Simply Straight Forward

Mystery of The Missing Drum

2014-10-11T08:26:00.000+05:30

This was sometime ago when I was thoroughly fascinated by fire. I was not allowed to make fires, so I used to sneak up to the terrace and feed my obsession. The terrace was an awesome place. I had a birds eye view of the locality and nobody used it. There were two drums on the terrace. One was empty and the other was filled with soil. I used to make small fires in the drum filled with soil since it was safe and convenient. Making a fire in the drum was very convenient because I didn't have to worry about hurting the concrete slab and I could put off the fire easily by dumping soil on it. I used to sneak dry twigs, branches and leaves up to the terrace every other day.

An empty drum.

One quite afternoon I tended a small, vigorous fire. The gentle sea breeze was nicely feeding the fire. It was a nice time. I was just staring at the flames oblivious to everything, occasionally adding more sticks and twigs. I heard a shout and I realized someone was calling me. Immediately I put out the fire by scooping soil on it. I ran downstairs. It was my mom calling me for lunch. I had a heavy lunch and fell asleep. I woke up in the evening and went upstairs to tend another fire. To my utter surprise someone emptied all the soil and took away the drum. I was pissed off. Why would anybody take the pain to empty a heavy drum filled with soil instead of simply taking the other empty drum? It didn't make any sense. I felt like a drug addict who was denied his fix. Angry and desperate I went around asking people if they borrowed the drum. I made a few phone calls and none of them said they took the drum. A couple of minutes later I went up the terrace to investigate what happened. Who would be foolish enough to miss the empty drum right beside the drum filled with soil?

I went to the heap of the soil and realized that it was utterly beautiful. It looked like a giant ant hill. It had a sharp peak made of compressed mud. It didn't make sense because if the drum was emptied by a man, the resulting heap would look roughly cylindrical with some cracks and chunks and a lot of loose mud at the base of the heap. This is because the mud at the bottom of the drum would be compressed by the weight of the soil above it. I poked the heap with my fingers and then went on to inspect the base of the heap. When I poked in I hit a hard surface. I swept some soil away and found the base of the drum still intact. I swept more soil away and found out that the drum is now only 1/3rd the height it initially was. IT HAS BLOODY BURNT DOWN!!!

Heap expected when a man empties a drum.

Heap I discovered.

This was a total shock to me. I thought I put out the fire before I raced downstairs. Somehow the fire grew up and went out of control and ignited the drum. The drum slowly melted down, and emptied its contents. I was amazed and ecstatic. It perfectly explained the unusual heap. I relished the moment and then thought of the consequences. Someone would need the drum and they will find out that it burnt down. I was the youngest child which meant I would be the obvious culprit. I went into damage control mode. I could remove all evidence of the previous fires and throw away the burnt drum. That would create an awesome mystery. A heavy drum was emptied and stolen when an empty one was available right beside. I felt like Loki, like Joker in Batman.

It turned out to be an impossible task. It was very hard to carry around a burnt drum in plain light. To top it off we were supposed to go on a vacation to my grandma's place. I removed all the matchsticks and burnt embers I could. Then we left for the vacation.

I thoroughly enjoyed the vacation and I completely forgot about the burnt drum. A week later we returned. The news popped up that a drum was missing. Luckily no one seemed to have investigated much since there was only talk of a missing drum. My mom was surprised. She informed that someone emptied and stole a drum when there was an empty drum right beside. I was chuckling inside. If Loki exists he must have been jealous of me.

My happiness was short lived since there was news that the drum was burnt down. I was the immediate suspect. There was an interrogation and I claimed to be innocent. I acted in total surprise and went up to investigate. I argued that if the drum was burnt there would be a lot of smoke and someone would have noticed. Even if no one noticed the smoke, the drum beside it would have shriveled a bit from the heat. There should also be soot on the adjacent walls. Since neither of them happened it must have melted from the heat of the sun. There was a gaping loophole in my story since the adjacent drum was perfectly fine. If the sun was actually intense enough to melt the drums, the empty one should have melted first. Luckily I was not convicted since there was no overwhelming evidence.

That evening my dad did his own investigation and found a match stick in the heap. I will never know if he really found one but that led to my conviction. He also claimed that drums don't burn in a fiery way, instead they smolder slowly with very little smoke. Then I gave up the farce and confessed. I was let off with a warning since it was an accident.

PS : All or most of the above story is fiction. I have a wild imagination as many of you know.

An outsiders perception of US&A

2014-03-15T11:32:00.003+05:30

An acquaintance of mine picked me up from the airport in New York. He let me stay in his house for two days before I moved to my own accommodation.

