Director Dr. Mini Shaji Thomas
Dean (Students’ Welfare) Dr.Samson Mathew
Faculty Advisors
Sai Sudhir Co-editor
Dr. S. Mekala Dr. K. N. Sheeba
Cover Story: Venkat, Harshini Cover: Sruthi Writers: Amritha, Ashwin, Deeksha, Gokul, Kratika, Naman, Pooja, Prathamesh, Rohit, Sandeep, Sriram, Sunil, Surya, Swami, Umar, Vaishnavi, Vignesh, Vishnu, Ajay, Amogh, Anisha, Arpit, Athreyan, Avinash, Daniel, Dhwani, Ipsita, Isha, Koushik, KGP, Manu, Nila, Renga, Rishab, Shiva, Shiwang, Shrikar, Sruthi, Swathi, Swedha, Vedanjali, Abhilasha, Adhithya S, Anirudh Ram, Nandini, Parasu, Preetham. Sashank, Siddharth, Sudhir, Venkat. Illustrators: Gokul, Sneha, Vaishnavi, Vijay, Arpit, Isha, Nikhil P, Piyush, Renga, Sruthi, Swathi, Komal. Designers: Abhishek, Naman, Pramoth, Rasika, Sandeep, Sneha, Ajay, Amogh, Arpit, Athreyan, Harish Raj, Nikhil P, Rishab, Shiva, Shiwang, Sindhur, Sivapriyaa, Sruthi, Swedha, Swathi, Vedanjali, Komal, Mukhesh, Preetham, Sashank. Photographers: Abishek, Sumiran, Yash
Editor
S. Akaash Preetham
Co-Editors
Parasuram Srivaths Pinjala Sai Sudhir
Editor, Online Presence Venkat Natarajan
Editor, Design Komal Telagavi
Founders
Karthik Selva and Deepak Valagam ( ICE 2012) Printed at Iyyan Color World, Chennai. © Feeds NITT 2019. All rights reserved.
The last couple of years have truly shaken up the financial scenario in the country, in particular with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and various sellers scrambling to get their GST numbers for billing references. Some of us have even failed to receive reimbursements due to the absence of GST numbers. Taxes, in general, are mankind’s way of paying back to society what he/ she has reaped from it. Many of us on campus are unaware of the various financial nuances that are in existence, partly due to the present educational system failing to teach us how to handle our money in this fast-moving world. As we move into the corporate sector, it is natural to be jealous of certain people getting placed with packages that are at times jaw-dropping, whereas some of us may be disappointed with our pay at first glance, because the amount one is expecting and the actual amount that gets deposited as salary can be drastically different. What does each one’s salary entail? How much of that is actually sent to your bank account? Feeds, with the help of our cover story, attempts to spread awareness regarding the various types and simplify the jargon of information, while also explaining other aspects such as filing for Income Tax Returns (ITR). Apart from fiscal matters being the focus of this magazine, a new wave of technology is also upon us, as illustrated by the article on the LBRY platform, which implements blockchain in order to allow creators to publish their material. Additionally, frequent modifications are being made in the way we view media, with ray tracing making its mark in the video gaming industry as well as movie-making. We also got our good old friend Kanakasabhapathy to give his experience of Festember. Lastly, feeling the effects of patchy Wi-Fi? We have some tips for you! I hope you enjoy this issue as much as we do!
Creative Space
Festember
ft. kanakasabapathy
"H
ello there. Do you remember me? I resided in the parliament a few years ago. No? Well, you must’ve missed me amidst the flurry of flying slippers and dhotis. I resigned my post there in the pursuit of more intelligent life. In what one would call a Columbus-discovering-India moment, I became a professor of mathematics over here at NIT Trichy. Without further ado, allow me to introduce myself. I am Kanakasabapathy, or as my students call me, Kanakkusabapathy."
On a bright Thursday morning. Kanakasabapathy set out on his daily pilgrimage to the lecture hall. It didn’t seem like any other day. The air reeked not only of bird droppings but also of festive fervour. As he hurried carefully through a canopy of trees, firmly shielding his bald spot, his mobile phone rang. “Sir, is it possible to cancel today’s class?” “No.” Kanakasabapathy smacked his lips for the entertainment that was certain to ensue. He stormed into the desolate classroom, berated the only student who had cared to attend, marked everyone absent (including the poor non-truant) and made a dramatic exit. He also thanked his gods for the absenteeism and set to savour the festivities that awaited. Festember had begun.
