"It has been two years and twenty two days since I started with my MSc, hasn’t it? What a journey it has been, Akarsh! There have been way too many long nights and stressful study sessions, right? But hey, who am I to complain. I signed up voluntarily for this grad life. Sigh! Oh boy, it’s going to be a long day again!”

As my consciousness brings me back to my senses, I realize that I have been holding a really long yawn for over a minute now. All that time the lab technician stood next to me, watching. He’s far from amused. His eyes have that, ‘give the man his coffee’ look. I try to comfort him with an awkward smile but he’s not impressed. I hand him the kettle, murmur an apology and fumble a couple of times as I dash towards my desk. Mornings should only be for coffee, not for contemplation.

Once I am at my desk, a familiar code on the computer screen welcomes me. With all the disgust I can muster, I scroll down and see the mess I wrote last night. I take a deep breath, crack my fingers, jerk my neck a bit - just like a boxer would do before his fight. Put on my headphones, get into the groove and prepare to Hakuna-Matata the $#it out of it.