Proud to be an INDIAN!

My life till date is a story of how have I lived up to others' expectations (or let them down). Very little personal say did I have in it. In fact every major decision in my career till date has not been mine. People may claim there was a certain discussion before that, but when one faces the rest, at least a good 20 years older to himself/herself, and his/her point is contradicted at every point, the loss of hope is inevitable. My et tu Brute moment came way back in 2008, when even my parents were imposing a decision on me. Every time I made a personal way out, every time that path was shut on purpose. 

Complaining's easy. 

At this juncture in my life, I have lost over a year of my career chasing my parents' dream, not even once making them mine. In fact, sacrificing mine. Tomorrow is my UPSC examination, for which I barely had a mind to work hard for. I didn't work hard. But under compulsion, I did study something. 

Can all be so bad about the past one year? Till now I haven't said a positive thing. No, all can't be bad. There's some good in everything. 

The only good thing I have realized is that I have known my country on a different level altogether. Starting from the ancient times till today, historically, geographically, economically, politically, socially, and probably a lot many more ways. I was always proud to be an Indian, but never could I justify my pride to some satisfaction, until now. Now, I can! 

Yes I am proud to be an Indian, maybe a lot more. We are advised not to look back at the past for what's done, cannot be undone. But for a country that has been under continuous exploitation since history has been recorded, we should actually do that and see how much of it was our fault! 

Let's face facts - 

• India was the world's richest country.
• India single-handedly contributed to about 27% of the world's GDP in 1757. A lot more before that I suppose.
• India had the strongest currency in the world.
• India was the leading producer of textiles. It's industries flourished like none others.
• India's greatest gift to the world is the gesture NAMASTE. The other day I talked about how it transcends every ounce of ego.
• Alexander could conquer the world but India.
• Spices were a monopoly of India.
• Breakthrough inventions in the field of Mathematics and Science came in India first - the base was actually built for the big minds of the world by greats like Aryabhatta as Shushruta! 

India was no doubt the target of foreigners. Yes, there was a lapses on the part of the existing rulers before the foreigners but isn't it the job of the Government to patronize education, uphold social integrity and instill the awareness of our cultural superiority. Today, Britain has a veto power in the UN and India doesn't even find a place in the list of permanent members of the Security Council! What did they do?

• Exploited India's market to their benefit.
• Instilled poverty in our country.
• Sowed the seeds of communal-ism.
• Suppressed India to the point that we never had a shift from the agricultural phase to the industrial phase, when Europe enjoyed an Industrial Revolution.
• Destroyed the Micro, Small and Medium enterprises in the form of cottage industries, village industries.
• Celebrated the Durbar of the Crown when millions of people died of hunger in our country.
• Partitioned Bengal.
• Partitioned India.
• Instilled the faith in corruption; tarnished the beautiful game of politics to an unhealthy affair.
• Taught us how to lie.
• They instilled the greed for money.  

They even had to steal the Kohinoor and in fact, if they could, they would also have lifted the Taj Mahal from it's foundation! Cheat, Lie, Deceive - What else? Let's not go by the amount of blood they shed of our country's people! 

Today the world craves a lesson from the Vedas! Today the world believes in yoga! Today India is the world's largest democracy! Today the Mangalyaan is a breakthrough novelty in the field of Space Research Technology! Today an Indian proved Einstein's postulate wrong and we have a Bose-Einstein (and NOT Einstein-Bose) postulate! For God's sake that whole existence of the universe is attributed to a God particle after this Bose - Dr. Satyendranath Bose. And the other Bose? Acharya Jagdish Chandra Bose's achievement are well suppressed! Plants have life he claimed; the telegraph system was HIS invention first! Who followed Da Vinci's blueprints to make the first flight into the skies? Officially the Wright Brothers. Unofficially, there's an Indian preceding them! But why would there find a name in the world's history books? We have Tagore who has written and composed the National Anthems of two different countries - India and Bangladesh! And talking about music, where does the Sam Veda belong?

 After 200 years of oppression, India still stands tall. But give back those 200 years of oppression, where could India be today! 

India has it's own share in still being a developing country and still has a long way to go for being a developed nation. The call for enlightenment is an inner call, personal to every citizen. But when the masters have passed on the message of every odd vice possible and incorporated them into the system of ruling a nation, how can India still recover! After all that's the easy way out always. 

India has a long way to go; India has to wake up from it's slumber! India has to  dream it's past into it's future and incorporate that into it's present. Every India must not be complacent with their pride for India but contribute to India's future to their best possible ways. Let's for once believe in Adam Smith's theory, except this time in a different perspective. A country's development is the aggregate of the individual development(s) of it's people! We should place our country before our needs. Our country needs us. Our people need us. We need each other.