First impression :

The first thing that caught my attention is uniformity, continuity, patterns, grids and lanes. Everything seemed like I suddenly fell into an engineering drawing. Roads were straight and smooth with gentle curves, houses were built in neat grids, vehicles strictly moved in their lanes and even the people formed proper queues. This was in stark contrast to India which is a lot like modern art, haphazard yet functional. I really liked it in the first few days and I almost stopped noticing it now.

Cultural shock :

"A condition of confusion and anxiety affecting a person suddenly exposed to an alien culture"

The people here have a strange habit of greeting random people with a short "Hey ! How you doing ?" or "Hey ! Hows it going ?" and many other courtesies. I was very aware of this etiquette and I thoroughly disliked the idea of being greeted by a complete stranger. I thought it should be no big deal and I will be able to handle it. In reality it was thoroughly disorienting. One evening a guy was jogging on the pavement. As he passed by me he threw a quick "Hey man ! Hows it going ?" and by the time I thought of a reply he was a couple of feet behind me. I was a little offended by his indifference only to quickly realize that its all "etiquette". Later I realized that this habit of greeting strangers is in fact awesome. It breaks the verbal ice and its easy to approach people for help or making friends. I think this habit deserves a post of its own. People hold doors open for people behind them. Thank You is frequently heard.

Classroom :

"Give respect and take respect"

The Professor respects you and treats you like a person. You don't have to stand up when he/she walks in, you don't have to call him/her sir/mam, you don't need their permission to walk out of the classroom or eat in the classroom or even sleep in the classroom. They are here to teach you and interact with you. All this comes with a price, the student is expected to keep calm and pay attention as long as he's in the classroom. This is a real classroom. Real transfer of knowledge and is only possible when both sides respect each other. I think its very hard to replicate this in India due to professors with infinite ego and a lot of the students giving 0 fucks about their field of study.

Respect :

Janitor : "A person employed in an apartment house, office building, school, etc., to clean the public areas, remove garbage, and do minor repairs; caretaker"

This is one thing I love the most about the culture of the USA, Respect. Nobody gets treated like shit. The Department chair will treat the Janitor just like anybody else. There is a great value for humans in general. This is in stark contrast to India where people look down on the less fortunate and treat people like shit. This probably stems from our huge population and caste system. We are a long way from this checkpoint.

Women :

White women are routinely* depicted as sleazy and promiscuous in Bollywood and Tollywood. This is ridiculous and false. There are promiscuous people everywhere. People here highly regard their freedom of personal choice. So if a person chooses to be promiscuous its a matter of choice. I did notice that there are very few women in engineering just like back at home.

* My knowledge of Indian cinema is very poor. So correct me if I'm wrong.

Super Markets :

Here comes the ugly part of USA. Lets say you want to buy water. After walking a few hundred meters you may finally reach the water aisle. Now begins the actual hardship. There will be a dozen or more varieties of water. I may be exaggerating a little but take a look below.

Meat is never butchered in front of you, instead it is cleaned, processed and packed in a very aesthetic way. So it would be no surprise if you ask a kid where meat comes from and he/she replies that its from the supermarket.

I have nothing else to write as of now. Will be back soon with something more.

*** This is by no means intended to be holistic. I wrote a fraction of what I perceived, which is a fraction of what can be perceived.

Journey to the 'Glorious' US and A.

2014-02-03T21:54:00.002+05:30

It was the day of departure and I was in Hyderabad to catch the flight. Unfortunately my dad has a mighty number of relatives in Hyderabad. Mind you, I do not mean uncles and aunts when I say relatives. It consisted of my dads cousins, first cousins, second cousins and so on up to infinity and their respective children and parents and grand parents. Due to some kind of logic which I will never understand, he decided that its necessary to visit the houses of all the relatives and bid goodbye to them and take their blessings. If the Neanderthals are alive I have no doubt that my dad would have urged me to take their blessings too. I bet even Hector of Troy on his last battle with Achilles would have had a less ceremonious goodbye. Its kind of ridiculous to bid goodbye to people you never met. I did and it was extremely tiring, frustrating for an introvert like me.

Finally at 11 PM with sore legs from all the travelling I boarded the flight to Dubai. There were no emotional goodbyes. I could barely sleep at all. When the flight landed in Dubai I was eager to snap pics of Burj Dubai. Not so lucky. Visibility was very very low. Its a desert and it was windy. I could barely see 500 meters ahead. I was amazed that the pilot could land the aircraft. In Dubai I met a fellow passenger from Gujarat. He was worried that he may not get the visa for his connecting flight. At Dubai I caught the flight to New York and my fellow passenger got his visa much to his relief.

