Fundamatics

Category: 2020

  • Team Zero Waste

    Team Zero Waste

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    Core Members of Team Zero Waste

     

     

    A mountain of disposable waste has become a norm for large scale gatherings and events, with IIT Bombay being no exception. Whether it is the half marathon, Mood Indigo, Techfest or any other big event, heaps of waste especially that of disposable plastic bottles has become a usual sight. Serious rethinking and efforts are needed to conduct such mass gatherings in an environmentally sustainable manner. One such effort was made by Team Zero Waste during the IIT Bombay Half Marathon, which is annually held on the campus in October. 

    Team Zero Waste, is a student organisation for students from various programmes and disciplines at IIT. It aims to improve the management of waste at IIT Bombay and to reduce the amount of waste that is sent to the Kanjurmarg landfill.

     


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  • Seeds of Change – Segregation at Source @ IITB Hostels

    Seeds of Change – Segregation at Source @ IITB Hostels

    Photograph by Hermes Rivera

     

    Eat, attend classes, study and sleep – it’s the same daily routine for every inmate in IIT Bombay hostels. In this process, students also send their trash to the Kanjurmarg landfill through the current waste management process. This out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach towards the waste generated by every student has had our waste entering a myriad of places including landfills, oceans and waterways brimming with trash. A significant part of this jumbled up mess can be put to reuse, however, it becomes challenging to segregate the recyclables from the waste as it is compacted before dumping in landfills.

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  • Tales of Glory

    Tales of Glory

    When you live on a green verdant campus it is almost expected that you would be interested in nature and wildlife. I have been captivated by animals as a whole since I was young, but my interest in photography and the avian genus began in the thick forests of Kanha National Park. Renowned nationwide for its tigers, leopards and other exotic animals it holds a special place in my heart for igniting my passion for birds.

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  • Keeping the Campus Green

    Keeping the Campus Green

    NSS team members, IIT Bombay: Top row (left to right) Jahanvi Akanksha, Tejaswini Narwade and Vaibhavi Agrawal; Middle row (left to right): Shaan Ul Haque, Shubham Varankar, Saieesh Jirwankar, Yatendra Gupta. Bottom row (left to right): Hari Krishna Sai and Kushank Jaiswal.

    Whenever one visits the IIT Bombay campus, the thing that can never go unnoticed is the green cover in the midst of the metropolitan city. Our institute being blessed by such great floral diversity, we at Green Campus NSS IIT Bombay put in dedicated efforts in binding together humans with this nature. 

    If you do ever have a walk along the roadsides, the white placards on the trees are something that catches everyone’s eye. Four years ago when there were none of these, no one ever bothered to notice the greenery. With a vision to make people stand by these trees and make them appreciate the resources we have in the institute, the team of Green Campus department of NSS IIT Bombay went on identifying the species of the trees on several routes in the Institute. Within a few weeks, all those trees had a placard that identified the tree. 

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  • Cutting Through Disconnection

    Cutting Through Disconnection

    ‘Did you see the video? A leopard was roaming the campus at night!’

    ‘How did it even get there?’

    ‘Where was security?’

    ‘What about our kids who go to school there?’ 

    ‘They should hire armed security to ensure safety.’

    The evening news and evening-after WhatsApp group-messaging binge make a cocktail laced with paranoia masking as a parental concern.

    I re-read the messages, spotted a rat snake lick the window wire-mesh and after a boring while, slither down the wall.  

    I’ve become cautious with my watching – holding back on the immediate allocation of harmful intent – to a living creature I do not understand. 

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  • Fly, Fly Thou Pretty Butterfly

    Fly, Fly Thou Pretty Butterfly

    During one of my many meaningless browsing sessions through absolutely unconnected and random sites (as one is wont to do in the hostel), I stumbled upon a 2009 WWF report on the biodiversity in the IITB campus. It was a long, long report, with no photographs and lots of data and I soon got bored. But I gleaned something from it – there are over a hundred species of birds in the campus and about 85 species of butterflies. This was unbelievable, to say the least, for I did in no way remember seeing more than 20 kinds of birds I guess till then and had identified even less. So started my journey in looking for these elusive birds and photographing them. Butterflies were entirely not on my mind. I was absolutely sure I would never be able to photograph these tiny, flighty, delicate creatures who always seemed to be busy fluttering.

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  • Lens View of Birdlife at IITB

    Lens View of Birdlife at IITB

    The Ficus tree at Kshitij adjoining the IITB Hospital was abuzz with activity. The Coppersmith Barbet, Mumbai’s official City Bird, rang out its tuk tuk tuk tuk call as it bobbed its head from side to side. Not far away, a male Oriental Magpie-Robin sang uninterrupted, its attention focused entirely on the female close by. The male followed his mate from branch to branch with a string of persuasive, imploring notes, sometimes choosing the highest vantage point for a perfect delivery.

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  • The Sorrowless Tree

    The Sorrowless Tree

    One of the most beautiful trees in the IIT Bombay campus (and it is hard to pick one!) is the Sita Ashoka (Sarca indica). There aren’t too many of them but one finds this tree in different parts of the campus – a prominent one between Gulmohur and the Staff Club and another strikingly beautiful one tumbling onto the road between Tansa and H5. The tree is arrestingly lovely, when in full bloom.

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  • The World of Folklore and Mythology

    The World of Folklore and Mythology

    January, 2020

    In the age of Alternate Facts and Fake News, Fundamatics thought it would be interesting to devote an issue to Folklore and Mythology. This is not an attempt at being flippant but to an honest effort to bring together a collection of diverse stories from various parts of the country. Folklore is how a People imagine their past and themselves. Folk tales become icons of cultures, and in turn, cultures get manufactured around these tales. The tales are told in various art forms – storytelling, singing, theatre, paintings, sculpture and handicraft – and in turn these art forms shape the tales. We are constrained here to limit ourselves to the written word but the written word is no mean instrument – as we shall see* (hum dekhenge ).

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  • Storytellers: The Tribe of the Hope Whisperers

    Storytellers: The Tribe of the Hope Whisperers

    When humankind attained wisdom and knew all that is good and bad. There was born the teller of tales; a small tribe of people (men and women), who watched and observed what no one saw. Creative, imaginative, highly skilled and having a perfect understanding of the human psyche, these people have the ability to touch the human heart with their words alone. To weave tales, by laying the selective warp and weft of time and space. Piece by piece, word by word, they build up perfect universes out of nothingness. Like a conjuring artist. They transpose the partakers in a time and place removed from the present. This ability gives them immense power, for unknown even to themselves they can mould and shape the thoughts of an entire generation. Call them influencers if you will. 

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