Wandering mind

Kesab Babu

2011-12-17T06:51:00.001-08:00

When we are in class nine we discovered a short, stern figure, He was with short dhoti, khadi kurta, head cocked on one side with Shantiniketani bag hanging at one side. The man symbolized defiance; with an eternal frown he looked as if ready to fight at slightest provocation. This was Kesab babu, our new Sanskrit teacher.

We started to learn Sanskrit from class 8. Someone at board had decided that Sanskrit is good for us. Unfortunately, we could not fathom that goodness and accepted it as our fate. Usual method of teaching Sanskrit was to memorize the cases of diferent nouns and mugup slokas and regargulate them during exam. It was a chore and we accepted it that way. The subject was the most hated thing, History came close. We had learnt to somehow mug things to pass the exam. On seeing Kesab babu, we braced for another year of tolerating a subject with information that did not seem to serve any practical purpose.

Kesab Babu was a shock! On the first day he skipped the initial verses and went at the middle of the book where there was a short verse from Megadutam. He started reciting the poem. We hardly understood it but liked the rythm. Surprisingly, he was quite good in recitation. Like a jackfruit, despite of his stern appearence, Kesabbabu had good appriciation of poetry. He was also very candid in discussing Kalidasa's description on the beauty of Yakshini. After his recitation, he proceeded to explain the meaning and all the nuances of case and conjunct words. After the recitation, he proceded on telling a story about Kalidasa, innovation of Meghdutam and the leap of imagination Kalidasa could do to image areal view at an age when no one had experienced air travel.. Suddenly, Sanskrit was looking interesting.

Before he finished, he asked us our name and laid a rule - in his class all conversation will be in Sanskrit. If someone do not understand, he will explain them - but in Sanskrit. He never bothered to teach us those Dhaturup (cases), and left that as something we should pickup in order to understand the words.He will recite slokas and poem and tell us historical and philosophical relevence of these. Hearing these, history started to become interesting. All the kings and events started to be meaningful and relevant with the slokas. It looked, Sanskrit can really be as interesting as reading a novel. We actually started to differentiate between Balmiki's Ramayana and Kalidasa's Raghubansha.

Kesab Babu was taken as an miser, living a frugal lifestyle, and was a model of rudeness. Even headmaster used to avoid him and we saw he used to be afraid to antagonize him.. I never remember him contributing a single rupee for things like flag day, flood relief, etc. There was a student in our class. His parents were not well to do and the fellow was pretty bad in studies. We found, this fellow used to meet Kesab Babu during our tiffin time secretly. We are pretty sure, this fellow is doing some kind of spying on us. One day we followed him and found he is eating in a corner of teachers room. Kesab Babu was sitting close by. We wondered, what is going on.

Later that year, we attended Kesab Babu in private coaching class. Once we got to know him a little more personally we asked him, what he was doing with that student. He told, this fellow is good at sports but lacked good food. So he used to bring some egg/paneer for him. In person, Kesab Babu was strict vegeterian and used to do his own cooking. That he will bring egg for this student spending his own money secretly made us very much curious about him.

We used to poke him about his life and one day he told us his life story. Oh Boy! what a story it was.

Kesab babu came from Chattogram - a port town in present Bangladesh that is below the Arakan range. During his class eight, he got motivated by freedom fighters and left study to join a Freedom fighter's group called Anushilan Samity. He was a child worker, and maintained watch posts, passed on information. He was the leader of boys wing at his location. After spending some three four years with Anushian Samity he got a shocker.. Anushilan Samity was banned for aiding anti British work. The leader - Aurobindo Ghosh suddenly got devine insparation and asked the workers to wound up the operations. Aurobindo Ghosh himself became spiritual leader. He did not do much to protect the organization. An class eight dropout, Kesab Babu, was afraid for his life. He also lacked any proper skill to earn an respectable livelyhood. In the Chattogram Area, Naga Sanyasins are much respected and feared. Kesab babu aspired to be a Naga Sanyasin and fled from his house.

Kesabbabu served Naga Sanyasins for almost five years. Naga Sanyasin remain naked and said to be in full control of their body. Even in coldest of winter, Naga Sanyasin will not cover their body. To his surprise, Kesab babu found these people to be a bunch of farse. They were camoflaged looters who raid house of well to do person with their elephants. They will plunder, take away all they and their chelas liked. The unfortunate person, who's house were raided wre even not able to protest, for the fear of social ostrasization. Such is the social makeup, people around will think he has been very fortunate to have the opportunity to serve the great Sadhus. The ones who knew, preferred to keep silent. He found there is nothing spiritual in the whole thing. Even, their self control is nothing extraordinary. They use heavy doses of drugs and some surgical procedure. After spending few years with them Kesab babu decided to flee the Sanyasins,

Fleeing the Sanyasins was not an easy task. Sanyasins did not hesitate to kill escapers to keep their secret. In addition there was arraest warrant on him as key member of He was also aware of banning of Anushilan Samity. That meant certain death in the hands of British Police if he was caught. So he crossed over to Tibet, which is beyond the reaches of both Nagas and British. He heard of a person alled Rahul Sanskritayanan. Rahul was famous as indologist and was sympathatic to freedom movement. On his way to Lasha, he learnt Rajhul is no more in Lasha, and instead gone to Kashmir. So Kesab babu travelled through the silk route towadrs Srinagar. He had no money with him. So he had to work some time in hotel, sometime as waiter, sometime doing menial job in garden. It took him over twoyears to travel the distance. He met Rahul, convinced him about his seinceriety and become his disciple. He studied Indian scripts with Rahul Sanskrityanan for about 14 yrs. He was able to recite all the works of Vedas and Kalidasa from memory. After Rahul Sanskrityan passed away, he needed some job.

Rahul Sanskritayan was a giant. Although he was never given much recognition in free India, he was the architect of what India we see today. During the final days of freedom struggle, Britishers never accepted India as one nation. The India they got was bunch of princely states and Mughal empire; Muslims wanted restoration of Mugal rule, Fact is Mughals during pre-British got only limited to UP and part of MP, rest of India was divided with Peshwas and multiple princely states in between.. It was certain, restoring the status to what India was before Britishers came would have led India to be fragmented into huge number of pricely states, each warring for its suprimacy. The situation would have been very chaotic. It was Rahul Sanskrityan's interpretation and proof that Chanakya's laws being the central to ruling of all princely states established India to be one nation composed of several states and become the basis of what we see India as today. Rahul was also seen as great educator in Tibet. He was conferred the title - Mahamohopadhayay - meaning the greatest teacher by Dalai Lama. Kesab Babu had no formal education, but just the mention of Rahul Sanskrityan's name got him a job as curator in National Library. After few years however, he got bored with the job in Library and wanted a teaching job. That's how, he got to be a school teacher.without actually passing any examination.

