IIT Guwahati Annual Magazine- "Besides"

IIT GUWAHATI ANNUAL MAGAZINE

GYMKHANA HIGHLIGHTS PLACEMENT 2011-2012 ADVAYA’12 PG FEST ACHIEVEMENTS BIRD’S PARADISE 1

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TH G RIN

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BESIDES T

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CHIEF EDITOR Prem Kumar Vislawath

CHIEF DESIGNER Snehal Ghag

CONTENTS Message 1

Poems 2

Story 4

Graduating Students 8 Group Photo

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Hostel Photos

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Gymkhana Highlights

Cultural Board

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Alcheringa 2012

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Cover Photo

Technical Board

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Prof. Chandan Mahanta

Techniche 2011

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FOREWORD

IES

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Inspiring thoughts- that was the tagline my forerunners chose for besides. True to its title and tagline, it brought out the other literary talents of the IITG Junta and showcased them.

During those days when there was no other magazine, Besides took the form of both the news magazine and the literary one. Our campus magazine, after suffering a discontinuity, is coming out again, packed with a lot more stuff in its revived version. In addition to literary inventories, it includes the gymkhana annual report 2012 with the motive of making the gymkhana a more transparent body.

While we were discussing about the content of the magazine we thought we should do something for the achievers of the IITG Junta, as their success goes undocumented. With this idea, we added a section exclusively for their achievements. I, on behalf of PSC, wish all the very best to the passing out seniors. I also take this opportunity to wish the new gymkhana a fruitful year. With this I thank you all and hope you enjoy reading this publication.

Welfare Board

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Hostel Affairs Board

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Sports Board

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Alumni Connect Campaign

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Placement 2011-12

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Know your candidates

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Achievements

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IITG ATV

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Advaya

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Bird’s Paradice

Bird’s of IITG

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Execution panel Vikram Goel Aditya Gadgil Rahul Vinod Upputuri Aditya Vikram Singh Rahul Huligol Siddharth Khandelwal

Prem Kumar Vislawath Chief Editor, Besides’12

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DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

I am in the middle of correcting and editing reports of students’ seminars and BTPs. So I cannot stop from sharing my pain and anguish: so many grammatical errors! So little time spent in editing by the students! My Bihu holidays are ruined! The writing ability of the average IITian is deteoriating rapidly.

Visuals, tweets, chats, talking, all are reducing the amount we write. In academics too, we somehow manage by putting in a preposition here, an article there, in the midst of all the mathematical formulae. We must do something to change this. Students must be encouraged to write more often. Regular issues of magazines like these must be released. Instead of giving away such large prizes in Alcher and Techniche, why don’t the Gymkhana representatives try out giving prizes for the best article, the best poem etc. in various magazines? Writing ability is very important if you wish to succeed in your career. Students must pay enough attention to this. It is not about writing in English alone. Most students cannot write properly in any language.

If you can write in one language, you can pick up the skills for another language fairly easily. That is why most of your elders write much better English than you even though they may not have studied in an English medium school. You must practice from the first day you enter IITG. When I was a student, even phone connections were difficult to establish. So we used to write a letter to our parents every week. Of course we did not tell them what we drank and what we smoked, but still we had to fill up one “inland letter” with stuff like - It rained very hard today. The road was slippery. I fell off my bicycle (getting the expected response “beta chot to nahilagi?” in their next letter was such joy) – and even though it took time, it gave us good practice. So, promise me that from next semester you will write a letter to ma / pa every week and each letter will contain at least 300 words (as long as this message). You need not use an inland letter you can email your letter.

Prof. Gautam Barua Director, IITG

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ESSAGE

DEAN’S M

This past year has seen a lot of development for us here at IIT Guwahati. The Students’ Gymkhana have done commendable work with numerous initiatives being taken up for the advancement of the student community. Students have played definitive roles in the development of the campus and all of its activities, making the life of a student comfortable and meaningful.

Students are being encouraged to participate in activities that enhance their holistic development. Be it active participation in sports or even cultural and technical activities, we’ve seen our students prove their mettle in a multitude of spheres and all of this points to the fact that IITG provides an environment which is hugely conducive to the overall growth of its student fraternity.

Academic development as always has been a priority for us and with the best interests of our students in mind; the Academic Board has been set up to address academic issues which students face. This has already proven to be a remarkably promising endeavour.

Events like IES and IEAS have elicited terrific responses from the students who participated in these events with a lot of zest.

All of this just goes on to show that our student community is very open to change, innovation, and subscribes to a very progressive form of thinking. Also our major campus fests – Techniche and Alcheringa have escalated the level for the largest fests of their kind, here in North East India.

Our placements this year have been exceptional too and we are proud of the fact that our students have proven their worth and have testified the institute’s exceptional educational standards by getting placed in much esteemed firms and organizations.

We wish you to continue the incredible levels of commitment and dedication towards successful organization of all such activities in campus.

Best Regards, Prof. B.K. Patel Dean, Students’ Affairs.

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POEMS What’s Love My friends, I draw your attention , To a question so serious.. “what’s love an innocent feeling, seeking us to be curious.

Is it an epitome of ecstasy When we love some one..

Or the reason we cry, In memories of the one.

Is it so that love counts on beauty, Or is it beyond such adjectives., Is it the reason why Juliet suffered Or is it why Romeo let his soul to go without captive.

Oh, I must say it’s the virtuous serenity, The very soul of every feeling.

Care of maa, masti with friends..

Rebuke of paa, sentiments of girlfriend..

All I can say that it’s love that defines God in us, which bring me to an end Aashish kumar krishnatre.

A Pair Of Green Eyes (It‘s your eyes …that I remember) A diary..old And the broken pages, Lost shines through the window white Closed forever, But I remember The pair of eyes And it’s green And it’s ne’er seen The world o’er, A pair of green eyes You have to see, even if you don’t wish The fact is ..you can’t, And once your eyes stuck You can’t return To the world you belong fore’er..

Because It’s another world ful of life, Life that teaches you love, It’s another life ful of eyes That teaches you find The Pair of eyes:Green..

Like a green lake e’er so clean E’er so beautiful,and it says Imbibe the Beauty within..

To see this world beautiful That I knew through your eyes And I remember it was green A Pair Of Eyes.

Samit Gupta

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In Search Of Solace…..

As pristine beauty of nature unfolds, A thousand stories left untold, Grave secrets yet revealed not, Many mysteries beneath its folds.

The chirping of birds, so merry and gay, led many a traveller in the woods astray, Such enthralling, is I hear; the beauty of natureso wild yet clear Of filth, of grime, of muck and mess-so pure, so true,that filleth Every breath; that treads,in and out of my body and soul, In search of solace as I sojourn, On the path that leads to the dense retreat, in midst of the woods besides the spring, Towards the mountains of ‘hope’ and the valley of ‘will’, As a lonely recluse who knows no path, but maketh his own and unravels at last, The wisdom in nature- as it reveals; to love, to respect and to feel, The many good things we are endowed with in life; that maketh livingA passion,a zeal and a zest to win - the world with a head held high.

New Year’s

With little drops of elixir, On the little grains of sand No one to lull the salty winds You could hold my hand..

Unfurling emotions Ms. Kawal Deep Kour As your casual eyes are cast The wind ruffles our hair But a million words are left unsaid..

A smile playing on your lips A warmth on mine We would say the million words But we choose not to instead..

The ships vanish in the horizon And dusk deceives us into night There are no dimensions That make this love finite I am in your haven And you hold my hand With little drops of elixir On the little grains of sand…

Priyamvada Jain

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STORY

Introspection During A Power Cut

Two assignments open side by side on my laptop screen, blocking out my cherished Emma Watson wallpaper... Half a cup of coffee on the table, ignored and getting cold... Retro classics playing on my iPod... The unfinished ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ resting on my thigh...

2 a.m., proclaims my old table clock.

Enough time left till morning... yes, I can complete the assignments, I assure myself... after all, don’t I have two and a half years’ experience of last minute submissions behind me?

