Maclagan Edition 2

VOL. 2 | MARCH 2021 MACLAGAN

Logging Into PEC

By Piyush Gulati

COVID-19 has struck the college at an unconventional time. The walls of the New Academic Block, the Nescafe shed, brick stairs at the PEC market, the stage at OAT, all longed to hear the footfall of its humble residents. The first year, fresh out of JEE, longed to lay foot on the campus that they’d just seen till now on computer screens, newspaper articles, and old YouTube videos.

Days became weeks and weeks became months and finally, amidst the December fog, Punjab Engineering college flagged off Orientation 2020 in the online mode. The whole college, right from the heads and conveners of 4th year to the excited (for all the wrong reasons XD) 2nd year, worked hard to prepare presentations and to make the new flock feel as at home as possible. As any sane senior would have speculated, the orientation started off to virtual chaos.

OVERVIEW: Logging Into PEC Book Review : Catch Me If You Can The Paradox of Privilege How To: Intern Edition The Life Of : Virginia Woolf

The first year, trying to satiate their thirst for answers to their uncountable queries and the seniors, trying to keep the orientation on schedule. The panic seemed to multiply exponentially with the distance between the students and the campus.

Orientation 2020, spanned over 8 days, was designed to equip the first years with all the knowledge regarding the functioning of the college, right from the academics to the cultural/ technical clubs and societies. Webinars hosted by eminent personalities played their part in motivating the fresh batch for the new phase of life that lay ahead. As mutual efforts to break the ice, seniors, and juniors amongst themselves hosted informal interaction sessions, and when faced with the infamous question of whether you actively attended the orientation or did you just sleep through it, most replied that they enjoyed the efforts put up by the cultural clubs with their performances while the lectures became monotonous.

Although the excitement was immensely visible through the boxes of juniors on Cisco and Zoom calls, it’s safe to say that breaking the ice would be a lot harder this time, for juniors who had their videos turned off got a chance to speak their minds with no repercussions which wouldn’t have been the case for an offline orientation, with the general fear of public humiliation. Anonymity bred Catastrophe. But despite these hiccups, the senior years kept a straight face to make headway with the thick-headed juniors who seemed to fit in a perfect contrast of not being able to get out of the lame school buttering habit, and the other faction which seemed a little too full of themselves. All in all, it’s safe to say that each senior hopes to meet the juniors offline soon or this bell curve of mediocrity in the minds of the new flock will be deep-rooted sooner rather than later.

Book Review

Catch Me If You Can

By Akshay Kumar Raghavan

Enter Frank W. Abagnale, a man who deciphered the human code we didn’t even know we had. He is effortlessly regarded as one of the most famous con-artists in the 20th century. His story so enthralling, was eventually adapted into a film worked on by Steven Spielberg, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.

Frank W. Abagnale truly overachieves the role of a Grandpa and he sure has one hell of a story to tell his grandchildren as he single-handedly cashed in $2.5 million worth of fraudulent checks while impersonating a Pan Am pilot, a doctor, a teacher, and a Harvard attorney all in the days of his exuberant youth.He sure was the Johnny Sins of the 20th century, not to mention all the women it came with Frank was not sure what led him to such a life, but his parents’ weak marriage sure was a propellant, and he thought as a child, getting into trouble would get him the attention he deserved. Considered all the things, frank learnt how to get real smart, real fast. Frank was easily mistaken for a 25 year old in his early teens and he played that to his absolute advantage.

Typical criminal masterminds aren’t given appraise, but our man has been around the world in a jump seat posing as a Pan Am pilot and cashed in more fraudulent checks than the coupons your mom spent at the deli’s? I can tell you that’s a lot!

Frank was also quite the ‘player’ as he took inspiration from James Bond, all thanks to his younger self being mistaken for a 26 year old.

Frank always said he had the ideology that honest men had truly nothing to fear.

So that’s what he did, he stopped fearing. As long as you don't falter in the slightest, people will buy it, because they want to buy it.

