creation is an art very few master
it’s a bird! it’s a bird! Campus Diaries is India’s biggest content and expression platform for the youth. UnMagazine, the first ever pan-India crowdsourced magazine, is the most read youth magazine in the country. If you want to be a nationally published author in the magazine, all you need to do is create on campusdiaries.com. The best make it to UnMagazine, every month!
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CURATOR’S NOTE Someone once said, that there exist two types of people—the ones who are doers and the ones who are, well, not doers. These doers are the ones you want to know more about and help. And generally be in awe of the things they create—concepts, spaces, companies, ideas, social impact, services, expression, artwork, experiences and much more. This March issue dedicates itself to the very question everybody wants to know. ‘How?’ How do these creators create these experiences? What goes behind this process? What are the steps involved? What are they really building? Do they fail? If yes, do they give up or come right back up? If given a chance for you to create something that interests you and benefits others around you, would you take the plunge?
MAR 2014
If you want to be a part of the UnMagazine (or just send me wonderful postcards), email me at samata@campusdiaries.com and I’ll try to find what you’re looking for.
the team SUMIT SAURAV CEO RAJ CHOURASIA CTO SAMATA JOSHI Head, Content SONIC PRABHUDESAI Head, Business SHASHANK SHEKHAR Data & Analytics NISHAN BOSE Head, Product Ops.
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BANGALORE
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Published by: Sumit Saurav
UNMAGAZINE
CONTENTS EDUCATION/CAREER
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Idealism runs fast but does it run deep?
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How I created an app to study smarter
COLLEGE
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In the end, we are all artists
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Exclusive: Organising India’s largest campus festivals
MUSIC, ART & THEATRE
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'I am a digital artist'
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The evolution of graphic novels in India
44 TEACHER, TEACHER!
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Fireflies in the garden
PORTFOLIO OF THE MONTH
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Sadhna Prasad
EXPERIENCES
44 The Lines on a Page
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SOCIETY
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Inside Saranda. the land of 700 hills
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32 PROJECT
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The Maker Movement
TRAVEL
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Zostel: India’s only backpacking solution
IN FOCUS
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Roobaroo, Up Close
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Braject: Why I believe in Braject
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Construkt: Converge. Collide. Create.
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TEDxBangalore: Change- should we look at it a different way?
CARTOON
80 A deadline
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ININTHIS ISSUE THIS ISSUE Siddhartha Valluri BMSIT, Bangalore Art has been his passion all his life and there is nothing else he would rather do, now training hard to break into the Concept Art industry.
Meera Vijayann ASHOKA india, BANGALORE An avid blogger, writer and social enterprise enthusiast who is working towards leveraging digital media for social change.She manages communications at Ashoka India.
Angad Nadkarni BITS Pilani, Hyderabad At 20, Angad has been hacking and programming literally for more than half his life. He earned his first big cheque at the young age of 13, by consulting for a large company on cyber security issues.
Neha Jain baumann TEAM CONSTRUKT, Bangalore Neha is a first time mother, an old time lawyer, trainer, consultant, an ex yoga guru, spiritual seeker and a voracious coffee drinker. A closet writer, she is currently managing the content and communications for the Construkt Festival.
Damini Kane Jai Hind College, Mumbai An aspiring writer, a Grammar Nazi and the Crazy Dog Lady, Damini loves fizzy drinks and hates eggplant. She aims to go back in time and take a piggy-back ride on a dinosaur.
Shaunak Samvatsar Symbiosis Institue of Design, PUNE A cartoonist, writer and film maker, Shaunak’s credits include the pre-production of two animated TV features and TV series Pakdam Pakdai.
Ojaswini Bakshi Miranda House, New Delhi A massive Doctor Who and Potter fan! And food! She loves travelling by herself, walking around, meeting new people and trying out new things. ‘Awkward’ is her middle name.
Shobana Mathews Christ University, bangalore Asst. Prof. and Coordinator, MA English with Communication Studies at Christ University. She’s interested in Poetry and American Literature. She’s currently pursuing her PhD on Aural Narratives.
Gowri Om Azim premzi university, bangalore Eager. Uncut. Alive. Chai addict. Selectively hypocritical. No-nonsense. Spontaneously combustible. Sexist songs fanatic.
Ilmaz Syed The indian traveller, kolkata Ilmaz Syed is journalist working for a National Television channel in Kolkata. Finding and documenting lost historical trails and stories is what he does best.
Sanika Dhakephalkar fergusson college, pune Sanika loves dogs, rains and most of all, oversized sweaters. When she isn’t writing or singing (loudly and out of tune), she’s usually found roaming around town in search of cheap but good food. In an oversized sweater, of course.
Aayush Asthana Jai Hind College, Mumbai Aayush Asthana is an undergraduate student pursuing economics at Jai Hind College, Mumbai. He enjoys reading, rapping and procrastinating.
Nandini Varma ILS Law College, Pune Nandini dreams of opening a Spoken Word Poetry School one day and has been writing, performing and working towards writing and performing poems. She draws inspiration from works that defy conventions.
Asmita Sarkar hindu college, New Delhi An aspiring writer, Asmita lives in a state of suspended disbelief about magic. She is also a lover of books, travel and food.
Sadhna Prasad DSK International school of design, pune Sadhna Prasad, a curious self-proclaimed amuser, spends most of her time in the visual story telling of the unobvious through animation and illustration.
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THIS COULD BE YOU!
UNMAGAZINE | MAR2014
Idealism runs fast but does it run deep? Asmita Sarkar Hindu College, New Delhi #Reformers
An elaboration on a few methods of educational reforms that two popular student run organisations are trying to implement at Delhi University
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o we truly value the education we receive? We may be part of the lucky minority who wonders what does it really matter if the fees goes up by 1000 bucks. We titter at the students rallying outside our college gates. We gawk at them when they sit and go on hunger strikes when hostel and academic fees go up. It’s easy to stereotype them, those khadiclad, jhola toting, chappal wearing, unshaven and messy faces. Maybe that’s the allure too. You could be wearing the shiniest pumps, sneakers and the most elegantly put outfit when you pass them by but more often than not you notice them and they pass you by like you are invisible. But, that’s stereotyping you too. Do you deserve to be morally judged for the family you were born into? I think not. Discrimination can press at you from any part of the society. It is after all rather easy to compartmentalise people by class/caste/ gender/ethnicity because it’s easier to fit into the neat boxes society created for us than to invent our own. Standing apart takes guts, lots of it.
In Delhi University, AISA is an organisation that works mainly with students in colleges since 1990 In their words they want to mobilise those who are “revolutionary, left, democratic and liberal”. Their demand is for free education at the higher level and their attempt is to reform the education system. The website that enlists their manifesto would tell you that their idea is to create a wholesome, unified body of students without discrimination and there is no political, religious affiliation that they overtly endorse. However, one is wary of the choice of their flag’s colour. There is power in symbolism and Marxist affiliations are written all over it. AISA was one of the first organisations to start protesting against the FYUP system imposed in Delhi University. They have gone on strikes against it, are trying to rent control the accommodation nearby campus areas, are trying to have public transit for students from every metro station and are working on the safety issues for women in Delhi. I think it was in my
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On a college level there is a lot that students can do by simply demanding for rights, for provisions to be included in the college institution, without being violent.
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first year of college that someone barged into our classroom and his enthusiasm for the cause he spoke about was obvious through his forceful voice, his articulate gestures and his shining eyes. I still see him in campus today leading rallies sometimes, standing deep in conversations some place. I don’t know his name even today but seeing him around in college gives me hope. Not all of us have an attention span of a butterfly. When I vote in the Delhi University elections I vote for them every year. On a college level there is a lot that students can do by simply demanding for rights, create policies and ask for provisions to be included in the college institution, without being violent. Student risings have become a common, powerful tool in the last few years. They began with the anti-corruption campaigning by Anna Hazare where maximum supporters were the youth or the 16th December Rape case in Delhi. These incidents however become only benchmarks in the long history without necessarily achieving the desired result, since the youth when scattered without a coherent view in front of them are not sure what it is they demand and what the consequences of those demands will be. Idealism runs fast in our bloods, but does it run deep? Isn’t cynicism or being Machiavellian a desired trait in
Illustration by Sadhna Prasad www.campusdiaries.com/unmagazine
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the world today? Ideally, even AISA’s demands are wonderful but when you dig deeper, one wonders if demanding the quotas based on caste to be completely fulfilled isn’t discrimination in itself? There are also Is the education gained in a Madrasa really at par with carefully crafted educational curriculums organisations like Leaders that have been influenced from the western world for Tomorrow that are because in a pragmatic world can an individual really afford to not be globalised? But, it is also on student run NPOs and the assertion of students that redressal cells for work towards imparting various complaints have been established in the life skills that a theoretical colleges all over India. Ragging and sexual abuse being top contenders. and academics based There are also organisations like Leaders for college education doesn’t Tomorrow that are student run NPOs and work towards imparting life skills that a theoretical necessarily provide. and academics based college education doesn’t necessarily provide. They have workshops for interview skills, group discussions, presentations, how to organise campaigns,how to gather funding or they have programs like Igniting young minds that work with underprivileged children teaching them “moral values, confidence building, spoken LFT is aiming at education beyond academics. English, etiquettes and manners, personal Apart from the various campus and national level hygiene and general knowledge”. Volunteers can programs they also have business development take part in this program by giving only 1 hour summits for the youth where illustrious speakers on weekends for six weeks. LFT has been trying come to engage with the youth. I took part in their to create social leadership in college students. workshop when I was 19. I had been a shy person They are mostly active in Delhi University and IP in new environments all my life but at the end of University. They have teams in various colleges the workshop the evaluation that I received had who hold book, clothes collection drives, tree me grinning. My trainers told me that they had plantation and cleanliness drives. initially relegated me into the wallflower category but by the end of the two weeks I was one of the most outspoken, engaging and dynamic thinkers. There is a lot that I realised about myself in those two weeks. Being able to talk to strangers was only the first of them, I managed to alter myself in those two weeks because I opened my mind to what I was being taught. I have not looked back since. Everybody is capable of changing when they see others positively reacting towards them. There were human beings who thought of and implemented the RTE Act in 2010. There are humans with feelings and aims and dreams behind every campaign that has brought change to our society. There are people who wanted something new for their future behind great inventions. But to change, you have to want change and you have to believe that YOU can be one of those who make great things happen. Are you ready to enter and alter your future? Are you ready to be a creator?
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How I created an app to study smarter Yeah, it exists. And yes, I am still in college.
Angad Nadkarni BITS Pilani, Hyderabad #exams
I
examify
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By the time I was in my 12th grade, I had grown so nauseated with the idea of schooling, that I actually hated myself for wasting 5 hours of my day at school every day.
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love computers and the endless possibilities of the Internet. I taught myself how to write code by the age of 11, and by 13 I had started to make money by selling services online. While most kids my age were out playing cricket or football, much to the annoyance of my parents, I used to be home dreaming about building something great and creating technology that millions would use one day. By the time I was in my 12th grade, I had grown so nauseated with the idea of schooling, that I actually hated myself for wasting five hours of my day at school every day. A lot of us watch our dreams die because of minimum-attendance at school. And when I walked out of my IIT JEE center after having given my exam in 2011, I felt like I’d been lied to. My Chemistry paper had been a complete disaster, and I was sure I wasn’t even going to clear the subject-cutoff. I had been looking at the JEE as a way of proving myself as smart to the world. That was always so important. I knew I was smart, I knew engineering was the thing for me. But, how did that matter until somebody wrote it on a piece of pretty paper and stamped it? When I say I felt like I’d been lied to, I mean by my parents, teachers, and most importantly, myself. My parents always told me I had the ‘potential’ to be in the top rankers. My coachingclass teachers thought I was a good bet too, they put me in an Olympiad batch of elite students. But it felt like after two years of telling myself I was going to win, I was actually losing. The good news was, I knew why I’d failed. In fact, I should have seen it coming. The reasons I’d failed are pretty much universal to any failure:
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• Not being result focused Not being result-focused is the number one reason for failure. Period. This is typically characterised by being effort-focused. Winners win by focusing on how to win, not by worrying about whether they’re good enough. So instead of solving past-year’s papers, I spent all my time behind elaborate theoretical reading that wasn’t even in the syllabus, or behind problems that took me hours to solve. The problem? That’s not what they ask in the paper. I was miserable at managing my time in the exam. Now, as I enter the professional world, I see this problem plaguing millions around me. People worry about how many hours they’re clocking at the office, or making sure their boss knows they’re working weekends—that’s stupid. Your job is to get stuff done, not to live a miserable life. Measure your success by the targets you’re hitting, not by the effort you’re putting in. Unfortunately, we’re brought up in a world where we believe that cutting off the TV Cable or the Internet is going to magically boost your kid’s marks.
the JEE. Did I meticulously keep track of where I was bleeding marks from test-to-test? No. I was too busy rushing into the next irrelevant mocktest. Evaluate yourself with relevant tests and understand which areas you need to focus on.
