BumbleBee Exam Time

BumbleBee has no exams to take but it knows exams-time's approaching when:

• Bathrooms remain unused for days at a stretch. Undergrads prefer to dwell in the placebo that time shouldn't be wasted in something as ephemeral as hitting the showers.
• Love-birds are missing from their usual spots in the campus in the evenings. Instead, they're found in the library.
• TAs assume god-like status with worshippers frolicing around lest the TA should utter words of wisdom or leak info about the "important" chapters.
• The photocopier near the library has a thriving business.

BumbleBee studies the alertness level of an undergrad student in the neighbourhood of exam-time.
As expected, the stud's alertness level drops severely once the exam starts. The stud elevates to a state of trans for 3 hours. Words read / hour is way greater during exam-time than during prep time. This is also because during exam-time the stud has to read not only his own paper but the paper of his/her 6-neighbours as well.


BumbleBee stumbles across the undergraduate lab where a TA is checking assignments in person.
TA: You're busted. It's not your code.
Stud: oh.. no no no. It's 100% mine, sir. You can ask me anything.
TA: Um...ok.. tell me what's a linked list?
Stud: Well, Oxford dictionary defines a linked list as......
TA: Get lost
(the student departs)
Stud (to himself): What got him suspicious? Someone must've tipped him.
TA (to himself): Huh.. That code is definitely copied. I showed the same code to my TA last year!

Barged In Again

Last time it was Vasavi and now it is CBIT. All the people who can remember what happened last time (Feb 28) when Vasavi college guys and gals came to our college to promote their fest will recall that almost the same feat was repeated by the CBIT guys trying to promote their fest last Thursday. All of a sudden some 15-20 cars appeared out of nowhere and the people started screaming on the top of their voices forcing even the faculty to come out and look out for what was happening. The promotion was horrendous, no one got any idea of their fest, people who were there on the first floor of main building didn't even know which college they come from, leave aside knowing about their fest and all. Comparing this with the our publicity for Felicity, wherever the representatives of IIIT went they maintained decorum.

Also, it puts a lot of question marks on the security system.

(Article by Himank)

Who gets whose Mails?

Working on a tip off, we discovered that there are some interesting observations about a few batch mailing lists.

Observation 1:
For one, there has been some time since all mails sent to UG2 are landing into the mailboxes of UG1-CSE studs as well. This is because UG2's mailing list contains an entry for ug1_cse. Common sense dictates that it might have been an honest mistake. Apparently this matter has already been reported to the sysadmins, but the fact that the error still exists indicates that the reporting has gone like water on a duck's back.

Observation 2:
UG1 and UG2 beware. All mails sent to your batch's mailing list lands into Prof Kamal's mailbox as well. Someone indeed is watching what the freshers and sophomores are up to.

(Thanks to "Mr Somebody" for the tip off)

Personal Internet Service

The institute's internet has gone from bad to worse to pathetic lately. When google search takes 10 seconds to load even when the bandwidth monitor reads full-speed, it doesn't take an Einstein to realize that something must be definitely wrong. Unfortunately, the dark lords are not amused.

SMR floats an idea of a personal internet service whereby he can lease a new internet connection and sublet internet within campus. Not only will it definitely be more reliable than the current state of IIIT's internet, it'll bring peace into the lives of many. It'll prove manna for studs whose heart stops beating every time the internet stops / slows down.

Even if we just have to talk about it, a reliable internet with browseable speed is all that we want. Is that too much to ask for?

CVIT adds another lab

CVIT has added another lab to its already existing list of 3 labs. The fourth one has recently been setup in Room no. 214.

BumbleBee buzzes again

BumbleBee had nothing better to do since the IIIT Internet was down; so it investigates theories on how to utilize such frequently-occurring situations:
Theory 1: There's no better time for coffee. Fire a google search and stroll towards the coffee shop. If you're lucky, the results will be almost ready when you return.
Theory 2: Stare at the monitor as the google search result loads @ 100 words / min. A free time-travel to the age when Internet was just evolving.
Theory 3: You get an opportunity to appreciate the lesser things in life -- pending projects, the sound of the birds, the color of the sky.


