My kudos to Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who immortalised a Botanist (Dharmendra) not to be a nit-wit and proves that he is more worthier than prejudiced to be. Times have changed but the concept of a Botany professional hasn"t changed. Again hats of to the late Hrishikesh who I presume to be the only director in Indian cinema who has immortalised the role of a Botanist in his movie "Chupke, Chupke!" I think even "Collegu Ranga" the kannada movie portrays Kalyan Kumar asa Botany Professor but he is not the major protagonist of the movie. If you do come across any other movie which has a Botanist as a lead role, do let me know.

Around ten to fifteen years back a typical college scenario would be the classes brimming with degree students especially in the science stream and commerce was assumed to be a topic chosen by less intellectuals. Each and every college had general science combination of PCM, CBZ and later introduced donation oriented courses of Microbiology, Electronics and Computer science. Jobs of all types were offered to science graduates even jobs meant for the commerce graduates. There were lesser students opting for Engineering. I belonged to that era and thus I chose to become a post graduate in Botany.

At present the scenario has changed. The Commerce stream is brimming with students and no more it is a course taken up by less intellectuals and rather it is taken up by aspiring future capitalists, bankers and financiers. This situation is due to opening up of market, liberalisation and globalisation. Adding to the plight of degree colleges are the mushrooming Engineering colleges which have taken a centre-stage and liberalised their criterion of in-take thus facilitating even the least intellectual student to opt for an Engineering seat. This has resulted to be the last nail in the coffin of General science subjects. The present trend has led to the extinction of general science post graduates and the course itself. If this trend continues, tomorrow a situation might arise where there is lack of teaching professionals and chances are that general science subject and their study would only be available in developed countries which would make the under-developed and developing countries to hugely rely upon these countries for technology transfer. We as a country would end up as cyber coolies, legal coolies and medical coolies of the developed countries with no option of independent growth of science or technology blossoming in our nation.

Courses without any opportunity of obtaining donations do not hold a stand in the Education Market. You might have noticed the banners screaming with words B.sc-Microbiology, B.sc.-Biotechnology, B.sc.-Biochemistry, etc. These are ways and means of fooling the guillible people by different institutions who hide the combo subjects offered along with this subject. Bangalore University doesn"t offer any honorary degree or B.sc. Mains course, rather it offers a combination of three subjects with equal status and syllabus. University should take some steps to curb these false ads and see to it that institutions running these courses display all the combination so that there is no possibility of step-motherly treatment by the students. From the ads to the media and the government lack lustre response has made the student conditioned to the mindset that the general science subjects are of no importance and they are just necessary evils which cannot be avoided. This mindset has not only affected the students but also the people framing syllabus, who give more importance to these subjects and neglect the sole opportunity of educating the students with chapters that are pure science at the PU level. The syllabus of PU-Biology is one such example, you find the syllabus having more importance to biotechnology, molecular biology and other subjects. In the process they have neglected the topics of Behavioural Biology, Social organisation, Phytogeography and other subjects. Even the syllabus is conditioned to facilitate the students to take up the donation oriented subjects. I have no personal animosity with these subjects I rather feel that there is a huge imbalance which would result in the death of the other subjects at the cost of one. Policy makers, syllabus setters and decision-makers should remember that "Science has given rise to technology which are applicable in industries and not the vice versa". Death of any science subject whether it is industry oriented or general science would lead to the death of civilisation. This is not an exaggerated or far-fetched statement but the harsh reality.

The solution for this problem would be a higher pay-scale to the teaching professionals which should be lucrative when compared to other professions so that it attracts the intelligentsia of the country to take up this profession. Providing health insurance and social insurance would go a long way in prosperity of education and also security of the teaching professionals. Once education prospers the social, economic and political growth would be higher. I hope the policy makers, decision makers and private institutions awake to the burning issue rather than sweeping it under the carpet.

