The Life Journey of a Nobody

Dear future grandchild, Perhaps when you are able to read this letter, I am already in heaven or the transitional place in between heaven and earth (I hope so--mind you, I believe in the Afterlife, and I hope your generation still does). I am writing this letter to tell you of a particular and peculiar time during the course of my life. The year was 2020. I was almost 34 by then, with two kids, yeah... your dad and your auntie (or, your mom and your uncle--depending on to which of my children you belong, dear).  ( https://unsplash.com/photos/iPOzQwvcMLE ) 2020 was a pretty number. It read pretty, at least. But boy.... what that year brought to us! A calamity will sound a bit condescending.  That year, a virus went spiraling down the abysmal well of torture--psychologically and physically.  They said it started in a place called Wuhan in China and it spread uncontrollably all over the world. In some countries, the virus took thousands of death tolls. Italy was the first ...

Ah, the privilege of working in solitude, with zero distractions (except for the social media and video-sharing platform icons displayed temptingly on the navigation bar), and boosted by speedy internet connection. How I miss it dearly! What a privilege working from anywhere with such a peaceful isolation. But here's what I got: When I just got a super clever idea for a revision of my journal article, and my hands and my mind tried to concentrate on coordinating so that the idea got transferred into writing . . . my son came and slapped me with a question, "Ambu, do worms change their skin because they are getting older?" "What????????????" I had no idea of what he was talking about. That's not the kind of question that I could simply answer 'yes' or 'no' because I needed to have scientific justification.  I definitely needed some time to think about the answer. And then... I FORGOT what I was trying to type in.  Oh, NO! My ...

Is PhD really a lonely journey? The answer to that will vary, depending on our perspectives. Being quite spiritual and religious myself, I might for example argue that life in itself is actually a lonely journey.  We were born alone to this world (even those with a twin did not come "together" out of their mother's womb), and we will die a lonely death. But, I am aware of the fact that loneliness has some positive and negative ramifications. Most of the time, it is viewed negatively, and as such bears negative consequences. I recently watched a news report telling about how older people who are lonely tend to die earlier than those who are not. Sad. What about PhD journeys? There is no absolute yes or no answer to that. For me, embarking this journey with two little kids and a husband made me feel like it is actually a crowded journey--mostly in a positive sense. errantscience.com I visualize this journey as one that I venture on a small boat enough for one...