Pratap Narayan Soni
Q. From Jaipur to IISER Kolkata to Switzerland, your journey reflects both academic excellence and personal exploration. How would you introduce yourself and your story so far?
I was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan and brought up in Jaipur, Rajasthan. I took birth in the house of two very good teachers. My father works as Mathematics Teacher in Govt of Rajasthan, while my mother was also a teacher of literature. I see myself as a nice blend of both Science and Arts! I got very good foundations from my father, which provided a strong base in my career of Sciences.
I myself was very hardworking and focussed in that part of my life. I used to avoid all kinds of events, social gatherings, parties, and used to study in my room, solving science and mathematics problems. I was also inclined towards worshipping Ganesh Ji mostly during my schooling and before.
I see myself as a manager in my life, where I just try to manage situations, people, things, surroundings, so that things can work in my favour or for the betterment in general. I have completed my schooling in Jaipur itself, I was from CBSE boards. I got 92.8% in my 12th, was school topper, as well as among the city toppers. Later, I prepared for IIT JEE dedicatedly for one year and in this journey, I came to know about IISERs, one day, when I was just wondering if I couldn't get IITs in counselling, what other options, and I found IISERs.
I didn't have any strong inclinations towards Engineering, I was interested in Sciences in general, Physics and Mathematics, I wanted to study that. My main concern was the environment of the institute and faculties. Indian Institutions are tier 1 institutes of Indian, so I found both in IISERs. I had a very nice, very learning experience and I have grown a lot during my stay of 5 years at IISER Kolkata.
My spiritual journey shifted towards Devi Maa in those 5 years. I developed my devotion towards her, which eventually later shifted to Mahadev at the end of 4 years, and then ultimately to Shrimati Radha Rani, right after which I moved to EPFL, Switzerland.
I made very nice relations with a lot of pioneer scientists and professors during my stay in IISER, which eventually helped me with applying and getting a PhD position at EPFL, Switzerland. I have done projects at CSIR-NCL, Pune and INST, Mohali, Punjab during my journey as BS-MS student at IISER Kolkata.
Q. You often share your daily life journal online. What inspired you to document these moments publicly, and what do you hope your audience takes away from them?
Haha, apart from Science, I am very interested in video making, communicating with people through videos, expressing myself through videos and acting. I didn't get much opportunity to explore this side of mine because I was mostly focussed towards studying, until in the 4th year, my roommate was making a youtube channel, so getting inspired from him, I also made one, and put a completely irrelevant shorts clip of a rat in our hostel room, on it, which eventually went viral.
This pushed me, and I keep making videos. When I arrived in Switzerland, I was awestruck by its phenomenal natural beauty. I always liked disciplined life, and I wanted to convey the same to the youth and people of India, especially younger ones. On Instagram, I saw people, especially young boys and girls putting a lot of not so good content, basically content which heavily lacks Indian culture and the values derived from it.
It came to a point, where I noticed that young people are getting influenced by all this cringe content and they are thinking that it is cool or maybe a right way of living life. This concerned me a lot and I decided that I am gonna influence them in right directions, this is where I started documenting my life which involves things like waking up early in the morning, exercising, yoga, outdoors, gym, worshipping god, office hours, making my own dinner, reading a sacred scripture at the end of the day.
It has attracted 138K people so far, and now it serves as a platform to not only express myself but also to make an impact on the lifestyle of people, influencing them towards cultural values. Most of my audience enjoys my devotional side, where I express my feelings towards Radha Rani through my stories, I talk about gods, etc.
Apart from that, this content has indeed helped a lot of them to live a better life, many of them started doing exercises, going to temples, I received DMs from them, whenever they go temple or they do exercise, they keep sharing the pics with me, which feels so good to me. I also try to interact with them as much as I can.
In short, I am having this page on Instagram, which indeed has an audience full of quality people from India, all of them are doing very well in their life in terms of career and as well as the balance between personal and professional lives.
Q. Science can sometimes feel detached from everyday life, yet your posts blend intellect with philosophy, especially with verses from the Gita. How do you bridge your identity as a scientist and a seeker?
Science is just a systematic study of anything. If you start going deeper into the Why? and How? of any subject, that is basically science of that subject. Now, when you pursue something passionately, it will definitely detach you from everything else.
