A partial reconciliation with the remainder of humanity was made a couple of weeks ago when I joined Facebook. Advice was sought, existential battles were fought, tossings and turnings were made before the foundations of this decision were laid. The memories of two doomed Orkut outings were still fresh but FB was given a green lantern nevertheless, since all the cool kids were doing it. It is common knowledge that my ultimate goal in life is to be “hip”, “in” with “it” and to have millions of friends. As Dr. Ross Geller so eloquently put it, “You complete me…kitchen…matey!”
Coming to the sensitive topic of adding friends, the usual suspects from the Orkut and BITS days were included in my circle of trust. But lo! I got a bunch of completely unsolicited (ed: his solicitor has recommended the use of “completely”) friend-ing invitations from females. Gee I wonder why. It’s a shame that they missed out on this 5-year interregnum when I completely (ed: note the persistent usage) set a niche area of a subset of the academic world on fire (ed: arson, to be searingly honest).
Speaking of academic pursuits, I was perusing through The Indian Express yesterday when I came across this snap.
Indian Express
Apparently, Mr. Shahrukh Khan has won an honorary doctorate from “a leading British university” for “his outstanding contribution to the arts, media…” Dr. SRK? Dr.? SRK? I mean c-c-c-c-come o-o-o-o-on! We sit in the lab or do field work for this thing when having Kajol run to your open arms in a field was quite sufficient? Granted, it takes a lot of trials just like any sordid experimental task. And then, the result of your hard work and spartan lifestyle is splashed on papers in high-impact journals such as The Times of India. You have to attend press conferences in order to publicise your findings in front of a jury of peers. Powerful, poignant presentations are given to an adoring fanbase. Well, in the end, I suppose the award of the degree is justified. Did you see what I just did? I rationalised. That’s what we excel at.
