12 July,2009 10:46 AM IST | | Amita Amin-Shinde
Scientists speak about how often they let their heart rule over their mind, and why it's important to strike a balance
Intelligence stems from the brain and emotions from the heart. And while scientists are known to belong to the intelligent breed, there are moments when they take decisions not with their minds but their hearts.
Nobel-winner physicist Albert Einstein, born with a rather large and oddly shaped head which reportedly scared his mother at the time, was known to have a string of lovers, two of whom he married. Madame Marie Curie's supposed affair with a former student of her husband Pierre's u2014four years after his death led to her being called in the tabloids as a "home wrecker". There are certain decisions that need to be taken by the heart... mostly personally, but some professionally as well.
Our very own scientists tell us how often it is that they succumb to what their hearts tell them to. From our experience of meeting these scientists in question, some were as quirky as they could get. Others just surprised us. Take a look at what they have to say to heart over mind or mind over heartu2026
'Emotions aid thought processes'
The former HoD of seismology division at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Dr S K Arora, is currently busy working as an honorary director of the Centre for Earthquake Science Studies of the Indian Planetary Society.
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He says that there has been no instance when he has let his emotions take precedence over his mind or vice versa. Though he does admit that decisions are sometimes based on feelings. Like while handling his colleagues at the BARC. Or at home. He recalls an instance when the house required renovation and he had different ideas about what needed to be done. "My family felt that I wasn't so happy with their ideas. But in clear words, my wife and daughter-in-law told me that the home was not my scientific lab," says Dr Arora with a laugh.
Dr Arora explains the relation between the heart and mind, likening it to emotions. "Emotions aid thought processes. It's complementary to the spirit of inquiry. A scientist has to maintain a proper parametric balance between the two," he says in a paragraph that he makes us jot down.
'Decision taken by your heart is actually taken by the mind'
Director, Nehru Planetarium
He has been dealing with the moon, the stars, and the planets orbiting the solar system for over three decades now. His beard is not as dense as Galileo's might have beenu2026 but the goatee lends him a quirky touch. Director of Nehru Planetarium Piyush Pandey, the 5 feet 2 inches man, who seems consumed by the huge desk at his office, and yet manages to dominate the room, wants to know, "What is this?" after pulling out his vest sleeve from his shirt. A bit surprised, we say, "You have worn the vest inside out!" He says, "Exactly. After so many years of development, someone is yet to make a seamless vest. The seam irritates me no end, so does the brand tag on the vest," he says with a laugh. And suddenly he jumps up from his chair and leads us to the planetarium to show us an animation his team and he had worked on an animated story of Chandrayan taking off into the orbit before it actually did and the process of how it will work.
"Somehow ISRO came to know of this clip and its representatives came down to see the show the day I was unveiling it," says the scientist, still enthused with the program that is no longer shown to the public.
At work, everyone seem to hang on to his words. At home, he is just another son, husband and father. Some times his morning chores involve heating the milk, setting curd for the day and doing stuff that his working wife sometimes tells him to. "Rashmi sometimes says 'Piyush ye kar do'." He even tells us a scientific way to set curd faster.
With relatives, it's another story. "When I go for family functions, relatives come to me and ask me to read their palms!" he says. Is it the confusion of names between astronomy and astrology or the commonality between the planets in the two diverse fields? He shrugs and says with a laugh, "I guess a bit of both."
However, Piyush does not believe that one can take a decision just because the heart desires. "The decision taken by your heart is actually taken by the mind because the ultimate order is given by the mind," he reasons.
'Handling an issue emotionally is good'
Former director of Forensic Science Laboratory
She is busy these days liaising with the government to set up an institute that has part time courses on forensic science for the media, police, lawyers and regulars. On a weekday evening, Rukmani is busy planning the prospectus for the course. Over a very sweet litchi drink, she talks about the sour and difficult cases that she has had to encounter during her stint at the FSL, and the management skills required to handle a team.
