How many Karkares do we need to sacrifice?

I hate to write on politics. The recent developments in the global politics using religion for some selfish motives has long influenced me to stay away from them. Many youngsters opt to stay away from politics and that has only helped the politicians to continue their dirty game. 

The November-26th-Mumbai-Mayhem bears a testimony to the negligent attitude of our politicians. As if that wasn't enough, politicians have spelt it out clearly in their press meet that immediately followed the worst ever terror attack on the Independent India. Mr. R.R.Patil, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra openly displayed his irresponsible attitude that forced him to his resignation. He said, “In a big city such as Mumbai, incidents likes these keep happening.” What a shame on our democracy!

On 13th May 2008 a series of nine blasts rocked Jaipur claiming 63 innocent lives and leaving more than 200 people injured. Two days after the incident, Mr. Shivraj Patil, the Home Minister of the Republic of India visits the places and remarks, "The nefarious designs of terrorists will be thwarted boldly and their attempts will be foiled," Mr. Patil said, falsely assuring the public that India was ready to tackle the acts of terrorism of any magnitude. Just see what happened over the next six months. There were serial blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, two separate blasts in Delhi, high intensity blasts in Assam and now the Mumbai Massacre. India is not ready to face terrorism; only her politicians are ready to give the same statements after each blast. Here are some examples.

After the Delhi blasts on 29th October 2005, here's how the Prime Minister reacted. "We are resolute in our commitment to fighting terror in all forms. I am confident that the people of India have the will, capacity and resolution to win the war against terrorism."

Over 200 people were killed and more than 700 were injured in the Mumbai train bombings carried out on 11th July 2006 and this is how the Prime Minister reacted. "No-one can make India kneel. The wheels of our economy will move on. India will continue to walk tall, and with confidence. Mumbai, stands tall once again as the symbol of a united India. An inclusive India. We will win this war against terror. Nothing will break our resolve."

Ahmedabad witnessed a series of 21 bomb blasts on 26th July 2008 that killed 56 people and injured more than 200. Here's how the Home Minister, Shivraj Patil reacted. "This is a time when we should not feel frightened and we should assess the situation correctly and try to help the people, who have suffered and plan to see that these things do not happen afterwards." Mr. Patil, what plan did you do to see that it would not repeat?

Three months later, Assam was attacked and death toll rose to 84, with injury toll close to 500. Mr. Shivraj Patil was ready with a statement this time also. "We shall nab the culprits involved in the blasts. Investigations are on and we should be able to come out with something concrete."

And to top it all, R.R.Patil made that nasty remark on the Mumbai attack. Mr. Patil, have seen on TV or the Internet how bad the situation was? If not, Click here to see some of the pictures [Warning: Some of the images are disturbing] and ask your conscience, if at all you have one. Don't make it another forgotten terror attack. Every life counts. To all you politicians, I shall quote my Swamiji's words. "Death of a million is but statistics, unless one of them is your relative!" -Swami Atmashraddhananda. [Swami Atmashraddhananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order and is currently serving as the Editor of the Vedanta Kesari, a spiritual monthly magazine published from Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai]. 

Even before terrorism influenced the Indian Democracy, even before Hiroshima and Nagasaki witnessed the most powerful bombs on Earth, even before London was stunned with the 7/7 tube train blasts, even before the World Wars I and II were fought, exactly 108 years before the 9/11 blasts, one Indian wished to prevent all the bloodshed. Yes, it was Swami Vivekanada, who made an impressive remark at the World Parliament of Religions on 11th September 1893 at Chicago. "Sectarianism, bigotry, and it's horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful Earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now.

"But their time has come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal."

Yes, friends, the time has come to toll another bell and begin the fight against terrorism. Surely, our politicians won't ring that bell. It needs brave men like Hemanth Karkare, Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Gajendra Singh and other brave commandos who risked their lives to liberate Mumbai from the most atrocious terror attack. We need another movement, a second freedom struggle, this time against terrorism. But the question is, how many Karkares do we need to sacrifice?

JobeeHive.com – by the employees, for the employees

There were times when gold, land and other property were a man's treasure. Today, the competition has grown to such an extent that just those things aren't enough. Information is wealth today.

