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August 2009 Freshers Special 1
Let the curtains riseThis month of August, the campus witnesses a gamut of new faces, new courses, new ambitions and new dreams. While a whole bunch has graduated and packed their bags and their experiences here, a fresh batch walks in, anticipating those experiences. There will be moments of exhilaration, ideation; moments of doubt and disillusionment; moments of triumph and hardship; moments of sheer wanderings and revelations. The lab, the hostel room, the mess will encapsulate your life even before you have taken in the first whiff. You will soon discover your favorite corner in this 440 odd acres; your path to your musings.
Pep talks from peers, guidance from faculty will help you carve your niche; yet, this is a journey of self discovery. A journey in which we ourselves are responsible for the destination.
We wish every new comer lots of luck as you embark on this remarkable and enlightening journey at the Indian Institute of Science. It is lots more than just an MTech/MSc degree or a PhD thesis. The years here will change the course of your life.
Voices presents the Freshers Special Issue, a glimpse into the world beyond the courses here. Let the moment of chrysalis arrive and let talent take center stage. Let the curtains rise. Ahoy!
Madhurima Das, EditorinChief, Voices
Illustration: Sujit Kumar Chakrabarti (Alumnus, CSA)
Updates from SC and IISc news in a separate pullout inside.Gymkhana clubs: Pages 48Regional/Linguistic groups: Pages 913Activity groups: Pages 1320
Check Voices website for more news and poll on the effect of extracurricular activities on research.
August 2009 Freshers Special 2
Council Steering Committee
Governing Council
Chairman (Brijesh)General Secretary (Abraham)
Secretary, Women's Affairs (Srishti)
Alexander
Shyam
Parag
Sanchari
AcademicShyam
AmenitiesParag
Social Inititatives
Savita
PlacementsHrushikesh
CommunicationsSanchari
Student Support Network
Indumathi, Roshan
CulturalRekha
VolunteersAlexander
Executive Body
Hrushikesh
Students' Council
Students' council (SC) is the representative body of the entire student community of the Indian Institute of Science. We are the interface between the students and the administration. We aim at the all round development of students and organize several extra curricular events through the year in association with the Gymkhana and the various activity clubs on campus. We also provide an opportunity to the students, to be a part of our activities, which are motivated by our sense of social responsibility and aimed at giving back to society.
The SC is led by the chairman, the General Secretary and the Secretary – Women's affairs who together constitute the Governing Council. The members of the governing council are elected for a term of one year. They work with the Council Steering Committee which is the policy making body and the Executive Committee to implement its decision and plans.
Committees of the Students' CouncilThe committees look at specific focus areas and coordinate activities of the SC for the year. They are headed by a coordinator and have members from the student community. The Governing Council of the SC are exofficio members of all committees.
Academics CommitteeThe academics committee deals with all academic issues as relating to course work, credits and department curriculum committees.
Amenities CommitteeThe amenities committee collects feedback and complaints on various amenities provided on campus and engages with administration to resolve issues and problems affecting the same.
Communications CommitteeThe communications committee communicates all the student – related developments occurring in the campus. It communicates matters discussed between the SC and the administration and initiatives taken by the SC for the students' community.
Cultural CommitteeThe cultural committee organizes cultural events in the campus. Working with the student music, dance and dramatics groups and also performers from outside, the committee seek to add to the cultural essence of the Institute.
Placement CommitteeCoordinating with the industry for exploring and creating the best employment opportunities is the objective of this committee. We work closely with CSIC and the Placement Center.
Social Initiatives CommitteeGiving back to the society and fulfilling our social responsibility are the twin ideals that motivate the efforts of social initiatives committee. We support already existing student driven activities like Note book Drive and Help the Needy in terms of logistics and contacts. New initiatives include Common Bicycle Drive and Afforestation programs are planned for this year.
Support NetworkStudents undertaking intensive research and course programmes are exposed to a variety of stresses. The Student Support Network along with the Centre for Counselling and Support organise talks and sessions to increase awareness among the student community on issues facing them and potential remedies.
Volunteering CommitteeAny event that happens on the campus requires the support of the student volunteers. This committee invites and coordinates the efforts of the volunteers. We have been asssociated with the centenary conference and several allied events in the past and are currently actively involved with the programmes of the SC. If you want to join us, in making a change for the better, do get in touch.
August 2009 Freshers Special 3
“A sound mind in a sound body” goes the saying. IISc Gymkhana helps IIScians keep themselves fit and refresh their mind so that they can be more productive in their research/course work and have a memorable experience during their stay at the campus.
IISc Gymkhana has one of the best sports and recreational facilities at an affordable cost. One cannot find comparable facilities anywhere in the city. This is evident from the fact that there are considerable number of Alumni using the facilities. The facilities in Gymkhana include all major outdoor sports, indoor games, literary activities, fitness activities and fine arts.
All the regular students become members of the Gymkhana on admission to the institute and can use most of the facilities [Some of the facilities require a nominal fee to be paid towards training (For eg. KungFu, Aerobics, etc) or maintenance purpose (Swimming, etc)].The Gymkhana Managing Committee (GMC) takes care of the smooth functioning of the various clubs/groups.
As any regular user of Gymkhana should tell you, one gets addicted once he/she starts using the Gymkhana. Hope to see you addicted too!
For more details about the Gymkhana, you can use the following communication links :
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.iisc.ernet.in/~iiscgym
For queries on individual sport/group, kindly contact the conveners of the specific sport/group. Check out Voices website (http://www.iisc.ernet.in/voices) for a list of conveners.
Gymkhana
August 2009 Freshers Special 4
Cricket ClubThe IISc Cricket Club is an opportunity for all to pursue their passion for this great game the de facto national game of India. Anyone who is enthusiastic about the game can be a p the Club, whether you have played this game before or whether you want to make a debut.
Year of inception: Time Immemorial! (Possibly 1909!)
Activities done last year:1. Net practice sessions every evening2. Participated in Metro Shield 2008 (IV Division Cricket League) organized by Karnataka State Cricket Association3. Played several friendly matches with invited teams from Bangalore4. Played a T20 match against the top team of KSCA league (Swastik Union Cricket Club) at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore5. Hosted and played in IISc Invitation Cup 2009 that involved eight teams from different parts of Bangalore6. Organized InterDepartment Tennisball Cricket Tournament IISc Gymkhana Cup 2009 (won by Instrumentation Dept.)
Activities planned for the academic year 20092010:1. Net practice sessions every evening2. Metro Shield 2009 (IV Division Cricket League) organised by KSCA starts (tentatively) from the second week of August.3. Regular friendly matches (on weekends only) with invited teams from different parts of Bangalore4. InterDepartment Tennisball Cricket Tournament (IISc Gymkhana Cup 2010) to be held in FebMarch 2010.
Number of members: about 50
Achievements: 1. Team IISc played five oneday matches in the Metro Shield.Results: Won2, Lost2, Drawn1While the performance was not good enough for a promotion to the higher division, we retained place in IV Division of KSCA League.2. Playing at Chinnaswamy Stadium would definitely count among the greatest achievements of Team IISc in the year 2009. The opposition team had eight Karnataka state players including the likes of Manish Pandey, Bharat Chipli and Thilak Naidu.3. IISc Gymkhana Cup 2009 was a runaway hit with as many as 29 teams taking part in the tournament including a faculty team, a gymkhana staff team and an institute security team among the several departmental teams.
For any queries contact [email protected]
Dance ClubThere are shortcuts to happiness........... Dancing is one of them!
The dance club of IISc is open for all enthusiatic students who love dancing and/or want to learn dancing. We learn various dance forms in the club with emphasis on ballroom dances like Salsa, Tango, Cha Cha Cha, Waltz, Jive, Samba, Rock ‘N’ Roll, Mambo etc. The club’s first dance session was arranged by Anjali & Nishant (MBA students) in 2005 on Salsa and was conducted by the famous instructor Lourde Vijay. In 2007, the club grew under the aegis of Mridula Martis and Tilottama Srinivasa (affiliated with United Kingdom Alliance) and Kishor Bhatt (student of NIAS). In August 2008, the club staged its first performance presenting glimpses of some ballroom dance forms. Encouraged by the response, a second showcase, Thirkan was held in March 2009, which included a Bollywood dance and some experimental dances like Indian Tango and kathak fusion with paso doble, in addition to many ballroom dances.
Currently the club holds regular classes on different ballroom dances conducted by Tilottama and Kishor. A typical dance session consists of two dance forms and lasts around 6 weeks. Apart from the Ballroom dances we also learn other types of dances in our so called "Saturday Sessions". In these informal sessions held by students we can learn different dances like HipHip, Garba, Dandiya, Bollywood Dancing, etc.
The Club looks forward to holding its third stage performance in September this year. The showcase will comprise of different dances which students have learned in our previous classes and Saturday sessions. This will be immediately followed by a session on Salsa, by Tilottama. We also encourage our members to take part in inter college or national level dance competitions in future.
We look forward to an enthusiastic participation from all of you. Join in for all the fun at the dance club! Let’s dance away our blues :)
For any further info or queries feel free to write to us at [email protected].
August 2009 Freshers Special 5
Aerobics Club
Aerobics is held in Gymkhana hall. The hall includes elegantly arranged mirrors and wooden flooring so that its best suited for exercising. This is the place where people try to forget their chores by swinging their bodies with music.
Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercise with stretching and strength training routines with the goal of improving all elements of fitness. Aerobic activity trains the heart, lungs and cardiovascular system to process and deliver oxygen more quickly and efficiently to every part of the body. As the heart muscle becomes stronger and more efficient, a larger amount of blood can be pumped with each heartbeat. As a result, a fit individual can work longer, more vigorously and achieve a quicker recovery at the end of the aerobic session.
Aerobics is mainly divided into dance aerobics, cardiovascular, kick boxing, circuit training, steppers and outdoors. Most of the arrangements are done within the hall so that people would be comfortable in doing exercises.
So researches, come and experience fitness with us.
Contact: 9480120160 or [email protected].
Football Club
“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, its much more serious than that." Bill Shankly.
'IISc Football Club' is one of those few clubs in IISc which participates in tournaments conducted outside the institute. Last year, it ended up 3rd in a group of 11 teams in the Bangalore Soccer League. Gymkhana provides the team members with soccer boots, jerseys and other amenities. The club, which comprises of around 35 young footballers, organizes practice matches with teams from outside at regular intervals. It also conducts a seven a side intraIISc football tournament once in a year. Keep your eyes open as Sevens Cup' 09 starts soon.
For details, contact: Habeeb Rehman, Convenor, IISc Football Club.email: [email protected], mobile: 9901251912.
Hockey Club
FieldHockey now our ‘national sport’ is one of the oldest sports of India. Hockey was first introduced to Indians by British Army regiments in the first half of the 19th century and since then it is played by both men and women. IIScHockey club, not as old as the institute, but is one of the oldest club of the Gymkhana. At present Hockey club has more than fifty active members (both men and women) and the whole group involves more than five hundred members (most of them are alumni from 1982 onwards).
Institute has kindly allotted very big area (ca. 100m × 100m) to the Hockeyclub. IIScGymkhana provides Hockeysticks, Shinguards and all other necessary equipments for all the players. Majority of the club members started playing Hockey after joining IISc. Club promises extensive training and all the senior members are always ready to instruct the new members. Interest is the only prerequisite to join the club.
Club members are very regular and play every day for an hour (6 pm to 7 pm or till it becomes dark). Every Saturday and Sunday club organizes the matches which are played either in the morning or evening.
Apart from regular practice, club actively participates in the tournaments conducted outside IISc which includes the prestigious Isaac Abraham and Corporatefive Hockey tournaments. Many of the club members have won several awards in these tournaments such as ‘outstanding player’ and ‘player of the tournament’ (Hindu, 13th December, 2004).
The yearly highlight of the club is IISc Premier League Hockey (IPLH). The first four editions were a grand success and the fifth edition (2009) was played under lights with watch full of eyes of national level referees. Club welcomes everyone in IISc to participate in the IPLH. Three to four teams are formed with equal strength with ten players in each team. Each match lasts for fifty minutes (two halves of twentyfive minutes with five minutes break). This year the club is planning to start one more tournament during the winter.
Any newbie who wish to join the club need to show up to the ground between 6 pm to 7 pm; on the first day itself you could see yourself playing Hockey. New players are expected to come to the ground early for next few days (till they learn) to get the valuable training from senior players.
Hockey is a team game and involves lots of fun. Along with regular exercise one gets trained to be cooperative and competitive. All the sports are considered to be stress relievers and Hockey is no exception. Hockey club is a constant source of genuine friends too.
If you wish to know anything about Hockey at IISc please feel free to write to the following contacts. Hockey club welcomes all the new students to IISc and to Hockey club. Club also wishes all the new students very pleasant stay at IISc.
Club convener: Manoj (CPDM): [email protected]
Google group: iischockey[email protected]
Hockey club information is available at the following url: http://groups.google.com/group/iischockeyclub.
August 2009 Freshers Special 6
Kung Fu Higher Echelons of Toil, Sweat and Glory
Have you ever dreamt of having superhuman qualities: a dragon’s internal strength, a tiger’s courage and power, a monkey’s flexibility, a snake’s speed and a crane’s longevity? Have you ever wanted to have Bruce Lee’s physique, Jackie Chan’s flexibility, Jet Li’s speed and yet, have a monk’s serenity? Did you know that the most sophisticated weapon ever designed by nature is the human body? If you think any of the answer to the above questions is a yes or atleast a notsosureyes, or worst of all a notatallsureyes, Kung Fu is the panacea for your pursuits.
Kung Fu, the oldest known Chinese martial arts, refers to a set of physical movements of the human body that mimic animal motions or a history and training method, that gather inspiration from various Chinese philosophies, myths and legends. This ancient martial art has been practised for ages and practitioners have claimed to have reaped several benefits, including channelled energy at work, undisturbed while at sleep, clarity of thoughts, calmness and alertness of mind, improved physical and mental selfdefence mechanisms, respect, tolerance and reverence for life, etc.
Shaolin Chu Kung Fu, a Bangalorebased martial arts school conducts kung fu classes at IISc among other centres in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The classes are conducted by welltrained Masters who have been practising this art for more than a decade. Some regular features of the classes are: thorough warmup exercises, basic hand and leg motions, shaolin and animal lessons, nunchaku lessons, selfdefence techniques, gymnastics, etc. No prior experience of any physical activity is required. The school encourages people of all age groups and sexes. The school conducts belt grading exams twice a year.
In IISc, classes are held on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, in two batches: morning (6:308:00 am) and evening (6:007:30 pm). The classes are held in the Kung Fu court, located behind the Gymkhana building and besides the basketball court. In IISc, the classes are open to all the members of the Gymkhana, including students, alumni, faculty, staff and their family members. Apart from hosting the Kung Fu club, the Gymkhana has also been a host to a few belt grading examinations.
Time ages but the legend lives, because a martial artist is more than just sum of the parts – what are you waiting for?
For more details contact:S. Sunil Kumar, (9481202861), [email protected]. Srinidhi, (9480707064), [email protected]
Music Club
IISc Music Club is a very active part of the Gymkhana.. It provides facilities for members to listen to music in the Main Gymkhana building (hosting a collection of CDs and cassettes), as well as a music room in the Raja Ramanna Centre for Student Activities (formerly known as SAC) where members can practice vocal or instrumental music. The music club provides an avenue not only to those with a gift for singing or playing an instrument, but also to those who can appreciate music and can contribute by helping to organizing events.
The IISc Music Team which is a part of the music club, is popularly known as ‘Rhythmica’. Formed in 2002, it was a group of people all having one thing in common music, music and more music. The concept was modest and simple: Singers would sing, instrumentalists would play on their instruments, and if something presentable came out, they would perform before the IISc audience. More than 6 years after its birth, Rhythmica is now over 30 programs old. Performing shows for both formal and informal occasions of the institute are seen as one of the ends of the group, and also the means to promote music in the campus. Ranging from Indian classical (both Hindustani and Carnatic) to Western; from Rock to Jazz to Blues; from western country music to Indian folk; from Vedic tunes to homebrewed selfcomposed scores; from the early 20th century classics to the chartbusters of the currently running year – Rhythmica has succeeded in covering it all.Amidst a roller coaster like time schedule to keep up the deadlines for projects, submissions, and course work, Rhythmica tries to bring a diversion and music into the lives of all IIScians.
Video recordings of our earlier programs are available athttp://video.google.com/videosearch?q=rhythmica
Year of its inception 2002
Activities done last year:1) Independence day program 15th Aug 20082) Concert as part of Diwali Celebrations3) Performance for IISc centenary year program Dec 20084) Musical program in March 20095) The Western Show June 2009
Activities planned for the academic year 200920101) Independence Day program 092) Diwali Special program
Number of members: A team of more than 50 active members comprising of students, faculty and RAs/PAs from IISc.
AchievementsOver 30 full fledged musical programmes
For more information, contact [email protected].
August 2009 Freshers Special 7
Ranade Library
Ranade Library is one of the famous clubs belongs to the prestigious Indian Institute of Science(IISC )gymkhana. The library is one of the biggest club of it's kind running with more than 5000 books and approximately 1000 book lovers. The library archive comprises of books from languages like English, Hindi, Bengali, Gujrathi, Marathi, Tamil, Telegu etc. Apart from story books, play, poetry are a few example of wide variety books available within this library. This library has subscription to 25 different types of nationally reputed magazines out of which 8 are monthly, 7 are fortnightly and 8 are weekly. These whole set of magazine covers a broad area of interest from sports to travel, health to current affairs even film society also. English magazines like India Today, Front Line, Outlook, Sport Star along with regional magazines Safari(Language: Gujrati), Kadambini (Language: Oriya) are a very few to be named. The library is also enriched with national newspapers like Times of India, Deccan Chronicle, Rajasthan Patrika(Hindi) along with availability of two month's old issues.
I would like to use this opportunity to share some of the initiatives that had been taken by my predecessors to provide better library facility towards wider student community. Library has been shifted from a small room to a bigger room which accommodates separate furnished space for readers within library working hours. Labeling and rearranging of 500 old and misplaced books are successfully carried out and made them available for readers. I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to all the committee members for extending their help towards this great endeavor. Moving forward, we are planning to computerize these whole library system to keep record of all old and upcoming books through an electronic database. We anticipate such effort will also help us to eradicate issues related to uncategorized books from different languages. The committee is also also planning to arrange a book fair with the help of Tata Book House in very near future. The initial discussion with appropriate authority had already been started by Mr. Alok Diwedi (Former convener of Ranade Library). We believe that this fair will become a nice interface for student community and faculties to come across various types of books published in different languages of India.