My research work was quite at doldrums as I found that the database of Bangalore aquatic flora wasn"t up to the desired mark. Since I am not a full time research scholar I chose a topic in consultation with my research guide, something which involves travelling and literature survey. I wanted it to be pure Botany and what better subject than Taxonomy that could fulfill my desire. My guide suggested me to visit the Malabar Botanical Garden at Kozhikode (Calicut) at Kerala before my Christmas vacations are over. I never had been to Kozhikode and rarely knew about the train route or the bus facility and I had never dreamed of the jam packed crowd. It was a travel with no pre-planning as it was decided on the eleventh hour. I chose a bad time for my travel, just two or three days before the New year commencement. The buses were completely filled and not even a luxurious bus was accessible as they all had been reserved. I tried outside for any private transport that ferried across to Calicut but there rarely existed any such bus. I had no other go but to catch a KSRTC( Kerala transport and not to be mistaken with Karnataka transport). Even this bus was reserved but for a few seats that were vacant and I sat along with another co-passenger with a sight of relief only to find it was short-lived. The dense bearded conductor spoke to me in Malayalam and asked me to make a seat for a girl in her 16s. I tried speaking to him in Tamil, Kannada and English with a raga of Malayalam but to little effect. I made way for that girl with her uncle only to realise that it was the conductor"s chivalry which made me to be the scape-goat. Within my mind I cursed the conductor with the worst curse that I could imagine or my decency would allow. I thought I would manage the entire journey by standing but it was stupid of me to think so. I had under-estimated the distance to be travelled and also the jam-packed bus. I stood for around half an hour and since it was the least luxurious bus I had to bear the brunt of the ups and downs that the bus underwent throughout the journey. Standing the travel, I became the shock-absorber of the bus. My body couldn"t withstand any more jolts and I felt nauseating. I tried my best to control but all my efforts were in vain. When it went beyond my control I covered my mouth and requested some of the passengers towards the window to open the windows for me to vomit. But lack of empathy coupled with lack of sympathy and the cold chilling wind prevented them from offering the window. I had no other go but to look for an alternative, I couldn"t travel towards the door of the bus because I could see some of the regular, sturdy passengers who were fine-tuned to these conditions had completely stretched their body on the floor of the bus with no thought for their co-passengers. I had neither the windows nor the access to the door of the bus, to puke. I had to think fast and I did. I got the expensive monkey cap from my pocket gifted by my dad to beat the winter and I completely puked in it. At the next best opportunity I threw the cap out of the window after making sure no one was behind or in front of the vehicle. This was just the beginning and as the crowd started thinning up, so did my rate of vomitting increase. The more the hair pin curves, the more the twist of my alimentary canal. I probably puked more than 26 times. Adding salt to the injury was the cold, biting, wintery wind and also the disgust that I felt of my uncleanliness. Atlast after 16 hours of miserable travel I reached Kozhikode-half dead and half alive. I had no strength to search for the best lodge, I just walked into a lodge nearest to the bus-stop and somehow struggled to the room with my bag and baggage. The first thing I did was wash my clothes and have a bath. The lodge didn"t provide me any hot water and I was too tired to complain about it. The cold water washed away my uncleanly feeling and I hit the bed. I woke after four hours with my body still feeling the after-effects of the jolts. I caught up brunch in some restaurant and I could feel the coconut oil lingering on my tongue. I had no problem with the oil. I saw many pretty women with long, black and curly hairs vying around. I probably assumed that the secret for their long hairs might be both the internal and external intake of coconut oil.

The streets were filled with many red flags probably the dharnas from the trade unions. Most of the non-veg hotels of Kerala are filled with puttu, parotha and beef apart from chicken and fish. I liked the novelty and enjoyed the food for a day or two but started longing for the masala-dosa, idli and chutneys. Luckily there was a hotel which offered these and my taste buds were appeased.

With very kind and needy help from the co-passengers I was able to aboard a bus to Malabar Botanical Garden. Most of the buses did not have the English placards and everything was in Malayalam. The conductor luckily was quiet a good person and he helped me to get down at the desired destination. I was quite happy to see that the conductors were very honest and they paid back the change unlike Bangalore were I have met most instances of 25p and 50p daylight robbery. I was fully armed with all the photographs of the aquatic plants that I had to get it identified from. Dr. Ansari who is in-charge of the Botanical Garden was very helpful and his research scholars were as good as him. Kerala is a Botanist"s paradise. I observed that many variety of plants surviving and hanging down from the compounds of different houses. Throughout my journey I rarely felt the heat of the sun as I always was under the shades of the trees.

