The wake up call

[Received an email yesterday and am producing it here with the writer's permission.]

Hi,

I went to some links from your weekend reading list and found a post by Xykademiqz very interesting.  It brought back some memories.

I was a PhD student in a computational field in the late 1990s.  My advisor's lab was in the process of getting new computers.  This left several huge desks unoccupied for a few weeks. One day, during an extended weekend, I dutifully went to the lab and started playing Solitaire.  I don’t know what came over me, but before I knew it, I had climbed on one of those inviting, big desks and dozed off.  Much to my shock, my advisor also decided to come in that day and I woke up to find her staring at me.  She was visibly upset, but didn’t say much and simply asked me about a manuscript that we were working on.  I quickly printed out a rough draft of about 25 pages.  The manuscript had a mistake in the first sentence itself  - she took a quick look and immediately tossed it into a recycle bin.  “I would like to see a version which was written while you were awake,” she said. 

Although I did feel guilty at being caught in a “compromised” position, I felt hurt that she threw away the whole manuscript due to one mistake. 

“How dare she insult me? I will make her regret this.”

“So what if I was caught napping. At least, I showed up on a holiday.”

"Maybe I was unwell. She didn't even bother asking."

I walked out burning in shame and anger and cursed her (in my mind) for not recognizing and appreciating the genius I was. I did not speak to her for the next few days, not that she was bothered. I resolved to work again on the manuscript and show her a perfect version the next time.  I also thought I would tell her how much her acerbic remarks had hurt me and would demand an apology. 

As I started going through the paper, I realized that it was full of serious mistakes: it did, in fact, look like the work of a half-asleep mind.  This was a wake-up call.  All these days, I had thought of myself as this super-intelligent and perfect person who would soon dazzle the world with great discoveries.  I had been careless in writing things up and did not bother to proof read, delegating that task to her!  But, she made it absolutely clear that she would not look at it unless I did a professional job with it.  I jumped into it with complete seriousness this time.  I wrote and rewrote all the new results in as clear a manner I could, rearranged the data from top to bottom, did a proper literature survey and placed the work in the right context. I went through the sections time and again to detect any error, technical or typographical. 

After a month, the paper was ready to be shown to her.  By then, I had given up all thoughts of demanding any apology.  I started feeling a bit obliged for the timely wake up call.  This time, her reaction to the paper was completely different.  She appreciated the work, praised it during the next lab meeting and suggested immediate submission with me as the single author.

It is my proudest moment, ever.

Beauty or duty

My relatives [from extended family] often ask strange, mostly amusing questions about my job.  Most of the time, these questions are asked out of formality with little interest in hearing an answer. 

But one question stood apart.  This relative, a bureaucrat who wrote motivational psychology books, asked, "I don't understand your job. Do you study Mathematics for the sake of beauty or as a duty?" At that time, I was a PhD student and came up with a lame answer about research being beauty and teaching work, duty. 

I am still not sure I have an adequate answer.  Sure, it is beauty that attracts many to science, but is it entirely what keeps one on it, day after day, year after year?

When work becomes Saridon

Today morning showed every symptom of turning into a disaster.  I woke up with a headache.  I was also feeling morose and worried about a certain situation. Saridon lowered the headache, but not the moroseness.

Since I was not in the most focused state of mind, I started out with routine tasks: writing out my annual report and the evaluation report for an external thesis.  This student seemed to have done a very good job in writing up his thesis.  Seeing a write up where all the notations, definitions and results are arranged in a logical sequence can do wonders to one's mood and I was soon engrossed in it.  From there onwards, the day picked up.  The relief at taking care of these things instead of postponing them lowered the "cognitive overload" and helped to get back to research with a renewed mind.

I kept working through the day, with a few short breaks to enjoy natural Vitamin D (our building has a lot of open area where one can enjoy sunlight and breeze), a view of Panchvati mountains and CCD Coffee [1] just one floor below.

By evening, I had typed up two pages of a paper [2].  The moroseness had more or less vanished.  It felt nice to have got some work done.  It seems to me that the most recurring challenge in an academic career is to not give in to despair at the beginning of a day: in the absence of immediate deadlines, it is very tempting to give in and postpone work on days of low motivation and regret it afterwards.  A friend of mine, very productive himself, keeps saying that research is simply the art of showing up at work every day and typing away. "One page a day keeps the counsellor away," he says.

