(no subject)

[swatkat]

Bored at work. Meme time! Stolen from a couple of people in the flist:

The problem with LJ: we all think we are so close, but really, we know nothing about each other.

So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Or something completely random. Ask away.

Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you!

Comments

[shutterbug-12.livejournal.com]

What did you go to school for and where? Did your academic training pave the way to your current job? Is your current job something you really wanted to do, or something you settled for, and, in either case, what made you take it? What's your dream job and is this different from your ultimate reasonably-achievable goal?

Sorry, those are a lot of questions, but I'm really curious. =)

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

By school, I'm assuming you mean college (strange American terms!). I did my undergraduate course in English literature in a college in Calcutta (which is where I hail from. almost. and my family is currently based there, so). Incidentally, my college was an all girls college, run by Iron Ladies. It was my first experience at an all girls institute,and initially I was *horrified* (and the only reason I stuck to it because it's a prestigious institution), but looking back, I'm glad I went there. For my postgraduation I shifted base to New Delhi, which is where I am still, doing a M.Phil course and gearing up for a Ph.D.

Did your academic training pave the way to your current job?

Yes and no. I took up this job because I needed money, and also because I wanted to explore the publishing option. And they do prefer to hire graduates from a social sciences/humanities background, because of the kind of academic publishing that we do. But I'm quitting at the end of this month because fulltime work is getting a bit difficult to manage, and it's time I started thinking about my research. I think that also answers your next question, doesn't it? I didn't settle for it - I wanted to explore this industry, and I like what I see. I don't know, I do want to get a Ph.D, but I may come to work in this industry sometime in the future. I'll continue freelance work in the meantime (and the scholarship takes care of the rest).

I don't know what my dream job is. I do know that I'm increasingly drawn to academics, but publishing and editing is also something I enjoy. I will be exploring academia some more this year, see how I feel about it. Who knows where I'll end up in the next couple of years? I'm pretty content with the way things are going, even if they're not very concrete or settled.

[severuslovesme.livejournal.com]

I was going to ask about your college experiences, but you've already answered that question!

So instead I'll ask: what are a few places you'd like to live in over the course of your life?

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. There are so many! I'd like to live in Paris and London and Florence and Rome and... I can never be away from my friends and family for too long, though. I need a 'home', a support network of my own.

[sk56.livejournal.com]

How did you start reading fanfiction?

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

It was sometime in 2002, right after I finished the fourth HP book. I read the first four in a breathless pace, one after the other, and THEN there was this giant gaping chasm. I needed something. I *needed* new Harry Potter. So I googled fan websites and pored over analysis and speculation and essays, until I found fanfiction.net. And well, now here I am, seven years later. Still reading.

[sk56.livejournal.com]

I think that's a difference between your generation and mine -- you knew to google fan sites, and I didn't even think to look until I read something in the newspaper about online fans (back in the heyday of LFN)

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Heh. Googling is the first thing that comes to me when I have to look up something.

[sk56.livejournal.com]

I've switched now to looking for things on Wikipedia, or at least the popular culture stuff. Which means, of course, that all the cool kids have moved on to something else.

[hihoplastic.livejournal.com]

I am pondering a question (I just woke up. Brain = stalled) but I wanted to say: ALL GIRLS SCHOOL!! We should discuss. I went to an all girls Catholic high school. I am still deciding how I feel about that, hee. ^^

I like this meme!

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

High school? I must ask, are they really like on television, or slightly different? We have plenty of all girls Catholic schools around (my sister went to one in high school!), and I'd like to compare notes now. *g*

My college experience was nothing like my sister's high school experience, though. Whereas hers was a semi-posh school with plenty of rich girls and all those things typical to the urban upper middle-class schools here, our college was nothing like it. It's an old and prestigious institution (which is why I was not allowed to leave, despite having every intention of doing so). The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the different sounds - the chatter of female voices instead of the din of rowdy boys, which is what I was used to, from school. I was resentful at first for having to study in the all-female desert, but I slowly grew to appreciate the various *kinds* of women I'd come across everyday. Our college, you see, was first an all-girls Muslim girls college, opened by some king (and aided by the British Viceroy at that time) to encourage higher education in Muslim girls. It was later opened up for girls from all religions. It is located in a predominantly Muslim locality in the city, and both the location and the heritage draws a number of Muslim girls to the college - even girls who would not, otherwise, have attended college at all. It's the same for girls from a variety of conservative (non-Muslim) backgrounds as well. Some are the first women in their family to receive higher education. Our college was also noted for its excellent boarding facilites (more like a jailhouse, the girls will tell you - even *we*, the day scholars, were not allowed inside!), which drew girls from outside the city (again, some of them from conservative backgrounds).

