Indian Village: Arrival of Internet

Glancing through the home page for Hansdehar, a self proclaiming ‘first knowledge village of India’ (http://www.smartvillages.org/hansdehar/index.htm) filled me with a curiosity to learn more about what had led the village authorities to open a website for the same. This curiosity was then replaced by an iota of pride that at last, internet has reached my villages, but after going through the website i feel confused and a little hopeless. In the village problems section, you will find Illietracy and also unavailability of a primary health care unit. If there are so many illiterate villagers then who is reading the web? Of the literate group, how many will be healthy to make use of the web without a primary health center? I would be more happy if the facility section would have a school and a health care instead of grocery stores, salons and bike repair shops. On the other hand there are other village web pages namely the Tavdi village in Gujrat, where one can see that some expatriates living in UK are involved in donating and building a primary school that is the right way to go (http://www.tavdivillage.com/index.html).
Surprisingly, the right way of educating the villagers about their livelihood that comes from agriculture is by Pravin Deshmukh (http://www.ibnlive.com/news/meet-pravin-deshmukh-vidarbhas-netsavvy-farmer/48362-3.html) who being a farmer and having incurred losses, took to the web and realized that it could be a true knowledge base. He found out the right crops in his farm soil type and went for it and came out victorious. Not only did he personally profit from growing the right crop, but the most appreciable part of this human is that he now goes from village to village, distributing the knowledge of the web to his fellow farmers. That is indeed the right way of using the internet for the upliftment of the Indian Village. I wish and hope that village authorities do not neglect the problems at hand that need immediate attention rather than competing with each other to open websites with appalling lists of village problems.

‘Sweet’

We won and the victory is sweeter because the opposing team was as good as us. It was a well fought out match. Our strategy of getting early wickets worked. We found a team India captain and the cricket team morale is high.

Nothing fishy about it….just science.

You might have already read the article in science (subscription required, SCIENCE VOL317, SEPT 14, 2007, pp1517). But it is still a fascinating attempt at saving a fish species from extinction. Okutsu et al., injected Trout spermatogonial cells (cells predestined to form sex cells in adults) into sterile triploid Salmon embryos. When the spermatogonial cells were injected into sterile male Salmon embryos, functional sperm cells were produced at adulthood and when the same cells were transplanted into ovaries of sterile female salmon, they gave rise to functional eggs at maturity. The progeny from these sperms or eggs gave rise to fertile Trout at a Mendelian ratio of 3:1. What is really interesting is that depending on the organ and the environment in which the spermatogonial cells are present, they can either develop into eggs or sperm. You might also find this paper interesting, its in pdf format, so you will need acrobat reader. (http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/103/8/2725)

Men in Blue- A Recipe for a Heart Attack

Yes it’s the men in blue, the team that sinks us in a sea of blue i.e.; the Indian cricket team. They have done it again. The India Pakistan twenty 20 match like all the past Indi-Pak matches, had to be another nail biter. I know most of you have given up on the Indian Cricket team and are backing up the hockey team instead, and rightfully so, but kya kare, aadat ho gai hai na. Here I was watching the Pakistan team bat and the Indian team field and for the consistently inconsistent team, India showed a sudden glint, a distant hope, a rare streak…. and as suddenly as it came, it rapidly vanished into a cloud of gloom in the second last over. Yes the Indian team fought with Pathan’s cool nerves and Sreesanth’s good line and length, but Agarkar just…. well lets just not talk about him, and even though at one time Pakistan needed 29 runs of 12 here I was looking at horror at every ball that came of Agarkar’s over. Anyways if you need to do some serious aerobic exercise, please watch an Indian cricket match. It will raise your heart beat and blood flow and before it ends, it will make you gasp for air and after all this if your poor heart survives, you can cool down by switching to aastha channel and calm down with some real soul searching with questions like why the heck did I watch that match, I had promised myself not to, then why did I?

Of Fake Doctors and Clinical Trials

IBN-live today has reported that some fake doctors with no medical or falsified medical degrees are practicing in India. This doesn’t really come as a surprise. Normally we all visit clinics with a signboard containing name of the doctor with his/her degrees. That is enough identification for us. But how many of us really do or have any means of making a background check of the man we trust with our lives? This is more so in small towns and villages. There is no government agency to supervise or check the numerous clinics mushrooming in our cities and towns on a daily basis.
In the same note, i would like to mention about the outsourcing of clinical trials to India. Due to a huge population of disease ridden individuals, India forms an ideal ground for clinical trials of new drugs by the multinational pharma companies. This is in a way good because drugs against parasitic diseases like malaria and kala-azar and certain types of cancer are normally seen at a higher incidence in Indian population. A large group of such infected population would be hard to find in American or European population. Also the cost of such trials is more effective in developing nations.
My worry is about corruption and falsification of data during such trials. I also worry because there is hardly any patient rights in India. In the US, patients on drug trials have to sign official forms granting their permission. However in India a large group of underprivileged sick population exists. The government should set up supervisory committees which can educate the above people with a thorough understanding of what is going to be done to them and also should have written documentation of their permission.
The committee should include the ministry of health, some good doctors from premier medical colleges and of course scientists. There should also be laws to guideline such trials.

