Me, Midas Touch

Tales of Love..

2012-05-18T22:43:00.001+05:30

Love love love. The whole world revolves around this word. Doesn’t it?

They say love can’t be defined. It can only be felt. And to each one, his own. The following is a attempt by me and a few friends of mine to interpret the word ‘Love’ and what it means to them.

Read on, enjoy. And don’t forget to let us know what is your take on Love!
_____________________________________________________________________

Kashyap Keni

“Whenever wherever if ever you need me,
A day when you fumble,
I'll be there.

When the tides turn toward you,
And the skies start to rumble,
I'll be there.

When troubles surround you,
And the demons have found you,
Or just when you stumble,
I'll be there.

If you can't help but fall,
Just give me a call,
I'll run to you come hell and all,
Together we tumble,
And I'll be there.

So your never alone,
Never ever,
I'll be there, forever.
Even when I begin to crumble.”

_____________________________________________________________

Maithili Kamat Shankhwalker

Are all relationships selfless? Is there any relationship which asks for nothing? And gives everything?

The answer to that is just one : parents!

The relationship parents share with their kids! How long does it take them to start loving us? Not more than one look at the new born baby, and they know it's theirs! Even before we are born, they start dreaming about this important and very gentle phase of their lives, parenthood! It's the purest form of a relationship! They just want us to be happy! That is all that they think of! How to keep us happy, all throughout our lives! Seeing us cry, brings tears to their eyes, and so does seeing us smile! This phase is full of simple feelings of love, yet, they cannot be explained! The most beautiful and selfless feelings ever.

Why selfless? Our parents cannot choose. They can't ask for the kind of kids they want. They can just love their kids unconditionally! No matter what happens. They try to make us better, but have they ever told us to change who we are? Unconditional. Are we the best kids on earth for our parents? Yes we are! They let us take our risks, make mistakes! But why? It hurts them the most when they see us fall! When they see us cry! But they want us to be responsible! They want us to learn! To live. They are our teachers. We see all their actions, know what they have done for us since the day we were born! Can we explain their actions? We can't, can we?

1 month: Staying awake whole night with the little angel on her lap, singing, so that the baby can sleep well, peacefully.

1 year: Holding her tiny fingers, they make her walk, while their eyes are filled with tears.

2 years: She runs behind him, the little feet that run away from food.

3 years: He wipes her tears when the spoon from her 'cooking set' goes missing.

4 years: She gets him ice-cream when he has a bruised knee!

5 years: She guides her little hands through the ABC's...

6 years: He runs behind his princess, holding on to the back of her cycle, and suddenly withdraws his hands, praying that she doesn't fall..

7 years: Her lips break into a smile when she sees her little doll use her lipstick..

8 years: He decides to duck a little so that his champion can score a goal..9 years: her thunderous claps when her little dancer leaves the stage...

10 years: He quietly cleans the glass pieces of the vase, targeted by the cricket ball...all for his little cricketer.

11 years: She works throughout the night on a project, while her daughter is sound asleep.

12 years: A new bike followed by "you are the best dad in the world"!!

13 years: Her first venture in the kitchen. The sweetness of a sugarless coffee. Just plain love.

14 years: Unstable steering, his hands meet his father's, who takes control - his first drive.

15 years: When she is granted permission to go out for dinner, even before she asks for it..last day of high school..

16 years: Entering a new world, life, as the words "good luck" escape their lips..

17 years: Another phase of our life gets over. Higher Secondary. We cry because we won't see our friends again. But when we turn and look behind, we get reminded of the fact that our parents will always be there for us. Selflessly wanting us to keep smiling.

Our parents, the biggest part of our little world. Our love.

_____________________________________________________________________

Vinaya Chandiramani

Love in four months? You’re probably laughing right now. But I’ll tell you, it was more than love. 10^th September, 2009 is when I first saw him. Black (racist?) with little brown eyes, he was a tiny scared puppy – a mix of a Doberman and an Alsatian. A puppy, who probably ran away from home, reached my maid’s house, who promptly brought him here. It wasn’t love at first sight. But friendship, yes.

I named him Sprite. My dad, however, wanted him to have an Indian name, like Gajanan, but he settled for Sprite eventually. Sprite and I became best friends in a week. He’d know as soon as I got up in the morning, I’d walk him a little and then we’d both sit and have our glasses of milk. He was just like a real person. He felt every emotion, except sadness. Sprite was never sad. I could talk to him about anything, and he’d know EXACTLY how I felt. When I’d cry, he’d put his little black head on my lap and lick my hand till I’d stop crying. He’d jump around and lick my face if I was happy. Every night, I’d hum him a lullaby and he’d fall asleep with his blanket. We shared food, and other stuff that will always be special to me.

Then time came to give him away because we couldn’t take care of him anymore. A week before this happened, I sat with him late at night, and before I knew it, he’d fallen asleep on my lap. I didn’t wake him.

Saying goodbye was too hard. Sprite-oo cookie, you were, are and always will be the best friend I’ve ever had. And if that isn’t love, I don’t know what is.

_____________________________________________________________________

A feeling that brings a smile on your face.

- Me, Midastouch.

The Kitten’s Lair

2012-05-14T02:16:00.001+05:30

This ballad was much due to be posted on the blog. Experimenting with writing styles, I must say is fun! Seems like the more simple you keep it, the more of a smile it puts on your face.

A call, all that I was waiting for.
Walk to the beach with her.
Dancing with the muddled integrals,
Sleep, my vertical asymptote to the heavens.

A call was all that came,
That excited voice, spirited bliss.
Not for the walk, but for a talk.
Or, was that a meow?

She’d found a kitten, downstairs.
With the golden ball of fur,
Was she always in love.
Loving her back was the kitten.

He cuddled, he scratched.
He shivered and quivered.
Love, cookies and some milk,
Put the squeaky purrs to sleep.

Never had she kept a kitten before,
In the laundry basket, hidden.
What if it dirties, I asked.
Paved way to her lovely giggles.

The kitten licked,
And it got heftily kissed.
They come once,
Get treated like a king.

A week or two, the kitten lived
She thought, or did she not?
A month it must be,
I judged from experience.

Of experience I talk,
A million pups and kittens.
Brought home with love,
Only to face my mother’s wrath.

Didn’t expect hers to be,
Any different from mine.
Oh, the call that was on,
Had to end. Bye.

The meows don’t end here,
For, there she called again.
The twilight talks,
Venus and the moon overlook.

Her mom, true to my words,
Didn’t love the sight of fur.
A little more milk,
And the kitten lost its lair.

The kids downstairs played,
The tabby nearby preyed.
With her, on her.
Mercy and care, she had.

The kitten soon found,
Her body was nothing but,
A wonderland, a playground.
Soft paws and scratches galore.

The kitten, an obedient child.
Followed her mother, the girl.
On the way up the stairs,
Twice or thrice.

Another call, in delight.
Another meow is what I here,
She loves him, and them all.
I knew by now.

I wanted to help,
I wish I could.
Time to let him go,
It inevitably came.

The watchman, a kind guy
I wish that he is,
Took him, his home.
Lair, was it regained?

The girl felt bad, cried.
I wouldn’t stop her.
For, I million times I have.
A million lost their lairs.

~ LeBiggerBang et LaMyth

27 January 2012

Quickie.

2012-04-22T04:44:00.001+05:30

It has been two months since I last blogged. Maybe more than that. Blame the exams and my busy life. Leave all that aside for a moment. Let me get to the point. Allow me to make it random. Questions and a stanza or two await you.

This is a quickie. I’m desperate to write. ___________________________________________________________

“You are like a blank paper. Blank.

You speak of nothing, tell no tales.

I would fall for it that you came from a rock.

But then I know, you were once a tree.

Lush and full of life to spare.

Can I ever get you back there?”

Is equality a law of nature? Is the world fair and equal to one and all? One nice quote.

“Being nice to the world and expecting it to treat you the same is like being an vegetarian and expecting a tiger to spare your life for that reason.”

I have conflicts in my mind whether equality truly exists. Billions of people are born in the world. Some die within a year and those who survive, well they just survive. A very few live. Think of those who died before they could even give their parents the joy of hearing their baby’s first word. Or those innocents who were massacred in an act of war. Or swept away in a tsunami. I ask, what was their crime?

Go on. Tell me they committed a sin in their previous lifetime. Go on, invoke rebirth. Tell me that the purpose they served was to highlight the plight of the hungry and the destitute all over the world. I ask, why choose them, these innocent mortals to bring the issue to the attention of fellow humans. Why this inequality in choosing who dies? Sacrifice? For what? A piece of land which you think belongs to you just because it is on paper? Sigh. We are not different, are we? Yet we are not equal. Now blame it on the creator’s plans will you? Spare him. Spare him the blame. You know who is the culprit.

Go on, kill the animals, eat them just because they are tasty. And helpless too! I ask, who has given you the right to kill other living beings if you can survive otherwise? And why shoot a lion if it tries to survive off you, then? Why this inequality? Don’t bother to think, is that your escape? Try.

Who are we? Why do we act like the boss, when we know we are not?

I am not frustrated. I’m simply crying from within. I am just like you. I am guilty. And I’m trying to make you feel the same. No offence.

I think the following piece from my Facebook Timeline speaks volumes about what I consider as the truth. Right click and zoom to read the text comfortably.

Yes, I do believe we are here without a purpose and I build up on the stand I take in the last few lines of my previous post, Being Human. We might be an accident. But how much of an accident are we?
The discussion brings me to another crucial junction but it involves a detour. Are we puppets who are here to enact a story that is already written? Or are we the master of our future? Herein, lies the great free will v/s determinism debate. Let’s see what science has to say. Mind you, I am no expert but I shall try my best to give you a rough idea.

Determinism

You must have surely heard about Einstein’s theories of relativity. Take the General theory of relativity. What evolved from it is the idea that the universe is like a loaf of bread. Each slice, representing a still of the universe at a given point in time. So, different slices show you how the universe is at different moments of time. This is known as a block universe. This, is where the past, the present and the future all exist. What do I mean by ‘they all exist’? Well, they all are equal. They all ‘exist’ in their own right. It is just that you experience a different slice which you call ‘now’ or ‘present’.

Suppose there eventually is a ‘theory of everything’, that is something like a formula that you chug in all the information about the universe in and given enough computational power, you will be able to see the past or the future as the laws of nature don’t change over time. Well, that means your future is already out there. You are just walking towards it. What is to happen, will happen. And you are already immortal. Death won’t affect your existence as they frames of time you were ‘alive’ in, they all exist!

And Otherwise

I pretend you must have heard about quantum mechanics too. It is the theory that governs the minute domain. The funniest part with the theory is that is mathematically beautiful, and it is very much true to real world observation but no one knows for sure what the math means! No one knows the physical significance of the math! So, many people came up with different interpretations of a single observation.

The observation is somewhat like this. When a tiny tiny (does that make it cute?) particle goes from a point A to another point B, you just can’t tell what path it took. Straight, curved or maybe around the moon. Suppose a ideal train was to travel from Mumbai to Delhi, knowing its speed you could tell where the train is without actually having any contact with the train. On the contrary, you just can’t say anything about where the particle is until and unless you detect it. That’s nature.

Also, you should know that every particle has something called a ‘wavefunction’ associated with it. A wavefunction is supposed to contain all the information that one has to know about the particle.

The Copenhagen Interpretation says that when an act of ‘observation’ is carried out, the particle is forced to assume a particular position, it is no longer vague. This is known as the wavefunction collapse. That is, the probability of finding the particle at the place it is detected is unity.

Another interpretation, which is steadily gaining steam is the Many Worlds Interpretation. At every event with an inherent uncertainty attached to it, the universe splits or forks into many more universes. Every quantum possibility is realised albeit in a different world. The universe, is not deterministic in a philosophical manner. I won’t go to the length of relating this to free will, though. But I do hope you get the gist of what I am trying to lay before you.

That is, the sort of contrasting views about what exactly is happening. Scientists are yet to figure out what the truth is. Do read up on this from reliable sources if you are interested in knowing more as I am afraid I might have over-simplified it.

But wait.

Wasn’t I supposed to be here doing only a quickie?

Ah, the damned diversions!

Yours,

Thebiggerbang.

Being Human.

2012-01-25T21:13:00.002+05:30

Not blogging for the past few weeks felt as if my philosophical side had gone into a hibernation mode. So here I am, all set to revive myself. To digest that much needed the food for thought that I have chewed upon all these days. Exams, provide us with more than enough on our platter. Like everybody else, we make grand plans that vanish in a puff as soon as the exams get over. Most notably, the grand promise of taking a long nap the day the last paper gets over. It never happens with me, blogging being my priority. Sharing my thoughts is a passion.

Often, small worries get us down. Be them missing out an answer in an examination or a cell-phone that we want. In this post, let me delight you, excite you and take you on a journey where we shall together explore what it is being human. Seldom does a passing thought get directed towards issues regarding the basis of our very own existence and how special it might turn out to be. There is the science and there is the philosophy behind our existence. Let the journey begin.

Being born is quite an event. No wonder our entire family tree is jubilant when that happens. I remember reading a text saying that whenever we face trouble, we should recall the fact that once upon a time our origins are to be attributed to that one sperm that won the race. But does the ‘being lucky’ part starts right there? I think that there is more that we miss out on.

If I were to write an acknowledgement or make an acceptance speech at the ~~Oscars~~ Nobel Prize giveaways, maybe be list would run like this.

I would like to thank the universe for creating itself out of nothing. Possibly.
I thank the laws of nature for being the way that they are. In fact, string theory allows for a vast number—10⁵⁰⁰—of possible ‘worlds’ with different self-consistent sets of laws and constants. Thank you for landing me in here!
I thank all those events that occurred for billions of years to get the universe to the state that it is currently in. 13.7 billion years to be specific. Cheers to all those stars that exploded and all those gases that ganged up to make up more stars and galaxies. From the innumerable quantum uncertainties to the explosive supernovae, thank you.
Cheers to Mother Earth for landing up in the habitable zone, the ‘Goldilocks zone’. Not to hot, not too cold.
How can I forget that comet which seeded the Earth with life? Or perhaps to life itself for coming into being from a random arrangement of molecules? A bolt of lightening? Thank you, whatever you were!
To evolution, those million years that gave us the tools of survival. These teeth and those eyes, minus the tail. And to whatever brought about consciousness, the state of being aware of your surroundings and influencing it at your own will.
To my entire family tree, right from the organisms that arose out of the primordial soup to my ancestors for mating with the right person. For doing all that they have done. As a matter of fact, every generation you climb up leaves you with twice the number of people to thank, it is an exponential increase since we started mating sexually. I too plan to keep up your hard work and keep the wheels moving on!
Ah. Finally to that damn sperm that was lucky enough to find itself home. One in a million. That reminds me, one in a million sperm won every time your ancestors mated!

Anybody game for calculating the probability of you having ended up here? The number zero will be given a run for its money. This brings me to unveil before you a beautiful quotation by the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger who has indulged in considerable philosophy.

“How would we express in terms of the statistical theory the marvellous faculty of a living organism, by which it delays the decay into thermodynamical equilibrium? The device by which an organism maintains itself stationary at a fairly high level of orderliness, really consists in continually sucking orderliness from its environment.”

