Beautiful words in English (2)

I recently re-posted an old blog of mine titled Beautiful words in English on my Facebook page for My Scribbling Space. My father left a comment there saying that "in today's sms world where is the place or time for beauty?" We are so caught up in our busy lives that we fail to recognize the meaning some words until and unless we are they actually come and hit us. So I thought it would be nice to write more such posts from time to time.

Here is then the second one in this series:

1. Perseverance

the recipe for a sure-shot win

2. Patience

hoping for the best even when the going is the worst

3. Longing

what distance brings with it

4. Presence

who makes all the difference to your life

5. Togetherness

a harmony of two

6. Home

where your heart returns to wherever you may go

7. Trust

what lies behind a leap of faith

8. Perfection

... is not an accident

(motto of Eagle Electric Manufacturing Co., INC., NY)

9. Memories

timeless treasures that you carry forth

10. Dawn

the wonderfulness that awaits at the end of your period of struggle

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P.S: Any beautiful words you would like to suggest to add to the collection?

Skarholmen, Uppsala

A while ago we had a long four day weekend in Sweden. Wanting to finish some work I went to the university. Two of my friends had also come. It was a glorious sunny day. On the spur of the moment a plan was made to go for a walk post lunch. The walk eventually turned into a short bus ride to Sunnersta Skarholmen.

I had been under the belief that Uppsala is a city surrounded by land. So finding a huge waterbody was a big surprise. Skarholmen is a harbor. A part of it meanders and actually connects to Stockholm.













There was a long stretch of water. The water itself was glistening in the summer sun. We saw many private boats parked there. Closeby was also a mini beach. Many people were sunbathing. Girls and boys were swimming. Kids were playing under the watchful eyes of their parents. Couples were strolling with babies in prams.

Watching the beauty relaxed me. That there was such a place so easily accessible made me feel wonderful. To me suddenly Uppsala stopped seeming small.

Skarholmen gave a form to the phrase of "expanding your horizon."

Here are some photos that I took that day.


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PS: Like it was for me, did something surprise you about the city you are living in and made it more likeable for you?

In your dreams

99.9% of times I see dreams when I sleep. My constant complaint is that on waking up in the morning I feel as if I have been working all night.

The usual setting for my dreams is my school building or playground, my IIT Bombay hostel and home in India. Those making appearances in my dreams include family, friends, colleagues from work, people I haven't seen or thought about for years, random unknown faces, and even film or soap actors. The latter invariably happens over weekends as a result of my being glued to the tv for too long.

I had one of my scariest dreams just a few days before the Class X Board Exams were going to take place. I saw all my teeth crumbling into tiny pieces and when I covered my mouth they fell into my palms! One early morning in January 2009 in a rare happening I woke up crying continuing the flow of tears from the dream. Months after I had successfully given my Ph.D. viva I found myself floundering at answering the questions posed by the committee in my nightmare.

Such visions can easily be attributed to my fears and insecurities during those periods. But what about the cases when I see myself doing things I am incapable of doing (as of this moment) in life. For example, I do not know how to cycle. I do not know how to ride a scooty. I had learnt driving a car once up on a time but lost the confidence on Pune roads and no longer remember now even the order of accelerator, brake and clutch. I do not know how to swim. I definitely am no Krrish.

Yet in my nightly illusions I just pick up a cycle or get on a bike and am able to balance it without any issues. I find myself having fun floating in those Waterworld kind of pools. On other occasions I see myself riding on huge waves. Once I got inside what was in the beginning a plane and later turned into a spherical capsule but really enormous. The way it traveled was very much like this scene in the animation movie Robots when Rodney arrives in Robot City and goes to meet his idol Bigweld. A few days back I was flying around from one part of the school field to another. It was as if I had gained some superpowers.

As much as I'd like to have a relaxed slumber, these particular action packed specters of the mind-boggling type tell me that if only we believe then like in our dreams in our daily affairs too we would be able to do things above and beyond what me may normally percieve ourselves to be capable of.

So dream on.

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PS: What kind of dreams do you have?

Slam bam

Recently Union Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh slammed the faculty and research quality of IITs and IIMs. He said that the excellence of these institutes is because of their students and not the teaching staff. (See the article here.)

