Amazing Optics Trick!

Just came across this awesome Optics trick at 9gag.com! Check it out!

Can you guess the logic or reason behind it? & if you freaked out, post in the comments below

Why Blogger Dynamic Views are Awesome!

September 27, 2011 Blogger announced the launch of Dynamic Views on September 27, 2011 & it really looks good! (Check out a preview at http://blog.jewelove.in/view/flipcard)

Blogger has become so much cooler! The 7 new dynamic ways to present your blog to your readers. Animation by Blogger Buzz

IITians contribute half-a trillion USD to the Economy

Specially for those who think that IITians don't giveback to the country or that we IITians just go to abroad & make money there. Please read this & you'll know, 7 out of 10 IITians live & work in India! (in simple terms, that is 70%)


The Article :

Every one rupee invested in an IIT has had an economic impact of Rs 15 and each IIT graduate created 100 new jobs, says a study commissioned by PanIIT, an umbrella organisation of IIT alumni from the 7 IITs. (Correction : There used to be time when there were just 7 IITs, nowadays, I am sure there is an IIT somewhere in your neighbourhood)

Funniest Facebook Spam going around!

Facebook will begin stealing your
underwear at midnight tonight if
you don' t copy and paste this message
in the next 36. 5 seconds, forward it to
everyone in your mailing list , print a
hard copy for your grandmother and
call your third grade teacher.
If you're lucky, you'll get a free unicorn in the mail tomorrow.
Copy-paste this or face the consequences.
xD

My Signed Check to Facebook Goes to Waste

Amidst all the speculations that facebook is going to charge from today, I had signed a check for facebook, but they never charged.
Sad, a signed check gone to waste bin.

Departments to participate in fundraising from alumni - Late but finally here

I had no idea that alumni could not do this earlier, but contributing to departments is finally here! The article is as follows

The Board of Governors of IIT Kanpur has approved the creation of "Department Excellence Fund" in each department of the Institute.
Now any alumnus giving a gift to the Institute would have more options to specify for the use of his/her funds. Till now, an alumnus could specify the use of funds only if the gift was substantial, like setting up of a scholarship, or a chair, etc., or could contribute to the batch fund, or to a very small number of open campaigns at any point in time (like Prof. Sampath Chair). Most of the contributions went to the common pool of undesignated funds, which were used for excellence related projects across the Institute. Many alumni felt that an option to contribute to a specific department should be there, though one could still make an undesignated contribution to the Institute common pool.

This is also an attempt to involve departments in alumni relations. Departments typically have a closer and more personal contacts with alumni (through BTP/thesis supervisor, and other faculty members as well), and encouraging departments to use those contacts to build a strong relationship with alumni is certainly a need of the hour.

Whether this move will really bring alumni and institute closer, it will depend on both stake holders. If departments don't start reaching out to alumni to do fund-raising, alumni aren't going to designate their gifts for the departments. And if alumni continue to send their contributions to the common pool, departments won't feel encouraged to reach out to alumni. Some of us who have interacted with alumni in the past know how useful such interactions can be, not just for fund-raising but a large variety of support that these alumni can provide to us. And the Institute certainly understands that it needs to give this idea a strong push. And hence it has also promised to the departments that initial funds gifted by alumni to the Department Excellence Fund will be matched by the Institute (the time limit and money limit has not been specified, but still it is a good idea).

I strongly encourage all alumni to designate their gifts to the Institute for Department Excellence Fund of any department that they want to support.

Courtesy : Inside the Campus: Departments to participate in fundraising from alumni

Facebook drops plan to charge amidst user protests

Paolo Alto September 26, 2011

Facebook has announced that it has cancelled its plan to charge users for using facebook. Facebook now requests all users to calm down & enjoy & to stop posting the spam message around.

IIT Kanpur to restrict AIR SUPPLY to students!

Live Screenshot of the Facebook Timeline!

for all who haven't yet activated the timeline, here's a live screenshot of the facebook timeline which will go live on September 30, 2011!

