The Approximate Doctor

Life is full of approximates. We have approximate times, approximate dates and even approximate amounts of money.



But I realised life is full of approximate academic achievements. Often people are stuck in between the exam and the result. Or the result and the award of the degree.



No one knows this better than a Ph.D. student. One gets used to these 'in-between' periods.

If nothing else, a Ph.D. surely teaches you to be patient.



From the seemingly interminable wait for the viva to the end stage delays. From university procedures that converts a gap of few weeks to a gap of few months. Even after the viva things do not change. Informally you can call yourself a Doctor (if you so wish) but to adopt the title formally you need to wait some more time! Till then you are an approximate Doctor! ;)

:)

Five Questions in Life...

The other day I came across five important questions related to something I was working on.
These five questions were:

1) What have you done?
2) Why have you done it?
3) How did you do it?
4) What have you found?
5) What are the implications of these?

I thought these five questions pretty much represent the doubts and conflicts of life.

What have you done?
What have we done in life is something that keeps us awake at night sometimes. Everyone comes across this question at least once in their life. Have we done anything at all in life? Or are we wasting it one day at a time.

Why have you done it?
Why did you do something. Why did you NOT do something? Remember there is action in inaction. Doing nothing also means you are doing something. But why was it done. The motivation is important. One often asks this question especially after difficult moments in life.

How did you do it?
This is another question that keeps us guessing after the fact. After tough periods one always ends up wondering 'how did I get through it'. After doing something amazing people wonder how they did it. Most people are not able to answer this question or answer it with statements like 'it was luck' or 'Thank God!'.

What have you found?
This is one of the most important questions in life. What have you found? In your journey of life what all things have you come across. What were you searching for and what did you find? Did you find what you were searching for? Or did your finding what you were searching for lead to another search.

What are the implications of these?
This is perhaps the most important question. Things we have done, things we have found. What do they mean? What are the implications. What did we gain/loose while finding or doing these things? This is where the accounts are balanced.

So remember these five important questions... and I hope they give you some direction in life.

:)