Ode in prose

6th September, 2010 will go down as one of my most memorable days. It was on this day when I gave my Ph.D viva. It was the culmination of all the efforts and struggles of the years gone by. In this poem I have attempted to capture these ups and down moments of my time in NCL. I hope you like it. Here goes...

The story begins in April 2004
As a guest worker I land on NCL's shore
I felt a bit clueless in the start
Making new friends was a hard task
Everybody seemed busy, they knew their way around
"Was I in the right place?" came the question in rebound

Quite some time went by until I adjusted
My new JRF position had me comforted
Untried areas in research I was charting
But that is what made it all the more exciting
2005 was therefore a learning period
Every passing day I was gaining experience

The year ended with an oral presentation at a conference
And another can of 365 days was opened with confidence
I worked hard for the next 5 months
I even wrote a paper for a journal
Much to my dismay it got panned at a workshop
The signs said "You'll have to start from scratch."

Disheartened, broken, crushed I returned
The midnight oil I then practically burned
In this midst my colleagues were merrily publishing
And some even had this to me out pointing
Jealous, angry, upset I became
Promotion to SRF was the only saving grace

In 2007 God tested my patience
My paper swayed between rejection and acceptance
To attend a conference in Boston I also tried
On time but my US visa never arrived
So I went to Delhi to divert my mind
A recharged self I did there find

2008 was probably my best
The jigsaw pieces were getting finally set
Two of my papers saw the light of the day
And a third one was well on its way
For a week I went to Sydney and another to Singapore
The latter had me (thanks to my Boss) as an invited speaker

Personally and professionally things were looking up
I decided it would be in 2009 that I would wind up
I juggled running calculations and writing chapters
Bound I had 8 thesis copies ready come September
Seeing my name embossed was a proud moment
I was so happy, I could not contain it

With a thumping heart I submitted my thesis
I wondered what will now motivate me to surge ahead
The deal was not yet over I reminded myself
It was another year before I could give my PhD defense
Thankfully I spoke well in my dissertation
I even answered decently in the Q&A session

The committee declared me as elgible for the award of the degree
And a fortnight later I received a letter confirming my Doctorate of Philosophy
With this my association with NCL came to a close
Along with the victory, was a sense of loss
This was some journey I must say
So I wrote this ode to everyone regale