(Click on the image for full size)

Live preview of the facebook timeline of Sambhav Karnawat

Stay connected with me on facebook at Sambhav Karnawat on facebook.

 

Important Metrics of Social Media

Just completed a new project at BuzzWorthy, here are some stats from the project, reproduced with permission.

Though I cannot disclose what I did in the project, I want to shed some light on important metrics of social media. (In this case, the medium was a facebook page, but it could be anything)

Shocking : Rs. 32 set as the BPL limit!

Photo courtesy : Internet

Reblogging an article by the Economic Times, the Planning Commission of India has been updated to Rs. 32/day for Urban areas & Rs. 26/day for Rural areas.

I have just 3 words to say, WTF! If that is how they plan to make India a superpower by 2020, may God help us.

How to get the old newsfeed back on facebook!

UPDATE : How to get the old newsfeed back on facebook!

If you hate the new newsfeed too, just go to your account settings

New changes to Facebook

You can see another flurry of changes coming on facebook before the f8 conference. Some that I came across in the last 5 minutes listed below :

Rahul Dravid, The Wall of India, retires from cricket. An Ode

Rahul Dravid waves his bat one last time in an ODI match & receives a standing ovation

Rahul Dravid, the Wall of India who has stood the test of time for more than 15 years, saved India's grace more times than I can count & won matches for India  when all hope was lost, is playing his last One Day International cricket match right now against England at Cardiff.

As he got out, clean bowled at 69, each & every player of England team came to bid him adieu & the crowd rose to a ground-shattering applaud, for today a legend retires, a batsman like whom none have been & none shall be.

We all know how great a player Rahul Dravid is, probably the most respected Indian Cricket Player of this era alongwith Sachin Tendulkar


Here's what Cricinfo has to say about Rahul Dravid

"Rahul Dravid is probably one of the last classical Test match batsmen. His progress into the national side may have been steady and methodical rather than meteoric, but once there, Dravid established himself at the vanguard of a new, defiant generation that were no longer easybeats away from home. Armed with an orthodox technique drilled into him by Keki Tarapore, he became the cement that held the foundations firm while the flair players expressed themselves. Yet, for a man quickly stereotyped as one-paced and one-dimensional, he too could stroke the ball around when the mood struck him"

He requires no stats to prove himself, yet on this day, look at the magnificent figures this legend made in his 15 years of play (courtesy : Cricinfo)

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	157	273	32	12775	270	53.00	30090	42.45	35	60	1602	19	207	0
ODIs	343	317	40	10820	153	39.06	15205	71.16	12	82	946	42	196	14
T20Is	1	1	0	31	31	31.00	21	147.61	0	0	0	3	0	0
First-class	291	484	67	23281	270	55.82			67	114			350	1
List A	448	415	55	15202	153	42.22			21	111			233	17
Twenty20	69	62	6	1605	75*	28.66	1369	117.23	0	7	178	25	14	0

Every cricket fan in India & all over the world knows that an era has come to an end today. Our wishes are with Rahul for whatever endeavours in his future.

Wish you Good Luck Rahul!

UPDATE : Check out this photo that tells you everything you need to know about Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid, the Wall stands Tall

Update July 2, 2014 : I just found these WoW quotes on Rahul Dravid : http://www.storypick.com/10-iconic-quotes-rahul-dravid-show-true-gentleman/

Awesome Innovation - Isanglitrongliwanag - The Liter of Lights

Awesome Innovation to lighten up people's lives

I am always amazed at how a simple idea can change people's lives, for instance this one, where a regular bottle has helped light up several 100 homes! Beautiful.

I must say they are the real "Knights of Light" if there ever have been any!

Visit their website at Liter of Lights

Tell me what you think about this idea in the comments below!

Facebook's New Features!

Facebook released a lot of new features today! Here's a sum-up of the most important ones :

• Subscribe option for facebook profiles - This step takes the usual facebook profiles a step closer to facebook pages (in particular Public Figure pages). Now if you want to receive my updates but do not want me to see your updates or I do not accept your friend request, you can still receive my public updates by subscribing to my profile! Just go to my profile & click on the subscribe button, you'll start seeing my updates in your news feed! This is especially helpful for people who have hit the facebook friend limit of 5000 friends, like my friend Dan Gordon or the belle dancer Meher Malik.