Althogh Kesab Babu left Naga Sanyasins, he followed their lifestyle to an extent. He would cook his own food and only eat once in a day. He will leave a frugal lifestyle with just few trademark dhoti and kurta. His principle was if you are in control of your needs no one can influence you. That was the basic principle of Naga Sanyasins and he followed it to core. He cared no one and always ready to stand for his principle. He did not even care for the post of headmaster. A very strict discplinarian,t he was kind of gurdain for his students. The fellow I mentioned needed high protine diet for this play, which his parents could not afford. That was Kesab babu's secret for carrying egg for this guy. I never recall him using more than a frown and a very soft scold when someone did not come up to his expectation. But then, the word will be in such pointed manner and so reasonable the reciepient will be more hurt than severest of punishment other teachers in their arsenal.

We used to ask pretty personal questions about his values and he would answer them cheerfully. Once we asked him, why do you take private tution. He was prompt. He explained, in private tution he can talk on Indian culture, philosophy that is not possible in the short Sanskrit class. In addition his dream was to build a flower garden and a coaching class after his retirement. But someone out there had other design. He died in cerebral attack much before his retirement. That was a big loss for the society. He was one of last relics who believed in building values and character in the students rather than just helping students to cram some information and get good marks in examination. Many things what Kesab Babu said did not make sense at that young age, but it does now. That was greatness of a good teacher, who continue to influence years after one has left his contact.

2011-09-24T18:25:00.000-07:00

View from my balcony

Minnesota State Fair

2011-09-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

Minnesota state fair is one place possibly every one in Minneapolis comes. It is part of cultural tradition that dates back to 1859. It is fun to see so many people at a time. Official record shows on this day attendance was 229,943 people. Some number!!!

It is a 12 day long event completing on the Labor Day (1st Monday of Sep).

Main attractions are Agriculture and Animals. It is also a place to taste authentic local delicacies and enjoy the rides.

Debilal

2011-03-21T22:34:00.000-07:00

"Apne safed hati dekh liye" -- "Have you seen the white elephant" A short dark man in shorts suddenly darted in front of JRD Tata as he was making his round in the shop floor of Jamshedpur Plant. Most thought this is a mad man, those who knew him thought this time pranks of this man has got beyond tolerance.

The senior officers quickly wisked away this man. There were talks of taking disciplenary action against him. But the personal managers advised against it. To the adivasis around Jamshedpur, this man was a uncrowned king. Any undue punishment will have huge adivashi backlash, so they chose to ignore it as a prank from a half mad character. That was Debilal - a sweeper in Plant-III of Tata Motors.

Debilal was in his mid-thirties, he was very sincere in his job and will always be humming some song. Although he was a janitor, he will occasionally pull some pranks on officers. There used to a bully officer who loved to shout at the people on smallest slip. One day Devilal got a dog with a shirt and specs . On back of the shirt written "Mukho" with big letters and let loose the dog in shopfloor.

In the nearby villages Debilal was counted as a man with great wisdom. People will come to him for all kind of advice. No one took any penal action against him and learnt to live with these pranks as sign of madness.

Next day, as Debilal came to clean the room I asked him why did you tell such thing to Tata. Here is the dialog:

Me: Why did you jumped in front of Big Boss

Debilal: I was refering to the new Forge Plant you people have put up. I thought he is wise man and would listen to me.

Me: What is wrong with the Plant

Debilal: It is a White Elephant. Just a costly show piece that does no good

(I thought, this has gone too much - this illeterate sweeper is questioning wisdom of Engineers. The plant he was referring was fully automated forge plant that produces Front Axle Beam and Crank Shaft. In early 80s, that was the best technology one could get.

Moreover, fresh from PG in Industrial Engg, I thought, let me teach this fellow not to mess with professionals. To teach him a lesson, I started to question in the ragging style.)

Me: Really! How do you say this plant is costly. It has all robots - latest technology in the world

Debilal: Maybe it has lot of new technology, I am a stupid fellow, I can only count on what it produces at what cost

Me: (Oh my God! What does this fellow know about cost) What is to cost

Debilal : OK! let us start from the begining - there is the old plant that produces Crank Shaft. How many burners are there in the old plant and in the new plant to heat the material

Me: (I was taken aback - not sure) You tell me

Debilal: In the old plant there are 8 burner, in the new furnace there are 12 of them. That's because new furnace a wide opening for the robotic arm, in old furnace operators could manipulate material with a much smaller opening. In addition old furnace was round like a "Handi" New one is a straight one that only heats the shop, not the iron.

Me: (Now cautious) OK, Fuel cost is not all you know

Debilal: Well, old plant just needed half a bay, new plant requires two full bay

Me: New Plant do not require any man.

Debilal: Who says - It still require two operators to take care of occational miss, then it requires one person to continiously do maintenance and has a maintenance staff of five to do maintenance on regular basis. In the contrary, old plant was much simpler, just required five operator and only a weekly maintenance. The only thing the new plant has over the old one that it do not require the skilled forge smiths, you can run the plant with engineers and operators without any experience. But it takes more people.

Debilal: Not only the plant is costlier to operate, it produces less job per hour. Robots produce only 30 odd piece per hour against 45 piece in the manual operation. Moreover it requires special billets without any bend in the new line. Old line could manage with some small bend in billets.

(Now my ego totally shattered - I realize this non-matric sweeper, has just taken a class on benchmarking. Still I had not learnt the lession. As last resort I try --)

Me: OK, I take the new plant may be more costly. Actually there are more thing to cost than the comparison you did. But tell me, what is your stake in blocking Tata's way. What you have to get out of it.

Debilal: This land belongs to me, we people have created this land from forest. You people from outside have come with your money and knowledge and converted the paddy field to a truck factory. We are thankful to you. But at the same time, if people are not working to best of the intension then it is my duty to raise voice and object.

Debilal: As I see it, this new plant is only good in replacing skilled adivasis with urban, unskilled, college educated folks. Had it been more productive, I would have still accepted it, but as it stands, this new plant is not even as productive as the old plant. This I can not tolerate. If Mr. Tata did not listen me on one to one basis, he will have to face mass movement in future.

Saying this, Debilal left the room, humming - "Bombay se aya mera dost, dost ko salam karo..."

Now, I felt what Adi Shankara must have felt in the bylanes of Varanasi. I saluted Debilal in my mind and hold him as one the great teacher I have come across.

A Personal Website

2011-01-08T23:11:00.000-08:00

A personal website is like owning your own house in the cyberspace. Like house, it comes in all shapes, sizes, features, flavors. It also has its own advantages and issues. Craze for personal website started with GeoCities and AltaVista making it easy to create a website for your own. While it satisfied the narcissist within us, soon we realized its limitation.