The official websites give us all the formal details. But the surfers are not satisfied just with that. They want to know the intricate details – details, that even the officials themselves do not know. This cannot be possible without involving as many people as possible. Social networking provides a platform for the surfers to contribute their understanding and share it among other surfers. Social networking has changed our lives just as much as Internet, that did a decade ago.

Two young corporates felt like extending the advantage of this social networking to the corporate front. The entrepreneurs around the world have now come to a common competitive field, all thanks to globalization. While this offers a wide range of employment opportunities, it often leaves the young aspirant confused as to which company to choose. Some of them may end up with a company that never helps them sculpt their future.

If you are already one among them, or fear that you could be one among them, here's your solution – JobeeHive.com. JobeeHive helps your answer "Where do you wanna go next?" by providing employer reviews, ratings and salaries. Best part is that these reviews are written by employees themselves - people who have been there and seen it. It is a unique community platform for professionals which brings career information on companies and industries along with professional networking.

JobeeHive is crafted to perfection and takes utmost care of the informations, ratings and reviews about the companies. JobeeHive also provides rare salary information that will help professionals understand salaries, benefits and pay hikes in different companies across job grades and locations. What I feel adds to the credibility of the website is that they have a professional network surrounding company and salary information. Professional networking is a kind of social networking service where professionals meet for a common interest. In JobeeHive's case, professionals are flocking to gain knowledge of companies and salaries and in the process, sharing their own knowledge as well.

There's more to JobeeHive and you will be exploring it yourself, once you sign up. Once you sign up, you can fill up the employer review or salary form for your employer and can research and follow any company you wish to. In essence, JobeeHive is a platform of the employees, by the employees and for the employees!

PS: JobeeHive happens to be a brain-child of Vishwas Mudagal, an alumnus of Sri Ramakrishna Vidyashala, Mysore – a reputed educational institution for boys in the State of Karnataka. 

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"JobeeHive.com has been nominated for TATA NEN Hottest Startups Awards. To vote for them type HOT 152 and sms to 56767. Or visit here to vote through NEN website (you have to sign up for an account if you want to vote through the website)."

On A Scientist Par Excellence

P R E L U D E

Let me begin with a famous Indian fable - “Six blind men and an elephant,” because a lot of concepts involved herein are better understood with this analogy. There were six blind men who wanted to know what an elephant was. They were hence taken to an elephant itself and given an opportunity to feel it for themselves. Each one touched the elephant and got an idea how it was. When they were asked to describe how an elephant looked like, the first blind man said, “The elephant is like a snake.” That was because he had only touched its trunk! The second blind man having touched only its tusk, described it as a sharp, stout and a weapon-like thing. The third one, having touched only its legs, described it as a hard pillar-like substance and the fourth man, having touched its belly said, “The elephant is a hard spherical mass like a rock.” The fifth one touched its ears and described it as a thick, leaf-like animal and the last blind man, having touched only its tail, concluded that the elephant was a long, worm-like animal! There were serious fights among the six men as to who was correct. Then, they were told that everyone was ‘partially’ right because they had only touched a ‘part’ of the elephant and that putting them all together forms the real picture of the elephant.

--

The nineteenth century witnessed some of the greatest scientific discoveries and technological advances. While the discoveries in the fields of Physics and Chemistry were readily accepted and appreciated, the advances in the field of Biology were condemned. The single most important reason was it confronted religious beliefs. There were widespread oppositions from the religious leaders and fanatics. Even though a British natural historian, Charles Darwin came up with a revolutionary idea, he waited almost two decades collecting sufficient evidences to stand the test of the religious opposition.

The situation was not new to the western religions. Scientists like Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei were ridiculed and punished for challenging the geocentric descriptions (that the Earth was the centre of the Universe and the Sun and other celestial bodies revolved around it) found in the Christian Biblical works like Psalm. Therefore, in the year 1859, when Charles Darwin published his book, “On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection,” religious fanatics turned red-hot.

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution refuted the Biblical belief of God’s creation of life on Earth and Human Beings in six days and that occurred 10,000 years ago. For Darwin’s theory of evolution to be true it was essential to prove three things. One, the Earth was much older than 10,000 years to have allowed sufficient time for evolution; two, the complex species that exist today had descended from one or a few simpler and common ancestors; and three, the driving force for species to evolve. Even if one of them was disproved, his theory would simply collapse.

