TedXTrichy and my day at NITT

It is a great feeling to be back to where you belonged! NIT Trichy, the place where I learnt a lot more than Electrical and Electronics Engineering, never feels less than home, and one day would never be enough to meet all the friends I have there! Yet I went on this Sunday for TedXTrichy, completely knowing that.

TedXTrichy had to be attended for two major reasons. First being that Duck, Kushal and GK would be coming and it would be nice to catch up with them in the background of NIT Trichy, and secondly there is a great sense of parental-like-pride in seeing the generation next take over our places in the college lineage. And this is one reason why Festember, Pragyan, Ventura, Currents etc in the next two three years at least will be looked forward to. And I must say it was a thrilling experience to witness TedXTrichy, and the juniors who organized it have made us very proud with the spectacular time keeping and stage setting organizing abilities!

The first seed for TedXTrichy was sown when Kiruba Shankar visited Currents’10 (Thanks to Tinu Cherian for suggesting him as speaker to me on Twitter) as guest speaker. His lecture was a true inspiration for the students of the college (their twitter n linked in presence has increased exponentially since then) and every suggestion he gave was an opportunity for the receptive brains there. Entrepreneurship Cell of NITT expressed interest in conducting TedX as a part of their annual calendar events in 2010, and thus began the journey that saw its first check point last weekend.

The best thing I like about TedXTrichy is the amazing lineup of speakers and the diversity in the list! We got to hear from experts about Psychology and motor racing on one end to entrepreneurship and technology at the other, and a spectacular stand up comedy performance to top it all!

The set of morning lectures included Subramaniam Vincent, R.M.P Jawahar, John Louis and Anshu Gupta. I could not make it Subbu’s lecture. Jauhar, a very popular person among the NITTians heads Tiruchirappali Regional Engineering College Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park (TREC-STEP) that has been the backbone of support of E-Cell of NITT’s activities for the last few years. He spoke on the opportunities and challenges facing an entrepreneurial journey, a topic that he has dealt with for over the last so many years. John Louis, the grandmaster of memory mesmerized the packed audience of EEE Audi with his ability to remember numbers so well. He stressed on the importance of listener’s reception in retention and recalling of information told to him/her. He also enthralled the audience like me who could hardly solve the daily sudoku puzzle in the newspaper, with a video showing his son Bernett Orlando solving a 5x5x5 Rubik’s cube blindfolded in record time! Anshu Gupta who spoke the last brought the crowd from this super excited state to ground, by baring the unspoken realities in the life of an average Indian and opening our eyes to the need to address these issues before staking claim as a global superpower! I must say that his was the lecture that moved me the most and some of the subjects he covered, although taboo in the society, must be discussed in public and awareness must be generated for these causes. How I wish someone from the health and hygiene department was present among the audience listening to him!

The next session was after lunch. Sunil and Karthik of Evam Entertainment simply never let the crowd their regular post-lunch nap on the Sunday with fun and activities. I was trying to escape the Trichy heat by staying outside the audi for a while but the noise and laughter wouldn’t go without cheering me up too! ‘Spectacular performance’ they said, as I met people after the session. And as the twitter page of TedXTrichy puts it, it was indeed an ‘Explosive Performance’. Vivek Karwa who followed next was full for ‘tips and notes’ for those interested in deeper knowledge of money multiplying, something truly in the spirit of E-Cell of NITT. I couldn’t attend the lectures by Balaji Sampath and Srihari Balakrishnan, but I knew for sure that the stage was set for a spectacular talk stage at NIT Trichy by TedXTrichy.

The third session had some of our alumni whom I have met with during various stages of Pragyan, speaking about their interests in particular Saravanan (Sara) who spoke about neural science and psychology, and J. Balamurugan (JB a.k.a. founder of Octa) who spoke on motor sports. Sara’s lecture that kick started the final session definitely had the audience in the most receptive mode as they heard about their brains and the factors that shape their personalities. Naturally, everyone was all ears trying to find out why they did what they did, and how they could do what they want to do! Following this was JB, who spoke of motor sports. Although not a motor buff personally, I could definitely appreciate the various aspects of the sport that he mentioned. Anyway the crowd was all up for knowing about racing and there was a natural connect with the man who created the best thing that NITT has ever had- Octa! A lot of activity revolves around the computer centre and in fact one of my first blog post was on what we did there (I am not able to find the webpage now! ).

