Renesa | Farewell Edition 2019-2020

Message from the Director The annual institute magazine ‘Renesa – Farewell Edition’ provides the perfect blend for show¬casing the dizzying heights scaled by the students of SVNIT, as well as for bidding the final year students of SVNIT a goodbye they would always love to remember. SVNIT has always encouraged its students to do well in academics, as well as in sports and cultural activities, and the latter too have made the institute feel proud of them on more than one occasion. Innumerable opportunities are provided for students to excel in academic as well as other extra-curricular arenas. Ours being an institute of national importance, it is the fundamental duty of the students to evolve into responsible citizens, live up to the expectations of the country, and to work for the service of humanity as well. I am sure, our students are committed to the same.

The magazine brought out has demonstrated the editorial and artistic skills of the students. I am happy to note a variety of articles in the magazine. I am sure, the outgoing batch would love to retain this copy with them for a long time to cherish the memory of their activities on the campus.

‘Renesa – Farewell Edition’ is not just a magazine, but a phenomenon, which not only highlights the achievements of the fellow students of our institute, but also gives the young writers, poets and artists a chance to showcase their talent. It is a souvenir to all the students who will be leaving the college to start a new phase in their life.

Wishing the final year students all the very best in life ahead to come. May you achieve success in all your future endeavours.

Dr. S. R. Gandhi Director - SVNIT

Message from the Dean (Academic) Renesa is a platform that demonstrates the growth of our institute through the achievements of our students. The farewell edition of the magazine is expected to be more emotionally absorbed as the graduating batch will pen down their memorable journey through our 250 acre lush green academically charged campus and the bonds formed along the way. For the outgoing batch of 2020, I would advise them to “be more innovative in their approach to life and be solution oriented”. This is required to achieve socially balanced professional growth. There are several socioeconomic challenges for the sub-urban and rural society of our nation which need Engineering solutions. Identifying our societal needs and providing economic solutions to them can bring parity in our society. Please use your technological expertise to resolve them.

My best wishes to the students of outgoing batch of 2020 for a purposeful and prosperous future.

Dr. Jyotirmay Banerjee Dean (Academic)

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Message from the Dean (Student Welfare) Welfare of the students in the campus is of utmost importance. The Office of the Dean Student Welfare acts as a bridge between the students and the authorities with a prime objective to bring the overall development amongst the students and create conducive environment in the campus.

I have had the pleasure in knowing students active participation in various student chapters under student council and won several prizes in various technical & sports activities. This year presented unprecedented challenges, however, our faculty and administration worked hard to ensure the students’ future in a conducive and constructive learning environment to make the campus life vibrant and lively. In order to facilitate emotional, social and professional development of our students there are abundant educational opportunities and experiences in our institute. Like many students all over the world, this batch is graduating in the middle of a pandemic and has missed out on a lot of the fun activities and experiences of their final year of college. I would like to laud this batch’s resilience, strength of character, talents, and unbreakable resolve. The faculty and administration are all very proud of your achievements and we congratulate you all on completing this wonderful journey.

I wish you all the very best for your life ahead and hope that you continue to work hard to make the world a better place.

Dr. V. H. Pradhan Dean (Student Welfare)

Message from the Faculty Advisors We are pleased to share our students’ wonderful carving “Renesa Farewell Edition 2020” — a reflection of their journey of life on campus, thoughts, imagination, emotions, expectations, and much more. This is a democratic dais of the students, made available by the institute.

Traditionally, this magazine is dedicated to the final year students as a memorial document. We acknowledge and appreciate the efforts and spirit of our committee. It gives a cheerful and delightful feeling to everyone who is going through these colourful pages of their golden period of life on campus. We wish all our students grand success in their future endeavours.

Dr. V. L. Manekar Faculty Advisor - Renesa Publications Dr. H. B. Mehta Faculty Advisor - Renesa Publications Renesa - Farewell 2020

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EDITORIAL Dear readers, welcome to the Farewell Issue of 2020. Through it, Renesa hopes to bring a mellow Dasvidaniya to our graduating batch of seniors. This edition of Renesa has no particular theme; instead, it’s about you. It’s about your journey through this 250-acre campus, the crazy-but-lovable friends, the unbreakable bonds formed along the way, the initial dislikes that turned into indispensable parts of your lives, and the treasure trove of memories collected over the years. Although the end of your journey at SVNIT may have been abrupt, we hope you’ll find pockets of nostalgia sprinkled throughout this issue that make you savour all the good times and leave with a warm smile on your face.

As you scroll through the vibrant pages, buckle up for an emotional rollercoaster ride past the Galla, through the familiar blue-white college gates, to the Old CRC Lawns.

Let Renesa whisk you away to fantasy worlds where seemingly innocent faces of college live dangerous double lives. Catch our interview with SVNIT alumnus Anshul Kothari and discover the inspiring journey of a champion international swimmer.

If you’re not of the reading type, browse through the sentimental photographs of your college life in our “College Collage”. Allow us to bid you farewell with heartfelt messages dedicated to you from your loving juniors, along with the messages that you seniors sent to the younger college populace. When you’re done thinking about college, switch over to other intriguing articles, from gaming to psychology, and everything in between.

The Farewell Issue has always been a rite of passage for all teams at Renesa, where the upcoming batch of teammates takes over and carries on their rich legacy. While this issue took longer than usual, it wouldn’t have been possible without our exceptional team of talented writers, designers, eagle-eyed editors, and scintillating seniors who kept faith in us while we kept the issue a secret (sort of). Most importantly, it wouldn’t be what it is today without you, our dear readers. With the uncertain times of 2020, Renesa is discovering brand new avenues and we are very excited to show you what’s in the works.

On behalf of the entire committee of Renesa, we would like to thank the Class of 2020 for being such marvelous seniors, friends, and mentors to us, and for giving us memories and experiences of a lifetime. Never forget the lessons you learned here and never doubt your capabilities. Talent is never lost, just under-utilized. Unleash your talent upon the world and relish every moment of this life. We hope you enjoy your time flipping through this issue and that you come back to it later, years into your career, in remembrance of your time at SVNIT.

Saptarishi Pandey Chief Editor

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Sumant S. Dangi Chief Editor

Table of Contents The Lawns: Vibe Check �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 6 The ‘Farewell’ Feeling ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 6 en-GENIE-er ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 7 Blink of an Eye ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 8 Expectations �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 9 Restoring Sanity, One Book at a Time �������������������������������������������������������10 Life through the Swimming Goggles ���������������������������������������������������������11 Messages to the Graduating Batch �������������������������������������������������������������13 Messages from the Graduating Batch �������������������������������������������������������18 The Student Chapters ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������22 The Day It All Began ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������31 Who’s in Charge? �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������32 How to make a perfect “localite” salad ���������������������������������������������������33 The Securicult ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������33 The New Dawn of Gaming ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������35 The Code to the Past ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������35 Trouble on your Path? ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������37 The Ice Cream Principle ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������37 Coming of Age ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������38 The College Collage ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������39

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The Lawns: Vibe Check Written By: Supal Padmashali Mech | B.Tech. II College campuses are an integral part of your college memories. Although you may overlook this simple part of your life, oddly enough, you will feel a pang of longing for this very campus once you graduate and drive past that giant lion statue. At one point in time, you may have sat with your friends and complained about SVNIT and its imperfections. However, there will surely be numerous unforgettable memories attached to this place — gathered meticulously throughout your time here.

Some of those memories undoubtedly were made at the Old CRC lawns.

There is just something about ending the day by sitting on the lawns with your gang. It is an indescribable feeling — the lawns aren’t exactly special or posh, nor do they sound like the most appealing plan at first. Yet, it has a magical aura around it that doesn’t wear off from the minds of those who spend their evenings there. While you read this, think about those fond memories once again.

You’re reclining with your beloved friends on the vast expanses of green grass in SVNIT’s special place. You take a look around to see what other fellow students are up to. You hear not-soperfect melodies of a guitar drifting into your ears. A group of friends sitting

nearby are laughing their heads off and you wonder if they have lost their sanity. They only stop when an innocent dog comes really close to licking their faces, and after the cuddly creature’s departure, resume laughing like hyenas.

You hear Kirdaar guys obnoxiously repeating their dialogues on the top of their lungs, akin to a broken record player. You witness the fancy dance routines of Malang, tiring yet perfect. For a second, the dancers before you make you think that you can dance too. That’s when you notice somebody lying on the grass, just vibing with earphones stuffed into his ears, grooving along to some tunes. You almost want to be in his place; but you’re wondering: how did he find a spot which wasn’t damp? At that very moment, the heavenly smell of freshly ordered pizza floods your nostrils and you so badly wish that pizza was yours.

Whether you are with your people or alone doesn’t really matter here

because you can simultaneously feel the clamor of all kinds of college groups, yet be oblivious to them and have your peace. Whether it be a conversation over your Zomato/Swiggy order or a gossip session over food from MTB, the Lawns are your go-to spot. Got a meeting to plan? The Lawns. Too bored to study in your room? The Lawns. Too lazy to plan a date? Of course, the shady Lawns. Simply want to gaze at Surat’s night sky? You know the answer.

This place is like a cultural sink for students of all years, clubs, or cliques.

That is why, even with its eerie yellow lights, the place is really popular. It is under-appreciated but still welcomes everyone, and doesn’t even judge you for wearing your worst sweats. Your reason to love this place may be different, but there will surely be one. Cling onto that reason and keep it safe. That will surely be enough to make you nostalgic about this dimly lit yet colorful place.

The ‘Farewell’ Feeling Written By: Shreyansh Saurabh IIIT Comps | B.Tech. II It’s that time of the year again. Yet another academic session is over and everyone is ready to gleefully (or

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forcefully) move onto the next one.

But, wait a minute. It’s a bit different for you, isn’t it? You’re not moving onto the next academic session. Apparently, there is no more ‘next’ for you. Not in that campus, at least. You’re finally done with 4 years (or 5) of college and it’s time for you to transition into a whole new phase of life, the widely dreaded phase where you’re supposed to act all “responsible” and “mature” — adulthood. Oh, the horror.

It feels a bit weird, doesn’t it? I mean, it seems like just a little while ago that you were breathing a sigh of relief after JEE was done and dusted. No more long hours of studying ‘goblin-works’ every day. You felt glad that you were finally college-bound. And now, all of a sudden, here you are — done with college too. I bet when you first set foot in the campus, you couldn’t help but think that there’s literally an eternity between now and graduation. But

now, as you stand outside those large blue & white gates, with a suitcase in your hand, and a heavy backpack slung across your shoulders, you’re baffled by how time whizzed away so quickly.

It is at this point that a whole bag of mixed emotions comes crashing down on you. All of a sudden, it hits you what ‘bittersweet’ actually feels like. You’re sad to go but happy to be done. You’re stressed about what’s going to happen next, yet excited to explore the things that the future has in store for you.

It’s happy, yet it’s sad. It’s scary, yet it’s thrilling. And it’s natural to be overwhelmed. After all, you couldn’t possibly have anticipated how this was going to feel like. And among those prodigious emotions, there is a wee-bit of regret too. There were so many more things that you wanted to do, so many things that you wanted to do differently.

Gradually, you simmer down a bit

and pull yourself out of the galactic pool of emotions you had drifted into. Eventually, you are impelled into the phase of reminiscing all the good things about these past 4 years — the midnight G.P.L. on birthdays, the countless galla visits, the crazy impromptu plans, the all-nighters during the exams, the late-night philosophical sessions while chugging golden nectar. The list is endless. But above all, the thing you’re most grateful for is to have shared these defining years of your life with some amazing people who were always there for you.

Dawning on the countless crazy antics you pulled over these years brings a warm smile on your face (accompanied by a rolling teardrop). You realize that despite missing out on many things you planned on doing, these past years have been pretty sublime. You were not just having fun; you were making memories and that even if you get the chance, you wouldn’t have it any other way!

en-GENIE-er Written By: Aneesha Sengupta Mech | B.Tech. II

No metal can keep me shackled For my bones have in them a stronger mettle.

No lock can fasten my doors Because I’m the smith of the keys That go to their cores.

Yes, it is the very same B.Tech.

That gave me smithy chores.

No directive can veer me off my course; No degree, no cert, no enormous force.

An engineer I am and will be, for life And can engineer my way out of any strife.

The achiever in me aims high.

Sure, I may reach rock-bottom and sigh, But from there, I shall rise.

I’m the tough type of guy.

Ought to be something big before I die For I’ve come to realise: My needs exceed just a suit and a tie.

Aren’t we all a bit like that?

You chase love, he money, she challenges And I, fame.

Fathomable or not, we are the same.

After all, it’s about what brings peace to my heart And juice to my cart; It’s not the degree that matters It’s where I aim my dart.

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Blink of an Eye Written By: Karthik Sunil Mech | B.Tech. II

For the first time, light blinds my eyes My lungs fill with air And I fill the room with my cries With a myriad of emotions rushing through my mind, I will soon learn that this world is seldom kind I walk, I run, I play I learn, I fail, I pray I laugh, I cry, I speak I think, I ask, I seek I lied, the first sin I’ve committed So, I keep lying The thought of it gets me excited I sin more and more; the devil grows stronger But with a strong mind, I won’t let him conquer As I grow, my views change Who can I trust?

Who can I not?

It feels strange.

I grow older and it feels weird Do people not like me?

Something I’ve always feared I found a boy, he too broke my heart I found another, but neither was he a sweetheart As time passes, more thoughts fill my head What is the meaning of all this?

Am I better off dead?

Ah, but death is the only thing promised for us Not money nor fame, so there’s no need for fuss We only live to suffer and die in the end So make your choices wisely, my friend Tonight, I sit with a scroll in my hand, Something that should prove to society where I truly stand Years pass and now I realize it had no meaning; Just a piece of paper Which is rather demeaning There are things that I wish I had known beforehand The fact that we can’t, makes our own lives out-of-hand There is no meaning to life, Just live until your death Trying to find it, will just leave you out of breath Live everyday like it is your last And spend time cleverly After all, life is just a collection of your memories So make love, not war And keep your head high Because it will all be over in a blink of an eye...

