Chennai rains and its aftermath

T.M. Krishna has written an op-ed piece on Chennai rains and its aftermath in today's edition of Indian Express.
I have been in Chennai for the past two weeks.  As my train entered North Chennai I could see the houses were still waddling in rain water-sewage water mix. The South Chennai where my parents live does not have any stagnant pool of water because the corporation laid down the storm water drain couple of years back, which despite its extremely poor quality did manage to do a reasonable job.  My Uncle told us that their locality was filled with water though their building escaped that fate due to the rain water harvesting system that they had laid down.
Now that the water has receded, we can see the extensive damage down to the roads. Parts of roads have caved in. Walking to Luz corner one day to get medicines for my mother, I saw that a section of Sivasami Salai had been closed as part of the road had caved in.  Roads are, in fact, truly artistic, telling the story of shoddy work done over the years. Poor quality bitumen (or water-soluble bitumen as my father says), improper laying of the road, patchwork repair done on roads have all taken a toll.
I did suggest to my brother that we should hold a contest for the most artistic road in the city. Funds are pouring in but the saddest part is that the same kind of poor quality roads will be once again laid down.
The water quality is abysmal.  It never was good.  When the rains failed to come in the past years, the residents used to get water with algae floating in it. The filter in the water purifier system had to be cleaned every few days as it would get clogged. In desperation, my father learned how to dismantle and clean the water purifier filter.  When he fell ill, I told my mother to boil the filtered water.  After the rains this year, we have no idea what we are getting. In many areas since the drinking water is mixed with sewage.
There is enough propaganda.  Whatsapp is being used to tell the citizens of the good work done by the government.  Money has poured in.  But life goes on for no one really cares. We do not really care about public good.  After all people can be fooled all the time.

How to do Ph.D. in the times of outsourcing

Some time back there was this article in Firstpost about how Ph.D. thesis was available for sale. Now, there are businesses helping you with the Ph.D. thesis.  I was forwarded the following mail by a colleague of mine. I am producing their business spiel verbatim as they want the word to be spread:

Warm Greetings from Aristocrat Research Solutions! (A unit of Aristocrat IT Solutions (P) LTD, (An ISO 9001:2008 certified company).

 

Kind Attention.

Dear Ph.D/Master’s Research scholars, Doctorates, Post Docs, Scientists, Professors, staffs and students,

Aristocrat Research solutions is a passionate and dedicated organization involving in various research training programs and educational consulting activities, catering to the knowledge transfer needs of researchers and learned people throughout the world. We have a team of handpicked, highly intellectual, effective and dedicated researchers.

 

1.      For Ph. D and Master’ Scholars (Individual Consultation basis):

If you are looking for research publication services, Research paper writing Services, Thesis writing services, Research / Project implementation services or any other works related to your research, Aristocrat Research Solutions is the right destination.

We provide complete assistance to finish your Ph.D/Master’s research Hassle free!!! To know more details kindly visit www.aristocratresearch.com.

Here is a brief of our unique approach – A novel five stage approach.    

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Note: We do the literature survey and review only the recently (2015-2016) published papers to formulate a completely unique and novel concept only for you.

 Stage II: Research Project Implementation, MATLAB, Weka, SPSS tools, NS2, NS3, OMNET++, AMOS, DEAP, SIMULINK & Other Computational tools.

Stage III: Research Paper Writing (Plagiarism Free Writing) and Publication Support for High Impact Journals (e.g. IEEE)

Note: We assure on time delivery and content free from plagiarism. We provide original and Plagiarism free writing. A plagiarism report will be produced to you, so that you can double check our original and creative technical writing.

 Stage IV: Synopsis Writing, Thesis Writing (Plagiarism Free Writing), Other Documentation Works.

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3.      If you are looking for gaining knowledge to shine in your research career, Aristocrat is the right destination.

Every Sunday, We offer a “free one day seminar on Technical Writing, Research methodology, data analytics and statistics, SPSS, NS2, NS3, AMOS, OMNET++, MATLAB, JAVA and other programming languages for advanced coding” in our corporate office. (Kindly find the address below).

 

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Team,

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Visit: www.aristocratresearch.com

There you go!  BTW, I checked their website. For the scientists they can help develop the data too. Fantastic!

Delhi Pollution

In winters a combination of factors makes it impossible to breathe in Delhi.  The High Court has slammed both the Centre and the State.  The State government called for an emergency meeting and proposed a slew of measures.  One of them is to allow odd and even numbered cars on alternate days.
The proposal is doomed even before it can be implemented.
Take our campus. Every bit is walkable.  Especially from where I live to the Mother Dairy booth, just a two-minute walk.  The residents do two things- either they will send their maid or they will take the car.  Now, how will they manage if the odd/even number is implemented. Do you really think they will follow the rule?
None of the children walk either to the school bus stop or to the sports activities or to anything. As soon as they come out of their houses, they hop into the car and their parent drives them.
The excuses are plenty. Of course, I agree that there are too many dogs on the campus and no one is willing to make sure that the dogs are spayed so that their population does not increase. The onus we are told is on the NGO to whom the job has been delegated; the animal activists tell us that we are cruel to target the dogs; the reality remains that most of the dogs are feral and many of them bite; this is enough excuse for the residents not to walk.  And now that the fellowships for the students has been increased, most of them possess vehicle of some sort and therefore, in the past 10 years I have been here, there has been a phenomenal increase in the vehicular traffic and hence, the pollution.  We do not care because we like to put the blame on some one else. I am sure that the good citizens of Delhi will come up with ideas to defeat any measure taken by the government to reduce the pollution. Never mind that it affects our health.  The car has to be exercised, right?

Banana -chocolate chip cake with peanut butter icing

It all started with an article on NDTV site extolling the virtues of peanut butter. In the end there was a recipe for banana peanut butter cake.  I love peanut butter but I do not trust the recipes from this website because there always seems to be something not quite right about them.  And yet, I could feel the taste of the cake and I knew I had to make it.
I looked up quite a few of the recipes on the internet and then fell on to my tried and trusted banana cake recipe.  I added broken chocolate bar (Dark Chocolate from Amul) as substitute for chocolate chips.
The frosting turned out to be a challenge. I knew I had to beat butter and peanut butter together to create the frosting but I was too lazy to do the beating by hand as I do not have a mixer.  Then I found the icing recipe at this website.  The icing turned out to be little too thin but that was okay because the cake soaked it all up and became soft and moistened.
The next day morning I took 75% of the cake to the lab and gave the remaining to Sumitra for her two boys.
The day was busy as we had a new project trainee (my Ph.D. student, Popy, who is now teaching in Bangalore, sent me her M.Sc student for training) and then there were interviews for the direct Ph.D.  In the whole rush I forgot to inform my students that I had made a cake for them.  But, no problems! When I rushed in around 1pm to tell them about, the cake had been found and consumed.  They assured me that it was good.  And today morning, Sumitra told me that her children had loved it and they had said thanks.  
This is a cake I would love to make again though this time probably with a good thick frosting.