A good scientist always has to be a good seeker of knowledge. I am fascinated by the knowledge in our scriptures, I am fascinated by the stars, planets, universe, this all fuels my curiosity about our dharma, our god. For example, in Geeta, Krishna is discussing with Arjuna, so as a seeker, I seek the knowledge from that scripture, which might not help directly in my Scientific studies, but of course helps a lot in navigating my consciousness through different situations in life.
So, a scientist and a seeker are not two different endeavors in my perspective, as a good scientist has to be a good seeker. In my case, I have been very much into Gods and Spirituality since my very childhood, I grew up in Jaipur, visiting the Govind Dev Ji temple almost every second day. My mother is a devotee of Lord Shiva and My father has strong faith in Hanuman Ji. So, my upbringing has also shaped me into what I am today.
Q. In an age where attention spans are shrinking, you still share thoughtful reflections in your daily life journal. What role does writing play in shaping your perspective as a scientist and as a human being?
I enjoy expressing myself through words, I think it is a very good art. I have always enjoyed poems, verses, shayari, lyrics of songs,etc. I am fascinated by the lyrics of old romantic songs, how well they express the feeling of love. So, that's emotions translating into words and the other human is able to feel that emotion just by reading or hearing it, that is what amazes me a lot.
I believe, a pen is immensely powerful, during my time as IISER Kolkata, I took administrative roles of General Secretary, and all of my emails and writings were very impactful, heavily emotional, intense, I was writing emails and letters to government and all, to improvise things, and it was working, while people used to get no replies, I was able to bring people on table with my writings.
Q. You’ve experienced both India’s academic rigor at IISER and the global research ecosystem in Switzerland. What’s one thing you wish India’s scientific community adopted from the West and one thing the West could learn from India?
India can learn about prioritizing Sciences from Western part of World. Good leaders have always encouraged Science, irrespective of nation and any political inclination. Science and technology plays a huge role in the development and economy of any country.
Western people are aware of it, hence, there is a relatively huge amount of funding in Sciences and Research in western part of the world, while India lacks in that. Apart from this, the second important highlight of western science culture is the ease of access, the research environment, and the mutual respect between colleagues.
This part is heavily lacking in Indian labs, toxicity in scientific labs is so common in India unfortunately. What the West can learn from India is the utilization of resources and ability to do hardwork. I found Indian researchers very efficient and very smart when it comes to making things work. The amount of work done by Indians in a certain amount of time is much more, so the pace of research is higher in India, also more inclined towards publishing the research as well.
Q. Many scientists hide their vulnerabilities, but your posts sometimes carry a poetic softness. Do you consciously choose to share that side, or does it flow naturally?
I am into research, but I don't see myself as a Scientist, I made that username because I am an Indian here, and I am into Scientific Research, so I couldn't think of anything else apart from an Indian Scientist living in Switzerland. However, I just see myself as a kid, who is just curious about things around myself, let it be the topics of Science, the elements of nature, stars, planets, etc.
So when I post on Instagram, it is not any Scientist posting, it is just me expressing myself, whatever it is, it flows naturally, mostly my posts are heavily influenced by my present moods and the things I find relevant on that particular point of time, all of that flows naturally.
Q. For young students aspiring to research careers, what do you believe matters more—academic brilliance, perseverance, or curiosity?
Curiosity matters more, once you are curious perseverance will arrive. Once both of them arrive, academic brilliance will fall into you.
Q. And for a lighter one—if you could time travel, would you rather witness the Big Bang as a scientist or the Kurukshetra war as a philosopher, and why?
Haha, I will go back in time and attend the wedding of Mahadev.
Bio:
My name is Pratap Narayan Soni, I took birth in Jodhpur, Rajasthan and grown up in Jaipur, Rajathan. I did my bachelors and Masters from IISER Kolkata. I also did small scientific projects at prestigious labs of India like CSIR NCL Pune, INST Mohali. I have joined the chemistry department at EPFL, Switzerland, in 2023, as a Doctoral Candidate. I am working on scientific projects of the Swiss government related to carbon capture from Post combustion CO2. I design and synthesize materials for the same applications. Its been 2 years so far here in Switzerland, the thing which drives my endeavor here is, first, the very application of my work which basically helps to mitigate the climate change and slow down the global warming. Apart from pursuing science, I am deeply interested in Spirituality, expressing myself through my content.
Interviewed by - Divya Darshni
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