"Duality of nature manifests even in the smallest of things (and the biggest of things). Except, apparently, in the world of cuisine. After inching forward in a particularly winding queue(?) of the food stalls area, I was finally in the audio-visual range to place an order. The boisterous crowd in front of the stall and, in fact, the entire populace in the food court area stood in what we teachers call “pin-drop” silence upon hearing my order - one Veg. Biryani with extra raitha. The response to my order, though seemingly coming through the cashier’s vocal chords, seemed to resonate in everyone’s eyes: It doesn’t exist."
"Chaos. Out of curiosity and my love for the English language, I had ventured into the auditorium to find what the idiom night entailed. Would you believe me if I said it had nothing to do with the aforementioned idioms? The speakers were blaring with new-age music at full volume. I waited for almost half an hour for the lyrics to appear, but they never did. What was truly remarkable was that the crowd seemed to be having seizures and thoroughly enjoying it. As ‘Karuthu’ Cobain from Nirvanam would say, the place reeked of adolescent exuberance. A young man clarified that I had misread the name of the event. It dawned on me then. I had wandered not into the idiom night, but into the idiot night."
02
Ajay
Preetham
Sports
Vedanjali
Yuvan, Nandini Rakshit Anirudh Ram, Sudhir
03
Cover Story
TAXCADE
TAXES
Managing personal finances can be confusing. Our formal education does not prepare us adequately for the world of taxes, investments and assets. There is also a general confusion about what exactly the CTC mentioned by a company is, leading to disappointment in the amount of salary that one obtains in hand. The intricate structuring of the CTC breakup remains a mystery to most of us. There’s a lack of awareness about the various tax deductions that are possible and about the various investments that one can make to maximize one’s returns while saving on tax. Knowledge about such topics can help save a lot of money. This cover story is an attempt to tackle some of these topics, starting at the very basics, and understand the way taxes work.
04
Sindhur, Piyush, Sneha
Types of tax Taxes can be confusing as there are many types of them, classified broadly into direct and indirect taxes. The first is paid directly to the government, while the latter is paid indirectly as we purchase goods and services, which we call the Goods and Services Tax (GST). We will be delving into the former. Direct taxes are generally categorized into the following:
What is tax? Tax is the financial contribution from citizens that funds the government in all its ventures and activities. All the infrastructure and social benefits that we receive from the government are funded primarily by the taxes administered and collected by the IRS (Indian Revenue Service). One of the first things that one comes across after embarking on a professional career is income tax. As we begin to earn, it is important to understand the different types of tax that we pay, how to manage to pay taxes, how investing intelligently can affect the tax that one has to pay, and so on.
Income Tax: The direct tax paid by a person based on the amount of income that he/she receives.
Corporate Tax: The direct tax paid by companies
based on the profits that they made in their business. The most recent tax slab for companies decrees that companies need to pay 30% of the company’s net income. One must note that there are some subtleties to the process of paying income tax, essentially who pays it and how much they pay. The amount of tax one pays is decided by what range one’s income falls in, called a tax slab.
Tax slabs The tax slab for an individual is different from the tax slab used for the groups shown above. There exist three separate tax slabs within the case of individual taxpayers, one for people below the age of 60, one for those between 60 to 80 years of age, and one for those older than 80. The following is the tax slab for an individual who is less than 60 years old: Income tax slab
Amount of income tax to pay
Up to Rs. 2,50,000
Nil
Rs. 2,50,001 to Rs. 5,00,000
5% of total income exceeding Rs. 2,50,000
Rs. 5,00,001 to 10,00,000
Rs. 12,500 + 20% of total income exceeding 5,00,000
Above Rs. 10,00,000
Rs. 1,12,500 + 30% of total income exceeding 10,00,000
Note that income here implies annual income.
