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Art and Photography by Zenith Karri Palash Karia Malavika G. Divya Verma

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AS: They were very encouraging. They never put me down or mocked my thoughts. You know there are some people who would have said oh you want to write a book? Wait till you grow up, nurture your talent and so on. But my teachers and friends were very positive. They told me to go right ahead. That really helped. If somebody keeps putting down your ideas, it is bound to discourage you. That way I was lucky. Are any of your characters and situations based on real life? AS: Definitely not the situations. Some of the characters do display some personality traits of people I know. So the two characters Sara and Crystal in your book could be your friends? AS: You could say that theyre like a mix and match of some of the people I know. The ways they respond to situations have been taken from people I know in real Your book has a lot of mythological references. Any special reasons for that? AS: I had a typical Indian childhood listening to a lot of stories on Indian mythological from my grandparents. This got me interested in mythology. I read up on Greek, Egyptian and Norse mythology. I felt Norse mythology was very beautiful and also the least written about. So I decided to base my book on Norse Who are your favourite authors? What sort of books do you like? AS: My favourite author is Rick Riordan. I just love Percy Jackson. I like books which are well researched, like the Meluha series, where you can understand the depth of research that has been done. Of course, books about mythology have always interested me. And the list would just not be complete without every childs favourite Harry Potter. How did you manage to write a book along with school work? AS: It actually wasnt that tough. Everyone thinks schools pile you with homework but it is not so. We had a weekly test but I could manage quite well. I used to finish my daily school work, prepare for the next day and do my writing at night. Did you follow a strict schedule? AS: Definitely not. My father had a schedule and used to write regularly every day. I just

couldnt do something like writing a certain number of words every day. I wrote whenever I felt like it. Did you ever face writers block? AS: Of course. Sometimes I used to blank out and couldnt even stand the thought of looking at my book. But I love reading, so when I would read a book and look at a particular dialogue, I would feel like writing like that. I would undergo a creative rush and get inspired to start again. Your book is mentioned as the first of a series of four. Were you planning all along to write four volumes? AS: Initially, when the story was just forming in my mind, I was thinking along the lines of a single book only. Later on it became very elaborate, so I decided to make it a four volume series. Would you like to say something to prospective young authors? AS: If you have the passion to write just go ahead with it. Do not get discouraged by listening to others.

Anusha Subramaniam is Indias youngest published author at the age of 12. Her book Heirs of Catriona is the first of a four part series. Anusha is presently residing in Mumbai, and is a student of Class VIII. Her father, Ravi Subramanian, banker by profession is also an author on the side and has written four popular corporate thrillers about banking.

W hen did the thought of writing a book strike you?

AS: The thought of writing a book was there for a long time but I just never got around to putting it into action. Writing a book seemed very tough. There were so many writers, it took a lot of time. Great writers had lots of contactsit certainly didnt look like something an ordinary girl could do. In 2006 my dad wrote his first book. That gave me some motivation but I was just 7-8 years old. I did start writing a book right then but it took a long time and by the time I got to the end of it I didnt like it. It was a short book with just 10,000 words. After that I decided to start again when I was around 11 and a half years old. I completed it in April You mentioned that you were motivated by your dad writing his first book. How did your dad influence your writing? Did you learn a lot from him? AS: Yeah, my dad has advised me on many aspects. He couldnt help with the content since his writing style was different from mine, but he was a big help in other ways. He did a few rounds of editing my script at home to polish up the language and the grammar. What were your teachers and friends role in your writing?

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if I take a step back and see the three year spell, I realise that Ive learnt a lot. On a day-to-day basis, the job satisfaction eludes you a little bit, because being a government job, it has its daily drudgery and all of that. However, I think the trick is to just take a step back. Zoom out, so to speak. SS: Many experts are of the view that sticking to a rigid five-year plan throughout is impractical, and that the process must be more responsive. What are your views on this? AK: What the five-year plan does is that it provides a perspective and gives us a medium term goal. I think that its important to just know where were headed, but India also has annual plans with ministries and states. You need to have a goal to work towards. The five-year plan is an aspiration, and thats always good to have. And it spells out how you will reach these aspirations. Its not as if weve set ourselves goals and havent accomplished any of them. Yes, child sex ratio has further declined, but literacy is at a certain level, and there are more roads than ever before. So its happening. It sounds like a dumb thing to say, but something is better than nothing. SS: Youve travelled to tribal areas during your career. Share your views on one of todays hottest topics reservation in the education system. AK: I think reservation is important, but there needs to be a better implementation of the same. There needs to be an economic criteria - I think economic class should be the first determinant to decide who gets reservation. However, I must admit that recently I also experienced what it feels like to have 51% reservation. I was applying for an M. Phil. Program and felt terrible because out of the 24 seats that were there, only 12 were for open candidates. The fact remains that were not born with equal abilities, especially in a country like India. It is the responsibility of the state to make sure that everyone at least has the chance to equal opportunity. SS: What are the career options for a social scientist? Had you not become a social scientist, what would you have been?

AK: I would have been a journalist. As for career options for a social scientist, theres always the good old IAS, which is easier if youve studied history; but actually, the people who do engineering and MBBS are the ones who get into the IAS, because they have the ability to sit down and study. As a social scientist, you could also teach, write or work for NGOs and MNCs. The options are immense. How does that TED talk by the [Victorias Secret] model [Cameron Russell] go? You could be a ninja cardiothoracic surgeon poet if you wanted to be. SS: Would you call yourself an optimist, pessimist, realist or a cynic? AK: I can spot these trends: when I was an optimist, I was always up at 7 oclock with my father saying, Wake up, the weight of the world lies on your shoulders. I would go to work excitedly. But now, I think Im at a point where I am a realist because Ive spent two years doing what Im doing. Im in my late twenties, and I think a certain amount of realism comes with age. I no longer want to eradicate poverty - because it cant be done, its a nave thing to say. As a realist, you do your job but you wont stay till midnight because you know that theres some work-life balance you need to maintain, and thats a good thing. But this is one trend, and Im sure Ill be able to see another trend in the next ten years. SS: If you had one sentence to say to todays youth, and just the one, what would it be? AK: Drop everything and read.

SS: You joined the Indian Planning Commission as its youngest consultant. Youve worked for the 12 five-year plan of India. How would you describe the experience in terms of effort, rewards, and job satisfaction?

Astha Kapoor is the youngest consulting member of the planning commission. She was involved in drafting the 12th five-year plan of India. An alumnus of the Institute of Social Studies in Netherlands, she is a passionate and sensitive social scientist who has traveled the length and breadth of the country to hear peoples expectations for the five year plan.

AK: My journey began as a consultant for the Voluntary Action Cell which is a node of the Government of India for outside engagements. My job was to reach out and bring people in. Id say it has been a process of learning both for me and also for the government (especially the Planning Commission). Ive actually been very lucky to have had a certain breadth in my work. Ive been able to see the beginning of the 12th five-year plan through to its final release. The process of its writing is fascinating because you go through various levels of negotiation and conversation, and I had the opportunity to learn. So, in terms of job satisfaction - not every day, but

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Economics and Political Sciences. You have worked for firms like KPMG and Infosys. What motivated you to form a company committed to effective energy use? H: Well, there are two main questions here: Why a startup, and why the power sector. The former is because Im from a Gujju household (laughs). As for the latter, during my time in KPMG, I had the opportunity to be a consultant for companies in that sector. I learned that power had great potential for returns. In addition, it had a certain social aspect to it. Being able to help people was certainly a major factor that added to my interest. SS: MIT Technology review named you one of the Top 35 Under Thirty Five innovators of the year. Whom do you consider a top innovator? H: Im an irreverent person, so I dont really idolize anyone. I do feel that there are many good, young innovators out there, though. I feel that when you begin to idolize someone, you try to emulate them, and may lose your identity in the process. Its more important to be yourself. SS: What were some of the challenges you encountered while working on the concept of a Smart Grid? H: Dealing with the bureaucracy was a major hurdle. Its difficult to convince people to implement new ideas, or even make sure that they understand your idea , especially when they belong to a different generation, with different notions and strong tendencies to oppose change of any kind. In that manner, our relative youth was held against us, since

people tended to feel that we didnt know enough. In addition, we faced the usual organizational and financial barriers. SS: Do you feel that the Indian classroom system suppresses/reduces innovation in any way? If so, how do you suggest countering the issue? H: I feel there are two kinds of people: those who blame the system, and those who accept it the way it is and play it.

