bits herald - 2012 welcome issue

7/31/2019 BITS Herald - 2012 Welcome Issue

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Department of Journalism and Media Affais


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Every freshman would have spentthe summer fantasizing about

college. This Welcome Issue

does not, and cannot intend to

map out your four (or five, or

five-and-a half as the case may

be) years in college. Any college

experience would be incomplete

without the joys of self discov-

ery. However, things are muchsimpler if someones there to

make some introductions. Most

of us have missed out on some-

thing; be it a Music Audit Course,

Basketball tryouts or a month of

free, unlimited LAN downloads-

simply because we did not know,

because the notices and BITS

emails are extremely easy to

miss. Through this welcome issue,we at the Department of Journal-

ism and Media Affairs (or DoJMA,

to keep things simpler) we plan

to help you transition smoothly

into life at BITS and make the

most out of it.

On the academic front, we wouldonly say that the Bohemian

culture of this state does not

extend to the course content,

the exam papers and certainly

not to the grading system. For

those scratching their heads over

the many academic flexibilities

that figure so frequently in the

college website and orientationspeeches, this issue also has a

full feature on the Dual Degree,

Horizontal and Vertical Transfers.

We also touch upon the latest

developments on the Placement

front.

After rumours of private beaches

and glitzy parties, you may be

disappointed by our non-descriptlocation on the map of Goa.

But dont hang up the Hawaiian

shorts just yet. It may seem like

the middle of nowhere now, but

National Highway 17-B can take

you places. For the benefit of the

2012 batch, this issue features an

article on the Top Ten Places tovisit in Goa. And for those who

prefer the simple pleasures of

campus life, we also cover a few

favourite haunts in and around

campus.

Life in an ordinary college may

end at academics, fests and

placements. But life here hasa fourth dimension- DC. The

new batch will soon discover

the functioning of LAN sharing

(youll stop caring if Star World

cancelled your favourite show)

and the hierarchy of anonymous

identities on DC.

To those whove hoped and

prayed to end up here- collegewill be all that you imagined it to

be, and much more. If BITS wasnt

on the top of your list of pre-

ferred colleges, well, just keep

an open mind and youll find that

BITS has a lot to offer you. So

shall we get started?


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DoAcademic

Flexibilitieshelp

the av BITSian ?

Yes, they do. BITSAT may have forced you to make compromised decisions, but the academic flexibilities at BITSgive you another chance to map out your own career graph. And no, you dont need to be a 10 pointer for that.

Read on for stats (compiled in a figure on the next page) , and words of wisdom from seniors whove been there,

done that.

The 2011 CGPA cutoffs for Dualites , which we painstakingly extracted from unofficial sources ( to nobodys sur-

prise, the ARC follows a strictly non-disclosure policy on cutoff data) do not show much deviation from previous

years. However, there are no visible trends indicating that certain MSc.-B.E combinations are better than others.

The Herald caught up with a few students who made choices unaffected by the perceived course hierarchy, by

choosing a course they are truly passionate about.

I hate coding, so CS as a dual was a complete no-no, the computer industry can swing to and fro. Also EEE, Mech

and Chemical has huge scope, being the backbone of engineering for centuries. Every human may not need a com-

puter, but we all sure do need roads and vehicles, says Namrata Nandarkani of the 2009 batch, who opted for EEE

as a dual along with Economics, despite being well above the CS cutoff with a CGPA of 8.8.

There also happens to be a certain stigma associated with EnI as a Dual. However, EnI dualites have shown them-

selves to be equal, if not better, than many of their CS/EEE fellows. Sakshi Agarwal, an Eco + EnI student is cur-

rently pursuing Practice School II at Cypress Semiconductors, California. Joshan Cherian Abraham, a single degree

EnI graduate was also placed in Cypress Semiconductors last year.

Besides Dualites, single degree students have also availed of the academic flexibilities at BITS. Kushagra Nigam, ini-

tially a EEE single degree student took the unconventional step of opting for MSc (Hons.) Physics along with EEE.

