Just one of those things...

Having recently written a post on the ineffectiveness of current scientific research in helping to save lives in the immediate future here,  I found it ironical when I read about Ralph Steinman, the recent Nobel Laureate and his struggle with Cancer. Now Dr Steinman died three days before the Nobel was announced and the committee announced the decision without knowing of his demise. However, despite the fact that the Nobel prize is not awarded posthumously, in this case the committee on being appraised of the situation, decided to let the award hold. That itself to me was dramatic and a very appreciative and practical gesture. 

But the whole story behind Dr Ralph Steinman's life and his struggle with the disease make the entire situation very poignant in more ways than one. Many of you may have already come across this article but I thought I would share it just in case... 

 http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111011/full/478163a.html

Occupational Hazards...

"Every life is a profession of faith, and exercises an inevitable and silent influence."

So said Henri Frederic Amiel. 

A slight mutation in the statement is going to be what this post is all about. 

"Every profession is a life of faith, and exercises an inevitable and silent influence." 

I am sure there are a lot of puzzled expressions but just sit back and think about how much of our profession actually shows up in our life - in the way we dress, we talk, we think ! With a little observation and experience, one can actually try and predict people's occupations. And it could be quite a fun exercise. 

Take for example the scientists - the clan that I happen to belong to ! 

We mostly have the rather disheveled and unconcerned appearance, quite unlike a management student who is forever seen in these carefully tailored outfits/ attires - shirts, suits, gowns, dresses. We walk into interviews and conferences and expect people to disregard our appearance and focus solely on our work and our brilliant ideas. We talk jargon all the time and we think everyone will understand it. Its almost second nature for us to think that everyone on the street understands what a gene is or what cancer is or what DNA is !!  

We have a weirdly nerdy and geeky sense of humor as a lot of our jokes will involve names of proteins, experiments and results etc etc. 

How nerdy can one be, right ? 

And academic life was the only life we had when on a residential campus like IISc. When on a residential campus, in a PhD program, your life usually moves from one experiment to another than from one day to another. You friends are all geeks and nerds and everyone is going through the same phase and our conversations would reflect that. 

Imagine these conversations at some of the dinners that we would have at friend's homes (actual homes, where non-scientists lead their normal lives... and in our "off-times"...  ;)) 

"Hey, Let's cook in situ today na ? Let's not pick up something from somewhere! Its been soo long since we've had a home cooked meal !" (Instead of saying "let's just cook at home na")

"Hey, what is the volume of that thing? How much stuff can it carry ?" (Volume ? Seriously... i ve rarely heard any of the normal people use the word at a suitcase shop... nothing wrong, it perfectly conveys the point but perfectly occupational too!

"Hey, I made that completely de novo - no precooked ingredients in that !" (I made it from the start/ scratch ! - how difficult is that but no that's we end up doing)

"Hey ! Can you please aliquot the dessert for everyone ?" (Aliquot ?? Seriously)

"Don't give me the abstract of the story. Give me the full version of the article !!"

"She talks like a Nature article while I go on and on like a Cell article" 

"How much do you think this will shrink  - 10%, 20% ?" 

"Come for a run, the endorphin release will do you good !"

"Listen, we'll put this at 4 degrees and this at  -20. We can heat it tomorrow." (Fridge and freezer... but no, we use 4 and -20 degrees Celsius)

And so for a long time, our work life invaded our life and took over it completely. And that was a life in faith. In faith and in hope. 

All through those years, closeted in the close confines of the academia, I didn't realize that all the professions leave an imprint. From history, to management to psychology to photography, they all invade our life... we use words from there in our everyday life... and no one but an outsider would find them odd. Software guys routinely use bug, chip and code everywhere; Business guys use proposal, data, balance, turnover, policy and presentation; and accountants and finance guys use debit and credit, deficit, fiscal and budget everywhere. 

Every professional does seem to have a lingo, a personality, an attitude. What is cause and what is effect is of course difficult to speculate ! Do all nerds become scientists or does science make one a nerd ? Who knows ... ? And at this point someone might tell, we need an experiment but the right controls are difficult to get... ;)

Life lessons from the kitchen....

Apophenia is the tendency to find patterns where none exist. And we all do it at one time or another, intentional or unintentional. We are constantly trying to put pieces together and trying to make sense. Perhaps this tendency gets more acute when life is moving along on an auto pilot mode as was happening with me. And so on one of those lazy saturday weekends, when i spend half my day cooking (in the kitchen, not stories in my head... ;)), this odd idea popped up in my mind. The idea was about the many parallels between life and cooking or rather life and food... other than the very obvious one that each is essential to the other (of course)... ;)

Somehow, even as i chopped and boiled and ground and seasoned, this idea did not leave my head. From a stray thought, It grew into a metaphor. It may sound crazy but hopefully by the end of this post, you might be able to come up with more similarities than what I' ve managed so far.  

Now, these are weeks approaching Halloween and thanksgiving and squashes and pumpkins seem to be sprouting up everywhere in grocery stores. The story began as I ended up buying a green acorn squash just out of curiosity. I mean, I really had no clue about the taste or cooking protocol for this vegetable but I was curious. So I said to myself, what the hell, we'll figure it out! So I bought that acorn and the first thing I wanted to do (before cooking it) was to find out about the vegetable itself. How hard is it  (and trust me it was quite an exercise cutting it with my inexperienced but old knife) ? How long should i cook ? Does it expand or shrivel on cooking ? How does it taste - is it sweet, sour, bitter or bland ?  I was only looking at making some good old simple soup as the mercury was dipping lower and lower for my tastes... But then even for that, i needed to know this information ! And that's when it occurred to me that in some way people are like the ingredients we work with. They are all good in their own ways but not everything works well in every situation and you don't like everything all the time... When working with new vegetables and ingredients, its good to know what they taste like on their own; with people too, its good to know them for what they are before coloring them with your expectations and visions. Every ingredient has its unique flavors and one has to use its talents appropriately for the magic to work. With people too, one has to know their flavor and their personality. Expecting people to do what they hate simply because you want it that way is a recipe for disaster ! But then I couldn't possibly know about a person like i did for that acorn squash now, Can I ? And so I have to observe and be patient and be non-judgmental in that period...  Cos, after all i really dont know anything !! And once that exploratory phase is over, I may not like what i know and that doesn't make anyone good or bad. It just means that fitting is off...  and so you look for another glove / sock or whatever it is that you were looking for...

I am a little too impatient with cooking (and a few other things but that's perhaps for another post). Not for me the long waits next to the stove, stirring, boiling, waiting for something to cook or reduce. It certainly pays off in terms of taste a lot of the times but mostly, I hate those periods of inaction staring at and stirring the pot... One thing I do of course is to cook multiple things at the same time as result of which, my empty periods are occupied with one hing or another. So while I wait for something to boil, I chop another. Or while I wait for something to cook, I beat another. But for the same reason, I also love a pressure cooker. (As much as it had surprised my american flat mate the first time she saw it and as much as I hate that sudden whistle shrieking its way through my quiet room), I love the pressure cooker. It cooks things soooo fast - pulses to potatoes to rice and what not. And now the parallel: As with cooking, pressure helps in life too. It forces us to commit ourselves entirely to the task at hand - but again, too much pressure only leaves you mushy, over-cooked and tasteless after a point and it does destroy some nutrients. So as with cooking, pressure in right amounts is the key in life too... Something that some of those maniacal bosses and coaches need to learn !!

