V's first bad word

Author: Anu Karthik /

Feb 26th 2010

So I swear I am not responsible for this. And though K might have used this in the past, he is a model citizen/ father these days. So we were baffled when for the first time we heard V use this word.  It took all of my self-control and then some more to stop myself from laughing, but I had to or this kid would catch on and then keep repeating it. But K and I wondered where he would have picked it up, and today I found out.

From a tomato. Yes 'thakkali'. V says the O word that rhymes with for 'thakkali'. He kept pointing to it today and just kept on saying '*kkali *kkali' and wanted me to feed him some.  So I asked him with a straight face 'Vrushab ku thakkali venuma?' and then gave him some. And then stifled my laughter and then came here to share it with you.

God, I love children and the joy they bring to our lives !!!

4 comments

Why I should have stayed in graduate school

Author: Anu Karthik / Labels: ,

Feb 18th 2010

  1. Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy less meetings.
  2. There were no *working* hours, I worked for as long as I wanted on some days and not so much on other days.
  3. I mostly did not keep track of vacation days.
  4. Dress-code- what is that? most days I was happy to come in after taking a shower.
  5. We got to use words like "ginormous", "ground-breaking", "innovative", "path-finding" etc. to describe our research unlike just "Get it done or you get fired!".
  6. We were the cool nerds who knew how to have fun.
  7. We could actually talk about our work to others and discuss it with our colleagues without having "confidential" stamped all over and getting sued and also not have our ideas stolen :)
  8. What pay was offered in our offer letter was what we got paid, and no one took away 1/2 of it in taxes, who cares that it was peanuts..at least you got what you were promised.
  9. Work-life balance was there because work was life, had to get that doctorate remember?
  10. We got to travel to cool places for conferences, and present our novel work and win awards, ok just one also counts :P
  11. We got student discounts everywhere- on airlines, amusement park tickets, restaurants, you name it and we got it!
  12. You had time for your interests and your passions.
  13. Life revolved around conference deadlines and paper presentations which was not too bad coming to think of it.
  14. People knew you (even because you were notorious counts) and you were not a nameless face lost in this whole sea of engineers
  15. Most important of all, we had a kinship with our research projects and kind of owned it and defended it left, right and center only to have it torn apart and start over all again :)
And the reason I left, so I could for once answer the question "So when are you done with your PhD?"

2 comments

India

Author: Anu Karthik / Labels: , ,

Feb 17th 2010


"India". When I hear this word, a few hundred thoughts run in my mind and I feel a sense of longing, pride and happiness that I never experienced truly as long as I was there. Another proof to the adage "Distance makes the heart go fonder". It is quite close to a decade that I have not lived physically in the country and am more a visitor, but I live there so much more mentally than I ever have in the 20 odd years I spent in my desh.

You can take yourself away from India but you cannot take the Indian out of you. Living in the land of opportunities has its pluses, in fact I think you crave your homeland more because of the peace and ease of every day life here. If you are faced with corruption everyday and frustrated because you are dependent on people to get your things done, you are not going to be in a mindframe to appreciate the beauty or feel sorry about the deprived around you. One is going to be too focused on the umpteen personal battles to be won everyday.

As an Indian living here, I have also been asked the question many many times "So are you going to settle here or go back?". The answer to the question that I always give which is the truth too is that "I don't know, I am living one day at a time." And I say this with the full realization that that is the truth and not in any way trying to evade the question. I am not ashamed to admit that my time here has made me a more compassionate person, has truly made me explore my potential to the maximum. It is living here that I have learnt to look beyond just my home and my family and share and volunteer. But it has also made me see India for what a great country she is and appreciate the people and the diversity in which they co-exist so much more. And it has also many a time made me feel sad about how most of her wonderful treasures are just not treasured.


Why now? Well, I took a recent trip to India and this caused a surge of feelings during the onward journey, my time there and some realizations when I came back. I love it here and I love it there, but I can be in only one place at a time now right? But the key is to be physically and mentally in the same place at the same time, so I am not sitting in Oregon and wanting to go shopping in pondy bazaar and eating parotta chops in Saravana Bhavan! 

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