When AR Rehman received his Oscar for original score this year, he said “I was excited and terrified at the same time”. I had thought it was an utterly ridiculous statement. Karma, I guess, I kind of felt the same when I woke up on the 22nd of April, 2009. Excitement was for the fact that I would defend a thesis I had worked so hard to build. The nervousness kicked in to the possibility that the defense wall might crumble down later that afternoon. When Martijn and I walked into Vrije University Amsterdam main building, the display on the monitors announcing the event only enhanced both the feelings. The writing on the wall was there to see…it was for real now.
There was something else that was real – it was a glorious sunny day… ideal for a book or bhaji on the beach. The black smoking suits might not have been the appropriate apparel for the day, but it was an essential part of a ceremonious occasion. The fact that we resembled a Zubin Mehta or a Lorin Maazel, ready to wave our wands to create philharmonic orchestras with our jackets on and like waiters when we took them off, made the whole thing very amusing. A paranymph is similar to the best man of a wedding and takes care of all the arrangements leading to, and support morally during, the thesis defense. Both Martijn and Alexander were gracious to be my paranymphs, put me at ease and did a wonderful job of making sure that things were on schedule. Everyone was so supportive and said nice things to assuage any remnants of discomfort before the event.
The beadle (an usherer and preserver of order during the thesis defense ceremony) came to the Promovendus room (green room for graduating PhD students) to brief Alexander, Martijn and me about the course of proceedings and we were led to a chamber where the Rector Magnificus (Dean) and the thesis committee were apparently discussing how to make my life a one hour miserable vanishing act. The Dean read some lines out of the bible to the effect that one should not do evil things and be responsible for not only our acts but also of our ancestors and the generations to come. I guess it was an indication that then would be the best time to bribe them for a degree, but I was too shocked to realize the significance and the moment was lost :)
As we left the chambers towards the main hall where the defense would take place, we made a nice procession - the beadle leading the group in her flowing robe, a cap and a clanging sceptre; the professors in the committee with robes and caps; the assistant and associate professors with somber black suits and the three of us at the rear in our penguin costumes. The aula is a very impressive structure that can seat about 800 people. As we walked down the long aisle, it was good to see that a few friends and colleagues had taken their valuable time off from work to be with me on that day. The committee went to their specially designated seats on the far left of the stage. The beadle led us to the right side of the stage where the paranymphs sat on either side of the podium while I stood behind it to face the committee opposite us.
Science is thankfully no longer the isolated 
elitist lighthouse of the bygone centuries. Popular science books, television shows and the internet have had their share in spreading the knowledge. But it is important that there is a dialogue between the society and the scientists. Although it is considered a challenge to get the ideas across to the laypublic in a coherent fashion, I think it’s a good exercise and a reality-check for the scientist to see how the research could be valuable to the society. So, I really liked the concept of this brief layman talk where the scientific work is viewed in a larger perspective. I hope that the 10 minute talk helped people understand what the thesis was all about.
The formal defense began just after this with the Dean and the committee moving over to the center of the stage. All the committee members started off congratulating on the thesis and then went on with their questions. The first one was a real toughie conceptually. Subsequently he asked me to design an experiment that would decipher some of his findings which apparently could be explained by using his own techniques. The second opponent’s questions were a bit trickier and I wish I could have shown the model I had prepared. It is a very complex idea to put into words and I needed to either draw on a blackboard or show him the powerpoint slide of the model. But the screen was already down and I just rambled on. The next three opponents had some hard questions but I was able to hold the fort.
At the end of a grueling hour, the beadle came in to the aula and took her sweet time to rap her sceptre and call out “hora est” (time’s up). That signified the end of the defense. Then we all walked back towards the chambers for a closed session of deliberation. While the committee was deciding my future, Alexander, Martijn and I sat outside like three kids who were waiting for the headmaster to come and give us (just me in this case) a good hiding. After we sat again at the head of the table, the Dean announced that the committee had decided to grant me the PhD. I felt like taking that jacket off, wave it around, do a jig and clap with joy. Instead, I put on a cool face, smiled at everyone as if it was my daily routine to drink high tea in closed chambers with people wearing 19th century robes. Aren’t we all slaves of the society?