Let's arise, awake, and stop not till OUR goal is reached. We were the best; we are the best; we will be the best! Proud to be an INDIAN! Are you?

India's Greatest Gift - NAMASTE!

India compared to the world, can be attributed to a bagful of superlatives. If we ponder into the past, India was even the single largest contributor to the world's GDP. But what I believe is India's greatest gift to the world is something as old as thousands of years B.C.E. and something as simple as a gesture!

It's the famous NAMASTE!

This gesture ranks above any other in the world in my list. Handshakes have a thing above the strength of the hold. You will be judged by your grip strength. A pat on the back raises the issue of being inferior/superior. Hugs are ominous also. Some say people are close friends when they hug, some say it's a show. But knowingly or unknowingly, when people come to India and they reciprocate a NAMASTE with a NAMASTE, they actually bow down!

Yes! From the Premieres of various countries to a beggar on the street, everybody bows down for the NAMASTE. Two people bow down to each other at the same time, This is irrespective of who's rich/poor, superior/inferior, strong/weak. The ego factor is simply omitted! And that's the beauty of this gesture. Everybody is equal!

What more can I say for a country that has been preaching Equality for several 1000 years now! On the 69th Independence Day of India, I re-affirm my pride of being an Indian. What a country! I am indeed blessed to be born an Indian!

Jaya hai, Jaya hai, Jaya hai!
Victory forever to you!
Jai Hind!

HELPLESS

"We are helpless!" - opined a man. All others travelling along with him, including me, seconded his opinion.

The discussion was about the troubles a common man has to face daily. It is true that VIPs like politicians (primarily) and others value time a lot more than us. Well apparently it seems so! So be it stuck in a traffic jam, be it stuck on a water-logged street, be it stuck on the streets for some unfortunate accidents, it's the VIPs who need a special pass, a clear road, because otherwise they will lose a lot of time. I say - "What about us?"

We are the taxpayers, and it is a part of our hard earned money that we pay. But our leaders should be the ones we should be able to look up to! Yes! Always! Leading by example should be the ideal kind of leadership and such leaders succeed in inspiring people by their deeds, so much so that their words wouldn't matter at all; their mere presence would be enough. But look at our leaders, greedy for money, luxury, involved in scams, evading their personal tax dues! Why should we pay our taxes when they are leading by example to be dishonest? But it's okay for them for they are VIPs. I say - "What about us?"

Why would they have an upper hand everywhere while we have to suffer the consequences? Why should they escape from the clutches of law while we have to be punished? In a country where corruption is rampant, why should we be honest? Why should we be limited within rules while they roam around like free birds?

There is only one answer. We are helpless!

I live in West Bengal. The Bengal which was once a dream of the legendary Dr. B.C.Roy, is now full up to the brim of a container named CORRUPTION! It wasn't filled by any particular Government, but all of them, for the people at the grass-root levels remain the same. Industry is history! Work culture is horrible! Streets are unsafe! Our lives are at the mercy of a few privileged few! Yet we gotta bow down before their vultures, for we are HELPLESS!

PS - The only thing Bengal can still boast about is it's rich cultural heritage, though even that is slowly coming under the purview of politics!


  

UNPREDICTABILITY

Indian Monsoons are a complex mechanism. It involves a number of factors, and their effect individually and altogether. In fact predicting the rainfall pattern has become increasingly difficult with time due to more and more factors being added with advancement in research. But recently, India has been facing extremes of climatic conditions. The world at large is facing the same actually and the effects vary a lot from region to region. The main culprit is GLOBAL WARMING! And the worst affected will be the not so developed countries of the tropical regions with poor infrastructure to absorb such shocks. India is in the danger zone!


Here's the list of all the predictable factors :-

1) Jet Streams.

2) El Nino Southern Oscillation.

3) Indian Ocean Dipole.

For those enthusiastic about the details, I would recommend that you google these factors and their effect individually, and altogether.


Global warming has given rise to a very unpredictable weather pattern. Ideally, this year India should have received lesser rainfall compared to other years as this was an El Nino year. But is that really happening?


Let us analyze the cause from it's roots. Our summer season was marred by heat waves throughout the country. Even if the rise in global temperature is kept with the 2 degree Celsius limit, on an average the Earth will experience 60% more rain extreme rain events and 27 extremely hot days! The extremities will go haywire if the annual rise in temperature is about 3 degree Celsius, that can easily be possible with the current levels of GHG emissions! Well now we know what's heating our summers here!


