The first step involves registration, and a verification of certificates of students at 50 different helpline centers. These help-lines are basically verification centers, where candidates are checked in various aspects; EAMCET score cards, Intermediate score-sheets, SSC/ ISCE/ CBSE memos, etc.  Also, students have to produce Transfer Certificates, Caste/ Bonafide certificates, NCC/ sports certificates etc, as applicable to individual candidates. They are provided with a verification receipt once this process is done.

Mr. Sunil, of YoCareer, speaks about the simplified process. Credit: Azazel Eyes

Once this is done, the complexity of the process shows up. Now, the candidates are asked to make lists of colleges of their priorities on a blank option sheet that is provided. They have to mark options as one, two, three and so on in the order of their choice of subjects and colleges. This, being the first time of web-counseling, most students are unfamiliar with the marking system. And once their options are frozen after a fixed date, they cannot make changes. Students, who make choices without proper guidance and information tend to have a serious backlog of ending up in the less rated colleges and at this point of time ignorance or negligence of any sort might result in disasters.

Once the options are frozen, the system runs a computer program, which automatically decides the college, where the student gets his seat. As it is a computerized system and no student is aware of what seats are available, the results from this process might be rather shocking for most. “I don’t know where I’ll end up. I have of course chosen all top colleges. I’ll get the seat if I’m lucky. I just hope that the result doesn’t turn out badly”, says Ashwini, who got a rank of around 45,000 in EAMCET ‘09.

Choose District. Credit: http://www.yocareer.com

Mr. Sunil, a young Entrepreneur, came up with a sophisticated technique, to simplify this state of confusion regarding how-to-choose-my college/ branch question. His enterprise, called Yo Career, claims to help people ‘make the right choice’. They came up with a concept called EZ Counsel, “… through which students can be guided through this difficult situation. Our website can be accessed through scratch cards that we are distributing at these help-line centers. Students can avail lots of information from our website that would make their task of choosing easier”.

He explained to us, the procedure involved in using the scratch card as thus. Firstly, students get a scratch card that has a CODE. Using this code, he can log into their website at www.yocareer.com . Once logged in, one reaches a page that asks for a choice of District, based on which the following lists are displayed. A student can choose any number of districts as per his choice and convenience. Then the site asks for the student’s option of subjects within 3 levels of college lists- separated as Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3. These ‘Tiers’ and an analytic of the popularity of colleges all over the chosen areas, over the last 5 years, tier 1 being most popular.

Students have to provide their order of choice as 1, 2, 3 and so on. Credit: http://www.yocareer.com

When asked about how this popularity index is calculated, Mr. N. Sunil says, “We have information regarding the student of which rank, joined which college… in the past 5 years. We assign a popularity weight to every rank and calculate the total popularity of that particular college. Once these are calculated, we place the colleges in the descending order of popularity, branch-wise”. He adds, “We classify the choice of a seat based on two points; one, the branch/ subject that a student wants to choose and two, the college/ university of his choice. This helps students with a broad perspective and an easier choice. Also, since these are classified based on the latest 5 year popularity, they’re bound to give us the most accurate results”.

After confirming ones choice of the branch-college combinations, the system runs an algorithm which creates a .Pdf file for download. This file will include a list of colleges and branches in the order of the best choice possible for the student. All the student has to do is note this listing and apply for the colleges in the same order, from the number one. Now, one doesn’t have to think about comparison between colleges or his choices. Also, a star (*) is provided over college names that the student might most possibly get a seat in. This decreases the shock-value of the actual outcome to a major extent.

In addition to helping students choose, the site also provided information about various colleges, a list of top-ranking colleges (according to the popularity index), and information about the branches of study available. This facility is now available only for students applying to Engineering and B. Pharmacy courses. The site also provides a list of tips for online counseling.

Result shown in a .pdf file after entering preferences. Credit: Yo Career

After marking their choices, students are asked to freeze their options on a fixed date, according to a schedule already provided by the board. The dates to freeze choices last from 31^st July 2009 to 11^th August 2009. After running a program, students are allotted colleges, in the best possible branch / college according to their order of preference. Thus, the whole procedure would end.

For anymore details regarding the ‘hows’ of Web Counseling, students are suggested to get things clarified at the help-lines before freezing their options. Choices made without proper thought or time might result in outrageous effects, which might leave them disappointed. After all, these are choices for a lifetime of most careers and deserve to be taken very seriously.

Think twice before you click!

Source: http://www.apeamcet.org/, www.yocareer.com

Snakes, as the creatures that they are, fall under the species called Reptiles. Reptiles have typical scaled texture of their skins and their cold-blooded bodies. They naturally feed on insects and smaller animals as per their lengths and body necessities. “According to the Indian custom of feeding snakes with milk is against their natural feeding process. In fact, snakes’ bodies are incapable of digesting the milk protein because of which, they fall ill and eventually die”, says Mr. Ravi Shrivastav, a leading member of GHSPCA (Greater Hyderabad Society for Prevention of Cruelty against Animals), which is based on the same lines of work as those of SPCA and ASPCA.

Snakes To Be Rehabilitated into Natural Habitats. Credit: Azael Eyes

GHSPCA hands in hands with Blue Cross in Hyderabad and ARRS (Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Society) took up a project on this Nagapanchami, which fell on the Sunday, July 26, 2009 to take measures against cruelty towards snakes in particular. The event involved youngsters from all across Hyderabad; student volunteers from Kasturbha Gandhi College for Women and Womens’ college, Kothi, took active part in the procedures. A group of young men and women gathered at Womens’ college to start up the process. They were issued identity cards and were separated into groups to be lead by experienced members of ARRS to various spots around the city of Hyderabad, where the probability of finding snakes captured by charmers was high. Areas of Old City, Secunderabad, Moosarambagh, Malakpet, Chaderghat were separated and teams were sent. Each team was to roam around in search of any snake charmers who illegally capture snakes from the wild and put them through a horrifying process before taking them on rounds for public exhibition. People are ignorant of the torture the snakes go through before being shown as objects of religious, spiritual and cultural importance.