He also mentions how he couldn’t have done these feats had he been older, for he’d have internal conflicts as his rationale would try to work it out, as an adult. So he happened to do adult things with the impulsiveness of a teenager. It started out as an objective to survive, but eventually led to people chasing him around and he had to maintain a lead in this back and forth game.

Back then being a pilot demanded massive respect and status from the average public for he saw the kind of leverage it had over his credibility as a whole. So he made sure he dressed up as a pilot during his bank shenanigans.He put on that uniform to feel better about himself. He loved the newfound attention and for the most part people were all over him. Frank was also once confronted by the FBI on multiple occasions and he kept the act up until he could make an inconspicuous getaway from the scene.

However Frank was eventually getting tired of having to be on the run, and always on alert. He couldn’t settle for an identity given the nature of his work. He recalls how much thought he put into it, and finally settled on paying for what he’d done.Frank had it rough in prison, but he came out on parole, as a changed man, ready to contribute and give back to society. This goes on to say how humans are so hardwired into believing nothing can go wrong that they straight up refuse to see the flags. Although his book glorifies his feats, the Frank found a few parts to be “overly-dramatized and exaggerated” for entertainment purposes, for it was something the co-author insisted on.

Cultural Comment

The Paradox of Privilege

By Kalash Jain

At a first glance, this article may seem counterintuitive and so I would suggest reading it again.

It may seem intuitive to think that the need for mental health interventions for the group identifying as socio-economically privileged may not be an essential undertaking in these times. However, subjective notions of privilege formed relative to an understanding of those worse off may also paradoxically worsen mental health rather than improve it–which is what one would involuntarily assume a privilege to do.

While there is no denying that the plight of migrant workers in India who don’t have access to essential supplies is far worse than that of someone curled up under a blanket in the comfort of air conditioning, using this reality as a pretext for feeling guilty is also an error in attribution that neither absolves one of his/her privileges and further depreciates the mental health effects of the pandemic.

The problem arises due to the normalization of the notion in the public’s mind that economically privileged people “had it easy” during the lockdown and how their issues are relatively irrelevant when compared to the masses getting infected and scraping through each day to survive.

Before I move ahead, it is important for me to clarify that in no means am I comparing the situations of the two factions because it is not fit to do so. I am simply trying to paint a picture which shows the reality about the economically privileged people during this lockdown and how we have conveniently assumed that economic stability is the key factor of survival.

It is paramount for us to realise the privilege in itself is not a synonym of economic privilege and the generalisation of the term portrays a false narrative deeming that money is the key dynamic of survival.

The reality is that our lives are far more complex for just one factor to dominate, and hence factors like an individual’s family fabric, their insecurities, and the sheer inability to adapt to change have a huge impact on one’s life. We need to realise that all this free time has given us the opportunity to introspect and dig deeper within ourselves, but although it may have given us the wings to fly, it so mercilessly took away the sky for us to soar.

Families have been living under the same roof in a single stretch longer than ever before, and though one may point to the upsides of this scenario, it is equally important to understand the downsides of spending too much time together as well, with opinions clashing at a much higher frequency and parents literally bringing work stress to the dining table. Not to forget the increase in domestic abuse during the lock down which includes physical, sexual, verbal as well as emotional abuse due to factors like the anxiety and stress of job security, family scrutiny as well as the general agitation during the lock down.

It is paramount for us to realise the privilege in itself is not a synonym of economic privilege and the generalisation of the term portrays a false narrative deeming that money is the key dynamic of survival.

The narrative of the socio-economically privileged strata of our society being immune to mental health issues like depression and anxiety needs to be addressed in terms of its inaccuracy and although this article does not inculcate the positions of other factions, it is important to devoid ourselves of such false pretenses in our thinking to pave the way to even have a dialogue of other falsely normalized narratives by providing concrete precedence of an unfit generalization.

How to: Intern Edition

By Aashima, Civil Engineering, Batch of 2021 and Edited by Divya Dhananjayan

An internship allows the student to take the theory from the classroom and put it into practice. Civil engineering internships can be divided into three major areasDesign internship - Work is focused on the design of various structures, roadways, pipelines etc. depending on the civil engineering domain. Boost your resume and mail HRs of companies early ahead.

