Milestone 1: And the Journey Continues...

Through the opening years of this campus, a relentless series of questions nagged its students and their parents alike. They dealt with the major issues facing a student: Placements, Admits to universities for MS/PhD and other matters concerning fresh graduates. These questions were often answered speculatively with phrases like, I think; the more wary I hope being oft used. However, with the first batch of students graduating in 2008, at least some of these questions can be answered firmly on the basis of factual evidence. The answers are more than reassuring. On the placement front we have seen recruitments from major MNCs like Cisco, Yahoo, Oracle, NI, Nvidia, Vedanta and John Deere to name a few. For those seeking admissions in universities abroad to pursue their masters or doctoral degrees, encouraging news is now combined with the guidance and support of the batch that has now been there and done that. We know of a total 131 admits from the Goa campus, going to 37 students. There are outstanding examples like that of Roshan Sumbaly who was offered admits to Berkeley, Purdue with fellowship and Stanford among others, Akash Raman who has taken up a PhD with fellowship at Harvard University and was also offered an MS Engg. at Cornell. These and other outstanding achievements highlight the admits list of the 2004 batch BITSians from Goa. Statistics boast of eight admits in Purdue, four in Carnegie, three in Stanford , one in Harvard, one in Berkeley and many more at other premier institutes abroad. These statistics combined with the encouraging experience of a whole batch of students, should make us proud and confident BITSians who add the words Goa campus not in hushed tones almost as an after thought, but as a point emphasized with a glint of pride.

Going international!
BITS Pilani- Goa Campus in collaboration with The Journal of Environmental Research and Development (JERAD), Bhopal will be organizing the 2nd International Congress for Environmental Research (ICER 08) from 18th to 20th December, 2008 in the campus. The above mentioned journal is an international and interdisciplinary Research Journal of Natural Sciences, Technology and Social Sciences for Environment. Its Head Office is in Bhopal where the last years Congress- ICER07 was held. The theme for this three day long Seminar will be Environmental Research, Planning and Management. There are five different sections under this theme, viz. Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, Technology, Social Sciences and Law & Management. The Organising Committee of ICER08 consists of Prof. L.K. Maheshwari (ViceChancellor, BITS Pilani) as Chief Patron, Prof. K.E. Raman (Acting Director, BITS Pilani- Goa Campus) as Patron, Prof. Subhash C. Pandey (Editor-in-Chief, JERAD) as Director- ICER 08, Dr. Vikram Dasgupta (Goa University) and Dr. Arun Singh (GGGC, Bhopal) as Co-Chairman; Dr. R.P. Pradhan (BPGC) along with Dr. Rahul Tripathy (Goa University) as Convener. Dr. N. N. Ghosh is the Organising Secretary for the same. Apart from these, we have a Local Organising Committee and a Scientific Technical Committee consisting of the faculty members of BPGC, Goa University, National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa and TERI, Goa . The last day for abstract submission is 14th September, 2008. Its a matter of pride for BPGC to organize another event of great international importance. It is noteworthy that, the 8th International Workshop on Bio-Sensors was also organized in the campus last year in October. Other members of the Organising Committee comprise environmentalists and dignitaries from eleven countries across the world namely-U.S.A., New Zealand, Argentina, Malaysia, Thailand, Iran etc. . It has also been planned to hold cultural programs during the course of the three day long Congress, whereby BPGC could showcase its cultural richness and also to provide entertainment to the visitors. Details about registration for the congress are available on the website http://www.icer08.org.

