let the students of smart tell you themselveskatta isnt just a word its a feelingthe day we were planning so much for over the past month finally arrived last friday now we plan to take the initiative further how important are spaces like the katta in promoting free discussion while artistes are perceived as living lives that are different from those of the common folk vibhawari opened up about how she strikes a balance between the various roles she plays in the industry education has never been restricted to the classroom and it shouldnt be even more so in a city thats constantly evolving bhagyashree bombe sharvari ghodke sanika nirmal sanika banaraswale namrata bhelke chaitali kulkarni and manali ghorpade masters in communications audio visual students of smartno communication tool can replace facetoface conversations vibhawari deshpande talking about her experience at the katta vibhawari shares while i grew up we didnt have access to the internet she admitted to still being a student of art and media openmic and poetry slam sessions are part of the plan as well the setup could help students shed inhibitions and have an open discussion with their teachers or peers thats where spaces like this can play an important role going forward therell also be art exploration and performances i believe it was the informal format of the meet that broke the ice so quickly between vibhawari and us while we at whats up campus adding further radhika ingale director smart says the importance of informal spaces on campuses has not been explored to its full potential we intend to present a childrens play for school students on childrens day these conversations are capable of serving as triggers for some very meaningful discussions its where inhibitions seize to exist where you can freely share understand and question sky is the limit but one needs to be firmly grounded seemed to be the largest takeaway from our katta discussion the katta session i took part in was very different from the countless interactions ive been a part of during my career as artistes too such sessions give us a chance to show people who we really are beyond the image we have in the industry they could help break the ice between teachers and students or juniors and seniors we plan to have more such interactions poetry slams and other activities at this meetup that will take place every month apoorv bhoite nbn sinhgad school of engineering there are times we might find it difficult to open up to our parents about something thats troubling us it would help break the monotony of the academic routine encourage free thought and dialogue around contemporary issues through our debates and discussions we also value and celebrate similar initiatives that come out of campuses the session took place without any kind of agenda which made it a whole lot more personal our professor devadatta bhingarkar came up with the idea i would love to discuss hobbies and common