ADAGIO ’09 - CELEBRATION OF SPRING AT

ADAGIO ’09 - CELEBRATION OF SPRING AT
EDUCATION CAMPUS CHANGA


The renowned and prestigious campus of Central Gujarat - Education Campus Changa (ECC) observed ADAGIO ’09, the cultural festival during 13-14 March 2009. With the bright rejuvenating festival of color Holi, the festive season in spring extends for ECC family.

After the busy schedule of studies and exams youth of the campus got engrossed in the peaks of energy and happiness at ADAGIO’09. As per a persistent superstition the day Friday and the date 13th both have a biased value. But the same tuned out to be full of rejoice, colors, music, cheer and joy at ECC. The students had been excited and enthusiastic to the ecstasy of their youth and energy.

All the staff be it Faculties, Technical or Non-Technical, each and every one at ECC joined for the celebration with enthusiasm of the same cadre, that makes ADAGIO’09 a jovial show. Shri Charotar Moti Sattavis Patidar Kelvani Mandal patronizes the cultural festival every year to provide a platform to ECC members to exhibit their talents, a stage that is bound to rock with a bang.

My, being the first year in college at the Charotar Institute of Technology, Changa the cultural festival has been a new season of my life, the fun and the mazaa of the college life, these moments are worth remembrance and the best ones. I was expecting a lot from this event and I am glad that the expectations were more than fulfilled.

The events, as they begun with the lamp lighting ceremony by the patrons of this scrupulous event at ECC and the list of the events goes to infinity and the same applies to the energy of the crowd.

The cultural festival is organized by a group of students from different organizations of the campus known as the Student Central Council headed by Dr. Y. P. Kosta, Principal Charotar Institute of Technology, Changa. Fifteen different music, dance, fine arts and theatre events were organized at ADAGIO ’09 in form of inter departmental-institutional competitions. The events that smacked the stage were Instrument playing, skits, singing, dance, fashion show, mimicry, and many more special performances. The last day of ADAGIO ’09 was celebrated as The ANNUAL DAY.

The singing being solo or group ranged from the oldies like Aao Huzoor Tumko and Ajib Dastaan Hain Yeh to the latest ones like Masakkali and Jai Ho and to the surprise of all a senior administrative member Mr. A. D. Patel sang a song of Cliff Richards and Mr. N. D. Shah revived the evergreen Gujarati songs; Nayan Ne Bandh Rakhi and Tari Aankh No Afini. The virtues and humility of ECC proves itself when a security person was applauded on stage for his simple and humble performance, ECC provides the platform for all the talents therein.

The mimic’s all time favorites like Nana Patekar, Dev Anand, AB, SRK; etc manifested themselves on the stage as the mimics performed beautifully on the stage.

The dance, both solo and group, the dances were too graceful to be believed. Students dancing with different props be it dancing on a big plate traditionally known as ‘Kathrot’ or with chairs or pot carrying a flame on head left the crowd spellbound.
The students playing with books and pen for the whole year at college played the instruments like Harmonium, Keyboard, Guitar, Mouth Organ, Flute and many more with equal ease. A blast of instrumental performance was a self-composed song by Pratik Panchal and group to bid a farewell to all the final year students, which was evidently an emotional moment for all.

The most entertaining slots of the event were satires in form of skits banged upon the Oscar fever Slumdog Millionaire; news like Satyam Scam and the youth’s favorite show Roadies, Patriotism, Terrorism, Reservation and the rampant Brain Drain were no doubt thought provoking and entertaining at the same time. The biggest surprise to the students attending the event for the first time was the Fashion Shows with the perplexing concepts like Recession, From London Street, Bridal Wardrobe, Supernaturalism, etc. too hit the ramp.

The most awaited event of the festival was the personality contest held on both the days in various rounds like Talent, Jury’s Question, and General Knowledge etc. Results of the contest were eagerly awaited amongst the entire campus; the winners Aarohi Desai and Harpreet Singh were the favorite of all and loudly applauded by each and every one.