The above table does not include surcharges and cesses. Cesses are extra taxes collected by the government to gain funds for a specific purpose, like education or fuels. Generally a Health and
05
Feature Education Cess of 4% is applicable on the income tax. Surcharges are additional taxes levied on the higher tax brackets. For individuals with a total income below 5 lakhs, a tax rebate of up to an amount of 12,500 is available under Section 87A. A tax rebate is a refund that one gets when they pay more than their tax liability (the total amount of tax owed by a person).
One must note that not all types of income are taxed using the above tax slab. Income through capital gains is an example of this. A capital gain is a rise in the value of a capital asset (investment or real estate) that gives it a higher worth than the price of purchase. This gain is realized only when the said asset is sold. A capital gain can be short term or long term. Generally, long term capital gains are taxed less than the short term ones are. The table below shows how different types of capital assets and different holding periods affect the tax rate for capital gains.
Type of Capital Asset
Holding Period
Tax Rate
House Property
Holding more than 24 months – Long Term Holding less than 24 months – Short Term
20.6% Depends on slab rate
Debt mutual funds (bonds and treasury bills)
Holding more than 36 months – Long Term Holding less than 36 months – Short Term
20.6% Depends on slab rate
Equity mutual funds (stocks)
Holding more than 12 months – Long Term Holding less than 12 months – Short Term
Exempt 15.45%
Shares (STT* paid)
Holding more than 12 months – Long Term Holding less than 12 months – Short Term
Exempt 15.45%
Shares (STT unpaid)
Holding more than 12 months – Long Term Holding less than 12 months – Short Term
20.6% Depends on slab rate
FMPs (Fixed Maturity Plans)
Holding more than 36 months – Long Term Holding less than 36 months – Short Term
20.6% Depends on slab rate
*Securities Transaction Tax - a type of direct financial transaction tax paid at source levied on every purchase and sale of securities that are listed on the recognized stock exchanges in India.
Filing Income Tax Returns (ITR) Generally, most salaried people don’t need to pay their taxes explicitly - they are deducted from the source of their income. This is called TDS - Tax Deducted at Source. However, you do need to do what is called as an Income Tax Return Filing, which is essentially just providing the Income Tax Department with an affirmation that you have made necessary provision for assessment of your income and paid the taxes as required under the provisions of law. For those below the age of 60, if
06
their gross total income is above 2.5 LPA, filing of ITR is mandatory. In general, it is considered good practice to file ITR even if not mandatory as it serves as a proof of income while applying for loans, and is also useful when applying for a visa. The most common way to go about filing ITR is through Form 16. The Income Tax Form 16 is issued by an employer toward its employees furnishing the details of their salary and tax deductions. This form must be issued by an employer by 15th June of the year for which it is being issued. To uniquely identify both the employer and the employee, TAN and PAN are used. TAN or Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number is a 10 digit alphanumeric number required to be obtained by all persons who are responsible for deducting or collecting tax, i.e., the employers. Permanent Account Number (PAN) is a ten-digit alphanumeric identifier, issued by the Income Tax Department to identify each tax paying person.
Income Tax Form 16 has two parts – Part A and Part B. Part A of Form 16 is issued by the government and it showcases the tax that is deposited by you in that year to the income tax department. It shows the quarterly view of your tax deductions. It contains details like name and address of your employer, details of the employee like his/ her name and address, PAN and TAN of the employer, PAN of the employee, the period that the employee has served that employer in that financial year and finally quarter wise details of tax that is deducted by employer and deposited to the government. Part B of Form 16 shows detailed computation of tax that is calculated by your employer and deducted and deposited to the government. It shows the complete breakup of your salary, the deduction and exemptions and final tax computation while considering all the current tax slab rates. The items showcased in Part B are amount of your gross salary, the exemptions and allowances that are considered while calculating your salary, deductions that are made (like entertainment allowance and tax on your employment), income that is chargeable as per salary header, the gross total income of the employer, deductions from taxable salary under section the various sections like 80C and 80E, total taxable salary, total tax on the taxable salary, education cess that needs to be paid and at last, verification details of the employer.
