BITS Herald September Issue 2007

7/28/2019 BITS Herald September Issue 2007

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THE BITS HERALDEnglish Press Club Publication

BIO-SENSOR WORKSHOP 07Inside this issue:

Editorial 2

Remembrance 3

Interview 4

Ganesh Utsav 5

Campus Buzz 6

TidBIts 7

Weekend

Destination 8

BITS-Pilani, Goa Campus is marching

ahead towards bettering its best each day.

This time we are hosting the prestigious

8th Workshop on Biosensors and Bioana-

lytical micro-Techniques in Environmental

and Clinical Analysis. The International

Association of Environmental and Analyti-

cal Chemistry (IAEAC) Switzerland is the

chief patron of the workshop. The latter provides a platform for intellectual interac-

tion between experts and beginners.28

delegates from 16 different countries

would be joining us. The themes of this

workshop encompass various multidisci-

plinary fields connecting micro-systems,

nano-biosensors, biochip, nanotechnology,

MEMS, genomics and proteomics. More-

over the objective of the workshop is the

exchange of knowledge pertaining to the

latest advances in biosensors applications

in real life pollution problems, bio-

analytical micro and nano techniques and

clinical diagnostics. The schedule and the

the specific details for the programs to be

conducted is put up on www.bits-goa.ac.in/

biosensorworkshop07, the highlight being

the exhibition and demonstration of scien-

tific instruments. Selected papers on

themes of the workshop will be referredand published on a special issue of Interna-

tional Journal of Environmental Analytical

Chemistry (IJEAC). The event will be an

important step towards strengthening exist-

ing research and education opportunities

now and also for the future. We thank our

dedicated faculty and students involved

with the workshop and sincerely hope that

everyone’s efforts will be fruitfully re-

warded.

Our campus has decided to go forth and

introduce M.E. programs. The work that is

going on besides CH5 is the construction

of a new hostel for M.E. program students.

The M.E. programs proposed to be intro-

duced initially are Design engineering, IT

enabled MBA and biotechnology but thefinal decision will be taken by the senate

(this is the decision making body compris-

ing of Pilani and Goa faculty and student

representatives). It has also been proposed

that two students of our campus will be

made associate members of the senate.

The membership will be on semester basis

with one former CSA member and the

other an active student of the campus.

As far as the placements are concerned the

number of our campus students recruited

by the top companies is more than that of

the Pilani campus and almost all the peo-

ple have been placed within two months of

the commencement of placements.It has also been confirmed from official

sources that the rankings published in Out-

look Magazine concerning the ratings of

BITS-Pilani actually include statistics

from the Goa campus as well (a reason to

for the cynics to smile).

SNEAK –PEEK

[THE BITS HERALD] [VOLUME 2 ISSUE 2] [October 02, 2007]



Dear Reader,

The ultimate goal of any student in BITS is to strike a perfect balance. A perfect balance be-

tween academics and co-curricular activities; a balance between fun and studies ,a balance to

make these 4 years of engineering the most enjoyable as well as the most productive. But aremost of us able to do so? Do we always need to sacrifice academics in order to shine in the ex-

tra-curricular field?

The answer does not solely lie in the student’s capabilities alone. In this system where every-

thing is relative, it does matter as to how the other performs. A few of the students who are

wholly dedicated to academics and do not participate in any other activity are shining in the aca-

demic field and setting examples of how to increase the overall performance and the most im-

portant grading factor – the average. So a few who are devoting ample time to hone their other

interpersonal as well as social skills, fall short in this respect. They are not able to match up to

the hours of study put in by their more nerdy counterparts. A few marks lost here and there cost

them their grades. Ultimately as the significance of a higher CGPA is increasing day by day(placements, PS allotments etc), the choice of academics seems to be more fruitful. This results

in almost no extra-curricular activity. It is almost sacrificing one for another. Generally, a person

who dares to follow his non-academic interest suffers in the classroom. Is the system aimed at

just CGPAs and marks? Is the ideal BITSian a 10 pointer with close to 0 extra-curricular activi-

ties? Why is there a clear demarcation between a non-participant in terms of extra-curricular

activities and one who does? This difference is now felt clearly among the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year

students.

There is another balance to be struck. In this era of rapidly growing technology, it is essential

that the students keep themselves at par with the latest technology. The trend in this campus has

always been more towards culturals. Yes, culturals are important. They are enjoyable. But thetechnical festivals also form a core part of a premier institution such as BITS. Exposure to the

latest advancements is what sets us apart from the rest. There is just a miniscule fraction of stu-

dents who are pursuing any technical projects to showcase at the other college fests. A few oth-

ers just participate in the gaming tourneys of the various colleges. The rest are either inactive or

indifferent. Is the technical bent of mind clearly lacking? Is it the infrastructure? Or the timing

of these events? (Just before exams...) Why isn’t any National Level tech fest able to generate

the same buzz as Waves or Zephyr?

