Perls of Wisdom

IIT KHARAGPURFEBRUARY 10 2011

THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUETHE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE

A Tale of Two Fests

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TSA: How has your stay been at Kharagpur?Larry: It’s been wonderful. I think the talk had a good turnout. (Gloria: There were some fans with signs! Ha!). I thought it was a good thing it was held in a large auditorium. Everything about my stay was wonderful. They made sure that there were too many people, like in volleyball; you want many people going for the ball rather than one or two people going for it. We had too many

people taking care of us, and it was really a good thing.

TSA: Did you interact with any students? What do you think about the open source community here in India?Larry: A few of them, yes. They are a small group but they are excited, and there are a lot of other people who are interested even if it’s not their main branch. People here are studying an awful lot of different things and that is fine by

me because, you know, Perl is not designed to be used just by the hard-core people, but by people just trying to get their job done. So I really love to see people who are on the edges looking in and being interested in it. There have been a number of people who have participated in Perl development from India, though it’s a little hard because our time zones are backward. But these days we do round-the-clock development; whenever I wake up, I have to see the backlog on the IRC channel and see what happened while I was asleep. So, there’s always somebody awake and working away. I guess maybe people around here are just a little more intent on pursuing their careers; people in the US have a little more free time to spend on things

that seem not essential. (That is just a vague impression. I could be wrong about it.)

TSA: Please describe your journey from preparing to go to Africa as a linguist to writing Perl.Larry: We were planning to become field linguists, and I was providentially hindered from doing so by developing a set of food allergies which would make it very difficult to be field linguists. At that time we thought that it was sort of a bummer, but you just sort of do what was right in front of you. What was right in front of me at that time was working in an industry and paying for my kids. But it also was a very big learning experience working in the Defence industry, and later NASA's JPL.

Exclusive Interviews Pages 4 - 7

s the creator and Benevolent-ADictator-for-Life of the Perl project, Larry Wall is a regular rock star in the world of programming. After his talk at Kshitij '11, The Scholars’ Avenue caught up with Larry and his wife Gloria for some stimulating conversation on Perl , Linguistics, Religion and much more.

Continued on Page 4

e were cracking our nationwide expansion of Wildfire did not have something for though a l lowing audience Wknuckles, tempted by the was a burst of fresh air. Bandish everyone, which did result in a questions threatened to negate all juiciest headlines possible, lying in Fusion did not fail to charm, while few people running off home or that (Larry Wall was asked how to wait to see if the Horror Edition of Indian Ocean remained the junta’s giving the nearby tourist places a start Perl in Command Prompt!). SpringFest turned out, indeed, to favourite. And with Paintball, all visit. Overall, though, the fest was But then again, an ignorant be a horror. But alas, it was not to complaint became a thing of the conducted smoothly, with a good audience was the least of the be. So, when the Core Team past, although 15 pellets for an variety of events, workshops and organizers’ worries. declares SpringFest 2011 to be the entire game is a valid cause for lectures, ranging from a hand-best version of the festival some amount of indignation. writing analysis workshop and The incredibly unfortunate Kharagpur has seen in a long, long acrobatic dunking, to workshops demise of a student from time, we believe them. on automotive engineering design, In fact, it was a trifle that Sankacharya Institute, on the

commodities research and prevented SF 2011 from being railway tracks just outside Puri software reverse engineering.Unlike the mayhem of last close to perfect, in terms of the Gate, did cast an ugly shadow over

year, the run-up to SF this year overall organization of the fest. proceedings, but it was an ill-fated was smooth and mercifully While we must bless our stars that The fest’s punctuality was accident and a Press conference uneventful. Praise be with it refused to live up to its theme, impressive, with its disregard for was held almost immediately to Murphy for cutting them some perhaps a tad more horror would the usual Indian Standard Time give the innumerable rumours a slack. No last-minute jitters, no not have gone amiss. It was like rules; most talks started on time rest.frenzied damage-control, no expecting Count Vlad and having and even the quizzes were only backing-out in the eleventh hour. to make do with Cullen (with a slightly delayed. The average Kgp Looking back, rarely has it The copious effort expended by web and coffin to boot). Joe might have preferred to happened that both fests were the team showed in the glitch-free Moreover, it would be dishonest venture out to the arena, hidden executed so well. Students had execution of the festivities, which to claim that the events all began behind a pile of rubble, thanks to very little cause for complaint, is what this year’s SF will be on time. But, one took relief in the the construction, only for the though exorbitantly priced pizzas remembered for (without rather uniform nature of the food, flavoured tea and a few and little variety in food topped meaning to deprive Sunidhi delays, as opposed to the l e c t u r e s , b u t o u t s t a t i o n the lists. We hope this issue is Chauhan of any of the credit she randomness usually thrust upon participation was exceedingly addressed in future editions of the so richly deserves). us. enthusiastic. Robotix, as usual, fests. The Scholars' Avenue team,