• Mentally weak Finally, all battles begin and end in the mind. I had my own share of limiting beliefs, and you are ultimately, only as good as your most limiting belief. Mine was “I’m bad at Chemistry”. I kept telling myself that until I was actually, deplorably bad at Chemistry. After my IIT JEE, I had a month • Sun Tzu - A battle is won before it is fought for my BITSAT (The entrance exam to BITS Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese war general writes Pilani) In this one month, all I did was sit-tight in his famous work, The Art of War, that all and fix Chemistry. Thanks to actually trying, I battles are won before they are fought. The way managed to clear the 1.5% acceptance exam that to win a fight is to not fight until you’re sure you is BITSAT. The secret is, there’s no such thing as will win. I had two whole years for my JEE, and I smarter or stronger—it’s all about how focused still neglected solving past-years papers and testyou can be. If you are terrified of your exam, series. I ignored the only measure of my results you’re going to spend more time worrying about until it was too late. The only way to be sure that yourself and less time thinking about the exam. I was going to qualify were past-years papers, My learning from my failure was that losing instead I wasted my preparation-time with testis more often than not, preventable. It’s just that series that were in reality, very different from conventional wisdom, can’t give much more than conventional results. So, when my engineering exams were done with, I decided to build something that would help people be ready for their exams in the least amount of time possible. I wanted people to put their exam behind them as quickly as possible, so that they could embrace a fulfilling life. There is still much to be done for education in India, but I decided I wanted to fix just a fraction of it—exam prep itself. I started experimenting with the one thing I was very good at—web development—to build something to fix this problem for the students that were to be after me. The result is examify.com. And what is examify. com? A smart-studying app that boosts student performance. Examify offers some unique methodologies towards studying, that are all result-focused and efficient. Each one of them gives you results that you can measure and improve on. For example,
examify
Illustration by Shruti Kabo 14
EDUCATION/CAREER
The Examify team
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Examify offers some unique methodologies towards studying, that are all result-focused and efficient. Each one of them gives you results that you can measure and improve on.
you can set your own weekly study-goals on Examify to see how you are progressing week-onweek. We build great technology and also work with the best teachers, to ensure that you finally achieve to your fullest capacity in the exam. The vision for Examify, is to create the best online community to study for any exam in the world. We’re working towards creating a marketplace of teachers, where students can pick from the best of teachers to study from, based on community ratings and reviews. We’ve received a lot of love for our efforts so far—we first demoed our concept at TEDxGateway, Asia’s largest TED conference. We were also subsequently featured in Hindustan Times, Money Control, VC Circle, Forbes, and many others. It has been an exciting journey with all of its ups and downs. Running a start-up in India is by no means, an easy feat. I would say, the some of the most trying experiences were hiring the first set of people, learning how to pitch to investors, making sales calls, etc. Since, I’m still studying my computer-science engineering at BITS PilaniHyderabad, managing travel and time becomes a huge challenge at times. But honestly, the hardest of all was the harsh self-introspection
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that startup-founders subject themselves to, and having to embrace chaos as the default state. It’s easy to come to work every day knowing just exactly what you’re going to do —but what if the plan has to keep evolving every couple of weeks? The greatest gift and curse that startups have, is their agility. But all the hard work, the endless nights of code, all the anxious investor calls, are worth it to just know that every day, the Examify family is working towards bringing a superior, incredible e-learning experience to it’s users. We now serve thousands of people daily, and also recently raised an angel-funding round from some of the nicest folks to work with. Some of the teachers who use Examify to teach their students better write in to us every week with suggestions, because they’ve come to swear by Examify. We’re just under a year old, and we’ve already launched some features that we believe help you finally get the results you are truly capable of. I think the best thing I’ve done in my whole entire life, was following my instincts about what I loved doing. Examify and I, are both, very excited about how the next few years will pan out!
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In the end, we are all
artists
Ojaswini Bakshi Miranda House New Delhi #creators
What if I told you that the smile on Guy Fawkes’ mask was an accident? Would you believe me? Well then, hop on and welcome yourself to the World of Imagination!
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et’s travel back in time for a bit. Keep rolling back till you have reached the time when you were a child, sitting calmly in a classroom during art class. Quietly, peek in through the window, past the curtains and watch your friends colouring away to glory. Look past all the screaming children and spot yourself at a desk, concentrating on the mountains and huts with nothing but crayons between your fingers. Watch yourself bring pictures to life. The rich brown, the sparkling blue waters and the plush green with children running around. That tingling smell of oil pastels that accompanied every brush of your hand across the blank canvas. Can you feel it? Can you sense the magic? Can you feel the power of creating something at its rawest? It is often said that the power of imagination is one of the greatest gift the humankind has been endowed with. Be it something as simple as making up a ‘What could have been’ story in your head while travelling or maybe painting something so brilliant to be worth as much as a Picasso in the next hundred years—imagination is something that has kept the wheels of bus going round and round since time immemorial.
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seem too far along for Sidharth Vohra, a nineteenyear-old currently pursuing his Bachelor’s in Transportation Design from Europe Design Institute, Italy. “I could say I am one of the lucky few who knew exactly what career line to choose at very young age. I still remember telling my dad in class four that I wanted to be a car ‘mechanic’. I didn’t know much about car design in specific but - Sidharth Vohra, I wanted to do something, anything to do with student of Transportation Design cars. I had a major interest in sketching drawing, painting etc. Hence continued from there on, I now study Transportation Design.” When it comes to exploitation of imagination, If you ever happen to meet a person with a strong hobby or maniacal passion, you inevitably set the world happens to be at your feet and the them apart from the rest of the world. Away ability of creating an experience is something no from the ghastly doings of our world. You just one can beat. Another someone I admire, is Nachi know that they don’t belong here. They come Ramanathan. His project was about creating from their own secret little world. A world where forms and making music out of that. Nachi’s concoction of ideas never stop and the smell of final installation was a musical walkthrough, if one could call it that. It was an experience where sweet bubbling potions in cauldrons fill the air. Imagine a world where you go around people could walk across a bunch of interesting introducing yourself as an automobile designer. objects, textures and make music out of it. Beat that! Imagine being able to point out to a new release And since we are talking business here, let’s in an Auto Expo and saying ‘Hey, I helped design that!’ Seems too farfetched? Well, it sure does not talk about something that has always been a
I could say I am one of the lucky few who knew exactly what career line to choose at a very young age. I still remember telling my dad in class four that I wanted to be a car ‘mechanic’.
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part of us. Haven’t we all grown up idolising superheroes? Be it Supercommando Dhruva or Wonder Woman, haven’t we all wanted to create one ourselves at some point of our lives? Well, it just so happens that someone held onto that dream while the rest of us let go. At the age of nineteen, Biboswan Bose successfully helped Level 10 Comics in illustrating a graphic novel revolving around a superhero called ‘Daksh’: a Yamdoot who dared to defy his master. Pretty cool, huh? With few other publications under the banners like Mint, Motherland and Inklab, Biboswan continues his pursuit of being a graphic novelist (not a cartoonist!) under his own set of rules and ties. But hey! Your creation does not always have to be something of a samsung magnitude. You don’t have to be a published novelist to validate yourself. Look around. Your daily innovations are probably lying somewhere under the pile of mess on your table. Maybe, it is the perfect answer you penned down for an assignment or the compelling data sheet you made that impressed your boss—they are all your prizes. The trophies you showcase in your subconscious mind, pushing you forward like there is no tomorrow. Just stop and look! And maybe, that is all you need to beat that nagging sense of spiritual emptiness you have been harbouring in your heart for all this time. In our tireless world of reality where time never seems to be enough, every little journey of self-discovery adds a little brownie to your
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In that perfect world of imagination, striving for perfection is innate. It starts as a simple conversation with oneself and sooner than later, evolves into something more complex, more beautiful.
Illustration by Sadhna Prasad 18
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basket. Every little achievement adds to your selfvalidation, pushing away your insecurities out of your closet, little by little. There is no longer a need for shallow social appraisal because you know that in your eyes, you have understood your self-worth. And that my friend, is one of the greatest sense of fulfilment in your life. In that perfect world of imagination, striving for perfection is innate. It starts as a simple conversation with yourself and sooner than later, evolves into something more complex, more beautiful. It is like talking and meandering yourself around hurdles, never stopping and never tiring. Every new story, every new piece of art is like unchartered waters with breaking waves, where you set out to discover parts of yourself you never even knew existed. It is a place where even clumsy accidents are celebrated for bringing to life ideas that would have never existed otherwise. It is a place which holds the power to spill through all boundaries and bring about the spirit of originality to even the dreggiest of your work. Just stop for a second and talk to yourself. Take the harder path out. You may stray from the conventional roads you have been walking for so long but keep going for the pot of gold that lies at the end of the rainbow. If in doubt, keep telling yourself that not all those who wander are lost and maybe that is all that you need to push yourself to walk that extra mile, the mile that makes all the difference.
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Exclusive:
Organising india's largest campus festivals
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sk any student in India what their favourite, most exciting and craziest moment is, while in college, and you’ll unanimously get the answer—my college festival! All year around, with all the numerous tests, exams and practicals, a college festival is what really breaks the ice for all the bonding (read: break-ups, cat fights and ego battles) amongst students. In the last couple of years, students have been upping their game and creating some really fun, well-organised, interestingly themed, starstudded festivals in India. Every city has a festival time that is celebrated with much anticipation and planning. Now that we’re almost coming to the end of an epic academic year, we’d really like to see how these festivals are actually planned! And who’s more awesome to tell their story than the festival heads themselves? Take a look at what the organisers of the largest festivals in India had to say. You might get some tips to plan your own this coming academic year!
Cul-Ah! Mount Carmel College, Bangalore
Derin Sara Mathew, president of student council
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ount Carmel College has forever been known for it’s life-size albeit tediously created fest Cul-Ah! But, with all the stressful schedules of undergraduate college students, fests have been at an all time low for the past few years, so this year our main aim was to bring the past glory of Cul-Ah! back and the importance of culturals back into college life. The theme of the fest this year was World Cinema and Music which is the most unifying factor for the youth, who are the main audience
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of our fest. The quest of our theme for the fest this year ended with Cassiopeia which is the name of the vain and proud queen of Ethiopia, also the seated queen of the northern stars. Her vanity and theatricality went perfectly well with our baseline for the fest, world cinema and music. The next step after the theme was the bigger part —the creation of the fest around the theme, the bands, the production, the events! Everything needed to be sorted out. With the preparations starting from the first week of October our six member student council began working on different facets of the fest along with over 150 volunteers and 30 sector heads. The first step was roping in sponsors and once that happened, the fest gained momentum with sponsors like People Store, MTV, Radio Indigo, RNS Motors, Lipton, UCO Bank, Amoeba, Costa Coffee, etc. who helped us out in executing the fest. Next was creating events for participation which was taken care of by 42 associations in the college, who put together over 90 events for the first time! The events ranged from Battle of the Bands, Indian Dance, Western Dance, Street Dance, Mad ads, Street Play Western Accoustics, JAM, Indian Music, a Personality Competition and the most awaited—the Fashion Show Competition. We publicised the fest on every media possible before the fest. Keeping in mind the theme, the next thing on our agenda was to get people related to the theme to make appearances at the fest. This led us to bring forth young heart throbs Parineeti Chopra and Siddharth Malhotra, DJ/VJ Nikhil Chinappa to the fest.
