Imagine yourself sitting in a roller coaster. A variety of emotions engulf you from starting to the end of the ride. When the coaster is just about to start, you are excited and anxious. A sudden rush of adrenaline triggers off as it ascends the gradient and so does your excitement level. But you are aware that a steep dive follows immediately after! As the coaster hurtles down with full speed, the ride becomes unbearable and you want it to end soon. But three more rounds are left and in the upcoming rounds, you adjust yourself to the fear of ups and downs. Now you have learnt to enjoy the ride, especially in times when it goes down with full speed and tends to set your nerves on edge. After the first round, you were driven crazy and wished that the coaster stopped right there. But at the end of fourth one, the ride is all over and you still wish you could have another ride — just one more time!

But why does all this needs to be mentioned here? Well, the answer lies with the passing-out batches of the institute, who must have related this description with their own mindset by now. Having spent 4 years of their life in the institute, it is now time to say goodbye to the “leaves of the banyan tree”. With memories to cherish and friendship worth preserving, they are departing with a lot more than just a degree (or two!) and some bookish knowledge. Though many might say that life after college is full of fun, freedom and enjoyment; but their heart still says “just one more time!” and this is where the memories of a simple yet safe, secure and friendly campus environment wins over the lavishness of metropolitan lifestyle. We wish the outgoing students best of luck, and hope that they accomplish the journeys of life successfully.

Nothing in the world can be more depressing and demotivating than saying goodbye to your friends who are passing out in four years, while you yourself sit inside a cubicle and work hard to get the dual B.Tech+MS degree! To all those who relate themselves to this trivia, we would like to remind that IIIT-H is one of the top institutes which offers world-class research programs, and people from other reputed institutes get admitted to the dual degree programs at IIIT-H. Hence they must identify the underlying opportunity and enjoy their work, rather than taking it as a burden. After all, it is the power of students undertaking research that has built the image of our institute as a pioneer in IT research and development.

The summer of 2012 is going to be full of activity. While the ‘fifth year’ students will be changing gears to complete their research quickly, the third year students will be having a first-hand experience of honors program and research that many might be taking up in their upcoming years. A fresh batch of wannabe IT experts will be getting ready to start-off their journey in the institute, and in the meantime the campus will be preparing itself to welcome the new batch. But what about the Ping! team? After having released the last edition of current academic year, will we degenerate into oblivion? Well, we will get more spicy and interesting news for you from the campus and ensure that when you return from vacations we have a lot to tell you. We wish you all a very happy and ‘cool’ summer vacations. See you again in August 2012. Till then, Goodbye!

This is Anshul, signing-off for the year!