The international scientific and educational workshop takes place at the university of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu every year. This time the seminar consisted of lectures by scientists from Russia, Brazil, Thailand and India, and was devoted to current issues in chemistry and physics. Five NSU professors from the department of Analytical Chemistry were also invited to this seminar as speakers: professor L. Lavrenova [袥.袚. 袥邪胁褉械薪芯胁邪], professor I. Mironov [袠.袙. 袦懈褉芯薪芯胁], associate professor V. Kokovkin [袙.袙. 袣芯泻芯胁泻懈薪], assistant professor N. Beyzel [袧.肖. 袘械泄蟹械谢褜], and assistant E. Leader [袝.袙. 袥懈写械褉]. (All of them are researchers at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences.) During this trip to India, which was supported by the administration of NSU, the professors also visited the Indian Technological Institute in Delhi, and saw some sights of the country. Ludmila Georgievna Lavrenova and Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kokovkin have shared their impressions of the journey.
Delhi
We spent the first few days of the trip in Delhi, the capital of India. We visited the Indian Institute of Technology, founded in 1961. The Institute consists of several departmental buildings. We went to the Chemistry Department, whose workers showed us some classrooms and workshops for students, research laboratories, and Center of Shared Scientific Equipment . All the laboratories are fitted with modern equipment and the necessary reagents. Interestingly a statue of the goddess that patronizes the arts and sciences is situated near the entrance to the Center with a small electric lamp always glowing in front of it.
We should mention that Indians are very friendly and hospitable people. They treat foreigners with a special piety and thus we were very welcome everywhere. We, in turn, told the professors and students about our university, Akademgorodok, and the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
While in Delhi, we could not but go to Agra to visit the famous mausoleum, the Taj Mahal. We were expecting to see one of the wonders of the world, and we definitely saw it. This magnificent monument was built in the middle of 17th century. Nowadays, more and more people want to enjoy this miracle. There are crowds of tourists from all over the world. But what we saw on the way to the Taj Mahal was extreme poverty and that, of course, was distressing. The traffic in Delhi gives the impression of universal chaos. There are cars, lorries, auto rickshaws (small cars for two persons and a driver, but during the rush hour up to ten persons can pack into it), cycle rickshaws, motorcycles, scooters, carts drawn by horses or buffaloes, etc. Everything is moving in a strange way, beeping and trying to overtake one another... But, surprisingly, traffic accidents are rare, since road users look out for one another. We then flew to Chennai (formerly Madras) in the south of India, the capital of the large southern state of Tamil Nadu, and from there we made our way into Kanchipuram to participate in the seminar.
Kanchipuram
Kanchipuram is situated 70 km from Chennai. It is one of the seven ancient sacral cities of India, and is considered to be the most sacred in the south. It is the religious center of Hinduism and the residence of the supreme governor of the Hindu faith is also here. The church is a 鈥渟ponsor鈥� and patron of the local university and that is why we, as guests of the university, received a warm welcome from the governor. He welcomed us on the evening of our arrival, blessed and gave us cloaks made of Indian silk with ecclesiastical symbols.
In Kanchipuram, Dr. Subramanian Balaji took care of us during our stay. He is a university professor, an expert in the field of electrochemistry, and the main organizer of 芦The International workshop on advanced topics in chemistry and physics (IWATCP-2012)", the Russian-Indian conference in which we participated as invited speakers.
When we arrived at the university in Kanchipuram, we were surprised. This is a modern construction built according to Indian traditional architecture. It is necessary to take your shoes off at the entrance to the main building of the university, as well as at the entrance to the temple. At the university we were greeted by a group of students. There was a large stand with photos of the invited speakers, including our own.
Before the opening of the workshop, we visited the research and student laboratories of the university, which, as in Delhi, were well-equipped with modern facilities.
The opening of the conference was ceremonial with the university administration and the administration of the Chemistry Department present. What caught our attention was the fact that at the conference all the Indian women wore very beautiful austere saris. They probably put on a sari especially for the conference, as in real life not all Indian women wear traditional costumes.
The reports of the speakers were accompanied by a strict ceremony. The chairperson and each of the speakers were 鈥渋nitiated鈥� into the post. The procedure of initiation was as follows: Indian beads made of natural silk were placed speaker around the speaker鈥檚 neck and a cloak placed over their shoulders. The workshop participants presented their reports and then answered questions from the audience. After that, each speaker was given presents by the organizers: a certificate of participation, a cup with the symbols of the university, the now profane beads and Indian silk cloaks. Besides this, each member of our delegation was also given a silver cup for participating in the preparation and conduct of the workshop.
After the official part of the first conference day we went to a meeting which was attended by the university administration, members of the organizing committee and the invited speakers. There was no alcohol at the buffet, and only vegetarian dishes were served. This is due to the canons of the Hindu religion; the population of India practically does not drink. Before the buffet we gave our simple presents 鈥� T-shirts and a chess set (originally an ancient Indian game) with the symbols of NSU 鈥� to our hospitable hosts.
In general, the atmosphere of the conference was not only friendly, but also festive. The hosts tried very hard for the conference to be at a high level, and they certainly succeeded. It should be noted that all the activities were widely covered in the local media both in newspapers and on television.
During discussions about our university at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi and the University of Kanchipuram, we invited Indian students and alumni to NSU to study at postgraduate level. The audience was interested and answered that there would be some people willing to study, if NSU courses were in English.
All in all, our trip turned out to be very informative, useful and interesting. We thank all those people who supported us and helped to organize and prepare this trip.
