Today is the last day of 2005. It is a Saturday. I got up at ten in the morning today because somehow my body clock wakes me up at three in the morning these days and then doesn’t let me sleep till seven because of which I feel very sleepy in office.
Last night, an old friend called me up from U.S.A to give the good news that she is carrying. I came to office and did some work and did a bit of surfing necessary for my future plans…i may go out to a new year party tonight. Some other old friends also called up and I called up some old friends. Wish you all a very happy and successful new year! May 2006 bring you all love, luck and happiness.
It shook the whole of Science Community. South Korean Government had spent 40 million U.S. dollars on his research on Stem Cells. The top scientist of South Korea, Hwang Woo-Suk resigned after the initial findings of an investigation by top South Korean University, The Seoul National University. The investigation panel accused him of faking results of at least 9 stem cell lines out of 11 in area of cloning and stem cell research.
Mr. Hwang apologized for hurting the sentiments of South Koreans but he still maintains that these stem cells were patient-specific and this area still belongs to South Korea.
The panel said that these 11 stem cell lines were created only from 2 results he got casting doubts on the rest of 9 stem cell lines.
Earlier also, Mr. Hwang had apologized on ethical grounds for using the eggs of female lab workers.
What are these stem cells? Stem cells are present all through our body but it is difficult to work with adult stem cells and they may not grow into required tissue. Therefore, scientists use embryonic stem cells that one gets from embryo. These embryonic stem cells can grow into any kind of tissue in our body; they can be used for repair of damaged tissues and it is being contemplated that if someone looses his hand, scientists will be able to grow a new hand through this research.
How does it work? The nucleus containing the genetic material is taken from the embryo and cloned with the egg cells taken from the female ovary. This egg cell is fertilized with the nucleus. It is a kind of an embryo now. With chemical process and electric shock, the embryo keeps on dividing and is allowed to grow for 5-7 days until it contains 100 cells. It is now in the form of a sphere called a blastocyst.
By this time, the embryonic stem cells are visible and can be removed and using certain nutrients and chemical processes can be grown further into tissues. These stem cells when removed can be cultured in the laboratory to develop into many stem cell lines.
These stem cells have the capability to replace or repair your heart in future!
Ethical Issues: Should doctors use human embryo for this research? Most of these stem cells used in research come from embryos left after IVF. Should we become GOD? That way, we will not let a person age and he will become immortal! But that’s long long way to go…
I was reading up on stem cell research for some time now and it comes as a shock to me that this research was not generic but patient-matched!
I watched this hindi movie yesterday night at Zee Cinema! It has been inspired by O henry.
I was not at all convinced with the plot of the movie. There were lots of loopholes like Mannu (Ajay Devgan) was not able to recognize whether Anu Kapoor was Aishwarya’s(Neerja a.k.a. Neeru) husband inspite of participating in her marriage and being the first helping hand. Neeru’s pronunciation of words like ‘Business’, ‘Please’, ‘Raincoat’, 'London' was flawless but she pronounced Brush as beerush.
If Neeru really wanted to hide her financial condition from Mannu, she would have never gone out to buy lunch for him leaving her house completely to him.
Will a guy ever let a stranger use his guest’s house’s restroom without the permission from the guest? On the top of it, will he start explaining everything about his past to a complete stranger?
Inspite of her pleading Mannu so many times not to open the windows with a practically valid reason, will the guy do this thing as soon as she is out?
It was only Anu Kapoor who put some interest back in the movie with his power packed performance. He, according to me, was the best actor of this movie.
Moreover, the dialogues between Mannu and Neeru were so boring that I wanted the movie to move on to the next scene.
I wouldn’t have liked to watch this movie on a big screen. Rituparno Ghosh should try something better.
Heard this song by Bob Dylan after a long long time. It’s in perfect harmony with my previous post- The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
The sound of slow soothing harmonica and gentle guitar takes one down to the memory lane. Gone are the days when you came across such songs, which did not have many instruments yet they calmed you down.
How many roads must a man walk down Before you call him a man? Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail Before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly Before they're forever banned? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many years can a mountain exist Before it's washed to the sea? Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist Before they're allowed to be free? Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head, Pretending he just doesn't see? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky? Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows That too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind.
What are you running after? Who are you running after? Give yourself some time. Let the world around you toss and turn in oblivion. Your race is not against time- it’s against yourself - in the world that is nothing, that means nothing. These cobwebs that you are struggling against don’t exist- they exist just in your mind.
Take time. Free up your mind. Hibernate! Once you are at peace, this world will make some sense to you and you will find that you have outrun yourself!
Past few days passed in a jiffy except for the last weekend. A friend who works in Microsoft in U.S.A was in town and we met; he had the latest update on who is getting how much salary in IT industry in Bengaluru (more about that below) and his figures were phenomenal, sky-touching. I, in turn, called up another friend and told him the figures and hassled him :-) Another old friend is leaving the company. I will have to search for people with whom I can have coffee!
For me though, life has come a full circle!
Deadlines are keeping me busy all the time and I am submerged in work so I hardly get time for blogging.
What is in store for me next year is all I am looking at.
Bangalore may be renamed bengaluru; I just hope people don't start changing the names of streets and towns! What will happen to Frazer town, cox town, Majestic, Anil Kumble circle (Anil kumble chauraha or something in kannada), Whitefield etc etc…
Of late, I have noticed that whenever I am watching a movie when it is on the brink of climax, the electricity or the cable connections goes off. It’s very irritating. It happened with Twist of Faith last weekend and with Calcutta Mail this morning.
I got my bike washed after a long time. Since long, it looked like I had just come back from a bike rally. The person who washed it was an artist in disguise. He took forty five minutes to wash my bike; made sure that every nut, every bolt saw the last of any mud stuck to them. Then, he cleaned my bike with a cloth using soap water. He did it for good twenty minutes as if he was giving bath to his child and then, cleaned it with water again. He was examining his work like the way a painter gives final touches to his masterpiece.
Because of the water pressure, the paint on the rear number plate had gone. I requested him and he obliged. Though he was not so good a painter but he was trying his best.
Clouds in the sky, mud and watery potholes on the road will make sure I visit the artist soon again.
My mornings on Saturday and Sunday generally start with a movie on TV. Last Saturday, I watched Bruce Almighty for third time, I guess. Jim Carry with intonations in his voice and contortions of his body, mainly face, tickles the hardest laughter bone in your body. In the movie, he gets the task of becoming GOD! He gets powers of GOD! But for most of the time, he can’t look beyond himself.
What would you and I do if we were to be gifted with such supernatural powers? Let’s say you were granted one wish which would come true however strange or odd it is. In such a case, what will your wish be? What’s your wishlist?
Today is 1st December. What is so special about today? It is the first day of last month…And someone, whose Birthday falls on last day of first month would be saying: KKKK….Kiran