Facebook Subscribe button for profiles

• Share facebook statuses - Long awaited, but here at last! Now you can share facebook updates, so no - via @ anymore! Just click the share button below a status & it'll be shared with your friends! :D

These are 2 of the most important new features I came across. But there are still many more awaited! The most important & the most awaited is :

• Advanced Notifications for facebook Pages! : If you run a page & engage a community on facebook, you know what I mean! Right now pages & their admins do not receive a notification if an old status or photo on their page gets a comment or something which results in less engagement than there can be!

Hope facebook launches this feature soon!

UPDATE : Today, September 16, 2011 the facebook navigation bar has become omnipresent, like vodafone's pup, wherever you go, it follows.

UPDATE : October 3, 2011 Facebook has announced the launch of a yet another feature, this one only for business pages on facebook, "People Talking About" (that might not be the final name for the metric) which will measure user-initiated activity on a Page, including posting to a Page’s Wall, “liking,” commenting, sharing a Page post or content on the Page, answering a Question posed to fans, mentioning a Page, “liking” or sharing a deal or checking in at your Place.

UDATE : October 5, 2011 (USA) Facebook is removing reviews & discussions tab from October 31, 2011 from all business pages.

What do you think, how does this fit in your scheme of things? Tell me in the comments below

Mercedes uses Ostrich feathers for polish!

Mercedes A to S

Courtesy : www.Mercedes-benztour.com

New website by Mercedes to boast of its features. Beautiful website, awesome presentation, I simply loved it! Until I got to O. Because, there they say, they use Ostrich feathers to "clean" & "polish" their car body panels!

How crool (read cruel) is that?

Entrepreneur & The Frog Princess

The Frog Princess

We all know the story of The Frog Prince, a girl kissed a frog & he turned into a Prince. Here's a modern version of the story featuring an entrepreneur!

P0rn Industry teaching Crowdsourcing to the world!

Learn CROWDSOURCING from them!

I was recently searching for good examples of crowdsourcing & guess what I hit, the P0rn industry! While everyone is thinking how to make money on the internet, even facebook cannot find ways to charge its users, p0rn industry is improvising & leveraging the biggest buzzword, 'crowdsourcing' to make money & get people involved!

How to GET RID of automatic SPAM messages on facebook

Posting unintentional spam messages on facebook?

Fell for a free recharge or t-shirt scam?

Here's how to get rid of it :

1. Go to Facebook Mobile, scroll down & click on "Find out more".

2. There you will see a link, "refresh your upload email"

3. Click on it, click "yes, I am sure" & then NEVER EVER FALL PREY TO THESE SCAMS!

Remember the only thing you ever get for free in your life is your parents' love.

This post was initially written to help out my friend Rishabh, if you benefit from it too, glad to know! If you face any problems doing this, let me know in the comments below.

Few words...: Why the Eagle has never wept the second time so fa...

Reblogging a friend's pot on terrorism.

American National Symbol - Bald Eagle

Few words...: Why the Eagle has never wept the second time so fa...: These are excerpts from a conversation (some might call it a debate, but I think that would be a tad to rash) I had with a fellow Indian a...

My previous posts on terrorism are at


India, a tourist place for terrorists (satire)

Sexy Female Terrorists, the real BOMBS. (satire)

Do you even know how to peel a banana?

How long have you been eating bananas? Maybe all your life, so you must believe by now that you are an expert at peeling bananas, like everyone else.

You might be an IITian but Monkeys know better than you, how to peel a banana!

Free Recharge SCAM!

There is a Free Recharge Scam going on in India by a website www.getfreecharge.in

It is a SCAM!

Really, they might give the free Rs. 50 but in place of that, they will have the ability to post ANYTHING to your facebook profile. For your own security, do not fall for it.

