Director Dr. Mini Shaji Thomas
Dean (Students’ Welfare) Dr. Samson Mathew
Faculty Advisors
Dr. V. Sathyaraj Dr. V. Vinod Balakrishnan Content Developers: Ashwath, Parasuraman, Akaash P, Abilasha, Sai Sudhir, Seshasayi, Kavya V, Chinmayi, Nikhil, Venkat, Anirudh, Adhithya S, Adithya N, Rigved, Santosh, Harish, Jeswin, Adityan, Kaushik, Ashwin, Nived, Srishyam, Saif, Harshini, Keshore, Ashwin S, Trisha, Tania, Deeksha, Shruthi, Anantha, Yuvan, Arvindmani, Gautham, Kavya B, Porvika, Anupama, Snigdha, Suriya, Neveditha, Maanasa. Cover Story: Sai Sudhir, Parasuraman, Chinamayi, Harshini, Yuvan, Kavya. Cover: Komal. Creative Writers: Akaash, Kavya, Yuvan, Sai Prashanth, Anirudh, Harish, Adhithya S, Tejas. Illustrators: Ayush, Sivaprakash, Pradeeksha, Komal, Venkataramana. Designers: Mukesh, Arunagiri, Devashish, Akash, Sai Charan, Vivin, Dinesh, Arun Kumar, Abhinaya, Abhijjith, Swarthika, Revan Kumar. Photographer: Kamala Kannan
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)
Gautham Mahadevan Online Presence Head
There has been no shortage of words to describe the effect of time on the things around us. Time can be a healer - a welcome antidote to soothe the aches of a broken heart. Time can be a catalyst of change, welcome or otherwise. Literature has also shown Time to be a destroyer, as in Ozymandias by Percy Shelly where he describes the effect of Time that leaves the lone and level sands of the desert boundless and bare. It is also shown to be uncaring; where we’re nothing more than an inconsequential brick on the wall in Time’s infinite fabric. Despite these grim interpretations, the one that intrigues me the most is Time’s ability to cause and foster change. Time is the difference between a teenager fooling around with a guitar and a rock star selling out stadiums. It is the difference between humankind discovering the wheel and sending a man to the moon. Time is the most vital component in the process of evolution, an evolution that is pervasive on everything we see around us; from science and technology to culture and language. The effect of time on language has been well documented. In this edition of Feeds, we dig a little deeper into the very foundation of language – from its origin and evolution, to the role it plays in forming the religious, political and cultural fabric of society. Language is a very divisive issue in India today, casting its significant shadow on political discourse. The idea of a unifying ‘national language’ has been a hotbed of discussion ever since we became an independent country. Language plays an important role in NITT as well. Being an institute of national importance, NITT attracts students from all over the country, all of whom contribute to the rich cultural and linguistic diversity this campus can boast of. Through our cover story, we explore this in great detail through case studies, interviews and surveys. We have explored a range of other topics in this issue. We talk about the Women’s Cell of NITT – a committee that was set up to address harassment cases within the institution. The article on Online Courses makes a comparative study between online and offline methods of learning. Our business page explores the world of mergers and acquisitions in greater detail. This issue also features helpful infographics that track and quantify monthly student expenditure. Along with stories, poems and puzzles, we present an issue that is packed with interesting material from cover to cover. Sit back, enjoy, and may the Feeds be with you!
Printed at Safire Offset printers, Sivakasi. © Feeds NITT 2018. All rights reserved.
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Feature
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- Shruthi
Feature
Regardless of whether we follow ‘society approved decorum’ while interacting with the opposite gender, there are times when we find ourselves in some really unsavoury situations. For example, when X started talking to Y, they had no idea about what lay behind Y's friendly facade. What started as friendly banter soon gave way to something far more sinister. As the undercurrents of madness and possessiveness that Y possessed dawned on X, X felt isolated and helpless. X felt like they had no one to turn to. X could be any one of us, regardless of gender. And Y could be anyone - a friend, a classmate or even a person of authority. Sexual harassment can happen to anyone regardless of their gender, position, or authority. Distressing though it may be to deal with such a situation, one must remember that keeping quiet about harassment is no longer an option today. A number of platforms exist to tackle such cases and provide a swift and just hearing. In a bid to curb the menace of sexual harassment in workplaces, and impacted by the then recent Nirbhaya case, the “Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act” was enacted by the Parliament of India in the year 2013. In compliance with this Act, government institutions were required to form committees that addressed harassment cases within the institution. In our campus, this manifested in the formation of the Internal Complaints Committee or the Women’s Cell. Since its inception, the committee has been through four terms with its current presiding officer - Dr. C. Nagamani. In the past, the committee has handled and diligently resolved cases on campus- giving the complainants a fair hearing and maintaining their anonymity absolutely. Each case starts at the faculty level, moves on to the Board of Directors, and is finally resolved at
