Student Engagement

CBM engaged with about 40 undergraduate students of psychology, history and literature from Christ University, Bengaluru. Two hour-long sessions with the students focused on the need for studying the brain and its disorders, the challenges in brain research and the ongoing work at CBM. They were also shown CBM-generated stem cells, brain and heart cells.

The second event under Baatein was screening Beautiful Boy, a 2018 movie directed by Felix Van Groeningen. The movie narrates the challenges emerging in a father-son relationship and the family's challenges and complexities of tackling the son's repeated falling to substance addiction. The movie was well-received. Subsequently, a creative workshop was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Kanika Sinha, Director, Centre for Writing & Communication, Ashoka University, based on this movie. Participants were encouraged to express and reflect their views in the Indian context of the movie with American family setup. The workshop concluded with a deep discussion on the state of substance addiction, treatment, societal pressures faced by victim families. The participants reflected their thoughts in words, via art and other media of expressions.