"I had to constantly volley questions from my staff who came up to me and said, "'Itne pagaar mein itna kaam kyon karne ka? or the middle level people who say about taking gifts, 'kya hota hai? Sab log lete hai' I had to pep talk them and tell them about the knowledge that they are gaining each day. Of course, you have to sometimes take a decision based on what your heart tells you, because essentially, heart is nothing but emotions. Handling an issue emotionally is good."
Rukmani recalls an instance when her son, after learning at school that sulphuric acid burns cotton and emits the smell of charring sugar, experimented on the new curtains at home, thus burning them. "When I came back home, instead of shouting at him, I told him he did a good thing because he was just being inquisitive and I didn't want to dishearten him," says the mother.
"I think that day I let my heart rule over my mind because I wanted my boy to excel," says Rukmani with a smile. Her son is studying in Boston today.
'My sensitivity is a problem'
Social scientist at Tata Institute of Social Studies
Since his body of work involves understanding social actions and reactions, R N Sharma says that taking an action based on what the heart desires and what the mind tells you depends on the situation. He says that a person may react differently in the same situation at different times.u00a0
He also says he justifies the term absent-minded professor because often he forgets things. "I asked a student the other day did you get a job, and he said 'sir I am in the first year and you are asking me if I am working... when I was a warden of the hostel, I could never remember names. So I ended up calling a student Gupta but, in fact, he used to turn out to be an Aggarwal or some other name," Sharma says with a laugh.
Sharma says he is a sensitive person. "My sensitivity is a problem. Sometimes a student comes and touches my feet and I am overwhelmed. Last year I fainted after past outs of a new course we introduced demanded jobs rather furiously. I am the sole breadwinner of the family and they didn't know it. So when they approached me later at home, I just let the issue be," he says softly. Sharma is a big fan of yesteryear singers like Begum Akhtar, Abida Parveen and Talit Aziz. "You know even Homi Bhabha used to play the paino," he says, connecting to the emotional side of a scientist.
Sharma has even penned an official song for the institute. "I am not a writer but when emotions become more active then one does these kind of things," he justifies. "Those who are perfectionists are never comfortable in their family. I tend to overreact over issues in family. If you ask me, most scientists are abnormal in some ways, myself included," he admits with a laugh.
'I don't like an environment that gets clinically cold in the lab'
Biochemist at TIFR
A large part of what Vidita Vidya, Biochemist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, does is based on looking at data and making choices. "Instinct plays a role for sure when doing an experiment. Sometimes you are right, sometimes not. It's much more a toss of a coin. For biologists, some of the biggest discoveries have involved instinct, serendipity and chance. Myself included," says the mother of a baby girl.
Vidita is pulled between the interview and picking up her baby from school. "These are her initial days at school," she says with apparent warmth. While taking a decision for this scientist means having the heart and mind in sync, she doesn't like one overruling the other.u00a0 Vidita recalls, "When I was in grad school doing my Ph.D, my husband and I we were engaged at that time lived apart. It was a conscious head-based decision we both made. And our hearts agreed to it. We had to focus on our careers. It was difficult to live apart because he was in India and I was in the US. We got married in 1996, and it was only in 1998 that we could live together."
Vidita says it felt like they were paying their dues. "Had I gone totally with what my heart said, I would have been miserable in the long run. At the same time, there was a choice later on, when I was doing post-decorate and I was tired of living apart. So my husband moved from here to England and I moved from Sweden to England. So you see, we made different choices when we were 23-year-olds and later at 27-28 years."
Heart comes into play even in the lab. Vidita and her team once in a while meet on the lawn outside their lab with snacks or simply go out for an ice-cream. "It's important to connect because people enter the lab in their early 20s and for most part of the 20s, they are inside. Besides, we are not just scientists who meet at work, but also have a life outside of work. I am not saying that the lines of professionalism need to go away, but I don't like an environment that gets clinically cold in the lab," she says.