     If that was a bit tough to chew on, let me elaborate. All he meant to say is that life is something that ‘miraculously’ manages to keep itself going on despite the odds being tremendously against it. What strikes you the first, when I tell you think about life? A picture of a micro-organism or perhaps, your very own arduous struggle? Whatever it may be, we look at it in such a superficial manner that we forget to appreciate it and its workings. That is where, everything that came before the one-in-a-million sperm gets forgotten. Sometimes, the poor sperms gets forgotten too. Sad, isn’t it?
      10⁵⁰⁰ and counting. That is a one followed by a five hundred zeros. So, the question asked by many learned folks is whether we, humans occupy a special place in the universe or whatever that there is. Whether, this universe was set in motion with the right ingredients just so that one day, we could walk on this land and appreciate its beauty, maybe bring about our own end. After all, what is the use of a universe when there is no one to observe an appreciate it? Or is it that we are just an outcome of chance? Of a probability that is of mind bogglingly small magnitude. That, we just came to be, and do not posses any special position in the scheme of things. Sorry. The question is of chance versus choice is never-ending, as I have found out. It remains one of the hottest topic that we ever discussed at the observatory.
     The Anthropic principle advocates the first case. According to it, the universe has moulded and evolved itself in such a way that conscious beings ended up observing and understanding it. It created itself in such a way that it ended up getting observed. Because it wanted to be. This argument, toes the thin line between metaphysics and cosmology. People who argue for it cite the fact that the value of the fundamental constants are just they way that they are supposed to be. Not a little more, not a little less. They say that the selectivity the universe has shown for these constants clearly portrays the fact that it favoured carbon-based life. On the other hand, cosmologists argue that we might not be so special. Why would we have to be? We might just be stranded in a universe which itself exists in a multitude of universes. What is so special is the fact that we realise that we are here. And that we are stranded.
      Would it do wonders to you if you knew that you posses around a 100 atoms that once figured in Isaac Newton’s body? Or maybe Emperor Ashok? Yes, each and every one of us. We are a part of one big recycling machine known as the universe. But where did all of these atoms and the subsequent molecules come from? Have you ever wondered about that? The answer lies in the simple fact that we are made up of star-dust. You might find this gross, but when our food and excreta are fundamentally made out of the same basic atomic and even molecular constituents, why is that we mentally place them a world apart? Why do our associations and reactions to them differ? Just give it a thought. But don't radically change the way you think about food and poop. You will stop being human. Let me quote a small part of today’s The Speaking Tree column.

“In the divine game, One becomes many. Only the One exists, as truth, as consciousness, light and love. But the play scripted by the Divine is one where not only does One become many but many become One. Oceans, rivers, mountains, streams, everything is One manifested as many.
The ocean has numerous waves; can we say that each wave has an identity independent of the ocean? The identity of the wave exists because of the ocean, just as life exists because of the divine. Each sun ray exists because of the sun. Therefore to declare, "This is my life," has no meaning. Because with forgetfulness and ignorance, the ray forgets that it came from the sun, and starts imagining that it is separate. Our situation is similar. As human beings we forget our origins and end up saying this is mine, or that I exist. It is the ego that makes you say so.
One becomes many, and the many live on in ignorance. No sooner do they lose their ignorance, than they will feel that they are part of the One, the only One which exists, and exists everywhere.”

Being human comes with a truckload of benefits and naturally, worries. After all, nature provides for balancing all the good with some stuff bad. And we should accept that fact. What makes us humans so different from other living organisms? What quality of ours separates us? I used to think that empathy was the answer to the question. And that was, until I read this.

So, it might not be that empathy is the answer to that question. Do let me know if you think that there is any one characteristic that distinguishes us from other living beings? I hope it isn’t something like hate, jealousy or the ability to self-destruct that is the answer. That would be real bad.
I like to wonder upon how we have made such deep and complex forays into nature that we can relish a marvellous piece of music and understand what seems to be random tapping of keys on a keyboard that eventually you can see with your eyes, decipher and understand. Smile in the end, perhaps. Creations right from the arts, sports and philosophies enrich our lives. Humans have a powerful tool in their hands; they are called feelings. What follows is a innocent and simple poem that one of one my friend, Maithili Shankhwalker wrote a few years ago.

“How do I pen down feelings?
They actually mean a lot
But writing them down on a paper
Have you given this a thought?

If you come to think of it
Feelings are not a few
Every now and then your feelings
Are something new.

One sweet feeling is
The feeling of love…
It’s not a feeling that can go away,
With just a shove.

An unavoidable one is
Of happiness which we all feel
Even if it’s a feeling of grief,
Time will heal.

The dangerous ones are of desire and hatred
They are as destructive as fire and ice,
To destroy relationships and life
Either of them would suffice.

How can I forget the one of jealousy?
We all feel it once in a while
The feeling makes us really self-centred and
With it we can’t even walk a mile.

The feeling of superiority
Can do no good.
It only makes you egoistic and
A whole lot rude.

Its antonym inferiority
Is also no way positive
It just makes you under confident
And very very sensitive.

The feeling of forgiveness
Makes us divine
It brings out the good in others
Making them shine.

The feeling of sympathy
Paves way for the values of care and concern
It makes us human
And takes away qualities like treason.

The feeling of confidence that we have in us,
Gives us self motivation.
Helps us in fulfilling our dreams
And reaching our destination.

The feeling of satisfaction
Is basically an experience of fulfilment
It makes us happy,
And most of all, content.

The feelings of guilt and repentance
Would have made me feel defeated
If I had not penned down the poem
That I have just completed.”

      Right from love to hate, boredom to excitement we all do experience them. Feelings are universal, in whatever language you bother to describe them. Isn’t it wonderful that you saw your life flash past you as you read the poem? How the author successfully conveyed the truth about feelings? We often take such beautiful things for granted. Again, it is human to do so. Isn't it?
     I can very well understand the fact that this blog-post must have made your mind feel quite worked up and although I can go on and on, let me top it of with some thought for you to take home!
      We humans, we are not born here to be judged by the means of any tool. Be it an exam or prejudice by another human. We are born to be and live a life for ourselves. They say, we are not born with a silver spoon in our mouth and nor do we take one with us when we die. We come from the dust and end up in the same dust. The very little time that we have to spend here, should be made as beautiful as possible. For us, for the others who undertake a journey called life alongside us. Leave nothing to repentance, for you only live once. Like like a child, I say. Yes, these days the supposed God of Death says that in a TV commercial. He might not exist, but makes a correct statement. Live to inspire others to live. Even if you fail one day or the other, accept it. Learn from your mistakes and let go of them. If you have inspired someone, you shall have the satisfaction of seeing that someone do great in life. Isn’t satisfaction all that we live for?
     Male or female, why do we draw lines? John Lennon rightly askes to imagine a world with no religion, a world without borders and countries. Wouldn’t that be in the true essence of the universe? We all come with a purpose to fulfil is what some say. If you don’t believe in that, remember that probability that brought you here. Create your own purpose. It was not your choice to be born to the parents or the place that you were born in. The other way round, your parents didn’t get to choose what kind of child they got. It is a fair game, this life. For, we all are gifted with blank paper to write the story of our own choice.

You are given the chance to be a human.

A chance to be special.

A chance to be YOU.

Live it up like a boss.

Live it up as if it is
thebiggerbang!

No copyright infringement of images intended.

2011 : The year that was.

2012-01-03T16:07:00.003+05:30

The year bygone,
Piled bricks on my wall.
The wall of life,
Remains stronger than ever.

Like a river,
Time flows unhindered.
Some drowned, and sank.
While others learnt to swim.

Battles were fought,
We were winners and losers, both.
Lessons to learn and teach,
So let’s turn a page,
Unlock the future.

The year 2011 was one of the best cycle of 365 days that I went through for reasons more than one. In this post, I try to scribble in a few lessons that I learnt this year. A few experiences and milestones in brief with the sole intention of leaving it up to the reader to connect and relate the cited experiences with what they have undergone. For, my life is an open book.
In random order :

Loving silence and preferring to be lonely doesn’t always mean that you are depressed. You seek peace. It is one’s nature.
I left behind the times when poems used to flow only in times of sadness.
As the audience at a workshop, I realized that if a speaker goes on explaining his work undisturbed by the discomfort in the audience, he is in love with what work he does.
To do science, it is a pre-requisite to have an open mind and not a degree from college.
A story always has two sides. If not, then it isn’t a story! Always support the right side of it and not the one you can easily relate and sympathize with.
I learnt that one can be easily taken for a ride and then told that the friendship was mistaken for love.
While trying to estimate a person’s quality, don’t listen to your prejudice. Experience the person before passing a mental verdict.
I learnt that if you don’t find a reason to explain what you are doing, stop doing.
The best quotes strike you when you have a bath or answer nature’s long calls.
To swim against the tides, you have to be in the water. Can’t avoid getting wet and dirty.
People are waiting to be discovered. Places and things too. You have to make efforts to break the ice. You might just be shocked with what you find! I was.
Signalling to people to switch off their headlights during day-time is now as natural to me as breathing is.
I learnt that classical music and the oldies deserve as much respect, if not more than the new hits. Music is music, today or tomorrow.
Finally I drilled in myself the fact that if my fundamental thoughts and ideologies don’t match with a person, trying to maintain a relation beyond a greeting is like hunting for a living dinosaur.
I tried and tried, but still forgot that ‘i’ comes before ‘e’. Or is it the other way round??
I was exposed to philosophy, psychology and spirituality. They have revamped me and my thoughts.
Steve Job’s death, reading ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ and obsessive thinking brought me closer to death, but not dying.
I was saddened by the fact that I no longer was entitled to ‘return gifts’ at birthday parties but happy that I was exempt from those silly games. Yay!
I learnt how to shave on my own. YouTube helped me a lot!
I realised that science is closer to life than we think. It is life itself.
I ended up respecting all the ‘M’s in my life. Mom (Madhavi), Mushtifund, MIT and a Mystery.
No, I haven’t got into MIT as yet. But applying itself was worth it. Getting selected as I learnt, will be just an added bonus for being a good boy.
The lyrics don’t make you fall in love with a song. It is what meaning that you see in them that drive you gaga. (pun unintended)
I learnt from all my mistakes. I learnt so much that I don’t repent making the mistakes. My mistakes decide what person I end up being. Yet, they remain unintentional.
If you act like a bag full of agonies, people will stop lifting up you and your spirits soon.
I observed that it is no use cursing the place or perhaps the parents you were born to. It was not your choice. But what you end up doing in your life, what you make out of it is all in your hands.
Everyone has their own definition of ‘love’. I learnt that I can voice out mine, but no use preaching it. Others value their own opinions as much as you value yours. Respect, understanding and trust is all that is required.
I asked for it, and I got a Beatles song for my mood.
Blogs and friendships. I realized that not updating them despite valuing them is a sin. If you can’t find any value, free yourself of the burden!
I found a lot of other weirdoes like myself. Hence, I realised that I love being alone because I know I am not!
I tried and succeeded at making people who cry, laugh.
I decided to start questioning everything. Relating the behaviour of people to the sciences is fun!
I learnt to share, say a sorry and throw in a thank-you from the bottom of my heart.
I once told a person that I don’t want to keep the person forever with me, I just want to be with him/her.
I learnt how to turn teachers into friends and use my friends as teachers for life.
I learnt that symmetry is elegant and beautiful. Mathematics talks to us!! We all love it. Hence, I decided to end this list at item number 6². For now, that is!

Do let me know which one was your favourite or what is that we had in common for the last year! There is not going to be any apocalypse this year. If there is, sue me in heaven if it exists. With love, Thebiggerbang

Of trailing stars and thoughts…

2011-12-29T17:10:00.001+05:30

Of late, I have developed a habit of taking the liberty to create my own words and portmanteaus. The most recent one was ‘sparty=star+party’. ’Yeah, language was created by the living beings not only to survive this cruel world but also to communicate all about its beautiful facets. And it is the latter that I’m concerned with.

Languages. On a random note, do you know of any language that helps you predict the future? A language so revolutionary yet so intuitive that even chimps and pigs learn to use? Poetry in this language assumes a different form. Creativity takes on a different meaning. But unlike all other ‘beautiful’ languages that exist, this language does not believe in breaking rules and creating exceptions. Yet, it is a language that has haters galore and romantics a few. If you still have no clue about the great invention of mankind, maybe it is time to learn how to do it from a dog.

Well, that was no insult to your intelligence. It is a fact to be appreciated! The very fact that a dog can perform such mental tricks throws some light on the fact that nature around us is beautiful. That, we tend to take things (sometimes people too!) for granted. But I shall spare a few words about this some other time. For now, take a look at what a dog perhaps will never be able to do. It is the same language again!

Quite dazzled, aren’t you? Well this for sure was no dog’s play. And hearty congratulations if you still have the willpower and the zeal to read ahead despite being freaked out.

Life has never been oh so much impromptu and intuitive than what it is with me these days. On the 24^th and the 25^th December of 2011, I went on to attend the 4th star party of my life. It gives me great pleasure to say that we at the observatory believe in partying with the real stars. The immortal ones. Well, not exactly immortal but as compared to us they are. I always pity my best friend Anmol Naik who always dreams to watch the star Betelgeuse (pronounced Betel-jooze) explode into a supernova. Now even if this ripe old supergiant rips itself apart this very moment, it will take about 450 years for the news to reach us. And unless my friend here is not cryogenically preserved for those many years, he shall miss it. Unless, the explosion has already occurred 450 years ago. So what does it mean?

It very simply means that we go to these star parties not only to create and gobble down our versions of Maggi noodles, but primarily to have a look at the past in the present. If this fact fails to blow your mind off, I think your senses have all gone dry. Knowing the fact is not enough. Feeling it and living it is what matters. There is nowhere else that one can do this, look into the past just by turning your head up.

With the sky, we can feel the past. With the math, we can get a grasp of the future. And with our being, we journey through the present. We are all familiar with time but no one bothers to interpret it. And as they say, it is not going to wait for you to make sense out of itself. Aha!

Sometimes my detours make me feel like changing the title and the whole purpose of making a particular post. I go away, drifting in a sea of ideas only to be awakened by a change in the mood of the songs that come on shuffle. Ah, that reminds me of probability. And also of music. Some other day, I tell myself.

For this star-party, we headed to the dangerous Tillari Ghat, in Maharashtra. Dangerous enough for my relatives to scare the hell out of my mother and make her loose a night’s sleep.

Doesn’t look dangerous from here, but when you undertake that tummy rumbling journey you know that the trip be better worth it. And it turned out that I wouldn’t mind making another hundred trips to get the view of that particular sky again. I usually narrate a particular incident to highlight the ignorance that people have right since the post-industrial revolution period.

“A strange giant, silvery cloud -- The above statement is not at all overly dramatic. It is a real trend. The National Institute of Health's issue of the January 2009 Environmental Health Perspectives Journal included a story from the 1994 Northridge earthquake that knocked out the power in Los Angeles. Apparently local emergency centres then received numerous calls from anxious residents reporting a strange giant, silvery cloud in the dark sky. What they were really seeing — for their first time — was the Milky Way, so obliterated by the urban sky glow that it was quickly forgotten and had practically become an urban legend.”

I had read the story about 6 years ago. But I shall never forget it due to the repeated validation of this ignorance. In fact, the richest skies are found in the places that we think are ‘poor’. Have a look!

I would seriously be in a fix if someone promises to set up an amazing observatory in remote Africa and tells me to shift my base there, forever. No kidding.

In all, 7 people had a rendezvous with the stars. Two telescopes (a 6” and another 5”) and a camera (Canon 500D) is all they had. And boy oh boy, they rocked the night. Not to forget, our driver who was than curious!

I will not be wrong to say that over the night, we exploited the sky that was exposed to us. 94 Messier, NGC and IC objects along with 40+ meteor sightings is not a joke. And yes, we were exploited back with the chilly winds in the valley. So much so that even if you managed to lock yourself up in the car, you could hear the winds howling outside. Photography being my forte, was running on my mind. After two hours of dedication behind only two images, I decided not to expect much when I come home and process them. The results were one better than the other. And this time, I managed to pleasantly shock my own self. Hah!

Two hours of cumulative work had paid off! And my mom finally understood why I took up the ‘risk’ of going to such a ‘dangerous’ place. Phew.

But what are these lines that you see?

I bet you that you have never seen such lines drawn across the sky! In fact, no one has. What you see, is a trick played by the camera. As you must be knowing, over a period of time the stars move. Well, they appear to move. The simple reason being that just like when we sit in a car and the trees appear to move past us while we are stationary, the Earth is what actually rotates and this rotation is perceived as the motion of the stars across the sky.

But why is that star in the second photo stationary?