At the end, I expect your help, support, guidance throughout my journey as a convener of the Ranade Library, to provide a diversified, multilingual cultural platform for IISC student community.
Rupak Bhattacharya, Convener(Courtesy: Mr. Alok Diwedi, former Convener)
Swimming Club
Inaugurated by Mr. J. R. D. Tata in 1961, the IISc Swimming Pool islocated in the heavily wooded area of the main campus adjacent to the Jubilee Park. It provides a great place to cool off any time of theyear. It is also an excellent place to develop and maintain aninjuryfree exercise program for yourself.
The pool is heavily crowded in the summer. This is also the time whenswimming coaching camps are held by qualified coaches. In the leanseason, attendance is thin and you may even get the entire pool toyourself! Members of the club include absolute beginners, amateursand even champion professional swimmers. There are a large number of regular swimmers who have been for members for decades.
The pool is 48m long and has 4 lanes (10m) for swimming all yearround. Water depth ranges from 4ft to 10.5ft and a diving platform isavailable for diving as well. The pool requires a separate membershipthat can be obtained from the Gymkhana.
Convener: Sreepathi Pai
Tennis Club
Tennis Club is a very well facilitated and maintainedclub with flood lights, synthetic and clay court. Court opens in morning and evening hours. It is an excellent place to get a complete work out and release stress level.
Activities done last year Coaching camp was organized in may 2009 and was taken very enthusiastically by students.
Activities planned for the academic year 20092010 a tournament is scheduled in September second week. A coaching camp will also be arranged if found necessary sometime this year.
Number of members 20 to 25
Convener Aditya Parihar: 9743215564: [email protected].
TriviaAccording to the journal Current Science IISc currently ranks first in India in terms of research output and quality of faculty (citation and impact factor). It also ranks first among Indian universities and South Asian universities in the "Academic ranking of world universities" conducted by the SJTU, China.
The Institute spends the highest amount on research among all universities in India. Admissions to IISc are highly competitive, consistently admitting only the top 1 percentile of those attempting the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE).
August 2009 Freshers Special 8
Throwball Club
Let’s climb high on our aspirations; the achievement will follow its steps!! dedicated to the onlywomen’s tournament
The Throwball Club is an infant club of the IISc, Gymkhana. It was born in 2006 as an initiative for encouraging women to enter the world of games and athletics. Since its inception it has been drawing the attention of many enthusiastic and highspirited players of IISc.
Being the onlywomen’s tournament conducted in the campus, it acts like a major forum of interaction with action amongst the ladies of various departments. The passion with which each team prepares for the tournament can be felt in the air itself. The big event takes place during FebruaryMarch when all are in light spirits and geared up for the match. The big challenging teams and the overwhelming crowd make the tournament lively with great fun and enjoyment.
Teams from various departments and internal clubs (e.g. TMC) participate in this. Unfortunately the tournament could not be conducted for the year 200809. But the nostalgic feeling that people in the campus have for the game will surely resume it once again.
The games are played on the Throwball Court near the Gymkhana grounds. The club needs more enthusiasm and participation from the students to start the game play on a regular basis than just during the tournament. The architecture of the team constitutes of 5+2 players with one allowed guest player.
Be it cricket or hockey, be it singing or dancing, likewise throwball playing needs no prelearned skills or techniques. The homely and helpful environment amongst all the senior and junior players of the campus makes every newcomer’s attempts a successful one. Come spring and along with the colours of Holi you can also enjoy the colours of Throwball.
For the past three years Biochemistry Department stands as the champion of this game. It is now a challenge for the other departments to team up and break and set new records…!!! With the freshers coming this year we can harvest new hidden talents and potentials. In 2008 there was a record of eight participating teams. We expect a higher participation this year also.
As the year 200910 begins the throwball club promises to conduct many more games roundtheyear. This invites innovative thoughts and ideas on behalf of all experienced and new students that could help flourish and establish the club more. The club has certain plans apart from conducting “the big tournament”. It is planning to conduct a friendly match amongst all teams to revive the essence of the game which had lain dormant during the past one year. Primarily, it will aim in scheduling the game everyday for the students. At the same time it also plans to organize a tournament inviting other companies, colleges etc. This large scale initiative is based on the participation that we get from the students this year.
Above all this, we hope to once again see and feel this fun in the grounds of IISc being the so called onlywomen’s tournament. So, its time for all women in the campus to tie your shoelace, hold your breath and say “get, set, go”!!!
All players are free to send in their ideas and suggestions to the following coordinators :Convener : Rekha Gautam (IPC): [email protected]convener: Sanchari Banerjee (MBU): [email protected]
Volleyball Club
Volleyball Club is the official club of IISc formed by people who play volleyball. Those who are interested in playing/learning volleyball are welcome to join the club.
Activities done last year: Other than regular unofficial practice, an interdepartmental tournament was conducted in the month of February 2009. The first three teams were felicitated by the Gymkhana club. Also, a team representing the college participated in a state level B division tournament.
Activities planned for the academic year 20092010: Formation of an official college team, arrangement for a coaching camp, friendly matches with neighbouring colleges.
Convener: Pradeep M: [email protected].
TriviaAfter a chance meeting between Jamsetji N. Tata and Swami Vivekananda on a ship in 1893, where they discussed Tata's plan of bringing steel industry to India, Tata wrote to Vivekananda five years later:
“I trust, you remember me as a fellowtraveller on your voyage from Japan to Chicago. I very much recall at this moment your views on the growth of the ascetic spirit in India... I recall these ideas in connection with my scheme of Research Institute of Science for India, of which you have doubtless heard or read”.
Impressed by Swami Vivekananda's views on science, and leadership abilities, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata wanted him to guide his campaign. Vivekananda endorsed the project with enthusiasm, and Tata, with the aim of advancing the scientific capabilities of the country, constituted a Provisional Committee to prepare a plan for setting up of an Institute of research and higher education. The committee presented a draft proposal to Lord Curzon on 31 December, 1898. Subsequently, Sir William Ramsay, a Nobel Laureate, was called on to propose a suitable place for such an institution who suggested Bangalore as the best location.
August 2009 Freshers Special 9
The Hindi Samiti is a group of IISc students, devoted to Indian language, culture and civilization
Year of its inception: 1983 (Last year we had celebrated silver jubilee of “Hindi Samiti” with 100 years of IISc)
Activities done last year:August: BazmeGulzar by Shri GULZAR (Poetry Recital by shri GULZAR and interaction with all IISc community, Program was held at J N Tata Auditorium)
September: Hindi Rasawali (Hindi poetry recital followed by antyakshri by students of IISc, Chief Guest was Prof. Rudra Pratap (Mechanical Engineering), First issue of trimonthly magazine “MANAS” was publicly released (program held at Choksi Hall)
September: Sri Krishna janmastami celebration (Bhajan Sandhya, Jhanki and Janmotsav followed by Prasad distribution, held at Gymkhana)
September: Fund Collection from students for whole year programs
November: Akhand Ramcharit Manas path, Deepawali Celebration (Laxmi pooja, Prasad vitaran, cracker show, held at Gymkhana)
November: A free movie “A Wednesday” was screened in Gymkhana
December: Second Issue of “MANAS” (soft as well as hard copy) made available to IISc community
January: Lohadi, Sakat, Maker Sankranti celebration (Camp fire, Prasad vitran, DJ night, program held at Gymkhana Cricket ground)
26 January: Sadbhavana Daud09 (Race of 3 km. in side IISc campus, morning 6:30 am followed by prize distribution by Prof. Rudra Pratap and senior Sports officer (gymkhana) Mr. C P Punacha)
February: ShameGhazal (A Ghazal program organized in collaboration with Gymkhana by IISc students at Satish Dhawan Auditorium)
March: Holi celebration (Rangoli competition, Prize distribution, Murkhavali, DJ night, Holika dahan, rang bhari holi with dance music, Matka phod competition , program held at SAC and cricket ground)
March: Third Issue of “MANAS” was published
April: Ramnavami celebration (Ramcharit Manas path, pooja, Hawan and Prasad vitran)
June: In continuation of our hindi language magazine publication fourth issue of “MANAS” was published
Activities planned for the academic year 20092010:August: Sri Krishna janmastami celebration (Bhajan Sandhya, Jhaki and Janmotsav followed by Prasad distribution) with welcome note to new students in IISc campus
August: Hindi Writing Competition
September: Hindi Rasawali (Hindi poetry recital followed by antakshri on HindiDiwas by IISc students, Fifth issue of trimonthly magazine “MANAS” will be released on the occasion of it’s first anniversary
September: Fund Collection from all the students in campus for whole year programs
November: Akhand Ramcharit Manas path, Deepawali Celebration (Laxmipooja, Prasad vitaran, cracker show, will be held at Gymkhana)
November: A free movie show in Gymkhana
December: Sixth Issue of “MANAS”
December: Distribution of Books and food material to orphan house
January: Lohadi, Sakat, maker sankranti celebration (Camp fire, Prasad vitran, DJ night, will be held in Gymkhana Cricket ground)
26 January: Sadbhavana Daud09 (Race of 3 km. in side IISc campus, morning 6:30 am followed by prize distribution)
March: Holi celebration (Rangoli competition, Prize Distribution, Murkhavali, DJ night, Holika dahan, rang bhari holi with dance music, Matka phod competition, will be held at SAC and cricket ground)
March: Seventh Issue of “MANAS”
April: Ramnavami celebration (Ramcharit Manas path, pooja, Hawan and Prasad vitran)
June: Eigth Issue of “MANAS”
Number of members: We have more than 1000 members who organize and participate in programs.
