The curious case of a PhD scholar

Sushumna Kannan offers a ringside view of time spent fobbing off inquisitive relatives and wise-cracking friends while burning the midnight oil in pursuit of a dream

The curious case of a PhD scholar

Sushumna Kannan offers a ringside view of time spent fobbing off inquisitive relatives and wise-cracking friends while burning the midnight oil in pursuit of a dream

Recently, a leading newspaper ran a series on the golmaal that takes place in the acquiring and granting of a PhD. But that's not everybody's story.u00a0

A PhD, if done sincerely, needs many years of single-minded devotion. No Sunday, and nothing like a weekend. It takes 3-4 years of toil during which you would be constantly asked about your thesis, its relevance and originality. Reading, grasping, writing and other skills are mandatory skills, apart from discipline, patience, perseverance and a genuine thirst for knowledge.u00a0

The only danger, of course, is that you may not have been born a nerd, but you could end up one. I am not kidding. Just the other day I was telling a friend that I had slowly forgotten to make conversation because I am on a quest of precision that friends and family invariably find annoying.u00a0

A scholar in France once told me that if someone had done a PhD, he/she could do anything at all. The stress that you subject yourself to and the challenges that you face are sure to hone you into fine piece of sculpture. Yes, that was the metaphor that my elders would compare the business of learning to sculpting!

Saraswati vs Lakshmi

It's not necessary that a PhD holder would find a job, even if she should qualify for the post. That's the flip side. I cannot help but take refuge in another popular saying, 'Where Saraswati dwells, Lakshmi does not'. In Bangalore, I did not even get access to a student bus pass because I wasn't doing my PhD from a government organisation. Sigh!u00a0

The 'no-money, no-job, no-marriage' state of a PhD-scholar's life comes as no surprise. What does surprise me is seemingly non-stop justification that I have to give relatives and friends who look at me like I was airdropped from Mars!u00a0

20 questions & counting...

I either rise or fall on their very-own-personal scale of success the moment they discover I'm doing my PhD. But the real test is when some of them corner me and demand, 'What is the topic of your thesis?' I've had to answer this question over and over again, and if I was irritated, I wasn't supposed to show it.

I calmly announce the topic, only to invite a long-winded sermon on everything that my interrogator knows about it. Newspapers, magazines, internet web sites are quoted liberally as I struggle to keep my eyes open.

What most people do not understand is that the most difficult thing for a PhD scholar is to put 4-5 years of research into a succinct sentence to fob off inquisitive folks at parties, weddings and various other social-dos.

What drives me?

Why would anyone want a PhD, really? A friend once admitted that existential questions drove him to pursue his PhD in the Humanities. There are those who lose sleep over their PhD, those who get high on books and reading, those that get high on writing copious notes, those that get high on solving problems....you get my drift? The scene in the Humanities and Social Sciences, with which I am familiar, is peculiar. Much of the scholarship reflects activist undertones and so students are often those who suffer from the 'I shall bring about a revolution' syndrome.u00a0

As a scholar, you might have barely escaped the self-obsession that the PhD generously bestows upon you, but what remains is the precarious balance of humility and assertiveness you would have to achieve. You cannot declare, 'Eureka, I found it!' C'mon, are you God? And, you certainly cannot allow anyone to think the world would turneth the way it does, sans your PhD. If you don't believe me on this, go to https://www.phdcomics.com/.

True confessions

I was describing the work of a scholar on the Indian Traditions and a friend asked, "You mean, this guy is enlightened? Has he seen God?!" Friends with MBAs look you in the eye and ask, 'You mean you know everything?!'

This made me ask the MBA guys once, "Do I ever claim expertise in your field? So, why do you claim it in mine?" Be warned. No one would ever treat a stem-cell researcher or a particle physicist with anything but a worshipful gaze!u00a0

What are PhD holders in the Humanities and the Social Sciences actually supposed to achieve? Knowledge about human beings in their societies? It seems that all men-on-the-street already possess this knowledge. If you started to describe your thesis, you will catch them saying with supreme confidence that only matches superbly with your own diffidence: 'That is not how it is'. To be truthful, a man-on-the-street question, you will realize, is far better than the ones your peers have been throwing at you.u00a0

Friends from the US and Europe generally have a better sense of their own discipline, which probably helps them claim some expertise, but students here are a little lost. The reasons, I guess, are historical. The Social Sciences and the Natural Sciences did not emerge here and the way we encounter them today is estranging. They are not a product of this culture and the attempt is still one that gets you to reflect in a mode that is not entirely your own.u00a0

Is the dubious-troubled nature of intellectual life in India the result of colonialism? There are no quick answers to this one. It's a PhD topic for sure!

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