VOLUME 1 ISSUE 3
20th APRIL, 2007
THE BITS HERALD
An EPC Publication
GET QUARKY!!
Questioning the Understanding Aptitude and Research of the Kindred and yes it did exactly that!! Coming barely a week after the high adrenalin rush of Waves, QUARK 07 was an ideal opportunity for budding engineers to unleash the technical prowess within. An event that has progressed leaps and bounds over a year, QUARK this year went national. QUARK is yet another feather in the cap of BITS Pilani -Goa Campus, an example like so many others - of the amazing progress that the first few batches of students on campus can achieve, despite several limitations. Sponsorship by Microsoft (Title sponsor), Logistics partner GATI, Tech media partners Digit and Jasubhai Digital Media, Paper sponsors Bilt, and associate sponsors nVIDIA, IMS, FLEXTRONICS and Goa Shipyard marked the show of faith and recognition of the talent of BITSians by the big names of the corporate world. Engineering skills of the participants. C.V.Krishna Kumar and Safique Mohamed stood 1st and Rangarajan, Prasanth and Ananthram came 2nd in Open Soft. These guys had to develop a software based on a given problem statement. E-Phasor electrified the campus with the robotic events like SPICE(Y), Blur, Silent Noise and Digital Diagnostics, in spite of very few participants. The Roboficial events were one of the most popular ones; Trace Route a bot sincerely following a black line and Battle of Bots was a mostly BITSian event where bots wrestled on stage on command from their creators. Angad Singh Gill, Rohan Gandhi and Meet Sagar were the winners in Battle of Bots. They took home a cool 1500 bucks for their achievement
$-BASH saw the comp geeks battling it out for events like Open Soft, Opcode, Craft.net and Lines of Code. Lines of Code was won by the team of Aswin M, Abhinav Asthana, Bharath R and Sreesan. The event tested the Hardware knowledge, Algorithms, Logic puzzles and Programming skills, Debugging skills, Graphical Aesthetics, Gaming,Scripting/Networking/Reverse
Among the Mechagi events, Bob the builder involved building complex structures from plain old Popsicle sticks the structure had to be built using 1000 popsicles and fevicol, with the base area being 50x50 cm2 (+/- 2x2 cm2), minimum top area of 10x10 cm2 and of minimum 50 cm height. It was to withstand a minimum weight of 3kg through a cantilever beam, the load on which was increased by 0.5kg periodically. Some typical Mechanics of Solids concept !!
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A hi- tech treasure hunt called the BITS Positioning System (BPS) had the techies on the run. Biz wizards made their mark in Age of Entrepreneurs, Innova, and Corporate debate. Scion a technology bazaar - tested the feasibility and marketability of grass-root level innovations in the real world. The first round, which had 16 teams, consisted of a poster presentation where the participants were questioned and judged on the innovativeness and feasibility of their proposals. Six teams were then short listed for the second round, where they delivered a presentation detailing the idea and its commercial applicability. The team from Satyabhama Institute bagged the honors. Stock Excahnge, the virtual stock market left the Computer Center looking like a part of the BSE or NSE!! Madhan Darwin, Sivram S D and Preeti Mulage emerged the smartest stock traders making a profit of over 2 lacs rupees. AOE or Age of Entrepreneurs was an on stage strategy saga, which tested entrepreneurs on their market survival skills. Paper presentation, which ran through all three days along with Open Showcase on the practical side, gave participants a chance to make a mark in any field of their choice. The topics varied from Radio Frequency Identification to Biodiesel to Social Entrepreneurship to Analytical Psychology. Exhibits included energy savers like charging your phone with solar and sound energy (charge as you speak!!).
In the finals, the teams gave a presentation showing their innovative and practical plans, followed by a Question-Answer round. The team consisting of Tarun, Sumit, Avinash and Bipin gave the idea of constructing water storage in the low-lying area behind Power Control Center-2 and secured the top position. There was an air of activity in the usually deserted C-wing classrooms too as the various disciplines set up their stalls with limitless enjoyment and enthusiasm in the form of puzzles, games and posters.
