Chemference 2015 6th national research symposium details
Torque & Robotics club Timeline and Overview of events
Civil Engg dept. project Sustainable rural housing solutions
issue 1, volume 2 | first edition
ELAN 2016! Coming soon! Details inside >>
January,2016
EQU I N OX
IIT HYDERABAD’S STUDENT MAGAZINE
MADRAS MAYHEM
I n t e r I I T tour n ament called o ff due to u n prec e d e n t ed rai n fal l >> DETAILS: PAGE 4
From Earth to Mars
S ti l l c oping up with all the dust menac e in the ne w c am pus >> DETAILS: PAGE 3
Photo courtesy: Huffpost.in
Polar Odyssey A 3 rd year c i vi l engineering student of I I T H YDE R BA D became the youngest member I n the X X X V I ndian S c ienti fi c Ex pediti on to Antarc ti c a . >> D E TAI L S : PA G E 6
issue 1, volume 2 | E q u i n ox | 1
FOCUS 3. From Earth to Mars First Edition
CONTENTS
The dust in Kandi is affecting the IITH community. Admin takes up several measures to battle the dust problem.
4. #MadrasMayhem The 2015 meet that was to be held at IIT Madras was washed out due to Heavy rains & floods.
6. Polar Odyssey
A 3rd year civil engineering student of IITH became the youngest member In the XXXV Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica.
13. IITH’s entry into BAJA 2016 To be held on 21st to 26th Jan,16
14. Colour changes detecting heart rate Using Image processing technique
15. NSS activities Overview of the NSS Club activities
18. Procrastinating like a Pro How to kill time productively!
26. Nvision & Elan-2016 Updates/Press release
Editorial Team Pranava Tandra Teesta Dasgupta Dheeraj (Head, Media Council) DESIGN Pranava Tandra Advisors Deepak John Mathew Neel -------EDITOR’S NOTE-----Hi, I phanthomed over days if I should rename the magazine, I sought suggestions from people to look for an appropriate name. Everyone seem to be comfortable with the old name. So, Eclectic is back! And, I’d like to thank you for your contributions. We promise to get better with each editions.
28. Robotics club
Cheers,
Drones and more!
Pranava
30. Gallery
Copyright ©2016
Creative courses workshop
2 | E q u i n ox | issue 1, volume 2
E Q U I N OX
CAMPUS | Voice
FROM EARTH TO MARS “Shut the doors! Shut the windows! We are now descending into the planet’s stratosphere! Fasten your seat belts and prepare for maximum impact!” The shuttles between old campus in ODF and new campus in Kandi use the service road inside the new campus. This road being made from ground gravel, mud and fly ash, is tending to generate a lot of dust even with the slightest activity. Especially when heavy vehicles move, the dust trailing around veils them completely.
A SURVEY CONDUCTED SUGGESTED 69% of STUDENTS SUFFERED FROM THE DUST PROBLEM IN KANDI
MANISH CHANDRA
We de f initely have not landed o n M ars yet but this is h ow the situation in IIT Hyderabad’s new campus at Kandi l ooks l ike . T he ne w c am pus has pr omised un precedented level o f in frastru c ture and l i f ted h opes ab out I I T Hyderabad getting on the to p but it seems to thr ow dust on a l l of th ose h opes, quite The travel has turned out to be painful ordeal to the students. They are complaining about sicknesses ranging from asthma, migraine, fevers, stomach sicknesses, nausea, dizziness, severe headaches and respiration problems. They are also complaining about not being able to focus properly in the lectures later due to the dust in their eyes. The roads cannot offer a smooth ride to critical patients in any ambulance signifying how casualties can occur.
Through an online survey ‘Mars on Earth’ we asked the students to voice their issues and propose economical solutions. They were asked to choose the level of discomfort on a scale of 0-10. 69% students agreed that this was severely affecting their daily lives (level 7 and above) and less than 4% did not have any issues (level 3 and below). The students also proposed a wide variety of solutions - wetting the roads, providing masks, and laying sidewise concrete roads were among the most noted.
Soon, the administration started rolling out masks to the the student community also directing the heavy vehicles to move in via an approach road with lesser dust impact. issue 1, volume 2 | E q u i n ox | 3
#MADRAS MAYHEM T H E CHEN N AI FLOODS IMPACT/ T he 2 015 I N TER I I T meet that was supposed to be held at IIT M adras was washed out due to H Eavy rains & FLOO DS. IIT-M spends Rs 6 Cr ore on synthetic track for Inter-IIT Meet
It
has
been
a disappointing end to the year as the Inter-IIT sports meet 2015 stands cancelled due to the unprecedented rainfall and subsequent flooding of Chennai and other places in Tamil Nadu. Sports frenzy was at its peak when the authorities finally decided to call off the meet on December 6th. The Facebook page that IIT Madras had been administering further clarified to its 4000 disgruntled followers on December 15th that there were no possibilities of a delayed start. The INTER IIT Sports in the past had been cancelled on only two occasions. The Meet in 1971 was cancelled due to the India-Pakistan war, while the one in 1992 which was to be held at IIT Bombay was cancelled owing to the communal riots in Mumbai. And, now in Chennai. It has all become a matter of cutting your losses and moving on since there isn’t a silver lining to this story. The Fifth Estate, the students’ voice of IIT Madras mentioned on their site that besides the organizational budget IIT Madras had raised 10 crores from alumni to step up the sports facilities. It had even arranged for synthetic tracks and new volleyball and basketball courts. Some of which have been spoiled by the rains. A large part of the sport budget of all participating IITs is also reserved bearing the Inter -IIT in mind. The efforts of the administrative staff and those associated with 4 | E q u i n ox | issue 1, volume 2
the upkeep and training of the teams over the course of a year has been in vain. Teesta & Arish Not to mention the efforts of the players who had invested time and effort into this endeavour. The news has been particularly heart-breaking to the fourth year students who will probably not have the opportunity to wear their college’s colours again. Some of the players have urged for the meet to be held during the next semester but that for now does not seem to be a reasonable option. Dhruva Tanneru, a third year engineering student at IIT Hyderabad, said, “After an year of
intense practice, we thought we finally had a chance to prove ourselves. When we were all ready, at the peaks of our ability, they seem to have called it off. It is a terrible feeling. A lot of us were looking forward for the event. Now it Looks like we even lost our team spirit.” A very valid point that a lot of IIT Madras students have raised is that in our woes of having the meet cancelled, and requests for a postponement rather than a cancellation, people are betraying a sense of extreme short sightedness. While a lot of effort has indeed gone down the drain for which Madras has accordingly apologized, it deserves solidarity in its moment of great crisis. Chennai has been having the worst flood in decades, hundreds have died, thousands have been rendered homeless, rail and road links have been destroyed. Chennai’s greatest priority at the moment is not to reschedule the games but to help the families who have been badly affected by the rains. As of now, IIT Madras has decisively handed the baton to IIT Kanpur who will be hosting the games next year.
