Garden of Thoughts

How to install MTS MBlaze drivers for Ubuntu?

2011-09-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased a MBlaze USB modem from MTS. I tried using it on my office laptop which was running Windows XP, with reading the user manual given along with the device. No troubles. It worked in the first go.
Later, I wanted to use it on my personal laptop which was running Ubuntu 10.4(lucid Lynx). I read the user manual this time carefully, as I had faced problems installing other drivers (audio, still does not work) earlier. I installed the "CrossPlatformUI-1.0-27-SSTL-i386-ubuntu.deb" which came with the device. It failed with partial installation. I call it partial, because I could see "MBlaze" option in my "Applications", which was not able to detect the device.
I used my office laptop to dig more details regarding this on the web. And to my fortune, few people had already faced this problem and two of them had documented it, too. Both were similar. I am presenting below one of them.
"http://abhishekdelta.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/connecting-mts-mblaze-usb-modem-in-ubuntu/"

The contents are reproduced here for easy reference
********************************
I recently bought myself an MTS Mblaze wireless USB Modem. Connecting it on Linux was difficult because there was practically no tutorial for MTS USB Modem, while many were available for Reliance and Tata Indicom Modems. So here is what I did to finally get it connected (Note : Execute all commands as ROOT )
i) You’d have to install the package USB-ModeSwitch. It is available here : http://packages.debian.org/sid/usb-modeswitch
Note : When you open the above link, you should check out its dependencies and also install the dependency package ” usb-modeswitch-data”.
Just download and double-click on it to install the package.
ii) After you’ve installed usb-modeswitch and usb-modeswitch-data packages, reboot your computer.
iii) Connect the Mblaze Modem and wait for 30 seconds. While you’re waiting, the usb-modeswitch package is doing magic in the background, you can check the status through the following command :

dmesg

iv) I hope you have “wvdial” pre-installed on your system. You can check that by typing “wvdial” and see if the computer recognises it. If it doesn’t then you’d have to install it. Its easy, refer this link.
v) Now edit the file /etc/wvdial.conf (If it doesn’t exists, then create it) as Root and copy paste the following code :

[Dialer cdma]
Stupid Mode = 1
Inherits = Modem0
Password = mts
Username = internet@internet.mtsindia.in
Phone = #777
[Modem0]
Init1 = ATZ
SetVolume = 0
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
Baud = 115200
FlowControl = Hardware (CRTSCTS)
Dial Command = ATDT

Note that ttyUSB0 may be different for your system. However, first try with the above code, if it doesn’t works and says some error like “ttyUSB0 doesn’t exists” or something similar to it, then find out the actual one by going through the output of following command :

dmesg | grep -e “modem” -e “tty”

vi) That’s it, you’re done. Now start browsing with the following command :

wvdial cdma

As soon as you start seeing some IP addresses, you’re online! DO NOT close the terminal in which you executed the command, otherwise you will get disconnected.
And from next time, you don’t have to it all over again. Simply connect your modem, wait for 30 seconds and type the last command. To disconnect, goto the terminal, and press Ctrl + C.
Hope it worked for you, if any problems occured, you can leave a reply !
********************************
Thanks to this guy. He should have really spent some time understanding and solving the problem. It looked like a readymade solution to me until I got struck using this too. This is how and what I did.
I used my office laptop to download the required packages mentioned in the solution into a memory stick, connect it to my personal laptop running Ubuntu and install them. When I installed the "USB_ModeSwitch", it failed as it required dpkg of a higher version than the one available in my machine. I again got back to me office laptop and downloaded that package and went back to the Ubuntu one to find that this package is dependent on some other package. I continued to do few more iterations of downloading in one and unsuccessfully installing on the other laptop, before cursing the way Ubuntu was designed to work.
It is really painful when you are trying to setup something to get your internet working and this Ubuntu will only work smooth when the internet is already up and the packages are downloaded using Synaptic Package Manager. What stupidity? I was wondering if I can find some place where I can find the parent package (which we are interested in) and all its dependencies or pre-requiste packages and libraries. Though I found an work-around, I am not sure if it is the only way. It took me lesser iterations. In this case, 3. Otherwise, it would have taken my lifetime to find the dependency of each package and download it in a internet availabe machine and transfer (Do the developers of Ubuntu foresee such things). This is why Windows, in however bad shape, wins the race where the users are as dumb as I am.
Okay, now this is the work around.
Use a machine where internet is availabe,
1) Open a browser. In the address bar, type "http://packages.ubuntu.com/USB-ModeSwitch". It will show a page where this package can be downloaded, corresponding to a Ubuntu version. This download seems to take care of many dependencies by itself.
2) Download usb-modeswitch-data, from the same page.
3) Similarly, download "wvdial" package by typing it in the address bar. This has few dependencies, which are not availabe in the bundle. They are "libuniconf4.6", "libwvstreams4.6-base" and "libwvstreams4.6-extras". These are marked as depends package in the "wvdial" download page itself. First install, "libwvstreams4.6-base", then "libwvstreams4.6-extras", then "libuniconf4.6". Finally "wvdial".
Once these are installed, follow the procedure to edit "/etc/wvdial.conf" and continue with the procedure till executing the command "wvdial cdma" as mentioned earlier.
Thanks and due credit to Abhishek Shrivastava, for providing such a blog, so that dumb user like me an also work with such stupid development.

Is Adi Sankara a Vaishnavite?

2011-04-27T03:43:00.000-07:00

I recently listened to a Upanyaasa, in which it was told that Adi Sankara was a Vaishnavaite. I was surprised as it contradicted my assumptions that I had framed in my mind. All pictures of Adi Sankara that I had seen, portrayed him as Shaivaite with 'Vibuthi' or the Sacred ash on his forehead. I started searching to find whether Adi Sankara was really a Vaishnavite? Most of the searches ended with an unconvincing answer, except a few, which I like to collate and share with others who are in similar search,

Before the period of Adi Sankara, there was only the Sanathana Dharma or the Vedic religion and 72 non vedic outfits like Buddhism according to "Sankara Vijayam". Followers of Vedic religion were generally called as 'Smarthas' or those following 'Smrithis' or the scriptures (Shasthras). Adi Sankara was also a Smartha. He propagated the tradition of Shanmata - Worship of six major deities. They are Saivism (Shiva), Vaishnavam (Vishnu), Saktam (Shakti), Kaumaram (Shanmuga), Ganapatyam (Ganesha) and Sauram (Surya). This is based on the belief in the essential sameness of all deities, the unity of Godhead, and their conceptualization of the myriad deities of India as various manifestations of the one divine power, Brahman. The choice of the nature of God is up to the individual worshiper since different manifestations of God are held to be equivalent. Smartas believe that the worshiper is free to choose a particular aspect of God to worship. By contrast, a Vaishnavite considers Vishnu or Krishna to be the true God who is worthy of worship and other forms as his subordinates. Accordingly, Vaishnavites, for example, believe that only Vishnu or Krishna can grant the ultimate salvation for mankind, moksha. Similarly, many Shaivites also hold similar beliefs about Shiva.

Adi Sankara spoke pure Vedic theory of the Advaita and did not favor Shiva or Vishnu. People mistake him as Vaishnavite because he wrote bhasyams or commentaries on Baghavad Gita, Vishnu Sahasranama, Brahma Sutra and 10 upanishads. Similarly, he is mistaken as Shaivaite because he applied Vibuthi. He applied Vibuthi and worshiped Shiva because, it was the practice of the Vedic or Smartha to apply only the Yagna Basma in earlier days. The practice of Vaishnavite Oordva pundram or Madhvite Gopi chandan etc came much later. But the traditional followers of Vedic tradition or Smarthas continued with the Basma application.

But his basic premise was the ONE in the forms and roles of MANY.

வையம்பட்டி ஐயாவின் சிந்தனையில் ஒன்று

2011-04-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

This is a verse written, tuned and sung by Vaiyampatti Muthusamy Aiya during Nellivasal Cuckoo Children's Camp. Enjoy!!!

கத்திரிக்காயிக்கு குடைபிடிக்க
கத்து கொடுத்தது யாரு - அந்த
கடலைக் கொட்டைக்கு முத்துச்சிப்பி போல
மூடி வச்சது யாரு
பூசணித்தலையில் பூவை அழகாய்
முடிஞ்சு வச்சது யாரு
வாசனை இல்லாக்காகிதப்பூவுக்கு
வர்ணம் அடிச்சது யாரு - யாரு யாரு யாரு
காரணம் தெரிஞ்சா கூறு கூறு கூறு

பருத்திச்செடிக்கு பஞ்சு மிட்டாய
தின்னக் கொடுத்தது யாரு - அந்த
பனை ஒலைக்குள்ள நிறைச்சுக் காத்த
மறைச்சு வச்சது யாரு
ஆல மரத்துக்கு அத்தனை ஊஞ்சல
ஆடக் கொடுத்தது யாரு
ஆத்தில் நனையாத மல்லிகைபூவுக்கு
அத்தனை வெண்மை ஏது ஏது ஏது
காரணம் தெரிஞ்சா கூறு கூறு கூறு

சுண்டக்கடலையின் கொண்டவனப்பு
கண்ணைப்பறிக்குது பாரு - அந்த
வெண்டைச்செடியும் விரலை நீட்டி
கேள்வி கேக்குதா பாரு
மாங்கனிக்கு மணிமூக்கு வச்சு
மயக்க வச்சது யாரு
மட்டைக்குள் இருக்கும் தேங்காய்க்கு
கண்ணை ஒட்டவச்சது யாரு - யாரு யாரு யாரு
காரணம் தெரிஞ்சா கூறு கூறு கூறு

சூரியனையும் திரும்பிப் பாக்கும்
சூரிய காந்தியப் பாரு - அந்த
தொட்டாச்சிணுங்கி பட்டுன்னு மூடிக்க
கட்டளை போட்டது யாரு
தாமரத்தண்டுக்கு நீந்தத்தெரியாது
தண்ணியில் நிக்குது பாரு
தாவி மரத்துல ஏறும் கொடிக்கு
காலு இருக்குதா பாரு பாரு பாரு
காரணம் தெரிஞ்சா கூறு கூறு கூறு

சொலவடையச் சொல்லிப்புட்டேன்
பதில் தெரிஞ்சாச் சொல்லு - அந்த
சூட்சமம் உனக்கு புரியா விட்டா
சொல்லுரதையாச்சும் கேளு
இயற்கை அன்னை படைப்பினிலே
கிடைப்பதெல்லாம் அழகு
இடையில் வந்த மனிதனாலே
விளையுது ரொம்ப அழிவு
அழிவிலிருந்து ஆக்கம் காண்போம்
அன்பு கொண்டு பழகு
தெளிவுடைய சிந்தனையால்
வாழும் இந்த உலகு

பி.கு:- மெய்ப்பு பார்த்து உதவி செய்த எனது நண்பர், கண்ணன் பெருமாள் அவர்களுக்கு எனது நன்றி.

