THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUEIIT KHARAGPURAUGUST 7 2010www.scholarsavenue.org

elcome to the little village of Kharagpur, a place you will learn to call ‘home’ for the next few years and in moments of nostalgia, possibly for many years after. Kharagpur is a jungle, literally and figuratively. WIt’s a place where you’ll live in dilapidated buildings amongst creatures of the wild but is also so

competitive that only the fittest survive. It will be a journey that will have its highs and lows, its moments of unbridled joy and all numbing sorrow, of high octane ambition and the trail of ashes it can often leave behind, and of course, of

blissfully ignorant peace. On this journey of self discovery, you will make friends like you’ve never made before, friends who will become an integral part of your existence and your outlook. You will learn to reap the fruits of hard work and at the same time

those little nothings of joy from idling away hours with friends. You will learn more and more about what awaits you in the big bad world, in what is a microcosm of the same. We’re all still learning, and there are miles to go before we can realize the nature of the imprints

this journey has left on our minds. The Scholars’ Avenue team would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to this jungle of wonder, to a phase that will if not shape your future, have a large bearing on it.

If you thought life in IIT Kharagpur will be all about chasing your lofty academic ambitions, you will be in for a pleasant surprise. The campus teems with societies and clubs dedicated to an immense variety of pursuits. Selections, events, productions are scheduled throughout the year and there is a place for everyone. While there's nothing technological about any of the significant number of so-called 'Technology Societies', they sure accomplish a superb job of providing a platform to budding talents in the KGP populace. Here, we provide you with a glimpse of the societies that exist to make your stay in campus a more bearable one.

First Year, First Show!

Dramatics: There are three dramatics societies- ETDS (English Technology Dramatics Society), HTDS (Hindi Technology Dramatics Society) and BTDS (Bengali Technology Dramatics Society). Even if you aren't keen on Dramatics, do watch out for their Productions.

Dance: If you'd like to shake a leg, give TDS (Technology Dance Society) a try.

Music: For the acoustically inclined, KGP has ETMS (Eastern Technology Music Society) and WTMS (Western Technology Music Society). Do watch out for their annual productions too.

Robotics: For those with a penchant for things mechanical and electronic, the Technology Robotics Society (TRS) will definitely spur some interest. You can either join its technical team called K.R.A.I.G (Kharagpur Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Group) or its managerial group, Team Robotix depending on your interests.

Debate Club: With its weekly mock debates, the Debate Club provides a platform for debaters to sharpen their debating skills.

Quiz Club: The hub of avid quizzers in KGP, the Quiz Club does a fine job of keeping the KGPian quizzer delighted with its weekly quiz meetings.

Communiqué: The soft skills development society of the campus, Communiqué exists to impart much needed soft skills training to the junta which has become so vital in today's competitive world.

spAts: The Space Technology Students' Society is dedicated solely to exploring and fostering space technology and astronomy, amidst college as well as school students by conducting lectures, events and workshops about space technology, astrophysics, astronomy and various related fields.

Awaaz: The Hindi newspaper of the campus.

Knuts: The campus radio.

TLS: The Technology Literary Society publishes wall magazines and an annual magazine, Alankaar.

TTG: The Technology Transfer Group acts as a link between the industry and the academia to facilitate transfer of technologies developed here.

TAdS: If you like travelling, adventure sports and the like, the Technology Adventure Society might be just what you are looking for.

E-Cell: The Entrepreneurship Cell of IIT Kharagpur promotes the spirit of entrepreneurship among students. It conducts workshops, guest lectures and "E-Summits" to popularize entrepreneurship and acts as a support system to entrepreneurs.

Spectra: The Fine Arts Society, for the artistically motivated.

GYWS, Aarambh: If you are seeking to make a difference in people's lives, you might consider joining GYWS (Gopali Youth Welfare Society) or Aarambh.

