My Experience at BARC

   BARC & DAE could arguably be the greatest places young engineers could hope to work in after they pass out.  And every year the DAE calls fresh engineers from all over India to become nuclear scientists  through their OCES & DGFS programs. I also decided to take this opportunity to realize my greatest passion.  My first attempt at getting through their test failed so I took the next one. I wrote GATE and qualified for the interview. The application process went smoothly and then the wait started for the interview schedule. I got a shock when at last they announced the schedule 11/2 weeks before the interview. The interview was spread over a month with more than 180 candidates interviewed per day.

 Unfortunately train tickets to Mumbai in June had to be booked at least one month before departure to have any hope of reservation. My parents & I were in despair as the waiting list was in the 100's.  Finally my father trusting in my capability & unable to see me lose an opportunity booked an air ticket for me. So I took leave from work & arrived in Mumbai with the dreams & hopes of an average engineer. I was confident that my passion for Nuclear energy & the prayers of my family would see me through.

As directed I arrived accompanied by a relative who was a Mumbaite at the the sprawling BARC training center 8 AM. I was wonder-struck at  the infrastructure & mini town ship I found there. I later realized that I was just at the outskirts of the real BARC.

    At 10 AM we were herded into a huge hall on the 1st floor. It was quite a crowd in there, much more than I had expected. I soon found out that the room was more of a freezer  with more that 30 individual split AC's chilling my bones. Things move at a snail's place inside. The lucky ones with initial registration no's managed to get their certificates verified & get an interview card. I had to wait till 1 PM for mine.

    Despite the waiting & chilling I was happy to finally get interviewed. I expected no waiting since there were supposed to be about 15 or so interview committees for my branch alone. Unfortunately at the interview coordinator told me to go & have lunch & come at 2. I came back as asked only to be asked to wait again outside. The waiting continued for another 2 hours. 

 Finally I was allowed in to confront a panel of 5  BARC  officers around a small round table. It started with simple questions like what I was doing now. They soon realized that I was not really a fresher but an engineer working in a small company. Apparently they didn't take to that fact very much & asked me why I would work for such a low salary. Apparently they didn't know that private companies weren't as generous as BARC. Also they pored through my Btech mark-lists ending the rest of the hope they had in my ability since I had an average % and a few 2nd chance cleared papers.

I tried my best to keep up with with their questions but failed miserably as I wasn't capable of asking questions without atleast a minute of thinking. Half way through the interview I knew it was a lost cause & they knew they were just following protocol by continuing the interview till a set time.

 Finally it was over & I came wanting to leave as soon as got my travel allowance which I was eligible for.  Unfortunately there were about 100 or so candidates there crowded around a room  for the same. Some of them since noon. I again waited but soon found it was cruel to keep my relative waiting just to get some money. We asked the person in charge & he assured that I would get the amount by money order.We left finally at 6 PM. I'm still waiting for my money order. 

    I was thoroughly disappointed by my performance . I knew that what I told them that day was only a fraction of what I knew. I only wished they had at least asked why I had wanted to join BARC. Yes the money & status was unbelievable. But that was non existent compared to the passion I had for making a contribution in the field of  Nuclear  Energy. But they never asked that.

 One advice to all those would be takers of this opportunity is to be prepared to get roughed up in your subject with back to back questions. If you don't know your formulas by heart  you won't survive it.  BARC is obviously for the academically strong & not for the passionately brave. 

  Now I am not surprised why even after 50 odd years of research at BARC & DAE by the brightest minds in the country costing 1000's of crores of rupees we still only produce 3% of our energy from Nuclear power plants, and  import reactors from Russia. I hope one day they will realize that scientific research is more about the passion to contribute something to science and less about academic excellence & pay packets.

  Despite my disappointments, energy research is still my greatest passion, and I have taken to research in energy production from more down to earth resources like biomass.