Kate.that's er,.... short for Bob.

Celebrate with abandon..

2010-04-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

..not just yet.

Last week, I had an experiment that I had been working on for 8 months or so culminate in pretty much a picture perfect result. Predicted results, even. Might I add that this almost never happens?

A little bit of background. I have now been working in my lab for a little over two years, and most of what I have been trying to do has been towards generating reagents, as there are none available for my project in my field (One of the few instances when I envy fly and yeast labs). The feeling of gratification that is experienced when we design and execute a hypothesis-driven experiment is an unparalleled high (for us labrats only, of course), and one that keeps us going despite the subsequent failures we are sure to encounter while we keep chasing after that high.

My consistent experimental failure has ensured that I am extremely skeptical of any non-negative result, and I went back to look at some controls for my experiment. My heart sank as I discovered that my experiment was a success only because of non specific reactivity.

My first impulse was to think about dumping this project entirely and come up with alternate projects. The results on this project have been few and far between, and this is pretty much the last straw. I am dejected and my heart is utterly broken (I wonder if I will ever be this heartbroken about a guy). I am finding it hard to stay motivated. Any pointers?

For now I am trying to distract myself by working on other stuff that may or may not move my project ahead. I just need to work on something to not go mad.

/ me is sad.

The long awaited update is finally here!

2010-04-19T17:17:00.000-07:00

I will soon complete my third year in New York city. NYC OMG! Is it ridiculous that I still think is it awesome that I made it here and am living in Manhattan? I love Bombay to bits, but within a year of moving to NYC I had embraced it as my hometown.

New yorkers intimidate, inspire and enrapture me, and I could never see myself as one of them- but I find myself getting increasingly comfortable in this sea of pretty people. I had never thought I would fit in, let alone be comfortable here.

Sometimes while walking around the city I suddenly notice something on the street that reminds me, almost like a slap across my face, that I'm not in Bombay anymore. A designer shoe, a dog in a bag, a bright red sports car. Couples kissing on the street. Women in calf-length skirts and headscarves, walking next to women in hoodies and short shorts. Biracial couples. People breaking out into spontaneous song on the street. The fruit vendor who always gives me one free banana. :)

The last four months have deprived me of these sights and sounds (and some smells). Now that spring is here, I can't wait to step out of the house and reclaim my city!

No apologies

2008-05-18T16:55:00.000-07:00

for the delayed update. I have a life. :P

First things first- Have a wonderful birthday, my dear Soupy! :-)

Miss you loads, can't wait to get back to Bombay and have cold noodles with you, to go with the chinese dubbed movie on star gold. Or we could watch football if you'd prefer that.

Oh yes, I'm coming home. Can't wait. Mailed everyone I know in Bombay the day I bought my ticket. Couldn't sleep that night. Spend all my free time thinking about Bombay and its awesomeness. Not that New York isn't fabulous and all that, but nothing compares to Bombay.

My third rotation should officially end on the 13th of June, I'm off on the 16th. I'm so done with rotations. Fed up! My three bosses have all been very different from each other, as have been the focus of their labs. My first lab was a fly development lab, the second a Malaria lab, and my current lab is a protein trafficking lab- with a human cell line model system. I think i've poked around enough in Biology.
For the most part my rotations have been good- for the most part. I'll write a post on the unpleasant bits once I pick my PhD lab.

Belated V day wishes

2008-02-23T18:35:00.000-08:00

What I love about this song is how it ends.

I can't take my mind off you

'Til I find somebody new

Story of my life.

When a girl will break a boy just because she can..

2008-01-26T12:54:00.000-08:00

How did it take me so long to discover Fiona Apple?

I couldn't embed the video in this post because its copyrighted. Just hop over to youtube.

The single life in NYC

2008-01-10T03:52:00.000-08:00

is overrated. Seriously. The city is full of nightclubs, bars, pubs, and other such places deceivingly conducive towards meeting new, interesting people. But somehow, for most of us, it doesn't really work out like that. I don't see any sort of future with a guy I meet at a bar. But here's the best part. That doesn't stop me from getting all dressed up and heading out to check out different nightclubs every two weeks.
I have no idea what I am trying to achieve. Maybe its just for the attention. Who doesn't like being told they're gorgeous by three different people on the same night? It's great for the self esteem, but at the same time it makes you feel kinda pathetic that blatant flattery can be so effective in cheering you up. Makes you question just how crappy your self image is.

And why not? I personally believe that NYC has a gazillion smart women, but I fail to see the same level of attractiveness in the guys here. Maybe its just me, but I had rather deluded expectations of meeting interesting, fun and let's be honest, economically stable guys here. Clearly I had a misguided impression of the NYC single life.

And tonight was the worst. I don't understand my friends sometimes. We went to three different clubs until they finally decided there was enough dancing, and according to me the music was the most atrocious at the last place. The way I see it everyone wanted to go to the last place all along.
Its so sad. There are two different rooms at that club, one which plays contemporary hip hop, and the other larger one that plays eighties happy-happy songs (such as "Cecilia", "I love rock and roll" and other such incredibly un-dance-able hits). I kept trying to drag people to the hip hop room, where the music was catchy, had some sort of beat, and people were dancing normally. But my gal pals wanted to hang out in the other room, where all the older, suited blokes were. The oldies room was packed, with a zillion drinks on the floor, to the point where i was reminded of Bombay's local trains. It was unbearable. If people (i.e. normal sized guys and women) push up against me, i just fall..i don't seem to have any sort of strength. I don't like dancing that involves getting punched every three minutes, and stamped every thirty seconds. And it sucks all the fun out of the experience.
Tonight everything seemed to get on my nerves.
There was an old (paternal, even) creepy guy we recognized from the last time we were there. He kept hovering around us, and everyone was cribbing about him, but nobody did anything to drive him away. Finally i got annoyed (more with my friends than him) and went up to him.
"Look, can you just leave us alone? None of us is interested. "
And he just walked away, not before calling me a bitch.

The tragedy of the night was that I turned away the cutest guy- he asked me to dance with him. I regretted it deeply, the minute he walked away, cause he was really good looking and a great dancer.
He slid up to me and asked if I would dance with him. Idiot that I am, I said, sorry, I don't dance with other people. He responded with "I'm a nice guy", to which I said that I was sure he was, but I just didn't dance with other people- I'd probably stamp him.
He said it's ok, I respect that. And walked away. Without haunting me, giving me stupid grins, and abusing me. waah, why do i have to be sensible about these things!

And then later, he was dancing with another friend of mine. aaaaaa
Anyway. Must rethink strategy here.

Another shocker was that some guy actually noticed my friend's earrings- she was wearing American football jersey earrings (Patriots), because there was a match involving the Patriots today that we saw at the bar.
I didn't realise that there are still guys out there who will notice earrings.

A low point of the evening was that some old dude bought drinks for the four of us. I was disgusted that I accepted the free drink. But I was quite a bitch about it- he tried sidling up to us after that, and two of my friends danced with him, the poor souls. I just gave him a look of disgust and walked away.
I think the right thing to do is just not accept drinks at all- the next time I should tell myself that!

Wow

2007-12-08T14:30:00.000-08:00

It been ages since I updated. This is an unexpected slump, considering I just spent the last three months in one of the most exciting cities in the world.

It's been good for the most part. I have discovered new addictions, while struggling to shake off old ones. My lifestyle has been decadent, yet typical for a New York grad student.

Shoes have filled the void of people in my life.

Living in the Upper East side is tough. Everything is over priced, and the people are snazzily dressed 24X7.

But I love the location, and the fact that my classes and lab are less than four buildings away from my apartment.

The street is primarily dominated by various university and hospital buildings, and you would think that it would be quiet and serene around two huge hospitals.
Think again.

The lovely Rockefeller University is right opposite my apartment, and it offers the refreshing sight of more than two consecutive tall, green trees in a landscape dominated by red and gray.

Our apartment does offer a lovely NYC view, though.

New York is all about fabulous options- great places to shop, wine and dine.

Obscure little karaoke bars in Korea Town

And sometimes we just like to dress up and party at home. :)

There are always things to do or see- Like the Halloween Day Parade...

Tamilian restaurants in Manhattan are always a welcome sight for sore eyes.

The Arthur Ashe Stadium

A cruise around Manhattan island is the perfect way to kick start life in this city.

Central Park in all its splendour- Summer, fall or winter

Even just walking around the city is a lot of fun

And I have a nice little pad to myself (and a roomie- but we have separate rooms)

My room is pretty small, but I can't complain- the other occupant doesn't take up quite as much space as I do.

There have been numerous attempts to cook, with the odd success. I was surprised to find that I quite enjoyed cooking for one. :D

It's safe to say that this city excites me on a daily basis (thankfully).

I see you.

2007-11-29T19:39:00.000-08:00

2007-09-20T10:11:00.001-07:00

Have you ever read an old email draft you never sent, and felt so overwhelmed that you want to forget that you're in a public library, and just let the tears flow?

I guess the only solution to this is to delete those emails, and get over it. But then you can't.

:(

Not having too many close friends around can make you regret some of the most sensible decisions you've ever taken.

Great post.

2007-09-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

Read This.
I want my Mawwm!

The land of equal opportunity?

2007-09-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

I am soooo frustrated.
First I have to wait two and a half months to get my visa. Because my identity was stolen by someone who was caught trying to get a fraudulent visa. Then I got a four year visa, unlike my peers who got a five year one.
Then I finally get here, and a week ago (on my birthday to be precise) I went to the social security office to get a social security number. I went with my roomie, who like me is also an indian student who just got here and was applying for the first time.
She was told her card/number would take two weeks and it arrived today, and I was told mine would take 6-8 weeks.
aargh.
Why me? :(

Tatax Mumbai!

2007-08-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

The title was suggested by a friend. I don't speak like that. But i liked the sound of it. :-)

Anyway, I always thought I'd update my blog earlier than the very day i was leaving because I've been sitting at home for about a month now. When i actually got down to signing into blogger, somehow the words just didn't flow. Which, if you know me, is nothing short of shocking.

The last month or so can be summarized in a few words shop-eat-sleep-meet friends-be gifted random wonderful things-get senti-shop-eat-sleep

So long, folks! Wish me luck, and keep writing to me. please.

2007-07-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

Is it possible to spend an entire week with relatives, and not leave feeling utterly inadequate?

No title

2007-07-10T04:44:00.000-07:00

My course at TIFR is finally over. Had my thesis defense last Monday. I passed! So did everyone else! yay!

Our juniors gave us Tees, with captions and images specific to each of us. Not surprisingly, mine has an image of Olive Oyl. Still. It's cute.

It says "I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent" :D

Thanks, y'all!

Coming back to TIFR. The prospect of leaving TIFR isn't exciting me as much as I expected it to. The institute is a wonderful place to spend time if you don't have deadlines. Or other places to be.

*sheds a tear*

Anyway, I hopped on to a much delayed flight to Bangalore on Saturday morning, and I will be here till the end of the week. Two first cousins were getting engaged on the same evening, and are getting married on consecutive days in November. I won't be there for those, so I thought I should at least drag my ass here for the engagements. T'was fun! I could only attend only one of those, of course, but the rest of the week exists solely to catch up with relatives who attended the other engagement.
I think I've visited more ppl on a single day than ever before- visited six homes yesterday- and there are still a few more lined up! *phew*

Still have to get back to tifr and print out my thesis. :(

?

2007-06-21T01:51:00.000-07:00

I may not be able to express my thoughts on this subject in a coherent fashion, so I'll start this post with apologies to those readers who sincerely try to understand what I'm saying and don't succeed.

During a discussion I had with a friend last week, we were arguing over a common friend's behavior in a particular situation. I kept arguing that R's behaviour was wrong and unfair, and I couldn't understand why she behaved the way she did, whereas my friend kept saying that she could understand it, because although she knew R was wrong, she could accept the fact that R was human after all, and people make wrong decisions and do silly and unfair things. On the other hand, I was unable to see beyond R's selfish behaviour, and was finding it difficult to empathise with her.

This got me thinking- I know this a problem I repeatedly face- judging people on the basis of their actions, and allowing this judgement to bias my consequent interactions with them. Why am I incapable of reacting objectively?

I cannot look people in the eye once they've done something to ruin my opinion of them- for example, a selfish act. The irony in the situation is that I'm not exactly scrupulous or unselfish all the time. Hence I don't really understand why I have unreal expectations of righteousness from my friends.

Maybe I'm trying to compensate for the fleeting moments of unscrupulousness, or selfishness, in my own life, that I'm ashamed of, by refusing to accept the same from others. Am I ?

Diamonds and Rust

2007-06-07T10:22:00.001-07:00

Now you're telling me
You're not nostalgic
Then give me another word for it
You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague
Because I need some of that vagueness now
It's all come back too clearly
Yes I loved you dearly
And if you're offering me diamonds and rust
I've already paid

Carrot juice

2007-05-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

I wanted to store this online before I lost it forever. I just rediscovered this note two weeks ago.

One of my friends at Xavier's, (lets call her F) did research on the kind of diet that will help ease my discomfort due to arthritis, and put it all together in this note. It was one of the most personal and caring gestures I can recall among my varied experiences with people. We weren't even very close, and she wasn't the kind of person who vocalized her concerns.

For Kate:

1. Apples- regarded as excellent food medicine for arthritis and rheumatism especially when these diseases are caused by uric acid poisoning. The malic acid in them is said to neutralize the uric acid.
2. Bananas- A diet of bananas only for 3 or 4 days is advised- The patient can eat 8-9 bananas daily and nothing else. [personal note: I've lived on only bananas for 2 days when I was on some strange diet and it really isn't as difficult as it sounds- but then I love bananas! ]
3. Cucumber juice, in combination with the juice of carrots, beets and celery has a beneficial effect in conditions such as rheumatism, arthritis and gout.
4. Garlic- In Russia, garlic is used extensively in the treatment of arthritis and associated diseases. In Japan too, garlic extract was used to treat patients with Lumbago and arthritis and a large number of them were benefited without any side effects. This is probably due to the anti-inflammatory properties of garlic.
The most popular method is to take the garlic cloves orally [don't forget to brush your teeth later] although you may also rub the affected parts with cloves of garlic. Garlic oil is rapidly absorbed through the skin and into the blood stream, and quickly reaches the affected areas.

She ended it with a personal note:
That's all I could find on arthritis for now. Make sure you actually do some of this stuff. Apples are easy to eat, cucumber and carrot juice is yummy (although some people think it is an acquired taste)
I don't know how you'll feel about the Garlic and Bananas, but I would say that anything is worth a shot.
happy healing,
F.

Thanks for this, F., and just for you, I'll have a glass of carrot juice tomorrow!

