Why writing a dissertation is harder than having a baby?

I wish I had noted down the source when I saved this masterpiece a few years ago (before I got to the writing stage). Now that I am in the painful throes of trying to get the dissertation completed and submitted in a defendable format to my committee, I wholly empathise with this post. *sigh*
Back to the writing though for now....

WHY WRITING A DISSERTATION IS HARDER THAN HAVING A BABY

1. Three months before your due date, your doctor doesn't say, "I want you to
go back and redo the first trimester's work."
2. Unlike advisors, you can switch doctors without starting over.
3. Conceiving a baby is WAY more fun than conceiving a topic.
4. You know exactly how long pregnancy takes.
5. Friends and relatives don't question the worth of a baby.
6. You don't need to explain repeatedly to friends and family what it takes to make a baby and why you're not through yet.
7. Babies don't require proper footnoting or adherence to a style manual.
8. You can freely borrow other people's stuff if you're having a baby; if you're writing a dissertation, that's called plagiarism.
9. No one will complain that your baby is too similar to another one.
10. No matter how much trouble it was doing it, some people will gladly have more than one baby.

Biggin Hill Airshow 2008

Blue skies with cottony clouds scudding across the sky, a gentle breeze and warm sunshine on the back of my head slowly toasting me to a shade between berry and coffee...and screaming jets performing gravity defying maneauvres, outrageous acrobatics, the Indian Air Force team Sarang performing awesome routines and acrobatics in the HAL Dhruv helicopters, airmen in Aviator sunglasses but most importantly...the Battle of Britain memorial flypast with the Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster Bomber...superb design, awe inspiring feats, a deep respect for their service during the World War and a legacy that will never be forgotten. The Breitling jet team were a cut above the rest. I will have to post some videos soon. Also, I raise a toast to the Wing Walkers who performed heartstopping acrobatics on top of the Guinot airplanes while the planes screeched through the air in somersaults, steep ascents and glides. The Biggin Hill Airshow 2008 is a tribute to the human desire for wings and spirit of adventure.

Six degrees of separation

Confession alert: I am fascinated by network statistics on the professional networking website, Linked In. According to my network, LI tells me that I have connections in 51 industries which gives me access o 147 additional industries that include dairy and railroad manufacture!

Erm, all right! Bizarre but all right by me! I have interesting friends!

40 things you did not know about me...

1. I am a compulsive procrastinator (as evidenced by the fact that i am blogging when i should be swotting seriously for a very very important egg-jam
2. I am outspoken and vociferously support the underdog
3. I used to be a rebel without a cause (never did anything immoral,illegal or unethical though! Have been accused of being a bit of a goodie two shoes)
4. I have a bold streak of adventure-have been known to rapel/abseil off cliff faces and do ice climbing
5. I have been voted Ms Toothy Smile (Ok! It was Ms Charming knocks-everyones- socks- off Smile)!!
6. I am reasonaly modest! ;) (If I dont stick up for myself in in law kingdom, I will most likely be doormat of the century)
7. I love children (and cant wait to have my own and am TERRIFIED at the same time of having children of my own too!! more on that later..)
8. I can be trusted to have an opinion on most world affairs and peoples quandaries
9. I have very high standards for myself and believe everyone has tremendous unrealized potential.
10. Yes, I am a cautious optimist and a liberal pessimist
12. I have a high degree of responsibility
13. I dont often give leeway for other people's weaknesses (and i know i should)
14. I take myself too seriously
15. I enjoy a good laugh
16. I love mangoes- in any form..chopped, liquefied,frozen...
17. I admire and respect honesty and wish there was more of it in this world18. I value friendship and make a loyal friend (and expect loyalty in return)
19. I believe in quality rather than quantity ;)
20. i believe in the dictum " imagination is stronger than knowledge That myth is more potent than history That dreams are more powerful than facts That hope always triumphs over experience.."
21. I am a hopeless, incurable romantic
22. I love long stemmed red roses with dewdrops on them (ok! ok! i know it is a cliche...and the dewdrops are just plain water sprayed onto the roses by ingenious florists! I still love them)
23. I also love fragrant gardenias and night blooming jasmine
24. Tests prove that I am neither right wing or leftist
25. I am fiercely independent and yet I enjoy having my hubby darling look out for me
26. I collect shoes like trophies...hiking,trainers,evening,strappy sandals,knee length leather boots
27. I hate men who assume that just because I am a little terse,I am suffering from PMS
28. I will never mock anyones religious beliefs or sexual orientation. I believe in the freedom of choice
29. I am a fan of Firefox version 1.0 (move over IE)
30. I have discovered that I enjoy cooking and collecting eclectic recipes
31. I need to be more patient
32. I love the sound of falling rain and babbling brooks
33. I love the smell of rain on parched earth and the way the sunshine bounces off mustard fields in bloom
34. I really,desperately want to go hike the Inca trail in Peru and visit the olive orchards in the Tuscan valley
35 My fovourite movie of all time was Love Actually
36. My favourite music are tracks by the Gypsy Kings and A R Rahman
37. I am organized to the point of driving my husband nuts who enjoys a bit of clutter!
38. I love the way my husband holds me when we slow dance and rests his chin on the top of my head
39. I am against the new trend of wearing of real furs. Call in the SPCA
40. I love a British accent! ;) Particularly Hugh Grants posh Brit accent in his rich bad boy flicks

