19 till I die

This morning, after some good work at the bench, two people working with me wanted to discuss something. This wasn't the regular, I'm not sure how to do this experiment, or have those flies arrived?, or can I take the day off ? This was one of those sombre sit downs. First, they both asked for time off. I thought to myself "Phew... That was easy." I was happy to get going from there, but a heavy question followed. One of them said they wanted to pursue a PhD in cancer biology. "OK, they are leaving this group I guess.". But then one of them spoke about how much they want to do a PhD and nothing has panned out in many many years and that it was too late, and that they are dependent on their fiancé, and how much that is a burden on their conscience, and they've tried many different fields, and they want to stay in academics and not go to industry... The stream of thought was unbroken, and gained strength like their tears. Finally they asked "What...

This question is not new. People have questioned each other and themselves before. My wife asked me where I am from this week. My coworkers weighed in. Their opinions about where I am from differed from mine. I couldn’t change their mind. Our marriage was arranged. My parents wanted me to marry someone in our own community. Here’s how we think of ourselves. My community is rabidly vegetarian. We eat no onion or garlic. People I know won’t eat jackfruit or mushrooms because they look like meat. There are festivals we celebrate in addition to Holi and Diwali in a very traditional, and to me, very dear way. Our roots lie in Agra district. And can’t really tell you what other badges and sashes I think we wear. Two generations separate me from Bateshwar, the village which my grandfather left behind for Indore. Papa left Indore about 15 years before I was born. Papa is fond of Indore, rather of what Indore was. Amma grew up in Lucknow and doesn’t speak fondly of it. She speaks only...