the Tail End

I have been ploughing through slowly but steadily ....almost to the tail end of the grant writing..The only things that remain now are budgeting and tying the loose ends ...biosketch,publications etc..after that I have to paste all the pulled hair back on!!! I rather be spiderwoman than science woman...clambering through buildings is wiser than through wading through papers!! I am calling all my readers (imaginery my brother says ) to come up with the perfect garb for women in science---armed with pipette, paper clips, UV protecting head gaurd, acid proof labcoat, ..let your imagination fly .. and may the best post win...

This is my first US grant writing ...I hope I get some funding... I wrote 3 grants in 4 months ..is that good? I could space it out even more I feel...

Ps. In India , we have to constantly tell the general public " nobody asked for your comment" for the unceasing unsolicited advice from one and all...I never realised that in my posts I have to scream from the house top " Please comment" your comments are desperately wanted...emergency.. get the drip and let the ink flow...

Mountains that move

My youngest brother graduated from IIT,Chennai,India. In his campus they have buses named after mountains and dorms named after rivers so a popular saying from there is :

Here the mountains move around and the rivers stand still

ART IN INDIA, LUST AND VANDALISM

The recent episode in Vadodara , Gujarat of a art student Mr.Chandramohan who painted a nude picture stirred a lot of heat and dust here in India -- as if the latter two are in short supply here!! But what should have been a quiet critiquing between the student and his art professor - blew in to a riotous minefield with the usual throwing of stones , burning of effigies and bric-bats the latter weilded by the police ( who in India seem to have graduated in breaking bones and limbs indiscriminately ). Protests mushroomed everywhere from art buffs ...and set me thinking ( which is unthinkable given the temp we roast in each day -- you can fry an egg literally on the sidewalk ) anyway..some 17years ago my roomate Aurele in US ( where I was at that time) an art student was in a similar situation. She was dating a to be Pastor- Div student and she wanted him to get more interested in her art work - so she quite innocently took him to an art workshop where they had a live nude women all painted up for art sketching or portraitmaking or some art work I imagine. Needless to say the Pastor was horrified and expressed his disgust to us later on. We all thought Aurele a devout church going christian had crossed the proverbial line...or rather where was the line..Aurele on the other hand felt no evil thought crossed her mind and she was as innocent as before..Of course that reminded me of Jesus's own views on these things -- if you look with lust in your eyes at a woman, you have already committed adultery..not that the Pastor was in the wrong - he was in the right - why put oneself in such a situation--Aurele was right too -- asa professional ,she viewed it thus (with no lust)SO what do my readers (if there are any) think? I think there are a few who can have the high standards that Jesus talked of ,perhaps Aurele and Mr.Chandramohan belong to that category, but for others to keep away may be the best bet... why burn the streets of your city for that? Anyway what do you think was Chandramohan or Aurele wrong.Write in JJ

grant writing and cow poems

June 12 is the D day for completing two of my grants on breast cancer( for Department of Defense US) - After last minute across the globe emailing , I finally got two collaborators - so it is taking shape - Now to writing the references - that is the most tedious part .....To relieve the drudgery I am reading silly poems along with my daily dose of PG Wodehouse...

Here's a silly poem for anyone in the mood...

I once had a cow that jumped over the moon
Not on the moon but over.
I dont know what made her so lunar a loon,
All she's been having a clover.

That was back in the days of my godmother Goose,
And though we are goosier now,
And all tanked up on mineral juice ,
We havent caught up with my cow.
Anonymous

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANJU

Today is my dear sister-in-law Anjali Premkumar's birthday and I dedicate this blog to her. She is in Canada with her husband and two children Ashish and Mahima. Last year she was here and we enjoyed 'gup-supping' /chit chatting with her with all news and family stories, shopping , and watching Indian TV.

Here's a poem on her Birthday.

