Student Stories: Articles by current Engineering Students

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43

IIT Madras students' drive to revive Sanskrit in campus

While trying to initiate a course in Sanskrit Language, IIT Madras has not only faced opposition from communist-backed groups inside the campus but has also been a victim of regional language politics. Which has led the Humanities and Social science department (HSSD) of IITM, to finally drop the plan of starting a course in the Sanskrit language.

The earlier proposed slots for the Sanskrit course has now been replaced with Chinese language courses. It is very unfortunate to see Sanskrit language courses in IIT-M being replaced with foreign language courses.

 In a brief period of past 400 years, many foreign invaders have made an attempt to destroy the essence of this language.The Mughal rule followed by British rule in India have witnessed such attempts. Macaulay, who was the then Secretary of Board of Control of British regime in India, recommended his Government to implement a policy which would replace the Sanskrit language based education with the English language.

The reason by which this classical language has sustained through the ages is only due to its rich heritage. Many Ancient travellers have translated Sanskrit texts into various Foreign languages. The importance of Sanskrit language has been realised by many countries worldwide. Many Universities in Germany and the United Kingdom are now running successful courses in Sanskrit language.

Apart from realising its Classical legacy, World is now realizing the other efficient use of this language. Sanskrit's inherent vibrational properties and its grammar, make it one of the most  efficient engine for computational linguistics. Computing linguistic uses the structure of Sanskrit's  grammar, to translate different languages in real time through computational linguistics. This helps to understand different languages in real time.

Realising the importance of Sanskrit language, the students of IIT-M have started discussing the topic among themselves. Now that the response to this discussion has been good and it has been appreciated by other students of IIT-M, students are now enthusiastic  to learn this language more, by starting a class among themselves. In another attempt to revive the language, the Vande Mataram group, a patriotic initiative by IIT Madras students, recently organised a talk by Mr Rajiv Malhotra on the topic "Contemporary Indology Studies".  Mr Rajiv Malhotra has also written a book "Battle For Sanskrit". IIT Madras students are now stressing on a demand to establish Sanskrit as a regular academic course in IIT's.

45

TAKING A WALK DOWN THE "HAVES" LANE

This part of my memory, which stores the timeline of my encounter with Stefan Haves and the experience of having learnt from him, is going to be stored in an all new treasure chest in my memory cells. Which I should always be able to pick out from and relish the feeling of being a 'creator-performer'. At IIT Gandhinagar (IITGn), along with the core subjects, a wide range of humanities subjects are also offered. In order to be in a better position to pick an intellectual or creative abyss to fathom, it is essential for the students to explore the breadth of knowledge and the art forms available for learning.

Global performance is such an initiative by IITGn. This art form was taught by a Stefan Haves. Stefan, also known as the "pied piper of talent" is a globally acclaimed producer, actor and creator of Circus, theatre and film. His most famous works include his contribution in Cirque du Soleil, Dinner/ Cirque Teatro Zinzanni and his noted adaptation of the Shakespeare classic, Jack London's The Call of the Wild. He has directed and collaborated with many internationally acclaimed performers, clowns, acrobats, designers, musicians, sword swallowers and jugglers. He also has the experience of directing films like Punch Drunk, starring Academy award nominee Sally Kellerman.

I remember my first day of this class when I was made to stand and to respond to a 'count 20'...constantly getting pumped with adrenaline, with a mixed feeling of entering the terra incognita of what's coming forth and a minuscule fear of public humiliation raising its head inside my guts. But, every time I entered the gladiator arena called stage after that, I started shedding skins of inhibitions and stopped being selfish with my emotions and fear. In fact, I felt in love with the feeling of being unselfish and relentless and unrestrained to let my emotions flow through facial expressions, gestures and body language.

The thing I loved most in this class is that I learnt a new way of life. To be precise, 'an actor's way of life'. We had the honour of listening to the vast experiences of Stefan and got to know how great actors have spent their lives filling peoples' hearts with joy by performing. While constantly masking their own feelings, veiling their sorrows behind their varieties of facial expressions,  charming modulated voice and beautifully architected body language.

While learning the skills, I savoured my peregrination to new heights of communication, where I sail beyond words and languages and am able to express my emotions, my imaginations, my feelings by manipulating the heterogeneity of human behaviour, character and body language into a potpourri of series of actions stewed together in a cauldron of the experience of a director like Stefan. To produce a potion which will paint a mesmerising and healing picture of a story for the audience who have come to break the ice of monotonous life to watch  something extra-daily. The art of acting and expressing beyond lingual barriers has enabled mankind to stretch further than the confinements of their four-walled society, country or religion. Personally, of all art forms that I've come across, this is the one which appealed me the most.

I have been listening to a line from Stefan, "If you, yourself get bored with arts, then don't take up arts," and in my opinion, it is true beyond doubts. I learnt here that until I enjoy what I am doing, I cannot get my audience indulged in my performance. I learnt to explore my strengths and weaknesses and my likes and dislikes so that I could engage those techniques infused with my strengths to lure the audience into an 'extra-daily world of events'.

