A Time To Reflect

charukesi September 8th, 2005

The Scian Melt is Scientific Indian’s baby. And it is being hosted right here on this blog on September 10th.

We would like to introduce you to The Scian Melt, a showcase of good weblogging about Science and India. The posts would, on the whole, have a scientific tone. They could be about anything under the sun, around the sun and far beyond it.

And we don’t have too many nominations yet. So roll up your sleeves and keep the stuff coming. Please. Interesting, controversial, unconventional - anything to do with science. And preferably India.

And also please pass the word around…

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charukesi August 27th, 2005

Its raining anniversaries in blogland. Funny how many great blogs were born in the month of August (and with that, I have subtly and sucessfully wedged my way into the great blogs list)…

Two years today…

So, don’t go away. Stay tuned - I will be back right after the break…

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The next scian melt will be hosted here after September 12. Please send your nominations to me as comments here - or email them to Selva at the scianblog.

Abi, am rushed too. let’s keep the leapfrogging discussion open - and resume once I get back.

My age-cohorts research too needs to be written up…

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charukesi August 26th, 2005

Just finshed reading Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran. Whew! Made me run back to my book shelf to read The Great Gatsby again.

Arrghhh, where is the book? I knew I have it somewhere here.

Where is the darned ctrl+f function in life when you need it? Especially in your book-shelf? (Speaking of which, has anyone found a fool-proof cookies system to keep track of book borrowers - and the books they borrow?)

Also went berserk at the Strand bookfair last week. Among the spoils, Humra Quraishi’s Kashmir: the Untold Story, Amritsar to Lahore: A Journey Across the India-Pakistan Border by Stephen Alter, a couple of Saul Bellows, a Henry James collection (again thanks to Dr.Nafisi), In a sunburned country by the delightful Bill Bryson…

Broke but happy. Know the feeling?

And lots of books waiting to be read. In the high priority list, The Kite Runner, Amitava Kumar’s Husband of a fanatic.

***
And now it is time for me to take all these books out. With me to the hills. Where I am off to meditate. Sort of.

I am going to Lonavala this Sunday for a two week course in yoga (+ayurveda+whatever else helps). To seek help on some niggling health problems. Including residual and sometimes unbearable pain from a spine surgery nearly three years ago. All I was left with at the end of the surgery was an ugly scar on my neck and a negative bank balance (which is not saying much, since it was quite negative even before the surgery - and remains there till date).

Now that doctors have helpfuly and cheerfully written my “case” off - and I have tried pretty much everything possible (ok, I haven’t yet consulted a numerologist… Uma, Sanjay Jumani?!) - Lonavala beckons with a faint promise of ‘rejuvenation’ and hopefully pain relief… One last feeble straw to clutch at. Wish me luck!

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charukesi August 11th, 2005

Michael, I am sure when you wrote it, you were not thinking of the number of discussions that would spring up around your initial thoughts on the most popular blogger. (Or, were you? :)) - but I like the idea of a “blog buddy” - that has nothing to do with linking and ranking but on the way a blogger can connect with another blog and the blogger behind it - blame it on the qualitative researcher in me.

And then there is the more quantitative analysis by Vikram using google’s page rank and this very impressive analysis on sounds from the dungeon.

And then Dina’s incisive posts on blog ranking and popularity - Alok’s insightful comment there - i just enjoy their company. and in essence, that’s precisely what your blog, or any of the blogs i visit
regularly, is. good company. And please note, Dina points to the wiki piece on popularity - as a combination of respect and amicability.

Linking to this, Patrix writes, Am I a ‘popular’ blogger? Who cares…. We do it because we like to. Bloggers have the company they cherish which in turn intermingle with other bloggers creating subtle connections known as the blogosphere.

I agree with Patrix. mostly. It is important for me to be a “popular blogger ” - much in the same way that it is important for me to be a person whose company other significant people in my life enjoy - and no not find offensive. Other than that, it is about “do it because we like to“. And not because we want to play out our hidden agendas on what we claim to be “our own space”.

At which point did we start taking our blogs so seriously?

Have we forgotten *blasphemy coming up* - relax, it is only a blog. And surely there are other important things in life too - and other places where we can make our presence felt?

Ok, now let me go look for some such things…

***

And while on the blog theme, I have been following with interest hate-fests on some blogs - there are some which attract the truly extra-ordinary weirdos who take issues with what the blogger’s daddy looks like and how the blogger’s maid washes clothes and so on… And then this whole anti-popularity thingy. Worst popular Indian blog - duh? And a rather absorbing discussion about blogs “qualifying for a puke-fest”. Once more, duuuh?

I mean, what? I read this blog every day, every single post, and I comment and respond to other comments on every post - but yuck, what a terrible blog.

I hate strawberries, they make me break out in rashes (or make me puke whatever). But I am irresistably drawn towards them - why, I even link to them on my blog. Why do I do this? Because I am a masochistic fly?

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charukesi August 10th, 2005

Going through my technorati search, I found my post Anthropology at Intel linked to on this usability site.

