Volume 2 April 2012

Dakshana Recognition Day, each year, is the day we felicitate

Dakshana scholars who have been successful at the IIT JEE. This

year, the Recognition Day is being celebrated in Delhi on Sunday,

July 01. We invite all DAAN members to attend the celebration. The

DAAN Annual meeting will also be held on the same day. Please

mark your calendar and see you there!

Dakshana Recognition Day

Date: July 01, 2012

Place: Delhi

DAAN website is launched!

“This website would reduce the distance between us greatly and help increase the bonding and

networking among all DAKSHANA Alumni” – Venugopal (DAAN Member)

Read more on page 5

Editing credits: Sharmila Pai (DAAN Advisor), Design Credits: Subramanya T H

Co-ordinators: Priya Arora (DAAN Co-ordinator), Abhishek Rai (Vicepresident, DAAN) Varun Thopucherla, Ranjith,

Siva Prasad Reddy, Venu Gopal, Priyanka Giri, Mukesh Kumar Meher.

Great news!!!

Page 6 Summer 2012 Internships for DAAN members at premium companies . . .

DAAN Internship cell finds summer internship opportunities for 10

DAAN members….

Page 4 A DAAN member of IIT Kharagpur starts a blog to guide his juniors

To solve counseling issues of Dakshana scholars….

Page 1 DAAN meetings at various IITs/NITs

Connecting DAAN members with a faculty on each campus….

Many of you may have already had the chance to meet or

work with Ranjit Kumar who heads DAAN activities as DAAN

Mentor. Ranjit Kumar is also a Senior Dakshana Fellow and is

based in Toronto. He graduated from IIT Delhi in the 1970s

and has had an illustrious career in the oil industry. He now

volunteers with Dakshana and works on its growing base of

Alums. In a short span, Ranjit has already helped cement

internship tie-ups for DAAN members with premier

companies in India. The DAAN website is a result of his

spearheading leadership and involvement and we are truly

lucky to have him on our team.

Welcoming DAAN Mentor Ranjit Kumar

(DAAN Mentor)

It was a great experience for us to spend a day with a Dakshana fellow (Priya Ma’m) sharing our wonderful (and great ) experiences after joining IIT Bombay. It was 12.30 in the afternoon. The actual plan was to have a small meeting with Prof. DB Phatak IIT Bombay (http://www.cse.iitb.ac.in/~dbp) at 2 pm, so we decided to spend time getting to know each other. Introductions were first on the agenda. We were amazed by Priya Ma’m's experience!!!

It was a great experience for us to spend a day with a Dakshana Fellow (Priya Arora) sharing our wonderful (and great) experiences after joining IIT Bombay. It was 12.30 in the afternoon. The actual plan was to have a small meeting with Prof. D. B. Phatak, IIT Bombay (http://www.cse.iitb.ac.in/~dbp) at 2 pm, so we decided to spend time getting to know each other. Introductions were first on the agenda. We were amazed by Priya Madam’s experience!! We took some pictures of the campus and moved on to KReSIT (CSE Department Building, IIT Bombay) where we had to meet Prof D.B. Phatak in the Conference hall. Sir asked each of us about our family backgrounds. He spent around 5-7 minutes talking to each one of us. It was really a great experience for us (since it is very rare to have a personal talk with any professor in engineering colleges!!). He asked about things like...

earning members in the family, how many brothers & sisters we have, what are the environmental (social) conditions in our hometown, etc.

He inspired us to think about helping society as soon as

we get out of IIT. "You people are very lucky that you had

Dakshana but think about many other students who do

not have enough opportunities to showcase their talent.

Then he gave a small example of the present Indian

society which really touched our hearts. Everyone knows

this, but it touched our hearts at that moment.

We were all truly inspired by Prof. Phatak’s speech. We thanked Prof Phatak for taking the time to be with us and wished him goodbye. It was about 4 in the evening. There is a lake in & nearby IIT Bombay. We went to the lake just to spend some time discussing about some improvements in DAAN and some improvements on the selection procedure of GDST also. We then talked about our life, studies, etc. It was a great time for all of us...

“It was a great experience

for us to spend a day with Priya Ma’m sharing our wonderful experiences after

joining IIT Bombay”

- T Ashok,

(DAAN member)

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Prof D. B. Phatak (IIT Bombay), Priya Arora (Dakshana Fellow) with DAAN members of IIT Bombay.

Prof D. B. Phatak said "Consider there are about 6 lakhs villages and 3 villages have 1 Government school... there will be at least 2 lakh talented students (taking one student from each school on an average) who when given an opportunity can improve the standard of living of their community and family. Now you have got that responsibility to take care of such things in the society. This is one of the finest ways to pay-back to the society. Think about all those things. You still have time."

Issue: April 2012

As each year goes by, DAAN’s presence at colleges keeps growing by leaps and bounds. Though we live and study in the same campus,

DAAN members are not connected in most places. The first step to bring DAAN members on campus together began with the Orientation Parties

that were a great success. Dakshana proposed the next step as connecting with a faculty member on each campus. And so began high-power

meetings between DAAN members and a Professor on their respective campuses. These meetings have given DAAN a special recognition with their

faculty and a promise of strength and support in the future. Let’s have a peek into how these events unraveled.

DAAN members of IIT Bombay with Priya Arora (DAAN Co-ordinator)

DAAN IIT Kanpur members met with Colonel Sharma, CEO Dakshana Foundation. His experienced and motivating talk really inspired us. We were gathered for the first time here as DAAN and it was indeed a joyful moment. Most of us were still unknown to each other so it was good that we interacted with each other. The notes with important points of the meeting are as follows:

1. To make a SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) to help qualifying scholars in online filling of choices during counselling, as two of our students were not able to get admission to IIT because of minute mistakes in the admission process.

