PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: HRUDAYA VEENA

Yet another year has come

and gone. Though this year shall be

remembered in India for Sachin’s re-

tirement, we at Communicando have

had a lot of reasons to cheer about.

Exactly one year ago,

Transcendent officially launched its

first edition. What you’re holding in

your hand now is the fourth edition.

The editorial team under the leader-

ship of Kirtana Bavanaka has been

working hard in bringing out edition

after edition and maintaining high

standards while doing so. A year

ago, when we started the newspaper,

we were skeptical as to how it would

be received. But you welcomed us

with open hands and loved our

newspapers. So to each and every

one of you out there, thank you for

being a part of the success of Tran-

scendent. It is our newspaper and it

shall remain so as long as CBIT sur-

vives.

CBIT Model United Na-

tions was held in the month of Sep-

tember 2013 and it was widely

appreciated for upholding the qual-

ity of its predecessors and delivering

better debate. Sreekar Reddy and his

team worked for over four months to

pull off this international event. Now

they are gearing up for CBIT MUN

2014 and as a part of this, CBIT ICC

will be held in our college soon.

Sign up if you wish to be a part of

the MUN family.

The club is also conduct-

ing LITERATI 4.O this year. Every

year the fest tried to bring in new va-

riety to our events and this year, we

have outdone ourselves. Apart from

the formal events, a photography

workshop by Lona Logan is being

conducted. Lona is an acclaimed

photographer and having her on

board has been an awesome experi-

ence for all of us. Register now if

you wish to be a part of the work-

shop. You don’t have to own a

DSLR or an SLR to be a photogra-

pher. All it takes is passion and an

eye for detail. Attend the workshop

and awaken that photographer in

you.

Ever played treasure hunt

in our college? I vividly remember

people running around in circles

around the college looking for ran-

dom stuff and taking photos. We

took that idea, played around with it

and we created The Amazing Race.

This race will start with a clue being

handed over to the participants.

Solve the clue and reach your next

clue. You keep solving clues and

move slowly towards the grand

jackpot prize of 10,000 bucks! Reg-

ister quickly because there is a limit

on registrations.

On a personal note, the

last four years with the club has been

a ride. We would like to take this op-

portunity to thank two people who

have been instrumental in this club’s

success. Dr. A. Sandhya Reddy and

Mrs. A Vijayalakshmi. They have

been the pillars of this club for the

last six years and have nurtured

many students like us. This is our

final year in college and we will

miss the club a lot. I speak for all the

fourth year members of the club –

Thank you CBIT for giving us a

chance to express ourselves through

Literati, MUN and Transcendent.

You have been very kind to us. See

you at the next Communicando

event.

Communicando This YearBY YASWANT ADIRAJU AND THANMAY KRISHNA

Chaitanya Bharathi Insti-

tute of Technology gained au-

tonomous status last year, making it

into the list of few prestigious insti-

tutions deemed with the honor.

The college had already

been accredited twice in 1998 and

once again in 2004 by the National

Board of Accreditation (NBA). CBIT

also prides itself in being the first

ISO 9001-2000 certified Engineering

Institute of the state. And now the

college also adds another accolade to

its long list of achievements by get-

ting awarded with the autonomous

status by the University Grants Com-

mission (UGC) in 2013. With the

college attaining this status, a lot of

changes have taken place in the cur-

riculum of the students; priority isn’t

just being given to studies but also

extracurricular activities. Going

along the lines of the quote, “All

work and no play makes Jack a dull

boy”, a new sports complex with

state of the art facilities is under con-

struction and will be fully functional

by the beginning of the new aca-

demic year.

CBIT is home to a large

number of students not only from

across the country but also from

many Asian and African countries.

Keeping in mind the changing times

and with the advances in modern sci-

ences and mathematics, the college

has been able to update the syllabi

completely and from the first year it-

self, along with basic Physical Sci-

ences, Math and Biology (For

Biotechnology students), core sub-

jects are being introduced so as to

make it easier for the students to

compete with their foreign counter-

parts if and when they go abroad for

Post-Graduation. Previously, almost

all branches shared the same course

subjects in the first year but now a se-

lect few subjects have been added to

the respective branches. The college

year was previously divided into 6

semesters and the first year was kept

as is, but starting from the 2013-2017

batches onwards, the UG course has

been divided into a total of 8 semes-

ters, with the intent of easing the bur-

den of studies on the students.

So as to find out what the

freshmen think of these new progres-

sive changes that have been brought

about in the college, 2 first years

from Biotechnology; Gudivada

Jayanthlal and Rithika Pathi were

asked a few questions.

CBIT goes AutonomousNew Changes, Fresh ChallengesBY IQRA LODHI

Extracts from the interview:

Q: With CBIT having gained the au-

tonomous status, can you share with our

readers your journey here up till now and

what more are you expecting in the coming

years?

Student 1: I am glad to be a CBITian.

Frankly, when I heard that the college is

becoming autonomous, I was tensed and a

bit skeptical about the changes that we

would have to face but as time went on I

realized that it’s the best thing that hap-

pened. In the future, I expect activities and

ideas that would make our student lives

more interesting and result in extracting all

our hidden talents. A college radio would

be really excellent!

Student 2: Life here has been awesome. I

am happy to get a seat in CBIT as it

matches all my personal interests like fun,

freedom plus studies. It’s not a boring col-

lege and apart from studies we get a lot of

opportunities to discover and prove our-

selves.

Q: The first year has now been divided

into two semesters with core subjects

being included in the syllabi unlike the pre-

vious years, your views on this.

Student 1: All the courses have been re-

structured in a new way and that’s the se-

mester system. Initially, the schedule was

a bit hectic for us, but we realized later that

the new system is actually really good. The

pressure on the students has reduced to a

certain extent and hopefully this will lead

to better results too.

Studetnt 2: I believe in the concept of

learning with understanding, not caring

about marks. Rote learning and gaining

marks holds no value for me. With the in-

troduction of core subjects in the first year

itself, we are getting upgraded with latest

developments in our respective fields and

the more we study, the more knowledge we

gain. I am not sure about the semester sys-

tem and I am not experienced enough to

judge either, I think I require a bit more

time to understand it.

Q: From your batch onwards extracurric-

ular activities will be treated on par with

academics, any changes you’ve experi-

enced that make you glad?

Student 1: This is something which has

made me very happy. After our schooling,

two years in a corporate college suppressed

and almost killed all our talents. Seeing

this new flavor of CBIT giving equal im-

portance to studies and extracurricular ac-

tivities made me feel very awesome, now

my passion for singing and writing quotes

will get a lot of opportunities and I am

pretty sure not just me but the majority of

the students must be ecstatic about this

new change.

Student 2: Extra-curriculars are one of the

reasons why CBIT has become famous and

it’s obvious that we get all these great

breaks. I am participating in as many

events as possible to become an all-

rounder and somethings need to be done

for recognition rather than only academics

and I am on it!

Q: In terms of placements, a handful of our

students have always bagged positions in

top companies. Do you think these changes

in the college would lead to a large flux of

students getting offers unlike the previous

years?

Student 1: Students from our college, it’s

well known, get recruited in some of the

top companies in town; multinational as

well as international tech giants, hence

adding lots of brownie points to their fu-

tures. Now, with the current changes in the

system, it’s quite expected that by the end

of the 4th year, our students will be able to

attract the best companies in town, IT sec-

tor being the majority’s personal prefer-

ence, including mine.

Student 2: One of the best parts of being

a student of CBIT is getting a job as soon

as you pass out of college. We have a lot

of great IT companies coming up to our

college and recruiting the best of the best.

As a biotechnology student I hope more

pharmaceutical agencies and research labs

come for recruiting us. With the amount of

training and the hard work that the Place-

ment Cell coordinators put in, the students

of CBIT are definitely a force to reckon

with.

TEAM COMMUNINCANDO

THE EDITORIAL

BOARD,

COMMUNICANDO

dr. B. ChEnnakESava

rao

PrinCiPal, CBit

ConvEnor:dr. a. Sandhya rEddyaSSoCiatE ProfESSor,dEPartmEnt of mathS

and humanitiES

Staff Coordinator:a. viJaya lakShmiaSSiStant ProfESSor, dEPartmEnt of mathS

and humanitiES

Editor- in-ChiEf:

kirtana Bavanaka

dEPuty

EditorS- in-ChiEf:

S.a. kruthi mohan

akShay kulkarni

EditorialS Editor:

PraSanna voruganti

nEwS Editor: 

Sumalika addagarla

SPortS Editor:

anand guPta

EntErtainmEnt Editor:

harShal kuSuma

tEChnology Editor: 

tEJa mariyada

PhotograPhy managEr:

niShitha malur

viJaylakShmi k.

layout tEam:

lalitha dakShayani

Pratik m. vEmuri

anu radha

Priyanka rEddy

Sai Chaitanya

JournaliStS:

Priyanka J.k.

Swathi Patnaik

nikhil gopal krishna

Sridula moduga

meghna vadapalli

nagaraju Poshaveni

krishna harsha

PPAAGGEE 22

EDITORIAL BOARD

Letter from the Editor

The

Photo CrEditS: niShank rEddy and SandEEP undi

- kirtana Bavanaka, Editor-in-ChiEf

As my final year of college is

coming to end, waves of nostalgia pass

over me while at the same time, nervous

anticipation for life after college continues

to grow. Without realizing it, time has

flown by and we have all grown im-

mensely from the people we were when

we entered CBIT as freshmen. The multi-

tude of expereinces that we have had are

what shaped us into who we are today,

and perhaps the most important ones are

the experiences we’ve had in college.

From sitting in class to writing

exams, from last minute assignments to

participating in college fests, from playing

sports to hogging in the canteen, from

hanging out in campus to bunking classes

with friends, from running to catch the

bus to dealing with attendance, from mak-

ing new friends to dealing with lost

friendships, from learning to fail to real-

izing that’s what it takes to succeed, from

preparing for higher studies to place-

ments, and many more, we’ve done it all.

They say the journey is more important

than the destination, and I agree. I want to

thank CBIT for giving us a memorable

journey and for all the experiences that

have only taught us to learn, grow, and

come out wiser than we entered. And to

cherish. College has taught me to cherish

the time that we have right now. We hold

on to the past or stress about the future too

much. So for all you juniors out there,

please recognize the value of the present

moment. Most importanly, be open-

minded. We all come in with precon-

ceived notions and tend to make fast

judgments. Yet one of the most important

aspects of college, interacting with people

from diverse backgrounds, soon teaches

you to acknowledge that everyone has

their own story and accept people and sit-

uations as they are. We are only in control

of our story and sometimes it’s good to re-

member that it’s us who hold the pen.

Coming to the Transcendent, I

am extremely pleased and proud to say

that what started off as a mere idea, a

dream per se, has turned out to become a

succesful reality. Transcendent began

with nothing but raw passion and deter-

mination to create a voice among students

and a way for us to represent ourselves

and our college. This being my last edi-

tion, I can safely say that this newspaper

has indeed broke through barriers and is

entering a whole new level of excellence

under a new team of dedicated, capable,

and talented students whose passion

matches that of ours, the founding mem-

bers. I sincerely hope you take it to new

heights.

Last but not least, I would like

to thank Communicando for giving us the

platform to express ourselves and for

adding a new dimension to an already

good education. I wholeheartedly believe

that a well-rounded education will take

you to far and great places in your career

and life ahead. That is something I hope

all students will take that into considera-

tion in their coming years.

Finally, to all my fellow sen-

iors, the time has come for us to make the

most of our last days here in college and

leave our juniors with a legacy to look

after and memories of us to look up to.

I wish everyone the very best of luck and

good spirit for your lives ahead!

MESSAGEFROMTHE

PRINCIPAL

I would like to congratulateCommunicando and its EditorialBoard on releasing the fourth editionof the Transcendent, CBIT’s very owncollege newspaper. The newspaperplays an important role in sheddinglight on the events happening aroundus both in college and across theworld, covering major news like ourcollege becoming autonomous. It isvery important for students to haveknowledge about the events happen-ing around the globe as this plays acrucial role in the holistic develop-ment of a student. Also I am happy tosee the Transcendent publishing arti-cles on Internships and campus place-ments to educate everyone about thesecrucial aspects.

I am also pleased to an-nounce that starting this edition, therewill be a technology section included,which will help in educating the stu-dents of this college about the varioustechnological innovations around theworld. As CBIT is a technical institutethis knowledge is of paramount im-portance to the students and will playan important role in improving theircareer prospects.

Finally I would like to con-gratulate the passing out Batch of2014 and wish them luck for their fu-ture.

-Dr B. Chennakesava Rao,Principal, CBIT

From the Convenor’s DeskTranscendent has grown by

leaps and bounds since it started a year

ago and I would like to congratulate Kir-

tana and the entire editorial team for their

remarkable job. It makes me really

happy to see how Communicando, MUN

and Transcendent provide an opportunity

to students to hone their skills in the

fields of writing, speaking and also in or-

ganizational aspects. These skills are

very important as they help a person in

all aspects of their life and are very im-

portant in this modern age.

However, this doesn’t mean

to undermine academics as it is equally

important. It made me really happy to

find out that Aaditya Pai, Suraj Peri and

Shravya Varma got into Carnegie Mellon

University, Kirtana Bavanaka got into

Columbia University and Sreekar Reddy

got into Dartmouth College. This serves

as an example as to how such skills only

add on and help our students get into Ivy

Leagues. I hope that students take this as

an inspiration and work on mastering

their soft skills.

In addition, I would like to

commend all the Communicando coordi-

nators for the amount of work that has

gone into organizing Literati this year

and I am sure this year Literati will reach

greater heights. Finally as the year is

coming to an end, I congratulate all the

senior members of Communicando and

the entire Batch of 2014 for all that they

have achieved and contributed to our col-

lege. I wish them the best of luck in their

future endeavours.

Meanwhile, for the rest of the

college, another year is soon passing by.

With the college becoming autonomous,

observing the achievements of seniors,

and the increase of student involvement

everywhere, things are looking as bright

as ever for CBIT and I can’t wait to see

what the next year has in store for us.

-Dr A. Sandhya Reddy

Convenor, Communicando

In the previous edition of Transcendent,

major summer internships have been

covered. The internships which have

been announced more recently are listed

below.

1) Charpak Scholarships - The Internship

Program:

If we were asked about the ways of get-

ting an internship, then we would answer

that they are at least two ways of apply-

ing: one is the conventional way that is

applying through the various internship

programs like Mitacs Globalink, SURGE

IIT Kanpur, Indian Academy of Sciences

etc. And the second and the more tricky

one is contacting the professors/HRs by

email. Both have their pros and cons

and we would suggest you to try both.

Charpak Scholarships are different from

the normal internship programs as they

fund your research at a French institute.

Before applying, you need to contact the

professor by email and get his ap-

proval. Only then you can apply for

these scholarships.

To apply, visit the site :

http://www.inde.campusfrance.org/charp

ak-internship-program

Who can apply? This program is applica-

ble for students pursuing their 2nd year or

above in all branches.

2) IISER Thiruvananthapuram Summer

Visiting Students Program:

IISER Thiruvananthapuram offers a two

month visiting students program during

summer 2014 to enable motivated stu-

dents to work with IISER faculty.

To apply visit the link : http://www.iis-

ertvm.in/svp/

Who can apply? This program is applica-

ble for students pursuing their 2nd year or

above in all branches.

3) IISc Bangalore Summer Fellowships

in Science and Engineering:

To apply visit : http://www.iisc.ernet.in

Who can apply? This program is applica

ble for students pursuing their 2nd year or

above in all branches.

4) Summer Program 2014 - Centre for

Nano Science and Engineering, IISc

Bangalore:

To apply: http://www.cense.iisc.ernet.in

Who can apply? This program is applica-

ble for students pursuing their 2nd year or

above in ECE or EEE.

5) Summer Training at CSIR - Institute

Of Minerals And Materials Technology

(CSIR-IMMT):

To apply : http://www.immt.res.in

Who can apply? This program is applica-

ble for students pursuing their 2nd year or

above in Civil, Chemical, Production,

Mechanical or Biotech.

6) Summer Internships 2014 at Central

Mechanical Engineering Research Insti-

tute (CMERI), Durgapur:

To apply: http://www.cmeri.res.in/Sum-

mer_Internship_Notice.pdf

Who can apply? This program is applica-

ble for students pursuing their 2nd year or

above in MECHANICAL or PRODUC-

TION.

7) Summer Internships at School of

Chemistry, University of Hyderabad:

This is meant for only highly motivated

students of CHEMICAL department who

want to persue research.

To apply visit

http://chemistry.uohyd.ernet.in

8) You just want to learn something new

and not really research on a particular

topic, then this would be the best choice!

Internshala Online Summer Training

Program 2014 on Web Development,

Hacking, ASP.Net with C#, Java, Python,

Robotics, VLSI Design, Windows 8 App

Development etc.

To apply visit: intershala.com

To get more details of the internships

which were offered in IITM, IITD, IITB,

IITH, etc refer to our previous edition. It

also covers details of competitions like

Google Code of Jam, Google School of

Code, Applits App Idea Competition, etc.