One puts up a website for various reasons. Most important that comes to my mind are:

Web presence: You may like to grab a piece of cyber reality, have your identity known around cyber world. At times, you feel comfortable to have a bill board that people may give more attention than they give it your card.

Information dissemination: You may like to tell those things that no one seem to listen. Putting them in nice font and format may look more promising than standing on the podium at market corner

Collaboration: You may need to share information that require little more structure than what is available in simple mail

Consolidation of information: You may use web mashup or pool information from other web pages for analysis. Facebook, orkut, Google News, iGoogle, myYahoo are good examples of these

Showcasing talent: You may want to show case your skill of photography, performing art in picasa, flicker, you-tube etc.

E-Commerce: You may be interested in buying and/or selling things online

Data Repository: Some may use cloud computing, and shift their information repository to online

Today there are number of option to host the website. You can use a free site like google-site or take some shared box webhost service costing less than $10 per year or chose to host it on data center. It all depends on what kind of traffic you expect to get and what kind of material you want to distribute.

If your page is like Richard Stallman - simple with only text then you will be able to manage even very high hit rate with relatively low end server. On the other hand a website heavy with flash and graphics, say like J K Rowling's will need a high end server even for a modest number of hits.

Apart from cost, there are other consideration of service reliability and connection speed. In such cases many free sites offered on piggyback of big players offer advantage.

Web space requirement is the next improtant factor; essential but can be managed. Once I had a request from a professional society to make them a Content Management System. Now a CMS like Joomla or Drupal takes almost 5MB space just for the core software, your own stuff comes over and above that. But with careful redisn, it is possible to reduce even a CMS to less than 1 MB. tinyCMS was result of that effort. In similar line you have simpleBlog and TigerWiki.

This is not a problem, if you plan to setup the server from your own home. If you have a broadband connection and willing to put up your machine always on and connected to internet then setting up a website at your home desttop is a simple thing. (more of that in my later blog)

One thing personal website, in own setup suffers is ranking in search engine. These gives higher rating to known popular sites rather than low traffic pesonal site. As an example my blog - http://soumyanath.blogger.com has about ten times more traffic than my earlier blog http://www.soumya.name/blog

In current context perhaps, it is not going to be a choice of setting every thing up at one nice little site with a monolithic site. Current age is of clound computing and mashups. So put your stuff in various places, mixthem and present at a site with consolidation, parts of the stuff may come from various other sites which may or may not be owned by you.

Simple Electric motor

2010-12-25T00:33:00.000-08:00

This is a simple motor with explanation how it works

This one takes the cake in its innovation: So simple, that it is now difficult to explain

It snows in the weekends in Minneapolis

2010-12-10T21:19:00.000-08:00

Call it conspiracy, call it weather engineering, it is no secret, Minneapolis weekends are reserved for rain or snow.

Anyway, enjoy the beauty of snow, it looks nice when viewed in picture or warm comfort of the glass wall.

2010-10-07T17:02:00.000-07:00

The place where I stay is a very quite. Minneapolis is not a particularly famous tourist destination. But every place has it's own special beauty.

Fall color is a special thing in Minneapolis. Rivers, lakes and colorful trees make a perfect setting for winter.

Splitting water

2010-06-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

Splitting water is easiest thing in the earth. All you need is a source of direct current a.k.a battery eliminator, some long wire, a plastic dish (deep) to keep water and couple of test tubes to collect what comes out of the split.

Tie the test tubes as shown with a cloth clip using a rubber band. Fill the tubes with water, add some salt to reduce the resistance. Shove open end of the cable inside test tube.

It may be a good idea to attach a gas carbon rod taken out from battery. This will protect the wire from erosion.

Once you do this, as I have done - you will notice bubbles coming out from end of the wire. These are Hydrogen and Oxygen.

What we did - is known as electrolysis a big word that means splitting by electricity.

Try electrolysis with concentrated salt water, let me know what did you notice.

Making the first element -- Hydrogen

2009-09-16T23:14:00.000-07:00

Hydrogen - it is perhaps the simplest of the atoms and most abundant in universe. Consisting of just a proton and an electron it occupies the very first box of periodic table. Abundance of Hydrogen in universe is perhaps a good proof that our universe is young, with lot of energy to spend before it starts collapsing under its own weight.

To make hydrogen in your home you will need a pile of nails, about 50 gms
will do nicely. You will also need Hydrochloric Acid. Muriatic Acid sold to clean toilets etc. is a good source of HCl for our purpose.
For the experiment we shall use a glass bottle, with a two hole stopper. Put a glass tube that should go near the bottom and project out by at least 70mm out side. In the other hole insert a short tube. With the short tube attach a rubber tube about 50cm in length. Fill 1/5th of the bottle with nails. Then pour water till 1/3 of bottle. Then pour Muriatic acid to cover 2/3rd of the bottle. Quickly place the stopper on the bottle, taking care not to break the glass tube. Place the bottle on a tray. You will notice hydrogen bubbles coming out from the nails. Now take other end of the rubber pipe under a shallow through, and collect the gas in a water-filled test tube. Gas bubble will replace the water to fill the test tube.

You will notice Hydrogen is a colorless gas. If you take a lighted stick the gas will explode with a "pop" sound. Hydrogen explodes in presence of oxygen. As time goes the gas will have little oxygen mixed with it, then it will burn slowly with a bluish flame. If manage to blow a bubble with the gas, this will fly, as Hydrogen is lighter than air. Actually it the lightest of all elements.

Think of other things that you can do with hydrogen and write to me how your experiment go.

Good Luck!

2009-06-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

"A place for every thing

and every thing in it's place.

That's the way to sure success."

There is nothing more convenient and peaceful than having a place on your own where you can do all your experiments without disturbance. For our work it does not take much to achieve that.

I use a simple rack for my work now. It has all my chemicals, labware and place for doing the work. On top, I keep the work. It has a test tube stand. A small plastic container to dispose chemicals, another small bottle to keep little distilled water to give final rinse to the lab ware. Rest keep changing on the need. I have a small pad of insulating material to keep hot bottles, glassware. Two spirit lamps for heating and glass works. I do take a little liberty of using few labware - it is there with me for last thiry years - two 100 ml beaker and two 250ml flask, besides couple of test tubes. These come handy as you can easily heat them and watch what's going on inside. But these are not at all essential. Normal bottles would do just right.

If you have luxury of a big place available for your work, then you may spend a few buck on a Lab table. I had one such during my student days. Very convenient but takes lot of space.

Modern cramped flats where space is in big premium, you can probably get a wall unit made. The sketch given below will serve most requirement. You can extend the rack on top or bottom to store more items and chemicals. Drop down lid folds away to release space when it is not required. At the same time it is ideal to save unfinished work. If you have toddlers around in the house, it is essential that you keep all your chemical under lock and key.