Suddenly, darkness. A power cut. The usual friendly exchange of pleasantries between Dihing and Manas begins. It normally lasts for around five minutes, by which time the power returns. But today the darkness lasts longer. The enthusiastic guys from both hostels, after about ten minutes of a good-natured exchange of arguments, seem to have stopped to catch their breath.

I step out onto my balcony. Towards the right, Manas stands tall and proud in the darkness. Early-winter fog is suspended over the vast expanse between Dihing and the SAC, creating a spellbindingly picturesque scene. I feel like I can stand here forever... As if to deliberately rob me of these wonderful moments, those old questions start surfacing from the back of my

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mind... each question more haunting than the last: Will I get good grades this semester? Will I manage to bag an internship? Will Mr. X ever forgive me and consider me a friend again?

Will Miss Y finally consider me more than just a friend? Will I find work which I like to do? Will I...?

Will I...? The questions keep coming, blocking out the perfect scene in front of my eyes.

Suddenly, someone lights a candle in one of the rooms in Manas. The candle flame attracts my attention, dispelling the questions from my mind for a while. The song playing in my iPod strikes a chord somewhere: “And it seems to me you lived your life... Like a Candle in the Wind...

Never knowing who to cling to... When the rain set in...”

Something about this moment grips me.

Yes, the winds in our lives get strong at times, but I suddenly feel confident that the flames of our candles are strong enough to withstand them. The questions that haunt me will not be answered by worrying about them. Life will answer the questions in due course. The flame of life cannot be allowed to be dimmed by worries.

The power returns. The unknown Manas guy extinguishes his candle. He doesn’t know the effect his candle has had on me. Smiling, I step into my room and close the balcony door.

Aditya Kumar

WHEN SPRING COMES . .

Beena Dutta was my school teacher.

Though she was not my most favourite one, but I had great respect for her. She was tall, pretty, a bit strict in the class, but outside class she was very friendly with students. She was almost 40, but unmarried. And one thing I often noticed in her – ‘loneliness ‘. . .

I always wondered why such a beautiful lady like Beena ma’m did not get married. I heard from my friends that she had an affair with someone in her college days.

Beena ma’m sang well. In our annual function she sang a songWhen spring comes flowers smile and my heart goes to you. . .

Since I left school, I hardly meet Beena ma’m, but whenever I remember about her that song comes to my mind.

In the vacation, when I was back at home, one day a person came to our home to invite us to his son’s ‘upanayan’, a

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ritual among brahmins.

My mother introduced me to him. He was Dr. Anil Chakrabarty, our relative whom I had never seen before. His name reminded me of Beena ma’m because it was the name of that man she loved as I heard from my friends long back.

On the day, me and my mother went to their home. That man welcomed us.

Soon, my mother got engaged in talking with the people gathered there. . and I was only thinking- was this that man! How the man’s wife would be,who betrayed Beena ma’m!

Then I saw her , she talked with my mother and others. After she left , all the ladies were appreciating her in front of my mother that she was such a kind lady, she cared for everybody.

The next day, I went to my school. In the office room, I met some of my teachers.

It was so good to meet those people who cared for me so much. Beena ma’m was attending a class.

I waited eagerly for her. Then she came.

She was the same like before.

I had so many questions in my mind.

I didn’t know how to find the answers,

not even I knew the questions properly.

But something was disturbing my mind. I just felt that I have to talk to Beena ma’m.

So I called ma’m to go outside to the varanda as it was so cold inside. She was asking me about my studies, my family. . and I was thinking about her life, how she was living such a lonely life. . and I could not stop myself from asking her, “Ma’m , why did you not get married?”

She stared at my eyes as if she was not believing her ears.

Then the astonishment in her eyes turned to that pain that was before in her song..

She smiled and again paused for some moments. Then she started to utter words as if she was talking to herself – “ I loved someone . He was Brahmin. I wrote letters to him. . everyday . . . and my best friend carried those letters to him as she was his neighbour. He also sent me letters through her.

But one day, he did not send me any letter. I waited – nextday. . nextday. . and nextday. . Then I asked my friend why has he not written to me! She did not say anything. I asked again.

Then she said, ‘What do you think? Why would he marry you?

He is Brahmin and you are not. Just leave all these.’

She started avoiding me from that day. .And, finally I came to know that they were couple!“ She paused . I asked, “then?”

“They got married...”

I asked ,”And you, ma’m?”

She smiled and said,” That was my love..”

I asked again ,” Is he Dr. Anil Chakrabarty?”

“You know him?”, she was asking me as if she were asking to a friend.

I looked at her for sometimes and I could not stay there anymore, as her eyes were again singing that song.,

I left with so many questions about love, friendship, society and. . . what!!!!

I don’t know!!!

Bijita

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STORY Starting at the End Synopsis: A boy tries something new, only to experience something he didn’t expect.

Starting at the end is not the best thing someone can do. I mean John didn’t deliberately want to get into something bad, something awkward, something which was totally new, but there is that one spark of stupidity that comes into most of us, and unfortunately for John, it was one of those moments. He went into the bus knowing that it had just entered the terminal after completing its route. He knew from his father that buses ending in a terminal would start again on the same route. He was excited with the fact that something so intelligent was thought of, and the sheer thrill of executing something so weird was something he was enjoying a lot. He went into the bus from the rear end and took the most comfortable looking seat near the window. The journey was long, and he would need the comfort, he thought meticulously, and he planned that he would do this every time he travelled on the same route.

It was late in the afternoon, and the sky had just started to show the crimson and fluorescent shades near the clouds on the horizon.

It was breezy, not much but good enough to ward off the uncomfortable heat of the summer.

Johnny called up his mom and told her that he’d be reaching home in an hour and that he was already on the bus. He hid his adventurous idea though; he wanted to surprise everyone back home.

The driver was on his seat talking on the phone when John took his seat. Soon, he finished and got off the bus. He also shut the engine off. This was the point when John realised something that he hadn’t expected was happening, and that more such things were on the way. He heard the driver calling out to the conductor in a broad, hoarse voice. The conductor was counting how much money he’d made in the round. But before he could finish, a small girl with shabby, torn clothes climbed up from the front gate. She started tugging on the pants of the man when he was counting the money.

He instinctively pushed her away. “I don’t have any money, go away!”

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She pulled on him again; this time she said, “Uncle, Uncle, have you anything to eat this time? I am starving…”

The conductor stopped counting. He picked her up in his arms; feeble they looked, but he could pick her up, and then he kissed her.

“Munni, we have lunch for you! Your dad has the food - let’s go and eat. Today it’s really nice and hot. You’re in for a real good time!”

Then, as he was just finishing his sentence, the driver climbed up from behind her and picked up a black plastic bag from under his seat.

“You are one stupid idiot Kaka - how many times will I tell you to keep the food on the gearbox?”

The driver didn’t speak. He had a look on his face that made Johnny think something was wrong. He opened the polythene bag and put it opened up on a layer of newspapers. They sat down, rather squatted, near the entrance and began to eat. They took very small portions of the rice that was present in the plastic. The girl had a bad look on her face. She realized again that she would have to fill her guts up and remembered the stomach pains she had when she had had something similar last time. She didn’t eat the whole of her part and left it to sit on her father’s lap. The driver was visibly silent and miserable in the silence. He looked at his daughter with eyes which were so painful that Johnny almost cried himself. He could understand everything perfectly well and unknowingly had gotten himself into this situation.

The girl said, “I loved the food, papa! I’ve eaten enough. My stomach is so full now!!”

It was apparent that she was bluffing, but the driver and the conductor could only look at each other. By this time, it was well into the darker part of the evening. They finished; the driver kissed the girl good bye. He said, “I’ll meet you in the night, okay? Get something to eat at Memsaab’s place.”

“Papa, Memsaab is turning into a strict lady these days. Yesterday she asked someone in the house to beat me with a stick if I didn’t finish the dishes for the day. I am scared if I don’t work hard, I’ll be punished…”

At this, the driver almost exploded in tears. He held them back though, with great effort.

The conductor was more expressive. “How dare she! Let her lay one hand on you, and we’ll break her legs!!”

