30/12/05 - leaving Oxford

I am finally leaving for home! After 2 years I am going to eat Sambhar rice everyday!

Year in Review

I would love to sit and write about my year except that I am as amnesic as they come. So, I cant remember anything that happened more than a month ago - if I am lucky. Many people walking with me complain that I speak to strangers too often. The truth is I have met these people before but I can't remember their names. So, I have a educated,general conversation with them steering them away from personal topics and we both leave each other happy. For all I know, the other person doesn't remember me at all.

Today is shopping day and I am seriously going to go mad buying and thinking of stuff to buy for people.

Will blog later today about the success and failures of my high-street experience.

Eat,Sleep and Movies - Xmas in brief

My Xmas was a bit of a lazy day. We had got loads of movies (cheap deal) and loaded up on food. Oxford on Xmas resembles a ghost town. Nothing is open and you wont find anybody on the streets. In a very bizarre way, I love Oxford during the holidays. The magnificent buildings, their splendour and beauty are unobscured by the mass of humanity on Broad street. Each street looks clean and forces you to pay attention, to stop and look at it. Walk down Broad street on a normal day and you are more concerned about avoiding barging into people but now you can stand and stare without having to look out for people walking, cars trying to park and cyclists intent on fracturing your foot.

Anyway, Xmas saw me watching bits of lots of movies, eating some great Thai curry cooked by the Little One, had some ice cream and slept after all that exertion. Today is Boxing Day and all I can think of is the Tsunami!

I saw this programme yesterday on ITV1 titled, Where was God? The Tsunami. The aim was to examine how different faiths perceived the destruction and death caused by the Tsunami. There were some Jesuit priests who run an observatory who believe that God caused the Tsunami because he wanted to address the weather imbalances in the world. One part was becoming warmer than the other and therefore the Tsunami occurred to redress this temperature balance.
The creepiest piece of information I received thanks to this programme is about a Baptist church in America which thanked the Lord for killing over 5000 Swedes during the Tsunami. This hatred for Swedes stems from the liberal policies of the Swedish government towards homosexuality. They have de-criminalised it. If you wish to be appalled and disgusted by the lack of human empathy and tshocked by the force of people's hatred towards one another, have a look at their website here.


Towards cheerier things - I am back in the dark room and nearing the completion of my mammoth experiment. Day after shall be spent shopping - not that I am looking forward to it. Brother dearest has become addicted to sainsbury's baked chocolate goods and requires massive supplementation! Will do, although cookies have been in low supply proabably because of decreased demand since he left!

Went to watch some Morris Dancing today, but didn't find SP so left early. Its quite fun and the dancers do a pub crawl of sorts.

Little One's sis et al are here and shall head off in the evening for dinner etc.

Looking forward to New Year now!

Merry Xmas

Merry Xmas everyone. Hope you have a great day and a good year ahead of you!
Due to logistical reasons I shall not be celebrating New Year so please have an extra glass of wine and slice of cake for me.

As you can see, the arrival of The Little One, Xmas and my diminished excursions to the dark room have led to a decreased frequency in blogging. Will blog on boxing day as I am going to be sequestered in the dark room in a vain attempt to finish 150 samples in a day.
SP has invited me to see her husband do the Mummers play in headington quarry. Its a traditional english thing so might pop around from work for a bit.

The year has flown by and I must admit i cant remember anything. Last Xmas I was in east ham and london. the Tsunami struck and we were sitting in this small room with poor access to the net. Somehow it took us some time to really appreciate the scale and enormity of the disaster. We organised a tsunami fund raiser in February, had great fun with everyone then working like mad. March saw me working hard and April was my 25th B'day. Oxa was born in May, everyone had exams in June and July. July 7th bombings. Cricket and the Little one arrived in the summer. World Cup mania took over. The ashes were great fun and very exciting. Then there was Berlin and visa hell. Hurricane Katrina and George Best died. November saw me in Harrogate sampling the local pubs while learing about dendritic cells and co-stimulation.

And the last few weeks have been mayhem. No outside interest. Sleep, wake up, lab, eat, sleep.

So, for all those people who I should have emailed by now and wished and haven't because I am Mr. Procastinator and the laziest bum in the world - Merry Xmas and A Happy New Year!

196 to go!! Taking a break to have some tea. Maybe will try to get people to watch Kong with me tonight as celebration.

Havent blogged because, yes, you guessed it. I havent been in the dark room of Fox FM torture for the last couple of days. Today I am back in and starting off count from no.280.

Not much happening. Met Halim the other day. Has his transfer tomorrow so I hope it all goes ok. Traveled to London yesterday to pick up my tickets. My dear father who usually travels business class has booked the cheapest airline but the worst travel schedule for me. I pick up a 6.55am flight on the 31st( lets hope the X90 is running on New Year's Eve) to Vienna with a 3 hour layover and then travel to Mumbai from there. What time do I reach BOM? 11.55pm on the 31st!!!
YAY...(with all the sarcasm I can muster) theoretically I will be on land to bring in the New Year! Anyway, its fine as long as I get to go home. The little one is coming here but I am going to be swamped with work.

I need to (This is list-mania again):
1. set up a VNA
2. use MACS beads for ELISPOT
3. have one experiment to finish
4. clone and grow virus
5. challenge experiment

And..I have just deleted all the emails in my herald inbox. I cant think of anything important there.It was full of rubbish Rhodesmailing list stuff but there was some stuff which I needed. Damn!! Might have to go down to OUCS to ask them to retrieve stuff.

With Christmas coming, here's wishing everyone a merry Xmas!! I will never forget my Xmas last year - attending a course in East Ham in London. That place is a hell-hole and nothing else. I get so angry with Indian doctors who come all the way from India and live in miserable conditions in east ham, get exploited by their own countrymen in the UK and are too proud to go back home with nothing to show to their eagerly awaiting families. I know people who borrow upto 10-12 lakhs to come to the UK and linger here for a year or so without a job in the most pitiable conditions. Why would you subject yourself to a life like that?

So, Christmas last year was spent in Arjun's house in Russel Square with lots of alcohol, chocolate fondue and early mornings. I remember next to nothing of the time. I was spending 9-6 in class. Head back to Russel sq by 8ish and then spend the night whiling away time at night watching movies and attempting to finish the crate of wine bottles that Arjun had from BA.

It was idyllic! I felt awful at the end of the day and in the morning but what an experience.

Ok, shall head back to sample no.286!

Cricket

I am now officially half way through my experiment...No.250 is loading up now! Yay, only another 15 hours of this mind-numbing insomnia treatment. I cant even read anything as its too dark and I am sick of playing billiards and camperstrike.

So, I shall now rant about rubbish. Mr. Somnath Chatterjee, speaker of Lok Sabha, the highest parliament in the land has offered to discuss the non-selection of Mr. Sourav Ganguly in parliament.
With the WTO conference just completed in HK, surely India has more pressing issues than its cricket team. Does he realise the message he is sending to the world? He terms it a "great injustice"!! I shudder to think what he would term female foeticide,farmer suicides,child trafficking.

What a mockery of Indian democracy - a shambles.

The moot point here is not a single person who is agitated about the issue has ever played competitive international cricket or is a stakeholder in the teams cricket results. Simply put,neither the Indian government or Mr.Pawar or BCCI will lose their jobs if Ganguly is reinstated and India lose the test. The coach and captain are the only members whose reputation and future are at stake in this game. If Ganguly is to be reinstated( and discussing this in parliament can and should not have affect selection decisions) for the next two series ,makes no contribution (as he has been doing for the last year or so) and India lose there will an absolute outrage in India with calls for the captain to step down and the "firengi" coach to be sacked!
So, why should anyone without any technical expertise, cricketing competence or stake in the outcome of the result be allowed to have a say in the selection process??

What I would love to see is the outcome of parliamentary discussion. If this discussion has some effect, I can only hope that we can use it as a precedent for parliamentary debates leading to concrete action. What can MP's do? Lobby Pawar - what will Pawar do? Does anyone realise that the selection committee includes the coach and captain? If they were to rescind this decision they will engineer the most fractious and polarised dressing room in international cricket.

Lastly, what is their basis of reinstating Ganguly in the team? He is neither a good enough batsmen to fit into the middle order or young enough to be given a long trial period. Yes, I agree he should have been given the choice to step down or get a farewell match but Ganguly has never wanted to quit. He believes that he is good enough to be in the team but the selectors dont. End of story!

He has been dumped like any other player. What is wrong with that. Why wasn't this hue and cry when Dravid was dropped from the ODI side or Laxman dropped from the Test side. Give me one advantage of Ganguly over Laxman. Yuvraj is in better form than Ganguly. If he loses form and Ganguly scores in domestic matches I can't imagine Dravid or chappel ignoring him. But, he needs to prove his worth to the side.

