Diary of a doctoral student Archive
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Age is the greatest fire extinguisher
Posted on August 7, 2009 | 1 CommentRumblings of an ex-activist in his early 30s It seems like a short while ago when no dream seemed like just a dream. Making a billion, changing the world, ending poverty, peace and a few such things seemed pedestrian and utterly possible. There was a fire in me to go and be a part of the action, with merely passing doubts about what’s possible. Nothing seemed big, and I wanted to be everywhere. The thirties have come and my dreams have become smaller. A comfortable bed excites me more than a peace march, and jobs more than work. I fear... -
Disciplinary training: More trained, less able
Posted on November 23, 2008 | 2 CommentsDuring fieldwork in India, I was amazed by the differences between common people that I interacted with, and the well trained students in the Western world. There were significant differences in the questions each asked and the observations they made. I was often left wondering if more training in the disciplinary world leads to less sophisticated understanding of this complex social world. Read on... -
The importance of a pot belly
Posted on May 11, 2008 | 3 CommentsA Panchayat president I interviewed recently told me sweetly that people listen to her because she’s plump. Two years and twenty additional kilos earlier, I would have missed the import of the statement, but now I don’t. Let me give you a quick background before I start. I was very thin and was often called a skeleton, stick of a coconut leaf and other colourful adjectives. I left to the US in 2005 and after two years of Americanisation I got on the weighing machine. I pushed the scales to a familiar position and it remained upright. I nudged it... -
Lantern & the sea: a dream to make dissertation writing fun
Posted on April 30, 2007 | No CommentsThis is the fourth post I am writing today when I should be writing my paper. The term is about to end and I just don’t feel like reading or writing (don’t ask me what enables me to write all these posts, that’s the irony about me). I have been working on my topic for an year now, and am yet to defend my proposal. If I am topic fatigued now, what will become of me when I get to the writing stage? I know that I have to make writing fun – and it has often been the case.... -
I don’t feel like reading
Posted on April 30, 2007 | No CommentsFor the last three or four months, I have just not felt like reading anything. I have not stopped reading…but that which I read has been random stuff. My comprehensive exams are not far away, and I am in no mood to do any sustained work. Infact, I came to the office with the idea of reading and writing a paper; instead, I am writing this blog post. Part of the problem is that I’ve run out of exciting new books. I dont claim that there are none around – but I have not been able to lay my hands... -
Dissertation troubles & the importance of knowing oneself
Posted on April 30, 2007 | No CommentsPh.D. is a long haul & often a tiresome journey. Knowing oneself well can make the process fun, quick & worthwhile I audited a wonderful course on doing a dissertation with Prof. Nick Smith in the department of education at SU. A small part of the course was about methods, theories, and other academic paraphrenalia that make up the dissertation. Instead, his main concentration was to prepare us mentally to do the dissertation well and enjoy it. If there is one lesson that was central to the lectures, it is “know yourself”. Knowing one’s body rythms, when we feel like... -
On narrowing focus for dissertation proposal
Posted on April 30, 2007 | No CommentsOne of the biggest challenges in writing a proposal is to narrow down our interests to choose a topic In three days, I would have defended my dissertaion proposal, and it feels good to think that I’ll get it out of my way. It looks like the proposal is one of the biggest time killers among Ph.D. students; it is indeed a challenge to move from a variety of ideas to a defendable proposal. Most of us come to a Ph.D. with a broad set of interests and it feels awkward to narrow it down into a topic that almost... -
Putting-off the writing work: Can this be helped
Posted on February 12, 2007 | No Comments“I put all my shoes in front of me and polished them”, “I cleaned my curtains”, “My house was never as clean as it was when I had to write my dissertation”. These were the most interesting revelations by a panel on surviving the dissertation that was organised as a part of a course I audited recently. The tendency to putt-off writing is just incredible. I never feel prepared enough, and when I do get to writing, I never quite feel as if I’ve done a job good enough. Every now and then I do a reasonable outline but never... -
Time Management for an undisciplined fellow!
Posted on January 30, 2007 | No CommentsMy efforts to set priorities and work by a schedule were constantly defeated – often leading to a sense of desperation. But funnily, each time I reviewed my priorities for the year, I was more or less working along the lines though I scarcely met my targets day-to-day. I have been thinking of it for a while but started taking it seriously only after talking to a friend who had a similar problem: in the long run, we seem to keep up to a plan, but are erratic in the short run. I guess this is perhaps because of my... -
Adieu India
Posted on August 1, 2005 | No CommentsA letter to friends on the eve of my departure to USA to start my Ph.D. at Syracuse University Dear friends, One is all set to depart: sixty-four kilos of luggage worth a princely sum of twenty-five thousand rupees and sixty kilos of me…well, I don’t know my worth, but I am insured for one lakh USD till September 6! Accumulating these have occupied a good part of my three months stay at Chennai. You won’t believe what an inveterate shopper I’ve become: each time I pass a mall, I’ve been stopping by to purchase things. And you won’t believe...
