slight knock

…of an opportunity and I might not be able to open the door. Nothing, I repeat, nothing is more maddening and saddening at the same time. It is all just so bad these days!

Wonderful Woman – Marie Curie

This is the first post for the series Wonderful Women.

 

It is the season of the Nobels and this year, women have done exceptionally well in catching the nobel prizes. They have got it in Medicine/Physiology, Chemistry, Economics and Literature ie in 4/6 fields. When one thinks of Nobel prizes and one thinks of women, it is hard to miss the person who has done more than anyone else to make the position of women in science respectable. And that is the first woman nobel laureate, the first two-time nobel laureate in two subjects – Marie Curie or Madam Curie.

The biography and other details are chronicled nicely in Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie

What I want to observe here is the way she managed to tackle all her obstacles and make them look small even when they were so huge in the times that she lived in. To fight the financial burden, to fight the fight of being a woman and therefore getting rejections by default, to fight the doubts as to her abilities and many other such small but significant things. She did not let anything stand in the way of her love, her curiosity of finding things.

I cannot but imagine how daunting the conditions must have been for her to pursue what she truly loved in a field where women wee not only not encouraged but straight away denied entry. Instead of fighting it out loudly and getting dejected, she found a better way. She did the best job she could do, she did the job better than others could do and thus shut the mouth of her detractors and became the icon for women and other scientists that she is today.

If there is anything one ought to take away from her is the spirit and strength.

Thanks goes to Madam Curie for showing a way to numerous aspiring women scientists who would later join her in the eminent scientist’s club. The one who started it all – we salute you.

Wonderful Women Series

I just saw the trailer of Mira Nair’s new movie “Amelia”. It made me think that how wonderful a woman she was.  And that led me to think about many other women who are pioneers in their fields, who have achieved so much, sometimes with hardships and sometimes with just their dedication and I am just so amazed and inspired. I think that every aspiring woman should be able to read these stories and draw courage, wisdom and strength. I just want to recall these stories and chronicle them on my page. So, today I have decided to start a series where I will write about the wonderful women that have been and are, the things that they have done and why their lives are like a shining torch.

The series will be called Wonderful Women. I will try to make it as inclusive as possible.

Its old !

The job is…It is 5 months old now. The excitement has died down. I can see that the lights that are shining are not very bright now. So what is next??

MBA or no MBA, that is the question. The trouble is that the answer is as ambiguous as it can be. I want prosperity. Who does not? But I don’t know how to get to there! I want knowledge but I don’t know where to find the time and the resources.

It is a non nice situation. It is like a jungle where there are animals who will eat me. Some small ones are hollowing me already and yet I don’t know which way to run to get out of it.

An inspiration occurs and it dies down. It occurs again in another format and it dies down again.

 

 

Nobels

The Noble prizes have been declared for this year in Physics, Chemistry and Literature.

I remember that when I was a kid, hearing of Nobel Prize winners gave me heejeebies. I truly thought that these people lived in a wonderland where they would come up with a path breaking idea, romantically. And that world was fascinating. But then I grew up and found that it is not so rosy. Yes, people still come up with wonderful ideas but the way is not so wonderland-ish.

The amazing thing about these prizes is that they continue to inspire so many open eyed and curious kids who someday want to earn it. And why only kids?? I have seen professors at the end of their careers obsessed with it. It is good to have a Nobel Prize as a goal.

Although there is no doubt that the world is a better place with these Nobel Laureates. I would like to see Jagdish Bhagwati’s name in this year’s pseudo Nobel prize for economics.

Want and Need!

Seemingly similar and yet so different.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert M. Pirsig

What a wonderful book and written so excellently. Quality drips from every page (hahaha..pun intended). But truly, it is a special book by, I suppose, a special person.

Metaphysic of Quality and how it all started in the mind of one man, who even went insane for his ideas about the world. True philosopher .

I can’t wait to get to Lila, its sequel. That should say how much I like it.

Fooled By Randomness – Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I finished reading this book today. I have to say that it is a new and interesting area that he is writing about. Being a student of Statistics, I was able to find things of interest in the book and was wonderfully and pleasantly surprised at a few points. Overall, it was a good experience reading it and I suppose exactly the kind that I wanted to read at this point of time. Good time spent with it over the weekend.

I am finding that all the authors of good books have been voracious readers in their times. I mean that everyone does their homeworks. It is inspiring. I have not read “Black Swan” by the same author. I might try. Depends.

The difficulty is not in learning, it is neither in failing to learn. It is difficult when you learn that you have failed to learn or when you learn that you have learned to fail, which is mostly one and the same thing.

The circle is vicious but by no means unescapable. All it needs is a lot of passion and determination and one helluva hard work drive.

Hail Passion!

Theory and Empiricism

I created a huge fuss when I did not use to get the concept or the theory behind a problem and I felt that I was really stupid for not getting things. I still do that a lot to myself. ie declare myself stupid most of the times.

But today, while doing some random stuff, I realized that hey! it is not so bad after all. Most of the time theory comes after empiricism. From the mistakes made there and the right things done. It does come after experiments. And it is after all, okay, to not get the theory at the beginning and form it after the experiments are done. It would certainly be best if one knew all theory before doing something. But the conclusion is that it is fine to not know all theory certainly beforehand. It is OK to experiment and based on the results draw the conclusions

I am more at peace with theorizing than actually experimenting. That is one more conclusion!