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With sold out tickets, a participation running upto 3500 participants from 86 colleges across South-India and more than 20000 people walking in and large crowds waiting at the gates to enter, this year’s Cul-Ah! surely created the impact it was set to achieve
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The ambience for the fest was amazing with over 150 movie posters drapes, lanterns and portfolio booths around college. The first day had performances by an acapella group called The Accoustic Project, a rock band called Magnalis and an energy blasting DJ night by DJ Nikhil Chinnappa and DJ Uzair Elaan. A Bangalore based quirky music band Live Banned, threw the audience into splits of laughter and merry time with their music which was really amazing! Even bands like Space behind the Yellow Room and Allegro Fudge entertained the crowd with their soothing voices and music. The Grand Finale of the fest was the most awaited Fashion Show by our very own Fashion team. In par with the theme, the models showcased the fashion of the Victorian Era ,dramatising all their poses and I can say that this was by far the grandest show at MCC. At the end of the three days 30th, 31st of January and 1st of February with four months of vigorous hard work that went in, Cul-Ah! 2014 Cassiopeia created new waves at MCC as well as the horizon of college festivals. With sold out tickets, a participation running upto 3500 participants from 86 colleges across South-India and more than 20000 people walking in and large crowds waiting at the gates to enter, this year’s Cul-Ah! surely created the impact it was set to achieve.
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Verba Maximus BITS Pilani, Hyderabad
“ Karthik Vickraman Head of English language Activities society
HARSH SEKSERIA HEAD OF SPONSORSHIP
The work is exhausting, and at times, nothing seems to go right. But, just then, someone from another college passes by, and says “I loved the fest, it’s helped me so much!”
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his February, BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus hosted the third edition of its annual Literary Festival, Verba Maximus, in association with Campus Diaries. Though from the outside, the fest was a stellar success with a manifold increase in turnout, sponsorship and events, only the Organising Team knows how uncertain we were just days before the fest. As one of the main organisers of the fest, I realise that no fest, even the smallest, can be run without a strong and enthusiastic organising body. It’s not just about assigning work, it’s about inspiring your entire team to take up responsibility. There’s only so much one person can do, and only so much he or she knows. I have a lot of people to thank in that way, and I hope they realise that the fest would not be what it is today without them. We backed ourselves to take the fest to the next level, calling in bigger names than we have ever before, multiplying cash prizes and conducting regional rounds in 7 cities across the country. But that nagging voice in the back of our heads always persisted - Can we bring in such a huge crowd? Can we sell so many ProShow
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tickets? Can we pull off so many events? Can we conduct Regional Rounds in 7 cities? We dreamed big, and we achieved, but not without our own share of ups and downs. No matter how well you plan things out, you will always end up with more work to do. Things will crop up, as they always do, and, often, at the worst of times. And that’s where your organising committee comes in. I can’t thank my bunch enough for taking charge of different departments on their own, leaving the remaining organisers free to consider more pressing issues. The work is exhausting, and at times, nothing seems to go right. But, just then, someone from another college passes by, and says “I loved the fest, it’s helped me so much!” and all the we weariness in the world just dissipates away. And this heartfelt pride for the fest is something I will cherish with me forever. And what now, you ask? Well, if you have enjoyed the show, how about checking out Pearl, the National Cultural Fest, in March? With Grammy Award Winning band Wolfmother, Javed Ali, the Indian Hip Hop Championship 2014, Miss Diva 2014 and tons more to keep you on your toes this summer.
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DZMA
- India’s first Media and Design Festival
Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication and Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune
“ Qais Husein, Festival Head (SIMC)
I
A brand, a brand! Marketing and Creatives shouted. Strategies. Branding. Visuals. Analysis. It helps to have Advertising students around. The jargon is not for the fainthearted.
t all starts with an idea. An idea that a few optimistic classmates come up with. “Let’s do a fest!”, they’ll say, with unwarranted enthusiasm. They pitch it to a few people. Five, maybe sixwho they trust personally or professionally. Most likely, these will be the first people to oppose the idea. Cynicism, incredulity and downright astonishment. Be not alarmed. This is a good sign. It has to be. How else could we have pulled off our fest? The cynicism soon gave way—with the right encouragement and some light flattery, to the Core Team. The ones who were the first to scoff at every idea, but when the time came, were prepared to follow it to the ends of the earth. We needed to name the fest. Hours and hours in a room. Sixteen people. Yelling, fighting, venting frustration. What’s the feel? What do you want FROM the fest? Questions were thrown about, but answers were rare and bleak. More arguments. More frustration. Keep it simple, silly, someone said. We’re Design and Media. Let’s call It DZMA. A brand, a brand! Marketing and Creatives shouted. Strategies. Branding. Visuals. Analysis. It helps to have Advertising students around. The jargon is not for the fainthearted. Posters, logos, websites. That’s when I realised design students can pull ideas from nowhere at the drop of a hat. That airplane that now defines us was no less than a moment of genius. Helps to have them, around, too.
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Show us the money! We turned to the Sponsorship and Finance guys. They nodded, sagely, told us to stay calm. Dream, they said. The money will come. So we dreamed. And it did. Somewhere in the rush of things, we took a minute to fill the festival with colour. Performances, lectures, competitions. Everything we always wanted. We gave it a shape, a form. And then, promptly submitted our list of events to the Guest Relations and Hospitality teams. Get someone who’s REALLY from the industry we told them. No noname-nobodies. We don’t want the riff-raff. They rolled our eyes at us. Told us to calm down. Went forth and brought us Ravi Deshpande, Gauri Athalye and Shobhita Dhulipala. Swarathma, Weirdass Comedy and DJ Candice. Somewhere in the humdrum, Human Relations kept an eye on everyone. Made sure all the hinges were greased, and nobody was plotting to kill one another. Time passed. The idea ebbed and flowed. Changed, adapted, grew. And so, struggling for breath, food and sleep, we made it through the festival. You know how this works. It’s a part of life. You’re so tired, you can’t wait to drop dead, but you’ve never been more alive. The arguments, the fights, the discussions, the sleeplessness, the kind of frustration that makes you want to punch anyone in a five meter radius. But it’s all worth it. And it all starts with an idea.
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Alcheringa Atlantis IIT, Guwahati
“ Utkarsh Gupta, OVERALL CO-ORDINATOR
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College is all about growing up, and gearing ourselves up to face the real world. Somewhere along the road, Alcher (as we fondly call Alcheringa) has played a crucial part in us growing up into mature and responsible adults
lcheringa. The word, in the language of some Australian aborigines, translates to “The Eternal Dream-time”. Quite a mouthful, I know. But, that is exactly what a team of highly creative minds pull off during the four days of one of the most extravagant college fests of the nation. With well thought-out themes, and the ambience crafted to perfection, Alcheringa has grown leaps and bounds with each coming edition. This year saw a new Alcheringa (almost literally) centered on the theme “Atlantis”. Enthralling performances by Guitar legend Michael Angelo Batio, Bollywood singer Shilpa Rao, Undying Inc (with the Red Bull Tour Bus) and The Villalobos Brothers, among the many, ensured that all dreamers dreamt to their fullest! A fest as perfectly executed as Alcheringa requires a well-oiled machinery of highly efficient individuals who work as a team all around the year to set new standards with each coming edition. Basically, the responsibilities are shared by teams, who are specialists in their own skill sets. The various teams under discussion are the Public Relations & Branding Team, Marketing Team, Events Management Team and Creatives Team. Even though each of the teams has hugely varying demands and responsibilities, the one unifying factor remains—Alcheringa! It’s a dream that drives us on, to build a fresh fest from
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scratch, and put on an unforgettable show each year. College is all about growing up, and gearing ourselves up to face the real world. Somewhere along the road, Alcher (as we fondly call Alcheringa) has played a crucial part in us growing up into mature and responsible adults, from the naïve freshmen that we once were, when we first stepped into this beautiful campus. From shy and reserved teenagers (fresh from the post-JEE trauma), team members grow in their strengths, by honing their marketing, branding, negotiation, management and creative skills (among the many), and using them in real-world situations way before most college students do. With each passing batch of students, the experience increases and the quality of mentorship that new members receive, gets better and better. Hence, Alcheringa proves to be a fertile ground on which bright young minds can plant their ideas and watch them grow into gigantic proportions. It sure is a humbling moment, when you see vast multitudes of people having the time of their lives at the fest that you helped create. In the span of just a couple of years, the fest becomes your baby—the one part of your life that you’re going to remember all through your mortal existence (and probably beyond).
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Left or Right?
Next generation needs...?
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oney and experience is not so important in business, as they can be acquired. What actually is important are ideas, creative ideas. If you are creative, then you have the biggest asset and there is no limit to what you can achieve in your business and life. Let us unravel our journey and the future. Where are we heading? It is a wonderful feeling to hear from the grandparents about your parents’ growth in comparison with the previous generation in your family and friends circle. I am sure each one of your grandparents would have been a government servant (and for some, they may be in private companies and for many they would have been the farm land owners. Whatever be their profession, all of them had been fantasizing their kids to be in engineering / IT / medicine profession. Alas! Many have fulfilled their parents’ wishes and settled in life. For some, life would have been a struggle. From your previous generation, with many a sudden surge in many professional workforce, brought together the following too • Competition / one-upmanship in services & products • Challenges in handling money • Challenges in handling manpower • Challenges in handling machinery • Challenges in handling waste & its disposal • Challenges to be in profits • To top it all, challenges in “setting up the system of functioning” for an everlasting harmonious result Every human being / company today is in a rat race by competing with each other to give a better and better product or a service. This competition is pushing each one of us to be more and more unique, completely different from others, including the neighbours and even with our own brothers and sisters. Quest to be “different from others / to be unique” is what will make 28
you creative. In today’s competitive world, being different / unique alone may not be good enough, it should also be more appropriate or more efficient or even simpler, apart from being original. We are trying to outsmart each other without knowing that it is all about “creativity”. Now imagine how creative should the next generation be. Yes ! the current college going youth are being addressed here in this article. Yes they have to be creative in a lot more competitive world. Is it true that creativity be developed or it has to be a inborn quality/talent? So how are you going to prepare yourself? It is all about allowing yourself to be of yourself first (original). That comes only when you nurture the right brain. Right brain? What has right brain to do with creativity? Has creativity anything with do engineering, medicine, IT profession, where your parents are all busy competing with each other. So where all is creativity required . If so, how important is it today? In art (singing , dancing, designing, movie making, crafting) Literature Services Teaching Medical Engineering Image makeovers & Even in socializing The below two indicate that the business world is beginning to accept that creativity is of value. Yes creativity forms the core activity of a growing section of the global economy. • A global survey of approximately 1600 CEOs says, the leadership trait that is considered to be most crucial to success is “creativity”. • Business council of Australia in one of its reports has called for a higher level of creativity in graduates. Both the academia and industry have been in formalizing the ways to grow creativity. Look at the way how a creative thinker is different from a critical thinker. Dreamzone believes in this theory. “In
the future, everything is going to be online. How you score marks will not matter. What will matter is how you can stand out from the rest; this is possible by developing the right brain. All the successful people in the world have been successful as they thought out-of-the-box and this happens when your right side of the brain is developed. But, this has to be done by the age of 16 years, after which the right brain grows at a minimalistic rate,” explains S Karaiadiselvan, Managing Director, CADD Centre Training Services, Chennai.
