Institute Soapboxes (Day 1): Co-Curricular Affairs Secretary and Academic Affairs Secretary

“With the election season underway in full swing, Wednesday marked the return of the annual soapboxes, albeit with a slight variation in the format. In this new format, candidates facing a contest would battle it out against one another while unanimous candidates would be engaged in a discussion with the anchor. Questions from the Executive Council Members and the GSB would follow.”

Made in Insti: Detect Technologies

“Working in a company like Detect which involves people from across various fields, says Daniel, gives you an experience that academic life simply cannot. “In fact”, he adds, “our firm is proof that students from IIT Madras, if provided the right guidance in technology, can generate more intellectual property than even PhD scholars from big universities can. We even foster other startups to grow out from Detect Technologies from the problem statements that we identify from the industries.”

Immerse (#1): Playing with Twitter

“Do you see a lot of physics words here? That’s because there is a lot of physics involved, and the study of social physics brings together the two exciting fields of social media study and statistical mechanics. However, as with all theories and models involving human decision-making, this too is a slave to the sometimes arbitrary sensibility of people’s everyday decisions. A human may choose to drink Pepsi today and not Coca-Cola; there is no way this seemingly random and whimsical choice can be modeled by logical rules.”

Gender and Sexuality: An”other” Perspective

“The other transition from male to female is not happy either. One who is assigned male at birth but who wants to be a female faces a harsh life in the institute. Their male friends frown upon their behaviour of having “fallen” to the level of a female from a male. Be it their dressing, way of speech, and gait, the transgender students have to face teasings from other students everyday. “

Humans of Insti: The Campus Cafe

The one vantage point for all the voracious hoggers is the Campus Cafe. This always abuzz food joint has an aura to it. Not to forget the increase in popularity it received after its recent shift to the new, more spacious location. For a lot of us, Campus Cafe is still a remarkable place to have a break in between the tedious lecture hours (sometimes, during).

The one thing that makes this humble place close to our heart is, we realized, the people and the staff.

Nihilanth 2016: A Personal Account

“Some might ask why I have gone into so much detail when describing something as drab as a quiz competition. The IITM QC story mirrors every classic sports story arc – from underdogs four years ago to dominant winners for the next two years to grizzly competitors seeing off new challengers. But that is not the point of this post. The real point is to record all the different experiences that I have been fortunate to undergo as a part of this contingent…”