On 28th March 2015, the Annual Science Gala was held in American International School in Hawally at 6:30 pm by the Science International Forum (SIF).

The SIF is, as it says itself, a team of over 6000 scientists and technocrats all around India, working side by side with the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India and several institutions like ISRO, VSSC, HAL, DRDO etc. with the aim of popularizing science among students and the official representative of National Science Movement (Vijnana Bharati).

This Gala was held to commemorate the 14 winners and 67 outstanding performers of the recently held (this January) Sastra Prathiba exam out of 3500 students from 15 different Indian schools across Kuwait. Along with the individual trophies and certificates, the school getting the highest points (based on the winners and outstanding performers of the school) would receive the first and the prestigious ‘Acharya J.C.Bose Sastra Puraskar’.

The chief guest was Padmabhooshan Dr. Vijay Bhatkar, who was the one to program India's first supercomputer, Param. Along with him, was Professor S. Sivadas, a science professor who has written more than 160 scientific books and has a lot of personal experience to boot.

Front seats were reserved for the 81 students and several principles and eminent science personalities. Needless to say, the whole program was a blast. It started with the welcome speech and the lighting of the lamp.

This was followed by Prof. S. Sivadas's mind-blowing presentation named 'Mastering Science & Technology for Mastering the Human Brain & Unravel the Immense Potential' about why we school children must become great scientists in the future. He gave us the story of how Ernest Rutherford found about the nucleus of atoms and many more interesting scientific stories which kindled my aspiration to study Science as a major subject in future.

There was also an interactive session with Dr Vijay Bhatkar where he answered questions based on science and technology from the students. He answered several questions, ranging from his past to whether time travel is possible or not. He explained the situation which led to the creation of the Param supercomputers. He is currently studying cow science, but did not get enough time to explain about it in the 45 minutes provided.

Through God's grace, I was able to become an Outstanding Performer, so I got the golden opportunity to participate in this interactive session. The award ceremony started soon after. My school, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, bagged the distinguished ‘Acharya J.C.Bose Sastra Puraskar'.

I am thankful to SIF for conducting such a wonderful event and I hope more will follow.