Men against Demand

Something I was asked to write about recently, not sure if it will be of any use but I thought it is important to get the word out. Prajwala, if you all do not know, is an organization against human trafficking founded by Sunitha Krishnan. She is a woman of tremendous courage and will to do the right thing and I definitely feel honored to have been in touch with her at least via emails. They launched the campaign called Men against demand and this article conveys why that is important.

The drawing is a self-portrait by a 15 year old trafficking victim

Photo source: gtipphotos

I am not one of the survivors, I do not know any survivors but in my heart I know they are out there- I hear about them occasionally, I think about them very often and I wonder why, why does this happen at all? What are we doing wrong? We are doing something terribly wrong otherwise there would not be so many innocent human beings thrown out of their cocoons into a ghostly pit of human traffickers. Human trafficking is a modern day term for slavery. It describes the buying and selling of people, usually through coercion or fraudulence, by luring victims out of their homes and forcing them into slavery. Anywhere from 4 to 27 million people, mostly women and children, are trafficked each year. About 70% of the women are forced into the commercial sex industry while the rest are victims of forced labor, something that is quite prevalent in Asia. Interestingly, victims are never scarce- everyone of us is a potential victim. How does such an illegal trade thrive? It thrives because of the enormous demand, demand from a variety of sources that include brothel owners, clients of sex worker ad people like you and me who hire domestic help, adopt babies who have been stolen or kidnapped and buy mail-order brides. 

Bhavani's marital bliss was not out of a fairy tale story. She got married to Amar when she was merely 12 years old only to realize that her husband had left her at a brothel on GB road in Delhi and that she was not his first, he had 12 other marriages (rather victims) that year alone. Her resistance was no match to the ordeals of starvation and beatings that her attackers put her through. After a week of struggle she had to relinquish her struggle. She served the clients for about 5 years during which she had numerous sexually transmitted diseases and underwent five abortions. Now a teenager at 17, she is HIV positive. 

(Source: http://www.prajwalaindia.com/traficking.html)

Slavery comes in different forms and for Mimin, the nightmare began when she landed in LA for a job as a housekeeper with a wealthy family (she left Indonesia at the age of 17). The family confiscated her passport and threatened her arrests and rapes if she ever left the house. For seven years without pay, Mimin endured the torments and kept at her job as a housekeeper, when she finally found the courage to set herself free. 

(Source: http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_867_Enslaved_In_LA.mp3/view)

Recent study conducted by the International Labor Organization in five Asian countries, has shown that most clients who buy sexual services are men, 15-40 years old and from all walks of life. Despite the fact that the number of male victims is on the rise, it is hard to deny the fact that men also play a huge role in the demand side of human trafficking. While many organizations fighting against human trafficking work to prevent or abolish human trafficking, rescue victims from the traffickers and provide a new lease of life to the victims, they pay much less attention to the demand aspect of this whole trade. 

   It is just as important to fight the demand-side of human trafficking as it is to fight traffickers themselves. Therefore, it is important for men to understand that they have a huge role to play in preventing and may be someday abolishing human trafficking. Men must be educated and made aware of the toll human trafficking takes, not just on individual victims but on the society as a whole. Women and men must join forces to prevent desecration of the sanctity of an individual's right to live. 

Gandhiji said "you must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty", let us, men and women, act fast, act now before the victims of illegal trafficking, the many Bhavanis, Mimins, Gurungs and Theresas, stop believing in the existence of humanity, stop believing that there are people who care about them and who would not rest without putting an end to human trafficking.

Parent trap

They are never boring- my conversations with my mom, that is of course when we are not fighting (well we do not fight much over telephone, only friendly arguments!). They get particularly predictable when I tell her that I would be taking off for the weekend, usually travelling to another city/state/country (Well that last one has not happened much!).

(Photo source: wikitravel)

Me: Ma, I am going out of town this weekend, will be back Monday


Ma: Why my dear, why do you want to spend so much? (In Tamil- ஏன் டா இப்படி செலவு செய்யறே?)


Me: Ma, money is meant to be spent, it is not something that will stay forever


Ma: I know da, but still,


and so our wrangles continue...

I guess I should not tell her that I am planning on a trip that would involve most of my savings and a lot more of my time... shhh!

So there you have it- my parents seem unarguably protective of their finances, they are not miserly (not by any stretch of imagination, well may be a little but I know where that stems from...)- but  when it comes to travel, they think it is usually a waste of money and that it should be done as scarcely as possible. Well on why travel is not important (their views not mine, hell not mine at all!)- a. we spend on things that are absolutely essential, b. we help people (family and friends alike) in their times of financial crisis and therefore we cannot afford to be spending on travel, c. we have been in deep financial troubles and hence we know the value of money (in fact this used to be their favourite argument, not anymore), yada yada yada. Oh, I almost forgot-d. these days it is usually we just like to stay put in one place, e. we do not crave journeys to the neverland anymore (Its not just one aspect, is it?!). Imagine if all of the above said arguments are used in one conversation...


There are two things that are interest me here
1. the sense that travelling somehow is akin to the crash of wall street and the feeling that nothing good comes by going around the country or the world (well it is just a vacation, what is the big deal) and 2. try not to spend money on anything other than the most important, well then that leaves us with just food and shelter, does'nt it? (God knows the clothes I have now would last me my lifetime!).


Now, I am curious- are my parents stereotypes, in that, do most people of the older generation feel that way, is it an Indian thing (pardon the lack of words here)- are they too busy or lazy to bother with travelling? Are they so protective of money- saving money is one thing but hey, not splurging once in a while on YOURSELF has got to be bad for the soul, right?


From where I stand, the standard sort of vacationing in an exotic city or a country does not excite me as much as going to a place to spend a considerable time in a place, learning about its people and their favourite haunts, their culture, history, a bit of their language, some of their cuisine, more of this and more of that-  something like an anthropologist might do, you know. That is what is fun to me and I hope I can do it sooner than later- have a humble beginning, may be in India first. While I have been toying with this idea for a mere 3 years now, something unknown stops me executing it (my thought on why- I am too afraid that I would not be able to get a job if I quit and go on my little knowledge expedition!).


My parents, well they just have to wait, watch and learn...  :D

Velazquez, Madrid, Venice...

I normally stay away from recent publications and authors I have not read before (well, there is no particular reason, but I do prefer classics). But this book by Michael Gruber, the one I picked up at the library last week, is not all that bad. A novel of suspense, while I did enjoy the suspense part, I had no clue when the author was describing old masters such as Diego Velazquez (before this book, I did not even know he was great painter from the 1650s) or the museums and art gallery scenes in exotic places like Venice, Italy and Spain. What a shame! Towards the end I did get quite confused when Chaz Wilmot would travel back in time and see himself as Velaquez (he even paints the Rokeby Venus as Velaquez, so I am not sure one can call that forgery, or can they?). I kind of rushed through those time travelling episodes to get to the "so-whatever-happens-in-the-end" part. The ending though to me was not super-impressive, may be because I rushed through those pages! But overall it is a decent book and am sure an art lover can relate to it better than me.


