Mutluluk ( Bliss) : A review

Yesterday evening I watched this fantastic movie in Youtube. It is about a girl in a village who is raped. The girl is now thought to be soiled and hence requires banishment. However she is escorted with a man from his village to Istanbul. After a brief sojourn in Istanbul fails to accommodate them they go to a resort-like place where they are befriended by a lonely professor in a yacht and tours with him. How this boat-tour changes the relationship between the girl and her man and how this professor shares his wisdom is a treat to watch for those who like humane storytelling. I enjoyed the transformation between the two. The scenic beauty of Turkey also adds to the experience. Go watch it.

Camp X Ray : Review

Camp X Ray is a nice movie I watched today online....a surprise from usual run-of-the mill Hollywood....Kristen Stewart played the role of an emphatic military officer who starts to understand an Arab detainee's pain ( played brilliantly by Payman Maadi)...

A nice departure from Hollywood masala.....the Twilight star proved to be a surprise offering a lot of insights....her face exuded a melancholy which in bengali can be called as Dhushar Bishaad

I was also reminded of Bimal Roy's film Bandini where the loving prison doctor, Dharmendra fell for the prisoner, Nutan.....Camp X Ray was however much more subtle in its treatment of humane feeling of a prison officer....

An ode to Xerox machines

I studied and got my degrees in a time when computers were not rage and internet was nascent. There was no google, no PDF, no eBooks and no printer at disposal. We had to rely on books and journals for whatever we learnt. And Photocopier or a Xerox machine played a supreme role in dissemination of knowledge. So many class notes, so many books, so many journal articles I photocopied. Without those photocopies my education would have been unfulfilled. In late 80’s Xerox shops sprung up in every locality of Calcutta; their numbers increased proportionately in front of Educational institutes (schools, colleges, and universities), courts and mercantile offices. I got introduced to Xerox machines when I was class 9, I joined a coaching centre and many times I needed notes to be Xeroxed. That was the beginning. I never knew Xerox copies of books will finally occupy half of my library space. During BSc and MSc days I could not afford many foreign text books because they were so highly priced. So started the habit of getting books from library and Xeroxing them. Some books were reference books, not available in lending library. Reference books used to be issued overnight. Many times the books were so fat could not be Xeroxed overnight. So I like many others found a loophole. If you issue the book on Friday you got the weekend to photocopy. In that way I copied so many books from libraries of Rajabazar Science College ( Physiology dept), Presidency College and Jadavpur University ( during my MTech Biotech ). The books were necessary for NET , GATE preparation and gave me a lot of mileage later on. Then from library of IIT Bombay I got so many books on biography, science and technology got photocopied.

Today as I clean up my racks and throw many old unnecessary printouts I am reminded of those decades of Xeroxing and how it enriched my knowledge. It is known photocopying is a crime but without that crime I guess many Indians will not get their education. For India xerox machine has done for dissemination of knowledge than Gutenberg's invention in past two decades. At least all engineering, medicine, science, arts and commerce students will agree that without Xeroxes their education here in India would have been unfulfilled. Thank you Xerox.

Free Indian Science : Present scenario

Note: A part of my article was published in letter to editor section of the revered journal Nature in May 2014.

This has reference to Mathai Joseph and Andrew Robinson’s Comment : Free Indian Science(Nature, 3 April 2014, Vol 508,pg 36-37). It was eminently readable and  after years of education in India’s premier institutes ( I am a PhD in biosciences from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay,IIT Bombay and  hold degrees from  universities like Calcutta University and Jadavpur University and I teach biotechnology to postgraduates  in a premier college St Xavier’s College Mumbai in India) and teaching in a reputed college in India, I feel qualified to comment on this.

What they discussed is true. There is a distinct gap between what we achieved before and after independence in India in the scientific field. Almost independent of European school of relativity, thermodynamics and quantum mechanics Indian scientists Satyendra Nath Bose, Meghnad Saha and C.V.Raman made a brilliant group of Physics in Calcutta University. Half of the subatomic particles are today termed Boson in Bose’s honor; C.V.Raman discovered Raman Effect and Saha gave a theory of thermal ionizations in stars. Sadly after independence Indians did not participate in ground breaking work in science. We lost the nationalist fervor and zeal in science. We lost many of our brilliant minds to the western world ( e.g. H.G.Khorana – Nobel 1968, Subramanyam Chandrasekhar- Nobel 1983, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan – Nobel 2009 being the latest).There are two exceptions although - G.N.Ramachandran & S.N.De. Dr.G.N. Ramachandran of Madras University, India gave a triple helix structure of collagen (1) and Ramachandran plot of protein structures is now read by biochemistry graduates throughout the world (2). Dr.S.N.De of Calcutta, India discovered the nature of cholera toxin in 1959 which went unnoticed (3). This was a true discovery which was noticed so late that in his lifetime De did not get any honor (4).

In my opinion India made a mistake by weaning its universities. Countless research institutes were made all over India after independence which took away the good research students from the universities and these universities lag behind not only because of good researchers but also due to lack of funding. Paucity of good faculty and research students in universities has marred the educational spirit.  C.V. Raman saw it coming from the very beginning and famously lamented these institutes as ‘Mausoleums of Indian Science’ (5).

