VIJYOSHI Camp, 2013

National Science Camp

Preliminary Information

Students from all over India, who have qualified KVPY in class 11, qualified KVPY in class 12 and are studying basic science, INSPIRE Fellows etc. are invited to attend the VIJYOSHI Camp. The camp is organized by the KVPY office of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (IISc). I'm quoting what the authority has to say about the camp, below:

“Science & Technology are twin drivers of economic growth and development in any country. India is emerging as a major hub of global knowledge. Its strength lies in harnessing the power of a large S&T talent pool. The comparative advantage of India in terms of this vast pool of talent supply, demography and inherited knowledge systems needs to be converted thoughtfully into competitive advantage.

Similar to Lindau Meet with Noble Laureates for students from across the globe every year, a Program is formulated in India for selected bright undergraduate students of Science. Bringing these students and World Science Leaders together in a relaxed and informal atmosphere for intimate discussions on frontiers of science could help the students to take up science as a career. The program will also provide opportunity for personal contact between the students and the leaders of Science.”

For further queries, one may visit the official website of the VIJYOSHI Camp.

The Journey Begins

I headed towards Bangalore on the 6th of December, from the Kolkata airport, on a Spice Jet flight, scheduled to hit the runway at 7.15 am. Fortunately, there were few of my friends in the same flight, destined towards the same location.

Me and my friend Ananjan Bhattacharyya in the flight.

When the flight neared Bangalore, the undulating landscape of the south was found peeking through the clouds.

Post Arrival Events and Lodging

We (my friends were with me) went straight to the J. N. Tata Auditorium, IISc, Bangalore, to get ourselves registered and the get our rooms for the stay.

Me with my friend Upamanyu Bag (to the left) and Pratyay Sarkar (to the right) near the registration area.

All of us (fortunately) got our room (I did not add the 's' behind 'room' because we ended up in the same room, rather suite) in a complex, known as the Platinum City, which was located pretty close to the Yeshwantpur Railway Station.

Ananjan Bhattacharya, Navneet Agarwal and Pratyay Sarkar outside the building we were in.

We were somewhat astounded by the arrangement made by the authority, since our past experience had trained us not to expect much from the Indian Government (well, the whole camp and the scholarships we will eventually receive, if we join a basic science course, are totally funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India). The suit, the beds, even the toilets were awesome.

Navneet (my roommate) attempting (without much of a success) to read Thermodynamics on his bed. That attempt was never repeated in the rest of the stay.

The students in our room. (From the left) Pratyay Sarkar, Navneet Agarwal, Prabaha Gangopadhyay (that would be me), Akash Adhikary, Upamanyu Bag, Ananjan Bhattacharyya, Rohan Das.

Inside the Auditorium

The auditorium is where the lectures were delivered. Listening to them, interpreting and clearing our confusions in the topics discussed was the real purpose of our visit to the camp.

Outside the auditorium.

Dr. Anil Kumar, the ex-convener of KVPY, addressing the students.

Mathematician (specializing in geometry of surfaces) Prof. Frank Morgan at the podium (to the left).

We discovered that Prof. Morgan, in addition to being a mathematical genius, is also a dancer. The link directs to a video (a rather funny one) of Prof. Morgan dancing (most probably with his mom).

With Prof. Morgan. The guy to the extreme left is Arghyadeep Paul.

 Prof. Satyajit Mayor delivering his lecture on the structure of the cell membrane.

We, the audience.

Outside the KVPY office.

The group photo.

And, if you are wondering where I am (though it is highly likely that you don't give a damn).

The Talks of Nada (Indo-Western Fusion Band)

On the second eve, the authority had organized a cultural program. It constituted Amith A. Nadig (Flute), Vidwan Mysore M. Nagaraj (Violin), Vidwan K. U. Jayacandra Rao (Mridangam) Vidwan Giridhar Udapa (Ghatam) and Vidwan B. S. Arun Kumar (Drums and Percussion).

I would have added a video, but the size is too big, and the audio quality is not very appreciable.

Food (Something that Holds us Together)

The food served was quite good in taste and quality and most importantly, was served in a huge quantity. The days we spent in the camp, helped us discover the ogre that rests within us. We literally devoured food. Gulped all we can through the thin oesophagus of ours.

The morning coffee.

Lunch. The guy to the left is Ritam Dutt.

At the dinner ground, near IISc Gymkhana.