I just saw it happen to a friend & also, trust me, the only thing you get for free in life is love from your Mom & Dad, everything else has a price.

Spread the message.

Posted in Public Interest.

Anna v/s Terrorists - One on One

Anna Hazare : Voice of the people

You haven't forgotten Anna already, have you? After the Delhi Bomb Blasts, Anna has come out again! This time, he's against the terrorists. He wants to end terrorist vacations in India.

Mother & Child

Photo courtesy : Catholic Fire

God Paradox - by Satsang SMS

I really like this service called Satsang SMS, sometimes they send very inspiring sms, but today's sms was hilarious!

"SATSANG sune bina kabhi bhagwan se PREM nahi ho sakta. Aur bina ishwar ki kripa ke SATSANG nahi milta. ye to bhagwan ji ki hi vaani hai. apko nitya SATSANG mile"

particularly the boldened part, it practically says that, "you cannot get Satsang without God & you cannot get God without Satsang," so which one do I go after first?

Isn't it the chicken-egg paradox?

Wikileaks v/s Mayawati.How dumb can Mayawati be?

If you do not know about the Mayawati Wikileaks tussle, pick up a paper to go ahead. If you do not know about Wikileaks, go join Mayawati. I guess (with confidence) that Mayawati or her PR agency had no idea what Wikileaks is about! So when "something(s)" about her came up in the WikiLeaks, she lashed back, at Julian Assange. Little did she know many have tried & failed (miserably) at that before her.

Secret of Creativity

No Kidding, This has been a secret from the beginning of the human race & finally it has been revealed.

India - a tourist place for terrorists

Year 2002, India began the Incredible India campaign, not just in India, but all over the world.USA, Germany, France, Frankfurt, everywhere, there are posters of Incredible India.

The protagonist of the story is, "Al Bomb-ai B(h)last-er." Right now, he's thinking :

Anna Hazare & Jan Lokpal Bill on Facebook

Jan Lokpal Bill's Facebook Version   

Manmohan Singh Wrote On Anna's Wall
Corruption Ka Nasha Pyaare , Nasha Sabse Nashila He
Jise Dekho Yaha Woh Corruption Ke Baarish Mein Geela He
Politics Ke Naam Pe Karte Sabhi Ab Bhrast-Leela He..

.

Anna Hazare Comments - "To Stop ol These Is Wat My Campaign Is Ol About..!!

.

Baba Ramdev & 5 Million Other people Like Anna Hazare's Comment.!!
Baba Ramdev Comments : "Aur Mein Karu Toh Saala Character Dheela Hai...?"

 Looking for a more serious post on this issue? Check out my earlier post on Anna Hazare on Social Media

Awesomest Love Quote Ever - Never Cry

Year 2008, This has to be the Awesomest Love Quote I have ever come across.

"Ever you miss me, never you cry,
for every drop of tear in your eye is a day less in my life"

Says it all in less than 2 sentences.

What is your favorite Love Quote of all time, post in the comments below!

Indian Innovation - Missed Call

India Innovates

Do you know what happens when somebody in USA or Europe gets a missed call? If you are lucky, nothing else, they'll think, "creepy! He just called me & hung up WTF!"

But here in India, a missed call is more than a conversation, it is sometimes a call to action!

Let me illustrate this with some very common uses of Missed Calls in India :

Passion, My Conservative Girlfriend

PASSION

Passion is my very very conservative girlfriend, she just won't let failure even get near me, everytime I do not succeed & fail tries to creep close, Passion comes in between, she pushes Failure back hard & tells her, "Sambhav is mine, stay away from him, you wretched Failure." Then Passion helps me get up, back onto my feet & tells me, "Don't you even dare look at that b*tch Failure or I'm gone" (& Passion is so hot, there is no way I am letting her go) Then Passion tells me, "C'mon Darling, let's try achieve your goal again & I'm sure this time, we'll kick that b*tchy Failure's ass."

So, no matter what you do, DO NOT DITCH PASSION! She'll never leave you until you leave her, & the moment she leaves, Failure will set her claws in.

