FEEDS September Issue | Issue 2 | Volume 7 by Feeds

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, Seshasayee, Kavya V, Chinmayi, Nikhil, Venkat, Anirudh, Rigved, Santhosh, Harish, Jeswin, Adityan, Kaushik, Ashwin, Nived, Srishyam, Saif, Harshini, Keshore, Ashwin S, Trisha, Tania, Sai Prashant, Deeksha, Shruthi, Anantha, Yuvan, Arvindmani, Gautham, Kavya B, Porvika, Anupama, Snigdha, Suriya, Neveditha. Cover Story: Sripradha, Trisha, Tania, Venkat, Sai Sudhir, Parasuraman, Chinamayi, Sarath, Advait, Sai Prashant,Sarath. Cover: Sivaprakash. Creative Writers: Akaash P, Sai Sudhir, Shwetha, Adithya N, Sriram, Adithya S, Tejas, Rakshit, Ashwath, Parasuraman, Sai Prashant. 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)

Ashwin Krishnan Co-Editor As yet another semester flies by, take a moment to just stop and look around. Imagine, if you will, a pause button in life - hit it and just take in everything around you. The world is so transitory. We often complain of being bored and having the same basic schedule every day, but are any two days truly the same? It’s often just a question of how “big picture” your outlook is. Sure, you could look at life over the course of an entire semester and break it down as around ten weeks of classes each day dictated by a time-table set by your department and approved by the Dean. But as you go closer you realize that maybe not every Monday is the same. It’s only on one Monday you run to your 8:30 class to secure your attendance because your cycle chain came loose. It’s only one Tuesday when you decide to take a peaceful walk back to your hostel only to be chased by a cow and it’s definitely not everyday you get soaked in the rain despite having an umbrella. As I go further and further into what will be my final year in this college, several of my friends begin to notice that this will be the last time they will do something. Suddenly even things people detest, such as the eye-sore that is our lab uniforms, begin to hold a somewhat sentimental value. It’s not so much an attachment to the place or a particular activity, because God knows we’ll end up going somewhere that requires us to wear some kind of clothes we don’t want while doing some activity we don’t like, but more of an attachment to the people we do it with. It’s not so much someone saying “Oh man, I’ll never get to wear this uniform again” than it is “I’ll never get to complain to you about wearing this uniform again.” Often we are out of phase with reality. As the cliché goes, time and tide wait for no man, yet some of us are stuck in our very own world, fabricated as a means to cope with the kind of change most of us are not equipped to handle. However, it is as unhealthy to abjectly reject change as it is to embrace it without accepting that it’s not easy. Humans are built on memories and experiences. So look around you. Let everything you experience really register, things that change and the things that remain. The sole purpose of college isn’t to make you an engineer. In fact, a semester away from that coveted piece of paper, I feel like less of an engineer than when I first walked in. Rather, college makes you realize everything that’s important to you and what really matters. So let that sink in, at each and every instant. Unpause. Life must go on. Speaking of change, in the cover story for this issue, we’ve tried to dispel some of the mystery surrounding the Flexible Curriculum. As the last batch of this college to have the regular curriculum, we hope that our input as someone external to the system while equally vested in student interests will prove to be of good use. With regards to Flexible Curriculum, some of the cards are face down and there are likely to be new cards dealt sooner or later. So, a thorough analysis has been done with the cards in hand.

Feature

MEME MAYHEM MANIA A

meme, as defined by the dictionary is an element of a culture or a system of behaviour passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means. The definition in itself gives us an idea of how memes truly affect us. After all, popular culture and it’s spread is least rooted in fact, or well has at least some basis in fact. Memes change the way we live, they shape our perceptions, and are products of the never ending evolution of society. For starters, their most predominant sphere of influence lies in modern language and culture. Newer words get introduced into languages, which in turn provide richness to the language. For instance, The Collins’ English Dictionary defines the word ‘Rickrolling’ after the viral 2007 meme of singer Rick Astley performing Never Gonna Give You Up. Now one might argue as to whether this is indeed serving any purpose at all. To an outsider, it does indeed look like nothing more than an incoherent instance of slang. However, this is the process by which languages grow and evolve. Newer and newer words come into vogue, and while the old ones may fade from popular usage, they continue to exist and serve as beacons that showcases the culture of their time.

