A fun tale from Meghalaya that tells why the Tigers and Monkeys cannot stand each other.
The Cry of the Crow is a beautiful tale told among the Sumi Naga tribe. It is about the strange experience of an orphan called Kohito who they believe turns into a black crow.
Not for the Bird-Brained!
A crossword featuring many of the residents and visitors of the winged variety that are commonly seen on the IIT Bombay campus.
Paracosm
A paracosm is a detailed imaginary world. The creator of a paracosm has a complex and deeply felt relationship with this subjective universe, which may incorporate real-world or imaginary characters and conventions.
The ABCs of Art
The broad purpose of art could be that of enriching the viewer with new experiences and perspectives, thus taking ahead our intellectual evolution, which we call ‘culture’!
Books Are Windows
Being Wise is Knowing What to Look At
Sailing into the Wind
Sunrise in an Unknown Mountain Valley
Sunrise Landscape
Locked In and Locked Out
The Tiger and the Monkeys
The Cry of the Crow
Be a Player
Beauty Lies in the Details
Asterix and the Curse of Covid
The year is 2020. The entire world is occupied by a deadly virus. Well not entirely! One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders.
A Betrayal Of Love
Food sustains life. But, what if you cannot trust the hand that feeds you?
The Leopard Who Came to Tea
How much fun is the IIT Bombay campus without its student population? Find out from this feline visitor.
Jack, Joe & the Locusts
A swarm of locusts devastate the crops of poor farmers till two plucky brothers come to their rescue.
Story Of A Story
Some stories stay with you. They live in your imagination and become a part of you. One such story was Goopi Gayne Bagha Bayne, a delightful tale I first heard…
For Children, By Children
This month we bring to you a “children-themed” issue of Fundamatics. And, by children, we mean for children and mostly by children who are connected to IIT Bombay through their…
The Duck in the Desk
While he was getting up, a duck hopped into his school bag pocket, without his notice.
Janaki
Sita, the heroine of the Ramayana, the great Indian epic, was found in a furrow by her father King Janak. The name Sita is derived from the Sanskrit word seeta which means furrow. She is one amongst the dozens of characters from Indian mythology, who is adopted.
A Comprehensive Guide to Rebranding
An irreverent, satirical, action-filled romp through Heaven, Hell and that little world in between. Laugh out loud as you read this delightful fantasy about Ari Havenmark matching wits with humans, Archangels, and the Devil himself ; you’ll never think of Hell the same way again, but then, that’s what rebranding is all about, right ?
Raja Bada-Moochee Dildaar
“Lucky charm! Your moustache!” cried the hermit, “that is your lucky charm. Never cut it!” He said solemnly.“As long as you let the moustache grow it will protect you.”
Foreword
Childhood, that chimeric phase in one’s life, where the one going through it, just wants to get done with it and those who have emerged on the other side wish…
Once upon a time, there was a small boy who lived in a big city. But he wished to live by the big, blue sea. One day, something wonderful happened. His parents took him to the seaside. The boy’s heart danced with joy.
April, 2020
No one knew that it would be like this. The reality of a pandemic is also the stillness of silence.
The nature of this silence is different; it is more an absence of manmade noise. Now there are no errant voices drifting across from the hostels, no sound of autos and sundry other vehicles laboring up the Sameer hill, the distant sound of traffic and horns that drift across the lake, not even the occasional construction equipment.
This is not the first time Fundamatics has dedicated an issue to the campus. This, after all, is not a typical university green space with formal, manicured gardens and lawns but a more naturalistic biodiverse landscape – a beautiful anachronism placed smack dab in the middle of an urban megapolis of Mumbai.
Maps of the institute invariably show a spur of land jutting out into the Powai Lake from the place where the trio postgraduate hostels stand. Upon this piece of land lies an impressive forest extending to the shores of the lake. This forest is part and parcel of IIT Bombay but rarely frequented by campus residents because the entrance to it is subtly hidden away from view. In fact, this peninsula, which has been known as Kol Dongri for long, can be considered an extension of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park to the north. Dubbed the El Dorado of birdwatching by none other than Dr Salim Ali (1896-1987), the “Birdman of India”, Kol Dongri is important for the unique geography that it sits on: it provides a woody and marshy ecosystem and is a waypoint for several species of migratory birds. Over the last couple of decades, Kol Dongri has been chipped away at for various purposes, most notably to build three student hostels and to house a construction workers’ camp. Today, the Kol Dongri forest has been reduced to nearly half of what it used to be just two decades ago.