I learnt a lot from the Botanical Garden and I felt deeply indebted for their assistance. The work from this remote Botanical Garden with quite a history behind, is quite huge and tremendous which only a fellow-Botanist could acknowledge.

I strongly recommend fellow Botanists to organise study tour to this place. You will have a feast for intellect especially the aquatic plants apart from the well maintained Botanical Garden.

 All my recently attained knowledge of different methodology of teaching was put into action in a tutorial - rather more than one, only to turn out to be a disaster! Just as chemistry that works between a successful couple, I also found during my teaching years that some batches had a very good chemistry with my teaching. I used to eagerly handle their classes with overwhelming enthusiasm. But there were some batches at tutorials where you found that an odd spoilsport doing the havoc for the entire batch.

 Most of the tutorials are not based on any rational assessment, their assessment is totally based on the whims and fancies of the students and brimming currency in front of their eyes. I am not disagreeing to the point that teacher"s assessment by students are irrational but it is not the sole or the only important source of assessment. There are qualified educationists who can look into these aspects of teaching but rarely do you find any tutorial run by an academician. It is always run by money-minded commercial centres for whom it is a business and obviously the stakeholder of this business is the student (privileged customer who can hold the teacher"s at ransom). The student decides which faculty"s head should be retained or scalped. Many aspects that a tutor can never cover up nor has the time to cover up in his profession are the language, aptitude and knowledge part that a student lacks and as a Biology faculty I could never achieve it too!

 Tutorials were earlier meant for the below average student who tries to improve his academics but today it is more of a commercial venture with all categories of students as stake holder, where gullible parents are guillotined in the name of performance. The role of a teacher as a philosopher, a friend, a guide, a motivator, a facilitator and a mentor is dead in the tutorials. If you bring these aspects into your classes immediately you are branded as an eccentric and there ends your teaching tale. As a Biologist and a strong believer of the core essence of biology-phylogeny (evolution theory) it is bound to be a disaster if you stress and practise what you teach. You are immediately branded as agnostic or atheist! I tried teaching the application aspects of Biology in our day to day life and the ignorance of Biological knowledge which makes us to be easy victims to various superstitions and I had to face the consequences of deviating from the syllabus and preaching blasphemy whereas I was just teaching science. Maybe the jet-set age has made most of our students immune to extra knowledge and rather they would restrict themselves within a set boundary.

 I as a student was delighted by those teachers who used to share extra information relevant to the topic and also I was happy to have those teachers who made me read more rather than being a restricted student. They inspired me to take a profession which involves in making professionals.

Recently, I worked in a tutorial which had a continuous 3 hour session of Biology to be handled with a short break which is against all the set psychological principles of education. You had to teach for continuous three hours without any worries about the consequences or the change in the learning behaviour of the student. I tried adapting to it but it was an impossible feat. I had at my disposal 128 hours for a subject with a syllabus of 75 hours and an already prepared notes at my disposal. You had to stretch the subject syllabus without citing examples away from the textbook or going out of the bounds of the syllabus. Just because they had a policy of 3 hours for Physics, Chemistry and Maths which had more than 100 hours of syllabus, the hapless Biology faculties were put to task. Many did not want to jeopardise the opportunities by speaking it out. I tried reasoning out with the co-ordinator but to no avail. Either you adapt to the situation or you quit. It was a tight rope walk without a rope! I struggled to cope up for two months with two negative feedbacks which was solely put on me rather than realising the objective impossibility of the situation. Thus ended my another venture at a tutorial.

 As a foresight, I feel I should have rather stood up for the principles of education than trying to adapt to the conditions offered! Maybe some of you might opine that it is all a tale of sour grapes and you are welcome to do so but isn"t there an element of truth in what I stated??????

