director’s Bungalow demanding an audience and a strong reaction from the man in charge. Unfortunately, he delayed addressing the gathering, which had by then grown to nearly a 1000 people, all of whom were getting angrier and more restive by the minute. The Director’s subsequent equivocation about committees and ‘looking into the matter’ only made matters worse, as students understood these to be standard bureaucratic responses that were ineffective. Convinced that the authorities had still not correctly gauged the frustration and anguish of the students, they took matters to the next level. As tempers ran high and numbers swelled, an already dark day became uglier as the students resorted to destruction of property in a bid to demonstrate their anger. At all times, however, there was a strict student-enforced cordon around the officials, to pre-empt possibilities of physical assault. Such student conduct, while admittedly regrettable, seemed to be what caused the authorities to realize the gravity of the situation.

The Fallout

The raw emotion displayed by the students finally convinced the Director to step down after prolonged protests from the students. This came after nearly four hours of deliberation during which the students took to ransacking the director's residence, smashing window panes and his car. Soon after at about 8 p.m., the Deputy Director convened an emergency meeting of all the Heads of Departments, Deans and student representatives to work out an immediate action plan to resolve the crisis. The points decided upon in the meeting are as follows:

1. An independent commission composed of doctors from AIIMS/Apollo and other such medical institutions of repute must be setup to examine the current state of affairs and issue recommendations that must necessarily be followed.

2. An external independent enquiry commission composed of civil servants (possibly members of the judiciary and IPS officers) must be setup in order to fix responsibility.

3. B.C. Roy Hospital is to have better trained staff henceforth.

4. The Institute will procure 5 new state of the art ambulances and these should be allowed to transport patients without waiting for the requisite paperwork to be completed.

5. A database of all specialists in and around Kharagpur should be maintained and freely accessible.

6. The Institute must pursue tie-ups with medical NGOs and nearby hospitals so that students can avail emergency medical care when needed.

7. Deputation of central government doctors to Kharagpur must be looked into.

8. The facilities must be upgraded so as to handle emergencies and at least 2 qualified emergency doctors must be present at all times (including weekends, off hours and night time).

9. There must be greater transparency in the hospital’s operation. A review committee made of students, professors and one emeritus professor nominated by students, must be formed with the authority to review the progress at BC Roy every 15 days,

10. Revision of pay scales for doctors in employ of BC Roy so as to attract better doctors.

11. Adequate compensation for Rohit's Family

The points put forward by the student representatives regarding the improvements in medical facilities at B.C. Roy Hospital were read out in an unprecedented jam-packed open session held at the Tagore Open Air Theater. Unfortunately, here too emotions were running high and the lack of discernible strong action and resolve on the part of the administration did nothing to help the situation. The situation spiraled rapidly out of control into one where the nearly 4,000 strong crowd demanded the resignation of the Dean of Student Affairs and the Chairman of the BC Roy Hospital, which turned out to be the Deputy Director. All this was in spite of the fact that the Deputy Director agreed to all suggested changes. In the end, the Dean of Student Affairs, in principle, resigned and the Deputy Director has also resigned from his post as the Chairman, B.C. Roy Hospital.

A meeting with student representatives from all halls of residence will be held on Monday morning at 10.00 a.m. to implement the proposed action plan. The deliberations and outcome of these committee meetings will be made public and available for everyone to view (on notice boards and on The Scholars’ Avenue). This committee will be meeting every 15 days in order to review progress and these progress reports shall also be made public. Such a move towards greater transparency is indeed heartening. Classes on Monday, the 23^rd of March, have been cancelled in mourning as a mark of respect for Rohit. Monday shall also witness a candle light procession from the Gymkhana to the Main Gate at 6 p.m.

Implications

While many resignations were demanded and many tendered in the heat of the moment, the long term implications of the day will only become clear once the dust settles. The details of violence at the Director’s residence will eventually take precedence in this topic in the national media, taking focus off its cause – the complete absence of effective protocols and facilities at the B.C. Roy Hospital. This might have thus squandered an excellent opportunity to draw the attention of the national media and force the authorities at the highest level to implement concrete steps to make B.C. Roy a place to get better, not worse.

It was indeed heartening to see the entire student community come out in unison to protest the death of a fellow student. However, there is an urgent need to channelize this spirit in the right direction so as to achieve what it set out to do. We need a better hospital on campus, not mass resignations from officials and destruction of public property. We need positive action from the authorities, not negative action from the students. Rejoicing at the suspension of classes is downright despicable in a situation such as this. A serious question that must be asked is, “Have we become what we condemned the most; the stirs and protests that plague Bengal?”

The urgency of the problem is now amply clear to the authorities, and now it is time to work constructively with them to resolve the issue. Each one should play his part by informing the authorities of the improvements he has in mind through his respective hall representatives. It is imperative that any pictures or videos depicting violence or people engaged in such acts be suppressed. Negative publicity, especially in the national media, can only take us away from the goal of standardizing the systems for medical aid. Non-violent methods of protest are the need of the hour and it is best to refrain from mob behavior in the coming days. They will truly define how we KGPians, as a student community, respond to a crisis of such an unprecedented magnitude. Let us not forget that we are torchbearers of a premier institute of the country and that our duty to maintain the dignity of the institute is as important as our right to proper healthcare.

We, at The Scholars' Avenue will continue to bring updates as the story unfolds. We urge all the alumni who are reading this to put pressure on the administration, via their own channels, to help improve medical facilities on campus. Let Rohit not have died in vain.

Disclaimer:

All information contained in the article above has been verified from people who were at the scene. This is the true version of events.

www.scholarsavenue.org

2006-09-05T04:22:00.001+05:30

The Scholars' Avenue has moved!

www.scholarsavenue.org

All the existing posts and comments from this blog have been copied onto our new site. New issues will be uploaded there.

Please update your bookmarks.

14th August '06: Editor's Avenue

2006-08-15T20:15:00.000+05:30

Pandora's Box was never meant to be OPened

According to Greek mythology, mankind once lived a life in a paradise, without worry. The Gods presented Pandora with a box into which each had put something harmful, and forbade her to ever open it. However, Pandora's curiosity got the better of her and she opened it, releasing all the misfortunes of mankind (plague, sorrow, poverty, crime, despair, greed, and many more). There are certain responsibilities associated with writing for the campus newspaper. Understanding the impact and consequence of our words on the community and on individuals of the community is most definitely one of them.

Opening Pandora’s Box is an easy task which we could have executed with the utmost conviction, but the repercussions as illustrated can be severe. There are times when words can lead to a lot more than they are accountable for, and in such circumstances we must follow the old adage, “ignorance is bliss”. Our objective is, and always will be, to cover every issue and bring you the facts, but there are times when truth can find itself to be a manifestation of Pandora’s Box. If by not dealing with a certain topic in our issue, we have strayed from our objective, we will in our self defense say that we are only being responsible. Pandora’s Box was never meant to be opened.

Keeping Pandora’s Box tightly sealed, we wish you all a happy new academic year, which amongst other things, brings with it an all new issue of Scholars’ Avenue. The newspaper has continuously evolved since its inception, and this issue is no different. In addition to the news and our regulars, new sections which will cement their place make their debut this time – ‘Features Avenue’ & ‘Bhaat Avenue’.

Scholars’ Avenue now has its own website as well: www.scholarsavenue.org. Special thanks to IndiaLinks for their support. We hope you enjoy this issue. It is our only reward.

As always, we welcome your feedback, our only yardstick, and a catalyst to our evolution. Our new email address is editor@scholarsavenue.org. Happy Reading!

14th August '06: Halls ka haal

2006-08-15T20:10:00.000+05:30

In the light of the ever increasing in-take of students, the Scholars' Avenue team caught up with HMC Chairman, Prof. H. N. Mishra to find out about the HMC's plans and more.

SA: Keeping in mind the recent surge in the intake of students and given that the hostels are already packed to capacity, what plans does the HMC have in mind to tackle the congestion issue?

HNM: For the girls, there is a new hall, Rani Laxmibai Hall of Residence, for which the construction has been going on for a while now, and which is expected to be completed by December. We also plan to add another floor to MT Hall. For the boys, a 2000-strong capacity Hall named after Lal Bahadur Shastri is in the pipeline. Occupancy will be on twin sharing basis. We recently advertised in the newspapers for an architect to design and plan the construction. If everything goes as planned, the Hall should be ready by the end of July 2007.

SA: This year, the first year hall allotment was done by IITJEE registration numbers, which has led to regional segregation of students. Does this warrant any further action in the eyes of the HMC?

HNM:To be frank, we did not foresee this situation arising. All these years, the allotment has been random (we have special software for the purpose). Anyways, we’ve discussed this issue, and it's been decided that since the students are still settling down, they won’t be asked to shift right away. However, the room shifting can be conveniently done during the winter break. Students will be asked to vacate their rooms, and fresh allotments will be made.

SA: At the start of this semester, 5 mess workers from each hall have been moved to the MMM hall of residence. Won’t this lead to a shortage of staff in the other halls?

HNM: I do not believe that there is any kind of shortage. When we introduced private security in hostels, the HMC security personnel were drafted in as mess workers, which led to an excess of labour. Transfer of mess workers from the halls to MMM is essentially a removal of the excess, which will not lead to mess operations being compromised. Moreover, we are also planning to mechanize the labour intensive jobs such as potato peeling, dough kneading and vegetable slicing (VS Hall already has one set of these machines).

SA: Speaking of mechanization, very recently, one of these machines injured a mess worker in RK Hall. Isn’t mechanization a potential risk for the staff?

HNM: Well, the particular dough kneading machine in question was not designed to cater to a large hostel of 400 students. This led to certain operational improvisations on behalf of the mess workers which is what caused the injury. The machine was, in fact, not purchased by the institute but came in through a distinguished alumnus. In the future, when we introduce such machines on a large scale, it would be ensured that they do not cause any safety concerns.

SA: RK Hall has been receiving generous amounts of money from the alumni for its upgradation. Don't you think that the resulting gap between RK and the other hostels in terms of standard of living is an issue of concern?

HNM: The institute, on its part, does not treat any hall in a preferential manner. However, if an alumnus decides to make a contribution to a particular hall, he or she is most welcome to do so, and we genuinely hope that the other alumni follow suit for their respective halls. I think that all the halls have their share of financially affluent alumni and potential contributors. To draw an analogy, alumni sometimes give projects to the departments from which they graduated, and this may not always lead to a fair distribution.

SA: Of late, numerous cases of mobile phone and cash thefts in the hostels have been reported. Recently, a laptop was stolen from one of the rooms and the security guard didn’t even have as much as the phone number of the police station or the Institute security office. Do you believe private security are living up to their expectations?

HNM: My personal view is that private security, which was very effective in the initial days of implementation, has started slacking off. I guess even they have got accustomed to the IIT culture (laughs). Jokes apart, I have talked about this to the authorities (the Registrar and the ASO), and have proposed the installation of check-posts at the gates of all hostels (rather than inside the hall) equipped with a telephone and a check-in register. This should make security more effective. The institute is supportive of the view, and we await a speedy implementation.

In a related development, Scholars’ Avenue contacted the Director for his views on the matter. In the Director’s view, the institute is not obliged to provide every student accommodation. He cited the example of IITD where around 30% of the students live outside the campus. The Director also suggested a couple of things the institute could try out: firstly, the institute could buy buildings in GolB, PremB or Midnapore and keep students there or, secondly, leave it to students to find their own accommodation. In his words, “When you came to IIT Kgp for admission, if you were given the option of either getting admitted here and living outside the campus or not taking admission here at all, what would you have chosen?”

14th August '06: When technology 'works out'

2006-08-15T20:09:00.000+05:30

65 lacs, good intentions, hard work and the campus gets an ultra-modern gymnasium. With a fee of Rs. 300 per annum for students and 400 for non-student campus residents the cost of membership can only be described as nominal.

The gym is divided into two levels, the first floor meant to cater mainly to lighter workouts and the ground level for more serious toil. The ground floor, at least for the present, is again two sections, one purely for machines, the other for rods and dumbbells!

The gym expects a membership of 700. 3 assistants and one instructor have been brought under the gymkhana’s payroll to cater to the huge number. The changes though have their share of critics. Most gym regulars feel that the gym is more fitness oriented than meant for body building. In the words of one regular the gym is too “cuddly and cute” to be of any use to him.

There are other more tangible problems associated with the new gym. Putting tonnes of machines in a 40 year old structure, in a room not originally meant for them could mean subjecting the building to exceptionable loads. Currently each slot is expected to afford 45 people on either floor. The space by the most accommodating of estimates could handle 30 along with the machines. The number drops even lower when you consider that the erstwhile TT Room used to get sultry with just 10 people.

Most indicators in this respect point to a probable air-conditioning of the gym in a way similar to what you could expect to find in one in a metro. But this is surely the farthest we should fly on this flight of fancy.

The space restrictions also mean smaller and more strictly enforced slots which have decreased from an hour to 45 minutes. To deter the occasional visitors, obtaining membership has been made a lengthy official procedure which includes obtaining one of the limited forms, depositing the fees at SBI and getting a medical certificate from B.C. Roy hospital. The rules also include a dress code, the most stifling of which could be carrying a pair of clean shoes to the gymnasium and a long towel to place on any equipment before one starts using them.

The coming of the new gym has also displaced the TT tables which had the ground floor base renovated for them to better suit the ping-pongers.

As the ol’ gym adage goes: “Whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger”. With a bit of luck the new gym could just see it through.

14th August '06: Up close with Arun Sarin

2006-08-15T20:00:00.000+05:30

Arun Sarin is the CEO of the Britain based global mobile telecom company Vodafone Group Plc. One of the most distinguished and successful alumni of IIT Kharagpur, he graduated in 1975 and went on to complete his MS and MBA from University of California, Berkeley.

He was in campus last month as the Chief Guest of the 52nd Convocation ceremony. Apart from conferring degrees and committing a corpus of $500,000 for telecom research in the campus, he also found time to speak to Scholars' Avenue. Excerpts:

SA. I gathered from your speech that this is your first visit to IIT Kgp since your graduation. Now you are back awarding degrees to hundreds of students.

AS. It’s a great honour to be back here and I believe strongly that IIT has been an important place for me where I got a lot of my ideas from, and I am very happy to do something for it. If handing out degrees is a good thing to do, I am very happy to do it as well!

SA. What was your own convocation like?

AS. I wasn’t here for my convocation because it was held much later, during October. I had already gone to the United States by then but I remember that Mrs. Indira Gandhi was the Chief Guest that time. I got the B. C. Roy gold medal but I couldn’t come back to collect it. Hopefully, being here today will make up for that.

SA. Any special memories of your stay in Kgp that you would like to share with us?

AS. Oh lots of memories! I was very involved with sports when I was here. I was in the hockey team, I was in the gymnastics team and I also participated in the track and field events. I used to hang around with a group of guys, all of us from Azad. My favorite memories were with those guys doing silly stuff together.

Once we were very upset with the election results, and we suspected that the results were rigged. So in protest me and a few of my friends decided to boycott the hockey matches that year for our hall. Not surprisingly, from being the champions we finished at the bottom. I can’t imagine how stupid we were! But we were growing up and that was the exciting thing. Not only were we growing intellectually but we were also growing up as human beings.

SA. You have had a very strong educational background. You studied at a very good army school, and then you were at IIT Kgp for 5 years. You went to the University of California, Berkeley for your MS and MBA degrees. Where does IIT Kgp stand for you in terms of importance and its value to your career?

AS. Oh it was very very important to me. I had a very good schooling. Then I came here, then I went to Berkeley. Now even Berkeley is a very great institution. So I went from one great place to another great place. But I came here as a fifteen-and-a-half year old kid. The formative years are very important and that’s what I remember the most, growing up with a bunch of guys and having a lot of fun.

SA. What did you guys generally do in your leisure time?

AS. I was very much into athletics. I was involved with some sport or the other almost every evening. In our time there weren’t a lot of eating places. I do remember hanging out at the Nayar’s and Ramdas who used to sell kulfis outside S. N. Hall. Chhedis was there but it was a long way off from Azad. So Ramdas served the dual purpose of quenching our thirsts and also giving us a nice spot to stop and observe all the girls go by! There were very few girls – 50 girls and 1500 boys.

SA. On a slightly more serious note, a word on the reservation issue. A lot has already been said about it. What is your opinion?

AS. To tell you the truth, I am not very close to this issue. I live in UK and I go around the world. I’m not very sure about the exact recommendations, though it appears that they are hugely increasing the number of seats. (We inform him about the situation at hand, and the student unrest all over the country.) In a society there are many different forces at work. One of the great things about IIT is that it’s a purely merit based system. During my time, I remember there was a small amount of reservation, probably 10 or 15 % for SC/ST. There was a huge hullabaloo about this and yeh-kya-ho-raha-hai. My view is that the government is trying to instill the social policy and as long as the institution is not affected negatively, it is fine.

What I understand is numbers are being increased substantially and as a matter of principle that seems like a wrong thing. In some ways providing people facilities is a good idea but if the number is something like 50% then it is too much because that is not reflecting the diversity of the country. I do not want to take a political stand on the issue but there are many ways of protesting a point of view. You can do lots of things but you have to first think if your actions are going to diminish the brand.

(We tell him about students planning to stage a protest and return their medals to the institute as a mark of protest.) You can make a big deal about it and return your medals, but you’ve earned the medals, so keep them. This is not to say that you shouldn’t voice your opinions, but you can do it in many ways. Find other ways.

I am in favor of having dialogues regarding this. If there have to be reservations, they can’t be caste-based,they have to be means based. I’ll be very happy to carry this message to the Prime Minister as well. We need to find clever and more effective ways to do things.

SA. A final message for the students.

AS. All I have to say is, the kids here are very bright, but you have to be well rounded and think about what you want to do in life and how you want to face the world.

14th August '06: RK: Seeds of change

2006-08-15T19:53:00.001+05:30

Ex-SSM Aneesh Reddy writes on the renovation of RK Hall

R.K. Hall is undergoing major upgradation of infrastructure, being looked over and funded by Mr. Vinod Gupta, Chairman and CEO, infoUSA and an alumnus, R.K. Hall – batch of 1968.

The process started off as a request for around Rs. 3 lakhs to renovate the hall library and was approved by him during his visit as the chief guest of the 51st Convocation.

Subsequently, after a couple of visits by Maj. Gen. Narang, Director, Projects for Vinod Gupta Charitable Foundations, the proposal stood at 55 lakh Rupees, with a buffer of Rs. 5 lakh! Mehra construction, which has constructed VGSOM and SAM Hall, was awarded the contract for an overhaul of the mess and the toilets, renovation of the music room, common room, library, and building a tennis court, and a gymnasium. Roof repairs, painting of the entire hall, relaying of the floors, a new gate plus a mural and relaying all the lawns are also decided upon.

Then came the daunting part - taking permissions from the Institute authorities. Luckily for us, the Registrar, Dr. Gunasekaran extended his full support, and entire process turned out to be very simple with the Dean (AAIR) and Chairman (HMC) also approving the proposal quickly. Finally the work started towards the end of April.

As Mr. Gupta correctly pointed out, R.K. Hall should be the seed of change for IIT Kharagpur, a model hall, and hoped that looking at it, the other halls’ alumni will come forward for their respective halls, and thus bring up the quality of student life in IIT Kharagpur. Even for R.K. Hall this is just the beginning, we many plans which might take a couple of years to implement, but they will surely make R.K. a great place to learn and live. We had also tried to contact the other alumni of R.K. Hall, for renovating the rooms, and response was good, quite a few alumni came forward to get their rooms/wings renovated. But this plan had to be put on hold for various reasons, with a realization that such a mass mobilization in terms of the number of alumni involved per hall would mean more involvement from the Institute’s side, and greater coordination from all concerned.

A final word of thanks, to Mr. Vinod Gupta, for envisioning R.K. Hall as the seed of change for the institute and also to the Registrar, for extending his valuable support to the entire process.

14th August '06: "There is no democracy in our country"

2006-08-15T19:53:00.000+05:30

“In selecting Arvind Kejriwal to receive the 2006 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership, the board of trustees recognizes his activating India’s right-to-information movement at the grassroots, empowering New Delhi’s poorest citizens to fight corruption by holding the government accountable to the people.”

Mr. Arvind Kejriwal is an alumnus of IIT KGP-1989 batch, Mechanical Engineering, Nehru Hall. An Indian Revenue Service officer by profession, he recently quit his job to devote himself to ‘Parivartan’, a people’s movement founded by him to fight against corruption. He, with his team, has addressed several issues in Delhi and has successfully fought corruption at different administrative levels. Scholars Avenue spoke to Mr. Kejriwal…

Q) Sir, tell us something about your life in IIT Kharagpur.

I enjoyed myself at IIT KGP. I did nothing exceptional, but I was very much involved in dramatics. I was the governor of HTDS and had also won prizes for the best director and best actor several times.

Q) Did you always want to join the Civil Services?

I did not have any particular wish to join Civil Services when I was a student. I was placed in TISCO after my B.Tech, and it was there that I met people who had cleared the Civil Services examination. From them I learnt that as a Civil Servant, I could do more for the society. I worked in TISCO from 1989 to 1992. In 1992, I took the examination for the first time. I quit my job and worked with the Missionaries of Charity in the villages of Bodo land for some months before I got my interview call. I joined the IRS and in 1995 I was posted to Delhi.

Q) When did ‘Parivartan’ come into being?

A) I have always been bothered by the level of corruption in India and wanted to make a change. Parivartan came into being in January 2000 as a people’s movement against corruption. After 11 months, I took a 2 year leave to devote myself to the movement. I rejoined IRS in 2002 and recently, in February this year, I resigned to work in Parivartan. Right now we are a group of 10 people working full time. Parivartan is not an NGO; it is a people’s movement for reinforcement of democratic values. It runs on time, money and ideas contributed by the people.

Q) What were the major setbacks that you faced while fighting corruption?

The foremost problem was to decide upon a strategy which would be effective in battling corruption. There was a lack of clarity initially and we were adopting different approaches to this issue. The next big setback was the existing cynicism in the society. Everyone seems to have agreed that nothing can be done to improve the situation in India and we had a tough time convincing people otherwise. Personally I feel that the Right to Information Act is a powerful tool in the hands of the people and they should put it to good use. The third problem was that of red- tapism; we had bureaucrats stalling our efforts at different stages. Another factor was the vested interests of a small group of people who meddled with the Public Distribution System. I received threat calls and my co-workers were also attacked at one time. I was very nervous at that point of time but we were able to handle the situation and all has been well ever since.

Q) What are your future plans?

I would like to address the issue of Local Self Governance. Sadly, there is no democracy in our country. The only democratic right people enjoy is the right to cast a vote every five years. We would like to make the local governing body in urban areas responsible to the people, on the lines of the Panchayati Raj.

Q) Would you like to give any message to KGPians?

I would like to encourage everyone to empower themselves with the Right to Information and seek answers. All of us want our country to improve and instead of sitting helplessly we can use this power to set things straight.

