Yearbook Report 2008-2009

    The year for the society started with a two day departmental trip to McLeodganj on the 21^st and 22^nd of August. The pack of 42 lead by Mr. Washington, took an excursion to the Dalai Lama temple and went around sipping tea and munching pan cakes, cheese pastas, lasagnes, croissants among other delectable delights at wonderful Irish and German cafes which the place was dotted with. The exciting part would also count the waterfall, and the bonfires.

     The most important event on our calendar would be the annual festival ‘Confluence’ held on the 27^th and 28^th of December, 2008. Marked by the theme of ‘Development and Disparity’, the first day of the event began with an inaugural speech by noted journalist Praful Bidwai. The seminar also saw the release of Politics Inter Alia (PIA) the B.A. Society Journal. With time to time assistance from Advisory editors Sumit Chakravartty (Editor, Mainstream), and Srinivasan Ramani (Assistant Editor, Economic and Political Weekly) the Journal was a remarkable effort by Aparna Mudiam and Anjali Rai as the editor and associate editor respectively. Besides a JAM (Just a Minute) competition, the first day ended with the much awaited screening of the movie ‘Syriana’.

    Day two of the event did not fall short of its share of thrill with an enthusiastic response to the quiz competition, a treasure hunt, a much acclaimed photo competition and a panel discussion with noted scholars such as Amit Bhaduri (Professor, JNU) and Ashok Choudhary (Human Rights Activist). The most noted event of the festival was the puppet show by Katkatha Arts Trust, which saw a houseful attendance and an unprecedented acclaim by the audience. Thus the festival ended on a high note.

     The last event of the Society for the academic year was in the third term, in collaboration with the American Embassy to mark the swearing-in of Barack Obama as president of United States of America. Held on the 20^th of January, 2009 the event was commemorated in college with Mr. Sandeep Paul (Second Secretary, US embassy) as the invited guest.