My co-passenger was a gorgeous young woman in her twenties. She is a student of medicine and she was returning from India. She seemed to have traveled a lot. She was kind enough to let me use her phone upon landing to call a friend of mine. I barely slept during the journey. So I wasn't jet-lagged upon landing, instead I was sleep deprived and tired. To enter a country one needs the approval of the immigration check officer. There I was with shabby hair, blood red eyes and pissed off. I was half convinced that he would send me back to India as I looked very much like a zombie. He let me pass and I entered the US and A .

Its been almost 6 months since I landed in the USA and I have a lot to write about. It deserves a post of its own. Will be back soon.

The Unsung Heroes Of Rushikonda

2013-03-18T23:31:00.002+05:30

People think fishing is some sort of low class thing. So fucked up is the public opinion that they think sitting front of a computer and tapping the keyboard all day is somehow more nobler than catching fish.

Woke up at 5:30 am and went to the beach just to enjoy the sunrise. It was super cold and we were in boxers. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy and we couldn't see the sun rising over the horizon. We waited for 10 minutes and then the sun was slightly visible at about 10 degrees to the horizontal. Kingfishers were repeatedly plunging into the shallow rocky waters to catch fish. I was worried that one of them might hit a rock and die but it dint happen.

A pic of the sunrise. You can see its a bit cloudy.

We spotted fishermen pushing their boats into the sea. It was 5:45 in the morning. They were up so early and off to work in the chilling cold.

Pushing their boats into water.

They carefully maneuver the boat around waves like this which requires great skill and coordination.

There was an old man standing by, watching them with no decipherable expression. We approached him and asked him when the fishermen will return back from their expedition. He said they would come back in 5-6 hours. They were going to retrieve the nets that they laid in the ocean to catch fish and prawns. He said that one of the men earned 15000Rs from a single catch last week. I asked him what prevents the nets from drifting away in the ocean?? He said there are huge mountains underwater. They use the mountain peaks(which are underwater) to keep their nets from drifting away. That was super surprising. These guys don't use GPS! In fact they don't even know about GPS. They navigate the ocean by estimation and intuition. I asked him if the underwater mountains pose a threat to big ships, to which he replied that the captain of the ship knows the existence of these underwater ridges and mountains and he will navigate very carefully. I asked him if they ever saw any big fish in the ocean. He said there are fish the size of a school bus. However, they are harmless. He added that sharks are deadly and at times they even jump out of the water and snatch people off the boats. I am a little skeptical about this. Sharks roamed close to the beach posing a threat to beach goers in the past. Sharks were vigorously hunted using special nets and equipment. Shark fins fetch a very good price in the market. Naturally their numbers fell down after the frenzied hunting and those remaining moved into deeper waters.

The Vizag beach has numerous visitors everyday. However there is no safety system from the government to rescue drowning people from the ocean. It is the fishermen who rescue people. He told us tales grim and joyful of people they have rescued and bodies they retrieved. Bodies can drift upto 20 KM before being retrieved!!. He lamented that people are idiots and wade into dangerous waters even after being cautioned not to. "We tell them not to wander far away on the beach as the ocean has a tendency to pull in everything beyond the curve. But we cannot force them since every man has his own rights. After all that is what a democracy is " he added. This man is not educated but he is no simpleton! He told us about the low tide, high tide and when they occur.

After watching them work and listening to the old mans tales of joy and macabre I felt a rush of respect for these guys. Catching fish is no easy task.If you ever find yourself drowning its these guys who will come to your rescue. Have some respect for these unsung heroes!

GRE

2012-07-05T20:50:00.000+05:30

GRE tests students in Math and English. Math is quite easy. Percentages, profit and loss, probability, permutations and combinations etc.

English is the tough thing to crack. Firstly its not our mother tongue so we dont have an intuitive grasp over it. If you are an avid book reader its definitely an advantage.

How to prepare for the English(Verbal) part ?

There is no fixed method or like the correct method. But you need to do the following things.

1) Obtain the 3500 words and their meanings. You can do this by borrowing from your friends or joining in some coaching institute.

2) Learning the words: Out of the 3500 words there will definitely be a certain number of words which are new and unfamiliar to you. Lets say 2000 words. So you have to learn these 2000 words. Write down all the difficult words and learn their meanings. After you try to learn their meanings you will only remember some 1000 of them. So there are 1000 very difficult words left. This is the tougher part. How would you tackle this ?? I felt that using the words in sentences is a good and easy way to learn. So go to http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ type your words in there and get sentences with the difficult words in them.

