Who is a copy cat??

We have been used to seeing bollywood movies are copies of holywood movies and bollywood songs are lifted from some popular western songs. However, not so long ego, I noticed one popular number by JLo is a copy of yester years bollywood number "Sochna kya jo bhi hoga dekha jayega". The you tobe video is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91YtNfGRO-0

Here is : JLo On the floor song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4H_Zoh7G5A

And check this song by Shakira:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arW3xLkanh4

A day filled with action...

Some days go by when you smile in the end thinking "my time was well spent". Indeed today is one such rare day - I can vouch for that as a successful day. I have shifted to my official quarters on 8th of April and 9th 10th a trip was planned to Shantiniketan. Upon my return I headed for Ahmedabad followed by Mumbai. Hardly there was any time, for me to set up the new house. The physical allocation of objects to the places have already been done, but my aesthetic sense did not get kick start until today. Of the loads of work that remains to be done here, one more task that was always existing as a priority but shifted back in  the queue is the checkup of our new car! And learning driving in Indian cars and roads. I decided to take driving lessons and my trainer comes at 5 AM in the morning. Today was one such day, when just before leaving the house I casually grabbed my purse. But later remembered that I forgot my cell phone. To that I thought, well I will not need one... Today was my second class. It is needless to mention that in my first day, it was tough I could not get the vechicle move more than 2 inches. But today I was very comfortable with gear and clutch. Then we realized that the car  needs fuel. So, we entered a gas station and filled in diesel. Bam, after that the car would not start. This problem existed earlier also, and we were taking it easy, now it was in its most severe mode - it did not start at all... I am not sure about my affiliation with god, I love to believe in karma, but then, all of a sudden I felt the urge to pray and request god to start the vehicle. It worked before most of the time, but sigh this time it did not. I thought damn, god is not going to help me, now what to do. Now long story short, I called my husband who  made several phone calls. It was 6 AM in the morning, so obviously much help was not available. But miraculously, he found the customer services number that can tow your car for free if it is under warranty. Now they arrived towed the car to the dealer and did the machine checkup. But we were planning to schedule a car checkup earlier for this saturday, but they said , no it is not possible. But now it seems the car went forcibly for a checkup on saturday and that to we did not have to take it. That was the best part of it. I bought some plants, placed it in my sun room. Bought certain essential things of the house that was pending for a while. We posted 2 important documents that was also in thje todo list. The post office is just 10 minutes walking from my office and I got a call from flipkart guys that they are waiting at the office to deliver the product. I thought what a great timing!! I received my solar lantern ( a very cute one), got my nameplate, got names printed for the lobby and post box.Now this is called as the time indeed well spent and I am really very happy about the whole inconveniences, troubles amidst the silver lining that made the day a very happy one:-)

An Incredible Trip to ShantiNiketan

Shanti Niketan is located near Bolpur railway station about 150 kms from Kolkata. I have already visited the place twice, ever since I joined IICB. Part of the reason is, one of my professor with whom I collaborate is an HOD at the Biotech department at Viswa Bharati. He has the largest algal collection in India and I am very interested in these tiny photosynthetic organisms since nothing much has been studied about them. They have great potential as nitrogen fixers and biofuel producers.

April 9th and 10th are the 2 days we kept for visiting the University. I took my entire group along, some working in this project and some not. It is noteworthy to mention that my students had a blast. We took an 8.30 morning train from Howrah to Bolpur. I forgot the train name though. It took about 4 hours to reach there at 12.30 PM in Bolpur railway station. My professor had also invited me to speak on nextgen sequencing for the Msc. biotech course work. I was felicitated by none other than our Institute directors sister, who is also a professor at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics and a visiting faculty at Shanti Niketan. One thing to note here that it is customary to say sadhu in  the end of a talk rather than clap. That is a culture at Shantiniketan. My stay was arranged at the picturesque Ratan Kutir and my students stay was arranged at the Purbapalli guest house.  In the evening, I had a meeting with my professor and the students and he introduced me to the organisms one by one with their proper history. It was really amazing the way he has kept them and collected them. In the evening I had the opportunity to have a talk with the VC of Ravenshaw University. The next day early morning, I got up to attend the prayer in their prayer hall, that remains largely closed through out except for every wednes day in the morning at 6.30 AM. There is a nice banyan tree under which Ravindranath Tagore used to meditate, that is protected quite well. On 10th there was an Oriya Literary meeting, where they formally introduced me and I had a chance to meet with VC of Shantiniketan. It was incredible feeling to be among the learned. Meanwhile, my students had good time taking pictures of themselves in many poses (courtesy facebook). At about 12.30 PM we returned to the railway station and took Shantiniketan express back to Howrah. From there E1 bus back to Jadavpur. I must say it was a really really nice fun, crispy productive trip. Looking forward to getting good results...

Listing is important in Life

It was great to meet all my near and dear ones in the US and I truly had a great time!! Chitti's special dosas and cookings is simply awesome. Dewal's house, her vegetarian dishes and the movies were the best things I enjoyed. The walk by the small railway station, the snow laden soil, the jumping fence will stay with me forever! Well all good things and bad things passes away with time...
I have been back from the US about 10 days back, and still the jetlag passes over me on and off. But the best thing about the trips is you get to get up early which I was struggling with for quite sometimes now. I am in a much happier space right now. Early morning getting up (Thanks to jetlag:) warm water with lemon followed by crispy chai then yoga/Zumba as it comes..
What works for me best is to make a list of action items and strike them off as it goes. It gives a incredible sense of success and feeling when all my action items are struck. In my new lab space, situation is different. I am sitting on the drivers seat, where I am responsible for lots of things including the finances, the science part, the trouble shooting part, the teaching part. It is overwhelming at times, but I am sailing through. Being a manager is not easy. Earlier, I used to think managers are just a waste of everything, but jobs getting done is the managers responsibility. The most important thing as a manager is to be patient and persistent and stay cool. I have learnt it the hard way. I have to keep following up on items that I would not like to. Sometimes I get to the nerves of the people by repeated following up or you can say over following up... Any chemical comes, equipment comes, whether the item is perfect, whether the quantity is OK, whether the payment is processed are all my job to oversee. So, folks if you are transitioning into being a manager, you are entirely in a different territory and lonely! You are on the other side of the fence. Be prepared to be gossiped, to be criticized, to be mis-understood, but never ever take any of these personally. Just focus on your goal and keep moving...