Sally and Bean-Webtoon

 I got into reading webtoons because of kdrama.   Fortunately, Naver has English version, though I think should read the Korean version alongside the English version to improve my language skills.

Most of the webtoons, honestly, are meh!  They are set in fantasy European kingdoms and are not my cup of tea. 

Then are some that were absolute favourites. Unfortunately, they got made into kdrama and the entire premise of webtoon was ruined.  The prime example is See you in my 19th life.  The webtoon was a lovely read with the heroine being able to remember all her lives with each of her birth.  The resolution of how she is able to get out of the curse was the highlight. The kdrama completely ruined the story leaving most of us watchers wondering why the writer of the webtoon had even agreed to dramatize it in this way. 

Then there are those that I wait with bated breath for the weekly episode.  Sally and Bean is one such webtoon.  Sally is a grumpy witch and Bean...well, he is a really stretchy dragon.  Sally and Bean tells their story.  There are Unicorns, and trolls, and demon, Pazuzu, who has been actually mandated to guard Sally... It is a funny and heartwarming story.

Other than Sally and Bean, I am also reading The Crown Princess Scandal.

On Science awards in India

 The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award was finally announced.  As expected 12 men were awarded.  If you were to look carefully at the list, you will notice also that most of the men belonged to one state.  All of them work in Institutes.  The Print carried an article by Mohana Basu who asked where are the women.  The Hindu had an editorial asking not only where are the women but what about the scientists working in Universities.

Sadly, we do not exist.  Despite the hype about how women were at the forefront in ISRO, the fact that there is a women DG helming CSIR, it is the sad fact that we are ignored.  In fact, I was very amused at the Whatsapp messages circulated by my school friends who lauded the ISRO women scientists for wearing saree to the work place.  Why is it that men are never asked to wear dhoti or panchagajam? That is the traditional attire isn't it?  The reality is that we laud women not for their achievements but for wearing sarees and being a good mom along with being scientist.  No one ever asks whether the man is a good Dad.

As for the Universities, well, the less said the better.  The Universities never had great funding and now, it has been reduced to almost nothing.  The Central Universities are still in a better position than the State Universities.  I do not want to talk about appointments/recruitments in the Univerisities because every one knows how they happen.  That being the case, no one is going to fight our case.

Finally, the committees are helmed by men employed in the Institutes. So unless we consciously make a case for women and for Universities, nothing much is going to change.

Long stitch Anchor kits

I have been explaining to my friend's daughter how important it is to have hobbies while doing Ph.D.  Experiments never work at the first shot.  Sometimes it does not work even after many repeats.  It can be very frustrating especially when you cannot really figure out what is going wrong.  The PI, including me, are never of the patient sort. They demand data.  Often times, when they demand data or project report, they want it, like, yesterday.

The only way to deal with these frustrations is to develop other interests.  Hobbies become very important stress busters.  

I do lots of cross stitch, crochet, knitting.  

Last year, when I was in a slump dealing with so many Covid related deaths, my sister-in-law handed me an unfinished piece of embroidery.  Her advice was that I should do it because I loved doing it.  It will help me, she said.

Well, it took me a year.  I finally finished the piece of embroidery and it did help me through the tough time. 

The kit that my sister-in-law gave me was from Anchor India.  This is the fourth piece that I have completed.

 

Developing School Pedagogy

It has been a year.  Lots of things happened. Some good and some bad.  The good news is that my friend's daughter has joined Law School.

The NCERT books are back in news.  After the government decided that there was no need for student's to learn about evolution (look at the Cheetahs- they grew their winter fur even after transplanting to India. So where is evolution?) and Mendeleev's periodic table, a new committee has been constituted to  design new NCERT books.  The panel of experts does not have any body connected with education. It does have Sudha Murty (who is in news every day), Shankar Mahadevan (musician), Vimal Kumar (Badminton player) among others. There are two mathematicians- Manjul Bhargav (who was on NEP 2020 panel) and Sujata Ramadorai.

Of course, there is no need for educationists to be on panel. What do the teachers know?