Sector 52 - the gaming event saw Virtuosity from BITS-Dubai walk off with the honors, guess that makes QUARK international!! The World Cup cricket match between India and Bangladesh was shown live in the audi (that India lost the match is a different story!!). iTRIX, Microsoft imparted the fundamentals of robot design and building to an increasingly enthusiastic lot of students. The engineering astronomy workshop conducted by scientists from National Centre for Radio physics (NCRA) and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) was a boon to the young amateur astronauts . The increasing number of DJ nights didnt deter the crowd who turned up in large numbers to dance and witness the Laser Show (or was it due to the power cut in the hostels?!). QUARK- 07 opened the doors of BITS - Goa to engineers all over the country. A new platform for open and healthy comIn INNOVA participants had to come up with a petition, fostering strong bonds with technical instiplan for "Rain Water Harvesting System" in the tutes all across the country was laid. We are waiting campus. 10 teams were short listed on the basis for QUARK 08 with our fingers crossed... of abstract submission.
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EDITORIAL
Dear Reader The English Press Club welcomes you all to yet another issue of The BITS Herald. We thank you for the encouraging response to the second issue. This happens to be the last issue for the current academic year; we look forward to a pleasant response from your side Our best wishes to those of you going for Practice School I and II. We hope you have an enriching and enjoyable experience. For the rest of you, have a blast in the holidays!! Following tradition, this editorial touches upon a matter of concern for all of us. The poor audience turnout in most on-campus events requires our attention. The vital key to the success of any event is its audience. Be it guest lectures by experts from outside, extra lectures by our own faculty, or even major events in Quark, very few people actually turn up for the show. We have dedicated alumni who go to visit our campus or give live video-conference lectures, experts from outside come with high expectations and hopes from us BITSians, our faculty too prepares hard to give us informative and useful lectures, Quark this year saw participants from colleges miles away coming here to share their talents with us what all these people need the most is motivation. Nothing motivates them more than a large audience to appreciate their work. The organizers too are disappointed when people dont return the interest that they have shown in bringing the event together. Corporate Debate was held in the auditorium, but hardly two rows were filled, most of them being the participants themselves. Dance Club from Pilani conducted a workshop that was planned in great detail , but again the poor turnout let them down. One reason for this problem could be that too many events are held simultaneously, but in a campus of more than a thousand five hundred, enough faces can be seen at all events. The problem goes beyond just the motivation for the participants and organizers. Who do you think would like to sponsor an event that no one watches? Sponsorship is not money given to us by huge names as charity, it is a well thought investment made by firms for advertisement, and without the presence of people to view the event, and much less the name and the logo of the sponsors, the whole purpose is lost. We all want world to take notice of BITS- Pilani, Goa campus. For our campus to grab some limelight in the national arena, it is essential to have big events, with lots of sponsorship, and students from all over the country coming to our college. But how can we expect participants from outside, if the students here on campus are not interested enough to attend these events? So the next time when you log on to DC++ and start cribbing on main chat about the facilities ( or the lack of it ) in our college, just close the window, open your door, step out and see whats going on around you. Students can make anything happen on campus, if interest is shown in large numbers.
