Spark Magazine 2015 2016 by SPark

The Fire Roars _________________________________________________________________________________________

When our wonderful predecessors passed the torch on to us, we knew it was a tremendous responsibility to keep the flame burning. Intimidating as it was, the torch was also a guiding light, a beacon that would guide us towards hidden talent that was quietly waiting to be discovered in the hallowed halls of our institution. With that mission in mind, we set out to provide a platform where literary minds could break free of their shackles, and weave magic with their words and thoughts, thereby building upon the rich legacy we had inherited. After introducing SPark to first-years, we sought to unearth hidden gems through a writing contest organised exclusively for FEs. What followed was a year, throughout the duration of which, our team of talented and passionate individuals wrote articles that were thought-provoking, diverse, and to use a colloquial phrase, absolutely brilliant. There were articles ranging from current affairs to television shows, from sports to short stories, that were written with aplomb, proof-read and published on our blog, putting on display the unfathomable talent that resides in our college. The reporting team was forever on its toes, providing detailed coverage of the numerous events that took place in college. The alumni team sought to bring you enlightening stories from former SPITians, whose achievements and dedication are an inspiration to us all. This year, we also ventured into relatively unfamiliar territory, with the introduction of Split Second Tales, supplemented with the launch of our very own Instagram page. Micro-fiction is a rapidly emerging genre, and we delved into its depths, emerging with stories that touched the hearts of readers, using a minimal amount of words. The cover story of SPark Volume III brings to you stories that are filled with dreams, joy, love, grit, and most important of all- Hope. Stories from among us,that remind us of who we are- beautiful, sentient beings in the vast ocean of humanity. The magazine also covers a variety of genres, such as fiction, travel, entertainment, quizzing, and sports. We aimed at displaying the plethora of literary and artistic talent that has the power to Ignite SP. It has been a truly amazing, exhilarating and learning experience for us, and we hope to keep the flame burning forever and ever, keeping the SPark alive. In the words of our favourite astronaut, â&#x20AC;&#x153;To infinity and beyond!â&#x20AC;?

Uday Verma Editor-in-Chief 2015-2016

From The Principalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Desk Dr. Prachi Gharpure _________________________________________________________________

SPark has grown into a fire that has ignited the mind of students at SPIT. The magazine itself is a testament to the unfathomable, diverse and powerful talent possessed by every student at SPIT. The academic year 2015-2016 has been a momentous year for our college, with academic autonomy in the pipeline and the setting up of the Technology Business Incubator. I would like to thank and congratulate all faculty members and students for their efforts in making 2015-16 a truly successful year. I would also like to congratulate the SPark team for making such a wonderful magazine that presents the highlights of the year.

From left to right: Dr. Y.S. Rao, Vice Principal,H.O.D. Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering Dr. Rita Das, H.O.D. Applied Sciences and Humanities Dr.Surendra Rathod, H.O.D. Electronics Engineering Dr. Radha Shankarmani, H.O.D. Information Technology Engineering Dr. Dhananjay Kalbande, H.O.D. Computer Engineering Prof. K.T. Talele, H.O.D. Masters in Computer Applications

S.P.I.T. STUDENT COUNCIL 2015-16 From left to right: Front row- Mokshada Mahajan-Cultural Secretary, Aayush Patial-General Secretary Back row: Vaishnav Dandge- Sports Secretary, Yash Karundia-Technical Secretary, Mrdvika IyerSports Secretary, Krutantak Patil- Technical Secretary.

Corporate Awards ________________________________________

Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Excellence Award Sheen Dhar(SE EXTC) Instituted by Credit Suisse, presented by Chief Guest Mr. Chandrashekhar Ongole

Topper of the Year Shah Karan Shailesh(TE Electronics) Instituted by Citius Tech, presented by Dr. Adheet Gogate

Start Up of the Year Cyklo- Gunarjun Chawla,Yash Jain, Ferina Patel, Disha Gandhi. Instituted by n-eXchanges, presented by Mr. Sagun Garg

Best Outgoing Student Award Aashika Shetty(BE IT) Instituted by Cognizant, presented by Ms. Nivedita Naithani

Best Faculty Award Prof. Jignesh Sisodia Instituted by Cognizant, presented by Ms. Nivedita Naithani.

Student Achievers ________________________________________

Gauri Dalvi, Samiksha Gupta , Karan Shah (BE Electronics) Secured 1 st Position in Technomania’16 - IEEE (Bombay Section), Technical Paper Presentation competition. Sharad Boni, Sukumar Gaonkar, Aayush Kubitkar, Arun Pal(BE IT) Secured National Rank -1; International rank – 61 in Hack Dat Kiwi International Capture the Flag Competition (Virginia University). Bikram Singh, Pratik Mistry, Rahul Rajjak (BE EXTC) Won the Motorola Scholar Awards Program-15- 16 (Foundation for Advancement of Education and Research).

Jayganesh Rajaram, Vrajesh Prajapati, Meghna Bhagat(BE EXTC) Paper selected by IEEE.

Pratik Velhal, Ganesh Baleri, Neelesh Jayaraman, Varun Joshi Secured 1st position in Microsoft Hackathon (Theme: Digital India).

Shashank Rane, Kritika Sabharwal, Aditya Menon(BE Electronics) Secured 5th position in the ‘Wolf of Chalk Street’ competition organised by ChalkStreet

Tejas Karwa, Kaustubh Vaidya , Mihir Ghandhat (BE IT) Secured 3rd position for Best Idea – Deloitte Junior Achievement India Business Challenge – 2015 Bangalore and Mumbai Region

Kritika Sabharwal (BE Electronics) Secured 1st position at the intercollege debate competition Fever College Clash – organised by Fever 104 FM.

Pratik Thorwe (SE EXTC) Secured 3rd position at the All India West Zone Inter-University Chess Championship-2016 (T.M. Bhagalpur University Sports Council, Bhagalpur)

Shreyas Palande(SE Electronics) University representation – All India Inter-University Yoga Tournament (Choudhary Ranbir Singh University, Jind)

Ankita Chavan(BE EXTC), Darshan Baburajan(BE EXTC), Kalyani Bhopi (BE EXTC), Vinay Gandhi (BE Electronics), Divya Bandapalle (BE EXTC), Siddhesh Mhatre (BE IT), Pooja Supe (TE IT), Grishma Alshi (SE IT), Kapil Patil (FE Electronics), Saloni Sankhe(FE Electronics), Himanshu Joshi(FE Electronics), Mikhail Kazi (SE IT). Won 1ST prize in inter-college group dance competition at Ambrosia ‘16 organised by AnjumanI- Islam M.H Saboo Siddik College of Engineering.

Departmental Achievements ________________________________________

IT ● ● ● ● ● ●

● ● ● ●

Number of research papers published this year:21 Gurleen Kaur Lamba,Mahendra Parmar, and Shaquib Khan: selected by Deloitte for the grand finale round of CCTC (Collegiate Cyber Threat Competition) among five other teams selected all over India for the grand finale. Team:Aayush Kubitkar, Aveena Kottwani, Sharad Boni :IEEE league 2015 Rank: 11th Bhushan Malgaonkar, Darshan Patel, Kunal Sawant(BE IT): All India Rank 4 at IEEE Xtreme 2015. Sharad Boni, Sukumar Gaonkar, Arun Pal, Aayush Kubitkar: 1st Rank in India Hack Dat Kiwi International Capture the Flag Competition (Virginia University) Mihir Ghandat, Tejas Karwa, Kaustubh Vaidya: 3rd in Regional Round (Mumbai and Bengaluru) at Deloitte India Business Challenge. Dhananjay nikam:Viewers choice award in all india engineers photography competition held by Pagalguy portal Vikesh Tiwari got internship at Slack, San Francisco. Rishal Shah, Anish Bhobe, Niharika Acharya, Akshay Kirane, Nishant Naik, Vaishnavi Hire and Pratik Mahajan gained internship at Barclays. Rajiv Sukhwani, Manisha Mulchandani, Gargee Mehta, Mrdvika Iyer, Divya Pawar, Bhumika Ekbote, Nikhita Ramakrishnan gained internship at Credit Suisse. Kshitij Nagvekar gained internship at WorkIndia.