14th August '06: Bhaat Avenue

2006-08-15T19:37:00.000+05:30

Welcome to Bhaat Avenue, your fortnightly dose of nothing in general and everything in particular!
"Well... whatever... nevermind." - Almost Anonymous

THE SHAH-SHANK DAMNATION

Two angry young men take time out from their busy schedule to answer seemingly innocuous questions. Of course, they’ve got all the answers.

Q. All my friends eat at Harry's on Friday nights, but the only place I like is Park. Does this say something about me?

A. As a matter of fact, yes. Where you eat on Friday/Saturday night has a large influence on what you're likely to end up as. See the box ?

Q. I see that taking an oath is the in-thing these days. I want to take one myself but I can't think of a good cause to pledge myself to. Any suggestions?

A. Dispensing oaths to readers is something we've been doing for a while now. Here's a good one – “I resolve to devote 22.5% of my time to academics and sports, 27% to personality development and the remaining amount of time in finding ways to further divide my time.”

Q. I'm a first year. Academics is not my cup of tea. I'm not really interested in sports and I just don't understand the concept of social and cultural events. Technology events bore me. Can you think of any other useful way for me to invest my time?

A. Illu

Q. No one understands us unfortunate second years. Hath not a second year eyes, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? If theyprick us, do we not bleed? If they tickle us, do we not laugh? I don't want to be shunned anymore, help me!

A.We’re terribly sorry but we cannot answer this question. Interaction with 2nd years is not allowed.

Please send in your questions, comments, marriage proposals, hate mail and credit card numbers to bhaat@scholarsavenue.org. We’re listening!

Funda 'BYTES'

Computer tips from our in-house geek

Make DC++ to start in low priority

Running DC++ in low priority usually prevents your computer from freezing up much during uploads. But doing that the regular way is a chore... every time you start DC++, you have to go to the Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) > Processes, right-click DCPlusPlus.exe, Set Priority > Low. Wouldn't it be great if you can tell DC++ to start in low priority with just one click? You can do that with a simple batch file. Read on:

Open Notepad, and type in the following:
start /LOW DCPlusPlus.exe. Save this file in the DC++ directory as "launch.bat. Right-click the shortcut you use to launch DC++, click "Properties", and in the "Target" field, change the " DCPlusPlus.exe" to "launch.bat". Now every time you click that shortcut, DC++ will automatically start in Low priority!

You may find that the shortcut has now lost it's icon. To get it back, go to the shortcut properties again, click "Change icon...", browse, select the DCPlusPlus.exe file, and then choose the first icon in the list.

You have probably figured out that any program, not just DC++, can be made to run in low priority this way. You can also make it run in high priority, by replacing /LOW with /HIGH or even /REALTIME. The "start" command has many more options - to explore them all, type " start /?" in the command prompt.

SURF IT UP

Songfacts.com: If you've ever wanted to know more about a song you love (or any song for that matter), then this is the site for you. From possible interpretations to useless bits of trivia, this site is a searchable database of information compiled by radio professionals, music enthusiasts, and visitors. Surf It Up!

Uncyclopedia.org: This website claims to be a content-free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. What it does not claim to be but most certainly is, is a mind-blowing hilarious, cynical parody of everything you've ever believed in. Just like its more useful counterpart Wikipedia, articles can be edited by users, as long as they follow the editing policy, which is method of enforcing that no article contains anything useful (Bhaat Ave, anyone?). Surf It Up!

14th August '06: I know what you did last summer

2006-08-15T19:36:00.000+05:30

Kapish Saraf speaks on his internship experience

Summers can rightly be called the "hot" topic of discussion for an average KGPian, even though heat may not have any relevance to the same. Unlike the good ol' days, summers mean business these days, both for the guys who sweat it out in the labs and the library for the entire year, as well as for lesser mortals like yours truly, who claim to be staunch believers in the concept of increasing the rate of multiplication of their grey cells during the 10 week long break to compensate for their entire academic year's sins and address their guilty conscience. While the third year under-grads follow the academic curriculum, most of the second and fourth year students force themselves on this path to nirvana.

The meticulous planning for the summer internship started early, influenced by dreams and hopes of an FT, but was stung by FIFA fever as the concerned professor had an abrupt change in plans and witnessed the rising of a football fan in him. Buckling under the burden of extra curriculars, the desire to contribute to the industry and gain exposure in professionalism was nurtured. This desire eventually resulted in my getting selected by In Vitro International, a plant biotechnology company based in Bengaluru, a.k.a ‘Bangy’.

The stay in Bangy was very satisfying as it showered me with opportunities to re-establish connection with old acquaintances and spend quality time with friends and KGP seniors. Meeting guys after as long as three years (as friends from other IITs and engineering colleges flocked in to the Indian Silicon Valley) and still indulging in discussions as if they were continuations from the previous day, was a pleasant surprise. The entire duration of the stay was in the company of senior batches of Lajpatians who had made a small model of KGP for themselves out there. Every bit of the stay was very educating about the various flavours involved in a corporate life.

Talking in terms of priority, the topmost one was to enjoy city life which basically meant making regular trips to the PVRs, INOXs, pubs and malls. This was successfully accomplished. Another accomplishment was a quenching of the thirst for travel by making trips to Ooty, Mysore and Hyderabad on alternate weekends with seniors and friends. This was quite a change from the irregularly regular life at KGP, but an essential one for the purpose of re-charging worn out batteries.

Academically speaking, the target of making amends for all the pangs of guilt was met successfully through a substantial amount of useful work being done for the company. The industrial project was accompanied by two part time projects at IIM-B, and the overall experience was very enriching. The greatest shock for a true IITian was to pay for as much the usage of a computer irrespective of whether it was connected. It makes one realize that an internship at a production unit has its constraints as well.

Like all other endeavours of mine, this trip ended with an accident and a limping poor soul without a confirmed berth was seen finding his way back to his alma mater.

14th August '06: Convocation 2006

2006-08-15T19:33:00.000+05:30

Siddharth Seth, this year’s B.C.Roy Gold Medalist speaks about his experience at the 52nd Convocation.

I remember that our batch officially (I talk of the B.Techs) started our stint at Kharagpur with the Administration’s welcome speech on 23rd July 2002 at Netaji Auditorium, when the 700 of us entered this system with hopes, fears but a sense of confidence nonetheless. Many of us found our dreams; many of us saw ourselves dreaming of something new. These 4 or 5 years gave us grit, friends, teachings and of course, a degree each, to face the world ahead.

On the 15th of July 2006, we officially ended our journey at the 52nd Convocation held at the same place where we started - Netaji Auditorium. The Chief Guest for the occasion was Mr. Arun Sarin, the Chief Executive of Vodafone. The Convocation is by far the most formal occasion that any student would have witnessed upto that point in his life. It’s an occasion that will always be memorable to those who are able to attend it.

The day began with the inauguration ceremony at the Kalidas Auditorium in the New Academic Complex followed by a lunch organised at the Hangar. The main event was held at Netaji Auditorium, preceded by a rehearsal the day before. The event was replete with the Academic Procession and the Institute Anthem. The degrees were awarded. All the degree recipients took the Pledge in Sanskrit, repeating it after Shambaditya Saha, the President of India Gold Medalist. The Life Fellow of IIT Kharagpur Award was conferred to Prof. G. S. Sanyal, an Ex-Director of IIT Kharagpur. The Prime Minister’s Gold Medal was conferred to S. Narayanan.

Among the impressive features of the event were good food, excellent administration and the precise time management by the authorities. What stole the show, however, was Arun Sarin’s opening remark, “Oh, by the way, I am not Arjun Singh!”

14th August '06: Student unrest against reservations

2006-08-15T19:30:00.000+05:30

A lot has been written and said about the issue, but the conflagration triggered by the Government’s decision to increase reservations in the education sector just refuses to die down. In what has now become an irreversibly polarized student community, the issue has seen a range of reactions, from complete indifference to seditious violence, from both supporters of the bill and its detractors.

Kolkata has witnessed its own student protests against the proposed bill over the course of the last two months. The first was held on 27th May, and saw massive participation from students. Organised by the students group, Youth For Equality, nearly ten thousand congregated in College Square, Kolkata to march and protest against reservations. There was substantial participation from IIT Kharagpur – about 60 students voiced their condemnation of the government’s decision- despite the fact that the summer vacations weren’t yet over.

Another smaller but equally vociferous protest was held on 23rd July, 2006, at the same venue, just three days before the Quota bill was to be tabled in Parliament. Students from several colleges across the region participated, but the numbers were sadly much less than in the previous protest, with eminent colleges like Shibpur and Jadavpur among the absentees. IIT Kharagpur participated as well, with around 30 students making the trip to Kolkata. Chanting slogans, distributing pamphlets, proudly displaying creatively made posters to the TV cameramen, the assembled students marched to Shaheed Minaar. After a few speeches, one of those made by a KGPian, the group marched back with candles in their hands, thus rounding up a robust demonstration, which, it was popularly felt, could have been far more effective had there been more participation.

14th August '06: Toon Avenue

2006-08-15T08:26:00.000+05:30

IntroduSINGH... The twin Superheroes of Kgp - Kharag and Tempo...

14th August '06: TnP Update

2006-08-15T08:19:00.000+05:30

The Scholars' Avenue team caught up with Prof. Gautam Sinha to clear the haze surrounding this year's T&P schedule.

Q) Why the 5th of December?

A) In a meeting of the Training and Placement heads of all the IITs, it was decided that the placements should begin in December even this year. To avoid any discomfort to the companies coming over for recruitment (since most companies can't visit all the campuses simultaneously), it was planned to start placements at different times in all the institutes. We chose 5th December to get the early-mover advantage.

Q) Any breaks for the Inter IIT Sports meet?

A) We obviously don't want to lose the advantage we've gained by being the first off the blocks by putting in such a break. Anyways, there are almost 1200 students who will be hoping to get a job and in the greater good of a larger number, there shall be no such break.

Q) But don't the Geology /Geophysics final years have a field trip around the time placements will start? Also, what about the trip to IIT Kanpur which the final year Aerospace students make around the same time?

A) No official notice of this kind has been received from any of the departments. They will probably have to shift their trips/field trips in that case.

Q) Are any new companies vising the campus for placements this year? What about companies which don't have an Indian office, in the light of recent developments about the oath on Independence Day?

A) We are in touch with a lot of companies. Some companies have shown interest in visiting KGP for campus recruitments. A lot remains to be done before a list can be released. As for foreign placements, it all depends on what offers we get. If a very lucrative offer turns up we will have to take the Director's permission before taking any decision.

14th August '06: Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law

2006-08-15T08:17:00.000+05:30

The Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, the first of its kind in the country, was inaugurated on the 23rd of July this year by the Director. We met up with Prof. Probir Gupta, Dean, VGSOM, who is currently heading the School. Excerpts:

Q. What was the projected intake of students for this year at the Rajiv Gandhi School?

A. The Senate had approved 50 students each for the LLB course at Kharagpur as well as the Diploma Course to be held at the Kolkata branch. Considering the faculty size and infrastructure, however, we have taken 41 and 30 students respectively.

Q. Speaking of the faculty, what kind of profile did you look at, and what is the current status?

A. The minimum requirements that we were looking for were an LLM Degree and some teaching experience. The Senate had approved 8 faculty positions but for the first year we offered positions only to 5 people, of whom 3 have already joined and 1 more will be joining soon. Apart from the regular faculty, we also have a good spectrum of distinguished visiting faculty such as the Chief Justices of the Kolkata, Mumbai and Meghalaya High Courts. We also have guest lectures by barristers from private firms.

Q. How does the administration of the school work? Will it be as autonomous as VGSOM’s?

A. For starting the school, the HRD ministry matched Vinod Gupta’s generous contribution of $1 million. The IPR School will not be autonomous, but will rather work as any Department under the Institute. VGSOM will, however, parent the School until an independent administration structure is formed. We are currently looking for a Dean to head the School, after which the Dean, VGSOM would only be an Ex-Officio member of the Advisory Council.

Q. What kind of infrastructure are we looking at for the School?

A. The school building is coming up next to Takshashila, funded by Vinod Gupta. The work should be completed by the end of 2007. Currently, the classes are being held at VGSOM.

Q. Can the Undergraduates look to gain anything from the School?

A. Of course! On the lines of the BTech-MBA Dual Degree course that was started this year, we are also planning to introduce a BTech-LLB Dual Degree. Considering that the idea was conceptualized only in March last year, the school has been in the fast track and we have been able to get things moving pretty quickly. We have quite a few ideas in the pipeline, which would be implemented in the next 3-4 years.

14th August '06: BC Roy Hospital

2006-08-15T08:00:00.000+05:30

Time and again, we are reminded of the state of affairs in BC Roy Hospital. It rekindles heated discussions among student groups every time the hospital has fallen below our expectations.

The lack of facilities and expertise can be attributed to the fact that Kharagpur is not quite the most advanced of towns in India, thereby having less than its required share of doctors and specialists. Consequently the students here face a lot of problems when it comes to healthcare.

This issue was dealt with in one of our previous editions (October 2, 2005) and Scholars Avenue had suggested that a student representative be incorporated in the BC Roy Hospital Advisory Committee. This has been put into practice, with the VP becoming that representative, and thus finally enabling the students to direct their grievances to the appropriate authority. The Institute administration is also hopeful that this step should help in addressing the important healthcare issues and improving the condition of the Hospital.

14th August, 2006: Ad Avenue

2006-08-15T06:46:00.000+05:30

(click to enlarge)

August 1, 2006: First Year First Show

2006-08-02T23:06:00.000+05:30

On the occasion of first years' registration, Scholars' Avenue brought out a special edition just for those who entered the portals of IIT Kharagpur that day. It detailed the likely course of student activities this year, in an attempt to inform and to encourage first years to participate in them.

(Click on the images below to expand them.)

An Interview with Prof V. R. Kalvey

2006-06-06T19:33:00.000+05:30

Scholars' Avenue caught up with the Dean of Student Affairs cum Deputy Director, Prof V. R. Kalvey to enquire about the institute's stand on the reservation issue. Here are some excerpts:

Q. Does the institute have a stand in favor of or against the reservation bill

A. We are bound to obey the government orders in all matters of reservation. Reservations for SC/ST, OBC, physically handicapped, and children of military personnel killed during wartime or peace are already in force. If there are any further government orders on the matter of implementing a reservation, we are bound to do so.

Q. This year, approx 100 seats in the SC/ST category were purported to have gone unfilled. Is that true?

A. This question can better be answered by the DOAA. Difficult for me to say.

Q. If there are so many seats unfilled, isnt such reservation merely denying opportunity to other deserving students?

A. That would not be a correct thing to say because the seats have actually been offered to the preparatory course students. They are then admitted after one year of preparatory course based on previous year’s quota.

Q. Most of the alumni, including Presidents of the IIT Foundation, have actively and vehemently criticised the reservation bill. Your response to them...

A. Those who are opposing the bill may have a good reason for it. But our stand in this respect is, we are bound to obey the government orders, whatever it may be.

Q. Like in IIT Kanpur, the professors and students have submitted a petition opposing this bill...

A. I have absolutely no idea if anything of this sort is happening here, but the institute’s stand remains as said before. The professors and students might support or oppose the bill in their individual capacity but the IITs cannot take a stand either against or in favour of the bill. Our stand will be that we have to obey the government orders because we have been supported by the government of India since our inception.

Q. Inspite of widespread resentment against the bill and the HRD minister, why has the institute invited him as the chief guest at the convocation? Wouldnt this portray the institute as being fawning towards the HRD ministry while almost the entire student community is against it?

A. We had invited the honorable minister of HRD well before this controversy started and we hope that he will be here as the chief guest of the convocation. He is our minister and he is always welcome at IIT Kharagpur. The invitation stands irrespective of the controversy and to my knowledge his office has accepted the invitation.

Q. Why only politicians or people from the administration? Why not eminent people from the industry?

A. Visit of politicians and politicians who matter is very important for the institute. Jawaharlal Nehru was the Chief Guest at the first convocation. And good things happen when they visit. We have grown a lot in the last fifty years. Of course, the bosses from the industry matter a lot too. We always welcome them, and they are the jewels and stars.

Q. What if there are protests during the convocation?

A. That is absolutely unwanted and this will not be allowed to happen. The convocation will be held in full decorum and with full dignity. Full respect will be given to our Chief Guest and nothing undesired will happen during the convocation.

Q. We've been told that there was a directive from the institute threatening disciplinary action against any student protesting against the reservation bill on the day of IIT JEE when certain students had planned to stage a protest. Is it true?

A. I am not aware of any such thing.

Q. Does the institute anticipate any protests when the next sem starts?

A. These are highly hypothetical questions. Lots of things might happen .But we don’t think it will happen here.

Q. How much of a faculty deficit is IIT Kgp facing at the moment?

A. We look for good quality faculty but many times we do not get the outstanding applications we desire. However we are not bound to fill all vacant positions. We wait for appropriate candidates and when we find them we try to attract them and retain them.

Q. Is the institute in a position to increase seats dramatically as is being proposed to offset the seats lost due to reservation? Especially keeping in mind the faculty deficit and the build up of infrastructure that will be required.

A. Overall the number of seats would be increased. Much before this happened, we have had plans to increase the number of seats. New hostels are being built. Last year one hostel had already come up and more are coming. Our expansion plans are in full swing. The gymkhana is also undergoing some major expansion.

Infrastructure is being taken care of. Laboratories and classrooms for first years are already being expanded and new complexes are coming up.

April '06 , 9th Issue : Reservations about Reservations

2006-04-22T04:26:00.000+05:30

Article 15(4) of the Constitution empowers the state to make any "special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward class of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes". Putting a practical limit to this power, the Supreme Court ruled that reservation in no institution should exceed 50%.

The Mandal Commission was established by the government of India to consider the question of seat reservations and quotas for people to redress caste discrimination. In 1980, the commission's report affirmed the practice under Indian law whereby members of lower castes (Other Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes and Tribes) were given exclusive access to a portion of government jobs, and quotas in public universities. After the Mandal scheme is accepted the total percentage of quotas would be increased by another 27% (from the current 22.5%) to become 49.5%.

The report and its recommendations were a great source of controversy and generated protests all over the country, which culminated in the resignation of the then Prime Minister V P Singh. Now, the issue has popped up again. The reasons for the timing are anybody’s guess. What needs to be seen is whether this would lead to more heads tumbling.

On the face of it, reservations may seem like the government’s magic pill to correct historical wrongs. However, reservation is just one of many recommendations that were made by the Mandal Commission. More far-reaching recommendations regarding structural changes in the land-tenurial system, and institutional reforms for the educational and economic upliftment of backward classes are rarely mentioned by those in power.

The costs of reservation, including the lowering of standards at educational institutions, lower productivity in organizations and rise in social tensions need to be weighed against the purported aim of bringing about social justice.

-Amit Gupta

April '6 , 9th Issue: Awards Ceremony

2006-04-22T04:20:00.000+05:30

April '06 , 9th Issue : Editors Avenue

2006-04-22T04:13:00.000+05:30

IIT JEE is perhaps one of the toughest examinations in India. It was extremely tough to get into IIT in 1983 and was even tougher in 2005. In 1983, approximately 65,000 students took the IIT JEE exam for 2,000 B. Tech seats at the five IITs. In 2005, the numbers were closer to 400,000 students attempting JEE for 3,500 B.Tech seats at the seven IITs. The students taking IIT JEE are now studying anywhere from 2-4 years in advance of the exams!

There is a reason for this intense competition. IIT has become a global brand and one of the few ways in India that comes closest to a guaranteed honest, satisfying and upwardly mobile career and life. In fact, we alums have acknowledged that it is the intense filtering system that has largely contributed to the IIT brand.

We learnt from this uniquely motivated, hard working and smart student body. We were constantly challenged by fellow students in the wings, mess, playgrounds, dramatic or debating societies, and classes. We had to find new reservoirs of energy and upgrade our motivation and skills to compete with a very highly talented and motivated student body, just to keep up. If we had higher aspirations then we had to raise the standards of excellence in ourselves. This process was and is repeated every day, every semester, and every year at the IITs.

Thus, when we graduated and either joined the private sector, got into the IIMs, or left the shores of India for postgraduate studies, we were world-class -- selected into IIT by one of the most grueling merit-based tests and transformed by an intense 4-5 years of IIT experience with this unique student body. IITs' have done well and its alumni success and the IIT brand are some of the measures of success.

I believe that the recent decision of the Government of India to increase the reservation at IIT to 49.5% threatens the core of the IIT system. It threatens to significantly reduce the quality of the student body. And without a highest quality student body the future students' educational experience, the transformation process and the IIT brand will suffer. The following are some of the ways that I believe IIT experience and the IIT brand will suffer.

1. Reservation stems an 'entitlement' culture that unfortunately starts even before being admitted into the IITs at lower standards and continues well after graduating from IIT. Those receiving the benefits are assured of jobs and promotions in the public sector. Their kids have the potential of continuing to receive similar benefits. I submit that with any entitlement culture comes a certain level of complacency, inertia and lack of motivation to excel and stretch. IIT student body culture of excellence will be compromised.

2. It was one thing when reservation quota was in the single digits. I believe there was a 'pull' to improve the quality for all those present. The faculty did not have any incentive to 'pass' a failing student. It will be quite different in the proposed 49.5% scale. I submit that with 49.5% reservation faculty will have no incentive to 'fail' a large failing student body. Thus the quality of students graduating will have a lower bar to cross.

3. There will be less 'relative' competition for those entering IIT through JEE. A lot of what drove us to excel, innovate and improve was competition. As competition drops so does our need to do more. It will be easier to be in the top half of the class. I believe that the 'IIT JEE' student body will be less challenged and stretched.

4. This proposed reservation will divide the IIT student body as never seen before. I can imagine separate wings, groups and perhaps even Halls for those from reservation quotas and those from IIT JEE selection process. I can imagine IIT JEE student body not respecting those who made it through the quotas. The students from reservation quota will resent this attitude. Living for four years in such a divisive atmosphere has got to be damaging.

5. Finally, all of this will affect IIT credentials. Thus far, I have never asked or cared to know if someone at IIT was from a particular quota. In the future, as an employer I will have to figure out if the student made through IIT JEE or got in through some quota. I am sure private sector employers and the US universities will also figure this out. It was one thing to know that one out of ten IIT students may have made it through the quota system. With 49.5% quota they will also set filters that we wish they did not. For a brand to be trusted there must be consistently high and predictable product quality. The product quality in the proposed 49.5% quota will have a wider band, more inconsistent and lower.

I believe that some of these issues that may have existed in the past. These will be amplified as the reservation quota is proposed to be amplified.

I urge urgent attention and actions on this issue. Like in life, there may be a significant number of reasons for inaction. There is one reason for action. You and I care about IIT. You and I have benefitted from the best that IIT and India could have offered ' a world-class education for almost free. We must protect the IIT system.

