For the Structural Bio Enthusiast: Torsion Angles

In structural biology, I have come across the term torsion angle many a times. But I never understood the precise meaning of it until today! The motivation to learn about it came from Dr. Xian-Jun's blog: Torsion Angle
Dr. Xian-Jun had given a detailed description of how to calculate it, though he had taken for advantage that someone reading it will know what a torsion angle is - I did not know! A quick google search yielded some informative links. The summary of my learning is as follows: In the newman projection it is the angle between the bond that is nearer to you and the bond that is farther from you. A more clear explanation is given at IUPAC

It is in the appreication of the unknown, humbleness sets in. But that doesn't mean that you have to intimidated by the unknown. Embrace it and learn it.

Ancient and Unique Nature of Tamil

I have had small debates with my North Indian friends as to which Language (Tamil or Sanskrit) is the mother language of all Indian Languages. Naturally, they claim Sanskrit to be the oldest, and I claim Tamil to be the oldest. It perhaps seems that both are the oldest!! The below link shows evidences that Tamil developed with NO influence of Sanskrit.

Scroll down to "Origins of Tamil".

http://karkanirka.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/tamilintro1/

Also came across: http://www.ifih.org/SouthIndianInfluencesintheFarEast.htm
If you had read Kadal Pura, you would have already known that there was a huge South Indian influence in the Far East..if not, this site talks about it...I haven't read through it thoroughly...but I trust the source.

OBAMA FOR NOBEL PEACE?

It came as a very unexpected news that the US President Obama was voted for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. Though I knew not much of nominations and the criteria, I definitely did not, even in the slightest, think of Obama for Nobel. Anyway, I read up on the news in a few news papers and I understood that it was awarded to him for the claims and promises he made in his presidential campaign. There is a huge uproar and sarcasm against the Nobel committee which made this decision. However, I think I am going to support the school of thoughts which says, the award will compel him to bring his promises true. I don't know what Alfred Nobel originally stipulated as the requirements of the award. But I think it perfectly makes sense to put an extra pressure to a man who made tall claims by honoring him with the Nobel. At the same time, the money gives him the freedom and confidence to do what he desires to make the dreams come true. So, instead of awarding a person who has achieved already, the Nobel committee's decision to award a person who can potentially achieve the need of the hour is wise.

"To put it bluntly, the only thing that appears to have motivated large numbers of people to invest significant resources in science is fear of dying..."

Can layman be any longer ignorant of the scientific happenings around him? How important is to educate layman on Scientific pursuits? And a lot more questions on Science. David Balamuth analyzes each factor and answers an interview, the details can be viewed here

Well...well...there is something that I seriously understand:

Some people, who are supposedly in "good" and "high" positions...or atleast are in the path to that, cannot really take care of small stuffs! For example, maintaining stationary inventory, getting the requested quality of a product etc., seems so silly to them..but that makes a difference! When they canNOT pay attention to such small details, how are they going to make a difference with a "big" detail..and what good it would be to put them in a higher position?

"The future, good or ill, ceased to have any power over the present. Health and hope grew strong in them, and they were content with each good day as it came, taking pleasure in every meal, and in every word and song."

-- Lord of the Rings

Well, well...India and Indian people are never going to come out of their stupidity.
Would anyone compel their own daughter to marry someone whom she doesn't want to marry? Well, the daughter has not much choice! And you have to believe it! Arranged marriages can be good...but I guess with changing social life pattern, it is important to consider the preferences of both the individuals. I think this is quite important for the development of the society as well.

I just happened know that people can even be reluctant to visit a doctor, despite having some problems. Even if it were minor, if it were I, I wouldn't have let it and I would have got a consultation. However, Mr. X dismissed that since he didn't have anymore symptoms, he was fine. But I am not sure if this is right. The discomfort could have been due to many reasons, which a layman wouldn't suspect. Even if it was a simple problem, my advise would be to pay a visit to the doctor and get it confirmed that it was nothing. However, I learn that people are a bit reluctant because of the cost involved. The consultation fee, lab fee, prescription fee etc etc. That is true. But one cannot risk his life for money, especially when there is a whole 50-60 years of life ahead! Well, truly, I don't know what is right in this case!