Harit Soni is a telecommunications engineer whose innovations in the Indian power sector have won him recognition at various levels. He was included in by MIT Technology Reviews list of top innovators under 35. He is also a recipient of the Chevening Gurukul scholarship for Leadership and Excellence. The BITSAM team met with him in February, during TEDx 2013.

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arit Soni is a telecommunications engineer whose innovations in the Indian power sector have won him recognition at various levels. He was included in by MIT Technology Reviews list of top innovators under 35. He is also a recipient of the Chevening Gurukul scholarship for Leadership and Excel-

lence. The BITSAM team met him during TEDx BITS Goa. Here are the highlights of the interview. SS: You are an engineer from Bangalore Institute of Technology and have a management diploma from London School of

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A. Ive been singing ever since I was a little girl, and even then, I loved to perform in front of an audience impromptu. Sometime in my youth, my father took me to attend a Sufi music festival where I was introduced to the music of great artists such as Abida Parveen. When I saw the qawwali artists perform with such devotion, I was entranced. It felt so spiritual and complete that I decided to study Sufi music, and I havent been able to let go of it ever since. Q. Your music, melodious and enchanting, has captured millions of hearts. Did you have any apprehensions before making the transition from classical to mainstream Bollywood music? A. Like every other singer, it was my dream that my music reached a larger audience, and Bollywood seemed like an ideal platform to fulfil it. But judging by the quality of some of the Bollywood music that we hear today, such as some of the item songs, I was a little apprehensive, yes. Also, my voice, being slightly deeper than the usual Bollywood voice, is not fit for the mainstream lip-synced songs, because there is no actress whose voice it seems to match. My songs could only work as background scores. Q. What factors do you keep in mind before you pick a song? A. When it comes to Bollywood music, the most important factor that I keep in mind is the lyrics. Sufism is basically poetry, and being a Sufi singer, it is of utmost importance that the music I perform has words that are poetic and meaningful. Also, I tend to shy away from usual mainstream songs. Recently, the song Hookah Bar was offered to

me. I felt that I would be doing injustice to my roots if I took it up, because of the meaningless lyrics. And Im glad I stood by my decision, even though it ended up becoming such a big hit. On the contrary, I do mainstream Bollywood songs such as Tumhi Ho Bandhu, because the words, especially the starting verse, are respectful and lovely. I feel very blessed that it has become such a hit. Q. Who is your biggest source of inspiration? A. God almighty. Im so grateful to Him for helping me through all my troubled times, for keeping me strong, and most importantly, for introducing me to music in the way He did, because without music, I would be lost. Q. If there was one sentence that you could say to todays youth, and just one, what would it be? A. Keep dreaming, and have faith in yourself and the strength of your dreams; you will achieve.

Kavita Seth is the award winning sufi singer with songs such as Iktara and Tumhi Ho Bandhu to her name. She was a speaker at TEDx BITS Goa earlier this year, and opened up to Sizzling Sands about her life and her love for music.

Kavita Seth, the award winning sufi singer with songs such as Iktara and Tumhi Ho Bandhu to her name, and a speaker at TEDxBITSGoa, speaks to BITSAM about her life and her world of music. Excerpts from the interview:

Q. What, according to you, is the definition of music? A. Music, to me, is God. It is spiritual, beautiful and pure. Q. How did you begin your journey into the beautiful world of music?

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ter writer because of those two experiences [engineering and management]. SS: From writing for the college notice board to completing an MBA to having a corporate job for a few years to having a popular blog, dining at restaurants having Michelin stars and travelling to over 10 countries, was there a particular incident in your life when you just knew that this is what you wanted to do? Or was it very gradual? SV: I discovered my calling very late. For many years I wanted to study Arts or History but that faded away because I got pushed into the engineering supply chain. But I have no regrets, all experiences are good in the end. As I started to write a lot more, I realized that not only did I enjoy it, but I was actually good at it - which are two of three requirements. The last one is that that you should be able to do it everyday. The question was, could I make a living off it? For the rest of my life, could I wake up in the morning and do nothing but type? I knew that if everything got messed up and I completely failed as a writer, I was prepared to go back and join any company as a management trainee. Then there was an epiphany, and when I had it, I saved enough money to buy food and pay rent for 7 months. I still remember, in my first month of being a writer, I had total income of 400 Rupees. From January 2006 to February 2008 [when I joined Mint] I would do absolutely anything that paid enough money so that I could keep writing. I wrote content for a Gujarati Jewellery website, I taught English to guys who wanted write SAT, I helped GRE students with their mathematics - anything. SS: What is your opinion on the current state of Indian Fiction?

SS: What do you think of Grammar Nazis? Would you call yourself one? SV: Im not a Grammar Nazi. What a lot of people dont realize is, what is grammar today was slang fifty years ago. Shakespeare was widely seen as a violator of grammatical rules when he was a playwright. I can understand why grammar is important: it creates a syntax for social interaction. But the purpose of writing is not to prove grammatical clarity, it is to tell a story. However, I am pedantic about certain things, like spellings. I am also particular about punctuation. A comedian without punctuation is nothing. Without punctuation, a humour writer is dead. SS: What are your life goals short-term as well as long-term? SV: An immediate life goal is to finish a book by June. Ive reached a stage where I pretty much know what my deliverables are for the next twelve months work-wise. So that much randomness is gone. Next year, I sincerely want to work on my podcast on the Indian Constitution, make sure I stick to it and do it every month. I hope it becomes a reliable source of information for curious young Indian people - people who want an easy way of understanding why the laws in this country are the way they are. Im very passionate about it and want to take it to other media. Im talking to somebody now who wants to do a TV show of it. It may take a while, but theyre very keen. As for the long term, I hope my writing keeps entertaining and informing people. Id like to reach a situation where I can invest 24 months in excellent, highquality non-fiction that people like you will read. That would be my goal. I want young people to just know more about who they are, where they come from, why we are the way we are, and like I kept saying on stage, I hope thatll make them ask more questions and understand that some of the answers that other generations have given us are completely wrong. SS: If you had one sentence to say to todays youth, what would it be? SV: My message is Question everything. If you can do that, you can become anything. Do not take crap from anybody. Not from your parents, not from your teachers, not from your friends, nobody. Take no crap. I feel tremendously strongly about this. We are told how to live our lives, what to study, where to go, what to eat, what to wear and then society expects you to miraculously become inventive and innovative. Demand your rights. The country and your parents and society owes you. Take what you are owed and grab what you dont get. Im not going to tell you how to write or anything but what I can tell you is how to go about doing whatever you want to do.

