All you need to know about Astrophysics and more - Your questions answered

[The Outsider]

Wow!! That is quite a list!! Firstly, let me clear up that the "Prof" nick is a misnomer. Have never been a professor, was a post doctoral researcher for a couple of years. Lurker 1) Did God create man or did man create God? Am an agnostic so don't really care but if I did have to choose then would say man created God. 2) Is it tougher for a man to accept he was wrong, as compared to a woman? From my experience, I've seen women accept their mistakes more easily. 3) Tell us about a little secret. Of course being a tharki I shall give you extra marks for it being spicy! Dated a millionaire divorcee with a kid for a few months in my undergrad. 4) When was the time when as a MOD you felt - Screw this, this aint worth it! Yesterday! 5) And if the world was to come to and end tomorrow 3 incidents, that you can share, which shall cross your mind. a) Returning drunk from a party pulled over my bike next to a guy on a pole painting it and asked him, "Arre, kya kar rahe ho?". Him : "Dikhta nahin pole paint kar raha hoon". Me : "Jab ho jaaye to g***d mein le lena" Went to the Chandigarh bus stand in the middle of the night, got onto a random bus buying a ticket to wherever he could take me for all the money I had (Rs.60 I think). Spent the night in the middle of nowhere and hitched rides in trucks the next morning to get back. c) With a friend started off going to Manali for a couple of days. Ended up driving beyond Lahaul/Spiti/Baralacha La pass when we started running out of money and the cold drained our will, so could not get to Leh. 6) Better to have loved and lost or not to have loved at all? To have loved and lost. Everyone should experience getting jacked at least once to value love. 7) 6 reasons why Sachin Tendulkar would never be as good as Kapil Dev hehehe. a. Didn't hit 4 sixes to save a follow on. b. Didn't catch Richards running back 20 odd yards in a WC final. c. Didn't score a hundred from 17/5. d. Didn't lift the WC. e. Didn't lead India to a series win abroad. f. Didn't hobble in to bowl Australia out in their backyard. Of course, there are 12 reasons why he is better, but we'll keep those for another day. 8) Your nomination for next bakra. Hmmm...don't know much about yoda and GKD even though they have been regulars for a long time. Will go for yoda aka Crazy. apocalypse 9) How much spiritual are you? Not much. Probably 2/10. 10) Do you like politics more? Yeah, I enjoy politics specially Indian politics though don't follow it as keenly anymore as I did till a few years back. 11) If given chance will you settle in India? Not really. Am quite comfortable in the US. Though visit India at least once a year on average for 4-5 weeks. 12) Do you love moving around? Haven't lived at any one place for more than 3-4 years except during school in Lucknow, so have had no choice but to love moving around. 13) Do you like Cal better than where you are present? Yup. My favorite place - San Francisco/Berkeley. marirs_mania 14) Your name, Shwetabh , what does it mean ? Any special significance ? Shwet = Pure/White Abh = Light. Nothing specially significant as far as I know. 15) Having lived in India , Europe and the US , what would you say is the defining characteristic of the three places ? India - Extremely rich culture Europe - Extremely chill lifestyle US - Extremely good work culture 16) If there is one defining trait in your personality , what would it be ? Positive - Concentration Negative - Procrastination 17) What do you like in people ? Dislike ? Like - Punctuality Dislike - Backbiting 18) Things that you cant stand ? Chick Flicks, operas, and SUVs. 19) Party animal or more a home-bird ? Home bird now. Party animal till a couple of years back 20) Favorite past time ? Scuba diving these days. 21) You seem to be quite a non-confrontational person. Is it because you dont like to take people on ? or is it because you just dont like to blow things out of proportion ? If things can be sorted out amicably why cause bad blood and sour relationships. But if push comes to shove and my ideals are being compromised I can be quite stubborn. 22) What motivated you to do a Doctorate ? Was interested in stars, galaxies, and the universe since I was a child so getting a doctorate in Astrophysics was just a natural progression to learn more about them. 23) First love, Astrophysics or cricket ? and why Astrophysics ? First love, cricket. Stronger love, Astrophysics. 24) Why the career switch ? Didn't fancy the prospect of earning a post doc wage for another 3-4 years and was getting a bit bored of the projects I was working on towards the end. 25) Which is more taxing , Academia or Industry ? Academia because of the continuous challenge to innovate. You can be fairly successful in the industry doing mundane things well, not so in academia. 26) Standard question - Is the politics/tension of the corporate world too over-bearing for you ? Have only been in the corporate world for a year, so not sure if my answer will change later but till now have not really faced too much politics/tension to complain. 27) Having switched from Academia to Industry , how do you find the transition ? In this one year , have you ever felt , " I think i am better off doing research" ? Happens sometimes, but just remind myself of the reasons for the switch and feel convinced about having made the right choice. 28) Have people ever greeted you with some weird looks, when you told them that you are a PhD doing business analysis ? Yeah, sometimes but not as often as I had expected. A lot of people from Mathematical backgrounds go into finance but not too many in business. 29) What is one essential quality you think a person requires to be successful professionally ? Good work ethic. 30) Favorite Indian cricket moment so far ? '85 B&H World Championship. The '83 WC drew me in but the '85 win really got me. 31) Favorite Indian/non-Indian cricketer ? Why ? Indian - Tendulkar. Amazing display of batting for almost two decades against the best in business with the unreal expectations of a billion people. Non Indian - Akram. Sheer artistry with the ball. A tremendous fighter and a genial human being. 32) Any defeat that rankles in your mind ? '87 Bangalore test. Gavaskar's last test when we fell short by 16 runs. The '99 Chennai test comes very close. Wasn't able to concentrate on my homework and studies for weeks!!! 33) If there are three changes in Indian cricket that you would want to bring about , what would it be ? a. Would like a mixture of cricketers and successful managers take up top BCCI posts. b. Would like non zonal, professional selectors. c. Would like Duleep trophy to be extended and become the main domestic tournament to cut out a lot of non competitive games from Ranji.

