13 May 2014

Now we know why we test human stuff on mice first

I knew something was afoul when Sharmila said she smelt a rat. I had spotted a garden rat recently in the garage – which is a rarity for us since there is virtually nothing on the garage floor for them to hide behind. (All the stuff is inside the cabinets that are clear two feet above). The one that I had seen was actually moving around furtively around the ladder!!

Next day, I put in a few rat poisons near the entrance of the garage and evidently succeeded in two days flat. The problem is there was no telling where the dead rat was. Finally, I had to resort to those immigration and customs dog-like sniffing to figure out that the stink was wafting from behind the refrigerator.

Okay, I thought, no issues. Pushed the refrigerator out a few feet and found to my dismay that there was nothing – other than unseemly dust. It took me some time to realize that the stink was coming from inside the contraptions behind the fridge.

The next one and a half hours was a sight. The rat had certainly extracted its revenge on human beings. There was my wife in the front of the fridge pivoting it to the ground, my father in law pushing from behind to tip it forward and me on the ground trying to wedge the fridge with the stink coming straight at me.

Finally opened up the back panel and that dratted rat had firmly wedged itself behind the fan before dying! There was no way of reaching it. So, two sets of gloves, multiple screwdrivers, hammer, wrenches and miscellaneous other tools later, the rat was pulled out in the open! Somehow my wife and my FIL had a lot of work to run to precisely at the moment I pulled out the dead half rotten rat.

The joy of a job well done was completely marred by the intricacies of putting everything back together. Somehow, things come out pretty quick. They are just too stubborn to go back in. Took me fifteen minutes to position the fan and the initial two screws together.

Finally, when I had triumphantly put everything back together, I noticed that together with my tools, I had a couple of screws to spare!!! I was NOT going to open it up again. Just powered it up and it seemed to work. So, I left it there.

Richer by a dead rat and two screws, I could not but chuckle at the irony of three human beings having to put their intellectual might just to outwit a dead rat!!!!

Reminded me of an old Ogden Nash poem about how hunters make duck noise to attract ducks…

The Hunter
—————–
The hunter crouches in his blind
‘Neath camouflage of every kind
And conjures up a quacking noise
To lend allure to his decoys
This grown-up man, with pluck and luck
is hoping to outwit a duck

Category: My Family | 7 Comments on Now we know why we test human stuff on mice first
10 May 2014

Another old friend!!

Here is an intersection point with a difference. I did not create it. The other person did!

I was a speaker at a Big Data and Analytics event in Atlanta yesterday. After I was done, as I came off the stage, there were a few people who wanted to ask a few more questions and introduce themselves. It is after all, a big networking opportunity. I noticed one guy waiting and I thought I had seen him somewhere before but could not immediately remember. My best guess was I had met him in a similar event previously.

As my eyes met his, he stepped forward and asked “Do you recognize me?”. I had to admit “I remember your face but cannot place you.” His next statement simply floored me “I am Harish Pandit. You taught us object oriented programming in 1992”. I went like “What?” I had to hear this. I pulled myself out of the crowd and got some quiet space with him.

And he told me the whole story. I had joined my first job in 1991 in Bombay. He joined the next year. Our training department had roped me in to teach Object Oriented programming to the new batch. And he gave me specific examples I had given the class to explain the whole concept!!

I was astounded by his memory!! He brought me up to speed about some of those juniors. Seems like my students – if I can call them that – have done mighty well in spite of my efforts 🙂 Also got his contacts to catch up with him later. Turns out he lives not too far from me.

Had he not recognized me I would have completely missed this intersection point that I would be in the same room with somebody 22 years after being in an another room together half a world away!!!

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6 May 2014

FIL-MIL Mehfil

A couple of days back, I was making coffee for Sharmila and the inlaws and observed something. First, as a background, my FIL has great intellectual curiosity and has the most open mind to learning new things among my parents and the inlaws. And he is the eldest of them all!