BumbleBee analyzes the anxiety level of an undergraduate student as the exams approaches:

The peak observed in the above graph (~2 hrs before exam) is the moment of frenzy when UG studs scurry about searching for text-books.


BumbleBee was busy brushing its wings when it overhears two girls chat in the "Motivate your BF" club:
Alice: Paul has been performing so poorly in the tests lately. I'm worried.
Nancy: Why, what does he do the whole day long?
Alice: He spends all day writing stupid posts on some blog about IIIT.
Nancy: That's your BF!? My BF spends all day reading that! Make him stop!


BumbleBee, tired of the nagging, moves away to hover over two guys in the "Make a GF this year" club:
Paul: Got a road map to achieve the year's resolution?
Frank: I've been regularly scrapping all gals in my friends' list on Orkut. Actually, even friends of friends, then their friends, and so on...
Paul: Oh! But, you shouldn't come too strong. You'll get people them suspicious.
Frank: Huh! I already figured that. So to even it out I scrapped a bunch of guys too. They must have scrapped back by now. I'll go check.

Ex-Dean talks at Infospur

Newindpress reports about our beloved former-Dean speaking at Infospur-2K6, a national symposium on 'Discerning the Edges of Technology', organised by Avanti Institute of Engineering and Technology and Saint Theresa Institute of Engineering and Technology.
FTA:

Speaking on the occasion, IIIT, Hyderabad dean R Govindarajulu stressed the need for extensive research on IT and advised the young engineers to acquire skills appropriate to the needs of the country.

[Poll] Rate the Carnival

IIIT organised a first-of-its-kind Carnival last Sunday. Even though the motivation is shrouded with a lot of bitterness, the event pulled off quite well. Now that a few days have passed and the emotional outburst has supposedly been put at rest, how would you rate the carnival?

Grade the Carnival How do you rate the Carnival (20/08/2006)? A B C D F I view results

BumbleBee buzzes

Introducing... BumbleBee

BumbleBee overhears a conversation in the doctor's room.
Stud: I'm having irregular heart-beats.
Doc: How long has it been?
Stud: It's been for a while. But lately, it has become prominent. My heart starts pounding every now and then. Sometimes, I'm restless for hours at a stretch. Please help me.
Doc: Open your mouth
Stud: aaaaa.
Doc: Are you in love? Some girl?
Stud: Fie. Fie. Nah.. all of them hate me.
Doc: Well let me see your eyes and your hand
Stud: Here it is
Doc: You have nothing. The irregular heartbeat is due to the dilapidated internet condition. Your heart starts pounding whenever the internet is down or is slow. Go back to your room, dork.


BumbleBee (BBee) runs across a UG4 stud as he gets out of of the viva-room after the BTP-viva.
BBee: Paul, is it true that there's only a marginal difference between the work you presented for the last BTP viva and this one?
Stud: Garbage! that's what others tell to defame me.
BBee: Oh really! So, what are the improvements in your work?
Stud: You see, I've been working very hard. There has been a change of perspective since the last BTP-viva. It's all a learning process, really.
BBee: Yes, why don't you have experimental results to quantify it?
Stud: Ah, who cares about intermediate results. I have the final application ready.
BBee: Oh great. What's your project by the way?
Stud: Well, not sure... it's something to do with video-conferencing over the network. It's a traditional project (I got it from a senior). It has worked wonderfully over the years, I'm told.


BumbleBee (BBee) interviews a group of agitated students sitting on a dharna outside the director's office.
BBee: Paul, What exactly are you demanding?
Paul: Well, we are demanding that starting next year, fresh students be enrolled before the summer hols rather than after it.
BBee: But don't you think it'll be difficult, with the entrance tests, counselling, etc? How does it even matter to you anyway?
Paul: You see, the summer hols are too long to stay at home. We're planning on a trip to Mussoorie. With the freshers having arrived, getting a sponsored trip will be so damn easy.

--
BumbleBee is a bee. It has 8 legs, 4 wings, 2 antennae, 1 mouth and 0 brains.
Just in case you don't get it, the mood in the above excerpts is "satirical".
Thanks to someone for pointing us to this.

