Scientifica, the National Public School Indiranagar triennial interschool science fest hosted entirely by students, has always aimed at allowing participants to experience applied science and appreciate its beauty through healthy competition. Scientifica 2021, its fifth edition held on 7 September 2021, was no different though it was hosted virtually on Zoom.

Adapting to the present situation, the students of NPS Indiranagar put together entertaining and engaging events designed to allow participants unleash their scientific curiosity in the comfort of their homes. Over a hundred and thirty participants from twelve institutions battled it out to win the ultimate prize. The Zoom meetings were tensed, exciting and enthusiastic.

The inaugural ceremony commenced with the school prayer and school song, followed by an invocation for the success of the event, accompanied by the lighting of the ceremonial lamp. Thereafter, Vikram Hariharan, the President of the Science Association, introduced the chief guest of the fest, Dr Srinivasan Raghuraman, Research Scientist at Visa and an alumnus of NPS Indiranagar. Dr Srinivasan gave an extremely inspiring speech.

After requesting the audience to honour those fighting the deadly pandemic by maintaining a moment of silence, Dr Srinivasan pointed out how the youth of today “have a fascination with the mysterious and the macabre” and how the events of Scientifica 2021 perfectly included these elements. He added that he was impressed by the variety of events and reminisced about his student life when he too had put up events for the earlier editions of Scientifica.

Finally, Dr Srinivasan thanked teachers for the crucial role they played in ensuring students’ success. He was appreciative of the “devilishly hard” work teachers put in to impart knowledge. He concluded with this quote from Ramakrishna Paramahansa: “As long as I live, so long do I learn.”

The President of the Cyber Association, Suchith Hegde, then introduced the day’s events and declared Scientifica 2021 open. The students of class 12 worked doggedly to come up with four challenging, enigmatic and enthralling events, each dealing with a different spectrum of science, ranging from forensics to programming.

Set in an escape room, ‘Judgement Day’ tested the players’ knowledge of Physics in the backdrop of iconic movie scenes. ‘Catch Me if You Can’, the Chemistry event, was a twist on a classic game of Scotland Yard. ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’, the Biology event, inspired by a popular novel series, made the contestants detectives of a thrilling murder case. The Computer Science event, ‘Decryptathon’, challenged student coders to make the best game they could in 4 hours. All events were a huge success.

The fest concluded with the much-awaited valedictory ceremony, in which the results were announced by Akshara Joshipura, the President of the Cyber Association. Delhi Public School, Bangalore North, emerged as the overall winners.

All student organizers were appreciated for their resilience and vigor with which they put together the spectacular array of events within a very short time. A special mention went to the trailer, design and website teams which had helped Scientifica reach out to more students. There was also a display of a video covering the day’s events.

Overall, the day ended on a high note and will be cherished by all the students for a lifetime.