Those who want to pursue higher studies in universities like MIT, Stanford, Oxford etc. ought to know that the

multidisciplinary work there requires the analytical skills of an Engineer along with clarity of concepts found in an


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ThePlacement

SkirlPlacement queries are the first amongst the many that

crop up in the minds of freshmen, as placements are

popularly considered the benchmarks of an institutes

credibility. Since our last placement update (featured in

the Summer Issue) the placement team itself has shared

some interesting new developments.

For on-campus recruitment, the Placement Team pre-

fers not to disclose the arrival of certain companies until

they actually turn up. They are in a position to confirm

the arrival of heavyweights such as Epic Systems, Mor-

gan Stanley, Cisco Systems, Oracle and regular recruit-

ers like Fiorano Software, Indus Valley Partners, Latent

View Analytics and Samsung India Software Centre. The

team also expects the participation of new comers like

Capillary, Cosmic Circuits, Microsoft IDC and Shell in

the placement process.

The Placement team members, some of whom volun-

tarily returned to the campus during the vacations, have

been calling up companies throughout the summer. Re-

cently, the Pitching Head travelled to Pilani for an of-

ficial 11-day visit as a representative of the Goa Campus

to facilitate better communication and forge bonds of

trust between all three campuses regarding placements

since our placements rest partly on the relationships

we have with Pilani. There were further talks on a Cen-

tralized Placement System (placement system for BITS

University as a whole) and the respective Heads invited

top-notch companies for placements. The placement

team looks to have plausibly stepped up its efforts to

earn an upright stature (which the teams of Hyderabad

and Pilani have) amongst all clubs.

For the upcoming semester, the Placement Team plans

to approach more e-marketing companies, sales bases

and consultancies. We may certainly hope to see com-

panies from various sectors and offering diverse pro-files. Nevertheless, only the students who have their

fundamentals well-versed and are adept at handling in-

terviews are likely to bag top positions in their dream

companies.

M.Sc. student. Also, Dualites get a complete year of work experience in their fifth year and the option of doing

both PS and a thesis. 9 plus would be a safe CGPA to avail of such a transfer, says Kushagra.

Dualites also have the option of switching to a different MSc. (Hons.) degree at the end of their first. This trans-

fer is subject to available slots and the applicants CGPA.

After my first year, I was convinced that Physics was not my cup of tea. I did not know much about the Econom-

ics course at BITS before joining, and had placed the course lower in my BITSAT preference, says Madhulekha

Arun, a third year student. However, I had a CGPA in the 8 plus range at the end of first year, and got a same-tiertransfer to Economics. HC Thejas of the 2010 batch also availed of this flexibility. My BITSAT score was below

the batch cutoff for Physics, my first preference amongst the MSc. (Hons.) courses. But with a CGPA of 8.00 at

the end of freshman year, I was able to transfer from Chemistry to Physics, the last in my batch to get a same-

tier transfer, says Thejas .

Spandam Gautam from the 2011 batch opted for the formidable B.E + B.E combination (Chemical and Mechani-

cal) with a CGPA of 8.73. Two others transferred to CS from Mechanical and Chemical at CGPAs of 9.41 and 9.68

respectively.

The flexibilities in our academic structure have benefitted generations of BITSians, at least those whove beensmart enough to use them. Rather than obsessing over Placement stats and public perception, remember to

gauge your interests before you make a decision.


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Answering the Question of the Century

Do you need a laptop?


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Hangout

Now that youve made it to one of the most reputed colleges in India, you must

be wondering what lies beyond the big name. To a stranger, BITS Pilani K K BirlaGoa Campus may seem to be located on a desolate highway, the only refugebeing Bogmalo Beach. But slowly you will come to fall in love with the littlehaunts inside campus. And of course, you have the whole of Goa in to explore.Here are some places that would ultimately become a part and parcel of yourBITSian life.