Sidin Vadukut is a columnist, writer, blogger and currently the managing editor of Livemint. com. His first novel Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin Einstein Varghese, the first of the Dork trilogy was published in 2010. He has studied engineering from NIT, Trichy and, in his own words, was bought an MBA from IIM-A by his father. He currently lives in London, UK. Sizzling Sands interviewed him when he was here for his TEDx Talk in March, 2013.

SS: As a writer, what are the benefits and disadvantages of having a technical and management background? SV: The benefits are: youre very good with structuring, and writing an article is a bit like solving a problem. Some stories require a lot of data and hence a lot of structuring, and there I think both the technical and the management education really helps. The problem is that the publishing industry believes that people are either left-brained or right-brained that

one is either very creative or very logical. Engineering and management push you into the logical side of your brain. So when youre writing, your brain constantly tells you things like - This seems to be an inefficient conversation, This seems to be a meeting thats going nowhere. Any ambiguity makes you feel very uncomfortable. So thats a problem. However, the more you work at it, the more you deal with it. Its a very minor downside, though. For me, I think Im a much bet-

SV: Despite what everybody else says, I think its a fantastic period in Indian fiction. We have finally democratised it. You no longer have to be a celeb or an A-lister or write literate books to get published. People are publishing stories about people like you and me. Publishers are beginning to put out their neck and are willing to experiment. I think theres never been a better time for a young writer to get published in India. I also like the fact that reading has become cool again. SS: Name some of your favourite humour authors. SV: Bill Bryson, Dave Barry, P.J. ORourke, Molly Evans, and Kurt Vonnegut, even though hes pretty dark. There is an American columnist I really like called Jean Weingarten. Honestly speaking, I read very little fiction. Ninety-five percent of what I read is non-fiction, and extremely boring: a lot of First World War and Second World War history. Right now Im reading Robert Skidelskis biography of John Maynard Keane, the economist.

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ing, I discovered the field of space junk and started writing my own papers on the topic. I sent them to various organisations including the ISRO and NASA. I wrote my first paper when I was 18 and I won the Jerome Pearson award for it, despite not being aware of the proper procedure for writing a paper or the IEEE regulations to be followed. I read more research papers subsequent to that and I have written many papers as well. Theyve been published in more than 25 international conferences. SS: Your field of specialisation is space debris mitigation. What are the different techniques involved in clearing space debris and what are the benefits of these methods? Sourabh: Space junk is basically the collection of all objects in Earths orbit. The plan is to clear up space junk using meshes built from carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes are one of the strongest substances known to man and are about 300 times stronger than steel. When a piece of space junk comes into contact with this mesh, a signal is triggered and the laser of a nano-bot is activated which clears up the space junk. Most of this space junk is metallic and can be recycled. Also, space junk poses a great threat as any collision between two pieces could send them spiralling towards Earth at very great speeds. Energy can also be generated from space junk which can be used for various purposes. A current area of interest is to use the energy from space junk to power the International Space Station. SS: Could you tell us about other projects that you are interested in? Sourabh: One field of space science that I am very interested in is the construction of a space elevator system. Such a system could be built to transport people and items into the geostationary orbit. It could be used to transport anything into space, providing a means to replace rockets. This will help prevent an unnecessary consumption of fuel and the expulsion of an appalling amount of gaseous pollutant. Itll also enable the conduction of zerogravity experiments. It also has the potential to bring to life a dream shared by many people: space tourism. Currently however, the idea is not feasible in real life because of issues with the durability of materials that are available to us and the possibility of collisions with space junk. SS: What are your opinions on the current scenario of science and research in India, especially amongst students?

Sourabh: I spoke at many events across the country, interacting with students about their interest in science. I found that they had a lot of problems such as the lack of a scientific environment, an absence of laboratory and research facilities, and proper science faculty to guide them. I have faced many problems myself. When I wrote my first paper, I sent it to professors and researchers at ISRO in 2008. I waited for 6 months but I did not get a single reply. I sent the same paper to NASA after this and got a reply within 24 hours. That sums up the difference between India and other countries. Even though we have many students with a lot of bright ideas, there is no platform for them to express themselves. SS: You have achieved so much at a very young age. What plans do you have for the future? Sourabh: My long term plan is to start a company that helps to provide a platform for students who have a passion for the sciences to express themselves. Right now, I plan to continue with my research work and write papers. I have talked to Professors from MIT and Im planning to do my post-graduate degree from there, hopefully from 2014. Im also a honorary fellow at INK and TEDx and I enjoy speaking to students from all over the country. I plan to continue my association with these organisations for a while. SS: There are a lot of people here at BITS who have a similar passion for the pure sciences. What would be your advice to these students? Saurabh: My first bit of advice would be to find your passion. If you are a student of Math and think that your passion is Complex Numbers, go ahead and read research papers in the field of complex numbers. Read the latest research and scientific progress made in that field. After that, go ahead and publish your own papers. Send it to scientific organisations and using their feedback, innovate and study further. Always keep working. SS: If there was one line that you would like to say to the youth of this college and the country, what would it be? Saurabh: Id like to quote the great scientist Albert Einstein here. The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.

Sourabh Kaushal is an engineer and a renowned space enthusiast from Haryana. He is researching space debris mitigation and the development of a space elevator system (a transportation system from Earth into Deep Space). His research papers have been selected in many international conferences organised by NASA, ISRO, JAXA, ESA, IEEE, ISEC and Microsoft. He has been awarded on multiple occasions including the Dr. Kalpana Chawla Young Scientist Award, and the Runner Up for the Jerome Pearson Award 2010 awarded by ISEC, USA. He also works to spread awareness about science and technology among young minds in villages and cities by teaching them how to conduct research, sort out their problems, and get in touch with national and international experts. He is a TEDx Fellow and Sizzling Sands interviewed him before his TED talk on the 23rd of March, 2012.

Sizzling Sands: You are an inspiration to a lot of people especially considering that you are in a field that is not very common in our country. Could you tell us how you got interested in the field of Space Science? Sourabh: Im from the district of Karnal, Haryana, which was the birthplace of the renowned astronaut, Kalpana Chawla. Ive met her father many times. Weve discussed a lot of things including the story of how Kalpana started her pursuit of a career in space science. Im an ECE engineer, but Im passionate about space science. When I was in Class 12, I participated in a contest by NASA and this really sparked my interest. I was unable to clear any of the major engineering entrance examinations and ended up in a small college in Haryana. In my years at college, I read many research papers. While I was read-

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SS: Indian society largely pushes the youth towards medicine and engineering. Do you feel that India, as a result of this push, provides a poor environment for fields like industrial and interaction design? If so, what measures do you feel would change the situation? Yes, I do feel that way. In a society like ours, creative fields like design are not looked upon well. You are not given the time to justify what, or who you are. This issue requires a change in our perspective in general, as there is certainly no lack of ability on our part. SS: You are also a sci-fi filmmaker, and your films cover themes like recycling and humanizing technology. Do you feel that short films provide an effective medium for carrying ideas/ lessons, compared to other means such as the written word or long films? Certainly. The core of family lies in storytelling. I believe that fields like design and art involve storytelling in their own way. The essence lies in forming a connection with ones audience, be that through an essay, poem, melody or movie. In that way, short films are no different. SS: Weve seen and heard about Sumit Dagar, the designer and filmmaker. How would you describe Sumit Dagar, the person? Id say Im fairly transparent. Im spontaneous, disorganized, and dont make plans at all. Im terrible at business ideas or formulating strategies. Im very similar to college students in that way. Even now, I still wake up at 10 am on some days!

