Download pdf - DoJMA's Campus Watch Archive - Vol 1, Aug '13

7/30/2019 DoJMA's Campus Watch Archive - Vol 1, Aug '13

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Post CSA elections last semester, we at the Department of Journalism and Media Affairs

(DoJMA) have re-initiated one of our primary means of delivering on campus events-The

Campus Watch. Since the BITSian memory is supposedly short lived, owing to our globally

known and overrated schedules, certain events and happenings go usually unnoticed.

These happenings have us inconspicuously on the center stage and therefore yearn for our

attention. Therefore, through this initiative we wish to reach out to the campus crowd so

that the opportunities offered are never left unexplored.

The Campus watches on our Facebook page till date has reported several major events on

campus and reviewed them along with. In this section we encapsulate all of the campus

watches done this semester.

Like most of the initiatives of the campus, our work was well received for which we are

grateful to all. We hope to continue this endeavor of being vigorous and would expect your

continued support with this initiative as it signifies pure journalism for us. We appreciate your

reviews over it and we welcome any constructive criticism in future over the same.

Kudos to the new beginning!!


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BITSians DayAugust 2, 2013

Life at BITS, contrary to the popular perception, is noteasy. One often finds herself/himself in a constant

state of emotional flux. Even though we face

hardships like low CGPAs, pricey mess food,

fungus filled rooms on arrival, ridiculously

high course averages and the daunting

number of class hours in a week, being a

BITSian is still a privilege. Its quite unlikely

to find any pass out who wouldnt want to

relive those days. When most of us on campusare breaking their heads over the ERP system and

finding cheaper avenues to eat - ones devoid of

Moms, Dads, and SIM card salesmen, BITSians across

the world are celebrating today as a mark of their

resplendent journey at the four campuses of BITS.

Over the past few weeks, theres been a lot of talk on the

BITSian Spirit among friends and ex-classmates on various social networking websites. So,

what defines the BITSian Spirit? The BITSian spirit, according to us, is about having variedopinions with intense bouts of self-respect attached to one opinions correctness and yet

respecting another opinion contrary to it. It is about helping a fellow BITSian out to the best

of our ability in any situation, much like a close knit family, about giving back to the college

the one which gave so much to you, about terribly wanting to go back to college in-spite

of a horrible set of comprehensive exams just two weeks earlier, about learning about

failures through academics and then mustering the courage and enthusiasm again to

bounce back from them.

This spirit is what made most of us politically and socially conscious, even though none of it is

seriously taught in BITS. This spirit is what enables us to learn from our surroundings, helping

others and not being ashamed in asking for help. It is what sets us apart from the rest, and

this day is to celebrate the so-called common BITSian which is not at all close to an ordinary

engineer, her/his achievements, and to look forward to what she/he is going to achieve.


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Short Film Festival by MATRIXAugust 7, 2013

MATRIX, one of the persistent clubs on campus, has managed to begin the semester with abang. Unlike suggested by its name, the club is not a movie club but one that deals in

discussions, mostly about books and current events. MATRIX had its first event of the

semester today, August 7th, 2013, by the title Short Film Festival. The event started at 6 pm,

screened eight short films, each followed by an open discussion. The film festival saw a

satisfying audience and unlike the usual trend, had participation from second and third

year students too. The short films that were screened are:

The Crush, a 2010 Oscar nominated film by Michael Creagh. Thought for You, a 2D animated film that deals with expectations, by Ryan

Woodward.

10 Minutes. The film showed the importance of the same 10 minutes in thelives of two different people a Japanese tourist visiting Rome and a

boy in the war torn Bosnia of 1994.

Boundin, a Pixar 3D animated film that talks about the importance ofwhat one thinks of oneself.

French Roast, another 3D animated film, portrays how appearancescan be deceiving.

Black Button, one of MATRIXs favorites, involves a man who is willingto kill a random person by the press of a button for the temptation of

10 million dollars.

Validation, by Kurt Kuenne depicts the role and impact ofappreciation in peoples lives.

The Last Bookshop shows a world, so deep into technology that thelast bookshop is all that remains of the written medium.

For those who took part in the event, it was sure entertainment with lots of contemplation to

follow.