Now I have a weird system at my place as I cook multiple things but in large quantities. And then I eat small amounts of each in daily aliquots in permutations and combinations. And I also like a wholesome meal... It makes me feel wonderful when I have a full three course meal - as in with a soup, a main course and a dessert. None of these are fancy or exotic but they are just there in their basic elements. One could, on principle, disregard the order in which we eat (or are rather supposed to eat) but then I can't ever imagine having a nice warm soup after my chocolate/sugar fix. And in some ways, so it is with life; some things are best done at certain stages in life. There is always plenty of room for variation and occasional try-outs but its good for adults to be mature and for children to retain their innocence. It alarms me when i see some of these young kids on facebook and internet, looking up and knowing all kinds of stuff before they are even capable of knowing or understanding it.

Now, coming back to the kitchen, I have a gigantic sweet tooth. I can probably never refuse a dessert and everyone who knows me will believe this... ;) But even for me, desserts are tasty only upto a point. I can only have one cheesecake or a mousse at onetime. After that, I hate the excessive sweetness soo much that i am hunting down some chips. And I know in life too, too much happiness will never be satisfying...Life is good only when you struggle to get what you want and when you've fought hard to get what you deserve. As with food, life is good only when it has all the emotions - sweet, sour, bitter and tangy and all those other tastes that i am not writing down.

Now some people eat for living and some others live for eating. I am definitely of the former kind. I love good food but not so much that I undertake a lot of trouble. I could eat just about anything to keep doing what i have to. Yes ! It is not a great way to relish food and life but then that's how I grew up. What this also does is give me a certain kind of fearlessness when i am cooking for myself. Because I know that whatever it is I can eat it, I experiment with almost gay abandon.... ;) I only try to see the basic physics of what I am trying to do and then I just go about it... Recipes are not things i adhere to rigidly. I feel that recipes are a good platform to get a feel for the dish you are cooking but you make it your own by being fearless when cooking. You can't keep waiting for all the ingredients to be in your hand...you have to adapt and start making it your own. As with life, you will never have all that you wish for before you start up on your dreams... you just have to work with what you have. I just wish I could be that fearless in life as i am in my kitchen... ;) Yes, disasters will happen (more so when you are experimenting) and one has to be innovative and creative to come up with solutions. And sometimes, you end up inventing wonderfully weird things just because you were not boxed in by what was done...

But while I dont strictly follow a recipe, I do have a plan. Before i head out for my weekly grocery shopping, i do think of what i want to eat the coming week and then i buy things accordingly. I make sure that I am not eating more junk than i should and that all my major food groups are covered. I am sure everyone who manages a kitchen has to do this to maximize efficiency. In life too, one must be prepared and one must know what they are trying to do. Randomly chopping or mixing is not going to be productive. Working towards a goal needs a plan and some degree of forethought. 

Sometimes as with all other things in life, things go wrong in the kitchen too - things burn, char, stay soggy or raw...basically, things go wrong. Either the dough is too watery or too dry. Either too soft or too brittle. Not everything happens the way you expected. And that's when one has to think out of the box and come up with solutions. Adding more water/flour or salt may fix some problems. Dilution or concentrating or mixing something else may help too. One has to let go of the problem and think dispassionately and rationally. Also one has to know when to stop and when to start afresh. In life too, things will go wrong... sometimes you can mend them, sometimes not. Be prepared for failures in life but also know that there are times when you should stop and there are times when you should go on.

Now imagine a basic kitchen. Nothing fancy. Just something you would want to have if you were forced to cook in a new place for a few days. What are the spices you would want to carry ? What are the ones you can leave out. As much as you may love the taste of basil or the smell of oregano, they are not the ones you cannot live without. Salt and sugar as the essential ingredients in a minimalistic pantry. In life too, a few friends and family are essential. The others are the other spices. They make the food richer and more wonderful but they are not essential. 

Now, any cookery show or a chef would insist greatly on presentation. The coriander leaf on top or the chocolate swirl around.... they definitely make the food look yummy and stir up the salivary juices. But we all know that no matter how good-looking the food is outside, we all eventually miss the shabby looking "ghar ka khana"... As with food, so with life, appearances can be deceptive. One can get a lot of pleasure (and health) from the plain or rather ugly looking khichdi while the rich and wonderful looking steak-roast can do a lot more harm in the long run.

Now for my final nugget.. (I Promise.. ;)) 

Nutty as it may sound, nuts make our food and our lives richer ! Just as biting into that occasional nut in the middle of a delightfully chocolatey brownie improves the taste of the rest of the brownie, meeting an occasional nut in life too, makes you value the goodness around you. I have re-assessed my evaluation of so many people around me and my expectations from life - thanks to those occasional morons i have run into... ;) (And even as I write this, I am sure i have provided the same pleasure to some other people...things afterall tend to come around a full circle) !! ;)

Anyways, to wind up that stray thought/ metaphor...  Happy living and happy cooking !! ;)

The sea of stories...

Salman Rushdie wrote of a sea of stories. It was a beautiful concept - that of many stories drifting in the ocean as they merge, mutate, evolve and grow. 

It is easy to imagine our lives as stories. Stories of real people and how they lived. Stories that emerge, evolve, breathe and grow. Stories that are authored by chance and choice. Stories that make us and the stories that we make. It is fascinating to listen to people and their stories.

I have often wondered what would be the one superhuman ability I would want to have If i could. And while I have often favored invisibility over many of the others, mind reading has been the topping the list for a while now. Mind reading - not to know what others are thinking or what they plan to do but more to know their story. To know what their life was and how it has changed over the years. When I look around me, I see these people from diverse backgrounds and each with his/her own story, large parts of which are somehow buried in the sands of time. Stories of sickness and health, stories of refugee camps and battles, stories of friends and families, stories of travel and rest, stories of fun and disaster, stories of choices and decisions, betrayal and trust... It is unbelievable how much we learn about a person when we know his story. 

It is also amazing that knowing the whole story doesn't lead us to judge him. Instead, seeing the whole picture gives greater perspective. It helps us see the person for what he is and for what life has made out of him. We stop judging people based on what they did yesterday or what they said the day before, because we see their whole lives in perspective. I wish I could just hear their lives and their stories... just to see a bigger picture. To see their present in the context of their past and to imagine their future knowing the whole.

Too close for comfort...

It was just another Saturday morning and since I walked in later than usual, instead of seeing empty corridors and desks, I found the usual culprits in the lab, trying to do the little things they could after a long week of work. But today the lab was a slightly different place from all the other Saturdays. Today we had a tumor sample in the lab.

A colleague of mine was trying to isolate some cells from this tumor sample to do a microarray analysis and compare its gene expression signature with other known cancers. This would be routine for a lab like ours but for the source of the tumor. This was a unique tumor sample. It was not from a mouse or an anonymous patient but from his mother. And he was working on it to try and get some answers.  The whole situation was so full of poignance and resilience at the same time that it was hard to just let it pass. 

