Weekly Journal | Issue 1 | August 2012

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August 18: Indian cricketer VVS Laxman announced his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect. The decision ends his career spanning 16 years as one of India’s finest batsmen. At a press conference in Hyderabad, Laxman announced “I would like to announce my retirement from international cricket with immediate effect. I think it’s the right time to move on”. The announcement was made after Laxman was picked for the two match test series against New Zealand beginning from August 23rd. The stunning decision was made on home ground. Laxman, however, made it clear that he will continue to play for Hyderabad till this year.

One of the most memorable moments in Laxman’s career would be the 281 run he made in March 2001, resulting in an ex-traordinary win against Australia.

Laxman made his test debut in 1996 against South Africa and since then has played 134 tests. He scored his first test century was in 2000 against Australia, following which he has made 17 test centuries in his career. He ends his international career having scored 8781 Test runs at an average of 45.97 and 2338 one-day runs at an average of 30.76.

"As a youngster it was dream to represent India and it took lot of pride to wear India cap” said Laxman. “I think it is time to give youngsters a chance at home ahead of a tough season. I have always kept the country's success ahead of personal aspirations” he added.

Iraqi officials say a string of attacks have killed at least 93 people, as the extent of the violence grows clearer and mourners start to bury their dead.

The attacks began early on Thursday in the north of Iraq and ended with deadly bomb explosions near busy markets, restaurants and ice-cream parlours shortly before midnight.It was Iraq’s deadliest day in more than three weeks.

The attacks seemed intended to create fear and undermine faith in the Shia-led government’s security measures ahead of what was supposed to be a Eid al-Fitr holiday weekend.

More than 190 people have been killed in violence across Iraq since the start of August, showing that insurgents led by Al-Qaida’s Iraqi franchise remain a lethal force eight

months after the last US troops left the country.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Co-ordinated bombings and related attacks are a favourite tactic of the al-Qaida offshoot, known as the Islamic State of Iraq.

Another bomb exploded near an ice-cream parlour and vegetable stalls in the capital’s Sadr City, another poor Shia district. A black, mangled car sat in the middle of the street. Broken chairs and blood-stained fixtures littered the pavement. That blast killed 14, the authorities said.

Thursday’s attacks were the most deadly in weeks. On 23 July, a string of co-ordinated bombings and shootings left more than 100 dead.

Laxman retires from international cricket 93 people die in Iraq attacks- Anjana Premchand -By Shirsha Majumder

Bangalore: Once compared to the city of Singapore, Bangalore is now continuously encountered with questions of it still being safe or moving towards becoming the next crime capital after Delhi. The city with a pleasant weather and environment attracts people from all around to come settle here for work and education. For some people it is like their perfect paradise but for the other it is an in-process crime city. Having every element of fun and frolic in it, the city still has certain parts where the crimes are growing bside the growing capital.The number of girls migrating down to this city is increasing every year which is positive but with it there is no denial of the fact that the place isn't safe.Megha Bhatt, from Dehradoon says that there are girls who

regularly carry precautionary tools like pepper spray, Swiss knives or chilli powder in their bags. “Even I keep a Swiss knife with me but don't think Bangalore has still reached the stage where I could actually use it.” She also tells about her hostel located in a far off place Dodajala which is very isolated from the main city. “The only solution after a point of time is to take lifts. Though we feel very risky but we have to go for it.”According to the teen crowd, the Pub city with places like Brigade, Lavelle, Mg, Koramangala etc. form the true heart of the city where there is no question or any feeling of insecurity within the girls but the earlier incidents continue to make them conscious about the place and time.A Mumbaikar but a resident of

Bangalore since 10 years- Nandini Ahuja, studying Animation in MUBC says that it is not that unsafe either. “I hang-out with friends, I party with them and within these years I am familiar with every nook and corner.” She compares Bangalore with Mumbai by saying that this city keeps early restrictions for the safety of girls. Police checking is tight after 11 here where as in Mumbai the night life stays till 1.Priyanka Arya, an MBA (Media &Entertainment) student from Lucknow states clearly that she makes sure she has no gold ornament on her when she's going out somewhere, says that the local buses are very vulnerable to this.Adding to the bus services, there are many who put up with the main bus station of the city- Majestic as

a great thing of concern. Majestic, known for its rush hush and the local crowd 24x7 is still feared by a lot who try avoiding it most of the time. Anni, a girl who has just moved to this city from a small place Buxar says that Majestic was the only way which connected her college to her far off place in Banshankari but because of the

nuisance of the people there by their comments, she has to take the outer ring road now.Life in the city is how you carry it forward. Your safety lies in your hands. It is a time when women have to be bold and confident and tackle all the hindrances and make way for herself which lead her to her future.