Monginis (fondly known as Mongi)This place is swarmed by hungryBitsians after the ringing alarm

of each class. The waft of freshlybaked chocolate donuts emanatingfrom this place can sway the mostuptight of the health freaks. Runby the well-known Sam and Pinky,this place has all the junk food youcould possibly want after a mind-numbingly boring lecture; right from Swiss-rolls andIce-creams to Chicken Puffs and Burgers.

Ice n Spice

Set just opposite the hostel AH1, this place is fa-mous for their Cheese Maggi and Ice-cream shakes.Every kind of imaginable shake is tucked away intothis little shop run by two forgetful chaps.

NescafeThis place is almost synonymous with Maggi andIced Tea. Due to its strategic location near the library,nerds come here to take a break from their preciousbooks (Hey, everyones nerdy at some point of timeor the other!). Its a very good place to hang out with

friends and utilise Wi-Fi that too without going intothe dreary library or the computer centre. Its am-bience at night takes a dreamy twist with sphericallights illuminating the path.

Gajalakshmi SnacksCommonly referred to as the jhopdi, a very egg-citing with good food (Anda-pav is a general fa-vourite) at reasonable rates. The fare here is vaguelyreminiscent of home-cooked snacks, an ideal substi-tute for boring mess snacks.

ShahiLocated inside the shopping complex, people crav-ing non-vegetarian food consider this place as theirheaven in the campus. Chinese food and barbequeditems are also sold here.

We also have a few of our personalfavourite destinations beyond thecampus walls. Freshman year is rela-

tively light on the academic front, sodo make the most of it:

Dudhsagar FallsDudhsagar Waterfalls, at 2,000 feethigh, are the highest falls in India. Thename comes from the white foamcreated from the force of the water

as it drops. It makes an amazing place for a trek. Soif adventure is your thing, Dudhsagar is the place tovisit. Best time to visit is Nov-Dec.

Baga BeachIf water sports interest you, Baga is the place to be.This beach has a variety of water sports to offer. Ifyou feel like indulging in some good food, Baga isstrewn with shacks and clubs. However water sportsare offered post monsoon, i.e. around November.

Chapora and VagatorVagator is one of the most crowded beaches of Goa,yet it has its own charm. Near Vagator is the Cha-pora fort, of Dil Chahta Hai fame. The walk up to thefort from the beach and then down is one thrillingexperience.

Panjim CityThis is the place to go if you need/want to shop. Ithas many eateries as well, including KFC, Daily Breadand fancy bistros like Cafe Mangi. For those whoscoff at crass consumerism and fast food, Panjimalso has beautiful examples of Portuguese architec-ture and Miramar beach on its outskirts.Bogmalo Beach:The beach that is closest to our campus and con-

sequently, extremely popular among the students.Its not one of Goas best, but we still love it. It takesabout five minutes from campus by a cab. Bogmalohas some wonderful shacks, and serves as a quickgetaway from the humdrum of daily life.

Spots


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8/12


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Theres a time when the geek quotient of an institute comes forth in

all its glory. Here, Quark- our annual techno-managerial fest is that

time of the year. A long list spanning core engineering events, events

related to sciences and management as well keep participants busy

throughout the day. Then of course, we have special performances at

night and one of Indias biggest gaming challenges- Matka.

This year with Quantum Leaps as the theme, the Quark team has

several workshops, events and guest lectures lined up as a part of

Pre-Quark. Well have lectures on C, Java, Android, MATLAB andWeb Development in August and September, all of which are par-ticularly relevant to rst years. We are also organizing workshops on

autonomous robotics with sessions on aero modelling, bipedal robot

and propeller display in October, says Harshal Kachhy, QUARK Convenor. On the 25th of August,

theyre hosting an INK (Innovation and Knowledge) Salon as well. Clearly, a lot of effort goes into organ-

ising an event like this. What really makes a festival a success though, is participation from the student

community. We have lots of big events planned this time around. Its no easy task to manage it, butwith a really good Controls team this year, well make sure its a fest worth remembering, says Nikhil

Taneja, the Events Head.