The creationists have attacked these assumptions time and again but the judgement has been going in favour of evolutionists at most times. Darwin’s speculation that the Earth is older in the order of millions of years is strongly supported by the radiometric dating by the geologists. They estimate that the Earth is at least 3.56 Billion years old! Darwin was right in his first assumption.

The assumption of common ancestors is now supported by fossil records. Radiometric dating of the fossils now reveals that the simpler fossils were older than the more complex fossils. This supports the origin of more complex organisms from simpler ancestors.

“Natural Selection” – one of the most breathtaking ideas ever – provided the answer for the driving force in nature that causes the species to evolve. Just as a farmer prefers the crops with better yield to the low-yielders for further cultivation, Darwin proposed that the nature selects the individuals with favourable traits to pass them on to their next generation. For example, among the deer’s it is more likely for a deer with faster legs to survive the attack of predators than a normal deer. This is how nature selects the faster deer. There are thousands of such examples.

While the physical evidences were going in favour of Evolution, and against the western religious beliefs, the first serious threat to Darwinism came not by fundamental Christians but by scientists themselves. Towards the end of 19^th century scientists challenged the long term effects of these favourable variations. Their argument was, of course the faster deer was more likely to survive but when it has to mate, it is more likely to mate with a normal deer and so the offspring would be a blend of the two characteristics – a half-faster deer! And when that half-faster deer mates with a normal deer, the offspring would only be a quarter-faster deer! Therefore the argument focussed on successive dilution of the variations which brings the equation back to where it started! Natural Selection was pushed to dark…

The blend of the characteristics into a “half-faster” progeny was merely a hypothesis. None of the scientists who argued on successive dilution of the variations really tested it seriously because it just ‘sounded’ logical. In 1865, when an Austrian Monk called Gregor Johann Mendel presented a paper on the ‘Experiments on Plant Hybridization,’ he confronted the belief of the ‘blend of characteristics’ but nobody paid enough attention to it. Next year the paper was published in ‘Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Brunn’ but it was criticised and discarded. Darwin passed away in 1882 and Mendel died two years later. Thus, by the end of the 19^th century, the ‘Theory of Evolution’ was written a scientific obituary!

If you consider these theories to be some person, I put it this way – the guy went into Cardiac Arrest! Cardiac arrest is not death, after all. In 1900, two scientists – Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns – understood the ‘Experiments on Plant Hybridization’ like never-before and the theory was given a successful Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), so to say! All of a sudden it sprung back to life and became popularly known as “Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance.” With the ‘Laws of Inheritance’ accounting for the passage of the variations down the generation, Darwinism came back to the scientific front with vengeance!

Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance provided tremendous insight into one’s “Vehicles of Heredity” or “Genes.” The 20^th century made enormous progress on the path shown by Mendel. More and more interesting facts were discovered – the chromosomes, the genes, De-oxyribose Nucleic Acid (DNA) and its ‘twisted-ladder’ structure and the molecular techniques of comparing the DNA of different samples like Nucleic Acid Hybridisation etc…

These technological advances were at once used to test Darwin’s hypothesis and Bingo! The more it was explored the louder was the judgement in favour of Evolution! Here are some important findings. All living creatures use the same set of 20 amino acids to build their proteins. The DNA code for these amino acids is same in all of them. For e.g., ‘UUU’ codes for the amino acid, Phenyl alanine in bacteria, in fungi, in plants, in crustaceans, in fish, in mammals and name-it-any species! This clearly demonstrates that the blueprint for all the living creatures was derived from one or few common ancestors. It doesn’t stop there. Analysing the DNA samples from different species shows direct relationship between the extent of the resemblance and the proximity of their relationship in the evolution. For e.g., Human DNA is 96% similar to that of the Chimpanzees, 75% similar to that of the Dogs and 33% similar to that of the Daffodils! This clearly shows that we are more closely related to Chimpanzees than Dogs or Daffodils. Darwin was more than right again!

Through most of the 20^th century Darwinism grew exponentially. The sad thing about this is it inculcated ‘Materialism’ into one’s thinking and seemed to support atheism, which it should not have. There were revolts and judicial proceedings on whether Darwin’s theory of Evolution should be taught in high school biology. The intention was not to disprove evolution but to prevent the growing atheism. Judgements seemed to fluctuate between the two ends and the topic remained a mystery for decades until the next big threat to Darwinism came with the proposal of the ‘Theory of Intelligent Design’ by Philip E. Johnson.

