Research on ZnO nanowires

Ooof!! I'm caught up in a quagmire. That is nothing unusual, is it? In the past two days, I met some people from the department. Here is what some of them are doing.

Do chinki Dost: Studying for Qualifier exams
Desi Bhai: Studying for Qualifier exams
Amru logaan: Studying for qualifier exams.
Russian behenji: Studying for qualifiers
Aur Hum: ZnO magnetic propeties ka expt abhi bhi kar raha hoon. Raman spectroscopy seekh raha hoon!

And on top of all this I have not even touched the book. I started with 2nd chapter of Griffiths on May 5th and I am still on the 2nd page of it. I am intimidated by others who are hitting the ground hard for the exams. I want to study too!! But I do not want to leave experiments. Managing time, you may say, is the solution. Except for writing this blog to lighten myself, I am not doing any unnecessary things. I am sleeping 4-5 hrs a day and still the day is not enough.

God I am here praying. I still have 10-15% confidence left in me that even if I start from July 1, I will be able to comfortable clear qualifiers. Please do not drain it up. I believe in a simple philosophy. You may be Sachin, Federer or Einstein. If you do not practice and work hard, you are doomed. There is no genius in this world. There is only hard work! People whom the world terms as a genius work day in and out mentally. They simply do not need to sit down in a library and mug!

So here is my sincere prayer,

Make me work hard and give me the self-confidence (Abhi thoda bacha to hain!! Par Rab ji, Yeh Dil Maange More!!)

Jai Hind!

As if the work I had was not sufficient from hindering me to prepare for qualifiers, some more new stuff is put on my head. I have to sit along with two fine french speaking scientists and learn to install/ operate a triple grating Raman spectrometer (It can map a 'Boron atom' in a Carbon Nanotube). I'm loving it but the problem is qualifiers us getting pretty near. But of late when I hear of the qualifiers from other departments like chem, bio, elec. engg etc., I feel so jealous. But that is the specialty with physics majors. It has always been difficult to pass through. Training hard in physics means answering questions from every branch of it. All of us, in Physics are getting trained hard so we will not only be hard but be hard to beat. Imagine Quantum Mechanics, Electrodynamics, Classical Mechanics, and Statistical thermodynamics in 4 days. Even switching modes from one to another is so difficult. By the way, Classical Mechanics may have sounded pretty simple but we cover almost what mechanical engineers do for life time and mathematicians do for fun (manifolds!). So if you make a 90% on this qualifiers (an A) then I tell you, you will be real hard to be beat!

Apart from this, Kanpur university banned jeans for girls to tackle eve-teasing. Men of India, are we so perverted? (You agree or not; We are! I know what % of ppl luv going to platinum) Can't we even protect our own women? Firstly, our cinemas should project women better and then the news channels. What amazed me was that the university is blaming girls for eve teasing (!@#$!) by posing such constraints!! (all Kanpur school going girls must be blaming us all as male chauvinistic pigs!)

That was a stolen title from the Science magazine. The matter is obviously going to be different. I strongly agree if you want to tell me that Quantum Mechanics is wrong. There is a large gap between the 'experimentalists' and the 'theorists'. I guess this wide gap, at least in early 1900s, caused confusion and chaos. Quantum Mechanics works almost perfectly fine with all the stuff we do. But there is a missing link. Is it correct? Are we just looking at a part of the masterpiece and gulling ourselves to have seen the whole painting? That's 'the' question. If you are interested in knowing what you are or how the world around you works just read ahead. I tried to simplify things I read, experienced and learned.


According to quantum mechanics, a tiny object does not follow a continuous trajectory. Instead, it must be described by oscillating quantum waves that reveal only the probability of finding it here or there. If I throw a cricket ball then I know where it will land up but if I throw an electron, I can not say where it is going. This is because the forces at atomic level are different from gravity. A cricket ball is hard or a rigid body but electron is not! Our theories start out with simple assumptions and proceed to explain the whole world.

Then apart from the world we see (space x,y and z) and the time we realize (did you not spend a minute reaching here?) there is yet another dimension that electron sees, for that matter any such sub-atomic particle. It is the spin (Forgive my analogies with cricket ball. This is spin is neither off nor leg). It does not mean the electron is spinning. When applied a magnetic field the electron deviates away. So it understand the language of the magnets, which means it has an inbuilt capability to infer which way the magnetic field is aligned (North or south). Such a capability is called the spin. That is all it is. Spin has nothing to do with where the electron is. It may be in Delhi, Hyderabad, Geneva or even mars. Spin will be the same. This ability to know and talk to magnetic fields, termed as spin, is independent of space. It is another dimension!