As I walked out one midsummer morning- Laurie Lee

When I told my brother how much I had enjoyed 'Cider with Rosie' by Laurie Lee, he very kindly got me the other two books in the trilogy with a warning that it might not be as cheery as the first one.
'As I walked out one midsummer morning' is the second book in the trilogy and begins with Laurie Lee leaving his home in Gloucestershire and walk towards London and eventually makes his way to Spain because he knew the Spanish for "Will you please give me a glass of water". 
He describes a life that is hard to imagine today. Who would decide on a whim to go to another country and walk from place to place in that country, and when needed money would stand in a corner with a hat and play the violin. People drop in pennies, enough for a meal, enough for a drink, enough for boarding, enough for a day.
The Spain he describs is on the verge of civil war and to it he returns in December 1937 to participate in it as part of the International Brigade- a motley crowd of Republicans.  This brief foray into the war is what he describes in the last of the books " A moment of war." If going to Spain because he knew one phrase was flimsy, then returning back to the country to participate in the war was based on just a whim. He had fallen in love and he wanted to show her...the reason for returning back to Spain to the war is not very clear.  He crosses over to Spain from France and is immediately arrested by the Republican Army because they suspect he is a spy for General Franco.  He escapes narrowly from being executed. There are no heroics. There are no battles. He is eventually asked to leave in January 1938. 
The writing, the imagery that he evokes is voluptuous. The description of a country at war was heart-rending. General Franco, in a bid to subdue the entire country to his will, enlists the help of the German war planes to drop bombs on his countrymen. Hitler is only too happy to oblige. He uses Spain to test how to use war planes to drop bombs on a city.  The cold-bloodiness shook me.

Are our students learning better- the misplaced priorties of the government

There are three news items that propelled me to write this post.  And no, this has nothing to do with Panchjanya, the RSS mouthpiece, declaring that JNU is a hub of anti-nationals.  Anyway, for a change, the VC has given a befitting reply.

1. I read the first two news items on Nanopolitan.  Basically the government is going to give a boost to technology development and has started an IMPRINT program for IISc and IITs.  Secondly they are concerned that none of the institutes (meaning IITs and IISc) are amongst the top 100 and therefore, they are going to boost them with 100-500 crore grant.
2. The second news  appeared in Scroll.in today regarding the learning versus scoring.  With near-perfect scores are our students learning any better? The answer is of course a resounding NO. Just ask any teacher and they will lament how bad the situation has become. The MHRD is worried and therefore, has ordered that the scores should be moderated so that students do not get inflated marks.

The first and second issue are intertwined.  The ranking of Universities/Institutes takes multiple parameters into account. Teaching, Research, publication, grants generated....  IITs basically cater to undergraduates though they do have M.Sc and Ph.D. program.  However, very rarely do the B.Tech students join for M.Tech or M.Sc at IITs.  Usually, undergraduates for universities flock to do M.Tech/M.Sc at IITs. The M.Sc program in Chemistry at IIT Kanpur was considered to be one of the best. IISc does have a selective undergraduate program but they focus more on Ph.D program.  Has the MHRD given a thought as to where will the undergraduates and postgraduates for IIT and IISc come from?  They are going to come from Central and State Universities and if you do not support these Universities, give them autonomy and ensure that the teaching program improves, how will IITs and IISc become one among the top 100?  And extending it further shouldn't the government be paying attention to school education?
And really, by just moderating the marks, they believe that the learning program will improve at school and University level? 
I have given up on the hope that the MHRD will someday become sensible.  They are simply hopeless. 
Oh the icing was the news that the funding for mid-day meal scheme for schools has been slashed. After all if moderation of marks can get the result why bother with mid-day meals for children?

The onset of winter- Rosy Starlings and Shrikes

In this age of silliness -what else can one call it when the Right loonies start taking pot shots at Shah Rukh Khan of all the people.  He might be the worst of the actors (according to my brother he is the worst actor though I remember him in Fauji, a television serial that used to air in 1989.  That is when we girls fell in love with him) but to really equate him with Hafiz Saeed is height of absurdity. I can only think that the Right Loonies like to be always on the front page and therefore, make the most provocative statements just to ensure their five minutes of fame. On the other hand, it is now easy for me to decide not to read the newspapers in the morning. It is really pointless.
Instead I glorify in the annual migration of the birds.  The Shrike is the harbringer of winter.  It has a favourite tree where it sits and calls out- an amazing sight.
This year I am also seeing a black-golden brownish bird about the size of the myna. They roost together in large numbers, are extremely noisy and it is an amazing sight to see when they all fly away together.  The expert in our department, Dr. Surya Prakash, enlightened me today. They are the Rosy Starlings, he told me, belonging to the same family as the myna. They are on their way to down south.  In a week or two, they will start moving. They move back in March/April but apparently they take a different route that allows them to gorge on locusts and grasshoppers.
The two check-dams in JNU are also having the winter migrants. I have to go and check them out.
Meantime, the nilgais ate up my brinjals and cauliflower plants. So we had to put a fence around, which made them so furious that they completely ate up one of my hibiscus plant.
Despite all this mayhem caused by the nilgais, I have managed to save the crysanthemums. They should flower within another week or so. We have also planted nastritiums and allyssums. The poppies are ready for transplant and I have to get petunias, pansies, and strawberries to complete my winter garden.

The future of Indian education-Olympiad on Vedic Education

I am not joking. I received an email from Econ Profit Relations wherein they proudly state that they plan to hold an Olympiad on Vedic education.  Below is appended their mail:

Dear Sir/Mam,

SUBJECT: To organise an objective test "VIJAI BHAV -OLYMPIAD on VEDIC EDUCATION"

              We are proud to share that CEE in association with Econs has launched a Vedic Education test program VIJAI BHAV  designed with an aim of educating Indian students on the values of Indian Culture and Heritage. Vedas are the heritage of Indian culture and every child must be prepared to learn the importance and power of the subjects , with the same aim , Confederation of Education Excellence (CEE), the pioneering body in Education has put forward the step to spread the aroma of the Indian Vedic Education among all Institutions.

 

              This proposal has been forwarded to your organisation with an aim of conducting the OLYMPIAD TEST ON VEDIC EDUCATION for students at large, As we are aware that INDIA is having oceans of information & literature on Vedas  Indian minds are developed with pure form of inner consciousness where the intellectual power is found visible in the form of practical experience of Indian minds which is acknowledged worldwide.We are ascertained that this association will help the students to understand the gravity of our cultures, technologies and also our success we achieved in ancient era in Science & Researches, We have drafted the test series based on the common understanding of Ancient Science, Vedas and General questions on Indian Heritage. A copy of the topics will be mailed before the exams for the students pre preparation.  

 

         We are pleased to extend this proposal where CEE aims to take the program ahead from institutional level to state and National Level and reward the students with participation certificates and attractive gifts.

We look forward to have the consent on the above to this proposal ahead. A copy of the proposal is enclosed for the reference.