COMPUTERS ●

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Dr. Dhananjay Kalbande has written a book on “Human Machine Interaction” published by Wiley, is currently doing clinical trial of the post-doctoral research in skin image analysis and recognizing skin diseases at an early stage at Seth G.S.Medical College and KEM Hospital, Parel Mumbai, has also worked and delivered the “MIS Application” for the Skin and VD Department, KEM hospital, has conducted 2 days workshop on “Soft Computing ( Neural Network and Fuzzy logic ) and its practices” on 10th and 11th July, 2015 at SPIT Prof Reeta Koshy received Minor Research grant Mumbai University 2015-16 17 papers in International conference and 2 in International Journal and 4 Patents MoU with Seth G.S.Medical College and KEM Hospital,Mumbai for clinical Research Maitri Shroff, Varun Joshi, Prachi Shah, Vaibhav Tendulkar gained internship at Barclays Sanskruti Shah, Anand Desai, Faizaan Charania, Rohit Naik, Raunaq Abhyankar gained internship at Credit Suisse Suyash Thakare is interning at Reliance Industries Limited, Nemil Shah gained internship at WorkIndia Varun Joshi, Ayush Shah were selected for Google Summer of Code, Shweta Oak interned at Mozilla Sanskruti Shah and Ayush Shah were runners up in CodeIt Suisse organized by Credit Suisse Pratik Velhal interned at Tech Mahindra, Varsha Shetty at Pykih Data Visualization Deepkumar Girdhar (99.57%) and Gayatri Nesarikar (98.01%) got admission in IIM-A, Tanvi Chandna, Gayatri Nesarikar and Aashna Bajaj scored 98.58%, 98.01% and 97.49% respectively in CAT exam Nikita Moghe secured admission in IIT-Madras through GATE exam Aanchal Dalmia, Aaditya Rathi, Apekshit Jotwani, Aniket Shenoy, Bhairavi Mehta, Darshan Godhia, Deep Sidhpura, Kartik Killawala, Maithili Pannase, Prathamesh Jangam, Rudhika Kawar, Rushabh Shah, Shobhit Mehta, Vritti Ganeriwal are going to USA for MS.

ELECTRONICS ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

14 papers published in international conferences,4 in national conferences, 3 journal publications,and 5 patents. AICTE Approved 2 week FDP on Electronic System Design: From Devices to Application EduVance conducted 2-day faculty development workshop on Embedded System design using ARM method and Cypress PSOC. ISTE approved one week STTP on network and Cyber Security with Hands on Lab. Skill development workshop for non-teaching staff Prof. Govind Haldankar gave an interview on Vedic Maths for the program ‘Vishesh Mulakat’ on Radio Madhuban 90.4FM. Gauri Dalvi ,Samiksha Gupta ,Karan Shah from BE ETRX secured 1 st Position in Technomania’16 - IEEE (Bombay Section)-technical paper presentation

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Shashank Rane,Kritika Sabharwal,Aditya Menon – B.E. Etrx secured 5th position in Wolf of Chalk Street by Chalk Street Kritika Sabharwal – B.E. Etrx Engg secured 1 st position – Inter-college debate competition – Fever College Clash University representation at All India Inter-University Yoga Tournament(Choudhary Ranbir Singh University, Jind)Shreyas Palande(S.E. ETRX)

EXTC ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Number of research papers published: 34 Madhav Wagh,Pratik Thorwe,Vinitkumar Gaikwad and Viraj Kamat- 4th out of 4892 teams at the eYRC competition conducted by IIT Bombay, under the e-Yantra program. Bikram Singh,Pratik Mistry , and Rahul Rajjak - won the Motorola Scholar Awards Program 2015- 16. Sheen Dhar(SE EXTC) won the Credit Suisse Women’s Excellence Award. Jayganesh Rajaram, Vrajesh Prajapati, Meghna Bhagat- Technical paper selected by IEEE. Vikraant Pai(BE EXTC) won 1st prize in IET Karmaveer EXPO amongst 150 teams nationwide at KK Wagh College of Engg, Nashik. Also awarded 1st prize at OPUS, National Level Project Showcase at VCET, Vasai. Pratik Thorwe(SE EXTC) represented Mumbai University and secured 3rd position in All India West Zone chess tournament 2015-2016 Held at Aurangabad. Adarsh Chokhani(B.E EXTC) and Diptanshu sharma(S.E EXTC) came second at Speaktacular 2016 organised by Thadomal Shahani College of Engineering, and came first at “IEEE Omega Tech Debate” organised by Atharva College.

MCA ● ● ● ● ●

Number of papers published: 10 Prof. Nikhita Mangaonkar has filed a patent on “A transmitter-receiver system that enables the visually challenged to cross roads having traffic signals safely”. MCA Department in association with Mumbai University and IEEE Bombay Section had organized a workshop on Technical Research Paper Writing on 5 th and 6 th feb 2016. SPIT bagged the college of the year rolling trophy at Technical Festival Vista 2016 organised by Thakur Institute of Management Studies, Career Development and Research Chinmay Acharya and Sachin Gadagi from SY MCA successfully developed a web application project for “Online Annual Report Submissions by CBWTF” for Maharashtra Pollution Control Board.

Matrix Reloaded Rucha Rangnekar | Shantanu Gawde | Sanket Wagle | Girija Deshmukh ________________________________________________________________________________________

A well-designed app allowed them to track their progress and answer extra questions to get bonus points. After completing the task at each location, the participants would get a clue to get to the next location where a new task would be awaiting them. The race demanded coordination and understanding between teammates in order to navigate their way through the clues. It was a very successful event and proved to be the perfect primer for Matrix 2015.

TedX Talks was one of the major highlights of Matrix with Angad Nadkarni, a Computer Science Major The year 2014 saw the birth of an independent technical festival for SPIT. The following year saw Matrix grow in quality and popularity. Events ranging from TechRace to Virtual Stock Market, made it a matrix of technical and recreational events. Although technical events such as

from BITS Pilani delivering a talk to a packed SP Jain auditorium. He spoke about his beginnings with coding at the age of 13 and the initial projects that he took up, before going on to elaborate to the audience about his venture Examify.com.

Codathon, Contraption and Cicada represented the competitive coding culture of the college, there were also events such as Lazer-Tag and Lazer-Maze which seemed to be straight out of a Sci-Fi movie.

“This year, we tried involving people from the industry (read: Microsoft Hackathon) in our technical festival. At the end of the fest, it was great to see both the participants and the mentors (as we called them) happy and satisfied to have relished a delicious technical feast!” Yash Karundia Technical Secretary, SPIT. Amongst all coding events, Microsoft Hackathon stood out as the most engaging one as it required participants to complete month-

Inauguration by our Hon’ble Principal Dr. Prachi Gharpure

long courses from Microsoft Virtual Academy before competing in the Hackathon.

Close to 300 participants arrived on the morning of 4th October with anticipation in their hearts for the first event

The Ultimate Race presented an opportunity to

of Matrix 2015- The TechRace. Participants had to

engage robots in challenging tasks- the

complete various tasks at locations spread across

Roborace and Aquabot. Roborace required the

MumbaI.

robot to be maneuvered on a set obstacle course while Aquabot, as the name suggests, required the bot to be navigated through water.

Pokemon Showdown started off on 9th October with

Anyone who has ever played any action game would know

the Pokemon auction where all participants or

the thrill behind getting a gun and virtually shooting an

‘Pokemon trainees’ as they were called, were bidding

enemy. To recreate the same thrill in a more nonlethal way,

on their favorite marquee Pokemon, seeking to build

Laser Tag was held. In the event, participants were led in

the most powerful team while simultaneously

teams of three to a completely dark room bursting with

managing the limited amount of money that they were

EDM music where they would put on suits connected to a

provided with. This was followed by the trainees going

small laser-pistol. The participants were thrust into the heat

head to head in various battles. It served as a path

of battle resulting in both adrenaline levels and accuracy

down memory lane for many reminiscing their

scores rocketing sky high.

childhood days. The online treasure hunt, Taskathon, ‘Defuse the bomb’ continued to attract the crowd with exciting challenges. There was ‘SP Open v2.0’ , the challenge of the Rubik's cube, for those who could tackle with maniacal speed. Events like Contraption, Fun Encrypted, Tech Charades, Tech Tac Toe, Junkyard Wars offered fun-filled challenges which were enjoyed by many. The college’s very own quiz club, SPQC brought out the competitive streak in The Virtual Stock Market Unlike the one conducted in 2014, Virtual Stock market 2015 was entirely an app based event held on both days. It attracted major sponsors such as Vijay Sales, Spykar, and FreshMenu.To build some enthusiasm, the commodities that the “stock brokers,” had to trade were celebrities .The entrance of the college looked like another Dalal Street, as the crowds descended into a flurry of action, with some teams exulting as they profited from their transactions and others cursing the fact that they suffered a loss. At the end of the five rounds, the team witha the maximum cumulative profit was declared the winner. Virtual

participants through their event ‘Tech Tussle v2.0’.

“The event was successful enough to attract as many as 800 participants for a two day fest.” Krutantak Patil Technical Secretary, SPIT After weeks of preparation and hard work, it was time to celebrate and enjoy. The Garba night ended the fest on a high note as everyone let their hair down.Matrix 2015 truly represented what we as SPITians are, an amalgamation of varied colours, smiles, and voices, each different yet united as a whole.

Stock Market was undoubtedly one of the most engaging events of Matrix.

