Gertrude Elion - Infographics

 

Gertrude Elion Lesson Summary

Two episodes from her life: 

1. Nobel Prize post-event party. How she tapped her foot and nodded her head when she heard her favourite music being played in the background while all the men sat there in a stiff and formal manner. 
2. The schoolgirl who wrote a letter telling her that Gertrude Elion is her inspiration. The way she inspired the future - especially the girls is something amazing

 

Early life and her mission in life: 

Born in the U.S to emigrant parents. Parents are from Poland. She had a brother and they had a happy childhood. She had a thirst for knowledge and enjoyed all her courses. Death of her grandfather due to cancer when she was 15 made her choose Chemistry as a major subject. Those days girls either went on to become teachers or did scientific research. She was known by the name Trudy. 

 

Education: 

 

Received her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. There were no jobs available. She joined a lab working without salary for more than one year and then, later on, she received 20 dollars a week. With the money saved, she joined the graduate school at NYU in 1939.

 

To quote her ‘I wanted to be a chemist when no women were doing that. The world was not waiting for me’. (Her life reminds us of Kalpana Chawala - The Sky is the Limit) Did her MS Science Degree and completed it in the year 1941. 

 

She tried doing her PhD afterwards, but she didn’t complete it. She started as a part-time research scholar and later on when she was asked to convert it into a full-time degree she refused because she enjoyed her exciting practical work. She says - 'You don’t need a PhD to do the work we are doing'. 

 

Professional Life: 

World War II gave her a break. No men were around so women were recruited. She was hired as an analytical chemist and her job was to measure the acidity of pickles and the colour of mayonnaise. She accepted the position of Biochemist 1944 and spent the next 39 years at Burroughs Wellcome. 

 

She discovered the first effective drug that induced remission (A temporary reduction of the severity of disease or pain) The drug was used for childhood leukaemia. One of the things that she had in her mind wad to discover what kills cancer cells. 

 

After her retirement in 1983, she remained active in her field as an advisor to many organizations, including WHO and the American Association for Cancer Research. Her research team invented azidothymidine (AZT) a drug for the treatment of HIV infection.  She mentored a third-year Duke University medical student every year who would take a year off from courses and do research under Trudy. She made herself available to students. She was active in many colleges in the US. She was also an advocate for the advancement of women in science. When she visits a college, she normally liked interacting with students than meeting the department heads. 

 

Trudy was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and medicine in 1988 for her contribution towards her discovery of drugs for treatment. She shared the prize with her long-time associate George H Hitchings and English scientist James Black. 

 

Trudy’s hobbies are photography and music. She liked Music and Photography. She went beyond Chemistry to other fields like biochemistry, pharmacology, immunology and eventually virology. She never got married. Her work became her vocation and avocation. 

 

 

Ten Facts about Gertrude Elion

Ten facts about Gertrude Elion 

 

1. Her parents came to the U.S from Poland. Her father was a dentist and her mother was a homemaker. 
2. She had a brother and they had a happy childhood.
3. She had a thirst for knowledge and enjoyed all her subjects at school. 
4. Death of her grandfather due to cancer when she was 15 made her choose Chemistry as a major subject.
5. Those days girls either went on to become teachers or did scientific research. 
6. She was the only female student in the graduate Chemistry class
7. She got her Master of Science degree in Chemistry in 1941.
8. It was WWII that made her employed 
9. She liked Music and Photography
10. She went beyond Chemistry to other fields like biochemistry, pharmacology, immunology and eventually virology.
11. She never got married. Her work became her vocation and avocation. 

 

The Story of Stanford - Summary

A man and a woman visited Harvard University one day. Lady was dressed in a gingham dress - a dress material made from dyed cotton. Her husband was dressed in a dress which had been woven at home and is also damaged. They wanted to meet the President of Harvard University. The secretary to the President is not impressed by the looks of the couple, especially their dress. The secretary asks the couple to wait outside. She thought that they would go away. The couple waited for hours. Finally, the secretary decides to inform the President about the waiting couple. She tells the President to meet them for five minutes. President was a busy man and he was arrogant. The couple now seated in front of the President tells him that their son who had studied at Harvard for one year has died. Their son loved Harvard and he liked the campus. The couple wanted to erect a memorial for him somewhere on the campus. The President is shocked and tells them that the University can’t erect a statue for all the students who attended Harvard and died. If they do so, he said, the campus will look like a graveyard. The Lady corrects the President and tells him that they don’t want to build a statue but a building. The President made fun of them by saying that they don’t have the money to do that and Harvard University is worth 7 and a half millions of dollars. The lady was silent and then she turned to her husband and said - Is that all it costs to start a University? Why don’t we just start our own? Her husband nodded. 

