The Year of the "Blossoming"

For the past four years, the new years have begun customarily without resolutions and with the year being named.. as a year of... transformation - rising - making- realisation. This year must follow the tradition to be linked with the past and must add a new dimension to be a harbinger of the future.



The seed was transformed (germinated) and it 'rose' to become and then as it was 'made'.. its presence was 'realised' as a result of activities put into effect. Now the plant must blossom.. for there is no youth without blossom.. youth is a riot of colours, energy, a search for stability in constantly new things and innovations , nervous anxiety, idealistic and full of ideas of change and visions of the future and a lot of hard work .

The metaphor only indicates so must be this year.. full of various hues, energy, search for stability, innovations, nervous anxiety, idealistic and full of ideas of change and visions of the future and A LOT OF HARD WORK. the two months that have gone by for the year only confirm that this year is just that.

A mad rush to submit the defensible draft of the thesis to frantic paperwork for a trip and a chance meeting with a very dear school and college friend as a bonus in between.. things were on a roll in January. February only made it brighter more colourful and exotic but equally hectic as it saw me travel to Australia for a hectic trip along the river Murray seeing some of the most wonderful sites and meeting some of the most wonderful people and discovering some very innovative ways of trying to save and work the environment. Thanks Lin :) , Sue, Bethany, Christine, Prof Gandhi, Floriane, Marian, Alok ji, Anna and the others that we met on the way.

The 54th annual conference of the Australian Agricultural Resource Economics Society (AARES) was a pleasant break with the mini symposium for the project and me presenting some of my thesis work. the work was well received and got some nice discussion of some of the biggies and most relevant and exciting people in the field in Australia :) Indian Irrigation and its experience is sure a best seller.

The two day stopover at Bangkok was a concise tour of a almost a new world for me. The politeness of the people, their hardworking nature and the eagerness to help strangers really weaved a magic for a person like me. indeed i don't like to call myself a tourist. we, as Indians and a growing economy have a lot to learn from Thais. the secularism, the openness to strangers, the humanity is mind boggling if you can focus on it. despite being the prostitution capital of the world as some would call it, it is one of the safest place for women that i have ever come across and hats off to that:). What had me most enchanted was the simple but overarching love for beauty and artistic touch that the Thais have as their culture and still seek to espouse. Bangkok has been made a great showcase of the same.I wonder if this is true for their villages as well or is Thailand a dual existence like India.

Finally i also cleared my Thesis defense paving the way to convocate this year and finally put an end to the uncertainty that people around me have been forced to live with. So now the search is on for teaching positions which allow me to do research as well.

Coming back to a year that is one sixth gone by already.. the seed has transformed- risen- been made a plant- and its presence in the garden realised.. and now it should Blossom.

In the year of the 'Blossoming' i have visited the land of Thailand and Australia and moved much closer to my destiny by getting done and over with my PhD. Let us all enjoy the bloom ahead :)