Charm Of Re-search

I had never thought I would be pursuing science as my career. I enrolled myself at Indian Institute of Science Research Kolkata as I did not wanted to go in engineering line as lot of my relatives were pursuing career in it. I wanted to do something difference, it does not mean that I had love for science. I never understood what it was? Beforehand I never realized what make scientist so different? I feared that all brainy people are scientist. But being here for now almost five semesters I have realized that scientist are not always only brainy people. Like in any field they need nevertheless the talent imbibed with hard work and luck. They have to also follow some attiquetes which are being followed by generations of scientist. you can not invent anything every time. You should be hard working and if your perseverance pays, you have a distinction.
Scientist are different from Software techies as Techies have to follow certain algorithm and make some changes in it to make it better. Techies working in the MNC's are producing anything new. What they are doing its that they are wasting their talent for handsome money. Science is never taken seriously in India as people want security, this is high risk job, not only with pay but sometimes safety. We are too lazy too follow anything. Inculcating new thing is very hard so we prefer to follow easy paths. Thus we are becoming mere puppets in hand of some MNCs'.

From last 10 months I have been assisting Shuvankar Santra, JRF under Dr. Swadhin Mondal in a chemistry project working on Palladium Nanoparticles using it as catalyst in Suzuki Reaction. We have been not able to get any positive result in the experiment. But the whole charm or feeling is like that of a child gets while playing snakes and ladders.

When we first came to IISER we had no idea what was our mission. Due to sudden transform from High School to College and also the peer pressure of new subjects we slowly become reluctant to study. The whole concept was new and we had no clue what was going on? everything was happening so fast. I was sleeping in class due to lack in interest. In the first 2 years when we were asked to submit own idea for project, I always failed to do so. Beacause I always assumed that we had read nothing new to give any idea. I thought my idea should be like that nobody had ever worked on it. At that time I had no idea of meaning of the word Research.i wanted to know what was and how was research happening in each field even I did not had idea of what the word meant. In third year I chose Chemistry as my major.

Last december Dr. Swadhin told me to go through nanoscience. It was a new goal for me to learn about it. I googled it and read " Engines of Creation" by Eric Drexler .
"Coal and diamonds, sand and computer chips, cancer and healthy tissue: throughout history, variations in the arrangement of atoms have distinguished the cheap from the cherished, the diseased from the healthy. Arranged one way, atoms make up soil, air, and water arranged another, they make up ripe strawberries. Arranged one way, they make up homes and fresh air; arranged another, they make up ash and smoke."

Eric Drexler
— Engines of Creation, p. 3, 1983

It was fantasizing experience for me it was the point I started playing snakes and ladders. I told sir that I wanted to plunge in this field. That's how I started working with Santra da. First I had experience with synthesising Gold Nanoparticles and performing Ullmann coupling with it. it was completely raw experience. Playing with nanoparticle does not meant that you have to work in vacuum chambers with space suit as we would have imagined. It was working under slenck line. I continued my work under him in summer, this time woking with palladium nanoparticles. Nanoparticles were used only to give more active sites in carbon carbon coupling reaction attributed to their large surface area to volume ratio.
We failed to synthesise Suzuki product though seldom we got Ullmann product the advantage with Suzuki product was that it was assymetric and handling phenylboronic acid was easy and mild conditions were required. While working i learnt to handle Rotavapor, Slenck line, Sonication, water line, working out in hood made my life tough at first but I knew these would come handy in coming years. These failures were like snakes. But everyday i learnt something knew whether it was from Soumyajit bhaiya telling me how to check colorless solute flowing in column or by Arup bhaiya telling me how to not waste any chemicals and use everything efficiently. Tamal Da was ready to help in tell how to do work ups.

Most important was the fact I learnt quite a bit what was research? It was not always to invent something new. most of the inventions are by serendipity. I learnt how to use Scifinder, Scopus and Sciencedirect , all these things were like ladders. How to use keywords to search something? How to read a research article?

Whole idea broke my hibernation. Now Ranjan whole was too studious and moron in school is back but this time hopefully different. It is quite showing in performance at class. I know I have quite a few goals. Yes the field of Nanochemistry excites me. But beforehand I need to have experience in core chemistry. That's my near goal which I am looking forward to do in Summer 2009.