Having attached to the Indian Space Research Organization for more than two decades, I happen to associate most of our day-to-day activities in terms of the Rocket Launches.
Today, one of my students Mr. Freddy P. Paul made me proud as he received the YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARD at NCSAS Conference, Kolhapur. Well done Freddy. Hearty Congratulations. It was quite heartening that many of my colleagues intentionally or unintentionally congratulated me too. I duly appreciate and accept your blessings. Having said that - if I look at the TEACHER-STUDENT relationship (particularly PhD Guide and a Research Scholar), I can very easily compare this relationship as very similar to our Three-Stage GSLV Rocket Launcher. To make the terminology more simpler, let me mention that GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) is a three-stage rocket launcher. The First stage of the rocket is a SOLID ROCKET MOTOR which is capable of providing a thrust of about 4700 kN. We use VIKAS ENGINE, a liquid engine as the second stage which is derived from PSLV's PS2 engine. The second stage provides a thrust of about 800 kN. The third stage of the GSLV is a CRYOGENIC UPPER STAGE, which was initially imported from Russia, but over the years ISRO has started developing this stage ingeniously. Third and final stage, the CUS has potential to provide thrust of about 75 kN. The first stage burns for about 100 to 110 sec, whereas the second stage burns for about 150 seconds. The third and final CUS burns for about 720 seconds. The GSLV is also equipped with strap-on motors which burns for about 160 seconds. If we very carefully look at the growth of a child from a toddler to Pre-KG, LKG, UKG, Primary School, Middle School, High School, Higher Secondary School, Graduation, Post-Graduation, and so on.....we can categorize them in different stages. FIRST STAGE (MOTHER): Starting from the conception of a child, as the fetus begins its journey in a mother's womb, the baby undergoes guidance and navigation through mother. Once the baby is born, the MOTHER feeds him the first MILK, as the baby finds the new world not a comfortable zone as against the WOMB, he CRIES, he CRIES A LOUD. The enormous LIGHT appeals to his eyes, the sound, the surrounding, everything appears new to him. And He prefers to CRY, and MOTHER'S caressing nature makes him comfortable. Isn't it the same work done by our FIRST STAGE OF THE ROCKET ? It works against all the gravity. It provides maximum possible thrust to the rocket. A MOTHER also works against all the ODDS to make the baby comfortable in the new world. The FATHER, SIBLINGS, ALL RELATIVES AND FRIENDS are like the Strap-On motors. They stay with the baby, but only provide additional support through Mother to the Baby. Nobody other than a MOTHER provide the maximum possible thrust to the Baby, hence I have found a MOTHER equivalent to the first stage of rocket in all the possible means. SECOND STAGE (PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS): Once the baby attains a reasonable intelligence and is declared FIT for primary schooling, the required thrust is provided by the Primary School Teachers. Unlike the first stage, this is a liquid stage, and so are the teachers. They adopt all kids in an uniform fashion. They provide the seed of education to the baby. Since a baby is already learned talking and speaking, they need not provide as much thrust as the first stage, but they must perform. A failure in this stage can lead to disasters. Therefore, the burning stage of second motor is larger than the first stage. During this stage, the teachers take whole responsibility of carrying the student from Primary schooling to Graduation and still Higher-Studies level. The process is naturally lengthy, but the student is provided with all possible comfort (similar to the heat shield), and is taken to a more challenging place. Thus, in all the means and in all the analogous comparison, I find PRIMARY SCHOOL AND HIGH-SCHOOL TEACHERS very much similar to the SECOND STAGE of the Rocket. Having described the FIRST AND SECOND STAGE of the rocket, not all the students opt for Doctorate. So the explanation of third stage differs in case to case. THIRD STATE (OUR CAREER MENTORS): During the lengthy process of our education, all the students develop a certain compassion towards one fields, or one discipline of career. Choice of such decision is mostly done under the influence of a ROLE MODEL or A MENTOR. The main purpose of this THIRD STAGE is to take the student out from the Schooling and to expose him/her to a zero gravity field where he/she can sustain on its own. And under the influence of proper navigation and guidance, the student (satellite) attains its real ORBIT. THIRD STAGE (PhD Guides): Now, let me come back to the primary objective of my blog .... Teacher - Student, or to be more precise (PhD thesis supervisor - Research Scholar relationship) can be very perfectly compared with the CUS stage of the GSLV. For the foremost reason, the burn out period of CUS is about 720 seconds, almost 6 to 7 times more than the FIRST of SECOND stage. Apparently, a PhD student does not spend 6 to 7 times more than the schooling, but following the Einstein's relativity principle, these years of PhD apparently become equivalent to decades. Each month of PhD period appears like years (Until the PhD is over). Burn out of CUS never gets over, so is the iterations of PhD research work. It keep on undergoing changes and frequent modifications. And Unfortunately, all the burn out period of CUS is not measured against its performance, the ultimate goal of the CUS is to take the satellite from second stage to the final orbit. Till the second stage, the weight of a student is carried by the 1st and 2nd stage motors, but as the first and second stage burn out is over, both the stages cut themselves OFF and leave the rest of the responsibility on the CUS. So is the responsibility of a PhD supervisor. Being a PhD supervisor, you can not expect to throw away the satellite (student) anywhere, first because the lengthy burn out time is a time, where the process of lifting the student from the level of Post-Graduation to a Doctorate is carried out. The process of burn out of CUS may certainly sound long, but it need to be immaculate and too precise in ejection of the satellite in final orbit. A PhD Guide must shield the satellite from the rest of the atmosphere and disturbances for the whole burn out period. And finally, when the burn out of CUS is over, the satellite is ejected to its desired orbit. Now, let us also discuss some valid points: 1. Assume a rocket launch is failed, do we ever pin-point that the mission failed because of this particular module ? Answer is NO - We take collective responsibility and try to correct the faulty module. And in real life too, we must follow the same doctrine. 2. If a Satellite fails in its orbit, do we ever blame the rocket launcher ? Answer is NO - Hence, being a student we must learn to perform on our own. Try to grab the maximum possible knowledge from each of the stages, and go to your desired orbit with maximum possible knowledge. Your sustenance will be judged by your own performance, and not by the launcher's performance. 3. When a satellite is ejected properly, do we give credit to CUS ? Answe can be YES or NO. But my take-home message from this question is - the CUS is expected to launch a satellite in the desired orbit. Neither the satellite must be ejected in an early orbit, or in an elevated orbit. The CUS must take a balance to make the ejection of satellite in correct orbit. More over, irrespective of the credits or blame, the CUS must perform its duty to the best of its limit. Eventually, it gives enormous pleasure to me to receive good words from all whenever my student performs well. But I always take it as my responsibility to do my job. The profession of teaching is the most respected profession and it comes with lot of responsibility too. We must maintain a good balance between the anger and the love, the right and the wrong, emotions and the decisions, knowledge and the pride, politeness vs. acceptance. Writing a long blog is my inherent quality. Some of you may get bored, and some of you may enjoy. But I certainly enjoyed sharing my philosophical thoughts. Good Luck and Happy Reading.... [ DISCLAIMER ] All content provided on this web-page blog is for informational purposes only. 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2 Comments
AKM.Nair
12/5/2019 00:12:57
Very interesting analogy...!
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Jayachandran
12/5/2019 12:13:21
Great job Sir!
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