Welcome to Tatvi in this blog forum

Tatvi, an assistant professor of physical science in one of the elite institute joins today on this forum. Together we hope to create interesting discussion around academia and life in general. Welcome aboard Tatvi!!!

summer break

These days its hard to write anything due to various summer related activities, so blogging is more sporadic. Once summer is over, I will be able to write more regularly. Here is a beautiful evening picture of a boat in the lake Michigan.

Feynmann and his Charisma

Every physics student at some point of time gets in love with Richard Feynman and his lecture series on Physics. Here is a good news for Feynman fans, Microsoft has launched the video series of messenger lectures series online with the new research website Project Tuva free for public to enjoy the beauty of physics being told beautifully. You will need to install Microsoft's new browser silverlight though in order to watch these videos. Go enjoy it!

Encyclopedia of Magnetic Resonance is online

This is exciting news for magnetic resonance (NMR and EPR) community that Encyclopedia of Magnetic Resonance is available online. Encyclopedia has great introductory articles on almost all topics in the field of solid state NMR, liquid state NMR, MRI and EPR, and is a great resource for everyone in the field. here is the link.

Playgrounds for children

Whenever I go to India to visit my family in a sleepy cute town in central part of India, I miss a simple, safe and secure playground in the neighborhood where children can play. Playing and physical activity for children is very important, and it should not be ignored. As population have been exploded over the years, all the open places where children could play freely are gone and converted into buildings. The only park which city offers is often overcrowded and is not sufficient for the big population. This is something society can take care with or without the help of Government.



There can be small play places build in a small space something like in the yard of an apartment buildings, or any other free small space. Schools will not like it, but their play grounds also should be open for public since they receive financial aid from the government which is public money. This is just an idea but I hope our children can have access to more safe playgrounds within their vicinity where they can run and jump without being fear of getting into coming car, scooter or bicycle.

Random Musings

One of my old student (lets call him N here) wrote back to me after reading some of the posts. Its always interesting to hear back from old students and know them more. Now when they are more wise and mature, its interesting to talk with them while connecting old links. here are some of his random thoughts and my responses;

I think you must have seen Generations of young Mind getting Shaped, that were filled with Dreams and hope --- ( read BSc 1 st year) ... and going down the lane.....
You must have felt in , seen it , experienced, at times have felt helpless as well.
Some went ahead and touched the sky. I do not know how you have coped with it.


Dear N, this is the part and parcel of being a teacher. You see students coming and going, and there are all kinds of students in any given classroom, some very focused and some have hard time sitting there. Sometimes you get attached to them and pour your heart in their learning and sometime you just watch them from distance. Some students comes back again and again and tell what and how they are doing and some never return, but at the same rate there are always new students coming in. So life goes on...

I do not know how you coped with the Uninspiring Surroundings and people around and there were many.

This is a bigger challenge of working in state college in India where there is hefty politics and rigid bureaucracy. When I felt saturated with surrounding, I went out to explore new dimensions.

For me it was Unraveling of the Imperfect World and a Big Sense of Disappointment from what I expected it to be as part of GROWING UP. Suddenly the Cushy life of School and College was replaced by REALITIES that we live under.

I guess this strikes to most people when they go out of known boundaries of school and college and go to real world. In real world, you need different skills for survival then what you need to go through school and college. This phenomenon is very common. School creates a very safe and comfortable environment for growing up children, but it also isolate them from real life challenges. That's why when you are old and wise, you still look back and cherish the moments you lived in school. However beautiful that environment is, you need to get out of it at some point and face the real world and its challenges.

The most interesting thing in your blog was that I noted was that you made effort to
remember your Student's name and that was Really a shocked I must Admit, that
how even one of the Fearless used to Fear you out of Respect.
It was fun to see this.

Following this comment, I added one more point on my previous post Effective Teaching, that is Authority. yes, as a teacher I need to have balance, where students can come freely to me with their problems but at the same time I need to have authority in the class to avoid unnecessary disturbances inside my classroom which were common in our college during my time there.

It is always fun to hear back from people whom you knew decade ago as a student. Come back again N, with more comments and questions!!!

Writing: An Important Skill for Scietific Career

There was an interesting comment yesterday on the most popular page of this blog How to enter in science and engineering Ph. D. program in American university. This comment is worth a separate post, as it talks about an important skill needed for scientific career. The reader said:

Writing is intensely involved in all stages of masters and PhD studies starting with the application essay "Why PhD/MBA/MS". Then come assignments, papers, presentations and several other challenges for an effective communication.

Writing is an important skill for many profession, but when it comes to scientific research, it becomes vital. You need to communicate your science in an effective way at all stages of your career. Publications and presentations are integral part of this profession. Presenting your scientific results clearly and beautifully is a skill which comes with time and practice, so it is important for anyone who is planning to go for Ph. D. to start spending some time mastering this skill. Reading all forms of literature is first step towards writing.

A useful discussion on writing dissertation can be found here.

Indian education system still don't put enough emphasis on writing skill as part of the curriculum at any stage. This is a serious drawback in our system where all emphasis is placed on memorizing the known facts and reproducing it as precisely as possible without any variation. Writing at any stage needs serious thinking which should be encouraged at the school and college level.

Finally to read a beautiful piece of writing which I read yesterday, go to this link.