Professor of Physics at IISER Kolkata - working in the field of optics and spectroscopy for the last 24 years. A scientist, but also involved in professional Bengali and English theatre in the capacity of a playwright, director and actor. Ph.D in physics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, in precision atomic spectroscopy. Following Ph.D., was a research scientist at General Electric (GE) Global Research, Bangalore, India, where I established a precision optics lab that specialized in the development of spectroscopy-assisted sensing for large scale deployment in security, pharma, healthcare, etc. Since 2009, have been faculty member in the Department of Physical Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata. Am deeply involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, and have set up a light-matter interaction research lab which chiefly focuses on optical micromanipulation and study of mesoscopic matter employing optical tweezers, with multiple projects in diverse areas of research. Also involved in science translation into technology - am one of the founder Directors of the Research Innovation and Scientific Entrepreneurship (RISE) Foundation IISER, a Section 8 company formed inside the premises of IISER Kolkata to incubate deep-science based start-ups. 40+ published papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and 19 patents. As a thespian involved with the theatre group Kalyani Mukhosh, and have written 11 plays in Bengali and English, besides having acted and directed several more.