AIESEC: As the resident international student body, the Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales (or AIESEC for short - and that's pronounced "eye-sek") gives you the opportunity to gain practical experience during your studies by leading a project, getting in touch with various multinational companies. You can go for an internship through AIESEC or apply for membership.

KART: If you have a thing for cars, then this is the team for you. KART competes in the FSAE (Formula Society of Automotive Engineers) competitions which challenge students from across the globe to design, build and race formula style cars.

TSA: The Scholars' Avenue (that's us!) is the independent student run campus newspaper. Our job is to report and analyze events in the campus and to be the voice of the student community. Get the latest campus news and learn more about us at www.scholarsavenue.org

Social Networking (Old School!)

The Net Demystified! New to college networks? Don’t know what all the terminology means? Here’s a quick glossary.

LAN: Local Area Network. Every computer inside the campus forms a part of our LAN.IP Address: This looks something like 10.101.2.3 and it is unique to each computer on the network.Proxy: This is our LAN's gateway to the internet. These are the only computers on our network that are connected to the wider internet and hence any program that requires to connect to the internet must be configured to use one of our proxy servers. There are multiple proxy servers on our LAN which means if you seem to be connected to the network but aren't able to connect to the internet you could try changing your proxy server.DNS Server: These convert a domain name (google.com) to an IP address (74.125.19.105). And will have to be set while creating a connection to the LAN. Our DNS servers are 144.16.192.1 and 144.16.192.55.

LAN Information:Proxy Servers (port 8080 for all): 144.16.192.245, 144.16.192.247, 144.16.192.218, 10.3.100.211, 10.3.100.212, 10.3.100.148ERP: http://erp.iitkgp.ernet.in/ IIT_ERP2 (for registration, grades and other curriculum related information). ERP is now accessible outside the campus as well.CET (video lectures, slides, etc.):10.35.32.91Professors’ Resources: http://facweb.iitkgp.ac.inRemember to disable the proxy for internal sites.

2 FUNDA AVENUE THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² SATURDAY , AUGUST 7 2010

he aunty across the s t r e e t , y o u r To p i n i o n a t e d

coach, the guy at the mall wearing an IIT t-shirt, all have probab ly he lped develop somewhere in you an image of what an IITian is supposed to be like. In the coming weeks parts of that image would be shattered, parts would be reinforced and then there would be parts you shouldn't let go of.

Well begun is half done, they say; nothing better than starting on the right foot. Like it or not, acads are important. You may not think it's necessary to start studying early, you may not feel like it, but you must. Exams hit you like the girl you're more likely to bump into outside KGP than

inside. Here are a few helpful pointers:

l Grades are based on your p e r f o r m a n c e i n m i d -semester, end-semester exams, class tests, vivas, and if you're unlucky, surprise quizzes.lHigher credit courses are more important because they play a greater role in determining your CG.lThe professor is the ultimate authority when it comes to grading. He decides whether grading is absolute or relative.lAvoid failing courses. It might cost you your summer vacation.lIn KGP, your CGPA is a number that will give you companionship throughout your stay in KGP. You reap

lrewards or a swift kick in the backside depending on how you treat your CG.lThere are video lectures and notes available online for many courses. Ensure you get hold of these. They can come in very handy if you've dropped off in class. lThe library is the biggest technical library in Asia. It would be in your best interests to use it well. If you don't manage to get hold of a book, hold a friend who managed to get a copy at knife-point and negotiate a deal with him. Sharing is the way to go.lIf you're aiming for a DepC, your CG is a much more important number than the number of Terabytes of "stuff" on the LAN.lAssignments keep you

lrunning throughout the year, well, to the Xerox counters at least (pun intended).lThe tricks of the trade are better learnt early. Figuring out which books to follow, whom to get hold of to explain something you haven't understood clearly and learning how to come across as confident during your vivas are the mantras to success.lOne of the most widely known rooms in the institute is F-127. Open throughout the day, this is the ideal place to study for people who have noisy roommates.lPractise looking like you’re awake when you're actually asleep. This could come in handy in some classes. Take that from someone who's got experience :-)

Academically Inclined

F U N D A A V E N U ETHE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² SATURDAY , AUGUST 7 2010 3

A time will come, not too far away, when all you'd want is to get away from the adverse realities of life. Getting a little scruffy, are we? Worry not, a few pals and a bit of moolah is all that is required to itch the burnout and etch it into a wonderful impression. KGP, along with a few sister places, offers you a wide range of destinations to rejuvenate yourself and to add another tale to the list of stories y o u ' d b e w o w i n g y o u r grandchildren with. Here are a few must-adds to your Bucket List.

