This year saw two young speakers- Dr. Rahul Rao, Senior Lecturer in Politics SOAS, University of London and Old Cottonian from the 1996 batch and Dr. Rohan Narayana Murty, Junior Fellow, Society of Fellows, Harvard University and Old Cottonian from the 2001 batch- expound on the topic “Academia at Crossroads: Finding and Fostering Creativity”. Given their diverse academic backgrounds the speakers held forth on the subject from differing perspectives but the common theme was despite seeming odds against it was possible to foster creativity in the academia.