*****KEEP A POCKET DICTIONARY NEARBY. BUY THE BARONS GRE 2012 edition.

For eg:
Lets say you find the word 'ostensible' very difficult. Then what i would do is. I would go to http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ and type 'ostensible'. This will turn up http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ostensible . In it you will find the meaning of the word and the word being used in a sentence.

"Represented or appearing as such; ostensive: His ostensible purpose was charity, but his real goal was popularity."
Now you understand the meaning of the word ostensible right? The sentence helps your memory too.
Now copy it paste in a word document. Repeat the procedure for the 1000 difficult words. Take print outs of the sentences so that you dont have to use the computer too much.

3) Practice tests :

Rule of thumb :
Don't write the Power prep timed practice test that GRE provides until the end. Write it like 5 days before your actual exam. Writing a practice test every day is not helpful. Don't waste your practice tests. Practice tests are merely for self appraisal. If you don't know the meaning of appraisal go to freedictionar.com and learn it. At any point of time if you don't know the meaning of a word write it down somewhere and search for its meaning.

Any questions are welcome.

The cycle of life.

2012-06-15T18:41:00.000+05:30

The following were shot over a period of four hours on 15-6-2012 from 1.00 PM to 4:30 PM . Look at the pictures and the story it tells. It might be sad but that's the way life is. I spent many hours taking photographs of this family. I even wondered if the fledglings will start flying soon . In the evening i was surprised when i saw a large bird beside the nest. On closer inspection i found out that a predator has found their nest and it already had the babies in its beak. I immediately fetched my camera and clicked some pics of the predator. I showed my dad the macabre scene and he shooed the predator away and scolded me for not stopping the hawk. I scouted the area for blood and instead found the second baby alive, on the floor. He/She is on the ground right now, walking around.

Assuming i had the opportunity to save the babies ?? Isn't it interfering with the cycle of life ?? Wont i be messing around with natural selection?? What if the hawk has its own babies in a nest somewhere and it will feed them with the hunt?? Wont i kill the hawks babies in an attempt to save these guys??

By the way its parents are keeping a close watch of it right now. I wonder if it will survive the night. I hope it survives. Will post about it tomorrow.

Fledgelings in the nest

Parent bird comes to feed them.(both parents feed the young)

Little guys instinctively open their mouths and stretch their necks.

This is how birds feed their young.

Done feeding.

Someone else comes to feed !

Either a kite or a hawk is swallowing one of the little guys.

The other guy falls down from the nest onto the hot cement floor.

Little guy is ALIVE after falling down !

The parents who aren't aware that one of their babies is alive

My dad transfers the little guy onto the lawn. The parents try to attack us and retreat. The parents search for the little guy.

Heres the little guy running around. The parents are keeping a close watch on him/her.

Why haven't you pulled the plug on me ?

2012-06-10T12:17:00.000+05:30

The old man walked into the room and greeted his friends . They were all huddled around the table intently gazing at their cards. The old man sat joined in. The tension broke as the game came to an end. There was some loud praising , cursing and abusing each other in the spirit of the game. Then they all settled down for another game. The game went on for sometime and the old man lost some money. Before everybody returning back home the old man said "Next Sunday when you lads play do invite me. Dont forget you bastards !" There was some laughing and many affirmations.

Two days have passed and nothing much happened. On the third day the old man felt very very weak. He is admitted to a hospitable. The old man is a famous doctor. He called the doctor in charge of the emergency ward and said "Im feeling hard to breathe. In a few hours time i will undergo pulmonary failure, i will slip into a coma. Put me on life support for two days and if i dont recover from the coma pull the plug on me. Only two days . . . . ."

His prediction happened to be right. Within a few hours he slipped into a coma. He was put on life support. One day passes , the second day passes. The doctor in charge doesnt want to give up and he continues the life support for the third day. At about 03.00 PM the old man stirs and wakes up from the coma. The nurse immediately fetches the doctor in charge. The old man asked the doctor " Date ?? " . Doctor said its the third day. The old man in a dejected tone "Why dint you pull the plug on me ??" . The doctor is utterly surprised. The doctor asks "Sir, arent you afraid of death?? ". To which the old man replies "There are not many distinctions b/w life and non-life. Life is just a complex contraption." He takes a pause and regains his breath. "Anyway since you are trying to revive me . . . go on . . . . and goodbye". A few hours later he slipped into a coma again. This time his mother was brought to visit him. She was 97 years old. She had no memory of anything. She felt nothing when she saw her son in a vegetative state. However the doctor felt that the old mans eyes widened. He wasnt sure, it was probably his imagination.