2. Details of loans, scholarships and advance freeships should be made available to all Dakshana Scholars.

3. Internship for not only 3rd years but also for the 1st years who want to get a flavour of industries of their field of interests. As Colonel Sharma said, "Our scholars’ achievements are my strength when I talk to firms".

4. New Dakshana Scholars should be welcomed as soon as they reach the College gate so that they feel confident enough to start a new life here.

5. One general tip: We are given so much of exposure to lot of things. But we should make a good choice and make good use of it in our life. We should learn here in our college life by meeting with lot of people who have excelled in various fields.

While talking to Rajiv Krishna, he gave a reference of Mr. Felipe who has renounced his wealth and presently he is helping international students reach US Universities. He negotiates for scholarships with the universities on behalf of students. Colonel Sharma also informed us that the Bangalore construction work will start in March this year but the problem is with the capacity of hostels which is responsibility of government. He advised us that if we go to government jobs we should change the system and try to get things done on time so that the general opinion of people should change about the government.

When one of the members mentioned that even today there are JNVs where students have no knowledge of Dakshana, Colonel Sharma explained that posters and emails are being regularly sent to each JNV and these are supposed to be displayed on the school’s notice board. One solution to tackle this problem is that whenever DAAN members go home during holidays, they should go and address the JNV juniors and inspire them about Dakshana. One more thing is that a great number of selections take place from a particular JNV because there are good teachers of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. To ensure that more students get an equal chance, there is a plan that as soon as the JNV Bundi’s halls are constructed, 6 teachers from different JNVs will be trained each year to improve the quality of education.

Later, we met with Prof J Ram Kumar (Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering & Chairman, Student Placement Office, IIT Kanpur) and discussed the following: 1. Brief description about areas of concerns. 2. Filling online choices. Prof Ram Kumar recounted about the district wise informal library system in his college (NIT Trichy) where books used to pass on to the next batch. He also informed the members that there are scholarships available to students whose parental income is less than a defined amount. Such a student will get a tuition fee waiver, money for basic meals and even then if he/she is not able to cope up then they can apply to DOSA (Dean of Student Affairs) who has some grants from which money can be given to students with genuine needs. Lastly, when we were chatting in the Hall 4 canteen, Colonel said “Paise to koi ullu ka pattha bhi bana sakta hai". The consecutive discussion set me thinking about this statement.

Issue: April 2012

“His experienced and motivating talk

really inspired us”

- Pratap Bhanu Solanki (DAAN member)

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The DAAN members at NIT Surathkal recently met with Prof. Gopal Mugeraya, Dean of Students Welfare NITK in the presence of Ms. Reema Mukherjee from Dakshana. The meeting was co-ordinated by Ms. Priya Arora, Senior Fellow, Dakshana, and DAAN members Venu Gopal and Sanjay YR. The meeting was held at the Mining Seminar Hall of National Institute Of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal. It began at around 1.20p.m. with an interactive session between Ms. Reema and the 30 DAAN members present. The members introduced themselves and spoke about their lives at NITK. There were even some comparisons between life as an NITK student and as a Dakshana Scholar. Prof. Gopal Mugeraya joined the meeting around 2.15 p.m. After a welcome and introductions, Kamlesh, a 1st year DAAN member, briefly explained to Prof. Mugeraya about Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti and Dakshana Foundation. He was supported by Ms. Reema as she added some valuable points regarding Dakshana.

Then Prof. Mugeraya spoke about his life and career. He counseled us about how we should stay away from bad habits and the need to socialize amongst ourselves. He asked us to give back to Dakshana, Navodaya and the society whatever is possible by us. The highlight of his talk was his desire to celebrate his birthday this year with the DAAN members! A vote of thanks was offered and Ms. Reema and Basavesh, a 3rd year DAAN member, were presented with a bouquet by Prof. Mugeraya. The meeting ended after Ms. Reema exchanged her contact details and promised to be in touch and help us in the future. The meeting was motivational, inspirational, and humorous.

“Prof. Mugeraya spoke about his life and career. He

counseled us about how we should stay away from bad habits and the need to socialize amongst ourselves. He asked us to give back to Dakshana, Navodaya and the society whatever is possible by us.”

- Sanjay and Venu Gopal (DAAN members)

DAAN Khabar | DAAN meeting

NIT SURATHKAL

DAAN meeting With Prof. Shevgaonkar, Director IIT Delhi &

Col. Sharma, CEO Dakshana Foundation on February 23, 2012

Following the visit of Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Mentor DAAN, to IIT Delhi in

January 2012, DAAN members at IIT Delhi met with Colonel Sharma

on the evening of February 22, 2012. The meeting was co-ordinated

by DAAN member Tanuj Kumar. The members shared their

experiences at college with Colonel Sharma. The first year DAAN

members felt very happy to see a familiar face from Dakshana after

long.

The next day, Colonel Sharma met up with Prof Shevgaonkar,

Director IIT Delhi to discuss about DAAN. Tanuj Kumar was present

at the meeting as well.

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IIT DELHI

Issue: April 2012

DAAN meeting with Prof. Gopal Mugeraya (Dean Student Affairs) and Reema Mukherjee (Dakshana Volunteer) on March 10, 2012.

Ms. Reema and Basavesh( DAAN member) with Prof. Mugeraya.

Key features include

DAAN Khabar | DAAN Happenings

Issue: April 2012

DAAN members at IIT Kharagpur have launched a blog "DakshanA Alumni Network" with the aim of helping Dakshana scholars with counseling issues.

