A question of Genetics and Happy New Year

My brother gave me Rs 1000/-. His wife had given him strict instructions that he had to give me money for Pongal and Karthikai. Needless to say, I love these festivals.
As my shoes had worn out I decided that instead of saving up the Rs 1000/- in my PF or buying a book as usual, I would splurge it. I would buy myself a nice pair of slippers.
I am not really sure how the inheritance of feet happens. All I know is that I have inherited broad big feet from my paternal grandfather and flat feet from my maternal grandfather. Actually I think the broad big feet is a dominant trait considering my brother and other cousins too have it.
Optimism is opium.
Minsens' in CP was having a sale. I went into the shop and found the pair I wanted. I asked the shop girl whether it would be available in my size. She took one look at my feet and said tactfully:
"You should try these, Ma'am. These have adjustable straps. Your feet are very broad, you see."
Sheesh!
At least she wasn't as bad as the shopkeeper in Sarojini Nagar where we had gone for shopping long time back. He took one look at my feet and advised my mother to tie it up so that it wouldn't grow!
Oh well!
A Very Happy New Year.

Tenders and such stuff

The bureaucracy thrives on absurdity and on vengeance. After my run in with the AO last week I expected revenge. And sure it came.
To do animal cell culture work we need special room. Every faculty prudently maintains one out of their project money. It saves hassles. However, lacking funding I decided to renovate the existing animal cell culture facility of the department using department money. For the facility we need a pump. It was priced at Rs 8100/-. As another faculty in the department had purchased it just few months back, I decided to place a repeat order. The pump was installed. The bill came to us for payment. As it is a departmental affair, I passed the bill to the AO. The AO comes back to me: where are the three quotations that says this is the cheapest one? Where is the purchase committee approval? Where is the supply order?
I explained that this was a repeat order so there was no need to get three quotations. It is less than Rs 50,000 so there is no need for a purchase committee approval. And if you want a supply order, I will give you one with a back date.
The AO is not happy. His explanation- which I am sure some babu can understand and appreciate-is that this is being purchased from departmental money. And the faculty who purchased it before me had done so using his project money. Therefore, an order that was placed for an equipment to be paid out of the project money cannot be repeated if it is to be ordered via departmental money.
Go figure!
I can now empathize with BSNL when they plead with CVC to do away with tenders.

Can hair re-grow?

Appa hopes that Popy, my student, will make him a protein that will miraculously restore hair on his head.
Well, this article is not quite that but there is some hope...appa, do you want to try this?

Dealing with bureaucracy

I had really meant to pen down my experiences at Virat Nagar. But that was before I had to deal with the AO of the school.
I have been trying to purchase Mant-ATP, the fluorescent analog of ATP for my experimens. We finally found a cheaper source: Jena Biosciences in Germany. Their Indian representative is based in Hyderabad. Mac, my student, emailed them and got the quote electronically. It would not do. So before going home he frantically emailed them to send us a hardcopy and also the contact address in Delhi.
Then we waited.
Finally last week the Delhi representative got in touch with us. He signed the electronic copy that we had printed out. However, before the order can be placed we need a DSIR certificate that will allow us to import chemicals without paying import duty. To get the DSIR certificate we need to do paper work.
First I needed to get the Dean's permission to purchase it from my Lab Running Expenses (a meagre Rs. 50,000). With the Dean's permission, we filled out the DSIR certificate. It had to be entered in the store records, then the Dean had to sign it, and then the registrar. In between all these procedures, the AO of the school has to sign the supply order.
The AO dearly loves his 10%.
When the form went to him for signature, he threw a fit. How can I order something without his approval?
Excuse me?

A quiet Celebration

My laptop and I are celebrating our first anniversary together. The last time I purchased a laptop (way back in 2000), I managed to break it within a year. It was easy. There was this tangle of wires, I have a big foot (inheritance from my paternal grandfather),the foot and the wires got into a tangle, and the casualty was the laptop. It has since then been repaired but it does not like me. So whenever I attempt to use it, something goes wrong. My father has it now; the laptop does not give him any trouble.
The current laptop was purchased by my brother. (Yes, amma, I know I owe you money for the laptop.) My mother never fails to remind me that she loaned my money to buy it and that I need to return the money. My mother is the CFO of the house. I am really thankful that she has not asked for interest on the amount loaned.
So today, the laptop and I are celebrating the first anniversary. Hopefully, there will be many more anniversaries to celebrate.

Romance Novel

I was delighted to read that A.S. Byatt too likes Georgette Heyer. I have loved Georgette Heyer ever since I was introduced to them way back in the late 80s. We were living in Saket then. Aparna, Indu and I were of the same age and all three of us were avid readers. There was Shanti too, whom we called Shinti Ponti. But she was not into reading. Aparna, Indu, and I swapped books and told each other which books to read. And if I am not mistaken it was Aparna who introduced me into the world of Georgette Heyer. There are all kinds of reasons why I like Heyer so much but the bottom line is that she is not mushy.
Mills and Boons are different kettle of fish. I was introduced into that world in the hostel and I read them because there was singular lack of any story books. There were no libraries in Baroda and there was no way I could get my hands on any book. M&Bs were circulated - I have no clue how they came into the hostel-from one room to another and from one girl's hostel to another. And believe me, after a day's work in the lab where experiments often times do not work, M&Bs were welcome.
Truthfully, the large majority of them are pure trash and I give them a wide berth. I simply cannot stomach those idiotic novels or the language. However, there are few authors who do not insult the reader's intelligence and those I read. Alas, the new ones coming out in the romantic genre are fit only for the dustbin.
However, that does not mean that my brother should not read it :-). In fact I urge him to do so at all possible opportunities. So here are two view points from Guardian for his benefit.

How I run my lab

I have been trying to get some reagents from US. From Joel, my PhD advisor, to be precise. My colleague also needs some reagents from the same place so Neelima and I decided to combine everything. As these reagents need to be shipped on Dry Ice the shipping is expensive so combining shipments makes sense. We agreed we would pay for the reagents. Turns out Fed-ex has some bureaucratic process that does not allow them to ship cell lines if paid in India. However, they have no problems if the payment is done in US. So we called another agent World Express. They said they can do it but the charge comes to USD1200. Our hearts sank. My lab runs on USD7500 per year. This includes all the consumables that I need to purchase to do the experiments. And I have four students. There is simply no way that I can pay USD1200 to get these reagents from US. Now I am hoping Joel will be good natured to send them to me at his expense!
On a similar note, we wanted a reagent called mant ATP. It is a fluorescent reagent. No company in India makes this stuff. The only way to get is from US. Which means I have to pay not only the price of the reagent but also the shipping expenses.
Sometimes I wonder what am I doing out here...

Da bogus code

I read the Da Vinci Code thanks to British Council Library. And I have no idea why the Christian community was up in arms over the movie based on this book. Anyone who reads it would know that it is nothing but pure unadulterated junk. Oh, it is immensely readable; Dan Brown employs all the tricks to keep the reader hooked to the plot. But that is all it is. It is fiction. He takes advantage of the fact that most of us would not have Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper to verify his claims. Come to that most of us would not know much about Da Vinci/Newton/Cocteau's beliefs to agree/disagree with what Dan Brown is saying. Nor would most of us would be steeped in the Christian theology to question/verify his claims. I loved the review that appeared in New Yorker.
I have also managed to get Cuckold by Kiran Nagarkar. It tells the story of Meera Bai from her husband's perspective.