I am a scientist and I have worked on cancer. I have seen patients and I understand in some corner of my mind that patients are real people. Real people, who are just like us except for this one unfortunate burden that they are forced to carry. And trust me it is easy to lose sight of this one simple fact as you deal with cell lines, genes, stables, drugs, IC50s, xenografts, so on and so forth. Ever so often we all need to be reminded that the samples we are working with are from real people. People who have heard probably the worst news of their life and people who might be counting their last few days. People who have poison leaching through their veins and people, whose families are living on the edge dreading every phone call and every doctor's visit. Families who are feeling betrayed and helpless. Families who are struggling with putting up a brave front even as they feel all hope drained out of them like as they stand mute spectators to life draining out of their loved ones. Amidst the hustle and bustle of a laboratory, amidst all the graphs, bars and p-values, It needs some reminding for all us researchers and academicians to know that all our work is ultimately aimed at benefiting those real people. Real people with real problems and concerns. 

But this incident was cutting it rather close to that dim realization of mine for me to carry on as usual. Someone I knew was working with a tumor. A tumor from his mother in a last ditch attempt to find out what went wrong and what should be done. It's only been a fortnight or so, since my colleague's mother was diagnosed with a large (25cm) tumor in her retroperitoneum. A biopsy didn't tell much and the hope was that a surgical resection would tell the doctors more. But as things played out, removing the tumor and a kidney with it didn't really give any more answers. And so he got into action and got some of the tumor sample to check for the gene expression signature of the tumor with other known cancers to try and get closer to an answer. He looked calm and quiet as he dissected the tumor and isolated the cells to get their RNA but I could sense something more. He was unusually quiet or unusually talkative in phases. Or maybe I was just imagining. But it was difficult to place myself in his shoes and still be so rational and composed about the whole thing. It was difficult for me to even imagine sitting thousands of miles away from my family in such situations and do what he was doing. To do what should be logically the right thing. Do what could make a difference. Do the practical thing. While his mother was battling the disease, I am sure he was fighting his own battles. He was working with the problem in the way he knew best. It was rational, practical and pragmatic but I could never be that way. To me, it seemed more important to be closer to my loved ones in the time of crisis than to actually work at finding a solution to the problem. Its irrational to the core but the "heart" is hardly known for its logic. It certainly is a difficult choice to make, to be rational and clinical about something so deeply personal and I thought his choice was truly courageous.

But it also raised some questions... If there is a gene expression signature that researchers can use, should we keep waiting for a company to develop it, test it, package it and come up with ways to maximizing profitability before releasing it to patients ? How much research can we bring into the clinic and how ? If there were a drug in trial, can we give it to patients with no other hope or should we wait for a clinical trial to be conducted with clear results. Should we let patients make their choices as they gamble with their lives and take a calculated risk ?

These questions are really the wanderings of a mind at the periphery of the unusual. I have never seen such a close intersection between our research and the life of a patient. We all talk of the great future potential of our work and the great possibilities that shall hitherto be opened by our pioneering work but deep down we also know the reality. The reality that our work is fairly far from the clinic or from actually making a difference in the lives of patients. But then when something like this happens, you are forced to acknowledge that which was conveniently buried in the sub conscious - that there is not much your work can do when it comes to saving a life in the immediate future. And even as I marvel at his courage and question my own lack of rationality i hope against all hope that the tumor would not be malignant.

But of course, hope is just a mirage in the vast deserts that span our realities....
But sometimes... hope is all you can do...

Marking time...

Years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds and so on... So many ways to measure time but sometimes all these metrics pass you by and the mind fails to register that what it obviously knows. The mind seems to be looking for some other signs. Some other ways to mark time. Festivals, Anniversaries, birthdays, seasons... These are the metrics that seem to register the passage of time in our mind. The rest remain as just numbers, facts and extraneous details to be recorded. 

As I walked back from the car today after a looong week and anticipating a light weekend... something happened to change my perception of time. I looked up at the trees and I saw the beginnings of fall colours. "Fall" is hardly the fall one thinks of, in sunny California, but this is perhaps the closest that I will get to from where I am. And those stray vibrant hues of yellow and orange amidst the greens seemed to be able to tell my mind something that my daily scribblings in the record book failed to - the passage of time. It is going to be a whole year since I came here. I am still away by a few months from the "anniversary" but the "home-sickness" and nostalgia have hit already. What seemed like a little while back till yesterday suddenly feels like a long time ago today... just because my mind finally registered the passing of time... And there are only more such metrics yet to come - Diwali, Christmas, Birthdays..... A lot of days to remind me of the swift pace of time... a lot of days to remind me of some distances and some relationships...  

The bigger picture....

We are all searching for the truth. An honest answer. A simple explanation. But what we forget is that often there is none to be had. Answers are often not simple and direct. 

Events are a result of causal chain of events - one leading to another while we are only able to catch a snap-shot of it at one finite moment. Science and scientists have understood this inherent defect with our mode of study. We know that we are limited by only being able view snap-shots of a disease in a progress or of the life of a cell. And so we have struggled to put together a story based on vignettes here and there adding in our own intelligent speculation. As we do this, we narrow down the variables and focus on the minutiae. 

We stare down at a microscope and tear apart a problem to its smallest parts. To the tiniest, tangible parts that we can intelligently handle and comprehend. To parts that can be individually tampered with, studied, modified, understood and exploited. So we understand truth one experiment at a time. We paint our pictures, one pixel at a time. But life is not really waiting for us to complete our experiments and paint our pictures. 

We keep working and looking under a microscope and ever so often, we need a reminder. A reminder to the fact that we are only looking at one flower, in a big garden of flowers, in a big city, in a big country and all of this in one big universe. It helps to stop once in a while just to step back from our microscopes as we dissect every truth, every statement and every answer to just see a bigger picture. A bigger picture, where we are all the part of one big whole. A whole where progress in one stimulates progress in another and knowledge in one leads to more questions in another. A whole, where understanding the past is as helpful as imagining and creating the future.

And this is why, I often feel like slipping into the folds of history. In fact, as the years have passed, my fascination with history has grown steadily. From a clear and unequivocal dislike to the subject to tolerance, to curiosity, to fascination and to a strong interest now, I have grown to love the past. Nothing seems to make sense except in the light of history. I could sound anachronistic when I say this because talking of the past when people are building humanoids does seem like a sacrilege but If asked today, I'd much rather spend my time reading history than futuristic science fiction. Every one of the books I have read that have detailed the origin and development of a field have made me realize that one needs to look at a bigger picture, the whole story. One needs to step back from the microscope to see the world as it was and is. And that is the only view that can show us our blind spots and our prejudices and open our eyes to new facts which we had ignored for so long. 

In life too, as in science, one needs to step away from the details and minutiae of everyday living to look at the bigger picture. A whole where stepping away from the microscope only shows us how grainy our pixels looked up close, but with millions like those, our picture is not all that bad. A picture where we can count our "blessings" and thank our failures for the lessons we learnt.  A picture where we can view our lives in third person in addition to living them in the first person. Where we can be objective about our past simply because we are removed from it and because we have seen that what seemed like a catastrophe was actually a blessing in disguise. Sometimes, this understanding takes years to come because I still rue many things in my past... but I don't stop looking. Looking for that one clue that would make sense of it all. That would show me that things, for what they were, have only left me better and stronger !

