A More Perfect Heaven- by Dava Sobel

When my brother asked whether I wanted any books (such a silly question! I always want books), I put in this book by Dava Sobel on the list.  I loved her book Galileo's Daughter wherein she traces Galileo's life using the letters his daughter, a nun, wrote to him. It is a meticulously researched book. A beautiful book. Unfortunately, the letters are one-sided for though we hear his daughter's voice, we never hear his voice. His letters to his daughter were destroyed after her death by the Mother Superior in fear of the Church- by then he was suspected to be a heretic.
A More Perfect Heaven traces the life of Nicolaus Copernicus who first propounded that the Earth revolves around the Sun in stark contrast to Ptolemy's view and the Scriptures. Copernicus was a canon, but not ordained, attached to the Cathedral of Varmia. Scant information is available about him.  In fact, there is only one portrait of him. But Dava Sobel brings him alive using the limited information available about him.
The book can be roughly divided into three parts. The first part is where Copernicus conceives the idea of Earth revolving around the sun. In 1510 he proposes the theory in Brief Sketch, a small manuscript he publishes. He then spends years getting the necessary proof.  No telescopes were available but Copernicus builds a sundial and uses it to track the movement of the Sun. He also studies the lunar eclipse year after year, building up a data base, if you will. As he struggles to make sense of the data, he arrives at the conclusion that Ptolemy was wrong. It is the Earth that revolves around the Sun.  However, he does not publish it.
The third part talks about Rheticus, a young man from Wittenburg who arrives at Copernicus's doorstep.  He has read Brief Sketch. He wants to meet Copernicus because he wants to learn the theory from him so that he is able to cast better horoscopes.  What happened at the meeting we do not know because it is not recorded. What we know is that Rheticus convinced Copernicus to publish his work.  Copernicus is reluctant because he is sure that he will be laughed at and even worse people who do not understand the work will declare him a heretic.  But Rheticus convinces him, and the book is published.  Copernicus dies after the final proofs arrive- he does not live to see his book in the published form.
For some years the book is ignored by the Church. It is when Galileo openly espouses the Copernicus theory that the Catholic Church gets into the act. The book is put on the list of Index of Prohibited book. But they do not burn it (fate of many other books) because theory proves useful to them for reinventing the Calendar and moving from Julian era to the Gregorian Calendar.  However, despite being on the list of Prohibited books and decried by the Church (ironically Martin Luther, the reformer, too does not accept the concept because it is against  the Scriptures), everybody ends up reading the book. Kepler, Galileo, possibly Newton, the list is endless.
These two parts are based on the facts.
The second part is a play written by Sobel wherein she imagines the meeting of Rheticus and Copernicus leading to the publication of the manuscript. I was not too enamoured about the second part. It was okay- it did not detract anything from the book but it did not add anything either.
The evolution of the heliocentric model started from Copernicus propounding his theory. Then came Kepler who explained that the revolutions are not concentric but are elliptical. The third and final act was Galileo who using the telescopes he built concurred that the Earth did move. And for that he was severely reprimanded by the Church.
So having the read the first and the last act, the second act is left. The Astronomer and the Witch is the story about Kepler and his mother, who was accused of being a witch. It is on my reading list.

Demonetisation

I was in Kolkata attending a conference when the Prime Minister made the announcement. I did not pay much attention because I was more interested in knowing whether Hillary won or not.  And then it stuck me. Oh my God! How will I get home from the airport?  Scrambling around my bag I found Rs 400/- in hundred rupee notes but then if I spent it on the cab, what about the other things. Every one around me was making the same calculations. There was also glee. After all the black money hoarders had been caught pants down and what will they do? The overwhelming feeling was that it was a good decision.
I called up Rajinder, Sumitra's husband, and begged him to pick me up from the airport. Which he did.
The milk booth guy was accommodating. I could deposit Rs 500/- with him, he said, and buy milk and other products for that much worth as and when I needed.
Mr. Joshi, the man who delivers the newspaper, presented his bill and accepted Rs 500/- note on the condition that he will adjust it in the next month's bill.
The Eureka Forbes person came around for the 6-monthly service of my water purifier and figured out that I needed a new filter.
"They don't clean the water tank?"
I shrugged my shoulders.
"I cannot do anything. I have only Rs 500/- notes with me."
"Don't worry. I will accept it. Let us get the filter changed."
I was worried about Sumitra and Nanku Ram.  Nanku Ram told me that he had managed to get the money from the bank. 
"People are being stupid. You need lots of documents for exchanging money. But I filled two forms. Deposited my money and withdrew fresh. I got it done without any hassle."
It turned out Sumitra had stashed away Rs 100/- notes for emergency.
"I have money," she assured me. "I was only worried because I have to pay the tuition fees. The tuition person said that he will not accept the demonetised notes but that I can pay him by cheque. So I paid him by cheque."
So some one who normally would not accept cheques (after all most of the money earned from tuitions is unaccounted, never reported, no taxed paid) was willing to accept cheques.
I am not an economist and the economist in the family assures me that this will not curb black money. May be it will not. Assuredly it will not. But:
"Didi," Sumitra said giggling, her face wreathed in big smile," I will never forget Modiji.  For at least one day he made the rich and the poor equal. The rich who have hoarded money now will know what it feels to be poor and have no spending money."