SS: Any other plans on the horizon you could tell us about? Not much right now. The Braille phone is my major project, and continues to occupy most of my time. SS: The Braille Phone is one of your most well known projects. Youve secured funding for it and are working on the prototype with IIT, Delhi and LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad. No project has a completely smooth sailing, so what was the biggest obstacle you faced in bringing the concept into reality? We faced many challenges. We had to pitch our idea to several leading groups in order to secure funding and other support. However, since the product is aimed at a minority group, it was indeed a difficult task. There were also technological barriers. Usually during development, you have some sort of precursor or precedent to supply parallels and guidelines. In this case, it was a completely new concept, and hence proved to be a major challenge, since we actually had to make our own guidelines. However, overcoming that challenge is part of the excitement that design provides. SS: Any advice youd like to give to aspiring designers? It is essential to do your work from the heart. I personally didnt believe in studying too much. It is, however, important to learn how to apply yourself, to find your passion. By the 3rd year, you should have an idea of what you want to do. The 2nd year is a good time to start exploring. If you have something in mind, go ahead and do it!

Sumit Dagar is an interaction designer and filmmaker. While pursuing engineering studies in information and communication technology, a summer internship in a remote Gujarat rural village sparked his interest in how disadvantaged communities might be helped by technology. He is currently working on the Braille phone, a smart phone for the blind.

SS: Was there a definitive moment in your life when you decided you wanted to enter the world of design? Yes, Id say there was. I was in my third year of engineering, and felt a lack of understanding working with software. I felt no connection with my work. I figured that design was the answer, and proceeded to apply to the National Institute of Design. I got through. With time, it became apparent that design had a certain intention to it, and that strongly appealed to me.

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Arka Bhattacharyya, a graduate from our very own campus, surprised his peers earlier this year by joining Teach for India, the non-profit organization, instead of jumping onto the corporate bandwagon. Sizzling Sands spoke with Arka and got to know more about his fellowship at TFI and the inspiration behind his choice. Originally from Kolkata, Arka shifted to the city of Mumbai in Class 11. Following the move, engineering just happened. According to him, it was bad advice and ignorance that made him an engineer, not passion. However, he doesnt really regret taking up engineering, as he now knows what he does not want to do. He was a sports enthusiast growing up and swayed towards literary activities and the arts in college. He maintains that he attended more classes of his humanities electives, such as Cinematic Arts and Philosophy, than his core disciplinary courses. His Practice School experience only reaffirmed that he was never truly inclined towards engineering, after he found himself more at the Foosball table during his internship than in front of a computer. Towards the end of his last year in college, Arka volunteered for Teach for India, a branch of Teach for America, which is an international organisation that aims to promote education, especially amongst the lower strata of society.

According to estimates, only 10 percent of the children in India end up graduating from a college, which Arka finds distressing, considering the large population of our country. However, Arkas decision wasnt based on emotion but was made after rationally thinking about it. Arka submitted an online application following which he was selected for a telephonic interview and a subsequent one-on-one live session. He made it through all these rounds swiftly, and was soon headed for a training camp to be held in Pune. Arka describes the training camp as one of the toughest and the most fun periods of his life. I got my ass kicked, he confesses. The camp had a rigorous schedule that started at 7 am and lasted until 9 pm. They were taught multiple courses, including Behavioral Management and Child Psychology, apart from training in the subjects that they were scheduled to teach at the schools. This sort of training is vital as most of the students are from diverse backgrounds. A lot of them are from communities with violent tendencies, and are first generation learners. On assessing their skills, it was found that a lot of these kids were far below required development levels. Considering the aforementioned factors, Arka stresses on the importance of being street smart in order to convince the teachers and parents at the school about the

importance of an overall development. Despite all the setbacks they face, the enthusiasm and friendliness of these little kids impresses Arka. He talks about the day that TFI volunteers were taken to a slum and left there to interact with people to gauge the level of awareness that the slum dwellers had about education. There, one of the kids asked Arka to sit on his cycle and took him on a grand tour of the place. He also stayed with one of the children for a day, to experience first-hand the kind of environment the kids are exposed to on a daily basis. Arka talks about how this helped him truly understand and therefore, better teach these children. In class, he believes positive reinforcement really brings out the best in children. On the methodologies that TFI volunteers use to control the children, Arka described the Magic School Bus tickets that were prepared by him and his cofellows. Children consider earning one of these tickets a massive achievement, and this keeps them in check. The fellows also try to use tech-

nology to the maximum when it comes to developing all round skills in their children. Arka believes that TFI has had a really positive impact on society and wishes to continue doing his best to further the cause. When asked about his future plans, Arka believes that the possibilities are vast. His time at TFI has already been inspiring, with the wide range of wonderful people he has met, including doctors, people who have dropped their corporate jobs for TFI, and other speakers such as Dhruv Lakra, the founder of Mirakle couriers (a courier service that employs deaf adults and provides them with a livelihood). He talks about the possibility of a career in education policy or in social entrepreneurship, but for now, he is focusing on his exemplary work at TFI. We wish him all the best!

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and his Social Work post Engineering

In times when people obsess over pay packages and pedigree companies, there are yet a few people who choose differently. They defy convention, seeking fulfilment in their own way. Sizzling Sands got in touch with Dr Lalit Pande to know more about him. A mechanical engineer by qualification, Lalit Pande obtained his Masters degree from MIT, after studying for a Bachelors degree from IIT Delhi. Having worked in Bombay and Baroda for a few years, he finally chose to pursue his PhD at Purdue University. On returning, he travelled around India for two years before finally settling in Almora, his ancestral hometown, and getting involved with an NGO, the Uttarakhand Seva Nidhi. Now the chairman of the Uttarakhand Environment Education Centre (UEEC), he works for the provision of project grants and organisation of training programmes and workshops for various collectives of women, youth, and motivated individuals, among others. When asked about the source of his inspiration to work in an NGO after pursuing an engineering degree from IIT, he opined that some changes in life cannot be planned. Somethings happen which alter a persons life. How

one responds to such events is the matter of individual choice and circumstances, he believes. For Lalit Pande, getting involved with an NGO was a chance occurrence, initially meant to be short-term. At that point in my life, I was more clear about what I didnt want to do. One expects interrogations and dissuasion in the aftermath of a radical move. In his case, however, he felt people were curious about the what-andhow, instead of to being skeptical. As his work in the field grew, so did his involvement, and the encouragement he received from his peers made a difference in his choices. Everything isnt necessarily planned or mapped out, but doubts sometimes sort themselves out. When asked if his knowledge of engineering had any bearing in his approach to the NGO work, he answered that while not directly relevant, it did hone his problem solving abilities. Lalit Pande believes that while there are always hurdles to be crossed (be it at the economic, social or political level), shortages of funds to be faced, and uncertainties to be borne, the nature of his work is to challenge established norms and thought processes. Professionals sometimes disapprove of new players who enter without consulting them and seeking their permission. Society can sometimes be the largest opposition to its own progress. In his opinion, the great

hankering for security among the middle class is often the biggest hindrance to development in an area. He feels that NGOs are currently under attack and suspicion, and people not understanding the concept of an NGO and subsequently questioning their legitimacy makes it difficult to retain authenticity. Yet, despite all these factors, there is always hope. As part of his work, he is involved with children of various ages. He finds them to be enthusiastic and keen learners, free from other hang-ups. However, as kids grow up, society binds them into certain forms of behaviour, which may mask their true feelings or desires, girls in particular. The UEEC,with the help of various womens groups, has taken strides towards improving general village welfare and the status of women

in several villages. For the future vision for the organization, his intent is to maintain and grow their current activities, allowing an influx of new ideas that doesnt drastically alter their core ideals. According to him, additional reflection on the practical work is necessary to find the way forward. Sizzling Sands parted with him on an inspiring note, as he advised todays youth to just go where the heart points. Dont worry or care about what others say. Be authentic. If you think too much and do a SWOT analysis, you will never really do anything.

