JANUARY 2012
“GROW WITH US…” INTRODUCING:
COVER STORY THIS MONTH:
The Real Picture of India’s Best Engineering Institute – IIT, ROORKEE
A Voice
Female Infanticide
SpringTide – January 2012
This is the New Year Special Issue of SPRINGTIDE MAGAZINE – India’s First Online youth Magazine. This is the first issue of 2012, and we look forward to a very successful year ahead, providing with lots of content, fun and awakening. We once again apologize for any error or mistake that might have crept in despite our best efforts of editing and checking.
We look forward to a long journey and association with our readers – the youth across India.
Feel free to contact us regarding anything by mailing us at editorial.springtide@gmail.com
And Do Visit www.springtide.in, for all updates and latest buzz…!
(We would love to hear from you…)
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CONTENTS
1.
From the Editor – What’s up in 2012…?
3
2.
Campus Kahaani – IIT Roorkee: The Real Picture
5
3.
Up Against – Female infanticide: A horrifying picture underneath the Shining India
8
4.
Being Different! – There is a lot beyond your Facebook Wall: See what new and offbeat our youngsters are doing
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5.
Randomzzz… - The Article of the Month: When you listen and not just hear – Music and beyond…!
16
6.
TechAddict – A Glimpse into your future gadget: Samsung Galaxy Skin
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7.
TopTenz… - Our Top 10, favorite New Year Resolutions which we love to keep and love to break... :D
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8.
What Next!!! – Kochi: India’s one of the Fastest growing and upcoming cities of the country
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9.
Leading-Edge - “Youth – At any Cost”: A Relevant poem on Indian Youth, in this month’s Creative Section.
25
10.
Reality Check – Introducing the new column where the youngsters of our country vent out their anger
27
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A Step in 2012… We have finally entered a brand new year of 2012 – a whole new 365 days of expectations, surprises and shocks are awaiting us ahead. It is a time of the year that makes every person feels over emotional, nostalgic, pensive and truly thoughtful. We think about the errors we have done in the past and the corrections and improvements we are going to do in the future. We, at Youngistaan, party all night on 31st of December, but from the very next day go back to work and study. We know how to balance and we have always known our responsibilities. 2012 as a year brings a lot of challenges to be faced, much like every year though. With an ever increasing and heating debate on corruption going over the top across the nation and with our ever deteriorating condition at world sports is drawing everyone’s attention. But I believe that there are a lot of other things, which are more deep rooted and more chronic than anything else in our country that need immediate attention. However it has been noted that we have been constantly ignoring these things and politicians have been giving us stupid illusions of secularism and
harmony which if looked upon with detail actually mean vote bank and communal discord. It’s time we, the youngsters and torch bearers of the country take things in our hands and act as per our own accord and will. Though, we have seen the anger venting in our countrymen through the recent ‘slap’ case of Sharad Pawar and we all have whole heartedly applauded the act, there is still a lot more to do than just slapping politicians. Moving on, the point is that it is high time that we keep accepting these social ills as a part of our lives, in fact we have to get up, wake up and act! So, after all the serious talks and talking about the future we are going to live, we move back to our present. We all have partied, we all have got over our hangovers and most of us have also moved on with our lives. Amidst all the festival season and the onset of a new year, SpringTide is back after a month! We are all rejuvenated, improvised and have better and new things to offer to you. We are introducing our new column Reality Check, which gives a window to the
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youngsters of India to vent out their anger on things around them. Things that irritate you, anger you, frustrate you or anything else in brief, and find its way in this column. This month’s issue also does a cover story on IIT Roorkee’s life. It highlights the reality of the life that every engineering student wanted to live, the life that made you thrive for 3-4 long years and the life which so many students live every day in India. Besides, we have featured an upcoming and very talked about business, an innovation of 2 students of IIT Kanpur – Bluegape. The business of selling out customized posters is growing and we have interviewed the owner himself to let our readers know what new, innovative and offbeat things our fellow Indian youngsters are doing. Our very important column on shocking issues residing in our country, Up Against, covers the sad and disheartening issue of Female Infanticide where the beautiful girl babies are brutally killed by devils and demons in disguise. We insist you to read on to get Goosebumps and actually do something about it. After having giving you a short glimpse of the pages beneath, without taking much of your time, I would let you read on. But before closing, I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to all those who have
written to us generously and shown interest in SpringTide from across the nation. A total of 187 people read the first issue, where 63% of our readers were girls and the rest were boys. We have more statistics related to this which will be published and displayed on website and our Facebook page. On a closing note, I would like to request you all to send your names, locations and a little details of what you are doing when you write to us, because that would help us locate our readers more easily. We have received amazing responses and we would like to continue receiving your love in the future… Here is wishing all readers of SpringTide a very Happy New Year… Adios!