Some other websites for reference:

1. www.internshala.com

2. www.letsintern.com

3. www.hellointern.com

Internships On the GO! Part 2By Swathi Patnaik, JournaliSt

A difference in thinking. An

inspiration from a victim. A hopeful

change in the minds of a society. A so-

ciety comes with all kinds of people.

Adaptive. Adamant. Bizarre. Human-

istic. And every single person has their

own story. Starting from the way they

were brought up to what their ideolo-

gies have led to.

"Through this show we un-

derstand the problem of the people"

was Aamir Khan’s message about the

television show when it started in

2012.

Many people in our country

go through dreadful and mediocre sit-

uations. Due to fear, people keep a lot

of thoughts to themselves, and so their

feelings are hidden from family and

society.Satyameva Jayate has come

forward in support and is here to give

tremendous courage. That's really at

the heart of Satyamev Jayate's appeal

and popularity.

Highlighting social issues

prevalent in India such as female feti-

cides, abuse, dowry, medical malprac-

tice, honor killings, insensitivity

towards the physically disabled, do-

mestic violence, alcoholism, untouch-

ability, plight of senior citizens and

water-crisis, etc. are the main topics

this show covers. Such topics are ones

every single person should be pro-

foundly aware about.

Understanding emotions.

Listening intently. Sharing boldly.

Showing integrity .Along with a proac-

tive and responsive audience. What

other platform would have been better?

Sai Prasad Vishwanathan, an ex-

CBIT’ian appeared on the show and

motivated disabled people.

Satyamev Jayate received

an overwhelming positive response

and feedback from both the critics as

well as the public. The show was

widely appreciated by several film and

television personalities, politicians and

social activists for its research, format,

presentation and content.

So let’s all continue to be a

part of Satyameva jayete by support-

ing, understanding different perspec-

tives and most importantly being more

socially aware. Because no matter

what,

The truth alone prevails

Jai Hind!

PPAAGGEE 33

A college newspaper is an

integral part of campus life, provid-

ing breaking news, student spot-

lights and also a unique perspective

on local and global news. It gives an

opportunity for students to begin le-

gitimate Journalism. There are col-

lege newspapers for many

universities around the world like

The Lantern Newspaper of The

Ohio state university, The Oxford

Student by University of Oxford.

On the same lines, Our

College Newspaper “Transcendent”

has started its journey with an En-

thusiastic Team of editors and writ-

ers a year ago, till now 3 editions

have been published with an in-

creasingly positive response every

edition.

Our campus life is more

enhancing and enriching with The

Transcendent, as it improves com-

munication between various depart-

ments and clubs. It also helps in

Career guidance, giving an outlook

on various on and off campus issues

and cultivating the reading habit.

Recently our college

newspaper was digitalized, first on-

line issue released on February 28th

2014 creating more impact and with

a greater response.Come be a part of

Transcendent as writers, readers and

experience the flavor of the literary

feast.

MOOCS : REVOLUTIONISING THE EDUCATION SECTORBy heMAnth AnD AKShAy KulKArni, Deputy eDitor-in-Chief

Last year saw the invention of

a new four letter word, MOOC. MOOC

stands for Massive Open Online Courses.

Many organisations are offering online

courses to students for free. These courses

are from great universities like MIT, Har-

vard, UC Berkley, Stanford and many

more. These courses can be taken for free

by almost anyone in the world. All that is

needed is an internet connection and you

are good to go. You could also earn certi-

fications for these courses if you managed

to submit all the assignments and clear the

tests with a minimum percentage.

We should observe that our ed-

ucation system has pretty much remained

the same for the last 500 years and the last

biggest revolution this sector saw was that

of printing press which led to introduction

of textbooks. A need for innovation and

advancement in the field of education was

felt by students and educational institu-

tions all across the world. Institutions re-

alized that they could widen the outreach

of their courses by embracing modern

technologies and making use of the inter-

net. The idea was to let the student work

at his own time, in a place he felt most cre-

ative and at his own pace rather than forc-

ing everyone to stack up, like crops, in a

room at 10 in the morning. So a student

could sit where he is most comfortable, in

his bed or on a couch, at a suitable time

and watch the lectures online.

Last year MIT and Harvard

came together to start an organisation

called edx which is a MOOC platform.

Courses where offered in many fields

ranging from computer science to human-

ities, from the top universities of the

world. Another major MOOC organisa-

tion is coursera.

Coursera is a cornucopia of

courses that range from simple Computer

courses to professional courses. All the

courses are framed in a manner that each

and every aspect involved in it is demon-

strated as video lesson/tutorials. The

Courses are offered by Professors from re-

puted Universities all over the world, like

Stanford, Duke and Princeton etc.

One of the biggest discoveries during the

early phases of these educational experi-

ments was that of peer learning. Students

all across the world where teaching each

other, were learning from each other with-

out any help from any professor.

So to what extent could this

grow? Well the answer is it could pretty

much change the entire education sce-

nario. More and more universities around

the world are shifting to online courses.

We might reach a point where the idea of

attending a college and sitting in class-

rooms might become obsolete and there

are already institutes offering professional

degrees completely online for a very low

fee. A completely online university offer-

ing degrees for free is about to be

launched this year.

MOOCs have already revolu-

tionised the education sector by providing

quality education to millions of people

without any restrictions to country, race or

financial capability and many believe that

we have only begun to understand the im-

pact this could have on the education sys-

tem around the world.

"Satyameva Jayete!"-An impact on India, one step at a time...

By prASAnnA vorugAnti, eDitor

Don’t Let The Little Things Take Over Your Life

Why is a College Newspaper anintegral part of Campus Life?

By J.K.priyAnKA, JournAliSt

We often allow ourselves

to get all worked up about things

that, upon closer observation

aren’t really that big of a deal. We

focus on little problems and con-

cerns and blow it up to bigger pro-

portions,instead of keeping them

small.

For example, A rash, ir-

responsible driver may cut right in

front of us when we are following

the rules of the road. We imagine

a confrontation in our mind,

telling him that his way of driving

is wrong. We sometimes go on

and on telling people about the in-

cident, instead of letting it go. But

having compassion for the person

and reminding yourself that

maybe he was in a hurry or emer-

gency is what makes us feel bet-

ter, and so we can maintain our

own sense of well-being.

There are many similar

“little things” that occur everyday

in our lives. Whether we have to

wait in line, listen to unfair criti-

cism or do the lions share of

work,it gives a large amount of

calmness if we learn not to take

such situations seriously. When

you commit to working towards a

goal you will see that you will end

up being more kinder and gentler,

if such little things are left

out.Question yourself “Will this

matter a year from now?”

Think of yourself to be

in circumstance and imagine that

whatever you are dealing with

isn’t happening now but a year

from now. Then, simply ask your-

self “Is this situation really as im-

portant as it is?” Whether it’s an

argument with a friend, a mis-

take,a sprained ankle. While this

simple way of questioning might

not solve all your problems, it can

give you a different perspective.

Instead of taking things seriously

and being overwhelmed, you can

just ask yourself the question and

laugh away.

We need to understand

that small things which happen in

our daily life do not require such

emotional feelings, they require

patience and peace. Focusing on a

long term goal and putting one

hundred percent of commitment

and focus, shows us what our real-

time achievement is going to be.

So, just be yourself. Stay open-

minded. And remember that its

the overall big picture that counts,

and not the small smudges that

you might have made on the way!

By prASAnnA vorugAnti, eDitor

On the morning of February

4th the entire nation was proud; proud

to know that one of our own proceeded

to take over the biggest tech giant of the

21st century. Satya Nadella went down

in history as the first Indian origin CEO

of Microsoft. Newspapers were over the

moon to cover this story, countless Indi-

ans updated their Facebook statuses

congratulating Mr. Nadella on how he

brought glory to our nation. But the

more important question to be asked

here is, what does it really mean for

India? Sure it is a great deal for an In-

dian to fill the shoes of Bill Gates, but

does it represent a victory for India?

Nadella proceeds to join the

likes of Indira Nooyi and Shantanu

Narayen, both Indian born CEO’s of

global companies, Pepsi Co and Adobe

Systems. But why do most of India’s

tech geniuses find glory in the Silicon

Valley of US? They evolve to take over

companies while most of us are left be-

hind only to work mediocre jobs in

MNC’s. Wouldn’t India’s tech map be

shaped differently had they pursued

their careers here? But this doesn’t even

begin to cover the issue. Almost every

Indian origin Nobel Prize winner is not

an Indian Citizen anymore. Neither is

Rakesh Khurana who is supposed to be-

come the Dean of Harvard University,

effective July 1st , 2014 nor is Anshu-

man Jain, the co- CEO of Deutsche

Bank. Yet we still portray the achieve-

ment as a win for our country without

asking ourselves why our system

doesn’t encourage talent while the US

helps even ordinary citizens rise to

iconic levels.

There have been

too many an ar-

ticle criticizing

our system, how

it is unfair and

how there is

only an illusion

of equal oppor-

tunities when in

reality we are

light years away

from realizing

that goal. Com-

pletely clichéd, isn’t it? But that doesn’t

change that fact that it is one of major

contributing factors for this win (read

loss) for India. Statistically speaking, it

is easier to get an admission into an Ivy

league University than an IIT or IIM.

This is ironic seeing how none of the

IIT’s made it in the world’s 100 top col-

leges this time. Not even the top 200.

IIT- Delhi thankfully made it to 222nd

position atleast. Their true value lies in

their filtering expertise and not the cur-

riculum. When the best of the best are

admitted into the college, they will shine

no matter what. But even the IIT grads

prefer a position in Facebook, Google,

Apple or Microsoft, simply put, foreign

firms rather than staying behind because

they know very well that there are better

prospects there, better chances of find-

ing success. Because staying behind ul-

timately means settling for a mediocre

job. Our system encourages us to earn

fat paychecks and follow the boss’ or-

ders instead of taking charge and being

a leader. We are taught to play safe and

avoid risks. We are taught to follow, not

lead.

Had Satya Nadella stayed in

India he wouldn’t have made CEO.

Chances are he wouldn’t even be close.

He would most likely be coding in one

of the Indian companies receiving his fat

paycheck, no doubt, but not leading it,

that’s for sure. By all means congratu-

late Mr. Nadella on his achievement but

make no mistake, this is not a win for

India. It is a win for the surrogate coun-

try that managed to draw our talent

away by offering way better opportuni-

ties.

Satya Nadella- A wake up

call for IndiaBy S. A. Kruthi MohAn, Deputy eDitor-in-Chief

Rationalism, the word

which is hidden in its true sense.

However not all but few of you

might be aware of this word. We

are living in this world without un-

derstanding the meaning of our

life. What I exactly want to convey

is that reasons or proofs should be

known for the things that you do

in your life. Don’t live your life

just because you have to live it.

Let me be more vivid by

quoting an example. Many people

believe that there are demons,

when they observe flames in the

grave yard. No one wants to know

the reason. Just like any other tra-

dition in our country, they follow

it blindly. What is the actual sce-

nario? The phosphorous in the

bones react with air to give flames.

So there is science involved be-

hind every occurrence. Just be-

cause we are ignorant, we can’t

conclude that science is not in-

volved. I just quoted one example,

but there are many more.

Even the educated, are

believing things blindly without

knowing their facts. So, imagine

the illiterates then? Specifically

the practice of superstitious beliefs

are more in villages. And remem-

ber a significant amount of Indians

live in villages. So how is our

country going to develop? The

dream of our ex-president DR.

A.P.J ABDUL KALAM will never

be fulfilled. Remember his

dream?? “LEAD INDIA 2020”.

Many of our politicians during

their rallies, students during na-

tional festivals give their speeches

saying that India is a “developing”

country. But when? Pose a ques-

tion to yourself. If this is the case,

the transformation of the word

from “developing” to “developed”

will always be a dream. It is

never going to happen. It is pity to

say that the rationalistic ardent

supporter Narendra Dabholkar

from Mumbai was shot because he

was a rationalistic person and

wanted to pass the anti-supersti-

tious bill. Should we feel proud for

what they have done or feel shame

because he had tried to bring some

change and was killed. I am still

shocked that in our country Babas

are given more priority than scien-

tists.

The Recent recipient of

Bharat Ratna in chemistry D.R.

CNR RAO wants people to wake

up from their dreams and realize

themselves on how far they are

following their heart instead doing

everything blindly with no reason.

There is no proper support to sci-

entists either financially or moral

encouragement, but with no reason

Babas are given higher priorities.

Don’t believe the things blindly.

Make sure you have a supporting

statement for any question. Once

everyone attains this, then for sure

India will rise in its place breaking

all the shackles that are obstructing

its path.

PPAAGGEE 44

Privatization is considerate

to a particular level, I’d say. It im-

proves the quality of education which

is much needed for the society of

India. It would mean an additional in-

ternational standard incorporated in

to our system of education. It would

mean more quality knowledge, qual-

ity learning environment, quality

teachers. Let us also not forget it

would mean deprivation of education

for more than half of the student pop-

ulation of India.

It is very convenient to talk

about privatization of the education

sector in India, sitting in an AC room,

having our fathers shell out money

from their pockets for our high-priced

education simply because we are in a

state to afford it. But, I know for a

fact that if India was privatized before

my father graduated, I wouldn’t be in

an AC room talking about privatiza-

tion of the education sector of India.

I would’ve succumbed to poverty just

like more than 50% of India, if it

weren’t for my father’s education,

thanks to the government. Now, how

many people are there in India, who

are just like my father? Poor yet have

the determination to improve their

standard of living; do we have any

rights to turn those dreams into disas-

ters?

Privatization would not

only reduce the scope for educating

the youth of the future, it also would

eliminate any possibility for the poor

to overcome poverty through educa-

tion. We are literally dragging the

process of development in our nation,

which is already in a developing

state. We are setting back the devel-

opment process.

If there is anything that

needs to be done, it should be setting

up of more government schools for

free primary education. I do agree,

the quality of education might not be

up to the mark, but it’s better than not

getting education at all, also better be-

cause it would provide the youngsters

the basic education for them to think

about how to go on about their future.

There are enough funds for the gov-

ernment to set up a decent number of

schools but we are still facing a prob-

lem with the figure of schools be-

cause of the organization of the

government.

The funds are lost in the

process of organizing the government

schooling system, that’s what is dete-

riorating its quality. The funds should

be used in introducing new technol-

ogy, like maybe learning through

recorded lectures in CDs given by

eminent teachers across the world. It

is cost effective and the quality of ed-

ucation can be increased this way.

Also, the government schools should

provide a platform for the old stu-

dents associations of that particular

school in funding for its develop-

ment. Maybe

there can be a law implemented that

a government school must be collab-

orated with a private one, where the

teachers can be shuffled between the

two schools. Just because the govern-

ment is slow in providing quality ed-

ucation, doesn’t mean we need to

speed things up by introducing pri-

vate educational institutions for all.

The future of the India lies in the

hands of youth, for a fact we all know

that most the families in India are

struggling for basic necessities such

as food and clothing, should educa-

tion too be a burden for them? It’s the

only mode by which they can help

themselves overcome their living dif-

ficulties, the only hope for a brighter

future for their kids and so forth, the

ones who will develop India further.

If not for the government, how else

would people get education, privati-

zation of the education sector? Would

any parent with less income, which

will barely suffice for their basic

needs be willing to send their kids to

a lavish private school? Very few.

Plus there would be an increase in the

amount of dropouts too.

Education is a serious

issue; it should NOT be made into a

business. It is a right, just like how it

is our right to live. That doesn’t mean

education doesn’t have to be private

at all, up to a certain level there

should be free education for the un-

derprivileged. The degree level

should be strictly privatized under the

supervision of the government.

I would like to conclude by

saying that there are more cons than

pros in privatizing the education sec-

tor in India. If there is anything we

should do about the education sector,

it should be by supporting free edu-

cation for all. I don’t mean we should

let our kids join the government

schools but let’s not be against it. Let

affordable education in India be the

epitome for all the other nations to

follow.

Privatization of the Education Sector BY TEJASWINI MARIYADA, EDITOR

RATIONALISMBY NAGARAJU POSHAVENI, JOURNALIST

All of us have our own pri-

orities and everyday we plan the day

accordingly. But, most of us end up

doing the same thing at 9 in the night,

i.e. we watch ‘The news hour debate’

on Times Now. To be precise, we

watch Arnab on Times Now, who is

now a talking point everywhere.

He does inquiry into mat-

ters, analyses news & info. , breaks

scams, questions the wrong policies.

In short, he represents the common

man’s views, wishes, issues, etc in a

very dynamic way. He is indeed a ray

of hope for India to progress in the

right direction choosing the right man-

ner. Each interview or a discussion is

just another beginning, such are his

focus levels and such is his concern

for India’s future. He has certainly

made a mark for himself. Just like a

body dissection, he dissects the matter,

analyses very well and a lot of think-

ing goes into his mind on how to get

hold of the truth.

It takes guts to instruct the

person at the other end to give apt an-

swers to the straight forward questions

posed to him. And never does a ques-

tion seem silly or inappropriate. The

stand out quality is that he never raises

a point unless he has the complete

proof. He holds a discussion on every

aspect keeping in mind the compre-

hensive growth which shows his flex-

ibility in dealing with all kinds of is-

sues. Thereby, he is able to relate one

aspect to another very well if and

when necessary.

