Can a single conference bring about huge changes? Well, this one sure has and sure will. 
ACWR 2011 was an International conference on Wireless Technologies for Humanitarian Relief held at our campus (Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri) from December 18th to 21st. The first thoughts on holding such a conference first came from the mind of our Chancellor, AMMA (Mata Amritanandamayi Devi). She wanted the university to conduct such a conference and asked the authorities to decide on the subject. They right away took AMMA’s cue, set to work and soon came up with the topic – Wireless Technologies. “But Wireless Technologies for what?” – This was AMMA’s question in reply. They suggested- For faster communication, networks etc. But AMMA was not satisfied. She called a GD with everyone and asked everyone to brainstorm about it. At last someone came up with just the right topic that AMMA had in mind – Wireless technologies for Humanitarian Relief. This is the story of how ACWR 2011 was born, to put it short.
Slowly, the university started contacting other foreign universities, calling their chairpersons, setting up meetings, all on AMMA’s instructions. This way many important personalities were taken into the committee for the conference.
R Chidambaram (Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India), Satish Tripathi (President, University at Buffalo), Prashant Mohapatra (Professor and Chair Computer Science, UC Davis), and Maarten van Steen (VU, Amsterdam, Chair & Professor Dept. of Informatics, Extreme Distributed System) came into the committee. Along with them, P. Venkat Rangan (Vice Chancellor, Amrita University) and Maneesha Sudheer (Amrita University) formed the Organizing committee. We got a chance to interact with all these big shots from all around the world whom we had never even imagined to meet.
Almost a year passed and our campus had no sign of an International Conference going to take place. The halls were under construction with no chance of completion any time soon, the campus was tattered with construction workers, unpaved roads, no beauty whatsoever. Below are some some snaps of campus before:
Even when December was fast approaching, exams getting over and vacations set to begin, the construction works were never expected to be finished in time. But what miracles can a deadline bring about!
I came back to the campus from home, the day before the conference started. I couldn’t believe the transformation that had taken place. The place was awesome! The front entrance had roads converging in the shape of a banyan leaf symbolizing divine love. The conference halls are now world class. All within the two weeks that we had been home.
Finally ACWR began on December 18th with the tutorials, at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochin. And from December 19th, the conference began at Amritapuri.
Everyday Mischief 