Hearing headlines about hefty salaries that people earn might have left you in awe, until you dip your feet into the corporate world. In this section, we will be taking you through what a person will earn on paper versus what they will actually receive in their wallet. The standard procedure once you get hired is the company sending an offer letter (which also mentions details like whether you’re allowed to have another part-time job/business) legally establishing the hiring. The highlight of the letter will be your CTC (cost-to-company), which details how much the company incurs in order to keep you in their employment. So in other words, every rupee will not come to you. Here is a brief look at what this might look like:
Basic salary
This part of the split is the direct, fixed amount you will receive and is completely taxable. A part of the reason why companies also choose to pay employees a lower basic and treat the rest as allowances is so as to decrease their contribution to the PF of an employee.
Allowances HRA This stands for house rent allowance, a very common allowance given and can be exempted from tax. You would usually have to submit your rental agreement in support of this. For people who stay at home, they also “pay” rent to their parents to claim this allowance. CA Conveyance allowance is to cover for your travel expenditures to work, similar to HRA you would need to provide supporting bills to claim. Depending on your income, both CA and HRA are partly tax deductible. Leave Travel Allowance (LTA) LTA is the amount provided by the company to cover domestic travel expenses of an employee. It does not include the expenses for food, accommodation, etc. during the travel. Dearness Allowance (DA) DA is a living allowance paid to employees to tackle the effects of inflation. It is applicable to government employees, public sector employees, and pensioners only. Special allowance/Medical expenses/reimbursements Medical expenses for the employee and their family are a standard. A popular reimbursement besides medical has been for home internet, which you would have to set up under your name.
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EPF contributions By law, every employer is to contribute 12% of your base salary to your provident fund (PF). At the same time, the same amount goes from your salary to your PF. This is the difference between what they say you will be paid and what you actually get at the end.
Gratuity This is the part that a company would give you in case of retirement or leaving, and it is deducted every month. However, most companies have a policy of giving gratuity only after 5 years of work, so if you are looking at a short gig - this could be forever lost.
Gross salary Gross salary is the amount calculated by adding up one’s basic salary and allowances, before deduction of taxes and other deductions. It includes bonuses, over-time pay, holiday pay, and other differentials.
Gross Salary = Basic Salary + HRA + Other Allowances
Net salary or take-home salary
Net salary or take-home salary is obtained after deducting income tax at source (TDS) and other deductions as per the relevant company policy. Net Salary = Basic Salary + HRA + Allowances - Income Tax - Employer’s Provident Fund - Professional Tax
CTC
Hence, all these allowances, the base and the PF make up the sum listed when hiring.
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In simple terms while companies and newspapers go about giving out their CTC, in reality an employee receives about 70-80 percent of the quoted amount. Additionally we pay tax on what we earn as income tax, which takes away further from our income. This happens automatically, already covered in the aforementioned TDS (tax deduction at source) section. The amount of income tax one pays varies depending on the income slab they come under. Note that in each case it is a fixed amount plus a percent in the surplus (e.g if you earn 10 lakhs then it is 30% of how much over 10 lakhs you earn).
Deductions One of the reasons this breakup of the CTC is important is because some of the incomes listed in the CTC can be deducted from one’s taxable income. Section 80C allows taxpayers to claim deductions from their total income, by bringing down their taxable income. There exist various deductions within section 80, such as deductions on investments, where a deduction of Rs. 1.5 lakh can be claimed from your total income. Therefore, the taxable income becomes (total income - Rs. 1.5 lakh) when investments are made. Deductions also can be made for the amount paid to annuity plans to insurers, on amount paid as health insurance, etc. 2. Standard deduction A standard deduction of Rs 50,000 (annually) has been introduced in the 2018 Interim budget. Before this, there was a transport allowance of maximum INR 19,200 (annual) and medical allowance of maximum INR 15,000 (annual), which are no longer applicable. 3. LTA Travel cost can be claimed for tax exemption under Section 10(5), twice in a block of four years. LTA covers only domestic travel, and the amount is provided on submission of actual bills. Apart from these, medical reimbursements, telephone bill reimbursement, etc. are exempt from the tax deduction. A series of laws called section 80 list out the various deductions one can possibly make from their taxable income. The following is a table which lists all such common tax deductions available at one’s disposal.
Section
Nature
Limit
80C
Basic deductions from total income.