Of gladoli and apple cakes

The weather has finally cooled down. It was a long summer made worse by the tepid winter that we suffered in the beginning of the year.  We still do not know how severe/mild the winter will be this year but for the time being we are enjoying the cooler days.
The garden has changed color.  The harsingar/parijatam tree is in full bloom.  The hibiscus that was in fine flowering form was eaten by the nilgai so we had to chop it down.  We also moved a rose bush from under the harsingar tree to a place of its own and it has adapted quite well.
This year I decided to plant gladoli bulbs:

 

On the vegetable front, the doctor had advised my mother to eat lots of greens. So I went slightly berserk and  planted all kinds of greens- Malabar spinach (also known as pui), spinach, Amaranth greens, Methi, Argula, and of course lettuce.  As an experiment we also planted radish and broccoli. The radish is ready for harvesting while the broccoli has just germinated.

As the weather turned milder I realized that I have not done any baking this year.  So last Sunday I started officially the baking season by making an apple cake.  It turned out quite okay-soft and crumbly. 

This week with Deepavali around the corner, my mother and I are focusing on traditional sweets.  But after that, hopefully, I will get around to baking cakes and cookies for my students.

The benevelonce of UGC

The UGC has introduced new guidelines for M.Phil/Ph.D. candidates. There are some nice things in the guidelines. For example, it is now mandatory to have doctoral committees for each student who will monitor his/her progress.  Then there are stuff that makes one wonder. 
The government/powers to be/bureaucrats want to show how sensitive they are to women and that they understand how the society tilts towards men.  So there are now three clauses added to the guideline.  One is that a woman is entitled to 240 days of maternity leave.  I have no problems with it.
Currently, everyone is supposed to do 1 year of course work and 4 years of research work. If they are unable to publish a paper and submit their thesis within this stipulated time, they are given one year (365 days exactly) extension to complete the work.  The revised guidelines now state that the women candidates may be allowed a relaxation of one year for M.Phil and two years for Ph.D. in the maximum duration.  In addition to it, they can avail 240 days of maternity leave.
The second clause states that if a woman shifts here place of residence due to marriage or otherwise than she is allowed to take the data generated with her to the new University and continue the work there.
I have serious problems with these two clauses.  The first clause regarding the relaxation is actually a very patriarchal attitude couched in benevolent terms. Oh, the poor women.  You know how difficult it is for her.  Let us be more lenient towards her. I do not want such a condescending attitude.  I want level playing field where I do not want authorities to put obstacles on my path. I am willing to do the hard work and manage everything as long as I am treated as an equal.  The moment this clause is introduced, you automatically state that you do not consider women to be equal to men.  Further, in science, if anybody takes a two year relaxation (which implies long leave), you not be able to compete with the world. No one is going to stop their work just because you have taken a leave. By the time the candidate comes back, the hypothesis would be obsolete and the research would have moved in some other direction.  Also in science, it is the PI who writes grants and gets money.  So if a candidate takes it slow because the law allows you, what is the PI supposed to do? What answer does the PI give to the funding agency? 

The second clause regarding the women be allowed to take the data generated in one lab with her to another is also problematic. Students in science do not generate their own funds or their own ideas. The problem is usually given to them by the PI who has conceived the project, written the grant, got the money, and in the initial days (and in some cases till the end) tells the student what to do. So the clause essentially says that the student can take the PI's idea and move?  Move where?  Which lab? Because the student will need a lab to complete her work. And unless the PI has a collaboration with a researcher in the new place, the whole clause is doomed to fail.

But who can tell all this to UGC. They have issued a gazette notification and we have to follow.

The Nilgais and us- the irony of greening a campus

This morning I noticed that the nilgais had paid my tiny garden a visit. The papaya leaves had all been eaten off (it is safe to assume that they will not get dengue) and the hibiscus had been partly eaten up. I am quite sure that they will pay a visit in the next couple of days to finish up the hibiscus. I gave the news to my mother and told her that there will be no flowers for the next few weeks for her puja.

When one looks at the old photos of the campus, one realizes how much has changed. In the 70s this was a barren land.  When the university set up its base here, and people started moving in, they also started planting trees. Today the entire campus is covered with trees.  Many of them are not the native flora of this region but never mind...it is green. So green, in fact, that most of the campus has been declared as forest area and therefore, protected land. If we want to build anything, we have to get clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest.  So the administration proposed two hostels and an extension to an academic building. The ministry shot it down.  Last heard, we got it approved through the PMO. 

The best bet would be to actually demolish the old houses and hostels and build new ones in that site.  We do not have any policy of maintenance, and therefore, many of the houses and hostels are in horrible condition. I really have no idea how the students manage to live in the old hostels.  To me, they are little better than slums. However, I understand that there is money to build new hostels and new homes but not to rebuild the old ones.

That brings in with direct conflict with nature- the one that we have assiduously built over the years. Do we destroy it in our quest to expand?  We will not only lose the green cover but also the nilgais, different species of birds, snakes, mongoose, civet cats and the rare fox that have made their home in the campus, enriching our lives. Where else in the city can we live in such close proximity with the wild?

I realize that there are no answers to such questions.  The only thing to do is to enjoy what is available and never mind the nilgais.

