Where does your name come from, Prithu?
My name comes from the old Sanskrit word पृथु, meaning “great”.
What do people often tell you when they learn you’re from India?
“Do you cook spicy food?”, “Isn’t Russia too cold for you?” “Is there enough place for people to live in India?” – the usual stereotypical questions. The image of Indian people seems to have come from Bollywood movies: romance, singing, dancing, etc.
Can you tell us a bit about your hometown?
“Hometown” is a bit of a tricky word in my situation, as I have lived in more than 10 different cities. My parents like to move a lot, and so do I. However, I was born in Varanasi (also known as Banaras or Kashi), which I consider my hometown; it is the city of temples and was established by Aryans 4,000 years ago on the bank of the river Ganges. Some temples in the city date back 2,000 years. It is a famous tourist spot for people that come to learn about Hinduism, to achieve “nirvana '' or ''moksha“. It is said in Hindu that a person who dies in my city goes to heaven. Despite being born in this place, I am secular and do not follow any religion.
What surprised you about Russia?
It was not as cold as I was told. It has such varied cultures and ethnicity, yet maintains so much harmony. As I have spent most of my time in St Petersburg, I see it as “the Venice of Russia”. In addition, obviously, the absence of bears in streets playing the balalaika was quite surprising.
Did you finish your Bachelor's degree in your home country?
Yes, I did my Bachelor’s in my home country, where I graduated in engineering, focusing on electronics and communication systems like 3G, 4G, and 5G. I also wrote a research paper on the 5G antenna as the lead author back in 2016, when 5G was state-of-the-art technology. In my Bachelor’s thesis, I worked on antenna design for stealth aircraft and ground-based radars.
Why ITMO University?
People ask me this question a lot. Why ITMO? Why Russia? I have many reasons, actually six in total, but I can summarize it by saying that I was looking for the best place to learn theoretical physics – so I came to Russia (articles written by Russian authors in the 50s are still studied as “new” in the West). I was looking for the best international institute with an amazing lab facility in Russia and I found ITMO.
What motivated you to choose technical physics as your field of studies?
I have always been interested in science, especially physics – since I knew what physics is. I wanted to get hands-on experience making gadgets, so I began to study engineering. After finishing it, I was looking to participate in some ground-breaking research, particularly in nanophotonics and metamaterials. Not many people know that ITMO’s Faculty of Physics and Engineering provides some state-of-the-art courses, i.e. you don’t learn just from the book, but from research papers or the person who discovered a particular subject. The things we study and experiments we do are sometimes so advanced that they are done only by a few research groups in the world. The desire to be part of that unique experience is what brought me here.
Prithu Roy. Photo courtesy of the subject
What are your five favorite things about ITMO?
ITMO’s Buddy System, the new classroom architecture, student research grants, teaching methodologies and the focus on learning from practice. And, obviously, the cafeteria.
If you had a time machine, when would you go?
To the beginning of time, to see how it started.
What’s your biggest dream?
This interview is a bit small to describe that, but the nearest one is to launch a biomedical sensor startup, which I plan to do in the coming couple of years.
What’s your spirit animal?
A blue lion.
Can you share some facts you just learned and would like to share with everyone else?
Vodka is not effective against coronavirus.
How are you spending your time in self-isolation?
I came from France for my internship and soon the lockdown occurred, so I spent my lockdown period writing a few research articles, my thesis, reports, and a numerical simulation. As someone famous said, “the show must go on”, although I still have enough time to do meditation and yoga.
Written by Ethan Avila
