kspeak...speakin out

HERE WE GO AGAIN...

Our headline for today... Prof. Richard Matthew Stallman. Surprised??
Well u all saw what u saw...but here are some things u didn’t see...

## There may have been things that Prof Stallman didn’t like but amongst the few things that he did like was BENGALI CUISINE!!!
Turns out, Prof Stallman had visited Jadavpur university sometime ago and loved the food served there so much that we had to get a cook from outside campus to serve him more of the same!! Well...could we please show him around our mess sometime if he feels like coming back here!!

## Hell hath no fury like Prof Stallman deprived of his dose of the net!! Turns out, he lambasted the organization here coz of the firewall configuration which prevented him from accessing the secure mailing service he uses. He was first taken to Azad hall and finally to Goyal Infotech where he had to use their dial up connection!!!!!

Some more news...

**** The immense crowd in front of the nirmaan tent really seems to have given the organizers a tough time with Scomm members having to physically push back ppl to prevent a tent-collapse!! A REQUEST TO ALL PARTICIPANTS...PLZ REFRAIN FROM DISORDERLY CONDUCT IN ORDER TO FACILITATE THE SMOOTH RUNNING OF KSHITIJ.

**** we mentioned so many events that tech’quila was going to conduct tonite...but what we certainly didn’t know...and u simply have to excuse us for that...is that they were going to watch ‘F.R.I.E.N.D.S’ on stage!!!!! But hey...we shouldn’t deny these ppl their share of breaks...after all , ‘THEY’LL BE THERE FOR US’ again tomorrow!!

Looking ahead at the events for tomorrow...

-> For all the thok bonds (thok bole to electronic department ppl), there’s ANADIGIX.

-> For all the wannabe Ankit Fadias, there’s the workshop on hacking followed by a hacking competition.

-> If u’ve got a knack for capturing just the right moment on celluloid, SNAPPIT is ur playfield.

-> Then there’s ATELIER (unrehearsed), a business strategy game and ATAXIA, ur life size jigsaw puzzle...

AND TO TOP IT ALL...THERE’S THE GUEST LECTURE BY MR. B. K. SYNGAL, THE MAN WHO BROUGHT THE INTERNET TO INDIA, the Vice-chairman of BPL and an alumnus of IITKgp. Here’s your chance to find out more about one of the most outstanding scripts of Indian history...from the man who scripted it!!!

And before we sign off, a look at tomorrow’s schedule...

8:30 am Anadigix prelims @...V3
8:30 am Exemplar ( Phase II results) + Phase III problem @...V2
9:00 am Workshop on Ethical Hacking @... V3
9:00 am Eureka @...V4
10:00 am Disassembly of Tata Motors' Car @...Arena
11:00 am CarInsight @...V3
11:00 am Anadigix finals @...Takshashila
12:00 am Snappit submission @...Arena
12:00 am Atelier unrehearsed @...V2
1:00 pm Prof. Mathew Diamond's lecture @...V4
1:30 pm Hacking competition @...Takshashila
2:00 pm Exemplar ( Phase III results) @...Arena
3:00 pm CarMach @...V4
3:00 pm B Plan @...V3
4:30 pm TechKing finals @...Techquila Tent
5:30 pm Ataxia @...Arena
6:00 pm Final results for Exemplar @...Arena
6:30 pm B.K. Syngal's Guest Lecture @...V1


KFUNDA: HERE ARE SOME STUNNING STATISTICS...
150 participants each in exemplar, el matador, robotix and nirmaan.
WHATS MORE...THERE WERE OVER 550 REGISTRATIONS FOR NIRMAAN but time and space constraints forced the organizers to limit the number of participants to 150!!
Total number of outstation participants this year is around 5 times last year’s figure!!!!!!!!

