With just a few days left to submit my (atleast) 15,000 words dissertation; I am (but, of course) stressed... because as always, I have been waiting until the last minute to actually start my work. (though I have been giving my supervisor the impression that I have been putting in all hours of my life in this project...Or so I hope?) With the deadline fast approaching and my work (very) slowly progressing, it is a miracle how have I not hit the panic button yet.
For the people who may be even mildly interested in what is my research topic, I shall enlighten you today. For those who are not.. well then, you must still read, because , honestly, you also know you are just procrastinating from your work when you came across this blog, why not spend a few minutes and know what is it about?
(For those who are actually not procrastinating, my apologies, you may now continue to your work; because the following might not be terribly important for you anyway...)
So I shall try to put down this journey of my research project (so far) as succinctly as possible.
(Just a random thought : I have a tendency to be the most creative when I have overwhelming amounts of work.. case in point: the post I wrote during exams! Wasn't that the best piece of writing you ever read or what!
OK. You don't need to tell me you don't agree with that.
Because it was indeed the best piece of writing humankind has ever witnessed in the history of the world!
Just a slight exaggeration. Never mind, because , "Within every elaborate lie lies a kernel of truth.." ~Someone
Yes I just googled it to put in the blog to make it seem like I can fit in quotes whenever I like 'cos ofcourse I am well read and I remember every quote of every book I have ever read and I can put in a quote anywhere and everywhere just to make it sound like I am so smart.
and that is how you increase the word-count ,people!
Sorry, this has been one huge bracket comment. I tend to deviate!)
So, yes, to the serious matter of my thesis so far.
Once upon a time there was a young woman who was very much passionate about doing something worthwhile in her life. (Apparently writing a blog twice a year does not count! I know I was shocked to learn that too..!) Anyway, she had no idea how to proceed to do the same. It must have been destiny then, that she enrolled in a graduate program in social statistics, one that demanded her to do an engaging project at the end.
It was a summer's evening in late April when the class was told they need to start thinking about their thesis and potential topics, and start meeting potential supervisors to discuss the validity of their project. Naturally, everyone was thrown off track and were infuriated at this bit of information. "Don't they know that we have approximately a million deadlines and exams coming up in less than a month? They actually expect us to think?"
But the world doesn't work our way, because even though they had a million deadlines, they had also been given a million years to do it. (They must be really lazy students to not work until the last minute...)
Anyhow, this young woman was also perturbed. She hadn't even started thinking about her dissertation, and now she was suddenly expected to meet professors and discuss her research goals with them; there just wasn't enough time for everything!
However, there is the Law of Productivity ( which I firmly believe in, and it is not at all made up) which states : "The level of productivity of a person shall be constant (and low) ; unless and until the amount of time left to complete the said work approaches zero, after which the productivity increases exponentially"
In other words, productivity is inversely proportional to time.
Which means that, even though the young woman knew there was no time, she wasn't aware of the law of productivity, and she did manage to meet her deadlines and study for exams and think up of her research topic. ( with a little help from her friends...)
And thus, she finished her exams, submitted all the assignments by the deadlines, and sat down to work for her project.
Or she thought she did.
You see, she pretended to work, because let's be honest, she had no clue what she was supposed to be doing in the research project. She had never done anything like that ever before. It was too daunting a task...and there was so much time! She would figure it out..
So, after a lot of pretend-work (and also a bit of actual work) she eventually convinced herself that she had been working very, very hard. (and I agree. Pretend-work isn't easy you know. All that pretension! It's tiring!) Her belief spread to the extent that when there was little time left , she thought - "Oh, I have been working so hard the past few months, I really deserve a break!"
Which is how this post came into existence.
Notes:
1. Sorry for the shameless bit of advertising there ! But, that's how promotions work don't they?
2. The above story is a complete fictional account, believe me. (Ofcourse I don't pretend-work!)
3. For someone actually interested, my thesis is titled : "Determinants of child health in the context of gender inequality : A study in rural Haryana and Kerela "
(This is a working title. And please don't ask me further questions about it since I happen to know not a lot.)