At the fastigium of our recommendat ions , we have serenity-realised, in the beaches of Mandarmani, Shankarpur and Digha. A little over 2 hours by car, most people prefer to leave late in the evening, spend a night out, and drink in the scintillating sunrise over

the Bay o f Bengal. A game of footer and a dip simply ice the cake.

D u r i n g t h e Second Wor ld War, the US Air Force set up few bases nearby. One of them is about 30 kms f rom the campus (called Garbeta) on the Raniganj Road. Not a soul in sight, your mobiles do not work and you feel cut off from the rest of civilization - you're completely on your own! It's easy to lose your way though, so take care!

Take the Prem Bazaar road and the Eco Park greets you with a sinful sublimity: a destination perfect for

couples alike. Ride ahead for around 7 kms and there comes an ex-mining retreat to your left (a bit after a large market area). Characteristic of its red soil, the crevasses of the undulating land fill up with crystal clear water during the rains. At twilight, with your best mates! Seems like a perfect picture eh? (We would like to intimate our readers here that certain areas

outside the Prem Bazaar gate have been earmarked as potential Maoist territory. Tread carefully).

For all those Bear Grylls' here, who just aren't satisfied with challenges, they can go on various expeditions with KGP's very own society of adventure aficionados. The Technology Adventure Society (TAdS) takes students on various trips to places like Sikkim, Sunderbans and Darjeeling amongst many other places where one gets to appreciate the pristine beauty of nature, at its very best!

Always remember! it's not just the destination, but also the journey that will be engraved in your hearts, c a r v e d i n t o s o u v e n i r s o f undiminished glory forever.

2.2 – n. A stretch of road of 2.2 kms long connecting all the focal points inside the campus.acads - n. Academics.apping - v.i. Applying to universities (abroad/national) usually for higher studies.arbit - adj. Arbitrary.archi - n. The Department of Architecture & Regional Planning.Aseem – n. The hall canteen of Nehru Hall.batti - n. The Department of Electrical Engineering, may also refer to students of the Department. bhaat – n. baat aur chat by 2 or more.bong - n. A person of Bengali origin.cali – n. Caliber.candi - n. Candidate, generally for Gymkhana/Hall elections. Carlos – n. The Hall Canteen of RP Hall.CG - n. the CGPA (Cumulative Point Grade Average).chhedis - n. a relic of the past, the most nostalgic spot in KGP for alumni. Credited with the origins of gastronomical oddities such as the Tinku (ref. below).convo - n. Convocation.DC - n. 1. Disciplinary Committee 2.the software DC++ used to share stuff on the LAN.dep - n. Department.depC – n. Department change.despo - n. Desperate, esp. used for guys in kgp.dhakkan - n. The closing IITJEE rank for a particular stream.DIRO - n. the director.Disco - n. Disciplinary Committee.DOSA - n. Dean of Students Affairs.DOAA - n. Dean of Academic Affairs.D.P. - n. Durga Puja vacations, applicable to West Bengal.EC – The Department of Electronics and Electrical Communication

