So, At MSR, we have this thing called Lab Sabha. It’s that one meeting that aims to bring all MSR researchers to one place once every week. People discuss interesting projects they’re working on. Sometimes they invite a speaker to give an interesting talk. And at other times, they bond over interesting stories about themselves. So, on our first lab sabha meeting, all the new RFs were asked to prepare 2-3 minutes long “interesting” introductions about themselves that people can remember them for.
With the target of introducing myself creatively, I concocted a short poem on the night before Lab Sabha. I always wanted to give spoken word poetry a shot. But I had been a bit too scared to try this thing during my college. So, the very first moment I got a chance to change that chapter of mine, I took it excitedly.
This is what I recited during my Lab Sabha. Hope you enjoy it. And if you could read it without judging me as a writer, I would like to say just one small thing — Thank you!
So, I started with a formal introduction and then switched to what people actually wanted to here — Something interesting!

Disclaimer: Brace yourself for what’s coming your way is a very naively cooked dish. A dish with an unproportionate amount of creativity, humor, and facts. You will be able to pinpoint instances of jitter, unnaturally stressed words, unexpectedly fast pace, and in the end, the color rising up to my face. And if you’re capable of reading minds, you would know how badly I’ll I would want to come back and change this time. But nevertheless, I’ll give it a shot.

“Tell us something interesting about yourself?”
But what makes something interesting interesting about me?
And what should I say if the only interesting thing I could dig out from the 21 years of my existence is that nothing apparently seems interesting at all?
Does that sound interesting, huh?
Maybe na.
I’m made of trivial.
And trivialities are what I’ve got.
Maybe a question like this would awe the audience
Had Richard Feynman and I been swapped?
I could then boast about my brain
The fact I could fix radios by thinking could be brought up again.
I would have anecdotes to overwhelm you
And see your “Surely you’re joking, Mr. Feynman!” coming towards.
I could throw jargons from quantum electrodynamics around
And relax and see it run amok.
I could give reasons for people to talk
That beauty and the brain need not be two opposite sides of the coin.
Wouldn’t that be interesting for you all?
If Richard Feynman and I had been swapped?
But, alas, sorry for the disappointment.
I look up to Feynman,
But it’s really me who I’ve got here today.
I couldn’t boast about my brain,
For that is a pretty common commodity here.
I won’t go for anecdotes,
Because I can already see your “Really, Palak!” coming towards.
And how could I throw jargons here,
When they’ve already thrown me off before
And let’s not just talk about beauty and the brain,
Because that’s just ubiquitous here.
So what should I tell that might interest you?
A concocted story?
Well, I think I can do better than that.
So, How about we cheat a bit?
Answering what I find interesting about me instead of what you might.
If that’s okay, then —
(ahem)
I like myself better when I’m in nature.
Appreciating the morning sky brimmed with sunshine
And marveling over the night sky riddled with stars
I like myself better when I’m not pretending
When what I’m inside is what I’m outside.
That’s a bit tricking, so that’s still a work in progress.
I like myself better when I’m introspecting my way through
For some people that’s overthinking, I’ll leave it tagged as introspecting.
I like myself better when I can literally run a mile before I sleep.
I like myself better when I can drop my phone and instead grab a book
I like myself better when I live the day the way I wanna live every single day.
That’s what I find interesting about me.
If someone else does,
Well, thanks for being on the same page as me.
So yeah, in short, when I’m not working, I’m either reading, running, journalling, or introspecting. Nothing fancy, just plain old simplicity.

Thanks!

And yes, just for the record, I did turn red!