We must demand an end of the reservation quotas at IITs and all higher education institutes in India. Let us demand that the Government of India provide additional benefits to certain classes or sects of the society at the primary and secondary education levels. This extra benefit must include coaching classes. Government of India must find means to educate all students through primary and high school. After high school, all Indians must compete fairly and as equals in all aspects of life.

I believe that such an Indian society will be more hardworking, more motivated, more competitive and more prosperous. We will be confident of our respective stations in life and can look into our respective conscience and claim that 'I or my parents did not fake a certificate, get or have to beg to get a hand-out. I deserve what I have. I have earned it.' Then we will not just have an IIT brand that is highly sought after in India and respected globally but an India brand that is also highly sought after in India and respected globally.

The Government of India has threatened to raise the entitlement bar. We must raise the bar for united and collective actions to protect the IIT system.

I end with a quote from Edmund Burke, a philosopher. 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.'

What will you and I do about it beyond signing the on-line petition?

-Shail Kumar

B.Tech, IIT Kharagpur (87, ME, RK)

Past-President, IIT Foundation

April '06 , 9th Issue : The (i)ITea Revolution

2006-04-22T04:06:00.000+05:30

IIT Kharagpur develops 'instant Tea' technology

Our institute is in talks with leading tea companies from different parts of the country regarding the licensing of a unique technology developed by it for preparing instant tea. With the new method, tea can be prepared by directly putting the leaves in hot water in lieu of the old method which involved the boiling of leaves in water. Companies are hoping that this technology heralds a new era for tea much like was witnessed after the instant coffee revolution.

We were informed by Prof. S Tripathy (Professor in-charge, Intellectual Property Cell) that the institute, which has an Indian patent for this new technology, is in talks with many companies including a Coonoor-based tea company which is very keen on using this technology. However, nothing has been penned on paper yet, and only time will provide us with more details about the final licensing agreements and the various parties involved.

For IIT Kharagpur, the gains could be either in the form of a license fee on the use of the technology by the licencee(s) or as a collaboration fee as per the stipulations of the technology transfer document that will be drawn up between the institute and a third party. This income will contribute to the revenue earned by the institute.

Incidentally, leading technology institutes like MIT in the US, earn up to 30% of their revenue from sponsored research and licensing of their own developed and patented technology. The institute has also marketed tea grown on some 100 acres in the Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park (STEP). The initiative received assistance from the Goodricke group and is now producing orthodox and green teas of mixed grades. All tea enthusiasts can expect new things to develop in the near future and can hope to utilize newer easier methods to prepare that all vitalizing and refreshing cup of tea.

-Rohit Shankar

April '06 , 9th Issue : News Avenue

2006-04-22T03:48:00.000+05:30

In Search of Brecht

No officially printed script.

22 days of practice.

A panorama spanning over 5 plays.

No single director.

17 handpicked songs sung by none other than the members.

12.5 feet by 17.5 feet backdrop.Huge props made of up to 10 personnel human formations.

29 members of cast out of which 7 were final years.

A total of 53 members on the production.

All came together to form a 100 minute annual production called “Becht Er Khoje” (in search of Brecht)

If one thought Drama societies are all about Freshers’ Productions, he just needed to sit in Netaji on the 6th of April for a couple of hours. A biography of renowned playwright Berthold Brecht unfolded in the form of his five major plays (Three Penny Opera, The Good Person of Schezuan, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Mother Courage, Galileo) as a drama of the third form. In layman language - no person played one particular character , had no particular costumes – Just songs, dialogues and expressions to bring forth transient persona before taking up another role as someone else. In the absence of a well-defined script, it was up to the members of the cast to write one themselves assisted by a similar venture recorded by the Nandikar Drama Group. Among the invited guests were the parents of most our passing out batch and most importantly our favorite ex-governor (all the way from IIM-L).

A relatively difficult theme but quite a remarkable success, that too witnessed by a surprisingly full Netaji Auditorium. And the applause said it all – it was never only Govs and never only juniors – it was always one big team, enjoying every effort they put in together.

-Sreeja Nag

April '06 , 9th Issue : News Avenue

2006-04-22T03:45:00.000+05:30

Dawn of a Brand New Day

The Gymkhana Awards function and the Final Year Farewell was held on Tuesday, 18th April. The outgoing G.Secs and the VP presented their reports and passed on the torch to the new guardians of the flame. Deepak Rathee, the new VP, introduced his new team. Out of the 6 G.Secs., for whom the elections were just a formality by virtue of their being uncontested, the G.Secs. Soc-Cult, Arijit Gautam and Sidharth Singh could not make it to the function. The G.Secs. who were present were those for Sports and Games, Gaurav Taneja and Indrajit Mal and for Technology, Aniket and Shuvo Banerjee. The new undersecretaries are:

Badminton: Debashish Sarangi, Hockey: Vikash Kumar, Aquatics: Sushil Tiwari, Gymnastics: Diwakar Kumar, Literary: Nikhil Agarwal, Basketball: Nimisha Saxena, Athletics: Prashant Rajoria, Entertainment: Mrinal Kumar Mishra, Indoor Games: Anuj Gupta, Tennis: Bipin Kumar Dubey, Fine Arts: Amit Kumar, Photography: Manish Kumar, Journal: Arka Halder, Cricket: Tokala Praneeth Kr. Raja, Football: Parived Parashar, TFS: Nitin Garg, Dramatics: Tanuj Dora, Volley: Rajesh Kumar, Web: Shekhar Anand.

Apart from this Institute Blues, Order of Merit, and Honourable Mentions were given out to outgoing students for distinguished performances in Sports, Soc-Cult and Technology, what struck the eye was the fact that the Smt. Chandiramani, Bhandarkar and Prof. G S Sanyal cups for best outgoing student in Soc-Cult, Sports & Technology respectively, as well as Ashutosh Mukherjee Cup for the best voluntary contribution to Gymkhana were not given this year. The reason being quoted is that the outgoing batch didn't have anyone eligible for any of these awards.

Apart from the above, Alumni Cup for Sports was jointly awarded to Amritanshu and Prashant Thakur whereas Alumni Cup for Soc-Cult was awarded to Kumar Puneet. Amongst the Hall awards, B.C. Roy Hall received the Gardening Cup and the other cups and the General Championships were given away to the respective winners. (See pages 6-8 for details)

The Scholars' Avenue team congratulates all the award winners and the new officebearers of the Gymkhana and wishes all of them the very best in their future endeavors.

-Rohit shankar

April '06 , 9th Issue : News Avenue

2006-04-22T03:41:00.000+05:30

I promise..

Gymkhana elections (or the lack of it) these year have left most of Kgp clueless about who their representatives are, and what they propose to do this year. Scholars’ Avenue resolved to remedy this by bringing you the proposals, straight from the horses’ mouths.

This simple task turned out to be much more complicated than we had expected. Most office holders, perhaps due to the nature of their selection this year, showed unprecedented lack of preparedness for the post - several seemed to have no proposals at all when Scholars' Avenue initially approached them, asking instead for a few days' time to frame them.

Finally, after much effort, we have for you the list of gymkhana office bearers’ proposals (as many as we could get anyway):

Deepak Rathee, the elected VP Gymkhana, proposes to have specialized counseling for first year students in order to understand their problems. He plans to set up vending machines serving tea, coffee, energy drinks at various vantage points including departments and halls and also make branded PCs and laptops available at subsidized rates.

“I would like to add more spice to the events in SF” says Arjit Gautam, our GSec Soc-n-cult Gymkhana. He plans to start a competition during the next semester, wherein KGP students will be asked to send in there ideas, regarding new events that can be conducted during SF. He has also proposed to start a Fine Arts Club to help interested students in getting accustomed to Photoshop, Flash and other such tools and Fine Arts skills like canvassing etc

Siddhartha Singh strongly believes in the institution “action speaks more than words” and as such has not yet decided upon his proposals. We hope this abeyance shall not continue during his tenure as the General Secretary, Social and Cultural activities, Gymkhana.

Gaurav Taneja proposed a weightlifting coach during the time of the Inter-IIT practices. He plans to introduce Volleyball for Women in NSO in accordance with the introduction of the same in Inter-IIT’s from next year. He would ensure availability of medical kits in all Inter-Halls to provide instant medical assistance, and to decrease the pressure on BC Roy. Also, he wanted to increase the number of outings the teams representing the institute have. As we do not go anywhere except the Inter-IIT’s, he proposes to include more inter-college sports events in the Kgp player’s itinerary.

Indrajit Mal proposes to start NSO table tennis for girls and boys from the next batch onwards. He intends to build a gym near TSC. He would also like to get a coach for water polo, but this matter needs to be discussed with the respective PTI - something he couldn’t do in the short time that Scholars’ Avenue gave him to come up with proposals.Shuvo Banerjee propose to start a few more department-specific events in Kshitij. Aniket and Shuvo plan to start a set of new events outside the G.C., Freshers as well as Open IIT, like Freshers' Quiz Week (which would include a Biz Quiz, a TechQuiz and a General Quiz), Freshers' Maths Olympiad, Freshers' Ad Designing Competition, Open IIT Biz Quiz and Open IIT Ad Designing Competition.

-Sheekha Verma

April '06 , 9th Issue : Moving Ahead

2006-04-22T03:33:00.000+05:30

All set for an academic revamp

Things have been on a move in recent times , as far as the Academics at KGP are concerned. According to Prof. R. V. Raja Kumar (Dean, Academic Affairs) a number of changes aimed at meeting the Academic needs shall be incorporated in near future.The institute had already widened it’s reach in the field of education with the introduction of new courses like “Economics and Statistics” and Informatics. Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law is yet another step in this direction. The School will offer courses in Constitutional Law, Procedural Law, Contact and Business Law, Technology and Business Law and Intellectual Property Law from the next Academic Session(2006-07) onwards . For this purpose , a new building is expected to come up behind Vikramshila , though initially the classes will be held in the main building itself.

The B. Tech. students will be also be able to take up courses in the IPR school as electives or breadths. The recent changes have also made it possible for B. Tech. students to transfer to corresponding Dual Degree courses at the end of the sixth semester. The Dual Degree students of a few departments will have the option of shifting to any other PG specialization (that is offered by their department) at the end of third year.

The recommendations of the Curriculum Review Committee are with the Board for their approval , following which the passed recommendations will go forward to the stage of implementation. The major changes that we can expect to see shortly may include a reduction in the number of credits in the first year from 53 to 48, but an overall increase in the same for some programs. The institute is also planning to restrict the B. Tech. projects to the final year only, thereby removing the credits currently allocated for it in the 6th semester. In an attempt to improve the quality of learning, more assignments and homework shall be associated with the theory classes. In effect, 1 credit for a theory class would mean 1 hour class + 1 hour of homework from the next semester onward. It also turned out, that the talks of Department change being disallowed from next semester onwards, were nothing more than baseless rumors. Prof. Raja Kumar also said that a number of foreign universities have shown interest in a collaboration with our institute. It We already have a tie-up of sorts with University of Southern California, as a result of which 6 students will be able to do their summer internships there.

On the Scholarships front, the number of MCM scholarships to be awarded this year is going to be way greater(33-34%) than the stipulated upper limit(25%). The institute has decided to award MCM to all those applicants who have met the eligibility criteria and have submitted the required documents. Out of the 33-34% around 5% will get only the free studentship benefit as they were unable to meet the merit criteria. A number of new Scholarships have also come up this year.

-Umang Jain

April '06 , 9th Issue : Watch out , Harvard!

2006-04-22T03:28:00.000+05:30

Brand IIT takes doctors , lawyers into its fold

Keeping with the vision of converting IIT Kharagpur into a university with multi disciplinary courses there are two proposed plans in the near future.

First of all there is Rajiv Gandhi school of IPR which would cater to the specific legal requirements arising in the country related to the field of IPR. Students would be admitted in the next academic year starting Junly 2006. There would be two courses to start off, a LLB course of 3 years and a Dimploma course of 3 semesters. After a few years a Masters Degree in IPR Law and a PhD program is in the offing too. There are presently very few courses catering to a PhD in Law in the country. IPR law would be heavily in depand over the coming years due to the imporatance paid to Intellectual Property. Speciality in IPR law would make India independent in this regard, presently a majority of IPR related work for the country is done abroad.

Along with the Law school a Medical School could soon be coming up in the institute. As a first step in the process a research facility to the already existing School of Medical Science and Technology is coming up soon. This research facility would provide IIT kharagpur a foray into medical technology, this could be leveraged in the future to have a fully functional medical school. A medical school has certain requirements before the school can be approved by the the Medical Council of India, so the intitute is not rushing into creating a Medical School as of now and would let this research facility run for sometime before steps are taken to fulfill the requirements.

The idea behind opening these institutes inside the existing campus in Kharagpur and not the upcoming one in Kolkata is to leverage the already existing technology background present here to give added teeth to these courses. While the law courses would specically be concerned with technology based law the medical research facility will foray into something called techno-medicine.

With these facilities opening up IIT Kharagpur would ceratinly become a unique university in India in this regard. Meanwhile it’s anyone’s guess what new fields could be opening up in the coming future.

-Sandeep Rath

April '06 , 9th Issue : Down to the Wire

2006-04-22T03:11:00.000+05:30

A very close finish to the Tech GC

Bringing to an end a Tech calendar mired in controversies and dominated by just two halls, RP clinched the GC from Nehru with a lead of just 2.5 points – 380 to 377.5. Six of the eight events, contributing to 1000 out of a total of 1350 points, were crowded into a mere 46 days; most of the events took place in what we can only describe as Marathon March.

RP went into Marathon March with a seemingly unassailable lead - 135 points, with HJB and Azad second and third but in no position to threaten RP's dominance. The only potential competitors, Nehru, were then way behind with just 30 points.

The first shock came in Chemical Innovations, where RP did worse than every other hall save SN, while Nehru did a commendable job bagging gold. Although it was argued that the problem statement was more optimization than chemistry, Nehru showed intense competitiveness in rapidly closing the gap with RP.

The new event Ad Design, where halls presented print and 30 second video ads for a specified product, was clouded by controversy over the quality of judging. There was no clarity about judging parameters, and there was little correlation between the scores given by the two judges.

Nehru took TechGC lead by coming first, with a video montage from an Amitabh Bachan movie, LLR, inexplicably, second with an amateur stick-figure animation, and RK third with a slick flash slideshow; Patel and Azad presented comic animations, their efforts considerably more skillful than LLR's. JCB presented a fairly typical looking slide show.

The weekend of 25th and 26th March saw Open Software and Hardware Exhibition – two major events together contributing 400 points to the GC. Many halls withdrew from Open Software, possibly finding natural language processing not quite their cup of tea. The final result saw RP taking gold with Nehru coming a close second.

In the chaotic Hardware Exhibition, Nehru won gold for their stair climber; RK second for their system for web based control of home appliances; and RP third for their autonomous carrom-playing robot. Thanks to very sloppy publicity, there were practically no visitors to see the exhibition – an incredible waste of an opportunity to popularize the Tech GC.

Maths Olympiad had been conducted before Ad Design, but their results came out only after hardware exhibition. As was widely expected, RP aced this event, while Nehru demonstrated their consistency with a silver shared with LLR.

Before Bizquiz – the final event – began, RP trailed Nehru by 27.5 points; A long and engrossing quiz saw Azad winning (nothing new here), RK coming second, and RP getting third, - securing them the 30 points they needed to pul ahead of Nehru. In what must surely be an immense disappointment for Nehru and an exhilarating coup for RP, the Tech GC was decided with just two questions to spare in a quiz of 90.

Confused Technicalities
A clause in the Product Design rules stated that if a hall’s product is found to exist already, they will be disqualified. Other halls were given 24 hours after the event to submit evidence of such copying. In accordance with these rules, a submission was made by RP, Nehru, SN and LLR halls claiming that HJB hall’s lightwight multimedia projector was based on existing Mitsubishi and Epson products. The meeting of judges to decide this issue has not happened.
In Ad Design, LLR’s rather unremarkable entry - mainly comprising of a stick figure animation - drew protests from other halls, after the presentation team let slip that it ran for 32 seconds, instead of the stipulated 30. In the fray, allegations were also raised that LLR’s print ads cannot be squeezed into the specified 60 column centimetres. The judges not only condoned both violations, but also made the bizarre decision to give LLR the second prize.The delay in compilation of final points tally did little to make the halls feel confident about the judging process.
In Hardware Exhibition, chaos was the order of the day as five of the expected eight judges failed to turn up Halls had earlier submitted a list of departments corresponding to the fields of engineering represented in their exhibit – several halls included Computer Science in their list. The sole judge who was available from computer science had informed that he would leave a mere half hour after the scheduled start of the event. Several halls expected the typical late start – and failed to display their hardware to the CS judge.
The remaining two judges subsequently decided to cancel the scores he had given.

-Aravind R. S.

April '06 , 9th Issue : GC Avenue

2006-04-22T02:58:00.000+05:30

So-clutterd So-cult

The Inter Hall Soc-Cult GC saw a lot of drama this year, from RK being disqualified from Dumb Charades to only Nehru and MMM participating in English Drams, from SN Hall taking lead for a large part of the year to the first year teams from MMM and MS giving formidable quiz teams from RK, RP and Nehru a heavy thrashing to take up the 2nd and 3rd spots. Amidst all this and more, GC went out of the PAN loop for the first time in the last 5 years as RK beat Nehru and Azad to the top spot.

The Literary Cup was a close thing between RK and Azad till the formidable Quizzing Team of Azad put it beyond RK's reach winning the Quiz for a 4th consecutive time. The favourites Nehru went on to take the Dramatics Cup without much ado taking 3 golds and 2 bronze. RK truly stamped its class in the entertainment events, winning the highly competitive group events and the coveted Entertainment Cup, while LLR finished second. Patel beat SN to take the Fine Arts Cup in the end.

However, the General Championship was not free from the chaos. The Scholars' Avenue Team talked to the outgoing G.Secs. of various halls over what went wrong and how it could be avoided in the future.

It takes meetings after meetings, some inside the gymkhana and some in the halls for all the G.Secs. to agree upon the Soc-Cult calendar and the general rules. One wonders if all the time spent does any good. These rules often get overturned in the sub-committee meetings and the calendar is hardly of any concern. "The decisions taken in the G.Secs. meetings should be binding," says Shreesh Agarwal, G.Sec, RP Hall.

G.Sec, Patel Hall adds, "Many of the sub-committee meetings took place in absence of both the gymkhana G.Secs. There was evidently no coordination between the G.Secs. and the undersecretaries.”

All the G.Secs. complained about March being crammed with events and the GC running into April because of the events being delayed. The whole process puts the concept of a calendar beyond comprehension. Events were postponed for reasons such as Illumination and Holi which should have been kept in mind while making the calendar. The Fine Arts events got delayed due to health problems with the Secy. What beats everyone is that shouldn't someone else in the Soc-Cult committee have compensated for him and made sure that the events were held in time, after all the responsibility of conducting the GC smoothly lies with Soc-Cult Committee in general and the G.Secs in particular.

The results of any social and cultural event always leave a lot of people unsatisfied. G.Sec., LLR Hall feels that a lot of profs. do not have the same enthusiasm for the inter-halls as they had earlier. With the Gymkhana spending a lot of money on building up of infrastructure, it will be good to see some professional judges judging the inter-hall events. Divakar Ghosh, G.Sec., Gymkhana in his report mentioned that gymkhana will try to organise a professional workshop each in the four avenues, literary, dramatics, entertainment and fine arts next year, it will be good if atleast a few events are scheduled in a manner such that it can be judged by the people conducting the workshops. The fact that a similar initiative was taken this year in English Creative Writing was appreciated by a lot of people.

Sujata Rathi, G.Sec. S.N. Hall remarks, "This time the posts being uncontested, combined with the fact that the candidates didn't even bother coming for funda-collection from the hall G.Sec regarding the GC events, it is doubtful that any major improvement will be observed next year." However, we at The Scholars' Avenue wish the new G.Secs. all the best and sincerely hope that they prevent things from getting so bleak. Everyone is hoping that the Soc n' cult general championship will continue to improve with each passing year and provide a platform for healthy competition and team spirit.

-Nitin Basant

April '06 , 9th Issue : GC Avenue

2006-04-22T02:38:00.000+05:30

Sporting Spirit

. Winning the Inter IIT Sports meet is a concept most of us could not dream of at the beginning of the year. The Inter Halls have always been more competitive than the Inter IITs. This year's Inter-Hall GC was about as close as it can get, decided in the second last match of the last sport, table tennis, when RP defeated Patel in semi-finals and sealed the sports GC for RK. RK, winning the Soc-Cult GC too became the first hall to win the Golden GC (both Sports and Soc-Cult GC in the same year) in the last 10 years. The last time a hall managed it was in 1996 when RP won the Golden GC.

It wasn't that easy for RK as Nehru took a big lead in the beginning winning Aquatics, Athletics and Chess and taking silver in Water Polo. Nehru's under-par performances in Football, Basketball and Hockey helped RK's cause while RK Volleyball and Badminton teams made no mistakes and won the golds as expected. Amidst the race between RK and Nehru, Patel slowly and steadily kept increasing its points tally and with golds in Football and Cricket, it staked its claim. What clinched it in the end for RK was definitely the unexpected Basketball silver.

This year saw some great clashes, teams coming up from behind and winning some thrilling encounters and indomitable spirit of some players who led their teams from the front. The year saw underdogs Azad bag the Hockey gold when no one expected them to reach the final four, they beat RP in the finals after having been beaten by them in the leagues. Patel upset the favourites B.C. Roy in semi-finals and went on to take the footer gold, RP overcame their straight set defeat to RK in the groups to drub them 3-0 in the Table Tennis finals, Azad upstaged Patel to lift the Weight lifting gold; the year was full of such thrilling encounters paying rich tribute to the Olympic motto of Citius, Altius, Fortius.

A few steps were taken in the right direction like the knock-out stages of Hockey and Basketball saw out-station referees, electronic timers were used in the Basketball tournament.

As every year, this year too had its share of controversies. The G.Secs. of all the halls were unanimous when it came to the sore points of the year. Though most of the Inter Hall events were conducted 'peacefully', with no major controversies, they agreed, but winning an event alone does not suffice. What really matters is the points which a hall makes from each event. And this is what sparked the only major controversy of the session. Should teams formed as a Joint-Venture by two or more halls be considered eligible for the points? After lots of discussions, an Executive Council meeting and a Standing Appeals, it was decided that the decisions of the sub-committee would hold as a result points were passed over in Tennis and Badminton whereas they were not passed over in Football, Volleyball and Cricket. Proper rules regarding this must be decided in an all G.Secs. (Sports - Gymkhana and Hall)/Executive Council meeting which should be uniform for all sports.

All the G.Secs. agreed that the events getting postponed to March is a major problem, specially for students who are a part of more than one sports teams and leads to players having to play more than one match in a single day which can be very exhaustive and definitely brings down the level of performance the player can deliver otherwise.

The sole badminton court has always been a bone of contention and the shuttlers, as always, were against the tight practice schedule. The athletics ground not being available in time for practice also posed problems to the hall but with gymkhana developing the infrastructure the last two shouldn't be a problem next year.

