THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUEIIT KHARAGPURSEPTEMBER 15 2011www.scholarsavenue.org

Excerpt from The Game Changers

-Page 2

Exclusive!

regular thorn in the side of the Placement Committee when they try to get new companies to recruit from our campus.

But all said and done, this session was one of the best in years. The numbers speak for themselves in the next page where we lay out relevant placement statistics for you. (Contd. on Page 2)

elcome back dear reader, Wand a happy new year to you. As another spring semester begins, we at The Scholars’ Avenue focus on two important events from last month - the first round of campus placements and the inter-IIT sports meet. Both saw intense competition among students, were critical to the Institute’s reputation, and saw the gamut of human emotion at play.

While the job one gets on campus is rarely one's final (or in many cases, even initial) destination, the placement season is serious business for most of the 1600-odd registered students because it’s the easiest, most secure opportunity to bag a job for most students. The buildup to December 1 is significant, beginning with multinational giants making presentations about how their companies will bring you happiness and riches. Next, final years toil away at MS Word's door, trying to encapsulate four/five years of their lives in one or two pages of their Resumes’ crowded text. Endsems are shrugged away

particularly biased department-wise, with most of the students in departments like CS, ECE and EE getting placed, while many 2-year M.Sc programmes drew blanks. Another disadvantage is Kgp’s location affecting the number and quality of companies coming in to recruit, especially new companies considering hiring IITians on a trial basis. A comparison of Day One companies at IITs like Delhi and Bombay elucidates this problem, a

like never before, as a slew of aptitude tests and more CV submissions, presentations and GD/PI preparation take over the average final year student’s life. And when you see an unrecognizably clean-shaven, groomed and suited-up friend cycling frantically into the Vikramshila complex on a nippy December 1 morn ing , you momentarily wonder if you’ve seen it all.

As the statistics show, the placement scenario was by no means a bed of roses. Job opportunities are not bountiful in every domain, with a heavy skew prevalent towards the IT industry and a surplus of foreign-educated graduate students in the more niche fields. Consequently the placed cannot be equally distributed among all departments and programmes. Among post-graduate students, the scenario is not optimistic, with only 32% of registered students in the various post-grad programmes managing a job so far. The stats appear

Placements Round 1

THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUEIIT KHARAGPURJANUARY 19 2012

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2 C A M P U S A V E N U E THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , JANUARY 19TH 2012

number of placed candidates. efficacy by making extra rooms available to conduct tests, GDs and PIs. In addition, an ERP system is Looking ahead, the most being planned to compile lists of ominous challenge lies in the position-holders at the Gymkhana numbers. The pressure of and Hall levels, and forward these to burgeoning batch strengths will the Placement Cell. A feather may be felt with an ever-increasing also be drawn from the cap of places crunch in the coming years. like IIT-D or IIM, wherein With approximately 2000 candidates freeze a verified Master students expected to sit for CV for all recruitment purposes. placements next year and the

economy in doubt courtesy a t u r b u l e n t E u r o p e , t h e It was a solid showing for percentage placements should placements at Kgp, one that has take a hit. Professor SK lessons for both prospective job-Srivastava, Professor in-charge, s e e k e r s a s w e l l a s t h e Training and Placement Cell, administration. The final semester said, ‘Increasing competition, lies ahead of some of us. To those not only within but among IITs, who have a dream job or a place in means that students will need to IIM ahead, congratulations. And to work very, very hard. Do not those sitting for placements in the take placements lightly, for a job second phase, to the academically is by no means assured.’ inclined praying for an Ivy League

acceptance, and those looking to carve out new paths for themselves, Over a hundred people landed jobs hope for any candidate provided To ensure a level playing field for we wish the very best of luck!at the Day 1 companies (via they work on their profile hard everyone appearing for placements,

placements or PPOs). As the CGPA enough. Also, at 882 people placed the Training and Placement section vs. Day chart shows, there is a (about 53% of registered people) as plans to instate several measures in (All data was collected from public healthy distribution of GPAs that of this writing, we are currently the near future. An increase in s o u r c e s . R e a d m o r e o n get placed every day, so there is leading all the IITs in terms of raw infrastructure should help increase www.scholarsavenue.org)

An Ode to Entrepreneurshipaccounting department and ended assistant to the legendary Professor General Instrument Corporation t wouldn't be an exaggeration if we up as the Chief Financial Officer of Amar Bose—the maker of the (GIC). Suhas completed his work were to say that 'Entrepreneurship' Ithe company. renowned Bose speaker systems. on methodology of design, which has been THE buzz-word on campus