As an aside, I am slowly developing a deep loathing for the Bengali cricket fan. It was embarrasing and disgusting to see an 80,000 large crowd boo off the Indian Cricket team captain. I think Eden Gardens must never be given a test match/ODI again to host. Either that or play the game with closed doors like they do in European football after crowd misbehaviour.
It has always been my dream to watch a Indo-Pak cricket match at Eden Gardens, but I shall never go to that stadium to watch cricket.

Ok, enough of a rant. Back to robotic activity.

lists

I am a list-lover! I manic about making lists. I cant function without having every single thing written down and numbered. From experiments to be done everyday to mails that need to be written. If it isn't on a list, it means that I am not going to do the job.

So today while I am stuck again in the dark room listening to Jo Thoenes on Fox FM. Digressing for a bit, Matt Dennis hosts a great show playing the most popular songs from the 80's. I just realised that I love the eighties music. GNR, "The Boss", MJ. THe problem with Fox FM is its all about Oxford and some of the ads are really annoying probably because I have heard them ad infinitum!

Back to lists - This is my shopping list - Mother will add some when she reviews it. (sorry digression no.2 - if you are ever fortunate enough to run 500 flow samples - the trick is to a) either buy a plate reader or b) dispense the sample into the tube just before it needs to be read, the cells stick to the bottom of th tube making it harder to suck up)

BOM - Athi, T & N, DR.Uncle, Guruji,GG Nana???, Vasu mimi, cant think of anyone else (mother's advice reqd)
SWGM - SPK,MVR,N,Ambu, SKGh,Debu, Muku, bats, Himan,nemade,Pandit,Puja,Ritu,Sherin,rest of the batch?,Ananya- debu's kid
HYD - ...
BGLR- Buchi,Sunu??
MDS- Aju?
DEL - The usual suspects - D,M,SG,Prashu. Athi,Prem,School?,Arora?,Mala,Raju mama
GDH- Mama

I suspect thats it..hopefully. We shall see I am sure we can come up with more people. I also need to make a list of people I need to see when in these places. Uff..

Ok, back to work and playing camperstrike.

Hope Amma wished the YOUNGEST KIDDO! Hope he is having a good time. He is the only kid I wont be able to see on my trip home. I hope he isn't as roly poly as I am told he is!! Anyway, happy b'day!

I have now finished sample 192 of 500...will be back tomorrow!

I have installed wireless on my computer. Cool Linacre is only the second college in Oxford to have wireless on its premises. Its great..you can sit in the CR, while portering or at the bar and surf the net. I am really excited and looking forward to sending people loads of emails from Heathrow.

Bought myself a god wireless network card from OUCS and got it all installed. In the process I have been introduced to crazy racing frogs - the game! Its just ridiculous how much time people have to waste while trying to design these games. Madness, truly!

Cant wait for my next portering shift to test it out.

Have just recovered from yesterday's watering hole exertions. Was in the pub for a long time just chatting and trying very hard to get "wasted"! My experiments with alcohol have lead me to an interesting conclusion : I have a extremely high tolerance for alcohol. I often get tipsy, but some food and fresh air and I am back to normal. This new discovery leads to interesting possibilities!

I got back home at 11 and I think the exhaustion of the last few days with chips and cheese in an alcohol -fuelled body just allowed me to crash while watching some riveting snooker!
Slept for 10 hours which is probably the longest I have slept over the last couple of weeks.

Other interesting things I have discovered while cooped up in my dark room - Camperstrike - the shooting game on mousebreaker, Dan Mills on Fox Fm plays some nice songs and doesn't talk so much.

I had a horrible sandwich for lunch today - brie with stuffing (christmas stuffing) and cranberry sauce.YUCK!! Please never try the veggie option at my Centre - its horrendous. I gargled it down with loads of Lilt juice and tea.

As you can see I am absolutely jobless. Waiting for some reactions to finish and ARS to complete his experiment so that I can get into my dark room again for the night. There is a party tonight organised by TB but I dont think I am going to go. Need to finish loads of work before I take off for home.

today was the big experiment day and it clashed with my lab's Xmas lunch. You might remember that last year, Secret Santa gifted me a thong at the lunch & a hat! So I usually look forward to Xmas lunch with the added perk of eating for a subsidised rate at the Cherwell Boathouse!

Unfortunately, this year I had to forgo it in favour of peering down a microscope for 5 hours dissecting mossies! Anyway, its done now and I am off to the Lamb and Flag for some good spirits!!

Everything is crossed as it would be great if this works!!

"Shee you Hic! shooon"

Report from the dark room

Am in utter bliss. Listening to coldplay, playing camper strike on mousebreaker and am on sample no.120 of 500!!

Its 12:37 am and I am finally headed home with "Goodbye my lover" ringing in my head. James Blunt kept me sane for over 4 hours, but I think it might have just been a rather large overdose.

Headed home after ordering mindless things like 25ml pipettes, gloves, p1000 tips and 6 well plates. All this in the middle of the night simply because I wont have time tomorrow morning to do it and AM is throwing a fit (as usual).
I dont know whether I should set up stuff for tomorrow or come in and do it tomorrow. Hmm..maybe I will do a little bit today and some more tmrw.

Amma, got my passport back so might actually go and get my passport renewed. Its expiring in April, but it might be easier to get it done here rather than back home conisdering my current residence does not match the address on my passport. Its such a pain to get police verification done. When the passport office says verification it is often an euphemism for a bribe, however I did find out that this is a genuine problem as even a tout and Rs.2000 did not do the job!

Ok, enough blabbering. Must get home before I sleep in the lab. Warm bed and hot mushroom noodles await!

Reporting from the dark

I am sitting in a 6X 12 feet room in pitch darkness except for the light from the monitor. It does sound very much like a cooler and so reminds me of The Great Escape and Steve McQuinn with his baseball.
Unfortunately, I am spending time near a FACS machine. Its going to be a long night. Every sample is taking me 4minutes and I have 500 samples. Doing the maths - it is going to take me 2000 minutes = 33 hours!

My only solace is FOX FM and James Blunt. In a stroke of inspiration I brought along the Blunt CD and interspersed with FOX FM I suspect I could get through this ordeal.

Its 9pm now and I have another 3 hours before the place shuts. Then I head back to lab1 and set up stuff tomorrow. I just hope I can wake up early enough tomorrow. I wanted to have a look at some of my other results before tomorrow but I doubt whether I will have the time.

On the plus side, I might get some nice results - fingers crossed.

James Blunt

Am back after cycling in -2 degrees and fog to spend exactly 1 minute in taking some plates out of the incubator. Horrible waste of time. I almost felt like spending more time in the lab just so that I could feel like I had not wasted half and hour of cycling.

I survived because of James Blunt! If anyone is planning to buy a CD for Xmas, I definitely recommend James Blunt. His album "Back to Bedlam" is one of the best albums I have heard in years. Its full of melancholy songs, love songs and a few poems. If you like coldplay,Cohen you would like him.

His song "Goodbye my Lover" is set to become the iconic break-up song of this generation. Its absolutely brilliant! BBC televised his live performance a couple of days ago and although I rarely sit through a musical performances on TV, this guy did keep me captivated.
His song "No Bravery" about his time in Kosovo in the army has some lovely lyrics and is well composed. Of course, his hit single "You're beautiful" is how I heard him first.

My musical education comes courtesy of my lab. While working down in lab1 we are allowed the radio and while doing ELISPOTS and dissecting mossies I listen to FoxFM Oxford. So, I am familiar with all the top singles at the moment. My other favourites are KT Tunstall's "Other side of the world" and Daniel Powlter's "Bad Day"!
Oasis have just released this peach of a song, listen to it if you get a chance. It reminds me of the first time I heard Oasis when I was in school in Delhi. I was never really into music but everyone knew Oasis's "(What's The Story) Morning Glory"!

Ok, am now off to sleep. Tomorrow is a long day!

Signing off with another of these new songs that I like - Natalie Imbruglia's "Counting down the days"

I wanna travel through time
See your surprise
Hold you so tight
Im counting down the days tonight
I just wanna be a million miles away from here

Have had a long day today and am really tired. Cant think of anything beyond food and a bed. Am still in the lab and have another half an hour of work to do. The annoying thing is that I woke up late and started my experiment late which now means that I cant take my plate out of the incubator in five hours as I will be portering at that time. So, the big dilemma is whether a 4 hour incubation is better than a 7 hour incubation. Of course, a 7 hour incubation means that I will have to head back to the lab at 11pm after portering which I just do not want to do. I suspect I am going to take the plate off before I go.