Happy Birthday to the fair and lovely Anju,
You are special not any sanju or manju,
You look better and better with the passing of years,
thats the opinion of everyone especially all your Indian dears,
I hope you have a lovely birthday full of love and cheer,
And lots of kisses and hugs from all dear and near.

The pride of Chennai

On Idlis and dosas-- Idlis and dosas are the pride of Chennai from ancestral times.Idlis are round, oblong or semiflatenned rugby ball, white rice cakes made from black bean and rice in a magical combination, presoaked separately and ground in a traditional, stone grinder- Grandmas and mums all around Chennai will vouch that nothing can ever replace the stone grinder - no summeet blender or even the special made 'wet' grinder( advt extensively these days) can replace the all stone contraption, that reminds one of the relics of the Vindyas to say the least! It is all stone crucible , about 2 feet in height and 3 feet wide etched to give it ragged edges and ablong stone grinder similarly etched which looks like a 'mehair" if you read Asterix comics - Obleix carries it all the time- and then the soaked mixture of black bean and rice goes into it and the stone grinder is manually rotated over the stone crucible little by little - every household in south india has it or atleast the middle aged and older one. Dosas are white, crisp pancakes made from the same ingredients but the batter is fermented longer - Idlis and dosas are eaten with fresh cocunut chutney and sambar- and ofcourse the homemade favorite - malga-pudi - this is made from dried hot red chllies ground with dal and then when you put it on your plate - you make a small hill of it and make a small crater on it into which goes edible oil and the whole think is mixed - yummy . My nephew Ashish Premkumar who studies in Canada likes it so much , he eats the pudi with almost everything - not just idlis /dosas- it goes into his bread,chappati -brown bread, pasta, rice - you name it and the pudi is in it !!!!!

Cucumbers to the rescue

The hot insipid taste of Chennai summer is on our lips! It is laser hot right now - the sun ever so penetrating-even to the division of joints and muscles !!!Even flies (ugh!)turn lethargic this time of the year. How does one keep cool at a time like this ? Airconditioning, coolers, ice-cold beverages -- but if you want to keep your face cool - here's what my friend Amrita said- crushed cucumbers on the face. I promptly got a few cucumbers, diced it and put it inside a blender - nice thick puree I applied my face - Wow it was really cool,cool - jill ,jill (tamil word for cold) - Now I am ready walk through the furnace !!!Love JJ

The Name above all Names!!!

Phew! I am at last through with my Taftee exam - 6hrs of serious ploughing through the scriptures. Mrs. Thomas who hosts us and is our tutor kept us alive with hot wadas and coconut chutney,hot tea and biscuits. The book we completed was Understanding the Bible and the exam was on Philippians 2:5-11 - complete with dictionary, concordence and commentary ! It was gruelling to say the least. A very familiar passage - but now we walked through some very deep waters- many new things I learnt - I will confine my self to one or two aspects-- The Name above all names. I never realized the rich traditional contextof name that God used to show the presence of Jesus. Name in the OT was very important and signified a position, function and relationship. The person who gave the name had dominion over the one he gave the name to - Adam named the animals - a sign of dominion.The dying Rachel called her son - Ben-noni meaning Man of sorrows because that was her relationhip to him while his father called him Benjamin as he saw him in a different function - a man with rights and responsibilities. Yahweh called Solomon by the name Jeddiah meaning loved by Yahweh- So also God Himself had many Names - Jehovah, Yahweh, Elshadaii signifying His covenant relationship, His power , His righteousness and His presence and faithfulness always. Name also meant a union- the tribes of Jacob called Israel - united with God to be a holy nation set apart-baptised into the Name meaning - a new ownership. loyalty and fellowship. Name meant the person, His revealed self and His active presence. Because of Christ's humility, sacrifice, suffering God exalted Him to a Name above all names - Lord meaning King of Kings - king of emperors - in heaven and earth-- So when we say the Name of Jesus- it is the glory of God that we are asking for--- so much for now- more later love jj

Faith and the rest of the grains...