These are few questions we’d like to raise through this issue. A little bit of introspection on our

part is a need of the hour. After all, this time would never come again!

-- EDITOR

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK


CREDITS

EDIT TEAM

Gowri Thampi

(Editor)

Nita Chandrasekhar

Gaurav Singh

Anurag Sharma

Antony

M. Chaitanya

Ritika Ardeshir

Prachi Mehrotra

Megha Ghildyal

INTERVIEW

V Sanjay Kumar R

J Ralino Prazeres

SPONSORSHIP

Aditya Sanyal (1)

Antony Thomas (2)

COORDINATORS

Pratik Mandrekar

Ankit GoyalVivek Kumar

FACULTY

ADVISOR

Dr. Joy Anuradha

Your feedback (suggestions/criticism) is valuable for us.

Write to us at [email protected]; [email protected]

Special Thanks to Director Sir; Ramya Rao and Sai Priya; Abhishek Kumar and others.




Remembrances

Praveen was very friendly, gentle, calm, composed and fun loving guy who came to BITS with a lot of enthusiasm. He

was good at heart and shared a good rapport with everyone. He was an ideal person to hang

around with. Rockstar, as we fondly addressed him, was always cool. He never showed any signs

of tension and took life as it came his way. He was very frank and free with his friends. Besides

having many good qualities, he was a good student and a great dancer who always entertained

everybody with his performance.

Apart from all these, he had some weaknesses - getting scared while watching horror movies or

not able to fight back when teased. We always took advantage of such situations and would love

to tease him. However, he used to take everything in a sportive manner. There are many memora-

ble moments which we had shared together and it is difficult to simply jot them down on a piece of paper. Without him,

things now are not as fun and lively as it were with him around. We truly miss a very valuable part of our lives.

“11 baje se pehle doosro ke liye jiyo…… aur 11 baje ke baad khud ke liye!!!”

That is what Punit Gupta had to say for my question as to how does he manage to be a part of

everything under the campus roof and also maintain a consistent CGPA of 8 point something

Punit Gupta, as the world knows him, was a live dynamo, bursting with energy …all the time.If you wanted to meet him, you had to check out some place on campus that was buzzing with

activity… some great innovators planning out things for almost anything that was proposed,

from festival celebrations to art, literary activities to management presentations and academic

discussions to the hustle-bustle of elections… you’d have found him everywhere, probably say-ing, “chalo naa yaar kuch karte hain…”

He was also a favourite with professors. He was a person who never hesitated in putting up his views. When he was not

very satisfied with the campus magazine,he barged into the faculty advisor’s room , with loads of complaints which werenot welcomed. As a lesson that particular faculty member gave him the responsibility of being the co-ordinator of the

campus e-newsletter “Bitskrieg”; not once did he shrug his shoulders, not once did he get nervous, not once did he flinch

with anxiety or disinterest, instead he moved forward, accepted the offer with dignity and full responsibility and went on

to launch “Bitskreig” officially!

This does not mean that he was an outgoing person through and through. Surprising though it may sound, but Punit was

quite an introvert who loved to sit alone.

A loyal friend, a fair and worthy competitor, a true mentor, a serious student and a constantly motivated soul…this was

and will be Punit for us, forever. In Dr. T.C. Goel Sir’s words, “the SHOWMAN is gone but the show goes on!”

Haricharan , was described as hyperactive and “lolly” kind of guy , someone who could talk

for ages and entertain all his friends. His friends describe him as a guy full of zest and energy

, jumping around and cracking jokes all the time.

Haricharan himself however used to say that he is usually the shy sort of person before be-

coming a friend ,and had no clue as to what he actually was. He was a great lover of music

and dance and was always in high spirits.

Exactly a year ago on a fateful second of October , we lost three wonderful members of

this BITsian family. They will never be forgotten.

Thoughts from those who knew them best—




How was the psyche before placements?

Sai Priya : Placements were thought to be easy , In the absence of guidance from seniors, the ground realities re-mained unknown. Getting short listed by the good companies but not making it through the final rounds was a

source of tension throughout placements.

Ramya : Microsoft never specified a skill set , so we just prepared for the basics. We never knew what to expect.

Could you describe the selection procedure?