என் நினைவில் நெல்லிவாசலும் குக்கூவும் - Nellivasal and Cuckoo in my Memory

2011-02-17T03:32:00.000-08:00

Reaching Nellivasal

Nellivasal is a remote village on the Javadu hills, lying on the Eastern Ghats, 50 km from Tirupattur. From the taluk headquarters Tirupattur, Mattrampalli is 20 odd kilometer on the state highway to the temple town Tiruvannamalai. A small village road bifurcates from Mattrampalli and becomes a Ghat road climbing on a portion of Javadu hills, entering through the forest check post. After a few hair-pin bends, stretches of good and not so good pieces of tarred roads dotted by some potholes, not so dense hill and valley alternating on both sides, there was a mobile transceiver tower on a hill top and a small hut in the valley. That was an indication that a human habitation is approaching. In a short while, there was a village – Pudur Nadu, which seems to be the hub to the nearby small villages, where the road deviates to the right towards Nellivasal. The village, less than about 20 km from here would take more than an hour’s drive if you are not on a truck, bus or an SUV. The road is narrow, at times bad, at times worse and worst. After a lot of bifurcations to other villages, which should not be mistaken, the actual diversion comes after a 1 km stretch of metaled road. But each village and their diversion is easily identifiable, not by any particular direction boards, but by the board kept for some “grameen yojna”. Irrespective of these projects’ actual success, they at least serve to show direction for new travellers like us. The drive is manageable until another vehicle comes across, as it happened with us when a bus and our car had to navigate this narrow road.

Forest High School

Anyone entering Nellivasal village would be welcomed by the high school run by the forest department. The road forms a ‘V’ with the school in between the two arms. The road towards the left goes further down to the Nellivasal village, while the one on the right bends further right and ends at an old forest rest house. There is one entrance to the school on either road. The one on the rest house side can be regarded as the back entrance, as it has the kitchen for mid-day meal preparation and the hostel. The backyard has a fenced garden with different plants. At the entrance of this student’s garden hangs an artistic board, matching the ambience which names it ‘Thenkoodu siruvar Thottakalai’. There is a big ‘Pungai Maram’ (Not sure of the English name. Botanical name is pongamia Glabra) and some eucalyptus trees between the road and the school, under whose shadow children gather for various activities. Adjacent to these trees are some quarters for school staffs like the cook and hostel warden. The road from the school to the rest house to some distance is bordered by eucalyptus trees, and some agricultural fields. This season seems to be good for ‘Thuvarai’ (Toor, Pigeon peas), which occupied most fields around. Further ahead in the road were two small houses which were used as quarters by school staff and forest guards. In front of these quarters was an open space shadowed by tall trees like teak whose branches were pruned properly and some wide trees like tamarind. The trees did not allow the sunlight to enter this area forming a closed Amphitheatre. Adjacent to the quarters, was a big open area, with enough grass to play, with some scattered placement of eucalyptus and tamarind trees at the border. The road continues further to turn right and enter the front-yard of the old, British built, forest guest house. The marking on the wall reads “1934”, which I correlate to the year when it was constructed. This shows the presence of British at that time, in the currently remote village. Later I came to know, that these hills were hugely populated with sandalwood trees, which highlighted the range for its fragrance and commercial value. I think lot has been learnt from those periods, that this range is currently occupied only by the tribes. No outsider can supposedly buy property here. Thanks to the written or unwritten rule – the ecology and environment is not spoiled, no estates and plantations, only small scale agriculture.

On entering the school through the back entrance, it opens into a ground, one side of which is single storeyed building that houses the class rooms, staff rooms and the library, other side had some plants and trees, a small toilet with an overhead tank, other side had the kitchen. Fourth side was narrow, having only a few trees, as the ground was triangulated. There was a small rock at the center of the ground, which always invited me to sit, but I kept avoiding it as if I was busy. But the invitation was accepted on the last day when everybody sat on it for a photo-shoot. The pillars on the corridor of the school, had beautiful colored drawings of birds made by children, which were almost in the verge of dying out. Complementing these drawings, on the corridor wall, there was a large painting depicting ancient nomads and start of civilization inside a large elephant. It is more than what I can describe here – A picture is worth a thousand words. It was painted by a famous artist who visited last year.

The school overlooks the valley with agricultural lands and a stream. From the first floor of the school building most parts of the surrounding village, the cultivated lands, the forests and the nearby hills were clearly visible, as the school was located on one of the high points of the hill.

This village and this village school was where the stage was set for unusual, non-routine, eventful and fruitful 2 days in my memory, which are leaked through this blog post. The onus of organizing these events go to “Cuckoo Kuzhandaigal Veli (குக்கூ குழந்தைகள் வெளி)”. Cuckoo had organized a camp for children in this village and a nearby village called Thagarapallam, for 10 days. We were part of the camp for 2 days as spectators.

Visitor’s Entry

Manikandan and I had reached the school at 10:30 AM and parked the car at the backyard. Though the dust on the car would mistake the onlooker that we had completed one leg of a rally, we had just driven 6 hours from Bangalore. When we reached, some 70 children were sitting in the shades of the trees awaiting some activity. There were a lot of people around – school staffs and volunteers. Though many of them seemed to have recognized us, the only person I could recognize was Sivaraj, who came with a smile and his usual humble leaning posture. We had met Sivaraj exactly a year back on Feb 20^th, 2010 at Tirupattur, when both of us had visited Nanthakumar. Hinting this I gave him the feeling of being acquainted earlier. After inviting, when Sivaraj had involved in the activities, few school staffs and Azhageswari asked whether we have had our breakfast. Some school staffs insisted that they would give us chairs to sit, which we had to forcefully reject. This pampering of the school staffs continued till we leave. At times I had to take help of Sivaraj to ask them treat us in a normal way.

Sindanai Paadal

Just then, Sivaraj entered into the concentric circles formed by children and introduced Vaiyampatti Muthusamy Aiya. He is an aged man, eldest among all the volunteers. He started singing a song, which became the listener’s choice in the 2 days – “Kathirikaaikku Kudai pidikka…”. Children repeated the sentence after he completed each line. Sivaraj was motivating with claps, while Senthamizh Selvan was preparing his instruments. On the other side, below the eucalyptus tree was a man with a long mane, covered with his cap, sitting on a stone, becoming a seat for a child, enjoying the song, whom I later got introduced as Nandu. The music or the rhythm or the energy was not the significance of the song, but the words and their meaning and the last punch. I was so impressed by Aiya, as he continued singing some 50 lines, with nothing to refer. My surprise was surpassed later, when I came to know more about him. Though I wanted to capture the song in my scribbling pad, it was impossible with my ability to write Tamizh.

Later the day, after lunch, we created an opportunity to talk to him for some time, surrounded by kids who were interested in his songs. He currently lives in Hosur, where he worked for Indicarb. In his leisure time, he used to write songs, compose a tune himself and sings. He has written more than 500 songs on various topics which interests him from time to time. He sung some 10 samples on varying subjects – village life, nature, a tea stall bench, a helpless female labour working on a field who cannot suckle her baby crying in the nearby cradle etc.,. He remembers all the songs written by him. With the fluency and energy of thoughts and writing, he should be called a “Sindanaialar”. I felt that he is not as famous as he had to be. Then he told us that one publisher had agreed to publish few of his creations and is in print now. Before 15 years, some of his songs had come out as books which he is not sure whether they are still in prints. To me at that time, he personified Karma yoga as described in Bhagavad Gita – “Without being attached to the fruits of activities, one should act as a matter of duty” (கடமையை செய் பலனை எதிர் பார்க்காதே). The book names are “Kaattu mara Kilaiyile” and “Kalai yedukkum Thaalattu”. On my request he willingly agreed to publish the listener’s choice song in the internet and helped me with the lyrics. I will post it as a separate post. His fluency is like free flowing water. He furnished us with lots of songs as and when we asked during a leisure walk into the village or during campfire on Kalaignar’s free television, Introduction of tractors and the list grows…

Vaiyampatti Aiya at the open amphitheater

Then I asked whether he is natively from the place called Vaiyampatti, for which he jovially replied – “We had stayed in Vaiyampatti for few years due to my father’s job. Later we moved to Hosur. We have no connection with Vaiyampatti. But sometime in past, someone attached this tag as it gave better village feel. Now Vaiyampatti has become famous and not Muthusamy. But if you ask anyone in Vaiyampatti, none would recognize me”. As he said all children were denoting him as “Vaiyampatti Aiya”.

Nattupura Kalai

After Vaiyampatti Aiya had acknowledged the children with ‘once more’ requests, Sivaraj brought Senthamizhselvan to the center. Selvan sat down with a piece of paper and his Thappu. Thappu is a circular percussion instrument used dominantly in south India. He started singing a folk song with folk music, followed by another with a different tune, with lot of applause from the little’s crowd. He was the only tagged musician in the camp, though Ezhil could mesmerize the children with his gaana style of singing.

Senthamizh Selvan singing folk song with Thappu music

Senthamizhselvan, native of Dharmapuri is a graduate from Music College, Chennai. It is out of his self-interest that he has learned this folk music. Over the 2 days, we had a lot of chance to listen to various styles of folk music –Oyilaattam, Kavadiyaattam, Karagaattam. He exposed us to different instruments. I came to know that there are different types of Thappu for producing different octaves. His mouth itself was an instrument when he teaches children to dance. He had made the front-yard of the forest rest house as his classroom to teach a group of children Oyilaattam, another boy - Karagaattam and another boy – Kavadiyaattam. With his help we tried our hands on Thappu and Karagam too.

