Éclat 2014 Edition

EDITORIAL Another year in college ends, and as always, it calls upon us to reminisce about the times gone by.

After 25 glorious years, PESIT has transformed into PES University, adding yet another feather to its cap. The past year has also stood witness to a wide array of events that made it truly memorable, with each one bearing testimony to the incredible energy levels here at PES University!

We take great pride in bringing you this edition of Éclat. You will notice that it is broadly tinged with a personal touch, in keeping with our motto ‘Celebrating College Life’. We have strived to bring out experiences, events and the like through first-hand perspectives.

Through interviews with eminent individuals from different walks of life, we present the plethora of options that are available for building a career. A neat round-up of tech will tell you where the latest and best innovations are happening on campus.

I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with such a talented group of people. It has been a treat, and more so a wonderful learning experience - right from envisioning this magazine to piecing it together and moulding it into its final form.

The encouragement we received from Dr. M. R. Doreswamy, Prof. D. Jawahar, Mr. Ajoy Kumar and Dr. K. N. B. Murthy has pushed us to realise our full creative potential and take up new initiatives and responsibilities. Dr. S. V. Satish has been a great mentor throughout the year, providing the right guidance and support to ensure our endeavours were properly directed. I wholeheartedly commend the team as well as the contributors from across campus for their efforts in bringing out Éclat 2014.

Lastly, as another batch of engineers step out of PES University into the real world, we wish them all the very best!

Have a good read!

Cheers, Abishek Shenoy Editor-in-Chief Éclat 2014

Table of Contents 04 Dr. M R Doreswamy 15 Open Speak An interview with the Chancellor of PES University and Founder of PES Institutions

05 Prof. D Jawahar,

CEO, PES Institutions

An interview with the Pro-Chancellor of PES University and CEO of PES Institutions

06 Prof. Ajoy Kumar,

Thoughts on all things political and controversial

21 Look Around You

When reality stares us in the face, we must change

The journey from pulp and paper industry to photography, via IT

11 Murali Talwai

FoMO

25 The Beatles and India

The amazing desi journey of one of the world’s most loved bands!

27 Metaphorically speaking…or not!

To what extent do metaphors shape and distort our understanding of reality?

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The Subtle Art of An insight into working with and developing cutting edge World Domination A satirical study on a dictatechnology torial reign

13 Ram Kashyap

Words of a young entrepreneur

14 Saad Khan

Pursue your passion, follow your heart, live your dream

36 KAnOE

37 PES Centre for Intel-

07 Dr. K N B Murthy,

08 Ramesh Adkoli

Humour Illustrated!

The best parts about being a student at PES University

University is…

In an increasingly ‘connected’ world, can we pull away from social media?

An interview with the Vice-Chancellor of PES University and Principal & Director of PESIT

34 Comically Sane

22 Happiness in PES 24 Social Media and

Principal & Director, PESIT

Everything is Broken

A premier research centre for Knowledge Analytics and Ontological Engineering

COO, PES Institutions

An interview with the COO of PES Institutions

33 Songs of Sad Folks

30 Slave Blues

About repression, hope and the desire for freedom

32 Just Another Snowflake

Revel in the uniqueness that is YOU!

ligent Systems

Dedicated to the analysis and design of intelligent systems that perceive, reason and learn

39 Pushing the Frontiers of Technology at CORI

Of satellites, library bots, medical devices and more

40 PES Open Source Community

Patrons and champions of open source software and hardware

42 Student Nokia Developer Community

The nerve centre for app development at PES University

44 Team HAYA

Official Racing Team of PES University

46 Team AEOLUS

The sky isn’t the limit, it is home!

48 IEEE PESIT

Advancing Technology for Humanity

49 PACE at PES University

Success through systematic planning and global collaboration

50 FORMULA E

65 Samarpana

Marathons & Bake Sales Paying tribute to the Indian Armed Forces

67 The Fantom Rings

A college band making an impact on the thrash metal scene

68 Quiz On!

An environment friendly rac- What drives the quiz whizzes on campus? ing initiative

51 Crypto Currencies

69 The Synergy of Saa-

The nuts and bolts of bitcoins and the way ahead

The result of an unexpected mix of musical talent

Decrypted

54 Words of Wisdom

Advice from alumni on pursuing higher studies

57 How to make a good game

Get started with game development

59 AATMATRISHA ‘14

PES University’s annual fest made for a cracker of an event!

62 Prakalpa - My Journey

Anecdotes from the annual science and technology exhibition of PES University

63 Yamini - a Medley

A first-of-its-kind dusk to dawn musical extravaganza

64 AICSSC 2013

All-India Student Congress of the IEEE Computer Society.

Have a good read!

79 Department Showcase

A round up of events under various departments

82 Bringing Éclat to Life

Design – The key to enhancing a magazine’s appeal

84 IPL The aftermath of its inception

rang

How the IPL has inspired league models in other sports

70 Rising Pulse

86 Magnus Carlsen

The western dance team of PES University, scaling newer heights with every performance

71 Pitch Please

Popularising and proliferating A Capella culture

72 Dancing in Trance

The rise of a young chess genius

87 P V Sindhu

Carving a niche for herself through consistent wins

88 Bayern The wheel completes a full cycle!

The tables have turned for Melding diverse dance styles the German Club to create power-packed perSebastian Vettel formances A journey from talent to genius The Hitchhiker’s

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Guide to PES University

Enhance your college experience - an insight into the opportunities and perks that arise from being a part of a college club/team.

77 Travel Troubles

What Rising Transportation Costs Means to a Student

92 Campus Challenge -14 Coverage of the interdepartmental sports fest

94 Sports Timeline The year at a glance

97 Ordell Ugo 98 Team Éclat

Tête-à-Tête

Dr. M R Doreswamy Chancellor, PES University Founder, PES Institutions

What got you started?

growth of education institutions? In general, how can bureaucrats contribute towards educaKnowing the significance of education and be- tional growth in our country? ing a firm believer in the words of Swami Vivekananda - “Education is the panacea for all the evils in Many policy decisions taken by the Governthe Society”, I ventured into this sacred arena. ment impact every aspect of our life. Since very few educationists are part of the Government, my Millions of students go abroad for education involvement certainly can make some impact from as a result of which India loses a billion rupees the point of view of education policies. The recomeach year in terms of revenue and manpower. mendations of the National Knowledge CommisWhat solution do you recommend? sion headed by our Hon’ble Prime Minister should There is an unusual craze to go to USA, which also be implemented with all seriousness. can be curbed by meritocracy and by suitably rewarding meritorious students and by providing lucrative jobs including creating world class research facilities. The Government of India should make it mandatory for students availing scholarships to return to the motherland after their studies abroad, otherwise it is a huge strain on the National Exchequer. The curricula should be oriented towards practical application. Industry-academy interaction should increase and is required to be on a continuous basis. Reputed institutions should increase involvement to make our students more acceptable by job providers.

In 2008 you became a part of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. How has it helped in the

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How will autonomy help PES? I am glad to inform you that we have obtained the permission from the government and PES is a University now. With this status, there will be academic freedom to design and implement programs based on our ideas. Very comprehensive and path breaking changes can be implemented within the ambit of the University.

What do you like most about your profession?

I derive my enthusiasm, energy and happiness from the new batches of youngsters that I meet every year. What can be more satisfying than this?

They are my inspiration. PES today is a University, this has been my life time ambition.

Tête-à-Tête

Prof. D Jawahar Pro Chancellor, PES University CEO, PES Institutions

PESIT is now PES University. What new levels of excellence will the university strive for now?

Entrepreneurship has been gaining momentum at the college level. What are your views on it?

The transition from PESIT to PES University has been the single largest achievement in the last year. But at the core, the spirit of PES continues to drive us. Through our own entrance test and stress on high qualification marks, an influx of quality students will be ensured. The courses will be limited and their quality improved. University status will give us the independence to improve grading schemes, increase the academic rigour and provide new opportunities for learning. Through massive open online courses (MOOCs) and tie-ups with 50 universities world over, students will receive a tremendous amount of exposure.

I am a 100% for entrepreneurship. I believe that the next big idea need not necessarily come from research. Rather, an application that is socially relevant has immense potential to be successful. The university must create an environment to connect students to the market requirement. We are doing good work in this regard, through labs and communities like Ordell Ugo, KAnOE, Center for Cloud Computing and Big Data and the ACE program.

What is your message to the students?

The next 5 years will see double the work done in the last 25 years. PES University will herald a Research will be pushed with renewed fervour, lot of change, but we must retain our core values covering 31 domains. Every year, 50% of research of perseverance, excellence and service. These are funding will be focused on each domain in turn. The timeless values that I believe every graduate must university will also reach out to students through imbibe, in order to stand out in all their endeavours. the three fronts of Administration, Research and Teaching (ART) to create an enriching all-round experience.

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Tête-à-Tête

Prof. Ajoy Kumar COO, PES Institutions

What has been the major highlight of the past year?

and understand what developments led to it.

That being said, at PES University, we introduce students to the forefront of technology through various mechanisms. Conferences, workshops, paper publications, interaction with eminent individuals from different domain s of technology and research centres help students connect with and experience emerging technologies.

The transition of PESIT into PES University has been the biggest highlight of the year. It has opened up a plethora of possibilities. We now have the freedom to chart our own destiny. Through new programmes, internships and foreign exposure, PES University can develop new and unique facets of undergraduate education, to become leaders in the What advice would you like to give to the field.

How does PES University adapt to the rapidly changing world of technology?

New technology doesn’t mean that basics should be forgotten. A strong foundation can help bridge the gap to master any new technology. With any emerging technology, it is important to know

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student body?

I have always believed in the phrase ‘Continuous Improvement to be Investment Worthy’. Whether it is academics, a job or research, you must always reinvent, innovate and strive to add value to your work. Only then do you become investment worthy.

Tête-à-Tête

Dr. K N Balasubramanya Murthy Vice Chancellor, PES University Principal & Director, PESIT What are your thoughts on the year gone by?

The past year has been most satisfying on a number of parameters. ​Students have excelled tremendously, in curricular, research and extra-curricular activities.

• ​A major milestone for the institute was PESIT transitioning into PES University.

• ​The institute has received TEQIP funding f​or acceleration of PG education as well as research and for establishing a centre of excellence in Knowledge Analytics and Ontological Engineering (KAnOE).​ • ​​In many competitions, the students of PES University have gained recognition.

• ​Another big change is that students have started looking beyond the regular placements, in terms of higher studies, entrepreneurship and research pursuits.

What does the transition of PESIT to PES University mean for the institute?

The attainment of university status has been the next big achievement for the institute after being granted autonomy in 2007. The institute has reached a greater level of maturity in terms of independent functioning, which is marked by the transition from PESIT to PES University. While the previous VTU guidelines were more generic on account of more autonomous colleges, university status will now allow us to be more flexible while at the same time maintain high standards.

For the institute, this implies a number of processes will be changed or improved. For example, credit transfers will give more recognition to the spirit of work - be it through industry internships or research work abroad. A major and minor specialisation model will be implemented as well, with more flexibility for the students.

What is your advice to the students?

The students must understand that getting into an institute of repute such as PES University is a stepping stone. To achieve further success, a student must match ability with hard work and focus, as well as make use of the abundant facilities and opportunities. We are all stakeholders of the university and so are all responsible for maintaining its high standards. Ultimately, I urge the students to be extremely professional in everything that they strive to do.

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Tête-à-Tête As told by Ramesh Adkoli to Smriti Jyoti

Ramesh Adkoli

The journey from pulp and paper industry to photography, via IT

To begin with, tell us something about your stu- 15% of the revenue Infosys had. I quit Infosys in dent life and how you ended up being in IT. Was 2003, and started a company called EXILANT Technologies with 5 friends, where I worked as Founder it by choice or chance?

I had studied Pulp and Paper Technology and worked for some time in Ballarpur, MH. After few years, I wanted to study further. I had two options: Chemical Engineering or Computer Science. At that time, IT sector had just started to come up. I chose CS as it seemed more interesting. I joined MCA at REC, Tiruchirapalli, TN in 1988. It’s not chance, as I had to make it happen. At that time not many software companies were present in India.

Once you passed out of college, how has your experience been with IT industry, till the time you decided to quit and pursue photography?

I joined Infosys in 1991. It was a very small company back then, with less than 200 employees.

We could relate to people, and the work was challenging. It was a very fast growing company, within 1-2 years the growth was visible. As it grew by leaps and bounds, the people who had joined early got very good opportunities in terms of projects, interactions with the customers, etc. It was one of the best companies to work for – excellent work culture, great management, a good set of customers and a variety of work. I started as a programmer and then moved on to become a project leader and then to be a manager, which gave me an opportunity to interact with clients directly. I set up the Infosys development center in Canada which grew to have 100+ employees. I worked as Associate Vice President - Delivery, Canada and North East Region, I was responsible for the section that generated over

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Director till 2009. The company now has over 1000 employees with offices in Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Singapore, Santa Clara and London.

Why did you not pursue photography earlier?

What advice would you give to freshers who like doing something other than what the job they have requires?

I used to do photography occasionally but it was in April 2009 that I decided to take it up seriously. For me, it was pretty hard as the job required more than what I could offer. I could not find time to pursue photography, so I never gave it a serious thought. Pursuing a hobby requires time and effort.

There are a lot of weekend painters and photographers, etc. It’s good to see people finding time for their interest but the amount of seriousness they have for their hobby is questionable. Very few can do justice to both their work and hobby. I’d suggest people should first settle down in life and then pursue their hobbies. They should do what they like to do.

Tell us about some of the challenges that you have faced in life – in education, work or in switching careers.

To start with education, I worked for 6 years before joining college (MCA). I found it extremely difficult to sit in class. But once you know what you want in life, you have to pursue it. Finding a job was hard, as company preferences included age factors,

and I was senior than most of my classmates. It was also not easy to work in a growing company, you needed skill set to find new customers. It’s easier to join a settled company that way. In work, setting up a development center in Canada was a challenge.

I had to recruit local talent. About switching careers, it was a totally different experience between the manufacturing sector and IT. In manufacturing, you work for 6-8 hours. Once you are out of office, you have no worries - the work is over. In IT, you tend to get a lot more involved. You’ll be busy fixing bugs most of the day, even when you go back home, you’ll be in the mood to work. I don’t consider Photography as a profession – only an interest, so I won’t call that transition as switching careers.

Our country still has this mentality that if someone is academically strong, he or she should take up medicine or engineering or such professions. Does that make it difficult to take up other career paths right from the beginning? Tell us about the hardships that one has to face.

There are many disciplines in photography. I chose nature, because more than photography, the best thing for me is to spend time with nature. As a photographer my day starts early and we work till around 10:30 a.m., and then later from 3 or 4 p.m. till sunset. Sunrise and sunsets are considered the best time to take photos as they enhance the beauty of nature. I like to observe nature as an artist- the choice of colors, tones, views and to capture them on sensor. When you start appreciating nature, you become a better observer. I prefer to do landscape, close-ups and wildlife photography- as they are all related to nature. It takes effort to capture nature in a creative way.

Do you ever think of going back to IT?

Be it photography, music or any other art form, there are always challenges present. It is always difficult until you get a good name. I feel one should first get good at it – develop your own style, start differentiating yourself from others. For example, it’s easy to become a photographer, but not all are good photographers. For the rest, it is hard to monetize it. About the mentality, it was very much prevalent 8-10 years ago, but things have started to How has the experience in photography been so change now. Parents now realize that they should far and what inspires you the most? let their children do what they like.

No. Been there, done that.

What do you think of technical education these days? How different is it from when you were studying and what role does education, according to you, plays in one’s life?

When I was studying, there were hardly any qualified teachers as CS was itself coming up as a new subject. The teachers were also learning with us, so the onus was on us to learn. I have done a lot of campus recruitments for Infosys – at IIT Kanpur, IT BHU, REC, walk-ins, etc. In mid 90s, I felt the stu-

Photo by: RAMESH ADKOLI

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Photo by: RAMESH ADKOLI

dents were not strong in the basics; the effort put into learning was poor. Even when I was recruiting for EXILANT, things didn’t change much. Unless students are good with fundamentals, they won’t become good programmers. This needs to be fixed, as it comes up when you have to change jobs. The role of education is far beyond what we perceive. It gives us a lot more room to experiment.

As a parent, how supportive are you of the career choices your child makes?

I totally support any decision my daughter makes. She can do whatever she likes doing.

Any advice to our readers?

For engineers – Be strong in your concepts and know how to apply them. For mechanical, civil and What is the influence of digital techniques on CS engineers, learn to solve problems for customyour photography? ers, and you are set for life.

Till early 2000’s, I used to shoot film. My phoFor budding photographers – First learn how tography is completely digitalized now. Digital to use your equipment properly. Then experiment, cameras now match the image quality of earlier film and practice, develop basic skills – learn about light cameras. Nikon now comes with a nano-coating to and composition. reduce dispersion, lens flair and internal refraction.

There are software tools for processing and printing digital images, though media (paper) is still the same. The process has become easier and simpler by using digital techniques.

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Photo by: RAMESH ADKOLI

Éclat 2014

Tête-à-Tête As told by Murali Talwai to Neha Joshi

Murali Talwai Murali Talwai is an Engineer- you probably typed these intering Manager at Intel Corporation view questions sitting on your and works in California. sofa and using your laptop, which was unheard of during the ‘90s.

He has been with Intel for 21 years and is currently a Senior You have been living in the Manager/Leader leading a Center US for quite a long time now. of Excellence team responsible Being an Indian, do you ever for developing and delivering feel discriminated among your USB3 Technology across all Intel co-workers or do you have Products. So, if you have Intel equal opportunities?

Computer which has USB3, you Intel is a global company can thank his team for it! and we have folks from all over You were in Intel since the time the world here in the US. Walking that they started designing from my cube to the café is like the pentium chips. How did it traversing the world since you feel at the time to have accom- get to meet people from around plished such a great task? How the world during that short walk. much do you think Intel has Each team is very well diversified. changed since that time?

It is very professional and no discrimination exists Working at Intel has always been a dream job for me. It was How would you describe the a wonderful experience being working conditions at Intel? If new at Intel coming from India you have to describe Intel in and being part of such an exciting two words, what would they project be?

projects, the business impact of missing deadlines and the high volume of our products which demands extremely rigorous quality. But it is good stress and you do get the sense of accomplishment when the task is completed. I try to keep a positive outlook when things seem out of control knowing that things will pass and some new ones will come.

The products we work on/ deliver now are significantly more complex than during the ‘90s. Also the project teams and customers are lot more global now which makes every project execution much more challenging. Intel is a much larger company now both in terms of its global reach, product line, brand equity and of course revenues. However change is always good and our current products have immensely changed the lives of people around the world. For example

Intel is a great place to work!

Let me use three words: “ Technology Changing Lives”; “ Sponsors of Tomorrow”.

If you are to be recruiting people at Intel, and if you have to name just one criteria in selecting them, what would it be?

Being a person in your position, you do have a lot of pressure upon you that can become unmanageable at times. What do you do when you feel things are getting out of control?

Technically Smart; Strong Work Ethic

You have worked and stayed in the US. What opportunities do students from India have in a country like the United States?

US is a land of opportunities if you are smart and willing to put in the hard work needed to be successful. Like anywhere else, there is no such thing as free lunch. Hard work and strong ethic always pays off. There are both technical and management career opportunities in several fields from biotech to computer science.

The competition is getting tougher as the days pass by. At the same time, students and employees are expected to be You always have to keep Life perfect in terms of work and in perspective. Yes, there is lot of ethic. Do you not think that it stress given the complexity of our may be a bit too much to ask

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people to follow the classic moral values like, “help each other all the time”, “do no bad to anyone even if they are bad to you”, and other such things when everyone around you is just trying to get ahead of you all the time?

Not necessarily. However every individual situation is different as to what you define as ‘being successful’ and what ‘trade offs’ you consider making whether towards your career or family. So you cannot generalize these things. I think each person will know when he/she is making Hard work and strong work the trade off one way or the other ethic always pays off in the end. in his/her situation. It is ultimateAlso you will be at lot more peace ly an individual choice and you this way than trying get ahead have to live with the given consethorough wrong means. The fun quences. is more in the journey than the destination. You should always If you had to give one advice to give your best to whatever task the students to be successful, you are involved in, independent what would it be? of competition etc.

Stay focused and work hard.

If you would have to name that There is no easy recipe. Aspire for one thing which you would feel big things and don’t settle. 4-6 would be a perfect getaway yrs of investment now will make from the everyday life, what a huge difference in the next 40+ would it be? years of your life. It is an investment worth every bit. Don’t give Meditate. in to short term temptations.

There will be a time for everyDo you think that family is a thing. trade off for being successful?

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What do you think will be the next big revolution that the world is going to witness after computers?

There will be lot more focus on using technology in changing peoples’ lives rather than technology for technology sake. So you will see lot of advancement geared towards enabling better human experience than just crunching numbers.

Being at Intel, you do know how much effort it takes in making machines process and “think”. Do you really think that man can develop Artificial Intelligence to an extent that human existence is in danger?

Technology is neutral. How we use the technology is up to us as humans, whether it is towards good or bad. So in the end, it will be humans who will determine whether technology is a threat or not. It is not the other way around.

Tête-à-Tête As told by Ram Kashyap to Savitha S

Ram Kashyap

Ram Kashyap is the Founder and Head of Nokia Student Developer.

He was the student winner of the Oracle Duke’s Choice Award in 2012.

He is also the co-founder of two ventures, based in Bangalore.

Tell us something about your startup(s).

I am the Co founder and CEO of a mobile/web based company named Mahithi. Mahithi is a product that facilitates crowd sourcing and crowd funding philosophies in identifying and addressing social discomforts and injustices around mankind.

I am also the Co Founder and CEO of Inoversity (Infini Open University), this is an educational venture that focuses in the direction of driving “Learning by doing” approach towards education into our conventional educational system that does not meet Industry requirements.

What do you feel needs to be done in order to encourage college students to take the entrepreneurial plunge?

A lot of world’s top universities such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, have been the top universities because they have produced the world’s biggest innovations today, in the field of technology predominantly. Our students are more “Placements” focused since that is the intention behind joining engineering colleges, if the focus shifts from “Placements” towards “Creating something useful”, that will make a radical shift towards the way we start seeing the world. Its more about the mindset, motivation comes later. Alongside, colleges should promote entrepreneurship by setting up E cell, creating incubation programs and be a stake holder, supporting the venture throughout its lifetime.

Your take on entrepreneurs and the current challenges they face in India, as opposed to the Western countries.

Over the next 15 years, we need to create about 600 million jobs to stay the unemployment rate at its current level. This is possible only if we Indians produce more entrepreneurs, more problem solving scenarios and more businesses. A very minute part of the age group 16 - 30 understands this and there is a lack of maturity. We should overcome this.

On the other hand, a lot of people here are not risk takers. They are mostly critics - whether it is nextgen individuals who take the entrepreneurial track, or whether it is the investors who invest in them, or even the organizations that are supposedly customers for a new venture. Thanks to programs such as 10,000 startups by NASSCOM, a lot of success stories are emerging which motivates people to do business with new ventures.

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Tête-à-Tête As told by Saad Khan to Supriya Vijay

Saad Khan Nothing short of a comical riot, THE IMPROV left the students of PES in splits on the 28 of February, when they performed for Aatmatrisha ’14. A team of enigmatic stand-up performers, THE IMPROV is an audience-centric improvisational performance that never fails to get a good laugh out of its audience.

al debut, STATION, which is Bangalore’s first hindi feature film. How did you make the transition from actor to director? Tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind the film.

with Saad Khan, the Founder and Creative Head of Centerstage productions.