Indian Women who made it big

Some days ago I was listening to Paula Deen’s biography and it made me wonder what it takes for a person to fight against adversity and keep working hard passionately for what they believe in and one day to win against all odds. She had started a cooking and delivery business for 200$ and is now the proud owner of two very good restaurants and a 20 million dollar business. She had two responsible sons who helped her deliver the lunch when she just started and a very supporting brother who was more like a son to her. She said that during her tougher times, she never dreamt to make it big but concentrated on making it through that week and the next. But she always labored 12-14 hours a day. She never gave up and took one step at a time.
There are a lot of Indian women who have worked hard to get where they are right now. Kiran Majumdar Shaw, Kiran Bedi, Medha Patkar are just a few. However they all started from scratch and worked their way up with sheer grit and determination and are fighting it out even today. But there are millions of individuals who go unmentioned. The social workers in red light areas, the women working in slums for better hygiene and education, the film and documentary makers who inform the world about poverty and social conditions around the world, the NGO’s who have opened schools for the underprivileged. They all are happy doing what they really want and at the end of the day that is what really matters.

Asha Bhonsle turned 74 on sept 8th

There has never been a time when our beloved ASHA di’s song has not played at any given single hour somewhere in some part of India. Her legendary career started when she was a child and she has mesmerised us for six decades now. Through her talent, she has soothed a million heart. Her songs are timeless and like her voice, they are and will be immortal. Although age is irrelevant when you think of the legend that she is, we wish her a very happy birthday and also that she will croon a lot more melodies for years to come.
chura liya hain tumne jo dilko, nazar nahi churana sanam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asha_Bhosle

Made in India

Ever looked hard at the sewage tank shields in streets of USA?
Yes….. they are all made in India. Well makes me wonder if the shields are all exported, there must be a shortage back home. Could this be a possible reason for uncovered tanks(pot holes) in the streets of Kolkata?

Probasi Pujo

Pujo be it in West Bengal or anywhere else is a time to come together. Come together with friends and family, come together with ones own thoughts, come together with ones sense of belonging, of having a root. I have been fortunate enough to experience probasi pujo all my life. I have never missed a pujo, be it in Bangalore or Los Angeles. The five days were a time to forget our differences and come together as a one big bong family. As a child, I used to act in plays and dance dramas during the pujo functions. For the whole year we would practice every weekend and finally it would be over in five days. That always kept our bong tradition alive. There was no competition to outperform each other. I for one, wanted the performance to be over, since immediately after that, we would receive a box of goodies for all our hard work. Those experiences will be alive with me till the end. But we also had a team of adults who guided us throughout the process. They took time out so that we could enjoy. We will always be thankful for that.
In the USA, pujo is also very much like that of Bangalore. Except there are groups of people in one pujo instead of one big family. I guess adults do not make friends as easily as children do and often run to a familiar crowd than going out of the way to make friends with strangers. One good thing about pujo in USA is that Indian entertainment groups (famous artists, rock bands) are invited who would otherwise be impossible to watch at close view in India. Other than that there is always good food for five days. Who doesn’t like mangsho bhaat, labra, khichuri and of course mouth watering misthis? Other than that, just driving for 20 minutes and getting to see Durga protima with her four children itself fills us with memories and a sense of belonging.
The following link will guide you to bengali associations throughout USA for probashi pujo
http://www.calcuttaweb.com/puja/overseas_2006.shtml

Triggering Agents

On August 21, eight teachers in Bishnupur’s Bakhrahat high school were held hostage by students, their parents and colleagues for breaking a verbal dress code. Although the central and state government has given the teachers freedom to dress appropriately, the school has a verbal dress code of namely the traditional Sari. Now as a woman who wears both a Sari and a Salwar Kameez, i know that both can be worn with conservative finesse. I for one do not want my children to go to school and be distracted about the clothes of the teacher rather than worrying about grades.
However my thoughts were about what would have led to demonstration of such an opposition by the teachers. One of the teacher’s it seems had had an operation and wanted to wear something comfortable for her travel to and from the school. However the head mistress was very firm and was non obliging. Well i think that in another time, another place things would have been fine if the teacher in question would have reasoned with the head mistress about her operation. However in the real world, things are very different. What if the the otherwise complacent head mistress had had a tiff at home that morning. What if the teacher in question had a bad day traveling to the school in spite of wearing a salwar kameez (you know being already irritated as she was afterall recuperating form an operation). Things got a little out of hand. However the teacher had a good following and soon eight of her female colleagues decided to support her by wearing salwar kameez themselves.
Yes, i do love revolutions and they have to start somewhere, but i would have been more happy if the dress code would have been both a sari and a salwar kameez instead of either or. What if the teacher in question wants to wear her batic printed sari on a friday morning or the headmistress wants to wear a salwar kameez on the sports day (sprinting 50 yards with a sari is a recipe for tripping and falling). So i guess if i were the school authority, there would be free donuts for all.