Throwback 2016

2016 can be tagged as one of the most transition infested year in my life. A transition from a well established graduate (read PhD) student to a post doctoral fellow; in an institute that captured my imagination a bit. The road from CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology to UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center had not been smooth, with the long wait for the Visa processing (J1) and then getting past the official paper works in India. This though was not so tough compared to the thousands of labs that I screened, mostly in US for the next step of my career.

I always had the set up in my mind that every stage of the career I bear a new subject under my belt. A rainbow spectrum, to me always seems lucrative for the inherent thirst of knowledge and never be into my comfort zone. Rather making uncomfortable zone homely is always been my motto. That reflects with my several transitions from B.Sc in Physiology to M.Sc in Genetics and then shift towards Molecular Biology with Epigenetics and Epidemiology been my area of expertise. Never the less, a lot is still needed to learnt over there, but I can well say I am well accustomed with what I know and wouldn't feel a Martian in those realms.

But of all these phases, to transit again was a big step in 2016. Now in a more refined arena of Chromatin biology, where I was outside my comfort zone for atleast 4-5 months since arrival; 2016 made this test a very hard one. The previous ones were always in my home ground. In my place of of birth, where learning was only new while other aspects weren't. Already in my early thirties, when the flexibility becomes stiff a bit, I had to find my ways to flex my backbone and learn not only the knowledge and techniques, but also the culture.

At first it was little tricky. Always converse in English and keep track of your actions. Paper works, insurance, SSN, Rent and what not. But, today when I look back and also discussing such with my wife, I can say with confidence that I have overcome the initial hurdles. It feels good in a sense that nothing is impossible if you believe in yourself.

With 2017 coming up, I would like to build on this and I wish all the fellows who are facing the same, time will make it. Only the making process will squeeze out more from you. If you desired for the changes, I think that is the only price time will ask from you, in return to the opportunity.

Happy New Year.

Sensation

Biologically the term gives the power to feel and be alive. It gives us the power to realize our environment, the world that we belong and the people that we live with. But in the modern context the term is also utilized to define the excitement that brews in us upon knowing a news.

"Its a sensation" or "Sensational...!"

Good or bad, the modern times witnesses news reports that by definition becomes mostly over exaggerated and creates a random chaos within various pockets of the society. The situation is being created to an eruption in the daily lifestyle of humans and deviate them from the humane thoughts. I happened to watch a movie called "Rush", which executed the basic thoughts to move ahead by presenting sensational news! In this case, create the sensational news!

It seems that the news; which should only be unadulterated truth comes in brands. "XXX Exclusive" or "Exclusive Footage" being water marked across the screen. Seems like we are buying the underpants of soft or coarse cotton or printed with the heart or strawberries. Although it will cover your vitals, it still comes in various colours and styles; because it will excite your partner. A similar policy comes with these exclusives and TRPs; to excite the viewers.

The movie ends on a nice note. Yes, we public have deviated from the truth. We do not want to see news that may be mundane and without blood shed or slangs! We prefer to dance with the tunes of bullets from the arms and not hinder the cracks going on in the icy poles of glaciers shortening their arms. Sad, but it feels so and that is being capitalized by many people. Filling their pockets!

The sensation is now not pinging properly within your neurons. It needs to be reset soon or else, soon the aliens will broadcast a sensation that would involve our own species' great asset: humanity.

Reform

Today, on a rainy week end, I happened to watch "Cinemawala". A film by Kausik Ganguly and aptly realized by the brilliant acting of Paran Bandyopadhyay and company. A fact being portrayed through the eyes of a theatre hall owner, who weathered away eventually through the tides of time and modernization. In this regards, Chaplin's great "Modern Times" come in the forefront where the humans start working like machines and also a time would soon come when they would be competing with the machines for Jobs.

Almost everywhere, the scarcity of jobs eats away the daily dreams of the human mind. For few, who choose being an entrepreneur, tries to regain some more from the ever losing trend. With reports of Academia getting stagnant, time will soon come when everywhere only a few people, exclusively following the Darwinian principle of Survival, shall thrive in the face of the earth. On this note, a recent notion coined by Stephen Hawkins about Mankind's 1000 years more, from now, soon be a reality where the scarcity of jobs, leads to scarcity of earning potential. This may eventually lead to lesser matrimonial conjunction and lesser offspring, because the parents would fear the future to feed the young ones. The erosion would start leading to Mankind's 1000 years only.

This idea though would seem to be very much extrapolated and means no sense with the Cinemawala, but the erosion of old in the hands of new seemed quite analogous to the formation of rust when iron gets exposed to water and air. In modern times, the water and air are more viscous, leading to rust and crack in the age old iron pillars of livelihood.