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choice to go back to school. On studying in college again after such a long time, she says, It was extremely challenging! I had never imagined that sitting for a two hour lecture would be so difficult, but what was even more of a challenge was retaining information learned in a quarter, and being prepared to take tests and exams covering a vast amount of information. But being passionate about my new chosen field made it that much easier. In addition, she feels that ones attitude and approach changes with age. Younger students, she says, are perhaps more focused on getting good grades and subsequently, good placements. For her, the knowledge and skills that she acquired mattered more than missing a few marks in a test. Having studied in both the Indian and the US system, when asked to compare the two, she felt that the Indian system, while equally excellent when it came to faculty and facilities, fell behind with regard to the syllabus and textbooks, which were often not updated to follow recent developments.

and her career in medicine

When asked if she had the choice to go back in time and pick just one career, she confessed, Much as I am analytical in my thinking, and enjoyed my career in engineering, I would most definitely pick medicine. Each patient is a unique human being, with their unique story, making the practice of medicine so very interesting, and challenging at every single patient encounter. Even though I am so new to this field of nursing, I find that it is also a very fulfilling and rewarding career, in which one learns not just about the human body, but also about the mind and human behavior. For her, the most enjoyable aspect of medicine, especially as a nurse, has been the constant interaction with patients and their families. Being a Gerontological Nurse Practitioner (a nurse with advanced training and specialization in caring for the elderly), she has had to take care of people in the age range of 70 to 105. and feels she has learned much from the inspirational interactions. The hardest part of medicine? Committing a lot of information to memory, like names of anatomical terms, and names of drugs!

A fair amount of ones time while pursuing either medical or engineering is probably spent wondering how much greener (or sparser) the grass is on the other side. Few have been experienced enough to have spent time on both sides of the story. Pratima Gupta is one such individual. Having completed her B.S.c (Physics) from Fergusson College, Pune, followed by a (post graduate) B.E. from IISc, Bangalore, she worked in the industry for a significant period of time before deciding to switch to nursing. She then went on to pursue her nursing degree at the University of California at San Francisco, and is now currently a Nurse Practitioner. Quitting her job as a software engineer, however, came even before she considered nursing as a career. After attempt to switch over to bioinformatics, she realized after some introspection that she did not wish to write software code anymore, and decided to go back to school to study nursing. But one wonders why someone would switch career paths in such drastic manners. In her case, after working for over 15 years in software engineering, she gradually found herself lacking motivation and feeling increasingly dissatisfied with her work. Rather than continuing to work in an area where she lacked interest, she felt the

desire to do something that required interacting with and helping people, and making a difference in their lives. Over time, she developed a fascination with the field of healthcare, and after observing the role of nurses in hospitals in the US, how it differed from that of nurses in India, and how they made a difference to the recovery of patients, she felt motivated to train as a nurse and work with patients at some point in her life. So was the engineering degree of any benefit in her new career? She finds that the critical thinking from her training as an engineer has been extremely helpful in nursing. Other skills that are assets in any profession like paying attention to detail, analytical thinking, being organized, listening skills, being a good communicator, and, working well in a team, have all helped her in the nursing profession. However, retention of information that did not involve logic or reasoning, such as anatomical terms and pharmacology, was one skill she feels she had to develop very quickly, in medicine. Surely there was massive opposition to her choice? From some people came the usual scorn, cynicism and doubt, either at the idea of leaving engineering or the notion of taking up nursing. From others, however, after the initial surprise came the support and appreciation for her bold

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The Great Gig in the Sky

The Aerodynamics Club of BITS Pilani, Goa campus has always been lauded for being innovative, and for having leaders passionate about learning, exploring as well as inculcating the same drive in their peers. They are one of the most prestigious clubs on campus, and with their promise to help you get high legally, definitely one of the coolest ones. Sizzling Sands chats with the clubs newly appointed President, Snehal Jain, and learnt more about what we can expect from Aero (as they are fondly called) in the coming academic year.

Whats flying?

The passion

Aero and BITS

Aero is an integral part of Quark, with the Trailblazers event witnessing enthusiastic participation from various colleges across the country. In next years Quark, Aero plans to host an aerial showcase of their finest planes in the prominent areas of our campus. There are also plans to invite flyers from all over Goa and nearby, and offer them a glimpse of what the Aero planes can do. Previous associations of Aero with fests include aerial coverage of the concerts during Indiafest 2013, as well as Sunburn Campus and the Dead Letter Circus concert, both of which were greatly

applauded. There is great appreciation for the faculty coordinator of the Aero Club, Dr. Shibu Clement, as well as the mentorship of Dr. Ranjit Patil. The former is very involved with the students of the club, and is always ready to answer questions and clear doubts, should any arise. Two of the Core Committee members of the club are currently doing a project under him, on the effects of boundary layer tripping, an important branch of aerodynamics.

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Photo Credits: Zenith Karri

All coordinators and core committee members are known to immerse themselves in their work with utmost sincerity and undying zeal, a trait that rubs off on its members very early on. I was always interested in aerodynamics and aero-modelling. Not just flight aerodynamics, but aerodynamics in general, like how changing shapes of certain things changes the way they move. To learn that the college I was choosing had a firmly established Aerodynamics club was exciting, says Snehal. Most other colleges in the same league cannot boast of the same. Once a passionate member gets inducted into the club, and is introduced to greats such as Sagar Bose and Kriti Garuda, there is no turning back. Be it the group flying sessions, the lecture series, continuous projects or workshops - theres always a lot to keep one occupied.

The air is abuzz with rumors of an Aerodynamics CTE course in the coming semesters, and several more opportunities for students to get involved in Aero activities. Some of the upcoming projects that the club has lined up in their agenda include building A V22 Osprey, an American multi-mission, military, tiltrotor aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), A Delta Wing plane, A gas engine plane (a deviation from the standard electric engine planes), A canard aircraft, plane with forward elevator, Automation- First person view, unmanned aerial vehicles A sailboat

As far as the students of BITS Goa are concerned, technical interest is very much alive, contrary to popular opinion. We had 350 applications from the 2012 batch alone for the Aero inductions. I think that itself is testament to how interested people are in participating, and thats quite good, Snehal believes. So what does he have to say to a newcomer to this field, with nothing more than curiosity about the way things move? The best thing about what we do is our research. We look things up on our own, and make things on our own. There is no necessary course or formal way to learn any of this. So you too should experiment with different things, because if you want to, you can make time for everything. And you can make everything.

Ashwin: What is it about Theoretical Physics that fascinates you?

Interview with Ashwin Krishnan

by Ashwin Krishnan

Ashwin: Everything. For me, it feels like a noble quest to try and understand how the Universe works. Try this. Close your eyes. Project yourself out of your body and float up. Leave the city. Now, leave the country. Now slowly leave the planet and project yourself to the far edge of the Solar System. Now move out of the Milky Way. Look around you. There are a billion galaxies all around. Now, pause to think. Just how significant are you in the grand stage of the universe? Questions like this keep me going. To truly understand the functioning of this world is what I perpetually strive for.

Ashwin: Were you convinced about taking a dual degree with Mathematics before you came to college?

Ashwin Krishnan is a second year student and a unique dualite. Having opted for Physics as his first degree, he opted for a dual degree in Mathematics, as opposed to an engineering degree. This was unlike the majority of the dualites at BITS. His interest for physics and his quest to become a Theoretical Physicist is one of the key motivating factors behind this decision.

