It has been a series of PhD Viva Voce days lately. At the Institute, this is the source of much mirth.
One notices that, there are far greater number of women who are doctoral students, as opposed to men. Which makes me wonder, why is that? Every year, in the month of May, we see the newspapers proclaim that, the girls have once again outdone the boys in the Board Exams. It is so common-place to see a group of happy looking girls giving each other high-fives that a photographer captures for the newspaper, that one ignores it.
After this, god only knows what happens to all these women? Most of the people who cross the 7 Point CGPA in college are boys. Most of the folks who get into MBA colleges are also men. The women seem to fade into obscurity for a while.
Many years later, somewhere in her mid 30s, the PhD option becomes viable and that Board Exam topper appears again. It perhaps appeals to the over-achiever hidden inside her somewhere. A bad marriage, ill-mannered children and the demands of an IT Job that requires her to go on-site leaving behind all the people she anyway ought to hate, begins to take the toll.
And that explains why forty year olds en masse are doing their PhDs these days. At the Viva Voce, the Interviewers are stern, deliberately difficult and highly sexist. They take that as part of the job definition. Understandably, this leads to frail nerves. When Lakshmi is inside, getting grilled and butchered by the Interviewer, her now in Engineering college daughter, her Board Exam writing son, her diabetic mother-in-law in a Chettinad Sari and her alcoholic husband wait. It is hilarious to see the role reversal and see the children panic. The ordeal ends and everyone congratulates Dr Lakshmi. D O C T O R, they all say over and over again. When the cretin (aka Interviewer) walks out, they dig deep into their selves and offer him a smile even. He ignores and you run after him (as he is your boss) and let the family be.