-Pawas Jain (Chief Editor @ SpringTide)
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Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee -Sankalp Agarwal “There had been 12 proposals to convert this institute into an IIT by the Government of India, all in no avail, because this institute from the last 100 years had maintained a level, which was even beyond the target levels of IITs.� These phrases by the director of this prestigious institute underline the exalted position of this institute in the second half of the 20th century. Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, one of the top engineering institutes of the world, was established in 1847 by the Britishers as Thomason college of Civil Engineering. The institute was rechristened as University of Roorkee in 1949 before being granted the status of the First Engineering University of Independent India.
IIT-R is among the foremost of institutes in higher technological education and in engineering, basic and applied research. Since its establishment, the Institute has played a vital role in providing the technical manpower and know-how to the country and in pursuit of research. The Institute ranks amongst the best technological institutions in the world and has contributed to all sectors of technological development. It has also been considered a trend-setter in the area of education and research in the field of science, technology, and engineering. It has played a crucial role in research and in providing technical manpower and expertise to the country. On September 21, 2001, the Government of India issued an
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ordinance and declared the institute as the nation's seventh Indian Institute of Technology. The ordinance was converted into an act by the Parliament to make IIT Roorkee an "Institution of National Importance". The Institute offers Bachelor's Degree courses in 10 disciplines of Engineering and Architecture and Postgraduate's Degree in 55 disciplines of Engineering, Applied Science, Architecture and planning. The Institute has facility for doctoral work in all Departments and Research Centres. Irrespective of 10 years of being converted to an IIT, the institute hasn’t dropped its University culture and continues to boast its narrow mindedness as acts of discipline enforcement. The statement can be judged from the fact that the annual cultural fest Thomso of this institute (an institute with an annual grant of 400 crores) was scrapped in 2011 just because one of the informal events in Thomso 2010 was telecasted and criticized on the television, and the authorities did not have the ‘authority’ enough to tackle the situation boldly. There is hardly any incertitude in the fact that the institute possesses the best infrastructure whether you talk of the Central Library (one of the largest in the country and claimed as the best in Asia plus no restriction to use the library at any odd
hours plus books of all possible courses in abundance plus internet facility plus air conditioners plus couches i.e. ROYAL TREATMENT), or the sports facilities, or the departments, or the hostels. But since Roorkee is not one of the big cities/metros; the overall feel still remains rural. But more importantly, hostels have spawned the cultures that make the campus an unforgettable experience (even though there’s no ragging.). It's here that midnight cricket tournaments, early morning bakar sessions, community computer warfare and so many other things find expression. Each hostel has a state of art Cyber Cafe, managed by students. All hostels are now fully Wifi connected meanings that the Internet permeates the space students live in. And who could imagine life without midnight snacks at the Bhawan Canteens, especially after an intense bakar or gaming session? And all this, in peaceful, clean, aesthetic environs, the likes of which very few places in the world can boast. The competitive academic environment and cocurricular activities on campus keep the students on their toes. But everyone needs some time off, to relax and recharge. Clubs at IIT Roorkee are the best place for this. The hobbies club also has sections devoted to pursuits like star-gazing, philately and numismatics, and robotics. The clubs also have reading rooms with a plethora of newspapers and light magazines. Each of the clubs has a TV room with a seating capacity of a hundred-odd people providing a great atmosphere for watching the
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winning sixer or the not-so-interesting soap operas.