The event was not encompassing on stage events but also some very remarkable off stage events related to literature and fine arts. They were Cartooning, Rangoli, poetry completion, dumb charade and debate. All of them included very fascinating concepts.

The last day 15th March, was celebrated as Annual Day. The students holding University Ranks as well as securing first, second and third rank in successive class were felicitated with certificates and awarded cash prizes. Also the students winning sports and cultural competition were presented trophies. For me the most delighted moment of the three days extravaganza was the time when it came my turn to receive the accolade for securing 9th Rank at university and the first in college in Group-2 GTU Exam of first semester. This motivated me to promise myself to succeed once again with flying colors in the every next exam.

ADAGIO’09 was a conveniently a huge success and a giant accomplishment of ECC due to diligent efforts of each and every member. The event could cast a spell of rejoice, cheer, elation, thrill, charm, amazement, and exult that hit the campus. This led me to promise myself to not only participate in the next culfest and recharged us all to get back to the serious studies.

- TADRASH SHAH
FYBE Computer Engg.
CIT – Changa.

CITC and SpaceTech to Train Teachers & Industry in the field of Wireless, Microwave Satellite Communication and Remote Sensing Applications

Industry – Education alliance to create talented resource pool

Changa, June 21, 2008: Charator Institute Of Technology, Changa,(CITC) Gujarat is one of the leading institutes of technology in Gujarat. It offers graduate and post-graduate programmes in Engineering, Pharmacy and Management. It has a well laid out campus with an excellent environment and infrastructure for academic pursuits. The visionary leadership has helped establishing the institute as one of the leading institutes in a short span.

CITC has today announced that it has tied up with SpaceTech Consultantants who offers consultancy services primarily to the Academic institutions and R&D establishments in utilization of the space technology in the domain of communication, broadcasting, remote sensing of natural resources and environment and developmental communication.

MOU Signing ceremony was organized at the Board Room of Education Campus-Changa. Dignitaries present were Shri B I Patel & Shri R B Patel, Vice President, Shri Charotar Moti Sattavis Patidar Kelavani Mandal .Shri C.A.Patel ,Chairman, Program Appraisal Counsil,ECC and all the principals of institutes and executives of the campus. Renowned space scientists Shri N. S. Pillai, Dr. K. L .Majumder Shri A. K. Kaul, Shri S. K. Singh were present from SpaceTech’ s side.

This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU’s) primary objective is to Transmit and train Teachers & Industry in the field of Wireless, Microwave Satellite Communication and Remote Sensing Applications.

Taking into account the common goals of HR development in the domain of science and technology with special reference to space technology and its utilisation , CITC with its academic strength and SpaceTech Consultants with rich domain expertise in the emerging areas of Space Technology have entered into a MOU to pool their strengths together and help in HR development through short term courses / training programmes, designing post graduate programmes, initiating research programmes and facility establishment in space technology and related domains. It is envisaged that these activities will lead to the establishment of a Centre of Excellence in Space Technology and its Applications in the near future at CITC offering post graduate courses and advanced research programmes.

CITC will provide the infrastructure, academic and logistic supports.
SpaceTech will provide the domain expertise.

Speaking after the MOU signing Ceremony at Education Campus-Changa, Mr. N S Pillai Scientist Consultant, SpaceTech, Former Scientist/Engineer-H/Associate Programme Director, Microwave payloads (SAC/ ISRO) said that Following tasks are proposed to be carried out during the first phase

Short term courses (1-2 weeks) in Digital Image Processing with special reference to Space based remote sensing, Satellite Communications, RF and Microwave technology, Advanced microwave sensors for remote sensing, Radar technology , applications of remote sensing and Geographic Information System , Multimedia and its applications etc.
Guiding graduate and post graduate research projects
Establishment of an advanced laboratory for Image processing and GIS
Establishment of a multimedia laboratory


Mr. Surendra Patel, Chairman – CITC said, “We are delighted at partnering with Spacetech Consultants in this prestigious venture. By this alliance we look forward to leverage our quest of producing world class students.” It is our future goal to establish University. This alliance will be a step towards our cherished goal. This alliance has put CITC into legion of global institutes.