Apart from bureaucracy and lack of funding, lack of talent in science is another factor for the poor show. Salary of scientists and academicians is abysmally low to inspire any to make it big. A PhD student gets a salary of Rs 18000 per month which is almost half of what an entry level engineer makes. An entry level scientist or assistant professor in a college makes less than Rs 50000 after so many years of PhD and post doc abroad. In tier I cities that salary makes a hand-to-mouth existence. Whereas his counterpart in industry of same age makes twice/thrice the money. This is very true in the field of software industry where India is seeing a boom and which the authors mentioned jubilantly to stress on growth and capacity of Indian knowledge workers. If tomorrow Universities, Research Institutes and colleges pay the salary what software industry pays, I believe there will be no dearth of talent. Since professional engineering courses promise high salary, better lifestyle and promise of foreign travel Indian parents make it a beeline to make their wards enter into IITs(Indian Institute of Technology), NITs(national Institute of Technology) and engineering colleges. After the best brains of science take admissions in engineering colleges and medical colleges and other professional courses like IT, only the left overs come to undergraduate science courses. Hence a vicious cycle of poor students and later poorer teachers (these same poor or average students become scientists or lecturers !!) drive the system of science to point of no return. And this is compounded with brain drain to abroad.  Rarely one finds the teachers inspiring and motivated. And this situation in colleges breeds unhappy students who visions nothing but a bleak future in science as a career. Let’s face it. Money is a big incentive for a career and a living.

But recently due to economic growth Indian science is getting well-funded and doing better. Due to reverse brain drain many good scientists are returning to India ( Recession in the West is also driving many good scientists back!!). Please see a recent JCB paper where a couple of high impact Nature and Science papers published from India are quoted to show the changing face of biological sciences in India (6). Five of our journals have crossed the impact factor of 1.0 (7). Two of them are near to 2.0.  With a lot of research happening in Ayurveda (ancient Hindu medicinal practice) pertaining to medicinal plants we hope a turn around in the biomedical and pharmaceutical sectors. DBT (Department of Biotechnology) is now flush with funds and with modernizing of infrastructure nobody can and should complain of lack of opportunity in big labs in biological sciences at least. Recently DBT and DST have introduced attractive scholarships to allow young post docs come back and settle. India Bioscience is another grand effort funded jointly by DBT, Wellcome trust in that line. The present UPA government in India led by Congress party , though mired in corruption and facing a possible routing out in next general elections, has done enough to increase the opportunities in higher education by setting up of 7 new IITs(The famed Indian Institute of Technology), several IISERs(Indian Institute of Science Education and Research) and NISERs(National Institute of Science Education and Research), almost one NIPER (National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research) and AIIMS ( All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences) in  every state. They have upgraded many NITs and created places of national interest. Hence in recent past India has seen a significant increase in jobs in education sector and R&D.

If the present policy makers of India are allowed to do the good work that they have put in the past decade definitely we will see a sea change in Indian science. If we emulate the success of software or IT story by matching the salary of budding scientists with them, we can hope to retain and recruit enough talents to promote a scientific revolution. In fact the present government has been prudent enough to put us in a cusp of revolution in science by promoting institution building and flushing of funds. As of now at least in biology nobody can cry hoarse of lack of money or infrastructure as they did three or four decades ago. Things are changing and changing fast. Now the onus is on the scientists who have to think of original problems and match up to the international standard in publishing. Lack of originality in the realm of thought is endemic in Indian research which has to be rectified soon. If the post docs returning from abroad no longer rides on the idea of their mentors and rather start on their own extending collaboration to their foreign counterparts then the future is definitely bright. If Saha, Bose and Raman could make it independently in the 1920s and 1930s ,why can’t we today ?

Doing international level science is like a race. We fell behind, but thankfully we are catching up.

Reference:

1. Bhattachajee A & Bansal M. (2005) Collagen Structure: The Madras Triple Helix and the Current Scenario. IUBMB Life, 57(3): 161 – 172.

2. Stryer L. (1995). Biochemistry. 4^th edition, W.H.Freeman & Company, New York, USA

3. S.N.De. (1959) Enterotoxicity of Bacteria-free culture-filtrate of Vibrio cholerae, , Nature, 183: 1533-1534

4. Joshua Lederberg (1990). ‘S.N.De- regicide of reigning dogma’ Current Science,  59(13 and 14): 628-629

5. P.Balaram.(1998). The Raman Legacy. Current Science. 75(10): 977

6. Vale R D and Dell K. (2009) The biological sciences in India Aiming high for the future. Journal of Cell Biology, 184(3): 342-353.