Every department has faculty and students involved extensively in research activities. Undergraduate education is greatly benefited by the environment of postgraduate programmes, while both the curricula derives strength in a research environment created by doctoral and postdoctoral programmes, to help generate state-of-the-art technologies responding to the need of the country. Irrespective of this, various courses taught require major modifications to make them competent with the current technological advancements. In addition, the institute has incorporated a system of feedback for the facilities and each course and professor, which enables the students to voice their opinions apart from consistently improving the quality of education being imparted here. They say, ‘Behind every IITian, there is an uncle who said, “beta ekbaar JEEnikaal lo, phir to life set hai.”’ Well, the students after a couple of years of toil here don’t find that uncle very wise. The campus, this year, had an average placement of approx. 9.2 lakhs this year, which falls down to as low as 5.3 lakhs if the computer science students are
excluded (placements in 2011-2012 till date). In addition, many of the noncomputer science students find it difficult to get placed in a so-called core company and manage to fulfill worldly expectations by taking up a number crunching job in one of the banks. The recruiters include Google, Facebook, Oracle, Flipkart, E-bay, Adobe etc. IIT-R houses a typical IIT crowd- boys, boys and boys. Apart from the daily 23 hour studying (for a few, termed as ‘ghissus’), students spend time in their recreational centres, loitering in the city of Roorkee, and celebrating college festivals on an extremely large scale. There are 3 major festivals held around the year, Thomso (which used to happen in October every year), Cognizance (Asia’s second largest tech fest) and E-Summit (a set of entrepreneurial events). In a nutshell, “At IIT Roorkee, you can meet quality of peers”, quoted by one of the Roorkee-ite with a microprocessor book in hand. Definitely, one of the premium engineering institutes in India, and will always be a dream institute for every aspirant. -(The Author is a current 2nd Year Student of IIT Roorkee)
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The Killing of the ‘Devi’ - A Report on the gruesome Female Infanticide in India By: Karthik Poddar If ever the babies in the womb could speak and make us hear what they are saying, then I am sure we would be ashamed of ourselves. What is the mistake of that little girl who has not even taken birth as yet? The sex ratio of India has recently been declared as 933, where in some prominent states of India it is as low as 850 approximately. Killing baby girls, or allowing them to starve to death, are something most of us cannot imagine. But it occurs even today. As shocking and disturbing as this behavior is, however, we must look at in within its cultural context. Most of us have no trouble
labeling infanticide as “wrong.” A trickier issue is sex-selective abortion. Sex-selective abortion poses a genuine conundrum for those who support reproductive choice. On one hand, proponents of choice do not want to see a discussion of abortion in a chapter on victimization. On the other hand, many people who support reproductive choice are uncomfortable when it is applied selectively to females. Even the World Health Organization lists sex-selective abortion as one type of violence against women (1997). In India the constraint is mostly economic— daughters will require a sizable financial dowry in order to marry. Because daughters
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leave their families of origin, they are often regarded as temporary members of their families and a drain on its wealth. There is an expression in India that “bringing up a daughter is like watering a neighbor’s plant”. All this is when, the dowry is theoretically illegal under the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961, and is a significant and pervasive theme. Although a law passed in September 1994 prohibits the use of amniocentesis and sonogram tests for sex determination. In rural areas, women do not have access to ultrasound or amniocentesis in order to make a prenatal determination of sex. When girls are born, they are still in danger either through direct infanticide or through sex-selective neglect. There were tribes and castes that had actually killed all their girls. The Bedees (a branch of the Sikhs) were known as koree mar, or “daughter butchers.” India is fast becoming the land of the boys. The infanticide of girls is changing the male female ratio and many males are without wives. Despite the shortage of women the infanticide goes on. In 1990, there were 25 million more males than females in India and by 2001 the gender gap had risen to 35 million. Experts now estimate that it may reach 50 million.
In India, there are less than 93 women for every 100 men in the population. The accepted reason for such a disparity is the practice of female infanticide in India, prompted by the existence of a dowry system which requires the family to pay out a great deal of money when a female child is married. For a poor family, the birth of a girl child can signal the beginning of financial ruin and extreme hardship. However this anti-female bias is by no means limited to poor families. Much of the discrimination is to do with cultural beliefs and social norms. These norms themselves must be challenged if this practice is to stop. Five million girls were eliminated between 1986 and 2001 because of sex determination done by unethical medical professionals. The rate of extermination continues to increase after census 2001. Sex determination and sex selective abortion was traced to an Amritsar clinic in 1979 and has now grown into an Rs.1000-crore country wide industry. In recent years the misuse of Ultrasound has reached remote tribal areas of Rajasthan, Bundelkhand and emerged even in parts of India where women were better treated such as Assam, Kerala and the Kashmir valley.