A study shows warming of the atmosphere increases the number of times temperatures reach extreme levels and evaporated more water from the oceans. It is from this hotter, wetter background that extreme weather events will emerge. So actually, this heat wave triggered an extreme low pressure condition on the subcontinent causing good amount of rainfall in spite of the El Nino phenomenon prevailing.


This year tropical cyclones delayed the burst of monsoons in India. The intensified low pressure in fact gave rise to sever cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea in this peak season of tropical cyclones. Ashobhaa has adversely affected a lot of lives in our country and the heavy rainfalls have flooded various cities in India. For a country which depends too much on the monsoons, it is a lesson to learn, for the crops were ruined due to flooding of fields!


It's high time the world is seriously concerned about GLOBAL WARMING and it's ill effects. The effects have been very vocal this year in our country and several others, primarily in the tropical region. In fact the trend has been set for quite some years now - UNPREDICTABILITY!


Carbon Trading is a highly politicized thing in the world today. But I would rather be concerned about countries maintaining their personal quota of GHG emissions and not dumping the needs on others in lieu of money(if you know what I mean)!

WOW!

Just yesterday I put forward my views on being curious. Well this article is a child of my curiosity about a particular something. It's other parent is some personal research that I had done on it.

Antarctica is popularly known as the White Continent, being totally covered in ice. Conditions are far from being habitable. But there are some people in the various research stations in there and also the seasonal visitors. It is also home to a large variety of fauna, penguins and seals dominating in population and whales catching up soon after. Flora limits itself primarily to the varieties of lichens and mosses. But it's not these species that caught my attention.

My father has been lucky enough to visit Antarctica and come back in good health. Firstly, it's an extremely costly affair. Secondly, through Ushuaia(Argentina), one has to cross the tempest of the Beagle Channel to go to Antarctica. That little notorious strip of water has a history of ships overturning and sinking in it. Thirdly, the day and night temperatures in Antarctica are well below freezing point is summer. Let's not even imagine a winter there, especially in it's perpetual darkness for almost 6 months! Nobody ventures out there in winter, and likewise, my dad visited it in summer, in the month of December(winter for northern hemisphere means summer for southern hemisphere).

I was going through the pictures he had managed to take and I made an interesting observation! The ice there had colours! Some were bright blue, coming from the inside, some green, and a few with brown and grey shades! My dad had no answer to this. But I needed one. So I did a lot of research on it. What I'll post now is a summary of what I have researched and concluded. This may be right, may be wrong because speculations are still on. One more thing is that whatever the reasons are, they are not mandatory explanations but possible ones rather. So here's the thing (in italics) :-

            Now it is definitely intriguing as to why icebergs appear to be differently coloured in spite of being formed from the same water cooled below freezing point! Well there are a couple of theories. One of them states that seawater is drawn deep underneath the ice shelves by the ocean currents and in the process, it becomes super-cooled. Under certain conditions, it may freeze at the base of the ice shelves. So we get two different sources of water: the one at the base of the shelves being sea water while the original ice shelves from fresh water. This seawater ice often has dissolved organic matter and minerals in them, causing to give the various textures. Weathering by winds and waters can cause further variance in textures.

            But what about icebergs that lay beyond the effect of ocean currents? Are the textures caused only due to oceanic waters freezing at the base under super-cooled conditions? Well the answer is no. The explanation for this phenomenon in icebergs lying beyond the reach of ocean currents is the melting of Antarctic ice itself! Before the icebergs break off, melting occurs. So the crevasses high on the Antarctic Plateau are filled with the melt water and then refreeze. This can possibly give the layer of blue within a white ice matrix.

            Another possible explanation says that the differing colours are due to the amount of trapped air in the icebergs. Different amount of air gets trapped with different layers of snowfall under different conditions. Further, air trapped can escape due to the pressure of the layers above. So, during snowfall under very cold conditions, more air gets trapped, resulting in a paler or white layer. The darker blue layers come from snowfall in relatively warmer, maybe even in wet conditions when little or no air is trapped.

            It is quite magical standing next to an iceberg when the sun is shining and glistening off the ice! The sun rays actually penetrates deep into the layers of the icebergs and get reflected off the inner surfaces giving a whole variety of effects and colours from white, through a range of vivid blue, making it all the more surreal! White light consists of a spectrum of varying wavelengths. Red colour has the maximum wavelength while violet has the least. Denser ice absorbs the longer wavelengths and reflects the shorter ones. Hence they appear blue to the human eye. White coloured ice instead scatters colours of all wavelengths at the boundaries between the ice and air bubbles trapped inside and hence, appears colourless. 

