"Wake Me Up When September Ends"

I tweeted months ago that the song of the year was Wake Me Up When September Ends. Well, I thought it would be a good joke. And, honestly, I wanted it only and just a joke. And, here we are at half a month more to actually being in September!

The dynamics of how we look at the world and its activities have drastically changed. And, the change is for everybody in every field- as a teacher, student, graduate, businessman, leader, sportsman, actor, helper- literally everyone. Some of us are fortunate enough to be better placed than others, and it is up to us to do what we can to help others to the extent we are capable of helping. 

I think one of the fundamental changes that I have been witness to, as a student, is how classes are conducted. It's all been shifted to an online medium. No more do I have to spend a thousand rupees getting physical copies of bare acts this semester, because the official copies of it are all available online. I find many students who take notes online, although I am not comfortable with it. Online classes are making teachers send you extended reading links and their relevant syllabus slides on time, instead of postponing it till the last minute. Traditional methods of evaluation with pen and paper tests are being pushed and changed because of the inherent impossibility, and more research-oriented, and knowledge-based testing through projects are becoming the answer to the problem of evaluation. 

Things are changing, but so must we. The mindset of both the students and teachers are still trained in the traditional ways of how we are used to doing things. And, I think I do see a change happening after months of trial and error. 

Online mode is a very accessible and important way to help the environment and other significant causes relating to accessibility. Even after this pandemic ends, and normalcy returns, I think we should all think about a more efficient use of the online resources that we do have. It can save paper as good as it can save time and fuel, and energy. If recorded lectures are made available, then it can complement to varied student needs. Textbooks, reference materials, bare acts- all of them can be allowed to be used on the laptop or phones to save money. 

We are all probably learning how to use our resources better, and I hope we exploit it for all the good reasons!

Weaving A Web Of Equal Resources and Abundant Opportunities

The internet has opened so many portals for so many industries, since its advent. One of the most important changes that it has created is our perception on how to learn today. Any skill, any subject, any opportunity can be utilized and learnt over the web today. We have brilliant platforms such as Coursera that let you do full professionally recognized courses and issue certificates that have value. In fact, the web has transcended borders to make available the best of things in the world in your six inch smartphone screen. 

While it is fair to debate whether all of us can afford to access the internet itself, I am sure affording a course from Yale wouldn’t be possible too for those who couldn’t afford an internet connection. The world is bridging a very significant gap of not having access to resources by putting out the platforms of education on the internet. And, it is much more affordable today than what it was before. 

Using the power of the virtual world to reach out to corners where it’d take another decade to make resources physically accessible is the very power of this medium. It is better to exploit technology to cover the wide gap of needs, and put it to use that can do the society a lot of good. Technology and the reach of the internet not only covers just rural set-ups, it covers especially the urban set-up where the needs are much more and yet the cost of living is ever-rising. 

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

― Nelson Mandela

We can educate ourselves, and contribute by sharing what we know- on the internet. Embracing this to push to a world where resources can be shared equally is a positive way of looking at it. There is no point just coming up with faults and loopholes in this system, and it is obvious that there will be. So, what we need to find are solutions to fix them, and treat this as an opportunity to make the world a place with equal opportunities.

Focus Points For Growth As A Society

Any government has multiple roles and responsibilities. Topping them is the duty to provide healthcare facilities to all, and also empowering the nation through measures taken towards education for all. 

Good health and basic education are the fundamental keys to development. While good health is indispensable for life itself, a good education is the one that can take the society forward. A healthy body and healthy mind, makes people more cultured and mature. It promotes healthy thoughts, and makes people broad-minded. Education is the key to tackling various social issues that we face in the world today. In a world where advancement and newer technologies spell the future, it is important that a nation promotes active learning and empowers the youth. It is important that the government prioritizes and utilizes its resources in providing these two basic necessities to the nation. 

Art and culture is something that makes the society. Culture is what the society is, and art is what such a society expresses in its own ethnic forms. Since they are inherent traits of any society, they are capable of surviving even if the government doesn’t spend too much resources on them. Art and culture are passed on from generation to generation. They are important too, but do not take a place above crucial factors such as health and education in the priority table. 