I'd love to know your thoughts on Passion & your success stories in the comments below!

True Story of the sacrifice of Mother

This is a true story of Mother’s Sacrifice during the China Earthquake.

After the Earthquake had subsided, when the rescuers reached the ruins of a young woman’s house, they saw her dead body through the cracks. But her pose was somehow strange that she knelt on her knees like a person was worshiping; her body was leaning forward, and her two hands were supporting by an object. The collapsed house had crashed her back and her head.

With so many difficulties, the leader of the rescuer team put his hand through a narrow gap on the wall to reach the woman’s body. He was hoping that this woman could be still alive. However, the cold and stiff body told him that she had passed away for sure.
He and the rest of the team left this house and were going to search the next collapsed building. For some reasons, the team leader was driven by a compelling force to go back to the ruin house of the dead woman. Again, he knelt down and used his had through the narrow cracks to search the little space under the dead body. Suddenly, he screamed with excitement,” A child! There is a child!“

The whole team worked together; carefully they removed the piles of ruined objects around the dead woman. There was a 3 month old little boy wrapped in a flowery blanket under his mother’s dead body. Obviously, the woman had made an ultimate sacrifice for saving her son. When her house was falling, she used her body to make a cover to protect her son. The little boy was still sleeping peacefully when the team leader picked him up.
The medical doctor came quickly to exam the little boy. After he opened the blanket, he saw a cell phone inside the blanket. There was a text message on the screen. It said,”If you can survive, you must remember that I love you.” This cell phone was passing around from one hand to another. Every body that read the message wept.” 

If you can survive, you must remember that I love you. Such is the mother’s love for her child!!

Remember, if you are reading this you are alive & no matter what, your mother loves you!

Blogger’s fresh new look

Blogger Buzz: Blogger’s fresh new look

Blogger is really doing the new with its new looks, improved interface & awesome new stats!

Swati, her dedication, my inspiration

Swati. I don't know why haven't I written this post until now, but I had to write it after our conversation yesterday.

Swati is my batchmate & an amazing friend since freshman year. Amazing person, you'll get to have an idea why, by the end of this post. I love to hang out with her, actually, to be frank, she is one of the those people besides my wingmates, maybe, with whom I have spent the most free time in IIT Kanpur.  I have always admired her self-reliance but lately she has truly been a source d'inspiration extraordinaire.


The single biggest reason for that is her dedication to work. Don't get me wrong, my friend Karthik is also a very hard working guy & I will write a post on his dedication too sometime pretty soon, he has been an inspiration for over 2 years! Swati has lately exceeded limits of my imagination for hardwork (or so I believe). From our freshman year, this is the first time ever, I have not hung out with her for more than 6 months at a stretch. Primarily because she has been totally dedicated to her Masters Thesis. & that is just the beginning, Her sister met with an accident sometime back & that simply reinforced her determination towards her goals, I mean totally totally awesome what she did. I cannot express it, she was disturbed by it, who wouldn't be, but she did not let that break her, rather she faced it & strengthened her resolve. For more than a year everytime I felt like "passing" time, she comes to my mind & I think, work, stop wasting time, start doing some work.


Amazing person, absolutely down to earth, no arrogance, determined, caring (that I came to know from her sister's unfortunate accident) & above all, an amazing friend.


Ode to an amazing friend, Swati.

This is not Swati's caricature, but she used this photo as her Profile picture for a majority of time until September 2, 2011

I'd love to know about people who inspire you, please tell me about them in the comments below.

Entrepreneurship is NOT cool!

Seriously, I have met so many people who try to be entrepreneurs or who try to motivate others to be entrepreneurs because they feel it is the coolest thing to do! DUDE, it is not the same thing as buying an iPhone or an iPad because they are the coolest things around!

This is YOUR LIFE! Don't try to mess with your life just because people might think you are so cool! Don't.

Photo courtesy : Clipart

Be an entrepreneur for the right reasons, trust me I admire entrepreneurs & innovators, I am myself always trying to work up some innovation but not because others would think I am so cool, but because I feel that is the right thing to do at that time.