This is exactly why I lou Jorge Cham

2007-05-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

Pix from Harihareshwar, Shriwardhan and Diveagar

2007-05-23T02:50:00.000-07:00

The batchmates

With our King

Harihareshwar Beach

Pix by Senthil, Mayur and Kate.

Are people replaceable?

2007-05-22T06:23:00.000-07:00

How do we wake up one day and decide, I think I'll get X out of my life today. One way or another. Do we really consciously do this, or is it a result of keeping way too many disagreements to ourselves?

Was I so disposable, that the minute you realized I was 'stupid' and had 'no intellectual credibility' you chose to wash your hands off me?

A friend offered his perspective. While I don't agree, I can certainly accept his take on the issue. (I hope you don't mind that I'm posting this here)

the way i look at it, the reason people are important is that they do something/ say something which makes us feel better. minus this ability of theirs to make us feel better they wouldn't be too important to us. so the question really boils down to whether they are unique in this special ability to make us happy. i don't think so. ergo, i think people are replaceable.

Does this really happen? The minute we find someone else who offers the same things as our old friends (whose annoying traits we have discovered), who successfully fits the bill, do we promptly replace one with another?

What does it mean, when you're hurting, and the other person isn't?

Is it regret, or just the sad realisation that you are truly pathetic, that overcomes you when you realise you've spent the last three years worrying about certain people's opinions about you, when you should have been speaking your mind, and doing your wish instead. And especially considering that these people don't really give a shit about you apart from the fact that you make for good conversation.

These people were an important part of your existence, with who you had some fun times; the few people you could say anything at all to. It was good to have them in your life- even if for the simple selfish reason that they made you feel good about yourself, accepting you for who you are.

Then I tell myself that someone who could get me out of his life so easily was probably not worth all of this thought.

Officially jobless

2007-05-18T05:15:00.000-07:00

:D

I finally submitted two spiral bound copies of my thesis this morning.
*phew*

I am now officially jobless...well, atleast till monday. My boss has, on three separate occasions during the course of the day, mentioned that i will be working here in July. July!!!

I told her about two months ago, when she asked me about my plans for the summer, that I will not be coming to the lab this summer, as my parents want to spend some time with me before i'm bundled off to another continent. She grimaced, and i thought she'd remember that little detail, but no, must forget about my plans, and make plans for me instead. aaaargh.
she even discussed all the experiments i'd have to repeat and all the stuff i'd have to write up for my 'papers'.
Papers? what papers?
:(

anyway, atleast she can't take away my plan for this weekend. Early tomorrow morning, I'm off to Harihareshwar beach at Shriwardhan. Google it.
*is excited*

Swallowed, by Bush

2007-04-16T00:42:00.000-07:00

Warm sun feed me up
And Im leery loaded up
Loathing for a change
And I slip some boil away

Swallowed followed
Heavy about everything but my love
Swallowed sorrowed
Im with everyone and yet not
Im with everyone and yet not
Im with everyone and yet

Just wanted to be myself
Hey you said that you would love to try some
Hey you said you would love to die some
In the middle of a world on a fishhook
Youre the wave
Youre the wave
Youre the wave

Swallowed borrowed
Heavy about everything but my love
Swallowed hollowed
Sharp about everyone but yourself
Swallowed oh no
Im with everyone and yet not
Im with everyone and yet not
Im with everyone and youre not
Im with everyone and yet

Piss on self-esteem
Forward busted knee
Sick head blackened lungs
And Im simple selfish son

Swallowed followed
Heavy about everything but my love
Swallowed oh no
Im with everyone and yet not
Im with everyone and yet not
Im with everyone and yet not

Got to get away from here
Got to get away from here
Got to get away from here
Got to get away from here

I miss the one that I love alot
I miss the one that I love alot
I miss the one that I love alot

This song is supposed to be about Heroin addiction. Although I'm no addict, the video and lyrics really got to me...

Oh so true!!

2007-04-02T05:28:00.000-07:00

The unfortunate truth..

Twelve years old and loving it! :-)

2007-04-02T05:06:00.000-07:00

Update: I have accepted Cornell Medical school's offer, and I'm off to New york city in August, assuming I complete the immunization requirements (all 17 of them) and obtain a visa.
I finally got an admit from UGA- A teaching assistantship. But the stipend is 21k plus i would have to pay 600 odd dollars per semester as an 'activity' fee. So my final tally is 6/8 univs. Not bad. Haven't heard from Johns Hopkins.
I have to submit a thesis synopsis in 13 days. 13 days! And generate a thesis in a month. *gasp*
Life is officially chaotic.
I went lip gloss shopping with the parents. Actually, went to buy other stuff for my mom, but decided to pick up lip gloss on the way back. A sales person from lakme, and another from revlon both dabbed about 16 different shades on my hand, and when i asked dad to help pick, he decide to scream, 'oh look, your wrist is swollen again'. Dads.
After the aforementioned shopping spree, i asked if i could hang out with friends and they refused to let me. I proceeded to sulk in the car on the way back. My parents' solution to the situation: Picking up pav bhaji from a fast food joint close to home. And guess what. It worked!! I am easily bribed with pav bhaji.
I was soon transported to my happy place, taking in the odours of buttered pav, and yummy tomato bhaji.
:-)
The rest of the evening was pleasant. Well, as pleasant as sunday evenings can be. I came home at 7.00, gorged on the food, and took a long nap till nine thirty. Finally watched the last hour of The Prestige. Interesting movie. Christian Bale is the new Hugh Jackman. Whatever that is supposed to mean.

Update on the Application situation

2007-03-09T05:35:00.000-08:00

I may be on my way to America after all.

I currently have four admits (Cornell med school, UC Irvine, UMass Med School and U Kentucky), two rejects (UPenn and UMich, Ann Arbor) and three pending results, including one interview at Dartmouth Med College. The UGeorgia result is delayed, and I'll find out about Johns Hopkins School of public health next week.

phew. Its finally getting over!

But now for the worst part- Decisions! The next six years of my life depend on the next move I make. I'm at a loss between Cornell (at Manhattan) and UGeorgia (Athens). The work at UGA is great, but its a small town...as for Cornell, the reason I applied there is not recruiting..:( But there is other interesting work, out of my primary field of interest- parasitology.

What do I do?

NYC is the land of Seinfeld, Sex and the city, whereas Athens is the land of....REM. Plus Cornell pays about 10k more than UGA, though I suppose I'll spend it easily enough at NYC.

Also, NYC is the home of Anthony Bourdain!

gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! :D

"So, How are things?"

2007-02-15T06:57:00.000-08:00

V day

2007-02-14T04:50:00.000-08:00

I think V day should stand for Vitriol Day instead of Valentine's Day. On Vitriol day, people can tell others what they really think about them. Without consequences.
People can whisper mushy crap into each others' ears the rest of the year.
Call it sour grapes if you must.

This Valentine's day has been particularly dull. Achieved nothing at work. My plan to go out with friends collapsed. I slept during a colloquium. *yawn*
Got no replies from universities. Bah!

Since my relatively glitch-free annual work seminar last week, I've been frolicking about quite a bit. Its reassuring to know that the next seminar I'll give is my thesis seminar. No more journal clubs, causeries or work seminars. Yay!

I've seen movies(To Kill a Mockingbird, Black Friday), attended friends' weddings, wandered about at Kala Ghoda, slurped down the fresh strawberry juice at K. Rustom, the works. Two days before my work seminar I danced the night away (although horribly) at a friend's birthday celebration at Hawaiian Shack. Which is brilliant, btw. Sean Paul is very agreeable, two drinks down. We then marched off to Janata to pick up some Cheese Masala (an ingenious concept- chunks of cheese in a yummy gravy) on our way to OldManMozz's. No amount of alcohol made Borat agreeable, and I have to admit I am puzzled as to how this movie ever got so popular.

I was finally dropped back home at four. The latest I've ever dared to get back home. Surprisingly, I live to tell the tale. I think the parents have given up on their good tulu brahmin girl.

I'm smiling as I conclude this post, as I just got an sms to remind me of Vday a couple of years ago. A close friend who had jokingly promised to give me chocolates actually gave me a large box of Ferraro Rocher chocolates, and freaked the living daylights out of me. A classic moment in immaturity.

Absolutely nothing interesting

2007-01-26T06:05:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-12T01:58:00.000-08:00

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?

2007-01-02T09:48:00.000-08:00

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.

Champagne Supernova

2006-12-13T05:27:00.000-08:00

or
Why I 'm going to miss TIFR part I

Warning: most of you folks wont understand much in this post..

2006-11-28T02:54:00.000-08:00

I know, I know..been ages since I updated..but the last two weeks have been super hectic. Just been running around to get my PhD applications done.
S.O.P.s are so unbelievably boring. Can't believe I've written six already! four more to go..
DHL is totally burning a hole in my pocket. Make that my dad's pocket. I have like, no money. :(

Remember this? Well, I attended it this time too, and surprise, surprise, no broken bones. I actually had a very good time. And I had beer this time round. Which means I also danced. No furthur elaboration required on that issue. :)

Post party I had even more fun. Pfaffed at the seaface for a bit, where one of my friends suddenly started talking about the B-52s at Leo's, and we all had this strange urge to go and get some. Unfortunately it was already one. Leo's was probably shut, but my friend wouldn't take no for an answer. We walked to the gate, when I suggested that we should call and find out before jumping into a cab. She called and this is exactly how the conversation transpired.
"Hi, is this Leo's? Till what time are you open? Can I come with a couple of friends? Can we have only one B-52 each? Please? Please? Shucks."

The rest of us were guffawing by then. The poor thing.

Not to be dismissed so easily, I had a plan (yes, a cunning one) and we soon made our way to the lab to pick up a bottle of vodka left behind by a senior. Who needs plasmids? This is the kind of inheritance we juniors cherish..:)

Loud music, lime squash and cold water (for me) were all we needed to find, and we just about managed to do so. I (wisely, I suppose) decided to stay away from any more alcohol after the party. Three hours later, we were back at the terrace, only this time it was dark, and quiet as hell.
We hung out there for a bit, occasionally whistled at/called out to the watchmen, who were obviously puzzled about the source of the sounds. Cartwheels, animated discussions on fictional constellations and some good ol' batchmate bonding happened, after which we finally decided to call it a night at around five. Ah, the good life. I had forgotten what it was like to be a student.

December is almost here, and I'm excited!! Tidu, Diamond and Inu will all be here, though I'm not sure how much time I will have to spare. I've just been roped in to do loads of random stuff for this, such as proofreading the abstract book. Still.
Lotsa fun events to look forward to...My department reunion at Xaviers, and Mood Indigo...can't believe I still feel like going back to IIT. But Sod may perform at Livewire, and I can't miss that ! :)
After all, I was once a Tommy Mucous groupie (or so I was told).

It was my dad's birthday yesterday. Remember the generous brother. Well, he gifted my dad this. Want a snazzy phone as a birthday gift? Befriend my brother NOW. :)

OMG

2006-11-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

This is so me for about two weeks now.
Even the hair.

Here, your mother can make chutney with this...

2006-10-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

Been three weeks since I got back from hyderabad..not had the time or enthusiasm to update my blog..but this incident is just too weird to be buried.
I have met a lot of strange people in the last two years. Just when I think I've seen it all, maru-man arrived on the scene.

In a typical flash of brilliance, I booked a sleeper ticket on the way back from hyderabad. A bunch of boys were returning from a railway recruitment exam, and they all thought the seats around me were especially cozy, so twenty of them decided to 'hang' in my little cubicle thingie. (I don't know the technical word for that region..:P) Everyone giving the exam is allowed to travel on trains without a reservation, which meant they just plonked their asses where there was place to do so.
But the best seat in the house, the one directly opposite mine was picked by a middle aged (ok, he was in his early thirties, I guess) marwadi dude. I knew he was Marwadi because he told me so. He also told me where he lived, what he did for a living, where he did what he did for a living, and various other details of his life I REALLY didn't give a rat's ass about.

You would think that monosyllabic responses to personal questions and a complete absence of reciprocation of intrusive questions would send across a hint of disinterest. But no. What if I was shy, and hence quiet? So what if I had my headphones on and was looking out of the window (not at him) throughout? I was actually secretly desirous of a conversation with the yellow toothed, crimson shirt wearing charmer opposite me, but was shy, and hence he had to do all the talking.
God! Why don't they get it until we shout out "SHADDAP"? Is that the only way to convincingly convey disinterest anymore?

He asked me if I wanted Bhel, and when I politely declined, asked me
Why? Why? You must have, please. Let me buy you some.
No! I don't buy food from vendors in trains.
But it is goood!
NO thanks.

This was our first conversation. As the evening proceeded, it only got worse. I was surrounded by boys, but they were not intrusive in the least. They were sweet enough to ask if I wanted my water bottle replenished, and didn't insist when I said no.
Smartypants couldn't contain himself though.
What does your dad do?
What do you do?
I'm in college.
Which college?
Xaviers. (Fib #1)
I thought saying I was still in college would make him realise the difference in our ages, but no, he persisted at it.
Where do you stay?
Andheri. (Fib #2)
Oh, I stay at borivili (broad smile)
No smile from me.

As the night approached, I decided I'd just turn my back to the lot of them and sleep. Maru-dude entertained the boys with Himesh videos on his phone.
In the middle of the night, I turned back to find Marudude awake, staring away. I wanted to put on my sandals to make a trip to the loo, and got out of the lower berth to realise that someone was sleeping in the gap between the lower berths. And two more people beneath the lower berths! I was shocked. I had never seen this before. I felt like shit for all the times I had cribbed about uncomfortable journeys. Nothing can get worse than sleeping below the lower berth, I suppose.
The train was supposed to arrive at VT at five fifteen. Luckily, as I was to find out later, Marudude and all the other boys intended to get off at Dadar.

I was up at 4.30, and the intrusion into my personal space continued from where it was suspended the previous night.
What's your name?
P******
Nice name.
*hrmph*
South Indian?
Yes.

Wait, I'll give you something

Reaches into bag and takes out.....A mixie Jug!!!
Here, your mother can make chutney with this. My company makes, you know..

Nobody had ever given me a Mixie Jug before, and I wasn't quite prepared.
I looked at it, speechless. Noticed a label.
"To be used with Sumeet mixies"
yay! "I don't have a Sumeet mixie. Can't use it. Thanks."
I thrust it back into his hand quickly..
"But, you must take it"
"No"
All the other boys were looking at me, ready to burst out laughing. I looked back at them, helpless, wondering how to deal with this jackass.

Dadar arrived.