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Expectations Jog your memory. Go back to the day you first step foot in this prestigious college of national importance. You feel slightly scammed by the presence of the ‘N’ instead of the elusive ‘I’, but you get used to it soon enough. Then comes the peak of your college life — before the college starts, you meticulously plan out your entire 4 years (5 if you are a scholar of the sciences and 6 if you aren’t) that you’re going to spend here. This is it! This is the closest you get to your ideal college life. After this, it only goes downhill.

Let’s critically analyze all your first-year fantasies: (Please keep tissues handy.)

• With the new-found freedom and increased opportunities to mingle with the members of the opposite gender, you were very confident that a classic romantic such as yourself (whose looks went unrivaled in all the lands) would find their soulmate with enormous ease — just like Bollywood portrayed it to happen. Needless to say, this doesn’t really come true.

•

Due to the lack of tourism and repressed desires of exploration in the past few years, the young populace of the college is quite interested in exploring new cave sites and riding shiny new bikes.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), due to the lack of guidelines and

Written By: Tanmay Dadhania Comps | B.Tech. II

lack of a partner with whom the exploration is to be done, only a select few (the lucky ones) get to embrace the pleasure of embarking on this journey.

•

When all else fails, SVNIT comes in clutch with its wondrous selection of clubs. You join them thinking that you will forget all the pain that you are currently experiencing.

However, they manage to impress you by introducing a new kind of pain: the physical kind.

•

A 9-pointer was a given for you, considering the prodigious genius that you possess. Your love life did not turn out to be like 2 States, but your CGPA did end up sounding just like one of Chetan Bhagat’s novels, 5-point-something.

•

Now, being the exemplary engineering student that you are, you try to reverse-engineer the situation a little. First, you bring in the money, then you get a girl. Then your CG won’t matter anymore!

“Okay great, we’re on the right path,” you say to yourself. After channeling your inner Doctor Strange and skimming through all the possible scenarios, you conclude that you’re going to fetch yourself a coding job regardless of your branch.

&

Karthik Sunil Mech | B.Tech. II

•

There are only two types of people in this world: people who positively reacted to the aforementioned point and people who cringed at it. In layman’s terms — people who sit for coding interviews and people who sit for core interviews. In a distant past, another type also used to exist.

These primitive people fantasized about following their passion and spoke about “never having to work another day” if they were happy while working. Such vile thinking!

•

With all the tragedy surrounding your life, you take refuge with the 2 friends that you still have after all these years. But, this wasn’t always the case. Remember all those friends you had in the first year that you planned on going on exotic trips with? It turns out that snakes aren’t allowed on planes.

We hope we didn’t make you shed too many tears while reminiscing about your initial months of college, the days when you used to post pictures with #collegelife. Looking back, you realize that maybe college life isn’t meant to be perfect; it definitely wouldn’t have been the same if everything went as planned. You finally understand that all the mess-ups were worth it because they only made the ride better.

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Restoring Sanity, One Book at a Time What is your average reading speed?

If it’s 200 words per minute (wpm), congratulations! You are officially an average reader, according to readingsoft. com. When I found this website a few years ago, I was excited. Finally, a parameter to gauge my reading prowess.

When I took the test, I expected to kill it, clocking 700 wpm at the very least.

After all, I had been regularly reading my Blytons, Christies, Kings, Sheldons, Rowlings, Grishams, Greens, and Browns since childhood. That should be enough to create a world of difference, right?

Needless to say, I didn’t fare much better than the average reader (with a pathetic 200 wpm and 60% comprehension). I was devastated. I didn’t dare question the credibility of the test or the authenticity of its pattern. It’s incredibly convenient to undermine the authority and shift the blame. Classic. Human. Nature.

Instead, I succumbed to another example of classic human nature — pessimism. Contrary to what most pop culture and social media influencers would have you believe, the world is not filled with Chris Gardners in

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their Pursuit of Happyness — fighting against all odds, smiling in the face of adversity, and emerging victorious.

Most people, left to their devices, spiral down the rabbit hole of negative thoughts and emotions. It’s the ‘Default Factory Setting’ in the Human Machine.

So, I wallowed in self-pity. I selfdiagnosed a possible learning disorder, some other cognitive issues, and possible aphantasia (definitely worth a google search). At the end, I concluded that my life is screwed and I will never amount to anything — all at the ripe age of 17.

These are all perks of being a ‘Freelance Overthinker’, in case you were wondering if I was being dramatic. It’s a fine line.

Resultantly, I pretty much stopped reading anything that was non-academic (also, unconsciously, everything that was academic) for the next two-odd years in my involuntary quest to crack a tough competitive exam (and get out of the poop-hole for good). One can imagine how well that must have gone.

At the end of the torture session, I felt like my brain had been put through a

Written By: Shivansh Shandilya Civil | B.Tech. III

blender. So, like most self-respecting daydreamers seeking imaginary glory, I invested my time in YouTube for help. And eventually, it came through.

I realized that reading helps the brain grow and that it was a mistake to have stopped in the first place. I figured I would have to retrace my steps. And I did.

My reading habits have improved dramatically, thanks to a conscious, concerted effort on my part to not be a loser and a victim. Discovering classics like Wodehouse and Bond, rediscovering forgotten, old titles like Three Men In a Boat, and contemporary writers like Karan Bajaj and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni helped set the wheels in motion. In these times of despair, when news is overwhelmingly negative and life seems to have come to a standstill, I realized that I could at least get lost in the fantastical worlds of Gaiman and Zusak and forget about my problems for a while. It also taught the reader in me an important lesson — maturity is knowing that it doesn’t matter how fast you read, but how often.

Life through the Swimming Goggles Taken By: Yukta Malik Chemical | B.Tech. IV

Anshul Ketan Kothari is a distinguished Indian athlete, known for being an exceptional swimmer.

What many of you don’t know is that Mr. Kothari also once sat in the same classrooms and buildings as you. He also walked down the same dimly lit college roads and did what engineers do best — studying the night before exams. That’s right, Anshul was also a student at our very own SVNIT. He graduated in 2012, with a B.Tech. degree in Computer Engineering.

Renesa recently caught up with him for a chat about his life at SVNIT and beyond. Anshul’s journey is nothing short of inspirational and all of us at Renesa hope that you find some form of inspiration and relive some fond memories through this candid chat with the ace swimmer. Read on!

Introduce yourself.

I’m Anshul Kothari, from the Computer Engineering batch of 2012.

Please share your achievements after college.

• Asian Games 2018 Finalist • Asian Games 2014 Finalist • Asian Games 2010 Finalist

• • • •

Commonwealth Games 2010 Finalist 7-time Asian Age-Group Medalist 3-time South Asian Games Gold Medalist 21 International medals, 1 International record, 5 National records • Given Eklavya Award by the Government of Gujarat in 2014 for outstanding contribution to sport at the international level

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When did you decide to chase your passion, i.e. swimming, and not take a normal placement like everyone else?

NIT competitions. Also, I fondly remember spending time with classmates, studying together at the last minute before semester exams.

I had decided at the beginning of 3rd year that I will not take placements and go full time into professional sport as I wanted to win medals for India. The decision was very non-conventional and many professors and friends advised me to focus on placements. But I stood with my decision and consequently, went on to represent India for 8 more years, making the Asian Games team 3 times consecutively, and broke many national records as well.

Another memory is that in December 2019, I was the youngest person to receive the “Distinguished Alumni Award”, which is awarded to SVNIT alumni who have made significant contributions in their field.

What kind of support or opposition did you get from your parents when they found out that you wanted to become a professional athlete, not an engineer?

My parents always gave me freedom to do what I wanted in life, although they did tell me that I have to finish my education till college at least. In 2008, I had a difficult choice of choosing between BITS-Pilani and NIT-Surat, but I decided to make an unconventional choice. I chose NIT-Surat so that I could continue my swimming career as well, because I had trained for swimming with a childhood coach all these years in Surat. My parents were not so convinced by my choice and did try their best to convince me to go to BITS-Pilani, but I had enough confidence in my decision.

Consequently, within 4 months, in Oct. 2008, I won a bronze medal in 100m freestyle at the 62nd Senior National Aquatic Championship 2008. This was the first medal for Gujarat State in the senior category after 30 years.

By 2010, my decision seemed very wise because I had qualified for the Indian Swimming Team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and 2010 Asian Games, becoming the first swimmer from Gujarat to ever achieve this feat.

In what way is SVNIT responsible for making you who you are today?

I will be thankful to SVNIT for the quality education they gave me in the 4 years as well as the support given by SVNIT to continue my sporting endeavours while studying at college.

What are some of your favourite memories at SVNIT? My favourite memories at SVNIT include organizing many sport tournaments such as IGNIS and Inter-

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I still visit the SVNIT campus when I am in Surat to take a walk with my classmates and revisit some old memories.

If you had a chance to go back to the past, would you change anything or do it differently?

If I had a chance to go back to the past, from the big picture perspective, I would have still done the same things career-wise. Though, I would’ve done some smaller processes differently in my sport such as going abroad for training during my childhood years.

What is your advice to the students today who are in college and want to be athletes, but are limited by various familial, financial and social pressures?

My advice to all the young students who wish to pursue a career in sports is that they should definitely finish their education till college, as it helps in the later stages of life. They should also be willing to give sacrifices in order to achieve their dreams and balance time efficiently between sports and academics, as well as cut out all unnecessary distractions. Don’t pay attention to other people’s opinions and have a lot of self-belief. Societal pressures will go away once good results come in whatever field you have chosen.

Renesa would like to thank Anshul Kothari for giving this splendid interview and wishes him all the best in his future endeavours. May you keep excelling in your work, bring more laurels to yourself and the country, and make your nation proud!

Messages to the Graduating Batch To Siddharth Panikath, Siraj Deraiya, and Rahul Dutta, The three of them were the ones whom I looked up to most of the times whenever I needed any help or suggestion.

Siddharth sir depicted how to balance playing and studying .

He maintained his CGPA despite being an EC student . Not only that , he did exceptionally well in the CAT too .

Siraj sir has always been so kind to me . Always eager to help.

He’s always been a frivolous person , seemingly quite carefree , played football really good , was great academically too .

Not only that , he managed to get one of the best placement offers in the chemical department .

It’s a shame that I didn’t get to meet Rahul Dutta sir . I had always planned I would meet him in the 6th sem , but unfortunately the situation we're in right now doesn’t allow that. I consulted him every time I needed to select an elective . I went with whatever he said would be the best for me . He’s a scholar, a self effacing person and an inspiration .

I just wish them all good luck for their future endeavours

To Arman Mansuri, Every student needs some guidance.

When i came to college there are lots of doubts in my mind what to do and what not to do.. Although i completed my 1 st year.. Yes i did many good things . but still i m not that much confident that am i going on right track or not. Then i contact arman sir.

Yes i still remember that day i first msg him.. Then i talked wid him for an hour on a call.. It was like yeh my all doubts get cleared .. He is very supporting senior.. Thanx a lot for guiding me in right direction. Nd always there for their juniors.. ALL the best sir for future..

From Manan Gohil

From Kshitij Jha

To Saurabh Dixit, I remember this person(in my 1st year) with a big plaster on his leg due to some major injury coming to see the kabaddi practice going on, to teach the newcomers in the bhabha hostel TV room. After that, i always admired him for the amount of basics he taught to me for 2 years. Playing in inter-nit along side him was totally stress-free because I knew, if I can't then he will...! Unfortunately he was missed badly in the last kabaddi inter nit. I wish he could have played for some more years.... now it's time for me to be like him and i hope he will come to teach the tactics again next time on the court !

From Rutvij Tole

To the SAE team, Whether it was our 1st year or 2nd year You gave us memories and things that shocked us, mesmerized us, inspired us, and taught how to fight the upcoming years in a competition and also in life through college.

When I first found out about a club for automobiles through Armaan bhai I felt I found my place to be for this whole time.

Starting from that We were taught about techs used there in robowars,car manufacturing.There were times when they gave speech before competition day or some big day filling everyone in room with joy and gain the spirits of winning.I have never been in touch with any other senior but like said before It had everything needed from senior.Yes that thing is different when we had to clean whole sae lab by ourselves but also there are some days when they guided us personally aapecially Urvil bhai and Armaan bhai. No doubt they still advice on everything amd every occasion I have called them.

To Anirudhha Deshmukh and Rashmi Rawat, You are my source of inspiration.

From Ankit

To Sougat Poudel, Thank you for always holding my back during hard times. All the best for your future prospects. The entire family will miss you alot inside the campus.

From Jatin Kumar Chaudhary

To Mridul Jain, Finally the time has come when we are parting, maybe forever. You must know that I will always remember the times I used to ask for parties(month ends) and the talks we had over them.

We didn't belong to a single common group(you know what it means). But it was fun being around you. You are full of life(and bank balance as well). I hope to be like you. Farewell.

From Himanshu Bhaskar

From Viral

Renesa - Farewell 2020

13

To Anil Paliwal,

To Samarth Shah,

I don't think I will ever get a senior who willingly gave me treats. But you were more of an inspiration for me(which I cannot explain so let's just cut it). I hope we meet some day. Till then all the best for future and thanks for all the parties. Dasvidaniya!

Thank you for recognizing our vision, and joining us to acheive this milestone , your presence really raised the vibes and benchmarks of work and dedication , we're all going to miss you, good luck with your future endeavours, Cheers!

From Anirudh Manoj

From Himanshu Bhaskar To Soumya Mudgal,

To Everyone, I don't know any of you personally so I decided to write a message for everyone. Hope you had an overjoyed experience in college. May it be the most memorable phase of your life. A lot of excitement and thrill awaits you all in your new life.

