Playing with electrons

[I am getting aggressive on posting blogs these days, and that's primarily because the equipment using which I do most of my research work has been down for repair, giving me plenty of idle and jobless time. Incidentally, the same equipment allows me to manipulate behavior of electrons (and thus my blog's name Playing with electrons .). So I am no longer playing with electrons for the last one month.] “ Axomi aai rupohi, Gunoru nai hekh; Bharatore purbo dekhot huruz uthaar dekh. ” [“ Mother Assam is beautiful, with glory unbounded; ‘Tis Land of rising sun, to India’s east. ”] Thus sang the legendary balladeer Dr. Bhupen Hazarika in praise of his native state, Assam. The following few pictures from some of the Assamese newspapers published in the last few days depict Assam in all its glory and beauty. We can see how gloriously people are living in this enchanting state which boasts of a majestic Brahmaputra and a rich heritage. With more than a million people ren...

The student quality at BITS, Pilani – at least of my batch which was all board-toppers – was pretty good I would say. And how exactly can I comment on it? There needs to be some reference against which to compare. Well, the reference is me, myself. Now that’s strange! Before joining BITS, I had almost always (barring one or maximum of two occasions) been a topper, the 1 st rank holder in all academic exams including all my high school exams to the state level 12 th board finals   in Assam. Anyways, those are distant memories, totally irrelevant and baseless now in my present life, frankly. And I don’t actually give a s**t now, but back then, it was a big thing for me! So soon after joining BITS, I found that I stood somewhat above average among all board toppers, but certainly not the topper. I started giving my best, virtually locking myself inside library and studying really, really hard to compete against the smarter ones. I challenged myself and challenged my ego th...

Rendezvous with IITK leadership @ Santa Clara, CA: Meeting with IITK potential faculty candidates [No, this is not a follow-up to my previous post on board toppers, IIT-JEE toppers, etc. Before my relatively poor memory gives away last weekend’s experiences, I thought I’d write them down.] “It’s like a modern day arranged marriage in India where the boy’s family visits the girl’s family, and the girl has to say ‘yes’ before the marriage can be arranged. We are the boy’s family now and you are the girl’s.” A (surprisingly) pleasant sense of humor from the IITK leadership set a very relaxing, laid-back and informal mood for a highly informative and enriching session. It was a sunny and warm afternoon outside 2903 Bunker Hill Lane, Santa Clara in California on June 16 (Saturday). The leadership of IITK including the director, dean of research and planning, chair of EE department, etc. had arrived for a unique event organized in conjunction with the IITK alumni asso...

Board Toppers, IIT-JEE toppers & personal reflections [Oh No! Not another blog on IIT-JEE, please!] In the recent past, I’ve come across many blogs (besides debates in TV channels, newspapers, etc.) on why not to scrap the existing IIT-JEE, and a few blogs on why to support the change. These blogs are written by intellectuals and academicians of the highest caliber including professors of IIT (and other institutes), IIT alumni, present IIT students, etc. etc. and are being ‘hotly’ followed in terms of follow-up comments, debates, discussions.   I am the most unworthy person in terms of trying to write a blog on it, firstly because, I did not study in an IIT (I even failed to clear the then-existing screening test J ) and secondly, since I never studied in an IIT and do not know the level of teaching and student quality (both must be very high, I believe), hence I cannot comprehend what changes – positive or negative – the proposed change in the exam might bri...