Thursday, March 22, 2007

Since I don't have enough tempo to write something new but wanted to update my blog badly, here is my article which was published in K-Speak, 06.

KGP Decoded!

Cut to 2020…………………..

KGP welcomes Robert Langdon, great symbolgist and cryptographer from Harvard University.

Our K-Speak team had the privilege to share a few moments with the phenomenon himself. Here are the excerpts:

K-Speak (KS):-Welcome Prof. How was the flight?

Robert Langdon (RL) (shrugging shoulders):-Lets’ not waste time in formalities. By the way, ask how the flight attendant was. You guys really have your fundas in place. That lass who escorted me right from Harvard to your Tech. Guest House is a damsel. Man, is she ravishing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KS (with a little chuckle):-Actually, she is from VGSOM.

RL:-She is definitely the epitome, the symbol of Indian beauty.

KS:-Talking about symbols, which sign or cryption struck you first in KGP?

RL:-Ummmm……. (Stretches arms)Well, the platform-its length is 1072 meters. If you sum up the digits you get 10 which gives 1 on summation again, i.e., IIT-KGP is 1st among equals.

KS:-Great! Dwell more on the symbols in the campus.

RL:-Okay, see… the incline you have in the road leading to the institute ……….its at an angle 13degrees 13 minutes and at this angle between the sun and the moon, the Earth is half covered by sunlight. This means that the rest of the world basks in the glorious light of the IITians.

KS (getting excited):- Is it?

RL:-Yeah! Now the automated level crossing .In the erstwhile Roman Empire when the gladiators couldn’t decide who is the best they were made to stand before a similar crossing. It used to swing open for the ultimate warrior just as it did here for our vehicle which had a master card holder in that pretty woman (Gosh!!).

KS:-Junta would definitely like to know more.

RL:-Okay. The institute is on the left side of the main road and we all know for vertical thinking, i.e., technical tickling we use the left side of our brain.

KS:-Superb!

RL:-The width to height ratio of your institute building is THE DIVINE RATIO.

KS:-Oh God!

RL:-The painting on the wall adjacent to the entrance of The Architecture Department is of THE VITRUVIAN MAN by Leonardo da Vinci.

KS (dazed by now):-How do you decode all this?

RL:-See, it’s not Rocket Science. It involves two basic principles, those of Observing and correlating it with whatever knowledge you have acquired from others’ past studies.

KS:-How can one start off?

RL:-Patience man! Start with simple things and look for the lateral angles in those. Like, the 2.2 km elliptical track you have .Your Gymkhana is at its focus which controls all the activities in the campus just like the sun in the solar system. On a lighter note, the girls’ hall is at the second focus (laughs heartily)!

KS:-What about TOAT?
RL:-Well, the diameter of the TOAT is exactly the same as the dimension of Noah’s Ark, the refuge of all creatures during the great deluge of the Christian Mythology.

Similarly, you guys give vent to your feelings, both frustration and zeal, in TOAT during fests and seek refuge from acads.

KS:-Genius! Sir, we are in fact really grateful to you for decoding our KGP for us!

RL:-Well, anything for that damsel!!