Volume 6, Issue 2

The BITS Herald

March 2008

BITS Pilani, Goa Campus

Enter the MATRIX

Inside this issue:
Editorial Interview: Indus Clan Feature: Across the Border Student Achievers Silence is Golden Quark Talk Back Bite
2

MATRIX, the brainchild of Prof. K. Venkateswaran, erstwhile Vice-Chancellor, BITS Pilani, is a forum that took birth three years ago at the Pilani Campus under the mentorship of BPGC's current director, Prof. K.E.Raman. MATRIX has been going strong in the Pilani campus and has enabled discussions on subjects ranging from astrophysics to management, from politics to finance, from literature to art and from journalism to cinema. MATRIX was started in the Goa campus too and books already discussed include: The World is Flat, A Brief History of Time, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and most recently the book cum movie discussion on A Beautiful Mind. As is evident from its activities at Pilani, MATRIX is not just a book discussion forum but offers limitless possibilities and opportunities to discuss any topic under the sun. MATRIX is the only forum of which all the students and faculty are members by default and there are no barriers between them. An IDEA BOX is also put up near the library notice board and is open to all ideas, question, doubts, suggestions, or just a piece of your mind. Some of these will be taken up in every MATRIX discussion. MATRIX indeed hopes to lead a new generation of students who are open minded, receptive to new ideas, interactive and rational in their thinking.

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Network Banned-width
Continued changes and rules put up by the Network Administrators to make internet usage cleaner and more productive must be second only to the strict grading system among students woes. It started with the shutting down of numerous DC hubs and allowing the few remaining ones to function under very strict regulations. The Mac address registration - a move which half the student population has not been able to comprehend, registering for the main chat on Woodstock and Titan, restriction on download sizes... and the list never ends. These changes, although they frustrate most students to a great degree, have been justified by the administration. The Mac address registration was done to monitor the download content/limit of students. So it ensures that people who download material which is unnecessary, obscene or both can be brought to task by the administrators - this move is to make sure the internet facility is used for more productive purposes. As for intranet services, DC Administrators are trusted to monitor the sharing and downloading happening on the hubs. As always, the minor technicalities that come with the system are less than desired. For instance if a person tries to connect his/her system to another person's lan port, the port gets blocked for a certain period of time. Now for the silver lining. The net speed has been increased from 4mbps to 8mbps. And except for certain restrictions, the usage of Internet has become less strenuous than before due to increased bandwidth. So the message is quite clear: you are free to do what you want but know that you are being watched. It is up to the students to decide how to use the network facility offered by the institution. Toe the line, they say.

An in-house blog open to all BITsians to contribute to has been hosted at http://10.3.14.75 The blog is managed by DoJMA and all are strongly encouraged to post!

The BITS Herald

Volume 6, Issue 2

Page 2

Editorial
Another summer day. Another aero plane.
What is a MAC address? Well, it is basically an identity code, which is built into a network card. It is a physical address and cannot but be changed under normal circumstances, Windows surprisingly provides a facility to change it! Dont try to change it, now that you have already provided your MAC address to the network admins. After the giants that were Quark 2009 and Waves Summer 2009, BITS Pilani Goa Campus is buzzing with preparation for a SPREE(!) of events scheduled for April 10-13 (as well as the hum of the now-working airconditioning system). After youve recovered from the SPREE-punning, I suggest you move to the rest of The BITS Herald a feature this month focuses on the good and the not-so-good of our technical and cultural festivals, Quark and Waves, and what the organizers, the participants and the audience had to say about them. Being the first year of the Festival Coordination Committee structure, a host of different opinions have surfaced. Learning from this learning-experience, I reckon, will go a long way in making future festivals grander and necessarily, awesome-er. While Im on about different opinions, Im sure the mention of Pakistan brings up similar if not exactly-matching views within the student community here on campus. In this issue, DoJMA attempts to throw in a different perspective that of a Pakistani student based in Peshawar, who a member of the Department contacted. You might be surprised by the view presented- you might be appalled- you might dismiss it as silly optimism, idealism or plain sensationalism on our part- however, the fact that you read the article might just be the butterfly effect the future was looking for. [Please visit the DoJMA blog for the entire, unedited article] Coming back to the BITSian realm, Hostel Superintendents have been an integral part of our lives since the day we arrived with bags in hand and more questions than an MT objective exam could dish at you on any particular day. And we keep running to/(into) them for leave applications and gate-passes/(surprise hostel checks). A special article this month features the girls Hostel Superintendent, Mrs. Smita Acharya. On the not-so-hot front, placements, although slow, are moving at a steady pace with interesting new trends of Public Sector Units emerging and other little-heard-of options being keenly pursued by students. Continuing with the BITS Heralds tradition of providing a platform for student achievers, this issue highlights some student projects that have made their mark on the national and International level. The Department of Journalism and Media Affairs (DoJMA), we would like to believe, has come a long way in its first year. Still growing, the Department would like to invite anyone who has the passion, dedication and interest in the work we do into our fold (during department inductions of course). As usual, for any feedback/suggestions/comments, write to the Dept. at: djbpgc@gmail.com. I look forward to a SPREE of comments (hopefully laced with elaborately-thought-out puns like this one) that could be published in the next issue.

