A little snippet~

It takes one 'teacher' to make you fall in love with a subject, to make you appreciate the techniques involved, to make you believe that it can be done, to make you see beyond the textbook, to make you follow that perhaps for the rest of your life OR make it extremely dreadful, difficult and boring for you till eternity. Ever since I had come here for my higher education, we have had to move a lot between semesters because my course demanded that from me. In the past 4 semesters I have been under 3 different Universities in 2 countries and had professors from a lot of different departments. While this has been a great learning opportunity, which has helped me discover more about the specific fields of study, there has been an absence of a ‘Mentor’ like figure.

However, during my internship last year in Lyon, I happened to meet Professor LD who has since then been by my side, replying to my emails, even now when I am not working with him anymore. Although he doesn’t interfere with the work that I do, he shares the same enthusiasm and is readily reachable over emails and acknowledges and celebrates my little success events when I inform him.

LD had come to take a guest lecture for us during our 2^nd semester, here in Freiburg. Normally, I am not a fan of PPT lectures or for that matter any lecture if it is not interactive. I am much more comfortable with the old school concept of using a blackboard, chalk and duster where I have to takes notes side by side and feel involved. If I were to see a PPT, I can do that, staying in the comfort of my bed. There’s no need for me to come to attend your class anyway if you have to read the stuff word by word written in it.

LD was an exception. He had prepared some 100 slides for his guest lecture of 2 hours that went on for nearly 3 hours and not even once did I doze off or felt sleepy (something that comes very naturally to me for an 8 am class). He had prepared slides about biopolymers and their application in medical science specifically. And he had delivered the lecture so passionately, explaining even the concepts of basic biology, the companies working with/for them, prosthetics, drug delivery, tissue engineering, apart from the normal polymers and how they are processed/synthesized. I was to undergo an internship during my subsequent semester and that is when I decided to talk to him for guidance. And he? He readily agreed to take me in!

Seeing his demeanor, I almost agreed despite this being our 1^st meeting. Over the course of next few weeks, he did the administrative and documentation work himself, proposed to be my Garant (basically a formality in French system where you need a person responsible for a student who agrees to pay from his pocket in case I am unable to pay for my rent or cause any damage aka I needed a Parent :P), looked for student dorms himself, contacted them and kept me updated per email with epic email subjects like the return of visa scares, housing conundrum and so on.

At this point, it is important to give a little description of LD. He is 53, wears specs and has this habit of looking over them from time to time, has a smiling face and very kind bluish-grey eyes, smells extremely nice all the time, is a typical Frenchman who greets everyone with bissous (air kisses), soft spoken (his students have never heard him scream and they told me he once walked out of the lecture and suspended teaching for a week as the class was being unruly and loud and demand students to agree that there shall not be any noise), loves his tools and equipment to such an extent that in a room of 3 x 4 meter  he occupies a tiny left corner; the rest is filled with tools, samples from students, papers, files, folders, books, etc. In fact, one of his shelves has items like toothpaste, brush, razor, snacks, few cooking pots, cutlery, mugs and exquisite wine collection (I call it his emergency stock)

Normally, there is a Ph.D. student whom you are assigned under but for me there was none and he was my contact point for all the problems, from explaining me the working and concept of a synchrotron to solving my naïve software-related doubts. My days in lab were going fine, he was readily available and told me to knock at his door and just see him without any prior appointment, never lost his temper if I would ask him a thing over and over again, and despite the language barrier, was coherent every single time! Something I yearn for now, with my present supervisor, alas!

Just 5-10 minutes of talk with him a day would enable me to articulate my logic and plan my course of experiments accordingly.  And at other times I would go sit in his office for hours and he wouldn’t ask me to leave (apparently with time, one of the interns remarked that if they didn’t find me on my seat or in lab for a long duration, they knew where I would be xD). Apart from the scientific conclusion and interpretation, we would have philosophical conclusions for my work as well. And it was sometime during the end of my internship that I traveled with him for 2 days that have been the most wonderful part of my stay there!

I, LD and Professor YB (another amazing professor few years senior to LD, talkative and with energy to/for work that was so contagious), had to visit Montpellier (300 km from Lyon) for few of our experiments. Throughout my stay in Mtp, there have been several instances (all of which I refrain from telling) but it was during this trip that I had a hearty conversation which I cherish the most.

