The other matter that was a bit complicated is the fact at the time, the institute was in a phase of restructuring itself and plenty of discussions were ongoing among my younger colleagues (and still is). The planned symposium required some quick decisions from us and the institute is in no shape to say yes or no. Due to the urgency, we (as founding members of MICEMS and agreed upon by Prof. Rondoni) decided to use MICEMS as a vehicle to move on and hence the following symposium "International Symposium on Recent Trends in Mathematical Sciences" (see pic of brochure below). But let me fast forward to what happened at the end of our trip. I've found out that VIT is already about to have an MoU with UPM (led by Faculty of Engineering, I think) and the institute (after restructuring issue is settled) will be able to collaborate with VIT under the proposed MoU. For everyone's info, VIT has already MoUs signed with UM and UTM (if I heard correctly). Even UPNM is about to have an MoU with VIT, most probably brokered by Dr. Nur Aisyah (former student of the institute) with the aid of Santo. I applaud her for such initiatives and showed genuine interest in contributing to her university and more importantly in developing knowledge and the research there. We need young, dynamic (and sometimes selfless) people to move. During the event, I already saw them discussing with Sayan Mukherjee (a collaborator of Santo).
Let me get back to the India trip. As the trip was around the corner, I worked harder to learn fundamentals of dynamical systems and form my personal perspective, some of which are already connected with my earlier work on quantum theory on hyperbolic surfaces (punctured surfaces, I used to call them). Perhaps due to exhaustion, my body's defense was probably not at its best and I caught flu and coughing just a few days before the trip. I quickly took a bunch of medicine so that it will not grow worse. I wasn't really in my best form for the trip (and worse, I did not quite finish my slides before the trip). I felt slightly better when I was about to fly to India. My family had breakfast at Papparich in the airport.
In the flight, I actually chose an aisle seat knowing that I was not well and may need to go to the washroom frequently. Unfortunately, an elderly man took my seat and he offered his seat in the middle for exchange. Out of respect for an elder person, I did so. The flight took around four hours and I was feeling very tired. At Chennai airport, saw that the immigration over there is quite strict; there was a landing card that I had to fill in requiring the contact number of the host in India but I could not remember it (the detail was in my laptop, if it was necessary since I had to use that information for the visa application before). I was queried about the matter and I told the immigration officer that I have forgotten but told him it should be the contact number of the Mathematics Department in Thiruvalluvar University. Fortunately, he was satisfied with the answer. After the immigration check and getting my baggage, I was happy to see Dr. Sivaraj again, waiting in person for me at the arrival exit of the Chennai airport. There was a car waiting for us to go to VIT Guest House about 120km away. The journey took around two hours because it was mostly on a normal road (quite narrow) apart from one stretch of a two-lane highway. At the guest house, I met Santo and Syed Hasibul Hassan Chowdhury (ex post-doc and student of Prof. Twareque Ali) and we had a late lunch. In the late evening, I completed my presentation slides.
The next day was the conference. Before the conference starts, there was some tree-planting function with their Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Anand A. Samuel. We (Santo and me) were considered guests of honour (first time doing this). We were told that we should in the (near) future return to VIT and visit the growing tree that will now bear our names. Interesting idea.
After the tree-planting function, there is an inauguration ceremony for the symposium that had speeches by the Dean of School of Advanced Sciences (Prof. Mary Sarai), the Head of Department of Mathematics (Prof. B. Rushi Kumar), myself, Santo (highly respected by members of VIT) and the Vice-Chancellor. In my short speech, I mention that besides that mathematics being difficult, to get mathematical scientists to collaborate is also difficult. Most mathematicians tend to brood alone and think of their research problems independently, very unlike other scientists who may have the need to share equipments or corroborating data (say from different parts of the sky). Thus the symposium addresses this difficulty by allowing mathematical scientists to interact and know about the research progress of others. I wasn't sure that my speech augurs well with others as they tend to say good things about mathematical research and the need to make it accessible to public. In any case, it is my honest thoughts on the matter.
