Mirror_teknack
- 1. MumbaiMirror I SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013CITY www.mumbaimirror.com/city 8 BHAVIN JANKHARIA Somethingabout nothing(anda littleforall) Liked/hatedhiscolumn?WritetoBhavinJankhariaat bhavin.mm@gmail.com AN INSULAR MIRROR INTO A FORTY-SOMETHING'S LIFE I thought only actors were typecast! After last weeks piece The Namoral Dilemma 1, I re- ceived emails, SMSes and blog comments asking why I had written a political piece and deviated frommyusualfocusonday-to-daylifeinMatun- gaandMumbai.Seriously! There is a top 5 list of reasons to hate mara- thon runners making the rounds 2. It basically hits out at those who constantly brag and talk about running as if nothing else matters in this world. It reminded me of a conversation I had re- centlywithacolleaguewhoruns.Shehadcometo the office and we immediately got into the usual patter about running times, training schedules and injuries. Then she mentioned that her hus- band (who doesnt run) refuses to go with her to any party or function where there are other run- ners from her running group. He thinks they are big bores and talk only about running, to the ex- clusionofallthosewhodontandarenotinterest- ed. Its like when doctors meet and gossip about other doctors and medical issues as if others arounddidntexist! Each time I write about running, I now get comments saying one more piece on running? Isnt there anything else you can write about? The same happens when I write about Matunga. There are actually people living in Mumbai who dontgiveadamnaboutthissuburb. So let me tell you a modern story of the times welivein! On Thursday, I took a taxi from the airport to the new Park Hyatt in Chennai. The driver was a wizened, old Chennaiite. As is my practice these days,IsetupGoogleMapstoshowtheroutemap. About a km from the hotel, the driver took a left turninsteadofaright.WhenIquestionedhim,he saidthattheHyattwastwokmsdownthatroad.I toldhimthatwehadleftitbehind.Hedidntagree because he had only heard of the Hyatt Regency, whichwasfurtherahead.WhenIinsisted,hevery reluctantlyturnedthecararound.Hekeptasking for nearby landmarks, but I told him to trust me. WefollowedthevoiceinstructionsgivenbyMaps and reached the hotel easily. He then smugly turnedaroundandaccused,Whydidntyoutell meitisoppositeLemonTree? GoogleMapshasmadetravelreallyeasyinIn- diaandworksalmosteverywhere.Theproblemis thatmostpeoplelivinginthosecitiesanddrivers in particular, refuse to accept that maps can be more accurate than their own knowledge, even though they may have never visited that build- ing,hotelorarea,everintheirlife.Youhavetore- ally bulldoze them into following the maps in- structionsandeventhentheywillstopandaskfor landmarksanddirections. And maps helps plan running routes. There- back to running! This month, I have already done runs in Delhi, Kolkata, Coimbatore and Chennaiandhavemanagedtofindgreatrunning routes just by studying maps in advance. From the wide roads around Lodi Estate, to the 2.8 km loop around Salt Lake Stadium and the Kolkata Hyatt, to the Pudur lake area in Coimbatore and the deer roaming freely in IIT Madras, I would never have been able to find any of these by just askingthehotelstafforlocals. Being typecast, non-runners woes, disinter- ested Matunga readers, Google Maps and run- ning routes! Echoing Seinfelds, something about nothing3, heres a little of something for everyone.Ha! D onBoscoInstituteofTechnologys annual tech festival begins today, but if you are planning to visit the institutehopingfortheusualpost- ers, stalls, theme decorations and students cheering for the participants, then you are going to the wrong place. The right place,infact,wouldbeonline. This is the second year of the institute opening the online two-day festival Tek- nack to students from other colleges. And Teknack 2013 has already seen more than 300registrations,includingabout10partic- ipantsfromBoston,US. With the theme for this years fest being 'Race to Space', the participants need to compete virtually in space, with scenarios ranging from inter-stellar war games, space shiplogomaking,andspaceeconomicsand space diplomacy (typing your way out of trouble). Some other interesting events include hackingagalacticstockmarket,aspacequiz, a Google puzzle, and a treasure hunt that wouldtakeyoutotheedgeofthewebspace. The idea of taking the tech fest online is the brain child of professor Amiya Kumar Tripathy,datingwaybackin2005. "Forthefirstfewyears,thiswasjustanin- tra-collegefestival.Wewerentsurehowthe idea of a tech fest without individual pres- ence was going to be received by other col- leges. But last year, we made it inter-college and the response of overwhelming," said Tripathy,anassociateprofessorwiththein- stitutesComputerSciencedepartment. HOWTOREGISTER Volunteers from the institute have already approachedvariouscollegestogettheregis- tration done. The willing participants have beengivenauniqueregistrationcode.Once a code is generated, the participant can go online,logintowww.teknack.inandpartic- ipate,"saidSujeetSinha,thechairmanofthe festival. For those who havent registered, youcanstillplaygamesintheinformalssec- tion of the website. The organisers have even set up multiple servers with back-ups toavoidanyservercrash. "Last year the server had crashed due to heavy traffic. Next year, we are planning to makethisatechfestivalonanationallevel," saidMirzaAliImran,headofcomputerengi- neeringdepartment. Sinceit'sonline,peoplefromanypartof theworldcanparticipate,headded. The festival goes live from Friday mid- nightandwillendonSundaymidnight.The winnerswillgetafreestayinGoa. ItsStarWarsat techinstitutes onlinefestival Teknack 2013 has already seen more than 300 registrations, including about 10 participants from Boston RAJU SHELAR The theme for this years fest is 'Race to Space', and participants can compete virtually in space, in scenarios like inter-stellar war games, space ship logo making, and space economics Pooja.Naik @timesgroup.com Inthesecondyearofitsannualtechnologyeventonline,citysDonBosco InstituteofTechnologyhasreceivedanoverwhelmingresponse