Going UP and DOWN

Train journey is part and parcel of life of every mumbaikar...Commuting everyday to coll, work place et al has its own share of experiences and here are few of my own local train experiences on Harbour and Central line

• This was the week after the famous 26th July 2005 and i boarded a crowded 9.28am train. Obviously couldn't find a place to sit, the journey began and at every station the train started making contact with the platform, which obviously created friction.By the time train reached vashi, by then it had become really crowded and the continuous friction and added friction at vashi due to the curve...smelt fire. There was panic and the jam packed females in the compartment raised an alarm of fire...panic struck and more than half of the compartment became empty and the train started to leave after 15secs...i got a place to sit in the now empty train....thanks to the psuedo fire alarm!

• After boarding a jam packed train at Kurla...i realised there was some place to shift for the ladies in front towards the window...but some lady sitting in the direction opp. to that in which the train was travelling, was against it; reason..."mujhe suffocation hota hai...hawa nahi aati" then there was this part of me getting squeezed, explaining her the "air dynamics" that anyways the place she was sitting "waise bhi wahan pe hawa nahi aayegi"...fellow passengers appreciated my efforts with a smile, and there was at least comfortable place to stand!

• At times i spend my train journey reading stuff; its ok if its HP or Sidney Sheldon or a Jeffry Archer it doesn't call for attention of other co-travellers. But if its a Conn n Stumpf or a Friefilder or a Kuby(or any other bio related book) you invariably will be asked, "Are you a medical student?" "What are you studying?" then a small thought process goes on in the person's mind and then they formulate questions like, "Are the hybrids available safe?Do they cause side effects?" some times an intelligent question like is some ABC syndrome genetic or sex linked? makes its way...mostly the questions are related to genetics...sometimes make me feel i m genetic counsellor!
  

• I still remember, I met my JC frnd in train a medical student at KEM and we were so engrossed in discussing Immuno...actually had great discussions through out the journey, it was just us speaking and discussing in the morning 7am train...that to immuno...co-passengers seemed to hear Greek and Latin!

• Also there was this incident, yesterday...i actually was about to miss the 20.59 ka train from Kanjurmarg so got into general compartment...in Kurla when i got down a TC asked me for my ticket... i was cool as usual and opened my purse for ticket and you wont believe it was filled with tickets all sort of train tickets...and i was just not able to find my return ticket for the day...i remembered keeping it in the purse and now i just couldn't find it...started checking in the bag and then purse again...ticket checker was like madam office mein chalo...i was like nahi late ho raha hai mujhe wait i will find it out...by the time i think he was sure...this female is doing faltu ka natak! Tension was really creeping its way...i would have almost checked my purse 10times and still couldn't find it.And then suddenly out of nowhere, in the same purse i find my ticket...i mean what! I just showed the ticket to the TC and after so much of drama of me searching ticket and telling him i have got a return ticket...he was literally staring at the ticket very carefully checking minutest detail...and to make it fast cause i was getting late...i highlighted "return journey valid till midnight of 21-09-09"

• One of a kind experience was when, it was some 21 or 21.30 hrs on clock and my train was between kharghar and khandeshwar...i was alone in the ladies first class compartment enjoying the winds and the full moon when suddenly the lights went off...and this patch of the route is a small creek so till quite a distance you don't have civilization as such...it was mast pitch dark...it was just for few minutes but ultimate experience of pitch darkness in the train.

• Vashi bridge is another heavenly experience of train journey...in night its just beautiful in the evening its soothing, during the day its a aerial view of a huge swimming pool, in the morning its fresh and in the rainy season...its the Arabian sea at its best!Listening to Robaroo and chattin with vidhi on everything under the sun, i have had best of the times in my life here!

• Train is also the place where i completed my journals, made my last hour exam preparations,read books, made friends, thought of life, science, friends ...even took some right and wrong decisions...heard my worried parents on the phone during the blasts, heard few others shouting on phone, while some others loosing it too...

It's a mixed bag of experiences here...that I cherish in life!