Achievements: We are able to give a single stage to all IISc students, who belong from all over the India, to participate and enjoy by organizing these programs. We try our best to give them a feel of festivals which they miss by not being at their respective homes and also to feel the rituals which have been practiced in other parts of INDIA.
We are running “MANAS” to explore Hindi literature all over the campus. We are the first ever group, called by “Official Language Unit” IISc, to help them in organizing some language promotional programs in campus (To advertise the program “A science lecture in Hindi, centenary lecture given by Prof. Jayant Narlikar in 20082009 and also invited Shri Gulzar for IISc centenary Lecture). We are generating a healthy practice of running cultural groups in campus all over the year among our all IIScian fellows.
Appeal: We appeal to all IIScians for their active participation in all the programs conducted by different groups on campus. We seek your active support for running our magazine “MANAS” by sending your creations on [email protected]. Please don’t discriminate people on the basis of regional languages.
Hindi Samiti
August 2009 Freshers Special 10
Marathi Mandal
The “Marathi Mandal” at IISc was formed in 1964 as an informal group that could together celebrate ‘Ganesh Utsav’, a festival that has long had social as well as cultural relevance in Maharashtra. Over the years it has evolved as a group that garners a feeling of fellowship and togetherness as well as helps maintains cultural bonds.
Celebrating festivals and in the process giving the campus community a glimpse of the rich Marathi cultural traditions is one of the major activities that the mandal carries out. The Kojagiri Pournima, Gudhi Padwa (Marathi New Year) and the magnificent Ganeshotsav are celebrated, with special Maharastrian varieties of food being a major attraction. The cultural programme on the eve of the Ganeshotsav is a highlight since it showcases the artistic talents of the student members. The group activities such as the Freshers’ welcome, the Nirop Samarambh and cricket match help the members to develop the feeling of togetherness. The Marathi Mandal, IISc, has also been participating in Rangadakshini, a dramatics competition organized by the Bangalore chapter of the Maharashtra Mandal, for the last three years.
The Marathi Mandal also strives to enrich the book collection at the Ranade Library on campus by donating books to the library every year. Along with its diverse cultural programmes, the Marathi Mandal also undertakes social activities such as collecting funds by selling greeting cards before Diwali and donating the amount to Anandwan, Maharashtra, a Leprosy rehabilitation centre started by Baba Amte. The Marathi mandal also contributes in its way to campus social initiatives such as the Notebook Drive.
At present, the Marathi Mandal has around 120 members on campus including students and faculty. The Mandal welcomes anybody and everybody that has a love for or an interest in Marathi traditions, language and culture to become a part of the group. For any further details or information, the contact details are as follows:
Marathi Mandal’s Email id: [email protected].
Alternative contact id (current Adhyaksha): Amrut Joshi: [email protected]
Oriya Sansad
Oriyasansad is a home away from home, a stage where we share our ideas to strengthen our multicultural Oriya society. The group is best described in terms of its varieties of interests and activities, in IISc campus which unites all the Oriya faculty, students and alumni. Being in a national institute with science as a religion, it is always important to give respect to the native state which is responsible in many ways to give us national recognition and to do something important for it. “The Oriya Sansad” was established with three members way back in 1975. Through the journey of four decades, the size of the Sansad has reasonably increased and presently represented by many bright students, hard working faculty and staff from various fraternities.
Academic calendar of Sansad starts with the welcome function to greet the new Oriya talents to IISc. As per our culture we treat Lord Ganesh as the symbol of knowledge celebrating Ganesh Chaturthy every year. We are thankful to whole institute community for its continued support and encouragement during the event. The celebration ends with “bisarjan” of the deity next day.
Among the other cultural rituals, every year Utkal Divas, Mahavishuba panasankranthi used to be celebrated in a grand manner. “Puspanjali”, our annual magazine, is inaugurated every year on the eve of Utkal Divas, that is., on 1st of April, the day Orissa got its own state status. A group picnic to nearby places in Karnataka is organized during January,. The faculty and students have taken lots of initiative to travel to Orissa and make the student community there aware of various academic institutes and available opportunities outside Orissa. Among other academic activities, Oriya Sansad has managed to maintain a small regional library inside Ranade Library in Gymkhana which includes some novels, monthly magazines and daily newspaper. We also participate in the “Rathyatra” organized by Oriya community.
It will be unfair to our cricket lovers if we leave our sub group OSCA, the “Oriya Sansad Cricket Association”, a platform for energetic young stars in campus. We organize matches among ourselves and also with other departments. We hope the new comers will enjoy the beauty of the campus and will come forward to make Oriya Sansad a really fun filled family.
We request all freshers who want to participate in our events to drop a mail to [email protected] or [email protected] (mobile: 9945784516).
Anirudha Jena (MRC), Secretary, Oriya Sansad
Acknowledgments: Sangram, Jayakrishna and Pratap
August 2009 Freshers Special 11
Samskrta Sangha
Like the gentle dew that falls unseen and unheard, and yet brings into blossom the fairest of the roses, has been the influence of India upon the world. Silent, unperceived, yet omnipotent in its effect, it has revolutionized the thought of the world. Its life is of the same nature as the soul, without beginning and end and we belong to such a country!" Such was the vision of Swami Vivekananda about the genius of India; and this is what we, a small but enthusiastic group of students at IISc, have learnt to appreciate, emulate and cherish in the depths of our bosoms.
Conceived initially as a small group of Sanskrit enthusiasts in the campus, Samskrta Sangha is now an active student organization with a fast growing assortment of activities throughout the year. With the Sanskrit language as our firm anchor, we span a diverse spectrum of interests including linguistics, Indian philosophies and the classical arts. With regular Sanskrit classes, lectures by eminent scholars, active discussions, classical concerts and a yearly magazine entirely in Sanskrit, Samskrta Sangha is indeed at its prime, basking in the intellectual splendour of our glorious cultural heritage.
Our collaboration with the organization Samskrta Bharati has resulted in regular Spoken Sanskrit classes. For those interested in a thorough analysis of the Sanskrit language, Sanskrit Grammar classes are conducted on all week days by one of our members, H.L.Prasad. In addition, we organize lectures on the vast classical literature by remarkable Sanskrit poets and scholars like Shatavadhani Ganesh and Shankar Rajaraman, who, incidentally, have also performed Avadhanas upon our request here at IISc. The recent years have also witnessed a refreshing revival of the yearly magazine Samskriti, entirely in Sanskrit, with contributions from students, faculty and notable Sanskrit scholars.
In appreciation of the impeccable contributions to classical music by the multitude of Vaggeyakaras of the past, we celebrate the Vaggeyakara Aradhana every year. Starting with a mass rendition of the celebrated Pancharatna Krithis of Thyagaraja, we host a day long event where amateur musicians from our campus are encouraged to perform and acclaimed professional artists are invited to display their expertise on the nuances and delights of our classical musical traditions.
Upon the suggestion of wellmeaning friends from the Ramakrishna Mission, Samskrta Sangha also supports a weekly discussion group which aims at nurturing a healthy, critical and constructive intellectual dialogue among interested students. The topics explored range from the lives of men of exceptional calibre like Swami Vivekananda to the finer aspects of the rich philosophical schools that have survived the test and tumults of time. In short, we are a closely knit group of students who are interested in diving deep into our magnificent traditions, with a primary interest in the Sanskrit language.
We are looking forward to greater student participation and invite all those interested to join us at our google group http://groups.google.com/group/ssangha
Details of our current and past activities can be found in our website www.iisc.ernet.in/ssangha/
Science Institute Malayali Association
The malayali association started functioning in IISc in the early 1960s. Then, it was the Bangalore chapter of the Kozhikode centred Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad. In the mid 1980s, the association was renamed as Science Institute Malayali Association.
SIMA functions with the sole aim of introducing the malayali culture and traditions to the institute community. SIMA membership is open to every student, faculty, office staff and alumni of IISc, JNCASR, TIFR, NIAS, RRI and NCBS. Presently, SIMA has around 150 active members.
Onam and Christmas are the two major events celebrated by SIMA. SIMA celebrates Onam by organising a cultural programme (normally a Kerala art form) and by preparing a sadya (feast). Christmas is celebrated by distributing cakes and wine (prepared by SIMA members themselves).
Kalaripayittu, Chakyarkoothu, Ottanthullal, concert by K.J. Yesudas and G.Venu Gopal, Kalam ezhuthu, Keli etc are some of the events organised by SIMA in the past. SIMA also felicitates members who has won various awards for their outstanding research work.
