To ‘Bose’s and Beyond

All of you must have heard of ‘Boson’ at some stage of your life. Or if not, then the Bose-Einstein theory. Now it sounds familiar! Right! Once you have the name ‘Einstein’ added to it! It is some guy, a bong to be precise, with the surname ‘Bose’ – must have done something with Einstein. Yes friends, the gentleman was ‘Satyendranath Bose’. He conceptualised something radical in the world of theoretical physics. Bose had sent a manuscript embodying the concept to a British journal. What happened is anybody’s guess. The journal was British, the author was Indian. What else, but reject it outright. What followed next is history. Bose sent his ‘paper’ to Albert Einstein who adopted the same and was later known as ‘Bose-Einstein Theory’. It could have been known as ‘Bose Theory’ . But that is not how it happens in the academic world, which is owned by the Anglosphere. The same happened to another ‘Bose’, Jagadish Chandra Bose. He had pioneered the concept and working of radio waves and frequency. Yet, we are taught it was ‘Marconi’ who invented radio. Nevill Mott, who won the Nobel in 1977, had said it was all due to J C Bose, who was 60 years ahead of his time. J.C.Bose was also responsible for our current understanding of plant physiology. How many can you name who have contributed to two different branches of science in such pioneering manner?

None of the ‘Boses’ won the Nobel, despite making discoveries which changed the way we think about science. By the way, they were married to ‘Abala’ and ‘Ushabati’, not Annabelle or Emily – if that helps in understanding the phenomenon. They changed the world, sitting in a country which was ruled and looted by a handful of ruthless British mercenaries. Yet another ‘Bose’, who was fortunate to be born in the blessed land of USA, set up his own corporation and changed the way we are supposed to listen to sound. I am talking of Amar Bose and the ‘Bose Sound Systems’- a ‘Bose’ headphone or speaker being the aspiration of all music lovers.

And might I mention another Bose to make all Indians blight in shame! You guessed it right this time- I am talking of ‘Subhash Chandra Bose’ or ‘Netaji’, as he was known in those days. Whilst, the British ruled India with a few white masters and innumerable native servants, this guy had the audacity to challenge the ‘Empire’ by raising an army of Indian origin- called ‘Indian National Army’ or ‘Azad Hind Fauz’. While we keep on debating on the role of women in the ‘Army’ and call many as the first ‘woman’ in various ranks in the army, Netaji Bose had ‘Rani LakshmiBai Regiment’ in his armed forces in 1940, lead by Dr Lakshmi Swaminathan (later Saigal). An ordinary act by an extraordinary man, much ahead of his time. Such was the impact of Netaji Bose that Nehru and his scions had spied on his family for two decades after independence to find out if he was alive. Even today, 75 years after his death, the documents related to his disappearance have been hidden in a government closet- claiming them to be classified.

‘Bose’s have become ‘Basu’s mostly now-a-days. Kolkata has rapidly dwindled to oblivion, from once being the hub of brilliant minds and nurturer of excellence. India is growing and Indians are now heading international corporations. But science has ceased to exist in Indian soils. India has numerous organisations, CSIR, ICMR, DBT and DST to name a few, who sit on millions of dollars of grant money. But what can money achieve, if we have lost the brilliance of our minds. We have forgotten how to innovate, how to think independently, how to think for ourselves and how to be us- the ones like the Boses, Bhabas, Sarabhais. We are ridiculed by the Liberals and Lutyens when we talk of how scientific thinking and discoveries happened in our soil 5000 years back. Our minds have been shaped by servitude of 300 years preceded by death and destruction for 1000 years prior to that. We have lost the self-belief that we can discover, we can invent and we can lead. Science is not about funds, it is about the thought, the attitude and the courage to challenge the existing paradigm.

Science is an ‘Art’. An art of thinking. Thinking beyond the realm of possibility and yet making it possible. Let us not pull down fellow Indians who have dared to do the same. Let us have teachers and scientists, who can think outside the norms set by the dominant forces. Let us allow the students to think and not study alone. Let us not make a degree of PhD, a means to get grant money for ourselves or a visa for the student to pursue his/her ambitions abroad. Let us not heap funds on influential government and private institutions to pile up expensive equipments, which often do not see the light of the day. Let us herald Indian journals as the gateway to information on cutting edge research and not a safe haven for researches rejected by the anglosphere. Let us not live on borrowed ideas, steal or cheat our way to the ‘House of the Lords’. We are better than this. Let us acknowledge that refractory blood cancers can be cured without CAR-T cells and it has been achieved in our own soil. Let us not search for the debris of ‘Vikram’ in the moon. Let us rejoice the fact that Vikram went near the moon. Let us rediscover ourselves.