Life as a pedestrian in Hyderabad
Having lived as a pedestrian in Delhi, Bangalore, Madras, Baroda, and Lucknow, I consider myself to be adept at crossing the roads. However, Hyderabad has defeated me. The city does not believe that pedestrians exist. The vehicles are driven by maniacs who believe that they are driving their vehicle in Formula One. The net result is that there are no zebra crossings, no lights, no footpaths, and no one stops for those idiots who want to cross the road. I have been just barely surviving these past couple of days. Of necessity- to get photograph for temporary ID and for mailing recommendation letter for a student, I have been forced to walk on the road just outside CCMB. Yesterday, I ran across the road as a bus driver determined to mow me down in increased the speed as soon as he espied me. In fact, whenever the drivers see someone on the road they increase the speed. Having just returned back from Charlottesville where the drivers stop to let a pedestrian cross, it is taking me time to adjust back to the realities. In Delhi I usually can stop the traffic by holding up my hand but here in Hyderabad it does not work.
The roads are full of potholes. For a city that prides itself on being Cyberabad, the roads are just pitiful. Even Bangalore and Chennai have better roads than this. It would be helpful if the politicians instead of stoking the fires of Telangana paid attention to the basic civic amenities of the city.
I am again working on the bench and it is a moment to savour for I will not get many opportunities to do so. In my own lab no one likes to see me on the bench and it gets tedious when the students treat me with kid gloves, trying to do it themselves when all I want to know is where the enzymes are kept.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Kolangal is ending
My mother loves serials. And Kolangal has been a staple in her diet ever since it started about 7 years back. Kolangal means rangoli, the decoration that is put in front of the house. After watching or rather hearing, for my mother has the volume turned up, I termed the serial Alakolangal, which means rubbish. This is the only time I put my limited knowledge of Tamil into good use.
This serial, like many others, centers around women. The language was foul and good bit of theme centered around violence and atrocities committed against women. I suppose the director/producer/writer wanted to show how women were able to come up in spite of all the atrocities committed on them. At least a friend of mine said that he admired the serial because it showed women becoming independent. All I can say is rubbish. Of course there is violence against women, there are atrocities committed, but do you have to depict it in a crude manner? And do you have to depict women as dumb and dimwitted?
My father was betting on the serial running till at least the heroine became a grandmother in real life (she became a mother of two kids in real life and the serial was accordingly adapted to accommodate her maternity leave). So my parents are very upset that the serial is ending- one because her favorite serial is ending and the other because his prediction is not fulfilled.
On the other hand, I am happy. At least this time my ears will not be assaulted by this one particular serials. Though, I guess my celebration is premature. For I am sure something equally foul is lined up.
I am not going to pretend that I do not have my favorite serials. No, none of them are on Indian television, though in the old days when only DD was running, Fauji starring SRK was my favorite. Most of my current favorites are on American television. The serials, or what they call as soap operas, run everyday in the afternoon and are mostly rubbish. But in the evening, they have a line up which is aired only once a week. Law and Order was one of my favorite. It is still running. What I liked about this serial was the tight editing, good acting, and topical issues. Oh of course many of the issues get sensationalized but the serial never balked from taking on controversial issues. This time around they featured episodes on the morality of the Iraq war as well as abortion issues.
The new serial that I liked was The Good Wife. Part of it is based on the spate of resignations of Governors due to their affairs. So in this particular serial, the state attorney of Chicago has to resign over his sexual affairs. As it was paid by the State funding, he is imprisoned. His wife is left with two children and no money. As she is a lawyer, she joins a law firm and the serial deals with how she balances her life. The core of each episode is a law case that she fights. This is integrated with her personal life. Without restoring to melodrama.
Something the Indian directors/producers should learn.
This serial, like many others, centers around women. The language was foul and good bit of theme centered around violence and atrocities committed against women. I suppose the director/producer/writer wanted to show how women were able to come up in spite of all the atrocities committed on them. At least a friend of mine said that he admired the serial because it showed women becoming independent. All I can say is rubbish. Of course there is violence against women, there are atrocities committed, but do you have to depict it in a crude manner? And do you have to depict women as dumb and dimwitted?
My father was betting on the serial running till at least the heroine became a grandmother in real life (she became a mother of two kids in real life and the serial was accordingly adapted to accommodate her maternity leave). So my parents are very upset that the serial is ending- one because her favorite serial is ending and the other because his prediction is not fulfilled.
On the other hand, I am happy. At least this time my ears will not be assaulted by this one particular serials. Though, I guess my celebration is premature. For I am sure something equally foul is lined up.
I am not going to pretend that I do not have my favorite serials. No, none of them are on Indian television, though in the old days when only DD was running, Fauji starring SRK was my favorite. Most of my current favorites are on American television. The serials, or what they call as soap operas, run everyday in the afternoon and are mostly rubbish. But in the evening, they have a line up which is aired only once a week. Law and Order was one of my favorite. It is still running. What I liked about this serial was the tight editing, good acting, and topical issues. Oh of course many of the issues get sensationalized but the serial never balked from taking on controversial issues. This time around they featured episodes on the morality of the Iraq war as well as abortion issues.
The new serial that I liked was The Good Wife. Part of it is based on the spate of resignations of Governors due to their affairs. So in this particular serial, the state attorney of Chicago has to resign over his sexual affairs. As it was paid by the State funding, he is imprisoned. His wife is left with two children and no money. As she is a lawyer, she joins a law firm and the serial deals with how she balances her life. The core of each episode is a law case that she fights. This is integrated with her personal life. Without restoring to melodrama.
Something the Indian directors/producers should learn.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Looking for PhD positions
Many times I am asked this question by students: What should I be looking for when I am searching for a PhD position.
Well, as I look back at my own career, the first and foremost thing I realize is that how lucky I was to have Joel as my PhD supervisor. I was lucky because when I stumbled upon my discovery serendipitously, instead of dismissing it off as just one of those things, he encouraged me to chase it. The rest is history.
So if I were to look at a PhD position, that is the first thing I would look at. What is my comfort level with my PhD advisor? Can I talk to him/her? Can I discuss experiments with him/her? Will she/he listen to my ideas? Will he/she encourage me to explore?
The best thing that happened to me at UVa was the opportunity to learn. Many of us believe that learning days are over with M.Sc. and that all we have to now do is to work in the lab. Well, I had to sit back in the classes when I joined PhD. And my experiences in the classroom cloud the way I teach. It was a joy to know that I was not required to memorize reams and reams of textbook pages. What I was required to do was to understand the concept. Now when I teach, I remember my own moment of discovery, and try to bring that experience into my student's lives. So what I would advise the prospective students is that wherever you go, remember, your learning days are not over. Ask yourself whether the place you are going will enable you to learn.
One of the most wonderful memories I have is of the day when I finally figured out what it takes to make my protein active. The purification procedure was long and tiring involving two entire days with just about 3-4 hours sleep in total. The third day when I would start the assay to test my protein I would be half dead on my feet. Usually the assay would turn out negative but on this particular day the assay turned positive. I stood staring at the tubes, my mouth half opened. I spluttered and pointed at the thing as though it was some venomous thing. Patrick, my lab mate, asked me what happened and I tried, incoherently, to explain the whole thing. At the end of it I was laughing and just then Joel walked into the lab. He was of course clueless so Patrick kindly clued him in:
"She is drunk Joel."
That is another major requirement. Your labmates should be friendly. Of course you too need to have good interpersonal skills but if your labmates are the unfriendly sort, it does not matter how good your interpersonal skills are, you are going to be extremely unhappy.
Finally, and most importantly, you should like the work. If it does not excite you, does not motivate you to be in the lab, then there is no point in doing that particular project.
The remaining factors like whether the scientist is publishing in high impact factor journal or not, whether the University is amongst the top 10 or not, etc. does not matter. Publishing depends on the kind of work you do. Some areas you can publish many papers and some areas you cannot. Many of the scientists will not think it worth to publish unless there is a good story to tell. Similarly, the University might by amongst the best but if your PI expects you to be in lab 24 X 7, then what is the point?
There is also prevalent opinion that abroad is better than India. It depends where you trying to go. There are bad labs abroad too and there are good labs in India too.
So when you make your decision, try to think through what you want rather than going for glamour.
Well, as I look back at my own career, the first and foremost thing I realize is that how lucky I was to have Joel as my PhD supervisor. I was lucky because when I stumbled upon my discovery serendipitously, instead of dismissing it off as just one of those things, he encouraged me to chase it. The rest is history.
So if I were to look at a PhD position, that is the first thing I would look at. What is my comfort level with my PhD advisor? Can I talk to him/her? Can I discuss experiments with him/her? Will she/he listen to my ideas? Will he/she encourage me to explore?
The best thing that happened to me at UVa was the opportunity to learn. Many of us believe that learning days are over with M.Sc. and that all we have to now do is to work in the lab. Well, I had to sit back in the classes when I joined PhD. And my experiences in the classroom cloud the way I teach. It was a joy to know that I was not required to memorize reams and reams of textbook pages. What I was required to do was to understand the concept. Now when I teach, I remember my own moment of discovery, and try to bring that experience into my student's lives. So what I would advise the prospective students is that wherever you go, remember, your learning days are not over. Ask yourself whether the place you are going will enable you to learn.
One of the most wonderful memories I have is of the day when I finally figured out what it takes to make my protein active. The purification procedure was long and tiring involving two entire days with just about 3-4 hours sleep in total. The third day when I would start the assay to test my protein I would be half dead on my feet. Usually the assay would turn out negative but on this particular day the assay turned positive. I stood staring at the tubes, my mouth half opened. I spluttered and pointed at the thing as though it was some venomous thing. Patrick, my lab mate, asked me what happened and I tried, incoherently, to explain the whole thing. At the end of it I was laughing and just then Joel walked into the lab. He was of course clueless so Patrick kindly clued him in:
"She is drunk Joel."
That is another major requirement. Your labmates should be friendly. Of course you too need to have good interpersonal skills but if your labmates are the unfriendly sort, it does not matter how good your interpersonal skills are, you are going to be extremely unhappy.
Finally, and most importantly, you should like the work. If it does not excite you, does not motivate you to be in the lab, then there is no point in doing that particular project.
The remaining factors like whether the scientist is publishing in high impact factor journal or not, whether the University is amongst the top 10 or not, etc. does not matter. Publishing depends on the kind of work you do. Some areas you can publish many papers and some areas you cannot. Many of the scientists will not think it worth to publish unless there is a good story to tell. Similarly, the University might by amongst the best but if your PI expects you to be in lab 24 X 7, then what is the point?
There is also prevalent opinion that abroad is better than India. It depends where you trying to go. There are bad labs abroad too and there are good labs in India too.
So when you make your decision, try to think through what you want rather than going for glamour.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Looking from the other side
Many of my students, who are now doing PhDs abroad, come back to see me. Today was one such day. This student completed his M.Sc with us, was keen to go abroad to do PhD. Of course the GRE did not work out so he looked at alternative pastures. He got in a PhD program in Germany.
I asked him about his experiences. He said that he has to work very hard because when his boss says that the data has to be on his desk in the morning, it has to be there, no excuses accepted.
That of course is the difference. Here they would saunter in at 10 in the morning, go for a cup of chai, then think about doing the experiments. Deadlines are never met. There are so many excuses to trot out. The electricity was not there, the instrument was no available, the instrument was not working, I fell sick, and so on and so forth. There is no rush to do anything. Not even when there is a deadline for a paper resubmission. I have a paper sitting on my desk that needs to be resubmitted. It has been two months. The student concerned first made an excuse that these experiments proposed by the reviewers cannot be done. Since he has been trotting out this excuse since the day he joined the lab, my colleague and I refused to accept it. Beaten down, but not defeated, he did the experiments. Of course it worked but he refuses to acknowledge that we are right. But to complete the experiments, he needs one chemical. He knew from the beginning that he would need it but his argument was why we need to show so many proofs? Isn't one sufficient? Finally, after yelling at him, we got it ordered. Now, we are waiting for the delivery. Or rather he is waiting calmly and patiently. It will arrive one day. If not today then tomorrow. If not this week, next week. What is the hurry? My colleague and I are like cats on hot bricks- hopping impatiently. The editor is not going to wait, can you please chase the chemical? Can you find if any other lab has? Can you borrow?
The student is not bothered...
I asked him about his experiences. He said that he has to work very hard because when his boss says that the data has to be on his desk in the morning, it has to be there, no excuses accepted.
That of course is the difference. Here they would saunter in at 10 in the morning, go for a cup of chai, then think about doing the experiments. Deadlines are never met. There are so many excuses to trot out. The electricity was not there, the instrument was no available, the instrument was not working, I fell sick, and so on and so forth. There is no rush to do anything. Not even when there is a deadline for a paper resubmission. I have a paper sitting on my desk that needs to be resubmitted. It has been two months. The student concerned first made an excuse that these experiments proposed by the reviewers cannot be done. Since he has been trotting out this excuse since the day he joined the lab, my colleague and I refused to accept it. Beaten down, but not defeated, he did the experiments. Of course it worked but he refuses to acknowledge that we are right. But to complete the experiments, he needs one chemical. He knew from the beginning that he would need it but his argument was why we need to show so many proofs? Isn't one sufficient? Finally, after yelling at him, we got it ordered. Now, we are waiting for the delivery. Or rather he is waiting calmly and patiently. It will arrive one day. If not today then tomorrow. If not this week, next week. What is the hurry? My colleague and I are like cats on hot bricks- hopping impatiently. The editor is not going to wait, can you please chase the chemical? Can you find if any other lab has? Can you borrow?