Imagine a globe that covers the entire Earth. Say, the stars are all stuck on the interior of the globe. This is precisely what the celestial sphere is.

All of us know that the Earth rotates around its axis and that this axis passes through the Earth’s North and South poles.

In our construction, when the Earth rotates, we see that the celestial sphere rotates around this same axis. And co-incidentally, the very same axis points in the direction of the star that does not move!

Thus, we call it the ‘Pole Star’ or the never moving star. The current pole star Polaris is the brightest in the constellation of Ursa Minor. I have seen many people think that the Pole Star is the brightest star in the night sky which is a sad misconception. The brightest star in the night sky is Sirius whereas Polaris is hardly visible from city skies!

If you stand on the equator of the Earth and observe, the pole star will appear to be at the horizon and if you observe the pole star from the north pole itself, it will always remain exactly overhead. Thus, one can infer that the latitude a particular place is at, is equal to the angle the line between you and the pole star makes with the ground!

What the camera does is that it keeps its sensor or film exposed for hours at a stretch and thus picks up the motion of the stars as they chart their path across the sky. The very same thing that the human eye naturally fails to pick up!

Continue reading only if you have a clue about trigonometric functions.

Have you observed that as you move away from the pole star, the trails keep on increasing in length? While I was passing my time under the sky, I wondered if I could find out a way to relatively measure this difference in lengths.

All I knew was that the pole star never covered any distance on the celestial sphere and that the stars on the horizon covered the maximum distance. And what hit my mind immediately was something like this

This pretty much seemed like common sense to me. But then, one can’t just go around and fit in formulae which work without a formal proof! So I pondered, thought I was wrong and so on. Well, I didn’t expect myself to unearth this!! But what happened is as follows.

[Consider theta to be angle made by the star to the ground; phi to be the latitude of the place. So phi subtracted from theta will be the angle made by the star to the pole star]

It is pretty easy, this one. But I was overjoyed because I predicted the formula even before getting it. Frankly, it is really simple. But such small things bring joy. This is called poetry using mathematics and of course, common sense gained out of day to day experience. And you get overjoyed especially when you have been bored by studying chemistry for days at a stretch! Do note that the celestial sphere being an imaginary sphere, the radius is not defined. So one can use this only to compare the lengths of arc.

One thing exciting about the formula is that it if you have stars in a line (along the celestial equator), and let them trail for some time, you shall get trails in the form of a sine wave. Given good enough wide lens and the right perspective, one shall obtain at least 1/4th of the wave.

So here I am. Exams are approaching and I’m doing science. Identifying problems and finding solutions. This is life! Yes, this is it.

If you did not understand some part of the derivation or any assumption, please send me a mail or leave a comment as I have derived it in hurry after working for 6 hours to make this blog post. Phew. I leave you with some images, do scroll over them for the captions.

Wohoooo!

Thebiggerabang

Me, poetexter.

2011-12-19T21:50:00.001+05:30

Poetexter?

Oh yes, you read that right. It is a portmanteau I created by merging poetry and texting.

And that is what I have been doing lately. Elegantly gliding my fingers over the keypad much to my mother’s agony and amusement and churning out poems. Within me, a poet lives. A poet thrives on those small strands of experiences that I go through everyday.

Today, a friend of mine texted me the following.

“The way sand absorbs water, it feels as if the water is tracing back into time…”

What she got back from me in a while was something that went like this. I’m cruel, you see.

“The way sand absorbs water,

Feels like the water

Is tracing back into time.

This, marvel of nature.

The way the waves wash away,

Those sins on our feet,

Is transient as ever.

Forgiveness, is still alive.

Sins and waves, both

They never do stop, never.

Feet draw in, and stagnate.

Right into the sands of life.

Washed away, memories

Blurry as they ever have been,

Are the only vehicles, they say

To turn time, right back.”

Yes, that is pretty much all that I could conjure up in one go. Not a bad attempt, I’d say. And this is not all. It is just a poem in the midst of the tens I have written this month. Since the onset of the current month, the dam of poetic thoughts and inspirations has broken free. Maybe listening to songs by The Beatles is adding in. I guess I have inspired many more hidden poets to come out, and am proud of them!

An obsessive thinker, I just can’t help turning philosophical texts into poems and sending them back to you. Now unless you decide to pester me, be prepared to get a poetext free with every beautiful text you shower me with.

Beware. Might just blow your mind off.

Thebiggerbang

121 : Geminids revisited.

2011-12-13T21:47:00.001+05:30

In this post sourced from the AFA-Goa blog, I revisit one of the most thrilling experiences of my life; the Geminds shower of 2010! Since then, I have grown from discovering one of the best and the most user friendly meteor shower websites to working as a managing editor of the same website, Spacedex which is run by an amazing guy, Travis Brown! The moon phase kills it this year around though.

14th December 2010 would have passed of in my life as an another rather ordinary day, had it not been for some bouts of craziness that only astronomy can instil in oneself. Since a few years that I have been involved in amateur astronomy, this was one of the most fulfilling moments that I had. I was on duty at the observatory, a cold winter night promised me some of the usual delights of the sky including the awesome nebula in Orion and the Andromeda galaxy, along with a dazzling display by the Moon and Jupiter to brighten my day up. Little did I know, that there was a big thing waiting in line, down the horizon!

As me and my colleague and friend Anmol Naik let the visitors peep through the universe through the 5” telescope, we managed to catch a glimpse of a few meteors here and there, which aroused our interests. As an amateur, I am not supposed to forget stuff like prominent meteor showers, but that is what I did!! Realising that we had a good sky in hand, one of the best of the season, we decided to have a meteor watch the very next day after checking out the fine details of the event. But, confusion with time zones prevailed and this led to the chaos! After resuming my usual internet browsing session at home that very night, I found to my horror that the shower was meant to peak at midnight. The very same night!

Realizing that I had just a hour or two in hand, I pressed the panic button and started making frantic calls to my seniors and fellow observers to hatch a plan for observation. This started to look seemingly difficult to materialize as our seniors were just returning from a programme at Bondla. But after a few swings from one end to the other, we finally got the nod for the night!!!

And there we were, the three of us, me, Anmol and Omkar Borkar who had decided to brave the cold nights of December to catch a glimpse of this amazing annual display called Geminds! Getting a little technical, the Geminids have a radiant lying just besides Castor, one of the heads of the twins in the constellation Gemini. This shower is said to be the 2nd most consistent meteor shower annually, after the Persids and has garnered a lot of attraction from astronomy fanatics this decade due to the rise in its activity which is caused due to the remains of comet 3200 Phaethon in the the orbit of the Earth around the sun. The expected peak rates for India ranged from a 60-140 ZHR. But, as we were to observe form a location affected by light pollution, we expected much less of a show. The last time I had stayed back for a shower, I had seen only 15 meteors through-out the whole course of observation throughout the night, that being the 2009 Quadrantid shower. As I was leaving home, I just managed to message a schoolmate of mine, Riya Borkar that there was shower happening tonight as I knew she was very much interested in astronomy and incidentally one can see her window from the Observatory, and thus ensued a round of crazy gesturing to her to communicate to her the general direction to look up to. I was really glad to see people getting interested in such events, by looking at the number of updates posted about the shower on Facebook. But now, was the time for the show to begin!

After a quick tour through a few Messier objects, we settled down, our heads making an angle of 120° with each other. As the show began, we realized that we would get much more than expected!!! Our main motive being to enjoy the shower, we didn’t give much strain on carrying out a detailed observation nor photography due to the lack of manpower, but did not forget to make a mention of every meteor that we observed, with respect to its path and magnitude. For an hour or so, we had to face the extreme. From a period of a few meteors in a minute to a dry spell of about five minutes, we had to face it all! But, with the true spirit and patience of an amateur, we sang and talked our way, perhaps just to make sure that we do not doze off!

After a short break and a tally, we concluded that the plan was a success and truly worth all the hassle taken! Most of the brighter meteors ended up in the constellations of Orion, Canis Major, Canis Minor and Auriga, with Gemini not far behind. During the next spell, the mercury dropped even lower, making way for the chilly winds. Although the magnitudes of the meteors ranged from -3 to 4, we did no distinct fireballs or ‘bolides’ were observed, but that is very much typical of the Geminds. By that time we had a tally of 121 meteors, and that number would be good enough to last me for a few lifetimes, to put it straight! This was our first major shower observation, and the number of ‘WOW’s would have made our mood very clear to you, if you had graced your presence!

Unfortunately, at about 2:25 am, due to the wind-speed, we had clouds moving in slowly and thus forcing us to cut short our observation, almost half-way!! Although, this very news was disheartening, it could not overshadow the joy of seeing all those bright wonders, streaks of light that made my day! We wrapped up in a matter of minutes and despite being prepared to stay awake the whole night, we found more sense in sleeping under the table (employed some science in here) in the observatory room besides the terrace, thus ending another one of our crazy endeavours with an equally funny thing. Besides that, we also conducted observation of Venus and Saturn in the morning before leaving for our respected houses. Oh yes, I missed school that day. But it was worth it in the end!

Yours,

Thebiggerbang

(A time-lapse video of the Geminids sourced from YouTube)

Astronomy–The Mother of All Sciences

2011-12-09T20:49:00.001+05:30

Below, you will find a copy of the talk that I delivered on the occasion of the Science Seminar organised by my school, Mushtifund Higher Secondary. Do feel free to share, download and spread knowledge!

Astronomy - The Mother Of All Sciences

Work in Progress.

2011-11-18T14:47:00.002+05:30

Isn’t it all that we are? Work in progress?

Fly like a bird in the yonder,
Be there where you never were.
Let the night wait for another day,
Fear, let it hide for a while.

No unknown awaits those who,
Know thyself, in and out.
Be the leaf that knows to be one,
with the water it drifts in.
Forever. And ever.

Morning shall come. Oh, so soon.
Dig away all you can, gold or dust.
The glitter that matters is not,
That yellow but your eyes.

      That’s what I felt when I was walking down from quite an abstract experience from a recent movie that I saw. It was all there, in the air. The mind lay bare naked, waiting to be interpreted. So I thought to myself, why don’t you do the same? A cloud of thoughts, unrelated perhaps but brought together under one roof. And that’s what I have done. I’m here to experiment! Let it be a conversation!
     Not many have asked me why I maintain a blog. Let me be very frank with you. I blog so that I can preserve a slice of my life for years to come. Everything else is secondary! Yes, there is the fame and the praise that you get along with years of sweat. I must say that people don’t like what you write until you can relate it with them. Incentives, people look for them. Today, I’m writing because my heart tells me to do so. Over a year, my writing has become more effective and that credit goes to this blog. It is often easy to impress others, but not yourself.
      Have you ever lived a moment in slow-motion? Have you ever felt time slow down at a particular moment? There are the times which you would always love to carry around in your heart. If these were all that you had for life, you’d be more than happy. Right from those few moments of eye contact, a hug from your mother to winning what you truly wished and worked for. Everybody has those moments. But hey, have you ever lived any sad moment in slow motion?
      Have you ever made a person who was crying laugh? I think I have! Boy oh boy, it does feel good doing so! What can be better than this? People tell me that I look very ‘serious’ all the while. Sometimes I think whether that is good or bad! But all I can say is that if I can, so can you! Learn from me that you don’t need to be a joker to make a people laugh! You just have to be a person who is willing to make someone’s day. Have you anytime made someone’s day and preferred to not let the person know that it was your deed?
     Jokers, eh? It’s their job to make people laugh. Once, somebody told me to be like one. Even if you are hurt, you are in pain, no worries. Spread happiness. Maybe that will make you happy! If you can’t be happy, let others be! It’s real easy, to put on a fake smile. And if you are not a good actor (I am not!), it is even more easier to catch you in the act. Don’t act happy to fool your own self, it will never work. Act happy to fool others, it might just work!

The next time some guy dials up a wrong number and get’s connected to you, tell him that mistakes do happen. Tell him that it’s no problem. And yes, don’t forget to wish him goodnight. Why are we so shy?

      So when was the last time when you cried your heart out? Locked yourself in a room and punched a few pillows? Was it the bad marks? Was it love that meted out injustice to you? Whatever the reason maybe, take care. Take care that you end up being a stronger person every time you come out of an horrendous experience? Hey, ever cried out of happiness?
     Goosebumps! I’m getting them all over my body right now. Funnily, I don’t know why! I’m acting hyper. Feels like I’m on caffeine! Have you ever felt like Superman? Have you done anything crazy lately? Danced alone on a song, perhaps? Or laughed staring into nothingness? I do that all the while. People think I’m mad. And I love it that way! Do you?
       Sometimes I do mistakes. I do a lot one day, none on the other. But I’m not supposed to be perfect. No one is! Making mistakes makes me realize that I am as human as any other person. They do say that folks should learn from their mistakes. But there are times wherein I love to do the same mistake again, or do new mistakes for what I learn each time is new. Is there any particular mistake that you would love doing? Just for that experience! Every one has some or the other stuff that is to be proud of. Stuff that is locked up and stuffed in the attic of guilt. Yes, there are a few things that I’m not proud of. But I have learnt to live with them, and not totally wash my hands off them. Keeping them constantly in your mind helps you to steer clear of such land-mines that can leave you handicapped for life.
      Alright, answer this! Is it better that you know many people? Or is it better that many people know you? And no, one doesn’t always imply the other. I’m confused on this one! Maybe you can be of help. Though this up when I was at the saloon yesterday. For the first time in my life, I fell asleep while I got my hair cut! And someone proclaimed that I looked like a blue ‘Angry Bird’. All I could respond was by scratching my head and wondering, “Really?”
     So have you ever found yourself listening to a song for quite a long time? It might be a song that you love, a song that suites your current mood (maybe a mood-changer song!) or because you have had heartbreak? Have you ever heard about sematic satiation? It’s the phenomenon wherein a word loses its meaning when repeated often enough. Try it.
…love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love….
    Yes, that’s the sad state. It is over used. Why do we have to go about naming every feeling? Sometimes I find that they loose their meaning when we cheapen them using words. And love is a broad word. I regret the fact that people sometimes use the word for anything and everything. It’s not a word that I’d look into a dictionary to find meaning for. And yes, it’s not only people that one can love. Frankly, I get scared of using the word. If I ever utter “I’m in love”, people pounce on me. “Who is the lucky one? Who is she?”. I can only sigh.
     To be selfless in love is not at all an easy task. It no ways is. It’s hard not to be jealous, frustrated and angry when someone does better than you at something that you love, when someone steals away your loved one. But if ever were so, that wouldn’t be love I say. It’s confusion and chaos. One never expects anything back. Keeps on going, dedication, hard work and a smile. If you do it for anything, that’s love!
       Lastly, have you ever stood on the edge of a cliff or in the deep sea? Surrendering thyself to the forces of nature? The winds that whistles, the leaves that shimmer being the only sounds that matter. The waves rock you back and forth like a mother rocks her young one’s cradle. Let them overpower you. Take you away where you are destined to be. The vastness of the deep blue sea awaits, the transient currents being your vehicle. Let it go, your worries.
    Phew. What else do I have to say? Nothing. Yapped a lot today. But yes, this world is full of ‘oh-so-amazing’ people. People who are waiting to be discovered! People who have always been hiding their true selves. It is that they were hiding it, or you were not seeing it? Ask yourself.
    Go out. Show the world that you too are a work in progress. An instrument that craves for perfection despite knowing the fact that one can’t be so. Show them all that you live life for your own self.
Close your eyes, and give this a listen.
Keep it simple, silly!
thebiggerbang

Oi pilot!

2011-10-28T12:09:00.002+05:30

An attempt to write down in one sitting how a day in a life of a motorcycle-pilot can be.

Today, I am writing down something meaningful for the first time in my life. It took me some time to get started though, and my wife is still wondering why I have decided to take my son’s pencil in my hands. But I can’t help it! My brain is clogged up with thoughts like never before. It has been an extraordinary day for the motorcycle pilot that I am!

