Down the memory lane

Down the memory lane

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.

Thinking and Reflecting

Lately I have been busy thinking about this issue. It all started one fine morning, when a question struck my mind, "Is the personality of a human being totally determined by his/her genes?" So I went up to CSEC, logged on to the Hypography Science Forums and posted the question "Do Biological organisms have extra chromosomal source of info?" It has turned out to be very interesting, especially so in the context of the developments in the past few days; I am referring to the reservations for OBC's in the IITs and IIM's etc. This issue came up after I had posted on this discussion for several days. So I connected the two and started pondering about the issue also. Is it neccessary that the children of the lower caste have less mental skills than those of the upper castes. The answer is a vehement NO, but then why is it so that statistically they have not succeeded as much. Well one factor could be the genes s/he is endowed with other factor can be economic status of the family and so on. I have posted several times on this issue, if you are interested you might as well visit the thread on Hypography.

Here I will limit myself to the thoughts that I have not posted on Hypography.

In praise of idleness

I have lately really started enjoying my idleness. Till very recently, I often used to get tense, often because I was not earning any new money. Although the need for it is not really pressing, I have some savings from earlier life, which assure me my bread and daily needs. But now, I am past all that. After my leisurely breakfast, I regularly take off to the Center for Science Education and Communication, University of Delhi, just a couple of kilometers from my home, most often I take a bus, sometimes I just walk down thinking.

I spend my time thinking about various topics that arise in my mind. Often I post them on Hypography science forums under the psudonyme Hallenrm, or about a science fiction story, only one so far has been published in Science Reporter, you can read it on this site too. I go back home for lunch, and after a nap and tea am back to the university campus for a walk, some exercise and meditation. That's indeed the normal schedule of my life.

I have started feeling really relaxed and enjoying my present state. I don't really know how long will it last.

The recent past

I have been a free bird, not limited by any daily office routine; an outsider, not being a part of any system. I browse the Net, do hypography (@ forums.hypography.con) read and edit at wiki, and occasionaly write a book or two. I call myself a science communicator with interest in science education.

This phase of my life began some five years ago. Before that I was a scientist fellow at the National Institute of Science Communication (presently it is called NISCAIR). At that time, I was associated with a science magazine called Science Reporter. I had to go to the office everyday, talk to its editor Biman Basu, and the associate editor Hasan Jawaid Khan, most of the time, and occasionaly, once in a month, produce an article or two for the magazine. I had a regular column in Science Reporter called Curiosity Corner, in which I used to answer several questions asked by teenaged science students, related to various facets of science. In fact I produced about thirty articles in this series on topics ranging from Energy to Brain through topics like 'sizes and shapes' etc. I enjoyed doing it! I also frequently wrote about computers for the non initiated. At that, PC's were a bit expensive and so was the internet connectivity, but many readers were interested to know more about them.

Those were the days

The most memorable part of my life, was the time I years I spent at IIT kanpur as a graduate student. It was indeed my first opportunity to stay away from home over an extended period of time, I stayed there for more than seven long years. It was possible for me to do so because, all graduate students of IIT kanpur are assured of a scholarship, which is much more than what a graduate student can expect elsewhere.

I had o room of my own, I could make many friends, with whom I could chat and discuss any topic.

About Me

My Name my Identity

My father inherited my surname from his forefather, he in consultation with my mother gave me my first name, I decided the middle name, while I was an adolescent, The result is that my name was Rakesh Mohan Hallen, till Indian Institute of Technology conferred on me a Doctorate degree and so I am presently called Dr. Rakesh Mohan Hallen. Friends often call me Charlie.

Memories Of the School

I completed my primary and secondary education in a neighboring private school, called Lahore Montessori School. To begin with I had an average record, till the class 8, onwards I started getting noticed and becoming smarter. The result I stood First among the thirty odd students of my class in the Board examinations for "higher secondary" and received a distinction in physics. Incidentally, I was the only student from the school to passed the examination in First division or get a distinction in any subject.

Those were the days!

Since I had received a distinction in physics and fared pretty well in mathematics too, my first choice was an engineering education. I appeared for the IIT entrance too, but my father could not afford an off station education for me (I have six brothers and sisters, all of them younger than me). So the best choice left for me was to persue for a B.Sc. degree. At that time, B.Sc.(hons.) Physics was the undergraduate course in vogue at Delhi University. Incidentally I may add that I have resided in a rented house, located very close to University of Delhi, in a locality called Jawahar Nagar. But, although my marks in the High school examinations were above average, they were not sufficient to get me admission in B.Sc. physics hons. I had no option but to choose the next best course, B.Sc. (hons.) Chemistry. Those days, for hons students, classes for the main subject were conducted at the University Department of Chemistry, which is located about 2 km away from my residence and classes for the subsidary subjects (physics and mathematics) were held in college where I was registered, the Hansraj Collge, located about 500m from my residence.

I remember, that from day one I was the most vocal student in all lectures. I would ask almost all teachers lots of questions. It is during this period, from 1969-72 that my present personality started taking shape. For example, I initiated some wall papers in the college and the Chemistry Department. I also wrote poems that were published in the college magazine. In addition I prepared notes for the History of Science paper, a qualifying subject in B.Sc (hons.) curriculum, for which no book was available as per the syllabus. I even gave most of my classmates copies of these notes, the result, I was fairly popular among my 300 odd peers.My favorite teacher was Professor M. M. Kapoor, I often used to engage him in long discussions. He is now a friend, and we often enjoy a cup of tea together.
After I graduated, I opted to get into postgraduation, I was indeed by the profession of a university teacher, I wanted to be one. The other thing that fascinated me was non equilibrium thermodynamics. I wondered how the second law explains the living organisms. I had reads some books and articles by Ilya Prigogine on the subject and wanted to persue futher on this course. I knew that it would be indeed impossible to go to Belgium, so the next option was to study close near home. I would have loved to bee admitted to the M.Sc. program at IIT Kanpur, but again the family limitations came in the way, and ultimately I registered for the M.Sc. in Chemistry at DU. My performance during M.Sc. was an improvement over that in B.Sc. I Was indeed counted amongst the brightest students of the batch. In the second year we could opt for one stream from the three, I opted for physical chemistry, perhaps my inclination towards physics persisted. In the final semester I wanted to persue Non equilibrium thermodynamics or statistical thermodynamics, but Professor V.M. Khanna the only esteemed professor who could offer the course would not do so because I was perhaps the sole student opting for it. Ultimately I opted for Advanced Chemical Kinetics, Professor H. C. Malhotra agreed to take this course. Prof. Malhotra was definetly not as dedicated as Professor V. M. Khanna, but was ready to innovate. So he allowed the three students who opted for the course, to study on their own and teach each other in the class. Perhaps his sole contribution was to set the examination paper!
Any way I passed the semester, I was the highest scorer and my cumulative performance was perhaps second only to one. I was rather average as regards the practicals, and my performance in practicles bogged me down.