It was more of a routine dialogue than something reassuring. The girl burst into laughter, and so did the conductor. The driver realized that it was time to get back to work when some people started boarding the bus. The conductor fared goodbye to the girl, who kissed her father again and got down from the bus. Soon, the bus was full, and Johnny was lost in the anonymity of the crowd like he was lost in the darkness before.

The bus went on, and a small boy with his mother carrying his bag climbed up the bus.

They sat near Johnny, and the mother gave the boy a hot samosa to eat. The boy couldn’t hold it properly because of its temperature, and it fell to the floor of the bus with the paper on. There was no part of the samosa which was defiled or which was touching the floor of the bus.

When the boy reached out to pick it up, the mother stopped him. “Never pick anything lying on the floor! Let it go; I’ll get you another one.”

John looked at the packed samosa with great amazement, and someone stamped on it while he was still looking. He was shocked…

Just when this happened, the driver made a mistake on the road and brought the bus to a fierce stop. The people who were standing held

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on to their supports; there were few of them, the bus was comfortably filled, and most were seated.

Johnny wasn’t least bothered by the sudden jerk.

But instantly, the person sitting next to John cried out, “Damn you! Can’t you drive properly??”

Someone else joined him. “Bloody drivers!

All of them are bloody nuisances to the society!”

A woman cried out, “He would do the same thing even if his own daughter was standing in the bus. Bloody inhuman these drivers are!”

The driver didn’t say a word, nor did he look back.

The bus stopped on the side of the road, and someone cried out, “Johnny! Where are you?”

It was John’s mom on the street.

Peter Sam

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GRADUATIN

G STUDEN

Undergraduates

Postgraduates

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TS 2012

GROUP PHOTOS Students’ Gymkhana Council 2011-12

Advaya’ 12

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HOSTEL P

HOTOS

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HOSTEL PHOTOS

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GYMKHAN

A HIGHLIG

HTS

Proposal for General Secretary, Alumni affairs was presented in the 7th SAC meeting, in which it was accepted in principle and a detailed proposal with the constitution of the proposal was to be presented to the Director. It was proposed later by Student representative for Alumni Affairs, through DOSA and DOAAER. Final approval from the Director is awaited.

Fresher’s Guide for the batch of 2011 was designed and printed.

Formation of an Academic Board under Students’ Gymkhana Council to formalise the functions of DUPC and DPPC secretaries and to address various academic related issues.

The Board is the direct medium to address all academic issues which will be presented to the DOAA directly for proper resolution.

Proposal for a new, well equipped ambulance for the institution was accepted in the SAC meeting and a new ambulance is in operation in the institute. It was also proposed to have a team of trained paramedicals in the ambulance, to address emergency situations.

The same has been proposed to the partner hospital for necessary arrangement.

Proposal to increase Doctors in the evening hours was presented at the SAC meeting and DOA was asked to make the necessary arrangements.

New bus stop for students near the swimming pool or New SAC complex area to be made functional. The proposal is under consideration and will be made functional very soon.

It was proposed to increase the medical premium from INR 15,000 to 30,000. However a more effective solution came out, to have medical insurance policies for students with a minimum premium which would be paid together at the time of registration. It would have wider coverage and sufficient claim amount.

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The Tatkal system was removed from IITG post office and with perusal from SGC, the facility was resumed for the IITG community.

Proposals from Baskin Robbins, CCD and IRCTC were made available to the institute and necessary arrangements will be made very soon.

ION is now official and its full-fledged functioning is ensured.

Students’ Gymkhana Council logo is designed and finalized.

Proposal for online fees transfer was presented to the SAC and it was accepted in principle. ICICI bank has already visited campus for the purpose and necessary progress is being made at the administrative level.

The PG fest-Advaya is also made official now.

To increase the participation from PG and Girls community new posts have been created.

Placement workshop for Final year students was organized.

A new complaint ID is formed to address problems and complaints in time.

Round the clock internet facility during December for placements is ensured.

Semi Accomplished Initiatives

Message from VICE PRESIDENT

These initiatives are approved at the Students Senate meeting. Some base work has been done.However formal proposal to the competent authority, for its implementation, is yet to be presented.

This year’s SGC has worked hard to formalise the base for future endeavours. Many new initiatives have been taken up in this year and much of the formal documentation of vari ous programmes has been completed. It is said now, that the SGC has a strong base and is ready to beautify itself with further new initiatives and regular feedings. This year started with a hard time, with new rules and regulations being imposed onto the students.

In a broader perspective, things smoothened and stabilised. These might seem a little harsh at first sight, but would actually benefit the student community in the long run. The SGC believed full freedom is always more prone to disputes and hence a little restriction can avoid the unwanted disputes. SGC 2011-12 has set benchmarks in many forms: be it in terms of number of initiatives, start-ups, activeness of each and every board or the reddressal of various frequent issues and problems. Overall SGC 2011-12 has earned the trust of the IITG community, which was the main aim of the Council. I am really thankful to each and every IITGian for his/ her constant support and feedback, to help us make IITG a better place to live in. I am also really thankful to all my Senate members for their valuable contributions which led to the success of our term. I hope the new SGC will carry forward the legacy and make us proud with many more initiatives in their term. Last but not the least, let us all believe: “And miles to go, before I sleep.”

Proposal for annual social initiative by IITG: Skill based non-credited compulsory courses to be introduced, in which students would complete the same in some village or other areas where it is needed. This may be at their home town.

Proposal for set up of Centre of Innovation: This centre would serve as a platform for the technical and financial promotion of students with innovative ideas.

Proposal of Tie up with Spice Jet to avail discount on travel fare: The SGC can form a recognized body and approach the company for its further proceedings.

Proposal for incorporation of Fractional Credit course: All academic programmes to include some factional credit courses that would have industrial seminars or lectures from various researchers.

Proposal for sharing of BTP/MTP/PhD thesis on a common portal accessible to all students. Online repository for storing database for internship/placement/higher education.

Proposal for some new medals in convocation for extraordinary contribution in the field of Welfare, Technical, Cultural and Sports.

Krishna Bordeori Vice President Students’ Gymkhana Council 2011-12

Proposal for institute Song: The proposal is accepted and a subcommittee is to be formed to finalise the song and necessary action.

SGC website theme’s approval is taken.

Proposal for an institute exhibition day of various research labs was encouraged.

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CULTURA

L BOARD

The cultural board consists of 9 clubs and the Spicmacay coordinator. Apart from the club activities the board organises Manthan ,Alfaaz, Cultnights, Open music Challenge, Spicmacay Concerts etc.

The Biggest challenge faced by me as a Gensec or the entire cult board for that matter, is that the term “culture” has various interpretations for different parties, like the students, administration or the sponsors and thus the activities and the practices have to be modified each year.

This year the Cult Board was pretty successful in reintegration with Alcheringa, conducting a Photography exhibition, Flash mob and Alfaaz.Individual secretaries made great contributions to the Alcher Structure by helping out with the rule and conduct.

New stocks of equipment were purchased this year for use by respective clubs and a huge scope exists for expansion of the inventory. This will enable the cult board to become independent in the time of come.

The club wise performances are as follows -

Drama Club,Xpressions

The drama club has been active throughout the year. You really can’t keep the drame baaz away from any celebration. They participated inTechniche, Alcheringa, IEAS and the fresher’s week, and even the national celebrations.

A mime workshop by a national Award winning mime artist Mr.Moinul Haque was organised before their trip to Antaragini, which helped them to prepare for stiff national level competition, the result of which was that they secured 3rd position in mime and 3rd position in Ad making competition in Antarigini. They also secured 3rd position in Theatrix and 1st in Street play in Alcheringa.

Dance club, Cadence

Cadence started as a closed net of people pursuing a common goal. Cadance secured 1st position in one group event and 2nd position in two others in Alcher and secured 2nd position in Consensio. They also participated in Rendezvous.

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Music Club, Octave

The Music club organised 2 cult nights this year, and an unplugged event also, but they were unable to meet the target of recording a song. The music culture in the campus is strong and flourishing as ever, yet a lot needs to be done to improve the structure of this club.

