Khagol Bulletin # 132 (Apr 2024) - ENG

| 03 | KHAG L | No. 132 - APRIL 2024 Ramaprakash delivered several talks that k e p t t h e a u d i e n c e r o o t e d i n t h e Chandrasekhar Auditorium during the morning session. There was also an interesting session by the 'Astro Mythbusters'. In the afternoon, there was a live public interaction with Jayant Narlikar, R. Srianand, and Surhud More, coordinated by Prasad Adekar. Most of the wonderful questions regarding our universe came fromyoungsters, and the audience enjoyed hearing the experts answer them. The usual public sky-watching session was also organised, but on the evening of March 15. Around 2,500 people attended the same. As per tradition, there were also events for school students before the open day. IUCAA Public Outreach personnel conducted a science quiz, essay writing, and drawing competitions for the rural students of the Ambegaon Taluka on February 17, 2024. Prajakta Mane, Rutuja Pilgar, Jitendra Joshi, Ravi Kesarwani and the Scipop Team (a l l f r om I UCAA) en t hus i a s t i ca l l y encouraged students from 15 rural schools, who competed at the venue generously provided by the Government Polytechnic, Awasari. On February 24, 2024, about 180 students from 36 schools in Pune City responded to IUCAA's invitation and participated in another set of inter-school competitions. Students fromclasses VIII to X participated in the drawing, essay, model making and sc i ence qu i z compe t i t i ons . These coo rd i na t o rs we re Va i deh i Pa l i ya , Rajeshwari Dutta, Anupreeta More, Manasadevi T. and Shivaraj Kandaswami. During the first round of Quiz, Moupia Maji gave a fascinating talk to the teachers, who accompanied the students. After the finals of the quiz competition, all winning students received prizes from the IUCAA Director, including the students from the rural schools who were specially invited to IUCAA for a visit that day. All the students were pleased to have a chance to interact with the IUCAA scientists during these National ScienceDay celebrations. Kench, Rudraksha Medage, Tanishka P a d w a l ( N e w E n g l i s h S c h o o l , Landewadi)Vishwajit Shravani Rakshe (Mahatma Gandhi Vidyalaya, Manchar) Anamika Kale (NewEnglishMediumSchool, Ghodegaon) ThirdPrize: Winners of the National Science Day Competitions FirstPrize: A)QuizCompetition Rural Schools: Harshwardhan Lande, Shital Chobe, Neha P a r a t e ( Ma n g a l mu r t i V i d y d h am , Ranjangaon) SecondPrize: Swaraj Gawade Shreyas Gawade, Sairaj Gawade (Hirakani Vidyalay, Gawadewadi) B) EssayCompetition: FirstPrize: SecondPrize: Third Prize: Sneha Dabhade (D.G. Walse Patil NewEnglishSchool, Pargaon) Honourable Mention: Akshata Kalhatkar (NewEnglishSchool, Landewadi)