There was once grasslands,

Then came the mud roads for the carriages,

Then came the asphalt for the motor cars,

Soon there will be more advancements.

But today, when you stand on the road outside your house, have you ever given it a thought how it was may be 50 years ago, if not 100. Those have been in the oblivion, but we still stand on the age old concept, in a new way. The concept of road has not changed. All it did was reform. I think, to preserve your past and move into the future makes you perfectly ok; if only you can subdue the ego in you.

Dreams are not always celluloid. Dreams are in the eyes of the beholder.

আরেক বার

বই মেলায় চেনা মুখ গুলো,
ময়দান এর ধুলো;
পূর্ণিমার চাঁদ ,
ইডেন এর পিছনে;
পশ্চিমে সূর্য্য,
সব দেখতে ইচ্ছে করছে-

শীতকালের আমেজ আসছে  আমার চেনা শহরের আকাশ এ, অলিতে গলিতে। সেই লর্ড পাড়ায়  দাঁড়িয়ে থাকা ফুচকাওয়ালা, জেক বার বার মনে করতো হতো যে আমি ঝাল খাইনা। সে ঝাল টা আজ খুব খেতে ইচ্ছে করছে। আনাচে কানাচে ক্যাপ বন্দুকের আওয়াজ অনেক দিন চলে গাছে; কিন্তু আজও যেন মাঝে মধ্যে কোথাও সেই শিবকাশী-র ক্যাপ তা পটাশ ফটাস করে ফাটতে থাকে।
কালী পুজো, ভাই ফোটা, জগদ্ধাত্রী পুজো।.. র তারপর মন্জিনিস এর কেক. ও, মনজিনিস তো দেখুন mio amore এ হয়ে গাছে। মনের জিনিস মন্জিনিস টা  অনেক ভালো ছিল। হুম.. সব ছিল।  কিছু জায়গায় আছেও হয়তো! কিন্তু আজ Smithville  এর আকাশ এ আমি একটু গন্ধ পেয়েছি কালী পুজোর। লাল জবা না দেখলেও, কেন জানিনা মনে হচ্ছে ভূত চতুর্দশী র ভাই Halloween তাই আমি দিওয়ালি বানিয়ে দেব!
শুভ বিজয়া।

At the Stroke of Midnight

"At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will wake to life and freedom...", excerpts from Tryst with Destinity, speech delivered by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. 1947.

"If by the edge of the sword or fear of atom bomb, if someone tries to make our country bow, this country of ours is not going to bend or break..." Lal Bahadur Shastri, the third Prime Minister of India, 1965.

"...It would not have happened if the World Community had woken up to the fact (East Pakistan Massacre) when we first drew their attention", Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the first woman Prime Minister of India, 1971.

"...India have never bowed infront of terrorism or terrorist, and She will never bow..." Mr. Narendra Modi, the present Prime Minister of India, 2016.

It started at Midnight and the thing have metamorphosed to another life and recognition in an around that hour when the Indian Army conducts operations with precision into enemy territory. The term enemy comes with adversary conditions developed by the misalignment of words and stare at each other. India just replied to such a stare, being conducted physically at Uri, earlier this week, in September 2016. And the reply was just and clinical; may be that's why it's called "Surgical Operation".

Sitting outside my homeland, it gives makes me browse only through the day to day event where the border news comes flashing by. In the 21st Century, when India is roaming around Mars, some people are happy to shoot bullets, shell and off hand missiles to the skies. For and against people survive everywhere, but it gives me a food of thought to the people who involuntarily gets tagged, hit and killed. But, many peace agreements have fallen head over heels. Its time to play it intelligently and I guess, the present Indian Government has not yet disappointed me.

India Shining or Good Days, let my Motherland bask in the glory of the sunshine and prosperity and let all the Citizen of the World live with happiness. A day when I write this small article, is the day we start our celebrations of life.

Happy Mahalaya. 

The New Foundland

History bears the testimony that human always followed the path of lord to find food, land and shelter. Present bears the testimony when the humans have no new land to search, on the face of mother Earth and future will hopefully bear the testimony that the same Exodus will start off on her sisters and their children like Mars, Europa, etc.

With more and more heads multiplying, the demand for food and water multiplied by greed and money, power over the mass; all brews in the face of the planet which nurtured you for the past million year. The particles which create us all, after death would segregate into the elements and would re-start into some-one's sperm or ova as the DNA or the amino acids. And then what we fight for in the name of extra-ordinary? In the name of being different? Some lives matter? All lives matter... even the grass you walk on and create the massacre in the name of caste, creed or religion. There is nothing new in the death, no news in the pain.

