Early Observations of the Afterglow of GRB 000301c

We report multiband observations of the optical transient associated with GRB 000301c carried out 2000 March 2-4 using the 2.34 m Vainu Bappu Telescope at Kavalur, India. When combined with other reported data, the initial decline in the R-band magnitude with log(t - t0), the time since the burst is fitted with a slope of α1 = -0.70 ± 0.07, which steepens after about 6.0 days to a slope of α2 = -2.44 ± 0.29. This change in slope does not occur smoothly, but there is an indication for a bimodal distribution. The available measurements of the evolution of (B-R) color do not show any discernible evolution in the first 12 days.