Relationships

Was thinking some time ago (this happens rarely and usually occurs in the shower) Did I tell you about how I won a Scholarship while having a bath.... Mr. K V had asked me why India doesn't have information on Lifestyle diseases, during our dinner the day before the interview.
I really didnt think about it at all through dinner. I was having a bath in the rubbish youth hostel that T put me up in, which had cold water and I had forgotten my slippers, so had a very bad time. Anyway, while having a bath and obvioulsy attempting to avoid concentrating on the cold, my mind began to wander and the answer struck me. At the end of my interview, just before leaving, I told Mr. V that the reason might simply be the lack of National Health Programmes for these diseases. I do believe that might have tipped the scales in my favour.

Reminds me of Archimedes...

Back to my profound question on relationships. Why would anyone have a relationship?? What does either party stand to gain? The obvious motivations which come to mind are : social Status, Sex, companionship, security.. I have now begun to think hard for further reasons.
I can understand both sex and social status, and being selfish motives they confirm my belief that all humans are intrinsically selfish.
But, can't we have companionship without committment? Yes, friends provide such a feeling. Then why do we ever commit to spending the major part of our time with someone. What about security.. I dont think any two people either married or unmarried are secure. I believe that security in a relationship can occur only when both partners reach the age when they realise that each of them would find it hard to find someone else, and that they are comfortable in each others presence.
But, when you are young, career minded, ambitious and self-presevatory it is very easy to dump your partner and move on.

Part two next time... My pAd.METRAP seems to have finally worked. What perverse pleasure do I draw from a simple cloning experiment? I have finally plunged the depths of monotony and bordeom, when DNA being stuck together can provide me motivation to stay in a empty lab till 2am. What is about science that keeps anyone going?? I will never be able to understand the motivations and mind of a scientist. I think they must all be mad!!

THOUGHT FOR THE NIGHT :

The fabulous Wizard of Oz

Retired from his racket because,

What with up-to-date science,

To most of his clients

He wasn’t the Wizard he was.

Vaccines??

What do we need to do to develop a vaccine??
First, decide what sort of immunity you want to provoke. If the organism by itslef evokes a CMI or Ab response, the vaccine must attempt to mimic that, and also raise memory to it.
So, once we know what type of immunity we would like to produce, we need to find an antigen.How do we do that?? There must be certain characteristics which would make the antigen provoke an immune response. Surface presentation, conserved at all stages and within all strains of the organism. Is it very large?? smaller proteins would be easier to manufacture, does it have any biological activity which is vital for functioning of the organism?

Once we have identified an antigen,we look to mimic the response it causes. How?? The first step is to get it into an APC, then depending on whether it is recgonised and drives production of T cells or B cells.
Important questions which must be answered are :
1. How do immune cells recgonise antigens
2. How do different antigens drive different immune arms
3. Can we manipulate the direction of immune response? Can we skew the response in either direction
4. Can we increase the uptake of our protein/ vaccine by the cells we want??
5. How do we increase the number of cells taking part in the response??
6. How are memory cells produced, and can we replicate that?


Tomorrow, I shall try to answer the first question.

Malaria and Sport

Read this article on India's Olympic performance. I would have to agree with almost everything that Shekhar Gupta says, the only problem is that nothing he says is new. It has been repeated often enough, somehow the message is never taken.

Nature has published a Web Focus on Malaria.Its really interesting, and makes you understand and appreciate the enormity of the problem.
Thinking of Malaria... spoke to Chiea today in the lab...and he infused me a shot of vitality and enthusiasm.
Its really important that I start thinking for myself, and about my project. The only way that is going to happen is if I work really hard, and slog my butt off.


Adenoviruses is an exciting area to be working on, for the simple reason that not much work in the lab has been done on it. Important questions would be : Is it a good booster or primer?? Can it induce Memeory T cells?? How can I induce memory T cells?? What other parts of Adeno virus can I remove for it to hold more transgene?? Can I put in certain cytokines with it?? What cytokines?? Does it induce T cells, which T cells?? Is there some way to make it specific to move to a certain organ or region?? Is E3 vital or not?? Will it induce a immunogenic response or not??

So much work to be done, and here I am waiting for A to arrive as he can then help me with the animal work.

Thought for the day :

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. ...

Monsoons in Britain!!

