Internet’s Own Boy BY S. A. KRUTHI MOHAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
From Innocence to Experience BY AKSHAY KULKARNI, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Four years ago, a boy, naïve and innocent, entered the sprawling campus of CBIT. The huge crowd of equally competent people, each trying to prove their worth and achieve their dreams overwhelmed him. He was worried he will just be another face in the crowd, another part of this system and this is something he couldn’t stand. He was confused on how he could stand out from the crowd, how he could make a unique identity for himself. Now, four years later, the same student has evolved into a confident person who can lead a team, who can handle crisis and who can deliver on promises. Honestly speaking, this story isn’t based on any one person in college, but it is something every final year student will relate to in some way. We might not have ended up where we wanted to but are exactly where we should be. I personally have seen this transformation which is exceptional in every sense of the word, in every final year that I have known and also, myself. CBIT has taught us
more than just the recommended syllabus. It has taught us something that no book ever can. It is something you only learn through experience; you can’t learn it any other way. CBIT has taught us about making good choices and also making peace with the bad ones. It has helped us grow into people who understand responsibility and accountability for their actions. It has taught us that no situation is inherently good or bad but that instead, turns into good or bad based on how we handle and deal with it. Situations are what we make of them. We know that these are the lessons that are worth more than the degree we will be earning in the coming months. These are the lessons that will stay with us for our lives and will always guide us to do the right thing. While we might forget the situations we had to face and the problems we had to deal with, the lessons that we learnt will never be forgotten. We are all very lucky and privileged to get an opportunity to be a part of this institution where we are
given adequate opportunities to develop all our skills. There are many clubs in our college that students can join to develop their skills in a field of their interest. The college also has many fests through which students get an opportunity to work and lead teams. Workshops are conducted on a regular basis to ensure that students are in touch with the industry requirements. It is however entirely up to the students to make full use of these resources and not restrain themselves to regular coursework. Finally congratulations to all the Freshers on making it into one of the premier institutes of the state. This is going to be the start of one of the most memorable and important journeys of your life. Remember not to restrain yourself and to work constantly on being the best. I cannot stress enough on the statement- Time flies quickly. Borrowing lines from a very famous movie which I don’t need to name, “Do not chase success, chase perfection. Success will follow.”
Communicando This Year TEAM COMMUNINCANDO
NOT IN PICTURE: TEJA MARIYADA, MEGHNA VADAPALLI, ABHILASH NAIR, KOUMUDI VUPPALA, AMULYA REDDY, AYESHA ANSARI AND PRIYANKA REDDY
Internet is everywhere. We’re at a stage where life sans the world wide web is unimaginable and rightly so. The internet has played a vital role in empowering evolution and progression and we’re all so fond of it, aren’t we? Texting away every hour, social networking, meeting new people, learning new things. All of this is possible because of the transparency and availability of information and various platforms that we can so efficiently utilize. Everything is provided to us, freely, more or less and is completely user friendly. But let’s back up a little. Transparency and availability, right? Wrong. What we have is controlled access, what we are provided with is carefully screened information which the government deems necessary. We do not know everything, we do not have access to everything- not even to the information we need, information that is rightfully ours to know and possess. Why is it that the same availability and access that the Internet provided, which strengthened the Egyptian revolution, was categorized wrongful and an act of terrorism when somebody else used it to obtain scientific and literary journals? Why was Aaron Swartz, one of the most brilliant minds of our time, killed? While regular 14 year olds, struggle through adolescence and are busy working on high school assignments, Aaron, a high school dropout, was busy changing the course of Internet as we know it. He helped create RSS—a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works (blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video) in a standardized format—at the age of 14. Amazing, isn’t it? Definitely is to me. He attended conferences with likeminded computer programmers, many of whom were shocked to discover that the sophisticated coder they'd met online was actually a 14-year-old geek wearing a T-shirt three sizes too big for him. His mother said that she didn’t understand why a crowd full of intellectual adults were listening to a 14 year old boy speak. Swartz was a smart child and by smart, I mean genius. He was exceptionally intelligent and learning came to him easy. His tryst with computers began at the age of 3 when he began learning to code. His imagination had no boundaries. He believed that every problem could be solved using coding. His brother and he came up with an idea similar to what we know today as Wikipedia, a long time before it was up and running. At 19, he coprogammed the social news and entertainment website, Reddit. Swartz’s ideology was simple- liberation of information. Information that was locked up by corporations and publishers. In 2008, he co-wrote the Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto, which proposed the same. In 2009, he chose to spend time as an intern in the congressional offices of Democrat Alan Grayson because he wanted to learn about how government operated before he set about the business of trying to improve it. He worked to help pass Obama's landmark
healthcare reform. In 2010, he volunteered for the Democratic national convention in the runup to the midterm elections. In 2010, he founded Demand Congress, an online advocacy group that successfully campaigned against Internet Censorship. He was a fierce proponent who advocated open and easy access to the world’s knowledge online. As Stinebrickner-Kauffman said, he was single minded about changing the world. In 2011, Swartz was indicted on multiple felony counts for gaining illegal access to JSTOR, a subscriptiononly service for distributing scientific and literary journals, and downloading five million articles and documentsnearly the entire library. Although Swartz had legal access to JSTOR through his Harvard affiliation, the indictment describes his use of an MIT guest account to download the articles, something he had no legal right to do. The US Attorney’s office pursued a harsh array of charges. Swartz faced upto 30 years in prison and $1 million in fine, for a crime that had no victims. A crime to which he pled not guilty. Aaron returned the data he had in his possession and JSTOR settled any civil claims they might have had against him in June 2011. Unlike JSTOR, MIT didn’t stand up for Aaron and its own community’s most cherished principles. The apparent conviction and zeal with which the US Attorney Carmen Ortiz and Massachusetts assistant US attorney Stephen Heymann pursued the case for a crime with no discernable victims shocked many. This was a post WikiLeaks world, where large organizations were trying to cope with the threat posed by internet hackers, who by a click of the mouse, could infiltrate and release government records and shut down organizations. This was a world that saw the rise of the likes of Jullian Assange and Edward Snowden. “We want to make an example out of Aaron.”, Swartz’s family were told. In January 2013, less than three months before the criminal trial was set to begin, Ortiz's office formally rejected a deal that would have kept Swartz out of prison. Two days later, about three months before the trial was set to commence, Swartz hanged himself, unable to cope with the pressure. It finally became too much. I do not want to say that Aaron Swartz committed suicide, no. This was cold blooded murder. The US Government was vindictive and used him as a scapegoat to make an example out of; all to exhibit power and demonstrate to the public and, more importantly, any potential hacker who advocated free and open access like Swartz did, of what would happen if they chose the same path. Unfair prosecution and a dysfunctional justice system brought intolerable pressure upon a curious, creative and brilliant person such as Aaron. He wasn’t accessing anything that he wasn’t already authorized to, neither was he planning to make money out of it. He only wanted to liberate the information that was locked up. They were only scientific journals and providing easy access to them would help many. He only fought against the heightening of censorship and surveillance. It is a tragedy that most of us do not realize. We lost someone who had immense potential to change the world, someone with a vision and determination. Someone who was empathetic and selfless and refused to accept injustice as inevitable. Someone who believed in liberation. He was the Internet’s Own Boy and our world killed him.
PAGE 2
A MESSAGE
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
THE EDITORIAL BOARD,
COMMUNICANDO
FROM THE
Dr. B. ChennAkeSAvA rAo
PRINCIPAL
PrinCiPAl, CBiT Convenor: Dr. A. SAnDhyA reDDy ASSoCiATe ProfeSSor, DePArTmenT of mAThS AnD humAniTieS STAff CoorDinATor: A. vijAyA lAkShmi ASSiSTAnT ProfeSSor, DePArTmenT of mAThS AnD humAniTieS eDiTorS- in-Chief: S. A. kruThi mohAn AkShAy kulkArni
I am very pleased to see Transcendent, CBIT’s very own newspaper, grow with every edition and would like to congratulate Communicando, the literary club of CBIT and its editorial board on releasing the fifth edition of Transcendent. Transcendent is one of the many opportunities that the college provides to help the students in building a strong skill set and achieve versatility. I am also pleased to see the new team of Communicando carry forward the baton from their seniors and am sure that they will take the college and the club to new heights. Transcendent, apart from shedding light on all the recent happenings in college also publishes information about the events taking place across the globe. Transcendent has recently included a new section, Technology, where all the important technological developments are covered. The newspaper is playing a key role in shaping the verbal and non verbal communication skills and also, technical skills of students; all of which are highly valued in the industry. I am also very happy to announce that this year has begun on a very positive note. It has been only two months into college and many of our students are already placed in top companies like Microsoft, ITC, Oracle, Deloitte, CTS, Infosys and Factset. This is just the beginning and I am absolutely certain that the placement season this year will be a huge success. In conclusion, taking into consideration that this is a college newspaper published by students, I take pride in recognizing the hard work and passion of our students who have taken up and worked towards this initiative. Lastly I would like to welcome all the freshers to CBIT and what is going to be the most important phase of their lives. - Dr. B ChennAkeSAvA rAo PrinCiPAl, CBiT.
noT in PiCTure: mehnAz huSAin, ChAiTAnyA
PhoTo CreDiTS: SumAnTh TiTTu
Letter from the Editors By S.A. kruThi mohAn AnD AkShAy kulkArni, eDiTorS-in-Chief
Change is overwhelming. It’s hard to break away from familiarity; we are hardwired to fight against everything that threatens our comfort zone and in these last few months, we’ve experienced this more times than we can count. Imagine that right before you drove off to somewhere, someone told you that all of the old traffic laws had changed forever. Red no longer meant stop and green no longer meant go. In fact, all of the signs that used to guide you were no longer valid. How would you feel and what would you think? Often, change happens just like that. It’s sudden, it’s quick and it disrupts our equilibrium. It’s frightening, because one way we survive is by being able to predict our environment and acting accordingly. When predictability disappears, so does our sense of safety. And this inturn, affects our response states. We’ve had to make decisions we never thought we’d have to, faced choices with nei-
ther outcome being what we’d hoped for. We had innumerable discussions about change and purpose, to a point where we questioned everything in general. Our strong belief that everything had a reason didn’t make sense anymore. Change never had a reason. But then we realized, change might not have a reason but it always has a purpose. A purpose we fail to see or comprehend because of our need to stick to our sense of familiarity that so strongly drives our lives. We understood that the only happy and relevant people are those who have learnt to walk with change. Even if you do not seek change, change will find you and when that happens, you had better be prepared. We realized that there can be no progress without change and by resenting change we resent progress. And once we understood that change was not necessarily bad and was essential for growth, everything started making sense again.
At Transcendent, these have been exciting and challenging times for us. A lot of things have changed for us. Our founding member passed out of college this year and it has been very hard for us to not have her around. Many of our editors who are now in final year have moved on too, to focus on their careers. We wish all of them great success in all their future endeavors. We recruited a new team of young and talented students to fill the void left by those who have moved on. Although it has been hard for us to start from scratch with a new team, we are also very excited because we believe this team has the potential to do great work and take Transcendent to new heights. Finally we would like to welcome all the freshers to what is going to be one of the best and most important phases of your lives. We hope that Transcendent will be instrumental during your time here and, indeed, help you in breaking all barriers.
From the Convenor’s Desk
Whilst the ice bucket challenge went viral in social media, also popular is the parallel ‘book bucket challenge’ where people are asked to list out the top ten from their favorite books. A few days ago, I accepted the challenge too. A difficult one indeed. How can you pick out just ten books when there are so
many that you are really glad you read? Some books were a part of our childhood, some helped us get through our adolescence and some tell stories that remind us of our own journey through life and where we really want it to go. Someone aptly said that a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies and the man who never reads lives only once. The author of every well-written book takes us through a mysterious journey making us one with the book. With each book, world after world unfolds and we take flight into an amazing and everlasting experience. Those of you who read voraciously, I envy and those who never picked up a book, I pity. Like
Mark Twain once said, “A person who won’t read has no advantage over the one who can’t read”. Fortunate as we are, to have the opportunity and skill to read, have access to the world of literature and the infinity of internet, it really lies within our discretion as to how well we make use of this gift. So let us take the time to pick up a good book and read for the sheer joy of it. “To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries.” — A.C. Grayling
- Dr. A. SAnDhyA reDDy Convenor, CommuniCAnDo
e DiToriAlS : eDiTor: TejA mAriyADA SuB-eDiTor: AyeShA AnSAri journAliSTS: SwAThi yArABolu lAvAnyA mAllADi n ewS : eDiTor: PrASAnnA vorugAnTi
SuB-eDiTor: SumA kATrAgADDA journAliSTS: mehnAz huSAin moniCA PrASAD S PorTS : eDiTor: vAChAn nD SuB-eDiTor: riShikA reDDy journAliSTS: SATwik rAj T. k. SrirAm e nTerTAinmenT: eDiTor: hArShAl kuSumA SuB-eDiTor: AnAghA kArAnAm journAliSTS: eeShA giTAy SruShTi AmBhorkAr T eChnology: eDiTor: meghnA vADAPAlli SuB-eDiTor: SAi reeThi PyDi journAliST: riThikA PAThi PhoTogrAPhy mAnAger: SumAnTh TiTTu lAyouT heAD: AkhilA PoliSheTTy lAyouT TeAm: AiShwAryA y. PriyAnkA reDDy SnigDhA m. ChAiTAnyA
PAGE 3 OUR ‘FLAWED’ JUDICIARY SYSTEM The Bitter Calamity BY TEJASWINI MARIYADA, EDITOR Did you know that a typical Indian case will take up to ten years for its conclusion? That’s just the average. Don’t we all have the right to a prompt justice? Looks like the judiciary system itself is taking away our right to speedy justice. As the famous quote goes, “JUSCTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED”. It is hard to disagree with the reason behind this quote. What is the point of getting justice after ten years? One of us had to suffer through those 10 years of agony, repeatedly visiting courts, knowing that criminal is out free and living life without any regret or remorse, spending money on lawyers and other uncountable ‘perks’ which justice comes along with these delays. Let us firstly understand our system, namely, The Adversarial System. It means that the accused is presumed to be innocent and the burden is on the prosecution, to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he is guilty. This means that the court can only castigate someone if they are completely proven guilty; else even if there is a slight possibility that he could be innocent, they will keep adjourning the court sessions till proved guilty. The American System on the other hand works on probability, i.e. if there are chances of a person being guilty, they would be castigated. This too has its fair chances of pros and cons. The politicians could resolve this issue, but then again, consider this. There is a lot of “criminalization of politics” in India, i.e., there is no political will to transform the judiciary system. The judiciary system is “played” by the politicians according to their own will. Why would they want to transform it? Also, since India is a highly populous country, too many cases are registered in a single day. One could probably suggest building of more number courts to be a solution. However, the finance of our country spent
for judiciary is very low compared to other countries. The reason being ours is a developing country. There are a few suggested solutions to these issues that could prove less burdensome for the numerous pending cases pilling up in courts, simultaneously ensuring effective, fast and frugal judgment. Shift System The courts usually have just morning sessions and close by 5 pm. However, evening sessions could be added providing more time. Retired judges could be reemployed. Chief justice should appropriate and re-appropriate the funds within the budget allocated. This would ultimately result in faster dealing with the cases. Lawyers Lawyers should give their clients all the information about legal matters and let them know all the problems and how they will be handled. They should promptly return the phone calls and answer questions of clients. It is a big shock to most people that there is no guarantee of competence when the client hires a lawyer. So apart from only the initial bar examination, they must be tested often. A strict rule should be passed allowing a client to sue his lawyer for any malpractice. Technology Video conferencing plays a major role in criminal cases on getting adjourned on account of inability of police and sometimes when witnesses reside in faraway places and even in abroad. This is an upcoming tech-
nology which must be made mandatory to decrease the time factor of a case. Also, placing security cameras in shops, residential areas, highways at regular intervals of distance should be made mandatory as this would provide hard evidence for the courts. Controlling Adjournments Grounds for adjournments are numerous. Sometimes the number of cases set down for a trial on a day proves to be excessive, sometimes the court has the time but the parties need delay. That’s why there should be a restricted number of adjournments given to a case. Due to these adjournment delays, new cases aren’t being tried and the closing rate of cases is low. Fast Track Courts Fast track courts must not mean kangaroo courts in their hurry to reach a decision, ignoring evidence. They should concentrate on cases which need immediate action, cases which have a huge impact on the society. They should be in a position to give justice in a matter of few months. Plea Bargaining Most of the criminals think that if they confess to a crime, they will be punished for a longer time. This is quite the opposite, if they plead guilty to a crime, the punishment can be mitigated. It is the duty of the lawyer to educate the clients about their options. Lok Adalats Lok Adalat roughly means people’s court; a non adversarial system. All proceedings of a Lok Adalat are deemed to be judicial proceedings. It adopts persuasive, pragmatic and human approach to the problems of the disputants. They should be presided over by retired judges or other members of legal profession. They should deal with civil, matrimonial, land, partition/property disputes. This would ultimately result in speedy justice.