Research First, then Placements

As per a mail received by research students, the placement policy for coming season will entail that MS students don't take part in the "normal" placements held Dec onwards. Placements for them will be personalized for each MS student, arranged for specially by the institute. This round of placements will begin only in April and a student requires his/her advisor's approval before appearing for it. The message is loud and clear: concentrate on research work; then (and only then) placements will be taken care of.

ISAS gal tying knots

Sreelakshmi, an alumnus of the UG2k batch, is getting married to Prasad (of UG99) tomorrow. Sreelakshmi is one of the two responsible for the ISAS system (along with Vandana), for which they received the Banyan award. Prasad had been a well-known geek figure in campus and had been a system administrator for a while too.

This is perhaps the second IIIT couple, having chosen their other-half within from within IIIT, the first being Sujit (UG98) who married to fellow-batchmate Rupa a few months ago.

All the Best to the happy couple.

Indian or International?

Rumour has it that there's an ongoing effort to get back the original name
of the institute, that is become "Indian" Instt of Information Tech.

IIIT's name was changed to "International" a few years ago after pressure
from the government that words like Indian, National, etc should be owned
only by government-managed institutes since they lead to confusion.

The faculty members are in favour of getting back the "Indian" tag. What
does the rest of IIIT think?

Bakras of GDIT'99

Ravikiran, an alumnus currently at UWash, maintains a link to a collection of bakra mails sent to his batch during IIIT years. Whereas some are a result of login-left-open mails, there are is a large variety of pure humorous ones too, ranging from GRE / Felicity / CRs to love-declarations / emotional-outburst / fanatics. Some excerpts are quoted below. Read on for the rest.

i've at last discovered my love in the fresher's
party

I am gonna go for a diet. Plzzzzzzzzz...... help me in slimming down. Kick
me if you see me eating anything........

I'm going to start teaching dance in the morning...
   and yoga in the night,from tomorrow onwards.

After tiring work of around 1 year, finally i came out with an
algirithm to find out a person's sex. Here goes the SDA-Algoritm.....

200 and counting

This article marks the 200th post on IIIT Buzz. So, Yeeaaaah.

Started on 5th Feb with the motto as "A place to record and discuss the most buzz..ing things concerning IIIT ", this blog has lived for 193 days. That works out to an average of 1.036 posts per day. Discounting the dry period of summer hols, the average goes higher. Individual posts have seen comments ranging from a high of 24, to a low of (of course) 0.

Besides, IIIT Buzz is the only known blog to have confirmed readership by faculty members (note: plural) and off and on some faculty members have been known to comment as well. The authors take this as a pride, along with the responsibility to ensure that not-any-post makes it to IIIT Buzz. Apart from IIIT students, several alumni members also check up to know "wassup?" with the institute. IIIT Buzz is also known to drive a surge in traffic to students' blogs that get buzzed.

IIIT Buzz currently has 8 authors (girls included), each of whom abides by the ethos. Apart from these regular authors, IIIT Buzz occassionally receives tip-offs about news items, through email. For every article that actually buzzes, there are a couple of those that are discarded, for a variety of reasons.

All the above is not a coincidence. At the back of IIIT Buzz goes a commendible amount of brainstorming amongst the IIIT Buzz Team members. A couple of new items are planned and we are pretty excited about it. Keep your fingers crossed.

Adios, and stay buzzed.

The I-day Cultural Tune

There are some questions which never have a universally acceptable answer, good examples being "What is the meaning of Life?", " Why do people love Himesh Resmaiyya's songs?", "Who is John Galt? " and "What is IIIT culture?". Whatever IIIT culture may (and may not) be, being late is something which would have to be included in any of its many definitions. The cultural evening which was scheduled to start at 17:30 hrs yesterday, true to form, started late.

The event was held in the old library room (#119). Sometime after the program started, there was a seating crisis, with more and more people wanting to watch the show. Thanks to the additional lengths of carpet laid out, and to the high levels of dexterity displayed by the students (which helped squeeze two people in one chair), everyone managed to reach a reasonable state of comfort.

After an anterior dance, the program got underway. There was a play by some kids demonstrating the contempt with which people of different religions treat each other. This was followed by a telugu play, which was very well done, earning a very enthusiastic response from a clearly impressed audience. Much praise has to be attributed to the organizers and actors in this play. It had an awesome script backed up by very good acting. Judging by the reaction of the crowd, this would have to be the best program of the evening.

