Was deliberating about whether or not to put this up here, but what the heck.....its my blog!
and so what, if its personal to the core!

Just finished a discussion with Felix. Had a lot questions for him, about the simulations I was running and about the general functioning of things with ACT4. And I was getting final results with the radiolucent electrode geometry, and Dr Saulnier had seen the results yesterday and said ‘Good’, but how exactly that was going to be helpful and how it was a pretty good reassurance to them that they should go ahead with this geometry is what I understood right now after a long chat with Felix. By the end of the whole discussion and Felix questioning me regarding many aspects of my work, it felt almost like a pseudo masters defense, Felix patted me and said ‘Good work’ and he left. And I found I had tears in my eyes!

Is that how much it means to me, every little thing regarding my research. The work, the results, the frustration, the reward, the acknowledgment of my effort, the usefulness of my work, the company of my fellow researchers, my advisor ,our group….oh how I am going to miss every bit of it!

And how i have longed for leaving with this feeling of being useful and making a contribution that’s worth something, how much ever small, of playing a role that has some meaning in itself and not just namesake, I had not realized how important this was to me till Felix patted me today. I had worked since summer for this, and only this! I had not realized the worth of my work, had kept thinking that I was doing something only to get me a thesis, but the realization that that really was not the case and I was funded not as an obligation on the part of my advisor but because I was being useful to them has enhanced the pang of leaving the group all the more.

Pure joy it has been, working with this group!
My advisor, I have not met a person like him before in my life….i mean it entirely when I say that. Name your idol, whenever that question was asked before I had no answer, but since I have worked with him, I do have an answer to that question. It’s all Him! He is what a genuine , pure and true human being should be, capability, modesty, self confidence, endurance, vision, truth, peace, trust, its all him. He does not have a geeky poster ofEinstein or Newton put up in his office....all he has is a small painting his son made for him, and all it says is 'Keep Smiling , No matter what!', and thats exactly what he lives by......

I would never be able to forget this one person whom I owe so much to.

Dr.Newell and Dr.Isaacson, gems of people, amazing human beings, with extra ordinary ability and true researchers…I have learnt a lot from them, and wish I could learn more…and guess I will wherever I go, even if that’s all the interaction I have with them for now.

Eugene:). My first reaction when I met you was of pure awe! How could someone be this brainy, you never answered me:). It was pure fun working with you Eugene, and nothing I ever do again would be comparable to that experience. I have never in my life felt extreme pleasure at feeling utterly stupid as I did when working with you. You did make me feel stupid and dumb, but I still enjoyed it. An opportunity to work with a Super Brain, and the enjoyment I was deriving out of it was simply far greater when compared to my petty feeling of dumbness. The way I have stretched my own capacity when working with you, Eugene, I would never have known myself capable of. The luckiest thing that happened to me at RPI is an opportunity to work with you. Thanks!

Roger, my grandpa:). The most understanding, caring and strong grandpa I came to adopt! It was pure fun working with you grandpa. Having you and grandma to sort of count on for doing my groceries, getting a ride to places, hanging out with on sundays sometimes, going to lunch with, was a pretty granddaughter like behavior, wasn’t it?

Ning, A person who possesses potential to influence and inspire. A machine, that best describes him. Hard working, yes, strong, a little less emotional I should say and yet caring.
We have had long nights together in the lab Ning, working and taking breaks for our weird chats about hunting and fishing and dogs, and China and India. Your attitude towards life always puzzled me, but seeing you work the way you did, listening to you speak about problems you were facing, not cribbing at all, accepting facts and facing life as you did, I have come to respect all that intrigues me about you. Hats of to you!

Felix, the most fun person in our lab, aren’t you? Actually my interaction with you goes long way back the annals of history right? It was only you I initially interacted with. The first week that I joined the group in fall 2004, it was you I bugged when getting introduced to the EIT theory and all various aspects of it. Since then you have surprised me with your patience with me. But then I interacted with you only as a colleague and never as friends. But I have always looked forward to interacting with you, having jokes at your cost sometimes, but always laughing with you, never at youJ You are the one person in our group, who has always understood my work, whatever it be. Earlier when I worked with Dr.Isaacson and then when I started working on FLUX3D, you were still someone I had questions for. After Dr.Saulnier, I felt I had to report to you, and so your approval of my work meant sooo much to me Felix. Thanks!

Bong Sok, what could I say about a person so genuine as you, Bong Sok. I admit we never communicated much, language being a major issue here more than anything else I must sayJ . But that never kept me from knowing what a wonderful and helpful person you are. We interacted for the Medical Imaging class, and that was enough for me to realize that you were an ultimate example of how helpful one could be. Even with my research , after Felix , it was you I bugged, and you always ended up making me stare in awe at the Efficiency that is You.

Lastly, Chandana, a new found companion, I never had one for the three semesters till now that I spent at RPI. I generally take time to be myself with people, and keep myself at distance longer than others do, I wonder how that never happened with you. An addition to the Dr.Saulnier’s fan club is what I have most liked about our interaction.

RPI has been an awesome experience for me, I cannot put it in words and no words could possibly do justice, but the most wonderful thing that happened to me here is ‘My Research Group’ and the characters in the cast. Its time to leave now, I will miss you people, even saying this explicitly sort of diminishes how much a void I would feel when I leave, and even when I join a new research group or a new school, the place that’s allocated to you people stays put forever!