And The Placement Season Begins BY SUMALIKA ADDAGARLA For any student, the initial career choices made by him go a long way in determining where he finds himself maybe 10-12 years down the lane. The role played by the first job he does, whatever the job may be, cannot be overstated. It is here that he realizes what areas of study interest him which gives him a better understanding of what job role he wants to be associated with. At CBIT, students have a wide variety of companies and job roles to choose from. The last academic year, CBIT had as many as 65 reputed companies visit the campus, a number that is massive for any engineering college and is probably one of the highest numbers of placement visits that any engineering college has ever witnessed. This year too, the utmost diligence is being exercised by the Placement Office in ensuring that students of all branches are provided ample opportunities to work at the choicest places. With only two months into college, the final year students are already experiencing the hectic schedules and excitement associated with successfully bagging their first jobs and securing their future. A number of premier companies have already visited the campus and walked away with highly qualified students all set to join them next year. Microsoft, easily one of the most sought after
and well paying companies, recruited 8 students with a package of 11 lakhs per annum. Other leading companies that have already visited the campus include Deloitte, Oracle and Factset that hired 34, 6 and 2 students respectively and ITC and JPMC Code for Good which hired 1 and 3 students respectively, with pay scales varying between 5 and 8 lakhs. Companies like Deloitte and Microsoft also hired 3rd year students to intern with them over the summer, offering them a substantial pay and a chance to gain hands-on experience as to what they will be doing later on. A lot of preparation goes into every placement visit, both from the Placement Office and the students applying for the jobs. Any campus recruitment is usually preceded by a pre-placement seminar wherein the students are briefed regarding the finer points about the company and what is expected of the students. Then, there is an aptitude test, a group discussion/case study and finally, the big interview. It is not unusual for final year students to start gearing up for placements from the holidays itself. The aptitude test is aimed at gauging the students’ quantitative ability, verbal ability and logical thinking. There is an abundance of practice material especially aimed at making the aptitude exams easier for students.
The next hurdle is the group discussion/case study which the students can get an idea of at the mock placements conducted every year before the commencement of the placement season. The essential factor here is to ensure that whatever you speak is sensible and spoken with coherence and confidence. The interview usually lasts for about a half hour and how you choose to present yourself during this time can determine whether or not the job is yours. A student’s resume is crafted with the utmost care, as this is what the company representative uses to know what a student has achieved in his life so far, both in his academics and extracurricular activities. It is hence important to highlight your achievements, but also to never ever lie on your resume, as being caught in the act can result in you losing out on further opportunities as well. With the placement season having just begun and a slew of companies yet to visit campus, most final year students are eagerly anticipating the day they get placed. CBIT offers a gamut of job roles for all branches and in all probability, with the efforts of the management and the Placement Office, the college’s unparalleled placement records will continue to hold true this year as well.
BY SWATHI YARABOLU, JOURNALIST A sense of disbelief and that there is an 18 Km stretch till chilling Déjà vu registered as we all the next dam and that the authoriread and watched, the heart rending ties are not expected to check the scenes from the June 8th tragedy in entire stretch to see if people are in Manali. Twenty four students, who the river. The tour guide was rewere on a college excursion to portedly in the water too. Did he Manali, stopped by the river banks have sufficient knowledge about to click pictures. Before they could the local terrain and the possibility relish the moments, they got swept of danger lurking round the corner? Sadly, he too got washed away. away by the gushing waters. What about the teachers Apparently, excess water was released from the dam and who accompanied the group? there was no siren heard that could Shouldn’t they have checked the raise any sort of caution among the safety factors before embarking on joyous kids trying to capture nature the tour and permitting the students and create memories. Little did into the water? One of the teachers they know that in the process they too got washed away. Or, was it the mistake of would become one. There were Definitely, not the students? the also no hoardings or signs that warned people to keep away from students. The lack of danger board the river. The survivors were dewy- signs or any alert from engineers eyed and baffled as the water cas- are the obvious reasons. Also, swift caded down the rocks on which the response from the disaster recovery students were huddled together. team could have helped bring With the urge to save their friends, tragedy struck victims home. Alive. Furthermore, there is the some of the students were swept of sand mafia. The issue whole away by the swollen river. The helpless students ran around for nexus between the sand mafia and help, threw ropes and twigs into the the officials was the reason for the water with the help of the locals but untimely release of water as it was it all was in vain as the force of meant to deposit sand on the banks water was too high for any help to and river bed for the benefit of illebe of use. Videos showed friends of gal sand miners. the victims running helplessly Which brings us to the next quesalong the river bank in their desper- tion: What must be done now? Strict laws should be imate attempts to save them at the plemented and action must be taken slightest of opportunity. administration against the authorities involved. Local swung into action after the police Proper warning systems must be inwere called by the locals. People stalled along with timely activation. living along the two sides of the We need a clear Safe Operation river bank downstream of the dam Procedure and legally backed Safe had been alerted to inform the po- Operations Management System. lice about relevant sightings. Only Risk zones need to be clearly idenafter 3 hours, massive search oper- tified and the entire zone must be ations had been launched to trace taken care of. College authorities the missing students but there was could plan their trips in less dangerno success due to darkness. The ous terrains, away from rivers and search continued for a long period lakes, however scenic and calm and their status remained a mystery them may look. We extend our heartfelt for quite a long time. Coming to the most cru- condolences to the families and cial question: Who can be held re- friends of the victims and pray that an incident like this never occurs in sponsible for this? Can we really blame the the future. dam authorities? It has been stated Rest in Peace.
REDUCING STEM CELL CANCER RISK BY RITHIKA PATHI, JOURNALIST One of the biggest setbacks to the stem cell research is that it can potentially trigger one of the diseases that we hope it will eventually treat one day - Cancer. Stem cells have the ability to rapidly grow and differentiate into specialized cells which can heal damaged organs and tissues. For years, this has been a perplexing challenge to researchers who were struggling to find treatments that do not carry the threat of uncontrolled growth leading to cancerous tumors. Now, success may be just around the corner. Reducing the Risk: A new 'trick' that has been developed by the researchers will soon change the fate of the risk. Scientists believe that they can make cells by reprogramming where they do not have any cancer genes. We hope that we are now closer to developing less risky stem cell treatment that will not bear the threat of cancer as a fear-provoking side effect. Solving the Issue of Cancerous Stem Cells: There are ways to take the dilemma in hand and deal with the
link between cancer and stem cells. By identifying the factors that can trigger abnormal DNA methylation in stem cells, researchers can ideally find ways to stop the occurrence of cancer as they learn new information in stem cells research. If all goes well, in the future, we may solve this impasse, since it holds the key to cancer prevention through the use of a very basic blood test. The stem cell research teams will next be investigating the DNA methylation patterns in WBC and using this identification of cells to make a more accurate prediction of breast and ovarian cancer. Researchers also plan to look at how conditions that make a person more susceptible to cancer can contribute to the DNA methylation patterns. Other researchers today are experimenting with various drugs to try and eradicate the risk of cancer. It is ironic that the treatment itself can later trigger the disease which it was meant to cure but with new research, we can hopefully create safe stem cell therapies that can help millions of people who are suffering from devastating diseases such as cancer.
PAGE 4
100 DAYS OF MODI
Why India Needs
FEMINISM?
BY DHRUV N. SHAH The 16th of May, 2014 turned out to be one of the most important days in the Indian history, why? The answer would be stability in the lower house of the Indian Parliament. The last time India witnessed majority in Lok Sabha was way back in in 1984. This general election was historic in many ways, not only because of the fact that a single party could reach the magic number 272 but also due to the fact that the party was led by one of the most controversial leaders in Indian politics Mr. Narendra Modi. Mr. Narendra Modi is known for delivering economic freedom. Under his leadership Gujarat witnessed tremendous growth. Modi's government had worked hard to make Gujarat a brand, making it a state of dynamic development, economic growth and prosperity, using the slogan "Vibrant Gujarat". However, critics have pointed to Gujarat's relatively poor record on human development, poverty alleviation, nutrition, and education. At the very moment Narendra Modi took over as the Prime Minister, the age old bureaucracy started working, and everything started falling into place. They realized it’s time to start working or else the consequences would be dire. The first 100 days Modi government had its shares of ups and downs. SWEARING IN Modi’s initiative to revive SAARC, by extending invitations to his swearing-in as the Prime Minister on May 26, pointedly, to both Sri Lanka and Pakistan, alongside Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, the Maldives and Bangladesh, was typically optimistic and bold move from him. It was a masterstroke, I would say. S.I.T ON BLACK MONEY In the first cabinet meeting, the government decided to constitute a special investigating team (S.I.T) to unearth black money. This proved that the government respects the Supreme Court order of setting up an S.I.T which wasn’t fulfilled by previous government even after repeated orders of Supreme Court. Decisive, isn’t it? WORK CULTURE The Modi influence had a strong impact on the government’s work culture. It was virtually a rude awakening for the babus, who are now expected to clock in around 9:30am in the morning. The false propagation of “modi aane wala hai” is an epiphany to all the government offices in Delhi that made them come to heel, revive the organizational ethics and set an example. WTO (World Trade Organization) India has crossed the subsidy limit on the minimum support price of rice and if it had not walked
out from the WTO talks, Indian rice farmers would have been rendered without any protection. It is estimated that if India did not take a strong stand at WTO, around five lakh farmers would have been affected. What more do you expect from the government in the first 100 days? BRICS SUMMMIT Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden multilateral outing to Brazil for the BRICS summit was a success, with the announcement of the New Development Bank. What is astounding about it is the fact that an Indian will be the first president of the bank. MODI’S PUSH FOR HINDI Modi's government has ordered its officials to use Hindi on social media accounts and in government letters. But with more than half of India's 1.2 billion people using another language as their mother tongue, the push for Hindi isn’t appropriate in a highly diverse country, especially in the southern and eastern states, where English or local languages are preferred. This move was criticized to a great extent which then forced the home ministry to interfere and solve the issue. FOREIGN POLICY The Ministry of External Affairs, headed by Foreign Minister, Mrs.Sushma Swaraj, is responsible for carrying out the foreign policy of India. Modi's foreign policy is currently focused on improving relations with SAARC countries and other Asian states. In pursuit of this, he made official visits to Bhutan and Nepal within the first 100 days of his government. Both the visits were a great success. India has sanctioned a loan of 1 billion dollars for the development projects to be carried out in Nepal. BUDGET The 298 billion dollar budget presented by the Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley consisted of tax cuts, plans to establish broadband connectivity to Indian villages, funds for Infrastructure development, funds to clean Ganga river, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in defense and insurance, employment generation and many more initiatives. Surprisingly, the government aims to keep the deficit target to 4.1% of G.D.P. The budget which was presented, raised the investor confidence but considering the fact that India is a diverse nation, the budget even received negative feedback. For example, the media had hours of discussion on the funds allocated for women safety compared to the funds allocated for the statue of unity. As we all know in democracy criticism is the best way to learn, remaining cautiously optimistic would be a better option at this
stage.
BY ANSA MIRZA
In this budget government tried to please every section of society. For the aspiring middle class which helped bring Modi to power, the budget allocates about $34 million for women’s safety programs and provides home-loan incentives and tax breaks for flat-screen televisions. For the underprivileged, the government pledged to provide more electricity and roads, as well as to ensure a toilet for every home by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of India’s founding father Mohandas Gandhi. REFORMS In a significant development, the central government has decided to improve its taxation process in order to facilitate direct contact with taxpayers. The Ministry of External Affairs is set to waive second police verification in case of passport renewal. Six hundred and sixty rape crisis centers, named as Nirbhaya centers, will be established across the country. Government is also planning to set up “Kisan Mandis” in order to fight food inflation. The government is also working on the concept of soil health card which would reveal all the details about the soil. ENVIRONMENT The government plans to plant 200 crore trees along the entire 1 Lakh KM long National Highways network across the country. Under this scheme, employment will be generated for the unemployed youth. Government is also planning to implement a similar scheme under MNREGA along state highways, village and district roads. DEFENSE Defense Ministry approved fast-track road building along the disputed border with China. New posts will be established on strategic positions along the Indo-China Border. Two billion USD extension to the Karwar Naval base in the southern state of Karnataka was sanctioned. Government has also planned to install a new Radar station in the Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal to keep an eye on China's evil designs. The government is optimistic about the manufacturing of defense equipments hence the raise in FDI cap to 49% from 26%. Hope India becomes self-reliant soon.In the first 100 days many more key decisions were taken but the above mentioned are the most eminent among them. Responsibility falls on our shoulders now as we have government at the centre which is propeople with good governance, we must take the new message to everyone. But it is also our responsibility to go against the government when it commits a mistake. I am optimistic about the future of India and its citizens. Hope for the best.