‘Took me six days to reach home’ “On December 1st, just as the holidays began, I decided to go home after a hectic semester. I had to reach Madurai, a city in Tamil Nadu. I had to catch successive trains via Chennai. I departed from Hyderabad on the wee hours of 2nd December. Shortly, I started receiving calls from my friends and relatives that there has been heavy downpour in Chennai. There was hardly anything I could’ve done since I already started to close in to the Tamil Nadu border by then. The train failed to reach the station as it stopped 30 kms from the Chennai Central station. I along with other passengers decided to unboard the train and started walking on the tracks towards the station. I could feel the water level increasing on the either sides of the tracks. My mobile battery was running low, with negligible network coverage.
nearby the Station area, called me to enquire about my status. I shared my co-ordinates and he directed me to walk for another 3 kms to reach his place. I did reach the location, found him on the other side of the road. The roads were completely submerged under the water. The water was almost 5.5 feet high. So, I immediately packed all my electronic gadgets (laptop, charger, mobile) into plastic cover and placed it over my head. I crossed the riverlike road to only reach their place which was already filled with water. We moved to the first floor of the same building to their neighbour’s house. Situation became worse when there was power shut down. After 3 days, Vodafone network started to function. I was finally able to contact my parents from a neighbour’s mobile phone and this reduced the panic to an extent. Food and drinking water was another problem but I saw people manage Udhayan R.M by exchanging items in the streets. I walked for a really long time Telephone lines, Internet, Buses with heavy luggage and fortunately, and trains were restored after 5 one of my relative who was living days And on Day-6, I boarded a bus
ALSO, A lot of COMPANIES BASED OUT OF CHENNAI WERE UNABLE TO CONDUCT PLACEMENT INTERVIEWS AT OTHER IITs.
RA IN RAVAGES C HEN N AI By Destination8infinity ON WIKIMEDIA COMMONS issue 1, volume 2 | E q u i n ox | 5
POLAR ODYSSEY K R I SHN A PRAN AV, A 3 rd year civil engineering student of I I T HY D ER BAD became the youngest member I n the X X X V I ndian Sc ienti fic Exp editio n to A ntarc ti c a .
KRISHNA PRANAV
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I still remember the day I got a call from my scientist giving me the opportunity to visit Antarctica. I’m sure I will never regret saying a big and resounding “YES” to it. Somehow after all the formalities from IIT-H, MoES, NCAOR, there I was, all ready to travel abroad for the very first time. Hyderabad --> Goa --> Mumbai --> Abu Dhabi --> Johannesburg --> Cape Town. Two days in Cape Town was totally worth it and in no time, my feet were touching the white land. My hair was flowing in the cool wind of the coldest continent, heart pounding faster than ever before, nose dripping and getting pinkish - “Antarctica” baby! After two hours of unloading luggage and
photo sessions we went to the airbase canteen which felt very weird because they didn’t charge me for the two snickers I was eating. (Yeah. Dumb me!) Enter Piston Bully in the picture. 35 minutes later, I see the structure which I’ve always seen on the internet, everywhere in NCAOR and in fact, worked for 2 months on it in my internship - “Maitri”. People with broad affectionate smiles gave us a warm welcome in the chilly cold weather. All I was thinking was - “How on earth did they survive this cold for the past one year? I had four days to get acquainted to the place, environment, lab equipment etc. during which the “No money - Eat for free” and “24 hours day -
COVER STORY |
No night time” rules became not so weird anymore. The sceneries were something which definitely didn’t need any acquaintance for the obvious reasons. The brown rocks covered in torn white dresses never ceased to amaze me.The weather worsened by the end of first week and it was as cold as the looks given by USA to USSR; which reminds me of the Russian Novolazarevskaya research station, 5 km away from Maitri where I’ve made a couple of friends. While I was getting those “It’s getting winter-y cold” messages from India, my work began by collecting samples from the nearby frozen lakes in the “summer-y cold”. Putting my hands inside the almost
frozen lake was one of the jobs I had never craved for; and using the lab gloves for it sure made the task even worse. Returning to the lab after the “real” expedition i.e. fieldwork, I had to analyze the samples which were collected with such great effort. For once in my life, I realized it’s never easy to do the logistics work. The analysis with ammonia cynurate, 1 cyclohexanone, pthalates etc. was very exciting along with the daily checks of water level at P - 1 and making the Gardis analyzer machine of my professor Dr. Asif Qureshi work. I sure can’t thank him enough for how much easier he has made
everything including the galley duty for the youngest Indian guy to ever land on Antarctica. The friends I made here are really fun except for the “young guy” tag on me which in all seriousness is getting pretty old now. 19th December, 2015 was the first time I ever experienced snowfall and carrying such a heavy and sensitive DSLR wasn’t worth it because it couldn’t capture such small snowflakes. The continental ice sheet is the epitome of beauty but it was nothing compared to the continental ice shelf. This beauty, pollution free land, amazing people, great hospitality gives me an idea of how they would’ve survived for the one year. Proud to be a Maitrian! issue 1, volume 2 | E q u i n ox | 7
News | Clubs/Events
CHEMFERECE 2015 Department of Chemical Engineering IIT Hyderabad
Kludge the Hacking & Network Security Club of IITH
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hEmference’15, sixth national research symposium for chemical engineers was organized by the Department of Chemical Engineering IIT Hyderabad on 5th and 6th December 2015 with the objective to provide researchers, academicians and people from the industry a common platform where they can think, relish and share their ideas. The event featured talks from the young emerging faculties from all the IIT’s. Prof K Vijay Raghavan, secretary DBT, GOI also addressed us through live video conferencing as he could not be present physically due to floods in Chennai. SAHITI Sahiti KUKKUDALA Kukkudala ChEmference 2015 also selected 50 research scholars all over the country to present their work in the form of oral and poster presentations. This conference covered all the domains of chemical engineering like Reaction Engineering and Catalysis, Process Control and Optimization, Energy and Environment, Nanotechnology and many more. Our target was not only to hit the established domains of chemical engineering but to come up with new areas that still need to be nurtured. To achieve our vision to be the most eminent conference of the country, we also added another dimension to ChEmference 2015 in the form of conference proceedings where few selected papers will be published in ‘materials and manufacturing processes, Taylor and Francis group’. The idea is to select the best manuscripts from the accepted 50 manuscripts and publish them, with a vision that it will act as a research igniter, a confidence booster for the young researchers and will motivate them to work even harder and smarter. We also added a new feature to the conference in the form of an E-poster session, where the poster presenters were given an opportunity to come on the dais and explain their research in two minutes. This was a real test of their innovativeness. This also provided the perfect opportunity for industrial representatives to identify their interests in specific domains, paving the way for future collaborations with the institution.
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Kludge sessions this semester were focussed on networks, browser encryption, executable run-time hacking.The event ENIGMA in particular was conducted during the sci-tech weekend received good participation. “Kludge has achieved most of what it set out to do this semester. We are planning to continue the interactive sessions during the spring semester on more advanced topics and case studies of specific hacks or attacks.We are working to attract huge participation for our events in upcoming fest” said Keyur Joshi, the coordinator of kludge.