I have decided to stop surviving and start living. I have not read all the great philosophers that you might have, but I have had experiences. The ones that can change a life.

It’s been two years since I started ferrying Mohanji to the temple every morning. He is the typical old aged guy that you see all the time; complete with a walking stick and a shopping bag in his hands. Not to forget, those thick glasses that sat on his nose! Well, I still remember they way I first met him. While returning home, I saw this old guy chasing down a pick-pocket with his stick. Yes, it was hilarious to see such a scene but I saw some extraordinary spirit in this guy. After he finally let go of the pick-pocket I decided to take him, free of cost. It was a decision that I would never regret!

Today, like any other day he was the reason why I wake up with enthusiasm. Picking him up every morning and listening to how his day was is what makes me look forward to live another day. He tells me that he has only his wife to talk to. His kids abandoned him few years ago with pension being his only means of earning his bread and butter. But today was destined to be different. Mohanji never came. The only time this had happened before was when he had fallen down from the stairs, a year ago! I waited for quite a while. Growing impatient, I walked up to his house. To my surprise, there was a lock on the door. A few moments later, I came to know that he had passed away the day before.

For a moment, I thought that a part of me went numb, something went missing. I never felt as hollow as I had felt at that moment. With a heavy heart and an utterly confused mind, I walked towards my motorcycle. I drove away in denial to the very same temple. I had to say a few prayers for my dead friend who had taught me enough already. Those two years, they just flew past my eyes. Sigh! I had to move on. Somehow or the other, I had to!

The morning passed by and in a few hours I found myself resting near the beach with my tiffin box. I had a few minutes to have my lunch if I wished to bag a few decent trips. Then again, I got reminded of Mohanji.

And then for the first time in my memory, I felt frustrated, as if a war was brewing within myself. So this was how it felt! For the past few years I felt no sense in feeling sad, depressed or lamenting over something. I accepted the fact that I’m here to eat and sleep, and perhaps feed my family. Where does the pain fit in? How does it matter when I barely manage to make end meet? And then, something weird happened.

I cried.

You might ask me what is so great in crying, eh? Have you anytime felt frustrated? That too in the middle of a crowd? Suddenly realized how bad things were? You must have! But today, the loss was unbearable. And without paying attention to all those people passing by, I cried out aloud. There I was, doing things that I never thought were socially acceptable. If babies can cry, why can’t I? If people kiss on a beach, no one cares. But if I cry at the same place, they all think that I’m gone mad. Some might think I’m suffering from a deadly disease. Makes me wonder, what is the difference between these emotions? People are at peace with happiness, aren’t they?

But there was a gem that i unearthed from today’s experience. One should always express their emotions. Putting a lid on them, especially for years makes you less of a human. Someday, sometime they all are bound to burst out as a volcano. Some cry for attention while others cry hunting for peace. Emotions are meant to be expressed, not buried deep within.

I love watching people on the streets. They walk, they talk and sometimes they run. While some run behind the busses that they are about to miss, others run like wild apes after money. I wish I could do something with my life, I wish I could be one of those rich guys……but….. Sigh!

It was late afternoon, all that gloom had worn off. And I was out on the streets, doing my usual trips. Just after dropping a woman and her child at the bus station, I came across an unusual sight. It was a monk in ochre. Buddhist, if I’m not mistaken. And as I stared at him, I realized that he was walking in my direction. Ah! this day is already turning out to be impactful, I thought to myself. And yes, it turned out that he was new to the place and it seemed that he was here to meet a childhood friend of his who apparently lived on the other edge of the town. Not bad, I thought to myself. Maybe I can get some conversation started!

As it turned out, there was no need for all of that. We soon indulged in small talk, good enough for such a long trip through the traffic. But as luck would have it, we met with an accident soon enough!

With all those things that happened to me today, I was not in a right state of mind. Add to that, talking with a guy seemed to distract me more than usual today! With all of these things going against me, I crashed into a big car. At such times, it doesn’t matter how many potholes and stupid drivers one has evaded in his driving career. One mistake can spoil your life and the customer’s life too! All because of a mistimed brake, I crashed into the rear of that car. Both, me and the monk were thrown off the bike. Soon enough, a crowd gathered. The driver of the car came barging at me and gave me a slap. There was a huge commotion, but funnily I didn’t speak a word. I didn’t react at all. The driver, the rich man that he seemed he was kicked my motorcycle and after finding it futile to argue with me, just jotted down the registration number and vacated the place.

I burst out in a smile the moment he left. I still wonder why I did that! Someone told me that when you get depressed, the craziness gets to you! Soon, we were on our way. Oh the bike! It wasn’t damaged a lot, just a dented mudguard and that’s all! In no time, our conversation was back on track. Just that it took a different route this time. It was about serious stuff!

The monk first lauded me for my ability to stay calm in such situations. He was under the impression that I could control my anger and such. But he was in a state of shock when I hold him the truth. When I told him that the friend the ‘rich’ driver was once a best friend of mine. That I used to share my tiffin with him way back in school. That a lottery win has taken him where he is right now. Yes, that is the truth. I wonder how a friend could ever slap another.

And the best was about to come! Soon enough, the monk told me about the Buddhist philosophy of ‘detachment’. All that he said was that once you are used to something like a material object, a person or a way of living, one should also make himself tough and brave enough to survive without that particular thing. He says that things don’t last forever. If even they look to do so, we shouldn’t be shocked it something turns against out wishes. One should accept such hiccups and live on! An old friend mistreating me was bad enough to shock me out of wits. But if due to certain circumstances things have turned out to be that way, I should do my best to get it back to good. Morals and values take a toss in-front of materialistic goals, he was saddened the most with this fact!

The time had come for me to drop him to his destination. I just hoped that he too didn’t receive a cold shoulder from his friend. Then I thought if I really wanted to be a ‘rich’ guy one day.

With all that happened today, it took time for all of this to sink in. But in the end, it all made sense. Here I am, facing a loss and nursing a slap which my wife still doesn’t know about. All I wish is that she doesn’t mistakenly assume that a kiss is what has given me a red cheek. My hands are aching now, I have written too much. Enough of my stories for now! That was a day in my life, not just another ordinary day.

Happism.

2011-10-26T01:36:00.002+05:30

Just one question. It might change your life.

If you follow a particular religion, I just need you to tell me why you do so.
Once you do that, also tell me why you do not follow other religions that are accessible to you.

If you could answer all that without feeling uncomfortable or dumbstruck , you need no help! Be happy that you know what you are doing.
But if you felt that I just shook you awake, opened up your eyes or so then this is absolutely for you.
     Now if you believe in the existence of a certain entity called ‘God’ then please take note that religion does not start and end with praying and performing rituals to appease him when you feel threatened by your future. Even if he exists, the entity is not there to help you in times of trouble. Only you can. That’s simply lame! Let me assure you that rituals are not going to take you anywhere closer to your goals. Time for you to rethink even more of you believe that praying to Lord Ganesh makes you a Hindu and doing the same to Jesus makes you a Catholic. If you can relate yourself with this, do bother to imagine myself laughing at you.
    Although I’m an atheist (Scientific Pantheist) to be specific, I shall not indulge in rubbishing the institution of ‘God’ here as it is beyond the purview of our discussion. Also, in a short while I shall try to present before you a widely prevailing scientific theory that your future exists and is as much real as your past. That if there exists a theory of everything, we can look at the universe using a deterministic view. Your future could be predicted using equations as I have already posted before. No, that doesn’t mean that your astrologer already knows them. If he did, he would have already bagged the Nobel.
   The undeniable fact is that we have deviated so much from our roots that we have forgotten our core values. Ask any kid, he will tell you that he follows his religion as his parents do the same. I find it hard to digest. If we do not like their style of clothing or maybe the music that they prefer, we vehemently voice our opinions. But why are we scared to do so when it comes to religion? Without having a grasp over the core thoughts, how do you even ‘follow a religion’?

Have a look at the definition of ‘religion’ itself.

re·li·gion

noun /riˈlijən/ religions, plural
The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or Gods.

Details of belief as taught or discussed.

A particular system of faith and worship.

A pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance.

As you see, religion was meant to be a way of living life. And we all know how bad the implementation has been. Ancient texts which dictated the truth have been tarnished by we, humans.

Lets get to the point.

Majority of people lack philosophies for life. They just survive, not live. Do ponder upon this subtle difference. Ask yourself and note down what beliefs you have faith in. If you do not mould your life and it’s subsequent workings around certain ideas, you are no better than a lost soul! Do you have firm ideas that you will follow and find peace in till death? If you haven’t picked up lessons from your observations and experiences, you are just digging your own grave. And praying to God is not going to make the situation any better.

It’s time to rise high above religions. Above casts, creed and discrimination. It’s all about being human, with a spice of our own!

After giving it a lot of thought, I have gather up the courage to propose a set of philosophies that will make sense to anyone and everyone. They are not an alternative to religion, but are at a different level altogether! They are simple and they are effective in today’s world. They are fundamental truths that you just can’t ignore, you just can’t contradict. They are elegant and beautiful.

Together, they make up ‘Happism’.

It’s a compendium of the cream of all religious philosophies. It’s a pile of our own experiences. A guide to live life happily and to keep others happy to.

Goals of Happism

To make and keep everyone happy from within, all the time.
To make human relations richer and less complex.
To make people stop surviving and start living.
To collect, spread and empower people with the power of Happism.
To eradicate discrimination between people of any sort.
To convince people that humanity can override any ‘higher power’.
To walk hand in hand with scientifically established truths.
To safeguard the integrity of the above listed goals.

Remember, you might be mortal. But not your thoughts!!

Features of Happism

No ruling authority or leader as thoughts are universal.
Anyone and everyone can pick up the philosophies and adapt them as per his/her situation without distorting the ideas beyond recognition.
People are encouraged to contribute to the main ideas, making it a wiki of ideas and philosophies.
One can take it up being an atheist or a theist as these thoughts do not comment upon ‘God’.
As it runs parallel to religion, one doesn’t have to swap religions. Be secular. Show respect.

Feel free to have a healthy discussion below about the thoughts as presented above! I shall unveil the main philosophies only when we all have a discussion, when we agree upon stuff. What we are looking for is stuff like ‘Always speak the truth’. Let me again clarify that I have nothing against theists, and this is to do with ideas around which our lives revolve.

Like Happism on Facebook to show your support!

So please contribute towards it. Spread the word! Please contribute! I can’t do this alone. We can.

No mess candle-stand.

2011-10-12T18:59:00.001+05:30

I’m answering my terminal exams right now. And yes, there is a power cut-off due to the pestering rains. Having nothing else to do, I thought this up.

1) Take a candle.

2) Place it on a plate.

3) Put water in the plate.

4) Light up the candle.

And there you go! It’s as simple as that. The wax that falls of will just float on water. It’s common-sense you might say and I do expect you to go “why didn’t I think of this?”

It’s one of the most simple way of have a clean candle-stand, one in which wax gives you no trouble at all!

It would be good if you set aside a plate for the candle as I consider it to be much safer if you fixate the candle on the plate. That will eradicate all the possibilities of it falling over and burning up your examination notes.

And as my buddies Atharv and Shubhankar suggested, we could possibly recycle the wax in the water. Now how is that for an idea?

Now it is your turn to spread the idea!

If you are lucky enough, you will get so see wax forming such beautiful hexagonal structures!

SCIENCE IS EVERYWHERE!

Small ideas can make a world of difference.

thebiggerbang

Steve Jobs. When apples couldn't keep doctors away.

2011-10-06T15:13:00.004+05:30

Today, we all stand at the crossroads of technology. I’m listening to songs on my iPod Touch, and I feel depressed. They might call you a genius, a pioneer or maybe the best innovator the industry ever had. But I’d say that you are one of the best persons who ever walked on this planet. Some might rubbish you for not being the perfect person, but they might just be jealous of you. For now, let's assume you are near perfect. No, one doesn't don’t have to be a geek to appreciate you!

You are Steve Jobs.

It’s true that we realise the true worth of anything once we have lost. Yes, I miss you already. I can’t help writing down why you were, are and will be of great worth to the whole of humanity. Life is a waste without knowing about you, without experiencing the elegance and simplicity that you spread. As a friend of mine pointed out, you might have died at 56 but there are more than 56 reasons to remember you.

You were adopted right when you were born. Now I don’t know how that feeling is, of living your life and being cared for by people who share no blood with you. But I am sure it wasn’t the best that ever happened, yet you found paradise in it. That’s what being human is all about!

You dropped out from college. No, that’s not a example that everyone should follow. There is no fun when a deviation becomes the norm of the game. Yet, you toppled all those who passed out from the best of the best universities in the world. But that’s not the fact why I look up to you. It’s the passion, the will to make an impact, the killer instinct that drives you to make the world a better place that got you up there.

You taught me that the dots will connect looking backward. Sitting down on the floor besides many young people of my age, I was impressed yet skeptical when I listened to what you had to say at your Stanford Commencement Address. One year down the line, I saw the video again. And it so much makes sense! In fact, your video was a part of the jigsaw, it was a dot by itself that I have connected today, all thanks to the soul-searching that I had to do for my MIT application. Things, both bad and good make sense to me now. They happened for a cause, and will happen. I have learnt to accept things, yet question them!

Technology, you changed the way we define it! It’s an indispensible part of our lives all thanks to you! Yes, you are the Rajinikanth of Silicon Valley! I heard that you got kicked out by the person you got into your company. Ouch! Yet, you coped up with it and had the last laugh! How did you do that? How can anybody withstand all that mental and social agony and rise from the ashes? When people clap for your innovation and simplicity, deep down they are jealous. They know they will never be able to reach to your level. I bet heaven will be a better place from today.

Stay hungry, Stay foolish. I found it difficult to comprehend such a statement. But with the passage of time, I have learnt that we should stop living somebody else’s life, that’s so not us! Wow. I am quoting you all over! Yes, you have revitalized me today. You have drilled the fact into me that if I carry on doing what I love, I will end up where I deserve to be!! Yes, I will! Why won’t it? I know what I love, and that’s what I am going to do. I promise you!

People might look up stuff in the holy books to keep them going on. For me, it will be those 10 minutes of gospel truth. The truth of life! I wish I could paste it all here. But there is no need for me to do that. I will never forget those words.

Lastly, it’s about your cancer. We were lucky enough that you could live and are extremely honoured that you served us and catered to our need to the best of your ability. Yet, there are times when the teacher has to stop teaching and let the students apply what they have learnt. Today, I feel like your student. Everyone does. Even in your death, I am sure millions will find an inspiration! Now that is the way anybody would love to bid farewell to the world. Yes, death is the best invention of life, I have played with it quite often. But overcoming death is one thing and overcoming it and changing the way people look at the world is another!

My pretty words will do no justice to you. But I shall still cry. Will I never ever get to see you again? I really miss you.

I salute you,
I salute your spirit!
Shall never let you down!

iMidasTouch

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

-Apple Inc.

Destiny’s Children. Or another random post.

2011-10-02T18:38:00.002+05:30

Life manages to be exciting, yet scary at the same time. But can we help it?

When words want to flow,
Things, they long to happen.
Sparks desire to fly all around,
Let them!

People, they want to be discovered.
Shooting stars await to be wished upon.
Roads, they hope you walk over.
Breathe life into them.

The present will soon be the past.
The past, which will always last.
You shall always remain who you are.
Destiny’s child.

   The above piece of poetry is nothing but the outcome of floating all ‘across the universe’ thanks to The Beatles. It’s much more than a song I say. Lennon, heavily influenced by the ‘Transcendental Meditation’ that he did in India, penned down one of the most poetic song that he has ever churned out. If you have not heard it yet, please do so!