Dear Soumya mam, Thank you for being who you are. Thank you for being a sunshine in everyone's life. The world didn't matter when you were around. We all know you are going to accomplish a lot and while that happens we all will be cheering for you. At any point of time, if things seem bleak, please always remember that your presence in this silly girl's life was nothing less than a miracle. All the best for your future! We are rooting for you!

From Aditi Pandey

My very best wishes to everyone :) To Meet Kachadia,

From Sreejita Das

To Harnish Singh Rajput, I remember my fist talk with you :I said you Sir you asked me to speak just Bhaiya or Mr.Harnish kuch bhi chalega ,you are one of my first senior which I've met in College and turned to be one of the kindest too. I've learnt a lot to dream big and much more .

Reason for the side of my exploration in all fields is you, if you have'nt told us to explore i hadn't .Hoping to learn a lot in future too . Have a great life ahead .

Sudheer

and

Angad

Angad on the day I met you guys was such a mood. And the triple ride!!

Here’s to not having made any more memories. Thanks for being the most chill seniors though.

From Supal

14

From Himanshu Sahani

To Romil Sinha, Vimal Kumar, Rahul Mahawar, Kushal Mehta, and Kundan Rangi, We will miss you all. Ek session humara bacha hua hai sath may.lots of love from gully gang and best of luck for the future aur success toh khud apne pass chalke aaega toh uska koi tension nhi

From Raghav Khandelwal

To Govind Bindra,

Sir, as we know that it's really a bad time for whole world. We can't even give you a farewell party.

You helped me during Saamiyana. I am just a beginner in painting and I didn't know that I can do in 5 mins or not but you, Sreyash sir , nitin sir and Aditya sir told me that I can and I did that.

I know you are going to leave the college and I can't meet you but Thank you and best of luck for your future.

Renesa - Farewell 2020

From Avinash

To Chintan Patel, You were a great senior during my tenure in TedxSVNIT and thank you for being supportive. All the best !!!

From Nikhil

To Aryan Singh Ahlawahat, Siddharth Panikat, and Anmol Jain, When I came to this college the first thing I tried to search for is a ground to play football in and the people who I could play with. Didn’t expect to find someone more than just players to share my passion with. These guys helped me in some way or the other, it could just be helping me through the normal college activities , helping me pass in my exams or just talking to someone when I was low and down in my knees. I am not that Social as a person and These guys helped me open up and made me feel like a little brother and made me feel comfortable in this college. These guys helped me grow as a player, as a student and as a person. Though I have spent only one year with them but these guys mean a lot to me in such less time. I hope to play one last Football game with them soon some day.

To all seniors, Congratulations!!! For the completion of your beautiful journey of 4 years.

May god bless you for the rest of your life with such a happiness and contentment. Be always honest with your family, your country and even with your self. I hope u will reminsce this four years with great love and happiness. At last, best of luck with your future journey and set us a great example for us. Thank you all.

From Prashant Dodiya

From Aramya Maheshwari

To Priyanka Bhatla,

To Pashwan,

I am a little emotional while writing this knowing that you won’t be there in the next Inter-NIT’s leading our team, playing so confidently and keeping our spirits high. Little did I know that our first time at InterNIT’s would be our last. Thank you for always being by our side, be it for motivating, cheering us or to have the best fun of all times. Two trips with you in one year, but still feels like it wasn’t enough. You were all of it, from a big caring sister to a super fun party girl! This makes me really happy that it was under your captainship that we won our first gold.

We will do you proud and maintain our legacy for the upcoming years as well. I will miss our hitting sessions at the court. I really cherish those memories and I wish you the best in your life ahead.

Team TENNIS Always♥️

Well sir thankyou for all your support and for being there and supporting me.. you are a senior very different from others .. wish you a beautiful future ahead.. at the end of the day you will be the person whom we will be missing in the college…

From Sakshi Hirani

To Arman Mansuri,

To Saurabh (CSE),

Aaj khaas saal ka khaas din hai..

Ye udasi jaisa khushi ke bin hai..

Kuch bade kabhi kabhi bohot sikhate hain..

Fir ek din sarhane se uth ke chale jaate hain..

Ummedan jahan rahenge khush rahenge..

Ham bachchon ko yaad karte rahenge..

Bas jahan rehna abaad rehna..

Duaon me yaad rakhna aur yaad rehna..

Aana kabhi is gali wapas to milte rehna..

Banke yahin ke phul kahin bhi khilte rehna..

Very good person. Helped me even if I didn't met him the whole year, he helped every jounior, even reply to our whatapp status

-- Azhar Malik

To Palden Tandup Bodh, Mehak Wadhwani, Ayushi Meena, and Kusum Bishnoi, Major shoutout from the Baller family to our passing-out's. The memories of the tournament days and the practices everyday will be remembered forever. From floater 3's to long planks and even the regular gossip. xD From hustling us in practice to ramp walks on moving trains, y'all always kept us on our toes. You four, Kusum ma'am; always a smile on her face ; Mehak ma'am, always up for a game of MAFIA; Ayushi ma'am, always ready to hear our b*****n'; Palden sir, always upto a prank or two, will be sorely missed. You guys have been true inspiration to all of us.

Family always.

Till we meet again.

Aapke liye bhai!...

Renesa - Farewell 2020

15

To Everyone,

To Anamika Ramraje,

Does the void is filled now Or there is a more significant void than before!!

Do the love is still there Or the maniac is still in roam!!

Has the journey been tricky Or favourable to the heart's core!!

Have you have found a home Or this is the place you were born?

Does the creation is you Or you are the creator..

Do the memories still say That we are renewed much more than before..

Do the bond say that it will never be broken Or that I lost my heart to you..

At last to say we will be together For our stars are still with you

Well, we just met coincidently at the time of mmnct and not any other time...still we talked many times on Instagram...you might not identify me and you may wonder who am i and why I am writing this to you ! Just a small thing , i am way too much used to get emotionally attached with the people who are always nice to me and you were one of them , thanks for that ! So now I am attached, i am gonna miss you for sure ! Please stay connected

From ‘Voice from the heart’

To Nikunj Khokhar, Kevin Vekariya, Sourabh Varshney, Paras Purwar, and Jenish Patel, Best wishes for your upcoming life journey, Stay Blessed. Stay Happy.

To Shivani Garg, I am writing this anonymously lekin mujhe pata hai ki aap mujhe pehechan hi logi....conversation to maine pagal ki tarah hi start kiya tha....rakhi wala din, aapko diya hua wo gift , fir aapne cafe 29 me diya hua treat ye sare moments mere liye bohot special rahenge ...ek baat ka afsos rahega ki last time mil nahi paye hum ! Lekin ab option nahi hai na...warna aa jata milne kahi bhi...I hope kabhi clg aaogi to jaroor milogi...will miss you didi !

To Pavan Kumar Saini, Sir, the first day we saw you, the first thought came up was "Bhai kese ek saal nikalega ese" ,as the time went we realised it was you who always kept us motivated to never give up, and always give it your best shot . And when your left us unofficially we realized your place where it was, thinking of giving a farewell and expressing our words in the heart this corona came.

Wishing to meet you sir soon .

16

Renesa - Farewell 2020

To Sourabh Varshney, To the best senior ever, College won't be the same without you. I'm really gonna miss you so so so much. And also gonna regret kaash ek baar aur mil liye hote, kaash ek baar aur badaam shake pii liya hota, kaash ek baar aur treat le lii hoti aapse, kaash.....

Whatever problem I have faced in college till now, you had the solution of almost everything.

From meeting in Drishti Lab for the hyperdrive competition in GRP2k17 and guiding us for that, to hanging out on the roads of surat we became bestfriends. Every moment of roasting manali, late night gossips in old CRC lawns, meeting in library, GPL of manali on 11/03/2020 , teasing me with the name of v and manali's list of special ones, especially CR ki bike ride....

You were a complete package of happiness to us I have learnt a lot of good things from you.

Thanks a lot for being more than just a senior and guiding us throughout. You deserve so much good in life. All the very best for your future. Meet me soon

To Dhananjay Dadheech, Rahul Paneri, Divya Chandnani, Palden Tandup Bodh, Akanksha Bhandari, Rakshit Panchal, Sameer Mandloi, Swati Chaudhary, Hinesh Sarvaiya, Madhu Katta, Rashmit Pankhania, Aryan Singh Ahlawat, Parth Kalani, Rahul Rathod, Siddharth Panikath, Sarthak Bhavsar, and Anmol Jain, Sabhi log kaafi talented, dedicated, apni apni field mei best. In sabhi logon ne 3 saal ko kaafi yaadgaar bnaya h, happening bnaya h..Sbhi k saath movie , restaurants, party, cards,fifa, room mei gatherings.. In ek ek event mei bhar bhar k yaadein h.

Sabhi kaafi motivate krte h, supportive h. Whenever in doubt, sabhi help krne k liye hmesha rehte h. Sir jarur bolte hein par feeling hmesha bade bhai wali. Kaafi paarivarik mahol laga in logon k saath.

Wapas jald milenge

To Sourab Radhakrishnan,

To Naman Agarwal,

Will miss u so much . College life was so memorable because of u

Thank you for all the guidance and introducing physics to us. Thank you !!

To Aryan Singh Ahlawat,

To Siddharth Panikath,

Multi talented.., kaafi shanti pasand aadmi.

FOotball mei bhi..dribbling, shots inke bhi top level h. Basketball ground par raat mei football, sac, canteen, square wing.. Inki short films bhi khoob hit ho rhi h aajkal. Ye professional footballer bhi ban skte h aur actor bhi, ab inki choice p depend krta h. All the best for the rest, sir

kya player h yr mtlb ball control, vision, shot power, dribbling, game ki understanding, professional football mei jaane k liye saare qualities h inme.

To Anil Paliwal, Kaafi acche opening batsman, has got the technique both for the waiting game and power game.

To Nandini Upadhayaya,

To Rashmit Pankhania,

The very first time I saw her was when she was campaigning for her friend during elections ...the way she interacted with the first yearites ...the way she explained ...expressed .....

Elegant

Kya gt lete h sir.. Us 1 ghante kaafi strict baaki to phir sabhi log lite he h.. Sir fifa k liye sadev tatpar rehte h kuch time se.. Hnn bhale he har match harein wo bhi acchi margin se.. phir bhi chalo fifa khele fifa khele.. Sahi h yr mtlb.

I could never approach to talk to her in person but I always wanted to ...never got a sufficient topic (my depressingly low communication skills ) ....

You say " In love with words that touch " ....your words always touch May you be the most successful graduate ...

Best wishes

To Rahul Rathod,

To Sourabh Varshney,

To Nikunj Khokhar,

Just want to thank for being there for all things.

And I know you will be there forever for us

All the best for future...Thanking you for the guidance you provided.

Sir, pehla over bhi daaloge, pehli batting bhi kroge. Aisa to sir jab khudka bat ball ho tab he krte h..

Renesa - Farewell 2020

17

Messages from the Graduating Batch To Vishal Agarwal (MSc Mathematics),

To all my juniors,

In the position you are currently, you may find yourself torn; split right from the middle. At those times, do remember, though, that your team and your friends are always by your side. You can do great things for our Institute, and especially for our department. Just do not lose interest in the work or confidence in yourself. Also always remember that we do have some responsibility towards society, and there are incomplete ideas in fulfilling some of those. I am sure our faculty members will help you, if you take any initiative. Apart from all the work that I am sure you will do for our department and Institute, never forget about personal development as well. Indeed, you will always find the correct environment for personal development here. Lastly, I would like to tell you that only one thing matters more than our work: Our legacy. Do choose your legacy wisely because they will be the ones who will continue your work in the future.

Do not worry about the current situation; everything will get better soon. Keep yourselves busy and explore every field and get to know about your interests. Most importantly, spend time with your friends while you are in college, be active in college clubs, go for night-outs, trips, dinners, late-night chitchats, etc. when everything is back to normal and enjoy the "college life" to the max because this time is never going to come back. Also, never forget the purpose of why you joined SVNIT. Will miss you guys!!!

If at any point you or anybody in the Institute requires some help, do know that I and my batch are just a phone call or a message or a mail away. All the best for all your future endeavours!!

From Aniruddha Deshmukh

To Meghu, Meenu, and Keerthu, I got no words to express your stupidity but I shall anyway. 5 months of quarantine, at first seemed almost impossible to not kill myself before the first week ended but you guys made it so much better no kidding. The crazy shit we did and how we would cook and do things just to make up for what we were missing out on needs to be cherished forever. All those lit nights of loud music and tripping was the best. Also, not to forget the lame jokes and stupid stuff you guys did that made me wanna toss you guys out of the window. Too bad we couldn't spend more time together, but for what it's worth I'm glad we got to spend this quarantine period with each other. Love you and miss you guys tons.

From Atheesh Thampi

To Jordan Nitnaware, Mohit Saini and all, Life is long, be patient. Enjoy each moment you get, trust yourself, make your reason sound. Always go by logic. Unlike equations of classical mechanics, life is unpredictable.

Everyone is a star, each of us are unique and special. Proud to be what you are and learn from past experiences.

From Harsh Razz Harsh

To Akriti juniors,

My belief in dance and the spirit of team was inspired and developed by the love support and enthusiasm of you guys... while I keep saying that this is the best club I've been a part of...you guys are what made the club so thank you for your love and your kindness .keep dancing and keep shining ..keep being the amazing juniors you were to me and see that this is the difference it makes ..I love you guys ...the story doesn't end here..to be continued

Hi artheads. As I represented Our Akriti club last year, here are some experiences and thoughts that will help. As the head last year, I too learnt many things along the way.