The House that BJ Built- by Anuja Chauhan

As I am not in a mood to read heavy stuff (both H is for Hawk and The Emperor of Maladies are sitting in my book shelf unread), and as my sister-in-law had left "The House that BJ built" by Anuja Chauhan in my house after reading it, and as many people had said it was a laugh riot, I decided to read it.
We have clearly mastered the art of rom-com be it our movies or our books written in English. The Hero and the Heroine  have clearly been lifted from the pages of Mills and Boons and you know how it will all end. In summary, there are two love stories (better to give the readers a value for their money), 4 of the Thakur sisters who featured in an earlier book by the same author, their evil uncle and aunt and cousin, two Bhutanese who end up featuring in an item song, and a haveli that needs to be sold off because the sisters need the money.
In the end, the only thing I liked about the book was that it was set in Hailey Road in Delhi, where I went to my first school.
The rest...well, I won't go as far as the review that appears in The Ladies Finger, but definitely it was not a laugh riot as some of the reviewers had said.  And oh, some one needs to tell Anuja Chauhan that Dahlias and Amaltas do not flower at the same time.

Teaching Chemistry

When I decided to do Chemistry in college, it was based, on what I thought and still think, on very logical thinking. I was not going to spend hours memorizing biological names and had no inclination for math or physics. That left Chemistry and I believed that I sort of got it.  I used the same type of rationale later to switch from Chemistry to Biochemistry.
But learning chemistry and teaching chemistry are two different ball game.  Especially to a bunch of biologists who want to do only molecular biology.  Especially when I left chemistry after completing B.Sc.  Yet when my colleague fell ill, I jumped at the chance.  It would be fun, I thought, to go back to one's roots and re-learn the entire thing. Plus I was bored of teaching the same thing again and again, year after year, and I felt that if things are left as it was, I, too, would resort to using the same notes- believe me after teaching the same subject for few years to a bunch of students who do  not ask questions it really is tempting to use the same notes.
So here I am this year teaching physical and inorganic chemistry to the first year M.Sc students. It is scary because I do not know if I will do justice to the subject.  But at the same time I am sort of thrilled at the opportunity.
Most of the students have had some chemistry in their undergraduation though it was appalling to know that some them have not even been exposed to physical chemistry.  It promises to be an interesting semester.
This year, after much prodding from UGC, we have introduced tutorials for students.  However, the onus is again on the teacher. We do not have any teaching assistants.  So a 2-credit course with two classes per week essentially becomes a 3-credit course with three classes per week even though one of that class is optional. The tutorials are meant to help those students who are having difficulty with the subject but I do not know how it will pan out in the end.

Game of the Genomes by Carl Zimmer

The human genome was sequenced in 2001. I still remember how skeptical many of my professors were at the beginning of the project. Whose genome are they going to sequence, was an oft-asked question. And then there were others who were enthusiastic about the venture. They felt that it would answer a whole lot of questions about our genome. In particular, they were sure we will know for sure what makes us so different from other animals.
Well, the 2001 paper raised a whole lot of questions rather than answering them. In particular, it was disappointing to know that the number of protein coding genes was about the same as that present in mice.  And that whole lot of our genome (in fact 98%) did not code for proteins. In fact, a majority appeared to not to code for anything.  It was called as junk DNA. 
The picture has changed a lot in the past 16 years. We now know that most of our genome codes for something. The trick is to understand what these do.
Over the years, genome sequencing has become popular. It can, after all, tell you whether you are at risk for a disease.  But what else can it tell you?
This is the question Carl Zimmer is trying to find out.  He got his entire genome sequence and then got the raw data from the company that did the sequencing.  Now he is getting it analyzed to understand the information stored in his genome.  The Game of the Genomes is an interesting read.

Poor Ruby Rai

I feel sorry for the child. All she wanted was to pass in second division. She told that to her father who ensured that she came first in the subject, a subject she clearly has no idea about.  I do not know what the father was up to.  Did he not realize that the whole thing would blow up on their face in this era of instant sound bytes and TV  hunting for stories? 
I have no idea what the authorities are planning to achieve by arresting Ruby Rai. When she needs them most, her parents are on run.  The Minister who wrote a big list of achievements few days back on her Facebook is silent on this issue. She can, of course, claim that education is a state subject and therefore, under the purview of the State Education Minister. Bihar is fortunately not ruled by BJP and therefore, everyone in the Center can wash their hands off.
The rot in our education system run deep and every state is in a mess.  The cut-offs for admission to colleges in Delhi University are a joke. Seriously, they expect some one to get 99% in English?  What kind of examination was administered that a child could score 99% in English?
But who cares? Those who can send their child abroad. Those who can't...well, do they really matter?

What they do not teach you in grad school

The past month I have had couple of requests for an inhibitor molecule that I discovered when I was a grad student. Not many bothered me about it for these past 20 years or so but ever since we published a paper showing its effectiveness against triple negative breast cancer cell line there has been increased demand for the molecule.  And it dawned on me (my advisor pointed it out to me actually as I am still naive about these matters) that I better get Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) signed before supplying the molecule.  As I do not work in the lab anymore and it is my students who make it, I have to protect their interests. Therefore, I wrote a letter to the VC (after all he has been tom-toming about how we should foster interaction between the industry and the academia) asking for legal help.  It snaked its way through the Registrar, the academic branch and finally the legal cell who sent it to the lawyer for advise. Finally, the paper came back to me. Yes, I need a MTA and I should the needful.  I stared at it blankly and then I called up the legal cell. Very politely they told me that I should draft the MTA and send it to them through the VC.  They will go through it and let me know whether it is okay or not.  I was about to tell them that I am not a lawyer when it dawned on me that I am a lawyer, an accountant, a manager, a teacher, a researcher, a scientist, an editor, a writer....In addition, it is also my responsibility to get money in for research.  Unfortunately, the graduate school does not prepare you to be anything except being a scientist. The rest of the skills you have to develop yourselves and if you are in an Indian University, with no help from the administration.
As it happened, I googled, picked up few MTA available on the internet, and put my own version of MTA together.  The legal cell approved it.