Then Professor Bose was also came to be known as Storage Logic for several years now. An anthology of running Bose Corporation, a Array (SLA) methodology. He even this trend was the need of the hour Pursuing his love for electronics, company which subsequently put made a practical silicon compiler in and two of its students Yuvnesh Modi Suhas joined the Department of him on the Forbes billionaires list. 1980. He felt that the technology and Rahul Kumar and an alumnus E l e c t r on i c s and E l e c t r i c a l Suhas's IIT education ensured a was mature enough to be Alok Kothari have done just that: Communication Engineering, IIT smooth sailing for him at MIT. In introduced in the market. However, penning the book, "The Game Kharagpur, in 1960. During those 1966, Suhas created the first ever the methodology that he had Changers” (Random House India). days electronics was a new field of online information management developed was a complete Should this book should be treated as study, and it was not the most system in the world. It was during departure from the standard a manual for budding entrepreneurs popular course to choose if you that summer Suhas landed a job at methodology, so it was very or as a chronology of KGP’s glorious wanted a job with a big salary. MIT for writing software for the difficult for the industry to adopt it.tryst with innovation- decide that for However, for Suhas, the option of management of teaching and yourself as The Scholars’ Avenue studying something else did not research assignments. He could presents an exclusive excerpt from the exist . The department was The sponsoring company, GIC, have written a complete thesis on book. relatively small with only twelve funded him to commercialize the the project. However, since he had a students in his batch. However, it technology as it wanted to build a strong engineering background, he had an outstanding faculty with system on a chip . Suhas ' s ***wanted to work in the field of professors such as G.S. Sanyal, J. transformation from a professor to Suhas Patil (Cirrus Logic)computer architecture. Suhas's Das, and B. Chatterjee who had an entrepreneur had begun. He quit dedication and hard work paid off. studied abroad and were very highly his job at the University of Utah. In the year 1995, the Santa Clara In recognition of his outstanding regarded. GIC invited him to join the Valley Historical Association work as a teaching assistant, he was company. But Suhas wanted to published a book titled The Making appointed as an instructor even work independently to which the In addition to being the gardening of Silicon Valley: A One Hundred before he finished his doctorate. company agreed. This led him to secretary, Suhas was an avid Year Renaissance, in which it namedAfter he received his Doctor of start a company called Patil Systems p h o t o g r a p h e r . H e l e a r n t Suhas Patil's company Cirrus Logic Science (DSc) degree in Electrical in 1981 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The photography from his father and as one of the companies that shaped Engineering in 1970, he was company got a two-year contract gradual ly mastered a l l the the Valley. The book went on to say immediately invited to join the from GIC to make commercially techniques. 'I distinctly remember that '[Cirrus Logic] rocketed...to a faculty at MIT. viable silicon compilers. Suhas an incident when Padmaja Naidu, billion-dollar-a-year run rate faster

received full support from his daughter of Sarojini Naidu and the than any other Silicon Valley Suhas began his career as Assistant family for this idea. then Governor of West Bengal, semiconductor firm ever made that Professor, and served as Assistant came to inaugurate the Sarojini climb—and without a fab of its Director of Project MAC (Multi-Naidu Hall [the girls' hostel], and own.' Access Computer) as well. MAC the official cameraman went was a very strong programme, from missing in action. So, I was asked to Suhas's earliest encounters with which things like Ethernet—the take the photographs with my technology, especially electronics, predecessor of the Internet— camera.' That black- and-white were shaped by his father—his first emerged. Project MAC formed a big photograph can still be found teacher, and took place while part of Suhas's doctoral thesis. adorning the wall of Sarojini Naidu growing up in the steel city of While working closely with Project Hall.Jamshedpur in Jharkhand. Suhas MAC, he became interested in says his father was a man with semiconductors and methodology While at IIT, Suhas learnt of the multiple skills. He was the first ever of design. Day-by-day, the number great institution, Massachusetts engineer from his village, where not of transistors on new chips was Institute of Technology (MIT), and even a high school existed. He increasing and designing those chips he was intrigued by the idea of studied both mechanical and was becoming difficult. studying there. Graduating as a electrical engineering from Banaras

department topper in 1965, he Hindu University (BHU) but joined In 1975, Suhas moved to the applied for a postgraduate degree to as a metallurgist in TISCO (now University of Utah as it had a MIT and got selected. Coming to called Tata Steel). If that was not semiconductor lab donated to it by MIT in 1965, he was a teaching enough, he moved to the cost

“I'm happier about the current ratio of no. of girls to no. of boys as against to our time in college (1:23).” -Mrs. Sunita Dutta (’87 SN)

A L U M N I A V E N U ETHE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , JANUARY 19TH 2012

Snapshots from the Alumni MeetHasya Kavi Sammelana n u a r y i n K h a r a g p u r i s

traditionally spanned by an The Hasya Kavi Sammelan held as a Jassortment of events. This year, the part of the meet of IIT Kharagpur new semester kicked off with warm was a supremely enjoyable and days, an Inter-IIT hangover, refreshing programme for all those placement worries, and more who attended. The poets, Mr. importantly, the 9th Alumni Meet. Surendra Dubey, Dr. Arun Gemini Here's a rundown on the last. and Mr. Vineet Chauhan, were very which sold like hot cakes. The Haji Ali, from Fiza, followed by the

exhibits were the best-of-the-lot heart-wrenching Tanhayee from Dil chosen from a competition held Chahta Hai. ETMS then presented previously. The exhibition-cum- th r e e pu r e l y b r e a th t ak in g sale, widely applauded by the instrumentals: a beautiful Carnatic alumni, lent a vibrant touch to the classical piece, Pal Pal Bhari from meet. Swadesh and the soft and moving