Mr. Ravi Shrivastav adds, “Snake charmers put these creatures through two to three weeks of starvation before being put for display to the public. This makes the snakes weak for any kind of attack; in addition, they tend to try and eat up anything they find, even water or milk that is offered, though it is dangerous to their systems. Also, their fangs are cut off using pliers and are stitched up using the tailor’s needles, which is totally unhygienic and painful. In the end, when they are done collecting their money, they leave them in the wilderness, without taking out those stitches. Most snakes die due to infection, pain and starvation, as they lose the potential of hunting for their food”.

Shreya shows us Traps that are used to captivate birds. Credit: Azazel Eyes

Shreya, a four-year member of ASSR shares with us her experiences. She says, “This is the 11^th time that snakes are being rehabilitated. The number of snakes captured over this time has come to down from around 120 in the first year to 27 now. This is a good sign as it shows that there are lesser snakes in captivity”. She adds, “Snake charmers are located and with the help of experts, we snatch the snakes and take them to safer places. We provide first-aid for the injured snakes they are rehabilitated. Once fit and strong enough to fend for themselves, these snakes are left into their natural environments.

Barryl Huang, a student of Ambedkar University says, “It helped that I was a student of life sciences. I knew the technique of handling snakes and other reptiles. However, it is highly recommended that people don’t try handling snakes without formal training. I managed to catch hold of 9 snakes today, most of which were harmless. Their fangs were cut off and they were starved and injured”.

“ARRS provides training in animal rescue, a 4 day camp organized almost once every month. Youngsters are trained in every kind of animal handling, and adaptation to forest environment, rock climbing and some other basics required for animal rescue. They are rated based on their performances and if they pass, they are given an inspector position. Using this authority, youngsters are free to stand against and avoid any kind of cruelty against animals that they witness. It gives them the right to act, instead of waiting for someone else to do so”, says Nita, a member of ARRS for more than 5 years.

ARRS Team Meet, at the Office in Kothi. Credit: Azazel Eyes

Speaking about his experience working on this cause for the first time, Harideep, a final year student of SVIT says, “It was fun going around, though we hardly managed to find any snakes. But then, it is a good sign that there are lesser cases every year; it speaks of the success of the cause taken up”. Girl volunteers from Kasturbha Degree College opined similarly, that though they could not handle snakes as such, it was a nice experience overall, to be a part of the whole program. They said they would surely come back the next year, with more friends.

In this way, the one day struggle against cruel customary practices, which are hazardously dangerous for the eco-system as a whole ended as a success. Though it wasn’t a battle to be fought and won against an enemy, it included the fact that there did exist an enemy called ignorance and fanaticism that need to be checked. This one day war also ended in a note that, youngsters are the only parts of the society that can successfully bring such ideals into practice. It was overall a splendid capacity of strength, organizational skills, power, teamwork, love, care and consideration for living creatures that stood against the vile and vulgar exploitation of nature.

“If given a chance, my grand dad will curse everyone of the younger generation today, to be forgetting our culture. He hates western music, western clothes and anything even partly western. I always thought of replying that even he, as a young man did let go of some principles that did not suit him. I didn’t afford to say it for the fear of getting slapped. But sure as hell, I love Metal and not a single week passes without hanging out at Pizza Den!” says Murli a fresh graduate from OU. Change is inevitable. Every animal tries and adapts to its changing environment and so does man. Survival of the fittest, if were defined for gathering of food… for a social animal that man is, he needs to change as and when the social structure changes for mere survival.

When asked if the social system today hinders progress of youngsters as individuals, Dinesh a student of CBIT says “Yeah. One of the main problems with Indians is that nearly every question has the almost the same answer-’it is against our culture’. Though this does not hamper the growth in any way, it does curtail the freedom of a youngster. Inspite of that, at home, I never had any trouble talking about my friends (girls). Some of my (girl) friends even come home and my parents are absolutely fine with it”. Jaiyesh Rao, speaking about the same says, “The laws grant us all the freedom we crave for. It is the society that misdoes its implementation. It is the social scenario that is the culprit. They can’t stand new hairstyles, new clothes, new music, new life”.

While, this is what Dinesh and Jaiyesh think, Karthik Thumu thinks right otherwise. He says, “Our system is absolutely free. It is in no way troublesome for a youngsters to grow and develop. Even I, had never faced problems at home discussing girl-friends; may be more because my timing was perfect! But even otherwise, I don’t think there is anything that ll worry me from freedom at home”. Manasa Reddy of SVIT says, “I make it a point not to talk to guys on phone, after 9 pm. Not because my parents have a problem with it. Just so I know my limits. And I can’t really think of matters that cannot be discussed the next morning. I know of friends, whose parents complain of they crossing limits, which I don’t want to indulge in”.

Youngsters at a pub in Hyderabad; Their idea of fun, hanging out with like-minded people! Credit: Azazel Eyes

Introduction of a Dress-code at colleges with a claim, ‘to remember our culture and tradition’, is another pain for young men and women. When asked about how well introduction of a dress code at university level is justified, 13 among 20 students said that they would hate looking stereo-typical. While the remaining 7 opined that it would be easier to choose what to wear. “When we are at school, we are all almost similar, though not 100% alike. Putting us in clothes of the same kind, is probably justified because as kids, we shouldn’t worry about our choices so much and be troublesome to our parents. But once we are grown up, we are all different individuals, and so is our choice of clothes. If we are forced into uniforms even at this stage what is the system trying to achieve? A stack of copies of what they consider ideal? What do they achieve, a better culture of a bunch of dumb asses?” questions Chandu of NMR Engg. college, which holds a system of uniform clothes for engineering students, in the name of equality and culture. One thing remains a fact, whether students detest it for a lack of style, or for the force that is used to impose them… there is surely no one, who likes to wear uniforms, excepting lazy lateefs!