was the crowd puller. The guest for its part, was happy to get a few lectures had a fairly good turnout While Thespianage was sorely The other fest of the fortnight exclusive interviews with some of too, and the guests were quite missed, some fine judgment was too, was executed almost the illustrious people who graced happy to talk about their exercised in the assortment of flawlessly. A serious fest, for the the campus. Take a peek inside for monumental achievements, mega-events and Pronites. The serious heads, Kshitij 2011 perhaps more.

From The Editor’s Desktranslate to a practical value generating operation?

What psychologists describe as our present-hedonistic nature, leads us t o t h i n k o f i m m e d i a t e consequences, to jump the bandwagon, to follow the herd. When we sit for placements, or apply for internships, most of us aren't thinking of why we would want to do it. We are required to fill out a resume, concentrating on what we achieved, and what impact we left behind, most of it possibly glorified to bring out our USP. However what seems more logical is why we would do what we are about to do, if we are motivated to do it, and whether we would like doing it. Therefore the HR question “Why would you like to join our Company” or an SOP is a lot more important that it really seems to be. Instead of leading us to certain introspection, for the majority however, it is all lost in the mumbo-jumbo of securing a future and a job that would pay the bills.

National Ÿ CBI finally arrests Ex-Telecom Minister A. Raja on charges of violation of established guidelines while granting licenses and allocating 2G spectrum in 2008, which led to presumptive losses in the range of Rs. 57,000 crores to Rs.1.76 lakh crores to the national exchequer.Ÿ Nation shocked as Malegaon Additional District Collector is burnt alive during a raid on an oil adulteration racket.Ÿ Eden Garden races against time with work going on at war footing to ensure completion before next round of inspections after being denied the opportunity to host the India- England ODI.Ÿ Mobile Number Portability becomes a reality in India, with Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal launching the service in Haryana.Ÿ Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan meet in Thimpu after a stalemate of nearly six months, in a fresh attempt to put their stalled dialogue process back on track. Sports

Ÿ South Africa clinches a 3-2 victory over India in the 1st one day series of the season.Ÿ Narain Karthikeyan marks his return to F1 by clocking a best lap

time of one minute, 18.020 seconds putting him 12th in the first test session.Ÿ Australian Open winner Kim Clijsters rises to second place in

the world rankings and gets dangerously close to top seed Caroline Wozniacki.

BusinessŸ The Environment Ministry relents on its tough insistence on absolute

compliance with environment laws by giving clearance to the Rs. 50000 crores Posco plant in Orissa.Ÿ Rising crude prices force oil companies to implement another wave of price

rise in petrol and diesel. Airfares set to get more expensive.Ÿ Indian firm Maini Group to make components for Eurofighter Typhoon,

Airbus planes.

Have you been so busy wrapped up in your lives, in this tiny village of ours, far away from the hullabaloo of the world, that you have completely lost track of things outside your immediate purview? Worry not, then. We bring to you a gist of the headlines that have been making news for the last couple of weeks.