To begin with, I have no idea how and why it was decided that I was to sit in front while LD drove and YB sat behind. On our way to Mtp, we mostly had scientific discussions; publications, seminars, aspects of our research work, funding, possible future expansion, rising academic fees, how the French education system needs to keep with latest technology blah blah. But then on our way back YB had either dozed off or he was busy meditating, thinking? doing idk what but he didn’t interfere even once, that I and LD had a good 2-hour conversation. It was mostly me asking him questions the answers to which I have always been seeking, discussing growing up years, spirituality and education, morals, the motivation to work, life and retirement. A few snippets from that road trip-

LD: So, what is the first thing you will do when you’re back home in India?
Me: Eat!! Don’t you think the past 2 days had been difficult, arranging food for me?!
LD: Chuckles. Yes, yes. Poulet pasta sans poulet. (He had called the waitress and asked her to bring a chicken pasta for me without chicken, a request that had left her baffled by the sheer choice of his words)
Me: Although, I would love to have mangoes but wouldn’t get them this time.
LD: Nods head in agreement. "You know? My wife is from Cambodia. And she is an expert at picking fruits. Once she got me mangoes plucked fresh from her farm there! I must tell you, they were wonderful, delicious! The smell, the taste…" and makes adorable expressions.
Me: Professor you need to stop, this isn’t helping!
And we both ended up laughing, even more, seeing my misery.

A few minutes later he pointed to a small hamlet and said, “this particular area that you see over right, is famous for its wine tasting.” And then continues… “There are 3 steps to enjoy wine. You first have to smell what is poured in your glass, then swirl it so that the ester bonds break and the aroma is released, this action…” moves his hand “it churns the liquid as it travels, drawing in oxygen from the air and intensifying the smell and then you have to take a sip as slow as possible.”
I was thoroughly impressed by his description, “You are a wine connoisseur!”
LD: Well, I do drink occasionally. I like a particular white wine that smells like flowers and is sugary. I have been drunk in my life just two times and I don’t like that now. Or even then. But I’m 50+ and I’m not doing so bad for myself. Then looks up at me as if seeking approval. And asks, “Do you drink?”
Me: Not really. In fact, I loathed going to parties during my bachelor’s. It would smell so bad, the smell of alcohol mixed with sweat and suffocation. You know how parties can be sometimes? But my perception of alcohol, in general, has changed since I’ve come to Europe. I see people in bars sitting and sipping just a glass of beer for hours and not drinking to get drunk! They don’t create ruckus or inconvenience for other people. That’s how it should be. If you enjoy something you shouldn’t make it annoying for others nor should you be too drunk to not remember a single thing. I have seen people in that state. It might be funny for an instant but they have no respect from me.

He instantly replies, “Oulala. I know what you mean. It is in fact no different with kids here. I think they are all the same, everywhere. But you know, I was like you.” And laughed. “I didn’t have many friends and never went to parties like this, how do you youngsters call it? Wild?! At least you went. It is okay to not be like others, or do what they are doing. You shouldn’t just do things because everyone else is” and winks at me.

I nodded. He kept driving. We talked and then talked some more.

“So Professor what do you prefer more? Research or teaching? How did you make a choice? To go into research with big groups and do fancy work or teach kids basic things?” I asked him abruptly.

“I must say nobody has asked me this before. Let’s see how to put it.” He took time to choose his words because by this time I am sure he had realized the seriousness on my face as if I was asking him some dilemma of mine.

“It’s a mix of both, rather they go hand in hand. On a given day, I give a good lecture, and there are 1-2 students who always would come up and say thanks, that the lesson was interesting today… the smile, you can judge it is genuine, it makes me feel ‘job well done’ and now I feel motivated to do my work even more. And in research sometimes, you write and nobody wants to publish you. You feel frustrated, so you go back to doing what makes you feel good. So would you rather have one pleasure when you can have both?” and gazed at me with those deep penetrating eyes of his.

“Aastha, I come from a family of Doctors. And I too studied medicine for a year and then decided to do mechanical engineering and now I am here! My father was devastated. Oulala. It was my mum who handled the situation. But the choices you make, they are like crossroads, they take you places. In the end, the game is to be happy!”

“Well, isn’t happiness a state of mind?” I quipped. “Sometimes I sleep throughout the day, I feel happy”, I said as a matter-of-factly.

“Yes, but can you do that every day? Does this happiness make you feel accomplished? I don’t think so. That thing, which makes you content, which brings peace that is what you have to seek.”

I’ve always enjoyed listening to people, people elder to me especially, who have such wise words to say without using any complex sentences, who are patient, who do not criticize you, who appreciate the other person and try to bring the best out of them, who motivate you to keep doing well, who have so many experiences to share, who radiate positivity, who are willing to help. I ended up telling him, that I might not be the brightest of students he would have had but learning from him, for me has been a very fruitful experience. And that he should know if I were to continue studying further, he would be one of the prime reasons contributing towards it :D