I had given my cell phone number to one of the other boys (I'll explain why later). Of course while getting off he has to say
" Please call me when you find out the stuff "
He had asked me to help him locate a Hitachi outlet in Ahmedabad, I offered to do so online.
Maruman takes out his phone, and says,
"Give me your number, I'll keep in touch."
"Honestly, I would rather not give my number, sorry."
"Please, i'll keep in contact."
"No, sorry"

I look entreatingly at the cop who had gotten in at an earlier station and made himself comfortable in our cubicle. Maruman gets off the train, but not without shouting
"Bye P*****"
Twice!

EEEKS!I had survived. Only just.

The perfect vacation..

2006-09-26T05:43:00.000-07:00

I'm back, y'all.
Barely, though. A return sleeper class journey FROM HELL. But more on that later.
Hyderabad was a sooooper break, ma. Zipped in and out of the city but not without watching Munich and The Devil Wears Prada (something I believe everyone with a female boss should watch). I strongly recommend popping over to Roswitha's blog and catching her take on our experience.

Hyderabad is like, cool. Well, atleast the Mocha there pretends to be. And to a large extend, it does succeed. A generous splash of purple, gold and green blended with 'hap' music. And the crowd. I felt truly ancient.

Then there was the beer incident. One of my girlfriends was suffering severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms, and just wanted to buy a bottle of beer to make the unhappiness go away. Just before TDWP, we popped in at a wine shop on the most cosmopolitan street in hyderabad, and she asked for a bottle of beer. The owner actually hooted. Ros and I couldn't believe it. Who does these things, dammit? Hooting? Why sell it to women at all if it's so morally offensive? Understandably, the girl was severely embarassed. The dude didn't stop there..he asked if she wanted it opened. The poor thing just thrust a 50 rupee note into his hand, grabbed the packet without checking its contents and we jumped into the nearest available rickshaw.
Idiots!

Neways, we managed to convince her that some narrow minded fool's opinion was hardly a good enough reason to refrain from buying alcohol in the future.. :)

We gossiped about crazy women we used to know at Xaviers, the non-existant social lives we led, watched trashy television, gorged on Ramen, and guzzled beer.
Thanks, Ros, for the perfect break! :)

Freedom!

2006-09-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

The GRE is finally done with, and I'm off to greener pastures! ..well, not exactly. I'm off to Hyderabad to meet Roswitha.
Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

And yeah, the GRE is by far the most high tension exam I've ever given. Maybe that's casue I haven't given the AGRE yet. But it's hard to imagine it could get worse than this.
As sar was saying, univs should admit anyone who survives this rubbish.
Neways, I got 760 in quant and 660 in verbal. 1420.
Quant was damn hard. Very stressed for time. Million arithmatic questions. Every bloody question had the word integer in it!!
I thought I'd get 520, or something in that range, so it was quite a relief to see my score start with a seven. In Verbal I managed to bomb the Reading comprehensions. Apparently I can't comprehend what I read..:)
The antonyms and analogies were decent.
And thankfully, the final essay (Issue) was much better than any of my (four) practise essays. Argument was Bleh. We'll have to wait and watch how that turns out.

AND YAY!I'm freeeeeeee.
AGRE in two months. Haven't registered yet. Don't know if I should.

Live each day like its your last..

2006-08-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

..you never know when you might um, pop it.

I'm not scared of dying, I'm just scared of doing so before I've gotten the chance to experience all I want to.

Two events in the recent past have prompted me to devote time to such unpleasant thoughts as death and lost chances.

The local train blasts were a rude slap in the face - I might just not make it home on any given day, or worse, be maimed in some horrible way as to render me blind/deaf/disfigured/*other horrible things*
It could well have been me on that Borivili fast. Thank heavens for stomach cramps, that ensured I wasn't able to go to TIFR in the morn; reached the lab so late in the day that I decided not to commute back home.

It got me thinking - At this point in my life I haven't achieved/experienced close to what I would like to have done so by now, and would not be particularly thrilled about exiting the game at this juncture.
I haven't given back at all to those who have done so much for me.

The other incident that prompted this introspection was an accident one of my acquaintances met with. She had a bike accident that resulted in various broken bones, a ruptured lung and serious head injury. To say it was shocking would be an understatement.
About the only good thing that emerged from the entire mishap was that a passerby used her cellphone to contact her friends, instead of walking away with it as was the case with one blast victim.
I cannot imagine what would be going through the mind of a person who decides to walk away with a cellphone handed over by someone unable to dial their relative's number cause their right arm isn't attached to their body anymore.

Her condition seems to be improving *crosses fingers*
I went to meet her a couple of days ago, with another friend. I had been forewarned that she was disoriented and slightly confused about her circumstances, but the friend who accompanied me had no idea, and was understandably a lot more upset.

Watching her mother, brother and very supportive group of friends patiently deal with her irritability (as a result of damage to her frontal lobe) and repetitive cribs/ wails about unreal pains in parts of her body that were not injured in the accident was a revelation.
To think that I expend so much time and energy worrying, almost obsessing over problems that seem trivial the second they have been surpassed. I think I need a dose of some real problems, a reality check of sorts.

*Must not crib about work, the absolute absence of a social life and hajaar exams to be given in the next few months*

OK people, with this I take a break from this blog, atleast until I'm done with the GRE.

See you in October,

Love,

Kate.

Never thought I'd say this,

2006-08-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

but I think I'm actually missing my slum accommodation.

You know, the one I share with all the other Masters students and TIFR, and a lovely little furry roomie we acquired in the last month of our stay there.

Wait, that should be 'used to share'...

As of 15th July, 2006, we are no longer in possession of this flat. :'(

No more Chai at MacRajan,

No more late night strolls at the sea face,

No more exchanging gossip in whispers, so as to not wake up the light sleepers...

No more filling water balloons during holi.. :'(

No more fighting over mattresses :((
I sure as hell didn't want this one, with all the papers dumped on it...

I will miss the terribly slow fan, and insect larvae-laden curtains (Did anyone ever wash them?) .. Together they ensured I had a blocked nose every morning ...

Well, the discovery of this sure as hell eased the pain of parting with our flat...

It was a sealed packet of chikki that was kept in my bag, in case I ever got hungry.
Except that one night when I actually was hungry and reached into my bag, I discovered that I wasn't the only starving creature in the house.

EUUGHH!

Relax, Lady!

2006-07-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

I stayed over at TIFR almost all of the last week the housing the housing was available to us. This was the week in which the bombings happened, and was curious to see what effect it had on commuters in the first class ladies compartment when I finally got back to travelling on a daily basis.
Earlier this week, I caught a train at around eleven fifteen at jogeshwari station. I don't usually travel at that time, and it was a unfamiliar bunch of faces that greeted me on that train.
As always, I was lugging around a stuffed backpack with clothes, a couple of books and food. At that hour, the trains are empty enough for me to get a seat as soon as I get on the train. I dumped my bag on the luggage holder, and started listening to music on my phone.

A woman sitting opposite me kept staring at me, until she could contain herself no more and blurted out,
" They're not alowing that in the gents first class compartment, you know..."

"Huh?"

"You know, keeping your bag on the luggage holder....they're making people keep bags on their laps"

"But why??"

"Its just a precautionary measure...A lot of college students just leave their bag on the luggage rack and go to the door"

"And?"

"Don't you know, some of the bombs were kept on the luggage racks, and the people who planted them just got off the train"

At this point, I'm getting increasingly annoyed with this lady's reasoning...
"Look, if there's a bomb in my bag, you're gonna be caught in the explosion whether its on my lap or on the rack....you do realise that, right? But if it reassures you that you're safe when its on my lap, I'll keep it down.."

*random statistic throwing*
"Yeah, but only 10% of bombers are suicide bombers...the rest are not...we can't keep an eye on everyone..."

At this point another lady who's been passing comments to a friend all throughout steps in
"why are you arguing with her? She's right!! We have to take precautions..."

"Look lady, you have to draw the line somewhere....Why should I keep a heavy bag on my lap when a luggage holder exists..I mean, it was created for the purpose of relieving the commuter, right?"

"The Railways are thinking of removing that"
"Even if you have a laptop,and its a crowded train, you should hold it with you"

"Then according to you, we should stay home all the time, right.."
I was tempted to say yes, Paranoia Queen, but desisted from doing so. They seemed agitated enough...

I don't understand. Is this the solution? Get commuters to hug their heavy bags, and take off the overhead luggage racks?
Didn't seem very rational to me...

So much for the spirit of Bombay...The bombs unfortunately seem to have turned everyone into irrational gits..I agree its scary. I am scared too. But you cannot live like this.
How long will they insist on the bags being kept on laps?

A useful link..

2006-07-12T02:13:00.000-07:00

http://www.mumbaipolice.org/images/news_cp/1blast/blast.htm

A hospital-wise list of the dead and injured people.

Don't go home

2006-07-11T06:37:00.000-07:00

especially by train...
5 blasts, my friends tell me...two confirmed...in the first class compartment of western railways suburban locals...
Jogeshwari, mahim, khar, mira road.

stay put!

Happy days are here again! :)

2006-07-02T01:33:00.000-07:00

My brother went out shopping by himself yesterday afternoon, and got me a little something....

Indulgent, isn't he? :)

Key features include

MP3 and AAC format support
2-megapixel camera
34MB phone memory + 256MB Memory Stick PRO Duo™
FM radio
Walkman® music player

*runs away to play with new toy*

If only you'd come back to me...

2006-06-25T08:26:00.000-07:00

Don't wanna weep for you,I don't want to know
I'm blind and tortured, the white horses flow
The memories fire, the rhythms fall slow
Black beauty I love you so

My phone slipped from my hands and fell down between tracks 3 and 4 when I was transferring it from my pocket to my bag.

SHIT!

This was all during the churchgate fast's fifteen second halt at Dadar station, on platform 4.
Jump, yelled the lady next to me.
Can't, a train is aproaching on the next track, and there isn't enough space. I'm too scared. Not enough time to push through the crowd and get off on the platform. I'll just have to get off at Bombay central and catch a train back.

Meanwhile, I kept asking random women to call my number, but it was immediately 'out of coverage area' . Clearly someone had jumped at the oppurtunity.
Took me a full twenty minutes to get back to Dadar, and the frequency of trains at Dadar was now frightening. When I finally got down to the tracks, my phone wasn't there. :'(

I had prided myself on not having lost a single phone in the last five years. Which, if you know me well, is quite an achievement.

*poof* and it's gone.

Photos from my trip

2006-06-17T05:31:00.000-07:00

This was taken before the thread ceremony...

Here are some photos from the photo session after the function.

My entire family- Grandad, dad, his three brothers and their families...

Here's one of my grandad with all the kids..

The kid with the 'Punk' Tee is the one who was 'no longer a boy' since that morning...:)

And here's an apt photo of the twelfth standard boy :

Aargh part 2

2006-06-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

Been ages since I updated. Got bored of my own blog for a bit, and I've also been impossibly busy.
Back to my Bangalore trip. Where were we?
Yeah, the family get-together from hell.

At this point let me state that I was not the only person in agony. Another cousin was expecting his twelfth standard results in a couple of days- the poor boy. The entire family was around. We all know just how eager relatives can be when it comes to board results.
He also had to give engineering entrance exams all of that week.

Once the party was done with, we finally got a chance to sit down and talk, but not for long. We would all have to wake up by six the next morning. All seventeen of us.

Seventeen people, two bathrooms, and sarees to be draped on.
Fun!

So yeah, we had the token photo session before leaving for the thread ceremony, and here's a pic of me. edit: had problems uploading, see next post...

It was a regular family function, with loads of small talk and polite enquiries about long-lost cousins. And then there was the severely annoying interaction with an old dude who I wasn't quite sure was even related to our family.

Gruff voice "How tall are you?"
"5'10''
"Married?"
"No"
Dirty look "Parents are going to have a tough time getting you married"
"None of your business, you silly old SOD!!"

Of course, I couldn't respond like that, so I had to nod politely in agreement.

I was told later that he was my aunts neighbour. Not even a relative. Too bad. I could've accidentally toppled the kumkum holder over him if I had known this earlier.

Caught up with cousins, and made plans to watch Gangster with them sometime later that week. Just an excuse to move out and explore the city a bit. :)

Aargh - part 1

2006-06-01T05:58:00.000-07:00

So many things to crib about.....I'm actually bored at the thought of typing it all out.
But of course, the blog must not be neglected for too long, and special requests to update must be considered.
So here goes!

Discovered an annoying bunch of threads on the tifr community on orkut that disappoint, both with regards to the opinions being posted as well as the people these opinions are coming from. I guess I expect too much.

And then of course, I must share my delightful experiences from the bangalore 'vacation' , if i may use that word.

Predictably, the trip was crazy hectic. The purpose of the entire trip was for me to attend a first cousin's thread ceremony, and of course, I was made to attend two random weddings - the justification being ' Since you are in the city, it would come across as extremely rude if you chose not to attend these functions'.

I understand. It would be rude if the bride/bridegroom had any idea who I was.

Got to Bangalore on saturday evening, and spent close to two hours getting to my uncle's house. When I finally got there, grubby and exhausted, I was greeted by loads of partly-recognisable faces (I was seeing a few people after over five years), and walked from the door to the bedroom saying Hi! about forty times. It was decided (by my mum) that I would change into something more presentable for the pre-function family get-together, but I ditched the idea considering everyone had already seen me in my true grubbiness...

Over the years i've noticed that my extended family is getting increasingly fond of getting together. And such events are a lot more fun when there's alcohol and dancing involved. On this particular occasion, however, despite the free-flowing alcohol (that I stayed away from), the mood was sombre - my future had to be decided!
Was marriage more important than investing the five prime years of my life (that could be spent in making beautiful, healthy babies) in a PhD? Would I get any of the 'good' boys if I opted to look at the mature age of 28?
The debate raged on, and as you would've guessed, I wasn't the one asking these questions- Two grand-uncles were close to muscling it out over this issue- one who is a PhD himself, agreed with me when I said i couldn't possibly get married while in grad school, another believed that marriage was top priority - over everything else.

I left the room when it occured to me that at no point were they going to ask for my inputs- no questions on whether i was already making plans with someone else. The debate continued after my exit..

All of this within two hours of stepping into my uncle's house. I was bracing myself for the rest of the trip- it was bound to get worse.

More in my next post!
Oh, the monsoon has descended upon Bombay, in all it's fury. Waded through mud to get home yesterday. Not fun.

So long, folks!

2006-05-19T06:26:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a vacation after almost a year and a half- heading to bengalooru to attend a thread ceremony and a million marriages of people whose names i don't know, whose existence i wasn't aware of before today, and quite honestly, couldn't give a rat's ass to find out about.

Just when i had made up my mind to not let this trip to bangalore turn into all of my previous trips (that involved being shuttled like cattle from one uncle's place to another's) , I was informed of my parents' plans for my week long vacation.