The icing on the cake was presented by stand up comedian (and surprisingly an IITian!) Nitin Gupta. The IITian part felt less surprising once he started talking about engineers and engineering colleges like ours! The crowd that includes me was carried away to a totally different world full of laughter and fun especially sarcastic and satirical! Thanks to the fact that there were not many members of the faculty in the audi, Nitin’s comedy knew absolutely no limits and boy the crowd was definitely enjoying it! Some of his most notable one liners were

‘I heard there is a professor here who SMASHES cell phones!’
‘Why spend 5000 bucks to walk on that road (the Opal girls hostel road, for those who did not get it) when you get better for that amount outside!’
‘While Inception and Matrix are science fiction movies for the arts students, romantic movies like Titanic are fictions and hard to believe for the engineers!’
‘After looking at a resident at its entrance I think the hostel must be renamed OVAL instead of OPAL! ’
‘Much of my school life was spent in trying to find x and y. When I found them, they said FIND Z!!’

Needless to say, the audience at the aesthetically organized event went out not bored to death as they would have normally done after any lecture series, instead enlightened and entertained! That, is itself a major measure of the success of TedXTrichy and its organizers.

And personally, what a day! Caught up with many friends and enjoyed a fantastic lecture series, not to forget the parental-like-pride! At the end of it I am definitely convinced that TedXTrichy is here to stay for the future, and kudos to Bajaj, Neil and the entire team for giving it such a spectacular launch! Great work guys!

photo courtesy : Neil

FestemberX

Awesome publicity video made by my friends in NITT for FestemberX.

A must be place for all lovers of music, dance and arts on 24-26 Sept 2010!

Check out www.festember.in

NITT Global Alumni Meet AND MORE!

The one day I spent with my friends in Bangalore showed me how much I am missing in my life! I had a spectacular weekend in Bangalore which is definitely worth sharing, and my new broadband connection at home is all the more reason for me to blog tonight!

Shanky and Duck have been actively involved in the organisation of GAM, and it is this renewed dedication in them (after Pragyan) that actually drove me to take the pain of going all the way to Bangalore for attending the event! As a matter of fact, it was Shanky who paid for my GAM registration too!

Anyway, I reached Bangalore, early on Saturday morning. One thing with Bangalore that I never learn, despite repeated incidents, is that the place is so damn cold in the mornings! So after another bone chilling taxi ride, I reached the Confident group´s resort which to me seems so far from Banglaore city that its just a stone´s throw away from the Bannarghata National Park.

The place and the atmostphere there brought back to my mind the days of Pragyan and Nittfest that we orgainsed in college! The mornings are filled with anxiety, and fear of any last-minute-goof-ups, while the mind secretly constructs a castle out of every successful moment in the day; each brick in its way trying to reach to that orgasmic satisfaction that one derives at the end of the event!

For the first time, I was a part of the media relations team of any event. It was a wonderful experience, all the more boosted by my friends Vibhu, Siva, Polly and Rohan with whom I worked. I really appreciated the role of media and news channels that day, and the excitement involved in delivering a live incident to audience across the globe as it unfolds!

But when everything goes your way, you know that something is not right. This time it was the rains that spoiled the whole show. All plans were literally ´down the drain!´

In the evening, we set up a video conference with KRSridhar which was possibly the only thing that went right after the rain in the morning.

The next morning, Duck, Shanky, Vibhu and I had breakfast with Arpit, Abhinav and Anurag. It was interesting and exciting to hear about the story behind the origin of Pragyan- something that played a very significant role in our college life, from the same people who were responsible for its start! They spoke to us about their four years in college, and I for one could not help but draw parallels between our batches. We both seem to have had a lot of fun bending and breaking the rules of the college!

Sunday evening was spent in Garuda mall and Leela. I did bowling for the first time in my life! It was great fun!

All in all, it was an amazing weekend, and special thanks to the people who made it special! Looking forward to meeting you all again very soon!

The Great Indian Novel of Thuvakudipuram and Garnet Society

Hey folks! This is Captain Shyam Krishnan from Dwarakpur! Today I will be meeting my cousins with whom I spent my childhood. I have five cousins- Dharmashanky, Bheem Nagi, Abhyarjun, Sabanakul and Vijaysahadev. My brother Balrachit and I have spent many of our childhood days in their company and even teamed up with them for a grand fight with the most despised DOTA gang (Sathyo´D´hana, Karnaditya, Kravindan and Somanatham). Today I will tell you about that story.

