Colored Rain and Exotic Origin

In 2001 several districts in a southern state of India reported colored rain. Recently a scientist who was involved in the analysis of this rain water found that this rain had biological cells without any DNA. This led him to conclude that the cells do not belong to earth!

Apparently this is more evidence for a theory called panspermia. In short, this theory says that life originated elsewhere and was brought/delivered to earth. This suggests that origin of life is not native to earth!

Let us evaluate the major human contention that life originated on earth from a philosophical standpoint. Our planet is so small relative to the universe that it is much akin to a speck of dust on earth. If we assume that this speck of dust moves around and interacts with other dust particles and figures out that there are 20 different elements and compounds. Suppose this speck claims that this is an exhaustive list of elements and the chance (based on the evidence it has collected) that there are other elements and compounds is nearly zero. It is not hard to see the absurdity of this claim even if we assumed that we do not know the periodic table and all compounds. This is because the interaction of this dust particle is simply not sufficient to make a conclusion about an object that is much much bigger than itself. The human claim that life has originated on earth can be thought of as analogous to the specks claim. How much of the universe have we explored? Don't you think its preposterous to hold on to the view that earth is the only planet in this whole wide universe that is blessed with conditions that are conducive for life?

My Trip Home

Hello All,

I have been quiet for a while now. Finally, I shed my lethargy to come here and update my blog. I thought I'd share some pictures from home with you guys.

My trip home was great. I had a good time. I got to see my relatives and friends, some of whom I have not seen for a long time.


Diwali was great. I was happy to be home for Diwali. I have missed the previous 6 diwali's. So I was really looking forward to this. Unfortunately my Dad was sick on Diwali day, but it was still good to be home and see people celebrate the festival. The picture to the right is on my porch with diwali lights.



Of course I had a feast at home. Here is a sampling of sweets, snacks and fireworks that are typical in South India during Diwali.

What's a festival without new clothes? It's the time when Indian women shop for those gorgeous silk sarees! The streets are packed with shoppers. There is hardly any space to move usually and this year was no different. Here is where I shopped with my parents - the salesmen tirelessly display hundreds of sarees! The number of silk saree's that are bought at this time of the year must be a staggering figure I am sure. Men of courrse wear boring clothes - certainly not as colorful or grand as women's sarees. Most men shop for western clothes, along with the traditional dhoties of course.


It typically rains in South India during Diwali. I was lucky this year. The weather was nice and warm for the first week and half. The last several days were rainy. But what the heck, I can't complain - the weather was dry on Diwali day.


I'll end this post with this beautiful evening in Chennai as I saw sitting in my porch.