“The key idea to be considered before sharing a meme is the platform you are sharing it on, and how it would affect others on the same platform.” In the present day, advertising and marketing professionals have embraced memes as a means of promotion. This is because they are relatively inexpensive and popular, plus they have the ability to spread very fast and improve reach considerably. Famous brands like Denny’s have revamped their entire brand and their image by creating humorous and engaging content. To consider an example, Denny’s recreated Drake lyrics right after the immensely popular song Hotline Bling was released, getting them a massive number of followers and staggering popularity. These so-called memes have assisted in producing fortune and fame to several 02

companies. The meme phenomenon subtly represents the tones of modern social etiquette and culture. However, it must be noted that what one person finds humorous, may be offensive to another. This is where the dark side of memes come into the fray. They often trivialize problems of substance abuse, domestic violence, homophobia, sexism and so on. For instance, the currently trending “Respect Women” memes may be outright offensive and insensitive to victims of previous assault. The key idea to be considered before sharing a meme is the platform you are sharing it on, and how it would affect others on the same platform. The lack of this consideration shown and a general disrespect towards suffering and differences highlight the aggressive attitude and culture of our time. Anything which has socio-cultural and economic impacts must obviously have its fair share of ties to the political world, and the same can be said of memes. These puerile units of culture have emerged as the lingua franca of elections around the world, and have given people an entirely new way of articulating their beliefs. Take for instance the Indian 2015 elections, which sprung its fair share of ‘Modi Sarkaar’ and ‘Dumb Rahul Gandhi’ memes. The issue with them however is that, they are no longer just simple visual messages or videos. They are now born from the depths of the internet and have slowly grown into a form of folk propaganda. Consider for example the 2016 US Presidential election, no one could have ever predicted the resurgence of white nationalism or the faintly fascist America, yet here we are today. The tools that we may have once used to reach out to society are becoming shackles to the process of doing so. The internet is a ceaseless cornucopia of offensive material, and an endless theatre of virtual conflict, one in which we all have a part to play. Ultimately, it is here that the nature of our reality and our society will probably be decided.

Sai Prashant, Seshasayi

Feature

Gaze Into the Crystal Ball Humans as a species have always been fascinated with the ability to predict the future. The problem-solving aspect of our brain forces us to constantly foresee what is to come, so that we may act accordingly in a manner that prevents us from having to deal with erratic circumstances. We’re taught about a cause and effect relationship from a very young age: don’t go near the wolves, or they’ll eat you; touch a fire, and you will be burned; get good grades, and you’ll get a good job. If you’re good, good things will happen to you; if you’re bad, you will be punished. The more the brain learns, the better it becomes at recognizing patterns. And soon it becomes capable of much more complex analyses of the possible outcomes regarding a scenario. Our brains are wired to think before we act. Acting impulsively is generally perceived to be a fool’s errand. Which is why we so meticulously chart out our future. And it isn’t to say that we’re bad at this - we’re quite good in fact. Most of us pretty much lead our lives the way we want to. Very little actually surprises us. But how far do these precognitive abilities stretch? Are we actually capable of predicting more massive events? Is the world more connected than we realize? Paul the Octopus’ rise from being just another exhibit at the Sea Life Centre in Germany to the legendary psychic which accurately predicted the results of Germany’s football matches is one of the most bizarre examples of how the mind loves any information regarding the future. Stranger still are the eerily accurate predictions that the animated show The Simpsons has made over the years. Some of their predictions that rang true include Greece’s debt default, Trump’s presidency, The God Particle and even Facetime. Clearly the writers are aware of something we’re not.

The popularity of Nostradamus’ predictions in recent years has skyrocketed. Sentences in his book of predictions have been interpreted to predict everything from floods in Japan to the election of Donald Trump to even claims of Trump being the third ‘Antichrist’ after Napoleon and Hitler. Copies of books written in the time of Nostradamus weren’t printed but handwritten by scribes due to which no two copies of the book had the same information. Since his original book was never found and the first edition released in 1555 has all but vanished into thin air, the versions we have at the moment may not even be part of his original transcript. The insanity of the situation arises when we connect present day events to words which he might not have even written, to show that Nostradamus was indeed the seer he claimed to be. The existence of clairvoyant abilities in humans is debatable, but it is possible that we’re looking at it all wrong. Even Einstein described the contrast between past, present and future as ‘a stubbornly persistent illusion’. However, it’s all further complicated by the fact the future is not set in stone. It can change. If we think something bad might happen, it is definitely in our best interests to make an attempt to alter that course. Wearing your lucky shirt isn’t going to help you do better in your exam. Studying harder will. So instead of worrying about what might happen, we should simply focus on doing what is necessary to mold the future that we want to happen.

