Year-end contemplations.

Love: To be loved without a reason...maybe it’s true, maybe it isn’t.

Hate: Felt it. I’ll leave it at that.

Fear: Never been daunted by anything/anyone, and when I really did, no one trusted me.

Trust: It takes a long time to build, but once broken...the end! Never again, never again till someone walks in and promises to stay no matter how often and much they’re offended.

Passion: I am not romantic. Never been! I re-acknowledge it. In fact, I find it obnoxious. I’m not stoic, neither a cynic. It doesn’t take a smart, dashing person to be romantic. Perhaps I’m romantic in my way.

Anger: Very often. Have always been the first to forget and forgive, apologize profusely.

Hurt: Felt it.

Hope: Hasn’t disappointed. Doesn’t disappoint :-)

Death: Still remember Pre’s cousin’s husband’s death. One I didn’t see, yet cried and cry. A story of love, trust so unshakeable, infidelity, lust and love, again. I tremble when I think of it. A lesson for life.

Dreams: Many unrealised and a few realised.

Boredom: Even the most interesting stuff becomes boring after a while :-(

Talking: Used to! (Jing-Bang as my gang was fondly referred to)Started to listen, a word that was not in my lexicon. Now that I’ve learnt to, I realise that I’ve missed out on so much. All I now do is listen, unless I find someone really comfortable to talk to.

Music: My love/Passion. It’s in my blood.

Colours: Not fascinated by colours. Except for black, white, and blue, which explain my personality.

Money/Power: A topic that can put me off!

Support: When you need it the most, you are denied. Matt’s wife needs his love and support more than anybody else’s. Made a conscious effort to make him realise that. How effective only time will tell.

God: The only force keeping me going.

Life: Haven’t seen it all, haven’t done it all. Miles to go before I sleep :-)

27/11!

The trauma of having to come back home only to hear someone say, “I told you not to do so!”, is horrible. And to know that your mom is trying to say that loud through her intimidating silence and vaitherichal, is petrifying.
I walked into the house at 11.00 A.M, the same time I had left home the previous day. And it rained. It rained and rained and again, it rained. It only rained.
Five girls, inspite of repeated warnings, we decided to brave the rains. Indomitable human spirit :P At 8.00 P.M, we realised that the city had been flooded, including the main roads, and our homes were practically inaccessible. Not that we didn’t, we did TRY to reach home, and Frantically.
This particular auto driver charged us 250 INR for a distance of 5Km. With Aniyayathukku oru alave illiya looks on our faces, we quietly declined the offer inviting some really bad words from him. To add insult to injury, blessed Vodafone network wasn’t at its best (on my phone, atleast)there. And when it was, my dad’s netwok screamed, “Neengal thodarbu kollum vaadikaiyalar thodarbu nilaikku appal ullar” HOW CAN I BE BLAMED FOR THAT? Enna kodumai Sir
Somehow dad managed to contact me, thanks to Vodafone :P The conversation or rather, monologue that followed cannot, due to various reasons, be explicated here. Amma did not speak a word, leaving daddy to do all the talking.
We could have taken that auto but what if the tyre had been punctured midway? Or the vehicle got stuck in the waters? Ultimate ‘what-ifs’ Phew!
At 12.00 A.M, we managed to arrange transport and reach one of our places at Annanagar. I need mention here that Annanagar, otherwise could be reached in just 10 minutes from where we were. It took us 2 long hours without the ubiquitous ‘Take diversion’ signs, since even the cleanest of Mugappair roads was flooded! With heart in mouth, we reached home. Ah, bliss!
On T.V was this tired news reporter doing a live coverage of the Mumbai terrorist attacks. The day’s experience all forgotten on watching the bloodshed and killings. This continued till 3.00 A.M and at 4.00, we slept, feeling blessed to be alive!
Next morning, before it could rain again, we packed home. In 10 minutes time, I was home, to be greeted by my poker faced bro and amma whose silence seemed to reiterate, "Onnu sol buthi irukanum, illena suya buthi irukkanum. Rendume illena urpadama pove" and "Konjam kooda keezhpadithale ille! "

To me it was an experience, and what an experience!

I am incorrigible :-)

© Copyright Muse
Saturday, 29 November 2008

Happ'y'ness :)

Christopher Gardner: Probably means there's a good chance. Possibly means we might or we might not.
Christopher: Okay.
Christopher Gardner: So, what does probably mean?
Christopher: It means we have a good chance.
Christopher Gardner: And what does possibly mean?
Christopher: I know what it means! It means we're not going to the game. 

-The Pursuit of Happyness.

I'm watching this movie for the second time now and have not  managed to escape the moist eye syndrome. I'm not sure if that is due to the 'fact' that I'm daddy's girl, or the movie touched me.

