How do I feel working in India?

The only answer to the above question is PAIN.
Do not be disheartened, as I am in the market of “emerging nanotechnology” which possibly could create the second revolution in India, after IT. I hope so; Indian government is hoping so; millions of students studying “nano” hope so. New market-space takes effort to be discovered, educated and streamlined, for maximum profits coming out of exponential growth. So, if Pain equals exponential growth, growth equals opportunity, opportunity comes with risks. Risks involved in an emerging marketplace make me want to be here and take that chance, so PAIN fades out to “DRIVE”.

After my MS in Electrical Engineering/ Material Science, I joined Veeco Metrology, a company which makes Atomic Force Microscopes (AFM). These are considered the tools of nanotechnology research and development, which helps you see molecules, atoms, living cells, dna, feel nanoNewtons of force between particles. When a blind man walks the street with his stick, he feels the road, and reacts accordingly. Shrink this stick to a probe of end radius 5-20nm, and the road to be any kind of sample surface; you get an AFM, with the output being the image of the sample topography, physical and mechanical properties. I am fascinated by the complexity of execution and the simplicity of the concept. I have been working with AFM during my MS and after that landed in the kingdom of AFM, where till date I have so much to learn about the technique. Being developed in mid 1980’s, it is considerably a nascent technology, with application development driven by the scientific community.

I moved to India in Sept 2007, looking at the tremendous talent which India possesses in terms of students and teachers, untapped market for nanotechnology research and development, which translates to analytical tools, hence AFMs and electron microscopes.

I live in Bangalore, close to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), which is the hallowed ground for scientists, as prestigious as MIT in USA. The first day, I was impressed by the infrastructure; second day, I was awed by the simplicity of people, third day caught me off guard to find out the deep connections the Indian scientists have with the world scientific community; fourth day I was pleasantly surprised by very smart innovative students. IISc is a learning experience in terms of understanding the growth of nanotechnology market in India, where research stands today in India and what are the future prospects of this industry.

One thing which pains me is to see such huge talent pools go through rounds of Indian bureaucracy, get exposed to sub standard research, get exposed to hypocrisy and red-tape of the system. Government is doing its share to catch up with the latest nanotechnology revolution worldwide by pumping huge amount of money into institutions, developing nanotechnology center in many institutes, upgrading universities to higher level for dedicated research for e.g NIPER National Institute of Pharmacy and Educational Research at Mohali, Punjab. Government can show you the direction, help the country to take the path of R&D, but it is the people, the scientists and the scientific community who have to take the initiative and go that extra mile to educate themselves to abridge the gap between development in any other part of the world and in India.

Publications is the only way to enter the nanotechnology revolution ad get yourself noticed, so if we see a significant increase in journal papers from India, we know that the scientific community is active and being noticed.

My work in India is to help the scientific community understand how they can benefit their research from our analytical tools, and be at par with the world. My job is to educate my potential customer base about Atomic Force Microscopes, about it being integral piece of equipment in nanotechnology materials research. Show them the advanced applications; help them stretch the tool to its limit, so that the next technique gets developed by Veeco with Indian collaboration.

Hurdles are abundant in India, where many a times you get judged by your degrees, your undergraduate and graduate university. It is unheard of India, that you can quit PhD, because you are not interested…is that even a possibility. Unprofessionalism kills our business in India, this is one thing we should learn and thank the Americans for….great managers and awesome work ethics, only if we can adopt some, we Indians will be the source of intelligence in the world.

There are days when I am disheartened by the bureaucracy, by politics, by attitude….then there are days when I see the fierce potential of the Indian market and economy….I am enthused by the fight…and I hang on…for today and for tomorrow.

Now I live in India - Wish or Reality

Today is Dec 3, 2007; we relocated on Sept 10, 2007. Total of 85 days living in reality-India, before which we spent almost 8 months Wishing-India.

Question: Was wishing a happier period than living in India?

Almost every day of the last 80 days, I have been meaning to write this entry, but never managed to do it for various reasons: one being I am still not in a stable position of taking a stand between India and US. Like you have bad days and good days, I have India days and US days, and so far US days are outnumbering the India days, which I think should settle down in another couple of months; at least that is what I hope for myself.

My life in simplicity comprises of home, office and in transit. Writing about home first, as office and in-transit, would take up another whole direction.

Home would again be my family, friends and the house which I call and make my home. Family hit me big, without realization. My parents live in Port Blair, Andaman Nicobar Islands, my mom is working and they can come only in mid-Dec to meet me. When we relocated back to India, I wanted it to be like being back with my family, in my home; but I was left alone, talking on phone everyday did not help. I wanted their presence in my home, I wanted them to take the harsh edge of relocation out of my life. Anyways, the longing continues, they will be coming on Dec 14, than I will be at home in India.

Second part of home is where you live, your locality, your house, your neighbours, and most importantly your maid. We live in Defence Colony, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Beautiful neighbourhood. We pay this huge rent to do evening walks and get jealous looking at the beautiful bungalows in the center of the city. Tree lined quite streets, very clean roads, expensive cars, people watching....sums up to be one of the best neighbourhoods of Bangalore. Unfortunately, you can't afford to own anything here. Although our apartment building is more than 20 years old with its quirks, we have forgiven it, given the convenience of walking to top end restaurants and boutiques.

Neighbours are a learning process, we are hopeful on this aspect. One thing that can top-off your experience in India is essentially MAID, you cannot live with them and you can not absolutely live without them. They are the new ruling class. Depending on the locality their rates vary, and they are a catch and soon will be a rarity in India. After a turbulent week, my maid walked into my house, destiny plays a big role in maid-hunting. She was amazing, and I was surprised and blessed: we talk in English, she does not need instructions, and she cooks well.

In India, wait before drawing conclusions, lesson learnt from my maid. Maids are maids, you have to tell them, they will sometimes be great and almost always cut corners: I fail to accept this phenomenon.

Third part of home is the in-between service industry: like phone, internet, white-goods like refrigerator, washing machine etc., and finally handyman to do the tasks from electrical, plumbing, carpentry. This bit frustrates you and also puts you in awe of the convenience of this industry. Pay the money, and you will have a phone & internet, at your disposal within hours of landing in India. Try getting a permanent connection, and you will be looped around several forms and passport sized photographs, to make it fraud-proof. Patience is a virtue which pays off very highly in India. Broadband, cellphone from Airtel is great, service exceptional, although has its glitches....come on I can forgive it too.

Refrigerators and washing machine, great buy, decent price, good models to select from, no complains from that section. Home delivery is free, demonstrations are free...very service oriented market, only wish the service quality would be great.

Handyman to do anything, can be found...lets us become very lazy...but you would waste all your resources guiding that handyman.

That covers the home front, .... frustrations and satisfactions ... which one outweighs: or do you start settling for less because you are getting it in India. This would be the worst excuse for me in work, home and life in totality to start expecting and dreaming less, only because now I am in India. This is the excuse I have already heard more than a few times in my 85 day span of living in India.

I am in India, not to be happy with average lifestyle, not to be happy with just a job, not to be happy with being here and accepting the excuses, not to be happy about just my family...but being able to change all of the above. I am giving my 100% to everything, even my wish to live in India, why can't my expectation be 100%. Things will stabilize in due course, but will I give up on myself, or will I start seeing the change in things around me?