That time of the year, when the whole campus thinks

of nothing but sports. Every March, the campus wit-

nesses SPREE, our inter college sports festival. Close

to a 1000 sportspeople from around 100 colleges

battle it out for glory in their respective sport. There

are tournaments in Football, Cricket, Basketball,

Tennis, Volleyball, Chess, Kho Kho, you name it. Forthe non-sporty types, there are offbeat sports like

Gully Cricket, Anti-Chess and Mixed Doubles Bad-minton, whacky workshops on Beat Boxing and Rie

Shooting. If you still dont have anything to do,

share your views on our Spree blog!

Another highlight of Spree is the Spree Goa Half Marathon, which had a tie up with

two of the biggest NGOs of the country last year. Scores of people participated in it, some for fun,

some because they like challenges and others who just wanted to have a long walk with their friends.

Last year, on the night of the marathon, we had the Raghu Dixit Project perform here.

SPREE 13 Events Head, Arya Mohanty tells us what we can expect this SPREE- With a vision of tak-ing SPREE 2013 national, we have planned a plethora of events for on-campus students as well. SPREE

2013 will reach unmatched heights with the efforts of the organizing team. Youll regret missing it.

BITSGians are not the kind to get exhausted after a tiring day of sport. So, we have Special Nights! The

crowd has a gala time dancing to the DJ, watching movies and football matches screened outdoors,

and singing to karaoke. Spree is the perfect test of mettle, spirit and the never say die attitude.


10/1210

Fake

Player Speaks..DoJMA caught up with Anupam Mukerjee, the man behind the sports blog that went viral this IPL season- the Fake

IPL Player. Anupam will be visiting our campus on August 25 to speak at INK Talks BITS Goa, a INK event held in

association with QUARK 13.

What inspired you to start the fake blog on the IPL?

The seed was planted when I watched the Richard Gere

starrer lm The Hoax, on how a hoax led to the Water-

gate scandal eventually leading to Nixons resignation.

So, in effect, a hoax had brought the president down.

After watching the movie, I looked back upon all the

pranks and hoaxes I had played over the years and

thought them all to be amateur stuff. A real hoax should

bring down the government, I thought. My mind started

looking for an opportunity for a high impact hoax. I hadthought of starting a blog called IMNRN, in which Id

pretend to be Narayana Murthy, much on the lines of

the famous blog fake Steve. Fortunately, the IPL came

around in a few weeks and the Fake IPL Player seemed

like a more interesting idea.

The idea of the blog came to me one night and it seemed

exciting So I decided to give it a shot. On the advice of

a lawyer friend I changed it to Fake IPL Player and de-

cided to use nicknames to avoid any legal issues. Inter-

estingly, what was actually a defensive tactic turned outto be a masterstroke because a large part of the success

of the blog can be attributed to the nicknames and the

guessing game that readers would engage in every day.

You have a huge fan-base in the blogosphere, and in

a world where talented bloggers remain unnoticed-

many wonder how The Fake IPL Player managed to

get a large readership in a very short span of time.

Whats your secret?

I guess I got lucky. The subject, malicious gossip and

believability of the blog would have also played a part.

The only viral seeding I had done was to send the link to

15 friends on Facebook telling them that I had stumbled

upon this blog and asked if they knew what this was all

about. I had chosen these 15 people knowing their inter-est in cricket and network within the sports journalistic

fraternity. The blog went viral within 48 hours of my

sharing the URL with those guys. And after 4 days, it

was front page news all over India.

Do you believe cynicism is essential to be popular on

any form of media today?

Cynicism is important in journalistic media even though

its almost non-existent these days.But cynicism isnt the only route to popularity. Not ev-

erything has to be profound. Different things work for

different people. Somebody may have knowledge, some-

body else some interesting insight, and someone else may

use humour. As long as someone has something unique

to offer, there will be people wholl be interested to know

about it. Honesty of purpose and talent will eventually

shine through.

When and why did you decide to reveal your iden-tity?