Important things like management, collaboration, teamwork etc. Always be true to your artwork. Try to create your unique style. It will take initial reference to start your imagination but always try to find your style. Your own style has its own value. Try to perfect your form. Practice is the key to perfection. Enjoy your college life and explore yourself. Happy creating.

From Shivani Shanbhag

From Meet Kachhadia

From Richa Singh

To Malang juniors,

18

Renesa - Farewell 2020

To all my juniors,

To Kirdaar juniors,

To all beloved juniors Aaj b muje wo sari GT yad h Kiska superman hua kiska reh gya Sari FIFA nights canteen RC BBC or Pura list to Nahi Banaunga Bas yahi bolna h tum sab log awsm ho yar ek se badhkar ek ho Koi bada life lesson to Nahi bas yahi bolna SVNIT k 4 Saal race banakar nahi TRIP banakar jeena

Make such an aura that people wish to come and join the club and can get some relief from the routine life with development of drama skills. Also, remember one thing 'lite hai'.

From Dhaval

Lastly thanks Renesa, good bye and keep in touch From Rashmit Pankhania

To ChES juniors, My journey with ChES has been an outstanding one. I learnt a lot of things. I learnt how to work with my juniors and my seniors but most importantly I've learnt what teamwork is. I had been a one man army since my school days but ChES showed me that a society is not a one man show. You need to build up trust on other people and show team spirit. I believed in my team and my team didn't let me down.

I was lucky enough to work with a few juniors very closely.

Javed, Shambhavi, Yukta and Anuj were my go-to people for any sort of problem. They would see my problems as their own and would always come up with the most creative solutions.

Shipra, Jinesh, Gaurav, Ashutosh, Priyal and Ayushi could sense the tension in the air and were right by my side in all the difficulties I faced.

Also, the whole ChES team is special and dear to me. Thanks for all the love and support. I'm proud of all of them <3.

From Chaitanya Bhimrajka

To Malang juniors,

To LAC juniors,

Malang would be a total bore if it wasn't for you guys. All those weird pictures, annoying each other, dancing to every goddamn music and doing the most random things during practices was what made these events so much fun.

I'll miss all of you and the practices so much.

Keep dancing!!

You all were the most important part of my college life. Suches, informal sessions, and events were fun only because of you all. A lot of things were planned and I hope we will be able to complete our planned dinners and trips someday. Carry on the legacy and enjoy your college life while you can.

From Richa Singh

From Tanushri Jain

To Cinephilia juniors, "Isko aise kar sakte hai kya ? Karke dekh lo agar accha laga toh rakh lena." This is what I want to tell all the juniors of Cinephilia. Filmmaking doesn't have a fix pattern for things, you do and you learn. You take a shot differently and maybe you stumble upon a new perspective that may give a whole new meaning to the scene. This is what filmmaking is all about and that differentiates us from other clubs. We keep on experimenting and we get different outcomes each time. Just this advice I have for you, never stop experimenting and taking that leap. Ifs and buts will be there but after all it's your movie, you are the HERO and you are the VILLAIN. "Baaki toh tumlog ho hi kaafi talented, lots of love".

From Vikas Chauhan

Renesa - Farewell 2020

19

To RIAC juniors,

To Convex Juniors,

Standing at this juncture of departure from college and reminiscing the relentless moments of being a student of life, the only thing that the heart relents now is the unfulfilled desire for an extra ounce of moments. However, the hope that the end of this chapter would possibly lead to the beginning of the next beautiful one, of this meticulously crafted life, brings peace.

To all the juniors out there - Attempting to figure out the purpose of life, but in vain; futile attempts to quench the desire to get settled in life soon after college; toiling to build a resume and not life - are a couple of the frequently committed acts by most of us in college. Labelling them wrong could be deemed as an inappropriate gesture but questioning the authenticity of the delusional importance of having these sorted out immediately could be a meaningful attempt. Having erred, I now decipher that life is not about having all the things figured out, it’s more about basking in the perennial ebbs and flow of life. Enjoy and embrace this precious journey of yours, for there’s nothing much in the destination but what eventually lasts are the memories from your journey.

Hey guys! Welcome to the last meeting! Too bad we all aren't at the Old CRC lawns huddled up in a group for this. I remember my very first meeting sitting like everyone of you did on the lawns listening to the heads assign us work and warn us not to miss meetings. It has been a rollercoaster of a journey in SVNIT and being part of Convex made it just a bit more special.

Convex has always been a special club with so many talented people. I have seen so many of your skill sets expand over time and bring out a huge improvement in your work from the interviews.

If i had a message for all of you it would be to never abandon this skillset you have. Academics are definitely important, but make sure you make some time for what you love and make as many memories as you can.

Because when you look back it won't be the lectures you remember, but rather the talks you had in between with your friends. And if there is one big lesson we all can learn from this pandemic is to never take things for granted.

Because believe me when it's all over you would give anything to have more time with your friends in college and it's never going to be enough.

To my new heads, you all are more capable than enough to run this club and do so much more than we did.

I'm going to miss the meetings and just generally having fun with you all. It has been an honor to have been a part of Convex and to have worked with all of you. You are a talented bunch and will surely do well going forward.

Keep clicking!

From Saravanan Ramesh

From Anaz Abbas

To Raag juniors, “My journey at SVNIT started as….” Umm, not today. Not because I’ve given up on my narcissism (I never will), but today it is not about me. Well, in some ways it is. I have poured out my feelings a multiple number of times through a multiple number of channels, but this is different. This would not be the gyaan that I usually give, but it would be about the gyaanis who’ve bestowed their gyaan upon me. I wouldn’t be under the pressure to weave out a perfect underdog small town motivational story this time. This would be about the imperfections, and people who have witnessed it. It’s funny that all the cult youth centric Bollywood movies have had a trio of friends. My story is no different. This is about my partners in crime at SVNIT - Mitul and Amey. Thank you guys for all the trips we had at ONGC bridge, all the Gajjar memories, all the outings and all the advice. College wouldn’t have been this fun had it been without you. Thank you for standing by my side, always. And also, thank you for making me an unofficial part of all your co-curricular endeavours :P Friendship is never a smooth road. This is for Simran, one of my closest friends from first year.

I’d be honest, first year was so much fun! Things didn’t go as we expected them to, in the second and third year. It is said that the setting sun dissolves everything within it, maybe, that’s what happened in our case.

I can never forget 3rd May, 2019 and the days which followed after. Thank you for teaching me what a pure soul means, and trying to make me one! “Transistors work like a switch. When provided with activation at the base, they turn ON, else they remain in an off state”. This first lesson in electronics made me think, aren’t we all like transistors? Everyone has their own activations – reading a book, gaming, listening to music and what not. I had a set of my own. Thank you Shivansh, Shreya, Asmita, Satish and Pranjal. Thank you for making ECE bearable!The entire college knew me as “Secretary”, for I was the Secretary of the biggest student chapter of SVNIT. But not Chintan, Dhaval and Soumya. I could never be that organized, ever so calculative and event oriented in front of them. They were the friends from CHRD, who inculcated CHRD in my heart without letting it get on my head. Thank you for all those valuable suggestions you gave me! Also, Dhaval, “Esse Lite rehne ka!” Much Love. Much gratitude. Yours, Rajlo, Golu, ShahRaj, Chacha, Ae bhaiya, Raaajjjjj From Raj Shah

20

Renesa - Farewell 2020

To SAE juniors,

To Tarang Desai,

I've spent almost 3 years at the lab. It all started with a robowars event in my first year. The sleepless nights itself started from there. There were disappointments, fallbacks, troubles and what not. Leading that team to leading the whole SAE story didn't change much except the bot became fully grown fastest electric go-kart to run on BIC. All of you have only seen the fame and glamour and those seen videos of picking the trophies and the kart ripping apart other teams confidence, but a few of you know the struggles. It was my second year and we started making the chassis and testing various designs for the SUPRA SAE INDIA competition. We were late in submission even though our seniors seem a bit directionless. Though we still stuck to the team and that's what SAE is all about. We made chassis in 10 days but all just was in vain. The CBR600 engine couldn't be used anymore and our team wasn't able to purchase the newest KTM engine. Everything was called off, seniors dropped off the competition. The team was shattered as well as our dreams. Collecting each and every piece of that shattered team we started remaking the team. Many members started dropping out from the team. But the vision was clear to make our vision a reality and change the phase of work in SAE. We shifted to EV and started working on E-Kart.

And the results are still visible to you all! Heartbreaks and fallbacks are an integral part of the learning process and it is not the end of the world, something beautiful is always waiting across the sea of hardship. Best of luck to you all for your newest venture and all the best for future.

Hey...Tarang. You have always been an explorer since I know you. Probably that's the quality everyone should seek like never settling on only thing but instead always be on constant search of new. And that new, is what actually develops us to be more flexible with life.

Our decisions come from thoughts and that's eventually what frames us as a person.

Life is always on constant swing, if you are running in the direction of swing it's not a problem but opposite is one, that's where we fall. So set your direction right because swing is constant. Stay Calm and be Aggressive only when needed. I hope you get that...And you guys owe us a Farewell ;)

From Arman

From Ajaypalsingh Rajpurohit

To Madhatters juniors, “Started from the bottom, now we’re here.” Though a little cliché, that's exactly what can be used to describe us as a club. But there’s still a long way to go. I can’t believe I’m already writing this. It feels like just yesterday that I joined the college. Our shared interest in experimental theatre which we slowly evolved into short film making, video sketches and the likes have grown the club from something no one knew of to something that is now the subject of memes.

All the moments we spent together, be it arguing over who shoos the dog away from our meetings (Amey, of course) or discussing how a particular story pans out, I am gonna miss it all. Ughhh, I am gonna miss the late-night rehearsals, the improv sessions, the pranks and the scriptwriting “seshes” in my room.

With a growing team, comes a growing responsibility so be aware of that. I am proud of us for the things we have achieved. Trust me, it’s crazy how we have made it all happen. And the idea of some kind of innovation with every project, that’s what made every project interesting. I liked how we made that whole murder scene happen in “Wish You Were Here” with the fake blood. I like the fight we always put up whenever there was something in our way. I want that to continue. I am proud of us for moving our content making to the online platforms and adapting to the change well.

Also, if you are ever stuck, confused or need someone to talk to at any point ever do know that I’m always just a phone call away. I didn’t make a lot of friends in college but I did make this club my family. You have no idea how hard it is going to be without you guys and all the Madhatters touch in my life. Also, I’m disappointed that I won’t be getting a chance to meet, collaborate and perform anything with the new recruits whom we auditioned online during the pandemic.

In the three years that I served as the head, I tried to give back to the club whatever it has ever given to me. Sure there were lots of ups and downs, misunderstandings and fights but everything was for the greater good. I know I have been hard on you guys quite a few times but hey I did that because you needed it.

Anyway, if I did hurt you I do apologize.

A big THANK YOU to every Madhatter in the club and all the other people who saw potential in us and allowed us to go ahead and perform the kind of content that we wanted to. It used to warm my heart to see the auditorium filled with so many people.

That being said, this club is my baby, I’ve seen it grow from a shy little one to someone who can stand tall in the face of adversity and now you guys gotta take care of it. Also, drop by whenever you come to Mumbai.

Your boy will be waiting at his crib so we can have a sesh. One last thing, when I come to the campus to visit you guys, make sure there is a mattress arranged for me. Thank you <3.

From Rohit Ramesh

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The Student Chapters Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

We at ACM see a world where computing helps in solving tomorrow’s problems — where we use our knowledge and skills to advance the profession and make a positive impact. ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), the world’s largest

educational and scientific computing society, delivers resources that advance computing as a science and profession. ACM NIT SURAT is one among the many student chapters of ACM across the globe in various institutions.

Through its year-round activities, be it coding challenges, hackathons, quizzes, or development workshops and competitions, the club has always aimed at doing its best and indulging the majority of the students.

The chapter is moving towards achieving nationwide recognition by conducting open-to-all contests on various digital platforms successfully.

Coding contests such as Epiphany and Inception were conducted this year to lift and promote coding

Cultural Affairs Council (CAC)

“We do not know the true value of our moments until they have undergone the test of memory.”

Cultural Affairs Council is SVNIT’s official student chapter that handles the institute’s major cultural activities, including fests such as Sparsh. CAC conducted several events this year.

Civil Engineering Society (CES)

Civil Engineering Society, the oldest student chapter of SVNIT, Surat, has consistently aimed and worked towards developing skills and providing knowledge in the field of Civil Engineering, keeping up with modernization in the field, and helping students with their career prospects.

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culture among the young tech geeks.

The various exhilarating workshops held throughout the year include Git and GitHub and UI/UX, which introduced the concepts of version control and user interface designing, respectively. Apart from this, we had the ACM Summer Challenge and AMOC (ACM Month Of Code), which were month-long events to test the coding and development skills of our talented newbies and sophomores.

The ACM Hour Of Code was also conducted, in which our executives visited various schools and provided insight about the opportunities in computer science and its importance.

Finally, the Tech IQ Quiz was the perfect opportunity to check upon the tech knowledge of SVNITians.

The new semester began with Fun Street, where everyone was laughing, having fun with their friends, cheering them on so they can eat more PaniPuri, and enjoying their kooky dance moves. Later on, during the Kite Festival, SVNITians exhibited their kite-flying skills, trying to jam up Manjhas with their special someone.

Collectively, it brought a feeling of nostalgia mixed with love, along with some good music.

On the other hand, during Safin Hassan sir's talk, many students took life-changing advice, seeing themselves as the next big

Its annual technical festival, Kaizen, not only offers a wide range of events, workshops, and fun field games to the students of our institution, but also draws a lot of attention from civil engineering students across Gujarat. Several other events are also conducted throughout the year.

In the academic year 2019-20, CES conducted workshops on AutoCAD (2D) and Revit (3D). Through its online presence on various social media platforms, puzzles and quizzes were conducted. Its online series, “Stating the Structures”, which shared civil engineering marvels from all the states in India, was well-received for being informative as well as innovative.