Don't be an entrepreneur because : 

• Your friends/family/girlfriend/boyfriend or somebody else will think you are so cool!
• For the money, & don't tell me look at Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates. If you think that is cool, look at a candyman, he's an entrepreneur & faces hardships, every entrepreneur does.
• For the fame, tell me how many entrepreneurs do you know? There are at least 1 million more entrepreneurs than that in this world, if being an entrepreneur made you famous, why do you not know of each & every one of them!

Totally not cool!

Most entrepreneurs have to, no matter how good they are or will be, at some point of time struggle & the only ones that stick around during & after the hardships are those who are passionate, hard working & give in their 100% to their idea or venture every moment of their life.

If you can do that, be an entrepreneur, if you want to be an entrepreneur so that people know you are an entrepreneur, don't be an entrepreneur, buy a wrist band or even better a head band that says "I am an Entrepreneur, don't you think I am so cool" & wear it around. It would save you (& others) a lot of trouble.

Sigmund Freud : One is very crazy when in love

Sigmund Freud, the famous or infamous if you please, psychoanalyst, the father of psychoanalysis, whom some people love to hate & others hate to love & whose theories, hypotheses have been widely applauded & despised alike. I do not know how true is "Interpretation of Dreams" or his other works, but this line he said sure stands the test of time.

"One is very crazy when in love"

Crazy are those that fall in love, but isn't craziness the very essence of life?

What do you think about Love?

Apple without Steve Jobs

Think of Mjölnir without Thor. Mjölnir was nothing without Thor, nobody could even move it. Now, put Steve Jobs in place of Thor & Apple in place of Mjölnir, & nothing else changes. That is the level of seriousness we are talking about.

Of course, everyone has to leave someday, so did Steve. Louis-François Cartier & later his grandchildren died, Cartier brand dwindled but was later revived. Something like that might happen with Apple, but Apple operates in the tehnology industry, where what is today a revolution is tomorrow a dead age-old product. Technology world especially gadgets change very very frequently & even though I agree that Apple has a lot of talented employees, I don't think anyone can really replace Steve Jobs & his innovative ideas.

Fact : Since Bill gates has retired, except for the Microsoft Skype Takeover, Microsoft has done nothing that attracted the people, it has been stagnant! & even in the Skype deal, Bill Gates advocated the deal! More on that at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13434352

So, even though Tim Cook might be a great leader & innovator in his right, he has a daunting task to carry on the legacy of Steve Jobs & deliver on the high expectations of investors, stakeholders & fans/consumers of Apple.


Do you think Apple can continue or will it become stagnant?

P.S. : This is my second post on Steve Jobs leaving Apple, the first one is at http://blog.jewelove.in/2011/08/steve-jobs-apple-jewelove.html

Death of the Deals craze!

It all began with the popularity of Foursquare, then came facebook deals, yelp deals, groupon & numerous other such ventures! Most of them are still there & not closing down, yet, but it seems facebook & yelp have gotten over their craze for daily deals! Point worth noting, facebook deals was seen as a group-on killer to the extent that some people suggested facebook will acquire groupon within a year!

This week facebook announced that they are closing down facebook deals & (so did Yelp)! Anyway, facebook had launched deals only as a test project in 8 cities of the USA, so unless you are one of the businesses from those cities who used deals very frequently, this won't affect you, at all. Facebook did say in a statement, "We've learned a lot from our (Deals) test, and we'll continue to evaluate how to best serve local businesses." I really don't know what they mean to say, because that is all they said.

The Important Question is WHY did these giants decide to withdraw from a space that was seen as the next big thing in e-commerce just a few months back?

