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(This article is written by Ankur Lalwani, B. Tech., Part II, Civil Engineering. He can be contacted at: ankurlalwani [AT]gmail.com)
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The video gaming scene in IT is as varied as the multitude of cultures that amalgamate here. The spectrum of games comprises of genres such as Action, Adventure, Strategy, Racing and RPGs (Role Playing Games). On one hand, we have conservative gamers not thinking beyond CS and AOE whereas on the other hand we have gamers playing the latest games such as Crysis, Assassin’s Creed, Gears of War and BioShock. Coming to think of it, around 90% of IT junta plays games on a regular basis, with over 20% being hardcore gamers and 10% being so addicted that they aren’t able to think anything beyond gaming.
Coming to the most played games in our institute, Counter Strike ranks the highest in popularity. For the uninitiated, Counter-Strike (abbreviated to CS) is a tactical first-person shooter video game which originated from a Half-Life modification. The game pits a team of counter-terrorists against a team of terrorists in a series of rounds. Each round is won by either completing the mission objective or eliminating the opposing force. The thematically varied maps maximize tactical possibilities with alternate routes, multiple levels, and abundant cover.
In addition to a knife and assorted grenades, there's a wide variety of accurately modelled pistols, shotguns, submachine guns, assault rifles, and sniper rifles. Each weapon has unique characteristics, so mastering them all and learning which is best for different situations is a necessity. Guns also have varied kicks, which makes full automatic fire a "spray and pray" affair - as in real life, short, controlled bursts are best for accurate fire. Effective weapon ranges are well simulated, so shotguns are brutal in close quarters and useless in large open spaces. Location-specific damage modelling means that shots to the head are more likely to get an instant kill. Although skill and aim are very important in CS, in clan matches what matters more is the strategy and coordination of the team.
Counter Strike is also famous for the culture surrounding it, which includes everything from professional gamers and leagues, to excessive cheating and disruptive behavior. Certain professional teams such as SK Gaming, MYM.PGS Gaming, alternate aTTaX, mousesports and fnatic earn their living out of it. The 2008 Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) was won by MYM.PGS Gaming and Masters of Paris went to mTw. The Korean team e-Stro surprisingly knocked out fnatic in the semi-finals and was the runner-up in ESWC 2008.
In IT, the currently reigning team is ATD comprising of Hercules, Gurjur, Shanky, Spawn and Method. Their last visit to IIT-Roorkee showcased a highly appreciable performance. Notable teams include BTO (Custy, Instinct, Resshin, Gaemon, search for 5th continues), eP (Tachyon, Ruud, Satan, Kyle, Sadwed), Xelnz (Ransak, MahaRavana, Virus, Tornada), F5 (Triky, Solo, XXX, Crosshair), Stunnerz (Neo, Rattle, Hiro, etc.) and others.
As Gurjar says, “The craze for CS is not only due to the tactical shooter it is but also due to the ease with which it runs on almost every PC and also the kick of always being able to play it over the LAN. Love it or loathe it, CS continues to be the most played multiplayer game in IT and will remain so until newer games take over.”
In the RTS (Real Time Strategy) genre, we have Age of Empires (abbreviated to AOE) which is highly popular and is played all across the institute. For the non-gamers, AOE is a strategy based game set in the Middle Ages. The player directly controls the citizens, and can order them to move or attack (all units except for trade carts, transport ships and trade ships), construct new buildings, gather necessary resources (villager units), and perform a range of other tasks, such as repair damaged buildings or garrison inside castles or town centers for safety. To advance through the ages, certain requirements must be met, such as the building of certain structures, and the payment of resources.
In an arena game, it is generally thought impossible to get in the enemy's area without destroying the wall but it is not always true. If the enemy has two gates adjacent to each other aligned at 90 degrees, then the player can simply put a watch tower in the empty cell touching both the gates and then garrison his villagers and army inside the watchtower and ungarrison inside the enemy area.
Also it is worthwhile to know that the isometric rendered landscape features different elevations of terrain and any unit having a higher elevation than the one it is attacking receives an attack bonus.
One of the most notable AOE clan in IT, AysyA presently comprises of AysyA_clanster (Bharat Dhaker 4th Mining), AysyA_tastehell (Manvendra Saxena 4th Ceramic), AysyA_Bittu (Rahul Srivastava 4th Electrical), AysyA_Sasa (Amrendra 3rd Ceramic) and AysyA_Vegeta (Neeraj Soni 3rd Engineering Physics).