I can't argue with them anymore.

If any aunt at the numerous functions outlined decides to ask me about my marital intentions, i will respond to her in any of the following ways, depending on my mood..

I'm not into men.
OR
I'm in a live-in relationship, we're letting things go their own way for a while.

I don't think my parents should expect any queries about their 'marriageable' daughter after these responses.

*evil grin*

Coincidence? I think not!

2006-05-14T06:41:00.001-07:00

As I was re-reading The Goblet of Fire for the seventh time or so, I suddenly noticed a sentence suspiciously similar to an insult spat out by Edmund Blackadder at Baldrick, his dogsbody. The dig at Baldrick is one of my favourite blackadder lines, and has been my gmail signature for a while now, apart from contributing to my blog address.

Baldrick, you wouldn't recognize a subtle plan if it painted itself purple and danced naked on a harpsichord singing 'subtle plans are here again'.

Ron, at the end of chapter 21, I think, makes an observation on Percy:

"Percy wouldn't recognise a joke if it danced naked in front of him wearing Dobby's tea-cosy."

Hmm....trickster-woman!

Dug this out from my inbox

2006-05-06T05:38:00.000-07:00

I wrote this mail to a few friends describing my first day at TIFR.
This is exactly why i like keeping a journal - my first impression of the place was spot on in some issues, but completely off in others...

Am dying!
Completely overwhelmed ...

TIFR has unreal expectations from the MS Students - the responsibility is just too much

was my first day today
the morn was spent in introductions( there are only six MS students..:( )

And then we attended a lab meeting, where a third year student was having a mock thesis seminar( yes, you have to present a thesis in order to obtain your ms) Have no idea why this was so surprising to me...considering it's an M.Sc. by Research!

Understood nothing. Feel stupid. That hasn't changed much....

Then when i was sent off to my lab, it got even better
My prof's first reaction was 'i'm not ready for you!'
After she got over her initial shock that i had showed up, i was given my first job...to clean up a desk..:P It was a sign of all the menial duties to come!

anyway, atleast i got my own desk and cabinet, and also a comp...:)
plus i get a stipend..:D At that point I wasn't aware that the parents intended to put the cash into a postal savings fund
plus it's centrally airconditioned! Apparently it took very little to get me excited

but i'm shit scared..completely disoriented as of now Still am

the day was spent reading some papers on the research carried out in
my specific lab.. Too bad the enthusiasm for literature didn't last very long
gotta go back tom and read..:(
only one other ms student in my lab- and he's a year senior..two post-docs, two PhD students, two visiting students and one prof..

also the travelling leaves me drained of all energy..

aaaaaargh
hoping to survive this course. I should've escaped when I had the chance
Ta,
P.

Mango party!

2006-04-29T02:29:00.000-07:00

For over a month, half of my department was transformed into a bunch of genetics course takers, instead of graduate students - every free minute was spent on frantic assignment problem-solving....some of us boldly venturing into unexplored (by us) areas of our institute, such as the library...
The shock was evident on most other students' faces....biology students, actually scribbling on sheets of paper, pretending to think?!
Some even wanted to know if a big exam was coming up....possibly the only reason us bio students would be reading instead of stabbing mice and mating flies (which seems to be the general perception of what biologists here do).

Now that this course is finally done with, we're celebrating!
What's best, the celebration is sponsored by the course co-ordinator.....we're going to have a mango party, with mangoes, ice-cream, pepsi and beer! The mangoes were just an excuse to have chilled beer on a warm saturday evening, if you ask me...;)
I'm not complaining!

Tangent: Tolerant of my cribbing about his annoying lift manners (such as pressing the buttons repeatedly) all through the walk home from the car last night, my dad casually mentioned that he had been to a book fair, and bought a(nother) map of bombay, and he wanted me to check it out. I peeped into the bag, to find four general knowledge books and two Enid Blyton novels he had bought for my cousins, and The Essential Calvin and Hobbes for me! :D

My daddy best! ever!
Don't you just love random gifts?

Updates on the canteen boy in my next post....

More photos...

2006-04-25T05:30:00.000-07:00

Kho-kho on the beach..

Relaxing on the hammocks

Exploring the fort..

Heading back from the fort..

Another beautiful sunset !

Murud-Janjira

2006-04-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from my recent trip to Murud-Janjira fort and Kashid beach.

Taken by Mayur and Senthil

This community bestship!

2006-04-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

My brother finally copied Monty Python and The Quest for the Holy grail from a friend yesterday, and I couldn't resist the urge to watch atleast a few of my favourite scenes again.

So I fast-forwarded my way through the entire first half, and watched about half an hour's worth of tummy-clutching dialogues and ridiculous situations.

It is still my favourite movie- the funniest movie ever.

To all those who disagree:

Ni!

An unrelated, almost ironic bit of the web I stumbled upon while looking at how people find my blog...
Somebody apparently did a google search for "kate tifr" and found my blog. This is the second link on that google search page.
No offence meant to the other party involved in the joke, but I just died laughing when i checked it out.

Imagine if he had actually taken up the position he was shortlisted for!

more unrelated stuff - new spam in today:

hiiiii
hope you are enjoying yourself
your face is verry clear good looking
actuly i like you
please send me Reply
wanna be my friend..?
I Want To Friendship With You.
It Is Totaly Depend On Your Wish.
If Your Answer Is Yes Then
Keep This Card With You And Smile.
If Your Answer Is No
Then Kindly Return This Card....
TRUSET ME

i am wait for............
love is Life Not Heart Of life
Love Is Only Part Of life
I want to make friendship with you.
If u r interested.
bcz friendship is a great relation in this world.

eeks!
I expect a query on Nazim lovship and friandship soon!

Palghar trip

2006-04-14T23:48:00.000-07:00

Here are some snaps from my trip to Palghar beach with my batchmates..

Boom!

2006-04-14T06:08:00.000-07:00

After all the hyperventilating over the treasure hunt, it looks like i might not attend it at all....as I was saying to another friend, the whole world has descended upon Bombay this weekend, and they all want to hang out with me.
Ordinarily i wouldn't complain about having a social life, but its kinda hard to get through the weekend without offending anyone.

Roswitha arrived a couple of days ago, and I haven't met her yet. SUCKS!
I will be meeting her tomorrow night at Ram and Bolli's treat, but its not enough.

Mitli Miss arrived from Singapore today, and i don't even have a contact no. If you're reading this, Miss, call me!

The Archster arrives the day after tomorrow, and I've promised to hang out with her too. Don't ask me when.

Not to be forgotten, my radioactive reagent arrives tonight, and I need to do experiments before the label dies out. Aargh!

*bursts*

:(

I want a Time-turner!

and yeah, before I forget, Happy new year to me! (and the 37 other tulu brahmins out there)

Currently listening to:
Naam hain tera
Tera Surroor
Humkoo Deewaaaana karrrr gaye
Soniyeeee
It's an infestation!
Why doesn't Himesh Reshammiya get nasal polyps already!?

Treasure hunt!

2006-04-07T04:43:00.000-07:00

The last highly anticipated hostel event is finally here - a little birdie told me that the treasure hunt is scheduled for next saturday!

all i have to say about that is :-

yippie yay!

The annual hostel events have been a lot of fun this year, especially the sports (I only attended the badminton and table tennis tournaments), auction and of course, the quiz!

In other unrelated news, I'm heading off to Murud-Janjira and Kashid for the weekend. Envy Me! :)

More unrelated stuff: I really like the gujarati rap song Blood Brothers by Karmacy...strange sounding, yet addictive.
I know, I know....gujju rap? Give it a listen....don't let images of devang patel ruin it all for you..:P

Comment moderation

2006-04-05T04:10:00.000-07:00

Many people have been asking me to turn on comment moderation for my blog, or atleast delete the 'offensive' comments left all over.

I don't believe that comment moderation is the solution to this problem, so i'm not going to do so. Plus, its too much work.

From now on, I'm just going to delete any comment that has nothing to do with the post.

Any personal attacks, critisicm about my body type, vices, etc can be mailed to me, instead of being regurgitated all over my blog.

The anonymous commenting option was left open to allow lazy friends to leave comments without having to create a blogger account.

An alternative career option...

2006-04-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

....that doesn't exist for me:

Auctioneer !

Go figure.
:D

On being a tall Indian woman....

2006-03-27T00:34:00.000-08:00

You would think that I'd be used to the responses to my height by now. I mean, I've had to deal with cheap comments, flabbergasted glances and raised eyebrows for 22 years now.
But every now and then people go that extra mile to remind you that you ARE a freak, you're eight whole inches taller than the average Indian woman, for heaven's sake.
A friend even commented that i seem to have some sort of complex about my height , cause i talk about it a lot. And why not.

As a tall woman, I've begun to expect a few things:

1. Always wear decent shoes, cause the first thing people do, after staring at your neck (which is at the eye level of most men) is scroll down to your feet, in the expectation that you're wearing stilettos.
On a couple of occasions, I've been tempted to scream out to the particularly not-subtle ones-
YES, I REALLY AM THAT TALL. DEAL WITH IT.

2. Prepare to be confronted with inane questions

"How are you so tall?"

or, worse, outrageously off-the-mark guesses as to how tall you really are.

A couple of aunts in Mangalore:

"My, my, you're really tall ,aren't you?"
"How tall do you think she is,
5'4''? "

At which point you yell, exasperated:" Um, no. you're off by six inches"
*gaping mouths*

Followed by

3. People will always think the smartest comment to make is

" Your parents are going to find it really difficult to find you a guy, no? Poor
things."

Take your sympathy where its wanted, pliss.
Contrary to popular opinion, my parents aren't treating my impending marriage as the sole purpose of my existence.
Or atleast until lately they weren't.

4. Prepare to have your name 'suggested' by random aunts whenever any tall guy in your 38-member community is looking to get hitched. Annoyingly random, take it from me. Especially when they don't know anything about the 'boy' apart from his height!!!

5. Prepare to be called Amitabh Bachhan by street scum, and be given the demeaning up-down eye scroll along with it.

6. Expect to have your male friends ask you to walk on the other side of the road, cause you make them look bad. No, seriously. This has happened to me.
On other occasions I've been used as a portable scale for all the growing boys in the colony to measure their increasing heights against.

It's not all bad though.
I get to breathe in the local trains. I always got to sit on the last bench in class.
And I look great in a sari! ;)

Help!

2006-03-23T08:53:00.000-08:00

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines

As the academic year is nearing its end, most of my batchmates have finally dawned upon the realization that we cannot avoid thinking about the complete lack of data we individually possess.

How on earth are we to generate a thesis one year from now?!

We are all praying for two 'allowances'

1. No thesis chapter should necessarily have anything to do with any other thesis chapter: Most of us have spent a lot of time dabbling in various directions, answering various unrelated questions simultaneously, and it would be lovely if we could include all of it in our thesis under separate chapters. Both the number of chapters as well as the thickness of the thesis would be greatly enriched by this allowance.

2. As we are preparing to register,a bunch of us were reviewing possible titles for our theses.
Expectedly, they will have to be sufficiently vague yet jazzy sounding, such as

Gene expression in Drosophila melanogaster for the UP dude
Biophysical and biochemical characterization of proteins for Dr. James Doolitle

and mine:

Post-translational modifications and their effects on localization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The general nature of the topics is a good indication of the specificity and success of our endeavors in these fields.. :)
Maybe we could throw in a few buzzwords (a favourite of one of our faculty members) such as stochastic, cross-talk, contour, moonlighting types and further up the coolness of our work.

For now we have our daily panic attacks to keep us occupied.

Rang barse?

2006-03-15T01:58:00.000-08:00

If so, i didn't notice...
Of all the things that we (at TIFR) played with this holi, coloured powder was probably the least used....Which is why the post-holi scrubbing of skin was a little less painful.
But that does not mean we had a boring holi.

Enthusiasm was running high, as we started planning the 'event' two days in advance....Some folks were apprehensive about participating in the festivities here, as they knew bhaang and a mud pool would be involved. But B. And I couldn't/ wouldn't be curbed- we went to Colaba market and succumbed to the temptation of buying four types of colours, pichkaris and even water balloons from three different sellers. We're suckers for good marketing.

The preparations began in the MSc Housing early in the morning- 9.30 am, to be precise- for Em and R2D2 had to be chucked out of bed to help make water balloons. After persevering for half an hour, and trying various things such as taking away their bedsheets, opening the curtains to let the light in on their faces, and eventually yelling in their faces, we finally got to work...And succeeded in making a mess in the flat. Filling balloons is so much fun. What's not fun is being the only person able to knot them, while five others fill them instead.

My poor little sore finger..:(

Another bit of outrageously bad management was allowing S., a particularly helpful batchmate (who filled exactly six balloons) to carry one half of our balloons down. Within five minutes, ALL our balloons were over. ALL! In the process I also discovered that my aim is as godawful as it used to be a few years ago.

After squabbling with kids who wanted to use our bucket of coloured water, (or should I rephrase that as: after Saki bullied the kids who wanted to use our water) we decided that some others who had asked to be personally invited from their hostel rooms should be poked out of sleep too, and moved towards the hostel. We were inadvertently also moving towards THE PIT.

We almost sneaked into the hostel unnoticed. Almost. We were spotted, there was some general yelping, and the girlies ran up the stairs. I was of course, the last one, and was caught, interestingly enough, by my namesake! I pleaded to my friends to not leave me alone, but they had long gone. The solitary friend who tried to help was caught too, and we were dragged to the pit. Of mud.

It was all very organized - I was asked to sit down quietly and not protest, and assured that if I did so it would be okay. A whistle was blown, junta kicked mud onto me, I swallowed a fair bit, rolled about in the puddle, and was escorted to a pipe to wash my face. All done in about two mins. Not that bad at all.

I reminded myself that as a kid I actually enjoyed playing in muck, so I should really not overreact. Now that I think of it, it was entertaining to watch each of us being taken, one at a time, lambs to the slaughter. For a change, it was all taken in good humour, and I don't think anyone was left feeling very unpleasant.

The shocker of the day was spotting a faculty member (who has recently joined our department) in the bunch of boys kicking about in the muck. We were wondering whether to put colour on his cheeks, or to go with the general theme and apply mud instead. We opted for a bright, luminescent green. A minute later he was dragged into the puddle in the centre and given the treatment himself.

My only regret is not getting my hands on Bhaang. :( I'd really like to try some, and was looking forward to an opportunity to do so here.

Home, home again..

2006-03-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

I like to be here when I can
And when I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire

Ok, so there's no fire at home, but the emotional equivalent of one- my parents are beginning to remark on how less time I'm spending at home these days.