Needless to say I am amused.  As I anxiously wait to hear the fate of two of our papers submitted to a journal, emails like this provide fodder for laughter.
On the other hand, given the current scenario in the country, I am quite sure that there are people out there who take this seriously.
In their hands rests securely the fate of our education.

The state of higher education in India- Who appoints VCs?

Two days back my Uncle sent me a message through Whatsapp asking was it true that Subramanian Swamy was going to appointed the VC of JNU.  My immediate response was that I hope not for JNU would eat him alive.
Of course the news was not true. The MHRD has issued a denial and it has been pointed out that he is anyway 76 years (something that should have stuck me considering one of his daughter is just a year older than me which makes him closer to my parent's age) and that unless the statutes are rewritten, he cannot be appointed VC.
But that is not the point. The point is that it is certain that the VC who will be appointed will be from right-wing.  And everyone is afraid of it.   But what bothers me is that no one dares to point out that if  UPA was in power it was clear that either a left-wing or some one close to Congress will be appointed the VC of the Central Universities. It is always thus.  The Central/State government always handpicks its favorites to head Central/State Universities never mind whether they possess the academic and administrative capabilities.
So my question is: Why does the government interfere into the functioning of an autonomous University?  This interference extends into who will be appointed as teachers, it spills into student politics, finally ending up in ensuring that the University does every thing except academics.  In State Universities is is even worse.  My friend tells me that in her State, there is a price for every post- x amount (running in crores) for VC,  y amount for Professor, z amount for Associate Professor, and so on so forth down the line.  When positions are available for money, why would somebody be bothered to teach?
I have studied in the US and the job of the President of the University was to fundraise and lobby for money.  It is his/her job to ensure that funds flowed in. The President was appointed by the Governing Board and was accountable to them.  The hiring was done by the respective departments based on their requirements. The academics continued irrespective of whether the Republicans were in power or Democrats were in power.
Here the academics is at the mercy of the powers. So if it is Right-wing we will get idiocies like astrology is science and Vedic maths.  If it is Left-wing we will get the exact opposite. But rest assured, that the academics will never be free from the color of the politics.

The state of higher education in India- What is the value of a Ph.D.

The headlines making rounds is that 250 Ph.D degree holders are applying for a peon's job in UP.  Of course there is lot of head-beating bout lack of jobs etc.  My take is little different. I am not denying that jobs are difficult to get after Ph.D. Academic jobs are few and you need really good papers to get a post-doctoral position.  A big debate is going on in the US on this issue.
That said, I would also say that majority of the Ph.D. degree holders in India are unemployable.  Ph.D. has become some thing to do while waiting for a job.  The fellowships, at least in Science, is more than enough to survive (considering that most will stay in a hostel for peanuts and have only mess bills as their major expenditure and that they do not have to pay any income tax).  So after M.Sc. students are now drifting into Ph.D with no thought as to why they are doing it. In fact I will be brutally honest and say that of all the student who have graduated from my lab only two really deserved it and one student should have been thrown out.  However, the system is such that I have no powers whatsoever to throw a student out if he/she fails to perform.  The fault, of course, rests with the faculty as much as it does with the student. In the doctoral committee meeting, this time, there were two really bad presentations and it was very obvious that the student had not read. However, the supervisor for one of the students was scared to tell the student to present again even though I said I would support him. In case of the other student, I put my foot down, and said that the student will have to present again (it is a different matter that I had to then work with this student, in absence of his supervisor, and improve his presentation).  The student still did not read anything and I doubt if he is going to be working hard, but at least hopefully, he got the message that it will not be a cakewalk next time.
As one of my colleague points out, many of the faculties themselves have no academic rigor (other things like walking the dog, taking of the children and the home, taking care of their car etc take precedence over academic matters) that they have no authority whatsoever to tell the student to get lost if they do not perform.
As far as the students are concerned I seriously think that many of them do not even understand what Ph.D. is. As far as they are concerned it is just another degree that should be given to them at the end of five years.  When the students were agitating for increased fellowship, a senior colleague bemoaned that the students are demanding money but they do not demand academic rigor, better lab facilities, better access to journals...things that would improve their academic standard.  They do not care.
I have talked only about a premier Central University. Multiply the woes by about million times, in case of State Universities, and you will get to the situation where 250 Ph.D holders in UP are applying for a peon's job.

How to ensure safety of students- the UGC way

The UGC apparently is much concerned about the safety of students on campuses across the country. So they have come up with a guideline to ensure just that as they believe "a safe, secure and cohesive learning climate is an ineluctable precondition to quality education and research."  Therefore, they have asked
1. Physical infrastructure housing students should be secured by a boundary wall so high that it cannot be scaled and fortified further by barbed wires.
2. Setting up police station within the premises of the higher education institutes.
3.The institutes should organize quarterly parent-teacher meeting.
4. A student counselling system has to be put in place with teacher counsellers who will periodically communicate to the parents the intellectual and emotive needs of their wards. Teacher counselors can coordinate with the hostel warden and exchange personal details of the students.

There is many more but these points are the most problematic. First, the good point is of course they have not said that only the girls hostels should be secured by a boundary wall. It is both- men and women- who have to be secured. The problem is that this gives an impression of a prison which an educational institute is definitely not. Most campuses have a boundary wall and most of them have rules and regulations as to who is allowed into the campus.  The campus security to a large extent takes care of it.  In a campus like JNU where students are allowed to move freely it is largely because it is safe.  Even in M.S. University, where there were strict timings as to when we should return to the hostel (we girls hardly ever did that), the campus was safe enough for us to go from the department to the hostel at 9 in the night.  Having a boundary wall does not solve security issues neither does having a police station.
Parent-Teacher meetings?  For heaven's sake, the students in Universities and colleges are adults! They are not children where the teacher has to meet and appraise them of their activities.  
As for the section on counseling, has the UGC heard of confidentiality?

I do not what UGC is thinking but these guidelines are ridiculous. They have to understand that the students are attending colleges and Universities are adults. You can provide counseling services, grievance redress mechanisms, campus security (for example, the UGC has asked for night drop service which is a very nice idea) but beyond it there is not much that a University/college can do without seeming to be a prison.

And the crows ate them all

Today morning when I opened the balcony and peeped into the dove nest, I noticed only one nestling.  I wondered what had happened to the other one.  The answer came when I was watering my garden.  A crow swooped down, grabbed the chick by the neck, and flew away.  All I could see was the tiny brown thing hanging helplessly from the crow's beak.  I guess that is life.
The nest is empty.  The parent had fed the chick in the morning and gone away possibly to get more food. I wonder whether they will return.