Literary club

The most balanced club in terms of structure and activities. With many literary events organised during Alfaaz and Manthan for improving the literary skills throughout the campus, the club also helped to perfect the debating skills of regular members and represented IIT in 2 major national Debating events with good results.

Anchoring and Radio G club

These people like to speak, but their actions are much louder than their words Aural Revolution : 12 day back to back Radio Shows revisiting campus activities.Track 15, Techniche Rewind, Mega Show, Manthanio : Video Show, Genre Shows, New Year Special, Anniversary Show, Fly Leaf.

What more can be said, one of the most outstanding clubs of Cultboard. The club has now been split to Radio G under Technical Board and Anchoring club under cultural board. Their most significant gift this year to the campus is the approval for Community radio station and yes, we will soon have our own radio station because of the efforts of this club.

The problem with LAN based streaming has haunted this club for so long but they have always found ways to keep the things moving.

Fine arts club

Manthan has really sharpened the skills of this campus in fine-arts, but this club is about more than just this. From Patangbazi to Diya Rangoli, sketching to painting and exhibitions of these works, it has been a good year. The club conducted several GC events throughout the year and received enormous participation.

Photography

An independent club, it has a loyal Membership and fan following. The activities of this club are majorly non-competitive in nature with only the intent to improve the skills of individuals. The club so far has been really successful in achieving this target via “Photo walks� which were held at regular intervals. But there is more to photography then just clicking the right thing at the right time and at the right angles, Exhibition during Alcheringa was the best example of the hard and dedicated efforts it takes to make images presentable. The club has been an absolute sensation which is hard to measure directly and impossible to frame in words.

Spicmacay

Thanks to the movement of Spicmacay, we are able to stay connected with the Traditional Indian performing arts. This year the coordinator not only tried to organise Spicmacay concerts but also tried to expose us to the wisdom of this movement via a talk session with the members.

Movie Club

Regular movie screenings were held throughout the year, some of which were thought provoking, some were just pure entertainment but most of all they were all apt for the occasion. But to state the validity of its status as a club it will have to do more in the future, and not just a club of movie lovers should strive to become a club of movie makers.

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ALCHERIN

GA- URBA

N ODYSSE

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The 16th edition of Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati’s Cultural Festival, Alcheringa, took place this February. Different editions, different people. Yet the same nostalgia lingers on. Like each year, Alcheringa exceeded all expectations and surpassed all benchmarks set by its previous editions.Spanning four very pleasant spring days, and the imagination of thousands of creative, enthusiastic young minds, here is an account of what this annual phenomenon actually was:

The Urban Odyssey would not have seen a better start than the inaugural speech of our director himself, Dr. Gautam Barua, offering a few valuable tips which struck a chord with the entire student fraternity instantly. Following it was the mesmerizing classical performance by Anoushka Shanker and her troupe from “Traveller”, playing to touch each soul present.

Captivating thoroughly and surprising everyone present, Soulmate, the true-blues band from Shillong, summarized in two hours, what Friday nights are supposed to be like!

Javed Ali lined up next, with his melodious voice and a literally-packed cricket field, to deliver the promise of the eternal

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dreamtime. It was the closing night however, that stole the show with Orphaned Land bringing forth Oriental Metal to the receptive ears of the thousands of metal-heads present. Spectacular performances were put up by Ish theater of Israel and the Quaff theater group, enacting “The Real Inspector Hound” starring the accomplished Bollywood actress Kalki Koechlin, among others.

The glitz wasn’t lost amongst the professionals alone, as the dancers, the models, the fashionistas, the speakers, the actors and every budding artist who travelled from all over the country to compete in the Urban Odyssey gave the judges a really hard time and the audiences, a really memorable one. Alcheringa 2012 witnessed an unprecedented participation, seeing numbers that can put any college to shame.

Alcheringa 2012, ‘Urban Odyssey’ lived up to its billing, and more importantly its promise.

For everyone that it reached, it was naught short of what its name proclaims. And as they say, the invariable mark of a dream is to see it come true.

You come to Alcheringa and realize how true that actually is.

TECHNICAL BOARD

This year was a very good year for the Tech Board of IITG. We were able to do most of what we set out to, in the beginning of this academic year.

Web & Coding Club in its first year,

organized National Premier League (coding competition) for the first time in IITG. Along with placement lectures, internship lectures and other lectures on various topics, the IITG Hackathon was also organized recently which was a huge success and a lot of great addons were created. The Coding Club has encouraged the formation of various interest groups, which have since begun to function autonomously.

Astronomy Club conducted

presentations on topics ranging from Life of star, galaxies, nebulas to Extra-terrestrial life. Observation sessions were held for sunspots, Jupiter’s closest approach and meteor showers. World Astronomy Day was celebrated with talks by eminent astrophysicists. This even semester we began work on a long term project of radio telescope with support of Professors and Armature Astronomy Club Association, Assam. We also participated in Conscientia – IIST technical fest.

The Prakriti Club held the IITG

Environmental Awareness Summit ’12 this year, comprising of guest lectures, various competitions, cleanliness drive and plantation drive. To spread awareness World Water Day and Earth Hour were also celebrated. We had a successful trial run for Paper recycling and started a project to design an eco-friendly automated lighting system for hostels.

Quiz Club has made a mark for itself at

the national stage with a runner up position at the Techfest IITB and by winning the Tata Crucible Campus Quiz-Guwahati for the third consecutive time apart from winning many other quizzes at various levels. At Nihilanth-The Inter IIT IIM Quiz festival, we

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had an improved performance this year.

Apart from participating in quizzes, we also held many Intra campus Lone Wolf quizzes, Inter Hostel quizzes of Manthan and Kriti, The environment quiz at IEAS ’12 and assisted in organizing the Alcheringa Quiz.

Robotics Club completed many projects

this academic year – PID enabled Line Follower, Wall Follower, Balancing Bot, QuadBot, Joy stick controlled manual robots, Compound Eye. Workshops on Manual robotics, Autonomous robotics, KVPY, CAD, PIC microcontroller and Practical Electronics helped enormously some third yearites and second yearites to complete their academic projects without any difficulty. We also performed very well in Robocon ’12 for which three robots were made.

Aero Modelling Club held weekly

meetings, designed and fabricated multiple RC aircrafts. After a couple of initial failures, stabilized flights were achieved on some of our improved designs of flying wing, profile planes, etc.

Entrepreneurial Development Cell

opened four new start-ups(TripEngineers, Intellinfo, CaBage, FoodBeez), two professional workshops (by CII-NSDC and second by three alumni of IIM Lucknow) were organized and two more workshops (On B-plans and Steve Jobs) were held. Regular meetings were held for brainstorming. EDC group was initially divided into two groups, for the experienced weekly Case Studies were organized, while for the amateur group, weekly tutorials on the basics of entrepreneurship. The even semester saw the successful organization of the fourth edition of IES and restructuring of EDC into Start-up Team, Team RLM and Team IES. I hope the next Technical Secretary and Tech Board take IITG to new heights by working on those things that we couldn’t do this academic year.

Siddharth Pipriya General Secretary, Technical Board

TECHNICH

E

Techniche, our annual Technical Fest was held from 1st September to 4th September this year, and turned out to be an even greater success than anticipated.

The competitions comprised of a management module, a robotics module, both pre-defined and on the spot events, and a fun module called ‘Funniche’. The biggest events Guwahati half-marathon and blood donation went even bigger.

With an assortment of workshops spread over three days, by Aerotrix (aero-modelling), HackXploit (ethical hacking), ABLab (Mobile making), Virscent Robotics (autonomous robotics), and Appexgio (Matlab), the technical knowledge of the participants was enhanced manifold.

The inauguration was a success in itself with Dr. Stephen P. Morse, inventor of the Intel Pentium 8086 microprocessors, being present to light the lamp to kick-start the event in the traditional way. The day ended with a mesmerizing performance by the Delhi band “Kaash “, which swept the audience off its feet.

Day 1 started with the lecture series. The first talk was given by Dr. Morse himself, followed by a lecture by Tim Samaras, a storm chaser and a featured speaker for National Geographic Society.

