Inside

Editorial 2

Reality Check

3

Tandoori Nights

4

Interview: Slain

5

Workshops 6

A Tribute 7

Interview: Akash

8

Points Tally 9

Club Activity

10

Mixed Bag 11

The Fun Page 12

The Indo Russian Workshop on Topical Problems in Solid Mechanics was organized at

BITS, Pilani – Goa Campus from November 11 - 14, 2008. The workshop featured key

research going on in elite institutions in India (BITS, IITs, IISc, BARC, DMRL) and

Russia in the field of Applied, Theoretical and Experimental Mechanics. There were 40

participants in all.

The workshop was a platform for exchange of innovative ideas and a clear contrast could

be drawn between the research communities of both the countries. While the Russian

researchers relied mostly on mathematical and numerical models to study their problems,

their Indian counterparts took an approach that was more experimental and less analytical.

One notable feature about the participation was that it included both senior researchers

using conventional methods and young researchers using more of numerical techniques,

both of them equally rich in the results they draw. One of the most notable quotes

conveying this difference was given by Prof. T. Kant (IIT B), a senior researcher in

Mechanics, during his paper on the effectiveness of using Shell Theory over newer

numerical techniques. As a conclusion he said : “Not many people use this theory (Shell

Theory) these days… now a days they use the Finite Elements” and the crowd, all

eminent researchers in the field of Mechanics, burst into laughter!

The workshop concluded with the Indian and Russian scientists exchanging ideas for

collaborative projects in the field of Mechanics. The workshop was coordinated by

Prof. N. K Gupta (IIT Delhi) and Prof. A. V Manzhirov (Russian Academy of Science).

The participants were overwhelmed by the hospitality offered by the host institute.

Going International… IndoGoing International… IndoGoing International… IndoGoing International… Indo----Russian WorkshopRussian WorkshopRussian WorkshopRussian Workshop

Creating History: OASIS 2008Creating History: OASIS 2008Creating History: OASIS 2008Creating History: OASIS 2008 Oasis. That elusive place where travellers quench their thirst. For where can one find the

gift of water among the sea of sand? Well, we also felt a similar kind of relief when we

visited and participated in Oasis 2008, the cultural fest of BITS-Pilani. Why, you may

ask? Well, after a gruelling, sweaty two-day journey and a very dusty bus journey to

Pilani, we heaved a sigh of relief when we saw a tell-tale glow-in-the-dark BITS sign on

the gates to BITS-Pilani. And after a minimal two-hour wait, we were graciously escorted

to the rooms we were allotted.

Oasis was organized decently. There were more than 60 events, yet they pulled it off well,

just as they have been doing it for 37 years. Events ranged from serious (Oasis Quiz,

Razzmatazz, Tarang) to the fun (BLAB (Jam), Suicide at Midnight, Bull’s eye). The

events normally began on time, except for the Audi events which had very shoddy

scheduling. Some events were postponed by six hours! However, the fun factor was high

at Pilani, with a 24-hour dance floor and food courts (which boasted of CCD and

Dominos). The special performances with KK and Lounge Piranha being the icing on the

cake.

The most exhilarating moment came during the valedictory ceremony, when we lifted the

Oasis Cup. It was at that moment we realized that we had done it! We had swept Oasis

(figuratively anyway). Lunches at Connaught, breakfast in the IC, lounging in the Sky

Lawns, everything was so memorable. But eventually we had to bid farewell to Oasis.

- a BPGC participant at Oasis

Volume V, Issue 5

2

THE TEAM

Pratik Mandrekar

Shillpa Garg

Rithika Ardeshir

Anurag Sharma

Rithvic Rajah

Shalini Lahiri

Dhashrath Raghuraman

Ralino Prazares

Megha Ghildyal

Abhishek Agrawal

Ojas Mehta

Apurv Gujjar

Anmol Sharma

Abhishek Ravi

Tanay Deshpande

Rohan Menon

Emaad Manzoor

Abhishek Jain

Aastha Srivastava

Madhupurna Biswas

Kartik Guduru

Dushyant Kinwar

Suramya Munshi

Gaurav Singh

Arjun V.J.