The BITS Herald Team:

Pratik Mandrekar Aditya Sanyal Ralino Prazeres Shilpa Garg Rithika Ardeshir Ojas Mehta Rithvic Rajah Abhishek Ravi Apurv Gujar Dhashrath Raghuraman Abhishek Agrawal Rohan Menon Anurag Sharma Shekhar Iyer Dushyant Kinwar Special Thanks to Apurve Gupta Sivashankar Menon

The BITS Herald

Volume 6, Issue 2

Page 3

Interview: Indus Clan

DoJMA caught up with members of the Indus Clan during Quark 2009. Here's what they had to say:

Science Day Celebrated

Science Day (28 February) in BITS Goa was celebrated with a science quiz that was conducted by quizmaster Mr. Wilson and his family. With a large turnout, the prelims saw the participants racking their brains to remember what they had been taught before. With 4 teams making it to the finals, the competition heated up especially in buzzer rounds like Anagram and Crossword where speed was of the essence. Audience questions were aplenty, including ones which the finalists were unable to answer. They were also allowed to choose questions for the teams to answer in certain rounds. In a nail-biting finish that was won off the last question, Nandkishore and Kedar from AH-1 won. The quiz was followed by a series of lectures ranging from topics like biology to economics.

DoJMA: So how did all of this start? All the gaming and the formation of the clan. Indus: We used to play AOE as a pastime. We played online and we were introduced to Indus. There we met people from Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi and such. Indus is not a clan as such but a community of AOE players. It's not just Indian but there are players from countries like South Africa, New Zealand etc. also. We did not form a clan and come here, rather the people among us interested just came along and we called ourselves the Indus clan. DoJMA: Any specialties about the players who have come here? Indus: Well, there is 'skunk' who is the top ranked player of India and also we have 'Prowler' who is one of the best players in the world and part of "The L Clan" which is the best AOE clan in the world. Skunk can be a part of "The L Clan" if he wants but he choose Indus. Prowler is not ranked on the national circuit as he does not have time to play here as he is mostly playing international games. DoJMA: How often do you play AOE? Indus: This is surprising for many people but in fact almost all of us play only on weekends. We are not full time gamers. In fact, one of us is doing his engineering and one of us is a GM of a company. All of us have some full time jobs or studies. But there are some of us who have been playing since more than eight years. DoJMA: So how was the Matka experience for you? Indus: We had heard from people about it beforehand and the experience was pretty good. We got both the first and second place here. DoJMA: Any suggestion for the BITSian gamers? Indus: Well, the main thing about AOE is that it is a time consuming game. Most of the people are interested in faster games like first person shooter games like CS and the sort. AOE on the other hand is a patience checking game. A single game may go on for anywhere between 20 minutes to hours. Not like CS where you can start shooting in two minutes. So people tend to get very hasty which is important to avoid. DoJMA: So do you plan to return next year? Indus: Yes, definitely. We will try to bring 7 clans from Indus itself. Hopefully it should work out. Correction

DoJMA apologizes to Dr. Sujit Ghosh for wrongly addressing him as professor in The Quark Reporter, published on the 9th of February 2009. We also apologize to Dr. Sujit and the event managers of the event Chem -o-matics for misquoting them.