Chemistry of electricuty - let's explore battery

2009-06-27T01:07:00.000-07:00

Enough of talking about resource. Let's get started with our first experiment. We shall see how a battery work and also salvage some raw material for our next experiment.
For this you need two exhausted zinc battery. Do not try this with alkaline cells or rechargeable ones - they contain some pretty corrosive chemical that we are not yet equipped to handle. You will require atleast two batteries to get material for our next experiments. That should not be a difficult task I suppose. Big UM3 size batteries are good, but AAA cells will also do.
If you have paper covered battery then your work is simple. But most batteries now have a metal leakproof jacket - it makes the task a bit difficult. Carefully with help of a plier remove the outer jacket. Inside you will find a grey colored tube - which should be heavily perforated by now by the corrosive chemical reaction that takes place inside the battery.
Carefully open the zinc casing from top. Inside you will find a dirty mixture of black powder and some paste. THese are manganese dioxide and ammonium chloride mixture. There will be some glue, and graphite powder. At the center there is a black rod - made of gas carbon. We need these rods in intact condition - take care not to break them.
Carefully disassemble the different parts on a old newspaper.scrape resedue out of zinc casing. Now pour the black mixture of MnO2 & NH4CL in a wide mouthed bottle. Pour about 70ml of water and mix it well to dissolve all soluble chemicals. If required pour a bit more. Decant and
then filter using funnel and filter paper. Old news paper makes excellent filter paper. The black resedue is primarily manganese di-oxide and solution has primarily ammonium chloride. Dry the solution in a shallow dish. You will get white powder of ammonium chloride. Some Zinc chloride and other impurities will also be present. Wash the zinc casing in tapwater.
Once you are done, save the four parts - Zinc, Manganese di-oxide, gas carbon rod and ammonium chloride in separate container. We shall use them in our later experiments.
Wash the zinc casing keep it aside in a wide mouth bottle.

Setting up a home chemistry lab

2009-06-25T02:21:00.000-07:00

Chemistry or for that matter all science experimentation has become obsolete as hobby. I used to have a small chemistry laboratory when I was kid and spend countless hours in doing my small experiments. This has helped me immensely in understanding science and many other related subjects in most enjoyable way. Now I am father of two kids and wanted to help my kids setup some lab of their own. To my utter surprise, I found science kits are taboo subject. Trying to buy chemical reagents look down upon. If you ask around you are viewed as potential terrorist or a drug baron.
As a kid 30 years ago, I had no difficulty in getting small quantity of nitric acid. My friendly neighborhood store owner did enquire me about the purpose and cautioned me about the hazard. But once he was satisfied that I do intend to use these for my experiment he encouraged me and actively helped me to source many other things that I did not know where to get. But
things have changed. Now, most of those chemicals are not available easily. Even where these are available, there you can only get them in bulk quantity on 1 litre odd pack. For home experiments I need hardly 50ml of these. I understand, keeping even these at home has become a law and order issue in some part of the world. With all these, I thought of writing this blog on doing simple chemistry experiments at home.
You don't need to spend much for doing most chemistry experiments. Only thing you require is to know the chemicals available around you and innovate to use them. In fact you can start a chemistry laboratory with an investment of as little as Rs. 50/-. This is my aim, to help all to learn chemistry by the fun way.
To setup your own small chemistry first think of the space that you can get. You won't need a very big space. A corner of a balcony, a space below staircase is more than sufficient for your purpose. You need a place to keep your things handy. A small rack is excellent for the purpose. A small table will be a luxury. If you are constrained for space, consider a 4inch deep wall mounted rack. At bottom of the rack you can fit a drop down lid that will serve as your work table. Whatever you get, plan where will keep your things and keep things in orderly manner.
"Keep a place for every thing
and keep everything in its place.
That is the road of sure success."
I give my suggested layout for all the three category of setup. This is by no means the ultimate. Use whatever available to you easily and improvise to suit your requirement. To do the experiment that I will describe in this blog later, you will need three wide mouthed jar. Discarded jam or mayonnaise jars will be perfect. You will also need three glass bottle.
100ml medicine bottles will do. You need to keep rather large supply of distilled water. You can buy it from petrol pump or take it from refrigerator or air conditioner. The discharge water during defrosting or from AC outlet is good enough purity level for our experiment. Keep this in
a discarded cold drink bottle. You will also need a supply of glass bottles to keep your chemicals. I prefer, glass bottle with plastic caps for these. I do not have much patient to accumulate them over time and prefer to buy them from junk shop. This way, I can easily get bottles in uniform size and shape easily. You will require about twenty bottle for the chemicals. You will also need a funnel, a plastic one will, a glass one is excellent. If you can get a pack of filter paper. Even newspaper can be used as filter paper but the result may not be consistent.
You will need about 2m of glass tube of 5mm dia. and 1m of rubber tube. Six test tube and about ten rubber stopper will get you started with your own chemistry lab. Rubber stoppers requires some planning. Below, I give bare minimum requirement:

Stopper for test tube

Without any hole - 3 Nos
With 1 hole - 1
With 2 hole - 2

Stopper for 100ml bottle

with 2 hole - 3
With 1 hole - 3
without hole - 2

The hole should allow 5mm glass tube to be fitted snugly. You should try to get the stoppers with pre-drilled holes or get someone to make the holes for you. If you fail to do either then may be you should consider buying a cork borer.
You will also need a pliers and a battery eliminator for some of the experiments. With these, you are ready to venture into the land of chemicals.

Kidneys of Kolkata

2009-05-31T09:28:00.000-07:00

Kidneys of Kolkata

Posted On Saturday, May 30, 2009 at 12:11:16 PM

The East Kolkata wetlands fed by sewage water is a picture-pretty place

Divya Fernandez

Kolkata and its unending supply of legendary fresh fish-did you ever imagine this had any connection with the sewage generated by this overcrowded city? Well, its true - Kolkata has the world's largest collection of fish farms fed by sewage water! Large areas of vegetables are grown on garbage and paddy fields are irrigated by sewage effluent.

All this at the East Kolkata wetlands at the edge of the city - a place few people, even Kolkatans, have bothered to visit.

When I first heard about it, my reaction was, "Oh, must be a mucky, smelly swampy place." When I actually went deep into the wetlands, walking along the bunds, guided by Bonanidi who has been here hundreds of times and fought a case for it back in 1992, it simply took my breath away.

You have to see it to believe it. And it didn't look dirty at all. A network of small square cut ponds, edged with water hyacinth, paddy fields soaked in water, all interspersed by bunds, little bamboo bridges, tree-lined canals. You forget you were just half an hour ago in a big bustling city like Kolkata.