Open JAM SessionAugust 11, 2013

An Open JAM session was conducted on the 10th of August by LDC. The event was billed as

a promotional event with a large number of first yearites and a few seniors as well. The

event started off a little later than the scheduled time in typical LDC fashion, but the

attendees were kept entertained by the tunes of Pink Floyd, Oasis and Porcupine Tree. The


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event kicked off with an introduction to the basic rules of JAM, followed by a

demonstration JAM by the seniors. The first years were enthusiastic in their

participation, taking to the format of the JAM like ducks to water. The seniors

then took turns in moderating the JAM sessions, culminating in a mammoth

10 minute 'disconnect' JAM session with rolling topics. The coordinator, Kshitij

Bedekar and sub-coordinator, Ashwin Krishnan were extremely happy with the quality of

participation, with the coordinator even remarking that the LDC had successfully attracted

the right kind of crowd. The success of the JAM session adds to the increasing buzz around

the 4-day induction process, dubbed 'Origins', starting the 16th of August.

The Quark QuestAugust 13, 2013

The Quark 2014 team organized a campus treasure hunt yesterday which kicked off from infront of the B-dome. The participation was extremely good with a footfall of around 350

people divided into approximately 75 teams. The atmosphere outside, at the starting point,

was ecstatic. The start had a few hiccups as the Quark team hadnt expected so many

people to show up and became under-staffed. But they were still able to manage it.

The event started at around 5:50 and went on till

8:30. Participants were given clues which led

them to different parts of the campus where

images depicting various scientists were put up.

Guessing the name of the scientist earned theteam the clue to the next location.

Students, especially the freshmen got a

good opportunity to explore campus by

going off to far off places like the VGH and

Tennis courts.

The only major problem the event faced was the tearing away of a few clues by

participants. It was quickly handled by the control team who had spare clue posters on

stand-by for that very eventuality.The event was won by the team named The Sitting Ducks and a total of 5 teams were

successful in deciphering all clues. Quark tees were given to the top four team members.

It was a good event overall with many people noting the unusual excitement in people

running around campus.


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Department OrientationAugust 15, 2013

A department orientation for the 2013 batch was held on 14th at the auditorium. The eventstarted at 5:30 PM sharp (BITS standard time IST -1:00 Hrs and GMT +4:30 Hrs) owing to the

legacy of all BITS events being ISO accredited for their delay. First was a brief introduction

about departments and their utmost significance in a BITSians life by the treasurer, Nitish

Myneni. This was followed by presentations by all Departments on campus, some being

verbose whereas others being concise and effusive. A total of 16 presentations by

departments beginning with DoFAM received a large, receptive and an inexplicably silent

first year audience. The session ended with a special presentation by Quark Controls of 3

Robots fighting in Robokombat and a brief explanation about

Raspberry Pi, a credit card sized computer.

The Big BreakAugust 16, 2013

Every year on the Indian Independence day, BITSGian freshmen are given a stage to show

of their skills in music, dance and drama. Yesterday was no different with The Big Break

starting at a few minutes after 10 with the music society freshmen starting the event. This was

followed by the Drama club giving a play which was incoherent to say the very least. Even

though they tried their level best to perform, the seniors, especially those in their sophomore

year showed no mercy and kept a constant banter of jovial comments going on. The

vuvuzela was also brought into play, literally making it impossible for the dialogues to be

heard. This was followed by a performance by the dance club. As their performance was

coming to an end, seniors started to dance right in front of the stage, showing total

disregard to the director who was inconspicuously sitting in the front row with a few

colleagues.

The next event, The Fashion Parade was a total nightmare for the performers. With the exit

of the director and other faculty members, the seniors started taking fun to a whole new


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dimension by climbing up on the stage and dancing in the middle of the models. A drum

was also played to elevate the already enthusiastic mood. The show was stopped two times

after which everyone was begged to let the event take place properly the third time.

To cap it all, a freshers party was organized in the evening by Waves 2013, Department of

Publicity and Public Relations and the Department of Creative Works. Seniors were exposed

to a humorous sight as juniors came dressed in formal attire worthy of a multinational

companys General Body Meeting. The evening was entertaining ending with a tug of war

between freshmen of various departments.