The name of the couple - Mr and Mrs Leland Stanford. They both walked away from Harvard University and they travelled to Palo Alto, California and they established a University in their son’s name - Leland Stanford Jr., who had died of typhoid fever at age 15. The name of the University is Stanford University. 

Infographics - A Different History by Sujata Bhatt

 

A Different History - Poem Analysis

Analysis of the Poem

Great Pan - Greek God of Nature. This God is shown as having the head of the Goat and body of a man. This shows the division in one’s self. The poet is like this - There are two identities in her. One is Indian and the other one is US citizen. Two cultures.

 

Pan is also the God of music. The word emigration refers to the way the culture travelled from Greece to India. Alexander the Great brought the Greek culture to India when he fought the battle of Hydaspes (326 BC) where he defeated the King Porus. 

 

The reference to the exotic animals - snakes and monkeys show how they are part of the Indian culture. Hanuman or Anjaneya and worshipping the snake. 

 

Literature and books came from Nature. 

 

The personification of book and tree - rude to a book and offending the tree

 

Saraswathi - Goddess of Music and literature. 

Memories of how we respected the book. 

 

The second stanza has ‘Which language’ repeated twice - rhetorical question - answer is English

The poem becomes a political one with the use of some violent images. 

The second stanza also talks about erasing cultures

 

Many violent images in the second stanza: 

Murder

Torture

Cropped - Soul has been cropped - reshaped, reduce and resized

Oppressor’s tongue 

Conqueror’s face

Swooped 

Scythe - Pronounced as sayeth 

The Unborn children they still love that strange language 

 

One of the main themes of the poem is Language and Identity 

The angry tone in the second stanza

The lines are free and open structure 

Emphasis is on the message rather than the rhyme

 

English Rule and how it affected India’s growth 

The way culture evolved 

Language is identity 

Language is thought 

 

Many languages are dying 

Extended Activity - Listen to the poem and practice the pronunciation 

Try to imitate the style of the poet’s language 

Trace the influence of the American accent in her language 

A Different History by Sujata Bhatt - Introduction to the poem

 

A Different History by Sujata Bhatt - Introduction 

1.     Deals with issues of globalization and westernization 

2.     Identity Crisis due to the two languages that we learn - Our own mother tongue and English

3.     She is known as a poet of many cultures

4.     According to her - ‘Poetry enriches her being’

5.     Writing poems inspired by even newspaper articles

6.     Enjoys reading her poems aloud to make the necessary corrections

7.     It is always lucky to listen to the poet herself reading the poem. 

8.     When you listen to the poem performed, you get more meanings and you understand the tone of the poem.

9.     Choice of English - English became her language - In some poems, she has mixed Gujarati and English.

10.  Her poems reflect the cultures that she has experienced in her life. Her travels to the US and back to India. She has lived in Germany, Italy, UK, US and even Latin America. 

Infographics for Fusion Music

 

Fusion Music - Lesson Summary

Fusion Music - Main ideas from the lesson 

1.  This is a speech delivered by Ravi Shankar on the death of his friend and musical partner George Harrison.

2.     The speech begins with the question - Why did he have to go so soon at such a young age when I really wanted to go first? 

3.     Ravi Shankar talks about some of the personal qualities of his friend whom he met 30 years ago. 

a.     Childlike quality.

b.     Naughty but little smile

c.     Passion for music.

d.     Serious interest in religion particularly the old Vedic Hindu Tradition

4.     They both used to crack jokes and always enjoyed each others company. 

5.     Ravi Shankar used to give Sitar lessons to George. 

6.     George was very talented, and he loved Indian music. 

7.     Ravi Shankar gifted him the book - The Autobiography of a Yogi by Swami Yogananda.

 

8.     Ravi Shankar’s description of George - ‘He was more Indian than many Indians’

9.     It is because of George Harrison that Ravi Shankar’s music reached the whole world. 

10.  He was treated like a superstar and was known as Beatle George’s Guru. 

11.  They were able to collaborate in three musical events - Monterey Music Festival, Woodstock Music Festival, and the Bangladesh concert. 

12.  Ravi Shankar also collaborated with famous musicians like Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Leon Russel. 

13.  When George visited Ravi Shankar at his house, he suggested that they make music together and a tour of the US. 

14.  Ravi Shankar says that he will never forget the time they spent working together. 

15.  Between the rehearsals they would eat Indian food and snacks 

16.  Ravi Shankar recalls the memories of recording songs and composing music with George Harrison 

17.  George Harrison always was always concerned about the health and well-being of Ravi Shankar. 

18.  From the role of a disciple and friend George Harrison became a son to Ravi Shankar especially after Ravi Shankar’s son died in 1992. George Harrison always accompanied Ravi Shankar during hospital visits. 