Anantha, Ashwath, Kavya

Feature

Anirudh, Harshini, Rigved

Sports

Ready...SET...

Go!

The Game of Dice that occurs in Mahabharata is an unforgettable moment in the epic. Not only did the Pandavas lose the game, but also their dignity which sealed their fate and sent them to exile and living in incognito. But some people might question the fact that the game was unfair as it was based too much on luck. Instead, if the game was based on strategy, an expression of the player’s personality and thought, we would have had a different epic today. The Chinese game of Go is exactly that and more. Considered one of the most complex games known to mankind, due to the sheer number of possibilities the game encompasses, Go is an extremely strategic and intuitive game that demands calculated judgments and decisions. It is a reflection of the Chinese train of thought, focusing on strategic thinking rather than the Western philosophy of brute force. Such a philosophy of maximizing territorial advantage as a means of victory can be even seen in their efforts to take over and include large portions of other countries territory as their own in their maps. Go is a two-player abstract strategy board game, not unlike chess, with playing pieces called stones. One player uses white stones while the other, black. The board typically consists of a 19x19 grid of lines, and the stones are placed on the intersections of these lines. Once placed on the board, the stones may not be moved. However, they are removed from the board when they are ‘captured’. A capture occurs when a stone or group of stones are surrounded by stones of the opposite colour on all orthogonally adjacent points. The game has one simple objective, which is to fully surround a larger total area of the board than the opponent. Although the rules seem simple, they are deceptively so. Go games become astonishingly complicated within a few moves. On comparing two of the common mathematically calculable quantities to measure a game’s complexity, the state space complexity (the number of legal game positions reachable) alone, we see that Go is 10123 times more complicated than chess, whereas, in terms of game tree complexity (total number of possible games that can be played), Go is 10237 times more complicated than chess.

intellectual,” says South Korean Lee Sedol, arguably one of the greatest Go players of all time. It is no mean feat what Google has achieved, creating an AI advanced enough to beat him in a game which cannot be brute-forced by a computer. Called AlphaGo, the AI developed by Google’s DeepMind has a database worth of 80 years’ experience. A pioneer in the field of AI, DeepMind seeks to narrow the difference between man and machine. With AlphaGo, they wish to apply its algorithm to real-world problems such as Google’s self-driving cars, smartphone assistants and in areas of healthcare and robotics. The defeat of Lee Sedol may have caused ripples in the professional Go community, but this setback may only prove to support the cause for Go, similar to how the historical defeat of Garry Kasparov to Deep Blue popularized Chess. This game gained worldwide popularity in no time, so much so that there are TV channels which specifically cover Go in Japan, China and Korea. Go’s mysterious complexity has even helped it enter pop culture, in movies such as ‘A Beautiful Mind’, in manga comics and in books like ‘The Art of War’ that discusses strategic thinking by drawing parallels to Go. This brings to mind all those war outcomes that could have been changed by strategizing using Go. Thus, Go has expanded its horizons from just a 4000 year old game to an enticing battle of strategy and intuition.

Recently, this ancient three millennia old game has piqued an acute interest in the 21st century Silicon Valley company, Google. “There is chess in the western world, but Go is incomparably more subtle and 06

Sai Sudhir, Deeksha, Venkat, Santhosh, Parasuraman

Business

Nikhil, Tania

Review

08 Adithya S, Venkat, Harish, Trisha

Feature

Srishyam, Kaushik

Club Page

FILM SOCIETY Feeds sat down with the founders of “Film Society”, the official Film club of our campus to get some insights as to what they do. The general trend with the filmmakers in campus through the years was that there was a form of isolation amongst them and this pertained to them shining only during certain phases of college competitions such as Horizons or NITTfest; a segregation to their own departments or friends. There was a need for a hub where filmmakers could come together and share their talent and coalesce to form movies for the art rather than just for a one-off movie, a place where they could hone their skills and participate in competitions apart from the ones within our campus. This is where the Film society sought to capitalize by tapping into the plethora of potential within the students by creating a club for passionate filmmakers and budding learners alike. Picking up where the older clubs left off, film society sought to make a structured and smooth transition for students of a technical institute to a more nuanced art form such as films. The Film Society stands by their goal at grooming passionate people into the art. 10

