The Cell....

Its 10am on a bright Sunday morning. I look outside the window and I can see nature in its full glory. Lush green lawns, flowers in full bloom, leaves swaying in the gentle breeze and trees spreading out their branches soaking in the sunlight. It reminds me of the lessons on photosynthesis. How these green plants serve a purpose much more than just beauty, how they manufacture food and thus form the base of our food chain. And all this is done by cells, not a single cell, but millions of them working in perfect synchronization with each other. But fundamentally its one cell, so minute that we need to magnify it about a hundred times, only to see it as a tiny speck!!
As I turn back to the book I am reading- “Cell Biology- Bruce Alberts”, I marvel at the functioning of this molecule. Hundreds of books and thousands of research articles have been written to explain it and yet there are quite a few things that we are still unaware of.
Its amazing how such a tiny molecule makes such a major difference to our very existence!
Life is said to have evolved from a single cell, and here we are, millions of years later, trying to understand the functioning of a single cell!! And today we are alive essentially coz our cells are doing their jobs correctly. Its amazing really, there are cells which divide to creates more of their own kind so that they can perform a function. There are cells which divide to create others which are meant for different functions and also cells which divide and just sit there silently not doing anything at all! And then suddenly one day, when the body needs it, they will come out and take charge of the situation. Its like a never ending army of soldiers. After the frontline falls, there is a backup ready to replace them. But this backup is not always there and that’s when we are in trouble. What intrigues me is how do the cells know what to do? How are they so perfectly timed and so perfectly synchronized?!
I mean, think about it, one cell doesn’t work properly and the next thing you know, you have a deadly disease in your system!! Scary, intimidating and yet, fascinating!!
What is more fascinating is how the understanding of this one cell can give you insights on the working of a system. Talk about being fundamental!! You know what is wrong with the cell, fix it, and your problem is solved! But alas, if only a cell were that simple…..
I wish I could see a cell, see how it works, the intricacies of its structure, the ingenious engineering behind its flawless functioning. It’s a system in itself. A system so robust, our life depends on it. A system so self sufficient, it can survive on its own. A system so complex, that every new insight creates a thousand other questions. A system so fascinating, that man has created some of the most brilliant technological innovations just to study the cell. And a system so beautiful, it has to be the finest creations on this planet!!!!

Real life X-men??

I had a very interesting discussion with my roomie a couple of days back. Both of us are trainees at the same research institute and we were discussing our experiences and the people that we have met so far. And it turns out both of us shared one feeling, pure awe, wonder and admiration!!! These feelings were inspired by the people we had met and heard about and seen working .
But what amazes me is not just their work, but their zeal, the enthusiasm and their approach to the problem. It’s just exhilarating to see these people at work. Be it the scientist who owns the lab or the people working in the lab. I think this was what prompted my roomie to comment “ they are not normal, they are mutants!!!! “ funny I know , but it summarized her feelings aptly.
And I think that’s when I said, “maybe , these are our real life X-Men!!”
I mean, think about it, all of us who have followed X-men have imagined at some point of time ourselves, having some power possessed by our favorite X-men. And who better than scientists to make this dream into a reality?
Things that seem very common to us now like the airplane or the submarine or a satellite or an X-ray machine , were at some point of time in history considered impossible or maybe out of the ordinary. And yet we use them everyday thanks to the scientists and engineers who made it possible with sheer hard work and brilliance. And if we observe such people, I think we come to the same conclusion, they are not like u or me, they are a class apart , or like me roomie said “mutants”
Forget about technological inventions and supercool devices. Imagine if u do get a power like Cyclops or wolverine of jean gray or one of the other X-men , it would be because ur DNA has also been altered to resemble theirs. Now think, who would alter your DNA to suit your requirement?? Scientists again!!!! So if science and research do find out a way to create such “mutants”, it would only be because of the brilliance of those researchers and scientist who make such a thing possible. So you see, it does sort of make them real life X-men!!!!
This was about the thought process and thinking ability of these people. Their hardwork is also something to be mentioned. Being a researcher or even a wannabe researcher is a 24*7 task. There are no holidays, and no 5 day week corporate system possible in this field. It all depends on how your experiments turn out to be. I have encountered people who work day and night without complains!! And I have seen people perform an experiment on such large scales and with such efficiency, it’s almost like a manufacturing unit, and all this they do on their own, talk about robotic arms!!!!
What drives them is their interest, curiosity and a never give up attitude. They haven’t got their DNA altered, its just the way they think that sets them apart and enables them to be what they are. Mutations in their thoughts maybe or like I have been wondering for some time now, real life X-men!!!

Of scientists and temperatures…..