On the literary front, SIMA updated the malayalam section of the Gymkhana Ranade Library by purchasing more than 60 books. Presently, we have around 400 works of renowned literary stalwarts like Basheer, Madhavi Kutty, Pottakad, Thakazhi, M.T. Vasudevan Nair etc. SIMA also subscribes two malayalam weeklies – Mathrubhumi and Malayalam for the Ranade Library. SIMA is also coming with a Kaiezhuthu maasika (hand written magazine).
For membership and other details, contact: Shyam (shyam@mgmt, 9901294146), Praseeda (praseeda@civil).
Email: [email protected]
TriviaThe institute is an island of greenery within Bangalore and about twelve different species of snakes and endangered species like the Slender Loris have been found in its campus. A Snake Rescue group is available on call to translocate and prevent the killing of snakes.
August 2009 Freshers Special 12
Spandan
Spandan is the Bengali Cultural Association of IISc. Spandan is not just another formal regional group, it is a living entity composed of very vibrant and talented individuals like yourself who spend some of their most intense and formative days in IISc. Of course Spandan showcases Bengali ethos and culture in all its wonderful variety. From screening of selected Bengali movies, hosting dramatic and cultural performances by the students and alumni, bringing out our own literary magazine Agdum Bagdum, organizing picnics to pure Bangla adda and hoichoi, Spandan will make you feel at home away from home.
Since its inception in the early 90s Spandan has been striving to showcase the rich cultural heritage of not only Bengal but India at large through organizing Hindustani classical music concerts, quiz programs, plays, screening critically acclaimed movies etc. Spandan also participates in the philanthropic activities taking place in the Institute like making financial contribution to the notebook drive etc.Spandan is currently having almost 700 members including past and present students.
The biggest event in the Spandan calendar, apart from presenting RabindraNazrul Sandhya, NabinBaran(Freshers' welcome) and other cultural programs, is the Saraswati Puja. Spandan hosts the entire Institute for the Puja. It sure takes away the blues of the most homesick bong to be able to offer Anjali to the Goddess and savor the taste of timehonored KhichuriBhog.
Spandan is also active in the maintenance and enhancement of the very rich Bengali books section of the Ranade Library. In our small way, we are alive to social issues as well. Spandan made a substantial contribution to the drive to provide academic stationery to primary and high school students from needy families.
Whichever be your favourite things, Spandan has something to offer you. We look forward to all the freshers to take a very fruitful and proactive role in making Spandan scale new heights.
Contact: Prasenjit Biswas (SERC)
Tamil Peravai
For more than half a century, Tamil Peravai, as a formal body has been coordinating the Tamil community in the campus. With its mission to nurture the Tamil spirit, Tamil Peravai actively involves in conducting and sponsoring a wide variety of programmes including workshops, guest talks, Pongal celebrations . Social occasions such as fresher's welcome, light music functions, movies and farewell parties also form a part of this venture.
Tamil Peravai is also engaged in integrating and regulating the Tamil books at the Ranade library. Its linguistics support team has made the Tamil section easy to access by categorising and arranging the books there. More books are getting added from the present/passingout student's contribution. In addition to that, creating, compiling and sharing the electronic version of (nationalised) literary texts viz. erudite works of Devaneya Pavanar, Mu. Varadharasan is an active effort in this process, which has gained wide recognition. Tamil Peravai's online avenue (http://groups.google.co.in/group/thamiziisc?hl=ta&pli=1) is greatly facilitating this task, on top of acting as a fullfledged discussion forum and a coummunication medium.
Last year's Tamil Wikipedia Workshop (http://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:2009_IISc_tawiki_workshop) was to foster an interest and prowess for contributing to Wikipedia (http://ta.wikipedia.org). Pongal celebrations has been the highlight of Peravai's activities and last pongal was not an exception as it had Prof. Solomon Pappaiah giving the Guest talk and a debate (Patti Mandram), which included speakers from faculty and students of the institute. Other guest of honor was Dr. Mayilsami Annadurai (Project Director, Chandrayaan1). Cultural programme staged was a leather puppet show (Tholpavai Koothu) by Theni Lakhsman Rao group, as an attempt to promote one of the fading folklore.
Tamil Peravai's working committee is formed by the students taking care of different portfolios and steered by a faculty member as The President. Weblink for Tamil Peravai can be found at http://www.iisc.ernet.in/content_miscsamiti.html
Email: [email protected]
TriviaDirectors
* Morris W. Travers, FRS, 1909–1914 * Sir Alfred Gibbs Bourne, FRS, 1915–1921 * Sir M. O. Forster, FRS, 1922–1933 * Sir C. V. Raman, FRS, 1933–1937 * Sir J. C. Ghosh, 1939–1948 * M. S. Thacker, 1949–1955 * S. Bhagavantam, 1957–1962 * Satish Dhawan, 1962–1981 * D. K. Banerjee, 1971–1972 * S. Ramaseshan, 1981–1984 * C. N. R. Rao, FRS, 1984–1994 * G. Padmanaban, 1994–1998 * Govardhan Mehta, 1998–2005 * P. Balaram, 2005–Present
August 2009 Freshers Special 13
Telugu Samskritika Samithi
Founded in 1963 (earlier known as Telugu Vignan Samithi), aimed at promoting the understanding of Telugu literature, art, culture and festivals among the fellow IIScians. With more than 400 active members, it is one of the biggest and oldest communities of IISc. Activities of this association include conducting literary and cultural events and talks by telugu scholars and artists and celebrating festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Makara Sankranthi and Ugadi (Telugu New Year) in a grand manner inviting all IIScians. The samithi also releases annual magazine “Telugu thota” which contains prose and poetry contributions from the students, staff, alumni and faculty members.
Events in the academic year 200809:
• It has organized an ‘Ashtavadhnam’ a unique literary artsport (which requires immense memory power and indepth knowledge of literature and grammar) by Dr. Garikipati Narasimha Rao.
• Every year it conducts cultural and music programs on the occasions of Ganesh Chaturthi and Ugadi along with Rangoli competitions on the eve of Makara Sankranthi.
Contact: Nagesh Emmadi (Aero Space), Cultural secretary
Art of Living
AOLIISc group was formed in the year 2003 with an objective of bringing a stress free environment to the research students engaged in cutting edge research working round the clock under pressurized environments. The group organizes Youth Empowerment and Skills (YES!+) workshops entailing 'Sudarshan Kriya', Pranayam and Yogic techniques improving work efficiency, focus and enthusiasm. The Art of Living is a multifaceted, humanitarian and voluntary Organization with a presence in over 150 countries founded by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
Activities in the academic year 200809:
• Three YES!+ workshops
• Dr. Hari's talk on Ancient Indian culture with Hindi Samiti
• IISc Centenary talk by H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
• Environmental awareness – Earth Hour
Activities Planned for the year 200910:
• Two YES!+ workshops (November 2009 and June 2010)
• Dr. Hari's Talk on Plunder of India
• AOL Workshop for IISc faculty
Number of members: over 200 including faculty.
Achievements: Smiling faces
Contact us:
Minni Singh (9980725210, [email protected]) Vikrant Naik (9611238770, [email protected]), Suman Kalyan Samanta (9980985228, [email protected]) and Arnab Roy (9986830802, 22933061, [email protected])
YES!+ is an innovative and dynamic educational and life skills program that provides young students and professionals the tools to achieve ideal life with ease, creativity, energy, and inhibitionfree. For further information about YES!+, visit: http://www.yesplus.org/
Yogic Techniques at YES+ workshop
TriviaThe constitution of the Institute was approved by the Viceroy Lord Minto, and the necessary Vesting Order was signed on 27 May 1909. Early in 1911, the Maharaja of Mysore laid the foundation stone of the Institute and on 24 July, the first batch of students were admitted in the Departments of General and Applied Chemistry under Norman Rudolf and ElectroTechnology under Alferd Hay. Within two months, the Department of Organic Chemistry was opened. With the establishment of the University Grants Commission in 1956, the Institute came under its purview as a deemed university.
August 2009 Freshers Special 14
Bible Study Forum
The IISc BSF includes students, staff and faculty of IISc interested in studying the Bible and the life of Jesus Christ. It believes that if the author of the “Word” (the Bible) and the “World” are the same, the Bible would be relevant to us today. So it meets regularly to find answers to the most important issues of life, with a focus on the life of Jesus Christ.
We meet every Tuesday at one of the member’s residence, currently at: E 11 (Opp. to ECE Dept.), Faculty Quarters, IISc.
ALL ARE WELCOME!
Year of inception: Probably sometime in the mid 1970’s.
Activities in the last year: Freshers welcome program in Aug 08, Campus talk on “Heart, Soul and MindNeuro Scientist's Reflections on Biblical Anthropology " by Prof. Stuart Judge (Oxford University) on Nov7th 2008, Christmas celebration (Dec 08), Visit to Annapurna Children’s orphanage (July 09).
Activities planned for the academic year 20092010: Freshers welcome Christmas celebrations, Visit to Orphanages, Picnics, Retreats etc. * Freshers welcome program on August 22nd, 2009 at SAC
Number of members: Around 30
Achievements: Many have experienced contentment, true peace and joy with the study of the Bible. An alumnus testified that “listening to the word of God every week has tremendously blessed me and has changed my life; as the Bible says “Truth will set you free” (John 8:32)”.