In Stefan's opinion, love and fear are the two principal emotions which not only drive the world of different 'art forms' but also run through the lifelines of this whole world. In this class, we learned how to express different shades of these two emotions with our body, voice speech and imagination. I learnt how to take in the given conditions, imagine myself in that situation and let out my emotions using my instruments, that is, my body and my speech. He taught me to be unselfish while expressing myself by the best use of my instruments not withholding my emotions. I am not saying I've already mastered all these; it's just that I've started learning this art.

My strength is that I don't feel shy being on stage and I'm unselfish towards expressing myself. My stretches are many and there is always a scope to ameliorate. The audience needs a performer who depicts a situation in their mind, I am working to improve on my stretches. In the final presentation, I did two acts. First one was a mime with my friend depicting monotonous job life. The second was an impromptu solo mime by me depicting a tug of war event. The link to the same has been shared here (Manas_Tug of War_A Tribute to Stefan Haves).

The fact that this half-semester course has come to an end is a feeling which torments my heart but as Stefan says, whatever we have learnt and done is only the tip of the iceberg and there is a lot more to learn, experiment and achieve. Being an actor-performer, we can never cease to learn and experiment. To cap it all, this course has left an imprint on my mind, body and soul so deep that it will never go off. I don't know how to express my gratitude to Stefan who has taught me an altogether new art of life.

46

Hey all,

PaGaLGuY is proud to announce its first ever Photography Competition exclusively for Engineering Students. To be judged by none other than the Pulitzer Prize nominee photographer Arko Datta.

Who can participate: If you are studying in an engineering institute, be it an IIT, IIIT, NIT or in any other Government or Private engineering college, this contest is for you.

What do you need: Pretty little. You have a camera, great. You don't have a camera, better because all you need is just something that will go click click at the right time and right place. And that need not be a smartphone either, just any mobile camera will also do.

What can you photograph: You can shoot almost anything, but it has to do with your academic life, may be your campus walls, your college building, classrooms, stairways, corridors, mess food, professors, your BFFs or even the dogs and not so domesticated animals who loiter around.

Prizes: Cool ones. The best photo will go home with an Amazon-voucher worth of Rs 5,000. If you've just missed the First place, there is a voucher worth Rs 3,000 for the first runner-up. And hang on, there is a Third Prize too, a voucher worth Rs 2,000 for the second runner-up.

Entries: Contest starts on February 15, 2016 and ends on March 16, 2016. Send your photos to [email protected].

The Judge: Arko Datta's photographs have been published in leading newspapers and magazines like The New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, International Herald Tribune and on the covers of Time magazine, Newsweek, The Economist and more.

Arko Datta is also the co-founder of Udaan School of Photography.

Some of Arko Datta's awards include:

· World Press 'Photo of the Year' 2004 award.

· Pulitzer Prize nomination for Breaking News Photography in 2005

· Photographer of the year by Asian Photography magazine (twice) in 2003 and 2004.

· Recognized as one of world's top 20 photographers by Rotovision in its coffee table book.

Rules of the Contest:

1. Send your photographs with the following credentials,

1.1) PaGaLGuY username

1.2) Name of the Participant

1.3) Name of the institute

1.4) One-line caption for the photo

2. Send us the original full-size images. Remember this is a contest of talented photography, not 'photoshopping'. Keep image editing to a bare minimum.

3. Only fresh and genuine photographs will be entertained. Photographs taken months ago will not make the cut. Make sure you have your time and date settings on while clicking the picture. Any legal issues arising out of a photograph sent for the competition will be borne by the sender.

4. The decision of the judge will be final and binding.

5. The winning photographs will be chosen on the basis of a combination of the number of likes on the photograph on our website, and the Judges' scores.

6. PaGaLGuY will gain full, unlimited and irrevocable copyright to use all the photographs sent as entries for its publications in the future. We will always provide credit to the photographer whenever we use them, though. 

47

A spectacular week at IIT Tirupati

It has been an enjoyable and a special week at IIT Tirupati which proved that engineering degree at an IIT is not just about books and GPA.

The week started off with the screening of 'How to train your dragon', as a part of the life skills course, to learn about innovation and creativity. Then on Wednesday(17.02.2016),  students were taken to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre(SDSC), the branch of ISRO in Sriharikota. There we visited the Mission Control Centre, both the launch pads, Tracking centre, Space Museum and the Library. At the end of the visit, the students were addressed by Mr. P Vijayasarathy, Group Director, SDSC.

The next day, students visited the permanent campus site of IIT Tirupati and conducted an ecological study of the flora and fauna there as a part of the Ecology and Environment course. Set at the foot of the Shesachalam hills, the campus has a variety of birds, butterflies and plants. Though no dangerous animals were spotted, we saw the skin of a cobra (which is also a flagship species of IIT Madras). 

