Light humour

Got to hear this in the middle of a class on optics in spectroscopy:

Question: 'So, what's new?'

Answer: 'c / lambda'

Incarnating ideas Addendum

My friend Kaustubh Mote observes that the audience completely lost the message of 'Avatar' in the jungles and images of Pandora. He hints at a few parallels between the reel and real worlds that, I feel, are worth pondering over.

One of the main issues addressed by Avatar is that of destruction of nature as we see it. The ethics behind infiltrating into other species' ecological territories are explored from the different viewpoints of the biologist and the army general. The search for Unobtainium in Pandora has striking similarities to that for oil in the Gulf and Iraq. Large scale deployment of men and women, arms and ammunition; an initial appeasment policy followed by a rap on the knuckles and a bloody war to make the avatars stand in line and behave... haven't we seen glimpses of all this over that last decade or so?

Such sensitive issues seem to have disappeared in the complex, mind-blowing visual and 3-D effects. Talk of the snake biting the charmer!

Thanks Mote, this post is entirely due to you.

Science

'Appreciate science for what it is', says Dr. Venki Ramakrishnan, one of the Nobel laureates in Chemistry for the year 2009. Touring southern India for the first time after being awarded the Nobel, he muses rather amusingly on the nearly twenty-fold increase in the audience strength for his lecture after a group of Europeans decided to burden him with extra responsibilities outside his domain. He also stresses on the idea of science being a journey rather than a destination. In his words, 'You can't go into science thinking of a Nobel Prize'.

Without daring to make any comparisons whatsoever, a similar thought was echoed not too long ago by my roomie, Sriram. According to him, people in India (and that includes students of science) have a very blurry vision of what science is about. Most think more scientific research would lead to more applications, and a general alleviation of standard of living. In fact, this is but one aspect of science. A lot of science has got to do with the very pursuit of science, which can be understood only by experience. My teacher in New Delhi puts it simply, 'Science is not a spectator sport. To know it, you have to get in and get your hands dirty'.

To this day, science remains a niche enterprise, with a whopping majority of the world completely unaware of what it means.

Incarnating ideas

What you see is what you believe, or does it go the other way? The netbook on my lap is there, but only because I think it is there. Would it disappear if I refuse to believe in its existence? Or would that amount to running away from the truth? In a world experiencing a tumultous knowledge revolution, the very meaning of reality seems to be changing every single minute. So much so that virtual reality games are selling like hot cakes.

Avatar provided the latest unreal experience to me. Sitting on the same seat, yet feeling like I was transported to another planet, this was one grand celebration of visual imagery and technological excellence. Come to think of it, the plot is a rather simple one: guy meets girl, they fall in love, villain wants to ruin their world, guy becomes hero, saves his girl and a small part of her world, and they live happily ever after. You don't need a James Cameroon for this, do you? Our famed Indian film industry must be dishing out tens of releases with such storylines every Friday. What sets this movie apart is the unabashed use of imaginations, colour and special effects to create a virtual world that the onlooker loves and lives in for the couple of hours that the movie lasts for.

The 3-D effects leave their mark right from the first shot. Be it the flutter of a butterfly, the buzz of a bee, the drone of the choppers, or the jaw-dropping fights between the monsters of Pandora and the protagonist, Avatar is a treat to the graphics junkie, the movie buff and the curious biologist - and am pretty sure Mr. Cameroon must be singing his way to the bank already.

From the trees of Pandora to the streets of Bombay, movies have come to be one of the strongest means of affecting opinions and actions across the globe. In my brief stay outside India till date, there have been numerous occasions when I have been quizzed on the authenticity of Slumdog Millionare. That one movie seems to have brought India closer to the world than anything else I can think of.

At the end of the day, a movie remains the manifestation of but one person's vision (or lack of it!). It is the power of cinema that magnifies this vision and brings it into the minds of millions across the planet, influencing ideas and ideals.

Snowy day - Dec. 9 '09

It has been a day of quite a few firsts here in Madison.

The first snow storm of winter'09.

The first time in twenty years that the University has closed down due to the storm. (Madison is known to work relentlessly come what may, and it is common to see people reporting to work in spite of minor illnesses like fever, flu, etc)

My first step into a foot and a half of snow, my first snowball fight!

The first online class I attended. This was for a homework discussion that happened on an e-forum this morning. Though incoherent on a few occasions it was interesting and we managed to gloss over our work alright.

Do check out the photos to get an idea of what Madison and I look like today!

D. C.

A long weekend close to Thanksgiving celebrations meant I could fly out of Madison to Washington D C to meet my sister Vedha, Arun and little Rishi (my nephew). Stopping over at Ashish's place for a night was also good fun - catching up about school days and how he used to spread all kinds of rumours about me, speaking to school friends and eating awesome food.

The sub urban city of Leesburg, where Vedha stays, is just off D. C., inside the state of Virginia. It gives a small town feeling, with large open spaces, sloping roads and beautiful houses, like her's. After a sumptuous Thanksgiving lunch, I had a short nap, only to wake up to Rishi's puzzled looks about why I was the only guest refusing to leave his home. It took some convincing for him to accept me and my presence over the next three days :)

The Air and Space Museum, a part of the Smithsonians, which we visited the next day, was huge and really well managed. I particularly liked the section on the Japanese and German bombers. The facilities of guided tours, and random oral demonstrations, gave meaning to our time there. Otherwise, a visit to a museum gets reduced to a mere walk in the park.

The next morning, a short ride on the Metro took me to the heart of D C. Bright, sunny and really windy, it was a perfect day for walking around the place. Add to that my friends Pallavi, Abhilash, Abir and Rachna, who came over from their universities for that day, it sure was gonna be fun. Our first stop was the Holocaust museum. Three expansive floors dissected every detail of events like Hitler's rise to power, the Nazi atrocities, and the victory of the Allied powers. As is customary, every visitor is given an identity card that tells the real story of a person who lived during the Holocaust . I was Herman Klein, a Jew from Czechoslovakia who was deported to Auschwitz at the age of 16 but escaped certain death when American troops liberated a concentration camp in Dachau, Germany.

Walking through wagons used by the Nazis to hound off Jews to concentration camps, listening to audio recordings and watching videos of Jews being persecuted... all this was spine chilling. We came out of the Museum after a good three hours - some shaken, some depressed... everyone quiet. It was a gripping experience, just like I had imagined.

Our next stop was the scene of the gatecrashed dinner (so much so about security, does such a thing even exist today?)- the White House. The house was being prepared for World AIDS day, while the area right in front of the House was buzzing with anti-war, anti-racism demonstrations, tourists, cameras and the press. To get a decent look into the monuments around DC, you better put on your walking shoes. Parking is expensive and hard to find, and the monuments seem close but are actually quite a walk away from each other.

The Washington Monument, built in memory of the country's first President, George Washington, towers over every other structure in the vicinity. It also gives a scenic view of the Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol Building and the White House. Our final stop was the Museum of American History, where we managed to hover over the 'Science in America' section in an hour. Walking through the beginning of chemistry research in the United States of America (at Johns Hopkins) all the way through the Manhattan Project up to the current thrust on DNA sequencing, this section did a neat job of presenting science to the layman. I also came across a few witty quotes (see attached images). Each Museum is a world in its own and one can spend a whole month by just visiting the Smithsonians.