Engineering.facAd - n. Faculty Advisor.fakka - n. The F-Grade.faccha/facchi - n. A first year student aka fresh meat.fight maarna - v. Striving and struggling to achieve.frusst - n. really frustrated.FT – n. Foreign Training - an internship, esp. during the summers and fully sponsored.funda - n. the knowledge and/or understanding of something.fundae - n. plural of funda.fundaes - n. plural of fundae (yes, such things can happen here).G.C. - n. General Championship.ghaasi - n. A student of the Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering.God - n. An undisputed champ (warning : used loosely).G.Sec. - n. General Secretary.GolB - n. Gol Bazaar, a marketplace in local Kharagpur. GolC – n. An ideal place for bhaat, the island just outside the institutes main gate, also known as Bidhan Chowk.GPL - n. Birthday Bumps minus the “Birthday”.gult - n. A person of Telugu origin.halloo - adj. n. the state of being unable to assimilate what’s going on around you caused by an incessant and rather longish kind of a strain on your brain.happa/happi - n. Hall President.hawa - n. IITJEE All India Rank.highly - adv. definitely.huhaa - v.t. awesomeness.illu - n. Illumination, the bane of every second year.indu - n. The Department of Industrial Engineering & Management. insti - n. Institute, esp. institute main building. intro - n. Introduction, kgp style. Continued later....

The graph given alongside shows the number of students going in/out of every department for 2009-10.

CG Range for DepC’ing into a branch :-

AED - 8.64CH - 9.22-8.80CHD - 8.67-8.56CS - 9.69-9.31CSD - 9.56-9.22EC - 9.71-9.18ECD - 9.18-9.04EE - 9.33-9.00EED - 8.98-8.87IE - 8.78-8.53ME - 9.02-8.69MED - 9.31-8.78MF - 8.67

Places To Visit

DepC stats 2009-10

The Art of Communication in KGP

4 THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² SATURDAY , AUGUST 7 2010 THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² SATURDAY , AUGUST 7 2010 5

The Scholars’ AvenueExecutive Editors : Dheeraj Golla Mayank Kedia Pallavi Jayannavar Siddharth PrabhuSiddharth Singh

Editors: Abhirajika Agrawal Amiya AdwitiyaArvind SowmyanCheruvu Vijay Kiran Ratan Jagan Sabestian Tiyasa MitraSumeet Mohanty

Asst. Editors: Achyut BihaniChirag Tibrewal Deepesh KumarHridya Ravimohan Indra SahaMahtab Soin Parth GovilRishab Poddar

Reporters:Abhijeet TAjay ViswanathanKoulick Ghosh Pranav Rao Pravin Sharma

the what’s where of k gp

BHAAT A V E N U ETHE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² SATURDAY , AUGUST 7 2010 7

Start working only at the last moment

If you think you can still finish the work, this probably isn't the right time to start. We engineers believe that the time you enjoy wasting isn't wasted time and hence the corollary that most of the time you get should be wasted. Work is really just an impediment in the otherwise more natural and pleasurable order of things, completed with minimal time and resources.

Never disclose your birthday

The most uncomfortable situation for an engineer is to meet a person on a

day that happens to be his birthday. Weird, but true! Their brain is wired

that way. They just can't avoid the feeling of extreme revulsion. They get

so worked up at the mere existence of such a person that they are

immediately filled with a homicidal temptation to kill him. The feeling is

so prevalent among engineers that a ritual has been designed especially

for such occasions. Known as GPL, it consists of lifting the accused in the

air and damaging his behind brutally with the help of anything that is

capable of giving you the willies. This requires four to five people;

however the number can go up without bounds depending on the number

of people eager to satisfy their sadistic desires. The result ranges from an

immediate death to serious chronic difficulties in doing normal daily

activities. In such circumstances, it is always wise not to share your

birthday with anyone. It might prove lethal.

Your Hall is your identity

This might come to you as quite a shock. By "hall", one would generally mean that building you stay in - MMM Hall, for instance. However, the word has a much broader meaning attached to it. It is what is mentioned in bold fonts before your name in your résumé. It is what you must have printed on anything you wear. And if, you are asked to leave a message for the aliens to prove that we existed, the message must be the name of your hall, for, you will soon believe (or at least asked to) that it is THE most relevant information in your universe.

