Lab-rats in the Caribbean

Yo maan!

I just got back from the Caribbean...and can't seem to sleep.. since that's very disturbing..me being me, who's normally able to sleep anywhere and anytime irrespective of jetlag or prior napping. I've decided to take my mind off it and write this out...besides, there's the added benefit of reliving my week of absolute beach-bum bliss!

So.. it all started when my labmate Karolina and I decided to apply for a travel grant to attend this stem cell biology conference in Antigua. We didn't really expect to get it..being only a few months old in the field and all..but figured it was worth a shot.. so a few hurried experiments, data compilation and 2-page long essay application later we were informed that we'd bagged the grant. A lot of jumping and screaming, high fives, jealous colleagues, reams of visa and ticketing paperwork (the crappiest thing about being Indian is that you need a visa to visit even a tiny little speck-on-the-map island) more hurried experiments, piles of data, a ridiculously time consuming poster, hurried shopping and packing and 3 months later we were on a plane headed to the V C Bird international airport, Antigua.. 4 days before the start of the conference.

Antigua's hot and humid as can be expected of a sub tropical island- Air so humid it's like inhaling steam, the faint tang of salt water, fish and seaweed, heat that weighs on you so you feel like you're dressed for winter, and the cacophony of insects, birds, lizards (bleah..shudder) and frogs. There was a ridiculous number of horrid, leaping lizards..and Karolina was so taken by them she took a million pics!
                                                                         
 The people were laid back and relaxed..it took a while to get used to the accent and cadence but once we learnt to ignore the ' oh mah lordy' and 'sweet gawd' and 'darlin' and 'lurve' that appear several times in a sentence, the english was pretty easy to understand. They're quite friendly and helpful and we never felt unsafe and had a really good time.

The Capital- St Johns had a definite Indian small town feel to it... in fact I felt like I was back in Adugodi or someplace. Narrow roads half blocked because of parked vehicles, random vehicles of different makes and sizes...awful drivers, roadside vendors selling pirated DVDs, confused looking  tourists, public buses that drove you to your destination..be it your resort or the closest vegetarian restaurant.. if you fluttered your eyelashes and looked bit helpless. We visited the local fruit and veg market and tried out the famed Black Pineapple- major letdown- it wasn't even remotely black and I've definitely eaten sweeter ones back home! But Karolina was enchanted! Europeans..bah!

We hit a new beach everyday.. sometimes several..Antigua's supposed to have 365 beaches, so there was plenty to choose from.. each was different..in the texture of sand, type of shells, the presence or absence of birds, the colour of water, the depth, the waves..the clouds, the shade,the foliage, even the way sun hit the water!..you get the picture..several subtle differences adding up. Naturally we had the time of our lives just laying about, talking to the occasional passer by, wading, lazing.

 

 Apart from taking advantage of the beach and ending up " browned like breakfast bacon" as an amused friend pointed out, we took full advantage of the unlimited food and drink included at the resort where the conference took place. The rooms were great and  had a great view of the sea.. we faintly regretted the fact that we only used them to sleep in. We attended..very reluctantly.. the talks and grudgingly stood by our posters for 3 excruciating question and mosquito filled hours a day.. I visited the secondary rainforests where they have 'zip lines'- steel ropes spanning gorges, ravines and such, at canopy level, to which you're harnessed and can..well zip across. Had the best time.. was a pity I couldn't take pictures..but there was the danger of being distracted taking pictures and smashing into a tree.. also, I FINALLY tried jet skis..was so much fun! definitely a repeater!

All in all a brilliant trip..looking forward to the rest :D

Urlaub in der Schweiz..

Drumroll! Fanfare!! I'm back from my first ever shlep out of Berlin. Took the very bold and more difficult than I thought decision of abandoning my cells for 4 days and catching a flight to Zurich..and man! was it worth it.

The flight from Tegel to Kloten was pretty uneventful.. well..except that I discovered Air Berlin serves you a sandwich and a Snickers bar for free..despite being a budget airline.. pretty neat start to a vacation eh?  The inevitable OPK (other peoples' kid..the loud obnoxious kind.) was there...screaming..but I pretty much slept through it..and an hour later I was in Zurich. Airport procedure was relatively smooth...blah blah.