Editorial
The Team Pratik Mandrekar Shilpa Garg Rithika Ardeshir Shalini Lahiri Gowri Thampi Ralino Prazares Rithvic Rajah Abhishek Agrawal Sanjana Devaki Siraj Moopen Ankur Kumar Anish Agarwal Anurag Sharma Dinesh Vernekar Sagar Megharaj The conspicuous yellow streetlights and the hum of running air-conditioners are just a few of the changes dear ol Goa Campus surprised me with in our relatively wet (and how!) semester. Another sister campus admits students starting this academic year, weve a new director at the helm in Goa, six hundred new faces are unknowingly filling in the gaps left by the old absentees, we have new faculty, fresh courses are being taught, therere more books in the library and the English Press Club is now the Department of Journalism and Media Affairs (DoJMA). These might be random pieces of information but the buzzword which ironically, is here to stay, is change. The new batch of students deserves a little more than a mention here as the random pieces of information have been reported in other pages of the Herald. The 2008 batch though, seems to have settled in fine from the looks of how The Big Break went off. Of course, well only truly know how much BITSG got to them once they start head-banging to anything with a drum track. Or trace out patterns of white fungi onto sheets of paper. And name the figures after little known revolutionaries. Maybe I AM getting a little carried away, but the juniors will have found at least one of the many ways to deal with the change that is BITSG by the end of the semester. For lack of better things to do, Ive separated and will list down the various reactions to change there are (or I think there are). (1) The Embracer. You welcome change with open arms and make the most of the conditions. You always look on the bright-side and in this case it isnt the tube light. (2) The Rebel. Strong Opposition. You are either the incumbent or the blood relation of one and youll act to set things right again. A more passive form of this reaction brings us to (3) The Whiner. Self explanatory, you eventually walk the line. (4) John Mayer. It's not that we don't care, we just know that the fight ain't fair, so we keep on waiting (waiting), waiting on the world to change. (5) You dont care enough. No name for you, really. (6) Pink Floyd. And then one day you find ten years have got behind you, No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun. What change? I was trimming the grass. And finally, the proverbial (7) Being the change you want to see. This ones my favourite and thats not just because its the most clichd on the list. Were leaving out the category of editors with self-deprecating humour and I wont elaborate on (7) lest this turn into an obvious preach-fest. Write to us if you think of other proverbial nuggets that could have been fitted here or write to us anyway. Your ideas, suggestions and feedback are greatly appreciated at DoJMA. Also, a heads up to budding writers, reporters and interviewers: The Department of Journalism and Media Affairs is having inductions soon. Contact us at- djbpgc@gmail.com The Department of Journalism and Media Affairs has been established in our campus with the main aim of handling the print and visual media. The activities of the department concern bringing out campus and festival newsletters, handling media relationships, sending out press releases to media all over the country, web content management and wall magazine updates. Apart from this the Department is in the process of organizing skill building workshops, building live content management and news documentaries, development of an internal web portal for the campus, interviews of the Whos Who on and off campus and a segment on social leadership and technical aspects of Journalism. In June, we released a Summer Issue catering to the needs of the aspiring 2 BITSians which had an outreach of more than 2000 people across the country.

The BITS Herald

Aditya Sanyal Arjun V.J Anurag Gaur Divesh Kumar Dushyant Tiwari Gaurav Singh Girish Malkarnekar Karan Kumar Khushboo Megha Ghildyal Mohit Verma Nilesh Gaurav Nitesh Jain P. Raghavendra Datta Sanjay Kumar Saumil Srivastava Shekhar Iyer Suramya Munshi Varghese Antony

