IIT Kanpur was the strange new world for me. It was called an ex-officio state of USA. I landed in the Hall IV, the residence for most phuddas - that is how PhD scholars were referred to as. Really I cannot recollect the first person I met as I entered this structure, first time in my life. Strange indeed! it had played such a major role in my life for so many years.

I was the first graduate student of my thesis supervisor, Dr. Pinaki Gupta Bhaya, who had been a faculty member at The Department of Chemistry. He was a queer person indeed. He gave me a lot of freedom, in retrospect, i think it was a necessity for him. For, when I joined he had almost no research lab., only some fanciful ideas that he will guide me to do some research in probing the molecular structure of proteins using NMR, something he had learned while he was a graduate student at Columbia University with Prof. Bersohn and then a post doctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute at Gottingen. But, I had different ideas. I wanted to exploit the IITK system fully. So, after the first semester, when I completed all the compulsory courses in Chemistry with flying colours (the grades I got were almost second to none, except perhaps S. Shankar, my colleage, who got a better grade in one course), I decided to take off in the second semester. I registered for a couple of courses in M.Sc. level physics (Electromagnetic theory and Quantum mechanics); mathematics ( mathematical methods and Topology). I had perhaps overestimated myself,so I did not fare all that well in these courses (especially topology) the result my CPI became low and SPI even lower. The result, I was on the brink of getting expelled from IITK. But, thankfully the good sense of my friends prevailed and they could persue the faculty to give me another chance.!!!