PS: Click on the link below to check the book out on amazon
The Forgery of Venus: A Novel

Broccoli and other tales of food and love

Yes, yes I finally made it to the book club this month- the first one for this year. The book that we read for this month is by Lara Vapnyar- Broccoli and other tales of food and love. 




Whether it is broccoli in the third shelf of Nina's refrigerator or a bag (or 10) of puffed rice for which Katya and Vera stood in line, Lara Vapnyar's subtleties about immigrant life impressed me. The simplicity of her choice of words was amazing- while she did not say everything, she did manage to convey the story with as little as words possible. In one members' words the stories in this book seemed economical. While reading this book, one realizes that the men in her stories are losers and it is the women who play a central role. My own reaction when I read the first couple of pages of "Broccoli in the third shelf"- "wow, I could be Nina (a "vegetable lover" as her husband introduced her to his friends)- I love to buy veggies when sometimes I actually don't end up using them. It was interesting for me to hear about the priors some members, who  either grew up in Europe or who stayed in Eastern European countries, had about Russians in general. Another thing that struck me was the bluntness of Lara's characters, as one member put it-" they seemed like prickly people". 


This book is a compilation of short stories about Russian immigrants, Lara Vapnyar, herself came to the US when she was 23 years old. She hardly knew any English then. And now she writes only in English. You can read more about her and this book here.


Overall I really liked this book and my personal favourites were "Puffed rice and meatballs" and "Slicing sauteed spinach". It is a definitely a good way to start the year with just the right amount of food mixed with love!

Reminisce

यादों का साथ छोड़ भी नहीं सकते
यादों को मिटा भी नहीं सकते
इन यादों का भी क्या कहना,
कम्बक्त पीछा नहीं छोड़ते।


Think of all those good and bad memories and just before you leave this year to take on the new one, spend a few quiet moments to learn from them. Learn from them to make yours' and others' lives better.

Have you watched CNN lately?

I am not a CNN-watcher, in fact I hate them-I think they do a poor job of news reporting. They borrow most of their stuff from you tube anyway so why bother with CNN. Anyway that is not what this post is about- recently on one of rare CNN watching sessions (might I add that such sessions last hardly a minute or two), there was this advert. An advert about "Made in China" products, promoting that Made in China actually means Made with China (don't worry even if they take over the world, they would do it politely, placing adverts first!)
So here it goes, watch the video here (I do think that this advert is well made, if only it were an ad for something else I like)

And yeah you guessed it right, the Chinese Government paid for it, and the ads first came out on CNN-Asia (that was not long ago actually). You can read about it here or here.

Well played Beijing, spending millions to make sure your low-quality products are out of your hands and into the consumers'

Do you bond?

Want people to trust you more or want to make an impression on your first date- try this!

This picture is from here

For someone like me who is in love with the subject of social bonding but not have had the time to stay up to date with it, this seminar was perfect.

Larry Young started his seminar with an introduction to monogamy. Did you know that while ~90% of bird species are monogamous, less than 5% of mammals exhibit monogamy? Anyway his talk focused on molecules oxytocin and vasopressin. They are both hormones and neurotransmitters. If you do not already know, oxytocin is a key hormone in stimlating milk ejection when a baby feeds and stimulating uterine contractions during birth. While these aspects of oxytocin have been quite well characterized, recently it has been shown to be involved in establishing maternal instincts and pair bonding nature (Larry Young studies the neurobiology of pair bonding in prairie voles).

I thought he made an interesting evolutionary correlation by suggesting that in females pair bonding is an extension or adaptation of the maternal instincts while in males it is more an adaptation of territorial behaviour that is controlled by vasopressin, a hormone that is very similar to oxytocin. Males have more of vasopressin which is associated with their territorial and aggressive behaviours. If you paid attention in your high school biology class, you would know vasopressin as the antidiuretic hormone (ADH).

He showed data to support his argument- basically in prairie vole females that bond there is more oxytocin and in males there is more vasopressin. There are all correlative confirmations. An interesting conclusion comes from a study where they made mice which lacked oxytocin and showed that these mice suffer from something that is known as "social amnesia". David Adam has this to say about that study in Nature News-

"Love is chemical and so, it seems, is remembering it. Male mice missing certain brain proteins cannot recall which females they have had sex with. The forgetful fellas can blame this unfortunate amnesia on their DNA: a missing gene means their 'social' memory fails them."

Yet another interesting paper by Kosfeld and others, suggests that oxytocin plays a role in trust in humans, I know it just gets better and better. They put their subjects in to two groups- investor and trustee, basically a financial situation. The subjects were either sprayed with oxytocin or a placebo. Below is a part of their abstract (their work was published in Nature, 2005)

"Trust pervades human societies. Trust is indispensable in friendship, love, families and organizations, and plays a key role in economic exchange and politics. In the absence of trust among trading partners, market transactions break down. In the absence of trust in a country's institutions and leaders, political legitimacy breaks down. Much recent evidence indicates that trust contributes to economic, political and social success. Little is known, however, about the biological basis of trust among humans. Here we show that intranasal administration of oxytocin, a neuropeptide that plays a key role in social attachment and affiliation in non-human mammals, causes a substantial increase in trust among humans, thereby greatly increasing the benefits from social interactions."

I liked Young's talk for one more reason- he was FUNNY!

Having commitment issues, trust issues- the be-it-all-have-it-all hormone might be your way to go.

Better yet banking folks should spray us all with it, may be then we would begin to trust the world financial institutions better! Well a few companies (check the link from the first sentence of this post) have already capitalized on it- a typical capitalistic attitude- BEWARE! Remember it definitely is not the know-all-end-all of this issue, if you wait just a few more years there might be a super-enhanced version of "Liquid Trust" for y'all to try!

Thanksgiving Holiday on I-95

This Thanksgiving holiday was fun in its own way. Thursday night after a party a friend's place, the wise guy and I decided to take a trip down south. We left that night, stayed at West Haven for the night and reached New Jersey the next morning (of course I must say we started with getting lost- the wise guy could not remember his way out of Boston!). We had great food cooked by the friend's wife  in Jew Jersey. We ended with some shopping. Well $100 bucks is all we spent, so we certainly did not become a statistic for black friday shopping! The next morning we left for Delaware to see the little one, we left around 11AM. And this is where our adventure starts with all traffic stopped for about 2 hrs on I-95 about 30 minutes from the Delaware bridge. It was an adventure because I had never before seen people taking a stroll on I-95, not just them- some even took their dogs out for a walk. There was a family playing ball and a couple romancing ahead of us. There were men who could not control their urge and that is definitely a first in this country! I think pictures speak a thousand words, don't they?