For the first time, I realised, while watching the movie, that I had taken so many things for granted. When I say so many, I mean it. Every alphabet of it. The happ'y'ness of being surrounded by friends, time of togetherness with the family, specially during festivals and weekends, conference calls in the night, get togethers, roaming on the streets, window shopping, bunking classes, endless cups of coffee at the Nescafe kiosk, sleeping in class, exhibiting our "team work",....Endless is the list! and yes also this Rubik's cube I have as a fond memory.

I've managed to get the same colour on one face of the Rubik's cube, today. This one had been lying on the shelf for ages, unnoticed, untouched, and sometimes noticed and smirked at. The reason for "trying" to solve it today, "The Pursuit of Happyness". 

As I type, I'm still attempting to get it solved. I still have the rest of the day and tomorrow and the day after and the day after that! I'd love to say that I'd probably solve it, but due to technical difficulties, I'm forced to replace it with "possibly"! You know what it means, don't you?

I don't believe in making life complicated. Nevertheless, it needs it's own dose of challenges, in an uncomplicated fashion. Atleast, I'll untangle the knots. 

And as far as this cube is concerned, I'll try. Should I not succeed, I'll go with my good friend's idea of re-painting it! 

Little things matter most.

Life is big. So are the people, real and fictional; and the situations; and God, bigger than anything else. However, they say that the best things in life come in small packages. I say, they’re smaller: like love, when you least expect it; to put it rightly, the unarticulated plea heard by someone and given to you, like a hug, a real tight one from an acquaintance (henceforth, friend) to make you feel valued, like having to sit with a person, looking straight into the eye and to know that there is something more than what originally is seen, like words of appreciation, when you’ve been deprived of it, like serendipity, when you think that you are the only person to have experienced it and then there is someone out there who has seen worse, like friendship that blossoms just like that, like a teacher who calls you, an inspiration, like the frailest experience that teaches you the greatest lessons of life, like music, the food of life and finally that elusive smile from an unexpected person, that keeps your grey cells constantly in action. That to have been through and experienced all this in the past two weeks makes me feel complete and yet the circle isn’t complete without the missing piece I soon hope to find: All in one. (Asking too much, ain’t I?)

Matins

4.30 A.M-The whole family wakes up to Mozart’s eine kleine nachtmus, but me. That is the usual phenomenon every time I set the alarm :P The occasion: we, Beulah Akka, mama, and I had decided to attend the matins, the first communion service of the month.

4.45 A.M- I ‘stumble‘ into the kitchen to make coffee ( not that I am an expert, but fearing amma’s scolding later in the day for not having treated Akka and mama, ‘well‘) Duh! But then again, who can beat Chennai’s (read “my”) very own filter coffee? ;)

5.00 A.M- All set and ready to go. Having taken the gate keys, we walked out on the otherwise deserted road, today busy with other church goers.

5.20 A.M- On Purasaiwalkkam High road; At Adaikalnather Church. My eyes, for a moment welled! A trip down memory lane, it is, for me. The familiar early morning scent of Tana Street,the garlands, the malli poo ladies, the naatu marundhu kadai, the pristine white steeple and the red crucifix, atop, that could be seen from our No.7, Tana street( That was our No.10, Downing Lane), when it used to be, the lanes where I used to play, walk with athai and amachi, Oh!! I sense an unknown emotion that made me cry as well as smile.

5.30-6.45 A.M- Service, where I feeI am in Heaven again!

7.00 A.M- Out of church. God and sinners, reconciled :D

7.00-7.15 A.M- Akka’s shopping time.

Quite an experience after 10 long years, must say.

*Auto fare- Rs.50
Fresh keerai, brinjal, and two man chatti’s (earthenware) - Rs.55
The experience- Priceless!
There are some things ‘time’ can’t buy. For everything else, there’s money!!*

Since I am too lazy to manage another blog, I have decided to use this one to share current happenings, too!

Do find them interspersed :D

Tryst with the Laminar hood- Part 2

A sophomore, (atleast that is how 2nd years were referred to!) I walked into the same MicroB lab but this time for MicroB pracs. The experiment was soil plating on Nutrient agar and Potato Dextrose Agar, both my preparations, the experience of which would be shared under a separate heading!
I had all the dilutions ready. Here I would like to mention that my team members were there around me, apparently busy washing, making cotton plugs, playing with the lather, blowing bubbles and of course, talking. Thorough professionals, we were, see :P
It was slightly gloomy outside and hence we decided to switch the light of the laminar hood, on. And we worked with the light on. The experiment was a great success too. Everything about this practical was nice, except for the fact that we had actually worked with the UV light on, and UV is supposed be a disinfectant which also causes hmmm...hmmm...hmmm...hmmm...skin cancer :( Gosh!
We did not realise that until Pamela ma’am came running to see the violet light flickering. Enter ma’am, I was the helpless one with the loop, streaking :( Silence. We had, for 10 minutes, endangered each other’s lives!
Thankfully, Amit had come that day and so I was able to divert my mood for some time.
It took me a week to come out of that trauma. That incident still gives me the shivers and so it does for my friends too!
However, every time, we talk of the laminar hood and our *fatal* experiment, we laugh over that day :) True Sports? God knows what the future holds!

