Subhajit Dasgupta

Swati Nayak

They went to attend a science seminar and came back with tales of eating octopus meat and midnight sight-seeing. And, picked up accolades on the way too. For the four who represented India in the International Science and Engineering Camp in Seoul, South Korea, the eight-day tour held out many firsts.

Organised from July 20 to 27, it saw 80 students from 12 countries pitting their brains against each other at the science meet hosted by Korea Science Foundation. The four from India — Subhajit Dasgupta, Deeksha Mishra, Swati Nayak and Pratik Jain — were selected by National Council of Science Museums through various district and state-level screenings. They held their own amongst 80 students from across the world, including USA, Japan, Germany, China, Israel, New Zealand and Singapore.

The Indian team returned with the best prize for student presentation seminar and a bronze medal in open laboratory research activity.

The students had to select the subject of their choice on which they would do a project.

Says Subhajit, a student of Ramakrishna Vidyapith, Deogarh, who won the bronze: “I started reading up on nanoscience, my subject for the lab activity, after I found out that I was selected.”

Why nanotechnology? “When I was in Class VIII, my father told me that the subject would be the buzzword in future. That made me curious. When I read up about it, I found the subject fascinating,” said the student whose family lives in Calcutta.

In Seoul, the students were put up at the Ewha Womans University campus. They attended five lectures on subjects ranging from supernovas, liquid nitrogen and supramolecular chemistry.

There were 11 laboratory groups, with up to eight students in each, working on projects in nuclear physics, mathematics, environmental engineering and others. At the end of camp, each group had to make a 20-minute presentation.

While Subhajit’s group developed a ferro-electric film that will be used in RAMs, Deeksha, a student of St Atulananda Convent School in Varanasi, worked on a presentation on cryptography or the science of hiding information.

Pratik Jain’s project on ayurvastra — herbally treated clothing that can help cure diseases — bagged the best presentation award. The student of St Gregorious Senior Secondary School in Udaipur, Rajasthan said : “I tested the cloth on 30 people for skin diseases, of whom 19 have shown improvement. But it’s on a very small scale and needs a lot of research.”

He hit upon the concept after reading about a Kerala firm that was exporting ayurvastra, that guards against ultraviolet rays, to Arab countries.

“I figured that depending on the dye of the cloth, it could be used for treating ailments. The cloth has to be worn at night, allowing the medicinal properties of the dye, made with natural ingredients like herbs, to permeate through the skin layers. The fourth layer is connected to the immune system, through which the medicine will act” he explains. He has submitted the project to an ayurveda university to be tested.

The young science buffs had their share of fun in South Korea too. None of the four from India had ever visited a foreign country before. So they took in the sights around them with delight. Subhajit speaks with glee about the night jaunt to Insadong, the marketplace in the Jongno-gu district.

“It was a little like New Market, cramped with shops and eateries,” he says. It was here that he got his first taste of octopus meat. Not one to cringe from a new experience, he explains nonchalantly: “It’s way better than chicken.”

Deeksha talks of playing the janggu, an hourglass-shaped drum and learning to say shey-shey (thank you) in Chinese.

“The Koreans are very punctual,” says Deeksha. “They are very hard-working and well-organised. They handled 80 students with such ease,” she gushed.

Romila Saha
(Pictures by Anindya Shankar Ray)

Call of the wild

An exhibition on tigers organised by WWF. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

World Wildlife Federation celebrated Tiger Day on July 25 with with an exhibition of tiger photographs and a cultural programme at Asutosh Centenary Hall of the Indian Museum. Nature club students from over 30 schools, including Birla High School and La Martiniere School for Boys, some of which work with WWF, participated.

Students depicted the dangers of wildlife through a short skit after the opening song, the remixed version of Pagla Hawar Badol Dine from the flick, The Bong Connection. Malay Sengupta, chairman of WWF felt that Jim Corbett’s 133rd birth anniversary was the “most appropriate day to celebrate Tiger Day”. Bangla band Jowar livened the evening with self-composed songs on tigers and tiger conservation.

A part of the celebrations included a two-day photo exhibition in the premises on tigers, in the wild.

“The tiger is facing immense threat in today’s world due to poaching. We must actively take part in the conservation of tigers, so that further harm is not wrought upon this animal,” said Class XI student Arindam Sarbadhikary, of South Suburban School.

Anumita Bagchi, a high school teacher, also laid stress on the causes of tiger population decline and the way nature clubs in various schools could unite against it.

Tanmoy Das Lala

Shout out loud

What’s on your mind this week

Breaking hearts

The recent bomb blasts have been the topic of much debate and discussion. Surprisingly the blasts seemed to have become peripheral, and merely an occasion for criticising politicians, other castes and communities. What more, many students are not bothered about the terror threats and the country-wide panick it generated.

The power-holders are playing a blame game of their own and the common man is the hapless sufferer who has no one to turn to. Amid such dirty power play and mud slinging, the plight of the attack victims often goes unnoticed.We should unitedly try to fight against terrorism.

Pratika Gupta
ICFAI University