General Secretary’s Report Aayush Patial _________________________________________________________________________ Hello S.P.I.T.! Here we are approaching the end of another academic year. It’s really unbelievable how time flies. It seems like yesterday when I was being interviewed for the post of General Secretary of the college and how elated I was on being appointed. It’s been a great honour to shoulder such a massive responsibility. So many events have occurred over the past 10 months that it’s difficult to put them in words right now. We marked the beginning of the year by welcoming the next generation of engineers to our college and getting them acquainted with the various aspects of this institute. The tremendous response we received that day set the tone for the remainder of the year. Following the footsteps of the last year’s council we worked on the platform built for our technical festival “MATRIX” and took it a notch higher this year by organizing a 24 hour Microsoft Hackathon for the first time in this city. The participation we received from the other engineering colleges in this city was incredible, students from over 15 colleges were involved in the fest, making it such an exhilarating learning experience. This has been a year of many firsts and many great achievements. For the first time in S.P.I.T., we had a TeDX gateway program for the students and a workshop conducted by the famous anonymous writer. Both of these events went incredibly well.Outside the campus, I can proudly say that our students have represented college in various competition both on technical as well as non-technical front throughout the year and have brought accolades to the institute. This year was also marked with the return of S.P.I.T.’s very own cultural festival UDAAN, which was held in February 2016.This was a result of more than 3 months of thought showering and planning. Starting from scratch, we faced a different kind of challenge with Udaan. Fighting against the odds is never easy but we overcame the obstacles and delivered a festival which redefined how a cultural festival is supposed to be and raised the bar even higher than it was before. We received participation from 26 colleges for the festival. The response was high not only in quantity but also in terms of quality. It is difficult to express, but Udaan is etched in my memories in such a way that I can proudly cherish it for the rest of my life. It was surely a hit and I am sure we have set the trend for our own fest for years to come now, and a base for the next council to work on. This is not a new beginning and this is definitely not the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of a new beginning. Udaan has been relaunched this year and now the sky is the limit. Finally,none of the things we accomplished would have been possible if it hadn’t been for the support of all the Heads of Departments, faculty members and most importantly our principal, Prachi ma’am. She has been an inspiration for all of us. She gave us the freedom to express ourselves while at the same time holding us back from committing mistakes. Her guidance and the experience she shared not only helped us throughout the year but also made us learn about the importance of standing by your own decision, no matter the circumstances. And I can’t thank you enough for that, ma’am. And one person who has been with me through the thick and thin is Sikka sir, the one who always shared his wisdom with me throughout my tenure, helping me become a better man. I would like to thank Jignesh Sir & Bhagat Sir for all their valuable inputs, and for being the perfect mentors to us. I am also very grateful to the office staff, who have been of tremendous help and really made me feel comfortable through all the tedious procedures. Now when I look back at my time as general secretary, it makes me feel happy and satisfied. Sure, the journey had its ebbs and flows, but what great experience goes without any struggle? This journey made me learn so much about different aspects of life and of people, lessons which I’ll never forget for the rest of my life and I’m sure will be of great use in future. Thank you S.P.I.T. for giving me this great opportunity and for believing in me. I’d like to conclude in the words of the great Rabindranath Tagore “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy“

Split Second Tales The magic of the universe is often best captured in little bits and pieces that leave a lot to ponder over. With the current trend of micro-fiction and its relatable nature, we decided to explore this new avenue as an exercise in creativity. SPark 2015-16 has introduced Split Second Tales which, within a short text convey emotions, thoughts and messages with a special touch. ‘Curtains’ by Uday Verma(TE IT)

He had forgotten the pain. The poverty. The heartbreak. His miserable existence. For he was now a king. A warrior. A hero. A poet. A legend. Until the curtains descended.

‘Cricket’ by John Britto(SE Computers)

(Written on the occasion of the India vs Pakistan match during the Asia Cup)

“A green, lively pitch. An evergreen rivalry reborn. A flip of the coin to win the battle beyond the boundaries.”

‘Leap’ by Shreya Sawleshwarkar(SE IT)

(Written on the occasion of Leonardo di Caprio’s long-awaited Oscar win, which co-incided with leap day)

“6 expectant moments. 23 years of effort. A million finally applaud him Destiny did take a leap for him today.”

‘Asleep’ by Arijit Ghosh(FE Electronics)

“ *beep* *beep* *beep* “Grandpa’s awake!”shouted the 3 year old. “And who might you be?!” asked the senile man who had been asleep longer than her age.

उदय वमा वारा ल खत ' उड़ ' ना वह चल सका। ना वह दौड़ सका। ना वह कूद सका। ना वह तैर सका। पु तक के प न के बीच वह उड़ चला।

‘Alive’ by Suyash Thakare(TE Computers) A workaholic on his first vacation thoughtWhy did my family force me to come long?

Amidst the ambience of the rainforest, bird calls and picturesque waterfalls, he felt something he had never felt before; he felt alive.

‘Always’ by Arijit Ghosh(FE Electronics) He was holding her hand, weeping, “You promised you’ll always be with me.” “Here I am,” she said and he walked away from the coffin, towards her.

‘Watch’ by Divya Sawant(FE Electronics)

Sitting at his desk. Looking at his watch. “Forty more years to go,” he said to himself.

A Sporting Extravaganza! John Britto - SE Computers ____________________________________________________________________________________

Imagine you go for a buffet lunch of a particular cuisine. You have the soup, the starter, and the main course. And while all the food is being raided, you still manage to leave a little room for the desert, and in truth, you’ve been looking forward to it ever since you started eating. And when the desert finally arrives, you expect it to be worth the wait. And that’s when all your expectations are flattened, as the moment you’ve been waiting for betrays you. The desert turns out to be bittersweet. Sports fans in India might be feeling the same pinch at the moment. The World T20 semi-final exit, for many Indians, was a heartbreaking one. It all began with India’s 3-0 sweep of Australia in Australia in January, followed by a comefrom-behind 2-1 victory against Sri Lanka and then an unbeaten Asia Cup Campaign that saw India claim the trophy after 6 years. You’d have thought, a run to the final was imminent. Mark Nicholas went as far as to prophesizing India as eventual winners. And then West Indies happened. With the IPL turning out to be a run-filled, bowler-killing affair, fans need refreshment. And that’s why most of them are looking forward to June 2016. The UEFA EURO 2016 and Wimbledon, two of the world’s most anticipated tournaments, bring with them what fans are craving for: Energy, aggressiveness, passion. For the first time, the European Championship final tournament will be contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format used since 1996. Under this new format, the finalists will contest a group stage consisting of six groups of four teams, followed by a knockout stage including three rounds and the final. 19 teams (the top two from each of the nine qualifying groups and the best third-placed team) joined France who qualified automatically as hosts; a series of two-legged play-off ties between the remaining third-placed teams in November 2015 decided the last four spots at the final tournament. The winner gets a chance to board the plane to Russia for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup – there’s a hell lot to play for. With England recording a flawless qualifier campaign, they may have seemed one of the favorites to go the distance, but in truth, their team has undergone a cosmetic surgery after the 2014 World Cup, with Wayne Rooney the last man standing of a former "Golden Generation". France and Germany seem the real deal. Defending champs Spain will also fancy their chances while the likes of Belgium and Portugal will make sure they don’t go down without a fight. For the traditional British fans, there’s the mouth-watering prospect of an encounter with Wales to look out for; Wayne Rooney and Raheem Sterling taking on Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey. Who will lay claim to the title of European champions? On the Tennis front, a few years ago the Wimbledon would have brought to the table a yawn. Who would dare challenge Roger Federer, seven times winner of the title? However, in recent years, he has gone cold, with his last Grand Slam title being the Wimbledon 2012. But being the runner-up in the last two years here, he cannot be discounted yet. The man in red-hot form, Novak Djokovic is in pole position to claim his fourth Wimbledon title. Djokovic might well return from the Roland Garros with a career Grand Slam to his name, and with a chance of earning a calendar Grand Slam by the end of the year. Rafael Nadal, already with a poor record here since his last title in 2010, may even have to miss the tournament due to the wrist injury that ruled him out of the French Open. Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka are bound to pose stern challenges. Cometh June, a belter is in reserve for sports fans. Let the games begin!

Hero Nidheesh Samant - BE Computers ____________________________________________________________________ It was a typical night for me. I was going home, travelling in the first class of a Mumbai local. It had been a tiring day at work. I was unwinding with my usual dose of music, looking out at the darkness and the occasional trains passing me by. The train stopped at Khar Road. A couple of people climbed in. Among them was a gangly, young fellow. His white shirt fit loosely over his thin frame. The most striking thing about his appearance, though, was his face. His thin face was covered with scars and gashes. His red eyes were highlighted by the dark circles under them. He looked like a guy to be avoided, on any night. The train resumed its journey. The man sat down on an empty seat. He sat all alone, which seemed to suit him just fine. As the train halted at Bandra, a group of primary school girls got in. Seeing no other place free, the girls sat down next to white shirt. He paid them no attention. The girls at their jovial banter. They got up and moved towards the coach exit, as Matunga Road approached. The train slowed down and finally came to a halt. The girls got down. However, as soon as they got down, the youngest girl among them turned towards the train. Her friend held on to her hand. The little girl started crying as she pointed towards her seat. Just as the train was about to start, white shirt got up, moved towards the exit and tossed a green water bottle to the little girl. The girl caught it and gave white shirt a bright smile, as his visage faded into the darkness. A hero can be anyone. And that night, the little girl had discovered hers.

