Random Thoughts

  I have taught 4 different courses, each many times since I joined the Institute. Although I approached teaching very skeptically and hesitantly in the beginning, I have come to enjoy portions of it, especially when I'm deep into the problem solving phase of the course. One such course that I've taught many times is the basic Quantum Mechanics (QM) for 3rd year students. I've always enjoyed problem solving lectures in this course, and it seems that the students have enjoyed it too over the years. On one occasion after teaching this course, one of the students review comments mentioned that they enjoyed this course a lot and would have benefitted even more had I also taught the Mathematical Methods (MM) and the Statistical Mechanics (SM) courses as well. These courses precede and follow QM, respectively, in their course curriculum. I think this was the ultimate compliment and I couldn't be more grateful that students recognized the effort. Although I have taught MM seve...

IISER Bhopal Campus I remember my first day at IISER Bhopal on 31st Jan. 2019. I had just arrived, all jet-lagged and groggy eyed. I filled up all the forms, met the HOD of my department and was taken to my new office. Thereafter, I was asked to go to the Chirayu Hospital for a medical check-up, was asked to fill up some more forms upon my return to campus and left to my own devices. However, I did not have a bank account, a phone number, a PAN card and most importantly, good internet (hah!). Procuring all these over the course of the next 10 days led to varying levels of frustration with the Indian system. It was a reverse cultural shock in some sense and made me question my decision of coming back to India. I think it is fair to say that my postdoctoral experience in the US had left me drained and this new life here was not helping in making me feel better. I was like a fish out of water, not able to find comfort anywhere. The next few months of my professional life were a struggle w...

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 motiva...

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...

Someone recently asked me if I attend panel discussions or other meetings related to women's issues in science. And I replied that I don't. In fact I actively avoid it and decline the invitation even when someone specifically asks me to be on the panel. This got me thinking about why I don't like to attend these. After all, I do feel very strongly about equal participation of and opportunities for women in scientific research and other activities.  But somehow I don't feel like I am the right person to talk about or discuss serious issues, especially, at a public forum.  These forums are generally used to discuss serious issues. Many girls actually face a lot of difficulty in accessing higher education. There is generally a severe lack of opportunity for them and the few that are available require them to fight hard battles against their own families for them to have a chance. Considering this ground reality, I, on the other hand, am one of the privileged few who has ha...

Leadership is key to any team, no matter how big or small. One might be a cog in the machine or have their own small team or even lead an entire workforce for an event. But the key to success, I think, lies in how effectively the team lead can take their whole team together and create a good atmosphere for success. I think leadership skill comes to the forefront at every level, no matter where you are in life or in your career. To be more specific, I have now seen closely and been part of a few different event organization teams at various levels in my career. And, I see how the chaos or the meticulous planning stems right from the top.   One kind of leadership involves making everyone feel like they're part of a team. There is positivity in the air, there is that feeling of doing something and organizing something as a group. And that positive energy percolates to the smallest cog in the machine. In this type of leadership, when there are problems, you can go to the team lead...

To the students who think they're so smart that they can fool the instructor: Sorry to break this to you, but no, you're not fooling anybody! In fact, you are the fool if you think otherwise. So, let me tell you something that might shine a light on your otherwise dead brain. Learning is a two-way street. If you want to learn, I am willing to teach over and beyond what is expected of me. I will still teach even if you don't want to learn because that is my job. However, like they say, you can only bring the horse to the water, you cannot make it drink.  When you leave the class, I notice. When you talk, I notice. When you don't bring a notebook or a pen and pretend to be attentive, I notice. So, to reiterate, you're really not fooling anybody. I frankly don't care. I am happier teaching a small class of students who are sincere and want to learn. In fact, that's better for me. As then, we are in sync and I don't have to worry about the distractor...

I'm finally in the most exciting phase of my career. Things are looking up. I am largely my own boss (coz that's never entirely true :P) and can work on and design the problems that excite me. Every decision and every consequence of that decision, whether it bears fruit or goes on to be my undoing is completely mine. It is slightly scary but also the kind of challenge I really like. So here is a list of responsibilities, instances and circumstances which surprised and sometimes also frustrated me. Maybe, some years down the line, I'll be able to look at this list in amusement. So, hear goes. Measuring space:  Right in the first week after I joined the Institute, I was told that I need to submit a floor plan of my lab. I borrowed a measuring tape from the Institute's civil works section and set about the task. It was amusing, to say the least. I felt like an architect. But, in the end, also futile, because that space is not going to be created any time soon. Instead, ...

