PhD advisor

As I am sitting at my office at my new job location, there is a sense of comfort in knowing that life is going to be smooth. It a pleasure that is taken for granted by many people who have had things going smoothly.

I was a PhD student for a short duration of 6 months. To summarize everything, I graduated with a Masters degree, dropped all my job offers and took up the challenge to do a PhD under a so called "very famous" professor. As you might have guessed, I dropped out of the program with very important take away points.

When I dropped my job offers to pursue my PhD, I was blinded by the research area and the prospects of doing well without paying attention to the professor behind this area. I let go of wonderful PhD advisors simply because I did not like their research area and chose a terrorizing advisor who claimed to be pursuing a "one of a kind" research area. My decision was terrible and I am writing this blog with a hope that prospective PhD candidates don't burn their fingers the way I did.

• If you are doing a PhD, please do it only for the love you have for research and your desperation to do it. There is no monetary benefit of doing a PhD and the professional benefits (besides joining research organizations) is small. That being said, a PhD gives you a sense of satisfaction and achievement. Even after dropping out, I still have the urge to go back and start all over again. Research is always exciting as you are working on new ideas and technologies that the world is yet to see. A good PhD can get you into top jobs and hell, if you are an Indian/Chinese wishing to immigrate to US, your greencard will be processed in less than a year under the EB1 category. With a Masters, your greencard will take anywhere between 4-7 years. The job profiles for people with a Masters is mostly disappointing and boring drudgery.
• Thumb Rule #1:If you have ANY second thoughts about doing a PhD, please don't do it. You should do a PhD only if you are desperate to do it. I have a similar rule for clothes. I buy only those shirts and pants that look good at the first glance. I see people regretting their decision of signing up for a PhD when they were not sure of doing it.
• Advisor: An advisor is much more important than the topic. Talk to his students. I repeat, talk to his students. Ask them if they are "happy" working under his guidance. Look at his history of students. Find out how long it takes for students to graduate in his group. Ask his students about his quirks which brings me to the second thumb rule.
• Thumb Rule #2: Every professor has his own quirks. Its really hard to find a professor without any flaws or weird behavior. If a professors students are "unhappy", stay away from him. Trust me, its not worth it. Academia is designed in such a way that a professor is like the "unquestionable emperor" and his students are "subjects with almost no rights". The advisor gets to decide everything and a bad advisor will ruin your happiness. Work with professors who are "mostly" nice and sometimes weird in a "nice" way.
• Thumb Rule #3: Start early. Target at starting your PhD and a research area in about a semesters from the time you start your grad school. This will give you a phenomenal head start and you will cruise to a finish in about 5 years. Don't wait for 2 years before looking at prospective research areas.
• Thumb Rule #4: Be proactive. Your professor is your advisor, not an instructor. Many make this mistake of waiting for the advisor to give them work to do. Be proactive enough to read papers and make decision and research finding on your own.

All said and done, in about 2 years time, you should have an idea of where you are heading. Enjoy your PhD and set clear goals from day one. At the end of the day, a PhD is an achievement and I have great respect and regards for people with one.

Again, let me repeat a few important points: Be extremely, completely, superbly, terrifically convinced that you want to do a PhD. Don't do it otherwise. Know your advisor before joining him. Joining a group without knowing the advisor is like giving a gun to your advisor and being at his mercy of staying alive.

Dr. Sunitha Krishnan: The Unsung Hero of India

This video is a must watch. This talk is pure, honest and right from the heart. Dr. Sunitha Krishnan has an enrapturing voice that will keep you focussed on her speech. She, who is willing to continue her fight even after losing her auditory senses and after being beaten 14 times has won my respect.

These videos not only gives you a glimpse at the atrocities happening in the world, to which lucky ones like me are blissfully ignorant of, but is also a very humbling experience. It makes you wonder if you are justified in saying that "You have problems in life".

Vedas to Crystal Meth

I believe there could be a very intriguing relationship between Vedas, Hinduism and methamphetamine or popularly known as Crystal Meth/crack. Its widely accepted that crystal meth is one of the most dangerous psychoactive drugs known to mankind. It produces a very powerful "high" that keeps you going for over 12 hours. It supposedly feels like having sex for 12 hours straight (No wonder people are addicted to it)! The withdrawal symptoms are just as bad, leading to depression and even suicidal tendencies.

First off, watch this very heart breaking video, "Faces of Meth" before you read anything just so that I discourage you enough not to do meth. If you want to learn how to cook, use or sell meth, you got the wrong blog.

My quest to understand this contorted relationship started with nasal congestion for which I had to buy medicine over the counter. But, to my surprise, its was not so easy to get cold medicines in the US. I just wanted 5-10 tablets of Mucinex D for which I had to produce an ID, show a prescription, buy it ONLY from a pharmacist and sign a bunch of things. All this for cold tablets!! Thanks to Google, it was very surprising to know that Mucinex D contains "Pseudoephedrine", a key raw material compound to make Methamphetamine.

This video "Cooking Meth" shows how easy it is to make crack at home with just things you can buy at a gas station. Atleast in the US, this medicine is regulated. Do you want to cook meth in India? All you need a few boxes of "ColdAct". Ya you heard me right, its the same pill you pop everytime when you cant even describe your problem to a doctor (Dr. I have dasal cogestio....) . ColdAct contains "Phenylpropanolamine", which is just a fancy name of a simple derivative of "Pseudoephedrine" . Its so easy to get, you could buy a boatload of it without raising any flags.

When I read about ephedrine, the first thing that came to my mind is "Soma". Experts believe that Ephedra was the main constituent in "Soma", though there is no conclusive evidence or agreement about it. "Soma Mandala" in Rig Veda talks so much about the energy this drink gives. Though not an expert at Vedas, Soma is claimed to sharpen your senses and energize your body! If you read about methamphetamines, it does EXACTLY the same thing besides giving you a 12 hour orgasm! This NGC Documentary on Meth shows how workers take it "sharpen" their senses and work 5 days straight without ANY SLEEP! Interesting eh? Again, this is not a conclusion but just a speculation, which I believe is quite a strong one.

Worlds greatest musicians used drugs to keep their music going. Its like the key to a room full of possibilities. Many bands admit that the greatest of tunes are made when you are high. Meth and other drugs can make you hallucinate, which is why they are also called hallucinogens. Here's what is interesting. "Soma" is said to "unify your senses and bring God to you". What the hell does that mean? What could it possibly mean to say "Soma, the bringer of God"? Is this a metaphor to say that it makes you hallucinate and imagine entities that people believe to be God?

Another interesting point. Ephedrine, is commonly prescribed to burn body fat to give bodybuilders a clean cut body with washboard abs. Guess what the medicinal value of crystal meth is (Ya crack also has medicinal value)? You guessed it right: tackle extreme cases of obesity!!

My imagination is running so wild that now I am beginning to think Hinduism's perception of God could as well be a figment of imagination, or must I say "a figment of hallucination". This post is not intended to hurt any sentiments of people as I am myself an honest believer in God (Note the capital G). Also being a true believer of Hinduism, its a very important question to ask since I am going through a phase where I want to understand my roots, my culture and my country of origin.