Orphan train by Christina Baker Kline

I picked up this book at the book fair.  The book claimed that it was #1NY times bestseller.  That should have warned me.

But first the history:  The orphan trains transported many children from the East Coast to Midwest in the US between 1854 and 1929.  It was organized by Children's Aid Society in order provide home (?)  to many orphan children.  The family that took in the child had to provide education, home and food in return for labor, though a lucky few were adopted. Of course things never worked out as imagined. So many children ended up in bad situations and changing homes many times. In many cases, their names were also changed- thus erasing part of who they were.

Christina Baker Kline uses this as the background for the story she tells in her book "Orphan Train".  The book was page turner- I finished in in three hours.  It was also cliche-ridden and I could predict exactly what was going to happen as I turned the pages.   She uses two characters- Molly, who is for all practical purposes an orphan and is living in a foster home, and Vivian, who was transported in 1929, after she lost her home in a fire, to Minnesota.  Molly has to do  50 hours community service as she was caught stealing a book from the library and her boy friend, Jack, gets her work in Vivian's house where she has to clean up the attic. Molly, who has been into many foster homes, has developed a thick shell in order to protect herself,  unravels Vivian's story for an English assignment and in the process finds herself warming up to her.  The ending was bleah...kind of abrupt, unrealistic...almost as though the author was ticking all the right boxes. 

It was a good one time read.  I got to learn some history but this is not a book that I would re-read.

The new UGC regulations

In the last pay commission, the UGC introduced the Academic Performance Index or API as it is (un)popularly known as. The UGC had decided to quantify the teacher's performance and it was, and continues to be, bitterly resented by teachers. I, personally, had no problems with the form once I, along with my colleagues, figured out the teaching workload section. Typically, a college teacher has more teaching as compared to the University teachers. But the University teachers have research scholars working with them.  So we figured out the teaching hours and once this was figured, the form is pretty easy to fill.
Now, the UGC has decided to modify the API.  The workload of the teachers has been increased. An assistant professor has to have 18 hours direct teaching plus 6 hours of tutorials/administrative work/blah...blah... This translates 4 hours of teaching per day for an assistant professor. The associate professor has to put in 22 hours of teaching and the professor has to, I think, put 18-20 hours of teaching.  The other major thrust is on student feedback.  The new API form has also eased the requirement for publications and UGC is going to bring out a list of acceptable journals.
Predictably, the teachers are up in arms. Regardless of what Prof. Thampu thinks, the modified teaching workload is disastrous.
Yes, there are teachers who do not teach, who use the same notes year after year (I remember my Chemistry teachers possessing yellowed notes from which they taught us) but you cannot penalize the entire community. Nor will the teaching improve by increasing the teaching workload. I typically put in 5-6 hours of preparation for a 1 hour lecture. If I have to prepare slides, then the preparation time increases.  If I have to teach 4 hours every day where will I get time to prepare for classes? The notes that I prepared last year will be recycled this year and next year and next year and ad infinitum. The UGC has failed to come up with a method to motivate our teachers but I think the problem starts from recruitment where very often the one who is the most syncophantic is the one appointed as teacher. And then are Indian states where recruitment as a teacher means greasing of palms.  I agree that not all teachers are motivated to teach but our recruitment process cherrypicks those who have absolutely no interest whatsoever in teaching/research and possess zero sincerity. They only know how to be a good syncophant.
On student feedback I agree with both UGC and Prof. Thampu. The teacher associations are scared of student evaluation and yes, they are right that the system is open to abuse. But world over teaching is evaluated and promotion depends on student feedback. So how come only we cannot have feedback because it will be abused?  But to understand the fear read the previous paragraph.

 

Summer harvest

And here is the harvest from my garden:

Okra, brinjals, Tori, and bitter melons...all my favourite vegetables.
Today I will be harvesting the amaranth greens and possibly spinach.
And the lemon tree has couple of lemons and guavas are developing on the guava tree.  All in all it has been a good Summer. Now if it would only rain a tiny bit so that the temperature goes down a little bit...

