Scientist, Politician, Editor… 17 January 2008

This genius was born this day in the year 1706 at Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America as the fifteenth child of his parents. He

· was one of the most important and influential Founding Fathers of the United States of America.

· was a leading author and printer.

· was a political theorist, politician, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.

· was a scientist and inventor. His greatest contribution to the world is his discovery of electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, a stove, a carriage odometer, a musical instrument known as glass harmonica, and the flexible urinary catheter. Importantly, he never patented his inventions.

· formed both the first public lending library and the first volunteer fire fighting company.

· used to play violin, harp, and guitar and also compose music.

· printed a new currency based on innovative anti-counterfeiting method.

· made eight voyages across the Atlantic Ocean and made design changes in ships.

His name is Benjamin Franklin. Let us raise our hands to salute him!

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling

Disappointing…… 11 January 2008

The 95 th Indian Science Congress was held between 3 and 7 January 2008 at Vishakapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The theme of the conference “Knowledge Based Society Using Environmentally Sustainable Science And Technology” was most apt.

Performance was just not equal to promise. Top scientists, scientific advisers to the government of India, and heads of the major research institutions did not attend the meet. Defence laboratories of the country, Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institutes of Technology, Space and Nuclear establishments were hardly represented.

No major scientific results or theories were announced. Nothing path-breaking happened.

Many people, like me, interested in general Science have been left disappointed. A country which is looking for a place under the Sun and wanting to become a super power should have done better.

The ministry in charge of Science and Technology needs to wake up. China is charging ahead in Science and we are falling behind. Not a good feeling.

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling

Army Day…Reforms Required….. 15 January 2008

Today is Army Day. It is celebrated every year on 15 January in recognition of an Indian becoming the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army.The person was Lieutenant General K. M. Cariappa and the year was 1948.

Should the Indian Army really celebrate? Far from it. It is time for them to introspect and improve. They have fallen from grace. Every day we hear about scandals in the Army: wide spread and large scale corruption among the top generals in the purchase of equipment, faking of battles to win awards, fudging of results of equipment trials, diverting of food and other items meant for troops for monetary gains, harassing and commiting violence on civilains (including women), nepotism and non-military considerations during promotions and transfers, trying to cover up their misdeeds etc.

Knowledgeable common citizens are disillusioned. So far they have been proud of our Army (as also the other arms of defence namely Air force and the Navy) for their integrity, honesty, foresight and valour. Not any more.

S. Gopal
…Keying in is better than idling

Bhaarat Ratnaa for me…… 16 January 2008

(more than 350 words)

Maananeeya Pradhan Mantri Mahodhay Man Mohan Singh Ji,

(Pratilipi: Shrimathi Sonia Gandhi, Congress Party aur Desh ka katha-dhartha) (Please put in a word)

(Pratilipi: Honourable Rahul Gandhiji, Bharat ka bhavishya) (Please recommend my name)

Namashkaar! Saadar Pranaam!

I hope you had a nice and successful trip to China. How was the weather in Beijing?

I understand that you are in the process of selecting candidates for awarding Bhaarat Ratna. The country has already honoured 40 persons with this Ratna; the dishonourable exception being that of Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi (the person whom we remember on 2 October and whose samadhi we visit that day).

Please consider my name as well; I have impressive credentials.

· Many times since the year 1960, I have travelled in long distance Indian trains, especially in the unreserved third class (even after it was renamed as second class). That was long before Lalu Prasad Yadav became the railway minister.

· I was a suburban train commuter with a second class pass for three years in Mumbai when it was known as Bombay.

· I have successfully crossed many roads at all hours in Bangalore, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Chennai, and Mumbai.

· I have undertaken many journies by Deccan Airlines (before it shook hands with Kingfischer Airlines); I have walked several kilometers to get into the aircraft; I have lived without sipping a drop of water in the plane.

· I have lived in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh for about 14 years under various political regimes.

· For about eight years, I used the services of Delhi Transport Undertaker (sorry, Undertaking), well before it became DTC , to go to school and college..