Special Thanks to:

Abhijeet Sathe

Rasagy Sharma

Shipra Nayyar

S. Ramanan

and

The Department of

Photography

The General Body Meeting of the CSA was held for the first time in our campus on 16th November. Amid speeches by

the Director and the Vice Chairman of the CSA it was made clear that one of the three festivals of our campus would be

shifted to the first semester and WAVES is the most likely candidate for this starting next year. The CSA announced a

few initiatives like the room laundry collection system, setting up of cooperative store, a Photocopying facility in the

Institute building and opening of the Student room for Students' purposes. We can also expect another ATM to be set up

in our campus soon. A new food counter has already commenced operation near AH8 on the road to the SAC. We can

only hope that the Internet problem will be resolved in the next semester as has been promised. Even though no on spot

questions were accepted (frustrating some, relieving others) the meeting surely added a new feather to the democratic

system in our campus. We hope this endeavour becomes a regular feature with greater interaction and participation from

all sides.

OH BAMA!

History was created when Obama was

elected to be the first black president of the oldest

democracy of the world. His victory symbolized the

vanquishing of racism and dismissal of the Bush

legacy. Though Obama has won, don’t cheer too

loudly. It will be great to have a black president but it

would be better if he follows McCain’s economic

policies. Looking at the voting record and campaign

content of the two candidates suggests that McCain

might in many ways have been better for India than

Obama, especially where economic issues are con-

cerned.

A nasty global recession has begun so pressures will mount for protec-

tionist measures and beggar-thy-neighbour policies in the US, hurting countries like India.

Apart from erecting import barriers and subsidizing dumped exports, US politicians will

seek to curb the outsourcing of services to India. Visa curbs will slow the movement of

skilled workers and their dollar remittances back to

India.

McCain is one of the few American politicians in either party with the

courage and conviction to stand up to protectionist populism. By contrast, Obama

embodies protectionism. In 2007, he voted to reduce visas issued to foreign workers (such

as Indian software engineers). Obama is cynically twisting facts to woo the most

protectionist US trade unions. This cannot but worry India, which may also be subjected

to bogus slander and trade disadvantages. By contrast, McCain has consistently voted for

open trade. He opposed the disgraceful Byrd amendment on anti-dumping duties.

Driving home the point that he is for creating jobs in the US, Barack

Obama has favoured streamlining the process for the high-skilled H2B visas for Indians

and other foreigners to make sure that employers were not "gaming" the system. For those

who don't know, the H2B visa program is the program whereby foreign nationals with

specialized skills, are supposed to be able to come in and be sponsored by their employer.

It is unclear whether the Senator had inadvertently strayed into the realm of H1B visas in

the course of making his thoughts on the issue known, but he made it clear he will ensure

that the high skilled visas will not be manipulated. He said it is also important to

remember the fact that US really had a "shortage" of PhDs, scientists and engineers. "We

really do have a shortage of certain key occupations that, if we want to continue to grow,

we've got to develop our kids here", Obama continued, still perhaps having in mind the

H1B visa that covers architects, engineers, computer experts, accountants doctors and

college professors. Though reserved Obama lauded the major contributions the Indian

American community has been making to the country's economy as well as to the fabric

of American society.

Editorial

3

THE ACADEMIC COUNCIL

The academic council comprises of a set of students, called academic representatives that have been selected by the

executive committee of the various academic associations. That makes a total of eleven representatives, with two

convenors. They attend to all the academic issues concerning the campus including the quality of laboratories and

courses, taking feedback from the students regarding various aspects, introducing electives and so forth.

The functions of the council include introducing more electives and there are proposals for taking feedback from the

third and fourth year students regarding their CDC’s . The members of the council also interact with the faculty

members, suggest academic changes and let them know what the students feel about their courses. The academic council

is answerable to the CSA, the faculty, the executive committee of the academic associations and the student body.

Since its inception in this semester, the academic council has been instrumental in centralising the leave application

procedures for fourth year students appearing for CAT ’08. It has also taken an initiative to catalogue the library books

subject-wise for the benefit of the students. The plan of action for the next semester is to gain a comprehensive feedback

of all the courses undertaken by the students, and convey it to the faculty and make necessary modifications.

It is proposed that to make the process of taking feedback easier, suggestion boxes will be put in the library and around

the campus for the collection of feedback forms which will be given to each student. The general body of students can

approach the academic council with any queries, complaints or suggestions by mailing them to acadreps@bits-goa.ac.in.

A REALITY CHECK

When life has nothing extraordinary to offer and everyday routine overshadows your thinking, you begin to reflect upon

the minor aspects of life. And in that frame of mind, the smallest events start to intrigue us. And the things that matter

most to you, start to become worrisome. If you think all of this is pure philosophy and has no concern whatsoever in

your life, its time to think again.