    On a philosophical note, life is like a roller coaster that you can ride only once. It’s free, and for every up there is a down. Reality, is an illusion. What drives you are your thoughts, your vehicle of perception. What white is for you, might be black for someone else. You might ask me what is so unique about being unique itself. Well, it’s not a flashy tag that you can wear around. It’s your attitude towards life, your nature and belief in humanity that rubs off. The more you become a part of someone, you can’t avoid that someone becoming a bigger part of you. If all of this doesn’t make sense to you, be happy. You are different from me. But if you do, take it for granted that you think too much!
     Ask yourself what you will do if you meet your mirror-self the very next moment. You feel that you are the luckiest guy around. But then, wait for a day. He does what you do. He has done and will do what you do. You have nothing to hide from him, no stories to tell or surprises to give. Will that be good or bad? I leave that question for you to answer. All I can tell you is that never touch him. If he is your anti-matter image, you both will end up as a hoard of photons, with no resemblance to your former presence.
    What I tried to convey is that opposites simply don’t attract. It’s the law of nature. It’s not healthy to search for a person just like you. Variety is truly the spice of life! It’s being different, having undergone a different set of experiences that makes this world tick. The rich and the poor, the bus driver and your favourite author. The Suppandi and the superman, they all have a niche for themselves in our life. Well, it’s time we respect these small differences. For if you look at the similarities, don’t crib over the fact genetically speaking that the ape you see in the zoo is 98.5% similar to you! Life might be an exam, but I can assure you that no two people will ever be made to answer the same paper. So it’s of no use trying to ‘copy’ or imitate someone else’s living. Be different and scream, roar aloud riding the roller coaster of your dreams. Well, or do this.

If you are still awake, let me tell you how the past few days were.
My geology practical examinations took place on the 29th of September. Well, the time limit stressed me out. And yeah, I came home with a bad mood, put on the internet and hunted for peace on my iPod. And naturally, I Facebooked. There, I met this crazy girl who hates veggies, her name being Saloni Sardessai and somehow ended up chatting about Sagittarius. Here is how the conversation was like.

She : Sagittarians are an amazing bunch!
Typical Me : Have ever seen the constellation itself? The Milky Way is soo beautiful!
She : Wow! I’d loveeee to see it!
Me : Do you have a terrace?
She : Not one, but two!
Me : See you tonight!

Yeah, that’s how stuff is with me. I’m pretty instinctive and a man who lives for the moment. And when something is remotely related to astronomy, I don’t see why I won’t jump on it! We added two more people to the list. Maithili ‘sorry’ Shankhwalkar and Akshay ‘oxy’ Juwarkar were ever-willing to join in to do some astronomy for the first time in their lives. It was truly fun, and I naturally can’t describe it in words!
Here is a list of what we saw.

The Summer Triangle. Cygnus, Aquila et Lyra.

Teapot eh? well, our ancestors thought that this was a centaur and named it as ‘Sagittarius’!

This might look like a M, W or a Σ. I leave it to your imagination! This nineteen century old constellation is known as Cassiopeia and she is supposed to be the Queen! Well, Maithili couldn’t help herself from being happy as her initial is up there in the sky!

One of the only constellation that actually resembles the object that it is named after is Scorpio, the scorpion! The α star, Antares was as red as a traffic signal. What a sight it was, this majestic constellation!
I saw a sporadic meteor streak past, but unfortunately these people didn’t get to see it. They were all pretty much amazed at how small and insignificant we are on the cosmic scale. Yet, we cry over small things. I just can’t stop getting philosophical!!
Although we did not see the Milky Way, we had an amazing time at Saloni’s place! If not for astronomy, we always had some gossip! And the best part is that the girls built up some curiosity about Greek mythology into me! Life was at its best. I had my chemistry practical exams the next day, but I was pretty much confident about them. Moreover, I had a life to live and constellations to hunt on Akshay’s iPad!!!

These Facebook statuses sum it all up.

Yes, I am using Facebook’s new ‘Timeline’ feature before it is even released! Boo you!
     Talking about yesterday, there was this quiz organised by the PTA of GVM’s Higher Secondary School and was quiz-mastered by Wilson Vaz, who is an amazing physics teacher and person besides being a really cool quiz-master! It was to be my last school quiz ever!!! Now that’s something really emotional!
   Now what is life without a little bit of thrill? So let there be spice. Me and my partner Pradnya Rane were told by the school authorities that the quiz beings at 10:30 am. But on the day of the quiz, reading the circular I realized the time for the preliminaries was 9:00am. I looked at my watch. It was 9:01 am. And then we just panicked! But we had a lot of luck, so we made it.
     Me, Pradnya, Shantanu Kulkarni and Akshay Juwarkar finally reached Kala Academy, the venue for the quiz. I was participating in a GK quiz after a year. I had lost my ‘Midastouch’ in quizzing, or at least that’s what I thought! As per me, we fared badly in the prelims. Little did we know that others had it worse! Akshay constantly told me that people there feared me more than anybody else. I had developed a killer reputation two years ago, and that is still imprinted on their minds! But I was like “Dude, I am no longer THE quizzer! I have come here for fun, and not to win it!”.
     But destiny had some other plans for me. Fast forward, it was a easy ride and I scraped through with a mere lead of 5 points. I felt that I had won this quiz merely on my past experiences and not on terms of my usual heroics and buzzer tearaways! But it counts as a victory! The second place went to Mushtifund-Aryaan HSS, it’s all in the Mushtifund Saunstha I say! Shashwat and Tiwari were amazing competition and Akshay along with Shantanu proved to be a real good ‘support staff’! Not to forget, Mushtifund HSS wouldn’t be up there if it was not for Pradnya! Hats off to her! Yeah, that’s what they called themselves! I am leaving the field while I stand at the peak.
     Quizzing was, has and will be an integral part of my life. I dedicate the nearly 15 state victories to all the people who make me up. If you think it is you, give yourself a pat on the back! Thank you!
     That’s a small part of what all happened this week. It was really exciting. Like nothing before! And yeah, I have some amazing announcements to make and will blog about them real soon!

Till then, Clear skies!!
thebiggerbang

The ‘Baalti’ List.

2011-09-28T01:42:00.001+05:30

The name says it all. It’s my bucket list. If you still don’t have a clue what that is supposed to mean, click here.

Items are in a random order, those in bold are already put in place. Shall fill in more very soon!!

Inspire and give quality education to a 100 people.
Experience weightlessness.
Go backpacking all over Europe just to eat.
Stop being picked upon for being thin. Grow stout and plum.
Lush fields, a million stars, the Milky Way and a hand in my hand.
Stay for a month in Varanasi.
Meet Lance Armstrong.
Complete reading Roger Penrose’s The Road to Reality:A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe.
Get a doctorate. Two, three or four perhaps.
Adventure sports. Who wouldn’t want to do that?
Serve cancer patients. Make them happy.
Produce a soothing music album of my own. Videos too. Single handed.
Die with a smile.

Thebiggerbang

To Dream Or Not To.

2011-09-07T01:18:00.002+05:30

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.”

     Only if life was this easy, and quotes like this were the secret to success, I wouldn’t be writing this post and nor would you have bothered to read it. If you are just another guy who find this topic relevant, let me tell you that you are not alone. In this post, I shall try to give my personal opinion on the uncertain future, dreaming big, the anxiety and the fear of having to deal with a tragedy at the end of the struggle. I may not be the guy with a lamp who shall guide you to safety at the end of the road, for I myself am searching for a refuge. Rest assured, you will feel better by the time I wrap up this post. It’s a candid post I’m penning all this down to satiate my thirst for the truth because drinking Sprite won’t work. I tried.
      We all dream. And we all dream big! Remember, what might be a small dream for you isn’t that small for your neighbour. And while it might mean getting into the best university for you, it might as well mean making the hottest girl on campus fall for you. Some, like me tend to get obsessed with one particular dreams whereas a ‘gifted’ few have the innate ability to jump from one failed dream to another. And it’s not that one always becomes successful by being obsessed! I wouldn’t be wrong in saying that dreaming, and hoping for the best comes naturally to us.
    But the question is whether it is fair for everyone to dream big, hope for the best against the odds and live under a constant fear of rejection and failure. What if you aim for the moon and miss it? There is a vast void between the stars! What if you end up there, in the middle of nowhere? It’s a question that doesn’t let you sleep if you plan to run against the wind. It’s like walking on the road less taken, alone at night. However strong and fearless you might be, no human will ever tread this path without looking behind, for help or for moral support. Unless you are Rajinikant, you will doubt if you can make it. Maybe once, maybe twice, but one will! At least I do it all the time, perhaps I should try adding –inikant to my name! There is the fear of the unknown that holds one behind. It’s a fear like none other. Getting scared of where you will be and who you will be a few years down the lane can either screw your case up, or it can elevate you to the next level and make you achieve great heights in life. It simply depends upon your own set of experiences and your attitude.
    Yes, this post is somewhat focused towards all the students just like yours truly and was due sooner or later. For those who do not know, I’m currently in the 12th standard, supposedly firm on my career decision, according to a few I’m doing great. But what is the use of people saying this and that if I myself am not satisfied? I’m asking for more not because I know that one ceases to be a ‘human’ once the desire for excellence dries away, but only because you and the whole wide world, I’m in the pursuit of happiness. I’m trying to live the middle class dream. What I dream of looks so gigantic to me that on a certain day it might look like a cakewalk, but on a few others I feel like I will never survive the climb. A few things that I have realized that when you plan to steer against the tide, you do need a anchor, a pillar like support in your life. At least I do! I know I should have faith in myself till the end. Faith not only that I shall make it to the top, but also that if required I shall accept that fact that I was not sculpted to accomplish the task.

       This world can easily make you feel like a dog, even if you are not. People who have either a big, inflated ego or just the opposite, it is very difficult to find a right blend, a perfect cocktail of a person! The funniest part is that it does not take much flattery or criticism to push you from one category to another. I have come across a wide range of people in this respect. It’s not a good sight, I tell myself. The truth is that we all have been there. Either thinking too high of themselves or thinking that we are good for nothing. One fails to realize that even the best in the game has his reservations, he too doubts his own self to some extent! In my class, there are a lot of people who are dreaming of getting into the IITs and are working hard towards it. I truly wish they make it, that dreams their dreams come true and stuff, but sadly the best of the best are also not sure of making it large. I am basically trying to convey is that stuff like this happens to all. It’s all a part and parcel of life that we are destined to go through. Such experiences make us stronger and rugged as a person. That’s how we should look at it.
    But yeah, there is no substitute for toiling for two years. No one in the world, except the people sitting around you in the examination hall can help you to take a step ahead. Take notice of the fact that I have not used the word ‘succeed’ here. Dreams will always remain dreams. But I sweetly promise you that all your nightmares will come true! So be prepared for the worst if this paragraph describes your attitude the best.
    I know I have started form one place and kind of drifted away, that’s how I am these days. A little bit of stuck between the devil and the deep sea. All I wish to do in life is to make a sincere contribution towards our understanding of mother nature. And with all your wishes, I should be able to do so, overcoming every hurdle in my path! Yes, I have decided to stay firm on my decision, of exploring the world the way I want to. I’m willing to learn from all my mistakes and better them! Well, I’m willing to do anything to make it up there. Just hope for a fairy-tale ending.
    The main aim of this post was to shout out all the negative thoughts aloud, to get them out from your and my mind. I just hope I was successful in doing so, and even if I was not, I have something in store for you, the readers. Presenting before you, a slightly different and personal take on this topic by my cousin, Shibani Timblo who has happily accepted my request to collaborate with me on my posts. Read on!

Dreams : The Light In The Tunnel Of Survival

     Dreams could be interpreted in innumerable ways such as marvels, aspirations, ambitions, reveries, fantasies. For me here its aspirations as well as ambitions. Looking closely, there is a slight but pivotal difference between the two. Aspirations are the dreams you would want to live wherein satisfaction and pleasure is guaranteed but not other parameters as in the case of ambitions like “the moolah” as we call it. Having them is an integral part of every individual life to, as I said above, have a purpose, that is, a reason to care to survive the big bad world which could crush us but only our dreams can motivate us to fight back.
      Yes, my dreams have overwhelmed me, so much so that my tale of survival is an enormous battle. A battle that wont just reward me survival but will grant me solace, happiness, gratification and victory. Solace with myself, my duties and my peers and the fact that I haven’t let anyone down along with doing justice to myself. The happiness, rapture and euphoria of fulfilment that will be bestowed upon me after a determined fracas put up by me. Being gratified of achieving what I’ve strived for, what I’ve yearned for. And victory being the aggregate of all these sentiments, the ultimate resultant sentiment of all my efforts. My personal favourite quote is Sigmund Freud’s view regarding dreams, ”Dreams are often most profound when they seem the most crazy.” Although he meant our fantasies but in this lunatic world, our ambitions too can drive us crazy making our lives more profound.
      No dream, big or small, is insignificant but well can be unrealistic as I myself had a series of outrageous dreams. From modelling to acting to philanthropy ( although I’m still keen on that) to aeronautical engineering (craziest yet) to medicine. Never gave myself a thought about what I was thinking! Never pondered on why I wanted to or whether it was what I really wanted all my life, whether all my efforts towards obtaining degrees in those fields would be meaningful to me. As I matured and began to reflect, I began to understand the complexities of life, that life wasn’t a piece of cake specially where IIT is the primeval temple of study in India that offers almost 7000 seats to the Indian student population adding pressure to the already tensed situation of economically strained demographics of the country. Moreover its become a fashion to join coaching institutions to get into IIT. I too, was a part of the fashion followers, not realizing what I was getting myself into. The hectic schedule of college as well as the coaching classes induced me to plan out my life which helped me be conscious of the fact that it was the need of the hour to set it right for myself. That’s when I started discovering the hidden passions in myself.
     My plan was to combine my aspirations and ambitions together. As soon as my soul-searching began, I realized that my aspirations were my priorities that was to live in an independent life, earning enough to sustain me but also perceived that all my life I had craved to do something good for myself, fight against the atrocities done to women, educate denizens from all walks of life, explore the world, LEARN – thanks to the repulsion caused by the IIT frenzy and HSC method of mugging up. The merriment I had derived from learning made me conclude that research and teaching were the kind of jobs for me. And fortunately, they went hand in hand. That’s where I had won half my battle, my plan was complete, I knew where to be and what to do since I was aware of what I could do the best. Being an avid science, specially biology and chemistry, student I figured biomedical sciences was the course for me. I believe that if one dreams, they should dream big and so I set my target as Stanford, my dream school.
      Now I have a clear road to travelled on, the hard way. But on the brighter note the road less travelled by, where they’ll be obstacles which will make us more resistant to future hitches, experiences that will last as remembrances forever and of course the golden opportunity of standing out, now who wouldn’t want that? That’s the essence of our lives my friends, to make a difference by doing what you love not by struggling. Success and the moolah will not only come easy but also gratification and happiness. Dreams either happen or shatter, but that shouldn’t dissuade us from having them. Dreams should be inspirational, whether they occur or not is immaterial as I have faith in the saying that efforts never fail.

I do not think that this topic requires a conclusion to be drawn. Our story is a story that is being written and as Shah Rukh Khan said, “Picture abhi baaki hai, mere dost!!”. I leave you with a question to ponder upon. Is it a crime to dream big? Or is this a good example of triumph over adversity?

Midastouch

(PS : If you believe in God, please do not burden him with requests to give you a good rank. Sadly, he can’t accommodate all of the people who pray into the top colleges. So please pray asking for him to give you the power to believe in yourself!)

The New Patriot.

2011-08-18T14:48:00.001+05:30

He is 74. But he is young. Quoting a friend of mine, he is 16 years young and has 58 years of experience. He is Kisan Baburao Hazare. If Gandhi was the father of our nation, our beloved Anna is the guardian of our nation. He is the guardian of the Mahatma’s legacy and our future. You’d be a fool if you have no clue who he is. And I’d be a bigger fool trying to put down a man of such pristine virtues in my words. His deeds are for all to see! A man of our grandfather’s age fasting for days at stretch, for our future makes me get a lump in my throat! The fire that he stroke is as some call it, our 3^rd war of independence. Rightly so!