About SpaceTech Consultants:

SpaceTech Consultants is a company, of Scientists/Engineers and Media Planners with more than thirty years of experience in Space Technology in their respective fields of expertise. Nowadays advanced Space Technology is used in development oriented applications that are transforming our vision and life and provides tools for various applications such as- Communication and Broadcasting - Remote Sensing for Natural Resources Management- Remote Sensing and GIS for infrastructure Planning and Management- Environment and Eco-system studies- Education and Training- Development and Corporate Communication

About CITC & ECC:

CITC is a part of larger entity – Education Campus Changa having 5 other institutes & 2500 students. Presently, CITC has a total of 1800 students. Out of these almost 85 teachers and 600 students are in the graduate and post-graduate courses in Electronics and communications, MCA, Information Technology and Computer Engineering. These Teachers will be trained to organize Training/Short Term courses in the following domains: Satellite Communication, Remote Sensing, Microwave Remote Sensing, Image Analysis and Geomatics.

Dr. Amrapali Merchant delivered a speech on Women Empowerment at Education Campus Changa.

Dr. Amrapali Merchant delivered a speech on Women Empowerment at Education Campus Changa.

A lecture on Women Empowerment was organized by Collegiate Women Development Cell (CWDC) at Education Campus -Changa. It was delivered by Dr. Amrapali Merchant, Senior Professor, Dept. of Sociology, Sardar Patel University.

Dr. Amrapali Merchant spoke about liberalization of women along with Women Empowerment. According to her the three important elements of women empowerment are: Awareness, Understanding and Liberalization of women.

Women should participate in decision making. She should be well informed and for that she should enrich herself with knowledge and technology. She also focused on physical fitness of the women, mental make up and psychological understanding. She discussed the importance of equality of women in society and how a woman is responsible for bringing the equality.

In her concluding words, she said that women are responsible for making future citizens and she is capable of bringing social revolution by changing the mind set of people. Lecture was followed by lively question-answer session.

She encouraged the female faculty members to take up the task of educating the boys regarding the role women play and thereby in 10 years educating 300 families towards the direction. She emphasizes that women should act as role model and be a symbol of courage, confidence and be motivator and supporter.

IETE Student Forum Inaugurated @ CIT Changa on 16th Feb 2008

IETE Student Forum Inaugurated @ CIT Changa on 16th Feb 2008

Vitthalbhai T Patel Department of Electronics and Communication Engg. of Charotar Institute of Technology – Changa and Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) Vadodara centre had jointly organized an Inauguration function of IETE Student Forum at CIT-Changa on Saturday, 16th Feb 2008.

The guests from the IETE Vadodara Centers & Keynote speaker were invited to inaugurate the ISF.

Dr Y P Kosta, Principal, CIT Changa introduced the honorable guests. Dr S P Kosta, Director, Education Campus Changa talked about the latest development in telecommunication engineering with an example of flower. He told that in communication field each root has to perform its duty to fulfill the communication gap and to increase the relationship in the development of technology.


All the invited guests had given inspirable speeches in regards of IETE Student Forum. Shri P V Khubalkar, I/C Chairman, IETE Vadodara Centre delivered a motivational speech to guide students by speaking on the importance of hard-work and to learn from the seniors' experiences.

Shri Naresh kumar, Secretary, IETE Vadodara Centre had explained "Why one should be a member of ISF" and focus on the advantage of membership. He informed about the recent activities of IETE and it further development.

Two committees' namely Executive committee (From student member) and Core committee (from Faculty members) have been formed. Prof. S K Shah announced the name of committees' members and gave IETE logo pin. He shows his eagerness to help for contributing various events under the IETE Student Forum.

