Evolution

In the US there is a big debate as to whether evolution should be taught in schools. The debate never made any sense to me because in India all of us are taught evolution in schools-whatever our religion might be and whatever the religion might say. But in the US the religion does get to dictate what should be taught vis a vis evolution.

I have been following the debate because as a biologist/geneticist/biochemist/whatever, it is pretty obvious to me. Just compare the genome of the chimpanzee with that of the man and you will see that it is 99% similar- something that could not have happened unless we shared the same genome at some point of time. We can go back in time as much as to bacteria and trace the similarity in gene sequences between bacteria and us- a pretty neat evidence that we must have all evolved from the same progenitor at some point or other.

Religion, in that sense, at least to me is a private matter and whether I believe there is a God or not, it does not preclude evolution. In fact I would say there is great many evidences that evolution happened while there is no proof that God exists.

But not to all scientists, obviously. So there have been some my ilk who have been propagating what is known as The Intelligent Design. Basically it says that evolution cannot explain all the diversity we see and therefore, there has to be an intelligent designer i.e. God.

So where am I going with this rambling? We were discussing DNA polymerases in the class. DNA polymerases are proteins that replicate DNA and were first discovered by Arthur Kornberg, for which he got the Nobel Prize. I was explaining how DNA polymerases add new nucleotides to the growing chain of DNA in one direction only because it makes proof reading possible.

A student asked:

"But why cannot we have DNA polymerases doing the same in the other direction? After all if the DNA polymerase did not introduce a wrong base it would have no need for proof reading?"

"Ah, but DNA polymerases are not ideal machines. So they occasionally do make mistakes and have to be rectified. Moreover if DNA polymerases did not make mistakes, there would have been no evolution!"

The class laughed. Of course evolution! Thankfully, none of the students brought up the issue "But God made us all!"

Maa Tujhe Salam

This was the name of the recording (video?) that was released on the eve 50th anniversary of India's independence. I chanced to see the visuals on Friday when I went out for dinner.

The visuals had A.R. Rahman along with cute villagers in various garbs. There were village children running with the flags, men and women in their traditional, oh how lovely it all was! On all their faces was pride- the concept of free India, the concept of Bharat

This year during the site visits, Govind insisted on asking the children basic general knowledge.

"What is the name of our Prime Minister?"

Blank looks. Some children stared assiduously at their slates.

"Okay, what is the name of the state you are living?"

More blank looks.

"What is the name of the country?"

Some where a child told us:

"Bharat."

Whew!

I had similar experience last year when I went on site visits just after 15th August. At every center I visited, I was told that 15th August was celebrated.

"Why is 15th August celebrated?"

"The country became a republic."

"For Nehru."

"I do not know."

So my question is: What is all this country, Maa Tujhe Salam, 15th August, 26th January business all about?

Crocheted science

So is crochet so divorced from science?

Sometime back I read an article in the New York Times where mathematicians have used crochet to create hyperbolic plane. I did not save the article but you can find Daina Taimina's work here. She is a mathematician at Cornell University who has been working with crochet to create mathematical shapes (is this the correct term?)

There is one more article on the same vein but by a different group.

I am not an expert crocheter in the sense I hardly ever create my own patterns. But then I do not ever create patterns for cross-stitch or knitting. So in a sense I can copy patterns but cannot create one.

But for the past few years I have been facing dilemma. Essentially I teach the structure of DNA to the first semester M.Sc students. The first year I taught the course a bright young Chinese student asked me why if DNA is like a ladder then how does it form major and minor groove. It was something I had never pondered on. So I thought a lot about it, read few articles and found out that DNA is actually asymmetrical. Duh! of course. It is just I had never thought about it but had absorbed the notion.

Anyway, ever since that day I try to impart this knowledge to my students but it is extremely difficult for the students to visualize a symmetrical ladder and what would happen if it was twisted like the DNA. Whenever I would quiz them on this point later in the exams I would get varied answers clearly indicating that it has not penetrated their understanding.

So this year I fell back on crochet. It is fairly simple to create a ladder in crochet. You just make a chain say of 50. Then do a row of double-crochet (or a treble crochet depending on which nomenclature you follow). Do another row of the same on top of the first row and end. You will have a ladder. While making the ladder you will observe that the ladder twists much like a DNA would. It is natural consequence. You can also count the number of rungs between each twist. I was delighted to find that it approximates 10- the same number as in a DNA helix. And finally you will not find any major and minor grooves because all the bond angles (so as to speak) are exactly the same.

The class was in whoops when I pulled out my crocheted ladder. I think I have managed to get the point across. It would have been nice if I had an asymmeteric crochet ladder. I have to think how to crochet such a ladder.

Oh, the best part of it all was when a girl came up and asked me whether she could have the DNA ladder I had made. She said she wanted to try it out at home and see if it really would work. Now, that was the best reward of all.

Appa's watchman

He was a farmer. His son and daughter-in-law took away the land and left him destitute. So he came to the city where his daughter and son-in-law resided.
"You can stay here as long as you want," they told him.
But his self-respect demanded that he earn something:
"How can I live off my daughter?"
That is how he became a watchman where my parents reside.

