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Transcript of BITS Herald October Issue 2012
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INTRODUCING
BAJRANG DESOUZA
In a world where people talk as little as they
do, and think as much as they do before they
talk as little as they do (talk, not think), we
dont often get out a lot. Were far too
worried about what those around us will
think if we go ahead and speak our mind;
worried theyll raise their eyebrows, point atus and accuse us of not getting our facts
right, or not thinking logically, or not making
any damn sense. In a world like this, Bajrang
DeSouza is a
man with a
weapon.
Bajrang
DeSouza has no
fascinating new
way of lookingthings, no
distinct style of
writing, and no
rich mentor to
make him
matter. What he
does have,
however, is a column in a monthly paper. A
column for his usually baseless opinions,
unremarkable observations, and generallyconvoluted passages that juxtapose
overheard pseudo-facts with other surreal,
highly unlikely, completely made-up bits of
information he threw in at random. That is
not the point. This article serves no higher
purpose that shall hold it duty-bound to its,
well, duty. When Bajrang DeSouza writes, he
is neither the hero this campus deserves, nor
the one it needs. That is still not the point.
The point is this.Anybody can be Bajrang.
With T2 and Waves round the corner, it
would appear there were quite a few things
worth talking about in this last month. In
keeping with the true purpose of this
article, I shall now proceed to ignore these,
and talk about that new building coming up
behind B-Dome instead.
Ever since the building grew tall enough to
be spotted by BITSians on their way back
from Bogmalo, a time when theyre most
likely to suddenly go Yaar, kya campus hai
yaar apna. Just look at- wait. Whats
THAT?, rumours
have been flying
around,
explaining the
structures
purpose. Its a
hotel. No, its a
new hostel. No,
wait, its an
engineering
college, for civil
engineering. And
none of them the
exact truth. In my
talks with Mr. Shahi, a suitably important
person, I have confirmed that the building is
actually to be a sort of ashram-cum-hotel,
built to cater to the interests of foreign
nationals who come to Goa to parday, are
disillusioned by it, and then seek spiritual
enlightenment instead. As expected, the
hostel management intends to make a visit
to campus at least a few times every
semester, to talk to the students about life
and answers. On the bright side though, I
am told the head chef who just signed on is
from France, and can make a mean Chicken
Basquaise.
In other news, our beloved GenSecTimes is
down. Or it was down. Then it just had its
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name changed, which is odd, because the
Android app on my cell hasnt changed. And
people said it wouldnt be the same. True
enough, the first post post-namechange was
called Word from the White House. I
assume the reason for this was to make it
clear to all readers that the post they were
reading on a website called CSATimes, was
in fact brought to you by the CSA. Well. At
least we cant blame them for not being
clear.
And now something called GenSecs Corner
has come up, and its more or less the same
thing it was before the site became
CSATimes. Makes me wonder what thepoint of this whole exercise was. All sorts of
unflattering traits have been attributed to
the CSA for effecting this change, but I
havent been able to confirm or deny any of
these, partly because Hargun Singh Oberoi
refused to grant me an interview on the
subject, but mostly because even if he
hadnt, I just wouldnt be able to keep up
with the guy, you know?
Of course, old topics like these dont
interest our new juniors at all. Incidentally,
praise for the enthusiasm of the new batch
seems almost universal, including lots from
the Aero people (who justified their
induction of 88 members a few weeks ago
with a lecture where, in spite of being a
quarter of what it was before T1, the
resultant audience still made a number that
any other club would call a bloody throng)
and the LDC guys (who scored a grand total
of 2 names on the first day of registrations
for their Debating League).
The Music Night dance debacle really ought
to be commented on here, and for this
reason shall not be. We shall instead focus
our attention on the unsuccessful attempt at
publicising Quark in between performances.
While it isnt quite my place to tell you what
they did wrong, I would like to ask youll a
question. Why do Controls Departments
like these even bother with inductions
based on personal interviews and giving
clever answers to tough questions, if at the
end of the day, the best among them cannot
handle a stage?
Where insults are maro-ed, credit must also
be given where it is due. Kudos to the
Waves Beardo, for showing us how
publicity is really done. It is Music Night,
yes? Good. Concentrate on the music acts
this Waves.