It is also interesting to note that all the AOE players from IT have got dream jobs right away. Maybe their strategic thinking processes work in real life too. AysyA_Vegeta echoes,” If people think that only nerds can play AOE and waste their time then they are wrong. This game is for every good strategist. It develops your mind to think of new strategies not only in the game but in real life too. And this is the only reason why the spirit of AOE has remained alive even after so many years of its launch and it will always remain the students’ favourite strategy game ever.”
Also popular are NFS Most Wanted and NFS Carbon, World of WarCraft, Crysis, and Unreal Tournament 2004. Some gamers (particularly single player lovers) also play Tomb Raider (Legend and Anniversary), Prince of Persia (Warrior Within and The Two Thrones), Call of Duty (2 and 4), Rise of Nations, Half Life Series, Quake 4, Gears of War and others.
This gives us a glimpse of the ever changing gaming scene in IT-BHU. As of this writing, newer games are being adopted by ITians with the acquisition of better and better gaming PCs. So be prepared for an overhaul of the gaming scene which may happen anytime soon. Till then, have a Happy Gaming.
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Additional links:
1) World of WarCraft
Watch one minute video at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m28HE5ZL4WMEG7
2) BioShock
http://www.2kgames.com/bioshock/enter.html
3) About video games in Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game
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We publish here photos of Manoj Gupta as well as painting done by him, which were forwarded by Ishita (daughter) and Prateesh (son).
The album is also posted on: http://www.itbhuglobal.org/chapters/geo/delhi/archives/2008/12/manoj_gupta_79.php
 (From left to right: daughter Ishita, Manoj Gupta, wife Shashi and son Prateesh) |  (Manoj Gupta-standing 2nd from left at IT-BHU) |
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Paintings by Manoj Gupta
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This article about Manoj Gupta in Merinews is written by our alumnus Yogesh K Upadhyaya (Chemical 1977).
http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=15708922&catID=2&category=India
Manoj Gupta’s murder: More skeletons in the cupboard
The recent murder of Manoj Gupta, the PWD executive engineer in UP has stirred the hornet’s nest. The state government is far from clean. Facts here are provided based on the discussion with surviving family members of the slain engineer..
CJ: Yogesh K. Upadhyaya ,
THE RECENT murder of Manoj Kumar Gupta on December 24, 2008, shook our nation. The 54-year-old Manoj was working as executive class-I engineer in the Public Works Department (PWD) of Uttar Pradesh and was posted at Auraiya district, about 150 kilometers from Lucknow. He was killed by local MLA and district president Shekhar Tiwari of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for refusing to provide a large sum for the birthday celebration fund drive for the state chief minister Mayawati.
The murdered engineer is survived by his wife Shashi Gupta, mother Kiran Bala Gupta, daughter Ishita and son Prateesh. Manoj graduated from the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IT-BHU), Varanasi with B. Tech. in civil engineering, in 1979, and M. Tech., in 1981. He is the second alumni from the college to die fighting corruption. In November 2003, Satyendra Kumar Dubey (B. Tech. civil 1994 from IIT-Kanpur and M. Tech. 1996 from IT-BHU) was murdered by the mafia from the state of Bihar when he exposed the corruption in highway construction projects.
Ironically, Manoj was transferred against his will from Mathura to Auraiya, in July 2008, because his straightforward way of working, which was not liked by vested interest groups. His mother Kiran Bala received an award from Akhil Bharatiya Vaishya Sabha at a function in Kanpur on January 25, 2009, for the Manoj’s efforts to fight corruption.
The murders of law-abiding and honest engineers leave some of the questions remain unanswered. First, it tells us about the level of corruption in the state-level construction projects and the revenge by criminal elements with utter disregard to a person’s life or the law. Second, it tells us of the birthday extravaganza carried out by past/present women chief ministers in some of the states (Mayawati in UP, Rabri Devi in Bihar and Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu, for example). No one can dare to commit such crime without the tacit approval from the higher ups in the state government.
This calls for reforms at the political level. Government agencies should be allowed to investigate the source of collection of funds for political birthdays. It should also ask for the account of utilisation of funds. Any politically motivated murder of government staff (such as an executive engineer) should be automatically investigated by the central agencies, such as the CBI, to free it from the state government’s interference and to provide justice to the victim’s family.