CADD @ School program It is with this noble thought in mind that the CADD @ School program has been developed. Dreamzone invites college students, from the age of 17 years to 22 years, to a summer camp where they will get exposed to world of colours and graphics. You will learn the basics of interior designing, fashion designing and also the art of free hand sketching. Who knows, you might go on to become the next Manish Malhotra or a Ritu Beri! You might learn a lesson or two on organization skills as well as they will also learn the Five-year theory, which was also adopted by companies like Toyota and TVS. We at Dream Zone understood the importance of creative thinking and hence offering programs which stimulates your right brain. Yes we believe “creative thinking is not a talent , but a skill that can be learnt”. It strengthens one’s natural abilities which improve teamwork, productivity, profit. So it empowers people. So emwwpower yourself… in the right way. For registration www.dreamzone. co.in/contact.php Or call 044 49021342 / +917299123671
MUSIC, ART & THEATRE
'I am a digital artist' A look at digital art, the Siddhartha Valluri
BMSIT, Bangalore #digitalart
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field and the steps involved in the making of a Digital Painting
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f the term does not already give it away, digital art is exactly what it sounds like—creating art using the digital medium. Painting softwares such as Photoshop, Corel Painter, ZBrush, Paint Tool Sai, 3DSmax are what I use to create the my artwork. And I’d like to take you through the process of creating characters in digital art through the Work in Progress images here. It’s something I enjoy doing and I’d like others to know exactly how do I go about it. Step one would be the idea of course—I wanted to create a female character, who is set in a distant world. So, I browsed through some references and sketched out a few drawings on paper and once I had an image in my head, which was kind of what I was going for, I could process to the next step (1.) which is the “thumbnail” stage of the process. This is where the basic idea and large forms of the character is sketched out loosely. The next step involved is application of the values, which are the darks and the lights (2). Once that has been fixed, we can move on to the colour. Some people prefer combining both these steps but I prefer the method of separating the values and the colours (3). At this stage in the painting, the large shapes and the primary forms are quite defined and from hereon, it is only a matter of adding more and more detail to the drawing as a whole. You can now see the progress through each image (46). The important thing to remember once you’ve reached here is how each
thumbnail stage
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application of darks and lights
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3
4
5
adding colour
detailing
refining
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A good artist will be a good artist no matter what the medium
material works. As you move from one part of the painting to the other, the materials change and so does the method of rendering them. This painting you’ll see toward the end (7), was made using Photoshop CS5 and took roughly around six hours to make. Digital art is quite the rage now and has evolved immensely in the last few years. The use of various softwares has been a part of the work flow for many professionals in a variety of fields all over the world. But, it is only in the last couple of years that I have observed students in India picking it up as well. There are a lot of young artists training and practicing hard to become concept artists, illustrators—who will eventually become a part of the industry. One
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must realise though that these jobs are highly specialised and require a whole lot of dedication and practice to achieve the success the expertise of your choice. According to me, creating digital art is just like creating on any other medium and it’s a really fun thing to work on, once you get the hang of it. There is absolutely no limit to the variety of artworks that can be made. Another advantage is the ability to be able to correct various mistakes rather easily. Because of this ability, some critics feel that creating digital art is easier in comparison to other mediums. I would say it’s just another medium with its own pros and cons. A good artist will be a good artist no matter what the medium.
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almost ready
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THE evolution OF
GRAPHIC
Nandini Varma
IN INDIA
Creating Graphic Novels, on various experimental themes, is slowly picking up in India
NOVELS
ILS Law College, Pune #art
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egardless of the criticism that went into it because of its stereotypical portrayal of women and concepts related to society and culture in India, Amar Chitra Katha, a favourite among us kids, came across as one of the earliest means of graphic storytelling when it rolled up as a collection of comics in yellow, blue and green, later being published in more colours with occasional 90-page bumper issues to educate children in nuclear families about mythology and later about various other topics they needed to be familiarised with. The idea of breathing life into texts through the use of pictures came to India through such collections of comics, way before the publication of one of the first graphic novels, Maus by Art Spiegelman in the late 80s as a precursor to this genre of narratives. The world of comics and the concept of text with pictures had given rise to the idea of collections of fiction, non-fiction as well as autobiographical accounts being sold in shops which were more than roadside bookstalls, with more than thin sheets of papers stapled together, to form more than just comic books. These collections came to be known as graphic novels.
Manta Ray Comics
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Cover of Mixtape
Rather Lovely thing (Mixtape)
There is a lot that goes in having to students I remind them that all it takes illustrate and write these graphic novels. is one kid in India with a pencil, paper What comes first—the illustration or and a dream to create the next story that the text differs for different storytellers. will change the world.” Graphic Novels have evolved The passion, however, remains the same, which is often visible in the way the beautifully over the years, from creating stories are stitched and the characters characters and dealing with subjects are built, most of them being poured that remain specific to mythology and into with very personal accounts and superheroes as in Chakra, The Prince of opinions, making them very impactful Ayodhya, India Authentic etc. to dealing for the readers. Sharad Devarajan, the with social issues, revolutions and creator of Chakra and the man behind political conditions. Whether graphic novels were born Graphic India, perfectly describes the art of storytelling through graphic novels around the 30s or the 60s is still uncertain and how they’re different from other but traces of the Western influence of mediums of creative expression. He comic art in the characters and stories shares, “Graphic Novels are like creating can be found in the introduction of a movie with an unlimited budget—a characters like Phantom by Anant Pai place where you can literally destroy and in some of the early editions of Amar the universe in a page and recreate it Chitra Katha. Comic strips were found in in the next. It’s a visual storytelling little boxes in newspapers, illustrated medium that levels the playing field for by well-known caricature artists like R creators around the world where all you K Laxman and V T Thomas. Comic art need is paper, pencil and an unbridled in India soon got an identity which the imagination. Often when I speak to characters in the comics, as they evolved
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Graphic Novels have evolved beautifully over the years, from creating characters and dealing with subjects that remain specific to mythology and superheroes
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UNMAGAZINE | MAR2014 worked remarkably. The best example is easily that of Hush, written by Pratheek Thomas, co-founder of Manta Ray Comics and illustrated by Rajiv Eipe. Hush is a beautifully illustrated and stunningly told novel. “It is based on a story my brother Vivek told me. He wanted to make it into a short film and I told him that I’ll adapt it to a comic, which he could show potential producers when looking for funding for his film. Inevitably, while adapting it, I made the story my own, so it varies in parts from Vivek’s original version. It was always clear to me that Hush would be silent, that we would not use any words in its telling. As a writer, I did not think I could put into words what Maya was going through, and I trusted Rajiv Eipe (who illustrated the comic) to bring out the story through his art, which he most amazingly did,” says Pratheek Thomas. Legends of Halahala, by Appupen is another silent graphic novel that explores different angles of love through five comic tales. The brilliantlydone illustrations change in each tale according to their needs and the underlying story. There have been graphic novels capturing moments in India’s history. Cover of Hush (Manta Ray Comics) Delhi Calm, written and illustrated by Vishwajyoti Ghosh, is a stark and year after year, handed over, especially realistic portrayal of the Emergency Raj Comics which became popular in the years in India. It chronicles the betrayals, early 90s. uncertainty and widespread fear of Since then there have been efforts put that time. Vishwajyoti Ghosh is also into making stories as well as characters the editor and curator of the graphic Hush is based on more realistic and convincing with every anthology, This Side That Side: Restorying new illustration that goes on to form a Partition, which is a collection of stories a story my brother part of the graphic novels that India capturing many perspectives on the Vivek told me. He has seen. One of the earliest graphic seismic effects of the Partition. novels, Corridor, by Sarnath Banerjee, Kari, by Amruta Patil tells the story wanted to make it into tells the tale of Jehangir Rangoonwalla, of a young woman in Mumbai, who is a short film and I told a bookshop owner, whose customers alienated from those around her and come to him for not only second-hand is made lonely by her separation from him that I’ll adapt it books but also wisdom. The novel is her girlfriend, Ruth. The story is seen to a comic, which he dotted with colourful characters like through the eyes of the protagonist, could show potential Digital Dutta, who is struggling with the who serves as an unreliable narrator. dilemma of choosing between Marxist Slipping around the jacket sleeves of the producers when ideology and a U.S. Visa, and Shintu, a process of creation of Kari is a story very looking for funding newlywed searching for the ultimate interestingly put by the author and artist aphrodisiac. Another early graphic of the book, Amruta Patil, disclosing for his film. novel, The River of Stories, by Orijit Sen, the inspiration that pulled her closer to discusses the everyday tale of scheming being one of the finest graphic novelists politicians, policemen and contractors. of our country. She says, “When I was a The change in the style of child, my mother illustrated every story storytelling, in some of the books, has that she told me. It was a lot of fun. I
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remember sitting atop a full newsprint sheet on the terrace as we drew, so that the paper would not fly away! They were growing stories—I’d add to where she left off, in word as on paper. We took great pains to draw out the houses and hills and cats and people that formed our stories.” Recently, there have been some interesting graphic novels including Vishwajyoti Ghosh’s This Side That Side: Restorying Partition that have been popular in comic art circles as well as amongst young artists, writers and readers. Sufi Comics, Bangalore-based comic book publishers, have published two comics, 40 Sufi Comics and The Wise Fool of Baghdad and are currently working on a 500-plus page graphic novel. Manta Ray Comics’ recent comic, Mixtape is a platform to promote new, upcoming and established creators. Another of their new collection, TwelvePreludes deals with young people in India. “It is about their loves, hates, their insecurities, their quest for identity, their beliefs,” says Pratheek Thomas. Holy Cow, one of the few creator owned comic publishers released their third issue of Aghori and the final issue of Ravanayan at Bangalore Comic Con last year. Pulp Quarterly is a journal dedicated to such Indian comic artists and graphic novelists that includes reviews, interviews and articles covering the newest comics and graphic novels. From making cameos to playing bigger roles, graphic novels have come to be known as one of the most fascinating mediums of pouring one’s soul into the stories through the interplay between words and images, opinions and expressions, passion and obsession. Dredging up corners in Comic Con, fitting between rows with books alphabetically placed and turning into coffee table books and dinner table conversations, graphic novels have been eating up spaces one character at a time, one character at a time.
A story frame from Hush
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Fireflies in the garden Shobana Mathews Christ University, Bangalore Department of English #expression
An attempt to bring back poetry to students, Chautauqua is all about creating an expression space at college
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small band of students and teachers gathered in the college canteen at 4 PM the other day. Scattered across tables, an expectant hush descended as one by one young poets perched precariously on a high stool to read their verse into a mic and to enthusiastic applause. We applauded the lines, the simplicity, the images… but most of all we applauded the courage it takes to bare one’s soul. And as the evening progressed so did the camaraderie as we called out lines that had caught our imagination and the bashful poet took a bow. Some read dramatically, some tremulously… offering their thoughts and hearts up to us with a refreshing innocence. It’s been nearly two years since that thrilling first Chautauqua. (Chautauqua was an adult education movement in the United States that brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers, preachers and specialists of the day.) The journey continues, where the wandering minstrels, true to their Native American name,
Illustration by Meghal Anukul 36
TEACHER, TEACHER
meet every month in unusual places across the campus. The rules are simple : anyone can read. The locations must be outside of classrooms and formal spaces. Coffee is served. And the focus is on well written lines and imagery. The simplicity of the endeavour has been its sustaining factor… no elaborate arrangements and formalities. The poems are simple and decided well ahead, so we all have a script in hand. The locations are as romantic as lakeside slopes or as hurried as a dusty, dingy stairwell when rain imagined it could dampen our session. The aura is humbling, as faculty and students submit to the electric air of poetry, love, politics, nature and people foibles are celebrated or trashed with elan. What has been fascinating is to watch what one, hitherto, only reads about in literary history tomes : the emergence of poetic voices, the evolution of schools of poetry. There were some who wrote verses political, others who were lyrical, some sensual, some plain ribald and mocking. Soon poems were written in response to previous ones, some in imitation, some as rejoinders. Though the verses are sometimes satiric and sardonic, there is an absence of cynicism in the audience. As we travel across the college in search for unusual locations to locate our poetry in, it is interesting to see that this young group is claiming the campus in a way that is essential to bring a place truly to life. Stories emerge, tropes evolve and characters are created, bringing a sense of history to the writers an establishing traditions. Thus emboldened we conducted a one day workshop celebrating poetry. Groups worked on spoofing epics, replacing lines, selling products in verse, painting postcards thus illustrating haikus and sense poetry (responding to various sense stimuli like textures, fragrances, sounds, taste and visuals). The response was truly heartwarming as students lingered on after college hours reading out their poems and
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The aura is humbling, as faculty and students submit to the electric air of poetry, love, politics, nature and people foibles are celebrated or trashed with elan.
basking in the appreciation. A community has grown, bound together by poetry. Values such as respect and compassion and a discerning sense of quality has grown. After all, the name of this venture came from a book that discusses quality… Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert Persig). Moving beyond the classroom spaces has been liberating. A sense of self-censorship and discernment is growing. Activities that encourage creative expression and newsletters abound in a University such as ours. However, what is particularly interesting is the sense of informality that pervades the band of poet readers and their faithful audience. There are regulars, from Science and Commerce backgrounds. ‘Our Chautauquas’ are proving to be a space where writers are launched and feedback is spontaneous by way of the audiences’ laughter and applause. There are often encores, favourite poems are re-read and favourite poets establish themselves in our hearts. All this sans academic intervention. Though definitely certain standards and approval is sought by the patterns of growth noticed in the young writers’ work. Many of them show a marked sense of growth in that their verse becomes more honest and they seem to be finding their voices. We are supported by a priest and mathematician, Fr Joseph Varghese. His writing is lucid and has a mathematician’s logic, precision and symmetry. His presence and words of appreciation have endeared him to young readers, proof that poetry knows no boundaries. We affectionately call him our Patron. As one of our students pointed out, it is a tribute to an activity that students stay back long after hours with absolutely no rewards such as marks or attendance but thrilling to the sound of poetry! This is what we are trying to do for our students at college. Do you have any passion you’d like to explore for yours?