The Kaizen 2020 fest took place from

thing. It gave everyone positive vibes and a new way to look at our lives. We learned about unity in diversity and explored our culture with “Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat”. We celebrated National Education Day together. We do not remember the days; we remember the memories. And all these memories will have a special place in our hearts and will keep on making our life more beautiful. A lot of credit goes to CAC for making this year such a beautiful and celebrated piece of time and making the college laugh, dance, sing, and eat happily.

15-16 February, 2020. It was met with great anticipation and excitement as students turned out in great numbers for the events — both technical and managerial, and participated in games and informal events as well. The technical events created by the CES team found winners in participants who were able to apply basic civil engineering concepts in practical problems to obtain optimum models.

Participants also went full throttle on their wits as they competed in the managerial events in the fest. CES plans to keep introducing new and innovative ideas in the future as well.

Cutting Edge Visionaries (CEV)

“Creativity is all about connecting the dots. Always has been.”

2014 was the beginning of an era when a small group of technology enthusiasts felt the need to have a community with diverse interests. A community where one could test their abilities and expand limits by implementing revolutionary ideas and eventually portray it through a medium that every student can understand. The fundamental goal-sparking technical discussions created a very inducive atmosphere, which was a major focus in the initial phase.

The capability to sustain through the hardest of times makes an organization and its people more reliable. Keeping up with our ups and downs taught us to adapt to the circumstances but never to back off.

Chemical Engineering Society (ChES)

The Chemical Engineering Society was instituted on 16 January, 2014. Affiliated to the American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE), ChES SVNIT aims to spread knowledge and experience to future chemical engineers about chemical engineering education and its applications. Over the past years, ChES has conducted various events demonstrating innovation from fun activities and technical events.

We always emphasize the fact that we are students from a technological university and work on our steepest gradient of progress towards engaging and promoting technical education and discussions among the students of National Importance.

With a Team of 60+ members, we strive to spread technology, sciences, management, economics, and finance both inside and outside the college boundaries. To suffice our Mission and Vision’s need, we organise talks, workshops, challenging competitions like CaseStudy, and Technical Quizzes. We conduct Study Jams, dismantle machines, experiment on hardware, draw simulations, and most importantly have fun! In the academic year 2019-20, some of the most talked-about and reputed events were samples of our brainstorming discussions. To exemplify: 1. Lumières (where 13 best professor-researchers shared their research work in separate talks)

ChES organized an introductory orientation for the first-year students on 7 November, 2019. This orientation was done to familiarize students with this community. Our respected faculty advisor, Dr. Meghal Desai, also gave a motivational talk to students, which helped in their better involvement.

The Eureka 2.0 initiative was started in October 2019 to help students develop a research-orientated mind.

Groups of 2nd and 3rd year students were made to organise the program. Teams presented their research abstracts to the audience in the Blackboard Sessions conducted. Finally, the teams compiled and concluded their optimal solution to the respective problem statement selected by them in the Poster Presentation.

ChES represented SVNIT in the Chem-E-Car competition

2. Winter school (where we trained students in several fields from some of the best brains on campus) 3. IOT Bootcamp (the hands-on project that opened doors to the beginners in the field of IOT) 4. Numerous thoughtprovoking Group Discussions focused on technology and solutions.

Attesting the club's growth, we decided to decentralize it into three different subgroups: 1) Aryavarta - Quantitative Finance, Algorithmic Trading, Business Analytics, Consulting 2) Yantrika Code, Computers, Circuits 3) Aantarak Core Engineering and Space Sciences These groups work in different domains. However, they share the same goal and work in unison on various projects.

at IIT Gandhinagar on 20 October, 2019. Our team bagged the 3rd position in the competition out of 9 teams, including colleges such as PDPU, IIT Gandhinagar, and NIRMA University.

Chem-E-Quest, the treasure hunt, was conducted for the first-time students on 9 November, 2019. One of the main purposes of this event was to make the freshers familiar with the department. Siphon, the annual departmental fest, was conducted by the Chemical Engineering Society from 18-19 January, 2020.

A total of 13 events were conducted over a span of two days. Various technical, nontechnical, managerial events and quizzes were organized to introduce the students to the various fields and applications of Chemical Engineering.

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Centre for Human Resource Development (CHRD)

— the most delicious part of the Malang platter is the Rubix crew. This crew has been making SVNIT unbeatable for years by representing our institute and winning dozens of competitions. “You do not need to be a Michael Jackson, shaadi wala dance will also do!”

Akriti

CHRD (Centre for Human Resource Development) is a student chapter that inculcates aesthetic values in the students and creates human resources.

Have you heard of the terms ‘keeping up the responsibilities’ and ‘fun’ as one? CHRD is these words as one. This club has truly learnt the concept of “Unity in Diversity”. Events like Shamiyana, Chhanak, and Mega Nights act like umbrellas, sheltering all the clubs at once!

Kirdaar

Whenever you hear the word ‘Drama’ in SVNIT, ‘Kirdaar’ is surely going to be the first word coming to your lips. Here, a pen is mightier than a sword and a drama isn’t just about theatre; each performance brings emotions of love, hatred, joy, sadness, and anger. When you join Kirdaar, you don’t join a club, you join a family. A wise man once said, and we quote, “Kirdaar hamesha saath rehta hai…Apna ho ya Apnaya”.

Raag

Raag is a feeling. From strumming the strings to drumming the beats; from the classical taste of violin to rock bass, we have it all. There is probably no place left in college where ‘Raag Jam Sessions’ have not occurred.

Meetings at lawns, practicing at the CHRD room, jamming in front of PMC, chilling at Galla and Khetlapa are just a few of the daily routines of this melodious club. “We know that we are no Arijit or Shreya but we can still offer you a bang for your buck!”

Malang

Malang, the dance club of CHRD, is like a 3-course meal. For starters, Malang has the entire range of dance forms like Hip-Hop, Contemporary, Lyrical, Wacking, Classical, Semi-classical, and more. “Dance Jam” and “Synchronize” are the major events. For the main course, Malang provides a platform to all l the solo dancers out there. Last but not least, the desert

CHRD’s very own creative and jolly mixture, infamously known as ‘Akriti’, is the student chapter that has touched everyone on campus with its creativity. For example, the Sparsh Wall. If you’ve never clicked a picture with the Sparsh Wall, are you even an SVNITian? This wall, created by the workhorses of Akriti, is a landmark for the entire institute. This club has decorated almost everything in college from the main gate to Gajjar Bhavan. Decorations for every festival, from Navratri to the Fresher’s Party have also been done by the same club. “We brush your creativity, you stroke the rest!”

Cinephilia

Now, the 3-year-old baby of CHRD, ‘Cinephilia’ has certainly started blooming like never before. This student chapter shows a culture of acting, directing, and shooting in small feature movies. These movies please the heart like smelling an orchid in a valley of garlands and also deliver heart-touching messages through their screenings. A movie isn’t just shots edited together to present a story; it is a collective effort of directors, writers, cinematographers, soundtrack editors, and more. This club teaches the values of resources and time management like no other. “Not going to flex, but we make movies worth watching.”

Convex

Believe us when we say, “Every event ever happened in SVNIT is directly a part of Convex Club because they are always there to capture every moment.”

From orientations to workshops to marathons to mega nights to fests, everything links back to Convex, as they are the sole photography club of our institute.

This student chapter works magic with their lenses.

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”

“CHRD can’t be anyone’s first priority as it is the only priority!”

Drishti DRISHTI aims at encouraging curious minds to build up their technical aspects in a constructive manner. We represent a collaborative vision after considering everyone’s ideas and transforming them in a socially helpful manner. We include young enthusiasts working in different domains, ranging from Machine Learning to Structural Designing, and from Aeronautics to Automated Systems.

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Orientation:

Orientation is the spark to ignite the forthcoming innovation. It is the very first interaction of the club with first-year students where we tell them what we do, how we do it, and how they can be a part of it.

Grand Roboprix:

“If you never try, you will never know.” In line with this ideology, we present “THE GRAND ROBOPRIX” every year in the odd semester and set the stage with the very first technical event organized exclusively for first-year students. It aims at bringing the fresh and creative minds together to build their bots, which compete against each other. This year, 37 teams took part in this event and made it a huge success.

Makerspace:

It is our flagship event where the students are provided with an excellent opportunity to learn and create what they inculcate.

Projects are assigned according to the student’s interests. Mentors are provided to them who guide and help them overcome challenges faced throughout the completion of the project.

Workshops:

Knowledge can always be attained at any point in time; the only necessity is to identify the real quest, personal interest, and correct approach. Keeping this in mind, we at DRISHTI try to impart the knowledge of various domains to all the curious minds out there. Each workshop is a springboard from which the students will gain a deeper understanding of technology. In these unprecedented times, we conducted an online workshop for the first-year students on several wideranging topics to help them inculcate an aptitude for developing technology.

Mini-projects:

This is a month-long welcoming project for the second-year students. This prepares the students with the utmost basic skills in this era of technology. This event also enhances the skills of individuals and prepares them for the upcoming major projects.

Major-projects:

These are 6-month long projects for the second-year students in which they explore cutting-edge technology. We continuously work on improvement of our projects and also participate in various competitions worldwide.

This academic year, we also worked on other notable projects like Desalination Plant, Gesture Interpreter for Specially Abled, Plant Leaf Analyser Network, Reforester, Sustainable Society Planning, and Aero Modelling. Some notable achievements this year are — Robocon 2020, where team DRISHTI scored 98/100 and were one of the 79 teams (out of 93 total teams) who cleared the first round.

We have been working on a rover for the last 4 years and participating in IRC (Indian Rover Challenge) for the last 3 years. We have secured 8th and 9th rank in IRC 2019 and IRC 2020 out of 32 and 35 participating teams, respectively.

The Aeromodelling team built an RC plane, quadcopter, and a solid-propellant rocket, and qualified for the 2nd round of the Boeing Aeromodelling competition organized by IIT Bombay in its Techfest in January 2020.

All India NIT Conference:

We got a chance to present Team Drishti in the All India NIT Students’ Conference, which was organised by SVNIT, Surat from 14-15 September, 2019. There, we

Developer Student Clubs, SVNIT (DSC SVNIT)

DSC SVNIT is our college’s chapter of the extensive network of the developers community that Google has built all over the world. We bring together people who are passionate about growing developer communities that foster learning, sharing, and collaboration. The club is intended as a space for

procured an opportunity to showcase some of our projects like exoskeleton, RC plane, automated check-in system, cable stayed bridge, and Geodesic Dome.

18 years of innovation:

On 28 April, 2020, we completed 18 years of our upliftment with a meaningful journey full of lots of innovations, challenges, memories, and thousands of moments of togetherness and satisfaction.

Giving back to society:

During tough times of the COVID-19 pandemic, being a technical club, it is our duty and responsibility to use our knowledge and energy efficiently so that we can support the world. After working diligently for many days, Team DRISHTI, along with the Workshop Professionals from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of SVNIT, successfully designed and developed a robot, DOSTAR (Differentially Operated System To Assist Recovery) for helping and providing support to the society in the best way possible. The bot was handed over to SMIMER Hospital, Surat and is now being used to deliver food and other necessities to the patients without getting in direct contact with them. In addition to this, a few of our team members have developed a system, CAPTEN (Corona and Pneumonia Testing Networks), which differentiates between COVID-19, Viral Pneumonia and no findings using their chest scans. This model can be employed to assist radiologists in validating their initial screening, and can also be employed via the cloud to immediately screen patients. This was a small step by us to support our society and nation in the time of crisis.

students to try out new ideas and collaborate to solve real-world problems and build sustainable solutions.

held workshops to help budding developers get started in fields like Machine Learning and Multiplatform App Development.

DSC SVNIT held a wide variety of workshops and competitions amongst many informal meetings and discussions during the 201920 academic session. We followed the successful Orientation with a workshop introducing open-source software, along with programs like Outreachy, Women in Fedora, and Google Summer of Code. After the great response from students, we

In March, we organized our flagship event, the “HackCovid19 Hackathon”, in which students from all over the country tried to come up with ideas and solutions that would help the efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic. With help from a wide array of sponsors and influential judges from the industry, HackCovid19 turned out to be DSC's most successful event yet.

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Electrical Engineering Society (EES)

The student chapter organizes various technical and nontechnical events throughout the year, providing students an apt platform to showcase their talent and technical puissance.

The student chapter proudly boasts of having the highest number of followers on social media amongst all the clubs and student chapters of the institute.

technological domains like Machine Learning and IoT. Another event, Quiziyapa is conducted annually, which is undoubtedly the best quiz event conducted in SVNIT and has a lot of appealing X-factors. The annual mega-event of EES, Aatish, is conducted in the even semester.

It attracts a lot of crowd with its innovative technical and nontechnical events and workshops.

A typical year in EES commences with its orientation, Discharge, where the freshers are acquainted with EES and its events. Next is Dextrix, which attracts a huge The Electrical Engineering Society, SVNIT Surat, fondly turn-up of inquisitive students abbreviated as EES SVNIT is a student chapter of the willing to learn about different Department of Electrical Engineering, SVNIT Surat. electrical machines and trending

EES also organizes many other events like Intra-Departmental Cricket and Departmental Week, which gives the students a muchneeded rejuvenation from study and exam-related stress. At EES, we always have something for you, irrespective of your year/branch!

Hindi Cell, SVNIT

IETE Students’ Forum, SVNIT (ISF SVNIT)

The Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) is a nationally acknowledged society devoted to the advancement of Science and Technology, especially in the field of Electronics, Communications, and Information Technology. IETE Students’ Forum, ISF, is a stream of student bases for engineering students across the country, established in over 550 colleges.