Check the north bound route guys, how annoying is it to see others just whiz past you!

I had fun until we started to move and go past the reason for our delay- a completely charred trailer, I think it would be a feat if the driver of that truck managed to survive this crash,...you can read more about the crash here.

Wait, it did not stop there- once we were past the accident, we breezed through to the friend's place. We reached their community and then called them to ask for their house number- guess what neither the husband nor the wife picked up their phones. Okay, so what should we do? we decided to eat (such long delays and empty stomach does not bode well at all with me!)- okay eat where? this place seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully someone actually had their shop open. Believe me when I say a grilled cheese sandwich had not tasted so good ever before. But thankfully once we were done with our sammies, we were able to get hold of the friends and got to see the little ones (friends' son and  the brother's daughter)!

We only stayed for an hour or so, we had to leave for Philadelphia to meet another friend. We reached Philadelphia in an easy-breezy-45minutes. We stayed overnight at her place. A good night's rest made only a slight difference for our what seemed like eternal drive back to Boston!

In the end it was all good because we did get to meet so our friends. Well I am back in Boston and back in action again!

A cool crisp morning

I love such mornings- I walk out the door expecting it to be cold and freezing (it is November already!), but lo and behold- it was a beautiful cool crisp morning. It was very refreshing and I felt awake the moment the cool breeze hit my moisturizer-laden face! It brought back memories of my time in Delhi, it used to be fun getting into a crisp white shirt (crisp as how this morning seemed) and a green skirt accessorized with a tie, a half-sweater and what then seemed like a beautiful green blazer/ woolen coat. It also took me back to Pilani where while summers were dreadful (I would even skip classes to stay indoors), the winters were just absolutely forgiving. It was fun when you could not see what was just a few yards away in front of you while you were riding your bicycle because a severe fog had rolled in that morning. Occasionally, I even rode the bicycle with my book open, as a last ditch effort at cramming for an 8'o clock exam.
Anyway it already feels like Friday today, I don't know why but it beats me that tomorrow I have to get to work but hey may be it will be just as pretty it was this morning!

Farmville- a quest

Farmville- seems like everyone is doing it! Since I have not even a faintest idea as to why someone would want to play this game or what turns them on when it comes to this game, I decided to do a bit of digging. An important mission, might I add, to restore my sanity. Thankfully NPR had a short segment on it today, that helped and then of course this is why the wide world of the internet exists!
For one, Farmville is THE most popular game on FB with nearly 63 million users (what is it with this game!). One basically manages a virtual farm is all- plant, grow, harvest that kind of thing . May be if these 63 million users did some of their own actual farming instead of spending time playing a game...
Quite interestingly- the games comes free of charge but you do have to use REAL money in order to buy more land and large equipment like tractors (tractors cost 20 bucks a pop). Apparently the creator of this game (and a few others on FB), Mark Pincus has been raking profits even amidst these tough times (yeah, go figure...).
Well as for me, I do not think I can spend any more of my time ducking in a virtual world (I personally feel that I spend too much time on the internet!). So Farmville or any other ville avatars- good luck and beware of the black sheep.

Chennai mazhai

My mom has been growing her own betel leaves (she loves them like they are her own).

Rain beautiful rain in Chennai- you know what I love about it most and what I wish I could photograph- மண் வாசனை, I remember when I was a little girl (actually even now..) I constantly pester my mom to make me something that smelled like the earth just before it rains!

Criminal wastage of precious rain water in Chennai- people are not concerned about it nor do they care (well neither does the Govt., useless TN government).

These are my grandma's favorite flowers (it has been her favorite for the longest time now), I forget what they are called (she has a name for it). Since they are patti's favorite they are my favorite too! Look at how luscious it is, oh the bright green and the pink flowers...

Give me blue...

A time will come when no one will want the red ones anymore- check this out

Half of a Yellow Sun

A book by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie


The book  is the second book I think by this author, her first one called Purple Hibiscus (which I have not laid my hands on yet) won the Commonwealth Writer's Prize. The story narrated by 13-year old Ugwu (houseboy of an ambitious professor, Odenigbo) is set during the Biafran war. The story is about love, war, ambitions and hopes. Every character has a role to play in the book- the twin sisters Olanna and Kainene, their lives with Odenigbo and Richard respectively, Ugwu and his various escapades into his fantasies, the sisters' parents, Odenigbo's mother and his diverse group of friends, every single one of them are important in the book and I love this about the book. 
While there is nothing pleasant about the Biafran War (or any war for that matter), the author has brought out not just the unpleasantness of the war but has also been able to describe the complicated lives of her characters both prior to and during the war very beautifully. In fact at one point I thought I was one of her characters (something I felt when I read Atwood's book), Ugwu's narration seemed matter-of-factly (yet unarguably powerful), seemed like you belonged in the scene with him. 


A bit about the War

Biafra was an unrecognized secessionist state that existed between the years 1967-1970 (the country dominated by the Igbos separated from Nigeria a few years after its independence from the English). While early on the Biafran army did make some progress, the Nigerian army struck back more powerfully and their key strategy was to close down key routes. This led to starvation and hence numerous deaths, and as with most other wars children were the worst affected. 
You can read a lot of stuff online- just google either about the war or its effects. NY times  had an article on the conditions in Nigeria 20 years after the war and BBC had this to say 30 years after the war (they seem to have interviewed Chief Ojukwu, the head of the Eastern region of Nigeria, who in 1967 declared the Republic of Biafra).


To me the most striking thing from the book is when Ugwu writes about Starvation in his own book, it brings out those tears!

Who are Jon and Kate

or now should I ask who is Kate? It has been bothering me ever since the news media has been hijacked by Jon and Kate- and I ask to myself who are these people and what are they so famous for? Initially my reaction was  "Of course, these were celebrity Hollywood couple that I had never heard of"- makes sense right. No, it does not, these are just some random couple who had 8 children through artificial insemination procedures and that is the reason they are famous- they are parents of 8 children and for reasons known only to them they decided to let the cameras into their daily lives!
Initially their show aired on Discovery health and now their show is one highest rated shows on TLC. Now that raises the question- who on earth watches a family take of their children? Surely my mother would not have wanted anyone watching her raise her children (sorry ma, but am sure some of her terror tactics would have led to boos from people). Apparently these guys give tips on raising 8 children and I guess since they have that many they automatically become the best at their jobs!
I really loved this article on American spectator about this show, talking about how hard it is to stay away from such these shows. Two days ago I had no clue about who these people were and now I am in their lives too. I can proudly share with you these few facts- Jon and Kate are separated, Jon has been dropped from the show and Kate is set to air another show next year. In all this melee there is never a talk about the 8 children, I guess there were just means to fame.