Every single Indian woman -child or student, employee, wife, mother, rich or poor, villager or city dweller, sari clad or skirt clad, thin or fat, attractive or plain, each one of them, at some point of life, has experienced vicious and unwanted behavior towards themselves. She has repeatedly been shown ‘her place’ by the society. Every woman has at least one encounter with a man feeling entitled to have an access to her body. Rape, domestic violence, sexism, misogyny - the forms may differ, but no female is left unscarred. From the moment her 'inauspicious' existence casts a shadow on this world, her struggle begins. "I don’t know why people are so reluctant to say they're feminists. Could it be any more obvious that we still live in a patriarchal world when feminism is a bad word?" - Ellen Page All feminism is, is a movement to equate the status of men and women and hence liberate both from gender shackles. According to the articles in the 'The Guardian' and 'India Today', India is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for women. It is not easy to survive in a society so ruthless that strips its women off safety and wellbeing. "A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men." - Gloria SteinemIt is terrifying how the modern Indian society has utter disrespect for the female gender. Women walking through busy market areas by themselves may be subjected to 'Eve Teasing' which can range anywhere between men blurting out sexual remarks and even going as far as to "bumping" into women, with the intention of copping a feel. If that isn’t enough, the woman is molested in front a huge crowd like we have witnessed in Guwhati. Marriage can be just as cruel. It is not uncommon for poor, middle-class or rich families, to pressurize their daughter-in-law to get an abortion upon illegally find out that the fetus is female. Female babies are also dumped, on the street, left to die because they are 'worthless' unless a kind stranger rescues them.When a woman gets married in India, she is expected to give up her hopes and dreams, in order to serve her husband and his family. That’s practically slavery. More often than not she is treated as a son producing machine of sorts. The bride's family is expected to pay a dowry to the groom's family, in order to "shift" her from her family. Apparently, it is not uncommon for the groom's family to ask for more. Stories of physical abuse of newly-wed women just so they can convince their family to give more dowry as "Di-
vorce is shameful”, aren’t uncommon. Satyameva Jayathe, a popular reality show, featured an episode on female infanticide and it was shocking to realize that the well educated, settled families force their daughter in laws to determine the sex of the fetus and choose to abort if the gender turns out to be female. What’s worse is that even the well established private hospitals encourage these illegal activities. I am sure that all of you know about the Nirbaya incident which caused a major uproar in India and rightly so. We have, more or less, gotten used to such incidents that we do not grasp the gravity of the situation anymore. I want to make it very clear that it is not all men in India who have a fallacy. It seems that from day one, boys are taught they are worth more than girls, purely because of their gender. Patriarchal societies breed an imbalance of power. As it stands right now, many families cannot afford to pay a dowry for their daughter's marriage; this is why female babies are being killed! India needs feminism because it is high time that we come out of the typical concept of "Girls cannot do this" and "boys should do this", also known as Gender Policing. We need feminism because of the very fact that we need to ASK for it. We need feminism because lately, the female to male ratio is declining over time, the main reason being female feticides. India needs feminism so that it is possible for women to roam around freely anywhere, anytime, wearing anything they wish, without being stared at like a piece of meat, ready to be butchered. India needs feminism because men should realize that daughters are an asset, not a liability. India needs feminism because every woman should be able to live her life, exercising her own will, without being called uncultured and without suffering harassment. We need feminism because we blame rape on a girl’s apparel but don’t have an answer when a 4 year old get raped. Most importantly, India needs feminism because we have politicians making statements such as “Boys will be boys.” Feminism does not just mean providing safety to women from rapes or violence, it means not differentiating between men and women in every aspect of life, be it education, job opportunities or marriage. India needs feminism because we still advise our sons to HAVE FUN and daughters to BE SAFE. Feminism is not about giving extra rights to women, it is about giving equal rights to both men and women, as stated in the constitution of our country.
L EGA L IT Y O VER MO RA L IT Y- WHICH SIDE DO YOU WEIGH ON? BY LAVANYA MALLADI, JOURNALIST Given a chance to immune yourself from the aftermath of any illegal activity, which one would you like to attempt? In your brain, comes pounding an umpteen of answers. Am I right or AM I RIGHT? “Only if I could..”- I think that the capital reason behind people refraining from committing a crime, is entirely based on the fact that they are illegal and they are prone to the threat of penal charges. So let us have an overview of what exactly is “Legality” and “Morality”, how identical or alienated they are on the account of laws. “Morality” may be regarded as a concept that has aided people to comprehend the basic difference between what is right and what is not. This categorization was a prerequisite to evaluate a person in a society and this indeed fosters the formation of legal systems and constitution of laws. Prime objective: Govern and establish discipline among the people of a state, which defines the field of “legality”. Over time, however, this relation has been knocked over. Now it is the “legal” system and the action of laws
that influence peoples’ moral concepts. Basically, laws and morality channel our actions and behavior by providing incentives. The law administrators also do not show mercy for any violation of law and hence, morality instills guilt and disapprobation on doing something considered bad and ingrains pride and joy, when considered otherwise. So, relative characteristics between these two means of conduct control, the political “legality” and the ethical “morality” are to be looked upon widely. By law, I mean the body of rules that are determined and enforced by the state to regulate the actions and resolve certain adverse events. Enforcement of law is done in three stages. The identification and reporting of the crime being first, adjudication being the second and imposition of monetary sanctions or imprisonments, lastly. On the other hand, morality with its association with psychological and social attributes is a body of ethical rules of conduct. Individually, morality inculcates self condemnation and virtue and socially it
gets you laurels or a black eye. Moreover, the legality or morality check over apprehensions is not same around the planet. Even establishment of laws
against a few actions, which are controversial on moral terms, usually bring about retaliations from libertarians of the society. Given a thought, you might come up with a few examples yourself, like euthanasia, abortions, usage of marijuana and many likely. From 1966, let us consider the story of Nicolae Ceausescu, ex-
Communist dictator of Romania who made abortion (the only form of birth control back then) illegal. He proclaimed that anyone who avoids having children is a deserter abandoning the laws of national continuity. If women repeatedly failed to conceive, they were forced to pay “celibacy tax”. Within a year, birth rate doubled, although, majority of them were born into miserable living conditions, abhorring lives. Gazillions of protests out broke, rhetoric speeches cropped up, dozens of people shed their lives. Eventually, he was executed by firing squad and learned the hard way-with a bullet in his head, that his abortion ban had much deeper implications. This is a paradigm illustrating how legality past morality just cannot work. On the very same note, a woman from an abortion banned state, Texas, realized she was pregnant for the third time. She was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against Henry Wade, the district attorney, in a plea to legalize abortions. The case ultimately made to Supreme Court and by 1973, abortions were legalized. Due to this,
by 2004 about 37 million women were aborted. Yet the world cries for and labels Hitler’s action of killing 6 million Jews as a Holocaust. Some economists even believe that this case was the pivotal for the reduction of crime rate in 1990’s. Would this not be an example where the moral principles are kept aside to consider the societal corollary? Flaunting the long history of employing children and seeing them as an intrinsic part of the family economy, the Bolivian government has legalized child labor and called this ballgame as stepping forward. Many councils have decried the law again, citing moral grounds, but let us just wait and watch for what’s more to come. In this battle between Legality and Morality, the one that triumphs to be the gold star is a tough nut to crack, but as long as the consensus is reckoned with the need of the hour, they together can shut the door on many unwanted repercussions.
PAGE 5
EBOLA – A Global Challenge
Ready for the Voices of the Nation BY SRI VARSHITHA & VAIDURYA PALADUGU
BY AISHWARYA YELESWARAPU, LAYOUT TEAM Ebola virus is a virological taxon species included in the genus Ebolavirus, family Filoviridae; members are called Filovirus belonging to the order Mononegavirales. The Zaire ebolavirus is the most dangerous of the five species of Ebola viruses of the Ebolavirus genus. It causes an extremely severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates. Ebola first appeared in 1976. It is not entirely clear how Ebola is spread. EVD is believed to occur after a virus is transmitted to an initial human by contact with an infected animal's body fluids. Human-to-human transmission can occur via direct contact with blood or bodily fluids from an infected person (including embalming of an infected dead person) or by contact with contaminated medical equipment, particularly needles and syringes. Transmission through oral exposure and conjunctiva exposure is likely and has been confirmed in non-human primates. Medical workers who do not wear appropriate protective clothing may also contract the disease. In the past, hospital acquired transmission has occurred in African hospitals due to the reuse of needles and lack of universal precaution. However, symptoms include fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, weakness, diar rhea, vomiting, stomach pain and
lack of appetite.Less common symptoms include sore throat, chest pain, hiccups, shortness of breath and trouble swallowing.In some cases, there is external and internal bleeding.People are infectious as long as their blood contains virus.The incubation period, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms, is 2 to 21 days.
Diagnosing Ebola HF (Ebola hemorrhagic fever) in an individual who has been infected for only a few days is difficult because the early symptoms such as red eyes and a skin rash are nonspecific to ebola virus infection and are seen often in patients with more commonly occurring diseases. However, if a person has the early symptoms of Ebola HF and there is reason to believe that the possibility should be considered, samples from the patient can then be collected and tested to confirm infection. West Africa is experiencing the largest, most severe and most complex outbreak of Ebola virus disease in history. A total of 113 new cases of the dis-
ease (laboratory-confirmed, probable and suspect cases) additional to the 84 deaths were reported from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. The response of W.H.O and other partners to the outbreak is continuing to grow in the aforementioned countries. To reduce the possibility of the infected spreading the disease outside their communities, the governments have set up quarantine zones. WHO is working with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to ensure people in these quarantine zones receive regular food aid and other nonmedical supplies, thus potentially reducing the spreading of this disease. Kenya Airways officials said they will suspend flights to and from countries badly affected by the Ebola outbreak as a measure to prevent the spread of the virus. The flight restriction is designed to limit the entry of passengers who have visited Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. However, Nigeria is not included on their list of direct flight ban as it only has few Ebola cases. But of course, the decisions will be temporary and will change according to the status of various countries. This is not a mysterious disease. This is an infectious disease that can be contained. It is not a virus that is spread through the air.
RUSSIA'S “END OF THE WORLD” BY ALEKHYA AKKUNURI It’s not every day that we see large holes appearing out of the blue on the surface of the Earth. That’s why when a 60 meter wide hole was discovered by helicopter pilots in Yamal, the world was shocked. Naturally, people were brimming with conspiracy theories ranging from weapons testing to UFO crashes, trying to explain what baffled even the scientific community. The fact that Yamal can be roughly translated as ‘End of the World’, added fuel to the fire. The Yamal Peninsula, located in northern Siberia, is a gas and oil rich area. A video of the hole showed up online on July 15, 2014. Scientists are still unsure about most of the details related to the formation of this mysterious sinkhole, but they believe it was caused by the abnormally high concentrations of methane that was found at the bottom of it. From studying the soil samples they concluded that the crater might’ve actually been formed about a year or two ago. Researchers have estimated the depth of the hole to be about 70 meters deep, with an icy lake situated at the bottom of it. Calculating the diameter has proven to be a difficult task though, thanks to the ovoid shape of the crater. The hole alone is about 30 meters wide, but
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched MyGov, a platform that empowers the citizens of India to contribute towards Surajya. Speaking on the occasion, which also marked the completion of sixty days of the new Government, the Prime Minister said the success of democracy is impossible without participation of the people. The website “MyGov.nic.in”, will allow common people to lend their ideas and suggestions to the government. The initiative claims to bridge the gap between the people and the government. The platform, MyGov, presents an opportunity to the citizens to both ‘Discuss’ and ‘Do’. This web platform will allow people to reach out to the government with suggestions on various issues. Further, any idea shared by a contributor will also be discussed on the discussion forums, allowing constructive feedback and interaction. “The objective of each group is to bring about a qualitative change in that sphere through people’s participation” said Modi after launching the website in the national capital. “The only thing they required was an opportunity to share and showcase their contribution. The MyGov platform is a technology driven medium that would provide this opportunity to contribute towards good governance” he added. Citizens can even volunteer for various tasks and submit their entries. The portal
promises that some of the best ideas and suggestions will straightaway reach the prime minister. National Informatics Centre (NIC), Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) would implement and manage the platform. The idea behind launching this platform was to crowdsource governance ideas from citizens, especially the youth and enable them to volunteer for specific tasks and projects at the grassroots level. The platform is divided into various categories like clean Ganga, girl child education, clean India, skilled India, digital India, job creation. The intent of each group is to bring qualitative change in that particular sphere. RS Sharma, IT secretary, said citizens can upload documents, case studies, videos and work plans on the platform. "They can volunteer for various tasks, which would then be reviewed by other members and experts", he said. Once the tasks are approved by the admin, they can be shared with other members and worked on. The government is also working on a mobile application for MyGov. "While on the move, citizens will have the flexibility to take pictures from mobile and upload on the forum, report in-context problems and issues", Sharma said. “I have seen people wanting to devote their time and energy to nation building. All they need is an opportunity. MyGov is that opportunity”, the Prime Minister tweeted.
Twin Tragedies BY ANWITHA PARUCHURI
along with the soil surrounding it, it comes up to around 60 meters. Those who went into the crater noticed that the water was flowing from its sides but no one was able to go all the way down to the icy lake. The ground is still falling and water is still running into the crater. Plekhanov has theorized that the hole was formed because of an ejection, not an explosion, which means that no heat was released during its formation. Shockingly, a few weeks later, two more holes were found in the same region. Some locals in the region apparently knew about this hole since September of last year, reporting that they saw smoke and a bright flash. Others seemingly witnessed the falling of a celestial body. The third crater was accidentally found by reindeer
herders in the Taymyr Peninsula when they fell into it. It’s only 4 meters wide and 60-100 meters deep. The strange thing about this hole is that it is cone shaped, with no explanation yet as to why. These two holes are yet to be studied in detail. Scientists speculate that global warming could be the reason for the formation of these holes. The temperatures recorded have been at an alltime high. If the permafrost layer in Siberia continues to melt, there could be dire consequences for the world at large. Most people believe the effects of global warming influence the tundra regions the most. If this is true, the appearance of such holes will become more common over the years-and who knows what else.
A recent woeful catastrophe can create vivid nightmares in almost everybody. Many people have been following the sputtering investigation of Malaysian Flight MH 370, they spent the day following different theories about the missing flight. All rigorous attempts administered by several nations to locate the flight were in vain. After watching the cable channels and news reports, it was as if the MH 370 theories were going through a bizarre cycling loop making the factual leads even harder to analyze .This makes MH 370 a bit of a black swan. With all the efforts leading to no convincing inference, Malaysia said, "It must be assumed the Kuala Lumpur-Beijing airliner with 239 people on board had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean on 8 March". The move emphasizes the reality that the search team hadn't gotten any closer to finding the plane. Just as the ‘370’ incident was dissolving, it was on July 17 ,that the flight MH 17 which was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down in rebel-
held territory in Ukraine. All 298 people on board were killed. It was sad that no one had taken responsi-
bility on behalf of such a dreadful incident.US President Barack Obama called the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 an “outrage of unspeakable proportions” whereas Russian President Vladimir Putin termed it an “accident” and a “terrible tragedy”, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko branded it an “act of terrorism” and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called it an “inhumane uncivilized violent and irresponsible act”. All of these descriptions may be accurate but each one carries different rhetorical weight and legal implications. The unfathomable double disasters that killed 537 people calls for desperate steps to revive its failing airlines. Malaysian sovereign wealth fund that has a controlling stake in the airline, wants to mop up the minority of shares it doesn't own. The fund said that after it owned all the shares it would carry out a "complete overhaul", including operations, business model, finances, staff and regulations. The Malaysian authority also decided that they needed an additional cockpit security. It has added an extra crew member in the cockpit to ensure that if one of the plane’s two pilots took a break there were always two officers at the controls. Malaysia Airlines offered $5,000 to the families of each passenger and crew member who perished aboard Flight MH17. In a statement issued recently, the airline said its primary focus was to care for the loved ones affected by the tragedy, and has assigned each family a caregiver to provide emotional support. Let’s all wish these incidents would be last of their kind.
PAGE 6 Oh Captain! My Captain! Havoc in Nigeria - A TRIBUTE TO ROBIN WILLIAMS BY MADHUKAR ALLU When a song stirs up a memory, when motes of dust turning in a shaft of light take your attention from the world, when we weep in a theatre, ‘coz golden magic perfection touches us briefly, you step beyond who you are and where you are. For the briefest of instants, you have stepped into the magic realm. This is the beauty of Cinema. This is the beauty of that one powerful entity that has the power to affect and change the hearts and lives of millions of people all around the world. What gives a mere video such a power? The answer is simple. It’s the people in it. Man understands nothing better than something he can relate to. The way some actors dedicate entire lives to this amazing field is the sole reason why it is improving every single day. One such greatest personality in the history or cinema is Robin Williams. Robin McLaurin Williams was an American actor and comedian. Starting as a stand-up comedian in San Francisco and Los Angeles, he soon rose to fame as Mork in the TV series Mork&Mindy. Williams went on to establish a successful career in both standup comedy and feature film acting. He was nominated for an Oscar three times, bagging it once, for his marvellous acting in the movie ‘Good Will Hunting’. Robin Williams appeared in 83 films, 27 Television shows and 1 video game too. Apart from the academy awards, he also won 4 Golden Globe and 5 Grammy awards.