I had set the milk carton down to fix Sharmila’s coffee. My FIL read up everything written on the carton box and then pointed the part that I have attached a photo of explaining to my MIL – “Taar maaney je goru-ke antibiotic khaoano hoini emon gorur dudh tomay deyoa hochhey”. And added “Aar amader deshey to sokaley uthei bachhagulo duto antibiotic kheye nay” 🙂

Roughly speaking, it means – he explained to my MIL that the milk you are being given comes from only those cows who have not been administered antibiotics. And then added that, back in Bengal, kids wake up in the morning and first thing they do is take a couple of antibiotics 🙂

It is funny only if you realize the culture in Bengal. (Not sure if this is true for the rest of India). In Bengal, everybody over 12 years is a self-declared doctor. Given that almost all medicine is over the counter, people gorge themselves on medicine (the knowledge of which is gained thru crowdsourcing with their friends) at the slightest sign of the oncoming of an ailment. Especially “Thanda laaga”. Or “ombol” for that matter 🙂 (common cold and indigestion).

It would not have been this funny to me had it not been the morning call to my brother where he talked about his elder son having dripping nose. “School jaabey?”, I asked. (“Will he go to school?”). He responded “Hnah! sokaley ekta antibiotic charge korey diyechhi”. I am not even going to bother translating that 😉

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6 May 2014

FIL-MIL Mehfil

For the first time, my MIL has been able to shake off her jet lag. She came into the kitchen early at 6 am as Sharmila and I were sipping coffee and chatting softly. The first thing MIL did was start complaining about “Kaal-ke tor baba khub-se tenechhe” meaning, “last night your dad (referring to FIL) had too much to drink”. For the first time this trip, she woke up before FIL. And she immediately started complaining that he is sleeping too much. And that alcohol is to be blamed 🙂

Sharmila, of course, had to protest (not sure why she cannot just hang back and observe and have fun)! First thing she pointed out was that MIL slept for a solid four hours the previous evening. Maybe that is why she got up early. MIL’s response was classic  – FIL slept even more the previous evening. Sharmila pointed out that the three of us were in the backyard for a clear two hours before MIL strolled in the last evening. MIL claimed that she was lying down most of the time – not sleeping. And in any case, FIL went to sleep before her. Further, she pointed out that FIL was snoring and sleeping uncontrollably due to all the drinks we three had last evening.

Sharmila missed another golden chance. Instead of baiting her mother a little longer, she blurted out – “But dad did not even have anything to drink last night. Rajib gave him some wine. But I had to have it since he did not touch it”. MIL looked at her for some time, decided that she was indeed telling the truth and finally settled down with her cup of tea. The “gojgoj kora” had stopped 🙂

And in all this commotion of arguments and counterarguments between mother and daughter, my FIL woke up and walked into the kitchen half sleepy wondering what the heck was happening 🙂

It is awesome fun to watch this family from a distance 🙂

 

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5 May 2014

Intersection point right under my nose!!!

I moved to this city back in 2007. One of the first things I did was look for a running group. Thru Google (what else?), I found out about Windward Road Runners group. Joined them promptly and among many other friends I made was Samantha Taylor. I remember how funny she was and how she always left after coffee at 6:20 to get to her preschool where she was a teacher.

Ever since, we have run into each other during runs, during races and once even talked about a professional gig she was starting.

Roll forward from that day in 2007 by 7 years. This afternoon, her daughter Madeline told her “I am scared of how to draw Natasha’s 16th birthday card – her mom is a professional artist!”. And Samantha went “Wait a minute, your friend Natasha Roy has a mom who is a professional artist? What is her dad’s name?”

And as she told us the story when she came to drop her daughter for our daughter’s birthday, I found out that the Madeline who is my running buddy’s friend is the same Madeline from school that Natasha keeps talking about!!!

I missed that intersection point completely so far!!! Is that cool or us that cool?

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Category: Intersection Points, My Family | 2 Comments on Intersection point right under my nose!!!