The biggest challenge for the G.Secs. and the players is going to be defending the Inter IIT GC. There are going to be a lot of expectations this time around and needless to say, the talent showcased by all the halls indicates that we do have the potential to bring home the Inter IIT Sports GC next year as well.

-Nitin Basant

April '06 , 9th Issue : Where do you go , my lovely?

2006-04-22T01:48:00.000+05:30

What first years think of the senior halls

Disclaimer: The views expressed below are those of first year students based on their perceptions of different halls and were elicited from them during an opinion poll conducted by Scholars' Avenue. To all the halls which got a good review from the fachhas, good for you! For the rest... well... c'est la vie [:P]

"I don't consider PAN loop to be a part of the IIT system" - A fachha, MS Hall, March 2006.

Scholars' Avenue set out to discover what the current batch of fachhas thought of their senior halls this year and accordingly, which hall they wished to go to next year. Equally importantly, we also asked people which hall they DID NOT want to go to.Two hours and 245 polled fachhas later, the results were overwhelmingly clear:

56.3 % of the fachhas wanted to go to RK next year... and not a single one who was averse to the idea of becoming an RKite! On the contrary, only 7.34% wish to go to LLR or Patel while a whopping 80.45% were very clear that they wanted to have nothing to do with either of these halls next year!! All kinds of perceptions galore about all the halls and its these perceptions that have led the fachhas to come to these amusing conclusions. Read on...

Maybe RP wooed the fachhas too hard this time around... for while there are those who wish to go to RP coz they feel the seniors are very friendly, there are also those who sneeze at it coz its a very "gentleman type hall" (sic). But then the sneezing isnt fine with them either coz some fachhas dread the 'water problem' in RP!

I Like RP coz: its very close to the insti, proximity to chhedies, success in tech events, good hall day, its a "very confortable hall" and "its not in PAN"!I dont like RP because: no tempo!

wish to go to RP : 50/245

Please, not RP! : 9/220

For RK, well, dene waala jab bhi deta, deta chappar phaad ke! We'll go straight to the various reasons people cited for liking RK... and we'll stop there coz there wasnt a single fachha soul that disliked RK!

I want to go to RK coz: Its near the insti, good hall day, its a peaceful hall, has great extracurriculars, good acads, lots of Craig and quiz club seniors, both VPs from RK, brilliant volleyball team, "I play the synth well and there are good singers in RK", nice overall image, offers a lot of scope for personality development, "its not in PAN", "its a stud hall", "its important for the insti", "I like the feel of RK" and... "offers lots of scope for being a rascal"!

Wish to go to RK : 138/245

Please, not RK! : 0/220

LLR put up a brave fight, we'll give that to them... but finally they could only come second in the race for the 'most disliked hall'! The only reason a few fachhas wanted to go to LLR next year was its mess; as for the rest...

I dont like LLR coz: "poor toilets", "isolated hall", "no tempo", "never heard of it in any sport", "hoohaa OP", "have chatted with some dumb Lallu hall people on DC", "no activities in that hall", " want to get away from this MS region" and "the halls lacks any personality"!

Wish to go to LLR : 4/245

Please, not LLR! : 84/220

Patel has unflinchingly carried the responsibility of being the most dreaded hall amongst fachhas for quite a few years now. Its maintained its consistency this year too!

I wish to go to Patel coz: "Its a happening hall", "Tempo waala hall" and "I wish to explore new places"!

I dont want to go to Patel coz: "Mortifying OP", "way too much sports load", "I've never heard anything good about the hall", "the Patel CG drop" and also... " I dont like the name of the hall"!

Wish to go to Patel: 14/245

Please, not Patel! : 93/220

Nehru found itself struck nowhere in this war of the halls. Neither was it the high on the fachha hit list... nor were the fachhas lining up to enter NH.

I want to go to Nehru coz: "Good at drams", "best in athletics", "good swimming team", "tempo waala hall", "nurtures talent" and coz "it'll win the GC"

I dont wish to go to Nehru coz: "There's no cooperation in that hall", "People only wear chappals in NH" and "they have a leaking terrace"!

Wish to go to Nehru : 25/245

Please, not Nehru! : 22/220

For Azad, well, lets just say the fachhas were indifferent towards it. A bit like out of sight, out of mind.

I wish to go to Azad coz: "I want to explore new places"!

I dont want to go to Azad coz: "Pathetic hall day", "its infamous", "its bad in whatever it plays" and "its suffocating"!

Wish to go to Azad : 14/245

Please, not Azad!: 12/220

Maybe its about time halls started having a post for G. Sec Public Relations!

-The SA survey team

April '06 , 9th Issue : The Beginning of the Reel

2006-04-22T01:36:00.000+05:30

The History of the Technology Film Society

This is the first in a two-part series on the Technology Film Society (TFS). In this issue, we take a look at TFS, as it was, in the old times. We spoke to Prof. P. K. Datta, HOD, Dept of Aerospace Engineering, who was a student at Kharagpur from 1963-68 and later joined again for a PhD in 1972. Prof. Datta holds the rare distinction of having watched almost all movies at TFS from 'Chalti ka Naam Gaadi' in the 60s to 'Rang De Basanti' in 2006, for almost 40 years now, and was very enthusiastic in talking about the TFS of his times. We also spoke to Puneet Agarwal, one of our founding editors and TFS Secretary during 2002-03, and what we ended up with was a neat chronicle of the film society, as it as evolved.

The Technology Film Society, better known as TFS, was started in the 50s and is almost as old as IIT Kharagpur itself. Films at TFS were initially screened at the Tagore Open Air Theatre (TOAT), but were shifted to Netaji Auditorium soon after. The projector room exists till date at TOAT between the students and staff tier, and is now used for sound and light editing during the Star Nights at SF. The first movie to be screened at TFS was 'Ali Baba and Chalees Chor'.

In the days of yore, when even televisions (forget computers) were a non-entity, films at TFS jumped to the rescue. Quite naturally, the post of TFS Secretary was the most coveted. Campaigning, which was previously permitted on Scholars' Avenue (the road, of course!), was marked by the most colourful hand-made posters for canvassing for the TFS Secretary, replete with cut-outs from glitzy film magazines portraying the most happening stars of the time.

Prof. Datta recalls that when he was in his BTech years, the movie selection was always done by the students. He smilingly reminisces about the best English films of his times that were seen by one and all on the TFS screen. The shows, unsurprisingly, ran to packed houses, watched by Professors and students alike. The seat allocation was, quite interestingly, done by lottery, so that the viewers could not complain about the seats assigned to them. We happened to catch the gleam in his eyes as he spoke of the wave of excitement in the campus on Friday evenings. Eventually, as the numbers grew, TFS started screening separate shows, with the Friday and Saturday night screenings being for the students and Saturday evenings for the Professors.

One-week film festivals were a brainchild of the yesteryears too, albeit to raise funds for the Gymkhana. The monthly pass for the regular shows was Rs. 1.50 for the students and Rs. 2.00 for the Faculty. A typical month comprised of two English, one Hindi and one Bengali movie. Prof. Datta comments that TFS was easily the best managed society on campus and was extremely meticulous with the distribution of tickets, the lottery system, and calling time on the movies sharp. The organizers have also been systematic with controlling the long queues at the Netaji gates for popular movies, and apart from a freak incident during the 'Chalti ka Naam Gaadi' screening when the students had barged in and the doors and glass panes of the entrance gave way. He attributes it as enthusiasm rather than a gatecrash. So popular was TFS that even the Hall-days had screenings of movies in tie-ups with the society.

Netaji has, by itself, changed a lot as the years have gone by. The screen has been pushed back by a huge margin so that the front benchers didn't have to bear the brunt of browsing through the screen in parts when the movie was running. The number of seats was also increased for the burgeoning audiences, eventually narrowing down the aisles. The time gap between the movie releases and their screening in TFS has also come down by a remarkable amount.In the next issue, we shall discuss the more recent turn of events, and how TFS lost its sheen as LAN laid a siege onto its domain .

-Chintan Thakkar , Anup Bishnoi

April '06 , 9th Issue : Blogger's Avenue

2006-04-22T01:11:00.000+05:30

Blogging sans words!

Starting this edition, Scholars' Avenue takes a look at the blogging community in IIT Kharagpur and profiles some of the blogs that are worth checking out.

Tonight the spotlight rests aesthetically on edgegrafix.blogspot.com, belonging to Vishal Kumar, 3rd year, Dept. of Aerospace Engg, LLR Hall of Residence. Aesthetically because his blog till date has been all about a few fabulous images that he's created on Adobe Photoshop. He himself admits that the basic photographs on which he's worked have been lifted from other sources but it’s the modifications that he's made on them after that which are admirable.

Starting out with cars, bikes, celebrities and films, he's also delved into abstract images, some cool gadgetry, mechanics and anime cartoons. That apart, he's also worked on the design of the SF poster as well as the cover of Alankar magazine.

What really catches the eye, though, are the calendar wallpapers that he's created. Although not quite images that'll pass muster if the Shiv Sena were judging them, they'll do wonderfully well otherwise! Hope he doesn’t mind if junta downloads his creations!.

Pretty pieces of inspiration for any budding Photoshop enthusiasts out there, there are other creations of his that one can check out on the sites in his ‘links’ section and at www.artwanted.com/war-ops.

Happy blogging, junta!

-Sunny Somani

April '06 , 9th Issue: Farewell Avenue

2006-04-22T00:10:00.000+05:30

Looking Back...

When you start off something new in your life, a majority of people around you will say your idea won't work, and will go on listing the reasons why, a small percentage of people will say well… it might, you may turn lucky and find a few who will pitch in, making your idea come to life. I consider myself far luckier, I found a bunch that not only pitched in, but surpassed my passion and effort in making Scholars' Avenue come to life and become better with every issue.

With this issue Scholars' Avenue completes one year of its existence. We never thought we could last this long, but now that we have, we would like to stick our neck out and say, we want to be here for ever.

In this year we've had highs, lows, been loved, been hated, appreciated, criticized and even thrown out of work. In all these responses we got from our readers one thing more than any other made us happy: we've been successful in providing Kgpians a platform to express their opinions.

We meanwhile have had a rocking time working at Schols Ave. (that's how we call ourselves) we've converted no less than 12 places in the institute into our editing and layout offices, have had countless sessions at Auntie's, Cheddi's, and Harries deciding what to put in the next issue (and not to mention sharing PJs), have had endless arguments whether a comma would be more appropriate or a semicolon, gone door to door asking people questions and conducting surveys, folded each issue that reaches you, by hand, have had numerous brainstorming sessions on how to get more people to read us, and how to get people to join us, moved between three software packages in finding one which would work for us (we are still not very successful at it, suggestions are welcome!). Yes, all this happened in just two semesters.

I would like to close with a little vote of thanks towards people who've helped us along the way, first of all our very own Sanjay da at Quest printers who's put in a night out with every issue, thanks to our practice of giving him the least possible time to print our issues and being very natty and picky about the quality (a bit too much sometimes, he says). Mr Joyjit Nath and Mr. Arvind Chhabra (both alumni from this institute) for providing us with help and support when we needed it the most. The Registrar Mr. D. Gunashekharan and all the Deans especially Prof. V.R. Kalvey and Prof. R.V. Rajkumar for finding time in their busy schedule to answer our queries, the people at Archi Dep. and iLab for letting us use their rooms, and last but not the least our readers for providing us with the only thing that keeps us going, their never ending interest and enthusiasm with which they greet every issue that we bring out.

-Sandeep Rath
Executive Editor

April '06 9th Issue

2006-04-22T00:06:00.000+05:30

March '06, 9th Issue: Food For Thought

2006-03-25T15:27:00.000+05:30

Campus restaurants asked to relocate; security, hygiene and traffic cited as problems

“It was during a mess strike in the mid-eighties that Mr. Russi Modi, the then chairman of the Board of Governors requested Veggies and Sahara to set up shop in the campus,” says Bharath the owner of Veggies Restaurant. He then adds on that he has spent the prime years of his life here at the IIT campus investing a lot in his restaurant and now the authorities want to drive him out. His views are echoed by the owners of other restaurants as well, who are all concerned about the directive they have been given to close down and move out from the campus.

Sounds strange? Outrageous?

Scholars' Avenue did a comprehensive research on the issue and this is what we found out.All the restaurants in the campus have to get a license from the institute to run their shops. The license is renewed in December every year but it was not done this time around. Instead, a notice was served to all eateries asking them to close down. The owner of the Billoo's restaurant told us that a Campus Development Committee was set up in November last year which recommended the closing down of three eateries i.e. Sahara, Dreamland and Harry's (Tikka) joints. No one knows why the other eateries were included in the list. This has caused panic among the restaurant owners here. They have started looking for land elsewhere. Sahara has already bought a plot of land outside the campus.

The Dean of Student Affairs directed us to Prof S.K. Das, the head of the Commercial Establishment Licensing Committee. Prof. Das only divulged that he was following the directives from the higher authorities.

The Registrar clarified that the institute is only thinking of relocating the restaurants. This was being considered because of the problems being faced by campusites due to these eateries operating in the campus. There have been instances of outsiders indulging in eve teasing at these places. Besides the staff and professors are pestered by the foul smell emanating from the drainage of these restaurants. The backyards of restaurants like Sahara have become a play ground for pigs and parking outside Harry’s causes traffic problems for school children of Kendriya Vidyalaya. The institute was initially considering relocating these restaurants to a place near State Bank of India but the idea was dropped due to a lack of space. Next came the idea of relocating them to the perimeter road but after the construction of the boundary wall even this idea has been dropped.

On the other hand the institute is planning to open up an 80 seater, fully air conditioned restaurant near the swimming pool but that project will only be undertaken after the completion of the new Gymkhana building and the Convention Centre coming up next to the Technology Club which means that it will take another 2 to 3 years for the construction to start.

This issue raises many questions. What happens if these restaurants are actually relocated? Would it still remain convenient for the students go out to eat when they want a change from their delicious mess food? And what happens during mess offs? Will people staying back for their project work in vacations have to go out of the campus every time to eat? What happens to the restaurants owners who have spent years building it all up? The institute does need to come up with a well-thought-of plan if they are actually planning to go ahead with the relocation.

The authorities have assured us that they do have the students’ and other campus residents’ convenience in mind and any decision would be taken after due consideration. Lets just hope for the best.

-Amit Gupta, Sandeep Rath

March '06, 9th Issue: The Big Fight

2006-03-25T15:25:00.000+05:30

The New Brigade

The S.K. Joshi Committee shortlist 7 institutes to be converted into IITs back in the days of the NDA government, keeping in line with the then Prime Minister Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee's promise of more IITs.

The colleges were: Zakir Hussain College of Engineering and Technology, Aligarh College of Engineering, Vishakhapatnam Institute of Technology, IT-BHU Varanasi, Bengal Engineering College, Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), Kochi, Jadavpur University's Engineering and Technology Departments, Osmania University-College of Engineering and College of Technology, Hyderabad.

Out of these CUSAT has recently been given the IIT status (IIT Kochi), giving rise to speculations that the rest will follow soon.This has raised heated opinions across the older league of IITs and at home in Kgp too. We invite a debate from our readers on this topic. The best articles will be published in our next issue.

- Sandeep Rath

March '06, 9th Issue: Editor's Avenue

2006-03-25T15:23:00.000+05:30

Age No Bar

Mankind's flirtations with alcohol and other intoxicants are almost as old as mankind. This is probably true across civilizations, cultures and ages. The ill effects of overuse are known, chronicled and researched, but the affair continues. Draconian measures imposed by leaders of society have had a temporary curbing effect, but given rise to some other problems. Teachers frown at it, institutions ban it, parents worry about their children imbibing it, but youngsters continue to experiment with alcohol. Some students flirt briefly with alcohol and retract; others treat it as a rite of passage or wish to exercise their adult choice. Others continue but remain in control all their lives. Unfortunate ones are those who succumb to the siren song of alcohol and it is downhill all the way.

The ethical question on alcohol is debated upon but not agreed to. If it is totally evil, ban it. But it is not to be. Other than countries that proscribe alcohol on stringent religious norms, not one country has been able to ban it. So there will be shops with bottles of alluring shapes and bars with alluring ambience. The question therefore, is it worth starting with alcohol, if at all? If started, where to stop? How much is enough?

Young drinkers are of several species. There's the I-can't-say-no-to-people kind, the I-love-the-high-and-don't-wanna-get-down kind, there's also the kind that think they aren't cool in other aspects so why not drink and be cool.

Drinking offers several advantages; there's the thrill of breaking a rule, of thinking that people look at you like a grown-up, of getting the license to act completely uninhibited because you “are drunk”.

“What's the fun in drinking unless you are 'out'?” says one young man.

“Consuming alcohol gives me confidence”, says another.

“Drinking is accepted in professional circles, so before I go out-there, I should be comfortable with it.”

Reasons abound. The question however remains, how much is an excess and how it should be controlled. Alcohol consumption among youth has shown a rising trend. The average age across the country has fallen from 19 to 14 in just the past decade. Before I have the skeptics in Kgp going, “not here,” I would ask them to reconsider. The relationship of youth and alcohol has been one which many people haven't understood yet. To impose laws that would completely prevent a young man from trying it out during his college stay would definitely make him lose out on something. He would never know if not drinking alcohol was a personal choice or not. But to let it go completely unbridled is not living up to the duties of a society. Here in campus there is no system in place that checks excess of alcohol among the youth. Nobody is looking at excess alcohol consumption as a problem. Of course if the institute gets down to it, it can completely put an end to alcohol consumption but everyone would agree that, that is not the way to go about it.

Responsible students should be the ones keeping a tab on their friends. It shouldn't be un-cool to say “that's it for tonight.” Hall presidents should mark out those who have a drinking problem atleast among his juniors and talk to them, a professional counselor wouldn't be half as effective. Restaurants and bars around campus should try to enforce some sort of age limit.

Every step of the institute in this direction is seen as 'draconian' by the students, and every student seen drinking is seen as one breaking a rule, clearly there is a big gap that needs to be bridged here. It is time both students and the institute identify the problem and get down together to work on it. Otherwise we just have two groups working in opposition rather than in unison.

-Guest Editor Prof. Gautam Sinha

March '06, 9th Issue: Contest Avenue

2006-03-25T15:19:00.000+05:30

Twenty Years Later...

The Scholars' Avenue Creative Writing Competition

We had given the opening lines of O. Henry's Twenty Years Later and invited readers to complete the story in their own way. Among the very few entries we received, the best one was from Sayan Deb Kundu (Patel Hall). He can collect his prize from our representatives in his hall.

"Twenty years ago tonight," said the man, "I dined here at Big Joe Brady's with Jennifer, my best chum, and the finest girl in the world. She and I were raised here in New York. I was sixteen and Jenny was thirteen. The next morning I was to start for the East to Oxford to continue my career. You couldn't have dragged a girl so far out of New York, though only we knew how much we wanted to stay together. Well, we agreed that night that we would meet here again exactly twenty years later, no matter what our conditions might be or from what distance we might have to come. We figured that in twenty years each of us ought to have our destiny worked out and our fortunes made, whatever they were going to be.”

"Interesting" said the policeman. "Rather a long time between meets, though. Heard from your friend since you left?"

"For a time we corresponded," said the other. "But after a year or two we lost track of each other. During my long graduate years in Oxford, I realised how deeply I loved her. I've come a thousand miles to stand this door tonight, and it's worth it if my old partner turns up."

The waiting man pulled out a handsome watch, once worn by most of the military personnel during the war. "Three minutes to ten," he announced. "It was exactly ten-o'clock when we parted."

"Pretty love story my friend!” said the policeman.

"Not quite. In my final year I got a letter from Jenny's father. She was going to marry and she wanted me to attend the marriage. I was furious at first, but then came to my senses. Best friends needn't always be the best matches".

The policeman intervened, "What happened then?"

"I joined the war and it only increased the gap between us.” The waiting man was interrupted by a fierce gust of wind which threatened to turn into a storm.

The policeman reacted, "I think it won't be safe here anymore. We should go at the earliest."

"No Officer, you go. I will wait here for my beloved. Would you please do me a favour, though?"

"With pleasure", added the policeman.

The man gave him a ring. "Please hand it over to Jennifer. As soon as she sees it, she'll know 'twas me. Tell her that I came. That John had kept his word. That I waited for her in the most hostile of conditions though she didn't turn up."

"Ok. I'll surely do it for you."

The policeman looked up the records and next morning, turned up at Jennifer's door.

"Mrs. Jennifer Barret?"

"Yes, it's me. Please come in."

"I'm here to honor a promise to one of your friends, named John."

"John!"

"He said you will recognise him instantly by this ring".

As the policeman gave the ring to the lady, she burst into inconsolable tears. In one corner of the room the officer spotted a photo - John's photo. It was adorned with a fresh garland. Written underneath it were the words: "Lieutenant John Woods… died a martyr's death in the second world war in March 1942.”

March '06, 9th Issue: Poll Avenue

2006-03-25T15:12:00.000+05:30

KGP junta goes to poll

With the Gymkhana Elections getting underway yesterday, we have reached the most important phase in the annual calendar wherein the halls go for electing their respective leaders. This phase is most important, even more so than the gymkhana elections because the hall elections symbolise the elections in the Lower House where every region (read hall) elects their representatives and over the course of the next year these representatives decide the direction in which the halls head. The Gymkhana Elections are quite similar to the Upper House elections where the so-called representatives in the Lower House, on the basis of several coalitions, decide upon the various posts making sure that the elections take place only when absolutely necessary. Nothing else can explain the fact that all the general secretaries’ posts this year went uncontested.

Sandipan Deb, in his book, The IITians writes. However a lot of KGPians will disagree. On close scrutiny, elections here seem to follow similar pattern as the national elections. The elections, till a few years back were marred by violence at both levels and now coalition politics seem to be the way.

Still, now that the elections are over, the batons will soon be exchanged. Deepak Rathee and Mayank Mohan will keenly await the results, alongwith the rest of KGP, on Saturday to know who will be at the helm of affairs in the next academic year. Whereas, Gaurav Taneja and Indrajit Mal will be the new G. Secs. Sports, Aniket and Shuvo Banerjee, the new G.Secs. Technology and Arijit Gautam and Siddharth Singh, the new G. Secs. Soc-n-Cult. The Scholars’ Avenue Team wishes all of them all the very best for the days to come.

- Nitin Basant

March '06, 9th Issue: Features Avenue

2006-03-25T15:08:00.001+05:30

Rules... the not-so-superhit formula!

When impulse rules, reasons take a backseat. Consider this, girls are supposed to be back in their halls by 10.30 pm. The guiding light being safety of the female race. The females here are mostly above the age of 18, officially adults and who seek education in not just their respective disciplines but also in handling the challenges of life and social conduct. And apparently this rule seems to be applicable only for the undergraduates, not for the postgraduates and research scholars.