TORQUE Torque has been phenomenal every academic year. This time, it did emulate previous performances. It is working on many interesting projects which are worth participating. This club never ceases to attract students with their technical activities. We provide an outline of projects it is working on. B ike project After the disassembling of Bajaj pulsar 150cc during summer, the team started learning each subsystem (Powertrain, Braking, Electronics, maneuverability, and Tyres) of the bike in detail. For the same, the team was divided into different groups and reports were made for the study made by each of the groups.The demonstration of bike engine and gearbox were also done in the torque sessions to motivate the newly joined students towards automobiles. As a part of the next phase, the team started learning a different design software such as Solidworks and Ansys for further analysis of the bike. Torque was successful in this semester to conduct six sessions to motivate the students of IITH towards automobile engineering. The sessions were a better learning experience for the students. The First session was on “Auto Insight” Followed by a session on “Evolution of Engines”. This wasn’t sufficient, hence, we had a session on “Power Transmission”. It is after these three sessions that we decided to have the first Auto Quiz of the semester to motivation and transfer of some knowledge about automobiles. The next session which was on “Aerodynamics” was the best of all teaching sessions by Torque in this Season. We concluded our activities in this semester by another Quiz which was a better stage for the exchange of interesting pieces of information about automobiles.
A erodynamic session by Torque Tuning engine and brake of RC car. RC Car, the mini car maneuvered by a radio controller is a simpler way to understand an automobile. As the car was lagging in its performance parameters, the team concentrated on tuning of engine and brakes in this season and a better result was produced by the team this time. The car will be taken for competitions in technical fests of various colleges. Robowars project to have a team of freshmen. Robowars, the thrilling competition with fighting robots in the battlefield is common in technical fests of many colleges. Thus, it is necessary to have a strong bot with better attacking and defensive mechanisms. In collaboration with Robotics Club, We have a fresh and energetic team of newly joined students to achieve the goal of our college. The team is expected to come up with a finished robot by the third week of January. Ayushmann Pasupalak The design of bots for mine strive is in progress. Minestrive is an interesting competition of the technical fest of IITH. As the host IIT, we need to have better teams in the competition. For the same reason, Torque helps interested students by providing them with components necessary and technical help in the making of the robots for the competition.
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CephEid club
C
SAHITI KUKKUDALA
VFX CLUB VFX Club is the visual effects club of IIT HYDERABAD formed to motivate and inspire students in filmmaking and editing. The Club is established in 2014 and generally, all the necessary works in the institute are undergone through the club. This year they were able to enrol many freshers into the club through the Cultural Night (The Grand Masti) and inculcate their interest in this domain. About 15 freshers learned to make vines and made their own vines in less than a week. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. We appreciate their effort as beginners. The club has played role in many activities of IITH like EML by KK Senthil Kumar. We conducted two sessions in this semester both on After Effects, an editing software commonly used. This year we are planning to introduce a new software Maya to the students in the next semester”, the coordinator Vishal expressed.
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epheid, the Astronomy and Astrophysics club of IIT Hyderabad has made a great deal of progress in the SciTech society of IITH to improve science literacy in astronomy. They’ve conducted exciting sessions to attract astronomy lovers from all streams. Four big sessions were conducted on topics ranging from blackholes, relativity, quasars and singularity. Observatory sessions were held every now and then. They also had astrophotography sessions where students captured the pictures of sky and stars.In collaboration with nVision, the technical fest of IITH, Cepheid conducted an online event “Celestial Inquisition”. Which was well received by the audience, which not only included the students of IITH but also students from outer colleges. The leading event of the semester - ‘Meteor Shower’ observation session, conducted at the end of the semester was a huge success with participation of about 65 people. The event went from 11 PM to 3 AM in the morning. Their undaunted endeavors were hand in hand with their vision to foster the joy of exploration and discovery.
IITHYDERABAD MOTOrSPORTS
Infocus | News
B A J A SAE PRE SENTS Student level Engi ne eri n g D e sign C o m p et ition . I n full a ccordance with B A J A S AE I n t e rn at ion al rules & p ro cedure.
O
ver the years, Baja has grown in popularity and has become a bigger event nationally. It serves as a platform for young engineering talent to showcase their skills and acquire a real life experience while overcoming obstacles and challenges. The 9th edition of BAJA SAEINDIA in the coming year 2016 will be altogether a different scenario in terms of a number of participants as well as the level of vehicles. The team “IITH Motorsports� representing our college qualified in the first round of BAJA SAE India and BAJA Student India competing against 390+ registered teams. The team started the manufacture of the ATV (All-Terrain Vehicle) in August and the team was successful to have a running car by the month of November. The same car will be taken to participate in BAJA Student India 2016 which will be held in Budh International circuit Noida from 21st to 26th of January 2016. The team is focusing on the tuning of the car to improve the performance parameters of the vehicle.
Chetna Gudur
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Projects | Events
COMPUTER OVERLOADS and
PACMAN!
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SARP with Ultrasonic range finder & video camera
SNAKE ROBOT Dr. R Prasanth Kumar Associate Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering
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and
Aerospace
n a disaster site like a collapsed building after an earth quake, a building on fire, or a dangerous environment like a nuclear power plant after an accident, a snake robot can be used to access difficult to reach spaces and look for survivors under the debris, relay valuable information about the environment and help rescue workers in planning their missions. Snake robots communicating with each other and with a central station form a cyber-physical system. When deployed in a search and rescue operation or a surveillance mission, snake robots carrying various sensors such as video camera, GPS, Infrared and ultrasonic range finders communicate with each other and with the base station in effectively executing the rescue mission. The snake robot that we developed, called SARP (Snake-like Articulated Robot Platform), is modular in design with actuator and power modules connected in series. The actuator module holds two micro servos with perpendicular axes. The power module holds two lithium ion batteries and control circuit for position control of the servo motors in actuator module. The communication for commands comes through I2C line running from head to tail of the robot. We are currently working on improving the semiautonomous performance of snake robot for navigation and haptic feedback for survivor detection.This project is part of “Innovation hub for cyber-physical systems� sponsored by Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & IT, Govt. of India. 12 | E q u i n ox | issue 1, volume 2
ne of the most exciting scientific advancements in 21st century is the field of Machine Learning. Machine learning deals with tools and techniques to teach machines to identify, learn and predict the way we humans and animals naturally do. One interesting branch of Machine Learning, called the Reinforcement Learning, helps machines imitate human/ animal learning. The computer explores all possible solutions to a problem, and rewards itself based on the correctness of a solution. The best solution is the one that rewards it the most. A clever application of this technique is to make computers learn to play simple games, like Pacman. Raja, Atif and Shanta, pursuing their B.Tech degree in the Electrical Engineering department, here at IITH are working to do the exact same thing. As a part of a project for their 5th semester, this trio is aiming to train the computer to play Pacman games on its own. A cool feat for a computer to do, you say. Representative Image
MANISH CHANDRA
They have been doing fairly well until now. This algorithm beats any human 7 out of 10 times with top notch scores. For any given maze, the computer explores for a minute and formulates the best possible strategies based on the rewards, which in this case is the score. When it starts playing, with the monsters chasing the pacman, it dynamically decides the best possible path to evade the monster and grab the dots, both at the same time, thus maximizing the score. The application is a famous demo of the concept of reinforcement learning. They are aiming for better accuracies in the near future. They hope to apply this technique to more interesting applications like route prediction in Google Maps, Optimization problems and some such problems which require exploratory searching to arrive at a solution.
sustainable rural housing solutions
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nder the guidance of Dr. Suriya Prakash (DST Ramanujan Fellow) I have working to develop improved masonry products for providing sustainable rural housing solutions. It includes development of Fiber Reinforced Cellular light weight concrete (CLC) blocks and testing of CLC masonry assemblies under various loading conditions. CLC has gained tremendous popularity in recent decades owing to its sustainability, density, conductivity characteristics and less mortar joints. Investigations in the past have revealed that addition of fibers improves both mechanical and ductile properties of concrete. Micro-fibers (Fibrillated) enhances pre-cracking behaviour of masonry by arresting cracks at micro-scale, while Macro (structural) fibers induce ductile behaviour in post-peak region by arresting the crack propagation soon after the crack initiation.