PHOTOGRAPHY CORNER

Subham Jain BE Computers

Aditya Shingade TE IT

Arabian Souks Ninad Chitnis - SE Electronics _____________________________________________________________

The market bore a deserted look. Less than half an hour before, it was brimming with people. Now, there were just a few in sight. Its alleys, quiet. Most of its shops, closed. Silence, everywhere. Sunlight filtered through the roof above. The atmosphere was cooler than outside. The narrow passages still calling out to us to explore them. Then, one shopkeeper told us the reason for this apparently sudden desertion. Most of the shops close for the afternoon prayers at 1. And then reopen around 4pm. Many souvenir shops, though, are open all day. When we had walked into the bazaar, it was filled with people from every corner of the world. Frankincense, dates, spices, perfumes, everything was on sale. This market reminded me of Istanbul's Grand Bazaar. The Deira Souk was like a younger cousin of the Grand Bazaar. This market is in Deira Dubai. Near the city's world famous Gold Souk. Exploring its alleys, we stumbled out the back entrance. Into another alley of shops. Deira is full of small streets with shops selling all kinds of stuff, at a cheaper rate than the rest of the world. Here you'll even get 'original' Ray-Bans for just 50 dirhams! The back road curved its way towards the entrance of the Gold Souk. The entrance banner proudly claimed 'City of Gold'. And from there started rows of shops selling jewellery of all kinds. Right from everyday necklaces to exotic sets that can't even be imagined by men. And because of the strict laws in the UAE, all that glitters here is really gold! Soon, we made our way back to the Deira water taxi stop. These taxis ferry you across the creek for one dirham. Such souks are an integral part of the Arab life. Nothing is ever bought here without at least some haggling. A funny incident was when we were looking to buy perfumes, called 'attar'. We asked where can we get these in a spice shop. He told us he'll take us there. We went to an adjoining shop with him, he spoke in Arabic with someone and showed us to a person. But perfumes were nowhere to be seen in that shop. Later did we come to know that the person had heard 'Akhtar' which turned out to be the name of a person instead of 'attar'!

Quizzing Section Uday Verma | Nidheesh Samant | Kanishk Kaul ________________________________________________________________________________

1.X-Y is a multinational multimedia conglomerate. It was formed in 1990 after the merger of X Inc and Y Communications. X Inc. is a New York Based publishing company which publishes more than 90 magazines including Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly and Fortune. X-Y’s assets include HBO,Cartoon Network,CNN, DC Comics and many more. Identify X-Y. 2.X , is a well-known mountain flower, belonging to the the daisy or sunflower family.In the 19th century, the X became a symbol of the rugged purity of the Alpine region and of its native inhabitants.It was established in 1907 as the sign of the Austrian-Hungarian alpine troops by Emperor Franz Joseph I. These original 3 Regiments wore their X on the collar of their uniform. During World War I (1915) it was granted to the German alpine troops, for their bravery. 3.The Yardbirds were an English rock band that had a string of hits in the mid-1960s. Their lineup included three of the most famous guitarists of all time- Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and X. After The Yardbirds broke up in 1968, X founded the band Y, which is one of the most famous rock bands of all time. Identify X and Y. 4.Whose non-exhaustive bibliography is this? Also, identify X. A Song for Lya(1976),Dying of the Light(1977),Songs of Stars and Shadows(1977), The Ice Dragon(1980), Windhaven(1981) ,Sandkings(1981),Fevre Dream(1982),Songs the Dead Men Sing(1983), Nightflyers(1985), Portraits of his Children(1987), X(1996). 5.Andrew Anthony has been writing for the Observer since 1993 and for the Guardian since 1990. He is the author of the books “On Penalties” and “The Fallout”.He has also posted a voice tutorial on how to do the thing he is famous for.How do we know him? 6.Bajaj Auto unveiled its new motorcycle on February 1, 2016. It is called ‘V’. The motorcycle is special because of the metal used in making it. It was made using the metal from X, in order to keep the legacy of X alive. X was first of its kind in India, and so will ‘V’ be.Identify X. 7.‘I don’t care, I can buy another pair’ is the official (though less known) response to one of the most epic phrases, probably heard(and used) by all of us at least once in our childhood.Identify the phrase. 8. X National Park' is a national park and a Tiger Reserve in the Mandla and Balaghat districts of Madhya Pradesh, India. The park has a significant population of Royal Bengal Tiger, leopards, the sloth bear, Barasingha and Indian wild dog. The lush sal and bamboo forests, grassy meadows and ravines of X provided inspiration to Rudyard Kipling for his famous novel "Jungle Book “.Identify X. 9. X was nicknamed the Black Panther owing to his speed, technique, athleticism and ferocious right foot. He is considered S.L. Benfica’s most renowned player. After X’s death in 2014, Alfredo Di Stefano stated that for him X would always be the best player of all time.Identify X. 10.If the Durand separates Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the Radcliffe line divides India and Pakistan, then what does a "Vinculum" separate?

11. Asana is a web and mobile application designed to help teams track their work. It was founded in 2008 by X co-founder Y and ex-engineer Justin Rosenstein, who both worked on improving the productivity of employees at X.Some of Asana's highprofile clients include Airbnb, Dropbox, Disqus, Foursquare, Pinterest, Stripe, General Electric, Lets Rent, and Uber.In March 2011, Forbes reported Y to be the youngest self-made billionaire in history, on the basis of his 2.34% share in X.Identify X,Y. 12. During World War II,X was a mechanic at Italy's Royal Air Force. Following the war, he made a fortune by using all the spare military equipment lying about and converting it into farm tractors. X pursued his love of sports cars, collecting the likes of Maseratis, Aston Martins and Ys.X noticed several mechanical glitches in his Y collection, but when he sought to address his grievances to Y himself, he was dismissed by the creator of Y as a 'simple tractor builder'.Insulted, X decided to make his own cars, and formed his own car company in 1963. Identify X and Y. 13. The book is divided into 5 parts • Mitra-bheda • Mitra-labha or Mitra-samprapti • Kakolukiyam • Labdhapranasam • Apariksitakarakam What is the name of the book? 14. First Allied Corporation is a real-estate holding company that owns and rents out shopping malls across the United States. First Allied Corporation is owned by the X family.The family acquired the ownership of Y by gradually buying out shareholders between 2003 and 2005, in one of the most controversial takeovers, which resulted in protests that are still carried out till this day by some sections. Identify X and Y. 15. X is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Y. From 1970 to 1974, he studied for a PhD degree at Imperial College. When his band started to have international success in 1974, he abandoned his doctoral studies, but co-authored two scientific research papers.X attained a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College in 2007 and was a "science team collaborator" with NASA's New Horizons Pluto mission. Identify X and Y. Answers: 1.Time-Warner 2.Edelweiss 3.Jimmy Page.Led Zeppelin 4.George RR Martin.X-A Game of Thrones 5.He is the voice behind, “EA Sports. It’s in the game!” 6.INS Vikrant 7.Liar, liar, pants on fire! 8.Kanha 9.Eusebio 10.Numerator and Denominator 11.X-Facebook, Y-Dustin Moskovitz 12.X- Ferruccio Lamborghini, Y-Ferrari(Enzo Ferrari) 13.Panchatantra 14.X-The Glazer Family, Y-Manchester United 15.X-Brian May, Y- Queen

Taking Flight - Udaan 2016 Shreya Sawleshwarkar | Shwetha Kalyanaraman | Disha Gandhi | Royston D’mello __________________________________________________________________________________________

The “War Of Branches” held on 18th February brought different themes of social relevance to light. The Information Technology branch emerged as the winner. The next two days comprised of interesting events under the heads of- literary arts, performing arts, fine arts and a myriad of informal, fun events.

“We left no stone unturned while organizing the fest. We put all our efforts in to keep ourselves on time during the course of the festival. We didn’t realize we were making memories, we just thought we were having fun!” Aayush Patial General Secretary, SPIT. LITERARY ARTS What speaks volumes about the bubbling talent of the student body of a college are the festivals organised throughout the year. This academic year saw SPIT organise and celebrate UDAAN-2016, the annual cultural festival, from 18th to 20th February with much skill and fervour. UDAAN was proud to have K-Lounge, Tastillo, Lazywyre, Lawman, Integriti and Fair and Handsome as its sponsors The pronites at UDAAN ‘16 electrified the atmosphere. The bands Coshish, Clay Crown, and Kashmeer stole the hearts of the audience with their deep and engaging music, and Vipul Goyal of “The Viral Fever” fame tickle the funny bone of the audience.

