From 15th to 18th June 2025, I attended a focused meeting called ConForce.
The location was at an interesting place: Casuarina Resort Park- Kurunji, which is about 70 km from Pune. It was a scenic and raw place, with an amazing landscape. The resort facilities were ok with limited facilities, but the landscape was just breathtaking. It rained almost all the time, but it created a wonderful visual across the horizon with lush green patches of mountains and grey clouds (see image).
The main theme of the meeting was related to force spectroscopy, with a greater tilt towards biophysical applications. I spoke in the optical tweezers section and enjoyed the discussion with various participants and speakers. Specifically, I presented some of our recent, unpublished work on optical binding and its optical perturbation.
There are several models for using YouTube. One of them is to use it as a substitute for television and media outlets. This is where the number of views, subscriptions, and reach becomes important.
Another model is to harness YouTube as an archival source that is open to the public. This is one of the crucial elements of a platform that is easily accessible and, importantly, searchable. Such a platform becomes a repository for many informal academic discussions and interactions.
The archive model is an important category, especially if there is no need to generate revenue from the content deposited on the platform. A crucial aspect is that it can be accessed across the world and, in that sense, represents truly open-access content without paywalls, publication charges or subscriptions. Therefore, I am glad to see that many Indian academic programs, including NPTEL, ICTS, Science Activity Center/Media Center at IISER-Pune and many others are utilizing platforms such as YouTube to post their lectures and talks. Also, many individual academics in India are gradually using YouTube to discuss their work, in the context of research, teaching and entrepreneurship.
This development is slowly turning out to be an invaluable resource that can reach a large audience. Although YouTube is one of the most well-known platforms, many other platforms in the context of social media can also be tapped to spread knowledge. Given their reach and simplicity of use, both for creators and users, these tools become important in a vast country such as India.
As audio-visual public platforms join hands with artificial intelligence tools, they can positively (hopefully) affect how people, especially students, consume educational content. Going forward, I anticipate language translation through direct dubbing to be a game-changer. It could attract many new viewers who have been hesitant to watch technical content simply because it was in a foreign language. Of course, on these platforms, the noise is equally high compared to the signal, and therefore, curating good, targeted resources will be vital. Also, these platforms cannot be treated as a substitute for formal education, but as an extension or complementary source for research and education.
Today, I complete 15 years as a faculty member at IISER-Pune. I have attempted to put together a list of some lessons (based on my previous writings) that I have learnt so far. A disclaimer to note is that this list is by no means a comprehensive one, but a text of self-reflection from my viewpoint on Indian academia. Of course, I write this in my personal capacity. So here it is..
People First, Infrastructure Next As an experimental physicist, people and infrastructure in the workplace are of paramount importance. When I am forced to prioritize between them, I have chosen people over infrastructure. I am extremely fortunate to have worked with, and continue to work with, excellent students, faculty colleagues, and administrative staff members. A good workplace is mainly defined by the people who occupy it. I do not neglect the role of infrastructure in academia, especially in a country like India, but people have a greater impact on academic life.
Create Internal Standards In academia, there will always be evaluations and judgments on research, teaching, and beyond. Every academic ecosystem has its own standards, but they are generalized and not tailored to individuals. It was important for me to define what good work meant for myself. As long as internal standards are high and consistently met, external evaluation becomes secondary. This mindset frees the mind and allows for growth, without unnecessary comparisons.
Compare with Yourself, Not Others The biggest stress in academic life often arises from comparison with peers. I’ve found peace and motivation in comparing my past with my present. Set internal benchmarks. Be skeptical of external metrics. Strive for a positive difference over time.
Constancy and Moderation Intellectual work thrives not on intensity alone, but on constancy. Most research outcomes evolve over months and years. Constant effort with moderation keeps motivation high and the work enjoyable. Binge-working is tempting, but rarely effective for sustained intellectual output.
Long-Term Work We often overestimate what we can do in a day or a week, and underestimate what we can do in a year. Sustained thought and work over time can build intellectual and technical monuments. Constancy is underrated.
