Kudos to our former colleague Mark Baskaran, who has made his mark by winning the prestigious fellowship: Board of Governors Distinguished Faculty Fellow at Wayne State University, Detroit! I had proposed to invite him to PRL as Ramanathan Professor last year, which was turned down by the then dean: However, AKS during his deanship did many good things that were quite impossible before his time. For example he had furnished the dean’s office with high quality furniture. He got PRL painted. He also arranged cars for bringing retired scientists from their homes to attend colloquia sparsely populated by the rather smart local crowd, who, being bored with this routine, mostly succeed in finding something better to do, never mind the pre-colloquium free tea & biscuits. I saw yesterday in the auditorium SPP and Rastogi sitting in the front row with closed eyes, which reminded of the olden days, when the pair used to be Ramanathan and Pisharoty. I looked around to share this observation, but I realized that most were new comers, who couldn’t have heard of the latter.
Ghanshyambhai saw that I was giving a blood sample and advised that I should take that everything is quite normal and for Indians the doctors ought to raise the permissible limits! Sounds good to me! He also gave examples of the likes of J P Mishra, etc., who have survived for long with high sugar levels. The reason for my high values could be my stopping exercises after my accident last May, excessive travel, or plain stress. I was preparing my annual report yesterday and noticed that my students/colleagues and I have published 22 papers in all (journals 7 and conferences 15) in 2009-2010! I had given a dozen invited talks at various places in the country. Prof. Lal advised me long ago that I should kill myself doing science, and I seem to be following his advice inadvertently!
ACN called for Hyderabad and told me that GBP was visiting him. I know the latter for more than 3 decades. On two earlier occasions our talks were scheduled in sequence in conferences. In the 1984 slide-era, just after lunch as people tottered back drowsily into the hall, he went to the dais to load his slides, but dropped them all on the floor, causing a delay of 10 further minutes to the belated session. Imagine my shock when he told the projectionist that he could load the slides in any order! On another occasion (2003) he was given 45 minutes. He began his talk by saying that this was a very long duration and he could cover much ground. Indeed he did, by narrating our experiences in the Himalaya during our field work in 1982. He recalled how we walked the whole day to reach the forest GH, and the cook refused to cook for us because we were upper caste guys and he being a dalit, it would be sinful for him to touch our food! Then the resourceful GBP went around scrounging for wood, lighted the hearth and cooked some food for us! He consumed about 55 minutes relating this and other tales of yesteryears, while I, the next speaker, sat nervously awaiting my turn. Then he realized that time had flown, and instructed the projectionist to run through the slides one by one, prepared by a colleague for him!
Prof. Rajamani called me after reading my recent paper in Current Science (I did not send him a copy) and gave me some ideas, after appreciating the work. On the other hand KG (to whom I had e-mailed the pdf) unobtrusively reminded me that he was the one who started the isotope-dendroclimatology at PRL in the early 80s!
The end of vasant rutu: In the PRL main campus Laburnum (tree with yellow flowers hanging like chandeliers, Garmalo in Gujarati) is in full bloom. Pisharoty used to predict monsoon based on the date of its flowering. If you are a septic, let me caution you: His predictive skills were not probably no worse than the models currently used by IMD. As the weather gets hotter, more are the chances of early rains. Gulmohar trees (Mayflower?) have also started blooming. My observation is that its florescence begins on the first of the Tamil New Year (14th April). I do not see ibises yet on the trees, when I walk back from the canteen in the evening, after helping myself with the cholesterol laden vadas. May be they are yet to arrive, I mean the ibises, Kaustubh could enlighten me. Raw mangoes have started coming to the market. Yesterday I brought a big one home, cut and salted it, and ate all the pieces while watching the IPL semifinals between Bangalore and Mumbai. I was pained to see Kumble lose by 45 runs. The mango was sour!
Volcanic eruption could be a blessing to a few, it appears: the SERCON engineer stranded in Kolkata decided to visit us and inspect the old mass spectrometer. Although I had obtained permission YMT for the entry of a foreigner, when the latterarrived, the CISF declined to allow him inside saying that they have not got a copy of the e-mail (they showed me on the computer screen, it wasn’t there!); but I saw that YMT had clearly marked a copy to CISF. It is a mystery indeed that e-mails could get lost while going from the main building to PRL gate! In any case I gave them a printed copy, they asked him to leave his laptop in their custody, which he did. At the next level they found he had pen drives, he had to go back to the gate again. He decided to leave the whole bag there. On the third level of entry he was told to go back to deposit his mobile at the gate. I waited for him while he did this and thus a total of 30 minutes were wasted. I was later told that I had to get permission for each of these items as well. Tughlak Rajyam! This reminded me of the Paramartha Guru story written by a Tamil Christian saint (Veeramamunivar), who also authored the classic Thembavani (I wonder if it is available in the web somewhere). The Guru used to ride his horse with the retinue of disciples. Once his angavastram (roughly, towel?) fell on the ground and the students did not pick it up. So he told them that whatever falls from the horse needs to be picked up, whereupon the obedient disciples promptly picked up horse dung on their next outing. The Guru decided to give them an exhaustive list of what to pick and what not to pick. Once it happened that he fell from the horse. The students consulted the list and picked up all his ornaments and clothes, but then the Guru was left in the ditch as he had forgotten to add his own name to the list!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Tamil New Year in the Andamans
On my birthday this year I gave a colloquium at IISER, Kolkata. Thanks to all of you who sent sms, e-mails and made calls. I realized I forgot to collect my TA from INSA the previous day.