An object such as an electron may also be in two different places at once or spin in opposite directions at the same time, a condition known as a superposition. But when measuring an electron, an observer always finds it spinning one way or the other.
Even stranger, two separated electrons can be “entangled” so that both spin both ways at once, but in opposite
directions from each other. If a measurement shows that one electron is spinning clockwise, the observer instantly knows that the other is spinning counterclockwise, even if it is a world away.This is primarily due to Pauli's exclusion principle. No two electron have everything in common. That is to say if you have an electron and you photocopy it, you do not get the same electron! You can not clone quantum mechanical systems.This makes quantum system ideal for cryptography!

But wait a second! we are making theories and we are trying to explain what we see in the experiments. Is this the complete picture or we are simply trying our best to fit in with the experiment? A theory is good if it is made independent of the experiments. Of course experiment is the mother of a new theory. But still, one needs to develop the theory independently. Then we may a design a new experiment and check out the theory. Here one has to be really careful.

If x+y=0 is the result of an experiment, you can not simply say x=-y always. TO check this theory out one should not design an experiment whose out come may be 2x+2y=0. Because logically you have faltered. You are checking out another case of the same experiment you have done already for the development of the theory.
Unfortunately sometimes we humans may not have enough money, equipment, technology to propose a new experiment and test it. Or such an experiment has to be done in the outer spaces and you keep all your faith in the data you get!

The problem with quantum mechanics we are checking the same thing every now and then and believing that it is right. May be it is time we refuse QM and look for a whole theory. But many physicists like me want to earn a living first. In this competitive world it is easy to get lost. You have to be in the race and still convince people that they are running on a wrong track. When being the race need more than 24 hrs a day, how much time will one need a day to convince these Nobel winners and eminent scientists?

At times I wonder if the world is this complicated, how do so many of us have lived and are living with out understanding even a tiny bit of it? To quote Antony Valentini, "Maybe in 200 years people will look back and say the time wasn't right to reexamine the foundations of quantum mechanics," he says. "Or it might be that they'll say, ‘My God, it opened up a whole new world.’ We can't tell. One thing is certain: We won't find out if we don't try."

Thanks to Science Magazine for bringing forward new ground breaking ideas

I may be trying to support my emotions through this post. I know I have no right comment some xyz. But I am here to say that it is we who differentiate. People will always love to hear compliments but not comments. It does not matter who it is but I will want to learn my faults before I feel happy about my capabilities and skills. I hate to comment some one because I hate to discuss ppl. All of us are here on this holy earth for a really short while. To me all that I want to know is why I am sent here and what is the purpose of the being. I do not want to waste my life away in trying to earn bread and butter. Well it is important but it is only a small part. I might be really loud abt what I think or what is going on in my mind. I apologize if my opinions are hurting but that is what is in my heart. It is we who decide what is bad and what is not. When everything in this world is attached with such an individual perception how can you decide what is right and what is not?


It is hard for me to digest how one can leave Indian citizenship to be some one else. If people settle down in 'greener' pastures because it is clean, secure and wealthy then who is going to clean up their home country? Going to 'greener' pasture in search of knowledge or learning is not being anti-patriotic. But leaving your home land to serve others is! Motherland is no different from our own mother. I give the same respect and love to India as I give to my mom. I belong to this young generation of the nation that believes in 'neo-patriotism'.

Before every morsel of food goes down our throats, let us remember that there are many brothers and sisters of us hungry in the country. What they need is not one day's food but the same life that you have. What makes you and me have all these comforts? Not being born in a well educated or a good family is not those kid's fault. They have every right to learn, earn and live the same life as we do. And not to forget we have all the responsibilty to equilibrate the world. If the definition of God is such that he makes people suffer then to me there is no God. If God exists let him make all of us equal not in the perspective that we are born and we die. Let him give us all the same to start with. If some one is being punished for previous karma then I do not need such a God. Oh! Almighty, give us all the same food, same clothes and same intellect. My brothers and sisters are no different from me. And do remember that we are but your children.

The crux of the thing is I want to make myself clear. I believe in equilibration of the world. I can not support people who can live with out bothering about the basic needs of other people. I will give my everything to work for my motherland and the world in Tagore's sense.