Dharmashanky was the eldest among us and a natural philanthropist. Naturally he was the leader. Bheem Nagi on the other hand was the gentle giant of the gang. Now the first one thought with his heart and the second with his limbs, who would think with his brain? Abhyarjun; he was the gang´s strategist. A six feet package of shrewd and clever ideas, he was also the most handsome among us. Naturally the only one behind whom the girls of the village flocked! The twins Sabanakul and Vijaysahadev are inseparable individuals with very identical thoughts and opinions. It was speculated that no one had ever seen one of them without the other. Sabanakul had a craze for collecting KPN bus tickets and was an active KayPeeNatelist (something like Philatelist) and Vijaysahadev was crazy about English music! I dont know how much time has changed these people, and I am very excited to see them today! My brother Balarachit is also arriving tonight from the USA!

Coming back to our story... Once for vacation all of us had come over to my place at Thuvakudipuram . Our family owns a house in the Garnet society there and since it was unoccupied we thought it would be the ideal place to spend our vacation. But only after we reached there did we realise that Sathyo´D´hana´s parents had purchased the adjacent house to ours and he had come over with his DoTA gang to spend the vacation there. I really dont understand why, but our gangs never got along well with each other. Some small issue or the other cropped up and Dharmashanky had to act as mediator and settle it every time.

Now in Thuvakudipuram lived a beautiful girl called Pragnya. She was so beautiful that people from around 60 countries fought against each other to win her! Pragnya was a shy girl and never spoke to anyone in the village. She used to spend most of her time in the ´Surya Computer Centre´ at the village junction where Sathyo´D´hana and his DoTA gang used to practise DoTA. While they were there Sathyo´D´hana fell for Pragnya´s beauty and wanted to propose to her. He made KRAravindan write a blog post about her beauty and himself got her a brand new wrist watch from Tux Vendors.

Meanwhile Pragnya happened to see Abhyarjun with us at the Shakthi Tea And Fruit Faloodaa (STAFF) canteen in the village when she was there with her friends. She whispered to her close friend Festy that Abhyarjun looked so much the ´chocolate boy´ types like fimstar Madhavan and that she had fallen for him. In matter of no time she became a good friend of all of us and a very special friend of Abhyarjun. He used to tell us how he fell for her smile. Yes, her smile did win many a hearts! Hmmm...

Anyway, so when Sathyo´D´hana was all set to propose to Pragnya after doing all the preparation, he was shattered to know that Pragnya was already committed to Abhyarjun and he challenged us for a game of DoTA. Though none of us except Vijaysahadev knew anything about the game (and Vij was no better actually!) Dharmashanky and Bheem Nagi felt that it would be cowardly to turn our face away. So we accepted the challenge for Pragnya and Abhyarjun.

Vij tried teaching us the game and told us about the game strategies. Dharmashanky vowed to play the game only if it was linux compatible and the complexity demanded a 32GB computer. He felt anything less than that was below his level. Bheem Nagi wanted to incorporate networking protocol algorithms into our game strategy (and was naturally hushed off! ). Abhyarjun wanted to put to use his Hindu paper memorising talent into the game strategy. He wanted us to follow the pattern established by the Polyester Prince. That was his contribution to the game plan. Sabanakul wanted us to use the KPN hard algorithm for ´traveling sabarish´ problem for deciding the game strategy. My brother wanted to incorporate the patterns of Ragas in music (I still dont understand what he meant, but he used to be obsessed with this Raga thing those days). I had only one opinion, it must be economically efficient!

Well, as u could see we had no idea of DoTA and naturally we lost the game against Sathyo´D´hana and his pro-team. Sathyo´D´hana was a computer wizard. His best friend from ´B section´ in school Karnaditya was a smart and pious chap. He used to help people get employed through his contacts but himself preferred to be a farmer. Somanatham and KRAravindan were twins who got their diplomas in manufacting. Both were smart workers who knew how to put in least effort and yet make maximum profit!

Since Abhyarjun and Pragnya were already in a relation, they did not bother to ask her out now. Instead they asked us to shoo off from the place for 14 days so that they can have the society playground all to themselves for these days. So we (along with Pragnya) went to our uncle Shakunan´s place. He is believed to be the most crooked one in our family having made himself infamous in the most popular Banana scandal that rocked Thuvakudipuram administration.

Uncle Shakunan told us a master plan to get even with these guys and save our reputation in the society. He told us to seek support from his friend´s son Ashwatnami. So we brought Ashwatnami into our group and told him about what all had happened. We had just one day in hand before the commencement of school and we had to settle scores. After our defeat at the game of DoTA Pragnya was also upset. She told Abhyarjun that she would be his girl only if he defeated and humiliated Sathyo´D´hana.