Coshish

The students of SPIT only sharpened their skills with words through the literary events held during UDAAN. Sardar Patel Model United Nations-a pre-fest event- was held on the 13th and 14th of February and saw a massive response from enthusiastic delegates all over Mumbai. The Anonymous Writer(an online community of phenomenal writers) conducted a workshop on “Writing Skills”.“Word Wars” was a delicious mix of literary quizzes, Pictionary, and impromptu storytelling with a pinch of grammar. JAM-“Just A Minute” tested the quick-wittedness of the participants as well as their flair with speaking skills. The SPIT Debate- a roaring successsaw over 16 teams battle it out in the most eloquent of ways. “exQUIZit”- a general quiz with a dash of movie mania, was much appreciated by the ever-enthusiastic crowd of SPIT.

The Anonymous Writer

Aelaan-e-Jung –Inter-College Dance Contest

Nukkad-Street Play

PERFORMING ARTS

INFORMALS

No cultural fest even begins without the rhythm of the beat, the bright lights on the stage and a vast crowd of people cheering their friends on as they dance their hearts out. So was the case with UDAAN.

A large number of fun and informal events were held during UDAAN for students to relax and rejuvenate themselves. Distraction presented a series of tasks with daunting disturbances and only the one with an eye for detail could get by! Casino- was a fun event where you gambled your woes away! Participants had to find their way through a dark room before a bomb went off in an unknown corner, in a challenge presented by “No Escape”. Pool Football, LAN Mafia, and Box Cricket were exciting events to attend. Pokemon 2.0- the hot favourite of most people was a thrilling ride from the world of Ash and Pikachu. Karaoke gave the students an opportunity to sing their hearts out, for the whole world to hear. The major attraction was Hogathon- Eat, Stuff, Repeat- a hilarious eating contest that is a major favourite at all fests.

“Chance pe Dance” was an opportunity for the dancers of SPIT to display their talents, solo or in a group of two. “Voice Of UDAAN” united all the nightingales of SPIT onto one glorious platform. “Nukkad”- the street play contest bared the stark reality of various social issues that are raging today. “Boom Boom Chick”- a platform for the growing skill of beat-boxing was enthusiastically appreciated by the students. The “Miss Beautiful and Mr. Handsome” contest was an ideal platform for the best personalities of the college to showcase their skills. An icing on the cake, Aelaan-eJung was the much-awaited inter-college dance contest. The dance team from KJ Somaiya stole the show with their enthralling performance.

FINE ARTS The aspects of art that involve extreme skill and precision were also among the various challenges put forth during UDAAN-16. Unique arts like Dubsmash, nail art, quilling, and sketching were also exhibited during the fest.

“’Udaan’, as the name says, was a flight full of responsibilities, promises and a fight to stand apart. The journey right from deciding to have our own festival to the last night of it was exhilarating and at the same time strenuous. The huge success of UDAAN-16 was the effort of each and every person working for it. ” Mokshada Mahajan Cultural Secretary, SPIT. A product of excellent organisational skills, efficient time management, on the spot thinking and coordination of the highest order, UDAAN-16 was certainly an amazing flight. With seat belts tied, the students are eagerly waiting for the next giant leap. UDAAN-17.

Decibel- The College Band

The River Uday Verma _______________________________________________________________________

He looked along the alien river, His destination nowhere in sight, Wondering if he had the strength, To do what was right.

Stepping on to the boat, Letting go of his fright, He picked up the oars, Gathering all of his might.

Rowing along the river, Through the ebb and flow, Often he called out to the water, To find out what it knows.

Wily as the river was, It replied as and when it pleased, Asserting control over The life it had leased.

Through the meandering path, Incidents filled his life, While some gave him joy, Others were nothing but strife.

As the river mouth grew ever closer, He paused and turned back, He looked along the familiar river, The beginning nowhere in sight.

Alumna Interview : Ritika Nevatia Alwin Eldhose Babu | Sheen Dhar ______________________________________________________________________________________

A firm believer in "jack of all trades", Ritika finished her BE in CS in 2015, and interned at Barclays and CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research)-one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research, while she was a student . She loved participating in Hackathons as a student. She is working at Rakuten right now. She is passionate about technology and travelling (18 countries and counting).

What inspired you to apply to such a famous and highly demanding organization like CERN? Can you tell us about the application process? Rather who inspired me, was my friend, Soham Kanade (also the founder of SPark). Soham encouraged me to apply to CERN. So, I went ahead and looked at the website and the program. But I knew it was a long shot; probably it was impossible to get in but I applied for the sake of it. The application process involves in filling a form online which is open till February to my knowledge. A few questions are required to answer. Personally, what I think made a difference to my application process was that I answered all the questions extremely honestly as to what skills I knew, what skills I could improve upon ,why CERN. I also did a lot of research by myself, sat on quora. You also need to submit a statement of purpose and 2 letters of recommendation. That’s about it. Then you get an application email stating that you have applied successfully. Then you finally get a response. There’s no intermediate process like an interview.

What credentials were required? How were you tested? Honestly, I don’t know. But I did try to find out once I went there. I think what they look for at CERN is really highly motivated people. It’s mostly research work. You should be enrolled in a University. I had to submit a copy of my identity card to state that I was in my 4thyear. What makes a strong application is honesty, keywords and convincing them that why you are the best choice for this process.

What was your thought process during the entire application process? To be entirely honest, I think I submitted my application on the second last day of the deadline. But I will confess that I spent an entire month writing and revaluating my statement of purpose. I made my friends read my statement of purpose every time I updated it. I wrote a copy of this statement of purpose in January but if I got any important point in my mind and I would find it necessary to incorporate it or remove something I would go forth with it. Eventually, the letter turned out to look extremely beautiful. It was a continuous process. I knew very well what was required. So even if I wasn’t physically writing the points down, I was jotting them down in my head. In the end, it has to turn out to be crisp and to the point.

Describe your experience as an intern at CERN. Oh! it’s amazing! I have no words. Apart from the fact that it’s an international organization, you meet new people and you obviously get to be a part of so many research options there’s so much more to it. I’ll go over it one by one.

a. THE WORK It’s phenomenal. Needless to say they, discovered the World Wide Web there, the Higgs boson particle and they are doing amazing work in recreating your plasma. There’s so much to learn in a period of two months. You’ll be awestruck. I haven’t learned that much physics in such a short span of time.What I did as a computer scientist there-I realized how computer science was applicable in so many different fields and physics was an aspect of it as well. I’d like to cite an example. There was a research on how some lasers cure some form of cancers but the problem is cancer tumors are extremely specific. The lasers that existed before would damage the healthy skin around the tumor as well. So what they did was after studying particles, the managed to create a laser that would pinpoint on the tumor and wouldn’t interact with the healthy skin at all.It starts with physics but it ends up saving so many lives.My project was more about databases. They have data generated in petabytes. That’s an enormous figure. I got to work on the large Hadron Collider experiment closely. We had to make some optimizations on the database and work with Oracle for that matter.

b. PEOPLE I METEvery year CERN accepts around 20 interns but 2015 was a special year where they accepted 40.They had more spots. There were 40 interns from 27 countries. Before going to CERN I had visited 10-12 countries, but trust me I never had such a vast cultural experience. I already had exposure to diverse cultures but after going to CERN I felt that there was so much more to learn. I have made amazing friends for life; some who I talk to on daily basis, some weekly and some monthly. It is so good to have a different perspective not only on how they think about work but also about life in general. There was never a day in CERN we slept before 2am because we were busy exchanging knowledge about the places we come from, about our culture etc .There were people hailing from Poland, Spain , Macedonia, Finland, Greece, Denmark and it was so special to be amongst them.

c. MEETING IMPORTANT PEOPLE – THE GAME CHANGERS IN TODAYS SOCIETY The World Wide Web was invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and he did that while he was still doing research in CERN, and to my surprise I met his mentor during those times and had the opportunity to have lunch with him on two or three occasions. Later I also got to work with him and he gave me so much knowledge and so much inspiration for the rest of my life. It’s amazing to sit next to a person, to talk to a person who plays such an integral role in the history of mankind.

How did a computer savvy team end up winning a CIMA global business challenge? To be honest it wasn’t a computer savvy team only one of us from computers, one from IT and rest from Electronics. We just worked very hard for the challenge. At one point of time my life was so difficult. I had the GRE to take, CIMA,I had CERN to leave for. June 2015 was one of the most difficult periods of my life since university exams were also on during this process. My mother was also admitted to the hospital during this period. There were so many events. What really made a difference is that I was managing my time really well. Now that I look back at it, it was extremely hectic. I will elaborate. It was solely teamwork. We split our duties well. I took up areas of my specialty. It was easier for me to do the technological stuff than the other members of the team. We played to our strengths. That’s how I think we ended up winning.