Check for more details about the group and activities:http://bsf.iisc.googlepages.com/index.htmand http://iiscbiblestudygroup.ning.com/Contact: [email protected]
IEEE Student Branch, IISc Bangalore
We are a group of students keen on organizing technical talks, workshops, design competitions.
We revived our activities in 2007, although this student branch was incepted in early 80s
Activities done last year: Analog Circuits Design competition, Workshop on Cypress Programmable System on Chip (PSoC),Our student members have delivered workshops on FPGA and robotics to students of UG engineering students in Bangalore.
Activities planned for the academic year 20092010: We plan to continue our technical activities in the coming year.
Number of members: About 75 student members.
For more information about IEEE, use the following contacts.
Website: www.ieee.org
Email: [email protected]
Contact: Sridhar (94499 12514)
Visit to Annapurna Children's Orphanage, June 2009
TriviaThe Institute is the first to introduce (i) Masters programs in engineering; (ii) the Integrated Ph. D. Programs in Biological, Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences for science graduates; (iii) the new IISc Young Fellowship program for the first 20 rank holders at the + 2 level; and (iv) IISc Young Engineering Fellowship program for merited III year B. E. / B. Tech. students.
The Department of Management Studies is one of the oldest management schools in the country (established in 1948).
The Center for Product Design and Manufacturing (CPDM) offers the Master of Design (MDes) course. Started in 1996, the MDes program is a twoyear, fulltime graduate program.
August 2009 Freshers Special 15
Looking Around
LOOKING AROUND, a forum for interdisciplinary interaction, was started by the students of Indian Institute of Science in 1993. This is a small step to bridge the everwidening gap created between various disciplines of science and technology.
We stress on expanding the vision of every scientist beyond their own area of research, and have been working in this direction over several years. Our activities mainly consist of lectures by eminent scientists on various areas of science and technology. There is also a seperate lecture series to deal with the `Recent Trends in Scientific Development'. The global impact of the research carried out in India is analysed in yet another program called `India Around the World'. The series `Science for the Society' aims to explore how scientific research may benefit society. The intimate relation between theorerical and experimental research is highlighted in the program `A Theory for an Experiment, an Experiment for a Theory'.
Year of its inception: 1993.
Activities done in the past: Several talks/debates/quizzes were arranged when the group was active for over 10 years. Information about the talks can be obtained from the Looking Around webpage: http://www.iisc.ernet.in/looknet/
Activities planned if any: None as of now. The group requires enthusiastic volunteers to revive the group activities.
Number of members: It used to have about 50100 members in the mailing list. The core committee used to have about 1015 people.
Achievements: Talks by eminent people like APJ Abdul Kalam, CNR Rao, Rakesh Sharma.
Contact person: There is no contact person as of now. Looking Around has to be revived by a group of apolitical students interested in the same kind of activities.
Contact: Murthy O. V. S. N. (PHY).
Notebook Drive
“If the poor does not go to education, then the education must be brought to him” Swami Vivekananda
About us:
While most talk about the need for change, a few young students from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), took the lead and formed an organization which over the years went on to become the “change” that Swami Vivekananda had envisioned. Notebook Drive, popularly known as NBD, is a student organization formed and run by the students of IISc with support from the students, faculty, staff and alumni of the institute. Formed in 2002, the movement aims at making primary education accessible to all.
The Activities:
The goal is to reduce the high drop out rate recorded among the students of primary classes in the government schools. Since the government of Karnataka provides books and uniforms free of cost to its primary class students, NBD decided to take care of their annual stationery requirements which include notebooks, cursive writing books, drawing kits, geometry boxes, stationery items, sports materials, library books and so on. As this drive spreads, NBD hopes that no child will be bereft of basic education due to economic constraints.
Achievements so far:
To begin with, just one government school located within the campus of IISc was supported. The expansion has been linear so far and last year, 2008, the NBD team covered 12 schools around the campus and catered to the needs of about 2050 students. In 2009, with a collection of around Rs. 2.8 lakhs, the activities were expanded to four districts around Bangalore (Bangalore Rural, Bangalore Urban, Kolar and Chikkabalapur), covering 19 government schools, a tribal school and an orphanage. Around 2550 students were supported, with contributions from around 1200 donors from IISc community.
Join Us: Join Notebook Drive as a volunteer. Come and feel the joy on the children’s faces.
Email ID: [email protected] Group: [email protected]: http://notebookdrive.googlepages.comTrivia
The IISc campus is full of beautiful trees and flowers. The campus harbors both exotic and indigenous plant species with about 110 species of woody plants, including quite a number of Jackfruit trees.
The campus houses more than 40 departments, six canteens (cafeterias), a gymkhana (gym), three dining messes (halls), one multi cuisine family restaurant, nine men's and five women's hostels (dormitories), an air strip, a library, two shopping centers, a massage parlour, a beauty parlour and residence areas for faculties and other staff members.
The IISc campus is located in North Bangalore in Karnataka state in India. Known popularly as Tata Institute in the city, IISc is located on the way to Yeshwantpur from Majestic. IISc is easily accessible from Kempegowda Bus Station (known as Majestic) by bus or by autorikshaws. IISc is about 4 kilometres from the Majestic area
August 2009 Freshers Special 16
Papyrus Circulating Library
This library was started in 2006 by a few likeminded students, who wanted to give the bibliophiles on campus an inexpensive means of indulging in their hobby. The motive was also to give the founders an experience in entrepreneurship, with all the money collected being reinvested in updating the collection of books. Currently, it's being run and maintained by 7 students. The library opens office in front of the Amess, between 8 9pm , on MondayFriday, and between 12 pm on Saturday. Sunday is the weekly holiday. The books are all English and span various genres in both fiction and nonfiction, such as Classics, Mythology, Fantasy, Bestsellers, Autobiographies, Biographies, Business and Personality Development. An effort is made to fill in the gaps that exist in the collection in the main library and the Ranade library. The library also has an extensive collection of comic books, which includes Tintin, Asterix, Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield.
The library now has close to 700 books, the catalog of which can be found online at http://10.32.33.36/openbiblio/ . The list is continually expanding, and, borrowers' suggestions are welcomed while purchasing new books. The membership is open to everyone on campus including faculty and staff and the deposit is refundable. Lending charges are reasonable and differ for the different classes of books. The details can be obtained at the library desk in the above mentioned timings.
Contact: Janakiraman V. (ECE).
Praharshini Expressions Illustrated
Praharshini is a students' group of IISc aiming to introduce andshowcase the rich multitude of India's regional heritage in the areasof music, dance and allied arts. It believes, India is one of the fewcountries which has a cultural continuity for the last 9000 years,which has led to a large number of cultures and traditions evolve intohighly developed ones. The effort not only acts as a motivation forthe artists but also helps the Institute community to educate itselfon the cultural diversity, that is India. Praharshini has beensuccessfully running Yoga course in the institute for more than 3years. It also arranges talks on various tenets of spirituality andphilosophies that flowered in India.
Year of its inception: June 2002
Activities done last year
Basic Yoga Course every month. Advanced Level 1 and 2 yoga courses.
Two talks in 2009
1. Foundations of Indian Wisdom bySwami Bodhananda Saraswathi, Sambodh Foundation on 1 May 2009
2. Science of Kriya Yoga bySwami Atmananad, Kriya Yoga lineage on 20th Feb 2009
Talks in 2008
1. Scientific Perspectives on the Yogic Principles of Healthy Living byDr. Vallath Nandini, Professor, Amritha Inst. of Medical Sciences,Kochi on 21 Oct 2008
2. Dialogue and Psychotherapy in Bhagavadgita byProf. Sangeetha Menon, Professor, National Institute of AdvancedStudies (NIAS) on 1 Sep 2008
3. Concept of Mind and its Dimensions byDr. H. R. Nagendra, SVYASA University on 12 Feb 2008
Activities planned for the academic year 20092010We plan to arrange classical carnatic and hindustani concerts for theinstitute audience. And we would continue on arranging scholastictalks on diverse philosophies of India.
Number of members: 5
AchievementsIn the past, we have arranged many concerts of eminent artists likeRajan and Sajan Mishra, T M Krishna etc.
For more details please visit:http://www.iisc.ernet.in/~praharshiniEmail: [email protected]
TriviaThe library was established in 1911 and it is one of the first three departments started in the Institute (the other two are Departments of General and Applied Chemistry and Electrotechnology). It is regarded as one of the best scientific and technical libraries in India. The library moved in to the present premises in January 1965, built out of grants provided by UGC, in commemoration of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Institute in 1959. In 1995, the library was renamed as "J. R. D. Tata Memorial Library".
The annual budget of the library is over Rs. 100 million of which subscription towards periodicals alone is about Rs. 90 million. The library currently receives over 1,734 periodical titles, of which 1381 are subscribed, while the remaining titles are received as gratis or on an exchange basis. About 600 titles are accessible through the library subscription.
August 2009 Freshers Special 17
Prasthutha is a students' group of Indian Institute of Science. We are motivated by nationalism as construed by our venerable heritage that is time immemorial. It aims at organizing programmes that help in promoting nationalistic thinking amongst the scientific community of IISc. Started in May 1998, it has hosted 100 programmes. It provides a platform for discussions, in a professional way, on topics of science, technology, national security, economy, international geopolitics and other relevant social issues. It believes that the professional discussions, talks and debates help in forming educated public opinion and increase the awareness of scientific community on national and international issues. It is a team built on the basis of friendship and cooperation, striving to sustain dynamism and holistic growth of institute fraternity.
