Pearl 2018
Pearl 2018 was definitely a fest to remember. With its theme 'Memories of the Mile', it struck a chord everybody who had been bitten by the travel bug at some point in their lives.
The exhilarating performances in the inauguration, with the reverberating symphonies of Manan Sound Project, Alison Gabrielle, the Non-Violinist Project and Carnatic 2.0, the foot tapping beats of Tony Junior and AronChupa, the melodies of Amit Trivedi and Raghu Dixit Project, the humor of Ashish Shaka, and the dramatic prowess of Saurabh Shukla in his play Barff - our proshows offered something for everyone.
Our headliner events definitely made a few heads turn, with events like Glitterati, Fraglore, Till Deaf Do We Part, Terpsichore and HaHa Hunt witnessing previously unseen talent from around the country.
The film festival, Catharsis, the dramatics festival, Crimson Curtain, the quizzing festival, QuBITS and the photography festival, Photog Fest were also great successes.
This Pearl was also host to many renowned authors and speakers. Under the banner 'Pearl for Equality' and as a part of the YouTube Conclave, we were audience to many interesting and informative sessions.
Even the Mr. and Ms. Pearl contest was a huge hit which received many applications and brought out the best from the participants.
This Pearl saw unprecedented success with a footfall of 900 for events alone, and 6000 for the proshows combined. With exclusive features in well-known newspapers like the Hindu, the Times of India, Eenadu, Sakshi and Namaste Telangana, Pearl 2018 caught the attention of people all across the city.
Most importantly, Pearl 2018 gave us so many unforgettable experiences which we will cherish forever. Here's to the miles ahead and the memories we make along the way.
ARENA 2018
Arena, the sports fest of BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, is one of the three main fests the campus is known across India for, and, simultaneously, is one of the best, if not the best sports meets in the entire state of Telangana for students and youth. Arena, brilliantly named for a sports fest, has continued to up the expectations and set benchmarks for itself over the years since its inception. It has been growing and allowing each and every one of its participants grow in experience and mental strength. It’s not the zeal, the organizers, the students, nor the dedicated contender base that has made Arena one and only; the place “where legends are born”.
Arena had been born in a campus still young. Back then, in 2013, it was built from ground up by one Department, along with others like Dopy, Dove, Department of Arts and Deco, that was custom made for handling this, and only this fest. The Firewallz. They made Arena a resounding success for the first time it was organized. There were hundreds of participants from across various Institutions, and sports clubs. Since then, it has grown leaps and bounds to the brand that it is now.
How much exactly Arena has grown is apparent from the fact that earlier, turnout used to be in hundreds. Now, it’s in thousands. Earlier, our own grounds and facilities were enough for the participants. Now, facilities from outside have to be availed. Firewallz booked not one, but two outside Cricket Grounds for the players. Prize Money has increased by thousands, encouraging new players to try and win in the fest tournaments. We have attracted contingents not only from all over the state, but also all over India. There were 3,500 contenders, while many more came to watch. Among the players, needless to say, were people from colleges from the length and breadth of the country. We had NITs like NIT Warangal, NIT Trichy, etc, as well as participants from IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur among other reputed Colleges like JNTU, or Osmania University and many more others from throughout India from all major cities. All this has been possible because of the nationwide name Arena has become. Sponsors and participants this year tended to contact us, before we contacted them so that they can further themselves for being associated with the name of Arena, and that, in itself is quite commendable from a campus that is as young as ours.
In Arena 2018, Chief Guest was Mr. Henry Menezes, an ex-Goalkeeper for the Indian football team, currently the CEO of Western Indian Football Association. Pepsico, an international organization of insanely high reputation, was the title sponsor. Other main sponsors included the Zubi Academy, a Hyderabad based sports academy of National repute, and the Oval grounds. Oval Grounds sponsored the Cricket grounds booked outside campus. This year, the official Arena Pro show was by Candice Redding, who gave an awesome performance.
Most of all, the people for whom Arena is made of and for, the sports community of BPHC gave a commendable performance. The sheer dedication, due to which the athletes and other competitors were seen in any time of the day in the field, or in the sports rooms of the SAC, paid off, as BPHC emerged as the single team with the highest number of collective medals amongst any other college or association. In chess (Boys), Tennis (team), Table Tennis (boys and girls) and Football, our campus won Medals; Chess, Table Tennis team, and Tennis team winning Gold, and Table Tennis Girls and Football team winning silver medals.
One of the main attractions for Arena this year was the Inter BITS tournament. Other than the Pilani contingent not attending, the tournament was an overall success. Goa and Dubai sent their teams, each team winning a few medals. Hyderabad, of course, won the highest number of medals. The Goa contingent was huge, containing over 100 people.
In closing, Arena was a success, as always. New things were tried to improve the experience. An app was launched and maintained solely by the students on campus, in tandem with the website designed by the same students, which provided live feed and other news to the attending people. Participation was larger than ever. Organizing Committee became more organized and vigilant themselves (they were able to secure sports facilities, grounds with rates almost half of previous rates with their experience.) The entire event was flawless, with almost no major hiccups in sight. Most important of all, those who attended had nothing but nice things to say, that we, as a campus were able to gift them some beautiful memories and experiences.
