My guiding light moves on

On September 3rd, 2021 I lost an important person in my life. Never did I expect that on a dull Friday morning I would wake to the demise of my dearest Prof. N Srinivasan. He is a valiant warrior who fought the heart attack but was defeated by a resistant organism whom he wit-fully labeled as "the bug that is very close to my heart". 

Professor Narayanaswamy Srinivasan is a visionary computational biophysicist and a kindhearted student-friendly faculty of the MBU department at IISc, Bangalore. He gave me the opportunity to work as his student and take on his philosophy of performing quality research. I joined his lab as a PhD student in 2017. Sir encouraged every bit of interest in science and gave opportunities to any person who valued research.

The fondest memories I have with sir are our conversations during his walk from the department to the bus ride that took him home. In my early days at the lab, even if sir was free after his evening tea, I would only catch him right when he starts his walk (when not in a rush). In these walks, we would have conversations discussing work and academics. Somehow I found that this was the best time to catch him up with my work progress. At the same time, he also used to discuss new project ideas and would give suggestions on how we could look at certain work by putting it in a different box. Just before the lockdown, sir took me alone on a walk to Prakriti, a nearby canteen. We planned the progress of my work and took leaps on writing up our research. He was very happy that we could get much work done during these walks rather than sitting in lengthy meetings. When we returned to the lab he suggested to everyone about how helpful these walks are, and he'd like to do it more often. Then the lockdown started, I really missed these walks. I would confront him almost every week with planned meetings. Although he was the chair, he would make sure he gave ample time to every student.

Sir corrected a majority of my first manuscript. Later his busy schedule kept him from assisting me during the submission. He tinkered with my communication skills and thought me to present research to an audience. However, he couldn't supervise me when I was preparing for my department work presentation due to his illness. Sir has mentored me well to take on my Ph.D. to do quality research, now he isn't there while I have to complete this journey. Even though I have to accept that he is not around, he has prepared me to continue this walk. He is the guiding light to my life. His enthusiasm lives on in every student to carry on his legacy. 

Years later and still building on the true meaning of what guiding lights are and what they can do. There is good and bad in everything, but the day we start to believe that the evil is balancing out the good is when we lose our focus. The more the dominos fall, the more we need to pick them and put them right. Follow your ambitions and there is support and motivation all throughout the way.