It doesn’t end there. We keep seeing our parents enjoying quite a few newer tracks still complaining, “Music in our days was golden!” They enjoy every form of Indian Food, but “the Pizza tastes aweful…”, though they’ve never tasted one. It isn’t whether they change their tastes to suit novel varieties or no. It is not that we want parents to keep eating Pasta every morning. But, it also isn’t justified if they say no food is better than Dal-Makhani!

“What THEY consider IDEAL”… these are the words that most youngsters scream aloud when asked about what are the difficulties they face as a result of the generation gap they experience. “Who is anyone to decide what is right or wrong in culture. If they think pre-marital sex is bad, let them think it is. They don’t have to impose it on us. By what right?” exclaims Vijay, a student of Gokaraju Rangaraju College of engineering. While Reema Satyam, a final year student of Mallareddy College says, “Premarital Sex or otherwise is absolutely the choice and liberty of the people involved. I believe such people are not sinners atleast, although I may not indulge in any such thing. My idea of marriage and sex is quite different”.

Surprisingly, 14 out of 20 students surveyed upon, expressed that the taboo on pre-marital sex isn’t greatly justified, and 5 of them admitted that they wouldn’t mind if their partners in marriage had had a sex-life before marriage. And, 17 of 20 were sure their parents would kick their butts if they got to know of their ideas. We also enquired people about their night-lives, and a disappointing 14 of 20 spoke of not having any night life at all. While some of them do not want to bother asking parents for permission, the others do not have an active pubbing- circle of friends. Hence, the results. The remaining 6 are socially active and enjoy dancing and drinking. “It is fun to meet like minded people. 50% of this world might consider me a weirdo, but 50% of it does know why I am one! I enjoy social drinking and hookah-ing. My parents don’t totally agree with it, but they trust that I know where to stop. Also, drunken-driving being very dangerous, elders insist that drinking is bad”, says Nikhil Kumar. Considering the (assumed / actual) restrictions of parents, it does seem the low percentage of students having an active party-culture is self-explanatory.

The other way round; in picture is Biel, an Ethiopian student in India. Loves Indian food just because he loves it! Credit: Azazel Eyes

But then, inspite of all these differences and imbalances, Hyderabad seems to have some of the most rocking parties and dance pubs. “Young generation of Hyderabad do have lively places to visit. I would say night-life is rather welcoming and thrilling in Hyderabad,” says Kushal Teja, a young IT professional. “It is not a question of whether one adopts western culture from Indian or no. It is not a mere implication of a change in the wardrobe or eating habits. It is a struggle of modernism against age-old fanaticism that objects any change. It is a battle of change against destructive stillness of the mind. It is not whether one listens to rock bands of Indian classics, it is about how well they do what they want to do, and in turn allow the rest in peace of their own choices,” says Priyanka, a student of MVSREC.

Well, this is how the growing young population of Hyderabad is taking the change in its culture and getting on with new standards in life. Live and Let live; they are willing to… but what they expect to get in return for their favour ins’t half as interesting. Some of them plan to handle life this way for a while, before they get their own jobs and fly their own heights. And Trust us, the results would be worth the wait!

And if you ever thought, you were alone in the struggle against native-culture, trying to open-up, mingle and learn new lifestyles… see the last picture for the surprise of your life!

True, the words ’summer holidays’ do have something really sweet connected with them always. Be it fond memories of the school-days’, or the hectic April-Mays of the junior college days, students sure have something nice to share about the ’summer holidays’. “After having faced the exam-fever for so long (the second internals, lab internals, lab externals and finally the external theory exams!) we really seem to deserve peaceful no-work days”, says Swathi, a 2/4 student. We agree, these holidays are definitely juicy fruits of the patience and hard-work.

“I grabbed a trip to Mumbai and Pune, did some adventuring, had fun and got back for my supplimentary exam which was on 5th June. Since this was my first supplimentary exam, I sure was worried about how it would go. I wasn’t sure I would have enough time to finish the entire syllabus. And the paper was one of the toughest subjects of the Production Engineering course – DME (Design of Machine Elements). But I risked it because, the schedule couldn’t fit any better with mom’s schedule. Surprisingly, the trip tremendously increased my concentration ability and focusing power and left me full of enthusiasm. My exam went really well,” says Priyanka, another 3rd year student from the same college.

Vacationing with friends is Priyanka. Credit: Azazel Eyes

Sharath, who is also into Production Engineering at MVSREC doesnt seem to have any set plans for the summer. “I might start blogging; something I’ve been thinking about for a while now. Matter of factly, holidays are meant for complete relaxation for me. So, I don’t fix goals as such. Above all, holidays are when I manage to grab a few extra hours of sleep than usual. That is what I am going to do, this time too”. Well, it is a sure thing, holidays are times when most students sleep more than they generally do. There is so much to do with college on – Bunking, roaming around theatres, impressing girlfriends/ boyfriends, waiting for results, waiting for freshers, trying to catch hold of them, whiling time away at the canteen / sports room et al. All the insomniac night-out online chatting sessions definitely added to our sleepless schedules!

When asked about where he might like travelling to during the holidays, for a vacation Jaiyesh Rao says, “New Zealand! Err… but that doesn’t seem very possible right now. I might limit myself to the loads of movies on my computer, that I haven’t watched due to the exam pressure!”. Also, he doesn’t want to mess with others’ time, so isn’t taking up any new courses now. His only goal as of now, is to “get into a good shape, before the summer ends”, his words. We wouldn’t believe all his words about not being seious towards studies, Jaiyesh has had the reputation of being the top-dog of his class for a couple of semesters already. Blame his modesty for all the biased answers!

