THE AMAZING SPIDER-WOMAN

this blog is about compiling new as well as old 'publications'. 

and so, it is certainly worth putting this photo-collection here. 

I was damn glad when the iconic P. Sainath accepted it for the PARI website. 

here, it is

https://ruralindiaonline.org/albums/the-amazing-spiderwoman/ 

OBITUARY: THE MINISTER OF LIGHT

Calcutta of the 1980s was known as the 'load-shedding city'. a technical term of electrical engineering - whose exact definition few ever got to know - 'load shedding' had entered regular bengali vocabulary for the simple reason that power cuts were a daily part of our growing up years. 2-4 hours of 'loadshedding/ 'ebar jaabe'/ 'current nei'/ 'ondhokaar'/ 'alo nibhe jabe' was routine in calcutta proper and the suburban areas and villages fared worse, much worse.

Our lives revolved around the time when power was supposed to go off and stay off. not surprisingly, there was a great ever-innovative market of lamps - hyariken, hajak, lompho, mombati and kerosene was all the more important as fuel. the evening DD news dutifully read out how many hundred megawatt less-than-necessary power had been produced. no one exactly knew what that meant, but it was a way of getting a feel of the things. everyone prayed that the power stayed on during the time one's favourite tv serial was broadcast (althought it was not impossible that loadshedding would hit the DD headquarters too! really!) ...On one particular doomsday, i still remember, everything just crashed! trains and trams stopped moving, hospitals stopped surgery and even the crematoriums stopped midway!!!!

Then came SANKAR SEN. ex-prof. of electrical engineering and ex-VC of Jadavpur university, as minister for power, and within a couple of months, the difference was visible to even the staunchest opponent. Sen, more of a teacher and technocrat than a politician, was one of those few who knew his job inside out, and it was impossible to make him a murgi. the joke went, 'everyone in the electricity dept is either his student, or student of his students. now, which engineer-babu can bluff his own prof?' it wont be any exaggeration to claim that few ministers - either in left front or in tmc today - have been so adored as him.

Sen's career in political top brass was relatively short. he ran into the profiteering junta, tried fighting a lone war against entrenched corruption and found little support from his 'comrades'. But by that time, he had revamped the power situation in west bengal. things have improved from where he left, but there is no doubt that it was he who set the correct course. there has been no looking back since then. That is why, yesterday, when the news flashed of his demise at the ripe age of 92, red and blue and bengalis of all other hue paused momentarily to fondly recall how the 'bidyut montri' had helped us all to have a better slice of life.

respect.

(pic: anandabazar patrika)

THE CORONAVIRUS EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT

1. The Coronavirus (crown-shaped) virus are a group of viruses that cause diseases of the respiratory tract. From the perspective of molecular biology, one can note that their genome is made, not of DNA, but of RNA.

2. They infect several animals, including humans. Many of them cause mild diseases, but occasionally some of them can be the pathogens of more deadly outbreaks.

3. The ongoing 'arms race' between attacking viruses and defending/succumbing animals is, to put it rather blandly, nothing more than an example of the continuous process of biological evolution on this planet.

4. Of course, we'd not be discussing this if it was just biological curiosity. At least two nasty coronaviruses had struck hard enough at human populations  in the recent 2 decades to be easily retained in our collective memory - MERS-CoV (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus) of 2012-13 and the SARS-Cov (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus) of 2003-04.

5. The MERS probably originated in Saudi Arabia and then spread to other parts of the Arab world and Europe. By mid-2013, several patients were dead.

6. The SARS caused a bigger fright worldwide probably because public psychology had no recorded memory of such a thing for a much longer time.  The epidemic started in end-2002 in China's Guangdong Province and then rapidly spread to ~30 countries, again aided by travellers (hence the recent restrictions on travel as you read in the 'papers) . 

7. The scariest part for both MERS and SARS (although more for the latter) was its high mortality rate. 800 of ~8000 infected were dead overall, but for the elderly it was an absolute killer with ~50% mortality ; worse, the fast spread through airborne droplets meant a large number of doctors and nurses fell sick fast crippling the healthcare systems!

6. Fast forward to 2019. A new coronavirus - a cousin of SARS-CoV (the genomes are 80% identical)  first came into notice in dec-2019. Named 2019-nCov ('n' for novel) it was almost-certainly attacking some other animal so long (initial suspicion was snakes, but its now doubted - could be some seafood), but has now evolved to attack humans too.  And the place where it seems to have crossed over to humans is some exotic animal food market in Wuhan, capital of China's Hubei province. 