When I entered the building he looked at me suspiciously:
"When did you come?"
"Yesterday night."
"Ah. I saw you when I came up. Where have you been?"
"To the market to get vegetables."
He nodded his head wisely and heaved a lugubrious sigh:
"Poor ayya! His health."
I was alarmed:
"What happened?"
"No, nothing. With amma like this..."
I was illumined. My mother is having cataract operation.
"Oh, she is fine. The operation will enable to see her better."
He was not pacified:
"The water is not being pumped up."
I knew about that too:
"Don't worry."
"No, I am not worrying. But poor ayya has to call the plumber."
"He has already called the plumber," I tried to cheer him up.
"I know. He said that if the plumber comes when he is still the hospital with amma, I should tell the plumber to wait."
I nodded him head.
He heaved another sigh and shook his head. I left him buried under the burden of appa's troubles.

I was touched and amused.

Appa has been looking after the building concerns almost single-handedly: water supply, pumping of the water, plumbing problems,electricity troubles, lift problems. But no one in the building has ever voiced their concern about appa's health or indeed a word of appreciation to me.

And yet here was this watchman...

Qat

Yemen has two principal crops: Qat and Coffee.

Appa lived in Yemen from 1990 onwards- off and on- for ten years. My first visit to Yemen was to appear for GRE and AGRE exams. I found it a beautiful, quirky country. One of the more 'endearing' habits is for the men and women to chew a leaf called qat. It is mildly intoxicating but because the religion specifically prohibits Muslims from indulging in such practices, every Yemeni worth his/her salt will tell you that qat is not intoxicating.

Qat requires the chewers to drink plenty of water for it is dehydrating. Those days, I am not sure how it is now, Maruti-type vans served as public transports. Men would be driving, much like how we drive in India, and then wham an empty bottle would be thrown out of the window. The highlight was the crushing of the bottle beneath the wheels of the vehicle behind. It was a lovely sport.

Women are more discreet as they take qat within the walls of their houses. I was invited once over to visit our downstairs neighbors to learn how to make their sweet bread. No, I was not invited to chew qat but I believe the men offered it to appa who declined to do so.

Earlier qat had to be imported but slowly the Yemenies have become self-sufficient.

In this article in The Guardian there appears to be hand-wringing over this habit, which has been declared as a drug by the Americans.

Science Education

There has been lots of hand-wringing over science education in the country. On the recent site visits, I visited one school where there are now children studying in class 7th and 8th. Aha! I can talk to them about science and feel little bit more comfortable.

"Have you done any science."
Giggles.
"Yes? No?"
Few heads nod.
"Oh good. What have you learnt?"
Silence.
I racked my brains. I know as early as 7th we start on photosynthesis.
"Photosynthesis?"
Nodding of heads.
"What happens?"
"Sun, carbon..."
"And."
"It makes food."
Fair enough.
"Good. You all grow plants."
Most of the kids I assumed belonged to farming community.
Tentative nod. One girl said:
"We don't."
"Okay. But you must know that add fertilizer."
"Yes. Of course we add fertilizer."
"Why do you add fertilizer?"
Silence.
"What is in fertilizer?"
Silence.
Then I took them out into the small patch of green. I showed them two plants. They identified one as chrysanthemum.
"Okay. Let us look at the leaves. Tell me is there any difference between the blade of the grass and the leaves of chrysanthemum."
The kids looked. One girl said:
"It is different shade of green."
"Anything else?"
Finally one girl burst out:
"The shape of the leaves are different."
Absolutely. That is why just by looking at plants- say a rice plant and wheat plant- we can immediately say which one is which.
But the encounter left me thinking. There they were surrounded by the fields. What a lovely place to teach biology! There is no need for the textbook. Whatever is written down there can actually be demonstrated out in the field. If only the teacher was so inclined.

That is our problem. Our teachers themselves are not motivated or have enough imagination to make learning fun. Of course learning was never fun for them so...

That is when I got my whacky idea. Over the years I have always had whacky ideas. Sort of what to do if my Phd fails, or if my post-doc fails, or now if the academic career (with the best intentions of certain people) fails...

It would be wonderful to take time off and spend with kids in the rural areas. Teach them the rudiments of science, the art of thinking...all I would need is to devise simple experiments to do...did you know that we can actually isolate DNA using only onion peels and little bit of inexpensive chemicals? So there it is.

The only problem is that I would have to learn the scientific terms in Hindi. But then that too should be fun. Something new to learn.

Kalakkanavu

Kalakkanavu is a docudrama written by V. Geetha and directed by Mangai. I got a chance to watch it at the University today thanks to the Women studies Centre and Centre for Historical Society.

Kalakkanavu or A dream in Time is a documentation of feminist movement in Tamilnadu during late 19th Century and early 20th Century. Most of the stories are undocumented. V. Geetha has strung together a drama based on the articles written by early feminists in magazines and the dairies kept by many women. It was very fascinating but one could see how little information we really have about the women. What were their thoughts, what were their lives like...Their history is very fragmented.

