I was not a typical good student as seen in the Indian education and social system and I still not am, but, I have always believed in hard work, endurance and perseverance. I may tell you that I do not believe in the typical Indian taboo of getting into a good college, compete like rats, and do better than others, blah blah blah. Yes, isn’t it needed? It is, but it could be minimized. For me, I can’t suffer to harm myself to be in that race.
I had difficulty concentrating and making social relations very much, it was in the final year of my Bachelor’s degree that I went to a psychotherapist by myself, hiding from my parents, and found out that I was having a condition, ADHD. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It gave nearly a good explanation to what was happening to me all those years. I didn’t sit for my final year examinations that year. I graduated the next year, from Shibpur Dinobundhoo Institution College under the University of Calcutta. I was always and still am against the glamour of the colleges people talk about. My reason to choose this college was simple; all colleges in our place were affiliated to the University of Calcutta so why won’t you choose the nearest one?
After my BSc. Honors course, I gave CUCET exam and got AIR 11 in CUCET. I got admitted to the Central University of Rajasthan. CUCET was the only entrance I got the best of it and it was okay for me. CU Raj, in my opinion, as a new university, it is growing but there is quite a lack of opportunities given in the top research institutes of India.
Before getting into CU Raj, I was determined about what I had to do. From my bachelor’s, I got interested in quantum mechanics, the foundations, the measurement issues, and all; I wanted to pursue that field. I had written three articles in my bachelor’s days and was highly interested to pursue the field of Quantum science. I had also done a winter internship at IIT Bhubaneswar under Dr. C Bhamidipati and after that, my major project was the one under Prof. Ujjwal Sen at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute. It was a great experience as I learned the fundamentals of Quantum science and moved on towards Quantum information and foundations along with three other collaborators, one being Prof. Sen, we produced a preprint (submitted to a journal), which eventually became the subject of my MSc thesis.
I had eyes on the researchers working abroad, to apply for my PhD. and I finally got the position at, Research Center for Quantum Information, Bratislava under Dr. Mario Ziman before my MSc was completed even. Prof. Sen’s LOR helped me a lot in the process and basically, the selection process was two interviews and a test.
I would like to notify you that primarily I wasn’t interested in the graduate programs in the USA, primarily because of their process which is lengthy, and some other factors which is another discussion, for later. Also, I would like to enforce that I had applied in multiple places; there were many with no funding, no openings, or even I wasn’t considered for the position. But eventually, I got somewhere, and it is a decent one.
For me, the most important thing is what I am working on. I would like to stress the fact that, abroad, researchers want students who know what they want to do, or what they want to do. They want students to have a clear idea or maybe even a vague idea that what they are interested in, unlike in India, where a PhD.
About the author
My name is Soham Sau. I’m 24. I was born in Howrah, West Bengal. I have been offered a PhD. position at Research Center for Quantum Information, Institute of Physics, Slovak Academy of Sciences. I grew my passion for Quantum sciences since I was a Bachelor’s degree student in Physics at the University of Calcutta. After that, I did my Master’s at the Central University of Rajasthan.
Apart from Physics, I am interested in literature, poetry, philosophy, and music. I also run a blog ‘Solitude Field Theory’ (https://solitudefieldtheory.blogspot.com/?m=1) which mainly consists of some silly scribblings I’ve tried to pen down.
I like to explore life, that’s it!
