People
BS Acharya grew up in Udupi and studied at the University of Mysore and the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata. He worked at TIFR for over forty-two years, conducting high energy physics experiments at a wide range of altitudes, from deep in the Kolar gold mines, to high in the atmosphere, at Hanle (Ladakh) and through balloon flights. He retired from service at the institute in 2018 as a Senior Professor and Head of the Department of High Energy Physics. He will read for us a story in his mother tongue Tulu.
Pushan Ayyub was a professor of condensed matter physics at TIFR, from where he retired in 2019. His research interests are in the general area of nanoscience, in which he has over 160 research publications. Ayyub completed got his MSc in Physics from Jadavpur University in 1980 and PhD from TIFR in 1986. He carried out post-doctoral studies at the University of Florida and rejoined TIFR in 1990. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy. His interests have always been rather eclectic, and are now more so than ever!
Moushumi Bhowmik is a singer, writer and collector of songs and sounds. She is based in Kolkata but travels between India, Bangladesh and the UK and her work is largely centred on the question of what and where home is. She collaborates with artistes and scholars across disciplines and languages. Moushumi is also the main caregiver/caretaker of The Travelling Archive: Field Recordings and Field Notes from Bengal (www.thetravellingarchive.org), co-created with sound recordist Sukanta Majumdar. She has recently submitted her doctoral thesis on the wax cylinder recordings of Arnold Bake from Bengal at Jadavpur University, Kolkata. She composed music for the Bengali movie Matir Moina (The Clay Bird) which won the Critics’ Prize at Cannes in 2002 and Best Music at Kara Film Festival, Karachi, in 2003.
Vijay Dhar grew up in various parts of Kashmir. She got her PhD in physics from Kashmir University and taught physics to degree students at Jai Hind college, Churchgate, Mumbai, until she retired in 2019. She lived in the TIFR colony until 2020, spending with us almost thirty-five years. She will read for us a story in her mother tongue Kashmiri.
Tajdar Junaid is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter and producer with roots in Kolkata and current studio in Mumbai. His debut album, What Colour Is Your Raindrop, was a personal inspiration of the images and sounds that shaped his art. A lover of all honest expressions of art, Tajdar’s work was named as one of the Top Albums of 2013 by Rolling Stone, RSJ and his composition ‘dastaan’ was heard in the legendary Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf's film "The President”, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, 2014. He composed music for the documentary “Writing With Fire” (2021), which was nominated for the Best Documentary at the 94th Academy Awards.
Sudipta Maiti is a professor of chemistry, and his passion is to probe nature’s biophysical secrets. When he is not doing that, he is usually busy teaching, or making different types of microscopes. Sudipta grew up 50 kms from the Bangladesh border, where Jessore Road ran next to his town. As a kid, he got a rude introduction to the human face of war as he saw streams of tortured, hungry men, women and childen arrive via Jessore Road to his idyllic town in 1971.
Salil Tripathi is a writer and journalist and is member of the board at PEN International, the worldwide association of writers. From 2015-2021 he chaired PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee. He writes for Mint and the Caravan in India, and his articles have appeared in major international publications. His awards include the Citibank Pan Asia Economic Journalism Award in 1994, Bastiat Prize (third prize) in 2011, and Red Ink Award for Human Rights Journalism in 2015. His books include Offence: The Hindu Case (Seagull, 2009), The Colonel Who Would Not Repent: The Bangladesh War and its Unquiet Legacy (Aleph, 2014 and Yale University Press, 2016), and Detours: Songs of the Open Road (Tranquebar, 2015). His next book is about Gujaratis.
Rajesh Upadhyay was born in an agricultural family in Buxar (Bihar). He did his initial schooling in his village, and obtained his 10+2 degree from Gazipur (UP). In the early 2000s, he came to Mumbai looking for work and found employment in a company looking after our campus's security. He has stayed on with us since then, and working for our resident association is helpful in a thousand ways. He learnt to sing in his village while accompanying his father and uncle to sing kirtans. He is invited to sing on various occasions all over Mumbai. He will sing for us in Bhojpuri.