Cuckoo Children’s Library

In front of Cuckoo library

After folk music, children split into groups and went to different locations to join the activity they were interested and practicing. Some went to watch movie in the first floors, some joined the skit group, some went with selvan to practice dancing, some joined the organic farming group and some joined the arts and crafts group. In the meanwhile, one school staff took us to the library, which had an aesthetic name board similar to the garden which reads – “Cuckoo Children’s Library” (குக்கூ சிறுவர் நூலகம்). Though it looked dull and dark, it had a good collection of books better than those available in not-so-remote villages. It had few books racks – one was a tall rack whose top 2 shelves would not be reachable for children. Other racks seemed to be made after the learning from the tall rack. They were artistically made of wood, of smaller height. The entrance had a reading desk, which was also curved artistically. There were about 1200 books on various interesting topics – biographies, short stories, comics, science, fictions and some references. One interesting thing was that there were no subject books. I felt good about it, as it would not create any fear in children from entering library. I tried to find any register or the slip that’s normally pasted in the library books, from which the library usage can be inferred. But no such book keeping had been done. Apart from books, library seemed to serve as an art collection with lots of masks, craft work which were done last year, some paintings displayed on the wall out of which a Buddha’s painting impressed me the most and some motivational posters on the wall. The library also had subscriptions to good magazine like – Wisdom and Pudiya Thalaimurai. This is one of the good collections I had seen in village schools.

Though there were so many books which were small to be completed in a day, which tempted me to spend more time in the library, I forced myself out of the library to justify the purpose of the visit.

Arts and crafts

From the library, when we entered the next room, bundle of creativity struck us. The paintings done by the children during the camp occupied the center of the room, three sides of the room displayed the clay models and the fourth side had bunch of papers with some artwork and some surukku pais (village style compact money bags) lying around, leaving a small pathway to walk around the display.

Children enjoying Ezhil's song

While walking around, Ezhilarasan came and got introduced. Ezhil, native of Villupuram, had graduated from the College of Arts, Chennai in 1997. He is understandably involved with Cuckoo for a long time and a very enthusiastic character. He involves in the activities are various places like Udumalpet, Erode and Pollachi. He takes up internal decoration work for various groups in Chennai. He was there with a group of friends – Wilson David, Sakkarapani, Hariganesh and Kumar, and lots & lots of raw materials for arts & crafts. Even though Ezhil was mainly involved with arts and crafts, sometime he amused the children with his songs and mainly the style of singing. The frequent number was 'Polama' song, which goes like
"Polamaaaaa....hehe...Polaamaaaa....
polama, polama, enge polama?
ange polam, inge polam, enge polama?
ange polam, inge polam, enge polama?
anda Nellivasal payanam polama..."
This song was so enthusiastic that I kept humming and singing for the next few days after returning home and my 2 year old son got interested and kept asking me to sing this for him. Now, after 10 days he sings this and asks me to sing this while we go out from home.

One of the well appreciated painting

Ezhil and his group had introduced the children to the basic colors and taught them how to mix and paint. Similarly, they had taught them how to make clay models, from the clay they collected at Kasth – local name for the nearby by waterfall and stream. They were not given any ideas of what to make, deliberately to avoid imposing our ideas. This has brought out their original creativity, as intact as possible. Every painting exhibited their surrounding on one way or the other. They at least had one animal, bird or a tree. Some even had some insects. The color selection and multi-color usage were not at all like those who were introduced only to the basic colors 3 days earlier. Few paintings that stay in my memory are – A fierce looking lion behind a tree, a big butterfly with its home, a multi-colored painting looking like a modern art, a tree inside water!!! But there was not a single city style painting – two hills with sunrise, two hills with a house and coconut tree etc. These children had brought out what they had seen or what they imagine, while the children in the city schools are taught what to draw. So, they lose creativity. The kid, who had drawn the tree inside water, explained that there are no places in earth where it can be safe from cutting. These are children of 6^th and 7^th standard.

Tree in water

Some more...

The clay models had surpassed the paintings. Of the first few models, there was a model of a human face. It was so beautiful, correct to the measurement, smile on the lips, sharp nose – it still remains in my memory. Other models like elephants, tortoise, a small pig with twisted tail, aravaan, aattukal, ammikal etc were also related to their life. The shell of the tortoise was embossed with design to make it closer to the reality.

The value of the bunch of papers on the fourth side was revealed only after Ezhil explained about them. They were artwork made of Javvarisi (Tapioca Pearls). Javvarisi has to be heated with water to make a paste. Then it is spread to form sheets and dried. They are then broken to form tiny pieces. Then these pieces are arranged to form pictures and painted with metal colors. When done, they look like artwork made from colored glass. They were looking awesome. The surukku pais adjacent to these work contained different seeds, the children had collected when they visited Kasth the day before. Some seeds were so peculiar to be identified as seeds.

That day’s agenda for children was to make artwork out of tree twigs, metal wires and jute ropes. I sat with Ezhil and children for some time. Most of them were trying to make human being as the tree twigs easily formed the limbs, but few wanted to be different making dogs and birds. One boy whom Ezhil praised had made a beautiful peacock with metal wires. Later the day, the same boy was trying to make what he called ‘Rajavaal kuruvi’, as the peacock was smaller.

Crafts with tree twigs, metal wires and ropes

While boys were busy doing this, girls in the adjacent room were making crafts out of tube like structure kept at the center of cloth bales. The tube just acts as a substrate, over which a bonding paste is applied. Carvings are made on the paste when it is wet and allowed to dry. Once dried it is painted with colors. What impressed me was the girl’s usage of color and patterns. The empty spaces in the carvings were not left blank with paints. They inserted some patterns and designs on them.

It was ‘creativity unfolded’ all around us.

Acting

Sivaraj & Azhageswari with skit team1

Out of the crafts room, I was greeted by Azhageswari. Azhageswari was from Tirupur. She is involved in ‘Project Greenhands’ at Tirupur. She was so interested with activities and with children that she had to keep extending her stay which was originally planned for 2 days taking her son’s schooling into consideration. Later I got to know that her school going son Rahul, had also joined her to visit the camp and had become one with the children and other volunteers. She had to search him for lunch and dinner too. She not only assisted a group of children to perform a skit on preserving trees, but on everything else where she could. Apart from Project Greenhands, she is involved in assisting a group of children at Erode, who are offspring of not so well to do, pull cart labors at Vandikaarn Theru, Karungalpalayam.

Nandu with his skit team

Kumar and Nanthakumar were others who had assisted another 2 groups of children to perform 2 other skits. Nandu is from Kumarapalayam. I could not know more about Kumar and Nandu, as we did not come in touch till the last moment.

Kumar with his skit team being felicitated by Rajaram

All the skit were practiced near the rest house in the closed and open amphitheater.
Another important person who was involved in various activities including skit was Kumaran. Kumaran is from Kumbakkonam . Kumaran had spent about 8 years in cine field, has directed one of the best running serials in Kalaignar TV. He is about to direct a film. He kept filming the activities over the 2 days. On the last day, during function he was really running with camera, single-handedly to make sure all activities were captured in the best way. When he was done, he was really looking tired and sweating. This apart, both Nandu and Kumaran were really enthusiastic and playful, with whom children wanted to stick around.

Organic farming

Another very important activity organized during the camp was organic farming. Karikalan and Balasubramanian from Nammazhwar’s vaanagam foundation had visited to teach a few aspects of natural, organic farming to children. Both of them were busy the whole day in converting open grassland in front of the school building into a small organic farm. They were the only 2 who got scorched under the sun all day long with their group of children. When I joined them, half way through their work, they explained me ‘Vatta paathi’. In this style of farming, a circle is formed like water waves, when a stone is thrown. The groove will hold water for irrigation. The elevated region, normally 4 feet wide is where crops are planted. It is 4 feet wide, as 2 feet is easily reachable from either side without stepping over it. Normally mixed crops are planted, so that different crops will come to yield at different times of the year and pests from one crop may not spread as the next crop may not be conducive to them. After planting the seeds, they mixed dry leaves with cow dung and scattered over the region. This is called ‘Moodakku’. This covering prevents sunlight from directly hitting the soil and evaporating the moisture content. As there is no sunlight, it is difficult for weeds to grow. So no weedicide or special weeding is required. As the moisture content is not lost, it enhances growth of earthworms. Then they explained how to avoid using pesticide, with the use of ‘Poochiviratti’, which will protect the crops, but at the same time not kill the pests. Then they explained about ‘Panchakavya’, organic nutrient for crops. Though they explained me each of these with the composition, I am not presenting it here for the lack of knowledge to write about them.

Karikalan & Balasubramanian getting felicitated by children

One thing of this activity in the camp is that children are actually aware of why each is done; learn new things which they can immediately implement in their fields as most of them had at least a small field. Moreover, I heard that some portion of the people in that region which is mostly under organic farming is getting converted to use fertilizers. It is easy to get them back to their original practice in the early stages.

Movie screening

Movie screening is also part of the camp. It was screened in a big hall on the first floor and later Sivaraj talks to the children about the movie. I do not have more information about this, as I did not have a chance to be part of this, except that I heard lot of sound from that floor in the morning sessions.

Games

In between the activities, in the afternoons, children were involved in some games. Kumaran and Nanda are sure to be part of. Sometimes sivaraj also joined. Usually it was played near the forest staff quarters in the open amphiteatre. Though I do not know the names of the games except one – ‘Kolakolaiyan Mandirikkai’, I will try to explain one of them which impressed me because it had no restriction to the number of players. The children were divided into 2 groups, rather 2 huge groups as there were many children. A big rectangle was formed, one team standing on the borders of the rectangle. The other team was inside the rectangle. The team outside the rectangle always possesses the ball and throws it on the other team player, without stepping inside. If any player of the other team gets hit by the ball, he goes out. If the ball runs out without hitting anyone, the other player of the same team on the other side of rectangle collects the ball and throws in again. As the team inside the rectangle reduces in size, it becomes harder to hit and ball is passed between team members and some strategy is formed. The intention is to get the entire team out. I assume the winning criteria would be the amount of time to get the other team out.

