Saplings Edition II

Editorial When you do something for the first time, it is just realizing your dream. When you do it again and

keep on improving, you build something valuable, you build a Legacy. A Legacy is what 10 professionals

along with others built and gifted us when we joined MindTree. And of all the gifts in life, a legacy is the

best to give, because with a legacy comes the responsibility of maintaining it, sometimes ameliorating it

and then passing it on to the future generations. With the launch of this second edition we look towards

creating a legacy. A legacy that future campus minds, MindTree minds and even our customers can in-

herit in the form of a magazine.

As they say to improve is to change and to be perfect is to have changed a lot. Keeping Vrukshak’s

international reader base in mind, “Vrukshak-The GenY Splash” has been rechristened to “Saplings-The

GenY Splash”. This is our first change, hope it leads us towards perfection.

In this edition, listen to Anjan in Connecting the Dots, feel the techie with Tech Tonic, Vocab Booster,

Just the Facts and LiveOrchard @ Orchard Beats.

We take this platform to thank all our readers for the support and encouragement. May our “Saplings”

forever grow as we water it with all of your love and feedback. For feedbacks and queries write to

saplings@mindtree.com

Team Saplings

Supreeth Srinivasan, Deepa Shekar, Joyce Mathew, Omkar Ajit Solapurkar, Archana Bhat, Spandana S. Dhaduti, Mehul

Jay Dharamsi, Sanidhya Nanavati, Ajit Pathak, Anchal Subhash Sachdev, Ashutosh Khare, Kumar Balijepalli, Ravi Raj &

Satish Inamdar

Connecting the Dots

When I think of the ‘Orchard’ the mental image is of a sapling, sprouting out of

the earth, vibrant, fearless, green, carefree about appearances - confident of its

beauty, eager to grow in perfect harmony with all fellow saplings.

Welcome to that place and welcome to what is possible.

The only limitation to achievement is your own imagination. You must aim always

to remain hungry to learn more. The best way to do that is to ask yourself ‘what

do you not know?’. And plan to add one new skill into your arsenal every year on

a planned basis.

And the best way to get to know what you do not know is to read and to listen. That way you will

become more aware of what other people know and help you set a course for yourself.

In the Orchard, there is no past, only the future. My best wishes to you, every Orchard mind, to achieve

what you can with collaboration, dedication and acquired expertise.

Anjan Lahiri

President & CEO, ITS

Saplings Vol 2 2

3 Saplings Edition II

The best time to miss a train is at a crossing.

Did you know? Justin Bieber is googled more than Jesus.

T he most powerful tool of TCP/IP network

protocol is Torrent. Though it is not stated by

some great organization or ranking committee, with its

apparent assertion, one can’t overlook the existence of

torrent. So don’t you want to dive deep into this

fantabulous world of torrents and see how torrents

actually influence us?

What is it and how to use it?What is it and how to use it?What is it and how to use it?

BitTorrent was designed by Bram Cohen, way back in

2001. This protocol helps the user to share a large piece

of information over the Internet (here large can be

anything, yes anything!). You just need to download a

simple desktop application to be a part of this

revolution (E.g.: µ-torrent or bit torrent, etc.). And voila’!

You have access to a gargantuan collection of data.

Isn’t this great? Another thing which adds to its

prominence is speed, ease of file transfer and its

surreptitiously adaptable Algorithm. BitTorrent protocol

is based on distance resolution algorithm for sorting

out the most favourable path to transfer a simple file

with least possible time and cost! For the information of

little non-nerdy geeks, it is fast, simple and believe it or

not, torrent apps are coded in the fundamental C++

language.

How torrents actually work? How torrents actually work? How torrents actually work?

The most important part of a torrent is

“downloadable torrent file” which contains the Meta

data (Information about data) of the locations from

where files are to be downloaded. Hosts (that’s you

with your desktop or laptop) download the file(s) with a

certain rate depending upon a synchronization

algorithm followed by the BitTorrent protocol.

When you have downloaded certain amount of data

which is some percent of the actual data file(s), you also

become a donor (i.e., you can act as a server for

someone). This means that you can download

information from the server as well as from other hosts.

Plus, you also provide a definite data to some other

hosts which are already downloading from server. So

instead of server slowing down, it distributes the load

amongst other users. If you upload more, then you are

allowed to download more.

