Dating Rocks

This is a rather interesting article by BBC - about the most recent attempt at dating Stonehenge. The pomp and show associated with this article has me wondering about its authenticity.

On the one hand, one cannot be too sure that the scientists are doing real science, and not just making up numbers that fit the popularly held belief - so that they might be able to get more funding for the project. Their academic careers probably depend on making this project work (the University they presumably work for has given them a sabbatical to work on the project, and would definitely not want to see them return empty handed.)

On the other hand, there is the question of the media's integrity as well! Anyone who has watched the flood of news channels these last few years will have realized that there is a lot of money to be made in the making News - clearly the way they make money is by sensationalizing an issue to the extent to which people would pay money to watch other shows (in this case, Time-Watch) on one of their sister channels - and in the process doubling their revenue off the story!

But the story has definitely caught my attention. The results do sound cool!

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Dig pinpoints Stonehenge origins

Until now, the consensus view for the date of the first stone circle was anywhere between 2600 BC and 2400 BC.

Strictly speaking, the result was rounded down to "between 2400 BC and 2200 BC" - but 2300BC is taken as the average. .....

"It's quite extraordinary that the date of the Amesbury Archer is identical with our new date for the bluestones of Stonehenge," said Professor Darvill.

"The date of Stonehenge had been blowing in the wind. But this anchors it. It helps us to be secure about the chronology of events.

Communication Breakdown

This last week has been a rather pleasant one - giving a talk to some friends on Thursday about a subject that's dear to me was very exciting and very liberating in itself. Have found myself a little under-used this semester because of the lack of teaching, but this talk gave me something to think about when my mind was bored. That kind of thing helps a lot!

This upcoming week is going to be similar - Need to plan a 2 hour presentation to my advisor and sundry classmates about what I've been working on these past few months - continuous fields of C* Algebras. It is going to be quite tough, especially because I don't know if I understand things well enough to explain it to anyone else! That takes a whole new level of knowledge, and I am just beginning to scratch the surface - Help!

But hopefully, enough work and I should feel comfortable enough to give the maiden presentation - building on it might be harder because of a complete lack of perspective (why AM I doing what I'm doing?!)

Oh well, time will tell ...

Reproach

Ahh .. the beast of insecurity raises its ugly head again!
Begone, Begone thou foul fiend!

Disconnect

Read Upamanyu Chatterjee's English, August this week for what is probably the 10th time. As before, I was struck by the deep melancholy of the protagonist stuck under all that humour and bravado. It is a great book, especially from the eyes of someone like me, who has grown up in India, speaking English with a Hindi accent, reading Oscar Wilde while listening to Rafi, and at the same time being completely out of touch with the realities of rural India.

Often have I wondered about my right to call myself Indian - agreed, much of who I am is because I have grown up there, eating Pav-Bhaji and chasing BEST buses while decked out in gum-boots in the pouring rain in Bombay. But my outlook on life is very heavily influenced by Western ideas - the idea of premarital sex does not pose any ethical dilemmas, the thought of living in an English-speaking country for the rest of my life does not leave me muttering to myself about my fate - so who the hell am I?

Ever since I landed in Madras in 2000, I have given this some serious thought. Fortunately, the struggle to learn Tamil and French simultaneously, coming to grips with guttural Tamil (in college) and refined English (at home) and many other things I went through during those years have together left me feeling rather good about myself! Most importantly, the interesting mix of people I have met in Bombay, RV, Madras, Mysore and finally here in America have left me with a rather malleable cultural perspective. I enjoy listening to different accents and trying to catch turns-of-phrase which are typical of a certain community. There is a perverse joy in looking at an obviously stoic Indian girl and wondering how good she would be in the sack.

Yes, This is the kind of thing I do in my free time - think about, and write about myself. I do need a life.