Lukachupi from Rang de Basanti. Exiting to a rapturous applause Of Raagas and Riffsfollowing Mera naam chin chin In addition, our alumni were choo, ETMS cleared the stage.greeted with a splendid, musical WTMS started off with Highway performance by our very own Star by Deep Purple. A wondrous ETMS and WTMS. An impressive two and a half minutes guitar solo fusion of the East and the West embellished the song. The delirium filled the atmosphere of the Netaji that it created can be aptly Auditorium, and was thoroughly described by a comment from one enjoyed by all in attendance.alumni in the audience: “Man! The guitarist has gone mad!” Right after While the show started with a this energy-packed performance fashionable 30-minute delay, the was a cover of The Beatles, Let it be next one and a half hours kept the and a piece by Porcupine Tree. audience glued to their seats. ETMS Finally, to an appreciative, took to the stage first, with a enthusiastic audience, WTMS sequence of 5 popular songs. While performed their promised Coming some of them were exact renditions back to life.of the originals, others were made The show continued to be full of even better with modulations and pleasant surprises, as the alumni in s t rumenta l add-ons . The were invited to take the stage. performance started off with Piya While hesitant at first, the KGP

The Inaugural Ceremony spirit in them took over as one of Kharagpur saw the inauguration of the alumni, Mr. Rajesh, did a the 9th Alumni Meet on 7th January marvelous job on the drums with at Kalidas Auditorium. The Smoke on the Water and one of his function drew together over a friends followed with a beautiful hundred alumni, from colonels to cover of Suno Na Suno Na. The entrepreneurs and professors. evening ended with a classic Distinguished Service awards were presentation of Vishnu Stuthi presented to a few whose sparkling “Venkatachala Nilayam” by success carved a niche for them in M r . T a r u n K u m a r a n d the national and international arena. Mr.T.K.Ramachandram. All in all, They attributed their success and the show was a splendid success, profundity to their alma mater IIT, surely a loss to those who missed it. Kharagpur. To quote one of the ETMS and WTMS deserve a hearty awardees, Mr YPS Suri - “IIT is like a congratulation on pulling off such a mother to me. My mother tells me wonderful, fun performance.that you are a good son. My life’s ambition has been fulfilled.” Mementos were presented to all the guests, who expressed their felicity well received by the audience, of getting back to their roots by Kgp which consisted of students and Tempo Shouts; proving that once a alumni alike. As expected, the Kgpian, always a Kgpian. performances had the audience in

splits. A dash of patriotism, The ceremony also witnessed the provided mainly by Mr.Chauhan, release of the much awaited book - added a whole new dimension to The Game Changers. Written by the event. Notwithstanding the fact Kgpians - Yuvnesh Modi, Rahul that the language used might have Kumar and Alok Kothari, the book been a tad too difficult for people presents 20 success stories of not too proficient in Hindi, the Kharagpur alumni who brought to night on a whole was a memorable life their big dreams of being one, especially for the alumni who entrepreneurs. A few alumni who presumably do not get the featured in the book were present at opportunity to attend such events the ceremony and shared their and let their hair down every once in valuable experiences. One of them a while.struck a different note when he elaborated how his personality had Art Cornerbeen liberated and shaped by A Fine Arts and Photography Sale ragging. He said, “Ragging deprives was also organized during the meet. you of ego, instills a set of values The stall, splashed with colours of which makes you a true IITian. I’m Illu and moods of the various halls, happy and proud that I was ragged.” immensely appealed to all the Needless to say, this met with a nostalgic alumni present. In all, huge round of applause from the there were about 5 mind-blowing audience. sketches and paintings, and about

150 vivid photographs, some of

Mr. Y P S Suri (ME ‘69, RK, Distinguished Alumnus Awardee)

“It's feels great to be back and I had a good time interacting with

the students in RK Hall.”

“The hospitality in the guest house was excellent… There was no

drinking water in the room and no phone to connect to the

receptionist. Probably it's my mistake to expect too much from

the system.”

“The qualities which you acquire here [in IIT] become a way of

life and they teach you how to lead, relate and become relevant.”

“There are so many societies now and they provide an ideal

platform to compete ethically.”

“Your interaction with the alumni is poor and the archives should

be maintained properly.”

“Competition in IIT is the toughest in the world, so if you survive

here, you are a natural winner!”

“The living conditions in the hostels are pathetic! Not the correct

way to treat the country's best minds. However, the toilets

appeared to be cleaner!”

“I consider contributing to the IIT community like serving my

mother.”

Mr. Bishwapriya Sanyal (AR ‘72, MIT faculty)

“I enjoyed visiting the old spots around the campus where my friends

and I would meet up to share the day's happenings.”