His way of dealing with

things has opened up the doors for

young aspirants in this field. He

knows exactly when to interrupt a

speaker, how to bring a speaker back

on to the track, when to showcase his

sense of humor to keep the discussion

lively. In addition, he takes the role of

a patient listener when the discussion

is making sense. With his serene ap-

proach, he wrecks havoc and creates

panic at the other end. He has gained

the respect of everyone as he is never

partial to anyone.

Thanks to the way he deals,

people now have no other option than

to attend his debate, otherwise they are

found guilty of doing something

wrong. He frames his questions in

such an intense way that one could

easily identify if the person is trying

to cover up. Some had almost given

up and wanted the interview to be put

off fearing their true shade would be

exposed. Many are thinking twice

now to indulge in a scam, as the truth

is prevailing more often than not.

He is an absolute go-getter

and has a very good questioning atti-

tude,. He has directly inspired many to

look forward and do something good

for the country’s good. The youngsters

are now more aware of everything

happening around them and same is

the case with people of all ages. Many

can look to pursue a career in Journal-

ism to take India forward and Journal-

ism to a new level. His clarity in

thought can be taken as the best exam-

ple to succeed not just in journalism,

but in any field.

Arnab Goswami BY NIKHIL GOPAL KRISHNA, JOURNALIST

Sexual assaults on

women, over population, politics,

illiteracy, gender inequalities, cor-

ruption, scams, hypocrisy are what

we tell when we’re asked about

India today. Culture, heritage,

democracy, motherland, freedom,

safe, history were the answers

until years ago but not anymore.

What happened to the

India that everyone praises? What

happened to the selfless people

and their great mindset? What hap-

pened to the freedom of every in-

dividual? 66 years have passed

since India got freedom but are we

really free? Do we really have the

freedom of expression? Do we

care for our own country? What

happened to that society where

women were treated as goddesses?

Why does a girl always have her

phone in her hand with her family

on the speed dial when she steps

out of the home; is it how secure

she is in our country? What hap-

pened to the great Indian customs?

Being selfish is what we call mod-

ernization? Are we so busy with

our lives that we don’t have time

to see what’s happening around

us? Are we so blinded by hunger

for money and power?

We go to foreign coun-

tries for vacations; have fun, enjoy

the beauty and praise their ad-

vancements in technology, their

government policies and what not.

But do we feel the same way about

our own country? We always tell

‘I am proud to be an Indian’, but

are we really playing our role in

developing our country? We Indi-

ans are known for our intelligence;

is that making us better humans?

Is there something we are lacking

in? Are we helping in the develop-

ment of our country? Blaming the

government for the current situa-

tion in the country is all we can

do?

The answer will be a

clear NO. We as individuals and

proud citizens of our country play

a key role in its development; all

these problems are longing since

the past but are brought into the

spotlight by the media today.

Media indeed plays a very impor-

tant role in a country’s develop-

ment as people believe whatever

the media tells, not bothering if

that’s true or not. But is the media

really being the face of the country

or are the news channels and pa-

pers just exaggerating everything?

Making a peanut seem like a

pumpkin? Is TRP all they need?

What about them being unbiased

and spilling the truth no matter

how bitter it is.

We blame everyone ex-

cept ourselves for India still being

a developing country and live in a

box telling ‘I am doing my part

and you’re not’ where in we really

are not. We have to take small

steps in the positive direction be-

cause every small thing matters

and IS the building block for any-

thing and everything. So let’s all

start it from the most simplest and

important thing; the government is

entirely in our hands; since we are

in a democratic country, it’s us

who rule the country indirectly

choosing representatives who lay

down a path for the development

of our country.

So let’s VOTE in this

general elections and do our part

for the development and advance-

ment of our own country. Let’s

bring a change in the system; let’s

take this first step which is going

to help us in everything. Our coun-

try’s development is all in our

hands, so let’s for a moment stop

being consumed and take out some

time from our busy lives and

VOTE. VOTE WISE AND HELP

THE COUNTRY RISE.

Vote towards a better futureBY AMULYA MIRIYALA

PPAAGGEE 55

CBIT is a college known for

its wide range of extracurricular activi-

ties being on par with the academics of

the students. A number of clubs and or-

ganisations within the college make this

possible. Chaitanya Smruthi, (the stu-

dent body organisation of CBIT ) is one

of the most proactive organisations

among these. Here is a jist of what we

are up to this semester.

Chaitanya Smruthi gives a

great opportunity to the students of

CBIT to be able to interact with those

many children who are not getting

enough. These specially-abled kids and

the underprivileged who cannot be part

of very good schools have a right to

enjoy just as much.

Tarang is one such event that

has been happening every year since

2009 to help provide a platform for these

children to showcase their hidden talents

in dance, art, music and many more.

Also, the kids are given kits which con-

tain the stationary items like sketches,

pencils, etc.

This provides us with an op-

portunity of actively participating in the

organization of the events, and gathering

as many people as we can to encourage

these kids. This would not only make

them very happy but also be a good

learning experience as they communi-

cate with our students.

Every time, we invite a chief

guest who is well known in his walk of

life. Last year, it was young hero Varun

Sandesh who interacted with the kids

and helped with the cause. Tarang, this

year headed by Satyajit Reddy, along

with Meghna and Vineela as Vice Presi-

dent and Head of Events respectively, is

expected to be bigger and better than

never before. A fun filled evening with

CBITians performing for them promises

to be a treat to all who come and is ex-

pected to take place towards the ending

of March. Reaching out to over 200 kids

by encouraging, supporting and teaching

them, to add to their journey of being a

better citizen of our nation is our goal.

So let us put in our best and be a bless-

ing!

Men rubbing their bodies against

women, trying to touch them inappro-

priately or simply passing dirty com-

ments. Be it trains, buses, autos or

shopping malls, every girl reading this

would have experienced at least one of

these and if not, they would have at

least been a witness to such an incident

at some or the other point in their lives.

The society has become so

oblivious to the fact that women are

being harassed on a daily basis that we

have stopped questioning such disgust-

ing behaviour from a few men of our

very own society. So this International

Women’s Day, we came up with a sim-

ple solution. Why not we women do

the same to men? Why not show them

how demoralised and disgusted men

make women feel by harassing them

just for fun? ‘Hyderabad for Feminism

‘came up with this wonderful

idea of “Mirror Mob”. The Mir-

ror Mob, is a combination of

street play and a freeze mob,

where men and women have a

role reversal, i.e., women would

try harassing men just to show

the society how women actually

feel. As many as almost 30 actors

turned up. The idea was simple,

the actors divided themselves

into groups of few and enacted

various different means and ways

in which women are harassed. If

one group enacted the passing of vul-

gar comments, another showed touch-

ing inappropriately, and so on. And

then, they froze. This short play was

enacted at almost 8 different public

places in the city including Mahatma

Gandhi Bus Station and Nampally

Railway Station along with many bus

stops en route.

The prime objective of the Mirror

Mob, according to the organisers, was

to shock the spectators, and get them

to think. Get them to think hard. When

women are harassed every day, we do

nothing to save them from this misery.

But voila! When its men, we stop and

stare. Was the objective of the Mirror

Mob achieved? You bet! Spectators not

only understood the trauma that

women are made to go through, but

also came and interacted with us, and

few even shared their own experiences.

On a closing note, all that I

want to say is, let’s make the world a

safer and a more comfortable place for

women. Give her the respect she de-

serves, because after all, the days are

not far when men would be at the re-

ceiving end! ;)

Chaitanya Smruthi presentsTarangBY PRAGNYA REDDY

A great first job can help a stu-

dent shape his/her career in the right di-

rection. The Placements season in CBIT

brings joy to several people in their final

years. This placement season has turned

out to be a very good one for the batch of

2013-14.The number of placements in our

college has always been the highest com-

pared to any other private college in the

state. The number of companies that have

visited so far is more than 50 and this

number is bound to increase with compa-

nies still visiting the campus. The credit

goes to the placement office and espe-

cially our placement officer, Dr. NLN

Reddy. This placement season, top

firms have hired in bulk. The number of

opportunities that CBIT offered was

aplenty and those who utilized them got

placed in reputed organizations. Microsoft

hired 8 students for a package of 11 lakh

per annum which is an all time record.

Several top organizations like Wells

Fargo, Deloitte, Pega and Oracle have re-

cruited in good numbers. Additionally

there have been companies visiting the

campus for hiring interns.

The reviews given by big cor-

porates about the quality of students at

CBIT were positive and this drives these

companies to visit us again for recruiting.

However, they stressed that the students

must work on their communication skills.

Our students actively participated in many

‘Campus Connect’ programmes which

were held by certain reputed companies

so as to build a mutually rewarding rela-

tionship with CBIT. JPMorgan had con-

ducted a programming contest before

visiting our campus for recruitment. A few

of our students belonging to Information

Technology department had won this con-

test and in turn were offered jobs at JP-

Morgan without undergoing the usual re-

cruitment process on the campus.

CBIT placement cell along

with the support of the college manage-

ment has organized industry interaction

meets during the placement season to

keep students updated about the recent re-

quirements of the recruiters in terms of

student capabilities.

The three big companies that

recruit heavily every year, namely Cog-

nizant, Infosys and Wipro have offered

jobs to a large number of people this year

as well. Infosys has offered 242 jobs this

year, which is the highest number of jobs

offered by a single company. Where one

placement season ends another has al-

ready begun. The new set of Placement

Coordinators has already started conduct-

ing seminars and workshops for the stu-

dents. Just recently, the Coordinators

along with the MARCNS group organized

seminars and mock placements for the

Class of 2015 batch.

Summarizing 2013-2014 Placement Season in CBIT

A ROLEREVERSALLIKENEVERBEFOREBY JYOTHIRMAYI KATRAPALLI

Even with all the moderniza-

tion and development of today’s soci-

ety, many working women are still

subjected to immense pressure to

shoulder the dual responsibility of a

housewife and a working woman si-

multaneously with little or no help

from their husbands. They are also

subjected to violence in one form or

the other. One of the main reasons for

violence against women is the men-

tality which deems women inferior to

men and limits their importance

merely to the maintenance of the

household, the upbringing of children

and pleasing their husbands. It is the

same mentality which, some genera-

tions ago, used to think of women as

mere objects of attaining sexual

pleasure and a servant of the husband.

Times have changed but the mentality

still prevails in the mindsets of sev-

eral narrow minded Indians.

The actual need of the hour is

a revolutionary change in the mindsets

and conscience of Indian men so that they

stop seeing women as inferior objects.

The Constitution of India not only grants

equality to women but also empowers the

State to adopt measures of positive dis-

crimination in favour of women for neu-

tralizing the cumulative socio economic

disadvantages faced by them.

EMAIL TO THE RESCUEAccording to the guidelines is-

sued by the Delhi Police, a woman has

the privilege of lodging a complaint via

email or registered post. If, for some rea-

son a woman can’t go to the police sta-

tion, she can send a written complaint

through an email or registered post ad-

dressed to a senior police officer of the

level of Deputy Commissioner or Com-

missioner of Police. The complaint is ver-

ified and an FIR is lodged. The police can

then come over to the residence of the

victim to take her statement.

COPS CAN’T SAY NOA rape victim can register her

police complaint from any police station

irrespective of area of occurrence of the

incident under the Zero FIR ruling by

Supreme Court. Sometimes, the police,

in order to keep clear of responsibility, try

sending the victim to another police sta-

tion. In such cases, the woman can cite

her right.

YOU CAN’T BE CALLED TO THEPOLICE STATION

Women cannot be called to the

police station for interrogation under Sec-

tion 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

This law provides Indian women the right

of not being physically present at the po-

lice station for interrogation. The police

can interrogate a woman at her residence

in the presence of a woman constable and

family members or friends.

YOU CANNOT BE STALKEDIt is a punishable offense to

follow a woman and contact, or attempt

to contact a woman via internet, email or

any other form of electronic communica-

tion to foster personal interaction repeat-

edly despite a clear indication of

disinterest by the woman. The accused

can be liable to imprisonment for up to 5

years.

FREE LEGAL AIDOften, women go to the po-

lice station unaccompanied by a lawyer

to get their statement recorded, and they

stand the risk of being misquoted or

their statement being tampered with.

The police may also treat the entire

episode lightly and not lodge an FIR.

So, it is necessary to have a lawyer with

you while you lodge the FIR. According

to a Delhi High Court ruling, whenever

a rape is reported, Delhi Legal Services

Authority has to be informed about it.

The legal body then arranges for a

lawyer for the victim.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SUCCUMBTO ANY CRUDE BEHAVIOR

Any activity which harms or

injures or endangers the health, safety,

life, or well-being, whether mental or

physical, of a woman or tends to do so is

considered a crime. The instances consid-

ered to be guilty include physical, sexual,

verbal or emotional abuses. Repeated

threats to harm any individual related to

the aggrieved person are also considered

an offense.

SHELTER HOMESThere are government funded

shelter homes in every district of India. If

an aggrieved person requests the person

in charge of a shelter home to ensconce

her, the person in charge of the shelter

home shall accede to her wish.

KNOW YOUR LAWS WOMAN!BY AKSHADHA BIRADER

BY RAVI TEJA GAMINI AND BHAVANA YALLA, SENIOR PLACEMENT COORDINATORS

The Jallianwala Bagh lies in

the heart of Amritsar and at the heart of

our struggle for independence. In a nar-

row, congested street surrounded by crum-

bling buildings is a signboard-

‘Jallianwala Bagh Memorial- a landmark

in our struggle for inde-

pendence’. Greeting the

visitors at the entrance is a

plaque that reads, “People

were fired at from here.”

It was here in the holiest

city of the Sikhs, on April

13,1919, that a massacre

involving the killing of

hundreds of unarmed, de-

fenceless Indians was or-

dered by

Brigadier-General R E H Dyer.

On that black day, a peaceful

public meeting held in the Bagh turned

into a bloodbath. Just after the meeting

began, Dyer marched in at the head of 50

soldiers, and without any warning, fire

was opened on the helpless people assem-

bled there. The stampede that ensued

killed many and many more killed them-

selves by jumping into the well there. A

total of 1650 bullets were fired. Hundreds

of innocent Indians were killed. Though

we learn of this incident at quite a young

age, we understand the full significance

and tragedy of that day’s events only at a

later time. A time when we are mature

enough to handle the much stronger reac-

tions we feel in response to it. Anger, re-

sentment, sadness, indignation, and more

anger. As one walks through the now well-

maintained garden and reads the various

plaques describing the events of that day,

it is hard to not feel an overwhelming

sense of sadness. The usually boisterous

tourists maintain a much more respectful

silence within the Bagh.

A memorial was constructed in

the Bagh to perpetuate the memory of the

martyrs. The monument, befittingly

named the Flame of Liberty, was inaugu-

rated in 1961. The central 30 foot high

pylon, a four sided tapering structure of

red stone stands tall and majestic in the

garden. It has the words ‘ In memory of

martyrs, 13 april,1919’ inscribed in Hindi,

Punjabi, Urdu and English. Bullet holes

are carefully preserved under the thick

glass frames. The well, now enclosed

holds no water, only coins tossed by those

who come to pay homage.

This diabolical event described

by Winston Churchill as ‘an extraordinary

event, a monstrous event, an event which

stands in singular and sinister isolation’

faced widespread condemnation and af-

fected the direction of our freedom strug-

gle as well. It prompted legendary Indian

literary figure Rabindranath Tagore to re-

nounce his Knighthood in protest of the

mass killing.

It is hard to imagine the des-

peration and chaos the hapless people

there must have experienced or the agony

of those who lost their loved ones that day.

The incident at Jallianwala

Bagh will undoubtedly remain one of the

darkest and bloodiest chapters in the his-

tory of India. We can only hope that we

shall never again have to witness such a

barbaric act.

BY SUMALIKA ADDAGARLA, EDITOR

Jalian Wala Bagh: Remembering the Martyrs

How many timeshave we been guilty ofshunning away from dis-abled human beings? I’msure that many of us are leftwith a guilty consciencewhen it comes to answeringthat question. For the 40-60million people with mentaland physical disabilities inIndia, discrimination andstigma are daily occur-rences. In a country wheresocial standing – includingin regards to marriage – iscrucial, having a disabilityoften means being relegatedto the bottom of the pile.

Up until now the In-dian government haslooked at disability from avery medical approach, thatis to provide a certain typeof disability with X,Y,Z fa-cilities instead of makingthe environment more in-clusive for persons withdisabilities.Attitudes to-wards disabled people areentrenched, particularly

where families are strug-gling to make ends meetand social services are few.Their misery cannot be ex-plained in mere words.

A long-awaited billintroduced into parliamentaims to give more disabledpeople equal rights – in-cluding access to education,employment and legal re-dress against discrimina-tion. Sonia Gandhi, head ofthe ruling Congress party,has promised disabledgroups the historic legisla-tion will be passed, sevenyears after India signed theUN convention on therights of persons with dis-abilities(UN CRPD).

The fact that the billhas been classified as a‘game changer’ is becauseit seeks to cover a plethoraof newly-included disabili-ties, thereby expanding thedefinition of disability fromthe current seven categoriesto nineteen.Millions of peo-

ple are classified as dis-abled under the bill, includ-ing those with autism,multiple sclerosis, sicklecell disease, thalassemia,muscular dystrophy, blind-ness and cerebral palsy,which entitles them to gov-ernment benefits. Much tothe relief of the deaf, thebill also includes makingcaptions or sign-languageinterpreters available forelectronic media. Thesegroups can also use the billto fight discriminationacross all areas.