On Friday, Prof. Deshdeep Sahdev, Former Professor, IIT Kanpur and present Mentor of Quazzar Technologies, delivered a special lecture on "Resolving Atom in Backyard: Indigenous Technology in a Globalised World". The lecture was interactive and it motivated the students to start their own companies in India.

On Saturday, student volunteers of IIT Tirupati visited Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1 at Tirupati and demonstrated experiments to encourage school students to pursue their career in fields of Science.

The weekend was filled with fun, thanks to the Out Bound Training(OBT) programme, conducted as a part of the Life Skills course. It was organised by the OBT team of IIT Madras for both, students and the staff. It was filled with teamwork based physical activities. Everyone enjoyed so much that students wanted the training to be conducted at least once in every semester. And with this IIT Tirupati became the first among the younger IITs, and second only to IIT Madras among all IITs to have conducted an OBT.

48

Surat Night Marathon; More than just running for funds

On 13th February, Sunday, the city of Surat was gripped with unity for the 4th edition of India's biggest night marathon. It was organised in order to raise funds for various causes such as, installation of CCTV cameras in the city, implementing clean India project and improving facilities in a cancer hospital in Surat. The night marathon lifted the spirit of the participants as huge crowds turned up to cheer for them. Akshay Kumar was the brand ambassador for the event, who was also accompanied by Nimrit Kaur.

The marathon included the longest track of 42 kilometres along with other options of 21km, 10km and 5km runs. There was also a 1km run specially for the physically handicapped. The track had stalls for provision of water and energy drinks for the runners and in addition music systems were also set up.

Youngsters from different colleges across the city came forward to volunteer for the marathon. They were responsible for handling incoming traffic, keeping a watch on the crowd, providing drinks to runners and more.

Amidst all the running and cheering, an aged, but youthful man entertained the crowd with his professional gymnastics in a bid to win ladies' hearts, wishing them happy valentine's day in advance. Another elderly showed off his brightly lit custom made bicycle which was small but comfortable.

It was beautiful to witness the night marathon which became a symbol of unity for the city of Surat.

49

Gymkhana Elections : IIT Guwahati Choses its leaders

IIT Guwahati's gymkhana elections are just around the corner as the students gear up to choose their future leaders and representatives. Students from one of the best engineering colleges of the country are not only considered to be extremely smart and hard-working, but they also have a lot of innovative ideas up their sleeves. Every year, the students of  our college chose their representatives from the extremely talented and dedicated pool of contestants to bring about the reforms that give the student community more freedom and opportunities in their desired fields.

The Gymkhana Council is the student executive body of IIT Guwahati. The VP or the vice-president is the highest post for a student executive in the Gymkhana Council which includes boards like the Technical, Cultural, Welfare, Sports and Hostel Affairs. Each of these boards unitedly look into every small matter/trouble in the college and act as the source of communication between the student community and the college authority. Each of these boards has a Secretary, who supervises various events and competitions throughout the year to engage the students and keep their enthusiasm high for what they love to do.

Apart from organising various events and competitions for the student community, the Gymkhana Council also strives to improve facilities for the students inside the campus by improving connections with Alumni and trying to incorporate student exchange programs in the current system. 

A transparent election procedure is called for under these conditions since the gymkhana plays such an important role for the students. The college has a Chief Election Officer appointed specifically for this purpose. Even at this juncture, IIT Guwahati emphasises on the importance to vote and tries to ensure that the agenda of each of the candidates reaches the whole 'Junta' of IITG so that they can make a responsible and informed decision.

50

 IIT Gandhinagar celebrates the discovery of gravitational waves

A recent great mind-blowing achievement by some scientists and physicians has opened a new door to explore more about the universe and the Big-Bang. This may ultimately lead us to finding out the answer to the greatest question ever- "How life emerged and how did  the planet earth come into existence?" Several decades ago Einstein had predicted that gravitational waves transport energy in the form of gravitational radiation. Gravitational waves are a measure of strain due to the motion of large masses that stretch space-time fabric. Space-time fabric is a way of viewing space and time as a single, interwoven continuum. Just like the way energy and mass are interchangeable forms of each other, space and time are also interrelated. These waves travel at the speed of light and cannot be stopped or blocked by anything. The gravitational waves were detected on September 14, 2015 at 5.51 am Eastern Daylight Time by both of the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington, USA. LIGO is a Scientific Collaboration, a group of more than 1,000 scientists from universities around the US and from 14 other countries. 

This discovery has not only validated Einstein's hypothesis of the existence of gravitational waves, but has also proved the existence of black holes, which was till date questionable. This is the first time that the scientists directly saw a black hole, a mass 30 times larger than that of the sun, and is undoubtedly the most intriguing object ever known to mankind. Being very faint to detect, it was quite challenging and could have been possible due to LIGO which can measure so precisely the tiny distortion in the space-time fabric.