I felt humbled, but I was truly humbled when I saw people - yes human beings - living in an intricate relationship with these wetlands as if their life depended on it. It is their forefathers who helped build the wetland as it is today and has been nourished from generation to generation.

The region is part of the mature delta of the River Ganga and the wetlands are the interdistributory marshes in the delta.

The streams which were once active became inactive after the shifting of the main river and consequent loss of headwaters from the Hoogly. The tidal action of the Bay of Bengal earlier caused salinity and tides in these lake areas.

The earliest known accounts of these Salt Lakes go back to the year 1748 when it was a vast area, teeming with fish and birds and extending right up to a mound known as Dumduma, near which Burmese and Mug traders arriving in boats used to anchor.

The East Kolkata Wetlands as it is known today comprise nearly 115 sq km. Using the purification capacity of wetlands, Kolkata has pioneered a system of waste disposal that is both efficient and environment friendly, at no extra cost. The cost of setting up a sewage treatment plant today would be about Rs 400 crore and require Rs 1,000 crore in yearly maintenance.

Kolkata, the second largest Indian city containing 14 million people generates roughly 680 million litres of sewage. One-third of the city's sewage and most of its garbage is converted into 20 tonnes of fish and 50 tonnes of vegetables.

This provides for about 60 g of fish and 300 g of vegetables daily for about 5 lakh people.The wetland foliage has spongy roots that can accumulate heavy metals in their tissues at 100,000 times the concentration in the surrounding water and also house nurseries of fish among them.

Eichhornia crassipes or water hyacinth found here, is known as the Jekyll and Hyde of the wetland world because though it helps remove toxic materials in some wetlands it is often a costly adversary in others because of its phenomenal growth. In the East Kolkata Wetlands, the fishermen prevent the hyacinth that edges their bheris (The fishermen use gates to direct the foul smelling sewage into their tiny shallow water fishponds called bheris) from clogging the ponds by ingeniously and simply holding them back with bamboo fences.

Rare mammals like the Indian marsh mongoose, small Indian mongoose , palm civet, and small Indian civet are found in and around the area. Threatened reptiles like the Indian mud turtle are found. Birdwatchers regularly come to watch the local as well as migratory birds that visit the wetlands. More than 40 species including coot, grebe, darter, shag, teals, cormorant, egrets, gulls, jacanas, snipes, tern, eagle, sandpiper, rails and kingfishers are seen here.

One-fourth of Kolkata's total requirement of vegetables reach the city with minimum cost of transport. Fish reach the stalls straight from the auction market - there is no expense on cold storage or fish feed, Yet Kolkatans are ready to pay a good price because they can see how fresh it is.

Not many city dwellers realise that these wetlands are the lungs and kidneys of Kolkata. Over the years, people have been eyeing this area as free space - whether for building an eye hospital or as a place for old cows and goats!

They even wanted to build a World Trade Centre in the middle of the wetland! In 1992, the Kolkata High Court designated 12,500 ha of the wetland as a conservation area, after the judge himself visited the area. Like I said, seeing is believing!

The court order prevents changes in landuse. Yet developers encroach on its edges and development speculation never ceases to dog the area, with an active promoter-real-estate-developer lobby waiting in the wings.

Now Dipayan Dey, environmentalist and LEAD India finalist, through the Indian chapter of the NGO SAFE is working on a project that aims to restore to restore and develop the East Kolkata Wetlands so that this precious habitat remains intact and also help sustain the communities that depend on it.

Keeping in mind that the beauty of the wetlands attracts many tourists who come for bird watching, boating, picnicking and photography, with the help of the local community, they have put together thatched huts, which are rented out to visitors. Women of the fishing communities have been trained in hospitality and catering and the families will provide these services to eco-tourists for a reasonable charge. In this way the ecosystem is taken care of while also sustaining the community.

This area is internationally recognised as the only Ramsar entry from India for wetland wise use and the only one that is by the side of a city. The people of the wetlands do not care about all this, they only want to be allowed to coexist with nature. Though Kolkata may not be aware of its lungs and kidneys, for these people, it is their very life.

Cyclone Aila cripples East

2009-05-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

Cyclone Aila cripples East

While Orissa faced the full wrath of the cyclone, Bengal puts up a brave challenge

Avishek Rakshit

Friday, May 29, 2009

KOLKATTA, INDIA: The cyclone which took on Bengal and Orissa on May 25th evening, left the eastern coastal region paralyzed for two days; Kolkata and Bhubaneswar dared the gale.

Christened Aila, the cyclone has taken its toll on the market in the two states, with the cyclonic trough of 250-350km in diameter and winds speeding up to 120kmph. At least 82 people have been killed across West Bengal and over 1,800 trees uprooted in the metro.

Also, electric poles have keeled over endangering short circuits leaving water supply across the city in a total state of chaos. Also, traffic systems have been brought to a halt with blocked roads lying unattended, and even the Metro Railways crashed down.

"The cyclone set in late night on Sunday and raged on for the next day. It was total chaos and especially Puri, Cuttak, Chandrapura and Balasore have been severely affected. The cyclone has left the state capital devastated with uprooted trees blocking the roads, and broken lamp-posts bringing in the fear of short circuits and electric shocks," said Prasant Kumar Swain of Bhubneshwar-based Nigama Comptech and Services.

"After the cyclone, life in the city has halted for two days. Already business has been affected by the global slowdown and the declaration of the examination results. Now, with the cyclone setting in, we are facing not only a chaotic situation in the state but incurring heavy losses in the trade," Swain added.

Across Orissa, logistics has been halted for about a week with waterlogged areas in the upcountry regions looking forward to government relief. Also, as employees in the stores in the region are returning home in the upcountry, dealers are facing an employee crunch in the state.

The case is similar in West Bengal, where the state capital Kolkata is witnessing the aftermath of Aila. For two days, nearly half of the city went without water and electric supply with frustrated protesters across the city resorting to mob fury and road blockades in major traffic crossings.

Also, communication across the state came to a standstill for an entire day with Buddhadev Bhattacharya, CM of the state admitting that telephone lines has been cut down and even mobile phone networks laying jammed all through.

"There are few customers in the shop. There is no water and electricity in many parts of the city till day and people are resorting to road-blocks frustrated with these problems. Also, outstation customers are not coming here knowing the state of the city and sales has been direly hit. However, there are no logistical problems crippling here and sufficient stocks are there in the godowns," said Kolkata-based Gaurav Goel of Eastern Logica.

However, compared to the scenario in Bhubaneswar, Kolkata is better off. Speaking about the issue, Kolkata-based Chandra Prakash Shaw of Lotte Computers stated, "Kolkata has not been direly affected by Aila. There has not been much of an impact over the sales due to the gale and life is normal in the shop. However, some parts of the city is still waterlogged and there is no electricity."