My mother actually said "oh, you remember that you do have to come home once in a while.."

Cannot deal with the parents getting sentimental- I suppose it is worse now that my brother is no longer living at home...
It has probably also been precipitated by the sudden social life I seem to have developed over the last two weeks...Five outings in ten days- Not my style at all.

First there was the orkut meet at Toto's, where the lot of us finally got to meet Desi_grll....Or as I will refer to her from now- Satya Claus. I was, of course, trying to continue staying off alcohol, (as it had been only two weeks since my resolution) and therefore the butt of all jokes that evening until I left. Sometime before I left some smartass decided to play with his girlfriend's mace/pepper spray, and successfully emptied out half of the pub, leaving the ones who stayed back gasping for breath..The smokers being the first to choke!

Missed out on meeting eh_donia and Kaustubh, though I did manage to meet eh_donia four days later, when the bunch of us went to Starters and More to watch Satya Claus sing. No, croon.

After overcoming the initial embarrassment on realizing that I was probably the grubbiest person to ever walk through their doors and being asked to 'kindly hand over my bag', I was able to eventually sit back and enjoy the ambiance, and more importantly, the music.

Got home at one thirty that night.

Then there were the two outings with a videshi friend, a boy too, so the parents were terribly thrilled.
And then there was dinner with the old pals from Xaviers.

All in all, too much for mummy-daddy.

All play and no (successful) work makes Kate very badly prepared for her labmeet next week!

Update on the canteen boy.

2006-03-02T12:14:00.000-08:00

I've been seeing him around a lot more since I last wrote about him.
Thrice a day, on an average.
Which is a good thing, obviously. :D

I'm amazed at my own interest in him. I've always scoffed at women from school/xavier's who went beyond swooning over random hot men and actually claimed to have real feelings for boys they didn't know the first thing about.

How can you call one-sided feelings love? People have told me that they'll 'never love someone else' despite receiving no reciprocation whatsoever from the object of their affection.
I need to be reassured that my attention is well-received, before I can throw myself further into a relationship.

My labmates are trying to figure out who the hell I'm talking about, but I've promised to tell them only if anything ever comes out of it.
Rather silly and juvenile, isn't it? And fun!

Stabby (a senior) has promised to follow my stare around the canteen..:P

Intrigue is what is keeping this going, I'm assuming. I'm sure the fact that I barely know anything about him is greatly working in his favour. :)

Not much else to keep myself occupied with, in any case.
Wicked IFAs be damned! They offer wonderfully irreproducible results, magically working on the first occasion, and then refusing to do so on the following thirty five occasions.

I've been alternating between cold and hot experiments all of last week - protein preparations in the cold room (a walk-in fridge) and radioactive yeast in the hot lab.
And playing hide and seek with the boss-lady, of course.

Some things never change.

Raking up old dirt, eh?

2006-02-26T03:28:00.000-08:00

Snippets from an interview on NDTV, regarding his turning hostile as an eyewitness in the Jessica Lall murder case:

"Whatever had to happen seven years ago was meant to happen"
"People are just raking up old dirt and trying to sensationalise the issue"

Aargh - this is the life of a human being you're talking about , Munshi-boy, not an illicit relationship. I wonder how amusing Shayan Munshi would find it if someone shot his new bride in broad daylight, in front of ninety-odd people , and key eyewitnesses said that they couldn't recognize the person responsible, and didn't want to be part of the attempts of the media to sensationalise the issue.

Even less amusing is his retraction of his signed statement, with the excuse that he couldn't understand Hindi properly, when the statement has a line indicating that he fully understands what he is signing, because it has been translated to him.

Amusing unrelated bit of trivia: Shayan Munshi was then a student at IIPM.

Dawg to the slaughter.

2006-02-16T08:32:00.000-08:00

Morbid, wot?

Oh, and here are the pics from V-day.

I look like a deer caught in the headlights, but Monika looks very much at ease by Ayaan's side. :)

And the flowers!

New kids on the block...

2006-02-15T23:30:00.000-08:00

Looks like everyone at TIFR has begun to feel the need to express their opinions on a blog these days...within the last few months, there have been many new players in the game.

A flashing new entry on the blogging scene, someone who claims to be a frustrated second year student has created quite the stir (not), especially after he very discreetly left links to his blog here and on Samu's space.

While it is very enlightening to know how the other half thinks, there are some things I don't get.
For starters, why would he draw Samu's attention to his blog, to return her good-humoured comments with spiteful ones? I'm actually amazed at how she managed to reply in a well-intentioned fashion in the first place.

Going by their natural flair for language, it's amazing how there was absolutely NO contribution coming from these people when there was talk of starting a student newsletter.

Happiness is...

2006-02-14T10:43:00.000-08:00

....An unassuming hottie.

a.k.a. Ayaan Ali Khan.
Dunno who he is?
Maybe this will refresh your memory: He's the one on the left.

Plus, he's about forty times better looking in real life.

He was at TIFR to entertain a bunch of mostly firang delegates attending an international conference- popularly known as CHEPO-2006.

Monika escorted him on his journey from the hotel, and after his scintillating performance, I asked if I could accompany (read as pile on with) Monika on the car ride back to the Taj.

He virtually begged us to take his 'token of appreciation' bunch of roses, and said that we could divide it between us and tell people it was from him. I was most willing, of course. We even took snaps, which I do intend to upload on flickr, eventually. Quite the smooth operator, as a friend put it.

Although I most certainly came across as a gushing fangirl, he was rather proactive in making conversation himself, even apologizing for ruining our evening. I promptly reassured him that we could execute 'our plans' after dropping him off, and he needn't worry.

What I did not mention was that my grand plan was to have roasted almonds icecream at Natural's with TIFR junta.

*sigh*

The rest of the week hasn't been as pleasant though. I lost my glasses a couple of days ago- they seem to have vanished off the face of this earth. Who would take cracked glasses!?

The very next day, with my Nokia 6610 in my pocket, I crashed into a worktable corner and cracked the display.

I was more than confident of a well- deserved slap from the parents, but they were real dolls about it - no yells, no 'how could you' (the most annoying and pointless question ever).

All they said was that you should get new glasses and change the display.

Nothing like the occasional understanding response from teh parents to cheer you up.

Tull-i hokar gir gaye..Part II

2006-02-05T23:25:00.000-08:00

My response to Rang De Basanti was supposed to feature in this space, but I think Roswitha's take is a far better read.

Do visit.

What Your Drink Says About You..

2006-02-05T21:51:00.000-08:00

A very insightful post at Waiter Rant informs me that I'm not really good at waiting..

Vodka on the Rocks – You want to get drunk as fast as possible.

I love what he has to say about Vik..
Sour Apple Martini – You have a sense of fun but overindulgence might cause dancing on tables and bad karaoke singing. (Beth?)

So true, so true!

Tidu, weren't you saying something about margaritas on the beach? *raises eyebrows*
Margarita – You’re fun, good in bed, and naughty with a sense of style. If you don’t have it with salt you’re a wimp.

Something you want to tell us about, Arch?
Rum and Coke – You’ve been arrested for assault once or twice.

Swinny's choice makes her very popular with the waiter.. :)
Beer – Blue collar, simple, and an old standby. (I think a girl wearing a t-shirt and jeans while drinking a good ‘ol Bud is very sexy.)

My favourite is what he has to say about Champagne:
Champagne – You’re reserved, classy, or a stripper.

:)

Tull-i hokar gir gaye..Part I

2006-02-05T05:10:00.000-08:00

It has been a fairly interesting week. Went for the Jethro Tull show on Wednesday, and saw Rang de Basanti on Friday night. Two events on my social calendar in one week is definitely out of the norm. Sad but true.

The Kala Ghoda Arts festival started yesterday- Yay!

I don't expect to attend half as many events as I did last year.
Was supposed to watch a Bombay Black gig at Azad Maidan yesterday...Rather liked them last year, especially the easy-on-the-eyes guitarist and lead singer.... Was feeling kinda off colour and ended up going home to watch Secret Window instead.

As for Jethro Tull, a kind uncle was willing to sponsor me when he found out that the only reason I wasn't going for it was monetary. Eventually he discovered that the company he works for was one of the sponsors of the show at Shanmughananda Hall, and we got complimentary passes instead.

Alms for Shanti opened the show, and were refreshingly good. I even recognised a couple of their songs!

Expectedly, there were more people my uncle's age than mine, though that was to be no indication of the behaviour of the crowd...

The show started around an hour late, not before some irate audience member yelled
" Hey manager, start the bloody show, I have to drop my daughter off at school tomorrow morning" , which encouraged another wannabe angsty teenager to yell, "B.C., M.C, Start the fucking music!"

Gits. It wasn't Independence rock, for heaven's sake.

You would think the gigantic portraits of a couple of swamis, hanging next to the stage, would've discouraged such language.

But young men insist on being indelicate!

Ian Anderson is flawless as a flautist, but the poor old sod really shouldn't attempt vocals anymore. No tone, no tune, mutilating both the high and low pitch bits. He was murdering his own numbers so badly towards the end I was hoping Locomotive Breath wasn't on the set for the night.

The show closed with Aqualung, and just as we got up to leave, the band pranced back on to stage and broke into my favourite number.

I enjoyed it nevertheless. :) He may be approaching senility, but he's a damn good entertainer.

" I was nineteen when I first heard of Eric Clapton. I soon decided that it would be a good idea to play any instrument but the guitar.

Somebody had told me that Eric Clapton couldn't play the flute - neither could Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck or Jimmy Page. .......or Bryan Adams."

At which point he burst into giggles.

There were some not-so-pleasant incidents to remember the evening by too..

For the most part of the show, I was leaning forward in my seat in the last but one row of the auditorium, but occasionally, I would lean back and switch off for a bit.

On one such occasion, I started fidgeting in my seat, as I realized that I was sharing the seat with an old man's foot - some bloke sitting behind me decided to lose his shoes and feel up my sides with his toes. Wonder how long he was at this before I noticed.

When I did eventually notice and look back to see WTF was going on, I was kinda surprised. He was sitting there, nonchalant, buttons undone, all paunchy, slinking his foot back into his shoe.

My uncle, sitting right next to me, saw me turning back and asked me what was up, and uncomfortable as I was explaining the situation, I mumbled " creepo feeling me up" under my breath.

We both turned back to get a better look at him, and he calmly got up and left the auditorium. We just kept staring.

I've always told myself that if anyone tries to get fresh, they're going to regret it. But I guess I was really caught unawares here.

The tickets to the concert cost between one and three grand. What sort of a lecherous fool would pay that much just to get a feel?

Also, he was O-L-D. I suppose it's really hard for me to accept that there really are dirty old men out there. I wasn't even there by myself - what was he thinking!?

The second he walked out I regretted not having whacked him with my purse. But If I had done so, there wouldn't be any Aqualung or Locomotive Breath. I can't decide if I should've reacted.

Oh well. I couldn't help smiling to myself when the opening lines of Aqualung came back to me:

Sitting on a park bench,

Eyeing little girls with bad intent.

Romaaanz in the air?

2006-02-03T23:38:00.000-08:00

As one of the two (thousand) avid readers of Roswitha's blog, I suppose I've been tagged to do the Romaaanz meme.

SO here goes: Eight qualities of the perfect lover..

1. Must not take everything I say seriously. It's very frustrating when he is unable to discern the difference between a serious statement and one made in jest.

2. If he looks like a demi-god, he must not proceed to ruin the happy illusion by opening his mouth and attempting to make conversation.

3. Must not have his life revolve around sports. His life should revolve around me instead. Ok, I take that back. Clingy is irritating. Also, must have a unique and independent taste in music, movies, books. Cannot be tone deaf.

4. Must have a keen understanding of how time-keeping devices work. 'nuff said.

5. Must not think that being hygienic is bathing once in three days, or that wearing the same 'outfit' for four days at a stretch is acceptable, or that grubbiness is a valid style statement. Grubbiness was cool, if you were in Seattle in the early nineties and had a voice like Kurt Cobain's. Must recognize the need for the presence of volatile aromatic compounds in his life.

6. Must not be a bigot of any sort. *The* biggest turnoff ever.

7. Must dazzle me with his wit and charm and keep me laughing. Must not think he is God's gift to womankind and have an ego the size of Karan Johar's head....Which, as Vik will readily tell you, is very large indeed.

8. Must magically be able to comprehend when I mean 'I really don't want to talk about this' and, on what other instances I'm trying to say 'the only reason I brought this up is because I want to talk about it'.

I tag.....Oook, Archana, Mitli Miss, Golu, Ro, KN, Kaushu and Vik.

Rules of the tag:

1. The tagged victim has to come up with 8 different points of their perfect lover.
2. You need to mention the sex of the target.
3. Tag 8 victims to join this game and leave a comment on their comments saying they've been tagged.
4. If tagged the 2nd time, there's no need to post again.

The fight for the elusive slave-child...

2006-01-21T06:31:00.000-08:00

a.k.a. the race to grab grad students.

The things scientists do to entice prospective grad students! *sigh*

Universities in the States encourage senior grad students to take the first year students out (all expenses covered by the university) and ensure that each student settles down well into their university.

Things work a little differently here.

While some will talk to the prospective students' parents to ensure them that their son has "great" prospects (such as admission into Harvard) if he joins their institute, others will bend over their backs to accomodate the student's demands..like giving another slavechild-of-lower-designation's project to them, if they fancy it...or even a workbench they fancy.....

Until they join the lab, that is.

Illusions are shattered on a daily basis thereafter. The smiles become scarce, patience minimal.

Entering the lab after eleven ensures a glare, instead of the inital , "Good Morning, P.S.C.(Prospective slave-child)".

Time management, or the supposed lack of it, is brought up with every mention of a visit home, or a weekend outing.
Or even without any specific provocation.

You're no longer asked why you're in the lab on a Sunday, and if you are asked so, it's follwed by a *you mean you're just starting the experiment today?!*

Disclaimer : All of this is based on what I've heard, not experienced. Also, it's not specific to my institute.
In fact, I hear that people elsewhere in India have it worse.

I wrote this post a while ago when fresh bunch of students had just joined, based on all the rumours that were doing the rounds at that time....don't know why I didn't publish it then..

Fussy children!

2006-01-21T01:05:00.000-08:00

I've never been to a toy store. When I see kids (on TV and in movies) throwing a tantrum for the latest action figure and Barbie, I want to smack the littluns. Or sit on them.

Here is my extensive doll collection as a kid- two fairly hideous Indian dolls and one Barbie, who my brother relieved of her head not very long after this photo was taken.
I think at some later point I was gifted a 'Skipper' doll too, and a vanity set for Barbie, but I can't trace the two of them now...