Ha Ha... Last minute exam preperation! Credit: Azazel Eyes

While these were some of the freaks of MVSREC, there are indeed a few students around there, who are genuinely working towards making a neat career. Swaroop, who claims to still be ‘a good boy, who vacations only with his parents’, speaks about his plans during these holidays. “Not really great plans this time. Just want to take up some project in the city. Probably an Automobile Training program, that could help me with the BAJA event, that is going to come up soon. This I would do for a learning experience. But if you ask me about serious goals, I’d rather place ‘putting down weight’ as my prime immediate goal!”, he jokes.

Nadia Akhtar, a passed out student tells us about all the things she would miss about the college, ” I have had a really cool set of friends here. I would definitely miss all my times here. I know, it was just a phase of life and it had to pass, but however, this feeling that it is an end doesnt vapourise so easily! These holidays before I move on to my next college, would be very memorable”. Most students of the recent passout batch, we are sure would share these feelings about the college. They were instrumental in bringing the whole mass together, under the name of MVSR Campus Connect, and have together faced times of contentment and dissatisfaction together. They would miss the college-canteen not for the freakingly – unhealthy food it serves, but because of the wide set of smiles that were shared across those flies-infested, dirty wooden tables! Also, the first years aren’t yet done with all of their exams. Thanks to the mighty load of subjects they carry. “My last exam is on 6th July. I have atleast 6 days gap between every exam, and I’m kinda enjoying holidays in between them!”, exclaims Sai Kumar Reddy, a now-first year student of the college

While many 2nd and 3rd year students too are yet to be done with exams as such, (supplimentary exams don’t end till the last week of June), those done with exams are surely cherishing the wilderness of childish summers. Prickly heat doesn’t anymore, disturb young minds set on refreshing themselves. Adventure camps, college-activity groups, vacation – tours, GRE/ CAT/ GMAT/ GATE coachings, motor-driving tutions, guitar classes, are some of the many favorite jobs that students are opting for. If not anything, sleeping for long hours, and not waking up to realize they are in the examination halls, leaves students with a happier mood during the hottest season of the year!

Nalla Malla Reddy Engineering College should have been the talk of the town for all the amount of dirty mischief that is happening around there, but thanks to the opaque faced management and their capabilities, not many got to know what! There have been many unheard pleas, against harassment of students at the college with the excuse of ‘molding them into the right citizens’; verbal abuse and mental torture were commonplace. This is not the story of a day or two, it is a long suffered misery of students in Nalla Malla Reddy Engineering College, a lengthy saga of the bad times that students in Hyderabad are facing, in spite of having some of the sharpest brains and skill sets. If anyone wondered what is pulling students back from reaching the apex of knowledge and being successful in their fields of study we must agree it is dread of colleges like these and their so-called-management members that scare young hearts away from studies.

It was the issue of a girl student being bashed unmercifully by Mr. Sampath Reddy, the Director that shattered the last bit of patience that was left in students. The student had joined NMREC for a course and had wanted to shift to another college after second counseling. She had already paid an amount of 20,000 towards the college admission fees. She had come to collect her certificates so as to be able to apply at another college, for which she was refused repeatedly many times and was guided to the Director. The director, in his ever-swelling arrogance straight away refused to return her certificates until she paid the fees for the whole year, which amounted to more than one lakh rupees. The student was infuriated when her requests and pleas were not listened to and demanded for them sternly. And what she got in reply was disastrous and shocking. She was verbally mistreated, punched and kicked by the director. He also threatened to rape her and said, “How would you help yourself, if I do?” This was the collapse point, he had crossed all limits.

As if this weren’t enough for his bad reputation he also got himself involved in a ragging case. Yes, the Director involved in ragging. Allegedly, he had encouraged a group of second years and fourth years to beat up first years and assured them clean chit. Three first year students were badly bruised and battered by second years that were assumed-chelas of the director. And, they got away with it! It is our calculation that he had some ulterior motive behind this act than just frightening his students. Then came the fateful day when he had to have enough of everything. Incidentally and unfortunately for him, the girl ill-treated by him got immense timely help and support from Human Rights Organization, PDSU and the students of NMREC itself. Students of NMREC got their chance to shout against their longtime foe. They openly supported the movement. “We revolted with all our hatred. Most of us were victims of his abuse; we were waiting for the right chance. Classes were abandoned and protests were on the roll. We demanded that the director resigns and says an apology to the girl. We were supported by most student organizations including SFI and PDSU,” said a student participant of the protest. He preferred his name not be disclosed, for obvious security reasons.

Mr. Sampath is known to have been a Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS Party) supporter and has brought in the issue of having uniforms for college students in NMREC as a party-promotional stride. The Uniform Code was Pink shirts and Black pants, pink being a symbolic color of the TRS party. He is also infamous for the exceedingly high amounts of money he collects against attendance fees, where students cannot even protest. It was heard that he actually insulted many a student publicly to show off his own hauteur. “Students in these four years should be treated like laborers, that is when they get to fall on the right track and would lead a good life,” his words, to parents of students. He, like any other college lecturer still claims to be, “… doing all this for the good of the students. After all I don’t hold any personal grudges against you all! …” “Well of course, to threaten to rape a young girl must indeed be for her good. What does he think we are? Dumb-heads that would get affected by his political speeches?” remarks sarcastically a parent of another girl student of NMREC.

After this incident came to our notice, we at VidYouth found more about Sampath Reddy and his behaviour in the past. Sampath Reddy has a past of intimidating students on various grounds. In the beginning of the academic year 2006 – ‘07, a student by the name Mallapuram Hanumanth Reddy was punished by Sampath Reddy to sit on a stool for one whole day for expressing his unhappiness on holding the students back in college without any classes being conducted. Inspite of being an educated person his behaviour towards students was very inappropriate and unwelcome. Also, he verbally abuses fellow lecturers, but has been able to get away with it for he is the son-in-law of Nalla Malla Reddy. (married to Mrs. Sneha, second daughter). He is an “illarikam” son-in-law (or “Ghar Jamai”) of Nalla Malla Reddy. On a cursory note, there was an incident where his wife openly abused him verbally in front of the students.

