April 2010 Voice

8/9/2019 April 2010 Voice

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Editorial

It is that time of the year when the 1st year students begin thinking about which

specialization to choose for the 2nd year. Every year there are a handful of students

who are very clear about the specialization they wish to take.They are the lucky

ones.The rest of the students are in the dark about the different specializations

offered and are apprehensive about the process where each student is alloted their

specialization.

In order to make an informed choice the student should know what eachspecialization is geared towards and what each specialization entails. There are four

specializations offered : software engineering, e-commerce, computer networks and

language technologies.

The software engineering specialization aims at producing professionals who have

the ability to develop complex software systems. The computer networks

specialization aims at producing network professionals who have the ability to

engineer and integrate the hardware and software components of a computer

network. The e-commerce specialization looks to develop professionals who can

leverage their knowledge of latest technologies, to engineer and develop enterprise

class e-commerce systems for a variety of platforms. Lastly the languagetechnologies specialization trains students in the basics of natural language

processing (NLP). Students learn how to use open source tools to develop NLP

applications.

Once the student has a clear idea of each specialization choosing one becomes

easier. The key fact to remember is that once a specialization is choosen it cannot

be changed. The student will have to live with the decision for atleast the next year.

Many times it is seen that students base their specialization choices based on their

friends choices. Students also allow other trivial matters like rumours about the

percieved difficulty of a specialization to affect their choice. This is not the correct

way to choose a specialization.Students must choose a specialization based on their interests and based on where

they see themselves 5 years from now. To do that students should first introspect on

their interests and what they hope to achieve from the MSIT course. The choice of

specialization naturally follows after such introspection.

I wish the 1st year students all the best in their choice of specializations.


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Yogara

Life is joy. Life is Enthusiasm. Life is Compassion and Love. Totally life is a

celebration. Life is a celebration to the one who lives in the present and living in the

present is meditation. Dhyaana or meditation is a happening that leads to bliss.

Most of the times, it is said that concentrating is meditation but meditation is the

result of concentration. One may concentrate on breath, one may concentrate on

his Aagya chakra. The other may chant a name continuously. These are all the

techniques that aid to living in the present. On continuous practice, one can always

be in the present irrespective of the external circumstances or conditions. So,

concentration or dhaarana is the step that comes just before Dhyaana.Yam kinchit vishayam bahim abhiyantaramba

anusandhaasya chittaikaagram dhaarana

This is a very interesting sutra. It says

You take any one sense object, either internal or external, thoroughly study it,

become one with it, know it totally. Then, your mind becomes one pointed.

We all go to a temple or a church or a mosque. There is something that attracts us

very much and we close our eyes becoming one with it. It is then where the mind

flows in as meditation. Dhaarana leads to Dhyaana.

We see the beautiful idol of Lord Venkateswara in all glory and our eyes close

immediately. At that moment we are focussed only on that idol. This focus orawareness or attention is Dhaarana. We donot have other thoughts except thre

Lord. This is Dhyaana. Finally, we experience a fountain of joy from within. This is a

glimpse of samaadhi. That is the reason idols are worshipped in the Hindu

Tradition. Any such incident may lead to samaadhi. Fear or attraction towards ugly

faces or chanting a name many times can also lead to samaadhi.

Yoga is all about drawing the attention from the wrapping paper to the beautiful

and wonderful gift inside the paper. Many a time we cling on to the wrapping paper

and think it to be the source of happiness. When we look at an idol, our mind

automatically goes within indicating that the source of happiness lies inside.

Taila dhaaravath anusandhaanamvnairantryam dhyaanamMeditation is the keepig up of the flow of one idea..

The world is a beautiful package. It is not bad. It's just a wrapping paper to us.

No doubt there is happiness in the wrapping paper, every sensory experience. We

see a very beautiful or handsome person. Our mind gets happiness out of it. But

that joy that stimulates us is not true joy. It's like the aroma coming out of a

wrapped gift. If we are caught up with the aroma, we cannot enjoy the sweets

inside it. Becoming focused on the aroma and realizing the sweet inside is


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meditation. Tasting the sweet is samaadhi.The next sutras speak on samadhi at a stretch. The full blossoming of

Consciousness is Samadhi.

Samaadhi dwividhaha sampragnaatho asampragnaatho

Samadhi is classified as two sampragyathaha and asampragnaathaha

Sampragnaatha samaadhi happens where is consciousness of the outside

world.

Asampragnaatha samadhi happens when there is no awareness of the

external world. Watching the moonlight in the waves of the ocean leads us

into trans. But we are all aware of everything. This is sampragyatha samaadhi.Asampragnaatha samaadhi happens when we sit and meditate or do the

kriya.