This theory wasn’t totally different from the biblical description of creation according to Genesis. It just scientifically altered the theory to sound more logical. It brought into an ‘Intelligent Designer’ who crafted the life deftly and intentionally and opposed the crude undirected ‘Natural Selection’ as the driving force for evolution. Biochemist Michael Behe joined Johnson’s ‘Intelligent Design’ with the concept of ‘Irreducible Complexity.’ Irreducible complexity means, some of the structures like the ‘eye’ in most species and ‘flagella’ of the bacteria are so complex that they cannot be reduced to their components which can function independently. The lens of the eye cannot function independently of the retina and nor can the retina function without lens. His argument implied that the lens and the retina didn’t evolve independently but were designed ‘intelligently!’

William Dembsky’s mathematical calculation to prove that the chances of evolution of Humans from bacteria are so less that such an event is not just ‘improbable’ but ‘impossible,’ became another nail in the coffin for Evolution. Also the evolution could not account for the development of ‘Intelligence’ and ‘Awareness,’ which could be explained by the ‘Intelligent Design.’ The Evolutionists are working on the challenges of propellers of ‘Intelligent Design’ and are successful to some extent but by and large, the tug-of-war between Evolutionists and Creationists has been 50-50 with no clear outcome as of now. Only four out of ten Americans today believe in Evolution, the rest voting for Creationism!

I was wondering which way to go. I asked myself what my heart felt like. I could not find a clear-cut answer. Being an Indian, I decided to explore how the religious India reacted to the theory of Evolution, and was that any similar to that of the western religious society. I found a very convincing answer provided by an Indian Scientist way back in 19^th century itself – so much so that I could close the Evolution-Creation debate with concrete evidence and total conviction!

19^th January 1896, New York

A 33 year old Indian Scientist was addressing an American gathering on the topic, “The Macrocosm.” Mind you, this was a pre-genetic era when Darwinism and the theory of Evolution were still shaky. But the answer was already there with this Scientist!

The lecture opened with some of the basic questions that have crossed almost every sane mind at some point or the other. “What is the Universe made up of? Whence is this?” The scientist continues, “Millions of attempts have been made to answer it, yet millions of times it will have to be answered again. It is not that each answer was a failure; every answer to this question contained a part of truth, and this truth gathers strength as time rolls on. I will try to present before you the outline of the answer that I have gathered from the ancient philosophers of India, in harmony with modern knowledge.”

He began his explanation with some of the subtle observations in the Nature. He observed that some things in Nature though seemingly different were actually a part of the spectrum of a bigger thing. For example, a seed and a tree. Though seemingly different, they are a part of the bigger spectrum of the plant life, each one leading to the other. The seed is a finer form of the plant and over a period of time it develops into a grosser form, i.e., a tree. The tree in turn dies out leaving behind a finer form, the seed. Same is the case with a chicken and an egg. They aren’t two different things to argue which one came first. They are one and the same. Man and his germ cells are no exception to this phenomenon.

“So is the case with everything in nature by which we are surrounded. We know that the huge mountains are being worked upon by glaciers and rivers, which slowly but surely pounding them and pulverising them into sand, that drift away into the ocean where it settles down on its bed, layer after layer, becoming hard as rocks, once more to be heaped up into mountains of a future generation. From sand rise these mountains, unto sand they go,” explained the scientist.

With these analogies, the scientist derives the equation, “Destruction means going back to the cause.” He continues, “Therefore we learn that the effect is the same as the cause, not different. It is only in another form.” Next, the scientist applies this law to the Universe taken as a whole, because of its uniformity. “This universe must be resolved into its causes; the sun, moon, stars, and earth, the body and mind, and everything in this universe must return to their finer causes, disappear, be destroyed as it were. But they will live in the causes as fine forms. Out of these fine forms they will emerge again as new earths, suns, moons and stars.”

With this new understanding, the creationists and evolutionists seemed to me like those blind men trying to understand a huge elephant called Universe. Both of them were right in their own way but they were only ‘partially’ right. They seemed to me like the components of a jig-saw puzzle – though the individual components seemed to be complete, they lack something. When the components are properly arranged, they merge into one another, revealing a bigger complete picture, of which they are only a part!

