MAHATMA GANDHI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

September 2006 Volume 5, Issue 2

Established June 2004

The Retreat
Resurrected & Revamped Rs.2-00

Blog Camp 2006

Inside this issue:
Welcome Juniors Crazy City Cartoon Artoon Lagey Raho - a review 2 2 3 4 4
The first thing that a person would say when he sees the title - BLOG ??, BLOGCAMP ??. For the uninitiated, blogging is the latest way of expressing ones creative & literary abilities. A Blog is ones own space on the internet and he may utilize it the way he desires. That for me is the USP of blogging - no one telling us what to write, total creative freedom , no deadlines etc. Another thing which entices people to start blogging is the fact that they do not have to have a knowledge of HTML, their webpages are already present in the form of Templates on most blog provider sites like Blogger, Wordpress, Yahoo etc. The meeting would move on as and when the people would start adding more inputs. I was invited by a friend to this All India Blogger Meet and since JNTU was having their supplementaries, I had holidays, I promptly showed up there on the September 9th and 10th. It was held at Tidel Park, which is one of the most prominent software parks in Chennai. Hidden away from the humid climate of Chennai, the air-conditioned auditorium seemed like the perfect place to be in. There were a lot of events organized for our benefit. Beta and Wordpress

There was a Demo on Podcasting by Ram Viswanathan and Kiruba Sunil Gavaskar spoke on the second day about Sports in Blogging There was a talk on Community Blogging Video Conference with Robert Scoble, the worlds most popular Corporate blogger

Sunil Gavaskar posing for a snap at Blogcamp. Courtesy : Aditya Narayanan

Since Blogging was fast growing in India, the countrys leading bloggers decided to call an Unconference, which meant that there would be not set agenda.

Atul Chitnis of PC Quest, one of Indias premier bloggers spoke about Blogging in the 90s There were workshops on Blogger

It was a thoroughly enlightening experience for me. I urge all those who feel they want to break free to take up blogging. It will be an enriching experience. Mgit.org has its own blogspace, so make sure you make use of that. Happy Blogging !

Welcome First Years

It is that time of the year again when MGIT is filled with new faces brimming with enthusiasm and excitement. The Team of the Retreat welcomes this fold with open arms. We encourage you to take part in the various activities that the college has to offer. Simultaneously, we understand that you will be scared that the seniors will be itching to rag you. Apart from a few, the lot at MGIT is very friendly and new friends are always welcome. An introduction to standard MGIT jargon :-

Nirvana: MGITs cultural fest is a big hit in the engineering circles and STRINGS performed this year. Next year, rumour has it that Big Plans are being made. Musings: The colleges annual magazine. A collage of the most creative articles,

FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION ONLY

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Poems, Digital Art, Photographs etc. The works are in English, Hindi & Telugu. you will find that your plate of noodles will come faster than ever before.

Volume 5, Issue 2

Musings | 06 cover page. Looks awesome in colour

Surge: the IEEE fest which made a name for itself in 2005 with outlandish yet exciting events. Note that all first years are also eligible in the MGIT IEEE Students Chapter by paying an annual fee of Rs.1250. This would prove to be very advantageous for ones future exploits. Babai : The common word meaning uncle used for all the gentlemen who work in the canteen and the security personnel in the institution. Try calling one of the persons serving Babai and

Shekar : The man with the balls. Literally, hes the guy in the Sports Department who is in charge of the distribution of the Sports Equipment. He can be found at the Sports Room in the C Block, if at anytime you guys decide to indulge in a extra-curricular activities. Retreat : Last but not the least, the college hangout which is right between the A -block entrance and the gate. With its benches and a shady canopy formed by the trees. It

is a nice place to chill out after a gruelling day at college while waiting for the buses. It also happens to be the name of our monthly newsletter.

Horizon : The ISTEs technical publication which is planned to release semesterly. It has the latest news about the gadgets and equipment ranging from a Pulsar DTSI to the subject of Metallurgy. Attendance : The most important thing to every student in college. Remember, the magic number is 75.

We wish you an eventful four years at MGIT.

Crazy City - Episode 3

We have our third report coming in from the Capital of Krakozia. The situation has not improved too much. Here are the main headlines
This is a sort of a comic series which has been created by the Editorial Team of the Retreat. If you have any comments, suggestions or contributions please send them to the mail id on Page 4.

The recent sequel season has seen many commercial hits out of which Looters Of The Bahamas : Alive Aliens Gunny Bag has made the highest grossing this year. BLVV-The Gluttoning Center, has people thronging all its outlets and has become an instant favourite with all the skeleton thin citizens. Saarkut has been named the most popular website for this month after a recent survey conducted by the Crazy Chronicle The famous animal enthusiast Grieve Nerdwin who belongs to the neighbouring nation Beastralia was killed while shooting for a program for the Human TV when a crocodile gobbled up his torso The Mayor has decided to keep the openings to Fun City closed since he wants to prove the true meaning of Crazy City. All the bureaucrats in Crazy City are suddenly having new powers with the arrival of a new race of creatures, which plan to reside in the country. Thats all from our Inside Reporter for this week.