Prof. K. E. Raman, who is the new acting director of our campus, after his post graduation from the Madras University pursued a teaching career in BITS-Pilani since 1978, where he also served as the Dean of the Engineering Sciences division. DoJMA spoke with him regarding his views on the Goa campus and where he plans to see it in the near future. The excerpts from the interview are as follows: Q. What is your first impression of BPGC and what role do you perceive our campus to play in the international scenario? A.I am well acquainted with the campus since I was involved right from the planning stages, I find little difference between the students of Pilani and Goa campuses, both being equally enthusiastic. One particular thing that that I uniquely identify with this campus is the BITS360 website, it has created a big impact. For example, it had inspired people like Mr. Adil Mistry who is an alumnus of Pilani campus to come to Goa and conduct a course on creative multimedia. Q. With the placement season approaching, there is a general concern among students over the number of core companies visiting the campus, what would you like to say to them? A. Placement is a dynamic process; you should not expect every company to visit each time. It will take a bit of time; the first batch had very good placements. The impact that your seniors make in their respective companies will also be a crucial factor. Our immediate target is to find as many companies as possible. We are also trying to connect to our alumni in high positions in different companies for this purpose. As time passes, the index of dream jobs and pay packages will increase. The students should work towards developing their core competencies and do more projects. Q. There is a scholarship programme named after our late Director Prof. T.C. Goel, what will be the criteria for it? Also, will students from our college get to appear for prestigious scholarships like the Goldman Sachs Global Leaders, the GE foundation, the Aditya Birla Scholarship which have traditionally been the domain of BITS Pilani students? A. The criteria for the scholarship is yet to be decided. Probably, the money allotted-a sum of Rs.15,000 can be used for funding projects related to Quark. I would like to discuss it with the student body on how to make best use of it. As for the other scholarships; they are equally open to the students of both the campuses. Q. Most of the students are not happy about certain things; we would like your take on each of them:A. Food Hygiene-Fortunately in Goa everything is under a contract. Students are the stakeholders and if they are not happy then they should send in their grievances through a proper representation and appropriate actions will be taken. I have also directed that all the workers in the campus be given an ID card from the medical centre after checking if they have any contagious disease. Q. Do you plan to relax the 11:30 rule and setup an All Night Canteen in the campus? A. I am nobody to relax or tighten, dont think that Director is the only person who can take such decisions. I would like the student body to discuss the matter and act accordingly. You have to raise the issue in the proper forum, if it is required we can have it, but the only thing that I will not relax is academic standards. Anything which impedes the academic process should not be encouraged. Q. Students are not happy about the Internet timings. What is your take on the issue? A. I feel that students are wasting their time on Internet. Personally Ill be happy if the facility is used only for academic purposes. There should be a sharing of the facility for better bandwidth. Again, there should be a user committee for this purpose. I see no reasons for the final year students requesting continuous net in their hostels when they can come to the main institute building during day time and use it at any point of time. Q. What is your policy towards our cultural festival Waves and our technical festival Quark? About the extent of industrial participation and outreach? A. People who are elected should have a passion for doing work. I will be the enabler to facilitate whatever is required to be done. I feel that we have not yet tapped the alumni resources adequately. I would be happy if the person inaugurating the festival is a BITSian. One thing I would like to specifically point out over here is the contribution made by the Information System pass outs from the Goa campus to their academic association by establishing a scholarship for the students. If this model clicks it will really be a great thing for the campus and a day will come when no BITSian pays for his education during his stay here . He would contribute to the fund after graduation. Q. We have limited choices when it comes to electives. How do plan to improve the range of electives that are being offered? A. Ours is a new campus, the number of electives will grow with time. My effort is to implement teaching in an innovative way i.e. experiential learning. For example Mr. Adil Mistry and Mr. Tapan Desai have come to teach courses related to project management, multimedia computing etc. I feel that this method will be more effective. I am also calling a few management people like Dr. Bhaskar Bose, from Kolkata and teaching staff from Pilani. I believe that offering more number of popular electives will attract people rather than simply increasing the range.
3

PLACEMENT STATISTICS (2007-08 2ND SEMESTER)

The BITS Herald

Average Compensation package

Computer Science - 4.9 lakhs per annum Information Systems - 4.7 lpa E&I - 4.0 lpa EEE - 4.0 lpa Mechanical - 3.6 lpa Chemical - 3.5 lpa No. of students who sat for placements = 209 No. of companies = 22 Total No. of Job offers = 335

The companies coming for placements this semester are listed below:
IT COMPANIES: Wipro, Satyam, Infosys, CSC, Aditi, Cummins, Exeter CHEMICAL: Sesa Goa, Sabre Holding MECHANICAL: Crompton Greaves, Fiorano, NTPC, John Deere EEE/ENI: Cisco (Networking), Wipro (VLSI), Cosmic Circuits, Redpine, Samsung, Tejasnet, Nokia Siemens, Motorola, Freescale, NTPC CS/IS: Yahoo, Cisco, Oracle MORGAN STANLEY, an investment banking firm, is coming for placements this semester to recruit IT Analysts. Students from all disciplines can sit for this company, which is offering a pay package of about 9-9.8 lpa. MICROSOFT, NVIDIA, NI, IBM and SCHLUMBERGER are yet to confirm.