“I am happy to see the changes on campus, with new buildings and

better facilities.”

“I am glad that students take the initiative of dealing matters on their

own and organizing events, for example, this Alumni Meet.”

“I loved the show put up by the students yesterday [6th Jan] and I

think it was of high quality.”

“I don't miss IIT Kharagpur to a high extent, as the institutes where I

work now are extremely good with world class facilities and the

brightest of students.”

“I consider the education system here as a collection of several things

(not only course work), which cultivates a sense of learning, and

hence makes it quite strong.”

“I was surprised to learn that there are a lot of vacancies (faculty

positions) in IIT Kharagpur, which is one of the best institutes in the

country. I believe that a top-level college cannot be run without top-

level faculty.”

3

Badminton year, I will encourage more number undoing against stronger opponents. of B.Tech students and boost their Nonetheless, it was a valiant effort.confidence in the game” Mentally all set to win the Gold in

this year’s Men’s Badminton, the Reflecting on the tournament as a Kharagpur team had a good start Volleyball whole, Kharagpur captain Abhishek with 3-0 wins against Indore, Delhi Meena said: “This tournament has and Guwahati in the group stages. been a great learning experience for Written off by many, the unheralded However, an unlucky choice of the team. We had practiced and volleyball team sprang quite a draws against the erstwhile Gold- worked on our co-ordination and it medalists, Kanpur, lead to a stunning shone through. We played some of 0-3 their defeat in the quarter-finals. the best matches of our lives.”The loss at this crucial stage saw Kharagpur leave the tournament Hockeybefore their strongest player, Raj Patel, even got a chance to play. "The There was disappointment in store lack of practice of some of our for Hockey fans too, as another players was very apparent. They strong Kharagpur team crashed out seemed to have lost hope and in the group stage of the weren’t fighting back.”, says Raj. competition. Being semi-finalists last year, expectations were naturally According to teammate Asit surprise as it bagged the Silver high. But the experienced Hockey Godbole, “The unavailability of medal, losing out to IIT Roorkee in a squad lost the opener against shuttles and the new court at the cracker of a final. The team brushed Bombay. In a year marred by right time worsened the situation. aside Ropar and Mandi in their first controversy, the focus shifted to the The coach was brought in very late, two matches to qualify for the sidelines as members of the Bombay not giving the team enough squad were involved in a time for improvement.” The brawl, jeering at the crowds team hopes to get a coach this and the bench which semester itself, and pull out all ultimately resulted in two stops in the improvement of Bombay players being red the game of each player. carded and subsequently banned for a year.The Women’s team, being defending champions and T h e t e a m o f t h e coming from an amazing tournament was Madras as w i n n i n g s t r e a k , w e r e they breezed through the disappointed to settle for a group stage, defeating a Bronze. They had an easy ride strong Bombay outfit in the to the semi-finals, defeating semi-finals, en route to the Hyderabad and Ropar in f ina l . Delh i defeated straight sets in the groups and Roorkee in the semi-final to Bhubaneswar in the quarters. set up a mouth-watering However, a disappointing loss clash. The final was a close lay ahead for them in the semi- affair as Madras overcame finals against this year's winner, Delhi 3-2 to clinch the gold Bombay. In the playoff for the medal while Roorkee took third place, Kharagpur was the home the bronze.c l ea r winner, de fea t ing Gandhinagar in straight sets in With the infrastructure set both the doubles and singles up barely a week before the matches. tournament, the Hockey

squad lacked practice, quarter-finals. Another win in the Table Tennis leaving them vulnerable in defense group stage would have set up a

and uncoordinated against stronger The event saw records tumble as premature clash against the The table tennis women’s team, outfits. With a new coach, and Rahul Prakash (Delhi) and Jasveer favourites, Roorkee. Plagued by came back as strong as ever, grounds, but without much time to Singh (Gandhinagar) broke the injuries prior to the tournament, defending their title and taming adjust, the squad struggled, games record in snatch (62-69kg Kharagpur strategically rested a few anyone who stood in their way of nullifying their home advantage. category) with a lift of 78 kg, while key players in their last group match victory. Their primary competition With most of the team graduating Kenisevi Meyase (Delhi) created a against Guwahati, losing out 1-3. The came from Bombay, who they next year, new blood beckons. It is a new games record (snatch above quarter-final was a high intensity defeated in straight sets in the finals, two-edged sword as there is a lot of 77kg) with a lift of 97 kg.affair as Kharagpur beat an agitated and Mandi, who turned out to be a work that needs to be done if

Bombay squad to enter the semi-surprise package with a strong Kharagpur is to restore its prowess in Though they improved their Lawn Tennisfinals with Roorkee, Madras and

the sport. timings, other IITs’ improved more Delhi being the other semi-finalists. significantly, thus raising questions The ‘Three Time Defending

Athletics about the type and duration of Champions’, Madras, lay in wait in training, available facilities, and the semis. Kharagpur outplayed finally, if we can improve enough to The crowd stared in disbelief as they Madras in the last set to book their win back the crown.witnessed the defending gold seat in the final. medalists finish a humble fifth.