· Hundreds of times I have used the services of a meterless three-wheeled wonder known as `autos’ in Chennai, driven by the most decent, well-mannered individuals on Mother Earth!

If these expolits are not sufficient to grant me the coveted medal, please let me know; I will send you a list of my other accomplishments.

Thanks for reading me patiently (that is, if you at all read this!)

Appa Charan Sparsh Karta Huva,

Subrahmanyam Gopal

Birth Anniversary of a Great Man….. 12 January 2008

He was born this day in 1863 at Calcutta.

He inspired Jamshedji Tata to set up the Indian Institute of Science.

His name is Narendranath Dutta, but is popularly known as Swami Vivekananda.

He was a born leader and was good at studies, theatre, music, and sports. He questioned the validity of God, superstitious customs, and discrimination based on caste and religion. He studied at the Presidency College and Scottish Church College at Calcutta. He was interested in logic, philosophy, and history.

The turning point in his life came when he met his Guru, Ramakrishna for the first time in November 1881.

When the Raja of Ramnad in the state of Tamil Nadu was invited to address the World Parliament of Religions in 1893 at Chicago, USA, he felt that Vivekananda was the right person to represent the views of Hinduism in that conference.

Vivekananda began his address with his famous words, “Sisters and brothers of America.” That marked the beginning of western interest in Hinduism as a vital religious and philosophical tradition.

S .Gopal
…Keying in is better than idling

Fear or What?…….. 10 January 2008

(nearly 400 words)

The other evening I travelled in a government bus from Yeshwanthpur to the Majestic Bus Stand (Bangalore), a half-an-hour drive. The bus passed through Malleswaram and Seshadripuram, two old habitats with a rich tradition of scholarship and religious fervour. I encountered several places of worship on the way on either sides of the road.

A young man, in his early thirties, sporting a small round vermillion mark on his forehead and a talisman on his neck sat by my side in the window seat. He had an overstuffed travel bag on his lap. He wore a sweater. Probably he was going to Majestic area to catch a night train or bus to go out of town.

In another seat was one more young man in his early twenties. He was well built. He had his top two shirt buttons open, probably to exhibit his manliness – a la Salman Khan style (now further popularised by Sharukh Khan as well). He wore three rings on his right hand and a rather long talisman on his neck. He had a macho look on his face.

You will agree that both these men had contrasting personalities.

But I observed one common trait in them. Whenever the bus passed by a temple their right hand would rise; its fingers would touch one cheek, then the other, then the forehead, then the chin in quick succession. Simultaneously their both eyes would close for fleeting seconds, and their lips would utter an almost silent prayer. This process repeated itself at least half-a-dozen times (as many temples on the way).

I wondered why they performed the act which I have described above.

· out of sheer habit; something imbibed from their parents or grandparents since their childhood?

· out of fear of God? (why should one fear God, the merciful and compassionate, I thought further)

· were they asking for a boon from the God so that their immediate missions become successful?

The thought of asking them these questions did cross my mind, but then I decided against that; it was politically incorrect to do so; it was also fraught with dangers. Reaching home quickly and in one piece were more important than these issue, I quickly and wisely decided.

S .Gopal
..keying in is better than idling

A Rewarding Week…. 13 January 2008

(about 300 words)

The last week (6 to 12 January 2008) was one of the most intellectually stimulating week for me. I had the good fortune of listening to four brilliant and hard thinking men of contemperory India on four consecutive evenings starting 8 January 2008. I wish the Indian politicians listened to them too! All these public lectures were held in Bangalore.

R. Chidambaram, the Scientific Adviser to the Government of India (and a former chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission) spoke about the status of nuclear energy in India. He talked on the basis of his vast experience as an active scientist as well as a science administrator with international exposure.

A. P. Venkateswaran, India’s former ambassador to China and a former foreign secretary spoke on `India and China – a comparison’. He was very cynical about India-China relations. He was not sure whether there would be any true friendship between the two countries in spite of the visit of India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh who is in China now.

