This is the first post I'm writing after about 15 months. I was extremely busy with Class 12 (last year of school) academics and College Entrance Examinations' preparations. It's not that I am particularly free now because I still have to give JEE (Advanced) 2014 on 25 May 2014, BITSAT 2014 on 27 May 2014 & NEST 2014 on 31 May 2014 which will end my list of entrance exams to fight with.
The point is that I have still not returned to blogging & it will take some more time to do so. This post is long overdue & writing it is more of a personal formality than the desire to tell everyone something interesting but it is posted here so that others, who may be interested in finding facts later, may do so. I am going to write about my academic prospects ahead and it is a minefield since there has already been a fiasco over some related stuff with people around me.
So, after Class 12 in India, most students who study Science in their final 2 years aim to join some prestigious institute in engineering or medicine & the competition is fierce to the level that many lives have been lost owing to this great pressure from peers, family & surrounding people. Fortunately, I have never been forced by anyone - on the contrary, my parents have fully supported me - to choose any specific path for my post-school studies. I was also lucky to not have to consciously feel the desire to have to choose something just for the sake of choosing.
Since class 8, I have had a growing interest in Technological Journals like the IEEE & the Electronics For You magazine. My father has always taken a very exciting role in introducing me to Electronics, which is his area of research & I have loved it too. But, slowly, I was also told to read books on Physics, like those of Stephen Hawking - particularly, "The Theory of Everything" & "A Brief History of Time"! There were other interesting varieties of areas where I got enticed to & I spent countless hours on Wikipedia & the Internet reading & seeing those nice things while my peers were mostly playing computer games like Project IGI, Crysis, NFS and a lot more of those. Luckily, I had (& still have) a Desktop PC with bad graphics & hence, I had no chance to play those games even if I had wanted to & I had to be happy with Science articles & the like.
As time rolled by, I got addicted to Theoretical Physics & also to IEEE's Vehicular Technology research ideas (also simplified in IEEE Spectrum stories) though it was purely at a non-technical level. In class 9, I was selected for the National Children's Science Congress 2010 & I was elated to have a chance to meet renowned scientists of India & the world. Most importantly, I met Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, the 2009 Chemistry Nobel Laureate & in a personal interaction with him (while he was having breakfast) & also in his valedictory address, I was enchanted by his description of the joys of Chemistry. At that time, I had also read "The Double Helix" by James Dewey Watson who were the discoverers of the DNA structure & I was smitten by their deeply involved experience in the quest for the DNA's structure & a Nobel Prize too. Again, in Class 10, I had been part of a 4-member team from KV, IIT, Kharagpur (my school) who went to the KVS National Quiz on the International Year of Chemistry 2011 at New Delhi. There, I met Prof. CNR Rao, considered India's leading chemist & in his IYC Address and also in a school magazine interview that I did with him, he told me that the Chemistry taught in schools was shoddy but Undergraduate Chemistry & later Research, was extremely exciting. He also pointed out that he was having fun working on Graphene, which was then listed as the "Hottest Material in the World", an amazing Carbon allotrope which promised to revolutionize material science & other areas of Science & Technology. It was in 2010 that Sir Andre Geim & Konstantin Novoselov were awarded the Physics Nobel Prize for their research on Graphene which brought the material to the public limelight. All in all, I had know been confused because I was in extreme love with all three major branches of Science - Physics, Chemistry & Biology - so much so, that in Class 11, I had difficulty in choosing my fifth subject between Biology & Computer Science.