Confident of retaining their title, A pleasant surprise lay in store as the The final was a modern day classic Kharagpur started off brightly, Girl’s contingent bagged the overall with both teams enthralling the dominating the field events with one Silver medal finishing with a medal singles player. crowds. Roorkee looked all set to Gold, four Silvers and two Bronze tally of two Golds, three Silvers and a wrap up the match after winning the medals. However, it all went off Bronze. Roorkee won the overall Chaoba Thoumaojan (popularly first two sets in spectacular fashion track as the runners managed to bag Gold while Bombay took home the known as Manna Di on campus), the before Kharagpur made an With a team consisting of two first just two medals, while Bombay and Bronze.captain of the team and a final year extraordinary comeback. The crowd years and two second years, the IIT Madras shared the spoils. Tied for M.tech student, was the clear show- felt rejuvenated, hope still lingering Kharagpur Lawn Tennis Men’s team points , the balance of the There were some noteworthy stealer with her quick, agile moves, for the elusive Gold, but perhaps, it was the dark horse of the championship rested on the last individual performances from the top spinners, forehand flat and was not meant to be as Kharagpur tournament. “We had a decent event, the 4x 100m relay, where Kharagpur contingent as Sruthi incredible assessment of her lost the final set 15-17. In the prelude, chance of reaching the semifinals but Bombay snatched victory and the Chekuri grabbed four medals in the opponents. This being her final Inter Madras beat Delhi to finish third. we had bad luck against Kanpur”, overall Gold by 0.1sec. Madras had track events while Sandeep Samal IIT, this is what she had to say: s a i d f i r s t y e a r S h r r i n e s h to settle for silver while Kanpur and Nitin Siwach completed the There was also heartbreak elsewhere Balasubramaniam. After defeating finished a distant third. double in the Discus throw (Men). “It was a very nice experience to play as the girls team crashed out in the Hyderabad, Kharagpur lost 2-1 to Elsewhere, the Weightlifting team the Inter IIT. My entire team was group stage after losing consecutive Kanpur in a close and hard fought Despite strong performances in the showed great improvement as very co-operavtive . I wish them matches to Delhi and the eventual match, ensuring that they placed Inter-Halls, the Kharagpur team Kharagpur narrowly lost out on an well in the upcoming years where champions, Roorkee. Perhaps it was second in their group. This position failed to impress in the Inter-IITs. overall standing. they will have to play their best. This their inexperience which led to their

The 47th edition of the Annual a Gold in March-past), this was could not practice as much as they Inter-IIT Sports Meet, which indeed a disappointment. should have.”, says G. Sec Sports, returned to Kharagpur after a Pratyaksh Pathak. decade long hiatus, proved to be The Scholars’ Avenue team spoke to equal to any Bollywood potboiler the captains and G. Sec Sports to There was an additional dampener you might have managed to catch find out more. “We were expecting on the proceedings owing to some this December. With some stunning to do better in Athletics and uncharacteristically unsporting wins and unexpected heartbreaks, Badminton, we lost around 20 behavior. The heat of the and even a couple of brawls and points there”, said the G. Sec Sports, competition sparked off ugly brawls bans thrown in, Inter-IIT 2011-'12 Abhishek Negi. While a bit of bad that culminated in bans on all the did not fail to surprise. luck and surprises did contribute to current members of the Kharagpur (2 years) and Kanpur (1 I n s t r u m e n t a l t o year) cricket teams, as K h a r a g p u r ’s g r a n d well as two Bombay D i a m o n d J u b i l e e hockey players (1 year). Celebrations plan was a Still, the G. Secs are glitch-free execution of hopeful that the appeals the Inter-IIT and efforts to the Director to lift the were not lacking in trying bans on the Kharagpur to impress. As is the norm team members will be in all Inter-IITs, the host successful.college got a hurried make-over, in addition to However, all was not a whole new array of bleak. The Women’s sports facilities in the teams gave the Kgp junta recently constructed plenty of cause to cheer. G y m k h a n a . T h e They showed impressive organizing team executed i m p r o v e m e n t i n the meet in noteworthy Athletics and Lawn fashion, and the campus Tennis, while maintaining was a treat to the visitors. their Gold winning position in Table Tennis. However, as the sports With standings in all meet unfolded, other sports barring Volleyball, the miserable standings, there is gaping holes were discovered. It the Women’s contingent finished definitely room for improvement. seemed that while we had been second overall, losing out on the Earlier team selections and practice trying so hard to bedazzle, we had crown by a mere 3.47 points. A few sessions involving the entire team forgotten what Inter-IIT was all murmurs of complaints, unpleasant are on the top of the to-do lists for about- sports, and fostering a brawls and a wanting performances next year. Apart from this, a major healthy spirit of competition. Even were lows indeed, but an overall upheaval of practice schedules due as the organizers' performance s m o o t h o p e r a t i o n o f t h e to the unavailability of the grounds exceeded expectations, the home proceedings ensured that most and courts was also seen as a teams failed to follow suit. visitors found Kharagpur to be contributing factor. “The new Kharagpur was unable to improve gracious hosts and went home Gymkhana was finished just in time its last year’s performance, finishing satisfied. Here’s hoping that they (the squash court was completed an overall 6th in the Men’s continue their spectacular rise and four days before Inter-IIT began). categories yet again. With a standing we believe the men could pick up The infrastructure was not ready till in just four of the eleven sports (and some handy tips from them.the last minute, so some teams

