About 6,000 people ran for a cause when IIM Kozhikode organised the third edition of Thantedam Calicut mini-Marathon 2012 on February 26 in association with Thantedam Gender Park, Kozhikode.

With the theme being “Empowering her future”, the third edition of mini-marathon aimed at highlighting issues such as dowry, domestic violence, security, health and economic visibility of women in our society and promoted empowerment of women.

The marathon took off early in the morning from Calicut Beach. With registration being free the number of footfalls soared by the hour. Dignitaries such as national award-winning actress and director Revathy, social welfare and panchayat minister of Kerala M.K. Muneer, district collector of Kozhikode P.B. Salim, film actor Jishnu Raghavan and others attended the event.

At the end of the day, it was very satisfying to run for a cause.

Kriti Saxena, first year, PGPM, IIMK

CALCUTTA

Floating ideas

For a researcher communicating new ideas, to a target audience is not just useful but crucial. And Microsoft Research’s annual symposium called TechVista, is one such platform that a student researcher cannot afford to miss.

Having heard about TechVista for the past two years, I decided to participate this time. I was elated to know that mine was among the 17 PhD posters selected for the event.

The huge auditorium at Science City and the countless students created a festive atmosphere. We, the “poster presenters”, were seated right at the front, and got to listen to renowned scientists.

It was a great experience to explain our work to the judges. The aim was to get across the key concepts behind our research as crisply as possible.

The prizes were announced in the reverse order, and I least expected my name to be the last. TechVista was a great experience and made me aware of the relevance of my research.

Karthik Ramachandra, IIT Bombay, winner of the PhD Poster Session at the Tech Vista 2012

CALCUTTA

Biootech seminar

The department of biotechnology at the Heritage Institute of Technology, Calcutta, organised a national seminar on biotechnology for sustainable development on February 23 and 24.

Siddhartha Rot, director of the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology inaugurated the seminar.

Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay, pro vice-chancellor (academic), Calcutta University, discussed how biotechnology can be used to maintain sustainability.

The seminar had sessions on healthcare, environment, bioprocess technology and agriculture. It was a great experience to interact with people from different colleges, universities and research institutes from all over India, and also Bangladesh.

Neh Nupur and Fatima Nasrin Haque, fourth-year students of biotechnology, Heritage Institute of Technology

AHMEDABAD

Film fundas

The PGP and PGPX students of the contemporary film industry course at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, attended a lecture by Dhanush, the actor and producer of the upcoming film Movie 3, and Anirudh, the 21-year-old music director of Kolaveri Di.

Dhanush and Anirudh each spoke and fielded questions from the students. Dhanush said they did not anticipate the success of Kolaveri Di. They initially aimed at getting five lakh hits which they managed to achieve in less than five days. The hits for Kolaveri Di on the last count stand at over 42 million.

Anirudh shared an anecdote about his father’s desire to see him study at the IIMs and how his father was happy when he learned that Anirudh would be lecturing this class.

The session came to an end with Dhanush and Anirudh singing Kolaveri Di along with the students.

Arshdeep Kaur, PGDM student, IIMA

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