Finally, what is the use of a culturally rich nation which is way backward when it comes to parameters such as health and education. What we should understand is that education promotes art and culture. Not the vice-versa. So, by spending more resources on health and education, we not only enhance the literacy level but also the cultural aspect of the society. Thus, the government should definitely spend more resources on health and education than on art and culture.

Education: In Consonance With Holistic Personality Development

We all go to school to get ‘educated’. We all ‘learn’ something in school. Before we try to analyse whether today’s educational system is inclined towards ‘skill development’ or ‘holistic personality development’, we must ask ourselves- what is education? 

Education is the process of learning that facilitates acquirement of knowledge and enables development. Skill development is the process of developing those skills that help us perform those various complex jobs that we have to, in life. And holistic personality development is the process of developing those qualities and perspectives that make sure our ‘skills’ are humane and useful to others. 

The need for a holistic education system is definitely gaining a lot of supporters in the current world. Parents want their children to not just acquire a set of skills, but learn to use them in a way productive to the various causes of humanity. The definitions of terms such as ‘success’ and ‘ambition’ are sincerely being re-evaluated. No more is success just pure profit for the self. If personal gain comes at the cost of another, or cost of a greater good, it is not considered to be success. In simpler terms, it is now seen as how much you give to the society, instead of how much you take from it. 

‘Learning’ has also taken a new dimension. Einstein in one of his speeches, on the role of school in development, says that it is more important to teach how to ‘acquire a skill’ than to teach the skill itself. 

What is the point of learning in rote the mere contents of a textbook? Thirty years back, knowing facts and historical points, and being on the know-how of something may have been a cool skill. Today, all it takes is a single google search! The world is changing at a pace so fast that the skill set required to adapt to the contemporary necessities is almost never constant. Therefore, more than putting pressure on children to excel in one particular skill, it is better to teach children how to learn a skill, because the skills that you teach them today may not really be needed tomorrow. 

To conclude, today’s education is shifting towards a more holistic system than a mere skill development process, due to the increasing relevance of exponential technological advancements, and also seeing the world from a humanitarian perspective that can help in tackling many of the current global problems that we face today.

Why I Did Not Get My Hogwarts Letter

I was introduced to Harry Potter, and the world of wizards and witches when I was eleven. And ever since, I’ve always waited for my Hogwarts letter- most sincerely. People thought it was fiction but I knew it wasn’t just that. What I couldn’t understand though was why I did not receive my Hogwarts letter. Years on end, I peeped through the window to see if I could spot an owl approaching. No such luck.

Now, while pursuing B. Sc., LL. B., I finally found a convincingly probable answer to the question that has bothered me for the last seven years.

This semester we have a paper on Microbiology and Genetics. And, today, while winding up with the genetics topic, our professor showed us a video by National Human Genome Research Institute- Harry Potter and the Genetics of Wizarding.

Thanks to Prof. Eric P. Spana's wonderful lecture in the video, I got the reason why I might not be the one. For all those out there wondering why you didn’t get your letter- read this! The answer lies in your genes.

Let’s look at it this way: Why does Hermione Granger get the letter, but not us?

Brief answer: de novo mutations.

Let ‘W’ be the representation for the alleles of wizards/witches.

Let ‘M’ be the representation for the alleles of muggles.

To be a wizard/witch you need to have at least one dominant wizard allele ‘W’ or a recessive allele ‘ww’ gene.

Mr. and Mrs. Granger both are pure muggles(non-magical human beings).

So, both Mr. and Mrs. Granger are homozygous muggles: MM

Doing the Mendelian Cross:

Parents:                                   MM            x            MM

                                             (muggle)                  (muggle)

Gametes:                                  M                             M

Filial Generation 1:                                  MM            -----------------------> (Muggle)

So, how did Hermione, who was supposed to have only MM genes and be a muggle, become a witch?

De novo mutations are mutations that occur in an egg or sperm cell before fertilization or immediately after fertilization. ‘De novo’ literally means ‘of new’ in latin and refers to such new mutations.

De novo mutations may explain genetic disorders in which an affected child has a mutation in every cell in the body but the parents do not, and there is no family history of the disorder. Thus, even if there is no hereditary history whatsoever of magic use, the offspring can have a mutated gene affecting it, thus making the progeny magical.