As hours passed by the doctor was in a dilemma . What should he do ? Should he pull the plug on him ? He thinks hard. He thinks of all the people who actually have a chance of living if put on life support. He calculates the chances of survival of the old man. He concludes it is nigh impossible for him to recover. Smoking has done irreparable damage to his lungs. With a hardened heart and an emotionless mask over his face he walks upto the old man and does what he was ordered to do. The old man's heart stalls just like an engine with no air supply.

Designed?

2012-03-31T01:03:00.003+05:30

The following images that you are going to see are all beautiful. I might have failed to capture the marvels of nature but they are indeed beautiful. So who created these marvels ? Was there a designer ? Yes there is not one but many designers. None of the designers are conscious or living. The designers are non-living i.e dead. Wind , Water , Gravity are the designers.

Seeds being spread by wind

Beautiful patterns generated by wind

Another beautiful pattern caused due to difference in weights of sand and black particles(ore of heavy metals)

Did you observe the rocks facing away from the ocean ??

Here you see the work of waves over thousands of years. The rocks have been withered away on one side.

Capturing Hussain-Sagar

2011-12-25T21:26:00.001+05:30

On 27/11/2011 i boarded the flight to vizag from hyderabad with Mom and Dad. The flight took off at 7:30 PM one hour late than the actual time. It was night as it has to be. I was excited since the cities lights would be a fantastic view from the top. At 7:33 PM i spotted Hussain Sagar in the distance. It was a Dark blot in the middle of an ocean of lights. Immediately i trained my camera on Hussain Sagar as a hunter would his rifle on his prey. In a few seconds the wing of the flight blocked my line of sight. I used this time to plan how i would capture the spectacle. A photographer will understand the technical difficulties involved in capturing it.

First thing i did was to choose the max ISO speed and max aperture of my cam, 1600 and 3.4 respectively. Now came the bigger problem, shutter speed. What speed should i choose?? If i choose a high shutter speed the pic will be sharp but very dim. If i choose a low shutter speed the pic will be bright but blurred. How ?? How?? How?? I did it , i managed to capture Hussain Sagar in its all ~~stink~~ glory. . . :P

The first pic i shot was at a ISO 1600, shutter speed 1/20 , aperture 3.4 . Here it is

ISO 1600, shutter speed 1/20 , aperture 3.4

The second pic i choose a smaller shutter speed of 1.6 seconds. I knew it would be blurred and bright still i took it.

ISO 1600, shutter speed 1.6 sec , aperture 3.4

Mera Solution :
At this point i lost hope and thought its impossible to capture the beauty of hussain sagar from a great height. I was watching it and then it suddenly struck me that since the aircraft is still gaining height i might have a chance indeed.

As the aircraft rises the ground doesnt seeem to move much slowly.

For example : When driving a car in a vast open space like a highway 100kmph seems like nothing , but if you travel at 20 kmph in a congested gully it seems like 100kmph. Thats the way we perceive. When the reference is large and far away we cannot perceive speed and distances. This is true. If you try to estimate distances and speeds with reference to massive objects like mountains you will most probably fail to estimate.

So i waited for a few seconds for the aircraft to rise higher and give me a chance to capture hussain sagar bright and sharp ! My only worry was whether the aircraft would reach the required altitude before hussain sagar passes away . It didnt. After approximately 45 seconds i managed to capture hussain sagar bright and sharp.

shutter speed 1/5

PS : The first picture is not the actual one.I posted another dark pic i clicked in that journey. I deleted all the failed attempts.
PSS: That journey is the most terrible journey in my life. There was a thunderstorm in vizag. The pilot attempted to land 6 times. The plane was shuddering and vibrating like a hand kerchief in a wind tunnel experimental setup. The flight was sent back to hyderabad owing to bad weather conditions in vizag.

Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Atheism, Evolution

2011-12-07T19:26:00.001+05:30

I was born a Hindu. Im Indian. Recently i signed up in twitter and there i met a lot of diverse people. I met forensic scientists, physicists, psychologists, journalists, political science students, priests, evolutionary biologists, Atheists, Christians, Muslims and who not. It was like a flood of knowledge. Normally i wouldn't have met these people but twitter helped me. So being an atheist i saw the reactions from people of all religions.