2 N E W S A V E N U E THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , FEBRUARY 10TH 2011

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Executive Editors: Dheeraj Golla (9932574210), Mayank Kedia (9732649809), Pallavi Jayannavar (9732653868), Siddharth Prabhu (9932572716), Siddharth Singh (9932978715)

Editors: Abhirajika, Amiya Adwitiya, Arvind Sowmyan, Ratan J S, Tiyasa Mitra, Vijay, Sumeet Mohanty

Asst. Editors: Achyut Bihani, Chirag Tibrewal, Deepesh Kumar, Hridya Ravimohan, Indra Saha, Mahtab Soin, Parth Govil, Rishabh Poddar

Reporters: Abhijeet Tallavajhula, A d a r s h M a t h e w , A j a y Vishwanathan, Debadrita Das, Koulick Ghosh, Madhurima Kumar, Pranav Rao, Pravin Sharma, Sagnik Chakraborty, Suvinay Seth

Junior Reporters: Akhilesh Prasad, Jatan Buch, Sayak Bhattacharya, Siddhant Wahal

International NewsŸTens of thousands of anti-government protesters clash with

police in several cities in Egypt in a major escalation of nationwide pro-democracy protests against President Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak resigns as head of Egypt's ruling party but refuses to give up power.ŸThe king of Jordan dismisses his government and appoints a

new prime minister to apply political reforms after Egypt protests.ŸRacial attack on Indian origin MP, Priti Patel in UK after she

recommends no voting rights for prisoners.ŸIndia fumes as students duped by a California-based university

are forced to wear radio collars around their ankles to enable authorities to monitor their movements.

WorldView

hen I was a kid, we used to Whave a series of instructional books at home, “Tell me Why”. You have websites that “tell me how to” or tell you “How stuff works”. “Why” and “How” are therefore p e r c e i v e d a s a d d r e s s i n g fundamental details necessary to e i t h e r u n d e r s t a n d i n g a phenomenon, learning a technique, or solving a problem. And yet, what majority of us live with is “What”. What I am talking about, is not elementary English grammar, but an idea, that I came across while fiddling around online.

Simon Sinek, author of “Start with Why” talks about how it is essential to move from motivation to innovation to enterprise. People however tend to take the opposite way, knowing what they do and maybe understanding how they do it, seldom pondering over why they do it. Similarly, as students, how many of us would try and understand why we need to know what we are being taught, or how what we learn might

Or like when we were to choose a new subject for a new semester, the idea of having a graph alongside the subject information on ERP, showing us how many people secured what grade in which year, was unnecessary.

It probably did not intend to, but it did end up influencing students to choose not on the basis of interests but on the basis of what makes for a better CGPA.

Therefore, from subjects to projects to societies to start-ups, what we should be asking ourselves is “Why?”, where the motivation stems from, and whether it would change anything, and take us where we want to be.

There is a whole class of people amongst us who are inquisitive, who could be what researchers call “divergent thinkers”. People who have a natural inclination to question things as they are, and to suggest alternatives, saying “Why not?”

More than just thinking differently, what is more important, is a will to understand things, things that interest us, and a desire to pursue the interest. The rest I believe, will follow.

The Gymkhana website has seen some fresh development in the past few weeks. The site is now hosted on the CIC server and can be accessed directly from the Institute website. New additions include pages containing the Gymkhana Constitution, contacts of all the office bearers and Inter IIT news. A GC tab with schedules, rulebooks and result archives of all inter-hall events has been added. Details of all

Gymkhana societies and student initiatives, including descriptions and contacts, are also provided. Thanks to the effort of our PR Chair, Sudipto Sannigrahi, a separate bar bearing links to related websites and photo galleries from major events have also been incorporated in an attempt to complete a one-stop repository of all student activities on campus.