This place (Mohanpur) is located in serene surroundings and I could locate no high rise buildings. Full of mango trees studded with tender mangoes. They lie scattered all over the place. Pity there is nobody to collect them! I had a long walk with Panigrahi, who has an independent house around which he grows vegetables. The cook in the GH had left for shopping on 27th morning and I had to make breakfast (toast and tea) myself. Food was inadequate the previous night too. When we sat to eat, there were only three chapatis left for the four of us (the limited quantity of food was consumed by others who ate before us). After my seminar, the previously announced tea never came! We ended up taking tea in small plastic cups in a way side hut. There was a special lunch. In the evening I had to be happy with leftovers of the same lunch, as the cook decided there is no need to cook, though Panigrahi had brought some homegrown veggies! This kanjoosi reminded me of an old story which was narrated to me by Soma. Apparently Soma’s family of four was invited by B (another family of four). The latter had cooked exactly eight pieces of whatever dish they had planned. While the elders were talking, the kids went in and ate more than their share, so the others were left without food!
Then I went to Tirupati via Hyderabad to attend the Golden Jubilee Seminar of a university department, composed of mostly Reddys. I barely managed to escape from being addressed Ramesh Reddy! Prasanna told me once that an eddy in the Red Sea is also called a reddy, as the one in the Mediterranean is called meddy. Two funny incidents: (i) On the inaugural day, some principal Reddy presided; he introduced all the Reddys on the dais, and referring to one of them he declared that someone important had been invited, and as he could not make it, they have brought a substitute! (ii) On the second day a 78 year old former teacher was felicitated. In his acceptance speech he confessed that he did not ‘open any book of Geology after his retirement’; he served as a principal of some college for 10 years, and for the subsequent 8 years he was chief of security at Puttaparthi! Surely he s blessed by Sai Baba! He also remarked that their department can be proud that two chief ministers have studied there.
Had a fast darshan of the Lord of the Seven Hills, paying Rs. 500/-. The next day I visited Srikalahasti too. Returned to Ahmedabad on the 31st, but left for Andamans on the 11th April with Dr.s Ray, Narayana and Raja Ganeshram. The latter two joined us at Chennai. On the same day of reaching Port Blair, we visited Chidiyatapu and saw the sunset and places affected by the tsunami. The next day we travelled to the northern tip of Andamans to a place called Diglipur. It was a long journey lasting for 12 hours. Our vehicle was transferred twice on ferries while crossing over to islands. Saw freely roaming elephants, Jarawas begging for tobacco from tourists, and mud volcanoes. SINP has a centre near the mud volcano and a local person has been employed to gather data. We stayed in a government GH at Kalipur beach (excellent food cooked by Bengalis), saw Oliver Riddley turtles’ eggs being protected by the Govt. In the morning of 13th, we went around the beach, noted coral terraces, forests with huge padang trees. We collected coral samples for dating. In the late afternoon, we went to the twin islands Ross and Smith in a high speed motorboat, the one usually used by James Bond. We had a good swim in the sea. Tamil New Year day (14th) was again a long ride back to Port Blair (I realized I forgot to collect my mobile charger). We stopped at Baratang and visited the caves. The boat ride reminded movies which I had seen in the National Geographic Channel about forests around the Amazon. The caves are beautiful, we must explore for more. On the way back to Port Blair, we saw a green gecko, called the emerald gecko, typical of Andaman. On 15th we travelled to Havelock Islands by a high speed ferry (Makeruzz). The inside looks like an aircraft. We stayed in a hotel called The Kingdom. On arrival we visited the nearby beach. I saw 4 elephants; we hired scooters (Rs 300 per day + Rs 100 for 2 litres of petrol) and moved around at high speed. Hardly any traffic there! I was only worried about elephants chasing me! In the evening we rode to Radhanagar beach, 12km away, which ranks 7th in the best beaches of Asia. This is really a beautiful place. We had a good swim for 2 hours, looked at old, uplifted, coral terraces.
Visiting the Elephant beach next day was fun. Snorkeled for 2 hours and saw beautiful live corals. I noticed that corals have grown faster than giant clams (Tridacna). The high speed ferry brought us back to Port Blair. Ray and I visited the ISRO Centre, got the first good cups of tea (made using milk rather than powder) after our arrival in Andamans. On 17th we visited the Ross Island, where old British buildings are found in a dilapidated state and trees have grown around them. This is the poor-man’s equivalent of Angkor Vat.
In the hotel we stayed, 50% of the menu was not available. This seems to be the case for most restaurants we visited. In Diglipur GH, when we asked for bread for breakfast (you need to book every meal well before), they said no; but the next morning they served bread for foreigners!