Another 9 minutes to the next step, so decided to blog. Have nothing to write about. Lab after conference has been busy.Lots of things to catch up on. SS headed off to Delhi today so had pizza with her yesterday. I do feel guilty about missing classes and making her miss classes as well...but I cant see myself coming in time for the beginning of term. She did give me a couple of good tips about buying stuff for people back home. She went slightly mad buying stuff and finally bought the same deo for all the women in her house!! She couldn't really appreciate how impersonal a gift that would be.

Was up last night till late watching Match of the Day and then reading random rubbish on the net. India finally won against Pakistan(hockey for those who aren't upto speed) and Ronnie lost. He probably deserves it after his rather pompous statement at the Worlds.

Right before I head off, take a look at this article. Its amazing how far science has progressed. This operation was done in the days before anyone knew anything about immunology, transplant rejections, immunosuppression or even immunologically privileged sites. This is pioneering research! Thats what science is all about.

Ok, off to porter now. My thursday experiment worked..after about 4 attempts over the last 4 months. Yes, it means that I have some confidence for next thursday's big experiment. It also has infused some life in me and therefore I shall be back in the lab at about 11pm to take my plates out!

I called everyone in India up today starting with Mother dearest. Plans seem relatively finalised now, except that I am no longer going to Rajasthan. Uncle dear is trying to clean up all the "boo boo" workers( listen to harry Belafonte's "Mama, look a boo boo") in Jharkhand. Seems that the unions have all gone mad on the same day.
Anyway, that only means that I get to go to Giridih, which is always good fun. I love lounging about in Thatha's room with a Louis L'Amour and loads of kheerkadams by my side. Mojave crossing here I come....

Then proceeded to call up sister dearest who without any hesitation began to scold me for not calling me. My advise to anyone dealing with annoying family relations is to attack. A few choice words and I was doing the talking! Anyway, informed her of dates of arrival and departure. News of my arrival seems to have filtered through college already...hmm..
Then spoke to HD and AN and they got me very excited. There seems to have been developments in their lives and I am dying to hear about it. Will be staying with them and am now really looking forward to going back to college.

Memory - all alone in the moonlight.
I can smile at the old days,
I was beautiful then.
I remember the time
I knew what happiness was.
Let the memory live again.

Am back!

Hi! Am back from conference. Harrogate, Yorkshire is a archetypical Northern english town. I felt the difference only when I returned to oxford. In a fifteen minute cycle ride to the lab I saw more multi-cultural faces than I ever saw in three days at Harrogate.
Am really tired, especially as I headed straight to the lab after arriving in Oxford in the afternoon. I thought I was going to do an experiment with JTH but he is leaving Oxford abruptly and my plans of culturing DC's with him are gone for a toss. I still had lots of work to do so am stuck in the lab for another hour or so, after which I go home and crash!

Four successive nights of five-hour-sleeps, numerous G&T's and dancing has only served to place my liver and body under much stress, fun-filled but stress nonetheless. Never though that conferences would be so tiring.

Am off into the lab and shall write about my scientific (and other) experiences tomorrow.

My tickets for home have arrived in London today, so I think the excitement is just adding to my tiredness.

My new favourite song - Amarillo by Tony Christie. Its such a cheesy song.

Am off to Harrogate tomorrow for BSI. Am presenting a poster. Really bad poster with very little data and nothing much to say. I really need to figure out what my story is going to be and pursue it over the next 6 or so months.

Woke up today morning in cold sweat. Realised that I have less than six months to go to get myself a job and step into the real world. After attending the BMJ career fair on Saturday I realised that I have a long way to go to get to the point where I can get myself a job. Its scary! Its also the first time in my life that I have no idea as to what I am going to be doing in the next year. I have always known what I am going to do next. It seems strange that I will no longer be a student same time next year, but the problem being that I dont have anything to do when my scholarship runs out. Where is my money going to come from? Where am I going to stay? what is my affliation going to be?

Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship,
My senses have been stripped, my hands can't feel to grip,
My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels
To be wanderin'.
I'm ready to go anywhere

Rajnikant

I was portering last night in college and decided to watch a Tamil movie to pass the time. I was supposed to be working on my articles and other sorts of things but really how could I pass up on a Southie flick?
I had no idea of the movie and also had no idea of the plot etc. It was a surprise to me as well. So, I began to watch and very soon I was in splits. Admittedly I was not watching one of the all time classics, but it was a Rajni special called "Batsha". The plot is the same as in any other Bollywood movie. Good normal guy turns mafia don because of too much oppression. New don has only one aim - to kill old don and relieve the world of tyranny. Anyway, in a "unpredictable" twist in the movie, we learn that the GOOD DON's father is the BAD DON's right hand man. With the second half of the movie in flashback the truth is revealed as to how GOOD DON extinguishes BAD DON's empire. BAD DON in a last ditch move before the police come to arrest him holds father as the sacrificial bait to GOOD DON. In the melodramatic DON confrontation FATHER sacrifices life for SON - but in return extracts promise of a changed life from SON. SON then shifts cities to MDS and becomes auto driver to be able to marry his sisters and educate his younger brother.

Anyway, to cut a long story short new SOFT AUTO DRIVER persona needs to bring back GOOD DON to kill BAD DON who was released from jail. In the end everyone is happy.

Great movie.. I dont think I could have watched it anywhere else except while being bored witless while portering. But RAJNI is another thing. What style, what charisma, what a MAN!

I cant wait for my next shift when I watch my next tamil movie.

Where is everybody?

I need to fix up accommodation in college and I just cant seem to get through to anyone, even D in Delhi is unavailable. Where is everybody? I also wanted to fix up a class get-together in Delhi especially after meeting both Shalav and Shruti in Delhi.
Anyway, we shall see what happens? Right now I have a hectic schedule and I dont know whether I am going to survive it.

London

Went down to London yesterday to attend the BMJ careers fair. They held it in Islington which is where JW lives, so had lunch with her at a really bad Thai restaurant. I ordered the Vegetable Hot Jungle Curry with rice, except it turned out to be a cross between rasam and sambhar with some ginger,coconut and without any dal! Ghastly stuff. There was oil floating at the top of the dish and it reminded me of my college mess.

Going back to college is really exciting. I am so looking forward to it - but have so much work to do before I go.

1. Finish and plan experiments - this includes VNA, RT-PCR's, bulk-ups and titers
2. Email and set up meetings with - VSC,Swami,NII,Arora,Mala aunty all in Delhi. MRC and TRC in Chennai. IISc and CCMB down south. SS in bombay. So lots of work to be done..before getting there.
3. Prepare talks and articles.
4. Read some epidemiology
5. Prepare my stomach for some dosai. Note to Amma - I want dosai on the day I land.Nothing else will suffice!
6. Buy gifts for people. This is the part I am truly dreading.

Also, need to have a look at finances to see how much I can actualy afford. I still havent recieved my pay from college for portering but I dont think it is going to be very substantial this month as I didnt do a lot.

But, it would be great to get the money from my tutoring before I left for India as I can then use that for gifts.

Either way its going to be a hectic Xmas and I cant wait for the new year!!!

Bad Sex!

Read the article linked to the title of this blog only if you dont wish to engage in a passionate moment for the next few days!

I think that it is a great award - it does indicate the meaningless paras devoted to sex right in the middle of a novel. Its often unnecessary and pointless. I often get the impression that the author just didn't know what to write next and decided to insert a para replete with sentences that can be plagiarised from any porn site.

"One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other" - Jane Austen.
I am in the second half after reading these excerpts.

HP

HP (as my ultra-cool mom put it) is not a very good movie. For those of you like me who are struggling to reach the heights of coolness, HP stands for Harry Potter.
The little one and I watched the 2hour 45 minute saga of Harry Potter winning the tri-wizard tournament while duelling with the Dark Lord. It often reminded me of the times when I sat in Wardha cinemas watching movies like "Gadar". Good action sequences interspersed with dollops of ham acting, poor characterisation and trite dialogues.
At least in Wardha we were allowed to voice our disapproval of both the movie or at least distinct scenes. While watching movies at the Odeon in Oxford sitting alongside the little one, it was an entirely different matter. Forced to keep mum whenever I attempted to criticise or vent my frustration (which was quite often) I took recourse to eating popcorn rather than watch the movie.

To give the movie some credit, the last 15 minutes of Voldemort and HP's duel is very well done. Its edited neatly, there arent any superfluous scenes or over-sentimentality over Cedric's death. The rebirth of Voldemort has been shot wonderfully well,especially keeping in mind that its a very difficult thing to give a face to someone who has never had one. In my opinion its the movies highlight.