well the story continues...well after that amazing incident (please refer previous blog) I thought God's protection on me was for forever no matter how dangerous the situation...so a few weeks later after I had shifted residence to South Jersey - a suburb of Philadelphia - I had to take the local train to get home. I was late reurning from the lab, it was dark and the sidewalks (pavements) deserted though the traffic on the roads was brisk as ever .My home was between two stations- the first one a dangerous route but closer to home ,the other one safer but a longer distance. I decided to take the first - thinking I must exercise my faith , God was with me...etc all those childhood and young adult concepts of faith flew by--if you had faith like a mustard seeds you can move mountains, without faith it is impossible to please God, anything is possible if you believe--well believe it or not , next moment something told me to look back ..and boom in a fraction of a second a ten ton hand from nowhere came smashing through my face, pushing me to the ground , my glasses all smashed up -- and a voice demanding .."where's the money, where's the money?" I replied, " in the bag, in the bag " pointing to the the larger bag that had fallen on the sidewalk . If Perry Mason was around he would have said ' this is were he made his first fatal mistake' - He overestimated himself and thought this was a feeble, fainthearted, fragile lady and took the bag and in full view of the street lights darted into a sidestreet a few feet away. I was on my feet, my face badly bruised - he had my face pinned to the sidewalk as before my feeble utterances helping him to locate the money, he didnt want me to have a look at him . I walked home - thinking where was God in all this - and reported it to the local police. My bag with papers and all (even my credit card) was located in a nearby dumpster.. he had apparently availed himself of the few dollars and discarded the rest. The next day a police arrived at my apartment with a set of photographs for identification..my pakistani roomate promptly made herself scarce, not wanting to get involved while I identified the man. The police was visibly relieved.. it seems the next day the same man had dragged a woman close to a dark dumpster and made off with all her jewels etc..The man was apprehended, jailed and the police very thankful to me....my faith was shaken but my principles and concepts straightened out -- God wanted me exert my faith only when He said so....but in other circumstances to be street savvy and wise and use my intellect to live intelligently in the world around me. I should have taken the safer route even if longer..In the first instance (previous blog) He wanted to show me that God truimphed over evil .. when I obeyed He protected me ( with a touch of humor as well-- the five dollar came by in the breeze) --Also that evening (previous blog) several black people walked on the street but I walked unafraid. Perhaps these black men were God's children and God wanted to show that we were not afraid of the black men-- they are a lot of good black men .If He calls us into difficult situations He will be with us through that ..but we ourselves must not put oneself in difficult circumstances. ...So is the end of that story. Love JJ

If God be for us who can be against us?

Recently a dear friend (rather relative - my brother's wife's sister ) Amrita, mentioned in her blog yesugarden.blogspot.com what an inspiration Ps91 was for her. It reminded me of how God placed that passage close to my heart -17years ago when I was a postdoc in Philadelphia ,US. Usually after a short break in the evenings for dinner and relaxing all the post docs (esp the foreign ones) would go back to the lab for finishing the expts- we would take the escort service as it was dangerous to walk alone at evening/night there. But one day God asked me not to take the escort service but to walk alone at night back to the lab. I obeyed and a deep calm flooded my heart. I felt safe and secure and instead of getting mugged, a five dollar bill came floating in the breeze towards me -- I was amazed to say the least and then He placed this chapter Ps 91 in my heart ....Way back then, I was just growing in His knowledge and I took this incident to mean God's protecting arm was always on me and evil will never truimph -- I thought I could be carefree even in dangerous situations....but that was not the message God meant for me to understand through that incident ......sequel to the story next time....love JJ