Abdur Rasheed The objective of this study is to develop a high performance of fiber reinforced cellular concrete to replace clay bricks and aerated autoclaved concrete blocks for structural applications of masonry in seismic areas. In particular, the mechanical behaviour of CLC masonry under pure compression and flexure with and without polyolefin structural fiber reinforcement as well as hybrid fiber reinforcement is investigated. Test results indicate that the addition of structural fibers improved the compressive strength marginally and improved post-peak ductility under both compression and flexure. Hybrid fiber reinforcement enhanced the peak strength and ductility which indicated better crack bridging both at micro and macro levels. issue 1, volume 2 | E q u i n ox | 13
Genetic Algorithm a natura l optimizati on te c hni q ue
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he world of chemical engineering has always been full of wonders. Researchers everywhere are working day and night to find solutions to various problems faced by mankind. We are evolving continuously and nature itself provides various solutions to our problems. representative image
Genetics has uniquely been defined by the nature as a sole mechanism and system that works in order to ensure the dynamic property of the survival of fittest in the whole process of extinction. This project specifically deals with how industrial problems can be solved by mimicking the exact same solution as an algorithm known as Genetic Algorithm (GA) in the field of optimization. GA works similar to the natural gene selection system where a population lot is generated randomly using binary digit and out of this population all members undergo selection technique. Then at various links crossover or mutation occurs as in the real world scenario and a new population lot is generated and then the value obtained by converting this binary combination is converted and plugged in the objective function which is to be optimized and we find out the desired value for that lot, therefore this process goes on and on till we end up with a result which is
globally acceptable. The concept itself gets very interesting as there are numerous mathematical models where results cannot be analysed numerically and GA works very well in those situations as it is based on an extensive guessing system which leads us close to actual values even though it is slower as compared to other methods for analysing desired values of functions. The method is widely used in conjunction with other nature inspired optimization techniques in various industries and topics (optimal control of Nylon 6, Epoxy, Polypropylene Terepthalate polymerization etc.), Metallurgical (optimization of complex processes like continuous casting, iron ore sintering, carburization, induration etc.), Mineral Processing and Materials applications (optimization of grinding and flotation) and topics coming under operations research (planning, scheduling etc.). Nishant Jaiswal
Colour changes detecting heart rate Our skin color changes very slightly when the blood flows under it. These changes are incredibly subtle which is why when you look at another person you don’t see their skin or face changing color. To extract the heart rate, the frequency of the color change needs to be observed. To achieve this, the changes are analyzed in the light that are recorded at every pixel in the video over time, and magnified. Magnification is only to make it visible to the naked eye. These changes are extremely subtle so it is very hard to separate them from the noise that exists in the video. Image processing techniques are used 14 | E q u i n ox | issue 1, volume 2
to get a very accurate measurement of the color at each pixel and the video. These color changes are then amplified and finally the average of a patch of skin pixels’ red intensities vs the frames graph is plotted. The local maxima in the graph would imply a heartbeat. So, all these local maxima are counted for the given set of frames and the heart rate is extracted from it. In the pictures, there is a clear difference in the red intensity near the cheeks. These are the local maxima and local minima frames of the graph respectively. Whenever the red color of the skin is very apparent, that’s when the heart pumps blood to the
face. Inspired by a ted talk given by Dr. Michael Rubinstein, Research scientist, Google. Dhruva Tanneru
NSS
NSS IITH has been successfullydoing its part to the society since its dawn. Here’s a descriptive list of all the activities it has undertaken during the academic year 2014-15. V idyadaan : Vidyadaan works as a remedial session to clarify the doubts of the kids and ensure that the students learn the concepts through traditional and as well as a fun way of teaching. Students were also shown short videos of interesting topics to arouse curiosity. The team received huge accolades from the Principal of ZPHS when 100% of students have successfully passed their 10th class board exams.
C areer guidance: Career guidance program under NSS IITH aimed at guiding the high school students to choose the right career path. It was conducted in the Z.P.H.S nearby IITH. It was mainly designed to assist individuals in making and implementing informed educational and occupational choices. In this students are presented with a planned sequence of activities and experiences to achieve specific competencies such as self-appraisal, decision making, goal setting and career planning. Interactive sessions were also held where volunteers patiently answered the doubts raised by students related
to the career path which they were interested in choosing. Girl child day: With an aim to enlighten and lift the veil of ignorance which has deprived Indian women of their rights, NSS IIT Hyderabad team celebrated Rashtriya Balika Diwas on 20th January, 2015. As a part of the celebration, a series of well-researched lectures and workshops were conducted in rural and suburban areas to improve their understanding on the importance of girl child education, their rights and various incentives that government of India has taken up for their betterment. The villagers actively participated in the event.
Science fair : To encourage the exposure of students to the practical aspect of learning, NSS IIT Hyderabad initiated the event of science fair. In this activity the school children were divided into groups and each group was allocated a mentor who would help the students to understand the already developed projects and provide guidance for developing new projects.
C hildren ’ s day at ZPH S: The children participated enthusiastically in general quizzes which were conducted in English and Telugu. They were also asked to identify eminent personalities. ZPHS students have very good general knowledge. The children were asked to paint their ideas which portray their vision of a cleaner India with acrylic paints and paintbrushes. Plantation: NSS IIT Hyderabad organized a Tree Plantation Program in the college and hostel premises. Many students actively participated in the event and planted as many trees as possible. Along with that NSS team also made sure that the planted trees are taken care of by organizing the event “watering plants” activity at regular intervals. The faculty members were also present for providing guidance about. Houseissue 1, volume 2 | E q u i n ox | 15
keeping maids also offered a helping hand during the event. O rphanage visit: As goodwill ambassadors of NSS IIT Hyderabad, our goal is to bring smiles on the young faces, who are less privileged, but are our brothers and sisters. We visited an orphanage in Lingampally, and played with kids on 28th March, 2015. It was great to see them playing and enjoying. We, at NSS IIT Hyderabad believe in giving the most valuable gift every human has, the gift of love. We all pledge our allegiance to carry on this legacy forward.