FAQs: THE BITS CONSTITUTION

1. What is the BITS Constitution all about? -It defines the functions of the clubs and departments -It gives an outline for festivals like Waves, Quark, Spree and Zephyr - It gives guidelines to the CSA and the Departmental Associations 2. What about the Fests? - Each Festival has its own coordination committee (CoCo) comprising the department heads and festival representatives. - Schedules of festivals decided: Waves in 1st sem, Quark and Spree in the 2nd sem - Zephyr to be held in the 1st sem, incorporating Sports and Tech events along with Cultural events 3. And the Departmental Assocs (MESA, ASCII etc.)? -They are free to select events and event managers in Quark in coordination with the Quark CoCo. - The hierarchy in Assocs (Coordinator, sub-coordinator and Secretary) decided; sub-coordinator in charge of funds. - A member from each Assoc will be present in the Academic Council, a body which deals with issues like electives offered, syllabus of courses, clubs under the assocs, development and maintenance of labs etc. 4. Guidelines for the Council of Student Affairs (CSA). -10% of CSA budget reserved for technical purposes. At least 10% for cultural, atleast 10% for sport and 10% as contingency fund. -Election commission to take care of matters pertaining to campus elections and elections to the posts of the CSA. The members are directly selected by the Vice Chairman of the CSA. To contest for any post a candidate must possess a cgpa >6.00 and have no current standing disciplinary action taken against him/her. 5. What for the clubs? -Clubs can be formed by anyone by submitting an application to the CSA. Technical clubs come under the purview of Academic Council, and Cultural Clubs under Cultural Council. The functionality of the club will be under observation for one full semester before working permission is granted to the clubs to function. 4 - Certificates to the members of the clubs are to be issued by the office of the VP on a yearly basis.

A Tribute - Dr. Tara Chand Goel(1941Goel(1941-2008)

190 papers, 100 of them international. This achievement is enough to constitute a dazzling introduction to this man ..but to us, at BPGC, he was a mentor, a guide and a father. With 34 years of experience as professor at IIT Delhi, Prof. T. C. Goel played a pivotal role in making BPGC what it is today. A brave man, he took on the challenge of shaping a new campus from the grassroots level and his dedication and efforts lend to our pride in being students of BITS Pilani Goa Campus. Today, he is no more with us, but his legacy remains. May your soul rest in peace, sir. Thank you for everything.

Dr. Joy Anuradha (Faculty head, Humanities Dept.): My impression about Prof. T. C. Goel is from my interaction with him as the head of the institution. He was an inherently positive person- someone who inspired others. His personal strength and confidence was a motivating factor that many of us looked forward to on the professional as well as personal front. He encouraged communication and created an open communicative environment. Any faculty, student or even a member of the support staff could simply approach him- be it for guidance or just for expressing their grievances. He was indeed a memorable leader and an exceptional human being. Prof. B. J. C. Babu (Faculty member, Mechanical Dept): Prof. T. C. Goel was an extraordinary educationist with a vision. He was endeared to the students and faculty equally. During his short tenure of 4 odd years, he made BITS Pilani- Goa Campus prominent in Goa as well as in the national and international areas of technical education. Dr. P.M. Singru (Faculty head, Mechanical Dept): My heart is full of emotions when I pay tribute to our beloved Prof. Goel. He has guided and helped me in my personal and professional endeavours. May his soul rest in peace. Dr. Bharat Deshpande (Faculty head CS/IT Dept):

I have learned many things from Dr T C Goel, but the most important thing he taught me was how to respond to students rather than reacting. It was under his guidance that I learned how to respond in a balanced and calm manner to the student affairs. It was with his help that I have been able to strengthen the relations between me and my students. Dr. S.K.Ray ( Senior faculty, Biological sciences Dept): Dr. T.C.Goel was an extremely lively and cheerful person and was very active even socially. He had a cordial relation with all strata of people in Goa which was very helpful in the growing stages of our institution. He nurtured our campus with his experience and gave Goa a new face in the field of education.
5

The BITS Herald

Fast Times at PS I
After coming back from summer and listening to how my friends PSs went, I realised that most of them had rather uneventful PSs. The same cannot be said for me and my friends who did their PS in Surat and stayed at the NIT there. Seeing as how I witnessed only isolated parts of the event, what I present here are the facts as recounted by the main players. It had been barely 2 weeks into the PS when my friend Onkar, who was having breakfast at the NIT canteen, was suddenly approached by an individual who claimed to be a student at the NIT. A short conversation later, this individual (lets call him Mr. X) had offered to take Onkar around Surat on his scooter and show him the sights. This went on for 2 days or so, with Mr. X coming quite frequently to Onkars room. Around this time Onkars bag which contained some money, railway tickets etc. got stolen. That Sunday Mr. X came to Onkar with a laptop asking him to help him format it. The laptop which he came bearing however had a sticker on it announcing that it was the property of one Mr. Sanathan. On inquiring about that, Mr. X replied that Sanathan was a cousin of his who had also been in NIT but had just passed out and had thus gifted his laptop to his younger cousin. The story however made no sense as Mr. X was not South-Indian in any way. Onkar asked for a day or two to format the laptop and sent Mr. X away. On talking to his roommate, Harsh, he learned that Harsh had talked to Mr. X as well and had been given a completely different back story. At this point they started talking to some of the NIT seniors who were still on campus to try and find out if any laptops had been stolen. They soon found out that a senior named Sanathan had lost a laptop a couple of weeks earlier. At this point, after establishing Mr. Xs guilt, my friends launched their sting operation. They first contacted the local police station and made a formal complaint. They arranged for two plainclothes cops to come the next day in the evening at the same time as when Mr. X would come for the laptop. The next day Mr. X came for his laptop a tad bit earlier than expected. To keep him busy Onkar confounded him with talk on astrophysics while Harsh went to the police station and fetched the cops. Having explained to the cops that the owner of the scooter parked in the front of the hostel was the culprit, the plan nearly fell apart when another BITS student went and stood next to it and was almost mistaken for Mr. X. Luckily for him Onkar came down at the same time with Mr. X who was promptly arrested and taken to the station. There after interrogating Mr. X, it was found that the scooter as well as many other items in Mr. Xs possession were all stolen goods. Moreover, Mr. X it turned out was a college dropout and had never been a student at NIT. Mr. Sanathan was soon reunited with his laptop and Mr. X had a court date (which he later dodged, but thats a different story). It was happy endings all around except for Onkar who never saw his bag again, but such is life.