After this was the most anticipated show of the evening -- the Instrumental Performance. Much to the delectation of the audience, the three months of hard training clearly seems to have paid off ("for the past month, we practised from after classes at 7:30 till midnight on some days", to quote Violin Vasu). Despite the relatively small amount of time spent in preparing for this event, there were barely any mistakes made during the performance.

Following this was a short play, in English. Despite some guffaws from the audience, the play as a whole left a lot to be desired, and appeared unpolished. The gap between the two plays was pretty large in terms of quality, as was indirectly pointed out later by Prof Govindarajulu.

This was followed by some talks by the faculty members who were present, to give the actors time to change their costumes. The evening ended with a Mime Show by the students. It illustrated the internal struggle which we all go through when making decisions, and how one side wins in the end.

Irrespective of whatever IIIT Culture means, one thing is clear - we may not be the most cultured people around, but in a few years time the Cultural Quotient of the campus would be pretty high. So, a hearty Well Done to the Cultural Council. More of the same please.

(Debut post by Basilisk, our new author)

To Do or Not To Do

Sagar Rastogi, an alumni currently at IIM-A, writes about his experiences while organizing an event at IIM and compares it to IIIT which being a new institute wasn't very organized.

 One of the traditions here at WIMWI is the T-nite. On paper, it is something like the Amalgam we used to have in IIIT

In retrospect, he confesses that even though he saw many problems at IIIT, he did not do much to solve them.

Sometimes I feel a little guilty about that because when I was there I didn't really think big / long-term for the institute… and at the risk of sounding boastful, I think I could have made a difference. I had some ideas from time to time… but I cynically pushed them away without even trying, thinking that they were doomed to failure. Bad decision :(

This is not the first time when an alumni feels sorry about not having done enough to make a difference. Time and again several alumni members have felt the same. Unfortunately, such thoughts occur after having left IIIT, not before. What else, otherwise, could have stopped someone like Sagar from making a difference as he wanted to?

So, before getting back to the usual rhetoric of flaming anything and everything, think about what you could do that could solve the problem. Or else you could just do nothing and carry the guilt later. The choice, as is always, is yours.

Kalam sings Jeevan Vidya on I-day Eve

A P J Abdul Kalam, President of India, while addressing the nation on the eve of its 60th Independence day, mentions about the Jeevan Vidya experience as a typical model that has made a significant impact on social development. From the article:

Jeevan Vidya experience: Jeevan Vidya is being practiced by Prof. Ganesh Bagaria, IIT, Kanpur, Prof. Rajeev Sangal, Director IIIT (Hyderabad) and their teams. This scheme is concerned about addressing the basic causes of major problems of violence, corruption, exploitation, domination, terrorism and war. It has been found that violent and anti-social behaviour, unless dealt with care and with professionalism, could aggravate the extreme behaviour.

Jeevan Vidya develops tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty in human conduct by enabling self-knowledge that understands harmony in the self and in the entire existence. The academicians could bring about marked change even among the inmates of jails through the use of these techniques.

There's a lot of obvious rage against Jeevan Vidya in campus, especially since it's compulsory. However, is the rage justified? Or is the rage just against it being compulsory?

If someone as learned as the President of India feels so highly about Jeevan Vidya that he mentions it on the I-day eve, it must definitely be something sensible and upright. It must really be "a 'teachable human value based skill' that can address inherent conflicts within the mind of the individual, within families, in organisations and in public life".

Two to a Room

Karan writes about the problems of having to share a room in the hostel.

From the article:

It is just that its difficult for two people to adjust in a room meant for one! Theres barely space enough for two beds, a table and a chair to fit in. And now, having to manage it with two laptops on a single table(thats not all.. most of us have gone in for external hardware devices like keyboard, mouse and speakers), stifled is the perfect word to describe our state. Does that leave space on the table to study?

Although it appears to be written as an outburst, he ends it nicely with:

Of course, I have nothing against two people staying in a room.. but considering the disadvantages, they way outnumber the advantages. I hope that something is done about it soon, and the work on the new hostel speendens up, so that they can be ready for use by the next semester.

