Dear Sir,
Having made an introduction to MIT in my last email, let me continue from where I left off.
MIT is located in Cambridge, which is just across the Charles river from Boston.Harvard is a further 3 miles up the river. I find this pretty amazing...the 2 biggest and most prestigious universities in the world located at walking distance from one another!! Harvard is old school in all respects. The culture, the architecture, the general atmosphere is all reminiscent of the 18th century. That said, Harvard's two biggest departments, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Business School are located pretty far away from Harvard square, infact Med School is in downtown Boston and is the station from where I board the subway to MIT every day.
Its generally expected that with 2 such big universities located at such close proximity to each other, they will be a tremendous amount of rivalry and one oneupmanship. But surprisingly there is none. In fact the level of flexibility given to students is amazing. Do you know that a student registered at MIT can undertake courses and classes at Harvard! For some one like me, that is just unbelievable. But that is what many students too, and I have had the opportunity to attend some lectures at Harvard, which were tremendous experiences.
In my last mail, I had attached a few pictures of a building called Stata Centre. The architecture is pretty amazing and was designed by a very eccentric yet genius architect,Frank Gehry. It cost around $350 million to finish it, but I would say its worth every cent. Bill Gates was also one of the sponserers for the building. It houses the Computer Science and Mathematics departments of MIT. My wing mate at IIT is doing an internship here, so every evening after our work finishes, I go across to his office and play pool and foosball and gorge on chocolates and colas which are available for free here. :)
You might have heard about Tim Berner Lee, the guy who invented the World Wide Web. His office is next door to my friend's. Last week I got the opportunity to talk to him. I was expecting him to behave like a celebrity, and was initially very apprehensive. But he was very nice and humble and we had cookies and hot chocolate in his office. Now that doesn't happen everyday, does it!! We got a couple of Nobel Laureates too in my research center but I haven't been able to meet them yet. Must take some time out and talk to them
The 2008 graduating batch of MIT had its commencement ceremony last Friday. My professor's younger daughter is graduating from the Brain Research Center this year and so we had all gone for the celebrations. Mohammad Yunus was the guest lecturer and it was great to see a person from a Third world country get so much respect and admiration from the MIT fraternity. It was really a grand affair, and it was nice to see so many happy and beaming faces that day.
There is one research center here that garners the most attention and focus from all the academia and the industry here. That is the Media lab here. This is the place where fiction is turned to reality. The 100$ laptop, the electric car, smart city planning, etc etc were all born here. This is the one place where you can see the might of MIT technical prowess. The lab is open 24 hours and you will always find students and scientists working on problems and creating solutions for industries. Its always open to the public so anyone can access it, which is a good thing. MIT doesn't believe in closed door research and in fact there is a corner where you can give feedbacks and suggestions for any product you might want to see in the future. It doesn't matter who you are and what your qualifications are, if you have a good idea it will be implemented.
I still continue to be thrilled and astonished everyday here. Its literally like being Alice in Super wonderland. I do really want to come back some day and study here. Probably an MBA from MIT Sloan would be my best bet, but that is looking too far into the future. For the next one month, I shall continue to have the time of my life and make the most of a once in a life opportunity.
Monday, March 15, 2010
MIT: part 1
Out of sheer laziness, I am not writing a new post but simply copy pasting an old email of mine. I had sent this across to a favorite teacher of mine at school and I think it should be an interesting read to all.
Dear Sir,
I very well remembered my promise. In fact I had also told you that give me a month's time so that I can understand this place better. I am not using that as an excuse to write in so late, but still, its been only 3 days over a month, I have been here. :) I guess thats too lame an excuse, but you know me too well to take offense to that!
Its no doubt been an awesome month for me. I am so glad I decided to come here. I guess I didn't tell you this, but I had offers from 3 places to chose from. The first was with the company with which I had interned last year, BHP Billiton. They were relocating me this time to Perth and I am sure it would have been a wonderful experience. The other one was from Bielefeld University in Germany. My mom was initially very keen for me to go for this, simply because it was giving me the additional opportunity of having a fun filled "Eurotrip". But when the MIT offer came along, there were absolutely no doubts for me. I think you will also agree with me on this.
Coming to the place itself, I should try to explain to you what exactly I am doing here. I am working at MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies.(MIT-ISN). Its a very advanced research laboratory which is funded by the US Army, in fact the technologies being developed here are all put to use by the US Army. My guide here has 2-3 patents to his name, all of which have been used in developing technologies for the "war against terror" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe what I am doing here will also affect the ongoing conflict in some way or another, however small or insignificant that may be. I do not know whether I should be happy or sad for that.
