My PhD Journey

Discovering one’s passion is a continuous, sometimes a lifelong journey. It takes

many moments of thoughtful self-reflection, attention and action to find the topics, tasks and
industries that make you feel excited. How you might integrate your passions into your life
varies significantly from person to person. Some people choose to pursue their passions as an
amusement outside the ambit of work, while others prefer to dedicate their whole day to their
passions. The choice you make depends on what your passion is and whether or not it is
easily transferred into something sustainable and substantial. Well, against this backdrop I
always wished to be a researcher, particularly in English language and literature. In fact, I
never studied English language and literature during my graduation and post-graduation, and
if I have an English Master Degree, it is because of whims and nothing else. But I always
love to be associated with learning and teaching English which ultimately made me lenient
towards pursuing a PhD degree in English.

As the director of a job-grooming orgsnisation called Ravenshaw Helpline, I remain

busy in developing the English speaking skill of my students and also making them
employable. I make my students participate in Group Discussion, Personal Interview, Forum,
Presentations and Seminars. That is why I always wanted to learn a lot for myself and also for
my students. I had an aura to know something new, something novel. Hence, I started
dreaming of a PhD degree! Our higher education system has expanded at a simply
phenomenal rate during the 21st Century - and it shows no sign of stopping. This rapid
growth in the number of individual universities is also producing a range of PhD research
opportunities, ranging from cutting-edge Science and Engineering projects to unique
programmes exploring the country's own diverse history and culture. I started a research on
enrolling for a PhD Degree at any of the universities in Odisha. Finally, I had to successfully
write an entrance examination for ensuring my PhD admission at Utkal University of Culture,
Bhubaneswar. What makes the entrance examination memorable for me is the result. To my
utter surprise, I stood first in the examination and was allotted a special roll number as
01/LL/2015.

The actual journey started on a rather interesting note from my work place, i.e.
Ravenshaw Helpline, Cuttack to Utkal University of Culture, Bhubaneswar. The university
was yet to be popularised as a place for research, but one of the best options for me. It came
into existence by virtue of an ordinance promulgated on the 9 June, 1999, which was later
replaced by “Utkal University of culture Act 1999’’. It was established as a teaching-cum-
affiliating university. It was set up in order to engage itself to preserve, promote, propagate
and protect the richness of our cultural values by way of making substantive accomplishment
through study, research, documentation and continuing education. The University was
recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on 1 December, 1999, under
Section 2(f) of the U.G.C Act, 1956. It has also been accredited by the Association of India
Universities (AIU) since 1 April 2000. After cracking the entrance examination, I was offered
an admission as a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Language and Literature.

I started my PhD journey in 2015. I was happy and at the same time worried, because
I was going back to the classroom as a student after a long time. But was completely alone.
The initial research problem that I explored, was to find out the exact area of research. After a
lot of digging into literature and trying out a couple of directions, I realized it was quite a
hard problem, so conveyed to number of teachers as I was yet to get a supervisor. I met Prof.
D.K. Ray, a retired professor who had given shape to one of my English books, English
Mantra, published by Partridge, a Penguin Random House Company. Ravenshaw Ratna
Awardee, Prof. Ray was adored for his intense love towards English language and literature. I
am fortunate enough to come in contact with such an illustrious son of Odisha who had
inspired me to pursue my research in the area of ‘translation’. He was preoccupied and sent
me to meet Kalyani Samantray, Jatnidra Nath Nayak and Himanshu Sekhar Mohapatra, all
were professors in the Department of English, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. But all of
them were upfront regarding accepting me as their scholar. All of them had to accept the
UGC guidelines of having five scholars at a time. Hence, I was alone once again. But Prof.
Himanshu Sekhar Mohapatra was benevolent enough to suggest me the name of Dr.
Goparanjan Mishra, former Principal of J.K.B.K. (Govt.) College and a visiting faculty to
Utkal University. Dr. Mishra has worked on Indian English Fiction for his Ph.D. and has
presented papers at different Indian Universities. Some of his research articles have been
published in National Journals like “The Indian Journal of English Studies, The Critical
Endeavour”, etc. He has translated into English some Odia poems of the internationally
acclaimed poet Jayanta Mahapatra and also the Hindi poems of the great poet, lyricist and
film-maker Gulzar. His “The Sun and the Candle: Some Poems for the Young” has been
widely appreciated. He is also known for translating into Odia stories of Rabindranath
Tagore, O. Henry, Anton Chekov, Somerset Maugham, Khuswant Singh and Ruskin Bond.
Ultimately I met Dr. Gopranjan Mishra with all my testimonials and publications. I also
shared with him about my intimacy with Dr. Ray. He agreed to be my supervisor.