What did you take away from this competition? What was your major learning experience? One was fame and popularity. We came first in 444 teams of the country and second in 26 countries, and I got to visit Poland for the competition. Coming to learning, none of my studies ever helped me gain acumen for finance; it was always computer science and logic for me. With CIMA, I was able to realize that this potential for finance is pretty concrete in me. I learned a lot about how management consultancy works, how Finance and Oil & Gas industries work. Apart from this, another major learning experience was communication. CIMA involves you to speak. The judges were from different countries, the accents were different. We were super nervous and the pressure was intense. Being able to talk flawlessly and present a lot of points in a very short time is what I learned at CIMA.

How will you guide the students willing to follow your footsteps? Any word of advice? Participate a lot in a lot of activities. I was associated with CSI, SPARK, I participated in competitions, I went for hackathons, I applied for an insane amount of internships, I applied for jobs outside India. Keep yourself busy. Do things apart from just those that are expected from you. I did so much more outside the scope and I think this is what makes a difference. I was always busy, like there was no point in my life when I felt like Oh! I'm so relaxed. I was always doing something. So I think you can do it. Everybody has twenty-four hours and I think how you utilize them best is what makes a difference between you and a really successful person. So that would be my word of advice-participate in a varied variety of activities. I used to go for SPQC, I used to attend violin classes, I used to write a blog. I did so many activities and I'm really glad that I did them you know. Because this gives you experience, with this you realize, you learn new skills without even realizing you learn them. . So, do a lot of stuff, keep yourself busy. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just study and have fun only. Do things apart from what is being expected of you. None of these things I listed is something which is expected from an engineering student , but I do so much more outside the scope and I think that is what makes a difference.

What are some of the fondest memories you have of your college life?If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently? I had six friends in college, who were really my friends. And, they were the people who really helped me grow as an individual, who pointed out my flaws, they were the ones who I had fun with. They were the ones I did my projects with, I went for hackathons with, watched movies with, and we did a lot of things together. And every time I think about college, I just think about these six people that's it. They are the fondest memories from my college, those six people. If I had to do it all over again I would not waste my first and second year. All these things that I mentioned I did I did it in my 3rd and 4th year of college and I really regret that. I now think that first and second year were times when I had so much more time than what I had in 3rd and 4th year. 3rd and 4th year were burdened with projects and stuff but in first and second I was so much freer. I wasted so much more time back then. So if I had to do it all over again. I would be more active since day one on semester one.

प हला पाऊस हमानी चौधर - BE Computers

__________________________________________________________________________

ART CORNER

Suyash Thakare TE Computers

SPark Recommends: Shantaram Kartik Iyer - BE Computers __________________________________________________________________________

When I picked up Shantaram, the first thing that I inferred was that the title was quite misleading. The story is set in India, about a guy who's name is Shantaram, but is an Australian convict who escapes to Mumbai on a fake passport. Shantaram is the name Lin, the protagonist, earns as he embarks on his set of adventures in and around Mumbai. Written by Gregory David Roberts, this is a semi-fictional autobiography, where the author claims that the whole storyline is based on many true incidents and experiences, although it is up to us to figure out what may be fact and what may be fiction. The protagonist of the story is based on the author, who was actually convicted for armed robbery, and escaped prison to Mumbai. The initial drafts of the novel were penned down by Roberts in prison. Set in the 80's, this novel explores Mumbai in a completely different light. Lin ends up working with the richest and the poorest, and through everything he does, becomes more and more Indian. Surrounded by friendships and betrayal, love and hate, he edges on games of cats and mice,meeting several people in the process, including humble men from slums to mafia dons controlling multiple criminal facades. It is interesting to read the experience of a foreigner who learns the Indian ways, such as the significance of a simple head-nod, and the immediate change of attitude from hostile to welcoming, just by speaking a few words in a native language. The entire transformation of Lin throughout the story line, physically, mentally and spiritually is very well portrayed. Among the noteworthy points about the novel is firstly the descriptive style of writing. Some parts are extremely gripping, and the readers are left to wonder how much of it would be true. The fact that the story is fictionalized did nothing to stop me from pondering upon this very idea. Furthermore, it exemplifies the banality of 'appearances can be deceptive' perfectly. It makes the readers ponder that not all foreigners come to India to party, or on holiday, completely breaking stereotypes. Indians, especially Mumbaikars can relate to a lot of the ideas and notions conveyed, especially with respect to the geographical landmarks and places, which embellishes the writing to the extent that you may start living vicariously through the characters. However, the book is huge, ranging to almost a 1000 pages, which might put off casual readers. Shantaram is definitely a unique display of writing. The flavour added by the fact to the fictional elements in the story blend in perfectly, and this is why the book can get extremely gripping at times. It is a tale about friendship, introspection, love, betrayal, hate, revenge, humor and many, many more emotions to which you can easily relate. It has the potential to change your perspective about life.

Like the beautiful pieces of a kaleidoscope, the mass of humanity gathered around us is a wonderful amalgamation of diversity. It is this spectrum of variety that teaches lessons and radiates inspiration to one and all. SPark aims to bring to you several unique and amazing personalities that dwell among us, as they talk about their life-changing experiences. Presenting- Humans Of SPIT! “Hello, students. I am Prachi Gharpure, the Principal in who you will always find a friend, a counselor, a well-wisher and an enthusiastic learner. Life is a journey that gives you the choice to perpetually be happy- you just have to make that choice and embrace the magic of life in its entirety. I enjoy dancing, singing and appreciate delicious food. I also love to read. I was born and brought up in Indore and moved to Mumbai after my marriage. Teaching as a profession happened by chance and unknowingly turned into a passion. I ventured into this field as a young twenty-two-year-old, similar to the Teaching Assistants (TAs) that we have here at SPIT. However, as I spent more and more time with the students and received warmth and appreciation, I realized that this is a profession I would never trade for any other. I fully involved myself in all student activities, be it curricular or co-curricular and found my true calling. In the field of administrative work, a change in my policies was brought about by a bitter but valuable experience. It made me adapt a clinical and objective attitude towards some aspects of my job as an administrator. I have also come to realize that we often encounter people who pretend to be what they aren't. I genuinely appreciate honest people. SPIT is fortunate to have such wonderful and fantastic students. They are bright, innovative and hard-working. They practice discipline of the highest order and we have never encountered any major behavioural issues. However, they are increasingly becoming detached with their college life while focussing on what comes next. While they do enjoy coming to college, I don't think they live and breathe their four years to the fullest. Often, they appear for their respective competitive exams even before completing their course here. My advice would be to focus on the goal at hand and address the long-term goals after the current ones are established. Make the most of your four years. Have the time of your life.” -Dr. Prachi Gharpure Principal, SPIT.

“Nowadays, whenever people think of career paths, all they want to be is a Doctor, a C.A. or an Engineer! It’s either Commerce or Science. Ironically, being a lecturer has always been my dream. As a child, I had this amazing Geography teacher who showed us how beautiful the subject really is. It is wonderful how all the varied aspects of nature and culture can be encompassed under one head, for us to learn and grow. And now all that happens is students cramming up everything just before their exams. By teaching, I wish to make a difference. Children should really learn and understand, because only then will their education be fruitful and enjoyable. I intend to take immense efforts for the same, by attending college or pursuing correspondence courses. My experience at SPIT has taught me several essential virtues of life- like patience, dedication. The students are hard-working and brilliant, certain to achieve great heights in the future!”

-Priya Parab, Library Assistant.

“ Hello, dear children, this is Meghana Naik, a teacher who thoroughly enjoys teaching you! My path towards this profession was paved in the third year of my graduation when I took the initiative to take tuitions for grade 11-12 students. They took a liking to me and I found a zone of affection and comfort. Maths has always been my favorite subject. These two equations added up, and here I am! I am fortunate because I have immense job satisfaction and find balancing work with my personal life to be an exciting task. I joined SPIT in 2007 as a beginner. Being a professor in a college with the cream students of the city made my job challenging. They hurled questions and queries at me. Though I found that interesting, their boisterous nature bothered me. It was hard to monitor them. I was repeatedly allotted the same class by my supervisors despite my incessant requests not to do so. The students eventually realized how hard I was working. In the first class of my third semester with them, they applauded me as I entered the class. I felt like my efforts were really appreciated! Needless to say, classes were a smooth ride thereon!” -Prof. Meghana Naik “There was this 3-year-old girl I once counseled. She had a tumor in her head, she was fighting for life. She had completely given up, stopped talking, eating. She was underweight; hence, the doctors couldn’t operate on her. I took a couple of therapy sessions with her, and it made so much difference! She started eating, walking and actually conversing with her parents. Her health was improving. And watching her get better gave me so much joy! As a child, I once met with a critical accident and I too was fighting for life. Now my parents often tell me- Just the way you got a new chance at life, you’re here for the others. Counseling is a very contributing field where you can reach out to people. I want to talk to the students and know what’s happening in their lives, help them out in any way, and spread more joy. Find me on the 4th floor, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and come talk to me, be it anything. I’m looking forward and I’ll be very happy to have you all.” -Parita Shah, Counselor for SPIT. “My life changed when he first came home – my brother. I don’t know why but that memory is etched in my mind. My mom and dad, who are doctors, were in the hospital and my grandma had come to take care of me. The prospect of having a younger brother had electrified me. My grandma says I couldn’t stay still at all, that I had been jumping all day long in banyan and shorts. I was on the dinner table when the doorbell rang. I jumped and fell flat on my face. By then I had already bruised my knees, running around the house. I immediately got back up and ran to open the door. You know, people often ask ‘What is your happiest memory?’ or ‘What was the moment that changed your life?’Well, I’ve had several such moments but yes, this memory checks both the boxes but also takes the first place. That’s because I didn’t only get a brother, but also a friend, whom I have to look after. I don’t feel embarrassed to admit that he’s better than me at EVERYTHING, be it academics or sports. And there’s not a single that goes by without me thanking God for such a wonderful brother like him. Albeit he may be younger, he is my role model, my inspiration.” -Neil Daftary FE Computers “When I joined S.P.I.T. in 2013, I was a very gloomy and depressed person. I would hardly talk to anyone in my class. I had scored poorly in the MH-CET; my grandfather had passed away that year; my family was tackling some financial issues and I had faced a bad break up. I was crumbling under pressure. But eventually, I realized that I wasn't sad because I had problems in my life. I was sad because I let these problems define my state of mind. There is a lot of pain and sadness around us. People have bigger problems and issues. All we need are few moments of joy. When I understood this, I found the key to my happiness. Now, every morning, after waking up, I pledge to make at least one person smile. In their laughter, I find my joy.” Nikita Pagar TE Electronics