Village

In the evening, Mani and I wanted to walk out some distance, while other volunteers told that they are going out into the village and so we joined them. Two boys, Lakshmi and Vedi (Vedi seems to be a common name in that region, which is their God’s name) wanted to take us to their home. We crossed Nellivasal village and continued further to a hamlet called ‘Sembarai’. Nellivasal village is few hundred yards from the school. It has some tens of houses, with a panchayat office, 2 or 3 temples, some solar lamps which did not glow in that evening and a PDS shop (ration shop). That ration shop was very peculiar. It was at a good elevation with few steps to climb. But between the steps and the shop was a big gap, easy enough for people to fall off. At the last house of the village, a girl who recognized Alageshwari offered us some jack fruits. Sivaraj, Alageshwari, Mani and I stopped to eat some masala jack fruit with a special recipe and carried some more for other who went ahead of us. After a 10 minutes’ walk, we had to climb the hill. There were no roads, except a small rocky path formed by water stream during rains. After climbing a few distance, Mani and I got exhausted as we were not used to physical activity except for exercising. Our profession had taken its toll. When at Bangalore I feel good compared to other who don’t exercise. But now I pity them who don’t exercise or play. It was a distance of 3 to 4 Km uphill and it took us 45 minutes. There were places where I felt I would not return back and sleep there at the boy’s house. It had already become dark and wherever there was an open space or water body there were huge numbers of ‘Minmini poochi’ (fireflies). Though I had seen a few in my native when I was young, I had never seen them in such huge numbers. Kumaran who is a fan of these insects, were enthusiastically explaining us about them a few minutes back when we left the school. When we reached the boy’s house, it was completely dark and there was no electricity. But the cold breeze was felt colder as we were sweating. His house was in a small hamlet with 10 or 15 houses around at the top of a hill. Each house had its own garden with vegetables plants and some fields around the village. As we removed relaxing, removing the footwear, drinking water in the front yard I looked at the night sky. Night sky is also different for villages. So many stars, which shy out in the city due to the vapor lamps, were happily glittering in the village. Some 7 or 8 stars were seen moving for the naked eyes. Though I cannot validate the fact, some one among us told that this is one of the reasons for having one of the important astronomical observatories in this hill range – Kavalur Observatory. The night sky was so engrossing that I was ready to lie down there whole night watching the sky, as I used to do in my childhood with my friend, when I visit his house. We used to go to the overhead tank on the second floor, climb over it in the evening with snacks and water, lie down watching the sky till night.

The house was small with 2 rooms, one after the other. The first room was used as a kitchen and second as a living room, bed room and store room. The second room had a man’s photo on the wall facing the entrance, which we later came to know as his father who is no more. On the left were gunny bags full of grains – Samai (I don’t know the English word for this) and rice. These are the seeds for the next season. Samai is one of the main crops in the village and staple food in that region. Even the school headmaster hinted to me that, “Until the children ate Samai they were healthy. Now with PDS rice they are not as healthy and energetic as before”. On one corner ‘Uri’ was hanging. On the diagonal corner was a small kerosene lamp lighting the entire house. The walls were whitewashed with some designs (kolam) drawn near his father’s photo. One interesting thing Alageshwari pointed out was that there were no photos of any God or Godess. She had noticed it in other houses too. Some of us got the privilege of sitting on a mat while some had to sit on the ice cold floor. There was a TV kept above the seeds sack – yeah the free TV distributed by TN Government. The 2 boys climbed over the roof of the house and tried to tap electricity from the overhead line. On our request and Alageshwari’s persistence they agreed to get down and served us some jack fruit. When we were done with the fruit they collected the seeds and roasted it for us. They also served us some hot drink with jiggery, which was much required after the uphill task. Then they showed us Samai, as many of us had not seen it before.

As it was getting late and Sivaraj was worried about the cooks at the school, who would be waiting for us, we had to leave at 8:30 PM. The entire village was dark with no electricity that evening, which seems to be the case on most evenings. Why doesn’t the Government provide solar lamps instead of TV??? It was pitch-dark and we had to struggle to find our way with mobile phone lights. That day being the 4^th day from new moon day, added to our trouble. Few of us waited for the boys to arrange for a torch light which did not succeed. As the boys found that we were struggling to walk down, one of them said that we agreed to come to their house and it was their responsibility to take us down. So saying one boy jumped to his right into the field and the other went to his left into the bushes. Sometime later they came with some coconut trees leaves, lighted them with match box. With this light we could easily walk for some distance to return to the mobile lights again. They did this collecting of leaves, few times inside the forest to show us light, while they both were walking with us without foot wear. These are the last packets of innocence left in the world!!! Later I came to know that for so many children, this is the route that they take to go to the school every day. There are 6 such hamlets around Nellivasal from where the children come to school.

On the next morning, Sivaraj, Aiya, Mani and I went again into the village to walk around and have tea. On the way Sivaraj introduced us to a girl named Sharmila who was washing a utensil, to whose house we visited on the way back. It was very dark inside the house even in the morning. It has all characteristics as the previous house that we visited, except few family photographs. Sharmila and another boy were at the stove (‘Viragu Aduppu’). After talking, Sivaraj asked her to come with us and he will buy them some biscuits. She reluctantly came and the reason for her reluctance was that she had to prepare food and her brother does not know cooking. Later Sivaraj told me that her parents are in Bangalore or Chennai doing some labor job. She and her brother live in their house. She is studying 5^th standard and her brother is elder than her. She cooks for both of them. Couple of days earlier, she invited the volunteers to her home and served the food that she cooked. The way life presents itself to this little girl moved me. There are many children who stay alone in this village and the nearby hamlets, whose parents are in the nearby metros in pursuit of a job.

Another thing we observed from when I entered Pudur Naadu area was that nobody was wearing foot wear. On the first day when we were driving to Nellivasal, we should have seen 100 children easily. None of them had footwear. Same was the case with elders also. We had only seen one lady with a foot wear on our way.

Stay

The first night, after the trek we stayed in the school with the volunteers. Arrangements for sleeping were made in the hall where movie was screened. All volunteers, along with few hostel children slept in the hall. Food had not been a problem for 2 days, as the school cooks served us with good timely food. The last day they served us with payasam. If not for these cooks, there were no places to eat except resorting to cooking ourselves. There were 2 toilet room which decent enough to use. There was a lake at some distance further to the rest house, which acted as bath rooms for us. The 2^nd day morning, cold woke me up at 5:30 AM, though I had a blanket. When I came out of the hall, I found few other children and Mani following me. When we finished our morning duties, we found children sitting around the fire and by now they were joined by Wilson, Hari and Aiya. Campfire makes more sense in the mornings in these ‘pin-pani kalam’ (the months in which the mornings are colder than nights). We enjoyed the heat along with different songs sung by Aiya and Janani Janani sung by Mani.

Function

A banner on the way to the stage

The second day was a happening day. All children from the morning were preparing for it. A function was organized to end the camp, where children can display what they have learnt. Around 3 PM, the preparation started. For those children who watched the volunteers, it turned out to be a learning of organizing skills, as the volunteers turned the entire region into a beautiful program venue. Few banners with ‘Kavidhai’ were placed on the ground on the sides of the road from the school to the rest house. Two poles were planted in the open amphitheater, beside which 2 banners made of children’s paintings were leaned. It formed the stage where the children can perform. Few crafts made by the children were also placed in front of this stage. Other craft items made with tree twigs, which resembled human beings were placed on the tree in such way that it looked like they were climbing the tree from ground one after other. Some incense sticks were placed on the tree spreading the fragrance. The soil which formed the stage was watered so that it reduces the dust while performing.

Open amphitheater getting prepared..

The performance started with a skit, followed by Karagaattam, another skit, Oyilaattam, another skit and Kavadiyaattam. Each performance was encouraged with some presents which were books and some crafts made by children themselves. The function ended at 6 PM and that was end of the camp at Nellivasal.

Some performances by children...

Starting with prayer

Kumaran videoing Karagaattam

Oyilaattam performance with their guru's music from behind

Kavadiaattam in style

Children

Parameshwari - The singer

The blog would be incomplete if I do not mention about the children for whom the camp was organized. I found that they were shy on the 1^st day of my visit. But they started talking voluntarily from the other day. They were very happy and were out of the routine studies for 5 days. This is the second year for these children in such camp. From the function, from the way they talk; sing in front of outsiders I saw that their confidence has grown far ahead from the point Ezhil explained about them. Ezhil told me that, last year when they were new to the children, the children would not even tell their names; they will close their mouth and tell very slowly. It has been a tremendous progress from there to act skillfully like a seasoned actor. When Sivaraj asked some of them to sing songs for me, 2 girls came out without fear to sing 2 folk songs, which had beautiful lyrics and rhythm. Sivasakthi sung – “Aatha un seelai” and Parameshwari sung – “Pettha manam Pitthu”. Parameshwari has a very sweet voice and good ability to sing.

More than breaking their shyness and boosting confidence, I find that this camp has given different opportunities to express their creativity and talent. During the last camp they identified so many birds during bird watching sessions that a book is published which has collection of the birds in this region. I came to know that in the last camp an ornithologist explained about the bird ‘Erattai vaal kuruvi’ and mentioned that it got extinct from the year 1942, while one of the boys claimed that he had seen 7 such pairs in one of the nearby tree and identified it with that ornithologist. They can identify so many birds and butterflies, their routines, their sounds etc. During one session with Sivaraj on the 1^st day, with in matter of couple of minutes they mentioned about 20 birds, which I had hardly heard of – ‘Kollaiyaan kuruvi, Iruvaachi, Manjal chittu, Kondaalathi, Rajavaal kuruvi, Sitavaalai, Perundu, Milagai chittu, Maattu kuruvi, Karun kuruvi, Vellai chittu, Kaakanang kuruvi, Kavalan, Vettanang kuruvi, Sita kuruvi, Sittakozhi, Semmada kakkai’.

Also this camp is not trying to force the mainstream education, without understanding their needs and drifting away from their culture. Organic farming is one good example of tweaking the education according to the needs. I was told of 2 incidents in the school. The children were taught about train ticket booking through IRCTC. As some of them did not answer the question regarding this topic, they were scolded and punished hardly. I am wondering what is the need of such mainstream education system and where is it taking the children? These are children who live in a remote hilly village, most of whom had not seen a train in the life yet, who are connected to the nearby town with only 2 buses a day, who are not used to internet, studying in a school which has one PC for 278 students. What is this education going to achieve by teaching them booking tickets in IRCTC?

Another incident was that a girl child was severely beaten for not wearing a uniform. Sivaraj requested the teacher not to beat and when asked later, the girl said while working in the field the previous day she fell into the muddy water and the uniform got dirty. It is so sad to know that the teachers are so insensitive to teach what they name as discipline.

This is how is the mainstream education system in India – In cities it is wiping of creativity among children and in villages it is not nurturing the creativity. Cuckoo is doing what is required and children had shown signs of change in 2 years.

Sivaraj and Cuckoo

Cuckoo is not an NGO. Sivaraj, along with few of his friends got together to nurture the inner self of the children. After a lots of internet search, I found a blog post that explains the formative years – http://tiruvannamalai-news.blogspot.com/2008/01/concern-for-children-groomed-in-forest.html

Another,

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2008/10/10/stories/2008101050610200.htm

Such programs are organized at different places in a continuous basis. I wish them good luck to continue and sustain their interest.

The Group with children and staff

Note:

If any information is wrong, please correct me.

If more information is required, please contact me.

If you can provide list of good children’s movies, please help me with. I can forward it to Cuckoo, who is in need of this.

Coutesy: To the friends who shared me the photos.