I have done a some analysis on this & would like to know your thoughts on this big retreat in social media commerce by facebook. (Let's not consider Yelp for this case study, it was anyway not going to beat Groupon or Foursquare anytime soon)

1. Overcrowded : Mark that word, that is the single biggest reason why most companies, brands no matter who it is, they leave a segment, be it BMW in the 90's or Google of 2009-2011, (yes, I'm referring to Goodle's failed attempts at social media). This market is overcrowded & facebook does not offer anything new the deals market, so it had to go out.
2. Sales : Google may not require sales teams to make people sign up, it does require sales teams in all the cities it launches deals to make merchants & speciality retailers sign up! & sales teams cost a lot of MONEY! Who'd know that better than me :-/

There must be other reasons too, can you think of something, post it in the comments below!

IIT Kanpur Forums

Following up my earlier post, http://sambhav.jewelove.in/2011/08/iit-kanpur-professors-on-social-media.html I thought of some more things, like FORUMS!

Forums are the coolest & the most useful online tools around! Why don't we at IITK have forums for Hall 5 & other Halls, forums for individual courses, forums for suggestions to administration & other similar stuff!

That'd be totally useful & would increase student-professor & inter-student-bbody interactions a lot!

Would love to know your idea on the same!

Night out of Interaction!

One of my first sessions of interaction with Y11 batch, IIT Kanpur. & its at least a month past their freshers.

Dated August 30, 2011.


I had this lab late in the evening at 2030 hrs., pretty crazy, huh? It was around 2200 hs. by the time the lab was over. I went to Hall 5, Lala Ji ki canteen for dinner. Naman, the Sci-tech. secy was lecturing 1st year junta about Takneek, the intra-IITK technological festival. I joined in the audience to know what's new in Takneek, in the process also started interacting with the freshmen around. P.S. : I don't interact like the usual seniors at IITK, so even if you plan to share the post with DOSA, go ahead.

Started getting to know a couple of freshmen, who still had no idea I was a 5th year :P, by the time even Naman had noticed me. Anyway, I started asking the freshmen about their hobbies, interestingly there seemed to be a whole football team in Hall 5! by this time, Naman's lecture was more or less over &, I presume, the 1st year stayed around me, even though now they knew I was a 5th year, courtesy Naman, because they didn't want to work for Takneek. Yeah, we IITians are lazy. I told them the one thing I always tell freshmen, "PASSION", do what you enjoy & are passionate about, that is all that matters, nothing else does, unless you are planning to beat people or go on a killing spree. Explore your (sane) passions & the numerous opportunities in IIT Kanpur. This had nothing to with entrepreneurship, more like taking initiatives.

Interestingly, by now a lot of other freshmen started joining in the conversation, voluntarily. There was a very good conversation on initiatives, finding your passions, exploring interests & somewhere in between, my ventures. Then Rajat asked me about my companies & how I started them. I told them all about it & then we realized it was already 4 A.M.! Even the canteen had closed. That was when a few of them left the conversation, off to sleep.

But 2 guys stayed on, Andy Murray & a Gurgaon guy, we had a long conversation about MBA, entrepreneurship, by the end of it it was morning, went to MT, had pakodis & chai, then went back to hall 5, this time talking about entrepreneurship with Morey. had breakfast in Hall 5, met Rohit, a Y10 sophomore, in the mess! helped him send an email to Dr. Sarkar for his research interest, came back to my room & finally slept at 1246hrs.!

More than 12 hours of talking, & my first night out of this semester spent on interaction.
Update : 2 of the freshmen have already come up with ideas that they want me to mentor!

Commercialization of Ganesh Chaturthi

When a festival that helped India kick British asses & achieve Independence becomes an environmental disaster.

The most serious impact of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival on the natural environment is due to the immersion of icons made of Plaster of Paris into lakes, rivers and the sea. Traditionally, Lord Ganesh's statue was sculpted out of earth taken from nearby one’s home. After worshipping the divinity in this earth icon, it was returned back to the Earth by immersing it in a nearby water body. This represented the universal cycle of creation and dissolution in Nature.

However, as the production of Ganesh icons on a commercial basis grew, the earthen or natural clay was replaced by Plaster of Paris. Plaster is a man made material, easier to mould, lighter and less expensive than clay. However, PoP takes much longer to dissolve and in the process of dissolution releases toxic elements into the water body. The chemical paints used to adorn these statues made of PoP themselves contain heavy metals like mercury and cadmium.