The student is not bothered...
Sunday, November 22, 2009
The Culture of Hooliganism
The culture of Delhi can be described in one word: Hooliganism.
As I write this blog, the gates of the university have been closed down. A bunch of drunks entered the premises in a car (license number starts with DL 3C Y...I forgot to taken down the number. Silly me!). The versions vary. According to the security guard posted in front of my building, the security at the gate asked for verification. Instead of showing ID cards, one of the car occupants took out a pistol. The security immediately closed the gates. However, according to one of the faculty, the car occupants went to one of the dhabhas and started misbehaving with one of the girls. When someone objected, the guys flashed a pistol. The students immediately tried to gherao the hooligans who tried to escape. The gates were shut down.
The police have arrived with an alacrity. They want the hooligans to be released and an FIR to be filed in the police station. However, the students are adamant. The FIR will be lodged within the premise. The hooligans will not be released till then because no one has any faith in the police. The arrival of the police with such speed makes the community suspicious that the hooligans have some tie up with big shots.
Their suspicions are not without foundations. Witness what happened to Manu Sharma. The difficulties that it took to punish him or Vikas Yadav or the killer of Priyadarshini Mattoo. And when they were punished, did they learn their lesson? Oh no. Daddy dear ensured that his darling spoilt son gets a parole. The parole was given thanks to the Delhi Government. The son went back to doing what he knew best- go to a bar and create a ruckus.
Delhi is witnessing an increase in this sort of behavior. Guns are flashed at the drop of a hat. Road rage is common. Mowing down others is routine. My colleague told me a story. She was driving a car and waiting at the stop light. The road was as usual jammed because no one wants to follow any rules. One of the driver got annoyed at another driver. He got out to remonstrate with the fellow. The fellow took a gun out and said: Do you want to get shot at?
That is Delhi.
As I write this blog, the gates of the university have been closed down. A bunch of drunks entered the premises in a car (license number starts with DL 3C Y...I forgot to taken down the number. Silly me!). The versions vary. According to the security guard posted in front of my building, the security at the gate asked for verification. Instead of showing ID cards, one of the car occupants took out a pistol. The security immediately closed the gates. However, according to one of the faculty, the car occupants went to one of the dhabhas and started misbehaving with one of the girls. When someone objected, the guys flashed a pistol. The students immediately tried to gherao the hooligans who tried to escape. The gates were shut down.
The police have arrived with an alacrity. They want the hooligans to be released and an FIR to be filed in the police station. However, the students are adamant. The FIR will be lodged within the premise. The hooligans will not be released till then because no one has any faith in the police. The arrival of the police with such speed makes the community suspicious that the hooligans have some tie up with big shots.
Their suspicions are not without foundations. Witness what happened to Manu Sharma. The difficulties that it took to punish him or Vikas Yadav or the killer of Priyadarshini Mattoo. And when they were punished, did they learn their lesson? Oh no. Daddy dear ensured that his darling spoilt son gets a parole. The parole was given thanks to the Delhi Government. The son went back to doing what he knew best- go to a bar and create a ruckus.
Delhi is witnessing an increase in this sort of behavior. Guns are flashed at the drop of a hat. Road rage is common. Mowing down others is routine. My colleague told me a story. She was driving a car and waiting at the stop light. The road was as usual jammed because no one wants to follow any rules. One of the driver got annoyed at another driver. He got out to remonstrate with the fellow. The fellow took a gun out and said: Do you want to get shot at?
That is Delhi.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Back in India
It took me exactly 45 minutes to get to the taxi stand from the time I got out of the plane.
The flight landed at 8.30pm at the Delhi airport. I mentally prepared myself for the endless queues and delayed baggage. If I got out before 10pm, I told myself, I was lucky. I was little apprehensive because I dislike dark and Delhi Taxi drivers are notorious. My cell phone was in safe custody and I had no access to any phone.
But surprise!
There were 4 medical booths were we had to deposit a form stating whether we had any fever etc etc. Precaution of swine flu epidemic. There were bunch of people with face masks sitting in these booths collecting the forms. I do not know what purpose all this serves other than giving employment to bunch of people.
The immigration lane was short and sweet. There was literally no wait time. The fellow at the immigration booth actually smiled and said Good Evening. I was ready to faint from the shock of it when he reverted back to type and wanted to know why I had gone to US and what I was doing etc etc. Typical nosiness.
Then came the baggage claim. It took about 5-10 minutes for the bags to come to the conveyor belt. But by 9.15 pm I had my bags. There was no wait at the customs. They asked me where I was coming from and took the customs slip and I was through.
There was a pre-paid Taxi booth who made out the chit for a pre-paid taxi. And I was home by 9.45pm.
Of course lest we think that travel is a breeze the taxi driver was the perfect Delhi wallah. He wanted minimum Rs 100 as tip. We haggled back and forth. He told me that he did not have change for Rs 100 and it had been a long day and that no taxi driver worth his salt would come for such a short distance as he had done. finally we settled down for Rs 50.00.
Welcome home.
The flight landed at 8.30pm at the Delhi airport. I mentally prepared myself for the endless queues and delayed baggage. If I got out before 10pm, I told myself, I was lucky. I was little apprehensive because I dislike dark and Delhi Taxi drivers are notorious. My cell phone was in safe custody and I had no access to any phone.
But surprise!
There were 4 medical booths were we had to deposit a form stating whether we had any fever etc etc. Precaution of swine flu epidemic. There were bunch of people with face masks sitting in these booths collecting the forms. I do not know what purpose all this serves other than giving employment to bunch of people.
The immigration lane was short and sweet. There was literally no wait time. The fellow at the immigration booth actually smiled and said Good Evening. I was ready to faint from the shock of it when he reverted back to type and wanted to know why I had gone to US and what I was doing etc etc. Typical nosiness.
Then came the baggage claim. It took about 5-10 minutes for the bags to come to the conveyor belt. But by 9.15 pm I had my bags. There was no wait at the customs. They asked me where I was coming from and took the customs slip and I was through.
There was a pre-paid Taxi booth who made out the chit for a pre-paid taxi. And I was home by 9.45pm.
Of course lest we think that travel is a breeze the taxi driver was the perfect Delhi wallah. He wanted minimum Rs 100 as tip. We haggled back and forth. He told me that he did not have change for Rs 100 and it had been a long day and that no taxi driver worth his salt would come for such a short distance as he had done. finally we settled down for Rs 50.00.
Welcome home.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Deepavali with Bella
My housemate has gone to a one day conference in North Carolina so I am dogsitting Bella.
Yesterday night she got miffed with me because I refused to let her sleep on my bed. She scratched on the door, cried, barked, and tried all sorts of tricks but I refused to let her inside my room.
This morning, I tried to tell her that it is Deepavali and she should take Ganga snanam. But she paid no heed to it. She has been insistent that I should play with her. The play consists of my throwing her favourite toy- a bone shaped cotton cloth- as far as possible, and she running to catch it. Occasionally, as dictated by her, we play a tug of war with that toy. If I work or refuse to play with her, she growls and drums her feet impatiently.
This morning, I took her for a walk and then locked her up in the house while I went for my jog. She did not take too kindly to that treatment. When I came back home, she had managed to express her anger by tearing up a catalog and some roses my room mate had left in the living room.
At present as I type the blog, she has been throwing her toy at my computer, angry that I am paying more attention to the computer than to her.
Happy Deepavali!
Yesterday night she got miffed with me because I refused to let her sleep on my bed. She scratched on the door, cried, barked, and tried all sorts of tricks but I refused to let her inside my room.
This morning, I tried to tell her that it is Deepavali and she should take Ganga snanam. But she paid no heed to it. She has been insistent that I should play with her. The play consists of my throwing her favourite toy- a bone shaped cotton cloth- as far as possible, and she running to catch it. Occasionally, as dictated by her, we play a tug of war with that toy. If I work or refuse to play with her, she growls and drums her feet impatiently.
This morning, I took her for a walk and then locked her up in the house while I went for my jog. She did not take too kindly to that treatment. When I came back home, she had managed to express her anger by tearing up a catalog and some roses my room mate had left in the living room.
At present as I type the blog, she has been throwing her toy at my computer, angry that I am paying more attention to the computer than to her.
Happy Deepavali!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Nobel Prizes and We
Every newspaper is full of V. Ramakrishnan. After all he is of Indian Origin. So we have a cause to celebrate. (Okay, I am proud too. After all he too studied at M.S. University, Baroda.).
That apart, now will begin the usual question: Why can't Indians do well in India and win Nobel Prize.
I am not going to get into the merits of Nobel Prize. As all prizes go, this also involves lots of pushes and pulls. What I want to focus on is why it is difficult to do good research in India, especially in the Universities.
1. Faculty recruitment- The Universities, which abroad are the places where research is done, has been relegated to a second place. They are teaching workshops. We do not bother about the kind of faculty we hire at these places. Forget research, they do not even need to be good teachers! The research has been pushed into institutes but no one is asking where the students for these research institutes is coming from. The worst of it is that once a faculty has been hired there is no way of getting rid of that faculty short of retirement. So there is no motivation to perform. Actually, if you underperform you will be promoted and given all sorts of awards. There is a crying need to bring in the sort of tenure system into our Universities. You are booted out unless you perform both as a teacher and as a researcher. The UGC did propose a sort of evaluation for promotion but the teachers are against it. They do not want their teaching program to be evaluated because it can be manipulated. That is another problem- suggest anything and everyone will be ready to point out why it will not work. So unless faculties are expected to adhere to rigor, we can forget about good teaching as well as good research.
2. Faculty salaries- This is the bone of contention. Since salaries are decided by UGC, all of us get the same salary. There is no incentive to do good teaching or research. Am I going to get extra for putting in that much of work? Why can't the universities be allowed to decided who gets paid how much? Of course, there will be people who will tell you that this will lead to mismanagement but why can't we put a procedure in place to decide how much salaries will be paid?
3. Promotion- thanks to UGC an Assistant professor has to put in 9 years of work before he or she will be promoted regardless of how well they teach or how good they are as researchers. They have to, regardless of their expertise, do one orientation course and two refersher courses. No, don't ask me what good they are. I slept through them. I still have one refresher course to attend. Now, tell me what motivation will I have to be a good faculty? I do it because I have this inner urge to do something great but it is so frustrating at times that I feel like chucking the whole thing off. It is different that I have nothing else to fall back on and therefore, I plod along.
4. Money- Thanks to this policy of Universities as teaching workshops, money is scarce. Money is needed to buy chemicals as well as equipments. Science has moved away from using simple things to do research. The technology changes every day and we need to buy the sophisticated equipments to good research. We need expensive chemicals but where is the money to buy them? Invariably, every faculty is expected to write a grant. Which is a good thing. The bad thing is that how much money I am going to get from my grant is decided by a bunch of lunatic financial officers with no appreciation of science or research. I, for example, wrote a grant and asked for 20 lakh to buy equipments. I need a shaker incubator and a centrifuge very badly. I was given 10 lakhs to buy two items. Neither of them is a shaker incubator and a centrifuge. Even the equipment I am allowed to buy will not be the sophisticated version that I need but a simple one that will just help me to do some basic analysis. Now, tell me why should a financial officer decide what I should purchase and not purchase?
5. Procedural delays- To buy any equipment above 50,000 rupees (which invariably all equipments are) I have to get permission from the purchase committee headed by a finance officer. I have to get 4-5 quotes and am allowed to buy only from the person who quotes the least. Needless to say I have to spend time getting these quotes, presenting before the purchase committee and then only I can buy. It takes 6 months to get an equipment. This is not unique to Universities. Institutes too have to follow this procedure. This is ostensibly to reduce corruption but who ever wants to make money can still find loop holes to make money.
6. Infrastructure- The labs are invariably constructed by the great CPWD with more than 150 years of experience. They know how to get seepages correct, how to make sure that the drain does not work, how to do shoddy work, how to create a workplace that is generally not workable. Can we please get good lab spaces that are temperature controlled so that I do not have to figure out a process for summer that is different from of winter? The infrastructure is terrible. We still do not have good internet facility. We do not have access to library books and journals. Our libraries are the pits. Less said about them the better.
There is a good article in the rediff that talks about recruiting good faculty globally amongst other things.
The problem with us is that we are fond of talking and complaining. At some point we need to stop talking and start overhauling the system. Not so that we can get a Nobel Prize winner but because we need to put up a good education system. It is essential to remember that people like V. Ramakrishnan were taught by teachers who are increasingly difficult to find in our University systems.
That apart, now will begin the usual question: Why can't Indians do well in India and win Nobel Prize.
I am not going to get into the merits of Nobel Prize. As all prizes go, this also involves lots of pushes and pulls. What I want to focus on is why it is difficult to do good research in India, especially in the Universities.
1. Faculty recruitment- The Universities, which abroad are the places where research is done, has been relegated to a second place. They are teaching workshops. We do not bother about the kind of faculty we hire at these places. Forget research, they do not even need to be good teachers! The research has been pushed into institutes but no one is asking where the students for these research institutes is coming from. The worst of it is that once a faculty has been hired there is no way of getting rid of that faculty short of retirement. So there is no motivation to perform. Actually, if you underperform you will be promoted and given all sorts of awards. There is a crying need to bring in the sort of tenure system into our Universities. You are booted out unless you perform both as a teacher and as a researcher. The UGC did propose a sort of evaluation for promotion but the teachers are against it. They do not want their teaching program to be evaluated because it can be manipulated. That is another problem- suggest anything and everyone will be ready to point out why it will not work. So unless faculties are expected to adhere to rigor, we can forget about good teaching as well as good research.