Hi, I’m Vikesh, a 3rd year IT undergrad here at SPIT. I’m passionate about building web Apps, API development, testing and open source software. A few years ago, when I couldn't make it to any of the MBBS degree courses, I decided to do BSC Microbiology and it changed my life. It was the last day to submit the BSC form. The online form submission had already closed. When I went to different colleges for the offline admission, all twelve colleges refused to accept me. I took a gap of one year, prepared for Engineering Entrance Exams, got into SPIT and here I am! I have had amazing experiences as a budding software engineer. After my third year, I wanted to pursue an Internship in the best possible company. I had started preparing vigorously. I applied to more than 20 companies. "Slack" is a messaging app for teams. The company is based in San Francisco. I’m in deeply awed by Slack and this encouraged me to apply. I applied for Software Engineer position and got a reply from them after a month. They were 4 rounds, in all. And I managed to secure this internship! -Vikesh Tiwari TE IT. Participating in this year’s IEEE Conference was a true come true, not to mention, terribly overwhelming. Representing our college on a global scale made us profusely proud. In our second year, we had resolved to get our technical paper published in the magazine of an international organization. We had also realized that our college has profuse amounts of untapped resources and amenities. Under the guidance of professor YS Rao, we were able to envision our dreams to fruition. However, all was not hunky dory for us. Instead of working on three separate mini-projects in the second and third year, we worked on one single idea that had practical application in the industry, for those two years. No one understood our project, and we scored straight zero in our mini projects. Now, our project has been inculcated in the sixth-semester syllabus, and we have been training faculties of the Mumbai University. We have also developed our own video tutorial series. We want to implement the idea of passing of projects, wherein our juniors don’t waste time in learning concepts that we had to learn from scratch. Instead, build upon the idea, and think of its application. We want to become proud alumni. We want to make S.P.I.T. lambent in the pages of history. -Vrajesh Prajapati and Jayganesh Rajaram, BE EXTC. It is definitely not the first thought which would come to your mind when you see me today, but as a child; I was very timid and shy, always afraid. In the seventh grade, my mom pushed me into joining karate classes. At first, I was against it and completely resisted the idea, thinking that I wasn't cut out to fight. Boy was I wrong! I realized that Karate isn’t about the fighting and the bashing! It is an art of developing one’s physical as well as mental strength, hence building up confidence. Today, I have turned so much more confident with complete trust in my abilities. I have also been teaching karate to children in the age group 7-9 for quite some time. When you’re teaching the kids, you’ re joking with them, sometimes yelling and still trying to get the best of them, the experience is out of the world and brings you so much joy! I have realized that you can bring about a change in others, only if you are capable of bringing a change in yourself! -Sanjana Krishna, SE Computers.

Spirit 2016 Soumyaa Passari | Prerna Sukhija | Ankur Chokhani ____________________________________________________________________________________

“The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.” -Pele

This year,2016, SPIRIT, Sardar Patel's Annual Sports Festival, completed a decade of being a platform for healthy, spirited competition, for a number of students from a number of colleges across Mumbai. It commenced in the month of January and various colleges battled with enthusiasm over the much-coveted trophies. SPIRIT had the privilege of organizing a fund-raising Marathon, in collaboration with the Rotaract Club of SPIT, for underprivileged children. All the funds raised from this marathon were donated to Uprale Vibhag High School, Palghar. The marathon, as expected, had a turnout of over 400 ambitious students, revved with energy. SPIRIT comprised of an eclectic set of sports -and win or lose, it fostered a sense of exhilaration amongst the players.The spectators crowded the grounds for the excitement, but even more so, for the drama. There is nothing more exciting than watching your team resurrect in that final over, in that extra time, in that last point to overcome the odds.

SPIT’s Throwball Team

SPIT was the runner-up at the cricket, football, basketball, volleyball and throwball competitions.The winner of cricket was VIT college,Wadala.Football was won by KJ Somaiya, while basketball, by NMIMS. Volleyball was won by IIT Bombay and throwball, by Don Bosco. ICT won the table tennis competition, with Jai Hind college as runners-up.The chess tournament was won by Pratik Thorwe from SPIT.

"I would especially thank our principal, Dr.Prachi Gharpure, Our Gymkhana head, Prof.Jignesh Sisodia for their constant support and guidance without which it wouldn't have been possible to achieve the success which we have now.Without a doubt, a big thanks to the organisers and...yes, the Spectators!" Vaishnav Dandge Sports Secretary, SPIT.

The predecessor of the annual cultural festival UDAAN, SPIRIT was a gigantic success. Naturally, organizing an ambitious festival can be taxing and it took a team of arduous SPITians to see this through.The graph of excellence of SPIRIT is rapidly on the rise. Almost 35 colleges participated to compete with the rest and it eventually turned out to be a great show of sportsmanship. This is what is hidden in the name "SPIRIT" it's not only about participating and winning or losing but it's about the spirit with how we play. This makes a true sportsman.

“It was an exhilarating experience and there was much to learn from it.The entire team who helped organise SPirit contributed in making it a roaring success.” Mrdvika Iyer Sports Secretary, SPIT.

SPIT’s Chess Team

SPIT’s Volleyball Team

SPIRIT this year witnessed incredible moments from the participants and spectators alike, setting the bars high for the editions to come. They say trophies gather dust but memories last forever.Until next time.

SPIT’ Football Team

SPIT’s Cricket Team

Netflix Originals: Marvel Cinematic Universe Arijit Ghosh- FE Electronics _______________________________________________________________________________

When it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one is not a stranger to movies such as Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, and the upcoming Doctor Strange. These are just some of the big names of the MCU to be featured on the big screen. But lately, MCU has expanded its outlet to TV series. As of Q2 2016, there are four ongoing TV drama series in the MCU – Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Daredevil and Jessica Jones. As Netflix has officially launched in India, there is a plethora of Netflix Originals to catch up on such as House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black, Arrested Development and of course, Marvel’s Daredevil & Marvel’s Jessica Jones. Netflix Originals, to be put simply, are brilliant. Daredevil and Jessica Jones are no less when it comes to cinematography and story-telling. If you are one of the many who were disappointed by the Daredevil feature film from 2003, then this Netflix Original is the greener (and darker, figuratively) side of the grass. Daredevil and Elektra are both creations of Frank Miller, who tends to expatiate the darker reality of superheroes, and are both intricate characters have been delineated in this Netflix series. The story revolves around Matt Murdock, a.k.a. Daredevil, who is a ‘Lawyer by Day, Vigilante by Night’, who has a dynamic (mentally and physically) character. The casting for this series is ingenious. Charlie Cox, who is the protagonist, is a brilliant artist and has done justice to the character. Vincent D’Onofrio is equally influential by his performance of the mighty crime overlord Kingpin. Jessica Jones is a much lesser known darker character from Marvel Comics but definitely a serpentine one. This Netflix Original chronicles the life of mysterious Jessica Jones who is a former superhero and now is a private investigator. The story mainly focuses on the protagonist Jessica Jones and antagonist Kilgrave, a.k.a. the Purple Man. There are a few Marvel characters such as Luke Cage and Patricia “Trish” Walker. Krysten Ritter has portrayed the protagonist exceptionally good and David Tennant intriguingly played the role of Kilgrave. (Jessica Jones series is in the same timeline and universe as that of the Daredevil series and has some direct references and cameos, thus watching them in the chronological order is advised.) Future Netflix Originals will feature Luke Cage, and introduce Iron Fist & The Defenders into the MCU. Netflix has also ordered a Daredevil spin-off series featuring The Punisher.