Editor
The Team : Tanaya Srivastava (Chief Editor), S. Gowri Thampi (Ass. Editor), Ankit Goyal (Design) Ankit Chaudhary , Devaki Sanjana, Anudeep, Rishabh Gutgutia , Anurag Gaur, Pratik Mandrekar, Girish Malkarnenkar, Ankur Kumar Vivek Ghanghas Dr. Joy Anuradha Any ideas/information/comments can be shared with the EPC Team at [email protected]
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RELIVE THE WAVES
Waves 07 came and swept one and all off their feet. The different events, participants and the festivity lived up to the high expectations. The stage was set and it was lights, camera and action beginning the morning of 9th March. As many as 14 colleges turned up for registration on the first day itself. The Mono-lounge prelims and Kill the Volume (on a contrary note with Bring the Noise!!) kick-started the fest. The teams in the Mime show performed on themes ranging from robbery to social evils like drinking and gambling. The BITSian performance showed unparalleled supremacy over the others. The theme was superstition in the 21st century and the proliferation of fake God Men, who are really uncouth but clever money makers. All the members of the mime club deserve applause, not just for this performance but also for their matrix style sci-fi cricket match performed at the audi. Alley Showdown, College Anthem, KQ Score and a host of whacky informals at the outdoors, kept the participants and audience busy in between the events. Waves 07 was formally inaugurated in the evening with the audi packed to capacity (BITSians had a balcony view!!). The highly charged atmosphere in the audi charged up all present there. A fantabulous fusion performance by the dance club and the unveiling of the Waves trophy set the warwhistle aloud. pair opposition to urban chaos!! BPGC came out on tops, followed by PCCE (they lost marks for overtime and use of fire) and KHC. Subsequently, the audience was sumptuously fed with throbbing diet of pulsating music by DJ Sasha and everyone present danced their heart out on the second night of the high riding WAVES Day 3 of the battle zone. To shake a bon-bon at any Shakira song is an undemanding chore for most of us, but when it comes to perform in a well synchronized manner - it will surely bring you on earth. This is called group dance or in chaotic dictionary The Urban Combat. The mesmerising performance by the Pilani team won them the 1st position (they won in solo dance too), BPGC followed 2nd and 3rd was PCCE. A dance workshop was conducted during the day by Dilipa and Shweta from the Pilani dance club.
Two things which marked the most awaited event of Waves 07 Mr. & Ms. Waves -were the beautiful & sensuous Ms. Waves Vanessa (of PCCE) and our Mr. Zephyr07 runner-up Prakhar. One of them gave the required glamour & the other added the flavour of humour to the event. Q&A round was prepared by sexy legged Rahul Parsani in which the roadies not only questioned the participants but as a surprise round called Prakhar to answer some of the The second day. Things were really beginning to naughty questions, which earned him a pinch on hot up and the audience was markedly bigger than his cheeks by (guess who?!). Shaun (also of the previous day. The Bar brawl and Hush events PCCE) won Mr. Waves. were conducted in the LT and Duality (Couple Dance) in the audi. The JAM, the most awaited literary event of Waves 07 was a smashing hit. Sponsored by Radio Mirchi, this event conducted in LT-4 saw the room fuller than any professor would ever hope to see it!! . The topics were witty, whacky with fluency, quick thinking and guts to talk freely being emphasized throughout. The duo of Prakhar and Ojas rocked the JAM. Style Drive (Fash P) was another major attraction of the day. Each team had an extra odd member and points were awarded as to how they accommodated that extra member. Gorgeous models walked the ramp (which was built in just two hours prior to the event) showing off innovative creations. The themes ranged from love to
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Fine art events like Faithscape, Stomp Your Mark, Aerosoul, Merge, Blind Art and Pimp My Shirt tossed up some pretty amazing creations. Rants n Raves and Biz Whiz, which were being held for the first time, were also hits. The Medicos took the Waves trophy to Bambolim for the second year in a row BPGC being the host college didnt contest for the trophy. There were congratulations everywhere and a host of committees like the Organising, Event Management, PR, Arts n Deco, Sponsorship, Backstage and Firewallz were thanked. The title sponsors Hutch, cosponsors Radio Mirchi and others Chemtrols Engineering Ltd., SBI and Bilt were thanked for from Cochin. 'Mother Jane' put up the best show of the night with an enthralling performance, no the financial support. doubts why their vocalist and guitarist are nomiWhat could been a better adieu to the Waves with nated for the respective best categories in the as many as three bands curtaining the three day country. This show was the perfect end an event cultural extravaganza. First to perform was 'Half could witness and made the memories of Waves Step Down' from Delhi, next was 'Bhayanak even more memorable... Maut' from Mumbai and finally 'Mother Jane'
SPREE 07
SPORT 1st BADMINTON BASKETBALL VOLLEYBALL CHESS TABLE TENNIS THROWBALL BPGC PCCE DEMPO BPGC BPGC GMC DEMPO BPGC PCCE GEC BPGC & GMC (tie) GEC BPGC BPGC PCCE BOYS 2nd BPGC 1st GEC GIRLS 2nd
The marathon was won by G.V.Srikanth (Boys) and Anupama T.V. (Girls). The overall first place went to BITS Pilani, Goa Campus. BPGC being the host college didnt contest for the SPREE trophy which was taken home by PCCE.