The last sutra says:

Nistraya gunyo yogi kaivalyam ashnuthe

Enlightenment is attained when one goes beyond the three gunas. All the

three gunas exist. But not being a part of them, being only a witness to them is

liberation or salvation.

So, let us sit close to the Guru, the embodiment of Love and Knowledge.

Let us all move from One thing to Nothing, then from nothing to Everything.

Om vaangme manasi pratisthithaamano me vaachi pratisthita-maaviiraaviirma edhi |

vedasya ma aanisthah rutam me maa prahaasiiranenaadhiitenaahoraatran

sadadhaamyrtam vadisyaami satyam vadiyaami tanmaamavatu

tadvaktaaramavatvavatu maamavatu vaktaaramavatu vaktaaram |

Om Shanthihi Shanthihi Shanthihi||

OM let my speech be established in (my) mind, and (my) mind be established

in my speech, let Brahman (Supreme Reality) reveal itself to me, may ( I ) be

able to grasp the truths of the Vedas, let not what I have heard (studied)

forsake me, let me spend both day and night in study, I say rta ( divine law ), I

say truth, may that (truth) protect me, may that (truth) protect teacher, may it ,protect me, may it protect teacher, Om Peace, Peace, Peace

Jai Gurudev

M MuraliKrishna Tejaswy

MSIT - 1st Year

IIIT-H


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Lights, Camera ActionRole Plays at JNTU


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For a good part of my life, I believed that charity, is mostly monetary based. Until I got

adopted by a stray puppy. With the happy wagging of its tail, it would wipe away my

stress and one biscuit packet, was all it took to win it s confidence.

Here on the IIIT campus, Cheeku was a constant presence, with the brown mongrel

dog, being a self appointed warden of the girls hostel. Every day, when I returned from

the lab, Id receive a celebritys welcome with Cheeku playing the role of the enthusiastic

paparazzi.

I had begun to take his warm greetings for granted, until the day, I came back to the

hostel, only to be met with a deathly silence. The MCH van must have paid a visit, I

thought even as panic engulfed me. Clinging onto little hope, I must have made a finesight as I went around campus , clapping and whistling , in the hope of finding my friend.

Dejected, even as I was about to return, I noticed a badly emaciated being coming

towards me. It was Cheeku! I cant tell you the flood of emotions that rushed through my

brain, the chief of them being How could I be so stupid?!!

Summer, has long since begun and the one thing every being craves for is Water.

Here I was merrily guzzling down liters myself, even as the hapless stray dog must have

roamed endlessly in the sun, in desperate search of this precious liquid.

So people, here is a request. If you can only put a little water just outside your buildingcomplex, youll be making a world of a difference to some thirsty animal. Most of us,

would like to do at least one good deed, a day, but we keep wondering what that can be.

So heres your chance. One bottle of water, filled even from the kitchen tap can fill at

least half a dozen parched tummies, considering the number of stray dogs that helplessly

roam about.

There is this Ancient Tamil Text, that says just by offering a living being some water,

you guarantee yourself a place in heaven. I dont know, about the rest of you, but Im

determined to book myself a seat in Paradise(!).So just a little water and then you can be

sure, that well some day have a reunion somewhere up amid those clouds.

( For all the Animal Lovers in this list, I will be approaching Amla Akkineni (Blue Cross)

shortly, with regard to having a large scale campaign for providing some water for stray

dogs.

I should be meeting Amla this week, so it will be great if someone can put forward an idea

, with regard to taking this campaign on a city wide scale.

No this isnt one of those chain mails, and even if you forward it to 10 people on your list,

I cant promise you bountiful blessings. But yes, if you do indeed try and spread the

word, youll have atleast one stray dog somewhere, gratefully wagging its tail! )

-Amritha Suresh

IIITH

Just some water


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Lokesh Sir's Birthday

JNTU Freshers pics


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Eclipse

It was my fifth grade. I was in my science class but staring out of the window. My

teacher suddenly screamed at me from behind and I got scared. She continued the

lecture after closing the window.

The class was about the solar and lunar eclipse. She conducted an experiment

using candles and balls and showed the students how exactly the shadows that

form lead to eclipse. I was fascinated by the entire concept and fully charged.

After school, I went home and found that my mom has gone to the market for

veggies. I was all alone at home and my evil twin saidHey!! You are alone

nowMom is not at home...Just go ahead and try the experiment you saw in themorning.. I was weak and surrendered myself to my evil twin.