Robin Williams appeared in lead roles in films of all genres. Let it be an adult comedy movie series ‘American Pie’ or a Disney movie ‘Alladin’ or the best drama film of all time, ‘Dead Poets Society’ , Robin Williams did an extraordinary job on set, winning the hearts of everyone from a 5 year old to a 65 year old.
He lived an amazing life before his death at the age of 63. In the beginning of his career, Williams struggled as a street mime in front of New York’s Museum of Modern Art; by the end, he was the type of performer who could lift the spirits of a long-time friend in the hospital to our nation’s troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait and everyone in between. Moreover, once Williams reached the top, he remembered to look back on where he came from. The actor famously helped Jessica Cassesia become the first person in her family to go to college, funding her fullride scholarship to Juilliard when she
was just starting out. There's certainly no doubt Williams will be missed by both fans and colleagues. There are many good actors, but what makes Robin Williams so special? Why did his sudden demise break the hearts or hundreds of millions of people all around the globe? It’s because of the emotional bond he could create with his audience within the 2 hour span of the movie. What can be better than a man who believes he can change the world for good? His thoughts and characters were not limited just to the stage or screen. His off screen life was just as amazing as his roles in his movies. Robin Williams was not just a great actor. He was a great person, a caring friend, a loving husband. The life and death of such a great personality cannot be limited to a page’s writing. After the bare requisites of living and reproducing, man wants to leave some record of him, a proof, perhaps that he really existed. Some people leave this proof on wood, some on stone, but this great actor left his proof on the lives of other people. Someone once said, “When your presence is felt by people after you leave this world, that’s when you have truly lived.” This is a tribute to one of the best actors, a goodbye to the godly mentor.
Oh Captain! My Captain! You will be deeply missed.
FOOD FOR HYDERABAD’S NOCTURNAL
Places to visit after midnight BY SUMA KATRAGADDA, SUB-EDITOR Hyderabad’s such a great city to live in. The city of smiles, of lights, of a thousand faces, endearingly called the Pearl City, Hyderabad offers a variety of tourist attractions ranging from Heritage monuments, Lakes and Parks, Gardens and Resorts, Museums and a delightful shopping experience. And more importantly, the food’s brilliant. Hyderabad has its own set of issues, but which place in the world doesn’t? But there’s one major issue. The city shuts at 11pm. That could be a huge plus or a huge minus, depending on which side of the fence you’re sitting on. For any progressive and up-and-coming metropolis, a thriving, breathing nightlife is almost a requisite. Any major city can attest: after a hard day’s work, it is customary, or even a necessity, for hardworking professionals and teens to middle age yuppies to just let loose at some bar or disco somewhere, and get the stress out. A city’s nightlife also speaks much of its progress and modernity; randomly ask any tourist or professional and they’ll answer that having an exciting and lively nocturnal life quite apart from what they do during the day is a very important part of their activities. This is why, for any city to be truly alive, it must not cease its activities after the sun goes down. Everything in Hyderabad has been on a steady growth up ever since the late 90s. Unfortunately, the nightlife isn’t one of those; it has improved, no doubt about that, but it is not as vibrant or as diverse as those in other metros in India like, say, Mumbai or Bangalore. It is not to say, however, that the nightlife in Hyderabad is dead; it’s far from it. Even though the options become limited after midnight, there are still places to chill out, provided one knows where to look. Nocturnal food trips are pretty much popular, with Hyderabadi Biryani and Haleem leading the palate feast. Calling all creatures of the night!
There are quite a few restaurants offering midnight biryani and other eclectic varieties. Here’s a list of some of the diverse flavors the city has to offer: HOT CROSS BUNS What: Chicken buns Where: Gafoor Bhai Bandi Timings: 11pm-4:40am Ask any party animal or the youngsters in town about this bandi and they will surely have heard of Gafoor bhai. Today, all you have to do is drive up and give your order. The soft chicken rolls stuffed with lots of mayonnaise and spicy chicken gravy is to die for. Especially for all the late owls and party goers, Gafoor bhai is your midnight angel. DIG INTO DOSAS What: Dosas Where: Govind dosas Timings: 6am-1:30pm Starting early at 6:30 in the morning, it is a venerable food institution which now has branches even in Jubilee Hills. Watching Govind pour the batter on a hot griddle, smearing butter on the dosas, sprinkling karam podi and finally topping them with a helping of upma and other veggies is an unmatched experience in itself. THE ORIGINAL IRANI CAFÉ What: Onion samosas Where:Garden restaurant Timings:6am-midnight Located opposite the Clock Tower in Secunderabad, even today the café retains its old world charm. The chota samosas served go perfectly with the sweet Irani chai. Packed with crunch and taste, these are real winners which justify the long queues with eager clients who like to get their hands on the hot fresh batch to take home.
EVERYBODY’S FAVOURITE What: Ice cream Where: Famous Timings: 12pm- 5am It is a nice ice cream parlour which has spawned a million copycats but Famous remains a quintessential Hyderabadi pleasure. Starting out as a store that sold hand churned ice cream with seasonal flavours, today the shop sells over 50 flavors while the most famous ones remain sitaphal and anjeer. There are certain other options available such as -> ITC Kakatiya’s Deccan Pavilion, Begumpet-It is a coffee shop and it has the best midnight buffet in town. -> Ohri’s Banjara, Banjara Hills Rd no 12-They have best ice creams to choose from like Awful Awful and Bulls Eye muffin. -> Arabian Shawarmas- You will be spoiled for choice with all the little sheds serving up authentic shawarmas, kaathi rolls, South Indian snacks and of course our beloved Maggi noodles! -> Ram Ki Bandi- Ride up to this little place opposite Karachi bakery in Koti and you’ll be fighting a crowd just to place your order! Just a taste of one of their Double Cheese Dosas and Butter Idlis are well worth the wait. -> And of course, if you’d rather stick with the basics and have a bread-omelet, the roads around Paradise should take care of it! Hyderabad is a heaven for “Food Lovers”. There is nothing to beat Hyderabad delicacies. These days, Hyderabad has become one of the favorite places for people who want to have a lazy evening after a tired day’s work, meeting and chilling out with friends. For all those midnight strollers prowling in the city searching for food at midnights, these are the places you must visit for midnight-hunger-pangs-that-don’t-seemto-go-away.
BY MEHNAZ HUSAIN, JOURNALIST The world stood shocked as the news of abduction of some hundred school girls between 12 and 17 years old from their school hostel in Chibok, Borno State, Nigeria spread across world media on 16th April, 2014. The responsibility of this horrendous crime was taken by an extremist group, based in north-east Nigeria, called Boko Haram. This incident put Boko Haram on the front pages of the international media for the first time despite the fact that it has been carrying out such atrocities and transgressions in Nigeria since 2011. The Chibok kidnapping was just an eye opener for the international community. According to the reports, the abducted girls are being forced into Islam and into marriage with members of Boko Haram. Many of the students were also taken to the neighboring countries of Chad and Cameroon. Some are allegedly being sold, while some have been claimed to be already killed. There were also news reports claiming that Boko Haram was using the kidnapped girls as suicide bombers to spread terror and further their agendas. This incident amassed strong reactions from various international organizations and important personalities. It evoked disgust and condemnation from people all over the world. UN Security Council also condemned the attack and warned action against Boko Haram Militants for abducting Girls. The United Nations SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon and UNICEF condemned the abduction. Parents of the missing girls and other Nigerians took to social media to call the attention of the international community to their plight and to put pressure on the Nigerian government to take action. Ibrahim M. Abdullahi, a lawyer in Abuja, sent the first tweet using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. This campaign was launched to spread aware-
ness about the kidnapping and pressurize the Nigerian government to take appropriate actions to rescue the girls. Boko Haram sees public schools as places where students are brainwashed by a “Western” curriculum, and earmarks them as significant targets in its war to drive secular, federal institutions from Nigeria’s Islamic heartland. The main reason for the increasing atrocities committed by Boko Haram is the fact that the Nigerian government hasn’t been proactive in taking aggressive measures against it. The proof of the inability of the Nigerian government to contain Boko haram lies in the fact that many other cases have been reported after the much highlighted Chibok kidnappings and even after global outrage, little has been done to contain Boko Haram’s activities while they continue to transgress. The group’s current incarnation was founded in 2003 under the leadership of a young Islamic cleric named Mohammed Yusuf. Since his death, his former deputy Abubakar Shekau has taken Boko Haram’s reins of power and launched a violent campaign largely targeting police stations, federal institutions and Christian villages across northeast Nigeria. The group's official name is Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal-Jihad, meaning "People Committed to the Prophet's Teachings for Propagation and Jihad". The main ideology of this group is to establish an Islamic State in Nigeria, which would allow for the implementation of sharia law and stop any form of westernization of Nigeria. They have an uncompromising hostility towards anything remotely perceived as foreign. The International community hopes that the Nigerian government focuses on punishing the perpetrators of various crimes and returning the abducted girls to their families.
MICROSOFT SWEEPS OFF 18,000 BY PRASANNA VORUGANTI, EDITOR Microsoft recently laid off 18000 people, this is the highest layoff in the history of the Tech Industry. Despite the initial wave of shocking news, the employees were still happy with their new CEO Satya Nadella, they respected and accepted his decision. Within hours, the company was said to be “back to business”. The layoff hit newly acquired Nokia employees the hardest. Of the 18,000 cut, 12,500 were from Nokia. Most Microsoft employees understood why. When their project aims were clear, the unnecessary goals came into picture. Microsoft had no choice but to buy Nokia. It was the only phone manufacturer building high-quality Windows phones and in a post-PC world, it had Microsoft in a headlock. If Nokia turned its focus to Android, as it had begun to do, Microsoft would face a very stiff challenge in the mobile market. The Windows Phone team was least affected by these lay-offs While CEO Satya Nadella indicated that he wanted to run an even concentrated organization, the announcements of layoffs to full-time employees and limited contract workers beg the question of how these changes will affect the culture and future of Microsoft. Every employee is worthy, intelligent and resourceful. Will the loss of such people on a high-scale degrade the company's performance? As the company will no longer be home to secure careers for fulltime and contract employees alike, the company will now need to make big shifts to ensure that it can retain the loyalty of supreme employees or risk falling behind to other companies that will sweep up this talent instead. Satya Nadella wanted to return to a time when Microsoft was the provider of all things involving productivity -
Word, Excel, even just Windows. But this time, he wanted to do it by owning the cloud. He plans to accomplish that by focusing on businesses and being the provider of online software such as its Office suite, as well as offering storage and hosting products to businesses. Overall the most striking thing about the e-mail that Satya Nadella had sent to all his employees was how little it really said. It's about 3,000 words that fail to set a clear direction and appear almost contradictory. But his continued focus on "mobile first, cloud first", suggests that the perception of change is perhaps more important than actually changing anything. Much of Microsoft’s success in the PC market is owed to channel partners who helped in the sales of Microsoft business management applications and server solutions to businesses around the world. Now that Microsoft has refocused its efforts around mobile and cloud, what role will its channel partners take? Is there big change ahead, or will things continue as they always have? Satya Nadella made an assertive decision, when he decided to lay off 18,000 people as he didn't require many employees under the Nokia division. Nokia helped boost Microsoft's revenue numbers to $US23.38 billion (24.72 billion), up from $US19.9 billion (21 billion) in the same period last year. But it also dragged profits down to 55 cents per share. Nokia phones ran a wide array of operating systems that were not helpful to Microsoft's Windows brand. The Asha operating system, for instance, lacked features like the ability to use mobile versions of Office software or even GPS mapping. "The decision was all in the math. Agility is more important than scale in today's world," says Satya Nadella
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HIGHLIGHTS BY SUMA KATRAGADDA, SUB- EDITOR 1. Tragic death of comic genius leased. Be on the lookout people! Robin Williams brings attention 5. The Big Bang Theory Season to depression and bipolar disor- 8 will be starting on September der. The immensely gifted enter- 22, 2014. Kaley Cuoco reveals tainer was found dead at his that "Leonard and Penny wedCalifornia home on Sunday, sui- ding", not happening anytime cide by asphyxiation has been soon. cited as the probable cause. RIP 6. The Fault in Our Stars retains the No. 1 spot at the box-office Robin Williams. 2. Salman Khan Starrer Kick en- during its opening weekend, and tered the 100 crore club and grossed over $266 million worldthanks to this movie, he has man- wide against its budget of $12 aged to create a new record of million. being the first actor to have the 7. Mad Max Architecture- Justin most number of 100 crore films Plunkett's Con/struct series blends the real with the fabriand the record number is 7. 3. Microsoft to unveil the selfie cated. The South African dephone in the first week of Sep- signer and creative director has layered several images together tember. 4. Flappy Bird is back with a and combined them with comcouple of catches: It’s a multi- puter generated illustration to player game, and only available create a Mad Max style poston the Amazon Fire TV. There's apocalyptic world. no word as to when a regular An- 8. Rooney gets captain's job at droid and IOS version will be re- Manchester United. New Man-
chester United manager Louis van Gaal has given England striker Wayne Rooney the role of team captain and made Scotland midfielder Darren Fletcher his vice-captain. 9. Twitter unveils video ads Twitter unveiled a new advertising program that delivers "promoted videos" to the tweet stream of users of the popular messaging platform. 10. Soon you can use the noise from traffic, music, chants from a football ground and even your own voice to charge your smart phone. Scientists from Queen Mary University of London and Nokia have created an energyharvesting prototype (a nanogenerator that could be used to charge a cell phone using everyday background noise - such as traffic, music, and our own voices).
ENIGMATIC EUTHANASIA BY MONICA PRASAD, JOURNALIST Article 21 of our constitution confers the right to live, but does one hold the right to die? Keep reading to find out more about the debate around EUTHANASIA and its legalization. Euthanasia is the practice of terminating the life of a terminally ill person in a painless or minimally painful way. A section of society agrees euthanasia to be the most practical approach to deal with incurable terminal diseases. However there are people who find this unethical and as an encouragement to legalized crime. Over the years, many countries have accepted passive euthanasia which is withholding of medical treatment for continuance of one’s life. Active euthanasia which can be simply stated as assisted suicide, is about introducing a lethal substance into the patient’s body and this has been highly criticized and not accepted by many countries. In our country where basic human rights and health services are often left unaddressed, Euthanasia might seem irrelevant to many. But after several pleas and constant demands by pro-euthanasia organizations (like death with dignity) for years, the Supreme Court of India in March, 2011 took the nation by surprise when passive euthanasia was legalized with broad guidelines set accordingly. However, it was stated
as the law of the land until the Indian parliament enacts a suitable law. The Supreme Court has recently issued notices to states and union territories to legalize the use of passive euthanasia and hence resurfacing the issue
yet again. The modern world is quickly accepting this sensitive issue and this is far more prevalent today than it was a few years ago. Active euthanasia is legal in a few nations like Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and a few states in the USA. Belgium in February, 2014 legalized it for children by lifting the age restriction for the usage of active euthanasia and hence becoming the first country to do so. The growth in medical science is clearly reflected in the advancement of treatments today, but are these treatments good enough to completely cure the disease and make a person fit and healthy? The answer to this question is not certain and hence the prolonged suffering of the patient to these terminally ill diseases comes into picture. For a financially constrained family, the constant medication for years which just increases
the life span of a patient in a vegetative state is a huge burden. Also people who suffer from painful diseases might consider embracing death rather than face the trauma every single day. However legalizing euthanasia has been opposed by several religious groups and medical practitioners who find this method against their ethicsas they believe, one should always be encouraged to live rather than to give up their life. The thought of being a burden might affect the patients psychologically more than anything else and there might be cases of them being forced into euthanasia. The argument is that the term ‘euthanasia’ is ambiguous and being terminally ill hasn’t been predefined anywhere. The fear that this might slip into unwanted legalized crime is something that holds this group from supporting euthanasia. Can this be practiced so that a person can live as well as die with dignity? Can this be implemented in a way not to be misused? Is it against the ethics? Or are ethics in the case of such painful situations immaterial? The answers to these questions have been conflicting and the debate seems to be a never ending one. With several pleas and cases that remain pending, Euthanasia is something that has to be dealt with sensitivity and very carefully laid guidelines for a strict practice.