Campaigners hadhoped the bill would bepassed in the previous ses-sion of parliament, but itfailed to do so. Now it isunclear how long they willhave to wait.

Many fear that thewell-meaning bill, even if itis passed, will make no dif-ference to the way in whichdisabled people are treated,especially in a country

where many existing lawsare poorly enforced andoften flouted.In order tocorrect the injustice of ex-clusion, let us not create anequality of oppression.

CHANGES in our COLLEGE

One need not lookany further than our owncollege CBIT when itcomes to seeing that thedisabled and elderly areprovided with proper facil-ities. The elevator facility atthe training and placementcell stands as a testimony tothis. There are also plentyof ramps to be foundaround the campus. Apartfrom this brand new eleva-tors are all set to creep up inevery block of our campusthereby removing a signifi-cant burden. Facilitieslikean adjustable slidingramp for entry into the col-lege buses would also bewelcome in the future.

PPAAGGEE 66

India's Disability Bill Raises Hopesof an End to Discrimination

BY MUKUND KS1.Birth of Telangana : Creation of Telan-

gana as India's 29th state was approved

by Parliament on 2nd June. So 29 states

in India. General knowledge people!

2. India ended their Asia Cup campaign

with a facile eight-wicket win over the

bottom-ranked side of the tournament.

3.Yet again Leonardo DiCaprio may

have been denied an Oscar statuette, but

his reaction to losing the prize is still

making waves on social media.FTW

Leo!

4. Facebook stunned the technology in-

dustry by buying Whatsapp for

$19B.The very next day Whatsapp suf-

fered an outage for more than three

hours. The famous meme doing rounds

is that Mark Zuckerberg’s wife blocked

him on Whatsapp, so he blocks What-

sapp! Funny much?

5. ‘2 States’, a movie based on the 2009

novel ‘Two states : The story of my Mar-

riage’ written by Chetan Bhagat coming

up in April. Teasers going viral on social

networking sites.

6. Ellen DeGeneres Oscar Selfie: Pre-

planned Product Placement Plug For

Samsung! Haha!

7. Father-Daughter workout video : This

is a new workout craze that is going viral

on YouTube. However, this one doesn't

involve a 90-day routine or a six-month

payment plan.

8. Flappy Bird is 'gone forever': Game

creator pulled app because it is 'an addic-

tive product'.

In the year 2012, India

had witnessed a large-scale ex-

odus of North Eastern people

from Bangalore. They are mi-

grating to other places in India

because of being racially

abused.

There have been multiple cases

of suspicious deaths, brutal

murders, rapes and Northeast

Indians being flogged in public

around the country. Often being

referred to as 'chinki', 'chini'

and 'momos', some say there

have been instances where the

local police never took their

pleas seriously.

The people of North-

east India living in and around

Delhi feel insecure as they

think this issue doesn't show up

in the news unless one of them

is murdered or raped. There

was a massive protest by the

North Eastern commnuity

against the murder of Nido.

NidoTaniam was a 20 year old

student from Arunachal

Pradesh who died of his in-

juries the day after he was

beaten up by eight people in

Delhi on January 28, 2014.

During the month of Nido's

death, two women from Ma-

nipur were beaten up and

thrashed publicly in Delhi.

This bleak scenario

that people from the Northeast

have to live with is not limited

a few places only. It is far more

widespread and common than

we would like to believe. They

are apprehensive about trusting

politicians as they wouldn't

take a stand on the issue.

How will this issue be

resolved? The first step to elim-

inate this issue is to bring about

the change in ourselves. You

might crack a joke on a friend

for fun, but do know when

you're taking it too far. Most of

us might feel we aren't being

racist at all, but ask yourself the

same question when you try to

differentiate two 'Rohits' or

'Sanjanas' to your friend.

In the end, the real

question is, will racism ever

end?

We hear about earth-

quakes destroying thousands

of homes, cyclones disrupt-

ing the livelihood of people

and tornadoes twisting

around wildly, condemning

everything in their path to

face utter desolation. Be-

cause of the frequency of

such headlines, we have be-

come somewhat immune to

the fact that millions of peo-

ple are dying every year due

to such natural disasters.

Weather experts

from around the world agree

that climate changes have

been more drastic than ever

in the past decade. This can

be attributed to the rising of

the Earth’s temperature,

commonly referred to as

global warming.

Global warming and

climate change go hand in

hand, with the terms some-

times being in-

terchanged, as

the distinction

between both

becomes less

significant with

each passing

year. Although

natural disasters

are a product of

Mother Nature,

we cannot deny

the fact that human develop-

ment has adversely affected

the Earth’s climate.

Over the past few

months, the world has seen

the strongest tropical storm

with unprecedented wind

speeds make landfall-Ty-

phoon Haiyan. The intensity

and the damage caused by

this have been linked to cli-

mate change. Heat waves in

Australia and Argentina,

floods caused by heavy rain-

fall in Brazil and the wettest

winter the UK has ever faced

are alarming signs that the

climate is changing more

rapidly than naturally possi-

ble.

It is interesting to

note that, although alarming,

abrupt climate change is a

normal state of affairs. It has

occurred in the past and will

most definitely occur in the

future. However, global

warming is increasing the

rate at which the climate is

changing. If we keep releas-

ing carbon dioxide and other

greenhouse gases into the at-

mosphere, the human species

as a whole may not be able to

survive for much longer. Sci-

entists believe that half the

human population, along

with many other species of

plants and animals will be

wiped out in the near future

unless we come up with a

way to prevent anthro-

pogenic climate change.

Even in Hyderabad,

all of us have noticed how

the day starts off all cloudy

and cold, which then be-

comes sunny and warm by

midday. In the evenings, we

have a continuous downpour

of rain which goes on

throughout the night. The

days which are supposed to

be hot and sunny are sud-

denly turning into those cold

winter evenings where we

want to do nothing but hud-

dle up in a warm blanket

with hot coffee.

Climate change is

not an issue of the future, it

is happening now, and it re-

quires our immediate and un-

divided attention.

HighlightsBY NISHITHA MALUR, JOURNALIST

AT THE WEATHER’S MERCYBY ALEKHYA AKKUNURI

Indians from the Northeast standup against racial discriminationBY NAGARJUN REDLA

PPAAGGEE 77

The history of Chaitanya

Bharathi Institute of Technology

(CBIT) traces back to 1979.It was es-

tablished by the Chaitanya Bharathi

Educational Society(CBES) consist-

ing of 13 allied board members under

the chief patron-ship of Dr. M.

Channa Reddy, the then Chief Min-

ister of Andhra Pradesh. It was the

exact time when there was a strong

opposition against establishing pri-

vate engineering colleges in the state.

Against all odds, the institute began

with a humble intake of 200 students

into three departments of Civil

Engg., Mechanical Engg. under the

guidance of Dr.V. Malakonda Reddy

as Principal and Secretary during

1979-80. The institute was first setup

at A.V. college campus.

Later the society acquired

120 acres of land near Hyderabad

and shifted the campus to its present

location in 1981. In the following

years, there was an expansion of var-

ious undergraduate and post graduate

courses including CSE, MCA, MBA,

EEE, Chemical Engg., after which

the college was accredited for the

first time by the NBA AICTE. The

institute was awarded ‘A’ grades to

the department of CSE and ECE and

Civil Engg. and ‘B’ to the depart-

ments of Mechanical Engg. and Pro-

duction Engg. The second accredita-

tion by NBA AICTE was done in

2004 and the college was awarded

superior grades in all the branches. It

is indeed a matter of pride for us that

CBIT was the first and only engi-

neering college to be accredited by

AICTE’s National Board of Accred-

itation twice—in 1998 and 2004.

Later in the year 2005,

the institute celebrated its Silver Ju-

bilee on 15th and 16th of September

with great enthusiasm and pomp to

commemorate the completion of 25

successful years since its inception.

The occasion was no less than any

big festival and was celebrated on a

grand scale with widespread and

eager participation from all. The

chief guests of the celebrations in-

cluded the late Chief Minister of

Andhra Pradesh Dr.Y.S. Rajasekhara

Reddy, Dr. V. Malakonda Reddy, Dr.

B. N. Reddy and other distinguished

personalities. From the year 2006,

under the stewardship of Dr. B.

Chennakeshava Rao as Principal, the

institute has achieved great accom-

plishments between the years 2006

and 2013 including a number of suc-

cessful accreditations and the more

recent autonomous status.

BY SHIVANIREDDY

With its keen commitment

to offer quality education, CBIT has

grown by leaps and bounds over the

past 34 years and today it has emerged

as the leading higher education

provider in A.P with an intake of 960

regular and 156 lateral entry students

into 9 Under Graduate (UG) streams

and a total of 374 students into 11

Post Graduation (PG) courses. The

total strength of students at present is

approximately 4638. The institute

provides a highly conducive environ-

ment with the best possible facilities

made available to the students includ-

ing excellent infrastructure and effi-

cient labs which is quiet evident from

the excellent performance of the stu-

dents.

Around 258 well qualified,

highly committed and dedicated fac-

ulty members are employed, 73 of

which are doctorate degree holders

and 76 are pursuing the same. Apart

from this, the institute also provides

234 experienced and supportive tech-

nical staff. The institute is well

known for its placements credited to

the placement cell, established in

1996. Under the guidance of Mr. NLN

Reddy, our extremely capable Place-

ment Officer, CBIT has successfully

ensured that the future of a majority

of its students is secured. It is consid-

ered one of the top placed colleges

and boasts of amazing placement sta-

tistics, placing 918 students this year.

It was indeed a proud mo-

ment when CBIT was:

-Ranked 31st in the country and 1st in

the state for placements among the

top 100 engineering colleges.

by Outlook, 2006.

-Ranked 43rd in the top engineering

colleges in country

by Outlook, 2011

-Ranked 47th in top engineering col-

leges in country

by The Week, 2012

In line with its motto

“SWAYAM TEJASWIN BHAVA”,

CBIT trains its students to become

self-enlightened entrepreneurs in their

respective walks of life.

In the year 2013, CBIT

had been granted autonomous status

for a period of 6 years from the aca-

demic year 2013-2014 to 2018-2019.

Adding to its excellence, an AU-

TONOMOUS CBIT today stands out

as an institute of great repute in its

selfless pursuit of offering academic

excellence and of moulding profes-

sionals to face the challenges ahead.

Though CBIT has long

since proved itself to be a dream

destination for aspiring engineering

students in the state, the institute

strives for further excellence in all

departments and harbors a vision to

do the same.

-The prime objective of the insti-

tute is to attain Deemed to be Uni-

versity Status or Private

University.Establishment of elec-

tronic classrooms.

-Increase in the number of Distinc-

tions and First Classes.

-Construction of an auditorium

with a seating capacity of 1500 at

an estimated cost of ‘1.5 Cr.

-Construction of an Outdoor Sta-

dium with a seating capacity of

30,000 at an estimated cost of ‘5

Cr.

-Improvement in research activity,

consultancy, Industry-Institute ac-

tivity, etc.

-Construction of more Staff Quar-

ters, Girls Hostels, and some more

boys hostels etc.

HISTORY PRESENT VISION

THE HISTORY, PROGRESS & VISION OF CBIT

For any country to stay pro-

tected, it is of utmost importance that the

people entrusted with the job of doing so

are in a position to carry out their duties

as meticulously possible. In our country,

defence forces are synonymous with the

Army. But in a country with as consid-

erable a coastline as ours, it becomes im-

perative that we are capable of

protecting ourselves from enemies lurk-

ing around on the high seas as well. It is

thus obvious that the Indian Navy plays

a crucial role in ensuring our safety.

However in recent times, a

series of accidents involving our vessels

has left everyone wondering if we are

equipped and capable enough to defend

ourselves should the need ever arise.

Over the last two years, as many as 11

mishaps involving a variety of vessels

have taken place. There has been exten-

sive loss to property and life and defi-

nitely to morale as well. Inquiries have

been ordered. People have been blamed.

Excuses have been made. Yet, the acci-

dents couldn’t be stopped. Most re-

cently, only a few days ago, a gas leak

on board an under construction de-

stroyer, INS Kolkata, resulted in the

death of a naval officer and hospitalised

others. This is not an isolated incident.

On Feb 26th, 2014, a fire incident in the

submerged INS Sindhuratna, a Russian-

origin submarine commissioned in

1988, ended in the death of two officers

and an emergency airlift of seven af-

fected sailors. A day later, the navy chief

Admiral D.K.Joshi resigned from his

post taking moral responsibility for the

incident.

Taking a look at the accidents that have

happened over the past year, it can be

observed that a variety of reasons have

been cited for them. On January 30,

2014 amphibious ship INS Airavat suf-

fered damages when its propellers hit

the ground while returning to the har-

bour in Visakhapatnam. This apparently

occurred on account of the dredging

work going on in the channel. In the

same month, INS Sindhughosh, Kilo-

class submarine ran aground and in a

separate incident, INS Vipul, a missile

boat was detected with a hole in its pillar

compartment while it was on an opera-

tional deployment off Mumbai. Just a

few days before this, INS Betwa, an in-

digenously built friagate, reported a

crack in its sonar dome, the bottom-most

part of the ship. The year 2013 had its

share of accidents and near-misses. In

December, 3 incidents were reported.

INS Konakan caught fire, destroying

most of its interiors. A frigate, INS Tal-

war, collided with a fishing trawler, re-

sulted in its sinking and also injured

those on board the trawler. INS Taraksh

damaged its hull when it hit the jetty

while docking. In September, INS Viraat

also experienced a fire accident. Among

them all, possibly the most disastrous

accident occurred in August, 2013. INS

Sindhurakshak, a Kilo-class submarine,

exploded inside the Mumbai naval

dockyard killing all 18 on board and

later sank.

It would not be wrong to say

that a lot of these accidents could have

been avoided, had a little care been

taken. Considering the recent spate of

accidents witnessed by the Indian navy,

there has been a lot of unrest, especially

among the retired naval officers. What

they have to say is that the government

is lethargic in responding to their re-

quests to upgrade the fleet and mod-

ernise them.

Whoever maybe blamed for

this, the fact remains that the state of the

Indian Navy is in disarray. Steps need to

be taken to ensure the proper function-

ing of the vessels and the safety of those

on board. Only when these accidents are

curbed can we again believe in the abil-

ity of our Navy to operate its warships

effectively and ensure our country’s

safety.

INDIAN NAVY - BARELY STAYING AFLOATBY SUMALIKA ADDAGARLA, EDITOR

Who hasn’t heard of the

Ukrainian crisis? It’s in the newspapers ,

it’s on CNN ,it’s everywhere. To those

who haven’t heard of it, simply put,

Ukraine is facing a crisis which has led to

dozens of civilians being beaten to death

and could result in much worse.

Understanding the unrest in

Ukraine begins with an understanding of

Russia’s past. Our story begins at the

bloody aftermath of several wars which

claimed more than a million Ukrainian

lives. This was a little after the World War

1 in 1922, when Ukraine officially became

a part of the Soviet Union, which was a

massive Eurasian state governed as a sin-

gle party state, i.e, the Communist party.

This state existed between 1922 and 1991.

We now jump to 1944 during which

Joseph Stalin was in charge. It was at this

time that mass deportation of an ethnic

group called the Tatar’s occurred where

the indigenous populace of Crimea was

deported to Mid-Asia and Ethnic Russians

inhabited Crimea.

Let us now flash forward to

December of 1991 when a nation-wide

referendum was held in Ukraine regarding

the question of independence from Russia

in which 90% voted “yes”. In 2004, the

first elections were held in Ukraine

wherein Pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych

ousted Viktor Yuschenko and was elected

President. However, the elections were

reported fraudulent by domestic and inter-

national observers and were claimed to be

rigged. This led to The Orange Revolution

, a series of protests and civil disobedience

primarily in the capital of Ukraine, Kiev,

which in turn led to a second election re-

sulting in President Viktor Yuschenko

emerging as the Head. Ironically, Viktor

Yuschenko, despite being an economist

did not contribute much to growth, and in-

creasing ties with European countries in-

furiated Russia resulting in cutting off of

gas supply which was disastrous for

Ukraine. These events lead to the election

of Viktor Yanukovych as the President

once again in an election that was fair and

free as per international observers.So what

could possibly be the problem?

To answer this, we have to go

to November 2013, when president

Yanukovych decided to cut ties with the

European Union and strengthen ties with

Russia. This marks the beginning of a se-

ries of protests which began at the Inde-

pendence Square in Kiev. These protests

grew exponentially eventually leading to

the killings of February 20, 2014 where

peaceful protesters were beaten to death

by the riot police following which Presi-

dent Yanukovych fled Ukraine. The pro-

testors had won, a temporary government

was being set up and Ukraine was gearing

up for presidential elections, yet again. So

I guess that’s that. Then again, maybe not.

Recall that Ethnic Russians

had inhabited Crimea in 1944. Russia, ob-

ligated by the responsibility of protecting

its ethnic population, has around 30,000

Russian soldiers in the Crimean region

readily stationed. This violation of

Ukraine’s territorial integrity is in diplo-

matic circles a very grave and serious mat-

ter.