1,50,000
80TTA
Interest from deposits
Rs. 10,000 on interest, available to an individual and HUF, deduction allowed on interest earned from a savings account with a bank
80G
Donations to charity
50% of the donation made is allowed to be deducted from the taxable income. However, if the amount is more than 10% of the gross total income, the excess will be ignored.
80E
Educational loan
Deduction allowed on total EMI part, no limit
80EE
Home loan interest
Allowed on interest paid on home loan up to a maximum of Rs 50,000 per financial year.
80D
Medical insurance premium
For self and family - Rs. 25,000, For self and family and parents- Rs. 55,000, For self and family and senior citizen parents- Rs. 80000
The CTC split up is useful is a few different ways. The split usually features a few special allowances, medical expenses - these are costs/parts of income that can be excluded when one pays tax. However they’re not all free from deductions, according to your income slab they might vary. A quick Google search will help with that. To give you an idea of how tax calculations is done, here’s an example. Salary Components
Amount (annual)
Amount (monthly)
CTC
16,00,000
-
Basic
6,40,00
53,332
HRA
3,20,000
26,666
EPF
21,600
1,800
1,00,000
8,333
20,000
1,666
5,75,324
47,943
23,076
1,923
2400
200
Sec 80C Investment Leave Travel Allowance Special Allowance Gratuity Professional Tax
Note: *This is up to X to decide how much she wants to invest and claim under section 80C. The maximum deduction possible is 1,50,000. EPF amount also comes under section 80C. We have assumed that X pays INR 30,000 per month as her rent. DA is assumed to be zero because X is assumed to be a private sector employee.
Step 1: Calculating gross salary Gross Salary = Gross salary = Gross Salary =
CTC – (EPF + Gratuity) 16,00,000 – (21,600 + 23,076) INR 15,55,324
Step 2: Calculating taxable income
First, calculate the HRA deduction that you can claim: HRA that you can claim = Minimum of (Actual HRA, Rent paid- 10% of basic, 50% of Basic for metro city) = Minimum (3,20,000 , 3,60,000 - 10% of 6,40,000, 50% of 6,40,000) = Minimum (3,20,000, 2,96,000, 3,20,000) = 2,96,000 Taxable Income = Gross Salary – Section 80C deduction – Standard Deduction – HRA – Professional Tax Taxable Income = 15,55,324 – 1,000,00 – 50,000 –2,96,000 – 2,400 Taxable Income = 11,06,924
Step 3: Calculate income tax
Based on the slab rates: Income Tax = 112500 + 30% of (Taxable Income - 100000) Income Tax = 112500 + 30% of 1,06,924 Income Tax = 1,87,347 Cess = 4% of Income Tax Net Tax = 1,87,347 + 7494= 1,94,841
Step 4: Calculating in-hand/take home salary
Take Home Salary = Gross Salary – (Income Tax + Professional Tax) Take Home Salary = 15,55,324 - (1,94,841 + 2,400) Take Home Salary (Annual) = INR 13,58,540 Take Home Salary (Monthly) = INR 1,13,212
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Venkat, Harshini
Conclusion Taxes and salary structures are surprisingly not understood very well, especially considering that they’re something that affect the daily lives of each and every one of us. While through this cover story we were able to talk about the fundamentals that one needs to know in order to deal with taxes, it’s important to keep abreast of the upcoming developments in the financial world. The finance and economics pages of newspapers are the easiest source for such matters. The Budget that gets presented at the Lok Sabha every financial year offers a lot of information about the tax slabs for that financial year, as well as about the general financial landscape of the country. Apart from that, keeping up with news about real estate, the stock market and the financial world in general helps one go a long way in achieving financial literacy and helps one in understanding where one’s money is going, and how to distribute it better.
Venkat, KGP, Ipsita, Vedanjali
11
Science/Tech
12
Rishab, Harish Raj Athreyan
Venkat,Rishab Preetham, Arpit
13
Psychology
14
Koushik, Anisha
Sindhur Arunagiri
15
Feature Cover Story
16
Sindhur Sindhur
Anisha, Ajay, SriP
17
Miscellaneous
EMOTIONAL STATE
I am not an excitable person. This is what my feelings look like when plotted in a graph.
