on acknowledgements

there was a time, in my early undergraduate days, when i was first introduced to the concept of an "acknowledgements" page as an indispensable part of a phd thesis. indeed, that then seemed reason enough to go to graduate school and get a phd. i wanted to be able to write a page (several, rather) of acknowledgements to thank every person who had played a role in my life. (you think i'm kidding, perhaps. i'm not. that thought has crossed this mind more than once.)

i could not have been very smart. why must i wait till i'm done with my phd to thank these people? why can't i thank today, right here right now, all those people who've brought me to this juncture of my life? i may not ever win an oscar either, but that doesn't mean i'm not grateful for who i am :). and i may not be an aishwarya rai, but thank god really, that i'm not a mass murderer. yeah? (point, if you lost it: i have reason to be grateful.)

my list of people to thank, however, would be impossible to compile. for i don't know all the names, and some people, over the decades, have indeed been forgotten, so that i don't know who they are anymore. be gentle though, can you justly expect me to remember the name of every bus driver who took me home after school, or my kathak teacher when i was 5 from lessons i have no memory of anymore? but to everyone i have shared a moment of my life with, i am grateful. for that the ground beneath my feet is firm today, is attributable to each one of them. and to everyone who they've shared a moment of their lives with, too, i am grateful. for they made their contribution too, at the second degree of separation. and quite unsurprisingly, the world, thus, is covered.

phew. there. i'm done. so now if i finish my phd, it will be for the phd's sake entirely.