Singularity
From a science club to a science festival at IISER Bhopal, 2010–2014.
During my time at IISER Bhopal, I helped shape Singularity, the institute’s annual science festival. Introduced in 2014, it celebrates the fun and curious side of science, rather than its academic incarnation, which is only too familiar in a research institute like IISER Bhopal. A big part of the project is bringing in students from local schools and giving them a taste of science. I have long since graduated, but in the years since, Singularity has become one of the best-known science festivals in the country, attracting a diverse crowd from all backgrounds.
Singularity took its current form as a science festival only in my final year. For most of my time at the institute, it existed as a science club, with weekly meetings for science enthusiasts, occasional invited talks and field trips. At a science research institute there seemed little point in a science club at first, but we saw the need for an atmosphere of science outside the classroom too. It started in 2010 with just five members: me and four of my friends, Aranya Lahiri, Pratik Roy, Saurabh Gosavi and Tarun Saxena. It was an exciting and adventurous ride, to say the least. To mark its first anniversary in 2011, I wrote a short memoir for the institute’s annual magazine, Uday.
The Second Intro: recollecting the first anniversary of Singularity (2011)
At seven in the morning, my mobile alarm brought me to my senses. I didn’t yawn, I didn’t rub my eyes, and I didn’t hurry to that tempting snooze button. I jumped right off my bed in excitement – which was extremely rare, especially at that hour of the day – and took a peek at my phone. Yes, it was 7, though it was supposed to be 6:30. I jerked my leg in frustration. To add to it, my roommate yelled that the alarm had rung three times before. My frustration shifted from my leg to him; I yelled at him in turn for not waking me up even after hearing the alarm three times. Time saved him, because I had only 20 minutes before the first bus to ITI. Today was the first meet of Singularity this semester.
I brushed my teeth, freshened up, put on whatever clothes my hands could find on the chair, picked up my bag and left the room without even a bath. No, it was not the excitement, nor was it the time; I had no plans to bathe even if I had woken up at 6. It was 7:15 and I was almost on the road when something clicked. I ran back to H-40 shouting for Aranya, and before I could even enter the house, found him there. We both ran for the bus, and were just in time.
Last night (or should I say this morning, for Akshay) the two of us stayed up till 3 o’clock preparing our presentation, titled ‘The Second Intro’, which I had to deliver today. It was about the journey of Singularity from an idea to what it was today. We were going to give it to the first-years, who had joined the college just a week ago, to give them a flavour of Singularity. Even after running Singularity with Aranya for over a semester, surprisingly, it was my first presentation. Not that I was nervous – not until Aranya made me realise that my presentation would be the new batch’s first impression of Singularity. That made me a bit, in fact a lot, nervous. The two of us were alone on the bus; we discussed the presentation and the chance to add images here and there, which we hadn’t been able to do earlier for lack of internet in Eco-Green.
We stepped into the mess at about 7:40, and to our surprise, it was not empty. Many first-years, bathed and well dressed, were already having their breakfast. Thank god there was no queue, which set the day apart from the usual and made us believe we had caught the ‘first’ bus from Eco-Green. Anyway, we finished our breakfast and reached the Seminar Hall to prepare our presentation – which was again not empty. How could people be so sincere about their studies???
We had about three hours, as the presentation was at 11. That might sound long enough, but not if I tell you that we still had to finalise the presentation, and then I had to prepare what I would say. Finalising the presentation took an hour or so, and then it was time for me to practise. The faces in the Seminar Hall already looked far too entertained by the strange goings-on, which made me ever more cautious and nervous. In the end I decided not to entertain them any more, and to prepare myself mentally by collecting my thoughts, hoping that would suffice.
At 10:55 the hall was already almost half full with first-years, which was extremely rare for Singularity; apart from talks by some prominent professors, we had never drawn a crowd of more than 30. Finding no courage, I hesitated to start, until at 11:05 Aranya pushed me into it. The unexpected numbers and the expectant faces sent my nervousness through the roof. I was half soaked in sweat before I had even said a word. With a stammering voice and wavering confidence I spoke my first words and began my ‘recitation’. With numerous pronunciation and language mistakes, I finished my 40-minute presentation in 15 minutes. With a final ‘Thank you’, I concluded and asked for suggestions, questions or clarifications, as a ritual. I waited about a minute for a response, realising the crowd might need some time to digest my super-fast presentation. But at last, finding no response, I declared the meet over. To my surprise, no one moved; instead, someone asked about our plans for the semester. After answering, I again waited for a response, and finding none, declared the end of the meet again – when another question was raised. This repeated itself twice more, until at last I declared the end for the final time and left the hall in frustration.
After such a horrible address, the meet was finally dismissed, and I found myself surrounded by students armed with questions about Singularity. It cheered and worried me at the same time: I had managed to create a place for Singularity in their minds, but now I had to answer all those innocent and excited questions. I looked around for Aranya, but as always couldn’t find him when needed, and helplessly began my quest.
When it was all over, Aranya and I were back in the Seminar Hall, packing up the equipment (laptop, projector, mic and so on) and reviewing the meet. To most, this meet would not have been much different from the others, apart from the crowd, but to us it was. A semester of inviting professors, setting up the projector, running for the mic at the last moment, and then, finding no audience, pulling people from the Computer Lab and the Library to get at least a respectable crowd for the professor – it was never easy. For the first time I felt secure, as I could see some interested and motivated faces. It could have been an illusion, as you never know what attracted them, the charm of ‘something new’ or the ‘science’; but whatever it was, it was satisfying. Entering our third year, we had started to feel that we alone could not take Singularity much further; we needed more interested and motivated people on the quest, and this crowd somehow seemed to promise them. We could safely hand over our love now… probably!
Akash Jain, September 2011
Edited version. Originally published in Uday 2011, IISER Bhopal’s annual magazine.
After three successful years as a science club, towards the end of 2013 we started planning something big: an event spread over several days to celebrate science. Along with all kinds of fun activities, we wanted to reach out to the general public, especially school students, and give them first-hand experience of working with science. It wasn’t easy, but it was fun. IISER Bhopal had only been around for five years and was still struggling to be known outside the scientific community. We visited local schools in person, talking to students about science and getting them excited about the coming festival – not to mention the hunt for sponsors to fund it. The results exceeded our wildest expectations: a four-day festival packed with events, four plenary talks and a big crowd from local schools. So much so that we were talking about plans for Singularity ’15 before Singularity ’14 was even over. I graduated later that year, so I couldn’t contribute in person to Singularity ’15 or the editions that followed. Still, I am proud to see how the festival has grown over the years, in both size and ambition. A big shout-out to all the organisers and volunteers at IISER Bhopal who helped make this dream a reality: you rock!
