Fridays....

Friday is the day....

that usually starts with a brain storming lab meeting at nine followed by breakfast of donuts and coffee

that progresses into a seminar which ends in an extended gossip session followed by free Pizza lunch and a chattering bunch of us clearing them away

when there as a late afternoon discussion with the "big name" scientist - thouroughly refreshing and reinstalling our faith and fantasies in research

when Frank swings by to give in greenhouse news and more interestingly a few quick treats from the field

when I feel I have more time in the world to think about work, take breaks, read a book, walk around the lake and take the liberty to slip out of back door into the lawn to be on the phone

when an international movie is screened in studcenter

when Rec center is brimming with badminton players;so we vettis wait around for our turn to play squatted on the ground discussing - mostly people

when the evening air is filled with barbecue smoke from the latin american students

when geetha and I definitely watch a late night lousy movie with olive oil,fried food and a homemade shake

Fridays are definitely my favourite in Carbondale and today was special, being the last one here. Its almost three years since I moved into Carbondale. This place has seen my loneliness, joy, heart-breaks and success. I made my worst enemies and hand picked my friends. Its also the first time I got over my fear of water and learnt to swim, learnt to cook, learnt to bike uphill and learnt to handle stress(i think). Its by far the most beautiful place I have ever lived in with twilight falling through tall coniferous trees, huge lakes, deep dark woods and plenty of sunshine in spring and summer. Its the first time I have lived and enjoyed the four seasons. It is also the first time I survived without a television, for that matter with no means of entertainment inside the house. Here is where I learnt to let go of small things and hold on to bigger things. For the first time, had my own space, my very own home. For the first time learnt to appreciate myself, to be in peace with myself. I am going to miss everything about this place.

Say You're one of them

After realizing I was going to be stuck in Charolette Douglas Airport for eons, I decided to spend a chunk of money on an airport book store. I dont regret any penny spent on Say You're one of the them by Uwem Akpen. The cover of the book reminded me of "Nowhere in Africa", a German movie that I loved and that was one of the reasons for picking it. The book is a collection of short stories written by a Nigerian author and every story was worth at least 5 minutes of after thought.

All of us were victims of parents' poverty or wealth, experienced riots or war, made and broke friends along the way. All along, as kids, we thought we were responsible for everything that happened. Guilt always stayed. As adults we are able to shake off bigger sins than the small ones we could not as kids. In this tone, street life and human trade is captured well in this book with a hidden positive streak. It made the "shallow me" think a lot about how certain childhood incidents took different turns in my life, and how those turns dont not matter at all.

It was a wonderful read after a long time; and self picked too. I did not feel the 8 and a half hour flight delay!

Sixth sense?!

"Between the two of us either you stay or I stay, and I definitely want to stay” therefore shot him between the eyes and there he went.


My friend's neighbor’s pet had to therefore go. Her neighbor was a nice and friendly gentleman. Dean of a university, a “very intriguing person” she often says and really fe Until she discovered his pet. The entire neighborhood plotted against this innocent creature and killed him. That is some serious offence; you can’t kill someone’s pet. “That aint no freaking pet” she retorted... Didn’t they go to school, partition a page and learn the differences between wild and domesticated animals??

He is not the only one f’shore. I once met a really nice and sweet couple, who loved their hot summer morning sweat. Loved hiking and biking, fishing and camping. They have a nice and cozy home and were so normal that even my sister would not call them bi-polar. They have a tiny pond in their yard, where I first met their pet. She had often me told how her baby had a “nice personality”. When I saw the baby alligator, I said, “she better keep her nice personality. I don’t want to know otherwise”.

My cousin once had a run for his life when a dog chased him. Recalling was funnier than the dog chasing scene from Mozhi. He got seriously offended when we laughed at the story. I empathize now. Here, in the United States if you vaguely mention putting down an animal you become a bigger villain than all those Taliban put together. You feel judged. You can get away saying, “so can you drive to India or you HAVE to fly?” but you can’t get away saying, “I don’t like pets”.
My friend often says animals have a sixth sense that humans don’t. You need to just take a moment to “connect” and they cannot hurt a thing. Seriously, is there a surety, like AVTAR? I don’t want to make a wrong connection here with my four and a half sense.

I rest my case here. There needs to be paperwork done, and routine EPA checks to let people keep their “pets”. I can live with Christmas gifts and birthday cakes for dogs and cats, even make friends with giant squirrels, possums and rabbits. But a boa constricter?

In love...again!

I watched the tumor grow. Invading every single cell, taking the vital nutrients forming a huge useless mass of cells. Ugly, poisonous green toxin all over, it grew killing everything healthy and happy, leaving not even traces. As I watched it, it reminded me of the clutter I had accumulated. Over the year knowing fully well it was only invading me. There was no thinking in a straight line anymore. The clutter always came in between. Unnecessary, and like the tubercles taking the most essential neuronal connections.

The mess is good. Somewhere in this, I realized what I never want to lose in life. I realized what made my heart warm and eyes glow and my head feel light with schizophrenic madness. The adrenaline gush. Yes, I am probably not entirely successful but I am happy. Thanks to my schedule, I was forced to go back to my "pre marital" busy-ness, I was able to make the connections despite the clutter. I am in love with science all over again.

Where are we going from here?

While the rest of the world watched Haiti break down over the television I learnt about it through a desperate student. I found her handing out flyers at the student recreation center informing how to donate effectively to Haiti. She had not heard from her family from Tuesday onwards. No advances in communication or globalization had helped her till now. There was another colleague like that who was able to reaCH her family on friday finally and she was so grateful for that. I felt small and guilty for worrying about nothing.

The earth quake's magnitude was 7.0 which I have heard from experts should not cause such a significant loss. A lot contributed to it, the building structure, how developed their emergency management system was etc. Here in the united states every building is designed to take natural disasters. When the tsunami hit India, only those who paid close attention to Kamal Hassan's movie knew what it was. Is natural disaster coupled with the country's economical structure nature new way of saying "survival of the fittest?" Could Darwinism be extrapolated to the modern commercialized - globalized world?

You are one now

24 posts! Not bad. Happy birthday bloggie.

I noticed I said 2008 was the worst and best year of my life. I did not notice what was coming next. I guess thats how life is.

As a toast to it, I am going to have a (want to) separate section for book and movie reviews, but under the same blog. I just dont know how to. Help required for the communication impaired!

Roots

"Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffure, four days upriver from the coast of Gambia, West Africa, a man child was born to Omoro and Binta Kinte....."

I read "Roots" a six hundred page book in three days. Non stop. It has been ages since I read a book with so much involvement. Every line struck me hard. I read the last few pages, put the book down and looked around my tiny room. My book shelf stacked with Biochemistry/other favourite fiction, on the other side, a large board of family pictures and a closet of endless clothes. I took education for granted. I knew where I came from. I took lineage and holding on to my culture for granted. I recommend this book to all, just to feel what I felt. Privileged.