WHATEVER HAPPENS
I have a special affinity towards water. I like how weightless it makes you feel, how it flows past you when you dip your feet in a cold stream. Of course, these are not things you learn in your classrooms and through engineering books. In one of these team trips, a few of us enjoyed ourselves in a small lake formed by the backwaters, floating in the salty seawater with the help of lifejackets. Hesitant at first, more and more friends joined in when they saw us splashing around and having fun. I floated around lazily on my back and watched the blue sky ringed with palm fronds. Can there be anything better?
What does happiness mean to me? This was a question that I was forced to ponder about, for an assignment in class. As I began to fill the blank sheet of paper, the answer to this question materialised slowly. As I said, I have not experienced the emotion in its extremity. However, there have been days I can look back at with immense satisfaction. These were days when I was contributing to or creating something a cause, a project or a kind of group practice. I fondly remember the NITTFest Qawwali practice sessions, full of fun and laughter and a common desire to excel on stage. Certain ordinary moments also stand out. This morning, I managed to wake up early and go for a swim with friends. As we talked and ate our breakfasts later, I realised I was happy. It was one of those idyllic moments that remind you of summer vacations - filled with endless possibilities and fun. I like to collect conversations, like some people collect pretty rocks and seashells. Over these four years, I have collected many, and I realised how much they had enriched my life at NITT. I have felt happy after I shared my deepest, most closely held insecurities with people who understood them, and have them open up to me. I have felt energised, after a good debate or a discussion with a colleague, senior or a junior. Some of these conversations are etched in my mind, and shall be, for a long time.
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Tania
In the end it all comes down to what you’ve given back to this place. I have been happiest when I felt I had imparted something of value to a junior or a colleague. When I watch my juniors engage in a discussion about a difficult story, try and understand it from different angles and spare no effort to collect relevant information - just like we tell them to, I feel happy. I may be leaving this campus in a few days, but the feeling that I mattered, will still matter and that my principles will be carried forward by others, is the greatest feeling of happiness.
Abhishek
Sports
Parkour and Free Running In 1902, a catastrophic volcanic eruption obliterated the town of St. Pierre on the Caribbean island of Martinique. Over 28,000 were massacred. A young, French naval lieutenant, Georges Hébert valiantly coordinated the evacuation of over 700 people, both indigenous and European. The experience had a profound effect on him. For as he watched people move in those crucial first moments, it seemed that the indigenous people overcame the obstacles in their path with grace and creativity, while the Europeans moved badly, searching for familiar pathways, which now no longer existed. It was clear to him that “modern man” had lost the ability to move efficiently and effectively in all but the most routine environments. This incident prompted Hébert to introduce a natural and effective way of movement which contained a lot of other actions which was then adopted by the French military training program and dubbed as ‘parcours du combattant’ (obstacle course). Raymond Belle, a French soldier used the term “les parcours” to encompass all of his training including climbing, jumping, running, balancing, and the other activities he undertook in his personal athletic advancement. His son, David, further developed his father’s methods and achieved success as a stuntman. One day on a film set he showed his ‘Speed Air Man’ video to Hubert Koundé, a French actor and director. Koundé suggested he change the “c” of “parcours” to a “k” because it was stronger and more dynamic, and to remove the silent “s” for the same reason, forming “parkour”. Steadily gaining popularity in 1990s-2000s through documentaries and internet, today Parkour has a definition in the Webster dictionary: A modern sport involving activities like running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, rolling, quadrupedal movement (crawling) and other movements as deemed most suitable to reach one point from another. The original version was against competition and focused solely on heightening modern man’s capabilities. Parkour jams became commonplace in developed cities. They emphasised upon non-fitness aspects of the sport such as human bonding and improving the conditions of the locales where they were held. As parkour continued to grow, Sebastian Foucan transitioned and introduced a new branch to parkour, called freerunning. Spins, turns and flips are added to improve the aesthetic appeal of the movement. The key difference between parkour and freerunning stems from its “usefulness”. Parkour is believed to be more useful and “a very different mindset from just doing things to look good” as said by David Belle. Rules are looked at in a rather strict manner compared to freerunning which takes self-expression into consideration. Despite being a versatile sport that has amassed huge popularity, controversial decisions have shrouded its path right from the beginning. When a clash of ideas emerged, a split occurred within the “Yamakasi”, the group formed by the founders of the sport. The purpose and usefulness of the whole idea was questioned, and Mr Belle and Mr Foucan parted ways according to their discipline. This has subsequently led to parkour runners raising doubts over the functionality of the International Gymnastics Federation(FIG). In spite of all the drama, Parkour has made its way into multiple facets of mainstream media with the method becoming a way of life. The popular Assassin’s Creed game series uses freerunning with the protagonist usually traversing in-game making heavy use of the same. Be it the Bond movie, Casino Royale, the classy Prince of Persia or famed American Ninja Warrior, parkour has gained positive speculation. Hundreds of teenagers have been giving the sport a go, all around the world with instances coming up in NIT Trichy as well. Nonetheless, it is an undeniable fact that Parkour has come a long way from being a casual practice to becoming an engaging sport. The first of its kind World Championship in 2020 is a testimony.