R was supposed to meet me at the airport.. he did.. just a bit late! Not that much of a surprise...I doubt that between the two of us we've ever met on time for anything.. Doodled a bit at the ticket vending machine..figured out what tickets we needed..kind of.. and took the half hour tram ride to Seilbahn Rigiblick (SweizerDeutsch: cable car mountain view... because you can see the Alps from there on a clear day).. There's a pic of the daft confusing ticket vending thing..with the name of the station.... I love the name Rigiblick...sounds like something you'd call a hyperexcitable puppy!

 The next four days passed in happy oblivion... I wandered around in the old city... got a week pass for the public transport... Was really impressed by the fact that the ticket is valid for any 7 day that you validate it for not for 7 consecutive days like in Germany.

So.. the highlights of my happy-oblivionness... getting up late to the nicest view.. and not feeling guilty about being late for lab!

 

R and I fed the swans on lake Zurich every single day... with loaves..yes..loaves in plural!..of brot (bread!) we bought specially for them from CoOp city..It's not like I lurve swans or anything..i think they're freaky.. but we got a huge kick out of starting swan feeding frenzies..  pic below.. I got bitten while starting one of these.. this great nasty swan plucked the bread out of my hands..and nipped my fingers in the process..

                    

We also discovered that if you drop bits of bread on a swan's back, the foolish thing won't realise..and will soon have a flock of it's yeobirds pecking at it.... hilarious to watch...particularly if you pick the biggest meanest swan..

The ducks at that part of the lake were particularly fiesty... they'd zip in from nowhere and steal bread from under the swans' long s-shaped necks! This one particular red eyed, croaky voiced duck we'd nicknamed psycho-duck crapped a tonne into the lake in front of us...and turned the clear wated a murky green for a few hilarious minutes...

 

 Oh! and there were there moorhen things  that made whoopy noices and these reeeallly noisy..squaky screechy gulls...

Sprungli was another MAJOR treat... I did a Heiße Schoki there....

and the store was one of my fondest chocolate/pastry fantasies. I later ate these cream centered, melt-in-your-mouth mini pastrie things called Luxembourglis... shlurp..I can say no more!

The touristy things about Zurich can me found anywhere on the great wide net... I'd say the cathedral and the various museums are definitely worth a visit... And since this is starting to make me want to go back, I'm going to stop here!

spirituality...erm..

Just got back from one of them extended family things in the land of my roots (a fourth of them at least). I'm still in shock! However did those roots of mine manage to cram that many temples..and each with a history and a significance ('Visesham' for those who have mothers/aunts/grans like mine) into one tiny 200 sq km area? And WHY?! Why respected forbears why?!! Could you not make do with one or two humongous temples for worship n'all?

The stay in Tiruchirapalli resurrected..and killed my spiritual side! We’ll start with the resurrection.. I absolutely loved the temple in the mallakottai fort. It wasn't at all crowded, the cross ventilation was brilliant, the view awesome, and the silence..dear god! The silence. I jSo while Amma and Periamma whizzed around looking at deities and telling each other of the miraculous phenomena that had happened at each spot, which I'm absolutely sure they knew before, I wandered around looking at the carvings, the pillars, the windows, the view from them. Tried to read the legends that were painted on the walls..some of them stories paati'd told me while I was still in 2-pigtails and frill frocks..some new ones that I'm gonna hit the nephews with if they ever ask for stories. Eventually I ended up in front of the main 'sannidhi'- Maybe it was the low tamil chanting and the breeze and the smell of incense, maybe it was what periamma refers to as 'vibrations' maybe it was just me, but something changed there. In that time I could actually believe, without qualification, without the smallest doubt that there is a god. Not that I can justify my reasoning..but just then there was no need..there was just me and this comfortable awareness.

But all that died a violent death in an hour when we went to the Srirangam temple. The architecture and the artwork was magnificent… but the crowd..it was a circus! It's just beyond me how people can believe that taking a look at the deity..after stepping painfully on countless feet, elbowing people, shoving kids around and generally risking asphyxiation in the sweat/elephant dung/rancid coconut/bat smelling crowd.. is going to benefit them..really!

So.. in retrospect.. I think my spiritual side's there.. it's rather reticent..but there nevertheless!