A nice dinner at American Flatbread, with pizzas baked in a brick-oven, and using organic ingredients, wrapped the DC visit. I flew back to Chicago next morning and got back to a cold, rainy Madison by evening.

The past week, like most other weeks, has zipped past. I am already staring at a couple of exams and the end of this first semester in graduate school. Phew.... time does fly!

Ice skating

In the third of four class gatherings that are scheduled for the current semester, we decided to try out ice skating yesterday. 'The Shell' is one of the three main recreational facilities at the University, and houses the only ice rink on campus. I was hoping my experience with a pair of rickety old skates (that had four rubber wheels each) would come in handy here. With Ross' and Emma's reassuring presence, and fellow novice Amber for company, I pretended all positive and gung-ho about the evening.

After a wild goose chase for the rink, and some contradicting directions, we got to the place, which is but a short walk from the department. Somehow, I managed to put on my skates and walk to the rink. After ensuring that my skates were tied tightly, I was off. Not in a flash, though. The initial few steps were scary and I could foresee myself sprawled on all fours pretty soon. The first round was completed with the wall as my companion. But by the end of the third, I felt expert enough to get away from it.

The kids here skate like pros. I have a hunch that every newborn wears skates before crying, shortly after birth. And by the time I would near my finish line, the whistle would sound and everyone would turn around. Hmph! So near, yet...

All in all, a great experience. Wisconsin seems to be a popular destination for winter sports and I just took my first step yesterday. Looking forward to cross-country skiing pretty soon.

Undergrads in IISc starting 2011

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has announced that it shall start accepting undergraduates for admission to its four year Bachelor of Science program in 2011. The issue was under consideration for a couple of years until it was accepted by the committee responsible for it.

Tata Institute, as it is locally known, has always occupied a niche in higher learning in India. It caught the fancy of many European researchers when India was still a British colony and was spoken of in high regard in scientific circles. Morris Travers, the first director of the Institute, famously said," There is nothing like it in India, and nothing better in Great Britain". Over the years, the Institute has maintained its high standards of research and charted new research areas as well.

The question of introducing undergraduate learning was a quintessential one, given the possible advantages that could be enjoyed by the Institute and its students. The former would benefit from a continuous feed of science students for its Masters and Doctoral programs. The students, fortunate enough to study at IISc, would also enjoy a stimulating atmosphere surrounded by people breathing science.

Prof P Balaram, the current director of IISc, paid a visit to my Masters school - IIT Delhi, a few months ago. In his interview with CHEMCOS, the science magazine at IITD; he clearly mentions the conflicting opinions within the Institute about the idea of opening its gates for undergraduate classes.

It is interesting to hear this for a couple of reasons. One, IISc has always been a supporter of undergraduate learning in science. It offers scholarships like the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojna (KVPY) and fellowships for summer research. Each year, hundreds of undergrads get a taste of research at the highest level and many go on to pursue careers in science. Therefore, the institute has been shaping young minds for decades. Secondly, any scientific endeavour requires a steady influx of young talent. The IISc is no exception. On many occasions, I have heard professors lamenting about the dampening of scientific enthusiasm among kinds across the planet. The best way to tackle this problem would be to start a serious undergrad program on its own campus.

One possible reason for the apprehension in IISc's approach could be the lack of qualified teachers and infrastructure. There is absolutely no doubt about the research capabilities of the Institute. However, undergraduate teaching is a completely different ball game. Most of the students have very little idea of what they have jumped into and they need proper guidance at this stage of their careers. A lot of adjustment is warranted on the part of researchers so as to address such issues. They are used to solving research problems and working with graduate stduents who are more serious about their work. Undergrads can be a differnet ball game altogether. Also, the existing infrastructure is only enough to keep the Institute up and running. An influx of undergrads would require huge investments.

The idea seems really lucrative and, on a personal note, I am eagerly looking forward to see how things shape up. I have always felt that a two year Masters program in chemistry and physics would have worked really well at IISc because the teaching and laboratory resources have for such courses are already present. If handled carefully, this program could work wonders for Indian science.

Special Post 1

In Feb 2008, I attended a course organized by the Art Of Living Foundation. Writing about the course and how it has changed me will require another long post. Here, my teacher writes about a school started by his efforts in a tribal village near Benares.

Both the writer and the cause make this the first special guest post on my blog.

Blanked out

These two words do a pretty good job of describing my state before I started writing this post. I am taking a small digression from the recent trend of writing about my experiences and, instead, will attempt to uncover a few issues that I read in an article (published in a leading Indian magazine a few years ago) a few moments ago. I strongly urge you to read this article before proceeding any further, so as to understand the points made by me.

The article starts rather promisingly, describing some general notions about IITians. For the uninitiated, IIT stands for the Indian Institute of Technology, a network of Engineering and Science Schools across India that seems to have gained substantial repute for the 'quality' of students churned out each year. The article then moves on to muse on whether the IITs have served the purpose with which Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of free India, envisioned these institutes. All seemed good and I thought I had come across a frank, sugar-free, no-holds-barred view on the ghettos of academic India.

What followed was a shocking self-contradictory diversion into a needless ego trip about how IITians are great and how everything about them is even greater. Passing an examination is equated with academic excellence, which makes me question the very meaning of learning that the honourable author seems to have committed to memory in high school. With colleagues as 'extraordinary' as the author claims he had, I am sure something went wrong later, given the nature of personalities romanticised.

There are simply too many instances to be taken apart and trashed. In fact, I am yet to catch hold of a better example of the narrow, ignorant viewpoints that I came across on multiple occasions during my student days at IIT. In the interest of space and time, I shall limit myself to a only a few more absurd statements made in the article.

IITians are proclaimed as being 'the chosen' ones. I am extremely interested in meeting the 'choosers'. Why did they choose what they chose, and what did they choose them for - tagging them away to farcicial lives, elevating them on the materialistic scale to seats of authority, voice and power (where such ludicrous articles could come from). IITians have also been said to graduate with 'tribal loyalties'. I am sure our respected tribals are better mannered, more cultured and have clearer perpectives in life. And what loyalties are being spoken about here, when cases of students littering their own campuses, cheating in examinations, and abusing faculty members are too many to be quoted.

The article concludes with shocking examples of immodesty, ignorance, pomposity and superiority complex.

It is unfortunate that such narrow minded views are expressed on a public forum. I can only hope that the IITians sharing similar views are a minority.

Gandhi quote

'Be the change that you wish to see in the world' - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

One of his quotes that is really popular in the U.S.

Diwali dinner

I haven't written in quite a while and there is lots to tell. I hope to catch up in a couple of quick posts so that I don't end up writing a history text.

Our Diwali dinner turned out pretty well. The food rocked, courtesy Sankar (who is now the hottest single male in Madison, for obvious reasons!). The chhole and biryani was delicious and the masala for the dosa also came out pretty well. Sriram decided to add a bit of his own to the raita and Vinod finished up with the dosa, alongwith some eager participation by Rohit and Nikhil. With some chips, juice and Nikhil's yummy halwa to start off (and Raja's capsicum as well) you just don't get such dinners every evening.

Add to that, meeting twenty new people over a few hours, it was good fun altogether. Most of the janta was from the BITS-computer science gang, but there were a few lesser mortals as well. The news of the lip-smacking dinner rippled through Oak tree and we had people banging on the door, pleading to be let in (well, not quite, there was one friend who took the liberty, and rightfully so, of coming in for food and gossip). Chitra, one of our next-door neighbours, crooned her way into the dinner, and to me, that was one of the highlights of the evening.

