Prof. Kankan Bhattacharyya was an eminent scientist and I'm sure his students will tell you about all the ways he trained them to become scientists. However, my interactions with him and memories of him are more of a personal nature. I first met him in February 2019 right after I joined IISER Bhopal to begin my independent research career. In the dining hall of the Visitors Hostel at IISER Bhopal, there was one person who was the loudest, constantly cracking jokes, teasing people and taking the conversation forward. I was introduced to him, i.e, Kankan Sir, by one of my colleagues there and he immediately involved me too in the ongoing conversation. He was that person who instantly made you feel at home. Every day following this first interaction was a joy as he was constantly the life of the dining hall. Everyone used to be clustered around him. He was such an enthusiastic person and so full of life that it was infectious. He also, in his own way, constantly tried to motivate us
I was raised by an English Professor and therefore, have been around books since my childhood. I was made to write long essays in English whenever I had a new or unique experience. Most of our bedtime stories were read out from children's books written in English. Given my environment and my inherent nature, my favorite pass-time as a kid was reading novels. Therefore, it was from a very young age that I started understanding or imbibing the importance of writing and speaking grammatically correct sentences. I was corrected every time I said an incorrect sentence. I will forever be grateful for having learnt good writing and speaking in the English language. That has indeed helped me in my career. But gradually, as I grew up and without even my knowledge, I became a snob. I started judging those who could not speak impeccable English. I thought these people were not well educated or had performed poorly in school. I was a good student and this snobbishness stayed with me through c