Ashwin: Honestly, no. I knew that I wanted to get into research in Physics but I never thought about what I would take as a dual degree. Initially, my plan was not to take a second degree at all. However, after talking to a few professors and realising that BITS is the only place where anyone can do two Masters degrees in 5 years, I opted for mathematics.

Ashwin: How have your family and friends responded to this decision?
Ashwin: Im very lucky to have parents who wholeheartedly support me in any endeavour. They have been extremely supportive in this decision. My friends and almost everybody else from college have been very supportive as well and I owe them my gratitude. But, there are certain traditional people I know who still believe that I took mathematics because I couldnt get Computer Science or any other good degree as a dual degree. They are of the opinion that I didnt get a good GPA in my first two semesters. Ive become used to that. Ive realised that people will judge you all the time no matter what you do. The difference lies only in your response.

Ashwin Krishnan is one of the editors of Sizzling Sands - known for his bravado and a propensity to venture where others dont. He likes to write and is the author of one of the articles in the Literary Section. He has also conducted many of the interviews you will find in the magazine. Including this one.

Ashwin: How has the college supported you in this decision?

Ashwin: The professors have been incredibly supportive. Their advice has been very helpful. It is their advice that has given me the courage to go ahead with this decision. However, to be entirely honest, the administration on campus has been a little unresponsive. For instance, when I approached them to collect my eligibility sheet they seemed entirely unaware that I had opted for a dual science degree. They still have not provided me with an eligibility sheet and I am not sure about my course structure for the following years. This is a little sad because BITS is the only institution that offers such fantastic combinations. Hopefully, this will improve in the future with more students opting for such combinations.

Ashwin: Where did your interest in Physics stem from?

Ashwin: Ive always been passionate about Physics, ever since Class 8, when they first introduced Physics as a separate subject. Earlier, I was fascinated with the physics that goes behind circuits and gadgets. I used to meddle around with a lot of old radios and transistors from my grandfathers house. I still remember one of my first experiments. I jacked a radio to receive communications from the Air Traffic Controller towers outside the airport. It was a lot of fun meddling around with things that you find all around the house. Then, on my 14th birthday, someone gifted me a copy of Brian Greenes The Fabric of the Cosmos. Its a book that talks about spacetime and the nature of reality. From then on, I have been hooked on to Theoretical Physics and have been convinced that it is my true calling.

Ashwin: What are your plans for the future?

Ashwin: Research/Teaching is what I would like to get in to. My mother is a teacher and I have taught kids at her school a few times. I really enjoy it. Hopefully, I can make it to a good college for my postgraduate degree. If all goes well, I hope to be a research scholar at a university where I can also teach. I havent really given a lot of thought to where I want to go yet.

Ashwin: Has there been anyone who has inspired you?

Ashwin: A lot of people have and continue to inspire me: physicists, musicians and a lot of the people Ive met. If there is one quote that inspires me, itd be the following words spoken by Albert Einstein: Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

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Each course in the program runs for one semester, and the students who complete any of the courses are awarded a certificate by the institute. The course details are systematically put up on the official course server, in an attempt to make it as formal as any other course offered by the institute. Sizzling Sands got in touch with the founder of CTE, Deepak Rishi SS: What inspired you to start CTE? CTE: When we joined as freshmen, the majority of us were very curious to explore the world of science and technology. But in technical clubs and independent projects, where we were expected to work with seniors on projects, we would mostly have to learn and do a lot of the reading by ourselves. While this did enable some students to build strong concepts, the majority gave up and took to working for various festivals, hence drifting towards the management field. With more active involvement on the seniors part, CTE wants to change that and hopes to encourage more students to pursue emerging topics in engineering and science. SS: What do you think is the advantage of juniors learning from seniors? DR: Suppose, if in my course of engineering, I have studied a particular subject in fair detail. Now, with my help, another junior learning the same content might be able to learn it in much more depth. So, if I could teach my juniors the basics in a semesters time, then they could build on it. It leads to incremental learning.

SS: How does the course run? DR: Usually, each course is taken by two or three third year students who have done projects and have a decent understanding of the subject. The courses last the length of a semester and everyone who completes a course successfully will be given a certificate containing their grade signed by the faculty coordinator. The course follows a paid model to keep the instructors motivated throughout the semester and also to provide the much needed funding for independent projects. I believe the best part about CTE is that one can attend its lectures even if he is not registered in it. People may also access all course material and assignments. We hope this increases technical awareness in campus and deems BITS Pilani, Goa as one of the best technical colleges in India.

INTRODUCTION
The CTE, or Centre for Technical Education was an initiative by Deepak Rishi and Chintak Sheth, implemented under the guidance of Dr. Bharat Deshpande. The purpose of this initiative was to impart knowledge on application oriented topics. And who better to help the students than their seniors themselves? Its key feature is that a student learns the basics directly from his seniors, thereby creating an informal learning environment that attempts to be more effective than regular do-it-yourself methods. The aim of CTE is to serve as a platform for research activities on campus, and to collaborate with companies by undertaking their projects (the simpler ones to start with). Along with a mentor, this experience would help provide real industry exposure to students early on. It would enable companies to gradually build a talented, technically oriented pool of students. CTE aims to complement regular studying with emphasis on practical requirements. It completed its first year with over 200 students completing the course successfully. The website for Waves, the colleges annual cultural festival, was designed by the students who completed Web Development course offered by them. CTE employs a practical approach to teaching students, and evaluation components include hackathons, code writing and term projects. The courses offered by CTE last semester were: Windows Application development using C# Advanced Image Processing 3D Modelling using CATIA and Ansys Introductory Robotics Web Development Introduction to Python

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Ankit Arora

is a third year student from the branch of Information Systems. After being bullied by the SS Team into writing about his experience with CTE last semester, he is now one of the instructors of a new course called Introduction to Python and Application Development using PyQT

Priyanka Unnithan studied Electrical & Electronics Engineering during her stay at BITS Goa and is currently pursuing PS-2 in Bangalore. Therefore, unfortunately, she cannot participate in CTE this semester. She says that given the opportunity, shed love to be a part of the AIP course next semester, or maybe even teach a new course based on the skills she acquires during PS-2. In my 3 years at BITS, Ive come to identity two sets of folk on campus: the breed that passionately embraces the technical side, learning tools, languages, busy building and implementing novel ideas right from the freshman year; and then the bunch of people who dabble in all things managerial while waiting for the academic rigour to take care of their technical know-how. End result, you ask me? The 1st bunch has managed to find a calling by the time they enter junior year- earning accolades, an intimidating resume and even publishing papers while the 2nd category finds itself clueless and falls back to CAT and Analytics to bail them out. I believe BITS Goa has way too many belonging to the latter community, myself included. But this is where CTE comes in. A platform for those interested in the latest advancements in a field of their choice but do not know whom to ask or learn from. And what better guide is there than someone barely a year or two older or in the same batch! In my opinion, the concept behind CTE found an instant connection with the BITS Goa population. Considering the fact that the courses stretched their predetermined class sizes to accommodate the huge rush, one could safely say CTE had tasted success. Right from the beginning Chintak and Deepak drove home the point that being direct and frank was appreciated at CTE. Students were encouraged to speak up if they had an issue with the teaching style. I am aware that a considerable number dropped and even stopped attending classes despite having paid the fee. From my interaction with a couple of CTE droppers, their reasons varied from being unhappy with the instructors of the course or to the clichd I cant find the time. Beyond a point, I believe its the students responsibility to uphold the commitment and get his moneys worth from a course. The Advanced Image Processing course had amazing instructors to boast of, and with the hands-on sessions and interactive environment, there was little to complain about. All that was required was regular attendance and the inclination to learn. Though feedback was taken by the founders and the instructors regularly, maybe a weekly online feedback platform would get the shy ones talking. What was unique about CTE was the break from a regular BITS course format. Instructors must see to it that in their quest to impart as much as they know of the subject, they dont miss out on implementing the interactive, practical and assignment based style they had promised. Though the introductory semester had limited courses, CTE this time has managed to make a couple of additions so theres something for everybody. I personally am very hopeful about the change CTE will bring in to the general mindset on campus and to the aversion to everything technical weve come to accept somehow.