What it means:


One should not mistake the wave's perseverance to rise every time it falls to be it's arrogance

One should not mistake power of the sun's effulgent rays (described as the his horse's neigh) which can dispel the darkness to be his ruthlessness

One should not think that flowers are proud of the divine aroma they spread. They are simply paying back mother Earth and showing their gratitude!


Fly as high as you can; Never forget that Earth has been bearing you until you took off!

Sing like a Veena; Remember that you are dumb unless some one plucks the strings!

Your skills get you respect but that is simply an indication of other's appreciation
If you are humble, you will be revered or else your folly will make you sick

Crux: Just be simple and plain. Be open. What ever you have/get is just His grace. You are merely an instrument!

At the end of the day all that matters is happi(y)ness...it does not matter whose happiness it is!

Hmm...I am enjoying life with my research. I am doing what I have always wanted to. It does not matter what you do, how you feel the world or how much goes into your bank acc. every other Friday. All that matters is what you know about the world around you. Research gives you the pleasure of being a zealous kid. I have always insisted on this and I will continue to do so. What is on your text book, or in some nature paper, is only what some individuals just like you think is the reason or a theory. They are not 'GODs' of this universe. Even Schroedinger equation may be wrong!!! To do research means not to accept things because they are said but to accept them because they make the system behave the way it does. Remember, all our theories are only SELF CONSISTENT. But that does not, for certain, tell you that it is the only unique way of the world. Quantum mechanics may be wrong! (I am sure it is!)

That apart, I wanted to say somethings on this page. I can not stand some people. That is just simply and simply because I do not like their outlook or 'attitude'. They may be right or they may be wrong. But as far as my world is concerned, such an attitude will take you no where. Some of those categories are the following. My friends may hate me for this but I am as open as I can be. (My bro' told me something one day and I always took it to my heart and followed it. 'Satyam Bhruyat, priyam bhruyat, na bhruya satyam apriyam' ..Speak truth but only the one that soothes not the truth that hurts others' But all this should be dumped somewhr. so I'm dumping it on my own page. )

1) People who still think India needs money and not human power. Yes! India is not financially backward. Believe me! there are more than a handful of richie rich NRI's ready to invest in the mother land. They need intelligent and brave brains like you and me. Well if you think you can earn and serve the country, let me tell you the maximum you will be able to give back in 10 years for the country will not be more than 50,000 USD. You can do much more than that in those 10 years. What the poor need is not money, they need self-sustaining employment. The country needs global investment. It needs young brains and venture capitalists. Indian market is the most versatile and beautiful one I have seen until now. introduce a brand and people will buy it, if you are good!! We need entrepreneurs. You better be one, if you have enough education or else find some one who can be and help them. But surely our country does not need more money.

Well, if you want to serve India, why go beg for funds? Why don't 10 of you from different engineering branches get along with an MBA and make a B-Plan. Then approach people and work! Start an industry. As Jesus said,'Teach them fishing instead of givin' them a fish'. People would not want to do that because they are scared and worried. Have no guts for facing the situation real time. They think begging and fund raising is easier. The simple point is we (at least my country) do not need charity from outsiders. We have strength and we can work. We have brains and we can show our worth. Thing 1 that should top the list is SELF ESTEEM....it has gone missing sumwhr!!

I always believe in SELF_ESTEEM. Do not put yourself down!

More to come on the same lines!!!

2) People who show off as if they have achieved every single thing in life! Well you may have but humility is the most imp to me. I can not stand people who have that great time attitude. We may know a lot or we may have done a lot but I like and love to accept the real truth that we are ignorant of many things. There is a lot more to know. What we know is nothing. If Einstein was picking up pebbles on the beach then we are still in the taxi to reach the beach!! The fear of ignorance and zeal for learning is what I love and what I have in me.

