The Fifth Estate

Response to ‘A Different Take on Saarang’

The following is an open letter that was sent to T5E in response to A Different Take on Saarang. It was written by Ravi Musti (MnM), who was Cul-Sec (Arts), 2012-2013, with inputs from the Core team, Saarang 2013. It has been published as received by T5E, and has not been edited in any way. “This article is an attempt to discuss the practicality of certain suggestions (?) made. It is also an attempt at informing the student community on what goes on the inside so that they can form their own opinions on what the festival has become today and where it is going in future.”

A Different Take On Saarang

In this opinion piece, the author opines, “Saarang, over the past few years (perhaps since Opeth arrived in our Golden Jubilee year and changed things forever), has begun to overrate its proshows. It’s perhaps time to ruminate over what the exact purpose of some of these proshows are, especially the Rock Show, which makes a loss every year … More ideologically, the overselling of proshows is undermining what really is the heart and soul of Saarang: events.”

Of Likes, Points and an Ex-LitSec

The rescheduling of Shaastra and Saarang to the first days of January, and the housing of first-year undergraduates in hitherto exclusively post-graduate hostels have resulted in some noticeable changes to the student culture on campus. With the fests falling back-to-back in the vacation, they are attended by fewer insti students, and, additionally, the enthusiasm of students to be in the organising teams of the festivals has declined perceptibly. For the inter-hostel events, which form the major competitive platform for fostering cultural and technical activities within the Institute, UG hostels have usually relied heavily on freshers, inducting them into the ‘culture’ early, so that they could keep the hostel legacy afloat. This year, however, sees a forced departure from that tradition.

Off the Beaten Track: An Interview with Anil Ananthaswamy

Anil Ananthaswamy (BT/EE/1985) is an acclaimed science writer. He is a consultant for New Scientist, a leading science magazine published in the UK, where he has worked in various capacities since 2000.

His first book, The Edge of Physics (published in India as The Edge of Reason) was chosen as the Book of the Year 2010 by Physics World, a magazine published by the Institute of Physics, UK. He was also awarded their inaugural Physics Journalism Prize in February 2013, for his feature on the Square Kilometre Array. His writings have also appeared in various other outlets.

After his B.Tech, Anil did an MSEE from the University of Washington and worked as a software engineer in Silicon Valley, before he realized his true calling was writing about science. He trained as a science journalist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he is now a guest lecturer.