Visit to the Cellular Jail was moving. Most photographs of freedom fighters were those of Bengalis, my respect for whom has gone up after seeing so many had sacrificed their lives for our freedom. We also visited the Anthropological museum and learnt about Nicobar, which in general, tourists are not allowed to visit (A former Captain of a ship told me that if I go there I may not come back alive!). There is more Burmese influence in Nicobar.
The next day we were in Chennai. We visited Venkatesan, who came with us to eat lunch in the nearby Sangeeta. As usual he started his moped and went ahead of our taxi. This time I remembered to caution him to be slow and not to lose us. I bought all my podis from Grand Sweets and some freshly ground coffee powder too. Thanks to J S Ray, who made it all possible.
This place (Mohanpur) is located in serene surroundings and I could locate no high rise buildings. Full of mango trees studded with tender mangoes. They lie scattered all over the place. Pity there is nobody to collect them! I had a long walk with Panigrahi, who has an independent house around which he grows vegetables. The cook in the GH had left for shopping on 27th morning and I had to make breakfast (toast and tea) myself. Food was inadequate the previous night too. When we sat to eat, there were only three chapatis left for the four of us (the limited quantity of food was consumed by others who ate before us). After my seminar, the previously announced tea never came! We ended up taking tea in small plastic cups in a way side hut. There was a special lunch. In the evening I had to be happy with leftovers of the same lunch, as the cook decided there is no need to cook, though Panigrahi had brought some homegrown veggies! This kanjoosi reminded me of an old story which was narrated to me by Soma. Apparently Soma’s family of four was invited by B (another family of four). The latter had cooked exactly eight pieces of whatever dish they had planned. While the elders were talking, the kids went in and ate more than their share, so the others were left without food!
Then I went to Tirupati via Hyderabad to attend the Golden Jubilee Seminar of a university department, composed of mostly Reddys. I barely managed to escape from being addressed Ramesh Reddy! Prasanna told me once that an eddy in the Red Sea is also called a reddy, as the one in the Mediterranean is called meddy. Two funny incidents: (i) On the inaugural day, some principal Reddy presided; he introduced all the Reddys on the dais, and referring to one of them he declared that someone important had been invited, and as he could not make it, they have brought a substitute! (ii) On the second day a 78 year old former teacher was felicitated. In his acceptance speech he confessed that he did not ‘open any book of Geology after his retirement’; he served as a principal of some college for 10 years, and for the subsequent 8 years he was chief of security at Puttaparthi! Surely he s blessed by Sai Baba! He also remarked that their department can be proud that two chief ministers have studied there.
Had a fast darshan of the Lord of the Seven Hills, paying Rs. 500/-. The next day I visited Srikalahasti too. Returned to Ahmedabad on the 31st, but left for Andamans on the 11th April with Dr.s Ray, Narayana and Raja Ganeshram. The latter two joined us at Chennai. On the same day of reaching Port Blair, we visited Chidiyatapu and saw the sunset and places affected by the tsunami. The next day we travelled to the northern tip of Andamans to a place called Diglipur. It was a long journey lasting for 12 hours. Our vehicle was transferred twice on ferries while crossing over to islands. Saw freely roaming elephants, Jarawas begging for tobacco from tourists, and mud volcanoes. SINP has a centre near the mud volcano and a local person has been employed to gather data. We stayed in a government GH at Kalipur beach (excellent food cooked by Bengalis), saw Oliver Riddley turtles’ eggs being protected by the Govt. In the morning of 13th, we went around the beach, noted coral terraces, forests with huge padang trees. We collected coral samples for dating. In the late afternoon, we went to the twin islands Ross and Smith in a high speed motorboat, the one usually used by James Bond. We had a good swim in the sea. Tamil New Year day (14th) was again a long ride back to Port Blair (I realized I forgot to collect my mobile charger). We stopped at Baratang and visited the caves. The boat ride reminded movies which I had seen in the National Geographic Channel about forests around the Amazon. The caves are beautiful, we must explore for more. On the way back to Port Blair, we saw a green gecko, called the emerald gecko, typical of Andaman. On 15th we travelled to Havelock Islands by a high speed ferry (Makeruzz). The inside looks like an aircraft. We stayed in a hotel called The Kingdom. On arrival we visited the nearby beach. I saw 4 elephants; we hired scooters (Rs 300 per day + Rs 100 for 2 litres of petrol) and moved around at high speed. Hardly any traffic there! I was only worried about elephants chasing me! In the evening we rode to Radhanagar beach, 12km away, which ranks 7th in the best beaches of Asia. This is really a beautiful place. We had a good swim for 2 hours, looked at old, uplifted, coral terraces.
Visiting the Elephant beach next day was fun. Snorkeled for 2 hours and saw beautiful live corals. I noticed that corals have grown faster than giant clams (Tridacna). The high speed ferry brought us back to Port Blair. Ray and I visited the ISRO Centre, got the first good cups of tea (made using milk rather than powder) after our arrival in Andamans. On 17th we visited the Ross Island, where old British buildings are found in a dilapidated state and trees have grown around them. This is the poor-man’s equivalent of Angkor Vat.