Visual media is one of the most important tools to convey information and especially in this day and age when any individual could go forth and shoot a skit on his phone or jumpstart a YouTube career. There is a pressing need to examine and utilize this art form to the fullest, something that they found lacking further cementing the need to create a club where people can learn and explore as filmmakers. Starting out with just a room, a makeshift studio paramount to any filmographic endeavor, Film society quickly rose through the ranks with associations with many clubs and organizations within campus such as Pragyan, the Sports Contingent, SCIEnT, the Music troupe to name a few. Presently, the funding comes out of the pockets of the senior-most members, and being a hobby (albeit an expensive one) they hope their efforts would help in securing a better shot at a steady running budget. The Film society works on two core aspects: the short films, where they explore a concept in a controlled environment and explore the creative side of the art and the outsourced projects by which they create curated films based on the needs of their customers. Currently, the film society aims at securing their foothold with-

in campus by expanding their numbers to accommodate a larger audience and creating a strong base for the upcoming editions of the club so as to carry on the filmmaking spirit and raise the bar. In addition, they hope to broaden their horizons by participating in international film competitions to better improve themselves and get exposure to the current status quo in various aspects such as cinematography, art direction, and writing. Furthermore, Film society hopes to seek associations with external and reputable firms and aids to better sharpen the skillset of the team. Taking a different approach to the classical induction procedure in campus, Film Society feels that just a few interviews might not be an accurate gauge of a person’s talent or passion in the art and hopes to, however, select people based on how they project it in their work. Contrary to other popular art forms, the steep learning curve involved ushers a form of gradual induction based on how the person develops their style and niche through how they convey their story whilst offering critical input along the way. They stand by their motto of nurturing filmmakers rather than just searching for the créme de la créme considering its subjective nature. So grab a few friends, create a short sketch and delve into the art of filmmaking. Who knows? You might just be the next Casey Neistat.

Jeswin

Political Jargon

Etymology

The world of politics is full of peculiar characters and traditions. Over the years they have given rise to some very interesting expressions. We explore a few:

To debunk: “To expose the sham or falseness of”. The word ‘debunk’ entered the English dictionary one day in the sweltering heat of the House of Representatives in 1920, when Felix Walker, a Congressman from Buncombe County, made an utterly worthless speech which he said was addressed not to the House, ‘but to Buncombe’. Consequently, the name ‘Buncombe’, later shortened to ‘bunk’, became a euphemism for nonsense. In 1920, American writer William Woodward immortalised the word ‘debunk’, meaning ‘to draw attention to nonsense’ when he used it in his exposé about Henry Ford. Owing to the critical nature of his writings, debunk also came to mean ‘to deflate a reputation’, and is still used, for attacking ill-gotten fame or wealth.

Filibuster: “Obstruction of parliamentary proceedings by giving

extremely long speeches”.

Filibuster has a long and rambling history in spoken English. Derived from the Spanish filibustero meaning “freebooter”, it first applied to pirates who pillaged the Spanish colonies in the West Indies. By mid 19th century, the term denoted American adventurers who incited revolution in several Latin American states. It later branched out to indicate a general person who engaged in ‘irregular tactics in warfare’. The essence of the word is still retained in its current usage, but thanks to democracy, even our revolutions have become measured and nonviolent. So, the next time you ask your classmate to drag their presentation you know what word to use!

Lame duck: “One

whose position or term of

office will soon end”.

The expression originally referred to a stock-jobber or dealer who was unable to pay his losses. In London’s Exchange Alley, a little street close to the the Royal Exchange, traders who suffered huge losses in the stock market inspired great mirth and derision. In 1760, some wit looked upon his fellow traders slinking away from Exchange Alley after a bad financial run and said, “Look at those lame ducks waddling away!”- or something to that effect. The shamefaced walk of defeat may have suggested a duck with a bad foot. The word’s association with Washington politics began in 1863 - a number of presidents have been called ‘lame ducks’ since then. Tania, Trisha, Chinmayi

