explore – Talk With Nik

Find your PhD- Best websites and quotes

June 28, 2018July 9, 2018 Nikunj

PhD is the garden of the questions. If you keep your mind and heart open, you will able to find all the answers to all the mysteries. Although a PhD student search for the universe, just to find his own. His soul always search for wisdom rather than the publications. Please bring in the magic back in PhD. Here is my contribution to help my fellow colleagues to search there PhD and lab partners.

https://www.findaphd.com/

https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/

https://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/jobs

https://jobs.sciencecareers.org/

https://www.wemakescholars.com/

https://www.eurosciencejobs.com/

https://www.daad.de/deutschland/promotion/en/

https://www.seek.co.nz/PHD-jobs

https://scholarshipdb.net/

https://www.phdportal.com/

https://www.universityvacancies.com/

https://www.glassdoor.com/

https://academicpositions.com/

Food of Portugal

September 16, 2017September 16, 2017 Nikunj1 Comment

It`s very hard to choose among foods from any country. Because everyone has their own speciality and dishes(and their own tastes for that matter), so I am just going to write about the food I ate and loved in Portugal. I was lucky to share an apartment with Portuguese people who happened to be amazing cooks. And well finding a house in Faro, Portugal for long term is not easy although I got it in just 2 days. I will share that in a different blog. For now, let`s talk about food.

1. Polvo a Galega- I realised that I finally came to Portugal when I tried Polvo Agaelda which is a octopus boiled and then cooked in olive oil with salt and black pepper. It had topping of some olives which was served with local Portuguese bread. I couldn’t identify it first as it was chopped into small pieces which completely put off its appearance and I must say it was very tasty dish.

2. Tremocos (Just like Peanuts) It’s a quite similar to peanuts which are rich in alkaloids, fibre and proteins. Good to eat along with your chilled beverage.

3. Bacalhao (Cod Fish)- It is also known as the National fish of Portugal and there is a saying that you can do this dish in 365 ways. Portugal is also the largest importer of this national dish. This fish is low in fat, high zinc, potassium and other essential micronutrients and amino acids. My flatmate cooked it in a traditional style with potatoes, onions and béchamel sauce. He bolied the fillets of cod for like 5-10 mins in water and peeled off the skin and bones. You can also do this step the other way around. Then fry some potatoes in olive oil and you can also choose some potato chips if you want to skip this step. Add your potatoes, onions and garlic in your baking pan at your oven at 300-350C. Then add your cod and béchamel sauce over it. Keep your eyes on the oven and switch it off until you get the golden crust on the top. Its ready to be attacked.

4. Bolas (Bolas de berlim)- It’s a sweet delicacy similar to muffin not exactly muffin. It has got a layer of cream and sprinkled with sugar on the top. The people selling the bolasa in Faro and other famous beaches in Portugal make around 3000 Euros/month in tourist season that is mostly April-September They make approximately 14000 Euros in the tourist season which is more than enough money to live a happening life in Portugal for a whole year. But it’s a amazing food to satisfy your sweet tooth and don`t forget the amazing sea in front of you.

5. Entremeada – It`s a typical Portuguese snack to eat in the evening made out of flesh of the back of pork. The meat is garnished only with pepper and salt and fried in olive oil. It is ready to serve with your favorite bread. It does wonders with special Portuguese beer SAGRES

6. Pastel de Nata and café- It’s the usual legendary breakfast of Portuguese people which isincredibly delicious and spread throughout Portugal. These pastries are made egg tart, milk based custard and cinnamon covered with a nest of crisp layers. You got to taste it with a cup of coffee.

7. JUST SOME PORTUGUESE CHEESE AND SWEET PUMPKIN SAUCE WITH ALMONDS

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Things I learned, places I travelled and mountains I hiked in my Gap Year May,2016~June 2017

September 9, 2017September 13, 2017 NikunjLeave a comment

I can never be more elated and satisfied with my decision of taking a gap year after my graduation. It was one hell of a year, if i’m being modest. I was bit nervous for not sitting in university placements but I was also sure that I do not want to work for any multinational companies or business related fields. So, I chose to drop out of the placements and give some time to myself. Just imagine studying in school until you were 18 and then you went to college for 4 or 5 years until you were 23 or 24. You definitely deserve to party, relax and think about your decisions for one year, but not too much of it either. After I graduated I went to mountains for a week with my college friends which extended to almost 20 days. During this time period, I travelled to various villages of kasol valley and old manali. After that, I went to adventurous trek to Futtasaur which starts from one of the oldest village in Kullu. I met so many people from different backgrounds; artists, Airforce, Drug Enforcement officials, Engineers, Dancers, Musicians, Writers, Professional Hikers, Businessman etc who had so many stories to share. You can check the detail of my trips in the following links You can read my stories here : –

https://ilushx.wordpress.com/category/travel-and-adventure/
I also went to hampta pass trek just after I hiked futtasaur but I haven’t shared a blog on hampta pass yet. So wait for it yeah. After coming back from a refreshing journey, I started looking for some opportunities in laboratories as I was pretty sure that I want to become a researcher. So I started working in a laboratory as a Research Fellow as I found out that the project was quite interesting. It was to develop the stress tolerant varieties of Pigeon pea crop which is a very important crop for the developing countries because of its economical and nutritional value. Though I did not enjoy my work atmosphere so I left the job after a month and started applying for the Masters and PhD positions and also started planning for my next trip in South India. I had saved like Rs-12000 from my last job and took another 10,000 from my Dad . I booked my tickets to Bangalore where I stayed for a day and the headed to mysore to meet my old friends with whom I met in 2013 while I was working as an Intern in CFTRI, Mysore. By the way Mysore is much much better place to live as compared to Bangalore. Before arriving to Mysore, I took a detour to the Lord Shiva Temple in Nanjangud which is almost 1000 years old. I think its just 23 kms from the mysore and there are always buses running from mysore to nanjangud and vice versa. Then I had to go back to Bangalore to meet my cousins as we had a plan to GO GOA. The mysore-bangalore junction is very beautiful and have many noteworthy locations such as Ramdevbetta hills where one of the most iconic movie in Bollywood- Sholay has been shot. So I went there and met nice people who showed me around the hills which were really beautiful and quite different that mountains I have seen. they dropped me at the railway station of Ramnagar where I had my lunch and boarded the train to Bangalore. Now coming back on Goa, We stayed in Candolim for 5 days and I think its a great place to stay because it was not that crowded even in mid weeks of December which is high time for tourism. Candolim is the best place for relaxation, water sports and party as it is the center point to all the activities. We went to the major happening clubs; LOVE PASSION KARMA and CLUB CUBANA. Goa trip ended amazingly with just playing frisby in the beach, chilling and clubbing. Luckily, I have also visited many religious places which were quite instant and unplanned plans such as Nanjangud and Pushkar. Pushkar is an amazing place with crazy history. There is lake called “Ghat” in Hindi and scientists have not been able to figure out the source of water of this lake till now. Its still a mystery.
I am 23 year old boy who didn’t know how to drive but no big deal. So, I decided to learn driving which didn’t took much time and went on a road trip to Patiala which was also a good experience driving in National Highway for the first time. Now, I have an international driving licence and I can drive all over the Europe. This year involved a lot of learning survival skills which also included swimming. Although, I could learned the basics of freestyle in one month and my coach told me that it takes atleast 6 months to perfect your freestyle. Now I am trying to swim in the waves of FARO BEACH, PORTUGAL.

Stay tuned to more stories.

As they in Portuguese ——-Its not hard to live but its hard to know how to live
“o dificl nao e viver, mas sim, saber viver”