In the hotel we stayed, 50% of the menu was not available. This seems to be the case for most restaurants we visited. In Diglipur GH, when we asked for bread for breakfast (you need to book every meal well before), they said no; but the next morning they served bread for foreigners!
Visit to the Cellular Jail was moving. Most photographs of freedom fighters were those of Bengalis, my respect for whom has gone up after seeing so many had sacrificed their lives for our freedom. We also visited the Anthropological museum and learnt about Nicobar, which in general, tourists are not allowed to visit (A former Captain of a ship told me that if I go there I may not come back alive!). There is more Burmese influence in Nicobar.
The next day we were in Chennai. We visited Venkatesan, who came with us to eat lunch in the nearby Sangeeta. As usual he started his moped and went ahead of our taxi. This time I remembered to caution him to be slow and not to lose us. I bought all my podis from Grand Sweets and some freshly ground coffee powder too. Thanks to J S Ray, who made it all possible.
Glimpses of Local Science on the vernal equinox
I was invited to two different conferences this week at Ahmedabad. The first was at SAC on OCEANSAT 2 applications. I sat through two days of lectures by Indian and Australian remote-sensing scientists. I couldn’t help noticing that we Indians have quite a difficulty in speaking English. A Kerala woman (as Soma would have put it) alluding to her discussions with the famous Trevor Platt, FRS, mentioned emphatically, with accent and all, that she ‘had discussed with Platt itself”. Another UP guy (likely winner of PRL award 2010) pronounced ‘effluents’ as “affluence”. Flatulence! One beer-bellied guy from Mangalore (I assure you this is not a case of the pot calling the kettle black, you got to see him to believe me) walked in half an hour before his scheduled talk. His student (male) was always moving around with him and as he started his talk sitting on a chair, the student sat next to him and operated the up-down arrows in the computer, as he read out from the computer screen! Apparently they have been measuring suspended matter in the coast and after the 2004/5(?) Tsunami, it seems to have increased! Hogwash!
Expectations were high when we were invited to the conference dinner in a far-flung place called Kathwada village. With hardly any traffic on the road the bus ride took fifty minutes to our destination. We travelled in the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway up to the Nirma University and took a right turn, drove till eternity. Some of us hopefuls thought as this was a remote place there was a fair chance of aperitif! But what a disappointment, we were instead asked to go around a ground filled with old model American cars, from the 1930s. Soon I lost interest and came to look at the Rajasthani multi-pot dance (reminded me of S’s multi-proxy approach to Paleoclimate); this place was a poor apology for Vishala and Rajwadu! I regretted having accepted the invitation for this dinner. Food was typical Gujju, and it was 1130 pm by the time I reached home. Lal would have shot them for wasting so much of our collective time!
The second place was Gujarat University, where they conducted Gujarat Science Academy’s (GSA) meeting. Chamyal made me and Ray as judges for evaluating the talks and selecting the best teacher and student performances. Though I like to sleep on Sunday afternoons, I had to agree because of my long standing association with Chamyal. They were to start the Geology parallel (more a tangential) session from 1400 Hrs, but only at 14.30 the group of people around the dais realized that the cable from the laptop was connected to the ‘output’ rather than the ‘input’ port of the projector. This shows that Gujarati scientists, in spite of their lack of English skills, are fairly intelligent. JRT, in charge of GSA, is usually a good organizer, but we were left without water etc. for long in that hall, with no AC and outside temperatures soaring above 40 C. We are better in Gujarat than in Lucknow or Chennai, because we had fans working at least. I had miserably failed to anticipate this and to carry my own bottle of water, as usual. I ended up emptying Ray’s water bottle. Some kindly soul from Baroda had arranged for some drinking water after an hour or so. Most presentations were so so. This may be typical of many state ‘Academies’! We ended up selecting two women scientists for their scientific presentations. Science Day was going on at PRL on the same day (21 March). Someone asked me why it was not celebrated on 28th Feb., which is the correct date. I told them that at PRL, our former director was introduced to someone as our late Director.
PN Shukla’s third daughter is getting married on 3rd April. He came to invite me. Sad news of three deaths came simultaneously last week. One was from Delhi, Mrs. Tandon had expired. There was no one at home and next morning she was found dead, Devesh informed me. I remember meeting Tandon at Kashmir in 1980, and he had asked me to send a telegram to his wife on the occasion of his first (?) marriage anniversary. Second, Satyaprakash, my former student, now at INCOIS, Hyderabad, lost his father, 82. He was brought from his home in Darbhanga to Hyderabad by both his sons, in the hope of getting him treated for his brain cancer. My condolences to the bereaved. Third, SP Gupta told me about the death of a scientist called “Oxford”. He said that he had worked with Oxford for six months in the nineties. In the meanwhile I have more invitations from Delhi, Kolkata, and Tirupati…. Life goes on!