Yesterday, we played a cricket match. LInacre vs SBS. It was a lovely day, sunny with blue skies... until we got onto the field. The clouds decided the cricket season had ended and that they had enough mediocre cricket to last them a season.

Mr. Cumulus Nimbus warned us with a few drizzles, but we heeded not such trivial warnings. The match was ghastly. Tom Wrobel who was captain is certainly the worst captain I have ever played under. Reasons : He is a over-rated player, he is too English i.e.he doesn't have a feel for the game, he is a pompous ass.

Anyway, we lost the match. I am becoming a better bowler than keeper. I really do not like keeping anymore. I wish I had started bowling earlier. I might have made my mark in an easier fashion. What I need to do, is to read some technical manuals on keeping. I can keep to the quicks, but somehow standing up is very difficult for me. Also, I have a feeling I have lost the quick hand-eye co-ordination I possesed in my YOUTH!!! So, It has become even more important for me to be techincally better. I aim to play either for the Rhodes team or at least at a higher level, next year.

I now am truly in awe of the International Cricketers. Never again shall I criticise a player for technical flaws. These guys are so much better than us, that it is shameful for us to criticize and analyse them. I remember playing this declaration game for Heratorai, a wandering cricket club of Old Oxonians, where I stood in the field and bowled for six and a half hours. It was tiring work. I truly believe that its only when you actually perform yourself and experience the fatigue of fielding for a day, that you stop begrudging sportsmen their salaries.

Back to the Monsoons. The match was finished in poor light and wet weather. Captain Tom made off with half the kit, while Richard and me helped Samit et al with the covers, during which we got soaked, Indian style. It poured and poured for almost four hours, and both Richard and me lamented our Good Samaritan personalities and acts.

Thought for the day :

That best portion of a good man's life,

His little, nameless, unremembered acts

Of kindness and of love.

Lab days

I have decided to make this blog my lab diary, something on which I can base a book twenty years into the future.

So, today I reached the lab late, trying to read this paper by Adrian and Anne in Immunological Reviews. Its a useful paper because it outlines all the work and progress made by the lab.

Was hoping to do a lot of work in the lab, but the very thought of doing a Midiprep and a miniprep was too daunting. Finally did a lot of reading and finished the paper and the Miniprep. Am having some difficulty with cloning this CSO.METRAP and METRAP into Ad.

However on the other hand, reading has helped me understand where I am going and how slow I am moving. I have so much immunology to do. I can use Malaria as my model now, because I suspect that they have already sent out the 85A to him, Ian Orme. He will probably also have an idea about E3 and E1 before I do.

Anyway, lets see. Tomorrow is another day, and I have to get there early to set up some MVA titrations for Sarah and Graham Hatch. This has been a horrible experience, but useful as it has brought me into some sort of contact with both Helen and Adrian.

Olympic Shame

Antara wrote this to me in a mail
"sanamacha chanu has tested positive along with pratima kumari.since chanu finished fourth she would have been automatically tested.
now that paes-bhupathi lost easily....and with this latest scandal, ithink we've utterly disgraced ourselves. At the end of the day we send a tiny contingent to the games, by most standards and of that 2 get caught in a dope test"


Saranya

"I completely agree!! Although please don't blame only the stupidcontestants, but what about the IOC???You cant say its shameful and blame the sportsperson, if the people in charge of selecting our representatives cant be vigilant and forceful enough to undertake testing and ban such people before they set out. I am not as angry with the players as with our officials. Please note our lovely weightlifting coach, who washed his hands off the affair by blaming the foreign coach. If you doubt the legitimacy of a coach and players, then for God's sake bring it to the notice of officials and don't take such people to the games. Every weightlifter, I am sure takes drugs, but they aren't allowed by their country to participate. Please note the nationalities of the five weightlifters who were disqualified, i can bet that none of these countries have stringent drug testing measures in place. Morocco,Turkey, Moldavia.