IIT-Gn group is a part of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration that works under the aegis of Indian Initiative in Gravitational-Wave Observations (IndIGO), a consortium of scientists from nine Indian research institutes and universities who contributed to the discovery. IIT-Gn is a part of this break-through achievement in the field of science that has answered a lot of questions and opened a way to find the answers to the remaining questions about the mysterious universe. Professor Anand Sengupta of IITGN was active principal investigator of the Indian group, which was active in the IndIGO's interaction with the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC).

The next question that jumps into one's mind is what actually generated these waves and how did these scientists detect it?

When two massive black holes spiral against each other, they release energy in the form of gravitational wave, which results in the merging of these two black holes into a single black hole. And at that time the power of gravitational wave is 50 times more than the combined power of all the stars in the universe. That pulse of gravitational waves lasting only for a fraction of a second expanding throughout the universe unimpeded by billions of galaxies reached the earth after 1.3 billion years. Gravitational waves alternatively squeeze and stretch the space itself and everything it passes through. The same happened to the earth but it's quite faint and invisible. In order to directly detect them, the scientists built LIGO, the most sensitive measuring device ever made. It uses device called interferometer to measure tiny displacements in space. Incredibly tiny distortions in the space can actually be measured by using this device. This tiny measurement made by LIGO is a final step to the journey that began 1.3 billion years ago in the distant universe when two black holes collided.

As the news of the revolutionary discovery of gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time, spread across the globe, IIT Gandhinagar celebrated this Eureka moment. IITGN is proud of Prof. Sengupta for being a part of this glorious and breath-taking achievement in the field of astro-physics.

51

IIT Gn Celebrates Matribhasha Diwas

Once again the rich cultural diversity in IIT Gandhinagar (IIT-Gn) was brought out on the occasion of Matribhasha Diwas. The evening of 21st February was filled with colours, when students, staff, faculties and their children painted an extra daily picture of oneness in multeity. The programme sprang to life with a student paying tribute to Rashtrakavi Maithili Sharan Gupt by reciting his lines: 

Jisko na nij desh tatha nij bhasha ka abhimaan hai,

Woh nar nahi, nar pashu nira hai, aur mritak samaan hai.

What continued in the event could only be experienced personally, as words cannot follow the trails of such a multifarious event! India has transcended its diverse regional, cultural and linguistic barriers. This unity in multeity was manifested as the evening was filled with many regional and local performances. Breath-taking Marathi monologue, bewitching Tamil songs, intense poems in Hindi, Odia, Rajasthani, Urdu and Punjabi and inculpable performances by kids, ignited in the minds of the audience a fire to never let go of our rich cultural diversity. 

This celebration is a tribute to the tragedy in Bangladesh in the year 1952 on this day when students from University of Dhaka, Jagannath University and Dhaka Medical College were shot dead by police. The then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) had declared Urdu as  the national language, although Bengali was the language of native speakers. During the  Bengali Language Movement, there was a peaceful provincial protest by the citizens to allow their maiden language to be accepted as the national language. The government invoked a curfew and the protest was tamed by Pakistani police and army with gunfire. UNESCO proclaimed 21st February as International Mother Language Day to commemorate those events of 1952, and later it was recognised by UN General Assembly in 2008 to promote multilingualism.

IIT-Gn is endowed with rich linguistic and cultural diversity. The variety in such institutes of national importance and the harmony therein ostend a lesson to the whole nation. This is a declaration to the world that this multeity is not our weakest link, this is not the place where the crusaders can swarm in and exploit us, not anymore! Rather, we take pride and strength from it as it empowers us to stretch beyond our comfort zones and reach out. Imagine a blank sheet of canvas, and then paint it with the most vibrant colours... Now you get to see what diversity adds to monotony!

52

THE USHER OF NEW SCIENTIFIC CONFLUENCE

IIT Patna and Centre for Tele-Infrastruktur (CTIF), Aalborg University, Denmark have signed an MoU on December 09, 2015. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Prof. Pushpak Bhattacharyya, Director IIT Patna, and Prof. Ramjee Prasad, Director CTIF, Denmark. This collaboration is set to propel young engineers and researchers of IIT Patna towards research, innovation and entrepreneurship. The cooperation will further promote exchange of research programmes, wherein students and faculty will be benefited through the latest developments in various engineering disciplines. After signing the MoU, Prof. Prasad gave a talk on "Human Bond Communications Beyond 2050" which covered a spectrum of topics in the field of wireless communications, specifically focusing on the development of 5G technologies and beyond. He further spoke about his plan to set up a world class company to develop 5G technologies in Patna. The talk also encouraged students and faculty proposing new ideas in various engineering disciplines to make the world a better place.

Soon there will also be an exchange programme wherein students and faculty from IIT-Patna and Aalborg University will be visiting the other college. Similar to this MoU, IIT-Patna is already in collaboration with University of Hartford USA, National University of Singapore, University of Houston, USA, Louisiana State University, USA, University of New South Wales, Australia and Universita Ca'Foscari di Venezia, Italy.