2. Faculty salaries- This is the bone of contention. Since salaries are decided by UGC, all of us get the same salary. There is no incentive to do good teaching or research. Am I going to get extra for putting in that much of work? Why can't the universities be allowed to decided who gets paid how much? Of course, there will be people who will tell you that this will lead to mismanagement but why can't we put a procedure in place to decide how much salaries will be paid?
3. Promotion- thanks to UGC an Assistant professor has to put in 9 years of work before he or she will be promoted regardless of how well they teach or how good they are as researchers. They have to, regardless of their expertise, do one orientation course and two refersher courses. No, don't ask me what good they are. I slept through them. I still have one refresher course to attend. Now, tell me what motivation will I have to be a good faculty? I do it because I have this inner urge to do something great but it is so frustrating at times that I feel like chucking the whole thing off. It is different that I have nothing else to fall back on and therefore, I plod along.
4. Money- Thanks to this policy of Universities as teaching workshops, money is scarce. Money is needed to buy chemicals as well as equipments. Science has moved away from using simple things to do research. The technology changes every day and we need to buy the sophisticated equipments to good research. We need expensive chemicals but where is the money to buy them? Invariably, every faculty is expected to write a grant. Which is a good thing. The bad thing is that how much money I am going to get from my grant is decided by a bunch of lunatic financial officers with no appreciation of science or research. I, for example, wrote a grant and asked for 20 lakh to buy equipments. I need a shaker incubator and a centrifuge very badly. I was given 10 lakhs to buy two items. Neither of them is a shaker incubator and a centrifuge. Even the equipment I am allowed to buy will not be the sophisticated version that I need but a simple one that will just help me to do some basic analysis. Now, tell me why should a financial officer decide what I should purchase and not purchase?
5. Procedural delays- To buy any equipment above 50,000 rupees (which invariably all equipments are) I have to get permission from the purchase committee headed by a finance officer. I have to get 4-5 quotes and am allowed to buy only from the person who quotes the least. Needless to say I have to spend time getting these quotes, presenting before the purchase committee and then only I can buy. It takes 6 months to get an equipment. This is not unique to Universities. Institutes too have to follow this procedure. This is ostensibly to reduce corruption but who ever wants to make money can still find loop holes to make money.
6. Infrastructure- The labs are invariably constructed by the great CPWD with more than 150 years of experience. They know how to get seepages correct, how to make sure that the drain does not work, how to do shoddy work, how to create a workplace that is generally not workable. Can we please get good lab spaces that are temperature controlled so that I do not have to figure out a process for summer that is different from of winter? The infrastructure is terrible. We still do not have good internet facility. We do not have access to library books and journals. Our libraries are the pits. Less said about them the better.
There is a good article in the rediff that talks about recruiting good faculty globally amongst other things.
The problem with us is that we are fond of talking and complaining. At some point we need to stop talking and start overhauling the system. Not so that we can get a Nobel Prize winner but because we need to put up a good education system. It is essential to remember that people like V. Ramakrishnan were taught by teachers who are increasingly difficult to find in our University systems.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
From Targets to drugs -III
All hits do not convert into a drug molecule.
Suppose one finds a small organic molecule that seems to inhibit the activity of the protein of interest, what does it really mean? It means nothing because we have to prove that it is effective in vitro as well as in vivo.
The first thing that any chemist or biologist will ask is what is the binding constant. Binding constants are nothing but the concentration of the inhibitor that is required to bind to the protein and inhibits its activity by say 50% (This is a gross exaggeration but this is the simplest I can explain Michealis-Menten equation.). The lower this number the better the inhibitor. Typically, we look for molecule that will have a binding constant in the order of sub micromolar or nanomolar range. That is a tall order. Not all molecules that we discover will bind in that range.
There are other consideration. The molecule or drug should be such that it can enter into the cell easily. This is again a tall order because each cell has a bilayer membrane made of lipid molecules. So essentially you are looking at non-polar molecules or molecules whose charges are not exposed.
The molecule should be small in size so that it can diffuse into the cell. If it is large molecule then it will require special channels or pores to enter into the cell.
The molecule should be specific to the protein of your interest. In other words, look at the protein I work with. As I said it hydrolyzes ATP. Now, there are thousands of proteins inside the cell that can breakdown ATP. If I want to create a drug that inhibits the ATP activity of my protein, I need to make it absolutely specific so that only my protein is inhibited. This becomes absolutely important when you consider that a drug has no specificity with regards to the cell it enters. It can be a diseased cell or a normal cell. What you look for when you create drug molecules is that in the diseased cell, the protein of your interest is present and if you target it then the diseased cell will be killed. However, you cannot prevent your drug molecule from entering into normal cell and therefore, if you have a non-specific drug it will kill the normal cell too, creating havoc.
So you see getting a drug molecule is a tall order. It is has to be small molecule, specific to one protein, and binding to it very tightly.
If you succeed in finding such a molecule, then comes the next part. You have to show that it is not toxic. So each drug has to pass through pharmocokinetics studies. You have to show that the drug molecule is not creating unwanted side effects, it is not carcinogenic and it is not going to alter the DNA make up your cell. You have to also show how it is metabolized and excreated from the system. These studies are done in animals.
Once it has passed this stage, the human trials begin. Only then the FDA gives approval for a drug to be marketed.
These studies take time. The average success rate is between 1-2% and it can take up to 20-30 years of intense studies to market a drug.
Can this time be cut down? Yes, if we know how to make proteins in large quantities and solve their structure. If we have better programming tools for in silico studies. In fact, many pharmaceuticals are also looking at alternative models for pharmocokinetics studies. If we are successful in eliminating or reducing even one of the bottlenecks, we can drastically cut down the time.
Suppose one finds a small organic molecule that seems to inhibit the activity of the protein of interest, what does it really mean? It means nothing because we have to prove that it is effective in vitro as well as in vivo.
The first thing that any chemist or biologist will ask is what is the binding constant. Binding constants are nothing but the concentration of the inhibitor that is required to bind to the protein and inhibits its activity by say 50% (This is a gross exaggeration but this is the simplest I can explain Michealis-Menten equation.). The lower this number the better the inhibitor. Typically, we look for molecule that will have a binding constant in the order of sub micromolar or nanomolar range. That is a tall order. Not all molecules that we discover will bind in that range.
There are other consideration. The molecule or drug should be such that it can enter into the cell easily. This is again a tall order because each cell has a bilayer membrane made of lipid molecules. So essentially you are looking at non-polar molecules or molecules whose charges are not exposed.
The molecule should be small in size so that it can diffuse into the cell. If it is large molecule then it will require special channels or pores to enter into the cell.
The molecule should be specific to the protein of your interest. In other words, look at the protein I work with. As I said it hydrolyzes ATP. Now, there are thousands of proteins inside the cell that can breakdown ATP. If I want to create a drug that inhibits the ATP activity of my protein, I need to make it absolutely specific so that only my protein is inhibited. This becomes absolutely important when you consider that a drug has no specificity with regards to the cell it enters. It can be a diseased cell or a normal cell. What you look for when you create drug molecules is that in the diseased cell, the protein of your interest is present and if you target it then the diseased cell will be killed. However, you cannot prevent your drug molecule from entering into normal cell and therefore, if you have a non-specific drug it will kill the normal cell too, creating havoc.
So you see getting a drug molecule is a tall order. It is has to be small molecule, specific to one protein, and binding to it very tightly.
If you succeed in finding such a molecule, then comes the next part. You have to show that it is not toxic. So each drug has to pass through pharmocokinetics studies. You have to show that the drug molecule is not creating unwanted side effects, it is not carcinogenic and it is not going to alter the DNA make up your cell. You have to also show how it is metabolized and excreated from the system. These studies are done in animals.
Once it has passed this stage, the human trials begin. Only then the FDA gives approval for a drug to be marketed.
These studies take time. The average success rate is between 1-2% and it can take up to 20-30 years of intense studies to market a drug.
Can this time be cut down? Yes, if we know how to make proteins in large quantities and solve their structure. If we have better programming tools for in silico studies. In fact, many pharmaceuticals are also looking at alternative models for pharmocokinetics studies. If we are successful in eliminating or reducing even one of the bottlenecks, we can drastically cut down the time.
Friday, October 2, 2009
From Targets to Drug-II
I meant to post this in the morning but I got side-tracked with the structure of the inhibitor. I think I have it but, boy, I have no clue how it can be produced enzymatically. Oh well, most probably it will be wrong. Many times in the past I thought I had it only to find out that I was wrong.
So let us go to part II of targets to drugs.
I was talking about using the bacteria to produce protein. Sort of like a factory. The only problem is that the biological systems are entirely unpredictable. So when we put in a gene into the bacteria and ask it to make the protein, it entirely depends upon the bacteria. If it likes the gene and the protein, it will make tons of it. If it does not like it, it will not make it. Sometimes, it will make the protein but the protein might be inactive. There are numerous reasons for this. The bacterial proteins and the eukaryotic proteins differ in many respects. One aspect is what is known as post-translational modifications. Proteins are made of amino acids linked together by peptide bonds. After this is made, the cell can add little pieces of decoration like phosphorylation, glycosylation, ADP-ribosylation, sumoylation etc. etc. The bacterial cell hardly ever does this. However, all eukaryotic cells do this bit of extra decoration. Sometimes these decorations are essential for function, and at other times they are not. The only way to know what is essential and what is not essential is to do the experiment. So one takes the gene and puts it into bacteria and ask whether the protein is produced or not. And whether the protein is active or not. And whether the protein can be crystallized or not.
When I was working for a pharmaceutical company, I came across such a case. The protein could be produced in bacteria but could not be crystallized. We had to move to another system to produce the proteins.
Bacteria are the simplest and the easiest. But if the bacteria does not work, we move through the chain- yeast, baculovirus, and mammalian cells. Each one is tougher and more expensive than the previous one- Mammalian cells are the most expensive, and require lots of care, and really not worth it unless one has no options.
Once we have figured what which of the system works the best for us in terms of protein production and activity, we have to move to the next thing.
Discovery of small molecule inhibitors for the protein target can be done in two ways. One can use them for high throughput screening or one can crystallize the protein and do in silico protein-drug modeling.
All proteins are not really amenable for high throughput screening. Basically in this type of screening, you have a protein whose function can be estimated easily. For example, I work with an enzyme that hydrolyzes ATP, the energy currency in a cell. When ATP breaksdown it releases inorganic phosphate which can be estimated by a method known as Fiske-Subbarao method. Therefore, if you have a protein that can be purified in large amounts and its function can be easily estimated then you can put it through a high throughput screening. In such a screening, you test a variety of chemical compounds and see which compound inhibits the activity of the protein. When you find such a compound, you have a hit.
Instead of doing this laboratory thing, you can do in silico method too. For this you need to solve the structure of the protein. This is another bottleneck. As a colleague of mine put it succinctly, proteins do not like to be crystallized. They were not evolved to do that. Therefore, you have to find conditions and coax the protein to crystallize. This can take time. There are some proteins that you cannot crystallize at all. But assuming you can crystallize and have the structure, you can use in silico programs to model small molecule-protein interactions and see which one of them will bind to the protein. When you find such a molecule, you ask the chemists to synthesize it and test it. The problem with in silico modeling is that you are trying to mimic a 3-D molecule in 2-D space. Does not work! There was much hype about this but slowly the realization has sunk in that the protein in space can not be mimicked on a computer screen.
Assuming everything works and we have a hit, we have to move through steps to make sure that the hit can indeed be developed as a drug molecule.
Next lecture!
So let us go to part II of targets to drugs.
I was talking about using the bacteria to produce protein. Sort of like a factory. The only problem is that the biological systems are entirely unpredictable. So when we put in a gene into the bacteria and ask it to make the protein, it entirely depends upon the bacteria. If it likes the gene and the protein, it will make tons of it. If it does not like it, it will not make it. Sometimes, it will make the protein but the protein might be inactive. There are numerous reasons for this. The bacterial proteins and the eukaryotic proteins differ in many respects. One aspect is what is known as post-translational modifications. Proteins are made of amino acids linked together by peptide bonds. After this is made, the cell can add little pieces of decoration like phosphorylation, glycosylation, ADP-ribosylation, sumoylation etc. etc. The bacterial cell hardly ever does this. However, all eukaryotic cells do this bit of extra decoration. Sometimes these decorations are essential for function, and at other times they are not. The only way to know what is essential and what is not essential is to do the experiment. So one takes the gene and puts it into bacteria and ask whether the protein is produced or not. And whether the protein is active or not. And whether the protein can be crystallized or not.
When I was working for a pharmaceutical company, I came across such a case. The protein could be produced in bacteria but could not be crystallized. We had to move to another system to produce the proteins.
Bacteria are the simplest and the easiest. But if the bacteria does not work, we move through the chain- yeast, baculovirus, and mammalian cells. Each one is tougher and more expensive than the previous one- Mammalian cells are the most expensive, and require lots of care, and really not worth it unless one has no options.
Once we have figured what which of the system works the best for us in terms of protein production and activity, we have to move to the next thing.
Discovery of small molecule inhibitors for the protein target can be done in two ways. One can use them for high throughput screening or one can crystallize the protein and do in silico protein-drug modeling.
All proteins are not really amenable for high throughput screening. Basically in this type of screening, you have a protein whose function can be estimated easily. For example, I work with an enzyme that hydrolyzes ATP, the energy currency in a cell. When ATP breaksdown it releases inorganic phosphate which can be estimated by a method known as Fiske-Subbarao method. Therefore, if you have a protein that can be purified in large amounts and its function can be easily estimated then you can put it through a high throughput screening. In such a screening, you test a variety of chemical compounds and see which compound inhibits the activity of the protein. When you find such a compound, you have a hit.