The first taste of flight...

Some people watch their step. They look at the ground and take every step with great thought and care. Some others stare at the skies above even when walking the ground and often find themselves up, close and personal with the dust on the ground. It is almost like they are looking for something above and are indifferent to the affairs of the earth...

For better or for worse... I have always been in the latter category. The skies always seemed to fascinate me. Flying with the birds was a dream for as long as i can remember. Nothing thrills me more than the wind in my hair and the sight of open skies...It is very easy to find me staring at the open skies and birds, especially during the sunset. And this has caused many a downfalls... However, despite the many falls and injuries, I have always been unable to keep my eyes glued to the ground.

This dream of flight came a lot closer to reality when I moved to the Salk Institute which is situated right next to the San Diego Gliderport. The paragliders with their bright, colourful sails would dot our skies ever so often as they took off from the gliderport nearby and I would watch them with this never ceasing child-like fascination as they fluttered about like bright, cheerful butterflies. It was always a sight to behold and an ever present temptation.

I finally succumbed to the temptation last week and made the leap of faith... And it was an amazing experience. Bravely or foolishly, I was not afraid all through the flight. It was definitely not very daunting too. I enjoyed my twenty minutes of flight with my camera and landed with a single regret .... I wished the flight was longer ! The best and almost surreal part of the entire flight was this moment when a flock of birds flew past us and that will remain etched in my memory forever. It was probably then and only then that i actually registered the fact that I was airborne... ;) The entire experience feels like a great beginning to me right now.. because though paragliding was fun, it didn't give the actual feel of flight. I now seem to want to sky dive and hang glide. And so even as I tasted flight for the first time all I learnt is that I will do it yet again and hopefully differently...

Below are some pictures from my entire experience and a quote that I really liked...

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."

Symbols....

A rosary, a cross, a hijab, a burqa, a turban, a bindi or an attire.... symbols they are. Symbols of religions, cultures, traditions. Symbols of where we come from and of those who went before us. They come into our lives through our family and society and become a part of us, our appearance, our beliefs, our mannerisms and even our thoughts.

If we follow these symbols... are we doing so because of fear, respect, habit or indifference ? Does following these customs blindly mean much ? Does leaving these customs behind mean insubordination and disregard for one's roots ? Does moving away from symbolism mean rebellion against one's own ?
Does following your culture mean captivity and compulsion ?

What makes us free ?
The ability to drink, drive and use drugs ? Is that what being liberated is all about ? Does freedom translate into disregard for others, drunken binges and one-night stands ? Or is freedom all about thought... all about choice. The choice of what we believe and what we do. The choice of what we think and what we say.

Why is the world swinging between these two extremes of complete subordination to the past and complete rebellion against the past ?

Why is no one able to accept a middle ground where tradition and culture are reflected in our thoughts, where attire and mannerisms are just other superfluous extensions of our being...
Where who we are is more than what we wear or do not wear. Where freedom is best represented as freedom of thought and choice ! Where people can accept their past as what made them and yet recognize the flaws in them to make a better future...

Why is the world unable to accept a middle ground when it comes to issues of religion, morals and culture ? Wearing a saree should be just like wearing a burqa or a suit...Why then should one or the other be frowned upon ? Wearing a cross should be like wearing a kippah or wearing a sacred thread... but still, one is considered more accepted than the other by one or the other ? Why is no one able to see through these minutiae to focus on the person underneath it all.... Why do we mix the physical with the metaphysical ?

After all aren't we more than these symbols ? And in some ways, aren't these symbols irrelevant to who we really are ? Why focus on the cover when the story lies in the book ?

Will we ever be able to find a peace and security in spirit of honest questioning than in blind answering ?
Will we ?


(These thoughts have remained amorphous in my mind for a very long time. They were crystallized into words thanks to a small but unexpectedly beautiful movie called "Arranged". Dealing with the subject of arranged marriages, this movie traces the friendship between two young women who, although from very different backgrounds, are brought together by their shared experiences with the system of an arranged marriage. This movie traces the life of these two unlikely friends, an orthodox Jew and a Muslim... as they hold onto their faith, family and their culture in a world that constantly pushes them to do otherwise. Its authentic simplicity forces one to question the very essence of freedom and culture.)

New kid on the block...

There is a new kid on the block,
To add to our eclectic flock.
She waltzed into our lives with love and life,
with those tiny cooing sounds, she wiped out any signs of strife...

Blessed with parents who love her dear,
With uncles and aunts, all far and near,
She is the apple of our eye,
She is our little "Nittilai" !

Happy birthday Nittilai.... ;)




Time flies !

Six years ! That's how long it has been since I met this stranger for the first time - Nittilai's mother and my dear friend.

She sat across me with her friends and I barely noticed her presence. Over the next few days, I realized that the stranger was a course-mate but that's all she was for a while. Gradually she became more than a course-mate. She became an acquaintance, the friend of a friend and that's what she was for a long time. We would laugh together, share jokes, eat out and talk but something was missing. The connection was limited.

And then there came a time, when a lot of things went wrong.

When some friendships withered and distances blossomed in grounds where intimacies had flourished. And somewhere then, a new seed of friendship was sown. This acquaintance for the past few years became a friend. A friend unlike any. It was friendship that took root under the toughest of conditions and turned out to be a sturdy little plant. With the years, the climes changed and this young sapling soon grew well.

It was a friendship that got me closest ever to unconditional acceptance. A friendship that gave me courage and strength to carry on by its sheer presence. A relationship where words were superfluous, where somehow there was this implicit acceptance of the other person, for just who they were. We had found something special. A friendship that strengthened with time. That was almost four years ago and it has stayed the same, in a way that is difficult to explain, to understand and to question. And I don't !

Today, six years after I met that stranger, I find a miniature version of the same person in front of me. A tiny being who is the essence of two of my friends. And even as i wish that i could have been there with them through these wonderful life changing moments, I hold onto the faith that our friendship with withstand all the changes that life brings and will only grow from strength to strength.

This post is just to mark a celebration. To raise a toast to a new member in our extended family. To welcome my dear friends to a new phase of their life. Here's wishing them a wonderful time ahead with their little bundle of joy.

And Here is hoping to meet that bundle of joy soon... ;)

A "Dravid"ian moment - A quiet double century at long last !

Some journeys begin as accidents and it is only much later that we realize how much we would have missed if things had been different... If we had not taken that chance... if we had not gone with the flow. That is the beauty of hindsight... Things invariably look just right !

It is a number. Just another number but it feels like a big milestone.
200 posts.
200 posts where I have rambled on about things in my life and in my head, about friends and foes, about joys and sorrows, about books and movies. About life as it is and was. 200 vignettes of my life! 200 pieces of my mind !

What began as a simple exploratory exercise has been an important part of my life for a while now. It has been a chronicle of my life, of the ups and downs that have shaped my life. It has helped me vent, it has helped think and re-think....