We moved back to the aula in the same order with us three lagging slightly in the rear to chat openly. On the stage again, the Dean officially proclaimed that I had received my Doctorate degree. He requested my promoter, Matthijs Verhage and my boss, Christiaan Levelt to sign the degree that bore the insignia of the University. It was transferred into a crimson tube of a receptacle by the beadle. Matthijs handed me the degree after reminding me the rights, privileges and the responsibilities that come along with the degree. Christiaan performed the laudatie (eulogy) and recalled nice things during the time I was in his lab and what he thought were the reasons for this marathon of a thesis. The Dean officially closed the event and the beadle walked us all out of the aula, this time, the paranymphs and me leading the group. The Dean, professors, colleagues and friends congratulated and we made some pictures near the podium.
We then headed for the reception at Basket, on University campus. I was able to chat with friends and former labmates at leisure here amidst blocks of cheese and mustard sauce, hapjes, peanuts, drinks and an occasional ball that dropped in from the ‘beach’ volleyball group playing in front of the café. After changing into less formal clothing, we took the metro to Wibautstraat for dinner at India Roti Room. Although the waiter thought he was too funny, the food was pretty good. After winding up a traditional meal of samosas, mango lassi, panneer khas, kurmas, tandoori choice, basmati pulao while listening to Jagjit Singh in the background and Benny Lava on Christiaan’s mobile, we walked down to De Doffer for the party. The labmates had made a quiz about me and had Susan Boyle either grinning, wearing a 3D goggle, a mustache or both with the goggle and mustache. The questions were fun, but most of the time they were downright embarrassing, but fun to others :)
At the Basket... and at India Roti Room
The day brought down curtains on a very memorable phase of my life during which I had the opportunity to learn a lot scientifically as well as socially. It was tough to be away from family and most of my friends. But I met and made friends with many interesting people, some of whom were around to wish me well. It would have been complete if I had all my family and close friends on that day with me. But you were in my thoughts and I thank you all.
Today, they were witnesses to a new world which, but for their grandeur, neither knew nor cared about their historical significance, to a new generation of people with new ideologies and new lifestyles, and to the service of a new Maharaja. A party of 100-odd people was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the scion of the erstwhile Mysore Royalty, one of the few people in the country who is empowered to use the title “Maharaja” (unlike a la Ganguly), Sri Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar Bahadur. The occasion was the Private Durbar that the King holds during Dasara celebrations. As the people waited for the King, all eyes were fixed on the Golden Throne that sat centrally with resplendence in the western end of the hall. A kid, sitting closeby, excitedly asked his mother if the throne was really made out of gold. She responded in the affirmative and added that only the King could afford such luxuries and indeed we were fortunate to be sitting in such close proximity. This conversation transformed me to an era gone by to agrahaaras (social settlements) outside the palace, where mothers used to feed their children by telling stories about the luxurious lives and the valorous deeds of Kings and Princes. It was so surreal to experience such a déjà vu when one was not even part of it, but for hearsay, the first time around :) This vindicates, if any such thing were required, the inscription on the rim of the umbrella above the main seat that describes HRH Sri Mummudi Krishna Raja Wodeyar as “The Lord of Karnataka Ratna Simhasana” and that the golden umbrella of the golden throne, which he had inherited from his illustrious ancestors, evoked the awe of the whole world. This ancestry, in terms of the possession of the throne, supposedly goes back to the time of Pandavas of Hastinapura. The throne is later thought to have been brought down South to Andhra Pradesh, where it lay underground undisturbed. It was dug up by Sage Vidyaranya who was instrumental in founding the Vijayanagara Empire in 14th Century and it was on this throne that the Vijayanagara Kings brought forth the Golden Age of South India. After the decline of the Vijayanagara dynasty, the throne came in to the possession of Wodeyars in early 17th Century. And it has been so till today to tell us its glorious past.
If that bit of historical piece does not invoke wonder, maybe this will. The Golden Throne is about 6 feet high and the main seat comes to about 4 feet. The exuberant decorations include those made out of gold, silver, pearls and other precious stones that I can’t name. It has intricate carvings all over it, the most conspicuous of them being the Mysore Royal Emblem of Gandabherunda (a mythical bird with two heads) flanked by two Sharabhas (a lion’s body and head with a trunk of an elephant, considered to combine the strength and valor of both). The four sides of the throne are accentuated by gold-etched creepers, with elephants on the east, horses on the south, soldiers on the west and chariots on the north. Carvings of the Hindu Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara give semblance to the fact that the King is considered the protector of his subjects. There are six steps that lead to this seat and each has two female figures that form the banister. The golden umbrella, atop the main seat, is highly decorated and has a tortoise seat as its base. The seat, the steps and the umbrella can be enjoined, as I heard later, with an interlocking system..JPEG)
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