Shiwang, KGP
19
Feature
20
Parasu, Venkat, Isha
Swedha
Poetry
A Delight in White The fringes progress, as the clouds ready Themselves to cover the land with white, I pass the greens, with a mind held steady, And delight! Father, December in sight! The water a-freezing and the world all dreaming, Birds take flight, as dawns the migrator y night, Leaves are shed as rejuvenation stands gleaming, A celebration in white! Father, December in sight! The mountains from a far, greet the passers-by, Waves as memories, a-still in the lake’s bright, Naked clad, the Earth signals the tint-less sky : ‘Make my lands white!’ Father, December in sight.
Naman
Naman
21
22
Komal
Rasika
Creative Space
Koushik, Shiva
23
Science/Tech
24
Mukesh Komal
Rishab, Adhithya, Koushik, Harshini
Parasu, Arpit
25
Feature
High risk j Waking up to the same monotonous life days in and nights out? Frustrated that there is no real challenge to your job, no motivation to perform, no lives at stake to be that superhero you always wanted to be? Fear not! We at Feeds feel you. Here are a few jobs that employ personnel who do a little more while battling it out with fate:-
DEMINERS Wars are complex human phenomena. Epitomes of destruction and suffering, they leave things like hidden traps, dormant bombs and undetonated minefields in their wake. Potential hazards, these evils need to be nipped in the bud to prevent havoc and avoid loss of life. ‘Superheroes’ brought in the picture are called ‘deminers’. A deminer’s job involves sweeping a potentially dangerous mapped/unmapped area for minefields and bombs. What may come to aid during such an expedition can be state of the art tech, dogs or just their hunches to go on. The earth around the bomb is gently prodded until there is contact between the bomb and the prod. The devil is then removed carefully and disarmed. Deminers from western countries are paid well and usually indulge in fieldwork in the darker parts of the world. However, some regions consider them with hostility while others revere their work. Colonel Fakhir, a Kurdish father of eight in Iraq, said in his documentary, “If I fail, only I die, but if I succeed, I can save hundreds of people.” His family considers him a hero but fail to comprehend his mindset. Although facing a mishap in 2008, leading to the loss of a leg, Fakhir is undeterred. As obvious, most of the deminers come from a military background. Ask them why they took on such a reckless job, and their answer can range from humanitarian grounds to serving the nation to the thrill of a neardeath experience. Real novelty there.
TIGHTROPE WA L K E R S Flashiest of the three with names like Philippe Petit, Nik Wallenda, Freddy Nock and Melissa Andrzejewski making it big, it’s the most popular as well. Tightrope walking can be considered an extreme sport where stuntmen/showmen scare the daylights out of their audience while traversing between two points on a
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Shiwang
bs
flexible wire the tension of which can be adjusted to varying degrees. The art contains subforms like tightwire, highwire, skywalking and slackwire, each with its varying intensity of difficulty. Substantial popularity and the artist can end up being heavily paid for each of his/her performance. However, the catch is the patience, practice and perseverance it takes to perfect the art. There are rarely second chances. Deaths/Injuries are glamorous, considering you had an audience yet painful because of the minimal safety gear for the stunt to look real. Tancrede Melet plummeted to death from over 100 feet when walking between two hot air balloons. There have been many more tales of success that have been converted to documentaries, books and films, where mere humans survived death-defying odds.