The Hindu :
Most of my friends are Hindus. They never refute the theory evolution nor any other scientific theory. They accept both evolution and the concept of God. They never debate about the two at the same time. They never seem to be troubled by Atheists. I cant generalize but this is true for my circle.

The Christian :
Most Christians i met are from Twitter. I think most of the Christians refute the theory of evolution. I haven't seen someone who believes in both. They see Atheism as a huge folly and try their level best to convince the atheist that god exists. They question how you can be moral without believing in god i.e they believe that any human being will murder, rape, steal if he doesnt fear gods punishment. They believe that morality comes out of fear of God.

The Muslim :
Same as above but im not sure about their stand on morality and belief.

Why is this so ?? Why doesnt the Hindu refute the theory of evolution ? How can he believe both at the same time ?? I think a Hindi Evolutionary biologist would preach that humans evolved from apes but she/he would not refute god. They never speak of both at the same time. So when i thought of this i came to the conclusion that this is because there are not many absolutes in Hinduism. For example : The Bible says Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation , Even the Quran says the same thing. Whereas Hinduism doesnt preach anything like that.

God means everything in the average Christians, Muslims life. Everything they do, every though is influenced by God and the teachings of the religious books. I think the concept of God plays a major role in the Christianity and Islam than in Hinduism. Hindus are influenced more by their culture than God(Of course Hinduism too vast to generalize) probably because the Gita(holy book of Hindus) is not read by everyone. The Gita is just too big to be read by the common man. If the Gita was smaller all Hindus might have read it and Hinduism might have been much "definable".
This is how i interpreted it. I might be absolutely wrong of course.

What do you say ?? Comment your opinion

Castings .

2011-11-30T22:51:00.001+05:30

Egg as a whole

Egg being disassembled

Egg is broken into 4 parts

front view

Central portion top view. Observe the grains alignment , outward

One year back when i was in second year and was being taught by the legendary Satyendra sir i was highly inspired by his lectures on metal casting. He is an extraordinary teacher and his lectures were very knowledgeable. He taught us Manufacturing Technology 1 . Imagine me, a pyromaniac by birth being taught about metal casting. In tenth i went to Vizag steel plant and there i saw a river of molten metal flowing a few feet away from me. Then i realized that there is nothing which can match the beauty of molten metal.

So my passion for metal casting went to such heights that one day i decided to really do it ! Since its not easy to melt metal i thought of doing it on wax.

With wax :
I took an egg, made a small hole on the top of it and emptied all the contents. Then after it dried i used a funnel and filled the egg shell with molten wax. After a few minutes the wax would solidify and contract. Since i dint use a riser i had to manually fill the void every time. One day i managed to break open a wax casting an inside i found shrinkage voids.
1) The two depressions you see in the central green portions are the shrinkage voids, I had no intention to create them but they are the result of multi-directonal cooling.
2) You can see the direction of cooling by following the way the grains are aligned(radially outward). It is multi directional cooling.

Observe the depressions in the central green portions, shrinkage voids

With metal :

I went to my dads yard and took some basic training with the oxy acytlene torch. I made a small hole in the ground and cut a sprue for the metal to enter. I placed a lump of pig iron by the mouth of the hole and lit the torch. The lump got very hot and melted then it drained into the hole i made in the ground. The metal was soo hot that it was glowing white. After the hole filled i waited for a while and later cooled it by pouring water. Then i plucked it out of the hole and this is what i have achieved ......an ugly lump of metal oxide .

Porous lump , mostly metal oxide

Im still trying to do better. My aim is to make a metallic egg.

The Crow shit dilemma

2011-11-05T21:14:00.000+05:30

You know what scares hostlers most ? Its the crows.
Our hostel is surrounded by lush green trees. Good isnt it ? Actually awesome. By evening a large number of crows perch on the trees. They rest till 5:00 am and then go back to work waking. While they rest they excrete. The road to the hostel is a patchwork of white on black. Of course the white colour is the crows work and the roads are cleaned regularly by sweepers.Walking to the hostel at night is a daunting task unless you like crow droppings. You can only hear crow shit hitting the ground and make a loud "SPLAT !". Its like a thriller .... there will be many near misses . If you are foolish enough to park your bike in the action zone your vehicle is bound to get a new look by morning. My friend's black R15 transformed overnight into a gorgeous 'R15 Dalmatian', credit goes to the crows team work.

Now here is my dilemma. Should i walk on the black patches of the road or the white patches ??

CASE 1 : I walk on the black patches of the road

Why is the road still black ?? Coz there are no crows above or the crows above havent crapped yet ??