The blog has counseling advice for the scholars. The blog also has tips in the form of small mistakes made by the previous year alumni at the time of counseling advising them not to repeat them again in order to avoid last minute tension. These messages have been written by First Year students (Dakshana Batch -2011) studying at various institutes. IIT Kharagpur First Years have shown great enthusiasm in launching DAAN Blog.

Here is the link of the BLOG: www.dakshanaalumninetwork.blogspot.com.

Rahul Yeluri, first year DAAN member at IIT Kharagpur, has been managing the blog.

Please submit your articles to

Siva Prasad Reddy - sivajnv@gmail.com

Varun Thopucherla varun.daan@gmail.com

Alumni interested in giving any suggestions to Dakshana Scholars for counseling and career guidance are welcome.

E-Books There is an option of uploading and

downloading study materials, eBooks etc.

Updates DAAN Newsletters and News Updates can be

published on the website, which can be

downloaded by users.

My profile My Profile (visible to other DAAN members) -

includes photograph, educational background,

college, discipline of study, year of study, summer

internship experiences, achievements and awards,

interests and activities.

.

Message board Post a message/request/query to all other DAAN

members in his/her own college/ institution of

study/or to the whole DAAN community.

Main page The Main page will have updates and info about

Events and functions, scholarship and financial

assistance, summer internships, job search/post

graduate study, Fresher’s orientation etc

Election portal The site will contain a portal for conducting

elections for DAAN committee heads and

secretaries.

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`Though we are miles apart we are still together. We are in different colleges now, but are still covered under one banner "Dakshana".

How can we let memories of spending the two prime years of our life perish???

We, here at DAAN, want you to cherish those memories throughout your life and add many more to them. Keep listening to seniors who shall be working for corporate companies and learn from them. Take up internship in the corporate world and share those memories with the DAAN community.

These thoughts were raised and the outcome of these thoughts is our new website "DAAN".

Ranjit Kumar (Senior Dakshana Fellow & DAAN Mentor), Priya Arora & Syed Helal Qamar (Dakshana members), Abhishek Rai (DAAN President) and Subramanya T H assisted by 12 other efficient volunteers finished the herculean task of building a website from scratch. The website, aimed to help alumni members communicate with other members is now in its testing stage and will soon be launched for our use. Seneca Global, Hyderabad under the leadership of Mr Sarma Chadha, has designed and hosted the website at no cost at all! We are truly blessed to have such guardian angels with us!

In simple words, this website would bring us closer and help to increase the bonding and networking among all DAKSHANA alumni.

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A new platform for DAAN to connect!

DAAN members at IIT Kharagpur create a blog to guide their juniors

Article by Venugopal (NIT Suratkal)

DAAN Khabar | DAAN Website

Issue: April 2012

The new DAAN website is for the exclusive use of the Dakshana Alumni community only. Official launch is planned for early

May, 2012. The URL for the DAAN website will be: http://www.daan.dakshana.org. It will be open for registration and sign in for all

Dakshana Alumni very soon.

Purpose:

Its purpose is to promote communication and networking among the DAAN members, with seniors helping juniors with:

1. Student loans and scholarships

2. 3rd year summer internships

3. Mentoring and career path options

4. Counseling on campus/hostel life and environment

5. Volunteering for Dakshana activities and events

This interaction should help all DAAN members to successfully complete their engineering college studies and then go forward with

confidence into the workplace and the business world.

The first batch of Dakshana scholars - those students who completed Dakshana coaching in 2008 – will be graduating from college with

undergraduate degrees in the summer of 2012. And we encourage these Dakshana Alumni to also register on the DAAN website, so

that we at Dakshana can follow their progress and careers in the years ahead, and likewise they can keep in touch with their fellow

Dakshana Alumni and perhaps assist their juniors wherever they can.

Overview:

Each DAAN member will have his/her own exclusive account on the DAAN website, where he/she can upload their photo and put

together their Public Profile – for viewing by other DAAN members – and their own confidential Private Profile – for their own

personal use, with access to this confidential information restricted to the Dakshana/DAAN management only.

Each DAAN member would login and then register as a first-time user. On successful login, every DAAN member will automatically be

assigned a new DAAN-assigned email address that will be valid for lifetime. This DAAN-assigned email address will be the User ID for

all subsequent logins. This Dakshana email ID/address would be linked to the personal email ID/address chosen by the DAAN member.

Soon after initial registration, each DAAN member would enter his/her contact data, public profile information and upload his/her

photograph. The confidential private profile section will provide the facility to enter detailed personal contact data including

permanent home address and mobile phone number, personal academic record and a resume/CV for their personal use for summer

internship and employment purposes.

On subsequent logins to the website, members would go to the tab marked My Dashboard. This screen will be the virtual work-desk

for the DAAN member! From here, he/she can access all information provided on the DAAN website, send and receive messages,

browse through emails posted on the “message board”, search and look up the public profiles of others, engage in a “chat session”

with one or more DAAN members and also be able to view/edit/update/upload all personal data in their personal website account.

The DAAN website would provide useful and important information regarding:

1. Dakshana & DAAN team charts

2. Loans and scholarships

3. Newsletters and news updates

4. 3rd year summer internships

5. Job search and/or post graduate studies

6. Events and functions

7. Campus initiation for new DAAN members

8. Volunteering for Dakshana activities and events

9. URLs for DAAN blog sites at various colleges

10. Accessing study materials and eBooks uploaded on to the website

11. Photo Gallery

12. Feedback/Contact info on key DAAN council members and Dakshana/DAAN administrators

A separate Election Module has also been created. This will allow the DAAN members to conduct Annual Elections each summer by

voting online to elect the various DAAN office holders for the next academic year.