Don Camillo in Soviet Russia

My mother having given us the ultimatum that she cannot take care of our books anymore is now watching  hawk-eyed as we are slowly emptying all the accumulated books.  They have truly accumulated- right from 1950s when my father used to purchase Imprint magazine (now defunct) to 70s when we purchased Reader's digest and sundry other books from pavement stalls and book fairs.  It has taken my brother and I numerous trips to slowly trawl through the books, weed out what we don't want, and transport the remaining to our places. There are books that were dumped by our cousins-which as I told one of them-cannot be thrown out because of the memories associated with them. Then there are books that were dumped by other people- again  cannot be thrown out for sundry reasons unless they are truly unwanted.  And then there are books like Mother by Maxim Gorky-unreadable but we share memories of it and are undecided what to do with it.  (Un)Fortunately, we got rid of the Russian lessons that my father purchased in a fit of enthusiasm- he was going to learn Russian and Russian Center was offering them for pittance.  The time never came and my father reluctantly decided that he will never learn Russian.
Anyway, I was going through Imprint magazines printed in 1950s and 60s, deciding which ones to throw away.  And there it was-Don Camillo in Soviet Russia.
Don Camillo was the character created by Giovannino Guareschi. I do not remember where I found the first books of Don Camillo but I truly loved Don Camillo and Peppone and the voice of Christ as he dispenses advice to the hot-headed Don Camillo.  Don Camillo is a Catholic priest and Peppone is the Communist party leader in a village on the banks of River Po. Both are at odds with each other though Peppone does get his children baptized and attends the Church (just so that he can keep track of what Don Camillo preaches). 
In this gem of a book, Peppone and his party members are going for a visit to Soviet Russia.  Don Camillo gets himself included in the trip much to Peppone's consentration (but there is nothing much he can do about it other than scream blackmail).  And so begins a hilarious journey where Don Camillo manages to solemnize marriage and baptize children, create havoc amongst the party members and promote a love match. 
The Don Camillo books are available in Amazon but tad bit expensive. For the time being, I am keeping the old editions of Imprint magazine.

How pavements are used and power cuts

For the past month or so, I have noticed that the pavement on the opposite side of the road to Vasant Kunj Police Station was blocked by police barricades.  I have been forced to walk on the road facing the incoming traffic. Finally,  yesterday when as I returned back after purchasing vegetables I was pushed towards the pavement edge by the motorists on the road I snapped. I crossed the road and marched into the police station. Few men in police uniform were standing. As I hesitated wondering where I should go and complain they asked me what I wanted. I explained about the barricades.
"How do you know it is ours?"demanded one policeman.
"Delhi Police is written in bold letters."
"But how do you know it is ours?  Just because Delhi police is written does not mean that it is ours."
""Don't you want to know whose it is."
"Ah!  Say that you want us to find out whose it is. You just cannot assume it is ours just because..."
"You can give a written complaint," said another policeman. "Go in there," he pointed to the building up ahead.
 So I went there. As I entered, I could see rooms on either side. On the left side, it was crowded. So I entered the room in the right. Once again I explained the issue to the two policemen seated in the room.
"It is not our jurisdiction," said one finally. "It is the jurisdiction of that police chowki," and he waved towards the crowded room on the other side.
So I went there and once again repeated my statement. That the barricades were blocking the pavement and that it was impossible to walk.
"It is like this," explained the policeman on duty. "We have received the barricades and there was no place to store. So we have stored it on the pavement outside. We have to distribute it to other police station that come under this district."
"So how long will that take?"
"I will inform the officer-in-charge tomorrow.  Your point is well-taken but you have to understand our limitations."
So the pavement continues to be cluttered with barricades till the police (Please note that the motto of Delhi Police is With You Always) decide when to remove it. But then the pavements in India have wide variety of uses.  Everyone uses it except the pedestrian who prudently walks on the road amidst the traffic, dodging the motorists.
Meantime, the JNU administration has decided that the power usage has surged because of the heat. They have, therefore, decided to administer load shedding/power cuts.  The administration officials are important because they run the university. Therefore, they have no power cuts. The air-conditioners run constantly keeping them cool.  The faculty and the schools are the expendable parts. Therefore, the power cuts have been administered to us. The air-conditioners are not working raising the temperature of the room shutting down our eqiupments. Of course there was no need to inform us. It was only today when we got little suspicious that we figured out the issue. So here is to Merry Summer!

National Institutional Ranking Framework- How Universities measure up

The government ranking list is out. For whatever it is worth, IISc is on the top and JNU is on the third spot.  Hyderabad Central University is fourth in the list.  University of Delhi from where I did my undergraduation is 6th while M.S. University is 76th.  The entire list can be accessed at MHRD website.
The government has promised to fund 10 government institutions so that they can become world-class (again whatever that means).  I hope we do get the funds now that we are on the top.

Dahlias from my garden

Spring is officially over.  Officially because we had such a wishy-washy winter this year.  The petunias, pansies, nastritiums and the brachyscomes did bloom but the narcisscus gave up half way through and the tulips and daffodils did a no show.  The dahlias bloomed and as Holi was over and the heat has started ratcheting up, we cut the remaining dahlias. Nanku Ram handed them over to me saying I better put it in a jar. 

The removal of the dahlias has given a new lease to the bhindi plants. We hope to have plenty of okra this summer.
The campus, as usual, looks pretty with the bougainvilla flowering everywhere.

This summer I have done away with zinnias. Instead I have planted sunflowers and today I told Nanku Ram to get Gerberas. Nanku Ram, though, is more keen on vegetables. So he has planted tori, bitter gourd, ghiya, chillis, tomatoes, spinach, amaranth, and brinjals in addition to okra. Let us see what comes up this summer.