With great power comesWith great power comesWith great power comes great responsibilitygreat responsibilitygreat responsibility

Torrents are mammoth reservoirs of data. But a word of

caution, most of the sites provide pirated, pornographic

and illegal material. It is your moral responsibility that

you should endorse legal websites. As a Programmer

Analyst, as a part of the IT Civilization and as a

responsible citizen, we bet, you don’t want your, self-

crafted-software being illegally distributed on some

website. Raise your voice against Piracy. Download

legal stuff!

--- Sanidhya NanavatiSanidhya NanavatiSanidhya Nanavati

Orchard 2011 – An eventful year in many terms. From the number of campus minds inducted to the innovative method-ologies, Orchard had a complete makeover. Self Learning and Laptops for campus minds were the key features of Orchard

2011.

Orchard Byte

Saplings Vol 2 3

Tech Tonic Torrents

Useful Tips and Tricks in MS Word

Double clicking on a word selects the word and triple

clicking selects the entire paragraph but if you want to

select just a sentence hold down ctrl key and click on

any word of that sentence.

If you want to send in comments to an article your

friend has sent you, just highlight the word and click the

review tab in ribbon bar and select new comment.

MS Word contains an inbuilt thesaurus if you want

use it. The simplest way is to highlight a word and then

just press SHIFT + F7. Pretty simple!

Selecting text horizontally is easy but in case if you

want to select text vertically just hold down ALT key and

use your mouse.

To password protect a Word document, click on File

> Info > Protect Document > Encrypt with Password.

An easy way to add bullets is to type asterisk and hit

space. Same can be done with numbers and hyphen.

The superscript is done by placing the cursor at the

right end of the word and hitting simultaneously Ctrl

Shift +. This places the cursor in a higher position. You

can at this point simply type in the superscripted mate-

rial, and then repeat the Ctrl Shift + keystrokes to return

to the normal height. Subscripts are done similarly, ex-

cept that the defining keystroke is Ctrl +.

If you want to type (e) , (c), (tm) or (r) the auto cor-

rect options automatically convert these into following

symbols €, © ,™,® . So to retain the original text that

you intended to type, use CTRL Z (undo) the symbols

will be converted back to normal text.

You can create tables in Microsoft Word by simply

typing out a string of PLUS SIGNS (+) and MINUS

SIGNS (-). Start the row with a plus sign (+) and then

type minus sign (-) until you have the column width you

want. To add a new column, type plus sign (+) again.

When you're done type a final plus sign (+) and press

'ENTER'. Word turns your text into a table. To add more

rows to your table, move to the last cell in the table and

press 'TAB'.

---Satish InamdarSatish InamdarSatish Inamdar

Linked List

Did you know? Twilight was rejected by fourteen publishers before

finally getting published.

Remember seven days without God makes one weak.

On-boarded 1811 campus minds from across the

country in 3 locations – Bangalore (1459), Chennai(232)

and Pune (120). They joined us in batches spanning

through the year in June, July, August, November and

February. We had a total of 11 batches for the year – 5 in

Bangalore, 3 in Chennai and 3 in Pune.

Orchard Byte

Did you know abhor and adore are antonyms.

Narcissism was actually named after Narcissus who

was enchanted by his own reflection. So a narcissist is a

person who loves himself.

Egregious means outrageously bad, flagrant. So an

egregious person is the one you would like throwing

eggs on.

For those who don’t know what Redemption

means , it is deliverance from sin, salvation, and rescue

repurchase, as of something sold. Remember ‘The

Shawshank Redemption’.

Calumny, castigate, chastise, deride, derisive, dero-

gate, diatribe, harangue, lambast, oppugn, pillory, rebuke

all mean criticism/criticize

VocaBooster

Sketch Book

Saplings Vol 2 4

--- Suvarna PrachandSuvarna PrachandSuvarna Prachand

5 Saplings Edition II

The Technical training program catered to 13 Practices with TTG-JAVA, TTG-DOTNET and Testing sharing the highest num-bers followed by DAS, EAI, SAP, PES, Embedded Technology, IC Design, OpenSource, Sharepoint, WebSphere and Murex.

We believe in team work. Everybody does what boss says.

A ung San Suu Kyi is the icon of

peaceful resistance in her

struggle for democracy. She was

awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in

1991 for her non-violent struggle for

democracy and human rights. She

stands as a symbol of Myanmar’s

struggle for democracy and of the

global struggle against oppression.