Be True to Yourself

In light of women's day, there was this article (click here)that appeared in rediff where in an IAS officer, Mrs Ministhy Dileep had written an article on balancing work and life. It is a quite common plight that women give up jobs to take care of the kid - the larger good. However, isn't it also necessary to allow women to pursue their desires? Kids - a decision that has to be taken by both and the responsibility of raising the kids is on both the parents. However, in India, it has been customary for women to stop working after having kids. Is this voluntary or under compulsion, I don't know. However, I do think that women should be allowed to pursue their desires. At the same time, men should also be allowed to pursue their desires - if you don't want to go shopping - NO GO! Everyone should be allowed to be true to themselves.

Finally, the oscar buzz is over. ARR conferred with 2 oscars and every Indian is so proud about it. While every Indian MUST be proud of it, I just want the people to think WHY ARR won the oscar for Jai Ho and the other song. WHAT in Jai Ho made it really unique that it stood up the strict evaluations of the oscar committee? Shouldn't that be spelt out for other aspiring music directors? Would ARR or any other music critic do that for the benefit of others?

Sometimes, it so happens that we get caught up in very petty issues, which actually happens so unintentionally. Infact, they may not even have an impact on us...yet we driven off by it. However, helplessness leads to frustration. What is the medicine?

Delhi-6

Finally, I had the chance to watch the 'much-awaited' movie Delhi-6 from the director of 'Rang De Basanti' with music by ARR. A good friend of mine brought this movie to my attention, mainly for ARR's music...and when trailers came about, we were very much convinced that it is a 'must-watch' movie for several reason (partly because of the spoilers too). With great expectations set, my friend watched the movie the very next day of its release and ended up with great disappointments. For example, the 'Rehna Tu' song wasn't expected to be in such a context ;-), though it was nice! Having not lived up to his expectations, he discouraged me from seeing it...which eventually proved to be one of the motivations for me!! I liked the movie.

The story is that of a young man (Abisheak B) bringing his granny (who is dying from cancer) to accompany her spending her last days in the place she lived (which apparently is Delhi with pincode 6). He is welcome by the startling(??!!) news of the black monkey in Delhi (which did really happen in Delhi a few years ago, though, suprisingly, it was never spotted later!!). He comes into India with a mindset that granny didn't have anyone in India. But he is suprised by the love and affection of the people who welcome granny and is relished by these 'connections'. However, as the days pass by, the black monkey issue kindles Hindu-Muslim conflicts in his own area. The young man himself is being caught up and fried up for this issue when he tries to mitigate the conflicts! He becomes vexed. He decides to go back to the US and take granny as well. But then, something stops him from doing it. He realises they are his people and he has to accept them for whatever they are: indeed that is life! The director has beautifully portrayed this transition in the mind of the young man - and I should say I could relate it to myself sometimes,though I don't work up for any mitigations of the Hindu-Muslim conflicts.

In addition, the director has beautifully captured the stupidity of the people in India. The cow giving birth, using black monkey to rescue themselves from pressing situations - making fool of others, the marriage issues are some typical examples. The foolish humiliation of the 'low caste' people is also a nice issue that has been well-handled (particularly with the Ramayan drama). Yet another one I liked was the Gobar characterization. I strongly feel there are lot of people in the society who play to the tunes of others just because that is the only way they can make up a living. This has to stop! The police character is so well portrayed - Indeed Indian policemen are so - shame!

The Ramayan drama set up was extremely good, I should say. I was wondering how they are going to show up the flames when Sita crosses the Lakshman Rekha...and the way the flame was brought in picture was brilliant!

The movie ending could have been different.

All in all, Delhi-6 was a movie that I enjoyed. Though India is filled with stupidity in many places, India is still a beautiful place and is fun to be in India. It would also be nice to have a right balance of stupidity and common sense like the one the young man visualizes in his dream.

Final recommendation - See the movie!

It occurs to me that this movie should have also been to the Oscars. It captures many subtleties of the Indian society.

Science and Religion - A confluence!

I was just going through my research notebook when I happened to see that I had noted two nice quotes - don't know from where...but it was nice and I thought I have to put it down. They reflect that science and religion are different perspectives of the same emotion. Not sure how many are going to agree, but I think I agree to this:

"Science is about finding material explanations of the world - explanations that can inspire those spooky feelings of awe, wonder and reverence in the hyper-evolved brain".

