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bitsaa.org BITS Pilani |
Nostalgia - Kahan Gaye Woh Din
Encyclopedia Pilani-ca - The most comprehensive list of terms and phrases used at BITS
By The Editorial Team of the Class of 1996 Yearbook
Acads: Incidental pastime of exceptional BITSians (refer Ghotu). To most when ACAD software is running in the IPC on 10 comps.
APOGEE: Point at which moon is farthest from the earth. Here, A Phillums Oriented Gathering Over Educational Experiences.
ARBITS: Actually Rock But Into Techno Soon.
Art’n’Dee: Co-Construction Specialists. Also do interior decoration.
Audi: This was given to Ravi Shastri many years ago. Also the “in” place during Music Nites, OASIS and RAF movies. The Audi has great balcony seats where you seat yourself if you don’t want to hear or see anything going on stage.
Also the “in” place during Music Nites, OASIS and RAF movies. The Audi has great balcony seats where you seat yourself if you don’t want to hear or see anything going on stage.
Backie: Your rear end.
Back- Sky: Similar to Noah’s Ark. Here you always go in pairs.
Backstage: Privileged few who do all the behind-the-scenes work for Fash-P. Also Old wine bottle stockists.
Bhawan: Construction built around the room. Not by Art’n’Dee.
BITSAA: Responsible for charging Rs.150/= for stuff in your hands. Also the channel through which X-BITSians remain in touch with the alma-mater. (refer X-BITSians).
Bogs: Bathrooms of Graduating Students. This is where you go. The bogs in most hostels are centres of study in Transport Phenomena. For e.g. a few students in Vyas have managed to make their drains work the reverse way.
BOSM: It’s that time of the year when IQ doesn’t matter anymore. Also LSR’s 15 minutes of fame. A section of campus firmly believes that BOSM was a ruse cooked up by a miserly Insti to have the gym grounds ploughed for free.
Bumps: How one tests his/her footwear.
Cactus Flower: Oasis Deficit. Prickly publications for blooming idiots.
CGPA: You wouldn’t like to remember this
Clocktower: This is similar to the Big Ben in London, except that the clocktower works with four different time zones. The clocktower also server as a challenge to all budding Hillaries and Norgays, not to mention a few Houdinis as well. The shadow of the clock tower ominously hangs over the BITSian every time he rights a test. When things go wrong…
C’Not: Maze like a quarter of Delhi where you get lost more easily than if you were in Bermuda triangle.
Its BITSIAN equivalent is not stupendous though. The only thing you could lose here is all your money if you shop at Mittal’s. C’Not is the centre of all the after-hours hub-hub in BITS. Its proximity to ShivG promotes the sale of a certain class of products. which C’Not shopkeepers surreptitiously sell under the counter.
From Meetha Pan to Pentium computers to diarrhea and bankruptcy, C’Not is one place that has it all. It is also a favorite among male psenti-semites who insist on speaking at a decibel level above the threshold of pain and reshaping all available furniture.
Crash: Unfailing occurrence in the IPC when your work hasn’t been saved. Also what BITSians do during the day.
Cycles: Cycles are like dominoes.
They all fall down when one goes.
Crash, boob and thud they land.
Scattered bikes at the cycle stand
Atlases, Tangoes, others and all
Its quite a sight to see them fall!
Da: BITSian word used to end every sentence. In certain circles Da is replaced by Ra.
Dabba: Box… also Shree Ganesh Talkies (Nothing Shree about it), which resembles a box more than a real one and fills up with the male of the BITSian species every Saturday afternoon, when movies of a certain arty nature are screened.
DC: What prevents a strike in Pilani. Prefixed by Washington and Suffixed by warning.
Delhi: Known to a few as the Capital of India. 220km from Hell. Home of the Nirula’s, LSRs and TDCs. When people ask which is the nearest city to Pilani, non-Delhi-ites say "Mumbai". Why - Because Delhi is one big village with neither water nor electricity.
Dosh: Essential requirement that you run out of before you can say, “Pappu ek Chai”. Requires constant refueling from parents and wingies for survival.
EDC: These people play around all the time.
ELAS: Four-Letter word. English Language Atrocities Society.
E-mail: Elusive mail.
EPC: They provide the paper planes.
EWYLP: Helps increase imagination. Also serve as cheap room heaters in winter. Refer Fant.
Extras: Mess Managers Salary.
Fant: Documentation on biological processes and experiments available through the EWLYP. Also contain answers to pertinent questions about anatomy. This publication is usually in great demand and requires great concentration on the part of the individual for proper assimilation of contents. Thus, it is usually pursued in the peace and quiet of one’s room without the presence of any external disturbing elements.
Fresher: Unmoulded clay. Cheap labor available at the beginning of every semester. Portable joke-telling units that are customized according to personal preferences. Also see Freshie, Fresher period.