7. Again, although it makes sensational news, this is not scientifically surprising. Viruses jump from species to species occasionally. It is a new niche to exploit and that the stuff evolution is made of. As Michael Crichton had so crisply put it, 'Life finds a way'.

Famously, the SARS-CoV initially lived in bats, but had entered civets ( a cat-like animal) when they had eaten fruits contaminated with droppings of bats. When Chinese markets sold civets as exotic food, the virus came in close proximity to humans and 'a lucky one' acquired the ability to jump! soon, its descendants didnt even need the animal to bridge. they were spreading rapidly from man to man! 2019-nCoV is doing something similar - they are cousins.

7. While studies will continue, the important thing is that the Chinese seemed to have learnt their lesson from the SARS scare. They have moved with solid professional speed to identify, sequence (study the genome) and quarantine potential hotspot populations. 

8. 2019-nCoV - which causes flu-like symptoms - is not idle either. It is probably spreading fast. More than 900 people are down, and at least 26 are dead. Importantly, since it is so new, no human population has ever faced it before and so there is no immunological memory of 2019-nCoV. This means that if the virus enters a human, only the individual's innate non-specific immune mechanisms can be marshaled against it. It is the equivalent of using the policemen to face a tank regiment, and, as you can understand, that is just not going to be enough.  It is this life and death race that is worrying governments and doctors and WHO and everyone who can sense its potential gravity. 

8. That said, the world is much better prepared. the sheer amount of discussion filtering into world media is proof of how much more concerned everyone is. Yes, there is no vaccine yet (takes a bit of time to study and do that) and drugs are being tested, but its a doomsday come. no way.

9. Big risk to any of us? Unless you have traveled to Hubei, or those exotic chinese markets or been in contact at airports who was sick with it, the chances of getting 2019-nCov is really less. Watch the news, be updated, that is it.

10. The basic safety rule: Wash hands with soap (not sanitizer) after you return indoors (office, home) from outside. Simple hand washing has probably saved more lives than any medicine. 

11. Worth testing efficacy of gaumutra on this for sure. Everyone claims it is a panacea.

(references:
 https://www.facebook.com/thestemtimes/photos/a.173550999939074/512568562703981/?type=3&theater; 
https://www.facebook.com/paul.rothlauf.3/posts/10212575195093164?hc_location=ufi; 
Brock - Biology of Microrganisms 14th edition;
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00180-8
 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00166-6) 

A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO THE PAST AND PRESENT OF US-IRANIAN RELATIONS.

(written on 4th Jan, 2020 - after General Soleimani's assassination, and few days before the Iranian retaliation and mistaken shooting of the Ukranian civilian aeroplane)

When Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine and the other liberals among the founding fathers established the USA they probably envisioned it to be a new form of the ancient roman republic - where the people would be supreme. What they didnt realize was that the roman republic was less of a democracy and more of an oligarchy which, morphed into the roman empire - an oppressive autocratic bloodthirsty (although cultured) vast political entity whose main profitable business (and finally reason for demise) was war, war profits, more wars and even more war profits.

The USA parallels ancient rome to quite an extent in this. War is the USA's main biz, increasingly for the last 60 years; The military industrial complex - you know that it decides it all - and even a popular prez like kennedy can be silenced if he toggles too much with MIC's purse, and no one is punished!

As regards the present, Iran has always been an opponent - a thorn in complete US domninance in the middle east - since 1979 when the shah of iran, a tyrant who was a big US friend, was thrown off in 1979. the shah had led a brutal regime which catered to a small elite (the few pics which go around fb showing iranian elite society women in skirts as a sign of progress conceal that most people groaned under exploitation). this pent-up anguish finally helped his overthrowing by a coalition that included several groups of liberals, leftists, orthodox islamists and communists .