Girls aren’t for engineers

The qualities that make one an engineer are also the qualities that make one a woman repellant, and, in some extreme cases, a repellant in general. If you are a woman yourself, then the above doesn't necessarily apply to you. But in that case, you wouldn't really care, would you? So, to put it in a nutshell, there really isn't much point in trying to impress the fairer sex, because of the simple reason that you can’t.

November

8 THE AVENUES AHEAD THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ²SATURDAY , AUGUST 7 2010

Diwali will never be the

same after you reach KGP! 'Illu'( or the illumination festival) and 'Rangoli' are fiercely contested events on the occasion. A humongous number of diyas are arranged on massive bamboo grids which generally portray a mythological theme. A 'rangoli' of an equally large scale is painstakingly made in sealed rooms for weeks together. Maybe you'll also imbibe some hall tempo along the way!

A n d so you have just bought your buckets

and your bournvita and your Rin bar. When you curl up for your first night and wake up for your first

dawn, a sudden chaos of motions might (and most certainly will) overwhelm you. Peace out, 'cos you ain't the only one! The first day of your jam-packed-larger-than-life class will provide you with a unique opportunity to meet classmates whom you might never see again during the course of the semester (if you are lucky you might just get to say 'Hola!' to them during the exams). Implied is the fact that class attendance will decrease linearly (even exponentially) after a week. A tryst with a high speed LAN and DC++ will be definitely the topic to awe your

mates back home.

A few sunrises later, the

'scrounge' for talent will commence in the various societies Kgp has to offer. Don't get shunned by the long queues, try out and don't dare miss the opportunity to move out of your comfort zone and learn what you never imagined you could ever do. Strum those strings and shake those hips, crack that atrocious code or digitally realise your dream car. There is LOTS to do!

So you th ink JEE was

tough! Wait till you experience your first

exam at IIT. Night-outs, day-ins, canteens, library,

xerox-shops are things you cannot live without, and having a muggu friend to tell you the syllabus and remind you about the

exam dates always helps!

S p o r t s jocks rejoice!

Show of f your sporting talent at

KGP ' s own i n te r -collegiate sports meet

and put yourself on the Inter-IIT radar.

No matter how short your Pujo vacations

may be, the attendance figures will be skewed before and after the vacations (not that we encourage you to miss your classes, but nothing like home, eh?). Attendancees will

be in single digits and most 'attendancers' won't really mind (avoid missing labs

though :P).

Exams are over! Yippee! NCC cadets will

f a c e t h e i r t o u g h e s t assignment yet - a ten day survival challenge in the freezing cold, packed into tiny tents like matchsticks in a matchbox. NSS volunteers go to nearby villages for their assignments. If you go weak in the knees for robots, Robotix offers a week-long workshop for interested students. For those of you into sports, Inter-IIT glory awaits.

STAR

yluJ

MIDSEM Madness! Miss a

turn. October

I L L U ALERT!

Endsems. Brought to you

by Nescafe Coffee.

up +1LIFE!

9 THE AVENUES AHEADTHE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ²SATURDAY , AUGUST 7 2010

Its festival-time! KGP plays host to two of India's biggest and best

college fests – Spring fest (the Cultural fest) and Kshitij (the Techno-Management fest). If Spring fest is all about rock bands, musicians, dancers, theatre artistes with their enthralling shows, Kshitij is all about lectures by Nobel laureates, display of the latest in technology and workshops by major organisations. Of course there are also many competitions and big money at stake. You can also contribute to its smooth running by signing up as volu's (volunteers). Other events like the Global Entrepreneur Summit (GES) and department fests also

take during the course of the month. Don't miss the food stalls during the fests!

Holi in the campus is marked by

the presence of lots of things, including thandai, matka phod competitions, people tearing off the clothes of others and oh yes, some colours too.There is a grand event organized in the Gnan Ghosh Stadium where they distribute sweets and thandai and occasionally people are found to

climb on top of each other in attempts to break the

matka.