53

ED and EM: Destroying a fresher's life since inception

In a world where youngsters are into buying selfie sticks, IITians in their first year buy drafters. Initially what seems to be a simple instrument of two perpendicular scales, it is well equipped with numerous plans of destroying the first 4 months at IIT.

Well, Engineering Drawing or ED(as IITians call it) isn't all about drawing lines and circles, it's all about testing one's temperament to the very last bit. With a compass box equipped with instruments that could allow one to execute a full-proof murder, to type of pencils you have never heard of (HB, 1H , 2H and what not), it's a sure shot recipe for destruction.

ED is a course which teaches you the real meaning of 1mm, since there is a convention in ED wherein letters written are of 7mm height and 5mm breadth. Breaking this convention is equivalent to a cardinal sin. The course starts with basic theory classes explaining the bits and bytes of the subject and professors forcing you to believe that ED is the "language" of engineers. And the lab tutorials are 3 hour long versions of the 'Exorcist',  'Shining' and 'Conjuring' combined. This fun continues weekly for 4 long months, and the Satan regularly strikes in the form of quizzes, mid-sem and end-sem exams. 

Somehow we managed to learn the art, I mean language, to some extent and managed to pass, but fate came back to strike us in the form of Engineering Mechanics.

Mathematically defined, Engineering Mechanics (EM) course is like an exponentially increasing curve plotted with toughness against time. EM starts with discussing Kinematics and Newton's Laws of Motion. These two topics play a very important role in an IITians life because they are the easiest topic in the lot and we start feeling nostalgic whenever EM topics are brought up. While we are in nostalgia, EM rides on its exponential curve and comes onto elasticity, a topic which probably no one studies because of its low stakes in JEE. Soon, we start regretting for not studying it during EM.

The road from here never gets easy. Weekly quizzes are as treacherous as they could be. EM quizzes have a special beauty, even the batch topper isn't able to solve all the questions correctly in the given time which in turn affects all others as he won't tell his answers until he finishes but we all are IITians after all, we improvise and somehow manage to get the things in work. EM quizzes feel like disaster management drill and during every drill one or the other does get hurt.

The good thing is that EM finishes in 4 months and never comes back. These two courses make us realise that an IITian's life is full of hardships. Those who think getting into an IIT is all they have to do, these two curses act as torch bearers to prove them wrong. 

54

Gravity the 5th Dimension. What next?

With extraordinary findings of gravity ripples in space, the scientists at LEGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) have successfully served mankind with the knowledge of a completely new dimension, which is- Gravity.

Thanks to Einstein who dared 100 years ago to go against the Newton's theory of gravity- 'Mass attracts Mass', and gave his mind blasting Theory of Relativity which made the physics world go topsy-turvy. It is only because of people like Einstein, and the scientists that are currently working in the LEGO, that today we are seeing Gravity as another dimension- just like Spatial Coordinates, and Time.

What are Gravity Ripples?

Newton suggested that this universe is an empty space where every celestial body is drifting away from each other on an undefined course, originating from the big bang. But Einstein couldn't believe this theory. He kept insisting to other scientists that nothing in this world can happen without a reason. Though he couldn't explain much about how the universe came into being, he gave us a completely new tool to study space- The Theory of Relativity.

The relativity theory can be understood like this-

Let us consider our solar system. Imagine the space of our solar system; where the sun and the planets lie; as a stretched rubber sheet (termed as space-time). Now keep the sun in the center of the sheet. As you can imagine, because of the massive mass of the sun, the sheet distorts in the center and bends inwards, thus distorting the space around itself. Now if another body travelling in a straight line comes in the vicinity of the sun, due to the distorted space, it starts to revolve around the sun. If the linear velocity of the body (let's say Earth) is appropriate, it starts to revolve around the sun with a constant angular velocity.

The phenomenon of Gravity Ripples is completely analogous to the ripples of water created by ships moving at a high velocity. To understand the Gravity Ripples, again we assume a stretched rubber sheet as the space. Now on this sheet of space-time, if an extremely massive body, let say a black hole, is moving at a very high velocity, it creates ripples of space-time distortion on the rubber sheet. These ripples are termed aptly as Gravity Ripples.

How does LEGO work?

LEGO works on the principle of wave interference. A highly powerful laser beam is first passed into the 4 km long L shaped-tunnel, in equal proportions, using a partial reflector kept at the L corner. The then reflected beams from the two ends of the tunnel are made to meet at the corner, where their interference pattern is observed. Whenever there is a Gravity Ripple crossing the space time, the space distorts and changes the lengths of the tunnel, disturbing the interference pattern of the reflected waves. This disturbance is what tells the scientists that a Ripple just crossed the space time. The LEGO observatory being the most delicate instrument on the Earth is capable of detecting a distortion of the order of the diameter of a proton.

Where are we heading?