Fruits and ice cream were the perfect finish to the dinner. Photos were clicked, phone numbers exchanged and people started to leave. Once everyone was gone, we cleaned up (and in pretty good time at that! nice to have four people around) and called it a day.

None of the usual celebrations that one would have in India, no fireworks (thankfully!), no getting up early morning for an oil bath, going to each others' homes with sweets and namkeen, none of the boxes and boxes of sweets, dry fruits, no electric lights, no Diwali mela... but a simple, nice first Diwali in Madison.

Vinod's birthday

Monday evening: Chole chaval, ice cream, donuts and chai (Tea in hindi) led to Vinod's twenty second birthday, his first outside India. The lead up to the day was really scary for the poor guy, he was terrorized by all of us of getting beaten to pulp. It turned out to be a bit of a whimper and he got away with just a couple of blows.

After some deliberation, we have settled for a weekend treat at a Mexican place. Before that comes Friday and Diwali dinner at home, followed by Saturday at the Indian graduate students association. About the dinner.. we started with making two columns of recipes, one that we knew to prepare and another that we wanted to eat, and sadly the two didn't meet at a single row. Having been humbled by this simple exercise, we have big plans of learning to cook some delicacies within three days.

More on that as things unfold and recipes are concocted. God bless the guinea pigs.

Nobel pursuits

The big story this week has been the Nobel (and patrticularly one more than the other Nobels). 'Ill-deserved,' 'but, what did he do to get it?', 'oh! this is just a recognition of the aims rather than achievements', 'the Peace Nobel has always had a political twist to it', 'the UN wanted to bring the two wars into focus'.... so on and so forth. These are just some of the comments I heard and overheard in the University.

My interests in all things Nobel started with chemists whom I read about in College. There was something novel about what they did and how they did it. And not just that, many Nobel winning works have also led to tangible results. I am not well read in Economics, but I don't think I would be straying far from the truth in saying that the theories and works of Nobel winning Economists have had far reaching effects on people. This should have been most true for the Peace Nobel.

People in India have always said that the Nobel missed Gandhiji. In fact, the Nobel committee did not give a Peace prize the year he died, citing the lack of a deserving candidate. A similar act here would have looked different and worth appreciation. People have often questioned as to why Gandhiji was overlooked for the prize. It has been suggested that he was only a nationalist, concerned with all things Indian, did not have a global impact, had not held any peace congresses, possessed fluctuating styles of work, went far deep into his principles of non violence and led an enormous mass of population, most of which had no clue of his ideology. If similar arguments would be applied in this year's prize, I don't see a single case being satisfied.

This issue aside, I admire the President for his earnest handling of issues and hope that he delivers the goods. It remains to be seen whether the prize does more harm than good to his image as a leader. This has definitely uncovered some of the issues any committee might consider while deciding an awardee.

News from home: An upcoming Diwali dinner with some friends. Really looking forward to some yummy food and meeting new people. Had a nice chat with Chasha, K Bhai and Saikat after a long time. Nothing like speaking to friends!

More later.

Chicago, classes and Saturday

This last week has been power packed and has screamed through. Friday was exciting in that I had my weekly discussion that went off to satisfaction. I also finalised my weekend in Chicago, which was planned over 30 minutes. From another ditch of a plan to an awesome weekend, it couldn't have been better.

Anupam called up on Friday evening telling me that he would be in Chicago the following morning, indirectly telling me to get there asap. The early morning ride from Madison was smooth and I dozed off as soon as I got on the bus. Something shook me up from my nap as we reached downtown and a monster of a buiding zoomed past me. I was stunned for the first few seconds, this was the first time I was seeing so many skyscrapers in one place. I hurriedly called up Ashish to tell him about what crazy place i thought it was only to discover that his home was a couple of blocks away. He came down and we spent a good three-four hours together. I am hoping he comes over to Madison sometime before the winter kicks in.

Next, I moved to Niladri Da's place and alongwith Anupam, walked to the nearest Puja pandal to catch what was but a glimpse of the festivities shaking up India. I randomly ran into Ruban, an old friend from Noida, having last met him about ten years ago. Now, how often does that happen? It was great to catch up with him and recount our childhood days of him being scolded by his mom, our college days and all the other gossip about common friends.

We moved on to Chicago downtown and took a nice walk along the lake side. Not for nothing is Lake Michigan one of the Great Lakes. I am waiting to check out the ocean on the East coast now. We decided to visit Sears Tower, the second tallest building in the world. A short wait later, we found ourselves on the 103rd floor, overlooking an expanse of 50 miles, four states and a clear view of the Windy city. I also stood on the Skydeck, which is a glass box jutting out of the building... really scary but worth every step laid on it. Its not everyday that you look down and see cars zooming by a 100 floors below! Moving on, I walked down to South Michigan Avenue where I met Nishant, my brother from Chennai. One should have an elder brother in every city :). Mexican food, chocolate and sometime in his wonderful apartment later, I took a cab back home. The cabbie was joking about never every stepping onto the Skydeck, not even for his life.

We moved out early next morning and took a train to what Niladri calls the O Hare airport (making it sound like the most sacred place in the United States!). The idea of renting a car was Anupam's, and it turned out to be great. We drove to a place called Indiana dunes, that has some natural sand dunes and a long beach by Lake Michigan (I thought only oceans formed beaches). We spent the better part of the day walking around the place and got back by evening. A cuppa coffee later, we headed to Devon street, the India town of Chicago, for dinner. It felt different to be in what looked like any market area in south Delhi, but the very idea of huddling together in a foreign country is one that I cannot come to terms with.

I knew that I would stick around in the city for too long and Nishant's suggestion of taking the 6:30 pm bus went unheard. I guess it turned out to be lucky for me and I sidestepped a hailstorm by twenty minutes. Walking through the University at two in the morning was a different feeling and just the sight of the Chemistry building was great. The already quiet town was even more so, except for the lone teenage hung over the weekend party.

What looked like a great weekend was turning out to be less so as the week started. The homework submissions became more daunting and somehow I managed a face saving Wednesday. We have chemistry seminars on Thursday mornings and my chemical instrumentation professor, Prof. John Wright, spoke about his work. I have attended two of his research talks earlier and fared slightly better on this one, having been able to go beyond the first couple of slides, for once! I hope to progress slide-by-slide and I guess I might get something inside my head by the 100th talk.

The Friday lab in chemical instrumentation was great fun as we experimentally verified what we has read in class and worked out on Mathcad (a mathematics software like Mathematica).

I spent most of Saturday shopping for food and clothes. It has been raining lightly over the last week or so and Madison seems to be getting ready to welcome the winter. The farmers market is rather well organised. I was expecting something like our subzi mandi but I guess I will have to wait for some more time to experience the addictive chaos and the spontaneity of the Indian vegetable market.

News from home - Shankar is enjoying his Bose headphones, Vinod has to read five papers over the weekend and Sriram finally managed to get back the money he owed to his wierd friend by accompanying him for weekend shopping.

Looking forward to yet another week of learning.

What is India?

'You guys don't care too much about time, do you?', asked a friend, today. For a moment, I was taken aback, not knowing if an accusation was implied . I was relieved when he went on to tell me about one of his professors who had spent some time in India and had come back with such stories. I don't remember how I answered his query, must have mumbled something about generalisations not holding good in India. What then, is the truth of India?

