IITian sperm

This news came in Hindustan Times in January. Just noticed the link again yesterday and thought I should not miss this gem.

What: A couple in Chennai had put an online advertisement seeking a sperm donor for artificial insemination for a compensation of Rs. 20,000. Thats not news. The preference criteria described in advert were somewhat unique. “should be an IIT student, healthy, no bad habits, tall and fair, if possible”. Being tall and fair depends on genetics, sperm doner being healthy also helps. But what is meant by "Should be an IIT student"? Read the original story here.


Why its here: As one IIT-M student rightly pointed out in that news report, "If they were right, Albert Einstein’s relatives should be the brightest of all in the world." Intelligence is mostly developed by the upbringing and not by the genetics. Where is our craze for a coveted seat in IIT taking us to? Are these adverts indicating direction of the next gold rush?

Is Science another religion?

Antariksh Bothale of the linguistrix blog, pointed this op-ed piece in The Hindu today. The author is a cardiologist, former faculty member of a medical school in UK and former vice chancellor of India's oldest (and probably one of the better) private universities.

What: Thats the fun. I read the article twice but I am still not able to get past all the negative opinions of the author and extract something which is positive.

• He says, science, in the way it is practice today, is a failed system. Fair enough. He is entitled to his opinion. 
• The supposed "checks and balances" within the system like peer-review process are compromised and manipulated, especially in the medical field. I would give him that. 
• He claims that various ancient cultures were treasure troves of wisdom we can still consider useful, including alternate systems of medicines. Fine. Even I trust Ayurvedic (Indian book of herbal medicine) cough syrups over modern chemical ones. But certainly, I don't want that "ancient wisdom" argument to extend to right-wing wet-dreams like "Vedic people knew how to build aeroplanes" and "Ayurveda has cure for HIV / cancer" and others like that. So tread bit carefully there.
• Then he goes on and on about how higher state spending in US does not necessarily translate in good healthcare ("Sicko" already tells us that), how modern medicines cannot take credit for increased life expectancy, how Nightingale and Semmelweiss simply used common sense to bring about drastic improvements in healthcare (in 19th Century mind you).
• At the end he selectively quotes cautionary notes of several scientists, which warn that science can have its problems.

Why its here: What is he trying to say? Science is bad, but then, at least according to him, what is good? For first part, I thought he is disgruntled about one of his "out of the box" paper was rejected by some medical journal referee. Then, for some part I thought he is like many science hot shots in India who start losing perspective on reality after a certain age and start drifting towards crazy theories. His last para, where he extensively quotes Dawkins and then calls it arrogant makes a possible case for supporting creationism. But funnily enough, he never tells us what is it he is in favour of.

Venus Transit

Blogging after a long break! There were a few mildly amusing items on the news in the intermediate period. However, I did not laugh on them as much. Not until Swapnil Jawkar pointed to this report in Times of India.

What: Some astrologer cum numerologist talks about astrological effects of the transit of Venus which happened on 6th June. Some quotes from her:

• "It has an impact as strong as any other eclipse (solar or lunar)." 
• "The phenomenon may have come to end today but the effect of the Transit of Venus will remain for the next six months to come."
• "Venus is associated with beauty ..... avoid going for beauty treatments."
• "There was a solar eclipse on 20 May 2012, a lunar eclipse on 4 June 2012 and now the transit of Venus on 6 June 2012. Such frequent eclipses may indicate a natural calamity in the coming times, perhaps very heavy rainfall or earthquake."

Why its here: Where do I start? Does the poor Venus know that some tiny animate objects (us) on another planet happen to see it passing over the disk of the Sun? Seriously, can such people be brought to the book under article 420?

The Economist!!

We have found root cause of all problems in Indian Economy. It seems we have been wasting time so many years formulating economic theories etc.


What: Here is a report in Hindustan Times. A Vaastu expert claims that the slide in the value of Rupee (with respect to USD), is caused by bad design of the new Rupee symbol (₹). He claims the second horizontal line symbolizes "slit throat" and is inauspicious for the rupee. Thanks Antariksh Bothale (writer of wonderful Linguistrix blog) for pointing this news item.


Why its here: Seriously! We should wind down all uesless things like economic advisory committee of GoI or institutes fretting over economic policy and simply appoint Vaastu or Feng Shui or Numerology or Astrology or "whatever is the latest stupid fad" experts to predict which direction our economy would go.

Everyone is a Maoist

Didi makes it here for third time.

What: Below is a weblink of a talk show on CNN-IBN news channel. Didi was asked some uncomfortable questions by the audience. Her response was to label all of them as CPM cadres and Maoists and walk off the show.

Mamta's new antics on CNN-IBN

Why its here: Do I have to really say it?

(Un)safe Garden

What: I happened to take my son to Kamla Nehru Park on Malabar Hill in Mumbai yesterday. Following video was captured there.

*There is no audio to this video.

Why its here: Clearly the ride is broken. The municipality has neither got time to fix it nor to barricade it. Children are still playing with it and it is clearly being used way above its prescribed capacity. There are parents standing nearby but they are not even bothered by this clearly unsafe ride.

Another Cartoon row

What is it with Indian political parties and cartoons? We have second cartoon row in a month.

What: This cartoon was first published by legendary cartoonist Shankar in 1949. It depicts newly independent India's impatience with drafting of constitution. Two identifiable figures in the cartoon are Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, noted legal expert and chair of constitution drafting committee and Pandit Nehru India's first prime minister. This cartoon was one of the many cartoons introduced in federal government prescribed high school political science textbooks. This was part of wider effort to make social sciences appear less boring to students. This week some political parties demanded that this cartoon should be removed from textbooks as it insults Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, who is elevated to nearly demigod status by his followers. HRD minister Kapil Sibbal promptly agreed with this claim, appologised to parliament and ordered withdrawal of the cartoon. Here is a story in The Hindu about the controversy.

Why its here: First of all, the textbook writers say (and I tend to agree) that in this cartoon the joke is on Nehru rather than Ambedkar. It shows that Ambedkar is making valient effort of jockeying the snail that the constitution drafting committee was turing out to be and at the same time keeping parliamentarians (who are agitated by the snail's pace) at bay. But still there no stopping for Nehru, who was known for impatience. How this cartoon derides Ambedkar is beyond me. Secondly, the cartoon has been part of the textbooks since 2005. Why this sudden flare up? Even more importantly, the cartoon was originally published in 1949, when both Nehru and Ambedkar were alive and very influencial. There is no record of either of them objecting to this cartoon either in public or in private. Both had great belief in freedom of expression and at least Nehru (I am not sure about Ambedkar) was a fan of Shankar's cartoons.