Oats idli and Tomato chutney (also the dove eggs have hatched)

Ever since I discovered how to make oats idli, it has become my favourite.   It is easy to make and healthy, though my brother seemed amazed that there is something called oats idli and my father made a snarky remark that idlis seemed to be made nowdays of everything but rice and dal.  I also learnt to make tomato chutney one day in desperation when I discovered that the idli podi was over and my mother was in Chennai and I can get the podi only in December (It is a different story that I finally made the podi myself after asking my mother for the recipe and making sense of her instructions.  I think I added tad too much sesame seeds but my cousin's wife, who is visiting me, appreciated it very much).  So I trawled through the net and experimented with various recipes before settling down to make it with onions, tomatoes, and coconut milk (and no garlic).  I made them today for my visiting cousin's wife and she appreciated it very much.
The dove eggs hatched on Thursday and the mother (or the father? The sexes look identical in case of laughing doves) is busy nursing them. 

Today she (or he) has left them alone for couple of hours. When she (or he) returned there was an orgy of frenzied feeding.

The parent has gone off again to scrounge for food and so it continues. The nest which seemed perfect for two eggs and one adult dove is becoming increasingly smaller with the two growing chicks and one nursing parent.
The dove parent has become quite tolerant of me.  Initially, it showed a tendency to fly off but after I sealed the balcony and left it strictly alone, it has sort of accepted me. At least the bird is quite okay when I go close to take a peek at the babies or water the ferns.  But if the pigeon, their upstairs neighbour, dares to approach anywhere near the parent flies into a rage.



 

Of birds and wasps

The past Sunday when I went to water my plants in the balcony I noticed a small nest with two eggs next to the pot of fern.  It was the laughing dove who had used the space to build a nest.  I would think it a little bit inconvenient but turns out that the bird was smart.  From the outside the nest is completely hidden situated as it is between two pots both bearing ferns.  The dove, apparently the male does the incubation, has been sitting on the nest for 6 days.   It will be another week to 10 days before the eggs hatch. 

The upstairs neighbour of the dove is the rock pigeon who just finished giving birth about a month back.  The pigeons take great pleasure in strewing the balcony with all kinds of rubbish.  As the balcony is off-limits for Sumitra it is in an appalling mess.
 On the other balcony inside the cupboard that I built to keep all the discarded newspaper and gardening stuff the wasps have built a nest.  I have to be carefully while putting the newspapers into the cupboard as they have a nasty habit of stinging when least expected.
The rains this year, mercifully, have been plenty for Delhi.  The chrysanthemums have been planted. The hibiscus are blooming and I am looking forward to the parijatam tree to blossom sometime next month. In the kitchen garden front, apart from the spinach,  this year I am experimenting with cucumbers and tomatoes.  The only disappointment has been the rajanigandha or sampangi plant which has not bloomed at all.
Finally I got around to making pineapple upside-down cake. It is one my favourite cake and I experimented using fresh pineapple. It came out good or at least Sumitra's two sons enjoyed it.

Two books by P.D. James

P.D. James wrote detective novels, Adam Dalgliesh being her most famous creations. The books I am talking about do not involve Adam Dalgliesh, though he does sort of come in one of them in the end.
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman:  I wanted to read the book ever since I saw the televised version in PBS long time back. I knew the book existed but I could not get hold of it till I buckled down and purchased it on Amazon. The book features Cordelia Gray, who at the start of the book is a partner in an investigating agency. Due to the death of her partner, the choice is hers- whether to continue with the agency or close it down.  It is the 60s and detecting is really an unsuitable job for a woman, they all tell her. She decides to run the agency and is soon involved in investigating the death of a young student in Cambridge University.  The book is really about how Cordelia establishes herself as an young investigator as she sifts through clues and finally, comes to the correct conclusion. 
P.D. James never really developed Cordelia Gray as a major character mostly due to how the BBC treated Cordelia Gray as the character in their series.  Such a pity because there are really very few women characters in the detective novel genres. Of course, there is always Miss Marple and Sue Grafton has created Kinsey Milhone (I read couple of her books) but detecting is generally a male- dominated world- think of Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Lord Peter Wimsey, Adam Dalgliesh...the list is endless.
Death comes to Pemberly: Yesterday there was no electricity so I stepped across to the mall to get some thing to eat.  There was a book sale and I got two books.  One of which was Death comes to Pemberly by P.D. James.  Pemberly as in the Pemberly of Pride and Prejudice- the estate of Mr. Darcy in Derbyshire.  There have been many sequels written to Pride and Prejudice- I generally avoid them.  Some sequels even if written by the same author end up ruining the novel for me.  I loved Little Women and to me the novel ends with the engagement of John and Meg. The later ones- Good Wives, Little Men, and Jo's Boys- were books I wished the author had not written. Similarly, I love Anne of Green Gables but the later sequels tracing what happens to Anne are something I avoid.  Somethings should be left to imagination.
Getting back to the novel in question, I picked it up because it promised to be slightly different. The book picks up after 6 years of Elizabeth and Darcy's marriage and thankfully, we are not treated to the trials and tribulations of their married life. Rather, the Darcys are getting ready for their annual ball.  Colonel Fitzwilliam, who has now inherited an earldom, is contemplating proposing to Georgiana (Darcy's sister).  However, Georgiana has another suitor in Henry Alveston, who is a heir to ancient Barony.  Jane and Bingley arrive for the ball and on the eve of the ball they are all gathered.  James now introduces a gothic element- the winds are howling outside and it is a dark and stormy night.  In this night comes a carriage carrying Lydia who stumbles out shrieking and screaming that her dear Willoughby is dead.  Willoughby is, of course, not dead.  But his friend Captain Denny is.  The story then revolves around who killed Captain Denny.
What I really enjoyed was the language which remains faithful to the dry tone of Jane Austen.   I also loved the fact that James cleverly weaves in characters from Emma and Persuasion.  It was joy to know Lady de Bourgh and Mr. Collins remain as silly and idiotic as ever.  The letters they write are simply too wonderful.  The book focuses on Darcy- very understandable as the murder ensures that the action takes place in the courtroom. 

Pear-chocolate muffins

For the past one week I have been feeling the taste of pears and chocolate.  And I knew I had to make some thing that contained both of them.  I first thought I would make a cake but later settled for muffins. The muffin recipe presented by Vegan Dad is wonderful as it can be adapted so easily to different combinations and permutations.
So I used the basic recipe -2 cups flour (1 cup flour and 1 cup oats), 1 cup milk, 1/2 sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar), 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 cup oil. For spices I just added ginger powder (again I simply felt the combination of pears and ginger would be fantastic).  For fruits I added chopped pears and pomegranate seeds.  Since walnuts were handy, I added a handful of chopped walnuts.  The mix was poured into muffin tins and topped with a square of dark chocolate ( I used Schogetten Dark Chocolate which fortunately was already in ready-made squares sparing me the job of chopping them into perfect squares).

