Monday, March 21, 2005

How many words??

The dissertation mania has caught on and nobody at college acknowledges you with a “Hi, how are you?” anymore; it is just a “Hi, how many words?”. This dissertation fever gobbled up my entire weekend and my work was growing at less than 50 words per hour on Saturday and was literally driving me mad.

Books and papers scattered all around, some stuff downloaded from the net, I sit like an idiot here, staring at all that is lying around and trying to gain sense out of all the intellectual ‘wealth’ (well, not actually, but the attitude seems to be reversing because of over indulgence in the act of gaining knowledge!) that I possess. Ok, this guy says this, that guy says that and after all that, I wonder, “Why should I brand India?” and ultimately, “What is branding??”.:

Type a sentence and I go to Tools -> Word count. “10 words”, MS word shows with earnest. Oh hell! Just ten words, but I spent five minutes writing it!! This is total inverse relationship between time spent and the final outcome! Dazed, I continue; this net is a huge temptation. I vow to myself to stick to google and not go anywhere else, no not even to my blog. I gave myself very few allowances, for the last three days – “You shall visit your blog only to see comments and type some lines, nothing more, do you understand??” And mails, not more than two per day! “Dissertation, dissertation..” Oh dear, this is sad!

After I finish a paragraph, in what seems like ages, I would think I felt tired and I needed a break. A slight desire would pop up there, to probably sneak into yahoo messenger to catch up with someone online or just drop in five lines of mail to somebody saying, “Boy, am going crazy!” or just pick up my phone and call someone, whom I haven’t spoken to for like days together! I would think I am feeling sleepy, switch off my monitor, tell my mom to wake me up after 10 minutes and those 10 minutes would just vanish and I would ask for another five minutes. Now after all this, when I am done, if I had all the time in the world to sleep, I am dead sure I would just be sitting and blinking.

At college, the lab is a sight of utter confusion and tension, people walking in, walking out, and I would wonder inside my head, how many words these people would have typed. (One girl told me it is 8000 over and I almost shrieked and fainted!). Look at me, such a donkey, I have struggled and managed a bare 4000 odd words and I still have thousand more to reach the minimum mark of 5000. I already feel like an exhausted athlete running with all my might towards the finishing line!! Sigh!

Somebody says the deadline is 5PM Monday and there is a word around that the petition that all of us signed for date extension has reached who it was supposed to have reached. I had signed it for solidarity, (sometime mid last week, VERRRY confident that I would wind up work neatly) and now it looks like I join the extension gang in its truest sense.

Tools -> Word count, dissertation, chapter 5, 276. Time spent 45 minutes. (Time spent brooding, don’t ask!). I am thinking and trying to be original.

Tools -> Word count. Size of this post, 507 (already? I feel like I have more to type). Time spent - 7 minutes.Not bad. But I am being original here too. Wonder what the difference is? ;)

Ok, that is my break! I take a deep breath, decide all good things should come to an end now and all bad things will also come to an end soon and I am opening my other window – “I – n-d-I-a-n a – r-c-h-I-t-e-c-t-u-r-e c-h-a-r-m-s .........." (Charms?)

15 comments:

Anu said...

Yipppeeeee!! Deadline extended to wednesday!! :)

Anonymous said...

Ditto ooooooooooooooooooooo!!! Deadline extended.

Amrita said...

Deadline extended I heard that too, what a relief, but encore yourself for the danger that is to come at 2'o'clock next day, afternoon. All the best.

Vani Viswanathan said...

hahaaha...
so ur deadline is extended, eh? so all u guys better wind up ur work soon, man....
goodluck, dear!!!
brand india well!!!!!

Sriram said...

Ah! The wonderful sound of the word "dissertation". Am yet to start typing my "thesis" (Note : I refuse to call mine a dissertation for fear of defaming the word.) I assume you haven't looked at tmy comment on your prev. post. check it out. (smiles wickedly!) Am planning to link your blog from mine as part-1 of the "sibling blogs" with part-2 being your sis. Any objections?

Mr G said...

Hi Anu,
Uuuuuufff,
Saved by the bell, I guess...
What a relief...
However you'd better trick your brain into believing tuesday as your deadline time...
Writer's block is a threat that may hit you anytime... Though I'm sure you will manage it just fine... Bst of lucks, :)

Anonymous said...

Hoorray! Done with it! Yes I know you did it before I did, but you didn't blog it. Gotya!

Twin-Gemini said...

Regardless of when the deadlines were for most of my projects/assignments/what not, things usually got done only in the last day or two :-)

Amrita said...

Anu, I should say I am freaked. God only knows what would happen to the IP? This is not to scare you but the school thing is hanging.

Sreekesh Menon said...

how many worlds?

Anu said...

Mrgonsings - I finished it a day before, like u said :)

twin-gemini,
You have a follower in me!!:) This term, I am really not upto deadlines unlike my first terms. But, do you really manage to turn in your best in the last two days??

Sreekesh - total 5158, including bibliography!!;)) just managed to cross through!:)

Amrita - IP???????????? booh hooh...:((

S m i t h a said...

what? have u used all the words for ur thesis? please write some here also... we are thirsty! no desert-ation of readers because of dissertation!!

Twin-Gemini said...

Well that of course is true. It really depends on the type of activity. If I have the time and interest, then things will automatically fall into place, else I follow this plan.

Sreekesh Menon said...

In each word, lies a world.Its wealth.Its knowledge.Its people.Tell me another world more powerful than words?
Hope you had fun playing with the 5158 worlds. :-)

Anonymous said...

What a great site » » »