Gymkhana Website Revamped

ne of India's foremost judges during GES. Among the other first-time Rural Innovators and Inventions Oentrepreneurship incubators, Students were also invited to test happenings in GES 2011, was a Exhibition was organized, aiming to E-Cell IIT Kharagpur, lived up to its their innovative skills in other panel discussion on ‘Empowering provide a gateway for the ideas of true spirit this January, as the competitions like Envision – a the next billion’. The event was the rural communities. Global Entrepreneurship Summit product design event, Cleantech graced by entrepreneurs like Irfan The major attraction of GES, the went underway, inviting a record Challenge, Eclairez, Pensez and Alam – founder and chairman of Internship Portal, saw startups like 300 registrations from all over India. Negocio – a web-mobile based b- SammaaN Foundation, India’s Hungryzone, Hover and mPowerM The Social Entrepreneurship event, plan competition. A team of two largest company working towards Pixel Technocrafts dishing out sponsored by big names like from UK also presented their organizing the rickshaw pulling and internships to many of the Amway, NTPC, LIC and Siemens, mobile application inventions at manufacturing sector, and Mr. Basil participating students. Guest saw participation from institutions Negocio, clearly indicating that E- – CEO of Villgro. The Global l ec ture s f rom h igh-prof i l e like IIT Bombay, IIMC, KJ Somaiya Cell has stretched its horizons into Entrepreneurship Conference, also personalities like Irfan Alam, Amit and BIT Mesra. Students from the global arena as well. The a first, saw three foreign universities Raje, Arjun Sen – president and across India put forth their creative winners of these events, apart from participating in a video conference founder of ZenMango and Kanwal ideas in front of esteemed being handed a lucrative cash prize, session, where Erik Noyes from Rekhi - the ultimate TiE Guru, entrepreneurs and venture were given the opportunity to pitch Babson College, Vinit Nijhawan of drew satisfactory crowds from the capitalists, in their quest to develop their ideas in front of a prestigious Boston University and Shailendra campus, as they attempted to teach their business skills and promote VC panel comprising business Vyakaranam, University Of t h e a u d i e n c e t h e a r t o f their unique innovations up to the giants like Navam Capital, Seeders, Cambridge shared their ideas on entrepreneurship and the tricks of global level. Concipio, the annual B- Purple Talk and Inventus. The how to promote entrepreneurship its trade. The event missed some of Plan competition, had started back opportunity presented a glorious on a global platform. On the the foreign speakers of the previous in October, with students networking platform for the young national level, an E-Cell conference years, but the ‘desi’ entrepreneurs submitting their business strategies minds to interact and connect with was conducted among various somewhat managed to fill in their at an online portal. In December, other students. It presented a colleges nationwide, encouraging shoes, as Shankar Maruwada ended the finalists were assigned mentors chance to link up with esteemed them to set up their own ‘E-Cells’ things with a more crowd-satisfying to help them polish and redefine capitalists, a forum for acquiring and further the incentive for rendition of entrepreneurship. Irfan their business ideas, and present funding and valuable product- innovation. Also, emphasizing the Alam’s interview is available on their designs in front of a panel of advice from venture benefactors. prospect of the ‘next billion’, a www.scholarsavenue.org.

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he Technology Transfer Group(TTG) undertook a commendable initiative by bringing the famous TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) Tconferences to local shores. The TED talks were started in 1984 with the motto of disseminating "ideas worth spreading". Organised the world over, and addressing a wide array of topics, speakers are given a maximum of eighteen minutes to creatively express their ideas. Notable speakers in the past have included Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Al Gore and Pranav Mistry, among many others.

The event at IIT Kharagpur was held on the 6th of February, as an independent TED event (TEDx) under the theme "igniting change". The speakers, all selected and invited by the organisers, included Narayanan Krishnan (founder of non-profit organisation Akshaya Trust), Arnab Ray (award-winning writer and blogger), Arunabh Kumar (IIT Kharagpur alumnus and Bollywood film-maker), Kranthi Kiran Vistakula (MIT alumnus and designer of innovative heating/cooling apparel), Srinivas Mohan (award-winning visual effects director of the movie "Robot"), Swapnil Kant Dixit and Ashutosh Kumar (of Tata Jagriti Yatra) and Dr. P Anandan (MD of Microsoft Research, India). Manoj Mandelia was the student speaker who talked about his innovative solution for treating waste water and generating electricity. The talks also included a video of Neil Pasricha (author of "The Book of Awesome") from an earlier conference. The entire session lasted close to four hours and was received well overall by the audience, though there were technical difficulties throughout the show. While most speakers had good credentials, many felt the talk could have been more engaging had there been more focus on technical topics. Another downside was the relatively moderate attendance despite a thorough publicity campaign leading up to the event.

Haaaaaaave you met TED?

Getting down to Business

4 C E L E B A V E N U E THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , FEBRUARY 10TH 2011

Perls of WisdomContinued from Page 1

...there should be some external reason to be

interested and motivated. I think when you are starting off you should try different

things, and find what speaks to you.

been great as it cuts out the middle man and we can interact with our fans directly

TSA: We heard songs with lyrics in at least three languages at the concert and of course, the awesome bass tapping! How do you bring in these

different styles into your music?IO: We dont think like, “Oh, we must make a song in this language or that language.” It’s far more organic. One of us will get influenced or hear something which we like and that’s what inspires us.

ndian Ocean is India’s foremost Icontemporary fusion music band, and has to its credit the first live album released by an Indian band. They were in town recently for Spring Fest 2011, and were kind enough to acquiesce to our request for a Q&A, which is reproduced below.