PS I was just kidding about me in their lives people, I could not bring myself to even try watching it! And the other thing that annoys me- Larry King interviewed Kate, why on earth, I wonder?!

The Blind Assassin- a review

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood- I would definitely call it a masterpiece. My only issue with the book- I did not totally enjoy the Sci-fi part (the novel within the novel). The book is masterfully written, the characters are gradually developed- Iris and Laura Chase, their pathetic father (one of the characters I did not like), Richard Griffen and his sister Winifred (the evil ones- I consider them both to be equally bad!), and the darling Reenie. To me the most elusive yet interesting character was that of Laura Chase and actually to an extent Iris Chase, who is the narrator. Iris Chase is married to Richard Griffen and in the book she is putting her memories down on paper for her granddaughter Sabrina (who she has not seen in ages) to read.
Atwood made sure that her readers do no put the book down until they finish. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read something beautiful, her words can capture your heart and mind (My eyes even swelled up once or twice during the read).
I leave you with some of her words from the book (various parts of the book)

“What fabrications they are, mothers. Scarecrows, wax dolls for us to stick pins into, crude diagrams. We deny them an existence of their own, we make them up to suit ourselves — our own hungers, our own wishes, our own deficiencies. Now that I’ve been one myself, I know”

“A hot wind was blowing around my head, the strands of my hair lifting and swirling in it, like ink spilled in water.”

"Beginnings are sudden, but also insidious. They creep up on you sideways, they keep to the shadows, they lurk unrecognized. Then, later, they spring."

Enjoy!!

A tale of YIM 2009, Boston

YIM or otherwise known as young investigator meet (this is the second such meeting, first one was held earlier this year in SFO) provides a setting for young investigators (mainly postdocs) working in the US to meet and greet the faculty members from a variety of institutes (mostly biology related) in India. This meeting was essentially to talk to people about the new initiatives that are being undertaken on behalf of the Govt of India to further the scientific agenda (sort of put India on science road map, at least in terms of life science research). One of the main initiative is described here and Martha Gray was one of the organizers of the meet organized this past weekend in Boston. The meeting started with open session of Friday (afternoon) and there were closed sessions held on Saturday and Sunday.
At the open session, the faculty members from India gave brief introductions to "what and how things are changing" nothing so elaborate of course and then people could ask questions. There were a variety of questions ranging from reservation issues when it comes to faculty hiring to the application forms that need to be sent via the snail-mail!
The next day began the closed sessions, for which one had to be selected (I was an observer, please do not ask me what it means, I guess I was supposed to observe). Now here is where I have issues (not all negative I assure you). I will try my best to enumerate them and of course keep this civil. Oh if you want only/mostly positive feedback, you can check the facebook page. I must also tell you that I do appreciate every bit of effort that has gone into the organization of this event- however

1. Two things that struck me- one, there were only 3 or 4 women speakers out of a total of 22 (does this mean many women candidates did not apply, I applied and I was chosen to be an observer!) and two, some of the speakers were either directly or indirectly connected to one of the organizers (Happens everywhere, so why not!)

2. There was no mention of the students who will actually be doing the work- how are they selected, how many students does a PI get, how good are the students in general, how motivated are they and how much effort do they normally put in (I have seen some of the best and the worst students, trust me it is important!)

3. While it might be hard to recruit someone in just two days, it sure looked like a recruitment fair to me (that is fair, am not complaining about it- just wanted to point it out). It did annoy me somewhat especially because I did not know what the hell I was doing there- I was not talking which meant I could not showcase what I have done or been doing. I felt like I sat there "observing" how other people got recruited!! But I must add a word of caution- I am of the shy type and would not venture into "networking" mode ever unless I know the person (in which case I am not sure if it can be called networking at all and I am sure I am going to lose out on opportunities on account of this)

4. I would have liked to hear the faculty present their work before everyone else (to get an idea of how well they are doing) but they did give talks on Sunday for which I could not go as I was sick!!

5. Of the 8 talks I attended on Saturday, I liked may be one (I thought they were not good talks, could have been much better). What irritated me even more was the fact that no one had the appropriate number of slides for a 10-min presentation (may be one guy did)!

6. They kept talking about change and being a part of that change and making a difference and all, but my question is- as the newest member of the institution, how can I bring about any change or difference, why would the underdogs listen to someone junior (hierarchy still exists, does'nt it?), in fact much junior to them? And Satyajith Rath put it- you should join not because you want to make a difference but because you think it is something comparable to other top institutes from which you might get an offer. While I agree for the most part- they are two different career goals at least initially, so that statement is something to think about and is something that might influence peoples' decisions.

7. Some of the seemingly interesting panels could have been held during the open sessions -like the panel on "setting up a lab"

8. It was not totally clear as to what the selection process was for the closed sessions- there were quite a few of the speakers who already seemed to have established some sort of contacts with the Indian faculty.

9. I still do not understand why I was chosen and chosen as an observer!!

One thing , actually two things you could not miss- everyone seemed enthusiastic about the whole thing which was nice and there seems to be a ton of money, which is super-nice!!

This is scary

Did you see this on BBC, quite scary work on shower heads. Stop showering, what could be next?!
On another note, Federer lost US open!

The Congress booed....

Did you all hear that- the Congress booed when Mr. Obama said that the health reform bill does not extend to illegal immigrants. Nancy Pelosi seemed to give an expression of "WTF is going on?"! (I want to say to the booers "Smile, you are on national television!!!")
The President kept harping on the fact that nothing would change for people who are happy with their coverage, that a public option will keep the competition healthy and so on. He has made a lot of promises- he said that he would not sign a bill that "adds even one dime to the deficit". But I wonder where the money is going to come from- curbing the wastage in the existing health care system is what he proposes (he would have mentioned this at least thrice in his speech). He did touch upon the much needed (I think!) malpractice reform, doctors should not withheld care because of they are scared they might be sued!
I agree that the system needs to change, I also wonder as to how far ahead into future can you predict things. At this point any bill would be better than nothing and would definitely be a huge step up!! Just do it folks...

PS He never once denied the-pulling-the-plug-on-grandma bit! I am sure Sarah Palin would do that bit for him though.

wannabe consultant, anyone?

Yesterday I went for this interesting presentation from McKinsey and Co. organized by the postdoctoral affairs office. I was totally blown away by the fact that Biology PhD's like me need not rule out a shot at consultancy. Pretty cool eh! In fact the guy who gave the presentation (Associate whoever, cannot remember his title but he is one step closer to being a partner) used to be a postdoc in a stem cell lab right here at Harvard. Well I just wanted to put it out there for everyone else that there is this option of working as a consultant for Mckinsey. Apparently you would be called an APD consultant (which means you have an advanced professional degree) and you join as an associate. You go through an interview process and if you do get in you go through a mini MBA program for about 3 weeks at some fancy resort somewhere in Australia!
So that is it... check it out may be one of you might be interested.

