Dahlias in Winter

Everyone is admiring the garden. Ever since we put up a fence, the peacocks have left the garden alone. The cats are a problem still but they have not ventured near the flowers. They prefer to scratch themselves on the woody stalk of my houseplants or to run up and down the moss stick used on the money plant.

                There are two of them.  Whenever a door is left open, they sneak in trying to find food morsel.

But enough about the pests.  The garden...this year we put dahlias and nastritiums and pansies and petunias.  The traditional winter fare.  We also got roses:

On the anvil is the traditional summer fare.  Sunflowers and Zinnias and protulacas.  This year though we are going to try tomatoes.  Keeping my finger crossed.

Some things never change

My broadband connection at home is not working.  It has been almost a month. The first time I called the customer care number, the customer care agent helpfully told me to toggle the connections. The second and third time, my complaint was duly noted.  But no action was taken.  I again called them today. The customer care agent told me to call the nodal officer at 23322622.  I tried the number. A sulky voice told me that the number is busy and I should call later. I tried 10 minutes later. The same response. Half an hour later the same response.  So I checked in the website for an alternate number.

Guess what? 23322622 happens to be Kidwai Bhawan number!  I should have known.  Kidwai Bhawan in the 70s was notorious. The exchange never worked. You could dial a number till your fingers dropped off. Either you will not get it or you will be connected to the wrong number. We had two telephones those days. We only got wrong calls.  It is great to know that the exchange is maintaining its standards 40 years later.

I finally contacted the Bhikaji Cama Place exchange and placed the complaint. I am hoping the problem will be rectified.

The importance of seminars

It was Friday and the Vth year PhD student presentation. The total attendance: 2 faculty (myself and the student's PI) and 10 students. Absymal.

I cannot emphasise enough on the importance of attending seminars. They are absolute must because one never knows what one will learn. I learn today about the differentiation process in Trypanosomes. I do not work on Trypanosomes but it was interesting to learn about the process in a protozoan parasite. Of course, I do not hesitate to confess that there are many seminars where I have fallen asleep also but...

The faculty and the students alike think it is not necessary to attend seminars. If it is not their topic what is the point? At UVa, the Head of the Department had made attendance compulsory. But here there is no such rule. No one cares.

Which is a pity. There is lot of hand wringing about the quality of our students and about our program. But things like seminars add value to the program. It would be good if both the faculty and the students would remember that.

But I also know that I write in vain. No one, not even my students, are going to turn up for the seminars. They have much more "important" things to do.

Karva Chauth and Ten years of fasting

Last week was Karva Chauth- the day when all the married women in North India fast for the well being of their husbands. It is a festival I have never understood. We have a similar festival down in the South. Only it does not involve fasting but tying a yellow thread around the neck.  The other difference is that both unmarried and married women participate-the married women pray for the well-being of their husband and the unmarried pray for a good husband.  I must have been in 7th or 8th class when I began protesting against this festival.  I did not want a yellow thread around my neck and having to answer embarrassing questions in the school.  More importantly, I did not see why my brother should not pray for a good wife or why my father should not pray for the well-being of his wife. This one-sided business made no sense to me.  My mother and I had a fight over this festival every year till I left home. At that point she kind of gave up on me.

While the South Indian version is plain and simple, the North Indian version is colorful thanks to the patina provided by Karan Johar's movies.  My friend puzzled by the fervor of Karva Chauth, she wanted to know the reason.  She was told the reason plain and simple: One gets gifts including diamond set. Well that makes lots of sense though I still think keeping a fast for a diamond set is stupid. Now if some one was promising me books it would be a different matter...

This week is Irom Sharmila's tenth year of fast.  This one is shorn of all glamor. All Irom Sharmila wants is the AFSPA to be withdrawn from Manipur.  Successive governments have come and gone. Whatever be the color of the government, they all agree that AFSPA is necessary for a state like Manipur. No one bothers to answer why it is important. Makes no sense to me but...

Some amazing moments

Okay, we are still behind many nations in sports. And many of the top players did not come for CWG. But still it is amazing...
We won two medals in gymnastics...
We won medals in field and track events.  Yes, Dani Samuels did not come but to make a clean sweep of the discus throw is amazing.  And the 4 X 400m women relay won the gold. That was wow.
Medals were expected in shooting as well as in wrestling and boxing.  Badminton too given Saina Nehwal plays for us.
But hockey was unexpected...though I wish that we did not have to lose so badly to Australia!
What was also unexpected was the way the stadiums started filling up towards the end. My students and I went for a hockey match- women's hockey NZ versus South Africa (semi-finals) and Wales vs Scotland. The stadium was at least 2/3 full and everyone was cheering...
I do not know what it means in the long run or even if we can sustain this momentum.  We will know soon for the Asian Games begin next month in China.
I did not want the CWG... but now I am not so sure. At least Delhi got some new infrastructure, though I do really wish they had not built the village on Yamuna floodplains. In addition, the ASI got into act and repaired some of the monuments.
I do not know...if our politicians had bit of sense then they would bid for games in other cities or at least spread it around a bit so that other cities too could bit of infrastructure, considering we seem to spend on it only when we have to put up a show.
Anyway, given the way CWG has been a success (successful corruption as well), the political parties are now dreaming of Olympics.

P.S. The hockey match was in the evening and it was 10 pm when it got over.  We were 4 women and in Delhi, we could walk over to the Metro station, catch a metro to New Delhi Railway station, get an auto and get back safely. That was truly amazing.

Mothers and sons...

Growing up my biggest grouse was that my mother expected me to do all the housework while my brother escaped scot-free. Of course my mother had a ready excuse:
"He is left-handed."
So?
So he did not have to grind the dosa batter or do the coffee grinding or clean the table or learn to cook or mop the floor or any of the hateful thousand tasks my mother lined up for me.

My mother, whenever confronted, denies being more indulgent towards her son. But science is on my side. Here is the article from Guardian that confirms my suspicion: Mothers are more hard on their daughters irrespective of their origin.

Life in the times of CWG

As I type, India has 20 medals. And there are questions asked about poor attendance.

I went to CGO complex as my DBT report was long overdue and I need the next years money to fund my lab. The CGO complex is next to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.  I took a taxi.  It was a bad choice as events proved later.

The roads are a mess. One lane has been blocked for the CWG players and they are ferried about in AC buses (DTC low floor buses) with dark curtains so no one can see the players. None of the players were curious enough to peek out either.  The remaining lanes are for us citizens and naturally everything was jammed.  The police is out in full force with guns and bunkers. Reminded me of the high days of Khalistan movement when the bunkers were everywhere. It was spooky.

The JNS is a fortress. No car can enter.  No parking allowed either. So I had to dismiss the taxi and walk down to the complex. At the entrance to the complex I had to show my identity card before I was allowed to enter.

Why would anyone in right mind attend the games?

Of course, the citizens do not exist. All the laborers have been deported out of Delhi. The most affected are daily wagers because no one seems to care as to how they will survive without money?  And aren't we citizens? Don't we have the right to live in our country, in the city of our choice? What right does the government have to treat us as aliens?

I took an auto back. The autowallah put it right:
"The government better remember that the foreigners are not going to vote in the next elections. It is we who are going to vote."

Tomorrow I need to go to CSIR complex, which is near Pusa. Not looking forward to it. Though I think it might be easier as there are no stadiums close to the complex.