DePP

DISCLAIMER: This isn’t summary of the who and the what of QUARK 2009, neither is it about the technicalities of its preparation and execution…it’s simply a disjointed, personal account of what transpired, as seen through the virgin eyes of a newly shod first year.

QUARK 2009…it swept in like a spring tempest, cascading the withered monotone of our daily routine into a much needed and longed for chaos.

It’s not everyday that one feels like disturbing their slumber to rise and shine and take on the Herculean walk from AH6 to the B Dome, but this exact feeling was inspired in me for the 3 days that QUARK nested in our campus.

The first day started off strange…woken up at an unholy hour of 8 in the morning by my fellow colleagues in the department of sponsorship and marketing, I began the morning by introducing some of our sponsors to the brilliant meals served in the holy sanctum of the A mess, and then managed to thoroughly break my back in the inspired job of putting up banners all along the B Dome.

Oh joy….

One of the big things happening this QUARK was the fact that ex-president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was scheduled to come and interact with the student body of BITS. Apart from being able to experience some of the tightest security seen by the campus, we were also treated to an inspirational speech and an interactive question answer session with this brilliant man.

The variety of events at QUARK was quite stunning, and it’s impossible to attend or describe all of them. However all of them had the common factor running throughout that they were all extremely FUN to take part in. So whether it was battling out your wits and logical ability in Googly, or attending the workshop on the who, what and why of corporate finance, or the zany informals, like twister, where the ardent BITS crowd took the initiative of distorting themselves into grotesquely fascinating shapes and lying on top of each other in a tangle of hands, feet and pain (…) the entertainment factor remained constant.

One of the most fascinating events, which saw an amazing response and stretched throughout the three days, was the gaming competition, MATKA. You could know, as soon as you walked through the doors of the cc, that you had entered another realm, quite different from the everyday world you lived in. For this was a place crawling with warriors, who walked with a swagger in their steps, as their fingers went through the subconscious cyclic motion of making that fateful mouse click, and a continuous chant of ‘GG’ kept escaping their lips.

MATKA is worth attending, simply because you get to see a whole crowd of people who you never really knew were from your college, neither would you have ever run into them under the light of day. It was where the meek ruled the world, where the uninitiated cowered under the smirks and superior air of the thinnest and meekest of our population, knowing that he could probably snipe you through four layers of walls and give you a headshot up the arse. The darkened rooms, ringing with the sounds of gunshots, cried of frustration and jubilation, and many a ‘fire in the hole’, made quite an intensive battlefield.

The nights during QUARK do justice to the phrase ‘entertainment packed’, with performances put up by both the college clubs as well as external performers. The mime club put up an exceptional display of their talents by enacting out a game of Mario and an aggressive football match, the dance club was quite mesmerizing as they used UV lights to great effect, and the music society was a treat for the ear, as they presented a mixed bag of hindi, soft rock and metal music to appease the tastes of one and all.

One of the most disturbingly seductive assets of QUARK was the food stalls. I say disturbingly because it seemed quite impossible to not spend money there, and the road leading to CH2 was packed with the poor, the hungry and the satisfied. Conditioned by the mess food, the stalls offered the only respite that one might get for a long time to come, and with a line up consisting of Dominos and Baskin Robins, their seemed to be a subliminal message being broadcast to reach for your wallet and whip out as much moolah as you could muster.

I think I’ve barely even begun to touch on the essentials of what happened at QUARK, and theres a million more things that still need to be said, but that’s probably for another post.

What I can say is…lit up by energy, excitement and the glowing irises of the Q-BOT, QUARK 2009 was loads of fun.

By Achintya (noob first year :P)

We're back. With another post about the wallpapers, festivals and the exciting, adventure-filled lives we lead at BITS-Pilani, Goa Campus. (please notice sarcasm starting from 'exciting' :)


Well, we had a hugely successful QUARK 2009, the Technical Festival of BITS-Pilani, Goa Campus, which involved people staying up till 4 am (no not to do anything important, just string up gigantic banners only to remove them 2 days later, again at 4am) and a hugely unsuccessful Test I, which started on Valentine's Day. Not exactly chocolates and roses and 'I lou you's'; more like pens, books and 'how the hell do you solve this frickin' sum?'.