The new DAAN website

-Ranjit Kumar (DAAN Mentor)

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Here is the list of the alumni who secured internship through DAAN for the year 2012:

Name Qualification Specialization College

Deloitte Consultancy Hyderabad

Shriman Narayan Tiwari B.Tech Electrical Engineering IIT Kanpur

PratapBhanu B.Tech Electrical Engineering IIT Kanpur

Sharavana Kumar B.Tech Mechanical Engineering IIT Kharagpur

Shithali B.Tech Electrical and Electronics NIT Suratkal

Basavesh A.A B.Tech Computer Science And

Engineering NIT Suratkal

Syntel

Anitha Bhatia B.Tech Computer Science And

Engineering NIT Hamirpur

Karshan Karmur B.Tech Computer Science And

Engineering

Sardar Vallabhai National Inst of

Tech

Poonam B.Tech Computer Science And

Engineering IIT Roorkee

Hemant Mundra B.Tech Computer Science And

Engineering NITK Surathkal

Systems Technology Group

Shyam Sunder Singh B.Tech Computer Science Engineering IIT, Guwahati

We are looking forward to more internship opportunities for Dakshana Alumni in the coming years.

DAAN Khabar | Internship Cell

Issue: April 2012

The Internship and Placement Cell of DAAN has begun working successfully. In its first

initiative, the Internship cell was successful in getting internships for 10 DAAN members at

Deloitte Consultancy Hyderabad, Syntel and Systems Technology Group.

The Internship Cell has been the brainchild of Colonel Sharma, CEO Dakshana Foundation.

Ranjit Sir has played a very crucial role in the kick start of the Internship Cell. He contacted

various companies for internship opportunities for Dakshana Alumni. Shashank Dubey, as

Head of the Internship Cell, has been very active in spearheading this activity.

The Internship Cell provides internship opportunities to pre-final year Dakshana Alumni.

Summer 2012 Internships for DAAN members at premium companies

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DAAN Khabar | GDST and DAAN’s Involvement Issue: April 2012

GDST 2012

The Grand Dakshana Selection Test this year was conducted on 01 April 2012 at 24 locations across India. This year too, like last year, DAAN members volunteered to conduct the test at all locations. They travelled from their colleges to the test centre locations, some of which were in close vicinity while some others were an overnight journey away by train. The volunteers opted to sacrifice a weekend of being with their friends at college and spent it at the JNV test center planning, organizing, managing people and situations, leading the way at the most important Dakshana event of the year.

Volunteering at the GDST is not an easy task. It involves tremendous effort, patience, enthusiasm, and tolerance. The volunteer has to keep calm in highly tense situations and have great presence of mind to take the right decision in case a crisis arises. The DAAN members who volunteered for GDST 2012 have done an excellent job of conducting the test with ease. In some locations they were assisted by Dakshana volunteers who are professionals in various fields.

Dakshana is grateful for the dedication and zest displayed by the following DAAN members for this event:

Sl no Name College JNV Visited

1. Shreesha Chatra IIT Indore JNV Bhopal

2. Shashank Dubey MIT Pune JNV Raipur

3. Nitesh Patra,, Manojit Biswas, Mayank IIT Bhubaneshwar JNV Cuttack

4. Satpal Singh NIT Kurukshetra JNV Ghaziabad

5. Rajat Goyal IT BHU JNV Gorakhpur

6. Prashant Kumar IIT Kanpur JNV Lucknow

7. Amritbir Singh University Institute of Eng. & Technology, Chandigarh JNV Chandigarh

8. Jaiprakash and Mohit Yadav IIT Mandi JNV Bilaspur

9. Nishikant Kadam Marathwada Mitra Mandal College of Engineering Pune JNV Pune

10. Sumit Kumar Santh Longowal Instituite of Engg & Tech, Sangrur JNV Samba

11. Dhananjay Choubey, Anandkumar Singh NIT Srinagar JNV Ganderbal

12. Neeraj Verma IIT Kharagpur JNV Patna

13. Himanshu Kumar IIT Patna JNV Patna

14. Dinesh Kumar IIT Kharagpur JNV Burdwan

15. Varun T NIT Warangal JNV Ranga Reddy

16. Rajesh Kumar IIT Hyderabad JNV Ranga Reddy

17. Sanjay Y R NIT Suratkal JNV Bangalore Rural

18. Shijil Vijayan NIT Calicut JNV Palakkad

19. Poonamchand Meena IIT Gandhinagar JNV Gandhinagar

20. T Ashok IIT Mumbai JNV Pune

21. Swapnil Nikam & Dinesh Kumbharwar NIT Nagpur JNV Wardha

22. Harshdeep Maheshwari Rajasthan Technical University, Kota JNV Bundi

23. Asanath Sidh IIT Mumbai JNV Jaipur

24. Shyamsunder Singh IIT Guwahati JNV Rangiya

25. Urwashi Kumar IIT Guwahati JNV Jorhat

DAAN members as mentors

Mentoring Dakshana scholars at coaching JNV locations is an important activity on the DAAN manifesto and DAAN members have undertaken this activity with great gusto. What happens at these mentoring visits? The mentor reviews the topics covered from the syllabus and clears doubts that scholars may have on those topics. Between December 2011 and March 2012 these DAAN members made the following mentorship visits:

Ranjith J N (IIT Madras) & Naveen S N (NIT Suratkal) visited JNV Bangalore Urban

Vishnu K (IIT Madras) & Vinod E R (IIT Madras) visited JNV Kottayam

DAAN members volunteered to conduct the Post IIT JEE Orientation (which was designed by the IIT Bombay DAAN members)

At JNV Bangalore Urban on 9th April 2012 - Varun T (NIT Warangal)

At JNV Ranga Reddy on 13th April 2012 - Pravin Kumar Shedolkar and Rajesh Kumar Meena (IIT Hyderabad)

There is a concept that when two bodies having different internal pressure are brought in contact then the pressure tends to stabilize somewhere in the middle called the equilibrium point. Analogy to the above statement is that when two people meet similar kind of equilibrium point is reached with respect to thoughts. The conversation among the people surrounds that equilibrium point.

