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.