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A poem I wrote in May 2020, in memoriam: the Covid warriors!

Amrita

The grace beckons once, then the Grace breaks light

Oh! the sonority of surprise

When one falls, the hands basket the very picture of blame - and hold

Like stuffing in a thousand notes of some currency of shame

When it’s time to pick up the shattered picture,

The cruel winds of life blow the smaller pieces - with lessons learnt - away

To make one run to catch, only to slide, fall and cry - yet all a game!

Then one transforms seemingly - no good and no less bad

For it is never possible, atleast for some, to be a happy self

Fortune and fame arise alike in either the elixir or the

Gutter of human existence - but sadness, my friend,

Is the Phoenix that arises from the ashes of the heart

To again and again, birth (true) love, birth honesty, birth trust,

And in the end, to turn into the golden dust of earth’s conscience keepers -

A spectrum of the Grace that never fires up to vanish into the smoke,

And never gives up, becoming the lifeblood indeed of the human race -

Amrita!

Harini | 31st May 2020

A novel in the making : I began working on this in 2017, when I did not know that I would be working on Potential Fishing Zone advisories in real! Enjoy

A.D. 2060

The Pulicat fish market looked crowded. While many types of fishes were being traded today, the most popular one this week was shellfish. Not minding the smell, buyers hauled up their big fishoprene baskets, made from recycled scales and shells of dead fishes, and trod through the crowd in a programmed fashion; surprisingly none hit against each other nor did they absent-mindedly tumble any shopware on display. They methodically assessed the several by-lanes of shops selling fish before deciding where they would buy. That didn’t take forever. There were not more than a couple of buyers at each shop at a given time and the transactions themselves lasted but a few seconds. And what was unusual was that there were no shopkeepers.

Big, self-assembled tents were neatly arranged in rows throughout the market. On one side, they displayed the commodities for purchase. At the rear, moving boxes were kept ready for refills. Automated vehicles at the trigger of a digital counter fetched the commodities and neatly dropped them into these self-assembling baskets. Buyers came to a shop and punched their orders into the roof-to-bottom 3D panels infront of the shops and glanced at the screen. The payment took place automatically as the iris scanner embedded in the screen identified each customer individually and debited their money accounts automatically. No sooner was this done, the screens would dissolve and trays with their orders would be emptied into their baskets. The screen would flicker back to normal, roof-to-floor and display the available stock of commodities.

Those were for the local buyers. Truckloads full of the famed Pulicat shellfish were historically known to have been transported to markets across south India, still fresh from their catches within a few days. These days, however, they were available in a few hours. Mobile Fish Ferries, ‘MFFs’ as they were known now, were indigenous, transformable multi-utility vehicles. Their only functions were to catch fish and take to the skies to ferry them afresh and new to the upland markets. The submersible water-to-sky machines were fitted with IFZIs - Intelligent Fish Zone Identifiers – that were programmed to locate the best swarms of desired classes of fishes (as per the demand). Once they had the location, they descended off-shore into the brackishwater lake, landing at perfect locations and depths to spread the nets. And then, there was an assortment of nets at that. The most appropriate one always engaged and the IFZIs oversaw the catch and loading of their catch accordingly as programmed. The stock themselves were scanned for juveniles and a moving brush picked up them up and flung them back into the water at safe distances from the sensor-based actively attracting net if the catch was off-season. Each MFF communicated with its kind automatically and enclosed itself within a safe radius from another one. They never fought or got lost, couldn’t be manhandled or broken even accidently. The counter told them to stop when the stocks were ready for disposal and then they would soar up into the sky programmed enroute to their respective destinations.

Automated freezers placed in-situ at the receptacle of the nets cryo-freezed live fishes individually in nano-seconds before they could even blink twice and then, off they flew – water to sky to upmarket stock-vans that conveyed the fresh wares to the waiting customer – all within a few minutes or hours. It was not unusual for the satellites that broadcasted the locations of the MFFs to register a density of 400 MFFs per square kilometre. As a result, Kaal, a toddler in West Delhi Area ate ‘hand’ picked, live-frozen fish from South Pulicat Area within a few hours of the catch, without realising how that had happened.

(To be completed)

Being mindful and brimming with metaphoric questions, sometimes needs a different thought space. Here is another poem that I churned up.

Lilt of joy

A wind swooshes

picks up pace and causes

a natural grace of a lilt, and a tune

a leaf, lifted, travels the whole line of grace

from a branch to enlighten

the kind earth

up above the city, the fans thrusts out

wind that is churned and made-up

and is inconsiderately fast to sense

it creates, births and populates

an ungrateful space which

gobbles up the vibrations

of a unique mind and

swirls in miseries

why does the poor man defy reality

looking for meaning in the squeeze and churn of space

in a rich man's city?