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PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO OF THE OF THE MONTH MONTH March FOCUS Illustration
?
Hello! I am currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Digital Direction (Animation) from DSK Supinfocom International Campus, Pune (India). I have also studied Foundation in Design from Srishti School of Art Design and Technology, Bangalore, India. My area of interest is illustration and 3D Visual narrative, both aiming toward a form of storytelling. The work I have done primarily includes illustration, graphic design and animation. I have a huge liking for color, paper and type. I collect vintage posters and cassettes and have a soft corner for stationery, Indian cinema and food.
CONTACT sadhnap92@gmail.com Pune, India
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PORTFOLIO
SEQUENTIAL
Pages from the comic book Hangman about a man’s perfect job hunt.
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ILLUSTRATION
Offer to pay for parking and tolls when you ride with someone.
Remember the three universal healers: calamine lotion, warm oatmeal and hugs.
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Keep a backup copy of your personal address and telephone book.
PORTFOLIO
If you make a lot of money, put it to use helping others while you are living. That is wealth’s greatest satisfaction.
Be the first to fight for a just cause.
Left: Give generously. Right: Refrain from envy. It’s the source of much unhappiness.
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Character illustrations for a comic.
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PORTFOLIO
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The Lines on a Page Damini kane Jai Hind College, Mumbai #writing
This is my story of how I wrote 176 thousand words, over 400 pages of MS Word—my very first ready-to-bepublished novel.
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Hi. My name is Damini Kane. I’m eighteen years old, and last year, I wrote a novel.
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he first sentence is the hardest. can anyone compare? How can an Have you ever tried writing about amateur writer ever hope to be like something that is important to you? them? The road lies open in front of us, It’s difficult. The words never seem to the waiting mouth of a predator. I guess it helps when you have come out right, the letters just can’t seem to convey the passion behind your something to say. Novels can’t be thoughts. You just feel like screaming. written out of thin air. You need to want Tearing the page. Perhaps even breaking to tell a story. You need to want to make down. But once you get it right—get that a statement. Grab an idea, hold it in your first sentence right—then it flows like heart and nurture it. Let it grow and consume you. Then, perhaps, you can water. At the moment, I feel a little take the first step. That’s what I did. constricted. My own wind-pipe Hi. My name is Damini Kane. I’m seems against me as I write this. Communicating information is difficult. eighteen years old, and last year, I One needs to laud those who can do it wrote a novel. In itself, this is no big well. How do you make each word hit deal. People younger than me have been you like a bullet? They’re just drawings published. I promise I won’t drone on in ink, they’re just sounds. They’re so about the book. Just a small background, perhaps. It’s called The Necromancer’s trivial. Meaningless. But time and again, there come Pawn, and it’s about necromancy, the art those who can mould words. It’s like of summoning the dead back to life. It sorcery. Every word they write says so stands at over 176 thousand words—over little and means so much. The entire 400 Microsoft Word pages. A monolith. I began writing it sometime in July page quivers with magic. I want you to think of your favourite writer. As I ask last year, after a long struggle with you to do that, I am picturing the face of writer’s block. I was so focused on Haruki Murakami, whose books are my trying to fix the crumbling remains of my previous novel that I began hating current obsession. These are the people I’m talking it. Detesting it. My brain was constantly about. Their words transcend filled with ideas, but none good enough boundaries. They’re just so good. How to blow my mind. The premise for The
EXPERIENCES
Necromancer’s Pawn came sneakily, when I was least expecting it. It slipped into the recesses of my brain without me noticing, and I didn’t realise I was plotting it out until the idea was almost ready. What does that tell you about ideas in general? In my view, it’s a lot like love. Sometimes you have to look for it, and sometimes it comes upon you like a pleasant surprise. An idea is something you protect from those who would want to destroy or steal it, it’s something you cherish and grow with. In your darkest moments, an idea keeps you company, gives you welcome escapism, and makes you feel better. But that’s the easy part. You have to write it down. You need to make it into a novel that people would want to read. Ah, I can picture you now. Staring at a Microsoft Word document. The blank page can be so frustrating, can’t it? The luckier few of you know just how to begin. You know exactly how to reel in the reader. The first paragraph sounds as tantalizing as the smell of a wellcooked meal.
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Think about this. A beginning. A first various types of swords. (Of course, I sentence. It’s a binding contract and there was writing in a genre known as epic is no going back. Once you’ve begun, you fantasy. Your research can be on entirely have to see this through. I hope you’re different things.) ready for the most emotional, the most I’ve noticed that the problems come exciting journey of your life. Take a towards the middle of the novel. To moment to pause and reflect. “The first begin with, one needs to commit to impression is the last impression”, right? the task enough to reach that point. This is what will decide the rest of your This in itself is a feat. Mid-points are novel. tricky because this is usually when the At first, it was easy. I wrote with the entire plot becomes clearer. Often, new fluidity of a waterfall, and I had so much information is revealed to the characters. fun. There were the little hitches, but I got This changes the direction of the story through them. It was nothing I couldn’t completely. These few scenes are very handle. I read about story structure and easy to screw up. pacing. How you should ideally end your When I was writing the midchapters with cliff-hangers, because it point of my novel, I was revealing keeps the reader hooked for more. How copious amounts of vital, complicated a good story should have a low-point, information. It helped to take notes on a sad part where the hero isn’t sure if just what I wanted to convey, both to the they can succeed in the task they’ve readers and the characters. It also helped been assigned. These technicalities, I’ve to take my time. There was no rush. No learnt, matter. Creativity is free, but need to speed along these important structure gives direction. Both need to scenes. And if ever I felt overwhelmed, I work together seamlessly for a story to would simply step back and take a break. be successful. It was okay. It would all be okay. And this Research is important too. was the first draft anyway. Nothing was Fabricating facts is a dangerous thing, set in stone. and will lead to a ton of rewriting later However, mid-points are usually on. Besides, I admit that I thoroughly the parts when people start giving up enjoyed combing through information their novels. It gets too difficult, too about castles and their architecture, complicated. It’s frustrating, but writing ancient predatory mammals and the a novel sometimes tends to be. I would often just stare at the computer screen and cry my heart out. Or I’d open Facebook or Youtube and just browse a bit. Anything to either vent my frustration or just make it ebb away. The mid-point of anything is the hardest. Trudging through the middle of an exam, a ‘mid-life crisis’… it’s even a psychological fact that while memorising the things in a list, our brain When I was writing the mid-point of my remembers the first and the last items novel, I was revealing copious amounts of vital, the best and the middle is very sketchy. There’s nothing to do but soldier on. complicated information. It helped to take Soldier on. notes on just what I wanted to convey. Endings come upon us slowly. They are bittersweet. On one hand, you truly want to finish your novel. To see your creation for what it is, in its complete form. But writing it has been a joy—and if it hasn’t, then you’re doing something wrong. Concluding chapters are difficult, and they too, should be taken at an easy pace. Tie up the loose ends. Give your readers and your characters a sense of
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EXPERIENCES
closure. Then towards the ending, you need to type out that last sentence. What tone are you going to end on? George Orwell, in his book 1984, ended with the disturbing line, “He loved Big Brother.” Big Brother being the totalitarian rule that brainwashed its subjects. It was a terrifying sentence because the protagonist, in the beginning, hated Big Brother. Markus Zusak, in The Book Thief, ends with Death, the narrator, saying, “I am haunted by humans.” It leaves you cold, shocked, aching for more. My novel is nowhere near published. In fact, I’m just beginning the publishing process. So I can’t claim to be an expert, but there are two things I’m sure of when one writes a novel. The first sentence is the hardest. This is the simple part. Everyone has You know how you don’t begin working And so is the last. a wonderful idea somewhere in their on an assignment until it’s the night heads, and all you need to do is find it, before the submission date? Yeah, don’t *** develop it, think of the themes you want hide your faces, I know you do it. Set a In the six or seven months I spent to explore, make the characters, make deadline. It keeps you on your toes. If writing my novel, there were certain the plot, think of a coherent beginning you don’t, you tend to think, the novel things that helped me, certain things I and ending, find nice names for your isn’t going anywhere, I can afford to learnt on the way. characters, think of how you’re going waste a few hours doing nothing. And I hope this How to Write a Novel to word your story, come up with a title that’s how it NEVER GETS WRITTEN. in Ten Easy Steps helps you the way it for the novel, and begin writing. Piece of A deadline gives you the right kick in the butt that you need to get started. helped me! cake, right? Alternatively, don’t do any of that. Just come up with an idea and start. You’ll encounter all the above problems down the road anyway. The question is: do you want to sort it before writing, or while writing? The decision is up to you. I like to plan at least the important stuff before I begin because it gives me some direction. I am a Plotter. You, on the other hand, may prefer just going with the flow and writing whatever comes to your mind. That would make you a Pantser. It doesn’t matter how you do it. Just remember that It’s getting interesting now. This is as a Pantser, you’ll have to edit your first the part where you open that word draft enormously to fix all the inevitable document, choose a font (make sure plot-holes. Whereas, Plotters might take it’s Times New Roman or something much longer to actually begin writing equally legible. No prospective publisher because they spend a lot of time making wants to try and decipher this font.) You sure there aren’t any problems with the begin with an engaging sentence—and those can be tricky to think up—and general story-line. keep writing and writing and writing. Whatever works for you, mon ami. Pick your chapter breaks wisely. If you break at cliff-hangers, readers want to keep reading.
1 Come Up with a Great Idea
2 set a deadline
3 writing it down
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4 having emotional breakdown This is good for your mental health. Cry and cuss at your computer screen. It clears your mind.
5 drink coffee, tea or anything else that keeps you focused If you don’t do this, you might literally die from emotional trauma combined with physical exhaustion.
6 Sleep Even when you need to write.
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7 find writer friends
9 creative visualisation
Friends who write as well are the best. Imagine yourself on international TV, You can ask them about their novel, being interviewed by an international maybe even read a few of their chapters, TV personality about the wonder that is and then realise that you write much your new book. Nothing motivates you better than they do. You feel motivated more. Imagine yourself at book signings and readings, speaking with your fans. and superior. Imagine yourself having lunch at a nice … Alternatively, the reverse happens. restaurant, and someone coming up to You realise you’re crap and you need you and saying, “I LOVE your books, help, and they’ll be happy to give you can you please give me your autograph?” suggestions. It becomes a learning Really, it’s awesome. experience.
8 calm your mind It begins to get stressful and tiring. But you’re also having fun, putting down your ideas. However, you’re bound to hit writer’s blocks and that can be frustrating. Apart from crying and practicing your colourful vocab, you can also take a break. Go out, eat something nice, watch some TV. Breaks are vital. Hang out with your (non-writer) friends. There was a time I couldn’t write for weeks because I’d overdone it. One afternoon laughing about TV shows with my buddies and suddenly, my brain exploded with ideas again.
10 frenzies You might get into these inspired frenzies where you feel if you don’t write, your brain will explode. Make full use of these! They’re rare and wonderful, and you get a lot done in a short while. There. Ten easy steps. However, there is another one. Perhaps the most important one. A secret eleventh step—DON’T GIVE UP! It’s too easy to just stop midway. Novels take months, sometimes even years, to come into fruition. There are a lot of times when you just want to shut off the computer and stop, but don’t. If you can’t get the words out, save your document, back it up, and take a break.