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Talk About

Deeksha, Shruthi

Creative Space

Rakshit

Cover Story

Creative Space

Adithya N, Sriram

Fake News

Creative Space

Tejas

Creative Space

A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT “Tomorrow is admission day. Finally, I get toA annoy the Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT new girls!”, I thought to myself after a sumptuous meal of A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT A Bugging Day in NITT a brown chocolate ball. But then, I suddenly felt a jolt. I realised that my surroundings were changing! The chair I was sitting on was being shifted out of the Opal room. I tried to escape but it was too late - as soon as I found a way out, the mattress was placed atop the chair and my tiny feet were caught under it. Tears filled my eyes, and the Opal sign board faded away into the starry night. After an exhausting and painful truck ride, I fell asleep as the chair was brought into my new room. A few hours later, I woke up to the heated argument of my new victims wherein I sensed an opportunity to explore the room for refreshments. Just as I found a Hershey’s Nugget to feed on, I was brutally swatted, and landed on a notebook. Quietly, I started nursing my bruises when the notebook along with me was dropped inside a smelly bag. I was almost squished as the books kept thundering one by one, very close to me. Once the books were in place, just as I was headed to the bright opening at the top, a loud sound made me quite deaf. ‘Zzzzzzziiiiipppppp!’, I was in darkness, stuck in this silent and smelly bag. My suffering continued while I was violently thrown around in the bag and gravity ceased to exist. Just when I felt I could take no more of the rattle, the noise returned and air rushed into the bag. I scurried out and was startled by my new environment. I had been carried to what my transport called ‘class’. Finally, after what felt like years, it was break time and the students immediately swarmed out of class. Outside, I witnessed my transport trying to speak to a girl, and decided to take my revenge. I made a beeline for him and just as he was about to speak, I flapped my wings and entered his mouth. I laughed hard at how the dialogue panned out and he was completely flustered as the girl stormed out. The rest of the day was a bore as the hours crept by and I had begun to feel that I would have to breathe my last on the classroom bench when the bell rang. Back in the hostel room, both my victims continued to squabble and finally agreed to hold a gaming duel to settle the argument. The setup was made and guns loaded. It was going to be a fight till death, but little did I know what was to come. The showdown was in full swing when it began pouring outside. This downpour was the cue for more members of my clan to come in through the open window. “It is time to get mischievous,” we thought. All of us proceeded to collectively buzz around them and take delight in their irritation. But my worst fears came true. The very two people who couldn’t see eye to eye till then put aside their differences and proceeded to wreak havoc upon our clan. It broke my heart to see my friends being struck by the mosquito bat. I feared the inevitable but I was going to put up a strong fight. I flew about as fast as my tiny wings could carry my oversize body but all my efforts went in vain. In the end, I too fell victim to those whom I had planned to victimize. RIP. - In Loving Memory of our beloved señor Buggzee

Sai Sudhir, Shwetha

Creative Space

TALES FROM PUNDERLAND ! Leonardo Da Vinci rises from his dining table near the propped canvas, realising that this might well be his Last Supper. He walks to the rendezvous arranged with his rival, the sculptor Michelangelo. As they are both handed their guns and told to walk ten steps away from each other, Wild West music plays in their heads. The clocktower strikes twelve, and they both whip about and fire. As Michelangelo falls to his knees, he gasps, “ But I did not miss. How…?”. Da Vinci blows away the smoke from his gun’s muzzle and says, ” Because I’m inVincible!”

As Sherlock Holmes, grinning, wipes the icing off his gloves on the hems of his tailcoat, the group of wide-eyed apron-clad pastry makers of Baker Street gather around him, prepared to collectively gasp at what the master detective had deduced from the horrifyingly demolished cake and splattered whipped cream. As he whips around and proclaims the culprit’s identity, everyone cheers and one awestruck baker asks Holmes, ”…How?!” . To which he replies, “ Sheer Luck!”.

The piano notes and chords sound feeble, devoid of life. J.S. Bach sighs heavily, running his fingers along the marble keys, reminiscing about his glory days, when his every performance moved its audience to tears. He goes to the full-length mirror propped by the side and observes it. Suddenly, he struts like a gallant knight, turns to an imaginary audience, all suave and confident, and croons, “ Look who’s Bach!”. Disgusted at his own attempt at wordplay for the comeback performance he was planning, Bach ruffles through his old music sheets, and sighs, “ Well, its Bach to the basics.”

As the sirens blare, the masked robbers with automatic rifles force their way into the bank’s underground reserves. Intel gathered had hinted at a certain media company’s primary funds stored there as gold ingots. If they could bail out of here before the cops show up, they’re set for countless lifetimes. As they blow-up the largest vault door and rush inside, they are greeted by a man in a Mickey Mouse mask and cold steel walls. Furious, one robber says,” Take of your mask, and explain! What the hell is this?!” A cheery moustached face greets them, “ This, gentlemen, is Walt Disney!”

Adithya S, Sai Prashant

Cartoon

Komal

Psychology

Trisha, Nikhil

Creative Space

Ashwath, Adithya N, Akaash Preetham

Crossword