On databooks and such like things pertaining to the lab

The recent case involving a research scholar and her research supervisor was just one of those things where I believed the media report. It was possible what the scholar was claiming till the scholar started demanding her data book and chemicals that she was working with. That is when my antennae stood up. Of course it is possible that the scholar was harassed but reading the rebuttal by the supervisor stuck a chord within me. Most of the PIs would identify with the supervisor because at some point or other we have faced it.
1. To whom does the chemicals and data books belong: They belong to the PI because it is the PI who writes the grants and gets the money. Ultimately, all this belongs to the funding agency which is why we have to always acknowledge them in our publications. Many scholars labour under this misunderstanding that since it is their work, the data and the databook belongs to them.  Very often we have to chase the student and tell them please give back the databooks.  My students have been very good at it but there are cases even in our department where the student has failed to turn in the book.
2. Stipend:  In the report carried by ToI, the supervisor points out that to be eligible for the stipend the student has to present her work. He is right on this issue too.  The JRF is given for two years.  To go to the SRF, student has to present his or her work before a committee that then gives its approval for the change in status.  After obtaining the SRF, the student has to submit his/her report after one year to CSIR/UGC.  The SRF is also for a period of 4 years. So if the student wants an extension for another year, he/she has to present their work in front of a committee.  Further, the UGC/CSIR also makes it very clear that the fellowship is tenable only if the student is working. That is why the databooks need to be written every day because that is the proof that the student has worked. Many labs also have a register to mark the attendance of the student.  Further UGC/CSIR gives only one month of vacation time.  If a student takes more than allotted vacation time, the PI does have the right to say that he/she will not sign the fellowship form. What happens, of course, is that if the PI exercises this right then they are accused of harassing the student.
3. Coming to the lab on time: My heart really went out to the supervisor when he wrote that the student had the habit of coming late all the time.  Ask any PI, this is their main complaint. Most often the PI is in the lab by 9.00 am and the student saunters in around 11 am, 12 pm and in one case that I know, at 2.30 pm after calling the student up and asking whether he is coming to the lab (my fate for the past five years).  This is not a problem peculiar only to India I was glad to note.  Of course students do not often realize that at the level of Ph.D. or post-doc the time limit is no longer set by external agencies like the PI.  You have to set your time remembering that unless you do the experiments you cannot get a Ph.D. So you can come late every day or spend days outside the lab and come occasionally to the lab or you can come to the lab every day on time, plan your experiments and execute them. The choice is the students. However, the time needed to obtain the Ph.D is directly proportional to the time spent in the lab.  This does not mean that you have to be in the lab 24 X 7, which can be actually be very counter-productive.  A healthy via media between the two extremes is what the students need to strive for.
All this does not imply that the students are always at fault. Some of the PIs are truly  horrendous and in this particular case, I really do not know what has happened. However, when I read the report in the newspaper, I found myself nodding my head. Yep. Been there and handled it.  To the best of my ability.  I was not trained for it in my grad days but I am learning a big dose of humor helps because the student is always going to be the student. And the PI, unfortunately, the PI.

Why can't the Indian Embassy be sensible?

Getting a student visa should be simple.  At least it was when I had applied for the student visa to go to US. All I needed was my F1 documentation from the university.  As I had full scholarship I did not even have to prove that I had enough resources to support myself. The only thing that was going to be impediment was that I had hordes of relatives in the US and there was no guarantee that I would come back. However, the visa officer was very nice. He forbore to ask me too many probing questions and I had my visa that evening.
Now I am the foreign student adviser and I realize that things are really not that simple. At least not where India is concerned.  For one, the Indian embassies do not seem to have a protocol as to what documents they need from the student.  For another, they seem to be very happy asking for things the administration and I are clueless about.  So the last few days I have been grappling with queries from foreign students who have got admission to help them with the paper work.  There was a frantic email from a student in Greece. The Indian Embassy wanted a tuition fee receipt.  Of course a receipt will be issued as soon the student pays the tuition fee.  But the tuition fee will be paid at the time of registration. And the registration can happen only when the student comes to India.  How do we issue the student a receipt? 
The next was a email from a student from South Korea.  The Indian Embassy in South Korea wants certification of business register. We had no idea what this certificate was.  I searched the internet and found the nearest thing to this in ISO certificate but JNU does not have one because we were created by an Act of Parliament.  The nearest thing to this we have is the NAAC accreditation which we dispatched to the student. I hope it suffices.
Today I got a call from Bangaldesh.  The Indian High Commission wants an affiliation certificate.  Fortunately, they have been considerate enough to provide the student with a format of the certificate. On Monday, I will have to get it filled, signed by the registrar and send it off to the student.
I am now waiting to see what else the Indian Embassies/High Commission asks. But what really bothers me is that  why each Embassy/High Commission has its own list of paperwork.  Shouldn't it be the same for all and shouldn't we be informed about it?  But I guess this is Indian Bureaucracy.

What do female scientists do- as per Tim Hunt

Tim Hunt, the Nobel Prize winner, kicked up a storm when he declared that he preferred single-sex labs as women cry and distract men.  Apparently we women are capable of only two things- Romance and Tears.
There has been hilarious response to Tim Hunt's comments. They can be found here, and here. Probably there are more of them but that is all I could find in the morning while I am trying to finish the cooking, watering the plants and getting ready for the lab.  I do not have any photographs of myself working (oops! romancing and crying) in the lab but somehow  purifying the protein and RNA from calf thymus and rabbit tissues has never been conducive for taking photographs. And I am talking of those days when we had to use film rolls and then develop it later. I wish I had but when you are using phenol and chloroform to break down rabbit tissues to extract tRNA, the last thing you have in mind is photographs and romancing and tears.
It is not the first time a Nobel Prize winner has made an ass of himself.  There was James Watson some years back kicking up a storm and finally resigning as Chancellor of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.  His view of Rosalind Franklin, who took all the X-ray images of DNA that Watson analyzed, is well-known. Of course, he never acknowledged Franklin.  The Nobel Prize went to Watson, Crick, and Wilkins.  Franklin was dead by then.
At home, we women know how hard it is to break the glass-ceiling. We are overlooked for most of the awards. A colleague once told me that he always wants to give the men a higher salary because they have to run the house.  I have still not recovered from that remark.
Ultimately, it is as  Ginger Rogers said:
"Sure, he (Fred Astaire) was great but don't forget that Ginger Rogers did every thing he did backwards....and in high heels."

Choice-based Credit System- Another UGC experiment

The UGC wants the Universities to implement Choice-based Credit System. In their guidelines, they clearly state Choice-based Credit System  provides a "Cafeteria" approach to education. In one swoop they have turned education into something completely irrelevant.  The guideline is absolutely vague- a bureaucrat's vision.  So let us go through it:

1. The student will learn at their own pace. 
What does this mean?  Can a student graduate in four years instead of three?  Or maybe graduate in two years instead of three? Will all these students be considered on par?The document is silent on these aspects.

2. There are going to be three kinds of courses- Core, Elective, and Foundation.  Students have to take core courses every semester for certain credits and then choose their electives.  The foundation courses are mandatory.
This smacks of the Four Year Undergraduate program that was rolled back from DU last year.  Why was FYUP rolled back if the same thing was going to implemented this year in a different guise?  Further, do all the Universities and Colleges in the country have adequate faculty who can offer core and electives?  Take a college where a department has only 1 teacher- I came across this case when I was conducting the refresher course at the Academic staff college earlier this year.  This teacher has to teach all the subjects to all the students and also do the laboratory practicals with all the students.  Where does she/he have time to design an elective course? Or is it that the same course will be offered as core subject to some students and elective to others? What would be the class strength under this scenario? How is the teacher supposed to grade them?