The situation is also the same in Bengal upcountry. As heavy rains battered the hills, landslides either washed away or damaged houses, and roads in Darjeeling and Kurseong subdivisions. Darjeeling was cut off from the plains as rain and swirling mountain torrents devastated Hill Cart Road (NH-55), Pankhabari Road and Rohini Road.

As strong winds uprooted trees and electric and telephone poles, the hills went without electricity and phone services were down.

Traffic on Hill Cart Road was closed after two mountain torrents, Khaharay and Whilstle Khola, washed away portions of it near Kurseong town. A landslip obstructed movement of traffic on Dowhill Road in Kurseong. Fire brigade, police and civil defense personnel were deployed for rescue operations. At some places, GJM's police wing Gorkhaland Personnel was engaged to combat the situation.

However, Siliguri dealers did not report any considerable damage due to the storm.

"The road to Darjeeling and Kurseong has been blocked and the hills are laying cut off from the Siliguri plains. However, there has not been any considerable damage in business here due to the showers," said Siliguri-based Bijay Agarwal of Computer Shoppe.

Also, Hoogly, where Aila was at its worst, has been normal throughout the week. Although dealers reported improper rescue operations worsening the infrastructural part, they are confident that trading has not been affected.

"There have not been any issues with trading. On Monday, we had shut ourselves against the storm and had to close early. But, next day onwards, we did not have to suffer any business loses. Also, logistics is at a normal flow," said Mrinmoy Banerjee of Hoogly-based Horizon Computers.

Reinstating the statement, Pinakiranjan Banerjee of Bankura-based Galaxy said, "The situation here is quite normal. Although in the villages, there has been considerable damage because of the cyclone, here, business is normal. We are having our regular customers and there are no issues or complaints regarding flow of materials. Trading is normal here."

Nevertheless, the cyclone Aila which had bring in havoc for Orissa and Bengal has a positive side too. Aided by the cyclone Aila, monsoon has arrived in the Northeast a week before its scheduled date of June 1, bringing relief to the people exhausted with the hot and humid summers.

©DQChannels

Article from The Hindu: Sent to you by Soumya

2009-05-27T01:44:00.000-07:00

=============================================================
This article has been sent to you by Soumya ( soumyanath.c@gmail.com )
=============================================================
Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com/2009/05/27/stories/2009052759951000.htm)
Front Page
  

West Bengal cyclone death toll mounts to 82

Ananya Dutta

Heavy rain triggers landslips in Darjeeling; Aila weakens into depression and causes downpour

— Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

Flood of woes: Marooned villagers at Basanti in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district move to safer places on Tuesday.

KOLKATA: The city and some districts, devastated by cyclone Aila on Monday, are yet to come to terms with the reality, even as the death toll shot up to 82. Fresh areas in the north were reeling under the impact of the cyclone’s after-effects on Tuesday. More than 2.2 million people have been affected.
Heavy and incessant rain in Darjeeling triggered landslips, which claimed nine lives. At least six people are reported missing. The highway connecting the hills to the rest of the State was blocked at several places.
“Cyclone Aila has weakened into a depression,” said G.C. Debnath, director, weather section, Regional Meteorological Centre. “It caused very heavy rainfall in north Bengal on Tuesday.”
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has apprised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of the situation.
Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who is in Darjeeling, was in constant touch with Mr. Bhattacharjee. He visited three areas worst hit by the landslips and met the injured who were admitted to the district hospital. He appreciated the locals for their help in clearing the roads of debris.
While Kolkata limped back to normal, vast areas of the districts hit by the cyclonic storm on Monday were under water that gushed in through breaches in the embankments.
Army and Border Security Force personnel are assisting in rescue operations in Darjeeling and North and South 24 Parganas districts. Two MI-17 helicopters of the Air Force are airdropping relief materials and carrying out evacuations in inaccessible areas in South and North 24 Parganas.
More than 41,000 people, who have lost their homes, have been put up in 109 relief camps. Around 61,000 houses have been destroyed and 1.32 lakh partially damaged, Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty said here.
Certain areas, including Patharpratima in South 24 Parganas district, remain inaccessible.
The Chief Minister visited some of the worst-hit areas in the district. So did Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee later in the afternoon.
Mr. Bhattacharjee spoke to a section of those sheltered in the relief camps in the Nimpith area. Rescue and relief operations were being undertaken on a war-footing, he said. Attempts were being made to restore power and drinking water was also being supplied in pouches.
Ms. Banerjee suggested that a master plan be drawn up for flood and erosion control. She criticised the State government for not opening adequate relief camps.
Kolkata, much to the relief of its residents, woke up to clear skies in the morning. Though traffic was back on the roads, several stretches continue to remain blocked by uprooted trees.

63 dead in Bangladesh

Haroon Habib
reports from Dhaka:
Cyclone Aila, which crossed over to Bangladesh, claimed more than 60 lives there, with more than a 100 missing as on Tuesday.
The cyclone wreaked havoc in Satkhira, a south-west district adjoining West Bengal, leaving 20 dead, said a senior official at the district control room. Packing winds of up to 110 kmph, the storm made landfall between midday and late night on Monday.
Thousands were shifted to emergency shelters along the south-west coastline. Tidal surges damaged nearly a dozen flood-control structures, marooning thousands.
Reports said many smaller islands such as Dhalchar, Char Kukrimukri, Char Patila, Char Hasina, Char Nizam and Char Kashpia in the Bay of Bengal were under 8 to 10 feet of water.

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Bird of Paradise

2009-05-06T10:46:00.001-07:00

dsc00013
Originally uploaded by soumyanath

Come summer and North Bengal calls you. It's a waste to toil in the Kolkata heat leaving the cool hills.

I really wish, some people had sense to move at least IT industries to hills. It would have provided some cash to hills and much needed activity to the desk bound IT population.

Amazing fact! Now I know why spelling do not matter ....

2008-07-07T21:32:00.000-07:00

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht
oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist
and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you
can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos
not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Let's Linux

2008-06-30T02:05:00.000-07:00

Linux is an operating system developed by people who loves computers. An operating system is a collection of programs that tells your computer on how to store pieces of information to your hard disk. How to connect to internet and so many things, that normally you take for granted. Most of the first time computer users are forced with a operating system developed by Microsoft Corp. called Windows. It charges about $200 USD for the software. of which a substantial portion goes as comission to your dealer. No doubt - then he does not tell you about a similar (actually some what better) software available to you free of cost.

There are deals to make that $200 vanish. The vanishing trick is called pre-loaded OS. Do not fall for it, compare prices of hardware with similar spec and you will discover the OS difference.

