Crucial People .... Motivators to Learn and Research
My Deep Regards to them always and fond memories
For me scientific research doesn't mean a step ahead of some algorithms from text books . I/Any one has to have a way of thinking about the issue in such a way that they have an answer to it and it convinces them personally , but may or may not convince some academic communities unless they are you :)
Not just professors , managers but the teams around them will have a lot to elevate us to greater level !!
My Parents
My mother is creative in anything , talented and dedicated ! My father too creative in music, dedicated, spiritual but normal in most of other things. But this union excited me a lot because they worked together through challenge with lots of patience. My mother's passion to audio signals, music and patterns and my father's appreciation to visual arts had a lot of role to decide some research works !
My Siblings ...
Call it financial difficulties , big families ... but we had to innovate every moment to survive, have fun .... for a long time :)) in many ways ! This is the first thing that came to be with me for a very very long time ! This taught me to focus my energies on some thing constructive always .... only thing I could not help some times was the uncontrollable sleep and hunger due to my health concerns ! But we are rarely lazy or wasting time ....! I can say this very very confidently ...happily ..these lives had tremendous originality, hard work and dedication !
First Brother ( Blue check shirt) -Durganath Varanasi
For me he is the first teacher and innovator !! He made fans, clothes, houses for my dolls ! We never thought to buy any dolls , but to make by our selves with waste material .. plants, trees , coconuts , shells ! He taught me to sketch easily ... first thing I learnt was a pot using my bangle and the duck in water. He was some how different in every thing he conveyed .. let it be values, discipline, physics ( he breathed ... ) , rhythms and lots more ! ! He worked on small electronics projects ( doesn't matter even if he failed .. he attempted some and was experimental always ) , sculpted , painted on many of our dresses, cared a lot ......this inspired my mind a lot !
My 2nd Brother - Jaitra Varanasi ( White shirt )
A gadget freak and a free mind ! ! More than teaching his way of life taught me more ... he got me biscuits with his hard earnings he is the one who imbibed in me a free thinking mind , to be generous, to enjoy life , good dressing , to be fresh , to market whatever is the skill, to create a lot , compose , direct many , adjust under any scenario yet make a difference, entertain the surroundings , encourage even the little, make friends with all , eat a lot :)) , service beyond any taboos or sentiments is a great human asset! Confidence is another thing that he breathed ! He encouraged my studies , extensive travels always queried to supplement gadgets !
I could only appreciate my sister Neeta for her focus on music , perfection in everything , sense of cleanliness but I could never get any of these :)) ... really naturally !
Also my cousins Dr.Phanisree Pydimarri , Dr.Sailaja Akella for their dedication and hard work !
Ravindra Tangirala - Jaitra's Friend
He is my best friend for life , brother or what else I don't know ... I learnt to be some times unconventional , to be grateful even for small things and dream differently ! But he was very affectionate as he used to carry me sometimes along with my 2nd brother to the park to play with other kids and gave me biscuits every new year .. I used to wait for it even after growing up a lot .. I don't mind even now .. ! My first introduction to Masala chats was through these free roaming brains Jaitra and Ravindra ! Actually to be innovately naughty is the thing they conveyed constantly skipping schools/colleges, listening to great masters playing music , late night ! To be western , Russian ... what not .... :)) .. new clueless languages, FM capture, encoding /decoding .... but never bound with any goals or approvals was the unbound joy they shared ... it meant a lots for me This had lot of influence on my life but prepared for me for some late nights later @IIT ! It was all bad habits ... yet some helpful ... many times !! They together excited me about new languages and cultures ! East asian culture is one thing that connected me a lot to Ravindra ...! Playing music differently , being silently romantic :)), cinemas ...... this duet was fantastic to me in-spite of age gap ! Lot of books, rare works including those of Vivekananda , zodiacs , Aquarians :))) hoping high, being tall but being extremely simple ! He has very high expectations on him self and my abilities always and it scares me really of what I am but inspires me at the same time ! He is just like my own family always .. age or other things don't matter with some .. I am still a child with him ! ! To be humble to life's needs was the biggest thing that happened to strike to me about super talented violinist Ravindra !
Ravindra's brother Rajendra was another fresh breath for me as a kid ! His martial skills , painting.. innovative approach inspired me a lot !
Ramatilakam & NDS Teacher @ School
I adore Ramatilakam teacher most ! She was creative, innovative , energetic !
I learnt a lot from her to smile always, stitch, guides, garden , sketch, paint.. basically find ways to do a lot .. she is the first engineer in my school life !!
NDS teacher ( I never knew her name :)) is another one who taught us/me to dance a lot in different languages, cultures this had tremendous influence to appreciate India and other cultures !! Social skills , team spirit ... all this mattered in life.
As I said in my thoughts repeating textual stuff really meant less to me by learning science or engineering !