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Ilmaz Syed The Indian Traveller Kolkata #photojournalism
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nil sits on the backseat of his rickety Mahindra Marshal. After a bumpy ride through the Sal forest of Saranda, he smiles, leans back and lights a biri that he managed to procure from the depths of his glove compartment. After all these years of uncertainty, he sure as hell deserves a smoke to cool off. “Saranda isn’t a bad place you know,” says Anil, a driver in his late twenties settled in the mining town of Kiriburu, Jharkhand. “It’s just that the whole damn place is cursed.” Anil remembers the story of Barel Honanga of Kudlibad village. It was in Mid March, some years back, when Honanga rode his Marshal shouthing out his story over the sound of an overworked engine. It’s a story of the momentous time that this forty year old had to take to get back home. Honanga was arrested on suspicion of heaving alleged Maoist links and lodged in Chaibhasa Jail for over a year. His release did not come easy. Since August 2011, the Saranda forest in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district has seen an ambitiously named operation Anaconda. Followed by an equally ambitious development drive, bringing Asia’s largest Sal forest, home to a quarter of India’s Iron ore reserves, out of Maoist Shadows and into the Corporate palms. After ten years of heat, this region is looking at loosing it’s tag of being the CPI (Maoist)’s ‘Eastern Regional Headquartes’. ‘Saranda’ literally means a forest of seven hundred hills. This is the largest Sal forest in Asia, formerly reserved for private hunting 50
until The Red flag claimed it’s dominion here. As many as ten thousand Adivasis live in the forest, depending mostly on forest produces and livestock for their livelihood. The forest is full of Iron Ore, giving birth to a constant clash between community and business interest. A clash that ultimately ended in making the Maoists rule the vicinity. Our trip to Saranda was an impulsive decision. Something that sparks out spontaneously. We did not have any particular agenda, follow-up or motive. It, was supposed to be just another road trip into the heartland of India’s infamous Red Corridor. Just for fun’s sake. To put it in Anil’s words, fun doesn’t come easily when you visit a place cursed politically. The route to Saranda is historical, sarcastically. Leaning out of your window, cut out meticulously in the Howrah-Barbail Express, the track reminds you of the deeds and dreads that’s once prevailed here. The visuals of the ill-fated coaches of Ganeshwari Express, lying bare on the railway tracks even today is bound to hit you. As the train passes through Jhargram, crossing into the Jharkhand border, the chill is more persistent. You canvass your compartment, your eyes strained enough to notice any suspicious character. Fear hasn’t gripped you yet, but you are certainly hypnotized by the media reports of this infamous landmass. So when sand bunkers and CRPF personnel appear at Tatanagar and Chaibhasa, you breathe relief, only to fathom that you were probably more secure, without them. The forest deepens, the parallel tracks converge and suddenly TISCO and SAIL appear on the horizon. You sense development. It’s finally time to bid adeu to that fear. The Government has you now. If you call this journey a trail into Saranda, then Bara Jamda is nothing more than the first
SOCIETY
checkpoint. A small industrial town, sprayed with the characteristic red soil is bound to disappoint you. There’s no story here, apart from the fact that we had some of the finest chicken curry in a nearby eatery, here. It’s a pass-point , that you need to cross in your search for the seven hundred hills. What’s important is that SAIL has two Iron ore mines in this area : The Meghataburu and Kiriburu mines. The way to Meghataburu is an up hill one. A forty kilometer bus ride from Bara Jamda normally takes an hour and fifteen. But with three check posts manned by CRPF and CISF personnel, you can make that an hour and a half. Normally the sight of a uniform clad , moustached, gun carrying, masculine form is bound to be greeted by a hint of fear in the rural parts of the country. But in Jharkhand, this is a pretty usual sight. The men don’t mind, the women look away and the kids..., well they have practically grown up with this vision instilled in their minds. Buru , when translated in English, means Hill. So we gathered that Meghataburu would closely mean the cloud clapped hill. Once, even this part was counted amongst the seven hundred jungle hills of Saranda. Heavily infested with wild bears and unnoticed tribes. But the mining process has paved way for civilization and development here. Metal roads, budding township, influx of employment has pushed the jungle-ness far inside of what remains of those seven hundred hills. There are three guest houses here built by SAIL. Guest House-I is just twenty minutes away from the Meghataburu Bus stop. It accommodates high profile government guest’s who sometime come to visit the area. For two alpine journalists, the Guest House II was a much preferred site. It’s cheap and regularly accommodates bachelors employed in SAIL and the kids, training in the Archery academy here. Tourists seldom come here. Hence accommodation without reservation is far fetched. “Who in their right mind would think of coming here Sir?” says Dipu, a twenty-two-yearold Bengali lad who manages the kitchen service here in the guest house. Dipu can cook some of the finest egg curry available in this part of the forest. “You guys are the first ones to come here in a long long time! Normally the babu’s from SAIL come here on visits. They stay here for a day, two at the max and then leave. So why bother about the hospitality? Toursits don’t come here for good.” But isn’t Saranda supposed to house some of the finest landscapes? Surely that’s bound to draw crowd, atleast it drew us here! “ Landscape?” quizzed Dipu, “Well tourists did come here at
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Fear hasn’t gripped you yet, but you are certainly hypnotized by the media reports of this infamous landmass. So when sand bunkers and CRPF personnel appear at Tatanagar and Chaibhasa, you breathe relief, only to fathom that you were probably more secure, without them.
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one point time and mind you they were mostly Bengalees. But ever since the Naxals took over we haven’t seen much of it. Who would want to go on a holiday and risk their lives?” In the early nineties, a Bengali writer by the name of Bhibhutibhusan Banerjee, who was then employeed by the Zamindar of this area, was given the task of documenting the forest of Saranda for the estate. He stayed in these parts for a long time. His works, later published as novels, give an apt pen picture of Saranda and its people. A picture that drew tourists, mainly Bengalis here. His tales provide breath taking details of the tribal culture that prevailed here. But that’s all history now. Though stories still continue to develop around these parts. I don’t want to write an extensive travelogue on Saranda. What I can do is give you a brief sneak peek into the conversations of the people who stay here. And a few photographs to back it up. Afterall, this is where the adhivasis are. The ancient man of the land. As a photojournalist, it is highly important to document these unknown parts of mankind. These stories, that the forest holds in itself can only be documented in history pictorially. It might not be of much worth today, but in the future, these will be the only documents that can recant the lost stories and structures. And I want to help capture these stories and create a want for them to be heard. Saranda is a mystery, politically, asthetically, mentally. It’s impossible to decode the forest. We can only recant the stories, spread them far and wide, in the hope that one day we will wake up. Wake up to a Saranda Morning without the fear that hangs in there.
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The Saranda Jungles and Hills-2013
Saranda has the world’s best concentration of memphyte rocks. As a result SAIL has great mining interest in this region.
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Unknown flora inside the Saranda Jungles
A Child in a state run school uniform at Kumdi Village, interior Saranda. The school due to lack of teachers have been long shut out.
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A Pukka House structure in Saranda.
Tribal Children inside Saranda Forest having some fun. Education and Government aide has long stopped coming here.
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The Mining town of Sadal has a striking roughness to its presence.
A Bhunda Headman (Tribal Caste) at Kumdi village, Saranda
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Tribals gather up their livestocks at the end of a lazy day
CRPF personnel on their daily morning round at Kiriburo region. After 2011, Naxal activities have mellowed down, but their presence is felt.
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A Tribal house
A Tribal boy at the mining town of Sadal, just outside the forest. SAIL has developed two mines in this region.
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The Maker Movement Aayush ASTHANA Jai Hind College, Mumbai #DIY
An interview with 15-year-old Angad Daryani, where he talks about his project Shark Kits and Maker’s Asylum and life as a young ‘maker’
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Angad Daryani
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n the United States, Make Magazine started what was to be later known as The Maker Movement. It did so by organising maker fests and by having free-to-publish articles in its magazines that helped people to build, authored by other makers. This movement, which attracted sponsors like Google, was closely monitored by a certain young individual, who had plans of his own to spark a similar revolution in India. Meet Angad Daryani, the 15-year-old maker whose brilliance and achievements are creating ripples in India. On February 12, I spent an aweinspiring evening in Angad’s company, which is refreshingly humble and grounded, despite the great genius that his brain surely houses. In his own words, Angad is a Maker—a homeschooler who loves to make things, whose passion is to find easy, portable and low cost solutions for problems using technology. Although his technical achievements are staggering—he helped build a Virtual Brailler for the blind and designed his own RepRap 3D printer by the age of 13 (to name a couple)—Angad wants to help other people create. He thus, cofounded ‘Maker’s Asylum’—a maker space where anyone can use the available tools and equipment to build what they want. But Angad’s biggest contribution in promoting the Maker Movement is by way of Shark Kits. A product line that aims to provide
PROJECT
youngsters with high quality, low cost and well documented kits, in order to introduce them to Do It Yourself (DIY) and technology. Although, what is his idea behind endorsing the concept of DIY? “My main purpose is to trigger curiosity in kids. I want them to find out what they can do with this limited hardware. I want to make them question why everything happens and to make them reason instead of just sticking to the textbook,” says Angad. When asked about the societal impact of Shark Kits that Angad anticipates, he replies, “The main aim of Shark Kits is to let kids start young. There are so many problems out there. We need people who are ready to solve problems right now and make things easier for future generations.” By engaging the scientific interest in young people, Shark Kits will help in forging a generation of potential problem solvers, who learn to analyse and experiment at an early age. Shark Kits will be available to buy less than two months from now. It shall be launched alongside Sharkbot, Angad’s own commercial desktop 3D Printer, which promises to distinguish itself by its robustness and low cost. His creation of cheap 3D printing is backed with a desire to help people build and create. He shares how his team managed to complete the Virtual Brailler in just four nights, simply by 3D printing prototypes of
each part. As it happens, the products are named so after Angad’s favorite aquatic creature. What makes Angad the passionate maker that he is? He traces it back to the LEGO Mindstorm kit which he received in the 4th grade. This initial exposure to building basic technology was his stimulus. He says, “I just kept taking that to different levels from there.” When asked about his unconventional decision to opt for homeschooling, he elaborated, “In school, I was amongst the top three students in my grade. But when we went for Olympiads and other academic competitions, we were nowhere. That’s where I realised that in schooling, you don’t get your basic fundamentals straight. And the hobbies I had weren’t encouraged much in school. To get time for it and to strengthen my basis, I opted for homeschooling.” After retrospection, Angad concludes, “I wouldn’t have achieved half the things I have after quitting school, if I hadn’t.” Can his age sometimes be a hindrance in his work? He answers sheepishly, “Age is just a number if you look at it.” He does concede, however, that his age restricts his level of knowledge. Extremely complex theory escapes even him, and requires years of training to master. Regarding the other challenges that a maker might face, Angad considers himself fortunate to have supportive parents that back him financially. Illustration by Shruti Kabo
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Homeschooling has also given him enough time to design and build. Although there are no major roadblocks, he does mention minor setbacks like requiring cost prohibitive equipment and having to call for parts from abroad. “It takes longer for Indians to put things together,” he jokes. Angad also delivered a prolific talk at TEDxGateway last December, which was instrumental in the increased recognition that he now enjoys. How did the experience benefit him and his work overall? His reply was prompt, “I was once told ‘If you can make the best product and know how to sell it, you are the best person.’ TEDx taught me how to talk in public and how to present a device or an idea.” Incidentally, Shark Kits also owes his talk a great deal. Angad had launched Shark Kits when he was 12 and a half but was forced to abandon his pursuits due to low sales and negligible demand. After TEDx however, he was flooded with enquiries and orders, thus, motivating him to revive Shark Kits. The lone complaint that Angad harbored was the exponential influx of media interest. “After my talk went online, I had 800 emails in a week and now I get 5-8 journalists every day with big questions. I got too much media attention, like now,” he laughs. So how does a 15-year-old juggle so many things and manage his time? Angad studies 6-7 hours a day, after which he’s free to do what he wants. His research and projects run hand in hand for the most part of the day. Although he makes sure to spend time with family at night,
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I was once told ‘If you can make the best product and know how to sell it, you are the best person.’ TEDx taught me how to talk in public and how to present a device or an idea
his social life has taken a backseat at the moment. “That’s where Facebook comes in,” he smiles. What are his future plans for taking Shark Kits forward? Angad answers, “If my first set of Shark kits is successful, I’ll come with more. Otherwise, I’ll just open source it on my website, so parents can get the parts made and give it to their kids if they want to. It’s super simple.” As the conversation progressed to any advice that Angad might have for young or emerging makers, his words were simple but profound. “Do what you love to do. Everything looks difficult at the start but once you start doing it, it’s not that tough. Just start.” When asked about his other possible future avenues, he expressed a desire to create assistive technologies for impaired people “It’s just about impacting people rather than making money off it,’ asserts Angad. Does he have professional interactions with any peers his age? He answers modestly, “There are few people my age in the world who do what I do. Everyone has different strengths. This is mine.” In all probability, there are other Angad Daryanis in the world—brilliant creators determined to make a difference, simply waiting to be found. The movement Angad has kickstarted, along with his Shark Kits might just be instrumental in discovering them.