Other than that, the tournament is glossed over. The book has about 150 pages describing each task and fleshing out the characters of HP's competitors, while the movie spends about 15 minutes. I thought this was the best book of the lot because of the tournament and all its intricacies. The movie just focuses on HP. No lines for Viktor Krum and the other girl competitor, just kisses to Hermione and Ron by each one respectively.

Albus Dumbledore needs to be recast soon. Ian Mckellan was brilliant compared to this guy. This guy sucks. Albus is always the omnipotent,omniscient righteous infuence through the magic world, but here he seems afraid, clueless and impotent. Its ghastly keeping in mind that his disappearance in the 6th book is especially shocking because of the way his character is dealt with in the earlier books. The movies are going to crash if he doesn't get his act together(pun intended)

Mad Eye Moody is the saving grace in the movie. What a role and so well played. He acts the mad auror to a T. His first scene with the spider and unforgivable curses is brilliant.
He is the only person to keep you engrossed through the movie. I also think that the movie starts off on a dark note and all the dark scenes are very well conceived and filmed. Even the sets are very good.

On the other hand, the complete absence of screen time to Ron, hermione and their relationship with HP is a big negative for the movie. Snape,the competitors dont feature in the movie at all.

Overall, my assessment is that for 165 minutes of screen time, its a waste. I love the action scenes and the last scence with Voldemort, but I would wait for the DVD and watch it on Home video instead of the cinema. If you are a big HP fan, dont go in expecting too much.
Sit back, buy some popcorn and wait for the good bits!

WHO AIDS Update released

A few stats to make us realise how devastating this condition is:

In 24 years since it was discovered it has killed 25 million people. Thats half of the UK!!

5 million people got infected with HIV in 2005 and if that doesn't sound like much.. imagine every second person you meet on the streets of Mumbai having acquired HIV this year!!

40.3 million people live with HIV today thats 1 in every 12 people on the planet! BUT, 75% of these people are in Sub-saharan Africa...

25.8 million people have HIV in Sub-saharan africa and even worse, of the total 3.1 million deaths worldwide in 2005, 2.7 million were in Africa!! That is just heart-breaking.

India has 5.1 million people living with HIV and the epidemiology of the disease in India is diverse. Sex workers are among the worst hit group with the prevalence of disease in Mumbai's sex workers being 52%. This means that at the time of the study 52% of sex workers in Mumbai had HIV. 52%...
Kolkotta's Sonagachi district which was the first to force their customers to use condoms has a prevalence rate of 4% ( compared to 11% previous to intervention)

The other high-risk group are IV drug users and there is a high prevalence of HIV in drug users.This particular group seems to be quite common in the Manipur, Nagaland and Tamil Nadu.

Have been spending the last couple of days trying to work so that I can take time off this week. Its really hard as I keep waiting for Thursday to arrive so that I can leave. In the meantime, I have a journal club to prepare for, a tutorial and a poster to design. All this while still trying to plan my future experiments and planning my India itinerary.

Had a lovely time yesterday with RR. Went for a walk to Broughton castle. This castle first made by Sir John Broughton, passed on to William Wyckeham - founder of New College and Wellington College (the pvt. school). It then got passed on to the Fieness' by marriage to Margaret Wyckeham, great-granddaughter of William.

It is now owned by William Fieness who is related to Ralph and Joseph Fieness, yes the hot Shakespeare in love(SiL) guy. BTW, SiL was shot here, so the big mansion that Lady Violet lives in is this one and that river that leads upto the mansion is the moat surrounding the mansion.

Its a lovely 16th century Tudor mansion and very picturesque! Its like a magical fairy tale and I often wished to be transported back to the 16th century, of course with money and social status. But, as RR pointed out my skin colour might be looked down upon.
I shall post some pictures when I get them.

Indifference

This is my problem. Blasts in Jordan,blasts in Bali, blasts in London and the whole world is up in arms about terrorism and jehadis and how the world is such an unsafe place to live in. We never know when we will be the next target.
Today suicide bombers killed 77 in Iraq ( and thats a conservative estimate) and there is no hoo-hah, in fact, BBC prefers to cover the killing of a cop in Bradford!
We have become so indifferent to the daily killing and terror that pervades places like Kashmir, Iraq,Palestine that it no longer registers as a shock to any of us(or at least me). Its like smell... we become used to it. Smell prefume for some time and you will stop noticing it, it becomes part of our environment. Its just like that with people dying. Unless it affects us we are rarely concerned.
We have become so callous and self-centered that we actually require acts of global terror to shock us out of our stupor. I really appreciate people working in Iraq,Kashmir who work day in day out without any recognition delaing with death and disability every day.

On a completely different rant, I remember the Tsunami and the worldwide cry for help which was answered. Every single person helped and everyone cared and attempted to help in whatever way they could. Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster as well. People have died and livelihoods lost, not on the scale of the Tsunami but its been as devastating. I remember an Oxford acquaintance telling me in no circumstance should we raise and send money to the USA. Why? because it is the USA, because people there are different, because it has enough resources and money to be able to handle it - what possible reason can there be not to help someone in need?

Anyway, enough of ranting.. I just needed to put this down somewhere.

Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

I met my classmate from school,Shruti after 8 years. I havent seen her since school. It was really nice to catch up. She is one of the nicest people I have met and remember her sending me a birthday card and letter when I was at Wellington. Those were the days of mail not email. I love writing letters, its just that I never post them. I cant remember the number of letters I wrote to everyone in Delhi while at Sewagram,but I never posted them.

Today began with me playing BBall. I cant shoot anymore or run up and down the court as I used to,but I still know how to get the rebounds. Learning to play with Afghans and Somalians taught me how to use elbows and my body to good effect.

Malaria vaccine protects 30% of children against severe malaria for upto 18 months. Latest issue of Lancet carries the paper.

Ok, back into the lab to do some work and then tonight is indoor cricket practice.
Oxford is really cold with frost forming every morning. ITs -2,-4 every day - and its only November.

Going to MGIMS from 2nd - 6th.

Interesting thought

I was just thinking about my post about the legal basis of public health initiatives enforced by the government.
If we were to discover a vaccine against HIV, would we force Roman Catholic priests who have taken a vow of celibacy to take the vaccine??? If not, then we cant really force anyone else who is not in a high-risk category to take it.

Just thinking...

NEWS UPDATE!

Its been a long time, almost a month and a half. Hello to my dedicated readership of three (mom,bro and little one) - I am "back with a vengeance" (batman returns)!

News since last post:
1. report submitted - have less than a year to go now
2. Am living in the UK as an illegal immigrant - my visa has been sent for renewal.
3. Have broken my specs - courtesy OIS Diwali bop and Chaiya Chaiya
4. Have become unfit - sloth and Batchelor's ready made noodles have played important roles.
5. Have started my tutorials - ufff..its a pain but great fun. One batch of students are quite interactive, while the other(all girls) mainly scribble away, noting every single word I say.
6. Have decided to write a short story - plot decided while having shower
7. Am learning to waltz!! (and Jive)
8. After watching Gladiator for the tenth time christened myself," Saranya the Couch Potato" - have been researching the roobish shown on British terrestial TV.
9. Should be spending time in hospital starting next week : things finally sorting themselves out.
10. Tickets need to be booked - COMING HOME!!

Enough for an update - shall blog later.

"Country Road, take me home,
to the place where I belong"

My mistress

I woke up today morning after going to bed in the wee hours of the morning( thanks to OIS and FACS). Running into the lab as I was late and had tons of stuff to do, I prepared all my material for immunisations.

Halfway through my first few immunisations I realised that I had got the wrong vaccine. Damn! Went back despondent having already mucked up my experiment a little bit, I realised that I had made a big mistake in my dose calculations some days ago. A vaccine I had made up days ago was of a dosage 10 fold less than the intended dose.

I was devastated!! I had got some interesting results earlier and I did not know whether I had used this wrong vaccine in that experiment. If I had, the entire experiment was a mess and a disaster. The next two hours of immunising was shrouded by a blanket of gloom and despondency. I wanted to go back home, enough of all these mistakes, how could I explain this away. I was two years into my PhD, how could I make such a stupid mistake?? It was the longest couple of hours. I made new experiment plans, but realised that this would probably be the end of my scientific career. Disaster!!

All these negative thoughts and emotions washing over me, I finished my immunising and immediately rushed to find my lab book. Had I made the biggest blunder ever?

Thank GOD! No! I had not used the miscalculated vaccine dose for the important experiment. I was saved! Relief flooded me and the world looked much rosier. I bantered with my colleagues, chatted with people. The world was looking up. I will go home in jan not October.

Oh that fickle mistress - Science!