Instead of doing this laboratory thing, you can do in silico method too. For this you need to solve the structure of the protein. This is another bottleneck. As a colleague of mine put it succinctly, proteins do not like to be crystallized. They were not evolved to do that. Therefore, you have to find conditions and coax the protein to crystallize. This can take time. There are some proteins that you cannot crystallize at all. But assuming you can crystallize and have the structure, you can use in silico programs to model small molecule-protein interactions and see which one of them will bind to the protein. When you find such a molecule, you ask the chemists to synthesize it and test it. The problem with in silico modeling is that you are trying to mimic a 3-D molecule in 2-D space. Does not work! There was much hype about this but slowly the realization has sunk in that the protein in space can not be mimicked on a computer screen.
Assuming everything works and we have a hit, we have to move through steps to make sure that the hit can indeed be developed as a drug molecule.
Next lecture!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
From Targets to Drugs-Part I
It takes anywhere from 20 to 30 years of intense research to get a drug to the market.
This is a long discourse on biological principles and I will try to make it as simple as possible.
There are two types of cells on this planet: bacterial and eukaryotic. The eukaryotic cells encompass protozoan cells, mammalian cells, yeast cells, and plant cells.
Though there are lots of differences between the various kinds of cells, most of the biological processes are common. For example, the way glucose is utilized inside a cell to generate energy is more or less uniform across the vast span of different cells. What biologists try to do is to exploit subtle differences between various organisms. A case point is an enzyme called thymidine kinase. It is made both by human cells and herpes virus cells. The enzyme performs the same catalytic reaction. However, there is a difference in the structure of the two enzymes and this could be neatly exploited to generate drugs that will inhibit only Herpes virus Thymidine kinase but not the mammalian cells.
This is the Holy Grail that biologists search for in their life times while trying to discover drugs. Small subtle differences that can be used as drug target.
Identification of drug target involves understanding the biology of an organism. It means that we have to study the proteins that are involved in doing the biochemical reaction. This is the first bottleneck.
To understand a reaction, where do we start? With the advent of Genome sequencing, we know the sequences of many organisms. But all we really know is the way ATGC is organized. We do not know what it means. We do not know which of these particular organization of ATGC encodes for a protein. That is where computational biology comes into picture. We use computer programs to predict the coding sequences. Even if we assume we can accurately predict the protein encoding genes, we do not know what the protein does. Even for something that has been well studied like E.coli, there is a substantial genome data that we do not understand. For human sequences, we do not know the function of more than 80% of the proteins. For pathogenic organisms we know even less.
Therefore, our first goal becomes to understand the biology of an organism, to find our favourite protein and to study it.
Let me put this in a little bit perspective. The protein I work with was initially purified from calf thymus tissues. I would take 10 kg of calf thymus tissues and process it through various stages to get less than a microgram of pure protein. This amount is useless for anything but basic reactions.
What researchers do is to take the DNA encoding the protein into E.coli and ask the bacteria to produce it. As E.coli is easier to grow, theoretically we should be able to produce humongous amount. Ah! this is the second bottleneck.
As my E.coli cells are thawing and I have to start a protein preparation, I am going to stop here and continue with this exposition tomorrow.
This is a long discourse on biological principles and I will try to make it as simple as possible.
There are two types of cells on this planet: bacterial and eukaryotic. The eukaryotic cells encompass protozoan cells, mammalian cells, yeast cells, and plant cells.
Though there are lots of differences between the various kinds of cells, most of the biological processes are common. For example, the way glucose is utilized inside a cell to generate energy is more or less uniform across the vast span of different cells. What biologists try to do is to exploit subtle differences between various organisms. A case point is an enzyme called thymidine kinase. It is made both by human cells and herpes virus cells. The enzyme performs the same catalytic reaction. However, there is a difference in the structure of the two enzymes and this could be neatly exploited to generate drugs that will inhibit only Herpes virus Thymidine kinase but not the mammalian cells.
This is the Holy Grail that biologists search for in their life times while trying to discover drugs. Small subtle differences that can be used as drug target.
Identification of drug target involves understanding the biology of an organism. It means that we have to study the proteins that are involved in doing the biochemical reaction. This is the first bottleneck.
To understand a reaction, where do we start? With the advent of Genome sequencing, we know the sequences of many organisms. But all we really know is the way ATGC is organized. We do not know what it means. We do not know which of these particular organization of ATGC encodes for a protein. That is where computational biology comes into picture. We use computer programs to predict the coding sequences. Even if we assume we can accurately predict the protein encoding genes, we do not know what the protein does. Even for something that has been well studied like E.coli, there is a substantial genome data that we do not understand. For human sequences, we do not know the function of more than 80% of the proteins. For pathogenic organisms we know even less.
Therefore, our first goal becomes to understand the biology of an organism, to find our favourite protein and to study it.
Let me put this in a little bit perspective. The protein I work with was initially purified from calf thymus tissues. I would take 10 kg of calf thymus tissues and process it through various stages to get less than a microgram of pure protein. This amount is useless for anything but basic reactions.
What researchers do is to take the DNA encoding the protein into E.coli and ask the bacteria to produce it. As E.coli is easier to grow, theoretically we should be able to produce humongous amount. Ah! this is the second bottleneck.
As my E.coli cells are thawing and I have to start a protein preparation, I am going to stop here and continue with this exposition tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Professors must put in 40 hrs/week
The UGC has apparently released new guidelines for the professors. The new guidelines states that the teachers must clock in 40 hours a week and be present physically at least 5 hours a day.
My father has a favourite pastime when he visits me. He stands in the balcony and clocks in the movement of everyone. He faithfully tells me the movement. This professor went to the market, this professor stayed at home, this professor met his children at the bus stop...so on and so forth. Rarely, he will tell me, this professor went in the direction of his department and returned back in 5 minutes.
With this guidelines from UGC, I am looking forward to the next visit. Will my father clock in 5 hours for each of the professors?
PS: My father, by the way, makes it very clear that the worst place to do PhD is in my lab. This professor, unfortunately, has a habit of getting to the lab at 8.30am in the morning. Actually, my father should blame my advisor. Joel gets into the lab at 8.00 am in the morning. That is where I got the habit of getting into the lab early. And habits are hard to break!
My father has a favourite pastime when he visits me. He stands in the balcony and clocks in the movement of everyone. He faithfully tells me the movement. This professor went to the market, this professor stayed at home, this professor met his children at the bus stop...so on and so forth. Rarely, he will tell me, this professor went in the direction of his department and returned back in 5 minutes.
With this guidelines from UGC, I am looking forward to the next visit. Will my father clock in 5 hours for each of the professors?
PS: My father, by the way, makes it very clear that the worst place to do PhD is in my lab. This professor, unfortunately, has a habit of getting to the lab at 8.30am in the morning. Actually, my father should blame my advisor. Joel gets into the lab at 8.00 am in the morning. That is where I got the habit of getting into the lab early. And habits are hard to break!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
A long journey
Eleven years ago, serendipitously, I discovered a new molecule that showed anti-tumor properties. As my adviser reminded me yesterday we are half way into our patent life. It is has been an excruciatingly long journey trying to figure out the structure-made even more tough by the fact that we have no way of estimating its amount. So all we know is that it inhibits a protein and that is all we can use for measuring it or detecting it.
We made this darned thing from forty liter reaction. Dried it down and gave it for NMR. And you know what? The only signal we could see was from contaminants picked up during purification. I can see a signal which I think is from the inhibitor but it is so low that I have no clue what to do.
We are now back to the drawing board, trying to figure out how to purify it away from these contaminants. We think we have a way but will it work? That is a million dollar question.
Meantime, I know a lot more about this inhibitor. I know how it interacts with the protein and why does it inhibit it. I think I also know why it causes cell death though we are trying to finish up those experiments. But what I want to know-the structure of the molecule-is a journey that, I suspect, will continue for some more time.
In these three months I have made inhibitor from 80L reaction and still have nothing to show for it. I have purified protein about dozen times just to have it aggregate so that I cannot crystallize. It is absolutely frustrating but it was during such frustration that we discovered the inhibitor. I just have to keep myself reminding of that one fact and keep plodding.
We made this darned thing from forty liter reaction. Dried it down and gave it for NMR. And you know what? The only signal we could see was from contaminants picked up during purification. I can see a signal which I think is from the inhibitor but it is so low that I have no clue what to do.
We are now back to the drawing board, trying to figure out how to purify it away from these contaminants. We think we have a way but will it work? That is a million dollar question.
Meantime, I know a lot more about this inhibitor. I know how it interacts with the protein and why does it inhibit it. I think I also know why it causes cell death though we are trying to finish up those experiments. But what I want to know-the structure of the molecule-is a journey that, I suspect, will continue for some more time.
In these three months I have made inhibitor from 80L reaction and still have nothing to show for it. I have purified protein about dozen times just to have it aggregate so that I cannot crystallize. It is absolutely frustrating but it was during such frustration that we discovered the inhibitor. I just have to keep myself reminding of that one fact and keep plodding.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tale of Two proteins
I work with two proteins. One of them is of bacterial origin and the other is from mammalian cells. The bacterial protein is nice and manipulative. The mammalian one is finicky and hates being manipulated. It especially hates being produced in E.coli cells, the workhorse of molecular biology.
Therein lies the problem.
I express both the bacterial and the mammalian protein in E.coli. The bacterial protein is produced in tons of amounts and is easy to purify. I use it produce the inhibitor. The only unknown thing, and therefore of interest, in this entire process is the structure of the inhibitor. We have managed, after two months, to produce enough for NMR. Will I get the structure? That is something I do not have confidence in.
The mammalian protein is the one which is of tremendous interest. The inhibitor binds to it in an allosteric site and blocks its activity. I need to get at the structure of the protein. But the protein is so difficult to purify and concentrate that in these two months I have just managed to standardize conditions to purify and concentrate it.
With all the proteins being overexpressed in E.coli, lot of technique is mumbo-jumbo. We really do not understand. How does the plasmid get into the bacteria? Why does the bacteria retain some plasmids and throws others out? Why some proteins are produced in large amounts and why some are produced in tiny amounts? We can theorize. This is toxic, this is eukaryotic, this is that, this is that...but, honestly, that is lots of handwaving. We just have to accept what we get.
Therein lies the problem.
I express both the bacterial and the mammalian protein in E.coli. The bacterial protein is produced in tons of amounts and is easy to purify. I use it produce the inhibitor. The only unknown thing, and therefore of interest, in this entire process is the structure of the inhibitor. We have managed, after two months, to produce enough for NMR. Will I get the structure? That is something I do not have confidence in.
The mammalian protein is the one which is of tremendous interest. The inhibitor binds to it in an allosteric site and blocks its activity. I need to get at the structure of the protein. But the protein is so difficult to purify and concentrate that in these two months I have just managed to standardize conditions to purify and concentrate it.
With all the proteins being overexpressed in E.coli, lot of technique is mumbo-jumbo. We really do not understand. How does the plasmid get into the bacteria? Why does the bacteria retain some plasmids and throws others out? Why some proteins are produced in large amounts and why some are produced in tiny amounts? We can theorize. This is toxic, this is eukaryotic, this is that, this is that...but, honestly, that is lots of handwaving. We just have to accept what we get.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Austerity drive
The Congress has gone bonkers. The new mantra is austerity. Which has been interpreted as traveling by economy class on flights and taking trains. Do they realize the extent of disruption they will be causing thanks to this idiotic decision? The amount inconvenience that they will cause the rest of us who have to travel by trains or by economy class?
At least Tharoor was honest enough to say that the economy class is cattle class. It is with so less leg space that if you happen to be tall you wonder how to fit in your legs into that tiny space.
I have never understood this romanticization of poverty. We in the University for example do not ever talk about increasing the hostel fees because the poor students will suffer. The end result is that the hostels look like slums. I have never figured out how the students can live in those hovels. But they do and they take great pride in living a simple life (or their interpretation of simple life).
If the congress wanted to really talk about downsizing their expenses, how about paying their electricity and phone bills out of their pocket? How about cutting down on those endless security for themselves or paying for it out of their own pocket instead of dipping into the taxpayers money?
Of course tokenism is easier!
PS: Finally figured out was going wrong with the protein purification. Whew! It is a relief to know that I was not going crazy.
At least Tharoor was honest enough to say that the economy class is cattle class. It is with so less leg space that if you happen to be tall you wonder how to fit in your legs into that tiny space.
I have never understood this romanticization of poverty. We in the University for example do not ever talk about increasing the hostel fees because the poor students will suffer. The end result is that the hostels look like slums. I have never figured out how the students can live in those hovels. But they do and they take great pride in living a simple life (or their interpretation of simple life).
If the congress wanted to really talk about downsizing their expenses, how about paying their electricity and phone bills out of their pocket? How about cutting down on those endless security for themselves or paying for it out of their own pocket instead of dipping into the taxpayers money?
Of course tokenism is easier!
PS: Finally figured out was going wrong with the protein purification. Whew! It is a relief to know that I was not going crazy.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Going Crazy!
The first five protein preps were beautiful! I knew exactly where the protein eluted. I could see it. And then Wham! It has stopped working. I have no clue and I am absolutely going crazy trying to figure out what has happened.
The day starts at 7.30am in the morning when I open the lab. Very often it ends at 7.30pm when I pack up and leave. And after 12 hours if the protein purification does not work, all you feel like doing is wailing.
Bah!
