Research, Luck and Alexander Fleming...

Do you value chance discoveries? Like Alexander Fleming’s discovery of Penicillin in 1928, for which he got Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine in 1945? I think the man got plain lucky. With due credit, it is one of the greatest discoveries of all time, and it was definitely because of a certain deductive logic on his part. But you see, it is just partly. For most part, it was an accident. You start your research with some objective in mind, say X, and in the process end up finding Y which turns out to be a compound that revolutionizes research…very well done. That means it is a great discovery…that does not necessarily follow that the discoverer is great. It is important to understand that difference. And that’s why I think it’s important to weigh the enormity of a discovery by how judiciously and methodically it was pursued. Otherwise the whole exercise becomes synonymous to a lottery.

An Ideal Respite

It’s been a hectic week and an ideal respite will be somewhere in the arctic. A dark frozen icy landscape on one side and a gently lapping sea on the other, me skiing for hours and then lying on my back with sheer exhaustion but unimaginable exhilaration, with the multihued arctic light as the wallpaper of my eyes and a woman like Clementine with me. Paradise.

Who am I kidding? Isn’t it the day of the equinox today?

Ever watched someone...

...when they think they are alone? When I happen to do that, truth be told, I enjoy it. No eavesdropping and that is not the intention anyway. Out of earshot and you can rest your conscience in the grandpa chair and relax back and enjoy the view. There is something very genuine and true about those moments. Sounds almost voyeuristic, but to see an unadulterated expression of anger, glum or delight sometimes tells you things about that person that no spoken conversation can ever possibly achieve. Everyone has their minds fortressed in such carefully cultivated façades that however ugly it gets, even a genuinely negative expression will be preferred over dull and fake cheerful shrieks.

10 years since...

1. 12th exams.

2. I started keeping a journal.

3. My first serious girlfriend.

4. My first clean shave.

5. Sigh!

I do not love you...

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

- Pablo Neruda

Translated by Stephen Tapscott

Anything...

...you do for the first time, you yourself should be clear in your mind.

I sincerely hope the experiments work out. I don't wanna hear "we told you so"!

But I'm not desperate. Don't wanna see patterns that don't exist. I rather be laughed at than that.

Rajendra Pachauri

...has lashed out at governments for spending trillions of dollars on the banking crisis while neglecting funding for poverty alleviation and climate change.

"It defies any kind of logic, if you look at the type of money that the world has spent on these bailouts, 2.7 trillion [US] dollars is the estimate, and it's been done so quickly and without questioning," he said. Fifty billion dollars a year was the estimate for tackling the Millenium Development Goals on sckness and poverty, he noted. "But everyone scoffed at it. Nobody did a damn thing."

www.tinyurl.com/9kqwb6

I've Unsubscribed...

...the feed of two blogs I’ve been following diligently for two years or even more for just one reason that the blogs were turning out to be mere exercises in self-praise, and they were not even witty enough like waiterant to sustain my interest. People have their individual styles, but how can every entry be aimed at self-gratification? I guess, to each his own. I am sure there are people who enjoy a narcissistic streak. I don’t. Speaking for myself, I like adulation, but I rather have it from others or not have it at all. I do some self-indulgent stuff on this blog, but I hope it’s few and far between…not so often as to make someone feel like giving up on me. I don’t want my self-absorption to drive people away. I know many people feel a blog is yours and yours only, and you can do whatever you want, but I don’t want to do or behave in a way that I don’t expect from others.
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I have a work presentation on Saturday. I am expecting two reactions…either people will be elated and overjoyed (and jealous?), or they will berate me for the conclusions I’ve drawn. Whichever reaction it is, I hope I don’t get swayed or start biting. I want to be calm, in control, present the data, enjoy it whatever it is that comes my way, and get done with.
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You know that it’s time for a new batch to arrive when kids from Bangalore start coming personally and kids outside Bangalore start sending mails like dear sir, I am student of xyz university and would like to know more about the entrance exam/interviews/faculties/CES/IISc…absolutely crazy! Bonkers! But then I remember me dashing a similar mail before my interviews to my seniors whom I hardly knew and how I worshipped the ones from whom I got a reply. These youngsters look so innocent and naïve. And they worship you. Most of them are intelligent…they are just inexperienced. It’s hard to believe anyone can be so raw. And that’s endearing.

I Always Find...

...the sea surface at the horizon bulging. Everyone else says it's in a straight line. And no, it's not optical illusion that's tricking me. Because if it is, it would trick everyone.