What is the importance of a summer project for a PG student in physics? Well , apparently this has become the most important question in my life currently. I am one of those thousands of aspiring researchers who want to contribute to the most amazing subject but finds his path broken at every single step.
For anyone who is reading this, I am Tirthankar Banerjee, doing my master's at IIT Madras. I have done my graduation from St. Xavier's college, kolkata which nowadays absolutely sucks(even though the leading magazines rate it as one of the best in India).
This post is going to be about my physics journey...a voyage that started with a dream, faced so many storms, the sails were torn, yet it's a journey that's ON.
It may be funny that I heard the term ASTROPHYSICS before PHYSICS(although the meaning was made clear to me within the next few minutes). I was most probably in my fourth standard and I "wanted to know". At that stage all that crossed my mind were the small lights in the night sky. My father familiarised me with different constellations and I remember us sitting on the roof nearly every night after dinner. Somewhere during that time I asked my father, "where do these come from?" and thus came about the question which will always make me a believer, " where did the first thing in the universe come from?" or what is the source of everything?
Strangely enough my teachers( back in my hometown, balurghat) liked me. I was never a serious-in-studies kid. I liked all my subjects during my secondary. Nothing ever bored me and it was an uneventful transition to higher secondary.
This is where the CBSE effect comes in. I was extremely lucky to have two brilliiant textbooks in physics(NCERT) in std. 11th and 12th. This was a very funny period of my life. This is the time when wellwishers come in with the idea that one must study engineering to survive in this world. I wanted to study in IIT but it was quite clear to me and my parents that if I make it, I would study physics and NOT engineering. Well, you may ask why should anyone aim like that? There are so many colleges in India, so why go to IIT to study "physics"?
reasons: 1> I had no idea back in balurghat other than knowing the names of few colleges in Delhi and Kolkata.
2>The fact that IIT-JEE(which incidentally lots of students are sitting for today- 10th april) is so hard to crack pulled me even closer to it.
Anyway, I couldn't make it to IIT after my 12th but there was one thing which was clear by the end of my school life. For me it had be physics and physics only.
Thankfully I had good marks in both physics and maths( now I know what marks mean in India, unfortunately) and got the college of my "the-then" preferrence:
ST. XAVIER'S COLLEGE(AUTONOMOUS),KOLKATA.
Well, this autonomy business in that college is such a joke :). In India physics is dominated(at least in number) by bengalis. What I saw in my college(and now I know in others too) was a system that was harsh on anyone who talked about change.There were pathetic people who would mug (i repeat "mug", not study) all day to get good marks in exams( but there were EXCELLENT students too, arpan bhattacharya,chitrak bhadra,somesankar,being a few among them).So God save Indian physics in future. In our autonomous college, you stand against the system and you face the consequences. I wondered what I would get with 67-68% where there were so many with more than 80%.Moreover, most of the people who were "good"( as their marks were), didn't even learn the subject. What gives me the right to talk like this,right? I can because I am honest. I was honest to my dream,to the subject and to myself. So please understand before questioning me.
15th March,2010 - TIFR written exam results were out and my name appeared on the list. I wasn't good enough to study at tifr and have no regret for not getting through at the end. But being selected for interview brought back all the dreams and confidence those had left me in my college life.
I knew by then that I would at least make it to an IIT and I actually did.
So the boy who wanted to study physics at IIT once is now actually doing it. But there's a huge difference in being a PG student and an UG student at IIT.
It is still way better than all those universities which do nothing but destroy at least 80% of country's talent every year.
My UG marks have still stood strong to block my path where summer projects are concerned. Yet, I hope that I'll do some good work during summer.
It is such a long journey ahead but I'm not and was never afraid, I've always had the passion(even in dark days of xavier's).
Indian system of judging students through marks is ugly but (...it requires a separate line. ;) )
Physics is Beautiful.
signing off,
Dreamer.