So after all those nights of burning the midnight oil, we decided to take a break. And how do you take a break in Goa? If you do not know where Goa is or you're just plain dumb, please connect sun and sand. No, not deserts- beaches!! Though Goa has a multitude of beautiful places to visit, from perilous trekking trails to Domino's Pizza at Panjim (a truly exotic tourist place, at least for us BITSians), we prefer the beaches. Why? Decent food at okay prices, and did I mention cute foreigners? :D And yeah, if I was a guy, I'd maybe mention ahem- ladies in certain types of swimwear as well.:P


Now, getting back to the topic, we're hitting the beach on the 23rd. We're going to Arambol! Arambol is a lovely beach close to a freshwater lake. It's going to be different from the usual go-beach, eat-drink, get-wet routine. So all you DePP people reading the blog, get off your lazy bosoms and come have fun on the beach. We don't have money or free T1 marks to allure you with, but cheap, good food and a great outing to give you. (You're laughing your heads off, I bet at how I'm trying to entice you. )

Boy, this is going to be one heck of a trip! :)

P.s.- To everyone who reads this blog, you must go to Arambol at least once in your life.
P.p.s- Yes the lazy bosoms, instead of bottoms was intended. :P

My father and I always argue about the wallpaper on his computer. I like to think of myself as an elitist connoisseur (don’t we all love being pretentious at times? :P) and prefer elegant black-and white or sepia images pirated from Flickr, or the lovely photographs in light colours which accompany every new version of Windows for my own computer.

My old man, however prefer things on, let’s just say, the “colourful side”. Really Colourful. Like 80’s colourful with neon pink and fuchsia assaulting my eyes. Call me a Grinch, but when I saw the little sparkly red and white Santa caps on our new XPS desktop, I had it. I mean, where did he even find the obnoxious computer baubles?

So, anyway, I asked him to change the wallpaper (with a death-glare). When I came back, he triumphantly stood beside the computer saying, “Now let me see you delete my wallpaper, ‘cause it’s that official Waves thingy.” I had conveniently downloaded the Waves wallpaper and forgotten to see what it looked like. And he was right, I couldn’t delete it.

So now the Waves Wallpaper sits pretty on my dad’s computer, while I’m still sticking to the lighter colours with the Quark Wallpaper on my screen.

Now, I officially bring to you the Waves and Quark wallpapers! The Quark Wallpaper is by ze Chief Coordinator of DePP, Paddy (who’s been referred to as a dragon or some scary mythical creature in this blog :P) while the Waves one is by YL Chaitanya, who’s been instrumental in making the official festival trailers.

An amalgamation of a thousand fuzzy hues, entwining with each other to create the essence of Waves- a bright, hot summer, full of energy and BITSian enthusiasm (and loads of sweat deserves special mention)- The Waves Wallpaper.

A serene blue seeps into the wallpaper, slowly taking over it, taking the place of pride as the background of the delightful, glittery Quark logo. If this was the Renaissance, old man Leonardo would have been proud of this work of art (and a lot of other work the DePP designers do- and yes, I’m desperately trying to flatter Paddy after the dragon comment :D )- The Quark Wallpaper!

Download them fast! Limited editions wonly!

"A picture is worth a thousand words. An interface is worth a thousand pictures."- Ben Shneiderman

This was the only quote I could get for the post I was going to make. Sure, something longer,verbose and by a famous person would have adorned the post better, but I guess I'll just be searching for a needle in a haystack.

Notice I've used the word "adorned" in the above para. The main objective of the quote was to just adorn, be a herald of the things this post contains. A sincere thanks to Krushidhar, LVK Chaitanya and YL Chaitanya for making them so beautiful.Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you... The Quark, Waves and Spree Trailers.

Quark- http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=sccMrCb5wFM
Waves- http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=BDbu9YrX21k
Spree- http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=DWBm0HX68sY

You've been just hearing about them, now you can get a sneak peek at what really happens.

After that long, exhaustive and possibly boring post about QUARK, we trust you know what QUARK is all about yadda yadda yadda.

After that customary introduction, we bring some good news for those involved in QUARK and those wanting to participate in QUARK. There will be a QUARK Launch party soon. \m/ (okay, I’m trying to make it sound happy and exciting when it really isn’t).

Our Director, Professor K.E. Raman, will invite an eminent personality as a Chief Guest, who will release the QUARK teasers and posters, the official QUARK information brochure, along with the tagline and the cute mascot as well. We thank the Director for the launch party, for this constitutes a grand beginning for our festival.

This will be an exciting moment for everyone involved in QUARK, especially the ‘QUARK Control’s who’ve been working night and day for this. But hey, it’d be even better if there was food involved, especially for all BITSians *puts on best mess-starved look*.

Now getting back on track, the party is expected to be held in a few days, by mid-October at the latest. After the launch, we’ll be mailing out the first packages to all colleges to invite them for QUARK. So all those who are interested, do come…it’ll be great fun (lame publicity gimmick no.2).

Well, then until our next post…ciao!