CASE 2 : I walk over the white patches

Should i assume that the crows above me have already crapped so they wont crap anymore ?

Right now im following Case 2 which i found is not fool proof. One crow successfully did its job........ :)

Believing Science

2011-10-22T23:08:00.000+05:30

Recently a close friend of mine wrote

I'm one frustrated soul in a population of 1.2 billion. I do not believe in god nor in science. Did you see god?electron? We live in a world full of assumptions theories and lies. Many have abitons, goals and what not? Some succeed some not. I strongly believe in "reaching your goals is not the reward, the .........Read more at http://vignanprakash.blogspot.com/

I have to admit that your question would have been quite acceptable if you were 14 or 15 years old.Science is bluntly put "The study of the surroundings" . An electron cannot be seen is true but can you see the radiations that your mobile, radio , dish TV emit / receive ?? Many invisible things exist in this universe . Firstly you have to understand how our eyes work. The human eyes can only detect radiations within a certain range of frequencies which means that you cant see what other creatures see. For example : A bee can see things in the ultraviolet spectrum which a human cant. A cat can see much much better than you and me can.

In the following chart which is called the electromagnetic spectrum lie all the frequencies. The colorful part is the called the visible spectrum i.e what your eye can detect. We are blind to the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Science is all about evidence. If something is proved wrong(factually, not ethically/morally) all scientists will accept the fact and accept the change. That my friend is the beauty of science. Nothing is fixed(Of course somethings are pakka) and nothing is loose. The simplest proof/s that science is not merely a bunch of vague theories are the gadgets you use everyday.

Just think about it.

Coming to the concept of god i share a similar perspective, however my belief is based on a much sounder logic than merely "Can you see god??" I think it is highly unlikely that something visible, invisible had intentionally and consciously created the universe. I don't believe in the existence of an all knowing being. Its merely a "annam tinakapothe boochodu etthukupotadu " kind of story that grand ma's tell to toddlers.

Finally i want to tell you that im glad to find someone who thinks. You are very much the same vignan that i knew irrespective of what you project to the outside world.

Being 'Mad'

2011-10-22T22:28:00.000+05:30

Im totally HOMO SAPIEN . . no doubt in that . At times people ask me if iam mad and each and every time my answer is YES !. Of course iam mad and im happy to be MAD. What is wrong with being mad in this world which is sooooo diverse and full of wonders/madness . Isnt every wonder the result of some kind of madness ??

Taj Mahal : The result of a males madness/extremes of love. He had the power and resource + lot of madness which made him create the wonder that is Taj Mahal

Pyramids : The result of extraordinary intelligence and extreme madness which inspired them to build gigantic structures to house themselves when they die.

Great Wall Of China : The result of extreme hard work and intelligence + madness to protect themselves from the madness of their enemies(mongols) for land and water or whatever they fought for.

Colosseum Of Rome: Was built to feed the primal need for blood and gore and the death cries of other men. Isnt it madness ?

Macchu Picchu : A fabulous civilization brought down to ruins because of the madness of the spanish invaders for land and water.

The simple question is what one can do with the inherent madness. As the law of entropy states "Entropy of the universe is always increasing" Entropy can very well be called madness. The world is a turbulence of madness. Sadhus are the people with the least madness(Thats what a sadhu thinks). A sadhu might consider even a simple man with simple desires as mad. Once again i conclude that iam mad and that madness is the key to success.
BE MAD !!!

Originally published in zakkam.blogspot.com by Pruthvi Krishna

Sweat

2011-10-02T22:54:00.000+05:30

First thing i would like to clarify is that this article is about sweat (perspiration) and not about sweets (sweet things).

How many of you have felt that Vizag is a sweaty place and makes your clothes stick to your body ??

Kya Hyderabadis how did it feel like to suddenly face humidity as high as 99% ??? All people from non - coastal areas complain about the high humidity in coastal areas. Im writing this article to clarify the myths about sweating in Vizag and the lack of sweat in hyderabad / non-coastal areas.

Man sweating while exercising

The normal body temperature is 37.5C ( C stands for degrees centigrade ) and it does not increase or decrease. You might ask me how??? A hot cup of coffee / tea will slowly cool down , A chilled bottle of soft drink will heat up to the room temperature .........

Hair standing erect to trap heat (goosebumps)

How the body maintains its temperature at 37.5C ??

