Journey through Grad school ...

Life at Grad School

Dear chance blog readers,

If there was one word to describe the nature of my life at grad school it would be something similar to the above picture. A good friend of mine had rightly compared it to be similar to that of a roller coaster ride and I cannot agree more with her :). Whether or not I was a great student is a totally different story, best not delved by me here ;) .

My take on the biggest reason for this journey to be so bumpy would partly be my then naive frivolous nature, combined with an insatiable curiosity/ inappropriate bravery in wanting to take hard courses without considering the implications it might have on my GPA :D. I would say it was the side-effect of something more on the lines of lacking the maturity of looking before leaping !

On the plus side, this quote by Arnold Edinborough was what kept me going throughout my self inflicted arduous journey through grad school

“Curiosity is the very basis of education and 

if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat,

I say only the cat died nobly.”

Must say, if I were to wholeheartedly thank one person  for saving/guiding the curious cat in me through grad school it would be my thesis supervisor. He was indeed more than a supervisor any student could have ever asked for. Must say, his genuine guidance inspired me to passionately continue my current line of work. As we can see from the below picture he was indeed more happier than myself that I graduated successfully ;) 

With the guide who saved the curious cat in me

Reading about the art of gratitude elsewhere inspired me to write this post.I take this opportunity to convey my heartfelt gratitude to each and every soul that had helped ease this bumpy ride of mine :). This post would also be an humble attempt to explain my late start in entering the lovely world of blogging :).

The end result of this journey: 

• Lots of knowledge gained in a melange of courses ( yes, more than the no. required to count towards graduation)
• A masters thesis (Click next to read if interested) Milao: A novel framework 
• The thesis recently, luckily became a conference paper( thanks to hardworking lab mates and my guide/professor)
• 2 internship opportunities
• 5 job offers ( The number of job rejects I got would be a secret close to my heart :) ) 
• An average GPA of 3.52 ( my GPA at the end of first sem will also be a secret very close to my heart :) )
• Worldly wise learning on living by myself away from family
• And yea not to mention a delayed graduation date by one semester :D.

 Above all, lots of love from friends with a heartwarming farewell party and this cute graduation card which I will cherish forever :)

Better late than never, for a heartfelt biggg THANK YOU  

 

Looking back, while I do regret the many mistakes I made which stressed my family and myself a bit at grad school, am glad now that I feel like I did learn a bit from those mistakes and it was in a way those mistakes that indeed strengthened me to a certain extent. 

This my dear readers is: A survivor's story of Life after Grad School Hijacking :D 

Well, the story of how I got into grad school in the first place while having a job offer to work in India after my undergraduate degree, is a totally different story which I will hopefully pen down in the future ;)

Hobbies Vs Work: The story of a backBencher

Inspired by a friend's blog post I let my wool gathering mind freely wander without restricting it this time. Below is the end result of the wild goose chase of thoughts in my mind :). Just for laughs, not an attempt to offend anyone intentionally or unintentionally :D.

Astrea:  You aren't working late today too fixing bugs are you?

backBencher: I am soo terribly sorry Astrea but I am.

Astrea : Hmm, Your manager is not still prying on what you do during your free time, right?

backBencher: Yes,  luckily I do get to take some weekends off , but it isn't very fun to just be working like a mule.

Astrea : Thank Goodness... but why do they hate the musician/artist in you, backBencher?

backBencher: It's not hate, it is just that with lots of bugs, there are a lot of customer cases to be dealt with!

Astrea: Why did you choose to be an engineer in the first place then?


backBencher: Haha because Most Indians are Engineers, silly.. haven't you heard parents tell their children they HAVE to become a successful engineer or doctor?

Astrea: Yes, all the time, but if they really want their children to be successful, why not let them choose the careers they love?

backBencher: I lost you there Astrea...

Astrea: It's simple, it is in our basic nature to be focussed and produce great work while doing the things we love. How many stories have we heard about an engineer in Oracle,Microsoft or Google have a passionate hobby by the side!


backBencher: So are you saying that is bad?


Astrea: Well, the trouble is at first children try to do engineering to be with the herd or for parents but later what starts causing a challenge is their ability to fine-tune and have a great work life balance and all that.


backBencher: Why don't people pick the Careers they actually love to do then?

Astrea: Because unfortunately not everyone's passionate career choice might give a fat paycheck, security and the other perks so needed to be part of the herd! When has the person interested in an offbeat career like say writing or drawing had encouragement from society and family to follow his/her heart?

backBencher: Oh Yeah Indian parents want their children to be engineers or doctors, don't they?!

Astrea: Hehe, sorry to hear that, but my point precisely. See they are over protective of their children and prevent them from taking risks thinking they are wanting the best for their children!


backBencher: You know I kind of see your point!

Astrea: Finally, its all over the movies too... Have you watched 3 Idiots, Taare Zameen par or Nanban?

backBencher (a little offended): I am a software developer, we don't find time to watch movies, Silly!

Astrea: Oh sorry, but all these movies talk about how friends seldom enter the career they love from the beginning.

backBencher: Well, yes, your probability of success is maximum when you do what you love to do, but it does take some amount of maturity and wisdom to see the truth in this.

Astrea: Shouldn't we do something about this?

backBencher: Yea why don't you go and think about this while I get back to fixing bugs in customer cases...


Astrea: hey ... hang on , what's the hurry?

....but backBencher was gone already, back to his nerd-hood, and there went his creativity too!