Freshie: A fresher that spontaneously starts crying when asked questions and stop only when magical words like ‘M’n’B’ or ‘Cold Coffee’ are uttered. In some rare case, the word ‘Shikanji’ is also known to be effective. Mostly feminine.
Fresher Period: A length of time during which senior students take time off from their academic pursuits to help freshmen feel at home on campus.
Gandhi Statue: Point of intersection of routes taken by Mbites and BITSians and hang out of guys devoted to ornithology. Student population around the Gandhi Statue heightens at certain hours of the day (peak time is 5pm). Also popular for ready availability of Rickshaw-walas, who also offer crash courses on modern ornithological techniques.
Gatecall: (at MB) Self imposed period of waiting at the MB gate spent looking over your shoulder, at passing cycles and your watch. Experienced hands stare glassily at the MB gate wanderer if the grass is greener on the other side. Amateurs at this activity spend their time trying to make themselves invisible and cursing the man who invented the sodium vapor lamp.
Gatecall: (at another place) Much coveted and awaited event. Nevertheless, a horrifying experience for passers by. (Murphy’s law states that the room to which a passing victim will be dispatched to furthest form where he initially was. A recently discovered corollary states that in all probability, the room will be empty when he reaches there.) Alternatively, a ruse cooked up by perverse wingies to wake one up at odd hours of the day. Gatecalls become terrifyingly scary on Rakshabandhan day.
Gen: The Ultimate answer to any question.
GenB: A successful implementation of some of the results of the investigations of the KGB and the Gestapo into the human psyche. Also serves as an efficient deterrent in the path of 10-wannabees.
Ghotu: Advanced model of a room heater.
Girl: Outsti.
Gliding Club: this is where the psenti couples go when ShivG is full. Also used to take photographs of MB by over enthusiastic EG students for learning tough concepts like Top View.
God: Anybody who is a shade better than you at anything in anyway. Titles so conferred upon are non-transferable and not valid outside BITS. In rare cases, also a reference to the Almighty.
GRE: Gateway to heaven. Often a precursor of the GREeen card.
Grub: Daily fare dished out in the mess without the statutory warning. When coupled with special it increases your mess bill by special amounts. When coupled with sick it is exactly that.
Guess-My-State: Legendary query that frequently props up during interaction between seniors and freshmen. Answers to this question are almost always incorrect (though, technically speaking, experience proves that there really is just one answer). Imaginative replies such as ‘Gaseous’ etc. are frowned upon.
HAS: The Antakshariwallahs. Except during their events, HAS people prefer not to speak the national language. The most popular club during the OASIS because of its professional conduct.
HDC: See EDC.
HPC: See EPC
Hazaar: Anything more than zero!
IPC: the only thing in BITS that crashes more than the BITSians.
Itself: “Mechanical” punctuation mark; associated with FMS.
JHANKAR: the Beats of BITS. Invention of our times, by a 1996 batchmate.
Ju: Term used to describe a person of lower batch but with same geographical/cultural/…background. Not to be confused with the Hindi word for Lice or the children Of Israel.
Junta: You, me, we, us, they, all, and The rest of them
Kela: Generic term to describe any misfortune due to unrequited love, gatecall prank by your sidey etc.
Labs: Place where one finally gets to do practical work and where one finally realizes that theory was better.
Lacha: GD - the BITSian way.
Lawns: M lawns. D Lawns. S Lawns. C lawns.
Lights: As opposed to Regular and Menthol.
LSR: Lady Sriram College. Over two college fests every year, many a BITSIAN-LSR relationship was started.
Macchan; BITSian full stop.
Make-up: Cosmetics applied to make Sharon Stone look 25 and a half. Also a strange endemic disease that makes BITSians sick a day before a test. Here you have to apply for it rather than apply it.
Mal: Finished school for freshers. All freshers are taken there so that they are finished.
Mess: Makes Eating Seem Scary
Mess Rasam: Variety of food (??!). More likely water left over from washing last night's dishes.
Music Club: Harmonically inclined Vectors (HIV)
Nite-Out: Nights –in. BITSian unit of time used to measure effort (in no way proportional to success rate) put in before a test.
Notice Boards: Things you notice when you are bored.
Nutan: 1. This probably started of the local pigsty. Today it has evolved into a bustling market place. The dislodged pigs now wander unhindered on the street and mingle freely with the rickshaw-walas. In fact they cannot be distinguished. 2. Generic term for Booze shop.
Oasis: Cultural phenomenon that sweeps through BITS once every year, unfailingly, except for seasonal variations caused by typhoons, earthquakes and plague. Most BITSians who have been through a string of these extravaganzas maintain stoutly that there’s been no OASIS like the one in their respective five years. Due to this it has been exceedingly difficult to describe Oasis objectively. Suffice to say that it is most distracting in every sense of the word.
O.B: What else do we have to say!
Outsti( Female): Primitive form of life poured into a tighter jeans. See girl.
Outsti (Male): Primitive form of life poured into a pair of jeans.