There is also a need for reforms in election rules. As per own admission by Mayawati, about 40 per cent of her party MLAs in the state have either criminal records or have been charge-sheeted. The same is true for all other parties and for some other states. Under the current Representation of the People Act (1951), anyone sentenced to more than two years’ imprisonment is barred from contesting elections till a court of law stays the conviction and sentence. The election rules need to be further reformed to include the candidates with lesser degree of crime and those with multiple offenses.
According to informed sources, Shekhar Tiwari himself came, alongwith five-six goons, to Manoj’s house demanding money, started beating him, and stating that he (Manoj) is not signing bills/documents of contractors on dotted lines, unlike the earlier engineers.
The case came up in the district court of Auraiya. The family was under pressure from local politicians as Tiwari is also the president of the Auraiya district unit of BSP. The family requested the state government to shift the case from Auraiya to Lucknow for Manoj’s safety.
The murder of Manoj has also brought out some discrepancies between the news covered by media and the facts. For example, there was a news item, which stated that the surviving family of the slain engineer has surrendered to chief minister and has withdrawn the demand for the CBI enquiry for the murder case.
However, according to informed sources, on January 13, (two days before the birthday celebration), Mayawati called members of the surviving family at her office, where she and some officials were present. The members were persuaded to drop the demand for CBI enquiry, adding that the state government will expedite the case at the earliest to the fullest satisfaction by the family, and that the CBI enquiry can be done at a later date if the family is not satisfied with the progress.
The government then offered the family a government staff quarter in Lucknow and agreed to transfer the case from Auraiya to Lucknow court. The state government also offered a position of class II officer to Prateesh (son of Manoj), who is currently working in a software company in Bangalore, and he is still undecided about it. Under the given circumstances, any surviving family would have accepted the offer.
The offer by state government for a quarter and a job are as per the government standard rules for any deceased employee.
The family’s decision to drop the CBI enquiry is understandable, given the special circumstances. A CBI enquiry can drag on for years, straining resources and sometimes without any conclusion or verdict. According to the current administrative setup, law and order are under the control of respective state governments. Thus the CBI team cannot step in the state unless the state government gives green signal. This needs to be changed, particularly when the members of state’s ruling party are involved in the crime.
As per the latest news, expressing extreme disquiet over close nexus between police and criminalised politicians and their goons, the Allahabad Court has directed the state police to expedite the investigations in the case and asked a lower court to complete the trial within six months.
It is to be seen what punishment is awarded to the accused Shekhar Tiwari and his accomplices.
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(The following report on the inauguration of Malaviya Smriti Bhavan is provided by Shri Panna Lal Jaiswal. He has been associated with Malaviya Mission for a long time and currently National Working President of the Mission. He can be reached at: bhumahamana@bol.net.in.
The inauguration speech of the former President of India, Prof. APJ Kalam was published in Chronicle December 2008 issue on Reports Page.
More info about Smriti Bhavan at: http://www.malaviyamission.in/smritiBhawanMore.htm)
MALAVIYA SMRITI BHWAN
(National Memorial of Madan Mohan Malaviya)
52-53, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg, New Delhi-110002
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The National Memorial of Mahamana Madan Mohan Malaviya was inaugurated today by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the Former President of India at 52-53, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg, New Delhi.
Addressing the distinguished alumni of Banaras Hindu University who came from all over the country to attend the function held on the 147th birth anniversary of Mahamana Madan Mohan Malaviya, the Founder of BHU, Dr. Kalam exhorted the gathering to learn from the life of Malaviya ji. He said, “Righteousness and purity of life that we imbibe from education finally leads to order in the nation and peace in the world. Capacity building initiative comes from inculcating the spirit of enquiry in a child, with creativity and the use of technology in enhancing the capability and inculcation of entrepreneurial skills to enable them to become life-long earners.”
Dr. Karan Singh, Chancellor of BHU and Chief Patron of Mahamana Malaviya Mission, inaugurated the exhibition “Mahamana” highlighting the contribution of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya in the Freedom Movement, the Congress, the founding of Banaras Hindu University and development of science and technology in the country.
Dr. Bhishma Narain Singh, a BHU Alumnus, and the Former Union Minister and Governor, invoked the spirit of Mahamana Malaviya ji and appealed to the Alumni to emulate his ideals and values in their day-to-day life. He expressed the hope that the Memorial will function as a light house guiding and inspiring the younger generations to work for the betterment of the country.