[The Outsider]

coffee_anon 34) Why/When/How did you decide to switch your career? Wasn't happy with the prospect of a post doc salary for another 3-4 years, so decided last year to try out something in the industry for a change. 35) Where are from in India? Lucknow - the city of Nawabs!! 36) How much time do you spend on Google? Hardly any. Maybe 10-15 minutes a day on average. Prefer books. 37) Your most favorite cricketing moment? '85 B&H WC victory. beetle 38) Which actress makes your heart beat faster....? Waheeda Rehman, Sharmila Tagore, and Raveena Tandon 39) What gets a smile on your face without fail? The prospect of meeting my parents. 40) Were you always so patient or is it something you have worked on....? Guess part of it was natural and then I built on it. Being in the academia helped by having to struggle for months before coming up with some tangible results. 41) You fav food Biriyani cooked by my mother. 42) chikna face or stubble ? Stubble, though can't carry one for too long in my new job. 43) Your most metrosexual moment.....(like maybe a fruit facial or rose bath...) Shaved my chest a couple of times. 44) Would you like close matches with India finally winning or all out thumping against Pak this series? All out thumpings. Utter destruction. 45) Do you think after the illtempered aussies,the Pakistanis will be treated with much jhapeeyan papeeyans(hugging &kissing)?Or maybe this "in your face "new team India will resist the "jeet lo dil " nautanki? I think it will be a much less tempered series compared to Australia. 46) Dushman no 1......aussie team or pak team?(dil se jawaab dena......no politically correct answers ) Australia. Believe it or not, Pakistan used to be my second favorite team till I started visiting online cricket forums. 47) Which poster makes you go.........? dsr, in a funny way! 48) Do you swear at people....? what is the worst you have dished out? Mostly at government employees who think no end of themselves. Maa, Behen ek kari hui hai!! Gaurav 49) god or dog? Dog 50) dog or cat? Cat 51) cat or puss.y Puss.y 52) puss.y or work? Puss.y at work dial_100 53) One thing that you wanna achieve in your lifetime?? Climb Mt. Everest.