When I met Guy and the Spier family, the situation was like, one side is very high pressure and the other side is vacuum. Due to such huge pressure difference, I had learnt so many things, which are difficult to explain in one article.

Let me introduce you to the Spier family. Starting with the boss who is Mr. Guy Spier, then next person I would like to introduce is Ms. Lory Spier; she is the boss of Mr. Guy Spier and then 3 very cute children Eva (7), Issac (5) and Sarah (4). Guy’s mother is from South Africa and father is German. He grew up in Israel. Lory’s mother is from US and father is from Mexico. She grew up in Mexico. Kids were born in New York, US, and are being brought up in Zurich, Switzerland . Sarah the youngest one speaks in Spanish with her mother, in English with her father and goes to a German School. So it’s a great cultural emersion for one to meet with the Spier Family. Mr. Guy Spier is a great disciple of Warren Buffett and a very good friend of Mohnish Sir. He is a graduate from Oxford University with an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is owner of Aqua-Marine Funds, an investment partnership inspired from Buffett-partnerships. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Spier) Guy is a very passionate person, a very keen observer of things, and a great learner. The most common thing in all the successful people is that nothing stops them from learning something new. This trait was clearly visible in Guy. Lory is a fun loving lady and a great mother. She likes children a lot. She is tough enough to adapt in every situation easily. The kids were very cute. Eva is calm, sweet and creative. She likes to solve puzzles and difficult tasks. Issac is quiet, cute and interesting. He has developed a passion for bombs, wars and fights. In Agra, during lunch, Guy told him a story about Atom Bomb explosion, he passionately replied ‘Cool’ (with a deep breath). One would love to watch his expressions. Sarah sweet, cute, drama-queen, interesting, adorable, loving, talkative… (The list is exhaustive; you can put all the adjectives you know). On the first meeting, Guy told me ‘she is the real character’. She enjoys everything. She makes friends everywhere. We travelled by train from Delhi to Agra. The train was delayed by 2 hours. Spending 2 hours at the crowded New Delhi railway station must be a tough experience for the family. But Sarah was still enthusiastic. She was jumping as usual, while walking on the railway station.

Monish Sir asked me if I can join the family when they are in India. I had an obvious positive reply. I joined the family in Delhi at Hotel Imperial Palace. We visited Red Fort, Jama Mosque and Akshardham temple in New Delhi. We moved to Agra. On Jan 1st, we were in front of Taj Mahal. The interesting part was train journey from New Delhi to Agra.

The New Delhi railway station was crowded and was looking frightening to me; it never looked that way before. Unfortunately, the train was 2hours late. We travelled in AC-III, kids were happy to see the beds like seats. After seeing the compartment from inside, Issac said ‘it’s like a home, mommy’. Unlike the normal Indian kids, all 3 were interested in going to upper berths. It was a great experience.

I had a wonderful time with the family. It was a very unique experience of its kind. I entered and stayed in five star hotels for the first time. Except Red Fort, that was my first time too visiting all the

monuments. For the first time I wasn’t concerned about the Naxals in Jharkhand as I was flying to my college from Delhi. Everything was royal and luxurious.

For those 4 days, I got so much associated with the family; I was feeling as if I am also a tourist. I learnt a lot of things from the family. It was very inspiring and motivating. I wish I could take my family for a similar trip soon. THANK YOU NOTES Guy shared a small story with me. Monish Sir invited Guy at his annual meeting. After the meeting, Guy replied to Monish Sir with a thank you note for inviting him. And Guy told me that this instance has brought many changes in his life.

DAAN Khabar |Tour with Spier’s family- Abhishek Rai

Tour with Spier’s family

- Abhishek Rai (IIT Kharagpur)

Guy keeps sending ‘Cards’ to people on every occasion e.g. Christmas, New Year etc. He heartily thanks everyone for even the smallest contribution. During the trip he explained to me the importance of ‘thank you notes’ and ‘how it can differentiate you from the rest of the people’. I have tried the power of thank you notes. On 18th Jan, 2012 we had the Alumni Meet at IIT Kharagpur. In the evening, I was near the hostel gate with my friends. Some of the alumni came to visit the hostels. They took a photograph with us on the hostel gate. They talked with us for some time. Later, I searched one of the alumni on Facebook and thanked him for having a good conversation and inspiring me. The name of the alumni is Mr. Kunal Bhattacharya. Now we are friends. I have read the book ‘How to win Friends and Influence People’ by ‘Dale Carnegie’. It helped me to understand the need of thank you notes quickly. Warren Buffett has referred this book in his biography as a must read book. It’s the most comfortable and easiest tool to make life easier and comfortable. One might wonder how thank you notes work. It’s a very simple thing, what’s so special about them. Guy says it works because very less people do it, which is a very valid reason. Gratitude gives you a satisfaction. It makes you feel content. Also, it is the best way to control your ego. It is a very simple practice which brings wonderful changes in our life. At the end, I must thank Guy for explaining such a simple and hidden concept of making living life better.

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” - William Arthur Ward

Issue: April 2012

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Miracles happen every day, change your perception of what a

miracle is and you will see them all around you.