I used curtains and blankets to make the room a dark room. It was my science

laboratory and I felt as if I was a scientist. I put my fathers reading glasses on and

made sure it is on my nose. I put the candle on the sill of the window and lit it.

It took only a moment for me to realize that the candle I lit inturn lit the curtains. [A1]

The blankets were on fire. It took very long for me to put the fire off. For the first time

in my life I felt the shake in my spine out of fear.

I carefully managed to change the curtains and put the burnt blankets and curtains

on the attic. It took two weeks for me to find the right time to spill my guts. As

children, the only person whom we can not fool is mother. Only after I told the storyto my mom I came to know that she already knew it. I didnt dare to do any mischief

for some days after that. However, after some days my grey cells started tickling the

creative yet evil twin of mine and the saga continues!!!!

- Nagaujwala P.

IIIT (First Year)


9/12

The Story of GNU

Bhagat Singh and Gandhi ji are used in speeches all around the world but why

don't we see leaders like them today ? Do you think if somebody changes the

world today he will be wielding a sword in his hand ? I think times have

changed for the better atleast in some parts of the world so much so that we

can create a mass revolution on a valid point on the internet !

This is the story of a man who had the courage to single handedly change

the world and believe that idealism can work work today. He is Richard

Stallman, probably you have not heard of him, thats because he shakes up

businesses of filthy rich like Bill Gates with his idealism. He is the reason why

open source is a buzz word today, though he does not approve of it totally. It allstarted out at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), when he joined the

Artificial Intelligence labs. He was a part of "hacker culture", he loved it, like a

good hacker he would share his source code with other people and other would

do the same. Hackers ,by the way, if you are new are people who enjoy

programming, love and can probably marry computers if the church allowed it.

He enjoyed it, relished it and was definitely part of a good social system which

helped everybody. The social system which we are talking about is the society

of hackers. Hacker love to solve problems, not just computer problems, in a

clever way. They then share their solutions free of any restrictions to other toallows them to modify and build better solutions over them. These solutions are

most often software, but the general idea behind the philosophy can apply to

anything.

So Richard Stallman, also kown as RMS, shared his software with other and

modified other peoples softwares to make it better, but one fine day he found

himself in situation. The printer in his lab was stuck, it would get stuck every

now and then and since it was a networked printer people on a different floor

could not know about it and their jobs got stuck. It was zeroed in to be asoftware problem. The software was faulty, but he could not modify it since the

source code was never released. He further found that the software source will

never be given to him because the Xerox, the manufacturer chose to do so by

imposing license restrictions. This incident gave him a first hand experience of

how the hacker world was fast changing.

There were commercial companies coming up who closed sourced the

software and sold it like commodities thus stripping the user any rights on

modifying it even for the good of others, classic examples as we know today


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would be the Windows operating system. Due to the restrictive licensing nobodycan modify the source code to the operating system. He faced a similar situation

when a lot of his friends signed non-disclosure agreements with big companies.

Unlike the most of us he would not take no for an answer, so he found an answer.

He thought big, he started to write an operating system called GNU which did not

impose any restrictions on the user and allowed him to modify and redistribute the

code. It was not humanly possible for him to write an entire operating system in

his life time. This where his creative idea kicked in. He opened sourced his idea

and asked for help in building an operating system free for everybody over the

internet.

He started building his dream inch by inch, he developed a text editor, then he

replaced each utility piece by piece. As his system grew in size more and more

people started joining in and it snow balled into a full fledged operating system.

As they say "first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, and

then you win". This is exactly what happened to GNU. It was ignored, then

Microsoft laughed at them, ridiculed them. How could a volunteer driven project

like GNU/Linux take over a giant like Microsoft ? But they did, the quality and the

stability of their software made them gain a majority market stake in the server

market. Imagine a hacker project with no financial backing from any corporate big

house challenging the existance of a multi billion dollar empire. It was then thatthey started to fight. After a very brief period GNU/Linux finally won. Today we

have every major self respecting corporation involved in open source. You hear it

all the time open source API, open source software, everything is being open

sourced now. People have even started talking about open source hardware.

Today Linux is used from cell phones to mainframes, all which can be traced

to one person Richard Stallman. Of course we now have countless people

working on open source projects today but they needed a push in the right

direction. I rate him as a very idealistic person who created a successful

revolution, which is very rare because we are being constantly reminder that we

live in a pragmatic, practical world where idealistic thing do not happen. Even a

physics professor reminds you that he is talking about an idealistic system which

does not exist in real life.

- Deepak Mishra

IIIT (First Year)


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Vijaya Lakshmi mam's B'day pics


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April 2010 Voice

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