7. Jain N C. (2009) Five Indian journals cross impact factor 1.000 in 2008. Current Science. 97(9):1273.

Taking Sides

Taking Sides is a film made by Istvan Szabo. It is about a controversial orchsetra conductor Wilhelm Furtwrangler. He was a German and he was accused of not taking sides/taking sides during the Nazi oppression. He was a musician par excellence. When inquired by a tribunal after WWII he maintained a musician's duty is to entertain, not to take sides. Internet is rife with controversy about him but one thing is clear he was a legend in his field. His recordings are available in Youtube and people are all praises for his style of conducting. These days as I see artists and film stars taking sides in West Bengal I am reminded of this movie I watched in Nandan in 2002. Should everybody take side ?

Apur Sansar final scene and Gregory Nava's My Family

Generally many Indian films suffer from allegations of plagiarism. However I recently I came across a film by American director Gregory Nava where strains of Satyajit Ray's Apur Sansar final scene is evident. Ray's Apur Sansar finale has a sequence of father-son union where the father Apu (Saumitra Chatterjee) carries his son Kajal on his shoulders and walks away. Gregory Nava's film My Family has a similar kind of scene where the father finally unites with the young son. Though culturally disparate and set in different continents, I found the similarity between the two uncanny. May be emotions of paternity is universal.

First observe the Ray film Apur Sansar final scene from 1:41: 00 till the end.

Then observe Gregory Nava's My family/Mi Familia (1995)

Got the similarity between father and son in these two films in the time points I mentioned ?

I am thankful to the unknown author in Wikipedia who pointed this out in Satyajit Ray's biography. I did a little search in Youtube and got this. Now the readers should tell if I am right or wrong.

'Poora India Thumakda' Queen - a movie review

Word of mouth is still the best form of advertisement and by all means, Queen (the movie recently released with stellar performance by Kangana Ranaut) is going to be a sleeper hit like Kaahaani and it should for all reasons.

I did not like the trailer of this movie when I saw it 6 months ago. This happens with quite a many films – their storyline and acting is superb; however the trailer doesn’t do any justice to the story. Thank god that I did not go by the trailer. I actually went to Inox to see it and I was bowled over by Kangana’s honest portrayal of a journey that transforms her from a demure coy clinging ivy type to a character full of spunk and spine. Journey to a foreign land after her marriage being called off which she calls her Honeymoon (without getting married) is a surprise itself and shows that the simple girl from Delhi is not going to take this uncalled for rejection lying down. Rani (Kangana) is the queen of heart of Vijay, the suave engineer who coaxed and cajoled ( Chinese ? Manchow ? Maan jao !....) Rani into a relation. Daughter of a halwai in Delhi was about to get married to the suave engineer.

However Rani gets a shock of her life when the Londoner Vijay rejects Rani or Queen two days before marriage. ‘A lot can happen over coffee’ and ironically rejection happened in a coffee shop whose tagline is ‘A lot can happen over coffee’. Reason is difference in social status. Rani obviously feels lost and betrayed and her hope of breaking the ‘Virginity ka vrat’ is dashed. But contrary to what other thinks she decided to go for the honeymoon which could have happened. From the moment she landed in Paris after being rejected by Vijay (played brilliantly by Rajkumar Rao), met voluptuous Vijayalakshmi ( the Mumbai girl Lisa Haydon is a big surprise ) who lives life on her own term and over whom Rani’s father and obese kid brother Chintu drools, the transformation of Rani begins. She drinks, dances in a disco and lets her hair loose. After Paris and a few days with Vijaylakshmi (Vijay nahi to vijaylakshmi sahi !) she is a liberated soul trying to break away from typical Indian customs that girls are tied to.

A visit to Amsterdam has even more surprise. She has to share a room with men which is unthinkable for her. However slowly she bonds with them and enjoys traveling with them. One Russian artist who wants to stop war over oil, one Japanese who lost his parents to Tsunami and one African origin Frenchman who sings with a guitar are her friends now. Enter the macho Italian chef who spurs an interest in Rani to be self reliant. She participates in a cooking competition and serves spicy Golguppas to foreigners who develop a liking for it. The Italian cajoles her to her first kiss. Just when things are looking up Vijay comes to Amsterdam and pleads for reconsideration of marriage. Rani, now a changed woman, politely refuses to give in. A brawl  between Rani’s friends and Vijay erupts which also exposes the tenderness that Alexander, the Russian harbors for rani. However, next day a transformed Rani places Vijay on the tenterhooks by offering a talk in Delhi. And leaving a surprised Vijay she goes for a rock concert with her new-found friends. The tenderest moment of this movie was when she pastes the marriage invitation card on the hotel room’s wall which is a wall full of treasured thoughts of the visitors. Taka her Japanese friend posts his parents’ photo, Alexander pastes his drawing. But I started crying when Kangana pasted her invitation card of a marriage that did not happen. It spoke a lot about her disappointment, her soul-stirring emotions, her frustrations. A marriage card is not a mere invitation card; it is an announcement of a fresh beginning, of a new phase of life.

In the end we see a bold Rani returning the ring to her fiancé and walking boldly into a new phase of life.

Queen is a movie that will make you feel good with superb storyline, brilliant comic timing and stellar acting. Kangana takes you to the path trodden by her and I identified with her feelings in many ways.And now with soaring popularity it seems that not only ‘London thumakda’ but ‘Poora India Thumakda’ with it.