I went to the city library earlier this week and found a full section on books on India and Indians. (What was more surprising was to find another section on Pakistan sitting right next to the Indian one. At least the books seem to coexist peacefully.) Every other author seems to have mastered the knowledge of the history of India. Yet, most Indians seem to have a naive and narrow view of our own country, giving more importance to petty issues like religion, money, movies and cricket than literacy, ethics, pollution - issues that require far more attention.

Shashi Tharoor puts it rather eloquently in one of his books that India is an entity greater than the sum of its parts (playing with words comes naturally to him, albeit at some cost). 'My friend is going to India on a month long project. She wants to see the 'real' India', quipped a friend some days ago. I then had the tough job of first figuring out what the 'real' India is, and then guiding my friend's friend towards it. I was lectured upon the reality of education in India by my roommate. 'Indians have to study for a job, dude. What's the use of research when it has no applications? You can't survive in India, dude.' I choose to postpone my comments on this. Such illustrious views deserve being trashed separately.

What then is the one thing that is true for every part of India or every Indian? Is there such a thing at all? I am struggling to come up with an answer myself, more so from a place that is another huge melting pot. Here, some Indians seem to take pride in speaking Hindi, Tamil, etc in public. Others trash everything that has enabled them to reach here, and take to all things American like ducks to water. Still others choose to play safe, pretending ignorance of issues other than their chosen areas of work.

Politics is an issue of enormous proportions in the epic that is India. Centuries of leaders, sects, followers and faiths have ensured the present confusion that seems to pervade every political entity the country.No one has a clear agenda or set of beliefs, but even that is a generalisation that I overlooked while writing.

All generalisations seem to break down when the issue is as special as the idea of India.

Cattle class, etc.

'Cattle class' was talk of the town, and indeed the whole country, last week. But I don't think the man was far from the truth. For one, it is a phrase used to describe the economy class, and very apt at that. Isn't that the way we are shoved in and out of economy class airlines, railways, buses, shared autos, rickshaws, possibly every mode of transport. A seat for two can fit three, and even four, if required. Railways is an epic in itself. The berth you just reserved for yourself does not belong to you, it is government property, so it is as much yours as it is mine. Saikat, my friend from Kolkata once told me of this seat-grabbing ploy he once saw. It involved fake shit, which people would hurl through the windows of trains, so that no one would want to sit on that seat. And just think about the locals running in Mumbai. I guess cows have it way easier, moving around carefree on the boulevards of India, sans red lights, one ways, etc. I can never forget Saikat's hilarious rendition of how he travels in the locals, fighting with every other person around him, for an extra heel of space. Bring as many new trains as you might want to, introduce the metro, a/c buses; things are likely not to change.

What else... the fire alarm has been buzzing around in our apartment pretty often over the last week. For some reason, I think its due to Vinod and his cooking skills, if not his cooker. For the uninitiated, there is something gone awry about everything that Vinod does. He lost his laptop and backpack at a coffee shop in Barcelona, he worked his ass off on an internship in Finland and was given an average grade, he forgot his I 20 and still made it the US, he forgot his certificates, his cooker does not whistle.. the list is endless, and growing.

Sridhar is right with my question in the last post, it was Jean Paul Sartre who declined the Nobel on philosophical grounds. The other voluntary refusal was made by Le Duc Tho, a Vietnamese activist who refused the 1973 prize that he was jointly awarded with Henry Kissinger, because Vietnam was still not at peace.

I went to a Hay Ride today, not quite cattle class though. Had a nice time reaching the place, with Richard, my Tour of Madison guide, driving me to the place. The ride itself was no big deal, a group of people driving around in a tractor. But it was a nice time playing volleyball, meeting a lot of people and eating very good food.

We did our bi-weekly shopping yesterday, so the fridge is full. We have stocked up lots of cookies and stuff to snack up. Sankar's got a new set of Bose headphones and Sriram's advisor is coming back from Princeton in ten days.

The festive season starts in India, and I am sure to miss it dearly. As a kid, navratri would mean staying up late on the pretext of raas garba, running around with friends and getting up late in the mornings. Over the last two years, the fun reduced, but I still managed to sneak out for an evening of dance and fun. I don't know what's gonna happen here. Would be nice to get some of the festive season in India to Madison.

Thursday updates

My weekends seem to have shifted to Thursday and Friday... the things that a single homework does to your schedule! I attended a proteomics lecture today, got very little between the ears, and learnt more at lunch with the speaker. That Harvard has around 8000 labs in all and takes in less than 70 students every year was news to me.

Till not so long ago, I was performing titrations in labs and despairing whenever my readings would be way off the expected values (which was more often than not). I also had the honour of recording the highest ever error in gravimetry during my masters. I zoomed out of every window on the Prof's grading scale and was lucky to escape with a B-. The students in the course I TA for have a pretty challenging job at hand. The tolerance levels are stringent and their experiments are graded on the basis of their accuracy and precision. The only saving grace is that this contributes to only a third of their total grade for the experiment, meaning that even if something goes wrong, they still earn some points.

I also stumbled onto the fact that Hargobind Khorana worked for ten years at an Institute five minutes from my place and was also awarded the Nobel during this period. That reminds me of an interesting story that I would pose as a question here. Who is the only person to have declined the Nobel prize? Answer coming up on Sunday (cheap publicity, I know!).

Racing against time

Coming just a month into graduate school, the title sounds a week bit exaggerated. But this is what I have started doing, and I am getting increasingly convinced with each passing day that this is how things would be during my stay in Madison.

Weekly homeworks: I never really gave them a damn in undergrad. But it is one big race here. The whole of Sunday goes away in solving equations, fitting curves and trying to get a grip of what the prof says in class. And this is just homework. The lectures are related but need their own time. And the classes are just picking up their pace.

TA: labs and discussion. Labs on Monday and Wednesday require that I demonstrate the basics of the experiments for the day, while on Fridays I try to take the students to the next set of experiments. I spent close to four hours preparing for a 50 minute discussion, which turned out to be pretty ok, I guess. What beats me is how I will be managing once classes catch steam.

The town had a triathlon today. Some were out running, biking and swimming; and the majority was out cheering, clapping amd playing music on the streets. Everytime I see so many people running or jogging, I am reminded of a book I started reading recently where the author wonders how this place would look from a chopper. People seem to be running round the clock from place A to place B. Why couldn't the people in place A just stay there and let the others be wherever they were? Guess the author would need some convincing on that.

The last seven days have disappeared in a haze. Looking forward to another week of learning.

First week of classes

Monday and Tuesday passed off pretty quietly. The big difference I could see around the place was the increase in numbers. All the undergrads were getting back. Bascom Hill was full of colourful shirts, shorts and skirts stretching out in the sun, playing power frisbee and having fun.

Wednesday was day one for classes in the University. The Department was brimming with activity, classes were running full, the bell assumed more meaning, office staff became busier and the knowledge cycle gained the yearly acceleration. We got our first weekly homework in the first class and having struggled with it for three days, I have had a satisfying learning experience working it out. Till very recently, a homework used to mean copying a set of notes blindly. Thursday was an easy day while Friday meant I would be facing the set of students I would be TAing for. The discussion scheduled for 50 minutes got done in 20.