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Friend From PilaniAn EPC Exclusive
EPC: How did you find Waves in comparison to Oasis? YS: There is definitely a huge difference because you guys are doing it for just the third time. During Oasis, the whole climate changes to that of a festival. The guys at Pilani have begun preparations for this years Oasis (to be held in October) from now itself. Its also bigger in terms of the participating colleges, sponsorship, audience, etc. Unlike here, we have one single venue for all the events. BITS Dubai has confirmed its participation in Oasis. We can also have an inter-BITS festival for Pilani, Goa and Dubai campuses, the same way as IITs. EPC: How is the Pilani campus preparing for the upcoming placement session? YS: We have had 100% placement for many years. We have a placement cell and placement volunteers who have information about various companies. I dont think the companies will differentiate between Pilani and Goa campuses. The brand name of BITS, Pilani remains the same for both. May be the department association heads at Goa and Pilani can coordinate with each other and share information regarding this.
Y a s h v e e r S i n g h (2004B3PS887) is the President, Students Union, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus. He accompanied the team from Pilani during Waves last month. We EPC: What do you suggest to spoke to him about his experimake Waves a better event? ences here. EPC: Tell us about your experi- YS: Well you have Goa as your biggest strength, so you should ence here in Goa. cash heavily on that. Its certainly YS: We have had a wonderful easier to get sponsors to Goa than experience. The people here are to Pilani. We at Pilani are making very cordial and helpful. The efforts to have Oasis on an international platform. dance club here helped us a lot.
ORAGNIZERS SPEAK
On Monday, April 2, 2007, EPC added yet another feather to its cap. S.Srikanth, President of the CSA; S.Harisudan, QUARK Organizing Committee coordinator and former CSA President; and Manish Dhamankar of the Waves Organizing Committee were called for a video- interview. Harisudan lauded fellow BITSians for their increased participation in QUARK 07 as compared to the previous year. The organizers, he pointed out, need a positive response from the students to motivate them to perform better. Manishs clear and to-the-point talk was well appreciated. The insistence on ID cards did result in some uneasiness and ridicule of BITSians, but as Manish pointed out we were able to set an example to the other colleges on quality and protocol required for conducting an event of this magnitude. The rule was so strict that members of the EPC were also barred from the Non-BITSian zones!! Srikanth, CSA President, was a true politician, battling questions with ease and being politically correct. He piled accolades on the various committees, but his answers to the questions didnt quite hit the nail.
Sanjana
STOP !! ID CARD PLEASE !!!!
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TIDBITS
BITS EMBRYO The BITS Embryo Team organized a lecture on 14th April via video conferencing by Mr. Anupam Mathur, ex-BITSian and IIM-A graduate. He talked about the career prospects available for the students after BITS. A live MBA lecture was also conducted by Mr. Deepak Kapur, another BITS alumni and IIM-Indore passout. Mr. Kapur spoke on how to tackle the fine nuances of the CAT exam - a real help for the students preparing for CAT. Earlier, a three way video conference involving Mr. Vivek Paul, Ex CEO, WIPRO IT and EEE graduate from BITS, and Goa and Pilani Campuses was conducted after Test-2 in the audi. MEET YOUR SENIOR Mr. Kaushik Subramanian, a BITS Pilani passout of 2006 batch working as Application Engineer at Cypress Semiconductors, San Jose, California (USA) interacted with the students on 8th of April. Kaushik did his PS 2 at Kawasaki Microelectronics, USA. He gave an enlightening talk on the opportunities available in the field of embedded systems and VLSI deisgn. WITH YOU, FOREVER The 2004 batch students were given a warm farewell by the juniors - REMINISCENCE 07. A cultural program was held in the audi followed by exciting informals. Earlier in the day a photo session for all the departments was held outside the B-wing to capture these memorable moments forever FOOTBALL LEAGUE The budding Ronladinhos and Beckhams have found a new soil for growth untill the football ground of our campus is built completely. A tournament was conducted at Tilak Maidan, Vasco. The winner was the team comprising BH-4 and BH-8. The winner of quiz posted in last issue is Ms. Hanuma Naga Supraja C(2004S4P8432), GH2225. Congratulations and happy reading. Details on EPC site.
