Lessons not learned

It is that time of the year again.  A heavy greyish pall hangs over the city.  My eyes are burning and breathing is difficult. We had one year to set at least some things correct but of course, every one was too busy and Delhites cannot be bothered to obey rules.
The state government was busy fighting elections in other states. It is only when they lost heavily in Punjab and Goa that the chief Minister turned his attention to Delhi. Consequently, the public transport system has not been strengthened.
Haryana is busy dealing (or not dealing) with the various deras and babas.  Punjab has a new government and they are too busy putting the blame on the center.  The central government is always in election mode. They are more worried about the upcoming Himachal Pradesh and Gujrat elections.
Also, today is the one year anniversary of the demonetization drive and newspapers/media are busy covering that.
We are now used to buying our own water purifiers because no government can promise to deliver safe drinking water. We will also buy our own air purifiers. The economy will at least be uplifted, right?
The Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal tried to do some thing. But the people of Delhi believe that they are never in wrong.  Anyway, don't you know who I am?  You are asking me to travel by public transport? Me?
So there we are.  One year later, no lessons learned. That is us.

The Raya Sarkar Post

Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct case has had numerous fall outs.  One of this was a Facebook post by Raya Sarkar, a law graduate student at the University of California, Davis.  She named two Indian academicians accused of sexual misconduct and then invited other victims to send her the names of Indian academicians who have sexually harassed them.  Not being on Facebook, I did not see this post.  But it caught my attention today when I saw that prominent feminists have put out a statement against Raya Sarkar.

Curious, I searched out the list and scrolled down through it.  The following are my thoughts:

1. The list contains names of mostly social scientists.  There are no scientists in that list. I am not surprised. The science students are not brave enough to name their professors. Their career (read: future grants and positions) are dependent on their professors.

2.  After reading the names I was also not surprised by the statement put out by the prominent feminists.

3. One of the questions asked or suggestion proffered is that the victim should use the institutional mechanism available to them to complain against the alleged harasser. I agree that would be the wisest course. However, the reality is different. Where the powerful are concerned, no action will be taken and in this case, all attempts will be made to shield/protect the harasser.  Instead, the victim will be shamed.  May be this is one of the reasons that these victims have chosen to speak out in this way.

4. The institutions- even the courts- have not really given any solace to the victims that their voice will be heard and justice will be done. In case of Mahmood Farooqui, the Delhi HC let him off by saying that a feeble No can mean yes.

5.That said, the major problem is that it names the name but no explanation is offered.  No chance is given to the alleged harasser to explain his stance.  That is really worrisome.  One of the names on the list shocked me.  Why did the person name him?  Is there any truth?  Who investigates?

I do not know what will be the outcome of this list or what Raya Sarkar hopes to achieve.  All I know is that the list has left me deeply disturbed.

I will just end this with a personal anecdote.  When I worked for a company in Bangalore, a girl intern approached me. She was deeply upset.  Her supervisor was mentally abusing her- basically telling her that he does not like to hire women because they are insincere and they do not work. They always make excuses as to why they cannot stay late and if some body talks to them harshly, they will start crying.  I went to the HR and told her that irrespective of the position the man holds, he has no right to harass anyone.  Next thing I knew- I was pushed into resigning from the company.

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

It all began with an observation I made to my brother: Why did India lag behind so much in scientific advancement?  And my brother who can generally be relied to answer such questions told me to read Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.  At least it will partially answer your question, he said.

Funnily enough the book begins with a similar conversation that Jared Diamond has with a New Guinea citizen. 

Diamond's hypothesis is that the nations where agriculture flourished along with domestication of cattles became more technologically advanced as compared to the other parts of the world.  Agriculture began in the Fertile crescent and spread into modern day Europe as well as into India.  This was facilitated, of course, by the availability of wild plants that could be easily domesticated.  The spread was across the latitude where the temperature was uniform and thus, plants domesticated in one area could be grown in another area.  In contrast, the availability of such wild plants in American Continent was less and further, after domestication of few available plants, the spread was slow because it had to move across the longitude. There as a greater variation in climate making the spread slow. 
He uses the same argument to explain why domestication of animals happened much earlier in the Fertile crescent as opposed to the other continents.  And then he explains how domestication led to human diseases like small pox that could decimate populations not exposed to these germs.

This is the basis of the entire book. He uses this argument to explain the spread of Europeans to America, Australia, and Africa.   He also acknowledges, fleetingly, that some cultures were more open to innovation and ideas while some cultures that were open to innovation initially became more closed later.