The bigger picture was nothing but the finer cosmic energy – call it God or whatever – getting evolved firstly into the earth, sun, moon etc and secondly into the living cell and the organisms which later Darwin explained how they evolved into man. The whole thing was one process. As if man developed from his first cell, the zygote – growing into the blastula, which later on develops into foetus, then comes out the womb as a baby, grows up into an infant, a child and then finally into an adult. If you observe carefully, Man didn’t just ‘evolve’ from the zygote; he was ‘involved’ in it! The young scientist put this concept into words, “No rational man can possibly quarrel with these evolutionists. But we have to learn one thing more. We have to go one step further, and what is that? That every evolution is preceded by an involution.”

He also appealed for peace from the evolutionists, “The whole of this universe was present in the cosmic fine universe. The little cell which becomes afterwards the man, was simply the involved man and becomes evolved as a man. If this is clear, we have no quarrel with the evolutionists, for we see that if they admit this step, instead of their destroying religion, they will be the greatest supporters of it!”

Let me close this discussion with another quote of this scientist, “If that is so, take this whole evolutionary series, from the protoplasm at one end to the perfect man at the other, and this whole series is one life. In the end we find the perfect man, so in the beginning it must have been the same. Therefore, the protoplasm was the involution of the highest intelligence. You may not see it, but that involved intelligence is what is uncoiling itself until it becomes manifested in the most perfect man. It, therefore, follows absolutely that the perfect man, the free man, the God-man, who has gone beyond the laws of nature, and transcended everything, who has no more to go through this process of evolution, through birth and death, that man called the “Christ-man” by the Christians, the “Buddha-man” by the Buddhists, and the “Free” by the Yogis – that perfect man who is at one end of the chain of evolution was involved in the cell of the protoplasm, which is at the other end of the same chain.”

Breath-taking, isn’t it? I am sure, by now, you have guessed who this scientist is. Who else can it be other than the dynamic Swami Vivekananda? He is no politician to make blind statements. It is with logical proof that he derived his famous equation, “Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy - by one, or more, or all of these - and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.”

Now please excuse me, I not only run short of words to describe his life and works but also I have no authority to do so. I just happened to share with you whatever little I understood of his lecture, on “The Macrocosm.” Considering only this lecture to explain him makes me just another blind man explaining the elephant, but given my ambit that is all I can do. No matter what the elephant looks like, one thing is sure, it’s gigantic. No matter what Swami Vivekananda looks to you, to me he is a Scientist par Excellence!

MOLECULAR BATTLEFIELD

I would like to take you into a different world. I am no J.K. Rowling to create a fictitious world. The one we are going is real. Discovered a few centuries ago, this is an elusive world with impeccably arranged moieties which pose perpetual challenges to the understanding of their functions. There are times and places where these moieties exist in reconciliation; but many a times they are engaged in the battles fiercer than the battle of Kurukshetra or the World Wars I and II. There exist peace-keeping bodies like UNO but these battles are inevitable in the sense that they aren’t fought for greed or jealousy. These battles are fought for survival where there is absolutely no mercy for the timid.

I would not have taken you to this world if it were not for Ganaraj who insisted me to take him there. Though it wasn’t the first time I was visiting, with him I found it more vivid than before. The more I explained him, the more I learnt myself. I remember, my physics teacher (Mr. K. S. Murugesh Sir) used to tell us, “You should write your answers in such a way that even the last fool in the universe should understand physics by reading them.” Well, that’s the way I learnt physics. But now, I was asked to answer a biology question in that way…

Ganaraj asked me, “Why does one get fever?” It was 13^th of February. “Well, it isn’t uncommon for a guy like you to get fever on the eve of Valentine’s!” I chuckled, not knowing that he was running a mild fever since some days. He is a techie who analyses the problems to depth before trying to fix them. And so, I had to explain him Immunology in a way I had never done before.

Just as a kingdom’s territory that has some natural barriers like mountains or river or sea at its boundary, the human body too has some natural barriers – viz. Skin (the largest organ in the body), Hydrochloric acid in the stomach that kills microbes in the contaminated foods, the hair and mucous in our nose that trap microbes in the contaminated air etc..