Site and project management internship It includes working onsite and managing the construction project.

Research internship-You can apply for these interns in 2 ways. Firstly, via internship programs of various research and educational institutes like IITS etc. There is often a CGPA criterion for these programs. Remember to keep track of applications openings and deadlines!

Secondly, mail professors of various institutes. Choose an area of your interest and visit the websites of various colleges and go through the profile of the professors.

This will help you identify the field you want to work in and which professors are specialising in that field. Mail these professors showcasing your interest in their project. Depending on the professor you could either have an interview or you can be directly selected for the internship. CGPA doesn’t play a primary role here but showcasing your skills and interest matters.

In my sixth semester, I did a research internship at IIT Bombay in Transportation engineering. My project was ‘The integration of a driving simulator with a traffic simulator to improve road user safety. I was selected for the internship through the IRCC internship program of IIT Bombay.

I’d applied for the internship by submitting my academic profile which included my college projects, technical achievements etc that appeared relevant to the research field. I had to choose from a list of projects that the professors were recruiting which included most civil engineering domains like transport, geotechnical, structures and water resources. Next, the shortlisted candidates had an online interview. For its preparation, I studied the basics of transport and researched about the project I was applying for, its scope and any particular skills I believed were needed for it.

In this interdisciplinary project, I had to create a driving simulator to train drivers, a simulator that would be more suited to Indian traffic and road conditions. I worked with several diverse software like Vissim (for traffic simulation) and Sumo (for driving simulations). I also handled Game Engine- Unity.

Reflecting back on that period, I believe it helped me broaden my thinking, improved my problem-solving skills and exposed me to a very intellectually stimulating environment. My mentor was very encouraging, guiding me in the right direction while analysing problems and allowing me to explore solutions on my own.

Internship is an impeccable means of knowledge expansion and exploring career options. It's okay to explore various civil engineering domains through internships and pivot as many times as you need to, provided you are able to finally identify the right path for yourself. Wisely choose your internship, and try to keep on learning as much as possible.

The Life of

Virginia Woolf

By Ishaan Verma

Virginia Woolf — most know the name. This article highlights the not-sopopular and the not-so-happy life of Virginia Woolf.

Virginia Woolf was born Adeline Virginia Stephen on January 25, 1882, in London, England.

While she is best known for her novels, especially ‘Mrs Dalloway’ (1925) and ‘To the Lighthouse’ (1927), Woolf also wrote pioneering essays on artistic theory, literary history, women’s writing, and the politics of power.

Woolf; intelligent and beautiful, gained many admirers of both genders. In 1909, her close friend and fellow writer Lytton Strachey proposed.

Strachey himself was a homosexual and had his own reasons for wanting to be married, but no sooner had the words of proposal left his mouth than he regretted it. To make matters worse, she accepted him, and he couldn’t quite manage to talk his way out of it that day. The next day he retracted his proposal.

Following this, Strachey penned a letter to their mutual friend Leonard Woolf, saying he “must marry Virginia.” Leonard returned to England at the end of 1911. He resigned from the civil service of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), partly in the hope that Virginia would accept his proposal. Throughout those first six months, Woolf proposed to Virginia twice, but the whole idea of marriage and sex freaked her out, and she refused. In his third luck trial, they ended up married in August 1912.

Though Woolf wrote extensively about the difficulties women, she didn’t become a feminist symbol until the 1970s. As the second-wave feminist movement picked up steam, her work was rediscovered, and she became the feminist icon she is today.

On March 28, 1941, Woolf succumbed to her depression and committed suicide by filling her coat pockets with rocks and walking into the River Ouse behind her house. In her letter to her husband Leonard, she expressed her awareness of what her depression was doing to him, and that she simply couldn’t go on fighting it any longer. It would be three weeks before her body was found.

“Death is the enemy.

Against you I will fling myself, unvanquished and unyielding o Death!

The waves broke on the shore.”

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