So the question that arises is

what does Crimea want? Does it want to

be a part of Russia? Each of these solu-

tions has its own setbacks and especially

considering the immense legal issues with

both of the solutions, would any of these

be practically viable? This is a question

which only time will tell.

UNDERSTANDINGUKRAINE

BY MANAF ALI

There is no need of any proofto support the fact that CBIT is an evergrowing institution. The way it never tiresin the pursuit of excellence in the field ofeducation speaks volumes about it. It be-lieves that learning experience in a cam-pus, and campus environment with goodinfrastructure are interrelated and it is fo-cused on enhancing both. CBIT’s commit-ment to the same is obvious even to anuntrained eye, as the regular technologicalupdates of the equipment and ongoingconstruction of new facilities and build-ings stand as live examples. For instance,construction of new block for ECE depart-ment is on the verge of completion.

The new block of ECE cer-tainly has the latest features and facilities.The design of the building is unique witha cellar and three floors; ground, first and

second. It has spacious corridors and goodventilation. The flooring in the entirebuilding is exceptional with smooth gran-ite. The cellar is allotted for a new bookbank facility which offers academic booksof the department to the students of BC,SC and ST category. The new blockboasts of tinted glass windows used for allthe rooms which controls the luminancefactor thereby improving the visual expe-rience of a student when a projector isused. The new seminar halls are upgradedand have already been used without anyglitches for the ECE fest, Synapse. Theyare big enough to accommodate two sec-tions at a time with a seating of chairs withflip pads. They have perforated false ceil-ing which suppresses the reverberation ofsound, thus improving the listening expe-rience. In addition to that, an advanced

audio system has been set up in the hallfor an overall satisfying experience. Un-like the other seminar halls, the availabil-ity of projector connections near podiumadds to the convenience of the presenter.The rest of the rooms are allotted forclasses, labs and the staff. The ECE de-partment uses about 140 computers. Thenew departmental building is expected tobe equipped with all new systems.

The new ECE departmentalbuilding is getting ready with the finishingtouches happening at good pace and is ex-pected to be inaugurated next semester.Following the custom of CBIT, this newblock is already being addressed as Nblock going by the alphabetical order. Butcould we maybe have an inspiring title tothis new block?

NEW BLOCKS AROUND THE CORNERBY KRISHNA HARSHA, JOURNALIST

PPAAGGEE 88

IPL PREVIEW

World number one Rafael

Nadal will be in Mumbai! You heard

it right folks, Nadal will be finally

coming down here and to display his

wide arsenal of shots, and thankfully

not for some cameo in an overhyped

Bollywood film (I’m sure they can

get a stunt double for that).

That’s not all, plenty of for-

mer tennis greats and other top play-

ers are to follow suit.The dream of

seeing these top players continue

their everlasting rivalry on Indian soil

has finally become a reality thanks to

our very own (and no doubt a modern

tennis great in his own right) Mahesh

Bhupathi, the impresario behind the

launch of the International Premier

Tennis League (ITPL).

So naturally there must be

lot of cash involved right? You can be

rest assured that almost every single

player who has made himself/herself

available for this glitzy tournament

will be getting paid a top dollar.

Leading the payroll pack is

Nadal himself who will reportedly

get close to $2 million, while Murray

and Djokovic can each expect to

pocket a seven-figure sum for playing

three matches in as many days.

How high will the event

fly? The sky literally is the limit here

and the signs are positive, yet there

are also significant gaps in the infor-

mation coming out of the auction in

Dubai – notably the identity of the

four team owners who have report-

edly bid a total of $24 million (well as

things go these days we may know

details of the Indo-US nuclear deal,

but not the identity of the owners).

The possibility of continu-

ing the legendary rivalry between

Sampras and Agassi, followed by a

matchup between Nadal and Murray

is sure to attract sponsors, broadcast-

ers (and hopefully not bookmakers)

to the multi-million dollar event.

How the tournament works

The International Premier

Tennis League has now come down

to four teams in its first year, based in

Mumbai, Bangkok, Singapore and

Dubai-each of these four cities are

favoured international destinations

and do have a huge population of up-

wardly mobile youth. The chances

are that Kuala Lumpur will also join

if stadiums are available in Decem-

ber. That means each team will play

six matches, and the season will run

from Nov 28 to Dec 13.

The format of each match

involves five sets, each set played by

a different combination of players, so

that you can claim a point each in

men’s singles, women’s singles,

men’s doubles, mixed doubles and

“legend’s” singles (which should ar-

guably be the most exiting set!)

WHERE THE STARS WILL LINE UP

Team Singapore:

Playing November 28, 29, 30

Tomas Berdych, Andre Agassi, Lley-

ton Hewitt, Serena Williams, Bruno

Soares, Patrick Rafter, Daniela Han-

tuchova, Nick Krygios.

Team Bangkok: December 2, 3, 4

Andy Murray, Jo Wilfred Tsonga,

Victoria Azarenka, Daniel Nestor,

Carlos Moya, Kirsten Flipkens.

Team Mumbai: December 7, 8, 9

Rafael Nadal, Gael Monfils, Pete

Sampras. Rohan Bopanna, Ana

Ivanovic, SaniaMirza, Fabrice San-

toro.

Team Dubai: December 11, 12, 13

Novak Djokovic, Caroline Wozni-

acki, Goran Ivanisevic, JankoTipsare-

vic, NenadZimonic, MalekJaziri,

Martina Hingis.

The league, valued at over

Rs 250 crores, is expected to add to

the appeal of tennis in Asia and the

Middle East. Against the backdrop of

Asians doing better in Grand Slams,

the talent pool for tennis in the conti-

nent is expected to expand.

TOP STARS CASH IN ON

TENNIS PREMIER LEAGUEBY MUKUND KS

Cricket is the gameliked and enjoyed by billions, asevery aspect related to it in-volves brilliance. It has enor-mous potential which unifiesthe entire nation, by which peo-ple of all kinds and ages followit with great passion.The game has seen,isseeing,and needs many qualityplayers by its side, who are hardworking, skillful, selfless, al-ways playing for pride. Playersare not only mentally and phys-ically tested in all the matches,but are also constantly exam-ined under wide-varying condi-tions and pitches.

Domestic tourneyshave given proper directionsand shown right paths, and theirunending support has enabledcricket’s future in very good

hands. Women crickteters areto be credited and recognisedfor their crucial decision, andtheir hardwork is being paid offnow and are able to do thingswith precision.

Leagues like Ipl andBig Bash have been responsiblefor the game’s modernisation,and have tasted instant successdue to greater levels of innova-tion and improvisation.

Cricket has inspiredmany film makers in making afew classic films like Lagaan,and has now acquired cine starsinto it who are fielding like ac-robats even at the crucial long-on! All the enthusiastic loversof the game keep expecting alot and hope, that this wonder-ful entity has a great future andan unimaginable scope.

CRICKET at a GLANCE!BY NIKHIL GOPAL KRISHNA, JOURNALIST

BY SREEKAR REDDY

So the IPL auctions were

the big story last month. Telling

you which team got which player

wouldn’t really help since most of

you would know that already, in-

stead here’s my opinion on how

the teams have shaped up.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad- Had

to start with my (our) team. The

notable entrants into the Sunrisers’

fold this year would have to be the

Australian opening duo of Aaron

finch and David Warner. Since

Shikhar Dhawan is a permanent

fixture at the opening slot, one of

the two Aussies will have to come

in at number 3. The first thing that

hits you about the Hyderabad team

is that the batting is top heavy.

With no other notable Indian bats-

man apart from Dhawan , the Sun-

risers will have to rely greatly on

the explosive Darren Sammy or

Brendon Taylor who could prove

to be a surprise package. However

if Venugopal rao and KL Rahul

come good then this Sunrisers Side

could be a favourite for the title.

Irfan Pathan and Rasool would

certainly be an asset with bat and

ball. Naman Ojha should don the

gloves and the bowling looks

pretty settled. With Dale Steyn and

Amit mishra the Sunrisers are all

but assured of 8 good overs. How-

ever how Bhuvaneshwar Kumar,

Ishant , Irfan and Karn Sharma

step up could determine the suc-

cess of this side. Jason Holder un-

fortunately could find himself on

the bench more often than not.

Analysis- fantastic top order, the

middle order is brittle but a well

rounded bowling attack means

the Sunrisers are better placed

this year to bid for the title. Per-

haps missed out on Badrinath.

Chennai Superkings- Chennai re-

tained Dhoni, Raina, Ashwin,

Jadeja (perhaps the best Indian

T20 players) and Dwayne bravo.

This ensured that Chennai had a

strong core even before the bid-

ding began. With Faf Du’Plessis,

Dwayne Smith and Brendon Mc

Cullum in the mix Chennai has

fearsome power in the batting de-

partment. Decent Indian players

like Baba Aparitjith and the vet-

eran Mithun Manhas add a little

solidity to the line up so no prob-

lems there. Perhaps however

Chennai realised they were short

on bowlers and hence went for the

incomprehensible and ridiculous

bid of Rs 2 crore for the injury

prone, over the hill Ashish Nehra.

That bid however didn’t do much

to help as the Superkings will be

heavily reliant on Hilfenhaus ,

Ashwin and Jadeja. Ishwar Pandey

and Mohit Sharma are promising

but could certainly be sent to the

stands against quality opposition.

Analyisis-look well rounded but

the lack of a match winning

bowler could cost them. The bat-

ting might make up for it though

and hence they are strong con-

tenders for the title as usual.

Mumbai Indians- The first ques-

tion to Mumbai would be – What

were you thinking when you let

Mitchell Johnson go??. They re-

tained Malinga, Rohit Sharma,

Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh

and Kieron Pollard hence retaining

their entire allowed quota. Mum-

bai went after Michael Hussey and

the new sensation Corey Ander-

son. The batting looks good (per-

haps not as good as last year) with

a good Indian presence . The bowl-

ing is a worry since Malinga does-

n’t seem like the lethal bowler he

was and an ageing Zaheer Khan

will not threaten too many bats-

man. Ojha and Harbhajan are qual-

ity spinners but there could be too

much of a burden on them. Mum-

bai certainly seem like a weaker

side from last year. Analysis-

Should have retained Johnson

and let go of Malinga. It will be

tough for the defending champs

to claim the title again.

Kings XI Punjab - The Punjab

outfit have Virender Sehwag who

looks way past his prime at this

stage. Manan Vohra and David

Miller were retained by them. The

batting is too dependant on for-

eigners Shaun Marsh, Glenn

Maxwell and George Bailey.

Along with Miller that doesn’t

leave space for a foreign bowler

and this is where Punjab could re-

ally suffer since one of the three

new recruits will have to be

dropped to accommodate Mitchell

Johnson. Pujara, Wriddhiman

Saha and Sehwag as the Indian

batsman wont cause too many

alarms in the opposition ranks. The

bowling will rely on Johnson and

Murali Karthik( got him with a last

minute effort) with Parwinder

Awana and Balaji for support. I

can’t figure out how Thisara Per-

era will fit into this side. Analysis-

Could beat anyone on their day

since they have match winners

but won’t have the consistency to

see them win the title.

Rajasthan Royals- By far the

smartest franchise in the league

and their reputation stands thanks

to some great retentions. Watson,

Binny, Samson, Rahane and

Faulkner form a very good core.

The batting is in good hands with

Watson, Hodge, Rahane, Samson,

Binny , Abhishek Nayar and Un-

mukt Chand. Add to it the explo-

siveness of Faulkner down the

order and we find a great mix of

Indian and foreign players. Rajat

Bhatia is a very underrated all-

rounder and him along with Iqbal

Abdullah could send down some

quiet overs. Pravin Tambe ,

Faulkner and Dhawal Kulkarni

complete a well rounded bowling

unit as well. It will be interesting

to see how they shuffle Tim

southee and Kevon Cooper into

the team. Also look out for Ben

Cutting, he can hit the ball a long

long way. Analysis- Their vision

and a cricketing mind like Dravid

working with them could lead to

glory for this side.

Kolkata Knight Riders- Retained

Gambhir and Sunil Narine. The

batting looks good at the top with

Utthappa, Kallis , Gambhir and

Manvinder Bisla. If Yusuf Pathan

and Manish Pandey succeed then

Kolkata will have decent fire

power in their ranks. Ryan Ten

Doeschate and Shakib Al Hasan

are quality allrounders and will

add depth in both departments.

The bowling is a worry with

Umesh Yadav and Vinay Kumar

having been sent to the stands

more often than not and Piyush

Chawla will have to partner Narine

well. It will be an interesting toss

up between Andre Russell Chris

Lynn and pat Cummins to see who

makes it to the 11.Look out for

Kuldeep Yadav, our own Indian

Chinaman. Analysis- Look to be a

side with a decent chance of mak-

ing it to the playoffs. The bowling

looks weak apart from Narine.

Delhi Daredevils- Didn’t retain

any player and the Delhi franchise

has used their funds well. Interna-

tional batsmen like Quinton De

Kock, Kevin Pietersen and Ross

Taylor along with Indian Stars

Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik ,

Manoj Tiwary, Saurabh Tiwary

and Lakshmi rathan Shulka make

sure Delhi has the flexibility to

play more than one International

bowler. In Mohammad Shami and

Rahul Sharma Delhi have good In-

dian bowlers since Shami is per-

haps the best Indian pacer right

now and Rahul Sharma has proven

to be successful in T20. Wayne

Parnell and Coulter-Nile will form

an effective new ball pairing if the

tournament is played in South

Africa. Analysis- A much better

side than last time around and

could have a change of fortune

with a playoff appearance.

Royal Challengers Bangalore-

The big spenders, the superstars,

they possess the most fearsome

batting quartet in the world. Chris

Gayle, AB Devilliers, Virat Kohli

and Yuvraj Singh will send a

shiver down the spine of many op-

position bowlers. Parthiv Patel,

Vijay Zol and Albie Morkel should

complete what is the best batting

line up in the IPL. The bowling

however is a different issue with

Ravi Rampaul and Mitchell Starc

being the international stars who

wouldn’t cause sleepless nights to

the batsmen. Varun Aaron and

Ashok Dinda don’t inspire too

much confidence. Shadab Jakati

may be a surprise package. Analy-

sis- Dream batting with 5 of the

best T20 batsmen in the world.

The bowling could fall apart from

the pressure and could cost RCB

dearly. But surely with the Bats-

men they have betting against

them going to the playoffs and be-

yond would be foolish.

PPAAGGEE 99

Come 12th June and Brazil

will play host to arguably the

sporting worlds’ largest spec-

tacle- The FIFA World Cup

2014. Though country foot-

ball may not garner as much

(to put it mildly, excessive)

enthusiasm as club football, it

cannot be denied that the fans

wait with bated breaths for top

players to kick off in their na-

tional jerseys. Be it Lionel

Messi for Argentina, Cristiano

Ronaldo for Portugal or Ney-

mar and Kaka for Brazil, the

line ups are a true spectacle.

A total of 32 nations-divided

into 8 groups of 4 teams each-

are presently gearing up to

face off in the land of samba

and carnivals, on the foot-

balling worlds’ greatest stage.

There are the clichéd groups

of death-Group G (Portugal,

Germany, Ghana and USA),

Group B(Spain, Netherlands,

Chile and Australia) and

Group D (Uruguay, Costa

Rica, England and Italy) -

there are nations like Ar-

gentina and Brazil almost

guaranteed to go through and

then there is also the debu-

tante nation of Bosnia-Herze-

govina.

There’s a lot to be said for the

fans of the game. Never be-

fore have play-offs and friend-

lies caught so much interest.

Football is all about loyalties,

and the fans are absolutely

fierce and they are ready to

get behind and cheer their

champions for the win. Never

mind the brawls and abuses

that are almost certain to be

hurled. They make the game

what it is, and the players

have a show to offer.

The statisticians and the as-

trologers have all begun to

gather, to predict who would

emerge on top (Remember

Paul, the octopus?). Will it be

the defending, world-beating

champions Spain, or the

perennial favourites Brazil? Is

it France’s chance for a repe-

tition of history, or will Ger-

many walk away with the

cake? Will the temperamental

Balotelli inspire Italy or can

the World Footballer of the

year just turn the tide in his

country’s favour? Or will it be

someone else entirely? Your

guess is as good as mine.

All said and done, there’s his-

tory to be made at Manaus,

Brazil. So buckle down. The

countdown begins.

...And Goaaaal! FIFA WORLD CUP 2014BY SHREYA ANANTHARAMAN

Our college, CBIT, is

one of the best engineering col-

leges in the state. And it is so due

to various reasons. One of them

being, the tremendous amount of

talent that many CBITians pos-

sess in the field of sports. And in

this edition, we get up and per-

sonal with one such personality:

Sachin Sanil. He is one of the best

soccer players that CBIT has ever

seen. Now, let’s get straight into

the interview that we had with

him.

Q: What inspired you to play soc-

cer?

A: The game and everything

about it has been my inspiration,

the very fact that “what you can

do with a football completely de-

pends upon your own creativity

and intelligence’’, makes me

want to get back to it every day.

Q: Where did you learn to play

soccer?

A: Most of my football today is

thanks to hours and hours of “best

friend ball” times, and also thanks

to everyone I have always trained

and played with.

Q: What is your biggest achieve-

ment as a footballer?