            The strips of other colours can be attributed to the sediments picked up by the ice sheets as it grinds downhill towards the sea. Sometimes the green colour maybe caused due to the presence of blue green algae in the waters.

So here are the various possible explanations of the textures that can be seen on the icebergs. I leave it to the discretion of the readers to debate the rightness or the wrongness of the explanations mentioned above. Feel free to comment. I would always like to know more on this for I believe there's a lot more to this. 

But being naive even for a little while, I close my eyes and imagine the ice on the White Continent. Only one word comes to my mind-"wow!" The fact figures will further amaze anybody! 

Yes, facts just add on to the amazement of  the perceptions of a naive mind. For me, it's pure imagination from what I have heard from my dad and from what I have seen in his pictures. I just can't wait to be there to see it with my own eyes!

Perhaps someday!  

Curiosity Kills?

Very often I see people satisfied with facts. I was no different either. So it fetched me good marks in the exams and gave people an idea that I am knowledgeable. Am I really? Honestly, I doubt that.

In my 21 years of education (and still counting), I have known a lot of things, mostly jargons. But when it comes to knowing something in depth, I am a big zero. The basic mistake, I realized, lies in the fact that I always forgot to ask a simple question-WHY?

Yes! Friends, this wh-question ranks above all others in my priority list. Some facts transcends reasoning. But in a world where almost everything tangible can be reasoned, this is an important question. Let me explain. We all know that the Earth is tilted at an axis of 23.5 degrees (on an average) with the vertical. Why? More or less all of us have dreams while in our slumber. Why? Earthquakes frequent Nepal and the North-Eastern regions of India. Why? The list never ends.

We take these statements and conclusions for granted. This is what I am talking about! We know, we don't question why, but we just know! There is a problem in this system. If spoken in economic terms, there will be a stagnation some day if this is the current state of affairs for every individual in this planet. Luckily for us, there are a good number of people bothering to ask this question. 

My eyes were opened by a certain somebody, whose eyes were opened at a recent internship she had at IIT Kharagpur, one of the premier technological institutions in India. Being a certified Civil Engineer, basics of reinforced concrete should be as easy as drinking a glass of water. We had studied that the steel rods used for reinforcements can take tension but not the concrete. Concrete takes compression but fails in tension. So we use reinforced concrete to negate the effect of a possible failure in concrete. But why? I had no idea!

This explanation will not be English to many, so please feel free to skip this para while reading (if you want to). Concrete is a heterogeneous material consisting of cement, sand, aggregates, water and a few other materials. For convenience, we will consider it to be in two parts - the solid part consisting of the aggregates and the fluid part consisting of the cement paste. Now let's consider a tensile force is applied to a concrete block. What happens? The cement paste has a high poisson's ratio compared to the aggregates, so it tries and moves outside in the direction of the force, and this movement is way faster than that of the aggregates' movement in the same direction. So we see a differential movement of two components of the same material. Thus, concrete fails in tension. Now let's have a reinforced concrete block and consider a tensile force applied to it. For one, the block doesn't fail. Why? Let's split this explanation into two halves. First, we consider longitudinal reinforcements. The concrete around the steel rods and the rods themselves form a strong bond and a bond force develops. So when tensile force is applied, the concrete and steel rods rod will take the same amount of force. What the steel rods do is something very philanthropic. They take all the effect on tension on them, and distribute it uniformly throughout the whole length of the block. As they have a high yield point, it's pretty hard to break them, and the concrete block is safe from failure. But we can't say so absolutely unless we consider the  second half of this explanation. There are transverse reinforcements also. They hold the block in one piece and don't allow the concrete to expand under the effect of tension. So now, the concrete doesn't have to bother much about tension as the longitudinal reinforcements do most of that for them and the transverse reinforcements restrict their movement under tension, so differential movements are out of question. Hence, our concrete block is safe! 

Phew! That's a lot said in one para! Trust me when I say, this is the simplest explanation I could conjure. The real life concrete technology is a lot more complicated. But for others not remotely related to Civil Engineering who would read my post (and hopefully the para), this should be enough.

What I am coming at is the fact that it is the lack of our curiosity that acts as a hindrance to innovation. Today the world is amazed at Mangalyaan's success, but it was a product of curiosity to learn from others' failures and our own addition to them. In this fast-paced 21st century, innovation is around every other corner. It is the fuel for our survival. 