Dipping Cut-offs
The cut-offs for all integrated first degree courses have dipped as compared to last year for BPPC and BPGC. At BPPC, the drop in cut-offs has been relatively mild when compared to our campus, with an average drop of 4 marks in each discipline (Mech. - 328(2007) to 325(2008). In our campus, the figure is 15 (CS - 327 to 310, EEE 322 to 306, Chem. 296 to 281). The drop in cut-offs for the courses at BPHC, in spite of its first year, have been just 3-4 marks behind the cut-offs of the respective courses in our campus with the exception of Info. Sys. which has a higher cut-off at BPHC.

Did you know..

To pay through the nose - Meaning to pay heavily, possibly derives its explanation from the phrase 'nose' tax which was levied upon the Irish by the Danes in the 19th century. Those who did not pay had 6 their noses slit.

The BPHC fiasco

It opened, and it closed. The Hyderabad campus postponed the commencement of classes by a month, a move which has not gone down well with the new admissions. This is evident from the numerous angry posts at BITS 360 forum. Apparently, the authorities did not inform the students in advance that classes would begin only after 30th August and till then they were to arrange for their own accommodation. Most of the students had to go back to their homes, some of which were quite far off. The reasons given by the officials for the slipup are insufficient infrastructure, safety of the students and delay of construction due to rains. One post even went to the extent of blaming the authorities for unprofessional and unethical treatment. The post accuses them of trapping the students, who otherwise might not have joined, by seizing their originals. But amidst the sea of venomous posts, there were some which saw light at the end of the tunnel (the train?). They highlighted some of the striking features of BPHC like a pharmacy lab in collaboration with Dr. Reddys and a nanotechnology lab with IICT. Nano Science will be offered as an elective from 2nd year. The director of BPHC, Mr. V. S. Rao, formerly Dean of Practice School at Pilani Campus, has developed good relations with many companies during his tenure as the dean. This should help in placements. The number of senior faculty who have come from Pilani Campus is 12. Once the ring road is completed, BPHC will be 40 minutes away from any part of the city and 20 minutes from the airport. The first batch of students will get to start off fresh on a brand new campus-a great chance to nurture their leadership skills. They will benefit from the favourable location of BPHC, in the city of IT parks. Most importantly, they cant be on the receiving end of ragging.

Coming Out: The Big Break

The BIG BREAK this year, commenced on a patriotic note with "Vande Mataram" ringing through the auditorium. This was a occasion where the freshers hogged the limelight and they did not disappoint. The crowd enjoyed a cover of "Wonderwall" by Oasis but "Bharat hamko jaan se pyara hai" got the bigger roar from the crowd. The dancers enthralled the audience, dancing gracefully to the tunes "Aaj kal tere mere" and "Sabse aage honge Hindustani". There was also a break dance, a musical play and a short mime performance meant to be the curtain raiser for its Janmashtami day performance. Teaser Videos shown included one on QUARK09, TalkofCampus.com (A student venture by BITSians), Renaissance (A socio-political club), Nirmaan and the Electronics and Robotics Club. A good start, the Big Break indicates an eventful year ahead.