----- KICK OFF-----

A few snippets of info…

**** Many congratulations to C UP YOUR SKILLS AND MINDSPORT for an awesome job done…CONGRATULATIONS ALSO TO ALL THOSE WHO WON THE MEGAPRIZE…our deepest condolences to all those who couldn’t find time to be present to collect their prizes…for the record…these ppl found themselves deprived of a meagre 1000 bucks!!

**** The number of participants that have already arrived by DAY ONE of the fest is more than three and a half times the total number of participants last year!!

SOME INTERESTING TAKES AT THE EVENTS OF THE DAY:

Ø THE IBM TALK AT VIKRAMSHILA – Very informative and encouraging but a cool highlight of the event…A FREE METALLIC PEN TO ALL THE PARTICIPANTS. Just a suggestion…how about cool T-shirts next time[:D]??
Ø KSPEAK’S VERDICT: SPONSORS ROCK!!


Ø THE INAUGURATION CEREMONY AT NETAJI - Well…there was the congregation of big names but what was also on display was a smart and prim AMIT GUPTA, aka ROLLY, if only a little too …err…British??
Ø KSPEAK’S VERDICT: Where were u during FP??


Ø INAUGURATION OF TIETS: A bold initiative on the part of IITKgp…but what was KKMEHRA doing walking all over and around the stage during Prof. PPC’s presentation ??
Ø KSPEAK’S VERDICT: try out the ramp sometime!!



Ø AND FINALLY…MR. SUBIR RAHA…not only did he have a world of accomplishments to bowl the netaji audience over, he also had them rolling with his quick wit and simultaneously, awed with all the talks of big money.
Ø KSPEAK’S VERDICT: LIVELY.


LOOKING AHEAD:

# KSHITIJ FINALLY WILL GO AHEAD FULL STEAM STARTING TOMORROW MORNING WITH THREE EVENTS TAKING OFF AT 8.30 AM…get your parallel processors ready if you want to have the best of all worlds.

# There’s a ROBOTIX SHOWCASE tomorrow from 3 pm to 6:30 pm demonstrating some of the most outstanding robots in the world. Its an event u would definitely not like to miss.

# But the star attraction of tomorrow, without a doubt, is the GUEST LECTURE BY PROFESSOR RICHARD MATTHEW STALLMAN at the TAGORE OPEN AIR THEATRE (TOAT)…it’s an indication of the immense response that his lecture has generated that the venue has been kept as TOAT!!

# Here’s a look at the day’s events: hope u have a nice time…look out for techquila and make pots of money…


8:30 am Exemplar ( Phase I problem) @... Arena
8:30 am NSE Workshop @... V1
8:30 am Tech Quiz @... V2
9:00 am PCRA paper presentation @... V3
11:30 am Guest Lecture ( Prof .Richard Stallman )@... TOAT
1:45 pm Exemplar (Phase I submission) @... Arena
2:00 pm Overnite prelims @... V1
3:00 pm Nirmaan @... Arena
3:30 pm Atelier(rehearsed) @... V3
5:30 pm Exemplar (Phase I results)+ (Phase II problem) @... Arena
6:00 pm Biz Quiz @... Netaji
9:30 pm Exemplar (Phase II submission) @... Arena
9:30 pm Overnite finals @... Takshashila


KFUNDA: The robot on EPIA that will be ‘showcased’ tomorrow is the only one of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region!!

----- ITS D-DAY-----

It’s finally arrived. All those night outs at the gymkhana, all those seemingly unending brain storming sessions, the fight to invite larger-than-life personalities, the Herculean task of handling colossal logistics, the moments of despair, the moments of ecstasy…its all over and now here’s what we have…KSHITIJ ’05 in all its majesty is finally here.
Let’s start off by giving you a look at today’s schedule:

4:30 PM – ROUND TABLE TALK WITH MR. KAUSHIK BHATTACHARYA (ASSOCIATE PARTNER AND SKILLS EXECUTIVE, IBM) on the role IBM plays and the opportunities it provides to YOU.