the Light at the end of the tunnel

It's been a uphill climb - this grant writing business- aaahhhh painful at times especially doing the reference part - though I actually loved the project writing part - it is the other stuff references,budget that sends me up the wall!!! May 22 is the D-day for submission -pray for everything to end smoothly. Pray that God will strengthen me through all this - He has been faithful thus far and He will be to the end- that is the hope we live in, anxious for nothing . The writing grind is sweetened ( literally) by this juice centre bang next to the internet joint I work in. I am provided by tall glasses of watermelon juice - very very good , full of antioxidants or fresh mango and chickoo juice( chickoo is like Kiwi fruit only sweeter) . The boy who gets me the cold refreshing elixir of life,Abdul, is only 18yrs of age but is a very jovial active guy.Now he is off to be married and his uncle looks after the place. This place stocks up on all the good stuff- ice creams, pizzas,,juices,and is my usual after dinner haunt for ice creams etc. the latest icecream by Kwality - rainbow - is literally blue, red and all the colours and is truly delicious - so besides grant writing I have been devouring rainbows by the dozen ... So much for now Love JJ

Timeless traditions of Chennai and some new ones

My childhood memories of Chennai are very beautiful (except for the hammering we received from some of our older cousins). I grew up influenced by some great Tamilian stalwarts like Dr.Radhakrishnan, once President of India and a erudite, versatile man of letters, principles and a true visionary. R.K.Narayan was splendid in some of his novels which brought out the beauty and timeless traditions of Chennai. Some of the world's greatest physicists and mathematicians were tamilians (CV Raman) and had contributed immensely to their field.

I loved the malli pu or jasmine flower the fragrance of which wafted through the hot breezes that blew throughout the day as literally every street corner had a malli pu vendor stringing together the little white flowers meticulously.
Also babies and young women smelled heavily of turmeric pastes and sandalwood too!. In those days kids and young girls wore the pattu pavdai - long silk skirts from the famous city of Kancheepuram and I remember as a ten year old - spinning myself like a top till the skirt billowed out and then sitting down abruptly with the skirt fanned all around me like a balloon. I also remember playing with very cute wooden toys, an entire kitchen and utensils made from beautiful teak wood in myriad colors and all kept inside a bamboo box. They looked and smelled beautiful. Chennai's auto too - little two seater vehicles with a hood thrown above also it seemed to have come from the pages of a fairytale- they had little seats opposite the adult ones where little kids squished and sat and yelled in delight as they swayed from side to side.Summer vacation was usually spent with my father giving us arithmetic ( we called sums) to do for us and all the cousins. He used to love solving them himself and quickly thumbing through to the last pages for the correct answer!! The food items too that my grandma created fired the imagination- besides the rugby shaped idlis and the crisp flat dosas there was the uttahapam - white soft pancakes with a huge mound in the centre creating a trough that ran in between it and the curled up edges - into this trough that ran all around went sweet fragrant coconut water and it was truly divine.But now Chennai seems to have metamorphosed in the reverse - it seems to me it has gone from being a beautiful butterfly a spiny scary caterpillar - kids disco dance and gobble macdonalds burgers as if it were the food of the ancestors and say everyting is 'cool' when temps are blistering over 120F outside -- well it is a small world and getting smaller LoveJJ

Swamped with grant writing

I am currently swamped with grant writing for scientific projects on breast cancer. Now from half a globe across I can submit grants for funding to different agencies in US - these grants have now become open to foreign institutions and one need not be in US to avail of them. Thanks be to God - now anyone in the world with research affiliations can submit these grants Online !!But it is a lot of writing work and would love to have the support and prayers of fellow christians- professional and nonprofessional !!!

When I was in US nonprofessionals (both christians and otherwise) used to be very much interested in my research work and it was fun to explain it to them in layman's language. Now here in Chennai everybdoy is intereseted in how much money one makes and the pride and prestige - not the value, the usefullness , the joy of doing good work ,etc- so I never get to emote outside of my work sphere which I would love to.

Anyway on a lighter vein.... a joke
The Captain of a sinking ship shouts desperately;"Is there anybody on board who can pray devoutly?" " I can ," answers a passenger. "Wonderful, we're one lifejacket short".