Labour Day meant that I had a long weekend ahead. Saturday went in house cleaning, lazing around and the bi-weekly shopping stint at Woodman's. Vinod and I started our confectionary consumption duo, our home finally got a trash can, and we had masala dosa for dinner.

Sunday and Monday flew away with the homework assignment. Most of the town seemed to be getting back from the hangover of the Friday football game. The town is basking in the pleasant sunshine and the mornings are getting cooler. Sriram is diving ever-so-deeper into his books. I am getting increasingly convinced that he will end up as a brilliant, mad mathematician in one of the topmost mathematics institutes of India. Vinod has been attempting to teach Sri the beauty of Bollywood music. Raja came home for dinner yesterday and has gone back with a recipe for masala dal. What else... we also got an interesting visit by our neighbours who were looking for a bulb that would fit into the a/c vent.

Tuesday is working day here but I don't have any classes. Its funny with these holidays. Americans do no labour on Labour Day (sorry.. that is as far as I can get). For a first week, its been steady. I have my first lab on Wednesday. Hoping that everything goes well.

TA training and the Tour of Madison

I have finished a highly satisfying week long training for my job as a Teaching Assistant (TA). The work load was pretty light and I managed to learn a great deal. One of my teachers in College used to say that things change when you get to the 'other' side of the table, in class, and I am at the brink of discovering if that is true.

The training began with the advice of staying away from dating our students! We had a couple of sessions that showed us how we could present ourselves in class, deal with tough situations and keep everyone occupied. We also had a public speaking session that included a hilarious game of the whole class building a chain-story. I got to know that I would be TAing for an analytical chemistry course, so the rest of my training would occur separately from the rest of the class. We are five students and together with two senior TAs, Pam - the lab director, Gery - the undergrad chemistry advisor; and Prof Josh Coon - the instructor of the course, make up the ten-strong staff for CHEM 329 - the analytical labs.

We started with basic safety training and lab practices. Most of these were already outlined to me in College, but I thought they were emphasised upon strongly here. We also practised the first three experiments, I made a mistake and learnt that it was one that the undergrads are also know to make. The practises were followed by discussions and things went on pretty smoothly.

The Tour of Madison is organised by a group of organisations that work for International students in collaboration with a number of churches in Madison. A short welcome in the Red Gym, which was once a seat of armour, kickstarted the tour. We were made to choose drivers, based on their preferences, who would show us around the town. Someone asked for two European women, another wanted to take out three Indian guys while many called upon just about anyone. My guides Patrick (neuroscience grad) and Richard (IT guy) and fellow tourists Leo and Shaw (both law students) seemed to be a nice bunch. We drove around Madison for a couple of hours. The highlights were the walk around the Capitol, the stop at Lake Wingra (where one can rent boats and sails), the drive through the arboretum and the forest (that had two panthers prowling around) and the final stop at Tina and Bob's place. This stop at an American family's place was also part of the tour. I had the best vegetarian food outside home in Madison and met a lot of people - Americans, Germans, Chinese (one fourth of international students in Madison are Chinese). And that rounded up the day for me. I got back home and a nice meal. Sri made something that was supposed to be rasam and was about to throw it down the drain, but we decided to be nice to him instead.

The week that was...

I have the difficult task of putting the happenings of an entire week in a single post. I really want to get even with my schedule and I thought I should set things right immediately.

Monday morning saw me taking the twelve minute walk from Oak Tree to the Daniels Building of the Chemistry department. Neatly laid out pavements, little gardens dotted with flowers, pedestrian signals, overtaking bikers, cool breeze, sunshine kissing your skin... I enjoy my walk and hope to continue with it till the mercury comes calling (or falling, rather!).

I met Stephenie, the graduate program coordinator and Sue, the Analytical Chemistry coordinator. I was received warmly, spoken to patiently and made to feel at home. A single question was answered verbally and supplemented by a two page printout. Information is used and passed around at a fast pace here. Coordinators hold the key to the proper functioning of any program and, more often than not, do a pretty good job of making things easy for the faculty and students. I also registered for a course and got my students' identity card. Some formalities later, I walked back home for lunch.

All grad students were welcomed to a continental breakfast, photo session and introduction in the department on Wednesday. My class seems to have an interesting mix of people that includes the biggest basketball fan in the world, two dads, a guy who counted till 12,000 in ones in class five, a girl who was sure that no one in the class got her name, and others.

What followed on Wednesday and Thursday was a set of advisory exams. These were supposed to point out deficiencies in the learning of an entering grad student and the grades would help in course selection. Now that I have enrolled into the courses of my choice, I don't think my exams were that bad. We followed the exams with a pizza session (I have a feeling I will see many more pizza sessions - after talks, before talks, at picnics, at home and away). I met a few people, said hello, asked about their undergrad school, told them a little bit about India. A common remark was that my English was good. I didn't know what to say, so I must have mumbled a thank you, or something of that sort. But people were very polite and courteous, keeping the door ajar for the person behind them, offering to press the floor button, allowing others to steer their carts past theirs in supermarkets, etc.

Friday began with a meeting of the Analytical Chemistry division, for which I was late by five minutes. I felt horrible about it, even though the meeting had barely started, and have decided never to be late for an appointment ever in life. This was followed by a one-on-one with my advisor regarding course selection. Prof. John Wright has been in Madison for more than forty years and spoke with a mentor's assurance.

I was off pretty early on Friday and spent some time walking around the place. Saturday and Sunday flew away at home, apart from a nice long walk with Sri. The highlight was probably the pulao I cooked on Sunday afternoon. It tastes really well with the Sambhar masala mom made for me.

TA orientation started on Monday morning. I guess I will write about that in a separate post. We went for groceries this evening inaugurating our bus passes. Copps supermarket offers fresh fruits and vegetables, plus the very best of muffins, brownies and cakes. We also met an Indian couple on our way out, had a long chat and ended up with an open invitation to their place. We seem to have bought enough stuff for two weeks and had an awesome dinner of dal, aaloo, rice and buttermilk, topping it up with some chocolate cake. Our friend Raja particularly enjoyed the homemade touch to his food, quite different from the 'cornflakes and milk' dinner that he would make do with otherwise.

Sri is busy taking Vinod's case as Raja and Sankar watch on. I have to crash now, planning to get up early and burn out all that chocolate in the morning. My day starts at ten and I am looking forward.

Moving into Oak Tree

It has been quite a while since I sat down to write about all that has been happening around me. After a pleasant stay at Pradeep's place, I moved into my apartment at Oak Tree a week ago.

The Friday before the last one was my first day out. Puja took me around the place, helped me open a bank account and also showed me into the department. I got started with filling some tax and payroll forms and understanding the health insurance schemes, which is a highly debated issue in the US Senate these days. We had a nice East African lunch of lentils, rice and aaloo gravy at State street. The lakeside in Madison is beautiful and typical weekdays see families and students in the town come over to the Memorial Union and hang out over food and drinks. I met one of my roommates, Sankar, and had a nice time walking around the place. We also went to our present apartment and checked it out. It looked pretty comfortable and, apart from a few niggles, a good place to spend the first year.

I shifted to Oak tree at noon on Sunday and met my apartment mates Sriram and Vinod as well. Sri is a grad student in Mathematics and is in love with his subject. He works on an area that a lot of people fear to venture into and has us in splits with his tales of a certain Indian friend, whom I shall not name here. Vinod is getting thinner by the hour and I am certain he will vanish into thin air on the way to his workplace. Currently, he is trying to scale up his evening meal from two rotis to three.