Oh well. As a parting note, let me remind
you that October is now upon us. While
around 50-60 of us have spent the last few
weeks at NetTech learning what some
seniors have called the reason (they) got
placed, the rest of us know better than to
waste our time on insignificant matters
such as the aforementioned, and shall
instead invest in the wonder that is Zephyr.
With a whole bunch of new events this year,
including dodgeball, cheerleading, and for
some reason, a Mock MUN (read Mock-
Model-UN), we ought to have more than a
little to look forward to.
The thoughts and opinions expressed in this
column are almost entirely the writers own,
and come pretty damn near to not
representing the views of the BITS Herald asa whole.
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Things you didn't know about
PlacementsExtra curriculars are of little or no help
when it comes to placements.Big shots of the likes of Facebook and
Schlumberger are unwilling to visit a
campus that is less than 10 years old.CGPA can only take you so far- Once
you've crossed the CG cutoff for a particular
company, there's very little that your CGPA
can do for you. Your skills and the interview
are all that matter from then on.
Duals (other than perhaps, MSc.
Mathematics) are of little or no help on the
placement front.Companies generally remain unmoved if
you have an additional degree in Physics,
Chemistry, Biology or Economics.
Non-Tech does not necessarily imply
Consultancy. Those applying to aconsultancy must, at the very least, know
what a consultancy is.Crunching NumbersThe average package for CS students this
time around is a whopping 9.3 lakh as
compared to around 7.2 last semester.15 out of the 60 people sitting for
placements with a CG of below 6 have been
placed so far. A large number of people in
this bracket had remained unplaced even
last year. 100 % placements are a myth, we
are told. No college in the country is able to
place everyone.
Chemical remains a huge concern for the
placement team with only a couple of people
finding jobs in their core sector. This is
primarily due to the fact thatPSUs ( 70% of
the companies in this sector ) are compelled
to stay away from private institutions.Epic Systems comes out on top of the most-
wanted companies list with a pay package
offering ofUSD 100,000. 7 people from this
campus have been called on for final
interviews.Numbers are virtually the same for CS and
IS as well as for EEE and E&I, indicating
that there isn't much discrimination done by
the companies on these grounds.Placement Advice from the Co-
ordinator
Look beyond the CGPA- Find your
passions, cultivate skills and establish
expertise in your field of interest. Do not
believe that a good CGPA alone will get you
the job.Do not rely on the Placement Teamalone-
There are many companies which cannot be
called for on-campus placements becausethere aren't enough people with the
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requisite skill. So if you're interested in
designing, advertising or any such field,
apply off campus.Get out of the fest mode- Our campus, it is
said, is much too occupied with its fests. This
in turn makes us suffer on technical fronts.
The atmosphere for technical research is
near zero, and it's not only the faculty that is
to blame here. It isn't surprising our
placement numbers are inferior to the other
campuses.Time your PS-II right- If your CGPA is
slightly below 6 or slightly below 7, you'd be
advised to take up PS-II in the first semester
itself. As far as eligibility goes, one is able to
sit for nearly every company if one has
crossed 7. Even at above 6, the door remains
open for you for a majority of the
companies.Accumulate COPs and SOPs, especially if
you're below 6- They give the interviewer
scope to grill you on a topic that you know
much about. These are critical for
companies which have a low or no CG cutoff.The Big Guns
Companies, The numbers taken and pay
packages offered.
Flipkart 02 @ 13.5 LPA
PayPal 05 @ 16.5 LPA
National Instruments 04 @ 10 LPA
Mu-Sigma 12 @ 18 Lakhs / 3years
Capillary 04 @ 10 / 6 LPAHarman Computers 05 @ 7 LPA
TataTech 08 @ 5 LPA
Shell 02 @ 12 LPA
Sabre 04 @ 6.5 LPA
CISCO 23 @ 8.5 LPA-CS/IS
7.2 LPA-non CS/IS
Oracle 28 @ 7.2 LPA
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The (Not So Official) Book Bank
After it was discovered that DoJMA was publishing an article on the misdoings of the
President, the article in question has been censored in the interest of maintaining his
public image. DoJMA has no intentions of slander, but we believe that the general body
must be made aware of the work done by its elected representatives- both good and
bad. The article in question was about the book bank fiasco, the questionable legality of
poster sales on SWD and the possibility of our technical fest being postponed, the
reasons for which point to gross carelessness.DoJMA condemns press censorship to protect the image of those in power and despite
the threats to the department, will do its best to highlight issues in a fair and just
manner.