Writing began as a way to innocently explore a new door. But it has helped me in more ways than one. It has helped me understand words a little better. I now appreciate writing a lot more than ever before. My perception of books and articles has changed from being simple statements of fact or fiction to works of art. I now see a lot more and listen a lot more.

This blog is a window to my past as through it I see me for what i was a couple of years ago. Through it, I can see the effect of time and experience as my mind has weathered its storms and learnt its lessons. I have also managed to hold onto moments I cherish as I flick through my posts in moments of despair to find those moments of joy that elude you when the going gets tough.

I have also come across more people and their writings through this one endeavor of mine and that has been a revelation of sorts. It has been wonderful to experience a sense of camaraderie beyond the usual borders of physicality - to see reflections of your thoughts in other people's words, to feel a certain resonance with other minds and at times a thought provoking challenge that questions your assumptions.

All in all it has been an enriching experience in more ways than one and I hope that I don't stop trying even as experiments fail, because sometimes, things do happen the way you wanted them to. And because sometimes what you get is better than what you could have even expected !

The universe is listening and I am ecstatic....

Rarely does it happen that one's wishes turn into reality so soon.

I spent yesterday night reminiscing about the monsoons in India and missing the rains. Today morning, I rode to the lab with the wind laden with tiny droplets of water caressing my face. It sure was wonderful. Maybe nothing as thunderous and relentless as the monsoons in India but today's grey clouds in San Diego did make me happy !

They sure made me feel blessed ! Almost like the universe was finally listening to me....
Its easy to stay happy if such things keep happening... ;-)





PS - At the end of typing this post, there is this one corner of my mind that wonders why it didn't ask for something else, bigger, better and shinier !! Ah the human mind ! But on the whole, "me" is happy like a child with a surprise treat !
Happy to know things can turn around ! Happy to know that things can happen your way. Happy to know that sometimes it can also rain in the desert just for you ... :) Yooohoooo !!!

Missing my Monsoon musings....

Even as the grey clouds hover in, I am enveloped my a sense of sorrow... not because i hate the rains but because I know these clouds will just drift away and will not shed more than a few drops here in this desert land.

Eight thousand miles from home, I expected to miss my home and my people, but I never thought I miss the rains. Those two months of monsoon when your life was led at mercies of the clouds and the almost-always inaccurate weather forecasts. When venturing out was dangerous if one didn't like getting wet. When monsoons meant croaking frogs hovering unbridled on the dark streets leaving ugly blotches for early morning folks like me to witness. Months with thundering nights and long walks through slush. Months where white was forbidden. When there were always more clothes to be washed and less time to dry. When colds and coughs caught up with you even as you struggled with work. The two months, when work was a torture, and all one would want to do was to laze in bed and sip on hot coffee. When one was stuck indoors on more occasions than one watching the heavens opening up with angst and fury, you never could have imagined.

But now after almost 8 months in this land where rains visit rarely and almost as if on second thoughts, I realize that the monsoons back home did a lot more than filling up reservoirs and providing respite to the farmers. They also soothed my mind and provided some solace. Staring at the pouring sheets of water had brought it more comfort that I had known. The sounds of the rain drops on the concrete or the occasional corrugated asbestos sheets would somehow silence the noise in my head. Staring at the raindrops dripping lazily from the bright green leaves after a heavy shower somehow also washed my worries away.

The thunderstorms that worried us after a late night walk lurk in my mind as I yearn to listen to them. The ominous grey clouds which used to worry me are what I miss, almost like the gentle reprimand of a loving father. The scent of the wet grass and mud that was the permanent fixture of the monsoon months especially in that wooded campus of mine, tempt me almost like the smells of the kitchen at home.

I dream of the cold nights where I waited, with a cooling cup of coffee under a tiny umbrella, for a brief respite from the rain just so that I can walk back to my home. I wait for the time when I would wake up in the mornings to that heavenly smell of rain and wet mud and sleep at night to the constant sounds of it. I long for a few more days of rain even with the frogs and the croaks. I long for that burst of green due to weeds and grass sprouting with gay abandon that accompany the first few showers. I miss those tiny white mushrooms that would sprout up overnight almost like the work of elves. I miss those unending conversations with friends over maggi and hot cup of tea waiting for the rains to cease. I miss the snoozing of the alarm clocks as I snuggled deeper under the blankets due to the early morning chills. I long to get drenched in the rains just as then, even if it were just to sneeze again. I miss those two months in the year which renewed more than just the plants.

And now when I watch these grey clouds, hovering above on their way out, they are not a source of joy or comfort. They are nothing but an empty promise. A promise of what can be but will not be fulfilled. A constant reminder of what I am missing. Of what I long for among many other things. A constant reminder of the past and of what was not truly appreciated then. And even as the world around me craves for the sun, I sometimes wish for a little rain and the cloudy skies because more than anything, they make me love the sun when he will inevitably come out again.

Mother and child...

The relationship between a mother and a child is unique in many ways and also universal in some. Some mothers are friends with their children while some have trouble understanding them. Growing up pangs, tiffs, arguments, spats and quarrels over everything and anything are part of almost any relationship but more so with a mother and a child. There are always things to criticize and opinions to disagree on. They are after all a generation apart. But one thing I learnt early on in life was that no matter how much we disagreed with our mother, we never liked anyone else to point a finger at her. There is this fierce sense of protectiveness that rages from deep within, something we didn't even know we had because we had forever been complaining about her. But you watch a stranger say the same thing accusingly and you are ready to rip his head off. One was protective (almost to a fault) when it came to one's family, especially your mother. No matter how much you fought with her just minutes before. I guess that's what being a family is all about.

And I always thought that the same sentiment extends for your motherland. You are in some ways connected to her too with this invisible, but ever present umbilical cord, that constantly tethers you in this constantly changing world. Someone once told me that after living outside his country for more than thirty years, he realized that he had stopped defending his motherland of late. And that was when he said he decided to apply for an altered citizenship. For after all, a passport is only a label of convenience when your other ties have withered. For some reason, although accompanied by other flippant utterances, this statement latched onto me. It was true. So true, that most people dont realize it. But it also raised a conundrum in my mind. Of family members who spoke ill of the family.

I have always instinctively hated it when someone spoke disparagingly of my country. Not because they were always wrong because sometimes they pointed out things which I have ranted ceaselessly about but because they were strangers. And as outsiders, they had no right to criticize my home and my family. After all, you have to know the whole story before you can criticize it and how will the outsiders know the whole story, without having lived it. The complex social and cultural factors, the religious sentiments, the environmental factors, the bondages of history and footfalls of future. No one from the outside can know it all and make sense of it all. More so when I struggle with understanding her and her manifold forms despite having lived most of my life with her. But I would still control my impulses and try and be rational about the whole thing. I would try and explain the complexity of the situation and the multitude of factors weighing in, even as I defended her helplessly. There was nothing else I could do because the urge to defend is more primal and instinctive than one would like. But I don't do this in a passionate and blinded sort of a way, but more as a daughter who defends her mother with strangers around only to tell her the same things in the privacy of her home. And this is somehow what I thought every non-resident fellow national would do. It seemed like a natural and instinctive urge to me, almost unquestionable.

