Semester Buzz – Spring 2013

What a semester it has been! A fully packed schedule for many with events, talks, and celebrations. Let’s look at some of the highlights of the last few months.

We kick started with one of the most important events at IIIT-H: The R&D Showcase. As a research oriented institute, this was the culmination of all the efforts and hard work put in by our research centres throughout the year. The two days were filled with participating students and faculty interacting with people from the college and visitors. The atmosphere was vibrant and buzzing, with eager students presenting their work and ideas being exchanged. There was a good amount of press present at the event too, and a lucky few had their projects featured in local newspapers!
We also had a fair share of sports leagues this semester. The Basketball and Hockey Premier Leagues were big hits with the students, garnering great participation and an enthusiastic audience.
Inter batch sports events were also conducted in football, basketball, volleyball, chess, table-tennis, cricket, and badminton. Students came out wearing batch pride on their sleeves and took away many a good game.
Inter house cultural events were also fiercely competitive, as houses competed neck and neck for points. Among the many events enjoyed were sketching, elocution, skit and group singing. The year’s events finally ended with a bang on the Cult Night, a great evening of amazing dances and the customary hooting of course! Vayu’s charismatic performances gave them a well needed boost on the points table, while Prithvi also managed to win a few prizes to maintain their lead.

The final standings were: Prithvi (1266.5 points), Aakash (910), Vayu (776.5) and finally Agni (556.5).
Among the more interesting events this semester was the art exhibition and performances by UG1 students as a part of their HSS Skills courses. An appealing display of the work done by the students was put up and well appreciated by students and faculty alike. The exhibition ended with a performance by the students of the Folk Arts and Creative Movement class.
The newest addition to the campus, the Himalaya building, is painted over with an interesting mural, which, keeping in touch with IIIT-H’s spirit, is deep in meaning and inspiring in nature. The mural ‘Ankurana’ was inaugurated by our outgoing director, Dr. Rajeev Sangal, in a ceremony held recently, where the conception of the idea was explained by Dr. Navjyoti Singh and Ms. Banatanwi Das Mahapatra.
A well appreciated endeavour by the outgoing UG4 students was a session on Graduate

Studies and the application process for universities abroad. It consisted of a set of talks on the different aspects of graduate studies, and helped shed some light on the complicated and long process of preparing for applying to grad schools.
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam visited the college recently. A lucky few who happened to be in the vicinity managed to click some pictures of the hushed arrival!
The end of another year, the passing out of another batch — a unique set of people and memories. The farewell held for the graduating students this year was full of laughter, cheering and camaraderie as students and faculty shared memories, advice, and good wishes for the future.