Dr. Y P Kosta and students members gave the vote of thanks. Finally the function was over with National anthem and Shri Surendra Patel, Chairman, Shri Charotar Moti Sattavis Patidar Kelavani Mandal encouraged and inspired the students and faculty for regularly organizing such national level programs for core technical benefits of the over all society. Also, he added that the organizations like IETE are basic links to provide solid platform between academics and industry. Dr. M C Patel, Secretary, Keldvni Mandal also gave a picture of developing India and Emerging fields.


An expert talk had been delivered on the Satellite Communication by Shri Rajeev Jyoti from SAC-ISRO, Ahmedabad

He deliberated upon the history of our 1st satellite launched in the world and latest information regarding satellite communication research in India. The graphical representation of satellite theory and operation was explained by him. He also explained about operation of geo-stationary satellite and its application in details.

The talked was extended with navigation satellite and army satellite in details. The overall lecture was very informative for students who are interested in RADAR technology. The original photographs taken from satellite create enthusiasm on students to know more about this technology.

With this, RADAR Technology workshop is planned for third year E&C students under IETE Student Forum at CIT Changa.

WHERE'S SHAMBALA?

By Madhuri Velegar K.

In the backwaters of southern India, a saint works with 'light beings' of Shambala to usher in the New AgeYou've probably never heard his name before. And chances are that the prefix of swami will raise your cynical hackles. Naturally. Another swami? Do we really need another messiah to guide us towards the next millennium? To find out, you start off on a bumpy scooter ride over kuccha roads, with quarries and mills on one side and eucalyptus and farmlands on the other. Finally, you reach the heart of Taponagara, a budding settlement near Chikkagubbi village, 22 km from Bangalore, a city in southern India, to meet the publicity-shy Swami Krishnananda who is working with the light beings of Shambala (land of enlightened immortals) to usher in the New Age. You can't help but wonder at the genesis of Swami Krishnananda—an ordinary man holding a government job, who transcended the ordinary. "Open your horizons," he says now and has lived these words since he took to writing, painting and farming in the late '70s. That was also the time he met Amara, his spiritual mentor and guide for over 20 years, and learnt the art of meditation.
Krishnananda speaks softly about Taponagara and Amara. He explains that Amara had a revelation that Taponagara, then a vacant piece of land near a hillock, would one day emerge as a powerful source of energy, where sages would work and help spread world peace. He had likened this place to Shambala, the legendary city of light. Krishnananda's relationship with Amara, who passed away in 1982, and their experiences have been described in his latest book Door-ways to Light. This book is Krishnananda's first major work after How to Meditate, Dhyana-Yoga, New Age Principles and Universalism. "There is nothing like a destiny that will definitely take place-any future event can be altered by spiritual powers and meditations. An accident can be averted-even a war," states Krishnananda. Door-ways to Light talks about the existence of rishis, described as light beings in higher planes. "They are not just mythical characters from the Puranas (ancient Indian scriptures)," states Krishnananda. "Some are here on earth and many are in higher planes. They are part of a huge network of light beings who work under cosmic intelligence. There are more than 1,44,400 rishis working on the astral plane. I am in touch with several of these light beings, including Amara, and I contact them astrally." Although it tends to be repetitive at times, Door-ways to Light does contain readable chapters on other planes and dimensions. As Krishnananda puts it: "There are people living in other dimensions and spheres; not little green men of your science fiction. They are much more intelligent, evolved, civilized, kind and advanced in all the sciences."