Campus Lingo

Gaurav assembles an alphabetically-ordered recap of some commonly used phrases in campus. Really popular include Bond, Matke, Phatta. The some controversial ones have been skipped. Examples explaining some of them are also given. FTA:

Disco:

Disciplinary Committee…

Usage : "It's the time to DisCo…

Matke: MTech Ke…

Hyd Trip for UG1

UG1 has just returned back from a Hyderabad Bhraman today. They were taken to several places around the city in 3 buses which are still standing in front of NBH. It was an institute-sponsored trip for the freshers, aimed at getting them acquainted with the city.

Campus-buzzing

IIIT has never been a more happening place than it has been over the past two weeks. There have been club meetings every evening. The parliament has already met once to decide on the future course of action. The chess matches have reached their penultimate stage. The informal interaction last Friday prepared the ground for the Fresher's Welcome Party scheduled for the 19th of August. The inter house cricket tournaments starts today.

The campus is definitely buzzing with unprecedented activity !!!

Against this atmosphere, this Independence Day is bound to be different from any that you have ever had in IIIT.

Besides the flag hoisting ceremony in the morning which is being organised by Aakash and Vayu house this time, the Cultural Council is all geared up with a string of performances on the eve of Independence Day. As many of us know, this year's summer break was unique with its Summer Cultural Camp wherein students learnt how to play the violin or guitar, learnt Bharatnatyam, prepared dramas in English and Telugu. The event marks the culmination of the camp. The students would be performing all that they learnt in the vacations.

A fusion musical performance with students on the violin, tabla and guitar is a much awaited performance. All are looking forward to the birth of IIIT's first Fusion Band.

Reliable sources say that there are a few surprise packages and treats for the participants as well as the audience.

The Informal-Interaction

After a wide speculation, finally the 'informal-interaction' was held in Motorola school seminar hall yesterday.

Though the crowd was smaller as compared to the history of the day, nothing could beat the enthusiasm of the 'seniors' and 'juniors' alike. Inspite of the various dramatic events prior to this,there was a healthy interaction - something that all were eagerly waiting for. Right from the start till the very end,there was a liveliness in air .. and the ice between the batches did really seem to melt. The mood of the air was swinging between extrimities of applause to criticism to cheering...

Starting off the day with play (which nobody listened to or rather able to ) and followed by a sequence of dances and singing songs, UG-1 people tried to give their best shot at each one of them and the equally upbeat audience was a pleasure to watch. But soon,the seniors were seen talking n laughing with the juniors in small groups. They all seemed to enjoy the memorable moments. On many occasions when the 'seniors' asked the juniors to leave .. they refused !! They wanted to live those moments for 'some more time'.

Something that deserves to be mentioned is.. the UG-2 gals did surely have their piece of fun... what say??

IIIT Empowering rural India

CIOL carries a recent article on how IIIT's e-Sagu project is helping in empowering rural India.
From the article:

esagu, devised by the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad in 2004-2005 crop season, is an extension system that involves farmers, coordinators and scientists. The coordinators are appointed out of the educated youth in the villages. The benefit can be gauged by the fact that the project has resulted in a net gain of Rs 3820 per acre. This has been due to reduced input cost over complex fertilizers and pesticide sprays, and increased yield. It has also increased production by 1.5 quintals per acre, saved fertilizers by 0.76 bags and pesticides by 2.3 sprays per acre. Within a span of two years the project has been extended to 35 villages in six Andhra Pradesh districts.

 

"The response time is 24-36 hours. We have 12 experts who address farmers' problems. Each village has coordinators who work from Monday to Friday and obtain crop status through digital photographs and texts. The status is sent to the experts who advice the farmers through the coordinators. The response time is 24-36 hours," explains G Shyamasunder Reddy, research scholar, IIIT.

No OBC Reservations at IIIT

TimesOfIndia carries this news about the union cabinet having decided to abstain from implementing OBC quota in unaided educational institutions. Of course, IIIT is one of them. Following the whole hullabaloo on reservations in IITs, IIMs, etc, it felt quite natural that private institutes were next to be roped in, especially since several cabinet ministers had expressed their commitment towards the cause. But now, it looks like PMO is singing a different tune. Good news for IIIT, therefore, for the time being at least.