5:00 PM – THE CURTAIN RAISER: the inauguration ceremony of Kshitij ’05 @Netaji.

5:30 PM – INTERACTIVE SESSION WITH MR. SUBIR RAHA @Netaji again

6:30 PM – BUSINESS MEET @...well…again…Netaji.


Time now to bring u up to date with all that’s been happening in the run up to D-Day:

*** Participants have started pouring in and common rooms are slowly filling up with RK and RP being the first off the blocks. Whats more...the number of participants who have arrived on DAY ZERO of the fest is more than the total number of participants in KSHITIJ '04!!

*** Technology Incubation and Entrepreneurship Training Society (TIETS) will be unveiled tomorrow immediately after Mr. Subir Raha’s interactive session. To give u a brief idea about what TIETS is all about we need to take a step back in time…Stanford University developed the region around itself and promoted startups and what resulted is the Silicon Valley. IIT Kharagpur plans to work along similar lines and promote new enterprises. Here’s hoping for a Silicon Valley encore…cheers!!


Detour >>> A word about the arena and its theme:

Some issues ago we had given u a link between the theme of Kshitij and the Kspeak logo…well…no prizes here …but did u guess what the theme is??
As a tribute to the deep link that ancient Greece has had with modern science, this year’s theme for the arena is based on Greek Mythology.

In case you are still wondering what the picture of the Parthenon at the beginning of today’s edition has anything to do with Kshitij, u r in for a surprise…hey, we’re not spilling the beans here …check out the arena and try spotting this marvel of architecture remade in IITKgp!!
Hope this doesn’t sound all Greek to u!!

Oh and lest we forget…lets bring you up to scratch on BIZMEET…

4 eminent personalities, one of them an alumnus of IITKgp, will spar it out on the netaji stage on THE IMPACT OF THE SERVICE SECTOR VIS-À-VIS THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR IN THE POST-LIBERALISATION ERA.

The panelists for the event are
Mr. Arun Gupta, Senior Director, Business Technology, Pfizer Ltd.

Mr. Naresh Kumar, Managing Director, Jindal Drilling & Industries Ltd.

Mr. Devrajan, MD, CISCO Systems (an IITKgp alumnus).

Mr. Kapil Rampal, CEO, Creative Crest.

The meet will be moderated by Mr. John Elliott of Fortune magazine.


KFUNDA: KSHITIJ IS ALL ‘GEARED UP’ THIS TIME…AND HOW!! LOOK OUT FOR GEAR CUT-OUTS ALL AROUND THE KSHITIJ ARENA!!

-----AAJ TAK-----

Here’s a news flash to bring u up to date with all that’s been happening lately:

*** The Kshitij team found itself in total disarray when one of the participating teams decided to land in Kgp well before schedule. Last heard, everything had been peacefully taken care of. All’s well that ends well.

*** With so many high-profile personalities gracing the campus during kshitij, some hoohaa security check was inevitable…and so it was when Mr. Subir Raha’s security team sieved through the campus last week. If we’re having red alerts for the visit of a business personality, we can well imagine the garrison had the PM landed for the convocation.

*** Talking of the convocation, it’s been finally fixed on the 26th of this month (phew!!). Here’s hoping there’ll be no more postponements.

*** Seems like SRIC is upto sumthing big in collaboration with Mr. Raha. Turns out, our guest reception team will not be going to receive Mr. Raha… instead Prof P.P.Chakraborty will be doing the escorting.

*** Looks like Mr. Raha is hogging the limelight on tonite’s issue…here’s more…he’s going to arrive well before what was initially planned and will spend the extra time in a tete-a-tete with the powers-that-be. Aur andar ki baat… Mr. Raha’s guest lecture seems to have been replaced with an interactive session.