But then I end up meeting these people who for some reason have no good words to say about their homeland or its people. They criticize everything from the traffic to the education, from the dust to the weather with no sense of remorse or compunction. How are they so distant from their mother ? And how do they manage to stay so much in awe of their adopted country or a mother-in -law, so to speak ? After all, you are who you are because of your mother, who gave you your sense of right and wrong; who gave your view of the world. And while your mother-in-law likes you and treats you well, she really only likes you for what you can be; unlike the mother who loves you what you are ! How do people get so carried away in their awe for a new country that they fail to see the blood ties with their own. If distance is supposed to make the heart grow fonder, how can these few not feel love of their motherland so far from home. How can they not see that they were a part of the problem back home and that they can be the solution in the future too ? How can they not see that, everything they are today is because of that one unchanging presence. What they like and what they dont like, what they say and what they dont say are all driven by that one constant presence in their life. They may not acknowledge it but they can't deny it. How can they not see the many wonderful things even as they crib about the problems that abound ? How can they not think of the warmth of the people even as they crib about their tardiness ? How can they forget her rise from the ashes, almost like a phoenix even as they compare her to their new found "home-country" ? How does one snap that umbilical cord and still feel connected ?

Every time I meet such people, I wonder - is this what they truly, deeply feel or is this just a poor facade to try and fit in with the newer people... ? Can anyone truly hate their mother ?

Lessons to remember....

As life meanders along at its own pace, we learn lessons that transform us. They are lessons that need to be remembered so that we dont make the same mistakes again. But often on, as we are left chasing our life and our dreams, we forget these lessons and waste our time making the same mistakes and creating problems along the way. Problems which need to be solved by us and mistakes which need to be rectified by us again. Sometimes, words of wisdom shine through like the first rays of sun penetrating the seemingly impenetrable darkness of the night. And then as the day progresses, we forget the brilliance of those first rays as we agonize about the sweltering heat.

And so I thought of writing down some of these nuggets of wisdom that I have realized over the years. Some are what I do almost always and I am putting them down here so that I never stop doing them. Some others are things that don't come naturally to me and am jotting them here so that they sink in a little deeper and make their presence felt. Some are things I wish I could do ...

1) Life is long but it becomes longer still when you have nothing to look forward to. Always keep dreaming. Never should there be a day when you are not desirous of something. I know this sounds trite, banal, consumerist and selfish but I think that we live well only when we have something to look forward to, something to learn and something to enjoy.

2) Sit down in silence every now and then. Spend some time with yourself everyday. It opens your mind even when your eyes are closed. Don't run from yourself, your fears, your pain, your joys, your ego, your evil... confront them because there is no escaping oneself.

3) Listen to the wind and the waters. Listen to the waves. Go to the ocean every time you can and spend sometime with waves. They somehow remind you of the transience of your stay and then all problems seem small.

4) Exercise as often as you can. Its how you can listen to your body. Its how you can listen to your heart and its how you can feel your blood coursing through your veins. Find your own passion and keep pushing the limits of your mind and body.

5) Stay healthy. The life of a challenged person is painful... and self inflicted harm is the worst you can do for yourself and your loved ones.

6) Appreciate people and compliment them whenever you can... This is not intended to encourage sycophancy but rather to acknowledge the good when it happens. It is almost always easier to find faults, to dislike people and to move away but try and find something to learn or look up to... It makes life easier and better !

7) Live with no regrets. Every time you make a decision, think of only one question. Will I regret it twenty years from now.

8) Never let your love for people be undermined by your need for them.

9) Always remember "This too shall pass !". You will survive everything that life throws at you if you show some courage and resilience.

10) Eat to live but always take a few moments everyday to appreciate the food.

11) Try and enjoy. Find moments to celebrate and revel in them. Try not to post-pone celebrations and feeling happy for the future. Who knows what it holds.

12) Try and live in the present but don't be blind to the past or oblivious of the future. Its difficult but keep trying.

13) Expectation lurks with hope. While hope helps you to survive and go from one difficult day to another, expectations sneaks in with hope and leaves you distraught more often than not.

14) Pamper yourself even if there is no one to do it for you. Indulge in that occasional cheesecake or mousse and let your mind feel happy without any fear or guilt.

15) Never judge a book by its cover and a person by his appearance. Wait for the final verdict till you speak to them.

16) Be a good friend and human being but never let anyone trample you in the name of friendship.

17) Read... because sometimes escapism is the best medicine... !!

18) Learn to say no. Learn that you can die for the people you love but you cannot live for them.

19) Laugh like there is no one around.

20) sleep like a baby and work like a bull.

21) Listen to everyone, think, ponder and then do what seems right.

22) Listen to your instincts. Sometimes it knows more than what you know.

23) Accept people for what they are and not for what they can be or what you think they should be.

24) Its hard to watch loved ones err in front of you but sometimes you have to just watch. Everyone has their lessons to learn and sometimes the best thing you can do is to be there when they fall.

25) Never stop dreaming... !!

26) Find someone to tell you how much they love you and learn to tell people how much you care !

27) Criticism helps you improve but a little praise is what keeps you going ahead.

28) Our lives are governed by randomness. In a perfect world, there is an equal probability of heads or tails. But, sometimes, the results are biased because of an uneven surface or a bend in the coin or an uneven flip or the wind currents.... sometimes, you may keep losing. But given enough chances and coin flips, you will eventually reach where you want to.

29) Find the child in you and keep him close. As the world unleashes its fury, don't let him run away.

30) Love yourself for what you are and strive to be better....

31) Learn to enjoy solitude. You are your best companion.

32) Try to understand things around you for what they are. Stay curious.

33) Stay away from lies but try not to hurt people with the brutality of the truth.

Zindagi na milegi dobara !

Zindagi na milegi dobara !

My first Hindi movie outside of India (on the big screen). That itself is probably reason enough to remember it for a long time but somehow that seems like the least important reason right now.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Probably, because it was a surprise for me as I went in for it knowing nothing but the Director's name. And one tends to appreciate the good things that come unannounced more than the good things that come with an appointment....

So it made an impression on me.

I loved the movie for the thought that lies behind it. I love the one thought that runs through the movie.

I wish i could be as carefree as Farhan Akhtar's character was in the movie. But no. I am not. I am more like the character played by Hrithik Roshan. Guarded, determined, hard working, organized (except for the money-loving part). I am all of these and more as I battle against everything that life throws at me, telling myself that i will take a break once I reach a certain point, when i get to that place where i want to be. Seemed like such a wise thing to do till i heard the question - "why do you think you will live to that point ?" Why make an assumption ? And I sure was tongue tied... ! All my life i told myself that i will take a break and have fun and fulfill all my dreams, when i get to---- ! But i have no reason to believe that I will live once i get to ---.

Its difficult to let go and just live in the moment. To forget about tomorrow or yesterday but I am learning my lessons. And someday, i should be able to live totally and completely in the present. Till then I am going to remind myself - "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" !