"Religion, on the other hand, is about humans thinking that awe, wonder and reverance are the clue to understanding a God-built universe".

Comments welcome!

Slumdog Millionaire and the Oscars

The 81st Oscar Academy Awards is special for Indians. The Indian music maestro AR Rahman has been nominated for Oscars for his music. The music was indeed good. The movie has other nominations as well. Now, what bothers me is: Why would ALL Indians be proud if ARR wins the laurels? True, hez an Indian and his winning an award would put India in the limelight. However, isn't it all because of ARR's own efforts? I just could not accept people just celebrating the victory...shouldn't they get inspired to perform and achieve like him? Well, it is not in only this area I have this lament...but with any field.

An archeological foray: Mahabalipuram

Following up on a recent visit to Mahabalipuram, Chennai, my friend, Ruban, and myself got intrigued by a number of issues, and more specifically, the Krishna's butter ball! On the persistent insistence of curious Ruban, I landed up lending out a book called 'The Seven Pagodas on the Coromandel Coast' from our library. It was an interesting read.
First of all, let me tell you why we went to Mahabalipuram. It was very much decided before even I planned for vacation that Ruban and I would go out somewhere when I came to India for vacation this year. First we thought we would go to some place near Bangalore, but then he got a job in Chennai. So we decided on Pondicherry. However, little did I realise that Pondicherry was 120 kms from Chennai! So it was finally decided that we would go to Mahabalipuram. That said, we rode on the famous ECR with great cautions from his parents. It was a nice ride with brief stop-overs. Finally on reaching Mahabalipuram, both the curious minds had their own curious questions! Finally, the Krishna's butter ball caught attention of both of us. I couldn't imagine how that piece of rock was hinging on a small area. What was more interesting was that one half of the rock was flat! Would someone have tried to do something with the rock? How is that it is perfectly flat on the other side? Mind boggling questions! So, with these and other curious things the vacation came to an end; I came back to work when I lent the book.

The book was interesting. It was a collection of descriptive and historical papers relating to Mahabalipuram, also called the Seven Pagodas. The archeological significance of this place was discovered by Europeans in the late 1700s. Since then there have been lot of documentation about the place, notable among them is the one by Goldingham. Each historian has documented their own observations of inscriptions, arcitecture, style, legends etc. Some question the interpretations of the earlier, and some admonishing as well. (Well, I understand what it is to do research in archeology!)

So now, the facts that I learn: The Krishna's butter ball is actually Draupadi's butter ball according the sthalapurana, the other half having bitten by a cat which can be found in the Arjuna's penance sculpture! The question now is - Why did Draupadi, Arjuna come down here? Well, we all (atleast I) know Mahabharatha is a myth...so perhaps people living around made the story for money (some of the historians tell the same too!). Now the mentioning of the rock in the sthalapurana confirms that the rock was not brought to the place recently. However, it has seemed to have attracted little attention by the historians despite its uniqueness.

Now to learn about the people who might have lived there: The inscriptions are of Pali language - which means people who made the inscriptions were either in constant touch with Palinese or that it was made by Pali people. The sculptures reflect the people of those days. What suprised me was, one of the europeans had mentioned seeing kids in their hips of their mother as suprising! I had, to this day, thought it was common...perhaps it was not - europeans didn't carry babies that way probably. But the other knowledge is that, Indians, or more specifically, South Indians, had been used to carry babies in their hips since long time. In addition, the sculptures also give insights into the clothing habits of people of that time (which time is a question!). Let me put it verbatim:

" Several interesting particulars regarding the ancient Hindus may be gathered from this pastoral scene. The dress of the females resembles that now worn by the Neyris (Nair women) and Tiyyattis (females of the Tiyyar caste) of Malabar, who are uncovered about the waist. The men it appears, wore turbans, and the women very large ear-rings, with bangles on their hands and feet. The peculiar practice of carrying the infant on the hip, which cannot fail to attract the notice of the Europeans at the present day, was then in use; and even the vertical arrangement and method of tying together the three earthen vessels here represented, is recognized by all Hindu visitors as being universally adopted by the modern Gopalas. The execution of this work is coarse, and the design rude; and though particular parts have much merit, yet the limbs of the principal figures are clumsy and ill-proportioned, the attitudes forced, and the countenances without experession"

- Inscriptions at Mahamalaipur - Dr. B. G Babington.