Compare this with other IITs ( Kanpur and Bombay even allow male students inside the girl’s hostel during daytime) and we are forced to wonder when the conservative line of thought will be done away with.Another glaring example of this school of thought was the shifting of the Hall’s fruit stall inside the hostel building. While the exact reasons weren’t specified but we guess it had something to do with the number of male students hanging around the place (as if shifting it inside made any difference)!

There have even been cases of couples hanging out together being humiliated by those in the corridors of power! We can only hope that some sense is ushered into this system which uptil now has made a mockery of those very values that it proudly proclaims to inculcate in its students.

Quote:“Should I abide by the rules until they're changed, or help speed the change by breaking them? Better start rushing before the rush begins!”

- Swati and Riti Mohapatra

March '06, 9th Issue: Features Avenue

2006-03-25T15:06:00.000+05:30

What this year's budget holds for a KGPian

Remember the time when the budget used to be the biggest event of the fiscal year? The day it was presented, the entire country stopped and was glued to their television screens and radios, listening with bated breath what the new budget had in store for them.

Gone are those times when budgets used to have a make or break effect. With the economy booming, the budget for the fiscal year 2006-2007 was merely a representation of the financial statements and economic policy of the government. On a larger scale, as was expected, nothing much changed.

But there were some changes here and there which could have an impact on the student community. Here we have tried to analyze those provisions of the new budget which could impact us.

Education Loan: Those of you who have taken an education loan for full time studies can avail a tax exemption under Section 80C once you start repaying it. From assessment year 2006-2007, the exemption will be only on the interest and not on the principal amount.

DVD, flash and combo drives: No excise duty will be levied on these items from now on. It means that they will get cheaper.

Personal Computers: The 12% excise duty on personal computers has been re-introduced. This will push up prices a bit.

Spectacles: Spectacles, frames and goggles will now attract an excise duty of 8% as against nothing in the fiscal year ending March, 2006

Aerated Drinks: The excise duty on aerated drinks has been slashed from 24% to 16%. You can expect them to become cheaper.

Paper: The excise duty on printing, writing and packing paper has been slashed from 16% to 12%

Ice Creams: Condensed milk and ice creams have been exempted from the excise duty which will bring down the prices.

Fish, Poultry, Meat preparations: They too have been exempted from excise duty.

Pectin, Pastas and Yeast: Excise duty on these items has been removed. This will bring down the cost of jams, jellies, cakes, pastries and other bakery items.

ATM Transactions: Banks offering ATM services will have to pay a higher service tax, which could be passed onto the end customers.

Cigarettes: The excise duty on cigarettes has been increased again by 5%. So those of you who smoke can expect to have a higher daily expenditure. The budget did not bring cigarettes under VAT as was expected; otherwise the prices would have further gone up.

All Unbranded items: All unbranded items like packet foods and mineral water will now attract 8% excise duty.

Train Travel: The Railway budget slashed the prices of travel in AC I by 18% and in AC II by 10%

Foot Wear: The footwear with retail price between Rs. 250 and Rs. 750 will now attract an excise duty of 8% rather than 16%

Sponsorships: Event sponsorships other than sports events and sale of space or time other than in print media for ads has been brought under the tax net for the new fiscal year which can have an impact on the sponsorship amounts of fests on campus.

Oveheard in SN: “When you've got them by their wallets, their hearts and minds will follow."

-Amit Gupta

March '06, 9th Issue: Careers Avenue

2006-03-25T14:56:00.000+05:30

Westward Ho!

Regardless of what a Kgpian does during the time of the year he/she spends in Kgp, summers and the post-Kgp life are two phases for which he/she definitely thinks big. For quite a few this translates to getting an app in their final year and for many more, it means getting an FT (foreign training) in the summers. In this article, we waltz through the nuances of both these career-defining decisions.

FT for most people is a very long drawn battle. Often, people send 100 to 2000 mails for getting the FT of their choice. Chancing across a prof who likes your resume and him having enough funds to finance your FT usually present a Scylla and Charybdis situation to most. Mailing to profs starts anywhere between July and October. While most students look for profs who work in a field in which they themselves have interest, some, unfortunately, also mail to simply any prof who's email id they can lay their eyes on. Among the other undesirable habits that many adopt, one of the most glaring ones is that of sending cc and bcc mails to profs.

While one can get a hang of a prof's willingness to accept him early in the mailing process, most confirmations (funding included) start pouring in once the winter starts. An amount of 3k dollars is the bare minimum one needs to cover all expenses in a 2 month trip to a US univ. Once the acceptance comes, it's a matter of getting the visa formalities done and over with. Different continents have different arrangements and requirements and depending on whether one is going to the US, Europe or Australia/ New Zealand, one has to check for the visas on offer. An amount between 2k and 5k has to be deposited for the visa application which is followed by an interview at the consul concerned. A visa usually arrives within three working days of the interview.

While most ppl have had the going pretty smooth in terms of getting visas, there have been reports of ppl applying to UK univs being denied a visa.

Moving on to the apping procedure…

The entire application procedure to universities for higher studies is a long and systematic procedure. It starts firstly with taking the GRE and the TOEFL. For a normal person, GRE takes about two months of sincere work that primarily involves mugging up the word lists. TOEFL is a piece of cake and can be taken within a week of taking the GRE. You should be done with both these exams before the first week of September so as to receive your scores in time for the applications. The next step involves deciding the names and the number of universities that you want to apply to and the degree that you want to apply to. Some universities take in only MS + PhD applicants and some allow only MS applicants too. Usually, it is difficult to get good financial support for the only-MS.

To select the universities, the following precedence list is suggested:
A. The research area and the group.
B. The professor and how well he/she is connected.
C. The university's ranking.

Usually, a top univ means that all the good professors and work are concentrated there. While apping, the things that the admission officials look for are in the following order:

A. Your class-standing: your CGPA, DR & IR.
B. Your research activities: B Tech Project and Internships and whether they have led to a publication or not.
C. Letters of Recommendation.
D. Your Statement of Purpose and other documents.

Also, at this point, it should be stressed that being IIT Kharagpur students gives us a very good brand image which unfortunately is not utilised by many students. We students are not that confident about ourselves and end up applying to universities pretty low in rankings. At the same time, people with high credentials should not be foolish enough to apply to 10-12 universities when they know that they can apply to 3-4 universities. It's nothing but waste of money for yourself and waste of opportunity for the person next in line. A person with a lower DR should try and avoid clashes with a person in the same dept with a higher DR.

Also, there's a misconception that 2 people from the same dept will not be selected by the same university. This year UCB EECS has taken 4 people from CS, ECE & EE, IIT KGP.

Once all this is decided one needs to browse the relevant websites and take a look at the individual requirements. Except the transcripts which are to be sent by post, everything else is sent online. For your application, you would require at least 3 letters of recommendation.

A standard procedure is to ask

A. Your B Tech project Supervisor.
B. Your internship Mentor (can be a person from industry too)
C. A professor from your dept. (preferably the HOD) who has taken a relevant course for you.

There's no harm in asking the professors to write anything specific about you in those letters. Also, see to it that clashes wrt professors (same professor recommending more than one student to the same department) are avoided.

The next is a Statement of Purpose (SOP). Every SOP should be different and you'd be well advised to not commit the mistake of copying someone else's SOP. A plain SOP with simple facts of what you have done and what you plan to do will be much better than a fancy SOP littered with quotes that are copied from a fellow student or senior. If such plagiarism is caught, it reflects very badly on your overall application. Prepare a good resume and a comprehensive website containing details of the work you have done so far.

Also, it is highly discouraged to send 'suck mails' as they are of no use and might ruin your chances in case you piss someone off in the admissions committee by repeated pestering.

The average application fee per university in the EECS bracket is about 75 dollars and the deadlines are usually from 1st Dec. to 15th January. The results of the applications usually come after 15th February. The highest level of financial award is the Fellowship in which you don't have to work any other than the research pertaining to your course work. Then comes RA (Research Assistantship) in which you have to spend a fixed number of hours assisting others in their work and then TA (Teaching Assistantship) in which you have to take classes for undergraduate students of your advisors. Please keep in mind what you want to do ahead and accordingly take the decision about joining a university. Talking to final year students in that university helps immensely.

Bottom-line: While apping, project yourself to be as professional and confident as you can.

- Siddharth Seth and Sunny Somani

March '06, 9th Issue: Inside the Gymkhana

2006-03-25T14:52:00.000+05:30

Hear this year's G. Secs and VP evaluate themselves

Click to enlarge

March '06, 9th Issue: 'Fest'ered

2006-03-25T14:49:00.000+05:30

A roundup of the various Department Fests and Symposiums

Department societies have been active this semester. Three departments have had their department festivals in the past few days. While Cheminsight is a veteran, Optima and Ankur are the newbies. These fests have certainly busied up the Vikramshila complex and it is possible that future generations of Kgpians will identify themselves more with the Ramanujam Complex (that’s the CIC/Vikramshila area) than the façade of the Main Building that we are more familiar with.

The string of department fests started on 3rd March with Ankur, which prefers to call itself a ‘fest’ rather than a symposium like the other two. Ankur had events such as discussing problems on a virtual village, business plan, panel discussions and other events of a lighter tone like a tractor driving contest. Ankur also had international participants which would go a long way in improving Dept. of AgFE’s signature on the international radar.

Pawing in their way next were Optima and Cheminsight. Probably because of lack of convenient dates the two were headed for a collision course for a long time and made no attempts to swerve away, finally crashing into each other on the weekend of 10th -12th March. Optima, with 21 participating colleges 125 outstaion participants and Rs. 80,000 as cash prize definitely made sure that it would be here to stay. Contests ranged from ergonomic design, case study and operations management. Cheminsight had its third edition this year had events such as a concept application problem and the usual quizzes and paper presentations.

These events definitely perk up the otherwise somnolent department societies, aside from improving the interaction of students with the industry, the absence of which had long been a major disadvantage at IIT Kharagpur. There were a few sour points however, namely, in-house participation in these events, dismal would probably be an understatement. It is hoped that as the scale of these events improve and as they become regulars in the calendar we shall see more Kgpians taking part.

-Sandeep Rath

March '06, 9th Issue: Engineering Entrepreneurship

2006-03-25T14:47:00.000+05:30

A report on entrepreneurship: Fostering initiatives in campus

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
-Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

Yeah right.Most of us graduate with a job. Quite a few app and go for an MS/ PhD while select others crack a cool management institute. Slowly, but surely, there’s a 4th category that’s creating a space for itself in the IIT Kgp way of life. These are the ones who set out to prove Mr. Duell wrong: entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurship in Kgp received a shot in the arm with the advent of TIETS. While the initial trailblazers in Kgp were inspired individuals and teams like Iviz Technosolutions, SAV Networks, Ambujex and Daphne, TIETS now has helped 5 companies conceptualize and start up activities under the IIT Kgp umbrella.

Here’s how a brilliant idea gets processed and is nurtured into a business plan… TIETS has a board of governors comprising inspiring alumni-industrialists, professors and members of the administration. An idea is screened by a smaller set of people who decide its worthiness. If the screening committee likes the idea of the business plan, TIETS provides the newly formed company a mentor. Mentors are usually alumni, professors or members of the Technology Indus Enterprise. The institute provides funds ranging from a few lacs to a current high of 27 lacs. It also provides labs and other requisite logistic support that might be needed. In return the institute takes a stake of about 3-5% in the company.

TIETS has also started a program called CONCIPIO. Open to all students and alumni of IIT Kgp, the event aims at unearthing new ideas and helping them turn into successful b-plans. Apart from this, TIETS also plans to have more guest lectures and seminars for the Kgp junta. Some of the biggest names from the Indian Corporate field could, indeed, be dishing out funda to Kgpians very soon.

-Sunny Somani

March '06, 9th Issue: Music Avenue

2006-03-25T14:45:00.000+05:30

Notes Straight From MIT

Under the tutelage of SPIC MACAY and with gracious assistance from MITHAS, the MIT heritage association for south asian arts, SN Bose auditorium, on the evening of 28 January, was witness to an exhilarating display of musical adroitness by Prof. George Ruckert, senior lecturer in music at MIT and a direct disciple of the great Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. He was on a brief visit to India along with his wife Gretchen , who is an accomplished kathak danceuse herself.

Classical music afficionados had a memorable time as Prof. Ruckert wove magic with his fingers. He charmed everyone present not only with his ability with the sarod but also with his humility and his stilted 'pranams' in response to the applause. He started with the raaga Madhubanti , negotiating the crescendos and falls with surprising ease. A performer who was in tune with what his audience was experiencing , he won over their awe as he handled the especially difficult bow with aplomb. The rendition ended with the auditorium sonorous with delightful clapping and satiated murmers.

Prof. Ruckert then rendered a modified version of the Rajasthani raaga Maand, which he playfully called Shannon Maand because of its semblance in earthiness and distinct discrete acoustic sounds to the popular American folk song 'Where the River Shanno Flows'. This was a rather more mature and subtle piece than the former and the man with blonde hair and blue eyes never gave away even a hint of the fact that he was performing a particularly ethnic Indian piece, so virtuoso was his touch. The tapping and sliding parts were handled delicately and the temperamental bow was handled with the energy it commanded. Slowly, bit by bit, the American performer became one with the Indian instrument.

A remarkable felling in retrospect as the two nations today sign one of the most important bilateral agreements in history. Cultural ties giving birth to the reassurance that if not all, atleast something is well with the world.

- Arish Inam

March '06, 9th Issue: Championships Avenue

2006-03-25T14:39:00.000+05:30

GC - The Plot Thickens

Since last reporting, GCs have come a long way. In sports, RK has narrowed the lead Nehru enjoyed. After a lot of drama and unexpected results in hockey, giantkillers Azad took gold, with RP and Patel sharing the honours. Weightlifting again saw Azad bag gold followed by Patel and LLR while RK made a small job of Volleyball gold, silver and bronze being bagged by JCB and Nehru respectively. With Nehru out of contention in Basketball and RK out of Football, Patel’s chances have also become bright. With Basketball, Tennis and Football on and Badminton and TT yet to take place the Sports GC is all set to go to the wire.

In Soc’n’Cult GC Choreography gold was taken by Nehru followed by RK while SN and AZ shared the 3rd place. Anando Moitra (1st) and Aneesh Jain (joint 3rd with Anant Singh of Nehru) made sure that AZ bagged gold in English Elocution, SN came 2nd and RK followed. Individual silver was won by Sandipan Chaudhary of Patel Hall. Eastern Instrumentals saw SN take back the lead in GC with gold while Nehru and AZ shared the 2nd spot. Since then, in western groups RK came 1st, followed by Patel and LLR, Bengali drams was again won by RK, AZ was 2nd while Nehru and RP shared the 3rd position. Sourish Chaudhari made sure that there were no hiccups as Nehru won the JAM gold while RK and RP were distant 2nd and 3rd respectively. Eastern Groups again saw RK taking the gold as AZ came 2nd and LLR and Nehru were joint 3rd. With the recent surge in points RK look well ahead in the race, however with Hindi and English drams, Quiz, Antakshari, Western Vocals and a few fine arts events yet to be held, it surely is going to be exciting.

Technology GC saw the biggest upset with favourites RP losing the lead for the first time. Though with Mathematics Olympiad results still to come and Open Software and Open Hardware under way RP still looks good to take the GC, Nehru have done well to take lead in the GC winning gold in both Chemical Innovation and Ad Design while LLR took silver in both. Chemical Innovation bronze was won by JCB and Ad Design bronze was taken by RK.

Clarification

2006-02-16T01:25:00.000+05:30

Two of the biggest events of the calender year just happened in the fortnight gone by. All we have tried to do is gauge the common sentiment about both events and report on their performance.

No one denies the colossal amount of work that goes into making SF and Kshitij. We very much appreciate the effort put in.

This is simply an appraisal of the final product that was on view for one and all.

Scholars' Avenue does not bear either fest any ill will and we definitely dont wish to belittle the work done by the organisers. Nowhere have we dealt with untruths and we do very much stand by whatever had been printed.

Consider this issue to be a performance report. A report in which one fest got a thumbs up for a good final product while the other recieved a can-do-better: no shortage of effort anywhere but maybe something missing in the final killer punch. The intention simply was to point out the areas on which a bit more attention needs to be given.

Unfortunately, our intentions have been grossly misconstrued. What was meant to be an overall performance report on the fests has been misinterpreted as biased reporting and has clearly not been taken in the right spirit.

We'd like to asseverate the fact that we do not owe our allegiance to either fest and have only tried to faithfully reproduce the over-riding sentiments we perceived.

We wish both the fests the very best in their future endeavours.

February '06, 8th Issue: Beyond the horizon...

2006-02-15T01:10:00.000+05:30

Beyond expectations too!

You know, Kennedy may have said, “ask not what the country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”, but still, allow me to ask… “What more could Kshitij '06 have done for us?”

Yes, the laser show could have been better, the events could have started on time and Techquila and Kspeak could have been less makhau… but apart from that, Kshitij '06 was as good as it could have got!

Sky high prizes, copious yet competitive participation, brilliant guest lectures and commendable organization… hats off to Team Kshitij. No other fact brings out the success of a fest better than a measure of the participation and the sight of packed-beyond-capacity Vikramshila auditoriums for Atelier, El Matador, the lecture by Mr. Gopalakrishnan and even for the workshop on 3G technology were ample evidence of what a runaway success Kshitij '06 was. Nay, the very sight of teams sitting in the dim connectors joining the two entrances to V1 making their machines for Nirmaan bore ample testimony to the place in sun Kshitij enjoys.

Looking back, Ideon '03 was a fest in which the nerve center was none other than the Exhibition Hall in the insti main building! Just three years later the scale of the event has sky-rocketed to such an extent that same Exhibition hall wouldn't be able to host even the smallest Kshitij event!

Moving on to the guest lectures, the one thing that stood out about all the speakers was the fact that they could all hold their audience captive as long as they spoke. Mr. Gopalakrishnan, Mr. Partha Sinha, Prof. Von Klitzing and the panel members for Bizmeet, all waxed eloquent in their respective lectures.

Of course, no one who saw the Robosoccer show will forget it in a hurry, if at all. Entertaining and inspiring in equal measure, the show was made all the more remarkable by the fact that one of the three presenters was a guy who had just graduated and wasn't more than a couple of years senior to most of his audience!

But what's decidedly the most enticing thing about Kshitij is the prize money. The big stories about the 40k level prizes are many but consider this: in the workshop on 3G technology, a seemingly impromptu and totally unpublicized quiz had a prize of 3k! That, folks, is three times the total prize money given away in any single lit event in SF.

The feeling that had started creeping in last year has re-enforced itself resoundingly this year: the tech fest ain't an underdog to the so-cult fest any more. Way to go Team Kshitij (or The Kshitij Family… as the latest fad goes). For all those who think that the sky is the limit, take a clue from Kshitij… look beyond the horizon!

February '06, 8th Issue: The True Spirit of Youth

2006-02-15T01:06:00.001+05:30

...Is it on the wane?

If you are a first year student at IIT Kharagpur, you’ve heard all the publicity quotes from “it’s your wildest fantasies come true” and “the only chance IITians have of some serious bird watching” to “the biggest socio-cultural fest of eastern India”.

If you are a first year student at IIT Kharagpur who, after one of the dullest Spring Fests in recent years, still believes all of this, you’re probably not very bright.

The fact is that in all respects this year, from sponsorships to prize money to external participation to quality of star-nites, SF lost out badly to Kshitij, which until now used to be the neglected step-brother in Kgp’s Fest culture.

Scholars’ Avenue attempted to gauge student sentiment about the fest by holding an opinion poll for the final years. The results are there for all to see. While the title of best SF was a close-run thing with both 2003 and 2004 vying for top spot, 2006 was the clear winner of the dubious distinction of being the worst SF. And why not? With two out of three star-nites flopping miserably, an eminently forgettable Fine Frenzy, the lowest participation in literary events since God-knows-when and peanuts for prize money, Spring Fest 2K6 was a paragon of mediocrity. The only saving graces were the Shankar Mahadevan show and the Hasya Kavi Sammelan, but then if star performances and concerts are the only reason Spring Fest retains some measure of popularity, why go through the fracas of organizing the innumerable literary and cultural competitions? For tradition’s sake? Or plain lure of lucre?

Many alumni hold the view that SF is no longer the platform for inter-collegiate camaraderie that it used to be. Ask yourselves: how many non-Kgpians did you know before SF? How many after SF?

Get the point?

The same competition that attracted a crowd which filled less that a quarter of Raman Auditorium (Ad Spoof) ran to packed houses in Kshitij (Atelier Unrehearsed). After the immensely enjoyable and inspiring TN Seshan Star Talk of SF’04, what followed in 05 and 06 was a no-show. Anubhav, which last year saw the charismatic Rahul Sharma regale Netaji, was barely noticeable this year. And the standing joke during Fine Frenzy was that the much hyped “Fashion Parade” was all-Parade-no-Fashion. That the home team couldn’t even muster a second-runners-up (and this goes for Wildfire as well) added to the general feeling of ‘dampsquib-opia’.

Yes, SF still is THE biggest so-cult fest in Eastern India and will continue to be so the foreseeable future. Undeniably though, most events having a general feeling of being washed up and extremely monotonous. It is time we redefined what the true spirit of the youth is, and made SF the fun fest it used to be.

February '06, 8th Issue: Editors' Avenue

2006-02-15T01:02:00.000+05:30

Everyone's invited!

10-15 bucks per semester.

That's all it takes to get each one of you a personal copy of every issue of The Scholars' Avenue, delivered at your doorstep every fortnight.

Scholars' Avenue was started with the sole intention of cultivating the newspaper culture in Kgp. A culture that exists in various other colleges but, sadly, was missing in dear old Kgp. Not that it never existed here but that it was never able to sustain itself before now.

In the 1960s, a newspaper called Impact was started by a few Kgpians. Amongst them was Mr. Farrokh Mistree, the same gentleman who recently gave a guest lecture during Kshitij. That newspaper went out of print within a couple of years.

Twenty years later in the 1980's, a newspaper called Auds and Events was started by Mr. Sandipan Deb et al. This one too perished within a couple of years.

Amongst others, if there was one reason why these newspapers did not stand the test of time, it was the fact that they were not an ingrained part of the system. They weren't a part of the essential Kgp culture they way SF, Alankar and now Kshitij are.

We don't know if its sheer coincidence that once again, twenty years later, a newspaper has been started in Kgp. What we do know is that if YOU are willing, this one will not suffer the same fate as its predecessors.

Here, now, is our effort at making Scholars' Avenue an indelible part of Kgp life. Our effort at ensuring that this time, the Kgp student newspaper does not get worn down by time.

We propose that every hall include in its budget a sum of Rs. 15 for every student per semester in return for which we deliver a personal copy to each one of you. This amount will easily come down as Scholars' Avenue gets sponsorships and ads.

Think about it. The cost of helping the IIT Kgp student newspaper survive and stay on forever is, in the worst case, nothing more than one paltry cup of coffee per month.

We study history so that we may learn from it and avoid the mistakes made in the past. Right here in Kgp, two newspapers tried to ride the storm… and failed. This, now, is your chance to write a different script in Kgp history. We might just be third time lucky.