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Prof. Suresh Ramaswamy, or SuRa as he
was fondly called, has been an integral
part of the BITS family for the last threedecades. A student of the 1980 Physics
batch at Pilani, he later rejoined BITS as a
faculty-member of the Physics
department. As the HOD of the Physics
Department, he played an integral role in
shaping the department at the Goa
campus. Despite having shouldered the
responsibilities of Chief Warden and
later, Dean of Administration, Prof.
Ramaswamy found a place in the heart ofhis students with his lucid explanations
and approachability.
In the memory of this great
teacher, his students initiated the Prof.
Suresh Ramaswamy Memorial Fund. The
Memorial Fund is an attempt to
institutionalize his legacy by providing
financial assisting students, with an
enthusiasm as close to that shown byRamaswamy Sir himself. The first step is
to establish awards and scholarships in
his name. Donations which can be made
online via the BITSAA site and awhopping 91% of the minimum target of
10,000 USD was been achieved within
just a few weeks of his demise.
The fourth edition of the BITS
World 5km Run on September 23 was
dedicated to Prof. Ramaswamy this year.
The run sought to promote the
enthusiasm that Prof. SuRa showed. This
years run celebrated his legacy, andchampion the adoption of a healthy
lifestyle amongst BITSians worldwide.
As an inspirational figure, Prof.
Suresh Ramaswamy shall live on in our
hearts; not only here on campus, but
wherever he has left his everlasting
impression. Memory will occasionally
lead us back to his energizing smile,
reminding us that we too can make ourlives sublime.
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Our
institute
has never
been
celebrated
in technical
domains,
especially
when
compared
to some of
the other
premier
engineering
schools
around the
country. Some of these doubts seem to be
well founded in their origin. Take, for
example, the technical clubs on our
campus.At the Aerodynamics Club, lack
of funding is a perennial problem.
Despite being the largest club on campus
(in terms of membership), the club
receives virtually no funding for its
activities. Last year the club expenses
were extremely high, with money spent
on new equipment, materials as well as
travel for festivals. The entire cost was
covered by members paying out of their
own pockets, so much so, that certain
members decided to leave as the cost
was getting out of hand. This year, they
have been allocated a nominal fund of Rs.
12000.
ERC is another club which has voiced
complaints over lack of funding. With no
money, there has been no incentive to
start work on new projects, despite there
being several ideas on the table.Kushagra Nigam, one of the core
members and head of the Intelligent
Sensible Input/ Output Device team, has
spent Rs.
50000 from
his own
pocket on
assorted
materials for
the club.
There are a
lot of people
on campus
with an
inclination
towards
technical
activities,
but the fact
that they have to spend a lot from their
own pockets dissuades most of them, he
said. With no room allocated to the club,
he and several others are forced to keep
expensive electronics in their own room.
The absence of faculty involvement has
also proved to be a major hindrance. The
IEEE chapter on campus also faces
similar problems, with some of their
members complaining about essential
utilities like Shell, GitHub, MIT
OpenCourseware and Coursera not
working on the campus LAN. The
unavailability of labs is also hindering
the progress of a lot of their projects and
teams of twenty odd members meet in
the C-Wing corridors to work.
Despite these issues, the active members
of every club are working hard to follow
their passion. The ERC has around eight
projects in the pipeline which they
expect to complete by the end of this
year. The Aero clubs lecture series isvery popular with the 2012 batch, and
the club continues to build its profile
through hard work and passion. The
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Hexapod Project, sponsored by the
DRDO, is one of many ambitious projects
the IEEE is aiming to complete this year.
The Automobile club, which was
dissolved last year, is on its way to being
revived by a few passionate third year
students under the banner of the SAE.