Vaccination and public health

I have never actually wondered about how governments enforce public health laws. On the surface it seems quite obvious that government should enforce these public health initiatives in public interest, however you could surely argue that your religious beliefs, cultural customs prohibit you from following these directives. For example, say tomorrow a large community in the US decided against flu vaccines it would lead to a catastrophe. (Although keeping the present flu vaccine shortage in mind, I dont think the government would be too unhappy). You can just imagine the epidemic that might cause. So how does government force us to obey certain public health initiatives, eg. seat belts? Surely, you could argue on a personal basis that you dont want to wear it.

The law that enforces public health initiatives is based on a judgement passed in a case Jacobson vs Massachusetts in 1902. Basically Jacobson refused to take the smallpox vaccine during an epidemic and the court fined him $5. The argument was that if the state believed that the restriction of individual liberty was justified when there was a threat to a community, as the community has the paramount right to protect itself. The court however, did mention that these restrictions must be limited and cannot be used in an oppressive and arbitary manner.

There are important points to note in the case : Smallpox vaccination was well established by then and scientifically approved in the medical community. Smallpox was a deadly disease and mortality was high due to the disease. Lastly, jacobson argued that the state was acting in an dictatorial and socialistic manner, which weren't good enough grounds for dismissal.

Interestingly, I am unsure of what the situation back home is. There is the region in bengal which refuses to be vaccinated with polio in the belief that it causes sterility. What laws exist in India?

The article which lead me to even think about this was published in NEJM.

"mother" has left. Saw her off today morning. Had OIS meeting yesterday which ended in extremely funny circumstances. Junior dean offered to cut C's hair. Of course, C being the nice guy and having imbibed some vodka agreed....only to realise that she had never done it before. Then we all had this long laugh as we tried to imagine dean trying to cut C's hair without any idea of what implements to use. ( I used to get haircuts from Kunjua) and we came up with this prime time reality show : Kunjurani cuts Chandru!!!

Anyway, went home and watched shit movie on computer. Slept at 4.30 and was awoken by RM at 7am. In lab now, with no inclination to work. I think I will go home and try to work.

That I may drink, leave the world unseen,
Fade away with thee into the forest rim.

we shall see you grown up!

The Abraham gang together in the kitchen for the last time. It was the scene of many chats, many bitching sessions, lots of dinners at the end of the day and the scene of our initial planning of the Tsunami event! Will we meet again?

We gave her an oxford print

The two smallest people in the room

Kid is massive and really cute. Very good natured , didnt cry at all even after sitting for over an hour in the hot abhm kitchen.

Oxa and family! We will miss them. RM saw the kid being born. "mother" was up for over 24 hours and poor dad was happy and tired. Poor RM and Ms.Pacific sunshine were the hardest hit. no sleep,lots of work with tears streaming down.

My last poem to "Mother" was a bastardised version of this one:

REMEMBER me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

The 19th century english poets were lovely - Browning, Bryon, Wordsworth,Shelley - as Robin Williams says in Dead Poets, " The Biggies".

Abraham band disbanded!

"Mother" leaves for home tomorrow. The abraham gang is finally disbanded. No more dinners chatting about women, life, relationships, boyfriends, pregnancy and the future.
R and I gave her an Oxford print. Will miss her. I hadn't seen much of her since she moved to Iffley and I think I regret that. She was definitely the most amazing woman I have met in the UK so far. I never saw her sad except once - this with all the work, hospital visits, organising the event and managing all of us.

Hats off to her!!

Will see her off tomorrow and 2005 will come to an end. The end of a great year, where I met some fantastic people,made some lovely friends. I love my friends - none of them are psuedo, none of them are obnoxious people, all of them are just nice people with very few airs. These are people who I can meet over dinner and just be myself. Talk rubbish, bitch, make horrible jokes or just be morose - it won't make a difference to them. They will still be my friends!


THOU unrelenting Past!
Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain,
And fetters, sure and fast,
Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign.

Far in thy realm withdrawn,
Old empires sit in sullenness and gloom,
And glorious ages gone
Lie deep within the shadow of thy womb.

Childhood, with all its mirth,
Youth, Manhood, Age that draws us to the ground,
And last, Man’s Life on earth,
Glide to thy dim dominions, and are bound.

Thou hast my better years;
Thou hast my earlier friends, the good, the kind,
Yielded to thee with tears—
The venerable form, the exalted mind.

My spirit yearns to bring
The lost ones back—yearns with desire intense,
And struggles hard to wring
Thy bolts apart, and pluck thy captives thence.

Done!

Report done! I am a free man for the next twelve hours. Sent it off to the big boss.
Now to lab work and reading. Viva in two weeks, will go mad again.At least the hardest bit is done and that is the important thing.

Next figure out apoptosis markers, OIS stuff, forms to be signed(ST and others), check bank balance and send JVZS money.

Brother will sell my bike to get himself a car! Smart guy knows when to strike. How does benevolent older brother refuse younger beseeching sibling on b'day? Go ahead boy! Enjoy your independence while you can...I will be back someday!

Lost love

I have found my bike. It was lying near the theoretical physics department, just standing there. The guy who took it obviously realised that it could be ridden by only one person....me!
It reminds me of our "herbie". Only Amma could drive it or coax it to do anything. My bike is also green and it is quite big ( not as big as a Mark II ambassador or as old)!
Anyway, I am complete once more. The %^£*£"* who took it mucked up the gears a bit and left the back tyre with very little air but otherwise it's fine. The brakes are still not working and the gears are a bit rusty which is probably why the thief had to leave it behind after recgonising his inability to motivate the bike forward. Its all about handling the bike properly, with love and care. Its knowing where to change gear down the hill when you are screeching down without brakes, about knowing what your braking distance is, just shifting the worn out brake pads enough to allow it to touch the wheel when you pull the brakes!
So, I am a happy and content man once more!

Ashes

England win the Ashes! Pietersen the hero for today! see some great pictures of the match here. Good for England and now hopefully the series in India next year will be a good one. If you want to play the ashes,go here.

St Giles Fair

Every year Oxford holds the St Giles Fair. Read about it here.
It was held on the 5th and 6th of September this year. The story goes that St.John's college owns St.Giles road and excercise their ownership rights by holding this fiar every year. I am unsure about the validity of this story but oxford legend has it thus. So, St.Johns wishing to assert their authority and power over the city council rent out the road for two days every year to stage the fair. Its also said that St.Johns organises the fair every year to keep the city council from annexing the road which runs through the heart of Oxford city.

While the College and the City council get on with their power games, we get out to enjoy the carnival. Its mainly targetted towards the under 15's but there are a couple of rides which are good.

The food is expensive and unexciting. The main thing is to go out with a big group and have fun just before the new academic year begins.

I went this year with some friends. I've posted some pictures if you scroll down.

The gang at the beginning of the carnival.We enjoyed ourselves, a few laughs,trophies,scary rides and food awaited us.

C and I decided to go on the ride you can see in the background. I think it was called the Booster. 30 metres off the ground, turned upside down from the rooftops of Oxford only to come hurtling down. It was wonderful!

The Famous Five! We are the famous five who ventured on the ride!

strapped in for the big ride! There is no going back. Loved the ride. Its great. You ascend to 30 metres above the ground in these seats and at its peak you are turned upside down and then come screaming down towards the ground only to go back up again. great view of oxford from the top, except that after the first time I never looked.

Charlie's angels! after the big ride!

The gun was bigger than her, but S showed size doesn't matter and bagged a prize. 3 out of 5 on target. I never tried after that. Imagine doing worse and never being able to make fun of her again.

M concentrating like she does on everything she picks up! Intense and successful -She got the prize!

The tiger's prey???

Yummm.....chocolate fountain! Willy Wonka's churning waterfall?? We actually told SM that it is a waterfall and you couldn't touch the chocolate because you would contaminate it and then get sucked in!! I don't know whether she believed it but she took a step back!

The smaller trophies! All from the shooting range.

The trophy! Some trophies were larger than others,this one being larger than the victors.

At the fag end of the fair! We have our trophies, some larger than others!

I am writing my report and today have finished it. Need to add an appendix, three pictures and I am done. I never realised how good Word was for writing theses. Its great at making up your table of contents and index. Endnote is another really good bibliographic program. I used Endnote today to reference my work and I finished it in about three hours. A job which would have taken me at least 10 hours if I did it without endnote.

Couldn't sleep, empty feeling. Watched X-men 2 with C, then Dead Poet's Society. Why did I never have an english teacher like Robin Williams? I think my present distaste and apathy towards poetry stems from the compulsion of learning passages from poems for Reference to context questions. The academic analysis of poetry, the unnecessary notes about why the poet used the word "ere" instead of before took so much from the pleasure of poetry, the music of poetry. The emotion, passion, angst,love which the poet expresses in five lines of the english language was lost in this mockery of poetry.

