Get them on the shelf

Image via WikipediaDo you like reading or do you dislike it?
If you like reading, do you have a title in mind that isn't on the library shelf? Please tell me about it.
If you don't like reading, there must be one or two books that you have heard of. If you want to read them in near future, please let me know.

The books will be ordered for BITS library. Even if you are not a BITSian, you can suggest books that a college library should have.

Any genre which suits general reading will do. Novels, biographies, travelogues, anthologies....... Because as Sir Francis Bacon said "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested. "

For BITSians, please check in the catalogue that the book isn't already present. (They don't believe in two copies.)

Also, it'll be really nice of you if you could tell me the publisher and ISBN. You need to Google only one book, poor me will have to plough through the whole list.

The empty comment box is waiting for you....

Yaadein 1.0: Elections

Elections would seem a strange choice as the first topic among college memories. But, it was there in one of my first posts on this campus and the last elections just finished yesterday. Election Commission (EC) was the first activity that I took up in campus. Imagine being the second week in campus and the Chief Warden  is interviewing you at 9pm in his chamber.

यादें

कॉलेज का आखिरी साल, हर लम्हे को पूरी तरह जी लेने का जज़्बा लेकर आता है| हर कोई कहता है कि यह चार साल ज़िन्दगी के सबसे सुनहरे साल हैं, जितनी मस्ती कर सकते हो कर लो| पर यथार्थ में यही ज़िन्दगी की नींव के सबसे महत्त्वपूर्ण पत्थर भी होते हैं| चौथे साल तक भविष्य कि चिंता दस्तक देने लगती है, साथ ही दोस्तों की अहमियत महसूस होती है | इस उधेड़बुन के बीच मैं यह चिट्ठा लिख रही हूँ, कॉलेज के रंगीन दिनों पर | कुछ दोस्त विदाई ले चुके हैं, बाकीयों से बिछुड़ने का अहसास है |  पर होठों पर सदा मुस्कान लायेंगी कॉलेज कि ये यादें ........


PS: If you are a non-Hindi reader, don't worry, I won't be writing the memoir completely in Hindi :P

Driving in Jabalpur

If you appreciate chaos, you would love this. Heavy traffic, no rules whatsoever and roads with potholes. Driving a two-wheeler in Jabalpur is at times a circus where you are unknowingly one of the jokers.  I went driving for a mere 8 km today and a few peeks at the journey can tell you a lot about my daily experience:

I’m driving a bit towards the left on the road and a passenger auto decides to go left and stop right before me. No problem, with autos you can expect that they’ll turn or stop whenever and wherever they feel like. I then overtook it from the right but then somebody has to get down on the right side.

Time Efficiently Disbursed: TEDx

Inspiring ideas + enthralling evidence + splendid speakers = TEDx BITS Goa

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. TEDx was a conference which attracted many speakers from all over India who wanted to spread their ideas. It was an awesome experience to hear those prolific thinkers today. TEDx was preceded by TEDx University where a few speakers where given 4 minutes each to present their idea. The main speakers were given 18 minutes each.

Some of the impressive performances were of : engineer turned toymaker Arvind Gupta, world music band Shanti, structural engineer Himanshu Parikh, YES+ guy Khurshed Batliwala, Rubik cube prodigy Bernett Orlando, MIT artist Chris, entrepreneur Nikhil Velpanur, origami artist Shivaram Narayanan, founder of Blank Noise Jasmeen Patheja and film-maker Aparna Wilder. There were many other speakers, you can see the list @ http://www.tedxbitsgoa.com/speakers

Arvind Gupta has marvelous hands and an intuitive mind. He makes scientific toys out of household things including discarded materials. A cycle tyre tube and matchsticks were used to make various polygons with shape-shifting properties. A triangle is the only one which doesn't change shape, demonstrating that the shape is most fit for mechanical trusses. He showed an electrical motor, a sprinkler, a Velcro slate and wool pen for blind children among other things. His work is the kind of grassroots innovation India needs.

Another grassroots change is being brought about by Himanshu Parikh, a structural engineer who believes in Water and Sanitation as the tool to change millions of lives in India. He strongly believes that we don't need aid from abroad, just one-time investment by corporates, community and government can change the faces of Indian villages and slums. He presented data which was eye-opening. Though he said that an average investment of 6000 per family for drainage gave rise to about 75k of investment by families themselves. A fact that I find hard to digest despite his facts. But, if his movement can become widespread in India, it would have a much bigger impact than green and white revolution put together.