Expectations were high when we were invited to the conference dinner in a far-flung place called Kathwada village. With hardly any traffic on the road the bus ride took fifty minutes to our destination. We travelled in the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway up to the Nirma University and took a right turn, drove till eternity. Some of us hopefuls thought as this was a remote place there was a fair chance of aperitif! But what a disappointment, we were instead asked to go around a ground filled with old model American cars, from the 1930s. Soon I lost interest and came to look at the Rajasthani multi-pot dance (reminded me of S’s multi-proxy approach to Paleoclimate); this place was a poor apology for Vishala and Rajwadu! I regretted having accepted the invitation for this dinner. Food was typical Gujju, and it was 1130 pm by the time I reached home. Lal would have shot them for wasting so much of our collective time!
The second place was Gujarat University, where they conducted Gujarat Science Academy’s (GSA) meeting. Chamyal made me and Ray as judges for evaluating the talks and selecting the best teacher and student performances. Though I like to sleep on Sunday afternoons, I had to agree because of my long standing association with Chamyal. They were to start the Geology parallel (more a tangential) session from 1400 Hrs, but only at 14.30 the group of people around the dais realized that the cable from the laptop was connected to the ‘output’ rather than the ‘input’ port of the projector. This shows that Gujarati scientists, in spite of their lack of English skills, are fairly intelligent. JRT, in charge of GSA, is usually a good organizer, but we were left without water etc. for long in that hall, with no AC and outside temperatures soaring above 40 C. We are better in Gujarat than in Lucknow or Chennai, because we had fans working at least. I had miserably failed to anticipate this and to carry my own bottle of water, as usual. I ended up emptying Ray’s water bottle. Some kindly soul from Baroda had arranged for some drinking water after an hour or so. Most presentations were so so. This may be typical of many state ‘Academies’! We ended up selecting two women scientists for their scientific presentations. Science Day was going on at PRL on the same day (21 March). Someone asked me why it was not celebrated on 28th Feb., which is the correct date. I told them that at PRL, our former director was introduced to someone as our late Director.
PN Shukla’s third daughter is getting married on 3rd April. He came to invite me. Sad news of three deaths came simultaneously last week. One was from Delhi, Mrs. Tandon had expired. There was no one at home and next morning she was found dead, Devesh informed me. I remember meeting Tandon at Kashmir in 1980, and he had asked me to send a telegram to his wife on the occasion of his first (?) marriage anniversary. Second, Satyaprakash, my former student, now at INCOIS, Hyderabad, lost his father, 82. He was brought from his home in Darbhanga to Hyderabad by both his sons, in the hope of getting him treated for his brain cancer. My condolences to the bereaved. Third, SP Gupta told me about the death of a scientist called “Oxford”. He said that he had worked with Oxford for six months in the nineties. In the meanwhile I have more invitations from Delhi, Kolkata, and Tirupati…. Life goes on!
Recent visit to Goa
I recently visited Goa for official work. Had taken much younger and smarter guys Dr.s Angom, Bapat and Ray from PRL to help me. We visited the Calangut beach one evening. By the time we reached it became dark and we had to be content with only wetting our feet. Rushed back not to miss the food (the GH canteen closes at 2130). It was an anticlimax! After many reminders, the food prepared could not come up to the mark. Really hungry souls managed, while I decided to go to a nearby restaurant on my own. Yet a large number of outsiders were eating in that canteen! The GH has deteriorated with time. No academic activity can be carried out: (i) no tube lights in the room! (ii) there were no extra plug points, you had to either disconnect the TV or AC: with too many mosquitoes, even if had carried my own mosquito mats, would have been able to use them! Forgot to carry the spray which Krishamurthy had gifted me when he left Ahmedabad early last year!
While at NIO, I met Dr. Ganeshram, visitor from Edinburgh University. Apparently he had visited PRL during the Golden Jubliee conference in 1997, I could not recall. He seems to know M Bhaskaran well. He also hails from Srirangam! I missed Nagoji, who usually takes me to the beach when I am in Goa. Ganeshram, Ray amd I went to the Cidade de Goa beach and had a swim for two hours last Thursday, after all our official work was over. Had forgotten to take change of clothes, so went around wearing a wet towel, including the lobby of the five star hotel! Naidu came to pick us up and took us to Ritz, where we had good lunch. Too many people were waiting to get a sitting place in that restaurant, reminding me of the good old days at Ahmedabad!
While at Goa, Ray showed me that our paper has already appeared in Current Science. Also, Shreyas’s paper got accepted. Spicejet service was excellent, flights arriving well before time! After my return, Ranga could not give me any juicy PRL news! Had expected some as lot of dignitaries had visited PRL for the Chandrayan meeting.
Fasted for the whole day on 12th (Shivratri) and kept awake the whole night, watching Aastha channel which had live broadcast from Velliangiri, Coimbatore. It was indeed a great feast to hear Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Hansdwani, accompanied by Ghatam Vinayakram. Sevikkunavillathapodhu siridhu vayirtrukkum eeyappadum*! How appropriate was this Kural!