We shopped for groceries in the evening. In this place, people shop at a huge scale and in a manner completely different from what we are used to in India. Almost everyone shops in huge malls that are far away from the city centre. The neighbourhood shops are expensive and do not stock up a lot`of stuff. So, the system encourages you to spend a lot and stock up things in the refrigerator. Also, most locals and some international students have cars and very few people take the bus, which, I am told, is one of the best services in all of the United States. So, you see, the system encourages you to buy cars. The concept of fresh vegetables is nowhere to be seen. What is frozen is considered fresh. A huge contrast from the neighbourhood subzi-wallah that we have back home.

The supermarkets have an awesome variety of everything - pizzas, fruits, veggies, milk products (Wisconsin is the milk state of the US, btw), health foods, plastics, etc. I guess this is what impresses a newcomer about this country, though it can also be pretty bugging when you are asked to choose from a set of ten different colours for your debit card!

We hogged on an a delicious meal of aaloo-matar, roti and rajma-chaval.

Madison

My first day in Madison has gone off pretty well. A friend's friend agreed to host me for a couple of days till I move into my own apartment and so here I am, sitting in the confines of a carpeted but un-furnished, one-room apartment. My host has been nice to take me in, considering he just moved in a day back and has an important examination coming up in a couple of weeks.

So let me resume from where I left. The American airlines staff was middle-aged - the first thing that I noticed. Both the airlines I flew prior to this flight were based out of India and had very young crew. However, my friends tell me that this is not the case for Air India (of which I shall not speak much, considering it has come from once being among the five top airlines in the world to having had to be bailed out). Drinks and a sumptuous lunch followed. My American vegetarian meal consisted of fruits, vegetables, bread and pasta.

All this while I was searching for a pair of headphones to connect to the in flight entertainment system. It wasn't there in the back pocket of the seat in front, or the handrest, or on my seat. But many around me were tuned in to their systems. It turned out that American airlines 'welcomes all its passengers to use their own earphones and headphones. the airlines also offers its own earphones for two dollars and allows us to keep them for future use'. Hmph! How mean. But I guess it is common out here and I felt slightly wierd as it was my first flight to the US. I couldn't sleep very well but I did manage to doze off for a while. An hour before landing, we were served a light afternoon meal that included some cereal and fruit.

The customs check at Chicago airport reminded me of my visa interview. Everything went well and I was through to my luggage. The security officer did ask me if I was carrying any eatables like sweets (probably to make sure that no Indian germs were moving to Madison). Half an hour later, I boarded the Van Galder bus to Madison. The approach roads leading to and from Chicago airport are well laid. The airport is also connected by a railway system. As we moved out from the city and on the freeways, the drive became smoother. There were a lot of trucks hauling everything from cars and boats to logs of wood. Wherever there was a pilup, vehicles stayed at least two metres from each other and there was simply no honking. I also read a board that said hitting a worker would lead to a fine of $ 10,000 and upto 14 years in jail (prison, sorry!).

Madison seems to be a pretty place, located between laked Mendota and Monona. My friend Jayashree picked me up from what is known as Memorial Union, a centrally located place in the University. I met some other Indian students at her place and had a wonderful dinner (I am still licking the rajma off my lips, thanks to Puja for that). I then walked to my host's apartment. We chatted for some time and then crashed for the night. I had a sound sleep and woke up at quarter past ten. I stayed indoors for the day and caught up with some more sleep after lunch. One of my friends had advised me to keep walking, so I thought of strolling down to the nearest supermarket. Like many things here, it was huge and offered a wide variety of food stuff to buy. I ended up buying some fruits.

Getting back home, I had dinner and sit here typing all this out. I don't know if it sounded mundane and boring. I just wanted to write in as its all so new to me and I wanted to put it down somewhere.

Planning to go to the University tomorrow morning. Puja has agreed to take me around. I also hope to start off with some of the formalities tomorrow. More later.

A Page from Brussels

I am writing this from Brussels airport. Its quarter to nine on Wednesday, 12th Aug'09 and I have just started what seems to be one long picnic. Picnic for now, I am sure things will change as time flies. I guess I would be posting this online sometime later as the internet hotspot required a credit card and I am not carrying one. But I am tempted to write about all the I have in between the ears so that I do not end up missing much.

As I left New Delhi, people called, wished and asked if I was feeling excited or nervous. Contrary to popular expectations, I was feeling neither. Being emotionless is not exactly how I would introduce myself, but quite strangely, I did not realise the fact that I would be leaving home for a long long time. The drive to the airport was typically Delhi-ish. My young driver hailed from Allahabad and gave me good company throughout. The New Delhi airport has had a huge makeover, replete with glistening roofs, round-the-clock maintenance, smoking bars et al. But the huge rush that the airport has to manage is something God knows which makeover would manage. Baggage check-in and immigration didn't take long and I found it amusing sitting well within New Delhi and still being outside Indian shores, so to speak.

The Jet Airways crew was friendly and the flight took off smoothly. What followed was what I was waiting for. Fresh lime, pav bhaji, , movies, a sound sleep, idly and upma, more drinks and Brussels. It funny... people always complain about delays in Indian airports, but it took me more time to get through a single security check here. The airport is beautiful and the waiting lounges provide a wonderful view of all the flights and the runway. My brother managed to track me down somehow and surprised me by calling me at the counter where I checked in. I thought it was some prank that the crew was playing on me when it said that there was someone who wanted to speak to me. I was secretly expecting some security officer to ask a few questions and vague images of me standing behind bars suddenly vanished on hearing my brother's voice. Every now and then, he manages to come up with something like this.

It still doesn't feel like I have left India. I guess it never will, at least not the way I thought it would. One just has to turn round a corner to bump into an Indian. A group of Indian students just crossed over, buzzing about 'Love Aaj Kal'. Delhi doesn't seem to be very far.

I have to go now, don't want to miss my flight in all this writing. I guess I will continue this as soon as I get time. Next up in an American Airlines flight to Chicago, followed by a three hour bus journey to Madison.

On Omar

Omar Abdullah comes across as a confident young man, with lots of promise in the Indian political scene that is getting younger with each passing day. However, his first stint at the helm of affairs in the perennially troubled state of J&K has been anything but smooth. Shopian, Baramulla, blah blah... stone pelting, effigy burning, etc. And the latest is the 2006 sex scandal. I am hoping that he comes out clean. Amidst all the angry outbursts, accusations and denials, Omar made a statement that has stayed with me. He said, "In this country the accused is pronounced innocent until proven guilty. However, since this is a personal attack on my morality, I hold myself guilty until proven innocent."

The man surely talks hard. It remains to be seen if he delivers as he promises.

Doosra kissa

The Aussies are back at what they do best - kill the opponents' strength just because they cannot learn the tricks of the trade. At a recent meeting of the Kangaroos' leading spin bowlers (can't remember anyone except Warne knowing quality spin), it was agreed that bowling the doosra without chucking was impossible. Spin coaches in Australia would be advised not to teach the doosra (like they knew how to!), in a bid to encourage other nations to follow suit. Tch tch... such a pity that the erstwhile champions have to resort to such techniques to negate the opposition's advantage. Didn't Harbhajan, Murali and co. go thru a host of biomechanical tests in Melbourne to get cleared of chucking? Seems like the current crop of spin wizards are not looking in that direction.