I picked up my wife from her workplace.  She was nearing nine months pregnancy.  She looked too tired and out of sort.  I dropped her at her mom"s place and was telling her about the ongoing Hyderabad trip that I had to accompany my students as a part of study tour.  I also informed her my reluctance in joining the tour as my wife"s due-dates coincided with the tour date.  My wife told me that she could manage on her own and I need not worry about it.  I had a cup of tea and then departed to reach my home.  My wife seemed to have signs of impending labour pain and she tried calling me on my cell immediately after I left my in-law"s home, but in vain.  I had two mobiles at my disposal and both failed to ring when it was most needed. Instead she called up my mom and informed her.  Atlast my cell rang with a call from home.  She informed me that my wife had already rushed to the maternity hospital and asked me to get back home at the earliest. I along with my mom after much of trouble reached the place.  Before we reached I had a call from my wife and she informed me that the doctor"s had told her that Caesarean was a necessity as she had undergone some complications.  I consented to this and she was taken to the operation theatre before I could reach the hospital.  Bangalore"s traffic played a spoilsport in me reaching the place on time.  With much of struggle that arose because of the one way traffic I struggled to find a route to the clinic.  My mother-in-law met me on the way and she informed me that my wife had given birth to a son.  I rushed in eagerly to have the first glimpse of my progeny.  I had to wait for half an hour before the nurse asked me to have a look at the baby.  The nurses told me that my son looks like Rajanikanth and they pestered me for a proper reward which they did get.  I had no prejudices as to whether my offspirng was a son or a daughter.  I rather preferred a daughter because they would be more attached to their father than son but the vice versa occurred.  I don"t subscribe to this thought process though.  As a son I have always had affection towards my dad and mom equally.  Only thing missing though was my unhindered ex-pression of affection towards my mom with whom I had more of time to spend, she being a housewife than I could with my dad.  But my wife was very happy to have a son. The first glimpse was  the most precious moment which I captured through my camera.  My biological intellect sharpened and I could analyse that he had a fair skin similar to his grandparents.  He had a large eyes resembling his mom and he carried a single dimple in one of his cheeks which was half-iheritance from me as I have dimples on both the cheeks.  My part time job helped me a lot to spend my time with my son and wife.  Rarely do lecturers working in any college would dare to apply or even think of having a paternity leave.  Many anecdotes started circulating regarding my son"s birth and one such story was that my wife delivered before the due date because my son was eager to facilitate my trip to Hyderabad.  The first days of fatherhood made me to think more and plan a lot for the near future.  As the days passed I realised that I have to take life as it comes rather than planning too much and getting too little.  My wife"s occasional barbs to taunt me was that she had more of role in giving birth to the child than me was rebuked by me saying that "each and every cell of my son carries 23 chromosomes from my side and so you can"t neglect or ignore my role".  My fatherhood has reached the fourth month and I am enjoying both the bliss as well as the sacrifices that I have to incur in the process.  

         It was nearly 11 years since I rode my bicycle.  After much of struggle my dad got me abrand new bicycle as my birthday gift when I reached 20 years.  I pulled his leg saying that I am too old to ride a bicycle and rather I prefer a bike.  It was those days when the roads were comparatively free and bicycle was the most preferred transportation and bikes were possessed by the affordable.  I am talking about the days before the Indian markets were openup for foreign investors.  Lifestyle was much smoother and slow-paced.  People had ways and means of saving money.  Productswere purchased for its durability and life time usage.  There were no concept of "use and throw" rather it was the concept of "use and reuse". People survived before free economy on the time tested adage of "Penny wise and Pound foolish" and strict austerity measures.  It was a gadget free world and the bicycle was the only means of transport for me day in and day out.  Learning a bicycle wasthe most tedious and injury prone skill which I mastered.  Initially I learnt the Kathri (Scissor version) of riding the bicycle and slowly progressed to the Bar level of riding and finally graduated to the Seat level which was facilitated by my growth when my toes touched the ground even seated on a bicycle.  There were many a fall and I remember two of the falls which should have been lethal but luck prevailed and I had survived to narrate the tale. Places seemed quite far away for me on a bicycle and nearer on a bike at present.  The expenditure that I incurred on maintaining a bicycle seemed too huge to me then but now it seems quite inconsequential when compared to my bike"s maintenance expenditure.  My eyes are filled with the fond memories of my Dad pedaling me up and down the lanes of school braving through the scorching sun and drizzling rain .  Those days of bicycling with me as a pillion rider accompanying my dad till Magadi road for purchase of sugar cane during Pongal and chicken every Sunday passed through my nostalgic eyes. The number of rides that I frequented the Library remained countless.  My journey with my bicycle continued till I completed my post graduation. 

