UK again

Hi Blog,

So, here I am again, in the UK. This time for another kind of fellowship which is Newton-Bhabha Fellowship and I am here for three months. This is the longest that I ll be staying in a foreign land in my life so far. Definitely, I am gonna learn a lot, both intellectually and personally. So, preparing for a trip is a not a term for me, because I am the worst person when it comes to planning or preparation. But, luckily, my good friend Arpit got me into 'preparation-thing' for the trip after scolding, though slowly, but surely. I packed my clothes, 2 days before my flight, now that's a big deal!! Really, Only I know. If it was not him, I would have been preparing till 2 hours before I had to start from the home. Somehow, I managed to start from KGP to Kolkata airport and reached Delhi, having spent 2 days at home, I flew to London and then Manchester. From Manchester, my friend Bhaskar, who was also travelling with me to the university under the same program, (and we met for the first time at Delhi Airport) has a brother in Manchester and London, came to receive and they dropped us in Sheffield. It was a good 1 hour ride of beautiful scenery. They were really nice people, helped us a lot, even making sure we get our rooms and settle, even made sure our first dinner in Sheffield. And then, ....

The beautiful Sheffield

Then the real thing starts, how you gonna live somewhere where you find everything new. I had initial hiccups, I got scared seeing one tall British man who was also in the same accommodation where we were living as we had to share the kitchen with him. He looked scary. Honestly speaking, I  have never cooked, as in real cooking, I could make small small things. I had stints making kadhai paneer or something referring YouTube beforehand. But when it comes to cooking for yourself like everyday and you know if you don't cook you wont get food, as there's no one who will cook for you was a damn scary thought. I had horrible time, digesting this thought and for the first 2-3 days I had hard time sleeping, may be it was a jet-lag or something. But keeping aside those 2-3 days, I kind of got into adjusting into new things, I and Bhaskar got along well, we became friends, He's a really nice telugu guy. Telugu's are really good, funny and intelligent people who likes to mingle. We got into the routine because on those 2-3 days, there was no college and nothing. The college then started, I met my lab mates, Lab seniors of the Microfluidics group in Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. I haven't yet met my Prof. Will, hopefully will meet him in the coming weeks sometime. 

Excluding me, there are 4 more interns (French) and 3 more have joined in. There's a girl Aicha and 3 guys. Simon is really funny, I jus love his sense of humor and he keeps Indian Shahrukh Khan songs in his mobile and I just laugh when I remember how he danced the other day in the midst of our MEA Desorption experiment when our senior went out for a moment. The other two, Alias and Florian are sweet and nice too. I won't be lying if I say I heard correct about French men being handsome :P

Today and day after tomorrow we have a task of making mind maps and other reading stuff, so we can work from home. After having a good 8 hour long sleep, I feel fresh and ready to work. Bhaskar made me a breakfast because last evening we had a fight, lol, so feel good to go.

Oh I forgot to mention, the place is absolutely heavenly, so beautiful and serene. 

Have a good day!

Learnings

           Living alone makes you a better person. It gives you lot of opportunities to learn, teach, grasp, distribute and assimilate. You learn from your mistakes, seriously. No preaching would make you understand and do certain things in a particular way unless you wrong it on the first place. At least, in my case its true.  Till I was a day scholar student, life was easy and uniform, not much troughs and crests followed, but a uniform average was the routine. But, as I live alone, I feel I was so stupid earlier, didn't understand people, their motives, how they put two sides to their face, never knew how to know who is your well-wisher, everybody seemed a friend. But, I am so glad, really, to have lived alone (as a hosteler) and equally blessed to have always met good and kind people in my life.            

          I got to learn a lot, and I think, Yes, I can say that, I HAVE MATURED!, a cribbing I always had in my previous posts from the initial days. I can manage myself on a new place, among new people, different people, people who don't even talk my tongue. I think, I can take care of myself, Yes :)

\m/

O God, O God..!

