Director Dr. Mini Shaji Thomas
Dean (Students’ Welfare) Dr.Samson Mathew
Srishyam Raghavan Co-editor.
Faculty Advisors
Dr.V.Sathyaraj Dr.V.Vinod Balakrishnan Content Developers: Ashwath, Parasuraman, Akaash Preetham, Abhilasha, Shwetha, Sai Sudhir, Seshasayi, Kavya V, Chinmayi, Venkat, Anirudh, Rigved, Santhosh, Tejas, Rakshit, Harish, Mathirush, Adhithya S, Adhithya N, Adityan, Kaushik, Ashwin, Nived, Srishyam, Saif, Harshini, Ashwin S, Trisha, Tania, Sai Prashant, Deeksha, Shruthi, Yuvan, Gautham, Kavya B, Anupama, Advait. Cover Story: Sarath, Trisha, Kavya, Akaash Preetham, Gautham, Harshini, Ashwin K, Tania. Cover: Arunagiri and Veena Sreedhar. Creative Writers: Seshasayi, Sai Sudhir, Mathirush, Shruthi, Ashwin K, Adhithya S. Illustrators: Ayush, Sivaprakash, Pradeeksha, Komal, Venkataramana. Designers: Mukesh, Arunagiri, Devashish, Akash, Sai Charan, Dinesh, Arun Kumar, Abhinaya, Swarthika, Revan Kumar. Photographer: Kamala Kannan.
I still remember almost perfectly my first trip to college – the gruelling hour-long bus journey from the city to reach the remote outskirts in the middle of nowhere, the incredible sight of the campus perimeter that appeared to extend boundlessly, the artistically well-crafted buildings scattered around, and the iconic clock, towering over the rest of us. As I immersed myself in the hot, sunlit splendor of the campus, I experienced a jolt of something exciting and novel – I had the realization that, for the first time in my life, I was presented with a clean slate and no external supervision. That feeling of being in charge, coupled with the large number of exhilarating possibilities and any competent authority repeatedly insisting that I was studying in one of the best institutions in the country, all gave me a sensation of euphoria which I’ve always tried to recapture since. Of course, then I was unbelievably unaware as to how much my state of mind would change over the course of my undergraduate education. A person’s state of mind is vastly affected by their surroundings, and naturally, the ever-fluctuating college environment plays a major role in a student’s mental health. Our cover story in this issue studies precisely that; it serves to educate those uninformed about the various mental problems that a college student can face, and provides a special focus on the scenario of mental health in NIT Trichy. With the exponentially escalating levels of stress and anxiety among students and the subsequent influences on their emotional stabilities, it is quite perplexing that there is still a lot of stigma associated with open discussions about mental health. In this regard, we went against the norm an did a cover story to inform the ignorant, and perhaps even make the blemish on the topic fainter for more open dialogues in the future.
Editor
Shruthi Srinivasan
Co-Editors
Srishyam Raghavan Ashwin Krishnan
Administrative Head Sriram Raghavan
Online Presence Head Gautham Mahadevan
Founders
Karthik Selva and Deepak Valagam ( ICE 2012)
Printed at Safire Offset printers, Sivakasi. © Feeds NITT 2018. All rights reserved.
Also featuring in this issue is a special story on the National Institute Ranking Framework (more popularly known as NIRF), a reworked ranking system for colleges in India, with a spotlight on the work our college did to achieve its high rank and insights from the director. Learn about the curious one-hour time travel done by half of the western world in our piece about Daylight Savings Time, and for the financially handicapped ones, we have a beginner’s guide to insurance in our Business Page. Experience is probably the most valuable asset in sport that cannot be undermined, and we explore this in our Sports Page about the exceptional successes of certain older athletes. For those with a taste for the original, we have a vibrant story on emotions and colors, as well as insight into the mental workings of an infant. As yet another batch of students arrive at the institute, with many of the departed batch still uncertain about what the future holds, we can only hope to have left behind a lasting legacy in college, and remind ourselves that any help we might need in dealing with life’s salient unpredictability is only just a call away.
