Given the strong focus on optics and optoelectronics in India, the Optical Society of India (OSI) is organizing an international conference-cum-symposium on the contemporary trends in optics and optoelectronics. To be held on Jan. 17-19, 2011, at Thiruvananthapuram, India, the event is jointly organized by Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) and the OSI, and will be held at the IIST. The XXXV OSI symposium is aimed at providing a platform for interaction among scientists, engineers and academia all over the world, who are working on optics and optoelectronics. The themes of the symposium include adaptive optics, optics for space applications, biomedical optics and imaging, classical and quantum optics, fiber optics, optical metrology and NDT, optical information processing and holography, and optical and optoelectronic materials. Prof. Ajay Ghatak, Emeritus Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, will be delivering the ‘Popular’ lecture on “Einstein, His Photons and His Special Theory of Relativity.” The ‘Plenary’ lectures feature an extensive list of eminent speakers, who will be touching upon topics such as classical optics and quantum information science, evolution of specialty fibers and fiber-based components, III-V based quantum structures for long wavelength IR defects, micro-optics components and technologies, coherence and digital holography, optical interferometry, biomedical application of lasers, etc. There are as many as 26 invited lectures on wide-ranging topics, such as fiber optic sensor technologies for space applications, optical coating deposition techniques, integration of optics fabrication and precession metrology, scattering and measurements on high quality optical components, aspheric surface generation, grazing incidence optics for x-ray astronomy, challenges in the development of multilayer optical interference coatings for nuclear energy program, solid-state tunable lasers, singular optics, bright luminescence from laser ablated nanostructured Si thin films, etc. For those interested, Thiruvananthapuram – also known as Trivandrum – is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is located at the southwest of India along the coastline of Arabian Sea. The city has an international airport, so travelling should not be a problem. I hope to attend this conference, time permitting. Should I am able to, will update you on the happenings at the event. Pradeep