August 2020

Editorial

Abhigyan Ghosh, Jaidev Sriram, Zubair Abid

It’s been four and a half months since COVID-19 dramatically altered the college atmosphere. What many welcomed initially as a break from the hectic schedules that define IIIT has morphed into a sense of longing for the lush spirit of the campus. Singular events that tended to define a semester no longer apply, as we hope for the moments in-between these singularities to come back into our lives. The moments that are unexpected, random, and even forgettable, the kind that can only happen in a tight-knit community. The start of the quarantine showed exactly that yearning – with groups popping up to recreate the most mundane of IIIT activities, imagining a virtual world where everyone was back together. Now, four months into the quarantine, the humour that helped initially feels forced. Attempts at recreating informal conversation spaces, ritualistic juice canteen trips, and meals together have lost their steam as well. For a community that often cribs about the lack of life at IIIT, this is perhaps our darkest hour. Yet, IIIT persists. Read more…

The OJ Conundrum

Shashwat Goel

Did you even do UG1 at IIIT-H if you haven’t ranted extensively about OJ? Join us to explore deep underlying questions like: Is CP really the right way to introduce CS? Should TAs be chosen based on knowledge of course material? Why do students plagiarize in the first place? Why do evaluations trump learning? We present possible solutions, which hopefully will improve future renditions.

You’ve already been through OJ so why should this article matter to you? Some of the insights pervade the entire IIIT curriculum, not just CPro and DSA. If we proactively think about these issues, a lot can change, because these problems start and end with us, the student body. As future seniors and TAs, we can redefine the IIIT experience and maintain, perhaps even enrich, the intellectual curiosity of our juniors! Read more…

School Rules – the Cruels and the Cools

Pahulpreet Singh

Being in IIIT-H, at some point you must have thought that college rules have been really unfair to you. But there are some places which exceed expectations in, well, unexpected ways. From a stricter attendance policy than ours to heights of gender segregation, and from dress codes to senseless traffic rules, we’ve got everything covered in our list of weirdest college rules ever. Read more…

Treading the Waters of the Diversity Pool

Shradha Sehgal, Jaidev Shriram

IIIT-H supposedly has no reservations. Yet, they’re announcing a Diversity Pool.

What does this mean? Why did they take this step? 

Dive into the Diversity Pool debate with this article. We explore the rationale behind it and the implications of its inception as we survey women students across batches. Read more…

ICPC Chronicles – tesla_protocol

Ujwal Narayan

Like any other IIIT-ian, I couldn’t escape ICPC – it makes its presence known to all the campus denizens, regardless of their personal interest. In this short piece, I talk to Anurudh of ‘tesla_protocol’, who will be representing IIIT Hyderabad in the World Finals. 

We talk about preparation strategy, experiences in the regionals and more. tesla_protocol’s story is a gripping tale of ups and downs, and they nearly missed out on making it to the world finals – in both the qualifiers. Thankfully, like in any anime, the heroes did not give up, and they’re gonna make it to Moscow for the world finals. Read more…

Campus Spending Trends

Tejasvi Chebrolu

Have you ever wondered whether you overspend? Especially during month-ends? Confirmation bias is real and this article might help you feel good about yourself. Find out whether you spend more than your peers in college; whether you should ask seniors for treats(you should); and other interesting things about how the students in the college spend money. It might help make you feel better when you are ordering your third oreo shake in the day(or not)! Read more…

If being straight were taboo

Anonymous

Sexuality isn’t absolute, gender isn’t binary. They’re fluid and gradient. And everyone should have the right to express themselves in whatever way they please.  

But not everyone supports that. People shy away from even accepting the existence of people who identify differently.  

In this article, we write about what would happen if things were the other way around. What would happen if being straight was a taboo. Read more…

Cats – Furry Fury

Pranav Tadimeti, Jaidev Sriram

OUR EYES. THE HORRORRRR. You’ve seen the reviews of the movie Cats. Unfortunately, some of us saw the entire movie too. It became our moral obligation to review it for those who haven’t. We explore everything that you NEED to know about the movie. From questionable sensual scenes to the best moments (ranked after the credits obviously), we got you covered. This is the pseudo review to quench your curiosity. Read more…

Why do humans find it hard to stay at home

Sreeharsha Paruchuri

Inertia. From studying about the concept in books to observing it in the tendencies of people around us, times have changed. But humans have not. Our social morals have more or less remained the same since day 1. When the freedom to go outside has been compromised, why do we suddenly feel ‘displaced’? Read about some of my views in the article “Why do humans find it hard to stay at home?” and see how many you concur with. Read more…

Wise Wendy

Anonymous

Wise Wendy is the pretentious snarky counsellor in IIIT Hyderabad, and used to be in forms of a text much like regular magazines. However, now Wise Wendy has become a dank memer and likes to use memes to interact with people. In this article, you’ll find people asking numerous questions, and Wendy replying in forms of shitpost memes that took maybe 2 minutes to make per. All in all, Wise Wendy is sarcastic and mean, and you’re better off going to an actual source for any other help. However, if you want shitty memes to laugh at, do hit us up. Read more…