Let me explain this the BITSian way. When we are not studying, playing, watching movies or indulging in other extra

curricular activity, we often think about our future and the challenges it poses. Thoughts regarding placements, pack-

ages, higher studies, etc. start to boggle the mind and we realize that we have strayed from our path. We may find that

the goals we have set for ourselves and the expectations that we earned from our parents have been sidelined, but the key

lies in picking up the pieces and refocusing on our goals. Granted that in college life people wish to “live life to the full-

est” but living in the present doesn’t guarantee a successful future. There will not be a red carpet rolled out for you at the

end of your stay here. This may sound clichéd or overkill, but it’s the simple and honest truth. Your future employers

look for skill, hard work and the right attitude and these are things that have to inculcate during your stay here. I myself

do not believe in all work and no play but know this that when it comes to competition all play and no work will leave

you high and dry.

All this sounds pretty heavy doesn’t it? But these things bother us now and then all the time, and its just as well!

Because it can so often happen that your involvement in extra curriculars can throw your ‘acads’ out of whack. So this is

just some mind fodder to give you a reality check on life here at BITS.

On a lighter note, we BITSians have had a lot to celebrate about in the past few weeks. October started on a high, with

hostel spirits raging in a swashbuckling Zephyr. There was no time for a breather, as ACE ’08 announced itself with a

mighty successful debut. The academic activities weren’t too far behind, with workshops NetTech , Robokriti and Aero-

modeling receiving an overwhelming response. And then there was the spread of the panic wave “Is DC banned?? Will

it shut down? How will I download stuff?” etc...

As the dust settled, the gloomy and foreboding outline of T-2 and now compre appears on the horizon. The last-minute

preparations, the frantic rush for class notes, and the horror of the papers themselves (Anyone remember ES-1? ) it was

all a bit overwhelming, and in a breath, it seems like a decade has passed. And we have plenty to look forward to, in

every sense. There are more workshops, more special nights, more fests, and even more tests :-) in store for us. So fasten

your seatbelts, for it is going to be a hell of a ride.

4

TANDOORI NIGHTS @ BPGCTANDOORI NIGHTS @ BPGCTANDOORI NIGHTS @ BPGCTANDOORI NIGHTS @ BPGC

MUSIC NIGHT

September 30th brought with it the first of the tandoori nights (as we’re fondly

calling them now) - The Music Night. With a variety of songs, leaving out no

genres, the sounds of the guitar, drums & synthesizer blending harmonically

and assumed the form of some very fine pieces of music, leaving music lovers

lusting for more. The event commenced with an instrumental Carnatic music

performance, reminding us of the rich variety in Indian classical music. A num-

ber of songs by world renowned music composer A.R . Rahman followed, rang-

ing from ‘Kismat se’ to the very groovy ‘Pappu can’t dance’.

‘Kiss from a rose’, ‘Tears don’t fall’ & ‘I’m your angel’ were some of

the specimens of fine western music. Jazz lovers weren’t left out when Mr.

Tapan Desai, a BITS alumnus, took to the stage with his saxophone. As

everything comes to an end, so did ‘Music Night’ but not without reaching the crescendo– the adrenaline pumping

‘Socha Hai’ from Rock On as the curtain closer.

DANCE NIGHT

Dance Night ‘08 (12 November,2008) showcased classical and modern styles of

dancing. It started with the smoke machine smoking away at the dancers! And

was well received by the students and the Russian guests (from the INDO-

RUSSIAN workshop). It started on a classical note with a Bharatanatyam per-

formance. Then the audiences were treated to a streetdance- HipHoP perform-

ance. After a good show of freestyles and robot moves there was some Desi

jalwa with dancers performing on many popular south Indian numbers. After

many riveting performance the finale was “Chattiss-garh” where all the 36

dancers met on stage for a final showdown.

MOVIE NIGHT An open air screening of the famous movie “ The Dark Knight” was held in front of the library lawns on 13 November.

A temporary screen was set up and the movie was shown on it using a projector. The crowd thoroughly enjoyed this

open air rendezvous with the savior of Gotham city.

ROCK NIGHT

10,000 W of rock interspersed with some metal kept the crowd, which included even Bollywood purists, on their feet.

The evening began with a soulful rendition of the Eagles’ and ‘Tequila Sun-

rise’. This was followed by the club doing covers of ‘American Idiot’,

‘Dread & the Fugitive Mind’, ‘Yellow’ and some brilliant growling on Car-

cass’s ‘Black Star’ & Lamb of God’s ‘Laid to Rest’. On Judas Priest’s

‘Living After Midnight’, a certain guitarist started dancing onstage.