He conceptualised THE IMPROV with the team and performed nationally, after having toured with Russel Peters, Robert Schneider and the cast of ‘Whose Line is it Anyway’. A fun-loving people person and ever-energetic, Saad Khan is the host of the Improv and director of ‘Station’, Bangalore’s first feature film. The social bee and helpful soul that he is, he took the time out to share his thoughts on his career, directorial debut, and college life. Here’s what he had to say:

to act in plays every now and then years ago, until I realized that directing is my forte. My inspiration? I am literally, figuratively, metaphorically, allegorically and psychologically married to movies.

I have always been fascinated by the crime thriller genre, and as a writer it’s a challenge to be able to keep your audience on their toes. Keeping this challenge in mind, I was hoping to make a movie that would depict a crime thriller in all its raw glory by keeping it engaging, suspenseful and filled with intrigue.

th

work put into THE IMPROV and anything I helm creatively.

You’re a mechanical engineer from MSRIT. Tell us about your college life. How did your career transfigure from engiI am not an actor. Even in THE IM- neering to the entertainment We had the chance to catch up PROV, I’m the host and director. I used industry?

The Improv has kicked off all over India and is nothing short of a comical riot. How did the cast come together to form this amazing amalgamation of unique talent?

THE IMPROV actually started off in a canteen eight to nine years ago. It became a brand only when Sid and I started performing professionally with the rest of the team. We strongly believe in spontaneity in every creative project we attempt. We all came together to have a lot of fun, laugh, and most importantly, make people laugh. The work that goes into what we bring on stage should be a best kept secret.

You’ve made your directori-

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What are your views on Indian cinema? What kind of cinema do you want to be associated with?

All my reasons for being a filmmaker today are derived from my love for Indian cinema. I want to make films that mean something and that can stand the test of time.

My college life gave me wings.The truth - I was blessed to be a science student who was given the freedom to flirt with the Arts. I was sure from the age of 16 that I wanted to be in the film industry. How, what, when, where, how – didn’t matter. I just had to be in this domain and I chose it. It didn’t choose me.

What advice do you have for students who want to pursue their passion?

Stop giving yourself excuses. Many students say their parents aren’t giving them a free hand. Well, you’ve got to convince them if you love doing something. And if you cant, then it’s an excuse you have made yourself content with.

Words that Saad Khan lives by.

Will we be seeing you in the Improv after the release of Station?

Respect - for parents and everyone who supports you in the smallest way possible. Punctuality - more of an OCD than anything else. Passion - I have reached this point due to this, and I don’t think there’s any subtitute for it.

Of course! THE IMPROV is my biggest stress buster and I love making people laugh, so that will never stop or go away. We want to focus more on the performance aspect of the show now, so after STATION, there will be a lot more

With those parting words, he encourages every student to pursue their passion, their dreams, and most importantly, their hearts. Flooding the world of cinema at lightning speed, Saad Khan is definitely someone to look out for!

FORMAL

By Smriti Jyoti & Aditya Sureka

Open Speak On all things political and controversial

Does the AAP deserve a chance?

of AFSPA, etc. Yet another set of questions come from the leftliberal-secular and minorities: what is the position of AAP on The evolution of the Aam minorities? All these questions Aadmi Party (AAP) is undoubtedly are pertinent and deserve some one of the most fascinating answers. incidents of our times. Regarding the new political entity AAP, a Experience, Long-Term large number of questions are Vision, National Security, being asked, some of them are Development, etc . - It is not purely out of inertia with the sensible to expect a year-old status quo (Why the new party party to have developed on these AAP? Are they anarchists? etc.), lines of thought. The AAP is still some out of genuine concern for very much in its nascent stage. the country›s present and future With more people joining AAP, (AAP›s lack of experience and and some with more experience long-term vision, broader goals than others, I am sure AAP will other than curbing corruption, develop those perspectives. inclusion of women, issues We have many newer parties related to inequality, economic emerging each election season. growth and development, etc.) Some of them make a mark on the and some other questions that political landscape, while others specifically ask what is AAP›s don’t. Those that get to enjoy position on national security politics for some time develop like Kashmir issue or revocation their vision or get lost because of

the lack of it! I am sure the AAP is in the process of developing their vision. At present, I don’t think we need to worry too much about their ‘national perspective’.

They are not going to rule in the Parliament on their own. Either they will end up supporting or being supported by some other or they will be just another party in the opposition -- making a hue and cry at the drop of a pin!

I hope they will do a good job of the latter!

As far as their mode of functioning is concerned, they are being accused of being unconventional, doling out freebies and have been branded as a bunch of anarchists. While each of these accusations have some merit, the counterarguments also have takers. The cabinet ministers not flaunting on their cars, refusing to take

Modi-fying the Balance!

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adequate security measures and the Chief Minister choosing to stay in a house of the common man’s choosing - all these actions are highly unconventional. On the one hand, these decisions look clumsy and populist, but on the other hand, by adopting minimalist ways, the elected leaders are trying to live up to their pre-election promises which is a great indication. Most mainstream political parties and leaders forget that the very moment the election is over.

It is praiseworthy that within one month of coming to power, the party implemented policies according to its manifesto while adhering to their promised timeframes as well. The criticisms that these freebies in the form of free water and subsidized electricity would make the state bankrupt do not hold, as the ex-CM himself is said that once loopholes in the existing policies and practices were fixed, there would be more ways of generating revenue.

Activism, Populism, Anarchy: Coming to the question of anarchy, anything that disrupts the status quo is claimed to be anarchic. But which response do we prefer from our elected leaders: deafening silence on our legitimate demands or concrete action when required?

The AAP leaders are doing the latter according to the best of their capacities. While delivering their duties, if their means are not conventional, it is not always anarchic. That is why I can’t pass a judgment on their recent episode of activism, populism, stupidity, or anarchy, whatever you want to call it, because every move against the status quo initially looks disruptive and ugly but if it succeeds, in the end, it looks constructive

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and beautiful. However, if they do something wrong during the process, we have an established system of rule of law. The police administration and the judiciary should take care of it.

In addition, one point is noteworthy. We have been under Congress rule, which prides itself as the greatest caretaker of minorities, and we know the reality of it. We have experienced NDA regimes at the center and in different states. Except Gujarat, the situation in the BJP-ruled states is not far from that in nonBJP governments in other states.

So the worst they can do is side with BJP or behave like BJP. They can’t do worse than that.

Normally, I would expect them to behave as other secular parties do. The good thing with AAP is that it seems to genuinely care for the eponymous Aam Aadmi and is fighting against corruption. If they really care for the poor and the oppressed, then they can’t ignore the minorities. The minorities, especially the Muslims, form a principal sub-group of the Aam Aadmi everywhere. So programs aimed at Aam Aadmis are bound to help the minorities. Eradication of corruption helps everyone, including the minorities.

In finality, Aam Aadmi Party, I think, deserves a chance!

Quote – Unquote For quite some time now, we have been hearing comments from some public figures that render us speechless – not for their orator skills, but for the sheer senselessness of the content. We all have such a hard time deciding whether to laugh hysterically – how illogical can one be, or cry soundlessly – for we live in this ‘intelligent’ country.

But of course we can do neither, for their speakers are honourable men. And women. Here are some of such comments which have marvelled me, angered me, made me laugh, but almost always shocked me.

“Don’t give mobile phones to children, especially girls. I say this at all the places where I make my speeches. And if any of these kids have a mobile, take them away. What are they missing anyway? What are the girls missing without mobile?” said Rajya Sabha MP Rajpal Singh Saini. Yes, sir! Also, don’t let us watch TV, ban movies, sports, and computers of course! “To my understanding, consumption of fast food contributes to such incidents (rape). Chowmein leads to hormonal imbalance evoking an urge to indulge in such acts.”were the wise words of Haryana khap panchayat leader Jitender Chhatar. How come every girl in China doesn’t have the same fate as us – Indian ones? Maybe Mr Chhatar has done extensive research on food items, and their effect on Indian males, for even after googling for hours, I could find the name of this hormone.

I really hope he is right; finally we’ll have a shot at Nobel Prize with this discovery!

Let’s see how our politicians defend what is not to be defended. “There was zero loss to the exchequer from the 2G allocation.”- Kapil Sibal.

Of course, just the way there was zero loss to the public in Bofors, Coalgate, Fodder scams. Maybe he was a science student, never got a chance to study accountancy. “If we send industrialists to jail, we would be discouraging investment.” said Salman Khurshid justifying the government’s inaction in the 2G

scam. And if we send movie stars/ cricketers/ bankers/ teachers/ govt. officers/ doctors/ any person to jail, we’ll discourage entertainment/ sports/ banking/ education/ public work/ medicine and healthcare/ any profession. It might be easier to just shut down all prisons.

And the most recent one : Claiming that the Hindu population was growing at a much slower rate than Christians and Muslims in the country, VHP leader Ashok Singhal Saturday said “Hindu families should produce at least five children”.

Maybe the govt. should introduce benefits for families with over 5 children.

So far, the most hilarious one has been: “If there is no water in the dam, how can we release

it? Should we urinate into it?

If there is no water to drink, even urination is not possible,” Maharashtra state deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has said. You can judge his crassness further from this next statement where referring to the load shedding situation in parts of the state he said, “I have noticed that more children are being born since the lights go off at night. There is no other work left then.” I better not comment on this one at all.

is ready to pay him. He does, but institutionally he doesn’t.” Sorry, what?!

When asked about the free distribution of Aakash tablet his party had promised, Mr. Gandhi came up with a reply that left us all wondering if he was indeed a developer. “Frankly, I am not the person who came up with the Aakash tablet. You need to ask the gentleman who came up with it”, was his reply. And the most recent “Today morning, I woke up Mr Rahul Gandhi, famous- at night”. more-than-ever since his little And how can we leave Mr chat with Mr. Arnab Goswami NaMo out of this article. “When also doesn’t lack his share of statements. “IIT professor has we are reminded of the Gupta no idea about what his value is. Dynasty we are reminded of He has got no idea about what Chandragupta’s rajneeti,” he he is worth. Because he is not said at his Patna rally. And here connected to the market. He does I was under the impression that not understand what the market Chandragupta MAURYA was of

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MAURYA dynasty.

At the same rally, Modi went on to add, “Alexander’s army conquered the entire world, but was defeated by the Biharis.

That’s the might of this land.”

Indeed, Alexander’s great words were “I came (to Ganges), I saw (Bihar), and I left”. “Taxila, the learning hub of ancient times, was in Bihar.” The last I checked, it was still in Pakistan, but then, who I am to comment. The future PM might be able to get it back to Bihar. Maybe the development in Gujarat would also be reflected in better geography and history teachers in the state.

Besides, what’s in a name, of course, Mohanlal and Mohandas are nothing but vessels for the worldly.

“One can have a full meal for Rs 12 in Mumbai. No, no, not vada paav. So much of rice, daal saambhar and with that some vegetables are also mixed.” Congress spokesperson Raj Babbar showed how out of touch he is with reality. Rasheed Masood, trying to go one up on Raj Babbar, said, “You can eat a meal in Delhi for Rs 5, I don’t know about Mumbai. You can get a meal for Rs 5 near Jama Masjid (in Delhi). “If you want, you can fill your stomach for Re 1 or Rs 100, depending on what you want to eat. We are working to change the life of the poor so they can eat well be healthy and India can progress.” Union Minister Farooq Abdullah said justifying the Planning Commission’s definition of poverty and proving who the real idiot is. Well, well, last I went to any locality near Jama Masjid, the cheapest Chhole Bhature was also priced at Rs. 25 per plate. Or wait, maybe I checked only posh restaurants.

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After all, as Rahul Gandhi puts abused addressed him. Wouldn’t is, “Poverty is a state of mind.” have called him Bapu now, would they?

One conclusion I was able to reach with my research for Enough said about a girl’s fault this article, was that women in inciting crimes against her, let have it worst. But again, in a us see what comments deserves country where women deities the ire of women. are revered, how could it possibly “What’s basically happening be? Let’s look at some of the most enlightening statements and in Delhi is a lot like Egypt or elsewhere, where there’s comments so far: something called the Pink “Tell me, can you imagine a Revolution, which has very movie without a villain, could little connection with ground Ramayana have been written realities. In India, staging without Ravana’s role. Eve teasing candle-lit marches, going to is very old, but the preparation discotheques - we did all this is made by the involvement of during our student life too, we girls. Their dresses have changed were students too - I know every in tune with times. Skirts have well what kind of character become shorter to appeal to men, students should have. Those who which should be appreciated. claim to be students - I can see But when it attracts taunts and many beautiful women among comments, it becomes a case them - highly dented-painted for eve teasing.” -Chiranjeet they’re giving interviews on TV, Chakraborty, Trinamool Congress they’ve brought their children legislator reacting to an incident to show them the scenes. I have of eve-teasing in his constituency grave doubts whether they’re of Barasat in West Bengal where students, because women of that a student returning home from age are generally not students.” her tuition classes was harassed said Abhijit Mukherjee, Lok by some youths. So it was kind of Sabha MP and President Pranab Sita’s fault. Was it not? How come Mukherjee’s son maligning the we still revere her then? women protestors taking part in the gang-rape protests in Delhi.

A Haryana khap panchayat said the marriageable age for girls “Some women, wearing should be lowered to prevent lipstick and powder, have the rising number of rapes in taken to streets in Mumbai Haryana. “I am with the khaps and are abusing politicians, on this issue. This will protect thus spreading dissatisfaction women.” -Former Haryana Chief against democracy. This is what Minister Om Prakash Chautala’s terrorists are doing in Jammu quick-fix for rapes manages to and Kashmir.” Mukhtar Abbas faze every one quickly.

Naqvi, Vice-President, BJP commented on the protestors at And oh, don’t forget Asaram a rally at Marine Drive against the Bapu, the so-called guru, hardly government inaction during the a stranger to controversies, had 26/11 terrorist attacks. said that the victim of the Delhi gang-rape could have saved I don’t think we could agree to herself by addressing her violators either of these gentlemen more, as bhaiyya and beseeching for for only Men deserve the right to mercy. I wonder how the girls he crowd the streets and participate

in rallies, etc.

Surprisingly, some of the most bizarre comments came for the Women Reservation Bill.

“Only girls and women from affluent class can go forward.

Remember this, you (rural women) will not get a chance. Our rural women did not have that much attraction.”, said Mulayam Singh Yadav, Samajwadi Party supremo giving reasons why the Women’s Reservation Bill will not benefit the “unattractive” rural women while addressing a rally in Barabanki. Sharad Yadav, Janata Dal United supremo, couldn’t have lagged behind now, could he? “Only certain women who lived in cities like Delhi and Lucknow would benefit who are nothing but “par kati auraten’’ (women with short hair).” was his statement. I am sure both of them have contributed remarkably to the development of rural women since then.

what extent India is racist. Biases of a racial kind have always been a feature of our public life.

Sometimes they were brushed aside as clowning, like Sardarji jokes; North Indian derision for ‘Madrassis’ was dismissed by southerners as another instance of the northerners’ ignorance.

Sometimes it went out of control, like Shiv Sena’s violence against South Indians first and now against Biharis. But the most injurious manifestation of Indian racism is against fellow citizens from north-east and against Africans. This will grievously harm India, by encouraging secessionist thoughts in north-eastern India and by making India a hated name in economically burgeoning Africa.

It’s all very well to say that there is racism in all countries.

But most other countries do something about it. The fight against Apartheid in South Africa is now part of the history of political heroism. In America, the northern half went to war against the southern half over the issue of slavery. Subsequently ‘Negroes’ themselves elevated the struggle to an art form, with the ‘Black is Beautiful’ movement on one side and, on the other, with a national hero like Cassius Clay apostatizing Christianity to become Mohammed Ali.

But the most hilarious comment in this genre belongs to Mr Modi again. Replying to a question on what he was doing to check malnutrition, he seemed to imply that Gujarati girls are malnourished because they diet to appear fashionably thin. The middle-class is more beauty conscious than health conscious — that is a challenge. If a mother tells her daughter to have milk, The problem with racism in they’ll have a fight. She’ll tell her mother, ‘I won’t drink milk. I’ll get India is that the system does nothing to counter it. In fact it fat.” promotes it for foolish electoral gains and by sheer incompetence.

Racist India Partition left the north-eastern Are we being judgemental? states separated from India Maybe we are. Other countries except for an umbilical cord-like do something about racism; our corridor. The physical isolation indifference grievously harms demanded special attention, but India. The question is not whether governments from Jawaharlal India is racist; the question is to Nehru’s days failed to understand the implications of geography.

Migration from West Bengal and Bangladesh, allowed by the authorities for vote-bank politics, turned the locals in Tripura into a minority; Assamese-speakers in Assam who were, naturally, the overwhelming majority in their state became simply the largest group. Small wonder then that there are 26 active armed groups in the north-east. In five states armed separatist movements are active.

Never showing any interest in addressing the region’s problems, the Centre merely doled out money, accounting for a quarter to more than half of the GDP of each state. This turned the local governments into clients of the Centre and prevented any meaningful economic progress.

The result: thousands of local people, English-educated, modernistic and capable, went to other parts of India looking for employment. In Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and above all in Delhi, they became easy prey to racist Indians.

The beating to death of Nido was in broad daylight. The shopkeepers who teased him and then attacked him were identified, and yet the police took no action for days. Then came the twist that there was no conclusive proof that Nido died of the beating. This was typical of Delhi and Delhi police. In 2005 Delhi University announced a dress code for women students from the north-east avowedly to help them avoid sexual harassment. When BRICS nations held a summit in Delhi last year, the police harassed Assamese, Manipuris, Mizos, Meghalayans et al in buses, roads and houses until they produced documents to prove their citizenship status; they were mistaken for Tibetan

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refugees.

were chased by the police and guess who - Namita Panda, the chairperson of Orissa State Commission for Woman herself, with cameraman in tow. When a bunch of hooligans not only attacked a Mangalore pub, but also beat the girls who were partying, India was left with a big question- do we need moral policing and even if we do, does this morality stand for beating girls for having a night out, or walking arm-in-arm with a guy or even sitting in the park?

Delhi is a cruel place. As novelist Rana Dasgupta says in his acclaimed new biography of the city, Capital: A Portrait of 21st Century Delhi, if there is an earthquake in Delhi or if the water supply stops, people will not help but slaughter one another. A writer’s resort to picturesqueness? Not if we see things in the perspective of recurring attacks on innocents, of negative stereotyping of non-Hindi speakers, of the way successive governments For all I know, the next thing have competed to make north- they might tell us would be easterners feel alienated from to start wearing a dupatta all “mainland India”. the time and stop going to offices where there are male Unlike earlier atrocities, the counterparts working. After all, killing of Nido has shocked the office affairs are nothing new? whole nation, “mainlanders” What is going on is not called included. But the politicians preserving the Indian culture but merely make predictable noises sheer hypocrisy. If these people about action. Perhaps they actually want to do something for should note that Nido was from the country, why don’t they join Arunachal Pradesh, a state that the army, or serve as volunteers China claims. A sensible India to clean the environment? There would do everything possible are so many open sewages, why to make people of that state don’t they help cleaning them? feel happy and proud about In rural areas where the basic being Indian. Targeting them is amenities are absent, why don’t tantamount to helping China’s they go and help build schools aggressive designs. But then and health centers? And let’s say again, we can but hope that they want to improve our morals people realise it, and work to why don’t they start a drive to make our country truly united in fight corruption? But how can diversity. they when the organizations for which they work have roots in Moral Policing corruption and politics. We as Indian citizens have been given In December 2005, innocent the right to freedom then how girls were brutally beaten by the can some stupid hooligans teach Meerut police. These girls were us how to behave. What is more accused of sitting with boys, disappointing is the behavior and were dragged to the police of the national commission of station, where their parents women - what is their motive? were summoned, and they were Fine, they wanted to save women finally let off with a warning. In from eve teasing, etc but is this March 2008 girls and boys sitting the only way left? And even if it in a city park in Bhubaneshwar is, isn’t India supposed to be a

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democracy, then which law or constitution gave them the right to decide what is right or wrong for others, who are they to decide what is ethical and what isn’t?

A couple of years back a police complaint was lodged against Mrs. Renuka Choudhary for giving a provoking speech - she had said that some people were trying to Talibanize the Indian society. What’s so wrong in it, I ask? Taliban justifies its laws about not allowing women to move in the streets without being accompanied by a male close relative, as a protection measure for them. So what are we supposed to do next- ask our brothers and fathers to accompany us to the grocery shops next to our houses? Let these people have their way and this will be asked of us soon.

It’s not about being a male or female either- once these incidents start, there’s no end to it. And another question for this moral police is that if they feel that consuming alcohol is not right, ban it straight away. Form pressure groups, etc, you might even get the support of the public.

But all has to be done under a certain limit, and according to the law, because if you have the right to express your views, others have it too. Preserving Indian culture isn’t bad, what’s bad is forcing others to do what you feel right.

If you think you are right - first try to convince others, you can’t just go on beating and forcing them.

I would like to conclude with the hope that such things aren’t repeated again. Because if they are, it is very shameful for the government, all our protectors of the law, for us, the people and most important the democracy called India.

FORMAL

By Supriya Vijay

LOOK AROUND YOU “School! I wish I could just sit at home.” “ I want the new iPhone5, my Samsung S3 is a year old!”

Look around you. The country, the world, is surrounded by plaguing poverty, and here we are, the supposed “morally sensitive” youth, cribbing about frivolous problems that don’t dare to figure in the lives of the majority of the population.

The last story shared is something I witnessed firsthand, as did I Kamala’s story. Sohan (name changed) is a six year old boy living in Jaipur. Cute as a button, wearing authentic Rajasthani attire and a smile on his face, he is accompanied by his father who plays the tabla. He dances to his father’s music at a high-end restaurant to entertain the hundreds of fussy rich children and parents alike, who don’t stop to spare him so much as a glance. The sheer lack of apathy was appalling. He came to our table, and words don’t begin to describe the guilt I felt.

Guilt for having an education we don’t fight harder to provide for children like him; guilt for belonging to a generation that has the gall to crib about the things we do.

Kamala is an eight year old girl, dwelling in a small slum in the heart of Bangalore - the city of fun, frolic, shopping and fine dining. Taking care of her two year old sister by day, and washing utensils by night, she is wanting of a normal childhood – one that is carefree, oblivious to hardships. Yet she carries on her face a perennial smile, so innocent, so pure; a veil that shrouds her reality. Ask her what her dream is, and she responds, beaming, “ I want to go to school and learn to read and count!”. A group of college students teach her and the other These are just three stories of the millions all children in her slum, numbers and letters of the En- over the world. Throwing tantrums over college, glish alphabet. Nothing comes close to the joy of and twisting our faces in disappointment over the learning for them. lunch our mothers so lovingly pack is not uncommon. Take a moment to stop and look back at evA similar story is one of Angad’s. He lost both erything we’ve been given – a home over a house, his parents at the tender age of four, and was left education, food and happiness – and feel fortunate. taking care of his two younger siblings ever since.