TSA: Music that was relaxing, interesting and engaging- all rolled into one memorable evening! You've surely got to hear the great amount of p o s i t i v e f e e d b a c k t o y o u r performance. What was it like for you?IO: It was wonderful as the last time we were here it was not such a great experience but after this show all we have is great memories. All in all, it was great fun.

TSA: You very easily fell into casual conversation with the gathered crowd. Has it always been this way with the audiences that you play before?IO: We are fairly comfortable with ourselves and being on stage. The casualness is something we really like.

TSA: Why the long duration between this and the previous release? How effective has distributing songs over the web been? These, and any other details you'd like to tell us about.IO: We take a long time to make music because of a couple of reasons, one being that we are lazy, the other that our songs brew like good coffee. Only when all of us are happy with them do they reach the audience. The free distribution has

C E L E B A V E N U ET H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U E ² T H U R S D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 1 0 T H 2 0 1 1 5

TSA: What do you have to say about themes of your albums or songs?IO: We have nothing to say- we feel they speak for themselves. TSA: How would you comment on the general taste of those who listen to Indian Ocean? Which kinds of songs have been best received? Do you plan to score music for more films in the coming future?IO: If the scripts come our way, the ones we like, for sure we will do them. The other part of your question is way too corporate to answer...people like what we play and that’s that.

TSA: Indian Ocean has been successful and active for many years now. How has your own music changed over the years?IO: Change is the most constant thing which we all know and we as a band are no different. The music has evolved over the years and will continue to do so.

TSA: Before we forget, let's slip this one in: how did the name of the band come about?IO: Susmit’s father suggested it and we all loved it.

TSA: What would be your advice to those who pursue music seriously?IO: Just have fun while you’re doing it, that’s all.

TSA: Lastly, what will we see Indian Ocean doing next?IO: Hopefully more gigs and having a great time.

A brief voyage on the Indian Ocean

Tete-a-tete with the Winners of Wildfirepcoming metal band "What UEscapes Me" left quite a mark

by winning a well-fought "Wildfire" in Springfest 2011. Shourav (vocals), Sayan (Guitar), Arindam (Guitar), Joy (Bass) and Sandy (Drums) discuss their lives, music and plans for the future:

TSA: Hearty congratulations for winning "Best Band" along with "Best Vocalist" and "Best Guitarist". What fuels your music?WEM: We are a core metal band and are very close as a unit. We are inspired by metal bands like Meshuggah and several other artists, but we try our best to create our

own sound.

TSA: So, you are basically influenced by the ‘djent’ metal form. Do you wish to diversify or stick to this only?WEM: Obviously with time a lot of other influences will come up and have an impact on our music, but for now we're happy being the crazy metal-heads that we are. All of us

TSA: Will music be your first career choices?WEM: It's too early to say actually. We are all very good friends and would always want to keep this band. In India, music is not the safest bet as the main source of income. This may not be what feeds us, but it’ll definitely be that what completes us! We might end up with different jobs but we’ll try not to hamper our music.

TSA: As the winners of Wildfire, one piece of advice for the amateurs and those who are passionate about music?WEM: We’re amateurs, dude!

TSA: As modest as you may be, one tip?WEM: Listen to different types of music; write your own music rather than doing covers. But widen your music collection and listen a lot!

pitch in well and it all flows naturally. We don’t do anything in a consciously forced manner.

TSA: What’s on your minds now?WEM: We have 5 decent originals and would like to have our own Extended Play. A full album will take still more time, dedication and original compositions. Our main aim now is to produce more songs.

