Har Gobind Khorana (1922-2011)

He was a molecular biologist and an Indian- the scientist who was pointed out to us when I was doing M.Sc. He had of course won the Nobel Prize also.  The work that he did was truly pioneering.  He devised the methodology to string individual nucleotides to create an oligonucleotide. This was important because scientists were trying to figure out the genetic code. The DNA is made of four kinds of nucleotides: A, G, T, and C. Their arrangement is critical.  Three nucleotides together define one amino acid. Strings of amino acid make a protein.  The other way to think about this is that the nucleotide are alphabets.  So if you had a soup of alphabets: T, H, A, E, F, O, X, and N, this could be rearranged to say:

THE FOX ATE THE HEN

Similarly, A, G, T, and C can be arranged to make cellular sense. So for example, if ATG occurs, then it means methionine. But if is written as AGT then it means serine. This is what Khorana figured out through a series of elegant experiments. And for this he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1968.

When I moved to the University of Virginia, I did my first rotation with Mark Braiman, who incidentally had done post-doctoral work with Har Gobind Khorana. By then Khorana had moved on to understanding the role of rhodopsin amongst other things. They were using vibrational spectroscopy to map the conformational changes.  It was very interesting but it was simply too much mathematics and physics for me and so even though Mark wanted me to be in his lab, I decided not to join it. I knew my limitations.

The 300 Ramayanas

Today I attended a workshop conducted by the students of the Centre for Historical Studies. It was part of their course work and they were exploring the performing arts within the context temple in South India.  One of the performance was by the International Centre for Kathakali and the artists performed Keechaka Vadham. The performance simply mind blowing.  I am not going to review the performance but talk about something quite different.

On the face of it the death of Keechaka is a simple story in Mahabharata. Keechaka, the brother of Sudeshana, the Queen of Viratnagar, lusts for Draupadi. Draupadi seeks Bhima's help and Bhima promptly kills Keechaka. I know the story and I have read it many times. Yet during the performance I was completely engrossed in the story, waiting with bated breath to see what was going to happen next. The kudos is to the artists for ensuring that the audience is completely absorbed with the story. But more than that, it is the license granted by the story to interpret it as they wish, to portray the characters in their own way. Which essentially meant that the characters now inhabit a space within Kerala. So the behaviour, the way the characters behave now takes the Malayali hue.

And that then leads to me to current controversy of A.K. Ramanujan's essay. After all if we want, Ramayana can be reduced down to few sentences:

'Rama, the prince of Ayodhaya, is exiled for 14 years. In exile, his wife is kidnapped. He rescues his wife, returns back home, and is crowned the king.'

Within this simple framework, people now can begin to give shape to their favourite characters. They can build up on Rama. They can give storyline to his exile. They can muse and debate upon what they did in the forest, how they lived, what kind of house they built...the list is endless.  The simple story has captured the imagination of so many people across so many nations.  There are so many versions.  And if I want I can have a version of my own.  The bottom line is that each one of us ends up owning the story. This is the freedom that Ramayana and Mahabharata have granted us.

It is in this context I feel sad that Delhi University Academic Council decided to ban the essay on 300 Ramayanas. Such decisions unfortunately end up diminishing our academic programs. 

Birth of Languages

One of the blogs I like to read is that of Susanna Wickes. Susanna is a Scot residing in Delhi and it is amusing as well as insightful to read her experiences as a foreigner in  India.


Her latest blog on fusion of languages is hilarious but also made me think.  I speak Tamil (after a fashion), English and Hindi. When I am stuck for a word, I like many others, just substitute a word from whichever language happens to be around.  It is as natural as breathing.  There are times when I have jumbled up Tamil, English, and Hindi.

I am much more comfortable in Hindi and English.  Tamil is a much more remote language and as my vocabulary is very poor, I usually sprinkle Hindi and English.  I never realized about this till it was one day brought forcibly to my notice.

We had just moved back to Chennai and I was applying for Grad School. I needed to get some documents xeroxed. I went to the shops but the xerox machine was not working so I came back home. The girl who lived on the ground floor flat asked me where I had gone. 

"To get the documents xeroxed."
"Did you get it done?"
"No, the machine has become kharab."

The entire conversation took place in Tamil except for the italicized Hindi word. For a minute the girl was puzzled. So I obligingly repeated the whole sentence. She thought for some minutes and then light broke on her face.
"Oh you said it in Hindi."

That is when I realized that Kharab was a Hindi word.

As an aside: I still do not know the Tamil equivalent of Kharab.

What I really liked about Susanna's blog was the way her Hindi Teacher explained how this fusion creates new languages. After all Hindi itself is a fusion of Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian. So who knows tomorrow what language might take birth?

