Desicritics Author: Tread Softly Upon

Sanjaya, the True American Idol

Tread Softly Upon — Wed, 2 May 2007 00:34:07 EDT

Okay, I confess. I'm going to miss Sanjaya tonight on American Idol. Sanjaya with the crazy hair-do and the cheesy smile and the non-existent singing talent.

I have never been much of a TV person. I never spend my evenings watching mindless sitcoms or getting hooked on to reality shows. I have never followed the earlier seasons of the hugely popular American Idol or Dancing with the Stars. I didn't know who Kelly Clarkson or Fantasia or Ruben Studdard were. I would hear people talk about Grey's Anatomy and Lost and nurture a secret sense of satisfaction about how I wasn't being sucked into the vortex and could spend quality time on more constructive things.

That is until people started talking about Sanjaya. He was everywhere. You couldn't listen to the radio or watch a talk show or browse the internet without having someone mention Sanjaya, his inability to carry a tune or his ever changing hair style. The fact that he shared the same last name with a close relative perked my interest and I tuned in one night to watch American Idol.

And I remember cringing inside everytime Sanjaya attempted to hit a high note. His singing was pathetic to say the least and one couldn't help but wonder how he had made it that far in the competition. Yet, there was something about the kid.

In the way he made love to the camera, in the way he smiled through Simon's scathing remarks and criticism, in the way he seemed to be enjoying every single minute. And I wanted to see if he made it through. So I had to tune in again the next evening to watch the result show. Sanjaya survived.

And for the strangest reason I was happy for him. And I wanted to watch him perform again the following week. And just like that, I became one of those teeming millions who watch a TV show because they are hooked on to it.

And then Sanjaya's run came to an end. And I'm sure hundreds of thousands of Idol fans were happy that he was eliminated because they felt he did not deserve to have gone that far in the show. And while I agree that Sanjaya didn't have a lot of talent as far as his singing went, what he lacked in vocal prowess he made up for in charisma. And with Sanjaya gone my interest in Idol has volatilized too.

American Idol is not just a singing competition. It is a competition for performance and entertainment. And as far as that goes, Sanjaya Malakar was a true American Idol.

I'll miss you Sanjaya.

The Nobel Prize For Medicine, 2006 - RNAi & C. elegans

Tread Softly Upon — Wed, 4 Oct 2006 12:24:05 EDT

It has been said that most revolutionizing concepts begin with a simple and fundamental observation. Things that go unnoticed by most people. An apple falling out of a tree would never be a cause of concern except to Newton who questioned why it fell down instead of going up. And just like that, we have our laws of gravity.

The roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans lives in soil, where it feeds mainly on bacteria. The humble worm made history in 1998 for being the first multicellular organism to have its genome completely sequenced. This was followed shortly in 2002 with the worm making headlines when three scientists Sydney Brenner of Berkeley, California, John E. Sulston of Cambridge, England, and H. Robert Horvitz of Cambridge, Massachusetts received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work in understanding genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death. Early this week the nematode climbed into the spotlight for yet another time when Andrew Z. Fire of Stanford University and Craig P. Mello of the University of Massachusetts received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their ground breaking research in gene silencing through RNA interference.

When Fire and Mello observed that injecting double stranded RNA into worms resulted in silencing of the gene that matched the genetic code carried by the RNA, they realized that they had discovered a mechanism for genetic regulation. The phenomenon named RNA interference or RNAi results in degradation of mRNA molecules which prevent the protein from being encoded and thus causing the corresponding gene to be silenced. Fire and Mello published their pioneering research in Nature in 1998.

What became apparent subsequently was that RNAi played an enormous role in all organisms regulating gene expression by blocking certain proteins from being encoded and silencing genes, thus controlling cellular functions. The hallmark of this research was not only the importance of the individual discovery, but the overwhelming breadth of their accomplishment.

RNAi has opened the portal for novel genetic technology in a wide variety of organisms, from understanding the function of unknown genes to myriad clinical applications by silencing undesirable genetic function in several diseases. RNAi is being used widely for the study of many genes and has paved the way for novel biomedical applications that hold exciting possibilities.

When Time Stands Still

Tread Softly Upon — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 13:39:47 EDT

We took our folks who are visiting us from India for a quick tour around Washington DC yesterday. And it wasn't until we reached the Capitol and saw the place swarming with cops and the heightened security that we realized that we had chosen the eve of 9/11 for our trip. Which of course was not the smartest thing to do. Because there are increased police patrols, hovering choppers, swoop downs on any illegally parked cars and a constant feeling of being watched and every move being monitored. Not that we were violating any laws or doing anything remotely suspicious. But spotting a cop everytime you turn and look over your shoulder can be a little unnerving at times. And one can almost feel the tension in the air. The feeling of preparedness combined with the haunting memories of that fatal day five years back, the all pervasive sense of anxiety, worry and fear, as thousands of law enforcement officers keep vigilance over the millions of people out on the streets.

And I can distinctly remember the exact moment in time, where we were and what we were doing when the first plane struck the first of the two towers on September 11, 2001. And as we watched with growing horror the events unfold before our eyes on the TV, the unreal-ness of it all, the disbelief, the shock and the fear, it was like we had been suspended in time. And the panic that followed while we tried desperately to get in touch with friends and family in New York, DC and back home in India. To make sure everyone was okay. To tell them that we were okay. And reassure ourselves that this was just a bad dream and when we'd wake up everything would nice and fine.

Only to realize it would never be okay again.

It was like that time in India when Indira Gandhi was shot. We were in school and suddenly classes were called off. We were too young to realize what had happened. But we were old enough to know that something terrible had taken place and that we were not supposed to rejoice at the fact that classes were being suspended. And the growing alarm in the hours following as we waited in the school assembly hall for someone to come and take us home, while parents desperately tried to reach the school, braving the burning buses and riots on every street corner. And the days that followed as everyone sat glued to the TV, the grim silence that spoke volumes. We had neighbors taking in Sikh families to save them from the wrath of the angry mobs that torched their houses and cars. It was unbelievable. And at that tender age it left a lasting impact. Till date I cannot bear to watch any coverage of terror, riots and the like on TV without completely breaking down and having violent emotional reactions.

And the hits just keep on coming. Bomb blasts, terrorism, riots, war. There seems no end to it. And we just sit and pray that no harm comes to the ones we love. But somewhere, someone always gets hit. Someone's brother, father, mother, sister, spouse, lover, friend. It is personal. To someone. And we keep praying it isn't our friends or family. Until someday it is. Like my uncle who got hit in the train bombing in London on 7/7. Yes, it does happen to us too. Someday when our prayers and luck run out. And our nightmares come alive. And no, I do not bang my head on the door screaming for revenge. Because that doesn't seem to be the answer. More mindless killing and death will never make it okay for us again. Or the others who lost someone they loved. It just seems so pointless in the bigger picture.

September 11. It is a day of mourning. It is also a day of realizing what life truly means. And what life expects from us in return. I was supposed to be on a morning flight from Boston on the very same day which had been cancelled for other reasons. Fate? God's way of telling me how sweet and precious life is? Destiny? I really don't know. What I know is that everytime I hear of another terror attack I just die inside. Of fear and anger and pain. Because I know we just took another step backwards towards any chances at peace. And that shatters my entire existence.