The IETE Students’ Forum at SVNIT works towards building an environment for exchange of technical knowledge by organizing various quizzes, seminars, technical workshops, competitions, and career guidance sessions. Currently, Dr. Rasika Dhavse and Dr. Shilpi Gupta are the faculty advisors. Working under their guidance is the core committee from pre-final year, followed by the Executive committee from second year. The members of ISF include students from all circuit branches of SVNIT.

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Throughout the year, it organises seminars, quizzes, and competitions to provide an insight about various domains in the field of Electronics and Communication and prepare students for placements.

This year as well, an orientation about IETE and its importance and benefits was arranged for the students. The year started with an event on MSO, MDO, and DSO training, as it is of great use in the electronics curriculum. The foundation day of IETE was celebrated with a talk on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. To assist in placements, IETE organised talks by placed seniors from a variety of domains — core, software, and managerial. A coding competition was also held in collaboration with Microsoft

to train competitive coders from all circuit branches. A separate talk was organised on ‘Python for Everybody’, which received great appreciation.

IETE also assisted a workshop by WOMEN4 on ‘Python for Data Science’.

IETE Students’ Forum, SVNIT organises its main event, the renowned annual departmental fest, HERTZ, every year. It is a two-day event of the Electronics and Communication department, organised under the guidance of the faculty advisors and Head of Department. It is an initiative of IETE Students’ Forum to enhance the skill and excellence of students in every aspect — including technical and intellectual skills through various

Joyfest

Joyfest is a philanthropic initiative spearheaded by the students of SVNIT, Surat as a part of the joy of giving. As the name suggests, we work to spread happiness and joy amongst the weaker sections of our society. Students of this institute who voluntarily work with a positive attitude run this club. We organize events and take various initiatives throughout the year, including our main event, Joyfest — where we invite children from various NGOs and slums and

Literary Affairs Committee (LAC)

competitions. There were 8 mega-events including tech and non-tech events. The events were FuseIt (Soldering event), Spark (Line follower event), Circuitrix (Circuit designing event), Rootfs (Coding event), Mock placement, IPL Auctions, Switch (Debate event), Treasure hunt (Explore your department).

Apart from these events, we had various informal events and refreshments for the participants. The prizes of previous events were also distributed.

IETE has thus played a prime role in understanding technology and building careers of many students. It stands by its motto by inspiring inquisitiveness and encouraging students to explore and learn.

organize a day-long event for them. It is our effort to make them believe that they too are an integral part of our society. Apart from this, we celebrate Independence Day with children in the slums of Surat, Grandparents Day at old age homes, and Children's Day. We also have a Cloth Drive in which we collect used clothes from students, faculties, staff, and distribute them to people in need. Joyfest organizes frequent visits to different NGOs and many more.

Another aspect of our club that we are very proud of is our policy of not using the institute’s funds. We raise

The Literary Affairs Committee is a unique hub where creative ideas are encouraged and expressed.

Home to cosmopolitan readers, debaters, orators, quizzers, and literature enthusiasts, LAC provides a platform where students’ interests are explored and nurtured. Recognizing the importance of practical communication skills in all fields of work, LAC also focuses on developing and improving the communication skills of all students through

funds for our events on our own merit. We conduct a "Paper Drive" in which we collect used papers and notebooks from all the hostels and staff quarters and sell them. The money raised is then further invested in designing merchandise — which we sell to students, as well as people outside the campus, to meet our requirements. This reduces paper wastage in the campus and also generates funds for us. We believe that our sincere efforts can make someone's life a little happier and can change their attitude towards life.

We would be grateful if more students come out to support and work for this initiative.

various speaking events — including extempores, discussions, and poetry slams.

The 2019-20 session for LAC began with the debate competition, poetry writing competition, and Just-aMinute events conducted under “Swachhata Pakhwada”. Next was the blockbuster Murder Mystery event titled “Who Killed Walter?”, which was highly praised by the audience and members alike. A mixed-bag quiz was conducted after the

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Diwali break, followed by the Orientation (and interviews) for new recruits in early November. In the winter break, an online quiz tournament between SVNIT and NIT Jalandhar was held by LAC in collaboration with QUEST – The Quiz Club of NIT Jalandhar. The year 2020 opened up with the debate and “Book-Up” events, conducted in the first week of the spring semester. It was succeeded by a three-day celebration of quizzing held under the “Quiz Evenings” event.

LAC meetings offer an open floor for its members to interact,

explore, and express themselves frankly. Many intra-LAC workshops on Group Discussions (GDs) & Quiz Making, along with SuChe Sessions, Toastmasters, and even the general Mafia game sessions, aim to shape and improve the soft skills of the members. Although the primary objectives of LAC are the promotion of literature, improvement of communication skills, and providing a platform for quizzing on multiple themes — books, movies, TV series, general knowledge, and sports; LAC has always aimed to improve the overall intellect of both its members and the campus.

Madhatters Theatre Club

Madhatters was started by a few members of Renesa 4 years ago, who felt the need for an English theatre club on campus. One of the youngest groups in college, we have grown by leaps and bounds with more than 20

members now. From our first performance of a small classroom skit, Madhatters now routinely showcases performances to packed audiences at the Production Seminar Hall.

The initial focus on English theatre has now grown to encompass moviemaking and experimental theatre; in fact, last year, we submitted a film for the IFP 50hour film competition. With the way things stand, we have shifted over completely to digital media which has offered its own

set of rewards and challenges.

Everyone at Madhatters is expected to step outside of their comfort zone and contribute to the group in more than one way: our writers act, our designers sing, and the light guy probably directed the whole project. Madhatters offers people the chance to break away from the monotony of studies and explore their creativity, but more than that, it brings a lot of like-minded students together who end up bonding over theatre. As our unofficial slogan goes: “We are all mad here!”

Nirvana

“NIRVANA - a reason to smile.” “Everyone who knows little can teach little.”

Nirvana is a social initiative student chapter taken up by our college to provide primary education and moral values to underprivileged children in and around the campus. This activity is volunteered by the students of SVNIT.

SVNIT was established in June 1961. This college has its own campus, spread over hundreds of hectares. Over the past few years, the construction of various buildings in the academic sector has led to labourers and their families staying within the campus. Among these families exist children who do not have access to basic education. As India faces challenges like poverty and literacy, situations like these present themselves not just on campus, but all over the country.

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Everyday in the evening, volunteers pick up children from in and around the campus and teach them at the LT2 Seminar hall. The primary focus is basic education and awareness. Many fun activities like yoga, drawing, rangoli, and rakhi-making are carried out on weekends. We also celebrate Holi, Diwali, Uttarayana, and other festivals with them to educate them about festivals and cultures of India.

Society of Automotive Engineers, SVNIT (SAE SVNIT)

We introduce ourselves as Team Phoenix Racing, SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) SVNIT. We are an organization dedicated to automobile projects consisting of Mechanical and Electrical engineering enthusiasts. We have a legacy dating back to 2005, having achieved recognition across various national and international level competitions since then. Our past accolades including GARUNA ARAI SAE (2005), PUSHPAK BAJA PORTLAND (2006), ASHWAMEDH (2007), YUYUTSU BAJA (2009), ANSHUMAT BAJA (2009), EKLAVYA MINI BAJA (2010), PHOENIX SUPRA (2011, 12, 14, 15, 16), NATIONAL GO-KART COMPETITION (2013), GO KART DESIGN CHAMPIONSHIP (2019, 2020). All these have invariably added feathers in the cap of our glory.

In 2019-2020, TEAM PHOENIX RACING SAE SVNIT participated in 3 nationallevel events and proved itself. The team proved that with hard work, they can achieve anything. The team could taste this success due to immense efforts by the entire team, led by Captain Hari Om Saini, Chairperson Hemish

Gangajaliya, Manufacturing Head Mihir Panchal, Treasurer Vaibhav Shukla, Rajan Swami, Oorja Dorkar, Shaan Polra, Tirth Lodhiya, Shulabh Yadav, Mohit Ambekar, K. Vamsi, Drivers – Nishant Mittal and Raghav Shah, Rahul Shah, Sanskriti Pal, Anirudh Manoj, Anup Kamath, and Dhanush Binu, to achieve this precision-based performance.

Here that

is the

the team

list of events took part in:

1. E-Go Kart Design Challenge, Electric Vehicle: Overall Champions 2019 & 2020 — With a clear vision in our mind and a specific target, we have toiled towards establishing our name in the field of electric Go-Karts.

Electric Go-karts have stupendous achievements, having a broad motive of shifting focus to electrification and future development of mobility.

Our go-kart cleared various rounds successfully and has been a consistent champion for 2 years.

2. FORMULA

BHARAT

2020

—

Formula Bharat is a global engineering design competition in which students from colleges and universities all over the country compete with a life-size Formulastyle vehicle in areas of engineering design, overall cost, marketability, and dynamic performance.

3. BOEING FLY HIGH AEROMODELLING COMPETITION 2020 — Boeing - IIT National Aeromodelling Competition for college students in India is sponsored by Boeing, and conducted in collaboration with various IITs. The competition is launched with the vision to provide a unified national platform for students interested in aerospace and related engineering disciplines.

Apart from these, the club also arranges various seminars based on basic industrial training, vehicle dynamics, and SOLIDWORKS design software. More detailed information regarding our journey can be seen on the official website of FSAE as well.

Society for the Cultivation of Science and Humanities (SCOSH) SCOSH is one of the student chapters which focuses on promoting science culture in the college. The club goes with the motto — “little significant events can lead to significant results over time”. Yes, it must sound familiar to you; we are talking about the ‘butterfly effect’. The major role this holds in our club can be seen through our logo itself. We, being research enthusiasts, focus on all the daily science progressions in the world and bring it out to the people of our college. Living in a dynamic world,

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where everything is going at its pace, the task of covering all major researches and events, with a commitment to develop a profound interest in our peers, is a major task which we look to achieve.

to develop a taste in science to lead a normal life. Those who get our point and feel like they can do something in our club come for the interviews and we select a bunch of students out of them.

is a mega-event, “A 10-hour Researcha-thon”, in which we provide research papers of their choices to students and tell them to present the paper to others on the basis of their understanding.

Now talking about what we do. I don’t think we’d be boasting if we call ourselves the “busy bees” of our college. We have a passionate team of content writers, graphic designers, inhouse team, and many others who work together to make the events successful. As every club has its orientation, we also do the same by collecting all the first yearites, making them sit in a room and trying to convince them they need to have

Every one of us develops a keen interest in something at the age of 10-13. So, we kick off our work by going to schools in Surat and inviting them for our event “PRAKRITI”. In this event, we plan some recreational science activities for young students so that they can be wellengaged. The second major event which we organize is “INQUEST”. If you are a student of SVNIT and are in your senses, then you must have heard about this. It

All the major events are incomplete with minor ones. So, every year we try different ideas. This year, we organized a Science Treasure Hunt. We also organize workshops of Python, Matlab, Latex, and Linux, organize premiere nights of movies and some research-oriented talks. With all this, we sum up about our club in the hope that next year we would have more to write in this column.

Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth (SPICMACAY)

The year 2019-20 was indeed a very memorable year for SPIC MACAY SVNIT. It started off with a beautiful Shehnai concert by the Shankar Brothers - Shri Sanjeev Shankar and Shri Ashwani Shankar in September. The entire audience, including the faculty, students of SVNIT, and people of Surat were left mesmerised by this evening.

After a perfect start to the year, this time we introduced a new module of SPIC MACAY in our college called Cinema Classics.

Through its CINEMA CLASSICS module, SPIC MACAY holds special screenings of films at educational institutions in

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which the students are introduced to well-crafted and meaningful films. We conducted a screening of the movie The Great Dictator by Charlie Chaplin. This was followed by a fruitful discussion of various aspects of the movie.

The year ended with our grand event, VIRASAT 2020: A journey towards our roots. A total of 7 renowned artists, along with 30 supporting co-artists performed at this mega-event of SVNIT, which had a series of classical music, dance, folk and theatre concerts. World-famous artists like Grammy awardee Pt. Vishwa Mohan

Bhatt (Mohan Veena), Dr. N. Rajam (Padma Bhushan, Hindustani Violin), Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan (Padma Shri, Sitar), Priyadarsini Govind (Bharatanatyam), Sudip Gupta (Dolls Theatre), Konark Natya Mandap (Gotipua), and Mysore A. Chandan Kumar (Carnatic Flute) graced this event. This cultural extravaganza was held at the Admin Lawns in SVNIT from 27 Jan. to 1 Feb., 2020 and was attended by a crowd of around 500 people every day.

SPIC MACAY SVNIT hopes to conduct more activities in the future to bring the youth of India closer to its rich culture.

The Day It All Began 6:25 am. You glance at your watch for the fifth time this morning and realize that it’s awfully early to be stranded at a noisy railway station. You’ve just gotten off the train with your parents, and for some reason, the 3 suitcases lugging behind you feel like they’ve been stuffed to the brim with bricks. Mom packed an insane amount of luggage, didn’t she?

“Well, it’s only a few more hours, then I’ll be free,” you think to yourself. You decide to take a deep breath and study the scenery before you — humans scuttling around, some chilling on the platform floor, others channeling their inner Usain Bolt to catch the gleaming hunks of metal known as trains. Your observations are interrupted by a strange aroma invading your nostrils.

You turn around swiftly to locate its source. It’s the unmistakable, enticing scent of dhokla. After all, the sign at the railway station does say “Surat”.

After a 9-minute bargain session, the driver finally accepts defeat before your mother’s unparalleled persuasion skills.

You squeeze into the auto-rickshaw with your parents and set out to a funny-sounding place called Ichhanath.

You sputter through the city and soon, pull up to a giant blue and white gate.

You stick your neck outside and look up at the majestic silver letters, strewn across a blue background: “Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat.” You’re finally here.