Shri Panna Lal Jaiswal, National Working President of the Mission, appealed to the three eminent leaders present on the dais, namely viz. Dr. Karan Singh to dedicate his remaining life in spreading the teachings of Vivekanand and Aurobindo, to the Gandhian Leader Dr. Bhishma Narain Singh to work for the inculcation of Gandhian and Malaviyan values in the ruling class and younger generations and finally to Dr. Kalam to ensure that India was at its excellence in the field of science and technology.
The Memorial building “Malaviya Smriti Bhawan” is designed as a model institutional building in terms of high standards of specifications, modern technology, aesthetics and look. The Bhawan has:
i. Multipurpose Hall on the Ground Floor
ii. A Convention Hall with seating capacity of about 150 persons on the First Floor
iii. Two Committee rooms with oval-shaped tables, with seating capacity of 25-40 persons and retiring rooms on the Third Floor.
The Museum and the Research-cup-Reference Library is located in the Basement. The building has provision for kitchen-cum-pantry, lift, modern fire detection and fire fighting system, standby power back supply, bore well and underground storage tank for continuous uninterrupted water supply.
The objectives and programmes to be undertaken from the Smriti Bhawan are given in the next article.
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Malaviya Smriti Bhawan-A Centre for National Renaissance
By: P. L. Jaiswal
The BHU Alumni and those who cherish the values dear to Mahamana Madan Mohan Malaviya have raised Malaviya Smriti Bhawan as a Centre for national renaissance. It would function as the light-house for reawakening the national and re-energizing the youth to save our culture and make India a strong country.
The British came to India in the 17th century primarily for trade but took advantage of lack of national unity, annexed major parts of the country and ruled it: Their case was of economic invasion. But in the post-Independence era, what we are witnessing today is cultural invasion through western media. In the absence of strong national character and rampant corruption eating away the very vital of our national fabric, the danger is all the more grave. We must act before it is too late and all what is best in Hindu culture is lost.
With a view to propagating the ideals and thoughts of Mahamana and the best values of our culture, the Mission would undertake the following programmes from the Smriti Bhawan:
*Provide facilities and reference material for research on the life and work of Mahamana Malaviya ji.
*To establish Malaviya Education and Cultural Foundation to take up educational programmes based on –Gurukul Concept with emphasis on Character building, provide Financial support to such institutions and promote such values in other institutions.
*To take up developmental programmes ‘Samagra Vikas’ in tribal and neglected remote areas on the pattern of ‘Vikas Bharati’ project in tribal Gumla District of Jharkhand State.
*To take up social service programmes for the upliftment of the weaker sections of the society.
*To work for restoration of moral values and probity in public life.
*To take up programmes aimed at national integration.
*To take up programmes to acquaint the children of NRIs with India and its culture.
*To conduct socio-economic research projects.
*To develop and run educational programmes such as coaching and counseling, computer training etc. for educated unemployed youths and assist or co-ordinate with other educational institutions in such activities.
*To organise Workshops, Seminars on subjects relating to education or other burning issues of the day.
*To conduct residential schools, hostels, orphanages.
*To set up high-level committees of experts to prepare blue-print/action plan for:
(i) The economic development of the country on the lines drawn by Madan Mohan Malaviya suiting the ethos and the specific requirements of our labour intensive country.
(ii) Education base on character building, patriotism, inculcating discipline coupled with the high grade technology of the Developed countries.
(iii) Judicial reforms for instant time-bound judgements.
(iv) To control of corruption eating away the very vitals of our social fabric.
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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Varanasi/BHU_must_initiate_character_building/articleshow/4054014.cms
30 Jan 2009, 1820 hrs IST, TNN
VARANASI: The Banaras Hindu University is passing through a transition period and there is no doubt that the university will emerge as the
epitome of quality higher education in the country: Opined Pannalal Jaiswal, an octogenarian alumnus
of the university and working president of Mahamana Malviya Mission, New Delhi, while talking to media on the concluding day of the National BHU Alumni Meet (NBAM) 2009 on Friday.
"The university has huge infrastructure and there is no lack of funds for building, equipment and other resources. But, still it has to play a leading role in character building to fulfil the dreams of its illustrious founder and emerge as the centre of excellence in the country," pointed out the man who has spearheaded the establishment of Malviya Smriti Bhawan (Malviya memorial building) in the national capital recently.
Speaking about the elegant modern institutional building (established at the cost of Rs 4.50 crore) in the heart of the national capital, he said it would become a centre for national renaissance, cherishing the values dear to Pt Malviya. "The building is established with a view to propagate the ideals and thoughts of Mahamana and the best values of our culture in the country," he added.