19.  Ravi Shankar recollects two wonderful musical creations they did together. One is the 4 CD boxset titled as ‘In Celebration’ which contained selections from 40 years of Sitar performances and compositions. 

20.  The second project is the CD – Chants of India and some songs for this album was recorded in Madras. Ravi Shankar talks about George Harrison saved him from the fans acting as a personal bodyguard. The incident happened in Udaipur. George Harrison, his wife Olivia and his son Dhani visited Ravi Shankar, his wife Sukanya and daughter Anoushka in India. 

21.  Ravi Shankar describes George Harrison using these words: 

a)     A person with a Magnanimous heart

b)     Always caring about others

c)     Fearless and a beautiful soul 

d)     Always conscious of God 

e)     Eye for the details – As we can see the album cover of Chants of India 

The Life of Two Musical Giants - Fusion Music - Lesson Introduction

 

Ravi Shankar; George Harrison, by Clive Arrowsmith - NPG x199702

     Ten facts about Pandit Ravi Shankar

Indian musician, player of the sitar, composer

Born on April 7, 1920, in Varanasi (also known as Benares)

Seven years he studied the sitar

Shankar composed the film scores for the Indian director Satyajit Ray’s famous Apu trilogy.

Helped bring Indian music to the attention of the West.

He won Grammy Awards for the album West Meets East

Seeing the famine and hardship faced by the people of Bangladesh, Shankar and Harrison organized the Concert for Bangladesh.

His daughter Anoushka Shankar is also a highly successful sitar player

Another daughter of Ravi Shankar is the multiple-Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, Norah Jones

Two months after his death, Shankar won a fourth Grammy Award

Known fondly today as the "godfather of world music

Source: https://www.biography.com/musician/ravi-shankar

Ten facts about George Harrison:  

George Harrison was the lead guitarist of the Beatles

The Beatles became the biggest rock band in the world

Beatlemania was in full swing across England, and by early 1964, with the release of their album in the United States and an American tour, it had swept across the Atlantic as well.

While on the set of the Beatles' second film, Help! Harrison took an interest in some of the Eastern instruments and their musical arrangements that were being used in the movie, and he soon developed a deep interest in Indian music. 

Harrison taught himself the sitar. 

Introducing the instrument to many Western ears on Lennon's song, "Norwegian Wood.

Cultivated a close relationship with renowned sitar player Ravi Shankar.

Harrison's interest in Indian music extended into a yearning to learn more about Eastern spiritual practices.

In 1968, he led the Beatles on a journey to northern India to study transcendental meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Charitable leanings and continued passion for the East

He named his son, Dhani.

Source: https://www.biography.com/musician/george-harrison

Plagiarism and the need to protect your ideas...

Hello everyone, today I would like to discuss five incidents. The first three happened this week and the last two are a bit old.

 

The first one is about the blatant act of plagiarism related to the article in TOI which appeared on Friday. (Page 6 – Bridges to Learning – How Scots left a mark on Madras) One whole paragraph ( 5^th para) was plagiarized from an article which appeared in The Hindu a few years ago. It seems even some other parts in the article were lifted from the articles of the revered historian S Muthiah which had appeared in The Hindu. 

 

The second event is when the first-year student of mine messaged me a verbal analysis question involving one Mr Gopi and his mother. The student got the question from an entrance exam question of a prominent Central University in South India. Since I am not an expert in these type of questions, I did a quick search in Google and to my astonishment found that question was ‘inspired’ by a question which appeared in a foreign university. The question had Mr Horton and his mother instead of Mr Gopi and his mother. What a convenient way to set question paper. 

 

The third episode is about the way students’ copy and pastes answers from the Internet during the online classes. They are can very well brainstorm and find the answers from within. I was teaching them the topic ‘Giving and following instructions’ and had asked them to write some sample instructions. The result was some sophisticated answers copied from Google which were far removed from the topic. 

 

The fourth episode is now forgotten by many. An Assistant Professor ( Shift 1 or Aided stream) in a well-known college in Kerala was caught for publishing a poem written by someone else in her name. The poem was published in a magazine. This initiated a UGC level inquiry and the College Principal was issued a legal notice. 

 

The fifth and final event involves a UK based Malayali writer Karoor Soman and his life mission of publishing 100 books. He wanted to be part of the Guinness Book of World Records. He published a book ( published by Mathroobhoomi Books) which had passages lifted from the travel blogs of the popular blogger Manoj Ravindran. 

 

Why did these people commit plagiarism? 