SELFIES AND USFIES BY D. RISHIKA REDDY, SUB-EDITOR “Smile” and “Say Cheers” are two of the most commonly heard phrases in today’s digital world. Today’s generation enjoys capturing each and every moment of their life .Several techniques have been developed which enable us to capture the essence of our emotions in the best way possible. However, it is the selfies and the usfies that have taken the world by storm. Facebook and instagram sparked off this trend of selfies which the world couldn’t resist. Everyone from Pope Francis to President Barack Obama have gone the selfie way. How can we forget to mention the much acclaimed Oscar selfie that created such a stir in the social media? Surprisingly, selfies have started to play a prominent role in
young people’s therapy sessions. In case where the patients find it hard to open about issues, selfies could be a wayfor therapists to break the ice and start a dialogue about what the teen was feeling when the self portrait was
taken or why he snapped the picture in the first place. Every new trend or phenomenon is associated with its share of advantages as well as disadvantages. Selfies are no exception, thanks to this culture the internet is no
longer a medium to share information but purely a medium to gain attention. The Daily Mirror recently reported the story of teenager Danny Bowman, an aspiring model who attempted suicide because he wasn’t satisfied with the quality of his selfies. This is only one instance, selfie addiction has now become a new pathology. Psychiatrists are beginning to consider the compulsion to take selfies as a health problem. Birmingham Business School study recently found that people who post a lot of selfies have more shallow relationships. Teens should make sure this habit doesn’t turn into an obsession and teens should be taught net etiquette at an early age which helps them avoid facing such situations.
INFLATION-RBI GETS SUPPORT FROM GOVERNMENT BY SWATHI YARABOLU, JOURNALIST The Reserve Bank of higher growth, lower inflation and India, which wants to bring retail sustainable balances, against the inflation down to 6 per cent, on back drop of economic growth Sunday received conditional sup- slipping below 5 percent in the port for this target from Finance last two years. Minister Arun Jaitley who is putIn January, a RBI panel ting emphasis on stronger eco- headed by deputy bank governor nomic growth. Raghuram Rajan's Urjit Patel recommended a policy efforts to make 'inflation target- framework that would lead to 6 ing' the cornerstone of Indian percent consumer price inflation monetary policy drew support from the Indian government on August 10th.The country is on the course to meet the bank's targets on reduced inflation, as the bank had started discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government on a monetary policy framework that includes measures to control inflation. The meeting by 2016. Consumer price inflacomes after Rajan's commitment tion spiked to 11.2 percent last to lower consumer inflation risk- November before three interest ing it with the new government. rate hikes ordered by Rajan However he succeeded helped bring inflation down to 7.3 in receiving conditional support percent in June. The panel also from the finance minister Arun proposed that government reduce Jaitley and he will need to tread its fiscal deficit to 3 percent of carefully in pushing the governgross domestic product by March ment into action. "We will be dis2017 from 4.1 percent projected cussing monetary policy framework through the course of in the current fiscal year. The sucthe year. Just now we have started cess of that effort lies beyond a preliminary discussion", RBI Rajan's control as subsidies stoke governor Dr Raghuram Rajan government spending, which said at a news conference after a poses a risk to the inflation fight. meeting of the Reserve Bank of The current policy rates, at 8 per India's board in New Delhi . The cent, are on target as credit deRBI kept its policy rate un- mand is also expected to remain changed for the third time in a muted despite a cut in banks' minrow at 8 percent, and set a target imum bond holding requirements, to bring down retail inflation to 6 known as the SLR, by half a perpercent by January 2016. Policy centage point to 22.0 percent, Dris being geared towards attaining Rajan said.
D R ONES TO C ROW D I ND I AN SK IE S BY IQRA LODHI Drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are aircrafts controlled by pilots from the ground or autonomously controlled by pre-programmed missions. This ingenious invention was initially developed for surveillance, intelligence gathering and weapons during wars. But now it is being commercialized for various purposes which are much more peaceful. From pizza delivery, capturing of poachers, safeguarding a nation’s boundaries to unraveling murders and so much more, UAVs are being used by the authorities in India for tackling varied situations. The usage of drones is akin to having eyes in the sky and this is being proven critical in monitoring rallies during election season, surveillance of the crowd during protests and disaster management. Even though people do have mixed feelings about the extensive usage of these sci-fi spy heads due to their intrusive nature, in the end, critics of UAVs have to admit that here the pros outweigh the cons. During festivals, religious processions and national holidays when a magnanimous group of people come out on the roads to celebrate with joy, for security purposes and traffic control these unmanned aerial heads are being dispatched into the skies. This has made thejobofthe militaryveryeasy asthey can keep an eye on the people while simply sitting in a console room, operating safety switches and viewing the images and videos transmitted by the aircraft. UAVs are also aiding in crime scene investigations. The body of the murdered engineer, Uma Maheshwari, an employee of TCS was re-
covered in thick foliage about 30 km east of the city of Chennai, nine days after she was reported missing. The police of Tamil Nadu utilized the expertise of a drone and brought an end to the gruesome mystery.
Drones do not necessarily come in a rocket shaped style; they vary in shapes, sizes and speeds. Modified versions of UAVs will very soon be utilized by scientists and doctors as well to send into the body for the study of internal organs and also into the deep dark seas to study the rich biodiversity underneath. Recently, drones have been applied for study of avalanches and snow. In frigid regions of the world where movement of man is difficult these man made devices are making a great break through. Back in 2013, during the deadly Uttarakhand floods using these great gizmos the survivors were located after rigorous scouring of the affected areas. These aerial vehicles have been very useful in helping with the collection of intelligence, for surveillance activities, traffic control and what not. It might seem a bit invasive but which invention today isn’t? To all the critics out there, don’t worry, your privacy is safe and your lives aren’t at risk, plus you know what the best part is? You won’t have to wait a long time for that pizza that you ordered because there are no traffic hassles! 15 minutes and it’s all yours.
PAGE 8 THE BEST LEAGUE IN THE WORLD Star Struck Tennis shots BY SATWIK RAJ, JOURNALIST With the Premier League season coming up, we have decided to introduce this giant of a sporting event to all those fencesitters who seem to have heard about this, but have never seen a league match, and to figure out for themselves why Billions of Fans around the world leave everything else on a Saturday night to passionately support clubs they consider their own. To all those who already are die-hard fans, we'd like to talk about how clubs are sizing up before the start of, arguably one of the most exciting seasons of football. What you need to know before you start reading is: 1. The English Premier League happens, quite obviously, in England. 2. This is played in a league format where every club plays 19 other clubs twice, that is, once at home, and once away. 3. Every win gets you 3 points, draws result in sharing a point each, and losses get you boos and brickbats. 4. Matches happen every Saturday evening according to IST, so you really don't need to stay up late. 5. The team with the maximum number of points at the end of 38 weeks of gruelling and competitive football gets the League title. 6. The top 4 teams qualify for Champions League football. Simple enough? Now let's get started by meeting 7 teams, all of them with almost an equal chance of winning the League this time. Manchester United: Sounds familiar, no? Definitely should. Arguably, definitely one of the most supported clubs on planet Earth. 'The Red Devils' are the most decorated club when it comes to League titles,with 20 titles in their bag, and finishing second on 15 occasions. They have had a rich history of successful managers,with notable ones being Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson. Current Situation: Disastrous last season after finishing 7th in the league, their lowest position in the last 20 seasons, due to poor performances and uninspired managerial tactics. Things are now looking better with a very good pre-season, and a new Manager with an enviable CV. They're working hard to overhaul a broken squad, and have made some pretty good signings so far in the Transfer Market. Call on finish: Scars from the previous season may remain,but they should make it to the top 4 Manager: Louis Van Gaal Home: Old Trafford Players to watch out for: Rooney, Mata, Adnan Januzaj, Di Maria. Manchester City: United's crosstown rivals. Not a decorated history, but definitely a better team at present. Playing Manchester City at their home does not result in a loss. It results in Decimation, Annihilation. Not many can go to the Etihad and live to tell the tale. City represents pure class and ruthless force. City has won the League on 4 occasions previously, with 2 of them being in the last 3 years. They were not a very strong club, until a facelift in 2009 pumped millions into the club and changed the way
BY SRIRAM, JOURNALIST the world saw this team. Current Situation: Last year's Champions. Still a very good squad. A couple of decent signings in the Transfer Market. They are still the favourites to win the League again after a decent preseason. Call on finish: Should comfortably finish in the top 4. Might get the title. Manager: Manuel Pellegrini Home: Etihad Stadium Players to watch out for: Dzeko, Aguero, Yaya Toure Liverpool: Second most decorated club in the EPL. Back in yore, it was either Liverpool or Manchester United. 18 league titles, finishing second on 14 occasions. 'The Reds' are most notable for their time under Bob Paisley and Bill Shankly, having won 11 League titles and 7 European trophies under their tutelage. Current Situation: Finished 2nd Last season, riding on the Player of the Year Luis Suarez's astounding performances. His departure may dent their attack, but Sturridge, Sterling and their new signing Mario Balotelli might make up for his loss. They have to cover up for their losses and get their game going if they want to make a big impact this time. They’ve had a positive pre-season. Call on finish: If they can replace Suarez, they might challenge for the title again. Otherwise, might make it to the top 4. Manager: Brendan Rodgers Home: Anfield Players to watch out for: Sturridge, Sterling, Balotelli Chelsea: Finished as Champions 4 times. Always a title contending side. They are known to be the home of some of the finest talent with a fierce and aggressive owner. Invest in young talent and blend it with experience, always a complete looking squad. Chelsea fans cherish times when Didier Drogba decimated oppositions and when Jose Mourinho calls the shots. Current Situation: Finished 3rd last season. Mind blowing buys in the Transfer Market. Have all loopholes covered. Their squad literally overflows with talent. The Blues are back into their game. Mourinho will leave no stone unturned this time around, having been very vocal about their 'less than impressive' performance last time. Good Pre Season. Call on finish: If nothing goes wrong, nobody, almost nobody can beat them. They are favourites to take the title this time. Manager: Jose Mourinho Home: Stamford Bridge Players to watch out for: Hazard, Courtois, Costa, Fabregas. Arsenal: 13 Time Champions. The Gunners are home to the some of the finest players to have played in England. Not only does their History speak for itself, their currentmanager,Frenchman Arsene Wenger , took the club on an unbeaten run in the 2003-04 season, becoming only the second club to ever do so. Legend has it that defenders would kick themselves and hate getting up on days when they had to face Theirry Henry and Arsenal at their
peak. A team that you definitely have to sweat to win against. Current Situation: After staying on the peak for a long time,dropped form and finished 4th last season,being plagued by injuries. A couple of good buys in the Transfer Market. A topsy-turvy pre-Season. Still have the services of the French Manager. Should make teams work very hard for points,and put up an extremely decent challenge for the title. Call on finish: Consistency can see them challenge for the title. Whatever happens, Arsenal will finish in the top 4.Period. Manager: Arsene Wenger Home: Emirates Stadium Players to watch out for: Chambers, Ramsey, Alexis Sanchez. Everton: A Decorated Past, A Dark Horse at present. Their investment in young talent is paying dividends now. Came very close to finishing in the top 4 last season, missing out to Arsenal. Current Situation: Were consistent last season, beating better teams often last season. They Finished 5th last season. Acquired the services of Romelu Lukaku and the lads are stepping up under the tutelage of Roberto Martinez. Not a very impressive pre-season. Have the knack for upsetting stronger opponents. Loyalty of players performing well is working in their favour, so they are not losing out on Talent. Call on Finish: Have not improved as much as the other teams,and hence might not make it to the top 4. One Cannot rule out the possibility of them springing a surprise. They can give the bigger clubs a run for their money. Manager: Roberto Martinez Home: Goodison Park Players to watch out for: Lukaku, Mirallas, Barkley. Tottenham Hotspur: Quality has declined over time. They were once a major contender for the title but selling stars has resulted in a drop of quality of Football. Investments last season are yet to pay returns. The arrival of Mauricio Pochettino who performed extremely well with Southampton might just be the boost they needed. They need to get their game together for any chance of finishing in the top 4. Current Situation: A couple of Highs and lows saw them finish 6th last season. Mauricio Pochettino might just turn the team into title contenders,given their talent. Players need to step up for a chance at the top 4. Call on finish: Do not look as impressive as the other teams. They might not make it to the top 4 but definitely one of the Dark Horses. Only time can tell what might happen with this club. Manager: Mauricio Pochettino Home: White Hart Lane Players to watch out for: Walker, Lamela. There you have it. A brief look at how things are shaping up for another exciting season. So this time,all you have to do is pick a team, sit down, watch,and scream out loud if they score. Happy Football times fellas.
There are many cherished moments in a tennis match. Starting with the aces, there are slides, powerful forehands and backhands, the tricky drop shots, the diving volleys, the skilled banana shot, with some of them being the signature shots of some of the seasoned players of the game.Here is an exclusive collection of such shots. THE SHOT OF THE YEAR, 2014: Wimbledon 2014, center court, round 4, Rafa turned his head around startled. Tim Henman declared it “the shot of the year”. It was hit by the 19 year old Australian wonder kid, NICK KYRGIOS. Winning the game 40-0 at 3 games apiece in the second set, after losing the first set, Nadal struck a powerful backhand. It seemed like Nick just missed his timing, but he properly cleared his legs and played a tweener, lobbing the ball just past the net away from Nadal, completely surprising him. This shot earned him a lot of recognition overnight. TWEENER from the GENIUS: TWEENER, the label that comes because of Sabatiani’s frequent use of it, was shunned until Roger hit this shot in the US Open semifinals of 2009, against his arch rival Djokovic. Roger showed his master class when he ran back for a ball lobbed by Djokovic, with the nets at his back, he hit the shot perfectly from between his legs near the baseline, thereby earning him a point. Djoker couldn’t help but give a
the then champ Ivan Lendl. Boris played his trademark shot near the nets, displaying his skill, where he hit the diving volley.The first volley he sent was returned back furiously.This was when he showed his quick reflexes and flew like an eagle to hit the volley. Thereby capturing the game point and eventually winning the game. Ivan was dumbstruck. RAFA’S BANANA FOREHAND: Rafael Nadal, undeniably the
“king of clay” has demolished every opponent at Roland Garros. His asset is his strength.He jinxes his opponents who assume the ball to be going out of the court only to see it land inside the court. THE ACE: ACE is arguably a great asset to any player and a very important thing a player can posses in his armory. Unofficially, Samuel Groth holds the record for the fastest serve of 163.4mph, however it is officially held by IvoKarlovic who served at a blitzering speed of 155mph. These serves, without a mark of doubt, give the player an added advantage, thus stunning their opponents. THE DROPSHOT: The drop shot is undeniably, the trademark shot of John McEnroe who plays it much nearer to the nets unlike other players who play it near the baselines.There were many occasions where he played dropshots, gently pushing the ball into the opponent’s court. The ball bounces off twice at a low height before the opponent can return it,thereby showing his area of expertise!
smile.The crowd went viral. The commentators went speechless. Roger called it his best shot and it is most likely “The Shot of the Century”. BECKER’S DIVE: As the name goes Becker dive is virtually owned by Boris Becker.It was Masters final 1988 against
AGASSI’S RETURN: Andre Agassi is considered to posses the best returns in the history of the game.Though Agassi did not have the serves which most tennis players enjoyed; he could overcome that with his near perfect returns thereby dominating his opponents. He was able to return the serves as quickly as 140mph, against his famous rivals Pete Sampras, Michael Stich, thereby surprising them.