Worse Shame than this lady, is the INDIAN HOCKEY TEAM!!! With 30 sec to go, you gift a goal.. these boys must truly be shamed in public. They are not even in for a chance of a bronze anymore. They dont deserve a medal. I cant say anything else. You fight back to reach 3 all and then give it away with 30 sec... 30 sec, I mean it isn't basketball with a 24 sec shotclock..Its a field large enough for you to waste 30 SEC. Sorry, I am so mad with them, its unbelievable. I mean seriously, we aren't that bad a team.
Why do we fail everytime? Why doesn't Dhanraj Pillay shut up and stop giving interviews during a tournament? Why doesn't our coach ever make the right decisions?? Why does KPS Gill get re-elected every year despite the fact that he retracts his statements every three days?? Its a shamble and this stupid,ever-hopeful, patriotic audience pay the price. I am not saying that the players don't feel bad, but I almost sense that they have got used to it by now. Its mentally ingrained that an Asian Games medal is glory enough.

Countries have manipulated the rules, changed the surface to astro, abolished the off-side, introduced the drag-flick,and clean stoppage of ball at penalty corners, in a clever attempt toneutralise the sensational ball-handling skills in our gifted andtalented sub-continental players.Wonder how suddenly S.Korea, Japan, China, Netherlands whose teams may showcase a single supremely talented player consistently thrash and beat India and often Pakistan in the dying moments of the game.Indians never learn long passes, its a European concept. The ability to produce turnovers, and move from one end to the other with a singlepass, seems to confound the basic inherent notions with which our players grow up. You will find when you watch domestic hockey, thatlike football the defenders move up in attack, and because opponents in domestic competition never move quickly upfield, defenders never have to face counter-attacks.Suddenly they move into international competition and every goalscored against India, comes in two ways, penalty corners given away bydefenders, or of the counterattack.Ok,enough of a rant.

I am appalled by the atrocious sporting conduct by our national "heroes". Paes and Bhupathi.. its the semi-finals for Gods sake. 6-3,6-2!!!"

Wimbledon 2004

Its been a fascinating and exciting wimbledon for me. I had tickets for First Monday, Court One and First Wednesday, Court Two thanks to OULTC. Cost me a fortune, but it was going to be worth it. Had just got back from Philadelphia on Monday 21st June, and Antara met me at Gatwick, from where we departed onto a long circuitous train journey to Wimbledon. First dropped off my luggage at Victoria, and then the tube to Wimbledon Station. Although the official site advises getting off at the Southfields Station, the tube was so crowded with everyone getting off at Southfields, that we decided it would be good to be able to sit for some time, and so stayed on the train till it reached its last stop - WIMBLEDON. Really excited, we ran to catch the shuttle bus to the All England Lawn Tennis and croquet Club.
We reached at about 12:30 pm for a 1 pm start for matches on the showcourts. But, we had to stand in a queue despite having tickets, which I thought very strange, until I realised that they sell almost 10,000 centre court, Court One tickets everyday, meaning lots of people!!


The order of play included : Hewitt vs Melzer, who won Junior Wimbledon as an unseeded player in 1999, however languishing as world no.42 at present.
It was a rather boring match, with a straight sets demolition 6-2,6-4,6-2. Hewitt has some great backhand returns. We had rather decent seats, about 25 rows back and slightly to the right of the court facing the scoreboard. But, it was exciting, with a lot of Aussie fans. We walked around a bit, had some strawberries and cream, and generally took a tour of the grounds. We saw Iva Karlovic, the 6'10" Croatian serving machine( must be something in Croatia that makes them tall and big servers... Goran, Ancic, Karlovic) out-serve Paradorn on court 18. This is a really cool court, as the seats are unreserved and its right behind the press boxes, which makes it a big show court. Iva Karlovic is a big server, with a reputation for scalping some big names. He beat Hewitt in 2003 at Wimbledon in the first Round, the first time since 1967 (Santana) that the defending champion lost in the 1st round. He has this huge serve, and Paradorn, incidentally Antara's heart throb, was clueless about returning the serve.

