Mrs. Vinita D'sa--Hope in a Chemistry Lab

Its unusual that my 100th post on this blog is a tribute post to a teacher I love and respect immensely.
You see, teachers are such wonderful beings. They hold you and your dreams in their tender hands, always playing with them, shaping them ..never holding them too tightly.
They know just when to let go of those dreams and place them in your hands. They apply the right amount of pressure, add just the right amount of love and just the right amount of knowledge to make you a complete person. They are doctors of our personalities.
For Mrs. Vinita D'sa, teaching Chemistry was a passion...no matter how many doubts you asked her ...she always had a smile and a simple solution..I once remember we were doing reversible and irreversible reactions in 7th and she jokingly said that Death is an irreversible reaction. Little did I know that she would be the catalyst in this irreversible reaction.
For her every student was the same and she made it a point to diminish bias in her teaching methods. Her legs used to ache..and we used to wonder whether it was momentary pain..till she revealed in a meeting that she was having some form of medical problem. She still continued effortless in her teaching. Her ability to make us understand complex equations and remember each of our strengths and weaknesses..allowed her to explore our personalities and no matter how hard the day was, or how difficult the test, we looked forward to Chemistry exams and classes. She once told me to take some talkativeness from my brother and transfer my silence to him. She knew our families...I think she knew our souls too.
Its beautiful, you see, how even after her passing away, she has left her residue in all of us. Its a spiritually blissful acknowledgment, that whenever we will apply equations, understand reactions, we will be replicating her ideas and her thoughts. It feels sad, but in this moment of grief, I feel we should celebrate her life and her personality. And what better way to do that, than thank God that we knew her and that she still lives in all of us, IN HER OWN WONDERFUL WAY.

The cup of my life may be empty
sans words and thoughts, it lies still
still the journey with you while you were there
added strength to my will.

And though the winter seems upon you,
in a fond day of colorful spring,
I shall remember you as a blooming person
While the angels above will sing.


Because I could not stop for Death --
He kindly stopped for me --
The Carriage held but just Ourselves --
And Immortality.--EMILY DICKINSON

Wikipedia's Oversimplified Approach

The number of times I have relied on Wikipedia for information is uncountable. But the fact that its edited by semi experts, shows in the areas related to science. The pedantic approach is unmistakable. It confuses, not simplifies.
Thomas Goetz of Wired explains in detail.


The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn't think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential. --Steve Ballmer

Heels

I have an aversion to heels that quite unexplainable. Yet I love the look of them on my feet. Essentially a sneakers, sweatshirt and cargo pants girl, my tryst with heels began when I recently bought a lovely pair of stilettos and tried them on for a wedding. Needless to say they do provide a wonderful confidence booster if you don't consider the torture your feet go through! One teeny bit of advice..take a friend/brother/pillar along with you because, standing and then suddenly walking can be a tightrope exercise. Its a much agreed to fact that heels make a woman look sexy, (slight deviation: Barkha Dutt is sexy, and I've rarely seen her in heels! ), but with a price of course.

The interesting bit is that when you do wear heels, you like to eat drink and walk like a model and princess. There is an extra air of importance. Ah! the things a good pair of stiletto can do to you! I have seen most girls strut their stuff at least till someone asks them to stop behaving like ducks on stilts. ( of course, one I learn to balance myself on the heels, I'll strut..till then human support will do!). The men...ah that silly breed ....mock at our intelligence because we wear heels, despite knowing the harmful effects. Which maybe true, but then , our muted intelligence, is based on the knowledge, that the male species, do fall for a good set of heels and vital stats! So in effect isn't the silly breed sillier still!

More shoe fetishes and a detailed report of a never ending shoe shopping spree will be accounted in the coming months! And no..the girl in the pic is not me!

"she may be the song that summer sings
maybe the chill that autumn brings...
maybe a hundred different things
within the measure of a day"
Elvis Costello's rendition of 'She' from Notting Hill is easily the song of my dreams.

