I have a big day coming up this week. In Hindi as they say, “Haathi chala gaya, poonch baaki hai” (the elephant is gone, only the tail is left) or something to that effect. A lot lies in this “tail” though as it will be crowned with a PhD :)

For a lot of people the title Dr seems to be a key motivator. It has never been a thing for me for itself. No doubt it signals the expertise one has developed in an area and the hard work and painstaking effort gone into it... but the way I see it is, if that expertise itself lies dormant and does not make any impact in the world, there's not much point to it. A bit like someone having earned an artist's title but whose art is never launched in the world or never seen or appreciated by anyone. But I do myself (and others) a grave disservice by seeing things this in this rigid way. Reaching this point is an achievement no matter what happens after. Just like a birthday is a cause for celebration no matter how life itself goes... and this is a birthday of sorts... of a newly minted doc ;)

Let's see what the future holds...