India Science Festival —A “Curious” Beginning
A significant first step towards the goal of #ScienceForAll
How many times have you seen the words “science” and “festival” together?
Well, on 11th and 12th January 2020, the grounds at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune witnessed a new beginning of “celebrating” science by bringing together scientists, researchers, technologists, etc. with kids, professionals, students, and local people through “India Science Festival” organized by Aspiring Minds & Varun Aggarwal.
We at Banaao — A Makers’ Playground (Website) were part of the event to share our innovations in the domain for “Democratizing access to science and hardware technology” for the masses. We displayed PaperTronics — which excited everyone along with IoTSense, 3D Pens, and Interactive Rangoli. We also organized multiple Tinkering workshops spread across the two days. Here’s our exhibit!
The first day started early with people coming in as early as 10 am to explore the event. The concept was new to many — An open gathering of scientists, researchers, educators, etc. discussing diverse topics like AI in the film industry, Memories, Human and machine, etc. with Q&A from the general public. It was a retreat for many curious minds.
As soon as we completed the setup, we were overwhelmed by the response of the visitors. Everyone was excited to see the live demo of the “Circuit without Wire” concept. Every city has its own persona and I was taken aback when I got to know Pune people more closely and the quality of questions they asked.
Yeh kis cheez ka bana hain? Yeh material kya hain?
Almost everyone asked this question after they saw a live demo of the PaperTronics circuit in action. And a lot more follow-up questions too. Current kitna handle karega? Voltage kitna de sakte hain?
….And many of them weren’t engineers.
The curiosity wasn’t limited to young kids — their mother and father were equally receptive to new ideas and engaged in fruitful discussions. It was a great experience interacting with them and looking at the projects they have been doing in their homes.
Time just flew by, with me missing the lunch and enjoying these interactions. It was time for the Tinkering Workshop!
Workshops were organized in a lecture hall at CV Raman auditorium. We had planned for 20–25 people per workshop slot but the registrations went as high as 50+. Don’t worry we were prepared for it!
We discussed the basics of electronics, LED, Battery and everyone made their First Paper Circuit, followed by a “WOW” expression. We brainstormed on its applications, usage, and possibilities. As expected, curious Q&A and feedback concluded each workshop.
The happy faces says it all!
I attended an evening talk in the Turing Lawn which gave me new perspectives on AI & economy and also learned some new “Sher & Shayari” as recited by the moderator. Well, Festival mode was ON.
The second (last) day was equally fun and engaging. I also gave a ‘ Exhibit Talk’ at the amphitheater about what we do at Banaao Makerspace and why we do it! The workshops were full of people looking to “tinker” and spread across age groups of 8 years to 50 years.
Well, science is for All!
Interestingly, many were non-technical people and they were amazed to light up an LED on a paper. #PaperCircuits
Keeping the ‘festival’ spirit alive, the event was concluded by a Stand-up comedy program by Nishant Tanwar (#Dilliwala). Yes, a stand-comedy show at the science fest. It was fun to have him perform live and roast the audience and photographer in between. He is really afraid of Drones!
Kudos to a dedicated team of volunteers, Hritik, Safal and Manish, who helped me set up & manage the exhibit and assisted the audience with their queries. They were quite smart and sincere, a rare combination of qualities.
We are thankful to the entire organizing team at aspiring mind and Mr. Varun for inviting us to be a part of this wonderful event. Aditya Gupta and Abhishek from the organizing team at Aspiring Minds coordinated things well and helped us throughout the event.
It was time to head to the airport and enjoy pav-bhaji & Vada pav somewhere too. With limited time, I explored Pune local food a bit. I hope to share those explorations in a separate blog post soon.
Till then, keep exploring the science around you. #ScienceisForAll #BanaaoNow
Have an interesting experience of #ScienceInAction? Share in the comment section below. To experience science in action, check out some of our interesting projects here.