How biases play out

I was reading The Guardian today and saw an article that resonated with me- letters addressed to Sir/Sirs when the person whom you are addressing the letter to is a female.  I get plenty of letters- requests for post-doc positions, for internships, for project positions.  Most of them are addressed to Dear Sir.  Some times I just delete the letter. After all it is address to Dear Sir and I am not that.  Some times-especially if the writer is a female- I write back pointing that I am a female and absolutely offended at being addressed as Dear Sir.  Some times, as it happened with our Assistant Registrar who addressed a letter to all the faculty members as Dear Sir, I went over and asked him from what angle do I look like Dear sir?  He and I laughed and now he addresses all such letters as Dear Faculty Members.
Gender biases are deeply ingrained in us and it is difficult for people- of both sexes- to see women at positions that were traditionally held by men.
In India we also have the tradition of greeting the guest of honor with bouquets.  Of course, the women are the ones who have to give out the bouquets.  Women are also assigned the job of finalizing the menu in many meetings. They tried it in our school till they figured out that none of the younger female faculty is willing to take up that job.  Now they do not ask us.
Apart from gender biases, there are others. Caste, religion, intellectual...the list is endless.
Today I had to go to ICCR for a symposium.  As the International Students Advisor this is the only meeting that I am supposed to attend and this year ICCR decided to hold a 2-day conference to deliberate on  how to attract foreign students to India. The guest of honor was the MHRD minister-Smriti Irani.  She has been reviled and most of the intellectuals dismiss her. After all she is not college-educated and she has been an actress.  What does she know of education.
As she walked into the hall, most of the people stood up. I did not because I am still angry at the way the government played out the February 9 issue and the sedition charges they slapped on our students.  JNU has now become (in)famous.
The event started and the first thing was lighting the lamp. When she came forward to light the lamp I noticed that she was barefoot. She lighted the lamp, went back to her seat, and her body movement showed that she was wearing her footwear. 
Then she was called forth to deliver the keynote address. We all noticed that others had bits of paper to consult and in fact the President of ICCR read out his address, but Smriti Irani came forward and delivered a speech without any assistance. She stuck to the point, was not melodramatic as she was in the parliament, talked about the government initiatives, and had the statistics.  I do take exception to the fact that every initiative is going to IITs and the universities are not being consulted but that is an aside. She did point out that the Government is going to bring out University ranking list on April 4th and we will know where JNU stands.
The event got over, there was a photosession, and I was standing on the pavement when she left in her car. She was seated next to the driver and her secretary was seated behind.  Growing up in Delhi, amongst the bureaucrats, I do know the conventions. You sit behind the driver, with your nose held high. Never ever do you sit next to the driver as though he and you were equals.
I still do not like her performance in the parliament, and I still do have my own reservations, but it also made me ask whether I am also playing out to the bias.  This time of an intellectual snob. Possibly it is time for me to see her as a grey character rather than a black one.

Getting the fan repaired- Check list of things you must have when the CPWD comes in for repair

As days become hotter, I decided that I must get the fans repaired.  I had noticed that two of the fans were not working properly way back in October but had put off the repairing consoling myself with the thought that the days are getting colder.  With the days becoming hotter, I, of course, had no choice.  So yesterday I stepped into the CPWD service center and wrote down the problem. I also added that they should come around 2.30 pm when I would be home for lunch.  They (two men will always come for whatever complaints you give.  One is the main guy and the other is his assistant.) came very promptly at the appointed time, and asked for a ladder. 
Checklist item # 1: Always have a ladder at home when you call in CPWD. 
Fortunately one of the first things I had purchased when moving into the new apartments was a ladder.  So I gave it to them.  The main engineer climbed up the ladder and gravely inspected the two fans.  The assistant stood on the ground nodding his head to whatever the main engineer pronounced. The main engineer fixed one of them and told me that the other fan requires a rubber ring that they will bring in tomorrow.  I almost fainted because the usual excuse that CPWD will give you is that the item required is not in store and it will take six months to procure it.  Apparently, the rubber ring was in stock.  I also pointed out that the regulator for one of the fans was broken. They promised that they will bring it when they came in next day.
Next day:
They came in today.  I handed them the ladder and they started fiddling.  After about 30 minutes later they asked whether I had a chair or a stool.
Checklist item # 2: Always have a chair or stool tall enough to reach the ceiling. This should be in addition to the ladder.
The assistant now climbed on the chair and held the fan at the angle indicated by the main engineer. After fiddling around for 10 more minutes, they wanted to know whether I have nails.
Checklist item # 3: Always have nails of various sizes and thickness.
Fortunately I had couple of nails.  However, they were disappointed with its thickness.  Don't I have some thing thinner?  I had failed the test.  Disappointed they began fiddling again with the fan.  Finally, they announced that it was done and I can switch it on.  Unfortunately, the fan still made noise.  But the CPWD men were pleased. At least it had stopped making the banging noise, they told me. I agreed but it is making scrapping noise, I pointed. Hmm. They discussed amongst themselves. And the main engineer climbed up and started poking around.  Then he moved the ladder to a distance, climbed up and looked at the fan as it whirled around. Finally, he said that the problem was that the gears required oil.  Do I have oil?
Checklist item # 4: Always have lubricating oil.
No, I did not have lubricating oil. Do I have hair oil?  I had coconut oil which I handed over to them.  The main engineer poured it into the fan's gear using a teaspoon.  He also told me that the RITES people who had built the apartment had done a shoddy job.  Finally, after spilling the oil all over the fan and the floor, he announced that he was done. He advised me to run it for some time so that the gears are properly oiled.
I nodded my head and then asked him about the regulator.
"Oh, we did not get it.  It is not in the store. It will come in by Monday.  We will bring it and fix it."