India's Very Own Football League: The ISL BY TEJASWINI REDDY
Football fans in India finally have a reason to celebrate, with the announcement of the eight franchises of All India Football Federation’s ‘Indian Super League (ISL)’, which is scheduled to begin in October this year. The league, officially sponsored by the Hero MotoCorp,will be run along the lines of the Indian Premier League. Each team will play each other twice on a home and away basis and the top four teams at the end will qualify for the knockout stages in December. Touted to be one of a kind football league in India, ISL hopes to make an impact when it joins the bandwagon of professional sporting leagues in the country. It was launched on 21st October 2013. The league already has some big names credited to it, with celebrities like Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and John Abraham bagging the
Pune, Mumbai and Guwahati teams respectively. Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly co-owns the Kolkata team along with the La Liga club Atletico Madrid. “The Indian Super League provides a great opportunity for the youngsters to learn and enhance their talent to develop into outstanding players”, said Sachin Tendulkar, who co-owns the Kochi Franchise with PVP Ventures. The Indian Super League is a great initiative to promote the sport in India and provide a platform for young footballers in the country to showcase their talents and to make India an active part of this wonderful sport loved by the world. However, what remains to be seen is whether the league lives up to the expectations, or falls prey to corruption and the cloud of suspicion that the IPL is currently under.
PAGE 9 Game, Set and Match Indians at Glasgow BY VACHAN ND, EDITOR
It’s that time of the year when the focus of the whole tennis fraternity shifts to the last grand slam of the year, The US Open. It is a hard-court tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, for which men's singles was first contested in 1881. Since 1987, the US Open has been chronologically the fourth and final tennis major comprising the Grand Slam each year; the other three are the Australian Open, French Open(or Rolland Garros) and the Wimbledon. Played at Flushing Meadows, New York, US Open is mainly known for the robust celebration of tennis as a sport. From the Amazing pre-events to the nail biting matches, US Open has it all. In the men’s singles competition, with the big names
BY D. RISHIKA REDDY, SUB-EDITOR
such as 5-time finalist(champion in 2011) Novak Djokovic, 2012 US Open champion Andy Murray and record 5 time US Open champion Roger Federer all in fine form, the tournament is definitely going to heat up. The wrist injury to the Defending champion Rafael Nadal has dampened the spirits of many fans, who due to his injury, had to pull out of Rogers cup and Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati and is trying hard to be fit in time for the tournament. Coming to Women’s singles, Defending champion Serena Williams won all her matches at the Southern and Western Open claiming she is ‘relaxed’ and ready to defend her title. Giving her a run for the money, we can expect tough competition from in-form Russian, Maria Sharapova and the Belarusian, Victoria Azerenka, who would be looking to avenge
the previous two losses to Serena Williams, both in the final. The Doubles will have 3 categories- Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Doubles titles. Leander Paes and Radek Speanek will look to repeat their feat from last year. Giving a tough fight would be the Brian Brothers, who will be the ones to beat on their home turf. Women’s Doubles being the most unpredictable competition, Czech’s Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka would be considered favourites ahead of Australian duo of Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dallacqua. With all the hype surrounding the tournament and a few injury scares, it’ll be interesting to see whether the US Open 2014 lives upto to the standards or not. Will we see upsets early on? Will Federer ‘finally’ get to that elusive 18th title? All the Questions will be answered come August 25.
LA DECIMA BY SHREYA ANANTHARAMAN The weeks leading up to 24th May, 2014 saw the whole of (not just) Spain in frenzy. Two teams from the capital city battling it out for the ultimate prize in club football was almost unheard of. The host city, Lisbon, Portugal pledged their undying support for their superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo. The air was thick with tension as the two teams walked onto the field. There couldn’t have been more contrasting images to live up to. On one hand were the wildcards, filled with passion and drive to succeed at the biggest stage in club football.They took the tournament by storm. Atletico Madrid received a rousing applause in the stadium and among the more backward sections of Madrid. This team, many believed, deserved to win just for their sheer passion and determination to see it through. On the other end were 9-time previous holders, Real Madrid.The current team of a two time Ballon D’ Or Winner (Yes, current too), one of the finest goalkeepers (who clearly appears past his prime now), a temperamental central defender (Why unnecessary head-butts, Pepe?), an underrated winger/midfielder Di
Maria (Quite the 'Angel') and the most expensive signing in the transfers history, Gareth Bale. As the whole of upper-class Madrid prayed, real sought to win back a trophy that had eluded them the last 12 years. After seamless victories over past holders Bayern, German giants Dortmund and Schalke and in what seemed like another year, another opportunity
wasted, the Spanish giants let their fierce neighbours take the lead, having their following, one of the largest in the world, looking up to the stars. A heady extra time last minute equalizer by Sergio Ramos just blew the lid off the capped emo-
tions of not just everyone at the stadium, but of one of the largest global audiences ever recorded for a sports event. The match went on till the early hours of the next morning in certain sections of the world, including India. What followed was nothing short of a fairy tale. Three goals in quick succession from Bale, Marcelo and Ronaldo meant that Real Madrid was crowned European Champions once more. Nothing summed up the spirit better than Xabi Alonso in the audience, just celebrating the victory. Having been booked thrice on the road to the final, Alonso had to sit out and watch from the sidelines as Diego Godin’s goal for Atletico was cancelled out and new European Champions emerged. Atletico’s frustration became apparent as their charismatic manager Diego Simeone had to be redcarded at the 124th minute for his (understandable) outburst. Eventually, congratulations were in order and a fantastic opponent acknowledged. Guess who lifted the cup at the end of it all? Ah, the days of glory, many may they be.
The reincarnation of Kabaddi BY DHEERAJ Pro kabaddi is a first of its kind initiative by Mashal Sports to take the sport of Kabaddi to new levels of Professionalism. This league provides a great opportunity to all the players and coaches of the game to prove their mettle, making them role models to the youth of India. The humble sport did not just get a makeover with a potent mix of celebs and media attention, but also became a mega success, with 22 million viewers watching the opening night of pro kabaddi league, Kabaddi has a bright future. Pro Kabaddi is an eight city league, with matches to be played in caravan system making every team play twice with every other team of the league. The players are auctioned and every team bids for the player they are interested in.The first signing and auction of players for the 8 teams was held
on 20 May 2014 in Mumbai. India's national kabaddi captain Rakesh Kumar was the costliest among all the players, bought for Rs. 12.80 lakh by the Patna franchise. Mostafa Noudehi was the highest paid overseas player bought for Rs. 6.6 lakh by the Pune franchise, amongst players from over 13 nations. For every win, the winning team gets 5 points, while a loss, if lost by 7 points or less gives the losing team 1 point. However, if lost by 7 points or more, the losing team gets no points. A tie provides 3 points to both the teams.The top scoring four teams at the end of the group stages will progress to the playoffs. The first edition of the tournament started on 26 July 2014 with eight franchises namely U Mumba, Jaipur Pink Panthers, Patna Pirates, Bengaluru Bulls, Dabang Delhi, Bengal
Warriors, Telugu Titans and PuneriPaltan. U Mumba has been the pick of the teams being unbeaten in the league till date and likely the favourites for the cup. This league has not only received positive response from the viewers but from critics and media as well. Several viewers have found the game very interesting and gripping. The games have received a positive response on social media as well. Around 6 million people had tweeted about these games within just 12 hours of the start of the games! The league has been able to reach 72.5 million viewers with 32% of them being women. So, the inaugural edition of this league has definitely transformed this indigenous sport into a commercial one! All those who haven’t watched a kabaddi match yet, this might be your chance!
Glasgow, Scotland hosted the historical 2014 Commonwealth games (officially called the XX Commonwealth Games) from 23 July to 3 August 2014. This much anticipated multi-sport event which had over 4,950 athletes from 71 commonwealth nations was packed with its dose of surprises, drama, entertainment and not to forget, hard fought fights. A total of 18 sports and 261 medal events were contested at the 2014 games. These games unfolded with a spectacular opening ceremony which celebrated the spirit of unity and diversity of the commonwealth nations. These games also ended on a high. With global superstar, Kylie Minogue enthralling the audience, millions of viewers were glued to their TV sets around the world to enjoy the breathtaking closing ceremony. Coming to the Indian performance, India finished 5th with 64 medals (including 15 gold medals,30 silver, 19 bronze) behind England, Australia, Canada and hosts Scotland. Although, this is a far cry from the 2010 Commonwealth games, where India notched up a record 101 medals, athletes should take heart from the fact that the competition at this event was stronger. A lot was expected from shooting, wrestling and badminton
teams and they didn’t disappoint. The shooting team that consisted of 30 players, was the most successful one as they brought home 17 medals including 4 gold. The traditional sport, wrestling was the second most successful sport, bagging 11 medals, including 5 gold, with both Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt clinching the yellow metal. The badminton team sans Saina Nehwal held the tricolour high with 4 medals including the historic gold by P Kashyap in men’s singles. The surprise package of the season was the weightlifting contingent. Considering the tough competition in weightlifting, 12 medals which were won, are definitely an admirable job. Men’s hockey too sprung a surprise finishing 2nd despite a disastrous World Cup campaign. Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa won India its first CWG gold in women’s doubles squash, defeating the top seeded English pair. The 16 year old Malaika Goel carved a niche for herself by winning silver in 10m air pistol in her maiden commonwealth appearance. All one can say is that India ended its campaign decently, proving it to the world that the future is bright for the Indian Sports! Hoping that India manages to continue its dream run in the upcoming Asian games too!
One Last Time BY RAHUL MAILIKA Yes, it was One last time. One last time that some of the all time greats of cricket like Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne, Rahul Dravid and Brian Lara were seen on the field playing cricket in the midst of several die-hard cricket fans , along with the present generation superstars like Kevin Pietersen, Yuvraj Singh and Virender
The match started, with RoW XI winning the toss and electing to bat first. Yuvraj powered on to a century, finishing with a 132 from 134 balls. What the innings was most notable for was the absolutely devastating spell of Saeed Ajmal, finishing with figures of 4-45 in 10 overs, with the prized scalps of Gilchrist, Pietersen and Afridi.
Sehwag. This was the most beautiful concoction of Experience, Pure Class, Brute Force and Young blood. The scene was set on July 5th 2014. It was celebration time as it was the 200th anniversary of the historic Lords Stadium, the spiritual home of cricket. A One Day match was scheduled between the teams of the Marylebone Cricket Club XI,led by Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and the Rest of World XI, led by Shane Warne. This was not something new, as traditionally, fixtures between RoW XI and other teams were not unheard of, starting on 13th September 1965, between RoW XI and England XI. The tradition continued, resulting in the inception and the subsequent success of the matches. Not only was this unprecedented in the 21st century, it was a delight to the eyes of every cricket enthusiast on planet Earth.
Notable contributions from Collingwood and Siddle ensured RoW finished strong on 293 from a maximum of 50 overs. MCC came in to bat, and Aaron Finch decimated the opposition with a score of 181 from 145 balls and with Sachin Tendulkar and Chanderpaul chipping in, it was more or less a cakewalk for MCC, finishing the job in 45.5 overs. What saddened Cricket Fans was the fact that the much hyped Sachin-Warne battle never happened, with the latter being injured during his stay at the crease. Having said that, this was a dream come true for every person who ever loved and adored the sport of Cricket. Something of this magnitude happening again in the near future is not something that is possible, but what we witnessed on the field that day will remain in memory of every man and woman who lived to see the spectacle.
PAGE 10 VILL AINS YOU JUST CAN’T HATE BY LAVANYA MALLADI, JOURNALIST Well, you have a story? Then, you need a villain. If you don’t have a villain, the good guy can stay home.” The film industry brags a list of outright iconic and down right bad guys who are just too amazing to hate. Be it their crazy punch lines or the killer style, the quick-witted dialogues or their be yond legendary performances, we are all in awe of them. Here we bring to you, a few of the most loved villains of all time:
1. THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST, ‘THE WIZARD OF OZ’ There are witches, and then there is The Wicked Witch of the West. You just can’t get over that green pointy face and the blood brewed voice out of your head, can you? An out-ofthe-closet sadist who rode her bicycle into Kansan and her broom across Oz. The last to go will see the first three go before her” (Cue to the Witch’s theme song). The line says it all. 2. THE JOKER, ‘THE DARK KNIGHT’
‘WHY SO SERIOUS?’
(Well, if the joker is on the other side why wouldn’t anyone be). So, the Batman can possibly do EVERYTHING; hunt him down, pound the hell out of him, etc, but do let me know if he can wipe that maniacal grin from the most creative anarchist who, with just a whole new level of sense of humor, stole the show. ‘Do you know why I use a knife? Guns are too quick to savor the pain’. He just got us onto that line, didn’t he? 3. DARTH VADER, ‘STAR WARS TRILOGY’ He once said, “People never forget the villain”. Oh, was he right. This legendary scifi villain is one of the most imposing figures in the wide whole world. No ifs, ands or buts about it, he has got all the credentials to be on this list. His visually complex self, though got us into forbearance, but for the rest of the stuff he pulled through, makes him the last guy anybody would want to mess with. 4. HANNIBAL LECTAR, ‘SILENCE OF THE LAMBS’ Brains and brawn, dark sadism and lunacy. One character to suffice: Hannibal Lectar, the intellectual cannibal. If there is anyone who could psychologically manipulate you to dish yourself into a meal and just before you even realize, you’re being feasted upon while you’re alive, it has to be him. An outof-this-world Oscar winning performance is just the feather on his cap. 5. MORIARTY, ‘SHERLOCK HOLMES’ Could this brilliant, wild, to the nth degree comical, irrational, surpassingly crazy, supremely dangerous, (and this
BY MONICA PRASAD, JOURNALIST
archive of adjectives could go a page-long...) in any possible way not crack in this list? He is one opponent any hero would curse his luck to possess. If there is any antagonist to walk shoulder to shoulder with Sherlock, I can picture that to be only Moriarty. 6. THE SHARK, ‘JAWS’ Folks, It is just not a shark, it is THE SHARK and this seven-gilled fish can get the homo-sapien villains to a whole new level of complexity. Safe to say, no one messes with The Shark. Not just the Hollywood, but our industry back home too brags a few astounding quintessential villainy performances. 7. GABBAR SINGH, ‘SHOLAY’ “Tera kya hoga kaliya” *and goes the evil laughter*. This callous dacoit carved his name with golden letters in the history of Bollywood, to be one of the best villains we’ve ever come across. 8. MOGAMBO, ‘MR. INDIA’ I dare you to take a look into those gigantic, enraged eyes. What if you? Well, then let’s just say: “Mogambo khush hua!”. So, there you have it, if you have to plot revenge against your sour foes, you now know where to go!
The CATCHER in the RYE BY MALLIKA GANDHAM Never heard of it? Then you should probably buy yourself a copy. Here’s why... Holden Caulfield, a teenager, gets expelled from a private school for flunking in more number of papers than he could afford to (sounds familiar?) which gets him expelled from Pencey Prep, a private school. Holden leaves school two days early to explore New York before returning home, interacting with teachers, prostitutes, nuns, an old girlfriend, and his sister along the way. He despises the adult world for its “phoniness”. Nevertheless, he seems to be thrilled by the trappings of adult world: alcohol, the idea of intercourse and a kind of independence. This is a book which teenagers of several generations can always relate to because of its complex themes of rebellion,
identity and independence. It is easy to identify with his adolescent angst and his want to make sense of the world around him. The protagonist Holden dislikes the exclusivity and the prejudice associated with people who are neither attractive nor hip. He ad-
YOUTUBE RS THAT NEVER FAIL TO ENTERTAIN!
mires all that is pure and innocent. He wants to be the “catcher in the rye”, a metaphor, better understood while reading the book than explained here. The writing style of this book has been criticized since the time of its release, and it might have even been the cause for its ban back in time. But the use of colloquial language only reflected the teenage perspective of the protagonist. Also, making this book even more interesting is the fact that it was found in possession of a number of assassins, be it Mark David Chapman who shot John Lennon or John Hinckley Jr. who attempted an assassination on Ronald Reagan in 1981. So, what is it about this book that ultimately evoked such reactions? Read and find out.