Eight years old now, he was pushed to work in the We are a generation that has the power to fight, carpet industry to support himself and his siblings. the power to educate, and the heart to care. We just Catch him playing cricket in the local ground, and need to burst the bubble we’ve created, and get you’d think he’s just another happy kid. The depth galvanized into action. Join an NGO, teach children of sadness in his eyes goes unnoticed. He lives in a locally, or contribute to society somehow. Share the small hut with a thatched roof. When it rains out- happiness; there’s plenty to go around. Don’t dwell side, it rains inside too. Devoid of the barebone min- on what you DON’T have, work with what you DO. imum - water, liveable shelter, and food – he leads Be thankful. There are millions who don’t have a his life monotonously, striving to give his siblings fraction of what we do, and still manage to smile. what he never got the chance to have – education and happiness.

Wake up, look around you, and be the change.

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CAMPUS

By Aishani Patnaik

Happiness in

PES UNIVERSITY is…

The Happy Page by Lisa Swerling & Ralph Lazar is a huge hit on Facebook and has been making news everywhere for its light, optimistic and relatable content. It has inspired numerous spin-offs like ‘Sadness is…’ and ‘Love is…’. Éclat decided to go around PESIT campus and start our own spin off. We asked our PESITians one simple question – “What do you think happiness in PESIT is?”. We got tons of surprising, downright sentimental, wacky and…well, unique answers.

Here’s the list of our favourite answers: Being a part of teams like Samarpana, ICare and CSR. Samarpana, ICare and CSR are different social service groups on campus, doing their bit for the society. While Samarpana acts as a medium to show our gratitude to the Indian Army, those who risk their lives every day for our safety, iCare and CSR are involved in helping the less fortunate in our society. From blood donation drives to fundraisers and marathons, these groups stop at nothing to achieve their goal of making a difference. What makes it better is the overwhelming response of the PESIT students.

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Student Quote: It feels like such an honour to be part of such groups. You don’t see groups like Samarpana in other colleges. Working together and doing something that makes a difference in people’s lives makes me feel good about myself and makes me appreciate what I have even more.

The Long, LOOOOONNGGGG Summer break PESIT is one of the few colleges in Bangalore that offers a summer break that’s nearly two and a half months long! Spanning from June to mid August, the long summer break opens doors to a million possibilities and opportunities.

Student Quote: The long summer break is a HUGE relief. Last year, I went abroad for a summer course and I did it without having to miss college!

The summer break allows us to go for internships that last 2 months long instead of the usual one. It looks great on the resume and you also have time for a break.

Chilling in the OAT OAT or the Open Air Theatre on the PESIT campus is one of the most popular student hang out spots. Strategically (or not?) situated near Nescafe and the Natural Ice Cream stall, you can always find

large groups of students here, studying (or trying to) or chatting with a bowl of maggi in hand. When we asked the students why they liked the OAT so much, this is what they had to say: Student Quote: It’s open, spacious and airy!

It’s sheltered by the trees, which means we can hang out here even when it’s sunny. We prefer studying here before the exams as we can discuss, and help each other out freely without having to worry about making too much noise or disturbing others.

Having a friend in your professor.

the last forever, and from what we hear from our fellow PESITians, they are not far off the mark.

Student Quote: Well, according to me a family comprises of a bunch of quirky people who have your back no matter what, care about you and only wish for your happiness. We cannot expect the same sort of people to be around us in the institute we study in but some of us are fortunate enough to have a very similar bunch you can be YOU with - people who’d probably move mountains for you, who help you academically and support you emotionally, who stuff food down your throat and eat Most college students reserve the most co- up your dabba. It’s a different kind of family than lourful adjectives to describe their college profes- the one you have at home but a family nevertheless. sors, some of which being- strict, authoritative, hardworking and difficult to please. Imagine our Unexpected holidays surprise when we found out that students of PESIT The PES motto goes: Perseverance, Excellence share a pretty healthy rapport with their professors. and Service. To live up to that motto, every PESIHere’s what the students have to say: Tian has to work twice as hard as your average colStudent Quote: When it comes to issues with lege student. This was the most popular answer to the syllabus, the professors are more than helpful. our query and here’s why we love that out-of-theThey send us notes via email, conduct extra classes blue let off. and clarify doubts immediately. Some of the teachStudent Quote: “Have you heard of anyone ers are very approachable; we can share some of who DOES NOT like a holiday?” our personal problems with them as well and get good counsel.

The discounts.

Having a family in college We spend more than half of our day in college; we spend all our time in college with them and we hang out with them after college as well. We share our problems, have a great time together and enjoy each other’s company. Friends mean the world to us, especially to those who’ve left their homes to study. People say your college friends are the ones

To all the newbies out here, here’s some valuable information. To those who are unaware, your PES ID card makes you eligible for a 10% discount at Chung Wah, Kathriguppe and if you want to go to Wonderla at a reasonable price, take your ID card and a group of 15 other people and you’ll be offered a world of fun at 25% discount. Guess this is why we’re always asked to keep ID card on us all the time.

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INFORMAL

By Aishwarya Kaliki

Social Media and FoMO

It is no surprise that social networking — revolutionized by Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey — has altered the landscape of our generation’s social interactions. But these websites may actually influence users’ habits and attitudes to an unhealthy extent. We all know at least one - and probably many more - people who have become victim to compulsive social networking. They include friends, family, and even colleagues who seem to spend hour after hour sharing and communicating over social networks like Facebook.

While it may be true that any of us can potentially get “addicted” to the Internet, it’s also possible that some people are more vulnerable than others. That’s where this concept of FoMO enters the picture.

Fear of Missing Out, popularly referred to as FoMO, is defined as a pervasive apprehension that others might have rewarding experiences from which one is absent. FoMO is characterized by the desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing - teens and adults text while driving, because the possibility of a social connection is more important than their own lives (and the lives of others). They interrupt one call to take another, even when they don’t know who’s on the other line (but to be honest, we’ve been doing this for years before caller ID). They check their Twitter stream while out with their friends, because something more interesting or entertaining just might be happening.

that we can’t just be alone anymore.

The fear of missing out — on something more fun, on a social date that might just happen on the spur of the moment — is so intense, even when we’ve decided to disconnect, we still connect just once more, just to make sure. We’re all in the grip of this fear — the fear of missing out on something or someone more interesting, exciting or better than what we’re currently doing or who we’re currently with.

Our relationship with technology is still in its infancy, and we’re still feeling our way around it. We don’t quite know how to interact well — mindfully, meaningfully — with it. Count how many times you check your email or smartphone for messages, texts, status updates, etc. in a day. 10? 100? 1,000 or more?

You may be surprised. Technology that we’re at one with and that promotes social balance and harmony wouldn’t require such obsessive checking behavior, would it? It would understand and complement natural human social behaviour. It would differentiate for us what’s important and what’s not.

It’s not ‘interruption’, it’s connection. But wait a minute… it’s not really ‘connection’ either. It’s the potential simply for a different connection. It may be better, it may be worse — we just don’t know until we check.

We may think we get it — that technology is a natural extension of our social lives. But we’re mistaken — we’re still crafting our lives around technology and the social connections they entice us with, rather than the other way around.

We stay up all night waiting for the next status update. We interrupt a face-to-face conversation to make sure whatever’s going on elsewhere isn’t better. It’s an impulse control problem — we cannot easily control our impulse to ‘check’ the technology to ensure something ‘more important’ isn’t waiting our immediate attention.

We are so connected with one another through our Twitter streams and Foursquare check-ins, through our Facebook and LinkedIn updates,

The reality is that there are few things so truly important in life, they

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can’t wait. Sure, I understand it if you’re a President or Prime Minister — you have a legitimate reason to check your texts during dinner, but everyone else, not so much. We’re succumbing to our FoMO when we do so.

FoMO is a very real feeling that’s starting to permeate through our social relationships. No matter how many times we confess the desire to simply disconnect from social media, the act is easier said than done. It is a definitive action, an acquiescence that we desperately miss the luxury of privacy.

We are all to blame for our generation’s obsession with social media and the FoMO that comes with it. We rely upon social media as a mirror into other’s lives and we use it to portray ourselves according to an image we want others to see. The image we give off on our Facebook page may not reflect who we are, but who we want others to see. For better or for worse, such is the reality of the millennial generation. Have Facebook and other social media hijacked our lives? Perhaps it is time to disconnect or at the very least, give ourselves some limits; after all, there is far more to each of us than what appears on a Facebook page. The question is — will we ever settle for what we have, rather than cling to the fear that we may be missing out on something better?

INFORMAL

By Sramana Dan

The Beatles and India

Indian music has no doubt been one of the most influential, evolved species of music in the world, especially on its classical front. I was watching this German movie, ‘Run Lola Run’, and it came as a pleasant surprise to me when the background score at the climax, rose to a typical Aalaap in a common Hindustani raga. It was no coincidence that the iconic act The Beatles, were often compelled to add that Indian zing to their songs.

George Harrison started, as early as 1965, by writing three songs that featured in their albums.

“We were waiting to shoot the scene in the restaurant when the guy gets thrown in the soup and there were a few Indian musi-

cians playing in the background.

I remember picking up the sitar and trying to hold it and thinking, ‘This is a funny sound.’ It was an incidental thing, but somewhere down the line I began to hear Ravi Shankar’s name.” - George Harrison, 1992, about the making of the 1965 movie, Help.

Well, we know what happened next; he developed a strong affinity to the sitar. Later that year, he recorded Norwegian Wood for Rubber Soul. However, Norwegian Wood wasn’t the first Beatles release to feature a sitar.

The North American version of the Help! album featured an instrumental, called Another Hard Day’s Night - a medley of A Hard Day’s Night, Can’t Buy Me Love and I Should Have Known Better performed on a sitar, tablas, flute

and finger cymbals. Influenced by Hindustani classical music, Harrison wrote Love You To for Revolver and of course, Within You Without You for Sgt. Pepper’s. Though the former was hailed as a ‘filler’ track, it has a unique beauty. Listen for the sitar strains following ‘You don’t get time to hang a sign on me-e-ee’.

Then there was the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi episode. After a brief interaction with him during a lecture in Wales, in 1968, The Beatles travelled to Rishikesh, India, to attend the Transcendental Meditation course, headed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

“John and George were going to Rishikesh with the idea that this might be some huge spiritual lift-off and they might never come

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back if Maharishi told them some really amazing thing. Well, being a little bit pragmatic, I thought in my own mind, I’ll give it a month, then if I really really like it, I’ll come back and organise to go out there for good, but I won’t go on this ‘I may never come back’ thing.”- McCartney.

started to write which he was singing: ‘Maharishi, what have you done?’ and I said, ‘You can’t say that, it’s ridiculous.’ I came up with the title of Sexy Sadie Scottish singer Donovan, and John changed ‘Maharishi’ to who was also at the ashram, ‘Sexy Sadie’. John flew back to taught John and George a style Yoko in England and I went to Maof finger picking on the guitar, dras and the south of India (to see which they implemented in Dear Ravi Shankar) and spent another The course consisted of lec- Prudence and Julia few weeks there.”-Harrison. tures where the students would Paul wrote Back in the USSR, describe their spiritual experiencIn the years to come, they Honey Pie and Rocky Racoon, would regret their hasty action es with the Maharshi answering their questions. John and George based on his Indian experiences and apologize to the Maharshi, were especially dedicated, they (though they had little to do with while George would give the benspent long hours in intense med- the Yogi’s teachings). efits of a concert to Maharshi’s itation. During this period there For Ringo, the stay in India cause, while Ringo would say resulted some remarkable songs. was short and spicy ( he did not “I feel so blessed I met the MahaMost of the White Album was writ- really fancy the food), and with- rishi – he gave me a mantra that ten. John wrote Dear Prudence in a fortnight he was back home. no one can take away, and I still for a fellow student Prudence, But he did write his first song use it”. while The Continuing Story of Don’t Pass Me By, in India.

Of course The Beatles later Bungalow Bill was written about a certain Jungle Jim who used to Paul left a month later, went on to record Across The Unitake breaks to shoot tigers, com- relatively unimpressed by the verse, with the chorus Jai Guru bined with Buffalo Bill.

Maharshi’s prowess. John and Deva, which is most likely a refGeorge stayed on for another, erence to the Maharshi’s spiritual In I’m so tired, John wrote till there emerged rumors of the master. about his frustration from being Maharshi’s proclaimed celibacy George Harrison, most imunable to sleep ( from absence of being mumbo-jumbo. They left portantly, stayed in close condrugs): abruptly, and on the way back nection to India, following Indian “I’m So Tired was me, in In- John began writing Sexy Sadie. music and philosophy throughdia again. I couldn’t sleep; I’m meditating all day and couldn’t

sleep at night. The story is that.

One of my favorite tracks. I just like the sound of it, and I sing it well.”-Lennon.

“John had a song he had out his life.

Pt. Ravi Shankar with George Harrison The Beatles, New Delhi, 1966

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INFORMAL

By Aishwarya Kaliki

Metaphorically speaking… or not!

To what extent do metaphors shape and distort our understanding of reality?

Metaphors are phrases that use concrete objects and qualities to describe abstractions. They are the lenses we use to interpret and understand our reality.

“A heart of gold.”

“Being kept in the dark.”

“Turning a corner.”

Metaphors are primarily thought of as tools for talking and writing. However, recently a new group of people have started to take an intense interest in metaphors: psychologists. They believe metaphors when used as mental shortcuts pose hidden dangers. By allowing us to grasp unfamiliar concepts by imagining them in terms of concepts already understood, metaphors can obscure or distort our understanding, a pitfall that makes us act in bizarre ways. We take metaphors from the society and culture around us and without realizing it, we are looking through them, using them to interpret our world and govern our actions.

Drawing on philosophy and linguistics, cognitive scientists have begun to see the basic metaphors that we use all the time not just as turns of phrase, but as keys to the structure of thought.

By taking these everyday metaphors as literally as possible, psychologists are upending traditional ideas of how we learn, reason, and make sense of the world around us. The result has been a torrent of research testing the links between metaphors and their physical roots, raising many questions. To what extent do metaphors shape the way we conceive our world? To what extent do they mask our surroundings and alter our perception? How much of our understanding is constructed purely from our imagination through metaphors?

Some researchers have sought to determine whether the temperature of an object in someone’s hands determines how “warm” or “cold” he considers a person he meets or whether the heft of a held object affects how “weighty” people consider topics they are presented with. What they have found is that, in fact, we do. Metaphors aren’t just how we

talk and write, they’re how we think. At some level, we actually do seem to understand temperament as a form of temperature, and we expect people’s personalities to behave accordingly. What’s more, without our body’s instinctive sense for temperature--or position, texture, size, shape, or weight-abstract concepts like kindness and power, difficulty and purpose, and intimacy and importance would simply not make any sense to us.

Metaphors like this “don’t invite us to see the world in new and different ways,” says Daniel Casasanto, a cognitive scientist and researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands. “They enable us to understand the world at all.”

A few psychologists have begun to ponder applications. Ackerman, for example, is looking at the impact of perceptions of hardness on our sense of difficulty. The study is ongoing, but he says he is finding that something as simple as sitting on a hard chair makes people think of a task as harder.

If those results hold up, he suggests, it might make sense for future treaty negotiators to take a closer look at everything from the desks to the upholstery of the places where they meet. Nils Jostmann, the lead author of the weight study, suggests that pollsters might want to take his findings to heart: heavier clipboards and heavier pens for issues that they want considered answers for, lighter ones for questions that they want gut reactions on.

How much of an effect these tweaks might have in a real-world setting, researchers emphasize, remains to be seen. Still, it probably couldn’t hurt to try a few in your own life. When inviting a new friend over, suggest a cup of hot tea rather than a cold soda, or keep a supply of soft, smooth objects on hand at work - polished pebbles, maybe, or a silk handkerchief - in case things start to feel too daunting. However, one thing is for certain, with a change to the lenses through which we view the world, the things we thought were there vanish like desert mirages and the things that remain become the things that matter!

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INFORMAL

By Abhilasha Ravichander

The Subtle Art of World Domination Hitler was a madman, the boy thought. He had the right ambitions perhaps, but genocide was wholly impractical. After all, who would the upper classes establish their superiority over if the lower classes didn’t even exist? Would they even be the ‘upper’ class?

No, it was far better to let prejudice insidiously seep into society. No revolution, no bloodshed. The people would find it very hard indeed to protest against ideals which would never be openly acknowledged. They could try to revolt- but against whom? They could try to fight- but for what?

Gradually, the proud straight lines of their shoulders would hunch with defeat as they learnt - no, they were not special; no, they were not destined for any great or grand destiny for life to bestow upon them; they were just the dust to be crushed under the heels of society. They would never be told they were lesser of course.

To outline it in regulations or policies of any kind would be inviting trouble, the boy knew that. No, it would simply be shown in the flash of disdain when they entered the more reputable establishments.

Or a tight-lipped smile when they sought employment accompanied by the phrase ‘I’m sorry. We do not seem to have any available positions right now.’ Inferiority would become the hallmark of their souls.

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He could almost taste his victory.

However, one only needed a ruling class in so far as to give them a chance to establish their own superiority. Tell a man he’s special not for anything he’s done or is, but for some innate quality- it could be absolutely anything, ethnicity, skin colour, eye colour, it didn’t really matter- and he would follow you with blind devotion. The boy understood this - the deep-seated human desire to be special. It made men so very easy to exploit.

Perfect tools to shape the world.

As he understood it, only two things controlled the developed world- money and technology. And if he could control them both, he could hold the fates of millions in his hands. He had already ruined one man in this way, a man who had been something of a rival and a dear friend in his childhood.

The

boy had with casual elegance obliterated him. His friend had found all his bank accounts to be frozen, his identity erased from existence, a long list of creditors who seemed to have sprung up from the ground. The boy made sure his machinations were kept carefully hidden, ruminating with his friend about this terrible twist of fate, repeatedly offering financial assistance in a way that his friends pride would not allow him to accept…and mourning his friends loss suitably when the time came. A brave man, he said with regret at the funeral, a man who died far too young.

The man’s mother approached him and her voice shook as she thanked him for being there. “It would have meant a lot to him, I know”, she said, “He always admired you. The head of the largest conglomerate in the world, coming to my boys service…” At this point she was overcome with emotion.”I’m only sorry he decided to take this extreme step.” The boy said sympathetically.

The corpse being lowered into the ground represented everything to the boy- days spent drenched in warm summer sun, taunts and mockery which were playful yet somehow cruel in a way that only children can achieve and pure history, years and years of things past written in the fading films of memory- it was all lost forever with every clump of dirt being shovelled on the casket. Here was the proof (not living proof per se, the boy inwardly snickered, as un-living as it got) that he could rule the lives of men. Here was the proof of how easy it would be, to make or break or mould humanity in his image. The world was all his for the taking.

Then why did this victory feel so hollow?

He sighed as he cast his gaze to the heavens above, for he found that the world was not enough.

POEMS

By Sudhanva Shetty

SLAVE BLUES

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How cruel is time to be impatient when you’re with someone you love -

And held hands and walked on the shore of the sea so tame.

That’s how I felt when we worked together in those times so rough,

We screamed out loud to the endless ocean, creating a hurricane

When we moved mountains and played with fire without a glove;

With our laughter so forbidden – like it was always the same:

And it was your face that sustained me when I thought I’d had enough.

We didn’t have a care – we were far from their canes.

From the morrow to the night we’d suffer under the scorching sun

Together now we roamed the unknown, paving our own lanes.

And if we couldn’t walk they’d chain us and force us to run.

When we were far we lit a fire and danced, to rid our blues,

Your patience and faith would always leave me stunned

To Bob Dylan’s croons; we sang those forlorn tunes.

And I believed too that someday our misery would be undone.

We waltzed like madmen, free at last from the ruse.

They’d bind us and beat us mercilessly to the cold ground; None could stop them – they conquered all that they found.

But you, my lady, with your smile so tender,

Just the froth, the moon, the wind, me and you – my muse.

We were outlaws in our own country, accused Of crimes we never committed, of freedom we never used.

With the majesty only Mona Lisa could render,

But now the trigger’s faded, life’s how it’s supposed to be:

Returned mute pride to all their leers

The raiders were raided: they were so vigilant they could not see,

And made their eyes quell with fear.

You were my sole solace all those years, The only reason I shed no tear.

One night we escaped under cover of the rain.

The darkness lit our way as we ran from that haven of pain.

And our prayers were heeded; we were finally allowed to be free.

We got back what was ours – from the vales to the shimmering sea.

And as I live freely – with salvation acquired with a fee – I wonder, I wonder if you ever think of me.

Then we rejoiced over our flight from the sane Photo by: RAMESH ADKOLI

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POEMS

By Ullas Aparanji

Just Another Snowflake I am just another snowflake flitting by, That had its origins in the sky; And in all this vast expanse on Earth, I wonder if anyone can see my worth.

The wind shall take me where it will All around me, the life is still I surely see no valid reason For one to admire me in this season.

I wait for sunshine to melt me down For death alone can wipe my frown And even then, when I shall die, I wonder who for me shall cry.

And as I brood deep in my thought Wishing for a twist in the plot, I am jolted suddenly wide awake By the sight of another snowflake.

The loveliest snowflake I have seen It gives me a smile most serene I am taken by great surprise To see the happiness in its eyes.

And it is your greatest happiness to seek To embrace yourself as you are Heed my words, you will go far!

Do not be ashamed of yourself, O please!

Just think how silent would be the trees If the birds that sang there did not sing Thinking their songs were not appealing.”

Just then, a child who hasn’t seen the snow Comes to us, picks me up, and turns to go He says to me, “Make no mistake - You sure are the loveliest snowflake.”

The next moment I am no longer in his hand I find myself lying now on the land But a great change has come over me I am not the snowflake I used to be.

I know not whether it was his hand Or the warmth that I now understand A something I have not felt before Has melted me, and I’m now no more.

How can it be so happy like this?

Is there something innate I did miss?

To it I vent my deepest feeling And for some sound advice appealing.

The child sheds bitter tears on me He says, “Oh! You were so lovely You were one of a kind; you were one apart You were the first snowflake that took my heart.”

It asks, with eyes gleaming like a star “Do you realize just who you are?”

“I am just another snowflake”, I say And with the shame, turn my head away.

I lie formless beside my friend The snowflake that was a godsend It smiles so bright at me The loveliest smile I can see.

“Oh please, why don’t you give me a break, What do you mean, ‘JUST another snowflake’?

Why on Earth do you feel so meek?

Don’t you know you are unique?

He says, “Never understimate yourself, my friend, You never know how things turn out in the end.”

I smile recalling my earlier mistake To think I was just another snowflake.

Don’t you know every snowflake is born unique

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POEMS

By Sramana Dan

Songs of Sad Folks (Everything is Broken)

She writes with a broken nib Every curvaceous word breaks twice before it ends.

While the broken legs squirm Under the weight of the broken glass tabletop which pretends

Otherwise, just like the broken door That she locks every night, ceremoniously, hiding the key Inside the hideous broken vase with Its long-wilted flowers, that heirloom of a broken family.

He drives a swanky new car With a broken stereo set, and every lyric breaks twice Before overcoming the erratic waves And gliding past the streets broken from jagged malice

That somersaults its way down His narrow driveway littered with broken whisky bottles From the last night’s new year’s party And fits snugly into the symmetric cracks on his broken walls.

One day at daybreak, they will meet Under the broken billboard, walking gingerly and vexed Around the fringes of the broken earth, Unromantic and sullen, hoping, hoping to be fixed

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INFORMAL

By Ashish Rao

Comically Sane Rise of the Planet of Procrastinators

Story of My Life

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Bizzaro Bengaluru

TECH on CAMPUS

By Deborah Digges

KAnOE Born out of a passion for research and a quest to aid society, the World Bank funded centre for Knowledge Analytics and Ontological Engineering was founded as a joint venture of the Departments of Computer Science and Engineering, Information Science and Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Under the keen guidance of its director Dr. Kavi Mahesh and it’s Chief Mentor Dr K.N. Seetharamu , it has already made its presence felt in the emerging multi-disciplinary areas of ontological engineering and knowledge management.