B lood donation: NSSIIT Hyderabad organized a blood donation camp on 31st January, 2015 in association with “Some hospital”. To promote this event, the NSS team initiated an awareness drive which cleared the common misconceptions of the donor with posters and mails. There was a huge response from the student community and also the institute professors for the event. Only medically fit people were allowed to donate blood. The donors were given fruits and beverages after the donation and their effort was acknowledged by giving them a certificate of appreciation. B ook donation: “A book which is useless to one person, can be 16 | E q u i n ox | issue 1, volume 2
of great help to the other!” As part of “Each one give one” initiative, NSS team of IITH has organized Book donation activity on 10th October 2014. NSS members and the social cause team members of Elan 2015, the cultural and technical fest of IITH, have volunteered to collect books for donation. The collected books were distributed among students of different Government schools in the vicinity.
C loth donation : The NSS-IIT Hyderabad team carried out an extensive collection drive of old but usable clothes within the campus. NSS team set up collection boxes outside each hostel before summer and autumn breaks so that students do not face any issues for donating the clothes. In addition to that volunteers went to each room to inform about the event. As a consequence of the effort put in by the NSS team there was a huge turn out to the event. NSS volunteers went to the nearby slums in Hyderabad and distributed the collected clothes to the needy people on 15th March 2015. The people who received the clothes were very happy and thanked our institution for such an initiative. Fire fighting : Emergencies will never come with notice. Hence,
the NSS IITH team organized firefighting demonstration on 19th October 2014 in collaboration with IITH security to spread awareness among all the students of IITH. Starting with an introduction on the importance of fire training and history, students were given knowledge regarding types of fire extinguishers, fire triangle, extinguishing methods, actions that should be undertaken in case of fire and also emergency telephone numbers. Fire fighters demonstrated the use of stirrup pumps, extinguishers through a live activity. Students took part in the hands on session held in the presence of security team of IITH.
S wacch B harat: Swacch Bharath Abhiyan, a cleanliness drive initiated by Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi was launched on Mahatma Gandhi’s 145th birth anniversary. In response to this call NSS IIT Hyderabad team initiated the Swacch Bharath program at the IIT Hyderabad campus on 8th November, 2015. NSS team cleaned not only the institute, hostel premises but also the nearby regions of the institute. This activity received huge participation from the student community and our students set an example for the society by being “the change” that is required.
OPINION: PLACEMENTS Ganesh Mahidhar
“Kitna de rahe hai? Coding hai ki non coding? Core jobs aa nahin rahe hain yaar. Bas acchi job mil jaaye. Life chill ho jayega.”
I
t is that time of the year again, the time when the newspapers fill up with news of “packages” worth crores and students start worrying for the first time in about four years. As everything at IIT does, this story too has to start with the inevitable JEE examination. Clearing JEE from among millions who take the examination, each of those seventeen year old kids start opening old newspapers to find which college amongst the IITs has the best of packages, the highest average package, and the largest number of crore packages. While some of them believe that packages are the prime motivation and CS chahiye no matter what, branch change bhi karenge, the others believe in the higher objective of attaining knowledge, saying that packages moh maya hai and CS ka boom nahin rahega. And amidst that chaos of innumerable relatives whose face you have never seen but in a godforsaken wedding saying beta it is going to be your turn soon making you want to say it back to them at funerals, *stopping myself from going off tangent* people are put under massive disillusionment equivalent to that propagated by the Nazis that “IIT is the ultimate goal in life” and
once you achieve it, you have achieved the pinnacle of greatness. Yes, take a deep breath. That is not the truth. Period. That is not remotely close to the truth. From then begins the realization you have to run yet another rat race, and in all probability keep running rat races all your adult life albeit on different tracks. Believe me when I say, it takes all those years to come to terms with it, living first in denial, determined to enjoy life, followed by late realization culminating in last moment panic to do something to save our lives from being aimless at the fag end of our time here. But then, all is well that ends well and Shakespeare was a ruddy brilliant genius to give people fancy ways of saying things, and almost everyone gets placed and is happy for getting placed just so. Apart from the evident relief of getting placed, placements are also a time of the year when extremely interesting incidents gain massive popularity. Nerve-wracking interviews are the norm and people who crack them, heroes. One interview, a few smart answers and a selection is all it takes for one to become a legend for a period. Until another comes along. Starting early in the morning before the sun rises, the placements thrill, gladden, delight and disappoint people late into the night. One particularly interesting story is that of a student who did so well in the preliminary tests that he had 6 interviews scheduled for
day zero. The HR, noticing that the kid was peaked asked him the reason for it. When he told them he had six interviews scheduled, they called him in immediately for their interview and recruited him in under 45 minutes of the completion of the interview. While that could be one of IITH’s fastest recruitments ever, the other stories tell of placements that harangued the students for hours before they took one student or none. Stress interviews involving questions, rebukes, games, puzzles are all too common and methods to beat them well established. Taking a risk and saying that you know the answer to a puzzle you’ve never heard before is all too common and those who do that often emerge victorious. All in all, the placement process at IITs provide an experience to look forward to. Coming to the more mundane facts, there have been several international job offers this year at IIT Hyderabad. There have been increasing number of companies that have registered for the placement process, including those belonging to IT, Finance, Core Engineering and Management sectors. The number of people placed and the average placement package have shown significant increase over the past year with an increase in both the number of students and the number of students shortlisted per company. All in all, this placement season has had a good beginning and is far from over.