After a long time, keeping awake the whole night (the last time was on 22 May 2002, when I received the news of my mother’s death, who went into coma after heart surgery in Dec. 2001) was no problem, but I got bored! Early in the morning I discovered that several movie channels were also broadcasting religious programmes, not connected with Hinduism, though. They were lectures by Shri. Satyanarayan Goenka on Vipassana. So I started doing vipassna, though I could have fallen asleep, could not tell the difference!
• When there is no food for ears, some is given to the stomach.
While at NIO, I met Dr. Ganeshram, visitor from Edinburgh University. Apparently he had visited PRL during the Golden Jubliee conference in 1997, I could not recall. He seems to know M Bhaskaran well. He also hails from Srirangam! I missed Nagoji, who usually takes me to the beach when I am in Goa. Ganeshram, Ray amd I went to the Cidade de Goa beach and had a swim for two hours last Thursday, after all our official work was over. Had forgotten to take change of clothes, so went around wearing a wet towel, including the lobby of the five star hotel! Naidu came to pick us up and took us to Ritz, where we had good lunch. Too many people were waiting to get a sitting place in that restaurant, reminding me of the good old days at Ahmedabad!
While at Goa, Ray showed me that our paper has already appeared in Current Science. Also, Shreyas’s paper got accepted. Spicejet service was excellent, flights arriving well before time! After my return, Ranga could not give me any juicy PRL news! Had expected some as lot of dignitaries had visited PRL for the Chandrayan meeting.
Fasted for the whole day on 12th (Shivratri) and kept awake the whole night, watching Aastha channel which had live broadcast from Velliangiri, Coimbatore. It was indeed a great feast to hear Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Hansdwani, accompanied by Ghatam Vinayakram. Sevikkunavillathapodhu siridhu vayirtrukkum eeyappadum*! How appropriate was this Kural!
After a long time, keeping awake the whole night (the last time was on 22 May 2002, when I received the news of my mother’s death, who went into coma after heart surgery in Dec. 2001) was no problem, but I got bored! Early in the morning I discovered that several movie channels were also broadcasting religious programmes, not connected with Hinduism, though. They were lectures by Shri. Satyanarayan Goenka on Vipassana. So I started doing vipassna, though I could have fallen asleep, could not tell the difference!
• When there is no food for ears, some is given to the stomach.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Special Issues- A Pain!
Hideo sends me a New Year greeting card without fail every year from Japan, though I reciprocate only by e-mail. How this came about is an interesting story, the subject of this blog. We submitted a detailed paper based on Anindya Sarkar’s Ph.D. work in the early nineties to Hideo, who was to bring out a special issue of some Japanese Journal, with Prof. D P Agrawal of Archeology fame as a co-editor ( DP called me this week end again; he has come to Ahmedabad to undergo hernia surgery). Then every year we enquired with Hideo about the publication till 1999 when Prof. K. Gopalan retired from NGRI and Prof. B. L. K. Somayajulu decided to bring out a special issue of the academy proceedings in to felicitate him on the occasion of his superannuation. Sick of hearing from Hideo that the publication will be done as soon as the Russian authors submitted their manuscripts, we withdrew the paper from the special issue and put it in the latter, Indian one, more assured of publication within the next two years at least. Hideo’s cards continue to arrive, the annoying problem solved once for all. This first experience must have taught me a lesson, but alas! As Prof. Soma used to say, I am not ‘smart’. Whoever said that those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it, was dead right!
In the early nineties Prof. V. Rajamani conducted a refresher course and asked me to write a detailed chapter on stable isotope applications, which was to be brought out as a book. This was done, and the notes never saw the light of the day for a decade or so. I ended up putting it in the volume edited by Dr. L S Chamyal of Baroda University a few years ago.
Dr. Kotlia conducted a conference, which BLKS attended, asked us to submit a paper for a special volume in PPP. Six months after submission when we did not get the referees’ comments, I made a wise decision of hastily withdrawing the paper; Yadava and I submitted it to the Holocene, which got published within a year. The promised special volume of PPP came eventually carrying only Prof. Soma’s paper from PRL. Kotlia was very upset because I withdrew my paper.
Three years ago we submitted two papers for a special section in Current science, based on our work in the Southern Ocean. We are reminding the editors continuously, who seem to be in deep slumber. Soon we may have to make a decision on what to do (Luckily, both the students whose papers are stuck got jobs recently!).
BSIP invited me for a conference in 2004 and subsequently wanted me to write a paper for their special issue of the Paleobotanist. I asked Manish to write it, and after 3 years of correspondence and attempts to call the editor on phone, the paper was eventually published last year. They again called me in 2009 for their Diamond Jubilee. I accepted to go and give a talk but in my belatedly acquired wisdom, did not accept to submit a paper.
As in my last two blogs, in this too I give you the news of a baby boy born to Shreyas, my student.
In the early nineties Prof. V. Rajamani conducted a refresher course and asked me to write a detailed chapter on stable isotope applications, which was to be brought out as a book. This was done, and the notes never saw the light of the day for a decade or so. I ended up putting it in the volume edited by Dr. L S Chamyal of Baroda University a few years ago.