A: My biggest achievement is

something that’s yet to come.

Each time you achieve something

there is still room to get better in

football.

Q: Tell us how does it feel to be

part of the CBIT soccer team?

A: CBIT football has been fun up

until now, and I’m sure it’s only

going to get better.

Q: Was there a time when you

were completely out of form and

felt soccer is not for you?

A: Everybody has their bad days.

If you don’t have them, then you

just need to get a check for your

weaknesses because you aren’t

noticing them.

Q: How do you come out of such

situations?

A: I brush it off and start each

game as a new one.

Q: Who is your favourite soccer

player?

A: Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Enough

said.

Q: According to you what should

be done to increase the popularity

of soccer in India?

A: Promoting Indian football will

find its own way, especially once

“talent” becomes the number one

priority in the selection criteria.

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT:

Sachin SanilBY ANAND GUPTA, EDITOR

One could not have asked

for a better opening to the 5th edition

of T20 WC to be held at Bangladesh,

a mammoth cricket loving country. It

is going to be a clash between two

arch-rivals when India vies up with

Pakistan, on the 21st of March for the

tournament to kick off.

For the first time the tour-

nament will have 16 teams including

all ten full members and six associate

members who qualified through the

2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier.

The top eight (full member) teams in

the ICC T20I Championship rankings

on 8 October 2012 enter the Super 10

stage. The remaining eight teams

compete in the group stage, from

which two teams advance to the

Super 10 stage

No team will have a clear

advantage coming into a match, no

matter which team they would be fac-

ing. This is why the number of sup-

porters are increasing for this format.

It is all about performing to your

strengths and not letting your nerves

get the better of you in order to cross

the line.

The West Indies will step in

as the defending champions with a

whole lot of T20 stars, and is un-

doubtedly one of the teams to beat.

Australia too are on course with the

right mix of youth and veterans ide-

ally suited to this version.

Teams like New Zealand

and South Africa will look to show

their dominance to set the records

straight. Sri Lanka being the current

no.1 ranked T20I side will be itching

to show why they are placed at the

top. Former champions: India, Pak-

istan and England have their set of

game changers ready and will hope to

be the 1st team to win the cup twice.

The nail-biting finishes,

head-to-head battles, unbelievable

hitting, unorthodox shots, variations

in bowling, super-over, bring beauty

and add life even to a dead rubber

match, just in case.

Some phrases like ‘Is there

any twist in the tale?’, ‘Couldn’t have

written the script better’ are the ones

each one of us would like to hear in-

numerable number of times till the

tourney ends on the 6th of April.

T20 is surely an exciting

prospect and a WC in this format is

like icing on a cake. However, all the

enthusiastic followers will have to be

patient for a few more weeks (very

long indeed for an ardent fan) to

enjoy the thrills and spills, this short

& sweet format offers!

A Preview of T20 WC

Can India Regain Its Position Once Again?

BY NAGARAJU POSHAVENI, JOURNALIST AND ANAND GUPTA, EDITOR

The world cup which was a

dream for crores of Indians has come

true and from there on its glory has

reached its peak. We were very proud of

our Indian team, until the series with

West Indies came to an end. There is a

vacancy for the number 4 position in the

team, and that position is yet to be done

justice to. India had been at an advan-

tage with several of its worshipped leg-

ends being a part of the team, however

their time has come to bid adieu to our

team. It’s very hard to imagine as to

what will become of our team, but it’s a

reality we must face.

If we take a walk down mem-

ory lane, and look into the series that

have gone by, we will note that it is us

who are responsible for the sword hang-

ing atop our head. Our rankings have

dropped swiftly. Our rankings in the

ODI’s have dropped from the first posi-

tion to the second, while in the case of

test matches, we have dropped to the

third position. But the main question is,

what is the reason behind the fall in our

performance? What caused our empire,

which we so carefully built, to come

crumbling down? How did we – the

kings of cricket – become the paupers?

I have many distinct ideas in my head,

but none good enough to form a proper

theory! Is the cause for this change the

departure of Sachin Tendulkar from our

team? Is it the over confidence ruling

them? Are they not at the top of their

game? There are countless questions.

All these questions, are asked

not only by me, but by people all around

India. The game mainly depends on the

mindset of the players. The mindset is

the game changer, it’s what decides

which team takes the trophy home. I

agree that skills and sportsmanship are

key factors but mindset does play a

major role in this. The player needs to

be strong, so that he can face the oppos-

ing team, not only physically, but also

emotionally. When entering the field,

the player has to put aside all his worries

and stride in as though he is the king of

the place, and the ball abides by his

rules. Maybe that is what has changed,

that is what has led to our downfall – the

change in our mindset. If we can go

back to being positive, without arro-

gance, ego and personal problems com-

ing in the way, we will be all set to win

the ICC World Cup 2015!

Who is the present captain

of the Indian hockey team? To be hon-

est, I couldn’t promptly answer when

one of my friend’s posed the same

question. As a matter of fact a large

number of people may not recollect a

hockey captain as quickly as they

could, with ease, in the case of cricket.

Irony though is that hockey is our na-

tional game.

A national game, Flag or an-

them are the national symbols which

infuse a sense of pride and patriotism

in every citizen’s heart. Contrary to

common belief, unlike other national

symbols, Hockey was not declared as a

national game by the Indian Govern-

ment, though it is generally addressed

as such. Indian Hockey was at its best

in the years from 1928 to 1956 when

India won six Olympic gold medals in

a row. In this span India had played 24

Olympic matches and won all of them

scoring 178 goals while conceding only

7 goals. Hockey had become a matter

of pride to every Indian, stirring up pa-

triotism in the country and eventually it

became our national game.

The astounding saga of a

ball game that has become a sport of

honour to our country can’t be sepa-

rated from the life of a person who has

become a legend for the same reason

.He is Major Dhyan Chand, a star

player who scored goals like runs in

cricket. He scored goals as if he was

performing magic on the field and was

famously called as a black magician

with a hockey stick in hand. He was a

wizard on the field and an epitome of

patriotism who preferred to be a lance

Nayak in Indian army to a field marshal

in Germany, when he was offered the

latter post by Adolf Hitler who came to

know about his magic on the field. In

1934, in a tour of 48 matches in New

Zealand, India won all the matches

scoring 584 goals of which Dhyan

Chand alone scored 201 goals. That

was the level of expertise he had in

playing the game and that was the level

of dominance India had in the world in

that Golden period.

We can’t be content with

past glory. Our national game has lost

its charm. The reason is not just the de-

grading standards of Indian Hockey,

but also the transformation of hockey

into a power game by Europeans out of

vested interests. Physically strong Eu-

ropean players are at an advantage on

the fast paced artificial turfs. And arti-

ficial turfs are still very scarce in India.

Lack of financial support is another rea-

son, as issues regarding, dues in pay-

ments to players were exposed several

times. Also unlike BCCI, Hockey fed-

erations are inactive. Misuse of power

and frequent disputes between federa-

tions worsens the problem. Minimal

coverage by media is also one of the

reasons for lack of public support and

interest whereas inconsistent perform-

ance of the team remains as the main

factor deciding public interest. In the

recent times people are showing up in

stadiums in support of the team but the

Zeal to win is still missing in our play-

ers. Major Dhyan Chand said, “You

need not have really great players in

team but you need to have a team ready

to do or die.”

CHAK DE INDIA!BY KRISHNA HARSHA, JOURNALIST

BY NIKHIL GOPAL KRISHNA , JOURNALIST

PPAAGGEE 1100

This mighty couch has

never failed to create gossip or

make it to the headlines. Wait,

you know what I’m talking

about! The show that is every

celebrity’s dream-Koffee with

Karan. After completing three

amazingly rocking seasons, full

of witty chitchat and fun, the

show is now back with a bang

for a fourth season, more sensa-

tional than ever. The best

celebrities getting tangibly can-

did and showing their amusing

side on a talk show with the man

who rules Bollywood - how en-

tertaining can that get!

Well, the fourth season

which is still airing has till date

provided us with some of the

most hilarious moments of

celebrities being quizzed by

Karan about all the random

things one can actually think of!

From the fiery Rapid Fire round

to the celebs spilling the beans;

from the introduced newly Kof-

fee Quiz to the exclusive celeb

signed mugs-this season, I say,

is brewing with a whole new fun

load of confessions and gossip.

Here we get to you, few of the

best moments of this season.

We had Kareena

Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor on

the show together and yes, it all

came out! Kareena couldn’t stop

pulling Ranbir’s leg about his

rumored relationship with Kat-

rina Kaif and that’s where the

entire buzz started! And we got

a glimpse of Kiran Rao showing

her possessive side about Aamir

Khan in their episode, which

made the occasion quite humor-

ous for the show lovers!

Then they came, the

Gunday on the couch-Ranveer

Singh and Arjun Kapoor who,

by the means, literally show-

cased their singing talent. When

they talk, it is possible to silence

even the usually loquacious

Karan! And yeah, we had to see

them breaking into duets at ran-

dom moments and they are un-

doubtedly one of the funniest

pairs we’ve seen on the show!

We definitely cannot

forget the lively little riot that the

Students of the Year- Sidharth

Malhotra, Alia Bhatt, and Varun

Dhawan, created on the show.

The trio literally had the viewers

cracking up in every single mo-

ment. The best being the an-

swers they gave when asked

who the President of Indiais?

Well, Alia unmistakably an-

swered Prithviraj Chavan while

Varun said it is Manmohan

Singh. And it was all done in a

fraction of second. Quite im-

pressive I say!

Priyanka Chopra and

Deepika Padukone talking about

the fact that “Actresses can

never be friends”, laughing

every single moment they spent

on the show, was one of the most

entertaining episodes. We then

had Nargis Fakhri and Freida

Pinto open up about their con-

nection to the fact they work in

an industry away from their

homeland. The duo jovially

played around with Karan’s ref-

erences, so much that they actu-

ally beat him at his own game

making him go speechless.

With all this entertain-

ment and so much more, KWK

is unquestionably one of the

most loved talk shows we have

seen. On that note, we take a

break and yes, look forward to

more reloaded seasons of the

show-where it goes more than

just BEHIND THE SCENES!

All the diehard fans will

unanimously agree - This time The Os-

cars were not a disappointment. With

mostly high moments and barely any

flaws, it was one of the best Oscar cere-

monies we’ve seen in ages! Hollywood’s

most awaited and biggest night, The 86th

Academy Awards took place on 3rd

March, 2014 at the Dolby Theatre in Hol-

lywood, Los Angeles.

Second time host Ellen De-

Generes returned with more humor and

wit, keeping the audience well enter-

tained. Her celebrity-studded selfie was

a stroke of genius which within no time

became the most retweeted picture in

twitter history. After mentioning The

Hunger Games in her monologue,Ellen

ordered pizza and handed it around

among the audience. FYI, a real pizza,

delivered by a real pizza delivery guy.She

then passed around Pharell William’s hat

and coughed up money from the stars!

All poor Lupita had was a lip balm,

which she gladly contributed. DeGeneres

was scintillating as she wandered through

the crowd, tapped ‘Marty’ (Martin Scors-

ese) and ‘Brad’ (Brad Pitt) on the shoul-

der and gifted Bradley Cooper lottery

scratchers as a consolation prize.

The musical performances

were one of the many moments that made

the night so magical.Pharell Williams

performed his hit single ‘Happy’ and

went into the audience tobreak a leg with

stars like LupitaNyong’o, Meryl Streep

and Amy Adams. A few memorable

speeches were delivered as well. First

time winner Jared Leto, took home the

Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his

performance in Dallas Buyers Club. Leto

thanked his mother,brother and dedicated

his award to the victims of AIDS. Leto’s

female counterpart,LupitaNyong’o, de-

livered a sentimental speech by address-

ing the dreamers out there while

accepting the award for her moving per-

formance in ‘12 Years a Slave’. As

widely predicted, Matthew Mc-

Conaughey and Cate Blanchett won Best

Actor and Best Actress in a Leading Role

respectively. Gravity took the lead, win-

ning seven awards, including Best Direc-

tor (Alfonso Cuaron), Best

Cinematography and Best Visual Effects

followed by 12 Years a Slave which won

three awards including the top trophy of

Best Picture. Although it ran a little long,

the Oscars featured Hollywood glamour,

moving tributes, magical musical per-

formances, memorable speeches and en-

thusiasm for young talent. Let’s take a

look at few of the top awards and their

winners…

Best Picture -12 Years a Slave

Best Actor in a Leading Role-

Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers

Club)

Best Actress in a Leading Role - Cate

Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role -

Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role -

LupitaNyong'o (12 Years a Slave)

Best Director - Alfonso Cuarón (Grav-

ity)

She was my best friend, despite

what her status was. Her mother was work-

ing as a maid for us, long before I was

born, or her daughter, Jasmine was born.

Jasmine and I were the same age and were

inseparable since the start. I never really

mingled with anyone because I had a seri-

ous stammering problem, people always

made fun of me and I decided to stay away

from everyone. The only person whom I’d

talk to without any hesitation was her.

Her school used to get over by

the time I came home and she’d always

wait near my bus stop for me. She’d al-

ways say, “Meera, I have been waiting here

since forever.” To this, I’d always laugh,

grab her hand and walk back home. I even

remember once, she had fallen totally sick

but she insisted on waiting for me at the

bus stop that day because I once told her

that seeing her waiting for me at the bus

stop was my favorite and exciting part of

my day. Sometimes she used to skip eating

her lunch for me at school and save her

mother’s special tamarind rice for me be-

cause I loved it so much.

Despite my stammering prob-

lem, I loved to talk. The only one who took

my talking seriously and never laughed at

it was Jasmine. Whenever I had a bad day

at school because of this problem of mine,

she’d tell me I have a power which nobody

had. She told me that my brain works so

fast that my speech couldn’t keep up with

it.

The best part was, she was self-

less and very modest. I always tried to give

her clothes or my toys to take home but she

wouldn’t accept. She was happy with

whatever little she had. She would get me

bangles from her side of the city and I had

to take them, or she’d get mad. She was

unfair like that and it made me love her

more.

Whenever I fell sick, which

was quite often, she’d for sure stay back at

my house and take care of me. She would

never let me do the same for her and it was

annoying. She’d say you will catch my

fever and I’d have to take care of you again

and it would be a cycle. I could’ve said the

same thing to her but I loved her company

when I was especially sick, so I let her win.

At the age of 14, Jasmine

dropped out of school. I found that very

ridiculous because she told me that she

wasn’t fond of going to school at all. As far

as I knew she loved learning and she

wanted to be a doctor someday, she was so

smart that I knew for a fact that she could

top in my class. She spoke way better Eng-

lish than I; she used to do my homework

almost always. I remember having a huge

fight with her that day about this and she

got really mad at me too. We almost didn’t

talk for a week.

After a week, she came home,

bawling helplessly. She said it was her dad.

He didn’t want her to study any further. I

was so enraged that I could’ve erupted like

a volcano. I told mom about it and my

mother was equally enraged about it. My

mother told Jasmine’s mom that she would

support Jasmine’s studies but both Jasmine

and her mother refused profusely.

Her mother quit working for us

the next day, and I got to see Jasmine very

rarely. There was no more Jasmine waiting

for me at my bus stop, I felt rejected. I

spoke to her normally like I did whenever

she used to come visit me at times.

I could see she wasn’t the same

old Jasmine I once knew, she looked de-

pressed and lost. I regret not asking her

why now. I regret it so much now that I

feel I am responsible for whatever hap-

pened, even though it isn’t. The least I

could’ve done was to be there for her.

After I turned 16, Jasmine

never visited. I went to her house and it

was occupied by someone else. Nobody

had a clue where they went. I literally had

no “best friend” to talk to anymore. I

started to maintain a diary, and then I real-

ized every page read the same thing in the

end,” I miss Jasmine.”

A week ago, Jasmine’s mother

paid us a visit. Her mother made my fa-

vorite tamarind rice and it tasted just as

scrumptious. She showed me a picture of

Jasmine, with her own family. She had two

kids now already; I couldn’t stop my tears

looking at the picture. I stared at in disbe-

lief for quite some amount of time, lost. I

kept the picture and gave her mother my

diary for Jasmine to read.

Jasmine didn’t have to stop her

education, get married and have two kids

at the age of twenty, all these kept repeat-

ing in my head that day forth. It’s just so

unfair that I get to have the luxury to do

whatever I want to because I was born with

a silver spoon in my mouth and my parents

knew better than to get me married at a

very early age while she’s probably suc-

cumbed to the pressure of being a perfect

wife, mother and a daughter-in-law. I only

hope the best for her now for she will al-

ways be conspicuous part of my life.

12 YEARS A SLAVE, GRAVITY WIN BIG, 12 YEARS A SLAVE, GRAVITY WIN BIG,

OSCAR ‘SELFIE’ BREAKS TWITTEROSCAR ‘SELFIE’ BREAKS TWITTER

RECORDRECORDBy aditi PunEtHa

Two Different WorldsTwo Different Worlds

The Best of Koffee with Karan

By tEja mariyada, Editor

“You haven’t made it if youhaven’t been on Karan’s couch”

By HarsHal Kusuma, Editor

Viraat and Aparna Reddywith his two dogs, Hoshi(Left) and Caramel (Right)

Anuhya Koduri withher dog, Google

Pooja Reddy with herdog, Bruno

Pet Spotlight

PPAAGGEE 1111

Once in a while a book

comes along that is so soul stir-

ring that it gives you goose

bumps. Such is the case with

Marcus Zusak’s phenomenal

literary creation-The Book

Thief. From the very first title

page, you know you're in for

something very special indeed.

