Thursday, February 14, 2008

A dedication note

On this very "hyped" day, when I don't really have anything to celebrate upon (and I am perfectly fine with that!), I randomly came across this lines from the movie Om Shanti Om:

Itni Shiddat Se Maine Tujhe Paane Ki Koshish Ki hai,
Ki Har Zarre Ne Mujhe Tujhse Milane ki Saazish Ki Hai.

And looking back I see that whatever I am doing today, it is really what I wanted to do in life yet! Sometimes I feel lucky; lucky having got an opportunity to do stuff I wanted to do - when the PhD thing happened!

Somebody back from my college asked me a few questions on the PhD thing. I have put two of my favorite ones here. The shayari from Om Shanti Om is dedicated to all the interesting endeavors I am doing, and wish to do in the times to come! The questions are a little tweaked for certain reasons.

1) Why should one go for a PhD, i.e what are the basic qualities or interests required that would help one in doing PhD?

A: I think the primary urge the student needs to have is the desire to learn, apply his knowledge, look beyond $$ and books and explore the world. With a suitable academic background, the only thing a student needs is a "free mind" to nurture his or her academic interests in a more organized fashion.

2) With a lot of emphasis on other careers now-a-days, what makes the PhD course attractive enough?

A: Using the word "emphasis" on a career decision is probably a bad idea. A person's academic or professional interest is not like walking the ramp at a fashion show where you display the "in" or the "attractive" thing of today. A career is merely a person's own choice, unbiased by time; what the person wants out of life. It is not about a "competition" between other careers and PhD as most of you would think today. I would suggest grow out of these wrong notions! Life is much bigger than you have thought of!

There is nothing like a situation when one career is universally better than others. Coming here I see that the physicists, the mathematicians and the psychologists are actually much more insightful than we, the "engineer scientists"! As much as these guys are intelligent, make as much good money as our community, they are actually more respected in the society than just "another programmer" or just "another manager"!

So it was never the "emphasis" laid on me by some career professionals that affected by decisions in life. I have found PhD "attractive" because it is letting me work on something which I want to; something which can strike a difference to the world of tomorrow, someway; a manner which can let me vent out the crazy thoughts inside me; the tool for me to explore and gain insights about the world we live in today! It has definitely been the best decision I have taken in my life, and so would many of my peers agree. Talking of "emphasis", which other career lets you do all these? :)

8 comments:

Kartik said...

LOL.

And LOL. :-D

I'm comparing against the chat transcript to find the "modifications" :-P

Munmun said...

@ Kartik
:D :D Good! That's the sign of a researcher having good observations :D

Partha Pratim Sanyal said...

And when I look at myself I seem to be a defeatist at times! Defeating my interests and motives which would have made my career more meaningful, though I try hard to reconcile my career to that "ideal" on I'd have ever thought of, some point of time I just say to myself "Move out of the shackles, see the world, follow your instincts, and take the right decisions which you feel can make you happy!

Aparna Ganguly said...

Good thing to talk about on V-day lady. You sure know your true love :)

A.Jay said...

Being in Fashion industry is also a profession !!:O
thats a serious career to many here lady !

Aparna Ganguly said...

Btw, as a reposte: any career can be interesting as long as you enjoy what you are doing.

Munmun said...

@ Aparna,
I completely agree. And that was also one of the subtle points. Career is something you do for yourself; not what the rest of the world does as a "fashion". :)

Munmun said...

@ a.jay
You got it wrong. I meant fashion industry is different from one's motivation and reasoning to pick a career :)