Where are all those smiles of innocence?!!

Why does time and age transform us from carefree, happy children to
self-centred, never-satisfied-with life, grabbing-every-opportunity, the-path-to-success-is-not-important, ignorant, and ambitious adults?

Why do we need to go to the extent of pulling down our own good friends  (like the story of the Indian crabs) to win the rat-race??

Why do we have to compete in an examination, the same way as we must fight in a battlefield?

Why do we have to take shortcuts and wrong turns to reach the finish line?

Why can’t we be content in life with what we have, and be ready to accept life as it comes?

Why do we have to plan for a better education, a better job, a better spouse, a better car, a better house, a better future – can’t we settle just for the good?

Why do we always have to be the winner… can’t failures be sweet experiences too?

Why do we bother to make more money than our wallets can hold? (we all know that a glass can’t have more water than its own volume, yet we are ignorant)

Why can’t we read just for the fun of it, and not for the heck of it? (we read nowadays for a greater good, a greater purpose; as in exams and research papers, and not just for the love of reading)

Why do we take notes to grab every word that is uttered in the lecture – can’t we just take some mental hints of the personal experiences from the life of a scientist?

Why do we always jam our minds with preconceived notions about the people we meet, and why do we always fear they are going to steal our million dollar idea? (I guess even Edison must have been a little flexible in sharing his research ideas to his friends)

….

     … This is an expression of my anger, turned into a blog post for tonight.
And the anger was soothed at the end of this post, since I reminded myself that none of the attitudes above can be changed, it will remain the order of the day (at least for a while). Finally, nothing better than a good song to put me to sleep….. I just hope we all could get back our innocent smiles, and return to ourselves.

RETURN TO INNOCENCE (Enigma)

That's not the beginning of the end
That's the return to yourself
The return to innocence
Don't be afraid to be weak
Don't be too proud to be strong
Just look into your heart my friend
That will be the return to yourself
The return to innocence
If you want, then start to laugh
If you must, then start to cry
Be yourself don't hide
Just believe in destiny
Don't care what people say
Just follow your own way
Don't give up and use the chance
To return to innocence
That's not the beginning of the end
That's the return to yourself
The return to innocence
Don't care what people say
Follow just your own way
Don't give up,
To return to innocence.
If you want then laugh
If you must then cry
Be yourself don't hide
Just believe in destiny.

And after all that boring stuff

I was blogging about last night, I found that there is still some “life” left in my LIFE to be happy about, and to enjoy. This update is after re-reading my own first post – No doubts that here, in IARI – I have indeed everything to gain, and nothing to lose. I suppose it includes gaining the insight on how to deal with a boring life too!!

So, motto from now on… trash the boredom, and Live life QUEEN–SIZE!! (This is a slight modification of the phrase Live life King-size; the one I picked up from where -- I don’t exactly remember!)

What to WRITE…..

…. when your neurons are clogged with dead cells? (maybe because they were stretched to the maximum limits of elasticity!!) Sorry if I am being way too imaginative, and stupid (“clogged with dead cells” – what a strange perception!) Sometimes, life can give you such times, when you are totally out of your saneness, drawing a blank at nearly every thought that whisks past. I am going through such an episode right now. And, don’t ask me why… I can’t come up with a sensible answer for that too.

The monotony of my daily routine still continues… LECTURES, NOTES, LITERATURE SEARCH, THE HINDU, A HOT GLASS OF MILK, ON-THE-DOT MEALS, THE HOUR-LONG WAIT AT THE GEYSER FOR A BATH, GOOD-FOR-NOTHING SMSs TO FRIENDS, GMAILS, HOTMAILS…. am literally starved for some “change” sans effort. Though ignored for a long time, blogging is just not the right option for me now. I’ve been at it for almost an hour, yet unable to think of something interesting to blog about. So I’m finally boring my readers with one of the WORST-BLOGS EVER. I can’t be so sure that this will be THE one, ‘cause my brain can deliver a lot more of such nonsense stuff. After all, in my blog – I am the MAKER AND BREAKER OF RULES. (at least here I need not think much to satisfy the PUNDITS of English language – just hoping my English teachers from school are not reading this!!)

I am sounding too pathetic to continue blogging…. What I need very badly is a breath of fresh air, and some fresh thoughts (trust me, life was better when I used to carry a 3 Kg–school bag on my back, than now when I am carrying less than a couple of long notebooks in my hand. I feel it is a more heavier burden to the mind, than the body) So, with the promise of giving myself the bliss of an early morning walk from tomorrow, I end my blog here:
   “I think I've discovered the secret of life - you just hang around until you get used to it” - Charles M. Schulz.

Pongal Vaazhthukkal…

Pongal thirunaalum,
Thalaipongal thirunalum,
Pongivarum pongal pola -
Engum pongattum magizhchi.
Iniya pongal nalvaazhthukkal!

Happy Pongal to all.
We thank sun for burning himself to save us.
We thank plants sacrificing their life for us.
And we thank all the creatures helping us to live in this world for some time.

What next in the -OMICS era?

Exomics – study of exons
   ORFeomics – study of ORFs
          Kinomics – study of kinases
              Bibliomics – study of bibliographies
                      Interactomics – study of all interactions
                              Speechomics – study of language acquisition

Until a few minutes back, I didn’t know these terms ever existed!!

Intrigued about what Ionomics was all about, I began to search for some background information on Wikipedia; only to end up thinking about what could be next in line: in the era of –omics?

Well, it could be anything…. starting from A to Z; not that it should in any way be related to biology (as in Bibliomics or Speechomics). Btw, how many of you out there heard about “The Human Speechome Project” ?
Strange, yet happening.

I am just expressing my utter disbelief on the pace at which the biological glossary is building up, and how far behind I am. It maybe a better way of understanding life; in its most finest details – or investigating an organism from varied perspectives (first you study its phenotype (Phenomics), then you go on to its structural composition (Lipidomics, Proteomics and Glycomics), then look into its metabolic processes (Physiomics), zoom into their individual compounds (Metabolomics), mineral ions (Ionomics), enzymes, their interactions (Interactomics), their regulation (Regulomics), then into their nucleic acids (Genomics) and its several off-shoots……. and finally end up with……. Whoknowswatomics!! Maybe this is what is called as Systems Biology: the different levels of an organism.
These hi-fi terms have been coming out of research laboratories throughout the world, with such great momentum, that within a few years we might even be shopping for an “Oxford Dictionary of OMICS”.

On a creative note, here are some of the MOST eligible candidates for the next in line:

Phosphotomics – study of protein phosphatases
Dissertomics – study of dissertations
Linkomics – study of gene linkages
Intromics – study of introns

I should not be doing this right now. Because on second thought, it may seem like I am mocking the scientific fraternity of which I am also a minuscule part. But the non-scientific side of my being urges me to go on… So, if somebody really does start to work on phosphotomics or linkomics, it must duly be credited back to their founder (ME) , I suppose! When kinases and bibliographies can have their own territory, why not phosphatases and dissertations?!!

Finally, as to whether the primary purpose of my search was solved?
The study of the ionome, called ionomics, is defined as the;

Quantitative and simultaneous measurement of the elemental composition of living organisms, and changes in this composition in response to physiological stimuli, developmental state and genetic modifications.
                                (Now, I really need to get some sleep!!)

Care to find more –omic terms?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_omics_topics_in_biology
http://www.media.mit.edu/cogmac/projects/hsp.html