qualify they did, and a buoyant conviction and Kharagpur topped the group and set belief that comes up a quarter-final against minnows o n l y f r o m Patna, where Kharagpur thrashed extensive practice Patna by 116 runs in a highly one- sessions and team sided match. bonding. They did

n o t f a c e a n y p r o b l e m s It was in the semi-final that the o v e r c o m i n g script for the Kharagpur cricket M a n d i a n d team went awry, in more ways than Bhubaneswar in one. Not only did they lose the the group stages. match to Kanpur, but a brawl Gandhinagar was during the match ensured that the expected to pose Gentlemen’s Game was hardly m o r e o f a played with the spirit it ought to be. challenge but a 59-The members of the Kharagpur 44 win meant that cricket team have been slapped Kharagpur topped with a two year ban, while their the group to set up Kanpur counterparts face a year a mouth-watering long ban. Surprisingly though, both clash against Delhi.the teams were able to shake off all

apprehensions and came out all make or break match with Bombay guns blazing in their respective The match against Delhi was in their final group game. The game medal matches, with Kanpur something that will go down the against a Bombay was a cliffhanger defeating heavyweights Delhi to pages of our sports history, with both teams sharing the honors win Gold and Kharagpur beating especially since the home team going into the final set; alas! it was Roorkee to win Bronze. emerged winners by sheer grit. The not KGP's day as Shirin Kumar

score was tied throughout the suffered a heartbreaking loss which match but Delhi raced to a 65-61 Football ended the team's campaign at this lead with less than two minutes to year's Inter-IIT.go in the last quarter. A stunning Touted as one of the best teams to comeback backed by a huge crowd represent IIT Kharagpur in a long When asked about his plans for the ensured Kharagpur made it to the time, going out in the quarters future, Sachin told TSA that he semi-finals. In a similar match, proved to be a huge disappointment along with the Coach intend to start however, Bombay held their nerve for everyone associated with a league championship along the better than Delhi to beat a valiant Football in Kharagpur. The team lines of the one in Lawn Tennis to Kharagpur team 57-51. They started off in the right manner, identify talented first-years. An however lost the final against Open-IIT for squash is also in the Madras while Kharagpur rallied to pipeline. beat Guwahati 48-33, thus ending the tournament on a high with a

The captain signed off saying: " On a highly deserved bronze medal.

better day we could have managed a podium finish. With regimented

The Women's Basketball team training and practice we can only finished with a Bronze. Breezing look forward to cementing our past Delhi, Ropar and Gandhinagar position as a contender for a medal in the group stages, they faced at the Inter-IIT next year.”Roorkee in the semi-finals. In a (Photo Credits: Technology Students match that could have gone either Gymkhana)beating Indore 3-0 before trouncing way, the Kharagpur team lost out

Ropar 6-0, to top the group despite on a chance to go to the finals by a a 0-0 draw against Kanpur. mere 2 points. The match ended 30-However, in a humdinger of a 32 in favour of Roorkee, who went quarter-f inal against Delhi , setup a quarterfinal showdown on to win Gold against Guwahati. Kharagpur lost 1-2.with heavyweights Bombay who Losing to the winners in the closely pummeled Kharagpur 2-0. Bombay contested semi-final, the Kharagpur IIT Delhi had a dream run in the then went on to win gold. The team couldn't help wondering if it tournament. After losing their first women’s team however won gold was just luck that let them down two matches, and needing to beat powered by a strong performance Patna by at least 6 goals, they went by first year Mallika Saharia.on to defeat Patna (8-0), Kharagpur and Hyderabad to land in the finals. It also must be mentioned that the Roorkee overcame Kanpur in the players were happy and satisfied other semifinal to clash with Delhi with all the facilities offered to in the final which proved to be them. “As far as I know, our courts another one-sided affair with Delhi are among the better ones amongst winning 3-0.all the IITs”, said Shrrinesh.

that day. They won their third place It appears that the major area that

match against Madras comfortably needs to be worked on is the

and we hope they build upon this conversion rate. Also, injuries Apart from basketbal l and performance next year. proved to be the Achilles’ heel of volleyball, cricket was the only the football team. As many as six sport in which Kharagpur gained a Squashplayers were nursing injuries going podium finish at this year’s Inter-into the quarters, including Captain IIT. Many believed that the cricket With the construction of the squash Suhas Reddy. The team was also not

court culminating just a week helped by a hard ground which was before the Inter-IIT, lack of ready only a month prior to the sufficient match practice proved to tournament. be the chink in the armor for KGP this time around. However, the bottom line remains

t h a t f o o t b a l l t e a m , h a s "We had a very good team and could disappointed, and it will be one long have beaten any of the top year before they can make amends.