If you read the book you get the feeling that human intention had no role to play in the colonization process.  And that left me with a dissatisfied feeling. Surely, it is much more complicated than a simple explanation of how agriculture and domestication of cattle led to the colonization of almost the entire world by the Europeans by 19th century.  Partly yes.   Development of agriculture and domestication of cattle led to the formation of cities and complicated governments.  However, there was also human agency at hand and it was not all that passive as Jared Diamond portrays in the book.  

Trawling through the net I learnt that a later book by Jared Diamond explored the human angle.  I do not know whether I will read it or not. For the time being, it is on the list of books that I should read.

Teaching science to school children

When I did the site visit to the teaching centers of the NGO we support, I found that the 10th class girls were reading their science book. I squatted down beside one girl and discussed some of the things that she was reading.  Seeing this, the coordinator of the NGO asked me to come and teach the children some day.  I rashly promised.  But when the day came, I was quaking with fear.  Teaching M.Sc students is one thing.  School children are a completely different ball game.  I would have to get down to their level.  Language was another thing. I knew that these kids were not comfortable with English. Teaching Science in Hindi?  I did not any of the terminologies.  But a promise is a promise so I went out there last Saturday.
The kids were equally apprehensive.  Would I scold? Would I shout? Would I be strict?
And so we met. 
The first rule in my class, I said, was that they had to ask questions.  I cannot teach if questions are not asked. 
The children stared at me.  Disbelieving.
I had looked through the 9th class text book as the coordinator had told me to.  But the 10th class girls decided that they wanted their syllabus to be covered.
We covered a lot. We started with photosynthesis, moved on to processes like nutrition, transportation, and digestion.  Along the way the children lost their apprehension. Questions came fast and furious.
How is cancer caused?
What happens when memory is lost?
And then one girl asked:
"Why do hormonal changes happen? Why do we have to grow up?"
I wanted to comfort her. And tell her that it was the same question Jo, from Little Women, had asked. But of course, she had not read Little Women and I did not have the book with me to read it to her. 
Two hours went fast. They were not exhausted but I was.  I learned a lot:
1. The NCERT text books have improved a lot.  Each science section comes with set of easy experiments that can be done in the class room.  In fact, instead of memorizing the facts, the children can understand the concept if they were allowed to do the experiment.  I do not blame the teacher especially if they have to teach 40-60 children at a time.  But if we had more schools, if the class size was limited, and if the children were seated in groups, and if the teacher was enthusiastic and allowed the children to ask questions, science would be fun.
2. I learned the Hindi version of some of the science terminologies
2. The children were eager to learn. Once they had lost their fear, they asked all kinds of questions.  Generally, it takes my M.Sc class more than a week to start asking questions and then too it is of limited nature. Some of them ask interesting questions that make me go back and read more but generally, the questions are of limited scope. But these kids were really fun to interact with. It is such a pity that we are depriving them of a good education.
 

Quartet in Autumn- Barbara Pym

I picked up the book in the book fair as I had heard a lot about Barbara Pym.  This is her penultimate book.  It is the loneliest book that I have ever read. Loneliness seeps through every pore of the book.  But it is not a sad book for the story is told with just a dollop of humour. It is just lonely.
Four office workers- 2 women and 2 men- share an office. It is never made explicitly clear as to what they do. Indeed even the office seems unsure of exactly what they do.  It is the 70s Britain and computers are beginning to make their presence felt.  The office is clear that these four people will not be replaced.  And the four are nearing their retirement. Plans have to be made. Two of them- Marcia and Edwin- have their own homes.  Letty and Nicholas live in a bedsitter and thus, their position is precarious.  Letty's position becomes worse when her landlady sells off her house to Nigerians and Marjorie, her old friend with whom she was planning to retire to a small cottage in the village, decides to get married.  Edwin, whose hobby is to attend Church Services- indeed he makes a list of all the Church related events through the year- finds her another bedsitter.  Letty moves into this place as she has nowhere else to go. This move coincides with her retirement.  Letty makes plans for she knows she should never let time hang heavy in her hands. She decides to read books on Social Studies but finds them too heavy and too boring...
Meantime, Marcia too has retired.  Her life moves in a different direction. Spurning everyone, becoming depressed, ultimately, she stops eating.
On her death, the remaining three find that Marcia has left her house to Nicholas on whom she had a crush long time back.
The book ends in a slightly upbeat mode.  Marjorie, Letty's friend, informs her that her engagement is at an end and would she come and live with her.  Letty realizes that life holds infinite possibilities. She might or might not move back.  Nicholas might or might not sell the house. Marjorie might or might not find another partner. In fact, life is alright. There are so many things to look forward to.