- By Shirsha Majumder Are Bangalore Girls safe enough?

Making our mark !

‘Deviance’ are a five-piece experimental metal outfit based in Vellore Institute of Technology. The band is char-acterized by dreamy cleans, tight grooving, fluctuating time signatures and chuggy riffs played on 7-string guitars summing up to its peculiar sound output that equips what their name means.

“Vishnu (the vocalist) came to my room in hostel one day searching for a guy who also plays the guitar and wanted to show off his skills with his acoustic. After fifteen minutes of playing and singing, he gave me the guitar and asked me if I knew how to play haha. I played for like ten minutes and he went ‘dude what the hell did I just see?’. That’s when it all started!” says Arunabh the guitarist, playfully.

Despite the members of the band pursuing one of the most painstaking academic disciplines- engineering, destiny had them bagging awards at inter-college com-petitions such as Pegasus, Festember X, Pythoigia, Autumn Muse and the mother of all band competitions, IIT Chennai’s PowerChords. They’ve been sharing stage with other elitists in the field such as Mumbai metal giants- ‘Goddess Gagged’, since then.

These guys manage to carry off their presence on stage across to the audience in songs like “Factor VIII” and “Discordant Vigesimation” which manifest fragments of misanthrop-ic emotions attached to it both musically and lyrically- making it inevitable for the equally frantic crowd to growl along, as ‘sing-along’ would be an understatement. The members of the band have an ample range of influences stretching from Pearl Jam, Tool, God is an Astronaut- all the way upto Textures, Lamb of God, Sikth, Meshuggah, Karnivool, Periphery, Tosin Abasi and the likes.

“After a series of line-up changes in our primitive days, I think we’ve now found ground to release an EP in

about a few months time” says the drummer, Vallath. The demo tracks up on their facebook page for free listening sound substantially promising .

The band’s venture on es-tablishing with the rest of the world, the anomalous sounds that run in their heads has proved fruitful to a limited extent from where, it’s resentment to cutthroat money minting intentions of most of this generation’s commercial and mainstream musicians.

“The Indian underground has

risen from a pale shadow of imitation of western fads, to breaking new ground with some of the more recent and numerous acts. When was the last time Indian musicians got signed by contempo-rary western labels, laying to waste the metal hammer awards ? If anything, the time for Indian underground music is NOW” says Vishnu Nair.

The next time you find Deviance playing in a city near you, feel free to fist-bump these humble, down-to-earth and talented musicians into small talk.

Layout: Tajinder Pal Singh Writers: Anjana Premchand. Ashish Livingston, and Shirsha Majumdar

Seven-string breed- by Ashish Livingston

Deviance is: (left to right) Anuj Shah- Guitars [4th year, B.tech Electrical and Electronics Engineering] , Vallath Jaykay - Drums [3rd year, B.tech Mechanical engineering] Arunabh Bhattacharjee- Guitars [4th year, B.Tech Electronics & Communication Engineering], Aditya Mishra- Bass [4th year, B.tech Mechanical engineering], Vishnu ‘Baba’ Nair- Vocals [4th year, B.tech Computer science]

If you look past confusing interpretations of terms such as ‘comics’ and ‘graphic novels’, there is a whole new world of evolving literature. Below are few novels that have been appreciated for their originality and captivating characters.

Blankets Wrapped in the landscape of a blustery Wisconsin winter, Blankets explores the sibling rivalry of two brothers growing up in the isolated country, and the budding romance of two com-ing-of-age lovers.

From hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell chronicles the tale of Jack the Ripper. There has been many a book about the infamous serial killer, but this one is different. It explores the world through the eyes of ripper himself, and jumps to everyone who’s affected by him.

The Principles of Uncertainty

This book collects the paintings of Maira Kalman who makes paintings with words in and around them. The book is filled with beautiful, lyrical frozen moments.

Persepolisby Marjane Satrapi, in which a Paris-based Iranian exile, tells the story of her life in Tehran from the age of six until, at 14, she is sent away to Europe by her parents.

Ghost WorldDaniel Clowes’s cult classic tells of the adventures of Enid Coleslaw and Beck Doppelmeyer, two bored, supremely ironic teenage girls as they spend their days wandering aimlessly around their unnamed American town.

Alice in SunderlandBy Bryan Talbot explores the connection between Lewis Carroll and Sunderland (Carroll’s family came from the city, and his sister lived there long after he had disappeared to Oxford) and the way local myths are made.

By Anjana PremchandGraphic it is