In Class 10 only, I had bought "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" but I had not read that immediately & had almost forgotten about it until an Anandabazar Patrika editorial by Pathik Guha pointed it out as one of the best books to be read to increase interest in Physics. That, along with my 2012 visit to the International Kolkata Book Fair, where we bought "The Feynman Lectures on Physics" brought my interest back to Physics & after reading a lot about Richard Phillips Feynman & considering him as one of my role models, I was almost sure of studying Physics after my school. I also attended a Guest Lecture at IIT, Kharagpur by Ashoke Sen, one of the proponents of the String Theory in High Energy Particle Physics, who urged youngsters to pursue the quest for a unified physical law to explain almost all current natural phenomenon known & I was quite motivated by his lecture. Also, I was awarded the "Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research" (INSPIRE) SEATS Award in Class 10 & coupled with the appeals for more scientists rather than engineers & business managers by various institutions & schemes of the Govt. of India, I had now firmly decided on Physics as my interest for my academic future. After my AISSE 2014 (Class 10) results came out in which I scored a perfect 10.0 CGPA (not a stunning feat but good, nevertheless), some of my friends & I were interviewed by Dainik Jagran where I told the reporter that I would be studying Physics in my post-school studies. Till that time, I had not thought very keenly about the Indian Institutes of Technology & it was almost the end of Class 11 when I did. I had never felt the real urge to get into IIT as if it were the only university in India, but I then felt that IITs were the guarantee of fun and a nice social life along with good academics. Also, my father's opinions about his own college were tilting me towards it. I decided to try to study as much as possible for getting into IIT but without putting undue stress on myself - simply put, I was not as hard working as IIT aspirants should be because I wanted to really enjoy my studies & if that did not lead me to the best engineering institute in the country, I'd have not much to fret over.
The problem was that the prospect of IIT also brought about some unexpected turns in my academics. Firstly, I was now a bit more inclined towards engineering but still I balanced my thoughts & decided that my first choice would be Physics but then I could go for Electronics Engineering, whose interest I had started cultivating some 3-4 years back. At that time, I came to know of IISERs & I was in favour of joining them but their admission was based on a good performance in the IITJEE. Secondly - I had always studied by myself till the middle of Class 12 along with the extreme helpfulness of my teachers & most importantly, the doubt support by my father. But, a few weeks into Class 12, he could not keep pace with the extreme demands of IITJEE preparations' guidance & his teaching at IIT and I was forced to join tuition classes in Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics, much to my chagrin. But, now, looking back, I feel that it was not so bad at all as I could derive a lot of help from the experience of teachers outside my school & also learn some time-saving tricks necessary for a competitive exam.
Now, that I am almost nearing the completion of the entrance exams, and then a tensed wait for the results & finally, admission formalities in some decent college, I have made up my mind firmly on my academic interests. Clearly stated in brief, they are (in preferred order but only if I qualify for them) :-
1. Integrated M.Sc. Courses at IISc, Bangalore or IISERs
2. Integrated M.Sc. (Physics) Courses at IITs
3. Electronics / Computer Science / Aerospace Engineering at IITs
4. Engineering (as above) in Jadavpur University or IIEST, Shibpur or IISST, Trivandrum
5. Integrated M.Sc. Courses at Good Science Colleges in India
6. Engineering at IIIT, Hyderabad
7. Engineering in NITs
Also, I have an interest in going to MIT, USA or Caltech, USA for Physics UG courses but since I haven't given SAT as of yet, I don't know if they are viable to be tried for the next year but of course, they are the best places anyone could ever go to for Physics.
You would have thought that now that I have such a clearly outlined academic policy in place, my mind would be free but alas!, politics & the extreme dire condition of a majority of humans in the planet have now touched me so deeply that I am again in turmoil. Coupled with it are entrepreneurial interests & sporting ideas but to be straight forward, my only interest in life is to practice "Simple Living, High Thinking" i.e. I'd live as simply as possible & try to give back at least something worthwhile to the world that has been so kind to me all these years & made me enjoy the fortunes of being born into a good & sufficient family. (It would be my utmost joy if I can fulfil this desire & I do hope I can!)
The bottom line - there will be many opportunities at a given time in your life where you would be in a dilemma to choose a path (reminds me of Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken") & you would only know whether it was good or bad, looking back. But, whatever you do, do it with your own conviction, for the only person who will truly rejoice or regret is you & that's why you must take the road you want to, not always the road less travelled by.
