Self Portrait

I am socially liberal and politically centrist. Preamble of American constitution best describes my beliefs right to ‘Life, liberty and Pursuit of Happiness’. I am curious to know thyself and the world around me. I follow my interests even if they change with time! Thus I ventured into various fields of science, sociology and to some extent arts.

Ventures, Adventures and Misadventures in
Science, Sociology and Arts

Science

     From childhood, I was crazy about science, In particular Physics and Mathematics. I feel the inherent beauty of Nature lies in the fundamental laws governing it.  What else but Physics can describe Nature's beauty and coherent order in few of the basic mathematical equations?

  My journey towards had many twists. Due to circumstances I was first joined a premier statistics institute, but I quit it and had to pursue undergraduate degree in engineering. After much hurdles I finally landed up doing Physics… sigh! I joined PhD program of Texas A&M University. It did open up a different world, not Physics but other worlds. Physics studies went on OK, but I was dissatisfied with mismatch of my research interests. Like many grad students, I too had to face the horror of ‘Advisor dictatorship’ in the graduate world. I quit TAMU after receiving M S degree in Physics.  

  Later I landed in Penn State. I am now working with Prof. Jainendra Jain on physics of low dimensional systems. This is the best of the available choices. I feel its is going on OK these days all though my interests have been shifting strongly towards  ‘Social Sciences’ now. I do think that, I will one day finish PhD!

Social Science

    Along with Science I have strong interests in social welfare. I would like to contribute to it as much as possible-directly or indirectly.

    During High school and early college days I did spend lots of time on reading about social reformists, freedom fighters etc. I was also involved in some Voluntary organization working for children and slum development.   

    While studying in US universities, my interests have broadened and perspectives have changed for the better. My involvement in grass root development organizations like AID-INDIA and ASHA for Education exposed me to the many socio-economic problems facing India and gave a chance to directly contribute towards micro level developmental projects. My interactions and friendship with some wonderful people here also influenced my thoughts and perspective on society.

    Macro level understanding of developmental problems requires a sound knowledge of History, Politics, Economics, Policies, Education, Arts and Culture. For the last three years I am trying my best to understand these interlinked fields. Thanks to Internet, Wikipedia, PBS station and wonderful libraries in US, I have all the resources to study any subject I like. I have focused more on studying Education Policies, Economics and Indian Politics. I guess I am turning from scientist to a social scientist. My long-term career aspirations have bent towards the latter side.

Arts: Literature and Music

  In literature, more than English I am drawn towards my mother tongue Kannada (one of the main south Indian language). In English, I mainly read works of Paulo Coehlo, Salman Rushdie and off late many books of Amartya Sen. In Kannada, I mainly read novels and plays of contemporary Interests. S L Byrappa, Shivram Karanth, Ananthmurthy are my favorite novelists.  Of late I have also been following some of young authors like Jaynath kaikini and Pratp Simha. Playwrights like Girish Karnad, TP Kailsam have had lasting impression on me.

   Music: One of the greatest regrets of my life is that that I never had opportunity to learn any instrument to play. Tabla (Hindustani percussion instrument) has always been my favorite instrument. I am an ardent lover of old Hindi film music. Kishore, Lata Mangeshkar and Rafi are my favorite singers. People call me a ‘fanatic fan’ of Kishore Da.


I guess this is enough for a short introduction about me!