3) People who do not understand 1+3=4 and 1-3=-2; This is because to add to pleasure, you simply need to make people more happy. You can not shout/scream to make some one cry and yet make the situation happier. You can not be sad and add happiness. And understand that no one is here to entertain you. You are the one who is here to entertain others. Entertainment strictly follows Newton's third law. You have to entertain some one to get entertained. I like and respect every person in this world. What I do not like in some is simply their way of thinking and behavior. Behavior is not the person. Thoughts are a person. You are what you think! I want to be what I am. I just want to keep my thoughts as simple as possible but not simpler! I am here to learn and I will! Btw I am teaching Phys 209 of late!! ;)

P.S: This is not intended to hurt some one's feelings. This is jus' what I think. I may not have chosen appropriate words or diction but the crux of it is I want to live as positively as possible.

luv, myself

On a day everything could have been for India's victory, the team tasted the kiss of death. In times, when kids on the streets, playing cricket are scared to pick up the white cherry to bowl with the fear of getting hit in a T20 spirit...In times, when game means only playing, with all the available information on weather, video records of previous matches and pulling up stats meant a mouse click...The great Indian young dynamites unfortunately blasted the bomb on their own campaign. It was not that they lacked any talent. It was not that they were unable to deliver under pressure. The only thing was the team that went into the game, realizing that it was a knock out, was not the right one.

It amazes me why Ishant Sharma was backed up so much! R. P. Singh, after having such a wonderful IPL, when he bowled perfect death overs and took wickets was at last given a chance. When Ishant who was hit mercilessly, ruthlessly for the ropes and above them got to complete 4 overs in both the previous and the current match, Zaheer, Irfan, RP, Bhajji hardly get a chance. I did not understand Dhoni's plans. With WI he let Ishant bowl and restricted Irfan, who was pretty disciplined for a T20 match. He did the same thing today!

RP had a over left but never got to bowl it. He was taken in as a specialist bowler. I do not know why MSD picked up Ishant when he wanted "depth" in the batting order. He could have chosen Irfan. I am not blaming MSD for his bad captaincy but for his bad choices. When you have the availability of all the stats just a mouse click away and you have seen your team mates bowl in IPL, please choose wisely. A whole country looks up to you.

MSD, in case you missed the stats, they are available on cricinfo!Please do not let politics hinder the talent! Leadership is not power, it is a responsibility!!!

gr8 going...already the second day of gymmin'

here are the tracks I heard today, while I had a good 4 mile long jog:

1) Jiya Se Jiya by ARR
2) Main Aisa kyun hoon? SEL
3) Haan Yehi rasta hain!! SEL
4) Sapnon Se Bhare Naina SEL
5) Jai Ho by ARR
6) O Rahi Re SEL
7) Madhuram by Mani Sharma
8) Egire Mabbulalona Yuvana Shankar
9) Maskali ARR
10)Kandisa

Another Monday morning has just begun, with lots of promises and a lot more hopes. Hope I will be able to live up this week. I planned on many things and I am sure I will do them all. I decided to shed the idea of gymming in the morning, because it will keep me drowsy at work. I instead decided to start my mornings more peacefully, with out running around and hurrying things up. I am back to my strict diet. I do not wish to put on more weight. 45 more days to get back to shape!!


I watched 'The Village' (again) and 'Avakai Birayani' on the big screen. Except for two too very 'un'natural scenes AB was shot well. I liked the work with camera. Shyamalan is amazing. The village should not be mistaken with a horror flick. It is a love story which was shot like a thriller. I really liked the way everything was presented. The thing with Shyamalan is he presents all the information in his very first 2-3 scenes, which you will realize only after you finishing watching the movie. What I think is amazing about him is the way he keeps you glued to the screen. Bleve me, this is the only secret behind the most of good directors. There is not even one unnecessary scene. Everything is simply just cut out so that it just makes a perfect impression on the mind of it's audience. May it be Mani, or Varma or even Krishna Vamsi they all have this is in common. People praised Sekhar Kammula as a good director, but he isn't. All his talent lies in the innovation in choosing the subject and just keeping things as simple as possible. But he can not handle a little complicated subject with little more emotions.


I very recently met some people, who neither watch movies (apparently) and play any kind of game. I wonder, how they entertain themselves!! Well, every one has their own view and style of life. I will respect yours as long as you respect mine. DSP did a pretty good job with one of tracks from his new album, 'Current'.


One more thing is I gave up on changing the attitude of people. This para is completely aimed at the so called,'cricketers @ Clemson'. Take this lesson form me. I have been a captain may be several hundred times for several different things. Captaincy means leadership but lead the democratic way. Do not DICTATE terms. This is my advice from my experience. You may be playing galli cricket and you might just get to know your team mates for the first time in your life. Realize the fact that those 10 others have taken out that time for playing and they deserve complete entertainment for spending time. First, get them together and talk...that is your primary responsiblity as a leader. Do not simply judge by looks. One bad over won't hurt. Try your options. Know your team. What captain are you if you do not know if one of your team mates is a batsman or a bowler. You are simply not using them to the fullest.