As your father fills out the details in the security register, one of the guards looks you in the eyes with a very disturbing smile. You make a mental note to avoid the college guards. College always sounded like a dream world, and now that you’ve been granted passage into this mystical land, the excitement simmering within starts to violently boil. You can’t wait to start and you intend to make the

most of your time here. You also intend to become one of those cool, college studs you’ve always seen in the movies, basically worshipped by his peers. Oh, and not to mention, an irresistible chick magnet. Your sumptuous fantasies of college stardom are cut short by your father’s two-word remark: “We’re here”.

You step outside, stretch your limbs, and take a deep breath of fresh Gajjar air. You hope that this place will have comfortable rooms where you can spend the first year of your new-found freedom partying, gaming, and living it up. YOLO, right?

The security guard here seems incredibly exhausted. It must be a tough job dealing with so many parents and answering questions every 5 seconds. You grab your suitcase and sling your backpack over your shoulder. They seem lighter already.

As you lug your suitcase up the stairs, you wonder why the hostel even has elevators if they don’t work. Are they just showpieces, relics of a bygone era, or simply habitats for an assortment of bugs and crawly creatures? You make another mental note to ask someone about the fake elevators. As you climb up, your nostrils are flooded with a putrid scent that makes you gag and almost puke. Finally, you reach the fourth floor of this majestic residence and proceed to locate your room. Your mother leads the way enthusiastically, almost skipping down the hallways.

As you reach the end of the D-wing hallway, you finally see it come into light. “D-421”. You knock politely on the door. The door swings open, revealing a skinny young man with his hand thrust out for a good old-fashioned handshake.

This specimen is your new roommate.

“Namaste uncle, namaste aunty, I’m Raunak,” he says with a beaming smile.

The room is already neatly organized — actually, a bit too neatly organized

Written By: Sumant S. Dangi Chemical | B.Tech. III for your liking. As your parents make small talk with Raunak, you inspect your new room. Your mother swiftly unpacks the luggage and items spring out one by one. Some are neatly placed into the wardrobe, some adorned on your new desk, and the rest, simply stuffed under the large plank of wood and metal that is currently your bed.

As your parents step outside to perform a shopping spree, you march down the stairs with your new best friend to silence your rumbling stomach. There are a few other kids sitting with their parents, trying to eat over the sound of their mothers’ lectures about how they should live in the hostel. After sipping some piping hot tea, you and Raunak return to a fully furnished room. You chat with your future bestie for a while and then doze off. You wake up to a ringing smartphone and see 14 missed calls from your mom.

You call her back, get a 10-minute scolding served to you on a silver platter, and then get summoned to the college main gate. Your parents are leaving.

Soon, you bid goodbye to the couple who raised you since your birth and realize how much they truly care about you. You start to feel a lump growing in your throat and realize how much you will miss being with them. After a tearjerking farewell, fit to feature on the silver screen, you begin the long walk back to your hostel. As you trudge through the campus, you finally comprehend what just happened. You’re alone now. Sure, you’ll be free, but your parents won’t be there to look after you anymore; they’ve gone back home — the home where you will now be a visitor. You decide to shove these thoughts into a corner of your mind and instead, with a geeky smile on your face, go back to fantasizing about being the popular dude in college.

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Who’s in Charge?

Are your decisions really yours? This has been one of the most confusing questions in philosophy. On the surface, it’s pretty obvious; our actions, if not coerced by external elements, are indeed ours. But determinism, the belief that everything works on a cause-and-effect relationship and nothing can occur in any other manner than it does occur, says otherwise.

In a deterministic universe, your choices don’t matter because whatever you do, your future is not going to change (since it is already predetermined). Yes, that would mean that your choice to opt for engineering for a better future doesn’t matter if you weren’t ‘destined’ to have one. Wait, before we get all nihilistic, let’s look at what science has to say.

In the 1980s, scientist Benjamin Libet carried out an experiment where subjects could flick their wrist whenever they wanted to and had to time exactly when they had the conscious thought to do so. He attached electrodes to their heads to monitor brain activity.

Libet found that there was activity in the subconscious part of the brain hundreds of milliseconds before the conscious thought had occurred. This meant that the brain made the decision initially and the subject became conscious of that decision later. If this was true, free will doesn’t exist, because your brain does what it wants and we’re just puppets that believe we are responsible for our actions.

However, Libet’s experiment had flaws — one being that the subjects could not have accurately timed when they actually got the conscious thought. Another

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major flaw was that the brain activity he observed (also known as the readiness potential) didn’t directly correlate to the movement of the wrist. Studies showed that this readiness potential could also relate to only imagining movements and not actually performing them. So, the Libet’s experiment couldn’t disprove free will; but what if the universe is still deterministic?

The answer could be compatibilism, which says that any decisions we make internally (free from external factors) are free, but they are still influenced by unchangeable events in the past.

For example, your choice to read this article can be considered free, but it was definitely because someone sent this magazine to you or you stumbled upon it — things you could not control. So, coming back to the question: is free will really an illusion? It very much is, but it doesn’t matter. Even if our decisions are completely governed by uncontrollable incidents in the past, if we make our choices believing they are unaffected by external factors, then they are our free choices. But if free will really is an illusion, why do humans want it so bad?

Brian Thomas, a retired steelworker from South Wales, had a history of sleepwalking since he was a child. It was this mental illness that changed his life during one vacation. During the summer of 2008, he strangled his wife to death, thinking there was a young biker assaulting her. Brian claimed that he woke up in the middle of the night

Written By: Karthik Sunil Mech | B.Tech. II

to find the man on top of her, so he automatically charged at him and started strangling him. After a while, he snapped back to his senses only to find his dead wife in his hands. He immediately called the police and confessed to the crime. On that night, Brian experienced ‘sleep terror’, a phenomenon where the brain shuts down (except for the most primitive neurological activities) and there is no possibility of conscious intervention because the high cognition areas of the brain are shut down. Brian felt threatened during this sleep terror episode, so his primitive instincts decided to eliminate the threat. Ten months later, the judge returned a ‘not guilty’ verdict during his trial after a neuroscientist confirmed that Brian was asleep during the crime and didn’t consciously commit it. Did the judge make the right decision?

Brian didn’t really have a choice; his brain did what it thought was best for it. Even though he will regret his actions and live in guilt for the rest of his life, he still committed a crime and walked free because he didn’t consciously do it.

Multiple murders and rapes have been committed during sleep terrors, but can they be held responsible? After all, the brain is what controls the body and if we don’t have control over our brains, what do we control? Maybe we don’t control anything but we need to believe we do.

Humans need to be held responsible for their actions so that we can live in harmony. Free will is as important to us as food and water and we shouldn’t let anyone take that away from us.

How to make a perfect “localite” salad Written By: Foram Fanasia Physics | M.Sc. III

Ingredients • • • • • •

1 cup of personal vehicle 1-1½ cups of friendly help ½ cup of FOMO 2 glasses of ghar ka khana 1½ tablespoons of Gujarati language (optional) A pinch of food recommendations

Recipe 1. Whisk the food recommendations till you satisfy your appetite.

2. Mix it well with ghar ka khana when you feel homesick.

3. Fry the FOMO till its colour changes to hostel inconveniences and add it to the personal vehicle.

4. Stir everything with the cups of help constantly till you get familiar with the city.

5. Add the Gujarati language if you want to learn something more than “Kem cho”.

6. Serve it with 4 years of formal friendship during graduation.

The Securicult Welcome to my blog, dear child. You may not recognize me, but you know who I am. Every day, I see hundreds of you walk in and out of my gates in front of me.

While you may fool your professors and wardens, you cannot fool me. Nothing in this institute is hidden from my eyes; I see all, I know all. I know about the times you snuck out of college for your night outs and even the times you tipped the food delivery man for some special oregano.

From dusk till dawn, I sit here inside the gates as the proud protector of this institution. I did not want any part of this, but they named this place after me, after all. Fret not my child, for I’m on your side; your secrets are safe with me. These silly secrets are minuscule compared to the ominous happenings you know little of.

Written By: Supal Padmashali Mech | B.Tech. II

It all began thirty years ago, before any of you were even born, when this institute decided to upgrade its security.

Being of national importance meant we needed stronger safekeeping of what happened inside. A band of blue-clad men was recruited to be the protectors of students and professors alike (as if I wasn’t enough!). Something about them didn’t sit well with me; something was suspicious about them. Soon, the group started imposing bizarre rules on all of you. You could no longer walk through the main gates. Instead, there were special paths for you to go through. Then there was the silly rule that you couldn’t sit and relax anywhere you wanted; after 8 hours of lectures, a child couldn’t even unwind!

All of these were supposed to be ‘security measures’ — to protect you from the

& Saptarishi Pandey Mech | B.Tech. IV world outside. But everything seemed to be complicated and unnecessary.

These new ‘guards’ did not allow students to stand around their own college gates. But what seemed most pointless was making the students enter their names in a register upon entering their own college. Everything was tracked through registers. Even during the dawn of technology, where online computer databases were taking over written records, there sat a ballpoint pen — flimsily cello-taped to a thread on a shabby register. The guards stood there day and night, without cellphones, watches, or any kind of entertainment, relentlessly making sure that the registers were maintained. It was almost as if they received some kind of sadistic

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pleasure by doing this. These were men brought in to protect you, but they seemed to have intentions of malice. I found out later that these were people filled with hatred for the very essence of SVNIT — technology. Knowing that enthusiasts of technology often walked the roads of SVNIT, what better way to keep an eye on the happenings than to be inside the college itself? Oh no, these weren’t ordinary security guards.

As it seems, these Luddites hated technology. But why was that? Wasn’t technology here to help people? Not so for them, it seemed. Their leader, whose great-great-great-great-grandfather’s uncle was once a sorcerer in this town could predict the happenings before they even happened. For decades, he gathered the respect and trust of his folks and followers, until one fateful day arrived. On one stormy night, a man of science entered the town looking for refuge. The engineer slowly started teaching the ways of science to the commoners — the laws of gravity, basics of electricity, and even a bit of biology.

The city grew, with a particular interest in textiles. As science unraveled itself to the people, they started seeing through the lies of the sorcerer. A year later, they banished him and his tribe of followers kilometers away from the Tapi river, calling him a charlatan and burning his house down. He didn’t take that very well; it was treason. He took a blood oath of striking down any work of science. Since then, the tribe went around breaking scientific paraphernalia, burning down

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peer-reviewed journals. Through the years, the tribe spread to different parts of the world. Some of them later formed what is now known as the Flat Earth Society. But the bloodline stayed pure, and later, one of the disciples founded “The Securicult”. Decades later, the plan was finally starting to fall into place, when The Securicult was hired by this institute. It seemed inconspicuous to the administrative department (a rare sight), so they signed the contract to protect the college with the help of The Securicult.

Unbeknownst to the college, there was something much darker in the works.

Not long after they were recruited, on a terrible rainy night, one of the members came running down the road with a drenched register in his hand. He rapped his hand on the college security office door frantically. A man in a blue robe stepped out. Suddenly, as if alive with new hope, the guards from all around the college started to gather around this man, who seemed to be their leader.

Exactly at the witching hour, he said these words, which still ring in my ears as a dark omen, “Just a few more days, my brothers. Just a few more! Then it shall be our turn to prove ourselves to our lord and avenge our forefathers! In the name of our lord, we will strip this stupid excuse of a college away from all technology!”

To do their evil bidding, they were ready to sell off the souls of the students of the college, beings like you. They planned to do this by some wicked ritual which required every single one of the college students to be present in the college.

They planned on using their registers filled with details of the students as an offering for the ceremony. Little did they know, the information they sought was easily available on the college website, accessible through the technology they so vehemently despised. Once this rite was done, with the power they would gain, the cult planned on turning the institute into a vocational college — where the only vocation taught would be that of a security guard, brainwashing all its students. However, there was always one thing which came between them and the success of their evil plan; it was none other than my precious students, who always found reasons to stay out of the college at night. Because, as you see, the ritual which they sought to perform required all the students of the college to be present on the campus.

Not on a single night was each student present on the campus and with each passing day, the band of security guards grew evermore contemptuous. Some lost hope in the cause and ended up buying their first smartphones, while others stuck around in the hope of finally seeing our college get destroyed from within. To this day, the blue-robed man roams around at night, with hope in his heart and anger in his glowing red eyes, waiting for the night he can finally ascend to the Lord of Luddites. I see him walking around every night, cursing under his breath, but there’s little I can do to stop him, for I’m just a bust.

The New Dawn of Gaming Picture this: you’re sitting in the back of the classroom, loitering your time away by playing the same two games that you have on your phone. Now, what if I told you that you could play a triple-A game instead, using only your phone?

This is what the future of gaming holds for us. Many major players in the gaming industry are currently experimenting with a Netflix-like platform that delivers a one-stop gaming experience.

Announced way back in 2014, but sidelined by a weird rental model, is Playstation Now. It’s a subscriptionbased service that can be accessed through the PS Now app. For $9.99/ month, you can gain access to a library of 700+ PS2, PS3, and PS4 titles, which can be streamed at your convenience.

Currently, it is supported on PS4, PS4 Pro, and on PCs. The service also gives us the option of playing the games locally on the PS4 (by downloading them).

Microsoft, on the other hand, has a similar service called the Xbox Game Pass, which essentially functions the same way as Playstation Now, but with one major difference. The Game Pass will have all of Xbox’s exclusives on

The Code to the Past Written By: Shreyansh Saurabh IIIT Comps | B.Tech. II

Written By: Tanmay Dadhania Comps | B.Tech. II

launch day! This means that you can play the new Halo Infinite along with their other exclusives on the day they’re released with the Game Pass. The cherry on top is their new service (included in the Game Pass) called XCloud, which will allow users to instantly stream their favorite games to their chosen device over an internet connection.