Ah! The blissful hall days! Each

hall celebrates its 'Hall Day' in March. It's party time in Kgp for

almost a fortnight. Events like rain dance and Puchka-eating competitions

are common fare, and the whole campus (yes, it includes members of the opposite

sex) frolic upon your lawns; and many of you will find your friends writing annoying stuff on

your walls (and no, we're not talking about Facebook.)

T h e thirst for power

n e v e r q u e n c h e s ! W e l c o m e t o t h e Gymkhana Elections – the time of the year when the student office bearers are elected, including the Vice President, the G. Secs and the Secys for Sports, Social and Cultural events and for Technology. Offering drama, joy and tears galore, this is one of the most awaited events and the most aggressively fought contest in the institute

calendar.

The most primal of instincts come alive

in Kgp when the GCs (General Championships) begin to wrap up. the

Darwinian Theory takes a whole new turn when Tech, Sport and SocCult “fitness”

reaches a new level altogether. Annihilate 'em enemies. The tempo shouts ringing. The

ecstatic celebrations. Hall-patriotism is redefined year and year again, and always for

the better.

yraurbeF

yraunaJ

Summer-Back to

Civilization!

Hangover.Go back (Hic!) 3

paces.

Poltu

Poltu

Poltu

Poltu

Poltu

Poltu

Poltu

The Avenues Ahead...

intro - n. Introduction, kgp style. juice - n. A boy with strikingly feminine characteristics.junta - n. A group of people, number may vary.kaata - n. the process of inexplicably putting something to an abrupt end.kam-akal - n. A student of the Department of Chemical Engineering.kgp - n. Kharagpur.kholu - n. The opening IITJEE rank in a particular stream.lallu - n. Lala Lajpat Rai Hall of Residence.load - n. the opposite of peace.loadu – n. a carrier of load.L.G.B. - n. Little Green Bastards - small irritating insects with a suitable name, thriving in groups of infinity. maggu - adj. Those who live to study and not study to live.makhana/makha diya - v.t. Making a mess of your job.matka/matki - n. derog. An M.Tech student.menty - n. The Maintenance Secretary of any Hall.meta - n. The Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering.muggu - n. anybody who kaatas a treat for a test next week, also anybody with a CG of 8.7, no matter how little they claim they study.OENA - n. The Department of Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture.O.P. - n. Orientation Programme. The first rule of O.P. is, you do not talk about O.P.PAN Loop - n. The set of Halls: Patel, Azad and Nehru.panji – n. a five point someone; similarly - Chhaggi, Satti, Atthi, Nehli, etc.peace – n. the absence of load.P.P.O. - n. Pre-Placement Offer. Job offer by companies before the official placements.

PSI- n. Pehchanne Se Inkaar.rassa/rassi- n. Research Scholar.room-baap/room-maa - n. The previous occupant(s) of your room.roomie - n. Room-mate.secy - n. Secretary.sento(i) - n., v.i. the feeling you get after 4 shots of vodka, also a synonym for nostalgia.S.F. - n. Spring Fest – the annual soc-cult fest of KGP.S.G. - n. The Semester Grade Point Average (SGPA).Soc-cult - n. Social and Cultural.S.Q. - n. Summer Quarter.tempo - n. General dedication and commitment to a cause.tempo shout - v.i. The song which shrieks out loyalty. Volume is everything.T.H.O.K. - n. Thick Heads of KGP, students of the EC dep.tinku – 2 buns, a poached egg, cheese, potatoes, ketchup (the fake pumpkin sauce kind) and a plethora of mysterious ingredients you don't wanna know about. More popular than the McVeggie.tommie - n. Neighbour sharing a joint bathroom (applicable only to MMM).TSG – n. Technology Students’ Gymkhana.tute - n. tutorial classes.ulti – adj. ultimate.volu - n. Volunteer aka juniors ready to run around for seniors.V.P. - n. Vice President of TSG.wingie - n. wing-mate aka the person who will be stealing your soaps for the next 4 years.