If the bugs somehow manage to cross these barriers and try to gain access into our body, the war begins. Most tissues have got cells called ‘Macrophages’ (literally meaning, ‘Big Eaters’) which function as scavengers. They keep ‘eating’ dead materials (from turnover of worn-out cells) and when they feel there’s some foreign material, they get alert and ‘blow the conch’ for the battle. The white blood cells (WBCs) are the soldiers that are constantly circulating in the blood stream. So, when the macrophages need help, they release ‘cytokines’ or ‘chemical messengers,’ that signal the circulating ‘soldiers’ (WBCs) to move into the place of battle; just as you dial 911 (or 100 in India) when you are in danger. One such cytokine is Interleukin-1 which alters the “temperature regulator” in the brain. It is like setting the ‘thermostat’ at a higher temperature and the body temperature goes up. That’s how Ganaraj was having fever! (So did we all!)

There are different types of WBCs, each of which is a ‘specialist’ in the use of different ‘weapons.’ First ‘Neutrophil’, a kind of WBC, visits the battlefield, makes a general survey and releases some more ‘chemical messengers’ to wake up the ‘sleeping soldiers’ and attack the enemy.

As I said earlier, this battle is going to be fierce and in battles it’s not just the invaders that die; thousands of soldiers and civilians too. To minimise as much damage as possible, the army works on sharpening the target. Once macrophages ‘gulp’ the invading microbe, they process it and the ‘key features’ (antigens) are documented and conveyed to the ‘soldiers’ so that they can distinguish the enemies from the civilians – the process is termed “Antigen Processing.” This is something like the FBI’s way of taking the photographs of the criminals and circulating them with a “Wanted” stamp. Once the enemy is identified (or the antigen is processed) it is taken to the Helper T-cells or the “Commander-in-chief” of the army. Helper T-cells or CD4+ T-cells are also a kind of WBCs. This is the prime target of the notorious virus HIV; HIV kills the commander-in-chief of the army, soldiers go helter-skelter and the army disintegrates. And so, the open door tempts even a saint!!

The commander-in-chief (Helper T-cell) coordinates between the other specialists of the army. It does so by means of ‘cytokines’ or chemical messengers. There are varieties of cytokines, each one carrying a specific message. It is like a Morse code. One specialist of the army is Cytotoxic T-cell, a kind of WBC, comparable to a ‘bombing expert.’ Once the Helper T-cell sensitises the Cytotoxic T-cell with the ‘photograph’ (antigen) of the enemy, it goes in search of the microbe and kills it. As I said, it does so with ‘bombs’ which claim the lives civilians as well!

The other specialist is a B-Lymphocyte or B-Cell, again a kind of WBC, comparable to a ‘missile expert.’ Again the commander-in-chief, Helper T-cell awakens the B-cell by showing the enemy’s photographs (antigens). B-cell generates antibodies (missiles) against the antigens. The antigen’s structure is assessed by the B-cell and the antibody it generates is complementary in structure to that of the antigen, so that the two fit exactly into each other; something like a lock-and-its-key or a box-and-its-lid or simply a USB-port-and-USB-connector! These missiles or the antibodies are released into the blood stream and wherever they encounter the microbe they fasten themselves to their respective antigens. With antibodies sticking on to them, the microbes become docile and thereupon they can easily be destroyed. Again scavengers (macrophages) come to site of destruction and ‘mop up’ the debris. Later on new cells deftly replace the lacunae.

That’s not the end of it all. Some of the ‘specialist’ cells remain quiescent. Not because they are sloths but because they are used as ‘Immunologic Memory.’ It is like adding a copy of the file to the database for future references. In due course of time, should the same microbe invade the body again, the ‘soldiers’ need not waste time in analysing the antigens. The memory cells form copies instantly and attack the bug more vigorously and efficiently. This amazing property of our immune system is the basis for Immunisation. Immunologists artificially process the bugs and present the antigens in the form of vaccine. The immune system gets acquainted with the bug’s antigens and forms ‘memory’ and whenever the infection with that bug occurs; it will be a cake walk for the ‘soldiers.’ The ‘boosters’ we receive every-once-in-five-years or so are meant to trigger our fading Immunologic ‘memory.’