The next lecture was given by Miss Leila Janah on social entrepreneurship and Technology, and was the last for the day. The day also saw the Bitchem Science quiz prelims being conducted, which is a quiz conducted every year during Techniche, and has constantly been growing each year in both in participation and prestige.

We also had a panel discussion comprising of AbhishekDubey, sports editor of IBN7, B.G. Verghese, a veteran journalist and Magasaysay Award winner, Tim Samaras, and Dr. Morse.

For a fitting end to the hustle of day 1, a 3D wall projection show was carried out in the evening on the cricket ground and the walls of Siang hostel. It was a novel experience, and was much appreciated.

Day 2 saw the largest Turing test till date being conducted during Techniche. It was conducted by Rollo Carpenter, creator of Jabberwacky and Cleverbot, and involved four people talking to four different cleverbots on four different screens at the same time.

Jonar Nader started off the lectures of the second day, and one the hearts of many people with his eloquent speech. Jonar has

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immense experience in sales, marketing, and management; and is now the Chairman of Logictivity Pty Ltd — a management consulting firm. The talk was followed by Nobel laureate Dr R K Pachauri, who is currently the chief of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which is a United Nations Panel established to assess information relevant for understanding climate change. The last lecture was by Deepak Mohanty, an Executive Director in the Reserve Bank of India in charge of Monetary Policy, Economic Research and Statistics. He put forth to the audience an astounding amount of information regarding Indian economics and the growing inflation, and entertained their questions.

The finals of the BitChem Quiz were held at the Institute Auditorium. A team of Class XI students from Hyderabad, led by Krishna Akhil amazed the crowd with their quizzing acumen as they won the first prize beating many a brilliant quizzers of India.

The day was concluded with a performance by the Anjika Manipuri Martial arts dance troupe, with flashing swords and brilliant drum beats.

The last day saw the lectures of Rollo Carpenter, followed by Dr. Lyn Evans, project head of the CERN Large Hadron Collider who talked about modern experimental Physics and our Universe. The last lecture was by Ian Wright, host of the highly acclaimed travel show Globe Trekker, in which he amused the audience with his witty banter and his tales of interesting interactions with locals.

This was followed by a NukkadNatak being performed by the IIT Guwahati Drama Club, on the theme, ‘Inquilab’, that is, Urdu for ‘Revolution’.

The day was rounded up with the prize ceremony, where the awards were given away by the Chairman, Technical Board and the Dean, Students’ Affairs, followed by the closing ceremony which had a sand animation performance by Col. Ronnie Chibber.

Thus ended Techniche, 2011.

IES

The Entrepreneurial Development Cell, IIT Guwahati organized IES (IIT Guwahati Entrepreneurship Summit) 2012 to encourage budding entrepreneurs and help them learn how to leave their mark, something we like to call "Denting the Universe". IES (IIT Guwahati Entrepreneurship Summit) - an annual flagship event of has evolved tremendously since its origin in 2008-2009, serving as a platform for bringing together budding entrepreneurs, start-ups and everyone else with a spirit of entrepreneurship.

Riding on the huge success of IES 2011, this year the summit took upon the challenge to inspire people to know what it is like to pursue your dreams as an Entrepreneur, from people who know this perfectly well, and who want everyone else to do the same. The summit with the theme “The Universe is yours to Dent” sought to find among the students their true capabilities and to inspire them to provide ground breaking solutions to modern society's problems and find answers to problems hitherto unanswered and usher in a new era of grassroots innovation.

IES 2012 brought to its audience most enriching and enlightening panel discussions, workshops and interactive sessions with successful and distinguished entrepreneurs and corporates.

Designed as a 3 days summit it included lectures by eminent speakers , panel discussions, focused workshops by leading corporate trainers and much more. This year we have had some exceptional role models coming down to IITG and inspiring students; personalities like Mr.Phanindra Sama-CEO Redbus.in, Mr. Suneet Singh Tuli-CEO Datawind of Akaash tablet fame, Ms.BhavnaToor-Director, NSEF, Mr.Shubhosen Gupta from Coca-Cola and several others enlightened and inspired the audience through their interactive speaker sessions; Each of them added a personal touch by conducting one-to-one question answer sessions and every member of the audience got a chance to get their queries addressed.

IES 2012 also had a Strategic Innovation Game(SIG) which is is a software that allows participants to form virtual start-up companies and run just like running normal companies by making appropriate Operational decisions like

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Production, Production Efficiency, Marketing, Finance, Advertising, Human Resources, Sales, Reports, and Investments. SIG was conducted in association with the Entrepreneurship and Research Center of IIT Kanpur. The event also had Mr. Vivek Nagpaul, founder and chairman of EuroAsian Entrepreneurship & Management Network with a workshop on Masterclass in Business Administration focusing on creating and sharing insights into developing and managing Human Resources, Collaborations and Ventures. His workshop was one of the most interactive ones IES has ever had.

IES 2012 also brought together success stories from some of the institute's alumni; Mr.Himanshu Varshney an alumnus of IITG and now the Co-Founder of HashedIn Technologies tirelessly interacted with the students on all three days at an informal and friendly level and the "Auction analogy" that he displayed during his key-note speech elegantly captured the essence of Entrepreneurship.

A one-of-a-kind start-up showcase was also organized, where budding entrepreneurs from the institute unveiled their attempts at Denting the Universe. Star-ups which took part in this event were Hitherto Crush" , "Justflip" ,"Trip Engineers" and "PickaBit" .The EDC also managed to come up with yet another innovative event format which was called “Myth Busters” where light was shed on the prevailing myths about the stock market! The participants were also invited to ‘networking lunch’ with the esteemed delegates who took time to answer all their questions and address all their apprehensions. Another important feature of the event was that it was divided based on Sectors i.e. experts from similar group of industries interacted with people interested in those sectors.

These three days of inspiration, ideation and illumination seemed too good to be true, and the next edition of the IIT Guwahati Entrepreneurship Summit promises to be bigger, more diverse and if possible, even more memorable !

WELFARE

BOARD

Greetings !

also arranged to address the academic problems faced by the students.

The session, 2011-2012 has been largely successful for the Welfare Board of IIT Guwahati. What was initially sought has been mostly achieved, throughout the year. Moving to the activities of our clubs,

Youth Empowerment Club

Socials’ Club

The Socials’ club this session saw profound work being done as a part of its initiatives.

This year, the NSS was incorporated with the club, supplementing the net available manpower for the club. Cloth collection & distribution and Campus cleanliness drives were given a special push.Various excursion and awareness classes were held under the Zero Illiteracy Zone (ZIZ) programme.

Education for the mess workers and guards was also undertaken by the NSS. Also, Gandhi Jayanti was celebrated in the campus, like each year. Apart from this, the biggest achievement was the successful Blood Donation Camp, during Techniche and Alcheringa. Besides, the blood donation campaign won Rs. 30,000 as second prize in the North east.

Interactions Club

The Interactions Club encouraged facultystudent interaction via a Cricket Match.

The Mentorship programme has been implemented from this year, and various Talk-shows are in the process to be organised.

Also, frequent Coffee House Sessions in the hostels are being held to improve the in-hostel democracy. One of the biggest achievement was the realisation of the institute picnic, “DAAL, BAATI, PICNIC”, which saw huge participation.

Counselling Club

Moving on to the Counselling Club, it had fruitful meetings with more than 140 academically underperforming students in the campus. Positive feedback was received in this regard. A new Student Advisory Club has been introduced with 3 members. Frequent meetings of the Director and students were

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The Youth Empowerment Club was particularly active this year. It hosted various events like the YES+ workshop, and the Word Of Peace global talk. This year, the YES+ workshop received 80+ participation, which is way more than the previous years.

Multiple sessions of Words Of Peace global talk was organised in the institute auditorium, which too registered a good turnout. Also, a new spiritual group named Satvaa society has been formed. Various Anti-Drug & AntiSmoking Campaigns were also held.

Issues Club

The Issues Club had a pivotal role in the setup of the Intra-campus Bus system. It also held English language classes for students facing language problem in the campus. This year, it was held for a time period of more than 80 days and it received huge participation. Also, medical donation and collection was also encouraged from the club’s side.