For the people who may be even mildly interested in what is my research topic, I shall enlighten you today. For those who are not.. well then, you must still read, because , honestly, you also know you are just procrastinating from your work when you came across this blog, why not spend a few minutes and know what is it about?
(For those who are actually not procrastinating, my apologies, you may now continue to your work; because the following might not be terribly important for you anyway...)
So I shall try to put down this journey of my research project (so far) as succinctly as possible.
(Just a random thought : I have a tendency to be the most creative when I have overwhelming amounts of work.. case in point: the post I wrote during exams! Wasn't that the best piece of writing you ever read or what!
OK. You don't need to tell me you don't agree with that.
Because it was indeed the best piece of writing humankind has ever witnessed in the history of the world!
Just a slight exaggeration. Never mind, because , "Within every elaborate lie lies a kernel of truth.." ~Someone
Yes I just googled it to put in the blog to make it seem like I can fit in quotes whenever I like 'cos ofcourse I am well read and I remember every quote of every book I have ever read and I can put in a quote anywhere and everywhere just to make it sound like I am so smart.
and that is how you increase the word-count ,people!
Sorry, this has been one huge bracket comment. I tend to deviate!)
So, yes, to the serious matter of my thesis so far.
Once upon a time there was a young woman who was very much passionate about doing something worthwhile in her life. (Apparently writing a blog twice a year does not count! I know I was shocked to learn that too..!) Anyway, she had no idea how to proceed to do the same. It must have been destiny then, that she enrolled in a graduate program in social statistics, one that demanded her to do an engaging project at the end.
It was a summer's evening in late April when the class was told they need to start thinking about their thesis and potential topics, and start meeting potential supervisors to discuss the validity of their project. Naturally, everyone was thrown off track and were infuriated at this bit of information. "Don't they know that we have approximately a million deadlines and exams coming up in less than a month? They actually expect us to think?"
But the world doesn't work our way, because even though they had a million deadlines, they had also been given a million years to do it. (They must be really lazy students to not work until the last minute...)
Anyhow, this young woman was also perturbed. She hadn't even started thinking about her dissertation, and now she was suddenly expected to meet professors and discuss her research goals with them; there just wasn't enough time for everything!
However, there is the Law of Productivity ( which I firmly believe in, and it is not at all made up) which states : "The level of productivity of a person shall be constant (and low) ; unless and until the amount of time left to complete the said work approaches zero, after which the productivity increases exponentially"
In other words, productivity is inversely proportional to time.
Which means that, even though the young woman knew there was no time, she wasn't aware of the law of productivity, and she did manage to meet her deadlines and study for exams and think up of her research topic. ( with a little help from her friends...)
And thus, she finished her exams, submitted all the assignments by the deadlines, and sat down to work for her project.
Or she thought she did.
You see, she pretended to work, because let's be honest, she had no clue what she was supposed to be doing in the research project. She had never done anything like that ever before. It was too daunting a task...and there was so much time! She would figure it out..
So, after a lot of pretend-work (and also a bit of actual work) she eventually convinced herself that she had been working very, very hard. (and I agree. Pretend-work isn't easy you know. All that pretension! It's tiring!) Her belief spread to the extent that when there was little time left , she thought - "Oh, I have been working so hard the past few months, I really deserve a break!"
Which is how this post came into existence.
Notes:
1. Sorry for the shameless bit of advertising there ! But, that's how promotions work don't they?
2. The above story is a complete fictional account, believe me. (Ofcourse I don't pretend-work!)
3. For someone actually interested, my thesis is titled : "Determinants of child health in the context of gender inequality : A study in rural Haryana and Kerela "
(This is a working title. And please don't ask me further questions about it since I happen to know not a lot.)