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China as of 2000 census was eliminating one million girls annually but present trends suggest that India is likely to overtake China in less than a decade. Son preference has become daughter hatred in India in the recent decades due to the widespread legitimization of this form of violence against women. In 1994 Parliament responded to the misuse of prenatal diagnostic techniques by enacting PNDT Act. However it was not implemented. The Supreme Court directed the government to implement the PNDT Act in May 2001. Later it was amended to make it more stringent. The health ministry has to be more proactive to stop female feticide. The ministry surrendered one crore rupees of the meager funds allocated to the PNDT cell in this budget year. Efforts of the media have certainly contributed to the increased public discourse on this issue over the years. Today reports of female fetuses found in drains or dug from dry wells or floating in lakes or eaten by dogs are headline news. There have been stories on the consequences like trafficking of women for marriage and emergence of polyandry. The government of India should set a target date by which the country will have balanced sex-ratios at birth. The coming plan needs to give a fair deal to women by abandoning fertility targets and replacing it with solid commitments to restore sex-ratio at birth. Towards the end I would like to narrate this true story of TAMIL NADU that I recently
read somewhere in newspaper a few months back. I quote it here: “Lakshmi already had one daughter, so when she gave birth to a second girl, she killed her. For the three days of her second child's short life, Lakshmi admits, she refused to nurse her. To silence the infant's famished cries, the impoverished village woman squeezed the milky sap from an oleander shrub, mixed it with castor oil, and forced the poisonous potion down the newborn's throat. The baby bled from the nose, then died soon afterward. Female neighbors buried her in a small hole near Lakshmi's square thatched hut of sunbaked mud. They sympathized with Lakshmi, and in the same circumstances, some would probably have done what she did.”
I have no magic wand solution for this problem. In fact many of these practices are so pervasive and embedded in the culture that it is hard to believe that they will ever change. As bad as things are, however, there is reason to hope. First, as world attention is drawn to the plight of girls, we can hope that the light of public scrutiny will bring changes to pass. Second, the victims themselves are beginning to act. In our own country, we have witnessed a dramatic increase in awareness of sexual abuse over the past 20 years because survivors of sexual abuse are speaking out. But there is still much to do. Girls are still being sexually abused and our society still doesn’t seem to be able to protect them. We also need to increase awareness of the other types of child maltreatment that affect both boys and girls, and develop effective strategies to detect and prevent it. We have also become much more aware of the neglect and abuse
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of girls in other countries. People wishing to change these practices, however, need to approach the cultures that permit them with sensitivity and knowledge about why they occur. Otherwise, their efforts will backfire. We must always work from the assumption that human behaviors and cultural values, however senseless or destructive they may look to us from our particular personal and cultural standpoints, have meaning and fulfill a function for those who practice them. People will change their behavior only when they themselves perceive the new practices proposed as meaningful and functional as the old ones. Therefore, what we must aim for is to convince people, including women that they can give up a specific practice without giving up meaningful aspects of their own cultures.
(The Author is a Medical Student from Chandigarh)
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There is much more to life than your Facebook “Wall” So when the rest of IIT Kanpur was busy with its regular academic hustle and bustle, two ambitious undergraduates two ambitious undergraduates with E-Cell, IIT Kanpur team were brainstorming for hours on crazy ideas in their dorm room. When they decided to add colors and concepts, meanings and metaphors, perception and posters to their drab and boring dorm walls, little did they know, they would be selling youth merchandize and catering to the needs of the youth, students and hostelites across the country, in only two months! In conversation with Meander, Sahil Baghla, co-founder of Bluegape tells us
how his venture helps us bring our walls to life and add a dash of magic to our rooms!
Tell us about you, your background and about your start-up, Bluegape? Bluegape was started by two final year undergraduates, from IIT Kanpur in our dorm room. At Bluegape, we are building a youth merchandizing store with our first product as posters. Posters on your walls and doors reflect your attitude and imagination, so we thought of bringing your favourite photographs or fantasy wallpapers from your Facebook wall to your dorm room wall.
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We started in September’11 without a website and started to accept orders via email from IIT Kanpur students. In just two months time, we are now delivering posters all over the country. We soon plan to expand to other youth merchandize as well.