A Classroom Memory Tanisha Kulkarni- SE Computers ____________________________________________________________________________________

I was once asked this question - “What is your best classroom memory?” I thought of all the memorable times we had in class: the teasing, the fun times playing handball and throwball, and the Class X farewell. But this particular memory,though random, intrigued me. This happened when I was in Class X. There was a boy in class who was extremely mischievous, and he didn’t interact with others as well. He didn’t have a good reputation, hence, I too never spoke to him. Once during a Marathi lecture, the teacher (also our class teacher) noticed that the top two buttons of his shirt were missing. Dismissing it as one of his antics, she thought that he had done it on purpose and scolded him. The next day, the boy came in with the same shirt. The buttons were still not stitched back on. Nevertheless, the teacher got angry and questioned him as to why his shirt wasn’t fixed. To everyone’s shock, the boy who had a reply for everything just hung his head low and didn’t say a word. Our teacher didn’t say anything further. The next day, the first lecture was Marathi. After the daily attendance, instead of starting with the lessons, the teacher came over to that boy (no points for guessing whether the shirt was mended or not!). We saw that in her hand was a needle, buttons, and some thread. She smiled at him and started stitching his shirt. And I tell you, the expression on that boy’s face was priceless! Later I came to know that he didn’t have any parents. They had died in a car crash years ago and he lived with his grandparents.I believe he had problems at home, or maybe it was something else. My teacher could have shouted at him, given him a bad remark, maybe even reported him to the principal. But she didn’t. She had just given him an understanding smile while stitching his shirt. Maybe he found a mother figure in our teacher. That day, I learned that it is fundamentally wrong to judge a person, before getting to know what makes them who they are. It is wise to walk a mile in their shoes before forming an opinion about them.

Also, a simple act of kindness can have a big impact on someone's life.

You Just Have To Believe Nikhita Ramakrishnan- TE IT ____________________________________________________________________________________________

Inspired by Kung Fu Panda

The Heavens were calm, the Valley at peace The winds resonated with a pleasing caprice The scent of the spring and the mirth of the stream The beauty of nature akin to a dream

At the cusp of the brook and the ancient old ford A Warrior stood waiting, his hand on his sword His Master descended, the Wisest of Wise His visage was calm, his robe oversize

He turned to the Warrior, enquired in a low voice What brings you to these parts, your chance or your choice? The Warrior then bowed and said in concise, “I come here, Oh Master, to seek your advice.”

“Twenty long years have I spent in pursuit Of that art which so many consider astute I have learnt how to fight, but not how to win I know the end goal, but where to begin?

I woo satisfaction, not a life full of rancour I do seek victory, but also to conquer Conquer all power and conquer the world My fame should be so very liberally unfurled.

Pray grant me the wisdom that flows through your mind And lead me to procure the answer I find. Help me, Oh Master, pray do not deny You will not find a pupil as grateful as I.”

The Master then smiled and he slowly did say, “I agree Brave Warrior, to show you the way Come, walk with me upto the River of Bliss The Answer lies out there, your doubts we will dismiss.”

The Warrior consented, they walked down the road And stopped at the banks of the River that flowed. The waters pure emerald, they sparkled in light They served as a mirror, for sight and insight.

“Your mind must you open, your eyes must you close And picture your enemy who puts you in throes.” The pupil complied and he thought in earnest Of a long list of persons he did so detest.

The Master and pupil, together they knelt And gazed in the waters to see what they dealt. They saw but two persons, one young and one old The Master then spoke up, “Brave Warrior, behold

The young man that in these green waters you see Is your dearest friend and your worst enemy.” The Warrior looked up and he said with a cry, “Oh Master, that man in those waters is I”

The Master then nodded and said, “Yes, indeed The face in those waters is the man that you need. If you conquer that man, your answer you find Before this great world, you first conquer your mind.

Conquer your greed and shed off your distress Befriend the calm, let your anger regress. Conquer your ego, let go of your pains The past may be bitter, but your present now reigns.

While you aspire to scale every new height Plan with the Mind and then work with the Might. Brave Warrior, this secret that you so pursue This secret is faith that lies somewhere in you.

Remember, Brave Warrior, this truth all the way Remember the wise words of Master Oogway. Live what he said, and learn to perceive There’s no secret ingredient, you just have to believe.

Technology Business Incubator Alwin Eldhose Babu | Manas Sardar ______________________________________________________________________________________

Another Breakthrough for S.P.I.T, as it received a grant from the DST(Department of Science and Technology) to establish the first-of-its-kind 'open' Incubator. To formalize the ongoing unofficial incubator, our college applied for the Department ofScience and Technology (DST) grant in 2012 and after a series of prolonged interviews, received a grant of 4.17 Crore in 2016, for a span of 5 years.Being one of the only two colleges in Mumbai who have received this grant, S.P.I.T unlike IIT-B allows students from other institutes to set up technological businesses in their incubator.

From the Principal's Desk : By being cognizant of the idea, from the U.S. University Conference that she attended in 2008, Ma'am deemed and envisioned the same for our college. A dream to go beyond the realms of job-seeking culture and along with entrepreneurship, give technology a new face, enabled us to set up and formalize an incubator in our Institute. As luck would have it,it all started in 2009, when two of our first batch alumni, Sagar and Rahul approached Ma'am and expressed their desire to start something of their own and a need for a place for it, which was provided in SPIT on the 7th floor. So that was how the first company "Mallers Inc" started in college, which would grow and become one to be acquired by Flipkart in 2011. It was a great first-hand experience for four of our students who were hired as interns for Mallers. In about three years, we had five companies started, out of which three graduated for various reasons, such as getting acquired by Flipkart to getting clients from the US and needing to move out. On being asked about the long-term vision for the incubator centre, ma'am added cheerfully, "We should have at least one Microsoft out of it, and then SPIT forever would have no problem." Maâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;am feels that it is a very healthy ecosystem to have because the success of incubator implies success of SPIT and its students. It is the students who will be actively contributing to the startups and working towards its success. We should work towards becoming job providers. The idea is to motivate the students to become hardcore technologists. That is why we are looking for a strong cultural setup, that along with current e-commerce startups also instills in students an urge to become product manufacturers. The deferred placement option also helps the students to chase their passion fearlessly and sit for placements after two years with regular students, having gained the edge of knowledge and experience in that term. We are also trying to bring in sustenance scholarships for our students interested in pursuing the road of their own startups.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We should work towards becoming job providers. The idea is to motivate the students to become hardcore technologists.â&#x20AC;&#x153;

From Mr.Vinod Sikka and Prof.K. T. Talele's desk: While "Mallers Inc" was the first company to function at SPIT, "A Break Please Holidays"- a travel aggregator and "Lastbench"an e-learning space, also followed suit and graduated successfully out of college. As companies continued to grow in size and number, it was decided to formalize the incubator. Accordingly, a separate trust was formed for the same and options to seek out grants were considered. Consequently, we approached the DST, and considered the requirements for the same. Formalizing a trust under the "Charity commission of Bombay" became possible in a period of six months, after which an application was forwarded to DST. The application clearly mentioned the vision and mission of the Sardar Patel Technology Business Incubator (SP-TBI) and the past success stories about startups in college. It also mentioned how we planned to use the grant on a year by year basis and convincing them about the operational manpower and expertise we were equipped with. A presentation was given to an expert panel appointed by the DST to review the application at Hyderabad, following which an interview was held which went on smoothly. An approval of Rs. 4.17 crore was granted for over a period of five years, meant for the operation and capital costs of SP-TBI, while the infrastructure is provided by the college. As on date, we have had 4 startups from alumni and outsiders and 1 student founded startup. The infrastructure for startups includes offices and co-spaces that are provided at about one-fourth of the actual market price. The application details for a startup is provided on the website of SP-TBI http://tbi.spit.ac.in/ . The applications are reviewed by an expert panel, consisting of the governing body of SP-TBI, and experts from S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, industries, and government bodies. Apart from good infrastructure and well-equipped spaces, the companies also benefit from the fact that they can easily market their products through various events and workshops in the institute, as well as connect with investors automatically. The investors easily develop trust over startups which are backed by an institute's incubation centre. They reiterate that SP-TBI would not have been possible without the idea, vision, and strong passion of our very own principal, Dr. Prachi Gharpure. As they speak, the entire eighth floor is being revamped to give it a more refined and official look, and to provide for the flourishing demand for new startups and spaces.

An approval of Rs. 4.17 crore was granted for over a period of five years, meant for the operation and capital costs of SP-TBI, while the infrastructure is provided by the college.

Bidding Goodbye - Batches Of 2016

Information Technology

Electronics and Telecommunication 34

Computers

Electronics 35

SPark | What Ignites SP Powered by Collegeshack Photography Credits - Shutterworks SPIT Magazine Design - Uday Verma and Suyash Thakare

www.spark.collegeshack.in

Issue 2015-2016