3. The foundation course will be of two kinds-Compulsory and Elective.  Compulsory foundation course is going to lead to knowledge enhancement and is mandatory for all students.  Elective foundation course are value-based and aimed at man-making education.
I give up!  What does man-making education mean?

4. Finally, though this is not stated in the guidelines explicitly, one of the advantages of CBCS is that students can transfer credits to another University or take credits in another University/college- essentially offering student mobility.
However, here is the caveat. In the same breath the UGC/HRD wants us to standardize all the course so that at least all the Central Universities offer the same courses. If they do, then what is the need for student mobility?

If I am not mistaken, this entire approach is taken from the way American Education is designed. What our decision making members forget is that the American Education is a 4 year program.  At the beginning the student does not declare his/her major subject. For the first two years they take a variety of subjects- what in a sense would be the foundation courses suggested by UGC.  The 101 courses but at a level higher than what they would have learnt in High School.  At the end of the second year they declare their major and, if they want, minor subjects. The next two years they spend acquiring knowledge in these subjects.  The system offers great flexibility because the student has time to figure out what they are interested in. A relative of mine started University with the aim of become a doctor (they have to do 4 year Undergraduate program before applying to Med School), found that it was music that moved him, and ended up becoming a musician. That is the flexibility and greatness of the system. It is not all hunky-dory but it does offer you time to figure out your mojo.

Now what we do is to, of course, take the best practices of the best Universities in the world and then make a kichidi out of it so that it becomes incomprehensible, impractical and doomed for failure.

Escaping to Munsyiari

Delhi is extremely hot and I am always on the lookout for an escape.  So when my colleague said that she was planning to go to Munsiyari for two weeks and was I interested, I jumped at the opportunity. The only problem was that I could spare just 5 days.  On 20th of this month, Nanku Ram, the gardener, went on his annual leave, which meant that I had to get back to Delhi by 20th to take care of the garden.  Five days is better than none was my philosophy when I accepted her offer.
The cheaper way to get to Munsiyari from Delhi is to take the train to Kathgodam.  From Kathgodam, you get jeeps going up to Munsiyari.  However, given the time constraints and the fact that train tickets were not available, we decided to drive up there.  Fortunately, my maid's husband is a good driver (that is to say my parents trust him) and he has a car. 
We left Delhi on 15th around 4.30 am and promptly got stuck in Ghaziabad/Sahibabad area. I got a nice view of the apartment complexes being built around this area. I do not know who likes to have addresses as VVIP Address Towers but yes, one of the apartment complex is named as VVIP Addresses.
Once we got onto National Highway, the ride was smooth till we hit Rampur.  From Rampur to Rudrapur, the road is horrible and filled with potholes.  From Rudrapur onwards, the roads improved and we very much enjoyed the drive.  The best thing was we could tell Rajinder, our driver, to stop because we wanted to take a picture of the view or to take a closer look at the bird.  The other important thing, from my perspective, was that Rajinder drove slowly so that I did not get nauseous.  
We stopped at Jageshwar at a resort that belonged to my colleague's friend who is a tour operator.  The resort, Van Serai, was awesome. The rooms were comfortable and completely insulated so that we did not feel the cold seeping through the walls as it happens in Delhi.  Next morning, we went around Jageshwar.  The place is famous for its temples which are under ASI protection though puja is performed.  The main deity is Shiva in the form of Jageshwar and Mritunjaya.  These temples are believed to have been built in 12-13th century and are grouped together in one complex.

We left Jageshwar around 8.30 am and started our journey towards Munsiyari. 

As we reached DhaulChinna we realized that we might not have enough petrol to get back.  At the next stop, Sheraghat, we enquired about petrol and were told nothing is available.  We started panicking but a helpful hitchhiker told us that we will get it at the next stop- Berinag.  We did not believe him but when we reached Berinag and saw a Maruti outlet, we knew we would get petrol.  Which we did both at Berinag and at the next stop-Thal.
The immediate worry over, we sat back to enjoy the remaining drive. Now we could see the snow-capped peaks.  We could also hear the blue whistling thrush, and see the Himalayan Bulbul along with the red-capped bulbul.

And a rainbow:

Munsiyari is at 2250 meters above the sea level and the road winds through the mountains. Truthfully, my heart hit the shoes every time we went around the bend which was every few seconds.  This is not a road to be ventured on after dusk.
From Munsiyari we could see the Panchchauli peaks beyond which is the Tibet border.  In the morning, when I woke up, I pulled aside the curtain to take a peak.  We were lucky. It was one of those perfect days, cloudless, and we drank the sight of those mountains.

At Munsiyari, we stayed with a family who does Home Stay.  The room allotted to us was comfortable and again well-insulated with all the facilities. 
The next day, 17th, a mela had been organized and we climbed up the mountain to reach the venue. The mela was fun, and who knew that the Kumoani men play bagpipes?

My colleague and I were able to do a little bit of bird-watching. We had planned to put in an entire day, 18th, of bird watching but the weather played spoil sport. We woke to the sound of rains and foolishly having left the shoes outside faced wet shoes and socks.  The rain did stop but the clouds were there throughout putting nix to our plans.  The snowy peaks disappeared as though they had been nothing but a mirage.
Coming back I stopped at Chaukori, about 4 hours drive from Munsiyari, famous for its tea gardens.
And then it was a non-stop drive back to Delhi and the heat.

Writing a professional letter

When I was in school we had compulsory letter writing sessions both in English and Hindi.  The subjects were mundane but they the exercise emphasized that we should be careful about spelling, about salutations, about formatting...endless details that I, regretfully, forgot all about as soon as the exercise was over.  When I had to apply to graduate schools, I had to start all over again.
Now that I am a faculty, I receive many letters from students requesting for positions.  Most of the letters are written in poor English.  Many of them are addressed to Dear Sir.  Usually I respond back to these letters with a gentle reminder that not all teachers are males.  Sometimes the student will write back apologizing for his/her mistake.  I do not know whether the student learnt from the lesson though I would like to believe that he/she did.  But then I do like to live in an imaginary world.
My brother tells me that he too receives such letter.  And then today, I noticed this advice in the Science Magazine on How to Write e-mails when applying for graduate school.  It is worth reading as it provides many helpful pointers not only for undergraduate students but also for Ph.D. scholars about to apply for a post-doc position.