Last year around December, I was bit worried about my

Internship which is meant to be first hand industry experience

for any budding engineer. Fortunately, Halliburton Offshore

Inc. came to my campus mid-January to offer the Summer

Internship program to couple of students which would take

place in Mumbai and then maybe in Malaysia also.

Halliburton came with such a nice internship structure that

would make any aspirant engineer thrilled with a 75k monthly

stipend and residence in a luxurious 5-star hotel.

Halliburton has a rigorous selection procedure which becomes

blatant when you realize that they selected only 2 students

from of all departments that applied from MIT-Pune. They

shortlisted resumes, conducted personal interviews via

telephone and video conferencing. After I got selected, I

realized that every company not only looks at your academic

record but also your attitude, enthusiasm and ability to work

under pressure.

My Internship began from early June and lasted 45 days till I

completed my assigned project with a week’s exposure at a

Malaysian Oil field too. Halliburton Offshore Inc. provides oil

field services. They are into oil exploration, drilling wells, well

services and other complex terminology and once the oil is

pumped out of the ground it is passed on to other companies

to be refined into products that are sold to the wider markets.

An oil well is a sensitive and tempestuous hole in the ground

made by man to better populate the planet with machines.

My first project was in the Production Enhancement

department with ‘Hydraulic Fracturing in CBM Wells and

Inventory Management in SAP’ as a topic. Hydraulic Fracturing

basically consists mainly of pumping water with sand and

slurry at a high pressure into the ground and fracturing the

formation to enhance the recovery of oil. There were a total

of 5 other co-interns with me from different colleges around

India including IIT-Kharagpur and PDPU. I was part of a team

of three and it was then that I realized why the industry places

such an emphasis on team-work.

The accommodation was close to perfection - a flat on the

17th storey of Lalco Residency Skyscraper with free fast food,

free high speed internet and an awesome swimming pool. My

room overlooked green hills (right across the street, can it get

any better?). There was a company car that would pick me up

and drop me off and the ride (while not trudging over the

string of potholes that are rain-flooded roads in Mumbai) was

scenic.

In the first week of internship I underwent tough training to

really understand the company business, strategy and the

policy they follow. Halliburton strictly follows Health Safety

and Environment issues whether you are in office or on the

rig. Each employee has been provided the facility of raising an

HOC-card against anyone who follows any unsafe or unhealthy

practice inside the company irrespective of what his

designation is - whether he is Manager or intern! Each HOC

card raised against any employee gives information to his

Manager and the Manager has a right to ask to him for

explanation.

In the second and third week I spent my time in the

Halliburton Andheri Office and started working seriously on

my project. My office timing was from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. but

sometime I was working in office till late night like 9 P.M. also.

The office environment was very friendly as they encouraged

me to communicate with each and every employee and you

could ask your minutest doubt without any hesitation to the

Manager too.

In the fourth and fifth week, I had completed most of my

project work and I was given permission to visit Halliburton

Sperry Lab and Cementation Lab at Taluja, Navi Mumbai. I had

to undergo 3 days safety training prior to starting work in the

lab. So, couple of days I went through basic safety and

precaution training. For about a week I had to regularly wear a

helmet and overalls with steel-toed boots to work. Halliburton

cares for the safety of their employees to an extent where

drivers are not allowed (by some fancy gadget) to exceed

55kmph and everyone sitting in the car must be wearing a

seat belt. They take excellent care of their employees

(110,000 of them spread over 80 countries!)

Halliburton conducts daily meetings to set targets for each

day’s work. I’m lucky to get a closer look into the Halliburton

business in India because I’d got chance to attend its quarterly

meeting which basically explains the progress of the

companies and rewards the top performer from within the

company for the past three months.

The last week was very crucial to me as I had to present my

project work and had to impress my Manager. I prepared the

presentation about my project and presented it. He

appreciated my efforts and the best part of it was that I got

permission to visit Halliburton fields in Malaysia.

In the last four days I packed up my things and flew to Kuala

Lumpur where Halliburton has a massive onshore rig. I was

taken on the oil rig, I had never seen such a thing before. I was

working in an envelope of sand dunes and the landscape is

purely unimaginable. Once while having food, there was a

sandstorm and I had to run with my plate in search of some

shelter!! Those experiences were mind blowing.

I was working with experienced engineers to help them

perform fracturing, living in bunk houses, which were no less

than 5 stars, with the cook serving whatever you ordered. I

remember someone ordered fish in the afternoon and the

cook was running around the entire city to get fresh water

fish!!

After spending five splendid days I was back in Mumbai. On

the last day, I submitted the hard copy of my project report to

my Manager.

I really hope that I’ll get to do some more projects of this kind

in the near future, where I enjoyed a lot and at the same time

gained immense practical knowledge. All in all, had a

wonderful experience!

DAAN Khabar | Internship experience Issue: April 2012

My Internship Experience

- Shashank Dubey(MIT Pune)

9

Name College Branch Achievements

Dheerendra Kumar IIT Kanpur Mechanical 2nd in 800m race in Intramural competitions

Devendra Kumar IIT Delhi Chemical 1. Participated in "47th Inter IIT sports meet" in Athletics

(400m and 110m Hurdles); 2.Won silver in Volleyball inter-

Hall competition; 3.Won gold in inter-hall Basketball

competition.