Self-Mentoring Much of the academic advice available is tailored for Western systems. Some of it is transferable to Indian contexts, but much of it is not. In such situations, I find it useful to mentor myself by learning from the lives and work of people who have done extraordinary science in India. I have been deeply inspired by many people, including M. Visvesvaraya, Ashoke Sen, R. Srinivasan, and Gagandeep Kang.
Write Regularly—Writing Is Thinking Writing is a tool to think. Not just formal academic writing, but any articulation of thought, journals, blogs, drafts, clarifies and sharpens the mind. Many of my ideas have taken shape only after I started writing about them. Writing is part of the research process, not just a means of communicating its outcomes.
Publication is an outcome, not a goal Publication is just one outcome of doing research. The act of doing the work itself is very important. It’s where the real intellectual engagement happens. Focus on the process, not just the destination.
Importance of History and Philosophy of Physics Ever since my undergraduate days, I have been interested in the history and philosophy of science, especially physics. Although I never took a formal course, over time I have developed a deep appreciation for how historical and philosophical perspectives shape scientific understanding. They have helped me answer the fundamental question, “Why do I do what I do?” Reflecting on the evolution of ideas in physics—how they emerged, changed, and endured—has profoundly influenced both my teaching and research.
Value of Curiosity-Driven Side Projects Some of the most fulfilling work I’ve done has emerged from side projects, not directly tied to funding deadlines or publication pressure, but driven by sheer curiosity. These projects, often small and exploratory, have helped me learn new tools, ask new questions, and sometimes even open up new directions in research. Curiosity, when protected from utilitarian pressures, can be deeply transformative.
Professor as a Post-doc A strategy I found useful is to treat myself as a post-doc in my own lab. In India, retaining long-term post-docs is difficult. Hence, many hands-on skills and subtle knowledge are hard to transfer. During the lockdown, I was the only person in the lab for six months, doing experiments, rebuilding setups, and regaining technical depth. That experience was invaluable.
Teaching as a Social Responsibility Scientific social responsibility is a buzzword, but for me, it finds its most meaningful expression in teaching. The impact of good teaching is often immeasurable and long-term. Watching students grow is among the most rewarding experiences in academia. Local, visible change matters.
Teaching Informally Matters Teaching need not always be formal. Informal teaching, through conversations, mentoring, and public outreach, can be more effective and memorable. It is free of rigid expectations and evaluations. If possible, teach. And teach with joy. As Feynman showed us, it is a great way to learn.
Foster Open Criticism In my group, anyone is free to critique my ideas, with reason. This open culture has been liberating and has helped me learn. It builds mutual respect and a more democratic intellectual space.
Share Your Knowledge If possible, teach. Sharing knowledge is a fundamental part of academic life and enriches both the teacher and the learner. The joy of passing on what you know is priceless.
Social Media: Effective If Used Properly Social media, if used responsibly, is a powerful tool, especially in India. It can bridge linguistic and geographical divides, connect scientists across the world, and communicate science to diverse audiences. For Indian scientists, it is a vital instrument of outreach and dialogue. My motivation to start the podcast was in this dialogue and self-reflection.
Emphasis on Mental and Physical Health In my group, our foundational principle is clear: good health first, good work next. Mental and physical well-being are not optional; they are necessary conditions for a sustainable, meaningful academic life. There is no glory in research achieved at the cost of one’s health.
Science, Sports, and Arts: A Trinity I enjoy outdoor sports like running, swimming, and cricket. Equally, I love music, poetry, and art from all cultures. This trinity of pursuits—science, sports, and the arts—makes us better human beings and enriches our intellectual and emotional lives. They complement and nourish each other.
Build Compassion into Science None of this matters if the journey doesn’t make you a better human being. Be kind to students, collaborators, peers, and especially yourself. Scientific research, when done well, elevates both the individual and the collective. It has motivated me to humanize science.
Academia Can Feed the Stomach, Brain, and Heart Academia, in its best form, can feed your stomach, brain and heart. Nurturing and enabling all three is the overarching goal of academics. And perhaps the goal of humanity.
My academic journey so far has given me plenty of reasons to love physics, India and humanity. Hopefully, it has made me a better human being.