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Honey, I am Pink Floyded Every morning (when I have a morning class, that is) , you can (probably) see me, dark complexioned, with dishevelled hair and dull clothes scurrying towards the buses. But to the keen observer the most prominent feature would probably be my earphones, plugged in my ears with slightly more than adequate volume. Later, sometime during the evening/night, you can see me strolling under the sky with my cans, a demeanour that screams “I ain’t giving two shits about the world, I’m listening to Rock!” or at least that’s the way I see it. Most people would say that I’m this stoned guy who needs help. But such is my obsession with music. ‘Tis pure as the boys in a Taylor Swift song. Uptops to all Taylor Swift haters. The immediate questions at hand would be- What music do I listen to? How did I come across such music (“I mean, such amazing music must have a backstory”)? You see, that’s long story – as I attempt writing in that direction, I hear a “BOO” echoing through the spacetime continuum. So, I decided to be rather blunt and state my opinions and season it with a bit of trivia. When it comes to music I simply do not listen to hiphop, Taylor Swift or rap. Unless it’s metal rap, of which a popular example is Linkin Park. Guilty of liking it a lot at one point of time. But then, most of us are. The second and highest of dictums is that “Mainstream pop is mostly a pile of poop”. Of course, there are a few gems in that heap, like “Hey there delilah”. However when “Bad Blood” won an award at MTV VMA 2015 my response was the the same as NOFX in their song “Dinosaurs will die” – which is “Prehistoric music industry, Three feet into la brea tar”. Lastly, autotuned voices are just as overrated as the Twilight series. ‘Nuff said. Period. Except those mentioned above, I listen to most genres 18 | E q u i n ox | issue 1, volume 2
of music. Though my playlist is largely skewed in favour of Rock, there are quite a few Blues, Reggae, Country and Folk too. I find that it makes little sense to put such distinctions. Consider Bob Dylan- his music is a versatile mix of folk and rock. In fact, the album Bringing It All Back Home defined folk rock. Even today people remember the day when Bob Dylan “went electric”. Similarly his, contemporary Eric Clapton laid the ground for Blues Rock. An interesting trivia in context here is the song “Knocking on Heaven’s Door”. Bob Dylan made the original in 1973 and Clapton made a cover of the same song. However, the song is mostly remembered in its pop rock version by the Guns N’ Roses. RAMAKRISHNA Psychedelic rock is called so, because it drew inspiration from psychedelic culture that is the use of mind altering drugs. Bob Dylan was a forerunner here as well. He introduces the Beetle kids(back then) to cannabis(I never knew that until Wikipedia told me. I swear). The Beatles went on to make songs like “I Feel Fine” and “Day Tripper” as they were feeling fine and trippin’ on sunshine. The genre has a strong Indian feel with the use of sitar, ragas et al- which is obvious from the fact that the Beetles strongly influenced the genre(If you don’t find it obvious, then you don’t deserve to live). The Jimi Hendrix Experience Live in Stockholm 1969 is a masterpiece of psychedelic. By that I mean, it is the music to listen to while you are on cloud nine (If you know what I mean). Since Bob Dylan’s “going electric”, music began to steadily get heavier. Led Zeppelin was among the first to experiment with heavier tones and distortions which later defined the genres I would come to love – Heavy Metal and
LitSoc | Hard Rock. Zeppelin is highly regarded even today. Why, he topped the charts just last week with remastered rereleases of In through the Outdoor, Coda and Presence! I’d consider each and every one of Led Zeppelin’s eponymous albums to be classics. Contemporary to them, in the US were the Black Sabbath- the gods of heavy metal. Black Sabbath explores darker themes in “Paranoid”, and even political themes in “War Pigs”, which is a reference to the Vietnamese war. Nativity in Black is a tribute album to Black Sabbath, with various metal bands playing covers of Sabbath’s songs. Ozzy Osbourne, the original lead singer of Sabbath on stage is a dope ass hype man on stage. A fun anecdote – on one occasion, a fan threw a live bat at him and he bit its head off, a feat that earned him the title “Madman of Rock”. The Ozzfest, owned by Ozzy is the annual metal fest that every metalhead wants to be in. Every time something amazing happens. Once, Rob Halford, lead singer of Judas Priest steeped in place of a sick Ozzy in the Black Sabbath performance to the delight of fans from both the bands. For this year’s edition held in Japan, Ozzy is going to perform aside Slash. What? Slash? Who? Only the greatest guitarist ever. His cover of the Godfather Theme on his guitar is so intense and carries with it the emotions of the movie that it would have Donald Trump tearing up like a kindergärtner. Apart from them, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Slayer, Megadeth,
Metallica, Anthrax all feature in my song collection, alongside less popular ones like Saxon and Europe (Famous for Final Countdown). The Black Album by Metallica is a good place for metal n00b to start off with. Many would disagree, but I find Hard Rock as good as Metal. Maybe that’s because I associate hard rock with AC/DC and Aerosmith. AC/DC has a certain raw energy and high voltage feel to it that keeps me pepped and the Aerosmith is an exposition of life through music. The Scorpions are hard rock as well, but I love them more for their soft songs like “Winds of Change”. Besides the genres of rock above mentioned there is that I listen to but haven’t cared to go into further detail like the quirky fast beat songs by Dire Straits; the deep, fatalistic Deep Purple (Sweet child in time you’ll see the line. The line that’s drawn between the good and the bad). Or blues rock such as Creedence Clearwater Revival . Or just soft rock like Seals and Croft, Al Stewart or the Eagles. So, I guess I have covered as little of Rock as I would find acceptable. Next up is the independent music era and basically genres of music that evolved after the 1970s which appear in the next issue due to the sheer length of the article.
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PROCRASTINATING
LIKE A PRO n o o bs here ’ s your chance at greatness
T
o say the least, procrastination is an art. It’s like painting or dancing or parkour: there’s a thin line between mastery and absolute douchebaggery. Most of what I know is what I learnt procrastinating before exams. So to every pundit who resorts to Wikihow to generously share the 10 Things to do Before Exams in misleadingly technical terms and cooked-up psychological inputs, I say – “Non, je ne regrette rien” (I regret nothing!) For most of us exams are periods of unspoken terror and anxiety. If you have an IQ the size of a telephone number and actually enjoy exams you might as well stop reading right now and go sit on your high horse while the rest of us, motley of messed up souls, wish it walks off a bridge into a bottomless abyss. Now, there are no two people who procrastinate the same way. Each method is as detailed, as intricate, as befuddling on a psychological level as its creator. It could differ by a touch of anxiety, a sprinkle of depression, a dash of broken dreams, a tablespoon of over-confidence or a bucket of apathy. Whatever be the case, I hope this article does it justice. ~ The Sudden Soul-Searching ~ It’s all hunky-dory before the exams. The universe has put you 20 | E q u i n ox | issue 1, volume 2
right where you were meant to be – in your ignorant corner of the Western spiral arm of the Galaxy. But, come exam night and suddenly you are struck by the insatiable need to discover yourself. Amudsen might have asked you to hitchhike to the Antartic but I follow more conventional methods. These quizzes do just fine: The Pierley-Redford Personality Test – known to be the creepiest quiz ever! The Dante’s Inferno Test – which level of hell will you end up in? If you get purgatory, you Mr. are one self-righteous bastard. The Kinsey Scale Test – if you want to know where you lie on the spectrum of capitalist degeneration The Mach Test – named after the one and only Niccolo Machiavelli, his famous treatise on politics and governance ‘Prince’ will give you the drift of what this might be Which Utensil are you? – I got strainer. Now that is some deep shit. Which Game of Thrones character are you? – probably the one that gets betrayed and killed #AllOfThem Who were you in your past life? – You my friend have hit the zenith of crastination, better hit your books now. ~ The Helpless Humorist ~ When they told me I might be expelled, I said it was too bad for my education and wondered whether doodling was a viable profession. If you are addicted to self-deprecatory humour you probably fall into this category. Humour might be your defence mechanism but it is also a vortex into mindnumbing procrastination. You can walk out 14 hours later witty as a whip but you haven’t picked C in a while still isn’t a good enough reason. The Russel Peter Chronicles – This IndoCanadian Stand-up artist tells all – from how God fucked Indians on the deal, to the curious case of the Indian version of the American Dream, the disaster that is inter-racial dating and the funny side of racism. Whatever race, caste or creed you are he has something to piss you off and then double back in laughter. Pretentious Movie Reviews – hosted by Bangalore based humorist Kanan Gill and IIT Madras guy Kalyan Rath this is an insane take on the weirdest movies Bollywood has ever sanctioned from ‘Aap ka Suroor’ to ‘Prem Aggan’ to ‘Main Prem ki Diwani hoon’. Ridiculous over-acting, bad lip-lynching, deadpan delivery, unnecessary CGI parrots and issue 1, volume 2 | E q u i n ox | 21