But then the infighting between leftist-liberals (a chronic international disorder :p ) as well as the weakened position of the communists (the shah had particularly targeted them during his rule) helped Khomeini's orthodox setup consolidate itself as ruler. this has resulted in an official theocracy but a social scenario where various shades of 'liberal iran' and 'orthodox iran' clash at various fronts even today. it is a country where, at the same time, woman are blocked at various fronts and majid majidi directs his golden movies....somewhat like we ourselves... :)

But, thatz the domestic set up. internationally, 'modern rome' backed saddam to attack iran. however, contrary to expectations, the iranians didnt crash and the result was a 8yr stalemate war which caused huge suffering to people of both sides, of course with huge profit to weapons-sellers all over ( note - it was in that heated environment that, in 1988, a US navy ship shot down a civilian air iran plane with 350 people 'by mistake'; george bush even awarded the officers!) ....

Few years later, the US attacked saddam over kuwait! ya, some allies are more profitable than other allies. we all are more familiar with what happened after that - including the emergence of ISIS from the gutted remains of the unfortunate land that was once the sovereign nation of iraq. The point to note is that saddam, assad, hussain, gaddafi, nasser all are/were authoritarian 1- party regimes with some kind of 'pan-arab ideology' (it was a natural post-colonial political faith of the 1950s - arab lands for arabs, just as Indian for Indians). but they were/are not the hyper-orthodox taliban saudi isis type. You can even see that in their dress sense - no flowing saudi-style arab dress, it's suit boot for them....the usa, in contrast, right from 50s, has backed conservative rw islamic guys like the saudi wahabi regime, pakistan's zia ul haq, the taliban and the isis.

Add to this what all wars have been fought for in the past 3000 years of recorded human history. more riches. more profits. more taxes ( i doubt if even the mythical trojan war was fought over who would bed helen. thatz just the sexy-coating. actually, it was for control of the aegeian sea's maritime trade). just last month, the bolivian president was overthrown in a coup and it seems that came just a week after he questioned a germany company's attempt to control the vast lithium ores of bolivia. the middle-east scenario is better known. as kissinger the evil said, 'oil is too important to be left to the arabs'. in this context, dont forget that the genesis of modern US-iran conflict was the 1953 iran coup that threw off an elected iranian govt and helped the shah, only cos the iranians wanted to nationalize their own oil and not allow the british and americans loot it ( few years later, the british and french would help israelis do a similar thing when nasser nationalized the suez canal! so much so for Western loyalty to democracy!).

Coming back, obama still had a semblance of reducing tension with iran. Got a good deal, in US favour. a smart man, he probably also realized iran is too big to handle especially with his army bogged down in both af and iraq (the trouble with iran is that the country is so big. look at the map....) and these are things that make intelligent politicians think before they jump.... of course, Trump, like some people elsewhere in this part of the solar system, has no idea of anything. Worse he has no idea that he has no idea of anything! and he also doesnt care for anything besides the next round of elections!! Plus he probably is a certain psychological crappy inferiority complex case who likes to undo what was done earlier just cos he likes to do it....!!!

Phew, thatz the overall past. the assassination (or 'sarkari bomb attack') today is a continuation of all that - cos Soleimani was a brain that enabled assad and russia and punctured the ISIS. you have to give him credit for checking the aggression of the isis and the replacement of assad by a US-puppet regime (the remnants of the isis must be celebrating tonight). i dont mean he was a messiah; but he was undoubtedly a good soldier who shifted the balance more in favour of his country and (consequently) against the US and israeli hawks and had an important role in defeating isis. i am pretty sure no1 reading this would have liked to see isis black flags all over that battered region, right? ....

Erudite friends, from whom i try to learn, are kind-of divided on the role of the zionist hawks today. some of them say this is trump's own idea; others say, israeli think-tanks must be among the idea givers. after all, assassinations are their forte. and this certainly weakens assad, weaknes iran, weakens rus, helps trump, US hawks and the MIC.... certainly for trump, with elections next year, this is a boost. i donno if this can stall a constitutional impeachment, but it solidifies his bhakt lot behind him.... (what about the NRIs?)

As for the Iranians, they will have to retaliate. naturally. they will have to do something. wouldnt we? question is when? where? how? ... probably depends on what putin and xi can impress on them....
and of course, the immediate bad news for all of us that oil prices are rising. if the iranians do even a partial blockade of the strait of hormuz, it could spiral up further...

ps: anything for Indian ruling establishment in this? will we jump in? ....

(pic: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Major_General_Qassem_Soleimani_at_the_International_Day_of_Mosque_05_(2).jpg; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Donald_Trump_(24949318110).jpg)