What has happened to debates?

Last week Ravish Kumar, NDTV anchor, registered his protest against the media in an unique way. He ran a 40 minute segment using blackened screen.  The media has become a bully, debates have become shouting matches, and I have now stopped watching news for news is nothing but pre-decided opinions aired as news.
I am saying this in the backdrop of what is happening at my university. I did not attend the student event. I do not think my students attended it. What we know is hearsay.  What I do know is that the Dean of Students welfare office gave permission for an event called as A country without Post-office to be held.  The officials claim that they did not know what it was all about. They realized what it was all about on 9th morning when a meeting was convened and it was decided to withdraw the permission. This was communicated to the students 5 minutes before the event started. The students went ahead with their event.
This much is pretty clear.
Was there slogans?  We do not know.  Who shouted them? We do not know.  Who videotaped it? We do not know. Was the videotaped doctored? We do not know.
It is in this backdrop that the role of everyone associated with the matter becomes murky. Why was a FIR filed (BTW can anyone tell me why we have a culture minister?)?  Why did the police enter the campus? Was there a need for them to enter? Given that the Jadavpur University VC has refused to let the police enter the campus on a similar matter, we could have easily done the same.  Or if there was a FIR, maybe we could not have done so.  I do not know.  The only thing I do know is that none of the parties involved have come out smelling of roses.
Given that there are so many unknown facts, why did the debate start on the issue of Nationalism? Who started it?  I listened patiently while the autodriver gave me a lecture how JNU students are being anti-national. And wondered why I am unable to explain to him the concept of Right to free speech.
Personally, I believe that the event should not have been stopped. We have it every year. And if there were students who had issues with it, they too could have held an event and explained their viewpoint. Or the two sets of students could have held a debate. After all we are famous for our debates.
We seem to believe that we can bulldoze our way through by shouting, screaming, and breaking public property.  That is why the Parliament has been stalled for these many sessions. That is why the Jats  yesterday went berserk demanding reservations.
The police has disappeared from at least one gate. But I listen with dismay as conspiracy theories are floated, rumours are spread, and wonder what happened to the academics?

Spring

Winter was really a disappointment this year. It was really cold for barely a week.  The rest of the time it was declared winter simply because there was no sun for most of the days.  And when it did put in an appearance it was the watery kind.  Today, on the other hand, the sun is really shining and the poppies in my garden have begin to bloom.  And I got to see the first dahlia of the season in my garden.

This year the nasturtiums took over with a vengeance. I did purchase a packet of seed but never got the opportunity to sow them because the seeds left over from the last year started sprouting and before I know they had taken over the entire garden. 


The other flower that has really done well is the alyssum.  The petunias have not started flowering yet.   I expect within a week they would do.
The strawberries were a disappointment to me but not to Sammy, the squirrel, who inhabits my garden. He has been gorging on them.  The rock pigeons too appreciated the strawberry plants by roosting on them in December and January, thus, destroying half of them.
The rose really excelled this year. The bush was covered with masses of pink and white roses bringing in much needed colour during the drab months of December and January.
The vegetable garden did okay. I had three crops of spinach and lettuce and one crop of argula and fenugreek. We have planted fenugreek for another round of crop before the heat sets in.  The cauliflower as earlier blogged were eaten up by the Nilgai.  We tried once more after putting in the fence.  Then the porcupines gorged on the plants so we gave up.

A seductive experience: Orange-chocolate cake

Long time back I had made chocolate brownies with a hint of orange. It had the most divine taste.  I carved for tasting that once more. Of course I lost the original recipe long time back (I discarded that recipe book when I moved from Charlottesville to Denver) but I have been experimenting with many different chocolate cakes and attempting to infuse in the orange flavor.
Yesterday, I decided to make Chocolate cake with ragi flour.  The impetus for it was that I had to return a container to my aunt and of course, one cannot return back an empty container especially if it came with food as it did.
I checked few of the websites and introduced my own changes. 
The dry ingredients:
1 cup  Maida
1/2 cup ragi flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
2 tblsp cocoa powder.
These were mixed together thorougly and added to the wet ingredients:
3/4 cup yogurt
1 cup  jaggary melted and filtered (this is essential because the jaggary usually contains lot of soil and needs to be filtered).  After filtering, the liquid came to 1 cup.
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup milk
The wet ingredients were beaten together before adding the dry ingredients. Once the two were nicely mixed, I added fresh orange peels (about 2 tblsp).
I baked it in a 8" prepared pan in a pre-heated oven for about 20-25 minutes at 170oC.
The cake was amazing. It had just the hint of orange I was expecting.  There was enough for me to take to the lab who of course finished it. When I went in to the lab after a meeting one of my student was eating the crumbs so I am assuming it was good.

Oh, I did give two pieces to my aunt who in return gave me banana bread. So we are now quits. At least I hope so.

A farce called higher education in India

As the protests at HCU continues, our university also jumped into fray with allegations of caste bias.  While the case is being debated, what caught my attention was the statement made by the outgoing Vice chancellor.  He, and I quote the newspaper here, says "that he is completely against any student being made to leave the university without a degree."
In another incident, I realized that only 3 students have opted for the optional course I offer. When I tried to find out about the reason, it turned out that they wanted the marks/grades without sweating over the course (if I was kind enough to give them the handouts and ask straight questions out of the handouts, they might consider taking the course).
Finally, I forgot but at the Delhi International book fair was a stall selling project reports.  They had all kinds of reports and all one had to do was to put in the name of the students, the name of the supervisor, and the name of the university. Voila, it was done.