All India Bakchod – Rohan, Ashish, Khamba, Tanmay these guys need no introduction. They might have been catapulted into fame by their Alia Bhatt- Genius of the Year video but they have way better stuff. Check out their Musical Comedies and Political satires and also their perennial struggle to land offers and explain their employment situation to their families having a cuss word in their title. #AskAIB 9GAG– Somewhere along the way, The Joker’s Advice starts making sense. It’s one measly exam. Surely an indifferent paper, set by an indifferent professor, in an indifferent milieu isn’t going to decide your life. You made it this far. Your fear is a projection of your lack of belief. Why so serious? You should kick back and relax for a while. Incidentally the treasure trove of the world’s greatest humour archive has the same tagline. What’s common to Bad Luck Brian, Confession Bear, Socially Awkward Penguin, Success Kid, Derp, Derpina and Disapproving Dad Dog? Yes, they were all on 9GAG before you were. ~ The Trance-inducent Adolescence You must have heard High Hopes – Pink Floyd. Remember the first time you heard it and you thought it was an absolutely disgusting song? Yeah, we were all there. Then after a while it started to make sense, but it was on a different plane altogether. Well, you just dabbled in psychedelic rock without knowing. The notoriety of the 60s is over. We need the trance without the acid flashbacks, the soothing notes without the messed up timescales and bad trips so a well-known trend is to plug in those noise cancellation ear phones and cosy up with Jimi Hendrix. To those new to the trend here are a few to get you started: I am the Walrus – Beatles Voodoo Child – Jimi Hendrix The Mind Flowers – A Dionysian Symphony Dark Star – Grateful Dead White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane ~ The Motivation Fallacy ~ Motivation is defined as an inner-drive that cannot be substituted by a marathon of quote-bearing, meaningless slides and Mahatma Gandhi and Muhammad Ali references. The mere irony of the pursuit! But my job is not to judge or at least try not to judge hence if you are into that kind of stuff, here is something that might actually help. The Secrets to Success – Will Smith FEAR – Les Brown, Eric Thomas The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) – Gabrielle Muccino Our Deepest Fear – Coach Carter David Beckham – A Footballer’s Story Rocky Balboa – Speech to Son 22 | E q u i n ox | issue 1, volume 2
Eric Thomas – How bad do you want it? and Pain is temporary? Larry Smith – Why you will fail to have a great career ~ The Rewardist Mentality ~ My best part of reward-driven time tables is the reward. What they don’t tell you is that- such time-tables might not be the best form of motivation for people with skewed up reward systems such as myself. I usually treat myself to an unhealthy dose of entertainment after 10 sums, or like 5, 1, maybe half. I am not proud of myself. Game of Thrones (GOT) – So Leah you kissed Luke once, Cersei thinks that’s cute. Breaking Bad– Have you met the most badass chemistry teacher ever? Prison Break – If you think it’s just a tattoo think again. Also, skinheads have all the fun. The Walking Dead – This is as great as post-apocalyptic horror dramas go. Orange is the New Black – Don’t drop the soap. Criminal Minds – Dr. Spencer Reid puts Will Hunting to shame. The Big Bang Theory – The only show where the engineer gets heckled. Thank you Sheldon Cooper. True Detective – This King in Yellow adaptation has taken the world by storm. House of Cards – Psychopathic, narcissistic and Machiavellian – the golden trio but somehow you love the show.
~ The Classicalistic Fatality ~ Admit it; you have never bothered for classical music. You don’t know who Ustad Amjad Ali Khan is, let alone Mendelssohn but suddenly before the exams every one is a connoisseur. Thanks to some random article on the net that is of the opinion that classical music soothes the Brain and increases concentration Chammak Challo and Munni Badnam gets pushed aside for Mozart and Beethoven with the occasional Tchaikovshy. Chopin for Hannibal Lecter – 8tracks (not for the fainthearted) Top 100 Classical – 8tracks (for the mundane) Apocalyptica covers Metallica on Cello – Youtube (for the experimentative) Carnatic Classical Music – Raaga Hindustani Classical Music – Sadhana’s Blog The Classical Opera – Bluebeat Music ~ Bonus Tracks ~ Chicago – Cell Block Tango Believe me after seeing 6 murderesses dance to the tune of their crimes your life will never be the same again. After all, the guy just couldn’t hold his arsenic. Vines – Will.i.am and A.R. Rahman’s latest twist on the ‘Uravsi Urvasi’ is a standing ovation to the world of Vines and Viners. I have watched every compilation from 2012 onwards. That is allegiance to the cause and ofcourse, Denial.
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CULTURAL RANG DE MANCH - Drama Club
The Club successfully organized various activities in the last semester. The Bon Fire event was the very first event for the cultural council. A musical drama of type comedy on Fresher’s Orientation day depicted the life of IITians. Fresher’s Nite drama had its Script and Direction done by the club members and was acted by students of first year alone. “In Grand Masti, the freshmen lived up to the expectations”, the coordinators said. Out of 4 dramas, one was a meme which received good response from the audience. A Street play on the life of Bhagat Singh was performed on the Independence Day in our new campus. This play, dedicated to Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam by the team received appreciation from the Director. There was a big applause from the audience too. Thier success story continued in Open Mic with 2 plays. One was a musical drama and the other was a mono act performance. Students are expecting more performances like this from the club. “Our priority is message based entertainment performances rather than entertainment. We have a great team.Students were recruited as club members after the auditions in early 24 | E q u i n ox | issue 1, volume 2
” M any f reshmen joined the club after Grand M asti. T hey are w o rking hard , pra cticing new sty le and are l ooking f or ward to gi v e many more perfo rmances” - ALL E RI S HI K E S H, C U LT S E C Y
CLUB August. Sanjay Kumar Nama, one of the team members contributed well in all the events of the club. With a responsible Cultural Secretary who made many things possible for us including buying required items like Kurtas, face colors and some makeup items, it was a great Semester for Rang De Manch” said the Coordinator- V Kartheeswaran.
its end with the never ending exams and assignments, “Open mic” filled life in everyone and acted as a stress reliever. The dance performances by the crew which included students from Btech first years to PHDs just took it to another level. It was a hell lot of enjoyment for all.
OPEN MIC
SAHITI KuKKUDALA
DAnce Club
Last semester wouldn’t have been entertaining for IITH without the performances by the enthusiastic members of the dance club. Grand Masti, an event held for the first time in IIT Hyderabad this semester, which was meant to bring out the best in juniors, to encourage their talent where they were the only performers, was a grand success. The performances they produced with the short amount of practice time left the spectators in disbelief. The Co-ordinator was all praises for their attitude and fresh energy.”Many ethusiastic students joined the club after Grand Masti. They are working hard, practicing new style and are looking forward to give many more performances” said the coordinator. The events like Independence Day and fresher’s night followed and everyone witnessed fantastic performances by the dance club. When the semester was nearing
Students will be awaiting some spectacular performances by the Dance club for the upcoming ELAN. An early opportunity like Grand Masti for freshers to explore, realize their passion and showcase their talent was quite a headstart.
Bollywood style workshop by Dance club received huge participation from people outside the club and are expecting to conduct more workshops from next year. One of the constraints this year was space, which will not be a problem from next year as we are moving into permanent campus.