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TRAVEL
ZOSTEL:
India’s only backpacking solution
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We are India’s first chain of backpacker’s hostels offering secure, hygienic, centrally-located and pocket-friendly accommodation for young travellers.
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n one sentence: We are India’s first chain of backpacker’s hostels offering secure, hygienic, centrally-located and pocket-friendly accommodation for young travellers. Just like every new creation, we also have our fair share of motivation behind setting up this venture. Since the moment we stepped into graduate school, we had always been tossing over ideas that can keep us motivated enough to go to work every morning. Something, that doesn’t seem like a job. We realised that a common string that connects all of us is the love for travelling. We have backpacked across Europe and Asia, and something we had all found glaringly absent in the Indian tourism sector is the concept of backpacker’s hostels. A backpacker’s hostel is a place where young travellers meet, chill and party together. Owing to the facility of shared dorms, bed rates come off much cheaper than expensive hotel rooms which not only charge a bomb but also tend to ensure their guests stay within the four walls. India is a traveller’s paradise but you will find so many Indians who have travelled to all corners of the world but have still not explored even half of
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their own country. One of the major reasons for this is the lack of any great alternatives in the accommodation market. The thought of bringing this concept to India found immediate resonance among the team and we launched our first hostel in Jodhpur the Independence Day i.e., August 15, 2013. That was a symbolic event as we signed out of the Vanilla corporate life that beholds most business school graduates. Honestly speaking, funding our business school education at the same time as finding enough money to put behind our start-up was a pretty difficult task which couldn’t have been achieved without the support of our families and friends. To meet the ends we had done everything from taking education loans, playing poker, to pinging friends on Facebook for $100 donations. We are a seven-member team out of which Paavan, Dharamveer, Akhil and Tarun are currently in IIM Calcutta. Abhishek and Chetan are IIT BHU graduates and Zosteling full time. Siddharth is working with JP Morgan but he plans to stop taking his boss’s calls from 1st March onwards. We have an even more awesome team of Techies and Designers who help us be what we are.
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We have got a chance to serve more than 2500 guests from more than 40 countries and have been featured by various National and International Media houses.
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From L to R: Paavan Nanda, Akhil Malik, Dharamveer Singh and Tarun Tiwari Past seven months have been a roller coaster ride for us but the excitement is only increasing with each passing day. As we speak, we are Rank 1 on Tripadvisor and Hostelworld with a 5 Star rating in all the cities where we are present. We have a media reach of 5,00,000 young audience and have a highly engaging Facebook page with 12,000 subscribers. We have got a chance to serve more than 2500 guests from more than 40 countries and have been featured by various National and International Media houses. Being still in school, we participated in 8 business plan competitions and fortunately bagged First Prize in all of them. Some of these competitions being Richard Ivey Business Plan competition (Canada), IIT Bombay Eureka, IIM Calcutta Launchpad, VJTI, NITIE, Tie Chapter, etc. We are also one of the finalists in Wharton India Economic Forum to be held on Feb 21 and India Pakistan Startup Dosti which is scheduled in March. Currently we are in talks with a couple of investors to secure external funding
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which would be used to secure a panIndia presence in the next couple of years. Based on the interest demonstrated so far, we would soon be launching our first franchise as well.
TRAVEL
In an attempt to promote the backpacking culture among Indian youth and make them aware of the beauty of this country, Zostel has launched this campaign. Simply put: • First of its kind Travel focused internship • Applicants between the age group of 18-35 years to be shortlisted after an exciting and highly engaging selection process • Interns get an opportunity to travel across India (15+ states) on an all expense paid expedition (food, travel, accommodation, etc covered) • In addition, each intern will get a stipend of INR 50,000 • Duration: 50 Days; Timing: MidMay (flexible) • Role & responsibilities: Interns require to capture their experiences in the form of blogs, videos, pictures as they accomplish interesting tasks planted for them in each city • Coverage: Internship covered by all major media houses (digital & print). Partnership with youth media channels to ensure mass followership during the 50 Day programme. A dedicated Youtube
channel for the journey & excitement with an inherent pull among target audience. We have ourselves interned with Goldman Sachs, McKinseys and JP Morgans of the world, but trust us when we say that few years down the line if somebody would ask you – “What is your one of the wackiest experiences in life?” All you would do is pull a leaf out of this Internship that we have planned for you after sacrificing endless nights of sleep and securing a bagful of grade drops. Important Dates (Website: http:// bestinternship.in/) • Application window for First Round opened on Feb 14, 2014 • Online rounds from Feb 14 to March 31, 2014 • Personal Interview of candidates from April 1 to April 15, 2014 • Release of final list of interns on April 20, 2014 • Internship timings: Mid-May onwards Note: An applicant can enter the process from Feb 14 to March 31, 2014 and complete all the process in an expedited manner.
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Roobaroo, Up Close Sanika Dhakephalkar FERGUSSON COLLEGE | PUNE | #exchange Illustration by Meghal Anukul
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E
“
very person comes with their own soup of opinions and prejudices. Sometimes, all we need to do is take those opinions and prejudices and make them sit next to us and listen when someone talks to us. There’s always a beginning to everything and more often than not, it’s a conversation. A conversation is a channel for ideas, for a mental image to transform into words, and then meet someone else’s words to create an entirely different, shared image. Conversations are necessary, they are utterly indispensible. Sometimes, though, talking to one person is not enough. Sometimes, when we are trying to understand an entire unit, one part of it fails to represent the entire picture and that’s when we need to project our voices, the voices of our own unit and throw them towards the other unit. And then we need to keep our ears wide open and listen to all the voices that come in from that unit. When we are trying to understand a people, a culture, a way of life, we have to be able to talk to a majority of them, to truly find out what they think, what they feel, and where they stand. We understood this and so we created Roobaroo. Indians are weird, it’s true. We love going on and on about what we think about nearly everything around us (unless, of course, it’s really important, right?) and what good is an Indian who doesn’t like to talk? We wonder if the people in Pakistan are the same, if they’d launch into an opinionated speech at the first meeting or if we’d have to woo them, take them out a few times, before they came out of their shell. We wondered, we had questions, we wanted to know. We wanted to know if there was another bunch of teenagers like us in Pakistan talking about talking to Indians in a café. We wanted to know if they’d like to talk to us, share their ideas with us and collaborate with us, so that we could make something new together. We wanted to create a platform that allows people to talk to one another, to ask each other questions, to exchange ideas and to build new things together. And so we initiated Project Roobaroo.
You are not alone. You never were and you never will be. You can be sure that whatever idea you have at any point of time is never new. Someone somewhere has either already thought of it or they are thinking of it at the exact same moment as you.
”
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Project Roobaroo, in a sentence, is a platform for conversation, collaboration and socio-cultural exchange between the youth communities of two countries. Its first season, Pune2Peshawar, focuses on India and Pakistan. This is the kind of project that can’t be run by just a couple of people; there are a lot of people in the team and even more helping us out, on both sides of the border. And everyone has their own personal reason for working on Project Roobaroo. Tanya Malik, a key member of Team Roobaroo, says, “Roobaroo isn’t just a word or project for me. It’s an effort, an initiative, a lifestyle to create an amalgamation of cultures and identities across the border.” Shantanu Anand, another member of the team, says, “I’m working on the project because I want to help shake things up. To do what I otherwise couldn’t; to talk to people I couldn’t have spoken to.” Just like Rome (and, indeed, every other city in the world) wasn’t built in a day, Roobaroo wasn’t initiated in a day. It took a long time for us to get a firm grip on the project, and even longer for it to really get going, but now, finally, it’s gaining momentum, and people from across the border have started conversing with each other, and that’s the point, because Roobaroo is not a question. It’s a meeting-point for two communities that have been kept apart for far too long. As Sumit Saurav says, “The most exciting thing about being a part of project Roobaroo is that it solves a very simple human problem - that of being misled by a single story. Cultures can
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never be understood nor engaged with on the basis of a single story, and that is precisely what has gone wrong between India and Pakistan.” That single story. The story of two countries that are always at war. That’s all we’ve grown up hearing, but now we want to hear more. We want to hear all the stories, all the little details from all the people who are willing to tell them, all the different perspectives as seen from all the different eyes; because at the end of the day, a community is the sum total of all the perspectives of all its members, and then some more. And this is what we want to find, this is what we want to reach. We want the hearts of India and Pakistan to connect with one another, free of all the prejudices and biases that we have carried on our shoulders for 67 years. We want conversation about everyday things like food, books, music and theatre, because ultimately, it is only through the casual conversation, the chatter about normal things, that one gets to truly know another person. So we want people to share their favourite music, their favourite movies, their favourite recipes, with one another. We want the youth communities to know more about each others contemporary cultures, so that they can imbibe and enrich their own cultures, all while finding out that the other community is not so different after all. And we want collaboration. Imagine what could happen if the artists, teachers and sportsmen of
both the countries put their heads together and created something new; the potential is limitless. We asked people from both India and Pakistan what they would like to collaborate on, and the responses we got were amazing. Nandini Varma says, “the idea behind creating the project is to create spaces and conversations between communities that haven’t existed before—communities that would stretch across countries and borders that in more than geographical ways have created barriers that have kept us away from all communications that we’ve lost even the drive to desire.” That idea of breaking barriers, of going beyond boundaries, is one that is shared by all of us. Sameer sums it up when he says, “Roobaroo is creating a conversation of affection and understanding.” That is what it is. That’s what we want it to be.
Graphics by Disha Nikalje 66
IN FOCUS
Why I believe in Braject Gowri Om Azim Premzi University, Bangalore #communication
Illustration by Sadhna Prasad
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I
am a small breasted girl and apparently, that doesn’t fit well in this society of beautifully endowed women. Also to add to the fact that I am a Malayali and that Malayali women are gifted with great bodies just by virtue of their birthplace, made me a square peg in a round hole. I never found bras my size. I still am in fact, in some lifelike treasure hunt to find the “right bra”. Nothing fits just as well, nothing fits just as right. I just manage to jugaad my way through all my bra issues. I had wished at earlier points of my adolescence to have some goddess-like “Fashion Guru” intervene and revamp my wardrobe and I’d have perfectly happy bra experience. And in this perfectly insufficient yet happy age, I’d be changing the world, the kind of picture that brassier companies and make-over shows sell. Wear sexy bra > Feel like a goddess > Become world class in whatever you do. Bras are not about cleavages. Anyone who has tried to fit more things than the capacity of a travel bag will know that beyond a point, no matter how much you push or shove, it just can’t take it anymore. Drawing a parallel between a travel bag and stuffing your breasts into small sized push up or underwired bras are more similar than what may occur to one’s mind. What use is it if you look ravishing every day of the year, repeatedly and without fail, with your deep fissured cleavage if the first thing you do when you reach home is, almost unknowingly lead your hands to take them off? I remember looking within my own family, my mother’s body type is nothing like my sister’s nor is my sister’s anything like my cousin’s and none of their’s anything like mine and an Indian woman’s nothing like anybody of the West. Standardised measurements for women at varying ages, becomes the base of all problems. It’s a trickle down. I don’t have bras that fit me perfectly, therefore have to rely on the cheaper more uncomfortable ones, which makes me irritable and uncomfortable. The internet tells you a whole lot of things, a whole lot
“
Bras are not about cleavages. Anyone who has tried to fit more things than the capacity of a travel bag will know that beyond a point, no matter how much you push or shove, it just can’t take anymore
”
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meaningless fashion tips that crowds and submerges factual content and it is important that something that gives you sensible information regarding bras is curated, all in one platform.
<Enter Braject with a glowing halo> Individual accounts are powerful and factual research on the importance and dearth of good bras, even more so. When a young girl is just about to go out to buy her first bra, or a woman in her early 20s has understood that nothing really works for her, she will research online. For the growing research based consumers that the internet now breeds, there needs to be the right access to information. This is what Braject aims to do—be that one place where you get all your answers sorted without having to have multiple windows to clarify the same. But the bigger population of bra-wearers are the entrants, the adolescent girls in schools who get carried away by colours and halter straps. With them as the actual audience who need to be educated, Braject will have intervention programmes in schools. ‘Catch them young’, they say and so they will be caught. The point of Braject will be meaningless if it stops there. Awareness without actual change is no good unless there is a plan to cause the change. Therefore, partnerships with lingerie manufacturers and design students to study and create bras for the Indian body type that fit both the breasts and wallets of the audience will mark the last and most important outcome of the project. Most often than not, we tend to trivialise the things that hamper us in our daily lives. If bras are things that make women feel good about themselves, one would agree that it has significant importance in the lives of men too, then it needs to be up for discussion. Bras don’t always have to be clubbed under the category of private. It’s a creation of our minds to classify things that make for possibly uncomfortable conversations to be put under that category. Braject, therefore is a catalyst for the creation of informed thoughts, actions and experiences for women. Let’s make women happier by replacing “boob jails” with comfortable boob homes. Because we need more BFFs. Bras For Forever.