Working on crisis mode!

I am at the stage when i cant think more than 48 hours in advance. Yes, my life has been taken over by end of semester madness. Exams are looming large on the horizon in addition to the assignments and my own teaching responsibilities. Sheer madness. I cant wait for this semester to end. I wish I had done something more extraordinary so that I coudl end teh year with a bang. It isnt that I havent got enough on my plate to make this year a memorable one- I have achieved quite a few of the goals that I set out for myself. I have also been terrible at time management. Currently, in a state of repentance for all the time spent updating music on my iPod and iTunes folder, and other sundry procrastinatory efforts, intrinsic to student life. No time to cry over spilt milk as my mother would admonish me as a child. She will be all aline this Christmas as both her children are on foreign shores this year. I wish she could be with us. I will miss her as I sit down at that elaborate christmas dinner with my in laws. Sometimes I wish for the innocent bliss of childhood when I thought our parents were immortal and would always be there to take care of us, wipe away every tear and bathe every grazed knee. Being married has thrust the additional responsibility of placing my husband and my in laws needs above that of my own family- society requires that i spend Christmas with my in laws and husband rather than with my mother who is all by herself in India. I dont want to potray her as a helpless being-she has always been a career woman and has recently taken to webcamming and chatting online with gusto. I admire her quiet strength and her courage, even more so after my father passed away two years ago. I wish I could do more for her.

Meanwhile, I have attained a state of Zen and am preparing myself for the great annual Xmas dinner with the in laws! I shall soon have to start thinking about Xmas presents. Ouch! My bank account will be complaining soon enough.

I hate capitalism! and I detest capitalism thrust upon me during Christmas!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving Day in the US of A, ushers in the “official” start of the Christmas season in our modern day world. It is marked with parades, huge family meals featuring turkey, gravy, and all the trimmings, day-long displays of athletic prowess—or not, as sometimes happens— and the appearance of Santa throughout malls and stores, the festival has become a commercial event in which the origins and meaning of the day are almost totally obscured. The modern day Thanksgiving is a far different occasion than the original Thanksgiving, as we know it today, has come a long way from the Pilgrim’s harvest festival in 1621. It is an event that seems, as each year goes by, to reinvent itself and to expand its meaning to larger vistas. Maybe this is the real significance of the occasion; for as we continue to change and grow as a people, there are an increasing number of things for which we can be thankful. Over the past few years, I have spent thanksgving day with friends and their families who have celebrated thanksgiving with a fervour that would even outdo my last Christmas dinner (which was my official Christmas dinner with an abundance of family and all the trimmings)-this will be the first year that I will be home with any sort of family. My husband has never lived in America so the concept of thanksgiving is alien to him. Why would anyone want to cook exactly the same things as one does for Christmas a month in advance- roast turkey or the veggie alternative for me- cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, the obligatory green bean casserole and of course the yummy pumpkin pie. I am, uncharacteristically, upbeat about celebrating Thanksgiving this year with him. Perhaps it is because his family (knowingly or unknowingly) are foisting their Christmas traditions on me.