Goodbye for now - I hope I'll be blogging regularly a few weeks from now. Till then, enjoy life!
Your friend,
Green Mota
The point is that I have still not returned to blogging & it will take some more time to do so. This post is long overdue & writing it is more of a personal formality than the desire to tell everyone something interesting but it is posted here so that others, who may be interested in finding facts later, may do so. I am going to write about my academic prospects ahead and it is a minefield since there has already been a fiasco over some related stuff with people around me.
So, after Class 12 in India, most students who study Science in their final 2 years aim to join some prestigious institute in engineering or medicine & the competition is fierce to the level that many lives have been lost owing to this great pressure from peers, family & surrounding people. Fortunately, I have never been forced by anyone - on the contrary, my parents have fully supported me - to choose any specific path for my post-school studies. I was also lucky to not have to consciously feel the desire to have to choose something just for the sake of choosing.
Since class 8, I have had a growing interest in Technological Journals like the IEEE & the Electronics For You magazine. My father has always taken a very exciting role in introducing me to Electronics, which is his area of research & I have loved it too. But, slowly, I was also told to read books on Physics, like those of Stephen Hawking - particularly, "The Theory of Everything" & "A Brief History of Time"! There were other interesting varieties of areas where I got enticed to & I spent countless hours on Wikipedia & the Internet reading & seeing those nice things while my peers were mostly playing computer games like Project IGI, Crysis, NFS and a lot more of those. Luckily, I had (& still have) a Desktop PC with bad graphics & hence, I had no chance to play those games even if I had wanted to & I had to be happy with Science articles & the like.
As time rolled by, I got addicted to Theoretical Physics & also to IEEE's Vehicular Technology research ideas (also simplified in IEEE Spectrum stories) though it was purely at a non-technical level. In class 9, I was selected for the National Children's Science Congress 2010 & I was elated to have a chance to meet renowned scientists of India & the world. Most importantly, I met Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, the 2009 Chemistry Nobel Laureate & in a personal interaction with him (while he was having breakfast) & also in his valedictory address, I was enchanted by his description of the joys of Chemistry. At that time, I had also read "The Double Helix" by James Dewey Watson who were the discoverers of the DNA structure & I was smitten by their deeply involved experience in the quest for the DNA's structure & a Nobel Prize too. Again, in Class 10, I had been part of a 4-member team from KV, IIT, Kharagpur (my school) who went to the KVS National Quiz on the International Year of Chemistry 2011 at New Delhi. There, I met Prof. CNR Rao, considered India's leading chemist & in his IYC Address and also in a school magazine interview that I did with him, he told me that the Chemistry taught in schools was shoddy but Undergraduate Chemistry & later Research, was extremely exciting. He also pointed out that he was having fun working on Graphene, which was then listed as the "Hottest Material in the World", an amazing Carbon allotrope which promised to revolutionize material science & other areas of Science & Technology. It was in 2010 that Sir Andre Geim & Konstantin Novoselov were awarded the Physics Nobel Prize for their research on Graphene which brought the material to the public limelight. All in all, I had know been confused because I was in extreme love with all three major branches of Science - Physics, Chemistry & Biology - so much so, that in Class 11, I had difficulty in choosing my fifth subject between Biology & Computer Science.