*** Work has started on the arena in Vikramshila but there’s bad news already, TWO ARENAS HAD BEEN PREPARED FOR ROBOTIX AND LEFT UNMANNED AND AS FATE WOULD HAVE IT, THEY WERE STOLEN OVERNIGHT. Work on the new arena is underway and, well, this time they aren’t taking any chances with security.
Could we borrow a bit of Mr. Raha’s security for some time plzzzz??

*** More weird news...looks like we have more guests coming for kshitij than just those named on the website…how about a one and a half foot SNAKE for starters!!
In yet another overnight coup, a SNAKE made its way into the POWERBOATS tank yesterday night.
Now whether it went there to have a cozy sleep on a winter night or out of sheer interest in robotix is debatable but one thing’s sure…the robotix team really seems to be having its hands full for the moment.

*** The guest reception team too hasn’t had easy times of late…they obviously need to go to Calcutta to receive our esteemed guests but, last heard, they haven’t been able to excuse themselves from classes on the 4th of Feb.

*** Nirmaan was the biggest crowd puller last year… and it’s no different this year. So much so that this year the Kshitij team has decided to put a ceiling of 175 on the number of teams. Lagta hai Kshitij ne kaafi publicity ‘nirmaan’ ki hai khud ke liye [:d].

*** Last year, the Nirmaan problem statement was out three days before the event. This year even the Core Team is comfortably dumb as regards the problem since the prof setting the problem has sworn a certain Head of the fairer sex to absolute secrecy [:(]. Looks like some high-funda problem awaits the participants!

*** If Nirmaan is all about building, this year there’s an event that is the very antithesis of Nirmaan. Ladies and gentlemen… presenting (taaliya taaliya!) Ataxia. Once again a veil of secrecy surrounds this event and one can only wait for the event to find out what one has to actually disassemble (and then reassemble).

*** Ataxia promises to be fun; but what if you could watch an actual car being unfrocked to the lowliest screws and then rebuilt right from scratch right in front of your eyes? Tata Motors shall be bringing a car, which shall be subjected to such an insult and then restored to its pristine state. Watch it to believe it!

Aaj ke liye bas itna hi…samachar samapt hue…namaskar[:D]





KFUNDA: THIS YEAR’S PRIZE MONEY IS MORE THAN LAST YEAR’S ENTIRE KSHITIJ BUDGET!! YO SPONS TEAM!!

‘I came, I saw, I conquered’

This may have been said by Julius Caesar but after what u r going to read in this issue, u wouldn’t raise an eyebrow if the hero of today’s issue were to say so. Kshitij has had a tradition of inviting big names to Kgp. - Arindam Chaudhari and Shiv Khera readily come to mind. Now this year’s kshitij being bigger than ever before, it’s only apt that the guest too should be amongst the biggest names on the Indian business scene.
For starters, he’s the chairman & managing director of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India (ONGC) and concurrently the Chairman of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) and Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL).
Just to give you an idea of the numbers this guy deals with,

ONGC’s net profit - $ 2210000000 ( GULP!)
ONGC’s mcap - $ 21000000000 ( Gulp! Gulp!)
ONGC’s net worth – $ 75000000000 (Water plzzzz…choking)

He is an honorary Fellow of the All India Management Association and the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers and a Fellow of the World Academy of Productivity Sciences. He is Chairman of the Research Council of the Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP) under CSIR. He is Chairman of the Hydrocarbons Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).
He is the President of the National Petroleum Management Programme (NPMP. He is the President of the International Federation of Training & Development Organizations (IFTDO), comprising of 150 Associations in 50 countries. He is a Trustee of the Indian Oil Foundation (IoF), which was conceptualized by him to preserve, protect and promote the archeological heritage of India.
He is Mr. SUBIR RAHA.

Catch him live at netaji this Friday 4th February 2005 at the Kshitij inauguration ceremony.


Let’s move to more mundane things shall we…

C UP YOUR SKILLS sure made us frust yesterday. What with a half an hour delay in putting up the question and then ambiguity in the problem statement. Wonder if the kshitij team is gonna make up for this makhao by putting up more prizes or easier questions[;)]!!

