A few photos of temples from North and South India

 

https://champawatsechennaitak.blogspot.com/2010/02/blog-post.html

 

In the above link you get to see the comparison of the two.

Prem

 

Feeling guilty that you are paid ?

Think of a drama actor (famous film actor), a writer or some such person (consultants of an industry/ lawyer of a "HIGH" court) who continues to work (and of course paid well)  well beyond the "age of retirement".  Consider that the person has an excellent financial status for the needs and his/her hobbies/ philanthropy/ medical emergencies.  However, he/she continues to work because of the love/ passion for the profession.  It is to be noted here that besides the expenses for the maintenance of the  living expenses (and read the income tax etc), the person hardly needs any big money.  Say if s(he) is paid the hefty sum  in the industry,  does the person feel guilty about it?  I do not know the answer in this case.

1. You will remain poor

One of the famous scientist (a Nobel laureate) asked his post doctoral fellow (PDF) what he wanted to become - " a teacher" the fellow answered.  "Oh, you will remain poor" was the reaction of the famous scientist.

2. Teacher?  no-no, its also research!

By the way, research work is an integral part of the teaching profession in a higher academic institute -anywhere in the world.  If you choose to become the "faculty" (a faculty member), it means besides the teaching the undergraduate (UG) and post graduate (PG) (or research level) courses, you are also supposed to carry out the research work.  What it means is- you carry out the research work with the help of  the Ph.D. students allotted to you  (see the previous post about the Ph.D. degree). 

3. Ph.D. students allotment to a teacher?

Yes, the year you are appointed as a faculty in an institute, the next big things happens is you  'become GUIDE of a Ph.D. student'.  This is as simple as 'training a future faculty!'  Now you remind yourself that you were selected as a Ph.D. student about a decade back.  Time flies!  But you also remember that for the first year or two- you were not sure what was going on in the research-  you had joined this place after passing a full masters course on the subject and what is being asked here was some thing different!  -as if whatever you had learnt till now was not useful at all !  

4. A different world

In any case, you also remember that it was after about 2 years  in the Ph.D. program, that you found -it to be quite interesting!  A bit later you realize that not only you get some money here but you also get a valuable degree. The degree might open another world -which you were not aware of till date!

5. Fast forward a few decades

Let us fast forward this to a decade or two spent as a faculty in an institute. Let us say- over last 20 years or so-you had taught about 40 courses (2 courses per year, a number of them -repeated) to a few thousand students. The students you had taught would even have joined the nearby or the same institute after completing the required degrees elsewhere.   You might have guided / co-guided a number of Ph.D. students.  One thing which you also notice that some of your own Ph.D. students have become 'faculty' in other institutes or remained in the "west' or, joined some industries/ other jobs.

6. Awards/ recognition,  remember the teacher component?

Based on your research expertise, over the years you might have been invited to evaluate the Ph.D. thesis of students of other institutes, invited to several conferences/ institutes/ or, would have received funded projects/ awards / recognition- which depend on several factors which need not be mentioned here.  Notice that all these activities are to be done by adjusting your teaching responsibilities- which 'no way' would / should be kept at lower rank- remember- you were initially hired as a teacher!

7. The background for this post

Just remember the last week when you had left home by saying that you will come back in one hour to take your family for an outing.  It so happened that you just entered the lab and started helping the Ph.D. student on aligning the 'cross-correlation of 800 nm and 400 nm of a femtosecond laser'! and these stories continue.. you like the "lab" so much that nothing compares  it.

8. All that, but feel guilty that you are paid?

It is a different story of how one cultivates the teaching capability at the initial stage. You remember that the person was hired as a teacher! (a). now and then -you start  with an alaap of Shadaj of hindustani music and ask them to join to explain the phenomenon of  coherence;  or blow a soap bubble because thats what you found very interesting  to learn the dielectric coatings.  (b). you cut a potato  (in a shape of a cube) and pierce two skewer sticks to  feel the flux through two faces of the cube. (c). you drop a piece of the chalk and a magnet through a small aluminium pipe etc (d), you carry an empty CD/DVD and a laser pointer, you talk of how are they identifying the elements on the Mars and moon.....end less stories-  you just do what you like the most.  

Because what you do in your job  is what you like.  You like it so much that this is the entertainment/ outing/ being recognised in the field of research and teaching.  It is not because of the awards , the recognition outside world worries about. Your peers are the 'actual recognising factors' .  At times one feels- what the title of this post indicates!

Best wishes,

Prem 

Jan 12, 2024 (while also invigilating a 'make exam' for a student).

Finger print verification अंगूठे की कीमत

Jan 6, 2024:

This post was written about 5 years back.  Its interesting and hence bulldogging it here again with a addendum that similar problems can occur if you are now relying on speech recognition or face recognition: Think of visiting a doctor for a tooth removal and returning back to your home and trying to open your door with you voice ( This idea is from a video I had seen some where in last one year).

The link of the previous unedited post is here:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2561897409632747828/6644709251631673243

 

 

Best wishes for dealing with kitchen-technology and robots

 

Prem

Jan 6, 2024

 

 

P.s. Now we have the new rover  (launched in 2020) in Mars  : Perseverance

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/