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.
Monday, February 1, 2010
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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