"We read poetry because we are the human civilisation. We have passion and that is why we read poetry", Mr. Keating.

I only wish I had someone when I was younger to read poetry to me like that.
Isn't this verse beautiful. I learnt the peom O Captain! My Captain but no one read it to me with emotion. Think of standing on that victorious deck waiting to get home after a year at sea, waiting for family, for food, for land only to have your captain, your leader, the one you love and admire dead at your feet.

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!	5
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

Anju wins

Wished D today morning. Its always good to chat with him. makes me realise that everyone in the world is normal,I am normal. Is throwing big b'day bash. Wish I was there! S is coming to gay paris for b'day. Lucky girl...I wish I could go somewhere for my b'day. can't remember the last time I was at home for b'day. Am sick of spending birthdays away from family, shall go home for my b'day.Yes, thats a good idea. Save up until my b'day and then go home..
If i survive till then.
I hate TV. watched late night poker. Some idiot with a Q pair raised against a guy with an A pair and lost all his money. Another guy with a K pair lost after the last open card draw to a guy with a Q pair which became a Q triple after the last card was opened. He went bust as well. I switched off the TV at this point. bankrupt myself, cant bear to see everyone else around me go bust. reminds me of my own poverty(relative that is).
In lab, writing. need to finish by 1pm. Lunch at the White Hart, only veggie option chosen. Cheese and onion sandwich!! Eeeks, yuck. Why dont pubs understand that there are drinking veggies around, and they do form a significant proportion of the drinking public. they would get better business if they made better veggie food.
As you can see, I spend more time writing on my blog than my report. need to get back to referencing articles which prove that Adenos are the next cure to malaria. see how far we have come from the good old days of quinine. A tree it was then, now it is the same thing that gives us all a cold.
This is the new "organic medicine"

Am in the lab, its9.30. I have been here for 12 hours in a glass building, airless, soundproof. I dont know what is going on outside. I sit in front of the computer or I am at the bench. My only connection with the outside world is the internet, and all that tells me is that Australia are going to get thrashed.
Its crisis time..need some tea. wonderful, relaxing tea. the only way to be,
when the world is crashing down around you,
is to sit in the sun,
on the wooden bench,
add some hot water to a tea bag
and then some sucre,
milk, stir and drink.
Like medicine, have I become an addict, caffeine
hands shake, restless if i dont have my daily dose,
of 3-4 cups of tea or coffee.

I cant be bothered to write anymore of my report or to work. Uff..I am sick of full working days. need a good holiday or to watch"Sound of music". Need some rejuvenation. Ideas???
Lost a bike, bought a TV. watched England lose to N.Ireland in belfast after 72 years. Its the first time NI have scored against england in 24 years.
England deserved to lose. They had about 5 shots on goal and did not construct too many decent chances. I think the problem is that they have too many big names in their team. Unlike the last world cup team where Beckham was a prodigy and Owen was making his name in football, this team has Lampard, Gerrard, Beckham, Owen, Rooney, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Carraghe. Just too many leaders.
I have realised that the most important thing for a team is to have a leader, and a leader who is respected and inspires devotion from his team. In my opinion, no one in the team respects Beckham. They think he is too glamorous and not as good as he is hyped to be. When you get onto that pitch you must play for each other, but somehow this is a collection of brilliant individuals and not yet a great team.

Its like India and New Zealand cricket. One full of stars, the other average players but a brilliant leader and a great team.

Anyway, back to viral vectors and the like..

Report

Intro left. Everthing else done! yay...
today last day of writing, then back to lab work.

Criminals must be shot!

My bike got stolen on Sunday. I am very annoyed!! &%(&#(# who stole it...if I ever find someone stealing a bike, I will thrash and flog him till he begins to hate the very sight of a cycle.
Like Henry Higgins,"I'm a very gentle man,
even tempered and good natured who you never hear complain,
Who has the milk of human kindness by the quart in every vein,
A patient man am I, down to my fingertips,
the sort who never could, ever would,
let an insulting remark escape his lips"

But, let someone steal my bike and everything changes!! I feel lost, crippled, handicapped, empty without my modern steed. Now, you might not understand these sentiments and I can understand that. I grow attached to my things, the older they are the stronger the bond. This was my first ever possession in Oxford. I spent a whole day looking, searching and finally succeeding in finding the right cycle for myself.
The little one will tell you how excited I was after I bought this bike, chattering away, extolling its virtues to anyone who was within hearing distance. And now, some stranger, some random dude walks away with my bike in the middle of the night. Shameless, could you not have just asked me for it.

I think this is the worst of crimes. Like Louis L'amour wrote, "in the west the worst crime was to steal a man's horse for you were sure to kill him especially in the Mojave desert". I feel exactly the same now. I am paralysed. Today I had to take a bus to work and I almost cried...

When we two parted In silence and tears,
Half broken hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this

- Lord Bryon

Euphemisms

I had dinner with a friend of mine - a rather enlightened one - who mentioned Amartya Sen's new book, " The Argumentative Indian" and how it was all about "discourse" and "narratives". Being a scientist who likes calling a spade a spade, I am rather averse to using academic words where normal words could be used. I dont like people telling me a book is all about the "discourse on the prohibitve mindset and explores the ruminations of an entity behind the berlin wall". Dude, its about a person who is behind the wall...do we really need to say all that.
Anyway, I was arguing how I think that all these new post-modern vocabulary is very psuedo-intellectual especially when used in daily conversation. She then sent me this hilarious account of Harvard University's psuedoness!!

The business of writing "veridicality" for "truth"reminds me of an anecdote about Bertrand Russell. While the great philosopher was living in America,Harvard University asked him to give an address to their philosophy department. Russell wrote up an address and sent it to them for approval. He gave it the title "Words and Things". Some days later he got a call from the Philosophy Department. "Prof.Russell, we think your address will do just fine.
However, there is a problem with the title. 'Words and Things' really won't do for a lecture on academic philosophy. Do you think you could change that title?
Make it a little more ... professional?" Russell changed the title to something like "Linguistic
Correlates of Epistemological Constructs". Harvard was happy and the lecture was a success.

Funding

I was looking at the Wellcome Trust website and was amazed to see their budget and their funding opportunities.
I have decided to apply for one of these places soon after I finish my SHO and other things. Its great, I would love to work in India and try and set up a lab there to look at infectious disease vaccine strategies. I really think with the kind of population base that we have, undertaking clinical trials should not be a problem. The real issue there is to find enough funding and be bright enough or be resourceful enough to collaborate with brighter people.
That is the plan,lets see if it pans out!

this is a really good poem about the future saying what I would like to say but better.

My future is uncertain
unforgiving before me is a future
I for which could not chooseno one could choose,
if a god has set a futurefor me I forbid it
I will make my own with so much room
like a blank page so much room to make many mistakes writing
only in pen my mistakes are still seen with obvious embarrassment the mistakes so big, so costly I tear this paper and start with the new
with my future ever so uncertain the paper is still blank with nothing new

- Ian Zeller

Life!

have been spending the last couple of days writing my report. Its a pain. I now realise how difficult it is to write something meaningful. I could never imagine myself as a journalist or a columnist. Its no wonder that most columns are usually rubbish. In fact, I usually like reading the gossip news which masquerade as columns. I remember the TOI used to have this guy on Sundays (lower left column on center page) who chatted about high -flyers in society!
I can imagine myself covering sport and event journalism, but op-eds no way. I love covering sporting events especially ones where I appreciate the finer points of the game.

Anyway, I shall head back to writing and lab work. Uff..when will this end!
The plan is quite simple. Tonight - all nighter to finish writing my discussion, methods, results properly with indexing. Tomorrow give it to sarah and anne and then on Monday final draft.
lets see how it goes.

I was just looking at the US open website which has the biggest blunder in the world. Lets see if you can figure it out!!
Go to http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/media/classic.html and sopt the blunder!

Monotony

This is my life for the next few days:
Wed : morning in room - writing or in lab working
Afternoon - meetings
Evening - dinner with Jan
night - chatting with

Thur : morning - writing
Afternoon - lab work
evening - cricket match
>9pm - writing and chatting

Fri- morning to evening - writing
night - chatting

Sat - writing morning to evening
night- dinner with Richard??? or chatting with

My Life - a poem in prose by Tootles

What a monotonous life I lead
dreary and dull, I yearn to be freed;

Time seems endless as the days merge into weeks,
like a zombie I awake and trudge through days
where today seems like yesterday,
and tomorrow awaits me like today.

