Shobhit Mahajan’s day job describes him as a professor with the Department of Physics & Astrophysics in University of Delhi and the Director of the Delhi University Computer Centre. Having worked on complex subjects like Astroparticle Physics, exploration of phase transitions in the early Universe, inflation in Supergravity Models, Baryogenesis, Gravitational Lensing and Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, he has seen the serious side of the subject. But he is not one of those dyed-in-the-wool academics, rather he is one who believes in taking science to the masses. So, he writes regularly in newspapers and has come up with six books, published by Scholastic Inc and Penguin.

His latest book, 103 Scientific Principles, Ideas, Theories and Stuff, follows a quiz book on Physics and reference books on Physics and Environment from the Scholastic stable, all meant to make learning science fun. Mahajan shares his philosophy with  Utpal Borpujari:

What basic difference do they have with the usual books taught in the class?

The text books, that is the books that are usually taught in classrooms, usually have a fixed format — understandably since there is normally a set syllabus which needs to be covered by a text book. The books that I have written are more free flowing. One can pick and choose topics which are interesting and maybe even drop things which are somewhat boring. The 103 Scientific Principles is somewhat different as I have deliberately chosen what I thought were the 100-odd most important scientific principles which a layperson should be aware of.

How important is it to have a fun element in the learning process?

I think that the fun element is very critical for a learning process. Unless we can make learning fun, it will never be truly internalised by the reader. The basic idea is to ensure that the reader first enjoys what she is reading. It is only if that is true would it be possible for her to go to the next step of understanding the content.

As someone who is a teacher, do you think Indian text books in general are too dry and could do with some lighter touches?

I am not sure that text books need a lighter touch, though I agree that Indian text books are a bit dry and uninteresting.  It also depends a bit on the level that one is talking about — clearly, there is a lot more freedom available to authors at the primary and secondary levels to experiment and innovate to make the textbooks more interesting. At the higher levels, it is a far more challenging task, especially in the sciences. You need to make the textbooks interesting, without necessarily making them light — the idea is to simplify and not trivialise.

Psychologically, how important is it for younger students to learn in a lighter mode?

I think it is very important, particularly for younger students. In case our learning methodology does not incorporate the fun element, it will not really make a dent with the younger readers. Lest I be misunderstood, let me reiterate that by fun I don’t necessarily mean trivialisation. It is important for teaching to be contextual with respect to the taught. There is little point in teaching about things to which the students cannot make any connections. If one creatively uses one’s immediate environment as the raw material in  teaching  scientific concepts, one  is more likely to succeed in getting one’s message across.

While writing these books, did you have young students in mind or a general readership across ages?

When I write, I usually write for a general readership across ages. This is of course true for the conceptual level of the writings. In terms of the language I try and pitch the writings at that wonderfully named creature, the “young adult”!

Do you think the urge for scientific information – scientific temper as they call it — among Indians has lessened in recent times, as we no more see science quiz shows on TV unlike earlier times?

First of all, I do not think that the urge for scientific information is the same thing as scientific temper. Scientific temper is fundamentally an application of the methods of science — the constant questioning of received wisdom, having a hypothesis and then testing the hypothesis against facts, generalising from a few facts, etc.,  to our everyday life.  Mere memorisation of scientific facts, a trend promoted by numerous quiz programmes is NOT understanding science or internalising scientific temper. Unfortunately, our education system as well as our media seems to think that information is knowledge. This is a very dangerous misconception which has had disastrous consequences for our teaching of science.

Are you for translating such books as yours into various Indian languages so that they can reach a much wider audience?

Of course. I feel that there is a lot more need for good popular science writing in the regional languages than in English, since the English reading audience anyway has access to a lot of reading material. To the best of my knowledge, apart from Bengali, Marathi and Malayalam, no other Indian language has any substantial writing on popular science. I would be delighted if some publishers translate my work into regional languages.

Are you planning to tackle other subjects too in the ‘In My Pocket’ series? And quiz books?

I have no immediate plans of taking up any other subject in the In My Pocket series though I would love to write about some other science subjects since this gives me an opportunity to learn something about the subject. I have recently done a Mathematics Quiz book which should be out sometime this summer.

How do you decide what should be included in such books that have trivia and quiz and what not to?

This is a difficult question! The first cut is if the topic/question/fact is interesting for me. If it is, then I need to decide if I can express it in a way that is comprehensible to a lay-reader who does not have the same background in science as me. Finally, I also consider if what I find interesting would be interesting for the lay-reader or the young adult. If it meets all these criteria, it is in. Otherwise, the search continues!