IN FOCUS
Contributors from all over the country have given their share to this project in their own ways. Here are a few headlines that should tell you how earnest people are to tell their bra stories and help one another!
1. Breaking Braâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
by Mahitha Kasireddi, Hyderabad
2. The bra story of a (bra-burning) feminist by Deepa Ranganathan, Jamshedpur
3. The day I bought my first bra by Batul Kapasi, Mumbai
4. The B word
by Stuti Gupta, Bangalore
5. I have big boobs and I cannot lie by Charu Mittal, New Delhi
6. Be Bra-zen, unhook all your inhibitions by The Fallen Brahmin, Raipur
7. My Bra Story-The size that fit by Aritri Chatterjee, Kolkata
Artwork by Mehek Malhotra
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Converge. Collide. Create.
Neha Jain Baumann | Team Construkt | #collaboration
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“
Startups were not about technology, but about creation. It was the power of a person who stood up and decided to risk. It was about choosing to build, to shape an idea from thoughts to reality
I
n 2012, a news report listed the top 10 cities that fostered entrepreneurship; Bangalore just missed the mark. Two men, sitting on their roof top terrace, believed that Bangalore was that one city in India that nurtured startups. They decided create a festival to celebrate this entrepreneurial ecosystem of the city and put it on that list. Startup Festival emerged as a social experiment created to infuse celebration, fun, and learning into the entrepreneurial space in Bangalore. The two men realised that being an entrepreneur is a proud feeling and none of the platforms and reflected this inner spirit of fun, daring, newness, of creating and exploring. There was an unmet need to unleash oneself from the formal straight-jacketed conference. The festival provided that space where informal spaces and formats for meetings, broke down barriers of power, gender and allowed conversations to emerge. The festival struck a nerve. In a short span of four days it created a community of creators that attracted over
5000 Attendees, 100+ Rockstar Presenters 18 Startups Launched 50 Startup Partners 100+ Art Startups 500 Founders 200 Volunteers 15+ Nationalities 120+ Events 50+ Venues
”
The overwhelming response left the city speechless. What was this wave about? What pulse was it that had been tapped? There was no one answer, something larger seemed to be afoot. The team sat back and reflected. Seeking to understand what this ‘nerve’ was that the festival had struck. Gradually clarity dawned. Startups were not about technology, but about creation. It was the power of a person who stood up and decided to risk. It was about choosing to build, to shape an idea from thoughts to reality. Who was this creator? This creator is a unique soul. This is a tribe that dares to live with conviction, building their futures with passionate belief. They are everywhere. It was the chef of your local café, making a new cupcake. It was that app developer, hidden in the large MNC. It was that coder who designed the health tracking software. It was that person next door, who walked at Freedom Park demonstrating against the archic lays against homosexuality. It was the designer, who created comic strip of that ridiculous movie. The doodler, the instagramer, the girl who knew how to dressup that dress, the professor who infused life in a class, the music jammer, the comic stand up performer. The world of creators was large, and included loads of people who would not identify with “Startup” or “Entrepreneur”, even though they’re brilliant creators and entrepreneurs in their own right. The team knew that linking creators creates communities that cross-pollinate energies and thoughts. So, the team got www.campusdiaries.com/unmagazine
down to work—of Construkting Creator Communities. An idea was born— presenting the Construkt Festival. A space to get creative communities working in the space of social impaxt, design, technology, culinary, performing arts, startups to come together and engage not only with peers from their sector but with each other. The intention is to consciously break down walls between communities and create an informal, festive, carnival like atmosphere that by itself encourages conversations. It’s interesting, how when one is at a space where one can be themselves, the blocks of ego, power, hesitation, seem to disappear and instead a feel good factor emerges, where one is open to learning and having more explorative conversations. A combination of charged creative souls, across four different communities, meeting in a high energy positive, impactful weekend is bound to give rise to a whole new experience, and that is what Construkt is about. Creating creator communities one city at a time. Consciously curating a platform where experts converge, disciplines meet, ideas collide, learning’s are unlearnt, newness emerge, visions clash and creative sparks fly. We present to you some of these young creators, game changers— people with extraordinary talent and achievements, part of Construkt Festival this year, telling you why do they do what they do. To be able to see our Fab Four in action at Construkt, all you have to do is get a ticket to the festival. What are you waiting for? Hit construkt.me, quickly! 71
UNMAGAZINE | MAR2014
1. Neha Juneja Co-founder of Greenway Grameen Infra Few products in India are designed with the rural consumer in mind. While the quality of life aspirations of rural and urban consumers are identical, the lifestyles are often different; necessitating different products designs or products altogether. With this need and opportunity in sight we develop products for and with rural consumers creating new categories altogether. Products that are new, innovative and most important useful.
Who Am I? I am a product designer who dislikes cooking, wishing to make it easier.
2. Manojna Yeluri Founder of Artistik License As a lawyer, I recognised a huge information gap between artists and the legal infrastructure that claims to support their work. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always respected artists and creative innovators. To create something thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aesthetically thought provoking and to then share it with the world takes a lot of hard work and courageâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; it only seemed fair that those very creators be informed of their legal rights and recourses. I started Artistik License in the hope of providing artists and creative entrepreneurs in India with a reliable and accessible resource for all their legal concerns. Through my work I hope to educate, empower and enable artists to create without fear, in the firm belief that their creations will shape our world for the better.
Who Am I? I am a changemaker, a legal consultant, a writer and an avid supporter of artist rights.
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3. Vanshaj Kapur Film-maker and Designer My drive is my own energy, and the kick I get when I transfer that onto other people who work with me. This is how I make things happen. I angle my mind to a concept and push with all my force taking along with me all those who stand beside me in that cause. It is like an orgasmâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;you work towards it using all your might and passion and it results in that sweet explosion of having achieved a state of pure intellectual pleasure.
Who Am I? I am an egoistic, arrogant nincompoop who feels he can dance his way through life.
4. Jithin Nedumala Co-founder at Make a Difference (MAD) As a young person I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think we are taken very seriously. Most discussions around young people describe us as part of the problem and not as part of the solution. But the fact remains that some the biggest movements that changed the course of the world ranging from the civil rights movement to the Arab springs movement was catalysed and powered by the young people. I think India is ready for its next big movement and this time its going to be around children at risk. India is ranked 112th in the global child development index, behind China, Iraq and Uganda. Out of 440 million children in India 176 million are in urgent need of care and protection. The solution lies in activating the community to provide a family like support system to the most vulnerable children in India. Through my work with Make a Difference I hope to attract the best minds in the country to solve the most challenging problems of our country and one day ensure even the most vulnerable children have access to equitable outcomes.
Who Am I?
I am an Innovator, an evangelist and above all a trouble maker.
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Bangalore | #challenge
change SHOULD WE LOOK AT IT A DIFFERENT WAY? Meera Vijayann | Ashoka India
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“
TEDx Bangalore 2014 intends to break into action by uniting partners that are committed to challenging conventions and the status quo for Bangalore and its citizens.
”
A
s I write this, two weeks before International Women’s Day, I wonder—what is it that has truly changed in India? Has our continuous working towards “change” actually brought about a difference? For India, the year 2013 was a difficult one; the country waited and watched how the government would tackle the trial of the Dehi rape accused— four of whom were eventually sentenced to death. In the city of Muzzafarnagar, a communal clash between Hindu and Muslim youth led to what was called “one of the worst riots in the history of Uttar Pradesh”. The BJP party, known for its the staunch Hindu stance, openly announced that the prime ministerial candidate for the next year’s elections is Narendra Modi, the Gujarat Chief Minister whose alleged involvement in 2002 Gujarat riots brought about the death of thousands of people. In Uttarakhand, flash floods wrecked homes and displaced several communities along the Mandhakini River. In short, these are events that have shaped our society—for the better or for the worse.
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But each of us, still believe, that these events were beyond our control. At this year’s TEDx, this is exactly what we hope to do—open your eyes to the world around you. TEDx Bangalore 2014 intends to break into action by uniting partners that are committed to challenging conventions and the status quo for Bangalore and its citizens. It hopes to serve as a discovery platform for upcoming ideas, projects, stories and initiatives so that people from this city view it in a different light and can recalibrate themselves. The theme for the event, “Challenge ______”, is meant to celebrate the spirit within each of us to bring about large-scale social change. Our intention to focus on challenges may confuse you. After all, aren’t we all focusing on problems everyday? However, through the TEDx community, we hope to change how you perceive present-day challenges. One, we want you to see that problems don’t merely affect individuals; they effect communities and society as a whole. Second, change happens over time, and not overnight.
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“ We know this. In the past few years, this thirst to drive change in any possible way has led to millions of people taking to social media to support causes. Globally, movements have shaken governments, reminding them of the power of the people; the anti-corruption protests and Delhi gang rape protests in India, the Occupy Wall Street protests, the Arab Spring, the Libyan Revolution and the riots in London stand testimony to the fact that people want change to happen. In India, the anti-corruption bill was finally tabled in Parliament, with more members of the government finally stepping forward to address the issue of corruption in the country. However, large parts of the country still continue to suffer from neglect. The AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act), a draconian law in place the North-Eastern states, still continues to be abused by the security forces and used as a tool to routinely justify human rights violations, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence. In Kashmir, large-scale mass movements have systemically failed, with little or no progress made in two decades towards helping citizens access basic rights such as education, shelter or safety. In 2013, while rest of the world rode the wave to voice their opinions and support causes on social media, civilian deaths in the valley went under-reported.
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No matter how much money we contribute online, no matter how much we click on “causes” or sign “petitions” online, shunning responsibility and avoiding action will lead us nowehere.
”
Interestingly, after these movements slowed down, an unsettling calm has swept over. You see, because while these movements have stirred and shaken the system, they haven’t provided answers. Digital movements may be global, but they also remain exclusive. This brings us back to asking the question: Will a click alone solve things? The answer is, it doesn’t. No matter how much money we contribute online, no matter how much we click on “causes” or sign “petitions” online, shunning responsibility and avoiding action will lead us nowehere. So, at TEDxBangalore (www.tedxbangalore. com), not only will we highlight how we can come together to act through a series of performances and speeches by key leaders around the world, we want to involve you in the discussions that help us mould new ideas for the year ahead. Be it women’s rights, diversity, better access to public services or human rights violations—we urge you to confront these challenges from within, starting with yourself. Our speakers, each of whom will address you over the course of the day, will not merely stand up on stage to give you a speech—but will show you the power of personal growth through the journeys that they have undertaken, and kind of impact it has had on the world around them. This year, at TEDxBangalore, we want to remind you that you play an important role in helping us envision global change. And for that, we focus—on you.
INTERNSHIPS OF THE MONTH
UNMAGAZINE | MAR2014
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Saffron Foods Online Pvt Ltd
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WeOwn.in
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Namek Technologies
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Blue Planet Solutions
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Internship
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MAR To apply to any of these internships, write to unmagazine@campusdiaries.com
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Cartoon of the Month
Aa DEADLINE SHAUNAK SAMVATSAR Symbiosis institute of Design, PUNE
IF YOU ARE SOMEONE WITH A FAIR SENSE OF HUMOUR AND A MEAN SKILL WITH THE SKETCHPAD, YOU CAN BE FEATURED HERE TOO! ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS PUBLISH YOUR COMIC ON CAMPUSDIARIES.COM. THE BEST AND THE FUNNIEST MAKES IT TO THIS SPACE. 80
PULL IT OUT PUT IT ON!
TAKE A PICTURE OF YOU OR A FRIEND WITH THE HIPSTER KIT, SHARE IT ON FACEBOOK WITH HASHTAG #UNMAGAZINE AND AN ORIGINAL CAPTION.
THE CRAZIEST/FUNNIEST/WITTIEST POST WINS A GOOGLE TAB!