Its easy to blame the technical clubs and
organizations on campus for being
dormant (elite, even. But thats another
story), and shake our heads over the lack
technical interest in our campus. The
truth is, however, that we have to put
ourselves in their shoes to best
understand their problems.
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One on One withVrushali Prasade
With her dimpled smile, she comes
across as just another fun-loving
teenager. But once shes armed with a
table tennis racquet, you dont want to beher opponent. BITS Pilani Goa Campus
proudly welcomes its very own
International Table Tennis player,
Vrushali Prasade.
She represented India in the US Open
and Taiwan Open in 2009 where she
achieved startling success by reaching
the quarterfinals. Also to her credit are
bronze medals in Junior Girls (Under 17)
team and Womens team (open) for
Maharashtra in the National
Championship, 2011. She has also been a
regular champion at the Maharashtra
State Championship having won a Silver
medal in U-17 girls team, gold medals in
U-21 girls team and womens (open)
team. The list doesnt end here, she has
dozens of medals to boast of, but it wont
take you more than five minutes with her
to learn that she is as humble as they
come.
A comical incident led to her stumbling
upon the world of table tennis. One
evening when she was in fourth
standard, she just took off from homewith a friend to catch a glimpse of a litter
of puppies in the neighbourhood.
Little did she know that she would lose
her way back home. But luckily she was
spotted by a family friend and taken
home. Her parents, tired of her mindless
meanderings, decided to enrol her in TT
classes to keep her occupied. To
everyones surprise she displayed a
natural flair for the game and with the
hard work that she put in, there was no
turning back.
In Vrushalis words- I play TT because I
enjoy playing and not because I think of
it as my career or a road to success.
Over the years Vrushali has not just
made her parents but the entire country
proud. Her passion and love for TableTennis is what makes her truly invincible
in the sport.
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60 Days of SummerPS meant a lot of things to different
people. For some it was time to delve
deeper into the world of
microcontrollers and data processing,
while others got industrial exposure
through filing, maintaining websites and
filling up their PS diaries.
Students on the higher end of the CGPA
spectrum paint a very rosy picture ofPractice School 1. The good PS stations
provided many research prospects,
enhancing the practical knowledge of the
students. Guided by their instructors,
they were assigned technical projects in
groups making PS a fruitful experience.
On the other hand, the mere mention of
PS to some students brings back painful
memories of a god-forsaken village, fromthe Flintstones era. As the students had
not completed all of their core courses,
they were handed out work unrelated to
their specific branches which did not test
their engineering skills at all. For some
unfortunate few, accommodations were
as bad as their PS station. And if the
number of people crammed into one
room werent enough, there were rats
fighting for their share of space too. The
food provided by the station at least had
one positive effect- it made the students
appreciate Sunday lunches on campus
and cherish them much more. Aparticular incident focusing on an
altercation between a group of students
and their instructor led to unpleasant
consequences (Read: PS grades).
Attendance wasnt strict in most of the
PS stations and BITSians could manage
by just showing up two days a week. This
gave them an opportunity to hang outwith friends and spend pretty much a PS-
free summer. Although it embellished
their CG cards, for most people, the main
purpose of Practice School was lost.
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Sarath Kumars Story
Laid back and jovial, Sarath Kumar comes
across as the quintessential BITSGian. He
was the unexpected hero in this semesterscampus placements where he proved that,
contrary to popular perception, CGPA is not
in any way, a measure of your knowledge
base. With a low CGPA of around 5, Sarath
sat for Direct-I placements (which had no
CGPA cutoff) only to take home the jaw-
dropping pay package of 9LPA, a dream formany 8 and 9 pointers as well. We caught
up with the ever-so-casual Sarath for a
small talk, and here is an excerpt:-
Q: What was running through your mind
when you walked into the interview room?
A: When I walked in, I didnt really want to
be placed. Not because I hated the idea of a
job, but I was annoyed that I had to suit up,
and sit through the whole process, which I
thought was irrelevant around that time. To
be honest I just wanted to get theplacements over with and get on with my
life.
Q:What kind of questions were you asked in
the interview?