Leadership in India is often mistaken with Power. Leadership is not power, it is a responsibility to connect and strengthen the links in a chain. Do not choose to be a leader, if you do not know what it means to lead! Well, I can go on and on... Do not just take life easily...you play to develop the sportive spirit. Play to do the same. I tried at least 10 times in past two years. Irrespective of who my captain was, I never had a good captain and have not seen one.

My sincere request to my friends, if you are to lead, please do understand what is leadership!


I talk as less as possible with people who complicate life. I love things as simple as possible (but not simpler).

Good Morning!! The morning still feels drowsy, even after a 'fresh spine-chilling aqua bath' and cup of Taj Mahal tea. So here are a few thing I GOT TO DO. I thought I would list them. Had I started in May I would have had 4 months for Qualifier exams!! But now I am left with 2 months and 25 days!! I will have to push myself and dust the books off to study! I love challenges. There is no spice in life, if you chase 200 in 50 overs..imagine 200 in 20. That will be entertaining. I put pressure on myself and I really want to deliver under pressure. Ultimately, that is wut decides your survival.

I have to push right now because I promised Babai, that I will get him going.


1) Study for Quals
2) Ship away ZnO for further experiments
3) Finish Young's modulus
4) Write the B-Plan
5) Most imply, hit back the gym!!!

All the best to myself...

All in the spirit of Robert Frost

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.

I could have started my day with Carbon Nanotube fiber modulus determination. Well, half an hour away from a patent meeting, I chose not to. And that is what, I want to tell people. Many things come to you but you need to choose. So better choose wisely!

WoW! Samudraniki 'Oh!' vesa!! I loved Myrtle beach. Amazing experience. Some memories will remain beautiful forever. 98% of this trip will be in my Hard Disk!!
It was a great learning experience. I missed that cup of coffee at the sunrise. I always wanted to watch sunrise with a cup of coffee on the shores! Good that I did not get the chance to have coffee! Had I got it, I would have had nothing more left. But now, I am alive with a hope to see the sunrise again on the shores but with a cup of coffee. This is a wish, not an aim or ambition that you need to achieve and move forward in life. It is simply a wish. If it gets fulfilled, you would be really happy for a while but that is all about it. Well, if it does not..then you have that hope and hence the enthusiasm and the zeal to go for it!...Umeed


We are humans, aren't we? It amazes me how we divide the world into pieces and the natural beauty into territories. We attach a price tag to His creation. As Camerlango said, break down a beautiful sunrise into wavelengths and frequencies (that is my job!). I sat on the sands in the night, in the moon light. The only thoughts that were going on in my mind were,'Why am I here?' and 'What am I doing?'.
These two questions can take you more than a life time to realize.But every time, I have a chance to explore more, I am reminded of the world outside myself. The world that will give you food, only for money. The world that respects you, only for something you have achieved and not as a human. The world that cuts you down,dissects you into good, bad and ugly. It would not let me go!

Well, that apart, I had some terrible experiences on the return. Yet another one I have seen in my life. I am happy, I learned again. I am happy that I did what I wanted to. I love to keep things as simple as possible but not simpler, in my life.
I can not stand some one moist my beloved's eyes. They are the most precious to me. And please for God's sake, you are no one to tell me how I should keep her entertained. If you wake up the Howard Roark in me, then you would see me stubborn but little will you realize what is going on in my mind. I was literally asked (or ordered) to please or console a friend, who was crying because of some rude remarks from the person who asked me to do so.

Please, do not push me into something, that was not because of me. Thing one according to me, speak with respect, even if you are speaking to best of your friends in front of people who do not know much about you. Thing two, be careful and aware of your diction. Use words well and appropriately. Thing three, before doing what you want to think out for a simpler way! And most importantly, accept your mistake and have the guts. Stick with what you said. Do not change your words and try fitting them into a different scene .If I were really a brother, I would not have let even a single word slip out from anyone's mouth. I am sorry sis, if it were because of me! I apologize!

We tag things as good and bad. It is in our hands. I believe, I am no one to tag a person. All that I can do is tag what some has done. There is only one aim in this earthly life, to keep the one who loves you, smiling all the time. I hope, I will as I always did.

Hmm.....

Things Due

1) A poem on 'Ala' (waves)
2) My cup of coffee on a 'Sun'day @ sunrise at the beach