team would find it beyond competitors", reckons the captain themselves to qualify for the Sachin Sharma.Basketballquarterfinal stage with two heavywe ight s Bombay and After humbling Delhi 3-0, KGP ran The basketball team this year had Guwahati in their group. But into Madras and lost 2-1 to set up a something special up their sleeves:

Cricket

An Inter-IIT to Remember4 5

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E N T A V E N U E THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , JANUARY 19TH 20126

weapon), a complex and interesting GP has no dearth of gamers but storyline, fun-filled boss fights, the franchises which they SUPER MEAT BOYKendearing characters, hidden secrets endorse are usually limited to the Developed by Team Meat, Super and 3 different endings (including popular ones like Electronic Arts, Meat Boy is probably one of the the aptly titled Hell!), this piece of Ubisoft and Rockstar Games. Away most addictive, yet frustrating art by Japanese developer Pixel from the spotlight, the glitz and the games around. Players control Meat promises hours of delightful and glamour hogged by mainstream Boy, a tiny red cube of meat, as he engaging gameplay. game production houses lies a rushes through over 300 stunningly

surprisingly rich world of games designed levels to rescue his love, brought to life by independent STEALTH BASTARDBandage Girl from the clutches of game developers. This world of the evil Dr Fetus. The gameplay Curve Studios is the developer of ‘indie’ games is an alien land that requires split-second timing and Stealth Bastard, a freeware game have to avoid a multitude of traps only a few explorative gamers have very precise control, such as when based on the concepts of stealth and that can cause graphic, gruesome ventured into. To help you with timing. The player is required to deaths and encounter a variety of your baby steps in this unfamiliar hack terminals and reach the exit, puzzles that cause a ‘Eureka’ domain, we at TSA have prepared a while remaining unseen by various moment every time you solve one. list of games which show that

The monochromatic tone of the budget never constrains creativity.game only serves to add to the film noir feel of this beautifully WORLD OF GOO mysterious game.

With an IGN rating of 9.5/10, World of Goo is one of the most

CAVE STORYhighly rated Indie games to be When you start playing Cave Story, released in recent years. The game it reminds you of those games in the involves creating structures such as 90s that you somehow wouldn’t towers and bridges using sticky Meat Boy is running through a long have minded missing out on. The blobs called ‘goo-balls’ in a cartoony tunnel trying to dodge lava balls and retro graphics and the typical music environment. The objective in each spiky wheels, or jumping from patrolling enemies such as robots that is reminiscent of older games level is to reach the exit, crumbling blocks in space while a and turrets. The game features like Castlevania gives this game a ghost homes in on him. The upbeat extremely innovative level design slightly old-school feel. But wait! soundtrack does a great job of characterized by elements such as That is where the similarity ends. keeping one’s energy high while portals to teleport you, shields to For Cave Story is a mind-blowing facing the carnage up ahead. Rated contain you and light to expose you adventure, so huge in its scope, as the Most Challenging Game by and trigger traps which horribly s t o r y l i n e a n d c h a r a c t e r IGN in 2010, Super Meat Boy will dismember you. The game is development that it resembles a have you tearing your hair for hours essentially a puzzle-based one with grown-up fairytale, promising to as you wait for the intense elements such as moving platforms

satisfaction of completing a and switches playing a major role in seemingly impossible level. clearing enemies and lasers out of the way. Apart from the 28 in-game LIMBO levels, Stealth Bastard offers a fully represented by an open pipeline,

equipped facility to create one’s using minimum goo-balls while Without any preamble, cutscene or own levels, over 400 of which exist carefully negotiating several hurdles explanatory dialogue to get you on the internet.like spikes, windmills, hills and started, Limbo immediately thrusts

above all, gravity. The story, told you into an atmosphere of mystery through cutscenes and witty signs This was just a sneek-peek into the and impending doom that pervades painted by The Sign Painter, world of indie games. The indie-throughout the game. In this 2D revolves around the ‘World of Goo phile must also try out Torchlight, puzzle-platform adventure game by Corporation’ and their attempt to Braid, Minecraft, Mechanarium, Danish developer Playdead, you find a planetary haven for goo-balls. RuneScape and Amnesia: The Dark take control of a lad, who is a mere take your breath away. Take control The game spans over 48 levels from Descent.silhouette with a pair of brightly of an amnesiac robot as he wakes up 5 chapters, each with its own glowing eyes, as he makes his way in a cave and attempts to rescue a distinctive theme. All in all, World through forests, deserted hotels and rabbit like character from a of Goo is sure to bring out the vacant industrial complexes to villainous Doctor. With 6 unique creative engineer in you. search for his sister. On the way you weapons (and 3 levels for each