Leucoderma-HW

There was this study done on a population having Leucoderma in Gujarat and it was found that the alleles involved were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium...! The results were surprising because we expect selection to act against the individuals with Leucoderma...because of the so called "mate choices" . But this wasn't the case here... again a study followed to determine the reason for absence of selection! It was found that the symptoms of leucoderma i.e the white patches on the skin occurred or were visible only after the subjects got married... they were totally absent when the mate choices were made...thus selection did not occur against the trait.
(My second encounter with the Hardy-Weinberg law...was with this example and since then whenever i see a person with Leucoderma Hardy-Weinberg law marquee makes an appearance!)
These days more often... I not only encounter quite a few people with Lecuoderma but also these people are quite young! (this is in mumbai) Making my mind wonder of the allele stats...I think the current scenario points towards, selection pressure acting on these alleles cause the symptoms are evident before the mate choice...so selection pressure must definately act, ideally should act and in the future should lead to gradual dilution of this allele from the population.
It's only for someone to study the population of those affected with leucoderma and highlight the allele stats!
Looking from point of view of a science student: Day to day, current, classical example of Hardy-Weinberg law and selection pressure at work.

Luck=Probabilty

Life has its own share
Of ups and downs and nightmares

There's a stream of success stories
And a sea of uncountable worries

To some there's an explanation
Others are even beyond imagination

Whatever may happen good or bad
Luck always plays a role there

What is this luck after all
A pure chance event that's all

It's the heads that you seek
And this is the very outcome, you can't trick!

Personified...

They were worried about their constant numbers for days together...And today the fate of few of them was going to change...few of them there, were about to be picked up, the future was dark, totally unaware of their destiny! The time came...and they were scraped off in lakhs...! What came next was totally unexpected, they got suspended in a liquid, that liquid was LB!!! Draining off all the worries...
(Seated infront of the Laminar Air Flow armed with a loop, I was doing my usuals of inoculating coli colony in a medium flask...was when I got into the coli's shoes!)
How does it feel like? I questioned and the answer that clicked was "a big fat feast" Oh..really? Naah...! It was something definately beyond feast...I mean feast is "so short term" (sounding "so middle class" types-sarabhai style)It's like I don't know what...but come to think of its a full proof gurantee of survival of your next 30 generations(sounding highly exagerrating)! whoa...!And we as humans here, are not even sure of our own survival, forget about our next generations!

candid times...