What an immaculate mechanism! I had wondered. It may have taken millions of years of evolution but every day is worth it, I had felt, during the first year of my medical school. But if it were to be as perfect as I had imagined, I would not have to study the subjects in the later years of my medical school! Oh, yes, I mean it! As I moved on, I understood that despite such a composite organisation, things go wrong. I saw a few cases where the ‘Morse code’ was ‘misread’ and resulted in catastrophes beyond imagination. These are the Disorders of Immune System – autoimmune disorders, hypersensitivity (commonly referred to as ‘Allergies’) and Immunodeficiency disorders etc. I also saw the specimens in the pathology museum; sufferings in almost all the wards of the hospital because of bugs that somehow managed to delude the immune system.

No amount of complexity is sufficient. The bugs take it as a challenge and evolve into ‘stronger’ bugs. Antibiotics are no reason to open champagne. Bugs are amazingly brilliant in developing alternate biochemical pathways to elude the harmful chemicals. If we don’t struggle we lose the battle; and complacency is our greatest enemy. So, the quest for perfection continues… Who’s next?

Key that Unlocks the Opportunities

I would like to share with you a small anecdote. This was told to me by one of my Swamijis during our II PUC send off at Sri Ramakrishna Vidyashala, Mysore, where I did my high school and PUC. His name is Swami Tejomayananda.

“There was a small boy who was very competitive in his studies and sports. He had won many prizes and gifts throughout his career. When he was in the final year of his graduation, his father promised him to present him a sports car if he were to bag a medal at the university level.

“It had always been his craze to drive a sports car and his father’s promise motivated him a lot. He worked hard to achieve his dreams and finally did it too. When he came to convey his success, his father pointed to a new book on his table and said, ‘I knew you would do it, my son. There, I have got a new book for you.’

“‘I wanted a sports car…’ the boy shouted angrily. Before his father could explain him, he slammed the door behind him as he went off. He was so angry with his father that he decided to stay away from him. He went off to a distant place and found a job. He married the girl of his choice and was happy there. He never returned back to see what had happened to his father after he had left.

“A few years later, he got news that his father was on his death bed. He returned to see his father, but it was too late. He saw that book still lying on his father’s table. And as he opened that book, something fell to the ground and drew his attention. It was the key of a sports car kept as a bookmark…!”

With that story, Swamiji concluded,

“It does not really matter how many opportunities came our way when we start counting how many we missed just because they did not come a desired form.”

Even though it’s seven years since I heard it, the story and the moral are still afresh in my mind inspiring me to look for hidden opportunities around and to make the best use of them. Hope it has inspired you too.

Everyone is a Diabetic..!

Though I had to read extensively on Diabetes Mellitus as a part of my undergraduate curriculum, it wasn’t until my internship days that I understood it better. You may find diabetics in almost every ward in a hospital but surgical ward is where you find them perceptible. As I began the surgical dressing of a Diabetic Foot Ulcer, that had awfully occupied the entire heel, I wondered why the patient came to the hospital so late. I mean, such a humungous ulcer doesn’t develop overnight. Why could she not seek a medical attention when it was embryonic? She replied, “I was not aware of that!”

Diabetes, a disorder of the carbohydrate metabolism, is described by some authors as “poverty in excess!” because though the glucose levels are high in the blood, glucose cannot be taken up by the cells and used. Spare the insulin-independent organs like Brain and Red Blood Cells, all other organs are starved! So, you see the muscles getting atrophied, the person becoming too weak to fight a trivial injury and succumb to horrendous infections thereafter. Also the unused glucose undergoes an alternative metabolic pathway (non-enzymatic glycosylation) which yields toxic metabolites. Hence the retina gets damaged, the kidneys are affected and the nerves can no longer do their job (Diabetic Neuropathy).

There are sensory nerves collecting the information from every millimetre of your skin. So, you feel the touch, pressure, vibration, temperature and pain from every square mm area of your body even if you can’t see it with your eyes. The moment something hurts you, you are aware of that and you give your attention to that. That’s not the case with Diabetics. They aren’t aware of an ulcer developing in their foot (unseen area of the body) until it goes on to smell badly.

Awareness! That’s the word that churned my thoughts on this appalling disease process. Take a look at the emblem of Karnatak University. It says – "Arive Guru" - which means “Awareness is teacher.” Such is the importance of Awareness. Well, I pity these Diabetics who are not aware of the parts of their body. But they are far better than people who are not aware of themselves! Just like the sensory nerves that pain you but ultimately protect you from developing dreadful complications, awareness or conscience pricks you time and again, and guards you from getting vice.