Jasmeen is a founder member of Blank Noise, a community initiative which raises the issue of eve-teasing. It is an issue which plagues Indian society and it was heartening to know that somebody is raising a voice. If you wish to know more about this vital issue, do visit her website http://www.blog.blanknoise.org/ Or join them at twitter @ http://twitter.com/blank_noise

Jessica Mayberry talked about community journalism which would focus on incidents and individuals ignored by the mainstream media. Her work can be another way of rural empowerment.

Shanti band's performance on melody based fusion music was beautifully rendered. It was a pleasure to listen to the symphony of sitar, tabla, keyboard and drums.

Bernett Orlando was a pleasure to watch. The kid is only 13 and can solve Rubik cubes in minutes single handed and even blind folded. It was amazing to watch the fast, nimble fingers of this 6 times national champion. The hand shadow puppetry show by Amar Kumar Sen was fun too. Another set of nimble fingers that served a feast for the eyes. Seeing origami by Shivaram Narayanan was a new experience. His pieces were almost lifelike. I thought of it as only an art, never crossed my mind that it would have so many applications. 

Two websites which I found worth checking out: Bharath Gyan and Bytes for All.

Bharath Gyan talks about the science lying undiscovered in the observations of ancient India. Khurshed Batliwala showed a few examples from here. One of them showing how we always knew that the earth is round भूगोल and it moves जगत. From his examples, I have a feeling that the site would be fascinating to read.

Bytes for All is a journalism initiative centred on IT innovations which affect daily life. It would be an interesting kind of news to keep ourselves abreast with.

This was a fruitful day spent listening to these wonderful people.

Applause and gratitude to Swetansu Mohapatra, the student who brought TEDx to our campus.

Reading Weekly 2.0

I told you about the MATRIX reading club in my post Reading Weekly. I had mentioned that Art of War, Zahir and Bourne Series would be discussed next week. Sarthak has done a nice writeup of that meeting. You can check it out at his blog, The Difference.

Solid Words

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centred.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable.
Be honest and transparent anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People who really want help may attack you if you help them.
Help them anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt.
Give the world your best anyway.

Taken from "Meditations from a Simple Path" by Mother Teresa

Reading Weekly

A new activity got added to this semester besides 8 courses, GRE classes and Wall Street Club – MATRIX Reading Club. The club is an attempt to bring together people who are passionate about reading. It seeks to broaden horizons and light sparks of interest. A meeting could be loosely structured around a few books, the talk could veer around to an interesting article in the newspaper or to the world of books and authors galore. I got the idea last sem but was too busy to implement. So, this sem delving into it.

Yesterday's meeting went as follows:

In the last meeting, we had decided to discuss Bourne series by Robert Ludlum, The White Tiger by Arvind Adiga and India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha. We started with a talk between Ankit and Neha about the historian. When Ankit mentioned Jayprakash Narayan, Syam took over with an analysis of Indira Gandhi and her rule. That was followed by feudalism and communism in Kerala. I came to know Kerala has 140 Vidhan Sabha and 19 Lok Sabha seats. Somewhere in between there was Ayn Rand and not believing in her philosophy thrown in. Syam was talking about objectivism, the philosophy that she propagated. I've never read her and took it as objectivism i.e. sticking to truth. Talked about how every author, unless they are a historian writing in black and white, is unobjective. The authors views do seep in. Gave an example of Gone With The Wind, where Margaret Mitchell paints blacks as an integral part of the family in South America. That led to the etymology of the word lynching, traced to Willie Lynch's methods by Achal. There was another digression on objectivism as Achal tried to reason that unless reader believes in the work, it can't be objectified. These three meanings make me appreciate why people mug up word lists for GRE :D

Science fiction also found a way in with Neha talking about The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin and The Foundation by Issac Asimov. While I was getting cold coffees, there was a discussion on Ghost In The Shell series. Benefit of organising meetings in night canteen, we get to talk over coffee and bournvita. We didn't much get to Arvind Adiga except that the book begins with a village in Gaya.

To participate in a stimulating discussion like this wasn't just nice, it was fun. Next week, we have on the table, Zahir by Paulo Coelho, Art of War by Sun Tzu and Bourne series again. A classic e.g. Wuthering Heights is also in queue.