Breakdown

2011-02-01T04:52:00.000-08:00

After attending my cousin’s marriage, I was returning back from Pudukkottai, in KSRTC Rajahamsa bus service. As usual the bus waited to fill the empty seats and started later than the actual departure time. I slept as soon as the bus started, due to the vibrating noise and the rocking. It rocked more than usual as most part of the road was eroded due to the monsoonal lash, which hit parts of southern Tamilnadu, a few months back. I realized we had reached Tiruchirapalli bus station, when the break in the monotonicity awoke me. The conductor was busy checking the e-tickets and the id proof, while the driver was busy gossiping with the only other Kannada speakers around – the driver and conductor of other KSRTC Airavat heading towards the same city. Most of my co-passengers seemed to have, what I call - IT traits. These are traits that can be found in a person, due to the influence of information technology sector, trying to impose western lifestyle on to us. Some of these are easily identifiable like the attire or laptop backpacks with well-known company names, while some trait requires little more observation like their discussion topic revolving around some technical jargon, which they themselves might not know in detail. While I was looking around the happenings, the guy opposite my seat, whose adjacent seat was empty, got a call. From the discussion I understood that it was a call from the guy who had been sitting next to him. He should have gone out for a quick dinner and had called to check whether he has enough time still to return back. As the answer was in affirmative, he took some more time to return back. But within that the conductor counted the number of passengers, inquired for this missing guy and asked the other guy to call him. The bus had to wait for a while for this ‘quick dinner’ guy to come back with a smile to cover up his guilty consciousness.

After commenting something in Kannada, when the driver started the bus, it gave a cold response. After a few futile tries, the conductor got down, followed by 2 other guys in the front seat. As a usual Indian response, it was decided to push the bus and engage it in 2^nd gear. I had seen it work quite a few times in the past. So, instead of being a dead weight inside the bus, I decided to help in pushing the bus. We were 5 guys pushing our heart out with another 20 people sitting inside the bus, with all the congestion and limitations of a bus station. After a couple of futile tries, pushing front and back, the driver of the nearby KSRTC bus joined us in pushing and with some suggestions. In the meanwhile, few people around the place who were not destined to travel with us also joined in pushing the bus. As it was getting hard to push, one of those guys who joined later told the conductor to ask the passengers to get down. After the conductor requested, 2 guys got down and joined me on either side to push. One of them was cursing all the time for such a situation. By now, lot of our energy was drained and thoughts of finding seats in other buses started growing. The Airavat driver now took the driver seat with a suggestion from a guy around there that instead of 2^nd gear, try with 3^rd gear. Both these changes worked. With a sigh of relief we got in the bus. I noticed a – status quo inside the bus. I was wondering whether I had come out of a dream, as I found the ‘quick dinner’ guy and his neighbor’s discussion went on uninterruptedly, my neighbor, as like others was unmoved by this hassle. When I confirmed I was not out of a dream, I was pushed to think of these people as self-helpless guys. Had the bus not started, they would have to find other means of reaching the destination, which were cumbersome on a wedding date and a Sunday. Even if they did not help in pushing, I expected them to get down reducing our efforts in pushing. Unlike the jargon used by these 'IT trait" guys, reducing weight would reduce the efforts to push is a common sense. Due to previous experiences of such bus breakdowns, I am put to think whether it is because of the class of the crowd in this particular bus. Do these ‘IT trait guys’ think it affects their dignity? What use of such people to the society who can’t help themselves? A decade back, I used to hear about ‘brain-drain’ very frequently, when intellectuals grown up in India, used their intellect abroad. Now seeing such incident, makes me feel that it’s “social-instinct-drain” or “social-sense-drain” even being within the country.

Again, when the monotonicity was broken, I found that the bus was stopped for a tea break at Salem. That’s when I realized these guys are not as self-helpless as I thought. Most of them got down to help themselves attend the nature's call and pee in front of the compounds and fences, around there, which would scent those shops and residences when they open their doors and windows the next morning.

P.S:

I took this opportunity to comment on the people with ‘IT traits’, as I was one among the few who pushed the bus. I might also be one of those ‘IT trait guys’ for someone else who watches me respond to a different situation. I don’t want to seclude myself from this crowd. I am one among them, responding to very few insignificant things in a sensible way. Moreover these responses of mine has not brought any social impact or at the least individual improvement for some one. So, sadly, I am also in the same “drain”.

I could not phrase better word than “social-instinct-drain” or “social-sense-drain”. Please help me with a better one if you have.

Power Crisis in 'ADVANTAGE KARNATAKA'

2010-05-12T02:27:00.000-07:00

Living in the so-called Silicon Valley of India, Bangalore, and watching the proceedings in the past few weeks, its hard not to react. The lack of statistical data may make this post look like an outburst but its the reality. There are two events happening here, in tandem. The first one is supposed to be a big event, or a campaign which is expected to lead to series of events. The government of Karnataka is driving it and is called "Advantage Karnataka". This seems to be a borrowed idea, earlier executed by another BJP stronghold, industrial state of Gujarat, which was then called "Vibrant Gujarat". This basically tries to project Karnataka as an investment destination.

The second event is the power crisis in the state, which is covered up totally in the campaign, as any campaign would be. Most parts of Bangalore is experiencing around 4 hours of power shutdown everyday and sometimes more. Mostly, during daytime - thanks to them as a householder, we get some sleep after all. But industries, who are under real stress, would be cursing them due to the extra operational cost. Most IT companies, which renders the tag of "Silicon Valley" to Bangalore are running with Diesel Generators, which is a huge and unnecessary burden for them. There are so many other sectors which gets affected due to this lack of power supply like agriculture, manufacturing and education, which I did not mention due to lack of information.

It looks funny to me to see this campaign, which boasts of many things, one of which being "Good infrastructure". Does lack of power still be termed as "Good infrastructure"? With whatever basic understanding I have, with which I can not make any administrative decisions at such high level, I guess electricity is one of the basic needs to run an industry. I am sure that some or the other investor, would raise this issue in each of these meetings and I am more than sure that the government (politicians here) has convincing and pre-planned answers prepared by the Administrative Babus and Execution Engineers. More than those answers, they would be satisfied with false promises and subsidies.

Criticism about the government and its functioning never ends and the government never bothers it, as well. Leaving criticism, on the constructive side, I wonder, how such an enormous power demand is being met by the US and other European nations. These countries' power demand is multi-fold higher than what Karnataka (or India as a whole) is facing. What I am given to know, even in the US, most of the demand is satisfied by thermal power generation, which is same in Karnataka, equally backed up with hydel power generation. Why don't the government take these nation's power generation as a model to work on, as it tries to make Vibrant Gujarat its model for it Advantage Karnataka campaign. Just by these campaigns, it can not be successful in bringing in the real investment. It might succeed with a few initial investments, by hiding or manipulating the facts. But the truth will surface out soon which will trigger unhappiness among the investors, who in turn will campaign not to invest in the state. Real investment is a continuous process, which will not happen with this infrastructure.

I think the government was too busy in imitating Gujarat's campaign, that it forgot to investigate more on power demand and supply scenario in that industrialised state. I had hardly come across power shortages and power cuts in Gujarat when I lived there and it is still being agreed as a fact by my friends who live there.

Note: I tried to find some statistical data, with not too many success. One of the informative web pages I came across during this process is quoted below. Please take time to read that for a little better numerical data, though not from any validated sources.

http://www.praja.in/en/blog/bhamyshenoy/2010/02/08/karnataka-power-crisis-need-new-thinking

Feynman's Nano, Now -2

2010-02-01T02:28:00.000-08:00

This is an excerpt from the same Feynman's famous lecture mentioned in the earlier posts. This is about the how part of capturing all the volumes of the encyclopedia on a pin head.

"The next question is: How do we write it? We have no standard technique to do this now. But let me argue that it is not as difficult as it first appears to be. We can reverse the lenses of the electron microscope in order to demagnify as well as magnify. A source of ions, sent through the microscope lenses in reverse, could be focused to a very small spot. We could write with that spot like we write in a TV cathode ray oscilloscope, by going across in lines, and having an adjustment which determines the amount of material which is going to be deposited as we scan in lines.

This method might be very slow because of space charge limitations. There will be more rapid methods. We could first make, perhaps by some photo process, a screen which has holes in it in the form of the letters. Then we would strike an arc behind the holes and draw metallic ions through the holes; then we could again use our system of lenses and make a small image in the form of ions, which would deposit the metal on the pin.

A simpler way might be this (though I am not sure it would work): We take light and, through an optical microscope running backwards, we focus it onto a very small photoelectric screen. Then electrons come away from the screen where the light is shining. These electrons are focused down in size by the electron microscope lenses to impinge directly upon the surface of the metal. Will such a beam etch away the metal if it is run long enough? I don't know. If it doesn't work for a metal surface, it must be possible to find some surface with which to coat the original pin so that, where the electrons bombard, a change is made which we could recognize later."

Forgive me, for capturing such a big excerpt, which makes you comment whether it is a full article itself. But without this entire excerpt, the following post would not be meaningful.

Before stating this, Feynman tries to bring about some analogical printing methods like plastic molding, embossing etc.,. which were known in those days and used for classical printing. But this excerpt, especially, is very important to be reviewed, beacuse it is amazing to know that someone could explain, five decades back, what is called photolithography today, in such a lucid manner. Just that, the electron beam is replaced by UV light and the possibile surface is replaced with positive or negative photoresist material. Know more about photolitugraphy, here. Though this photolithography technique is not used for printing books on a nanoscale, it is still a possibility. Currently, this technique is used in Integrated Circuits or chip fabrication. All that comments above are my first thoguhts about the excerpt, before I could think a little more.

Wonder what? There is a photomask involved in photolithography, which contains the pattern to be etched in the photoresist layer. This is what confines the UV rays to a specific nano dimension on to the photoresist. Without this, UV rays can not be used to etch small dimensions as in microelectronic circuits. So, there should be more better method available currently, which could be used to manufacture this mask, without using a smaller mask. This thought and a few search in the world wide web guided me to such a method. That is called as "Electron beam lithography".

When I studied more and more, it was amazing to know that the actual process is almost same as Feynman's imagination and the limitations too, were. Here is the Wiki link to know more about the process. For those, who could not spend enough time to go through the link completely, here are the excerpts,

What?
"Electron beam lithography is the practice of scanning a beam of electrons in a patterned fashion across a surface covered with a film and of selectively removing either exposed or non-exposed regions of the resist"

How?
"Electron beam lithography systems used in commercial applications are dedicated e-beam writing systems that are very expensive (>4M USD). For research applications, it is very common to convert an electron microscope into an electron beam lithography system using a relatively low cost accessory (<100K USD)."