You can find Part I here . I moved to Boston in June 2016 with renewed enthusiasm. I was determined to make the most of the combined setup of experimental and theoretical research in the lab. And, let me tell you performing experiments is no easy task. It requires a lot of careful planning and execution, and for statistical robustness, a lot of repetition as well. I have written about this earlier, but it took me close to a year to learn everything and be comfortable about executing it without supervision. Another challenge that I faced as a new experimentalist was my inability to understand what would and wouldn't work as an approach to answer a particular scientific question. This, I struggled with for a while, until I gradually gained enough experience to understand the nitty-gritty of any approach.  Alongside my research, my quest for a healthy personal life continued as before. I became part of the Harvard Postdoctoral Association within the first month of my postdocto...

Traveling through the heart of India presents a completely different picture of the country altogether. I have lived in the large metro cities of south India for most of my life. The last time I traveled, let alone lived in any small city in India was about 15 years ago. So, it is fair to say that I am a complete novice when it comes to the workings of a small city, its people and its culture. This weekend, I decided to travel from Bhopal to Mathura to visit my Aunt and Uncle who moved there a few years ago. Picture this scenario when I got to the Bhopal railway station. Men, young and old are going towards the edge of the platform right where the train tracks are to spit out tobacco that fills their mouths. I look on in disgust also wondering what is this sickness, this addiction that holds an entire generation and hasn't spared even the next. I wonder what the oral cancer incidence rate is in this part of the country. My train arrives, I get onto it and the older gentle...

This December I completed my research tenure at Harvard, which also marked the end of five years in the US. I thought I should document this moment, to cherish it and to also look back. But, it is a hard thing to do, summing up five years of life and career in a foreign country, which is not so foreign any more. I came here having completed my Ph.D not wholly knowing what to expect. This naivety both shielded and surprised me in my trials and adventures that followed. This has definitely been the most difficult phase of my life so far, but also the most enriching. I still remember that first week after I landed in Baltimore. I was so clearly not mentally prepared for the kind of cold weather that would welcome me. I remember how smugly I had decided that I would go around looking for a mobile phone shop in just my winter jacket but without any scarf or winter cap or a good pair of gloves. I had no idea that the cold would just punch me in the face. Obviously it is no surprise tha...

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is one of those books that takes its time in setting up the premise. And, for that reason, it is slow in the beginning. As we read through, we follow each character's personality and journey during the good times until things slowly take a turn for the worse. This takes up a lot of time during which nothing happens, but we slowly learn what each one is doing and how they go about their daily lives. I think this captures the reality of war so beautifully, where things go bad in phases. For instance, in this story, one family is forced to move from Paris to a small coastal town, Saint Malo, and after this initial upheaval which is difficult, things calm down into a lower but still a fairly uneventful existence, and then, things go bad again. Each event is successively worse, but also allows enough time to settle into the new situation before becoming worse again. And, that is where lies the beauty of this...

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari My rating: 3 of 5 stars The first three-quarters of this book is brilliant and the last quarter is a drag. It starts off very well, there are a lot of examples and stories about each era. I particularly liked the parts about the agricultural revolution and religion and how human kind thrives and unties through stories which are mostly fictional. But, the last part, where he talks about money and capitalism and market forces is something that I am completely aware of and so this part makes for a very boring read. It therefore took me a lot of time to complete this, but I plodded along hoping that at some point towards the end it would become interesting again, but that didn't happen. The afterword is an introduction to his next book in the series called "Homo Deus". I have begun reading this book as well, but it suffers with the same problems. Starts out very well, but then derails at a certain point and for ...

It's that time of the year again, bitter-sweet when I'm happy about it being my day and simultaneously rue the fact that I'm a year older. I have a close friend from school who was born just 23 days before me and so on my birthday we both laugh about how we've become a year older and probably none the wiser. It has become a yearly ritual of sorts. But, aside from that, I'm at peace with my life. I don't expect or even wish for a celebration. I'm happy being busy, having a perfectly normal day.  Of course, it was different when I was a kid. I used to be very excited and looked forward to gifts and new clothes and just general merriment all in "my honor". :P I don't really miss that now. Maybe it's because I've grown up. But, I think some of my family still thinks I miss it and worse, they get sad on my behalf. This is just unnecessary and frankly, a hassle. Yes, no doubt it's nice when friends or family celebrate your birth...