After the speeches, there was donning of sari scarves for the speakers and committee members. Unfortunately there was no photos for us (me and Santo) for this. Here are pics of Sanjay Mukherjee and Nur Aisyaf Abd Fataf.
The other part of the ceremony is taking turns lighting up the lantern.
Here is part of the audience and the group photo:
Right after the inauguration they gave a framed picture of me giving the speech. That was quick!
Next was the break; we had ours in a room and the participants in open space. Immediately after the break, was my talk and it had to be cut short since the inauguration and break took up a longer time than expected. There were no questions asked from my talk but I was approached by Sanjay after the talk that he would like to have my slides, which I was happy to do so. I told him, most of the materials are pretty standard apart from my personal perspective of the field and our own work on the thrice-punctured hyperbolic sphere, which was included in the talk. I appreciated the interest and kind gesture by him.
There was another talk after mine and then we break for lunch. After lunch, I had to excuse myself to rest, feeling really unwell. Immediately after my talk, I was already coughing badly and had to excuse myself a few times so as not to disturb the talk. Even during the inauguration ceremony, I had to take many cough drops to ensure I will not cough during the ceremony (sitting at the front with the Vice-Chancellor). I am pretty sure that my blood sugar spiked that day. I also skipped the social visit to the Golden Temple (was said to be wholly coated with real gold). Sivaraj in fact, came to my room to make sure if I want to skip the social trip and I said I needed as my fever went high. He must have been disappointed. Later after the social trip, he came again to make sure if I was alright and even offered to call an ambulance to bring me to their medical centre. I declined and just wanted to rest. Due to the fever, I had to skip the whole event the next day despite that I wanted to listen to some of the talks. I was frustrated then, thinking that I might have disappoint the organizers.
I made sure I get enough rest that day and took my meds. This is because the next day was the Thiruvalluvar University event. For the talk, I updated the slides of a talk that I have given in Istanbul with more points. I also thought that the audience will be more mathematically inclined and decided for a different type of talk.
However during our travel to the university, I was told that there will be more students (including undergraduate) than staff and was asked to tone down the technicalities. I was told that the university is named after a famous poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar. The students of the university tend to be from nearby regional districts. The event is a one-day event and was conducted in a hall (resembling a school hall that was separated from other buildings). There was again another inauguration ceremony with their vice-chancellor Prof. Thamarai Selvi Soma Sundaram giving a (good) speech. After the inauguration, I gave my talk which again had to shorten it due to some technical glitch in the beginning. Later we were given a good authentic Indian briyani lunch served on banana leaves, provided by Prof. R. Vijayaragavan (who also drove us to the university and back).
The event continued after lunch. Due to being tired (and full too) and the warm conditions, I had intermittent dozing off moments. There was a closing session and Syed gave a speech on behalf of us. It was later after the closing, that Dr. M. Chitra and one PhD student approached me saying that they appreciated my talk. Felt good about it.
The next day was mostly on administrative matters when Sivaraj brought us to their International Office and we met with Prof. Dr. Ghalib, Assistant Director of VIT International Relations. It is from him that I knew about VIT MoU's with Malaysian universities including forthcoming one with UPM. They are very forward-lookinf and dynamic. I mention about taff and student exchange to which both our institutions will be interested in.
Later in the afternoon, Sivaraj helped us to get a room in the library so that me and Syed can discuss some research matters.
Early at 5.30 am (local time) the next day, Sivaraj personally came to see us off to go to Chennai airport for our flights home (together with Syed and Prof. M.K. Hassan). That was really thoughtful of him. Overall, I was happy with the trip (apart from my fever episodes) and am grateful for their generous local hospitality. I hope the next time they come visit us, our institute can reciprocate in a similar manner.
As I arrived home later in the evening, my other half and two sons had already left for Sungai Petani, Kedah for a wedding. Left behind are my youngest two sons and we had a pizza dinner.
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