Rakhi & Beware!

It's Rakhi today, celebration of brother-sister love.

That apart, it's also a day when guys are expected to be roaming the campus a bit less for fear being tied to the threads of Rakhi.

A warning to this effect has already been orkutting about.

अगर आप बस, रेल या कही से भी आ जा रहे हो और कीसी लडकी के हाथ मे फूल, धागा, चैन या ऐसी ही कोई चमकती वस्तू नज़र आये तो आप् तुरन्त वहा से दूर हो जाये।
ये चमकती वस्तु ऱाखी भी हो सक्ती है.
आपकी थोडी सी लापरवाही आपको भाई बना सक्ती है।
पुरुष हीत् मे जारी

Happy Rakhi from the IIIT Buzz team.

The WLAN Saga

For the people who have been a little out of touch with campus news, we provide a full recap of the entire WLAN hooplah thats been going around.

It all started with a mail from Mr. Muzafer. In his mail, he raised several points related to the performance of the wireless network. A few of these points, any student who has taken Computer Networks will be able to say are not entirely accurate.

Nirnimesh then replied to this mail in private. In his reply, he asked a few valid questions. However, Mr. Muzafer replied to all@iiit with a one-liner -- "Nirnimesh update your networking skills". Considering Nirnimesh, his knowledge and experience, this remark was in extremely poor taste.

After this, yours truly and Rohan Monga sent a mail to life@iiit and Mr. Muzafer asking a few other questions about Wireless LAN and giving some suggestions. So far, there has been no response to any of the points in that mail.

Anyway, let us hope that something good comes out of this mail.

ITWS1A Gossip

Jayabharth Reddy raised issues against gossip in the ITWS1A class for PG 1st year studs. From his mail:

"Some people(M.tech CSE 1st year guys) already know about what Instructor is saying. Does it mean that you people have to disturb others by shouting and gossiping??"

P Rajeshwar compares this to "a class room of KGs(LKG or UKG)".

Copier blog deleted

The blog accused of promoting assignment copying, itws3, has been deleted. The blog was started on 1st August and by the time it was buzzed here yesterday, it already hosted two ready-made assignments. Now that it has been removed things are back to normal.

Dominoes Doesn't Deliver

Yesterday, a call to Dominoes at 9PM was met with the chap at the phone telling us that he did not deliver to IIIT anymore. He did not offer any reasons for the same. It is speculated that this is because he came two and a half hours late with some 10 odd pizzas and was not paid.

However, he did add that a new Dominoes would be opening at InfoSys. Until then it looks like the supply of pizzas has dried up with first Pizza Hut and now Dominoes refusing to deliver ...

AIEEE studs prefer IIIT, others over NITs

Newindpress, a South India's leading news site, carries an article stating that NITs no longer enthuse AIEEE top rankers and that students are instead looking forward to innovative courses in stand-alone institutes, IIIT being one. From the article:

In IIIT-Hyderabad, all-India ranks of the entire students who have been admitted for Computer Science and Engineering hover between 75 and 1,750. For Electronics and Computer Science, the ranks of students range from 300 to 2,000. These institutes have innovative courses in IT and Engineering.

Parliament 2006-07

Amid the confusion (last moment venue shifting) and the heavenly showers, the new Student Parliament Members took oath today in the Motorola school seminar hall. Dr. Govindrajulu administered the oath in the presence of Dr. Abhijit Mitra and other faculty. Dr. Harjinder was announced the new SLC chair person. Dr. Kamal will be the 'Observer'.

The UG1 people present there, confused as they naturally are, also stood up for the oath, along with everybody else. Everyone else, except them were standing and perhaps they felt left out. But soon they realised that they were the lone spectators (rest were the parliamentarians). The new Speaker - Arun, Deputy Speaker - B Varun and then all the other MPs introduced themselves. Dr. Govindrajulu was disappointed that none of them stated their 'aims n objectives'. After some 'few words' by the faculty members, everyone dispersed. Parliament 2006-2007 is formed.

As always, we expect the new Parliament to do something new.
All the best

(Debut post from Campus Hopper, our new buzzer)

This way please, says NBH

NBH has a new entrance now. The gate near the stairs (leading to basement) has been closed and the one on its adjacent right has instead been opened.