It may be mentioned here that former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam (also the visiting professor at BHU) inaugurated the Malviya Smriti Bhawan in New Delhi on December 25, 2008, to mark the 146th birth anniversary of Pt Madan Mohan Malviya in the country.
Acknowledging the efforts of BHU Alumni Cell that helped to raise the building as the centre for national renaissance, he said it would function as the light house for reawakening the nation and re-energising the youth to "save our culture and make India a strong country."
"What we are witnessing in the country today is cultural invasion that can be fought only with strong national character and BHU can definitely help in this direction," added the man who did his research in agriculture from the university in 1946.
About Pannalal Jaiswal
Shri Pannalal was born on November 5, 1924. He did M. Sc. in Agricultural Botany in 1946 from Institute of Agricultural Research, Banaras Hindu University in 1946. His specialization includes career in Journalism and Scientific Research Communication.
He held the positions (among others) as Scientist In Charge, Publicity CSIR; and retired from the post of Chief Editor and Head of Publication & Information Directorate, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture, in 1986. Since 1942, he has written over hundred articles for newspapers and magazines. He wrote three books on scientific subjects, one of which was awarded UNESCO Prize.
He is very active in BHU and its alumni work. He founded Mahamana Malaviya Mission with the help of BHU Alumni in 1978 for restoring the pristine glory of the alma mater and propagating the ideals and thoughts of Mahamana Malaviya ji. He raised Rs. 4 crores from BHU Alumni for the construction of the National Memorial of Mahamana Madan Mohan Malaviya "Malaviya Smriti Bhawan" in New Delhi, which was inaugurated by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the Former President of India on 25th December 2008.
He was given the Distinguished Alumnus Award at the IIIrd International Alumni Meet held at BHU on 6-7 January 2007.
Even at the age of 84, he continues to actively work as National Working President of Mahamana Malaviya Mission
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Following is the citation received by Pannalal Jaiswal in 2007 BHU Alumni Meet, where he was presented with Distinguished Alumni Award.
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Citation
Distinguished Alumnus Award
Shri P. L. Jaiswal
Having been in the midst of August, 42 Movement, of which the BHU was epicenter in North India, Shri P. L. Jaiswal took his Masters Degree in M. Sc. (Agric. Bot.) from BHU in 1946. After a brief two years term as Science Teacher, he took up active journalism and was associated with “Aj” Hindi Daily of Varanasi and “Pioneer” of Lucknow for the next four years.
He joined the Central Government in early 1953 and worked as Editor/Publicity and Public Relations Officer in the Department of Post & Telecommunication, ICAR and CSIR for 33 years and specialized in Scientific Research Communication.
His first book “Towards Improved Agriculture” was awarded UNESCO Prize in 1958. His next book was on “Coarse Grains”, the staple diet of the poor, written at the instance of Late Babu Jagjivan Ram. His third book was on “Editing and Production Manual” with stress on writing on Science subject. In 1979 he became the President of the Association of Science Journalists.
He has been writing on scientific subjects since 1942 when he was still a student. His articles are mostly on scientific and agricultural topics. His series on the contribution of CSIR Labs under “Impact of Research on Industry” was widely published in newspapers during 1966-68.
He retired as Chief Editor, Indian Council of Agricultural Research in 1986. However, much before that in 1978, he along with other colleagues called an All India Meeting of BHU Alumni in Delhi and founded the Mahamana Malaviya Mission of which he is presently the Working President. The Mission was set up with the sole objective of propagating the ideals and values dear to Mahamana Madan Mohan Malaviya and restoring the pristine glory of their alma mater, the Banaras Hindu University.
As a result of his effort, the memory of Mahamana Malaviya Ji has been revived all over the country and the National Memorial of Mahamana, “Malaviya Smriti Bhawan” is coming up in New Delhi.
In view of his contribution in the field of Science Research Communication and dedicated services to the alma mater and the Motherland, he is awarded distinguished Alumnus Award of this University.
IIIrd International Alumni Meet
January 6-7, 2007
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
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Malaviya Smriti Bhavan, New Delhi
(Inauguration of Malaviya Smriti Bhavan, New Delhi on December 25, 2008)
Middle Photo (inauguration ceremony) from Left to Right: Justice Giridhar Malaviya, P. L. Jaiswal, Dr. Karan Singh
Bottom Photo (on dais) from Left to Right: Shri Bhishma Narain Singh, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr. Karan Singh, Justice Giridhar Malviya, P.L. Jaiswal.
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Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi 221005, UP