Just one more reason to legalize

....well legalize pot folks! Check this article here in BBC that talks about the effects of cannabis on bones (very preliminary findings, might I add). I must admit that I am not sure still as to where my loyalties lie in this issue. But for now I think I will keep taking my calcium supplements that in turn will hopefully control my urge for some good pot....oh yeah!
If you want to know more about this - check here.

Three cups of tea- a lone man on a mission

Three cups of tea is about a larger than life man who went about building schools across various parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Reading this book about Greg Mortenson has been very inspirational- a lone man with a lot of will can pretty much do anything otherwise how could it be possible that someone who goes to climb K2 ends up building schools in the remote parts of "forbidden" lands! The very first project he completed was out of sheer will and goodwill of a few people, especially Dr.Hoerni, was a bridge to the village by name Korphe (a village in the Balti mountains). The book also describes the trust, loyalty, respect and friendship that Greg shared with the Korphe village chief and many other such tribal leaders. His journey from the climb to the creation of Central Asia Institute is all in that book.

So if you are looking for some inspiration, read this book!

Steinbeck mania

"It is true that we are weak and sick and ugly and quarrelsome but if that is all we ever were, we would millenniums ago have disappeared from the face of the earth"- John Steinbeck

I do not know why but I have this burning desire to read Steinbeck's Grapes of wrath or may be Of mice and men again, what can I say!

STORIES OLD AND NEW- 2

कथा, नई और पुरानी -२
She landed in Delhi from a far away land as a naive confused little child. The first of day of school was terrifying- she had to fit in, she had to make friends, there was so much to do. She was just a little girl. All her worries faded the moment he met her, the moment he took her hand and showed her around the school. We would be together forever, she thought. Soon he was her best friend. They laughed together, ate together and much to the dismay of his mother, he would always spend time with her at her house. One day much to their chagrin, her mother announced that a move to a new place was in order (you know one of those government agencies that keep transferring their employees once every few years). She was heart-broken and furious. She could not feel anything any more, she felt like her world came crumbling down on her and now rested on her little shoulders. What would she do without him- her best friend? They won't be together forever afterall, she would muse to herself. She pleaded with her mother, teary-eyed, she would say- "ma, let us not move, let us just be here", "what about my friend?", "how can I live without him?", "माँ, क्या उसको भी ले जायेंगे अपने साथ?". She knew they had to go, that she would have to leave him and go- but she was just a little girl, she was not supposed to bear separations like these. Yes indeed-they did move to a new place, and after many such moves, she let go of him or at least she thought she did. She did not write to him, she did not talk to him- he was gone from her life. It did sadden her the first few years but it is amazing what time can do- she had grown into a beautiful young teenager and she now had other "best" friends in her life. I am sure somewhere deep in her heart, he was still present. Otherwise she would not have recognized him at the park, she would not have frozen in time- he approached her rather quickly, so quickly that she could not get a hold of herself, so quickly that she let out a gasp and tears started flowing down those cheeks bringing down all the make-up, the make-up that her best friends had taken so long to adorn her face with.

Miracles, do you say

She stood there alone in the meadow amidst the wild flowers that were in full bloom. She seemed pensive, the flowers did not cheer her as they normally do. "What should she do?"- that was the one question she kept asking herself. She loved them both dearly and wanted to be with both of them. But the time has finally come, the time to choose one and only one. How did it happen so quickly? The questions outnumbered any answers she could come up with. She has taken to the much trodden path of trading reality for something as exquisite as being in a meadow pregnant with colorful blooms. As though somehow being there would miraculously help her decide. The day went by and she simply stared. The day was drawing to a close, she had to head back home just as the birds were returning to their nests. She took one good look at the sun going down and gasped- she now knew exactly which one it was going to be...

How can I forget about Potter movie

Yes yes....thanks to O & I at Harvard, a lot of us got to watch the movie even before it got released!!! Yippee....
I really liked the movie despite missing a few important and interesting things from the 6th book. Ron was quite funny, and as usual my favorite Hermoine did not disappoint me! I am so glad I saw it..and loved it too!!

What about free speech?

So a leader (Rita Bhaguni of Congress) issued such a statement about rape compensation policy in Uttar Pradesh (the great Mayawati's government!)
"She said rape victims should offer to compensate state chief minister Mayawati were she ever raped herself."
Her house was burnt down apparently and she was arrested-
for what
"charged specifically with making provocative statements creating "disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will" between people of different castes or communities."
Oh my GOD!!!!! Are you kidding me- how did this take a casteist twist? Is there anything in India that will not boil down to caste (well when the irresponsible crooks called politicians can castify education, they can do anything?) I mean she said something (stupid or not), her house got burnt and she GETS arrested. What about the thing called freedom of speech or don't we have any of those any more in our land?
How are we ever going to get better as a nation if we pin everything to religion and caste?

PS I sincerely wish there would be some day when men and women forget the existence of religions and caste. May be we could mass-erase the 6 billion (and counting...) memories of religion on this earth...!

this is really absurd

This is a bit of totally unsupported theory (this is excessive even for me who does not question the existence of media conspiracies!). This was a rediff article/slideshow (slash whatever!)

"Why India is an ideal target for the Chinese

To offset this adverse scenario, while overtly pretending to side with the West, the Chinese covertly ordered their other proxy, North Korea, to test underground nuclear explosion and carry out trials of missiles that threaten Japan and South Korea."

While the comments seem nonsensical, no one seems to be bothered about this allegation about China covertly ordering N.Korea, I mean there is no basis for this piece of news Rediff article writer!!! Agreed there is a lot going on between the two countries for one China is the major food supplier to N.Korea but still if you are writing a piece of article for media that millions are going to read you should at least get your facts right or the very least- put a warning saying "not all that is written is true, some may be theories or hypotheses!"

July 4th

July 4th was mostly a usual day except for two things- I did not have much work in the lab and we watched the fireworks from the roof terrace of a friend's apartment. That day I lost any hope at all of Boston getting warmer. It was freezing that night (pretty cold and windy!) Come on it is July, should we be sweltering around this time of the year.
Well that aside I do make hoo-hahs about fireworks, how many of those have I seen during Diwali!! But it was nice to get some good pictures which I did not take by the way- Ashok did!

Allegations....

This was on Nature medicine recent issue

---

Nature Medicine 15, 723 (2009)

Indian universities face misconduct allegations

Killugudi Jayaraman

Introduction

A report by the Times of India newspaper alleging that admissions to medical school might have been sold for money at two private institutions has stirred controversy in India. The newspaper has said it caught officials on tape demanding as much as Rs 4 million ($80,000) for admission to medical degree programs without providing receipts.