WHERE'S SHAMBALA?
Abode of highly evolved spiritual beings tucked away in the untraced locales of nowhere, Shambala, also referred to as Shangri-la, Gyanganj or Siddhashram, has remained a mystery. According to Krishnananda, Shambala is located in the Gobi desert. However, many also believe that this energy center on earth is hidden away in the remote heights of the Himalayas—on a flatland to the north of Kailash Mansarovar. Only spiritually evolved sages can enter this place, it is believed. The divine beings who stay here are tall, fair and travel to other dimensions and galaxies either astrally or in spaceships, says Krishnananda. These beings live here for centuries and direct the course of human evolution through higher yogic means.
His encounter with Amara, who evolved to a high spiritual level, underscores Krishnananda's belief that every mortal has the potential of being divine. He says it can be achieved by following some simple guidelines: "Open yourself, expand your horizons, accommodate another human being, give him or her love because love automatically expands the other person. Be alive. Make your thoughts and emotions positive and the knowledge of the future will come to you. Meditate for at least 24 minutes daily—get in touch with your inner self." In fact, Krishnananda believes that meditation is the best method of salvation for human beings. Meditation is also emphasized through classes held at Taponagara every Sunday. Special meditations are arranged on certain auspicious days. Classes are also held in other parts of Bangalore. For those outside Bangalore, there is provision for postal lessons.
MEDITATIVE ANSWERS
Excerpts from an interview with Swami Krishnananda: Your book traces your journey from an ordinary family man into an awakened soul. How did it happen? When I was in my 20s, I believed nothing would change in this world. But after meeting my guru, Amara, I opened myself to a new worldview. I reveled in the sight of nature, animals, human encounters. All this created positive energy inside me. I learnt meditation and this kept me in touch with my inner self. Meditation is like going into a plane of silence or into another level of consciousness where you get all answers. How do meditation and prayer differ? While praying we always "ask" for something. Meditation is concentration within oneself. We silence the system. Once the system gets cleansed, it is prepared to go through higher experiences, which would eventually transform us into higher beings. And slowly we would be linked to our source and receive direct knowledge about ourselves, this creation, birth, death... How are destiny and karma related? Can destiny be changed? We are what we are because of our past life karma. We continue to live, collect and pass this karma on a pre-ordained track, which is destiny. But with meditation you can become aware of the future and can alter or reduce the effects of whatever bad is in store for you. For instance, I once had a vision that I had met with a terrible accident and injured a young boy with my two-wheeler. Two months later, I found myself traveling by the same road and I saw this young boy crossing the road. I remembered the vision and braked just in time. New Age, popular in the West, has yet to catch on here... The western mind is open to everything that is new.

Krishnananda has also created the Manasa Foundation, which teaches people about self-transformation by meditation and positive thoughts. The foundation encourages them to live a peaceful, purposeful and creative life and helps them face the complexities of living. The Jyoti Project, begun a few months ago, is mainly for village children in and around Taponagara. Children are helped with their studies and are also taught shlokas (couplets from scriptures), songs, hygiene and general knowledge. They are encouraged to express themselves creatively through story telling, singing, drawing and painting. Referring to the New Age in his newsletter Manasa Patra, Krishnananda writes: "When I started meditation classes in 1988, there were not many youngsters. The old and the retired were more visible with their dried enthusiasm and faded mufflers. But now I see the classes almost full of youngsters sitting gracefully in yogic positions, full of energy. All this indicates that the New Age is dawning. The energies channeled by so many earnest light-workers and gathered by the unseen spiritual masters in the higher planes are vibrating with new life and light." That, effectively, is the basic philosophy of Taponagara's swami—enlightenment and hope for the whole world.

“Training Programme for Young TV Producers in Science Communication”

I participated in a “Training Programme for Young TV Producers in Science Communication” jointly organized by Vigyan Prasar (Dept. of Science & Technology, Govt. of India ),Gujarat Science City(Dept. of Science & Technology, Govt. of Gujarat) and an NGO called AV-CODE(Audio Video Communicators for Development and Education) on February 9 to 13, 2008 at Gujarat Science City, Ahmedabad.

The Five day Training program started off with an Inaugural Function where Mr. Subhash Joshi, Secretary, AV-CODE, introduced the dignitaries and resource persons with the 28 odd participants who were a mix of media professionals and students of communications. Mr. B.S.Bhatia, President ,AV-CODE presented the Backgroun of Training in Science Communication and Dr.T V Venkateshwaran, Vigyan Prasar, delivered a talk on Science Popularisation – Role of Vigyan Prasar. He also delivered an academic presentation on Science and Society – evolution of science, science popularisation He emphasized on the importance of simplicity of communication and talking in the terms of common man which could be easily understood. Dr.Narottam Sahoo, Executive of Science City gave a brief idea on Popularisation of Science: Role of Gujarat Science City. It’s a place Celebration of science goes on round the year. It’s a unique platform to inculcate scientific temperament and popularize science and organize science related activities.

