“These sessions gave us an opportunity to learn what the others are working towards. They had so much passion for Computer Science that just talking to them was very inspiring. There is so much energy when you are meeting such people who are doing well in their fields, and after coming back, I feel even more motivated to excel.” Spandana Raj, recipient of both this year’s Facebook Grace Hopper Celebration Scholarship and the Google Anita Borg Scholarship, speaks to Ananth Sundararaman about her experiences.

“In the beginning, when I first joined this job, there were boys- wherever I saw, there were boys! They are scared of me now, they start going away when they see me coming from a distance! Now, Sharavathi is a boy-free area.” Aadiseshamma, ‘lady guard’ of Sharavathi, talks of the quirks of her job and shares some stories from her life.

“My experience at Avanti, Pondicherry helped me change my way of looking into the outside world. It reminded me about the appalling poverty which curbs meritorious students from achieving their dreams. ” Read about Shashanka’s experience as an Avanti mentor.

“While deer fatalities occur throughout the year, according to a Prakriti report provided to us by Professor Shanti Bhattacharya, about 21 deer have died, and three injured, in January 2014 alone – the month when the student fests Shaastra and Saarang are organized.” “Articles in leading newspapers of Chennai have drawn attention to these deer deaths in January, as IITM, being the leading tertiary-education institute in Chennai, is often under the ‘social scanner’. Naturally, acerbic criticism of IITM’s environmental policy is pouring in, while a management already caught up in a mess of environmental legalities balks at the mention of the issue. Fortunately, a proactive student community can take steps to reduce deer fatalities.” Kalyani and Nithin bring you the various facets of the ‘Inconvenient Truths’ facing IITM residents in this two-part series covering IITM’s environmental issues.

“There are about 4.5 lakhs of Indians who have openly come out as transgender but chances are that there are five times as many who remain closeted for fear of social ridicule.” The Colloquium on ‘Gender Diversity’ featured Kalki Subramaniam, transgender activist, who spoke passionately about the status of people alternate genders in India.