News
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News
Special Story
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Special Story
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Special Story
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Special Story
- Sai Sudhir, Yuvan, Shruthi
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Feature
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- Rakshit
Business
- Gautham
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Sports
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Anirudh R, Santhosh, Venkat
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Careers
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- Shruthi
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Creative Space “I will share a secret: this is how talents are bestowed. Before newborns open their eyes, we circle them, appearing as brilliant colors, and when they clench their tiny fists for the first time, they are actually grabbing the colors they find most appealing. Those talents are with them for life.” This excerpt from Mitch Albom’s bestseller “The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto” beautifully theorizes how babies are blessed with talents. Like Presto’s ideology, there could be a number of other theories that explain how and what babies think. But most of it will remain mysterious to us because infancy is a stage of life we can barely recollect or explain. In this article we muse on the deeds and misdeeds of these tiny tots and the probable reasons behind them.
Mystery behind the mother’s touch
Upon birth, the baby experiences discomfort. It is welcomed with clogged ears and exposed to blinding light, and wails out in disapproval of its new world. But the moment it is nestled into its mother’s arms and feels her love, all pain and doubt vanishes. From this point in time, the world for the baby is like an ideal spinning top - an entity brimming with happiness. No wonder a mother’s hug is always reassuring.
Why some people make babies cry?
Babies perceive people as different sets of eyes, noses, colours, ears and hands. However, they identify things better by touch and sound. A baby identifies people by pulling their hair, poking their eyes, rubbing their ears and patting their cheeks. While the baby coos to some sounds, it raises a loud alarm to others. Is it caused by some discomfort or fear or because babies are very smart and choose targets accordingly? The baby by now knows that constant crying is an annoyance to people and out of fear for upsetting the baby, they would do anything to make it stop crying. We believe babies exploit this vulnerability of elders and prank them for fun.
PEEKABOO Why do babies fall?
Every baby experiences physics first hand. In the process of finding their centre of gravity, many a times, babies have tripped stairs, fallen on their backs, and on their faces. But why do they fall so many times even though it is painful? A new found freedom and independence which allows them to discover new things and plan mischief at higher grounds alleviates the pain they experience. As to how they fall so adorably, no one can explain.
Why do babies have strange eating habits?
There are times when babies puzzle you the most, especially when they don’t eat the most delicious items offered or don’t eat on the most edible surfaces. There are times when they like eating food on the floor, from the dog’s bowl, or even a pigeon’s mouth. We’re guessing it’s their way of creating heavy competition for restaurant ideas and staging a protest against dining etiquette.
Why do babies make so much trouble?
Mischievous little ones aren’t they? Be it poking fingers into the socket hole, pulling cotton out of the pillow, or continuously banging the rattle set on the floor, these tiny tots have a lot of amusing pastimes. A zillion thoughts and ideas are running through their minds. What could possibly exist behind the socket? Behind the television? Ooh! Long, thin threads, let me pull them! What happens if I continuously hit my head on the wall? Most of these activities- we believe - are performed to attract the undivided attention of their parents and companions. Babies don’t want to trouble us, it’s just their way of keeping us entertained, showing us their love and earning our approval.
What are their dreams made of?
The ultimate respite for a baby from a long tiring day of changing nappies, crying and being pampered is sleep. But what kind of dreams and nightmares do they have and how do they experience them? The simplest assumption is that babies think of their time in the womb when they’re asleep, curling and posing in cute positions, but in a much larger sample space.
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As they sleep, the spinning top slows down and threatens to stop. But it’s a flitting moment, the top will continue to spin for many more years, from infancy to old age.
- Sai Sudhir, Seshasayi, Shruthi
Cover Story
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Creative Space
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- Ashwin K
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Feature
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- Adhitya S, Harshini
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Creative Space
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- Ashwin K, Gautham
Psychology
Trisha, Tania
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Comic
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- Mathirush, Veena, Adhitya S