Stupid: Definitions of Obscenity

Minus the dictionary definitions, we as a large human race, define abstract virtues by our own sense of reasoning and our own method of reaching a reasonable conclusion. Note: the key word is reasonable, which by some prodding and thinking I can safely assume is logical and doesn't harm society in any which way.
Take the Gere Shilpa case. Attorney Poonal Chandra Sharma thinks that the act was " obscene", Magistrate Dinesh Chandra Gupta has ordered the videotape from NDTV and many more members of the judiciary are in the process of reaching a reasonable conclusion of their own. The problem here is that the definition is harming society. No,no, not because we are wasting our time on useless newsprint and sound bytes( efficient utilization of time is hardly the forte of the Indian judiciary and the media.), but because the definition of obscenity has to be extended.

Last week I saw a naked woman at the railway station. Of course, how dumb am I! This does not represent a picture of "obscenity", because the overactive judiciary who wants to "save" the "children" of this country from negative influences, doesn't think a poor woman on the street who needs money to buy clothes, may become a negative influence to a child. And then she isn't famous. So what if she is the victim of false promises and ineffective planning and enforcement of poverty removal programmes! Thats hardly a PIL to file! Most of the "children" travel buy buses and railways and will see naked men and women at traffic signals and at the railway stations. But they will "know" that the poor are poor so they are naked and not "obscene" and Shilpa aunty is a bad aunty coz she kissed an uncle on TV, so she is "obscene"
The bottom line is that the definition of obscenity is a personal definition, so in effect the PIL is not wrong. But when I am extending my shock and disbelief at something that pales in contrast to the obscenity resonant in most K serials and day to day life, I need to take a reality check.
Till then the trivialities shall continue!
Never mind the pending cases.

Save the Earth and yourself

The sudden interest in Global Warming and its prevention has to do with the "March Of the Penguins"(see post below).
The more I think about the movie the more I believe that we need to do everything possible to save the natural habitat around us(not that the movie talks about the issue of global warming).
The first in this series is a site called Globalwarming.org. This site has extensive resources under the 'For students' section, for newbies who want to learn about the laws and treaties related to Global Warming. Updated almost on a daily basis, the site gives you well researched info about the happenings around the world.
Last week's India Today(April 23rd issue) had a brilliant cover story on Global Warming. If you can get hold of it from some raddiwala, please do. There is a list of simple prevention tools that can be adopted by most of us; who find it difficult to go out of the way in supporting the campaign(though the question of saving our lives should make all of us go out of the way!).
The next bit would be to go and see the 'Inconvenient Truth'.
As my friend says , " Even if the whole global warming campaign is hogwash, how much harm can some prevention cause? ". The global warming debate is clearly over. Its time to act now.

We can drift along as though there were still a cold war, wasting hundreds of billions of dollars on weapons that will never be used, ignoring the problems of people in this country and around the world, being one of the worst environmental violators on earth, standing against any sort of viable programs to protect the world's forests or to cut down on acid rain or the global warming or ozone depletion. We can ignore human rights violations in other countries, or we can take these things on as true leaders ought to and accept the inspiring challenge of America for the future.--Jimmy Carter

March of the Penguins

I think we all should take a genuine effort to remove time from our busy lives to catch a glimpse of "March of the Penguins". Its such a remarkable effort at highlighting the most beautiful yet harshest aspects of the Emperor Penguin's life.
The movie is a documentary by Luc Jacquet, with a narration by Morgan Freeman(Impeccable speaking skills!). Co-produced by the National Geographic Society, it is a stunning showcase of penguin courtship( most of which is similar to ours!!) and the commitment of the parents in developing a chick. During the course of the movie, you will also be able to understand the effects global warming can have on the breeding pattern and eventually the existence of these peaceful creatures. The breathtaking views of the Antarctic and the white landscapes will keep you still...wondering about the natural serenity of the continent.
The funny part was that an informative movie as this attracted political reactions both for and against parenting.
There is a National Geographic 'March of the Penguins' game too.
For all the time that you can spare, its an intellectual, peaceful treat that you should give yourself. You wont regret it at all!

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song." ~ Chinese Proverb

The New Cold War

Noam Chomsky writes on the New Cold War in Khaleej Times.