So how did you come up with this idea? Whenever I looked at the empty bare walls in my room, I would have this uncanny desire to want to bring them to life. I wanted to have posters of my favorite quotes and favorite photos on my dorm room wall. After searching for a few days on the internet I couldn’t find such a service. Then we searched for some offline places to get the posters printed. The whole process was very cumbersome. I wanted to get my posters done much more easily and that is how I came up with the idea of Bluegape. How are the posters delivered? Do you have tie-ups with courier services? We are currently looking at creative packaging options. Initially we started with PVC pipes and now looking at shuttlecock kind of packaging. For courier service, we are currently working with Firstflight couriers. What is the mode of payment?
Most of college students have ATM cum debit cards. We are using CCavenue payment gateway which allows using maestrocard. We are also looking for COD solutions soon. What is your target audience? Our target audiences are the youth in the 18-25 age groups who are staying either in a dorm room or separate flats and fantasize about having all those cool youth merchandize in their room that they see in movies, but can never find easily in the Indian market. Did you fund-raise to start up? Are you looking to get funded now? We are self-funded till now. But we are planning to add two more products in the couple of months and position ourselves as a premier youth merchandising store. We will be raising funds by June if things will go as per planned And what were your greatest challenges as an undergrad to get into entrepreneurship? Convincing my parents to not participate in regular campus placement interviews was a tough job. Juggling between being a regular student at India’s premier engineering institution and being at the helm of a young startup was difficult too. We had to study for exams, do assignments, answer orders
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for posters while sitting in a class room and ensure everything was running smoothly, all at the same time.
What were the challenges you faced while starting up? Tell me about your initial hurdles.
So where do you plan to shift hub to after your graduation?
Getting a good team in place was the most difficult task while starting up. It was also difficult to find a good web developer to make a website. Fortunately we did find a junior (AyushVarshney) who was good at web designing and delivered a great website in only 10 days! The other problem was to get a contract with a good printer who could deliver quality posters in time. The target was to make a profitable business model from day one. It was especially tough as with just 5,000 rupees in bank account; we didn’t have money for customer acquisition or marketing. Initial cost for everything like packaging and courier was high. Somehow we have managed to stay profitable from day one.
Right now we are operating from a dorm room in IIT Kanpur. Since we are going to graduate in two months, we are planning to continue our operations from Delhi. How has the response been so far? We were very excited about delivering our 100th poster on the 5th day of operation. During our offline presence at Antaragni (Cult fest at IITK) and UDGHOSH(Sports fest at IITK), we interacted with more than 5000 students all over the country. We are very excited to see their response to our service. Now we have delivered more than 4,000 posters after 2 months of operation. Where do you see yourself six months down the line? We are planning to launch two more products (that we won’t be disclosing for now). Our target is to make it a youth merchandising store with cool stuff that we, the youth, fantasize about having in our rooms, but are never able to find easily. We want to have a presence in 500 colleges all over the country in next six months.
Are there other players in the market doing similar things? Do you see flipkart as your competitor in future? For posters there are 4-5 players in the market but none of them are working on customized printing services. But we never want to see ourselves as a big printing giant like what printbindaas.com is doing. Our vision of the company is much broader, as will be our product range. We will be selling cool stuff that youth fantasize to have in their rooms.
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We are not really competing with Flipkart, for we intend to stay as product site with our own branded products. We really respect Flipkart for setting up a standard for the kind of service in ecommerce industry in India. They brought the culture of ecommerce to the Indian market. What is your USP? Every time we say that our target audience is the youth. But unfortunately, youth is the most abused and least understood word in the Indian scenario. Not many companies actually understand what exactly the youth want. How much they can pay and how they can pay. Bluegape being a dorm room start-up actually understands the needs of this particular community. That is our USP. Can you share with us some interesting trends about the market that you are trying to capture? Sure, with the penetration of internet in a big way and the huge success of ecommerce companies like Flipkart and Letsbuy, people are now actually willing to buy online. The paying