The BITS Herald

Volume 6, Issue 2

Page 4

Feature: Across the Border

An article by columnist MJ Akbar (Times Of India 18 January 2009) prompted us to get in touch with students in Pakistan and try to find out what people on the other side think. Below are some excerpts the article and the Pakistani reply. Full articles are posted on the DoJMA blog. India and Pakistan are not neighbors. They are worlds apart. For four decades an investment in ignorance has nurtured an incremental interest in hatred. Pakistan has become a breeding ground for permanent war against India. Indians have developed a deep aversion for Pakistan. Knowledge of the other is impossible without free flow of media. Newspapers and television stations may be terrible, but they are not terrorists. They may occasionally bore you to death, but they do not actually kill anyone. Indians and Pakistanis can see CNN at the flick of a finger but not each other's channels. So what if media sometimes gets hysterical: it never takes too long for hysterics to make fools of themselves. Sadly, hysteria can also influence policy, so it is important to know what the other is ranting about. Moreover, information cannot really be kept in solitary confinement; it always dribbles out as misinformation. It makes sense to offer it as information. Our only shot at becoming neighbors again is if we allow the free flow of media, if we endeavor to listen sans prejudices, what the common man from across the border thinks, what the common man has to say. The following is an article by Umair Khan, Law College, Peshawar University, Pakistan, who agreed to write for DoJMA. The World is so anxious, from ordinary people to countries having billion dollar defense budgets, everyone is so hyped about terrorism. Some call it fundamentalism, some Talibanism and others terrorism. Has anybody ever tried to figure out who these terrorists really are? Why are they "Terrorists"? Whether are they really terrorists? Be it the US 9-11 or 7-7 of London, or the invasion on Iraq, Afghanistan or even so called terrorism in Pakistan, these all are just pieces of a one big picture of a plan of so called New World Order. Pakistan did commit a folly by joining hands with America in fighting a war which was never its own. But judging from recent events, is India treading along the same path? Very rightly has been said by General Ayub Khan, to be an enemy of America is dangerous but to be its friend is Fatal. The whole world was made to believe that Iraq had WMD's, none so ever have been found. I being a citizen of Peshawar, wonder when I hear false Rumors that Pakistan is a failed and lawless state-Is all of this going to be decided by someone sitting thousand miles away from Pakistan? Are we going to repeat the same mistake of believing the same media who said Iraq has WMD's? Are we going to accept what the US is saying about Pakistan and forget their past record of inside jobs and covert operations? Just like every country Pakistan too has problems. I never claimed that Pakistan is full of saints but is any system whether it be a organization or country flawless and full of saints? In India what are the RSS, Bajrangdal, Shiv Sina and Hindu nationalist party like BJP who have set record of genocide of Muslims in Gujarat, Christians in Orissa and the Sikh`s genocide in 1984? Terrorists dont belong to any race any faith, any country or any community. It saddens me when I see almost all the major events of massacres are done by the non Muslims but only the Muslims are called fundamentalist. Did BBC and CNN gave the same coverage to the genocide recently done by Israel in Gaza as they gave it to 9-11 or even 26-11 Mumbai?

The BITS Herald

Volume 6, Issue 2

Page 5

Across the Border contd

I ask you now where were these suicide bombers before 9-11? Will you really still blame that person who has seen his mom dad lying dead in blood in front of him or vice versa? Is war the solution or the cause? The hatred amongst the people of India and Pakistan is not because of their personal issues but these magicians of politics mold political issues for their own benefit the way they want, its because of the negative propagation of information of the media who is programming people the way they want. Everyone wants to love and to be loved, everyone want to have peaceful life but if these governments let them live in peace and if these secret services stop their sinister plans then the civilians can breathe in peace. To conquer any nation is very easy if you can control their minds and the media is doing great job in it. Every truth is twisted so much that people have become incapable of distinguishing a truth from a lie. The Solution is not war but a never-ending quest to eliminate those who are creating false notions. Its not any religion nor any faith but a plan by a group of some people behind the veil, controlling the world through banking system and political celebrities of the world, call it the Elite or Bilderberg Group or call them Zionists or Satan-followers but they are responsible for the disturbance of world peace and tensions between countries like Pakistan & India. This is their plan and this will drown them down soon for Allah the Lord of the World and the Heavens doesnt like the transgressors because these are the people who have sold their hereafter for this life and for them will be painful torment in the hereafter. When truth is strike with falsehood, falsehood perishes, and falsehood is by its nature born to perish (Quran 17-81)

