Meeting

JAIPUR
(2003-2004)

10th Annual Sneha-MRC International Workshop
Scientific Program & Abstracts
Hotel Holiday Inn, Jaipur India.
February 6th- 8th 2004

ANNUAL SCIENCE and SOCIAL get-together; SNEHA goes to JAIPUR

SNEHA –MRC’s annual conference for the year 2003-2004 was held in Pink City Jaipur in the luxurious yet businesslike Hotel Holiday inn.

he gracious host were Delhi SNEHA Group under the guidance of Dr. Santosh Bhargav and dynamic leadership of Dr. HPS Sachdev

Delegates thronged to Jaipur from various places. Mumbai and Pune delegates arrived in Jaipur by direct flights while those who were forced to fly to New Delhi reached Jaipur by road observing the beautiful landscapes and Mughal architectures of the north on their way. (this must have reduced some of the back strain of sitting for six hours, and mental strain due to some unexpected altercations with police by some of our drivers, we hope!)

Apart from Professor David Barker, the main inspiration for Sneha members, Star speakers this year consisted of such great names as Professor Ricardo Uauy (Chile and London), Professor Alan Jackson (Southampton), Aamgelo manus Dr.Mario Soares from Goa (Perth, Western Australia), Dr. Andrew Hattersley (Exter), Professor Lalji Singh and Dr. Giririaj Chandak(Hyderabad) who with their expertise in respective fields, dominated this year’s conference.

Each day of this workshop was dedicated for a special theme. The themes for this conference were

1. Child hood growth and Obesity
2. Maternal Nutrition and Programming
3. Genes and Gene-environment interaction

After every lecture of speaker there were lively and sometimes hot discussion on the topic, which included (harsh and) honest opinions from SNEHA members and visiting dignitaries

Old contacts were once again revived and sense of togetherness among Sneha’s Members and their families was visible both during conference and social events during conference

Social Event on First Day
First evening there was a beautiful evening dinner in Hotel Holiday inn in an area called as “GOTH ” in tune with rustic Marwadi music with a few fires to warm up people (though some got heated too) The Food menu and overall service provided by hotel was of high quality (and of course high price!)

Social Event on Second Day
After the session on Second day of the workshop some members mostly of the fairer sex (and with disposable incomes) went for shopping Beautiful Rajsthani handicraft and jewellery items and Rajasthani Mithai for their loved once and others went for viewing Amber fort, which is built in 1592 by

Raja Man Singh, and is one of the finest examples of Rajput architecture. (Elephants there were happy though a bit tired due to the valuable international human cargo they had to carry up and down the fort.)

The site consists of gardens, temples, palaces, and courtyards and an artificial lake. The palace rooms are richly decorated with mirror work, colored glass, carved marble, murals, mosaics, and stained glass windows. We all watched in admiration as how this fort was built in 15th Century.

(Some young members of SNEHA were enviously wonderstruck when they were shown the 120 bedrooms of Raja Mansingh’s wives and his secret way to each of these. Some were thinking of taking it as a research project for the future and are currently trying to find out as to how it can be related to Low Birth Weight since funding is an important issue in such a project.)

In the evening SNEHA members went to a place called “Chowki Dhani” for an evening dinner which is about an hours drive from Jaipur, which is a must -see for all those who either don’t have the time or inclination to visit the real villages of Rajasthan.

This place really came alive in the night; it really recreated a typical Rajasthani village scene. Dancers and other performing artists gave SNEHA members a taste of colorful rustic life of the Rajasthan and Marwad culture. Section of Enthusiastic SNEHA members also participated in the dance. The Rajasthani thali and other traditional cuisine offered here gave the complete taste of this desert state to Sneha Delegates,(except that most of would have breathed our last if we had consumed every item that was served in the thali repeatedly in traditional forcing hospitality of Rajasthan now we know why the incidence of obesity is so high in rajasthan fully)

	In view of Prof ‘s retirement in recent times from regular directorship and acceptance of EMERITUS title, one of the highlight of this year’s conference was “PROF. BARKER’S FELICITATION”from SNEHA Groups. Dr. Potdar made a highly charged presentation on Professor Barker’s
life in his unique style, which made everybody nostalgic.This time he made use of poor Shakespeare to highlight another of his countrymen viz.David Barker and felictated him traditional maharashtrian Style complete with Coconut and a shawl. When the picture of Jan Barker came on in the presentation,there was a spontaneous and lod applause from the audience.This demonstrates that she is as much as if not more popular amongst the SNEHIs.. Dr. Veena from Mysore, Dr. Santosh Bhargav from Delhi spoke in brief and felicitated Dr.Barker with gifts typical of their regions viz.An idol of lord Ganesha and Bottles of famous ITTARS (scents made from rare flowers) of North India. Hosts presented gifts as gesture of goodwill to Prof.Andrew Hatterslay, Dr.Mario Soares, Prof.Alan Jackson, and Prof. Ricardo Uauy. Thereafter the Conference ended formally and delegates started their journey back to their respective homes. SNEHA thanks Dr. Bhargav, Dr. Sachdev and entire Delhi team and Mr. Ravjyot Singh (travel agent) for making this conference a great success and our stay in Jaipur a highly memorable one

10th Annual Sneha-MRC International Workshop Scientific Program & Abstracts Hotel Holiday Inn, Jaipur India. February 6th- 8th 2004