March for Science India

The Breakthrough Science Society called for "March for Science, India" 6 months after the event was held globally.
I marched.
There were about 100-200 people who marched from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar in Delhi.  For the number of institutes and universities located in Delhi (including the NCR), the participation was pathetic.  Most of the number was made up by non-science faculty. My own school was represented by two of us and handful of students from one of the lab (the faculty was marching and he asked them to come).  And when I think of the demonstration the students held on Science day couple of years back demanding for fellowship, I really do wonder about priorities.  I also wonder about our (teachers) priorities.  We grumble and groan about fund cuts, about poor quality of students, about life as a scientist but really, aren't we ourselves responsible for the abysmal situation?  When it comes to crunch time, when we have to speak up, we don't.  We back out.  We worry about promotions, about membership to various academies, we worry about grant (oh, if we speak up the funding will be cut.  It does. I have had first-hand experience in this matter but...)...in general we worry about everything but about science. 
So the government continues to spend 0.8% of GDP on Science, knowing fully well that there will be no protests.
Rubbish continues to thrive. Vaastu Shastra masquerades as science. People flock to astrologer and numerologists- change the spelling of your name and your fortune will change. As my brother pointed out, only the English spelling seems to be targeted. There are astrologers who promise that fortune will change if one uses their particular brand of ash (vibhuthi).  Then there gemologists who promise that the fortune will change if one wears a ring of particular stone.  Wait a minute. I know of scientists as well as students who wear these rings.
I rest my case.
 

The unanticipated problems that we sometimes face

I have been associated with an NGO partner for almost 10 years now. Initially, we funded them as part of Asha-Delhi project. But when our funds dried up, we found them new funding partners. I continued as the point person and have been visiting their project for many years now.
When we started, the children were in primary classes. I still remember the project director telling me that her realistic goal was to ensure that the children remain in school till class 12th.  They focused on girls as they were the most vulnerable. There are many reasons why a girl will be pulled out of the school- there are younger siblings, the economic situation in the house, the mother needs her help with the household chores, and of course early marriage.  So the goal was straight-forward. Let us ensure that the girls remain in school. The way to ensure it was to provide free tuition in the afternoon. It would also be a safe place for the girls to spend time. 
There have been successes. The early batch of girls- 3 in number- have now graduated from school. One is working and studying. The others are studying. All the 3 have enrolled in Open University.  We feel happy.
And then there are unexpected situations.  Today, when I did the site visit, the director gave me the first bad news. One of the girls- she is in the 12th class- had been married off in the Summer. The family went to their village and there was a mass community marriage organized in the village. The lure the organizers dangled was that they would pay the dowry and bear the costs of the marriage. It was a good offer as the mother is the sole bread winner. She agreed and the daughter was married off. She has been pulled out of school and sent off to live with her in-laws.  The entire visit I was haunted. Lot of publicity has been done about the evils of child marriage but the laws and the publicity have only limited impact. The family weighs in many factors- the safety the girl is paramount. What if she gets molested?  What if some body kidnaps her?  Wouldn't it be better if she is married off? Also, it would be one less mouth to feed.  And then somebody is paying the dowry and bearing the cost of the marriage (I really wonder about these organizers!  Did they bother to check whether the bride and groom were of legal age for marriage? Shouldn't they be held culpable?).  So child marriage continues.  I have no clue how to deal with this issue?  Of course, the girl could have protested. The media reports at least one such case every day where the girl refused marriage. A student of mine, I am really proud of her, told me that she fought with her Uncles when they were planning to get their daughters married. She got her cousins to Delhi and got them educated on her  Ph.D. fellowship. How many such girls exist?  How do we raise them?  How do we teach the girls coming to the tuition centers to protest if their parents force them into early marriage. Of course, the NGO has done plays with them, talked about these issues but theory and practice are entirely two different entities.
The second bad news was about a girl who was kidnapped by her neighbour and molested. Fortunately, her parents were able to recover her back. But she has now dropped out of school. She comes to the center but she is traumatized and scared.
As the girls grow up and as we add boys to the mix (the center has now expanded their attention to the boys too and I am culpable for it. I felt that the boys too needed attention and badgered them into opening their centers to the boys also), I wonder how do we handle this explosive mix. The media, the freely available internet has ensured that the world is no longer as innocent as we thought.  So now we are facing unanticipated problems and charting a path that we have no clue how to navigate.