“A mind which wanders following the objects of desire deludes the intellect of the person just as a strong wind that rips off a ship in the ocean” (Bhagavad Gita 2.67). They are people who are at the verge of their extermination. If at all one could take a photograph of the mental status of such people, I am sure it would be more outrageous than this Diabetic Foot Ulcer.

But why in the first place one loses his awareness? Well, just as diabetics develop neuropathy as a result of uncontrolled blood glucose levels, one loses his intellect as a result of uncontrolled debts of Karma. The disciplines of action as described in the Karma Yoga are very much similar to the mechanisms of Glucose Homeostasis of our body. And that is why the pathology of Diabetes closely resembles the moral instability as per the Karma Yoga.

The Glucose Homeostasis means maintaining the blood levels of glucose within the normal range. There are many mechanisms by which the body senses the decrease or increases in the levels of glucose in blood and tries to bring it back to the normal range. In other words, the body maintains a perfect balance between the “gain” and “expenditure” of glucose. Similarly, Karma Yoga mentions “accepting” and “giving”. It is our duty to sense the “gain” and try to bring the balance back to normal by “giving.”

This is what the Karma Yoga means by mentioning the "Debts" or "Runas." The five debts according to the Karma Yoga are -

1. Debts towards Inanimate Nature (Deva Runa)

2. Debts towards Other Animals and Plants (Bhoota Runa)

3. Debts towards Parents and Ancestors (Pitru Runa)

4. Debts towards Society (Manushya Runa)

5. Debts towards Teachers (Rishi Runa)


So, the “work” or “Karma” we do should be directed in these directions. The Karma Yoga stresses upon clearing these debts so that one becomes free and attains salvation. That goes on to say that we are already in “debts.” Only Yajna (fulfilling the five debts); Daana (contributing more than consuming) and Tapas (stretching the limits and self-improvisation) purify the men of wisdom. (Bhagavad Gita 18.5)

Just as a physically healthy man maintains his blood glucose levels within normal range irrespective of the type and quantity of food he eats or the stressful situations (infections, starvation etc…) he undergoes, the “Sthita Prajna” or the “Yogi” maintains his mental calmness irrespective of the situation he is into.

“Sufferings don’t perturb his mind, He does not cling on to pleasures, He is free from attachment, fear and anger, and He is called a Sage of Stable Wisdom.” (Bhagavad Gita 2.56)

I don’t think we are the “Sages of Stable Wisdom” but we can always strive to be so. That is why I said in the beginning “Everyone is a Diabetic!” Now, the choice is ours – we can either struggle to get our glucose back to normal or go on to lose the sensation sooner or later and develop Diabetic Foot Ulcers!

Funny bone

The kind of posts I am writing makes one wonder if I am totally a serious guy; which I am actually not. Humor is a part of my life - something that keeps me cheerful all the way. Recently, I laughed out more than usual because of a real life incident. Almost everyone bursted out into laughter as I shared the experience and a few felt I should blog it to reach more people. And that's why this one..

It was just another day and I was chatting with my brother who is in UK. Incidentally, one of our cousins came to see him and I said hello to him. He has a daughter aged 3, who has been to India just a couple of times and I had seldom met her. So, the first time we saw each other was on a WebCam.

Though Bhanavi is her name, she feels good when someone calls her "Naughty-Bhanavi"; and she just keeps on exploring ways to make people call her that way reflexly. It took some time for her to get acquainted to me, after which she fluently unfurled her pranks. She sang a few rhymes, played with crayons, danced a bit and showed me a few pictures of animals in her books. One of them was a Starfish. I asked her, "Where do you find a Star?"

She didn't have to think much. "Sky," she replied.

"Where do you find a Fish?"

"Water." She took much less time for this question.

"So, where do you find a Starfish?"

But for the earlier questions, she would have replied instantly. She took some time and replied confidently, "Water!"

I wanted to pull her legs. "If Star is in the Sky, Fish is in the Water, then, Starfish has to be in between - on the Land, isn't it?"

She didn't seem confused at all. She was confident with the answer she gave, yet, she could not convince me. She tried her best but I stuck to my question expressing my dissatisfaction to her answer.

She turned to her dad. "Papa, the person we are talking to... Does he really exist or is he only in the Computer?"

This time, her daddy and I found it hard to convince her!