shredding n simplifying n ...... you figure it out

One fine day, when I was walking down the brick-stud lanes of IIMA, chirping like a gay robin thinking “what a pat I’d get on my back for my game theory term paper!” I was bombed. You know who dropped it on me? My current advisor, who during that time I was trying to impress with my work so that he’d agree to guide me on my juggling acts of putting together a decent dissertation. Well….when I got my senses back I realized that the injury was primarily from splinters that had lightly scraped the hell out of me….. “ooohhh….ahhhh…ouuchhhhh…phooo…phoooo”!

What he had said was this...."Patrali...what's the matter with you? your writing makes no sense". And all my life...in school, grad days....I was told that I had excellent writing skills....it all fell flat...shhmmughfffllleeee splat!

I am still recovering…don’t know if I’d ever come out of the shock. Even though experts say that I’d be fine….I don’t see any signs.

As a kid, almost all my well-wishing elders preached me the virtues of honesty, modesty, and simplicity. Well….let me tell you what I’ve got out of this thus far. Maybe it’s possible for one to muster some flair along the lines of the 1^st two ….of course you’d have to trudge rough roads a bit (me? not there yet...not even trying). And if you’re talking about attaining simplicity…..forget about it! Who would’ve thought while coining this innocent term that it wouldn’t after all be all that simple?

I realized this when I attempted writing up my research. “ooohh…aahhhhh…splinter splinter….phooooo”! The 1^st feedback I got from my then would-be advisor was that I write like I was creating a jigsaw puzzle and messing up the pieces for the reader to figure out. All the pieces were there …but if you were reading it you'd want to beat the hell out of me (the writer) and file a section 307 against me. It’s been 3 years since I was that gay robin; now.... I’m all messed up….except that now I know that I’m messed up.

So what is this simplicity….a tongue-slurping lizard of some kind? Freaking the hell out of young writers? Following is a gist of what I’ve figured out thus far. The 1^st thing we need to achieve in order to attain simplicity in writing is get the FOCUS right. Well, at the end of my thesis journey…I hope I’ve got that…for the least :p

But that doesn’t stop the damned lizard from flashing its nasty tongue at you ….. there are several other levers attached to it. It’s like a lifestyle! Being able to identify jargons from terms, being able to know when you type the equation and when you type out runny sentences to explain ….a-a-a-a….not too much…just the right amount! It’s making the work sound interesting without making the reader wonder “Boy I must be stupid; or did I miss something? Oh…check out the nice chick at 10 o’clock!”, or worse still making them go “what the hell are you reading?”

Now some side-effects of missing the catch called simplicity…. I’ve been shredding reams of copies of my whole work – spiral bound and everything…glad it’s less than 120 pages. I was told not to dump them like our usual course-mats. I have some 10 more of those lying around ‘coz my palms and fingers are sore, as there’s no shredder bot on campus. I was thinking it might be easier to eat them…. At least I’d get my daily dose of fiber…not so prevalent in our canteen menu ;) Or maybe I just need some sleep!