According to Hindu Mythology and Cosmology, Lord Krishna is said to be the Lord of 10 Dimensions, Dasho Dishao ke Swami. If one believes in it, then there are still 5 more dimensions to find out. But are our brains big enough to understand the next 5 dimensions? Will we be able to study the other dimensions in the limited time that we have (10,000 years before Kalayuga ends)? And if another brain like that of Einstein's emerges and understands all the 10 dimensions, will he not be known as an Avatar of the Lord Krishna himself. So where are we heading? Becoming Gods? Can one imagine the world it would be if all mankind understands the 10 dimensions? Hindu cosmology believes the 4 Kaals to be a continuous cycle. Will it mark the beginning of Satyuga - The period of 6 Vishnu Avatars? 

55

Can Neuroscience tell you anything about 'Beauty'???

'Beauty' has not just fascinated the common people but also philosophers and great thinkers since antiquity. It has also been one of the most debated words, owing to its varied connotations and subjective nature. Although it was never a standalone discourse in itself, it was studied under the broad umbrella of aesthetics in arts and humanities. Scientists were always skeptic to talk about this term. But nevertheless, many philosophers from pre-historic and post-modern age attempted to explain this seemingly simple yet complex term. Of them, a few notable people who paved the path of bringing 'beauty' into the scientific discussion were Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Hume, Burke, Kant and Hegel.

Borne out of paintings, sculptures and poetry, 'beauty' soon entered the laboratory where scientists were trying to quantify this subjective aesthetic appreciation by conduction neuropsychological experiments. These efforts gave rise to a new discipline known as 'neuroaesthetics' and scientists like Fechner, Wundt, Helmholtz, among others, are known for laying its founding stones. The 20th century witnessed a union of its kind when 'beauty' and 'brain' were discussed together. Popular neuroscientists like Changeux, Ramachandran and Zeki performed some seminal work in this direction which was suggesting that 'beauty' lies in the brain of the beholder. 

On his recent visit to IIT Gandhinagar, Semir Zeki (professor of Neuroaesthetics at University College London) gave a public lecture on 'The Neurobiology of aesthetic experiences and the significance of beauty'. Zeki, who has coined the term neuroaesthetics, has worked extensively in this area and is trying to explore the neural basis underlying the experience of beauty generated by sensory inputs; in other words, looking at the brain areas involved during aesthetic experience.  Zeki proposes that visual art is an extension of the functions of the visual brain, i.e. art is trying to achieve what the visual brain is doing. He said during his lecture at IITGN that "the only truth you can be sure of is the subjective truth" and studying the brain can shed some light on the subjective experience of beauty. His work suggests that a region of the brain known as medial orbital frontal cortex is involved when a person experiences beauty. This according to him, points towards the fact that 'there is a single characteristic which defines beauty and that lies in the brain'. He also added that the brain somehow 'decides', 'filters' and separately processes 'beautiful' and 'ugly' stimuli.

Zeki draws a lot of inspiration from Edmund Burke who defined 'beauty' back in 1757 as, "Beauty is, for the greater part, some quality in bodies acting mechanically upon the human mind by intervention of the senses". Zeki, therefore, insists that the future work attempting to decipher 'beauty' can always look back to the rich history of philosophy and arts and draw valuable insights from that in order to understand the complex nature of 'beauty'.

56

CleaNIT; the new cleanliness drive @ MNIT

On the delightful morning of 2nd October 2014, our beloved Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, voiced aloud his vision to pay a tribute to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.  This vision, ingrained deep in the hearts of every Indian, was "Swachh Bharat".

Inspired to contribute to this vision, the Malaviya National Institute of Technology(MNIT) decided to ally the Prime Minister in his efforts. The Creative Arts and Cultural Society of MNIT brainstormed the idea of 'CleaNIT' or 'Clean NIT', where students would come forward to participate in a cleanliness competition rather than just a cleanliness drive. "Cleanliness drive was the new swag in our college. Hence, we came up with the idea of converting cleanliness- a free service, into cleanliness- a contest."  says Nemish Shah, the President of CACS. 

The first CleaNIT- the clean NIT competition, was launched on August 15, 2015, the day when everyone feels a rush of patriotism. Students began to register in teams of 4 for the competition. The CACS team had created a list of all the unclean places inside the campus where the teams were sent with brooms, gloves, masks, paper soaps and a time limit of just 45 minutes to clean the area and bring as much garbage as they could.

Around 500 students and teachers participated and more than 2 tractors full of garbage were sent to the recycling plant. Since then, 3 CleaNITs have been organised in MNIT. New dustbins have been installed in campus at every 100 meters.

Through this movement, MNIT contributed, and still does, towards making India a cleaner country to live in.

58

Leonardo finally O'scarred' for life

After being nominated thrice in the best actor category for the academy awards, Leonardo DiCaprio has finally been honoured with an Oscar in his 25 year long career.