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Before registering for CTE, I was very confused between two courses, Image Processing and Computer Vision. I ended up choosing the latter, since I was well versed in Python and the instructors were willing to teach as well as take assignments in Python. Being CTEs first year, I wasnt really expecting much - I was actually impressed by the turnout in the first class. While I did not think CTE was a necessity, it was definitely a welcome change in our campus, which is generally always on the receiving end of accusations such as not being technically oriented. It was slightly disheartening to see several students drop out midway, but if you look at it, it was just a matter of taking out two hours, twice a week. I made it a point to take out that time in between my regular academics, DCM and Drama Club responsibilities. I learnt the basics of Image Processing quite well, enough to know what can be accomplished by this area of technology. This instinct you develop by learning something new is very valuable if youre the kind of person who comes up with random ideas about startups or applications. Computer Vision takes your skills into a completely different area and broadens your scope of coming up with ideas and solutions. To those re-evaluating their decision to join CTE, my advice would be to keep doing the assignments/projects/hackathons even if you

dont attend your CTE classes. Theyre fun to do and youll learn through mere curiosity. CTE, only in its second year now, has immense opportunities to get bigger and better. I believe regular visits by faculty members would append a more formal feel to the whole experience, encouraging more students to finish the course. Regularity in assignments and results would also help accomplish our goal to retain at least 70 percent of the enrolled students post the middle of the semester.

When the courses and handouts for CTE came out, I remember being very excited. I felt like I needed something like that to cement my knowledge in electronics, and I wanted to start venturing into more fun applications than those shown to us through our main curriculum. By the end of my first year in college, I had already started tinkering with some of the stuff that was to be covered in the Electronics and Robotics Course. The main reason I decided to learn all those things in a relatively formal setting was to ensure faster and smoother progress along the learning curve. I was looking forward to the semester when I joined the course because I trusted them to follow the handout properly. Having spent some time on campus, I knew that in order to do justice to the course and make it worth the time and effort, it would be better if at the end of it, each one of us could make basic circuits involving sensors and LEDs with simple codes and understand all that went into it. I was really happy with the way things were done in the course. I learnt how to interface basic input-output devices with basic microcontroller boards like Arduino and AVR boards. I also learnt how to make a basic game in Python and made an accelerometer based controller to play it (that was my final project for the course, a lot of fun) and revisited a lot of basic electronics concepts about driving motors, LEDs, power circuits, digital/ analog input/outputs etc. In my opinion, the pace of the course was reasonable. I could gauge that handling a large and diverse student group in a course that involves hands-on sessions as well (wherein you want each teams

circuit to work before moving on), can only allow the instructors to go at a certain speed. The year witnessed CTE exceeding expectations and contributing quite a bit towards increasing the technical quotient on campus. My advice to future students would be to interact with the instructors of the courses they want to do, in order to fully understand what all is going to be covered and to have a rough idea of what they would be able to do/make at the end of the course. I dont know if I did anything differently per se: I just enjoyed doing the homework a little more and tried attending all of the classes. I think CTE is still in its early stages and whats exciting about it is that we can try a lot of stuff and keep learning each semester. -Mayank Joneja

When hes not putting together phone chargers, burglar alarms, and other random electronics in his room, Mayank Joneja spends his time acting as mentor in the Electronics and Robotics course for CTE. He is a third year student studying Electrical & Electronics Engineering. Not satisfied with just one semester spent learning, he has also enrolled for the course on Python this time around.

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In a world as commercial as the one we live in, personal and financial gains tremendously outweigh the need to make our planet a better place to live in. And in our quest for monetary gain, we tend to overlook the needs of the planet. After all, whether or not we admit it, the fact is that the whole idea of catering to the greater good is just a hobby for some, a myth for most and an ambition for a mere few. With most of the industries relying on fossil fuels, and responsible for a great amount of greenhouse gas emissions, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) decided to come up with a practical solution to increase the awareness regarding the gas emissions and make going green a feasible solution for the industrialists Carbon Credits. When countries came together to sign the Kyoto protocol, they voluntarily decided to reduce the amount of Carbon they emit into the atmosphere. A financially viable way out was the whole concept of carbon trading, and Carbon credits. The IPCC observed that giving a real price to Carbon, would give people a reason to invest in environment friendly equipment that releases lesser greenhouse gases. A carbon credit could be considered a license showing that the particular individual or company has paid to remove (or reduce) the emissions of Carbon Dioxide from the environment. One carbon credit is a value given to a set amount of Carbon emissions, usually one tonne of Carbon Dioxide or another Carbon dioxide equivalent value for other greenhouse gases. So basically, the point of carbon credits is to assign a monetary value to the cost of emitting greenhouse gases. A whole new market is created where a carbon credit is the new currency, and each credit can be converted into implicit money, thus giving companies, individuals and countries, a financial incentive to produce less Carbon Dioxide. In what could be defined as an emergency measure by worried countries over the world, the policy formalized in the Kyoto Protocol could now be viewed as a profitable business venture thanks to carbon trading. Carbon trading is basi-

cally the buying and selling of Carbon credits in the market, under the rules set as per the Kyoto protocol. Under the protocol, each country is given a quota of the amount of greenhouse gases they are allowed to emit, and these countries set limits on the amount of greenhouse gases run by their corresponding local operators. These operators can save up on the amount of greenhouse gases they emit, and if they have carbon credits left over from the quota allotted to them, they can sell it to another company that needs carbon credits, owing to it emitting greenhouse gases in excess to the quota allotted to it. This allows for flexibility while making sure that the entire amount of emissions still stays within the cap. Under this policy called the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), major companies that are exceeding their assigned quota of carbon credits can tie up with another company, or with its own subsidiary (usually in a developing nation) and make it more environment friendly. Thus, an operator investing in carbon credits can go for the most cost effective way to reduce emissions, either by investing in eco-friendly machinery and equipment, or by purchasing carbon credits from another operator who has not reached his quota of greenhouse emissions. The cap for emissions plays a major role as a feasible cap is the best way to ensure reduction is gas emissions. There are a lot of benefits due to the existence of this market. It rewards people who reduce greenhouse emissions, and the penalties following a violation of the cap force companies into exercising more care. However, there are people against the whole concept of carbon trading, with solid reasons. To start off, the detractors of carbon trading believe that it is not tackling the problem it promises to global warming. Key solutions to the problem of global warming include alternative suggestions to fossil fuels, and therefore the reduced usage of them. But, carbon trading on the other hand focuses on reducing the amount of fossil fuels used, but it still revolves completely around the