Bio Dept. Talk by Dr. KumarAugust 17, 2013

A talk was given on the topic Cell Mediated Nanoencapsulated (CMN) Drug Delivery into deep lungs in LC 101 by Dr. Arun Kumar, University of Delaware. The talk started at 12pm

and went on for about an hour.

A major problem faced by scientists is that the lung expels any foreign

matter as quickly as it can and doesnt differentiate between pathogens

and medicines. Hence there is no effective means of drug delivery to the

deeper parts of the lungs. This new technology aims to send medicines to

the lower part of the lungs to treat pulmonary diseases, particularly those

affecting the alveoli. This is not possible at present. Most inhalants are highly

inefficient with respect to actual delivery of the medicine. In fact, only 10-20%of the inhalant medicine reaches the lungs and a staggering 60% goes to

into our digestive system, which is definitely not the target of the medicine.

So the proposition is to use nanoparticles as medicines after loading them in

Sertoli cells. Sertoli cells are abundant in the human testes. When inserted

into the body intravenously, it is observed that the Sertoli cells get

concentrated in the lower part of the lungs and are able to stay there for

quite some time due to their size.

This technology has been successfully tested on lab mice and DR. Kumar now aimsto take the research forward to clinical trials. If that is successful, he is confident that many

untreatable lung diseases will become curable.


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Dr. Kiran Bedi's sessionAugust 21, 2013

Dr. Kiran Bedi, the first woman IPS officer of India, interacted with around four hundredBITSians from all three campuses yesterday as part of the BITSAA Embryo Lecture Series. The

lecture which was screened in the Telepresence room here in BITS Goa, was on leadership

and how one should nurture it.

Dr. Bedi explained to the BITSian crowd that everyone are

leaders from birth and it is only a matter of realizing it and

nurturing it, and the only way one can nurture this leadership is

by doing a thorough SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities and Threats) analysis on oneself regularly. She said

that one who shows people the way is not a leader unless she/helistens to her/his conscience. Leadership with conscience is the

need of the hour, she said. In any interview, only intellectual

testing is practiced. It is not enough. Ethics, courage, conscience

should be tested too, as true leaders will have plenty of all of them.

The biggest thing which is missing in our education system is the

education of conscience

Crane Bedi, as she is fondly known around the country

then proceeded to give suggestions on how to educate

your conscience. She suggested students to form small groups to practice scenarios and

study how conscience plays a part in your decisions. You can call them conscience

groups, she said. She then went on to address questions asked by the students and

professors.

She concluded her talk with a series of quotes about leadership, and received a great

round of applause from the BITSian junta.

The Robolife Workshop by QuarkAugust 22, 2013

The Quark 2014 team is organizing a 10 day workshop for all the people on campus. It will

be conducted by Inventrom who piloted the Invent O Pi and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSI)

workshops during Quark 2013 both of which received very good reviews and great

participation. The workshop is named TheRobolife and aims at teaching a wide variety of

technical skills staring from basic line-following bots to things as advanced as the Raspberry


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Pi which is a Linux based pocket sized computer. This also includes a hands-on session of

Robokombat in which participants will engage in complete disassembly and assembly of

robots like Fireblaze which were featured in the Robokombat event

held during Quark 2013.

The price of the workshop is Rs.2500per participant. The payment can

be made by floppy posting which will be done by the Quark team in

each hostel.

Upon successful completion of the workshop, participants get a

certificate by Inventrom and Quark.

The workshop is scheduled to start on the 26th of August and will

go on till the 5thSeptember with a break on the 31st.

This is a great opportunity for BITSGians to have some extra-technical know-how on these subjects. For those whove already

done such workshops, many advanced aspects will also be

covered.

For more information, contact:

1. Sarang Agarwal +9194051373202. Sanskriti Dawle +919975789142

Matrix AlohomoraAugust 23, 2013

MATRIX through its second event this semester, Alohomora, managed yet again to entertain

the audience. The event was a fruitful stroll down memory lane for all Potter-heads. The

event started 20 minutes past the scheduled time, 5:30 PM. Due to

the unavailability of lecture theaters the event took place in

A-508. The nostalgia saw approximately 55 participants, a crowd far

larger than anticipated causing a completely packed venue. The

quiz cum discussion, hosted by Janvi Palan and Deepika

Ghodki, both senior members of the MATRIX club,

consisted of 26 questions which were meticulously picked

from all the seven books. The questions were interspersed

with interesting 'Chocolate Frog Facts', facts that baffled even the

biggest of Potter-heads. There was a great deal of excitement and enthusiasm in

the room with even MATRIX members taking part in the quiz. The quiz results were

announced shortly after the event and the prizes for which are to be distributed towards the