Student Achievers at BITS

1. Gaurav Singh, a 3rd Year Mechanical student, has been selected to represent India in the Student Professional Development Conference which is being organized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers( ASME) in Singapore this May. The conference will be attended by delegates from different countries in the Asia-Pacific region such as India, Hong-Kong, Philippines, Singapore, Australia, Pakistan. Among them will be chosen the Student Head of the Asia-Pacific District Operating Board. Gaurav is currently the acting head of the ASME Student Chapter here at BPGC and was recently selected to head the India Student District Operations Board after a long series of group discussions, presentations held with senior ASME Members at the Student Leadership Seminar in February held at Pilani. He is now the responsible for coordinating student activities of ASME in India. 2. Rohit Saluja & Indervir, 3rd Year EEE students, have won an open invite from Johnson & Johnson to work at its R&D Center at Mumbai this summer. They got noticed when they first showcased their project "Text Recognition by Image Processing" at the IIT Bombay Techfest this January. Their proposal was to build a 'Handy-Scanner' which can scan books and convert the text to speech. The device so obtained has a lot of potential to help the visually challenged. So far, the two have implemented their speech conversion technique on one font by using the Image Processing toolbox in Matlab and interfacing it with Microsoft Speech Application Programming Interface (SAPI). The next step in their project involves building Java based mobile applications and devising a method to to utilize the space on the memory sticks to increase data processing power on individual mobile sets.

The BITS Herald

Volume 6, Issue 2

Page 6

Silence is Golden: The Mime Club speaks

Silence can express feelings in ways speech cannot. What you say can be misinterpreted, twisted and used against you -but silence is a different story altogether. Silence is the loudest scream, and it is through silence sometimes, that the most passionate- the most sincere communication takes place. If pictures can speak a thousand words, silence can say a million - without really saying anything. The Mime Club has been instrumental in putting the voice(!) of the students across to the administration. What gives one more satisfaction is the fact that they were heard one still cannot say with certainty if they were heeded. How can a team of people with their voices down and faces covered in paint do what they are doing? We asked, and they told us - there are 10 things the Mime Club does that makes them great. 1. What they can do, they do well: Yes, of course! How simple! Only if everyone followed this! 2. There are tall people and short people, and each of them plays what role suits the best. 3. They follow what is known as the CAT formula: Co-ordination, Association and Teamwork. 4. If a person is gives an idea, he/she can execute it best. 5. The script is never decided by a single person - the whole team sits on it together. 6. They spend 13 days for a single performance out of which 2 days are for discussion and brainstorming and the remaining for practice. Chances are, as you are reading this, the Mime Club is rehearsing. 7. There are no stars in the mime. One day you play a dog, the other day you play a door. 8. They try to cater to the issues and tastes of BITSians as much as possible, as BITSians are their main audience ( \m/ ). And, they're welcome to the audience pinging them with ideas at any time! 9. They have an ideal mix of experience and youth (1st, 2nd ,3rd and 4th yearites) 10. They have developed software in Visual C# to play the Mario track which had nearly 70 odd sounds. The Mime Club has done a beautiful job of taking students opinions and voicing it on stage in the funny and sarcastic style that sets it apart. Theyve led BITSians, hand in hand, into the violent world of silence. With incredible amounts of talent, dedication and energy theres no saying where theyll go next.

Know your Hostel Superintendent

Mrs. Smita V. Acharya, the Hostel Superintendent for Girls, had her first office in what is now CH-2. She has seen BPGC's transformation from a college with half painted walls and 1 mess contractor to an institution of 2400 undergraduate and post graduate students with projects from the government and industry running into crores. Originally from Pune, she previously worked at Orient Ads., Chowgule and Western India Shipyard, before joining BITS. An ex-entrepreneur, she also ran a catering business which had large reputed organizations like the Airport Authority of India as one of its many customers. Passionate about dance, dramatics and cooking she has won numerous awards in her college and adult life. Being the first runner-up of Mrs. Gomantak 2007 contest held by the daily Gomantak is her most recent accomplishment. She advises students to take full advantage of all opportunities BITS provides and groom themselves to become well rounded individuals.

Mrs. Smita Acharya -

Mrs. Gomantak 2007 1st Runner-Up

The BITS Herald

Volume 6, Issue 2

Page 7

QUARK TALK
Quark 2009 came and went. A technical extravaganza with 38 events in Science, Technology & Management catering to interests of a large variety of students. 9 workshops covering topics like Corporate Finance, Robotics, Speed Mathematics and Animation among others, conducted by people who are an authority in their respective fields. With nearly 800 outside participants, Quark 2009 had a nationwide outreach. 1200 out of the 2100 students on campus were involved in organization and 4000 certificates were given solely to students of BPGC. It wouldn't be entirely wrong to say that in certain aspects this was the best Quark ever. The amount of technical and managerial experience gained from this magnanimous experience will benefit students for years to come. But did we notice all this? After the success of Quark 08, this years CoCo was indeed burdened with a lot of expectations. Keeping in mind the extra set of problems that the recession created they did a commendable job indeed. But many would agree that Quark 2009 lacked the glitz and slickness of Quark 08. Bad choice of venue for few of the most crowd pulling events of Quark, the air show to start with, was definitely one of the reasons that hit the popularity of the festival. The B-dome last year undoubtedly attracted more attention than the football ground this year. Watching planes zoom by and seeing contraptions come to life does motivate one to look at the technical side of things.