What is it about writing that makes me dread the morn,
disprited, lifeless I feel as I switch the laptop on;

Yet I work because I know,
the future will bring a time,
when the days will flow
and I shall be fine.

Room shift

Once I got back from Berlin, I was faced with the uncomfortable and saddening task of shifting rooms. My room in college was the most lovely room I have ever lived in. Its a wood decor room, large spanking clean and with a lovely view of the college quad.
I have now shifted into University accommodation in this 1960's building which seems never to have been renovated or done up since. Its located in Wellington Square, which I have been informed by authoratative local sources (aka RR) was the first houses to have got hot water in 1860. Amongst these lovely 1860's houses on either side of this square you have this ghastly looking 1960's concrete block of rooms. I must admit I am very lucky to get a room facing the square as the other side of the block faces Little Clarendon street and often gets very noisy on Friday nights ( this is thanks to the Duke of Cambridge have long happy hours).

Facilities are ok, the corridors are poorly lighted, stink of plaster and remind me of Egyptian tombs -musty and decaying. Other than all this, its a lovely place to live in. Central location, surrounded by Jericho to the West, Gloucester Green to the South, St.Giles to the East and Woodstock to the north. So, its great to eat, watch movies but a fair distance from my lab.
Despite all this, I like the room. Its quite large even if it shaped like a square box. The cupboard consists of a alcove in the wall covered by a curtain. I do believe that I am treating this room unfairly comparing it to my previous room and criticising it at the drop of a hat.
In its favour and almost vital to my growing girth, G&D's ice cream is below me!! I spent the first day here consuming a "Purity and Danger" in the afternoon and then " Bailey's and Sweet cream" later in the day!!
Thats how I feel about my old room :

Homeward bound
I wish I was
Homeward bound
Home, where my thought’s escaping
Home, where my music’s playing

Thats one side of my room. The photo being taken from the door. The beatles poster was a gift from the Solomon Island Duchess.The Berlin map is my souvenier from my trip. It delineates the different post-war sectors of berlin.

Thats the other side of the room. The window faces out onto Wellington square and a small park. The bookcase is large enough for all my books.

Thats the fateful cupboard I was talking about. The "space in the wall with cloth across it".

Berlin trip photos

Am posting photos from my trip to Berlin from the 3rd to the 6th of August. This trip occurred after much drama, abuses at visa offices across the world and large international telephone bills. It was a great trip. I am in love with Berlin. Its a fantatstic city, large, relaxed, cosmopolitan and has some great history to go with it. Its an eerie experience to live in a city which is divided by a wall. We stayed in erst-while East Berlin while a lot of the tourist spots were in West Berlin and it is interesting to see the difference in the buildings in the two areas.
I shall post some more photos after this.

Dinner at a posh restaurant-cum-literary salon bang on Pariser Platz within sight of Brandenburg Tor. George Bush dined here in 2002. Saranya agape at Theodore Tucher.

Saranya is agape because he has witnessed the world's most amazing loo! Look carefully at this very fashionable loo and you will see the small TV screen there. So now you can watch TV even while taking a leak!!

Checkpoint Charlie. One of the border checkposts into the Soviet Sector of Berlin. Berlin the city where history is current!!

Berlin's bhelpuri is Currywurst. Its spicy susage smothered in ketchup with a liberal sprinkling of some chat masala.

There are these huge statues on either side of the inside of the Olympic Stadium. I am 5'8" this piece of information is being given to appreciate the size of the statue and not as fodder for juvenile comparisons.

Listening to a poor audio tour of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Stadium. The pitch behind us is going to be used in the 2006 World Cup

Bee sucking nectar from Flower.

(there are good photographers and then there are the greats.....)

That is Schloss Charlottenburg. It is a baroque palace which was the summer residence of some German king's wife. A diversionary note: All German kings are named either Freidrich or Wilhelm.This terrible lack of creativity was the major reason why the Dravidian race decided to shift south after the Aryan invasion and therefore we still have creative names originating from this part of India compared to Rahul and Nikhil!!

Amma, dont those flower shelves look nice. They are inside the flat and are at a very comfortable height to tend to.

That is the Berlin wall and its components. From the front to back you can see the different fortifications that were built as part of the Wall complex. First the wall itself, a 10 foot high concrete reinforced structure. Behind it is a plain area and then a patrol road which is lighted by the street lights you can see. Behind the street lights is another barbed wire fence. It was quite a brutal structure.

Thats the Berlin Wall. There is only about 1.6km of it remaining. Its truly horrific. The small person standing in front is my redoubtable tour guide.

Mini World Cup photos

I captained the Indian cricket team ( yeah! It sounds much more impressive than it actually is) in the Mini World Cup organised here at Oxford. It was great fun and the team really got along. I shall put up the match reports later but here are some photos.
We played against tournament favourites Australia first. The match was a scintillating game, exciting till the last ball. We played out of our skin to push the Aussies to the wire. They won off the last ball, needing one run and by one wicket. I think we were just very unlucky.
There were some unforgettable moments. Niranjan's direct throw from cover with only one stump to see. Mindanao comatose outrageous innings : 1,1,1,4,4,4,4,4,4,6 retd. Aman's throw from deep cover, one bounce on the stumps to engineer a run out, my huge six ala Lagaan being caught beyond the ropes.

Our next match was against South Africa in what was the final group match and a do or die situation for both teams. We ran up a modest 113 and then in another thrilling finish the South Africans needed 10 of the last over, thanks to Raman's and Diganta's great last two overs. With 4 runs needed for a win of the last ball, the batsman struck the ball beautifully past the extra cover fielder. The ball was surely going for four, when Nikhil making an easy 40 meters from deep point picks the ball up and hurls it in an unforgettable arc towards the non-strikers end. It was a wonderful throw anyway, one bounce over the stumps but under the circumstances it was BRILLIANT!! The batsman only ran two! We won by 1 run and moved into the semis!

Pakistan -our old nemesis....and the less said about this match the better. We bowled ourselves out of the match allowing Pakistan to rack up 195 in 20 overs.
The only feature of the match was getting a particular person out for a duck. This person had declined playing for India in favour of Pakistan because he believed that he would have a better chance of winning with a better team. There was a lot of needle there and we were delighted to have got him for a duck. I caught him behind the wicket and it was truly an exhilarating moment. I screamed for joy and Niranjan the bowler did this jig right in the center of the pitch.

congratulations Skipper!

The team with a celebratory chocolate cake that jaci had baked for us. This was after our semi-final loss to Pakistan. A motley and bhukhad bunch are we!

Thats me coming back after scoring an undefeated 30 runs!! Some people are lucky when they get me out, its a rarity and therefore their gloating is excused

Sitting (L -R) :Jaci,Shreya, Hiromi,Sridhar,Vedanta,Rachael,Satish,Diganto
Standing(L-R) : Antara,Saranya,Nikhil,Sujit,Raman,Chandru,Skanda,Aman,Amit,Shyam,Niranjan

Thats the Indian team with its faithful supporters. We played the Mini World cup in Oxford and reached the semis. Two last ball finishes meant that as usual it was upto the subcontinent to draw the spectators into what was otherwise a rather muted affair.

Tennis

Woodbridge retires! The end of an era. I remember watching this short right hand player with his tall leftie partner at Wimbledon playing some great doubles. The angles, power and volley rallies were amazing. I also remember Paes - Bhupathi beating them either at Wimbledon semis or finals.
I somehow always rated Woodbridge lower than Woodforde, but I think they won because Woodbridge had a much better return game.

My prediction for the mens finals - Federer - Roddick. I think the occassion will get to Johansson and Hewitt will be outplayed by Federer.

Wimbledon Day 7,Second week

Haven't posted over the weekend as my little brother was here. I know he is a bit taller than I am but that does not mean I can't be older! This resentful tone is induced by my neighbour laughing when introducing B as my little brother. Ha Ha!!

Back to Wimbledon. Mirza went out despite fighting really hard and playing a great match on Center court. I have been told by "authoratative" sources who watched her play that she needs to work on her serve and fitness.
In today' s fourth round matches there were no upsets bar one. It seems amazing to me that most of the matches today were straight sets victories in both the mens and womens competition.
I dont know what has happened to mens tennis when we have only about three or four serious contenders for the title. Federer, Roddick, Safin and Hewitt????
Ancic, my great Wimbledon hope lost to the giant killer Lopez. I saw him play today and he has a lovely serve and volley game. A Spanish s and v player. Thats as rare as a week in the UK without rain.
Quarter final line -up :
Federer v Gonzales - Federer
Hewitt v Lopez - tough one, but would have to go with Hewitt esp after he beat Taylor Dent today in what was probably his best match at wimbledon this year.
Johansson v Nalbandian - Probably Nalbandian. I think Johansson will crack under pressure and Nalbandian is slightly craftier.
Roddick v Grosjean - Roddick

BTW, there are eight different nationalities represented in the quarters. Cool!
Its like Davis Cup!
So, A Federer -Doddick final looms large, again.