Sai Priya : One technical test followed by two technical interviews, one was related to the project and the other

was general. Those short listed had a programming test, which was unique to yahoo, I did well in it.

Ramya : We had a written test , followed by 40 aptitude questions , 40 questions in c, c++ , and 20 questions in

core os and database. Those short listed had to face two interviews: face to face and a telephonic one.

How important are grades and CGPA?

Sai Priya : Performance in CDCs is more important than the overall CGPA.

Ramya : Never neglect your CDCs. You need not always get an A but you must have an interest in them.

Did the BITS brand name help you? Did it fall short in places?

Sai Priya : The Brand doesn’t help in the campus placements ,but it definitely would, in off campus interviews.

The institute should have started the placement planning earlier, and publicized the Goa campus , as many people

aren’t aware of its existence.

Ramya : Microsoft recruiting 7 has nothing to do with the BITS brand , wherever Microsoft’s MSIT division

goes, they recruit a lot of people.

Computer Science should have regular lab sessions like in Pilani, there should be regular programming sessions.The CC should be put to better use.

What are the knowledge prerequisites expected and the helpful courses offered in BITS?

Sai Priya : Yahoo stressed on UNIX , LINUX and PEARL programming. My project based on SQL and databases

along with PHP was an added advantage.

Ramya : C C++ are the basics, Microsoft didn’t specify a required skill set. The interview was more about your

projects, interests and you as a person than about the courses done.

Could you give us an idea about the job description and environment?

Sai Priya : I’ll be in the RnD department , my job will be mostly web based. Yahoo atmosphere seemed very cool

and informal. Yahoo is one of the three most favored employers in the world.

Ramya Rao : We weren’t given a job description, Microsoft has two divisions MSIT and MSDIC , the division that

came to our campus was MSIT , MSDIC went to Pilani.

Are there any statements made during interviews that could cost you your job?

Sai Priya : Be free and natural , don’t be arrogant when they ask you to rate yourself.

Ramya Rao : Never be over confident, arrogant , be humble and honest. If you don’t know something, try to figure

it out at first. If you are going wrong, accept you don’t know and apologize. Not knowing an answer is ok , but

messing up is not.

The first of the placements in BITS-Goa; despite all odds, some have made it to their dream jobs.

A conversation with the achievers. Ramya Rao placed in Microsoft and Sai Priya in Yahoo.




Neither tests, nor the prospect of sacrificing a holiday (or

the fact that there were no venues printed on the invita-

tion circulars!) could bring down the number of studentswho attended the celebrations, especially the Ganeshot-

sava. Ganeshotsava celebrations were scaled down to 2

days this year. The idol was installed in a small pandal

erected in the SAC. The SAC was decorated with fes-

toons of flowers & mango leaves. Beautiful Ganesh post-

ers, prepared by Arts 'n' Deco, were put up on the walls.

The SAC was brilliantly lit up at night.

There was pooja and aarthi on the mornings and evenings

of the 15th and 16th of September. On the evening of the

16th the immersion procession was taken out. Volunteers

carried the idol to its final destination amidst loud shouts

of "Ganapati Bappa Moriya". People threw colours on

each other (and on unsuspecting students relaxing in their

hostels!!) and burst crackers. The noisy crowd danced

madly to the dhols. The procession wound its way slowlyround the campus passing by all the hostels. The idol was

immersed at a beach near Zuari Nagar.

As has been the tradition at BPGC, there were cultural

progrrammes to go with the pooja. A huge crowd (despite

the looming TEST 1)turned up at the beautifully lit audi

and they were not disappointed as the organizing comit-

tee put up a faboulous show.....

The programme had everything....right from a Ganesha

who defeated the devils of BPGC in a game of Counter

Strike(he fought the BITSIAN way!!) to Bal Gangadhar

Purchya Varshi Lawkar Yaa !!

Tilak, and Shivaji coming on the stage to deliver a

social message. The cultural programmes were or-

ganized mainly by the cul reps who did a fabulous

job in a small span of time.

The audi programmes, apart from the songs, dances

(including Lavani) and the humorous moments (some

of which were unintentional, like the microphone

goof ups), had its fair share of 'drama' too. The CSA

members were called up on stage for an impromptu

interview and they turned up with some witty and

brow raising (irresponsible??) answers. The trivias

apart, it was one heck of a programme'.

The Ganeshotsav celebrations pushed to a crescendo

the 'festive'( feast-ive??) season that started withJanmashtmi and was followed by Onam. These two

festivals also had cultural events to go with the pooja,

and provided the students a break from the monotony

of (bunking) lectures and tuts.( and some handy holi-days too (-; ). Long live the festivals, long live the

zest for celebrations......'Ganpati bappa moriya'.