These were the Board’s main activities for the session 2011-2012 in a nutshell. I hope the next Welfare Secretary and the Welfare Board take IIT-G to further new heights by working on the areas we have missed.

Thank You !

Shailendra Jain General Secretary, SWB

HOSTEL AFFAIRS BOARD What would you consider the positive accomplishments during your tenure?

Also tell us about the new Initiatives taken by you.

Ans.: The board had regular meetings(meetings with hostel HMCs) which were short(when I say short I compare it to previous year’s meetings which were unnecessarily long and boring) and this made most of the members active throughout the tenure. We conducted two mess inspections and eradicated the use of low quality materials for preparing the food in the messes.

We prepared and forwarded proposals to the SAC meetings for installing mosquito nets in hostel rooms, chapati making machine for hostel

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messes, coupon system, renovation of hostel messes. We conducted save food week inevery hostel to save the wastage of food.

I consider myself and all the members as tyres of a moving car (metaphorically referring to working of HAB), therefore any new initiative was a result of combined efforts of all. It would be wrong if I say that any new initiative was taken only by me or any new initiative by the board was taken without my involvement.

What according to you was your biggest achievement as ageneral secretary?

Ans.: My biggest byfar achievement as a General Secretary of HAB is completing the

proposal for providing flexibility to students in terms of subscribing to any of the mess (which includes unsubscribing as well), in general we call it the coupon system. The proposal is accepted in principal by the members of the HAB and will be forwarded in the senate meeting and most probably included in this year’s new contract.

What were the problems faced by you?

Ans.: As such there were no problems but i am disappointed by the fact that many of the proposals that we prepared in our HAB meeting got rejected in the SAC meeting.Another thing which i noticed is that people out here happily criticize the

system and when it comes to changing the same system in terms of simply giving a feedback, not many participate. d. What advice do you have for the next secretary?

Ans.: The wardens present in the HAB meeting always think one step ahead of you.

So before presenting any of your proposals, find all the possible icons of your proposals and also be prepared with a solution.They are very intellectual people in this field and if they reject your proposal, trust me, you were under prepared in presenting the same.

Anubhav Jeph General Secretary, HAB

SPORTS B

OARD

This year the Sports board was very active. We could also smoothen out many problems that the previous board was facing. For the first time, a website was launched for Spirit, the inter college sports festival held annually

by IITG. This time, we ensured that Spirit is held before Inter IIT so that the participants get a good competitive atmosphere to practice in before Inter IIT. Better preparation led to a very satisfactory Inter IIT for us with IITG securing many medals and giving stiff competition in all the fields.IIT Guwahati has secured 1 gold and 5 silver medals along with 3 fourth position finishes.We were the only ones to set a new meet record this year (Nanibabu GollaGold in Pole Vault).

The girls basketball team performed exceptionally, winning the Silver medal.

Hemant Bhora, Jasveer Singh and Ratholu Mao got silver medals in

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weightlifting and David Das in javelin throw.

Shashank in High jump NehaTadichetty in 400m sprint for girls and the boys basketball team finished fourth. Two girl athletes, Soumya and Radhika.R (both Ph.DBiotechnology) deserve special mention. They performed very well in all the events and were able to qualify to finals of most events but missed out on a medal. At the Inter IIT Aqautics meet, Kunwar Walia scored 3 Bronze medals and secured 4th position in 2 events. IITG water polo team had a moment of triumph, winning its first match since the formation of the team two years back. The improved performance of the team was apparent from the fight they put up in the matches they lost.

This year, proper committees consisting of PT instructors, Student representatives,etc. were formed to purchase new

sports equipment.

The gymnasium is developed with new equipment. New Badminton courts were set up. Work is ongoing on a new cricket ground and should be ready by the next semester.

Many interaction sessions were held, sport wisewith first yearites to encourage them to make use of the wonderful sports facilities that we have here at IITG. Interdepartmental competitions were held in many sports for PG students. Many hostel wise sporting events like Manas Open, Kameng Open, Dihing Premier League, Barak Cricket League,etc. were organized smoothly. Spardha, the inter hostel sports championship was held successfully, with Kameng winning it. This year girls participation in Spardha was also greater than usual.

We also came across a few roadblocks during our term. The

Gymkhana Budget comes out in August every year. But, as the Inter IIT is held in December, we can’t afford to wait till that late. Our preparation starts in July, just after the sem starts.

So it would be very helpful for the sports board, if the sports budget is separated from the annual Gymkhana budget and comes in the previous semester. Also, right now, we need to invite 3 quotations for any equipment we intend to purchase and then decide.

Instead, if we had a contract with a retailer at the beginning of an academic year, it would help us make purchases easily. I hope the new Sports Board works on these and other things, and improves the functioning of the Sports Board.

G.Nani Babu General secretory Sports Board

ALUMNI CONNECT CAMPAIGN

The Alumni Connect Campaign is an initiative aimed at promoting student-alumni as well as alumni-alumni interaction. The initiative which began in 2009 is led by an enthusiastic team of student volunteers whose main tasks include collecting contact information of our alumni around the world, co-ordinating with the alumni association and the office of the alumni affairs.

The Campaign, since its inception has been quite active. In the year, 2011-2012, the Connect Campaign was headed by Prem Kumar Vislawath. Under his tenure, many new initiatives were taken towards building strong alumni networks. In August-November 2011, talks by three of our alumni was organized and in each of which, our alumni spoke about their experiences in the professional world. Through Alumni Connect Campaign 2011-12, foundations for building active database of alumni are built.

Volunteers tried to reach each and every alumni and we got overwhelming response from the alumni. With the help of social networking sites and groups like facebook groups, Yahoo groups etc. , he and his team tried to connect with alumni. Presently there are around 2600 members interacting with each other on facebook groups. Moreover, he has proposed for the logo of IITG Alumni Association which was made by Vikas Kumar (Ph.d student) …and is accepted by IITG AA&ER and it is in use.

He also proposed for the logo of IITG Student Gymkhana Council. Also mapping of IITG on paper was started by him, which is now done and is uploaded. Currently he and his team members are working on enriching the features for IITG map. Presently works on making a new website for IITGAA is going on, which is a part of his initiatives. Volunteers are working hard to make sure it is launched as soon as possible. He coordinated with Office of AA&ER in successfully organizing Graduation tea party 2012 .

Hope that work in Alumni Connect Campaign will continue like this in coming years and then we will have a strong and active alumni networks.

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PLACEMEN

T 2011-201

2

“For the first time we experimented with a lot more companies (maximum10) visiting on the same day for recruitment. The fact that the organizations which visited in the first 4 days had already conducted their online/written tests made this rigorous slotting possible. This plan worked benefits as a large section of students got placed in these crucial days.” When asked about problems says “Problems were definitely there but they were very dynamic and all related to logistical issues during the ongoing placement session in December. Guest house accommodation to executives was a major problem that we faced on first few days of placement partly as a response to increased number of companies. Other than that all were quite manageable - thanks to the wonderful support from volunteers including final year graduates.

Since the batch strength from this year onward is increasing, there will be a lot more students registering for placements - this will definitely ask for more number of participating companies. I would advise the next secretary and the whole placement team to work towards bring new organizations not at an expense of neglecting organizations which have/normally visits our campus. Forge a deeper relation with our Alumni group, reach out to them and I am sure they will be more than happy to Assist in any way possible.”

students is USD 150,000 per annum, with an average package of Rs. 8.9 lacs per annum while for the M.Tech students, the highest pay stands at Rs. 18 lacs per annum with an average package of Rs. 7 lacs per annum.

Further, a few M.Sc students and 15 Ph.D students have also been placed through placement cell in various sectors.

All our recruiters have expressed satisfaction about the performance of our students in interviews and group discussions etc. and the facilities and the infrastructure to carry out placement related activities that are in place at IIT Guwahati.