I’m not here to educate you about how corruption affects us, or how unethical and shitty it is. We all have done it, haven’t we? Some have given money and the others have taken! To obtain driving licences, evade taxes, grab tenders, pass projects. In our state, which was recently rocked my the Atala drug case, involvement of the police was suspected. Yet, we didn’t care. It was none of my business, I thought. So did we all. Corruption was treated as a part and parcel of life. It is an unspoken fundamental right granted by the constitution of bureaucracy and politics. (note to self : replace ‘is’ with ‘was’ real soon)

I was made to believe that I’m unpatriotic, although I had my opinion on every national issue. Yes, the national anthem did give me goose-bumps, but I guess that was not enough. It does happen to every youth, doesn’t it? They call us brash, hooligans and people who just want to enjoy life. Or that we were just interested in studies and scoring at exams. They say that we have no love for the motherland, therefore we qualify in the ‘unpatriotic idiots’ bracket. Even I thought so, I guess so did many others! Allow me to share with you what happened today.

Today, the 18th of August 2011, started with the day wherein Anna and the Civil Society were granted permission to fast on the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi for the Jan Lokpal bill to be brought into effect. And it was also the day of the ‘All India College Bandh’. When we heard about it yesterday, we were in two minds. To come to school, or to stay home. Little did we know that we would end up doing something else. We took to the streets and joined the protest. And oh boy, what a way to do it!

During the assembly that we attended itself, me and many colleagues of mine went around spreading the message that we should leave our classes immediately and pitch in! And we did manage to round up a crowd of about 60 people from our higher secondary school itself, out of the total strength of around 250. The rest, they either didn’t turn up in the first place, or went home. All of the juniors did that. Yes, all! A few showed that they were more concerned for the fact that they will get wet in the rain than for their country’s future. I still don’t understand why girls tend to do that. But at the same time, I salute all the girls who came down to carry out the peaceful protest.

Once we reached at Azad Maidan, being the first institution to do so, we just stuck around for a while, listening to older citizens speak to us and stuff. The new found patriotism was wearing off everyone. We didn’t believe in the fact that shouting out slogans when we were the lone people there would change the way things were, besides keeping our spirits high. Many wanted to decay off quietly from the congregation, but in the end, they were all happy that they didn’t. Things grew better as the crowd began to pour in. The intensity of the slogans increased.

Here are the few pro-Anna Hazare slogans that we used.:

“Anna Hazare tum aagey bado, hum tumhare saath hai!”

“Brashtachaari ho saavdhaan, jaag utha hai Hindusataan”

“Ek do, ek do, brashtachaar ko fek do!”

My personal favourite was the following. With the policemen smiling at us, we just shouted

“Yeh andar ki baat hai, Police hamare saath hai!”

A friend of mine talked to the police and found out that if allowed, they too wanted to join the cause, but as they were in uniform, they couldn’t! Whether they meant it or not is not the question. well at least they managed to give us a positive gesture, and that was great!

We took out a small peaceful march, shouting slogans. People peeping out of the window, wondering what the hell was on was a sad sight. Sad sight because besides a single couple on the streets (who didn’t look to be Goans) no one joined us in the naarebaazi. We screamed out throats out, and I’m sure mine will go hoarse real soon. But who cares? As much as we were frustrated with the amount people had to suffer, we were equally fed up with the power money possessed. Our state alone is touted to have a few shady public personalities who together have a sum of Rs. 49,000 crore in Swiss Banks. And our concern genuinely showed! It was a day where we all grew up! Where transformed from people who just live a life to people who live a life for a purpose worth living for! And yeah, If it was not for Anna Hazare and his hunger strike, I don’t know how long we would have had to wait for our awakening and eradication of corruption. We all felt intense satisfaction over what we had done this day! It is an indescribable feeling!

Yes, the government is acting sour over the issue, but I truly appreciate the fact that nothing has been set on fire till date, nor has the issue taken a political detour. It’s really heartening to know that the whole of Delhi and the nation has taken to the streets. The issue has united India like never before!Why only India? I listened to a Afghan who said that he hated the corruption going on! And thanks to every news channel besides DD News, we can fight back even better! I will not single out any political party, as I know that people who are bad will take bribes and who are pure will never, irrespective of which side they belong to! While we the youth protest, they refuse to do so. They still go to work when the nation needs them. And they call us unpatriotic.

We are the new patriots. We might not know about the people who gave up their lives for the nation’s independence or how many died fighting in the battle of Panipat. But we truly appreciate it.We walk up to a smoker and tell him to stop smoking, without fearing public ridicule. We might not protest everyday against the system,but want to focus on the task at hand. That is, freedom from all the evils. We don’t look at religion, caste or creed while making friends. We want a better education so that we can serve our motherland and the world in a better way, but we do care. We don’t look at politicians as our role models, but instead look up to those who change the way we live! We might be the Facebook generation, but yes, we do pass on our message effectively without bloodshed. We are true patriots at heart.

JAI HIND!

MidasTouch.

A cousin, a tabla and a blade.

2011-08-07T02:14:00.004+05:30

    In the past few hours, I have done what I perhaps do the best. I’ve been myself. I’ve done what I do the best. It’s rare that I get such intense bouts of umed to blog my heart out over intense topics, but tonight is that night. I expect words to just flow out of me, to the tune of Beethoven. So here I go!

   I’ve done many things today. I’m confused whether to captivate your attention by mentioning all of them, or to unveil them as I go on. I think I’d prefer the later, for I’d like my day to be as surprizing to you as it was to me! Let me start off with a bang. A weird one.

    I ‘discovered’ a cousin of mine. Yeah, you got that right. And yes, I can explain it by saying that I am an introvert and that I don’t like to socialise and stuff. But over the years, if there is one thing that I have learnt is that excuses are for sore losers. So, if not for anything else, I’d better not give any for the fear of being a looser, a lame one that too. I don’t like talking to people, and that’s it. I prefer to stick to my people, apparently for reason! But today, I found out the answer why I find a lack of intellectual people in this world. It’s just because I don’t want to find! It’s partly because of my shyness to say, open up a conversation or so. But I just can’t relate it to my enthusiasm to do so once I know a person really well!

    She is a year younger than me, but makes much more sense. I remember seeing her loads of times for family functions and stuff, and you may call me ignorant, but I didn’t bother to remember her name too. Yes, I can again brush it off saying that I have a bad memory but truth be told, I am feeling a little guilty of not making an attempt. Yeah, like in today’s world, it all beings with a Facebook friendship request (Alas, It’s the much touted day today wherein mobile companies charge you more for texts and people make money by selling 'friendship bands’). I wondered for a while, what to do with the request, but something told me that it was a familiar face out there. A little investigation with my mother told me that yes, she was my cousin. “Oh” I said nonchalantly, and clicked on the accept button. I was accepting my stupidity more than the friend request.

    But wait, that is not the discovery I was talking about. A discovery is meant to be much more deep than a find, and so it was. It’s pointless to divulged into the details of what we talked about, but to sum it up, it was a very intense questioning session, an intellectual storm which rather felt as if I have been debating with her since time immortal! Realization strikes all, albeit a little late for some. But what matters is that it does! She writes poetry, plays the guitar just as I do! What I learnt today is that life is short, and we should not always rely upon the other person to initiate the discussion. And you should never guess about what a person will be, it’s not a true or false question that we are dealing with over humans, but it is humans instead. Unpredictable creatures, they will either stun or surprize! Prejudice sucks. I have faced the brunt of it, so has a friend of mine. We both know how baseless and hollow it is. If you do not have experiences with people, you naturally will be scared and shy to interact. It’s a vicious cycle, beware!

   My cousin turned out to be one of the handful people that I was very much comfortable talking and philosophizing with. Blame my socializing ‘prowess’, or accept that it’s the truth but it is hard to find people who talk something more than the marks that they wanted to score or the latest trend in town. Nothing wrong in that, but I find it deeply unsatisfying to talk about material things. Every person has different needs and capacities, agreed. But I’m just stating a point here. I find a lack of people who can pose questions and work out their answers for contentment and deep satisfaction. I don’t need you to be a poet to communicate to me, a photo or a work of art can do the same. A piece of music can do the same job. They take you on a journey to discover your own self. And that’s where the tabla comes into the picture!

I’ve always wanted to post on my connection with music, I didn’t do much justice to it with the monsoon playlist, but here is a better attempt. I’m a guy who is a fan of western music, international music sometimes, as I belong to the class of people who think that language is no barrier to the tunes that we connect with. Music is truly universal! But my interest in jazz, operas and instrumental along with genres like antifolk and alternative have tuned me off from the pop, rap and hip-hop that prevailed over everything a few years ago. But slowly, it did lead to the decline of my inclination towards Indian classical music, I had this prejudice. But just a few hours ago, my school-mate linked me a video of his, wherein he was playing the tabla with a sitar maestro. I was really eager to watch it, as I had heard that he played the tabla really well. But I leave it upto you to decide how amazing he is, after watching this video.

Ram Bhakta, my friend playing the table

Within a few seconds, I was overwhelmed by the power, the potency of the music I was listening to. I was mesmerized, to say the least. I drifted away into a state of bliss. Although it was not Bismillah Khan’s Shehnai, it was magic to me. Maybe or may not be for you. I went back to the chat and being a learner of the guitar, and knowing how tough it is, I complimented him like a good audience would.

But there was a much deeper lesson to be learnt from what I had just witnessed. I had linked him to a hair-raising piece of opera by Luciano Pavarotti, and he too appreciated it. We joked about how much of the Italian we understood, and then I again complimented him on his performance. As humble as he was to me, accepting that he was a nobody, we both agreed upon the fact that it was the need to improvise that kept us going stronger and stronger in our respective fields. That this was the simple but truth, the secret to a successful life! Ram said that he never faced any problem in learning the instrument, as he loved to do it! In fact, answers came to him naturally! Everyone has a niche for themselves in this world. It’s just that we have to struggle to discover and sharpen it. I’m talking stuff that we all know about but we hardly practise. We think it is tough. But here is a song, which was originally sung by Miley Cyrus. It suits the topic I’m posting on, plus the girl’s raw emotions make it worth watching!

Sometimes, people ask me how much hours I study or what tips I can give to them to score good marks in examination. I start wondering whether they have learnt anything at all from 3-Idiots, the movie. I firmly believe that our passion decides the greatness we can achieve. Agreed, that there is no success without hard-work and talent combined, but when one has the passion, one doesn’t feel that he/she is working hard. It’s like powering your boosters in space, you are in cruise mode! It doesn’t matter what we become or do. It is the sincerity, dedication and love that matters. Or as the saying goes, Success follows the pursuit for excellence! To sum it up, I make use the lyrics of the very same song!

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb!!

And yeah, this leads me to the final part. My love, my passion taught me a small, but valuable lesson in life. It concerns a simple blade. I’m keeping the technical stuff aside for another post, you can skip to the last two paragraphs if you want to, or read on! In the recent past, especially in my XIIth std, I’ve taken a liking towards trying to apply or perform everything that I learn during the theory classes. And like every other guy (or am I alone?) I’m fascinated by light and it’s dual nature. We learnt that light sometimes behaves as a wave and sometimes like a particle. To prove the wave-nature of light, we take the help of that property of waves known as interference. And at the time I learnt it, it looked as if this is the stuff that you can cook up, or see for yourself only in a lab. But, spending two days in Poinginim (mum’s place) and trying to utilize every thing that I saw with the help of my cousin brother who had returned from the U.S.A.,lead me to the internet where I saw a way of checking out the wave nature of light using only a glass slide, some candle soot, a blade and a LASER.

Coming back to Panaji, I swung into action and within a day I got the experiment done, although I had to contact every person I knew for a LASER. I was not overwhelmed at the results I got, but yes, I did get what I wanted. But somehow I was not satisfied. In the evening, I went to the observatory, my second home on this planet and was guided by Videsh Khandeparkar and Rakesh Rao to do the best I could with the apparatus I had. But after a while I was pleasantly shocked. Using only a deformed blade and a laser, I had one of the most thrilling sights of my life in front of me! There was a diffraction pattern as beautiful as I saw in the books!

Now you might ask me what’s so great in that! But what I feel is that beauty lies in simplicity. It’s not complicating things things that is fun, but simplifying things that is! What I had thought of as an experiment that I would just dream about as this juncture was done with the minimal amount of time and equipment! And now I’m sure that I’ll never forget the working of diffraction because I actually produced one, and I got pleasure in doing so. The stuff that we learn is not just to be locked up and forgotten. It’s meant to be applied in every sense we can! Funnily, I can find similarities between nature’s laws and human behaviour. Yeah, as I said, I am pretty much crazy!

So if anyone asks you what one can learn in a day, tell them to speak to me! It took me around 3 hours to put this down, and I guess it is a pretty long post. If you made it through all of the stuff that I could cook up, then you do deserve a good dose of laughter, and I guess this song will just do that. It’s sung by the same girl as above, but thanks to the nonsensical lyrics, it is even worse than the disaster called ‘Friday’!! Do check it out! Don’t blame me if you faint!

Life Rocks.
Mid@$Touch

Insert a suitable title

2011-07-31T10:57:00.007+05:30

    My mid-terms are done. It’s Sunday today! It’s a rainy Sunday today. It’s a rainy Sunday today with my mom shouting things at me while I write this stuff down! And yeah, I’m half an hour away from getting lost somewhere with my friends, thanks to a late riser (he usually is the person who wakes me up!) I’m here, just troubling my already beaten-up keyboard!

Sorry for the repetition used above, that’s cause I’m used to beating around the bush while writing answers I’m not sure off! But I swear that it’s far better than sentences like ‘Froth stabilizers are used to stabilize the froth’ or ‘There is a difference of age between younger and older rocks’ to quote a few of the, I-don’t-know-what-to-call-such-junk lines that we have in our textbooks and notes given by teachers! Phew. No one can stop cribbing post exams, can they?

   Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I kept my promise. I actually did sleep after coming home from the exam. Don’t we all make promises to ourselves, that we will redeem the sleepless nights with a good siesta after the exams? Alas, we fail to do so! But I’m yet to realize that this is just the first of the many important exams lined up, and it didn’t go off as well as I had expected it to! But still, ki farak penda? There is time to perform.

   Over the past few days, I’ve fallen in love with science all over again! Another question that came to my mind, is it that one should be good at what he loves? or is it that one IS good at what le loves? Figure out, and let me know please! Recently, I’ve joined this physics site and it’s been an awesome journey out there ever since! And yeah. It’s landed a good kick to my ego, well deserved too! Once you are used to being kind off on the top of your playing field, you tend to saturate your talent and turn into a once-champion-sumo-wrestler-but-now-really-overweight-man! And yeah, when you see people younger than you, in any field that might concern you, the reader, don’t you feel the pinch? When you are left clueless, when it’s time to realise that there is some ground to make up, I guess that’s the turning point! A well needed kick of motivation!

   I’ve seen a 12 year old guy teaching integral calculus on YouTube, he was mildly autistic. We are such being that if one part of us is under-developed, Mother Nature sees to it that it makes up for that loss with something else, which can make you truly stand out! Look at Stephan Hawking for example! I’ve recently read his biography, and observed that he was intelligent, but not as stunning as the so called ‘child-geniuses’ at his age! He had his fair share of craziness in his youth, but when he was actually paralysed with ALS, his brain and mind knew no bounds! Is it that when he was relieved of all his daily chores that he could concentrate and expand the horizons of his thinking? At one point of time, he couldn’t write down, so he took to the task of memorizing accurately humungous mathematical equations! And yeah, he is today, the world’s most popular living mathematician, or physicist, whatever you want to call him!

Ahh. This brings me to the topic of religion. I echo Hawking’s views. Many do! And many others do feel that I’m immature to know and talk about religion. Well, I’m pretty much sure that to realise such philosophical things, one doesn’t need age, but wisdom. Wisdom comes with age, agreed! But is it something like death? That is inevitable? Does wisdom come to ALL? I doubt that! I was pretty much averse to idol worship since long. And now, I believe that mathematics is the language of universe! it speaks to us via mathematics! One day, I presume we will be able to predict anything and everything that takes place in this universe of ours. That’s my belief!