SUNNY AGAIN (!?)

Sun Microsystems Fosters Open Source Innovation

on Campus. It has taken the first step by associatingour campus with the Campus ambassador program.

From our campus, Sun Microsystems has recently

selected Abhishek Kumar to be the campus ambassa-

dor. A sun club is also formed to facilitate function-

ing in the campus.

Sun provides the Campus Ambassadors with free

training and support; in turn, ambassadors help stu-

dent developers take advantage of Sun’s robust port-

folio of high-value, no-cost resources, such as free

web-based training, free developer tools, open source

technologies and communities, and easily accessibletechnical support via forums and communities.

Some of the other benefits for our institute include

free resources from sun under the Sun Academic Ini-

tiative (SAI), free web resource for Sun Certification

courses and a 20% discount on registration fee for

our students, the formation of a Sun Library rack in

our library consisting of books/materials.




In true New York Post Page Six Style we have your monthly fix of Campus Happenings. And the Word of the

Month after the article as an added bonus.

The first and second week of September saw the clubs and departments wind up their re-

cruitment process and go dormant in the event of Test 1. The only notice boards that wereread during week three were ones that indicated seating arrangements. We are excluding,

of course, the notice boards displaying solutions which always had a small, brave

(fatalistic?) set of students hovering around them.

Music, as always, proved a stress buster and how! A certain Punjabi hip hop song has

achieved almost cult-like status post DC + Test 1.

Meanwhile, first year students are still in the process of digesting the system of relative

marking and ‘Academic Transparency’ in the form of recheck requests. On the flipside,

the seniors are still digesting their cumulative GPA. To quote a popular African piece of wisdom, “There’s always

Test 2”. Hope springs eternal...

The newly elected CSA has decided on a new structure for all departmental associations and clubs. Most clubs had

the expected reactions to this change (unless the change we’re speaking of involves mess contractors), they re-sisted. Initially. Then, they held internal (re)elections and complied.

On the meteorological front, the rain’s been living up to predictions of Urban Chaos. Post the initial romance with

the weather, all students want now are dry clothes and hot soup. Throw in a better CGPA while you’re at it.

Events in the pipeline include exclusive Drama, Dance and Rock NITES. And they insist on spelling it that way.

With the inter- hostel competition, Zephyr too, coming up soon, October looks to be an eventful month. And if this

doesn’t excite you enough, the Word of the Month should do it for you.

A little campus happening to tickle your funny bone,

Classes after 5 in the evening is the least looked forward to item in a Bitsian’s schedule.

However those sincere enough to attend one of the 5’o clock Oops lectures were in for a laugh. The mike sets of

LT-3 and 4 had gotten mixed up somehow, so as the students in LT-4 watched their instructors lips move, all theycould hear was a completely different course being taught in the adjoining LT by a female professor

Engineers never get sick of IT . A paper free campus , online complaint boxes are the ‘In thing’ and a matter of

great convenience, but where do we draw the line? This could be it— Faculty who had network problems in their

chambers were requested to fill out an online complaint form.

And finally, the much hyped seed-balls probably had a solid packing. Many are still lying as such. Another similar

campaign is in the pipeline, we have been informed. :-)

Nugatory, adj.: 1. trifling, inconsequential, insignificant.

2. having no force, inoperative, ineffectual.

Nob, phrase: 1. obviously not (!)

“ STOP THINKING IF YOUR GLASS IS HALF-FULL OR HALF-EMPTY.

IF IT IS HALF ANYTHING, ITS TIME TO ORDER ANOTHER ROUND “

Campus Buzz




T I D—B I T S

IBM WORKSHOP

ASCII in association KERNEL (the IS assoc ) conducted a workshop for all the participants of TGMC 2007 - (The

Great Mind Challenge).

The workshop was conducted by Mr shriram venkatesan from IBM’s software division Chennai. The workshop

which was conducted over a period of two days, had sessions on Database 2, Websphere , ECLIPSE and J2EE archi-

tecture. The lectures conducted in the LT were supplemented with hands on lab sessions in the CC. Out of the 220 stu-

dents on campus who registered for IBM’s TGMC , 104 participated in the workshop.

The Participants got market versions of IBMs leading software worth thousands of dollars , absolutely free!!

Aasra , The social services

club of BPGC

is aiming at making a differ-

ence in society through small

steps taken by all Bitsians.

Initiatives will include man-

agement of scarce electricity

and water resources. Preven-tion of food wastage in the

mess, collection of old

clothes and of course, blood

donation. Aasra aims at

reaching everyone through

posters, presentations and

video clips during movies

screened in the Audi.