Bulletin Board

The ECE Departments Technical Symposium, MICROCOSM 2006 which was held on the 15th and 16th of September attracted around 550 papers which was the highest ever in any tech fest held in Hyderabad.

The MGIT IEEE Students Chapter will be issuing membership forms from September. Those interested must contact 9885051641 Chaitanya S of EEE Class of 2005 has cleared the UPSC prelims and will be giving his Mains from 13th. Heres wishing him all the best. October

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Volume 5, Issue 2 Page 3

Confessions of a Teenage Mind

Cutting the Crap. Since time immemorial, people have asked, whats wrong with the world, and though prophets and philosophers have come up with answers (great ones no doubt), I, a simple person of no great credentials, strongly feel that the world could do great by just cutting the crap. crap not as the biological reject of the digestive system but that crap that seems to fill up all those speeches made by politicians. Everywhere there seems to be a bloated image of what reality is. This is a world where lying on resumes and dodging traffic rules is commonplace, what we need is serious overhaul of how we perceive life, if its going to get better. That could be done if only religion cut fanaticism, politics bid farewell to corruption, youth to crime, and intermediate cutting the corporate college system (hate those two years). Lets not scrutinize people for every word they utter no matter how influential they may be by understanding that they are basically as human as us, lets not condemn error (in reasonable limits) to be inhuman but lets celebrate it as natural as we are also natural. Let's do away with unhealthy competition and the strive to better, for the sake of looking down on others. lets condone the death of white, black, oriental all alike and not by any superfluous identity, while exhorting the need for the fundamental right to life. Lets be able to express our deepest regrets and fears, unhindered by etiquette , lets burp to great lunches and sneeze without excusing ourselves. Lets walk up in shaded jeans and an "I dont care" T-shirt to class and learn like we've never before learnt. It was a world made without most of the rhetoric, it would be great to keep it that way. Though reality is far away from this UTOPIA of imagination, for who would get into politics if there was no incentive to growth, or who wouldnt love to show their next door neighbours the latest household amenity all the while carrying an " I have it and you dont" expression. Its human i guess the petty things that do fall into the category of "crap", but what matters is not making your crap harmful to the basic fabric of humanity. Dont enforce your beliefs on others by threatening to kill, dont restrict me , my basic rights, let me be within the framework of a carefully sculpted rule of law. And though my words will go down into the abyss of forgotten philosophies, i can only hope and exhort the need to keep it clean.

Everywhere there seems to be a bloated image of what reality is

cartoon

artoon
Special column for budding artists in MGIT

EDITORIAL BOARD
Aditya Narayanan MCT 3/4 Somaditya Sinha MCT 3/4 Junior Editors Sriram MMT 2/4 Prateek EEE 2/4 Abhishek CSIT 2/4 All those who have done some brainstorming & would like to make contributions to The Retreat. Please mail it to [email protected]

Arz Hai !!

Naa hai zaroorat sitaron ki, Naa hai zaroorat faltu yaaron ki, Ek dost chahiya aapke jaise Jo hazaron ki VAAT lagade.
Done by I.Bhavani ECE-2 Class of 2006. The portrait displays a woman who has been forced into battle.

www.mgit.org - THE FUN DOESNT END ON COLLEGE

Movie review

Munna and Sarkit go into Bollywood History

Director: Rajkumar Hirani Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan, Bomman Irani, Music:Decent,Shantanu Moitra Comedy: Very humorous feel AWESOME movie... Action: Only in traces Rajkumar Hirani comes out with another masterpiece. After his debut film Munnabhai MBBS, he lives up to the high expectations of the viewers and does not disappoint the followers one bit. Lagey Raho Munnabhai is not a sequel.. it is a continuation of the Munna-Sarkit Series and that is what helps Hirani pull off a class act. Unlike the sorry attempts like Krish and Phir Hera Pheri where there was a very weak and flawed attempt to connect with the previous film, Lagey Raho.. is just an extension to the basic concept of using the characteres of Munna and Sarkit and their simple experiences to come forth with a message. The movie has Munna going gaga over Vidya Balan whom he has been devotedly hearing over the radio. He poses as a Professor in order to impress her and befriends her. Love blossoms between the two. Akin to the hospital in Munnabhai MBBS we have a large bungalow called 2nd Innings house in use in this film which houses a group of elderly people who have been sent away by their children. Munna ends up getting involved in a fight with his long time friend Lucky Singh (a real estate warlord with a difference) to try and win back the old age home. The movie uses this backdrop to try and put forth some of the teachings of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.The best thing about the film are the dialogues and the simple method used for story telling. The music in the film is not outstanding but the way in which all the songs have been used brilliantly in true situational style jut to aid story telling rather than the current practice of totally out of place nonsensical timing of songs really adds a great deal to the experience. Rajkumar Hirani's use of music and songs is a must learn lesson for all directors who throw in random songs and unnecessary scenes just for commercial purposes. Must Watch movie, will be easily one of the best movies this year.

Must Watch movies to look out for 1. 2. 3. Miami Vice Stalin Don