Today, one of my friends accused me of treating my blog as a step child!...and indeed , I had almost forgotten all about it. Now, as is the tradition, let me explain myself for having been absent on the blogosphere.
Come to think of it, I had a host of reasons, and the award for the most important reason goes to.....the NET, the numero uno 'net' which never fails to trap many a student into a life time of studying hard. But no, I don't want to write about my NET paper, let's leave it for the examiners to decide whether I deserve to slog out the rest of my life in a research lab or should I have some sunshine outside the air-conditioned sterile atmosphere of a culture room!
Pardon me, I know I must have discouraged a few readers from getting into research by now (but please don't view it as my sisnister plan to reduce competition: I don't belong to that league of insecure candidates who would not share information about competitions just so that people might miss them out and competition might get reduced!..I mean jahaan pe lakhon log exam de rahe hai, ek do ko kam karke kya hoga! kuch karna hi hai toh koi bada plan banao...like tip off the terrorists about the venues where the briliant scientists of the future would be writing their exams so they can nip them at the bud!). That was gross... I realise I have taken too much liberty with the freedom of speech on my blog now.
Okay, okay don't close my page yet! Let me try once again.
Another reason for my absence was the department trip. I can almost hear my classmates saying,"shut up you melodramatic liar! The trip was for just four days and you had been idle for almost three months!!" You see, believe it or not, I was quite preoccupied with thinking what excuse should I give for not going on the trip. Well, I failed there miserably and finally went for the trip. Now, are you expecting me to tell you about the trip?
Alright, alright...no pricey act this; it's just that I had such an awesome trip with my friends that I didn't want to dilute the memory with my currently substandard style of writing. We started off for Rishikesh on the 23rd of November and put up in a government lodge. We had a very comfortable stay; in fact, too comfortable for my idea of a perfect educational trip for M.Sc. final year students. I was really looking forward to this one for I thought we were going on some kind of a camping where we would be packed into outhouses near jungles where our survival instinct would be tested to some extent. In short, I thought it would be more adventurous. But alas! that was not to be and I think, by now, you people must have realised why I was trying to think of an excuse for not going .
But still, we did have a lot of fun! The best part was our ecology experiment which we conducted inside a forest. That was the first time I had been into a forest and had a good time. That wasn't the only first-time thing I did: we went to the Rajaji National park, where we trekked a long way. Though we could not spot any wildlife there, we saw a dead animal killed by a leopard. Oh my! was it stinking! But we enjoyed even that as our brush with the wild!.And, of course, how can I forget those precious unforgettable minutes some of us spent by the Ganges at dusk, listening to the "sandhya arti". It wouldn't be an over-statement if I said it was a soul-stirring experience.
We also visited the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, thanks to a sudden addition to our plans. There we went into their museum and herbarium -all very interesting( nevertheless I had my own personal vested interest too!). I must say, the FRI main block was one lovely building, though the mixture of Greek-like facades and pillars and the Gothic style corridors would have caught any puritanical lover of architechture in a tizzy!
I know I should be saying this in a more sombre mood, but yes, the relevant part of my hiatus was due to the Mumbai bombings too. I could have jumped into the bandwagon and expressed my grief, concern, disgust or whatever, but I wanted to just sit back and read or hear what others had to say, without adding to the already deafening cacophony. Taking advantage of the fact that I'm just blabbering on my blog, let me risk sounding a little cynical here by asking one thing: is it because the bombings were in metropolitan Mumbai or because it was the rich and the influential, who could afford to wine and dine at the Taj, who were killed that the episode was given much more attention (by making it the subject of great concern and nation-wide tirades) than the quite recent and quite forgotten but equally serious bombings in Assam? Even after having said this, please don't be mistaken into thinking I didn't write about it in rebellion, for what I have just expressed is a reflection on the aftermath and not a spontaneous reaction.
I hadn't intended this post to take such a serious note, but I'm running out of things to write with my limited creativity, which I need to recharge during this winter break. Let me sign off for now before I get crowned the queen of verbosity.....Oh! come on now, I can be excused this attempt to fill pages for once...I'm a come-back lady, people!....lol)
...and with this let the drought of almost 3 months come to an end...amen.