PCr: Professionals at licking Stamps.
Placement: The ultimate result of 15 years of education. Though at BITS, getting a job is relatively simple and can be managed through one night-out with your K&R textbook. Employment rates in Pilani make the developed countries look silly.
Pondy: Supplementary reading material not mentioned in the course handout. Every fifth male BITSians’ name.
Prez Candidate: Someone who attempts to finance his entire education in BITS.
Prez: Someone who succeeds in doing this.
Psenti: Normally finds an entry in S. species having this disease are found in the Ref- Li (during the day).
PS-I: joke (Refer to Vela)
PS-II: bigger joke (Refer to Kela).
Put-it: BITSian High- Five word. Also pronounced - Put-eet. (Refer to Rod).
QT: Pronounced Cutie. ET’s sister. People don’t have to look for greener pastures.
Quiz: just another four letter word. (Refer to ELAS - another four-letter word.)
RAF: This acronym has been expanded by BITSians scores of times in the past. Most of the time the “F” is expanded in the same way. RAF is also the organization responsible for making announcements in the Audi. They also screen movies. Members of RAF also cultivate interesting hobbies like collecting ID and Library Cards.
Ragamalika: Note-worthy Music.
Rec’n’Acc: Construction specialists.
Redi: Establishment that feeds human and domestic population equally. Perfect example of a successful small-scale cottage industry. Normally specialists in production of sams, chai and g-jams, that all taste the same. Perfectly formed for those who like postponing payments and get shocked later.
Ref-Li: Next to C’Not in being the centre of all social activity in BITS. People go here when they get tired of sleeping in their room. BITSians influenced by Salim Ali flock here. A sizeable male population would like the Ref-Li to come under EWLYP management.
Rod: What went in and never came out. (Refer Clock Tower)
Sack: What BITSians do when they are not crashing or lachaaing.
Sam Chat: Talk on the net to Ms. Fox. also staple food of many a BITSians. Bears a striking resemblance to dog food.
Sarvi: Local undertakers. Gateway to the real heaven.
Shikanji: Limejuice spelt W-A-T-E-R. Available in 2 flavors- with germs and with more germs. (refer Freshie).
Shimla: Place where you get a free trip to in your fresher period.
ShivG: Father of Ganapathiji. Breeding ground of future Ganapathis.
Sidey: The guy/girl next door. Comes in three flavors: Original, Super, and Hyper.
Sky: Almost heaven.
You may think it is true
That the sky is blue
Blue sky is all you’ve seen
But over here
To a BITSian its clear
Sky is almost green
A mess of grass, fags and tea
Patties, Tikkies and Shikanji
A Pond and many “sights” to see
Sky is the best place you can be.
Sounds: Official organizers of the paper-plane fights in the Audi.
Sponz: People who schedule all the car trips to Delhi.
Student’s Union: Elected body to help the Prez. Accomplish his task (ref: Prez.)
Tea: Put mostly before tests. Only edible stuff available at ANC. Described as Cyanide flavoured herbal drink.
Tests: Experiments conducted on BITSians (Refer clock tower)
Test Series: What India never wins. BITSians are true Indians.
Tests Tomorrow: MBites excuse for staying in on “Saturday Nights”.
Treat: A social device used to ensure you are poorer than those around you. Precursor to Kela and bumps.
Undy: someone who decides to crash when you rearrange your furniture.
Uppy: Someone who rearranges furniture when you decide to crash
US: Us on the other side of the gateway.
Vela: A state of being, in which a person contracts a dangerously carefree mentality. People who are vela are prone to taking repeated trips to the Redi, C’Not and Delhi. In acute cases they go to MB instead. Warning: Highly Contagious.
Warden: Member of the local constabulary. Weaponry consists of two alphabets (D,C)
Wing (female): Contiguous rooms often conveniently placed for bird housing. Normally come in integrals of dozen.
Wing (male): Contiguous rooms often conveniently placed for bird watching. Normally come in a dozen.
Word Power: Quantity, which generally increases with impending approach of Gateway to heaven.
X-BITSian: What we are right now. Tottering survivors of half a decade of Mess Rasam, finally marooned either in the land of the free or being true Indians. Hope to see you all at the 25th union.
Xerox: The only thing that competition to the amazing tuition fees here. Stats reveal that the average BITSians xeroxes 3.2 pages everyday or to look at from another point of view, 1 page is xeroxed by 0.6 BITSians everyday.
Xerox Coupons: Strange forms of currency that comes in only in non-integral values. In our times was signed by……..specially made available after phone calls.
Y: Common BITSian question followed by strongly accented postscripts like Da/Macchan.
Yearbook: Refer yearbook for further details.
Zooks: Indian invention; a regular feature for many-a-BITSians. BITSians are true Indians.
Zzzzzz: what you see on the screen when you press ‘A’ on the IPC keyboard.
(c) Copyright 2003 BITSAA International Inc.