Work really is the best anti-depressant, or for that matter, the "best" Saridon.

Meanwhile, soon after reaching home, I received an email which took care of my worry and entirely dispelled the moroseness factor.  I wonder if I would have felt as relieved had I wasted the whole day.

For people who are reading this post, please do share your motivation and productivity hacks.  Or are you the types who never have a bad day?








[1] We also have a filter coffee place in the same building, but I prefer the Cafe Coffee Day vending machine.  Filter coffee is a treat usually reserved for Prakruti at IISc.

[2] The reason this blog is getting updated almost on a daily basis is that I have set some Math writing goals for each day.  The blog writing is done as a self-reward after those goals are reached :-)

What kind of email writer are you?

The other day, I heard someone getting upset at a friend. "Why don't you goddamn read my emails," the upset person thundered.  The friend told me later, "I do read his emails. I just don't understand them. The words start floating in front of my eyes."

This set me thinking about different kinds of email writers. Here are six categories, at least one example of which is likely to exist in all departments.

1) The Court-Poets: They want to ask you for something, but are scared you might refuse. So, in the first few lines, they would sing your glories. Then, they will make their request in the most polite but convoluted language. In the last few lines, they would tell you how deeply they appreciate your help and consideration. 

2) The Prolific:  They will not leave any email unread or unanswered, will exercise due diligence in all department matters, keep careful records and will write detailed emails explaining every aspect of a matter in excellent English. These are the most well meaning and sincere email writers, their emails are specimens of good literature, but also the hardest to follow, and therefore mostly unread. 

3) The Happy Go Lucky: These are friendly writers, who will often just skim through your email and will write witty replies in short but complete sentences. Their emails are likely to be interspersed with symbols like :-), ;-), :D, :P and a "less than three" when writing to their special someones.

4) The No-Frills: Their emails are unlikely to exceed 3 or 4 lines.  But, they will be clear, no-nonsense and convey all that is to be said.  Such writers are often misunderstood to be arrogant by those who don't already know them. 

5) The Grumpy:  The word is self-explanatory.  Their emails provide fodder for gossip, jokes and entertainment, UNLESS they are directed at you, in which case they can make you turn to meditation and yoga.

6) The Bossy: Their emails would typically read, "OK", "Yes" and "No".  In my experience, the writers in this category are either genuinely busy (directors, bosses, some PhD advisors) or those pretending to be so (some colloquium organisers, gym trainers or those who will write "K" instead of "OK").


I am mostly Happy Go Lucky, but can easily turn into Borderline Court-Poet when writing to bosses and in-laws.

What kind of email writer are you? Is the above classification exhaustive?

Meeting your past self

My last few posts about summer projects were light-hearted ones about the kind of applications one gets [1].  Sometimes, students also suggest interesting topics to work on (see footnote [2] of this post).


Before laughing at students, it makes sense to recall how one was at their stage.For example, when I was informed about my selection to the MTTS programme at Level O, I wrote to Prof. Kumaresan asking about the books I should bring for this programme.  [Those who know him and are familiar with MTTS will understand that this is the worst question one could ask him and I was, later, suitably reprimanded for my "perverse" thinking :-)].


When I first sent in my application toTIFR's VSRP, it was hand-written, I addressed Professor Balwant Singh (who was the Dean of School of Mathematics at that time) as Mr. Singh and said that I wanted to attend VSRP in order to get some "on-the-job" training in "high-level" Mathematics.  Prof. Singh, of course, let that pass! I did get in: and I honestly don't know what I would be doing now if I had not spent that summer (and two more summers later) there studying basic (not "high-level") algebra, analysis and point set topology under the watchful eye of many faculty members [2].


As one of the commenters to that post, TTE, points out:

``Ah! Starry eyed students :) how they annoy us now (or at least annoy me). Sometimes I wonder if they annoy me, not because they are naive, but because I am scared to meet my past self."

[1] I have got some addressing me as "sir", even "bhaiya"!

[2] But, my fondest memories are those of Professor Sridharan (the senior one) walking into the VSRP room and asking me questions about whatever I was studying at that time.