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Pighlay neelam sa behta hua yeh sama,
Neeli neeli si khamoshiyan;
Na kahin hai zameen,
Na kahin aasmaan;
Sarsaraati hui tehniyaan, pattiyaan;
Keh rahi hain ki bas ek tum ho yahaan,
Sirf main hoon, meri saansein hain, aur meri dhadkanein;
Aisi gehraiyaan,
Aisi tanhaiyaan,
Aur main sirf main
Apne honay pe mujhko yaqeen aa gaya…

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Ik baat honton tak hai jo aayi nahi,
Bas ankhon say hai jhaankti,
Tumse kabhi, mujhse kabhi,
Kuch lafz hain woh maangti,
Jinko pehanke honton tak aa jaaye woh,
Aawaaz ki baahon mein baahein daalke ithlaye woh
Lekin jo yeh ik baat hai,
Ehsaas hi ehsaas hai…

Khushboo si hai jaise hawa mein tairti,
Khushboo jo be-aawaaz hai;
Jiska pata tumko bhi hai,
Jiski khabar mujhko bhi hai;
Duniya se bhi chupta nahin,
Yeh jaane kaisa raaz hai.

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Ik baat honton tak hai jo aayi nahi,

Bas ankhon say hai jhaankti,
Tumse kabhi, mujhse kabhi,
Kuch lafz hain woh maangti,
Jinko pehanke honton tak aa jaaye woh,
Aawaaz ki baahon mein baahein daalke ithlaye woh
Lekin jo yeh ik baat hai,
Ehsaas hi ehsaas hai…

Khushboo si hai jaise hawa mein tairti,
Khushboo jo be-aawaaz hai;
Jiska pata tumko bhi hai,
Jiski khabar mujhko bhi hai;
Duniya se bhi chupta nahin,
Yeh jaane kaisa raaz hai.

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Dilon mein tum apni betaabiyan leke chal rahe ho
Toh zinda ho tum;
Nazar mein khwabon ki bijliyan leke chal rahe ho
Toh zinda ho tum;
Hawa ke jhokon ke jaise aazad rehno sikho,
Tum ek dariya ke jaise lehron mein behna sikho,
Har ek lamhe se tum milo khole apni bhaayein,
Har ek pal ek naya samha dekhen yeh nigahaein,
Jo apni aankhon mein hairaniyan leke chal rahe ho
Toh zinda ho tum;
Dilon mein tum apni betaabiyan leke chal rahe ho
Toh zinda ho tum;

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Note to self...

I recently ended up reading Maya Angelou's "Letter to my daughter". Yes, I am late in reading Maya Angelou but better late than never. The book is interesting in many ways as it gives you glimpses of the writer's life and also the lessons learnt from them in these tiny nuggets. In some ways, it is the distillate her life, her trials and tribulations seen with the benefit of hindsight.

There were a few things that lingered on with me after reading the book, but this particular chapter somehow struck a chord when i first read it during my bus ride in the morning. The reason It struck a chord is probably because this is one issue that keeps cropping up every now and then - the matter of social propriety vs honesty.

In my early days on coming to the US, one of the first things I noticed was the exchange of greetings among strangers. Everyone would begin with "Hi ! How are you ? How has your day been going ?". It certainly was a pleasant novelty to start with, since in India, talking to strangers was something you were taught against even before you learnt how to talk. But then with time, I noticed that even though the question was asked, no one really waited for the answer or even heard it. It was just another meaningless social custom followed by habit and with no greater interest whatsoever. Once that realization hit me, this seemingly pleasant ritual became a sham that I no longer wanted to be a part of. So I no longer voluntarily participate in these conversations and when I do, I wait for the answer and listen to the words, than just the sounds. This note starts with this custom and then touches on the question of honesty and diplomacy that have been the fulcrum of many of my disagreements with people over time. And as i read her words, I realized that they echoed my sentiments to good measure. Of course, I do not care to tell off people for their dress sense and style unless specifically asked but whenever i do state my views, I try to be as close to the truth as I see it. Of course, I have also learnt that while truth is essential, tact is necessary too. After all, I state the truth not to intentionally hurt someone but simply because i care enough to not lie. And so in someways, this note dealt with some of the questions I have often dealt with in my personal struggles with social norms, etiquette and propriety.

"My mother, Vivian Baxter, warned me often not to believe that people really want the truth when they ask, "How are you?". She said that the question was asked around the world in thousands of languages and most people knew that it is simply a conversation starter. No one really expects to be answered, or even wants to know "Well, my knees feel like they are broken. And my back hurts so bad I could fall down and cry." A response like that would be a conversation stopper. It would end before it could begin. So we all say, "fine, thank you and you ?"

I believe in that way we learn to give and receive social lies. We look at friends how have lost dangerous amounts of weight or who have added ungainly pounds and we say, "You are looking good." Everybody knows the statement is a blatant lie but, we all swallow the untruth in part to keep the peace and in part because we do not wish to deal with the truth. I wish we could stop that little lies. I don't mean that one has to be brutally frank. I don't believe that we should be brutal about anything, however it is wonderfully liberating to be honest. One does not have to tell all that one knows, but we should be careful what we do is the truth.

Let us bravely say to our young women, "That raggedy hairstyle may be trendy, but it is also unattractive. It is not doing anything for you." And let us say to our young men "Your shirt tail hanging out from under your jacket does not make you look cool, it just makes you look unkempt and uncared for." Some Hollywood fashion police decided recently that appearing in wrinkled clothes with half shaven faces was sexy because it made men look like they had just arisen. The fashionistas were both right and wrong. The disheveled look does make the person appear to have just gotten out of bed, but they are also wrong because that look is not sexy, it is just tacky.

The nose, nipple and tongue rings are the possession of the very young who are experimenting. While I dont like them, they don't bother me much because I know that most of the youth will grown older and join the social sets in which they work and live. The rings will be discarded and the young people will pray that the holes heal over so that they will not have to explain to their own teenagers why the holes were put their in the first place.

Let's tell the truth to the people. When people ask, "How are you," have the nerve sometimes to answer truthfully. You must know however, that people will start avoiding you because they too have knees that pain them and heads which hurt and they don't want to know about yours. But think of it this way, if people avoid you, you will have more time to meditate and do fine research on a cure for whatever truly afflicts you."

From the Quirky thumb to the QWERTY keyboard...

Biology, Technology and Culture - the three things that in more ways than one define our existence today.

Biology of course arose as a result of the well known and well understood Darwinian Selection where the struggle for the "Survival of the Fittest" leads to the evolution of forms with greater and greater adaptation to the changing world systems. Now this is a subject where one can write volumes of books with numerous examples, exceptions, theories, principles etc. But lack of time, energy, effort and more importantly knowledge force me to limit my ramblings on this subject to the barest minimum. The point of relevance of course is that the forces of natural selection which drive evolution are limited by the availability of raw material. This means that selection pressure can only act on already existing variations, and not "design" something altogether new. These tiny variations in existing form arise due to mutagenic events which confer a phenotypic change. And then this pre-existing pool of variation gets subject to the forces of natural selection to generate diverse forms. In fact, as SJ Gould says, "the complex and curious pathways of history guarantee that most organisms cannot be designed optimally. Indeed, to make an even stronger statement, imperfections are the primary proofs that evolution has occurred...". This principle of imperfection in biology has been interestingly named by Gould as the Panda principle to honor the example of design imperfection as seen in a Panda's unique thumb. I would have probably been more anthropocentric and would have probably chosen "the appendix principle" or "the pain in the back" principle but then Gould was ahead of me in time and thought and I will stick with his terminology.... ;)

To summarise the Panda's thumb, Pandas are herbivorous descendants of carnivorous bears whose anatomical thumbs were committed to limited motion suited to their carnivorous lifestyle. However, a Panda's adaptive diet of bamboos requires greater manipulation with the appendages and this required some redesigning. Since the Panda's anatomical thumb was irrevocably committed to a different morphology, they developed an enlarged radial sesamoid bone of their wrist as a false thumb, serving a similar function but having a very different origin. So while the enlarged sesamoid is a sub-optimal structure, it functions and serves the pandas fairly well. And thus change in the panda's biology was in someways limited by their history.