   Now and then, people ask me, what about life? Will you be able to predict how humans behave using the equations that I am talking about? Now, I wouldn’t like to make tall claims and face the ire of fanatics out there. Theoretically, it will be possible, if given enough computational power. But if we do it, I will be shocked. We will be what Naseruddin Shah thought he would be in Krrish. We would be ‘God’. And you gotta believe in this, if you can make yourself believe that a baba in saffron can conjure gold rings, rolex watches and stuff from thin air! Don’t mess around with the conservation of mass and energy, buddy!

    Talking about human emotions, it’s one thing that I’m still learning. We all are, aren’t we? Whether it’s your love or your friends, pangs of jealousy or a scream of thrill! Be it mouth-watering pickle or yuck tambdi bhaaji, we have to taste everything in life! Our set of experiences define us! Yet, some questions remain unanswered! Is trust the only thing in friendship? Do you need a reason to love some-one? Or the most prized one. Why the hell are girls so conscious about their weight??

Till you ponder over these questions, I take your leave with this photo! FYI, my alter-ego is named thebiggerbang.

Ciao
Mid@sTouch


   EDIT : Here is a collage of photos, of the very same hike that me and my friends indulged in. Courtesy blanknoiz

Illusion

2011-07-07T15:26:00.002+05:30

The song plays, I don’t understand a word of it.
Yet, I dance.
Yet, I dance. In a deep trance.
To the melody of my life,
My heavy breath, the beat.

I’m not a bat in the dark,
Just another baffled mind and soul.
Yet I seek.
Yet I seek the truth. In the pitch dark.
Search for the gospel truth,
It’s the key to the mystery.

The heavens pour down upon me.
Why can’t they part? Let the sun shine!
Yet, I wait.
Yet I wait. Hope flickering like candlelight.
Just to see the light, once again!

It’s an illusion, they say to me.
I refused to believe. No mist in here!
Alas, only a lashing of feelings.
Maybe, that’s why they call it an illusion.
It’s just hard to believe.

R

DIY : A simple CD Spectroscope

2011-06-08T22:03:00.002+05:30

This is the 1st part of a make it yourself guide to build your own CD Spectroscope with which you will be able to easily make out the Sodium D-lines with the help of a street light.

This is what I got with a crude instrument that I made, I promise you’ll end up with a better one!

Before we jump into the making of the spectroscope, let us take a look at the concepts and phenomena involved in the experiment! After all, a lil’ background does no harm! Although I’m no expert on this subject, I’ll do my best to be as lucid and factually perfect as possible! To skip to the procedure, please scroll down.

Diffraction : It is described as the apparent bending of waves around small obstacles and the spreading out of waves past small openings.

Consider a plane wave front as shown in the figure. When it encounters an obstacle which is of the same order as its wavelength, it diffracts or spreads out. When the diffraction pattern of white light is observed, one can make out its constituent colours, as each constituent colour diffracts in a different way which is dependent on its wavelength.

Optical instruments called diffraction gratings, have a periodic structure in the form of closely spaced parallel lines or divisions which splits and diffracts light into several beams travelling in different directions. For example, a particular grating can even have 6000 lines/cm!

Just like prisms, they split up a white light source as I have mentioned earlier.

Around us, we see lots of phenomena due to diffraction, and although it might sound pretty much theoretical, diffraction is the phenomena that has lots of real life applications. The surface of holograms that one sees are somewhat like a diffraction grating itself! Also, you must have come across these tiny floating grids or ‘maps’ in front of your eyes, that is itself a product of diffraction!!

Compact Disks or CDs as we better know them, are just another example or it. Do you know a CD stores data? Well, it’s in the minute grooves on its surface that are etched with the data. These grooves which are densely packed, run in spirals. A blank CD makes for a real good diffraction grating!

Now that we know the basics about the devices that we are going to use, let us take a jump into the very much ‘exciting’ atomic realm!

To keep it simple for everyone, let’s start out with the fact that electrons are particles that orbit around the nucleus of an atom. These electrons, as Niels Bohr showed, orbit around the atomic nucleus in stable paths. Each of such path possible had a definite ‘energy’ value assigned to it, and only those paths were permitted wherein the energy value was a integral multiple of the energy related with the 1st energy level or orbit.

According to him, electrons which travel around these defined paths do not loose energy over time (Due to the wave nature of particles, electron orbiting nuclei form standing waves wherein the transfer of energy is null). The only way in which a electron can ‘jump’ up or down a energy level is when it absorbs or emits energy. And as this energy is most commonly shared in the form that we all are familiar with. And that form of energy is nothing but light itself!

So in short, light ‘excites’ an electron and makes it ‘jump’ to a higher energy level, or an electron emits light or energy and jumps down to a lower energy state. Remember that the lower the energy is, the more stable the electron is!

Now, comes the application part! Most of the street lights that we see around us, at least the yellow ones, are Sodium vapour lamps. And the light that we see comes from the very same excitation of the electrons present in the Sodium in the lamp. As we know, the number of electrons present in Sodium is 11, and its electronic configuration can be represented in simple terms as (2,8,1). For those who indulge in higher studies it goes as 1s² 2s² 2p⁶3s¹. What is more of our concern is that the lone electron in the 3s subshell jumps up when exited to the 3p subshell. When it makes an effort to come down again, it releases energy in the form of light, the very same light that illuminates most of our streets!!!

Also, one should make a note of the fact that every element has a unique energy absorption and emission spectrum by virtue of their unique electronic configuration! This fact helps us a lot in identifying elements due to their spectra and this technique is heavily employed in astrochemistry!

Given below is a continuous spectrum, and the absorption spectrum of Sodium.

In the above spectrum, you can see two distinct yellow lines separated by a small distance. These lines are due to the light that is given out by the electrons when it jumps to a lower energy state. using the spectroscope, we will see the very same lines, we will get an insight into the ‘excited dances’ of the atomic world! Aren’t you excited too?? Well, hope not bored!

Let’s Begin!

Things that you will need :

A blank Compact Disc
A tape (preferably packing tape)
A pair of scissors
A smile on your face cause you are going to enter the quantum realm!

The first step would be to scratch a line along the radius on that side of the CD where the silver coating is.

Once you do that, take a long strip of tape and paste it along the scratch. The wider the tape is, the better the quality of the stripped CD.

Now that you have done so, apply some pressure over the taped area so that when you try to peal it off, it comes out with ease and this also prevents a mess. Make it a point that you do not get a large amount of fingerprints on the CD.

In this photo, you can see how the CD will look after you repeat the procedure. While doing so, try to overlap the tape that you apply on a small portion that you have already peeled off.

Within no time, you will have the whole CD peeled off! And what you will end up is something like this. A transparent disc and a ball of tape.

Once you do this, hunt for an Sodium or Mercury vapour lamp. The orange lamps out on the streets are of the Sodium variety and can make a good lighting source for this demo. Now, try to find a dark place from where you can look at the source of light. Once you are ready, hold the CD in front of one eye and close the other eye. Try to align your eye, the light and the hole in the CD in a straight line, this is the trick to get a perfect ring! I had found it out by trial and error and it was really interesting to do so! Once you have this alignment, hold the CD at your arm’s length and draw it near and more near to your eyes until you end up with the kind of pattern that you saw in the first image of the post! And there! You will have unlocked one of the most potent tools used for identifying various elements!

Do leave me a message on Facebook or in the comments section below telling me about potential improvements and how your spectroscope ended up! I’ll be glad if you capture the image that you get ; do mail it to me at thebiggerbang(at)ymail(dot)com. I shall surely upload it here on my blog!

Promise

Mid@$Touch aka thebiggerbang

P.S. : A special mention to my cousin Suyesh Prabhugaonkar for clicking the photos and helping me make the CD spectroscope.

Me, Cats and Dogs…

2011-06-06T13:39:00.001+05:30

If you don’t have a clue about it, then let me tell you that I’m a fanatical animal lover. But, as the typical story goes, my mother cites various reasons to not allow me to pet any sort of creature that stands on four legs. There is a loophole to this, but being a late riser, I don’t want to pet a rooster and get woken up at the wee hours.

Let’s take a little diversion.

I had managed to pet a dog in 2005, it was pretty much of an adventure doing so! Within three days of getting him home, he was kidnapped or dognapped by a few kids from the neighbouring colony. As I am too bored to study, I shall go on and tell you what exactly happened. Although these events occurred 6 years ago, I pretty much remember the details as it is all about things that I love.

I had got a dog on the 23rd of January 2005 from ‘PAWS’, which is a local animal welfare centre. He looked like a mixed breed Alsatian, was black in colour and after pondering over what to name him, the name ‘Roxy’ struck a chord with me. Little did I realise that it was feminine name and a short lived character of the same name would make her appearance in Mr. Bean’s Animated Series. It used to remind me of my dog all the time.

Mr Bean in Love with Roxy!

As soon as I had got him, a little puppy that he was, he used to be huddled up inside my apartment on the ground floor. But on the first night itself, I had taken him out for a walk and left him around in my colony parking lot and had gone inside to fetch him water. When I returned, he had already disappeared. A frantic search followed under all the cars and around our colony. Sadly, I had to return back home late at night not knowing where he was. But the very next morning, when our maid went to the terrace to keep stuff to dry, she found him there tired of whining and sitting in a corner. Now who would have expected such a small pup to climb up two floors just out of curiosity? Thus, the place had gone unsearched! The problem he had with is was that he could climb up, but unfortunately couldn’t come down (maybe he was inexperienced and scared to do so). And that was not the end!

Roxy, as adventurous as he was, he never escaped the eyes of the neighbouring kids who managed to lift the petty bag of muscles and bones up when he was let out to answer his nature’s call or calls in the evening. Although it was negligent on my part not to be with him, I was sure that it was they who took him. In the night, me and my friend roamed the neighbouring buildings in search of him, but it was in vain. But on the 26th, as luck would have it, another guy who was much younger than me managed to give me clue of where he was. For a day and a half, he was kept hostage on the terrace of an adjacent building (his fate was interlinked with terraces, I guess!). It took my dad to rescue him from there and give the kids who had done it a good scolding. Phew. Another day gone by!

For the next few months, being with him was an amazing experience, and leaving him out in the open was a wilder one. Although he was very playful, people used to mistake it for aggression a lot of times. He grew tall and strong, and he used to drag me down the street in a few months. It looked as if I was under his leash and not the other way round. The wild guy once even managed to run after my dad’s bike to half the distance between my house and my shop! He was my life for a few months! I very well remember him nearly getting me down on the floor after he saw me returning from my vacation, I was just away for 5 days! That made realise that dogs are much more emotional that people think of them to be. They might not have brains to send sent a probe to dig up Mars, but they have a very large heart!

Then comes the sad part. Not exactly sad but weird enough to raise your eyebrows. Me and my parents were away, so we decided to keep him at out experienced granny’s house for a few days. I say experienced as they once had five or six Pomeranians making their house their domain. Now the dogs were gone, but there was my cousin brother, 5 years of age and as they say he had the same blood running in his veins.

What he did was that he displayed a little too much affection to the dog. He fed the dog water and maybe as a sign of brotherhood, he drank from the same plate! Yeah, he was caught once while doing that. And that was the end of Roxy. Added to that was my mother’s opposition and a pretty bad time that we were facing that made granny pack the dog off to somebody. Now I don’t remember who he was, but he also passed on the dog to some-one else. When I tried to track him down, all my efforts were in vain. That was the end of it.

Here is what my friend Pawan Garde had to say about the loss of his dog when he was young- “He was great friend!! I used to go on adventures investigating with him..we both were about the same height.. and he was an expert in fighting against snakes..his speciality were cobras..but alas it was a cobra who killed him…on a Sunday afternoon in mid April..Sandy was a real Baazigar!!” This makes me realise that I am not alone. Aniruddha & Anjali Sen Gupta, two of the most devoted dog lovers that I have ever come across recently lost their dog Hero and the post that Annie made about it was really heartening to read!

But I guess Mother Nature always gives you a second chance. And it did just that. My not-so-far away neighbour adopted a dog that looked just the same! And it grew old under my nose. He was fun too! The photo that you see, is of the very same ditto-Roxy dog that we all loved. Unfortunately, he was found dead one day, suspected of being poisoned to death. Sick people around.

Years have gone by, but my affections for them hasn’t died. I think I can still make most of the dogs wag their tails by whistling alone. My mother says that they can perhaps sense a person who is good to them. I know I’m being a little kiddish, but that statement does make me happy! After my Tenth Std. Board examinations, I decided to keep two dogs, Romeo and Juliet. It was rather unsuccessful. My mother couldn’t bare them after two days. Funny part is that she likes dogs very much, but not when they are in our house. Makes me go crazy! I searched for half an hour now, seems that the photo that I had clicked of theirs is lost. I leave you with some of the photos of cats and dogs that I have clicked over the years! Overdose of cats coming in your way! Enjoy!

Chupke Chupke, on my Granny’s roof A few of the ferocious cat’s at Percival sir’s house

A sleeping pup at Kala Academy My old neighbour’s dog, alive and kicking!

Chuku, Percival Noronha’s old cat, royal! A monsoon shot, from my window

One of my favourites, near Boca de Vaca! Recent capture, just outside my door!

Just opp Police Station, on the HDR trip Again, my old neighbour’s dog!

Me, in 2009 with the cat that shares her home with my uncle. They need not be invited to my grand-mother’s place, they just come along as if it is meant to be a Noah’s Ark! I leave you with a video below that is of the same cat as you see. I was at my granny's house to check on her cat and the kittens and LUCKILY I had my camera along with me. I could witness this happening as I had left the door of my aunt's room open by mistake. This is one of the best videos I have ever recorded. In the end, I was really stunned to see the way she carried the kittens on the bed!

My granny’s cat transporting her kittens!

I sign quoting a good friend of mine

"I always fought for a baby sister. Its too late now so now I’m fighting for a dog!"

Feed them and they will return,
love them and they will die for you....

Bow wow!

Mid@$ Touch

Songs to listen to in the rains…

2011-06-05T00:07:00.002+05:30

As my favourite season is already on the way, I’d like to share with you my playlist-to-be so that you also can pick and choose songs. Songs that you can play on while sipping a hot cup of coffee, while you stare and revel in nature’s spectacle, stuff that we call the rains!

This collection includes many songs that you might have never come across or are classical favourites. So try to be open to each and every song. As one would not listen to Sheila ki Jawani or Eminem rapping in the rains (Definitely not ‘Friday’!), expect to find an overwhelming number of mellow songs in here! I’m still expanding the playlist so keep a lookout for new songs!
To listen to the songs, please click on the song title. To download the required song, just right click it and select ‘save link as…’ option.

Suggestions for inclusion in this playlist are welcome!

English

Constellations - Jack Johnson
Believe me, this has got nothing to do with it’s astronomical title that gets it on top of the list. I have literally danced on my terrace to this song a few nights ago (danced all alone, mind you!), walked innumerable distances listening to only one song and thus it makes it to the top of the list. I have absolutely no words for this song, I say just give it a listen! Jack Johnson, Salaam to your surf rock!

The Call – Regina Spektor
To not love this song, you’d have to be really deaf. This would be the one song I’d choose to define this playlist. It’s a song of ultimate hope, the first track that people ever hear when it comes to Regina Spektor. No need to say goodbye to this song!

32 Flavors – Ani DiFranco
This is one song that can be heard anytime to lift up your mood. One of the best in my collection, I value it a lot as it was my window to the world of alternative music. It is rumoured that the song’s title is meant to be a parody of Baskin-Robbin’s, but do check out this gorgeous track!

Unwritten – Natasha Bedingfield
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else…

If you do not fin the chorus of this song really familiar, I bet you are not having your recommended dose of television watching! Soul-pumping and mind-blowing are the only the two phrases that can describe this song. I bet you’d get hooked onto the beats in no time at all! If you know where you have heard this song, do post it in the comments section!

