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SUmmer Bucketlist Checklist
Staying back in the Institute? Here’s some things you should definitely give a shot: o Play catch, standing on different roofs of hostel 13. o Run like crazy in the rain during the monsoons. However absurd it may sound, follow it up with some hot coffee or dark chocolate at Brewberrys o Spend nights on the SAC field. In the morning, it’s a paradise of mist and cool air. o Pluck and eat mangoes from trees in your hostel, if your hostel has some. If it doesn’t, try Tansa! o Convince a professor to play a sport like badminton with you. If (s) he is very jovial and young, and if you find him/her interesting ask him/her for a dinner! o Game all day at the Central Library. A refuge from the scorching summer heat, the Central Library has air conditioning and cozy chairs so why not dish out a few CS/DotA games with your friends some day? (PS: Hostel 15 junta, check out the 300mbps wifi router in your hostel. That should be of some help) o After a night-out, head over to Maddu Mess for an early morning breakfast. o Play a sport under floodlights. The feeling is divine. Use your free time to explore the city of Mumbai and get to know the way it works. Here are some things to experience: o Sunrise/Sunset at the seafront. The popular spots are Girgaum Chowpatty and Bandra Bandstand o Sunset at the Haji Ali dargah. Hop onto a cab from Mahalakshmi Station o Ferry Ride to Elephanta. A must for those who’ve never experienced deep waters before o Longest bus ride in Bombay. The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) runs an AC Express bus service from Colaba to Borivali. The bus ride (A-76 Express) literally gives you a true flavour of what Mumbai is all about. Traffic jams, Mukesh Ambani’s $2 billion castle in the air – Antilla, the Bandra-Worli sea link, the Bandra reclamation, the jam-packed Western Express Highway, the airport’s fancy Air Traffic Control tower. Travel all routes of the locals from beginning to end. People might consider you a moron when you tell them about this; just do it for the heck of it. o Become a punter at the racecourse. Walk into the Mahalakshmi Race Course and bet on the horses. (P.S. Stick to lower denominations) o Spend a day at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Enter through Borivali o Catch a music concert at National Centre For Performing Arts (NCPA) or a play at Prithvi Theatre. The finalists of Mood Indigo’s Third Bell and Aaveg get to perform at these locations during the summer, and going for these shows with your friends can be a lot of fun! o Go to Starbucks, enjoy free WiFi and complimentary servings, and then walk away saying, “Adrak waali chai nahi hai”. o Ride an auto. A friend fluent in Marathi should come in handy as far as convincing the autowallah goes. o Take an overnight ride to Pune on the expressway. Have chikki in Lonavala on the way and if you have extra time visit Ambi Valley, Lavasa or Adlabs Imagica.
Chief Editors
Deepak Dilipkumar, Jivraj Karwa, Prakhar Singh, Rahul Maganti
Insti Stuff
o Social work: There are many NGO’s and groups like Abhyasika within IIT Bombay, who are working towards betterment of society in one way or the other. If you are someone who can relate to the poor and destitute part of the society and have the zeal to help people, this may be a good option for you. o Mentor
JEE Aspirants: A lot of JEE coaching centers, such as PACE, will take IIT students as teachers and mentors, both insem and during the holidays. A few hours a week can fetch you upto 20k per month, though the work is bound to be more heavy during the summer. It’s still easy money though.
o Paathshaala:
The Cult Council conducts Paathshaala classes during the summer, the most popular ones being Guitar, Drums and Vocals. A great opportunity to follow through on any cultural passions you may have.
General Stuff
o Get into shape: Two and a half months of burden-free time can be utilized to get into shape. If running is your thing, then try and train for a marathon. If not, then go and learn a new sport or simply start hitting the gym regularly.
o Learn to cook:
Learn a new life skill while extending a hand of help to your mother in household chores. Alumni who just graduated out of institute term this as a life- and money-saving skill.
o Watch movies/TV shows: Keep up with the culture of following
TV shows at the institute and tick some interesting series off of your to-watch list. In fact, make a marathon of it! Top it up with some snacks and cold drinks and you’re done. Next time onwards you might as well take part in the enlightening discussion among wingies about the intricacies of various plots.