So we decided to use Ashwatnami´s gulti-friendship with Sathyo´D´hana to bring him alongwith his gang to the Garnet society pond where we will launch surprise attacks at them. Since they will be unarmed for the fight, they will be caught by surprise and we will be able to defeat them easily in public.

On the fifteenth day when we got back to Garnet society, we positioned ourselves as planned and sent Ashwatnami to Sathyo´D´hana. When he and his friends reached, we launched water missiles at them and made them lie flat on the ground. Bheen Nagi´s strength, Abhyarjun´s sharpness and Dharmashanky´s wisom were our strengths. But things went out of hands after a while. Sathyo´D´han and his gang were mighty strong compared to ours. They soon got back on their feet and started attacking us with water missiles. It was a closely fought battle with neither team conceding defeat.

At last I thought of an idea. I discussed it with Abhyarjun and he was happy with it. We asked Ahwatnami to stay outside for a while and made Dharmashanky to inform Sathyo´D´hana that his gulti-firend was not feeling well. On hearing it he dropped his missile and Bheem Nagi got him on his knees with one strong one on his legs. His clothes were torn and he was humiliated in public. The happiness on the face of Pragnya who was witnessing all this was shining like a bright sun.

With Sathyo´D´hana out of the battle, the others could easily be brought down by my songs! All I had to do was sing a few lines and the rest of their gang surrendered their weapons and conceded defeat!

And thus we won the great battle of Thuvakudipuram. Abhyarjun proposed to Pragnya and she happily accepted. They were bonded into an everlasting relationship. Dharmashanky and I decided to be the best men on their wedding. Meanwhile my brother had gone off before the fight to continue his research work on Morning Ragas and so he could not be a part of it.

After we parted ways then, there has never been a vacation we were together. And today all of us are going back to Garnet society to spend a week there. And guess what, I just heard from Karnaditya that Sathyo´D´hana and his friends are also going to be there. Lets see what is in store this time!

:-)
Cheers!

(L to R): Bheem Nagi, Somanatham, Vijaysahadev, Shyam Krishnan, KRAravindan, Dharmashanky, Karnaditya, Abhyarjun, Sathyo´D´hana.
Missing : Balarachit and Ashwatnami.

Disclaimer- This is purely a work of fiction. Any resemblance to living or dead beings, or locations is simply coincidence! :P And a special word to conspirators of NITT- please do not try to decipher unintented meaning out of any part of the story. It is entirely meant for fun! So hav fun!!! :-)

YOURS TRULY!

This is a poem about me by the great poetess Sharika S. Nair a.k.a kutty, A person worthy of nothing (??)... lesser than the literature nobel!

The great poetess Sharika has taken her valuable time out just to write a poem in honour of me.This speaks volumes of my greatness and fame.

Any resemblance and reference to existing creatures (other than me) is purely coincidental and unintentional.

THE ONE THAT SHAVED

Shyam had a moustache
That troubled him whenever he crashed

He had a thing for laden
Which made abhi to sadden

No wonder he is a london-chick
Mradul likes all his pics

His treasury skills are legendary
Right now he misses trichy's curry

Pragyan is his passion
He shaved his moustache in the name of fashion

Whatever you say he can argue
Everything and anything out of the blue


Poor shyam has to suffer my torture
Whatsoever this made him more mature

Shyam loves the coll's admin
One can make out from that little grin

He keeps fratenizing with trichy cows
He's thinking 'I want my moustache back i don't know how'

H e reminds me of a little teddy
His friends like him cos hes a good buddy

I find him to be a tweet little boy
Full of happiness and joy

He will definitely murder me soon
Am sure he finds me to be a crazy loon!


-composed and compiled by THE GIFTED






For those of you who do not know, Her Highness Kutty is Osama´s neighbour in Saudi Arabia and an upcoming terrorist in the youth wing of Al-Qaeda. She is known to come up with innovate weapons of mass destruction like this one! Wishing her a bright future!

Thillai Nagar 8th Cross Street

The lush green patch of land on either side of the bus is strangely unlike the Trichy that Ramanathan Krishnaswamy (Rama) has lived in for the last four years he spent in NIT. He is so used to the scorching heat of the place that any sight of greenery seems out of place now. Krishnamurthi Ramanujam (Krish) has seen so much grass in the last four years at NIT Trichy that he has begun to identify the place with its grass! Sitting in the same bus as Rama, he is very excited about the shopping he will do in Thillai Nagar today.