In short, it had a very mixed crowd, and it was an incredible experience, meeting all these girls I never would have encountered under ordinary circumstances. The college is run by Iron Ladies (tm), who believe that students should behave like 'students'. So my college stories are usually along the lines of How We Escaped College to Get Drunk at My Place, or That Time When We All Disappeared From Class And Got Into Trouble For It, or How We Sneaked In Coffee Cups Inside the Classroom... It was more like a school, really. I don't think any girl has ever dared smoke inside our college. *g*

A few days ago, when I was home for a week, I learnt that the elderly lady in the house next door is an alumni of our college.

'Ask your daughter about the fountain,' she told my mother. 'We were the ones who got it installed.'

She belongs to that generation of women when higher education in women was a rare privilege, obtained by a precious few (often from elite families, but also very brave women). I cannot begin to tell you how *lucky* I felt at that time. Lucky, and so incredibly privileged to be one among them. We used to make fun of the 'old women' who would come to the college reunion and act eighteen. You know what? I'm fully ready to do that now.

[hihoplastic.livejournal.com]

Yup, high school. :)

That sounds really amazing, and, while similar, quite different, I think, than my school. Ours was very prestigious, obviously, but there wasn't quite such a sense of, The Ones Who Came Before You. Sure, we exhausted and praised the founding nuns all the time, and talked about how there was only one classroom when it started, etc. etc., but. We had a mostly Catholic population, then Jewish, then a mix of a couple atheists, agnostics, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. Most people were pretty liberal, or they kept their mouths shut. It was an interesting dynamic, to have a liberal student body and a relatively conservative administration.

We had a lot of fairly ignorant people. Lots of stupid girls. Lots of people that you'd like at and go, 'Why the hell are you HERE?' (And, more often than not, the answer was, "Daddy's paying for it.")

But we had amazing, amazing teachers. I can't even express how glad I am I went to that school, and received that education before coming to Uni. It makes everything so much simpler, there are so many little, important things I already know, don't have to struggle through. It's amazing.

And while I kind of which I had gone to school with Boys (I am now, naturally, Boy!inept), because all the estrogen sometimes could drive you nutty, it was a really good experience, and I still have tons of the friends I made there, we keep in touch all the time. It was a such a rare, loving community. I miss that most of all.

Also, Mrs. Foran. I need to email her. Best teacher of ever.

*nostalgia*

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Also, apologies for the length. You made me nostalgic.

[roga.livejournal.com]

How many languages do you speak? Is your amazing English from home or from school? How would you characterize your English accent? (I am curious! I don't know whether to imagine your voice as American, English, or like a Star World commercial.)

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

I speak three fluently. English, of course. Bengali, which is my mother tongue. And Hindi, which is unavoidable (and anyway, I live in a Hindi-speaking region now, so...). I don't think I'll ever manage the Hindi genders correctly (it's like French that way), though, and sometimes I lose words and have to shift to another language. A little bit of Sanskrit, from what I learnt in school (and a lot of Bengali/Hindi is derived from Sanskrit). I've also been trying to pick up Assamese and Punjabi of late, with limited success. I know swear words in a *lot* of languages.

I grew up bilingual. Most people from my background do. I also went to a English-medium school (and there's a whole class issue there which I won't go into now), so... Of course, because I come from a so-called 'culture conscious' family, my parents were very careful to ensure that I did not become one of Those People, who claim not to know their mother tongue very well. In our family, you make fun of Those People (Again, not going into the class issues involved here).

I guess you'd call mine an 'Indian' accent? Not American or English, certainly, unless I'm doing a very bad caricature. Not very heavily accented, but there's a distinct accent and there are some distinct usages which I usually avoid in fandom (because it involves gleefully murdering English grammar and/or using other languages in the same sentence) What *are* the Star World commercials like? I haven't seen television in ages. Hmm.

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

Random question: aside from fandom, do you have any hobbies/activities?

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Funny you ask, because *yesterday* my sister called up and asked me if I remembered where my old stamp albums were. I said no. I used to collect stamps obsessively. It came to a rather abrupt stop after my uncle's death (my mother's second brother), who was my hero and my inspiration behind collecting stamps. After his death, I kind of lost interest - why collect stamps if he isn't there to cheerlead? I also used to maintain scrapbooks of important events and my favourite sportsmen. I used to draw cartoons and paint - I still draw cartoons, occasionally, but I haven't painted in ages. These days, fandom and writing is my all-encompassing hobby, but I'm trying to sing more often (with limited success; I *wish* I'd stuck to those singing lessons), and someday I hope to paint again.