the MHRD level. In one of its previous cases, the committee had even terminated the services of a faculty member found guilty of harassment. Cases reviewed by government mandated committees such as ours follow the clauses of the Act of 2013, which in itself is derived from the Vishaska guidelines. In 1997, a women's rights group called the Vishaska, took up the cause of Bahveri Devi, a social worker who had been raped while trying to prevent a child marriage and denied justice by the Rajasthan Government. They later approached the Supreme Court which ruled in favour of Vishaska, and laid down several guidelines (later known as the Vishaska Guidelines) to be followed by establishments in dealing with complaints about sexual harassment. It defined sexual harassment, an employer’s obligations to their employee in that respect, and preventive guidelines. Sexual harassment was defined as “any unwelcome physical, verbal, or nonverbal conduct of sexual nature”, along with frequent cases like demanding for sexual favours and sexually coloured remarks. The Act and the guidelines both make a statement against the time bound nature of these events, hence allowing a victim to report an incident at any later period of time as well. Also, each case has a time limit of 90 days to be resolved - so justice is as immediate as possible. In case you are being harassed, collect as much as evidence as possible - texts, recorded calls, emails, etc. If you are approached head-on by the harasser, the committee advises you to try to be active, attack in self-defense, and scream for help. You may take the attacker by surprise. Most importantly, be bold enough to speak up and approach the committee. One can contact any member on the committee. For further information on the committee visit: https://www.nitt.edu/home/righttoinfoact/ICC.pdf
- Tania, Deeksha, Harshini
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Creative Space
- Tejas
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Infographics
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- Shruthi, Trisha
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Feature
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- Adhithya S
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Fake News
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- Stealth Siva
Feeature
SLEEPING PATTERNS To Sleep, Perchance to Dream… One of the most important aspects of our lives is sleep. We’ve all been able to appreciate its complexity, especially in hostel life. Each person seems to have their own unique sleep pattern. There’s always that guy in the surreptitious room across the wing who never gets out of his bed. Ask him why he does that, and you’ll get a response like, “I was born in the darkness, molded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was a man and by then it was only blinding.” There’s also your typical RG who studies all night, spending his day in the warmth of his bed. On the other hand, we have the old-fashioned way of going to bed early and waking up early, followed by that small population of superhumans who feel that crashing on the bed early gives them infinite superpowers to stay a 100 percent active during the day. Sleep is a complex biochemical process, and can be optimized to obtain the maximum gain. This leads to the rather hotly debated question, what is the best sleep pattern? Here are the three patterns into which sleep is generally classified: Monophasic Sleep pattern - The most commonly followed pattern of sleeping for eight hours straight. Biphasic Sleep pattern - It involves a long sleep during the night and a siesta of about a half an hour after lunch. This is what you do by bunking the uninspiring hour after lunch! Polyphasic Sleep patterns - These are the most interesting ones! They are rarely followed owing to the obvious difficulties in aligning with the society’s clock, but they are worth examining mainly because of their uniqueness. There are three types of polyphasic sleep patterns. Everyman Sleep Pattern: It involves a core sleep of just 3 hours in the night, followed by around three 20 minute naps for refreshment during the day. That’s just a total of 4 hours of sleep! Uberman Sleep Pattern: It makes use of 6 naps of 20 to 30 minutes at regular intervals throughout the day. That totals just 2 to 3 hours of sleep a day. Dymaxion Sleep Pattern:. It involves taking a
30-minute nap every six hours. This amounts to just 2 hours of sleep a day. One of the few people known to have followed it successfully was Buckminster Fuller of the “Buckyball” fame. So what is the best sleep pattern? Which pattern strikes the right balance between making sure the body is at its best during the active hours, but at the same time not spending too much time on sleep? The best sleep pattern in terms of efficiency is any one of the polyphasic ones as it maximises deep sleep. So, should we all, as a society, start changing our sleep schedules? Well, no. Not only will a community-wide paradigm shift in sleep be absurdly difficult, but even on an individual level, these patterns demand a much more strict keeping of sleep schedules than the monophasic or biphasic patterns of sleep. Missing even minutes of sleep in the polyphasic patterns can result in acute tiredness for the rest of the day. It’s a highly risky pattern to follow and is suited only for those whose schedules are extremely rigid and not prone to changes. However, there are upsides, especially in comparison to the commonly followed monophasic pattern. By following the polyphasic pattern, not only will you be saving a considerable chunk of your time that you would otherwise spend in sleeping, but you would also feel much fresher during your active hours. In the end, there is no single sleep pattern that works best for everybody, as the sleep pattern one follows depends on each person’s schedules and priorities. - Seshasayi, Diptishika, Venkat S
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Creative Space
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- Adhithya S
Cover Story
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Business
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- Keshore, Adhithya S
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Feature
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- Abhilasha, Shwetha
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Sports
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- Keshore, Sai Sudhir, Santhosh
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Creative Space
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- Yuvan, Sai Prashant, Kavya
Etymology
- Tania, Harshini
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Feature
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- Seshasayi , Harish, Anirudh, Mathirush
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Rebus
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