The day starts at 7.30am in the morning when I open the lab. Very often it ends at 7.30pm when I pack up and leave. And after 12 hours if the protein purification does not work, all you feel like doing is wailing.
Bah!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Dogsitting this weekend
I am dogsitting Bella, my housemate's dog while my housemate has gone to a cell biology retreat.
Bella is a fox terrier, a small bundle of endless energy. She believes that human beings have been made for her sole entertainment. Therefore, she knocks on my door asking me to come out and cuddle her for a bit. And for those who are wondering how can a dog knock on doors, I can assure you she knows not only how to knock but also to open the door. Unfortunately, she refuses to get 100% house trained and therefore, in her excitement she is apt to dirty the carpet which we then have to clean.
Today, my housemate told me to keep her confined to one room and give her toys to play with. In spite of them, she ate up my dinner while I was not looking. No amount of telling NO has made any effect on her. She just looked at me with her liquid brown eyes and an innocent look. What me?
My housemate will be back on Sunday and my duty ends then.
Bella is a fox terrier, a small bundle of endless energy. She believes that human beings have been made for her sole entertainment. Therefore, she knocks on my door asking me to come out and cuddle her for a bit. And for those who are wondering how can a dog knock on doors, I can assure you she knows not only how to knock but also to open the door. Unfortunately, she refuses to get 100% house trained and therefore, in her excitement she is apt to dirty the carpet which we then have to clean.
Today, my housemate told me to keep her confined to one room and give her toys to play with. In spite of them, she ate up my dinner while I was not looking. No amount of telling NO has made any effect on her. She just looked at me with her liquid brown eyes and an innocent look. What me?
My housemate will be back on Sunday and my duty ends then.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The chalta hai policy
We are firm believers of chalta hai policy. Everything is chalta hai. If things break down, we will do a shoddy job of quick fixing it and saying chalta hai.
The entire medical center at UVa is undergoing renovation and it is a lesson for us to see how it is being done. The sidewalks were cordoned off one week because they were digging for something. The moment the work was done, the sidewalk was repaved. Part of the road too had been dug up. The road was immediately relaid properly.
Outside JNU there is a sidewalk. It is unusable. It is dug up often but never relaid properly. Stones and mud will be plied up on the sidewalk making it impossible to walk. As an aside, of course in India we believe that the pedestrians do not exist. So what is the need for a sidewalk/footpath? Why should the drivers stop and allow the pedestrians to cross the road. Why indeed should they drive carefully. The road after all belongs to the mightiest. The net result is that there is never a place for the pedestrian to walk.
To come back to the point of the blog, the chalta hai policy has completely ruined us. We never take anything to completion. Everything is done so haphazardly and so shoddily that a new building looks as though it is at least 100 years old.
The miasma is all prevalent. It is not very difficult to publish papers in good quality journals. We just need to do the experiments carefully and diligently, chasing it all to completion, taking pride in the final product. Since we believe in chalta hai policy, half-baked experiments are taken as completed. Why would a good journal publish this work?
The entire medical center at UVa is undergoing renovation and it is a lesson for us to see how it is being done. The sidewalks were cordoned off one week because they were digging for something. The moment the work was done, the sidewalk was repaved. Part of the road too had been dug up. The road was immediately relaid properly.
Outside JNU there is a sidewalk. It is unusable. It is dug up often but never relaid properly. Stones and mud will be plied up on the sidewalk making it impossible to walk. As an aside, of course in India we believe that the pedestrians do not exist. So what is the need for a sidewalk/footpath? Why should the drivers stop and allow the pedestrians to cross the road. Why indeed should they drive carefully. The road after all belongs to the mightiest. The net result is that there is never a place for the pedestrian to walk.
To come back to the point of the blog, the chalta hai policy has completely ruined us. We never take anything to completion. Everything is done so haphazardly and so shoddily that a new building looks as though it is at least 100 years old.
The miasma is all prevalent. It is not very difficult to publish papers in good quality journals. We just need to do the experiments carefully and diligently, chasing it all to completion, taking pride in the final product. Since we believe in chalta hai policy, half-baked experiments are taken as completed. Why would a good journal publish this work?
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
On why I love UVa
This blog is dedicated to the student who commented that I seemed to love UVa a lot.
I do. I came to UVa from an institution run by a certain person, who can for the purpose of this blog can be simply Dr.X. The only thing I can remember of that place was that it was a nightmare. I do not know if anyone saw The Devil wears Prada. Dr. X. was truly awful. She was running this show where she was the supreme commander and everyone had to kowtow down to her. It was a dictatorship. None of us students had any access to her. She was never there to discuss any problems or any results. The research was bunkum and I know many of the results were fabricated. No one was interested in research anyway. We sat around chatted, did some pottering about and left the lab in the evening.
Then I came to UVa and it was like a different world. Faculty and students were at par. It is not that I can call faculty by his or her name, it was the fact that my opinions were solicited, and that I was allowed to think. I could tell my adviser that he was wrong and not get reprimanded.
The best part was the classes. I had done my M.Sc in biotechnology and had hated every minute of it. I could not remember the facts or wrote long essays for short notes. In B.Sc I had done Chemistry and the question paper was absolutely analytical. We had to solve problems. Here I was not expected to do any analysis. Remembering the Biochemical pathways was torturous. No one taught the logic of it.
But at UVa, in none of the exams I was expected to write long answers. I was expected to read papers and analyse the data. I was expected to design experiments. Oh, many of them were rubbish experiments that I designed but hey, at least I was allowed to think.
There were other things. Yujie, Vanicha, and I went driving across the country, we attended operas and concerts, we had potlucks, we went for hikes and got lost. It was fun.
I grew up a lot. I do not know if I made right decisions in life but I do not regret one bit of my UVa years.
I do. I came to UVa from an institution run by a certain person, who can for the purpose of this blog can be simply Dr.X. The only thing I can remember of that place was that it was a nightmare. I do not know if anyone saw The Devil wears Prada. Dr. X. was truly awful. She was running this show where she was the supreme commander and everyone had to kowtow down to her. It was a dictatorship. None of us students had any access to her. She was never there to discuss any problems or any results. The research was bunkum and I know many of the results were fabricated. No one was interested in research anyway. We sat around chatted, did some pottering about and left the lab in the evening.
Then I came to UVa and it was like a different world. Faculty and students were at par. It is not that I can call faculty by his or her name, it was the fact that my opinions were solicited, and that I was allowed to think. I could tell my adviser that he was wrong and not get reprimanded.
The best part was the classes. I had done my M.Sc in biotechnology and had hated every minute of it. I could not remember the facts or wrote long essays for short notes. In B.Sc I had done Chemistry and the question paper was absolutely analytical. We had to solve problems. Here I was not expected to do any analysis. Remembering the Biochemical pathways was torturous. No one taught the logic of it.
But at UVa, in none of the exams I was expected to write long answers. I was expected to read papers and analyse the data. I was expected to design experiments. Oh, many of them were rubbish experiments that I designed but hey, at least I was allowed to think.
There were other things. Yujie, Vanicha, and I went driving across the country, we attended operas and concerts, we had potlucks, we went for hikes and got lost. It was fun.
I grew up a lot. I do not know if I made right decisions in life but I do not regret one bit of my UVa years.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
The Football match
Yesterday was the season's opening football match- UVa versus William and Mary.
Matches are great events. My housemate threw a party yesterday and went to watch the match with her friends. This has to be only school where students dress up to go to football match. So you will see boys in tie and girls wearing their prettiest dress.
UVa is not one of the greatest teams. But there were great hopes for yesterday's match. William and Mary is a small college in Virginia and they are not believed to have a great team either. And UVa is a big University. Our team has to be better than theirs.
Only...oh well, we lost.
Reminds me of the the tortoise and the hare story.
Matches are great events. My housemate threw a party yesterday and went to watch the match with her friends. This has to be only school where students dress up to go to football match. So you will see boys in tie and girls wearing their prettiest dress.
UVa is not one of the greatest teams. But there were great hopes for yesterday's match. William and Mary is a small college in Virginia and they are not believed to have a great team either. And UVa is a big University. Our team has to be better than theirs.
Only...oh well, we lost.
Reminds me of the the tortoise and the hare story.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Where libraries are a pleasure
When I joined the University in India as a faculty, I went to the library to get books. I was appalled to find that the library still used an antiquated system for cataloguing its collection. The books were in a mess. The whole stacks section was dusty and musty. No one knew where the books were...Anyway, I lamented about the state of the library to a friend of mine who incidentally was a student of the library. She was amazed that I dared to criticize such a wonderful library. I was out of mind, she declared. You should go to the eighth floor and browse through the wonderful fiction section.
Well, I am back in UVa, and I am sitting in Clemons library. I have my laptop on and I am typing this blog sitting in the library.
This was the place I would come to when I had to take my 4 hours Genes exam. The library has study sections where one could sit in peace and take the exam. The library also has a wonderful video collection. My brother and I had once sat here and watched Kathalika neramilai.
Clemons is just one library within the university system. The main library is Alderman's and then each school has its own library.
None of our Universities have libraries like these. Where it is a pleasure to sit and read, or browse, or do your homework, or take your exam.
I wish we had...
Well, I am back in UVa, and I am sitting in Clemons library. I have my laptop on and I am typing this blog sitting in the library.
This was the place I would come to when I had to take my 4 hours Genes exam. The library has study sections where one could sit in peace and take the exam. The library also has a wonderful video collection. My brother and I had once sat here and watched Kathalika neramilai.
Clemons is just one library within the university system. The main library is Alderman's and then each school has its own library.
None of our Universities have libraries like these. Where it is a pleasure to sit and read, or browse, or do your homework, or take your exam.
I wish we had...
India says no to HIV drug patents
The Indian Patent office has rejected the claim to file patent for an HIV drug, giving the rights for Cipla to create a generic version of the drug.
Indian pharmaceutical companies are excellent in creating generic versions of any drug. We possess very capable organic synthetic chemists who can figure out how to make an existing drug as cheap as possible. Some might call this jugaad technology but truthfully, we need these generic drugs.
One of the reasons that the cost of a drug goes up is because of patent. Yes, it is very expensive to do research and discover new drugs but the companies also push up the cost because they lock up the method to make the drug under the guise of patent.
Oh, we need patenting laws. I am not saying that we do not need to protect inventions. But it is a thin line when it comes down to medicine. There are poor people in this world who need medication when they fall ill. But very often the drug price is exorbitantly high. So what do we do?
Cipla and other Indian pharmaceutical companies are the life-savers as they create generic drugs and sell them cheap. I, at least, do not believe that we need patents for life-saving drugs. These are medicines that should be available cheap to people who need them.
There is a flip side to all this. While most pharmaceutical companies abroad have an active research program running, the Indian pharmaceutical companies have almost no worthwhile research program to discover drugs.
Indian pharmaceutical companies are excellent in creating generic versions of any drug. We possess very capable organic synthetic chemists who can figure out how to make an existing drug as cheap as possible. Some might call this jugaad technology but truthfully, we need these generic drugs.
One of the reasons that the cost of a drug goes up is because of patent. Yes, it is very expensive to do research and discover new drugs but the companies also push up the cost because they lock up the method to make the drug under the guise of patent.
Oh, we need patenting laws. I am not saying that we do not need to protect inventions. But it is a thin line when it comes down to medicine. There are poor people in this world who need medication when they fall ill. But very often the drug price is exorbitantly high. So what do we do?
Cipla and other Indian pharmaceutical companies are the life-savers as they create generic drugs and sell them cheap. I, at least, do not believe that we need patents for life-saving drugs. These are medicines that should be available cheap to people who need them.
There is a flip side to all this. While most pharmaceutical companies abroad have an active research program running, the Indian pharmaceutical companies have almost no worthwhile research program to discover drugs.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Delhi to banish beggars
This was the headlines in Times of India yesterday. You can read the article here:
Delhi has beggars at every red light. Many of them are migrants from adjoining states. Most often you see women with children. You also see lots and lots of children. They are great gymnasts (if I can use the word) and entertain the passerbys with their antics. None of the children go to school.
So Delhi Government has woken up to the problem of these people now that the commonwealth games are upon us. Does this mean that the government wouldn't have given a damn if the games were not scheduled? And what does the government plan to do? Oh, send the children to juvenile homes and the adults to jail. What a fantastic solution! Of course, once the games are over, the government can forget about the problem.
There are couple of NGOs working with beggar children in Chennai. What they have realized, what has often been articulated, and what was also portrayed in Slumdog Millionair, is that there is a cartel involved in this business. The begging is a business. The children are kidnapped and made to beg. The adults-those you see with grotesque limbs-are also held at ransom by this cartel. The cartel itself comprises of goondas. Police knows this as do the politicians. If any outsider tries to interfere in this matter, their life is at threat.
What we require is a way to break the nexus. It is not the beggars who belong in the jail. It is the cartel leaders- the men who hold children and adults alike at ransom and dehumanize them- who should be shut up in prison. Forever if possible.
Delhi has beggars at every red light. Many of them are migrants from adjoining states. Most often you see women with children. You also see lots and lots of children. They are great gymnasts (if I can use the word) and entertain the passerbys with their antics. None of the children go to school.
So Delhi Government has woken up to the problem of these people now that the commonwealth games are upon us. Does this mean that the government wouldn't have given a damn if the games were not scheduled? And what does the government plan to do? Oh, send the children to juvenile homes and the adults to jail. What a fantastic solution! Of course, once the games are over, the government can forget about the problem.
