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...