6 CELEB AVENUE THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , FEBRUARY 10TH 2011

disciple of Pandit Swapan much we enjoyed performing here. wanted to do was provide something learn music, they will make their AChaudhuri, Subhen Chatterjee is more entertaining to the audience-a musical experience much more an internationally acclaimed tabla more musical experience. We started enjoyable. Another important aspect TSA: Your brand of music is unique player. Founder of the popular fusion out with 5 members and entirely is a need for a proper Guru. Indian and distinctly different from what we band, Karma, he has performed with acoustic instruments. We were given classical music is based on systematic get to hear these days. Right from you many eminent personalities which appreciation but we felt we could do principles which cannot be learnt being at the Tabla to your son playing includes the likes of Pandit Bhimsen more to reach out to a greater without a master. Lastly, practice is the drums, your band boasts of a Joshi, Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Shahid audience. So we decided to make our the only thing which can make you remarkable variety. How do you Parvezi amongst others. His band music a little louder while being perfect. The more you riyaaz, the manage to fuse music from such performed at Spring Fest this year melodious at the same time. This led better you get. different schools the way you do?with Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt to the introduction of drums and playing as the band’s guest performer. violin in our band. Over the years, we TSA: Over the last decade, we have Subhen: (smiles) Fusion is often

realized that we would need to seen significant usage of technology in confused with confusion. It’s not as cons t an t l y innova te on our TSA: Did you enjoy coming to KGP music. Your take on it.difficult as people make it out to be. soundscape to generate mass appeal. and performing? How was the crowd? Yes , you need t o h ave an We began using the ghatam to give the understanding of the rhythm in the Subhen: I am personally very happy audience a taste of south Indian taal. In Subhen: KGP has always been close music. And you need to know what with the way technology is being used the meanwhile, my son, Shambhit, to my heart and our association dates you are mixing with what. A to assist musicians. It all depends on was also getting popular with the back to the 1980s. We had just formed reasonably good knowledge about how you use it - as long as the essence youth. Last year, he won the MTV our band then-one of the first fusion both kinds of music is definitely of the music is preserved and sounds drummer award of the year as well. bands in India. There were very few required. Yesterday, I played a are not distorted, there is no harm in We decided to include him and a bands of this genre in those days. I composition based on a very famous using technology. Additionally, guitarist, Shubham in our team. It has remember Shakti (of Zakir Hussain jazz piece, Take Five. It’s based on five technology has enabled us to reach helped us in making our soundscape fame) being one but, unlike ours, that beats but our Indian music doesn’t out to a much larger audience. more modern and contemporary. catered more to the western have a 5 beat system. So I doubled the Platforms such as Youtube are great

p o p u l a t i o n . T h e v e r y f i r s t sequence in order to fuse it with my tools. Every kind of music imaginable TSA: What would you suggest to performance of our band, Karma, was composition. That’s the way you go is now just a click away. someone who wants to pursue Indian on 17 May 1985. And the very next about the whole process.classical music?year, we got an opportunity to TSA: A final word to KGP students.

perform at two college festivals and TSA: Your band has been in existence Spring Fest was one of them. This is Subhen: I have always laid stress on for almost 25 years now. How has your Subhen: Performing at Spring Fest has our fifth or sixth time here. So I have the importance of learning music. music evolved over time? always been pleasurable. I would like had a very strong musical connection Listening to popular songs and to request the organizers to reserve at with IIT Kharagpur and that was also reproducing them is fine. There’s Subhen: (smiles again) A wonderful least one slot for classical or fusion evident from the audience's excellent nothing wrong in listening to and question. I was always interested in music along with rock and pop so that response. The kind of music we play singing a Sonu Nigam song, but in ragas. I was involved with Spic Macay the audience is left with a taste of all thrives on improvisation. If we get order to truly enjoy music, one needs which, by the way, has been doing an kinds of music. I would particularly support from the audience, we feel to go into its depth. You need to excellent job of popularizing Indian like to thank the organizers for their like giving even more. Yesterday, understand the rhythm, the beats, the classical music. But somehow I felt hospitality as well as the students for around 90% of our concert was raga on which it is based. It has always that their concerts involved more their support during the concert.improvisational - a measure of how been my advice to people that if they lecturing than performing. What we

