Reflecting about Infancy
I think, I am not sadly mistaken in my self assessment of myself, if I say I am a fairly intelligent scientist. Scientist because I hold a doctorate degree in science from one of the most prestigious institution in my country, also because I believe that I can pass all tests for a scientifi temperament.
Now, How is it that I developed these traits. They could not have been in my genes, no one, in our family for the past several generation ever ventured close to science, I am the first generation scientist in my family.
I asked my mother, to tell me, the background of my birth. By the way I am the eldest offspring of my parents, who hailed from a well to do family that had some history in landowning. So the econonomis status was fairly comfortable. My mother, who is not highly educated, in fact she is not even a university graduate, tells me that at while she was pregnant, she would extensively read, and the younger brother of my father, Prof. G .C. Hallen, who was preparing for his postgraduation in Sociology, would narrate to her the biographies of great men and women.
After my birth, I was the favorite child of my uncle, I was the first grandchild of my grand parents. Therefore he would tend to me affectionately while he studied. This uncle of mine later became a distinguished Professor of Sociology.
So I can safely say that I was brought up in an enviroment, which was intellectually above average.
My thoughts now revolve around another person whom I have known closely. His name is Suvrat Raju, currently a graduate student at the Harvard. Incidently, he got admitted to Harvard just after obtaining a Bachelors degree from St. Stephens College. In fact the top most universities/institutins like MIT and Cambridge were willing to give him admission. Now about his parents. His father C K Raju is an eminent scholar of physics (he authored a book entitled "The eleven pictures of time") and his mother Ms. Jaya Mehta is a scholar of economics. Suvrat like me was the first son born in a well to do family, that had enough intellectual leanings.
The third person that comes to my mind is named Tathagat, a child prodigy. I had no direct interactions with him but I read about him and his parents in the newspaper.
Now, How is it that I developed these traits. They could not have been in my genes, no one, in our family for the past several generation ever ventured close to science, I am the first generation scientist in my family.
I asked my mother, to tell me, the background of my birth. By the way I am the eldest offspring of my parents, who hailed from a well to do family that had some history in landowning. So the econonomis status was fairly comfortable. My mother, who is not highly educated, in fact she is not even a university graduate, tells me that at while she was pregnant, she would extensively read, and the younger brother of my father, Prof. G .C. Hallen, who was preparing for his postgraduation in Sociology, would narrate to her the biographies of great men and women.
After my birth, I was the favorite child of my uncle, I was the first grandchild of my grand parents. Therefore he would tend to me affectionately while he studied. This uncle of mine later became a distinguished Professor of Sociology.
So I can safely say that I was brought up in an enviroment, which was intellectually above average.
My thoughts now revolve around another person whom I have known closely. His name is Suvrat Raju, currently a graduate student at the Harvard. Incidently, he got admitted to Harvard just after obtaining a Bachelors degree from St. Stephens College. In fact the top most universities/institutins like MIT and Cambridge were willing to give him admission. Now about his parents. His father C K Raju is an eminent scholar of physics (he authored a book entitled "The eleven pictures of time") and his mother Ms. Jaya Mehta is a scholar of economics. Suvrat like me was the first son born in a well to do family, that had enough intellectual leanings.
The third person that comes to my mind is named Tathagat, a child prodigy. I had no direct interactions with him but I read about him and his parents in the newspaper.
posted by charlie at 3:34 PM
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