With The Book Thief, Markus

Zusak has shown he's a writer

of genius and a literary marvel.

This is a book about the power

of words and language, and it

is fitting that Marcus Zusak

managed to write it in just this

way.

One of the many

things I love most about this

book is Zusak’s brilliant choice

of a narrator. By allowing

Death to narrate the story and

giving him the ability to won-

der at his connection to Liesel,

a young girl whose passion for

books sustains her while death

and war rage around her, Zusak

brings to his story a haunting

and heartbreaking quality.

Death, as the narrator, becomes

a being capable of emotion and

who seems to know that we,

the readers, need to become fa-

miliar with Liesel’s story.

Death is rendered vividly, a

lonely, haunted being that is

drawn to children, who has had

a lot of time to contemplate

human nature and wonder at it.

Liesel is very real, a child liv-

ing a child's life of soccer in

the street, stolen pleasures,

sudden passions and a full

heart.

Death and Liesel cross

each others path thrice. .First,

when he (death) comes to

claim her younger brother

Werner on a train taking them

to meet their foster parents.

Second, when he comes to

claim souls after a bomb is

dropped on her town, and fi-

nally, he visits Liesel as an

older woman. Death finds the

book Liesel was writing during

the bomb raid and uses it to tell

us her story. In 1939 Liesel ar-

rives in the town of Molching

Germany and is taken to the

home of her foster parents, an

elderly German couple named

Hans and Rosa Hubermann.

Hans Huberman finds Liesel's

first stolen book and teaches

her to read and write. Liesel's

passion for books leads her to

steal one book from the

mayor’s wife and another one

from a book burning.

An emotional turning

point in the book occurs when

the Hubermanns take in Max,

a Jew, and the son of the man

who saved Han’s life during

the Great War. Hiding Max in

their basement is a dangerous

undertaking for the Huber-

manns.

Already in danger of

hiding a Jew, Hans Hubermann

risks punishment when he of-

fers bread to a Jew. Now under

suspicion, the Nazi police want

to search the Hubermann home

forcing Max to flee and Hans

to join the German army. With

both men, gone Liesel brings

comfort to her neighbors by

reading to them. She is in the

basement of her home writing

the story The Book Thief when

the bombs begin to drop.

Altogether the pages

are full of lively humor, and

the richness of the descriptions

as well as the richness of the

characters' hearts cannot fail to

lift you up. It’s a beautiful story

that lingers with you long after

the final page is read. Every

word, every character is cre-

ated with purpose and there is

nothing to spare.

I’d say that if you want

a fast read, this book is not for

you. If you only like happy

endings this book is not for

you. If you don't like experi-

mental fiction, this book is not

for you. But, if you love to

read, care about the characters

involved, use words like

they're ice cream and have

your heart broken and mended

on the same page, this book is

definitely for you! It is a book

to treasure, a new classic. If I

were to make a list of books to

read before you die, this book

would make the top 5! Many

books I like, a few I love and a

very few I cry over. I ab-

solutely loved ‘The Book

Thief’ and yes, it did make me

cry.

Book Review- The Book ThiefBY G. HAMSIKA

How you doin’?For most of us, this

would be a reminiscence of our

favorite, Joey-the innocent and

caring food-lover, from the

timeless multi-camera comedy

show, F.R.I.E.N.D.S!

Popularly known as

Sitcoms, situational comedies

are shows which, unlike stand-

up comedy, generally involve a

storyline plotted around a par-

ticular group of characters,

with various situations of their

lives. This popular genre of

comedy dates back way earlier

than we imagine and as years

have passed, Sitcoms have

come to be perceived as the

most popular and celebrated

shows of all time.

We have the best ever-

green sitcom, which everyone

loves to watch even today-

F.R.I.E.N.D.S! This show re-

volves around the lives of a

circle of friends-Joey, Rachel,

Monica, Chandler, Ross and

Phoebe. It premiered in 1994

and aired ten rocking seasons,

the last one being aired in 2004.

Though the show came to an

end, it was a huge hit among all

those who had become sitcom

freaks by then! Being a more re-

alistic depiction of twenty-some-

thing life, it still holds up as the

quintessential favorite for all of

us, even 20 years after its debut.

It lacks any of the things which

are usually a part of twenties life

today, but I’d say it holds up as

a sparkling story-of working

hard, take a shot at success, hav-

ing fun dinners with the people

we love and care for no matter

what, without having an overly

dramatic blowout.

Just when people were

convinced that there would

never be another show like this,

where the actors were so in sync

that the show seemed like a re-

ality, How I Met Your Mother

was born. In 2005, the new sit-

com How I Met Your Mother

was introduced. It did not cap-

ture the hearts of many right

away as there were many who

weren’t ready to give it a chance

because they did not want to

cheat on their F.R.I.E.N.D.S!

This sitcom, also set in New

York, has its storyline around a

dynamic group of people to-

gether.

Though many com-

pared the show to F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

and the characters were corre-

lated along with the storyline, I

think that HIMYM has its own

essence of spirit in its story. Bar-

ney Stinson’s and Joey Trib-

ianni’s characters are considered

close cousins-both men charm-

ing, handsome and have one

strong desire when it comes to

women. But there is a striking

difference-Barney’s demeanor is

very Suit and Tie while Joey’s is

more of jeans and t-shirt. And

then we have Marshall and

Chandler, both of them use hu-

morous sarcasm and awkward

stories to relieve a situation. In

spite of such similarities, both

the shows were greatly loved

and watched, with HIMYM still

going strong.

And since then, we

have had a gush of similar sit-

coms based on friendship. An-

other sitcom The Big Bang

Theory began in 2007 with its

main plot again revolving

around a similar concept. But it

has different characters- Shel-

don, Leonard, Penny, Amy, Raj

and Howard. Each one of the

have their own interesting flaws

which the people loved. The

show has different settings and

also embraces the geek culture

in a whole new different style.

Sheldon Cooper’s personality is

taken in a totally different direc-

tion-him being afraid of dirt and

germs with a desperate need to

be saved from them! Raj’s in-

ability to talk to women, Shel-

don and Amy’s strange

relationship, Leonard and

Penny’s on-again-off-again rela-

tion-all these interesting flaws

and the fact that they are geeky

geniuses make the show so good

in spite of being based on the

same base concept. We haven’t

really seen characters like them

before, so we’re all keen to

watch out for all the hilarious

situations their crazy personali-

ties land them in!

Though more number

of sitcoms have come up, the

classic ones are still being aired.

Few of the new sitcoms cur-

rently being aired are New Girl,

Two Broke Girls, etc. They all

deliver great jokes and are fan-

tastic shows to watch but I think

there can’t be a more realistic

portrayal of fun and life as in the

all time favorite show,

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. . Well folks, there

you have it-Amazing shows, re-

latable concepts and fabulous

casts. And they’re all Legen-

wait for it-dary!

“Those who deny freedom

to others deserve it not for

themselves.”

–Abraham Lincoln

Slavery is indeed a

heinous crime against hu-

manity that existed in the

United States in the past.

Directed by the British artist

and filmmaker Steve Mc-

Queen, ‘12 Years a Slave’

takes an unflinching look at

the shameful chapter in

American History. This is

slavery examined with sear-

ing honesty, far removed

from the normal sugarcoat-

ing of ‘Gone with the Wind’

or ‘Django Unchained’.

The interesting de-

tails which were new were

those that depicted the ab-

duction of free Northern

Afro-Americans to be

forced into slavery in the

South. It was also terrible to

see the slave selling scenes

featuring a sinister cameo

by Paul Giamatti. But these

happen within the first hour

of the film. The rest of the

film already felt squea-

mishly familiar, but harder

to watch because the flog-

ging tended to approach

high levels. It is never an

easy watch. McQueen re-

fuses to cut away as men

and women are lashed till

the skin is peeled off their

backs.

If you are expecting

anything lighter than

Django Unchained, I’m

sorry; you’d be highly dis-

appointed since this is

grave. Nicely shot and

paced, this flick works be-

cause it whiffs with reality

and the cumulative emo-

tional effect is devastating.

This movie has won

the Academy Award for

Best Picture and many other

top categories; and is defi-

nitely something that cannot

to be missed by serious

movie-buffs and the ones

who love parallel cinema.

MOVIE REVIEW:DE YEARS A SLAVEBY RIYAZ SUNDRANI

Bazinga! Could this BE any

more Legen-wait for it-dary?BY HARSHAL KUSUMA, EDITOR

PPAAGGEE 1122

Apple began selling the

iPhone 5s in october 2013.Google fol-

lowed the same in the following

month, selling the Nexus 5, manufac-

tured by LG Electronics. Both the

smart phones are extremely popular.

Conventional wisdom holds

that the iPhone has a cleaner, more

easy to use interface, with a more pre-

mium hardware than its competitors.

The same consider Android, a more

complex yet easily customizable in-

vention; while Apple more strict in

protecting its user experience, Google

allows the users to change the way its

OS works by installing apps like

Skype, without having to “jailbreak”

the device. Google also allows hard-

ware manufacturers to install their

own user experience, or UX, which

works in tandem with Android to

stand out from their competitors or in

other words to make the phone better.

One of the most interesting

hardware differences between these

two flagships is the amount of random

access memory, or RAM, allocated to

each. While the iPhone 5S is surely

the expensive of the two, it has half

the RAM of the Nexus 5, which is one

gigabyte versus two. The iPhone 5S is

a capable device for multi-tasking in

its own way, but the Nexus 5 has a

distinct edge with double the RAM if

you are a serial multi-tasker or a

power-user.

For smartphone photogra-

phers, the iPhone 5S may have the

edge. Apple has included a dual-LED

flash to the iPhone 5S, adding an

amber bulb to the standard white in

addition to a light sensor. This greatly

improves low-light shots and offers

more balanced, natural skin tones. In

properly lit settings, the Nexus 5 and

iPhone 5S are extremely comparable.

Both offer 8-megapixel shots. The

Nexus 5 offers true optical image sta-

bilization or OIS, whereas the iPhone

5S has an inferior, digital counterpart,

the results are hardly noticeable.

The iPhone 5S also features

an exclusive fingerprint sensor, Touch

ID. Touch ID offers a convenient way

to unlock a smartphone that the Nexus

5 lacks.

The Nexus 5, thanks to its

plastic case, includes wireless charg-

ing, while the iPhone 5S does not con-

tain the necessary hardware. This is

not because Apple intentionally left

the feature out — the iPhone’s alu-

minum body makes wireless charging

impossible without an external case.

Display:

With a Full HD resolution

of 1920 x 1080 pixels, which trans-

lates to 445ppi, the Nexus 5 display

looks crisp and accurate. It has an im-

peccable IPS display. On the surface

and in the specs, the iPhone 5s screen

has not changed. It is still using the

same 1136×640 pixels (727,040 pix-

els) resolution, while most of the

smartphones in that price range have

moved to 1080p:1920×1080

(2,073,600 pixels).

This means that the com-

peting devices have nearly 3X more

pixels than the iPhone, but in terms of

visual sharpness we have to take into

account the pixel density (PPI or

points per inch), and because the

iPhone display is relatively small (4”),

the overall iPhone 5s pixel density is

pretty decent at 326ppi, but competi-

tors still get higher PPI: 468ppi/HTC

One (Feb 2013), 441ppi/Galaxy S4

(Apr 2013) and 423ppi/LG G2 (Aug

2013).

Software:

If you’ve ever heard com-

plaints about Android phones’ soft-

ware updates being inferior to those of

iPhones, then remember that it doesn’t

apply to Nexus phones. The Nexus 5

ships with the newest version of An-

droid, 4.4 KitKat, and it should also

receive future updates very soon after

Google releases them. That’s the

Nexus family: it’s Google’s vision of

Android, unhindered by OEM or car-

rier “improvements.”

OS naturally gives you all

of Apple’s popular services, like

iMessage, FaceTime, iCloud, Siri,

iWork, iTunes Radio, and so on.

Apple’s services are designed by

Apple, made by Apple, and they re-

flect Apple’s standards(simplicity, el-

egant design, “it just works,” etc.).

They’re the company’s way of con-

trolling your experience, presenting it

the way they think it should be pre-

sented. Once you’re invested in the

Apple ecosystem, the odds of keeping

you there are pretty high.

Hands-on experience:

The Nexus 5 is one of the

most comfortable phones I’ve ever

used. It is comparably slow to heat up,

so there are no issues holding it while

watching movies or during extended

gaming sessions but the battery drains

out quickly which is 2300mAH com-

parably less for a 5”inch display de-

vice. The soft-touch finish, contrasts

perfectly with the ceramic buttons,

which makes them very easy to find

and use without looking.

At this price, the Nexus 5 is worthy of

its price. -Sanit

It’s fair to say that the

iPhone 5S didn’t have any significant

improvements over iPhone 5 in terms

of quality, because its predecessor was

so well made. In fact, it’s hard to see

where Apple could improve. In our

opinion, the iPhone 5S is still the best

looking smartphone out there. Its pre-

cision cut aluminium rear sits ab-

solutely flush with the glass panels

covering the top and bottom. Overall,

it gives a pleasant experience to own

this phone. iOS is a pretty stable op-

erating system and the apps for iOS

have rarely crashed. The phone feels

great in the hand, it feels solid. And

the phone runs really smooth with

barely any lag.

-Karthik

Hello, my lovelies!

This is what the blog “The Vigil

Idiot” greets you with. With its

mission to make its writer filthy

rich and famous, as the blog’s

page on facebook says, The

Vigil idiot is basically a Bolly-

wood film review blog written in

the form of a comic strip with

stick figures depicting the char-

acters and the different scenes in

a film.”Just like any other blog,

what is the difference anyway?”

you may ask. Well, if the hilari-

ous depiction of each character

in the film doesn’t give you

a laughing fit, then the dripping-

with-pure-sarcasm review of

every senseless scene in the film

that insults everybody’s sane

sense of imagination surely

should.

The brainchild of Sahil

Rizwan-a sub-editor at the Amar

Chitra Katha Studio, this blog is

purely meant, according to the

creator himself, for a few cheap

laughs, and aims at World Peace,

as the write says, but mostly the

former stated mission! And un-

doubtedly, it gives you a lot

more than that. Questioning

every one of the director’s mo-

tives to give you your money’s

worth with pointless storylines

far fetched, idealistic characters

and sometimes deliriously ob-

scene and funny comical pic-

tures, every review ends up

being a mini laugh riot.

The reviews are, in al-

most all cases, of films that

aren’t worth a watch, or simply

put, bad films. Of course, just

like any other review, the comic

strip follows the story line as it

is, and pops in a simple, yet sub-

tly straight and logical question

every now and then. To add to

the irony, the senseless explana-

tions are quoted as they are by

the stick figure personalization

of the characters, making the sit-

uation look extremely stupid,

and in the process, outrageously

funny.

So, the next time you sit

in a theatre and start cribbing

about how bad the film is or how

it isn’t worth a single penny

spent on it, The Vigil Idiot gives

you an incentive to somehow

survive through the ordeal and

make it out in one piece, cause

rest assured, what awaits you at

your home is a hotly served re-

view, with all elements included

to make sure you roll on the

floor laughing.

And basically, the title

has nothing to do with the pur-

pose. It was, by the writer’s ad-

mission, supposed to be The

Village Idiot, but since the do-

main name wasn’t available, The

Vigil Idiot was the closest he

could come to pulling off the

title. Quite interesting, isn’t it?

So there you go, you have a blog

to look out for, every time you

watch a movie and start wonder-

ing why you even tried to watch

it!

Nexus 5 vs iPhone 5S

BITCOIN: The New Digital Currency

URL:https://www.thevigilidiot.com

https://www.facebook.com/thevigilidiot

The Vigil idiot

Ever imagined what would

happen if all the electronic gadgets we

use today stopped working for a day?

It would be a greater disaster than the

Hiroshima and Nagasaki isn’t it? We

live in an era where almost every teen

is affected with the technology bug.

Studies show that 50% of the teens

own a mobile phone but hardly 21

minutes is being spent making a real

conversation. A post on the Facebook

wall or a tiny tweet makes things real

easy.

Why teens? Even kids as

tender as seven, are approaching

Google to complete their assignment

and Grand Theft Auto’s as refresh-

ment rather than playing out in the

sun. How many of us read the news-

paper in the “newspaper”? The Screen

based technology has taken over it

too! We know all the features of the

latest Samsung smart phone released

in the market but have no clue what

was the first incarnation of Lord

Vishnu out of the ten. If it is true that

the advancement in technology is

binding people around the world to-

gether with so called social media, it

is also true that the same technology

is creating barriers in the real world.

If technological advance-

ment is one aspect dominating today’s

kids with those back then, the next

one is peer pressure. In the tough race

of getting a glittering life, today’s gen-

eration is under the pressure of their

parents, teachers, and friends com-

pelling their still tender minds. This

pressure ultimately leads to bad habits

like drugs and alcohol consumption.