Sporting Events: BPL-BITS Premier League 2009 is the continuation of last years most successful intracollege sports event BPL 2008. BPL 2008 had a total of 17 teams participating which included a faculty team. BPL 2009 was never on the cards, (the reason being no place to play) until Dr. Raghavendra (Medical Centre doctor), gave the idea of organizing the event with the venue being the Zuari Cricket Ground.

Questions are also being raised about the basic Coordination Committee (CoCo) structure. It is felt that the present system has a bureaucratic element involved and As soon as IPL Season 2's is vastly different from the old Org-Co. The camaraderie and passion for Quark as a player auctioning was whole, that was the hallmark of the previous Org-Co., was somewhat lacking this completed in Goa, Dr. year. What we had was a group of capable and motivated individuals who came to Raghavendra suggested each meeting feeling like a department representative first and Quark CoCo memthat BPL 2009 be organized in the same fashion ber second. This the reason why we saw no major changes happening this year (auctioning of players). from last year. For example if a Conference is proposed to be organized, the WorkSince BPL is an unofficial shops Head would give it a thought as it somewhat comes under him. But he would tournament, no notice have other things to consider and it would get pushed around. Some opine that was put up, but through students take up organisational work because of their passion and imposing an inword of mouth and DC all flexible structure restricts their ability to work. the students of campus
were intimated. Bidders were selected based upon their popularity among the college cricket team players. All bidders were given a MAXIMUM amount of Rs. 25 lakhs (virtual money), to select their team of 11 players. The icon players were selected from college team. The bidding went on for 2 days, with a total of 160 registrations. This interesting tournament is being followed by 3BA, a 3v3, half court basketball tournament.

A different school of though suggests that the structure would work better if Quark Controls, Aurora and Workshops were a part of a separate department dedicated for Quark whose head is appointed by mutual consensus among the department. This would give the accountability, certainty and transparency of the present CoCo and the energy and flexibility of the old Org-Co. In words of Quark 2009 Convenor Onkar Dixit, The campus is undergoing continuous change, things are being monitored, discussions are going on at all levels. The bar is being continuously raised and whatever fine-tuning needs to be done will be done by the people concerned. CSA-Hope you are listening... The above points are not the views of DOJMA alone. They have been put together after many many hours of interaction with all people concerned. Special thanks to Akhil Singhal, Rishikesh BG, Santosh Prabhu C. , S. Harshavardhan, Onkar Dixit for sharing their views and insight.

The BITS Herald

Volume 6, Issue 2

Page 8

BACK BITE
In Jest: Quark 2009 Vs. Waves Summer 2009

Ripper Rants
Exams baffle all of us and I find no point in complaining about them. I am bored to death and am going to talk about random topics. 1. Hats off to the students who made an effort to reduce the effects of the economic recession on BITS. Most of them in order to save expensive paper, sacrificed their marks for the cause. I trivially note that this semester a record number of students are in ACB. 2. Does listening to music help you focus? Ever thought of taking your music to exams for better results? Turns out someone did, last sem. Results-The iPod was confiscated and the course repeated. Warning: Do not try this at BITS (again). 3. BITS without DC is impossible. After a day's hard work, its feels great to relax on the main chat with people who are as deep in mind as you. Anyone see another ban coming? 4. Searock was rumored to be bigger than WAVES '09 itself. Well, what happened? Was it the heat? Of course, it was the heat. You expect me to stand in the scorching sun (India's hottest culfest literally!) and headbang to the music of one growling death metal band after another? Which reminds me- whats with the organizers' obsession with metal? 5. Rainbow Bridge was brilliant and thankfully cleaner than the professionals of '08. As with the DJ night, there was no crowd to shout- DJ sucks. With Waves so jampacked with events, activities and delays, I guess people conveniently did not attend the boring parts.

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