A: The interview had two rounds, technical
and HR. Technical round had only subject
related questions; and HR round had both,
technical and general. By technical, I mean
networking, not core electronics.
Q:Did you know they were going to ask you
networking questions before you went for theinterview?
A: No, I heard they were asking networking
questions when I was sitting in the
conference room. That was when I was
slightly relieved.
Q: Why were you relieved?
A: I had done a CISCO certified networking
course. It wasnt a big deal as they said,because many people who work there have
done the same. Doing the course is not the
important thing, but the knowledge you
acquire about networking, is.
Q:What made them select you?
A: I spoke them as if they were my brothers.
We spoke about everything- not just
academics. And I smiled a lot! I was brutally
honest with them.
Q: Do you want to pursue higher studies?
What are your plans for the future?
A: I dont really have a plan right now.
Getting into a higher degree programmewould be tough with my CGPA but MBA is a
distant possibility. However, you never
know.
Q: Your CGPA wasnt the best around, so
what gave you the edge over the other
candidates?
A: There was a coding round in the
interview, which only eleven people got
through. So, I got lucky there. I didnt knowprogramming that well, but what was asked
was my cup of tea, thankfully.
Q: But you werent actually luckythroughout, though. You knew nearly
everything they asked you.
A: I knew networking. In the beginning,
they asked what I wanted to be asked. I told
them I knew networking, and so I did well.
Q:What factors do you think come into play
during an interview?
A: I think luck matters a lot. If the right
company, with the right profile comes your
way, then you can get the job. So pray every
day!Q: Youve achieved cult hero status here in
BITS. Many juniors are amazed at what you
have done. Whats your message to them?
A: Dont have too much desire for anything.Dont expect too much. If you get something,
be happy, but even if you dont, be okay. Justtake it on the chin and move on.
Ending on a bright note, Sarath claims that
he is a spiritual person at heart and he says
that must have made a difference.
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Startups GaloreJam-packed notice-boards, Facebook shares
and DC spams have left the common-
BITSian wondering why the sudden boom
of start-ups on campus?
Want to hang out with a bunch of friends?
How about a late night delivery from KFC?
Or an easy ride to a local destination?
Today, theres a BITSian start-up at every
corner just to make life on a highway a little
easier. You can always count on a group of
entrepreneurs to fill the gaps. So why this
sudden fad of starting up?
This could, in part, be attributed to a course
called NVC New Venture Creation, in
association with CEL and BITSAA. This
being its pilot edition in the Goa campus,
NVC seeks to provide hands-on experience
for creating and sustaining a start-up. It
provides a framework and mentorship
programme to aspiring entrepreneurs,
while the most promising 3 teams receive
on-campus incubation and pre-seed
funding. A total of 11 teams are registered
for this course from our campus.
Some of the functional startups include
Tripedia (off-beat travel destinations,
Cubito (discounted cab-pool service),
CrazyWheels and WeDeli (food delivery), all
of them doing fairly well as of now.
Though we cannot ignore the fact that
despite being a top Engineering college,
there is a surprising dearth of Science and
Tech oriented start-ups on campus. Most
start-ups seen today cater to not-so-
significant issues and are fairly random. We
are yet to witness a breakthrough start-upthat would leave an indelible mark on
campus.
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We caught up with a few entrepreneurs on
campus, who shared their views on starting
up.
Speculating on the failure of most startups,
Misna Sameer, one of the founders of
Tripedia says, Many startups fail to fare
well later because of a lot of
reasons. Starting up is difficult, so once the
initial excitement of starting up wears off,
people may get disillusioned if things aren't
working out. They tend to quit. Also there is
a lot uncertainty involved in starting-up.
Your team may have problems; there maybe need for more funds to expand and the
like. A lot of things can go wrong.
Sahil Babbar, co-founder of CrazyWheels
cites unforeseen problems as the major
hurdle for novice start-ups. To be
successful, the aim should be to cover up
the holes of previous start-ups of the same
kind. The start-ups must uphold the true
spirit of entrepreneurship and not just be
for the sake of being.