Bored with the usual TV shows and Sitcoms? Want a refreshing change? Here’s something that is sure to leave you in splits- Video bloggers (Vloggers). Now, they is one amazing set of people making YouTube videos regularly that ensure you to be thoroughly entertained. These people have millions of subscribers and a huge fan base. Here’s a list of a few famous YouTubers that are sure to interest you. RAY WILLIAM JOHNSONWith his comical approach to everything, this Columbia graduate has his own trademark video series called ‘equals three’ (=3). All he does in his videos is giving his reviews and making goofy comments on some of Internet’s latest viral videos which are an instant hit. With around 11 million subscribers and over a billion views, he is a top grosser and so much fun to watch. SMOSHThis American duo is easily the most loved and the most subscribed on YouTube. Their silly and random approach towards normal day-to-day incidents is sure to give you a roll of time. They are famous for their flash animations and also happen to have a fun website. When you watch this pair on screen, you just can’t help but grin. SUPERWOMANThis Canada based Punjabi girl manages to entertain all age groups. With drama in right proportions, her videos are oh-so-relatable to everyone. They are mostly sattires on different kinds of people and cultures. With swag, ‘shemurr’ and ‘ish’ like that, this lady’s videos are an all-time hit on YouTube. KANAN GILL AND BISWA KALYAN RATHThe good thing about terrible movies is that their sarcastic re-
views can give you immense bliss. This reviewer duo has never failed to leave their viewers in splits of laughter. Their YouTube vlog- ‘Pretentious Movie Reviews’ which is now, just four movies old, is already gaining notoriety on the website. Bollywood reality check? These guys are definitely serving it sunny side up! NIGAHIGASpeak of Vlogs, and the first name that strikes is Nigahiga. This Japanese descent American guy holds a degree in film making and definitely an expertise in comedy. He is the most subscribed solo Vlogger with around 12 million subscribers. Higa is the face and personality of the videos that specialize in comical and fictional advertising. This multi talented guy also performs on his self composed songs. JACKSGAPJack and his identical brother Finn are hilarious. These good looking brothers have a huge female following. They get crazy to the extent of turning their bedroom into a giant ball pit. The best part about them is the details they give in their videos with amazing edits. Their Vlogs during their visit to India are the best. FASHION VLOGGERSTo all the fashionistas out there, do check out these pretty chicks giving out all sorts of style tips and advices. Their videos range from hairstyles, makeup, shopping hauls, room décor to tours. These videos bring out the girlie side of you and are sure to give you a great time. Michelle Phan, Bethany Mota, Fowler sisters, Lindy Tsang, Zoe Sugg are a few to name.
RIDICULOUSLY INSANE
TWEETS BY T.K. SRIRAM, JOURNALIST
*Hey! I bought a new phone. Let me tweet about how awesome and cool it is!* Tweet? Sounds familiar? Yes. Most of the Twitter users love to share (or tweet) the happenings of their lives on the social networking website. And then, there are a few whose tweets are ridiculously random and crack us up in laughter. Here we bring you some of those: 1. Ecological balance: One Manmohan Singh for every Arnab Goswami!! 2. My office password’s been hacked. That is the third time I’ve had to rename the cat. 3. Laziest tweet ever! - Spent a half an hour searching for a torrent to download a textbook which I left in another room. 4. Snickers to endorse Suarez. Hungry? Why wait??? #FIFA 5. The umpire looked like a PT teacher raising his hands up and
down. #GayleStorm 6. Nothing says ‘I am fat’ like wearing shirt in the swimming pool! 7. The League of Dumb Tweets – “I would rather kill myself than commit suicide. 8. @Alia Bhatt!! “What is the first name of Modi? Alia: ABKIBAAR!” :p 9. The divorce rate of my socks is astonishing! 10. “I don’t understand why alcohol is a problem. Chemically speaking, it is a solution.” Get it? Yes. 11. Chetan Bhagat’s first book: 5 point someone Latest book: point 5 someone (Half Girlfriend) 12. Traffic Frustration Tweet “If you beep your horn 0.004 sec after the light turns green, I’ll shut off the car,perch on the hood and feed jokes for an hour.”
PAGE 11 MOVIE REVIEW - transcendence BY VAIDURYA PALADUGU Transcendence is a film that is built around the idea of Artificial Intelligence (AI), its possible existence and the possibility of creating every human's 'Transcendence'-technological singularity, thus eliminating the limits of mortality. Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp), one of the most prolific scientists in the field of Artificial Intelligence, dreams about creating an artificially sentient being with capacities to think and analyze so large, that the combined intelligence of all beings that ever existed on the planet is belittled. What Evelyn Caster (Rebecca Hall) seeks, is the answer to a better world and living. What she sees in the future is the possibility of eliminating all the boundaries to limitless growth and envisages a utopian planet, where every obstacle that hinders sustainable growth is removed. After Will is asked at a conference about his motives of creating a 'God', coordinated attacks take place at all AI centres, killing multiple researchers. Will is shot at but it isn't fatal as the bullet just grazes him. The bullet is revealed to be laden with Polonium and thus, Will's system is poisoned, leaving him with a maximum of 4 weeks to live. He acquires the research of Casper who dies in the attack and along with his wife and Max, visualizes the possibility of him being uploaded as a digital AI copy onto a Physi-
cally Independent Neural Network (PINN) or a 'Transcendence' of himself. As the poster says, “YESTERDAY DR. WILL CASTER WAS ONLY HUMAN”, he passes away eventually, leaving Evelyn with an Artificially Intelligent form of Will. Given the fact that mortal biological hindrances do not exist anymore, Will expands radically. What starts out as a means to cure becomes an unstoppable force with Will advancing ages well ahead of time. From then on, it is all about one unanswered question. How much is too much? The movie starts off with grandiose ideas, all of them that appeal to you up to a certain point of time. As it progresses, you somehow get a feeling of déjà vu, as the theme of the film is always recurring. Towards the close, the film becomes very predictable, with mortal emotions influencing the way Will existed, like in every other science fiction film. Johnny Depp doesn't get much screen space, but as expected, he pulls off the role with effortless ease. Morgan Freeman and Paul Bettany chip in and make their presence felt, but Rebecca steals the show with her performance as a woman having to choose between reality and Artificial Intelligence. Kate Mara impresses with her role as well. All in all, this movie makes for a decent watch. Your
expectations shouldn't sky rocket or else, you'll definitely end up being disappointed. Watch the movie and treat it just like any other sci-fi film and that should leave you feeling good about having watched a decent movie. Director: Wally Pfister Cast: Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Morgan Freeman, Paul Bettany, Kate Mara.
Available on BluRay and DVD
TRENDING ON YOUTUBE
CASE FILES OF ACP PRADYUMAN -
INDIA IS SHERLOCKED! BY SATWIK RAJ, JOURNALIST This would be my take on how some of the most brilliant deductions of Sherlock would have turned out, had they been inspired from the TV series CID. 1. Watson's Introduction: Sherlock sees Watson for a moment, assumes that he is a military man either from Afghanistan or Iraq, looking at his tan and the way he walks. CID: ACP Pradyuman sees Watson for a moment, concludes that he cannot walk properly. Yes. Probably because he holds a stick! 2. The Pink Lady: Sherlock sees the dead body and takes just a few seconds to figure out that she is a lady travelling from Cardiff to London with a small bag. CID: ACP Pradyuman sends Daya to take a sample of her dress, concludes that it was pink colored and she was travelling in rain. Why? Because it was wet. 3. The Van Coon Murder: Sherlock sees the body for a moment, says that it was a murder since Van Coon was left-handed and a left-handed man could not have done the crime. On being asked why, he points around the room and shows that all the things are predominantly placed on the left hand side. CID: ACP Pradyuman looks around the room, and concludes that Van Coon was shot with a gun. He leaves the crime scene pretty impressed with himself! 4. The Vermeer fake: Sherlock sees the body of a dead guard and concludes that the lost Vermeer painting is fake, follows a brilliant chain of logic to come to the conclusion.
BY SHRUSHTI AMBORKAR , JOURNALIST
LIFE IS YOUTUBE, OR YOUTUBE IS LIFE? In today’s modernized world, we live on technological devices and internet. One of the most grossed websiteYouTube is a moving Encyclopedia which offers us solutions to everything including boredom. Here is a list of the top surfed videos and clips, which are a “Must watch”! 1. Charlie bit my finger again! Have children under the age of two anytime bitten you? Have you ever tried to play down a prank with small kids and inturn became the target? Charlie is a cute cheeky baby boy and what happens next, is due to watch!
2.
Laughing gas prank-Just for laughs Saying goes, laughter is the best medicine. But when laughter itself needs medicine, then what?!
6.
Best baby laughing videoFunny Plox It’s always good to see babies laughing. But when these innocent souls laugh out of their wits, you cannot help but giggle over till tears flow out of your eyes!
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PSY-Gangam Style No one knows what made this so famous, but yes! Gangam style is the number one top grossing video song which is still viral on YouTube among all age groups.
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Best Fails of the Week - Fail army Failure is the stepping stone to success, but not in this video clip. It is a collection of all the videos where people try tasks and fail miserably. But hey, it succeeds in making you laugh!
9. Asylum Maze Flow- Theme Park adventure Like horror? Watch out this video by Screams haunted stadium, which surely makes all your hair stand upright.
3. Cat funny videos- Carina Flores Have you ever seen a cat possessing human intelligence? If not, you must watch this clip where a cat walks on the footsteps of his master and performs a lot of crazy pranks.
4.Extremely scary elevator prank in Brazil- Thy Mozaik Have you ever thought that an elevator can haunt your dreams? If not, you must check out this prank video where innocent girls travelling alone in elevators are pranked upon with the socalled non-existing “Ghosts”! 5.INK Talks - Varun Agarwal “How I braved Anu aunty and co-founded a million dollar company” is still circulating among a thousand fingers. It briefs the journey of a commoner, Varun Agarwal, who transforms himself from a nobody to a somebody. This is an inspirational video which takes us through his life and instills into us a sense of self-confidence.
10. Crazy Animals attack!- Awesome vidsss Animals retain their innocence when humans consider them as friends. Once they began treating them as slaves, then no force can stop them from showing their strength. This video clip, I assure, will give you a mixed emotion of laughter and fear. 11. David after dentist! If you are among those who dislike a dentist appointment, then this one is for you! It is a funny conversation between a young boy David and his father after a visiting a dentist.
12.
Kapil Sharma When it comes to comedy, Kapil Sharma is all the rage in India! A dignified individual who has won the hearts of millions of people with humor and spontaneity, he has flooded YouTube with his comedy videos.
13.Google Smart glasses Tech-Geek or Gadget Freak! Just check out this video upon the new technological invention.
14.iPhone 6 If you are an iPhone fan, the wait is now over. Catch the new iPhone 6 trailer on YouTube!
15.
“I AM That Change” This short film by Allu Arjun and Sukumar is an inspirational story of what we, as individuals, can do to save the Mother Nature and protect our nation.
16.
ALS-Ice Bucket Challenge If you are a social media regular, you might have come across videos of celebrities taking to pouring ice water on themselves and then challenging more people as part of the Ice bucket Challenge to raise awareness and funds for ALSAmyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. If still haven’t, turn your keys towards this needfor-a-challenge video.
17.
True Story of how a Cow changed everything- gatesnotes You and I are, in simple terms, lucky, for leading a life without grudges. But have you ever seen someone suffer? And what when they see a ray of hope?
18. Failure Prank- Selling guns in the hood park Tried to prank anyone anytime and faced a situation where the tables turn over you? Then without wasting a second, check out this clip where all well planned things for a prank go pathetically wrong! 19. Phone Bill Fiasco (Mr. Outstanding #1) – Hamaracomedy Do call center employees get on your nerves? Here is some revenge you can take where they end up fidgeting and you simply die laughing!
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2M Media- Michel Mrucz Produc-
tion If you want to test your laughing skills, then just watch this clip containing the all-time favorite funny incidents and jokes.
CID: Pradyuman sees the body, and concludes that the man was killed due to drowning after confirming with forensics. The word Vermeer is never mentioned! Vermeer? What is that? 5. Cracking Major Barrymore's Password: Sherlock looks at things in eye level in a room, sees Margaret Thatcher's biographies, and concludes that the password to the Major's computer is 'Maggie'. CID: A very strange program is opened in Windows Media Player and it cracks the password of some computer present a couple of miles away. How? Don't ask. Even NSA doesn’t know. 6. The Jury: Sherlock Holmes called in as a witness, looks at the expert Jury, decides the character and the work of all said people. Moriarty walks free on the virtue of threatening their families. CID: Pradyuman is called as a witness. Moriarty walks free. So that is how one of the most prolific detectives today would have solved crimes. And the other one is Sherlock!
GAME REVIEW watch dogs BY K. MUKUND Modern day gamers have their plates full when it comes to picking up a title. With the ever evolving social media and high levels of scrutiny there is tough competition among developers to chalk out storied franchises that would cultivate genuine interest. Among the myriad of titles that have released this year, Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs stands a cut above the rest and has won eighty pre-release awards to boot, something unheard of in the gaming community. It shadows the story of vigilante Aiden Pierce in the city of Chicago following the events leading up to the murder of his niece. Sounds pretty straight forward and boring? But this game can constantly keep you on the edge of your seat for hours due to its intuitive game play based upon the centralized theme of hacking. That's right, hacking! This amazing game makes a transformation from a mission based system to open world in many aspects. As an expert hacker armed with an indestructible phone referred to as the profiler, you can roam around in the city hacking other civilians’ bank accounts and personal details, change traffic lights to suit your convenience and use them to get rid of annoying cops, deal away with enemy cars in pursuit by blowing up steam pipes, bringing up road blockers, breaking off connection to bridges- all at a touch of a button or just do it the good old fashioned way and blow them away with a burst of speed. The storyline also keeps you hooked till the end as Aiden almost loses himself in the process of finding out the truth regarding his niece's death. At many a time during the course of the game, you will be required to make de-
cisions that can alter the outcome of missions and Aiden's reputation among the general public of the city. Another thrilling aspect is the ability to pursue different modes of attack for each mission. You can rely entirely upon stealth or screw everything and go on an all-out rampage with each mode providing comical amounts of success, although, a combination of the two with some situational thinking
generally gets the job done. If you are a fan of the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series, you can draw similar parallels with the nearly identical maps, cars, guns and ammo available at hand. But Watch Dogs ensures that the monotony stops there with the inclusion of skill points and a plethora of side missions - busting gangs, stopping human trafficking rings and the like; to truly test the aptitude of a gamer. It is available across all leading platforms like MS Windows, Xbox and PlayStation. Make sure to get your hands on a copy of a game which netizens all over gaming forums are raving about!