KAnOE is the only research centre in the world that focuses on Knowledge Analytics in combination with Ontological Engineering and through this, its vision is to make a defining contribution to knowledge management. Its key objectives are to explore research opportunities that have opened in the intersecting fields of knowledge analytics and ontological engineering and to apply the research findings to the social context of India.

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Dr. Kavi Mahesh, the director of KAnOE, has been engaged in the field of Ontological Engineering for over 20 years. He believes that although the buzzword of the day is big data, to combine ontology and data to produce meaningful semantics is what the need of the hour really is.

There are a number of projects that have been undertaken and successfully completed within the centre and several others that are in progress. The impact has been tremendous, with the publication of sixteen papers, not to mention two books.

emerging fields. A number of workshops have been held on topics including Informetrics and data visualization. Renowned speakers have been invited to share their knowledge and experiences.

The newly started Master’s program in Web Technologies in the Computer Science Department at PESIT provides an ideal partnership between academics and research, enriching the learning experience of students. Further, KAnOE is expected to provide a vibrant environment for nurturing research in knowledge analytics and ontological engineering, being located in the heart of Bangalore - the Information Technology capital of India.

With PES now having acquired the status of a university, there will not be any immediate change in direction of the research efforts of KAnOE. It will continue to strive towards the goal that it had set out to achieve.

With all this and more under its belt, KAnOE has kept Several efforts have been true to its title as a centre of made to incite awareness excellence. among students about these

TECH on CAMPUS

By Dr. Koshy George, Dept of Telecommunication Engineering

PES Centre for Intelligent Systems The analysis and design of system that perceive, reason, learn and act intelligently is the thrust area of research within the Centre for Intelligent Systems.

The interconnection of simple systems can lead to seemingly inexplicable complex overall behaviour with the causes and effects not obviously related.

All systems that surround us today consist of diverse, interconnected and interdependent entities that adapt to their environments. The overall behaviour of such systems is often unpredictable as a system of systems is inherently complex, nonlinear and time-varying. Obviously, the identification and control of systems that are possibly nonlinear and time-varying – with decisions taken intelligently – are two major areas of research. Results include simultaneous identification of multiple nonlinear systems, identification and control of rapidly time-varying systems, support vector machines to identify and control nonlinear systems, identifying and control of unknown systems through a wireless network despite packet loss and delay, improved tracking performance using model predictive control with time-varying prediction win-

dow, and decentralised control of systems, and care for elderly to unknown systems. name a few. Systems meant for these purposes require the abilCooperative systems are a ity to discern the environment class of system of systems with in which they operate as well as each system being autonomous. plan the sequence of operations The latter balances self-direct- as defined by the mission objecedness and self-sufficiency with tives. Such systems are examples the ability to handle dynamical- of resource constrained real-time ly changing environments. Pat- systems where performance mettern recognition is a key area of rics have to be traded-off for the research. A result in this area is intended payload. The scope of a technique to detect and track work towards design and implevery fast moving objects. Such mentation of autonomous sysautonomous systems may be de- tems includes exploratory rovers ployed in a hostile area. A tech- equipped with the capability of nique to simultaneously cancel in-motion mapping and localinterference signals and extract ization. Light-weight functionthe signals-of-interest when the al computer vision algorithms directions-of-arrival of all signals amenable to real-time impleare time-varying and unknown is mentation using system-on-chip one result. Detection of very weak paradigm and embedded compusignals (as low as -160 dB) us- tational architectures is the focus ing neural-network based pulse of work in developing autonocompression is another result. mous exploratory platforms. ReThe possibility of integrating hu- configuration at various levels of man and machine abilities is well abstraction, and learning mechwithin the scope of this research. anisms to direct reconfiguration Preliminary results on dynamic on-the-fly are central. hand-gesture based human computer interaction appear promisDecision support systems ing. for healthcare are another class of system of systems, and teleAutonomous systems find medicine is a logic conclusion. An applications in planetary sur- integral part of this would be creface exploration, search and ating state-of-art medical devices rescue missions after disaster, for non-invasive sensing. Work is automated vehicle drive assist

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in progress on detection of emotions in children with autism.

This work is jointly undertaken with medical experts from NIMHANS and is supported by ASHA, an NGO. An exclusive study on non-invasive methods for the diagnosis of several cardiovascular diseases is also being carried out with the help of eminent cardiologists. Drowsiness detection is another area of research that is being jointly conducted with NIMHANS. The continual support from the management towards these activities has resulted in about 70 peer-reviewed publications from the Centre since 2010.

It is good that PES Institute of Technology is now PES

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University. To borrow a basic premise from the Yashpal Committee Report, “A University is a place where new ideas germinate, strike roots and grow tall and sturdy. It is a unique space, which covers the entire universe in knowledge. It is a place where creative minds converge, interact with each other and construct visions of new realities. Established notions of truth are challenged in the pursuit of knowledge.” In all recognised places of higher learning, there has been a continual encouragement to faculty, and hence students, to think independently and seek the truth.

Consequently, it is little wonder that a former distinguished Professor of History at Yale University, George Pierson, described Yale

as “at once a tradition, a company of scholars, and a society of friends.” An important factor that contributes toward building a great University is the freedom to develop curriculum. It ought to be thematic with the students learning the key concepts of each theme. Each theme is built over several courses, and taught like a well-coordinated relay, with each course-instructor carrying the baton well and passing it on to the next course-instructor within the same theme, changing the focus from rote-learning to critical and creative thinking. PES University has the potential to be a place of higher learning, and the Centre for Intelligent Systems can achieve greater heights in such an ambience.

TECH on CAMPUS As told to Namratha K

Pushing the Frontiers of Technology at CORI Crucible for Research and Innovation, popularly known as CORI, was established in the year 2010 to encourage multi-disciplinary research with a goal - “To conduct multidisciplinary research & innovation by researchers, technologists and entrepreneurs on various industries’ problems”. This R&D centre at PESIT focuses and interacts with the various departments of PES University, providing opportunities for the students as well as the faculty to carry out research activities in a field of their choice.

The main research areas include embedded systems and VLSI, electrical systems and battery, communication systems, satellite technology, data mining, web banking and cloud computing, sensor technology, robotics, mechanical and control systems.

CORI has produced some outstanding research projects in its respective fields of work, with every project having its own im-

portance in real world applications. One of them is an imaging satellite PISAT (PESIT Imaging SATellite) which is a nano-satellite of dimensions 254 x 226 x 181 mm with three axis stabilization.

CORI has also worked on an ISRO project, RF wireless LAN for satellites, to replace the bulky signal harness and spread spectrum concept. They have managed to miniaturize the transceiver that is attached to each package. Space based Automatic Identification System (AIS) is a system for supervising ships, managing traffic flow into harbours and preventing accidental collisions of ships in the high seas. It is aimed at providing important ship monitoring services to coastal guards and search and rescue organizations.

spective racks. It has also undertaken a joint project with Renalyx, Bangalore to develop a haemodialysis machine. It is involved in many more interesting projects such as RF communication systems, which is a configuration for LEO satellites and design of a 4 Π sun sensor for low earth satellites. This is just a glimpse of the myriad projects that are undertaken in CORI.

CORI provides an excellent working environment. Interaction with various companies is also an integral part of working in CORI. . There are many professors with years of professional experience and subject expertise to help and guide those interested. Prof. Manikandan oversees a 2-credit course, where students from different departments colCORI is working on a Library laborate on mini projects based Maintenance Robot that is be- on Arduino, Matlab, Simulink and ing designed specifically for the System Generator.

PESIT library, to transport books from collection points to the re-

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TECH on CAMPUS As told by Sathyam Vellal to Suraj Srinivas

PES Open Source Community Could you tell us a bit about PES Open Source Community, what it does, what are its aims and goals?

PES Open Source Community was conceptualized in June 2011 and was started officially on July 16, 2011; that was when we created the Facebook group and we consider that as our birth date.

courages learning and sharing of right? Do you encourage knowledge. We do that by having that too? regular tech talks, college meetYes! We have an open source ups and in IRC (#pes-os in Freehardware wing in PESOS. And Node IRC), events,etc. yes, there’s a pretty good scope Is your community devot- for open source hardware too. ed to only open source or Just recently, we’ve seen an open does it encourage general source laptop popping up - Novena. It’s really exciting to see technology as well? such projects! Similarly there’s Oh definitely! We are not just the Open Compute Project, Open about Open Source. As a com- Graphics Project, OpenCores, munity, we spread open source BeagleBoard and most recently ideologies, but we encourage Spark. As I said, Open Source is technology as well. We’ve in fact more about learning, collaboratheld tech talks and workshops ing and spreading knowledge. So on quite a range of technologies yes, open source hardware does have scope. In fact, as a part of over the years.

PES Summer of Code 2013, one With the advent of new team developed a ‘Universal Gesand interesting hardware ture Remote’ that was quite a hit!

Our goals are simple and clear - We aim to popularize open source, come out with projects and spread the word on being ‘open’. We are a student community and we firmly believe that in educational institutions, students should make most use of open source software to learn and understand many aspects like Arduino and RaspWhat are some of the of design, development, proberry Pi, there’s scope for gramming models, etc. One thing achievements you’d like to ‘Open Source Hardware’ about Open Source is that it enboast about?

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Well honestly speaking, considering that we are an open source community, a student community and moreover in India, where the environment is a bit different, coming this far and still growing is a very big achievement for us. The management has been supportive indeed! That said, we have made quite a big impact, foremost in our college and colleges in Bangalore. We have a very strong online presence, since most of our work is done online, except for the workshops or talks we arrange. We’ve had nearly 15 GSoCers from this college alone in just two years. In 2012, we had 8 GSoCers and we were among the top 10 colleges/universities in world. Inspired from GSoC, we started PES Summer of Code and we’ve had great success with that too. We organized an event ‘PyCampus’, last August to celebrate PyMonth with the help of BangPypers, and the response was phenomenal. We’ve also been actively organizing hackathons.

It still amazes when I look back and see how much we’ve grown in just two and a half years.

He’s been a great mentor and has gram. Open Source contributions been very supportive! help in the overall development, both technically and structurally, What are some of the con- and this helps a lot in their career. nections that you’ve made One needn’t spend thousands of rupees on certifications when in the industry? they can actually contribute to We have more than 3 gener- an open source project and prove ations of alumni in various com- their worthiness! That’s what panies, still active and have made Open Source can do in career and PESOS’s presence felt there. We as a community we enable that. have some people who’ve pursued higher studies who were What should a student do benefited with open source tech- to join our community? nologies. We also have some Join our Facebook group people who’ve started their own and you’re in. I’m serious! companies. In fact, we have good connections with Bangalore Now that PESIT has become startups!

Is the community backed by any authority, like a teacher, HoD or Principal?

Or is it a completely student-run body? If so how do you get all the funding for the various events that you do?

Anything you’d like to add?

Well, one regulation in the college is that any club/community must have a point of contact, a teacher or someone in the management to facilitate our activities through the HoD or the principal. Dr. A Srinivas, the Dean of Research, is our point of contact.

PES University, how do you How will new students/ think that this would affect freshers joining your com- your community? munity be benefited in One thing I’m glad about is their career?

Ah, I have quite a bit of stuff to share here. Students, especially freshers, must realize the important role Open Source plays in their education. Richard Stallman, the father of the Free Software Movement urges every institute in the world to switch to Free and Open Source software for the very reason that students are surrounded with knowledge.

There’s anopen source alternative to nearly every software we use! Keeping this fact aside, our community is always ready to help budding developers explore technology. We conduct various events every semester and we don’t charge for most of them. We also have a forum (http://pesos. pes.edu/forums) running now to help people with their queries.

We want to push more people every year to enrol and get through the Google Summer of Code pro-

that the community was named ‘PES Open Source’ and not ‘PESIT Open Source’; which means we’re fine! Jokes apart, I’m sure that if it impacts us, PES University would only have better opportunities for us. I, personally, am thrilled about it!

Well, after two and a half years of learning on how we can manage projects, we’ve now finally rolled about development of projects as a community. We kickstarted that process last year, December 23rd and we’re progressing well. You can have a look at these projects in our github (https://github.com/pesos). We’ll also be having the third iteration of PES Summer of Code which we have plans to expand. For all information, one needs to just head over to the Facebook group (http://pesos.pes.edu/fb).

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TECH on CAMPUS As told by Vidhisha Nair to Yogesh Chellappa

Student Nokia Developer Community What is the objective of Stu- developer community world over. dent Nokia Developer ComThe community has immense munity? support from the Nokia developer The Student Nokia Developer community worldwide; and hence Community was started by an en- enjoys access to a wide array of thusiastic bunch of students from state of the art Nokia handsets. We the batch of 2012, driven by the have also received global recognifounder and head, Ram Kashyap. tion and support. We were awardThis community was envisaged ed with the Duke Choice Award at to provide an opportunity and a the Java One conference at San platform for student mobile de- Francisco for being an influential velopers to realise their ideas. The student developer community. community has been powered With such support and recognition, by students at PES University for the community aims to spread out nearly three years now. The com- and bring in developer culture to munity aims to reach out to many students everywhere. universities globally, to promote the learning and development of What are the projects done in mobile applications and aids in the last year? bringing recognition to the student

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The last year has seen a commendable improvement in the quality of projects being undertaken. The summer internship program was well received by the students at PESIT - we had six teams working on a wide array of projects. Expanding out of mobile, we offered web platforms as well and each project was given maximum exposure. We presented the projects at the Eximus Startup Camp at IIM-B, where they were well received.

The previous summer internship program resulted in the following 6 apps: ♌♌ Stelle: A platform for audio tweets with location tags.

♦♦ Pollspot: A platform for creating polls on varied topics and generating statistics of the polls.

them realize the bigger picture, we will have budding entrepreneurs and developers making the next million dollar app.

♦♦ ShopSeekers: A phone application for customers to identify nearby locations to find specific products and for shopkeepers to advertise their products.

A number of apps developed as part of the first batch got some good traction - we developed games like ‘tickle bee’ which got more than 150,000 downloads in 3 months where only three highend Nokia devices were targeted.

We also made an app that lists every Rajnikanth joke - this crossed a million downloads. There are many such success stories in the global community which is more than 5000 members strong. All in all, we did cross an overall 5 million downloads with the apps developed. Keeping all that in mind, there are many apps which aren’t so popular and the reason is again to do with the idea of ‘student-developed apps’.

♦♦ Fishy Delight: A Facebook game based on hooking fishes. ♦♦ Acclerar: A java based motion-sensitive car game with many interactive features.

Why is it difficult to find traction for your apps?

Perception plays an important role. People look at student developers first as students and then as developers. They thus lower their expectations, because what we observe is that student-developed apps lack in some user design aspects as compared to professional apps, even though they may be as technically sound as their professional counterparts.

Full-time professional developers have certain advantages and disadvantages of their own, which must be taken into account. If we can change this mindset and help

What are your plans for the future?

With P.E.S becoming a University, our projects are being scaled up to match the curriculum and the intellectual capabilities of the students. We plan to offer exclusive paid projects to a few students during the semester along with the Summer Internship Program which we run every year. We will be conducting SND Conclave to bring together students and faculty from

Nokia Labs of other colleges. We are bringing out an online device library portal for the students all across India to request devices from our repository, to aid them in their app development process.

We aim to partner with different institutes all over the world.

We are also planning to conduct workshops in rural colleges to expose those students to the environment here, and follow up with mentorship to help them develop apps. We are planning to bring in new research level projects, taking inspiration from the work that is undertaken at places like the MIT Media Lab. We are also looking to conduct workshops for the school students - one of which is ‘APP A DAY’, to familiarize them with basic app development and the associated thought process.

Monthly tech talks in different domains, by eminent individuals from the industry are on the cards.

We are initiating hackathons on the second Saturday of every month in the Nokia Lab. Our existing events like Incito and Hashcode are going to be bigger and better. In short, we have an action packed line-up of events and are looking forward to your participation!

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TECH on CAMPUS As told by Arjun S Raju to Pavan Bhat K

TEAM HAYA

Official Racing Team of PES University, Bangalore.

Tell us what HAYA is and what it does?

books. But as a part of HAYA the students get hands on experience in fabrication, design, cutting, HAYA is a team of engineers grinding, etc. It inculcates a more driven by a passion for racing. We practical approach to engineerbuild cars based on the design ing. rules and constraints and participate in national and internation- HAYA competes in two foral events. The main aim would be mats of racing called BAJA to promote outside class learning and SUPRA, what are the difon engineering concepts.

What are the challenges involved while building the car?

Even though FSAE cars do not involve high end technology as in F1; building a car itself is a major challenge. Bringing about a good blend of good handling, speed balance, etc and building a car based on the constraints of ferences between the two? a rule book by a group of newHow will a student from SUPRA is essentially a track comers is challenging. We aim at HAYA differ from a regular car competition while BAJA is an producing a product, keeping a off-road car competition. BAJA buyer in mind. student? can be described as rally racing Normal subjects like me- on mud roads whereas SUPRA It is said that a new marketchanics, thermodynamics, de- has more of an F1 racing format. ing team has been setup, sign, etc are only read in textwhat are its goals and how

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would it help our students?

rosive effects on the fuel tank sealants. This year we know about the problems encountered by the cars made by our seniors and we have taken all the measures to prevent them. We have also decided to complete the car one month before the final event and subject it to rigorous testing.

The main aim of our marketing team would be to bring in more sponsors for our team.

Its current goal is to sustain our title sponsors. Again as a part of the marketing team, students directly interact with the industry.

They learn to communicate with the customers and get a firsthand What is the role of non-meexperience of how marketing is chanical students in HAYA? professionally done.

Electrical and EC students It is said that until now only play a crucial role in HAYA team. a few cars were able to reach The engine management systems, fuel pumping systems, the dynamic rounds of the electrical gear shift, etc are all FSAE competition, what might be the reasons for this done by the electrical team.

and what measures have been taken this year?

The recent car had some problems during the dynamic round where grade of fuel used was different- this had some cor-

Telecom students aid us in all the telemetric systems that help us keep track of the car’s performance. CS and IS students also help us in creating interfaces for monitoring car performance.

Does HAYA have any alumni network? What role do the alumni have in the team?

Our seniors are the only source of practical knowledge to us. e constantly keep in touch and seek their advice. Alumni have helped us by bagging sponsors and any advice or help is always appreciated.

PESIT is now PES University, How would this affect the team? What are your expectations from the college?

Not much would change in the team, but HAYA and its students are proud to be part of PES University. HAYA would continue to attract more students to join PES. As the team grows, it would be nice to see the workspace expand.

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TECH on CAMPUS

AEOLUS

As told by Chirag Prasad to Sushanth M P

What was joining Aeolus like ?

When I was in my first year , the team along with their captain Nishanth were loading a huge plane into their car . The very sight inspired me . Right then , I asked if I could help out . They were quick and I started sanding wood immediately . Just like any college fraternity , joining Aeolus is all about overcoming the contact resistance , about pushing yourself further along the journey to becoming technically sound . Even today , we administer tests which test the mettle of aspirants . However , we see to it that the probationers work with true passion before they become full fledged members.

turbo fan had nearly blown them apart. It wasn’t a long step from there to solid rocket powered autonomous planes , an idea that our seniors had taken up with passion at the time . Since then , we have diversified and explored spud cannons , water rockets ; if it can fly , chances are that we’ve built it .The sheer joy of working together to make something fascinating is what drives us ang a member of Aeolus fundamentally makes you a stronger engineer , and as you move onto bigger projects , the experience transforms you and gives you a collective identity among a group of passionate co-workers. Aeolus instills in a member the right attitude to tackle problems , a passion to work and an ultimate incuWhat has been the inspiration for Aeolus ? bative environment fuelled by fellow team memWhen we joined Aeolus in 2010 , we learnt bers , seniors , juniors and the college management. of how our founders Ajay Nagarkatti and Akash At Aeolus , we become a part of the family for life.

Ananthswamy had built some good planes . A freak

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What are the current projects you are working on ?

We, at Aeolus recently completed work on a range of exciting projects - spud cannons , gliders , and water rockets, that won the top positions at various National level inter-college events. In retrospect , the past year saw major wins for the team, including an impeccable performance at SAE 2014. In the future , we are gearing up to begin work on autonomous planes , quadcopters , path planning and optimisation, bringing the development of drone technology to our college . We even have this wild dream of using the PISAT dish atop the F-block as a giant transmitter receiver for our aircraft .

Where do you see Aeolus in the next 10 years ?

We have worked exceedingly well as an SAE Aero Design team and have established quite a network as of now . The next step would ideally be to compete in longer competitions , ace SAE and live up to our standards. We also dream of commercialising our own product line.

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TECH on CAMPUS As told by IEEE PESIT to Namratha K

Connecting You to Technology

IEEE PESIT IEEE is the world’s largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. IEEE and its members galvanize a global community through IEEE’s highly cited publications, conferences, technological standards and educational activities. IEEE PESIT has, over the past few years been an integral part of a majority of technical activities on campus.

This student run body has had the chance to not only help build but also skilfully enhance the capabilities and talent of its members.

The primary goal is reaching out to a far greater audience with the benefits that an IEEE Membership has to offer. The branch aims at expanding to a wider array of interests under the IEEE PESIT domain, particularly the Biotechnology & Mechanical Engineering areas. Collaboration with Student Branches from other colleges is also being focused upon, with an Inter-College IEEE event on the cards, later this year.

The past year has seen IEEE PESIT reach new heights in terms of their events and initiatives. The All India Computer Society Student Congress 2013(AICSSC 2013) was held at PESIT on 16th and 17th December with the theme: ‘Enhancing technical competencies of Indian students through IEEE Computer So-

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ciety’. Here, students got a platform to interact with IEEE leaders and students from other sections and were enlightened about emerging computer technologies. This event saw students from different parts of the country coming in to participate.

IEEE Focus is the official IEEE PESIT newsletter. With two successful editions, it makes this student branch stand out from the rest. IEEEXperience is a membership drive that aims to create awareness about IEEE and its benefits with ‘Build the Web’ being its flagship event.

IEEE PESIT also organised ‘Procebo’, a 2-day workshop on Android based bluetooth controlled robots using Arduino. 2013 also saw the induction of Adduce, an idea presentation event that allowed contestants to exhibit their prototyped ideas.

TechQuiz, the bi-annual IEEE technical quiz had over 100 teams battling it out for the top spot. PESIT’s AT 13 played host to ‘Voltace‘, an innovative tech race which had participants exercising their grey matter.

Ingineer, an event at AT ‘14 received an enthusiastic response and tested participants on their technical knowhow, coding and circuit debugging.

Circuithon and Scrapheap Challenge showcased the technical and creative skills of the contestants.

Other than the events, a student branch is known for its mem-

ber base. In less than 6 months, the branch has seen an exponential rise in the number of members.

IEEE is a platform to showcase not just your technical skills but to inculcate and enhance your leadership and networking abilities. With events, workshops and conferences being organized globally, members get an opportunity to work in a professional environment and personally interact with the industry members providing a greater industry exposure. Shubham Khurana, IEEE PESIT Chairman concludes by saying, “The journey thus far of managing the branch has been nothing short of incredible – from the vast number of people we’ve come across from varying backgrounds to the constantly evolving technology sphere, of which we are the representatives. From conducting events and workshops that provide an unprecedented platform for learning to the students, to being there for all technical papers/journals related queries for students on campus, IEEE has given an opportunity to be involved in activities that help build crucial skills beyond the classroom.