Duff’s famous physics textbook from 1900 (5th edition) owned by Yukawa
Yukawa’s name on the book
Hideki Yukawa’s picture on the Nobel website
Apart from sipping the wonderful Japanese coffee and exploring the streets of Kyoto on foot, I have been looking into the archives of Kyoto University. I am mainly searching for records and books related to their physics department, and obviously, one of the names that pops out very often is Hideki Yukawa.
Yukawa was one of the Nobel laureates from this university. He obtained his Nobel Prize in Physics in 1949 for his prediction of the existence of mesons on the basis of theoretical work on nuclear forces. He is a big name in physics, and there is a physical potential named after him, which means one can understand the intellectual heft he carries as a physicist. Yukawa spent most of his scientific career at Kyoto, specifically at the Kyoto Imperial University (now, no more imperial :-) ), and is regarded as one of the inspirations for a battery of many excellent theoretical physicists to have emerged out of not only Kyoto but also Japan, and perhaps many parts of the world. While looking through the archival records, I came across one of the textbooks owned by Yukawa, which has his signature on it. It made my day !
The textbook titled “A Text-Book of Physics,” edited by A. Wilmer Duff, is a classic. Yukawa had the 5th edition (1921), and this book went on to have 3 more editions. I hope to write more about this particular textbook because the author, Wilmer Duff, had a connection to Madras University (as a Professor) in India and was also on the faculty of my post-doc alma mater – Purdue University !
The scientific world is a small place with unanticipated, wonderful connections :-)
In the 1960s, C. V. Raman wrote a series of papers on floral colors and the physiology of vision. In there, he was very interested in the origin of colors from various different flowers. This was also motivated by his fascination with optics and natural colors in vegetation. Specifically, during that era, he had a large garden at his institution and he was deeply immersed in understanding the origin of the colors from these wonderful living creatures.
By using his knowledge of spectroscopy and the chemistry of pigments, he was able to explore some of the spectral features of the floral colors. The diagrams that you are seeing are illustrations from his paper published in 1963.
As you can observe, these illustrations are beautifully created. I don’t know whether Raman himself drew these pictures, but one should really appreciate the artist who has created them.
In a broader sense, it also indicates two important aspects. The first is that Raman was deeply motivated by natural phenomena. His intuition of optics helped him to understand the origins of a variety of natural optical processes. Spectroscopy was a crucial element in all the things that he did. The second aspect is that, in a deeper sense, aesthetics is interwoven with the pursuit of science and Raman’s work, especially towards the later part of his life, showcased it.
There is a fascinating video conversation with Richard Feynman where he describes the appreciation of the beauty of flowers by a scientist. Raman’s appreciation of beauty is close to what Feynman is describing in the video.
C. V. Raman was a curious person. He had a deep inclination to explore natural phenomena, using the knowledge and tools he had accumulated over several decades. In that sense, he was a scientist driven by curiosity before and after his Nobel prize.
Next time when you see a flower, remember that it is a creature of beauty and science merged together.
Many of the Nobel winners in science deserve the prize they get, but there are many deserving who do not make the list for various reasons, including sociology, geography & financial support. Using the Nobel prize as a benchmark of progress may lead to errors in the judgment of a country.
A better way to judge is to ask: how are science and technology in a country making lives better for the people of the country & the world? A better life includes both intellectual & material aspects. We, in India & the global south, can make progress if scientific thinking becomes prevalent in the everyday discourse of society, from family conversations to political debates. And prizes, by design, are exclusive. It is easier to exclude a country that is not scientific as no one cares in such a situation.
Scientific progress in a society is generally bottom-up. We have a large population of young people who should be more scientific in their worldview. If we have a large, scientifically oriented population, science and technological achievements become proportional.
If science-based intellectual & material progress is achieved, prizes will follow. But a Nobel should not be our primary goal. Better lives & better minds should be.
Our world is a place with complex ideas superimposed on people with ever-changing attention. Complex ideas are complex because they depend on multiple parameters. If something changes in the world, then that change can occur due to multiple reasons.
