You know you are a Biologist when......

(Found this Accurate and Hilarious description on FB. Its not written/compiled by me.)



You open the toothpaste with one hand.
You wash your hands before and after using the washroom.
When you hear tween, you think of the surfactant not the age group.
For you, media is something which increases your culture.
You can identify organs on roadkills.
You have a callus on your thumb.
You use the word "aliquot" in regular sentences.
Sometimes you momentarily vanish from social activities because of a timepoint.
You've never worn a clean lab coat.
You don't fear rodents, rodents fear you.
You say "orders of magnitude" in regular sentences.
You flinch when you hear the word "significant".
Showing up at 10AM and having a coffee is a productive day.
You can't stand god-like physicians, while secretly wishing you had their job.
You're very good at diluting things.
You're also very good at transferring small amounts of liquid between containers.
You are fed up of people saying alcohol, when they mean ethanol.
You hear the word Molar and teeth are the last thing on your mind.
You say conjugation instead of sex, and "pili" sounds dirty.
SOB is not an insult, it's what you grow your bugs in.
You say "mills" and "megs".
No-one in your family has any idea what you do.
You can make a short film in power point.
You consider a green laser pointer to be science bling.
A falcon is not a bird.... And you have 5 of them with different types of water.
When your fruits go bad and you get fruit flies, you can't help but check their eye colour
You own invitrogen t-shirts and actually wear them.
You think that drosophila geneticists have a good sense of humour.
You refer to your children as the F1.
You've suffered carpal tunnel from the pipetman.
You've used kimwipes as kleenex.
A timer clipped to the hip is not only practical, but dead sexy.
You've played Battleship using tip boxes.
The front pages of Science is your light reading.
You think the following is a quality insult: "I've seen cells more competent than you!".
The scent of latex reminds you of work, not play.
You're looking for a cooking book by Maniatis.
You've used, "I'd like to get into your genes" as a pickup line.
You've made dry ice grenades.
You've lost many friends to ice grenades...
Threshold:
If you nodded your head and laughed at at least 20 of the 40 statements above, you are a certified biologist.
More than 30? .....There's a very high probability that you are a PhD student.
(These are the threshold values, at / above which the data are statistically significant!)


Source:- Haritha Haridas's FB notes [ ]

Happy days....

I remember the tea estate picnic. Met a classmate of my elder cousin who was studying in a residential school. We got so lost in out talks(about the school, comics, G.I.Joe, etc.) we actually got lost in the tea garden. I was in class 3(or maybe 4), and he was a little older. We were scared, and still, the adventure bug had bitten us. I distinctly remember reading about huge pythons caught in tea estates(and was hoping to see one, i guess)... Well, nothing happened! We stumbled into a group of people(from out picnic party) who had gone to get some supplies, and they brought us back to the site of the picnic..

On many other occasions, I remember going to Udaipur(not in Rajasthan, but in Tripura) for vacations, to stay with my uncle and cousins. The three of us(me, and my 2 cousins) had this uncanny knack for planning! We always used to plan. Plan for a trip to Shipaijola(A reserve forest nearby), or to Agartala(Where I lived), or just a simple walk outside the house. We used to plan these, sitting together in the sunlight or the shade, savoring some delicacy made by my aunt, or while watching Phool aur Kaante(My elder cousin's favourite movie at that time - must have seen it a 100 times). The plans may never have actually been fulfilled, but till date, we still plan. Just last week me and my elder cousin planned to meet at Agrtala, next year, for the Agartala Book Fair. LOL!

I remember seeing the small red fishes devouring the make-shift fish-food I would throw to them while I would visit the lake in the middle of Shillong(I have no idea what its called, and I didn't bother googling!). I would assist the boy(s) at the hotel, as they would carry water into the rooms, or take room service orders, while my parents went for their training/exams. I was too young at that time, but I still have these memories in my head. The drifting clouds around Cherrapunji and Mawsynram, the intermittent rain, the view of the Bangladesh plains far below, the numerous small streams, and the ingenious bamboo-pipelines to carry water from them to the villages, these are images permanently pasted in my head.

The trips to Lachhmanjhoola, Haridwar, Deegha(dad taught me to use cutlery), Poori, Kolkata, Gangtok, and so many other places in those days, are memories which I will cherish forever.

Met many people, made a lot of friends, and forgot and lost them as I grew up. These(and many many more) are the memories of childhood that are stuck in my head, which soothe my frayed nerves when times are rough. Thank you mom and dad, my cute li'l bro, uncles and aunties, didi and dada, friends and their families, who helped in creating these memories.

Thoughts noted down..

As the title says, these are thoughts, feelings, etc inside me, which I thought need to be written down, lest I forget them...

Work:
Work is good. People are leaving the company everyday(now as the economy is back on track), and new ones are joining at the same time. Will miss some of the people who left.
Got appreciated and rewarded at work recently. Feels great to be appreciated even when you think you haven't done enough. Charges me up to strive to do more next time.

Convocation:
Went to Bangalore for IBAB convocation(held on 10 July 2010 at IBAB Campus in Electronic City).

Got my PG Diploma in BioInformatics.
Met most of my old friends from IBAB.


Couldn't meet many more from the old days(regret! next time for sure). Had a good interaction with some of the current batch people(Following it up on FB! :-) ). I so so so like the new campus.

Want to somehow make it possible to go visit every month, donno how though!!

Bangalore Trip:
Was good. Got to hang out with my pals, make some future plans.

Got to roam(walk) around on Bangalore streets like good ol' days. Felt very emotional when I finally left the city.
The Train trip back was An Education. Never had ticket trouble before on a train, had never talked to a TTE before. This time, spent atleast 4 hours with a TTE, and another 4 hours sleeping while sitting in the middle of the night due to my over-smartness while exchanging seats. Never again will this happen. Ignorance to Law is not a valid defence once you violate the law!

World Cup:
Ya fine! Arg didn't win the cup, losing pathetically to Germany. Will wait for 2014 WC at Brazil for Argentina's Cup.

Life:
Life is taking its own course.


Cooked chicken for the first time last night. Was quite good(couldn't get rid of a little sweet taste though). Small baby steps in the cookery kingdom. :-)




Was out friday night with a friend, roaming around a park, having ice cream, and discussing life at 11 at night.


Saturday night again, took a ride with some friends to the Airport 35 KM away, bcoz they wanted to go there and have a smoke. :-)






Realized one thing. Only I can make my life what I want it to be, no body else. So hopefully , no more stupid decisions like the one I made in Bangalore. Concentration on Education and Career. Wish me luck!