Well let me clarify the title of this blog, it’s the temperature of the lab we are talking about , not the global or body or incubator or mental state temperature for that matter. :P
So yeah, temperature of the lab, in the sense ambient temperature or in scientific ( or layman ) terms, RT – bole toh room temperature of the place we are working in. By we, I mean all the people in the lab that I have been allotted to work in, for the next six months at a premier research institute of the country.
As I may have mentioned to some of my friends before, this place is great with all the facilities that one can hope for.And hence one thing that is abundantly found here is the air conditioner, which is omnipresent in all the closed places (except for the corridors and toilets of course :P ).Also, people here can be found wearing sweaters perennially!
The problem (or rather conflict) arises when people working in the lab differ on what temperature the AC should be set at, like it happened in my lab today morning (actually it’s been there for the past one week now). One of the senior( I mean education wise) people in the lab got a cold which worsened, owing to the low temperature in the lab and even colder conditions in this city and hence with everyone’s consent set the AC to a temperature about 2˚ higher than usual. Now this person is completely cured of his cold, but the AC temp remained same. Well for the past one week, the weather in this beautiful city has been quite cold due to the rains and the winds, so nobody really objected to the lab being warmer than the outside environment.
But for some strange reason today, conflict arose about the lab temp again, and being the scientists that they are, people tried to sort it out in their own ways. One person actually called the instrumentation dept to clarify the issue, wherein he was informed that the temperature displayed on the indicator in the lab is actually a little higher than the actual temp. Not convinced (well they are scientists, they need proof), this person asked them to send in a person with the most accurate thermometer they had in their possession! So the dept duly sent in personnel with some thermometer to prove their point. Now this thermometer (being extremely accurate as was claimed) showed diff temp. at diff places n the lab which perplexed the people more!!! Moreover the thermometer in the lab showed a different reading altogether and all the 3 readings weren’t even coinciding!!!! Perplexed, people decided to set the lab temp as the one recommended in the user manual for the most expensive piece of equipment in the lab. Unfortunately, the manual did not have any specific information for the same and mentioned the temp in very ambiguous terms. So finally they decided to take a poll to reset the temp. And as luck would have it (not luck actually, its science, the science of probability :P ) , there were people with completely different points of view and hence no consensus was reached.
Well they are a bunch of scientists here, how can they not find a solution to a problem!? So the problem was put on hold till all the people in the lab had arrived. But alas!! That just created a new problem, more people, and more opinions! Also some people insisted that no matter what temperature is set; they want the indicator to show 24˚C!!!! Then there were deliberations like,-
“why is the lab feeling hot now, it was feeling cold before we left for lunch!!” ,
“aap sweater pehnoge toh garmi toh lagegi na!! ” ,
“ yaar, 10 min pehle lab mein thand lag rahi thi, aur ab garmi ho rahi hai !!”
“aap ka metabolism rate jyada hai, isiliye aap ko garmi lag rahi hai”
“ tumhe hypothyroidism hai toh hum sab garmi mein baithe!!! “ and so on and so forth….
Well so much for scientists trying to solve a problem. I am leaving the lab right now, but inspite of so much probing and thought put into the issue, the problem still lies unanswered……

A monsoon evening...

Yeh sama , sama hai yeh pyaar ka,
Kisike intezaar ka;
Dil na chura le kahi mera, mausam bahar ka……
The song is playing on the radio, its 10pm and a typical work night at home. My parents are watching the days news and my sister busy with her homework. The weather outside is brilliant, there’s a light shower and cool breeze blows the hair off your face if u step outside or into the balcony or just stand by the window.

Rim jhim gire saawan, sulag sulag jaaye mann…..
Next song on the radio, and I am already impatient. How can I possibly sit in my room when there’s such an awesome weather outside!!!!! I go and stand in the balcony, I can feel a few raindrops on my face, the wind blows in my hair and I close my eyes to enjoy the sensation of pure uninterrupted bliss. And then suddenly as if by a time machine, I am transported into a different world altogether. This world has a different set of people and a different surroundings and an altogether different way to enjoy the rains…
In this world, such a weather is synonymous with empty hostel rooms and an overcrowded library lawns, filled with people playing Frisbee or footsal. I can see groups of people sitting and chatting outside the library or just watching those playing on the lawns. The more enthusiastic ones can be seen having chai and pakoras at the jhopdi, the little ‘lazy’ ones –maggi and cappuccino at Nescafe…..
I remember the long walks on the campus with my friends just to feel the wind in my hair, the periods of intense discussions or meaningless blabber or just a serene calm which actually culminated into a feeling of the most meaningful conversation. I remember the over extended breaks in between the long study sessions in the library just the day before the exam when the weather suddenly turns great and the sunset more beautiful than on any other days and the evenings more pleasing and enjoyable somehow.

Yeh shaam mastani, madhosh kiye jaaye;
Mujhe door koi kheeche, teri aur liye jaaye……..
The shower is still on and somewhere in my minds eye, I can catch a glimpse of the magnificent and austere B-Dome standing proudly like a commander overlooking the working of his subordinates. I can see the zuari river flowing behind the campus and the lighthouse flashing its light to guide the ships. I remember the lyrics of “ab ke saawan” floating in from a hostel and setting the mood for a perfect monsoon evening.

The song changes-

yeh raatein, yeh mausam, nadi ka kinara, yeh chanchal hawa……
it reminds me of some very special evenings. Remember the long talks outside the hostel at night, right till curfew time, or sitting on the benches watching the highway when the conversation is carried mostly whispering in each others ears or walking around the campus hand in hand trying to avoid anyone else or the stolen moments on intimacy on the darker lanes in the late hours………….
Its amazing how one monsoon evening can spark a chain of thoughts that transports me into another world altogether. A world I lived in the four best years of my life, made the best of friends and have the most beautiful memories of. When it was time to leave I was reluctant, I thought I would miss this world, I would miss the people and I would miss all the great time I spent here. But now I realize, I wont miss it really, coz to miss something is to acknowledge its absence in your life. And I cant say that to something that has now essentially become a part of my existence…….

So close, no matter how far.....

We have but today,
And I want to spend all my time with u;
So that when we part and walk our own way,
I can still share the memories with u……
In our hearts we can still share all our laughs,
And I will always remember your smiling face;
For this is a relation of a lifetime,
It transcends all boundaries of time and space……
I may not be around, but don’t you feel alone,
Coz in your minds eye u can always see me,
And in my heart I will always be with you;
In my dreams we will meet everyday,
And in this lifetime we will always be together……..

This post is dedicated to all my dear friends on campus. We have little time left together, and I want to make the most of it. With all the talk of we not being able to meet again and everything going to change soon, here's hoping that this change will only be for the good, and all of us have much more happier times to come.....