Here's a note to all budding fast bowlers in Kangaroo land - you will soon be told that bowling reverse swing is not allowed.

My Maths Teacher

I was out shopping yesterday evening with my parents and this happened when we were at a shoe store in NOIDA's bustling Sector 18 market. As we turned from the wall that displayed all the shoes to move to another section I heard someone shriek, 'Hello Ma'm!'. It was invariably another of mom's students whom we usually bump into anywhere, anytime in NOIDA. What followed was a power packed, emotionally charged display of gratitude and happiness that left everyone in the shop amused, except the student of course. She kept shrieking 'My Maths Teacher', in disbelief, and would just not let go of mom's feet. She also dragged her poor husband (much to his embarrassment) to do the same (not the shrieking part). It was hilarious to watch most of the shoppers and sales boys forgetting their jobs momentarily. I guess some of them were thinking about their teachers, I sure was. I also couldn't help thinking that only a teacher can get such a show of affection. My mom was shaken up by the whole thing, especially that all things around her stopped moving, and made a hasty, slithery exit, but not before another round of hugs :)

One of my most sincere and effective teachers lamented in class about how teaching was a thankless job and nothing save the personal motivation drove teachers around the country to continue working selflessly. I guess things are not that bleak after all.

Sporty see-saws

The sporting world has seen some tumultous changes over the last few months. Long-standing champions have been shown the door and fresh blood has claimed podia across sporting arenas. Some make me happy and some don't, but altogether, this shift of dominance does augur well for the particular sport.

Watching the traditional Ashes rivalry going England's way is might pleasing. Let's be clear, I admire the Aussies for their professional attitude and brilliant skills. However, they have never been adorable winners and, barring Adam Gilchrist, are pretty loathable for their pomposity. They also are bitter losers, as was seen on India's last tour down under. So it was a treat to the eyes to see Ponting losing it big time on the field. The Aussie attack looked pedestrian and made an average English side look like champions in the second test. Save Michael 'Pup' Clark's battling innings, there isn't much that I would applaud them for. While the first two tests have not produced breathtaking cricket (apart from a couple of sessions) the drama on and off the field, and England's win has ensured that the next two tests will be keenly watched and contested. Even in the greater scheme of things, the Aussies are no longer the invincibles they have been over the last fifteen years. South Africa, but for their trademark choking at the final stage of every tournament, look like deserving successors though India is also tipped to have entered the big three.

There isn't a better time to watch tennis than this. While women's tennis is seeing a shift of power from the Russians back to the power packed Williams siblings, the men's circuit is nothing less than legendary. Tennis greats have hailed the current Federer-Nadal rivalry as the best ever. They say every champion has his/her nemesis - Sampras had Agassi while Steffi had Seles. Federer seems to have dug out the mother of all nemeses in the Spanish bull. This rivalry, however, is in complete contrast to the Aussie-English one The champion is as modest as ever, even going to the extent of acknowledging Nadal's greatness by saying, ' I am trying to win whatever I can before he starts winning everything'. Nadal, to his part, has always maintained that Federer is the King of tennis. Although it feels good to see a youngster power his way through to the top, I am always a Federer fan and for once, would like to see this fight go the champion's way. He has surely made the most of Nadal's absence by pocketing the French Open and the Wimbledon and I just can't wait to see Nadal back in action.

Another arena that has seen see-sawing fortunes for the players is motorsport. I understand little of the technical nuances of the sport and contend myself more with the points tally. Ferrari was making the sport so predictable by winning everything under the sun that I was beginnig to give up wathing the sport when out came Lewis Hamilton and his new look Renault Team. Though it couldn't prevent Barichello winning the driver's championship in the season ending race, it did make things interesting for the present season. This time round, its been a brand new Brawn, living its name and teaching the others a lesson or two in driving.

On a concluding thought, and this might be read as far-fetched and unduly patriotic, I am hoping for another upheaval in women's badminton where the Chinese will no longer look unbeatable. Go Saina!

Panchvi Pass?

Yesterday's papers ran a whole section on how a majority of high school teachers in U.P. and Bihar could not spell two moderately difficult words (by Class V standards), could not solve a simple area problem involving a rectangle, and so on. Many of them could not even sign their own names. All this in lands that boasted of the world's oldest and greates universities. How those big institutions came crashing down, refusing to be resurrected, is something I cannot digest. That apart, one doesn't need to guess as to the quality of education offered in these places. Thousands and lakhs of students graduating with high grades and degrees and what-nots, but with little or no education. Being a largely services-oriented country, it fails me to understand why the lakhs of qualified graduates and post graduates cannot yield a few thousand efficient teachers. The issues that swoop down my brain as I wrote the previus sentence are money and respect. We have seen and heard of cases where both are found wanting by teachers. The unfortunate and most inhuman case of a professor being pumelled to death in Pune brings to the forefront the ill treatment meted out to many teachers across the nation. Of course, exceptions do exist and will always do. About money, it is no secret that teachers are hardly paid what they deserve, pay commissions or none.

This also brings in another disturbing issue - does the Indian schooling system offer knowledge sans education? I observe the three Class X students who come home to study Maths with my mom. I find them quite intelligent and smart, and they also seem to be doing pretty well with their grades. None of them, however, seems to be loving the subject, and all of them slog it out only for the elusive 90 plus score in the end. I remember my very own days, when, for twelve long years at school, I had scarcely thought about what I liked and what I wanted to do after school. The courses were a mere formality that one went through and the final examinations meant a whole year of subjects and topics to be forgotten.

While the stress on examinations here to stay, grades or no grades, one way of improving the situation could be to offer more choices of subjects to students in high school. This could lead to an early development of interest in a particular area of study. While this suggestion, like most others, may seem promising to a few, it is the implementation that holds the key to its succes. The advantage here is that high school is not under the jurisdiction of the Board examinations and a body of schools can chart out their own syllabus. Many private schools in Delhi offer foreign language course to primary classes and most of my little friends are pretty kicked about learning them.

Studying the same set of subjects for twelve years is pretty tough. A friend exclaimed recently that school was the toughest part of his career. 'Imagine sixty students', he said, 'studying the same text and being expected to write the same answer to the same question.' That's one hell of a job, I thought. It is ironic that the same set of students are then expected to essay different jobs in life. I thought school prepared one for life!

With such a muddled approach to teaching and studies, it is no wonder that as a nation, we stay

The Delhi rain

My current physiological state of a depleted set of hepatic cells has meant that I have had to be confined to my home for almost two weeks now with things looking good for an extension of three more till things get back to normal. Having nothing much to do apart from sleeping, eating bland food and drinking the prescribed fifteen glasses of fluid in any form is a drastic change from my schedule over the larger part of the previous two years. However, it is a welcome change and one that I had always looked forward to, but for the restricted diet.

Sitting in the balcony every morning, I have almost memorized the city's bijli-paani woes and the MET department's desperate predictions of the monsoon hitting Delhi soon. To be frank, this time the MET dept. proved correct, for once. The first shower provided the much needed respite from the sweltering heat. Sitting in the confines of my room, I just had to look through the window and enjoy the raindrops pelting the metal on the balcony. The scent of moist earth, arguably the best scent i can imagine, remined me of my ancestral village that I had just left in deep anguish and pain.