People like us, People like them

One of the stark realities of our country is the class- and caste-hierarchy.  Constantly, everywhere we are reminded of people like us and people like them.  We automatically sort them into people like us and people like them.  We do not like to talk about it other than in entirely academic way and then quietly go back into our homes and continue sorting ourselves into people like us and people like them.
I live in a apartment complex, within the campus. The hierarchy is well-defined. At the top are the faculty, then come the administrative staff (or clerks as a colleague refers), and then sundry other staff.  The domestic help and the security guards are at the bottom of the heap.  The children very soon learn the distinction and learn to live with that as they emulate their elders.  Harsh Mandar in his new book "Looking Away" points out that in the thick of the Devyani Khobragade- Sangeeta Richards case, it was quickly assumed that Devyani (People like us) was right and that Sangeeta Richards (People like them) deserve no hearing.  The whole issue was heard from one angle and decided from that angle only.
It bothers me because I then start asking myself what sort of society are we creating for ourselves?  A society based on inequality and deepening inequality, where children learn very young how to treat people like us and people like them does not augur well.  But, through a recent incident on the campus, I also learnt that I am in the minority.  The majority is comfortable with it, creating cocoons for themselves and their children.
Oh well!

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate chip (walnut) cookies

I like my oatmeal cookies to be soft and chewy filled with raisins and chocolate chips and walnuts- all the things I love.  As my parents are winding up the trip and preparing to return back to their place in Chennai, I decided to make oatmeal cookies for them.
Cooking with my mother in the kitchen is an art and only my sister-in-law has it perfected. I prefer to do all the cooking when my mother is not there.  So I waited till she took her afternoon nap before attempting these cookies. The recipe, of course, comes from my favorite book, Cookiemania.  The recipe calls for 2 eggs which was replaced with 1 cup applesauce.  I found chocolate chips in Nature Fresh shop in Vasant Vihar and black raisins in FoodHall in the DLF mall.
For the cookies, one needs to cream 1 cup butter and 2 cups of sugar (1 cup white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar) together.  Add 1 cup applesauce (or 2 eggs) and beat till the mixture is fluffy and creamy.
The original recipe calls for 2 cups of flour which I replaced with 1 cup maida and 1 cup atta.  Mix the flour with 1 tsp of baking soda.  One needs to add salt too but since I used salted butter, I omitted the salt. 
Add the flour mix to the butter mix slowly, mixing thoroughly after each addition.  Once all the flour is added, mix in 2 cups of oatmeal.  Then add 1 cup raisins, 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup walnuts.
Drop 1 tablespoonful of batter onto a greased cookie sheet.  Make sure there is about 2 inch space between each batter drop as these cookies tend to spread.
Bake at 190oC for 10 minutes or so till it is browned.
It is a rich cookie but oh so satisfying.

A visit to Tughlakabad fort

Delhi abounds with monuments, many of them old and crumbling.  The Tughlakabad fort is one such monument clearly visible on the Mehrauli-Badarpur Road just past the Batra Hospital and Jamia Hamdard University.

It has always intrigued me but I never got a chance to visit it till today. My friends and I participate in the walk organized by Ramit Mitra.  I should  thank my friend, Sanghamitra, for pulling me into this for it is she who found out about the walk and talked me into it.
As anyone who has read William Dalyrample's book "The City of Djinns" would know that there have been 7 cities in and around Delhi as we know it today.  Ramit gave us a short history of it in the walk.  The earliest is the city of Lal Kot remnants of which can be seen around present day Saket in New Delhi.   The 2nd city of Delhi is the Siri Fort, again remnant of it can be seen in the present day Sirifort area.  This one shot into prominence during the 1982 Asiad games.  The 3rd city of Delhi is the Tughlakhabad fort, built by Gayisuddin Tughlak, father of Muhammed-bin-Tughlak. The fort was commissioned in 1321 and was completed in 1325.  It was abandoned in 1328 when Gayisuddin died and his son moved to his own fort at Adilabad, which is really a stone's throw from Tughlakabad and clearly visible from the ramparts of the fort.
Gayisuddin had been a slave and subsequently a General to the Khilji Sultans and ascended the throne when the last of the Khilji Sultan was murdered.  As a General, he had pointed out to his Sultan that this would be a suitable area to build the fort. The Sultan had laughed and said, "Oh sure! You can build it when you become the sultan."
Little did he know that this words would come true very soon.
The fort was built on one of the natural rocky formations abounding Delhi, far from the river Yamuna.  Water was a perennial problem, so a baoli (step-well)

Steps leading to the baoli

was built inside the fort.  This is one of simplest baolis.  Just a series of steps leading to the water body.  There are more elaborate baolis in Delhi.  For example, the one present in Hailey Road which we visited last month.

Agrasen ki Baoli in Haley Road.

 Coming back to Tughlakabad, Gayisuddin divided the entire fort into 15 parts and entrusted each one of his 15 generals with the task of finishing one part, with a reward for the one who could get his part finished in record time. Thus, the fort was completed in 3 to 4 years time. There was a section housing the administration (or Lutyen's Delhi, as Ramit informed us).

The ruins of the administration section of the fort

The Sultan had his own quarters within the fort and then there was the section for the general populace. His entire population was housed inside the fortress.

Entry into the Sultan's quarters

The fort was built using huge stones plastered together with the usual mix of limestone, lentils, jaggary, and bel fruit.  The sultan was far-sighted. He built his own tomb too, a fortess like structure, connected to the main fort via a causeway.

The causeway leading to the tomb

Gayisuddin had a running feud with Nizamuddin Auliya, a leading Sufi Saint of his times. In 1327 or so, Gayisuddin left Delhi for a battle in present day Bengal.  Before leaving, he told the Sufi Saint to leave Delhi or else. Victorious from his campaign, he began the return journey.  Nizamuddin Auliya was urged by his well-wishers to abandon Delhi but the Sufi Saint responded "Hanooz Delhi Door Ast (Delhi is still far-off).  His words too turned prophetic.  Gayisuddin was accorded a huge welcome in the outskirts of Delhi by his son Muhammed.  During the welcome ceremony, or in the night, he was trampled by the elephants and killed.  Muhammed became the sultan and Gayisuddin was buried in the tomb he built for himself.  The fort was abandoned.
Muhammed became known as Muhammed-bin-Tughlak, the mad king who moved the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad and then back to Delhi.
The final twist: Muhammed-bin-Tughlak was a disciple of the Sufi Saint, Nizamuddin Auliya.
If you are in Delhi, do not miss the Tughlakabad fort! ASI is repairing it and doing a pretty good job.
As my father is visiting me, I did ask him about Tughlakhabad. He immediately told me that he had commissioned a Telephone exchange in Tigri, near Tughlakhabad.  He knows the entire Delhi by the Telephone exchanged. Some day I should ask him to give me a tour of Delhi via the telephone exchanges.