Being in jail for the past 21 years, she is the most

prominent of more than 1000 political prisoners held by

Myanmar’s military government. In 1988, she formed and

became General-Secretary of the National League for

Democracy (NLD) and travelled the country, calling for

peaceful reforms and democratic rule.

In July 1989, in an effort to silence her, the military

government placed her under house arrest, accused of

“endangering the state”. She was offered freedom if she

left the country but she refused. A year later, the military

government called a general election-Myanmar’s first in

30 years. The NLD scored a landslide victory, although

Aung San Suu Kyi was barred from standing. The military

refused to acknowledge the result and extended her de-

tention.

Her struggle for independence continued, she spent 8

years in jail and lost her husband in 1999. In 2009, she was

convicted of violating the condition of her detention by

allowing a US national to stay at her home. Her arrest and

subsequent trial received worldwide condemnation, in-

cluding the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki moon, the UN

Security Council, Western Government, South Africa &

Japan. On the evening of Nov 13th 2010, she was re-

leased.

On April 1st, 2012, the NLD announced that Suu Kyi had

won the vote for a seat in Parliament. Her party was

victorious with getting 43 out of 45 contested seats,

officially making Suu Kyi the leader of the opposition in

the lower house.

Did you know? The most children born to one woman was 69 -- She had

16 twins, 7 triplets, and 4 quadruplets.

Saplings Vol 2 5

Knowing ‘Aung San Suu Kyi’

F irst of its kind, 'Business Of Business' is an initiative taken

by MindTree to enhance its business connect with Cam-

pus Minds. It began on May 2nd with 190 campus minds, 22

days and 22 business lessons taught by the Titans of MindTree

and a revolution enkindled- A revolution towards being DE Best.

There was a rush among the campus minds with mixed feel-

ings. Few thought "Awesome!! Sounds interesting.." and some

went "I don’t understand why should I be attending this… I write

code… understanding business is not my thing!". But somehow,

everything fell in place and the BoB revolution kick started.

The framework of BoB was divided into two aspects: Organi-

zational Basics & Domain Specific. Organizational Basics com-

prised of the sessions on The Making of MindTree, Significance

of NASSCOM, Organizational Hierarchy & Competitiveness,

Personal Productivity, Leadership etc. whereas the sessions on

Domain Specific framework were more detail oriented like IP,

Finance, Marketing, IT industry, Digital Marketing, eCommerce.

The key aspect that most of us often miss out is to realize and

know our place in the business pyramid. We do agree that most

of us write code, analyze them or test them. But we fail to un-

derstand that it is not important but imperative that we are well

acquainted with the "Language of Business". Whatever is your

job, at the end of day it should be communicated in business

language. You may be the most brilliant code developer but if

you cannot convince the very need of it, there is no point in

developing it in the first place. BoB was successful in making the

campus minds cognizant of the significance of the language of

business.

A Campus Mind says "BoB brought MindTree closer to us. We

now not only know our strengths & weaknesses at an individual

level but on an organizational level as well. Meeting Mahadev,

whose story is mentioned in ‘The Professional’, was a wowsome

factor." One of the founders made a remarkable quote during

the BoB initiative - "Being a professional is not about having a

degree, it is doing your job unsupervised". BoB has certainly

triggered this professional revolution.

BoB – The ‘B’ Revolution

---Ajit PathakAjit PathakAjit Pathak

---Spandan DhadutiSpandan DhadutiSpandan Dhaduti

Orchard Byte

Orchard Beats!

Krishna Shingala

S ome of the minds from non

Computer Science background

find themselves aloof in a paradigm

shift of switching to software industry,

sometimes, lost in this new world of

IT. Some accept things as they are but

few of the brave ones with all the zeal

and an urge, leave a scintillating mark

behind them. One such gutsy story is that of Krishna

Shingala, an Electrical Engineer who joined MindTree as

a Campus Mind in the year 2006 and continued to be-

come MindTree Chairman Award winner.

So what different did she do? It was the simple nitty-

gritty, “Dot your I’s and cross your t’s”. She paved her

path by adding a pinch of condiments more to the

specifications given. That little extra addition in her work

always has made Krishna where she is today. But

according to her, success is exploring the potential

within, “When I can do it, you can do it too”. She further

said, “I got the right opportunities and good guidance

from mentors in MindTree. Also, the right switch from ITS

to RDS tiled my conduit of interest in research“.