In a depressed mood, wondering what the heck was I doing,  I discussed this with my colleagues.  Our suggestion is simple. Let us give the students the degree the moment they get admission into an University. I do not have to teach, set questions papers, grade exam answers (let us give all of them the highest CGPA to avoid insinuations of discrimination), write research grants, get money, worry about thesis, coax students...why bother?
Which of course is what SVS Yoga Medical College in Villupuram, Tamilnadu did. The only thing is that college had demanded heavy fees for a simple certificate.
So please tell me what higher education are we talking about?

The death at Hyderabad Central University

I was undecided about posting on this issue. Then my brother asked about it yesterday and so here it goes.
The student politics on University campus can (and is) be truly vicious.  Having been on many committees where I had to interact with students, I can say with confidence that the issue is never what it appears to be. Intolerance can be very high among the student groups maybe because at that age they are also very passionate about issues.  Truth has many shades and even after inquiring deeply into the matter, the truth might never emerge. There are still cases where I have doubts about the veracity of the matter but I could not do much.
That said, it is also true that ghettos exist. Students from one particular caste want to be with students from their own castes only.  The Dean of Students at my university has actively tried to this issue by making allotment of hostel rooms a completely random procedure which many students, including foreign students, did not like but accepted it when the administration refused to budge from their stand.  In such a situation, feeling alienated is very common.
Most of the universities do not have any support system and in such situations student political groups become de facto support system. Political parties exploit the vulnerable. No political party is innocent.
My colleague who was at HCU also tells me that the caste politics at HCU is vicious.  The Ph.D. supervisors come with their own baggage and might (or might not be willing) to help out students. I always tell my students that before joining a lab ask yourself whether you are comfortable with your supervisor and with the lab because you have to spend the next five years in that lab. They become like your family especially in sciences where you to have spend time in the laboratory.  The interactions are more in such a situation and if the students in the lab are not friendly, your life can become miserable.  Of course many times the students have no choice and they are forced to join a lab which they might not like. Many universities, including my department, make it difficult for the student to leave the lab or to switch the labs.  In such situations, the political outfits on campuses become the sanctuary. The political outfits and the student unions can (and do) pressurize the department and the faculty.
I do not know what happened that lead the student to commit suicide at HCU.  All I know is that I really wish that the political groups of all shades would exit the campuses leaving the students to get on with academics. Of course they need to engage in political discourses but do the political parties need to make the students to dance to their tunes?

Agatha Raisin mysteries- books by M.C. Beaton

I first read the romance novels by M.C. Beaton and from there I stumbled on to Agatha Raisin Mysteries, featuring an ex-PR person Agatha Raisin. I read two of them over the weekend (I purchased them at the book fair)- i) Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet; and ii) Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death.
The reviewers describe Agatha Raisin as a quirky person who is socially inept. She sells off her PR agency and moves to Cotswolds to settle down in a village.  She is abrasive, blurts out whatever is on her mind, and moves from one disastrous love affair to another. In between she gets embroiled in murders and gets to solve them.  There are some fairly constant characters- the policeman Bill Wong who possesses really obnoxious parents, Mrs. Bloxby who is the Vicar's wife, and James Lacey the next-door neighbour whom Agatha wants to marry.
The mysteries were nothing great to speak off. It was fairly clear from the first murder who had done the murder.  I read them hoping to understand what the reviewers had liked about Agatha Raisin. I gave up. She is really an unattractive and unpleasant character. I understand that is supposed to be the selling point of the book but this feature became monotonous and tedious.
In fact, that is the major complain I have about M.C. Beaton's books. Her characters- whether in Agatha Raisin or in romance novels- are really unpleasant. She also specializes in creating unpleasant parents (at least the romance novels I read contain unpleasant parents).  Maybe there are books with pleasant characters. I do not know. I do not think I have patience to read through the rest of her books in an attempt to find it out.
I also picked up Brother Cadfael Mysteries.  And the Emperor of Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee.  But I will have to really pluck up courage to read the book.  Working on cancer cells in a lab is different than to encounter real cases.

#odd even- a success?

I was wrong.  I believed that it would not work.  But it has. Surprisingly.  Today was the major test as it was a working day after a long weekend.  I went out in the evening to the mandi to buy vegetables. There were few odd numbered cars but most of the residents had abided by the rule.  Usually, the mandi is packed with cars. Today it was a pleasure to walk. Most of the cars parked on the kerbside were even-numbered. 
A woman was grumbling about the odd-even rule to a vegetable vendor. Who knows, she told him, how long this will last. Maybe the government would extend the rule, she told him.
I exchanged smiles with a woman standing next to me.  She said to me:
"Such a stupid woman.  If it will help in bringing the pollution level down, shouldn't it be extended? And look at it! There was no traffic jam today.  A journey that used to take 45-60 minutes was over withing 20 minutes.  People like her do not understand."
One of the reasons it has been a success is because the schools are closed. The game will change if the schools were to reopen as many parents drop and pick their child from school instead of trusting the school buses. 
So keeping my fingers crossed, here is hoping that the pollution levels is brought down in Delhi.