After two hours of in-house music, the Rock Club made way for the band

from Bangalore, Slain, the winners of Strawberry Fields. They started their

set with covers of Bon Jovi (You Give Love A Bad Name) & the Scorpions

(Rock You Like A Hurricane). Towards the end of their set they played

their own compositions, the best of which was ‘More than conquerors’. Their performance was characterized by some

brilliant guitar and drum playing. A truly Herculean effort by the Rock Club ensured that Rock Night was a resounding

success with everyone alike.

5

SLAIN, the power metal band from Bangalore was certainly one of the star attractions of 'Unwind’ - the

prelude to waves, courtesy-The Rock Club. The band comprises of Judah Sandhy on vocals, Jared Sandhy on drums,

Bryden Lewis and Manek D'Silva on guitars and Naresh Nathan on bass guitar. DoJMA caught up with SLAIN just be-

fore the show. Excerpts from the interview :

Q : What brings you to BITS Pilani Goa Campus?

A : We've never been to Goa before. BITS' reputation brings us here

and it is a privilege to play for you guys.

Your support carries us through and gives us the status we have.

Its all about spreading the music,

message and the fan base.

Q : Most of us have been spellbound by the quality of your music.

What are your influences, in terms of styles

and bands?

A : Each member has his own set of influences - western classical,

orchestration, jazz, power metal, classic

rock/metal etc. We all have our own strengths, which collectively makes our sound unique, which would

be aptly described as 80's glam meets power metal. We love the vintage sound of classic rock bands of

the 80s. We try to recollect that epic era of the 80's in a modern vision. In terms of bands, we are heavily

influenced by bands like Journey, Europe, Mr.Big, Iron Maiden, Whitesnake, Queensryche, Petra, Stryper,

Dream Theater, Def Leppard, Symphony X, etc.

Q : Bangalore is known for quality rock and metal bands which stick to the good old fashioned style - be it

Kryptos, Myndsnare, Bhoomi or you guys for that matter. What is it about Bangalore that keeps churning

out great metal acts?

A : Actually, there is a lot of funk in Bangalore now, which started out in Chennai. You can call Bangalore

metal capital of course. The metal bands do enjoy a lot of support. I guess its just a city with a lot of die

hard music lovers.

Q : What do you think of the current Indian Rock scene?

A : It is good that bands of all genres are coming up all over the country, be it funk, pop, electronica, rock or

metal. As musicians, we hear what others are producing, we know what we want to produce, and this

leads to a learning process which helps the music scene grow. We would like to set international

standards for ourselves.

Q : Your favorite performance and crowd (other than Bangalore)?

A : Every performance is amazing. We derive our energy from the crowd. As a competition - Strawberry

Fields was amazing; IIT Madras was great. Jamming is amazing too. The Chennai crowd is great.

Q : In this age of commercialized music, with MTV and other promotional support ignoring quality music, what

difficulties do non-mainstream musicians like you face?

A : Exposure is a problem. We have to work our way up. There are some great things happening in

Bangalore though, Radio Indigo covers upcoming bands and there are shows for upcoming bands, for

eg. - 'Rock Ethos', a show organized by bands themselves. MTV doesn’t really matter too much.

Q : Anything you guys would like to say to BITSians reading this publication, to promote yourselves or other

wise?

A : Check us out on www.myspace.com/slainindia, download our songs, check us out live in Bangalore,

check our videos out on YouTube, join our Orkut community.

"We don’t believe in history. We believe in making it" - SLAIN

SLAIN

6

Intel On Sunday,12 October, 2008, the Career Development Cell (CDC) of BITS Pilani - Goa or-

ganized a workshop by Intel. As part of Intel’s Blue Buddy initiative, Mr. Suraj Jolly, an en-

gineer working with the technical marketing team of Intel India visited our campus and con-

ducted a workshop-cum-seminar covering various issues relating to Silicon technology. His

talk touched on several issues ranging from, complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs)

and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), to microprocessors, the evolution of different

platforms, chipsets and multi-core technology. He highlighted the approaches behind effi-

cient chip designing as well as the whole process of chip fabrication.

Nettech A workshop on networking and ethical hacking was conducted by nettech at our cam-

pus from 25th September to 17th October. Students were taught both theory and given

hands on practice on various topics relating to networking. In the last few days par-

ticipants were also taught basic hacking. Over 130 students participated in this certifi-

cate course. The top three students were offered fully paid summer internship at the Nettech centers across the country.

Robokriti The "Robokriti" workshop conducted by the Mumbai based “Technophilia Solutions"

on the 8th and 9th of November, received a huge response from the BITSian crowd.