Dr. Kotlia conducted a conference, which BLKS attended, asked us to submit a paper for a special volume in PPP. Six months after submission when we did not get the referees’ comments, I made a wise decision of hastily withdrawing the paper; Yadava and I submitted it to the Holocene, which got published within a year. The promised special volume of PPP came eventually carrying only Prof. Soma’s paper from PRL. Kotlia was very upset because I withdrew my paper.
Three years ago we submitted two papers for a special section in Current science, based on our work in the Southern Ocean. We are reminding the editors continuously, who seem to be in deep slumber. Soon we may have to make a decision on what to do (Luckily, both the students whose papers are stuck got jobs recently!).
BSIP invited me for a conference in 2004 and subsequently wanted me to write a paper for their special issue of the Paleobotanist. I asked Manish to write it, and after 3 years of correspondence and attempts to call the editor on phone, the paper was eventually published last year. They again called me in 2009 for their Diamond Jubilee. I accepted to go and give a talk but in my belatedly acquired wisdom, did not accept to submit a paper.
As in my last two blogs, in this too I give you the news of a baby boy born to Shreyas, my student.
Publish or perish? Or No!
I recently went to Trivandrum as a member of the interview panel to select faculty. Two other experts were there with me from different places. Two of my former students appeared for the interview and that is one of the reasons I accepted to travel all the way. The other reason was to have a darshan of Ananthapadmanabhaswamy. They put me up in nice hotel called “Keys”. True to its name, my electronic key failed to work on the second day! And my students too failed to get selected because they had only 3 or 4 publications, as they have just completed their Ph.D. and are still in the process of writing and submitting ‘key’ papers. The very same students were not even called for interview at places like IITM, Pune. The person who got selected was 37 years old, and had 14 publications, never mind their quality! This is how it appears to work these days! Incidentally the committee consisted of 10 members, seven of them local. The three experts did not agree on this selection and the chairman went by majority! Prof. S. P. Pandya, former Director of PRL, used to say, ‘democracy does not work in science’. Here is a case where he has been clearly disproved!
I have been advising my students to write papers and not to devote all their time in generating data. Their English is far from satisfactory, presentation and writing skills leave much to be desired. May be we should start a course from this year on scientific writing/presentation at PRL.
Kerala is as beautiful as ever. Visit to the temple was fun. I could not spot the Shivalingam below the deity’s right hand. Has it been removed? The atmosphere was serene; I had a long walk and several rounds of it in the prahaaram reciting Sahasranamam.
Like Rajnikant, the superstar of Tamil films, among the Hindu Gods too, there is a superstar, one who collects large crowds. I asked several of my friends here and they could not guess: It is ironical that the land of communists is flourishing with income from religious tourism; Ayyappa Bhaktas dirty all the temples on their wake, including the famous Srirangam temple in my hometown, much to my chagrin.
Because of the recent Govt. of India rule we must travel only by Indian airlines/Air India, I took the available connecting flight via Chennai with a few hours there. Could visit Dr. Venkatesan, and more importantly Grand Sweets and replenish my stock of pulikkachal, coffee powder etc. They are selling new powder called karumeedhupodi, used for garnishing vegetables while cooking. I bought it but am yet to try it.
Johan Burman came with his family. I took them out along with Ray, Ranga and his daughter last Saturday. Everyone enjoyed the food. We were also treated with an exclusive magic show. We could not figure out many of the apparently simple tricks. While there I got the good news that my former student Satya Prakash (from Darbangha, Bihar) got a permanent job at INCOIS Hyderabad (he has only2 or 3 papers) on the same day his wife delivered a baby girl (the girl survived probably because of the good luck she has brought) Ghar mein Lakshmiji aayeen hai!
I have been advising my students to write papers and not to devote all their time in generating data. Their English is far from satisfactory, presentation and writing skills leave much to be desired. May be we should start a course from this year on scientific writing/presentation at PRL.
Kerala is as beautiful as ever. Visit to the temple was fun. I could not spot the Shivalingam below the deity’s right hand. Has it been removed? The atmosphere was serene; I had a long walk and several rounds of it in the prahaaram reciting Sahasranamam.
Like Rajnikant, the superstar of Tamil films, among the Hindu Gods too, there is a superstar, one who collects large crowds. I asked several of my friends here and they could not guess: It is ironical that the land of communists is flourishing with income from religious tourism; Ayyappa Bhaktas dirty all the temples on their wake, including the famous Srirangam temple in my hometown, much to my chagrin.
Because of the recent Govt. of India rule we must travel only by Indian airlines/Air India, I took the available connecting flight via Chennai with a few hours there. Could visit Dr. Venkatesan, and more importantly Grand Sweets and replenish my stock of pulikkachal, coffee powder etc. They are selling new powder called karumeedhupodi, used for garnishing vegetables while cooking. I bought it but am yet to try it.