February '06, 8th Issue: A Call for Authors!

2006-02-15T00:57:00.000+05:30

The Scholars’ Avenue creative writing competition

Complete the story your own way! Send in your entries to scholars_avenue@yahoo.com and see your story in print in the next issue. Of course, there are prizes to be won too with a Parker waiting for each of the top 7 entries.

The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively. The impressiveness was habitual and not for show, for spectators were few. The time was barely 10 o'clock at night, but chilly gusts of wind with a taste of rain in them had well nigh depeopled the streets.

Trying doors as he went, twirling his club with many intricate and artful movements, turning now and then to cast his watchful eye a down the pacific thoroughfare, the officer, with his stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace. The vicinity was one that kept early hours. Now and then you might see the lights of a cigar store or of an all-night lunch counter; but the majority of the doors belonged to business places that had long since been closed.

When about midway of a certain block the policeman suddenly slowed his walk. In the doorway of a darkened hardware store a man leaned, with an unlighted cigar in his mouth. As the policeman walked up to him the man spoke up quickly.

“It's all right, officer," he said, reassuringly. "I'm just waiting for a friend. It's an appointment made twenty years ago. Sounds a little funny to you, doesn't it? Well, I'll explain if you'd like to make certain it's all straight. About that long ago there used to be a restaurant where this store stands - 'Big Joe' Brady's restaurant.”

"Until five years ago," said the policeman. "It was torn down then.”
The man in the doorway struck a match and lit his cigar. The light showed a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. His scarfpin was a large diamond, oddly set.

These are the opening lines of O. Henry's "After Twenty Years"

February '06, 8th Issue: Fest Avenue

2006-02-15T00:52:00.000+05:30

The Big Fight The battle of the Fests

The need for public appreciation can be demanding. To keep the viewers enraptured to their programs, Amitabh had to do a rap and Jassi had to get married, when KBC and Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi were pitted against each other.

Two totally different programs with different tastes, but unfortunately there is only one TV set in most homes, and thus each had to pull off a gimmick to pull the audience to itself.

I bet there is one more conflict every Kgpian is thinking of right now, SF and Kshitij. Two totally different fests with different tastes, but at the end of the year only one will be called the better of the two.

Kgp population is as, if not more, demanding as the Indian TV viewer. The slightest goof up in a fest and it will go down in history as a makahu. That put together with two very passionate teams, putting in continuous nights in the Gymkhana, is a potentially explosive mix.

Attack at the other team ranges from harmless jibes to actual cloak and dagger tactics. Pulling off a sponsor from the other side into one's own is looked at as an achievement.

The major fighting arena is the sponsorship rink. The simple reason being that there are only so many of them to go around, and very few are wont to cough up money for both the fests. The amount of sponsorship is of course one major indicator of the scale of the fest.

There have been reports of one sabotaging the other's chances by calling it a "sirf naach ganaa affair", or a "non entity with only a token participation from outside kgp". Joint attempts have not shown a good track record as organizing team members show high levels of suspicion bordering on paranoia, leading to joint deals more often than not falling through. The situation in recent past was interpreted by a sponsoring company as the fight between two student "unions".

There have been instances where negative publicity was done in outside colleges, the logic was if someone doesn't come to kgp for one he will for the other, as nobody will come here twice. In worse times, there have been instances of one tearing out the publicity material of the other.

Vice Presidents in the past years have made attempts to keep such in fighting between two Gymkhana bodies at bay, but this requires a complete change of mindset rather than attempts by any single person.

The process of induction of Kshitij into the Kgp system is still underway and there will be teething problems and occasional spats. But there is a change of mindset required from both the organizing team as well as the junta. Advantages can be drawn out from the competitive environment, each tries desperately to out do the other and this will only lead to both the fests becoming big on a national scale, but this competition is not war, and rules need to be imposed. No logic should justify painting a sister organization in bad light.

February '06, 8th Issue: Alumni Meet

2006-02-15T00:48:00.000+05:30

Alumni Meet
Back to Scholars’ Avenue

No matter how much we hate Kgp at present, at the end of the day the truth is that a few years down the line we will ultimately succumb to nostalgia and cherish these memories. The 3rd annual alumni meet was held on the 7th and 8th of January, 2006.

The event was under the immediate supervision of Prof. M. chakraborty, Dean of Alumni Affairs, with the staff of IIT foundation handling all the paper work. The students' body, headed by Gymkhana V.P. Arindam Mukherjee contributed with high tempo and gusto. The guests started pouring in on Friday afternoon, with students shuttling from the station to the three guest houses to receive them.

Most alumni had prejudices about staying at the CEC guest house. Everybody wanted to find a room at the Alumni or the Tech. Guest House. For some alumni, this was a return to their youth after as many as fifty years. The largest turn out was from the 1981 batch and one could really feel all the years fading away, as they had some good old kgp fun. Hallwise, RK and Patel witnessed the maximum number of alumni returning for the meet (Patel ka tempo high hai?)

The Friday night dinner was organized by the Vinod Gupta school of Managment. As the spouses crowded on one side and interacted amoung themselves, the alumni were busy sharing their past with students. Mr.B.C. Mondal, the first recipient of the President's gold medal in the year 1956, was also present and full of stories from his good old days at Kgp. Some golden ratios apparently never change. There was also no proper conveyance during their time and they had to walk to the station to catch a train. Even more surprising is the fact that digging the new swimming pool was part of their curriculum. He was also interested in the increasing number of female students (where??).

Registration was on Saturday morning and was followed by inaugration. During the registration, large numbers of alumni were seen reading The Scholars' Avenue, full of praise and the like (Really!). Immediately after the registration, there was a panel discussion on the topic - "Whom do the IITs serve?" which was supposed to be followed by an interactive Q&A session which turned out to have a thin participation. Tours to Gopalidham and Kalaikunda airbase (NCC anyone?) were organized for the spouses of the alumni. After lunch, the Alumni General Meeting was organized in Gargi Seminar Hall at the Vikramshila complex.

A cultural programme was organized by the TSG in the evening featuring our own ETMS and a band named Lok Shakti from Kolkata. The turnout for the cultural evening was good and the performances were well received. The alumni proceeded to their beloved halls of residence after the entertainment and soon drowned themselves, along with students, in rivers of nostalgia. The nostalgia was carried forward to the next day when they went to visit their departments. The alumni meet ended on Sunday afternoon as the alumni once again bid farewell to their alma mater.

(With inputs from Erima Goyal & C. Ramshankar)

February '06, 8th Issue: Guest Lecture

2006-02-15T00:42:00.000+05:30

Q&A with Prof. Yash Pal

Kgp wakes up to the real wonders of science

16th January, Netaji Auditorium: It was amazing to see the composure of a septuagenarian scientist answering queries ranging from the mundane to the esoteric with all the aplomb of a 17-yr old. An entire Auditorium chock-full of admirers of the former face of Turning Point (yes, some of us used to watch Doordarshan, too) got everything they were yearning for when Prof. Yashpal regaled them with fascinating insights into the world of science. A PhD from MIT, work experience at TIFR and other prestigious institutions, awards and encomiums from innumerable scientific authorities only magnify his achievements as one of the foremost popular-science authors and speakers in the country and the world.

An audience comprising mostly of school-children from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kgpians and Professors participated in what turned out to be a virtual catechism in the scientific fields. Prof. Yashpal asked probing questions on various subjects, ranging from basic high school physics (eg. why does clapping produce sound?) to cutting edge stuff like relativity and cosmology. In between, his inimitable wit and humorous one-liners kept everyone in splits.

Despite the frequent questions and almost incessant flow of banter during the session, Prof. Yashpal never failed to touch on the most important aspect of science: its fundamental role in shaping and influencing human life. Questions like “How do the social lives of farmers affect the agricultural production of the country?” continued to educate the watching crowd. His insistence on the use of everyday examples and innocent questions to impart scientific knowledge was a constant refrain throughout the session.

All in all, an extremely educative and thought-provoking lecture by one the most interesting personalities ever to have graced the hallowed Netaji stage.

February '06, 8th Issue: News Avenue

2006-02-15T00:39:00.000+05:30

Sparks of Genius

After rocking the technology scene at IIT Kharagpur for several years now, students from the Innovations Lab are winning laurels at other renowned hubs for scientific and technological advancement as well. At the Engineering Fair 2006, organized by the Birla Industrial and Technolgical Museum, Kolkata, Suryarghya Chakrabarti (3rd Yr. MF), Anshul Sao (3rd Yr. EG) and Rudra Pratap (3rd Yr. MF) from Kgp blew the competition away with their unique combination of creative spark and technological expertise. Their project, entitled, “Real Time Robot Navigation in Dynamic Environments Using Micro-Genetic Algorithms” scored the highest points from a field of 16 teams, all from renowned institutions from around the country. The prize: a splendid amount of Rs. 12,000 to each member to be given as a monthly scholarship for a period of one year. Sounds good, doesn't it?
The fair was held from 17th to 21st of January 2006 at the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum at Kolkata. As a preliminary round, teams had to present an abstract of their proposed model, which could be any application that could have possible industrial implementation way back in December 2005. The working model was shown during the finals held in January 2006.

The objective of the project was something the junta here is quite accustomed to by now, what with Robotix now an annual event in Kshitij. Given an arena with obstacles, their robot had to find the optimum path to a pre-specified destination while avoiding all collisions. While Anshul was the brains behind the Communication and Image-Processing parts of the operation, Suryarghya handled the research and implementation of genetic algorithms and Rudra was in charge of hardware.
So good was their model that the judges announced publicly that their performance had garnered far more points than the runners-up, a team from the Future Institute of Management.

But wait, there's more. These guys were not the only ones to emerge with their pockets full from a KGP dominated result-board. Sumandeep Banerjee (4th year ECE), Shubham chopra(4th year ECE) and Arnab Mitra(2nd year EE) won the award for Best Implemented Design for their project on “Web-based Control of Home Appliances”. A cool Rs. 5000 in cash is what they won. Not bad for a day's work, right??

Wonder exactly how many GPL's these brainy guys got for all their hard work ?

February '06, 8th Issue: News Avenue

2006-02-15T00:34:00.000+05:30

Composit 2006

"If you have the ideas to stir up a revolution in the world of Engineering we have the platform to make it happen”, says COMPOSIT 2006.

The Congress Of Metallurgical Professional involving students, Industry and Teachers (COMPOSIT) 2006, 28-30 January, was organized by the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Sciences inviting student participation from colleges all across India. There was a large array of events arranged throughout the 3-day period to whet the grey cells of all joining in.

COMPOSIT was first started as a paper presentation and discussion platform for students of the field of Metallurgy about scientific innovations in important areas and latest buzzes in the industry.

As history recollects, this is the 12th year of the Student Congress. The current edition of COMPOSIT invited participation from JNTU Hyderabad, MGIT Hyderabad, IT-BHU Varanasi, NIT Bhubaneshwar; NIT Rourkela, NIT Durgapur, BIT Sindri, Govt. Enginering College Raipur, ISM Dhanbad, PSG College of Engineering Coimbatore and SALEM Govt Engineering College.

The major spotlight-hogging events were the Technosium, Colloquium and Tourindus and all three invited energetic participations from the students. There were also the Brainwave, Metallomania, Engineering Quiz (EQ), the School Science Quiz (X-Quiz-IT) and even a Cultural Programme thrown in to intersperse the tiring schedule of events.

Technosium, the paper presentation competition, invited students to present path breaking scientific papers in advanced fields of Metallurgy, and to defend them before the judges. Brainwave asked students to present innovative but yet unpublished ideas in the field of Metallurgy.

Colloquium was an interactive panel discussion by some of the most eminent metallurgical scientists and engineers of India. Speakers included Dr. Amit Chatterjee, Advisor to MD, Tata Steel; Prof Gautam Sinha, Professor at VGSOM; Dr. Y. Manahar, YZAG Steel Plant, Vishakhapatnam; and Mr. M. L. Bapna, GM, Technical at Tata Motors.

Dr. Amit Chatterjee had come to study at IIT KGP in 1960s as an undergraduate for the course of Electrical Engineering but since he was not as passionate about Electrical Engineering as Metallurgy, he left the campus in seven days. At COMPOSIT, he unofficially revealed plans of Tata Steel of taking in more and more graduates from IIT Kharagpur into Tata Steel in near future.

As a surprise package, a presentation was given by Ravi Siddharth - a 10th standard student - on his idea for electromagnetic fuel for rocket propulsion in space.

Finally, the participating students left Kharagpur in the afternoon of 29th for a study tour of the factories of Tata Steel and Tata Motors in Jamshedpur as part of ‘Tourindus’.

February '06, 8th Issue: GC Predictions

2006-02-15T00:30:00.000+05:30

The Race for Gold

February '06, 8th Issue: Soc & Cult GC Predictions

2006-02-15T00:27:00.000+05:30

Soc & Cult: Too Close to Call

With more than a 1000 points left to play for in the Soc n' Cult GC and the current leaders on a mere 317.5, it seems more than a daunting task to guess the final destination of the GC. Last year's Champions Nehru were heavily lagging behind the other halls at this time last year. It wasn't until the drams and ent events that the Nehruites gradually picked up the pieces and put together the GC puzzle. We can however make a few “educated” guesses with respect to the remaining events and see how it all adds up.

Azad and Nehru are the dramatics veterans with the latter having a very significant impact on the same last year. They stood out amongst the pack with a clean sweep of all the three dramatics events and Choreography where they set new standards. This year however it looks like there will be strong competition in the form of Azad and underdogs RP who have put in solid performances in the Open IIT Events and managed some silverware in last year's events. Moving on to entertainment, RP and RK seem strong favourites while Azad and Nehru try to re-build their ent teams after the graduation of the likes of Shayak and Pratap for AZ and JD, Rana, Satyaki for NH. One feels that the judges will have crucial roles to play in this event, keeping in mind that many people were unhappy to say the least about the rulings at some of the events last year.

There are three lit events left – Quiz, JAM, English Elocution. Nehru and RP are favourites (not necessarily in that order) for JAM, if of course the event occurs, keeping in mind that it has occurred just once in the last three years. Consistent with the result of last year's quiz, Azad and RK seem to be the favourites, closely followed by Nehru and RP, but then again a quiz is only as predictable as the questions on that day.

Now, the writer sticks his neck out, and makes arbitrary insensitive predictions. Here's hoping I don't make any more enemies - Based on the past record and keeping in mind the events left, LLR, Patel and SN (even though they are 2nd right now) shall be ruled out. No offense to any of the above halls. It is hoped they prove this amateur writer wrong and further complicate issues. This leaves us with RK, RP, Azad and Nehru, within around 100 points, which is basically the amount of points a hall gets for winning a group event. From here on if things follow last year's trend its pretty obvious that Nehru will walk away with the GC. However, Azad and RP have in recent times stepped up in the drams events which without a doubt are the most important ones for Nehru. It also appears that they might not do anything very significant in the ent events with their rookie ent team (compared to the last year anyways). RP, RK and Azad will probably rely equally on all the four categories of events left. Quiz Golds have long become an Azad tradition but RK will definitely have something to say about that. If I were to put my money, it would be very fairly put on Nehru or RK.. This year's GC races seems to be one of the closest in recent times and I guess only time holds the answer as to which hall will triumph. The tempo is bound to pick up, and with it the excitement as well. Watch this space.

With contributions from Savi Kumar Jain. (All data as of 7th Feb.)

February '06, 8th Issue: Sports GC Predictions

2006-02-15T00:25:00.000+05:30

Sports: Nehru Seem Set to Lift the Trophy

A quarter of the Spring Semester over, its time to look at the G.C. scene and conjecture on the present scenario. The Sports GC at present is being headed by Nehru at 41 points. RK and Patel follow at 27 and 25 points respectively. Last semester saw Nehru take Athletics and Aquatics, whereas RK took Bridge and Waterpolo. A whole lot of events are left in the remainder of the academic year.

Chess and Cricket took place in January. Nehru won chess and Patel, cricket.

Hockey offers an open playing field with no particular hall with very strong teams. MMM, with some very talented first years can be termed favourites. LLR having won the 6-a-side also feature as contenders for a position amongst the top 3. Nehru with a strong basketball team has a good chance for the gold in basketball. In TT and volleyball R.K. are very strong contenders for the gold with ace teams in both. In weightlifting other than Patel, Azad and LLR also look very strong. In tennis RP are a relatively strong team. RK and Patel seem to be on an equal platter as far as badminton is concerned. The last event of the sports calendar, football could head Nehru’s way but competition from RK and LLR shall be stiff.

Taking stock of all the events that are yet to take place we see that if Nehru manages to take the gold in basketball and football and RK take volleyball, TT and badminton gold the final tally comes to Nehru 56, RK 51. Badminton can get RK close enough for the killer move, and yet a few silvers and bronzes in cricket, tennis and/or hockey may give Nehru the unassailable lead. It could turn out to be a very well fought sports GC by the end of the semester. So here’s looking forward to some great sporting action.

February '06, 8th Issue: Tech GC Predictions

2006-02-15T00:22:00.000+05:30

Tech: RP Looks Good to Bag the GC

We are half way through the 2005-06 session, but the third ever Tech. GC is far from even the halfway mark. With 6 out of 8 events to be held in this semester, the fight for the GC has just begun. A good start is half the battle won and the start RP hall have got, with a gold in Tech. quiz and a silver in Pi would do absolutely no harm. HJB, the surprise winners of Pi follow RP’s 135 points with a 100 points in their bag. Azad hall is third(45),closely followed by Patel(40) and Nehru(30).

There is something for the trailing teams to look forward to in the future events, which include two 100 point events (Xi and Opensoft). Both Nehru and Patel had done well(gold and silver respectively), the last time Xi was held(2003-04), but that was two years ago and there has been a change in their teams since then. Azad will be hoping to do well in Bizquiz given that they have a good quizzing team but they will face stiff competition from RP who beat them comprehensively in Techquiz. RP also have an edge in Opensoft wherein they had shared the top spot along with RK last year. Ad-Design and Chi along with Maths Olympiad may turn out to be anybody's game with no team having a clear advantage beforehand. RK which hasn't scored till now, can stage a fight back with Bizquiz and Opensoft. The judges are still to decide , whether HJB should lose their gold in Pi because of the plagiarism charges made against them by some other halls. HJB’s loss here will be a huge gain for RP.

In totality, RP looks well on road to the Technology General Championship but they must look out for the bumps ahead. The other teams need to catch up fast!

February '06, 8th Issue: Features Avenue

2006-02-15T00:20:00.000+05:30

Innovating at Innovation
A look into Prof. Jayanta Bhattacharya's new book

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you see the words “Disruptive Innovation” on a book's cover? Al Qaeda's terrorist strategies? A new James Bond movie? IIT's professors striking for more pay?

Well, that's why they say, never judge a book by its cover.

Prof. Jayanta Bhattacharya breaks new ground with his manuscript on Disruptive Innovation strategies rampant in corporate, scientific and everyday life. While the concept may not be a new one, the treatment certainly is. In his own words, “the book is not a self absorbed bible. It can be treated both as a handy reference and an enjoyable read for those simply fascinated by this increasingly crucial aspect of management.”

The words “innovation” and “creativity” are nowadays so routinely used in almost every walk of life, that there is a real danger of them losing their significance. Disruptive Innovation, in its clear, concise and fascinatingly simplistic method, describes the why and how of innovation. Thirteen case studies document in detail the various strategies used to implement disruptive innovation at its productive best. Questions like 'what are the actual dynamics of innovation', 'when can people observe it actually occurring around them', 'how does the next line of technology unfold before our very eyes', are tackled in subtle yet educative prose.

Ideas we see and hear about everyday have been seen from the eyes of the disruptive innovator. For instance, the concept of using an ATM as a fully functional bank is an example of how private banks circumvented the monolithic manner of looking at banking, and in the process, created an institution in itself. The revolutionary e-chaupal concept currently being established by ITC is revolutionary simply because ITC dared to break the familiar hierarchy of producers-wholesalers-retailers and directly targeted the producers, i.e the farmers. Hence the name “Disruptive Innovation” as opposed to simply “Innovation”.

Even the evolution of “Disruptive Innovation” has been traced out quite comprehensively. Prof. Bhattacharya covers the inevitable early failures and sloth-like pace of development of disruptive innovation strategies. As an example, take the advent of mobile phones in India. What started out as a stuttering, elitist movement in a market beset by established norms of class and income-groups, has now reached behemoth-like proportions, and is still growing at an astounding pace. VSNL's vision in introducing telecom as a luxury everyone could afford has been lauded, while at the same time, its failure to observe the disruptive innovation at work and capitalize on that has been denounced.

The book is exactly the kind of fare one would expect from an author who revels in being different. An ardent reader of Chekhov and Dostoevsky, Prof. Bhattacharya is also the editor of KGPian (the alumni newsletter). He is also the author of “Global Corporate Environmentalism”, a book which has now reached cult-status among management students. Priced at just Rs. 75, the book is sure to give us IITians, renowned for our creativity, some great food for thought.

February '06, 8th Issue: Features Avenue

2006-02-15T00:15:00.000+05:30

CET Students Research Group

Learn, Create Learning Technologies

CSRG (CET Student Research Group) has been formed under the aegis of the Centre for Educational Technology, IIT Kharagpur to carry out research and development activities in the area of educational technology. This group has been founded by Amit Bhutoria, a final year student of the department of Aerospace Engineering, who has been actively pursuing his interests in educational technology for the last couple of years. This group is the first of its kind where the students are encouraged to pursue their ideas in the field of Technology-Enhanced-Learning. CSRG has a set of professor mentors who guide students in the various projects.

Currently about 15 third year and final year students, who form the core of the group, are working on projects like virtual classroom, virtual lab, video on demand, content representation and reusability, computer aided evaluation, etc. There are about 20 second years and more than 60 first years who have shown an interest in the group. CSRG team members also conduct sessions on programming languages and relevant technologies for them so that they can get actively involved with the projects.
A brave new venture, CSRG is working on creating tools and technologies that will be used not only here in IIT Kharagpur, but could be deployed in other educational institutions to which CET provides consultancy in their bid to implement technology enhanced learning in their various campuses.

The group is also into talks with the industry leaders in the educational technology domain and other educational institutions to create a network which will drive the educational technology research taking place in India.

The people involved with CSRG feel that working in this group will help develop an environment that encourages working in groups and will help students to get a feel of what it is like to lead and organize projects, work according to deadlines which they will have to set themselves, and prepare them for a career in industry.

For more information about this group, visit:
www.cetonline.iitkgp.ernet.in/csrg

[For any clarifications, contact Amit Bhutoria-94343-68926.]

February 06, 8th Issue: Features Avenue

2006-02-15T00:11:00.000+05:30

Disha for the Directionless

DISHA - an NGO, set up in IIT Kgp by IITians
and funded by ex-students

The story about to unfold may sound too good to be true. It was the vision of a place dreamt by a handful of Kgp- alumni. Things have come a long way since those utopian dreams first surfaced-they have now turned into reality.