TEAM SCHOLSAVE

TEAM SCHOLSAVEhe NPTEL project began in Implementation Committee at the if and how e-Learning can be further model. In order to attend, an T1999-2003 with suggestions top level, followed by NPTEL promoted. . Of the two major entrance test was required. The from Carnegie-Mellon University. Coordinators at the institute level blocks to online education, one is selected would view videotaped The aim was to address the and finally, Discipline Coordinators the lack of laboratory components. lectures in the presence of a discrepancy in standards of teaching for each department. Which To meet this need, virtual facilitator (trained by Kgp). In this in engineering colleges across India. courses are to be filmed may be laboratories are being developed. way, personal contact and group Underqualified faculty can be decided on the basis of repute. They Take the case of a first-year learning were incorporated. Finally, trained by exposure to online could also be the result of electrical technology laboratory. after an exam requiring the content on subjects prepared by collaboration between colleges or The idea is to provide users with organizational effort of a mini-JEE, IIT/IISc professors. Free to all, the with the industry (examples are software platforms to perform certificates were awarded. Around video lectures and web content can courses under Naval Architecture). simulated experiments. They may 20,000 took the programme, but it be accessed via the NPTEL website Recording at IIT Kharagpur is done s u b s e q u e n t l y a l s o s e e k became too complicated to and YouTube among other sources. at the Center for Education opportunities at the institute to continue with a demand to open The 125 courses which have been Technology. The videos are edited p e r f o r m s o m e h a n d s - o n more centers. This is one of the prepared under Phase 1 of the online, and video clips, animation, experiments. It's relevant to models that could be drawn upon to project can be freely downloaded Q&A may be added later. Each mention here the ElNet-3L achieve the final aim of the larger from IITM's server with many more video course also has a website (Electronically Networked Life education programme NPTEL is a in line as part of Phase 2. where solutions to quizzes and Long Learning) programme under part of, which can be said to be a

exercises are discussed. IIT Kharagpur that functioned virtual IIT, with diplomas offered some 10 years back. 120 centers with the help of online tools.To coordinate efforts across the across the country were part of this contributing colleges, a hierarchy Apart from the valuable resource of off-campus distance education ex i s t s , w i th a P rog r amme easily available lectures, one can ask

A Brief History of NPTEL

B H A A T A V E N U ETHE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , JANUARY 19TH 2012 7

slam the door as I when it’s just as far as the A weird sound distracts Ileave for the afternoon canteen. Is it because me. What is that? Huh!! Why did I even bother class and wonder whether going to the canteen What’s he listening to? asking?that would wake him up. Then involves less human Aaarghhhh! Nooooo!!!! Make

He leaves for some crazy I realize that it doesn’t interaction? it stop! I skedaddle as fast ritualistic bunkum of a party which make much of a difference as any sane guy confronted involves a lot of smacking – of rears, He returns and doesn’t say a word. whether he is asleep or not with Bieber would.and lips (I hope in very different It’s not that I want him to talk to me. I because he is either contexts). I wonder why he invited watch as he starts designing another Wow! That wasn’t as good as I shallowing in a dream or in me. He did it knowing that it would one of his mechanical monstrosities. I thought it would be but nevertheless an alternate reality where be pointless.wonder to what end. I wonder why it served the purpose. Huh! Where guys can pick up girls while

he bothers. No matter how hard he did he go? Probably to some friend. I wearing overalls.tries there is always going to be I stagger back in late. I wonder how long this friend will someone better. I wonder when he feel uncharacteristically remain his ‘friend’ when he doesn’t The sound of him leaving wakes will realize that and give up like I did. get a job. talkative and inquisitive. me up. I find myself tangled up with

I ask him why he never my laptop and my headset. I try to I notice that he is I enter my room once leaves the room.remember what I was watching last

staring at my design. I again and find him staring night but cannot recall. I consider recall that he used to be Because I don't like to? I know blankly into space getting out of bed but then quickly pretty good at it. I wonder fifty euphemistic ways of saying that. give that up as a fleeting whim. I muttering some gibberish. I

Now there's one… two…return to whatever I was watching why he stopped. ignore him. Live and let .last night. Then I realize that I am live. That’s my motto. I am

hungry. He just stares at me with I f he modif ies that part about to leave for a a blank expression on his then……That ’s i t . No more friend's birthday party

I come back to the room face while muttering dreaming about non-existent leave when a thought and infer that he has modifications to someone else’s something really fast. I strikes me. I think why not?

design. My laptop's a better refuge. partaken enough nutrition take that as my cue to What do I have to lose? I Now let’s see, how about some for the day on seeing the sleep. Man! I have a really invite him.YouTube now! Baby or Kolaveri. two empty chips’ packets messed up roommate.Sigh! Life is so tough. I don’t need all and soda can on the floor. I Does he really expect me to leave these choices. Let’s see now… Baby it He just ignores me and goes to have always wondered why he my bed and then leave my room for a is then. sleep. Why bother asking then? Man! just doesn’t go the mess guy I barely know?

I have a really weird roommate.

THE OTHER GUY

8 A D A V E N U E THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , JANUARY 19TH 2012