To describe my work in a nutshell, I have been assigned 2 projects. The first deals with developing and designing fuel cells which can offer an alternative and cheaper option to other non renewable energy resources. In all previous fuel cells designed, Platinum was used as the primary catalyst for the reduction of oxygen to water. This has 2 major problems. 1.Its way too expensive to be used on a commercial scale. 2 Platinum gets poisoned very easily by dust particles, so the cell also has longevity issues. Our team here is working on using Multi walled Carbon Nanotubes coupled with 3d metals as an alternative to Platinum. So far the results are pretty promising and I have already have had a paper written, which should find its way in to the Journal of American Chemical Society. However that isnt my head ache, so I am not really bothered about that.
My second project is on developing electromechanical actuators using again MWCNTs, which can then be used as artificial muscles in prosthetic limbs and other similar attachments I haven't had the time to start my work on this, but I am so engrossed in my previous work, that frankly I don't have the energy or inclination to start something afresh all of a sudden. If only IIT allowed us 6-8 months for internships, as they allow here abroad. Thats one thing I really hate about the IIT system....they are far far too rigid, and are never ever open to changes that might benefit the student fraternity. I seriously believe that students in their final year should be allowed to pursue interns for at least 6 months. They would play a much bigger role in developing our academic careers rather than making them go through the monotonous routine of classes and labs and mid terms and quizzes and end terms. But this is a separate issue, best not discussed here.
This Sir, is the end of my introduction to what I have been sent out here to do. In my next email, I shall be describing the place in more detail.I know I would not have been able to do justice to it in just 1 email, so I am going to break up my letters. But do not worry, the next one wont be as delayed as this one. It might come out within a few hours or a week at most. That is my promise.
Dear Sir,
I very well remembered my promise. In fact I had also told you that give me a month's time so that I can understand this place better. I am not using that as an excuse to write in so late, but still, its been only 3 days over a month, I have been here. :) I guess thats too lame an excuse, but you know me too well to take offense to that!
Its no doubt been an awesome month for me. I am so glad I decided to come here. I guess I didn't tell you this, but I had offers from 3 places to chose from. The first was with the company with which I had interned last year, BHP Billiton. They were relocating me this time to Perth and I am sure it would have been a wonderful experience. The other one was from Bielefeld University in Germany. My mom was initially very keen for me to go for this, simply because it was giving me the additional opportunity of having a fun filled "Eurotrip". But when the MIT offer came along, there were absolutely no doubts for me. I think you will also agree with me on this.
Coming to the place itself, I should try to explain to you what exactly I am doing here. I am working at MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies.(MIT-ISN). Its a very advanced research laboratory which is funded by the US Army, in fact the technologies being developed here are all put to use by the US Army. My guide here has 2-3 patents to his name, all of which have been used in developing technologies for the "war against terror" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe what I am doing here will also affect the ongoing conflict in some way or another, however small or insignificant that may be. I do not know whether I should be happy or sad for that.
To describe my work in a nutshell, I have been assigned 2 projects. The first deals with developing and designing fuel cells which can offer an alternative and cheaper option to other non renewable energy resources. In all previous fuel cells designed, Platinum was used as the primary catalyst for the reduction of oxygen to water. This has 2 major problems. 1.Its way too expensive to be used on a commercial scale. 2 Platinum gets poisoned very easily by dust particles, so the cell also has longevity issues. Our team here is working on using Multi walled Carbon Nanotubes coupled with 3d metals as an alternative to Platinum. So far the results are pretty promising and I have already have had a paper written, which should find its way in to the Journal of American Chemical Society. However that isnt my head ache, so I am not really bothered about that.
My second project is on developing electromechanical actuators using again MWCNTs, which can then be used as artificial muscles in prosthetic limbs and other similar attachments I haven't had the time to start my work on this, but I am so engrossed in my previous work, that frankly I don't have the energy or inclination to start something afresh all of a sudden. If only IIT allowed us 6-8 months for internships, as they allow here abroad. Thats one thing I really hate about the IIT system....they are far far too rigid, and are never ever open to changes that might benefit the student fraternity. I seriously believe that students in their final year should be allowed to pursue interns for at least 6 months. They would play a much bigger role in developing our academic careers rather than making them go through the monotonous routine of classes and labs and mid terms and quizzes and end terms. But this is a separate issue, best not discussed here.