In the wake of these allegations, the country's education ministry has ordered an official probe into the claims. The two institutions, Sri Ramachandra University and Sree Balaji Medical College, affiliated with Bharat University—both in the south Indian state of Tamilnadu—risk derecognition if found guilty, education ministry spokesperson Mamta Verma told Nature Medicine.

Dayanand Dongaonkar, secretary general of the Association of Indian Universities in New Delhi is waiting for the outcome of the probe, saying that "we will decide about what action to take on our members once the government investigation is over."

Ramachandra University's vice chancellor S. Rangaswami did not reply to request for comments. The university has an ongoing research alliance with Harvard University in the US.

"We have been in contact with the leadership of Sri Ramachandra University, with which we have a professional services agreement, and have expressed our wish to see the matter resolved in appropriate fashion," says Chris Railey, director of communications and marketing for Partners Harvard Medical International.

Balaji College, the newspaper found from the college's website, was chaired by S. Jagathrakshakan, a junior minister in the government.

But after the exposé his name reportedly disappeared from the website. Nature Medicine was unable to reach S. Jagathrakshakan for comment.

The admission scam has prompted the education ministry to review the functioning of 123 universities, including 55 medical colleges that obtained the 'deemed status' in last five years."

I do not believe that this is the first time SRMC has done this. Back in the time when I was applying for a medical seat I was also asked to pay a sum. Now I really hope (I think it would probably remain one because such institutions are capable of doing what it takes to keep their name and remember money matters!) that these colleges lose their recognition not because they did not give me a seat (duh...) but because good education should not be borne out of corruption. Cannot believe Harvard has tie-ups with such universities but then how would they know about the internal goings-on.

Seemantham

So this Sunday was my friend's சீமந்தம். The family had gone to the temple early in the morning to finish up the rituals after which they came back home. The womenfolk then adorned my pregnant friend with bangles (her choice of color of course and we get a set of bangles for ourselves too...yippee!!) after which was the much awaited FOOD.. which was delicious by the way (it was a mixture of home-made and minerva-made food).
But there are few interesting things about the whole ritual that was performed at the wee hours of dawn in the temple. Check this out, although here they do not clearly explain the importance of certain processes. I also found this piece here

"Seemantham is performed during the period between the fifth and the eighth months of pregnancy. The specific materials used during this Samskara, that are for the lady only, are, the quill of a porcupine, an ear of ripe paddy and some Udumbara leaves. Manthrams are intended to purify the foetus and to request Brahma, Agni, Raga (Rika), Vishnu, Soman and Ganga to protect it, to make the delivery smooth and to make the son intelligent. The main deity invoked is Raga or Rika, the presiding deity of the full-moon. The implications of the manthrams are: that the pregnancy should be fruitful; the child should be endowed with sharp and penetrating intellect (like the sharp quill of the porcupine). The child should be beautiful like the full-moon. The gist of the main mantra is: "I beseech the goddess Raga(Rika). May she make this ceremony blameless. May my son be endowed with sharp intellect." In some regions music is added. Also sometimes the ladies are asked to sing: "Be a mother of heroic sons" thus creating a heroic atmosphere. The mother fasts and keeps silent after the ceremony till night time when the stars become visible. At the close of the ceremony she touches a male calf, symbolizing a son. At the time of
pregnancy this is performed for the health and wealth of baby and also for normal delivery.
The unique aspects are parting of the hair, udagasanti, homam, valaigappu, and touching a male calf. The most important part is the udagasAnti. After the sactification of the jalam, the expectant mother is asked to bath in this
sanctified water to remove doshAs."

The thing that annoyed me- the mantras all seem to glorify male heirs. I thought mantras and shlokas were beyond gender and I have a huge amount of respect for these (I love chanting mantras- gives me immense peace)- well it just went down a notch, unless the interpretations from these websites are wrong and may be a Sanskrit scholar can clarify it!

wow..really

Check this piece of news!
I guess it must sad for the Shah's descendants especially during history lessons- I mean come on, the guy has money and power and these people are left with all but a tea stall in Calcutta. Pretty tough!!

That was one hell of a weekend

The week ended somewhat like this-
Pack an entire apartment-Friday all day
Movers move our stuff to new place-Sat 8AM to almost noon
(bear in mind-no food was chowed down during these hours)
Quick burrito at Qdoba
Leave for old house- pick up camera bag and something else (already forgotten what it was- never mind!)
Leave for airport in the hope to catch the 2:30 flight to BWI, that will remain a hope for the next 6 hours (there have been huge delays for unexplained reasons)
Reach BWI around 9PM-eat and sleep
Wake up 6:30AM
Leave for rockville- attend the சீமந்தம் , eat all day
Leave for Greenbelt at 9:45PM
Sleep and leave for airport at 4:30AM
The adventure did not stop there- our flight at 6:30AM, left on time but in mid-air the pilot found a minor technical anomaly and brought us back to BWI. We finally landed at 11AM
Yeah BWI to Boston- almost 5 hours!!!

BOO HOO to the airline industry...

Go back in time

I have this fantasy- I guarantee that it is an absurd one indeed. So I want to go back in time and live the Victorian life (may be pre-victorian, oh only about 300 years or so. Well if I can go back in time, I sure can live for 300 yrs). Well not just Victorian but the period between 17th and early 20th centuries right until after the second world war. Come on have you not read Austen, Dostoyevsky (both technically pre-victorian!), Dickens, Bronte sisters, Lewis Caroll, Virginia Woolf, Hemingway and many more great writers (by no means have I read all these authors). What strikes me most when I read these authors- gaiety and expanse of that era, the sheer etiquette and quiet strength adorned by the women (not to mention the beautiful gowns and the oh-so-horrendous corsets underneath), constantly pensive social reformers and great thinkers, poverty and wars of that era. This is the idea I have of the centuries that predates ours. It will be so much fun to be dancing around in ballrooms, so much fun when the sole purpose of a woman or a man's life is to find a suitable spouse (I am not sad at all that, that is not true anymore folks!), not so much fun when wars were waged and the upper class seemed completely ignorant of it, not so much fun when people were deposed of their lands and had to settle in places that did not belong to them.
Anyway it is not like it is going to happen....my only solace- there are millions of books of which I could become the characters.
Ciao..off to la-la land!