Indian sociology

In an attempt to initiate a dialogue between the social sciences and sciences, today we had a talk by one of the sociologist.  The topic was Indian modernity.  In his talk he enumerated the colonial and post-colonial period. He presented how in the colonial period, Gandhi rejected modernity and embraced the traditional India. He reminded us how Aurobindo, Tagore, and Ambedkar themselves in the end realized that modernity or the modernity by the Western society was mechanized and therefore, veered towards the spiritual India.  Then in post-colonial period, he reminded us, Nehru tried to modernize the country by placing importance on science and technology.  He ended the talk by quoting from Tagore's play where the protagonist Nandini rejects the extreme modernity and weaves a new life.

I was waiting to hear what his views were on this issue.  It is an important issue because at the cross-roads we are as a society we realize that there is rapid westernization and yet, we want retain our traditional roots. This dichotomy or this pull and push is much more evident when we move away from our roots like for example, we migrate from village to city, from one state to another state, or one country to another country.  However, I hesitated and even as I hesitated, one of the audience asked:

Where do see India moving in say 20 years? What is your view on Modernity?

And I could visibly see that the speaker had no original thoughts. It was so embarrassing to watch him struggle that I felt sorry for him.

In the Sciences, the tradition is to present an introduction to the field and then present original work. I would assume that the social sciences/humanities have the same trend.  However, I am always disappointed.

Yesterday, the Centre for Indian languages held  Subramania Bharati Memorial lecture. It was the same old story. Speaker after speaker stands up to eulogize Bharati. They pick up his poetry and expound how modern his ideas were, how he was against the caste system blah blah blah.  Year after year the same thing happens that it is sickening to sit and listen to the nonsense.

Surely, there is more to Social Sciences and Humanities than reprising tired old ideas?

Anna Hazare and the Congress

The latest round of exchanges between Anna Hazare and the Government proves just one thing: The Congress has not learnt anything.

Of course the government was not going to do anything on Lokpal bill. The whole episode reminded me of the way my mother would deal with my brother's tantrums. He would demand the moon and my mother would promise him the moon, the sun, and the stars.  No problems.  My mother had no intentions of keeping any of the promises as my brother would discover to his chagrin.  Similarly, the government promised Team Anna and as soon as the fast was over, the government conveniently forgot all about it.  It is completely another point whether the Lokpal bill would have done anything to the rampant corruption. It is also another point what do we define as corruption. The point is that the Congress dealt the threat with rash promises.

However, unlike my brother who was helpless against the authority, Anna Hazare plans to use other weapons at his disposal. The next thing that he plans to do is to ask voters to not vote for Congress in the Hissar by-elections.  That has started a spate of idiotic comments from both camps. Arvind Kejriwal has declared that Anna was above the Parliament (oh really)! The Congress says that Anna should not meddle with politics and should leave politics to professional politicians. Now the latest is that they believe that BJP wants to nominate Anna for President. The mind boggles.

I have no idea whether the Hissar voters will listen to him or not but the Congress is completely rattled.

The IIT controversy

Ever since Narayanamurthy made his comment about falling IIT standards, the newspapers are all abuzz with the news. There was Chetan Bhagat with his comment on Infosys being a bodyshop (we all know that) and the coaching centres defending their territory.

What Narayanamurthy said about falling IIT standards needs to be discussed dispassionately and objectively (both of which our media are incapable of. I am truly thankful that I do not have a television though I have promised my mother to get it before she makes her trip to Delhi. Though with the python/cobra being caught on the campus, I am doubtful whether she will agree to visit me).

Here is my assessment of the education system:

1.  Our students cannot do any problem solving. They lack analytical ability, the ability to think-out-of -the-box, the enthusiasm to explore. Of course I might be biased given that my experience is limited to the Universities and to biological science. But over the past 7 years or so, I find that the students are unwilling to explore. I remember as a Ph.D. student, my advisor would ask me about an experiment in the morning. By evening it would have been done, data analyzed and the next experiment planned. And when something exciting happened, I would rush to his room to show the data.  I don't find that with any of my students. It is very frustrating as a teacher to deal with this kind of apathy.
The problem of course starts at the school level where we encourage students to memorize the book and regurgitate in the examination. They are absolutely discouraged to think or to ask questions. By the time they are ready to enter University, all their natural curiosity has been killed.

2. Poor writing skills. Most of the students have very poor writing skills. This year, with my M.Sc. students,  I experimented. I made them read a paper and write an abstract. I remember in school and as well as for GRE I had to do precis writing.  It was compulsory.  But my students were appalled.  Some of them took 2 hours just to read a 5 page paper.  I asked them did they read in general. No, they did not read newspapers (Okay, none of the family is allowed to point out how I read newspapers.).  No, they did not read novels. No, they did not read anything other than the prescribed text book and the prescribed chapter. Obviously, their reading and writing abilities are poor.  And with all the examinations moving towards objective type, writing ability is never tested.

3. Cracking the examination.  The objective type examination calls for great skills in paper setting.  Most of the coaching centres teach you how to crack the examination- they grill you on the basics, they tell you how to make guess work - and voila you can crack any examination.  And if you give enough of these examinations, you will get through some or at least one.  So as examiners/teachers, the greater onus is on us to make innovative question paper.  Of course, I am articulating it here but I cannot even convince many of colleagues on this issue and neither can I control the quality of questions they prepare.

