Scientists return home after Geneva trip

Hard work, analogue chips, quark-gluon plasma, a new country and a whole new experience 8212; the two scientists of Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre who have just returned from Geneva after taking part in the CERN project, are now busy sharing tales of everything with their fellow mates in Kolkata.

Hard work, analogue chips, quark-gluon plasma, a new country and a whole new experience 8212; the two scientists of Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre VECC who have just returned from Geneva after taking part in the CERN project, are now busy sharing tales of everything with their fellow mates in Kolkata.

Dr Zubayer Ahammed and Mriganko Mondol, who were present in Geneva when the proton beams of the historic CERN project were fired, returned to the Salt Lake centre on Thursday morning.

Ahammed, who is charge of the software and calibration along with the overall operation of the Photon Multiplicity Detector PMD, worked at the CERN project in Geneva for more than a month.

8220;I not only missed home food but I also missed the first day of Ramzan that I usually spend with my family,8221; said Ahammed.

Back home in Kaikhali, his wife Nazia Alam and twin daughters Marhia and Aisha could not, however, gauge the importance of the CERN project and used to wait longingly for a phone call from Ahammed, who did his schooling from KD Vidyalaya in a remote village called Chhabghati in Murshidabad. 8220;Since childhood I used to prefix 8216;Dr8217; to my name. Even though there wasn8217;t enough scope for higher studies in my village, I had a dream to pursue higher education,8221; said Ahammed.

8220;It was the best experience of my life to be at CERN when the experiment started. Hundreds of experimentalists and theoreticians across the world had been waiting for this day,8221; he says, a glint visible in his eyes.

While Ahammed had his wife and children eagerly waiting for his return, somewhere in Kishorepur near Arambagh, Mriganko Mondol8217;s parents were also awaiting their son8217;s return.

Story continues below this ad

Mondol, who had gone to Geneva for the CERN experiment, is a doctoral student at VECC and is working on a thesis on quark-gluon plasma.

While the project in whole might have been an enriching experience for the duo, they both confessed that when it came to satiating their hunger, they had a harrowing time. It took them two whole days to find an Indian market from where they could buy cooking ingredients.

8220;I did not know how to cook. But since we used to have European food for breakfast and lunch, I decided to learn to cook Indian food and finally ended up learning new recipes,8221; said Mondol.

8220;When I came back, I visited my village. My father, a teacher of Sanskrit in the village school, always believed in me. The other villagers are proud of me, but it is quite difficult for them to understand what I actually do,8221; he said.