Any MBA student will tell you of their grueling work schedule. I had a fair share of the experience during M.Sc. Chemistry at IIT Bombay long ago in 2001-2003. Every semester we gave two sets of exams - one in the middle and the other at the end. Interspersed between these would be quizzes and written assignments for every subject. In the senior year in preparation for the research life ahead the professors as part of their courses had us looking through literature in journals, write reports on the findings and even make presentations.

Clearly then along with the students, the faculty also have their work cut out and need to do more than simply using the chalk and blackboard in order to maintain standards. Doing good research requires you to keep abreast with the latest developments in your field, to be quick enough to ride on the tide and to build a solid niche for your work amidst that.

Maintaining a balance between being a good teacher and a quality researcher becomes a matter of being passionate about what you do and managing it well. Discussing new findings appearing in journals with students and colleagues enables to identify the possibilities therein for you. Engaging the senior students in mentoring the younger lot can help in taking some of the load off.

We now have a total of 16 IITs and in addition there are six IISERs. Until a year back some of the professors from University of Pune and scientists from NCL were roped in for taking classes at IISER, Pune besides performing their regular duties. Due to shortage of competent faculty the existing staff has to perhaps bite more than they can chew. There is a need to bring in more hands for the job.

Science in India still suffers at the behest of brain drain. Out of the 20 M.Sc. Chemistry students in my class 18 went to either US or Germany to do their Ph.D. and then continued to stay on longer for pursuing a post-doc. I know of only one of them to have returned recently to IIT Bombay as an Assistant Professor.

I feel the general perception that doing science and making money do not go together should be changed. Eyebrows should not be raised when professors call for higher pay scales. Giving encouragement, incentives and rewards wherever due would make the demanding job lucrative and go a long way in luring back more and more lost talent.

DPS Mathura Road where I schooled which had started off in tents eventually became one of the largest schools in Delhi where you had classes from Nursery to XII and each class having 6-9 sections. This was possible only because the architects were able to envision the great future despite the humble beginnings. The huge Angstrom Laboratory where I am currently working is relatively new and first opened its doors a few years back only. Similarly our newer universities and institutes should be built while keeping the imminent progress in mind. The older ones should be timely upgraded and an improvement in the working conditions should be brought about.

As much as world class students deserve world class professors, the world class professors need world class facilities to motivate them to do better still.

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PS: What is your take? Are our professors as bad as the Minister thinks?

The Man of My Dreams

I recently read the book The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld. The story begins in June 1991 when Hannah at the age of 14 years old sees her parents separate. As she grows older she meets three men. There is Mike who truly loves her but she doesn’t find a soul mate in him. Then we have the handsome Oliver who gives her attention and much more but has a roving eye. Finally there is Henry for whom Hannah has held a torch for years. She moves to Chicago to be near him only to learn he has a girlfriend. They begin to spend unusual times together, acknowledge their once up on a time crush for each other and recognize the “weird thing” happening between them. But ultimately their relationship doesn't move any further and this is the closest Hannah comes to finding the man of her dreams.

When Henry steers towards Suzy, a heartbroken Hannah goes to New Mexico where she learns to live again. With some soul searching, she is able to confront the demons of her childhood that have always held her back. Nearly two years later one day in May 2005 she writes a letter to her therapist telling her the lessons learned.

Here are a few of the lines Hannah says in those pages and my comments (in italics):

"Perhaps this is how you know you're doing the thing you're intended to do: No matter how slow or slight your progress, you never feel that it's a waste of time.”
*When looking at other people’s lives and success, in a moment of weakness we tend to question our own worth. I feel in such a situation we should think like Hannah to strengthen our belief in what we do.*

“I wanted to hold happiness in reserve, like a bottle of champagne. I postponed it because I was afraid, because I overvalued it, because I didn’t want to use it up, because what do you wish for then? The possibility, that I was intimidated by getting what I wanted, is the hardest one for me to consider, which might mean it is the likeliest.”
*It is indeed our fears that tie us down and make us hesitate when all we needed to do was take a leap of faith.*

“I don’t mean this to be glib,” Hannah continues, “but I feel like a lot of life is distasteful and embarrassing. And you just push through it. Isn’t that the big lesson we learned from living with Dad? You fix what you can, and you let time pass.”
*It is hard to wait for time do its magic but mostly it does work.*

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PS: Would like to share any quote from a book that stayed back with you?