It took the student groups 3 long days to bring the movement to a successful halt with Mr. Sampath being expelled from office on 24th February. It was the students’ might and strength that lead to the downfall of a criminal in the unbefitting position of an architect of youngster’s future. Inspite of his expulsion, his credentials have not been removed from their website yet. At least from now on, it should be taken care of that College Managements are not comprised of narrow-minded, politically influenced arrogant people. We need more virtuous role models who can be adored and followed. We need better men to lead the youth than a person who persuades only by force. We need men who would lead us to a brighter world with mutual trust and happiness. Above all, we need the elder generation of respectable learned men to understand young minds as grownups rather than looking down-upon us, all because we aren’t as old as they are. What if we are not 60 years old? We are still thoughtful young men and women, capable in intellect, information and physical strength. We have the voice, only we need ears to listen to them and brain to accept facts as facts. Our generation is very fortunate to be blessed with access to an immense amount of information of every kind. Likewise, we are aware of the huge mass of responsibility and stress that builds upon us from a very young age. We have to face a more competitive world than our elders have faced. We need to get more skillful than our parents ever needed to, and we are ready for it. Now, it is time for the elder generation to get ready for it as well. In the case that they are not, a renaissance is bound to arise.

Then you are a victim of the social and emotional entanglement that has been leading several generations of our community to dissatisfaction, in spite of enormous success and show they make. Every father looks at himself in his son. Every mother wants to guide her daughter through the career stride that she could never take. Is it just a mixture of an emotional mess and immense faith in parents, or an unsaid gratitude that a child feels he owes to his parents in return to all the favors he grabs in life? Every father wishes to provide his child with the best of options possible for him, with what he thinks is the best career option. Every child loves his parent. He assumes his responsibility to take care of his parents’ wishes from the very beginning of his career, even if it means saying a no to what he loved doing most. What both the son and the parent forget within this while is the fact that, neither of them gets complete satisfaction out of that career choice, in the end. The father assumes his son loves what he loves. The son believes that he loves what his father loves, even if he is not sure of it.

Furthermore, the college lecturers assume their idea of a perfect life as those ideal for every student. If they consider themselves successful, they owe it to their attitudes and preferences, and well if not, wish at least their students take up the paths they could not afford and be successful. All in good spirit, for the welfare of their students; who are like their own kids; forgetting the basic fact that they would be hated for forcing their choices onto a generation two times ahead of them. Ahead, not in terms of age, definitely, but ahead in terms of options and availability; in terms of thought, speed, strength, information and competence. Above everything we are a generation that can afford to risk; time, money (in many cases), work and thought. We can afford to leap into an option, check out if it works. Good, if it works, and else we would look for other options. Every young man/ lady graduates with options of a couple of jobs to take, or an average of 3 future- education options, very unlike the past generations which had to take up any single offer they would have had. We are strong and capable of facing tortures of financial turmoil in case of a brief failure. And what we expect in the end is a boost of confidence. Elders may as well keep quiet; we are not depressed about being encouragement-deprived. But sure, it bothers us to see principles from way down three generations trying to influence our lives today. What a 100 year old book of rights-and-wrongs says is of no significance to us today, but we realize that every single step we take is influenced by something vaguely of that sort.

Students of all streams of study alike, dislike attending classes, are bored of their subjects, love junk food, hate listening to preaching of moral science from ‘elderly knowledgeable wise HODs’, consider dropping out of college a possible-yet-impossible choice, wish dating was not as taboo as it seems, feel exams are a burden and think coloring their hair green is not a ‘bad- bold’ style statement. But, they never get to do any of these since they are considered ‘bad’ by the elders. If it is not the moral-ethical respect that they give to their elders that keep them away from their very wishes, it is the fact of fear that they might have to face the dirty circumstances of these wishes in some terrible form; they might get detained for bunking classes or they might be considered failures even by close family circles if they had dropped out of college. And definitely, it is the second fear that forces students to give up their happiness in most cases. It is the fear of depriving oneself of regards and respect from family and friends that keeps students from accepting that they dislike their subjects. The phobia of facing the questions of, “why did you take it up if you did not like it?” and further, the disgust that they cannot answer even when they know the answer as, “I disliked it after I took it up. What is wrong with it?” spoils the best years of the youth. “When we were young, we feared our lecturers. We wouldn’t walk past the principal’s office because of the respect we had for them. This generation of students doesn’t even know that they are not supposed to speak in their cell phones when the lecturer is around. They don’t give us the respect we deserve!” says a lecturer in an esteemed engineering college in the city. In answer to that a student remarked, “Respect is a thing to be earned. They hardly even regard us as human beings, and they say they deserve respect?” “I don’t attend classes, because i don’t like attending them,” said sri vani a ¾ student of engineering. When I stressed upon asking “why don’t you like attending classes?” she promptly said that it was just as natural not to like attending classes “… as not liking the color black. It is just a personal choice.

” Well yes, I was thinking… there are atleast 500 young students who enter every college for under graduation every year, according to the rule, each one of these 500 students MUST LOVE ATTENDING CLASSES to be doing ‘THE RIGHT THINGS’ in life. Isn’t that exactly what they claim? If managements expect students to be replicas of some imaginary ideal they had created for themselves a half-century ago, it is not our mistake! Why are we to suffer? If EVERY STUDENT meets their ideals and becomes what they had aspired to become, will there be quality in their work. will there be novelty and innovation? Will there be a scope of creativity, if what everyone produces is a result of the same brain-production-technique? The answer is definitely a BIG NO. Still people continue to force laws and rules on to the youth, with the excuse of directing them. It goes on that students hate the influence. They would be suppressed, their ideas would be suppressed. But it is okay, till the oldies are happy to be influential. AND IT IS SEVERELY OKAY, TILL THE WORLD DOESN’T WANT TO GET ANY BETTER. Since we all love obeying the rest, it is a happy life with no problems, but the problem that we are all dirty fakes. We fake, our parents fake, the lecturers fake. And we are all happy! Isn’t it happiness that we all live for?