10 tips to get the most out of road rage

For those residing in/traveling to/driving in Pune, some tips:

1) AVOID Meru cabs in Pune.  (If you are from Bangalore, this particularly applies to you.)  15 minutes before the scheduled time, the driver will call and tell you that he can't pick you up and will refer you to some other driver, who in turn will tell you that it will take him "at least" an hour to reach you.  You will then receive a text message that your trip has been completed.

2) Feel free to make an online complaint to Meru: not sure if it will have any effect, but helpful to get anger out of your system.

3) If there is no option but to drive yourself to drop someone at night, watch out for speed breakers (A new speed breaker comes up every day on Baner and Link Roads)

4) If you are driving slowly on the left, do not get intimidated by a****les who will honk to overtake you: ignore them. They can move to the right lane.

5) If you are on the right lane, drive like an a***le yourself, honk and scare away the two wheelers and auto rickshaw drivers.

6) On heavily crowded roads, be prepared to meet auto and two-wheeler-walas who will drive right into your car from the wrong side and expect you to back up or turn right when there is clearly no space.  If they show attitude, forget feminine grace and hurl the choicest of abuses at them (Hat Tip: learn some swear words in Marathi.)

7) Don't feel bad if the concerned driver did not hear you. Again, you at least managed to get bottled-up anger out of your system.  Trust me, no. 6 works better than Yogic techniques.

8) If your car or your life matters to you at all, on the way back from the airport, keep to the extreme left because the oncoming drivers headed to airport would be running late and freely crossing over to your side of the road to get ahead [I once drove back a Canadian friend from the airport and he almost went mad because of this].

9) After reaching home, just be thankful that you are safe and in one piece.  Show off your manufactured outrage on social media: twitter, fb, blogger, wordpress, whatever's your poison.

10) Finally, blame Modi.

A little house on campus

We were recently informed that our campus houses would be ready to move in very soon.  This is something for which I have been waiting for the last five years: to live in a real house in a real campus.  And what a house it is (going to be).  All of us, irrespective of seniority or rank (other than director), are going to get apartments of equal size: comfortable 3 BHK apartments with 3 balconies (and 3 bathrooms too!)The buildings are surrounded by IISER campus, NCL campus and the beautiful Panchvati hills. The apartments also have piped gas (so it's a huge relief to not have to wait for gas cylinders for weeks on end!)

Irrespective of the above benefits, what impressed me most was the smooth and transparent manner in which the house allotment was done.  A list was drawn up of all interested faculty, in order of their joining dates.  An email was then sent to all of us with a diagram describing the numbering and location (i.e. the direction which it faces) of each apartment.  Sample apartments facing each direction in both buildings were made accessible, so that we could go and choose where we would like to live.

The list was divided into two batches of about 40 each.  For each batch, each member knew their number and made a personal list of preferred apartments of the same number.  For example, someone who is number 12 in a batch would jot down 12 apartment numbers in order of preference.  Each faculty was called by the allotment committee one by one into an adjoining room (in the same order in which they were listed), where they would be asked for their preferences and get allotted the first available apartment.  The conversation with the allotment committee would typically last a minute and after allotment, one would go back to the faculty meeting room and write down their apartment number on the board (so that the colleagues after them would know which apartments were not available anymore).  After the allotment for the first batch was over, we were sent an email about which apartments were available for the second batch.  Thus, in two sittings, the allotment for about 80 people was done.

No personal questions, no undue pressure/influence and no hard feelings! Just a warm smile by our colleague Prof. Natu with a simple question, "Yes, which one do you want?" and an even bigger smile if your desired apartment was available.



I don't say this enough: I love IISER Pune.

IISc vs IISER ;-)

Reporting a conversation with an acquaintance, Ms S:

S (to me): Where do you work?
K: I work at a science institute in Pune.
S: Which one?
K: Indian Institute of Science Education and Research.
S: Oh, you mean IISER?
K (surprised and impressed that she knows about IISERs): Yes.
S (to Abhishek):  Do you also work at IISER?
A: No, I work at IISc in Bangalore.
S: Oh, IISE. So, your institute has no Research?

An awesome new blog

Introducing an awesome new blog: PhD++ by a new academic, who calls him/herself Ordinary Person and is about to join one of the IITs.  As a start, do check this post out about his/her visit to prospective employers.