Copy Assignments from Blogs

UG2 has a novel way of copying assignments -- blogs. The blog named itws3 already has two assignments. Though it can be argued that genuine discussion can take place over this blog, but it makes it awfully simple to just copy assignments from there. It might help however if the assignment solutions are posted after the submission deadline rather than before. This way it can be useful as an archive of assignments, especially before exams.

IIIT Mag vs IIIT Buzz

What might seem to be a theoretically perennial battle between two different schools of thought is not a conflict at all. Well! At least as far as the majority of IIITians are concerned, iiit buzz is a more convenient option.

Anti-mag ethos:

• The just-graduated batch brought up the IIIT mag from the oblivious state of non existence. Such an enthusiasm/zeal towards mag is lacking in the current 3rd and 4th years. Those who are worthy of shouldering such a responsibility are lethargic to the heights of tepidity.
• Those who are interested and incredibly passionate about mag are seemingly esoteric in the public eye
  
• There is a traditional ghost looming large over the editorial echelons of mag. Free speech is obstructed to the brink of laboured, manipulated, bland articles. If someone speaks out (in a euphemistic yet realistic way) about things that matter but are not necessarily correct, one undergoes the legendary treatment meted put to some former editors. (though PK harboured some fault on his side too)
• I regret to say. But some of the folks mentioned in the 1st point (I repeat, some, not all) were laden with a quality that can be found in this set ==> {egoistic, egotistic, ego-centric, ego maniacal} depending on the intensity level of their egos. Though these qualities are essential for the working of just about anything, they probably hesitated to hand over the reins (or rather responsibility) to the juniors. That would have probably rejuvenated the mag-passion.

Pro-buzz ethos:

• Free Speech. Truth is maintained nevertheless. The limitations prevent abusive verbiage and vulgarized states. But surely, there are less constraints and no orthodox idealists involved. The idea is: discuss issues, not reject them outright.
  
• Its faster, cheaper (free in terms of monetary expenses) and permits anyone good enough an expression.
• It's interesting. Since there's no compulsion or a daily/monthly deadline, posts are published only when there is something to publish.
  
• The legislative, judiciary and the executive powers are in the hands of the buzz team. So nothing can be held as an excuse for penalisation against any one of the buzzers. Neither can the institute management be held responsible/accountable for what is written here.
  

Anti-buzz ethos:

• A different dimension of news coverage is a harbinger of new potential problems. For instance, leaking out information to outsiders. So far, no such post has been published. Guess its up to CmdrBuzz to see to it that not any arbitrary post is not published.

(Debut post from "I" for Incredible, our new author)

M$ - here we come

After a IITian succeeded in coding for Bill Gates and won the prestigious Code4bill competition, Microsoft Research India, announces five PhD fellowships for the year '06, the ET reports.Three of them have been bagged by the IITs, one each from IISc and our college.

Each awardee is expected to receive $5000 per year for the next four years and also an option to intern at MSR for three to six months. Lets wait until this gets official and we get to know the name of the lucky fellow.

Blogs by UG2

Maruti lists out the bloggers from UG2 into two categories: technical & non-technical. As per the article, there are 15 bloggers in UG2, which sums to 8.6% of the batch strength. The article goes on to mention that "3rd sem is most easiest sem of all and we get a lot of spare time". Hopefully no faculty chance by this, or else UG2 can expect some heavy assignments.

Server Room on a Corrective Path?

Former sysadmin Nirnimesh posts the mail he had written to the institute faculty about the server room mismanagement and possible remedies. There is a change in course from "tragedies" to "corrections" and since this one is numbered #1, it's expected that there's more to follow.

Let us hope that they take it seriously and do something, hopefully get some student sysadmins. Let us hope that IIIT's system administration problems end once for all. Hoping too much?

Subnet 20 Killed

172.16.20.* has been killed.

OBH's wired LAN's IP has been changed to a brand new series. This brings us to the end of subnet 20 (172.16.20.*). There are a lot of memories associated with subnet 20. It was a nice subnet but had been ill for over a fortnight. It had been put on gateway 172.16.15.1 for life-support for quite some time. If you have been in IIIT for more than a year, you'll remember how faithfully subnet 20 has served you. Specific IPs include 20.56, 20.57, 20.28.