Some not so ethical vendor will also try to give you a deal - they will offer you to load a pirated version of Windows free of cost. DO NOT FALL for iit. They do it - so that they can sell you another useless piece of software called antivirus. Not only that, once you use it, you are legally in the same boat as a thief. Would like to have such distinction?

But you have a choice. A choice to dup all that pricy OS and anti-virus and so on. Why bother with a piece of OS that could not address its security hole to Virus even after 20 years. Go for Linux. It is virtually free from virus attack. As a result, your machine has all its power to work on the task rather than checking for virus. It comes with all the goodies like Office, torrent client, compilers etc. and it is available free. Free to install and free to distribute.

You can get a copy of Linux from your friendly neighborhood LUG (aka. Linux User Group) or search around for some freebie site.

Now that you have read this page: go the right way - USE Linux. Use ethical software without fear; with full freedom.

Linux is a free software. It comes with freedom to use, distribute, view and modify the code.

Winners are different...

2008-06-05T06:44:00.000-07:00

A winner is NOT one who NEVER FAILS......but one who NEVER QUITS!!!": Need proof? Read on...

Officials rejected a candidate for a news broadcasters post since his voice
was not fit for a news broadcaster.
He was also told that with his obnoxiously long name,
he would never be famous. He is

>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>

Amitabh Bachchan. (Hindi Films Super Star )
-------------------------------------------

In 1962, four nervous young musicians played their first record audition for
the executives of the Decca Recording Company.

The executives were not impressed. While turning down this group of
musicians,
one executive said, "We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are
on the way out."
The group was called
The Beatles.
--------------------------------------------
In 1944, Emmeline Snively, director of the Blue Book Modeling Agency told
modeling hopeful Norma Jean Baker,
"You'd better learn secretarial work or else get married".
She went on and became
Marilyn Monroe.
----------------------------------------------
In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry,fired a singer after one
performance. He told him,
"You ain't goin' nowhere son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck".
He went on to become
Elvis Presley.
-- - --------------------------------------------
A small boy--the fifth amongst seven siblings of a poor father,
was selling newspapers in a small village to earn his living.
He was not exceptionally smart at school but was fascinated by
religion and rockets.

The rockets he designed failed multiple times
and he was made a butt of ridicule.
He is the person to have scripted the Space Odyssey of India
single-handedly. He is
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.President of India.
-------------------------------------------
When
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876,
it did not ring off the hook with calls from potential backers.
After making a demonstration call, President Rutherford Hayes said,
"That\'s an amazing invention, but who would ever want to see one of them?"
-------------------------------------------
When
Thomas Edison invented the light bulb,
he tried over 2000 experiments before he got it to work.
A young reporter asked him how it felt to fail so many times.
He said, "I never failed once. I invented the light bulb.
It just happened to be a 2000-step process".
-------------------------------------------
In the 1940s, another young inventor named
Chester Carlson
took his idea to 20 corporations, including some of the biggest in
the country.
They all turned him down. In 1947, after 7 long years of rejections,
he finally got a tiny company in Rochester, NY, the Haloid Company,
to purchase the rights to his invention--an electrostatic
paper-copying process.
Haloid became
Xerox Corporation.
------------------------------------------

A young graduate preparing for his public service examination failed in Bengali language test by his professors. They told him, his language is archaic and has many mistake.

He was Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. One of the most successful Bengali writer, creator of the National Song of India - Vande Mataram.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
An young student took up research on a subject which nobody thought to be important. The work was thought so useless that She was asked to shift her work to a damp basement.

Well this Student got two Nobel Prize. In case you are still wondering - her name is Marie Curie.

She received many honorary science, medicine and law degrees and honorary memberships of learned societies throughout the world. Together with her husband, she was awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, for their study into the spontaneous radiation discovered by Becquerel, who was awarded the other half of the Prize. In 1911 she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, in recognition of her work in radioactivity. She also received, jointly with her husband, the Davy Medal of the Royal Society in 1903 and, in 1921, President Harding of the United States, on behalf of the women of America, presented her with one gram of radium in recognition of her service to science. But when She did her research, it was thought to be insignificant work.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don't say you're not important! It simply isn't true, Life unfolds as we travel through time.
Enjoy the life as it emerges, It will stand throughout the ages, Savor each chapter as you go, Taking time to turn the pages.

You can make a difference, You see, it's up to you!

AN INTERESTING CONVERSATION

2008-06-05T06:43:00.000-07:00

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new students to stand and.....Prof: So you believe in God? Student: Absolutely, sir.Prof: Is God good? Student: Sure.Prof: Is God all-powerful? Student: Yes.Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm? (Student is silent.)Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good? Student: Yes.Prof: Is Satan good? Student: No.Prof: Where does Satan come from?Student : From...God...Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world? Student: Yes.Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?Student: Yes.Prof: So who created evil? (Student does not answer.)Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they? Student: Yes, sir.Prof: So, who created them? (Student has no answer.)Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me,son...Have you ever seen God? Student: No, sir.Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God? Student: No, sir.Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.Prof: Yet you still believe in Him? Student: Yes.Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son? Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has. Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?Prof: Yes. Student: And is there such a thing as cold?Prof: Yes. Student: No sir. There isn't. (The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence ! of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it. (There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness? Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness? Student : You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you? Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man? Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how? Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor.Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do. Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir? (The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher? (The class is in uproar.)Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain? (The class breaks out into laughter.)Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain! ,sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir? (The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son. Student: That is it sir... The link between man & god is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive.NB: I believe you have enjoyed the conversation...and if so...you'll probably want your friends/colleagues to enjoy the same...won't you?...forward them to increase their knowledge... this is a true story, and the student was none other than.........APJ Abdul Kalam, the past president of India. (Contributed - authenticity not verified)

Perils of high productivity

2008-06-05T06:40:00.000-07:00

We are often tutored to raise our productivity and be as effecient as possible. Nature works otherwise.

Let's take the case of one marvellous insect: Locust

The very name is enough to run a chill through the spine of people living on farming. It’s hard not to have at least a grudging respect for the desert locust. It has survived on Earth for millions of years, thriving in the heat and aridity of the world’s most inhospitable deserts. For the most part, the insect known as Schistocerca gregaria goes quietly about its inscrutable insect business, a solitary and inconspicuous brown speck concealed in clumps of widely scattered desert vegetation, subsisting on even the most noxious weeds when necessary. Each insect capable of eating its own body weight (about 2 grams, or .07 ounces) in vegetation each day, a swarm that size could consume 192 million kilograms of vegetation each day, or more than 423 million pounds. Now consider that in the last century alone, there were seven periods of numerous plagues, the longest of which lasted intermittently for 13 years.

Our admiration can only be carried so far, though, when this seemingly shy and inconspicuous insect reveals its surprising dark side. Throughout recorded human history, and surely long before, locust plagues have periodically poured forth from their arid confines and invaded areas where people live, farm, and graze their livestock.