Jamaal Mallik Junior of Slumdog millionaire. Credit: www.newsline365.com

‘Slumdog millionaire’ is the movie of the year and would be cherished and remembered for the time to come; after all, not all films manage to glide through global competition and be the number one, both in terms of the number of Oscars it grabs and in terms of being the winner of the Big Oscar, for the best Picture of the year. An uncomplicated love-story line and an inspection of the Mumbai- slum life are the key points behind the movie’s making while its success depended immensely on the flawless cinematography, perfect cast, background music, and various other bits and bites that completed it. The cast and crew have just started celebrating their success, and while the producers of the film begin enjoying their dazzling win, the debutante actors of the movie see a bright and brilliant future. With so much seen about this miracle-movie, we at VidYouth set out to find out more about what the youth of Hyderabad have to say about this movie. We caught people at a few popular hangouts and multiplexes just so we get the right general perspective of youngsters about the story of how a slum dog gets to become a crorepati.

Sandhya, aged 19 and a resident of Nallakunta says, “The film was a good one. But certainly it was not the foremost one to portray the culture of Indian slums. After having seen a couple of movies made by Indian directors about the same background storyline, this wasn’t the most excellent of them”.  We agree with you on the point that there were certainly nice pictures made about sad and hazardous life in the Mumbai slums, Traffic Signal for instance. Comparing the two movies, any youngster would say Traffic Signal was the better of the two, for the fact that it was down-to-earth, believable and simple. It wasn’t a mere romance and it highlighted the roles of slum people with much more reality than the actual Oscar Winner. “But the Oscar winner is the Oscar winner. It is wrong on our parts to speak of this movie as a nothing. It wasn’t a great make. It was only a simple film for the simple minds. And that might be the prime reason why it has been liked by so many viewers around the world. The only fact that it was understandable to most people and the point that they could relate to the characters, I guess, was what made the movie so special. It is a favorite of so many people, surely, not for nothing!” says Ritika Jaiswal a student of Arts College, Osmania University.

The Slumdog that becomes a Millionaire... Credit: www.newsline365.com

While hundreds of music lovers and A.R. Rehman fans are going crazy with the news that their idol bagged both the Oscars he was nominated for, they do admit it was a biased nomination. “Of the three songs that were nominated at the Oscars for the ‘best song award’, ‘Jai Ho’ was undoubtedly the ace, but then when judged against Rehman’s past ventures this one is by far not the finest. We loved Lagaan, Bombay, Roja and Taal. Rangeela, Bharateeyudu were great shows. Jeans had far better music. But the surprise comes only with Slumdog Millionaire. Question is why? Is it all because it is an English make? How many of us can honestly state that of all the wonders that Rehman created, this was the one deserving of the most honored award of the film-sphere?” questions Soumya an engineering student, and an ardent Rehman admirer. She insisted that Rehman as a musician deserves an Oscar, but if they had to choose one movie of all his works, at least 20 movies would have been ahead of Slumdog Millionaire.

However, forgetting the music and so-called-‘old’ storyline, we move on to the feeling the movie leaves behind. We asked a few teenagers what is their feeling after watching the movie. “It was a touching story, a sweet love story of how hope and belief rides one past all difficulties,” says Ananya Mithran. “It was a entertaining pastime. But it wasn’t as great a movie as it is being hyped about. I enjoyed watching it once, but I don’t think I will be able to stand it for another time. I’d rate it 3.5 on 5. If it has bagged the Oscars, it might be more because the Westerners cherish the sight of Indian slums and boost their false egos against the real competition Indians are facing them with, in every sphere of life. They are happy imagining India in the slums yet, which is not completely the truth of the case”. That is what Kalyan Ramakrishna thinks.

Whatever might be the opinions now, Slumdog Millionaire has sure made its place in the world film field already. With 8 winning places at the 81st Annual Academy awards, a movie based on Indian life, has made history. Whether it was on a basis of mass appreciation that the movie attracted, its success in portraying dark- reality or just a hyped-about story that made its audiences happy, the movie is the Best Picture of 2008. There is no denying that the effort and work put in by the no-star cast and crew of the production has paid off well with 8 Oscar Awards. Cheers!

The Renewable Energy club of MVSREC worked in sync with staff and student volunteers from the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Electronics and Electrical Engineering in facilitating their annual event MVSREC Energy Day. The event aimed at young engineers discussing the need for studying, understanding and consequently developing new techniques and models for preventing Energy crisis in the world. Various ideas were discussed by lecturers as well as student enthusiasts regarding means and ways in which to reduce energy wastages and attempts were made to understand the need for employing non-conventional energy production methods such as Solar energy trapping, Wind energy storage, Tidal Energy stockpiling and the likes.

The inaugural function included messages by the principal Prof. Mr. P.A. Sastry, Dr.V.V.Satyanarayana and Dr. G.Ravindranath, Heads of the Mechanical Engineering Department and the E.E.E. Department respectively. They recalled all the ventures of students and lecturers of MVSR in the fields of renewable energy and the innumerable ideas implemented by students at various levels in the recognition of non-conventional energy resources as a part of, as well as after under-graduation. They spoke about the need for young citizens to find out ways in which to save energy so as to prevent the hazard of energy dearth for the future generations. The scarcity of energy, they said, can not be won over, unless we realize its peril and begin our strife against it in this very moment. It was discussed that the amount of electricity being produced by conventional methods today might barely be sufficient to meet energy needs of the growing industrial world. With emergence of modern infrastructure to comfort human lives, the requirement for energy would multiply with the years.