Year of its inception: May 1998Activities done last year: We arranged 2 talks in 2009.1. Tax Havens and Illegal Funds of India, Indian Money in Swiss Banks by Prof. R. Vaidyanathan Professor, Finance and Control, IIMB on 17 Apr 2009.2. Swami Vivekananda: His Life and His Message to the Youth On his 146th birth anniversary by Swami Bodhamayananda Ramakrishna Mission, Chennai on 12 Jan 2009.
Prasthutha Relevant Thoughts for Responsible People
Former Minister for Disinvestment, Arun Shourie, speaking on "Reservations in Education Sector: Alternate Solutions"
We arranged 6 talks in 2008.1. Dholavira: Antiquity and Continuity of Indian Civilization Link between Harappan and Gangetic Civilization by Sri Michel Danino, Scholar, Writer and Founder of International Forum for India's Heritage on 13 Oct. 20082. The UTurn TheoryHow and Why Indic traditions are being appropriated into WesternCognitive and NeuroSciences by Sri Rajiv Malhotra, Chairman, Center for Indic Studies, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, FounderDirector, Infinity Foundation on 1 Oct. 20083. Inflation and its Effects on Economy by Prof R. Srinivasan, Professor, Dept. of Management Studies, IISc, on 18 Sep 20084. Materials and Civilization by Prof S. Ranganathan, INAE Distinguished Professor, Dept. of Materials Engineering – IISc, School of Humanities NIAS & Honorary Professor, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China on 8 May 20085. Perspectives on IndiaChinaTibet Relations by Sri Claude Arpi, Writer, Journalist, Expert on IndiaChinaTibet relations, 11 Apr 20086. India and China: A comparison by Sri A P Venkateswaran, Former Foreign Secretary, MEA, Govt. of India, Former Ambassador to China on 9 Jan 2008Activities planned for the academic year 20092010We continue in our endeavor to organize talks on issues of nationalinterest. Recently India joined the elite club of nations havingnuclear submarines. We plan to organize talk articulating thecapabilities of Indian defense and how the Nsub makes a vitaldifference. We plan to organize talks on "Early Landmarks of Sciencein India" by Michel Danino, "Vedas in Modern Light" by Prof. R. L.Kashyap. We also plan to screen movies portraying nationalintegration.Number of members: 25AchievementsWe believe that our talks have helped the scientific community toarticulate and analyze the matters of national importance in rightperspective. Apart from talks, we have also organized quizzes,debates, movie screenings and charity programmes.For more details please visit:http://www.iisc.ernet.in/prasthuEmail: [email protected]
Origins: During Saraswati Puja Quiz by Spandan, we decided to start a quiz club. The inaugural meeting was held a few weeks later and the first quiz was held on 220209 set by Siddhartha(Math), Ulka(MGMT), Bhaski(CPDM) and Srinivasan(ECE).
Organizers and contacts: We have no official hierarchy or designations, but loosely, the activities so far have been coordinated by Sreepath Pai from SERC, Ananyo Maitra from Physics and myself.
Activities: The biweekly quizzes are not meant to be the General Knowledge based
kind. Those are more of guessing games where most answers can be worked out by anyone with a decent level of general awareness and guessing ability. Quizzes are set by members on a rotating basis. A lot of outsiders including students and faculty members from NCBS, JNCASR, exstudents, summer students and campus residents (and their friends) often participate in our activities.
How students can contribute: For starters, they can try participating in the biweekly quizzes.
Contact: Prathamesh (MATHS)
Quiz Club
August 2009 Freshers Special 18
Voices.
Description of the group: IISc Newsletter to bring the institute related issues to the fore.
Year of its inception: 2003.
Activities done last year:
• Arranging interactive session with Mr Ratan Tata on May 27, 2009.
• Helping Archives and Publications Cell to setup the Valedictory Exhibition.
• Benchmarking surveys of IISc services in 2008, 2009. • Students' Council Election coverage in 2008, 2009. • Daily bulletins during the Centenary Conference in Dec
2008. • Centenary Special Magazine in 2008.
Activities planned for the academic year 20092010:
• Freshers Special issue on campus clubs/groups (this issue).• Benchmarking survey of IISc services in 2010. • Students' Council Election coverage in 2010.
Number of members: 8.
Contact email id: [email protected].
Almost six and a half years ago, the then Students' Council proposed the idea of a Students' Council Newsletter. One of its objectives was "to create a platform where individual students can voice their concerns". The proposal gathered momentum and came into existence a platform with an apt name: VOICES.
The idea of a Students' Council Newsletter is not new. In the 70s, there was a students' magazine called RAG. The Editorial Team used to come up with stories, typewrite, and within a night, cyclostyle several copies from a small shop in Malleswaram to be distributed the next morning. It died before the dawn of the next decade. 80s witnessed a renewed comeback of the magazine and its name was, well, DRAG. It is unknown whether the name hinted on its predecessor or on campus students' condition, but the pun was intentional. Dying a similar death as its predecessor, DRAG could not sustain beyond a few years. Another pun brought the magazine SCAMPUS in the 90s. Although the student issues and the campus condition were the same as those during RAG and DRAG, an important leap was in the technology used: SCAMPUS started using Desktop Publishing for designing the newsletter. Each page became doublecolumned and the visual appeal improved as the Editorial Committee added a lot of cartoons. If one compares the current Voices to all these previous magazines, SCAMPUS comes the closest in terms of visual similarity. In fact, until late 2005, Voices continued using the email id of SCAMPUS ([email protected]) for its communication. Unfortunately, SCAMPUS also had to meet its fate within a few years. The new millennium witnessed a new student magazine in a new format: it was a booklet. There was a lot of improvement over the previous newsletters in terms of, at least, the paper quality. The
booklet had a glossy cover with the name MILIEU. It inherited the doublecolumn setting from SCAMPUS, but had pagesize smaller than A4 (the one used by other newsletters). MILIEU, an expensive magazine, followed the fate of its predecessors rather early.
The experienced students must have expected a similar outcome for Voices, when it was born in 2003. Indeed, if we see the Voices archive, we realize that there were periods of inactivity when Voices was not published or was irregular. But Voices has this adamant habit of bouncing back. Although it is inevitable that some day Voices will no longer be heard and some other magazine will take over, the way it is going today, Voices is only strengthening itself.
The first issue of Voices and the cover letter from Students' Council to the Director clearly suggest that the original motive behind the newsletter was to enable news reach all corners of this lush green campus. Being a member of Voices, I assure you that collecting campus news is a timeconsuming job, which becomes more difficult as only a handful of students work on it. As these handful get busy elsewhere or leave campus, the centrifugal force driving the magazine reduces. This phenomenon is the main reason why all IISc campus magazines die out.
Then how could Voices sustain itself for over six years? One reason is the successful migration of responsibilities from former teams to their future counterparts. Another reason is the Students' Council bylaw that the council must have a newsletter. However, one important reason is the evolution that Voices, a newsletter, went through. During 2006, Voices changed its gears to allow more creative writing. This led to newsletters containing one cover story, a few news items and a large part containing poems, general articles, and even jumbles. The idea was twofold: one, to improve student participation and two, to reduce the burden on the handful of the active people in Voices. It actually worked out well as far as sustaining regular publishing was concerned. Five issues came out in 2006 and 2007 each. Voices, originally planned to be a monthly, evolved into (almost) a bimonthly.
This evolution had a significant impact on its functioning: its attachment with Students' Council loosened. Originally started by the council, continued by members of the later councils, Voices finally had no members from the governing students' body. This led to another important aftereffect: from a Students' Council's Newsletter, Voices became a Campus Magazine. At times, faculty wrote articles, crosswords were published, blogs were featured, Gymkhana Corner made its entry (Gymkhana has a separate governing body from the Students' Council). Even today, although answerable to Students' Council, the functioning of Voices is entirely independent of the council. The editors and members of Voices are not elected or nominated. It is a group of volunteers.
One of the most successful and the longest running features of Voices had been Mr. Laapataa. As the name hints, Laapataa, a cartoon created by Sujit Kumar Chakrabarti (Alumnus, CSA), was an innocent representative of all lost researchers in IISc, who gave a satiric tone to various campus related issues raised, from food wastage in mess to tunnelvision of researchers. The cartoon made a significant impact to the pickup value of Voices. Despite being shabby, Laapataa undoubtedly won many hearts during its tenure of five years in Voices.
Voices gave another chance to technology in 2007 by going online. Even earlier, Voices issues used to be preserved online, in a member's webpage, but it used to work more as an archive. The team got a URL http://www.iisc.ernet.in/voices redirected to a server in CES on which Voices website was designed using Drupal, an open source content
August 2009 Freshers Special 19
management software. The access to Voices website was restricted to the IISc campus. Later, in early 2009, to be accessible outside IISc, Voices moved to a server in NCSI. Going online was not simply a way to embrace technology, the idea was to create a forum for the IISc community to discuss and share views (in the form of comments on articles). The idea worked with limited success. But it gave birth to a feature Voices uses to have opinions from its readers: online polls. Voices conducts online polls with almost every issue on various concerns in campus.