(Updated October 2019)

Perception and reality

I thought it was going to rain today - Nature, despite leading me to believe so, acts differently! It appeared to be such a sturdy block of wood, before it gave away! She was the black sheep in the class, before she bagged the best job in the market! If we think of it, nothing is more illusional and unrealistic like human perception; nothing more comical or logical than the reality! For example, if you can imagine yourself in a virtual city and your field of vision is limited to a small circle of viewing, then your perception of the lines and features of the city will be quite different from another person with a wider view ! This idea came from the 1998 experiment by Hendrik van Veen's team at Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics on human perception in a virtual environment ( see: van Veen et. al., 1998 'Navigating through a virtual city: Using virtual reality technology to study human action and perception', Future Generation Computer Systems, 14, 231-242) introduces us to a reality that we are increasingly living with i.e., our 'smart' online, virtual existences, which we increasingly believe to be organic and more real than reality! How far are we from what we perceive and what we experience! I think that van Veen et. al., should know that 20 years after they published their research, we are indeed ready to live in virtual cities!

As an environmental researcher, I do grapple with questions n the line of work, such as what are the effective means to use wastes and what can we do to ensure that our water resources remain unpolluted? Over the years, I have learnt that using advancements in technology backed by science to treat or remediate can only go so far; for the human perception of their significance and the commitment to make a change, can indeed make or break initiatives. So if effective public participation needs to be mobilised, what better ways to plan it than in virtual spaces of our digital lives! Like the virtual Tübingen city of the van Veen team's interest, I am wondering whether the idea of a virtual Indian city environment would help! With simulations of spatial and financial collaterals in-built to achieve some sort of 'transactional' environmental awareness, it could be a heady tool in the hands of an able administrator! Let us for example simulate walking over broken sewers and flooded urban areas : an experience which could be repeated in different scenarios and intensities : once for the commoner, again for a corporator: I wonder if that should bring our focus on issues of today which we forget tomorrow. If virtual reality experiences could make us walk through the mundaneness of living in polluted lands, and excite us tp pursue responsible living, we may yet succeed. It may even help do away with the illusion that all the domestic solid wastes are going to disappear in time and our rivers are going to be bristling with life and lustre or become the beautiful navigable channels that they once were! Claus-Christian Carbon, a Cognitive Science researcher from Germany seems to think that illusions can be fun (Front. Hum. Neurosci., 2014, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00566) and I do wonder if that is true! Can structured illusions indeed be the panacea for challenges towards "planning" rather accepting our existential realities? I do think it is worth to experiment in this field of cognitive science! May the Force be with us!

Updated : August 2019

Hell, heaven and nowhere!

Once upon a time, there were three blind monkeys. They were given a challenge to prove their "observational" skills. Based on their experiences of travelling over a trail of objects planted in a certain sequential landscape, the monkeys were, at the end of the exercise, asked to describe the place where they were. For this experience, they would come in contact with : a giant sandwich with a juicy core, a small stone hill, and a pool of warm water.

The first blind monkey moving forward, jumped onto the soft sandwich and sat down feeling a soft ground beneath him, he stood up and then walked over the hill of stones. The stones hurt his feet and as he tried to jump onto a safe ground, he found himself landing instead, in the pool of warm water, making him shriek in surprise and dismay at getting wet. The experience accentuated his wrong belief that the water had been too hot to handle. The first monkey thus came to the conclusion that he had walked into "hell". He described that at hell, there was at first a soft mat laid out at the entrance, which tricked and tempted him to enter the place, feeling for a pleasant experience. But as he started to search for even softer ground, and as he walked about “looking”, he had to climb a treacherous hill of stones, which threatened to thrown him off balance and crush him. As he jumped to avoid it, he had landed in a pool of deadly hot water that threatened to boil him alive, drown and kill him. But he had cleverly jumped out of the pool and was lucky to be alive! Such was his vivid experience that, he noted, could be useful information for any "tourists" who wanted to visit the hell (ha ha, is that likely or what!).

The second blind monkey first found his way into the pool of warm water. Wading into it slowly, he relaxed and found himself experiencing bliss, just bathing in the water. To him, it looked like an experience of joy. As he walked out of the pool slowly, he found himself walking over stones, which tickled his feet at best. And at the end of a short climb up the stonehill, he felt drier and energetic to move on. Finally, he trotted over to the sandwich and it smelt good. With his hands, he searched about to grab a chunk of food, hungry as he was from the previous exercises. To his delight, he found that the supply seemed endless! After consuming the sandwich to his full, he came to the conclusion that the place where he was, should be "heaven" indeed. For, he had enjoyed his travels so much, beginning with a bath and a swim, a short, pleasant trek that had energised him and the endless food to enjoy at the end. Where else would he get such an experience! He did have the highest recommendations to visit here, especially for those who seriously dreamt of heaven!

