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 each
specialization 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 language
technologies 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.
 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 or
awareness 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 dhyaanam”
“Meditation 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
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 pratisthithaa
mano me vaachi pratisthita-maaviiraaviirma edhi |
vedasya ma aanisthah śrutam me maa prahaasiiranenaadhiitenaahoraatran
saṃdadhaamyrtam vadisyaami satyam vadiṣyaami 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
Lights, Camera Action
Role Plays at JNTU
 Just some water…
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 it’s 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 girl’s hostel. Every day, when I returned from
the lab, I’d receive a celebrity’s 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 fine
sight 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 can’t 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 building
complex, you’ll 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 here’s 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 don’t know, about the rest of you, but I’m
determined to book myself a seat in Paradise(!).So just a little water and then you can be
sure, that we’ll 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 isn’t one of those chain mails, and even if you forward it to 10 people on your list,
I can’t promise you bountiful blessings. But yes, if you do indeed try and spread the
word, you’ll have atleast one stray dog somewhere, gratefully wagging it’s tail! )

-Amritha Suresh
IIITH
Lokesh Sir's Birthday

JNTU Freshers pics

 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 said”Hey!! You are alone
now…Mom is not at home...Just go ahead and try the experiment you saw in the
morning…..” 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 story
to my mom I came to know that she already knew it. I didn’t 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)
 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 all
started 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 to
allows 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 a
software 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
would be the Windows operating system. Due to the restrictive licensing nobody
can 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 that
they 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)

Vijaya Lakshmi mam's B'day pics
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