On the final day of the Ganesh festival thousands of plaster statues are immersed into water bodies by devotees. These increase the level of acidity in the water and the content of heavy metals. The day after the immersion, thousands of dead fish can be seen floating on the surface of the water body as a result of this sudden increase.



Several non governmental and governmental bodies have been addressing this issue. Amongst the solutions proposed by various groups some are as follows:

• Return to the traditional use of natural clay icons and immerse the icon in a bucket of water at home.
• Use of a permanent icon made of stone and brass, used every year and a symbolic immersion only.
• Recycling of plaster icons to repaint them and use them again the following year.
• Ban on the immersion of plaster icons into lakes, rivers and the sea.
• Creative use of other biodegradable materials such as paper mache to create Ganesh icons.
• Encouraging people to immerse the icons in tanks of water rather than in natural water bodies.

Please do not use Plaster statues this Ganesh Chaturthi, I am sure Ganesh ji won't be happy with his devotees for destroying the Earth.

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi!

EVIL TREES ENCROACH IIT KANPUR LAWNS

or at least that is what the administration thinks.

Lawn cleared of encroachment by trees - post by Dr. Dheeraj Sanghi
 

Three monsoons ago, a young faculty member, planted 35 trees in the area between Faculty Building and Lecture Hall Complex. He and many others had been asking the Institute for years to share the master plan for the campus and tell the residents what areas will remain green in the long run. But no master plan is ready, even after a decade. So he takes matter into his own hands, and plants several trees in an area where he believes and is reasonably sure, no construction will be done in future.

He is reprimanded by the Institute to plant those trees without permission, but miraculously the trees survive the wrath of the administration. The faculty member continues to take care of them at a significant personal cost. End of flash back.

After 3 years, all those trees have been uprooted, without assigning any reason. (Whether the trees have been given any reason, I don't know. At least, the campus residents have not been kept informed.) This is strange. If the trees were planted at a location which was to be used for future construction, or if trees were planted in a way that it was inconsistent with the landscaping plan of the Institute, then they should have been removed three years ago. If there was no such problem, and the only issue was lack of permission at that time, then this encroachment by trees :-) could have been regularized.

Interesting discussion going on in the Institute. People feel that the death warrants were issued only because the birth certificates were considered illegitimate by the Institute administration.

Courtesy - Inside the Campus: Lawn cleared of encroachment by trees by Dr. Dheeraj Sanghi

Also, why were these trees not transported & replanted else where, why did have to die?

IIT Kanpur Professors on Social Media

I recently came across this blog, http://insideiitk.blogspot.com/ which seems to have posts contributed by Dr. Dheeraj Sanghi &  Dr. S.G. Dhande, the current IIT Kanpur director. The blog hasn't been very active lately it seems as the last post was made 2 months ago.

This actually set me thinking why are the Professors of IIT Kanpur not active on social media? I have had interactions with Dr. Prabhat Munshi, probably one of the best professors of IIT Kanpur, Dr. Gautam Sengupta on facebook, but besides them, not much really. Though I am connected with a lot of Professors of IIT Kanpur on Linkedin & Academia but I have rarely seen any updates, whereas I also follow blogs, twitter accounts of several professors from Wharton & Kellogg, these are really updated very often & has helped me learn a lot, sitting at my desk!

On the same account, I think Professors of IIT Kanpur should also make a collaborative blog on various interest fields, maybe Nuclear Energy, Physics, Mathematics, Cloud Computing, Neo-computing, Nanotechnology, Manufacturing Sciences, Management Principles, Entrepreneurship (I'd love to contribute to this one) & so much more! I am sure a lot of people around the world, maybe not as many in campus but definitely a lot of them around the world, would love to listen to what they have to say!

Which topic would you follow regularly?

Update : Further brainstorming brought up the idea of forums, post at http://sambhav.jewelove.in/2011/09/iit-kanpur-forums.html