SSDIP at IISc, Bangalore

Dr. Sitaram (my mentor at HP Labs) told me about this 'summer school on document image processing' at IISc, Bangalore. Since my project was in the same area, I decided to take a plunge into it. They had selected only 40 participants from all over India. Most of them were doing or had done their masters or Ph. D. in Image Processing so i was one odd candidate trying to learn something (or i thought so). I was not one of the forty but i got the opportunity because HP Labs was sponsoring the event. The organisers had invited best people in their area to teach us. The plan was to have two lectures of ninety minutes each from nine to twelve thirty (with a tea break in between) and labs from two to five thirty in the evening.

They also thought of another innovative idea to keep participants busy to the core. They assigned us projects related to document image processing on the second day itself and announced that the best few works will be rewarded on the last day ! So we had to be their at 'Center for Continuing Education' at IISc from nine in the morning to close to twelve in the night ! The assignments were based on the days' talks. I found even the most knowledgeable (seemingly) people struggling with relatively easier assignments in MATLAB !

Tough, it seems. Well ! getting knowledge is never easy. It was a good way of imparting a loads of knowledge to the ones who were most willing to receive it ! I had a tough time keeping pace but i enjoyed it. My main motives to attend the summer school were : 1) Look for my interest in higher studies. 2) Stay at IISc, learn how people research and get a valuable certificate !

Both of my objective were met. I could get an insight as in how tedious and tiring reasearch can be....when i saw George Nagy (must be more than seventy), delivering 3 lectures in a day, i realised once you get in..you will never be able to come out of it, if you do some good things ! Research can make you a millionaire overnight if you make a discovery, on the other hand you may end up banging your head just trying to solve an unsolvable problem !

Coming back to SSDIP, Many of the participants stayed at 'Hoysala House' in IISc which was a great place. Having stayed together just for ten days, many of us bond with other surprisingly well. Groups of people formed and become really good friends. All of us decided to stay connected via a 'yahoogroup' and discuss DIP (may be) after we left IISc. So in all, it was a wonderful and different experience. It has made me rethink my decision on higher studies !