Vice President of CEL and member ofSpectrum Casuals, Chaitali Pandit says, A
good idea isn't enough to make a start-up
successful. Market, entry timing, team
structure, strong strategies, benchmarking,
a solid marketing, outreach plan and
revenue model, all decide the fate of the
start-up. Ideas themselves arent worth
muchits the people behind the ideas that
matter. Also, some end up creating a Me-too
product which not only suffers cut throatcompetition but is soon overtaken. Based on
my personal experiences of working with
start-ups and in CEL, I have realised that
while some start-ups are genuinely
addressing a particular problem in the
society, some start-ups do lack a USP. A
true entrepreneurial start-up should not
only solve the glitch that exist in a particular
sector but should also make profits.
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A new trend is seen to be springing up
amongst the young adults of the country.
No, I am not referring to the ownership
of a Blackberry Smartphone or the latest
iPad. I am talking about the now
commonplace sight of groups of four or
five, scattered about our campus,
huddled with their laptops and
important-looking notes. An astonishing
number of our peers are now taking to
entrepreneurship in a big way.
Everywhere, there is a new start up, an
idea for a new start up, or a person
looking for an idea for a new start up.
One such person is Rathin Shah.
Now in his second year here at BITS Goa,
Rathin has already drawn a considerable
amount of interest and adulation from
his friends. He is increasingly getting
recognition as the boy behind the Paper
Pallet idea.
What started out as an online
competition of startups on the website
toptalent.in, led to him forming a team
with his seniors Radhika Parik, MisnaSameer and Anirudh Wodeyar. They
participated in Epsilon - BITS Pilani's All
India Business Plan competition, hosted
in Pilani; and stood in fourth place with
their business idea of renting out the
clothes of high-end designer boutiques
located across the country.
With this getting to his name, Rathin
went home to his father's company inGujarat, which makes corrugated boxes,
called pallets. These pallets, made of
wood, are designed to lift huge amount of
weights and have the capacity of holding
up to three thousand kilograms, while
still being light enough to be lifted by
forklifts and cranes. The disadvantage
with these wooden pallets was that the
wood would deteriorate after just two or
three uses, and would require the cutting
of more and more trees to make newer
pallets.
With the ambitious intention to work
around this, it struck Rathin that a lot of
trees and money could be saved if the
corrugation boxes were made out of
recycled Paper instead of wood. If you're
wondering how something as unwieldy
as paperwas expected to lift as much as
3000 kgs of weight, I don't blame you. As
Rathin confronted the same problem, his
father supportively helped him out by
lending him a team from his factory, and
together they worked out a system for
the Recyclable Paper Pallet. Their initial
submission to FICCI (Federation of
Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry) caused them to face their first
obstacle when they failed the test tocheck the water resistance of the pallet.
Though disappointed with this early
setback, Rathin redoubled his efforts and
set out to find a hydro repellent chemical
that would make his Paper Pallet not
only water resistant, but oil resistant too
- and succeeded. With a successful
second submission, their design for the
Recyclable Paper Pallet was finally
approved by FICCI. But his problemswere far from over.
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Following were even more rigorous tests
conducted by the International Authority
of Pallets, located in Dubai. Once there,
Rathin realized he was going to face his
second and biggest problem so far. The
Authority required that the pallet be able
to be pulled by ropes too, not just
forklifts and cranes, as Rathin and his
father's team had prepared for. Faced
with a deadline of just three days, and
the Herculean task of restructuring his
design from scratch, one would think this
was the end of Rathin's idea of
Recyclable Paper Pallets. But it was not
so. They redesigned the whole system
using the idea of honeycomb patterns,
within the given time span. When it
finally got approved after this tumultuous
journey, it was a proud and satisfied
Rathin Shah who described its benefits.
Unlike the wooden pallets which called
for the frequent felling of trees, the paper
pallet uses recyclable paper. This simple,
yet effective idea utilizes paper to its
fullest and extends the lifetime of the
pallet manifold when compared to its
wooden counterpart. It proves itself as
the more economic option as well, as the
taxes levied by the government on
recyclable items is substantially lower.
He also believes there is a huge market
for it in the future, given that it uses
ecologically clean recyclable paper.