       Then fell the sudden lull when I rarely had time to use my bicycle anymore.  Need andnecessity demanded a bike on my part.  Progress in my means of transportation led to a revolution in my earning capabilities.  I was able to cover up longer distances which I would have never dared to dream of reaching through the regular bus travel as half of my lifetime would have been spent waiting,
catching and aboarding the bus.  My bicycle was parked at an inconsequential space and it rusted and rusted along with my muscles till it dawned on me that I should bring back the past glory of bicycle into my life.  Suddenly the lights of eco-consciousness started glowing on my countenance. I thought of the distance that I would travel using my bicycle and the savings that I could hit upon with.  I pondered and dwelled on this issue for long.  Fear of embarassment at an age where bikes are being slowly replaced by cars made me reluctant in trying to renovate the bicycle.  After much of dilly dallying I finally thought of putting my thoughts into action. 

        One fine day, I removed the bicycle which creaked and crumbled.  I washed and cleaned it
to a tolerable and presentable level before servicing it.  I was too embarassed to walk with a bicycle all along to Dasarahalli.  Very few bicycle shops had survived the onslaught of change.  Using a bike would never have made me self-conscious because of the speed and also the helmet which hid my face and provided me privacy from the glaring and prying eyes.  I made a shopping spree of all the spare parts required to rejunevate my bicycle.  I was too happy with the rates involved in purchase of the spares which was contrasting to the sore pocket that I experienced whenever I purchased the spares for my bike.  I had my neighbour"s and the streetmates- mocking and taunting eyes focused on me- when I parked my bicycle for the first time.  The bicycle seemed too light-weight that I was quite at ease in not only carrying it but also parking it.  I braved the scorching sun and at last reached the bicycle shop with the spares.  I did not bargain with the service person and just paid the money that he had asked for.  Finally the bicycle was ready for a ride after many years.  I hopped on to it and found that the bicycle was rarely moving under my heavy weight.  The speed of the bicycle was too new to me.  All the conditioned learning of using a bike predominated my usage of bicycle. It took me some time to get used to the hardness of the seat and the physical effort involved in riding it.  Along with the bicycle my muscles too had rusted due to disuse.  The streets were filled with vehicles which was a new scenario that I had to face riding a bicycle.  All my dreams of riding a cycle for 20 to 30 km was shattered because the bitter reality dawned on me that it would take me hours to reach the destined place.  Now I decided to make a pragmatic use of the bicycle - to use it as a health care machine and to make use of it when I have plenty of time at my disposal.  I realised that with passage of time bicycles had survived amidst the student community and the below poverty line population for whom each and every rupee counted and mattered.  I was very happy to see the dwindling fellow mate cyclists all along the way and also appreciated the accessories and ornamentation that decorated their bicycles.  I for the first time after many years saw the world from the perspective of a bicyclist.   

• Be proud to possess and ride a bicycle.
• Be pragmatic in using your bicycles according to your need and necessity.
• Get down from your bicycle whenever you have to cross the main road.
• Avoid using the main road and find a path with lesser traffic.
• If you are thinking of using a bicycle to reach your workplace go for the electric bikes that might cost you 16K with around 200 W which would facilitate your long distance travel a lot
• The best time for riding a bicycle would be the morning and evening hours.  Do avoid the scorching sun which would exhaust you much more earlier than desired.

HAPPY CYCLING!

