There is a hike!

It is sometimes amusing to see the monkey act of research scholars. Especially, when there are hikes in stipends, contingency amount etc. Ever seen people coming together for a noble cause? Yes, the nation did come together for revolutionary acts to fight imperialism, be it through non-violence or violence. Why! we did have non-cooperation movements and civil disobedience movement too. Didn't we? But the coming together of people that I am talking of here is of the game theory type. Implicit cooperation.

Today's newspaper read out bold and loud that the Department of Science and Technology announced hikes in stipend money for research. It was further put across that the hike in monthly stipend for research scholars in science, engineering etc. is mainly to prevent the best brains of the country from moving out to the Corporate sector or to "foreign institutions" of excellence. The research associates and research scholars went on a high. Voila! more nuts to live a life of luxury and then "move out". Chak De Phatte! 'F*** but so what if CSIR and DST have echoed a rise? By the time it is implemented by the autonomous institutes (read, institutes of national importance), we would have passed out?' And then, the game theory tactics starts. Forums are formed, research scholars take out time from their PhD work (anyway it Piles, Higher, and Deeper!) and sit on discussions for presenting "white papers" and pressurising authorities for registering a rise. The scholars who till yesterday did not have the heart to discuss research, come together to lobby, lobby and more lobby. The day scholars who held rooms in the hostels for "one-night stands" ;-) and weekend night-outs plan on the amount of HRA that they are to forgo if they continue to stay. Those who had boyfriends/girlfriends and still kept re-thinking about plans of getting married get ready to submit marriage certificates at the dean's office to provide them marriage accommodation, which most of the time does not exist and hence yoo hoo, the much-awaited HRA falls onto their laps. He he...

The hike implemented, everyone gets back to work as usual. The mad rush for applications in research institutions abroad continues, corporates still welcome our research fraternity with open arms, and we the privileged researhers of a poor and developing country still talk of how beautiful Rome was when we last visited there for the World Conference on Food.