While there haven’t been any exclusive launches as of late, the Game Pass is still blowing Playstation Now out of the water with their 10 million subscribers (compared to Sony’s 2.2 million). This disparity isn’t caused by what Microsoft is doing; it’s due to what Sony isn’t doing. Sony’s UI is an utter mess, the service isn’t available in India, Middle East, and Africa, and worst of all, they haven’t done any meaningful advertising.

Looking back at the failure of Xbox One, Microsoft has definitely decided to change their approach for the next generation of consoles; in a sense, the Game Pass is the true successor to the Xbox One. From now on, their primary focus is going to be the service and not just the hardware itself. Microsoft admits that this approach is going to put them We all have a habit of dwelling on the past, don’t we? Be it a good trip down memory lane or reminiscing over a horrible experience, at some point or the other, all of us want to run back, relive those good times, and have a chance to redo the terrible nightmares that still eat us up from inside. It makes you wonder: is there even a slight possibility of us going back in time (and returning) if we’re not some scarlet speedster zipping around at Mach 5?

The concept of time travel isn’t that

&

Haider Sultan ECE | B.Tech. IV

in the red in the short term, but they are banking on it to work out in the long term.

All cloud-based streaming services have some flaws associated with them — the main ones being the resolution of the streamed games and the latency issue. Since XCloud service does not launch until later this year, we can’t speculate whether or not it will suffer from the same issues that PS Now has.

Now, putting aside the numbers and the efficiency for a while, we can see a clear shift in the market which seemed almost impossible a few years ago. No one is being left behind as we transition into a new era of gaming; there’s something for all kinds of gamers. Mobile gamers will get a chance to enjoy AAA titles, while the Hardcore console gamers will still be able to buy their beloved disks.

The fiercer the competition, the more consumer-friendly the market. Gone are the days when consoles were solely judged on the basis of their hardware specifications; in the days to come, their services are going to be put under the microscope. But one thing’s for sure, gaming is going to become a much cheaper hobby in the near future. simple. When it comes to the way our universe is today, we must realize how unlikely this particular outcome was. The path our planet took to bring each one of us into existence has been a string of extraordinarily unlikely outcomes, due to a sheer number of possibilities that it could’ve admitted. A tiny change that might’ve been unapparent a decade ago, like a buzzing bee catching your attention, could be the difference between you noticing the future love-ofyour-life or not. The simple flow of water molecules along the ocean shore could

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be the difference between a pleasant day at the beach and you drowning yourself to a rather painful death. In physics, this phenomenon is termed as ‘chaos’. A tiny change in the initial conditions of a system could, over time, lead to a dramatically different outcome.

If you were to somehow trace the entire history of every particle in the universe, you’d discover that there was a particular path and set of interactions that each of them experienced and that path was, by no means, set in stone.

If you rewind and run a simulation of the universe for a second time, the chances of getting the same outcome would be zilch. Many of the processes in our universe are random, including at a fundamental, quantum mechanical level. Their outcomes are inherently uncertain and intrinsically unpredictable.

So, if you were to go back in time and change the past, you’re not going to arrive in the same universe as this one.

Things would inevitably be different and that could have terrible repercussions.

For example, what if you went back in time and intervened in a critical situation that had led to your existence? Certainly, there’s no chance for your continuance then. And yet, you clearly do exist.

Thought experiments like this have led many to conjecture, on philosophical grounds, that travelling to the past isn’t viable. There’s even a paradox associated with this — the ‘grandfather paradox’, which states that the universe must not admit the possibility of travelling back in time to kill your own grandfather, therefore curbing your own existence.

But let’s assume that you were to do this; would the outcome be as severe

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as

universe-dooming?

Perhaps

not.

As of now, there are two potentially viable theories about travelling to the past. The first one says that the past is indelibly written and nothing we do can change it. Assume that your best friend has just been in a terrible accident and you need to go back in time to alert him. So, you get into your time machine, go back, warn your best friend, and return. Sounds solid, right? Well, under this scenario, this is something that has occurred already. Your friend would’ve remembered meeting your timetravelling form in the past and receiving a warning. You would’ve travelled back and returned. But all of this had already occurred before you even realized it. The way out of this paradox is to heed the fact that whatever you do, and affect, by going to the past has already occurred. The way the universe arrived at its present state is due to the actions you took at every step of your existence, including the part where you travelled back in time. You going to work, punching your boss, or driving your car into the sea have tremendous consequences, but if you travelled back and acted there, those ramifications would’ve already been determined.

It’s an unsettling thought, isn’t it?

The second theory is to assume that the past isn’t decreed and your actions do matter. The universe, as it exists today, isn’t fixed in the state it’s in right now if you go for an odyssey to the past. In a way, every action you take creates a new, alternate history for the universe. You can kill Hitler before WW2, assassinate Brutus and Cassius before they stab Caesar, or doom your ex’s boyfriend

before she meets him. In short, you can change history. The only thing you have to give up is to return back to the universe you originally inhabited. Your actions can change the future, but at a cost — everything that occurs after your escapade gets rewritten as a new, alternate history. The universe as you knew it isn’t the one you return to. In this new future, you may not even have been born. You may simply have come into existence at the moment you arrived at your time-travel destination. You would literally be a visitor from another universe. Sounds cool, doesn’t it?

The fact is that we don’t fully understand the true nature of our reality just yet.

We don’t know if our universe is the only one out there or whether there are other parallel universes. We don’t know whether our universe is deterministic or not, although quantum physics strongly indicates that it’s not. And we don’t know if the past’s indelibly written or it’s malleable. Ben Tippett, from the University of British Columbia, and David Tsang, from the University of Maryland have devised a model that makes time-travel mathematically feasible. “People think of time travel as something as [sic] fiction,” says Tippett. “And we tend to think it’s not possible because we don’t actually do it. But, mathematically, it is possible.”

Whether time travel ever be physically possible is open to debate. But know this, if you lay awake at night thinking of travelling to the past to save your tragedy-befallen friend, then think again: Is that brat really worth all the trouble?

Trouble on your Path?

Written By: Aneesha Sengupta Mech | B.Tech. II & Saptarishi Pandey Mech | B.Tech. IV None of us saw this coming. When the year started, we were looking forward to the new decade with an ambitious list of resolutions in hand. But instead, we’re all in the confines of our homes, washing our hands. We’re often told, “The fun is in the journey, not the destination,” but the journey can get truly rough sometimes.

Funnily enough, as much as we’d like to believe we’re superheroes, we’re often helpless when things fall apart. In the end, how we cope and adapt to the torrents of obstacles in our way defines us.

Trouble with the Curve is a film worth mentioning here. Starring Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, and Justin Timberlake, Trouble with the Curve is a story about an aging baseball scout, Gus Lobel, who finds himself in a predicament with his looming deadlines. With the onset of age, Gus is losing his vision, handicapping him from studying young

players on the field conveniently. Luckily, his years of experience now allow him to detect most shots aurally. However, that’s not enough for him to return to the level he was at before losing his vision.

Gus’s daughter Mickey is up for promotion to get her name on the door of a law firm, just when Gus’s friend approaches her. Taking care of a reluctant Gus, Mickey finds herself at crossroads — stuck between helping her father with baseball and her career in law. Mickey sets her job aspirations aside for a while and gives a shot at baseball — her true passion. Gus finally yields and takes his daughter’s support for the first time to achieve what he needs to, even if it means not doing it his way. Together, they face their challenges into a better tomorrow.

Trouble with the Curve has an uncanny similarity to how life finds its way through

disasters. While we’re stuck at home being clobbered by the pandemic, we’re slowly having to find our way through to success and happiness. Being at home all day isn’t that strange anymore, and #stuckathome is becoming the way forward as offices, gyms, schools and colleges find a place at home. All of us need to choose one of several doors every once in a while to progress towards happiness and fulfillment. No matter how planned out life is, a bit of randomness and serendipity is natural.

Even the most determined and singletracked mind cannot live life exactly as sketched previously. It is here that compromise and adaptability win. One needs to understand — compromise isn’t failure and the need to take a new decision isn’t a roadblock. By adjusting to our situations well, just like Gus and Mickey, we all can find our way through the troubles on our path.

The Ice Cream Principle Written By: Aneesha Sengupta Mech | B.Tech. II Most people always want to select the best of the various options available.

Be it a colour for your nails, a tee-shirt for your brother’s birthday, or a name for your company’s new product, you would obviously strive to pick the hottest and smartest choice (unless of course, you’re seriously mad at your brother, or you wish to incur losses in the company one last time before you leave).

If you want to stand out and make really bold, eye-catching decisions, then steer clear of the Vanilla Ice Cream Effect — the very effect that most mediocre companies fall prey to. It is a general human belief that if a majority of people agree to something, it certainly is the best option. In reality, it is quite to the contrary. In “Don’t Call It That: A Naming Workbook,” Eli Altman calls this the “Ice Cream Principle.” It goes like this: “Tell

10 people to go get ice cream with one condition: they all have to agree on one flavor. The flavor is going to be chocolate or vanilla every time. Groups of people don’t agree on what’s cool or interesting, they agree on what’s easy to agree on.”

However, if you (an ice cream expert) were to opt for a flavour of your choice, you would have gone for some other exotic, less boring flavour that

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you seemed to like earlier. Hence, for the sake of your mates, you have compromised. This is what happens in any brainstorming session that ends with a unanimous take. You must be happy that you as a group could boil all your ideas down to one final concept, right?

You feel that if you were all able to agree, then it must have been the best choice!

Sorry to burst your bubble; most likely, it was the most boring and bland of all the options. Herd mentality has won over independent analysis and creativity here.

Some

examples

of

companies

that attracted more users and increased fortune come their after shifting to less conventional less commonly accepted names • • • •

saw way and are:

GOOGLE (earlier BACKRUB) YAHOO! (earlier JERRY AND DAVID’S GUIDE TO THE WORLD WIDE WEB) TINDER (earlier MATCHBOX) SNAPPLE (earlier UNADULTERATED FOOD PRODUCTS)

In other words, Eli Altman advises to not pick a name or idea strictly

Coming of Age

When people hear of John Mayer, some recognise the singer-songwriter/ comedian for classics like Gravity, Slow Dancing in a Burning Room, or even Neon (especially Neon if they really want to hone their guitar skills). Although John Mayer gets hordes of girls and boys alike crazy over his singing and finger-style guitar skills, a song that often gets overlooked by casual pop listeners is Stop This Train. Today, I would like to introduce you to this gem.

Stop This Train is a composition from Mayer’s 2006 album Continuum. Being a song about growing up and coming of age, it carries a sombre undertone of helplessness; as a young John finds himself unable to cope with the inevitable march of time. The train mentioned in the song is the train of time, and John wants to ‘get off and go home again’, as if he wants to relive the comfort

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and care of his childhood. In the song, Mayer also makes mention of mortality, of how he doesn’t want to get separated from his parents when they pass.

The song is likely to get listeners tearyeyed because of its relatable lyrics, especially when they find themselves at transitions in life, transitions like a college graduation. As one moves out of college to build their career, they grow to build their own life. Suddenly, all the bittersweet memories of college become sweet like nectar. Sometimes, it’s natural to look back at how easy things were when we were younger — when the world and its worries did not bother us as much.

It’s easy to put on rose-tinted goggles and remember the good old days.

The lyrics of this song are likely to remind the listener of another gem, this one by Jagjit Singh: Woh Kagaz Ki Kashti. While

because

it’s

the

top

vote-getter.

Popular opinion should undoubtedly be relied upon in cases where the decision necessarily affects each individual heavily — like selection of the Government, but if you want to outrank the rest and be exceptional, you are going to have some haters (and that’s okay).

Brainstorming and discussing ideas with kith & kin and colleagues can undeniably fetch creativity but the key is to keep the number of participants limited. After all, nothing ruins creativity like too many voices weighing in.

Written By: Saptarishi Pandey Mech | B.Tech. IV

both Woh Kagaz Ki Kashti and Stop This Train look at childhood with the romanticising eyes of nostalgia, John Mayer’s song is a little less melancholic.

As the song progresses, John starts to appreciate the silver lining around the unstoppable train of time. This happens during a conversation with his father, who teaches him that the passage of time is inevitable and that the best time to be in is right now. This is the true essence of the song. While you’re listening, you’ll find yourself relating to the amazing lyrics, enjoying the experience of John Mayer’s beautiful music, while also having an epiphany. The lesson Stop this Train gives to its listeners is the gift of reckoning, of realising that life is meant to be lived in the present moment and that cribbing over the past is futile, as no one can really stop this train.

The College Collage Adios Batch of 2020

ADIOS AMIGOS, BATCH OF 2020 College Collage

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RENESA BATCH OF 2020 MOST LIKELY TO...

...make people laugh at a funeral ~Mritunjay Mohan Borah

...start a cult ~Rhishabh Goswami

...quit a 9-5 ~Shraddha Prasanth

...make you eat your greens ~Aashka Trivedi

...drown in a bucket of paint ~Anya Trivedi

...end up as a mascot for Costa Coffee ~Mir Bhatia

...get kicked out of the bar on a match day ~Tharun Balaji

...join an alt-rock band ~Kevin James

...get pooped on by a bird ~Amey Kulkarni

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RENESA COMMITTEE 2020-21

Yukta Malik Chief Designer

Saptarishi Pandey Chief Editor

Sumant Dangi Chief Editor

Haider Sultan Secretary

Sahil Pathan Designer

Abhinav Pandey Designer

Aneesha Sengupta Designer

Sanskar Panda Senior Editor

Garvit Saini Junior Editor

Foram Fanasia Senior Editor

Karthik Sunil Junior Editor

Kapil Dedhia Senior Editor

Shreyansh Saurabh Junior Editor

Tanisha Tambi Editor-at-Large

Shivansh Shandilya Senior Editor

Supal Padmashali Junior Editor

Tanmay Dadhania Junior Editor

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