Call of my research work carried me towards the new destination Karadi Kere around 7 km before Tiptur.  My decision to travel Karadi kere was mainly based on suggestions from my fellow Botanists of Govt. Science College who suggested to me that it was one of those aquatic ecosystem paradise where you found almost all types of plants.  Their suggestion along with the discovery of new data for my thesis work made me take up the challenge.  I had previously tried to reach the destination on a bike but I was too exhausted to go beyond Tumkur as the milestones indicated another 50 km before I reach my decided destination.  Failure of the first travel was a booster for me to take an impulsive decision to travel to Karadi Kere.  I armed myself with the digital camera, handycam, magnifying glass, a newly purchased life jacket and some polythene covers for collection of the aquatic plants.  I also had a large sized coffee decoction filter as a net for catch of any new variety of fishes.  Collection of fishes is not a part of my academic work but I liked to see the artificial ecosystem created by me using plastic tubs filled with these guppies and other small mosquitoe feeding fishes.  I always believe in the quote 'Water is the elixir of life'.  It was around 12:30 noon when I decided to proceed to Tumkur.  I thought it would take around 2 hours before I reached my destination but that was not to be so!  I caught a 248 route number bus and found that he took a long route to reach Peenya 2nd stage.  The Rs.30 bus passes of BMTC is truely an innovative idea which caught my admiration level to the highest. Since the place was new I sought the guidance of the helpful conductors who directed me to catch a bus to Jalahalli cross.  I alighted from there and caught a KSRTC bus to Tumkur.  The bus was quite free and I had a troublefree journey.  It took me two hours to reach Tumkur bus depot.  From the depot I caught a bus headed to Tiptur.  The fare was quite high.  I was taken in for a shock.  I had underestimated the cost of travel.  My mind was calculating the money that I should possess to travel back home.  I was very short of the desired amount.  I thought of quitting but the dangling carrot and stick (the newer aquatic plants) was too tempting to drop out from reaching Karadi kere.  I had enough money to get back to Tumkur.  I thought of using my debit card from a different bank ATM centre even though the transaction charge was making me reluctant in coming to a decision. Karadi Kere is in between Kibenahalli and Tiptur.  My colleagues had told me that it was about 1 km from there so I got down at KB cross.  Share autos were the only means of cheap transport in that remote place and I enjoyed the ride.  It took me lot of suggestions and guidance from the villagers who helped me to reach the Karadi kere.  The lake was not to my expectations and shattered the myth created by my fellow - Botanists (probably I have to wait for a different season to see its true colour and comment). Even though monsoons were good in this part of the region it was not good enough to fill the lake.  I wore the Life jacket which was quite amusing to the villagers who stopped to stare at me but did not dare to enquire what I was involved in.  I could only find around three plants that were quite new to my existing data collection.  Luckily for me the sun was bright till 6 45 pm or else my survey of the lake would have been incomplete after all the trouble.  I took the video and photographs of the lake.  With the polythene bags filled with the soil from the lake bed and collection of aquatic plants I trekked on to the highway.  Fortunately I caught a share auto quite early with stench of evening arrack emanating from most of my co-travellers.  I had postponed having lunch due to time and cash shortage.  I heard from the localites that there are ATM centres of nationalised bank at Tiptur.  I decided to complete my travel to Tiptur.  On reaching Tiptur I trekked along 1 km before I found a branch of my choice and withdrew paltry money enough to get me back home.  I had kushka, egg and chicken kabab at a 'Handstretched Bhavan' (English word for Kaihendi Bhavan-the cart vendors selling food).  I caught a Shimoga bus headed to Bangalore enroute Tiptur.  The driver seemed to be very conscious about inflation and the obvious hike in fuel because the speedometer of the bus rarely might have crossed 50 to 60 km. per hour.  With this passenger bus on course back to Bangalore I had a chilling night as one of the window seats that I had occupied lacked a glass pane and the fellow travellers sitting ahead of me made sure that their side of the window was covered by the glass at any cost thus vanquishing all my struggle of getting the glass pane towards me.  I had only the thick life jacket to protect me from the biting wind.  The huge traffic jam at Nelamangala further reduced the speedometer to snail's pace.  At last I reached Goraguntapalya at about 12 pm.  Too late for any BMTC to be available to make use of the day pass which probably would have expired status quo at midnight.  I waited at the bus stop with another man in his twenties.  I had read too much of highway theft committed by the samaritan matador and qualis driver that I thought of taking all precautions.  I was bold enough to aboard a Qualis once I saw him drop many passengers before he picked me and the other chap who were the only occupants of his vehicle.  At last I reached my in-laws house whom I had converted to amature botanists.  My wife and mother in law were busy photographing the fragrant, pure and chaste blossoms of BrahmaKamala.  I joined in the party and captured the beauty of the flowers in all its splendour digitally.