About 230 students enrolled for this workshop. The students were taught the basics of

robotics - wired, automated, computer controlled and speech controlled robots. The

teams had built their own robots by the end of the workshop.

Aero-modeling The Aeromodelling workshop was conducted by Robosoft technologies ltd based in Mum-

bai. The workshop was conducted by a group of professionals who are pioneers in the art

of aero modelling. The 60 odd participants were divided into 13 teams and each team was

provided a kit to build its own powered glider. The workshop commenced at 2 p.m. on Sat-

urday and teams raced against the clock to build the wing section by 6p.m. the same eve-

ning. After a short exhibition flight and break at dusk, work was done on the fuselage and

tail sections. The teams assembled at SAC the next

morning for the test flight. The models were successfully flown in the air, each for a span

of 5-7 min by one of the instructors and at the end of the day the workshop had a success rate of 100%. Finally, teams

were told basic essentials about the craft’s maintenance and safety precautions.

Workshop Mania

Securing your computer:

⇒ Most of the computers with factory loaded Operating Systems don't have a default admin password. Here is the

method for securing Windows Xp

⇒ Start your computer, press F8 during boot-up, choose safe mode option and log on as admin.

⇒ You now have the authority to change any other user's login password.

⇒ Your system may be hacked in through this loop hole so make sure you have an admin password in your system by

logging in through safe mode and setting password for admin in

Start>Control panel>users>admin (the admin account is not visible in normal logins, use safe mode login).

⇒ For Linux operating systems the bootstrap loader password is the equivalent password. In linux a user may log in the recovery mode and change the root password if bootstrap loader password has not been set.

7

For some this write-up may be some words to ponder over, for some it may be something that they will never want to

look at, but for us this is the tribute to a person who was a part of our life, one last chance for us to tell this world about

him and what he meant to us. It is something what everyone who loves him would like to say about him, George Kurien.

There will be many among the students here who have not seen him, but know him as "Maximus". Yes, that’s how he

was known; the name of a true legend.

Few will be there who have not turned his acquaintance to friendship. He was a team man. He was ready to go to any

extent for his friends. His outlook towards life made fear stay out of his path. If you tell him the world is going to end

now….Then he would say, “Let it end, then we'll see... why do you take so much tension?", such was his courage.

Throughout his life in BITS, nobody has ever seen him disappointed. He had high spirits and was always pleasant. He

had that smile on his lips, which we will all miss. He was consistent in his efforts to get the things, which he held close

to his heart. He was satisfied with what he had. He made sure that whatever he did he enjoyed to the maximum extent,

and also carried others along with him. He was influential and a source of inspiration for all his friends.

His sense of music was great and his passion for it cannot be explained in words. He had an imperial music collection,

which he held close to his heart from the seventh grade of his school. We would always say that without him most of us

would not have known what Western Music is all about. His favorite song was "November Rain" by "Guns 'N’ Roses".

We will miss our dear Maximus, the fun we had with him. But we know that he is out there somewhere watching all of

us. For him we have only these words to say... "Maximus ... we all love you ... we will miss you very much but we know

that you are right here with us, always. You live in our hearts and through us". It will be befitting for a man like him to

bid him farewell in a way he would like... "Farewell Maximus... You rock!!! "

-a tribute from his friends

George Kurien— A Tribute

2006P3PS177

(1989-2008)

8

Akash Raman, (2004P8PS598)

Networking tip:

You all must have heard of ip addresses and used them too while playing DOTA, AOE ,CS, chatting, or accessing dc

hubs. Ever wondered what are the ip addresses of the websites like orkut.com, google.com, yahoo.com, etc.

There is a simple way to find out.

⇒ Go to start> Run > cmd.exe ...a command prompt will open up

⇒ type 'nslookup' then type ' set q=a' and then simply type the name of the website you want to find the ip address of.

Harvard University has been focusing on engineering for the past few years. According to the Times Higher

Education (THES) ranking of institutions based on impact in engineering (the number of papers cited for each

university) Harvard is ranked number one - the number of citations being substantially ahead of comparable

institutions like MIT and Stanford. Harvard focuses on specific areas of research in engineering only. We talked to

Akash Raman presently at Harvard.

What area is your research based on? My work would be in Electrical Engineering - Medical Imaging, under Prof. Naveen Khaneja at the School of

Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

What was your GRE score and your CGPA ? My GRE score wasn’t very good! It was 1380 (out of 1600). My TOEFL score was however 118/120.

My CGPA was 9.42 when I applied.

What other universities did you apply to?