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the third "Japanese" or "set in Japan" novel that I've read. And, each one of them have had suicide as one of the running themes in them. I wonder if this is the only issue that modern day Japan is dealing with. And then, I went to Wikipedia, and found out that it is indeed a major concern, although it has reduced since 2013. The beginning of the novel was a difficult read as Murakami takes a really long time in setting up Naoko's problems and what ails her. It is hard to connect with while her's is the main story. But, the mood of story starts looking up once Nagasawa and Midori come in. This definitely is a story you should not pick when you're already depressed, coz it takes a really long time for the central character to come to terms with life and show strength. But strength it does evoke towards the end, the fact that sometimes it is best to keep going and live your daily li...

Stories of Ganesha: Divinity in Verse: A Personal Interpretation by Rakesh Chaudhary My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Ganesha stories are told in a very refreshing verse format while never once slowing down the pace of the story. The great thing bout this book is that the tone and the energy of the verse changes according to the scene. The battle scene between Ganesha and Shiva's armies is very vivid, the energy of the battle contrasts so well with the innocence and the sweet smile of the child that is Ganesha. :) The birth and the character of Ganesha is also set up really well, so that you root for the child during the battle. On the whole, I loved it! But, there were a few places which seemed long and overdrawn, such as the last scene in the first story, where Shiva explains to Parvati the reasons for unethically bringing the war to an end and all the virtues of the God Ganesha. I think that is the only part in the book out of all the three stories which I'm not a fan of. O...

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book is based on trying to answer a simple question. What would happen if you suddenly overturned every single triumph of the feminist movement and went back a hundred years or a five hundred years. I bought this book based on the recommendation of a youtube channel called "Books on Toast" ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSzP... Do subscribe to this channel if you're a book lover by the way!) And, it is definitely a very intriguing read. The story is exactly as described in its synopsis. A world where women are not allowed to read, work or be anything of their choice. A world where they are the properties of powerful men, where they are viewed only as baby making machines and protected only as long as they are fertile. The premise is definitely interesting. The story is pretty fast paced and keeps you hooked till the end. The scenes and events of the story are told in such a way that you...

Your religion is decided for you based on the family you're born into almost immediately after your birth. This is further reinforced during your childhood with the various customs and rituals that you're part of, each one involving prayers to a higher being. Then, it is no surprise that you get brainwashed into believing in God. After all, it is the biggest fantasy or myth that your parents and your community have indulged in and have made you a part of, so much so, that it becomes part of your identity. Later when you experience more of the world, learn more science, see more sense in logic than unfounded beliefs, you start to question the existence of God. You notice how the fallacy of the religious belief begs the question that if God created man, who created God? You probably have already imbibed so much of the belief both consciously and sub-consciously that any loss in this faith comes across to you as a desertion of your own identity. How then can you ever break a...

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book reads like a story therefore making complex concepts simple and interesting. Dawkins establishes very early on that the genes today in all of our bodies are essentially just versions of the earliest replicators. The argument of why the gene is selfish and how every single behavior of every plant and animal is dictated by the genes selfish nature to multiply makes for an interesting read. Reading it today, more than 40 years after it was written, some of the scientific achievements of mankind that seemed speculative and futuristic at the time are now already in use. For example, he talks about something similar to what became IBM's deep blue (first chess-playing computer to win against the reigning world champion), maps that could give you the best route and today we can't think of going anywhere without Google Maps. Also, one of the chapters is called memes because of its traditional meaning, which ...

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee My rating: 4 of 5 stars Pachinko is a story spanning four generations of a Korean family living in Japan during the tumultuous 20th century that saw the annexation of Korea by Japan and the two world wars. The story of the family is pretty tragic. They deal with poverty, discrimination, suicide, forced imprisonment, all consequences of war and hatred from Japanese. What I liked about this book is that it tells you a lot about what happens when people are displaced and try to make a new place their home in the time of war and chaos. I admit my ignorance in that I had never heard of the term "Zainichi" which literally means foreigners living in Japan. The Zainichi even though born and raised in Japan are not considered Japanese citizens. They were made to choose between North and South Korea after the Korean war of the 1950s even though they have not known any country other than Japan. These people have faced a lot of discrimination and negativ...