"Lower resolution systems can use thermionic sources, which are usually formed from LaB6. However, systems with higher resolution requirements need to use field electron emission sources, such as heated W/ZrO2 for lower energy spread and enhanced brightness."

Advantage:
"The primary advantage of electron beam lithography is that it is one of the ways to beat the diffraction limit of light and make features in the nanometer regime."

Limitations:
"The key limitation of electron beam lithography is throughput, i.e., the very long time it takes to expose an entire silicon wafer or glass substrate. A long exposure time leaves the user vulnerable to beam drift or instability which may occur during the exposure."

"With today's electron optics, electron beam widths can routinely go down to a few nm. This is limited mainly by aberrations and space charge."

Is it not the same as Feynman imagined?
After so much study, I feel that feynman's imagination had, in someway, driven the research and technology in this front.

Please don't empty your amazement with this post, as there are some more to come and strike you...

Feynman's Nano, Now - 1

2010-01-07T23:24:00.000-08:00

    In this series of post, I try to think and analyze from where 'we' stand today and explain the points delivered by Dr. Feynman in his famous lecture of 1959, . I am not one among the Nanotechnology or Nanoscience research community. I am a common man having a little bit of interest and very little understanding of science. I am explaining this, because readers should not misunderstand the meaning of 'we' in 'where we stand today'. This 'we' refers to the entire human community. That is where, I can be considered one among those who a pushing the limits down that smaller world foreseen by Feynman and that is how I can feel proud and happy.

    Remember the year as the series continues. Excerpt and his thoughts are 50 years ahead from now.

Feynman's Nano, Now - 1
    Excerpt from Feynman's lecture below,

    "They tell me about electric motors that are the size of the nail on your small finger. And there is a device on the market, they tell me, by which you can write the Lord's Prayer on the head of a pin. But that's nothing; that's the most primitive, halting step in the direction I intend to discuss. It is a staggeringly small world that is below. In the year 2000, when they look back at this age, they will wonder why it was not until the year 1960 that anybody began seriously to move in this direction.

    Why cannot we write the entire 24 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britanica on the head of a pin?"

    I do not know if anybody really wondered that way. Rather, people should have thanked Feynman for being someone who at least thought of such possibility in 1960. Otherwise, we would not be approaching this smaller world so fast and still be running between rooms to operate a computer. I think Feynman had estimated every one and everything would work the way he was and was quite optimistic while mentioning the year 2000. Ten years from then, we have not written any encyclopedia on the head of a pin. But the growth we have had so far, certainly make us think that this is not a mere fantasy.

    There had been a lot of development until now, in the small scale (Nano) biological world like Human genome project, work on DNA sequencing and lot of pharmaceutical developments. Though biological science is pushing the limits faster, other fields are not just spectators. Like in electrical sciences, the limits of the circuits are already getting pushed below 32nm with lot of challenges. In material sciences, carbon nanotubes are openings up lot of possibilities.

    As an end note of the post, last week, while I was spending my Christmas vacation in a very calm and quiet place far from the buzzling metro I live in, I received a mail from one of my friends, whose team, though not encyclopedia, had put a world map on to an optical chip. Please note 'optical chip'. This is not the same integrated circuits we had been working and talking for the past 40 to 50 years. It's quite different, again approaching the nano scale. You can read more here.

50 Years of Feynman's Famous Lecture

2010-01-07T02:09:00.000-08:00

Last week, I was reading a newspaper article about nanotechnology which cited the famous lecture presented by Dr. Feynman. It triggered the curiosity in me to know more about that lecture. For those, who do not know who this person is, Richard Feynman was a famous theoretical physicist of this era, who is well known for his work on Quantum Mechanics and his simple explanation of complicated aspects of physics.

This title of this lecture was "There's plenty of room at the bottom". It was delivered by him in 1959 at California Institute of Technology. Fortunately, the development in networking world has reduced the space-time distance (Is it also some sort of special or general relativity!?). Now it is available online, here. Thanks to Ralph Merkle and Zyvex.

Place take time to read his lecture and you will know why I mentioned about his "simple" explanation style, earlier in the post.
More to come in future posts...

Backside of 'Silicon Valley of India'

2009-07-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

Two days back, I went to visit my friend working in one of the companies located in one of the IT parks in Bangalore, Bagmane Tech Park. As his office was closer to the so called back entrance, I was waiting near that. It took him sometime to come, which gave me enough time to feel the place. There were some handheld carts selling some snacks. A little further, there were a few shops. A restaurant, a bakery and a small shop selling tea, biscuits and cigarettes and still further where the road takes a turn, on the opposite corner was a small house, which opens into a quite large settlement of people below poverty line and lower middle-class. Also there was a very small open terrace temple with three idols underneath a big tree, which is a common sight in India.
The entire region was crowded by the grownup IT kids, I mean it. While a few people were going back home, most of them were in front of the bakery, drinking tea or smoking out their easy money. Most of them were using a plastic 'use and throw' tea cup for convenience of taking it with them, as they move. I realised the actual meaning of 'use and throw' just within a few minutes, as wind blew heavily. The first thing any idle person there, would notice was the tea cups. There were hundreds of them lying around the area and moved by the heavy winds. Now and then some popcorn sound, as vehicles crush these cups lying on the roads. I wonder if those IT kids ever notice this nasty sight and worry about it. The worst part, which touched my heart was that all these cups were getting collected in front of the doorstep of the small house in the opposite corner. I am sure, it would be a headache of those living there. Immediately, a media report of few years back flashed in my mind. It talked about the class divide in Bangalore as one of the reasons for riots which happened during one of the veteran film actor's funeral. Lot of IT companies and other establishments were targeted in some stone throwing incidents.
Now, I understood that media report in its real sense. One class, which works and lives most of its time inside that air-conditioned, highly decorated, posh buildings, coming out for a few minutes to drink tea, pollute the region and create aversion in the minds of locals. The other class, which lives most of the time in the region polluted by the previous class, still managing to clean and survive, accumulating everyday aversion in their minds, though those posh buildings are a stone throw away from their homes. I wonder how these IT kids, change their perspective immediately after entering their office or their home. So, Is it carelessness for the other class and a place where they are not going to spend time or just the lack of attitude?
Information Technology, Reebok, Nike and Puma had percolated from the west. Every kid was westernised in that sense. But the cleanliness and attitude towards the society are still finding its way to the so called Silicon Valley of India.
I wonder how will the change come to this society when most of the population either contributes to such problems or does not care about it. A very few people are moved by it, but do nothing but write columns and blogs (like me, I am sorry). Only a meagre part of the population really think and do something for it.

Hey kids, The Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Red Tape does not make you a man. Its the attitude.

The Bindra Soothe'r

2008-08-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

I was one of those patriotic sports lovers, who criticised the SYSTEM (To me, it includes all those negative factors pulling us down as a nation), for our performance at all levels of sports and games. I was one among those 1 billion inferior souls. Before a few days, when the whole world was preparing for this big event, The Beijing Olympics, I read an article in Economic Times, which said that BRIC nations has grown its gold medals tally 40% over the last three Olympics. It made me so proud for a moment before my grey cells started doing that math, because it includes India in that four nation bloc. There was no reason for me to be proud as an Indian, for that statement, as India had contributed no gold to increase the count. Yeah, I could have been proud because we did not decrease the count :). There should be many like me, who thought, why a country with so huge population could not even win a single medal. It was deep bruise in so many hearts.

Yesterday, came the ointment, which I call "The Bindra Soothe'r". Abinav Bindra, won the first individual gold medal in the Olympics, for our nation, in the 10 metre air rifle event.

Still there can be discussions and debates about the SYSTEM, on whether IT had any contribution in his run to the podium, whether the SYSTEM is conducive in the same way to all class of sports(wo)men, whether it is just an event or a good start. For now, leaving behind these debates, it is really soothing to hear our national anthem being played at the Olympics.

Muttai to Nandhu

2008-08-02T23:51:00.000-07:00

Today morning I got a call from Nanthakumar, when I was about to wake up from my second innings of sleep. It was a casual call, having no significance to this topic. The significance was the first sentence that I spoke, which pushed me to write. The sentence is "Tell Nandhu", in our vernacular. It might sound quite normal without having enough background.

@@@@@@@@@Flashback@@@@@@@@@

The year is 1998 and the scene is set at Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Pollachi. It was my first year in engineering, rather our first year engineering. The hostel, which enclosed a variety of dialects, variety of characters due to variety of students from a variety of region across the state, was always overflowing with excitement. My abode was room number 108. The neighboring room 109 was occupied by Nanthakumar from Namakkal. As days passed people in the neighboring rooms came closer, as do me and Nanthakumar. This is when Nanthakumar, a very innocent guy, was baptized "Muttai" against his will and wish. It means "Egg", denoting "Namakkal - Highest egg producing place", where he hails from. This became a very popular name among our college-mates. Everyone recognized him more with this name than his original one. I was one among those behind this baptism and the users.
Nine years passed by. I worked with one of the technology company among the many, which dotted Bangalore, as any Electronic engineer would do. Nanthakumar followed his passion and had cleared the UPSC exams, with a distinction of first rank holder from our state. He was undergoing training at Mussourie. The frequency of contact was reduced, though we were in touch.

@@@@@@@@@Flashback@@@@@@@@@

This year, he is undergoing training as Asst. Collector, Coimbatore. We talk quite often, to be in touch, though he has got little free time. But I m little hesitant to call him by name, which we baptized, "Muttai". This became quite apparent when I addressed him as "Nadhu", this morning. As I ponder, I have different reasons like he should not be called by that name in front of other sub-ordinates and so. But the reality is basically the "Glorified and Respectful" designation that he is holding, which makes me hesitant.

This is the best example of taking the criticism head-on and reply back with actions.

Remote interest!