Siddharth Mukherjee General Secretary Placement Report

The placement scenario at IIT Guwahati for the year 2011-2012 has so far been fairly good. A total of 718 graduating students [B.Tech & B.Des (356), M.Tech & M.Des (268), MSc (57), M.A (13) and PhD (24)] had registered with the placement cell before the placement activities began. About 100 companies from various sectors have participated in the recruitment process as of now (March 25th, 2012).

The prominent recruiting organizations which visited our campus are: Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Schlumberger, Yahoo, ITC etc.

The overall placement of the B.Tech and B.Des, as of now, has reached nearly 90%.

The highest pay package offered to the B.Tech

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Mayank, who had a good run during the

PLACEMENT EXPERIENCE

Mayank, who had a good run during the Placement process and got accepts from Facebook (California), Microsoft (Redmond) and Amazon (India) on Day- 0 shares his understanding of how to crack into a technical biggie.

“A crucial factor is to not be intimidated by the whole placement season. I have seen people getting over-anxious and studying just about anything and everything in their frenzy and not faring very well. Studying the right material and not wasting energy on irrelevant difficult problems is extremely important! In general the questions asked are standard (90%), tricky (10%) and nothing hi-fi.

If you have made your department assignments on your own throughout and studied the subjects sincerely you have much of the preparation done. Coding proficiency should also be developed in the 3 years by befriending coding sites like www.codechef.com and www. topcoder.com.In the 7th semester, special emphasis should be laid on studying the online question bank considering of standard placement questions. Practice writing code on paper.

The first step towards a good company is clearing its preliminary written round. Your ranking here will carry on with you all the way to the final interview. Prelims keep happening

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throughout the 7th semester. Mostly they ask the same questions as asked in previous years and in other institutes.Therefore, although you must have a good knowledge of your subjects, you must be aware of “those” questions through friends, online links, and any relevant source.

I have seen bright students not making it to a company just because they couldn’t clear its prelims as they were unaware of the questions that the company generally asks. Keep your eyes and ears open!

Now you finally need to shine on that placement day in December, Here the ability to write good code with the best efficiency possible is expected, one has 3-4 rounds of interviews with each company. Each round can be around 1 hour long. My day lasted from 9AM to 3AM (18 hours) scattered among 4 companies (MS, FB, Google,Amazon)-a grueling experience!

One’s CPI, Projects, Internships does play an important role in the interviews. Confidence, pleasing demeanor, measured honesty are some of the other traits you need to display. Look the interviewer in the eyes and gauge his own level and expectations from you. Your own body language and reading his can boost your chance.

Luck, verily has the rest of the final word.

“There is enough for every man’s need but for every man’s greed”- M. K. Gandhi

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KNOW YO

UR CAND

IDATES

First of all, I thank IITG Junta for electing me on the highest post in Students’ Gymkhana Council. It was really a very proud moment for me and with the same belief I promise that I will make you all and the council proud. With great power comes great responsibility and accelarate gymkhana’s work. I’ll try to accomplish each and every point mentioned in my agenda and I will whole heartedly devote myself to the benefits of student community.

I believe that no system can work properly if people involved don’t participate and there is a problem in feedback mechanism.

So, I urge all of you to take part in Gymkhana’s events and give us your valuable suggestions so that we can continue improving every day.I will make sure that any complaint regarding underperformance of any member of the council is duly registered and appropriate action is taken. “taking thoughts to action….”

I wish to thank IITG junta for making me the Cultural Secretary. We already have a healthy cultural scene. Members of the various clubs in Cult Board are very passionate about what they do. I will hold all club Cultural Board meets regularly to increase the interaction among club members, and help ensure that each and every club remains active throughout the year.

The rest of IITG is not always aware of what the clubs are doing. My project of Branded Cultural Board will help let the word spread. I will also strive to promote Indian culture and increase our participation in various fests, so as to take IITG’s Cultural Scene to an all new level.

Surbhit Varma General Secretary Cultural Board

Vishnu Chauhan Vice President, Gymkhana

We are at IIT, a technical institute, and normally it is seen that sports is given less priority over here. But the thing is playing game helps you concentrate better. When you get involved in events like javelin throw, 100m sprint etc it leads to your overall development. You not only become physically fit but your nervous system develops. If you can develop the type of dedication and focus (long term) events like these demand you can achieve anything in life.

When your mind and body will be with you then only sky is your limit.

Fight like gladiator, Die Hard!

Neeraj Mishra General secretary Sports Board

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STUDENTS’ GYMKHANA COUNCIL 2012-2013

Firstly I would like to convey my thanks to entire IITG junta who supported me and given me a chance to work towards the welfare of student community. Welfare in my view is “well-being of everyone, without harming anyone else”. I will try to provide a platform for solving the issues ranging from ragging to transportation, advising students for improved performance by interaction and mentorship and regular activities for soft skills development. My work ethics are highly influenced by a line “Kaun kehta hey aasman mein surakha nahi hota, Ek patthartho tabiyat se unchalo yaaro”

I will try to help out each and every individual in any sort of problem, Thank You..!!

Rahul Patel General secretary Welfare board

Firstly I would like to express my gratitude towards the IITG junta who voted for me and for those who didn’t vote for me I would justlike to say that I will try my best not to disappoint anyone as a GenSec HAB. Secondly I assure the people that the points I have mentioned in my agenda will be put forth in the HAB meetings and i will make sure that the new proposals gets the approval by the administration. Not only this but I will also work upon other feasible proposals that will come up during my tenure. To the people I request to have patience as HAB proposals takes time to see the light and I would also like all the people to participate invarious types of feedback regarding changes in the system. I will try to keep all the changes transparent but I also require a healthy participation from the people who expect to see positive changes around them.

After all: “One should be the change one wants to see”.

AbhishekSayayna General Secretary HAB.

First of all I am greatly thankful to the IITG junta for supporting me and giving me the opportunity to handle the post of General Secretary,Technical Board. To bring about a change in the present system for the overall uplift of Technical culture in the campus a lot of hard work and co-operation is required.Some of the points in my vision were to introduce electronics and financial club, foster competitive spirit and ensure equal participation of both PG and UG students, to bring department student bodies under the purview of the Tech board, provide student’s academic resources.

“To Infinity And Beyond!!”

HemantVerma General Secretary, Technical Board

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ACHIEVEM E

NTS

Manjunath Bhutta (M.des 2nd year) was felicitated by NIC(National Innovation Council) for his innovative design of compact portable display unit for hawkers and street vendors to ease their space requirement.

The team of Moumita Naskar and Yuva Raj (M.Des, 1st year) won the 2nd prize in the ITC Design Innovation Challenge, Food Business Division in July 2011. The problem statement was to design ‘Innovative and jump-off-the shelf display solutions for confectionary to influence choice at the outlet’.

Last year in April, Mansimran Singh (B.Tech, Department of Mechanical Engineering) won India’s most prestigious KVPY fellowship (young scientist fellowship)in engineering stream for making a novel alarm clock for hypersomnia patients.

Benjamin Varughese Johnson (B.Tech, Department of Mechanical Engineering) won the Honda Young Engineer and Scientist Award (YES Award) this year.

Abhishek Nandan (M.Des, Department of Design) is the person behind the new logo of Students’ Gymkhana, IIT Guwahati.

Dr. Saswata Shannigrahi (Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering) has been awarded ‘Ramanujan Fellowship’ by the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India.

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Dr. Vikash Kumar Dubey (Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology) has one too many awards to his credit. He has been awarded Young Scientist Award by Biotech Research Society of India, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Indian Society of Chemists and Biologists and Society of Applied Biotechnology. He is also the receipient of DBT-Young Biotechnologist Award, DBT, Govt. of India and is an Associate Fellow of the National Academy of Agriculture Sciences, India.

Dr. Ajay Kalamdhad (Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering) has been awarded ‘IEI Young Engineers Award 2011-2012’ in Environmental Engineering discipline from Institute of Engineers (India) at 27th National Convention of Environmental Engineers held at NITK Mangalore, Karnataka in January this year.

The award includes Rs. 10000/- and a citation.

Ujwal Kalra, Jitesh Advani and Sahil Aggarwal were elected as the Global Fellow of the KAIROS society. They were invited to the KAIROS Annual Global Summit, which was held in the first week of February , 2012 in Newyork, USA .

