lab-grown geniuses

Semiconductors, string theory and stem cells. These men are making sure you follow it all

We’re trying to be the copywriters of science,” says Surendra Kulkarni, when asked to explain what he and scientist Arnab Bhattacharya advertise in the name of science on Sunday mornings. He’s not far from the truth. With Chai And Why, the Outreach initiative of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the two indeed give hard science some pretty cool packaging. A dull paper on olfactory research becomes a programme called “Khushboo Ya Badboo? It’s all in the brain”, rocket science becomes “Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow!”, wireless communication turns into “2G, 3G, 4G... Yeh kya hai ji?” and carbonation morphs into... wait for it... “Why This Cola Very Di?”
Photo: VIJAYANAND GUPTA THE ORB COUPLE TIFR’s Surendra Kulkarni (left) and Arnab Bhattacharya with their model of a bucky ball, a form of carbon IN THE KNOW
Bhattacharya, the Outreach head whose his regular job involves such delightful subjects as semiconductor lasers, optoelectronic devices, and formations of quantum nanostructures, has worked to make tough ideas, big words and complicated theories understandable for the dumbass and the smartass for the last three years.
“The concept isn’t new,” he says, citing the Café Scientifique programmes that have been organised around the UK since 1998. But Kulkarni, who handles the administrative side of things, explains that Chai and Why specifically is a “two-pronged attack”: making science popular and encouraging scientists to take their work out of the lab. “Nobody wants to ‘learn science’,” says Bhattacharya. “But today, you cannot live without it. It’s even in your cellphone. But if there are questions – Is it safe to carry in my pocket? Do I live too close to a cellphone tower? – there’s no one to ask. Scientists actually love talking about their work. The trouble is, they get too technical and people continue to believe that certain ideas are beyond their comprehension.”

Chai And Why re-jigs and re-positions the stuff of scientific journals into a morning of interactive fun. “Often, my only input in a session has been, ‘Boss, why don’t you change the title?’” Bhattacharya says. “Wouldn’t you rather come to a talk called Ande Ka Funda than Embryonic Development?” The funda has worked – Kulkarni estimates that Chai And Why has reached people from Sikkim to Madurai. In Mumbai fans travel 175 km from Pune for their programmes; and one regular even made it to the session that fell on his wedding day.
HOW THEY DO IT
“Of course, you need patience,” says Bhattacharya. “You also need to break a complex idea into smaller, simpler parts and find analogies that get the big picture across even if they are not 100 per cent accurate.” When explaining the difference between tubelights and lasers, he knew a textbook definition about stimulated emission would be no fun – so he used songs instead. Diffused tube light was Awaara Hoon but lasers were Kadam
KadamBadhayeJaa and explained that lasers were actually light particles marching in step. “The best thing you can do with most school science textbooks is to throw them out of the window,” Bhattacharya believes. “Because science is best learnt by doing. There’s no better way than a hands-on experiment to figure out something.”
Nine-year-old Shourya Vaswani is a pretty hands-on fan. The class V student has brought his own specimens to a session on crystal growth and asks the interesting questions. “I’ve learnt how the brain is so stupid, it doesn’t know about optical illusions,” Vaswani says. But he’d never recommend it to a friend. “You know how most people have secret solutions? This is my secret solution. I only tell my classmates Dr Bhattacharya’s jokes.