स्मरणं ! Aka Remembering

 While I look forward to my upcoming trip to Costa Rica this spring I can't help but reminisce the  indescribable beauty of the tulips in Seattle I was lucky to visit last spring with some good friends. I knew then that the memory of an ecstatic experience in nature will sustain throughout life and bring joy for years .. 

Just as the bird sings or the butterfly soars, because it is his natural characteristic, so the artist works.
  ~ Alma Gluck

Courtesy: Aarthi's photography

Seeing these tulip pictures makes me still feel their wonderful presence around me, I hope it does for the chance blog readers too !

While I joyfully reveled in the beauty of these wonderful tulips William WordsWorth's poem Daffodils was stuck in my mind for a long time. I could not have better appreciated this poem of his until this experience. I felt like he had raced ahead of me in time and expressed my thoughts through his poem. Whilst being a poem appreciator then, I make this below attempt now to be an amateur poet :)! Though may not be as expressive as him and his work, I feel this is still worth something to be posted on my blog!

Spreading their wonderful  wings, and
Flying in air amongst colorful tulips, and

Gliding; That is their favorite pastime
Definitely not a waste of time

Fluttering amidst nature's gardens 

Wonderful creations nurtured by god
That's what beautiful butterflies do
For being happy without much ado!
 

Whilst I relive the memory in my mind's eye

                                           

I dreamed I was a butterfly, floating amongst these tulips
then reality hit me, and now I wonder

Am I a woman who dream t of being a butterfly, or 

Am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a woman? 

 

                                                              ~ True "Mockai" Artist Vidya  

दान ! Aka Charity

  Charity in a sense is a virtue that promotes unlimited loving kindness towards all living beings. 

People who have this virtue indeed have immense levels of universal love within them. Such love is contagious and immediately spreads to those around them. 

It is however little disturbing to see how this noble virtue has been misconstrued a bit in today's modern world.

There has been a trend for non profit organizations in developed nations to organize volunteering activities of several kinds like marathons, cultural shows etc etc. People are enticed to participate in such fund raising activities for several reasons such as these


- helps them reach their fitness goals
- peer pressure / to gain popularity among friends
- helps them make new friends
- donations made are tax deductible
- participate for the simple pleasure of whiling away the hours

I am NOT attempting to say that volunteering for these above reasons is bad. The funds raised are indeed for a good cause and something is definitely better than nothing. I admire such organization's work towards team building and giving back to the society. But it is indeed bit sad to see participants/donors get self conceited and bask in the false sense of accomplishment upon pursuing such events.

If only we realize that this noble selfless virtue (charity) can be inculcated in our every day lives as well by doing simple random acts of kindness, the world would definitely be filled with truly humane people.

Simple Humane gestures likes these

Lending your only jacket to the friend beside you on a cold winter night
A friendly smile to a stranger we walk past the road
Holding the door for the person behind us( whether they be a friend or a stranger)
Offering an empathetic listening ear to a troubled friend
Offering a friend/acquaintance a place to stay for the night
Dropping some change for the homeless on the road
Getting food for a sick friend/acquaintance
the list goes on ...

will truly help us manifest/spread the inherent abundant love and joy within us to the world around us!
With that said, I am no exception as well . Seeing myself and friends/acquaintances around me participate in such events is what that prompted me to write this post!

I could try making pretense statements that I am attempting to do a form of vidhya-dhaana(knowledge charity) by helping the poor kids of Costa Rica get a high school building for free through my hard manual labor. Honestly I do not know if I am doing this for that sole noble purpose alone. This week long volunteering event has a fund raising goal of $2000.  I had a great deal of learning done from my previous fund raising experience. It was not easy. This time my goal is even bigger goal.
I am really not sure whether or not being genuinely honest about my intentions will help me reach my goal. The answer to which I will know next month end!

Even otherwise it's all the experience that counts and I am grateful with life for this unique opportunity to make a tiny bit difference to the world around me. 

If you have come up to this far end of the post, do click the link below. I am sure you wont regret it !

Donate and Ride the Wave of Joy With Me

Game of life ...

As I look back the years that came and went I am beginning to better understand the fact that life need not always be predictable. Even though we can plan life to a certain extent there need not always be any guarantee that life would turn out to be the way we had planned.

Life is like a journey through these woods. The journey may be windy and dark sometimes. But there is always light in the end and part of the excitement lies in not knowing what lies ahead of us :).

 Quoting these below words comparing life to a game I read elsewhere that caught my attention

In normal games there is a winner and a loser. We play against an opponent. In the game of life there is only one opponent and it is us. We win and lose against ourselves. Whenever we win we go up one level where we encounter a different self to play against. Going up levels does not require conquering dragons. Even if you resist a temptation you have won a point. When you overcome a resistance you win another. Character building gets more points than mere knowledge. Service to others takes us to higher levels than the seeking of personal pleasure. Dispelling ignorance earns very high bonuses. 

Celebrating new years this year prompted me to write this post I guess.  We all know New Years day is celebrated widely across the world. Life would indeed be a lifelong celebration if we all had the spirit and enthusiasm of taking each day as a new years day :).

 I do not know what each day of this new year has in store for me...

but I am sure that the experiences I would gather would be as colorful as the sparks inside these firecrackers .  

And yea,  part of the excitement lies in figuring out the unknown like us here                  ---------------->

blissfully unaware of what might turn out from the box of firecracker we had in our hand :).

Wish you all a wonderful new year 2012 :) !