We must wake up from our slumber and start being curious, especially for things in our profession. In that way, we can not only understand new technologies in a better way, but also make innovations ourselves. It doesn't have to be ISRO, DRDO, IISC, IITs, MIT, NASA, and the others in this lanky list to innovate. It has to be us. There shouldn't be an incentive to be curious.

But for those demanding an incentive, it's for your survival fella! Knowledge is the ultimate power, ain't it?    

Back to Blogging!

Hey everybody! I am finally back to blogging full time after three long years! A lot has been learned, a lot has changed. So I finally decided on treating this blog as a forum to dump my thoughts. Nothing special or big, but it will be anything that crosses my mind, maybe at the moment, or maybe that has been in my mind all day long.

Lately, I have come out of a major addiction and I would like to share my thoughts on the process of coming out. Lol! I never imagined myself on the roof contemplating a change, or fall! 

Life is a mixture of good times and bad times. We all want the good to happen to us all the time. I was no exception. Later on I realized, wouldn't one be tired of feeling good? I don't know! Has anyone ever felt tired of feeling good? Let's go by basic human psychology. We take things for granted when they happen daily. Say our parents, or even maybe ourselves for hat sake. So life should be a healthy mixture of both I feel, so that the bad times actually help me cherish my good times and my good times make me wanna kill myself in my bad times.

My good days ended with college. I tried alcohol, cigarettes and weeds as an experiment, little knowing that some of these would become a necessity after my college days! I had a job in hand in one of the best construction companies in India. But I decided otherwise, little because I wanted to, mostly for my parents. So I left a job that would pay me well, have a perfectly good future prospect for me to flourish and opted to stay at home and prepare for Government jobs' exams. With most of our people running behind Government jobs, this was no easy task. I had no clue what boredom would bestow upon me.

It changed me, Initially I would love the preparations, but during the later half I would be mostly confined to home and there started my downfall. I shut myself from the world. There were several ground rules, but nothing was helping me concentrate. Slowly I lost focus and began to believe that I want nothing out of my life. I played the blame game. A part of it was true, but another part of it maybe was not. Adding on to that, there were severe problems in my family! 

I had nobody to talk to, nothing to do at all. I even gave up music, my one true love! Before I could even realize, alcohol and nicotine was consuming my life in bits and parts. I couldn't live without them a single day. I would stay at my friends' place, saying that I needed to do some group study, where all I did was fulfill my lust of booze and smoke. I was dying.

My friends are not to blame here. One night a week is definitely social but little did they know it was a daily affair. On the other hand, the exams were coming closer by the days.

I could never talk to my mom and dad about anything, and till date I can't. So I stick to the protocol and avoid doing so myself. My elder sister was always there for me. But little can others find me a way out of this misery.

My conscience hit me hard when I failed miserably in the first exam I gave. I was far away from the vicinity of being competitive. God sent me a Messiah, giving me a chance of redemption. He was my best pal from college, Gaurav. This chap, unlike others was patient with me, and believed in me a lot more than I did in myself at that time. 

He tutored me, monitored my levels of alcohol, the number of cigarettes I took. For the first time in months, I felt good. At least for those one two days a week, I had a reason to smile. Till he was gone, I was performing well in exams. I also didn't feel the need to drink or smoke everyday!

But he left for his B-school a month and a half later. I was back to my self-destructive self. I had two weeks to the preliminary exam of my dream job. Assured that I was of no good, I was mentally ready for the worst!

It was Wednesday. I kissed an old family photo that I found in an album and tried calling her one last time. She was busy. I was happy that she was not like me. But at that moment, it didn't matter. So I sent her one last text saying that I love her, and finished my last sips of a quarter of a cheap booze. I puffed one last cigarette and went to the roof. God! Everything looked so small from there.

I closed my eyes! Tried hard convincing myself that my freedom was just an inch away, and five stories down. Hell it would hurt, but slowly the pain would consume me and I would be history. I had one foot in the air. But I suddenly held on to a pipe nearby. I realized what a coward I am! Neither do I have the courage to live nor do I have the courage to take my life! I heard my phone ring and it was Shrea! She was almost in tears. I have already hurt her enough! My mom and dad! What about them? Did they pay for me 23 years long just to see me give up? 

No! I came down, threw away my last few cigarettes and the empty bottle of rum. I took a vow to give up smoking and drinking. I also took a vow to think positive and work hard.

Quoting Satyajit Ray - "The only solutions that are ever worth anything are the ones that people find themselves." I would chew on toothpicks, drink a lot of water, but never did I touch alcohol and cigarettes till date. It has been two months. I have cleared the preliminary exam and the very hopeful about clearing the main exam also. I am back to singing, not for the world, but for myself.

And I am back! To blogging!