We then saw "Beautiful" Venus play, and she played some power tennis to blow away Marie-Gayanay Mikaelian of Switzerland, 6-3,6-0 in two rather boring sets. We didn't stay for the final set as it was just too boring. Ran to barely see eventual Champion Maria Sharapova, the latest Russian teen sensation(she is 6' tall and just really hot), beat a Ukrainian with an unpronounceable name.
Maria really hits the ball hard, and she played a great game and tournament to finally win. You only hope that she doesn't go the Anna way. The day was punctuated by showers and Wimbledon should really take a closer look at its rain policy. Also, Alan Mills while making public announcements at Wimbledon sort of omits certain important things, for instance on Wednesday which was a disaster as the whole day was washed out, we only learnt from RADIO WIMBLEDON 87.7 FM (Just goes to show how much time I have spent there) that he had cancelled all the Men's 2nd Round and Women's matches and was only going to hold the unfinished matches. IT was really stupid, because we must have stayed there at least an hour and a half extra hoping for play, while if dear Mr.Mills had announced the information, we would have left and not spent exorbitant amounts of money on horrible fish and chips.
We of course were witness to Coria's match which spanned the first three days of the tourney. Coria started his match against Wesley Moodie of South Africa, who had decent gorund strokes and a reasonable serve, on Monday only to finish his five-setter on Thursday. On Tuesday, he was two points away from winning the match when they suspended play.That is ridiculous!! Wimbledon needs some roofs and a better rain policy which sees them making some brave,risky but popular decisions. It seems absurd in this country to wait for a cloudless sky to begin or resume play. That is impossible, it always rains. On Wednesday they took the covers on and off three times. On Saturday when Bujul went, they took the covers off five times, before the groundstaff got so annoyed that they refused to obey orders on Court Seven, and just waited until the next shower five minutes later!!

The Weather in this country is truly unpredictable. While walking back from Wimbledon, we found that the city of Wimbledon, a fifteen minute walk from the grounds was dry while over the grounds it poured. Madness!! How could you ever live in a country where you have to always carry a raincoat or umbrella? Its just too cumbersome!
Anyway, for all my cribbing its just great to be at Wimbledon, and I would love to either umpire or play on those courts. Playing might be slightly out of the question, but I really must write to the LTA and ask them to allow me to umpire some matches.Also, remember to claim 56 pounds from the OULTC.

Exams Uff!!

Antara's exams have started, and everyone is nervous. Her parents ask her what she eats, I ask her what she eats, and she seems to be the only one worried about whether she studies. I dropped her off to exam schools on Tuesday, and felt very out of place. I was the only person in a red shirt, among a sea of black and white sub-fuscs. Very embarrassing, especially when everyone who enters gives you a withering and unwelcome look, which is replaced by a knowing and understanding smile, on giving Antara a hug.
Bozo is coming to London, great news. Spent the whole of yesterday afternoon calling up halls of residence in London, in search of accommodation. Will now go to Wimbledon with him!!
No other news except that my younger cousin, Buchi suddenly decided to spend £62 on the final day of England v NZ cricket match, after obtaining permission from his 10 year old brother. He realised only later that he could have got in for free, something which his father didn't take to too kindly!!

Sports News

Great Sports News!
on Sunday, Jarno Trulli (Renault) won the Monaco Grand Prix. Thank God and Montoya! I am an avowed Ferrari and Schumi fan, but to win the first five races of the season, without even the faintest of challenge was turning the season into a bore.
Fortunately, Trulli produced a flawless performance to take Pole and edge BAR's Jenson Button to take the checquered flag.
I write in the manner of a sports correspondent for various reasons. One, in the likely possibility that in the future some troubled graduate student might decide to use my records as primary material(historical terms learnt by association with Historians). Also, of course, I have hopes and ambitions of being exactly that, a sports writer, when I take time away from saving the lives of 3 million children dying of malaria by producing a vaccine.

Will anyone truly pose a threat to Ferrari and Schumi this season? I doubt it. Until someone (Trulli, Alonso, Button) perform consistently and improve their cars to get just that little bit of power, Schumi will be hard to beat. Schumi meanwhile, seems to have lost that killer instinct. I can't remember the last time he overtook someone, or had a tremendous start. He is beatable and it might just be his teammate who could do it!!
Will the youngsters step up to the challenge? Onto Nurburgring...

Speaking of youngsters, Naseer Hussain seems to be defying age and all his critics to be playing the best cricket of his career. He took a spectacularly athletic catch on saturday, and followed it up with an unbeaten hundred to steer England home in their comprehensive test Victory against the Kiwis at Lords.
Antara, who has American Revolution exam tomorrow, was glued to the television, while revising Thomas Dickinson( with whom I am familiar enough to address him as "Dicky Boy") et al.
England players seem to reach their peak at the ripe old age of 36, remember Alec Stewart, Graham Gooch... either they have some genetic mutations in their telomeres which delays ageing, or is it just that they never have anyone debuting before the age of 27?