Somewhere over the rainbow/What a wonderful world – Aselin Debison
As if the name didn’t indicate it to you, this song has got the feel of the rains written all over it! This melodious medley by Aselin Debison combines two of my most loved tracks. I am sure you must have heard the classic ‘What a wonderful world’ in the Aircel Wifi advert, but this is the same song with a unique ukulele twist! Go ahead, float in the air!

Let go – Cover by Boys like Girls
Yeah, It’s from the same band that gave us the romantic hit ‘Two is Better Than One’. Just that I prefer this one as it really helps you let go from everything that holds back form being yourself! It was just meant to be a cover song to get a contract which is now going to steal your heart!

Across the universe – The Beatles
This song by the most rocking band in the history of music, is a marvellous piece of music which just flows and flows down the way to your heart. Check out if you can find out the very much Indian/Hindu influence in the song! One of the best pick to get lost in the gloomy atmosphere of the rains!

Hey there Delilah – Plain White Tee’s
Being a song that is one of the most popular amongst today’s college going youth, one can’t just avoid listening to this classic tale of struggle for love the ‘Maine Pyaar Kiya’ style! It soothes you, it gets you addicted to it. A more than perfect song to listen to during the monsoons! And mind you, this song is inspired by a real life girl named Delilah DeCrescenzo! Isn’t that great?

Annie’s song – John Denver
For those inclined towards Western music from the last few decades, this song will always linger in your ears. A must have song on every love song collection, it really ends up filling up your senses like a walk in the rain, so much so that you'll hit the repeat button!

The Best Day – Taylor Swift
Being such a huge fan of TS, it might come as a pleasant shock that I have included only one song of hers. But the one that I have included is justified. An ode to her father, who she describes as very supportive in the song, this song perfectly fits in the progressive mood of the rains and will surely will make its way to your heart!

1,2,3,4 - Plain White T’s
Their second listing in this playlists comes with a magical song that is an ode to love. Written with one of the best lyrics possible in the recent times, it’s another song that you are unlikely to forget very soon! (Last minute inclusion, thanks to Shubhankar!)

In my heart – Moby
I was introduced to this song from the Nokia adverts a few years ago, and has been one of those songs that you listen to while walking alone in the streets at night! (unless you are Amitabh Bacchan in Shehenshah!). Besides Owl City’s Adam Young, Moby is one of the best in the Electronica genre!

Here I am – Bryan Adams
Here is a guy who has been known to deliver hits all the time, hits that make you want to live life at the edge! Here I am is another such track which perfectly suits the mood at the onset of the monsoons! It’s just magical.

Come away with me – Norah Jones
One can’t make a playlist for the rains by excluding jazz, one of my favourite genres. A song from the Grammy nominated singer, which trickles down your heart and makes you feel at ease like no other. Music runs in her blood, she being Pt. Ravi Shankar’s daughter and Anoushkar Shankar’s half sister! Come away with me does manage to take you away to dreamland!

Against the wind – Bob Seger
A song as old as I am doesn’t mean that it is out-dated. This song is from the OST of Forest Gump, a top rated movie. A classic number on the guitar, it is his recollection of the past gone by.

Sovay – Andrew Bird
A truly alternative track, with a pinch of much required salt. Have a go at it!

You're Beautiful – James Blunt
Blunt, who started off as a second lieutenant in the British Army delivered this hit song in 2005 and from then on, has never looked back. I remember me and a friend of mine requesting this song on the radio every weekend for quite a long time! Such is its appeal, that it deserves a listing in this playlist.

The Reason – Hoobastank
“I’m not a perfect person, there are many things I wish I didn’t do”. This song is dedicated to people who want to break open, at the end of a frustrated walk down the street in heavy rains! If you are the kind of person who is going through a roller coaster called life, you’d better give this a listen!

Rhythm of Love – Plain White T’s
This chartbuster has everything in it to get you swaying in a trance, a song so beautifully played out that you’ll be left humming it for days to come. It’s Plain White T’s third listing on the playlist, and they totally deserve it for the number of peaceful nights they have given me!

21 guns – Green Day
If you have got into a sad mood, or have reasons to make your mood sad and pay a tribute to yourself, give the lyrics a listen. Or, try to not focus on the lyrics and go, enjoy the pumping track! Slightly on the rocking side, but it helps to break the monotone!

Hindi
Iktara – Wake Up Sid (Album)
Simple. Think rains, think Iktara! When it comes to the recent hits in Bollywood, Iktara is one song that has already carved its niche in the hearts of millions, no questions asked! I doubt whether you’ll have any need to download it, as you must be already having it! It’s still the king!

Sham - Aisha (Album)
Personally, I consider this to be the best bolly track of the year 2010 especially because I won a Bru mug supposedly signed by Sonam Kapoor herself, all thanks to this song! Nothing can match the serenity that this song brings to you, the crisp voice and guitar chords make you really want to enjoy a cozy night out with the best of your pals!

Dil Mein Jaagi – Dev D (Album)
When I first listened to the intro of this song, I was blown off to listen to Hindi lyrics to such a marvellous piano background, a thing that is completely unheard of in Bollywood. If you think you have traversed the length and breadth of Bollywood soundtracks, wait till this song changes your notion! Three cheers to Anusha Mani and Amit Trivedi!

Zara Zara – Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mey (Album)
For the romantics, here is one of the most suiting songs that one can find to listen to with your loved one, during the rains!

Kya Karoon – Wake Up Sid (Album)
A perfect addition for predictably, a long drive or so. Consider yourself lucky if you get to do this thru a sun-roof!

Phir Dekhiye – Rock On!! (Album)
This is just another song from an already power-packed album which is truly rocking! The wonderful guitar and Caralisa Monteiro’s crisp voice make it even good to listen to. The most suitable song to play back while you get nostalgic about the way you spent your monsoons making paper boats! (Thanks again to Shubhnakar!)

O Meri Jaan – Life in a... Metro (Album)
You might call Pritam a chorr but you can’t deny him the right to one of the most amazing pieces of music that people still tend to carry around in our country (unless he has done it again, without my knowledge!). A pure feel-good song, give it a listen if you have not heard it as of now!

Dhoop Ke Makaan Sa (Acoustic) – Break Ke Baad (Album)
Although the title reads ‘Dhoop’, no need to take it so literally! There are a lot of ‘boonds’ and ‘tapkofying chhats’ that keep you tuned in to this song. For more beats, listen to the original version.

Still writing descriptions and getting links for ‘Kahi toh Hogi Woh’ – JTYJN , ‘Is this Love?’ – Kismat Konnection, ‘Roobaroo’ and ‘Lukka Chuppi’ – RDB. Blame it on my bad memory that I forget these songs and thank Shubhankar for reminding me back!

Others
Rylynn – Andy McKee
The only instrumental piece on the playlist, that too coming from the person touted to be one of the best living guitarists ever, this song is nothing less than magic. If you ever wished to visit heaven on Earth itself, this is the song to listen to!

Le Festin – Camille
It’s a French track that I fell into love with, and is picked right from the OST of Disney’s Ratatouille. As they say, music has no no borders, no language to bar the feelings! This song is a testimony of the very same fact!

On this note, I take your leave.
Mid@$ Touch

Me, Astrobuff!

2011-04-15T00:39:00.005+05:30

The story of my love. How it all began, and how my love for it manages to go strong with each passing day….

    It has been a long time since I blogged, the last post being a story that I wrote just as an experiment. Right now, I’m in the middle of my final school holidays (read boring) undergoing a strong dose of coaching classes and school – ah yeah! The ground reality is that we ain’t have any ‘summer vacation’! Anyways allow me to go ahead and indulge into the details about my love-life!

     Well if you didn’t manage to pick up the hint in the title that spoke my heart out, this post is on me and my love ASTRONOMY! The one word that defines me. The one word that drives me! The word that makes me, me! You can say it binds every quark within my body (in reality, a gluon is assigned that job!) and keeps me alive. The emphatic expressions aside, I’d like to share with you how I got interested in astronomy and how my relation with it has been and lastly, how I managed to benefit from it!
    Flashback. It was a hot March afternoon, in the year 2003 when I was enjoying being fed by mother before being packed off to school (Mushtifund Primary is in the evening). The TV was on and I was just another odd kid who was interested in watching the news (DD News to make it more odd!) and it was nothing other than love at first sight. Unfortunately, the start of my story was the end of another saga. It was the end of my hero’s life.
    March 1, 2003. Let me take you back in time when the folks of our country were awaiting the return of this lady, the lady who dreamt of soaring high. And yes she did that and much more. Kalpana Chawla was destined to be a true citizen of the universe and never set foot again on this planet. Here is an extract that i grabbed online that encapsulates the whole episode.

When the space shuttle Columbia blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the orbiter's left wing was damaged by a piece of insulating foam falling off the orbiter's external fuel tank. That proved fatal for the seven astronauts when they re-entered the Earth's atmosphere days later. The world watched as the shuttle disintegrated as hot atmospheric gases blasted inside the breach, melting the ship's structure.

Incidentally, the very morning this happened, the members of the Association of Friends of Astronomy (AFA-Goa ; will elaborate later) were returning from a star party the very same day as this incident. If this unfortunate event did not get me palpitating with the shock, it at-least got me glued to what was going to be my passion till date.
From what I can recollect, it did not have any immediate effect on me, but it rather got me thinking about all the stuff that man was literally up-to in this modern era. I was just in the 3rd grade and had a keen interest in science and all the stuff around me. Although I did not open up toy cars like Einstein (I preferred whamming them on the ground instead), I had a fair share of what I called ‘chemicals’. I used to go around mixing dish washing liquids, random ointments, tables, syrups and even that brand of sweater wool washing liquid. The worst (to my joy) that I managed with the mixture was to remove the polish from the bed. Not bad, I think! It was better then loosing my radio to constant water dunking. I just loved to mess around. Still do!

As I already posted on the AFA-Goa wall on FB, One of the book that I awaited the most was not a Harry Potter, nor a Chetan Bhagat. It was a Amar Chitra Katha on Kalpana Chawla's life. I still think it is one of the best gifts that I got from my parents till date. The one book made a huge difference as in it brought me closer to what she was like and how hard she worked. Years on, I opened up the book yesterday and was almost in tears as it was an emotional moment for me. In fact, that was the reason behind me making this particular post!

    In 2004, NASA launched the Spirit and Opportunity rover missions to Mars. Discovery Channel started their Mission Mars series which was thrilling! I was compelled to buy the interactive CDs so as to quench thirst. Despite not having cable TV access at home, I managed not to miss any of the episodes (I’d like to thank my dad for all the troubles taken). I admit, like every child I also wanted to become an astronaut, a fact that I smile upon even today. I even had this plan of joining PEC (Punjab Engineering College) just like Madam Chawla did! Yeah, you can laugh on it, but I was too tiny at that time to give it a second thought! I started out all excited about aeronautics and aerospace engineering and it remained so until the 7th standard.
    The next few years past by without any drastic happening. It was steady climb uphill. I’d like to mention a few important things in here. Firstly, there was this computer course at Boston’s Cyberkids that I used to attend. This was the place where I was introduced to a lot of nature related activities and yeah, AFA. We had a lecture held over there by the members of AFA and I was also taken to the Panaji observatory where I had my first shot at constellations and yeah the sexy Saturn! It was moment worth treasuring for life. If you have yet not have had a peep at the Moon or Saturn through a telescope, you better do very soon!
   Never the less, there were many other people whom I shared my passion with. Riya Borkar was the one with whom I used to swap books with on the topic. I made a exhibit for my school science exhibition in the 7th grade titled ‘Search for ET – Is there anybody out there?” along with Viresh Vazirani, Sarvang Bandodkar and Prasad Usapkar. I still remember the hectic last minute work that we did to take part! The project still lies besides my bed. Don’t want to boast, but I ended up cooking something very close to the Drake’s Equation in a Hindi class. There came a phase in the 8th when my likings were shifting from astrobiology and aerospace to astrophysics and general physics. But I guess, things happen for the good! It was a tough shift to make, as I was determined to choose a career right then to make things easier for myself in the future. Alas, it was hard luck for aerospace from my side.
      The next big thing was AFA itself (no prizes for guessing that!). I was a AFA member in the year 2003 itself. I used to visit the observatory sparingly and by that I mean once or twice a season! Well, I was of the point that I could gain nothing by going there daily as the sky was almost the same every time I went there. Actually, the sky for me at that point of time was nothing other than the constellation of Orion itself! Hah, I used to hate constellations just because I could never figure them out on my own! Then came the big change. It was the end of my 8th standard when AFA started their flagship, the Astro-Kids club. Funnily, I found no reason to join, too lethargic perhaps. But when I saw my friend Suyash Kamat go there every week, you can say I was kind of jealous. That brought about a new era in my life.
   The day I (re)entered into AFA, I was hooked forever! Till date, I call it my second home. It is responsible for the person who I am. People like Rakesh Rao, Satish Nayak and our own Videsh Khandeparkar (Vidu) have been really good in guiding every young mind that steps in. Today, I can say that I have visited the most remote parts of our state just because of AFA alone. The school programmes that we hold all over help one to interact with people from all backgrounds. Going to temple fairs, beaches and schools to show the public the wonders of the sky with/without invitation is what we love to do! I’d be doing a big blunder if I forget to mention Jayant Karn (JK) and Omkar Borkar, the people who I bonded with more than very well besides indulging in fun via astronomy! Ah, how can I describe to you how it is for three people under their 18s to go to the other end of Goa and put up a telescope in the middle of a Ramnavmi fair! I guess Omkar, me and Suyash did a very good job!
     Then came along the best trip of my life. That was the tour to watch the Total Solar Eclipse of July 22nd, 2009. It was such an amazing and lucky that we were all left asking for more! It was one of the most memorable experience one can ever have. If I go to write on it, it will take me at least two posts. I insist that you check out Suyash’s here and here. Some of my trip photos are here. If you ever plan a back-packing trip to Varanasi, count me in!
    AFA is not only about astronomy or science. At the end of the day, we are a one big family thanks to our ever-young 89 year old master of all trades president Percival Noronha! Yeah, we are one big ‘association’, we are all good ‘friends’ and not to forget, we all take up ‘astronomy’ vigorously! Today, if I’m open to talk to anyone on any topic under the sun, AFA has a hand behind it! Hope we prosper forever!! I’ve been kind of able to drag my very close friends Anmol Naik, Kirit Ayya and Shubhankar Kundaikar to the observatory and they are actually hooked to it! Combining my photography skills along with astronomy, I have been able to get some self satisfying photos which will always remind me of my time here! And with talented people like Atharv Joshi and Akshay Rege pouring into the gang, we at AFA make no mention of every slowing down our expansion (just like the universe is doing it a cause de la dark energy)

    My future lies ahead of me, and I am looking forward to rock it! Certain plans are underway, and I hope that the outcome is in my favour. Till then, I have decided that I’m never ever going to compromise with my passion and dedication towards astronomy. For if there is anything left to support me when everyone in this world deserts me, there will be only astronomy with me. Only astronomy!

Yours Truly,
Midas Touch

Me, Midas Touch

Tales of Love..

The Kitten’s Lair

Quickie.

Being Human.

2011 : The year that was.

Of trailing stars and thoughts…

Me, poetexter.

121 : Geminids revisited.

Astronomy–The Mother of All Sciences

Work in Progress.

Oi pilot!

Happism.

No mess candle-stand.

Small ideas can make a world of difference.

Steve Jobs. When apples couldn't keep doctors away.

Destiny’s Children. Or another random post.

The ‘Baalti’ List.

To Dream Or Not To.

The New Patriot.

A cousin, a tabla and a blade.

*Insert a suitable title*

Illusion

DIY : A simple CD Spectroscope

Me, Cats and Dogs…

Songs to listen to in the rains…

Me, Astrobuff!

The story of my love. How it all began, and how my love for it manages to go strong with each passing day….

Insert a suitable title