Disclaimer: This work was originally published at FAyz: India's largest online canvas for youth. You can find it here. Happy reading!
At the age of 10, when most children are busy watching TV or playing in parks, I was fond of solving Math questions in my free time. Most of my classmates ended up laughing about it, but let us save that story for another day. Crazy as it may sound, I always knew I had to take up mathematics for higher studies. All through primary school, my mother and I had these math practice sessions where we shuffled two notebooks. She would give me a set of problems to solve and I used to solve them even before she could give me another set. Hobby converted to passion and “Playing with numbers” converted to “Coordinate Geometry and Trigonometry”, what remained constant was my dream of contributing to the world of innovations and derivations in Mathematics.
When I performed academically well in school, my teachers believed in my potential. This, along with my parents’ vision, instilled immense confidence and dedication towards maintaining a high academic standing. Participating in debates and receiving awards made me a well-known student in school. At the beginning of a new session, my last Math teacher would hand me over to the next one and ask them to provide me with advanced material to refer to. Moving to undergraduate studies, B.Tech. wasn’t necessarily my first choice, B.Sc. in Mathematics was. However, independent decision making comes very later in life in Indian culture and norm. Preparing for the dreaded engineering entrance examination seemed like a tacit agreement between me and society.
I was very grateful to pursue Mathematics and Computing Engineering as this pushed me towards the right path. This was just the beginning of my even more challenging journey; I found myself standing at yet another crucial crossroad. The majority of my college mates excelled at computer science subjects/coding and were exploring the in-demand fields. I felt intimidated by their progress and the number of resources available to them. It seemed like the safer option to learn to code and land up with a respectable job. But, this time, I decided not to give in to the pressure. I knew I would never feel content if I did not stick to my lifelong dream. So I did, I stuck to the road less taken - research in Mathematics.
To start with this, I talked to some professors at my university and they advised me to go figure out my interests first. I realized that I never looked at the subject from the point of view of a researcher. I needed to segregate the sub fields and find the one to which I can contribute the most. For aspiring researchers reading this, keep in mind that this is a continuous learning process. You might suddenly find the exact topic you want to endlessly research or you might want to change your field even after your PhD. With a strong initial inclination towards Linear Algebra, I went through plenty of literature online. Indian Statistical Institute was my first real research experience and I could not be more thankful. I solved two more books in Linear Algebra, worked on a mathematical report and most importantly received life lessons which helped me reach where I am today.
I also realized how math is very abstract and intuitive. It is not the mundane formula memorization and application which we are taught in school. In the process of discovering my strengths, I came across people who were amused by my choice of the research field. Some of the computer science students whose work entirely lies on a strong foundation of mathematics expressed that they understand and use very less of it. All the recent advancements in Machine Learning or Data Science are based on Linear Algebra, Statistics and Numerical Methods. I took it as a challenge and decided to delve deeper into these fields.
With just a good grade point average and a research report at hand, I started looking for international internships in the hope that I will be able to communicate my sincerity and determination. Through a series of applications and interviews, I bagged the prestigious Mitacs Globalink Research Internship to spend three months in Canada under the supervision of a Canadian host professor (More on this experience here).
The process, the place and the experience were all so surreal. I diligently worked on honing and presenting my skills and the professor appreciated my work. Sharing the workspace with Ph.D. and Post-doc students in an international setting made me realize the amount of grit and consistency my dreams actually require. It hit me that I am in the right place and things are going to go uphill if I put in the correct effort. All in all, I had the best time of my life both professionally and personally.
On the co-curricular front, I have loved to dance since childhood. I also took training in Indian classical dance - Kathak but could not complete my degree due to commitment to academics. After getting into college, I was determined to continue learning dance and joined the society of classical and folk dance there. Little did I know, this would allow me to learn time management and multi-tasking in the best way possible. Being the president of dance society and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), I had to organize competitions and fest for both domains at the same time. The demanding phase would take a toll on my health and relationships but would prepare me for the hard times ahead. I also started reading in January 2019 mainly for standardized tests required for graduate applications so much so that I couldn’t stop after that. Some of the most powerful lessons that I have learnt are from books and stories. My favorite genres to read are psychological thriller and science fiction. I am slowly starting to read non-fiction motivational journals to follow a better lifestyle.
What lies ahead for me is another year of productivity and hard work. I am looking forward to giving my first technical talk this year and meeting some amazing people. Don’t get me wrong; I am not this optimistic and positive all the time. There are several circumstances where I find myself stuck and helpless. I often doubt myself and believe that the world is running way ahead of me. Learning from my experience, it’s fine to question your decisions only to analyze where you stand and where you want to be. Being dissatisfied with your work is acceptable only if it urges you to wake up the next day and outdo your yesterday self. Many times, I felt uncertain about my career choice and found myself looping through, “What if I don’t have the aptitude for this?” Thus, I would suggest reading the article “Does one have to be a genius to do maths?” by Terence Tao to all math people. Keep reminding yourself that your constant effort would get you there one day. Life builds different time tables for everyone, be it sooner or later, success is what you deserve.
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