When i sit on the chair...i dont feel like getting up and when i am standing...i dread to grab a seat, cause the transition between these two states...is what i dread the most of...! With the every bit of pain my neurons makes me feel...there are those connecting one's which bring the adventurous, fun filled and worth the pain moments of the trek...to "Rajmachi" back to life, chucking the pain away!!!
Yep, had been to a trek to "Rajmachi" a small village 20kms off lonavla...this weekend!
And this was one of a kind experience...cause there were many "first time" kinda events...!
The journey started from the bus-stop waitng for bus. no. 212/1 and after 5-10mins or so we were in the cab n heading towards Dadar TT...!
Buses came n buses went... none were ready to take us to Lonavla bus stand.(it rhymes)
Within a span of about 15-30 mins we actually managed to question the man at the inquiry counter...a hundred times.Also the conductors of the arriving buses were not spared from "Will this bus go to Lonavla?"The wait for the bus lasted for an hour or so...but then it was not boring at all...time was passing as were the buses..n we enjoyed as if we never cared...!
Grabed the last seats of an heading to Nanded ST...and begined with bus mein masti...!(this one rhymes too...whoa)
Inacting movies one after other...there was a splater of laughter ...in the other wise snoozing shant types gather!(its a threesome rhyme here)
The conductor was oversmart kinds...and cared more of we getting down off his bus at the destination.Memory game followed as the bus got packed ....Saxena-kutta-tempo-bus-chak-kobi-gas-acetabullum-czeckoslovakia...n on it went...
Finally at Lonavla we had a pick up "sumo" and at "Ram Krishna" we were "8+3=11" ka gang now!!!
Now as i said "Rajmachi" is about 20-22kms off Lonavla and the best part is we started at about 23-23.30 or so from Lonavla.
And this road...i must say was not even worth calling a kaccha road...was really bumpy...single vehicle pass...with no street lights...no sign boards...no human habitation...and pitch dark...wow! Frankly speaking it was adorned with pure darkness...and couldn't keep my eyes of the beauty of dark. we also managed to convince the driver to put off the headlights for that rare experience of absolute darkness!
I must tell the first sight of the tree adorned with fireflies was just mast...i mean how beautiful it looked in the dark! After that we spotted countless fireflies...wandering here an there...attracting their mates/prey.
Finally at around 1 o'clock we reached "Rajmachi"...this village with 20-22 houses...and no electricity...wow!!!
We headed to the house were we intended to spend that night...the floor was clad with cowdung and cold breeze made a feel good effect...! Spent the whole night in the verandha and the street just outside the house..doing nothing at all...listening to the golden silence!!!It almost felt like listening to the silence and observing the hide n seek game that the cloud and half moon played till eternity...!
It had hardly been an hour or so since my mind had shut off and i went to sleep, then the natural alarm of the hen began with advanced snooze set ups which was not supported with the snooze off algorithm...this created god save me kinda situation...!
At around 6.30-7 we began our climb on the "Manoranjan" fort...the climb wasn't difficult at all...still doing duniya bharka timepass and mazza masti we were heading with a snail's pace...enjoying the view, the caves. the on the way water bodies, sipping in cloud nine .(the trek superhit) After photoshots and relaxed moments up there on the fort we headed down to "Rajmachi" again....had lunch at one of the locals place were we stayed the previous night.
Then came the decision point...to go the way we came...to lonavla or to climb downhill to karjat, which according to the locals was "faster" and most recommended. We began heading to karjat at around 14hrs in the brightly shining sun...with the expectation of reaching Karjat early and without the trouble as it was to be in the Lonavla wala road...
But something totally bizare, unexpected and first time kinda thingy was in store for us...something which made this trek the most adventurous one...
We had no clue about the road to Karjat, we took few directions from the lady in whose house we stayed and in another 5 mins or so...one of us had to go back to her for directions again...! Finally we began on the right track...all 11 of us plus a black doggy called Raju or Raja (something like that) he himself volunteered to accompany us. In the scorching heat with our caps and scarfs and glares on...we walked. All was going good untill we came up to the first slope...wherein our actual journety downward began...frankly speaking i still remember the sight of that first slope and its steepness...and then continued the series of steep slopes. I have never seen such steep slopes, in my life.With frequent breaks of water and cloud nine we continued downwards. Other groups one by one overtaking us...but the loyal raja continued to stay with us...in return he enjoyed Parle G and few licks of water...from true dog lovers snehal and mihir.Along with this one there was another brown colored dog which accompanied us. The dog had a perfect overtaking timing, he would wish to overtake at the difficult patch of the route and scare me to the core...i hate dogs!
Actually we could quite frequently hear train ka engine...which later sometime...i designated as a "psuedosignal" cause it used to make us feel we are nearing to Karjat stn n it should be near by but it never was, it indeed was a psuedo signal!
Even we girls in the group managed to slip quite often...making the guys wonder...how someone can slip so frequently...! Waise toh at quite few points i had to sit down and push myself to the lower level...but at one point when i was in the process of doing so...the huge stone on which my hand took support went loose and was about to fall on my legs below...thankfully it was put on hold!
Steep slopes came and went by...but there was no "namo nishan" of any gaon "dur dur tak" forget Karjat. It looked like we were completely lost....It had been hours we were climbing down and heading nowhere it seemed...still we continued. The hopes of even finding a small village were diminshing now...we continued. Admist of all this situation we were doing all sorts of bakwas and laughing and giggling...and this was the prime reason due to which atleast i myself slipped quite a few times. Actually no one of us cared about the passing time and also about not seeing habitation "dur dur tak". We continued, finally at around 17hrs started the patch with no more slopes...and our expectations of expecting a village increased exponentially!
We got completely lost in the plane land, had to ask a group of co-downclimbers the way ahead...and were shocked to hear that there was this another village called "kondwae"(something like that) from where we can get a transport to Karjat which was 30-40 mins away from there(that village).We kept walking, villages came and villages went...at one point we saw a rick standing on the road and it seemed like an oasis in a desert! We were just walking walking and walking completely lost....till we spot a board "Karjat 9.5kms"...OMG!
We walked and walked and finally...actually finally reached this village "kondwae" and before even looking for a suitable transport gulped in a bottle of mango juice and quenched our thirst and recharged ourselves.We were lost and found! Took the 10 seater auto and threw ourselves into it and headed to Karjat stn...finally...finally came the Karjat stn and we were on the right track in the local!
I mean common never in our lives we had such an experience, such feeling of being unsure...of not even knowing whether the destination is going to even come or no, whether we were on the right track and still we were so tension free enjoying ourselves like insanes...!
It's amazing to be insane!!!