Musings of a Microbiologist

Everyone is writing about that in their blog. So I wont. I don't think talking about it will help..atleast not here. To everyone reading this blog - if you are that concerned and agitated about the current state of defence and security in India, please don't waste time discussing it online. Go out and vote in the next general elections, state elections, whatever, instead of calling it a "chutti" and sitting at home. If you feel that no one is worth voting for, then cast your vote as a "I vote for none" vote....yes, there IS that option...look it up. This isn't a dinner/Barista discussion topic. If you want to do something about it, go out and atleast show your support at candle light vigils, and in peace protest marches. And if you cant do that, then, I repeat, don't waste time being a pseudo intellectual, and discussing it online. I'm veering off topic. This blog post isn't about terrorism. Its about happy stuff, and what may seem to many l

So I don't know how many of you feel this way, but I , for one, am perplexed by women who abuse all the time. Let me rephrase, I'm perplexed by people who abuse all the time. One of the most over-used (I was going to say abused, but then it seemed cliched) words of all time is the F-word. There are people I've known who find it essential to use the word fuck (this is an R-rated blog post) in almost every single sentence that leaves their mouth. "Fuck you..yada yada" or "F that shit .. etc etc" or "you etc etc fucking etc etc". I mean how hard is it to not use the same word again and again? The English vocabulary is very very vast, and people who are giving/have given the GRE will nod their heads solemnly when they read this. For the rest of you guys who read well, you should still agree. But I digress. Inspite of having a gazillion words, of which I'm sure a good many are abuses, why, why is it so so life essential to use the word "fuc

So as an introduction to my blog, I thought I'd write about my work (don't start snoring yet!) I work in the field of Infectious diseases, and since most of our work deals with trying to understand how disease affects humans, we work with human cells as a template for our studies. I, in particular, study certain STIs. Although not many people would admit this, I do believe that what I do , is very useful and essential in the study of women's health. However, I will admit, doing what I do, detailed studies and descriptions of certain organs and processes becomes essential. Uncomfortable situations have been known to arise, and we counter these with a sense of humor. I was quite apprehensive about working in this field initially. Apprehension soon changed to alarm and horror on learning that my research advisor would be a member of the opposite gender, who was just 8 years elder to me. I was prepared for a significant amount of embarrassment, followed by panic, ending with a

Ok, so its probably not a great idea to write the second post in my blog about something which I have very little knowledge of. I don't understand Tamil, and probably never will. Dont get me wrong..I think its a great language, very deep, very meaningful, culturally rich and with a fantastic history behind it..just like my mother tongue Malayalam. However, not even to save my life could I ever speak it..again just like my err.. mother tongue..I guess I'm..linguistically challenged? However I'm NOT visually challenged..and while the finer nuances of the language may be lost on me..the magic of sight has enabled to make very astute observations about Tamil movies and its songs, actors etc...vis-a-vis .. they were AWFUL. Lets take a trip back in time..to somewhere in the 70s or 80s..or maybe even as late as the early 90s...lets face it, more often than not, watching those movies, or even snippets, made one want to cry one's eyes out... Leading men, who continued to play le