The IEEE PESIT Execom works tirelessly to reach these goals. The support from this team and our seniors has been instrumental in the growth that IEEE PESIT has seen in recent past”.

TECH on CAMPUS

By Abhinav Kashyap

PACE at PES University

PACE is a corporate initiative between GM, Autodesk, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and Siemens, with contributions from companies like Altair Engineering, 3D Connexion and MSC Software, among others.

There are 33 Universities across the globe including major Universities from USA and Europe where General Motors has its operation.

PES University was the first South-East Asian institute to be included in this initiative.

PES University has been taking part actively in all PACE Forums that were held from its commencement in 2007 and has been successful in impressing the judging panel every year with their innovative and smart ideas which could revolutionize the automotive sector.

The objective of the Year 1 team was to design a PAMD vehicle that would help in easier transportation of the general public of India. NID Ahmadabad was the design institute which designed the PAMD vehicle with the help of students of PES University. Many new concepts like hubless wheel and a convertible model evolved as result of this.

The above model was presented in the PACE Annual Forum that was held in California, USA. For its design and the concept, the team bagged 2nd prize in the competition in the design category.

The objective for Year 2 team is to fabricate a fully functional prototype that was designed in 1st year. The fabricated model has to be displayed at the PACE Forum which to be held at Turin, Italy in the last week of July.

Last year, the problem statement that was given to all the Universities was to design and develop a portable vehicle that can be used as a substitute for the existing conventional vehicles.

Students from PES University were recruited by the HR team of General Motors. A rigorous procedure of written test, group discussion and personal interview was conducted to shortlist students for this project.

And hence the objective was to design a portable assisted mobility device (PAMD) that would help in a hassle free transport in an ever growing population like India.

PES University being the lead team is responsible for manufacturing of swing arm and designing steering and suspension for the vehicle. PSG College of Technology is responsible for the fabrication of the mechanical components. SJCE, Mysore is responsible for the electronics of the vehicle. University of Toronto, Canada and Prairie View A&M University, Texas, USA is responsible for the manufacturing of the Hubless wheel.

All PACE associated universities worwere grouped into 7 teams which would develop, design and fabricate a PAMD vehicle. These vehicles will compete amongst each other in PACE Annual Forum where the best idea will be chosen by an elite panel of judges based on various parameters like design ingenuity, product feasibility, collaborative skills and overall functionality.

Amongst the 7 teams, PES University was designated as the Lead Institute for Team 3. PACE PES University is under the mentorship of Dr. S V Satish, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, PES University. There were six world class universities across the globe under Team 3.

• PES University, Bangalore- Lead Institute

The project is being funded by General Motors and PES University.

The testing model has been manufactured by the students of PES University and preliminary testing has been successfully completed.

PES University’s PACE team comprises of 11 students, J Abhinav Kashyap, Chaman Kumar, Sanket Zad, Nagaraj Nayak, Dileep Kumar, Srinitish k, Nivruth Nitin, Debopratim Nag, Nitish Patil, Rohith, Adarsh S.

• NID Ahmadabad- Design institute • PSG college of Technology, Coimbatore • Sri Jayachamarajendra College Of Engineering, Mysore • Prairie View A&M University, Texas, USA • University Of Toronto, Canada

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TECH

By Pavan Bhat K S

FORMULA E

THE RACE TO THE FUTURE

Who doesn’t love the fast-paced, fantastic The 90-minute charge required for 25 minutes world of FORMULA 1. With their aerodynamic shape of all-out racing might be a hard sell, but all the othand state-of-the-art technology ,each car in FOR- er numbers seem enticing. And not to forget that MULA1 is worth approximately 60 million. electric cars have all their torque available immediately, as soon as the driver hits the accelerator, FORMULA 1 may be the only sport that is run making race starts super-fast, and super-exciting! solely by its sponsors. The popularity and fan support is immense.

The inaugural season will see 10 teams, each with two drivers, competing in the 2014/2015 FIA Now, with increasing awareness of glob- Formula E Championship. All teams come from a al warming, a new variety of racing has emerged variety of top, global championships. called FORMULA E - a race run entirely on electric power. A bit of history to bring you up to speed : The ten team participating in FORMULA E are: In 2008, French designer Frederic Vasseur and his company Formulec unveiled the first electric Formula-style race car. Formula E Holdings(FEH) then bought the technology from Formulec, and Vasseur founded Spark Racing Technology (SRT), a consortium charged with designing the race cars for the series.

• MAHINDRA RACING – INDIA • DRAYSON RACING-UK • CHINA RACING-CHINA • ANDRETTI AUTO SPORTS-USA • DRAGON RACING-USA

• E.DAMS –FRANCE FEH is hoping the partnership will work the same magic for electric Formula cars -- which, by the • SUPER AGURI-JAPAN way, will be powered entirely by electricity stored in • AUDI SPORTS ABT-GERMANY lithium ion batteries. No hybrids here, no flywheels or kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) either! • VIRGIN RACING-UK • VENTURI GP- Monaco Here’s a breakdown of the stats: Formula E is also an ‘open championship’ al● 124 miles per hour (199.6 kilometers per lowing teams to design and develop their own cars hour) maximum speed in accordance to the technical specifications set out ● 0 to 100 miles per hour (0 to 160.9 kilometers by the FIA - and showcasing their electrical energy innovations in a competitive, racing environment. per hour) in 3 seconds So watch out for this new foray in technology, en● 241-horsepower gineering, innovation and entertainment this September 2014. ● 1,720 pounds (780.2 kilograms)

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TECH

By Pramodh K P

Crypto

Currencies Decrypted So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of all money?

- Ayn Rand What is the most abstract or arbitrary thing that you have come across until now? Pure math? Theoretical physics, maybe? Automata theory? Now that you come to think of it, think a little more in the context of this article. Ah! That’s right! Currency. That’s the most common, abstract thing that you come across every day in your life. Although, it’s used (in fact, obsessed over) so extensively, that it’s abstractness is being replaced by the meaning and status we give it.

processes are accessible to everyone) unlike the current economic system. Basically crypto-currency is a digital medium of exchange, in which the transactions are encrypted using cryptographic techniques. Hence, the name. Another interesting thing about crypto-currencies is that it’s decentralized.

So, what’s the origin of this currency? And then the hot question, what is crypto-currency?

Etymology of the word currency currency (n.)

1650s, “condition of flowing,” from Latin currens, present participle of currere “to run” (see current (adj.)); the sense of a flow or course extended 1699 (by John Locke) to “circulation of money.”

Currency, in its fundamental form means flow. Currency is basically flow of value from one person to another. In earlier days, they used to exchange goods with other goods or services (Barter system). Later, a standard unit of currency evolved. People used that unit to exchange with goods and services. Thus, the concept of money originated out of the value that the goods and services generated.

So, who decides what should be the value of a unit of currency? A central authority usually. Anyway, that should serve as enough introduction as to what currency is, I guess.

So, what is crypto-currency?

Sounds cryptic, right? Contrary to its name, it’s actually open-source ( in the sense, it’s rules, policies and

Who created crypto-currency?

The idea of crypto-currency took birth in a mailing list, called Cypherpunks. A guy named Wei Dai, suggested the idea of decentralizing the currency system, by using cryptography for transactions.

Later this idea was implemented in the form of Bitcoins. A person, with pseudonym Satoshi Nakomoto, who is to this day, unknown (although, there are various conspiracy theories about who he is). Satoshi explained the idea of Bitcoins in his paper called “Bitcoin - A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System”.

How does this work?

Like any other currencies that exist, Bitcoins have value because a group of people agree that it has value.

However, the value of the Bitcoin depends on the demand and supply. For example, if more people start buying Bitcoins, the demand increases and hence its value. And when people lose trust in the Bitcoins, they start withdrawing their money and the value decreas-

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es.

Bitcoins are decentralized, meaning no one owns Bitcoins. It’s a technology, or even better, a protocol. It’s a set of rules and processes that defines a standard medium of exchange. However, like any other protocol, you can add more features such that it still agrees with the basic protocol. This can lead to various interesting possibilities.

To spend money, the receiver should prove that he is the true owner of the public key to which money was sent.

The signature also has various other uses. Since the signature is generated by combining both private key and message, a change in the signature somewhere along the network would result in an an invalid transaction. Hence, providing security to the transactions.

I want the gory details!

Balances in Bitcoins

Well, Bitcoins are really deep and mathematical. I am not smart enough to explain all the details, but I will give an outline of the details.

The peculiar thing about Bitcoins is they don’t actually exist anywhere. Then, how is the balance of an account calculated? Balances in Bitcoins are maintained in an interesting way. Generally, whenever you want to spend some BTCs, it checks for blocks containing BTC that you received. If the sum of the amount of BTCs received is greater, the transaction is allowed to go through. So, basically it just looks for the earlier transactions made in the block chain. However, this is a tedious process, since all the nodes are to be checked for each transaction.

Each transaction that you do using Bitcoins is considered a block. The block contains the details of your transaction, which is encrypted using a private key.

This is added into a block-chain which a chain of ALL the transactions is made using Bitcoins, by everyone.

This block-chain is stored in a shared ledger that is decentralized.

How do you send money to someone?

Sending money to someone basically means that you are sending it to their public key. This can be done in the following way.

A signature is generated by combining the sender’s private key (kind of like a password for your account) and the message (information in the block like timestamp, amount etc.) This is accomplished by various complex mathematical functions. At each node in the block-chain, the signature along with the message is given as an input to another function called “Verify” that matches the public key with the combination of signature and the message at each node. In other words, you are sending your private key in an encrypted way (a combination of message and private key).

When all the nodes containing the public key is processed, a transaction is said to have happened.

Who processes these blocks in blockchain?

Anyone can process Bitcoins. This is called mining.

Once a block is processed, it is added to the blockchain. However, as the number of transactions in the network increases, the mining requires more time and processing power. This is usually done by dedicated people with dedicated hardware.

How are bitcoins created?

Above process also explains how Bitcoins are created.

The protocol is built in such a way, that, for each block processed, a certain number of Bitcoins are generated and awarded. However, there is cap of 21 million BTC, on the number of BTC that can be generated.

Alice sending BTC to Bob Public Key

Verify(signature, publickey, message)

Alice Signature =f(Private key, Message)

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Public Key

Bob Block chain

To spend, bob proves that the public key is actucally his.

message private key

message

signature

create

public key verify

signature = f(private key, message)

message private key

signature

message public key

verify create Verify: 1=? v(signature, message, public key)

Are Bitcoins really reliable or is it just nerd’s gold?

Bitcoins are very volatile. Even though it has all the properties that a currency should have (as mathematical functions), it is defined by the demand and supply. If people hear good thing about Bitcoins, they start investing in it, suddenly the price rises. People lose Bitcoins due to some data loss, they start panicking and withdrawing, price decreases.

An example of how volatile Bitcoins can be is the famous “7 million dollar Pizza”. Back in the day (2010, actually. But technology runs past fast!) when Bitcoins were not popular, this guy had mined around some 10,000 bitcoins. Since, it didn’t have much value back then, he decided to spend it on buying a pizza.

And then in 2013, because of media coverage and for various other reasons, the demand for Bitcoins increased and the value shot up to $700. If you calculate

the amount you can see that the pizza would have costed 7 million dollars at that price! If you want to know the pizza’s current worth, go to preev.com to get the conversion rate and calculate it yourself.

Another recent example as to how raw the technology is, is the Mt.Gox issue. Mt.Gox is a BTC exchange company (based in Japan) that allows users to trade BTC for USD. Recently around 850,000 BTC (~ USD 500 Million) were stolen from the Mt.Gox and it filed for bankruptcy protection. Later, it was found that the theft happened due to a bug in the Bitcoin transactions.

Other exchange companies who had patched this bug were unaffected.

Does it have a future?

Right now, it’s anarchist. It doesn’t really have a proper structure. But like any other open-source project, give it some time and it might just become the future currency.

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ALUMNI Advice from Alumni

Words of Wisdom

Have you ever wanted to be an astronaut or a scientist when you “grew up”. And now you feel that you probably aren’t cut out to be among those who can make a real difference to the world’s knowledge base.

Here’s where we at Eclat are happy to prove you wrong. We interviewed 2 alumni, both research students in hallowed research institutions. Both of them know the pleasures and perils of being a PESITian, and are on their way to realise their dreams.

Jnaneshwar Das (a.k.a. JD) studied Telecom in PESIT, and belonged to the batch of 2004. He is pursuing his M.S. and now Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. He is a widely published researcher in robotics and machine learning.

Shashank Vatedka studied ECE in PESIT, and was from the batch of 2011. He managed to secure a direct Ph.D. admit at IISc, right after his B.E., something which is incredibly difficult to get. He pursues research in the areas of information theory and communication systems, while managing to publish his work in reputed conferences.

How has your experience been so far?

JD: It has been an extremely enriching experience, broadening my outlook on both culture and technology.

Shashank: My experience in IISc has been great. I’ve had the chance to meet some great people, and make good friends. The atmosphere here is very good. Seeing people around you do great work inspires you to do better.

What differences do you find in the education you received in PESIT, and that you are currently receiving?

JD: In PESIT, my education happened primarily outside the classroom. I learned from fellow students by working on projects, participating in inter-college competitions, and by interacting with faculty outside regular course requirements. Although things must have changed through the years since I graduated, it seemed the B.E. curriculum was not designed to foster creativity.

In general, higher education in the US is geared towards critical thinking and creativity. Students are encouraged to ask questions, and majority of courses have a significant portion of the grade reserved for a substantial project. Professors have autonomy in designing the curriculum, and choosing grading schemes for exams. Exams are sometimes take-home especially for graduate level courses, so integrity is critical to gain the most out of the system.

Shashank: BE was all about acquiring breadth in engineering, and a graduate programme is about acquiring depth. PESIT is an institution that focuses on undergraduate studies whereas the main objective at IISc is research, and it would perhaps not be fair to compare the two. The faculty at IISc are masters in their respective fields, and yet are very helpful. Most of the courses are also oriented towards research.

Another key difference between PESIT and a place like IISc is that there are very few compulsory/core courses (none in the case of a research programme). So you can choose courses based on your interests, and take advanced courses as you proceed. Moreover, you can take courses in any department you want!

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The atmosphere is more informal, and you can just sit through courses you are interested without enrolling in it. The course workload here is much harder than that at PESIT, and the Profs make sure that you are busy all the time!

What words of advice do you have for a student of PESIT? JD: Be passionate and multi-dimensional. Devote time on challenging hobbies and work on projects outside the curriculum. Your communication skills will be extremely important when you finish your bachelors and get a job, or pursue a higher degree. So, try to collaborate with friends and faculty on whatever you care about.

Shashank: Take courses seriously. Your grades do matter when you want to apply for jobs or higher studies. It’s always good to decide what you want to do after BE as early as possible, and plan well. If you want to work in the industry immediately, it is helpful to pursue some internships/projects in companies. Talk to people in the industry, your seniors, develop contacts, and find out what skills are required to help you thrive. If you are interested in pursuing higher studies, do some good projects, and get your hands dirty.

Identify an area you are interested in, approach faculty who do good research in that area and would be willing to help you. If you can do some good work and have a research paper or two by the time you graduate, it would really, really help you.

Moreover, if you decide early on whether you want to pursue higher studies or not, you can prioritize on preparing for placements or entrance exams. You can devote more time to what you want most, and believe me, it helps! But whatever you want to pursue, always remember to have a backup in hand. The world is very competitive, and sometimes you have to settle for something less. Be patient, you may not get the results you want immediately. But most importantly, take time off, and enjoy life too!

How should one go about doing undergraduate research?

JD: Passionately. If you want to work on research projects, at no other time in your life will you find the enthusiasm from friends to form meaningful bonds to work together. Get the most out of it, and have fun while you’re at it!

Shashank: Find out what subjects interest you, and talk to your professors if they are interested in advising you on a project. If you can, it would be great to do a project at a place like IISc, DRDO, ISRO, etc. A lot of such institutions offer summer projects. But note that the advice from your supervisor would be very limited if you work outside. A key factor is to start early. If you can latch on to a problem by your 3rd year, you get 1.5-2 years to do a solid project, that may end up becoming some good research work. If you get the opportunity, publish at a good conference. If you can secure a decent conference publication, and good recommendations from your profs, you have a good chance of cracking the top universities.

What are some mistakes which you did in your undergrad days which you would like others to avoid?

JD: I wish I had understood linear algebra better.

‘Life is rarely fair to you, but you must not lose heart.’

Shashank: Make sure that you learn your subjects well. A good foundation plays a great role later on. Math is especially one area that most people tend to slack off on, but if you want to study further, it is essential to have firm basics.

Another piece of advice I’d like to give regarding placements, is that it usually does not go as you would like it to. There is a lot of competition, and sometimes luck plays a factor, coming in the way of your dream job.

The same holds for admits to universities too. Life is rarely fair to you, but you must not lose heart. During such times, it is necessary to be patient, there is always an alternative. But you must try your best, and be prepared. Keep polishing your skills and work hard, you will eventually reap fruits. Keep in touch with your seniors, be updated about the trends in placements, etc. This always helps.

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How should go about preparing oneself for a career in academic research?

JD: Stay curious and learn how to ask the right questions.

Shashank: Like I mentioned earlier, always plan properly, and plan early. Try to do some good projects early on. Aim for the best universities, but make sure that your goals are realistic. Secure good recommendations; it also helps to be a student assistant for a course so that you can get an extra recommendation!

If you are interested in doing a PhD, but do not get into the university of your choice, then do a masters (even if it is an ok university), and try doing a good summer internship. It can greatly boost your chances.

And as I said earlier, always have a backup plan. In general, it is good to finish your studies in a stretch than

‘Stay curious and learn how to ask the right questions.’ working in the industry for sometime and then doing a masters/PhD. Also consider doing some research assistantships at IISc/RRI/TIFR, etc.

How hard is academic research? How does one generate new ideas that are worthy of notice?

JD: Academic research requires insight, creativity, and persistence. Persistence is probably the most important quality in research, since there will be many false starts and dead ends. Unlike taking classes during bachelors, there is no curriculum or well defined goal, other than expanding the boundary of knowledge. You are in charge! The best way to generate new ideas is to be a keen observer, and to keep thinking deeply about problems you care about.

Shashank: I’d say it’s hard to answer this question! Academic research requires a lot of hard work, and a lot of patience. You spend most of the time going around in circles, frustrated, and it’s common to get stuck in a problem for weeks together. It generally takes weeks, if not months, to get a reasonable solution to most problems. Research is not as rosy as it is often made out to be, but if you persevere through all the problems, it is equally rewarding.

An analogy of doing research, is that you are put in an unknown city, with unknown people who speak an unknown language, and you don’t know where you are, or where you want to go. Initially, you are lost, but after a while, you gradually pick up the language and can talk to other people. Later, you get acquainted with the surroundings, and find out where you want to go. When you ultimately reach the destination, you feel thrilled. However, what is most crucial is not the destination, but the journey. It is for the pleasure of this journey that you do research.

It’s hard to say what problems are `worthy’; as long as it interests you, and keeps you going, I think it’s fine. Another thing to keep in mind is that when you start out doing research, you don’t have much freedom in selecting a problem of your choice. You generally have to work on a problem that your advisor is interested in (even though they may not help you in finding one!), and it takes some time to find a problem that matches both your interests. Sometimes, it is necessary to optimize, and settle on a problem that only barely matches your interests. But after you work for sometime, you get a certain degree of freedom and can choose the problems you are interested in. Gradually, you get enough experience to set your own problems, and pursue independent research.

I’ve found the following resources very useful, and would like to share the same them with you: • “So long, and thanks for the PhD,” an article by Ronald Azuma, available online at http://www. cs.unc.edu/~azuma/hitch4.html • “The PhD grind,” a very nice memoir by Philip Guo. He very nicely describes the different phases a PhD student goes through, and it also has a good description of what PhD is all about. It can be found online at http://www.pgbovine.net/PhD-memoir.htm

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• “You and your research,” by Richard Hamming. This is a transcript of Hamming’s talk at Bell labs in 1986, and can be found here: http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html

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TECH

By Anurag Lingam

HOW TO MAKE A

GOOD GAME I’m sure you play some sort of video games once in a while. If I ask you your choice of good games, you’d probably list out a few easily.

Here’s a new task - develop a new game for me that would be ‘good’ by your standards. Take some time to think over it. I’m sure you’ll come up with some great ideas, but do you think you’ll be able to materialize them? No worries. I’ll help you out!

For the purpose of this article, I’ll talk about a game project I have started and is still in development. I call it ‘Momentum’.

Now, let’s cover all the important aspects one by one.

An idea that’s worth presenting to the world is what you need to come up with. Innovation is what drives the gaming industry. Just imagine what the world would have been if all games were based on the same idea and nobody ever thought of anything different. We would have faced the Bollywood of the gaming industry (no offence to any Bollywood fans!). The audience you are targeting should find something to talk about in your game; otherwise it would simply be pointless.

Sketch out your idea and be clear about what you are developing. Work should not stall later due to an unfinished game plan.

“I got an idea! Let’s make a game where you launch birds through a catapult to hit pigs standing on castles!”

Developing games that are based off the ideas of another game is usually not a good idea to start

with. I’m sure people who have played Angry Birds would know what I’m saying. You could definitely take inspiration from such games to develop your own idea, but be sure not to end up with a spinoff of someone else’s game.

My game Momentum focuses on teaching the ideas of physics to the players in a very subtle way.

You sure don’t launch birds, but you can launch explosive projectiles here!

“Momentum is a game which makes the player see the world through a machine’s perspective as it learns physics and the player uses this knowledge to move forward in the story” – The description of the game.

Graphics of a game is definitely one of the most important areas to concentrate on. Good looking graphics is what catches the eye of most players, don’t you agree?

“But all popular games contain super HD ultra reality mega quality graphics. How do you expect me to do that sitting at home??”

Good graphics doesn’t always mean realistic art. If your target audience finds the graphics appealing, you’ve done your job in that aspect.

For example, take a look at the popular Indie game called Fez. It’s simplistic yet beautiful graphics can be considered a success. Don’t you agree?

Mechanics, without any argument is the most important aspect of a game. Most of the time in game development is spent in developing a game engine, implanting the game mechanics and testing the physics. You wouldn’t want any unrealistic responses by the game character while playing, would you?

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Just imagine if in Angry Birds, you launch the serving the simplicity of the game. yellow bird in the air and when you tap it again The music dictates the mood of the game at a mid-air, it shoots itself in the opposite direction. Reminds you of Dhoom 3, doesn’t it? How outrageous particular instance. Without knowledge, the player’s mood changes accordingly. I noticed that many would that be? times while playing Mass Effect 3, I tried playing the “But, it’s a game! It’s not supposed to follow same scenes without music and noticed a drastic real world physics, right??” change. My mood turned rather dull and the passive effect of mood change due to the music was Of course not! Game mechanics are the rules missing. of the game that implements your game design and allows the player to have an engaging experience.

Many games have been known just for their amazing soundtracks. Yes, there have been games My game focuses on simplicity and stresses that were released with herculean efforts, but more on the physics of the game, since that is what didn’t deliver as expected, but are still known for the game’s basic idea is. their soundtracks.

“That sounds like a lot of Bollywood movies!”