The DESIGN TEAM is working around the clock, literally, and anyone visiting chedis to assuage nocturnal growls in the tummy is sure to find them coolin’ (any similarities with a D-team head’s nickname are purely intentional[:D]) their heels after a hard night’s work.

Its time to let out some of the ‘inside stuff’ happening about the D-team……here we go…

** Whatever your name, you should be proud of it right? But a certain D-team member seems to be having a tough time coz everyone…including girls…calls him by his name…any guesses what his name is…?? ‘Bhaiyya!!’

** Even the core team ppl are finding it difficult to keep their hands off the color it seems…just yesterday one SComm painted another’s face black and as a return of favor, got his face painted white!!
We don’t know if core team ppl masquerading as cartoons is a part of the arena theme, but we aren’t betting against it just yet!!

** The D-team seems to have decided to take the arena a step back in time…word is that the backdrop of TECHQUILLA is going to be a breathtaking one while the arena as a whole is going to be designed along the lines of something really ancient. We aren’t telling u more just as yet…but as a hint, look no further than the logo of KSPEAK!!

** If there’s one thing that the kshitij D-team seems to have picked up from its SF counterparts, it seems to be the concept of ‘attaché volus’ . Remember the SF design team and the whole story of third year volus hijacking heads?? Turns out, a volu, not entirely unrelated to the head mentioned above, has been drawing lots of first years to work for the D-team. Déjà vu??
With this sneak peek, we sign off, but with a piece of news…starting today, kspeak is going to feature an edition everyday until the end of kshitij.
More news, more reviews, more intros and of course, more bhaat and more kfunda -- enjoy the ride.

---NOW SHOWING – KSHITIJ ’05---

KSHITIJ ’05 has been released and boy o boy, it’s creating ripples at the box office already. A grand first-day-first-show with 192 submissions for C UP YOUR SKILLS was a heart-warming harbinger of things to come.
Kudos to those who got it right…and as for the rest of us, well, question nahin solve hua, na sahi, but at least the name of the function could have been something other than ‘foo1’…huh!!
Come on junta, tempo se… 9 days and 90 magical 100 buck notes are still in the fray…watch out for the MINDSPORT problem that will be put up today.

Some other news:

More than 550 abstracts have been received for events like EUREKA, ATELIER (rehearsed), B-PLAN, CARMACH and CARINSIGHT!!
EUREKA, however, is the undisputed heavyweight amongst all these with more than twice the number of submissions than the rest of these events put together!!! Eureka!!!

The shortlists of participants for these events have been put up…do check out the kshitij website to see if you’re amongst those who hit the jackpot. A waiting list of faithfuls has also been put up just in case any of the ‘chosen few’ decides to quit the pursuit of the Holy Grail.

But that’s not the end of the story…there are more than a dozen other events which do not require prior abstract submission. Starting today, we take a sneak-peek at some of these events…


EXEMPLAR

Ever heard of Murphy’s Laws?? For the uninitiated, Murphy’s law states that ‘anything that can go wrong will go wrong’. But business cannot be left to the vagaries of time and circumstance. A solid business is built on a solid marketing strategy that’ll survive the test of time and…blah blah…
Okay…cut the crap…here’s the deal…a product is going to be launched and YOU have to make sure the baby survives. Lots of things will go wrong…lots of chaos will happen…but you have to market the product and position it in such a way that it lives to see another day…and …err…preferably more than just that.
The event is going run throughout kshitij ’05 and is amongst the most intriguing and engaging events on offer. You can register yourself online or on-the-spot (do we hear you saying “tab peace hai”!!).
It needs no prior funda…no preparation…just instinct and dollops of intuition. In Nike words - just do it.