It was a unique experience to attend the Pre-PhD Workshop at Utkal University of

Culture. It continued for more than six months. Many teachers from the Utkal University
were taking our classes. I used to sit on the front bench and was very energetic to attend all
the lectures sincerely. That is why the results of my written examination after the Pre-PhD
Workshop at the university went very well. Wow… I was permitted to go ahead for the final
presentation before the SRC (Subject Research Committee) to select the topic for my
research. This phases of my PhD journey was the toughest. I had listened to Dr. D.K. Ray
before. He had suggested to a topic of my passion, a topic that made me interested. He also
strongly recommended me to follow my supervisor’s advice with my choices intact. He said,
“After all, you are on your way to becoming a doctor and an independent researcher.” You
will have to work on this subject for at least 3 or 4 years, so you should make sure you like it.
I was just tangled. Then somebody gave me the idea of making a research on Campus Novels
in India. I also prepared a synonyms on that for presenting it to my PhD supervisor, but in
vain. Again I was helpless. Finally, Dr. Goutam Patanaik, the son of the popular historian,
Prof. Dr. Jagannath Patnaik, came to my office to get coaching on IELTS, to get a visa to go
to Britain. He told me about his father’s work “Raktatirtha Eram”. Then the rest is history.
Rakta Tirtha Eram (Odia, 1986) by Dr. Jagannath Patnaik is a great work. Though labelled as
a book on history, the literary value of “Raktatirtha Eram” is unmistakably immense a fact for
which it was awarded by Odisha Sahitya Akademi in 1986 under the category of ‘Essay -
Criticism’. The book, apart from being written in a popular reading form, is well documented
and a “Knowledge Text” (NTM, 2008). In line with serious research work, it has footnotes
to corroborate events and appendices with copies of original documents. The work is based
on British records, enquiry commission reports, confidential letters, reports of the officers,
newspaper writings and above all on personal interviews with a number of freedom fighters,
affected persons and government officials who were alive by the time the book was brought
out. Hence, by all standards, it is a serious research work, which has been highly praised by
eminent scholars and historians like Dr. Harekrushna Mahatab and Prof. Manmath Nath Das.
So I went ahead. My supervisor was very cooperative. I decided to take up ‘translation’ as my
research area with “Raktatirtha Eram” at the centre.
 As a final point, I started my PhD journey with ‘translation’. Translation study as an
academic research area has expanded massively in recent years. It was formerly studied as a
language-learning, but now it has been widely used to popularise “Knowledge Text”.
“Knowledge Text” translation is the first step towards the goal of establishing translation as
an industry. All textual materials meant for the dissemination of knowledge constitute the
corpus of “Knowledge Texts” for National Translation Mission. At present, NTM is engaged
in the translation of all pedagogic materials related to higher education in 22 Indian
languages.

After getting the registration number for research, concluding my Pre-PhD Workshop,
getting my favourite topic for research, I was really euphoric. But the hardship was on an
anvil. The book “Raktatirtha Eram” is written in classical Odia. I found it very tough to
translate. Then I met my supervisor. He was a different stuff. Without providing any help he
suggested me to meet Dr. Jatnidra Nath Nayak, the popular translator of Odisha who is
famous for many classical Odia books into English. I felt embarrassed. I realized that my
PhD supervisor was not competent enough to guide me. On the other hand, Dr. Nayak
suggested me to pay and get translated which I did not like. So the real struggle started. I
start3ed translating the book on my own merits which took almost six years. In between, I
could handle the non-cooperative attitude of my supervisor, want of resources, unavailability
of time for translation, my father’s death, my elder brother’s death, COVID-19, officials in
the university longing for tips, so on and so forth. The rest is history. I would consult Odia
Professors, dictionaries, placate to my supervisor, paying tips to the university officials, etc.
Finally, I completed my research work.

You have to publish your research findings in international journals (journal having
ISSN registered number with UGC credentials) before you submit your thesis for Pre-
submission presentation. I had done it much before. Two ISSN journals had published my
articles on ‘translation’. So I was ready for Pre-submission. I did it and did it with style. Then
on 20th September, 2021 I got a call from the University to go for a Pre-submission
Presentation. I did that. The members of the SRC allowed me to go for the final submission.

In due course, my thesis was evaluated by two popular professors. It was well-
appreciated by Dr. Indranil Acharya of Vidyasagar University, West Bengal and Dr.
Charuchandra Mishra of Kirodimal Government Auto. College, Chhattisgarh. Dr. Jatindra
Kumar Nayak, former Professor, Utkal University, and Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohanty, former
Reader of Ravenshaw University also valued it. Then came the PhD viva voce. On 6th May,
2022 I was called by the university to face it. It was a bizarre experience to describe that day.
The university students had a strike on that day. The VC of the university was log jammed.
But I had to attend the PhD viva voce online. Yes, the same thing happened. I had to run from
the strike. I assembled all the resource persons online and cracked the PhD viva voce. The
dream came closure. On 17th June, 2022 the university notified about me getting qualified for
the PhD. I was spell-bound. The much awaited degree was conferred on me.

One of the most common problems for PhD students is the feeling of isolation. PhD
candidates often work alone, having a few or sometimes no other people on their project.
Sometimes this happens because of the issues arising between PhD students and their
supervisors. Supervisors are part-bosses, part-mentors, and occasional friends. It's an odd
combination, the balance of which sometimes can be hard to maintain. When disagreements
surface - and of course, over 6/7 years it is only natural that they will - some students can feel
that they have to defer immediately to the wishes of the more senior and experienced
supervisor. The best universities have extensive programs for helping the PhD scholars. But
my university had none. Yet, it is my university and I am proud of it.

- Dr. Janardan Mishra