Garbage s e g r e g at o r s Manual labour is back-breaking. Add to the mix fear of the unknown; that’s what garbage segregation is. Developing countries like India and China employ the largest fleet of men and women who unknowingly put their lives on the line. Wastes that end up in garbage dumps may contain pathological wastes such as those originating from hospitals and containing infectious bodily fluids etc., hazardous chemical wastes, genotoxic waste and radioactive waste beside the general household waste. Proximity to such harmful substances without suitable safety gear and sometimes in dire conditions with only their hands to work with can negatively affect the body with the onset of many unprecedented maladies. WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing), an international network of informal workers, describes waste picking in India as, “Waste picking ranks lowest in the hierarchy of urban informal occupations, and a large number of those employed in this occupation are women and children. Illiterate, unskilled persons, migrants, those lowest in the caste hierarchy and the poorest of the poor, predominantly work as waste pickers as they are unable to find any other kind of employment.” Unpaid and undervalued, rag pickers are an essential cog in the machinery running developing nations.
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It is up to the reader to choose the balance between risk, rewards and satisfaction of their jobs. Or does the 9 to 5 job still sound too boring?
Saif, SriP, Shiwang
Fake News
Mukhesh
Amogh, Preetham
27
What If
Messi In the Premier League “Could Messi do it on a rainy night at Stoke?” is a question often asked by skeptics who even today, question a certain Lionel Messi’s adaptability to the most watched football league in the world, the English Premier League. This particular jargon refers to the physical and fleshy manner in which football is played in England. This is in contrast to the Spanish League where the 5 time World Player of the Year plies his trade. There the football is considered to be on a technically higher plateau and there is lesser emphasis to the physical aspect of the game. What this question does is, it often poses a greater dilemma for football enthusiasts, what would happen if Messi were to transfer in to the Premier League. Now, Messi, being one of the better players around and the elixir of this current Barcelona team, would cost a lot of money, the kind of amount that can be only afforded by teams which are funded by countries. Messi has already stated several times that he does not intend to move to any other team. For the sake of this piece, let us assume the scenario is one in which Manchester City, with their rich owners, are the ones to snap him up. The fluid, beautiful football that Manchester City play is sure to suit Messi. It mirrors the style he enjoyed playing under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola, the current Manchester City manager. They both share a great rapport and the presence of compatriots such as Aguero will only serve to help him acclimatise to the Premier League better. Over the years, Messi has regularly faced the best of English football in the Champions League, and has come out on top almost all of the time. He has a record of 24 goals against the current Premier League “top 6” which even surpasses the tallies of top PL strikers like Harry Kane. One expects, should he operate in the Premier League, he will end up builiding on this monstrous statistic. You can almost hear teams parking their buses at the thought of it. It would not be too extravagant to say that he would have an instant impact and any match he plays would have him as the central figure, sort of like the hero to a movie. Great players would take the backseat and watch him weave his invisible magic wand, creating goals out of thin air. The average English football enthusiast would become even more religious, not daring to miss a match, lest they miss out on feasting their eyes on him. This would drive the viewership up to hitherto unprecedented levels.
is past knowledge that man-marking does not work. He skips past the most acrobatic challenges with the ease of a ballet dancer. Best would be to just stop and admire, accepting this phenomenon for what he is. There exists yet another dynamic involving this switch - Fantasy Premier League. Much like the Pragyan Premier League, just bigger and more rewarding. FPL enthusiasts might find his starting price to be as high as 15.0m, leaving barely any room for investments in midfield and defence. No doubt a majority of the players will bank on Messi to deliver every single gameweek, and no one would be surprised to see his ownership above 60% right from the start from the season. Apart from a possible settling period, Lionel Messi would most likely dominate the Premier League just as he’s been doing in La Liga for more than a decade
Messi Against PL Opposition 32 games 30 G+A
With Messi in the Premier League, most teams would just look to keep him quite by whatever they are able to muster up. It
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Sashank
Sashank, Sudhir, Parasu
Abishek Palraj