Living the life of the anonymous Fake IPL Player wasnt

easy. Given that nobody knew what I was up to, I was

forced into a reclusive non-social lifestyle. Also, there

was the pressure of living up to a certain online persona

which had started weighing me down. It was a bit of a

schizophrenic existence. I had consciously decided very

early that I wouldnt become a prisoner to the persona

and wanted to live it only as long as I enjoyed it. There

came a point when I knew that I didnt want to be the

Fake IPL Player anymore. And thats when I decided to

put an end to it and carry on as Anupam Mukerji.


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What prompted the start of Pitch Invasion? What

are your plans with it for the future?

During the Cricket World Cup of 2011, I became a

regular on Twitter. Interacting on Twitter gave me a vir-

tual feel of watching cricket with friends. Even though

I enjoyed my live match Twitter experience, I felt the

medium had restrictions for someone with small fol-

lower base.

I thought my Twitter experience could be replicated foreveryone if we could add a audio into it, something that

glues the community during a match, that gives equal

importance to every member, and that creates a social

listening experience for everyone. And so Pitch Inva-

sion was born. On April 15, we went live. On April 22,

we got Sprite on board as our rst sponsor.

Going forward, I see Pitch Invasion becoming more of

a platform rather than a pure content creator. And much

bigger in the mobile space than the internet.

What would be your advice to young people who

want to take up sports writing (serious or otherwise)

as a career?

The only advice Ill give is for them to write. A lot of

people want to become writers but very few people

want to write. If youre interested in anything, Id sug-

gest you maintain a blog and use Twitter, Facebook,

Pinterest etc to engage with others interested in the

same eld. If youre good and persistent, over time youwill create your own set of followers.

Social media has truly democratized opportunity .With

social media; our destiny is in our own hands. And if

somebody is good, he/she doesnt need to beg for an op-

portunity. Create such demand for your talent that those

in positions of power come begging to you.

The BITS

Herald

Quick

Crossword-------------How much have you

learnt about BPKKBGC in

the last two weeks? Fill in

the crossword and see for

yourself.

ACROSS

1. 2.2 Crore Showpiece (5)

2. Mind and Thought in Radical Information eXchange (6)

4. Long Queues, thanks to Oracle (3)

7. Erstwhile Monginis (3, 11)

9. _/\_ (7)

12. Goes well with cheese maggi (4,5)13. Your almost daily dose of news that matters. (3,3,5)

14. Who we are as per old timers (4)

15. What we do apart from science (10)

16. Who we are as per SBI (7)

DOWN

1. The powerful sentinals (5)

3. 2010 = 1:6, 2011 = 1:6, 2012 = 1:8 (3,5)

5. Something you havent read for weeks, and

were not talking about your books (9)

6. How quizzers spell sexy (4)

8. Couples retreat (8)10. The chap sleeping on your mattress when you

get back from the vacations (6)

11. Bits Goa Watering hole (7)


12/12

D ojmaTHE TEAM

Department of Journalism and Media Affairs

BITS HeraldWelcome Issue (August Issue)

Radhika Parik

Francis James

Akshay Vikas

Abhijith Asok

Renuka Pai

Sushant Kumar

Pranshu Gupta

Sakshi Pratap

Vaibhav Bajaj

Anjali Srivastava

Aradhana

Bhavul Gauri

Harsha Koneru

Vishakha Gupta

Harman Singh

Prasoon Mehta

Ankit Sharma

Nikita Raina

Seerat Bindra

Mohana Bhattacharya

Anshul Jain

Sanjukta Krishnagopal

Soumya Chauhan

Anurati Srivastva

Deepankar Sharma

Nikhil Khadilkar

Chantal de Souza

Share the Issue on your Social Networks if you found it

useful/informational.Crossword answers :

1. Mural, Mills 2. Matrix 3. Sexratio 4. ERP 5. Newspaper 6. SEQC 7. SamEnterprises 8. Workshop 9. Godlike

10. Fungus 11.Bogmalo 12. Oreoshake 13. GenSectimes 14. BPGC 15. Technology 16. Pillani

bits herald - 2012 welcome issue

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