me and my thesis...

these days whenever people see me the only thing everyone has to ask me is about my work...how is your thesis, how is your progress, when will you finish, how did you measure variables, how did u analyse ur data, how big ur sample etc...and i notice that after they have asked all this, they run out of question to ask me...and as for me after answering these routine questions i havent got a clue what i want to know about this person who is asking me all this...so i just keep quiet...sometimes i wonder if i am just my work or just my thesis...isnt there anything more about me than my work...am i not a person who have more to offer, more to share or talk about then my work...i recall this one incident...i once followed a friend to a gathering of a group, followers of a particular guru or saint...my friend is an active member of this organisation, so as soon as she reached the place she was talking to everyone...i am never good at mingling around and getting to know people, so i was standing alone,enjoying my drink and very happy with my thoughts and smiling away...many people there walked pass me as though i was invisible...but somehow all this did not bother me...then after like half an hour my friend brought two other members of this organisation and introduced me to them...and she mentioned that i am doing my phd and etc...and the funny thing is after that, people started coming to me and introducing themselves, telling me about their family and their children and started 'interviewing' about how i came so far or how good was i at school (to compare with their children of course). after that introduction to the two people more than 10 people came and introduced themselves to me and saying that "i heard you are doing ur phd"...hello...world...i m the same person standing at the same spot before and after they knew i am doing my phd. sometimes i really dont understand the world...i mean whats the big deal about doing phd...whether i m doing phd or not i m still a person who needs to be respected and appreciated just the same...somehow the fact that i was 'invisible' before did not bother me as much as when people wanted to know me coz i am doing phd...how old (most of them were more than 15 years older than me) do u need to be before you realise that people are people, people are not their phd or masters or whatever...there is more to a person than the title or the degree he/she carries...and i wonder why people dont see that...i really wonder...