I wonder how....I wonder why

Sometimes, when I sit back and wonder about what each one of us is doing for a living, I see a pattern – woven around each one of our lives- somehow, leading us to do what we are best at and enjoy the most. I know few people who had clear cut vision that this is what they wanted to be and most who didn’t know what they want to do. Somehow, now all are doing (barring a few!!) what they are good at. Is it not true??I know many will point to people who are out of sorts in their work. I would say they have not had the calling yet or they are just plain lazy, useless people who anyway would not have done justice to any work they did.

I don’t know if I am doing science for a living but, surely, I am doing it for living! I think sometimes what I would have been if not in science and I shudder at such thoughts. I need new things to keep happening around me, the excitement that comes with science- the thoughts, the questions, the experiments and most importantly, the simple (rather not so simple) sane logic of why things are happening. If someone told me today that the world has banned science and I can’t do experiments anymore, I think I would open up one secret underground lab! I think I can understand why Archimedes rushed out of his bath naked, shouting “eureka” or why Galileo was ready to die but, not agree to earth being flat or why Newton even forgot he had a wife (costly mistake though!) or why Ramanujan would be oblivious to his own poverty and just do maths! Sheer love of the subject is enough to drive you to these things. I hope I would be able to translate my love for science into something fruitful, maybe not to the levels of these immortals but, surely what is the harm in trying.

Fruitful, I don’t necessarily mean useful to any human, though. There are other people to do that. I would be just happy to answer like a mystique yet with reasoning and proof about things which just interest me. Science, more than anything else, is an intellectual pursuit and I am not ashamed at all that my contribution to science probably will not be anything directly useful to anyone.

I LOVE YOU, MICHAEL

I am dazed,shocked and i hope this is just a nightmare. Michael Jackson, dead. I love you, Michael and always will. I have grown up listening to you. My first ever english song was yours. I will treasure it.May you rest in peace.
Each one of us has a favorite song of his..mine was and will remain the first song I heard and saw...."remember the time".I still remember the time I heard this song..beautiful song, amazing screen presence,perfect visualization. you got me hooked, Michael.
Who can forget Thriller?? but, for me evry song u made was great. Heal the world, we are the world and black or white..my ever fav.
I don't care that people called you names and I don't care whether they were true. Only truth was you were born to entertain the world and you did it beautifully. you made each of those 50 years count and made them worth living. Music is God's gift and God loved you.
I will miss you and yea, my dream of seeing you live will remain unfulfilled.

A farewell to flies
Yesterday, I did my last experiment on flies (at least for the time being). I was happy because that brings to an end a nice PhD but, I was equally sad too. Sad because, I have learnt a lot from these tiny yet useful organisms. An Amazingly beautiful organism to work with- Drosophila. Hah! How much I am going to miss these beautiful organisms. When I was looking at them through the microscope yesterday, somewhere along it hit me, this is it. Believe me I just increased the magnification and kept looking at each part of the fly and it felt as if I am looking at them for the first time. I had the same wonder! The big red (sometimes scarlet and white!) eyes staring back at you through the microscope- and more sense of wonder and amazement. Oh! How much I love these flies. They were the major part of my life the last five years. My life revolved around them but alas!, not anymore. I am thankful to them. I learnt a lot these five years thanks to them.
I am not good at poetry but, I kind of like these Wordsworth’s poems and these are dedicated to the love of my life of the past five years-an Ode to them!

SHE DWELT AMONG THE UNTRODDEN WAYS
SHE dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:

A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye!
--Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.

She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!


TO A BUTTERFLY (to the fly)
I'VE watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless!--not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!

This plot of orchard-ground is ours;
My trees they are, my Sister's flowers;
Here rest your wings when they are weary;
Here lodge as in a sanctuary!
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the bough!
We'll talk of sunshine and of song,
And summer days, when we were young;
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.

Delhi- City of Djinns

For the past few months, I was reading the book "City of Djinns" by William Darlymple. "Few months" not because the book is
boring, rather the book is an extremely interesting read, but because i am lazy.
City of Djinns is a panorama of Delhi's recent history (by recent i mean 600-700 years!). Amazingly well researched and a
brilliant narrative. It takes you through the gullies of old Delhi, havelis of 18th and 19th centuries, gardens of the
Mughals and the insurmountable forts of the hitherto kings. Trust me, if you are born and brought up in this
magnificient city, nostalgia won't allow you to keep the book down.
Dalrymple talks about communities of people who are centuries old and still exist today, the poets, the English who ruled,
the hijras,the healers, the kings and their ministers and you are transported back in time.
Many of the places he mentions, i have visited. But, i was taken aback by the fact that how much of Delhi is still
unexplored by me and happy also because i have so much more to see!
So many rulers came and went and you realise,nobody could be permanent here. The time they shifted their capital to delhi
(including the British), it was the starting of end of their rule.
The red fort, old fort, Nizam-u-ddin's grave, mohammed bin tughlaq's mosque,the narrow roads of Chandni Chowk,bungalows of
the British along the river bank,old remains in Hauz Khas, etc., and you realise how rich was Delhi's culture once.
Even without knowing some of these pieces of history, I was in love with Delhi. Now, i am head over heels in love with the city
of my birth.
No bomb blasts and no mobs can destroy the soul of this magnificient city because it dates back to eternity.

In the name of God....Part 3
As i had said, I am not an atheist, but Gods with names and connotations- weren't created for our convenience; because it is difficult to pray to an unknown face or no name??
A nation called as "tolerant". You must be joking! Indians are one of the most intolerant of the lot. Why? We can't even let a man live his life with his form of God. Always ready to fight in the name of religion, caste and creed. boundaries, boundaries, everywhere. That's what define us. India as a boundary is not enough for us intolerants. We want to be further divided in the name of region, religion, caste, etc. No, i am not saying, having all this system in place is bad. But, what's bad is our ever changing affiliations to this system. One day,when sporting glory is achieved, we are all Indians. The next day a bomb blast occurs, let's blame it on a section of the society.
We as a society have made our country what it is today- a big congregation of insensitive, intolerant, incoherent, incorrigible people.

In the name of God...Part 2
I would say, in India, it's total anarchy as far as religion is concerned. Right to freedom of religion- is a fundamental right of ours. However, it's one right which is encroached upon by all and sundry. Probably, they use their fundamental right to freedom of expression!!
Religion is not spiritual anymore. I don't know if these people realize that God is within us, in our actions/inactions. Devil is also within us. Hence, which gets to dominate is our choice. If people think that God is great, then do they actually think that all these cowardly acts is going to affect his greatness?? Hah!! I pity these people, their thinking and their actions. Come on. Get a life.

In the name of God...stop it,please...part 1
As i write this, my mind is asking me some thousand questions. Let me set aside these questions for few lines.
Killing in the name of religion- how civilized are we? i mean, a Hindu fanatic killing Christians, a Muslim blowing up innocent people; all this bothers me a lot. I just want to shout at the top of my voice" STOP IT PLEASE, IN THE NAME OF GOD".But realise soon enough, they all are doing these ghastly acts in the name of God.
No, i am not an atheist. I would probably include myself in great believers in Supreme Powers. But, for me God does not need to have a face or a name for that matter. I believe God is a power inside me. It's my conscience which guides me to good or evil. I can't imagine any God telling people to kill others. For God's sake we are NOT GOD.
I have always believed that all religions started as a set of beliefs and principles to guide our lives. Let me underline "our". It was never for telling others how to lead theirs. Religion is personal. You can't force people to see Him the way you see. It's wrong.Period.