The Beginnings of a Tale: NCBS as seen through the eyes of a fresh graduate
From: Chronicles of Life, a blog by NCBS student J. Mahita
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
Well maintained lawns, spic and span corridors, beautiful buildings, state-of-the-art labs, sophisticated infrastructure, tasty food, lively people and above all-stimulating research work. That about sums up the first impressions of NCBS by first-time visitors here. A place that will tend to increase your fetish for research.
My first visit to the NCBS campus was during the interviews into the PhD programme. I fell in love with the place at first sight. I got bowled over by the warm reception we got and by the beautiful landscape of the campus. It transported me into another world. I felt I was in a foreign university except that the majority of the people there were Indians. It gave me the distinct aura of being in a corporate company (reminded me of the summer internship spent in Dr Reddy Laboratories).
I managed to get through the interviews (partly luck and partly common sense). I therefore embarked on another journey of my life when I joined NCBS in August 2011. At first, coming from a large campus like IITM with its huge student population and where the campus never seemed to sleep, I felt intimidated by the eerie calmness and serene environment outside the labs. But that, as I learnt later, can be deceiving, for within the walls of the building, the labs are always brimming with activity, despite the lateness of the hour.
During the first three weeks of our programme, an orientation programme was conducted. It focused on every important aspect that was playing a major role in running NCBS and keeping it in good shape. At the core of it was the introductory session by the PI’s who presented and explained the ongoing work in their labs. We were also introduced to the other non-research, but equally important facilities in NCBS. The fact that equal importance was given to all branches of NCBS impressed me.
As the days passed, I begin to observe, and thus, learn more about NCBS. The people were very friendly and also very professional in their work. The help desk attends to the requests of many people without taking much of their time and so does the civil authorities. People, apart from the regular research students, right from the gardeners, electricians ,janitors and housekeeping staff work around the clock to make NCBS look young (literally). The best part about it is their efforts do not go unnoticed.
The thing most fascinating about NCBS is the quality of its research work. The research work being carried out here is one of the finest in India. As put in the words of a certain NCBSian, “What amazes me about NCBS is that the researcher has the freedom to follow his passion and the questions that intrigue him the most”. Although limited to life sciences, it makes the best opportunity of the principles of chemistry, maths, biology and physics by applying them to living systems. The research is integrated, intertwined, and interdisciplinary and proves the saying that “Science is one”. It strives to expand its research areas within the frontiers of biology yet make the chemists, physicists, mathematicians (non-life science students) feel at home with their work.
Comments
good..:) very nicely
Wow!! Mahita... you have
Well written Mahita!
Very nicely put.. Keep
Good One Mahita
Post new comment