capacity of this class is also going up day by day. India is one of the hottest markets in the world for ecommerce, and it is indeed very exciting to be in this sector right now. Any Suggestions that you want to give to the young entrepreneurs? My only suggestion for fellow entrepreneurs who are planning for starting up is to start very small but have a big picture in mind. “Make a product/service which you really need in your life”
(You can reach out to Sahil Baghla sahil.baghla08@gmail.com or know more about BluePage through www.facebook.com/bluegape or www.twitter.com/bluegape or simple visit them at www.bluegape.com)
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Sometimes you need to listen when you hear… -Shreya Deora
There are some moments in life, when you listen to something, or you read something, and you just connect. You have no clues where or what it represents, or if it’s leading anywhere… but somehow it just feels right… You listen to a song, and even though you might not get the gist of the song, or what it meant to be… you can connect with it… not just the lyrics, but each rhythm, each note, each agonizing conclusion to a note. You just want to close your eyes and breathe it all in… And no doubt, each piece of music makes you visualize something. Maybe brings back memories, or makes you think of the future, or a vision or a hope. The bottom line is these are little strands of are, which somehow in some way save you… Am not a musician, and know very little
about it. I don’t like specific genres or bands or artists. I am what you might call a free loader. But lately I have been introduced to so much music around me… and somehow it’s actually helped me realize stuff. Or make decisions... or realize that life isn’t a game, or a means to an end, it’s not a gamble or whatever they call it. It’s just an epitome, of hope and bliss, of love and joy, of freedom and strength, of good times and bad. It’s not to be weighted or judged. It’s not to be pondered over till length. It’s to be lived, on your own terms, with things that bring up a smile even on the darkest of times, or things that make you comfortable in your skin. It’s just pure and simple. If it sounds too heavy and philosophical to you, try this lane. Just for the fun of it, play a great song, stand up and sway. And
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believe me, sometimes some song make you want to do just that. At times like these, you aren’t self conscious or embarrassed or think about others. At such times, you are in your happy place, where everything is just blissful. And no matter how much you’ve changed, or how much you have gone through, or the feelings and memories that literally make you who you are now, none of it matters. What matters is that the way you are right now, you like it. You are comfortable with it, at least for the time being. You might be broken, or in repair, or in a pensive state. But at the end, music is one thing that will always, always bring you out of the shell. And well, I doubt you can ever have enough of music. Ever. While I am penning this down, am listening to a song called ‘I don’t trust myself’ by
John Mayer. And the mental image I get while listening to it is that of some different time altogether. A sepia picture with a jukebox in a corner and me dancing there swaying alone. That’s what music can do to you. And believe me when I say this, after having a hard day today, right now at this particular moment, I am happy, Am content. So just try and listen. Or feel. You can hear it once you make the effort. And the joy of it is going to leave you yearning for more.
(The Author is a 1st Year Student of Kamla Nehru College, Delhi University)
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Samsung Galaxy Skin (This New Year special issue we decided to give you a glimpse of future. Instead of reviewing something already out in the market, we will be intimidating you about a ‘concept’ phone that is yet to be designed… So go on and find out what’s in store for all of us in the near future)
The Galaxy Skin was designed and developed by Hye Yeon You and Prof. Haeseong J. Jee and it was first displayed at an event at Hongik University, on June 10. According to Hye You, the design is still in the stage of conception and at the event, it was revealed to the Samsung team. A few months after, Samsung confirmed the manufacture of the AMOLED displays which are flexible and set to be debuted by June 2012. The displays are bendable, can be rolled all the way up and they can even withstand direct hits from a hammer. The concept for this new mobile phone leaps ahead of the smartphone era to usher in the era of the “Genius Phone.” In the place of a glass display, the AMOLED flexible one utilizes a polyimide substrate made from plastic. Research has revealed
that by using plastic polyimide in place of glass, the flexible displays will have the capacity to wrap around a 1-inch cylinder. The flexible display receives electrical signals which result in physical deformation; which is the polymer core technology that is electrically active. One of the best features of the flexible displays is that they make use of AMOLED technology, which means that they are equipped with low energy consumption and bright screens. Furthermore, Samsung has joined forces with Ube Kosan, a company in Japan, which will most likely play a vital role in manufacture of the AMOLED flexible displays. The Samsung Galaxy Skin is also meant to be super thin and to use a special version of Google's mobile OS, called Android Flexy,