Mr P K Dwivedi and Mrs Hansa Nundy, two ex–IITians hitherto happily settled abroad but wanting to give something back to their motherland come back to India. Kgp welcomed them back with open arms by granting them six acres of land. This was the birth of DISHA which would eventually change the lives of 100s of destitute people. This piece of land, though barren and at first sight seeming totally useless is covered with a boundary wall and a green cover. This would enclose a multi purpose building and a farm. Better known as Seema centre and Neera farm, 100 children would be chosen every year from the poorest of families. These children have their own stories to tell. Some of them were used to going to bed hungry, now they get four square meals. They were too poor to attend school, here they receive education and more. A medical check-up which would earlier be branded an unaffordable luxury now features in their daily schedule. Every ailment is treated, whether it’s the common flu or a faulty heart which needs operation. They are even be taught to work in the fields, to cook, to fish in the in-house ponds and trained about the practical aspects of life. A healthy, clean and hygienic environment to live, learn and grow, with hands on training on finding opportunities for employment, this is a boarding school with a difference, and with a noble purpose too.

The story isn’t over as yet. This model had to be self sustaining to survive, and it is. With sizable contributions from ex- IITians and students (two notable patrons being Arjun Malhotra and Lalit Behal), it started off and has come on its own. The Neera farms currently boasts of copious growth of a variety of fruit trees like guavas, mangoes and lemons, vegetable crops, acres of tea plantation and wood bearing trees like mahogany. This year saw them succeeding in cashew cultivation. A rain water drainage system has been set up and ponds have been teeming with fish. A bakery was set up which would provide employment to poor village women, apart from churning out nutritious and chemical-free bread and similar products. It worked well for a few years, but somehow couldn’t convince the hostels in the campus to buy its products on a regular basis. Sadly this bakery had to be shut down in 2004. However this didn’t affect the morale of these people. DISHA is now on a mission to replicate this model all over the country. Going by the track record and the zeal, it would be difficult to stop them.

February 06, 8th Issue: News Avenue

2006-02-15T00:05:00.000+05:30

Gymkhana Reloaded

Winning the Inter IIT Sports Meet held last year in Roorkee initiated a chain reaction, only this one wasn't going to lead us to destruction. What resulted from this unpredicted, unlikely victory was a new zeal in not only the students but in the administration as well towards sporting in specific and extra-curricular activities in general. And in the aftershock of the victory, the Gymkhana reconstruction was suddenly getting everyone excited.

A budget of Rs. 10 crores has been allocated for the reconstruction of the Technology Students' Gymkhana (TSG), of which Rs. 3 crores is scheduled to be spent in this academic year itself. The Ministry of Human Resources and Development has provided a major portion of this grant. Long term plans have been made to spend this huge sum of money over the years, but then a start has to be made somewhere. On the cards is a new Gymkhana complex which will have the most modern facilities, another thing which the KGPians will be boasting of in another 3-4 years.

The new Gymkhana complex will have a squash court, 3 indoor badminton and volleyball courts (anyone who has been to the Gymkhana would realise the problems associated with this present one), a table tennis room, billiards tables (proposed) and a new gymnasium. The new gymnasium will be huge enough to let around 250 people work out at the same time, and will contain the most modern equipments. The purchase of equipment for the gymnasium will not be delayed till its building has been constructed, instead the process has already started and the equipments will be installed in the existing gym or in the gymkhana. Purchase of equipment for all other sports is also on the cards.

But what happens till the new complex comes up? Will the existing gymkhana be allowed to rot? The renovation work has already begun. The gymkhana roof is being checked for seepage, the broken floor being repaired, the renovation of facilities is going on at full swing. The swimming pool will be getting a new boundary wall and more new gleaming tiles by the end of March this year.

Jnan Ghosh stadium, Tata Sports Complex (TSC) and the lawn tennis courts, all will be getting their own lighting, with the possibility of holding inter-hall football and hockey matches and cricket practices under lights in the future. The viewing galleries of Jnan Ghosh stadium will be renovated and a new 8-lane track sprint track will be laid. TSC will get new galleries and a changing room. The future of sports in KGP looks bright. Not many sports colleges can boast of such facilities.

Although the plans for the development of sporting facilities have taken the spot light, Soc-n-Cult enthusiasts have lots to cheer about too. After all KGP is the first and only winner of the Inter IIT Soc-n-Cult meet. The Gymkhana plans to take possession of new musical instruments (WTMS and ETMS members who had to rush to all places to get instruments for practicing will be breathing a sigh of relief). The Soc-n-Cult complex will have enough room to hold dramatics and TDS practices, which will leave the institute foyer without the hustle it enjoyed late in the night before a HTDS, ETDS, BTDS or TDS production.

The plans have been made. The funds made available. The future is bright and it certainly is there. KGP finally is turning world class!

Our special thanks to Prof. N. S. Raghuwanshi, President TSG and Mr. Atul Kumar, Ayush Mathur, General Secretaries - Sports and Games, TSG for letting us have a view of the future.

February 06, 8th Issue: Toon Avenue

2006-02-15T00:02:00.000+05:30

February 06, 8th Issue: Humour Avenue

2006-02-14T23:46:00.000+05:30

Laser Show turns into Disaster
Millions Dead

It was a clear and calm evening, like any other, in the quiet town of Kharagpur. The TOAT was filled with unsuspecting spectators, eagerly anticipating a scintillating Laser Show. Nary a soul would have thought that it would be the last laser show they will ever see. For, tragedy struck, the very lasers which they came to see perfom perfectly harmless tricks went wild and spread death and destruction in the KGP junta.

In a tragedy of colossal proportions, a laser show organized as a part of the inaugural ceremony of Kshitij 2006 (Horizon and Beyond....) ended in a massive loss of human life and hope. The offending Laser Show, billed as the big cheese of Ktj, was a total disaster. Even as this report is being written, parts of bodies of innocent viewers and bystanders which have been cut up by the run away laser beans are being matched with their owners.

The event began on expected lines. M. Sorcar went from one boring sentence to another with practiced ease. The audience groaned in a cultivated show of patience and polish. Testing the limits of hospitality, M. Sorcar frequently switched from English to Bong, and this too was tolerated by the ever gracious junta. And then the mayhem started. The lights in the open auditorium were dimmed in a dramatic fashion. Audience' expectations leaped high. There were a few moments of tense silence. Has the light's man forgotten something? Has the power been cut? These could be the questions which might have run through the young and inquizitive minds of the fachhas and fachhis. However, the audience collectively sighed in relief when the emerald green laser beam struck the purdah that has been hung. Weird patterns emerged. And it went on for quite some time. Then the show, which, according to a hapless soul caught in the ensuing melee, looked much like a very crude PowerPoint presentation in monochrome, jumped haphazardly across time lines and encompassed the entire, hoary Indian history in roughly five and a half minutes and in an equal number of stunningly mediocre visuals. "I am quite lucky I made for the exit when I caught the drift of the events," said Asambhav Kumar, frantically searching for the piece of his ear which is the only part to have been separated from him. Others were not so lucky. Yours lovingly had his gizzards neatly severed from his person. Dhawansaab, on whose express recommendation yours lovingly attended the show, had his beak cleanly clipped. Such horror tales abound.

"The laser beams just went wild, leaping from seat to seat, goring the hapless humans in their way," a visibly shaken second year bandi said dramatically, and rather impressively, I must say, with her hands covering her ears and all that. She then proceeded to faint from an imagined horror.

"Precisely what went wrong is hard to pin down right now," the Director of Public Safety and Hygiene said, adding, "we will get to the root of the matter very soon and provide you with a convincing reason. Trust our department on that.”

According to eye witnesses, immediately after recounting Indian history, complete with a very poor and incomplete rendition of the national anthem, a snapping sound was heard, something like an untamed King Kong breaking free of its bondages, and the first anguished death cry was heard from the first seat in the central aisle. Visibility reduced to near zero because of the thick smoke that had been introduced as a part of the special effects. Soon people were dropping dead like fleas and before one can say 'what the...' everything was over. The damage has been done.

Injuries range from insulted intelligence, affronted dignity, great expectaions let down, this is not what I expected and whatta show, hooeey! This blatant attempt to seriously under entertain the KGP junta has been widely condemned by leaders cutting across party lines and from all over the political spectrum. The honorable minister of SF with additional charge now of Kshitij, will visit the venue of massacre tomorrow.

The Director of Intelligence and of this Institute did not rule out the possibility of involvement of the Foreign Hand. The genius that conceived of this idea of laser show is still at large, fearing public retribution.

Whatever be the body count, yesterday will remain forever etched in our collective memory as one heck of a black day, yeah baby. Oops sorry.

Our hearts go to bits thinking of what all we could have achieved in those fateful forty minutes we spent watching the ill fated laser show. Destinies could have been altered, history made. I could have bathed. Yet, an entire generation has perished in that freak accident. An entire batch of fachhas now live in eternal dread of the five lettered word (L.A.S.E.R). The scourge of technology in mismanaged techno-management festivals can not be highlighted better than through this tragic incident. The need of the hour is a serious over haul of safety procedures to be adopted in open to air auditoria, a rethink of the whole Kshitij idea and a general increased awareness of what damp squibs shows in KGP usually can be.

Kontham Sudhir

Spring Fest Rewind!

2006-01-23T17:40:00.000+05:30

The Telegraph, in collaboration with The Scholars' Avenue, released a special supplement to commemorate Spring Fest '06.

All articles in this special supplement have been contributed by Team Scholars' Avenue. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank The Telegraph for what's been a wonderful experience for us over the last week.

Happy reading!

Spring Fest Rewind: Trekking across springs bygone

2006-01-23T17:17:00.000+05:30

A look into the history of Spring Fest

Spring Fest: two words that make every KGPian’s heart beat almost as vivaciously as Judy Garland in the Wizard of Oz. What with 24-hour dance floors, fashion shows graced by the prettiest damsels known to Homo-collego-studento, a plethora of events promising vast(at least compared to our pocket money) sums of money, and the "so- sizzling- you’ll -have-to-wear-asbestos-underwear-to-survive-the-concert” stars descending to entertain us mortals every night for 4 nights running, the campus definitely turns to a haven for the underprivileged junta here.

SF hasn’t always been this big, though. A walk down memory lane gave some interesting insights into the Spring Fests of yore. According to currently available information, SF started in 1959, and purely as an inter-hall event (for the uninitiated a “hall” is just another name for a hostel, and we had around 18 of them at last count). It slowly evolved into an annual event held around March. Hence the name “Spring Fest” (and you thought IITians couldn’t be pragmatic). The participation profile expanded to include colleges from neighboring cities, which basically meant Calcutta. Presidency, Jadavpur University, St. Xaviers, Loreto House were regulars here.

During this time (this was mid-1960’s), there were only 5 major events. These were Indian Classical Music, Western Music, Dramatics, Debate and Quiz. Seven halls used to participate in these events and the competition, as it has always been, was fierce. Debating and Dramatics were held on the inter-collegiate level as well, though Kgp being the hosts participated non-competitively. Many to-be prominent debaters and actors used to participate and win regularly. Among them were Jojo Karlekar, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Kokon Mukherjee from Presidency and Ashok Vishwanathan from St. Xaviers’. Mr. Vishwanathan went on to represent India at the Inter University Debating Competition held at Oxford.

The Quiz, instituted as the Mary Bucknell Trophy in 1964 was (and still is) one of the most hotly contested events in Spring Fest. Considering that, it was surprising to see almost everyone in the dark about the origin of the trophy. So who exactly was Mary Bucknell? It turns out she was actually the wife of a Prof. Bucknell of the Dept. of Metallurgy and Material Science, and she was an avid quizzer. When the then General Secretary (Social and Cultural) Alok Saha wanted to establish a Quizzing Competition, he turned to Prof. Bucknell for help, and the Mary Bucknell Trophy was instituted. To this day, it remains one of the most coveted awards in Indian Quizzing circles.

Unlike the massive participation nowadays, Spring Fest in the sixties used to be a much less populated affair. Out station participation was restricted to a single contingent from every college, consisting of teams for every event and a small cheering squad (none were willing to divulge whether there were cheerleaders as well, but they did flash evil grins when they said this). Sadly there were no star nites during this time; renowned musicians used to come to Kharagpur for a Musical Conference which was entirely separate from Spring Fest.

SF has changed dramatically since then. In fact, SF used to be held in more or less the same fashion until 1991, when it was first held in the current format, although outstation participation was still pretty low at around 200-300. In the past decade and a half however, there have been quantum leaps in Spring Fest organization, with sponsorship amounts rising exponentially and with corresponding increase in outstation participation. The sponsorship figure from any single company first trickled into lakhs in 2003, and in the same year, the outstation participation breached the 1000 barrier as well.

Today, of course, SF is no longer just a platform for one-upmanship among colleges and halls. It is an opportunity for the Indian college-going crowd to let their hair down with us, and is eagerly awaited by everyone. Contests like MBT and Wildfire have achieved cult status in the entire country. Bands like Mantra and Cyanide Angels started their meteoric rise to stardom from the hallowed stage of Tagore Open Air Theatre. Last year Strings, who performed live at SF, proudly stated in an interview to a website that their Kharagpur concert was their best ever.

And so it is with bated breath and unabated frenzy that we await yet another edition of Spring Fest, and Kharagpur gears up to witness the spectacle of more than eight thousand Judy Garlands.

- Shishir Dash and Anuj Dayal

Spring Fest Rewind: EVEsdropping on ADAM!

2006-01-23T17:11:00.000+05:30

The following are the musings of two KGPians – a guy and a girl written from the other’s perspective. They try to take a peep into the other’s mind highlighting what they think SF means for the other.

What women want

For us girls SF was all about looking our best, going out and participating in all the events we could and be on a watch out for handsome guys. It is a time when there is a festive mood all around and SF would be on our mind right from standing in a queue to register for the spring sem. There would be long sessions in which the wardrobe of the entire wing would be spread out and everybody would pick up the dresses she would like to wear during the fest. We had found out this new way of using dresses from each other’s wardrobe to look as if we were wearing new ones. This would involve intense debates as to what should be worn and what not and at what time of the day. There were deals and negotiations involving exchange of dresses.

The next stage of preparation involved chalking out the events we would participate in or go and watch and the guys each one of us would want to go out with during the fest. All this involved so much of analysis, bhaat and leg pulling that we had our share of fun even before the fest started. Come SF and we would all be dressed in the best of our dresses. We made a point to go out and participate in teams formed from our wing. Those who did not participate would cheer the others up. Dumb Charades and What’s the Good Word were two events which we never missed. The emotions also evolved with the festival. The first day saw all of us thrilled and anticipating what SF had in store for us. The second saw more of participation and hanging out with guys. The third day would be full of fatigue from two consecutive nights out and a sadness that after all, SF was going to end.

Our feelings also evolved over the years of SF. During our first SF, we were very enthusiastic about finding some one special. Most of us did. For the lucky ones, the next SF was spent in spending quality time with their beaus but for the rest, it was treasure-hunt time all over again. During the third SF, we had become very selective in what we wanted to go to and what not. Final year was about staying with the wing. That thing about it being your final SF somehow hits you. It was spent with the wing – participating in all the events we could, hooting during the FP and TDS productions and dancing our hearts out at the Perpz tent. All in all my moods in SF are a clear indication of how I evolved during my four years at IIT Kharagpur – a lovely journey indeed. Thank you SF.

-Amit Gupta

Guys just wanna have fun!

There must be something in the oxygen content of the air. Yes, that must be it. Because changes like these don’t happen without any reason. How else do you explain the bustling energy in everyone’s stride?

So, Spring Fest is here once again. It’s that time of the year when the domain of activity of a guy like me shifts by a few yards. My computer and bed no longer manage to keep me ensnared. Something about the SF air usurps my attention from all other places and draws me close to the arena. My hands down favorite hang out places are no longer Chhedi’s, Harry’s, Veggie’s and even Bondhu’s, although something about them does bring me back to them at the end of the day and then, I am lured back into the SF arena while the buzz grows into a deafening din. All I can see is bright lights and dazzling colors occupying every available inch of vertical space.

Wasn’t my friend remarking this morning as to how the arena is all fresh and clean. First thing in the morning, as I stepped into the arena with the sun at the zenith, I bumped into a guy with a lot of make-up and apparent color-blindness. It took me a while to realize the poor guy was a victim of the face painting competition and didn’t know how to make his way to the wash basin. I gave him directions and left chortling. I knew I was at the right place. Face painting is too messy for me, but hey, they said I could opt for more sober options like collecting garbage and creating artistic masterpieces out of them.

They said for the intellectually inclined, there’s a whole new world of words and debates and JAM sessions and dumb-charades and quizzes and what and what not where your grey cells challenge someone else’s not-so-grey cells. But my grey cells turned out to be greyer than anybody else’s and I had to quit after one round because they were too grey. So I decided to let my hair down and took a perpendicular turn and reached a place they called “Perpz” where the din was the loudest and crowd hippest!! It’s the place where I could take a break from the entire hullabaloo and still have a good time. And yeah, by the way, here I got to sway hips along with all the pretty girls too.

I just about managed to get into TOAT for the Fashion Parade. Yesterday was an experience in itself with a huge beeline to outstrip before I could get to watch the Parikrama show. So, I hopped forward on the lookout for any old acquaintance at the gate that could get me in. For a guy like me that was piece of cake, I had acquaintances all lined up. The show was worth any kind of fight. I enjoyed the FP as much as the unofficial live commentary. I really liked the way they walked and the clothes they wore and I didn’t mind gaping. Hey, I wasn’t the only one watching the babes!

The show ended, but not the night. Duty called and I had to go get a drink or two, gossip, eat and party. An excuse like Spring Fest isn’t needed to do these things anyway, but we don’t really mind. Guys just wanna have some fun!

- Swati

Spring Fest Rewind: Its a jungle out there!

2006-01-23T17:04:00.000+05:30

Spring Fest 05 was held in a village.
A year has gone by.
Humanity has evolved.
Civilization has advanced.
Ergo…
Spring Fest 06 is being held in a jungle!

Presenting, ladies and gentlemen, the all new concept in which SF re-invents itself every year: theme design for the arena. Last year was the first time this experiment had been tried out. With matkas, huts and tiled roofs, the arena looked a veritable replica of a traditional Indian village. Riding high on last year’s success, this year, the SF team has given its spirits a free rein. The upshot: a jungle, bang in the centre of IIT Kgp!

Lewis Carroll wrote, ‘begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end’. Trouble with this story is… there is no beginning and there is no end! The work of the SF design team (D-team) starts as soon as the academic year starts in July. Right from the posters, the sponsorship brochures, hoardings, publicity brochures and newspaper ads to the arena theme, tent design, backdrop design and the SF logo, the D-team, along with the core team, is involved in the thick of the entire action.

Which reminds us… how often have you seen Enrique Iglesias around the campus? Or Naomi Campbell, for that matter?
Foxed?? Take a closer look at the SF logo then!
Designed by Himadri Mayank and Narendra Bhushan for the last SF, this image has since become synonymous with the fest.

Come January and the work assumes a frenetic pace. The Deco team (some seem to call it the decoration team) is chosen roughly a dozen days before SF. They, along with the Design team, work out the final plans for the arena, the cloth to be used, the materials to be procured, the finishing required and the little matter regarding the way to go about the whole affair!

Innovation and creative thinking are imperative when working in these teams. Things like matkas, jhoolas and charpoys, all needed when creating the ambience of a village, are nearly impossible to obtain at a short notice. Sometimes, the need gets as specific as a coconut coir rope of a fixed diameter! The D-teams have to bear all these in mind when working on the arena. Whenever any design or structure is conjured up, it’s immediately followed up by ideas on which materials would be easiest to procure and where to get them from.

While aesthetic sense is indispensable when designing the arena, common sense beats all else. Says Himadri Mayank, D-team head last year, “Its easy to use your creativity and come up with pretty paraphernalia all over the arena but that doesn’t create a lasting impact on the minds. You need to create a dominant impression and a simple way of doing that is to repeat some structures at regular places in the arena so that people are able to relate to the theme”.

Moving on, cost is an obvious constraint when going for a theme design in SF. In fact, the biggest reason for launching this experiment last year was the fact that there was enough money in SF’s kitty to think differently. Thatches, Mangalore tiles, camouflaging paints and various other accessories are required to make sure that everything in the arena adds to the ambience of the theme. There’s no gainsaying the fact that all these cost more than peanuts, but then, nothing that’s really worth having comes cheap.

By the way, if there’s one thing that the D-team never has to worry about, its manpower. From core team heads desperate for a break from their work, to cupid-struck guys trying to break the ice with their dream girls in the D-team, there’s never a dearth of junta willing to work on the arena!!

Seeing is believing, though, and you have to be here to feel the magic of SF. Fun, frolic, music, dance, stars, events and the call of the wild… its all lined up and it’s all right here. Pack a bag and hit the town… it’s a jungle out there and we won’t return by dawn!

-Sunny Somani

Spring Fest Rewind: Spring Is In The Air

2006-01-23T16:55:00.000+05:30

It is that time of the year again - when the spirit of spring comes alive and makes every denizen of this rustic retreat lose its nonchalant elegance and jump around clapping like 10 year old school kids.

When the prosaic campus that had been hibernating under a thick foliage of indifference wakes up, shakes itself free of its assumed sophistication and starts putting on its dancing shoes. When even the sun cannot escape the infection and becomes benevolently playful upon the ecstatic crowd. When people who wouldn’t know water from vodka start queuing up outside bathrooms, when the barbers in the campus suddenly start going back home smiling , when the gym looks like it could use a traffic light, you know it .

You know Spring Fest has arrived!! Spring Fest - the confluence of hope and despair; of fun and funk; of the adventurous and the genuinely insane .The cauldron of a stew of hormones. The sacrificial temple of the pressure of being the best. The child of the geek’s worship. The whatever of the whatever! The legacy of merrymaking passed down through ages has been religiously kept chaste and alive. Spring Fest has been the stake where generations of Kgpians have exorcized their demons of frustration. And SF’06 is going to be no different.

This year is another milestone in the evolution of the fest as the biggest in eastern India. The long list of fun filled events is enough to make a war veteran get goosebumps. And it is going to be four days of all that!

The whole fest will revolve around a central theme –that of the Jungle. Apart from the star nights that boast of such heavyweights as Shankar Mahadevan and Euphoria, there’s a whole lot of stuff to get worked up about. An addition to the star night stable is Pal, where Euphoria will be working their magic. With other events such as Fine Frenzy (the fashion parade) and Wildfire (rock music competition with wattage around 10,000 watts!!) slated on evenings, everyone is going to be hard placed for breath.

The afternoons will be packed with thought provoking and insightful events. Witkraft has been an eternal favourite among people. It calls for an intuitive turn of mind and ingenuity, what with events such as Dumb Charades, Vateez, Turn Coat, What’s the good word and Just a Minute. There is no dearth of stuff for the musically inclined with Sargam (eastern group competition) and Symphony (eastern and western vocals). The legshakers have much to look forward to with Centrifuge calling all animals on the beat (pun intended). Also in the offing are events such as The Finer Arts (fine arts) and Antakshari .

