With awards from IIT-Madras and IISc-Bangalore - I'm a vibrant Science and Mathematics educator with extensive experience in personalized tutoring!

Find out more about Surya

• What motivates you to teach & why?

  The answer's buried right there in the question - Why? Let me explain - Spare a minute to look at the world around you - take that clock out there clinging onto the wall, or those little glowing dots that poke holes through the darkness of the night sky, or those bolts of lightning that shoot across the skies. It's a fair bet that you've probably seen them all at some point in your life but shrugged it away and got on with the better things in life. Teaching science and mathematics is a lot like poetry, it's about drawing inspiration for the universe and communicating the beauty behind what you see. The simple clock that's been perched against that very same wall for so many years now houses within it a quartz crystal that shivers whenever jolted by electricity, the very same shiver that spell's out each tick you hear. That burst of lightning that slices the night sky in two is just a flash of electrical energy escaping it's imprisonment. Meet the photon - Not just any photon - Your photon. What is a photon? The fundamental unit of light, a submicroscopic jot of pure energy. Nothing appears to distinguish your photon from the trillions of others that pour out of the surface of the distant star. All are forged in the star’s fiery core. All have survived the turbulent, outbound journey from the star's beating heart to outer space. In fact, only one thing sets your photon apart from the others streaking across space and time. This photon is destined to enter your eye. This photon belongs to you. After centuries in the voids of interstellar space, it plunges into the Earth’s atmosphere, fortuitously avoiding annihilation by air molecules and dusty pollutants. Meanwhile, darkness has fallen on your side of the Earth. Strolling underneath the night sky, you look up. The photon enters your eye, strikes your retina, and turns over its luminous energy to the biochemical process we call “sight.” Your photon, plus countless others that precede and trail it, paint in your consciousness the impression of a luminous speck in the heavens. On this clear, dark night, thousands of such specks are visible, altogether a twinkling stellar tapestry arching high above your head. This poetry of the natural world is what I love to communicate.

• When did you start developing an interest in your subject area?

  Well science has always fascinated me since I was a kid, I loved to read and I used to fill myself up with amazing facts about the world but I guess I really had my calling around 11th grade. It's when science and mathematics really started to get intense and understanding how everything fit together to dictate the laws of the universe really blew my mind.

• If you had to think of a role model for your work, who do you think of & why?

  Can't narrow it down to one but it's Richard Feynman, Newton, Galois, Mozart, Einstein, Hans Zimmer, Carl Sagan and Ramanujan vying for first place. Well I guess you can break geniuses down to two types - those who're amazing but leave you with space to wonder if you could've made it too if you'd just been focused enough to see yourself through. The other's are just so insanely creative you struggle to comprehend how they could've done what they did, and that's where, I believe, true genius lies. Newton never had a father in his life and had to see his mother walk out soon after he was born and come back with another family. Ramanujan's life was an intricate compounding of depression and pure genius. While the fun and challenge in physics lies in its complexity, nobody could break everything down like Feynman, Einstein and Sagan, like the quote goes - If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't really understand it yourself!

• What is the biggest obstacle you had to overcome in mastering your craft?

  When you're into science full time you've really gotta balance things out between your love to read and debate, play that one game you've been wanting to for so long, your research and your studies. Time management is something that's been really tough to master. I guess the biggest obstacle though has been in having the guts to follow my passion and doing my best to make myself better each step of the way!

• In your opinion, what makes someone excel in your subject area?

  I guess there's no clear cut pathway to excellence and as the Nobel Prize winner Sir Anthony Leggett once told me, serendipity is always a factor! Ultimately it comes down to what are you looking for. If good grades motivate you the most then that's nifty, use that to propel yourself forward. But if you truly want to uncover the inner working of the physical universe, I guess it comes down to creativity, curiosity and commitment. The important thing is to not stop questioning - curiosity has its very own reason for existing. It's not just the questions, it's about working hard enough to find those answers out too. As Carl Sagan puts it - Exploration is in human nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars. You've just gotta ask yourself if you're ready to take that leap of faith!

• What would you say to a student who says, "This is too difficult, I give up!"?

  You've gotta love physics, the yearn to explore is encoded within your cells. If you hate it, it is only because you had a bad teacher. Yeah it sure gets tough sometimes, but that's you just getting started. You're better than that. Einstein failed his college entrance exam the first time around, They told Faraday he was too stupid to pronounce words let alone think up the laws of electricity that makes that smartphone nestling on your bed a possibility. It's okay, I've scored pretty darn bad too sometimes and I haven't been my best all the time, but there's a way forward. Despite all the darkness, life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, notice those pretty flowers, and those smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams!

• How does someone become a Super Prof?

  You don't. It's really just about trying to find a good laugh or two in your classes while you try to discover science yourself - It's about having fun and finding something nice to learn each time around. It's not about being a Super Prof, it's about being that one friend you talk to right before the exams cause you know you'll just adsorb everything he say's!