Of this and that and the new education policy

The past month was hectic and terrible.  It was hectic because I was hopping from one meeting to another because of my administrative responsibilities.  It was also hectic because I was trying to complete two manuscripts and one grant.  But all that is behind me and the dahlias are smiling in my garden.  So things are better (except the weather which is hot one week and cold and rainy the next- my parents who are here with me are longing for the salubrious climate of Chennai with 40oC and 100% humidity.)
The past month was terrible because I was finally forced to take a decision which I hoped I never would have to.  I finally put in an attendance register in the laboratory making it mandatory for them to record the time of arrival. 
My first few students were really good. They would get in to the lab by 10 in the morning without any threats. They were responsible.  The current batch of students stroll in by 11, 11.30...at any time they please.  I was very polite with them pointing out that I prefer if they get in the morning by 10.  Then I was angry. I shouted and yelled.  Nothing made any difference.  So finally, I put up the attendance register.  They have to sign in by 10. If they are late for more than 3 days, I will institute punishment.  I feel terrible because I do not believe that I should be wielding a stick. Not when my scholars are adults.  But what does one do when someone does not understand? 
I have not signed an attendance register since I left college.  And now I too am signing it. Sigh.
The government has initiated biometric cards in all its offices.  The staff is upset but what they fail to understand is it is their own callous attitude towards work that has resulted in this scenario.
Finally, I received a mail about HRD initiative on New Education Policy.  It made an interesting read.  A person, in the section on Developing The Best Teachers, some one has poured his angst at the teachers he encountered in his engineering college- a degree that ultimately is worthless because he was taught nothing.
Will something positive come out of this initiative?  I do not know.  On the other hand, the railways have been taken to task because complaints poured in about the delays.  So who knows?

Two recent decisions- and both wrong

Two decisions- one of the Central Government and the other by State Government- and both, oh, so wrong, in my opinion.
The first one of course pertains to the documentary by Leslee Udwin titled India's daughter.  I understand that there were legal issues and my concern is not with that.  Of course if the case is pending before court then it cannot be broadcasted though of course BBC has already broadcasted it. My issue is with the Parliamentarians and the Government.  There was a hue and cry about how one of convict says in the documentary that it takes two to clap and the girl should have been passive while they raped her. In that case, the convict goes on to say that they would have allowed the girl to live.  That entire statement is nauseating but the issue is that most of the men in our country do believe that women are property. At no stage do we teach our boys to respect the girls or  teach them about gender equality.  Of course it always hurts when an outsider points out the unpalatable truth but truth it is. However, the point is that by banning the documentary we are not going to make the issue go away. Already the entire debate is about how Leslee Udwin was allowed to make the documentary rather than about how do we teach our children about gender equality.  Maybe by screening the documentary would have dinned some sense into some people?
The second one is about the banning of sale of beef by Maharashtra government. I really do not see what business it is of the government to regulate what people can eat.  If the Government was so concerned about the welfare of animals, then it would do it good to take a look at how animals are transported for slaughtering. It is a heart-rending scene to see hens tied together carried on the back of bicycle, or being cooped together in a small cage and transported across.  If the Government was so concerned about cows, why don't they take a good look at how they are really kept, especially in cities with no access to air or good food.  I am a vegetarian but I do not see how I have the right to decide what others should eat.

National Science Day

Today is the day  Sir C.V. Raman announced  his discovery.  We had decided to celebrate it with a talk by Prof. Balaram and a poster session displaying the research done by the faculty. It got hijacked by the students who decide to protest against the poor pay.  The only problem was that the research fellowships are the domain of CSIR, UGC and ultimately the MHRD.  The DST, which was co-sponsoring the program, has nothing to do with the research fellowships given to students. Minor detail but enough to derail the program. Prof. Balaram left immediately after his talk was over.
The talk was interesting for he is good orator and it is a pity that the students missed it.  Prof. Balaram began by emphasizing that science and higher education is in grave threat. Over the past few years the funding to science has not increased and every agency is now giving the same answer- no funds. Without funds we cannot do much research.  He also pointed out that Indian Political Circle is fond of the word Innovation which has nothing to do with Discovery and Invention.
As the budget speech rolls out, I see Mr. Jaitley has promised more IITs and AIIMS.   That is the easy part. The new IITs and central Universities that the previous government promised are languishing for lack of funds.  As for the existing Universities- they are dying a slow death. 
As the students were protesting, I too wished I could have protested. None of the funding agencies are releasing money and bills have piled up and I am being dunned by the companies. It is in this scenario that we try to do some research. Instead of harping on how we were the first ones to know about Pythogorean theorem and how plastic surgery was known in the ancient times I really wish the Government would pay attention to the dire state of science today in India.
Oh wait! Probably they think all that has to be discovered has already been discovered. After all I am quite sure the ancients knew all about infectious diseases and cancer and....the list is endless. 
Happy Science Day!

Raga 'n Josh by Sheila Dhar- Book Review

Last week I went to the Delhi Book Fair. And yes! my book was there in the NBT stall. It felt good. 
I purchased three books of which I am reviewing the book by Sheila Dhar because I devoured it that day itself.
Sheila Dhar was a musician and a fantastic storyteller. She would have been a good actress too, if she had wanted to be.  But she wanted to be a musician and this book, an autobiography, is her journey to becoming a musician.
Her family was the khandaani, Old Delhi Mathura Kayastha family interested in music.  She learnt music from a musician hired by the family to teach all the girls (boys were exempt but girls had to know music for their marriage prospects).  However, Mohan Babu known only limited repertoire and cannot turn her into a musician. The quest continues after marriage and leads her finally to Ustad Fayyed Khan who moulds her into a musician.
The journey is fascinating. Through her family connections, she knows Ustad Bundu Khan, Begum Akhtar, and Kesar Bai Kerkar. She also gets to know Siddheswari Devi and of course, in the end performs at Harballabh festival.
She also worked in Publication division and one of the stories that amused me was one where the Business Manager discovers that many of the publications had been eaten by rats. So he writes a letter requesting for mouse trap. The letter goes back and forth. Finally in frustration, he gets a cat. Then starts another set of letters where he tries to reimbursed for the amount spent on cat food. The finance head is a South India Brahmin, pedantic and stubborn.  Unfortunately, Sheila Dhar quit her job to concentrate on her music career so we do not know how the story of the cat ended.  She does try to get those files but apparently they had been weeded out in the ritual known as "weeding out" conducted by the government every five years.
The gem of the story, however, was the one set in British Guinea. Her husband, P.N. Dhar, had been posted there and they were invited to attend Janamashtami at the Hindu Church.  The punditji at the temple gives a discourse on Gita. He says (and I am quoting from the book):
"Wat Krishna tellin Arjuna on de battlefield?.....Is Krishna sayin to Arjuna "Doan be drinkin, doan be dancing, doan be makin love, doan be enjoying?.....No, no, no! He not tellin Arjuna dat....He sayin"enjoy all- food drink, dancin, makin love!..
"Yea, be eatin, drinkin, makin love! he thundered. "Only remember, this all belongin to Krishna and he gonna take baack when time kom!"
As she concludes that is the most original interpretation of the Gita.
I laughed and laughed because last week was the Valentine's day. The Right Wing! The moral upholder without whom we will all perish. Well,  I thought they should listen to this punditji to learn about Hinduism and Gita.