One of the most thought-provoking moment was about how Periyar fought for women's liberation. When his wife, Nagamma, dies, he says:
"She had been a wonderful companion but I do not know if I was such a good companion to her."
But more telling is his comments on the issue of chastity. It is all the more telling considering the situation in present day Tamilnadu, where they hounded Kushboo out for daring to make a comment on pre-martial sex. After all chastity is a convenient tool to imprison women. No one dares to talk about chastity for men.

The drama was in Tamil. My friend Bharati and I exchanged notes at the end. We both found that neither of us had understood more than 10-20% of the words. Someday I need to start learning Tamil.

Eavesdropping

It is said that eavesdroppers never hear good about themselves. It is true. As a teacher, at least, I never heard anything good about my profession.

Yesterday, in the bus, I overheard a girl talking to her father. She has newly taken admission in the University and was telling him:

"Even if I know the answer I keep quiet. Why should I get into trouble? Then the teacher will ask more and more questions to see how much I know and finally might end up asking me to teach the class. It is not worth all that. So I keep my mouth shut in the class."

I agree that I do ask questions in the class but never with the aim of showing a student down. Asking questions and encouraging the students to ask questions are simply ways of making the class more interacting. Nothing is more boring than hearing your own voice resonating in the lecture room. But I guess many of our teachers, whether at University or School level, discourage such interactions. The result is that the student is intimidated and very soon stops thinking. We end up getting such students for Ph.D. and it is a major task just to get rid of this mindset. How can they become scientists if they do not ask questions?

At one of the NFE centers that I visited, I asked the children what do they learn at school.
"Nothing. That Madam, no, she just keeps knitting. She does not teach us any thing."
Now what do we do? How do we get the teachers to teach?

There was an interesting stuff I got to know about a teacher. Apparently, he told his class:
"See, if I teach, you have to learn. Then I have to give an exam, you have to answer. Then I will have to correct the papers. Why do we have to go through this whole thing? You sit there, I will sit here. Let us relax."
Yuck!

Finally, while returning back from Chennai this time, I had for company bunch of engineering students. Originally from the North they had taken admission in the South because the colleges are much better, they got admission..whatever. So they were discussing their recently concluded examinations.

"I now know," explained one to his classmates, "how to score marks. For example if it is a female teacher, use plenty of color pens. Underline the important things in red or green. They like it and give you marks."

My face must have given away for one exclaimed:
"Aunty is a teacher!"

I laughed but did not say anything. As I get ready for the semester, I am eternally grateful for having the mystery of red/pink/green colored pens.

The Bermuda Triangle

I think there is a Bermuda Triangle somewhere in my house. Otherwise how can I explain the routine disappearance of things? Today,for example, I have spent hours in fruitless search of my British Council Library card. The only good thing of the search has been that I finally found my embroidery scissors that had gone AWOL last week. I purchased this embroidery scissors in 1993, one of the first purchases when I landed in US to pursue Ph.D. It is a pretty Stork Shaped scissor and though it has dulled now it is still a treasured possession.
Meantime, I think I should lose something fast. Then while searching for it, who knows, I might discover my library card?

Teachers training

Last year we had a brain wave. We decided we would train teachers. We would tell them the innovative techniques that can be used to teach children. The entire onus was taken up by Vallabh bhai, who also decided that he would conduct a test before the training began just to see what is the level of the teachers.

It turned out that the teachers themselves did not know much. It did not matter whether they had done Inter or B.A. or M.A. The level of most of the teachers was abysmal.

Then the training began. They were taught the use of Flash cards, to play games with the children, to sing songs...oh, the entire gamut. They were also taught that children should be allowed to read books and that library was not for locking up.

This year when I went around the projects I asked each and every teacher whether they had been to teachers training program and if so, were they using the methodologies.

"Yes we have been to Kaithi for the program."
"Do you use the teaching methodologies."
Sheepish grin. A shake of their head. No, we do not use them.
"Why?"
"I am not able to do it."

The problem is that while teaching the children, one has to bridge the barrier between the adult and the child. The child has to learn to trust you. You, the adult, has to become the child. If the child is intimidated by the teacher, learning becomes boring and something that is being forced upon the child. Empathy, I think that is the word I am groping for.

None of the teachers I met were able to relate to the child. They would not play with them. How can they maintain the dignity if they stooped down to that level? No, I think I am wrong with that assessment. I think it is just that they have never behaved like that even with their own children. So it becomes difficult for them to change their behavior suddenly.

There was one teacher, who however embodied the qualities that I was searching for. Her name is Sangeeta Misra. She would hold up flash cards for children and then sing out: Bh is Bhavan alishan.
Then she would stop and explain what a alishan bhavan is.
The children she was teaching were confident and not scared. When we asked them to pick up a card and tell us what was the alphabet written on it, they happily did so.

I then asked Sangeeta whether she had ever been to teachers training program.
"No."
"Then how did you learn about this technique?"
"The teacher who had been to the training program got these flash cards. And then it is written in the books, no?"

That is what we need in teachers. I am sure there are many Sangeetas. The key is to finding them.