Gilchrist's retirement is a shock from the blue. Cricket Australia has failed to honour him at the right time with captaincy that he had deserved and earned it. I do hope all the Boards governing cricket realise that cricket is about skill, application and form. It has nothing concerned with age. Some cricketer's due to their meritorious service deserve a dignified exit rather than pressurising them and squeezing out of their domain-cricket. It's not cricket!

Posted by: ravi of india 9:30pm January 26, 2008

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/comments/0,,23113953-661,00.html

Man's life is so revolved around his activities that he lives in a belief that he is immortal forever till the reality arises.  He is also under the belief that he is far away from the influence of natural laws on him but he isn't so.  He also forgets that he is a biological organism just like any other organism except that his intellectual abilities far surpasses the other organisms.  My introspection on death was answered by many quotes and I liked a particular quote which compares sleep and death.  This comparison is one of the best description of death by mortal soul.  SLEEP is temporary death and DEATH is permanent sleep.  I would like to modify the quote and put it into more rational description away from Metaphysics as - SLEEP is temporary loss of consciousness whereas DEATH is permanent loss of consciousness.  Different beliefs gives perspective to different opinions about death and after death.  As a Biologist I can only describe death through the purview of other organisms.  A loss where the living matter is converted into non-living matter and that biotic energy is converted into abiotic energy.  I also can describe that at the onset of death we enter into the abiotic cycle in the simplest forms as Carbon di oxide, Oxygen and other gases whether we like or dislike.  We fail to recognise that even we are ruled by the food chain of the ecosystem.  That even we have to ultimately end up in the hands of the detrivores or decomposers.  This is the harsh reality which we don't want to give recognition to.  Rather we try to portray an image of divinity, rebirth and karma that appeases our fantasy.  The word DEATH is conceived by us to be such a negative word that we very rarely think about it or try to understand its meaning and implication.  I always believe that man can appreciate his life better if he understands the meaning of death.  Many a times I am aghast at man sacrificing his life in the hope of reaching eternity and netherworld which no one has travelled forth and returned.  This utopian definition of death makes them to be victim of different propaganda and ideologies that they are willing to sacrifice not only their life but also others to spread the ideology at the cost of their genotype vanishing forever from the genepool of the human population.  Only if all these people had realised the real meaning of death such a loss would never occur. The poetry substantiating DEATH to be a GREAT LEVELLER which doesn't discriminate between race, sex, community, caste, class and hierarchy level is one of the great paradox of life because throughout our lifetime we are  striving to prove that we are superior but fail to realise that - "After the game of chess all the pawns go into the same box".  I don't mean to say that we should fear death when we are living but rather realise the futility of some of the goals that we are after and sometimes take the extreme step of commiting suicide when we fail to realise those goals.  Life is to live, make it meaningful - with more of pleasure and less of pain, with more of success and less of failure, with more of love and less of hate.....We forget to realise these goals and are instead abusing ourselves in having the vice versa of the above said.    Life is too beautiful to be gambled.  The most precious asset of  man or any organism is his life.  Let us ...understand death to realise life.

The far sighted intelligentsia of Cricket Australia thought that Adam Gilchrist was not fit to take on the captaincy as he did not fit into their definition of 'fair and hard' cricket because he is too naive and honest that he walks off the field once he realises that he has nicked the ball.  Even at present controversy he has maintained a dignified stance which doesn't fit the think tank of Cricket Australia.  I did hear his interview to one of the Indian media and his opinion was unbiased and carried a benchmark of sportsmanship.  Unfortunately CA thought that he doesn't play as 'fair and hard' as Mr.Clarke!

Cricket Australia's version of 'hard and fair' play is too absurd a quote with the onfield behaviour of their players.  Mr.Symond's suddenly seems to be virtue rebirth after all the onfield antics that he exhibited during visit to India.  I doubt whether he could watch this game with his kids and say that he played fair and hard.  Mr.Symond's has redefined the word fair.

We looked at players like Sir Don Bradman, Mark Taylor and recently Gilchrist with pride because of their integrity and sportsmanship even in the most demanding situations.  That hard earned reputation which is the true Australian spirit has been vandalised by its recent players with zero morality.  All these matches should be rated as parental guidance as kids would be wrongly led to believe that these are 'fair and hard' cricket.  Cricket Australia stop ragging the visiting teams to your country and mend your brand name and reputation.