2008-03-16T23:57:00.000-07:00

This topic is along the same lines of my earlier post "Is this India?"
This is a narration of a small incident that happened yesterday. I, along with my father went to a very small village named Thalampatti, some 15 Km from the district headquarters, Pudukkottai. It is also necessary to explain the context of our visit. There is a small temple which was recently renovated at a huge cost of around 20 lakhs by all those people who owned it, maintained it or just had customary bondage. After this renovation (called Kumbabhishekam in Tamizh), by custom, there should be pooja for the next 48 days. Yesterday was one of these 48 days. Each day's pooja happen at a cost of few hundreds of rupees or a thousand.
My father and I reached the temple quite early. My father was explaining me the new developments and modifications, as this was my first visit after the renovation. During all this time, the pujari was preparing for the pooja, assisted by his aides, one man and two boys. While waiting for other people to come and start the pooja, we both sat in a shade and started browsing the books that we had. I had a book named "Nilamellam Ratham" (which means 'Land, full of blood' in Tamizh). This book is about the political history of Israel and Palestine. One of those boys who was helping the pujari, after finishing his job, stood behind me and started telling to others that this book is about Palestine, the relation between Palestine and Yasir Arafat and more, while others were uninterestedly listening.
Then the pooja started, he was totally engrossed in helping, commanded by visitors and pujari himself. It would not be fair just to mention "help" everywhere as his work, which does not give any significance of what sort of work did he do. He was wiping and cleaning the floor, fetching water for the pujari and so. The pooja went on for more than an hour. It was hot and sultry day, with little showers last night. So, once the ritual was over and prashad was provided, people went to shades to rest and gossip. I was one among those. After an hour or so, we prepared to leave. I went inside the temple to take the book from the window where I had kept it, while the pooja started. I was amazed to see this boy sitting near the window, drenched with sweat and reading the book.
I said, "Hi, do you like the book?". Pat, came the answer with a smile, in a continuous, uninterrupted flow, "Yeah! I like it very much. I had gone through the first few pages when I found this book in a local hotel, which also runs a book shop". The hotel and the book shop he mentioned can not be interpreted in terms of the hotel or book shop that we are used to, in the cities. The village I m talking about might comprise of 50 to 75 families. I could not provide the exact data, due to lack of statistics. The hotel and book shop he mentioned was in the next big village, which acts as a hub for few other villages, included. To bring a picture in your mind, all these shops are just made of thatched roofs.
I got curious to talk more with this boy. The main reason was a direct comparison of this boy with few of my friends in the city, who came across this book and wondered if such good books are available in Tamizh.
We continued our talk for next few minutes, while I came to know a lot of interesting things from him. Below is a narration of our conversation,
Me: Do you go to school?
Boy: Yes. I study 8th standard in Nachandupatti.
(Nachandupatti is a little bigger village. But this school is quite big for the size of the village)
Me: What subjects do you study? (I started saying Ariviyal, which means science in tamizh, to make him confortable to explain in Tamizh also)
Boy: (continued in English) English, Tamizh, Science, Social Science and Maths.
Me: Do you have enough teachers in your school? Does the teacher come to class properly? I heard that in villages, the teachers don't come to classes properly.
Boy: No, No. They come regularly and teach very well. My school has got centum (which means everyone has passed) results in SSLC exams, last year and before. He (showing the other boy) studies in this school (shows the near by building). I too studied in this school till 5th standard. Here, teachers don't come regularly.
Me: Is this a primary school.
Boy: Hmmm. This school is upto 5th standard only. Then you have to either go to Nachandupatti, which is around 5 Km from here, or to Pudukkottai which is around 15 Km from here. They have till 12th std. My school has good facilities. They have science lab and computer lab too.
Me: What is your school timing.
Boy: From 9:45 to 4:45, with half an hour break for lunch.
Me: Do you take lunch? (I wanted to know if Mid-day meal scheme of TN govt is applicable to him)
Boy: Yeah! I take lunch from home.
Me: How much is your yearly fees?
Boy: We need not pay. Ours is a government school. But few Chettiars in that village (he named a few) also help financially (which I understood for the maintenance of school).

Though I wanted to talk more, I was called to board the car. While I was moving, I finally asked him,
Me: Do you like books?
Boy: Yeah! very much. I had written two novels and got prize from "Rajeshkumar" (I think he is a famous novel author in Tamizh). I was awarded the "Best Orator" at Pudukkottai district level by the Governor.

I was jolted with surprise.

Me: Oh! This book is my friend's book. Otherwise I would have given you this. Can you give your address.
Boy: Not required. I ll be somewhere around the temple only.
I was moved so much, that this little guy is so capable, interested but lacks resources and nurturing.

This little boy, "Tamizharasan", which means "King of Tamizh", roams around the temple bare bodied, only with a trouser. I also noted that his body was full of scars. Later I came to know from my Grandmother that he got burnt in a fire accident, when he was refilling the kerosene stove. He had to be treated for few months at a hospital in Tanjore and his parents had to spend a couple of lakhs, just for treatment by taking loan. So, they could not afford for plastic surgery, though advised by the doctors.
This little guy in a remote village has a 'remote' interest of reading and writing books, which he cant afford to buy. But this remote temple in the same remote village is offered few lakhs of rupees for renovation and maintenance.
I was so moved that I consulted one of my uncle, to know whether this book can be bought at Pudukkottai where I can afford to spend few hours while returning back. I was told that Sunday was a holiday and all book shops would be closed. So, I made up my mind that I would buy and send this book to him, along with my mother who would visit this temple, some time in the next week.

World Champions - Cheap, Cheaper or Cheapest?

2008-01-05T23:41:00.000-08:00

Today was the last day of the 2nd test between Australia and India, which was pushed in favour of Australia. I watched the match entirely from early morning in India. At the end of the day I was very disappointed, not because India lost or India was made to lose with so many umpiring blunders all through the match, but the way my favorite team, Australia played on the last day. There were so many false appeals. Even though such appeals are natural instinct when a team is at the verge of victory, the appeals made by Australians today were at heights. Ricky Pointing, the Australian captain caught an extraordinary catch off the pads, placed the ball on the ground while balancing and appealed so loud as if he was not aware the ball tapped the ground. Firstly, that wasn't a catch as it never touched the bat. Secondly, the catch was not at all completed. This is one such incident on the last day. Should I call it cheap, cheaper or cheapest cricket when both teams were equally poised to win the match. I would call it neither, rather I would call it cowardice of the world champions to face the reality of losing a test match after winning 15 matches in a row. I have no respect to such a team which could go so low and do such mean acts just for their fame and 'fake' victory.

Is this India?

2007-12-19T20:33:00.000-08:00

I and my office colleagues had a very nice, fun and food-filled year end party yesterday evening. We spent our time in a bowling alley and a restaurant in the hot, entertainment district of Bangalore - Brigade Road and Church Street. After knowing the money spent for 21 people which was around Rs.13000, I was pondering on a not very uncommon question, "Is this India?". One of my colleague often says, "This (Bangalore) is not India". I just had turned this statement into interrogation. I doubt this can be claimed - "India".

This would not have thought about it, if I had not glanced a few pages of the book "Everybody loves a good draught" by P. Sainath. I wish, we be informed of the facts, even though not analyse. Below are some excerpts from this book,

On Tendu leaf-collectors of Surguja district in MP - "For each gadda (bundle) of fifty leaves, the leaf-collector gets 30 paise. If Puthuli manages a hundred gaddas a day, she will have earned Rs.30. In the early days of the season, she averages between eighty and hundred gaddas daily. Only very rarely can she put together more than a hundred gaddas"

On labourers rather slaves of Bolangir district of orissa and vizianagaramdistrict of AP - "Almost all the laboureres are migrants from the Kalahandi-Nuapada and Bolangir areaas of Orissa. They are trying to escape hunger at home - by slaving at brick kilns in AP. Adolescent labourers stagger out of the pit, carrying around 20 kg of bricks towards the stocking area, passing an old man simply unable to cope with the 45 kg of bricks he is lugging. The bodies of all those working here are caked in a film of brick dust that re-appears within minutes of wiping it off. Many have developed rasping cough, apart from less visible but no less dangerous respiratory problems. Each brick he carries, weighs about two and a half kilos and he carries twenty of them. In the course of the day, he could make forty-five trips between pit and yard - a distance of 25 to 50 metres depending on which end of the stocking area he is headed for. And he'd be lugging along 45 kg on every trip. Each carrier does this with a half-running goose-step of a gait. They maintain this sort of rhythm to avoid dropping the bricks and to be able to do the required number of trips. When the old man with or without the aid of his family members has lifted nearly two tonnes of bricks in this manner, they earn around nine rupees."
(Note: Sentences not in same sequence as they appear in the book)

My pondering last night, involved some basic mathematics. We had spent roughly Rs.600 per person for entertainment and food, though not for hunger. To earn this money the brick kiln labourer quoted above would have to carry 133 tonnes of brick on his shoulder, or to put it the other way, he would have to lug for 65 days to earn this. To earn the same money the leaf-collector would have to collect 2000 gaddas or 100000 leaves, almost breaking her back.

when ever in the past I came across some one (mostly westerners and media) mentioning India as a Third world country, my ego wouldn't have been silent. But with such facts, I think I should rather go by the reality, rather than pride.

'Pondering' is effortless. But 'Only Pondering' is meaningless...

Respect - Ingredient of the Soil

2007-12-17T20:02:00.000-08:00

Does this topic make any sense? Obviously not, in the logical mind. Even not for me, until I realised it before a few days.

Major part of my life had been spent around Coimbatore - the ancient Chera kingdom. My birth place and my native place is in the ancient Pandya kingdom. The languages spoken in these two parts of current Tamilnadu are distinctly seperate. This was the only thing I observed all these years and of course having lived so many years I had inherited a large part of Coimbatore language. Though, I had heard from various sources that these sect of people from the ancient Chera kingdom express their respect in their language itself, I had not observed it so keenly as I was a part of the sect before I migrated to various places for my occupation. I had lived in different parts of India. Few worth-mentioning Tamizh speaking parts are Tiruchirappalli, Pudukkottai and Chennai. More to this I had the opportunity to listen to almost all flavours of Tamizh during my under graduation years.

Recently, I visited Coimbatore after a long gap. Due to the feel of various dialects of Tamizh that I have had earlier, I analysed their language to a greater depth, this time. It was so sweet and soothing. These people not only express respect in their language, as I had been told earlier, they also express kindness. I would like to quote one of the incidents that made me say this. I was travelling in the city bus to an unknown location. I was not aware of the exact fare. So, I gave the conductor Rs.10. The actual fare was Rs.6. While giving the ticket, the conductor asked "oru ruva irukaang saami?". Due to my limitation in English, I could not directly translate it. But, apart from the fact that it was full of respect, it was very very kind, which is not a common trait found among the city bus conductors. If a bus conductor could speak so sweet, I could imagine the extent of respect and kindness these people offer to others.

This is apparently not taught in school. It could only be an ingredient of Chera soil, where these people are born and are living. After writing so much about this language, it would not be fair enough to finish the topic without mentioning that, the language is called "Kongu Tamizh" and this soil is called "Kongnadu".