Ramachandra Guha, a political and cricket historian, spoke on the `Beauty of Compromise’ (a term borrowed from Mahatma Gandhi). He felt that most conflicts in Asia can be solved by dialogue. However, on the subject of Kashmir he felt that solution was not that easy.

M. S. Valiathan, a cardiac surgeon by training and a former vice chancellor of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education spoke on the Science of Ayurveda. He traced the 2000-year history of this ancient Indian concept and practice with special reference to the works of Susrutha and Charaka and ended with the current status if research in this field in India.

In some subsequent issues of Penumbra I will try to share with you what I learnt in these lectures.

S .Gopal
…Keying in is better than idling

Belgium and Bombay…… 9 January 2008

A recent newspaper article about Belgium forced me to compare that country with Bombay (the world still knows Mumbai as Bombay). An advanced, modern, clean country vs. a decaying, filthy metropolis? Please read on to find out the contrasts and decide; I have used B for Belgium and M for Mumbai.

· B is a country, M is just the capital of one state in India.

· Population: B – 10.5 million; M – approximately 14 milllion (may be even more)

· M – a melting pot of multiculturalism; people from all parts of India representing all religions and speaking many languages have been living together for years and generally peacefully (leaving alone a few aberrations) with an elected government.

· B – majority population is Dutch-speaking living in the Flanders region; minority French-speaking living in the poorer southern part. These two groups are finding it difficult to co-exist. Because of this, the results of the election held in June last year 2007 were indecisive; there is no proper elected government and some have speculated that the country may even breakup.

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling

Symbols – Units of Measurement..… 29 December 2007

The other day I saw a signboard announcing `XYZ Factory: 12 KM ahead’. KM surely meant kilometers. But is KM the correct symbol for kilometers?

SI (Système International d’unités, meaning International System of Units) is the modern metric system of measurement and symbols. It is founded on seven base units. See Table below:

	SI base unit
length	meter	m
mass	kilogram	kg
time	second	s
electric current	ampere	A
thermodynamic temperature	kelvin	K
amount of substance	mole	mol
luminous intensity	candela	cd

As per SI convention, only those symbols that abbreviate the name of a person start with a capital letter. The one exception is litre whose symbol is L, the reason being symbol l (lowercase of L) was getting confused with numeral 1 (one).

It should have been `km’ and not `KM’ on the signboard. Similarly we see lot of incorrect symbols in product packaging and even in scientific and technical literature.

When we do not like our names misspelt, why do we allow ourselves to use incorrect symbols?

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling

Ethical dilemma… Buyer vs. Seller… 28 December 2007

(around 350 words)

I give below two short definitions of Ethics:

· a discipline dealing with what is good and what is bad, and with moral duty and obligation

· a branch of philosophy, encompassing right conduct and correct way of living

While talking of Ethics in Business, a term that usually comes up is Caveat emptor, a Latin term which means “Let the buyer beware”. Under this doctrine, the buyer can not recover from the seller for the defects on the product that have rendered the product unfit for use. This term seems to have evolved from the basic suspicion that a seller is an unethical person always out to rob you and therefore you- the customer- should be alert and careful.

Let me give this a twist. I give below two scenarios.

· A seller offers you a discount of ten percent on the price of a product (let us assume the price is Rupees 100.00). The seller prepares a bill for Rupees. 85.00. You make the payment, collect the product and sneak away quickly from the showroom while fully knowing that discount of ten percent means Rupees 90.00 and not 85.00.

· You buy a product for Rupees 92.00. You give the seller Rupees 100.00. He returns Rupees 18.00. You simply pocket the money and vanish from the scene with the full knowledge that he has paid you Rupees 10.00 extra.

Now the questions are:

· Should you have alerted the sales person about his mistake and paid him the correct contracted price (or returned to him the extra amount that you received)?

· If you did so, will you be branded by the Society as a stupid person who is not `worldly-wise’?

· If you didn’t do so, is your behaviour unethical (a term usually reserved for the seller)?

Think it over. Over the weekend, if you do not have anything else to do.

S .Gopal ….Keying in is better than idling