There are couple of NGOs working with beggar children in Chennai. What they have realized, what has often been articulated, and what was also portrayed in Slumdog Millionair, is that there is a cartel involved in this business. The begging is a business. The children are kidnapped and made to beg. The adults-those you see with grotesque limbs-are also held at ransom by this cartel. The cartel itself comprises of goondas. Police knows this as do the politicians. If any outsider tries to interfere in this matter, their life is at threat.
What we require is a way to break the nexus. It is not the beggars who belong in the jail. It is the cartel leaders- the men who hold children and adults alike at ransom and dehumanize them- who should be shut up in prison. Forever if possible.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Classes in the morning
The medical school classes start at 8.30 am in the morning. Whoosh!
If our classes started at 8.30 in the morning, neither the teacher nor the students would be present. I learnt this the hard way. I think once I made a time table such that the 4th or the 2nd semester student started their day at 10 in the morning. There were no classes at 9.00am. As usual, I like to get the classes done and over with, I had the first class. So I went to the class at 10 am and guess what? No student was present! They sauntered in, some rushed in breathless, well past 10 in the morning. Nothing can be done! You can scold them, cajole them, plead with them, tell them to be punctual. Nothing works. The Indian Standard time says half hour past the scheduled hour and that is what they would adhere to. Finally, I learnt the bitter truth. What ever I do, the students are going to be late. Sometimes I tell them that they cannot enter the class but even that does not help!
The medical course is being seriously revamped. Of course they are spoon fed but that is not the point. The point is that there is a conscious effort made to improve the teaching methodology and course content.
Well, we too did a serious effort to revamp our teaching. After one year of deliberations, we restructured things. On paper it is very nice. In practice? Well, most of us cannot be bothered to change the way we teach, the kind of questions we ask, or the course content. So everything remains same.
I usually ask analytical questions in my exam. I want to know whether the students can analyze the data and whether they can design experiments. After all they are going to be scientists. However, some of the faculty members have been asking me to stop asking analytical questions. They feel it is too tough for the students. I try to explain to the concerned faculties that students can think if you allow them to. It is only when we tell them to regurgitate whatever they have learnt that they stop using their brains. Of course it does not wash with them. They keep telling me to stop asking analytical questions.
Maybe they are right. Maybe the questions are too tough. I do not know. The feedback I get from most of my students is that they enjoy these questions. Of course it is tough for some of them but then if they are going to do M.Sc and then PhD, they have to learn sometime to start thinking.
Actually, that is not the real reason I give such questions. Honestly speaking, I never know how to evaluate the essay type questions and the short notes. Am I supposed to go by the length? Am I supposed to be impressed by their ability to memorize? Am I supposed to marvel at their ability to write so much in such short time? What am I supposed to do?
If our classes started at 8.30 in the morning, neither the teacher nor the students would be present. I learnt this the hard way. I think once I made a time table such that the 4th or the 2nd semester student started their day at 10 in the morning. There were no classes at 9.00am. As usual, I like to get the classes done and over with, I had the first class. So I went to the class at 10 am and guess what? No student was present! They sauntered in, some rushed in breathless, well past 10 in the morning. Nothing can be done! You can scold them, cajole them, plead with them, tell them to be punctual. Nothing works. The Indian Standard time says half hour past the scheduled hour and that is what they would adhere to. Finally, I learnt the bitter truth. What ever I do, the students are going to be late. Sometimes I tell them that they cannot enter the class but even that does not help!
The medical course is being seriously revamped. Of course they are spoon fed but that is not the point. The point is that there is a conscious effort made to improve the teaching methodology and course content.
Well, we too did a serious effort to revamp our teaching. After one year of deliberations, we restructured things. On paper it is very nice. In practice? Well, most of us cannot be bothered to change the way we teach, the kind of questions we ask, or the course content. So everything remains same.
I usually ask analytical questions in my exam. I want to know whether the students can analyze the data and whether they can design experiments. After all they are going to be scientists. However, some of the faculty members have been asking me to stop asking analytical questions. They feel it is too tough for the students. I try to explain to the concerned faculties that students can think if you allow them to. It is only when we tell them to regurgitate whatever they have learnt that they stop using their brains. Of course it does not wash with them. They keep telling me to stop asking analytical questions.
Maybe they are right. Maybe the questions are too tough. I do not know. The feedback I get from most of my students is that they enjoy these questions. Of course it is tough for some of them but then if they are going to do M.Sc and then PhD, they have to learn sometime to start thinking.
Actually, that is not the real reason I give such questions. Honestly speaking, I never know how to evaluate the essay type questions and the short notes. Am I supposed to go by the length? Am I supposed to be impressed by their ability to memorize? Am I supposed to marvel at their ability to write so much in such short time? What am I supposed to do?
Monday, July 27, 2009
Charlottesville after 11 years
Some times it feels like I was never away.
It has been 11 years since I left Charlottesville. Somethings have changed, some haven't.
The JPA is still there. My old apartments are still there. I walked through old haunts, everything is still there. The corner, which is special for UVa, is there as is the Mexican restaurant where we used to eat.
On the JPA there are many more apartments. The medical school is undergoing major expansion. An old parking lot has been converted into buildings. The apartments where post-docs and short term visiting faculty used to stay has been converted into something else. The engineering school is being expanded. The view of the mountains from my lab has been blocked by tall buildings and cranes, building some more stuff. The building which housed my bank has been torn down. They are building a new cancer center there.
The department has been renovated. The flooring is new, the walls are white and gleaming. It looks all polished. Alas, there are no seepages. I wish CPWD had the maintenance of the building.
I have to walk 25-30 minutes to the school. It is really not bad as it takes care of my exercise.
It has been 11 years since I left Charlottesville. Somethings have changed, some haven't.
The JPA is still there. My old apartments are still there. I walked through old haunts, everything is still there. The corner, which is special for UVa, is there as is the Mexican restaurant where we used to eat.
On the JPA there are many more apartments. The medical school is undergoing major expansion. An old parking lot has been converted into buildings. The apartments where post-docs and short term visiting faculty used to stay has been converted into something else. The engineering school is being expanded. The view of the mountains from my lab has been blocked by tall buildings and cranes, building some more stuff. The building which housed my bank has been torn down. They are building a new cancer center there.
The department has been renovated. The flooring is new, the walls are white and gleaming. It looks all polished. Alas, there are no seepages. I wish CPWD had the maintenance of the building.
I have to walk 25-30 minutes to the school. It is really not bad as it takes care of my exercise.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Waiting for Visa
I got a fellowship to go to US for three months.
It all started when our paper got accepted. In that euphoria Joel and I discussed plans to work on the structure of our protein and the inhibitor. I offered, very rashly, to come to UVa and work on it during the vacation period. Joel accepted. This was in October/November.
Money was obviously an issue. One needs something to live on. I found that UICC gives short term fellowships. It was a long shot and the application went awry. They wrote to me asking for lots more details. I submitted everything in January.
From January to April was a long wait. I filled the time very sensibly by attending the refresher course, going to Young Investigator's meeting, and Protein-DNA interaction meeting.
April came and it looked as though it might go without any news when finally on April 20th the email came. I had the fellowship.
Oh, since I have the fellowship, I assumed, I can just get a business visa. No, UVa said. I need an Exchange visitor visa. We started the paper work.
It took three weeks when finally Joel snatched the papers from the International office and couriered them to me.
Now comes the icing on the cake: The Consulate is not giving any visa interview appointments. They are booked solid.
So it is back to waiting game. And me, I am not known for my patience unless it happens to be embroidery. Other than biting my nails (yuck) and chewing my lips (eesh) there is nothing much to be done. Therefore, I am doing what I am best at: harassing my students and my parents.
Of course if I had any sense I would have never said no to the Green Card 7 years back. But I was so sure that I wanted to be back in India and that opportunities like the present one would never arrive, that I canceled the petition and moved back home. My sensible mother, other than saying I told you so and you should listen to your mother, would also add that if I had any sense I would have never moved back to India!
It all started when our paper got accepted. In that euphoria Joel and I discussed plans to work on the structure of our protein and the inhibitor. I offered, very rashly, to come to UVa and work on it during the vacation period. Joel accepted. This was in October/November.
Money was obviously an issue. One needs something to live on. I found that UICC gives short term fellowships. It was a long shot and the application went awry. They wrote to me asking for lots more details. I submitted everything in January.
From January to April was a long wait. I filled the time very sensibly by attending the refresher course, going to Young Investigator's meeting, and Protein-DNA interaction meeting.
April came and it looked as though it might go without any news when finally on April 20th the email came. I had the fellowship.
Oh, since I have the fellowship, I assumed, I can just get a business visa. No, UVa said. I need an Exchange visitor visa. We started the paper work.
It took three weeks when finally Joel snatched the papers from the International office and couriered them to me.
Now comes the icing on the cake: The Consulate is not giving any visa interview appointments. They are booked solid.
So it is back to waiting game. And me, I am not known for my patience unless it happens to be embroidery. Other than biting my nails (yuck) and chewing my lips (eesh) there is nothing much to be done. Therefore, I am doing what I am best at: harassing my students and my parents.
Of course if I had any sense I would have never said no to the Green Card 7 years back. But I was so sure that I wanted to be back in India and that opportunities like the present one would never arrive, that I canceled the petition and moved back home. My sensible mother, other than saying I told you so and you should listen to your mother, would also add that if I had any sense I would have never moved back to India!
Friday, May 22, 2009
As we mull over...
The good thing is the Arjun Singh is not in the cabinet. So hopefully the HRD will get a sensible minister.
The bad thing is that the whole education system is a mess. Under the new reservation scheme, we need to reserve even PhD seats. Which is ridiculous because the number of PhD seats available varies depending upon the positions available in each laboratory in our department. However, starting this year we have to take 2006 as the baseline and account for 27% increase and this will be the number of the students we have to take every year irrespective of the available positions. It is pretty stupid because PhDs cannot be doled out but who can explain it to the minister/bureaucrats/agitating students. Many of the PhDs churned out are actually unemployable but no one is worried about that.
Universities are a battered lot. Our M.Sc students are invariably exported out. The students themselves no longer wish to work for 5-6 years to earn a PhD. They prefer the European pastures because you get a PhD in 3 years. That you cannot do much in 3 years is not something they are bothered about. Quick and fast are the keywords.
In these fast track times comes the news that even US universities are mulling the option of introducing 3-year courses.
The bad thing is that the whole education system is a mess. Under the new reservation scheme, we need to reserve even PhD seats. Which is ridiculous because the number of PhD seats available varies depending upon the positions available in each laboratory in our department. However, starting this year we have to take 2006 as the baseline and account for 27% increase and this will be the number of the students we have to take every year irrespective of the available positions. It is pretty stupid because PhDs cannot be doled out but who can explain it to the minister/bureaucrats/agitating students. Many of the PhDs churned out are actually unemployable but no one is worried about that.
Universities are a battered lot. Our M.Sc students are invariably exported out. The students themselves no longer wish to work for 5-6 years to earn a PhD. They prefer the European pastures because you get a PhD in 3 years. That you cannot do much in 3 years is not something they are bothered about. Quick and fast are the keywords.
In these fast track times comes the news that even US universities are mulling the option of introducing 3-year courses.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Cooperativity
In the biological world, at the cellular level, there is a great ado about cooperativity. Simply put, it means that one event greatly helps another similar event to happen. The easiest example is a protein known as Hemoglobin, the same thing whose depletion causes anemia. Hemoglobin binds to oxygen and delivers it to our tissues. The molecule has the ability to bind to four oxygen molecules. When it binds to one oxygen, it greatly aids and abets binding of the next oxygen molecule and so on and so forth. This is positive cooperativity.
There is also something called negative cooperativity wherein happening one event will discourage the happening of another event.
What happens at the micro level, of course, happens at macro level too.
We are in the midst of severe water crunch. The faculty and the non-teaching staff have been extremely cooperative in dealing with the situation. Many of them have sneaked in a booster pump to collect water into big sumps in their yard so that the next door neighbor does not get any water. On Saturday the crisis hit the peak as parts of the campus went without drinking water. The administration has brought out a notice asking people to desist from using booster pumps.
Meantime, the electricity is also in shortage. We have big generators for power backup. The backup is supposed to be for our instruments but not for Airconditioners. But of course we have never lived without ACs all our lives and to live without it for one hour would is simply unthinkable. So some of the enterprising faculty have connected their ACs to the backup power. This eventually led to the melting down of the generator but hey, don't blame us. See the next door person is also doing it, why aren't you telling him/her?
The merry game goes on and we lurch from one day to another, perfectly cooperating with each other, aiding and abetting both water and power crisis.
There is also something called negative cooperativity wherein happening one event will discourage the happening of another event.
What happens at the micro level, of course, happens at macro level too.
We are in the midst of severe water crunch. The faculty and the non-teaching staff have been extremely cooperative in dealing with the situation. Many of them have sneaked in a booster pump to collect water into big sumps in their yard so that the next door neighbor does not get any water. On Saturday the crisis hit the peak as parts of the campus went without drinking water. The administration has brought out a notice asking people to desist from using booster pumps.
Meantime, the electricity is also in shortage. We have big generators for power backup. The backup is supposed to be for our instruments but not for Airconditioners. But of course we have never lived without ACs all our lives and to live without it for one hour would is simply unthinkable. So some of the enterprising faculty have connected their ACs to the backup power. This eventually led to the melting down of the generator but hey, don't blame us. See the next door person is also doing it, why aren't you telling him/her?
The merry game goes on and we lurch from one day to another, perfectly cooperating with each other, aiding and abetting both water and power crisis.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Voting for the first time
So finally I voted in a General Election.
Whew!