1.     The desire to act like God– Omniscient and Omnipotent 

2.     Work pressure, time and deadline in the case of the journalist 

3.     The desire to be famous or infamous.

4.     Low ethics and no moral compass

5.     Plagiarising is quite a normal activity for them. There is no feeling of guilt and they are not aware of the pain of the original creators. 

 

There was a time when I used to share the e-paper of The Hindu with my students and even in RR.  PJ who is part of The Hindu web team, strictly warned me not to share a part or whole of the newspaper via Whatsapp or any other medium. So. I started this project for my students where I give them a short preview of the news items. There was a time when I used to share chapters from audiobooks here, copy book summaries from Blinkist app here in RR. Now, the very thought give me shudders. 

 

There is the need to have a ‘collective will’ ( to borrow a phrase from the excellent Netflix documentary - The Social Dilemma) to remove plagiarism from the academic world and our little world. 

Dr Amartya Kumar Sen - Infographics

 

20 ways to Improve your Listening Skill

 

 

1.  Maintain eye contact - When you listen to someone it is important to maintain eye contact. 

 

2.   Use a notebook - This will help you to be active during the listening process plus you will have the ideas recorded which can be retrieved later. You can also use an audio recorder. It is always good to check with the speaker or the organizers before you do the digital recording. 

 

 

3.   Ask questions to the speaker - This will demonstrate the fact that you were attentive during the session. You can also exercise your critical thinking skills by asking some probing questions. 

 

 

4.     Ask questions to yourself - This will help you to improve your critical thinking skills. You can also assimilate the ideas that you have listened to which will make you more grounded in the topic. 

 

 

5.   Research:   Read or do research beforehand about the event, speaker or the class or the lesson - This is part of the pre-listening activity. 

 

6.     Don’t talk to your friends or use your mobile.  This will help you to focus totally on the listening activity with minimal or zero distraction. 

 

 

7.    Occupy the front seats - This will help you to get a better view of the proceedings.  It will also help you to clear all distractions between you and the speaker. 

 

 

8.   Get proper rest:  You should not attend the lecture or the event in a tired manner. You cannot doze off while listening. 

 

 

9.     Listen without judging or jumping to conclusions - Don’t make any subjective evaluation of the speaker or the topics he is presenting. You focus should be on the lecture not the lecturer. 

 

 

10.  Don't interrupt - Wait for the lecture or the speech to get over. You should never interrupt the speaker in between. Wait for the question & answer session to ask your questions. If there is no Q and A session, then you can approach the speaker after the presentation to ask your questions. 

 

11.  Acknowledge: Using brief responses like “I see,” “I know,” “Sure,” “Thank you,” or “I understand” is a good way to acknowledge that you are actively listening to the speaker. Even a simple nod of your head is a good method to acknowledge the speaker. This acknowledgement is important in face to face communication or interpersonal communication. 

 

12.  Remembering - It is always good to recollect the ideas presented in the event or the speech. This will help you to consolidate your knowledge. The notes that you have jotted down in your notebook will help you in this act of remembering. 

 

 

13.  Respect the speaker. If you don’t like the speaker. You can leave the venue or the class. You should not be the reason for the event to become a failure. If you do not see any purpose or aim in listening to the speaker, then you might as well leave the venue. 

 

14.  Listen to audiobooks - This is an excellent way to improve your listening skill. Audible and Storytel are the two popular audiobook companies in India. Like shadow speaking, you can also experiment with shadow listening. If you can grab a copy of the book and read along as you listen to the audiobook, it will be an interesting activity. 

 

 

15.  Radio news - The good old radio is still a useful tool for improving your listening skill. You can tune in to the English news in All India Radio or the BBC. You can also listen to the news bulletins in your own mother tongue. 

 

 

16.  Podcasts - They are very popular these days and there are thousands of podcasts to choose from. You can always select the ones you need based on the subjects or topics. 

 

17.  Listen to English songs - Always try to listen to songs with some nice and decent lyrics - There are many English songs which have wonderful and inspiring lyrics. It is always good to choose slow numbers. Listening to these songs will help you to get into the rhythm of the language and improve your pronunciation.

 

 

18.  Watching movies - Try watching English movies without subtitles. This will help you to grasp the language faster and at the same time enjoy the content of the movie. 

 

19.  Listen to yourself - Record short audio - You can use your phone or laptop to record your own voice and check for voice clarity and other details regarding your voice. You can also forward the audio clip to an expert and ask for his feedback and advise.  

 

 

20.  Listen to great orators. There are many great speeches delivered by great men and women. Most of them are available on YouTube. You can listen to these speeches to feel inspired and to improve your speaking style.