And they also had this really cool pic…

(Anthropologist inspecting locals and viceversa - Link via usernomics)

This is what I meant when I responded to a comment on this post yesterday saying that while many companies do this, what makes only some studies significant is their use of local anthropologists and reseaechers in place of Western experts. The overall context of my thesis at the LSE was cross-cultural research and the need for adapting research techniques to suit the immediate socio- cultural framework of the target audience. And I found that the area I had looked at - rural research in India strongly vindicated this need. And my professor - from London - mentioned how he always took a local guide along when he did any research north of Glasgow. Language is just one of the issues - an outsider would take ages to get through even the initial understanding of local customs and culture. You would be surprised how a city-bred researcher Indian researcher can find herself easily out of depth in a village in India - especially if travelling with “city notions”…

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Another site had linked to this post as well - this is the second time it is happening to me in a week - getting linked to by a site in a well, not just foreign but completely alien language. The first was when my post on the Big B’s bathing - or non bathing habits was linked to by a bollywood site in Netherlands. Atleast here, I did not understand a word of any of the posts but I spotted many familiar names on the site - check it out.

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charukesi August 9th, 2005

HELP!

My blog now holds in “moderation queue” nice comments from normal people (who are regular visitors to my blog). And passes weird comments from anonymous casinos and poker clubs.

And this despite an wp upgrade and strict spam measures.

I just noticed a huge bunch of comments waiting for my “approval” - and to think I have been eagerly opening my blog all morning and closing it with a puzzled people do not like me any more? expression (rather felt like those days when I used to stand at the gate waiting for the postman, who used to cheerfully wave at me each day and say, letters illa maddam)

Once again, HELP!

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charukesi August 7th, 2005

Er, not quite bigger.

Indsight was down for a few days for “maintenance activities”. Now we are back in action - in a new and improved version. Or so says my blog host Madhu Menon. Thanks, Madhu for all the time and effort.

The research on age cohorts is still on. Please take some time and leave your thoughts there… And a request, please spread the word around so we get a large range of responses…

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charukesi July 23rd, 2005

My flight landed in Delhi and I found myself sitting next to this girl on the airport coach to the terminal.

Super rich, super thin. Super brat.

Purple streaks in her hair. Over-sized sunglasses. Pale make up. And a t-shirt reaching just below the chest.

And faded jeans. With strategically placed cuts in five different places. And the cuts enlarged to give it a frayed look. When she sat down, the cloth gave way at the knees to give a glimpse of unnaturally pink flesh there - knee makeup, do you think?

(I was itching to take a photograph - to record this for posterity - for this blog, actually - but I resisted that temptation. Not because she would mind - but because I was afraid she would charge me for it)

Made me think about how similar the lives of the super haves and the entirely have-nots are.

I see poor people wearing torn clothes all the time - not because they have carefully cut it themselves with a blade. Or wearing faded clothes. And not paying a premium price for that cool ‘faded’ look.

And the streaks on the hair. Sure, not purple. But matted and brown. For lack of any kind of cleaning. Or “hair-care”.

Oh, the super-thin body too. Except there are no fad diets (suggested by fat lifestyle and health consultants) here - only starvation.

Take away that healthy glow on her face. And my airport-coach friend could have belonged anywhere else. Except she was carrying a Danielle Steele in her hand (hardcover - purple hair and torn jeans okay but this was the last straw).

****
The hotel I am staying in has a restaurant called laidbackwaters. That is exactly how and where I want to be right now.

****
I just saw that Charu is “hot on desipundit lately“. Champagne! preferably at the above-mentioned kind of location.

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charukesi July 19th, 2005

I know, I know I am a big fan of conversational blogging and was right ahead during the comments-please crusade a few months ago. But when I see what some bloggers go through, thanks to sickos who post rot on their comments section, I am forced to rethink - well, almost.

Uma MD regularly goes through the comments-on-comments-off routine - and I know you will agree that her blog is more fun with the comments on…

And now Mangs has switched off comments on her blog.

I hate to see this happen with people who want to keep their blogs - and minds - open to conversations (as for bloggers who switch off their comments seeking better quality interactions through email, this is not relevant).

Spam comments, I have learnt to deal with. Hail wordpress!

Anonymous pathetic ones like this (on this post), I have learnt to ignore - or laugh at.

I am surprised that such things happen in India. Trust me, I never thought sexual harrassment is common or prevalent in our country. Maybe, I never bothered to look beyond books, the one thing I care about.

What happened to Mangs was sad but I think Mangs over-reacted. Yes, she over-reacted! What “Sanjeev Kumar” has already got is “cruel and unusual punishment”. And, no I think people are responsible for the acts of volition. If he were a psychopath or repeat offender (how do I know? Psychology classes!), she would have realized how the system wouldn’t have got anything in either US or India.

And this was from someone who signed in as anonymous coward. I kid you not.

But nasty ones?

Surely there must be a better way to control comments?

What are you comments on this ?

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charukesi July 19th, 2005

Actually make that ‘woman at work’… i.e. me. Working from home is great fun - especially when you have several windows open (both on your computer and in your home) - allows me to practise multitasking with great ease.

Multitasking - in less polite company - such as my husband’s, also known as “begging to be distracted” (but he is just jealous - he has to leave for work every morning at 8.15, which is about the time I sit with my coffee and newspapers).

Have some travel coming up later this week - Delhi and Jallandhar (yes, what all people do for a living). Will try to blog whenever possible. The last time I was in Punjab on work (Ludhiana - a few years ago), I went all eagerly hoping to see yellow sunflower fields and Sridevi in yellow chiffons and… you get the gist. Now I am older - and wiser (alright, alright) - and no longer hope to see yellow sunflower fields and Sridevi in yellow chiffon in Punjab.

Maybe just the sunflower fields… Or maybe just Sridevi…

Or just the yellow chiffon? No, let me get back to work now.

And for a better understanding of what being ‘at work’ means, this picture (taken last week at Chembur signal from my car)… (And the next time, you eat your vegetables, think of where they might have been)

And do have a look at the ‘hard at work’ set on my flickr…

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