Its pain all alike.

Sometimes I think, every morning to achieve something new. But at the day end. whatever I achieve or not achieve, needs some space to be absorbed, rather than the daily rantings of terror. It seems the humans in general have lost the love for universal happiness. Take any great book, read through the lines of religion. It speaks of happiness, something that you can get from within; unfortunately, it seems to be lost into the oblivion. A great abyss stares at us! Why do you spend in billions to stare at the night sky and mark phenomemon like V4641 Sgr, some 1600 light years away? Look into your coming seond or minute; which can put you in the black hole of pity. Try to research on that and stop that. The 1600 light years stuff would not reach you even in the next 16 minutes!

The New Foundland should be the universal happiness, that would be enjoyed by all. Sometimes, it's better to do things from the book, rather than just read and admire them in the name of "awesome" history, when your present and future is "aweful"!

p.c: Universe Today.

The Cold Summer

Seems quite an analogy if you are from Northern hemisphere and are located in the Southern Hemisphere, at this point of time in July 2016.

But, the actual reference to the title comes when the world continues to be spotted with the chicken pox of death, terror and unrest! This had been so, for many a decades, ever increasing in count and today, I realize that its getting colder every day. The humans at large are no more humane and the world skips a beat every time it starts to settle and compromise with the pain incurred.

In the words of Kipling, etched in his creation "Hymn to Physical Pain", I would like to quote-

"...Thine are the lidless eyes of night,
That stare upon our tears,
Through certain hours which in our sight,
Exceed a thousand years..."

Hope still persists, more so with the wait for the Winter Rain. When love will catch up, washing the dust at the dusk and bringing forth a fresh dawn where the spring harvest will take away the chill of the day. Till then "the Benefactor" will be benefited unless the terms of present world order is re-thought and redistributed. In another classic, that reminds us every sense that Kipling made in The Benefactor-

"...It is not learning, grace nor gear,
Nor easy meat and drink,
But bitter pinch of pain and fear,
That makes creation think.

When in this world's unpleasing youth,
Our godlike race began,
The longest arm, The sharpest tooth,
Gave man control of man..."

Its still cold a gift that the world offers... with love...

p.c; Pinterest

At the CrossRoads

Today, I came across an article shared in facebook and published in The Newyork Times, regarding Epigenetics and the concern of it's supposedly painful trajectory. I, being a disciple in the field would like to emphasize that the trajectory is not at all over exaggerated and makes sense when you look into the larger picture. The environmental cues (actual or micro) does bring forth changes in the long run and that has been re-instated by several in vitro and in vivo studies, leave aside real time patient samples.

The complexity increases several manifold when you go into the higher organisms. In the terms of statistics, which brings forth the "scientific sense" of "significant", is based on the possibility of occurrence given certain assumed conditions  dealt with in the study. Scientifically, it is not possible to take into account every thing. For example, a smoker eats fruits, veggies, may have frequent water intake or an occassional beer. In a study you can follow the individual, but ethically cannot control the subject's lifestyle, unless you keep him/her captive! In most of the aspects, the peer review demands for controlled models, which is being supported adequately by in vitro or in vivo models. That can be proved within the aegis of the journal. That doesn't demeanor the notion that "Epigenetic changes are overestimate of ideas" or as the aforementioned article mentions: "...the fact that it (epigenetic study) may merely be reporting noise".

After a read to the article, I feel that criticism only comes when you are doing things and that it's welcome. I am happy to be part of this journey, the notion of #Epigenetics.

The following picture literally sums it all up :

Source: University of Missouri

অনেক দিন পরে...

অনেক দিন পরে, আবার লিখতে বসলাম।

শেষ সেই ফেব্রুয়ারী তে লিখেছিলাম, যখুন অদ্ভূত একটা টানাপড়েনের মধ্যে দিয়ে দিন কাটছিল। বাসস্থান ছিল কলকাতা; আজ, প্রায় তিন মাস পরে, সেটা পাল্টেছে। পাল্টেছে দৈনন্দিন জীবন যাত্রা, পাল্টেছে সুর্জ্যাস্থা, পাল্টেছে আকাশের বুকে টিম টিম করে জলা জোনাকির আলো। এখুন আকাশ-এ অনেক তারা দেখতে পাই।  নেই স্ট্রিট light , নেই বাস ট্রাম এর সেই "বাবুঘাট, ধর্মতলা" অথবা auto -র সাউথ সিটি যাব সুধু হাকা হাকী।