Uday Chaitanya IIT Kharagpur Electrical Won Silver medal in Inter Hall Weight Lifting competition -

2012

Urwashi Kumari IIT Guwahati Civil Engineering Participated in 47th Inter IIT sports meet and won silver

medal in Basketball

Rabin Kumar Naik IIT Kharagpur Electrical 1. Cross Country Race in NCC Camp - Gold (in his first

year); 2.Open IIT Road Race – Gold; 3.Inter Hall - Individual

Gold (5 km ); 4. Inter IIT Sports Meet - 5th in 5km race (with

timing of 17 min 53 sec ); 5.Spring Fest Marathon Race –

Gold; 6.Gold in 6.6 KM Race

Gunnam Sreedhar NIT Suratkal Electronics and communication Participated in all India Inter NIT Kabaddi competitions

Nitesh Kumar Patra IIT Bhubaneswar Electrical engineering Inter IIT Athletics - 2009 + 2010

Mana Ram IIT Jodhpur Mechanical 1. Two bronze medal (400m and 800m) in 46th Inter IIT

Sports Meet-2010; 2. One gold medal (800m) and one

bronze medal in 47th Inter IIT Sports Meet-2011; 3. Three

gold medals (200m, 400m, and 800m) in Varchas '11, Inter

college sports festival, IIT Rajasthan; 4. Five gold medal

(200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m and 4x100 relay) in Varchas

'12, inter college sports festival, IIT Rajasthan; 5. Best

athlete in Varchas '11 and Varchas '12, inter college sports

festival, IIT Rajasthan

Sharvana Kumar IIT Kharagpur Mechanical 1. Participated in Inter IIT Sports meet from first year; 2.

Won Silver in 47th Inter IIT Sports meet 2011 held at IIT

Kharagpur; 3. Gold in 2010 and Silver in 2009 "Shaurya -

Annual Sports fest of IIT Kharagpur; 4.Gold in Inter Hall

volleyball meet 2011 and Got "Best Spikier of

the tournament”.

Deepak Tiwari NIT Warangal Computer science Champion of table tennis, inter-NIT sports meet 2010 and

2011

Ranu Chaudhary IIT Kharagpur AG Won gold medal in T.T championship(women) in 46th and

47th inter IIT sports meet

Siva Prasad Reddy IIT Kharagpur Mechanical 1. Inter IIT probable candidate in weightlifting; 2.Won bronze

medal in open IIT power lifting; 3. Won silver medal in inter

hall competitions held this year

Priyanka Swain NIT Rourkela Electronics and electrical Secured 1st prize in the athletic meet 2011-12 (cross

country race)

Dhruva Charan Muduli IIT Guwahati Electronics and communication 1. Main player of "bronze medal team" in inter hostel

Volleyball championship 2010-11; 2. Participated in 47th

inter IIT sports meet in Volleyball; 3. Main player of inter

hostel Volleyball Gold medal team in 2011-12

Sports achievements of Dakshana scholars

Issue: April 2012 DAAN Khabar |Sports Achievements

NAME COLLEGE BRANCH YEAR CGPA

Pratima Dixit Vellore Institute Of Technology Electronics & Electrical 2nd 9.03

Sachin M M NIT Suratkal Mechanical 2nd 8.9

T.Ashok Kumar IIT Bombay Computer Science 2nd 8.85

Priyabrata Bhuyan IIT Delhi Civil Engineering 2nd 8.7

Prabartika Sahoo NIT Rourkela Electronics & Communication Engineering 2nd 8.68

Giri Raj Angoria NIT Rourkela Chemical 1st 8.6

Sagar Das NIT Rourkela Mechanical 2nd 8.52

Manu K K Govt.Engineering College,Tiruvanathapuram

Mechanical 3rd 8.5

Santosh M B NIT Suratkal Mechanical 2nd 8.5

Vivek N V NIT Suratkal Electronics & Communication Engineering 3rd 8.48

S.Thandava Sesha Talpa Sai NIT Rourkela Electronics &Electrical Communication Engineering 2nd 8.3

Priyanka Swain NIT Rourkela Electrical 1st 8.27

Sanjay Y R NIT Suratkal Electronics & Communication Engineering 2nd 8.26

Nilay Jadwani SVNIT ,Surat Mechanical 3rd 8.24

Dinesh Chaudhari VNIT, Nagpur Computer Science 3rd 8.24

Ranjith IIT Madras Mechanical 2nd 8.19

Shamanth Kumar D N IIT Madras Electrical sciences 2nd 8.4

Povanna K P NIT Suratkal Information Technology 2nd 8.12

Rajat Goyal IT-BHU, Varanasi Ceramic Engineering 2nd 8.03

Nirakar Rout NIT Rourkela Electrical sciences 2nd 8

Risabh Saurabh NIT Jaipur Mechanical 2nd 8

Pratap Bhanu Solanki IIT Kanpur Electrical 3rd 8

DAAN Khabar | Achievements- Academics

Issue: April 2012

Academic achievements of Dakshana scholars

*If your CGPA is more than 8.0 please do mail your details to varun.daan@gmail.com

