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!