During Winters :

When the outside temperature is less than 37.5C say 35C the body starts losing heat to the surroundings as per the fact that heat flows from a body at higher temperature to lower temperature.To compensate for the heat lost to the surroundings the body burns more calories similar to burning wood or any other fuel to generate heat.At the same time the hair on the body stands erect and traps a layer of warm air against the skin. When the outside temperature is very low say 15C the body starts to shiver. Shivering is a vigorous exercise which generates a lot of heat just like any other exercise does and the heat thus produced helps in maintaining a constant body temperature. At the same time blood flow to skin is reduced since most of the heat is lost through the skin.This is how the body reacts to low temperatures.

During Summers :

The surroundings are very hot during summers say 40+ C. The body starts to get hotter and the body temperature rises by a fraction of a degree. The brain immediately initiates sweating since sweat is mostly water and when water evaporates it takes away a lot of heat and gives a cooling effect..

Now comes the tricky part. In a dry place like Hyderabad or Warrangal the sweat produced by the body instantaneously evaporates and gives a cooling effect. But in a very humid place like Vizag the sweat cant evaporate since the air is already loaded with moisture and cant take anymore moisture. This is similar to adding sugar to water. Beyond a certain limit the sugar wont dissolve in water i.e the water is saturated with sugar. In a similar way the air is saturated with moisture. This causes the sweat to accumulate and drip.

Theres the answer. You sweat everywhere but it gets accumulated in humid places and evaporates in dry place. The answer to the humidity is the Bay Of Bengal . A lot of water evaporates due to the sun.

The Poori Mystery

2011-06-24T19:11:00.000+05:30

Why does a poori puff up when it is fried in oil ?

A poori is made out of wheat flour (maida). Maida is mixed with water . The mixture is called dough. The dough is spread into a thin layer over a hard surface by using a roller. Then the thin layer is gently dropped in very hot oil .

Maida spread with the wooden roller

Yummy pooris.

The actual story begins now . The outermost layer of the dough gets very hot and looses all its moisture. That is the reason you see the bubbles sprouting from the maida. A few milliseconds later the heat starts to pass through the inner layer layers by conduction. Now the moisture inside the inner layer starts to rapidly evaporate due to the high temperature and the steam generated tries to escape but all the steam cant escape from the poori so it starts to exert pressure on the poori from the inside which results in the swelling. After swelling the poori retains its swelled shape without collapsing due to the crispy skin. If u poke the poori when it is hot it will collapse as well as the steam will burn your finger :) .

Wont believe me???? Try it for yourself

Also try making a poori by making a small cut or a hole at the center of the maida. It wont swell.

PS : When water turns into steam,its volume increases to 1600 times the original volume. That is 1 liter bottle of pure water will occupy 1600 1 liter bottles when it becomes steam.

DISCLAIMER : All that I wrote in this post is what I think. I might be wrong too. But Im pretty sure that Im right. I will be glad if someone corrects me or proves that Im wrong. Im open to discussion.

Green Lantern

2011-06-17T14:56:00.001+05:30

Before going into the theater make sure you have enough stuff with you to eat coz thats what you will feel like doing after 15 minutes into the movie.
The movie begins with a fight in outer space and a green humanoid is killed by a yellow thing.
6 months later ... ... .. . . ..
EARTH :
Hal Jordan a test pilot and his partner Carol Ferris a pilot are employed to defeat two fighter jets in a simulated combat situation. Hal manages to destroy the jets by using a clever maneuver but later he looses control because of fear and memories of his dads death in a jet flight crash. Jordan ejects, the flight crashes and screws up the contract. At this point of time in another planet a humanoid is once again hunted by the yellow thing. The humanoid is badly injured cut manages to escape.The humanoid makes it to earth. The humanoids ring chooses Jordan to be the next ring bearer. Jordan gets supernatural powers. Later it is shown that the yellow thing is fear. Fear consumes one of the guardians of the other planet. The green lanterns primary need is the lack of fear and a strong will. The Lame story goes on with Jordan being rejected simply because hes human and has fear in him. In the meantime the other guardians plan to destroy fear with fear. So they make a ring which is powered by fear. Fear takes control of a scientist(Hector Hammond) and he turns loose. Lantern gives his ring to hector to please him and thereby defeats him. Later fear comes to planet earth and kills hector. Jordan kills fear by taking him too close to the sun. Fear gets pulled by the suns gravitational field and Jordan is rescued from the suns Pull by Sinestro .......END OF THE GODDDAMN story

The movie sucks from about the 10th minute till the end !

Disclaimer : Watch it at your own risk

2011-06-13T21:32:00.000+05:30

This is what I call an extraordinary mind game. What a bluff !!!!