But it's not that I was deprived of toys as a kid - I had my fair share of stuffed animals , most of which I still have..:) , though I was always more fascinated with my twin brother's toys.... I took this photo just before my mum was packing them to give away. :(

Birthdays were always highly anticipated occasions - apart from the suckiness of having to share a birthday party, we always hoped that our guests would have the good sense to give us separate gifts. Some tried so hard that on one birthday, I recieved the same garden furniture assembly set from two separate guests. I suppose the number of things you could buy a little girl was rather limited in those days.

At the Rao household, it paid to fall ill - every time we recovered from the throes of some contagious affliction, my dad would gift us a toy :D.
My brother got either ram-man or man-e-faces after he recovered from chicken pox... :)

On another occasion, one of my uncles got both me and my brother Jigsaw sets after having belted us for doing something really stupid (can't remember what).
What I do remember is not being pacified with the gift....
I recently found out that this was a rather common practice in my extended family!

Thankfully it was a one-time incident with us.

I've told myself that if I ever have kids, I won't beat them up as far as I can avoid it, but I've been reassured by older cousins that it's very unlikely I'll stick to this resolution.

Kinda depressing, that most people believe you have to beat your children into behaving themselves.

Sigh

2006-01-16T00:21:00.000-08:00

Don't you just love scruffy hair on men?

I sure do.

Ok, I admit it. Just another ploy to post a pic of Johnny Depp here.. :D

I'b shick...

2006-01-12T07:07:00.000-08:00

Rhinovirus - How can anything that looks so adorable be so debilitating, I ask!

Spent a sleepless night at the M.Sc. housing flat wondering how my prodigious respiratory system could block itself up within thirty seconds of having been rigorously cleaned out. It only got worse in the morning.
Left the lab at two thirty with a splitting headache and came running home to mom.

Two steam inhalation sessions later, I'm feeling better. Only just.

The Biology geek in me just melted when I came across the Giant Microbes.
If they were used as teaching aids in class, nobody would ever think biology was dull.

Atleast I wouldn't.

Maybe that's just because I'm really fond of stuffed toys..:P

And here's what I work with - Would you ever guess he's called Saccharomyces Cerevisiae?

My personal favourite from the lot is the flesh-eating bacteria, Streptococcus - don't miss her belly!

Although she really doesn't look much like the real thing, unlike the Ebola virus :

A controversy a day keeps Kate away...

2006-01-10T04:08:00.000-08:00

...away from work, that is.
That was what an anonymous commentor said here.

For all those who were disappointed that kate was sobering down, Kate courts controversy yet again.

A labmate saw this article on the notice board near the east canteen.

Blogger and researcher, Kate, wondered if Tata Institute of Fundamental Research would be the next target. Other bloggers analysed the possible reason for the attack and the threat it poses to the security of the nation.

How do I manage, really?
I got lucky this time round though....all other blogs mentioned in the article had links provided. For some reason they decided not to publish mine. *yay!*
Also, nobody really reads DNA anyway...:)

I had a panic attack when the Director mentioned this article at the Security meeting - had not read the article back then, and didn't know exactly how much trouble it could get me into..turned out to be quite harmless!

Potential? Or just an overactive imagination...

2006-01-06T23:52:00.000-08:00

Walking into the canteen, she looked around, mumbling to herself...She couldn't see him. Wait, her glasses weren't on...what's worse, she had left them back in her lab.
@$%! Now she'll never know.
There was still a faint chance she might bump into him on her way out...

It's not like bumping into him served any purpose.
More often than not they noticed each other only when they were less than ten meters away...A stunned acknowledgement, an awkward three second glance, and then she would look away, almost embarassed and continue talking to her friend.
She hoped her friends wouldn't notice that she stopped talking everytime she ran into him.

She had never said a word to him. Not because she was shy, or didn't know what to say. Whenever making an impression was important to her, she got very nervous. And ended making the wrong kind of impression. Known for being blunt and outspoken, she was surprised at her own overcautious behaviour.

The only potential icebreaker, an institute get-together, was wasted as he was a no-show.

Was it ever going to go beyond this?

New Year's Eve

2006-01-06T01:54:00.000-08:00

Just watched a few videos from new year's eve. Watching myself on a screen totally freaks me out. And hearing my own voice! I don't know how TV stars deal with it.

Ended up staying over at TIFR on the 31st, and brought in the new year in the company of my labmates..:)
Apparently I provided most of the entertainment that night - got totally smashed on vodka and was talking continuously for about an hour or so. About mosquito guts (as in intestines).

My poor labmates - I called one 'God', told another that everyone was secretly scared of her.
Thank goodness there wasn't any music on, for I would have surely proceeded to inflict myself on the dance floor.

The scariest bit is that I don't remember saying a lot of the stuff that was captured on the digicam. It is rather unsettling.

Thank heavens the only people around were sensible, trustworthy labmates who stopped me right there - after watching those videos I'm a little less convinced about my ability to hold my tongue when drunk- and that's a scary thought. Who knows what I might have said if they asked the right questions? :D

Must not drink at work. Must not!

A couple of days later I finally got to meet Roswitha at Yoko's, after watching three previously made plans collapse for various reasons. And what a fun outing it was - meeting TJ was long overdue, and was pleasantly surprised to catch up with Ram, p@me and Bolli too.
Udipi-hotel-type pizza was had, random boys from IIT were gossiped about, an obscenely unhealthy amount of food was consumed, and I was dropped home by Ram in a rickshaw with bright blue neon lights. It would've been exactly like old times if chamiya music was blaring from the rickshaw.
I miss being at Xavier's.

Digressing: Happy Birthday, Rowan Atkinson!

Black Adder, Black Adder, with many a cunning plan.
Black Adder, Black Adder, you horrid little man.

Whoosh goes the deadline....

2006-01-04T20:59:00.000-08:00

A new year, a fresh deadline....The refreshing bit of which is that this time round I was actually asked if it was reasonable.
Yes, of course, was my reply.

Which means not very much time left to blog, or waste time in any other way.
Another daunting prospect this year is the number of exams I have to give - GRE, AGRE, TOEFL, CSRI ( though I think I'll wait until later for that one) . And it doesn't help that I've entirely forgotten how to sit down with a book and study.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Departmental review was on this week- The functioning of the department was reviewed by four visiting Scientists who went about talking to all the Principal Investigators about their past work and future plans, 'openly' discussed the grad students opinions on their courses and projects, and attended poster presentations by all students.

All departments at TIFR will be reviewed over the course of the next couple of months , and this is part of the larger plans of the Director to restructure the institute. His plans were all over the papers, and it's a little hard to discern what part of all of that should be taken seriously.

For example, the Times mentioned that he has divided all departments here into three categories-
1. Functioning decently well.
2. Good but needs help.
3. Seriously needs help.

Our department featured in the second category..:P

What is the likelihood that the Director would have discussed an issue as sensitive as this in a forum accessible to the press?

Personally I think a Review of the department by external, competent examiners is a fantastic idea if anything constructive is derived from it. I do not expect the department to consider most suggestions of the reviewers, and act upon them immediately - it will be rather sad if all of this turned out to be a purely cosmetic exercise.

I was not present at the meeting of the Reviewers with the Grad students, but from what I gather students were pretty vocal about their grievances. In fact, when my boss quizzed my labmates about the meeting, their description of it prompted her to ask if anything positive was said at all about the department. :)

Too bad for the P.I.'s - the students do get rather limited opportunities to be heard (without the fear of repercussions) , and they weren't quite ready to let this one slip.

Today is expected to be rather unpleasant for all our bosses- the reviewers' opinions will be conveyed to them. It's nice to not be at the receiving end of 'constructive criticism' for a change..:D

(Un?)Willing labrat?

2005-12-30T22:29:00.000-08:00

It's the last day of 2005, and I'm finally back at work.
Walked into the lab at 9.30, relatively early for a Saturday morning, and as expected nobody else showed up for atleast an hour. I'm now alone in the lab again.

It's so hard to get back after a month long break.

I seem to have chosen the perfect time to do so - the entire department will be under review for the next three days, so all the principal investigators (read Scientist-types) are under pressure right now. Students have been given exactly four days to prepare posters and set them up to show the Reviewers what their labs have been doing for the last five years. It's a high-stress situation, and in typical departmental style students have been asked to put up their posters tomorrow, that is Sunday.

A weekend? What's that? A productive day squandered away catching up on sleep.

I say typical because we've almost begun to believe that holidays are a luxury. Seminars have been organized on Sundays on previous occasions, and students have been called to attend an hour long lecture on National Holidays. Regularly.

A couple of months ago I was at the lab every other Sunday. I didn't even show up grudgingly- the immense guilt from failing repeatedly at an experiment and not procuring the desired result would keep me pushing myself to try harder. Not that it is a bad thing to persevere at an experiment, but I think some acceptance of the likelihood of every experiment not working out as desired was long overdue.

Sooner or later most students fall into a state of self-acceptance- irrespective of what your boss thinks, there's only so much you can do, and there's no point getting upset over failed experiments. I was asked by various seniors to take it easy, as the only predictable thing about research was that at any given point in time, a certain number of experiments will always fail, for reasons absolutely unfathomable to either you or your boss.

I'm not entirely convinced yet, but I'm getting there.

And as for how I'll be bringing in the new year, you can be sure I won't be doing anything remotely exciting. No parteh, no booze, no drunken calls in the middle of the night. Just hanging out with Roswitha, which is fun enough for me.
:)

Gunfire at IISc - TIFR next?

2005-12-28T21:13:00.000-08:00

Sounds ludicrous, doesn't it?

After the shoot-out at the JN TATA auditorium at the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore yesterday, anything's possible.

I remember attending an Institute-wide meeting to discuss changes in Security, organised by our Director (at TIFR) Professor Sabyasachi Bhattacharya around two months ago. Most of us couldn't comprehend why that meeting was necessary, and wondered if the Director was being overcautious. Apparently not.

The deceased was a retired professor at IIT Delhi, who was attending a conference at Bangalore. Oook informs me that Prof. Puri had actually heard the first round of firing and pushed a girl down to protect her, but got caught in the next round. The firing was indiscriminate, and four others were injured.

Why would anybody pick on Scientists? They're such a harmless lot. I don't see why anybody (apart from their graduate students) would want to murder a Research scientist.
Then again, considering this was a terrorist attack, the intention was just to scare the shit out of ordinary people instead of a directed killing. As usual, they seem to have succeeded.

Most of the news channels have been harping on about how Bangalore was targeted because it is India's IT hub. I dont' really get what a scientific research institution would have to do with the IT industry. Agreed, the international conference Prof Puri was attending was on IT, but I think that's stretching the connection a bit.

All the drama that's been taking up everyone's energy in TIFR regarding the restructuring of the institute will probably be overshadowed for a bit by panic over this incident.
After all, TIFR is a National Centre for Research in Nuclear Physics and Mathematics. And our institute security leaves a lot to be desired.

Should we be worried?

Another uneventful year passes by..

2005-12-26T01:01:00.000-08:00

Flicked from Roswitha's blog :

What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?
Blog.

Did you keep new year's resolutions and will you make more next year?
No, but that won't stop me from making more next year.

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope. A few cousins did, but I'm not close enough to them to really be affected by their having offspring. (what is the relevance of this question, I wonder)

Did anyone close to you die?
*crosses fingers* Thankfully not.

What countries did you visit?
None whatsoever, just like the previous 21 years of my life.

What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
A relationship with my boss which does not involve running out of the lab as soon as she enters. Oh also an iPod, a digital camera, and a social life.

What dates from 2005 will remain etched in your memory and why?
My birthday for being spectacularly uneventful. And December 3rd, for a terrace party that left me with a broken foot.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting authorship in my first (and by the looks of it, last) scientific paper. Going from being non-descript and unnoticed to being infamous and universally loathed at my institute.

What was your biggest failure this year?
Achieving exactly one valuable scientific result on my project. Also, I sucked bigtime as a friend. Sorry M, S, S and A. :(

Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yes- my first fracture ! *squee* The arthritis and allergies have always been around.

What was the best thing you bought?
Tickets to Independence Rock 2005.

Whose behaviour merited celebration?
All those people who helped out post-tsunami and Mumbai floods.

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Most P.I.'s at my department.

What did you spend most of your spare cash on?
Food...and booze! :D

What did you get really, really excited about?
All India Radio

What song will always remind you of 2005?
Kajra Re. The single most played song everywhere this year.

Compared to this time last year are you happier or sadder?
Sadder.

Thinner or fatter?
Fatter. Barely, though.

Richer or poorer?
Poorer. One would think that the raise in my stipend would make me richer, but I don't see any of that money. :/

What do you wish you'd done more of?
Taken time off to hang out with friends.

What do you wish you'd done less of?
Spend time online!

How will you be spending Christmas?
Squatting on the couch watching TeeVee, like every other day in the last three weeks

Did you fall in love in 2005?
Nope.

How many one-night-stands?
I wonder when I will be able to give a non-zero answer to this question.. :P

What was your favorite TV programme?
What wasn't? Desperate housewives, Faking it, Wife Swap, I've religiously watched it all.

Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Subhash Ghai, for making Kisna.

What was the last book you read?
Bill Bryson's I'm a stranger here myself.

What was your greatest musical discovery?
Hip-hop!

What did you want and get?
A long break from work, though it wasn't exactly planned.

What did you want and not get?
Straight hair.

What was your favorite film this year?
Let's see - I watched Black, My wife's murder, Kisna, Kung-Fu Hustle and Harry Potter and the GoF at the theaters. Not too much to pick from. I pick Monty Python and the quest for the Holy Grail, which I watched for the first time this year.

What did you do on your birthday and how old are you?
Sat at a window and watched the light drizzle on a sunday afternoon. I'm 22.

What one thing would've made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More employed, generous cousins visiting from distant cities who're eager to sponsor their kid sister's nightclub outings.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?
Frump!

What kept you sane?
Walks by the sea-face at TIFR.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Johnny Depp *sigh*

What political issue has stirred you the most?
None. I refuse to invest any thought into politics.

Who did you miss?
Molly.

Who was the best new person you met this year?
All my orkut friends! *waves*

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005.
You can't wait for things to happen to you.

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-24T01:37:00.000-08:00

I've now been home for exactly three weeks. The novelty of a fracture, and a cool fiber-glass cast has long worn off, and I'm actually anxious to get back to work.

I've never really 'celebrated' christmas, but have always associated fun memories with it.

In school (Canossa Convent High school) we'd have a great class party on Christmas Eve where we got to wear 'coloured clothes' (the only other time being your birthday, in primary school) . We also had to carry along a gift, and there would be a random exchange of gifts between students which I think made it a lot more exciting - you never knew if you were going to get a snazzy pencil-box from someone or a bar of soap. I have recieved both.