Besides, many players like me, have certain soundtracks close to their heart.

Of course you remember the soundtracks of legendary games like Pokemon, Mario, Chrono Trigger, Megaman, etc. don’t you?

Publishing! When you have finished making a prototype of your game, wreak havoc and actively promote your game wherever you should! Look at how famous the game Flappy Bird had become!

Audio is a crucial factor in enhancing the user’s Some reviews rate it as a sloppy game with poorly gameplay. The audio and video cohesively build designed mechanics and some other gave it thumbs an interactive environment for the player to have up. But the bottom line is that good advertising can a memorable experience. Without audio, even the definitely make your game famous regardless of most mind blowing graphics would seem rather how close to legendary it is. dull. I can’t even imagine playing the Mass Effect Now that the major points have been covered, trilogy with my speakers muted. it is up to you to learn and develop your own techYou should find someone who can compose nique to perfect your game design and create a sucgood tracks that suit your game and are fun to listen cessful game. Good luck! Download ‘Momentum, a to. For my game, I designed a piano tune for pre- tank’s tale’ at: http://tinyurl.com/qhfydpr

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AATMATRISHA ‘14

EVENTS

By Sudhanva Shetty & Anurag Gaur

The Frenzy Before The campus had been transformed fittingly for the gala. The stage, the banners, the artwork, events – the sum total of the students’ hard work over the past few weeks would prove fruitful. A variety of hues and fest paraphernalia welcomed visitors at AT-14.

pants started to roll in.

next to the one where our participants were patiently waiting, It cheered us to notice that we decided that we were as prethey were as nervous as we were. pared as we’re ever going to be.

At that moment the reality of organizing an event sunk into us.

It began, and things just Our event – like the rest – was started to fall in place. Maymeticulously planned out and be we were lucky, maybe the prepared for. The stationery, the over-preparation bore fruit; As first time organizers, with requirements, and the rules – whatever be the case, the event our bones tingling with anticipa- nothing could be amiss. proceeded efficiently. tion, we reached the venue too The nervousness peaked as All in all, it was exciting to early and too edgy. Still unsure of the gravity of the task at hand, the clock ticked time away from handle an AT event - being rewe were discussing the rules and us. At a particular moment while sponsible and having fun simulregulations of our event and di- reciting the soon-to-be-delivered taneously. viding duties when the partici- speech in the empty class room

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EVENTS

By Yazhini Baskaran

Creativity Brimming Colours of India.

How do you represent that? How do a handful of people breathe colour into a fest? Faced with this mountain of a task, a million ideas, and brimming with a collective artistic energy, the creative team of Aatmatrisha ’14 set off on their journey.

Planning for collages, hunting for banners, drawing at gargantuan scales - this became the order of the day. Plans changed and ideas morphed into tangible, beautiful incarnations of what was envisioned.

Enormous hangings were drawn, admired, painted, finished and hung up.

The week preceding the fest saw all hands on deck, all day long, and some mighty colourful hands those were! Paint - Red and yellow, green and blue, black and white, and every colour in between! Help came in from unexpected quarters; passersby watching us work shared encouragement and critique. Compassion, camaraderie, creative talent, tension, joy, every feeling on the wide spectrum that is human emotion, so much came through in the last few days leading up to the fest. We worked with brushes and tissues, buckets and bottles, even with sponges and paper-plates. We haggled with the carpenters, roped in every poor soul around to carry the artwork, ran around for supplies, rushed to get paint off those favourite pairs of jeans! Skipping classes to paint was magical!

The show stealers and our pride-n-joy were the elaborate, stand-alone plywood cut-outs, painted with intricate detail - Mother Durga, Mohiniyattam, the twin Dussehra elephants, the auto rickshaw, the rhinoceros, and the Palatial entrance!

The Rain God did dampen the outcome of our effort, but not for long. Come the morning of 7th March 2014 and every team member went all out to repair the damage caused by the rain. A group grabbed hammers and nails and put up everything from the puppets to the handmade streamers, others grabbed the cut-outs

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and placed them on the lawns around college, all the while setting up the fine arts events. A whole group of helpful strangers came together to prop up the final banner with the kind of cooperation that melts your heart and makes you feel like a part of something huge and beautiful.

The team received praise from all ends, and we don’t know who else cheered but when the team was thanked on stage, all the scattered members of the team could be heard individually screaming their heads off!

Cheers to a wonderful fest, and we’d do it all over again in a flash!

EVENTS

By Shruti Eswar

This is it!

A fest stands firmly on the foundation of the atmosphere and excitement it generates.

The above was clearly educed on the 7th and 8th of March, 2014 when PESIT organized its annual techno-cultural fest, Aatmatrisha.

The stage was set, the university grounds transformed wonderfully with artefacts scattered about that captured the essence of the theme – Colours of India!

was thrown into a terpsichorean treat. It started off with some astounding performances by an assortment of Indian contemporary dance groups that portrayed an array of out-of-the-ordinary themes. Next up, our very own Indian contemporary dance team, Sanskriti mesmerized the spectators by dancing to Malhar Jam, a marvellous song by the Carnatic rock band, Agam.

Although the campus was quite barren in the morning, people soon bustled in, crowding at the various food stalls and at different venues, either taking part or playing spectator to the plethora of events taking place.

The audience were given a few minutes to catch their breath and the evening proceeded with brilliant Western dance sequences by various colleges from all over Bangalore. Trance left the viewers charmed with a scintillating performance depicting the ‘Colours of India’!

The hours went by and it was soon time for the Cul Night to commence. Hordes of people were attracted toward the main stage where they gathered to watch the various music groups and bands perform. First up was Fantom which wooed the gathering with their fast percussive beats and heavy guitar riffs giving the crowd a musical adrenaline rush. They were followed by the a capella group, Pitch Please and the rock band, Alter Ego which gave its last performance this year.

This got the mass all pumped up for the spectacular fashion show which had a unique concept and an interesting sequence. Pulse put on a great show with even higher levels of energy and fervour. After some trademark popping, locking and grooving, they got the audience reminiscing by dancing to the Popeye theme song.

The crowd started to move away from the stage, presuming that the evening had come to an With no time to settle af- end when one of the highly reter the musical jaunt, the crowd garded faculties of the institute,

Mr. Nitin V Pujari went up on stage to make an announcement about the charity foundation, Apeksha.

He left the viewers captivated as he started to sing the popular Hindi song “Lungi Dance” which commanded us to dance! The evening ended on a high note and the gathering dispersed, with the widest grins on their faces.

The sun rose again, shining light on some new experiences on Day 2 of AT ’14. The afternoon saw the entire campus coming together - Paisa Vasool, PES University’s Mad Ads team performed to a packed auditorium, eliciting hysterical laughter and thunderous applause from the audience.

This set the mood for what was to be exhilarating evening!

Seasoned playback singer Anushka Manchanda, who has belted out hits for Bollywood, Tamil and Telugu cinema set the stage on fire with a power-packed performance! She drew the crowd into a dancing frenzy with her raw energy and enthusiasm.

Two hours later and crowd still wanted more.

But just as all good things come to an end, so did AT ’14.

With the customary appreciation for the organizing team, the stage lights faded out on yet another successful AT!

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EVENTS

By Nilesh Nayak

Prakalpa My Journey Prakalpa ’12 and ’13 are among the best experiences for me at PES University. Since its inception in 2009, the event has given the best minds of our college a platform to demonstrate their technical skills.

Being the Team Manager for two consecutive years, it took a lot of toil in managing a group of over 25 people. We were also supported by an enthusiastic team of designers, creative artists and innovative thinkers brought in an out-of-the-box perspective in displaying the best department features at the annual event. I always consider the team first, over anything else that mattered, in making it a huge success for the past 2 years. Credit goes to each and every member of the team who worked selfless-

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ly in giving their best for the love of the Department. We remained organized right from the beginning and until the very end.

leave the grand stage for the budding students of our department to take over and raise the bar even higher. My message to the juniors is this - Always believe in giving, Winning the prestigious rather than expect something in Best Department Stall Award for return. You will never lose anythe Department was the highest thing by sharing knowledge with moment in my engineering life. It your fellow companions. Help has truly been a special journey, others, and in turn, the world will in moulding every social aspect help you! of me. Never did it cross my mind that we would win two years in a Many regards go to row. The only thing we, as a team, our HoD and our professors - we believed in, was letting our ideas would never have gained the necflow. Being engineers, I think it is essary self-confidence otherwise. ideas that actually change a per- Thanks a lot to my family, friends son’s perspective about them- and well-wishers who supportselves, eventually changing the ed me throughout the journey. I world around them. hope to make you all a lot more proud someday by using these It is my little hope and experiences to reach greater heismall dream that the trend con- ghts. tinues in the near future, as we

EVENTS

By Medhaa Shankar

Yamini - a Medley ‘Yamini’ was an all-night music and dance festival held on the 26th of October, 2013. It was organized

by Spic Macay and PES on the PES campus as part of the university’s Silver Jubilee celebrations. It was an event aimed at promoting Indian art forms among today’s youth. Being a part of Ninaada, the cultural and classical club of PES that undertook the organization of this event, I enjoyed running around for it all.

Headed by V.K Sir, this endeavour has been a huge milestone for us. From setting the stage to seeing the artists off the next morning, we the students, guided by certain humble seniors, worked to make this successful.

It began with us inviting the artists and preparing to meet every artist’s requirements. The artists who graced Yamini with their performances were Guru Dr. Sonal Mansingh- Classical Dance (Odissi) Gundecha Brothers- Classical Music Vocal (Hindustani) T V Sankaranarayan- Classical Music Vocal (Carnatic) Hariprasad Chaurasia- Classical Music Instrumental (Flute) Mysore Brothers- Classical Music Instrumental (Violin) It is not often that one gets to see the college after the working hours. At 6pm, the campus looked beautiful, bathed in fancy lights and tasteful decorations and soon enough the audience began pouring into the auditorium. Apart from the regular seating, there were comfortable cots placed, owing to the dusk to dawn long event. The atmosphere was vibrant with classical melodies. The artists, in their impeccable styles, performed with fervour. Students were assigned an artist each to look after their requirements. The event was covered by the media and was telecasted on Doordarshan. With music, refreshments, food and interaction, the event buoyed everyone’s mood and kept them entertained till dawn.

The artists were gifted mementos and left satisfied with the hospitality they received. It was a proud moment when the faculty appreciated the efforts of the student body.

Truly a success, I personally feel such events must be held at least once a year to inculcate an appreciation for classical art forms. It was simply a wonderful experience to have been associated with it so closely and I enjoy and cherish all the memories, be it while organising the event or of the event itself!

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EVENTS

By Suraj Srinivas

AICSSC 2013 What does one expect from a congress? We know what a workshop is; we can understand what a conference is. However, what was a congress supposed to be? The All India Computer Society Student Congress 2013 on the 16th & 17th of December was the perfect opportunity to find out.

The very first event caught our attention. It was the President of IEEE Computer Society, David Alan Grier who completely blew us away. His talk on the philosophy of Software Engineering was filled with facts, anecdotes and humour in equal measure.

He had a great command over the stage, and was certainly an excellent orator.Later that day, we

had an icebreaking session where we were divided into groups for the purpose of ideating on specific futuristic domains.

That session was a lot of fun - we met interesting people and there was an exchange of ideas.

The day ended with a scrumptious dinner, readying everyone for the second day.

The next day was a platform for enlightening talks by highly accomplished people. By highly accomplished, I mean ‘having their own Wikipedia page’ accomplished. These people are really famous! Whether it was Mr. Monendra Sahu, who provided vistas into the world of hacking, or Mr. Satish Babu, the open source champion, or Dr. Srikrishna from the National Enterpreneuriship Network (NEN), who spoke with so much life and vigour that would drive even the laziest of people to think of entrepreneurship - it was fascinating to see them take the dais and inspire people so easily and effortlessly.

There was another ice-breaking network-

ing session where participants were divided into groups and assigned tasks. We solved questions, earned virtual money, and bought materials to build something interesting. It was an event that proved fun for all, and the energy levels soared.

Finally, there were some talks on how to manage IEEE student branches by the keynote speaker Dr. Xun Luo and former IEEE CS Chairperson Dr. S V Sankaran. The panel discussion by Dr. David Grier, Mrs. Angela Burgess and Dr. Xun Luo gave us a peek into the trio’s lives, their philosophies and some general principles which they adhered to.

At the end of the day, there were underlying themes emerging from the congress. Networking, entrepreneurship and hard work - these featured majorly across all talks and activities.

Such events are excellent for teaching these valuable skills to students, and making them realise their importance and impact.

As engineers, it’s easy to underestimate these qualities. Attending this congress made me realise how wrong I was.

EVENTS

By Neha Raje

SAMARPANA A tribute to the Indian Armed Forces

The aroma of freshly baked cakes is even sweeter when they are for a cause. The Bake Sale conducted as a part of Samarpana 2014 was a huge success thanks to the delectable food, zealous organizers and the ever enthusiastic campus. This being the second time such an event was conducted, the organizers were very happy with the turnout. The number of stalls tripled from last year.A few stalls sold items baked by teachers! It was amazing to see their enthusiasm and wholehearted participation. With quirky stall names like ‘Babaji ka Stall’, one just knew that this was all about guiltless gluttony and having fun.

Stalls sold out within minutes of the recess bell ringing.

Most of the stalls were sold out before lunch! But those who missed out during the first break weren’t disappointed -The Bake Sale also catered a sumptuous lunch. There were throngs of people shuffling to get some space just to get a taste of the event, literally!

sprung into a full blown successful event. Vivek recounted how the previous year the response was so overwhelming that within 10 minutes of the stalls opening, they got a call from the cash counter saying the coupons were sold out!

For those who felt guilty about the added gravitational pull on them after The Bake Sale, “Yummy”, “It was so crowd- the organizers had the perfect ed, I could see more people than solution. ‘Log Out, Shut Down, Go food”, were few of the responses Run’ was the mantra of the 2014 when I asked my friends about Samarpana Run! their experience. Speaking to the The charity run was the organizers about The Bake Sale’s inception, it was amazing to second such marathon to be orknow how a random suggestion ganised by the team. It was truly spectacular - thousands of par-

ticipants from all walks of life, running to support the jawaans and to keep alive the memory of those who put their lives on the line for us every single day.

The event kicked off with a lively warm-up session in the wee hours of the morning followed by the meticulously planned run.

From registrations, t-shirt distributions to route maps and glucose – everything was spot on!

Camera rigged quadcopters were a new sight this time round and covered the run from the heavens. Refreshment pit stops restored drained energy and helped to keep the momentum going.

It was truly remarkable how

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well we were taken care of. Volunteers at all junctions, managing traffic, ambulances and policemen on the vigil, bikes going around to make sure everybody was alright - everything was gratifying. The signboards and the cheering volunteers encouraged us to go on - “Just 1 more km!!”, they read.

Upon completion of the run, the amount of satisfaction felt was tremendous. At a personal level, an achievement of sorts.

As we reached our destination, ripe bananas were distributed to boost our potassium levels. The breakfast was simply delicious too. Collecting the certificate was a moment of pride. Back to where we started, the student lounge hosted the felicitation ceremony which began after a few minutes of regalement. The level of organization was truly commendable.

Hats off to the organizers for such a great show and an amazing experience!

A tête-à-tête with one of the

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organizers was amusing revealing how they went about from ideation to organization was one interesting tale in itself.

The idea of a marathon inspired by the Delhi run held to commemorate Kargil Diwas sprouted when a brainstorming session on ways to generate awareness about Samarpana took place. Though the idea as such clicked immediately, everyone was rather skeptical about the entire concept, especially since it involved obtaining the necessary permissions from the department of police. The college management supported the team wholeheartedly. With no prior experience of hosting an event of this scale, the team went on to host one of the most successful events, and this time, history repeated itself with the run scaled up to a whole new level.

The team work and coordination was apparent during the

run. The current team which conceived the event involved the juniors in all avenues so that they could understand the working of the team to carry on the legacy.

The level of dedication displayed by the team was phenomenal. I guess this comes naturally when the ultimate goal is a much larger cause and being in the team is a matter of pride. Jai Hind!

CAMPUS LIFE

By Shruti Eswar

The Fantom Rings They’re not exactly PESIT’s own band, but they sure know how to create fast percussive beats and speedy, low-register guitar riffs. Fantom is one of the few collegiate thrash metal bands ever to have a lot of exposure to the fierce, nascent scene. The band members were thick friends in school, and being musicians who were hardcore fans of pure thrash metal, they decided to get together and create music. They claim to draw inspiration from Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer, three out of the big four in thrash.

A personal interaction with them divulged their deepest inspirations.

For Akshay, it’s the drumming legend Dave Lombardo while Shashank is strongly influenced by Angus Young, Dave Mustaine and Jimi Hendrix. Arjun, being the bassist and lead

singer, draws inspiration from James Hetfield, and Roshan is loyal to Death, Slayer, Metallica and Megadeth.

rite. I’d advise people who have an affinity towards music, regardless of the genre, to give Fantom a chance to be on their playlist.

They deliver 100% pure Thrash When asked about the grow- Metal to their audience. After all, ing metal scene in India, they you’re not hardcore unless you simply said, “It’s the toughest live hardcore. scene to grow in, there are a lot of bands being recognised at an in- Members: ternational level and we respect Akshay Suresh – Drums, Arjun them a lot”.

Umashankar – Bass & Vocals, From playing for pre-AT Roshan Sridhar – Rhythm Guitar, to the Garage Jam tributes for Shashank DP – Lead Guitar.

Megadeth and the crowd starting a mini moshpit when they per- Follow them on: formed at Cobalt Skies, Fantom Facebook: has many a feather in their cap.

A certain mix of aggression, https://www.facebook.com/ speed and incredible guitar skill fantom.metal is reflected in their songs Royal Flush, T.H.R.A.S.H and Helluci- Soundcloud: nate. Being a Slayer fan myself, https://soundcloud.com/fanThe Hell Reigns a Sinful Hero is tom_band reminiscent of it and would most definitely be my personal favou-

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CAMPUS LIFE As told by Sathvik Ashok to Pulkit Chandra

Quiz On! “Things as simple as comic books can be great quizzing material”, says Sathvik Ashok, one of the most prominent figures of quizzing at PES University.

For people dedicated to inquisition and acquisition of knowledge, the Quotient Quiz Club is the sanctum here at PES. They are the quizzing enthusiasts of college, exerting a command over facts and trivia like no other.

You will rarely find as dedicated members of a club as the hosts and organizers of Conquiztador - one of the greatest quizzing events in Bangalore, now spreading to eight other cities across India.

How & When?

QQC was started some

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6 years back, by Raveesh Maiyya, and presentation of questions. an enthusiast who was interested in “knowledge beyond the text- Why go for a QQC quiz? books, which sates interests and Well, the reasons are keeps the mind busy”. many - their quizzes are the most anticipated ones; they give you a What? chance to grow through interacOne of the most pomp- tion with like minded people and ous kaleidoscopic assortments of by gleaning facts, trivia, stories young minds, Conquiztador pro- and the like; just for the sake of vides a platform for the inquis- quizzing; to stimulate the mind itive to get recognised for their and specifically for info-maniacs talents.

– get something interesting to Google or Wiki.

Not just that, there is one quiz or another that is organSo next time you want ised every Thursday as part of the to test your knowledge on any of EWD activities. The guys joke, “At your interests, look out for a QQC times, when there were no rooms quiz. If you don’t fare well at the available, we have held quizzes in quiz, don’t fret - QQC says, “there the corridors.” is no such thing as ‘difficult’; it is just that people are unaware, and During the college fest there is a lot to dig deep into.”

Aatmatrisha ‘14, they awed participants with the depth, variety

CAMPUS LIFE As told by Saarang to Samaravel I

The Synergy of Saarang “Music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.”

- Plato When Saarang started off, its members had the common aim and vision of complementing and augmenting each other to create something special.

and secured the second position, another feather in their cap.

Some of its members also participated in ‘AT’s Got Talent’ and got through to the final , where one of them secured the third position.

Saarang’s first performance was at the VTU fest in 2012. For These experiences have Samarpana 2012, the group sang been wonderful they say - a a self composed Kannada song. chance to prove themselves as That was just the beginning – well as improve. since then they have shown their Saarang has a great medflair at various fests. ley of guitarists, tabla, violin, Back home, they performed keyboard, mridangam players, in AT’13 and more recently in composers and vocalists which AT’14. They participated in Goonj creates the unique synergy re-

sponsible for their success.

The team members share a wonderful bond with each other mutual respect, strong unity and a passion to do their best, which results in great co-ordination.

The artists bring to the table different genres of music and often mix and match to achieve a wonderful blend in their performances. Above all, they share a bond of love and understanding - Saarang believes that where there is love and fun in music, success will follow!

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CAMPUS LIFE As told by the Pulse Crew to Rituparna J

Rising Pulse Hip hop - the first word that comes to mind when anybody mentions our western dance team, Pulse. But that is just barely scratching the surface of something deeper than just a bunch of talented people who can dance. While I was taking this interview, it was so evident that this group of seventeen people work together as one unit glued together by their passion for dance and a common mockery of Gundeep’s PJs. Their recent performance at the Channel V fest held in Goa showed that they are among the best of the country’s crews, something that took this team to a whole new level and not just from a dance point of view. Goa proved to be a great opportunity for the crew to integrate the newest members of the team. It was also the start of an enduring bond with the college mad-ads team, Paisa Vasool, one born out of mutual admiration and appreciation for each other’s work. The first of its kind here at PES University.

Every member of Pulse has been carefully handpicked in three intensive rounds of auditions, each member having something unique to offer.

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Older members of the team come back, to help shape the new recruits to the level that we have come to expect from Pulse, a special mention going to Vijetha.

Pulse wasn’t in the big picture till two years ago. But in the last year they have hit the scene like never before and now have many victories to boast of. They were victorious in nine out of the eleven fests they attended last season, with four winners, four runners-up and one second runners-up. They started off 2014 by qualifying for the Channel V India Finals. Reaching a national level competition was itself a big achievement in their eyes. They also bagged the first place at the Deccan Herald ‘Brains and Beats’ competition this year, beating the defending champions from BMSCE and twenty-five other participating teams from all over Bangalore.

It has been two victories out of two fests this season and they hope to keep the dream run going.

With the kind of values and passion I saw, I know they’ll go far. As team captain Vikas very wisely said, “We’ll let our dance speak for itself!”.

CAMPUS LIFE

By Yazhini Baskaran

Pitch Please Instruments and gadgets, you say? We make music as nature intended us to!

That is the motive behind PES University’s first and only A Capella group - Pitch Please!

A form of music as old as the oldest churches, A Capella started off from the ancient choirs of the world, where the melody came entirely from the lilt of spirit, needing no instruments to inspire spiritual involvement.

Since then A Capella has seen incredible adaptations, the latest of which is into the loving form of Pitch Please.

A team member tells us it Enough said about history, was actually a case of dulcet serwhat does Pitch Please do?

endipity! The entire idea came This insanely creative group from a few students singing difcaptures the essence of popular ferent harmonies in class for and queer-fun-crazy music to turn amusement. it into an explosive medley that The group has since perhas crowds grooving. Debuting at Aatmatrisha ‘13, they caught the formed at a number of colleges college unawares with a musical and at the Ion Bar and Kitchen. confluence of breathtaking vari- In February Pitch Please held auety, from Gotye’s Somebody That ditions and the fresh talent they I Used to Know to the Spongebob found blew them away! Their Squarepants Theme and even most recent show was at Aatmathe impossibly compelling Win- trisha ‘14 where the entire team, dows 8 song! Add in classics like new and old, sang together Dil Se Re and you’ve got one hell We believe this is the beginning of a mix! of what will become a legacy of PES University!