IIT-H has put together an event dubbed “Open Mic.” As the name suggests, the event is all about showcasing one’s talent. There were a plethora of performances, covering dances, vocal and instrumental performances and dramas. Events kicked off with band performances, nicely grouped together to avoid any cumbersome, movement of equipment.
Diwali c e l ebrations organised by c u ltura l c l ub By Pranava
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nVision- The Tech life of IITH How do you let the world know what you are best at? Simple. Flaunt it. Wear it. That’s all NVision is all about, at a glance. The tech-face of IIT Hyderabad, The face for the world to see, to admire. The fest that started as an intra college event, has now sunk its roots deep into the city of Hyderabad and though it is still in its budding years, it has shown glimpses of what to expect in the years to come. The change in campus saw a delay in the launch of the fest from the scheduled 1st week of November to the last week of January 2016. The delay, though a misfortune, gives the organisers an opportunity to present the city, a fest that won’t fade from the memories till the next NVision. The first workshop started on a disappointing note as the TOUCH AND AUGMENTED REALITY workshop didn’t quite reach its own participation standards. The reviews
though, were top notch as always. Nevertheless, the SPEECH ROBO workshop that was held in December was pulled of pretty nicely.
This year’s version of the fest would surely be a challenge for the organisers, the fest being selfsupported by the students and little help from the institute. The change in campus would surely prove another hurdle in its path, but the fest will go on, surely
it will. Online Publicity coordinator, Vasudha Kapre says, “In my 1st year I was a witness to miracles being pulled off by my seniors, miracles I never thought possible, wonders I never believed could be created by students. In my second year, I am proud to be a part of it. The tide is not with us as of now. But we believe, ‘Just enough ripples and we can change the tide, a few more and we will wash everything that comes in our way.’ We hope to present a fest far above the standards set by our predecessors.” With not much days left for the fest to unfold, the preparations surely have the organisers sweat it off the chilly winter of Hyderabad. Events from Infi, Torque, Infero, Kludge, Cepheid, Equilibria, Robotics, Electronika are awaiting for students. Ayushmann Pasupak
ELAN 2016! Coming soon... ELAN, the annual intercollege Techno-Cultural festival of IIT Hyderabad is a three day bonanza with chock-full of a great variety of events. ELAN is all set to hold Hyderabad spellbound once again with its seventh edition on 29th-31stJanuary 2016. The theme for this year’s festival is ‘Devil’s Carnival’. Elan, like every year, promises a plethora of events such as Elan-e-Jung and Manthan, Break free, Nrityanjali, Vibrazione, Quiz Conclave, Spell Bee, Art events such as face painting, art exhibition etc,picelectic, RJ Hunt, Walk the ramp, Treasure Hunt, Paintball etc. Each event is finely crafted to reflect the avid ardour in appreciating and experiencing genuine inspiration in art, music and technology that is the culture of Elan. This year Elan conducted a Quad copter workshop in which students 26 | E q u i n ox | issue 1, volume 2
learned how to build a Quad copter along with a hands on session. We also conducted some online events: Cric It for cricket lovers, a selfie contest in association with Infocus, the photography club of IIT Hyderabad and are currently holding the online literary festival. Having a sense of giving back to the society Elan organized a cloth donation drive, blood donation camp and a health camp in association with NSS, IIT Hyderabad. There are many more surprises waiting for those curious enough to discover them.
GESTURE Featuring student artworks
Aman Gupta
Sharanya Shankar
Udhayan
Swati Bhardwaj
Gaurav Chobe
Gaurav Chobe
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GESTURE - THE ARTS CLUB, IITH This semester started with a bang for Gesture. We have put up the first public art exhibit in the Mess hall A,Project Aqua.
It was a public session in which everyone were taught basic origami and every part of the project was paper art,except for the background.There was a great response from the public. Successfully renovating the Sci-Tech room by painting it’s wall,we believe we brought in the color and excitement it always deserved.All credit shall be given to amazing talent and dedication of the freshers. Beautiful masterpieces were made during our idol making competition for Ganesh Chaturthi.Not to forget our ritual of hosting a Rangoli competition for Diwali,which turned out to light up the festival for all of us. The Photoshop sessions,we believe were informative and fun for all us,thanks to the creatives team of both ELAN and NVISION. Apart from these, the general meets of our club members were extremely fun. SRIKANTH GANTA
The Robotics club IIT Hyderabad, conducted fuve lecture sessions this semester which witnessed increased participation compared to last year. Students were exposed to basics and were made to make simple bots like line follower and DTMF based robot which was, as a student said “A great and exciting experience!”. Another worth mentioning progress they have seen this year is students, mostly freshers, asking them to conduct more sessions. Apart from the regular lecture series, this year the Robotics club has introduced a new lecture series on DRONES handled by Lalith Chandra and his peers from the second year, which received a positive response from the students. They intend to continue this in the next semester as well, with more care on hands-on experience for the students interested.“The members of the core-team have been cooperative and punctual in the tasks given to them in spite of a few glitches,” they said. The club is more than glad to announce that few of the core members are active members in the group working for ROBOCON 2016. 28 | E q u i n ox | issue 1, volume 2
As a part of the club project, Robotics club is planning to work on a robot that, when given a layout of a building and a room/place as an input, will escort you to the location. Virendra and Santhosh, two postgraduate students along with Atif Anwar, an undergraduate student (all are part of core team) are leading the project. They have also assigned a group of 6 first years UG’s to work on a part of the project simultaneously helping their Independent project. The Club also intends to participate in the upcoming Inter IIT Tech meet 2016 and the necessary preparations have also begun.
TEDxIITHYDERABAD TED started as a non-profit organisation devoted to sharing and increasing the expanse oFthe ideas that were considered to be worth something. In 1984, TED had its first conference where leaders in the fields of technology, entertainment and design gathered under one roof and exchanged their ideas. TED conferences all over the world began to attract thinkers, doers, visionaries who used this platform to make their ideas audible and visible. The concept of exploring ideas and possibilities that might have a great impact on our shared future readily began to catch on so the TED organizers have been gracious enough to lend us their name, format and a few simple guidelines to create an independent TED event (signified by the trailing x) where people can come and experience the power of ‘ideas worth spreading’. The theme of this year’s TEDx has been finalised as Chiseling Today - Crafting Tomorrow.
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Newspaper & Clay workshops - C.A.Courses
CLAY WORKSHOP A clay workshop was conducted by Ms.Jagruti was conducted where a number of students tried their hands at handling clay. There was active participation and students enjoyed it. The workshop was conducted on November 20th-23rd in the Design desprtment premises. Photo courtesy: Shweta Verma
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NEWSPAPER WORKSHOP A Newspaper workshop was conducted by Mr.Amrit lal was conducted and co-ordinated by the design deparment where students got an oppurtinuty to write and edit articles along with placing them into newspaper layouts. The students worked in groups like editorial teams based on particlar theme. The workshop was conducted on November 6th-10th in the Design desprtment premises. Photo courtesy: Deepak John Sir
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Photo by Raj Narayanan
E c l ec t i c Š2016
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