Nature abhors vacuum

Nature abhors vacuum. Since I got relieved off the teaching loading, other things have rushed in.

The audit date looms large in horizon. Thanks to my laziness and incompetency of my lab technician (who believes that I, being a woman and so much younger than him, do not know any thing), the finances are in a mess. I am chasing missing copies of bills, ensuring that everything including chemicals purchased are entered into stock register, permissions granting the purchase, and the least quotation are in place . I do not know why they make a fuss because the ones who want to cheat the system still do it. The other day a vendor told my colleague that a particular equipment costs Rs 1 lakh if purchased from abroad. However, if she so desires, he can get it made locally for Rs 10,000.
"Madam, you pay me Rs 1 lakh from your grant and I will pay back Rs 90,000 as a cheque in your name."
See, how easy it is to siphon off money from grants into your personal expenses!

So we spend our time calling for quotations, figuring out the lowest quotation (L1), doing all sorts of paper work because the agencies are worried that we will siphon off money. I could have easily spent all this time working on my experiments!

And the prime minister worries that the quality of research is declining in India!