It was fun. Apparently one has to first get the bit of paper containing your name and the polling booth number. This is generally door-to-door delivered but of course I am never at home. So I went over to the booth outside the polling station and got the paper. Then came the revelation. These booths are manned by party workers. The one I approached was manned by BJP workers who earnestly asked me to vote for BJP.
At this point I looked around and found a booth manned by Congress workers and another by CPI workers. There was no sign of BSP or other parties, but presumably they were there for I was told by the faculty at MSU, who had been roped in to do election duty unlike us privileged Central University teachers, that each polling booth has party workers from every party as observers to ensure free and fair elections.
Inside, there are host of characters. One checks your name, the other gets you to sign, the third puts the indelible ink on your finger, and then you vote.
I finally felt that I belonged to some country instead of being just a vagabond.
Whew!
It was fun. Apparently one has to first get the bit of paper containing your name and the polling booth number. This is generally door-to-door delivered but of course I am never at home. So I went over to the booth outside the polling station and got the paper. Then came the revelation. These booths are manned by party workers. The one I approached was manned by BJP workers who earnestly asked me to vote for BJP.
At this point I looked around and found a booth manned by Congress workers and another by CPI workers. There was no sign of BSP or other parties, but presumably they were there for I was told by the faculty at MSU, who had been roped in to do election duty unlike us privileged Central University teachers, that each polling booth has party workers from every party as observers to ensure free and fair elections.
Inside, there are host of characters. One checks your name, the other gets you to sign, the third puts the indelible ink on your finger, and then you vote.
I finally felt that I belonged to some country instead of being just a vagabond.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Water and Electricity
There is no rhyme or reason to water supply. Most of the days the main water stops coming by 7 in the morning. Maybe even earlier. The water supply in the evening is also curtailed. The water department is supposed to announce the water supply timings but whenever they say that the water supply is curtailed we get plenty of water. Now days there is an ominous silence which I take means that there will be no supply.
Electricity has not been hit till now though one of the hostels has seen no electricity for more than 16 hours.
It is so stupid. Go to the Delhi Imperial Zone (DIZ area) and you will find 24 hour water and electricity supply. Why are they so important? Wouldn't it be nicer (and more democratic) if all of us got equitable supply of water and electricity? That way all of us are in the same boat and learn how to conserve water and electricity.
But...Oh well.
Electricity has not been hit till now though one of the hostels has seen no electricity for more than 16 hours.
It is so stupid. Go to the Delhi Imperial Zone (DIZ area) and you will find 24 hour water and electricity supply. Why are they so important? Wouldn't it be nicer (and more democratic) if all of us got equitable supply of water and electricity? That way all of us are in the same boat and learn how to conserve water and electricity.
But...Oh well.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Soot and Water
Across the villages there are no cooking stove, no gas cylinders. Women cook using chulha, a mudstove, often using woodsticks or cow dung patties as fuel. Now a recent study says that this is one of the causes of global warming.
The mudstoves are lethal in other ways too. They are inefficient, women and children have to search for the wood sticks to burn. They produce enormous amount of smoke...
The easiest would be harnessing solar energy. India, of course, unlike certain other countries, is blessed with plenty of sunshine. The problem is that the solar energy cells are expensive. TERI has been working on this area for a long time. Lately, they have been providing solar lamps to villages. Apparently, now they are working on stoves too. Let us see how far it goes.
Meantime, there is no water supply. The tanker was called in yesterday and I lifted buckets and buckets of water up. Today morning the water, brackish brownish stuff, made its appearance around 7ish in the morning. Promptly, the residents opened their tube and started watering their lawns. Grrrr....
The mudstoves are lethal in other ways too. They are inefficient, women and children have to search for the wood sticks to burn. They produce enormous amount of smoke...
The easiest would be harnessing solar energy. India, of course, unlike certain other countries, is blessed with plenty of sunshine. The problem is that the solar energy cells are expensive. TERI has been working on this area for a long time. Lately, they have been providing solar lamps to villages. Apparently, now they are working on stoves too. Let us see how far it goes.
Meantime, there is no water supply. The tanker was called in yesterday and I lifted buckets and buckets of water up. Today morning the water, brackish brownish stuff, made its appearance around 7ish in the morning. Promptly, the residents opened their tube and started watering their lawns. Grrrr....
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Kaun Banega Pradhan Mantri
Finally, that is what the elections are about. Who will become the prime minister? Who will get posts? in the cabinet? How much money can I make?
Alliances are fluid, devoid of any ideology. It all depends on wheelings and dealings. How much money can change hands and who will offer whom the minister positions.
I know I am being cynical. But truly, there is no space for any debates. As Yogendra Yadav lamented in an article in the Hindu, no newspaper/TV channel is even discussing the manifestos. The media reports only how Narendra Modi called Congress Budiya and then Gudiya and how Priyanka Gandhi asked reporters whether she looks old. Oh for heaven's sake!
There are issues at stake. There is recession in place, food, shelter, health, education...can we talk about them for a change?
Ah, ha! There is an article in Frontline how every major party is now promising the poor cheap food. Rs 2/kg rice and Rs 3/kg rice. The Congress has in fact promised a Right to Food bill in the parliament if elected to power. Will these promises be fulfilled?
However, every thing is not dismal. There is an increase level of awareness, an eagerness to participate, and signs that politicians will not be allowed to get away with it. The shoe throwing by Jarnail Singh was just one such instance. There is an ad doing rounds in the television (I think I saw it when I was staying at IMTECH guest house)where a politician comes to ask for vote. The voter asks his qualifications. Qualifications, the politician laughs. I have been in this business for ages. Yes, agrees the voter, but what have you done. What is the proof? The ad has been issued by Janagraha in collaboration with TATA tea.
So let us see how it all turns out.
Alliances are fluid, devoid of any ideology. It all depends on wheelings and dealings. How much money can change hands and who will offer whom the minister positions.
I know I am being cynical. But truly, there is no space for any debates. As Yogendra Yadav lamented in an article in the Hindu, no newspaper/TV channel is even discussing the manifestos. The media reports only how Narendra Modi called Congress Budiya and then Gudiya and how Priyanka Gandhi asked reporters whether she looks old. Oh for heaven's sake!
There are issues at stake. There is recession in place, food, shelter, health, education...can we talk about them for a change?
Ah, ha! There is an article in Frontline how every major party is now promising the poor cheap food. Rs 2/kg rice and Rs 3/kg rice. The Congress has in fact promised a Right to Food bill in the parliament if elected to power. Will these promises be fulfilled?
However, every thing is not dismal. There is an increase level of awareness, an eagerness to participate, and signs that politicians will not be allowed to get away with it. The shoe throwing by Jarnail Singh was just one such instance. There is an ad doing rounds in the television (I think I saw it when I was staying at IMTECH guest house)where a politician comes to ask for vote. The voter asks his qualifications. Qualifications, the politician laughs. I have been in this business for ages. Yes, agrees the voter, but what have you done. What is the proof? The ad has been issued by Janagraha in collaboration with TATA tea.
So let us see how it all turns out.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
There are many slips between the cup and the lip
We wanted to submit Reshma's papers by April end. This is urgent because her fellowship can be extended only if she has papers. So we made plans. These many experiments, these many days, I start writing simultaneously...
First, it took us three weeks to get the reagents to do Real Time PCR. This is a technique by which we can quantitate the amount of a particular protein made in a cell at a given time. We ordered the reagents in March 2nd week and it came to us yesterday.
Second, the machine we use to do real time PCR conked out on 26th March. It needs some parts to be replaced. It will take us 10 days. So they say. Maybe, maybe not. Then there will backlog bookings and my student will have to squeeze in time. So now we are looking at some where around April 15th if all goes well. The experiments that we need to do will take at least 3 weeks if every experiment works. We are now into May.
Third, we need to do some imaging. We need reagents again. We called up the agency to find out the pricing. He has not called back. So we have to chase them, place the order, and then wait. At least 3 more weeks. Meantime, the confocal microscope that is required for imaging has stopped working. They are promising repair but no time frame has been fixed because the part needs to come from Germany. We also need the engineer to come and fix it. Last time one of our machines failed it took us 3 months of persistent nagging to fix things up.
Deadlines never work in research. I know. My students know. But still one hopes. And one gets frustrated! Especially when one is so close and yet so far...
First, it took us three weeks to get the reagents to do Real Time PCR. This is a technique by which we can quantitate the amount of a particular protein made in a cell at a given time. We ordered the reagents in March 2nd week and it came to us yesterday.
Second, the machine we use to do real time PCR conked out on 26th March. It needs some parts to be replaced. It will take us 10 days. So they say. Maybe, maybe not. Then there will backlog bookings and my student will have to squeeze in time. So now we are looking at some where around April 15th if all goes well. The experiments that we need to do will take at least 3 weeks if every experiment works. We are now into May.
Third, we need to do some imaging. We need reagents again. We called up the agency to find out the pricing. He has not called back. So we have to chase them, place the order, and then wait. At least 3 more weeks. Meantime, the confocal microscope that is required for imaging has stopped working. They are promising repair but no time frame has been fixed because the part needs to come from Germany. We also need the engineer to come and fix it. Last time one of our machines failed it took us 3 months of persistent nagging to fix things up.
Deadlines never work in research. I know. My students know. But still one hopes. And one gets frustrated! Especially when one is so close and yet so far...
Monday, March 23, 2009
Hindutva
The past week belonged to Varun as he shot into 'limelight' with his election speech. As I do not have television I did not watch the televised speech. But from what I read in the newspapers it appears to be an immature, rabid, hate-mongering speech. Of course he is still standing from Pilbhit.
I think I have written this elsewhere too. My problem with the Hindutva is: Who has appointed you as the spokesperson of Hinduism? The brand of Hinduism you practice is not the one I recognize or practice. My brand of Hinduism tells me that all men and women and children are one. It tells me to treat everyone with respect. It tells me not to divide people into religion and caste. So does that make me a non-Hindu? Hinduism after all admits that there are many paths to God and you can choose any one path.
I am not sure what was Varun's motive behind the stupid speech. Was it to gain publicity? Was it to proclaim that he was a Hindu? (If God exists then does God need to know whether a person is Hindu or Muslim or Christian? Surely if he is all pervading, all knowing, He would automatically know what you are?)
Oh, then there is a piece by Nayantara Sehgal in Outlook. One sentence caught my eye:
"The difference between Varun and his cousins, Rahul and Priyanka, is that while they were nurtured on the family's secular ideals, he was simply not there. He may have kept up with his cousins and his aunt, Sonia, but having not been brought up within the family, he lost out on his family inheritance, both the ideology and the training."
I have no idea what to make out of it. My first feeling was: What nonsense. Varun is an adult and he should know, by now, what is right and what is wrong. As for the family inheritance the less said the better.
PS: My right arm is still out of action though I can use it for limited purposes. I am figuring out how to do things with the left arm which is partially functional.
I think I have written this elsewhere too. My problem with the Hindutva is: Who has appointed you as the spokesperson of Hinduism? The brand of Hinduism you practice is not the one I recognize or practice. My brand of Hinduism tells me that all men and women and children are one. It tells me to treat everyone with respect. It tells me not to divide people into religion and caste. So does that make me a non-Hindu? Hinduism after all admits that there are many paths to God and you can choose any one path.
I am not sure what was Varun's motive behind the stupid speech. Was it to gain publicity? Was it to proclaim that he was a Hindu? (If God exists then does God need to know whether a person is Hindu or Muslim or Christian? Surely if he is all pervading, all knowing, He would automatically know what you are?)
Oh, then there is a piece by Nayantara Sehgal in Outlook. One sentence caught my eye:
"The difference between Varun and his cousins, Rahul and Priyanka, is that while they were nurtured on the family's secular ideals, he was simply not there. He may have kept up with his cousins and his aunt, Sonia, but having not been brought up within the family, he lost out on his family inheritance, both the ideology and the training."
I have no idea what to make out of it. My first feeling was: What nonsense. Varun is an adult and he should know, by now, what is right and what is wrong. As for the family inheritance the less said the better.
PS: My right arm is still out of action though I can use it for limited purposes. I am figuring out how to do things with the left arm which is partially functional.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Chain snatching
Yesterday I went with appa to Munirka to pick up my shoes from the cobbler. As we walked back, I was engrossed in telling appa about the results we have obtained in the lab, I felt claws on my neck. I thought it was a monkey and put my hands to remove it and simultaneously turned sideways. That is when I saw a man, short and stocky, wearing a striped cream coloured shirt and brown pants, running towards the motorcycle. I ran towards them but they revved up the motorcycle and turned into an alley. I threw the bag of shoes at them but I was never very good at throwing things. All I ended doing was tripping over and falling on the road, scraping my elbow and hands and breaking my glasses.
Oh never mind the trip to the doctor to get it dressed and get a shot of anti-tetanus injection, what bothered me most was the situation. There were two girls watching the whole scene from a balcony on the fourth floor, there were couple of workers walking down the street, there were sundry other people. They must have noticed the robber sneaking up behind me. Not a shout was raised, not a person tried to stop the robber, the girl in the balcony was busy describing the scene to her boy friend on the cell phone. Sheesh!
Anyway, this is the last time I wear gold chains to please my mother!
Oh, before I conclude I must say that the police were polite and helpful. They made me sit down, they went through my statement, and they promised to do something. Whether it would translate into action is debatable but at least the trip to the police station was not nerve racking as it is usually assumed to be.