Shalini

It’s 2:30 in the morning, and the retarded laughter coming from the adjacent room, punctuated at regular intervals by some degenerate sounds which give the effect of a dying bull snorting it’s last few breaths, disturb my train of thought. I’m tearing my hair and wiping sleepy eyes, trying to come up with an accurate and politically correct description of DePP.

Oh God, chuck it.

For the noobs and whatnot who may still wonder what DePP is, let me clear the confusion.

DePP = Department of Publicity and Public Relations

I can clearly remember the sequence of events which led me to be sitting on an uncomfortably unyielding chair, writing out this inspired manuscript.

So DePP had put up this poster, inviting students for initiation into their unholy syndicate. And in all their wily and cunning ways, they had made it black and red. Black and red, as you should know, are a stunningly seductive color combination, and anything that speaks in black and red cannot be denied by anyone except those with the stoniest of hearts.

Kudos to the DePP designers. They work a lot. And well.

And thus I came to find myself in an infrequently visited lecture theatre, answering decidedly suggestive questions in a vulgar way, and coming up with profane taglines in an attempt to show my ‘creative’ publicity senses.

Fast forward a few days, and one written round plus interview later (the DePP people, ironically, are pretty selective of the poor fish that they try to reel in each year), I find myself playing mafia (and badly) with my new accomplices, waiting in turn to receive a formal piece of paper declaring that I was indeed, a member of DePP, and not just lying through my teeth.

Not exactly the holy grail, but beggars can’t be choosers.

And so I came to know more about this shady collective, like the chief of our esteemed consortium, a certain ‘Paddy’, (who had been gifted with this striking basilisk gaze which would make you cover your bosom and wish you had worn an extra layer of clothing), or of the official meetings, where the best of the DePP brains would be racking their gray cells, trying to decide whether summer somehow can be associated with blood and carnage and cakes, and whether ‘Beam me up, Scottie’ was ever spoken….

You don’t say.

In all seriousness, my nerves are still getting accustomed to doing last minute work, and I still have to remember to leave my sanity in my room when I go for our inspired meetings.

But in all fairness, DePP is a lot of fun. And we get our job done

And well.

SO join us…we have candy.

Achintya

Goa. Sun. Sand. Beaches. Waves. Summer. Cultural Fest. BITS Pilani Goa Campus. If you think some of those phrases are odd ones out, don't worry. Waves summer 2009 - the cultural fest of BITS Pilani Goa Campus, slated to take place in March 2009 will provide you an amalgamation of all of them.

Are you a college student? Do you represent your college in any cultural activity? Have you been yearning to add the coveted 'kickass trip to goa' on your been-there-done-that list? All that aside, do you just want to have fun? If you've answered in affirmative to any of those questions, read on. Even if you have not, read on. You have to. You just have to.

The largest culfest in Goa - Waves, hosted by BITS Pilani Goa Campus has seen stellar growth (exponential would be a better way to describe it, but.... (note to self : must not exhibit 'engineering student' characteristics)) over the past 4 years. Waves is sponsored by most of the you-know-whos when it comes to brands and companies, and the numbers seem to be increasing. It invites participation from colleges spanning the length and breadth of the country (Waves went national, ainnit?)

Formally Waves is :
Cultural events - Dance, Drama, Music, Fashion Parade, Mr. and Ms. Waves yadda, etc, yadda, etc....

Special Nights - From the best on-the-brink-of-fame bands from all over the country participating in Sea Rock to professional performances by Musicians and DJs to (watch this space).....

Informals, Games, Food stalls - Pet Pooja, Make a fool out of yourself for a stupid t shirt/goodie, A chance to make money (okay, i'll admit that the chances of you losing are more than winning, buy hey, you do have a chance, right)

And a lot more which does not seem at the top of my head (yes, I don't dig too deep, especially while blogging for DePP).

Holistically, Waves is something inexplicable. It is a unique experience, which is beyond tangible realms (you being a BITSian or non BITSian is inconsequential).
BITSians putting in their heart and soul to make the festival a success, students from all over India battling it out during the day (or watching the battle, if you're intelligent enough to sit back and laugh at them) and chilling out at night, bitching, appreciating, fitting in tourism plans with participation, freeloading (lots of goodies to be 'won', read : doled out by sponsors), making plans to set up base in Goa (cheap alcohol has its side effects) and a lot more (actually, I just can't think of more things to write in here).

[gloat]My advice is very precious. Most people who have followed it have been extremely successful in life. I am taking the liberty of doling it out on a public blog. So... ladies and gentlemen.....behold....[/gloat]here comes my advice -
Start convincing your college authorities and parents already! Also, if possible, chalk out a nice tourism plan around your whole 'official purpose' trip. Also, do check out the WAVES website at: http://www.bits-waves.org/

Anmol