Nine years later

It had happened unexpectedly. Of course one does not expect such things to happen, do they? The night of June 10th 2000, after a hearty dinner at my mum's cousin's place- we left for home by different modes, since there were so many of us. My sister and I on her TVS, with me driving it- pretty mundane isn't it? Except it was not and am sure since I am writing this and not my sister you all can guess what might have happened. She had just turned 18 that April and we were just getting closer putting behind our sibling rivalries, yeah it had indeed taken me 20 odd years to accept that she is a part of my being, that she is me only a few a few years younger. I loved and hated her fiercely as a teen, took a long time to resolve my emotions (well what do you expect, I was a child and apparently not a smart one at that). I normally don't talk about it- but we (the family) talk about her as though she still exists and we all converse with her in the depths of darkness. Me for instance, I strongly believe that she is my guardian angel.
In retrospect, I do wish I had some sense back then to go through some sort of trauma therapy as a family. It is quite interesting psychologically that it is not just me with an intense survivor's guilt (which unarguably affects my everyday life) but my parents and my grandma all have their own reasons for why they could not see it coming....and why her and not them!
Nine years now and my biggest fear- I might not remember her as I grow old, I might not remember her laugh after a good joke, the twinkle in her eyes after a successful prank or her tears after a not-so-well-done exam.
We love you and we miss you sweetheart!

Check this headlines

This is what comes up under the "India" tab in TOI
"oh my god, I am coming down with WTF-where-is-my-daily-movie syndrome" (LOL)

It has been ages since I even bothered to check TOI but somehow today I am feeling sappy (I remember TOI from BITS!). Anyway nothing much has changed with the paper- if this is the headline news...

Imminent

This article is on the latest Outlook India about how water crisis in drier parts of the Indian subcontinent has led to violence. I am quoting the excerpt below directly from this article.

"What is the Centre planning to do about the crisis? T. Ramaswami, secretary, science and technology, says the August deadline is unrealistic. "This problem can't be solved in months," he says. "For the past three weeks, the science and technology ministry, with 15 partner ministries, has been holding meetings. One solution can't be applied countrywide. It has to be a national effort and everyone has to contribute."

No offence Mr. Ramaswami but for as long as I can remember this issue has not gotten past the meeting stage (just like most other issues, so I am not sure why this would be any more important than the other important issues that the government refuses to deal with or deals with by way of organizing periodic meetings!). Shame on us sir!

At least we had one great visionary among us who (yes Mahakavi Bharatiyar) talked about water distribution systems when the country was still struggling to be free from British reins.

வங்கத்தில் ஓடி வரும் நீரின் மிகையால், வையத்து நாடுகளில் பயிர் செய்யுவோம்

We can keep arguing about technicalities of better ways of ensuring single person receives that he or she needs but at some point the thing called action needs to be taken too (hell I don't even think there are arguments at such so-called meetings). It is a pity that while states like Andhra and Orissa drown in excess water every year, the regions of Rajasthan and Tamilnadu drown in their own dried, caked lands due to lack of just that- Water!

Do the dance!

Watch this video, first alex and now snowball.
What do you see- well a parrot gone crazy, yes...but also the fact that the bird moves its body to the different beats it hears- it is called rhythmic entrainment, which us humans took pride of as a unique gift bestowed only upon us. Clearly how much more egotistical can we get. Apparently we are not so unique anymore...
Anyway scientifically it is a very interesting aspect because apparently there are no videos of dogs or other mammalian pets doing the moves!

Here is what the author of the dispatch section had to say

" it also raises fascinating questions about the species that aren't on the list. The most obvious gaps are domesticated animals like dogs or horses: despite their pervasive exposure to music, not a single convincing demonstration of mammalian pet dancing was found. This negative evidence supports the everyday observation that dogs can't dance, and the outstanding question is why not. What is lacking?

Another group conspicuous by its absence are nonhuman primates. The absence of any true ‘dancing chimpanzees’ is surprising, not just because chimpanzees are our closest relatives but because they naturally engage in ‘drumming’ in the wild [7]. Chimpanzees often drum with their hands or feet on rainforest trees in the wild, generating far-carrying, quasi-rhythmic signals. Similarly, gorillas beat their bodies, and occasionally objects, with a rough ‘beat’. Thus, our nearest living cousins exhibit a behaviour suggesting that some form of propensity to drum was present in our common ancestor, making the lack of evidence for ape entrainment surprising. But given that most humans do not interact with chimpanzees regularly, and that most chimpanzee owners (in entertainment or science) do not post videos online, this negative evidence does not yet provide compelling evidence of absence. An open mind concerning apes remains warranted."

Biology of Music: Another One Bites the Dust, Volume 19, Issue 10, 26 May 2009, Pages R403-R404

They also go on to acknowledge the fact that one cannot rule out the possibility that pet-dancing may simply have not been uploaded to YouTube! Nevertheless it is an interesting evolutionary question. So next time you see your pet dancing away to rock and roll music, film it and put it on YouTube, someone might actually use it for something useful!

Below are the references of the two papers

A.D. Patel, J.R. Iversen, M.R. Bregman and I. Schulz, Experimental evidence for synchronization to a musical beat in a nonhuman animal, Curr. Biol. 19 (2009), pp. 827–830.

A. Schachner, T.F. Brady, I.M. Pepperberg and M.D. Hauser, Entrainment to music requires vocal mimicry: Evidence from non-human animals, Curr. Biol. 19 (2009), pp. 831–836.

Looking to rent..

I had to obviously write about it when I saw it, "Rent a room in someone else's life?" That statement is big, innit. The character Sai in "The Inheritance of Loss" ruses about this when she sees she has missed out on some grand childhood. To me it is big because I feel it sometimes, when I see people who are smarter, more creative, much more nicer and have a distinct identities (Note: need not be anyone famous, I use my discretion to define these values!!). But think about it- how cool would it be to rent, even for just a little while, a room in someone else's life!!

What am I

What am I? I think about this more often these days, you know. What do people mean when they say "I am an Indian or I am American or whatever". I mean are they identifying who they are with where they are from? I am not belittling the fact that where you are shapes you up as a person but that cannot be the whole story, can it? May be it does but for me that is not all. I don't think I can associate a country and its traditions with who I am, it is mostly a mixture of the ideals, principles, and traditions that I have garnered from various parts of the world. Of course some by being in those parts of the world and some, you may not believe it to be true, some from books I have read over the years. What is interesting is that I have taken this thought a step that has led to me being more and more saddened by the existence of boundaries between countries. I don't understand why we need them. I know I know, governance issues, cultural issues, and whatever other issues one can think of....but I can still wonder about it, can't I? Is it that hard of people from a gamut of cultures and geographical locations to be together....won't it be fun? We can learn so much...think about it!!!

A beautiful read

Rebecca- a beautiful read indeed. But I must admit I read half of the book yesterday while I doted on the first half for about a month, not because I was in love with it or anything, might I add! Somehow there seems to have been a "I-can't-believe-so-much-detail" threshold that I never crossed in the first half or may be because I was too dumb to understand the beauty of Daphne Du Maurier's writing. Contrary to the first few hundred pages, the second half of the book was amazing. In fact, yesterday, there were parts of the book where I was almost in tears. It is a romance-mystery novel of sorts. Although the book is just ridden with too many words (duh..!!) there were a lot of catchy, interesting and rhetorical phrases. Like this one below

"I suppose sooner or later in the life of everyone comes a moment of trial. We all of us have our particular devil who rides us and torments us, and we must give battle in the end."