4. Our faculty. Let us be very honest. The quality of our faculty has gone down. Most of the institutes/universities hire their own students back. I can understand it if you are hiring the best of your students but what is unforgivable is that usually the very worst of them are hired back. The ones who will be the best nodder, like Wilmot Mulliner who was employed as a nodder at Perfecto-Zizzbaum, are the ones who are hired because they will never question any policy decision or indeed  even put up any suggestions towards betterment of the system. Once a person is hired, there is no review, no pressure either to teach or to do research, no punishments, no rewards.  So a faculty has no motivation to do any better.  The great UGC lumps everyone together.  Of course the institutes are one step better than the universities but that is about it.  This is nonsense and absolutely unconducive either for cutting-edge research or first-class teaching. In fact, for those hardworking teachers it is demoralizing and demeaning.

So given the above constraints it is not surprising that IIT standards are falling.  What is appalling is a complete lack of discussion on these issues. The scientific advisors to the Prime Minister are aware these problems but the ground situation has not changed. With great fanfare, they announced the formation of IISERs and 10 new Central University.  I know the faculty who have been hired in some of these places and I have no hopes of these doing any great shakes either.

P.S. Bhatnagar awards are equivalent of India's Nobel Prize.  The list is interesting (it is interesting every year and very predictable). But this year it is particularly interesting because the eligibility criteria were changed so that one of the awardees could be given the prize. After going through the list of awardees through the years, I have made my own list as to who is and who is not eligible for awards. It is not for public consumption but if anyone is interested, I can mail them the list. 

Nobel Prize 2011 for physiology or medicine

Immunology was never my favourite subject.  This year the Nobel Prize has been won by three immunologists. Unfortunately, one of them died three days ago. While the Nobel committee mulls over the issue, I will air my peeve against the Indian newspapers.

The big news for them is that the scientist died before the Nobel Prize was announced. Oh for heaven's sake! Could you talk a little bit about the science?  The big news is not that one of them died but the fact that it has been awarded to three immunologist who made big contributions to the field. While I do not expect any erudite comment from any Indian newspaper (I gave up that expectation long time back), I do expect a balanced comment. But then our newspapers are prone to exaggeration, sensationalize, and hyperbole.  So much so that they can be expected to turn any serious topic into a silly discussion: all noise and no substance.

To return back to the Nobel Prize- Biologists/biochemists typically can be awarded under two categories. One is under physiology/medicine and the other is chemistry.  Most of the biologists started their career as chemists and the border between traditional chemistry/physics/biology has become completely blurred. So now I am waiting to hear who has been awarded for chemistry.

Life is four quotations- May the least quotation win

The General Finance Rules, also known as Swamy's GFR, has become the bane of existence.  According to these rules, which were written in Stone Age and which the finance officer insists we follow, we have to call for open tender for any purchase above Rs 15,000/- We have to also advertise the tender in our website.  And then we have to ensure that we have four quotations and the quotations must be opened in the presence of the finance officer/representative. 

The government of India has truly gone berserk.  With rising prices, what do they think we can purchase for Rs. 15,000?  At least that is what I thought till the planning commission told the Supreme Court that Rs 32 per day is sufficient for one person living in urban area.  I tried to follow it.  Bananas alone cost Rs 60 per dozen.  So if I purchase even only one banana that is Rs 5/- gone from my daily expenditure.  At this point I gave up. Or maybe I should have given up the banana.

To come back to the four quotations- it used to be 3 quotations some years back- it is done ostensibly to prevent corruption. As though four quotations will solve the problem.  All you have to do is to tell your favourite vendor to give you 4 quotations and you are in business.

On the other hand, if anyone wants a good laugh, all you have to do is to visit our website and look at list of tenders.

Anna Hazare and the fight against corruption

The Tamilnadu election is truly an eye-opener. The politicians are so shameless! Nothing deters them from their sole objective- to capture power and if the way is through purchasing votes, why then they are ready for it. If the EC stops cars, then they will use mortuary vans. And surely, it is not illegal to drop money in the aarti plate when they are welcomed by the householders in the traditional manner.

Anna Hazare is on strike. The papers and the TV is full of it.  Facebook, the way we communicate now, is talking about it. Not so our science students.  Most of them are unaware of the issue. And the rest do not care. I was not surprised when most of them professed ignorance of the Jasmine revolution.

It is little worrisome. I am not asking them to carry banners and start shouting slogans. But a little bit of awareness of the world around them wouldn't hurt.

It is in this context that I welcome the move announced by the VC. That students will have to at least 4 credits course outside their domain. If we can get our science students to show a little bit more animation...

Dahlias in Winter

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

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

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

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

Some things never change

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

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

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

The importance of seminars

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

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

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

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

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