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which adjusts the interface according to the phone's current position and the app it is running. So, we’ve seen dual-core processors in phones, Massive screen sizes that are too big to fit in your pocket and we’ve even explored the third dimension with phones like the Optimus 3D and Evo 3D. Samsung Galaxy Skin Smartphone features and Specifications: Network: 3.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE) : 850/ 900/ 1800/ 1900 MHz 4G (HSDPA 7.2Mbps, HSUPA 5.76Mbps) : 900/ 1900/ 2100 MHz Display: 4.0″ WVGA SUPER AMOLED (800×480) Flexible Type Video: HD (720p @ 30pfs) Video playing & recording Codec: mpeg4, H.264, H263, H263Sorenson, Divx HD/ XviD, VC-1 Format: 3gp (mp4) WMV (asf), AVI(divx), MKV, FLV Value-added Featured: Integrated Messaging “Social Hub” Android market for more application and
contents A-GPS Augmented reality with layer Browser 1GHz Application Processor SMS/ MMS/ Email/ Video Messaging/ Exchange ActiveSync Sensor : Accelerometer, Digital compass, Proximity, Light Offline & No SIM Mode, Voice Command, RSS Reader, Widget, Smart Security OS: Android Flexy Camera: 8.0 Mega Pixel + VGA Telephony Camera, Auto Focus, Self shot, Action Shot, Panorama Shot, Stop Motion, Smile Shot, Add me Audio: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, OGG, AMR-N8, AMR-W8, WAV, MID, AC3, IMY, FLAC, XMF Connectivity: Bluetooth technology v 3.0 USB V 2.0 (High Speed) Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/h Memory: 32GB/ 16GB Size: 221 x 67 x 8 mm Battery: 1500mAh
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Top 10 New Year Resolutions that we love to keep and break…
1. Lose Weight – This is probably one of the most sought after promises that one makes to himself. Definitely no less than 60% of the youngsters take this resolution and start afresh every year by dieting, exercising, extensive gym and hideous home yoga. Alas! Really wish it was so easy to lose weight? Not even half of the people who take this resolution are able to follow this till the end of the year. And by the start of the second month of the New Year this resolution stands cancelled. 2. Getting Organized – We have always wished that we get a little more organized in our lifestyle so
that we can take time for ourselves. Half of our time goes in work and the other half in organizing it. The point is, we have always wanted to be organized from heart, but we never seem to follow what we decide. Just after a few weeks, our rooms are messed up again, our desk is a pile of A4 sheets and we fail to differentiate between the loose papers and the work papers. 3. Spend Less, Save More – This has been a dream resolution. At the start of every new year we promise to ourselves that this
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year is going to be a saving year, where we will spend less on outings, shopping, partying and eating and save more for our ‘future security’. But we find more convincing reasons to spend, very soon. We are back on our original track on earning more; spending more in a few days’ time. 4. Enjoy Life to the ‘Fullest’ – “I have taken my life for granted and I am wasting my life by living every moment for others. It is the time I start living for myself.” What are you thinking – Been there, done that? Of course, this has been a a promise, every one of us has made once in a lifetime at different stages of life. But have we actually lived to it and followed it. Seriously, it is time we do! 5. Learn Something New – On every 1st of January, we decide that we are going to learn something new and ‘exciting’ this year. It may have been guitar, keyboard, a computer programming language, a jewellery designing course or any other thing. This is a general tendency to decide to learn something, but the decision only remains there inside us and dies
eventually, else, we would all be a pro at something by now. 6. Quit Smoking – This is one of the oldest resolutions that husbands have been taking for wives, fathers for their children, and boys for their girlfriends. Not anywhere in the above sentence do we tend to imply that only boys are smokers, even girls are, so this goes for both. It is an addiction that leads to a number of problems which have become chronic in the Indian youth. It is actually the peak time that we start following this resolution. 7. Social Work – You almost laughed after reading this heading, didn’t you? What did you think on the first day of the year this time? Definitely, you almost had a list of NGOs ready with whom you want to work and many other organizations where you intend to donate. So, all set to lighten your pockets for the greater good? 8. Spend Time with Family – Every youngster wants to take this promise every new year and almost does too, but then unfortunately fails every time their parents ask them for some time this evening. C’mon guys,
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work around this… let us pledge to spend more time with those who really matter instead of working our asses off in offices trying to earn that extra buck. 9. Doing something by a fixed date We always tend to fix a date for some particular task, event or happening but we always fail! Ha! This year when you decide to do some task by that particular dd/mm/2012, then please do think twice or rather use an alarm clock or reminder! 10. Falling in love – Oh yes, at least once you all did take this promise to yourself, especially if the last year was hell of a heart breaking
one. But how many times did you actually succeed? Remember…?