TSA: Tell us more about the Mohan andit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt is a Your award winning album was with P Veena.noted slide guitarist. A pioneer in Ry Cooder. How was your chemistry the field of Indian classical music and with them given their sense of music the creator of Mohan Veena, he is a being a tad different from ours? PVMB: The Mohan Veena is basically Padma Shri and has also won a a modified guitar. It has an arched Grammy Award (1994) for his famous body instead of a flat one. It consists of PVMB: The chemistry was excellent, album, A Meeting by the River. Having twenty strings out of which about and working with them was a new worked with famous musicians such twelve are sympathetic strings - they experience. I have some really as Ry Cooder, Taj Mahal, Jerry work as resonators. When tuned pleasant memories. (pauses) The Douglas and Matt Malley, and having correctly, these start vibrating when a association depends largely on the toured almost the entire globe, he is note is played on one of the main musician's skill and talent. While with Ry Cooder. We only had the night no less than a legend today. The strings. I also added ‘Athumba’ at the working with them, we do change our to do the recordings. I had a flight Scholars’ Avenue got a chance to left end. Since it no longer resembled a music but the soul and the purity of from Los Angeles to New York at 6 in interact with him after h i s guitar in appearance and construction, the tunes, hallmarks of Indian music, the morning. We were recording breathtaking performance at Kalidas somebody suggested that I change its are never lost. And Indian classical inside a church to make use of the during Spring Fest. name- so I christened it Mohan Veena music system having every scale natural reverb inside the cavernous

after my middle name in 1967.mathematically possible definitely hall. I managed to have a composition TSA: Sir, first the Grammy, then the helps. This flexibility allows us to ready in mind in 10 minutes. The Padma Shree. How has the journey easily catch their tunes. I like entire recording was completely TSA: What, according to you, are the been like? experimenting with different genres impromptu. I had my Mohan Veena, most important qualities required to

of music and meeting new people. I and I was amazed to see Cooder learn music?recently worked with jazz pianist w o r k i n g w i t h 6 g u i t a r s PVMB: It has been very satisfying of Glen Charles. We made our album, simultaneously. We recorded the course. I am very happy. But then, a PVMB: The student needs to have Groove Caravan, in Edmonton, entire night and finished at 5:00 am musician doesn't work to win awards. some aptitude for music. Discipline Canada. Also, last year, my album and made 4 compositions in the We do our duties with humility and and a sense of responsibility are also with Matt Malley (Oscar, Golden process. Those went on to release in honesty and whatever awards we win important. They also have to be Globe and Grammy nominee), the form of the album, A Meeting by are due to God's grace. Occasional prepared for any possibility- just Sleepless Nights, released and it’s been the River, which stayed on the recogn i t ion i s de f in i te ly an being talented doesn't mean you'll be getting good reviews. So yes, journey’s Billboard charts for over 40 weeks.encouragement . Awards l ike successful. Nevertheless, they must been wonderful. G r a m m y s a r e w e l l k n o w n There was one more interesting work hard. You should do your Karma

internationally and they do go a long experience, with a Chinese lady, and leave the rest to God.way in popularizing your music. Jiebing Chen. At that time, she didn’t TSA: You have been touring

know English and I had no idea about extensively. Any experiences you would TSA: Thanks a lot for sparing time for Chinese. So I was, without doubt, like to share?TSA: You have had the opportunity to us.hesitant initially. However, the seven work with various western musicians musical notes are universal. That is like Ry Cooder, Taj Mahal and Jerry PVMB: Yes, I do get to tour a lot and PVMB: Thank you. It’s been a more than enough to come together Douglas to name a few. You have have had an opportunity to visit 41 pleasure.and make music.successfully managed to bring out countries till now. (pause) I albums in collaboration with them. remember the first time I recorded

The Music of Karma

Rendezvous with Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt

NEWS AVENUET H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U E ² T H U R S D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 1 0 T H 2 0 1 1 7