EL MATADOR

Heard of Dhirubhai Ambani?? Poor fellow made a 100,000 crore business out of nowhere which his two Stanford and Wharton educated kids are out to ruin…but that’s another story for another day…
Point is…he worked and re-worked the Indian stock markets and what resulted is Reliance.
El matador is your chance to conjure up something equally magical. Real life companies will be traded online and on the floor of the exchange. Rumors will be circulated (ahem!) in the markets and prices of shares will fluctuate on the basis of traders’ response to them.
These rumors and snippets of information will be based on real life incidents of the past…so here’s your golden opportunity to rewrite history.
In case u have no funda about bulls, bears and dividends, chill maro yaar…there will be a workshop before the event which’ll familiarize you with the nuances of the stock markets.
Registration can be done online or on-the-spot (peace again!!).

Kfunda: see the logo at the head of this issue…uske peeche bhi hoohaa
funda hai…the red pizza-slice-shaped part on top represents the sun while the
‘ksha’ (Hindi alphabet) obviously stands for kshitij. The horizontal line below
the sun represents the horizon – or kshitij!! Now… would you have ever guessed
that?

Disclaimer: This newsletter has nothing to do with Linux or Balaji telefilms….any similarities in nomenclatural inclinations are purely coincidental.(:D)

A couple of days back, a similar piece of literature referred to ‘some fest giving away prizes worth 4 lacs’. Well junta… here we are with some bittersweet news. The bad news: the prize money ain’t 4 lacs any more. The good news: IT’S MORE!
First things first, something about SF. ‘Strings’ rocked, frolicaholic conjured up an ‘array’ of games and ‘while’ the design and location of the arena was a bold experiment, it got a unanimous thumbs-up from junta.
IT’S TIME TO SHRUG OFF THE HANGOVER PPL!!
Get set to tickle your brain cells ‘coz it’s time to rekindle the spirit of competition, time to earn a cool buck. It’s time for KSHITIJ.
The idea is simple: you drain your brain, we drain our pockets!!

Remember Zayed Khan in the Pizza Hut ad…’main aur mera 50’? Now picture yourself in eggies saying....’main aur mera 100’ …we don’t guarantee you all those girls in the ad…but then…you get to spend twice the amount on yourself alone!!

C UP YOUR SKILLS

Starting tomorrow (Tuesday), we enter the world of ‘strings’, ‘arrays’ and ‘while’s that we are more accustomed to. C UP YOUR SKILLS provides a chance to all comp studs (as well as duds) to showcase their programming funda and rake in some moolah in the process. Every alternate evening, C problems will be put up on the KSHITIJ website at 6 pm and the first 7 correct submissions from the senior halls will get 100 bucks each. No entry shall be accepted after midnight.
And facchas… load mat lo. For you guys in first year, who don’t have regular access to the Net (what with the Insti restrictions, even we poor seniors have been relegated to this category!!), we shall put up the problems in your Halls at 6 pm. Entries must be submitted in the Gymkhana between 9 and 12 the same night and a lottery of the correct entries shall determine 3 lucky winners, who’ll walk away with cool goodies.
Junta…. remove the dust from your Kernighan-Ritchies and Yashwant Kanetkars…you might just earn 100 bucks for doing so!!

MINDSPORT

“Yaar jo programming and data structures ke course mein nahin hua woh ab kya hoga”(:( )Don’t lose heart folks…if pointers and linked lists are still ‘queue’d up in your things-to-be-compiled list…here is a chance to show your intrinsic cali…
Puzzles and brain-teasers await you every alternate evening on the kshitij website along with a crisp 100 bucks if you are amongst the first 7 to crack the problems.
The same faccha funda applies here as well (my my, don’t we love our juniors !)
And last but not the least…A GRAND PRIZE OF 1000 BUCKS will be given to the one who wins the maximum prize money in each of these events!!

Things are just warming up. There’s lots more to come and truckloads of cash to be won. Watch this space…

KFunda: Kshitij, envisioned as the horizon where talent meets challenge,
was christened by the honorable Director of IITKgp, Prof S.K. Dube