Tryst with the Laminar Hood-Part 1

Scene : Inside the MicroB lab.
The laminar hood welcomed me gaily that morning, though I wasn’t very *gay* :P. It was my first individual Mol Bio practical, and I would be marked for the way I do the plating. There were quite a few *accidents* in the previous batches, which included burning of cotton plugs, spilling of culture, thawing of medium, pouring hot boiling medium everywhere except inside the petridish, uneven spreading of the nutrient agar and *dirty* looks from Ma’am! I stood there, jittery, with the inoculum, waiting for my turn. And how I wanted the bell to ring! (Though honestly I wanted to finish it, that instant:P)
Then came my turn.
Step 1: With just ten fingers, I was expected to do too much:( (At least, for the first time, I strongly believed so). I had to hold the conical flask in my right hand, use my little finger and the ring finger of the right hand to remove the plug, and place the petriplate on the stand (with the left hand), show the mouth of the flask in the flame (to avoid contamination and to melt the lumps), pour the medium, again show it to the flame and plug it back!! ( Trial by the Bunsen burner :P).
Step 2: Adroitly remove the petriplate from the stand and place it closed, in the hood, and wait for the medium to set.
Step 3: If step 1 was hard, this step was even harder, because it involved simultaneous working with both the hands(and the brain too :P)
I had to :
a) Replace the petridish on the stand (for easy plating).
b) Hold the test tube in the left hand, follow the similar procedure as done with the conical flask, for removing the cotton plug(a smaller one, here. PHEW!)
c) Using the micropipette, pipette out 0.5 ml of the inoculum (using the thumb and the forefinger, while holding the plug in the last two fingers, and the tip is to be attached to the micropipette directly without using the hands, literally!). Open partially, the lid of the petridish using the right hand, and release the inoculum on the medium.
d) Plug the test tube, discard the tip, and replace the micropipette inside the beaker.
e) While the lid is still partially open, using the glass spreader( flamed and cooled), spread the inoculum. Be careful not to thaw the agar. The spreader always, should be immersed in alcohol.( The fire show while flaming is a sure treat :D)
f) Remove the petridish from the stand and place it carefully in the hood.
PHEW! I was done with it finally :) I went back to the gallery in all gaiety, as though I had won a war :D. It was a war indeed: a war against the flustered self!
It takes time for one to master, but once mastered, it becomes an easy thing to do. (considering the fact that this procedure is the basis for all Mol Bio techniques)

The Long Test Syndrome

Highly contagious and infectious; can wreak havoc in an otherwise peaceful student life, determines the CGPA, hence *considered* important.

Etiology:
Causative agent: Long tests

Symptoms:
Panicky walking up and down the corridor, nausea because of *sudden* remembrance that the needed notes are *missing*/*un-touched*, smiling Xerox shop owner, jingling of coins in the purse(Tender exact change, see :P), insomnia, High electricity bills, because the tube lights and the computer are never switched off, multi-tasking which consists of messaging *best* friend to ask what she’s studied, spreading out the photo copied sheets all around on the bed, while*trying* to learn, yelling at the person in the nearest vicinity, swollen eyes, cranky mood swings and endless whining thereof.

Pathogenesis:
Begins as soon as the schedule of the tests is out. The library could be seen thronged by students right from 8 A.M to 5.30 P.M, which otherwise is deserted, or inhabited by readers of fiction. The habitué!
The affected during the course of the syndrome have their heads bent down, looking at the long lines printed in black and white, whether it makes sense or not. The ridiculous features that accompany are Pin-drop silence, droopy eyes and untouched food!
(Eating takes up time, you see :P)

Diagnosis:
If all the above symptoms are come across, then no doubt, it’s the Long Test syndrome! However, the most characteristic feature is the deafening silence.

Treatment :
Duh!!Take the test:( and breathe a sigh of relief!

Prevention:
Though there is no preventive measure as per the rules of the college, a tailor-made method is to do the first and second Long test series well and bunk the third one, though it means unwarranted comments from all corners!!

Anniversary

It has been a year now, today, to be more precise, since I formally 'divorced' my beloved biotechnology, and hence this blog. Here in this space, I would be sharing the memorable experiences I had, both inside and outside the classroom.
To begin with, the definition of biotechnology: Biotechnology is the usage of technology in the existing biological procedures for the purpose of simplifying the processes and fastening the results.Plainly speaking, it's the *marriage* of biology and technology. The definition is a simplified version of what it actually is, according to the books.But being a bio techie myself, it is OK to tweak, insert,alter and delete the unwanted sequences(read "too technical terminology").