Origins?

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Dancing in Trance

CAMPUS LIFE As told by Trance to Neha Raje & Medhaa Shankar Scintillating moves, dazzling costumes and an energetic bunch carrying it all off effortlessly – that is team Trance. They sprouted in 2009 and have since been performing a range of dance forms, many a time leaving the awe-struck audience cheering for an encore.

A breezy conversation with few of the members gave a deeper insight into the lives they lead and the influence of dance on their life. Taking up the opportunity and beginning right from the onerous auditions, joining the team was definitely not easy.

When asked about joining the team, Divya mentioned cheekily how it was always meant to be.

Seniors being really helpful, “they encouraged us and instilled confidence”, says Anusha who is really proud to have learnt it all without formal training. Her journey of discovering her latent talent under the guidance of Dhara is an inspiration in itself from both the trainer and trainee perspectives.

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From having an inferiority complex and no self-confidence at all, to performing various routines on stage in front of a huge audience, might be a miracle for few, but is not a wonder given the travails of practicing after-hours. But work is play when you love it!

has been performing at various inter-collegiate fests and programs. These graceful beauties and skillful guys gave a stunning show for Freshers’ Day as well.

Trance, having originally started off as a Bollywood team, believed it was a risk totally worth taking, mixing different genres for the AT A noteworthy spin off of be- performance. Moving out of their ing a part of such a team is the comfort zone and tuning into the associations one builds through theme, retro to metro, they rethe journey, which last for years ceived an amazing response. to come. “All of us absolutely love to dance and are very passionFun, exciting, memorable ate about it. Rehearsals are the these words hardly contain the times when we bond and bounce emotions that were betrayed as off crazy ideas”, says Divya who I spoke to them about the one was really touched to have made thing they loved. Anusha narratamazing friends. Inspired by the ed how every semester, she tried seniors reappearing for perfor- to elude performing but would mances, these gals definitely do always end up reconsidering and not mind turning up for a few prancing about. “I cannot think themselves! of dance without Trance as I have always associated one with Undoubtedly talented, they the other”, she says when asked are driven dancers who would about continuing her passion furpractice at 6 in the morning to put ther. With the following quote, up the stunning show that they Vandit concurred with it all! did for Aatmatrisha ‘14. The team

“Dance isn’t something that can be explained in words. It has to be danced.”

- Paige Arden Éclat 2014

CAMPUS LIFE

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to PES University

As ludicrous as it may sound, here we present to you the Hitchhiker’s G uide - to our very own college!

Let’s say this is more of a personal cheat sheet, a Marauder’s Map to help you navigate the many varied avenues in PES University.

We are spoilt for choice in more ways than one. Being in PESU, the dilemma is not between an ordinary

path and the one not taken before, but it is the choice of the varieties of paths explored by our seniors and new paths which we may create along the way.

As one might recollect in the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost, given the multitude of options in college to direct your energy into, no matter what we choose, finally we

might just regret with a sigh the wish to have trodden down a different path. Since there is no turning back, and we have a limited frame of time for all the feats we can accomplish, why not read on and find out what awaits you down each road.

Come along, and explore the jigsaw puzzle you are a piece of!

Putting Pen to Parchment

By Neha Raje I remember joining Éclat as a fresher. The thrill of passing the written test was just indefinable.

Instantly hitting off a good rapport with the seniors, and them being supportive throughout helped us newbies settle in. Assembling in the OAT after classes, being a part of one of the literary teams was a truly an experience in itself.

proved to be an opportunity to become a part of and grow within the team, with the whole experience being fantastic. The very motivation to join any club sprung from exploring what one really wanted to do. Believing that being a part of the magazine team projected one into the league of people who could think differently, he said, “I feel I’ve grown as a person.

It was amazing to discov- Every time I tried penning down er similar thoughts in a candid someone else’s experience, I tried session with a senior and former to understand things from his/her team member Jayanta Dasgupta perspective.”

- what started out as an initiative to get to know like-minded peers Contemplating on matters

critically was another take-away.

I guess the high point was when I learnt that he had gained a job offer based solely based on the manner in which he reviewed a movie.

“It was one of the best things that happened to me”, he says. Though this is a common thought shared by all, everyone has enjoyed being in the team thoroughly, and at the same time, taking responsibility every time a task had to be executed. I am confident that the most memorable moments were those of the photo-shoots, trying to piece in the many hands that went in to bringing life to the magazine.

Culture Through Dancing

By Shruti Eswar Classical Contemporary Dance, a recent form of dance developed in India stresses on versatility and improvisation. The anomalous dance style is very dy-

namic and incorporates exuberant floor movements. Through concerted observation, perception of breath, weight and energy flow, light and conscious dancing with

use of space and levels is envisaged. It is a medley of various classical forms such as Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Mohiniattam et al.

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Sanskriti, one of PESIT’s dance teams, explores this very sort of art which is an intercalation of a plethora of movements taken from modern dance forms fused with Indian Classical dance forms.

portunities for the team as they’ve enjoy it as I love to dance and I am had quite a few performances, be a bit of a prude when it comes to it for freshers’ day or for intercol- practice”. legiate fests.

India, being a diverse nation When asked about the perks definitely appreciates dance as associated with being the Head of an art form, be it classical, folk They portray mythological a college level Indian contempo- or western. Although people take stories like the Dashavatar, which rary dance group, Sanchita Nayak pleasure in watching popular folk are the 10 embodiments of Lord said, “Being Head is very chal- dances like Garba, Dandiya and Vishnu and Ramayana, the Legend lenging as I need to manage and Bhangra, there are unexplored of Prince Ram. Their other per- co-ordinate rehearsals while fac- ones such as Kuchipudi, Chhau formances include an expose of ing impediments such as accom- and Kummi to name a few. Team themes such as Time, Blood and modating every member’s own Sanskriti unquestionably feels the Music. Their enrapturing perfor- schedule. If the rehearsal isn’t need to endorse uncharted dance mances which have rendered the good, it hinders our performance. forms prevalent in India as they theme spot on have always been I must also ensure there is har- might soon become a dying art a crowd pleaser during fests. This mony within the team and there form. academic year has been one of op- aren’t any ego clashes. All in all, I

iCare - Do you?

By Samaravel I The name (iCare) itself is self also on what they can contribute explanatory about what the group to their society. does.It’s members not only care The year 2013-2014 has been about their academic progress but an eventful year. Its started with an

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event ‘Samarth-enhancing capability’ where they visited the Samarthanam Trust for the disabled.

The experience was profound and

cherished by all members. They collaborated with ‘Volunteer for Better India’ and facilitated registrations for the electoral lists for the upcoming elections and also created awareness about voting.

The ‘Joy of Giving Week’ was another successful event in which they collected clothes, books, shoes and e-waste. It was donated to BOSCO Mane and they also indulged in a few sporting activities with the children there.

the members visited ‘Snehadeep So what do its members look Helping Hands’ which is an NGO for in the future? for the visually impaired. The stuMeeting more people with dents from there were appreciated at the Republic Day programme similar goals, working selflessly for something gives you a sense in PES Institute of Technology. of satisfaction that is unparalleled.

The joy of giving is unlimited; you The iCare Group pursues its flag- can never give enough. And the ship programme ‘Shiksha- learn- love you get in return is more than ing for the less fortunate’, which you can ask for. It has given them brings in children from a neigh- a really positive outlook that they bouring slum to our college to be can help, in any small way, to bring taught by their members. It also happiness and positivity to the has an active branch in Acharya lives of others. They have made iCare also had an anti smok- Institute. People may think they good friends along the way too ing doodle-making competition in are a bunch of very serious people and believe the journey is totally which 750 people from our col- but in reality they are a crazy and worth it. lege took part and pledged to not fun-loving gang with the utmost So next time, you see a bunch smoke. They kicked off the new year dedication to their work. They with a blood donation camp along share a healthy relationship with of iCare students hanging out, join with CSR crew in which around the other groups such as CSR and in!

800 units of blood were collected. Samarpana and have collaborated ‘Raunak-Rise and Shine’ was an- with them in the past. other event this year in which

Soak in the Madness -Paisa Vasool

By Siddharth K S The stage, acting, the mike dream to be a part of a PESIT theand the audience has always been atre team and when I watched the my first love. It was always my ‘Mad Meniacs’ perform during our

Freshers, it only strengthened my desire. They showed us an entirely new form of Mad Ads that inspired

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us. When they called for auditions, I had no second thoughts. After two days of the filtering process, a new team was born. We knew that there was a lot of work cut out for us; after all we had to live up to the brand name that the senior team had created.

strived to win for PES. The institution culture has inculcated in us a sense of responsibility and we have always believed in keeping our acts clean and crisp. Our various performances, both within the city and outside have given us a fresh outlook towards this performing art. Social messages Currently we are a team of through a comic angle is the crux 11 consisting of both second and of our ideology. third year BE students. It would be a mere understatement if I said The exposure it gave helped that these are the most brilliant us further develop and improve guys I’ve ever come across - every upon our acts and scripts. It gave person with his own strengths, us the opportunity to interact with bringing in a new perspective and the who’s who of the film indusin their own crazy way. After all, try and a number of other noted our art does have the word ‘mad’ personalities. Our proudest moin it! ment was when we represented the Bangalore Zone in the Nokia V Our journey began on a high India fest at Goa. when we were placed winners in our very first performance at BIT. While the stage act is one After that, every competition we thing, sitting down and scripting is contend in, we have continuously altogether different. A lot of hard

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work goes into it. It is just that it seems more like fun than work.

We sit down together after college hours to discuss funny incidents one leads to another and slowly a script takes life. The team has always tried to keep the scripts fresh, clean, updated with respect to current affairs and also drive home serious messages through comic acts.

Personally , this experience has given me a completely new outlook towards college life. Having visited at least 18 other colleges, I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of people and also understand team dynamics better. Nothing beats the feeling of performing in front of our home crowd. Every stage act in PESIT has always been special. Each performance has been different and every second on stage has taught me something new. This is something

FEATURE

By Sudhanva Shetty & Utkarsh Ranjan

Travel Troubles What Rising Transportation Costs Means to a Student We all need transportation - whether it’s to travel to work, import or export goods, visit Grandma, tour the continents, go on a ride along with that special someone... you get the idea. It goes without saying that transportation is an integral part of lives, regardless of our profession or location. But as students our transportation is chiefly concerned with journeying to and from PES University. Some of us take the college bus, utilise public transport, while others have their own vehicles.

Thus rising transportation costs have worried us all due to its boundless impact - our budgets have been constrained, options limited and wallets made lighter. Added are the innumerable side-effects of an ever increasing want of fuel and conduits, which has literally crippled our environment and is a global tension.

With rapid urbanisation comes the need for enhancement in the quality of civil and municipal governance. The growing cities with rapidly increasing population present a case for standardisation of public services. A major contributing factor in this endeavour is the increased use of public and private transportation. Small wonder then that the increase in its cost is making the general public edgy.

To understand the gravity of the situation, we first need to

come to terms with the multiplier effect that rising cost of basic transportation has on the state of the overall economy and ultimately on us, the common citizenry. Rising transport costs spur rising commodity costs which leads to goods inflation and further food inflation. This in turn sends shockwaves on the wholesale price index of the government of India which is tantamount to sending distress signals in the kitchens throughout the country.

question and within this question lies the answer. If we look at it from a microscopic point of view and analyse the policy failures that could be behind it then we need to first pinpoint the almost stagnant rate of planning and progress that the transportation sector of our country received in the pre-1991 era. The systematic neglect ensured that no proper roadmap was set to meet the logistical needs of the increasing population and hence we did not have set mechanisms to deal with spiralling costs or for that matter It spells trouble for us too – even traffic congestion. yes, the students. While its effect can be felt more severely by the Any seasoned BMTC patron day scholars who travel in excess will have a thing or two to say of 10 km one-way and take about about regarding the current scean hour to reach college, even the nario. A little more than half a general crowd will express their decade back, BMTC strengthened anguish at the current state of its fleet with gleaming red Volvos, affairs. They don’t just see it as which came in as a relief for many a 20% increase in their daily fare young working professionals as but rather a straight 20% deduc- well as long-distance commuters. tion in their pocket allowance Added initiatives like ‘Bus Day’ which they could have used for were meant to encourage use of better purposes. Only children at public transport to ease traffic this stage of their life can under- congestion. But again, inadestand how that extra sum could quate planning and systems have have supplemented their meagre resulted in non-uniform service but mean existence. More impor- – from buses that are uncomforttantly, the more serious impact ably packed with people to mulof the increase can be felt by the tiple empty buses plying along school going class and their par- the same route simultaneously. ents who also face the prospect However, though bus fares have of increasing fees and further almost doubled over this time, stress on their education budget. one can at least remain confident of some punctuality.

The resentment is increasing - but towards whom or rather toConsider auto rickshaws on wards what is the more important the other hand. Fuel price rise

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has driven their rates even higher, to a point where a 5 km ride in an auto would cost you the same as a 23 km ride in a Volvo or buy you a litre of petrol. And if you didn’t have to spend that money on travel, well, you could just buy yourself 3 burgers at McDonald’s!

The world has become a small place and that just goes to show how integral travel is to us, as humans. There is no quick and permanent solution to the issue of rising transport costs – it is a problem that is intricately linked to so many other aspects of our lives. It is only through carefully

Do you think the Bangalore metro will solve the city’s traffic woes?

Yes-60% and No-40%

What factors contribute to rise in transport costs?

thought out policies and effective remedial measures that the situation can be brought under control.

A total of 26 PES University students were surveyed in this regard. This is what it revealed

Do you travel by your own vehicle?

Yes 20% and No 80%

Is the parking lot space ample?

Domestic - 90% and Global - 10%

Preferred means of cost control (in order of preference): 1) car pooling 2) public transport 3) cycling/walking

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Yes 30% and No 70%

CAMPUS

Department Showcase Dept. Of Science & Humanities Quriosa – A science fest organised by the students of first year of various departments.

Dept. Of Mechanical Engineering • A Faculty Development Program (FDP) was organised on ‘Thermal Management of Electronic Equipments’.

• International Symposium on Micro/Nanoscale Heat Transfer

Dept. Of Civil Engineering

• Site Visit to Brigade Apartment Complex and Training programme on “Application of Total Station and DGPS for Projects” • Mr. Mutthu M , winner of National Level Design Competition and Educational Trip to KRS Dam

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Dept. Of Telecommuncation Engineering

• Aveksha 2013 – A Community Development Program and Workshop on Wireless Cellular Networks

Dept. Of Computer Science Engineering • Rhythmic Act – A mega EWD

• Ayana 2014 – A 24-hour hackathon.

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Dept. Of BiotechnologyEngineering • TEQIP Sponsored National Conference on Emerging Trends in Bio Process and Simulation

Dept. Of Electronics & Communcation Engineering • Circuitus ’14 – A 2-day Hardware Hackathon

Dept. Of Information Science Engineering • Faculty and Industry Development Workshop on IPv6 under TEQIP-II

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DESIGN

By ASHWIN SHROFF

Bringing Éclat to Life!

Design - The key to enhancing a magazine’s appeal Design, though a very important aspect, is something that is often overlooked. It marks the difference between an object that is stunningly beautiful and one that is dismal. Apple products are widely admired. Have you ever wondered why? Sir Jonathan Ive is the Senior Vice President of Design at Apple Inc. He employs his unique eye for design to create wonderful products, right from scratch. It is not very hard to see then, that the right design is extremely essential in creating something that appeals to the masses.

The Theme - Circular images in the entire magazine.

Adobe is another big name in design circles. Its products have now permeated into most of our lives, be it through Adobe Reader or Photoshop. I, personally can’t imagine a world without Adobe and its suite of software. A few useful applications are Adobe Premier Pro - for video editing, Adobe Flash & Adobe After Effects – for animation and Adobe Audition – for audio editing.

A magazine must make use of good design to draw the attention of the reader. For this edition of Éclat, we made extensive use of various design techniques and formulated our own standards and templates. This was made easier with certain tailor made design software, listed below.

Adobe Photoshop

The verb ‘Photoshop’ has found its way into our common lingo, purely because of its power and capabilities. At this moment, Photoshop is older than most of our readers. It was created by Adobe in 1990 for graphic editing purposes (image manipulation). Adobe continuously works hard on making this tool better with every passing day. The version we used for all the editing was Photoshop CS6 where CS stands for creative suite (basically the collection of all the applications by Adobe). Technically, images are made up of small elements called pixels. In Photoshop, parameters of a pixel are manipulated to create amazing effects. Along with this, one can draw using the pen tool, use filters to add great effects to photos and use more than a hundred other unique features to get desired results. All the images in this magazine have been Photoshopped in some way to ensure they fit perfectly into each article.

‘Design is the most immediate, the most explicit way of defining what products become in people’s mind’ Jony Ive

Senior Vice President Design, Apple

Adobe Illustrator If Photoshop is the one hand of man, then Illustrator is the other. There are two types of images. The first type is pixel based images, as discussed earlier.

The second type is vector images. These vector images (maybe a straight line or a curve) are based on mathematical formulae, so they can be scaled up or down without getting pixelated. The prints you see on t-shirts are nothing but vectors. Adobe Illustrator is a powerful vector based editing tool. All the vectors in this magazine have been edited or created using Adobe Illustrator CS6. It goes without doubt that a good graphic designer should have solid expertise in both Photoshop and Illustrator.

Adobe InDesign Now that we have tools to edit and create images, how does one put together a magazine? InDesign, an industry standard for magazines and books, makes it a cakewalk, albeit with a steep learning curve. We used Adobe InDesign CS6 for this edition. It allows you to easily piece together a magazine from its individual articles, while providing some features of its own to enhance the visual appeal.

InDesign is also used in typeface editing. Typeface is the set of fonts used, and is crucial to design in such a case.

Adobe Bridge CS6 is another handy tool for a graphics designer, which provides an easy means to navigate between files and folders. In addition, it has the ability to display previews of Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign files, all in the same environment, something that is difficult to achieve otherwise.

Through these tools and processes, we breathed life into the words of these pages. I do hope you have a good time reading through. Passion for design is most often the first requirement, and then everything else follows. In this light, I leave you with a quote: “Love what you do, and you will be paid to do it”

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Technology, Formal, Informal, Review, Sports, Design, PR and Photography @eclatpesit www.facebook.com /eclat.pesit

Éclat

For all PES Students

Love writing?!

Here is a chance for your article to be featured on

Eclat 2014

Date: 5th September 2013 Time: 3:45pm Venue: ECE Dept, Panini Block

More details contact: Abishek - 9945103342 & Srikanta - 9035598139

Few posters designed for various events organised by Éclat

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SPORTS

By Chandrakanth Cheturvedi

IPL

and the Aftermath of its Inception Mr. Lalit Modi must have had a eureka moment when he thought of the Indian Premier League. The IPL has indubitably changed the way we perceive T20 cricket, if not all of cricket. IPL is considered to be the highest profile showcase of T20 cricket. Its 2010 edition was the first sporting event to be broadcasted live on Youtube. The 6th season of the league was valued at a whopping US$ 2.9 billion. Its impact on how players and viewers look at cricket has been astounding. Its influence on the financial aspect of cricket is undeniable, but perhaps its most important and long lasting after effect. The cash rich league has actually influenced a billion or more minds to look at sporting events in a new light. Our view of sporting glory is now broader than national prestige, it’s more personal now. Truth be told, we now appreciate the value that domestic leagues can provide to self improvement as well as enhanced entertainment. This outlook is spreading like wild fire. This key question is ‘what is making chiefs of national and international sports agencies propose new league formats?’, we shall look at four leagues across four sports that are making news and money of late.

The Celebrity Cricket League: This league was the first IPL-inspired league to be formed. Its formation in 2011 with only four teams was critiqued by a huge number of fans. This cricket league comprises of major regional movie stars forming teams and competing against each other for the championship. Though it was initially written off as a publicity stunt, it has proved to be a bundle of pleasurable surprises for all stake holders. The familiarity with the stars from their movies, the love for cricket and the lust for entertainment is a cocktail that is too irresistible for the general masses. The fact that CCL matches have recorded more TV viewership than many ICC (International Cricket Council) games is proof of its immense popularity. The franchises in IPL cost on average 340 times the franchises in CCL, but the public appeal and the love for players is still the same. This particular league is evidence that the IPL took a cricket-crazed nation and turned it into a maniacal cricket obsessed nation.

Hockey India League: Hockey had sadly lost most of its popularity among the youth. The government itself seemed to favour cricket over hockey. A country which won 6 consecutive Olympic gold medals, has failed to win one medal since 1980. This slow death of Indian Hockey had to be stopped. Somehow the zeal for hockey had to be reignited. Hockey India decided it was time to do an IPL spin-off for the sport! Hockey India League was formed with five franchisees consisting players from India and abroad. Did this help us out?

The league is broadcasted in USA, Canada, South Africa, South Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Hero Moto Corp signed a multi-year agreement to sponsor the league. Viewership for hockey games has risen exponentially. Its influence on the game itself is yet to materialize, however its impact on the game’s popularity is incomparable.

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Indian Badminton League: Badminton Association of India decided that India needs another IPL-like tournament and came up with the IBL comprising of 6 franchisees. Badminton in India has definitely seen an increase in support and popularity with the likes of Saina Nehwal, P.V Sindhu and P. Kashyap playing phenomenally in the international circuit. The timing couldn’t have been better for IBL. A nation brimming with talent, just about getting into badminton and a colossal stage is set up. Players from Malaysia, Indonesia, China and Russia have graced the event with their presence and impressed everybody with their agility and strength.

Although not broadcasted to as many nations as the HIL, IBL is still a huge hit in India and Hong Kong.

Twitter was abuzz with IBL tweets at the inaugural season of IBL, which impressed the audience with its grandeur and power.

International Premier Tennis League: Although not a purely Indian owned league, this league, announced in January 2014 is the brain child of Mahesh Bhupathi. The league is hard evidence to the impact IPL is having on different sports. Boris Becker, Justin Gimelstob and co-founder (Yes! co-founder) Mahesh Bhupathi announced the launch of IPTL in Paris. This league will star Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Janko Tipseravic, Tomas Berdych, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Li Na, Caroine Wozniacki and Sam Stosur amongst other big names playing for 6 Asian City based franchisees. In nations like India and China where tennis has not grown to great levels, this league will be a stepping stone. Boasting of rich funds, it will definitely change the way tennis fans look at the game when the league commences in December.

IPL showed the world that in sports, a win-win scenario does exist. It showed the world a game can be both about money and pride. A number of IPL-like leagues have popped up with similar intentions. We can only hope that these leagues take only the good from IPL and lead to the betterment of sports alone.

Somewhere down the line, the money, the fame, the name won’t matter; for all that is important is the game!

