My connection with Paramita goes back to 2008 when she joined Linda's lab as a postdoc, next to Goodlab where I was a PhD student. I was a very unsocial graduate student. I didn't have any friend outside my lab. Yo, a Japanese PhD student in Goodlab, was my best friend. He was also very reluctant to socialize. He kept busy with his research, we hardly chatted. But our paths crossed several times a day, and as a senior student he was my 'go to' person for any problems or queries. That was my standard of best friend at that time. I felt no reservation calling myself unsocial, though some people said I was a focused graduate student.
Over the span of six years at the University of Alberta, I made a few friends and Paramita was one of them. Every time we bumped into each other we exchanged smile and talked about things that were not always research related. I had so much empty space in my friend list - I accepted her as a friend. Within a year or so, she moved to another lab, away from my building; our paths didn't cross that often, nonetheless, we remained friends. I graduated and moved out of the university. Paramita also moved back to India. We followed each other only on social media. Now that she has returned to Canada, can I miss this opportunity to catch up with her? Hence, she is in the Spotlight!
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