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.