In Junior college at St. Xavier's, I was the only non-catholic in a group of twenty or so friends. I knew all the important religious (christian) occasions, and was very envious of all the 'dances' and parties my friends went to.
I still am.

Christmas during Senior College was highly anticipated for an entirely different reason- Mood Indigo!
I remember the first Mood Indigo I went for- with a bunch of snooty over-achievers (I happened to know a couple of them) who won most literary arts/dram events.
I was actually thankful for being able to hang out with 'such cool people'.

Though a lot of people in that group met each other for the first time, I was the only one not invited to a party held a few days later at one of their houses.
Cool people more often than not live up to the cliched expectation that they will be cruel people.

The next time round was a lot more fun.
I was with people who cared about me, and were most importantly, not conceited. Not that they weren't over-achievers who won every event. :) I have also met some of the most fun people I know at MI!

Also, Mood I never fails to deliver when it comes to wacky incidents. For all the noise I make about the IITian stare, I have to admit that I enjoyed the attention... :D

There was no dearth of drama going around, but it wouldn't be half as fun an experience without it.
Watching Bruce perform at Livewire, (accidentally, i swear!) walking into a guy's room while he was standing in front of a mirror, combing his hair, wearing only the bare essentials (my brother tells me it's a common sight in Hostels- yikes!) , spending chilly nights walking around the LT lawns and the SAC grounds, singing songs around a fire, attending any damn event I felt like, (because I knew most people organising the events and got away with walking in bang in the middle of it), and even participating in a few, sleeping in the lounge of a hostel on really uncomfortable sofas, being asked by strangers if we needed 'male company', and subsisting on virtually nothing apart from Maggi.
Sigh, those were the days!

The next year, when a busy week at TIFR prevented me from attending MI, i was deeeeeee-pressed.
:(

Although I do believe it's time I got over it all.
The College-festival charm is finally beginning to wear off.

You make me sick!

2005-12-21T23:14:00.000-08:00

I've been watching a lot of TV offlate.

Meerut's Gandhi park is not the best place to put your arm around your girlfriend. Or talk to your brother. Or take a stroll with your husband.

Unless you fancy getting repeatedly slapped in the face by two butch policewomen, Madhu Malti and Mamta Gautam, who are out to curb immoral behaviour by capturing wayward adults in the act (of taking a walk).

It gets better- all of this was a planned, sanctioned police operation called 'Operation Majnu'. Girls were slapped in front of both print and electronic media persons (ready with their video cameras) to put a stop to Eve - teasing. Hilarious, Wot?

I don't get it. Were they expecting us to laud their behavior?

Wow! We're so thankful for these female cops, brave upholders of our morality who're not hesitant to put us on the right path by beating the immoral thoughts out of us. Not.

I always felt that a woman is another woman's worst enemy, but this is ridiculous.

This has been a wonderfully regressive year for indians, as far as Morality (I hate that word!) goes.The Meerut incident, Responses to Khushboo and Sania's opinions (and retractions in the latter case) on pre-marital sex, the Anna University Dean's ban on denim (or any other kind of)pants for women. Ugh.

And then of course, the hanging (edit: Upside down from a tree) of a youth in Patna, for eloping with his maternal aunt, and making her hold the rope by which he was suspended.

Where do we go from here?

The amazing Live Sea monkeys!

2005-12-16T04:29:00.000-08:00

My dad was never very well-to-do as a kid. In fact, he had little or no pocket money. Yet, he had his indulgences, most of which he carried over to adulthood...For example, his love of Comic Books.

Sad Sack, Archie, Richie Rich, Litte Lotta, Dot, a very respectable Amar Chitra Katha collection, Phantom, Mandrake, An insanely large MAD magazine collection, Tintin, Asterix and Obelix, and some obscure shit like Howard the Duck, Laurel and Hardy, Bozo the Clown, Madame Xanadu (*shudders at the mention of her name*), Brain-child and Metalmen, to name a few. No Chacha Chaudhary or Champak, thankfully. There was also a lot of Chandamama, but that's all in Madras now.

I love it all.

Equally, if not more fascinating were the Advertisements. Indian ads in the Amar chitra katha weren't half as hilarious as their counterparts in Richie Rich and the likes.

One of my favourite ads were those for The Amazing Live sea monkeys (1978).
As a (particularly stupid) Kid, I *wanted* them.
Ridiculous product, Great marketing.

This is straight off the ad:
It's AMAZING! Just add Sea-Monkey eggs to prepared water, look in the bowl and see LIVE BABY SEA MONKEYS (Artemia) swimming around. Now simply GROW and ENJOY the most ADORABLE, entertaining pets you've ever owned.

My favourite part:
SO EAGER TO PLEASE- THEY CAN EVEN BE TRAINED!
They swim, play, scoot, race and do comical tricks and stunts. Best of all, we show you how to make them appear to obey your commands, follow a beam of light, do loop-the-loops and even seem to dance when you play a record or tape.
Only $1 25 cents.

Apparently it's patented!

It only gets better- the Sea Monkeys were allegedly part of an Important NASA experiment.

I'm sorry, this is just too precious.

Also, if you really want to entertain yourself, there's a whole set of sea-monkey accessories, just like Barbie had her dollhouse(s).

Fancy walking around with your own live pets? Get yourself a Sea-monkey watch!

This has got to be the winner:

The Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys®Space Shuttle Expedition™

For over 40 years, Sea-Monkeys have always had the Right Stuff! Everyone knows Sea-Monkeys are experienced time-travelers, but did you know they've also traveled to outer space? Sea-Monkeys have been safely used in several NASA microgravity experiments and over 400 million of them have flown with John Glenn!

FEATURES:

• Built-in red LED "cockpit" light for night flying

• Requires two AAA batteries (not included)

• Sturdy tank based on NASA Space Shuttle Discovery design

• Built-in Water Oxygenator

Too much... :D

Finally, what makes a Sea-Monkey? I warn you, it's a very unglamourous answer.......

Brine Shrimp.

bUMMED

2005-12-14T09:53:00.000-08:00

What happens to a depressed Kate?

I start cleaning/rearranging things.
Meticulously, to the point of obsessing over them. Like today. I spent ninety minutes cleaning my keyboard. Why do I do this? It keeps me occupied. You know, distracted.

Get on the Frump.
I step into my frumpiest outfits. Which is kinda easy to do, since most of my wardrobe is frump. At night, I step into the Nighties. Yes, the frilly ones.
Eyebrows head toward my scalp, calves have plaitable hair. I *ask* my mum to oil my hair.
I stop caring.

Lap up that milkshake.
Kinda predictable, I know. Chocolate, Milkshakes, Chips, the usual.
Four chapatis instead of two, followed by ......more food!
Comfort food is really my kinda thing. And it doesn't help when your mom is a GOD cook.

Go away! I mean it!
I get really antisocial. Much worse than PMS. When i'm PMSing, I want to scratch people's eyes out. When I'm depressed , I don't care enough to even think horrible things about those people.
I can go days without stepping out of my house.

Overanalyse.
I'm the resident expert at this. Exactly why i dread having time to spare. I end up thinking not very pleasant things. All those unhappy memories come back in a flash, and since I'm antisocial at this point, I have a LOT of time to think things over. And arrive at the same self-deprecating solutions to every problem.

Watch hours and hours of mindless TV.
Mediocre movies, Inane soaps, Oprah, ridiculous reality shows and hour after hour of Vh1. There's no stopping me. The only breaks are the ones taken to let my mom catch some of her own mindless shows.

Destroy stuff important to me.
As has been mentioned earlier on this blog, I cut up a certificate.
I've also torn out journal entries and burned them, and mass-deleted mails that I've immediately regretted.

What I'm not likely to do:

Cry.
Seem to have forgotten how to do it.

Something constructive.
I haven't read a single line in the last two days. Before that, i was reading two books simultaneously. The only thing i can palate now is comics.
Cannot do any work-related reading up. Shirk it out of the fear that I'll realise how the sorry state of my project is entirely my own doing.

Listen to noisy music to help me unwind.
I haven't listened to *any* music in the last two days.

Sleep.
This is easily my biggest problem. I would worry because the parents were always staying up with me. Luckily for me they've now begun to crash irrespective of my state of wakefulness.

Drown My Sorrows.
I've never been one of those people who can drink away gloom. I like to drink when I'm happy.. :)

Remember recent resolutions.
See last post...:D

I haven't been sad in a long, long time. I think I needed this.
And please don't mail /call to ask if I'm ok. Because I am.

I'll be back...eventually

2005-12-11T22:32:00.000-08:00

As more than one person has told me that I'm beginning to devote too much time & energy to my blog (to the point of obsession), I've decided there's probably some truth to that and I'm going to take a little break from all of it.
Thanks for the fun round of monopoly yesterday, and more importantly for entertaining the sick child- Irshad, Ashwan, Dylan and Kaustubh.. :)
Gonna spend the next fortnight trying to complete the three books I've started reading, watch more mindless movies, and maybe devote a little thought to my work , which I have avoided entirely till now.
Ta, all!

The Weaker Sex?

2005-12-09T23:00:00.000-08:00

Quick update on the foot:
The pain has not entirely gone away, and more blood clots are developing near my toes- the result: a scary bluish foot that has my mother worried. This has also led to her insisting on me following the doc's instructions- that my foot should be raised to a higher level than the rest of my body- all in all , a very entertaining sight, I must say.

Was watching a tackily made Discovery channel documentary called The Real Eve last night, that traces the migration of our ancestors out of Africa into the rest of the world using Mitochondrial DNA, when I remembered a discussion that propped up at a student presentation around a month ago at TIFR.

The student was talking about the process of spermiogenesis, or sperm formation in the Testis. Now the spermatids are all attached to each other while developing, and junctions form between them that allow the exchange of certain proteins between adjoining sperm.

We all know that sperms are haploid, i.e. they contain only one sex chromosome, and the kind of sex chromosome it contains determines whether the zygote (fertilized egg) will be male or female.

The genes present on X and Y chromosomes are not identical, and some of the genes present on the X chromosome code for proteins that are vital for the development of sperms, i.e., sperms containing a Y chromosome would not complete their normal development if the bridges connecting them to adjoining sperms containing an X chromosome did not facilitate the shuttling of these vitals proteins.

This prompted one of my professors to remark, "Yet another example of the redundancy of men in nature and how they cannot do anything without women"... :)

To drink or not to drink…

2005-12-08T05:03:00.000-08:00

Watching my colleagues slug it out on the TIFR community over whether having unlimited booze for the TIFR terrace party was a good idea got me thinking…for once, I actually agree with the fake-profile-bearing-anonymous wimps on the community.

In fact, I regretted not having paid the nominal sum of Rs.40/- for booze about three seconds after walking into the party.

I do believe that the party wouldn’t have been as much fun if people weren’t high-n-happy.

I, for one, was highly entertained by all the innovative dance moves being unleashed by the inebriated men on the dance floor. What I was NOT amused with was the scene of Grad students drinking out of a bottle they were walking around with, and spitting the alcohol into the air. Please, let’s not watch the Brahmagupta terrace turn into a Desi Daru Bar again.

I was mildly thrilled to watch people from different departments interact without the usual hang-ups we seem to have in our social interactions (ranging from saying nothing to each other to making stalker-like conversation/gestures).

But, of course, things could not stop there.
Students had to proceed to take videos/photos of only the girls dancing.
They also had to sidle up to dance with girls who had clearly expressed their disinterest on previous occasions: This is a pointer for one particular guy who will be reading this: Wake up. We do not live in a Hindi movie. Antagonizing a girl to the point of scaring her will not make her fall in love with you. This seems to have evaded you entirely till now. It’s not too late. Get your act together soon!

Getting back to the issue: Everything is fine when done in Moderation (Well, most things are). Not to sound preachy and all, but when you’re at a social gathering where some people are not comfortable with all the booze freely flowing, you can act as silly as you want with each other, as long as it does not involve them.

How am I dealing with my boredom?

Mindless movie count:
MASH
Snatch
Girl with a pearl earring
Bride and Prejudice...I know, I know. I was bored.
Countless HBO/star movies matinee movies.

And YAY! it's Jimmy's Birthday.. :)

Currently listening to: L.A. woman.

A season for firsts...

2005-12-05T07:18:00.000-08:00

My first TIFR party.
My first fracture. And therefore, my first cast!
My first afternoon spent asleep on the couch-its the most uncomfortable couch ever. I suppose the climb up the stairs must've worn me out..
My first cute doctor. I think I have a crush on him!

It must've been the deft yet gentle manner in which he cleansed my foot with tincture and went on to wrap it with a fiberglass cast.

*sigh*

There's something incredibly sexy about a man who pretends not to notice your calf stubble despite working a couple of inches away from it. OMG!
Ok, I just grossed myself out there.

And he smiles at me, like, all the time!
*turns into giggly doe-eyed teen*

In other news, I’m beginning to get very bored. Moving out of the house is completely ruled out for the next week, and I really struggled while climbing the stairs to get back home today. The good news is a lot of friends have already promised to come visit….
*and if you haven’t yet, this is a very not-subtle hint*

Bring on the Monopoly boards!

Currently listening to:

Natchithiram Natchathiram unnudaiya Kannil

Chandrianum Suriyanum unnudauya kaiyil

Unakenna Vaazhkai undaa

Annai madi annamai madi unnudaiya paarvai

Patti thottiyellam unnudaiya Sevai

Inbam thunbam irandum pennidam.

Oho ho Kavithai paayum Selvi !

Kanavu thorum Selvi !

That's the theme song of the Tamil serial my parents watch. I have no music. My computer has no music stored on it whatsoever. Thank you for taking the hint..:)

Define Irony: Irony is..

2005-12-03T03:17:00.000-08:00

…..standing around, gently bobbing your head at a TIFR party (an informal student-faculty interaction), mustering up the courage to join the mostly inebriated crowd on the dance floor, and having someone JUMP on your foot ten seconds after you finally give in to the music and shake a hip.

Good news, the *charming* doc said…only ONE bone fractured.

Forgive me if I’m not bursting with joy, Doc. I’m slightly preoccupied with the THROBBING pain in my now broken Metatarsal.

Luckily for me, I got a ride back home from a very kind Post doctoral fellow in my lab, and made it back last night at around one.

Not that the party was a complete disaster though. It was refreshing to see a somewhat normal interdepartmental interaction at TIFR…save for the occasional drunk guy who would try to get a little too close to the women on the dance floor…and there were a couple of really disgusting guys whipping out their digicams to take photos of the girls.