I will be making pumpkin pie of course- with canned pumpkin (rather than the real thing because it is too tedious to skin, boil, mash, sieve pumpkin through cheesecloth to remove stringy bits) which reduced my culinary skills by a few notches in my husband's eyes who happens to be an unofficial gourmet chef in his own right. I refuse to let my enthusiasm be dampened. I haven’t seen my husband in 4 weeks and am looking forward to going back home. Long distance relationships are more difficult than they are made out to be and the adjustments that marriage requires becomes even more complicated. My in laws perplex me. I think they love me (and I love them too for all their idiosyncrasies, they are very caring. Show me one family that doesn’t have its own idiosyncrasies?!!) . I have been able to breathe a lot easier after my mother in law stopped redecorating my husbands house and designing our garden for us too. Did she think that I couldnt possibly be any good at redecorating or working out what plants our garden needed or that I didnt have the imagination to even begin to think of what needed to be done to our home? I don’t think I have an evil mother in law. I just thinks she has an overactive sense of responsibility to “educate” her new daughter in law and it never crosses her mind that the new daughter in law is an independent, intelligent woman of the 21st century(a feisty one to boot!) who has lived on her own for the last 9 years now who might have different tastes and want to do things differently. She doesn’t realise that her tinkering with her sons house as she has done for several years is causing her to step on my fragile toes, albeit unknowingly. Here I was, trying to be model daughter in law for two years by giving her full reign of her sons house and life so that she wouldnt feel alienated just because her son had a new woman in his life and suddenly, my life has been taken over by her planning as well. Awfully kind and thoughtful of her methinks but i sometimes wonder if my acquiescence has been taken for granted. There is a fine line between interference and meddling and being helpful- and mostly it depends on my mood!!! My husband is a gentle sweetie and loves me- He constantly supports and encourages me and is everything that I was looking for in my Prince Charming.
I do have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday. Happy thanksging to all!

On Love...

Yes, I cant seem to stop now that I have started on this new creation. I have had a special fondness for Khalil Gibran. Perhaps, it is because the first person to introduce me to Khalil Gibran was a very special friend and the association has remained with me over the years. At first, I was a reluctant admirer but now I am a follower- I wanted to put this verse down here because I would like to remember it. Love confounds me- why do we choose to love others with a passion and emotion that leaves us wide open to hurt and despair when they are taken away from us or they choose to walk away from us? I have never understood this slippery logic. Perhaps, deep down inside we are constantly searching for approval or perhaps, support and companionship.

And think not you can guide the course of love.For love, if it finds you worthy, shall guide your course.- Khalil Gibran on Love

Mc-Scroogess....

Also, did i mention that I have a mortal fear of Xmastide? The festive season is upon me and I am filled with dread and horror at the thought of all the mass consumption that i will be forced to support.

We are also celebrating Christmas at my in laws home this year.

Random wonderings

Lately, I have been drawn to the idea of writing my own blog. I have grown attached to the idea of typing out my random wonderings because it seems like a perfect way to exorcise my fears and to frustrations at the little obstacle courses that life throws my way. Fear not! This is not going to be yet another blog that falls into the quagmire of lamentable depression and gloom. I used to be an avid diarist from the age of 8- My mother introduced me to this addictive habit- at first it was an ingenious way to keep me occupied for at least an hour during the sweltering heat of the afternoon during the summer holidays. In those days, my diary entries were very mundane- mostly descriptions of what i ate and what i did all day and who i met...these developed into accounts of my adventures, nature trips and mountaineering expeditions as i grew older and a log of my ever changing ambitions, aspirations and passions- from wanting to climb the Everest before i turned 25 (that never happened, I am sad to report- but i hope i will climb the Everest some day) to idealising the Prince Charming that I hoped to bowl over with my wit and brilliance on some fortunate day(which did happen- not sure whether it was wit or brilliance that caught his eye though). The general business of life took over and I haven’t written in my diary in over 5 years now. I realised that I needed to begin a new one...SOON. And that i was going to move on with the times and have my own weblog in this anonymous cyberspace.

Who am I?? I am an optimist (mostly!). My life is full of simple pleasures. The smallest bit of kindness and the first buds on the dogwood trees during spring bring a smile to my face. I giggle like a little girl when the wind whips the wind around my face and makes the leaves dance at street corners. I like to think of myself as a dreamer who likes to look for the silver lining in any black cloud and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. My life, like anyone else’s is a mixture of storm clouds and sunshine-mostly sunshine. I battle with an overactive sense of social responsibility and yes, I have a sneaking suspicion that I am a bit of a feminist (though i wouldn’t classify myself as the bra burning type). I thought I would write a few lines about myself because it would be an exercise in helping me define myself. Well, it is nearly 3 in the morning so I better climb under the cosy quilt and catch some sleep. Early morning rise tomorrow even though it is a weekend. I want to go out running by the Riverside before the joggers come out in full force (although the rain might keep them away). You can be sure, I will be back soon.