[The Outsider]

vroomfondel 54) your view on the american market system, laissez fair economics, contrast to say, the french model. which is better? is economic stratification just a reflection of different intelligences, aptitudes, work ethic etc. No, I don't think economic stratification is a reflection of the intelligence, aptitude etc. and am not a big fan of the Laissez-faire model. Government has a very strong role to play in making sure the basic human amenities are available to all citizens and to ensure that free market does not equate to exploitation of anyone. My favorites are the Scandinavian countries - strong state/strong market. 55) globalization -- good or bad? Good but too fast. A lot of people and countries are struggling to keep up which is not good. 56) are academics insulated in a bubble? is their sense of intellectual superiority justified?] No academics are not insulated at all. All great things the world sees has their origins in academics, so their sense of intellectual superiority is justified to an extent. 57) will IR spectroscopy of brown dwarfs ever make any difference in the lives of those below the poverty line? does it matter, or is intellectual curiosity enough justification for science? One of the first things which man would have thought about on this planet would have been what is out there while gazing at the night sky. Now that the society has made a lot of progress, concurrent pursuit of those fundamental questions are completely justified. Moreover, IR spectroscopy of Brown dwarfs themselves won't help poor people but the scientific and technological advancements required to do that spectroscopy with more accuracy will touch all people in due course. 58) who is the most 'intelligent' person you have ever met (and interacted with on a medium-long term)...define this 'intelligence' that s/he possesses, and tell us about her/him. Martin White. He is a professor at Berkeley.Had quite a few lengthy discussions with him when I was there and was always left in admiration of his clarity of thought and ability to break up a problem. Very quick on his feet and a superb ability to weed out the good stuff from the garbage. 59) on the self-improvement front, what habits or practices in your thinking/communication/routine are you trying to inculcate? (are they inherited from others, if so, who are these people) I try to keep on learning anything which I find will help me be a happier person. Am working hard on improving my time management skills these days, to have more peaceful and quality time for myself. 60) same question as above, but this time, which habits are you trying to get rid of (and where did you pick them up?) I guess leaving something for tomorrow just because I am not in the mood for it today is something I am trying to get rid off. Probably picked it up in academia where time lines to deliver are more flexible and the best outputs are achieved when one is in the right mood. Predator_05 61) Captain Numbnuts is on a routine patrol a few thousand miles away from his home space station where the orgin of a three dimensional coordinate system is located (distances are expressed in miles). Looking for some action, he grins as he spots an enemy ship. His display monitor shows that his position is P( 405, -3201, 95). He hits the attack button on his computer, and his ship begins to travel, starting at t = 0, along the attack curve r(t) = (405 - > t^2) i + (5t - 3201) j + ( 95 + > t^3) k , where t is in seconds, firing off a giant d1ck shaped missile at the enemy ship t = 2 seconds later. The d1ck shaped missile travels along a straight line having the same direction as Captain Numbnuts' velocity vector at t = 2, with a constant acceleration of 1 mi/s^2. The d1ck shaped missile has an initial speed which is 14 mi/s faster than Captain Numbnuts' speed at the firing time. Unfortunately, Numbnuts' computer makes a mistake, and it programs the d1ck shaped missile to explode prematurely 4 seconds after being fired. When the d1ck shaped missile explodes, it will annihilate everything within a 100 mile radius, and in the meantime, Captain Numbnuts has no choice but to continue along the same attack curve for another 5 seconds, before he regains control of his ship. Will he make it? How far from the d1ck shaped missile will he be when it explodes? Captain Numbnuts is facked. He is only 64 miles away from the d!ck shaped missile. Cricketics 62) why does a circular shaped pizza come in a rectangular shapred box?? From what I have heard, it's more difficult and expensive to manufacture circular containers/boxes. Not sure why though. 63) Kapil's 83 or Dhoni's 07 team Kapil's '83 team in a heartbeat. 64) if u would get to chose another name for urself, what would it be?? Amitabh 65) Any deferred dream??? Climbing Everest Aditi 66) California - love it or leave it? Love it. Absolutely love it. But only the Bay Area, not so much Hell-A. Ravi 67) What do you like more our good old OTW or this website? OTW was like the lovely, small cottage in the mountains. ICF is like an apartment in bustling Manhattan. Both required and enjoyable, depending on the mood. Sachin_Rulez 68) Describe yourself in one sentence. A laidback person caught in too fast paced a world. 69) Will you stop posting on ICF and other cricket sites if your better half hates cricket and wants you to do so ? I would but luckily although she hates cricket, has not asked me to do anything like this. 70) Pick one (and why) a) Manhattan or Bay Area? Bay Area(not South Bay though only San Francisco/Berkeley). The weather is just beautiful, lovely scenic place, more relaxed than the rush of Manhattan. b) Ambrose or Mcgrath? McGrath. The sheer ability to consistently come out on top against the best in business puts him ahead. c) Prefer to share a room with Hyderabadi or Chennaite? Hyderabadi. The food is incentive enough. d) a gal with big bosom (pam) or sexy back (Jlo) or thunder thighs (tabu)? you don't need to give a reason for your choice here Sexy back, though not sure if Jlo meets the criteria. 71) Did you ever try to find a job in NASA? No. Too much red tape and bureaucracy for my taste. Rajeev 72) Do you or have your eve believed in GOD No. 73) I know you smoke ( a lot ) ; are you a lemon without it Won't say I smoke a lot. Around 5-6 a day. But yes, on work days need my nicotine fix. Can go without them on weekends though. 74) Which country in the world would you like to live in Nepal. For the mountains. 75) I still don't know why they called you PROF Neither do I. I think BossBhai christened me so. 76) Would you prefer a $10K/mnth salary in a boring job or $3K/research which you like It's a meeting of two curves. Financial and enjoyment. Did the latter for most of my life but when the enjoyment started receding went in for the former. Mandrake 77) Why is it that the mathematics involved in explaining the laws of the universe so damn complicated...is that the language nature speaks to us or just that we do not understand nature well enough to give simplicity a chance? Not only with regards to explaining the universe, everything is becoming more and more specialized. There is only so much a human can do in a life time, so humanity as a group has come up with specializations to confront different problems collectively. It takes years of training to understand politics and sociology also which are not mathematical subjects. I don't think nature speaks any language to us. It's just out there. We have to come up with a language to communicate with it, and just like any other language the more emotions and feelings one tries to express the wider it's vocabulary becomes and takes longer to master it. gator 78) conservative or liberal? i know the answer, jus need confirmation ;) Liberal to a fault. 79) which one would you choose to read on a rainy day. - a great cricket book, scientific journals, a great suspense novel, or nothing - watch TV... Definitely not TV. But if it rains long enough all the other three in the following order - great cricket/mountaineering book, scientific journal, great suspense novel.