Followed by inaugural session, A Visit of Science City Exhibits was organized. Some upcoming Exhibits like Hall of Space and Hall of Science which are yet to be inaugurated also shown.

In the second session of the first day, theoretical aspects of various TV Production related topics were covered. Right from research on the subject, preparing a brief of program to the final editing and packaging of it were explained in a very lucid manner. Producers from DECU, ISRO Mr. Nitin Bhavsar made a Power Point Presentation on Understanding content generation, process and formats and Mr. Kamlesh Udasi did the same on Content generation –packaging, budgeting.

Some other sessions were conducted by professionals from AV-CODE. The day was called off after the formation of groups in the evening. Each group had a mentor to guide in all the stages of production. Each group have to produce a program of 3-5 Minutes which involves team efforts.

On 10th February 2008 – the second day of the training, the program briefs and production ideas were presented before the experts and finally four topics were selected for program production. Our Group: 2 selected “Science of Acoustics”*. Based upon the brief, a script and story board developed and after completing all planning of pre-production stage we went for shooting.
On the day three we dumped that footage along with some graphics and photographs on the Non-linear editing station. A rough cut was prepared with the shots putting on the time line. In the evening we shot the Anchor Presenting the program at various locations of Science City.

On the fourth and final day of production we finalized the program with proper voice over and music wherever required. Late at night we could get DVD output. The group members prepared in advance how the presentation of film would be done before the experts, guests and the fellow participants. We rehearsed it very well.
Kamble, Director, Vigyan Prasar delivered the Valedictory Address and distributed the certificates to the participants. All the four short films or quickies were presented in the auditorium. After the viewing of each film the respective group answered the questions and also shared their experiences.

It was a unique experience where actual process of TV Production in nutshell was spelt out not only theoretically terms but also practically! The participants being a mixed group - sharing of ideas become much easier. All the groups produced total four programmes. Definitely the process brought about a scientific perspective in us, as a producer.

I could find its utility even for our faculties, not all but, a selected few who shares creative rapport particularly in retrospective with two programmes which has been produced by DECU,ISRO in support with ECC.

“Believe in your dreams and Nurture Relations”

This was the piece of advice from Bertrand GUILLEMIN, one of the four French globetrotters on cycle. He was here at Education Campus-Chnaga, sharing his ideas with the students and faculties. Along with him are three TEAM Members namely Thomas CHAMBARD, Guillaume PIARD, Arnaud DUPRE, Henri SCHUTZ. They have started off on their mission from the city of Jura in France on September 9; 2007.They have crossed 15 countries of Europe and Asia and reached India after traveling 8000 kilometers on their cycles. They had learned a lot from local cultures of Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. Because of political instability in Pakistan they traveled by Air from Dubai to Mumbai. Presently they are passing through India and Nepal in their last leg of journey which will conclude at Shanghai in China.“Believe in your dreams and Nurture Relations”

From South Gujarat they entered into the Anand district and came to Education Campus-Changa for a day. They visited all the institutes on the campus and were happy to see such a Hi-profile campus providing professional education of global standards at the doorsteps of rural Indai. They interacted with students of ECC at length. Students were inquisitive and asked pertinent questions and debated the problem of global warming, it’s effects and who shares greater responsibility for it. The so called first world or developed countries or third world or underdeveloped countries?

The Four Cyclists from France propagated the cause of ecology and its preservation. They too are students and have a life long learning aptitude which makes them to travel extensively on cycle and get first hand knowledge regarding the living conditions about the common people all over the world, their cultures, traditions, etc.

They also inspired the youth to take challenges of time and come up victoriously. Take on every situation with courage and indomitable will which will create ways everywhere!

They will accomplish their 15,000 kilometer journey on cycle within few months.