‘How was the food?’- Spaghetti and a heavy lunch
- Suraj Nair
- Jun 25, 2022
- 3 min read
Lunch, according to me, is the least important meal of the day. I am sure many of you would disagree. But here is my argument- if you have a good healthy heavy lunch, you are bound to doze off. If you don't have a good meal, you are bound to crib about it for the rest of your day. In any case, you can be certain that there is no work happening for the remainder of the day. Does it make sense? No, It sounds stupid and childish. But I believe it. In fact, I practise it myself- waking up early, starting work early and dozing off after lunch :P
So, when I was informed that I had to deliver a talk on science storytelling between 2 to 3 pm- the first post lunch session on 15th June, 2022, I was laughing out loud. Or was I pi***ng in my pants? I couldn't figure it out. Simply put, I was dazed. How could I take a lecture when everyone would be sleeping? Will anyone even attend my class? Or worse, what if I end up yawning and dozing off during the lecture? As my brain was decluttering the spaghetti of these thoughts, I got a call from my dear friend and partner in crime, Dr. Parvathi, the ever cheerful scientoonist and founder of ‘Science-in-doses’. Her session on science cartoons was scheduled after mine and so she said, “Suraj, since our talk is in the afternoon, I am banking on you to keep the audience awake”. The spaghetti was well cooked now.
Early morning on 15th June 2022, I set off from Bangalore to Mysore to deliver the session at JSS School of Life Sciences. The event was organised by DBT Wellcome India Alliance. The journey was pleasant and as I reached the venue, the spaghetti in my brain was boiling hot, waiting to explode. Dr. Raghu from the institute, who was our point of contact, helped with the introductions and we waited for the morning sessions to be completed. Lunch was served. I did not take the chance and avoided lunch altogether. By this time, I had already been to the bathroom twice. Dr. Parvathi was a seasoned lecturer and she looked self assured. At least on the surface. Were you nervous as well, Parvathi Chechi?
During lunch, I was chatting with the other speakers from the India Alliance team about the various initiatives on science communication and the role played by Science Communicators in the society. I looked around the table and realised the power of communication. There we were, people from different places in India, different backgrounds, age groups and different experiences in life, sitting on one table, eating the same lunch and bonding over science. I had my moment of eureka! The power of science communication is being able to express the most complex ideas in the simplest way possible, irrespective of the demographic of the audience and irrespective of the lunch they had. In some ways, a good science communicator will be able to make the session interesting enough for people to stay awake and have fun. The spaghetti had been decluttered.
I walked in, as glowing faces looked at me in anticipation. I picked up the marker and wrote on the whiteboard-
“How was the food?”
And THE REST IS HISTORY.
PS: I talked about science storytelling and the way to write a good science story using Cohen’s Framework. Dr. Parvathi delivered a fun packed lecture on science cartoons or scientoons, taking us through a creative journey of facts, knowledge, cartoons and communication!
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