Ok, now that I have finished listening to the answer on backcountry policy, I shall depart to let the finalist get some shut-eye before the big day tomorrow.

My First Post

This blog is testimony to the persuasive powers of women and the gullibilty of men in the face of intelligent pretty beings of the opposite sex. Gayatri and Antara,(two bright, computer obsessed women), and the women to whose powers I refer, debated and argued the reasons and motivations for keeping a blog.They somehow contrived to make me feel that blogging was not only useful, but also in some ways means to make the world a "global village".
So, in my attempt to discover the pleasure of blogging,and being a socially responsible man (I come from the land of Bapu, for those unfamiliar MK Gandhi), I record for posterity my thoughts and feelings of the world around.

monster review

MONSTER

Date : 3^rd April,2004 with SBK, CM, MC at Phoenix Pictures, Oxford.
Cast : Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci,
Director : Debutant Patty Jenkins

This true story is based on the life of Aileen Wournos, “America’s first Woman Serial Killer”. I shall review it with respect to cast performance, direction and storytelling,

The movie sticks as close to the truth as possible and begins with Charlize’s voiceover regarding her lonesome and unhappy childhood. A misfit always, she takes to working as a hooker on the highway just to earn a few dollars to survive, shifting from one place to another. She meets 18 year old Selby Wall, a lesbian coming to grips with her own sexuality and her father’s unacceptance of her “condition” and “sin”.

The movie is fast paced and almost in your face. It almost seems that the Director offers the most brutal view of the movie, in an attempt not to shy away from the fact that her protagonist is a serial killer.

Charlize Theron as Wournos is brilliant. It is not just the staggering cosmetic changeover, with yellow protruding teeth, but the swagger and drawl which are hauntingly in tune with the character, and it is very hard to imagine it is the same actress who acted in Charlie’s Angels.

The script is full of profanities and is taut, without much scope or attempt at homilies and self-pity. Wournos is a small time prostitute on the Florida motorways, and down to her last couple of dollars meets Selby Wall at a bar. Wournos never having had sexual intercourse with a woman is a bit hesitant, but her need for affection and companionship overwhelm her, and she clings on furiously to the relationship.

Soon, armed with better intentions than means, she sets out to change her life and provide for both Selby and herself by getting a job. But, having started prostitution at 13 years of age, she really doesn’t have too much job experience and saleability. It is a poignant reminder of how difficult it is for someone not socially suitable to get a job. Frustrated and increasingly pressured by the timid, emotionally selfish and shallow Selby, Wournos is forced back to her old life.

In one of the most memorable and haunting scenes of the movie, she is tied up, beaten, raped and left to die. She fights for her life, and in a scene where you will her to escape and kill her abuser, she shoots him, buries the body and takes his money. That is the first of her six murders.

The others seem almost out of force of habit, but underlies her need to cling onto her partner and only friend, Sleby wall. Selby seems least bothered and is portrayed as a selfish, young brat, who yearns for the comfortable, pleasurable life. Wournos keeps killing to earn money, even though by now she begins to feel revolted by her own weakness. She begins to love Selby, and believes that in turn she is loved.

Killing innocent people on the same motorway is bound to catch up with her. A young man, a middle aged man who reasons and begs for mercy, and finally a non-uniformed cop, and it is only time till she is caught.

It is the last few scenes, where she still makes sure that Selby reaches home safely, and her shock when Selby testifies against her, make us wonder whether this murderous woman (incorrectly advertised as the first woman serial killer) might actually have led a different path had she been given a job.

The direction is brilliant, very tight, with no time or space to think. There are few loose ends in the movie, and you are left in your seat for a moment or two at the end, shaken by the pure evil and horror in the movie. There are no soppy lines. There is a story to tell and the director does that. There are no sides taken in the story, the director lets any feelings aroused, be that of the audience’s. You are pushed back in your seat, never on the edge of it. You never really want to see more, yet you cannot resist the story.

In Summary, please do not take your children for this movie. If you want to watch a movie, and are tired and annoyed by the normal summer blockbusters around, don’t miss this hard-hitting, truthful and poignant story of a woman serial killer. If you want just one good reason to watch it : Charlize Theron