My verdict: go ahead it is a masterfully crafted suspense novel but you have to bear through the first 100 pages!!

Guys seriously why could'nt you?

Guys, come on! Why could'nt I get a job like this? Anyway this led me to think- what are some of the best jobs around, like living on an island and making friends? Let me know if you can think of any- may be I can switch my profession!

Insect love

Normally I would not say I love insects, but one look at his gallery- I am in love with these scary monsters!

Earth day was yesterday folks

If you Earth day is something that was instituted very recently, you are wrong. April 22nd was declared the Earth day in 1970 in the US. It is mostly celebrated as Earth week these days. The International Earth Day is different and is celebrated on March 21st, the equinox day. Whichever day or week it is, I am really proud that Harvard is really big on reduce, reuse, recycle policy and I am proud of myself because I don't throw anything that can be recycled or reused (no, I am serious, not even the tiniest scrap of paper gets thrown in the trash). In fact Harvard does much better than a lot of other universities. So do Boston and Cambridge- these cities are far more advanced in terms of their sustenance policies than most other.
Quick diversion here: I am proud of my parents too because they are big on the three Rs so much so that my dad made a usable mug out of a milk bottle!
For some of us, it might not mean anything at all. But think about it- how hard is it really to recycle folks? Plastic recycling can be harder because there are codes but paper, come on!!! We all can do that much at least for our part.
The other thing I believe everyone can do is to plant SOMETHING, ANYTHING really! I live in an apartment and would love to have a big (or small really, अरे कुछ भी चलेगा भैया) garden। But I have decided it is too hard for me to not have green living things as my pets so decided to grow my own apartment garden. Since space is a limitation I am not planting a lot, obviously. But the big question now- will the seeds I sowed, germinate?!
People do so many creative things though- be it Dervaes's homestead in Pasadena, CA or the brainchild of Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer, Terracycle Inc.
To me Earth day or Earth week is just a reminder about how beautiful this place we live in is and it also reminds me that I do not have to hike or trek along the thousands of trails spread across various parks to enjoy the bounty that is nature.

FOR ME EVERYDAY IS EARTH DAY FOLKS AND I AM PROUD OF THAT!!


PS I must say in this tech age, I have not encountered a slower site than Terracycle Inc. I hope they read this post and get a better page that loads faster!
Wow yesterday was all gloomy post, today all earthy...seriously this must be mid-life crisis...

Meltdown

While the world is facing a financial meltdown, I think I am facing an existential meltdown. Well maybe meltdown is a strong word- may be I could call it existential crisis. You know the usual- "நான் ஏன் பிறந்தேன்" (I think that is the correct spelling in Tamil- it means why was I born, used to be our favorite phrase in BITS) type issues. So I am a great believer of a few things, among those are these two "every person is here for a reason- you just have to find out for yourself what yours is" and "everything that happens, happens for a reason".
But I find myself in this whirlpool of incessant thoughts about "what I should be doing?"
I thought science is what I should be doing but something has changed (well me getting really excited about good science and great research minds has not been tarnished yet!) and I don't feel like I belong! But I feel like I don't belong anywhere. I am at a stage in my career now where I have to decide on something and ACT on it. I am failing at the first step, decision-making. Here I am wavering about it all, thought this ended like ten years ago! Its asking the question "what should I become when I grow up?" all over again and that feels strange.
I think I will play along, ponder over such questions and hope that once it is actually time to make the big decisions, everything will miraculously fall into place.

PS Aha..picture is worth a thousand words, so now will you believe me?!! May be this might be what others call "mid-life crisis"?!

Yeaah..go ahead replace us

Beware we will all be soon replaced by machines or may be perhaps we can sit back and relax while we let robots like Adam do our experiments for us (smell a long vacation here). Adam has been developed by Amanda Clare's group in the UK. He can come up with hypothesis and test them too. How cool is that people?! But he still needs somebody to add more lab consumables and of course clean the waste he generates. May be I should get an Adam- since he can perform all those things that I am doing right now.

The Automation of ScienceRoss D. King, Jem Rowland, Stephen G. Oliver, Michael Young, Wayne Aubrey, Emma Byrne, Maria Liakata, Magdalena Markham, Pinar Pir, Larisa N. Soldatova, Andrew Sparkes, Kenneth E. Whelan, and Amanda Clare (3 April 2009)
Science 324 (5923), 85. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1165620]

Close proximity

What do you do when you are in close proximity to people like her? She is only 4 years older than I am and she already features in the top 100 living geniuses (see the article here). She is one of the three women who graduated summa cum laude from Harvard Medical School. You can read her profile in
Science 25 April 2008: Vol. 320. no. 5875, pp. 442 - 443, DOI: 10.1126/science.320.5875.442
Her foray into stardom came about when she found a novel way to identify targets for positive selection during the course of evolution. It is a pretty neat technique, although the math part goes over my head.

PS I am mediocre but at least I am not surrounded by it! Here I am, can't even get a PCR to work...

Schadenfreude, hope not

Schadenfreude is a German word that describes the pleasure that one derives from others misfortunes. It is very closely related to envy. In this nice paper, the authors show that despite the two emotions being correlated they activate different regions of the brain. While envy activates neural connections related to pain, sch.. activates the reward center of the brain. But can anything be ever so simple.....of course not. The authors show the interplay between social pains and pleasures.

Taken from

NEUROSCIENCE: Pains and Pleasures of Social Life

Matthew D. Lieberman and Naomi I. Eisenberger (13 February 2009)

Science 323 (5916), 890. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1170008]

Analyses of brain activity reveal a link between social and physical pains and pleasures.

"If maintaining one's social value is a need like other physical needs, then the greater the pain caused by negative social comparisons, the greater the pleasure in response to seeing the comparison target socially devalued (schadenfreude). The authors found that greater envy and dACC activity in response to a negative social comparison was associated with greater schadenfreude and ventral striatum activity when learning of that comparison target's subsequent downfall."

Basically what it means is if you envy someone, you get greater pleasure when misfortune strikes them. In fact Leiberman and Eisenberger think of this as something akin to physical needs such as food when you are hungry! What is even more interesting is the fact that the brain is treating things as important as lack of food and water similar to social pains such as envy. Now why would that be?

If you have access you should read the article (don't worry if you don't understand much of it) and for people who are not used to neuroscience jargon, you should read the perspectives that is referenced above.

When Your Gain Is My Pain and Your Pain Is My Gain: Neural Correlates of Envy and Schadenfreude

Hidehiko Takahashi, Motoichiro Kato, Masato Matsuura, Dean Mobbs, Tetsuya Suhara, and Yoshiro Okubo (13 February 2009) Science 323 (5916), 937. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1165604]

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/323/5916/937