30 years down the line, the earth might be devoid of ready petroleum for usage and we might not be able to produce enough electricity from the conventional options, to make up for it. So, it is necessary that we hurry up and find out better means of energy survival, and this conference was all about discussing that same prerequisite. “It was a greater success than it was last year. This year we had more than 70 papers presented. We are glad many students from various OU-affiliated colleges made it to the conference and the competitions. Their enthusiasm makes us determined to take a step further, and invite students from colleges all over the city to participate in this event next year…”, says Rohit Ahuja, a E.E.E. student and one of the chief coordinators of the MVSR Energy Day.

In addition to the marvelous number of papers, there were also quite a number of working/ demonstrative models constructed by students, exhibiting various types of power-production methods available. Also, presenters of the models elucidated to a panel of judges and students the working principles behind their models and the feasibilities of these novel techniques. Also many innovative concepts were spoken about by participants, by which they believed a revolution in the field of energy generation is inevitable, in the very imminent future. Students also made impressive posters to explain a diversity of energy resources. “Geothermal energy is one great energy asset we have. It is highly reliable and dependable and if properly trapped into an energy reserve can generate more energy than what we are producing from hydro electricity today. It is considered a weak resource more because of the extreme amounts of initial investment in demands, and because of the tedious research that needs to be done before choosing the correct location for a setup. But, if we have enough financial funding that these two factors are ignored, we might happily survive any height of energy crisis that might possibly arise”, says a participant who displayed a demonstrative model of a geo-thermal energy production project. He also explicated for us the working of that setup.

Various forms of energy resources excluding hydro-projects, petroleum energy and petroleum based resources are classified as non-conventional energy resources. They chiefly comprise of solar energy, wind energy, geo-thermal energy, nuclear energy, tidal energy, bio- fuels et al. All these forms of energy can be trapped and guided through processes that lead to production of electricity as an end product. Evidently, electricity today is the most useful form of energy, as it can be converted to other forms and re-utilized most efficiently. As growing citizens it is of our responsible interest that we need to estimate how much of the regular resources should be replaced by more sophisticated and modern techniques so as to nip this problem-to-be in the bud. We need to suppress the shortage by decreasing wastage at primary level as well as by looking up for better ways to produce sufficient energy. After all, it is for comfort of living that all of man’s creations are. If our comfort today might lead to a terrible soreness in the life of tomorrow, it is our duty to mend it on day one. The Energy Day at MVSREC succeeded in sowing the seeds of responsibility and encouraged scientific thought to fight the problem; once again successful in spreading the right message to responsible and intelligent engineers of tomorrow. ]]> http://www.vidyouth.com/2009/02/01/mvsr-energy-day/feed/ 0 http://www.vidyouth.com/2009/01/26/adsophos-09/ http://www.vidyouth.com/2009/01/26/adsophos-09/#comments Mon, 26 Jan 2009 02:26:02 +0000 Azazel Eyes http://www.vidyouth.com/?p=1254

ADSOPHOS, the biennial technical festival of MJCET was organized on the 20th and 21st of January. Adsophos, the word meaning ‘the quest for knowledge’, was indeed a good platform for youngsters to tickle the creative side of their brains and have fun. The event aimed at providing students with an opportunity to showcase their talent in technical fields of their choice, as well as amuse oneself in the bunch of fun-events. Involving participation of around 3000 students from various colleges in the city, the festival was quite a nice show.

“The inaugural function got delayed by 2 hours on the first day because of the guests not turning up on time, in spite of which the organizers managed an on-time exercise of the schedule planned. Really appreciable work,” says a staff member, in praise of his students. The festival could broadly be described as a technical festival with a tinge of fun and gala. The major technical events were paper presentations and model presentations, while the fun events were great a many. Also the single-seat car designed by the students of MJCET for Baja SAE vehicle was displayed for the advantage of the participants And visitors. More than 150 papers were collected, when around 20% of them were selected for the second level presentation. Also about 30 models of various sorts, belonging to varied fields were displayed for competition and public appreciation. Students had also the opportunity to explain the working of their models so enthusiasts. Robotics event was a huge hit in terms of the number of people attending it as well as the quality of work displayed.

Technical events of other departments included a structure designing competition of Civil Engineering Department, Robotics of Mechanical Department, Coding competition of IT, CSE departments.Mock interviews grabbed most participants, more because every student wanted to know how it is to be attending interviews. Most students had satisfactory outputs and suggestions from the organising team. Call it the nature of youngsters or just the gravity of organization, fun events managed to attract a larger number of participants as compared to the grave, technical events. The college campus was filled with a spirit of excitement and energy throughout the course of those two days, more because of the involvement of a large segment of students in the fun-events. Major ones among them were the ‘Roadies’, ‘Bluff Master’, ‘Movie Mania’, ‘Be in the boss’ shoe’, a case study, ‘Search to sell’, ‘Cross-talk’, the debate, ‘Dare devils’ and more. While Roadies, was hosted by a radio-jockey from the media-partner Sfm 93.5 MHz., rest of the fun events were facilitated by students from various departments of MJCET. Speaking about her experience of hosting the search-to-sell event, Nishaat Farheen, a 3/4 B.E. student says, “It was tiring to speak to people and get them to register for our event. Our concept was a combination of a mini- treasure hunt and an AD design competition. Participants had to search for their product and design an ad around it. Though we felt our heads begging for mercy every hour, because of the work-load, once it was all over, we feel like we did the best job in organizing it. For me, it was a first time experience, and a memorable one.” “Participants definitely thought out of the box and had a sense of originality of outlook. Their comments and arguments showed how strong they were as individuals. Some of them had a few flaws here and there. But if this was their first time, they sure deserve an applause,” said the lady from Career Launcher, who presided over the case study competition. It was considered very nice of her to actually give participants an overall group performance and an individual note, regarding their performance.

