Pragyan Blog

Tech Entertainment

// January 21st, 2012 // No Comments » // Pragyan // Ravikiran

Technology has been used for entertainment for ages. With origins in stagecraft and illusions, it was initially ignored and even condemned for belonging to the occult.

Today, though, technology in entertainment is everywhere. From the fabrication of musical instruments to the most complicated graphics in video games, there is no tool, no effect, nothing that can be achieved feasibly without the use of modern technology. So much so, that entertainment probably tops the list of fields where we use science the most. And that is quite a staggering fact, considering the amount of research people are putting into sciences and unraveling the mysteries of the universe.

But why is it so? Why are there such amazing advancements in graphical and sound technology and hardware, animatronics, even lighting and costumes? It’s probably because of just one reason: the urge for us to be something we can’t be in real life, to experience things that we normally wouldn’t be able to do. Think about it – what’s the fun in doing something you know you can do? Where’s the joy in simulating studies, for example? On the other hand, who wouldn’t want to experience the life of Batman, or be immersed in the sound of Led Zeppelin? It is to this end that we (possibly foolishly at times) devote so much time in an attempt to perfect such simulations of grandeur.

The point here, though, is how well the use of technology is masked. Take movies, for example. They always look so real but there’s always a huge amount of special effects involved. Tell a bored but fun-loving guy about technology and you are treated with as little respect as a Nobel Prize winner receives from a caveman. But when you talk about, say, James Cameron’s Avatar, you immediately have an audience, though you’re talking about one of the most immense technological achievements of all time. What if you packaged technology as entertainment?

At Pragyan, people fall into two types – the people who would enjoy the technical events and those who have no idea what the first type see in such things. Thus, the Infotainment events seek to please both – the fun of entertainment mixed with innovative scientific concepts. Those who want entertainment can simply enjoy the experience; those who want to learn can do that too.

So, regardless of what type you fall under, you can visit Pragyan and still have the time of your life – at the greatest techfest in the country.

The Adventure on 777 Acres

// December 24th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // random cool // rudyranjan

Who can forget Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara? Bet most of us wanted to have that kind of fun, well fear not- Pragyan’s got scope for that.

In certain regions of our prestigious campus, you’ll stumble upon a very exciting and highly addictive adventure sport- Corrida. (In plain English, that’s Bull fighting!). Surprisingly, the entry is totally free with no strings attached (pun intended!) despite it being our flagship adventure game!

What you would require is nothing but a trolley-shaped suitcase with loads of luggage in it (be it even laundry, the bulls don’t care…), and roll it across campus. At one point, you’ll encounter a black bull surrounded by numerous skin-clad chicks (beauty is in the eye of the beholder, baby! In this case, the bull’s the judge), or rather the lucky few might chance upon a large conglomerate of bulls (yeah, the gay community) roaming freely somewhere. Prepare yourself for an adventure of your lifetime: Pass by them with your wheels rolling and then run like crazy for your precious life… Because here in NITT, the catalyst for bull fights isn’t a blood red cape; rather it’s the irritating, thorny noise of trollies rolling. They see me rollin’, they hatin’, alright…

There have been rumors of students utilizing this sport to attain higher brain awareness; performing up to 10 times better in various competitions, Professor X who (surprisingly reformed at NITT campus after being disintegrated by Jean Grey) has analyzed the brain waves of the Bull Racing Enhanced (BRE) students and compared it with Bodhidharma’s brain waves.

The conclusions reached by the Professor in his own words are: “The BRE people have Sigma brain waves which can only be achieved after 12 straight hours of meditation, I would highly recommend this sport- No, I call it therapy- to everyone!”. His logic? “With brains like these, who needs bodies?!”

Sadly our most aggressive bull (aptly named Norris) has been missing… (Heads up! Labyrinth may ask you to point Norris’ location on Google maps!) Still wanted by many, Norris lives on in the dry marshes of Thuvakudi, waiting patiently for the best racer to come along, rolling his suitcase- if you can find him, he might bestow you a chase, and bless you with brain waves that might just help you win a Nobel prize.

Disclaimer: “Bull Fighting must be done at your own risk- No one is liable for broken bones, punctured livers or missing people”

The Spirit of Science

// December 16th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // Pragyan // Joshua

Science has taken twists and turns through the ages. Right from the time when people first looked up at the night sky and just wondered what was up there, people have sought the answer to the question ‘why?’ Why does the sun rise? Why do some things twinkle in the night sky, while others do not? And what happens when we take a closer look at something far above? Hence, was born Science. It was born from the question ‘why?’ Science has given us reasons, at least valid to human reason, of the realities around us.

And there have been those moments in time when laws were enunciated in the spirit that they would never be violated. The apple fell on Newton’s head and ‘gravity’ entered our vocabulary. Newton’s law of gravitation presented a model of the universe acceptable to the seventeenth century man; for a layman, it answered why an apple falls on his head. It reinforced the intuitive idea of cause and effect. The gravitational law based on masses and the distance between masses was able to explain motions of planets and hence came the Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. At the beginning of the twentieth century, however, there came a mind that was not satisfied by the fact that gravity was a cause of the nature of bodies; Albert Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity and General Relativity broke this framework of mass causing gravity and wove everything into space-time fabric. The Special Theory introduced an interesting concept – the ultimate speed limit in the universe as the speed of light.

Enough of the history; the talk of the day is that something went faster than light – the neutrinos that CERN fired from Geneva to Gran Saso that arrived 80 nanoseconds earlier than light would have taken. The ramifications of this observation are that time travel would be possible and every other ad hoc associated.

It appears that Science changes color like a chameleon so as to camouflage itself into our mind of reason. It’s the spirit of enquiry that makes science change color. And it is that spirit of endeavor that has taken man to the moon and to the point of travelling in time. And it’s this spirit of scientific wonder that is looked for at Pragyan 12! You don’t have to be in born and all wired… Just be yourself and let your mind free to question and explore!

The Indescribably Seraphic; Events at Pragyan

// November 20th, 2011 // 6 Comments » // Pragyan // Aditya

“Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.” –Winston Churchill

Long gone are the days when the Colosseum roared with the victory chants of the Romans, cheering their adrenaline charged gladiator heroes ripping each other and vying for supremacy. Far too distant are the times when an entire village would gather around a veteran soldier listening to a story he once heard about the heroics of a prince in an unknown land.

But the battle for dominance is still on; it’s just that as humanity evolves the boundaries of conflict are being pushed from a physical to more of an intellectual level. As the quest for knowledge delves deeper and deeper into the very question of our existence, this human tech race has snowballed into a combat so fierce that the Gods are starting to cry blue murder. Come to the National Institute of Technology Tiruchirapalli this February where the sun scorched deltas of the Cauvery get even hotter with thousands of tech lovers stocking their arsenal with their best and gearing up for the umpteen mind boggling events to be organised in Pragyan. So if you are a tech addict, a management fanatic or just another enthusiast, do put all your doubts to rest; our event larder is full enough to last you three whole days. Build head turning robots, hack sites, trade in the virtual stock exchange or just rack your brains in cool contests – there will definitely be an event of the type you had been dreaming of…

100 Days to Go!

// November 15th, 2011 // No Comments » // Pragyan // LeJon

And up goes the ticker…!