Why not Science

2007-11-06T18:47:00.000-08:00

Science and Philosophy is same under some context. Science is the 'study of creation'. Philosophy is the 'study of creator'. There are very few people working whole-heartedly in both these two. Let me analyse the reason for decreased count of people in the field of science. One of the major reason is science requires a huge insight and questioning about the topic under test. Lets see about this insight and questioning at a later point. Before that lets see where the man power is concentrated. Its all towards technology and selling it. Technology is nothing but a way to make money out of already known science. Almost entire manpower is towards money through technology. This is a fake fancy that world offers. But there is life behind this fancy world also. Every fancy thing can satisfy the senses, not the soul. Soul satisfaction is achieved only by the real. Think of a thing at this point - Science has not grown the way technology has grown in the past few years. In this topic, I would like to discuss some factors and reasons for the above.

Lets start with questioning and insight. I think if everyone was a kid, then science would have grown a long way. Science always need these 'Whys and Hows' for its development, which are only asked by a kid in our society. Even you and I had these questions during our childhood. Where have these gone? Have we got answers for all the questions that we had? Not exactly. There is a big burial ground made in every one's mind by the good, great architects of our society. By architects, I mean our parents, teachers and all our mentors. There are exceptions in the world for every statement. But they cant be considered as example. If a child questions a teacher in the kindergarten or his/her parents, most of the times they don't have answers, because either they never had this question or they were never answered. They are not ready to get defeated by this question of a small kid, which in their sense does not know as much as they know. So, they are forced to apply the authority over the child. Child cant do anything more than subsiding. This is the first shovel of sand for making the burial ground. As the same happens, time and again, child ceases to question. Surely, if the same question pops up in the mind of a grown-up, well educated man or a woman, it would end up in a new discovery. I would like to substantiate the claim with an experience. After my graduation, when I was teaching a child of 7th standard about light, that kid asked me so many questions that I could not answer. The question was 'How light travels in Vacuum? How is the energy transfer happening in Vacuum?'. I really could not answer these questions. I know this was some kind of defeat for me. I could have just told that these are laws and are already proven (which was what I heard most often from my school teachers). Then it means I had my contribution in burying the child's ability to question. I had to search a lot for answers and got the kid in touch with a person who had specifically studied optics. Here two good things happen. When you are unable to answer the kid's question, the kid feels that he has defeated you in intellect. This boosts his morale. When you answer him after searching a lot, he feels encouraged to search for solutions.

Another thing thing to observe here is the way science is being taught in schools. Whenever there is an unanswerable question to a teacher, the he tells you that it is an assumption or a law. There are no un-meaningful assumptions in the scientific arena. This concept is created in the high schools. The student grows up and whenever he comes across a difficult part of derivation, he starts assuming with no meaning behind it.

Next thing is the way we read scientific concepts and laws. When we come across a law, we blindly follow that. We need to remember one thing, "Every law is not always right". Growth of science stops under this mentality. If Neil Bohr has had this mentality, there is no Bohr atom model. Even we can be another Bohr. All it needs is to argue against the existing law, no matter however great the person had made it. Another observation is to be made here. Suppose Einstein or Newton was publishing a law or a concept. They were considered one of the great intellects of their times. So not except a few equal intellects would have questioned the fact. So, there are probabilities that they were(are) wrong. So, we need to be bold to go against them. May be we are wrong. But there are always truth behind wrong things. If theft is considered as a wrong thing, there are always truths like poverty and illiteracy. Only after the wrong things called the theft has happened, these truths could be probed and the standard of living could be improved. So, even if we were wrong, someone will head to the right solution because of us.

Next is the herd instinct, especially in the Indian society. Nobody wants to be individualistic. Everyone wants to be in the center of the herd. Science needs different ways and openings for the a single problem. Due to this herd instinct so many openings are shut down and everyone heads to the same solution. Staying with the herd, for many people has an advantage that they don't run the risk of exposing their ignorance. If one departs from the herd, then he will be asked to explain why he has departed. He has to offer the detailed justifications and his understanding of the subject will be criticised. Once among the herd, the originality is lost. Greatness of Socrates came to light only after his death. He opposed the whole society and great political figures, because he knew he was right.

Above all that discussed above, there are two things called patience and perseverance which is required for the scientific community. These two things are rarely found in youth. Think of great minds like Thomas Alva Edison and William Roentgen, the patience they had during the experimentation. Achieving the goal is not always simple and quick. Once in my college computer science department, I saw a quote, "Success without difficulty is triumph without glory". Every difficult success, discovery, solution is difficult and requires patience and perseverance.

India has a lot of intellectuals who complain about the lack of infrastructure in the country. I ask every one of them, "What do we need more than the convoluted flesh lying inside our cranium"? It can do wonders. It can face any challenge and find a solution for that which no other animals can. This is one reason why evolution has stopped. Human brain is so powerful to make the humankind, creators themselves (AI, Robots). Lack of infrastructure in the country cant justify the lack of scientific growth.

With all this writing I only want to increase the interest of the youngsters towards science, without which technology is not there. We should remember that money cant buy everything like attitude, mentality, desire all that is needed for success. Its a fake that can buy only the fancies of the world. So, to do something great, we need to think big and come out of the herd. Everyone is sent to this world for some purpose, which is apparently not money. Whenever the mind and soul finds peace and satisfaction in doing something, that should be the real purpose for which we had been sent for. Holding the purpose and carrying on would fetch us the light at the end of the tunnel. For some, the tunnel is short, for some the tunnel is long. Some travel with high velocity to reach fast, some travel with less velocity to reach slow. But everyone can reach it and feel the light.

Tirumala in Chennai

2006-11-26T09:44:00.000-08:00

It was a long pending wish to visit Tirumala and experience what I had heard of it. When I disclosed my wish during tea time in office, my friends told me that there is a replica of Tirumala in Chennai, too and my wish can be satisfied with ease. They also told me all its pros. This replica allows its devotees to fix appointment online, instead of going in person and getting a appointment tag tied around the wrist. Here, there are lots of advantages in comparison to the Tirumala, except for some extra documents. I was convinced to visit this replica.

I visited the webpage to get appointment in July. Quite amazing, I got appointment in November. It seemed that the replica is busier than the original. What to do! I kept waiting all these days, till last week when I got the chance. My appointment was at 3.30 in the afternoon. I went around 3.15. The queue was enough big comparable to the original Tirumala. The queue was at least 500 to 750 m long and everyone had to enjoy the humid and hot sun. I don’t think any idiot would stand this way in Chennai’s hot weather even in his wild dreams. But people considered this a big opportunity as it is believed that this God inside the shrine would bring all riches to their life. I also wanted to try my luck and joined the queue.

There was a surprise waiting for me. The guy behind me told that neither bags nor mobile phones (which I was carrying) were allowed, inside. I had a assumption that if it is not allowed inside, there would be some place where they would collect these articles. To my surprise, nothing of such sort was available. I was informed that there was a tea stall nearby, where the articles were kept for 50 or 100 rupees. Neither I found such stall nor was I ready to leave my mobile with an unknown person. I went to the nearby PCO, called up one of my friends who, I remembered to work somewhere nearby. He guided me to reach his place and said he would also walk down towards me. I rushed towards his office and met him half way through. I handed over my bag and mobile.

While I was back it was already 3.30. I joined the queue which was far away from entrance. Sun was boiling me, when I was already drenched in sweat. I thought Tirumala should have been better as I had heard that the devotees are allowed to stand in a roofed queue, and sometimes even allowed to sit in chairs available along the way. It was 4.30 when security checked me and my appointment and allowed me to enter. As I entered I was thanking that I was finally in. But that was not over. There was another queue inside the four walls. By this way it was 6 o’clock when I neared the Garbha-Griha.

It was entirely a different kind of temple. There were many "glasses covered Garbha-Griha" in front of which people were standing in queue. I could not clearly see what was inside the glass covering. As I neared the glass covering, I could not see any God inside. Instead there were only few white skinned, brown haired Pujaris and Pujarans talking with the devotees. People believe that these Pujaris were the people who scrutinize the eligibility of the devotees to see the so believed, God.

I came out at 7 in the evening filled with experiences that I had only heard off earlier. But from the experiences I heard about Tirumala, I remember that everyone was allowed to see Lord Venkateshwara. But here every religious thing was quite different except the other experiences.

Only a day before I was told that the name of this replica is US Consulate.

Note : All that written above is purely my experience while I went to the US Consulate Chennai to get Visa.

Aerobulance

2006-11-04T03:15:00.000-08:00

From the day, I started living in the big cities of India, I m worried about the clumsy, undisciplined road traffic. Indians including me are highly ambitious while it comes to driving. We always go to achieve the worst possible estimate of time on the road. Traffic jam, choked road, expected diversions (actually traffic diversions are un-expected events, but not in India) – nothing stops us. Increase in literacy rate, increase in road accidents, increase in vehicle count, nothing has created interest in road rules. Our road rules are only on paper.
While I was young, growing up in a small urban, I used to see Lord Yama in the form of road accidents. But now, having lived in different big cities of India I think Lord Yama has another avatar (Different manifestations of a God according to Hindu mythology) too, on the road, in addition to the road accidents.
The other day, I was traveling along the Brigade road in auto-rickshaw. It was a typical Bangalore evening where the entire landscape turns into a free pub with flashing head lights and rock noise from vehicles. Amongst this rock, I was able to hear a high pitch wailing. It was from an ambulance. Never before I had seen (even tough imagined a few times) an ambulance struck in traffic. My curiosity was aroused. I peeped out of the rickshaw to see the surrounding herd (of vehicles) and ensure that my imagination were correct. The road on our side where the ambulance howled was halted by red signal. The traffic constable at the signal stopped the vehicles from other sides manually and let our side move. Bangalore has no differentiating factor between the junction signal and the normal road. We along with the ambulance crossed the road but yet choked up. I could see people rushing behind the ambulance to go fast and cross the junctions without waiting in the signals. Thank God they didn’t go in front. The road was so badly populated with vehicles that few good hearts and few hearts which pretended to be good, who wanted to give way to ambulance also had no choice. There was also a sect of people who were normal as if the siren was a horn of a vehicle, which is not a matter of botheration in Bangalore.
My worry about the clumsy, undisciplined road traffic in Indian cities was pictured in front of my eye, where I could only become a dumb spectator clasping my finger and praying for the poor soul lying inside the ambulance. I felt very bad about Indians and Indian traffic where there are no lanes, no stop lines, no idea what a zebra crossing is and more so. It may take many more years when someone can imagine an un-interrupted way for the ambulance.
I wonder if some automobile manufacturer can come out with a low altitude flying machine which can be substituted for the ambulance.