Culture. Now culture is yet another constantly changing aspect of human existence. In fact, it is a well accepted notion that while biology changes in a Darwinian manner, human culture evolves based on Lamarckian principles which entail the inheritance of acquired characters. What it simply means is that the changes/advancements in human culture are transmitted from one generation to another through education, publication, word of mouth etc. Consequently, cultural evolution is faster by orders of magnitude than biological change. Also the basic topologies of cultural evolution is very different from that of biological evolution. While biological evolution constantly diverges without a subsequent rejoining of branches, human culture grows with transmission across lineages - spatially and temporally. We learn from people who are spatially and culturally far away from us and from our past.

So two of fundamental aspects of human existence - biology and culture are both subject to different kinds of "evolution".

Technology however is an odd one here, at least that's how it seemed to me till I read Gould's essay called "The Panda's Thumb". Now this is an essay which I had read a few months back and I thoroughly enjoyed the read. It was thought provoking in many ways.

In this essay Gould builds a case for the existence of the "Principle of Panda's thumb" in the arena of technological development. This is in some ways counter intuitive because technology is aimed at simplification and efficiency and one would think that technology should be able to easily rid anything unsuitable and inefficient in light of newer advancements. After all constraints of genealogy and inheritance do not apply to steel, glass, plastic and therefore to change in technology. Theoretically we should all be able to make a switch to a more efficient technology in a span of a few years. In fact this is one thing that keeps us all updating to newer and newer gadgets - smart phones, laptops, e-readers, operating systems etc etc. So, who would think that some of our technology is also limited and shaped by History... ? Atleast i didn't till I read Gould's essay.

Think about it ! Which parts of the technology that we currently use is actually inefficient and suboptimal but is still used by virtue of history.

Gould does justify his argument in the essay and his argument is based upon something ubiquitous in our lives these days - the keyboard which starts with QWERTY. Now, anyone who works with a keyboard would wonder the weird and counter-intuitive organization of the keyboard. Instead of being alphabetical or based on the usage the current keyboard is efficient in that the frequently used alphabets are least accessible. Consider this - More than 70% of english words can be typed with the letters - DHIATENSOR, and one would imagine that logically they should be the most accessible. But, one look at the keyboard will tell you that they are actually scattered all over the keyboard. For those who type with the eight finger touch typing method, these keys and the vowels are either placed away from the home row or are placed in such a way that they are used by the weaker fingers - like the little pinky finger.

So clearly, by your observation and by that of many others, our present keyboard is inefficient and suboptimal. It is a relic of history that has gotten embedded in our fabric of life in such a way that a change to a more efficient system would cause more disturbance and upheaval than continuing with the same inefficient approach. QWERTY however began as a sensible adaptation with a sound rationale in the early technology of typewriting but soon became a constraint on faster typing as the advances in the technology erased the initial problems which mandated a QWERTY system. A little history at this juncture should clarify the whole point. Typewriters when they evolved suffered with one basic drawback which was that excessive speed or unevenness of stroke would lead to jam two or more keys near the striking point. And if this entanglement is not resolved the subsequent uses of these keys would type a repetition of the key leading to the jam. These problems were magnified in early machines which were constructed so that the keys approached the paper from the underside, invisible to the typist and thus the typist would not know till the end if there was a Jam at some point. As a result a page full of prose could be garbled into a repetition of A's or D's when the keys were jammed. This necessitated that the frequency of the jam be minimized or that the speed of the typing be reduced and this is how the frequently used characters ended up being scattered all over the keyboard. One would imagine however that as technology evolved to make the paper visible to the typist at all times, the keyboard and its organization would have changed to permit greater efficiency. But then through coincidences of history which Gould has elaborately described in his essay, it so happened that the 8 finger touch typing on the QWERTY keyboard became established as the most efficient mode of typing. And thus this feat of anti-engineering in the form of a QWERTY keyboard got successfully carried through history and into our lives as an evolutionary relic of no present day relevance.

This was certainly a great example which nailed Gould's point for me but then despite a lot of thinking, I could not come up with any other examples which substantiated his point of technological advancement being a prisoner of history.

I have contemplated on this for a few months and I have seen that we have adapted to change in many avenues and things have moved forward. The older desktops have now been replaced by the laptops. Windows is being challenged by Mac. Paper cash is being fast replaced by plastic money. Operating systems are being driven out faster than they are being developed. Automobiles are being engineered and re-engineered for fuel economy and emissions. In fact, to my understanding, technology was constantly changing in ways faster than we could comfortably learn them. And so, to my mind, this solo example of a relic in the form of a keyboard (even this was changing as most cellular phones did have an alphabetical keyboard and still do) was not sufficient to justify a whole principle that held technology hostage to history.

But then a couple of weeks back I came across this example of the width of a rail road gauge that perfectly illustrates the same point yet again. I do not have all the evidence to substantiate this example but I do see some truth in this whole chain of thought and that prompted me to finally keep a more open mind to Gould's statement of having more common underlying principles between biological evolution and technological advancement than what is superficially apparent.

So here is the example as I found for your judgement -

"The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.

Why was that gauge used?

Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that?

Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did 'they' use that gauge then?

Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?

Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads?

Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England ) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts in the roads?

Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot.
Bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with it?', you may be exactly right.

Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horse's asses.) Now, the twist to the story:

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRB's. The SRB's are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRB's would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRB's had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRB's had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel

is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced

transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.

And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important?

Ancient horse's asses control almost everything ...

and CURRENT Horses Asses are controlling everything else."

Now, while this is a humorous post and is probably an overtly simplifying description of the complex history of the origins of standard railway gauges, it is easy to see that a lot of our present day technology is also in someways trapped by the past. I mean, even if, we have had the standard broad gauge railroad tracks for the past few centuries, we should be able to switch out of them as and when there is a better system but the vast prevalence of the older system and the cost-benefit ratios tilt the scale against such massive change and we end up sticking to the old and the familiar.

I am still not completely convinced in applying Gould "Panda's thumb" principle more generally to technology, but with these two examples, I believe that history, like in all other fields, does mould the future of technological advances too. Sometimes, by acting at the level of economy, sometimes acting at the level of convenience and at other times by acting as blinders which tint our view of the world and limit our perspectives.

In case you are able to think of other such examples and/or opinions on the same, do write in.