Women's :
Davenport ( who played a great match against Clijsters. She looks in good form. Please dont let Sharapova win) v Kuznetsova. - This has to be Davenport. I think she has too much experience and power for the Russian.
Mauresmo v Myskina - Mauresmo, who plays really when without any media pressure.
Pierce v Williams in the comeback game of the century. Two top players trying hard to rekindle their careers. Tough one to call. Just depends on who plays worse.
Sharapova v Petrova - Sharapova. I just realised that she even grunts when she serves. Alan Mills who retires this year is firmly against grunting and argues that if it is deliberate or distrubing should result in a penalty against the player. Sharapova's grunts are a 100db loud.
Thats like factory machinery or someone screaming in your ear. thats how loud it is!

Speaking purely from a health perpective, if you are exposed to 110db you must limit yorself to an exposure time of 1 minute and 29sec. Every women's tennis player is slowly going to go deaf if they play Sharapova in a five set match.

I am looking forward to the second Lions test. I predict the Lions will win by less than 10 points.

THE MONSOONS HAVE ARRIVED

I woke up today to be greeted by a grey,cloudy sky. This is in complete contrast to the sunny, blue and clear skies we have had for most of the last fortnight.
So, just as I was beginning to get used to all the sun and slowly revealing my summer wardrobe today hapenned.
Its just a bad day today. My bike broke down yesterday. It finally refused to move unless it was taken care off. My weekend is going to be spent in taking care of it. The tantrums these bikes throw. I remember my motorcycle back home, which began to growl while I was changing gears until I took it for servicing.
So, no bike in the morning. Bus ride in the no.15 to woodfarm.
Then, while we were half way up the hill the clouds finally began to bawl. Just like the first monsoon rains it poured large droplets of rain! Just like home. I got off the bus and by the time I moved three meters for cover under a tree I was drenched. You can hear the rain drumming the ground, smell the damp ground after it has been watered(I love that smell), feel the vibrations of thunder in the background and find yourself completely drenched to the skin. I ran like mad from one shady tree to the next but just like school you finally decide to make a dash for it. I reached the lab dripping with a smile on my face.
My incredulous lab mates thought I was slightly mad! I attempted to explain the emotions associated with dancing in the first monsoon rain but you can't explain such things to people's who pysche commands them to whinge when the first drops of rain begin.

I really wish I was home today. It felt great to just run freely in the pouring rain. I remember how we used to wait for the rain to go out and play football. I wish I could do that now.
Anyway, the lab beckons and I shall answer the call of cloning.

Wimbledon day 4

THE DAY OF UPSETS!!
Henman out! I think Henman was very under-prepared coming into wimbledon and with the rather easy draw he got thought he might be able to squeeze into second week without too much effort. Unfortunately, it seems that the problem is not his opponents but himself.
Nadal out. I know this is an upset because he was no 4 seed, but he is playing his second wimbledon I was not really expecting much from him.
I love wimbledon for just this reason. At least in the Men's game the surface is so different and unique that seeding and ranking accumulated from playing on hard courts over the year do not really carry any weight. Its possible for someone like Mario Ancic last year with a good serve and volley game to thrash Henman. Its possible for someone like Ivanisevic to win after geting a wild card.
Its all about how you can play on grass. Anyone who plays on grass knows that the surface requires a completely different set of skills. You need to stay low and have to be very quick otherwise the ball just skids and slides away from you. You also need to be very fit. As you might have noticed lots of ankle and knee injuries take place at Wimbledon because of the stress you place on them during matches. Finally, you would be hard pressed to win Wimbldeon without a decent net gamel because you have to charge the net and force the point.

Other than that big British hope MURRAY taught Stepanek a lesson in grass court tennis with a straight sets thrashing. Federed cruises again and so did Hewitt. Coria came through in five against Malisse and in an epic match Alexander Popp of Germany overcame Wayne Rthurs of Australia 14 -12 in the fifth.
I was following the match online and it was great to watch the match swing every 10 minutes.
Ok, am in the lab so need to get back to DNA extractions.
WIll blog about the Monsoons later.

Malaria in India

Recent report on the malaria situation in India show a remarkable improvement in the total number of cases of laboratory diagnosed malaria from 3.0 million in 1996 to 1.78 million in 2003. Unfortunately, these figures are not complete because they are collected by the government NMCP health workers and do not take into account the number of cases that are treated as malaria without lab diagnoses and those treated in private clinics and NGO's.
Reporting in India is not perfect especially with the enormous private sector health service it becomes very difficult to measure and record health statistics.

Globally we find that less than 20% of the world's population suffer from 80% of the world's malaria and HIV. In India, the situation is exactly the same. Orissa is burdened with 23% of the total case load in the country.

Is the governance of a state indicated by its health indicators? Most people agree that good governance is often reflected in improvement of its citizen's health. Funnily enough of the 23 states that are malaria endemic in India only Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu show an increase in the number of cases between 2001 and 2003. Does that mean anything?
Gujarat can't even blame development as a cause of increased malaria (areas of development often show an increase in malaria incidence because of human migration,altered ecosystems, increasing population density and the presence of a naive population.

On the whole, most areas of the country have shown a decrease in malaria cases. Funding for malaria has also increased, not just from the MoH which spent $49 million in 2003, but also from the World bank which gave the Enhanced Malaria Control Project $23 million last year. Also, the EMCP is due to get a large grant from the Global Fund against TB,HIV and Malaria.

There are a number of critics of the Indian public health system and believe that it is completely useless. I disagree quite strongly. I have seen the importance of having PHC's,CHC'c and Village Health workers in rural areas. The problem is not that we should not spend on our public health sector, but we must make it more efficient and consumer friendly.
Let me give you an example of how good it is. The active case detection ( that is when workers go from door to door to collect blood samples) for malaria is so efficient that it collected over 100 million samples. Admittedly, a number might have been duplicate. However, think out of the 100 million collected only 1.78 million were positive. 1 in every 100 were positive, despite which our health workers go out and collect samples.

Another stat - 47% of positive cases sought treatment from the fever treatment depots set up for malaria control, 36% from primary health care workers and only 13% from the private sector.

ok, enough malaria. Good news. Roll no.41 has got married in a whirlwind romance...8 months of dating in the UK, one holiday abroad, GP rotations for both of them and within the next two weeks they are married.

Talking about marriage, sister dear is planning engagement on the 24th but is still confused. Poor thing, she gets some real creeps. Wish her the best and hope everything works out.

Wimbledon day 2

Henman is scared to death by Niemenin and finally wins in 5 sets to avoid being stoned by his home crowd! Why is he asked to play on centre court? Where is the merit? Surely, Hewitt qualifies a centre court appearance over Henman. I know, the crowds love him. If I may make an observation about the crowds on centre court over the years, they seem to have become more boisterous. Henman's appearance on court today brought out whistles and cheers. Can't remember that happening five years ago.

Other notables : Roddick cruises, Nadal sails past opponent,new GB sensation Andy Murray cruises past lucky loser Bastl. My dark horse for the semis - Tommy Haas retired with an ankle sprained while warming up...Idiot!! Gasquet,Coria and Stepanek through. Sharapova, Williams Inc. into the next round.
Queen's runner up Karlovic - out! How did he lose? "He serves from the trees", Roddick's quote. Presumably all you need to do after that is to be able to return your opponents serve well enough to get a break and you should be winning at least your first three rounds.

Upset of the day : Henin is out. She played a ghastly match. 43 unforced errors to lose to a very pretty looking 6'1" greek Eleni Daniilidou.

By the way, check out wimbledon's online IBM scoreboard and its new funky features. It gives you the stats and player profile which it did last year as well. This year's addition is the shot tracker which replays every point played on a visual of the court. It also gives a brief description of the point. VERY COOL. Check it out. As you can see, I spend most of my time in the lab in front of the computer checking tennis and cricket scores.

Is Collingwood as good as Sir Viv Richards? According to the English press, he is. For taking 6 wickets and a century against Bangladesh. Only Sir Viv has done it before against NZ. C'mon guys,lets put things into perspective here.... Sir Viv demolished attacks, Collingwood is a good utility player and really not in the same class.

Lots of other sports going on. Lions play the All Blacks on Saturday. Most of my portering shifts is taken up by poring over the rugby analysis. Consequently, I now know who plays at centre-half for England and am wondering whether Johnny will play at the no.12 position.

Ok, back to malaria and some mossies.