At the last night of our stay at Bangalore, the day the camp ended, we went to the restaurant in the ground floor of the building we were in. We did not consider the food given to us at the last night of the camp to be 'edible' and we were more than happy to buy ourselves some food.

Waiting for the food.

Caught in the act of devouring.

My dish, before finishing off the remnants.

The Fun We Had

Cricket at midnight (with an umbrella and a sponge-ball).

Shout for "Out".

Quite the bowler, eh?

The ensemble cricket players.

Creativity with a lemon.

The rapper.

The photo-bomber (look at his eyes!).

Sleeping beast (no, not beauty).

Clear streaks of craziness.

Way Back Home

I returned to Kolkata on a train. Some of my friends took different modes of transport, like flights and buses. So, we got separated in our return journey. But, we made new friends too.

Pratyay with Spandan Das (quite a photogenic guy) at the Yeshwantpur waiting room.

Engaged in a game of cards (Bridge, to be more precise).

Bhubaneshwar station (well, the station is not much visible in the picture).

Resting at night.

Last Words

To sum it up, the camp was a wonderful experience. We met lot of good students from across the country, shared our views about different aspects, discovered new interests, new perspectives. Many of the students I met may end up being my classmates in college. The huge campus of the Indian Institute of Science holds wonderful professors, who are knowledgeable and helpful. The volunteers, who were primarily IISc PhD students, were also very helpful and talking with them cleared a lot of confusions about our future prospects and about life in research.

The people who delivered the lectures are renowned world-class scientists  and being under the same roof with them, listening to their lectures were quite the experience. Their calming nature, humour, and lack of pride was overwhelming. We even got scope of personally interacting with the professors, over tea, and at a special dinner thrown in the second day of the camp.

We also had a lot of fun, which is evident from the pictures posted. Overall, it was a camp worth going.

Chemical Prospect (Cont.)

Holi Hai! (Aur Heavy Metal Bhi Hai!)

At last, the experiment is over! And it has been quite successful. We (the friends in my group and I), have found heavy metals in the colours (abir or gulaal) used in Holi. It took a long time to post the result, principally because my school was fussing over my taking pictures in the school lab.

Where, What and Who

This is my school's chemistry lab, the one in which we worked, pursuing our quest.

And these are the colours we worked with.

These gave the most prominent result (thanks to Aditya Bose, who brought these).

The team, Aditya Bose, Titikhyu Dixit and Prabaha Gangopadhyay (that's me). This snap, most certainly, has not been taken in my school's lab.

Me, trying to find Lead (Pb), without any success.

Aditya Bose, searching for Lead.

My friend, Titikhyu Dixit, performing flame test. The guy peeking in is a classmate of mine.

The Test

Primarily, we tried to find Lead, and spent a lot of time over it, without any success. It is highly probable that Lead was present in trace amounts and the precipitate being too small in quantity, was being masked by the colour of the original solution itself. Anyhow, we have no proof of its presence.

We spent a lot of time on the Bunsen burner, performing flame test, taking many observations. Two flame colours were very distinct – faint greenish blue and grassy green.

The greenish blue flame... very faint.

 The grassy green flame.

These flame colours pointed at the presence of Zinc (Zn) and Barium (Ba) respectively.

Confirmation

After the flame tests were over, wet tests were performed, to confirm the presence of Zinc and Barium.

The original solution (mixture of the colour and water).

The solution did not give any precipitate, against test for normal radical groups (Group IV), i.e. test, exploiting theories of ionic equilibrium (solubility product, to be more specific). But, when Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) was added, traces of white precipitate was observed, after keeping the test tube at rest for some time.

Zn²⁺ + 2NaOH = Zn(OH)₂ ↓ + 2Na⁺

The patches of white precipitate in test tube.

The result of the test for Barium was very prominent. Firstly, the green flame was very clear and bright, unlike the whitish blue one. Secondly, upon addition of Potassium Chromate (K₂CrO₄), very prominent orangeish yellow precipitate (supposed to be yellow, but most probably, the colour of the original solution interfered) was observed.

Ba²⁺ + K₂CrO₄ = BaCrO₄ ↓ + 2K⁺

The satisfactory precipitate.

Conclusion

Well, heavy metals, as it seems, are present in the colours, thrown at each other during Holi. That is pretty harmful, because, absorption through skin, is one the principal routes of heavy metal entering our body. Generally, small amount does not cause any significant problem. But, skin irritation is common, and upon heavier influx, one may feel nauseated. So, it is better to limit the celebration to a safe point.