Hence, Hermione got through to Hogwarts thanks to the mutation in her genes. This answers why she’s a mudblood.

But why not us too?

Well, de novo mutations occur at a frequency of ~77 per generation but only one of them occurs in a gene. So, analysing the past year students of Hogwarts we find just one person who is a mudblood in a given year. So for a wizarding or magical trait the frequency of de novo mutation in that gene is approximately 1 in 750,000 (considering the population of UK since Hogwarts is in UK).

That is a really slim chance. And, most probably we aren’t that 1 in 750,000 if we still haven’t got our letter.

That is why Hermione is a witch and we aren’t.

To know that our seven years of faith can be broken in one class of genetics with a little help from pure statistics is terrible. I can’t still stop waiting for the letter even after knowing the harsh truth.

And to conclude, and console myself for the rest of my life, I just figured a new argument:

Maybe, my letter was tied to Errol.

Science? Commerce?

Class 10 is the year when every single person you meet has something to say about your studies or career. Ranging from all unknown relatives, familiar ones, school friends, friends’ moms and their relatives, some ‘Aunty’ whom we just happened to get acquainted with- everyone starts off with the same question: “Ohhh… So, you are in Class 10! What are you going to choose next year? Science? Commerce?” Yes, that is the question that I dread when I talk to someone. I pray so that they don’t ask that damned question. Why? Because I don’t know the answer, and will not be able to provide them with one. At least, if it is my dad, I can ask him straight on the face what his problem is. If I do the same to the others, I will have to be ready to take that gorgon stare from my mom(who believes that answering in such a way points to bad bringing-up), which I am not ready to.

But here is something very amusing- most others of my class seem to have identified answers for such questions. Or at least they have an answer even if they are not very sure about it, because of the constant bombardment of these standard questions. Out of thirty-five in my class, half of them want to become doctors(one has even specified that she wants to be a gynaecologist!), some of them want to ‘crack IIT’ or want to get into NIT, one wants to become an IAS officer, a few want to become fashion designers(I don’t see any boys in my class wanting that), and there are a few who want to go and work in NASA as an aero-physicist! Well? What do you infer? I might seem to be the only one who really isn't very clear. But thank God! There are some others to give me company...

Many people start advising about how to go about choosing, and all that. They say, “One, identify what your interests are.” As a fact, I am stuck at that very first step. How do you really identify your interest? Forget about those who are exceptionally- exceptionally- good at something like music, art, dance, or even physics, math or any other subject. Their interest would probably be that. But for someone like me, who is not exactly very interested in one particular thing but likes everything without even disliking any- what should we choose- Science? Commerce?

Of the people who talk often, about this, to me, my father tops the list. For one thing, he can convince me either way- to take commerce or science- through how he argues on each side- that is something I don’t like much. It’s very confusing, and irritating. But he says it’s good, and that he is only playing the devil’s advocate.

As far as I understood them all- If I choose Science, then I will have to drop other things. I will have to study real hard to score marks if I am not able to manage both studies and the extra-curriculars(which is bad because all the “Cultural Events” start only from Class 11). Also I can still choose to become a CA or any other professional. All options will be open. But if I choose Commerce I can never come back to the Science stream. That is very clear.

We discussed courses such as Humanities(IIT-M has a course for that) and Law. We weren’t sure whether I had to take Science or Commerce to pursue those. I didn’t actually want to do B.Pharm, which we did discuss about, because I will have to take Biology for that.

At this point, I actually try to understand why my dad took science group when he was in Class 11. His reply is simple. He says: “Back then it wasn't prestigious if you didn't take Science. It was seen as if you couldn't.” Well! That didn't help me solve my little(or big) problem of deciding on what to choose.

Of course, my dear grandma and grandpa believe that I have to take Commerce and become a Chartered Accountant. My mother has already made it very clear that she would love it if I take up Science with Biology and become a doctor. At this point, I have to stop with the story to tell you that I am clear I won’t become a doctor.

But finally, they all tell me one thing that all of them agree upon: Choose anything you want. But whatever you choose, do it sincerely and be in the top.

Now, we come back to the first question: What should I choose? Science or Commerce?

Let us see. Class 11 is not really far off!