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which food is exposed for a particular amount of time. This procedure is mandatory before

exporting food stuffs from India, especially to countries like America and Australia where the

Quarantine trade barriers are extremely strict. Hence it has a tremendous scope for

commercial usage, for example at costs like Rs.25-50 per carton of mangoes; you can get

food articles sterilized and increase their shelf life.

The Maiden "Game Changers" TalkAugust 28, 2013

As a part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations, the maiden talk under "Game Changers"

took place in the Telepresence room yesterday. The talk was by Professor

Venkatesh Narayanamurti, Benjamin Peirce Professor of Technology

and Public Policy & Professor of Physics at Harvard. He talked about

"Globalization, Engineering Education and the Public Good." Thebasic essence of the talk was to encourage the intertwining of

engineering, science and societal values. Prof Venky, as he is

popularly known, said that it is important to think of Engineering as

a liberal art and not just an applied science. He talked of the

importance of appreciating the fact that engineering is as important

in research as theoretical science is. Prof Venky said that the

epitome of an engineer or scientist is a person who has

extensive theoretical knowledge and is innovative as well as flexible.

Professor Venkatesh summed up his talk by encouraging the students

of BITS Pilani to be unafraid of walking down paths that are less

trodden on and to take research and technology to new levels.

Hargun Steps DownAugust 30, 2013

Hargun Singh Oberoi steps down as the president of the CSA, 2013-14. Vice President S L

Narayan will step up to the President post, with other rearrangements in responsibilities, in

the CSA structure. The Treasurer shall take up the additional responsibilities of the VicePresident. Re-elections shall not be conducted.


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Piratess Grill - Full StoryAugust 30, 2013Following many discussions and meetings with the Contracts Committee, the exorbitant

prices of the new on-campus eatery Piratess Grill were finally slashed down to more or less

affordable rates some days back. This is the full story of the information exchange between

the two parties.

The functioning of the previous on-campus restaurant Shahi Darbar was terminated on

accounts of lack of hygiene at the end of the previous semester. Following this move, the

contracts committee called for other restaurants around Goa to come up and replace

Shahi Durbar in the Shopping Complex. But, owing to the general opinion regarding the

same from relevant parties, that the particular space was not suitable for a full-fledged

quality restaurant, the idea of a fast food joint was put up, which is how Piratess Grill cameinto the picture.

The Contracts Committee and officials from Piratess Grill went in talks and decided upon a

contract, which contained all the food items which were to be sold, inclusive of the prices

at which they were to be sold. However, once the facility started functioning, it was seen

that Piratess Grill was selling the food items at highly unreasonable ones, different from

those mentioned in the contract. In addition, they were also seen to be selling food items

which were not mentioned in the contract, again at an unacceptable pricing. The lack of

food on campus scenario which was expected to be solved by the arrival of Piratess Grill

turned rather more severe with their advent.

The Contracts Committee took this issue up seriously and held many discussions and

meetings with the Piratess Grill officials, following which prices were brought down and the

terms and conditions of the contract were enforced again. The email sent by our General

Secretary, Anmol Shrivastava, on behalf of the CSA to authorities Nikhil Dixit and Debasis

Gupta, regarding Piratess Grill can be v iewed on the DoJMA facebook page.


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The Team

Aabir Abubaker Aarzoo Siddiqui Abhijith Asok Akshay Surendra Ambareesh Sr Ja Amrita Suresh Anirudh Thukral Ankita Kar Anshul Jain Arathi Krishna S. Deepika Ghodki Geethika Nelluveli Harsha Koneru Karthik Srinivasan Kartik Sreedhar Lakhshya Bansal

Meghana Gupta Pallavi Verma Prasoon Mehta Rahul Hardikar Rutuja Surve Sanchita Porwal Sathya Anurag Seerat Bindra Siddharth A.S.N. Soumya Chauhan Sourayan Basu Srijani Biswas Surabhi Ranjan Vedangi Pathak Vishnu Nair