Remarkable was the announcement for this changeover. The first mail didn't contain subnet and gateway information necessary for connecting to the LAN. It is only after the changeover was effected that this information was announced through a second mail. How can you check the second mail unless you are connected? In other words, who came first -- the chicken or the egg?

Messy things

Registered mess started operations w.e.f. today (Aug 1). A number of experiments have been tried this time. Hot Rottis has been invited for the OBH mess and Yuktahar, the cooperative mess, has been added as an option. This makes 4 messes in campus now apart from the canteen. That's a lot of competition. It is believed that competition will be a clever way to ensure proper food in the messes. The equation is simple: just choose the mess which has the best food. Bon Appetit.

"Con-Vocation"

Mails were sent out declaring that the 5^th convocation of IIIT will be held on 29^th july and that all graduating students along with their parents are invited. The graduating students started arriving and by evening of 28th almost all of them made it except a few of the mba students and a couple of others. The students coughed up the Rs.150 and took those black flowing graduation gowns.

All were supposed to assemble at 5 in the evening for rehearsal. All did, only to be kept waiting and waiting. But it was a great opportunity for them all to meet their batch-mates exchange stories of the new experiences in the IT companies, enquire about the US going guys etc. Predictably, most of them grew a bit fat as any IT employee ought to be. But Khurana (our former author Smiley Singh) did the opposite and turned up smarter and trimmer. After whiling away time at the venue until 7, Dr. P K Reddy makes his appearance and announces the names of the people in the order in which they shall be collecting their degrees. That was the rehearsal! At night, many groups went out on what would be their last dinner together.

Breakfast to be from 8 o’clock on 29^th morning. The students many of who never woke up at this time in the whole of the past year in the institute turned up at the Guest house all smartly dressed up. Most of the Parents living in AP and nearby states made it too. Not many faculty members were to be found though. The breakfast was pretty good what with all the varieties i.e Idly, Puri, Vada and Dosa along with Jalebi being served. The graduating students assembled on the side of the temporary shed and started unraveling the mysteries of those shiny gowns. The main gown was simple enough to wear. All the problems were with that ‘thing’ which was supposed to hang onto the shoulders but would keep slipping away. The cardboard cap on the head made sure that you wouldn’t get too comfortable all through the programme.

The dignitaries assembled on the dais, the students were called out and handed over their degrees by Prof. Raj Reddy. It has been a long time since Prof. Raj Reddy personally attended the convocation. A lot of clicking was being done all around. This ended at 10:30 and the Director requested everyone to remain seated until 11:15 when the Chief Guest i.e the Chief Minister would arrive and the main programme would begin. Obviously the students didn’t heed the advice and went around in their flowing gowns to be introduced to the parents of their friends and have some photographs taken and so on.

Surprisingly, the chief guest and the guest of honour arrived on time and the ceremony began and took its usual course. Maybe the chief guest and the chairman could have looked more attentive during the speeches or the vote of thanks. There were many cameras around belonging to news channels and newspapers. The highlight of all the speeches was the announcement of the Chief Minister about the land on which IIIT stands being given to IIIT at a nominal rate (worth 900 crores would be given at 90 lakhs). The topper of the batch Santosh Kumar was awarded the gold medal. He made an impromptu speech dedicating it to his parents and also thanking Prof. PJN and Dr. Jawahar. Lunch was to be served after the ceremony though none of the graduating students knew whether it was also for them or only for the dignitaries (I still don’t know).

All through the programme great winds lashed on the metal shed and made a raucous noise sometimes making the speaker inaudible. The function was well reported by atleast two local newspapers (DC and TOI with pictures of Santosh with parents and MS graduating girls respectively) and telugu news channel Teja News. The students who were with the parents left on the evening itself, a few others stayed until Sunday and then flew away. For most of them, the convocation provided the opportunity for their first ever plane travel. All in all, it was a decent and a memorable event for the ‘grooviest batch’ aka UG2k2.

UG2k2 waves a ‘Good bye’ to IIIT and so do I - daemon aka mythalez aka rama