Unlike a carefully designed physics experiment, there are too many ‘hidden variables’ in human life and behavior, especially when they act collectively. In such a situation, it is pertinent to search for models to understand the complex world. Models, by definition, capture the essence of a problem and do not represent the complete system. They are like maps, zoomed out, but very useful if you know their limitations. I keep searching for mental models that will help me understand the complex world in which I live, interact, and comprehend.
Among many models, one of them that I use extensively is the follow-the-money model. This model explains some complex processes in a world where one does not have complete information about a problem.
Take, for example, the incentives to choose a research project. This is a task that as scientists, we need to do very often. In the process of choosing a project to work on, researchers have to factor in the possibility of that research being funded prior to the start of the project. This is critical for scientific research that is dependent on infrastructure, such as experimental sciences, including physics, chemistry, and biology. Inherently, as researchers, we tend to pick a topic that is at the interface of personal interest, competence, relevance, and financial viability.
The viability is an important element because sustained funding plays a critical role in our ability to address all the contours of a research project. Thus, as scientists, we need to follow the money and ask ourselves how our research can be adapted to the financial incentives that a society creates. A case in point is research areas such as AI, where many people are aware of its potential and, hence, support from society and an opportunity to utilize the available incentive.
It is important for the public to be aware of this aspect of research where the financial incentive to execute a project plays a role in the choice of the project itself. The downstream of this incentive is the opportunity to employ more people. This means large funding projects and programs attract more researchers. More people in the research area generate more data, and more data, hopefully, will result in more knowledge in the chosen research area. This shows how financial incentives play a critical role in propelling a research area. In that sense, the ‘follow the money’ model has a direct correlation with more researchers flocking towards a research area.
The downside of this way of functioning is that it skews people towards certain areas of research at the cost of another research area which may not find financial support from the society. This is a topic that is generally not discussed in science classes, especially at the undergraduate and research level but I think we should discuss with students about this asymmetry as their futures are dependent on financial support that they can garner.
Broadening the scope further, the ‘follow the money’ model is useful to understand why a certain global trend rises or falls. A contemporary global upheaval is the situation of war in Ukraine and Gaza. At first sight, it looks like these wars are based on ideologies, but a closer look reveals that these wars cannot be fought without financial support. Such underpinning of the money running the war reveals patterns in geopolitics that are otherwise not easy to grasp.
Ideologies have the power to act as vehicles of human change, but these vehicles cannot be propelled without the metaphorical fuel – that is, money. The ‘follow-the-money’ model can show some implicit motivation and showcase how ideologies can be used as trojan horses to gain financial superiority either through captured resources or through showcasing the ability to capture that resource. Following money is also a very powerful and useful model for understanding many cultural, sociological and political evolution, even in a complex country like India and other South Asian countries. I leave it as an intellectual assignment for people who want to explore it 😊. You will be surprised how effective it can be in explaining many complex issues, provided we know the limitations of the model.
As I mentioned earlier, a model is like a map. It is limited by resolution, the dimension and the viewpoint. But they are useful for navigating a complex world.
I think that knowledge, especially academic knowledge, should be openly accessible to fellow researchers and the public. Given that most of the academic research in India is public-funded, it is imperative that our work is made available for anyone interested in reading and utilizing the knowledge. This makes a strong case for making our work open to access. Unfortunately, the open-access publication venture has been hijacked by some commercial publishers, who have misused the enthusiasm of academic researchers by converting it into a money-making opportunity via so-called ‘gold’ open-access models, where authors pay exorbitant article processing charges (APCs) to publish their work in the journals.
I have been searching literature to understand the philosophy and economics of open-access publishing models, and recently, by chance, I came across a couple of books by Peter Suber.
First is an open-access book on Open Access. Peter Suber has been a philosopher & open-access advocate for a long time. In this book, he explains what it really means to have open access to knowledge & the related philosophy, including its economics. Link to the book.
Second is a collection of writings on open-access publication (link), and as the online blurb says :
Influential writings make the case for open access to research, explore its implications, and document the early struggles and successes of the open access movement.
The green open-access model is very interesting and pertinent to countries such as India, and as per wiki it is defined as :
Green OA, is the practice of placing a version of an author’s manuscript into a repository, making it freely accessible for the scientific community.
The primary motivation of Open Access was to provide Open Access to Knowledge to the READER of Publications and; to allow Open Access to AUTHORS Publication (unbiased publication of Knowledge)
Open access in the true sense, should neither have barriers to knowledge consumption nor to knowledge generation and dissemination. Therefore, APCs are a major hurdle to researchers and authors who do not have monetary support. This is most of the global south, and hence, a fair policy is needed to make it more democratic.
In 1980s, every Friday morning, Akaashvani Bengaluru (a local radio channel of the state; language Kannada) woke me up with Bhimsen Joshi’s famous rendition – Bhaagyada laxmi baaramma. This song has stayed with me and somehow makes me nostalgic for the times we lived – a simple, lower-middle-class life. More than the devotional undertone of this song, what captured my attention was how it was beautifully adapted in a movie by Shankar Nag without compromising its authenticity. It showed me how art can be inclusive yet distinct.
I went to a local private English school. Those were the times when school education was affordable even for a lower-income family like ours, and now, if I look back, I did get a relatively decent primary education. Some of the teachers I remember had names: Firdoos, Christy and Geeta.
An interesting aspect of my upbringing was my exposure to various sports. It included cricket (of course), cycling, eye-spies, lagori, buguri,goli and bachha. The last three sports are unique. Buguri is playing with a top, where you spin the top with a tied rope. By releasing the rope skillfully, one can make the top rotate at a location of interest, be it on the floor or in the palm of your hand.
Goli is playing with marbles, where you compete with an opponent by hitting a marble with another. There were several games within the umbrella of this fascinating meta-game, and it was one of the most competitive sports I have played.
Bachha will be the most unfamiliar sport to many of you reading. It was typically played by children who grew up in lower-middle income surroundings, and the game was to use well-polished granite slabs that can fit your hand. This was made to sail over a tar road. The sailing of the stone had to be smooth, and the target of this throw was to dislodge a pile of old cigarette carrying paper boxes (without cigarettes) that had been collected over a long period of time. The whole point of the game was to hit the piled-up packs of these folded boxes and win them as a collection. Different boxes of cigarette brands had different values. Talk about capitalism !
Through the 1990s, the teenage years were memorable. Riding a two-wheeled motor vehicle made you feel you had evolved into an adult. It gave you the freedom to go to a petrol bunk and fill up the tank full of fuel (with tinge of kerosene) on a gear(care)less TVS 50. The picture that has stayed with me is the skilful handling of a bunch of currency notes by the guys who filled the petrol. They used to double up as cashiers (as they do even now), but then everything was to be dealt in cash, and the human processing speeds had to be good. Similar skills were evident with BTS bus conductors. A fascinating thing about them was that they had a whistle. This made their presence felt, and they were the representatives of the unique city culture of Bangalore. Their images are so iconic that many Kannada movies then had bus conductors as characters of their movies. Rajnikanth was one of the early ones to play this role. And yes, he started in Kannada movies, as did a few other Tamil superstars.
Deccan Herald was and is a newspaper that most of the Bengalurians are aware of. It had some wonderful commentaries on history and geography. Thanks to some of these articles by well-known writers, I was interested in these subjects. I was so motivated and encouraged by them that, as a school kid, I wrote them a letter. They published it. I remember it was a Saturday, and I spent my whole weekend staring at my article on paper. It was also a time when I learned about the great H. Narasimiaha distributing puffed rice to local people during a solar eclipse. His writings and thoughts sowed the seeds of rationality in me. Gradually, I transformed into an atheist, and over the years, I have adapted compassionate rationality as a way of living and thinking. This way has allowed me to appreciate my culture’s deep roots without compromising on rational thinking. It has given me a balance.
What was out of balance in my life was the pressure of education. The worst part of the late 90s was my pre-university education. Then, 11 and 12-grade education was part of pre-university college, and this exposed one to a life of partial independence. Unlike a bachelor’s degree, this time in college is boring, and everything is done to crack some silly exams that have ‘not so silly’ consequences on one’s career. With great fortune, I escaped a turbulent time and found myself doing BSc (Physics, Maths, Electronics), with a healthy amount of languages, including Sanskrit and English. Throughout this period, the wonderful libraries across the city were central to my education. There were many old public libraries in Bangalore, and one did not need any membership to read a book. I saw so many people preparing for civil service exams in such libraries.