Major sponsors for the festival were Texas chicken and Honda, which contributed to more than half the total event expenditure. And with the presence of Texas chicken on campus, the festival was no less than a food-mela! “Phew! I am happy for the way things turned out in the end. It was tough for us going around for sponsors, but I am proud our team has done a good job. All is well, that ends well,” says, Vikranth Vasireddy, a coordinator for marketing. The prizes were declared at the valedictory function on the evening of 21st January, which was, for well-known reasons, the most exciting part of the two day festival. The coordinators were found breathing heavily, and in relief towards the few last hours of the hurry-burry. We had noticed most of them running around getting things done during the previous 48 hours, and it was indeed a successful job that they had completed, with barely any flaws. Thus concluded ADSOPHOS ’09.

Held during the summer every year, the camp enrolls around 60 sophomore students, from various colleges throughout India that offer a course of civil-engineering at under-graduate level. Civil engineering being

At the workshop Credit: Azazel Eyes

a course necessarily demanding high levels of intellect, work hardship, and the drive to take challenges face-on, students for this camp are selected on the basis of their overall academic, co-curricular and extra-curricular record of their school and young college days.

Siddharth says, “I definitely did not have something I would call a ‘great’ academic record. I was a good student, but never a top-dog. I had always made sure that I was an all-rounder in terms of sports and arts, which paid off handsomely, in the form of my selection into this summer-camp, an experience of a life-time. I met people of grades higher than mine, and some of them far lower. In the first couple of days, it gave me a slight complex of inferiority, but when the end of the glorious days came, I was more than proud of myself. All that really mattered was the person I had built out of myself, in spite of a bunch of friends doing amazingly well academically around me. The camp taught me more about myself, my inner self, probably more because, this was the first time I was cut-off from my real

A little paper work Credit: Azazel Eyes

neighborhood, altogether for a month!” On being asked what was the course and objective of the workshop, he answers, “

The main objective of the workshop was to train students for actual work of a civil engineer which he is to become in his immediate future. Prime focus was on elucidating expert projects around the world, their construction techniques, material selection, geometry et al. The hows and whys behind successful structures were explained to us in meticulous detail. We were shown presentations with original pictures from these building sites so as to furnish us with practical details. Besides these informative sessions, we were also exposed to vigorous exercise so as to make us fit for the last one-week camp, when we would go visiting sites near and around IIT Delhi. The toughest part was the 15 kilometer run that we were to take up everyday, around the IIT Kanpur campus. Yes, Everyday! ”

More about his encounters he says, “In Kanpur, there is probably more life on the IIT campus, than in the entire city. Once outside the campus you are bound to be lost in a village with scarcely any facilities. The best of hotels, hospitals, theatres, libraries… all are in fact within the walls of the huge campus. For us, therefore, never came up the need to try and explore beyond those limits. And moreover, the campus in itself needed so much time to be explored, that the thought of crossing borders failed to occur. We had tight schedules for more than 14 hours everyday that included talks, lectures and presentations relating to major constructional experiments and feats from around the globe. Mega-structures were reduced to plain simple words. Everyday was a new world, a new wonder when we got to know those structures were made by people very much like what we would be in our forthcoming years. All in all, it was a good learning period.”

At the site Credit: Azazel Eyes

We also asked Siddharth how it was mingling with such diversity, youngsters from so many distinct personalities belonging to different cultures and with dissimilar mindsets. He says he was more than happy meeting so many kinds of people. “Initially,” he says, “I thought it would be a boring month. I was sure I would get bored with these people. Or at least I would end up having differences with most of my groupies. But as it was one week past, we got so attached to each other that it felt like a long friendship already. Towards the end of the workshop we could hardly believe the month was getting over! Our coordinators were seniors, M. Tech. students, and they actually ragged us, it was fun though. They made us dance, sing, act like old movie stars, and forced us to watch movies till late nights and early mornings. Though it felt tiring then, peeping back into those memories today, I know of the deep togetherness that ragging brought about. It feels like the best way to get rid of the communication gap, and therefore build a stronger team. As days passed team leaders seemed cheerfully ready to assist us in every possible way, making things much easier than in their absence.”

On being asked what was/ were his best favorite moments during the one-month long workshop, he says he enjoyed the sports sessions most. They had compulsory sports everyday during evenings to make certain of their physical well-being for the last one week site visits, in Delhi. Also the informal sessions that they held as the last thing everyday, he says, were energizing. The ‘civil-engineering’ part of the whole camp was more like a side-effect. The camp reminded us at every point, that we were individuals first, and civil-engineers next. It also pointed to us at every point that as civil engineers, it is barely sufficient that we mug up notes and top

Not the least...FUN! Credit: Azazel Eyes

examinations. What was more important is creativity and innovation that comes only to well-rounded personalities than to book-worms. Having been a part of this workshop, I no longer considered my weak grades a sufficient remark against my skill and aptitude to stand as a successful civil engineer. I am proud of myself today. Those were the best days of my life till now.” Also he speaks about a student from the north that couldn’t stand the extreme climate as opposed to that in his birth place and took ill within the first couple of days. But then, he took it up as a challenge than looking at it as a problem, and proved to be one of the most punctual, obedient students and inspired the rest with his astounding performance throughout the camp.

Thus ended, our conversation with Siddharth, a 3/4 B.E.(Civil Engineering) student of MVSREC. It was overwhelming getting to know of this wonderful experience of his, in his words. This camp is organized every year, and invitations are sent to only a few privileged institutions all-over India. The official website of IIT Kanpur announces the summer-camp well in advance. So, civil engineers around, keep an eye on it, who knows, you might be the next one sharing another electrifying episode with us next year!