HAIL APJ!!!

The Hon. President of India, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was here in BITS today. I was among those who had the fortune of listening to him speaking in the audi, and by God, I do swear that this man wears greatness on his sleeve...

Technology is a non-linear tool which can effect fundamental changes in economic competitiveness.

This was how the great man began his address. The speech in itself turned out to be quite an anticlimax as I went expecting some drivel about making India developed by 2020 but ended up hearing probably the most exciting talk I've ever heard regarding future prospects in the field of technology and engineering.

I'll not bore you with a recap of everything that Dr Kalam said. (For those who want to know, you can visit this link http://presidentofindia.nic.in/scripts/eventslatest1.jsp?id=1483 which contains the transcript of his speech and his subsequent interaction with us students.)

The best thing about the Hon. President's address was that he held nothing back. He spoke like a true teacher, exhorting us to become leaders in the field of technology by taking up new cutting edge research in the fields of nanotechnology and ICT (that's Information and Communication Technology). Everything were in the earnest words of a speaker who believes in the potential of the youth and their power to make the country a better place.

All in all, a wonderful experience...Long live APJ!!!

Weekend Blues at BITS...No Chance!!!

Just back from watching a Manchester United match...Drew 1-1 with Reading in a game in which the team missed about six to seven clear chances...Some day other than this, the scoreline could well have been 5-1 or better...But still, we are still in the FA Cup and hopefully, Fergie will put out his best team in the return leg at the Madjeski Stadium.

Anyways, lots been going on here over the weekend, not the least of which is the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EMERGING MECHANICAL TECHNOLOGY – MACRO TO NANO, which in true BITsian style has been rechristened as EMTM2N. As a first year and as someone who is very new to such conferences, it was an eye-opener seeing the things held in perspective by some of the personalities conducting cutting edge research in this field. The biggest gain, that I believe I had from this, was a further proof of the need of interdisciplinary approaches to research. It's no longer enough to just know your field and hope to conduct research in it; it's essential to know about related fields as well, so that your research is not bogged down by some constraint or the other of your own making. The conference has its last day tomorrow, (or today should I say, since it's already past 12 midnight), and there is this special attraction - our own BITsian version of Robot Wars...So be there!!!

There was also the English Press Club meet in which all of us clubbers assigned ourselves to articles that we must write for the new issue of Fine Print (that is our monthly newsletter). It's an exciting time for the topics that we are trying to cover are quite varied and if I may say so myself, really relevant at this point of time on campus.

Tomorrow is another new day, but you can be rest assured a lot will be happening...Have to attend the General Body Meeting which the Election Commission is holding to review the work of the Student Union President and General Secretary...Should be interesting enough...

To be honest, who needs a workday when weekends are so busy???