When we enter college, in the beginning, studies seem difficult because of many reasons like difficulty in following English of the professor, change of pattern from school to college, and involvement in so many other activities, etc. The ‘change’ is somewhat similar to the change in level of studies we observe when we move from Class 8th to 9th and from 10th to 11th. So even if our performance is not good initially we can do better later. Moreover the initial basic engineering courses are generally more difficult than the departmental courses which we study later. So the thing is we should not think low of ourselves. Sometimes it does make us depressed and feel like this is not as per our potential, so we give up and then our performance degrades. I also felt the same in my 1st semester when I was not able to grasp what professors taught in the class and got a 6.9 in the 1st semester. I did not lose hope but started giving more effort and studied regularly and then my SPI improved to 8.4 and 8.5 in subsequent semesters (From second semester onwards I also started asking doubts in the lectures which got clarified at the same time). In my 4th sem I got 6.5 as I was unable to give attention to my studies due to other involvements. I was not happy with my results. So I decided to study hard and regularly (to follow lectures in pace with the instructors) next semester. In my 3rd year I gave up other involvements except the Project where I work in my free time. Then I got 9.7. Few Other Things: Meet Counselors: I advise everyone to meet with the counselors who are present in every institute. It generally happens that sometimes we feel low, frustrated because of various things like our performance or any other problem that we cannot share with our friends. In those situations, we can consult counselors who listen to us patiently, identify problem, discuss various possible solutions to our problem, and make us feel motivated and good. They can advise us on our time management strategies, our priorities, etc. They also help us in taking decisions whenever we are in situation of dilemma as they are experienced and have better knowledge than us. I started visiting a counselor at IIT Kanpur’s Counseling service, Ms. Sarmistha Chakraborty, in my second semester and since then I visit her regularly even if I do not have any problem. She is a source of motivation for me as I regularly talk with her regarding my life and other things happening around me. It feels good when we share our achievements and thoughts with someone older to us.

Be Self-Motivated: Self-motivation is necessary to perform

better. It helps us in overcoming failures. Reading good books,

watching motivational videos helps removing negative

emotions from our mind and makes us feel relaxed and

refreshed. I used to read Swami Vivekananda’s books on

development of youth. Most of his books are provided by

‘Ramkrishna Mutt’ at subsidized prices.

One more thing I wish to share is that generally we start following a general belief about something without getting to know it ourselves. For example our friends say, “Woh prof achha nahi padhata hai yaar, Class jaane ka koi matlab nahi hai”. In those situations, even if we understand what that professor teaches, the general belief tries to set our mind and subsequently we do not find any harm in missing the professor’s classes. Doing so, we miss something which might be good for us. This is just an example in class, but similar things happen in other activities also, like when we want to join some club or activity we consult our friends. They talk according to their opinion which could also be a part of false general belief. At that time consulting good seniors or counselors is a better idea so that we get the right information to act through.

Co-Curricular activities: There are many new and exciting things to which we are exposed in our first year. So if we make good choices which we like and can manage with our studies, we can learn to excel in them and can follow them throughout our life. This thing was also told by Colonel Sir in his visit to IIT Kanpur as similar things happen in Army also. But generally what happens is we take part in various activities initially, get busy with them, mess up our academics and then we leave all of them. So we do not gain anything in total. I too took part in many things appealing to me, but followed only some of them like Robotics and I’m doing well in it. Now I am trying to follow it as my career and I will try to pursue my higher studies in a field related to robotics. I also managed to learn swimming here in the summer of my first year and now I can swim considerably well. I enjoy swimming but due to climatic conditions here, the swimming pool remains open for less than 8 months.

So guys, give your best always. Learn as much as you can from your professors while at college. Try something new and innovative always and shine in your life.

A Dakshana scholar designs a” Robot Fish”

Research Paper: Recently, I presented a paper ‘Design and 3D Simulation of a Robotic Fish’ at an international conference ACODS held at IISc Bangalore in Feb 2012. This was part of my project which began in summer 2011 under Dr. Laxmidhar Behera, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Kanpur, and it is still in progress. The main idea of this project is to develop a robotic fish which can swim like real fish in water. Alongside is a picture of the hardware skeleton of the fish. The future scope of this project is to make a fish equipped with pollution sensors that can go deep inside a water body to detect the pollution level of the water. Since I have another year, I will continue this as my B. Tech Project (every B.Tech student has to do it in his 4th year).

DAAN Khabar | Achievements- Academics

Pratap Bhanu Solanki, 3

rd Year Electrical Engineering,

IIT Kanpur.

How did I get this project?

Projects that we do during college turn out to be very useful to show our work experience in the field of our interest. When we apply for higher studies (MS and Ph.D.) our project work supports our application and increases chances of our selection into the University of our choice. If our project is good, then definitely the mentor will give us a ‘Strong’ recommendation which is also helpful when we apply to foreign Universities. I went to Professor Dr Laxmidhar Behera, from the department of Electrical Engineering who is good in the field of Robotics. I went with an idea of making a robot of some kind, discussed the feasibility, and requested calculations from him. He was not convinced with my idea but he asked me to develop a Fish (Probably he was convinced that I will work sincerely from the discussion). Then I started working on the project with a PhD student Samrat Dutta as a mentor and the work is in progress.

Message to Dakshana Scholars

12

Issue: April 2012

Issue: April 2012 DAAN Khabar | DAAN Organizational Structure

Head (JNV activities and mentorship)

3rd year IIT Roorkee

(Patron) Ex-Officio CEO, Dakshana

Foundation

Sub-Head (College activities and alumni

networking) 2nd year IIT Delhi

Sub-Head (Communication and media)

2nd year BMS Institute of

Technology, Bengaluru

Head (College activities and alumni networking)

3rd year IIT Delhi

Sub-Head (Communication and media) 2nd year NIT Suratkal

(DAAN Advisor)

Sub-Head (College activities and alumni networking)

2nd year IIT Kharagpur

Head (Higher education and career guidance) 3rd year IIT Delhi

(General secretory-DAAN)

(2nd year, NIT Warangal)

Head (Internships and placements)

4th year MIT, Pune

(Vice-president-DAAN) 3rd Year, IIT Kharagpur

Sub-Head (JNV activities and mentorship)

2nd year IIT Bombay

Sub-Head (JNV activities and mentorship)

2nd year, IIT Madras

(DAAN Co-ordinator)

(General secretory-DAAN) 2nd year, IIT Madras

DAAN Committee members

(DAAN Mentor)