On February 10, 2006, the postgraduate departments of zoology and botany of Bethune College had arranged a seminar on ?Contemporary research on biological science?, sponsored by the UGC. Our principal, Dr Manimala Das, inaugurated the seminar. The speakers were all distinguished personalities in their own fields. Prof. Antony Gomes, head of the department of physiology, University of Calcutta (CU), delivered a lecture on ?Drugs from animal toxin?. Prof. Swapan Dutta, department of botany, CU, enlightened us about the nutritiounal value of bio-engineered rice and Prof. Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay, dean, faculty of science, department of biochemistry, CU, gave a talk on DNA fingerprinting.

All the lectures were followed by interactive sessions between the speaker and audience. At the end of the day, all participants of the seminar were awarded participation certificates. A special mention must be made of the teachers and students of the postgraduate departments of zoology and botany of Bethune College, without whom the seminar could not have been such a success.

Indira Chakraborty, MSc, first year, department of zoology, Bethune College, Calcutta

CALCUTTA
Literary fest

Words 2006, the first inter-college literary fest in Calcutta was organised by Bhawanipur College on February 18. Several colleges in the city, including St Xavier?s, Presidency, the law department of Calcutta University, Scottish Church College and Jadavpur University, took part in it.

The opening ceremony saw PR expert Rita Bhimani lighting the lamp of knowledge. This was followed by events such as extempore, creative writing, script and dialogue writing, print advertising, live reporting, debate, panel discussion and skitolution. Presidency College was the over-all winner, with Bhawanipur College coming a close second. Jadavpur University took the third place. The icing on the cake was the ?DJ nite? held on the sixth floor auditorium of our college.

Raffhat Mir, first year, English honours, Bhawanipur College

Ranchi
Xavierotsav 2006

St Xavier?s College, Ranchi, celebrated its annual fest Xavierotsav, 2006, on February 19 and 20. The first day was interesting, with solo and group songs, rangoli, folk dances, quiz contests, T-shirt painting competitions, debates, and a rock show. Rock bands Kaalchakra, Metal Bugs and Raining Flames were great with the song, Summer of 69, and the Nagpuri songs by the Bobby group were instant hits with the students. The next day saw events like choreography, collage and creative writing contests and antakshari, followed by a Nagpuri dance performance in the evening.

Ashish Kerketta, St Xavier?s College, Ranchi, Jharkhand

Bhubaneswar
VISWASS sports

On February 18, Vivekananda Institute of Social Work and Social Sciences (VISWASS) held their first annual sports meet. All the postgraduate students of social work and finance departments, undergraduate students of social work and nursing departments took part enthusiastically. The sports meet was held at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar, and it was inaugurated by Prof. A.K.P.C. Swain of Utkal University. There were sports events both for students and teachers and we all enjoyed the day tremendously.

Sudesna Santikari, MSW first year, VISWASS, Bhubaneswar

Durgapur
Freshers welcome

February 15 was an exciting time for the freshers of our college. We, the seniors, organised a grand welcome party for them. After our director delivered the welcome address, it was time for the students to put up a few rocking performances. As our girls matched Preity Zinta step for step in the track Jiya jale, the boys were not behind with a dance performance based on a track from Garam Masala. DJ Amit turned the college campus into one big dance floor.

Zafeer Qamar, Durgapur Institute of Advanced Technology and Management

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