Questions I often ask myself………..

I have been attending lots of seminars, discussing things with my fellow classmates, reading scientific literature and sometimes doing experiments in the lab. And meanwhile I often ask some questions to myself: Could I become a good chemist one day? Will I be having the knowledge to answer any question whatsoever regarding my research field ever in my life? Could I ever be feeling satisfying as a scientist at all?

Everyday it is an amazing (and stimulating) experience to see the postdocs working in the lab with the aim of learning one or more things everyday. So, does that mean that you can never be satisfied with what you already know? I don’t have an answer to this question but I read a quote somewhere that, “Learning is a continuous process”. It’s so true……

Often I get fascinated by some of the experiments in the literature. I wish that sometime I could come up with such thoughtful experiments in my scientific career. Wouldn’t it be cool? Well, PhD gives me an opportunity to do such things.…..yippy :)

I think being a graduate student, my first and foremost task is to learn all the experimental techniques sincerely and listen to the senior members in the lab. I have almost spent five months in the lab now but still I think that I need to improve on my experimental methods a lot. Once I would become confident with the techniques, it would make much more sense to actually come up with the ‘cool’ experiments……

Ithaca Birthday Parties

Birthday parties among the chemistry graduate students in Ithaca are unique and so much fun. I had witnessed two myself within past two days and one of them was mine. Though I have never celebrated my b’day ever in my life, but I am pretty sure that my first ever b’day celebrations couldn’t have been better than this one.

So, let me come back to the discussion of the Ithaca birthday parties. The people gather together at the place of the person whose birthday they are going to celebrate and then wait for the clock to tick 12. As soon as the moment arrives, following cake cutting the Chem Cornellians start their unique way of wishing and celebrating the b’day. Sometimes they even get two cakes, one to eat and one to smear onto the face of the bakra (birthday boy or girl). Besides using the cake, they use whole lot of stuff (almost whatever u can think of) e.g. egg, tomatoes, cream, vaseline, sprays and the list goes on. Occasionally, they give moderate treatment to the person if he is screaming or resisting too much. This is an exclusive style of Chem Cornellians to show their love and care for the person. I was spared to certain extent because it was my first b’day here and they didn’t want to scare me the very first time. But they warned me saying that its going to get worse from next time onwards.

There is no substitute for the parents and family back home. But these awesome Chem grad students make sure that the bakra shouldn’t miss his home. In other words, this splendid treatment makes the person feel really special and so did happen with me too today. Also, they take the b’day person out for dinner or lunch on the same day. From my previous experiences, it’s the b’day person who gives the treat to the rest of the group on this day; but in Ithaca the concept of b’day parties is completely opposite. So, its kinda unique. But I loved this style and looking forward for more to attend in future.

Last couple of weeks

I am beginning to write this blog today, as I need a space to put my thoughts on. This realization isn’t sudden but after careful consideration.

During the course of this post, I would be sharing the experiences of last couple of weeks. Last few days of my life have been extremely eventful. Met different genre of people, read some random stuff, explored the huge campus of Cornell, tasted the food at different restaurants and made some new friends.

As I stepped into a new place, to my utter surprise I wasn’t feeling home-sick rather I was feeling a fresh air of independence. This is not to mean that I was not given the freedom when I stayed with my family. But there is strange feeling of freedom of thinking about myself, about research, about chemistry, doing laundry, cooking, fixing the various things in the house, a lot more than ever since before.

The TA training went off well. There was a 3 week off after the TA training and before the proficiency exams. Though the exams are still not over, but I am kinda tired with doing problems everyday. Neither do I feel like doing problems today nor do I want to go to sleep. Rather, today unlike past few days I am missing home a lot and want to talk to someone. So, here I am sharing my experiences and putting up here. The three week gap wasn’t required, but the seniors tell me that you should enjoy this time as much as possible. But enjoy with WHOM L There is no Indian in my class with whom I can get along. Though I am trying my best to be comfortable in companies of people, but haven’t adjusted so far.

Last week, I invited some of my classmates at home for dinner. I made typical Indian food with a dessert. It was a first time that I made a huge meal for someone alone and was very exhausted after the cooking part. My friends really enjoyed the meal and asked for the recipe of Suji ka Halwa. That day, I also looked up on the internet to know the English translation of Suji and found out that this grain is called “ Semolina”.

Day before yesterday, I met Prof. Raold Hoffmann. I was so excited when I stepped up into his room. He introduced himself to me like a humble scientist would do. Then, he offered me a seat and I was very much comfortable. He has an amazing memory and is still so much enthusiastic about his work. Since in the past he has written lot of stuff about teaching strategies, I inquired him about the challenges faced by a TA. Guess what, he gave me a hard copy of one of his paper which he hasn’t even published. It was the most memorable gift I have ever got.

Yesterday, one of my seniors told me that I could get Hindi movies in the Olin media library. Since long time I had a wish to watch a 2 National Award winning movie called Parzania starring Naseeruddin Shah (my favourite) and Sarika. Instead of preparing for exams due this Monday , I went to the media library today and issued the DVD of parzania. I came back home and watched the movie as I couldn’t resist. It was an amazing movie depicting the sensitive issue of 2002 Gujarat Godhra riot. It made me think a lot and so probably I am a bit emotional today. Probably, in the later posts will be sharing such thoughts.

This is just a beginning of my journey there is a lot to come. Hoping for the best........