Climate Change

This planet is an extremely complex and dynamic system of uncountable interacting elements.

There is a game called as "Life" which is most commonly implemented in C language. It basically creates a 2 dimensional array and "lights" up cells according to some few simple basic rules. However once the code is run, after some time extraordinarily complex patterns are seen and new patterns emerge. As if the code is living, the lit up cells are termed to be alive, hence the name Life.

Its the same with Earth, except that this planet is an infinite dimensional array, and a large number of incredibly complex rules govern interactions between the variables which light up the cells.

One feature of the game was that when the initial pattern changed the subsequent patterns changed drastically. Also the initial pattern decided whether the lit up cells will spread apart, dilute in concentration and die, or they will form other patterns which will be sustained.

Life appeared/arrived/started on this planet 3.2 billion years ago. Then around 2.4 billions years back photosynthesis appeared. And the sheer number of the cyanobacteria was enough to change the composition of the whole damn atmophere of this planet. The air turned poisonous with a new oxidising agent. Level of CO2 fell drastically, temperatures dropped. Climate Changed.

Present day Earth, same process is happening, inhabitants of the biosphere are playing with patterns and the outcome is bound to change the state of this planet and problem is we don't know where these changed pattern will lead to.

But my stand, as it has always been, on climate change is as follows: Cyanobacteria utilized the nutrients available to them to the fullest, in the process excreting Oxygen, which was at that time an extremely poisonous gas to other life forms, which were predominantly Anaerobes. This phenomena pushed anaerobes, which ruled the earth into such places such as seafloor, intestines and bottom of marshes. Today we are also utilizing the resources available to us to the fullest, and in the process we are excreting poisonous waste which is bound to affect the abiosphere and other life forms. However if cyanobacteria didn't stop why should we. This planet has always adjusted to whatever perturbations it encountered, that's how the system works, by simply following the rules. If the changed patterns cause some populations (maybe/hopefully Humans) to die off, well thats how this game of Life works. The rules just cant be changed.

P.s. This is my post as a contribution for the Blog Action Day cause of this year Climate Change. Cant say it furthers the cause, but i registered and so i blogged!! :)

Hey, he is an Indian... nope: of "Indian Origin"

Just recently Dr Venki Ramakrishnan won the Nobel Prize (2009) in Chemistry for his seminal work in elucidating Ribosome Structure and Function along with Thomas Steitz and Ada Yonath.

And as expected everybody Indian started celebrating his "victory" and how that he was Indian in origin and was only the 4th Indian to win a Nobel and all what a great thing it was. Celebrations galore.

And then the internet came alive with blogs and tweets as to why all these celebrations, Venki did his Phd from US, his Post Doc from US, his research from US, using US dollars in grants and using resources provided in US by US and US and US. His discovery is beneficial only to the US and not to us in any way. And is he even Indian anymore?? Why the hell Indians in India are going over the top. The main question was why are we raising such a hue and cry over it.

Well I beg to differ. First and foremost, I dont think his discovery is beneficial only to US and not beneficial to us, because his discovery was for Science, something which transcends international boundaries. His work has resulted in understanding the mechanism of antibiotics that work in every Human, not just US citizens.

Secondly I ask, when does one stop being an Indian?? How does one define Indianess?? I mean, now that i live in Pune, i have come to love Mumbai more than before. Bombay is a place where i spent my whole childhood in, and whatever happens and whichever city i live in, there will always be some Mumbai and some Bombay in me. Similarly when and if i leave this country, does it mean i will cease to be an Indian?? That i will drop the values, principles and morals i follow. I feel to whatever different places we go to, we always come from one place, may be birth place, may be where u spent your childhood, may be home town, but mostly a place where u feel u are from. That place stays with you. Always. And wherever you go, you always have some of it in you.

So should we be asking whether Venki is Indian or not?? Einstein was from Germany, but won his Nobel as a US citizen, just like Khorana and Chandrasekhar. Does it make their work any less important or less meaningful??

It must also be noted that we have excellent research institutions in IISC, NCBS, TIFR etc. but look at the papers published from IISC, how many are Nature publications??. NCBS does publish in Nature and Science level journals but at what rate?? These institutions must be given the things they need (chiefly funding) to do such work, Venki winning the Nobel only goes to show that Indians have it in them to achieve such heights, only they have to leave the country to do so, and then face accusing questions by other people.

Instead of celebrating Diwali prematurely as we (Indians) are doing, we should rather try to provide opportunities in India to scientists for doing such fundamental work.

Want, not Need

I asked myself, what do i really really want now, at this very moment?? and the answer left me totally surprised. I thought may be girlfriend?? Nah, high maintenance, then may be some one who i love.. and as it turned out - not really. May be what i want is a good Job.. but then i will be less oriented towards research and i wanted to do research after all. But do i wanna do research NOW??? Nope, not now man, after i complete my MSc and PhD i mean, then i wanna do research as my livelihood, the means through which i earn money.. So what DO i want now?? After MSc i want a project assistantship, which pays 12000/month for a year, that way i dont lose touch with research and can work for getting a good PhD in that one year, and if i am lucky may be i'll also get a paper!!! Yeah alright... but all thats for after the MSc.. the question was, what do i want NOW, ABHI. And the answer - I want my own bike, my own Honda Unicorn. Thats it. At this moment (1:39 am 30-9-2009) i really dont care much about job, RA, PhD, GRE, bioinfo, girlfriend, love, money, scholarship, marks, future, blah, blah... All i want in this world, now, is a bike of my own. Thats it.

Dussera

When we were kids in 6th-7th, Dussera was a big thing. The big Ravan was burnt in a spectacular show of fireworks, all lights and sound. Almost the whole colony would then walk all the way to the basket ball court behind Sector Market (Godavari bldg!) where the huge Ravan would be waiting its impending doom and with the Ram Leela on the stage in the background. I used to go with my whole family, mom always used to yell in the crowd trying to stop me from running off, nobody noticed though, cause everyone would be screaming and running anyways. Almost all of my school friends would turn up with their families. Later after the Ravan was burnt there would be a get together of all the Gujurati families of our group at Patel Uncle's place in Badrinath. There would be Patels, Shahs, Dalals, Panchals, children playing UNO and parents eating Fafda-Jalebi and Papdi and chatni, traditional Dussera food!!

And all of a sudden trying to catch the parachutes (released from the rockets!!) started to seem too childish. Then we grew up a bit more and the fireworks display started to look just as good from our 14th floor flat in Kamet. And then 10th std happened and so we didn't go. Later we stopped altogether.

Now Dussera doesn't mean anything anymore to me, nor do Diwali, nor Holi. This Dussera i was more interested in going back home to get my clothes washed and in the discounts offered on cell phones. And in Diwali i have stopped buying fire crackers long long back and in Holi i would much rather stay at home and sleep till 12.

But I still kinda wish for the old times sometimes...