For young entrepreneurs

www.india.studentbusinesses.com allows students and recent alumni entrepreneurs to publicize their startups to potential mentors, investors and professional service providers by creating a simple profile for their startups. In addition, entrepreneurially-minded students who are not currently involved in startups can post personal profiles and browse through listed startups for potential recruitment and/ or Pick of the month internship opportunities. The site has partnered with entrepreneurship cells of the Along with the blazing heat, many of the IIM's and IIT's, apart from our very own CEL, as well as top investment many great tracks did the firms like the Indian Angel Network and Ojas Ventures. rounds this summer. Here's a list of the top 5 tracks. Hindi: 1. Pappu Can't dance Jaane DESI and VIDESI Tu, Jaane Na 2. Kabhi Kabhi Aditi This sem, BITS-Goa has seen some interesting new teachers. First up, we have our 3. Kahin Toh 4. Khuda Jaane- Bachna Ae own Mr.Karthikeyan, a 2008 M.Sc Phy+EEE passout from BITS Pilani, whos joined as a registered faculty in the EEE/EnI dept in Goa. Given a chance, he says Haseeno that people should opt for staying in Goa, rather than work for MS or Ph.D! 5. Socha hai- Rock On Next, we have a Videsi visitor, Julien Thielleux from Limoges, France. Doing his . Masters in Materials Engg. from ENSIL, Limoges, he has come to our campus on an English: exchange program. His interests lie in nanotechnology and surface engineering of 1)Viva La Vida- Coldplay materials. He says hes thoroughly enjoying himself here and adds. Im glad to be 2)Mercy Duffy at BITS, its such a dynamic campus. Im very happy here, and wish more people 3)Violet Hill- Coldplay from France will come to BITS. We hope what you say comes true, and heres to a 4)Lollipop- Li'l Wayne greater international presence for BITS! 7 5)4 minutes- Madonna

Weekend Destination Old Goa

With the monsoons lashing Goa unabatedly with all its fury, the beaches would not ideally be the right places to head to this weekend. We suggest paying a visit to Old Goa, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Goa. Located 9 km east of Panjim, Old Goa has some of the oldest Renaissance architectural structures of the state. The Basilica of Bom Jesus and Se Cathedral churches are among the oldest in Asia and are a must visit. The Basilica of Bom Jesus enshrines the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier, the patron saint of Goa. One can also visit the Archaeological Museum and Portrait Gallery. There are plenty of restaurants around and lawns can be used for picnics etc. If you are a fresher, this may be a best time to check out the capital city Panjim (if you havent been there yet). Catch the latest blockbuster at INOX or savour varied cuisines at the many restaurants and eateries dotted across the city. Panjim can be reached by Bus (from Vasco) or taxis. So go ahead have a great weekend!

Try this out!

How many words can you make from the letters in the wheel? Each word must contain the hub letter N. Can you find a 9-letter word and at least 25 other words of four letters or more avoiding proper nouns?

Movie Review-Persepolis
Persepolis is the ancient capital of the great kingdom of Persia, present day Iran. The name evokes images of grandeur, of large palaces and of noble kings. However, Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel, and later animated film of the same name, shows a very different perspective on life in a war-torn Iran. Satrapi's honest look into the revolutionary changes in Iran of the 70's and 80's, captivates the audience with it's poignancy and beauty. This autobiographical story tells of the way Revolution shapes the life of young Marjane and ultimately moulds her into a strong, outspoken adult. Little Marji grows up at the time the tyrannical reign of the Shah of Iran ends, ushering in an even more brutal reign, with relatives being tortured and killed. The strict regime imposes many restrictions on the Satrapis. And ultimately, the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980's, with air raids, food shortages and terror shape this unique person. Marjane ultimately embarks on a voyage of self-discovery to Europe, where she finds love, lives the hippie life, and learns to be proud of her origins. She comes back to Iran, only to leave 10 years later, with a resolve never to come back to such oppression. The story incorporates many haunting as well as satirical images. One that particularly struck me was when an uncle of a ten year old Marjane is about to be executed, he asks her to be his last visitor. What a terrible trauma for a child, to be living in such times! Another scene which appeals to me is when the young author walks down a road, and shady men in long, dark coats quietly sell the music of bands like Bee Gees, Pink Floyd, and Iron Maiden in black and running away when the religious police come. Can you imagine living in such bound, stifling conditions? The images, and the characters, especially Marjane's tough old grandmother, make a strong impact on the viewer. This is one movie you will not forget easily.
8