When skills kill...

As someone who recently lost hope in the Indian research system (Ah...yes, I'm about to join the club), I decided that it is best that the young researchers of India (or may be the world ?) are better warned about this. I was a fervent believer in the phrase "Hard work pays". Now I'm a believer in the phrase "Being connected pays". Imagine spending sleepless nights in a confined space, overdosing on caffeine to stay awake, driving through dangerous curves half-asleep to get there, following steps meticulously avoiding mistakes, cracking your spine while pipetting in awkward positions, totally ignoring your core project while working on something else. All these spell disaster to one's thesis work. However, we go forward with these 'side' projects (which sometimes unavoidably steal the interest from our core project) in the temptation of getting good publications in reputed journals. "What not to do in your research tenure: Lesson 01.: Never ignore your main project in the hope that a 'side' project will earn you what you deserve. It almost always will not. What's more, you will be thrown away like junk after extraction of the last drops of work from you. 

Skills are extremely important for people in research. I read this somewhere and laughed at it. "When you know how to do something, never do it for free". I'm now paying for my ignorance of the inner meaning that quote had. I know it means being selfish, but who cares ? the world is predominantly populated with selfish people and when you choose not to be selfish, people around you don't change. That only makes you a fool who doesn't know what he truly deserves. What irks me the most is the injustice of the whole thing. People who know nothing of what's been done, why it was done, how it's been done are in, simply because they're connected. Give me a damn break please ? I  can do nothing about my (what'd you call it) ill-fate. But I think, people need to understand that science research IS unfair, and you can do very little about it. Young researchers who belong to the Indian scientific community are hereby warned to exercise the necessary caution, and to place the appropriate 'Terms and conditions' before you decide to work on any of those bloody 'side' projects. If you have someone who's bossy enough to 'force' you to work on these, then your terms and conditions are invalid :D. My solution ? Procrastinate !!! You get the satisfaction of procrastinating while working on your main project which will 'fully' pay off !

Moral: I'll do it next week ! ;)

The fellytone...

Of the zillion times that we use our mobiles these days, do we realize what the world would be if it weren't for these 'carry-in-your-pocket' bundles of joy ? For some strange, but obvious reason, when I was having a rather missed, and long conversation over the mobile with someone who is the equivalent of myself, this thought about mobiles struck me ! What if the telephone as we know it was not invented ? Scary thought ! I'm reminded of the days when I used to wait near my college coin box for eons before I get a chance to talk to this special 'someone'. Those were the days when I used to run around the place with a bunch of one rupee coins jingling merrily away in my pocket. Still, there was always a shortage...No quantity of these coins was really enough. Rewinding life a bit more, there were days when we used to call each other up immediately after we reached home from school. The funny fact being that, reaching our homes from our school takes just 10 minutes. What we spoke ain't something that's going to save the world, but the treasure we make of those lovely times makes it all worth. A pity, our parents had to pay rather FAT telephone bills, exclaiming at offended telecom officials about discrepancies in the billing process. Honestly, telephones just RULE ! The power of a written letter is something, but the feeling you get by just listening to your loved one speak, and those when you pour out your heart in response is surely something bigger and warmer.


Moral: Say Hello ! ;)