Voices had conducted a few polls in its early years. One poll regarding the Health Center titled "How healthy is our Health Center?" was conducted in early 2004 that had attracted 889 respondents. Another poll was conducted to mark the first birthday of Voices asking respondents to comment on its past performance and suggest improvements. The birthday issue of February 2004 was significant in the history of Voices: it not only contained some surprising results of these polls, but it was also the first colored issue of Voices. Taking polls a step further, in early 2008, Voices conducted a survey of various facilities in campus. Unlike previous polls, that used to get conducted outside the messes, this survey was online. Although some results looked counterintuitive to some readers, although some services were left out, and although the number of respondents was around only 10% of the student population, benchmarking, as the team named it, succeeded in arousing curiosity amongst students, faculty, administration and staff. This was a major activity done by Voices to widen its scope, only to continue widening the scope with time.
Voices took advantage of the online issue for Students' Council Elections 2008. No hard copies were printed, but the information about candidates, their answers to a Voices questionnaire, and the soapbox details were made available on Voices website as and when available. The website witnessed a good traffic and helped several IIScians to know the candidates better. The team did not realize it then that while widening its scope of activities it was undergoing a training for a stupendous task kept in store.
The Centenary Conference (December 2008) was a milestone in the history of IISc and Voices was asked to play a key role: to come out with bulletins on each of the four mornings of the conference covering the events of the previous day, the first bulletin being an overview of the conference. Voices was finding it difficult to become a monthly and the Centenary Conference's organizing committee was asking it to be a daily! Not that Voices was never a daily. During Vibrations 2003, an all India cultural fest organized by IISc Gymkhana, popularly known as Vibes, Voices published three issues covering events of the three days of the fest. The daily talking about Vibrations was aptly called Seismograph. But after five years since then, at the Centenary, the team constituted of only amateurs. The only commonality was in the spirit of Voices. How did this team of amateurs perform? Well, it outperformed: Voices came out with five bulletins in four days, the last bulletin in the evening of the last day. Apart from that, Voices published an 80page Centenary Magazine (100 enLIGHTening YEARS) constituting of articles, poems, photos, cartoons from students, faculty and alumni. Voices permanently stamped its name on the history of IISc.
While several IIScians praised Voices and looked in awe at the job done during the Centenary, the team had one major impact: boosting selfconfidence. Centenary ended, memories faded, but this confidence remained with the team. Voices conducted the second benchmarking survey of campus facilities. At the same time, it produced its first ever tabloid (A3 size), and that too, in color. The
issue created its impact on the readers. It was soon followed by Students' Council Elections 2009 and this time too, Voices went a step ahead compared to the previous year's online issue: it came out with a printed issue before elections with the candidates' responses to the questionnaire and the soapbox details.
Voices continued broadening its scope of activities. It helped the Archives and Publications Cell in setting up the Centenary Exhibition at the Valedictory that covered all events happened during the Centenary Year. Voices also monitored the interactive session with Mr. Ratan Tata during the Valedictory Function in May 2009. A few days ago, Voices published Joining Day Tips for the freshers.
When you are a failure, nobody bothers what you do. But as soon as you are successful, your every move is watched. The editorial of June 2007 of Voices blamed the Students' Council's Elections to be "mostly driven by region politics". The then Students' Council took objection and it gave a hint to the team that we needed to do a more responsible journalism. After April 2009 colored tabloid, the then Students' Council posted letters written by two readers bashing Voices. A common grievance across the two letters was that Voices had not remained a newsletter but had become a platform for creative content. The team learnt that it was time to reverse the evolution that started in 2006. Voices had to become a "newsletter" again. The team worked harder to collect news, to gather information, to investigate matters, and what resulted was the largest issue of Voices a 16page newsrich June 2009 "newsletter".
The next challenge was to increase its periodicity: from a bimonthly to a monthly. Voices came out with another 8page newsletter in July 2009 and what you are reading is August 2009 issue, a Freshers Special.
The reach Voices has gives it the freedom of the printed media and with this freedom it owns a lot of responsibility. When Voices provides a platform for IIScians to put forth their thoughts, it also urges for responsible journalism and balanced writing. Several articles reach Voices with incomplete picture of the situation and a very noncivilized use of words. This is where the editorial freedom of the Voices team comes into play. If we find the investigation incomplete, either we provide inputs to the author to investigate more or we take up the task on ourselves. We attempt to rephrase/remove the nonacceptable part of the submitted articles with a conscious effort not to touch any ideas presented. The author has the final say in deciding whether to publish the edited article.
Voices has a strange unwritten membership rule: you can join Voices, but you can never leave it. Instead, you become a Voices alumnus. Several students joined and left Voices, but the team still considers them part of this tiny vibrant community. We all know, if need arises, all Voiceans will stand together.
Come, join us.
Rupesh Nasre (CSA)with inputs from Sujit Kumar Chakrabarti (Alumnus, CSA)
and Vasanta (CSA)
TriviaThe apartments for married attendees of the institution are named Kaveri, Kapila and Bhaskara, which are prominent holy rivers and Vedic Sages in Hinduism.
August 2009 Freshers Special 20
Stray animal population management
Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by authors in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of Voices or official policies of Voices. However, this does not apply to the editorial content in this newsletter.
Once in a while we get messages complaining about the overpopulation of stray dogs in IISc. The most effective solution to the problem is as simple as ABC [Animal Birth Control]. This is because dogs are territorial in nature; When there is competition for food, territory and mates, dogs tend to get aggressive. Killing a dog does not help, because his/her territory would be occupied by another one, whereas sterilization makes the dog infertile, and the dog would not allow other dogs to enter his/her territory [3].Sterilizing just one female can potentially prevent about 67000 births over a period of 6 years [4]. Sterilizing has reduced the population of stray dogs in Bangalore by 20% [3]. When a dog is sterilized, generally he/she is also vaccinated. Sterilized dogs are less aggressive, are less likely to contract deadly diseases [5], and create a rabies free ring around their area [3]. According to The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 [1,2], it is the responsibility of the municipality to sterilize and vaccinate stray dogs in their area.The BBMP has divided Bangalore into wards, and assigned each ward to an NGO to control stray dog population. Karuna is officially responsible for our ward. When BBMP receives complaints about stray dog menace, it informs the NGO responsible for the ward to deal with it.The BBMP pays the NGOs about Rs.500 for each dog that it captures and treats. Naturally, the NGOs try to maximize the number of dogs captured and sterilized sometimes they catch sterilized dogs too. As killing of dogs is illegal, they take the captured dogs to their dogpounds (small fences filled with tens of dogs each), where the dogs are checked for rabies (rabid dogs are euthanized), sterilized if not already sterilized, vaccinated, and released subsequently in the same locality, from where they were captured [1, 2].
Figure 1: A recently sterilized dog in campus
More often than not, they are the most friendly dogs that end up getting captured, as they are also the easiest ones to capture they tend to put trust in humans. Some of them also die in the operation out of shock in the catching process. Unless the dog is problematic, relocating is not a solution, since dogs mark territories, and another dog takes over his/her place. The new dog taking over that region may not have been sterilized, potentially resulting in more litters inside the campus.It would be useful to have a team to overlook Stray Animal Population Management [6] in IISc. It could :
Maintain a database of existing stray dogs Ensure that ALL dogs not just the friendly and unsuspecting
ones in campus are sterilized and vaccinated Sterilized dogs have a small section of their ear neatly cut off for identification
Arrange for the relocation of problematic dogs Identify porous zones in the campus, and help prevent people
around neighbouring areas from discarding unwanted puppies into the campus
Assist in waste management (Open garbages attract dogs) Facilitate the adoption of existing puppies Help prevent abusing of dogs for entertainment, which adds to
their aggression for instance, a while ago, someone snatched a puppy in front of her mother, made the mother follow him for some distance while he took it away, and then threw the puppy on the mother's face
Some of us have got a female dog (Figure 1) living near the new hostel blocks sterilized (spayed), and found that the process is actually quite simple and feasible. If you believe that humans and dogs can coexist peacefully till the problem is solved, want to be a part of the solution, love animals in general, yet can prevent dogs from developing a passing personal attachment, enjoy field work, then you are not alone you have company in the Stray Animal Population Management Team:Karpagam, CES (kchelliah@ces.), Aniruddha Mitra, CES ([email protected]), Sivasankar Chander, CSA ([email protected]), V. Suresh, CSA ([email protected]), Arun R, CSA ([email protected]), Dheeraj Harihar, CSA ([email protected])
[1] The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960[2] http://www.envfor.nic.in/legis/awbi/awbi13.html[3] http://www.cupabangalore.org/abc.htm[4] http://www.petaindia.com/feat/fconstancemarie.asp[5] http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=134[6] http://www.arfindia.org
VOICES TeamMadhurima (MGMT) EditorinChief,
Deepti (MRDG), Rahul (CHEP), Rupesh (CSA), Shyam (MGMT), Smrithi (MRDG), Srishti (ECE).Design: Mukta (BC).
Publisher: Archives and Publications Cell.Printed by Navbharath Press, Bangalore on behalf of EditorinChief, VOICES, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.