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The Delusion 2 years ago I enrolled into a Ph.D. program at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, thoroughly crestfallen at having received no foreign admits and with no high hopes for my career. The best that could happen to me, I figured, was if I could land a postdoctoral position abroad, because we all know that all good research is carried out abroad . The rhetoric against pursuing a desi  Ph.D. is so loud, Indian students prefer to look for and accept any  positions abroad, rather than consider Indian institutions. From a bird's eye view, it makes sense. Indian science is under-funded and our academia stinks of unethical practices . But under all the muck and mire, there are pockets of hard-working and eminent researchers. Yes, there is something to be proud of, and no, I'm not talking of our ancient heritage. The Data All information presented here is on the basis of the current  Nature Index . At the time of writing this post, it corresponded to the peri

←  Day  5 We started the day with a visit to the brilliant coffee shop, Porto Rico, that trades different kinds of coffee from all across the world. BTW, whether or not you're an otorhinolaryngologist (yes, that's a word), it might interest you that coffee aroma does have potential antioxidant or stress relaxation activities on the brain . [Rat brain, just for the record, but I empathize.] Next, we headed over towards East Village .. .. to get me inked. ^_^ Thanks to the folks at Whatever Tattoo, for making my first tattooing experience nice and fun!         Yes, I know it's difficult to make out, so it's a red poppy flower on my ankle. No, it does not have any deep significance, I did not get it with reference to Memorial day or opium, I just find poppies pretty.  Some more clicks from this area with its lovely art (the second picture below is edited):     And I couldn't help but appreciate the compelling advertising fo

← Day 4 The next day was dedicated to all things touristy. We took a (free) ferry to Staten Island to see the Manhattan Skyline and the Statue of Liberty on the way.   The Museum of African American, which still remains on my to-do list after 2 trips: And a park right opposite: The New York Stock Exchange: The Financial District is a surreally beautiful place, where I constantly had a feeling that I was in a movie or on a set, and none of it was real...a  veritable concrete paradise!   ---------------- On an unrelated note, if you've any nerdy cells in your body and have a high school background in Chemistry, you absolutely must check out " Elemental Haiku " by Mary Soon Lee. You'll thank me, I assure you! ^_^ Day 6 →

← Day 3 We started the next day by going through Washington Square Park once again. I sincerely wish we could have parks like this in India. Most parks back home are used either as Lovers' Points or are infested with stray dogs or are just closed to the public. Here, they are clean and green public places where one can do most things that we do indoors (reading, listening to music, working, talking, sleeping, playing with pets) except in the sunshine. Next, we got onto Broadway Street and basically went berserk shopping. Something that hits me everytime I visit the States is the huge spectrum of products available that sort of brings out the worst, consumerist tendencies in me. I wonder if this happens with everyone, and if there is a trend towards greater materialism here. (This is me trying to not jump to conclusions!) I took some breaks to come out and admire the architectural scenery, and my, was it gorgeous! And of course, this trip wouldn't have

← Day 2 After 2 days of waking up at 4 and twiddling my thumbs till everyone else wakes up, I decided to go for a morning walk by myself. Should have done it right from the first day! My first stop was the Washington Square Park, which had these nice chess tables (because it's close to NYU..?) And this magnificent Washington Arch, which the NYC erected on the 100th anniversary of the Presidency of George Washington. The area around is peppered with some buildings of the New York University (it doesn't have a walled campus), and this is their library: After that, I mostly roamed around Soho, mesmerized by the beauty of its day-to-day existence.     We decided to go shopping in the afternoon (a prime task of at least the first few days was to set up my brother's apartment) and once again, went completely berserk in Bed, Bath & Beyond. [A sales lady actually offered us a 20%-off coupon when we told her we've shifted to a new place.

← Day 1 I begin with a beautiful morning view of the Empire State Building, and that's about it for the day because we were trapped inside due to the constant rain. Found a laundry service close by ($1 @ 1lb of clothes!) because it's very, very difficult to do our own laundry in this apartment. Got mesmerized by the range of products at a CVS pharmacy, and realized that if a pharmacy can do this to us, we're probably doomed in the U.S. [No amount of reading about consumerist tendencies prevalent in the U.S. prepares you for the onslaught on your judgement when you see even a basic, fricking pharmacy arranged like a veritable supermarket. Rows and rows of products stretch into eternity, and scream, take me! And then you're reminded that you're desi and can't afford to splurge. ^^] We did attempt to go to a store which wasn't exactly close, but decided to return from a couple of blocks away because it was raining too hard. My sister and

← Day 0 After dropping Mom and Samarth off to the YMCA hostel for the night, Didi and I returned to the apartment. Of course, I was fresh as a daisy at midnight, and since my sister is almost always a bundle of energy, we decided to head out to experience our first Saturday night in the glorious city. [Spoiler alert: nothing Saturday-night-ish actually happened.] Back in 2012, my sister and I had embarked on a food tour in New Delhi. We'd eaten in 18 places in a span of a day and a half (and I have been meaning to write about it forever!). Inspired by our previous gastronomic adventure, we set out to look around the block (at least ^^). Treat 1: Vegetarian Taco @ Sidewalk Tacos Forgive me, a photo of the Taco would have been more appropriate but it was over before we got a decent photo of all 3 of us. Treat 2 : Spinach pizza at $1 Pizzas, which actually cost us about $4. Treat 3: Coffee Vanilla Chocolate ice cream (pur

<< Go back to Part 1 Xia et al. (2014): Who publishes in "predatory" journals? This study tried to figure out if there were some patterns in the author profiles who tend to use this predatory publishing business. The researchers looked for patterns based on publication history and geographical locations of authors. They categorized authors as those belonging to Group 1 (publishing articles in predatory journals) and Group 2 (publishing articles in non-predatory journals). Out of 941 authors publishing in predatory journals, 725 hailed from India. The next contenders were Nigeria (80) and Pakistan (44).   Disturbing, isn't it? Unsurprisingly, 75% of the predatory journal-authors were South Asian. And the credit defnitely goes to India. The Discussion section of this paper elaborates on the status in India. "Noticeably, researchers from India and Nigeria rarely appear in prestigious OA (open-access) journals, while authors from Austalia, Europe a