Dr.G.T.Murty
The first intense glimpse of modern scientific research came to me from my maternal uncle Dr.G.T.Murty , who was a dedicated researcher from TIFR and served several org. ! He was fascinating the way he used to think and made us think ! I loved my association with him with respect to science and technology only greatly ! He was very loving many times :)) ! He had tremendous influence on many of us just through his love to think scientifically !
Next there were/are many people who taught different perspectives .....but their influence is not that heavy in my life !
I always believe a true scientific researcher is full of joy , cheerful lot of times and less narrow about anything as a work !
Images as I mentioned are first passion then came audio signals. So optics and sound are the best areas for me to passionately study .. electromagnetic theory just was there to support the concepts more !
Prof.Sirohi
When I went to IIT Madras I hardly knew the world ... I was home sick for 1 year , but wouldn't give up !
I didn't even know much English to communicate to any one much. My class mates were very interesting by their words, dresses, outlook.. I didn't even know why the guys were very shy/arrogant to discuss the subject also :)).. well I was that dumb . But I had my thoughts of Physics and the beauty of every thing I was learning. I couldn't bear the hypocrisy of Theoretical Physicists and really was looking at Applied Physics ! I discovered that there is a project related to holography .. I entered the LAB !
Prof.Sirohi stuck a father figure to me right away ... he taught me very basics ! I was thrilled to do the experiment in Rainbow Holography ! Got some good results .. I remember. I had so much fun to do th set up .... imagined a lot ! Sir infact encouraged me to write a paper or look at PhD ! Well, it all seemed overwhelming to me although I had GATE , CSIR ( I passed this exam because previous day I was reading about blachholes and yes that's all came out in the next day exam ) etc .. in hand ! Sir ! corrected every word of my report because I knew only that much English , I learnt ABC of documentation from him ! He also made me understand how people can do multiple works talking and typing, how to respect elders ( I went and sat straight in his chair once ... on the other side of the table ... you can understand how stupid I was ) , he was very polite yet tough with his smile .. I could see none but my father in him ! Even later at so many times he and his family have been very kind and consoled in the middle of many challenges ..!! Sir has seen my ups and downs .. and always added a special breath to this life ! Being from a noisy and huge family , I was naturally untouched in the middle of clutter to carry on my work ..... Sir ! used to mention about cleanliness that sounded funny to me that time ... because I was deep into it . which I am still learning .. my sister , father and my husband are the greatest Gurus yet ... on this :))) !!! His hard work was inspiring... it gave me a new strength to route my self in the Applied side of Physics , a new cheer inside to mock at my crazy friends who thought Physics is only theoretical .. For that age that was a kick !
I am also grateful Dr.Rangarajan ( Mathematical Physics) , Dr.Natarajan ( Electronics) and many more who helped us to think differently and cheerfully !
I went home after IITM degree , I was rest less , I knew I want to do research , may be in optics it self ! I was talking some scientists , they told about the limited opportunities in India for Holography ! I needed a job .. ! Every thing cautioned me about the financial situation at home , can I afford research for long period !
I applied for MTech @ IIT, Delhi opto-electronics ! More than electronics I loved electromag-theory .. I liked signals more but then with my M.Sc in Physics that is all I could think ! Our train got late , father not well over train .. they said the interviews are over... Prof.Ghatak , I read his works ...my dreams cut short ! .. IIT-Bombay seemed only hope.., Luckily we went to a relatives house right away , there they told why don't I go by flight to Mumbai .. it was some thing I heard first time for my travel mode and even an amount that is unimaginable for us ! We borrowed money ... I was on flight excited about going but feeling bad to have left my father go back all alone to Hyderabad ! Every one at home later told wow that I was on flight .. it was such a big deal for us ! Dr.G.T.Murty, my Mama received me at the airport ,.. I told him I qualify only for Microelectronics ! He said has some friends in the group ... I said OK but I know I am never for any recommendations and ... familiarity is no harm !
I may know electronics but was not really for solid state physics , my mind was more on how to get to signals , images ...... there were some three professors ... I asked them can I read signal processing there ... they said you can take some courses ... I didn't know really what I was getting into !
I loved IIT Mumbai .......a liberation from conservative surroundings of IIT, Madras ! People are much more lively .. it is the place where I grew up mentally lots more to be a free woman , to make friends with many boys and gals , to love life in many ways , did lot of things ! My mind was on how to study around images .. but to coop with my courses in MicroElectronics I was getting suffocated ... that is not really what I wanted to study ... I don't even how I passed .. but hated some of it ! .
Prof. S.C.Sahasrabudhe
Some times I sat along with communication folks to learn some basics of Signals ! That is the first time I saw Dr.SCS ! I loved his spontaneity, cheer ... he was a spark to me and the glitter in his eyes made me attend his classes .. without telling any one :))) .. he also never bothered much .. this is IITB :))))).. I liked him most as he has a way about everything ....