These benefits have also been spotted by
countries across the world, as Rathin's
father has been receiving orders for this
Recyclable Paper Pallet in large numbers,
and production is now in process. As if
this confirmation of his achievement
wasn't enough, when Rathin presented
his idea to Stanford University's
Technological Entrepreneurship Course,
it became one of the seventy teams
across India to get selected.
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She has been the prime subject of street
chats at BPGC ever since she had a little'street accident' right outside the college.
She made it boom with her jaw fracture
and missing incisor. Her theatre
performances on stage during the
previous semesters left the audience
awestruck - there usually wasn't any,
unless you count the judges.
So let us discover more about SanjanaRamachandran, and her shortcomings.
Mainly why she's having to write this
herself, especially since its so easy to get
written about these days.
To begin with, she is very involved in
campus activities. She is an integral
member of this campus. And anyone who
doesn't think so shouldnt write about
her - Oh wait.
No, but seriously. The things she does for
attention - lose a tooth, for instance.
You'd think that'd provide any serious
writer with tons of material, but no one
has even probed her about her campus
activities since. Maybe if she takes up a
course in belly dancing she will get the
true love and recognition she deserves.
And if you think she has no interest inacademics, that she spends her life
carousing about, endangering lives in the
process, and making angry faces at her
juniors then she says she is happy.
Happy that you at least think of her.
Sanjana Ramachandran has never done
any social work. In the summer following
her first year, she claims to have
contemplated teaching underprivileged
children. It is usually the period when a
lot of conscientious students like her
good self-take up alleviating society of
illiteracy, global warming and other such
pesky situations. However, she said herparents stopped her from doing so, citing
that they did not want any more scarred
children on their hands.
No one has ever suggested that Sanjana
set up a Facebook fan page. When
interviewed on the subject, she said, I
like to live an open life with no secrets,
so at the risk of embarrassment, I'll
admit that there have been suggestionsof a Sanjana Hate Group, but I humbly
refused to be a part of it. As Groucho
Marx once said, I refuse to be part of any
club that will hate me.
Ok, she might have tweaked that a little.
Arent you stunned at her values? I
know I am.
She did not contest for the post of the
General Secretary of the college, butSanjana expresses now what a strategic
mistake it was, in her ultimate goal to
attain utter popularity and affection.
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Contesting would've meant a beautiful
window to seek the attention of the
entire campus, and the visibility she has
always wanted!
I salute the brilliance and simplicity of
the idea. I would want to do it, if werolled back in time.
Sanjanas charismatic, better half (at
least name-wise) said that, "The ideology
that girls can't work devotedly is
ridiculous." While it pains Sanjanas
heart deeply to disagree with her, she
believes all signs point to the opposite.
Women make bad drivers, and the
United States of America even got its first
African American president before its
first female president. You know you're
part of the wrong gender when that
happens. We should be called the 'unfair
sex.'
A memorable performance during the
colleges inter-hostel fest, Zephyr 2011,
ensured that Sanjanas rapping skills
would go unquestioned for years to
come. Booed off the stage with chants of
the infamous song, Friday by Rebecca
Black, she and her friends vowed to use a
background track while performing next
time. "It went pretty dirty and it's not
really a pleasant place to be in. But, I
proved myself least to some people and I
am not really worried about that," she
bravely added.
If anyone had bothered to ask her about
the new semester, Sanjana says she too
wouldve expressed excitement. She said
to the interviewer, I am an affable, social
person and love to meet new people. I
am pleasant and caring by nature, but
since I live 'a closed circle kinda life,' no
one can attest to that.
But you have my word.
And well, that's all about Sanjana, folks. I
hope I have you convinced that she
deserved to be written about. But no one
did write about her, and a girl's gotta do
what a girl's gotta do. I took the road less
travelled, like so many brave men before
me. I hope I'm setting an example for
generations to come. On a parting note,
to emphasize her all-rounder, go-getter,
event-boom-maker personality, here are
some of the nice things people have said
about me. I mean her.
"She is my soul mate." - The Charismatic
Sanjukta Krishnagopal
"I'm going to use you in my Psychology
project on socially inappropriate humor."
- Harman Singh
"Uncharismatic who?" - Anonymous
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