[Ram]

Haaaaaa.. Felt like reading a book..... You give the impression of someone hides more than he tells, as far as your intellectual knowledge is concerned. What a wonderful amalgam of a Cricket Lover +Academic !:two_thumbs_up:

[Cricketics]

Good job shwetz.. nice read

[beetle]

nice!

[Don]

I share the dream of the quest to conquer everest.

[apocalypse]

good one

[Lurker]

Great read Shwetabh! Nicely done :thumbs_up:

[Gambit]

Riveting read! Thanks for taking time out to do this shwetabh.

[dial_100]

Astrophysics is my fav too. But no nothing about that subject. Never spend any time knowing more. Good to know someone so passionate about this field. :two_thumbs_up:...Good answers.

[Cricketics]

I thought u were a professor in some uni, hence they call u proff

[Dhondy]

He is a Prof. Shoot calculus at him and see how fast it comes back at you.

[kabira]

excellent read Prof., I am sure it was lot of work to answer all the questions..

[Malcolm Merlyn]

BUMP..................Prof u keep impressing me with ur every post.........:hail::hail::hail: will you be kind enough and allow us to ask you a few questions?

[satishg]

it really felt like knowing a lot more about you Prof. Very insightful questions and great replies.

[punjabi_khota]

Nice read man...good insight. :woot: