Summer research fellowship

How I came to know about this :

It was December, 2011. I remembered that Indian Academy of Sciences(IAS) is providing a 2 months summer research fellowship for deserving students(For more details, please refer www.ias.ac.in), because, I had the experience when, applied for the same, in my first year.

Preparing to apply :

I conveyed this to my best friend, Mr.Suresh. We both applied for it with the guidance of our respective Head of the departments. We didn't had any idea about filling out the statement of interest  - field in the application form. At that time, Suresh's Head of the department, Dr. J. Akilandeshwari helped us out by invoking us with the keywords that, 'Opinion mining' and 'Social network analysis' are hot research areas, now a days. As per her words, we read and got some idea about those research topics  and found that, our interest matched with them. Then, I applied with opinion mining as my area of interest and Suresh applied with social network analysis as his area of interest.

The tragedy with my application form:

While, filling the application, me and Suresh took care in each and every part to avoid the mistakes. But, even then, after filling the online application, I found that, the single quotes('), in my application form turned to question marks(?). I thought, it was destroying the pleasant look of the application form and I might not get selected. Anyhow, I proceeded. It had been announced that, the list of selected candidates would be published, only in March, 2012. We really forgot that, after a few days and  continued our regular work.

The moment, when we heard that we were selected... :

On 1st March, 2012, Suresh called me suddenly and asked me to be in his classroom. I too did the same. He told that, he had received a mail from the Indian Academy of Sciences, with a surprising news that, he was selected for the  summer fellowship. He was very curious about that of mine. To his worry, I didn't received any such mails, on that day. Suddenly, an idea hit  me. We just saw the Academy's website where we could find the name of mine as well, in the list of selected fellows. There's no measure to gauge our happiness. That day was my  one and only sister's birthday. I was really cherished with joy. We conveyed this message to all our friends and our respective Heads of the departments. I went with a pack of cakes and sweets to wish my sister and conveyed the happiest news.

Our guides and the sorrow of separation :

I was assigned to Prof.Sushmita Mitra at ISI, Kolkata and Suresh was assigned to Prof.Prahallad Kishore at IIIT, Hyderabad. Initially, we were thinking that, we both would be working at Bangalore, since Indian Academy of Sciences is located at Bangalore. To our grief of separation, later on, we realized that we have to work at the institution of the assigned guide. Anyhow we consoled ourself.

Booking the train tickets :

The path we had came across is really unforgettable! We had to face lots and lots of obstacles before taking up the fellowship. First of all, for booking the train tickets, we were not aware of neither the commencement nor the completion of the semester end examinations. Dr. K. Karunakaran, our Dean of Sciences, helped us out for contacting the office of the controller of examinations(COE). Thank you, sir for helping at the right time. Finally we booked the train tickets, starting our research journey on 10th May, 2012

The mystery of exams :

Even after booking the train tickets, we had to face still some problems. There's an informal subject, special interest subject, in that semester(4th semester). Its evaluation had been scheduled on 15th and 16th June, 2012, which tends to break the fellowship intermediately. We were helpless, at that time. I contacted my guide, regarding this issue. Anyhow, she accepted, partially. Then, it was again rescheduled to 13th and 14th of June, 2012. We were very much worrying that, this consumes more than a week, which in turn delays the final submission of our summer project to the Academy.

A great problem solved :

Thank god! Mr.Ilanchezhian, one of the faculty members in Suresh's department, convinced the COE, explaining the consequences of the intermediately breaking the fellowship and advanced those examinations before we could leave and did a great favour for us. 

Sincere thanks to our staff members :

I should say, my class counsellor, Ms.Theetchenya, had helped me(us) a lot. She did, many moral helps,  and guided a lot, more than a staff could do for a student. I'm ought to convey a very special thanks to her. Simply, the words, "Thank you" cannot equalize my gratitude.

Thank god! My college is autonomous :

Fortunately our college was autonomous. I can't even think, if it was under the control of Anna University, which postponed the semester examinations twice. I  hardly imagine such a deadlock situation, where no one could help us.

Finally, I reached ISI, Kolkata safely on 12th May, 2012. A great thanks to one and all who helped me, both directly and indirectly.

Train travel from Chennai to Kolkata

I had to reach ISI, Kolkata for my Summer research.

I started from Chennai on 11th May, 2012 in Coramandal express. The lonely travel was boring. But, there are certain ways to keep ourself entertained during lonely travels.

One thing that everyone should remember, before travelling in Coramandal express : "both reserved and unreserved categories are the same".

I have to share this unforgettable incident :

On the fine morning of Friday (11-05-12), I entered that Coramandal express. I was searching seat number 70 in the S12 coach. A person had already occupied it. As I guessed, he's from Kolkata. I was expecting him to leave my berth as soon as the train starts. But, he didn't.

Then, Salim, a lean, fair guy entered the scene and introduced himself to me and of course, I too, in return. He was the only person, whom with I was speaking a lot throughout my travel. I should say, he's a well civilized guy that even the readers can realize in the forthcoming scenes. He gave me some introduction about Kolkata and then, revealed the truth that, the above said person won't leave the place, unless and until, I claim him. I too did the same(voice of rights spoke), as he insisted and got my place.

I could hear the voices, "Oyi.......! O...i !" very frequently as I was navigating away from south India. As mentioned above, the trick to keep ourselves entertained is to watch the activity of every person, around us. Sometimes, we can learn from them(if it is good), we can have fun, we can entertain and share with them, if they are like minded. One such personality is Salim.

From the talk with him, I inferred that his home town is about 2 hours apart from Howra station(where we both landed from Coramandal express) and he has to take one more bus to reach his home. Even then, he's liberal enough to spend more than half an hour for me.

The Kolkata police didn't respond me, when I was enquiring the bus and the route to reach ISI, Kolkata. Then, my companion, Salim spoke with him in Bengali and gathered some information. Even then, we were unable to get a bus to ISI. I felt really bad. We struggled for about 30 minutes and came to a conclusion, that it would be better to catch a Taxi and we did the same. After a send off from Salim, I reached ISI, within 20 minutes.

Later on, I came to know that, it'll cost only Rs.8 to 15, if I had came by a bus, for which I paid Rs.180 to the Taxi. How costly travel it is ? After all, man learns from his experience. That cost is for learning such a wise lesson.

Finally I have accommodated to the new environment, new food varieties and the new people, here.

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