The third blind monkey first of all, started off the course on his trip and he reached nowhere. For, he did not encounter any of those objects that his contemporaries had come to deal with! And did not have any idea of even their existence! So he did not experience what the other monkeys had and absolutely had no opinion to offer on where he was. To him, it was a blind, long road or just a featureless landscape that lay ahead of him. He wondered if there were indeed interesting places to visit between the hell and the heaven! :)

That's a story I wrote recently! I was silently wondering how much researchers can identify with this story! ;). I, for example, could be any of the three monkeys depending on the circumstances : I have had some bad experiences as a researcher, as well as had some heavenly experiences working with wonderful collaborators. Many times, despite the best of literature reviews with me, I could also be off the track completely, trying inadequately to sense and/or quantify the mysteries of this beautiful planet! But I have been and need to be, careful to know how much I can make of my experiences, indeed! Still looking for some positive answers and making strategies to overcome such difficulties is all that researchers can do!

Written: June 2019

What do lakes mean to you : children's perspectives of lakes

As a child, I never paid extra-ordinary attention to lakes: for me, they existed as a part of the environment. In the late 1980s and early 1990s India, there were several ponds and lakes which were accessible and yet still pristine. Living in the coastal city of Chennai, I found the existence of these in-land lakes and ponds as normal as the staple idly-vadai and the fresh sea breeze in the late evenings. Infact, a large pond in front of our suburb house was my constant source of entertainment as I watched storks, swans and plenty of ducks make it their home. Pigs and cows came to depend on it for water. So did some farmers for whom it was a source of drinking water. When there were rains in the months of October or November, our pond was filled upto the brim : what sight it was to behold then! Small waves and ripples that rose with the wind and gleefully subsided at the banks of the silvery surface! As a child, I used to fantasize that I was standing on the shores of some big ocean of silvery stars that had grown small enough for me to look at and be a part of.

Come late 1990s, the pond gradually disappeared, thanks to the unsustainable scale of real-estate development in the region. My perception of lakes and water bodies suddenly changed. I realised that they could not exist forever, contrary to my expectations. I started missing something, someone, far more useful to the society and the natural environment, than I was or we were. Having moved on, succumbed to the pressures of urban life and later shifting to another city for work, I realise now that I had lost a friend, which makes me feel sad. While researching about urban lakes, I am often reminded of that unnamed, infinitely helpful pond from the past, which had educated me on the importance of lakes as a part of life. I realise now, how powerful such learning can be for a child, since all the perceptions about sustainability of lakes which I derive today, originated in my childhood association with such lost ecosystems. I feel deeply and gravely for the loss now and thank my stars for having given me the unique opportunity to experience life at the shores of a wonderful 'being' sacrificed at the altar of so-called human development.

How many times have I heard, while growing up, people of a bye-gone generation lament the loss of the pristineness of River Adyar or Coouum in the Chennai City, without really realising the gravity of their loss. I sympathised with them as a doctoral researcher, armed with facts and data. And now, more than ever, I sympathise with them as a human being. Also as a person, who would have liked her child to experience the pleasure of living with aquatic ecosystems in the immediate vicinity of home : an opportunity which has been lost, thanks to the inconsiderate stress on modern living. Today as a citizen of Bengaluru which fosters special fondness for its aquatic ecosystems, I hope to make up for my loss by educating my child about the significance of lakes and water bodies!

A colleague recently shared her experiences with girl children aged about ten from rural Karnataka, to whom, she posed this simple question : "What would you do if a lake near your homes, was threatened in the name of development?". The best of the answers was emotional : "We children will protest". Hearing it has made me realise that we have no right to make our children go out into the streets to 'protest' for their rights for green living. Somewhere deep at heart, I wish I had protested back then too : to preserve that beautiful pond from my memories. Sustainable development is the only middle path available for us to ensure that the rights of the futuristic citizens are safeguarded.

Updated : January 2019

Living with and learning from lakes

It was a pleasant surprise and honour to find this on the PLNIT blog. I have always done a lot of learning from the PLNIT team : especially Mrs. Usha Rajagopalan and Mrs. Divya! Here is a lake-inspired poem from me published on the PLNIT blog:

Lake of love

By Dr Harini Santhanam

What is a lake?

I asked myself

A being of joy said they

who cared for it and nurtured it

day by day, everyday!

What did you do when the going had been tough, asked I

We pulled up our sleeves and got help, said they

We observed and not merely looked on

And we cured the maladies that affected the lake-soul each day

What do you do when the going gets tough these days,

asked I, again.

We have each other's shoulders for support, said they

to keep the lake alive and happy, come what may!

You call it lake conservation -

We call it lake nourishment

Then I knew that the secret road map for sustainable development

really did exist - in passion and love for Nature

In a sweet Cosmic Play, perhaps

Nature's maladies and Nature's cures,

start and end in human hearts!

Updated : December, 2018

Earthwatch event on Lake Sustainability initiative for Citizen scientists from HSBC India 4th - 5th May 2018

What happens when active researchers interact with professionals from a totally different domain like accounts, banking? Two days of interactions with HSBC employees as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme with IISc and Earthwatch, taught me how popular core science can be with everybody! Such enthusiastic participation and it was a pleasure doing lake sustainability science with the 'Citizen Scientists' as a field leader at this event! I found myself discussing microcosm and mesocosm experiments with banking professionals and was really intrigued by how well they responded! Clever questions to sharpen the mind too came up! Looking forward to more of these events.

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