I applied to 11 universities out of which I got offers from Harvard, Cornell and Ohio State (My lowest ranked

university).

How did you prepare for GRE? I only appeared for GRE as I was sure I wanted to continue in my technical field of interest. I had 14 days of rigorous

preparation but I would recommend at least 2 months preparation.

Which extra curricular activities were you involved with on the campus? Do they matter in

admissions? I founded CEL at the Goa Campus and served as its President for a year. Apart from that I helped

start the Astronomy Club and had brief stints at NSS (Nirmaan) and CSD. Extra curricular

activities do help to get into universities.

What projects did you undertake? How important are projects? Projects are very important. Internships at some research institutes - Indian Institute of

Astrophysics (PS-1) where the project was in collaboration with ISRO, and at Raman Research

Institute helped my case. I also did two projects under Dr. Ashish Asgekar which I believe

strengthened my application.

Is it mandatory to have national/international publications? If you are aiming for the top few institutes then they matter a lot. For instance, one can rarely hear anyone getting into

UC-Berkeley, CalTech or MIT without publications. However, good recommendations and a good CGPA suffice most

of the time.

What advise would you give to your juniors? I've seen a lot of juniors at Goa Campus disheartened and confused. We need to understand that the BITS brand name is

recognized all over the world. If you don’t get good placements on campus you can always get them off campus

(Provided that you work hard). The general discontentment is not at all warranted. Also, I would request them to give

back to their alma mater after graduation. The relationship with BITS just begins there!

Now that you are an alumnus, what are you planning to contribute to the campus? As of now, monetary contribution seems difficult. When we were in college we needed funding for our projects and

Unfortunately I didn't get it. One of the plans I have is to help students with their projects. I was recently appointed as a

Team Leader for BITSAA and moderate BITS2MSPhD and the databases on the recently released BITSAA.org

website. Apart from that, I am available for providing any kind of guidance to BITS students!

9

Points Tally

EVENT 1 2 3

TABLE TENNIS KERNEL ASCII SYMBIONTS

BADMINTON MESA ENIGMA ZENER

BASKETBALL MESA INFINITI ASCII

FOOTBALL ENIGMA MESA ZENER

CHESS ENIGMA ZENER ALCHEMISTA

VOLLEYBALL MESA FOREX KERNEL

CARROMS MESA KERNEL ZENER

DISCIPLINE POINTS

MESA 1150

ENIGMA 750

ZENER 525

KERNEL 425

ASCII 275

FOREX 150

INFINITI 150

ALCHEMISTA 75

SYMBIONTS 75

QUIMICA 0

PHY SOCIETY 0 EVENTS 1 2 3

Relay R(S) CH1 & CH5 AH5 CH3

Shot Putt(B) AH8 & CH5 CH1 AH2

Creative Writing(B) CH5 AH5 AH1 & AH2

Spot Sketching(G) CH1 AH6 AH2

Duo Dnce(S) CH5 CH4 AH7

Photogr(S) CH3 CH1 & AH8

Contrptn(S) AH1 AH5 AH7

BnT(S) AH5 CH3 AH7 & CH4

BtB(B) AH8 AH5 AH1

Junk A(B) AH2 CH1 AH7 & CH4

Ser Killer(S) AH5 CH3 CH1

Grp Song(G) CH5 AH7 AH5

Quiz(S) AH7 AH6 AH8

Codathlon(B) CH1 AH8 AH4

Ignoble Awards(S) AH6 CH2 AH7

Moorkh Sammelan(B) AH1 AH5 AH2

Non conventional(S) AH8 AH4 CH1

Fun Race(B) AH8 AH4 CH1

Virtual Stock Market

(B)

AH8 AH5 AH4

Puzzles(B) CH3 AH1 AH5

Street Play(g) AH8 CH1 CH4

Solo Song(S) AH3 AH1 & CH4

Face Painting(s) AH7 CH1 AH2

Scientific Presentation

(S)