IITG’S ALL - TERRAIN VEHICLE

Many of you already had a glance at our new All-Terrain vehicle ATV and some of you even had the chance to ride it. The ATV was designed completely by B.Tech students mostly from mechanical engineering and was fabricated entirely in our mechanical workshop.

Our aim was to improve practical knowledge and designing capabilities of students to an extent so that they can bring out their innovative ideas and gain the ability to contribute to the emerging technologies in the field of automobile engineering. The ATV was fabricated to participate in India’s first ever vehicle design and build competition BAJA, culminated at the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRIP) facility in Pithampur near Indore.

Team SRIJAN of our institute has started their work on design of the first ever ATV of the BAJA SAE club IITG. The team of 21 members led by Mansimran Singh of third year mechanical engineering started our work early in June 2011. It was a very baffling task to learn about each and every component of vehicle and design it for our vehicle considering its probable dynamic BEHAVIOUR on the NATRAX track of NATRIP facility. The team proved its mettle in Virtual BAJA conducted in Bangalore. The judges were impressed by the way we designed it and that too without experience. Team SRIJAN was selected for finals among other 260 colleges which came for participation in the event. Now, that was an achievement for the team and we all celebrated it.

Most of us stayed back in whole of December when most of the vehicle was made.

We used to work in workshop daily for nearly 10 hours to complete the work. As the time approached we were still having major problems due to ineluctable reasons. Somehow with passion and dedication of the team we slowly solved our problems one by one. There were times when we almost decided to quit the competition but the allegiance of the team with one another and with that of the event were strong that we made every drop of our sweat fall for the fabrication of the vehicle. Finally we completed our vehicle after many continuous night-outs in workshop. On the day of technical inspection of our vehicle by the head of R&D sector of MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA we were

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awake for nearly 32 hours continuously.

After all those hurdles we still made it and the delight of making a car was uncomparable.

It was a memory of lifetime when our vehicle was given its first test drive. I still remember the sound of engine and glow in the faces of team members when the completed vehicle was started for first time. This is the biggest project students have ever completed in IIT GUWAHATI. Working continuously for eight months on such a big project gave us the idea of real world problems both technically and managerially.

We thank our faculty advisors Dr Kulkarni and Dr. Senthivelan, who have always helped us regarding any issues from department. And we also thank Dr D K Sharma, Dr Debabrata Chakraboty and Dr Pinakeshwar Mahanta who have allowed us to work in workshop for such long duration. Hope we continue to make such ATV’s with innovative ideas and trend changing technologies.

Team SRIJAN SAE , IITG

ADVAYA’12

PG FEST

“Advaya’12”, A Technical & Cultural Festival for Post Graduate Students was organized by PG Team represented by three PG Representatives of Students Gymkhana Council. In its second year, Advaya’12 saw huge improvement in the quality of performances and turned out to be more competitive with whole new level of uniqueness.

The festival was inaugurated at the auspicious hands of Prof. Gautam Barau, Director, IITG. Other Guests present were, Prof. B.K. Patel, Prof.

Samarendra Dandapat, Prof. D. ChakraborthyIn his speech, Prof. Gautam Barua, encouraged post graduate students to organize and participate in such kind of events and also appealed to come forward in other events of the institute. The Inauguration ceremony also saw Kathak, Odissi & Bihu Dance performances by the students.

The First day of the Festival belonged to Technical events like Project Exhibition, Social Defined Problem in which students were asked to propose a solution for betterment of education for kids in the areas near IITG Campus. It also included Inter-Department Quiz Competition and other on-spot games like Collage Making and Scrap Making to provide some kind of fun.

Keeping in mind the social aspects of every human being Advaya invited Shishugram kids for Scrap Making event where they participated along with IITG students.

Second day of the event was full of enigma and enjoyment. The day kicked off with Inter-Department Group Dance competition, where every department put their efforts & hardwork on display, every performance was appreciated by an ecstatic crowd. It followed

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by Solo Dance Competition which saw some mind boggling performances where students brilliantly showcased various forms of dance and it was a treat for the crowd. Voice of PG – Singing competition saw six participants who were selected after an audition round two weeks before the event. To light spirit of the event and enjoyment of the crowd higher, four teams showcased their creativity in Vogue-Fashion Show Competition where every team comprised of three departments. It showcased the ability of post graduate students to drive the front end of techniques with the creativity.

The pressure of knowing that their pieces would be judged inspired the students to flex their creative minds and produce performances worthy of runway attentions.

At the end of the program, the winners of Advaya’12 (Group Dance-Mechanical, Solo-US Tejaswini, Fashion Show – Design, Mechanical & Chemistry, Voice of PG – Stutima Basistha, Project Exhibition – Anand Mohan, Quiz – Ubaid, Ayush & Ziya) were handed out awards by the Judges. Awards to all the winners of Sports Competition which took place throughout the year like Inter-Department Cricket, Volleyball, Boys & Girls Badminton Tournaments were given.PG Team members were also awarded with special memento for their hardwork and organizing various events throughout the year for post graduate students.

In short, Advaya’12 was a lifetime of fun, enjoyment and awesomeness compressed into two mind blowing days, one to be remembered forever.

BIRD’S PARADISE

Winter marks the arrival of hundreds of birds from faraway lands of Europe, Central Asia and Siberia to spend their vacations at the campus lakes – Serpentine, IITG and the one in front of Hospital. Cormorants, Whistling ducks, Pochards, Teals and Pygmy ducks come in large numbers being highly gregarious and enjoy the Indian winter cackling, diving and dabbling.

While the lakes are home to those waterfowl, the shallow and weedy Ghorajan Riveris the feeding ground for many others like Waterhens, Openbills, Lapwings, small groups of Little, Blackcrowned Night, Indian Purple and Grey Herons, Yellow Cinnamon Bitterns and many Ergets!

Anyone will feel immensely lucky to be in the beautiful campus of Indian institute of Technology Guwahati. Located in the Gateway to Notheast India – Guwahati, IITG boasts of a very diverse wildlife. Being situated at the footsteps of Indo-Malayan Megabiodiversity hotspot, we can pride ourselves for always being in nature’s lap.

The picturesque landscape includes hillocks, lakes, marshes and forests with mighty Brahmaputra flowing just a few hundred feet away. With such varied terrain, one can find all kinds of flora and fauna within the campus both indigenous and introduced as well as migratory species.

In the dense canopies of Gulmohor, banyan, peepal seesam, berbel and oak trees, a large number of birds reside and enchant the local fraternity with their songs. There is such an astounding variety of birds found here that one can see birds ranging from tiny Munias to huge Storks. While Bulbuls, Mynas, Wagtails and Sparrows are seen everywhere on Lantana and other plants, Tits, Shrikes, Stonechats and Barbets make sure their presence is felt!

The skies are under constant patrol of Eagles, Kites, Adjutants, Shikras and are joined

by Osprey, Eurasian Marsh Harrier and Common Kestrel in the winter. Even as the soulful renditions of male Koels and Magpie Robins send the listeners into a tranquil state, the sights of a Baya Weaver at work, Taylor birds, Orioles, Oriental White-eyes and Sunbirds are a visual treat for keen eyes in dense trees. For avid bird watchers, numerous species of Fly-catchers, Pipits and Warblers throw them exciting challenges to identify them.

Amidst all the busy schedules in our daily lives, IITG offers us a great respite by giving us a chance to just admire and enjoy the beauty of nature’s creations from the very windows of our room. Over the past four years, a total of 125 bird species across 43 families have been recorded in the sprawling 700 acres of IIT Guwahati and perhaps it won’t be an exaggeration if we call it a Birds and Birder’s Paradise.

Hindupur Avinash

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BIRDS OF

IITG

Red vanted bulbul

Long tailed shrike

Little blue kingfisher

Open billed stork

Little green bee eater

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Brown shrike

Collored bush chat

BIRDS OF IITG

Bronze winged jacana

Little egret

Lesser whistling leal

Cotton teal

Black headed oriole Photographs By Rakesh Soud

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CAMPUS M

AP

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