Articles from: 2016

VACATION GUIDE: Book Recommendations!

The holidays catch some of us like characters in a slapstick act pushing with all their weight against a closed door just to find it unlocked. After a semester full of groaning about hectic schedules (while finding ‘n’ ways to pass time less than three hours away from a deadline), we stumble, thankful but bemused, into the summer vacation, where a vast expanse of free time awaits us like a dream fulfilled. And we are not quite sure whether we know what to do with this.
Part 1: Books

Manifesto Reviews 2015-16: Shivaprasad Ramesh, Co-Curricular Affairs Secretary

Shiva’s tenure saw a fairly high success rate of around 65%, with an additional 35% of his manifesto points remaining incomplete. Although a lot of the issues faced were unforeseen, there were quite a few promising points of his manifesto that went unimplemented like the E-waste collection drive or the revamping of the structure of Tech-Soc, which could have yielded good long term results. Shiva signs off saying: “The institute’s tech culture has given me all that I have made of myself here. I only wanted to extend the same by making things easier for my fellow students in all things technical inside insti”.

Manifesto Reviews 2015-16: Anand Babu, Hostel Affairs Secretary

Anand, in his tenure as the Hostel Affairs Secretary, has implemented most of the initiatives that promised comfort and convenience to the student community. While a few novel initiatives could not be implemented on account of feasibility, many others have been set in motion. Seeing as how many of these points find mention in Kishore Kumar’s manifesto and the fact that both of them have already started working together, one can expect to see their completion. We congratulate Anand on the completion of his tenure and wish Kishore all the best.

Manifesto Reviews 2015-16: Bipin Babu, Sports’ Affairs Secretary

Overall, working through a tenure with more ups and downs than usual, Bipin amassed a success rate of 39.28% against a 44.73% failure rate in terms of completing manifesto points. He introduced the day scholar allocation system and conducted the intra-institute chess competition successfully, but a few points of great value such as the Athletics Talent Hunt, which would have helped the contingent immensely, and the EML series by sportspersons are the things that many had looked forward to but didn’t take off. Bipin passed on the baton to Sethu Madhavan on Institute Day. We wish him the best of luck.

Manifesto Reviews 2015-16: Dheeresh Chandra, Students’ General Secretary

“Dheeresh’s tenure as the Students’ General Secretary saw some significant changes and the implementation of many new undertakings. The students’ facility centre near Sharavati hostel, an all inclusive student app for updates were some noteworthy achievements. However, a few of the promising points like the official transport partner of IIT-M and the Wi-Fi installation near Gurunath could not be completed owing to various reasons. Dheeresh managed an overall success ratio of 35.48% with respect to the points on his manifesto, while an additional 16.13% points have been set in motion. Six of the manifesto points could not be placed in the rightful section due to varied reasons pertaining to the facilities and authorities involved.”

Graduation Survey: Confessions of an Instiholic

“From getting lost in the institute to stealing refrigerators and mistaking drunk drivers for kidnappers, our graduating junta have done it all. But as a final word of wisdom to the juniors, our graduating seniors agreed that insti life should not be a rat race to attain the highest CGPA, get all the major PoRs or climb the insti ladder to be a ‘stud’. Even though there are no disadvantages in having a decent CGPA, several felt that it should not be the only driving force behind your existence in insti and it is those memories you make on the way with your peers that stay with you longer than your CGPA.”