CH2 AH7 AH5

Mr and Miss(G) CH1 & CH4 AH2 AH7

GROUP Dance (g) CH4 AH2 CH1

Mock Talk Show(s) CH1 CH3 AH5

T-shirt Designing(s) AH6 AH7 CH4

Tug of War(s) AH5,AH8 &

CH4

CH3

Anti Chess(b) AH1 CH1 CH3

Fash p(g) CH4 AH8 AH3

Jam(s) CH4 CH3 CH1

News Paper(s) AH8 AH5 AH2

Short race (b) AH7 & CH3 AH4 AH5

Carnatic Instrumental 1st

Carnatic Vocal 1st

Fusion 3rd

Oasis Unplugged 3rd

Tarang (Group Singing) 2nd

Hindustani Instrumental-

Percussion

1st

Razzmatazz (Group Dance) 1st

Desert Duel (Solo Dance) 1st, 2nd

Poem a Picture 1st

Snoop Dogs 1st

Spin 2nd

Stokes 1st

Audio Visual Quiz 1st

Poetry Quiz 2nd

Women-of-the-World Quiz 1st

Wordstock 2nd

Kshanika (Hindi JAM) 1st

Voice a Verse 1st

Gabbar Mix 2nd

Black or White 2nd

Bull’s Eye 1st

Suicide at Midnight 1st

Entertainment Quiz 2nd

The Day After 2nd

Zephyr 2008 Ace 2008

Oasis 2008

Our hearty congratulations to you all!

10

Clubictivity

CEL: Epsilon 08-09

Providing a platform for budding investors, CEL has organized Epsilon to be bigger and

better this year. ISB-Hyderabad is their knowledge partner. Students have to submit their

business plans which are evaluated and then workshops are conducted to teach them how

to develop it into a hardcore business plan. Finally the top three teams get to attend

workshops on entrepreneurship which are held at ISB , and the winner gets an opportunity

to participate in CONQUEST, the international business plan competition organized by

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus.

This year’s edition has received 120 entries (including one from the BITS-Dubai

Campus). However, despite brain storming sessions, the number of entries from the Goa

Campus has decreased. The organizers feel that the students are not showing the same

level of enthusiasm to Epsilon as they exhibit towards other cultural activities.

MATRIX - Goa Chapter

MATRIX continued its radical concept sharing activities with a an enthralling

discussion on 'A Brief History of Time' a book by renowned scientific author Stephen

Hawking. The panelists were Prof. A.V.Kulkarni , Prof. Ramaswamy, Onkar Parrikar (3rd

year physics) and Ajachi Chakraborty (1st year).

The panelists hailed the book as a “masterpiece”. Queries about wormholes, space-time

curvature and the Schwarzschild radius were answered with cool composure and

omniscient confidence. However doubts regarding philosophical implications of physics

inspired disgust from Prof. A.V. Kulkarni , which was especially directed at those who

attempted (in vain) to reconcile science and religion. The idea of a Creator did not appeal

much to Prof. Ramaswamy either, who merely stated that we cannot prove such an

existence of a higher being unless we know why the laws that govern the universe need a

universe to exist. On such a profound note, the intellectually stimulating discussion ended

in tumultuous applause.

Wallstreet Club

Wall Street Club in collaboration with Career Launcher conducted the Business

Simulation Event on 16th Oct, 2008. The eliminations for the same were done on 14th Oct

on the basis of a Case study and a Quiz. 6 out of 34 teams – Optimus, Beneath BITS-

MUN, Fried Waters, Galaxy, SATTA and CEL Team advanced to the finals. The teams

represented different companies in varied sectors like Tobacco, Pharmaceuticals and auto

ancillary and had to take wise financial decisions to maintain their positions in the

market. The finals comprised of 5 rounds which included Resource selection, Marketing,

Negotiations, Tender filling etc. After 4-5 hours of extensive brainstorming Team Galaxy

managed to make maximum profit with CEL Team and Optimus at second and third

positions respectively. The event thoroughly tested the business skills of students and was

by far the most challenging Business Simulation Game BPGC students ever got to

participate in, on campus. Apart from this, the club also organizes intra club discussions

every week on various finance topics that help in building a strong conceptual foundation

for the members of the club.

Boycott Coros?

Coros! Yes, it does bring

memories of a restaurant

which serves tasty Ital-

ian food for most of us.

But for a group of 1st

year students foraying

into the wild for the first

time, they’ll remember

more than just the food.

Apparently, one student,

who was a strict

vegetarian, ordered &

reiterated that he wanted

only vegetarian food, so

naturally the waiter

served him chicken pasta

without his knowledge.

When he did find out

about this, the student

(whose name has been

withheld on request)

justifiably blew his top

and demanded to see the

manager. Incidentally,

Coros has stamped every

square inch of their

restaurant with the

words ‘Renowned for

our hospitality’. These

first yearites witnessed

their hospitality at first

hand. When the manger

found out that students

were not going to pay

for the mistake laded

order, he politely threat-

ened to call the cops.

Very politely. And then,

to prove his point, he

had one of his thugs

rough up the unfortunate

student who complained.

Again very politely.

So is this a call for a

Coros boycott? Well, it’s

a polite heads-up.