Johan Burman came with his family. I took them out along with Ray, Ranga and his daughter last Saturday. Everyone enjoyed the food. We were also treated with an exclusive magic show. We could not figure out many of the apparently simple tricks. While there I got the good news that my former student Satya Prakash (from Darbangha, Bihar) got a permanent job at INCOIS Hyderabad (he has only2 or 3 papers) on the same day his wife delivered a baby girl (the girl survived probably because of the good luck she has brought) Ghar mein Lakshmiji aayeen hai!
Mistakes from memory loss
These days I often realize that I make the same mistakes that I made some years ago: deteriorating memory. Looking through my collection of novels, I saw that I have bought five different books for the second time from airport shops, without reading the earlier copy which I forgot I have already bought!
Yesterday evening I decided to go to the TM centre of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, located in the Sarkhej -Gandhinagar Highway, to attend a lecture on TM. I reached the place at 1830 Hrs and there was a small crowd of about fifty, waiting. Apparently some “Maharajah” in Holland, a successor of the Yogi, was supposed to bless us through the telephone and the first half hour was spent waiting for the connection. It turned out to be the Maharishi’s’ birthday, being celebrated in all countries including Holland, and the Maharajah would take some time off during his lunch hour and bless us in Ahmedabad. I remembered the call I received that morning from Dr Rajneesh Bhutani that his wife, Kuljeet Kaur, was blessed with a baby girl; this kid then shares her birthday with great men such as the Maharishi, also Swami Vivekananda and lesser mortals like our former colleague J R Trivedi!
After the blessings were duly received, there was ‘Ved path’; I could locate an Iyengar mama with thiruman, and it was pleasant listening to the Vedic chants, especially Sama veda. Then the speeches started. I got bored and by 2030 decided to leave. It is then that it struck me: several years ago when Yajnavalkya was visiting Ahmedabad in a winter, he took me to a similar function where we were expected to see levitating meditators. We sat for two hours hearing speeches, got bored and returned without seeing any levitation! I had made the same mistake again! But there was a saving grace this time. As I went out and tried to pick out my shoes, someone asked me if I was leaving. Answered in the affirmative, he said I should take prasad before I leave. I was taken to another room, where there were men waiting with a big Tava. They made nice masala dosa and uttappam for me! I could not eat the jahangiris because of my sugar problem! This was good, as Ranganathan’s wife is away to attend her father’s funeral in Bengal, because of which neither him nor me will get any poli for Bhogi or Pongal! (I also recall the words of Late Dr. N N Rao, who said that Tamilians are always worried about sappadu!).
I recall long back we went to Chennai for boarding the ship and no accommodation was available in the ISRO Guest House. I made the mistake of asking Dr. Venkatesan to book a hotel for us at Adayar. When I went to meet him, he did not tell me where the accommodation was; instead he started his Luna, asking us to follow him in our taxi. He went so fast that our driver lost him; we parked in a wrong place waiting for Dr. Venkatesan, ended up paying a fine!
Moral of the story: Never forget your past mistakes!
Yesterday evening I decided to go to the TM centre of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, located in the Sarkhej -Gandhinagar Highway, to attend a lecture on TM. I reached the place at 1830 Hrs and there was a small crowd of about fifty, waiting. Apparently some “Maharajah” in Holland, a successor of the Yogi, was supposed to bless us through the telephone and the first half hour was spent waiting for the connection. It turned out to be the Maharishi’s’ birthday, being celebrated in all countries including Holland, and the Maharajah would take some time off during his lunch hour and bless us in Ahmedabad. I remembered the call I received that morning from Dr Rajneesh Bhutani that his wife, Kuljeet Kaur, was blessed with a baby girl; this kid then shares her birthday with great men such as the Maharishi, also Swami Vivekananda and lesser mortals like our former colleague J R Trivedi!
After the blessings were duly received, there was ‘Ved path’; I could locate an Iyengar mama with thiruman, and it was pleasant listening to the Vedic chants, especially Sama veda. Then the speeches started. I got bored and by 2030 decided to leave. It is then that it struck me: several years ago when Yajnavalkya was visiting Ahmedabad in a winter, he took me to a similar function where we were expected to see levitating meditators. We sat for two hours hearing speeches, got bored and returned without seeing any levitation! I had made the same mistake again! But there was a saving grace this time. As I went out and tried to pick out my shoes, someone asked me if I was leaving. Answered in the affirmative, he said I should take prasad before I leave. I was taken to another room, where there were men waiting with a big Tava. They made nice masala dosa and uttappam for me! I could not eat the jahangiris because of my sugar problem! This was good, as Ranganathan’s wife is away to attend her father’s funeral in Bengal, because of which neither him nor me will get any poli for Bhogi or Pongal! (I also recall the words of Late Dr. N N Rao, who said that Tamilians are always worried about sappadu!).
I recall long back we went to Chennai for boarding the ship and no accommodation was available in the ISRO Guest House. I made the mistake of asking Dr. Venkatesan to book a hotel for us at Adayar. When I went to meet him, he did not tell me where the accommodation was; instead he started his Luna, asking us to follow him in our taxi. He went so fast that our driver lost him; we parked in a wrong place waiting for Dr. Venkatesan, ended up paying a fine!
Moral of the story: Never forget your past mistakes!
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