The Music Nite organized by the Music Club was held on 28th September in the audito-

rium. The Music club has undergone a thorough face-change and it was a string of ex-

cellent performances which were showcased. The songs ranged from Bollywood num-

bers to rock songs which were sung by both boys and girls. Their efforts were thor-oughly appreciated by the crowd.

Our campus participated

in BOSM, held in Pilani

campus. We participated

in Athletics, Chess andTable Tennis. We came

fifth in Chess beating the

host team. Vamsi

Prateek won the Individ-

ual Chess Trophy for the

best game. Despite the

absence of the top player

of our chess club, due to

academic constraints, our

team put up a very good

show.

The finals of the World cup Twenty-20 cricket between arch rivals India and Pakistan

played at Johannesburg, SA was telecast live in the auditorium. It transported everyone

from our campus to the stadium itself. Amongst much rejoicing ,India lifted the World

Cup. The auditorium was in a frenzy. It was a grand finale to the test 1, enjoyed thor-

oughly by everyone in the campus.

The Army folks made a presentation in our campus regarding the future and prospects

of a career in the army. Unexpectedly, a larger second year crowd turned up instead of

the third/fourth years. They came to recruit for the Permanent Service Commission. The

presentation was highly impressive with loads of audio-visuals thrown in.

ART OF LIVING will be conducting the YES!+ course (Youth Empowerment

Seminar Plus) which is centered at achieving Super Concentration, Super Clarity of

thoughts and Super Confidence. The course will be conducted by Mr. Saleel Pulekar

tentatively from 4th to 10th October in the taekwando room in SAC between 5:30 to

9:30 pm on weekdays and between 8:30 am to 8:30 pm on Sunday. Fees for the

course are Rs. 1500/ - About 65 students have already registered for the course and

on-the-spot registration for a fee of Rs. 2500/- is also welcome. It is claimed to be

running successfully in IIT’s, BITS-Pilani and some universities of USA and

Europe.

HINDI DIWAS

September 14 saw the first Hindi Diwas

being celebrated in the campus. It

brought back the nostalgic feelings of

the festival celebrated in our school

days. It witnessed a massive participa-

tion of 78 competitors.

LIVE POETS’ SOCIETY

Enthusiastic members of EPC have

formed the long due poetry club. Dr.

Shalini Upadhyay, Humanities Group,

is the faculty coordinator. It will be a

hub for the budding Hindi and English

poets of our campus.



Most of you must have never been beyond Inox and Miramar to the

other side of the Mandovi, so read on to unlock nature’s hidden

beauty.

A five km bus ride from Panaji bus stand to Ribandar ferry wharf and

a subsequent ferry ride across the Mandovi takes you to Chorao Is-land from where Dr.Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary is only a walking dis-

tance. Here at the riverine tip you can site the migratory and resident

birds dwelling along with the Mugger (fresh water Goan crocs) and

the diverse fauna (Don’t trespass without permission from the sanctu-

ary authority at the entrance). The Chorao Island is a typical Goan

village providing the right ambience for traditional Goan food which

will more than compensate for your weekly mess rituals. You can

take a romantic boat trip across the islands of Chorao and Divar

which will also take you through the Cumbarjua canals where the

crocs are in abundance but, unless you are able to take your eyes

away from your better halves, the elusive crocs won’t catch your eye.

From here you can return back via Old Goa having a slice of the Por-

tuguese heritage of Goa or you can come back through Panaji. This

destination promises much for the ‘Bird watchers’ (you may even get a glimpse of ‘Beautiful Migratory Birds’) and

those for whom serenity is an essence of divinity.


WEEKEND DESTINATION - Croc-A-Birdie-doo

CLOSEST OPTICAL SHOP TO BITS

LOOK OPTICS GALLERY

Addr.1: Shop no. 20 & 21, Anand Towers,

Airport road, Chicalim, Goa.

Addr.2: Royal Plaza Building, near Vegetable

Market, Vasco, Goa.

Ph: (S) 0832-2542997

E-mail: [email protected]

TIMINGS

9-30 AM to 1-30 PM

4-30 AM to 8-30 PM

SUNDAY CLOSED

EXCLUSIVE BOUTIQUE

READYMADE GARMENT

SHOP

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X PLORE

SHOP NO. 33 ROYAL PLAZA BUILDING

OPP. ANNAPURNA SUPER STORE

VASCO-GOA

Ph: 9822144262 (Chetan)

BITS Herald September Issue 2007

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