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SPORTS

By Sourjya Chowdhary

Magnus Carlsen When Magnus Carlsen, the 22 year old chess player from Norway humbled Vishwanathan Anand in his own backyard to claim his maiden World Championship title, everyone knew that it was the beginning of a new era in World Chess. After all, Anand has been a five-time world champion and one of the greatest chess players in the game’s history. Anand’s defeat also meant a generational change in world chess

for top-level chess, he allowed Carlsen to gain momentum as the match progressed. He hadn’t lost in ten games. Perhaps the biggest surprise was in the last one, when Carlsen played to win rather than accepting what Magnus Carlsen is a ma- looked to be Anand’s offer of a gician! This ‘genius’ became a draw, which would have clinched Grandmaster at the age of 13 and it for him anyway. He could have World No 1 at 19 — the youngest been the world champion a couever chess player to do so. For ple of hours sooner! more than three years, Carlsen has been the uncrowned king of When asked by a reporter, chess. He has firmly retained the he replied, “I feel I know a lot Is Magnus Carlsen the New top spot since January 2010. In more, but it’s not easy to make fact, he has dominated the World that evident on the board. ForHero?

Chess Federation’s list of top tunately, it’s good enough to win The Anand - Carlsen match players in the last three years, most tournaments and the World was billed as one of the most epic with a top rating of 2,870 points, Championship title.” matches in the history of chess. It beating Kasparov’s best of 2,851 was a clash of the titans that saw points achieved in 1999. two players from two different Now, the world of chess is on generations battle it out against each other. Both of them had the threshold of a generational contrasting styles of play - while change. It took Anand 20 years to Carlsen is known for his brand inch his way from the Grand Masof aggressive chess and loves to ter title in 1987 to the undisputed play by intuition, Anand, nick- world title in 2007. Carlsen hownamed ‘Lightning Kid’ for his fast ever, did it in less than 11 years. moves, is known to rely on superWhen Carlsen became computers to prepare for games. the world chess chamHowever, Carlsen proved to pion a few months ago, be too good for supercomputers I don’t think anyone in too. The Norwegian dethroned the chess world lost India’s super Grandmaster to money. All bets were claim his maiden world title. on the young NorCarlsen won three games and wegian beating the played out a seventh draw to reigning grandmasscore an amazing 6.5-3.5 victory ter. With play in Anand over Anand in Anand’s home city Chennai, of Chennai. Carlsen’s new and had the homeaggressive style of play seemed court advantage, to have surprised his opponent but at nearly 44 and getting old

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and Anand cracked under the pressure. Anand made costly mistakes which saw him lose the world title and with his comprehensive defeat, an era had certainly ended in chess.

SPORTS

By Hemanth Kulkarni

P V Sindhu

A Champion in the Making Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, or better known as P.V. Sindhu, created Indian badminton history on August 9, 2013 after a 21-18, 21-17 win over former world no. 1 Shixian Wang of China in the World Championships.

The victory ensured her a bronze as she booked a place in the last four.

The 18-year-old from Hyderabad, not only eclipsed her much fancied Chinese opponents in the pre-quarters and quarters but also overshadowed India’s no. 1 Saina Nehwal, who made a quarter-final exit at the same tournament. Unfortunately she lost her semi-final clash against Thailand’s world no.

3 Ratchanok Intanon the next day (10-21, 13-21) and missed out on a chance to play in the final. It would have been her shot at the gold medal and she would have been assured at least silver. While Saina’s game had been on the downward spiral in 2013, with the London Olympic bronze medalist not winning any major tournament this year, Sindhu has been on constant rise. She won her maiden Grand Prix title with the Malaysian Open win in 2013.

Sports runs through her veins

and that is due to the fact that P. V. Ramana and P. Vijaya - both former volleyball players - are Sindhu’s proud parents. Incidentally, her father was a national player and recipient of the prestigious Arjuna Award.

This latest Indian sensation started early at the tender age of eight and worked hard with the great Late Mir Mahboob Ali, who also schooled Saina in her early years, at the badminton courts of the Indian Railway Institute, Secunderabad. She then moved on to Pullela Gopichand’s academy soon after.

Sindhu inculcated the habit of winning in her formative years lifting several titles in the under-10, under-13 and under-14 categories.

At the international level, Sindhu’s first big break came at the 2009 Sub-Junior Asian Badminton Championships held in Colombo, with a bronze medal. She then reached the quarterfinals of the 2010 Junior World Badminton Championships held in Mexico and got noticed for the national side at a tender age of 15 when she was selected for the Uber Cup, a women’s team competition, in 2010.It has been a spectacu-

lar journey since then.

On 7 July 2012, she won Asia’s Youth Under-19 Championship beating Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the final. In 2012, her biggest triumph came when she stunned London 2012 Olympics gold medallist Li Xuerui of China in the Li Ning China Masters Super Series tournament, to enter the semis. Eventually Sindhu lost to another Chinese, 4th seeded Jiang Yanjiao. In the India Grand Prix Gold event 2012, she made it to the finals without dropping a game, but lost out to Indonesian Linda Weni Fanetri. Sindhu is currently ranked 12 in the world.

With the sort of progress that she has made it is no surprise that she is already being touted as a future Olympic champion by badminton greats all over the world. In the year 2014 she has already set targets of breaking into the top 6 of the BWF rankings. This goal is difficult, yet achievable for a player of her calibre. She is only 18 years old and we should definitely see this ace shuttler racking up a lot of titles in the near future.

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SPORTS

By Srikanta R Somayaji

Bayern

The wheel completes a full cycle!

Last season, both the German teams, Dortmund and Bayern, took European football by storm.

Bayern especially, with a stunning and shocking 7-0 aggregate win over FC Barcelona, whom the mere prospect of facing is absolutely scary! Jupp Heynckes lead his team to a historic treble with the Bundesliga crown, the DFB Pokal and the elusive Champions League crown. What characterized this team, who seemed unstoppable at the time, was sheer pace and athleticism combined with a ruthlessness and trade-mark German efficiency! Robben on the right and Ribery on the left and the striking force of Mario Gomez and Manduzkic in the centre, with a powerful mid-field comprising of Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos and Javi Martinez and Thomas Mueller drifting in and out of the wings and (I am not going to talk about the Bayern defense!), now this was the team that could not be beaten. During the summer,

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Mario Gotze joined the ranks of the elite mid-fielders to lend a keener edge to the attack.

Now this honeymoon was all good until the arrival of Josep ‘Pep’ Guardiola, who had taken a year’s hiatus after having resigned as the manager of the Blaugrana at the end of a dismal season 2011-12, where FC Barcelona conceded the League title to arch rivals, from the Spanish capital of Madrid, and bowed out of CL in semis after a loss of 2-3 on aggregate to Chelsea (who went on to win the CL that year). After having won the treble, Jupp Heynckes resigned as Manager to make way for Guardiola, but whether he was forced out or he quit on his own terms isn’t known.

The model of ‘holding possession’ with quick passes, aka the ‘Tiki-Taka’ that, at one time, was the

hallmark of Barca’s play, was the pivotal reason to Guardiola’s success at the Catalans! He won three League titles, won the CL three times in a row, and a host of other glittering trophies with Barcelona, becoming the youngest man to have coached a Champion’s League winning team. Despite the merits of this system, the obvious flaws in this came to light in the CL semi-finals of 2011-12. The ‘Tiki-Taka’ employs quick passing and holding possession so that the team doesn’t have to switch between attack and defense. While this helps to move the ball forward, combining both offense and defense and employing the entire team cohesively, it can also be thought of as a ‘slow, meaningless and directionless extreme’, leaving the side prone to lightning-quick counter-attacks that teams like Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea and Bayern specialize in.

Now that season and the reason for Guardiola’s departure from Barca should have rung the warning-bells for the Bayern management Coming to the season of 2013-14, exactly a year after Heynckes’ Bayern thrashed a hapless FCB, Guardiola’s Bayern lost 4-0, at the Allianz Arena (home to FC Bayern Munich), by a rampant Real Madrid! The reasons for this are many, but the primary culprit, in the author’s view, is the Manager.

From the beginning of the season, the Bayern team has seen a paradigm shift in their style of play.

The team once known for its speedy and ruthless counters now replaced it with a possession-based play, similar to the Tiki-Taka of Barca. Many players

have also seen a change in position, with captain Philip Lahm (once the most consistent right-back) moving to a mid-field position while the defensive mid-fielder Javi Martinez moving to a centre-back position. But on the biggest stage in club football, they have failed miserably. The chinks in this once invincible armour came to the fore in the initial phases of the knock-out stages of the Champion’s League. A 1-1 draw to a somewhat mediocre Arsenal side, followed with a 1-1 away draw to Manchester United seemed like a beginning. Yes, they thrashed the Red Devils at home in the Second Leg and yes, it is true that Bayern won the Bundesliga title with 7 games to spare (which happens to be one game more than the margin that Heynckes won with last year!), but what followed was definitely not the kind of results that you would expect from a team that had just won the League. Arch rivals Borussia Dortmund destroyed the Bavarians, leaving them to abject misery, after a 3-0 win. Real Madrid then beat them 1-0 at the Santiago Bernebeau, where the Los Galacticos seemed content to defend after Benzema scored a 19th minute winner. But the final nail in the coffin came in the second leg of the semi-finals where Carlo Ancelotti’s Meringues, boasting of the likes of the speed demons Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale destroyed Guardiola’s FC Bayern Munich, at the Allianz Arena 4-0 and the headlines on The Guardian read, “Real Madrid power batters Bayern before speed ends tiki-taka’s rule”. The wheel has now come a full cycle, truly!

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SPORTS

By Chandrakanth Cheturvedi

Sebastian Vettel A Journey from Talent to Genius “Genius does what it must, and Talent does what it can.”

-Owen Meredith, Earl of Lytton Sebastian Vettel definitely is one of those athletes who completely transforms their sport with herculean efforts and titanic feats. The 26 year old German driver had a spectacular F1 season for Redbull Racing team this year. The odyssey that was his conquest of the F1 world drivers’ championship will forever be told and retold with amazement and adulation of his invincibility and skill.

Raikonnen stole the show and Vettel had to settle for 3rd.The Malaysian GP was a controversial one as the steely nerved German overtook his RedBull teammate Mark Webber to win the race against his team’s wishes.

The then 3 time world champion spoke out after the race saying he wouldn’t apologize for winning.

He unabashedly displayed his ruthless hunger for victory in the 2nd race of the season. His visit to China was a frustrating one.

Vettel began the 2013 sea- The German was held off a podison on a bright note. He secured um finish by a witty Hamilton. His his 36th career pole position for disgruntlement at the fact that Race day in Australia, but Kimi Hamilton finished a meagre fifth

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of a second ahead of him, showed that he would not give an inch to any other driver no matter what position he was in.

The comfort with which Vettel conquered all in the Bahrain GP was astounding. He himself described his 28th win as “faultless, seamless and beautiful”. It was here that his domination of the sport started taking shape as the Redbull driver extended a 10 point lead in the drivers’ championship in only the 4th race. The local hero Fernando Alonso came on top in the Spanish GP. He finished 4th, one of his worst results

for the entire season. The Spanish GP was the last race that made him look even remotely susceptible; for every race after that he occupied a podium position. In Monaco, the 26 year old German had to settle for the 2nd position to a rampant Nico Rosberg. This incident packed GP helped him stretch a mammoth 21 point lead at the top of the table.

happy with his 3rd place finish but this race was the last where he had to comb his mind to wonder why he hadn’t won. Every race from hereon, he held first place. His second straight victory came in Monza, Italy. The German driver who expressed more gratification at beating Ferrari’s drivers than occupying pole position yet again, had now made it almost certain that he would clinch Vettel was truly dominating his 4th world championship. in Montreal, Canada. He was at his absolute best as he emerged In Singapore the Redbull triumphant after a grueling 70 racer, continued his unstoppable laps, finishing a cool 15 seconds march to pole position. A hat-trick before Alonso and Hamilton. In of victories for the German who Great Britain, an unfortunate was now metaphorically playing gear-box issue forced Sebastian in a league of his own. The Koreto pull a DNF (Did-not-Finish) for an GP is a comfort zone of sorts the first and only time in 2013. for Vettel. This time beating out The German was not thrilled at Raikonnen again, he secured anall to have pulled out with just 12 other pole position and laid one laps remaining. His 30th career hand on the world championship race victory could not have been title. Further, the Japanese GP’s sweeter, as it came in front of his win allowed Sebastian to steer home crowd for the first time. 90 points clear off the only man The German held off a late chal- capable of dethroning him. Vetlenge from Kimi Raikonnen to se- tel had one five on the trot which cure another win for Redbull and indicated his supreme command once again extend his lead. on the asphalt covered tracks.

four times as he achieved the unassailable. His pole position in India meant that he had six consecutive victories under his belt. The world champion was in no mood for mercy as he celebrated his 4th championship by winning the Abu Dhabi GP. The brutal dominance that he has shown this season was testament to his 7th straight win. His twelfth win of the season and eighth straight pole position meant that the record books had to be re-written. The German also celebrated his first American GP victory ever since debuting here way back in 2007. Alberto Ascari’s 9 successive wins and Michael Schumacher’s 13 victories in a season were two of the records equaled by him after winning the final race in Brazil.

After 1120 laps he finished with 397 points. The 26 year old legend amassed these points from 16 podium finishes studded with 13 wins with 9 pole positions in succession. This remarkable season was decorated with 7 fastest laps by the German which ultimately resulted in a well deserved 4th time world championThe Hungarian GP was the He became only the third ship for the one and only Sebaslast of his frustrating races. A man in formula one history to win tian Vettel. clearly irritated Vettel, was not the drivers’ world championship

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SPORTS

By Sports Team

Campus Challenge - 14 The Campus Challenge-14, an annual interdepartmental sports fest, was conducted at the PES University campus from 13th to 21st March 2014. The vision of the Sports Department gave birth to this sports fest. With the support of the Principal, this fest spanned over 8 days with cricket, basketball, football, badminton, table tennis and chess events for both men and women.

successful campus sporting event.

The fest saw various teams battling it out in different sporting arenas, with cricket alone garnering a participation of about 50 teams! This was also the first time that an interdepartmental college sports fest of this magnitude was organized in the city.

Spectators of the cricket matches found themselves involved in the action with ‘Catch it, Win it’, a lucky draw contest that gave them the opportunity to win fantastic goodies if they caught the ball hit by the skippers.

The fest received enthusiastic participation from a whopping 1200 students from across campus. The fest committee, headed by Vikram K M from the Department of Biotechnology, comprised of Uday Kumar C M, Vishwanath K, Yashavanth P R, Aditya All in all, it brought together enthusiasts for over a K and Tabish Armar and a team of 20 volunteers. week of competitive sports, action and fun.

It was their dedicated efforts that culminated in a

Fest Committee - Tabish, Uday, Vikram, Vishwanath, Aditya This is what participants had to say about the event: tinues. Three cheers to PES University!

Varun Srivatsa, ECE Dept.: Firstly, hats off to the umpires and other volunteers, who were present on the field throughout those 9 sunny days. The credit goes to Vikram and team for organising such a wonderful event in college. My college experience has been enriched by such events and I hope it con-

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Pooja Bhat, MBA Dept.: The tournament was very well organised. I thank the college and the core committee members for giving the students an opportunity to participate in such a huge event. It was a nice experience.

Shravanthi, TE Dept.: It had been more than two years since I had played badminton and so for me, Campus Challenge-14 was one of the most awaited events in the college. We have one of the finest courts and we were given the professional standard equipments. A set of capable organisers, who

were extremely supportive throughout, managed the large number of participants and the cheering crowd very well, making sure the matches were held systematically. Encouragement from the college and Mr Chinni Shridhar, the sports director, made this event possible.

The Winners!

Sport

Winner

Runner-up

No. of Teams/ Participants

Gowrav, BBM Dept.

60

Prithvi & Avinash, ISE Dept.

40

Badminton Men’s Singles Men’s Doubles Women’s Singles Women’s Doubles Table Tennis Men’s Singles Men’s Team Women’s Singles Women’s Team Football Basketball

Shivalingesh, Mech Dept.

Shivalingesh, Mech Dept. & Adrian, Biotech Dept.

Shravanthi, TE Dept.

Pooja & Padmashree, MBA Dept.

Aditya, Mech Dept.

Aditya & Raghavendram, Mech Dept.

Anushree, ISE Dept.

Aditi & Shivani, Biotech Dept.

Bibek & Team, BBM Dept.

Ankit & Team, Mech Dept.

Chess

Tejas & Team, CSE Dept.

Cricket

Sourabh & Team, ECE Dept.

Swathi, ISE Dept.

Swathi & Radha, ISE Dept.

Shubham, Mech Dept.

Sandesh & Ayush, ECE Dept.

Deeksha, Civil Dept.

Anushree & Sanchitha, ISE Dept.

Vedanth & Team, S & H Dept.

Kuldeep & Team, BBM Dept.

Karthik & Team, S & H Dept.

Ajitesh & Team, Mech Dept.

48 40

120

32 30 30 50

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SPORTS

By Manoj M V and Srikanta R Somaiyaji

Timeline January

• Virat Kohli named International Cricketer of the Year at CEAT cricket awards while Pakistan was named the best cricket team of the year.

• Messi wins his 4th Ballon d’or after shattering Gerd Muller’s record of 85 goals in a year by scoring an unprecedented 91.

• Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka win the Men’s and Women’s Singles of the year’s edition of the Australian Open.

February • India wins a record 46 medals at the special Olympics held at Pyongyang, South Korea for the physically challenged.

• In a shocking decision, the International Olympic Committee decided to drop the sport of Wrestling in the 2020 Olympics.

March

• At the All England Open championship, the Women’s singles title was captured by Tine Baun of Denmark while the Men’s singles title was claimed by Chen Long from China.

• The Laureus sports awards saw Usain Bolt win the Sportsman of the Year, while Jessica Ennis-Hill, a track and field athlete from the Great Britain was awarded the Sportswoman of the Year. The European Ryder Cup team teed away with the prestigious team of the Year award.

• The inaugural race of the F1 season at the Albert Park Circuit.

• In a shocking match fixing scandal, Pakistan bans two umpires for spot fixing, Nadeem Ghauri and Anis Siddiqui.

• Explosive batsman, Chris Gayle steamrolled his way into the record books, smashing the fastest T20 century in just 30 balls. He also broke the record for the highest individual score in the same match scoring 175 in just 66 balls.

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April

May

• India’s emerging badminton star, PV Sindhu wins the Malaysian badminton open.

• Spain’s Fernando Alonso wins his first home race at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain.

• Barcelona win their 22nd La Liga title pipping their closest rivals Real Madrid yet again.

• Mumbai Indians lift their maiden IPL trophy with Mike Hussey emerging the highest run scorer in the tournament for Chennai Super Kings.

• Captain cool M.S Dhoni receives the ICC ODI Championship shield for finishing as the no. 1 ODI team

June

• Rafael Nadal wins a record 8th crown at the French Open beating David Ferrer in the final.

• India proves yet again its No. 1 ODI tag, beating England in a drama filled ICC Champions Trophy final.

July

• Andy Murray becomes the first Briton to win the Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936. French Marion Bartoli claiming the Women’s Singles.

• Famed athletes Shane Warne and Martina Hingis are included to the ICC Hall of Fame and the Tennis Hall of Fame respectively.

• Indian women do the country proud by securing gold at the Archery World Cup held in Belek, Turkey.

August • American swimmer Missy Franklin wins 6 gold medals at the FINA World Swimming Championship held at Barcelona, Spain.

• Australian opener, Aaron finch hits 156 off 63 balls against England creating the record for the highest International T20 individual score.

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September • Serena Williams wins the Women’s singles at the US Open while Spaniard Nadal continues his rich vein of form from the French Open winning the Men’s Singles.

October

• The little master, Sachin Tendulkar announces retirement from all forms of the game after the second test of the Farewell Series against West Indies at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

• Sir Alex Ferguson’s “My Autobiography” is publicly aired for the first time with the Former Manchester United manager revealing how he turned down the chance to manage England on two different occasions.

November

• 22 year Old Magnus Carlsen destroys reigning World Champion Vishwanathan Anand to clinch the World Championship with a stunning score-line of 6.5-3.5 at the end of 10 games.

• Australia win the First test of the Ashes at the Gabba, Brisbane in what turns out to be one of the most entertaining and action packed Ashes that cricket has seen in a long time.

December

• Bayern Munich emerge winners at the FIFA Club World Cup to cap of one of their most successful seasons winning the German Bundesliga and the prestigious UEFA Champions League under manager Jupp Heyneckes.

• A hapless England succumb to a 4-0 defeat at the hands of the mighty Aussies in the 4th test at the MCG, Melbourne.

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TECH on CAMPUS

By Rohith Raaj

Ordell Ugo

Ordell Ugo Tech Bound Activity

Ordell Ugo Projects

Ordell Ugo PES Impact Talks

Ordell Ugo, conforming to its meaning, is the place where I began my vision of mastering technical various skills. But it had many more things to offer!

the confidence with which I faced the interviews.

Ordell Ugo taught me the effectiveness of self learning by exploration and indeed, I had a good learning curve too.

Ordell Ugo gave me an insight into the fundamentals of how a corporate firm works, right from presentations, team participation, team coordination, weekly reports, information gathering, selecting appropriate technical tools, articulating known facts/ideas, planning an efficient and executable workflow etc.

Apart from technical aspects like projects, open source tools, papers, journals, industry associations etc, Ordell Ugo offers many more exciting things. Abhyas sessions,team bound activities, impact talks, time management skills, charity work are a few among them.

I also learnt how an idea can be encapsulated as a business solution along with some marketing skills. After successfully finishing my first project at Ordell Ugo, I was all set to take up new challenges.

The confidence that Ordell Ugo imbibed in me helped me bag a job in the first company that visited campus. I, myself, was pleasantly surprised with

The greatest takeaway that I had, is the constant interaction with founder Prof. Nitin V Pujari. I was fortunate enough to pick up some good traits and values from him.

In all, Ordell Ugo has created a conducive environment where students are self motivated towards achieving long term constructive goals.

Significant Achievements : 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Number of Projects: 73 Number of Project Batches: 90 Number of Publications:14 International Journals: 05 International Conferences:06 National Conferences:03 Number of IEEE-Ordell Ugo iNoah workshops:006 Number of Industry competitions won: 02 Number of Invention disclosure and Innovation:20 Number of Industry associations: 003

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Team Éclat This magazine is the culmination of a number of coordinated efforts, driven by collaboration, passion, a strong team spirit and determination to achieve a common goal.

Here is the team behind Éclat 2014!

Editorial • P Chirag • Abishek Shenoy • Srikanta R Somayaji

Formal • Noel Saldanha • Aditya Sureka • Smriti Jyoti (Team Head) • Neha Joshi • Savitha S • Supriya Vijay

• Siddharth Kadandale

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Informal • • • • • • •

Sudhanva Shetty Aishani Patnaik Abhilasha Ravichander Dyuthi B (Team Head) Aishwarya Kaliki Sramana Dan Ullas Aparanji

Tech • • • • • • •

Pramodh K P Anurag Lingam Pavan Bhat K S Namratha K Suraj Srinivas(Team Head) Deborah Digges Yogesh Chellappa C

Review • Pulkit Chandra • Medhaa Shankar • Yazhini Baskaran • Neha Raje(Team Head) • Shruti Eswar • Samaravel I • Rituparna j

Sports • Srikanta R Somayaji • Sushanth R.S • Anita Fathepur • Chandrakanth C S • Sourjya Chowdhury • Manoj M V • Hemant Rajiv Kulkarni

Design • Simran Mohapatra • Vikas P N • Ashwin Shroff (Team Head) • Chitra Singh • Anurag Gaur • Sushanth M P

Photography • Purbayan B • Simran Mohapatra • Prarthana Joshi • Sayan Guha

#EclatExperience PES University 100 ft. Ring Road, BSK 3rd, Bangalore 560085 Website: pes.edu *For Internal Circulation Only

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