ATMOS 2016
The ATMOS 2016, the National Techno-Management fest of BITS, Pilani – Hyderabad campus was inaugurated on Thursday 13 October 2016 by Dr. Tessy Thomas, Project Director of Agni – V, DRDO, Hyderabad. Prof. G. Sundar, Director presided the inaugural function. ATMOS spanning over 3 days from 14 October brings a plethora of exciting contests, workshops, lectures and much more. Over 15000 students from all over India are expected to participate in ATMOS’16.
During the inaugural function, BITSAA - Prof. S. Venkateswaran faculty excellence award for 2015 has been awarded to Prof. P. Yogeeswari for her immense contributions to education, students and the institute by the Chief Guest Dr. Tessy Thomas.
Convocation 2016
The Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, Hyderabad Campus held the convocation ceremony for its graduating students of 2016 batch on 14 August 2016. Dr. S. Christopher, Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development & Director General, DRDO graced the occasion as the Chief Guest and was joined by Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Souvik Bhattacharyya, Director – Hyderabad campus, Prof. G Sundar, along with the senate members, faculty, and staff. The state-of-the art auditorium was filled with excitement and enthusiasm of the graduating students, their parents, faculty and staff.
675 graduating students of First Degree, 60 of Higher Degree and 30 of Ph.D Programmes were awarded degrees on the occasion. Mr. Aditya Chandrasekar, Mr. A. Sai Darshan and Ms. P. Sarguna Janani were awarded Gold, Silver and Bronze medals respectively for their outstanding academic achievements.
Chancellor, Dr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, in his message, encouraged the graduating students to stay focused and cultivate self-confidence. He further added, “I want you to reflect on how privileged you are, and how you must seize the opportunities this education has opened up for you. There is a French phrase ‘noblesse oblige’. It literally means ‘nobility obligates’: that those who are privileged have an implicit obligation to those who are less privileged, and to the larger society and world around.”
The Chief Guest, Dr. S. Christopher, emphasised on the need of sustainable development and the challenges associated with it. "Being a scientific community, let us make a positive difference to the future of the society and the health of the planet,” he said. While wishing the graduating students good luck in life, he encouraged them to empower the nation with their education and advised them to always aspire for deepening and broadening their knowledge.
Presenting his annual report and sharing the future roadmap for the University, Vice Chancellor, Prof. Souvik Bhattacharyya, said that BITS Pilani’s industry engagement programmes like the Practice School and the Work Integrated Learning Program (WILP) are corner stones of the educational philosophy of BITS. “BITS Pilani values work experience as a significant element of student learning and helps students discover how they learn via work experience.” With over 400 research-focused faculty members joining, the Research Seed Grant Scheme has been revised to help them compete with the very best in India.
Director, Prof. G. Sundar, reviewed the achievements of BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus during the academic year 2015-2016, bringing to light the various opportunities provided to its students and faculty. He mentioned that the campus is not only committed to achieving excellence in research and development but also keen on promoting innovation and entrepreneurship. Conveying his wishes to the graduating students, he said, “Our endeavour is that the education in this institute will have prepared you to face the challenges ahead with confidence, to serve your chosen professions, the nation, and humanity with distinction, and serve as a strong foundation for lifelong learning in this rapidly changing world.”
Prof. G. Ravindra Kumar, Senior Professor at the Department of Nuclear and Atomic Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai received the Distinguished Alumnus Award 2016.
10th Foundation day Celebrations
On Thursday 28 April 2016, the 10th Foundation day was celebrated at BITS, Pilani – Hyderabad Campus. As part of the celebration “ Abhinandan Samaroh” for BITSians in Civil Services was held. This was a first-of-its-kind group wherein BITIS Pilani connecting with BITS alumni in Civil Services, and arranged a felicitation which should go a long way in sensitizing the students to opt for Civil Services. 80 BITSians in Civil Services were invited of which 18 of them were able to attend the function. They were felicitated by Prof. V S Rao, Acting Vice Chancellor for their academic achievement and contribution to the Society.
Dr. BVR Mohan Reddy, Founder and Executive Chairman, Cyient and Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT – Hyderabad was the chief Guest.
On this occasion. Prof. Rajendra Srivastava, Dean ISB; Mr. K Padmanabhaiah, Former Union Home Secretary , Prof. H P Tiwari, Former Professor of Chemistry of Pilani Campus, Mr Chandramouli , first Civil Servant from BITS, Pilani and Mr. Srini Raju, Chairman Peepul advisors, were the Guests-of-Honour.
BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus has come up and is doing well in all spheres of its activities. Today, there are 3300 students and 180 faculty members are in the campus. The first phase of the construction was completed in 2014 and now the institute has embarked upon the second phase for building infrastructure to accommodate more students and staff.