Later when the projects were declared , I approached him to do a project on image shape description ! Microelectronics folks were not leaving me to do the project with a communication professor ! Sir said he has no problem provided the department agrees ...
He was a breezy spark , amazing, simple yet intense ... a hello inspired the whole lab to work more ! Serious , hard working but never angry ... super charged ever ! I learnt much just observing him but I did the project passionately inspite of bad health .. I loved the freedom he gave us , but inspiring intensely once a while through some great work and people ! He is a great human, even later in life when I met him .. he was such a support through his words ! It was an honor to have worked with rounded existence ! Any moment the thought of this teacher makes me breath fresh ......................you can imagine !!
He corrected my English further ! I was fortunate to have worked with Prof.SCS !
Team Mates : Prasad Jogalekar !
Others
I did my Minor project with Prof.Shevgaonkar , laser Gyrotron based .. some relief as I could connect with electromag. thery and optical lasers ! I learnt from him to be friendly and to be joyful !
Electives started next year .....I got more of my freedom ...took some of the courses of Prof.U.B.Desai .. Esitmation and Detection .. I was not good at the subject , but I liked many things about the classes ! You can walk in and walk out any time ! My health was failing .......this used to be one happy feeling for me !
I don't know to answer a lot but certainly I was learning ! His approach of classes was some thing not usual .. that interested me a lot !
Prof.Subhasis Chaudhury just joined IIT, B ! I was some how very shy to talk to him because he had a great American slang ... but took his course on Image processing because I wanted to study the subject ! I also liked that he was doing some thing related to Medical image processing .. that seemed interesting and first introduction to me !
There were many other experts in the department but their influence was minor ..
Prof. Rakesh Lal
Prof.Rakesh lal .. he taught Physics of Micro-electronics that didn't fascinate me ! But he had an aura of approach to technology that was attractive .. I was afraid to talk to him because I was never much to his subject ! The real difference he made was .. when I was to do my project only with McroElectronics ! I was waiting for my wings to be freed to Digital Image Processing .... but this didn't seem possible with MicroElectronics group ! I felt that was narrow minded of the group decided to leave IIT, Mumbai ...but my friends told me not to rush ....
But then some how went to inform Prof.Rakesh Lal of Microlectronics ,to whom I was always hesitant but wishing to speak with ! I am really to grateful to this innovative Professor ... he told for such a small thing ... why I should leave .. ! He asked me what I wanted to work on .. I told images , image processing .... ! No issues go and pick up images of Microlectronic surfaces .... study the defect shapes ... I will be there as your co-guide ... let's see who will stop you :)) ! Is n't that lovely ....I was surprised ... he filled me with total joy with this new idea !!!!! Prof.Lal made me fulfill my dream ! I learnt deeply how to think different ........, twisting the mind to innovate and out of the way .........My love and affection to him even to this moment !
I went jumping to Prof.SCS , standing stiff told Prof.Rakesh Lal made way .. he said .. great , start the work ! I worked on some algorithms in such a way that I spoke to some TIFR folks and maths department profs also !
Mr.Jamie Horne
At computervision .. I really learnt from him how to own the responsibility in a company ! He used to certainly reflect team spirit , how to take over the entire project onto the shoulder around the dead line as a project lead . I really enjoyed working in a company with him as my manager ! He was the first person to expand my horizons in thinking and a new vision in a company env. Although I was on Elecromechanical routing far away from images , I programmed passionately learning object oriented programming ... focusing a lot !
Prof.Dave Gossard @ MIT / NTI
New Technologies was a formal name , but we were around MIT to work with Prof.Dave ! I was in a cultural hypnosis with an unbelievable journey to US ! Staying 30 miles away from MIT from Bedford ..I was driving first time rental cars at 90 miles / hour without a clue of the road :))) ! I lived longer than my imagination .. I had no choice but to drive with the car behind coming fast on Boston highways :)) ! I moved to poster's square ... but I took time really to adjust to shovel my car through snow , making
Dr.Bill Henneman @ Synopsys
Gomata ! you must join Synopsys.... I will make sure you can study and work ! He was from Boston and very encouraging. My manager @ Synopsys ! My main support to get to Stanford and gave me so many of his books. Alas ! he passed away with sudden heart attack one X-mas , that was a big shock for me and saw the first challenge to my smooth thoughts to Research.
Dr.John Lundell @ Cadence
Vidya Dadaati Vinayam , a true reflection of that .. he knew a lot, he was a doctorate from Stanford but he hardly spoke ! I got a new lease of life to be able to work on JPEG, JPEG-2000 and other multimedia standards ! He was my manager @ Cadence !
Pranesh & Many Children
Dr.R.L.Kapur @ NIAS ( A Gear to NIMHANS )
Dr. Gangadhar @ NIMHANS