In 2000s, I fell in love with physics. Astrophysics gripped my life and took me through an intellectual journey that has not stopped ever since. Intellectual pursuits are that way. One can vaguely remember their origins, but one will realize the effect on one’s life only after a while. Interestingly, it changes the character of a person. That is the power of education.
I went to Bangalore University to do my Masters in physics. This state-funded university’s semester fees were less than present-day woodland shoes. For the first time, I saw how education can be aspirational, inspirational, political, liberating, suffocating and fun. All at once. This was also the time I discovered that economics and politics have far-reaching consequences in scientific research.
This was also the era of my PhD at JNCASR. I started as a serious student of physics and ended my PhD as a serious student of science. This was transformative not only because I was exposed to new knowledge but also because I could contribute to knowledge. At the end of the first year of my PhD, I got an excellent opportunity to travel to the US. I attended a summer school at University of California, Santa Barbara.
Interestingly, this journey was the first time I took a flight on an aeroplane, and the trajectory was long and interesting as I flew around the globe (Bangalore to Bangkok to Osaka to Los Angeles) thanks to the limited funding. The biggest realization of my arrival in LA was a massive billboard of an iconic iPod silhouette advertisement. It is etched in my inner eye. My first travel within the US was a road trip from LA to Santa Barbara. What a ride!
After I finished my PhD, I moved to Barcelona and lived in Castelldefels. I shared my apartment with an Uruguayan (Spanish: uruguayos) couple and a cute dog. It was interesting that we were all immigrants. They spoke Spanish, but I did not, which impacted how we assimilated into the society. Although we did not speak similar languages, we could communicate very well with each other. That was an interesting lesson for me.
Then I moved to the US, and this was a time when Obama had just been elected into office. I have never seen a country undergoing economic recession and yet was so enthusiastic politically as the US. The ‘Yes We Can’ was an iconic campaign; I could see how it touched so many lives in the US. It was also a time when I was exposed to American professionalism and their excellent work culture. This has deeply impacted my thinking and how I look at work. It also made me realize the (positive and negative) powers of a free market economy. Again, it was an education.
In 2010, I got married, and started looking at life from a slightly long-term perspective. At the cusp of the decade, I moved back to India, and this time to Pune. Culturally, this is one of the wealthiest places in India. The flux of thought is high, and the people you get exposed to is often fascinating. It was also a time when I was building my lab, and I found how essential teamwork is. You always realize this when you are doing your PhD, but when you set up your group, you get a different grasp of how highly educated humans behave and coordinate for the greater good with a common goal.
Interestingly, these common goals can also align with personal career goals and growth. From a close quarter, I see how five years of focused work can transform people’s lives and thoughts. We need to pay more attention to the long-term work.
One of my life moments was to see my wife delivering my daughter. It made me feel human. I was there in that ward beside my wife, and those few minutes has transformed me forever. It also made me realize the power of human bonds. The day’s images are etched in my memory, and I thank biology for all that!
Now, we are in 2020s, and the pandemic has eaten away a few years. The early years also led to an explosion of information, and understanding the world is a continued challenge. An astonishing aspect has been that we, as humans, are still fighting wars. It indicates that we still do not understand each other, and cooperation is still a major goal to achieve. More work to do.
All through this journey, what has remained with me is reading, writing and talking to people. All people from all walks of life. Writing and talking has also encouraged me to use them as tools to look at the world. A lesson that I derive from all this: human cultures should use knowledge from the past and present and move towards the future. A forward-looking culture distills the best from every cultural exposure and adapts them to move forward. This is also a lesson from evolutionary biology, and perhaps a lesson for a beautiful country like India, that is Bharat, and many other magnificent things.
We are the people, and the wheel – the chakra, represents us on the move. This is the life I want to travel on : riding on a chakra of a forward-looking culture.
VISMAYA - History & Philosophy of Physics 