That time has come, again, and I am also doing the same thing like always. Nothings changed even after promising myself last time that I am not gonna be same.

Few days left, just few days, and I am preparing myself for a  kick-start.
This is a time to be a Superman!
Yes, I am gonna be a Superman for the next 3 days!

Countdown begins? eh! Na, not even that much time left.

Just hope to not sleep it away.

Superman ain't need no seat belt, Go Set Go!!
Winter has Come, Baby!

Day 0

So mission one month is : Conquer Green-Tea (GT)

I know, I just know all the benefits of GT, have always been as I am a biologist, who'd know better than me, knowing the metabolism, pathways, ribosomes and chromosomes it does have a role to play with...I have gone to the sub-cellular levels, wouldn't be boasting if I say , to the gene level..but of what use? None

The curt fact is I dont like its taste. I do not like GT. It tastes so bitter, Yuck!

I am an avid tea loverrrrrr, I would never want to replace my beloved tea, one which is made of good amount of milk, sugar, cardamom/basil/ginger etc etc and boiled above heat for long time to extract all the flavors from the pretty tea leaves.

BUT...! Today i.e. 20.01.2016. I take a pledge, to consume at least 2-3 cups of green tea DAILY. You must be wondering why all this so sudden. So, this was the outcome of my 00:45:47 hrs talk with my brother over the phone. He is to come to India in the month of march and he has already started working on his body. (He always wants to come here fit and fine, so he always does this). While I was asking him what all he is doing, food habits, lifestyle, one thing that I was stunned to know about was GT. He has included this in his daily routine like other people there do. My friend here, she also does drink GT every day and man.. she has really lost weight. It's so evident. That too after she's been home and had so many sweets. And look at me when I come back from home, I become a baby panda :(

I play badminton daily, don't eat rice, avoid the potatoes (which are served here in ample amounts in almost all the vegetables and even in biryani  in the mess), cycle, then why this stubborn layer of fat around my stomach wouldn't budge, despite much workout. Sure, sleeping late and munching snacks at midnight is responsible for it.

But, I need a solution.

And I hope, GT would come right to it. Lets see.

I gotta do this as the Winter is Coming!

Convenient

Of insecurities and ego
Of dilemmas and perplex
All that you can do is keep striding holding your head high
It's never easy to keep impressing others
What is more important : to impress yourself

Might sound like old big words from a small mouth
but that's what people do all the time, isn't it?
To blame, to judge, to be obstinate in opinions
To mind your own business is a word from the past

To comprehend how people are jealous and insecure, is an interesting fact
Well, they have  always been
Sure, you are doing something right
Afterall, that's what it comes to my mind..

Inevitable

I see it coming

Slowly but steadily..

I know it's possible

very much, indeed

It's there, somewhere near or perhaps somewhat far, may be

transient

Can't be more than that

I bet

For now, I call it a day..

Before I read out this to myself

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

Fish-Feeding Experiment

When I look back and try to connect the dots in the journey of my life so far, I kind of find several links. In the past, if something happened with me, it was for some reason. It always had some purpose and continue to do so. I remember when I first came to KGP for a short duration, I wished to be a part of this campus and then just an year later, I took admission in IIT KGP for my M.Tech. Earlier, in all my initial blog posts I used to crib about not being mature , and now, I think thoda-bohot mature to hum bhi ho gaye hain. (I have also matured a little-bit).

But this is too much. I remember putting a fish tank in my Blog page (I think you can see it even now at the right hand side) 2-3 years back. If you click inside the tank anywhere, all the fish would come towards that point as if that is their feed and whenever you move the cursor to other places, the fishes would move too.

The Last objective of my PhD, I have to do the same experiment. I have to really feed the fishes with CO2 sequestered microalgal-based feed. This is nothing but a sign I consider God had already signaled me but I never realized before. May be many others are still underway.

P.S. I am excited to set up an aquarium tank in the lab, it would be so cool! :)