One guy even snapped away at the (absolutely snap-worthy) fifty year old postdoc who dropped me home…unfortunately for him, she’s the no-nonsense type and gave him a piece of her mind.

For the rest of the evening after my ‘unfortunate accident’, I sat with my foot wrapped in a dupatta holding ice, in the futile hope that the inflammation would subside.

But no, my obvious ‘indisposition’ wasn’t enough to stop a couple of scarily drunk guys who (with who I had obviously never conversed before last night) told me that I was allowed to leave my chappal back and dance with them.
Any attempt to display my inflamed foot to get the point across graphically were met with responses such as ”I’m drunk”….and?!!

Somebody who had contributed to my general grumpiness over the last two weeks came up to me and apologized, going away before I could say apology accepted. So, if you’re reading this, APOLOGY ACCEPTED… :)

I’m impressed with the organizers. Despite all of this, I actually had fun last night…

The kind stranger-postdoc who came and gave me ice for my foot..my friends, who got me a plate full of food and soft drinks before I even asked them..my department students who got me an analgesic cream, tablets, a crepe bandage..and the poor girls who virtually carried me down from the terrace to the car… Thank you all..:)

Here’s to more terrace parties (hopefully without any more broken bones)!

I’m going to be out of action for about three weeks atleast..the doc has currently wrapped a crepe bandage around my foot, and says he wants to wait before putting a cast on, as my Rheumatoid arthritis could flare up if my leg remains stiff for too long…but I expect him to put a cast on by wednesday..:(

I had to cancel my Night Sky Observation trip though.. :'(

Expect me to post a lot more often now, Voice Within!

Thanksgiving time..

2005-11-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

I've never celebrated thanksgiving. Not for lack of things I'm thankful for, though...

1. My brother - for promising to bash up all the guys who mess with (read as talk to) me, for calling me an assortment of names as a child (Bumfart, Yokozuna- yes, he thought I was fat, Fightercock, Liarcock, the usual) ...
For being my playmate, partner in sorrow in the twelfth standard, for buying me extravagant rakhi gifts, and for being the least intrusive brother (and not because he didn't care) ever. For listening to my rants and frustrations when no one else would.

2. My parents - for letting me make my career (in) decisions myself.
For eventually getting over the fact that I chose a Bachelor's degree in Life Sciences over Dentistry.
For tolerating my erratic behavior, eating habits, sleep schedule and letting me stay away from "family" things.

For not disowning me (as any decent tulu brahmin family would) when I talk of Live-in relationships, and Lesbianism.
For not having married me off already.

3.My friends - for reassuring me (when I most need to hear it) that I'm not as messed up as I imagine.

For keeping me grounded when I get carried away with situations and people.
For listening to my endless drivel about work, relationships and the general sucky-ness of my existence.
For filling that Inbox with delightful mail, albeit containing a single sentence.
For showing me how much more there is to Bombay than I had imagined.

4. My lab mates - for reminding me that for every 40 failed experiments, there will be a successful one, eventually, that makes it worth all the effort. And that I'm not the only one with the dismal experimental success rate of 0.3%.
For preventing me from spending too much time on my Blog and Orkut...I'm sure someday I'll thank them for this..Or maybe not. :D

5. My health. So I have a degenerative autoimmune disorder. And a million allergies. Could be worse. I could have facial warts. But I DON'T. So yay!

6. My school - For letting me be the "worst school captain in it's history" .
For telling me (apart from other things) that sitting on boy's laps is bad, as boys are fickle creatures who get excited.
For showing me that outstation trips without chaperones are fun!

7. My workplace - For being the best place to not have a social life.
For reminding me age has no correlation whatsoever with maturity, and that people never develop interpersonal communication skills beyond the fourth standard.
For being in Colaba!
For giving me a real taste of research- scientific or otherwise.

8. The radio - for making my train journeys pleasant..Well, relatively.

9. Vh1 and Desperate Housewives - for being addictive enough to push my parents to give up 'Selvi' (the tam soap from tear-jerking hell).
For making my family no longer switch channels when a kissing /sex scene is on.

10. Jim Morrison, Johnny Depp and Led Zeppelin. Just.

Inspired by KN.

Why I love my gurlfriends..

2005-11-22T22:34:00.000-08:00

..I don't really need reasons, cause they're all fabulous people, but here are a few things that make them special to me..

They're generous with compliments, and even tell me I'm looking gor-jass when I'm probably not. I, of course, do the same when they want to hear it, as this is all part of a long standing pact to lie to each other about our appearance. On a serious note, they also stop you from wearing something you look ridiculous in.
They validate your (great) taste in men by checking out the same guys as you do.
They try to stop you from potentially embarrassing behaviour when you're drunk, such as losing bits of clothing,accepting business cards/drinks from strangers (at a nightclub) who think you're "energetic" and calling up your old flames at three in the morning. If they can't do that, they lie to you and reassure you that you didn't sound as foolish and desperate on the phone as you remember, and it's all okay.
They try on ridiculously expensive clothes at snazzy stores with you, and together you buy a really short skirt that neither of your parents will approve of, and therefore lies neatly folded in your cupboard.
They let you try their pretty Sunday clothes (the only reason you wish you were catholic) and defend you (by saying it was their idea) when their brothers walk in on you doing this.
They comfort you when your body goes all menstrual on you!
They threaten to beat up any guy who messes with you, and actually go ahead with the verbal equivalent of these threats. They're not afraid to stand up for you regardless of what they stand to lose in the situation.
They make you feel smart, funny and loved. And sound convincing about it.
You can go ahead and get close to them without worrying that they'll start having feelings for you that will ruin it all. Digressing, Is any opposite-sex friendship between two straight people ever entirely platonic?
They leave delightful comments on your blog!Ok, so the boys do this too..:P

So yeah, I'm sorry that I've fallen out of touch with most of my girlfriends. Some have left the city, others have gone ahead and gotten into steady relationships , and thus don't have enough time for my whining. Others I've simply fallen out of friendship with (How does that happen?).

I miss them. Especially Roswitha.

*sulks*

Playboy Bunny....Jazz Musician....Immunologist?!

2005-11-22T05:32:00.000-08:00

Not your typical career trajectory, eh?....But then again, there's nothing typical about Polly Matzinger...

Voted by her class as the "Least likely to succeed in life" in High School, she was off to a promising start.

Her diverse career choices , apart from those mentioned in the title, include waitressing, sheep-dog training...And she still does most of these things, apart from being a cocktail waitress and a bunny. She believed that every job got boring after a point, and hence the job-hopping.

On one of her waitressing stints, she overheard a bunch of scientists discussing a recent research project, and asked a few questions that caught the eye of one of them, Robert Schwab, who eventually literally pushed her to join grad school.

She went on to postulate a theory in immunology (The Danger Hypothesis) that questioned all the existing dogmas in the field, and the scientific community had to take notice.

To summarize it, she postulated that the reason the body doesn't reject a foetus is because the body only responds to something when it causes damage in some way or the other.
The previous theories had stated that the body will always reject anything foreign, and thus were unable to explain why a developing foetus is not rejected by women.

She is currently a highly respected immunologist and heads a Department at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH.

She also has a wicked sense of humour...Her co-author in one of her first papers in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, a fairly reputed scientific journal, was Galadriel Mirkwood, who, apart from being her dog, has the distinction of being amongst the few animal co-authors in any scientific paper.
She claims that her Afghan hound deserved authorship for being as involved in the research as many other coauthors are on scientific papers..:P
When the editor found out, he was so irked that he declared the journal would not publish her research until "the editor died".

She also dyes her hair green often , when she travels to give scientific talks.

Why are so few scientists as interesting?

quizness

2005-11-17T22:46:00.000-08:00

Found this quiz on Roswitha's blog...

You are Frida Kahlo! You are an artistic,
passionate, vulnerable person, with openly
bisexual tendancies and were the first womyn to
have her own gallery show in Mexico. You slept
with ... Trotsky?

Which Western feminist icon are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I like and agree with the result of this quiz, except for the openly bisexual bit. Am I that obvious? :D

From Temples to Chappals

2005-11-16T05:17:00.000-08:00

25 defamation suits.
One non-bailable arrest warrant for not showing up in court in connection with one of these suits.
For saying that Indian teenagers should be careful while indulging in premarital sex , and that they should protect themselves from the dangers of unwanted pregnancy and STDs.

For the uninitiated, Tam actress Khushboo made the aforementioned "offensive-and-derogatory-to-women" remarks in a survey on Sex and the single woman, published in a Tamil edition of India Today ..

"no educated man would expect his wife to be a virgin."
A loaded statement like that, no matter in what context, isn't gonna be taken lying down...

That was a bit much, I agree. And it's not true. There are enough Susheel Indian girls out there who want to present their virginity as a gift to their hubbies.

There are two things wrong with this situation.
One, She should be allowed to say any damn thing she wants. Its her opinion, dammit. And she was asked to express it by the magazine! She wasn't seeking anyone's approval.

The second is that irrespective of whether they agreed with her, NObody supported her. Not her family, or her seriously high profile buddies, or even her colleagues.

Three other celebrity types, Narain Karthikeyan, Sania Mirza and the Russian Miss Universe have expressed their supported....But who cares about their opinion anyway...sania's a thigh-baring vulgar sport-playing teenager, and a Miss Universe is most likely an Airhead in any case.
A lot of people don't get the sarcasm in my posts. So I'm stating it clearly here. The above comment was sarcastic.

The two-facedness of the Orthodox Tamil society is sickening. If their daily ( "women-oriented") soaps are any indication of their culture, I don't see how her statements could be insulting to women. If anything, they were flattering, indicating that women in TN are asserting their sexuality, and that they do believe that there is more to a woman's sexuality than making babies and being victims of heinous crimes.
The same society that claims its women were humiliated and insulted by Khushboo's remarks has a female character in its most popular daily soap that refuses to leave a husband who sells their child to buy new clothes for the festive season, because she can't imagine life without a husband. This would be a bad example, I suppose, because soaps should in no way be an indication of the real situation. But people *are* influenced by what they see on TV, and that's upsetting to say the least.

Are they trying to say that the concept of premarital sex doesn't exist?

This reminds me of a scene from Beer, an episode from season two of Blackadder
Edmund Blackadder has his Puritan uncle and aunt over for dinner

Edmund: Well, quite -- which reminds me, Aunty--
Aunt: Don't call me `Aunty'!!! [slaps him twice]
`Aunt' is a relative, and relatives are evidence of sex; and sex is hardly a fitting subject for the dinner table. [sits]

When Khushboo left the courthouse yesterday, she was greeted with Rotten eggs, tomatoes, chappals and even stones.

The good thing is that Khushboo has gone on record to say that she will NOT retract her statements, and is not sorry. Go girl!
It takes a fair amount of Spunk to live in a filthy hypocritical state like TN. I admire and respect her, and won't be ridiculing her Saree Blouses on her game show anymore.

This week last year...

2005-11-14T12:32:00.000-08:00

I was living it up at Goa! And of course, beautiful, beautiful Devbagh....

I want it all back. N-O-W!

Delhi pics!

2005-11-14T12:08:00.000-08:00

Chilling at the very comfortable guesthouse, with Mayuri....

warning: this photo is misleading: I'm not half as well behaved and research-scholarly as I seem in this pic.. :)

The view from our room..

Too bad we woke up just in time to have a bath with electric kettle-heated water before scurrying off to put up/ take off posters..

Notice our rather healthy Minister for Health and Family Welfare (for Delhi) ....(lady in green on the right)

All pics taken by Monika...

I have achieved the near-impossible : I've gotten high on coffee liqueur! A lot of it, I might add..;)

Radio Ga-ga!

2005-11-12T01:09:00.000-08:00

Should you be flattered if an RJ promises to send you a message to wake you up in time to catch his show? Or plays you every song you ask for, and promises to carry the CD along the next time if he doesn't have the song you want? And actually lives up to these promises!

This is why I Lurrrve All India Radio.

Not only do they sincerely try to play everything I ask for, (except in the case when they haven't heard of the artist) , one RJ even bent over his back to make sure I got a prize ( A coldplay CD) for answering a contest question after someone else had already answered it!

All this without flirting! (Yes, I'm talking to you, Ashwan!)

Roswitha goes back home today.. :'(

Worst pick-up line ever?

2005-11-10T00:29:00.000-08:00

I have a four hour long incubation period right now, and I'm bored! On such occasions, i turn to my gmail inbox to entertain me...here are some gems from my "random creepy men hitting on me" label...i don't get many of these now, thanks to my anonymous profile on orkut...:)

hello there,,,, was shuurrfing the orkut ,i met with a accident thats ur PROFILE ,, thought i would arrest u tru cops ,, but they said to file an FIR with u,, SO m doing so,,,, CAN V B FRIENDS???? so that i can put u behind bars,,, chilll yaaa take care and have fun

This message was sent by Z S y to P R.

Winner!

Hi,
hows u doin? This is the higly cliched "not-that-kind-of-a-guy' , who could not say much about you coz he did not know much about u n who messaged first you over ar orkut and then got lost at work. No, ain't a stalker thing. But just that I saw this lady at a mall here who reminded me of you.Not that I know you so well but I have a wonderful memory with faces. And 've gotten inito rather higly embarassing moments when I recognized somebody off late 6-years and they failed completely. So, given up doing that since. Not totally as u can see. Well don't blame me for droppin into your inbox, blame that lady.Partly.And i was in bombay last week. so, guess my mind connected the dots. Anyways, if u do reply it'd be nice. Honestly, what harm can a chip designer make who thinks u are really nice. Of course, i can't say anything much coz i don't know much :)
Regards,
V

eh??

another completely pointless cut-pasted pathetic poem attempt:

hi how r u? For heart beats u need a heart. for a heart u need love. for love u need happiness. for happiness u need afriend ' I NEED U" i m from banglore..i m a student of Bachlor of Eng
plz come online i wanna to friendship with u .would u like to join wit me...If LOVE is sweet why does it HURT, if LOVE is deep why does it BURN, if LOVE is tender why do we CRY,if LOVE is forever why do v DIE...by the way i m waiting ur reply...Happy New year

This message was sent by P K to P R.

this one was interesting..and i actually responded to it..

thought to give it a shot...
hi,i wud like to have a friend like you coz:
1. you are so different.
2. you and i have nothing in common
2. You try to repel people so much
that it makes me want to take you on more...tell me if i can...

This message was sent by A O to P R.

pray tell me, what would 'taking me on' entail?

i like this, but i doubt it was original:

Judging your book by its cover, I'd love to curl up and read the rest.

This message was sent by ♥ M G ♥.

i was nasty with this guy:

hi sexy u attractted me can i be urs for a date

This message was sent by R A to P R.

my response:
Wishful thinking. i don't go out with people who can't spell.