She had all the good attributes towards work. Krishna

says, “Work for self-satisfaction”. This zest and appetite in

her says it all. Success is a state of mind, if you want

success; start thinking of yourself being successful.

Krishna surely exemplifies - “Achieving is not the

discovery of a mechanism, but creating

something out of it after it is discovered”.

Anindya Maitra

A n achiever as well as an

artist, a Chairman Award

winner, a MindTree Citizen

Award winner, a soft spoken

down to earth leader and an

inspiration for all us.

Anindya has played a major

role in Change Management initiatives in MindTree.

He has developed and delivered a variety of content

essential for competency building. He has moved

from one area to other larger areas at work with time,

he says. Anindya is married to Sarika and is blessed

with two beautiful angels Sohini and Taisha. ‘They

keep me occupied during my spare time’ he says.

Anindya loves chess and soccer; he likes cooking and

reading “curiosity” invoking books.

He feels he can rely on campus minds completely

and expects them to lead the organization with fresh

ideas. He says “It’s not about ‘taking responsibility or

ownership’ but merely about realizing that you are

responsible”. About learning he says is a continuous

process and is mostly on the job for him. Experience

is the best experiment. Focus is important, choose

one area you want to excel in and then learn from

experiences and experts. He feels campus minds have

a high risk appetite and hence can bring positive

change provided they speak up and engage

personally to make change happen.

When asked for success mantra he said ‘Passion

and hard work, I just couldn’t find any other

alternative medicine (laughs). Success, stardom,

excellence, joy all are outcomes.

Currently, Anindya holds the position of Program

Director and is working on the MindTree Kalinga

Program. He has been associated with Orchard as a

PAL; he has influenced lives of many campus minds as

a PAL for several batches and being mentor to many

others beyond the role. He is known

for his troubleshooting ability and for

his humility.

You haven't won an argument until the other person says, "Whatever!".

The Technical Program was supplemented by the Behavioral Program code named COLORS with its various themes like Spirit of Service, Nurture The

Roots, 24 hour pocket and Communication.

Orchard Byte

Face Of MindTree Face Of Orchard

The evenings in Orchard @ Mindtree Now on, we will no more see..!

The journey of 3 months has come to an end Our path has now taken a new bend

The path goes on, now it’s gonna be more rough

We mayn’t have luck, so let’s all get tough Tears do come when we look back

We will miss the laptops that we carried in our sack

The evenings now seem void With the PAL sessions devoid

The fun and the learning’s we all will miss Hope it would never end was my wish

It’s life we all know

Things come and things go Time has stopped, I feel alone

The days in Orchard, have finally gone.

Epilogue

-Satish InamdarSatish InamdarSatish Inamdar

Saplings Vol 2 6

7 Saplings Edition II

Some fairy tales begin with "Once upon a time..." Others begin with "If elected, I promise..."

7 PALs and 6 Co-PALs together heading 23 houses added value to the campus minds with their experience, guidance

and support.

Phase-2, 5th Floor, Orchard is the hub of Learning and Collaboration, Assessments and Fun, Experiential Learning

and Sharing. Filled with color and high energy, Orchard 2011 was an experience to cherish.

Orchard Byte

F or the first time ever in MCC, Graduation

Ceremony for campus minds, Orchard Odyssey

was conducted for the June, August and November

2011 batch. The occasion was graced by the presence

of the chief invitee for the event -Subroto, our Chair-

man himself and Mr. Ravi Shankar, the Chief People

Officer for MindTree.

Highlights Of the Event:

Chennai Orchard Odyssey

Ink stains can be removed with a slice of tomato. Curry stains on clothes can be removed by applying a little white toothpaste on the affected part and then washing off after

two hours.

Tip of the day

Saplings Vol 2

Do you want to be remembered as one of the

greats in the history of Orchard? If yes, then this is the

correct place, Windfall. Be a part of the revolution by

Naming the Macau, our Orchard Mascot! Send in your

name suggestions to saplings@mindtree.com before

30th June ’12 and you could win a surprise gift.

FLASH MOB A surprise,

well- choreographed act

left everyone amused

and filled the

atmosphere with a lot of

energy.

ORCHARD BOOK OF ACHIEVEMENTS

A book for honoring

campus minds who have

achieved excellence by

implementing their ‘out

of box’ ideas.

Sketch Book

--- Jannie BajJannie BajJannie Baj

Name The Mascot