11

MIXED BAGMIXED BAGMIXED BAGMIXED BAG

Rip Currents

How one responds can make the difference between life and death. Beaches mean fun and frolic. But be cautious so that

the picture never gets ugly. If You Are Caught in a Rip Current, Don't

Panic! Stay calm and think clearly. Conserve your energy. Never try

to swim against the current. You can't! The world's strongest

competitive swimmers cannot swim against a strong rip current.

Swim sideways, parallel to the shoreline, until you are out of the rip

current. If unable to swim out of the Rip Current, float or calmly tread

water and wave for help. For your and your friends' safety, don't plan

outings at little-known beaches with no lifeguards. Never try the sea

if even slightly inebriated Take the weather into account.

If in doubt, don’t go out.

Change in ID Nos.

The ID numbers of students have been changed in accord with the system followed in Pilani to have uniformity in the ID

numbers of various BITS campuses. The change is that the 'P', 'S' and 'T' in the ID number are replaced with an 'A', 'B' or

'C' respectively and a 'G' is added in the end which stands for Goa. So a student with ID number 200xSyPyxxx will have

the new ID as 200xByAyxxxG.

SNAKE HANDLING WORKSHOP

A snake handling workshop was organized by the Environment Protection and Awareness Club (EPAC) on 8

November, 2008. The workshop was conducted by Mr. Amar Heblekar, range forest officer, ‘Dr Salim Ali Bird

Sanctuary’ ,and resident of our campus. There was a practical

session where students could handle snakes and learn more about rescuing

snakes (and themselves!!).

As snakes are often spotted in our campus, even few security guards

of our college attended the workshop to know more about snakes. In total

there were 12 snakes of different types, the major attraction being a black

python. Mr. Amar Heblekar gave a 15 min introductory talk on the body

structure of snakes and then the handling session was carried out in the LT

lawns by him and his wildlife rescue squad. During the entire workshop

people were busy capturing moments of their association with snakes

through their cell phone camera.

DUSSEHRA

Come October, and we celebrate one of our largest festivals, Dussehra with great pomp

and pageantry. Call it Durga Puja or Navratri, there is no corner of India that remains

unaffected by the grace of the mighty Goddess Durga, including our campus.

Dussehra was celebrated in a grand manner, spread out over five days of fasting

and feasting. The Goddess was venerated every day. This year, there were lots of fun

programmes held by the Durga Puja , Samiti, ranging from the Dandiya Workshops to

the games organized for the faculty, students and the students enrolled in Abhigyan.

Kudos to them!

And as for every festival, there were celebrations in the Auditorium as well, on

the day of Navami. BITSians put on their best display through dance and drama.

Children of the faculty put up an endearing dandiya performance to a devotional song. The highlight of the evening was

a performance by Vichitra, a cultural group which performs Rabindrasangeet. Though there was a minimal audience,

they still managed to enthrall everyone present.

12

Palindrome (The answers to the riddles below are palindromes. So how

many can you get without referring to the answers?)

1. f(x) is not equal to –f(x) and f(x) is not equal to

f(-x)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

2. The first man on moon was never on earth

_ _ _ _, _ _ _ _ _ _ _

3. Questioning the faith of a female gander.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _?

4. Christmas figure at space agency.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

5. Asserting that God’s arch rival was never around.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

6. No tears in the city that saw the famous tea party.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

7. Annoying McCain’s unselfish running mate.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

8. Taking something from someone-without begging.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

9. An excess of generators.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _! Answers: 1.Never odd or even, 2. Neil, an alien, 3. Do geese see god?

4. A Santa at nasa, 5. Devil never even lived, 6. Boston did not sob,

7. Harass selfless Sarah, 8. Borrow or rob, 9. So many dynamos!

TV Review:

The Lost Room (Six episode mini-series)

Genre - Sci-fi, thriller.

Description

A detective uncovers a key while working on a

murder case. The key can open every door and

takes him into a motel room, but if something

is left inside this room, it will be gone as soon

as the room "resets". He discovers that there

are ‘objects’- things from the room, hidden all

over the world. They don't look special, but

they have special powers and are

indestructible. The detective’s daughter gets

lost in the room. To rescue her, he must find a

way to bring her back, while working with

different groups of men searching for the

objects. But who can be trusted when everyone

goes crazy for possession of the objects? This

six episode mini series will keep you gripped

and gasping for more.

Comic Section

Can you spot the differences? <smirk>

Must

Watch

Movies →

1. Closer

2. Johnny Gaddar

3. The Bucket List

4. Taken

5. Aamir