He has received the accolade for the visually magnificent masterpiece, The Revenant, directed by the Mexican director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. The director also received an Oscar for the film and hence has achieved this feat for the second time as he did for Birdman last year.

It was unequivocal of social media news feeds to be flooded with posts mentioning Leonardo and his long awaited triumph. The actor, who shot to international fame in 1997 for the epic Titanic directed by James Cameron, has been nominated for a total of 161 awards winning 45 out of them. His choice of philosophically inclined roles and diligently justifying each character has earned him genuine respect and love over his progressive career.

At the age of 41, DiCaprio remains unmarried giving all he can to his profession. Undoubtedly, he is and will be one of the finest artists of all time.

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Life at IIT: A fresher's insight

Every IITian in this nation has worked rigorously to get into the institution s/he is in now. If you ask any of them whether it was worth it? They would all say YES! 

What happens at IIT remains at IIT. If you think IITians are hardworking, 24 hour-geeks, sleep-deprived and study most of the time, then you are very wrong. IITians aren't hard working but smart working., just like any other college student.

So, I too had to burn the midnight oil for a tardy 2 years to get into IIT Guwahati (IITG). I was a normal student, "non-KOTAian" and studied for 4-5 hours daily. (Yes, you read it right, 4-5 hours of study can get you into IIT.) After my 12th board examinations, I scored average marks in JEE Mains that shook my world apart, but JEE Advanced 2015 was a game turner. The paper pattern was at a whole new level, but somehow I pulled it off, and now I am writing this article sitting in one the best engineering institutes in the country.

IIT came as a surprise to me. Students were a lot cooler than I thought they would be. Professors are a lot younger than I expected them to be(some exceptions exist). The only thing that disappointed me was  that the girl to boy ratio was 1:10, which means almost zero chances of finding a girlfriend.

The past 6 months in the institute have been packed with several big scale phenomena. During Techniche, the annual techno-management fest, and the inter hostel cultural championship we proudly proved that IITians can be photographers, actors, singers, dancers and what not. But life isn't always a bed of roses. After these good experiences came the mid-semester and end-semester exams. Just 6 months ago, we were the best academicians in India and now were struggling to just pass in a physics test

But in all, was my 2 years of hard work worth it? YES! It was. 

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Education at IITs now closer at hand for foreign students

In a meeting recently held between Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) officials and Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) officials, it has been finalised that the entrance exams for admission to IITs will also be held in foreign countries. For the first time, JEE Advanced will be held in Singapore, Ethiopia, UAE and the SAARC nations (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nepal). This is a joint endeavour of the MHRD, MEA and IITs to buoy India's position in international academic rankings.

Till the current academic year, the JEE was conducted for Indian nationals only. This new arrangement is the first step towards reaching out to more undergraduate and post graduate foreign students. IIT Bombay is bestowed with the responsibility to prepare the essential information for this transcend. A detailed plan for conducting GATE and JEE exams abroad is to be made and submitted to the committee by IIT-Bombay Director, Professor Khakhar. A web portal with FAQs, test and course details has to be braced soon to get through to maximum people in these eight nations. With the exam to be conducted in 2017, the promulgation has to start by the end of July, 2016. The Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) is accredited as the nodal agency for the exams on behalf of MEA. The tests will be conducted and checked by IITs with significant collaboration with Indian missions in these countries.

A comprehensive report on a new system to attract international applications to IITs was prepared by the IIT-Madras Director. It is a relief to Indian students that those number of seats for foreign applications will be supplementary and will not be whittled down from the already available seats for Indian nationals. It was also decided that the foreign applicants have to fork over more with the subsidised fee structure applicable only to Indian students. With more students applying abroad and only a handful foreign student applications for the premier institutes of India, it is high time a giant leap was taken to make necessary amendments in prevailing educational scenario in the nation. With the native students assured of not losing their space in these institutes and the entrance tests conducted and checked in foreign countries, this might prove to be epochal.

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Advaya: The annual PG fest at IIT-G 

College fests are the epitome of entertainment and zeal at any college. It brings the otherwise mundane atmosphere to life. Having recently concluded Alcheringa, the second biggest cultural fest in the country, and inter hostel events like Kriti and Spardha, the students are now preparing for  Advaya, the fest by the post graduate students at IIT Guwahati. 

Commenced in 2010, Advaya got its official name, signifying unity, in 2012.  The theme for this year of Advaya is 'La Fiesta' translating to 'The Party'. Advaya is a combined technical and cultural fest by the PG section of the college, which includes various types of events from the literary and the technical fields to the drama, sports and the art fields. The fest will be organised from 11th - 13th March at the IIT-G campus this year.

Advaya will also include some specials like the Bollywood night, the Kavi Sammelan night and some other informal events like Gully Cricket and Dumb Charades which will aim at giving the married scholars a break from their tedious routines and let them enjoy the air of celebration at IIT Guwahati. The fest will not disappoint the techno geeks or the artists who express through their paintings and sketches. The sportsmen too will be rewarded for putting up pleasing performances. The writers will try their hands or I must say pens at story writing, while the dancers will get a chance to show off their moves at a huge platform. The Advaya team further plans to organise workshops and flash mobs during the day to make it more interesting and amazing. 

