This is something unique

Hi. I am updating this blog after a long time. I haven't had much travel in the last few weeks, once went to the Troon beach, the photos of which have already been uploaded in all the social networking sites. I actually am quite bored with this travelogue thing, I mean you too would be bored with it - because half the time, I keep blabbering about the scenic beauty of this place and the other half the time, it's my work-atmosphere that I keep recounting. So, now I will write only on some special occasions, something really unique like today, I have got something to relate:

• My Professor has gone to Berlin for a week for a conference. That means no-one is going to check my progress over the next week. Certainly, that would make me happy. I too thought so. But, today after work, I felt very bad. To be precise, I missed my Professor.
  
  Every morning he would come to my table with a cup of coffee in his hand and exclaimed to me the most enthusiastic 'Good Morning' ever. Then he would ask about what new have I done in my work, what I should do and gave me some brilliant out-of-the-box ideas that he had in mind about application of the thing which we were trying to design. And at the end of the day, he would again have a 15 minutes talk with me asking how things were going, what plans do I have for the weekend, some things about India and then I would ask him about him and his family and with an impeccable smile he used to bid me a bye. I would come back home elated.
  
  And today, when he was not around, I could feel his absence. I feel great to have finally found a teacher, who I miss when he's not around. This is the first time I am feeling such a thing in my life.
  

• Graffiti will stagnate for sometime, about a week or so, since I am busy with organizing and coordinating the publishing work of my novel through internet. Meanwhile, I am going on a trip to Northern Scotland over this weekend, heard that it is breathtakingly beautiful.
  
  
• I found that I can compose poems quite easily now. It feels good, after-all 'again' my experience echoed with my philosophy of life - 'Persistence triumphs.'

P.S. Three romantic movies you must watch - The Notebook, Indecent Proposal and P.S. I love you.

Peculiarities of Glasgow

Hi, there are certain very peculiar things of this city of Glasgow. Day by day, I come to witness new things and I am being amazed at each and every moment. Here are some of them:

• People out here don't use horns at all. In a jam, no matter how long the car-queue is, people sit back, relax, read newspapers or listen to music, but never do they use horns. That's a sight that I had never seen earlier.
• I could see more pets walking on the road than homo-sapiens themselves. It seems that almost everyone has a pet out here. Meanwhile, there are no stray animals on the road. I miss my Indian roads, with no traffic rules for animals.
• People here are animal-loving, it seems so, since here birds like pigeons and sparrows do not run away if you go near them. People definitely love animals as well as their taste. McDonalds and Burger King out here carry a tag-line '100% pure beef!'
• The population is very health conscious and therefore are fit. One could see people running on the footpaths all round the day. Exercising is as important part of the daily life as attending nature's call.
• The engineering students here are very well versed with programming, in all kinds of languages.
• People are very courteous. They hold doors until every person of the group passes through the door. If my eyes cross through any other person, a sudden beautiful smile is what I am bestowed with.
• Music is a part of every home. There are people with varied instruments performing at every street side. Violin, harp, saxophone, guitar, tamba, accordian and what-not, it seems to be a very ingredient of this culture. Even all my group-mates know how to play one instrument at least.
  
• The typing speed of everyone is almost like mega-racer. It seems that they have been given professional coaching for speed-typing, my professor's typing speed seems to be about 90-100 wpm. Earlier I used to think that I am really fast at typing with 62 wpm, but now I have developed inferiority complex.
• There are good people out here too. The way serials like 'How I met your mother' or 'Friends' have portrayed the west seemed to be untrue. Life-long relationships do exist here, much like India. My Professor and his wife Ana make a very lovely pair. However, there are a bunch of people who are perverted since I could see from posters of some eye-dazzling events every now and then alongside the road but I haven't encountered anyone like that in my University.

P.S. I am loving this foreign land. Earlier I used to miss my home, my friends and my country but now I am happy with this two months seclusion from everything I was addicted to. It has brought me closer to myself and made me reflect upon subtle things that are important to me.

About the work-culture

The University's Silhouette

In my last few articles, I wrote that the work culture is really awesome or work is fun. This attracted lots of questions from the curious minds of my friends. So this article is for those who want to peep into the work-culture of a foreign university. Again, bullets will prove to be easily readable, so here are they:

• My Professor's name is Johannes Courtial. He is young(about 29-32 years of age), dynamic and adventurous. He comes to the college on his mountain-bike daily. His hobby is rock-climbing, swimming, travelling, jogging and mountain-biking. He is fit and looks younger than his age.
  
  He is originally from Germany, but has taken education in Britain, so has a perfect British accent. He has published over 100 research papers, currently he is working on the topic called METATOYs, a word coined by him which is the acronym for METAmaTerials fOr light raYS. You can search wiki for the same word and get an introduction which is written by my professor. He is very passionate about his topic and his passion is visible in his personality. He gets excited like a child while talking about metamaterials, his expressions suddenly blooms whenever I come out with a result that he hoped for.
  
  His frequency of publishing research papers is very high - almost 15-16 papers per year. And this is the culture here. People are fast and professional in their approach.
  
  
• The timing of work generally is 10 am -5 pm; 5 days a week with an hour gap for lunch from 1-2 or 12:30 to 2, as you wish. But the timings are flexible. I had my timing shifted from 10-5 to 1-8 to give me ample time in the morning for any kind of homework.
  
  
• The professor gives sufficient time daily to every individual working under him, and asks about their work, their doubts and checking their progresses. He has lunch common with the whole group. On a sunny day, we have our lunch outside in the garden of the campus to let sun tickle our skin. The professor goes for swimming and jogging every two days of the week before the lunch. He invites us along but I haven't accompanied till now.
  
  
• On Friday, the whole group goes partying. If it is a sunny day, we go to a park, play football and relish the barbecue. The people out here take the weekends too seriously. They don't do any work in the weekend, neither my professor, they just chill out. My professor made my travel plans to the Troon beach last Friday.
  
  
• Everyone treats me so dearly. I(as well as Sharvil) are the youngest one in the group presently, so any of our problems gets solved in a minute with everyone turning to our help. The professor is so enthusiastic that in just a small mathematical breakthrough we achieve; he showers perfectly crafted praises to us.
  
  
• The best thing I like about the whole optics group is they are very fun-loving. Unlike the serious, ghastly professors of IIT; they are very friendly and helpful, as well as very adventurous. The word 'professor' was such a heinous word for me before I came here and suddenly the same word has become so amazing.

If we all had perfect mentors like Prof. Courtial, the whole world would be a collection of people with utmost passion.

P.S. It is an amazing thing that in a new environment it is only the nice things that appeal to us.