Academic Opportunities for Freshmen
ITSP: A fairly recent addition to the institute’s summer activities, ITSP has been enormously successful. These projects provide a great opportunity to embrace (or bring out) one’s technical side with help from experienced seniors. Department Project (ISPA): Projects from professors, Technovation and TreeLabs are floated. The time period of the project can be worked out with the professor and some projects continue into the semester as well. A very effective learning platform, it’s certainly possible to handle ITSP and ISPA simultaneously. BioSynth: A student’s initiative backed by the Chemical Engineering department which focuses on Biodiesel production. The project usually lasts 4 weeks and involves lab-based research and plantbased implementation in Chemical Engineering. IITB Racing/ Pratham/ AUV/ Parinath: Some of these teams have represented IITB at an international level and have had a lot of success in recent years. Workshops and sessions held during summers serve as a good opportunity for learning some technical applications of the courses.
Anshul Avasthi Chirag Chadha Editorial Board Members
Anamika Agrawal, Anant Kekre, Anish Gupta, Anukriti Chaudhari, Ayush Kanodia, Deepak Dilipkumar, Hemdeep Padalia, Niranjan Thakurdesai, Kshitij Jayakrishnan, Kush Motwani, Prakhar Singh, Rahul Jain, Sashank Konete, Sidharth Prasad, Sreesh Venturumilli, Yash Tambawala team
Abhishek Khanna, Aditya Palod, Aishwarya Chandrasheker Amuda, Aishwarya Rawat, Akash Kishore, Aman Chaudhary, Ameya Behere, Ankit Jotwani, Anurag Mundhada, Arjita Kulshreshhta, Atul Gupta, Chaitanya Potti, Charvi Rastogi, Chitrang Bohra, Harshveer Jain, Ishan Rakshit, Jay Mardia, Jyotirmayee Sabat, Kshitiz Swaroop, Leffin Christopher, Nasiruddin Ahmad, Nikhil Allamsetti, Niranjan Jha, Nivvedan Senthamilselvan, Palka Puri, Pallav Chaudhary, Paul Samuel, Prachi Chavda, Prakhyat Chatla, Rachil Maliwal, Rahul Maganti, Sahil Vaidya, Saket Bhardwaj, Sayesha Aravapalli, Shardul Vaidya, Shoven Mehta, Shreerang Javadekar, Shreeyesh Shreekumar, Shreya Shridhar, Siva Chaitanya, Tanmay Shrivastava, Vikas Kurapati, Yash Mehta illustrations
Sahil Trivedi, Rahul Jain, chirag gander photographs
shubhangi salinkar design
utkarsh raut
From the Editor’s Desk Hello all, It gives us great pleasure to have finally published our first Print Issue as Chief Editors, which also happens to be Insight’s first-ever summerthemed issue. We think the color orange adequately represents the enthusiasm and energy with which most students enter this season. Our aim throughout the year would be to make Insight’s content as relevant to and as easily accessible by our readers as possible. To that aim, we intend to make leaps and bounds of improvement in how the content that reaches you is designed and presented - in print, and online. You can expect us to bring to you a lot more video content via IIT Bombay Broadcasting Channel (IITBBC). This season will also see us begin working upon the first ever Post Graduate Newsletter as part of our attempts to enhance our reach and to increase Insight’s relevance to the PG community. Next semester, we plan to launch ‘IIT Bombay Central’, a Chrome extension / Android App which will be the campus’ central node in the
Institute’s information nexus. With features such as an Integrated Academic Calendar, customized Mess Menus, details about upcoming events on campus and coverage of recently executed ones, IITB-specific offers and a whole lot more. We hope that the campus will benefit immensely from this initiative. For all of this and more, we owe thanks to a wonderful team that strives to making all of this possible. If you wish to join this team, want us to cover a particular issue that’s close to your heart or would like to give us feedback about our work, please drop a mail to Insight@iitb.ac.in. If you wish to stay updated about anything and everything on campus, you can do so by liking our Facebook page (Insight, IIT Bombay), or regularly checking our website (Insightiitb.org). Anshul & Chirag Chief Editors 2014-15 9833355238 | 8879006151