কলকাতায় থাকতে ল্যাব থেকে মাঝে মধ্যেই বেরোতে ভালো লাগত।যাদবপুরের পুকুরের ধার দিয়ে হাটা , বা ইচ্ছে করে একটু রাত হলে... হেটে ঢাকুরিয়া থেকে ট্রেন ধরে বাড়ি ফেরা। ভালো লাগত শান্ত, নিস্তব্দ গলি গুলো।রাত যেন খুব কাছের ছিল, প্রিয় ছিল সেই যাদবপুর থানার রাস্তা-র ধারে  শনি মন্দিরের ৬০ watt -র আলো। কুকুর এর ডাক, বা রাস্তায় আস্থানা করে শুয়ে থাকা মেহেনতি রিকশা ওয়ালা -র নশিকা গর্জন! তারপর ট্রেন থেকে নেমেই একটা সুর, মায়ের চিন্তাময় রিংটোন: "কোথায়?" আর আমার সেই একটা উত্তর "২০ মিনিট, আসছি।"

স্মিথভিল্লে, সেই নিরব শান্ত পরিবেশ আছে; কিন্তু নেই সেই শনি মন্দির, নেই সেই rickshaw বা তাদের তলায় শুয়ে থাকা সেই মেহেনতি মানুষ। তা বলে এটা বলছিনা যে এখানে শ্রমজীবি মানুষ নেই; আছে, কিন্তু তাদের সাথে তো আর কলকাতা-র ঘামের গন্ধ নেই !

তবে বলব, আমি এখানে একদাম বাজে আছি তা নয়।  কাজ, যা আমাকে গড়েছে, সে সব আছে।  মজা আছে, বন্ধুবান্ধব -ও কম হইনিনে। সুধু এপার র অপার এর মাঝে মন টা পরে আছে।  মানুষ নিজেকে সারা জীবন গড়েছে। আমিও নিজেকে তার ব্যতিক্রম ভাবি না।  সুধু এই গড়া -র প্রচেষ্টায়, কু কিছু যাতে না ভেঙ্গে যাই, এটাই প্রার্থনা।

আমি আবার শুরু করব লিখতে। অবল তাবোল, যাহাই আসে আসুক; এই লেখা গুলি হয়ে উঠবে, আমার কথা, আমার ভালো বাসা, র নারী-র টান যে সহর র মানুষ গুলোর সাথে; তাদের সাথে আমার কথা বলা.

ভালো থেকো আর ভালবেশ!

Truck Load...

As I finish off the last few pages of the "history book" by Rebecca Skloot, I realize that certain things in this mortal world are not meant to be won by the death; somethings that escapes our imagination and is only left to be though and sought for in the present. In this case, a history of immortality! A history where business thrives on science and science thrives on business (well, the dilemma will be never ending); a life after death - HeLa. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. 

65 years after the organism's existence; her legacy keeps on unfolding new mysteries and new stories every day. So, what does the cells that have been making ground breaking discoveries, medicines to mechanisms, you to me; HeLa is meeting the mark every day! Mrs. Lacks is not coming back shouting that her body part should not be used. They are not fighting against us even! They are fighting for us and to gift us what? Discovery and know how to live the life on different note, with hope! But then, certain events make us feel... what is the use in all these?

People will fight, tarnish ... break, kick, bite and eat! For the sake of caste, community and petty things that seems to "not biologically" segregate Homo sapiens sapiens! Are we here to prove any thing like we have 48/47 chromosomes? The meaning of life doesnot change with the ones you fight for or fight with! Its the very existence that comes at stake and the truck that ought to take you through the lovely roads of hills and vales, the dunes and the waves, lie stranded! Reason? The passengers them selves are trying to decide with force and violence; which is better... the sea or the mountain?

There are many interesting stories to be learnt, talked about and shared! Today I share with you the book title. Try to go through it. It was gifted to me by my institute colleague, some one who had helped in my own research with cell lines! 

I agree that you are an organism yourself! But, to the society and social structure, each one of you is a cell. The cells that Mrs. Lacks left behind were cancerous in nature. A scar that built a the multi-billion dollar business and has become the seed to new discoveries! BRAVO! But, in the social structure; diseased or scarred cells leaves behind only the scar! And if the analogy holds true.... this whole nation will die off because of this cancerous outbreak... and one day, the notion of the nation will die off, because of this communal and social scars! And then, only truck load of nothing will stay in wait for you to visit the places of this beautiful nation! Keep #Harmony and Keep #India #Incredible; because not every one is lucky to be like Mrs. Lacks... The incredible immortal lady!

Source: Amazon.in

#Incredible !ndia