My Retirement Plan
12:42am. This is quite probably one of those posts I made where the title was intentionally a misnomer. Don't blame me! everybody does clickbait now! I am not even writing this post targeting my audience -- actually I don't have an audience but you get my point. Anyway. Let's see some backstory as it's very difficult to understand how I think until you learn in what environment I was born and brought up in.
Fortunately, I was born to an IIT engineer. My uncle is an MBA. My other uncle is a Supreme Court advocate. A big cousin I have? A mechanical engineer. That's an excellent kickstart. Lots of exposure: to engineering, to law and to business. I have spent some good time with each of these professionals in my family and learned a lot. I have spent more time just trying to figure out what I have to do than I have actually done things.
Then, I finally stopped playing games on computer in class 5 and started doing something as productive. I was learning to program a computer. Mind that all this happened before all middle-class homes were flooded with trash tuitions like Byju's and WhiteHat Jr. I learned everything by myself through lots of hit and trial. Eventually, with my first open source contribution in 8th class, I earned the badge of "self-taught programmer". It was fashionable at that time. I was eager to start a business with my computer skills, too. With an (unpaid) internship certificate in hand, I thought now is the right time to say "veni, vidi, vici". But as soon as the pandemic ended, I was given two options: engineering or medical science. I was interested in neither.
You see ... my guru is Sir Ashiesh Kapoor. He is not your usual teacher. Also, because he does not like to brag about his educational qualifications, allow me to handle that job. He graduated from BITS Pilani with a BE in mechanical engineering, along with a second rank in his department. That's impressive, ain't it?! Ashiesh Sir does not agree! He says that degree is useless and that it contributes nothing to his success in the work he does. He deals with finance companies. To be frank, yes, you don't use your mechanical engineering skills in the finance world. Now Ashiesh Sir is not your usual coaching mentor. He says he felt a "void" in his mid-20s which forced him to find the meaning of his life. He went to numerous monasteries, various monks and any intellectual he could find. In the end he found the answer in a quote by Richard Feynman.
"Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough." --Richard P. Feynman
He concluded his spiritual journey with this quote and concluded that the fundamental need of human beings is to stay happy. He found happiness in studying, teaching and doing research. So he started teaching on his YouTube channel that inspired thousands of students like me. Inspired to discover the hidden mysteries behind physics and mathematics. He taught, not for money or for any entrance exam, but to teach, to train young minds into becoming critical, curious thinkers! He will forever by my guru. He passed on his teachings to me and I too finally found out that I like studying and doing research. That's what makes me happy. I had talked to numerous professors and scientists before. I wanted to know if this is really something I want to. However, I eventually realized that being happy is crucial. It's a need. I cannot do a job for next forty years of my life which I do not like. So I jumped on the research bandwagon! I was finally fresh in 12th class with clarity about what I wish to do in life all thanks to the guidance of Ashiesh Sir.
Now research in what? Well. I am well-versed in computers but I do not see computer science the way most people do. I see computers as dumb machines. Even the most advanced supercomputers follow the principle of "garbage in, garbage out". So computer is a tool. It is not something that one should waste their whole life studying. It will evolve itself on its own as time comes on a need-basis. What is more important is how we use computers to solve problems that actually matter. A good example would be the 2024 Nobel-prize winning AlphaFold algorithm. The algorithm might run on computers but the problem being solved is in biochemistry, ie predicting protein structures. Computer is just like electricity. The same electricity can run the AC and the heater. Now it would be your foolishness to turn on the heater in the summer of Jaipur. That's why computer science was not my top choice.
Moreover, after studying computers for a couple of years, I realized that theoretical computer science is just an extension of combinatorics, graph theory and functions. Hence, I concluded that it's better to study mathematics because then I can target problems in computing and physics together. You know, killing two birds with one stone! So I have decided to do research in either applied mathematics or mathematical physics.
While everybody was always in a frenzy in Kota, I was just trying to decide between engineering and research. In the end, I chose research and here I am. All my life I have only strived to learn new things. That is why I have remained a bad performer in school, too. I never did any homework that required mindless repitition. Any information that can be Googled is often not worth mugging up. Instead we should focus on developing our logical abilities and thinking skills. I want to continue this practice my whole life. Let's see where this experiment takes me.
Oh yes! My retirement plan, right? I will probably work as a scientist in a research firm like NCBS or TIFR, or as a professor at some institute in India where I will do my research. Then I expect to retire, perhaps with a hut with internet connection in Kochi/Pondicherry/Kodagu and good electricity supply. That's my retirement plan. And lots of coconut water, of course!