¨Anna, where is the Sony shop in Thillai?¨, Rama asked the conductor

¨Enna Tambi... SOny-aa ?... Solren... (Will tell you)¨, the conductor shot back in a high pitched voice to make himself heard above the full blast Tamil songs from latest Sivaji Ganesan hits album.

Before we get there, let me introduce Rama and Krish to you. They have both done their schooling in SBOA School Chennai. Rama wants to become a scientist in biotechnology. He aims to do research in Genetic Engineering in the US and settle there with a green card as soon as possible. Krish, on the other hand, has no particular ambitions. His aims in life are driven by his desires. Krish dreams of a life where he has no shortage of booze, fag and babes!

Although they live in the same room Rama and Krish seldom see each other. Rama is a strict vegetarian and wakes up at six, nearly an hour after Krish goes to bed. His regular day begins with a bath (trust me in a hostel like ours even this is an arduous task), Sandhyavandanam (prayer to Sun God) followed by food at mess. Krish on the other hand gets up briefly at 8:25, rushes to the 8:30 class ten minutes late (only in case he decides to resume the sleep in classroom rather than settle for a proxy), one chicken puff at the Bru coffee shop before returning to his room at 12 for another nap. He would then wake up at six in the evening for a quick round of washing before the daily routine of fag and booze (and sometimes pot). He returns to his room at five in the morning and hits the bed straight into deep sleep.

Today being a Saturday, both of them have to rush back to hostel by five. Rama goes to the BHEL Ayyappa temple every Saturday (no matter what happens!) while Krish goes to BHEL Seakings Ice cream parlor every Saturday with the girl in his life as her reporting time in Opal Girls´ hostel is extended by an hour on Saturdays. Krish has been seeing this girl (name intentionally withheld) two years junior to him in college for a couple of months and they are quite close now. The only thing that comes between their formal relationship is her existing commitment to this guy in her batch. While she prefers to see Krish as a friend and guide, Krish has been making desperate efforts to make her something more than that in his life. Sadly for him, the guy in his life (as he calls her boyfriend) does not seem to abandon them so fast.

The bus is screeching to a halt near Thillai first cross. There has been an accident and the traffic has been blocked.

¨@%£*& b@%&*%$", said Krish looking desperately into his brand new wrist watch. Krish has spent almost four thousand rupees this month and is now running on credit from Rama for the last three days. With examinations round the corner, Krish feels, it is unlikely how Rama will find the time for accounting his daily expenditures as he does everyday and in this irregualrity some of his expenses will get washed away.

The traffic seems to be clearing and the bus starts moving. ¨Thank God!¨, said Rama heaving a sigh of relief. He has made a plan to complete his class notes (he uses four different inks in them) and record work after returning from the temple and the traffic block would have seriously put him off his schedule.

¨SOny yaar kettadu? (Who asked for SOny?)¨, screamed the conductor at the top of his voice.

Rama and Krish got down from the bus. The small board across the road read ´Thillai Nagar 8th Cross Street´.

Rama crossed the road, turned left and entered the residential complex right behind the Sony showroom. It was ´Aravind Apartments´, the place where his uncle lived. He has come to meet his grandparents who have come down to Trichy from Kumbakonam.

Meanwhile Krish crossed the road and turned right. There were two shops opposite to the Sony showroom. One read ´Anand Pharmaceuticals and Druggist´ - known for selling more than just medicines, while the other read ´Tasmac Bar´. Krish took out a thousand rupee note from his purse and walked towards the shops.

What lies between Rama and Krish ... Thillai Nagar 8th Cross Street? Three months of summer? DAAD summer fellowship? or may be ... Nothing!


(Inspired by the true story of one of my friends)

Five things NOT TO DO on the day of placement

The Five things one MUST NOT DO on the day he/she gets placed in NITT:

1. WEAR GOOD/WHITE CLOTHES. After all the celebrations, it is unlikely to remain so!
2. EAT FULL STOMACH. The food you eat would mostly come out by the end of the celebrations!
3. ROAM AROUND ALONE. You never know the direction from which the attacks come!
4. ROAM AROUND WITH FRIENDS. Friends who have been your best are the most enthusiastic promoters of attacks!
5. SMILE TO STRANGERS IN YOUR BATCH. The golden rule of placement celebrations tell that you really need not know the placed guy to beat him up!!!

Cheers!
:D