Apart from physics and mathematics, I like economics, psychology, philosophy, Urdu poetry, and English language.
I am interested in understanding an impact of science and technology on society, logic and consequences of various administrative policies, generation, mobilization and utilization of capital. During 1999-2001 at IIT Bombay, I was a Mess Co-ordinator and a Mess Accountant of Tansa House. This mess was run by hostelites themselves. There I got an opportunity to deal with administrative and financial aspect of running an enterprise. It was an educative and eye opening experience. Especially in the second phase, I took a charge (along with my friend 'Inspector' Shinde ;-)) on the request of warden in a critical financial situation. We worked systematically and cleaned up the 'mess'.
I am curious about why people behave in a particular way in a particular situation. In psychology, I am interested in two phenomena: a group formation and a dynamics of crisis. Why do groups form, how do they form, why do they break, etc. are interesting questions. While the first two questions were came to my mind just out of curiosity, the functioning of the Indian democracy raised the third question. I found that in crisis, human behave true to their salts. In their natural state, at times certain primitive instinct in Homo Sapiens becomes prominant. A behavior, a language and a logic they use to argue reveals a lot of things. By analyzing such things, one can judge the consequences of a crisis.
To me, a philosophy is an attitude towards a life. It is a yardstick against which one measures one's day-to-day experiences. My interest in physics and mathematics help me in thinking about the philosophy. One of my favorite philosophers is George Bernard Shaw (writer, Nobel laureate (1856-1950)). Here is an interesting quote by him:
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable
one persists to adapt the world to himself.
Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man."
My interest in Urdu poetry is due to my friends (Inspector ;-)) Sudarshan Shinde (at IIT Bombay) and Satendra Tomar (at University of Twente). I had inclination for it, but it was developed with Inspector. My Dad had written a book on it-- named "Gazal : Rang aanni Gandh" (Translation : Colors and Flavors of Gazal ) in Marathi language. Inspector and I spent many evenings with cups after cups of coffee, listening and discussing about gazal. Here is one of my favorite gazelles:
dard se meraa daaman bhar de yaa allaah
phir chaahe diivaanaa kar de yaa allaah
mai.n ne tujh se chaa.Nd sitaare kab maa.Nge
raushan dil bedaar1 nazar de yaa allaah
suuraj sii ik chiiz to ham sab dekh chuke
sach-much kii ab ko_ii sahar2 de yaa allaah
yaa dhartii ke zaKhmo.n par maraham rakh de
yaa meraa dil patthar kar de yaa allaah
(1 = awake, 2 = dawn/morning )
(Poet: Qateel Shifai from Jagjit Singh-Lata album Sajda)
For those want to know a little more about gazals and poets, the excellent web site is http://www.urdupoetry.com . If you liked, you may join its email group.
At times, the English is a really funny language. In India, it acts as a connecting language. I like playing with words. And its credit goes to writings of David Crystal (Editor of Oxford English Dictionary). His book 'Language Play' turned me to this aspect. Do read his book 'Cambridge Encyclopedia of English Language' for interesting aspect of the English language.
And if you like, subscribe the A Word A Day mail list of wordsmith.org.
I like running, trekking, star gazing, reading and collecting books, stamps. While I was at the University of Twente, once I participated in Batavieren race (From Nijmegen to Enschede, a 186.5 km long, mixed relay race). It was (as a Dutch will say....) Fantastisch! I trekked several peaks in Maharashtra. It's a fun and adventure sport. Stars are one of my the best friends, who are always there with me; while other friends keep on going and coming.
Like my Dad, I am also a bibliophile. I have a few rare books. I am mad about Mir Publication books. They taught me Chemistry at home, even before I learn it at school. But the approach of the two systems were very much different! Colorful pictures, mind capturing and informative anecdotes were the characteristics of the Mir Books, whereas the textbooks were quite dry. I was so much impressed with the Mir books that for some time I used to refuse to accept the Modern Periodic Table against the Mendelev's Periodic Table! :-) While organic chemistry text books killed my interest in Chemistry (those complicated chemical equations), the Mir books on Physics and Mathematics inspired me. I think my collection of Mir Books as the asset.