industry being based on fossil fuels. It does not focus on a long term solution, but a short term appeasement. There have been instances recorded where people have committed crimes against the environment in the process of executing a particular goal, which they would claim is environment friendly. Cutting down trees and preventing them from being victims of agriculture, but instead turning them into production zones for carbon credits is one such case. But what it is actually doing is interfering with other solutions for global warming. The fact that major greenhouse gas emitting countries like the USA and China avoided mandatory caps also drew in lot of flak. Adding to the lack of belief in the idea, the issue is rife with conspiracies claiming that the whole idea of carbon trading is a propaganda sold as a solution to global warming and attracting people into a scheme where every aspect of our lives is controlled by a group of people in the higher echelons of society. Their argument is that carbon caps would force every industry that burn fossil fuels to have a bonus cost added to its annual expenditure. Thus, every major industry that runs on fossil fuels will pass on the extra cost to the consumer. And these prices that the consumer bears, would be based on the prices of the carbon credits, which are based on the scarcity of fossil fuels as monitored by the IPCC. Also, a document was tabled such that all the money resulting from Carbon taxes and the Emission trading schemes would be in the control of the world bank. So, conspiracy theorists claim that through such organizations, the basic

necessities in life are under control of a higher hand, with names such as Al Gore, Enron and the New World Order popping up. Few theorists take this to a new level by declaring that this is all a part of a plotted depopulation process. That with food prices linked to energy prices, it will only result in the decrease of food available, and perhaps starvation on a mass scale. And as farfetched as that may sound, the belief that carbon trading is a free trade scandal run by ungovernable and financially driven institutions does indeed make you think twice. The number of frauds that have occurred with carbon trading has definitely tainted the reputability and created the image that it is an investors nightmare, with the perpetrators of the scam and the salespersons bagging most of the cash. Most ideas are novel to begin with, and are aimed at serving a higher purpose. Unfortunately, most of the novelty gets lost in the process of execution, and we end up with something that caters to a completely different purpose behind the veil of the goodwill it began with. Carbon credits, perhaps, is not very different either. With the market being controlled by various groups with different vested interests, corruption and

fraud is not inevitable.

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Introduction

CLOUD

Computing

Computer Science is making technological advancements at a supercharged pace, so much so, that everyday, we have better computers, faster systems, and better data storage capacities that open up a whole new window of avenues for the computing community. Cloud computing is a buzzword youve probably picked up from a geek discussion. Perhaps youve heard a more technologically aware friend say hell take it from the cloud. It may not be a recent idea, but right now it certainly is one of the most exciting developments in computer science. Now, on the off chance that youve never heard the term, it means you are one among the many millions who use cloud computing applications attached to banks and social networks everyday without even realizing it. Cloud Computing is essentially using any service that makes use of the internet along with any non-native hardware and software. But this isnt exactly a fitting definition. Larry Ellison famously commented, The interesting thing about cloud computing is that weve redefined it to include everything that we already do. I cant think of anything that isnt cloud computing with all of these announcements. The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than womens fashion. Ellison does a fine job of asserting the computing spread that cloud computing provides. While cloud computing includes some forms of distributed computing running a program or application on several machines connected to the internet at the same time the phrase is more commonly used to describe the practice of utilizing a service over a network using software thats running on machines on the service provider side. For example, say I want to run an intensive computer program using only my low end netbook. I can either spend a small fortune and purchase a supercomputer, or I can make

use of a cloud computing platform, port my code and allow it to be processed on the cloud (a set of high end machines + software combinations on the service provider side). Once the processing is complete, I can obtain the results in a few clicks. What I have achieved here is the service of powerful processors that are not physically connected to my system but are a part of the same network. The service allows me to use the server sides machine capability. Id say that is one hell of a service!

Cloud Computing
The word Cloud in cloud computing has an interesting take to it. Ill go ahead and tell you that it doesnt stand for a physical cloud of ionic particles or something of that sort. You might mock me for the above, but the fact is Cloud Computing is so little understood that the above explanation is warranted. A cloud here refers to a set of hardware, networks and storage devices with the combined capability of providing any useful service. A Cloud is essentially a connected universe of machines, a massive pool-up of resources. So the next time some smart Alec tells you to take some file from the cloud, understand that he simply wants you to access the combined storage of some network and download it from there. The idea is simple. Bring together your computing infrastructure and connect it in a network, allowing a user to access data and applications from any remote place. The capabilities of the cloud concept are staggering. You can compile, edit, and save documents, and thus run entire companies using a cloud computing framework. Imagine a company with a thousand employees. Buying individual workstations might be necessary but no more does the employer has to purchase multiple software licenses. A single application on the system can allow each employee to access any required program hosted on a cloud of machines. Cloud Computing is actually shifting user machine workload and dividing it amongst the machines in the cloud network. This reduces requirements

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on the user side tremendously. All the user has to do then is simply connect to the cloud, run its interfacing program and allow the network to do the rest. The Cloud is revolutionizing the Computing industry as you read this article.

Framework and Working

Cloud Computing frameworks are typically made up of a few general components. A sample loop of this framework is something like this. A user will access the cloud using a service on his mobile device, pc, tablet etc. This will be done using the front end software. Once access is provided the link to the cloud has been set. Now the user can use the cloud service. All the data processing and handling is done by the systems on the back end. The cloud software handles the computing involved and sends the results back through the connection just established. This completes the loop. Within this loop there are small important components in the cloud computing architecture. For example a central server does the bulk of administration work and takes care of traffic monitoring and resource allocation. Middleware is software that allows machines in the back end network to communicate with each other. Such a large network of devices must have an optimization framework in place or else there will be massive idle time, power wastage, etc. There is an esoteric term, server virtualization, which refers to the process through which a physical server is divided into a number of virtual servers, each running at maximum capacity. This technique reduces the need for more physical servers in the cloud computing framework. Cloud computing as a framework is no rocket science. The genius of cloud computing does not lie in its framework but its scale. And the scale is increasing with time as research progresses.

cent research study states that almost half of USAs business enterprises use cloud computing on a large scale to manage its operations. While you might have escaped hearing about cloud computing, if you havent heard of Facebook then you probably live in a cave (and one without an internet connection at that). The social networking giant makes use of cloud computing to store user data. Every second a user accesses the companys cloud storage to view data. Instagram hires cloud computing facilities to store millions of photos as well. Your entire Google account data, encompassing your Inbox, search history, Drive documents, blog posts, etc. resides in the cloud. Amazon provides a variety of cloud services ranging from storage to supercomputing time. There are also war horses like EMC and IBM which supports an array of cloud based technologies. With this sort of giant company investments being put in, we can only assume that Cloud Computing is here to stay. Cloud Computing is the tech secret behind how all these apps are able to store data and run software without downtime. However, like any other rapidly advancing technology, Cloud Computing has had its own share of brickbats. Larry Ellison seems to have some really strong views against cloud computing, having gone on record to call it insane. There have been a few reservations regarding data security and privacy. But Cloud Computing technology has admirably stood its ground by opening up avenues in an unreal number of fields. It has been the driving force for the app revolution in the market. It has been a prime enforcer in the rise of medium and small scale computing enterprises. The cloud is growing rapidly, and according to estimates the cloud will grow by a further 130% before 2016 putting the Cloud Computing industry at an estimated value of 150 billion USD. Essentially, Cloud Computing has made its mark in any industry that requires massive computing, storage or data handling. The world of High Performance Computing has greatly benefited due to

the cloud computing rise. Scientists can now access supercomputer-like power at hourly rental prices. This gives scientists working in different parts of the country the freedom to run complex scientific simulations, calculations and visualizations even if advanced hardware is not at their institutions disposal. At the lowest level, we regularly use the cloud every time we read an email, or book tickets on an online reservation platform. Cloud computing, in all humility, has invaded our homes.

Cloud Computing in Use

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Cloud computing has steadily made its way to mainstream IT and computer science. A re-

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