epeated notices on the Training bogus institutions) are relaxed to Rand Placement Cell notice an extent and most people are board proclaiming that students given the green light even if the ‘will be permitted for summer university of their Choice does not internship to those universities fall under either category. While a b r o a d w h e r e w e h a v e getting permission for projects in Memorandum of Understanding Universities in India and abroad (MOU) on our academic activities’ and Indian companies is usually not along with an enclosed list of 60 a problem, the case of foreign universities have created doubt in companies are complicated by the the minds of many who hope to bag necessity to obtain Work Visas as an internship in exotic foreign lands. opposed to Student Visas. To Officially, T&P policy dictates that clarify rumours that the rules have NOCs (No Objection Certificates) become much more stringent, The will be issued only to students Scholars ’ Avenue contacted seek ing to complete the i r Student Representatives of the compulsory internships at the end Training and Placement Cell and of their third year (for B.Tech and the Vice Pre s ident , TSG. Dual degree students) or fourth year According to them, the key to (for Integrated M.Sc. Students - getting a valid NOC, given an offer with the exception of the from a trustworthy college or Department of Geology and corporation, is the approval of your Geophysics). It is required that an Head of Department and your internship at an institute be in an Faculty Advisor. Since your Indian or foreign university which, Department is the entity that will is covered under the ambit of the evaluate the internship upon your MoU agreements, or, has issued a return, it is imperative that it raises circular for a structured internship no objections. If you have the programme (MITAX, DAAD etc). requisite convincing powers (or In the case of companies, an very amiable professors), there internship acquired through the should be no issues in (eventually) T&P Cell is convenient, but not getting co-operation from the T&P necessary. Each year, these rules Cell as well.(intended to protect students from

Chandresh Kudwa - Improvising the Strings

An Unexpected Visitor Of MoUs and NOCs

8 A D A V E N U E THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , FEBRUARY 10TH 2011

Central Research Facility, IIT Kharagpur

High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope

Professor in Charge: R. Mitra

About:The HRTEM works by passing an electron beam through a sample and recording the resulting field images.

Applications:Ÿ· Point-to-point resolution of 0.19 nm and line resolution of 0.14 nm is achievable under controlled conditions, allowing study of the microstructure and defects of metals, polymers, organic and ceramic materials. Transmitted (bright) and diffracted (dark) images can be obtained.Ÿ Identification of phases in the sample. Specified regions may be studied.

Ÿ ·Deduction of the plane orientation in the sample. Ÿ Characteristic X-Rays from the sample can be detected and used in chemical analysis through Energy Dispersive Spectrscopy, an auxiliary feature.

Care must be taken to prepare the sample in the correct manner and CRF contains a separate sample preparation lab where instruments such as diamond cutters and ion millers are contained.

Scanning Probe Microscope Lab

Professor in Charge: C. JacobAbout:The microscope works at the level where atomic forces become prominent. A tip called the probe is scanned over the sample, with a reference laser beam bouncing off the top end of the probe. As the tip moves in response to the atomic force it feels due to the proximity to the sample, the intensity of reflected laser as recorder by a unit varies. The variations are mapped to an image.

Applications:Ÿ·Studying the surface of polymers, ceramics, metals and semiconductors.ŸStudying electric and magnetic features as this is reflected in the force experienced by the probe.ŸAnalyzing biological material.Ÿ·Thin film analysis, nano-indentation and nano-lithography.

Thermal Analysis Laboratory

About:The laboratory has three instruments: Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) involves the measurement of the difference in energy inputs into a substance and a reference material as a function of temperature. The temperature is controlled. Similarly, in Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) the difference in temperature is recorded. Thermogravity (TG) investigates the mass. A Thermomechanical Analyzer (TMA) measures dimensional changes in response to thermal inputs.

Applications:Ÿ Using the DSC, determining thermal stability, phase transformation points, heats of transformation, curing and crystallization studies.Ÿ Through TG-DTA, studying reaction temperatures, analysis of different chemical behaviours like oxidation and decomposition.ŸWith TMA, investigating expansion coeffecients, sintering and swelling behaviours of composites etc.

Professor in Charge: Karabi Das

TE C H A V E N U ET H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U E ² T H U R S D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 1 0 T H 2 0 1 0 9

10 BHAAT AVENUE THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² THURSDAY , FEBRUARY 10TH 2011

Did you know? 586 elephants die of peanut allergies every year.

Check out the manifesto of the latest club on the block!

#1 The first rule of GPL Society is, you tell everybody about GPL Society.#2 The second rule of GPL Society is, no really you TELL EVERYBODY about GPL Society. What do you think societies are for?#3 If someone says stop, goes limp, taps out... so what? Proceed as planned.#4 One guy to a pillar.#5 One GPL at a time (at the very least).#6 No jeans or tough clothing.#7 GPLs will go on as long as they have to.#8 If this is your first night at GPL Society, you HAVE to have a GPL.

Technology GPL Society