Since my MTech completion in 2011, people had started inquiring, “When are you starting PhD..?” At that time, everything was seeming formal to me, like a step by step process. Start study in schools, then SSC, then HSC, then graduation, then Post graduation, then doctorate and so on. Isn’t there any end to this race? According to me, degree is just a formality; whereas application of knowledge is important. In current Education scenario, one will easily find many people having good degrees but not sufficient knowledge. To the above question, I was thinking what actually was the need for PhD? The answer is sustaining yourself in present world of competition, nothing else. People see PhD as a weapon of promotion. What I believe is that unless you have passion for something, you should not go for PhD. Passion comes from interest, potential and willingness. One can achieve skills and capabilities by learning them, but if there is no dedication or interest then PhD is fruitless. In real sense, I had no clue about starting my PhD as there was no motivation.
| It was July 2014, when I attended an STTP on “Audio and Speech Signal Processing (ASSP 2014)” at SVNIT, Surat. Being a Signal Processing fan, I had thought it would be helpful to me. To my surprise, during the programme; I came to know about various aspects of Speech Processing which were totally unknown to me earlier. This happened due to wonderful speakers who delivered excellent talks there. This planted keen interest into me for the Speech Processing area. I tried to explore this area further on my own and investigated if I could justify it as a research student. | 
Dr Mukesh Zaveri SVNIT, Surat |
In December 2014, I attended “Research Orientation Programme” at Nirma University, where various speakers were invited to plant research aptitude in the participants. During his session, Dr Ketan Kotecha emphasized that “Research demands interest, passion and open-mindness.” Further, he also stated that there should be nothing hidden between a student and guide. This extremely motivated me to think about starting my PhD.
In January, there was one more workshop in field of my interest. DA-IICT, Gandhinagar organized “Winter School on Speech and Audio Processing (WiSSAP 2015)”. I attended this programme also. Internationally recognized eminent speakers including Prof Han Hermansky and Prof Shihab Shamma were part of this workshop. This programme accelerated my interest into this field. Finally, I decided to jump into this domain for my PhD and that’s what currently I am doing.
Acknowledgement
I am really obliged to all who directly or indirectly have inspired me to choose this field for my research. At first, I would like to thank Dr Mukesh Zaveri who is responsible for this decision. The STTP conceptualized and coordinated by him was the first source of inspiration to me. I am really grateful to him. He not only successfully managed the programme, but also was very successful to assemble excellent speakers at the same place for the programme. I can understand it is very very difficult task.
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| Dr Hemant Patil
DA-IICT |
Dr Samaudravijaya K
TIFR, Mumbai |
Dr C Chandrasekhar
IIT Madras |
Dr S R M Prasanna
IIT Guwahati |
I must mention all the dynamic speakers who have played key role in changing my life. I express my deep gratitude towards all these speakers for their motivation due to which I have been able to select my area of interest.
My gratitude to all…!
e SHM 