This Sir, is the end of my introduction to what I have been sent out here to do. In my next email, I shall be describing the place in more detail.I know I would not have been able to do justice to it in just 1 email, so I am going to break up my letters. But do not worry, the next one wont be as delayed as this one. It might come out within a few hours or a week at most. That is my promise.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
My best "grown up" friend
The title of the post might confuse some people. To simplify things, I am referring to my best friend among all the grown ups I have known in my life. In this case, I am bestowing this particular honor to my dear Mommy. To all those who might wonder how my Mom is my best friend; well she was the one who once played the role of a mediator between me and Dad, when he had found out that his "obedient" son,instead of devoting his precious time to his studies in Kharagpur, was actually in Calcutta,dining in one of the city's poshest restaurant with his girlfriend. I still don't know how I survived that incident; hell, if I was my own father, I would have thrashed myself. Yet, I survived with nothing but an angry glare and a day of uncomfortable silence from my dad. To those who marvel at my luck, it was all due to my Mom. Somehow she saved me from the clutches of death; not only that, she took the opportunity to broker such peace and harmony with me and dad, that the next time, my "friend" visited our house, (at my Mom's insistence, of course!),my Dad actually prepared coffee for her with his own hands! The transition from a gory death to a welcome guest was nothing short of a miracle to both of us.
So, as all of you must have guessed, I had one of the coolest Mom's I could have hoped for. She is a favorite of all my cousins. And she bonds more with them rather than any of the other elders in our family. Even with my friends, she is a big hit. And she can talk about almost anything. I say almost, because she has no interest in Science, so that's something I can't talk with her. But apart from that, be it movies, sports, music, history, fashion, girls, love affairs,etc...basically anything that might interest the younger generation, she will have a thing or two to say. Heck, she is so updated, that once she was offering me advice on how to change my profile status in Orkut!!! I remember the first time, her page popped up in Orkut and Facebook, all my friends scampered to make appropriate changes in their profile pages.
In our family home, she is known as Buaji. Actually she is the youngest sister of her three brothers. So all my cousins call her Buaji.Even I call her Buaji when I am with my cousins. It seemed odd calling her Mom when the whole world is busy addressing her as the "Bua".
Buaji is passionate about two things in life. One is her precious garden, the other is Sachin. I have no issues with Sachin, I mean he is everyone's darling, mine included, but I do get a bit tired of the attention that is showered at those useless plants. Get up in the morning, and she is out in her garden, gazing affectionately at her loved ones, catch her returning from school in the afternoon and she will be again in her dastardly garden, checking out her petunias. Come evening, and it is watering time for the plants. And if God forbid, there is a water crisis in our locality, when everybody else will be wondering about how to finish the cooking and the cleaning in their houses, she will be more worried about how her precocious plants will get their next drop of water!! I sometimes wonder who will get more of her attention, me or her plants in the eventuality that both of us fall sick?
I think I already know the answer to that question.
And with Sachin, she gets really hyper. The poor man isn't allowed to play in peace if she is watching him on TV. She believes her tiniest movement will somehow affect his play. So most of the time, her eyes are shut and she opens them only when he is on the non striker's end. And my Dad, to make fun of her, openly criticizes Sachin and shows his whole hearted support for Sourav, whom she just can't tolerate. Trust me, it's a fun time to be at the Singhs' residence when India is playing!
So thats it about my Mom. A fun loving, adventurous woman, who doesn't think twice about paragliding over the serene waters of the Gulf of Thailand,talks almost daily with my girlfriend, discussing strategies on how to rectify me as a person,and has an awesome album collection in Orkut(mostly filled with those miserable flowers).
p.s. I hate to admit it, but I think she is more popular with my friends than me!
So, as all of you must have guessed, I had one of the coolest Mom's I could have hoped for. She is a favorite of all my cousins. And she bonds more with them rather than any of the other elders in our family. Even with my friends, she is a big hit. And she can talk about almost anything. I say almost, because she has no interest in Science, so that's something I can't talk with her. But apart from that, be it movies, sports, music, history, fashion, girls, love affairs,etc...basically anything that might interest the younger generation, she will have a thing or two to say. Heck, she is so updated, that once she was offering me advice on how to change my profile status in Orkut!!! I remember the first time, her page popped up in Orkut and Facebook, all my friends scampered to make appropriate changes in their profile pages.
In our family home, she is known as Buaji. Actually she is the youngest sister of her three brothers. So all my cousins call her Buaji.Even I call her Buaji when I am with my cousins. It seemed odd calling her Mom when the whole world is busy addressing her as the "Bua".