My parents enjoyed their cup of hot tea while the kids in my block scattered away from their parents, screaming in joy. The security guards hurried to get into their raincoats, the rickshaw-wallahs scurried to get below a hedge- elbowing each other rather selfishly. The MET department would have heaved a sigh of relief and I could already imagine their pompous grins on the next day's frontpage, 'There! Didn't we say it would happen yesterday?'. The fruit sellers scrambled their little shanty shelters in place, the lone tailor sitting on the edge of the street hurried to shut shop, lest his machine gets spoiled.

Some cursed the rain, some welcomed it, some hurried for cover, others ran to embrace it. Interesting how different people reacted differently.

To score or not to score

At the very outset, I intend to make one thing clear. This post is only of academic interest. Any other frivolous interpretations of any words in the title shall be the readers' imagination and nothing else.

The recently declared CBSE Board exam results have left me in a daze. My mother, who teaches mathematics to class X, was dancing around, celebrating the four hundreds in her class. A hundred in maths has always been possible. However, I clearly remember an official from CBSE telling us students in a seminar that the answer script of the student who scores cent per cent is scrutinized thrice, in order to snatch away a mark on the slightest of pretexts. That habit of CBSE examiners does not seem to be the norm today. And the students are surely not complaining.

That is not all, my mom also tells me that the highest marks in the languages and Social Science are 97, while Science is a slightly dismal 95. One can't help but push the University cut-offs still higher. My sister, who scored 80 % in the commerce stream of class XII, is not even looking to do anything with her marks. Getting a distinction is no longer an achievement.

Spare a thought for the parents, what do they do in all this madness. Prepare their child to face the world, seek knowledge, acquire skills, etc. or join in the rat race that might not mean anything in the long run, but will surely get them an inch ahead of the rest. A concerned parent called up the other day asking if my mom would accept his son for maths tuition. On being enquired about how good he was at maths, the parent replied,'He is average, scores around 80%.'

I sometimes imagine what a chopper ride over all this tuition centres and coaching institutes would reveal. Students hunched over creaking desks busy scribbling away to a 90 or a 95 and the lone teacher crying out all formulae, equations, notes and the like.

Everyone whom I have spoken to in this regard has told me that it is always good to score high marks. And I have not been able to find a convincing counter. However, all these 90 plus scores might just come back to haunt the topper when he or she pompously parades her grade sheets in front of an interview panel. Given the capsule based approach that is ingrained in our educational system, it is indeed hard to retain knowledge (not information) over a few years. And if that is the case, then high scores can prove to be excess baggage.

To score or not to score, the verdict is still not out.

Some firsts and lasts

The final few days zipped by in a daze. Its sad how the last few days in any academic phase pass by so fast. Mostly, its due to the end year examinations - everyone is busy saving their own case and hoping to end on a high. So was the case with me and my classmates - getting swallowed by the unending spiral of the majors. Well, not unending actually, just slightly prolonged this time. Usually, this institute believes in a halaal, this time it wanted to do it slow and easy. So we got time to eat and sleep between two hours of torture (did someone say redemption?). The majors were followed by that beautiful exercise of presenting and examining a year's sweat and toil. Bill Gates must have felt highly gratified by the end of it. Some were happy, some sad, some tried to hoodwink the elders and successfully so, one got caught and turned to her lachrymatory powers as a last ditch effort. Alas. To be fair, this one had a point. Anyway, the elders had a nice time munching peanuts and beating the crap out of the poor lambs.

Some firsts now... the first time I packed my bags to vacate what was home for two years, the first time I felt a tinge of sadness at leaving the mostrous place that has been much glorified in the annals of Indian academia, the first time I enjoyed a good dinner in the Insti - wonderful ambeience, a surprisingly well mannered crowd and decent food. The first time I was told that I am well mannered, decent, intelligent, etc etc. Also the first time I was warned to change my attitude else I could be heading towards disaster, the first time I was made to listen to a song in a prof's cabin, etc.

Time for some lasts... the last time I would sit at the top of the main building, overlooking a good chunk of South Delhi at 2 in the morning, the last time I would have to face the dreaded minor sna majors, the last time I would chase pigeons out of my room, the last time I would pile on with friends a day before the exams, only to meet a day before the next set of exams, also the last time I would have tea with an awesome set of labmates as one of them.

The last few days summed up, in some sense, the last two years that have just flown by. Most places seem better when they are behind you, and the insti has been no exception. I came in with no expectations, and I have surely been pleasantly surprised.

Lets save!

The water is trickling down all pipes in the insti today. I walk up to a friend who usually doesn't mind heaping excess subzi and chaaval on his plate, knowing very well that all that is going down the drain. 'Dude, start saving water, yaar! Looks like we are out for the day.' And I wonder why adversity alone can jerk us into acting responsibly.

Minor issues

Ha! Seems like I have a controversial post and an even more controversial title.
Its a day after what is hopefully the last set of Minors I shall face on this planet and I thought about what they mean to various people I see around me and at various times.

Pre-minors
Almost everyone starts talking minor-stuff about a week before they actually begin. The reading room strength starts building up, the mosquitoes in Ex-Hall get busy again, Nescafe and the like have a ball. Attendance is pretty steady overall (one of my profs boasts about how his students attend classes till 5 in the evening and take their exams at 8 the following morning without cribbing).

The night before
Lights don't go off, the night canteen begins, much to the respite of all hostelers, suddenly everyone is so interested in what they are studying (what they have just started studying, rather!), the reading room is full, smelly, sweaty and very, very noisy. The crowd has spilled onto the street, the library and hostel reading rooms as well. Ah! the library. Do not enter this place if you want a quiet corner, for the Insti does not believe in silence. Right from the librarian to the French exchange students, who seem to have breathed the Delhi air big time.

Day 1
And they are here, it feels best to go through the grind happily. Easy and fast... that's what everyone wants them to be. Fast alright... that's the good part, but easy? Naah! Not for me, at least. But yeah, as the minors kick off, life is suddenly changed. More time to sleep, eat, read the newspaper, etc. No boring lectures and labs, no listening to trash, no running to catch the shuttle, a way to spend your weekend that's definitely unique to the Insti.

Days 2 and 3 fly away and I don't recollect much except the daily pilgrimage to hell and back.

Day 4
This is by far the best. There is the wierd feeling of being on the edge of something. A few hours away from freedom? Or just another phase that shall come back in some form or the other? Anyway, its fun to know that life will come back to normal in a few hours. There is always this extra motivation to end on a high (I mean an academic high, no pun intended!).

The following evening
I look around and everone's having a ball. Multiple games of cricket on the same battered grounds, brick wickets and stuff. The sportsies are back, so are the wannabe Federers. The hostels are back to their noisiest, the latest movies are being downloaded and dissected. Cinema tickets are being purchased in black or white, that's the coolest way to have fun right!

All this seems like on big game, that I happened to be a part of for the last two years. A land where a few digits are bigger than your name to a lot of people who are doing what they are doing only because of the same few digits, where four mad days can make or break the way you look on paper to the Insti and the blind world beyond, where biogas vehicles run on streets littered with coffee cups. I stand confused, knowing not what to say.
Are the minors just that - a minor issue that everyone just goes through and gets done with, or are they the ultimate assay of one's academic abilities? If the former is true, then what about the majors that are just a month away? A major issue in my story?Hmph... lets leave that for later.