The die hard computer loyalist gets a chance to display his dexterity with the box with the Cyber Arena beckoning. Perpz and Frolic-o-holic will be ever present to cater to the wild spirits of young things. Then to lighten up the spirits, there’s a new addition to the fun stable this year with a Hasya Kavi Sammelan with eminent poets showcasing their wizardry with words.

All said, the fest will again provide respite to the war scarred engineer in the making. The necessity of the fest cannot be emphasized enough. Throw all caution to the wind then, and go for it. Go for it because life is one big celebration after all!!

-Arish Inam

Spring Fest Rewind: My SF Journal

2006-01-23T16:53:00.000+05:30

Alumni Meet Special - 7th Jan, 2006: Inter IIT

2006-01-11T15:49:00.000+05:30

No Games All Sport

There's nothing sweeter than victory and IIT Kgp got a taste of it in the most unexpected fashion. The 41st Inter IIT Sports meet saw the oldest IIT crown themselves as the overall Champions of the sporting extravaganza. Team Kgp with 56 points towards the end of the competition were just ahead of Bombay at 52.

The small yet picturesque town of Roorkee hosted the event for the first time, and their recently spruced up sports complex was probably an envy for all. It was lighted up and well flaunted throughout the 8 days of the meet. Kapil Dev, as the Chief Guest was the cynosure of all eyes at the Opening ceremony on the 11th of December. Roorkee won the march past competition, in a field of 7 competitors, and the competition had already begun. The next few days were a whirlwind of activities as the league phase matches started for all the sporting events building up to a crescendo as the final hurdles were conquered on 17th and 18th.

And the winners are…
Sharing the honours at the top spot with Gold medals were the Weight Lifting, Table Tennis and Volleyball teams.

The weight lifting event had become a gold mine for Kgp for some time, and this year was no different. With two golds (Saurav Arya and Bhaben Deori )and two silvers, the team was able to keep Bombay at bay, and with the points amassing as they did, they were the overall Weightlifting Champions yet again with 16 points as compared to 14 scored by Bombay.

Our table tennis team had the talent and the skill, we all agreed, but could they do it? They first surprised themselves by topping the pool, defeating heavyweights Delhi and demolishing Kanpur 3-2 after being 0-2 down. Bombay made them sweat a little in the semis, and by the time Finals arrived the team was in top form. They met Delhi again in the Final, and this time it went down to the wire. Five very well fought and entertaining matches were played to decide the outcome, and it ended in favour of Kgp.

Volleyball is a team we all expect to do well, and this time they went all the way. They had been coming home with silver and bronze medals in their last 8 outings, the jinx had to be broken. It was hardly a surprise to anybody that the team won all their matches in the most convincing manner. The semis against Guwahati and the final match against Roorkee were just a firmer confirmation of their superiority. Volleyball was one of the most exciting sports for spectators, and the team supporters fought as much as the players themselves. With individual players like Amritanshu shining out as they did ( officials of the event actually thought he was a national level player), it was a happy ending by all means.

Almost there…
The athletics team put in a sterling performance by bagging overall silver. A gold in the 4*400 relay (3min 41s) with an inter-IIT record time was one of the many highlights. The team also bagged the bronze in the 4*100 relay (47.23s). These backed by a lot of individual medals in the field events: pole vault, high jump, triple jump golds; javelin- gold, silver and bronze, helped Kgp bag the over all silver.
The basketball team too had a good run. They had a very promising performance till the run up to the finals. They lost the finals narrowly but won our hearts nonetheless. At one point in the match, it seemed like they were out and beaten, but the team blasted its way out of the hole and gave the eventual winners Bombay a run for their money.

A word of appreciation is due for the lawn tennis team. The event was highly competitive, with Madras and Bombay having players who have proved their mettle in the national circuit. The team did an outstanding job and earned a bronze for themselves. Kgp also bagged bronze medals in hockey and badminton . The hockey team lost the semis in a tiebreak but ultimately defeated Madras convincingly in the 3rd place showoff. In badminton too there was stiff competition and the team did well to defeat Kanpur 3-1 to grab the third spot.

The cricket team improved on their previous years performance. They failed to win a medal but the 3-year drought of not winning a single match was ended. Everything in the semis against IITR, the favourites, went Kgp’s way, except the result. The final was ultimately won by IITR who defeated IITB by 2 wickets. A result that finalised our overall GC gold on the final day.

Missing the bull’s eye...
As for underachievers, the strongest contender would have to be the football team. The defending champions failed to qualify for the semi finals, and the disappointment was all too palpable. The team went to inter-IIT as one of the few favourites in the contingent. Their first round exit could be attributed to some bad luck and below par refereeing.

So near yet so far…
As for the girls contingent, disappointment was the bottomline. The only medal here was won by the table tennis team. The defending champions were favourites to win Gold again and they won everything till the semi finals very convincingly. But last moment injuries meant the best team could not be played for the final match and they had to remain contented with a silver medal.

The basketball team had come to Roorkee with high hopes, but the team managed to snatch defeats from the jaws of victory each time. The badminton team too reached the semi finals, but the competition was just too hot for them.

The spirit lives on…
The competition gets tougher and tougher each year, and whatever the result in the end, sports always ends up as the real winner. We cheer for the victories, salute the heroes, laud the heartwarming performances, but above all we savor the spirit, the sportsmanship and the passion which only a sports meet like an Inter-IIT can arouse.

-Swati & Samya Mandal

Alumni Meet Special - 7th Jan, 2006: Registration Day Blues

2006-01-11T15:45:00.000+05:30

Serpentine lines, aching legs, bheja fry... Happy New Year Kgp!!

Alumni Meet Special - 7th Jan, 2006: Editors' Avenue

2006-01-11T15:41:00.000+05:30

We are still here

Rumours ... the major source of news for Kgpians. With everything from acads to placement and from extra curriculars to the latest election buzz, the Kgp grapevine has always redefined the phrase 'spreading like wildfire'. Rumour has always had a dislike to being put down somewhere in writing and takes only an evanescent existence: changing, modifying and exaggerating itself with every passing second.Then came along Scholars' Avenue.

After long deliberations the name was decided after the place where Kgpians live, talk, play, experience highs, lows, success and disappointments. Perhaps no other place reflects better the mood and the times of Kgp than the Scholars' Avenue. You don't need a watch to mark the half hour in the day. Just stand there and watch, you'll know.

The seasons too show up in their full colours here, a leaf strewn Scholars’ Avenue during autumn is one of the mental images every Kgpian carries for the rest of his life.

Gradually, Scholars’ Avenue has come to signify something more than just the road. Today, when junta inquires about the content and issue date of the next edition, each one of us silently acknowlegdes that we never dreamt we'd come this far, this soon. We're overwhelmed, to say the least, by the response we've got from the students, faculty and especially the alumni. True, there's been a slight hiccup in the recent past, but then, let bygones be bygones. This is a new year, a new day and sure as anything, this is a new Scholars' Avenue. To all our well wishers, those we know and the umpteen we don't, we say a heartfelt "Thank you"!

If Scholars' Avenue runs through the heart of our campus, we reaffirm our commitment to feeling and reporting the pulse of Kgp. As always, we remain: forthrightly yours, fortnightly yours.

-Sandeep Rath, Sunny Somani, Swati

Alumni Meet Special - 7th Jan, 2006: Letter to the Alumni

2006-01-11T15:39:00.000+05:30

A heartfelt message from the President of the IIT Foundation

Dear Alumni,

I am writing to wish all the KGP-ians attending the 3^rd Annual Alumni Meet a very successful and nostalgic stay at IIT Kharagpur.

I also take this opportunity to thank the Director S.K Dube for supporting this event, and Dean M. Chakraborty, along with every organizer and implementers for making the Alumni Meet a forum where Alumni from around the globe can be physically connected in an increasingly virtual world.

Last year, I visited IIT KGP for the first time since I graduated in 1974; to attend the 2^nd Annual Alumni Meet and participate in a panel discussion titled “IIT Kharagpur –The Global Destination”.

It suddenly dawned on me that “IIT-KGP the Domestic Destination” had been achieved as far back as 1969, when I endured the long, muggy , coal dust laden, 36 hour Howrah Mail train ride from Bombay, to be part of the EE Department, known for excellence in both academia and industry. Nothing else was needed to motivate me to select IIT KGP.

However, times have changed, and along with globalization and prosperity in India , the best students and the best faculty, both , key ingredients to make IIT- KGP, the Global Destination, will have to be convinced , beyond a shadow of doubt, that IIT KGP is indeed the best place on earth, for at least three things.

Academic Excellence driven by world class faculty, courses, labs,& research
Quality of Student life (Facilities, Services etc.) & Career Preparatory Programs.
The Off campus Social & Cultural Environment.

Excellence in all the three areas is a daunting challenge, but it is what KGP-ian’s revel in.

A few visionary alumni, mostly US based, and faculty, have already shown the way and innovative projects such as The Golden Jubilee Network, the VLSI Project, VGSOM, CORAL, The Scholarship Program, and the Visiting Faculty Program have received accolades both domestically and globally.

However a lot more needs to be done, and done quickly, and this needs resources.

I believe it is time to propose, that during this meet, the Alumni consider creating FAST 1, the first team comprising Faculty, Alumni, and Students, all the members of which should be from India, to plan, and implement a Quality of Student Life Improvement Program, so that by this time next year we have results to show and achievements to report.

Be a part of history, contribute to making IIT KGP a Global destination, and leave behind a legacy of excellence for generations to come.

Roy daSilva (B. Tech., EE , 74; R.K)
President, IIT Foundation

Alumni Meet Special - 7th Jan, 2006: Ad Avenue

2006-01-11T15:37:00.000+05:30

Alumni Meet Special - 7th Jan, 2006: Placement update

2006-01-11T15:35:00.000+05:30

Placement Pulse

The ins and outs of the placement process

With the TnP section abuzz with activity for the past fortnight and its offices looking more like a war zone as the days progress, SA takes a peek at the placement scene till now.

The big rumour going round the campus is that the placement schedule might revert back to the old plan of stretching over the full academic year, although this is still in the deliberation stage and there is a possibility of this matter reaching the senate atleast in a few IITs, till now there have been no indications of any such change reaching the TnP here.

These rumours have not been without reason. The tight schedule has been testing the limits of facilities of companies and institutes. Although majorly companies have taken this as a rule, some are clearly not being able to adjust to having almost simultaneous recruitments going over all the IITs. Postponing their dates, arbitrary shortlisting procedure, and last minute decleration of job details have resulted in the system neither being fair and neither ensuring that the best people are being selected. There is a point beyond which companies can keep their exact procedure behind wraps but as the recent trends have been showing they are clearly flirting with the limits.

As for IIT Kgp, the infrastructural facilities are quite inadequate for these purposes. Given the additional location disadvantage which means recruitment is a 36 hour process for companies and that’s not counting the travel required. This further pressurises the man power of recruiters given the fact that they are already running low on senior executives given the usual holiday season of Christmas and New Year. There is a proposal of a dedicated set of examination rooms and auditoriums for TnP and a new Guest House, but these are things which take years to materialise.

There are upsides to this issue too. Companies are being aggressive when they have a competetitor on the same day, and spot offers, previously a prerogative of B-schools has made an entry into the placement culture here. Most companies too have been keeping aside seperate requirement for IITs thus allaying fears that this move might mean a bulk of jobs moving out of the IITs into the NITs.

Added to all this the TnP section is now burdened with recent reports of CVs having fudged details. There are reports of students stating their SGPAs instead of CGPAs and holding postitions of responsibility that do not exist. A recent notice has been taken out in this regard and from what we hear the TnP means it when it says “severe action”, as a beggining random checks of bio data forms would be done and those guilty might be the ones that a made an example of in order to deter such activity in the future. There are obvious logistical problems in cross checkingaround 1100 bio data forms, a possible suggestion has been to check bio data forms of the candidates shortlisted for the final round.

A final call for this new change can only be taken after this season is over and the TnP takes stock of the years’ happenings. Although one must look back and ask whether this move is solving the original cause because of which the schedule was changed, that of improving the attendance figures of final year students, if not then maybe the cause lies elsewhere.

-Sandeep Rath

Alumni Meet Special: 7th Jan, 2006: CAT

2006-01-11T15:32:00.000+05:30

The rat race for the CAT

With the placement schedule being pushed back by one semester there was an expected rush for other careers avenues being looked atby students. There was a record number of students taking the CAT this year and although as yet the exact numbers are not in, even a rough calculation reveals the number of students getting the famed BLACKI calls has jumped by atleast 60%. With these numbers only expected to rise in the future CAT is on its way to becoming probably the priority career option for a majority of the students. We take a look on CAT as a career option: the myths and the realities

The Myths

They are a panacea for all your woes. They are an ideal place for people who have got no particular interest in any field, and hence, making them eligible for being a CEO/manager.
All those fat salary figures the newspapers quote about in their front pages. From the highest Indian salary of 16, 00,000 to an overseas offer of $1, 52,000, people believe CAT is an easy way to make big money. (Just for the information, the figures will be much higher this year). Getting into an IIM is all about cracking an exam called CAT. You prepare a little bit of high school mathematics, read a few newspapers, and you are ready to bell the CAT.

The Reality

One shouldn’t simply take CAT because everyone else is taking it. Or because one feels that he/she will earn a lot as compared with what normal engineering jobs will fetch. One should take the exam only if one has a liking for the subjects. There is a lot of competition inside the IIMs, the work load is unimaginable, needing a lot of dedication. And money fails to motivate one beyond a limit. There has to be other sources of motivation to keep one going inside a B-school. Else, it won’t even take you a month to burn-out.

A normal day begins at 9:45 AM in the morning, and ends at around 4 AM in the morning. Assignments, presentations, deadlines, surprise quizzes and case-studies are a way of life. And not a single day passes without them.

As for the money, well, no doubt it gives you big dollars, but then, not even a quarter of the batch gets them. For most of the people, it comes down to that 5-7 lacks CTC bracket, with the real cash in hand down to 30k-40k range, something comparable to an engineering job two years down the line. Only the job profile is different.

Now let me come to the better part of life here. It’s a great experience to be at an IIM if you really like the experience of being pushed to the limit. It’s a wonderful place to be in if you don’t mind 3-4 hours of sleep in the night. You lose out on your doses of movies and f-r-i-e-n-d-s, but what you get in return is much more. You learn about how Wal-mart became what it is, how the stock prices move, why a good is priced at the price it is, what concepts goes behind those sachin-shahrukh starrers on the small screen, what makes McKinsey a great place to work for and a lot more. It’s a completely different world here and you will discover things about life that you wouldn’t otherwise ever do.

The system is very managed here with almost everything starting from placements to the LAN coming in the hands of students. The bonding between the batches is really great, with the 2nd years even taking classes before the exams. The mentorship program is wonderful where every one will tell you about their experiences in summers so that you can take an informed decision. The seniors will guide you in everything, from selection of companies to filling up of forms.
One might find IIMs as a wonderful experience, for others it might be a painful one. There are people who really regret coming here, but for most of us, it’s going to be the ride of a life time.

-Suneet Banka with inputs from Sandeep Rath

Alumni Meet Special - 7th Jan, 2006: Q&A Avenue

2006-01-11T15:29:00.000+05:30

Scholars’ Avenue team met Mr.Partha Sinha over a cup of tea in cheddis and what followed was an interesting discussion with this Kgp alumnus who looks young for his age and has had a formidable career record. He is the Mumbai head as well as the national strategic planning head of ad-agency Publicis India. An MBA from IIM-A, he has been involved with Citibank, O&M, Rediffusion, Indiainfo.com and with Zee group as its’ marketing head.

Q. Sir, you have been involved with Citibank, O&M, Rediffusion, Indiainfo.com, Zee. Whats next?
A. I haven’t actually thought about it. I like to take life as it comes. So I don’t know whats going to be next on the list. Maybe something of my own. I have been planning to do it for quite sometime now but am undecided on what it will be about. You see I am a quintessential Bong . So its not easy for me to start something on my own.

Q. Looking back do you think that your engineering degree is of no help in your career now?
A. Not at all. IIT taught me much more than IIM. The most important thing one learns here is how to think through a tough situation. Mounting an election/SF is no joke yaar. It may sound a bit arrogant but the basic filteration process which we IITians pass through ensures that its difficult for us to end up as a failure in life. I sometimes feel that had I not done engineering, I would have studied Economics. Its a wonderful subject. I enjoy reading it and have read a lot of books on it.

Q.How does a person get to know that he is good in the field of advertisements because he hardly gets any exposure at the college level?
A. See, Marketing and Advertisement (M&A) is not an isolated profession as you might think. It is a social profession. It is for persons who like to be associated with the main stream society. It is based on your attitude and not on the aptitude of what you like. Its not a skill based profession. I go to villages, talk to young boys and adults and try to find out what they think about education, etc and what their goals are. I enjoy to get into it.

Q. How do you identify a person for an advertising career?
A. A person who lives life fully, holds an opinion about things, is aware of whats going on is a guy suitable for the job vs a guy who lives on the ivory tower. It is not an elitist profession though you can lead an elitist life. It covers a wide spectrum ranging from designing ads for say Vicks Action 500 that caters to the cooliesand the working class to those for L’Oreal that caters to the elite.

Q. Do you believe in producing ads for rival brands or anything that brings in revenue is fine?
A. We do follow a policy of producing ads for one brand in a particular segment. Because all comanies make us privy to details important to their organizations and we cannot divulge them to their competitors.

Q. You have been the marketing head of Zee. Do you like all the serials produced by them?
A. No, I don’t. See they reflect the poular culture and cater to a wide variety of audience. Fundamental things like family qualities and inheritance are very popular. They last for quite some time. They are cyclical with a life span of 2-3 years. Like reality and talent shows are the in thing now. But family drama never goes out of style. Besides we have a dearth of talent. There are not many script writers who ca write a comedy series like Friends which can become extremely popular. For that you need people who can ask “Why a building is called a building? why not built?”

Q. How far is the issue of ethics relevant in the field of advertisements? We see so many brands claiming themselves to be the best in the same segment.
A. It doesn’t matter who cliams himself to be the best. I think that craze has gone down. The era of selling is over. It is more about connecting these days. Ads are not about talking but about creating relevance of the product in the consumer’s mind. The power of information is on the side of the consumers and honesty and transparency will pay in the long run. Companies have started realising this.

Q. What is your take on some companies giving their ads too often that they end up irritating the consumers. Do you think it is harmful for the company?
A. It may be annoying for some but others need that amount of exposure to get to know that product. Companies take into account the fatigue factor of the population they are catering to. You IITians are far intelligent than the rest and for you the fatigue limit might be very low but there are others, as I said, who need more exposure. The companies undertake quantitative modelling to figure out the fatigue levels for the majority of the audience. It is a proper science.

Q. Is there any law against companies who spam our personal lives with loads of their ads?
A. Unfortunately there is no such policy in our country. Consumer rights are not well defined too. Self regulation is a long shot for most of the companies. People are learning the long ropes of direct marketing. This marketing is relatively new to the country. But don’t forget that marketing is as pathetic across the globe as it is here.But companies need to realise that they can’t build an image through ads alone. How they affect the consumer’s life is equally important.

-Sunny Somani and Amit Gupta

Alumni Meet Special - 7th Jan, 2006: The best of us!

2006-01-11T15:26:00.000+05:30

Alumni Meet Special - 7th Jan, 2006: Illu '05

2006-01-11T15:11:00.000+05:30

Let there be light

A look back at Illu 2005

Circa 2003: The chatayis were ready, the diyas were about to be lit, the judges had arrived and unfortunately, so had the rains. A hard fortnight’s work was drenched in rain and tears.

Circa 2005: Double whammy! Not only was the weather reminiscent of 2003 in every little detail, it also left only 6 clear days for illu work to be done in. Just to put things in perspective, last year, 14 days were needed to complete the work. Its a tribute to the sheer tempo of Kgp that inspite of the belligerent weather, Illu went ahead full steam.

Frenzied working sessions, never ending brain storming sessions and a splash of innovation that saw LLR line up students as sentries along the corridors leading to ‘their’ Taj Mahal, RK put up a tarpaulin top to ward off rain and RP put up sheets along their boundary to prevent junta from seeing the backside (ahem) of their chatayis, all summed up to produce an unforgettable Illu. What made it all the more unforgettable was the fact that LLR, a hall without a 4th year batch, beat all odds and more to land gold in Illu and Rangoli! Never before in recollectable history has such a feat ever been achieved. Conspiracy theorists have other views on the subject but for LLR, a hall that hasn’t seen even a GC win in the last few years, victory has probably never tasted so sweet.

Unfortunately, every silver lining has a dark cloud… or so it seems. The lack of transparency in judging procedures, that seemed to border on the capricious this year, left a sour taste in the mouth. Why on dear earth the judges found themselves unable to disclose the points scored is something we find impossible to fathom. We do harbour a faint feeling that it was we who did the spine-breaking work, set up the whole spectacle and surely didn’t deserve to be shrugged away once the show was over. The disbelief and frustration resulted in tumultuous scenes outside the gymkhana and all along Scholars’ Avenue and was writ large on the faces of many inconsolable 2nd years.

In the end, though, Illu is more than just a competition for a trophy and some rasgollas. What matters more is the spirit that brings entire halls together to work for a single purpose, night after tiring night. What matters is the gelling between the different batches that Illu fosters. What matters, in Greenday words, is that “Its something unpredictable, but in the end its right. I hope you had the time of your life.”

-Sunny Somani

Alumni Meet Special - 7th Jan, 2006: AIMM

2006-01-11T15:10:00.000+05:30

AIMMing for the Stars

The Department of Mining Engineering is celebrating its Golden Jubilee this year, and as part of the celebrations organized an International Symposium on Advance in Mining Technology and Management (AIMM-2005) from November 30 to December 2, 2005.

The three day Symposium focused on current as well as breakthrough technology in the world of mining engineering. It included keynote addresses by world renowned scientists and parallel technical sessions to deliberate on various frontier topics in Mining circles. Attended by over 150 delegates from various corners of the world including the USA, Australia, South Korea, France, Romania, Poland, Indonesia, and several distinguished scientists from the subcontinent, AIMM 2005 was truly a window to the current landscape of achievements in mining technology.

The inauguration ceremony was a somber affair, and special mention must be made of Dr. T. Mukherjee of Tata Steel and Dr. Hee-Soon Shin, Director, Geophysical Exploration and Mining Research Division, KIGAM, Korea, who gave some illuminating insights into their fields. This was followed by a keynote session and then several technical sessions punctuated by regular tea breaks, dinners and lunches. Delegates were treated to a delightful cultural programme on the evening of 1st December at the Netaji Auditorium. The Symposium closed with a Valedictory Function at the Gargi Auditorium.

-Shishir Dash

Alumni Meet Special - 7th Jan, 2006: Toon Avenue

2006-01-11T15:00:00.000+05:30

-Arish Inam