PAGE 12 GOOGLE I/O 2014 BY NAGARJUN REDLA As anticipated, this year’s Google I/O had lots of new things to talk about. But this time Google has thought outside the mobile OS and has brought Google to many other devices (AndroidTV, AndroidAuto, Android-Wear).Google released Android 5.0 L preview with 5,000 new APIs and talked about the new Material Design concept and 64-bit support.The keynote began with a huge Rube Goldberg Machine which included both physical components and video sequences timed perfectly. Google also announced the android one reference platform, with which Google aims to bring android to everyone. There were a lot of announcements offering new serv-
ices to web developers. Here are the main highlights of the conference: •Android L preview: With the Android L preview, Google introduced Material Design, which gives drawables in your apps a z component, giving depth to app design. Google has also made 5,000 new APIs available for developers. •Android Wear: Google introduced new gadgets which include three new watches from LG, Samsung and the Moto 360, which is the first android watch with a circular face. Google has made the APIs for android wear available for developers as well.
Model S- A Supercar that runs on electricity BY P. SAI REETHI, SUB-EDITOR
•Android One: Google revealed the android one reference platform, which would allow manufacturers make phones that would cost less than $100. Google announced improvements in Chromecast and announced android TV along with android auto, which brings the android interface to your car.From handing out Arduino IOIO boards to giving out android wear watches this year, the developers who attended the conference also got to take home something peculiar, a piece of cardboard. The keynote ended with the announcement of Cardboard, a fun concept developed by the Google team. With just a few bits of cardboard and few other items, you can now make a Virtual Reality headset with your phone! Look it up on Google for more information. Google has always tried to make the android platform available to everyone to develop, and with stunning new APIs announced in this keynote Google has made developing apps on android easier. With the amount of services Google offers and with
the amount of open courseware available on the internet, you can make an app on your own in just a few days. Go on, give it a try!
TOUCHPICO
Attention all the innovative auto-freaks, Tesla’s Model S is here. Tesla Motors Inc. is a California based automotive industry that manufactures electric cars and their power train components. It has revolutionized the electric car production with its creative battery technology. It gained its reputation through the production of the Tesla Roadster, the first fully electric sports car. The company's second vehicle is the Model S, a fully electric luxury sedan. Model S is loaded with irresistible features. This auto marvel guarantees an 8 year infinite mile warranty in the 85 kWh
Model S. The car has the most cargo space of any other car in its class. The car can fit a bike, a 55’’ screen TV and a surfboard insideall at once. It has the largest touchscreen interface screen of any production vehicle. It boasts of two of its major titles-the lowest drag coefficient and the largest panoramic sunroof of any production car. It has a center of gravity comparable to the Ford GT, which affects its drive very positively. Its most unique feature by far is that, only six parts on a Tesla Model S need regular replacement, the six parts being the four tires and the two
wiper blades. It marks its recognition as the first electric vehicle to ever receive ‘Motor trend’s car of the year’ award-one of the most coveted in the automobile industry. It serves well to say that this car is here to stay.
LI-FI: A Switch to Light Enabled Internet BY ANAGHA S. K. , SUB-EDITOR It was at a TED global conference in the July of 2011 that Harald Hass, a professor at the University of Edinburgh streamed a video of blooming flowers on a screen by transmitting data via a LED bulb. He called it Li-Fi prototype. He began with a speed of 10 Mbps and soon achieved 123 Mbps. Li-Fi, also called light powered WiFi is a Visible light communication technology(VLC) which uses light instead of Wi-Fi modems. The lamp with signal processing technology streams data embedded in its beam at ultra-high speeds to a photo-detector. A receiver dongle then converts the tiny changes in amplitude into an electrical signal, which is then converted back into a data stream and transmitted to a computer/mobile. With lots of research going around the globe, few German scientists managed to achieve a speed of 800 Mbps in 2011. Since simple light bulbs are used there can be any number of access points unlike our
limited connections. All it uses is a bulb, a printed circuit board, RF power amplified circuit and an enclosure. The bulb is embedded in a dielectric material and this material serves two purposes. Firstly, as an electric field concentrator which converts energy into the plasma state emitting light of full intensity and second as a wave guide for the RF energy. It is simply like your internet signals convert themselves into appropriate forms to travel, using light as their path and eventually reach your device. Who doesn’t love cheap internet connection? The greatest advantage of Li-Fi is its cost efficiency because all it needs is LEDs. With a transmission rate 10,000 times better than radio waves, this Green technology can achieve internet speeds of 10 Gbps, which means you can download an HD film in 30 seconds. Makes us too happy doesn’t it? Though it ensures better communication safety and has under-water awesomeness, it is
‘light’ and it cannot penetrate through your walls and other opaque objects which means your device will have a connection only until it is under the direct line of light. This is the greatest disadvantage but it can be a wonderful source in airways, operation theatres and other places where radio waves are restricted. So, in near future we will no longer be frustrated with bad bandwidths and slow internet due to multiple devices connected to one network, the solution is just pressing a switch and turning on the light.But it can also mean increase in our already high electricity bills doesn’t it?
Touch screens everywhere A Smart Phone on your wrist
BY RITHIKA PATHI, JOURNALIST
Touchpico is a product that has revolutionized the projection system technology. It’s a tiny handheld projector that turns any surface into a giant 80” interactive touchscreen. This essentially allows users to manipulate the projected screen using the pen (stylus) to deal with the touchscreen. What makes it different from the normal projtor? Touchpico projects an 80 inch display onto any flatsurface. •It uses an infrared stylus to communicate with the display, like a smartphone’s touchscreen, as the projector can read the touch inputs. •It possesses special features like: Android 40, SD mem-
ory card, Audio output, 150400 lumens brightness,1GHz processor with two cores, integrated Wi-Fi, HDMI input, wireless mouse and streaing. •It is Portable and easily fits in our pockets or briefcase. It provides several versatile options with which our daily life tasks can be dealt with ease; Businessmen could give their latest proposals in a sophisticated and augmented manner and costly hardware upgrades in schools could be eliminated by using the same device multiple times by multiple users. This anomalous device is expected to be released this october.
BY GAUTAM VIJAYWARGIYA It is not possible for people to imagine their life without technology in the current world. Today we are surrounded by numerous gadgets that are helping people to live their lives luxuriously. The technology sector has evolved immensely. Such an irrevocable growth was truly beyond one’s imagination. It all started when Motorola launched the world’s first cell phone quite miraculously. It helped people to communicate over long distances. It was a boom in the technology market. All the companies started thinking innovatively and it was then that Google emerged as one of the fastest growing MNC’s with its efficient and most accurate search results. After this success, Google enhanced mobile phone experience by launching its first Android-built smartphone “NEXUS” and has changed the very definition of a mobile phone. After immense admiration from android users, Google introduced the Smart Watch called Android Wear with help of
other companies. These watches are built with android as their operating system, have a stunning design and voice recognition as an add–on. The main reason behind launching such a watch was to bridge the gap between watches and smart phones and take the usage of watches to the next level .This device connects to our handset with the help of Bluetooth. Such a device makes the life of the user easier and more system-
atic. The user can set reminders which can be referred to easily, and also organize its content. It also caters to the user’s needs and displays suggestions on the screen automatically. It notifies the user of the messages, appointment notifications and weather updates at a single glance. Tracking your fitness goals
can also be monitored by this watch. Enhancement of call notification, web browsing and music experience is also taken into consideration. Voice recognition gives an edge to this device as it is able to decipher all the queries of the user in no time. It amplifies the user satisfaction and brings down the access time drastically. The technical aspects of this watch are its 1.63-inch diagonal, a screen made of super AMOLED display with 320 x 320resolution, 1.2GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 4GB storage, Heart Rate Monitor, 3000mAh battery and weighs 59 g Technology always serves as a yardstick for human imagination and leads every individual to a better place and augments lifestyle. A new era of technology has started and it is ameliorating every second.The whole world is now on our wrist and all it needs to hear is “OK GOOGLE”
PAGE 13 THE INTERNET OF THINGS BY SAGAR JAISWAL Internet of Things (IoT) is an integrated part of Future Internet and could be defined as a dynamical global network infrastructure with self-configuring capabilities based on standard and interoperable communication protocols where physical and virtual 'things' have identities, physical attributes, and virtual personalities and use intelligent interfaces, and are seamlessly integrated to the information network. Eh? Well, simply, The Internet of Things in its most basic form is where products and items are connected online to each other and to humans. This essentially means a natural or man-made object can be assigned an IP address and provided with the ability to transfer data over a network. We connect with people, institutes, organizations and companies around the world, like and share their posts. We share thoughts, feelings, photos, videos, documents, etc.There is an unending list of uses of internet: Reading news, video conferencing, booking tickets, downloading and uploading photos, documents, songs and videos, using a dictionary, finding directions to places, checking weather forecasts, taking medical advices online, online education, online shopping, paying bills and the list continues. These don't sum up to even 10% of the uses of internet. The Internet of Things will change everything, including us. This may seem like a bold statement, but consider the impact the Internet already has had on education, communication, business, science, government, and humanity. Clearly, the Internet is one of the most important and powerful creations in all of human history. Here's how it would look like, as you approach the front door of your house, a remote control built into your key unlocks the door. The door's wireless radio messages the network, which prompts the hall light to turn on. The house thermostat, which was lowered after you left for work, returns to a comfort zone. Everything is acting in a concert, which brings us to the elegant definition of IoT
that is: "A true Internet of Things is coordination between multiple devices." The number of devices will exceed the number of people on earth. The "things" can be anything, Personal Computers, Smart phones, thermostats, cardiac monitors, pens, coffee mugs, tires, roads, cars, supermarket shelves and yes, even cattle, etc. The list is endless and it just keeps getting longer by the second. These things are a combination of people, processes and data via the network to deliver transformational value to the world by improving the way we make decisions, saving us time and money. Some of these devices that you may like to own: 1. Sky Pen (WiFi smart pen) by LiveScribe: Records everything you write and hear. Tap anywhere on your notes to replay the audio from that moment in time. Automatically, your recorded notes and audio are wirelessly sent and securely stored in your Evernote account. Your exclusive Livescribe plan for Evernote includes 500MB of additional upload capacity for smartpen notes and audio. 2. GPS Shoes Help Walk You Home: Click your heels three times in these pair of shoes and you'll find out there's no place like home. Well, maybe there is. But these shoes will certainly help you get there. The idea is simple: Need to get somewhere? Simply input the address with the included software, plug in the pair of shoes via USB and wait for it to upload. Once complete, lace up your sleek pair of shoes and click your heels together to start
your trip. 3. Vessyl-Bluetooth Smart Mug: A smart travel mug that automatically tracks your liquid intake. Instead of drinking latte from a paper cup or soda from a bottle, just pour it into Vessyl. Internal sensors analyse the ingredients to determine what you’re drinking, often down to the brand and flavour of the beverage; other sensors monitor how much and how often you sip. 4. Sensor Sleep Shirts-RestDevices:These range of shirts being introduced that can unobtrusively monitor your sleep cycles at home in your own bed. Rest Devices now offer a washable shirt that uses two embedded film respiration sensors to measure the movement of your body throughout the night and provides a "wakefulness analysis" with up to 85% accuracy (and 95% sleep Apnoea detection). Once this data is gathered the information is uploaded via USB or a Bluetooth addon module to the online service to be analysed and charted over time. So, that’s about The Internet of Things, it can be scary or threatening to some people– too close to an automated, robotic world. But the reality is that we’ve already begun to automate as many aspects of the workplace as possible, and the home is just the next step. Nothing is thinking for you, talking for you (well, except through automated texts), or making decisions for you. Rather, the internet of things simply allows humans to focus on larger projects than turning on a light, or checking the temperature of a refrigerator.
UBER- ON DEMAND TRANSPORT BY AKHILA POLISHETTY, LAYOUT HEAD Tired of waiting for a cab nounced that it will be expanding and want to get a safe and reliable the ridesharing in non-taxi vehicab ride? All you have to do is to cles as well. push a button and your ride will be In order to use this servready in minutes using a mobile ice, all you need is a smart phone application. Developed by a with the Uber app installed. Once Transportation Network Com- you open the application, it recogpany, “Uber” is basically an on- nizes your location. Then it shows demand transport app which the nearest cars to your location connects the passengers with driv- and the time it will take for the ers of vehicles, ready to be hired. cars to reach your location. This app also gives details about the driver and the passengers’ opinion on the driver. The users and the drivers can rate each other. As a result, the drivers with poor reviews will be removed from the platform. The other intriguing feature of Uber is that you don't need cash to pay your ride. At the end of your trip, your credit card will be consequently charged for providing you with a hassle-free luxury ride anywhere, anytime. But Uber had to face some major setTravis kalanick, the CEO backs; in many cities Uber was of Uber said that he founded the faced with serious opposition company because he wanted to be from taxi drivers. It has been rea 'Baller in San Francisco'. This cently stated that Uber is being simple idea set base for the ele- shut down in cities because of a gant and efficient unmanned car few legislations in places like service. Uber service is currently Miami. Ashton Kutcher recently active in 42 countries and is ex- slammed Miami for snubbing at panding globally. Uber has Uber. Nevertheless Uber has revlaunched UberX which avails for olutionized the ridesharing and a wider selection of cars to appeal hopefully we can expect all kinds to broader cross-section of the of different initiatives to come market. It has already been an- from the company in future.
Mi3 - Sold before you could notice BY SATWIK RAJ, JOURNALIST Flipkart, the online ecommerce portal known to provide seamless customer service has crashed not once but twice recently, due to heavy internet traf-
its costlier flagship counterparts. No wonder this phone sold out in 5 seconds flat in July, clocking about 1,00,000 registrations for 10,000 units in a span of about 15
fic. And the reason for this is Mi3. It is a smart phone that has been designed and marketed by Xiaomi Inc., a privately owned Chinese electronics company. One of the most remarkable things about this company is its product selling strategy. They price their phones at almost bill-of-material prices resulting in a very narrow profit margin, which translates into the fact that they do not make as much money as the big guns such as Samsung or Apple. Also notable is their phone software, MIUI. This is a closed source Android firmware based on the immensely popular Android OS. Priced at 13,999/- it boasts of specs like 5.0 inch 1080p display,2.3 GHz Snapdragon CPU, a 2GB RAM and a 13 MP/2 MP camera capable of recording 1080p videos. This phone is, to say at the least, a steal at its price, and might as well be better than
days prior to the sale. Just when you think that it couldn't get any better, the previous record was shattered by its next sale on August 5th, when 15,000 units were sold out, and this time it took Flipkart only 2 seconds to sell them, and to crash again. The USP i.e. the unique selling proposition of this phone lies in the fact that it is loaded with features that are surprisingly rare in any other phone in the price range that this phone is available in, making it one of the most desirable pieces of technology one can own today. So if you do have any thoughts of buying this phone, you might just have to wait for a couple more sales on Flipkart, for the demand for Mi3 is not something that is going to wane any time now. All in all, unless and until Mi3 meets its match from Utopia, this phone is here to stay.
PROJECT ZERO - CYBER SECURITY ENHANCED BY TEJA KOKALA
Google's notion is that people deserve to use the internet without fear that vulnerabilities out there can ruin their privacy, as cyber security threats to the world’s Internet users have been increasing in
scale and severity lately. Google aims to make its service more secure. For this purpose it has assembled a team of hackers to protect internet
users from government snooping, cyber attacks and also to make encryption easier for people to use. This elite team is being lead by Chris Evans and has recruited the famous Iphone and PS3 hacker, George Hotz (Geohot) and Google employees Ben Hawkes, Travis Ormandy and Ian Beer. This all-star lineup will scan the Internet to help prevent criminals or statesponsored person/persons from exploiting software bugs to infect your computer, steal secrets or monitor your communication. How it works –The firm says that 'project zero' will look at everything from accidental flaws in code, known as zero day bugs, to major gov-
ernment operations (“zeroday” flaws in software are named after the amount of time that developers have had to fix them).Every bug the team discovers will be filed in an external database. The team will only report the bug to the software vendor and no third parties. The team will also work with the vendors to get fixes to users as soon as possible.
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