Desert Locusts are widely found in north Africa, Deserts of Arabia and North-West India, mainly in the state of Rajasthan.

Such was the devastation caused by this insect, that in the Thar Desert is called Marwar. The word Marwar is derived from Sanskrit word 'Maruwat'. English translation of the word is "region of death".

During quiet periods, called recessions, locusts are confined to a 16-million-square-kilometer (6.2-million-square-mile) belt that extends through the Sahara Desert in northern Africa, across the Arabian Peninsula, and into northwest India.

The default state of the desert locust is to be solitary—to have a strong aversion to others of its kind. But when conditions are right (or perhaps ‘wrong’ would be the better word), swarms invade countries on all sides of the recession area, as far north as Spain and Russia and as far east as India and southwest Asia. As many as 60 countries can be affected. Swarms regularly cross the Red Sea between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and are even reported to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to the Caribbean. Monitoring locust habitat during recessions means monitoring a large, forbidding expanse of arid and semi-arid terrain, often in conflict-ridden, developing countries with little infrastructure or technology.
Problem with Locust is the destruction of crop. It eats the plant so effeciently that leaves no trace of any greenery, and causes most plants to die, making the entire region barren. This has been a major cause of environmental degradation.

Many historians point out the existence of coal in Marwar region. Thus clearly indicating this land which is now desert was once had thriving vegetation. Locust attack was possibly one of the cause of turning it into desert.

This goes to say: effecient exploitation is not the right thing to do.

Let's be ourselves

2008-06-05T06:35:00.000-07:00

I am not in this world
to live upto your expectation.

You are not to live upto mine.

You are you and I am I.

If we meet it is fine...

-- Source unknown

GOD

2008-01-02T15:09:00.000-08:00

It was a stormy night,

I could not sleep.

My kid woke up in the noise of thunderstorm,

he saw me beside him,

went to sleep peacefully.

I saw HE is there,

I also slept blissfully.

(This is a lame translation of poem by Prof. Prasad Khastagir)

Was it a dream?

2008-01-02T15:07:00.000-08:00

It was a difficult night. My last night at TMTC on a training session. It was unusually hot night for Pune weather. I was not able to sleep.

Those of you who are not familiar with TMTC, let me tell about it. TMTC is a training center for Tata employees. Located adjacent to Pune railway station in a sprawling campus. The main building where classes are held is an old mansion of grand victorian design. The training sessions are fully residential. There are few guest rooms in the campus. After office hours the huge area with old trees becomes more of a tourist spot than a college. Concieving and maintaing such a place in heart of the city calls for a finely cultured taste.

This was the last day, many participants had left in the evening itself. My train was in early morning. I had noting to do so went to bed a bit early. Around eleven o'clock there was large bang in the ac and it went off with a smoke. Along with it went the power supply for the room. I came out of my room, but there is not a soul to be found at that hour so I went back to my bed.

I slept for hardly one hour, there was a sharp knock on my door. I opened the door thinking some electrician has come to repair the air conditioner. But there was a lady standing. She gestured me to follow her. I was dazed from sudden awaking, I stopped to ask her some thing. The lady turned back as if reading my mind. Put her finger on her lips, gesturing me not to speak and urged me to come with her. I was too stunned to think and followed her. She was wearing a flowing white dress. It was a full moon night, so there was plenty of light but there was a haze. The fog was very dense slightly above the ground. Top of the trees were completely hidden in the mist. At a distance some owl was hooting.

We walked for quite some thing, away from the guest rooms, crossing a lawn and the main building we went into a garden. There was a fountain flowing beside a rose bush. Just beside it there was a marble bench. The lady gestured me sit there and asked me to wait. Then just vanished.

I mean, here she was there in front of me, but then I could not see her any more. The fog was thickening. I waited and waited then finally got up to search for here. Suddenly she came out from the main building with a dazzling smile on her face. She asked me to follow her again, but this time I lost my cool. I asked her what is this about. She said nothing and gestured me impatiently to come after her.

This was getting too much for my nerves. I rushed and tried to reach for her hand. Then suddenly I fell down. I was falling into nowhere....

"Sir, Sir! Sir!!!" the chowkidar was shaking me. "You leave at once for the station. Your car has come" He said. "I was searching for you every where, it is already too late". I saw my watch, the train is to leave Pune within next ten minutes. There was no time to think. I grabbed my baggage and jumped into the cab. The chowkidar was telling "It is not good to come near the main building...."

Later when I was settled in the train, it was passing Lonavala. In the cloud I could see two eyes as if waiting for me, or was it a trick played on my sleepy eyes I am yet to decide.

Laminated Newspaper jacket: Cheap thermowear - to protect poor from cold

2008-01-02T14:49:00.000-08:00

More than 200 dead as South Asia gripped by icy weather....

I read this some 20 yrs ago,a cheap soluion to keep people warm. Thought of sharing over the net so that the idea may be used by some body to help the poor.

Essentially you put two piece of news paper sandwitched between two sheets of pvc. This can then be stitched or pasted to make airtight joints.

Price of the items is almost nothigs but this thing is very warm; better than many costly woolen garments. Mind you, it is not recommended for continious use. One may wear it over another clothing.

An amazing paragraph - I wonder how do I understand this

2008-01-02T14:45:00.000-08:00

Can you raed tihs? Olny srmat poelpe can.I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs psas it on !!....:

Contributed by: Vipul Sisodia

Unified Physics Theory Explains Animals' Running, Flying And Swimming

2008-01-02T14:31:00.000-08:00

As an avid reader of Science fiction I always thought, secret of speedy walking is to defy gravity. Later when I read "walk is nothing but a series of fall supported by leg" it struck me as joke, and later I was dumb by the profound implication and simplicity of the statement.

When we walk, we raise our body against gravity and let ourselves fall in front. We repeat the process to move forward. This is process adopted by all non-wheeled movement. Gravity and friction thus helps us in moving forward. Less gravity will make us more energetic but not nacessrily move faster. The secret in moving faster is to control our motions to use less energy.

Birds also uses the same princlple in flying. Bird flaps its wing to go up and then spreads it to move forward in a controlled fall. Fish looks to be a odd one out, as fish in water is actually weightless. But the study shows the movement of fish is possible as displacement of water. It creates a swirl in water by its tail and pushes the swirl back to move forward. Water pressure, thus gravity is required to create the swirl.

It looks very strange that for movement we are bound and at the same time empowered by gravity. Perhaps it is similar with other things also. The same thing that looks to be a hinderance at first sight actually enables us to perform. Maybe such discovery is awaiting for some learned soul to take a fresh look.

Details: http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2005/12/locomotiontheory.html