In Class 10 only, I had bought "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" but I had not read that immediately & had almost forgotten about it until an Anandabazar Patrika editorial by Pathik Guha pointed it out as one of the best books to be read to increase interest in Physics. That, along with my 2012 visit to the International Kolkata Book Fair, where we bought "The Feynman Lectures on Physics" brought my interest back to Physics & after reading a lot about Richard Phillips Feynman & considering him as one of my role models, I was almost sure of studying Physics after my school. I also attended a Guest Lecture at IIT, Kharagpur by Ashoke Sen, one of the proponents of the String Theory in High Energy Particle Physics, who urged youngsters to pursue the quest for a unified physical law to explain almost all current natural phenomenon known & I was quite motivated by his lecture. Also, I was awarded the "Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research" (INSPIRE) SEATS Award in Class 10 & coupled with the appeals for more scientists rather than engineers & business managers by various institutions & schemes of the Govt. of India, I had now firmly decided on Physics as my interest for my academic future. After my AISSE 2014 (Class 10) results came out in which I scored a perfect 10.0 CGPA (not a stunning feat but good, nevertheless), some of my friends & I were interviewed by Dainik Jagran where I told the reporter that I would be studying Physics in my post-school studies. Till that time, I had not thought very keenly about the Indian Institutes of Technology & it was almost the end of Class 11 when I did. I had never felt the real urge to get into IIT as if it were the only university in India, but I then felt that IITs were the guarantee of fun and a nice social life along with good academics. Also, my father's opinions about his own college were tilting me towards it. I decided to try to study as much as possible for getting into IIT but without putting undue stress on myself - simply put, I was not as hard working as IIT aspirants should be because I wanted to really enjoy my studies & if that did not lead me to the best engineering institute in the country, I'd have not much to fret over.
The problem was that the prospect of IIT also brought about some unexpected turns in my academics. Firstly, I was now a bit more inclined towards engineering but still I balanced my thoughts & decided that my first choice would be Physics but then I could go for Electronics Engineering, whose interest I had started cultivating some 3-4 years back. At that time, I came to know of IISERs & I was in favour of joining them but their admission was based on a good performance in the IITJEE. Secondly - I had always studied by myself till the middle of Class 12 along with the extreme helpfulness of my teachers & most importantly, the doubt support by my father. But, a few weeks into Class 12, he could not keep pace with the extreme demands of IITJEE preparations' guidance & his teaching at IIT and I was forced to join tuition classes in Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics, much to my chagrin. But, now, looking back, I feel that it was not so bad at all as I could derive a lot of help from the experience of teachers outside my school & also learn some time-saving tricks necessary for a competitive exam.
Now, that I am almost nearing the completion of the entrance exams, and then a tensed wait for the results & finally, admission formalities in some decent college, I have made up my mind firmly on my academic interests. Clearly stated in brief, they are (in preferred order but only if I qualify for them) :-
1. Integrated M.Sc. Courses at IISc, Bangalore or IISERs
2. Integrated M.Sc. (Physics) Courses at IITs
3. Electronics / Computer Science / Aerospace Engineering at IITs
4. Engineering (as above) in Jadavpur University or IIEST, Shibpur or IISST, Trivandrum
5. Integrated M.Sc. Courses at Good Science Colleges in India
6. Engineering at IIIT, Hyderabad
7. Engineering in NITs
Also, I have an interest in going to MIT, USA or Caltech, USA for Physics UG courses but since I haven't given SAT as of yet, I don't know if they are viable to be tried for the next year but of course, they are the best places anyone could ever go to for Physics.
You would have thought that now that I have such a clearly outlined academic policy in place, my mind would be free but alas!, politics & the extreme dire condition of a majority of humans in the planet have now touched me so deeply that I am again in turmoil. Coupled with it are entrepreneurial interests & sporting ideas but to be straight forward, my only interest in life is to practice "Simple Living, High Thinking" i.e. I'd live as simply as possible & try to give back at least something worthwhile to the world that has been so kind to me all these years & made me enjoy the fortunes of being born into a good & sufficient family. (It would be my utmost joy if I can fulfil this desire & I do hope I can!)
The bottom line - there will be many opportunities at a given time in your life where you would be in a dilemma to choose a path (reminds me of Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken") & you would only know whether it was good or bad, looking back. But, whatever you do, do it with your own conviction, for the only person who will truly rejoice or regret is you & that's why you must take the road you want to, not always the road less travelled by.
Goodbye for now - I hope I'll be blogging regularly a few weeks from now. Till then, enjoy life!
Your friend,
Green Mota
