Absolutely nothing interesting

to blog about.

Lets recount what the last fortnight was like. A fun outing at strand book fair-bade miyan-gokul-theobroma-marine drive was probably the highlight of it all. Let's do that again sometime. Apart from that, I had my first potential PhD offer interview, from Cornell Weill Medical School. It was depressing. I'm just glad its over.

The next day, I got my nose pierced. Don't know if it had any connection to the interview.

I watched Little Miss Sunshine last night. Cute, in a dysfunctional way.

Grabbing space

The year has started rather well.
I ushered in the new year in a bus on my way back from Aurangabad (visited the Ajanta and Ellora Caves), but it's been smooth sailing since then.

Week one, 2007 was totaaal chaos. M and I were going crazy (ok, only I was going crazy) trying to get things in order for the 32nd Mahabaleshwar Seminar on Parasite Immunology and Immunogenetics. We left a day before the conference began, and were greeted by the stern yet friendly Brig. Ravi Khullar, secretary of The Club Mahabaleshwar. The club is simply out of this world. Everything is impeccably maintained, and the floor of every room is spotless. And the food! *sigh* Strawberries and fresh cream, Mango ice cream, Kheer, Corn- shaped marzipan, all sorts of dessert. :-)

The instructors for the course were really good. I think they have successfully rekindled my interest in immunology. They were all super sweet and approachable. When I sneezed on the first day, an American instructor asked me to 'go sleep' so I could recover from a cold..:)

Lectures apart, there were 'group discussions' where we were supposed to walk around in groups with the instructors and discuss immunology. These were a lot of fun. Mahabaleshwar is a wonderful place to walk around. Although it's a tad too commercialized now- too many hotels and shops. Groups sat by the lake, or next to various small temples; some went to an apiary, others discovered caves...

We also took time off to explore the place at night. The complete absence of street lights, ridiculously low temperatures, and cluelessness about the area couldn't keep us from exploring the place, and expectedly, getting lost. We went walking around, and on the last night, lied down in the golf course to watch the stars. I wanna go back!!!

We 'explored' Pratapgadh fort on the last day of the conference. The view from the periphery of the fort is absolutely stunning.


Despite outward appearances, grad students can be a lot of fun. We discovered this on the last night of the conference, during a barbeque-bonfire we had organised. The alcohol flowed freely, like every other night, but this time round, there was music! And chamiya music, that.

The students and some instructors jiggied away, and there was some serious multi-cultural step-trading. Two American grad students (boys) of Latin American origin played some upbeat Latino music off their iPods, and moved their hips with a vengeance! They taught us some stuff, and then a punjabi student took over with basic bhangra training. This was followed by an adorable, considerably senior instructor from the States, who literally described the step he was teaching us as 'Grabbing space'. Fun fun fun! :-)




Cocktail parties should be a more regular feature in conferences.

Want a piece of me?

I don't think typing this out is going to make me forget my experience. But after I read this, I felt compelled to.

The girl was screaming for help but her voice was drowned in the commotion. Her companion tried to shield her but found himself helpless.

It happened about a year ago. I left work late, and was only able to catch the 9.00 p.m. bus to the station. The only train available at churchgate was a 9.25 Virar fast local. At this point, I was trying to save money, and had a second class pass instead of my usual first class pass. I walked ahead and got into the ladies second class compartment next to the first class. Wasn't too worried cause it was a national holiday (some religious festival, can't remember which one), and the second class ladies compartment converted to a 'general' compartment only at 10.00 pm.
At 9.50, the train was approaching Andheri, and I moved towards the door. I looked around to find only two other women waiting to get off. However, when the station did eventually arrive, only one woman managed to get off the train. I wasn't as lucky.
The crowd at Andheri had neglected to observe that it wasn't 10.00 pm yet, and just jumped onto the compartment. Despite standing at the exit, I was unable to get off the train because men had started jumping in long before the train stopped. I was pushed to the side of the exit, as streams of men shouted while jumping into the train.
Eventually I was surrounded by what felt like eleven probing hands that wouldn't leave me be. The train left the platform and I was stranded.
I suppose it was the first time I cried in public. Howled, actually. I had never felt so helpless. I begged, pleaded in my awful Hindi to not be touched or shoved, but my requests were ignored, even laughed upon. They wouldn't let me go to the door or near the window (away from people). I had to stay where I was. I couldn't budge an inch. I looked around for 'decent' folks and begged for them to do something, to help me get to the door. They did absolutely nothing but stare at me.
At this point I was close to hysterical. My pleas finally got one guy to ask the other men around him to not touch the 'sister'. Before I could breathe a sigh of relief, I figured out it was only so he could have more room to feel me up himself.
Frustrated, I asked some older men what I could do. One man asked me to stay put till goregaon, where the crowd would decrease. The other asked me to jump off the train at borivili, but i was closer to the exit that did not open on to the platform. The bastards wouldn't even let me move towards the exit. Why would they, anyway? It was a free-for-all as long as I was on the train.
The twenty minute ride between Andheri and Borivili was the most unbearable twenty minutes of my life. After the first ten minutes I was numb, and could only think of getting off the train. Somehow I edged my way to the exit and jumped onto the tracks when borivili station arrived.
The first thing I checked was whether all my clothes were still on. Surprisingly, they were. I could not think straight, and didn't know what to do next. I was unfamiliar with Borivili station, and it took me a while to find a train back to Andheri. When I finally located a train and sat down in it, I spotted two cops. By this point, I had cried too much to speak coherently. I mumbled something about men breaking the rule and jumping in too early, but didn't have the energy to file a complaint.
During the journey back, I tried calling home. Before I could say anything, my dad wanted to know why i wasn't home at 10.30. I was too upset to continue that conversation and hung up, saying I was getting home. Called another friend after that, and completely broke down again. When I finally got home, I went straight to the bathroom and had a bath. It took me a while to explain the situation to my parents.
The greatest impact of that incident has been my change in attitude towards 'roadside romeo' types. After what I think was the most extreme violation I have ever experienced, I no longer respond to lecherous idiots who try to get a feel at the station, or in a bus or anywhere else..I think I can endure a lot more crap from these deprived fools than before. Which is certainly not a good thing.

I have been numbed.

As for the girl, I am really sad she had to endure this. Mumbaikars are crazy as individuals, but crazier in a mob. I wish her the best and hope she can get over this. Her friend must be feeling like crap too.


I cannot imagine what would drive someone to behave as these 'men' did.