Third Week of January

Third week: No real changes and more mockery.

I will be moving out from the budget hotel today, to return back to my real home. The renovation has yet to finish and I can't even park my car near my home at the moment. Just had to move out today since I can't afford staying at the hotel anymore. So it will still be chaotic weeks ahead, working at home, which is still in a mess.

The week that was: I have been sleeping less and less almost the whole past week. Much due to the deadline imposed for us to finish up our final exam questions (two sets, bilingual) by yesterday (before that, it was earlier agreed that the deadline should be extended due to flood crisis week(s) of no academic activity, but in the end we followed the original deadline). Lacking sleep and rest, one night, I had my blood pressure shot up to 164/114. For the reader's information, I was already on regular medication all this while, but then due to the increase, I had to take extra medication for this. Completed the task needed and worked real hard. I have yet to finish the needed lectures and will have to do recorded lectures to complete the whole course. As I have said before, presently I do not have a complete and stable set of notes for the two courses I am teaching. There is a lot of effort needed to prepare lectures for these courses (particularly Statistical Mechanics) because I prefer to internalise the materials so that I can lecture by what I have experienced in understanding them. For statistical mechanics, I even look up papers to make sure I have understood them correctly. I redo most of the calculations needed for both courses and these are done from scratch. 

This brings to another matter that suddenly becomes the talk of the week: an article written by a politician on our university. I was hoping to ignore this and carry on with our duties of teaching and research, but then there is a flood of mockeries by mob of (uninformed) netizens, depicting the university negatively. The outcome is usually stereotyping, which I am really against at (mainly because of clouded thinking). The university has already officially responded to this matter, but if experience counts, the stereotyping will linger for some time and we will continue to be objects of mockery. As I have posted in social media, the mockery norm is mainly due to individuals have the false impression of feeling better or superior doing so, not having to carry the burden and be responsible for whatever consequences that come after. For most of us (recipients) however, we will continue to work hard and evolve to be better, no matter how less ideal the situation we are in and the constraints and pressures that we have to face. Note that it is always easier to criticise (especially from outside) than doing things to improve.

When such derogatory articles are written, I often ask several questions. Who is the writer and what are his motives? Could he be bitter (I have seen a few of these) due to some past experience or any other ulterior motives (of individuals or of some party e.g. political gains) or is there any genuine concern to solve problems (usually substantiated by some actions)? In the recent past, the university has been subjected to allegations that were later found to be false or exaggerations or partial stories. Why is the university being singled out despite other (local) universities are doing the same (good or bad)? I do not know the answers to these questions but I will be interested to know them.

I have lived most of my life fending off stereotypes. From being a brown-skinned person of an average family, born in the environment of inferiority complex, where we were told that we can't do well in difficult subjects; worked through tertiary education from University of Adelaide to University of Cambridge to University of Durham. Set up a theoretical physics group when we were told that one theorist is sufficient for the department and that we should be grounded in the reality of our circumstances. Helped bring international visitors to the university (not for show but to learn better) and defended our mathematical sciences community, through the institute, for a better future. Sure, what we have done is not enough but surely these account for progress. If others can do better, please do so, rather than condemning what we are doing and painting our efforts with such gloom and doom. Even if some prefer the latter, we will continue to strive and we will not be sitting idle. So buzz off.