-Compiled by the SpringTide Team
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KOCHI (COCHIN), KERALA (
A Report on India’s one of the Fastest Growing and Upcoming City) accessibility of cheap bandwidth through undersea cables and lesser operational
The city of Kochi (formerly Cochin) prominent as the port city of Kerala is one of the fastest emerging cities of India. As a port city, it has always been the proclaimed economic capital of Kerala with trade and retail being its fundamental business sphere. However, in the recent times, since NASSCOM ranked it as the second potential city for investments in the IT sector, Kochi has emerged as a favored destination for the IT & ITES industry. Also, Kochi shows vast potential for economic growth and industrialization based on norms such as real estate growth, available work force, overall infrastructure, policy initiatives and commercial history. However, the
costs in comparison to other key cities in India have proved to be of major advantage. Kochi is one of the few cities in India, which has the best connectivity to the outside world through sea, air and road. This is also one of the reasons for Kochi being identified as an attractive destination for investments. Moreover, this inflow of investments has created realty prospects in the city, both residential and commercial as the IT firms are bringing in more and more people into the city. And with the
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coming up of Cochin Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) the economical capital of Kerala is now even more attractive to the investor counting on economic and realty prospects. The CSEZ apart from catering to the business growth and industrialization with the investments in IT and Business parks has also been responsible for growth of Kochi real estate. Besides the Technopolis developed at the CSEZ, the setting up of a software productivity center by Wipro in Kochi is considered as one of the variable factors in the evolution of Kochi as an upcoming city. Major IT firms such as US Software, IBS, Sun Tec, Gemini, NeST, Ernst and Young, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, ACS Inc. and Allianz Cornhill are only some of the IT firms gradually making their presence felt in the business prospect of Kochi. As the graph of Kochi real estate takes an upward move, top real estate developers from within the country are vying up to the city with interesting projects. A spectacular development in the Kochi real estate market is with the Rs. 950 million-joint venture projects between HDFC and Larsen and Toubro (L&T). However, the project that Kochi real estate can consider as the mother of all investments is the Rs. 1500crore`Smart City' project proposed by the Dubai Internet City (DIC). Moreover, with city administration providing the investors with the basic infrastructure like power, international bandwidth and urban
transportation, industry experts expect a capital appreciation of around 12-15 per cent in the next two-three years. All these factors are contributing factors in creating a congenial environment for making Kochi one of the fastest growing cities in India‌
-SpringTide Research (Webliography: www.indianground.com)
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“Youth – At Any Cost!” -Nitin Jain A burning desire to succeed, Sometimes at any cost! Against Limited supply, Of resources and inspiration, and, Love of family and few friends. Learnt to learn, grow, Shine and outshine, Achieved seemingly impossible, Earned and remained happy, Sometimes at any cost! We are open, liberal, Perhaps hypercritical. We do pay our taxes, Don’t litter on much on streets, Drive our new bikes, and friend’s car occasionally. In a hurry to reach our destination, Sometimes at any cost ! Whenever we faltered, We stood up, sought advice, Fought, made our own way. Call centres, IT, Culinary Arts or Fashion,
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Yes, no great innovation, But some of us managed to thrive, Sometimes at any cost ! We are thankful, indebted for the privilege, Of being born in free India. Yes, we know many issues, Still unresolved. Yes, be assured will be solved, Perhaps slowly, but, At any cost!
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“Driving on Indian Roads has been becoming more of a punishment day by day. My recent face off with a legendary example of insane driving was yesterday when I was returning from my coaching. People here in Bangalore, have a weird habit of turning their car suddenly without giving a turn signal or indicator. Is it that they realize that they have to turn only when the turn actually appears! Huh… C’mon Man!” -Urvashi Mishra, B.Com (H), Third Year, Bangalore
“There are some really irritating people who take no time in getting on your nerves. But it was just a night back when I was out for dinner with some friends and their friends whom I did not know much. However, I came to know ‘what’ they were as soon as they opened their mouths at dinner. People who talk vulgar over food are probably the worst kind of people on this planet. Guys, do you have to talk about shit, weird people, weird incidents, and all other ugly things over food? Such things not only make me puke but also make me lose my interest in food.” -Piyush Haldia, Gurgaon
“We know that you grew up in an uptown posh locality of the city, but there is no need to act like bloody ‘gangstas’. Damn, just because you live in some super expensive house, don’t act like you own the world. Kids who act like super cool dons or gangsters, this is for you – please remain in your skin else you will regret out in the real world.” -Anonymous
SpringTide – January 2012
Thank You… We will be back soon with lots more…