Oh never mind the trip to the doctor to get it dressed and get a shot of anti-tetanus injection, what bothered me most was the situation. There were two girls watching the whole scene from a balcony on the fourth floor, there were couple of workers walking down the street, there were sundry other people. They must have noticed the robber sneaking up behind me. Not a shout was raised, not a person tried to stop the robber, the girl in the balcony was busy describing the scene to her boy friend on the cell phone. Sheesh!
Anyway, this is the last time I wear gold chains to please my mother!
Oh, before I conclude I must say that the police were polite and helpful. They made me sit down, they went through my statement, and they promised to do something. Whether it would translate into action is debatable but at least the trip to the police station was not nerve racking as it is usually assumed to be.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Delhi Public Library
After a long time, twenty five years to be precise, I became a member of the Delhi Public Library once more. The library membership is free but one needs to show identity proof as well as residence proof. I lacked both because I do not have a ration card, my passport has Colorado address, andI do not have a driver's license. The officials asked me about my voter's ID card but I did not have one as I have not till now registered as voter anywhere. It was an impasse till the elections were announced. Then there was a drive to get voter registered, which is when I got registered and got my Voter ID card. Ha, that also means, hopefully, if my name is on the voter's list, that I get to vote for the first time in my life.
The library is now a mess. Though they have got computers and we can borrow DVDs, there are hardly any English books. I was told that they have all been borrowed. I have to check out the Hindi section. The librarians can hardly be bothered to keep the place neat and tidy. The books are put on the racks higgeldy-piggeldy.
Why cannot we be bothered with libraries?
The library is now a mess. Though they have got computers and we can borrow DVDs, there are hardly any English books. I was told that they have all been borrowed. I have to check out the Hindi section. The librarians can hardly be bothered to keep the place neat and tidy. The books are put on the racks higgeldy-piggeldy.
Why cannot we be bothered with libraries?
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Young Investigators Retreat
As a colleague from Delhi University put it succinctly: It was a paid holiday on duty leave.
The retreat collected all those investigators who have recently (within 1 or 2 years) joined either institutes or Universities. It also collected post-docs who are desirous of making a move back to India. I was sort of misfit because technically speaking I have not recently joined (it has been now 5 years) the University. So I have no clue why I was invited. But hey, it was a paid holiday on duty leave.
It was fun because we got to meet each other. In these hectic times one does not even know who has joined the adjoining institute. And meeting was crucial because now we know at least whom to rope in as examiners for our student's thesis.
It was not fun because a) many of the sessions turned out to be cribbing sessions b) none of the panelists were from Universities.
I will expand the point b here for nothing can be done about point a.
The Universities and Institutes operate on different budgets in India. The Institutes have humongous budgets, many times their faculty can survive without writing grants, and the focus is only research. The Universities operate on smaller budget, the teachers are paid less than their counterparts in the Institute, grants are essential to run our research programs, and the focus is equally on research and teaching.
Does it mean Universities are bad? I do not think so. I, for one, am very happy that I am at an University. I also happen to think that Universities are absolutely essential because it is the Universities who churn out students for the Institutes and other places. The Universities require good faculty- faculty who are good in both research and teaching. Unfortunately, none of the post-docs I met at the retreat were even considering the Universities as a career option. They were so focused on joining one or other Institutes. Oh, yes, there are IISERS but it is very important to realize that this is an institute on the lines of IITs and not an University with its diverse student population.
Most of the problems faced by the Universities are due to the administrators who singularly lack vision. As most of our VCs are political nominees they have no stake in improving the situation. So a combination of factors has become responsible for the lack of good faculties in our Universities.
But we need to reverse the situation. I think the Universities have to become pro-active in recruiting good faculties because otherwise the situation is going to deteriorate. It is pointless to blame the Institutes for taking away the good faculties and students.
That said I do wish there were panelists who were from Universities. There are plenty of good teachers as well as good researchers in the Universities. These people have done tremendously well in spite of all the obstacles. They could have provided the perspective from the University point of view. Just so that the new post-docs do not think that the world begins and ends with the Institutes but realize that there is whole world out there that can provide them with a wonderful career opportunity.
Starting tomorrow I am off to another meeting. Ugh.
The retreat collected all those investigators who have recently (within 1 or 2 years) joined either institutes or Universities. It also collected post-docs who are desirous of making a move back to India. I was sort of misfit because technically speaking I have not recently joined (it has been now 5 years) the University. So I have no clue why I was invited. But hey, it was a paid holiday on duty leave.
It was fun because we got to meet each other. In these hectic times one does not even know who has joined the adjoining institute. And meeting was crucial because now we know at least whom to rope in as examiners for our student's thesis.
It was not fun because a) many of the sessions turned out to be cribbing sessions b) none of the panelists were from Universities.
I will expand the point b here for nothing can be done about point a.
The Universities and Institutes operate on different budgets in India. The Institutes have humongous budgets, many times their faculty can survive without writing grants, and the focus is only research. The Universities operate on smaller budget, the teachers are paid less than their counterparts in the Institute, grants are essential to run our research programs, and the focus is equally on research and teaching.
Does it mean Universities are bad? I do not think so. I, for one, am very happy that I am at an University. I also happen to think that Universities are absolutely essential because it is the Universities who churn out students for the Institutes and other places. The Universities require good faculty- faculty who are good in both research and teaching. Unfortunately, none of the post-docs I met at the retreat were even considering the Universities as a career option. They were so focused on joining one or other Institutes. Oh, yes, there are IISERS but it is very important to realize that this is an institute on the lines of IITs and not an University with its diverse student population.
Most of the problems faced by the Universities are due to the administrators who singularly lack vision. As most of our VCs are political nominees they have no stake in improving the situation. So a combination of factors has become responsible for the lack of good faculties in our Universities.
But we need to reverse the situation. I think the Universities have to become pro-active in recruiting good faculties because otherwise the situation is going to deteriorate. It is pointless to blame the Institutes for taking away the good faculties and students.
That said I do wish there were panelists who were from Universities. There are plenty of good teachers as well as good researchers in the Universities. These people have done tremendously well in spite of all the obstacles. They could have provided the perspective from the University point of view. Just so that the new post-docs do not think that the world begins and ends with the Institutes but realize that there is whole world out there that can provide them with a wonderful career opportunity.
Starting tomorrow I am off to another meeting. Ugh.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Just a thought
As I struggle with my students (one of them who is supposed to be writing his thesis has gone off on a sightseeing trip), I was suddenly stuck with a thought. What would a class consisting of Bertie Wooster, Monty Bodkin, Bingo Little, Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright, Freddie Widgeon, Ronnie Fish, Stilton Cheesewright et al. would have been like.
All right. I admit I was reading Wodehouse when the thought stuck but...
All right. I admit I was reading Wodehouse when the thought stuck but...
small things in life...
Today morning as I traveled by auto to CSIR, I marveled how wonderful it is to breathe through clear nose. I know this is stupid but I suffer from allergies through the year round. It means that my nose is usually clogged and I make all sorts of weird noise as I try to breathe. The allopathic doctor had only one remedy in his pocket: steriod nasal spray. The upside (or downside) of being a biochemist is that such words usually don't impress you. I know what steriods do and thank you, I was not taking them. I decided to try ayurveda. The doctor gave me a bunch of medications, some of them downright nasty, and instructions as to what I can eat. I pretty much cannot eat anything other than boiled vegetables and rice and stuff. No oil, no sweet, no fried items, no cold items...the list is endless.
But, as I marveled today, how wonderful it is simply to just breathe. How wonderful it is to be able to sleep through the night without getting up in the middle of the night gasping for breath. I felt as wonderful as I did couple of years back when I wore contacts. I have been with spectacles for so long that I have forgotten what it is to be able to see without glasses on frame sticking on your nose. But with the contacts, I was able to forget for few minutes at least that I need pair of correcting lenses to be able to just see.
Such small things in life...
But, as I marveled today, how wonderful it is simply to just breathe. How wonderful it is to be able to sleep through the night without getting up in the middle of the night gasping for breath. I felt as wonderful as I did couple of years back when I wore contacts. I have been with spectacles for so long that I have forgotten what it is to be able to see without glasses on frame sticking on your nose. But with the contacts, I was able to forget for few minutes at least that I need pair of correcting lenses to be able to just see.
Such small things in life...
Friday, January 30, 2009
Refreshed
So I today I got my certificate that says I am refreshed.
The last couple of lectures were embarrassing, to say the least. As these lectures were given by profs whom I know personally, a decision had to be taken whether to attend or not. In the end I attended them. As I slinked into the classroom today, the lecturer stopped his talk, said a big, cheerful hello, made a fatuous comment about sometimes giving lectures and sometimes attending them, and then continued with his interrupted talk. Of course, every one in the class turned around to see who had walked into the class.
Couple of days back it was even more embarrassing as the faculty giving the lecture loves to talk and crack jokes. All the jokes were of course cracked at our expense, there were 4 of us from the department doing the course and sitting in the back bench. He finally ended up addressing the talk exclusively to us.
Anyway the trauma is over till next year when I have to do one more refresher course to get the promotion to Associate Professor.
Meantime, UGC has said that we have to serve a 12 year sentence as assistant professor before we can be promoted to associate professor. At this point, we assistant professors are fuming because at this rate most of us would be approaching retirement before we can become professors.
The NBT moves at the speed of the snail. A book that I had written has been languishing with them for 4 years now. Today I was told that it is being illustrated. I guess I should celebrate because maybe in another year or two I might actually see it printed.
The last couple of lectures were embarrassing, to say the least. As these lectures were given by profs whom I know personally, a decision had to be taken whether to attend or not. In the end I attended them. As I slinked into the classroom today, the lecturer stopped his talk, said a big, cheerful hello, made a fatuous comment about sometimes giving lectures and sometimes attending them, and then continued with his interrupted talk. Of course, every one in the class turned around to see who had walked into the class.
Couple of days back it was even more embarrassing as the faculty giving the lecture loves to talk and crack jokes. All the jokes were of course cracked at our expense, there were 4 of us from the department doing the course and sitting in the back bench. He finally ended up addressing the talk exclusively to us.
Anyway the trauma is over till next year when I have to do one more refresher course to get the promotion to Associate Professor.
Meantime, UGC has said that we have to serve a 12 year sentence as assistant professor before we can be promoted to associate professor. At this point, we assistant professors are fuming because at this rate most of us would be approaching retirement before we can become professors.
The NBT moves at the speed of the snail. A book that I had written has been languishing with them for 4 years now. Today I was told that it is being illustrated. I guess I should celebrate because maybe in another year or two I might actually see it printed.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Refreshing myself
The UGC believes one size fits all. To become an associate professor from an assistant professor two refresher courses are mandated. As many of the college teachers are not involved in active research, it makes sort of sense for by doing these courses they can upgrade their skills and learn something new. However, many of us in the Universities are required to do research work. We have research labs, we guide PhD students, we have to constantly think of experiments and keep ourselves updated On top of it, the University expects us to do refresher courses. Oh, please note that Delhi University teachers are not mandated to do this nonsense if they are involved in active research and are publishing papers.
There are 4 of us doing the refresher course. The resource persons/teachers/faculty for the course are from our department. And even if they are not, we know them. This leads to ridiculous and often embarrassing situations both for us and for the faculty. There are few who outright tells us not to attend the class because we will make them nervous. There are few who offer to learn our signatures and sign for us in the attendance sheet so that we do not have to trek to the Academic staff college to attend the lecture. There are few who refused to teach because we are attending the course. And then are few who enter the classroom and announce that they are feeling nervous because we are attending the class. One of them lost the plot and ended up giving a miserable lecture inspite of the fact that he is supposed to be a good teacher. The coordinator of the course, who is also from the department, is also angry and frustrated. We are supposed to attend the lectures and we are bunking them. The people who are attending the course are also angry and frustrated with us. After all who has given us the right to bunk the lectures? So one of the attendees tries to see every 15 minutes whether we are there or not.
For the first two weeks I was regular. It was not fair but hey, I signed up and I better do some justice. Last Thursday I gave up. I do not care who is angry and frustrated. You know what? I am angry and frustrated at having to waste 5 hours every day listening to bilge, stuff that I know all about. There were 4-5 lectures worth attending. I attended them. That is about it. I cannot do anymore.
But the good news is that the course is coming to an end. We have to give a 20 minute presentation, collect our certificates, and march out.
The bad news is that I have to do one more refresher course to complete the requirement for promotion.
There are 4 of us doing the refresher course. The resource persons/teachers/faculty for the course are from our department. And even if they are not, we know them. This leads to ridiculous and often embarrassing situations both for us and for the faculty. There are few who outright tells us not to attend the class because we will make them nervous. There are few who offer to learn our signatures and sign for us in the attendance sheet so that we do not have to trek to the Academic staff college to attend the lecture. There are few who refused to teach because we are attending the course. And then are few who enter the classroom and announce that they are feeling nervous because we are attending the class. One of them lost the plot and ended up giving a miserable lecture inspite of the fact that he is supposed to be a good teacher. The coordinator of the course, who is also from the department, is also angry and frustrated. We are supposed to attend the lectures and we are bunking them. The people who are attending the course are also angry and frustrated with us. After all who has given us the right to bunk the lectures? So one of the attendees tries to see every 15 minutes whether we are there or not.
For the first two weeks I was regular. It was not fair but hey, I signed up and I better do some justice. Last Thursday I gave up. I do not care who is angry and frustrated. You know what? I am angry and frustrated at having to waste 5 hours every day listening to bilge, stuff that I know all about. There were 4-5 lectures worth attending. I attended them. That is about it. I cannot do anymore.
But the good news is that the course is coming to an end. We have to give a 20 minute presentation, collect our certificates, and march out.
The bad news is that I have to do one more refresher course to complete the requirement for promotion.
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