About

That’s us, that pale dot, our whole planet as taken by Voyager 1 on 1991 at the time when it was just leaving our solar system

Hi, I am Soumen Datta

I started this blog at the start of the month of November on 2021. To let you know I am a researcher in Laser Optics and I don’t want to bore you with any of its specifics. But interested can always send me an email. 

You may ask , how a researcher in Science is talking about growth mindset, mindfulness and all. Your question is legit. Let me take you back five years ago.

 I was just a boy in the early 20s, stressed out, depressed and broke. I was trying to figure out life. I was tired of thinking about my career and my family. I was not in a desirable situation mentally, although no one could tell that just by looking at my face. I was already through years of family unrest. It affected me psychologically,  I developed speech issues, low self-esteem and depression was my long companion.  About this time I came across one personality( For some reasons I can’t disclose him) who changed my view towards life. 

‘The planet we are living in is several thousands kilometer wide (12742 km), the universe where our planet exist is several millions of light years wide ( 1 light year = 9472000000000 km), we ourselves are just a microscopic blip ( Check the figure on the left ). But interestingly our ego, pains, jealousy are sometimes bigger than that. We are in this planet for a very brief period of time (YES BRIEF!) it won’t matter much if tomorrow we are dead, or even our planet is wiped out of this Universe, it won’t worth a damn to the infinity.’ These were the words of him or you can can say my mentor for a brief period of time. 

For Someone like me who was already confused about life, these words won’t sound that pleasing. So does that mean our lives have no significance? All that we are working for, meant for nothing? Being a broke myself who is trying to be financially independent, does that have no value?

According to him, the question should be ‘Significant to whom?’. Significance is a function of value.  In our case, the primary source of value is intelligent life.

Take the example of a diamond kept in a large warehouse, it might seem very small in comparison to the surroundings but that doesn’t mean it merits no attention. Now coming back, our intelligent life is just one diamond shining forth, surrounded by nothingness, like an incandescent beacon of light in the Stygian night*. 

‘But obviously, only that is significant whose value is intelligent. Here intelligence doesn’t mean that you need to go to Yale or Harvard and manage to get some high position in any organization. It means as a human being how much value you can manage to bring in the lives of others irrespective of your qualifications.’

My perspective towards life was not the same after that. You are insignificant if you think your problems and pains are supreme above all. You still need to address to your own issues but you are also required to move forward and make your life a little more significant in this vast Universe.  

 

*Excerpt taken from ‘Do we matter in the cosmos’ by Aeon. 

My Passion

I had tons of passions in my 26 years of life almost all of them died out at some point, but few survived. Some were silly, some were bold, some let me survive through my gloomiest times. 

To name a few, when I was like 3 years old, I wanted to be an archer who can strike down demons and the evil ( I was inspired by the Indian epic ‘The Ramayan’) . As I grew a bit older,  I was fascinated by the game of cricket. I wanted to be a cricketer and had a dream of playing for India. But it was quicker than you can imagine, I realized that, I just had a dream but I didn’t have the zeal to continue in the path of ordeal that it was required for a small city boy to climb to the top. I was just fascinated by the end result not the journey.  

But as I grew more older, I developed passion for reading and music and Science. I am still someone who reads everyday, works for Science and picks some good musical records. These are the stuffs that kept me going through my sombre hours and made me a better version of myself. 

I started writing initially in my journal, where I jotted down my thoughts everyday. I decided to take this habit of mine a step further. I believe through this blog I can share my ideas and learning with you. I believe you will love it here.  

My Goals

You may have heard someone saying that, when you dream, you should dream high. But I say, don’t just sit having some wishes, but be willing to walk every road that leads you to your goal. 

My goal is to interact with more people like you and help you realize your life purpose and passion, I want to help you shape your mindset to achieve anything you desire in life. I pursue it through my writing, my video blogs or through other social platforms and paid and unpaid online courses.  

Along with that right now I am also planning to bring something of worth out of my scientific research project. I am pursuing this particular field of research not to land any job after its completion,  but purely out of my desire to know about the undiscovered, to leave my footprint in this vast arena of Science.

 I got one life, I want to discover  other fields too, but the sole purpose of mine about reaching out to  more people and helping them to realize themselves will always be carried forward by me.