Buaji is passionate about two things in life. One is her precious garden, the other is Sachin. I have no issues with Sachin, I mean he is everyone's darling, mine included, but I do get a bit tired of the attention that is showered at those useless plants. Get up in the morning, and she is out in her garden, gazing affectionately at her loved ones, catch her returning from school in the afternoon and she will be again in her dastardly garden, checking out her petunias. Come evening, and it is watering time for the plants. And if God forbid, there is a water crisis in our locality, when everybody else will be wondering about how to finish the cooking and the cleaning in their houses, she will be more worried about how her precocious plants will get their next drop of water!! I sometimes wonder who will get more of her attention, me or her plants in the eventuality that both of us fall sick?
I think I already know the answer to that question.
And with Sachin, she gets really hyper. The poor man isn't allowed to play in peace if she is watching him on TV. She believes her tiniest movement will somehow affect his play. So most of the time, her eyes are shut and she opens them only when he is on the non striker's end. And my Dad, to make fun of her, openly criticizes Sachin and shows his whole hearted support for Sourav, whom she just can't tolerate. Trust me, it's a fun time to be at the Singhs' residence when India is playing!
So thats it about my Mom. A fun loving, adventurous woman, who doesn't think twice about paragliding over the serene waters of the Gulf of Thailand,talks almost daily with my girlfriend, discussing strategies on how to rectify me as a person,and has an awesome album collection in Orkut(mostly filled with those miserable flowers).
p.s. I hate to admit it, but I think she is more popular with my friends than me!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
A short one this time
Hi all,
The reasons, I haven't written a new post for a long time are many. For starters, I am terribly disappointed with my CAT results this year and I somehow couldn't summon any energy to sit down and write stuff. Also,office hours have been a bit too long for the past fortnight, so time was an issue too.
Anyways, I am expecting a couple of exciting changes in the very near future, so maybe that will be an incentive for me to get back to my blog with renewed vigor.
Next weekend mom is coming over. I have promised her that I will take her to an IPL match. She wants to see Dhoni in action, hopefully the experience will turn out to be as good as the hype surrounding it.
Off the topic note: Yesterday, when I was returning from office, I saw a small child selling panipuris in a makeshift stall, near the mall besides my flat. He looked exceedingly poor and he had a pleading look in his eyes, as if literally begging for people to buy his stuff. It was past 11 p.m. at that time, so I doubt anyone was in the mood to have a snack then. I wanted to help him, maybe give a 10 rupee note or some food. But, I didn't. I still don't know what stopped me. Was I too stingy to part with even 10 or 20 bucks and help that poor child? Or was I conscious that people might stare at me, if I went and talked to that boy and offered him food. Or was I afraid of what that boy will think of me? Whatever the reason, the end result was that I didn't do anything, I continued on my way home, had my dinner and went to sleep.
Maybe it's true that we are actually dead from inside. We are too scared/conscious of performing even good deeds. I once thought that these emotions are reserved only for bad or evil stuff. But, my own example has shown me how wrong I am.
That hurts.
The reasons, I haven't written a new post for a long time are many. For starters, I am terribly disappointed with my CAT results this year and I somehow couldn't summon any energy to sit down and write stuff. Also,office hours have been a bit too long for the past fortnight, so time was an issue too.
Anyways, I am expecting a couple of exciting changes in the very near future, so maybe that will be an incentive for me to get back to my blog with renewed vigor.
Next weekend mom is coming over. I have promised her that I will take her to an IPL match. She wants to see Dhoni in action, hopefully the experience will turn out to be as good as the hype surrounding it.
Off the topic note: Yesterday, when I was returning from office, I saw a small child selling panipuris in a makeshift stall, near the mall besides my flat. He looked exceedingly poor and he had a pleading look in his eyes, as if literally begging for people to buy his stuff. It was past 11 p.m. at that time, so I doubt anyone was in the mood to have a snack then. I wanted to help him, maybe give a 10 rupee note or some food. But, I didn't. I still don't know what stopped me. Was I too stingy to part with even 10 or 20 bucks and help that poor child? Or was I conscious that people might stare at me, if I went and talked to that boy and offered him food. Or was I afraid of what that boy will think of me? Whatever the reason, the end result was that I didn't do anything, I continued on my way home, had my dinner and went to sleep.
Maybe it's true that we are actually dead from inside. We are too scared/conscious of performing even good deeds. I once thought that these emotions are reserved only for bad or evil stuff. But, my own example has shown me how wrong I am.
That hurts.
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