IMAGINE CUP The team of Gaurav Paruthi, Abhishek Kumar, Roshan Sumbaly and Shubham Malhotra qualified for the finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup to be held in South Korea in May. Their team, named G.A.R.S, is the only team from India in the top ten, among the teams from all over the world. In 2005, Ishan Shukla, another BITSian was the runner-up in the short film category of the Imagine Cup. We wish them Good Luck!! ONLINE LIBRARY The Full Text Online Books Library facility has been made available for all the oncampus students of our campus. This has been done by the team of SDET Unit, Pilani. Some of the services of this library are Searching, Creating your personal book shelf... BITS WORLDCUP An Inter-discipline cricket tournament was conducted just after the hectic schedule of test 2. A number of league matches were played. The Infosys team came out on tops in the finals over the Instruites. HOSTEL SHIFTING A new plan for hostel shifting has left many baffled girls will be occupying boys hostels and boys will be moving in the girls hostels!! This exercise is being done to fill up the rooms vacated by the 3rd yearites going for PS-II.
FLOPPY POSTING For the first time, the deposition of Mess bill was done through Floppy Posting. This proved to be more systematic than the past process of fees deposition. No more long queues in the bank!!
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WEEKEND DESTINATION
shallow, chilling water flowing down your ankles, as you try to move upstream climbing through the slippery rocks, leaves you mystified about the very thing which you let spill down your hostel coolers!! An eco-cottage made up of bamboo and an ecofriendly dhaba (No CFC's, he cools the soft drinks in the running stream water!!!) will take care of your food and stay (it will be quite fulfilling for the BITSians who miss vegetation in our campus!!). Tambdi Surla is located in Sanguem, 65 kms from Panjim, 15 kms from Ponda and 10 kms from the Mollem wild life sanctuary. Direct local bus service may be difficult to find in this sparsely populated region and a taxi or hired bus will be your best bet. You can also check out the spice farms (Sahakari and Pascoal), boat rides and plenty of other stuff along the beautiful Ghat roads. !! A MUST VISIT AFTER THE COMPREES !!
TAMDI SURLA
This place may be an Archaeological Survey of India maintained site, but for those who have tried to explore Goa's hinterland -it's more of a Himalayan adventure closer to home. Tamdi Surla is nested amid the serene Western Ghats, which are one of the 25 UNESCO hotspots in the world (1/3rd of which are in India). The best part of this place is the stream flowing besides the 13th century Mahadev temple. It has its origin a few hundred meters from the entrance and the
SNEAK PEEK!!
Munnabhai Chale America
If you thought that attending all those lectures and listening to the the "O.K's and "Understoods" was enough - you were wrong!! These guys have carried the culture to far and wide and now even Rajkumar Hirani has taken note of them, putting Google Translation Tool to shame. A few to tickle your funny bone-khuja teri hasnevali haddi! Circuit: America mein address puchne ka hai to kaise..? Munna: Dhobighat Janeka Hai (bole toh Washington!) Now let Munnabhai teach you !!! Munna: Idhar aa khajur,tera kharcha-pani le.. Circuit: Come with me for a date, I will pay u! Munna: Apun ko nak me sardi ho gayi hai. Circuit: I got Big winter in small nose!
Spiderman 3
Well you all must have watched the trailers and seen the new black costume of Spidy. Releasing on May 4th (care about comprees?!), Peter Parker finally learns to enjoy both his lives when hes suddenly overwhelmed by a black force that enhances his superpowers bringing out the dark, vengeful side of his personality. He tries hard to control it and in the process becomes his own enemy, neglecting his duties as an American Krrish. And he's not the only one who's transformed - Sandman and Venom - two of his lethal enemies, gather unparalleled power watch out this space for more !! Now that you have learned Effective Public Also watch out for Pirates of the Caribbean - End of Speaking, one question, : "Tera country mein the World and of course, Harry Potter's 5th movie, aakar apna chati khushi se ful gaya" ... Watch the not to forget the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows releasing in July. movie for the answer, it's an Open Book!!
Happy Holidays!! (n Best of Luck for the comprees too !!)