Advaya therefore, can be said to be a complete fest in itself, having something or the other for everyone. 

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To curb the alarming levels of pollution in the national capital, the Government of Delhi implemented the odd-even scheme for 15 Days. During this period, the government spent nearly 14 crores to hire more buses to ensure people had enough public transport services available to them during the implementation of the scheme. The Government of Delhi also spent nearly 5 crores on advertising the scheme, so that people were made aware of it. If such a huge amount was spent for implementing the scheme for a duration of only 15 days, then imagine the cost of implementing the scheme for a whole year.

During the implementation of this scheme, there were also a number of exemptions like, allowing two wheelers, exempting women drivers, allowing CNG vehicles and also government vehicles. Moreover, schools were closed during this period which meant a large reduction in traffic. Many reports also state that there was no substantial change in air quality after the completion of the scheme. Even though the government of Delhi was able to successfully reduce the number of vehicles on the roads of Delhi, there were also a lot of inconveniences caused to some people during that time. Moreover, if the odd-even scheme is implemented on a full scale, there will also be a tremendous amount of burden on the public transport system, which is difficult to handle during peak hours. 

The infrastructure of the road transport system should be improved based on future demand, rather than trying to solve it whenever the problems become serious. Moreover, the current metro is running at its full capacity and soon there will be a shortage in the infrastructure of the metro to meet growing commuters every year. The Government should increase the metro frequency and also try to cover as much area as possible. This will help refrain the working class from using their vehicles to go to work, allowing them to use the metro without facing any inconveniences.  

I feel that the odd-even scheme is a temporary initiative and is not an efficient solution for the pollution problems in Delhi. Rather than trying to use temporary solutions to tackle the pollution, the Government should try to concentrate more on the long term and permanent solutions which are very effective and efficient in controlling pollution. The government should also keep in mind the growing population and also the future needs of the Delhiites.

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A canteen that promotes dining with friends at IIT Gandhinagar

Unlike undergraduates, research scholars are not lucky enough to have the option of going  home during semester breaks. However, we have found the new night canteen at IIT Gandhinagar (IIT-Gn) as something good and favourable for us. Many IIT-Gn students were longing to have a canteen near the hostel area with 24*7 availability, so that they could be freed of time restrictions in the mess and have food whenever they feel hungry.

With the opening of the new night canteen in our campus, near the panchayat circle, it seems like our desire has been fulfilled. The good thing is that we can have our tea or coffee or maggi, as many times as we want, without having to cook it ourselves.

So now our panchayat circle is no more alone! It enjoys the company of students all the time, all thanks to this canteen. Sometimes it's a delight to also see some faculty members, along with their family seated around the Panchayat circle. Thanks to this  canteen, we can now sit with friends and eat together whatever we like, not the boring mess menu with same flavour and limited varieties. It has added flavour to our taste buds  as well as convenience to our schedules. The canteen's food is tasty and hygienic.

The Panchayat circle with the canteen, has now become the hot-spot of our hostel area.   

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Humanities courses for Engineering Students

Institutes like IITs foster the philosophy of holistic growth and development for their students. These institutes not just encourage the students to take part in extra curricular activities, but also explore other areas/studies of their interest by taking up courses in fields different from their respective disciplines. One such endeavour is to engage students in humanities and social science (HSS) courses. Students in IITs are required to take some HSS courses along with their regular courses. The aim behind this is to give students a wide perspective on varied discourses. Introductory courses on philosophy, world civilisation, Indian knowledge systems, politics, communication, anthropology and so on are taught to students to familiarise them with soft studies. Now one can argue- what purpose will a HSS course serve for engineering students? And won't these mandatory HSS courses come with the cost of insufficient technical education? It is undeniably true that introducing students to humanities has underlying positive aspects. But what kind of HSS courses should be offered is a question worth pondering. The courses should be such that they can engage the students who have come primarily for technical education. For example, a course on 'contemporary concerns of India' can not just expose students to the challenges that India is battling with, but also requires students to implement their technical knowledge attained so far in order to address those issues. It therefore makes sense to design and offer such kind of courses which won't just be a random humanities course for students enrolled in technical institutes, but would involve their active engagement as well. A degree in B.Tech requires completion of some basic science and core engineering courses that should be usually done within 4 years. Now if there are mandatory courses in HSS, it would naturally reduce the number of engineering course that a student can do in 4 years. It, therefore, necessitates to rethink on the number of mandatory HSS courses an engineering student should take. A proper thought on HSS courses designed specifically for the engineers-to-be will acquaint them with soft skills which along with their technical education can have various implementations at real-life problem solving and policy making levels. And if this can be achieved, then the credibility of HSS for technical institutes would not be challenged in