One thing I do notice is that the europeans have tended to refer to the local people as Hindus (or in some places, Brahmans). Two, it is suprising that women are depicted to be uncovered above the waist - probably a fact that we cannot digest today because women are supposed to be fully covered in public. The carrying of earthern pots in the head - is something we might be able to see in the remote villages today. So in all, the scultptures have depicted the then cultures of the people and the localites have since then exploited these with well-woven stories for money.

There are a lot of things we can learn from these ancient sculptures - relics that stand against the fury of Nature to provide the humankind insights about their earlier generations.

Take Home Message: Do visit Mahabalipuram and try to appreciate what it truly means to convey us, apart from the skill display, which is also exemplary.Let us not fall prey to the myths. While appreicating the skills and thoughtfulness of the earlier generations, let us also be thoughtful and do activities with a foresight - a message that we get from our ancestors.

On thinking of the current education scenario in India, I have increasingly come to believe that the education system is lacking perspectives - teachers teach just to cover the syllabus,not help appreciate the beauty and the usefulness of what is being taught/studied. I am not making this claim blindly, but after interaction with a few teachers and with a few students. A recent article in dinamalar wherein Dr. Kalam shares his idea on what the purpose of education has to be is a worthwhile read. A succinct, english version of his points are from the book: Five Minds for the Future by Howard Gardner. In the book, Gardner identifies five different types of minds that education today has to inculcate in the younger generation. They are as follows:
1. The Disciplinary Mind: the mastery of major schools of thought,including science, mathematics, and history, and of at least one rofessional craft.
2. The Synthesizing Mind: the ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines or spheres into a coherent whole and to communicate that integration to others.
3. The Creating Mind: the capacity to uncover and clarify new problems, questions and phenomena.
4. The Respectful Mind: awareness of and appreciation for differences among human beings and human groups.
5. The Ethical Mind: fulfillment of one's responsibilities as a worker and as a citizen.

Having realised what needs to be done, it is time we act to do what needs to be done! But how?

Ambigram, Me and My Friend

The very first time I read about ambigrams, about 3-4 years ago, I have always wanted to have my name written as an ambigram. It took great wisdom from my side (3-4 yrs) to actually look for online sites which can create ambigrams. When I finally found one, it so happened that I couldn't copy it :-( So, the mission was aborted until yesterday when I was talking to one of friends. He has a very creative mind and does art works like these, draws portraits etc. I requested him one and he immediately gave me one - actually two - one in black and the other in color.

I cannot stop but admire his creativity in this ART. Comparing it to the normal ambigrams as one would see in the 'Angels and Demons' book, I should say this IS creativity. Hats off to Thilak, the artist! :-)

The sixth pay commission in India increases the salary of the University/College teachers(click here). The minister for HRD says this is part of the effort to restore the dignity of the teaching profession. This is most welcome. In addition, they lay new rules that PhD is a basic qualification to become an assistant professor - commendable. (Law makers don't have to be a PhD yet!) The sixth pay commission seems to be welcome, at least to the teachers! But do we have enough 'qualified' teachers?!

Unbelievable

I don't think it could be common for someone to have seen a person in the morning, and after a few hours hear that the person is no more! It has come as a sudden news that Prof. Krishnaswamy, an Associate Professorial Fellow here at NUS, is no more. This morning, around 10.15 when I was running across to organize a seminar, I bumped into him. Though I knew him not personally, I knew him as a person the department respected most - the senior most - who was a great mentor in the development of the department. Around 4, I get the news from a colleague that he suffered a myocardial infarction around 2.45, and around 7, I hear that he is no more! In a way, he was probably lucky - not to have suffered the infirmities of old age - because he was working even that morning in the dept. But to accept that a person whom I saw this morning is no more in the afternoon is quite difficult. Infact, I have not been able to accept so far, any of the no-more's in our family. I weirdly get the feeling that they are some where else, still alive, just non-communicable. The logical mind contradicts,nevertheless, it is peaceful, sometimes, to keep away logic.