In the competition for a better life

compared to our peers, we tend to go

on the wrong track, deviating away

from our own goals and passions. The

people back then gave value to their

passions and dreams than anything

else which is why they are really

happy today even if they aren’t con-

nected to the world socially as much

as we are.

From Religion to relation-

ships, the gen next has their very own

‘modernized version’. We are letting

every tiny feeling within us to be

liked, commented and shared upon

not realizing the impact it will have up

on us in the long run. From polluting

the nature to polluting our mindsets in

the most important phase of our life,

today’s teen and kids are misleading

themselves in every way possible

curbing their abilities and creativity.

Technological advancement

is good when it is not ruining our tra-

ditional values. When we connect

technology with nature and give more

importance to real time world and

move forward in achieving our goals

we can be a motivation for the future

kids because it is ultimately WE who

build or break the nation!

Kids Then & Now- TECH TEENSBY S. K. ANAGHA

BY SATWIKBY KARTHIK VARMA AND SANIT REDDY

We live in the age of inter-

net. Almost every aspect of our life has

been shifted to e-spaces, from socializ-

ing with friends to shopping for some-

thing, everything happens online. So it

was almost imperative for us to have a

form of digital currency for purpose of

online trading. Credit card processing

gateways was a major breakthrough in

this field but it came with its security

concerns. What if someone hijacked

my session and got access to my credit

card numbers? This is a fear that is

faced by many users, even today.

Another important aspect

that needed to be addressed was that of

online money transfer. Traditional ap-

proaches included making a request to

your bank to transfer the money, either

through Demand Drafts or Cheques.

One of the main problems with this ap-

proach was, firstly, it took a lot of time,

especially if the sender and receiver

were in geographically distant loca-

tions, plus the logistics involved was

not reliable every time. Also for inter-

national transfers customers were

forced to pay pretty exorbitant process-

ing fee percentages.

This created opportunity for

companies like PayPal and WePay,

which greatly reduced the time re-

quired for international transfer but

there was still a considerable process-

ing fee and the processing had to still

be done by a middle organization

which creates a delay in the transfer. In

general PayPal charges around 19% as

processing fees and it takes around 7-

10 days for a transfer to complete. Bit-

coin changes all that.

So, what is Bitcoin, any-

way? As I see it, it’s a cross between a

stock and a form of payment. It’s a

form of payment because you can use

Bitcoins to pay for things. You can buy

computers on Tigerdirect.com, you can

buy pretty much anything on Over-

stock.com, and apparently, some enter-

prising young California girls are

letting you buy cookies with them. You

can also send small amounts of cur-

rency to people in other countries,

without worrying about exchange rates

or currency conversion fees. And

lastly, the most important part is that

there are no currency conversion or ex-

change rates.

It’s a stock because there’s a

fixed number of “Bitcoins” in the uni-

verse. The value of each Bitcoin fluc-

tuates based on the law of supply and

demand. The more people that want to

use them, the higher their value. One

user anecdotally reported Bitcoins

bought in 2009-2010 for $1 (USD)

each were recently sold for $1,200.

That’s a lot of appreciation. But it’s not

what Bitcoin’s evangelists focus on.

The technology behind Bitcoin is open

source, so developers from all over the

world can contribute to the project but

this also means that the potential hack-

ers could exploit the vulnerabilities in

the system. Nevertheless Bitcoin has

definitely revolutionised online money

trading and is definitely the new digital

currency.

BY AKSHAY KULKARNI, DEPUTY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

BC-AD

In the present android era

there are a myriad of apps that are freely

available for users throughout the

world. This is indeed a needle in the hay

stack situation when it comes to choos-

ing the most appropriate app pertaining

to the needs of an individual. Below is a

list of apps which could prove extremely

useful for everyone from casual users to

developers.

Dialer+ (Dialer app)Well-designed dialer app with an inter-

face built upon tabs. It features integrated

phone book and messages list as well as

swipe gestures for easy and intuitive nav-

igation.

Dialer + can download contacts pictures

from Facebook and Google+ as well as

remind you about birthdays and other im-

portant events. Other features include

built-in T9 for dynamic search predic-

tions, two themes (dark and light), and a

handy home screen widget.

GoBackup (data restoration)Backup and restore tool to help backup

and restore user data, system settings, apk

files, app data, etc. Professional, stable,

and easy to use - GO Backup & Restore

is always ready to help you from any dan-

gers due to the loss of app and data from

your phone! It is your best choice for re-

covering SMS messages from backups.

Dumpster (Recycle app)Dumpster is the first-ever recycle bin for

your Android smartphone and tablet de-

vice!

Analogous to the one on your desktop.

Dumpster gives you the ability to change

your mind in case you accidentally delete

the wrong file. No need to backup your

data. No need to root your device. Inter-

net connection absolutely not required!

QuickOffice (Productivity )There are quite a few powerful office

suites for Android and the Google-

Owned QuickOffice is among the best.

The app allows you to create and edit

Word, Excel and PowerPoint files as well

as view PDF documents. Thanks to tight

integration with Google services, Quick

Office can also access files stored in the

cloud to open them or share via Google

Drive or e-mail message.

All that is wrapped in a well-made inter-

face that follows Android’s design lan-

guage and is pretty smooth. What’s more,

the app is completely free.

MXPlayer (Video Player)MX Player allows you to play video files

in almost any format. Thanks to a number

of codecs available for download in the

Play Store, it supports all phones and

tablets. It is the first player to support

multi-core decoding and hardware accel-

eration to deliver the best performance

and experience.

Additionally, MX Player allows you to

load various kinds of subtitles, pinch the

screen to zoom the picture in, and control

playback with swipes

Themer (Customization App )Themer is a customisation app by Mycol-

orscreen, a site dedicated to customising

Android devices. Themer is essentially a

launcher that replaces your default

launcher, you browse for themes, hit

apply and they’re ready to go straight

away.

It’s been designed to help you customise

your Android device as easily as possible.

No having to mess around

with system files, no having

to spend time and effort set-

ting up a homescreen – it does

it all for you in one tap.

QuickPic (Gallery app)Arguably the best gallery app

for Android. In addition to a

price tag of free, it offers a

good-looking user interface packed with

smooth animations and a number of use-

ful features. You can browse photos by

folders and display them in three differ-

ent ways: as a stack, grid or list. There’s

also a built-in explorer view for direct ac-

cess to files. Moreover, QuickPic allows

you to hide or exclude folders you do not

want to see, create new and rename ex-

isting folders, sort and move pictures as

well put a shortcut to your favourite

album on the home screen.

Loopr (Multitasking Enhancement)Multitasking is one of Android’s greatest

features and can really boost one’s pro-

ductivity. In addition to the default imple-

mentation, there are several great

applications available on the platform

that provide simple and fluid app switch-

ing experience. One of the latest and the

best of them is Loopr.

The app uses a hotspot to display a half-

circle switcher with icons and names of

apps running in the background. In order

to launch it, all you need to do is hold

your finger for a couple of seconds on ei-

ther side of the screen. The position of the

hotspot and hold delay can be configured

to make sure you won’t activate Loopr by

accident.

CardCloud (Business e-cards)

[im not sure wether to include this not so

useful to students so check out

the 3 optional replacements in the end ]

With everything becoming digital, busi-

ness cards are way last decade right?

CardCloud is a utility which lets you cre-

ate business e-cards in a professional and

easy manner. You can create the e-cards

on your phone or on their website, adding

all sorts of information, such as where

you work, Twitter and Facebook ac-

counts, address, contact info, websites

and more. It also lets you create an infi-

nite amount of multiple e-cards so you

can have one for every business you run

or every place you work.

Action Launcher (Launcher App)Action Launcher is one of the best

launchers available on the platform. Just

like the others, it allows you to put icons

and widgets on the home screen, but its

functionality doesn’t end there. Action

Launcher combines gorgeous visuals

with a gesture-based user interface. In-

stead of a traditional drawer, there’s a list

of all installed applications that slides out

from the left side of the screen. If you

swipe from right to left, a Quickpage ap-

pears. It is basically an additional page of

the home screen, which remains conve-

niently hidden. You can place there your

most favourite widgets or app shortcuts.

BC-AD is a conversation between two individu-

als from either side of the digital fence, one from

the ‘Before Computers’ era and the other, from

the ‘After Digital Era’.‘Technology has to be

blamed for the fact that we’re suffering from in-

formation overload,’ claims an old-timer.

BC: Hi, did you get your newspaper this

morning?

AD: I wouldn't know, I get all my news on-

line...

BC: How do you manage to keep track?

There's such an overdose of news and arti-

cles on the net - it becomes so difficult to

find your way through that maze, figure out

which ones you want to read and...

AD: I don’t think it’s all that compli-

cated…

BC: A newspaper has 20-odd pages and

each page has a finite number of articles

and news items - isn't it easier to follow

them than have a million websites report

the same incident in different ways?

AD: You need to install a couple of filters

to make your life easy - one is to your com-

puter, to help you be selective about what

you read. And the other is to your mind, to

stay focused and not vacillate between var-

ious sites...

BC:You’re underestimating the problem…

AD: I don't understand why you're blaming

technology for it. Hasn't information over-

load been bandied about as the bane of civ-

ilization ever since the printing press came

into existence?

BC: C'mon, you can't compare a few hun-

dred books to an unending barrage of in-

formation online. Even social media has

become a source of news - there are so

many 'relevant' news items that are begging

for your attention. And the ones that you

miss out on are purposefully forwarded to

you by friends and contacts – a host of sites

like Twitter, Digg and Facebook are more

than willing to bring it to your laptop or

mobile.

AD: You should learn to ignore most of

them, especially those which move on gos-

sip, casual talk, political debate, etc...

BC: They're the ones that people just can't

resist and so they end up loading them-

selves with the messed up information.

AD: But there’s a positive side to all this…

BC: The problem is that there is no bal-

ance. The pendulum has swung from a

dearth of information to a surfeit of it…

AD: It's about prioritizing...

BC:And what about spam? Think of all the

mail you get from dubious sources that

clog your inbox - and think of the time you

spend in clearing it, day after day.

AD: Isn't that why we have spam filters?

And why are you harping on the disadvan-

tages of technology? What about the fact

that you don't have to wait for the latest

news any longer? Everything you want to

know is now available at your fingertips…

BC: But I don't need all of that. What'll I

do with a million sites telling me about

Facebook buying Whatsapp, for instance?

I need just one source of news to explain

the deal to me...

AD: It's not about how much information

you find - it's about knowing where to find

information when you need it. That's the

reason why search engines exist - and just

because Google throws up a billion results

doesn't mean you hare off checking out all

of them...

BC:What about the health problems asso-

ciated with information overload? Haven't

you read about the computer vision syn-

drome, which affects those who stare at

their screen for long durations?

AD: Scientists have come up with a brain

scanner that can detect when an individual

goes into information overload. Appar-

ently, it's like a headband and is worn by

the user...

BC: Look what technology has reduced us

to...

AD:What do you mean?

BC:Until recently, a scanner was a periph-

eral connected to a computer. Now, thanks

to information overload, even human be-

ings sit attached to scanners.

Finally, everything depends on your de

cisions at the right moment.

1. Apple announces CarPlay: in-vehi-

cle voice and touch access to notifi-

cations, maps and music.

Apple has officially an-

nounced CarPlay, its new in-car inter-

face that'll be compatible with new

Ferrari, Mercedes and Volvo cars un-

veiled at the Geneva Auto Show in the

first week of march. Designed "from the

ground up" to bridge the gap between

your iPhone and your auto, it will offer

touch and Siri-based voice navigation

of your smartphone services, including

contacts, voicemail, notifications, map

directions and music cueing . Voice

controls will be activated by a button on

the steering wheel, while the in-car

touchscreen is populated with those fa-

miliar iOS 7 icons for easy access. The

service will launch as an iOS update for

Lightning-enabled iPhones (that's

iPhone 5 and up), with CarPlay-com-

patible vehicles launching later this

year. And if any of the above aren't your

preferred automaker, Apple says that

you can expect compatible cars from

BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda,

Hyundai, Toyota and several more in

the near future.

2. Milk music...? Sound crazy?

It’s Samsung's attempt to compete

with Apple's iTunes Radio.

Samsung debuts Milk

Music, a streaming radio service that's

free to download and listen to, without

ads -- but it's only available on Galaxy

devices.

Milk Music, launched on

March 7th and is available now in the

Google Play store, it is Samsung's latest

iteration of a streaming-music service.

It has no ads, and it's free, but you have

to be a Galaxy customer to use it. Sam-

sung is taking on Apple's iTunes Radio,

as well as Pandora, Spotify, and a host

of other companies in the competitive

streaming music business, but it picked

an innocuous name to do it.

And for now it's only available in the

US, which was how Apple rolled out

iTunes Radio too, but it is expected to

expand soon. The interesting thing is

that it does have the option of listening

offline. You cache some music for un-

interrupted listening when you head

down to the subway or get stuck in a

building with no signal or Wi-Fi.

3. Windows 8.1 Update 1 build was

accidently leaked by Microsoft

Microsoft generated much

buzz online on 6th march when it mis-

takenly released a build of the much-

awaited Windows 8.1 Update 1, ahead

of its scheduled launch in April.

Most of the changes found in

the Windows 8.1 Update 1 are said to

be focused on keyboard and mouse

users, as we see a desktop taskbar

placed above the Metro UI-style apps,

and options that enable the user to min-

imize, close or snap Metro UI-style

apps. The Redmond-based firm is also

said to add a 'shut down' button on the

Start screen for non-touch user ma-

chines. A new search button is also seen

on the top-right corner.

Further, some freshly leaked

Windows Phone 8.1 SDK images sug-

gest that the proposed 'Action Centre' or

the notification centre in WP8.1 can

support a maximum of 20 notifications

for each app, messages that will be

deleted after seven days. The users can

tap on the notification navigating right

to the particular application. The users

can also clear the notifications one by

one or altogether according to their

needs.

4. Facebook revamps News Feed with

mobile-inspired redesign

Facebook on Friday took the

covers off a new News Feed design.

The social network has faced a lot of

criticism from users in the past over

even minor design changes to the News

Feed, so it will be interesting to see how

the users react to the latest set of

tweaks.

The new look of the News

Feed focuses on photos, with large im-

ages, new fonts (Helvetica and Arial)

and cards for stories. The look is very

similar to its mobile apps, and will be

rolled out to users around the world

gradually over the next few weeks.

One year ago, Facebook had redesigned

the News Feed to make it feel more like

a "personalized newspaper". Users were

given a large amount of control over

what they were seeing, and they could

also have clicked on navigation links on

the right side of the screen, to jump to

topics like sports or music related con-

tent as well.

Last year's redesign was

rolled out to a fraction of the social net-

work's users, but the feedback was ap-

parently mixed. Facebook says people

"liked the bigger photos and images, but

found it more difficult to navigate Face-

book overall." With the new layout,

Facebook aims to combine the best of

both worlds as it "keeps the layout and

navigation people liked, but offers big-

ger images and photos, as well as a new

font."

PPAAGGEE 1133

Past one year there has

been a revolutionary innovation in

the fields of wearable technology.

While many in the tech world would

agree that wearable devices are the

natural next stage of computing, no

one really cracked the code. As much

as we love to talk about Google

Glasses, Pebble watches, Samsung's

Gear and Gear fit; no wearable de-

vice has breached the mainstream

and achieved any degree of ubiquity

just yet.

Well our very own Indian

company, RHL Vision, a technology

solutions company based in Cochin,

started by a group of young engi-

neers, think they have the answer.

Fin: A simple Ring that turns all your

fingers into buttons. Mr. Rohildev,

CEO of RHL Vision, had already

turned many big companies head by

becoming the youngest competitor at

Mobile World Congress, held at

Barcelona with his prototype. They

have successfully raised about

200,000$ in less than 15 days time.

This is a simple example to prove

two points, 1. That we are going to

see more wearable tech in the market

and people actually would want to

adapt them 2. Even a simple engineer

can start up a multimillion Dollar

company if he/she has a vision.

How does Fin work?

Fin is made up of optical

sensors and uses biometrics to differ-

entiate each finger. Each finger has

its own finger prints and the optical

sensors and biometrics, work to-

gether and make a 3 dimensional map

of your hand. Fin is able to detect

swipes and taps across your hand.

When it detects a gesture, it sends

commands to your connected devices

via bluebook, let it be a smart TV,

phone, tablet or a computer.

Where and how can you use it?

Imagine, you are jogging with your

headphones on or you are driving

with your phone in your pocket or

you are just too lazy to remove your

phone out of your pocket when you

are lying on the bed, you can simply

touch your thumb against your index

finger to answer or reject calls. By

rubbing your thumb against your

index finger you can scroll through

music files and control volume . All

these are possible by using a simple

Ring on your thumb.

It can further expand its

grounds by making it compatible

with latest technology smart phones

and PDS for visually impaired people

and make life simpler for them.

Keeping in mind that this

ring is going to be available in market

in few months time, let's hope it will

encourage young engineers like us to

dream big.

UPDATES oF a FEW LATEST TECHNOLOGIES

Useful Android Apps

FIN: MADE BY AN INDIAN

BY SHIVANI REDDY

BY AKSHAY KULKARNI

BY PRANAV KONDALA

BY MONIKA PRIYANKA

PPAAGGEE 1144College Memories