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

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

Building Bridges….. 21 December 2007

Recently somebody forwarded to me pictures of a dozen complicated and neat road bridge clusters from different cities of Europe and the Gulf region and contrasted the same with our own Indian roads.

On yet another day an Indian immigrant from the US, who was on a visit to Bangalore, remarked that India can never even dream of building in next fifty years, such good roads and bridges as in the US.

Let me emphasise that I am not against urban roads and bridges. I am concerned with the fixation of the rich with such structures and equating the same with development. We must understand that there is a larger country beyond our limited urban vision.

The need of the times is to build bridges of the other kind, many small ones that remove the urban-rural disconnect. These have to be physical structures as well as emotional ones. Let’s not forget the Indian rural underprivileged and the disadvantaged, who form the majority and who feed the nation. The earlier we realise this, the better it is!

S .Gopal ….Keying in is better than idling

Students and Satellites…… 20 December 2007

Two groups of students – one in Anna University, Chennai and the other in the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai – are designing amd building micro satellites.

Both the satellites would be launched into low Earth orbit (800 -1000 km above the Earth’s surface) by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the help of their Polar Space Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

ISRO encourages young blood to be a part of the space programme. The overall objectives are to foster interest in Earth observation and space technology among students and faculty and to provide hands-on training in all aspects of spacecraft building and operations.

The satellite being built by the Integrated Systems Laboratory of Anna University is known as ANUSat. It will carry a digital store and forward payload for amateur communication designed to conduct experiments on message transfer across the country. It will have a mass of 50 kg.

The equipment being made at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai will have a mass of 10 kg and is designed for studying high-energy particles in space and Greenhouse Effect.

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling

Bitter Medicines… 19 December 2007

Recently the World Health Organisation (WHO) conducted an international conference. Two independent pharma experts from India attended the same. They have summarised what other speakers had to say about the quality of medicines manufactured in India. Please read on.

· First the good news: Pharma company CIPLA scored 100 percent quality success.

· More than 50 percent of Indian medicines were accepted. Others failed to qualify.

· Another pharma company Ranbaxy qualified in around 54 percent of the applications it submitted. Rest failed.

· One of the Indian medicines did not show any efficacy at all. It was useless.

· Some of the Indian medicines including anti retroviral drugs used for treatment of AIDS sold in African countries were of poor quality.

· In quality, China was ahead of India (and we doubt the Chinese quality!)

Medicines which were rejected by WHO, were approved earlier by the Indian drug authorities. Why they failed to qualify at the international level? What are we hiding? Who is responsible? It is time the country did something about it. Wake up, please.

S .Gopal ….Keying in is better than idling

Can Man know what God thinks?…. 15 December 2007

A couple of months ago, the authorities in the Sri Krishna Temple in Guruvayoor, Kerala decided to allow women dressed in churidhar-pyjama inside the temple. Since people from all parts of India visit that temple and since such attire has now become an all-India one, the news was widely welcomed. Till then only sari-clad women were allowed to enter the temple.

As for me, I hold the opinion that a proper churidhar-pyjama (unlike the filmy ones) is more `modest’ than a sari.

Then some pundits in the temple got together to do a `devaprasnam’ (an astrological exercise) and `found out’ that presiding deity was `angry’ with the decision to relax the dress-code.

My comments:

· Hindus believe that God is present everywhere and knows everything. However, some Hindus seem to know what God knows; a case of a mere mortal able to perceive what an immortal thinks!

· God is known as `karuna sagara’ – all compassionate. How can somebody attribute a negative emotion of anger to Him?

Think it over….

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling

The Mall and Social Divide… 14 December 2007

The other day I went to one of the many shopping malls in Bangalore along with members of my family.

The multi-level car parking lot was almost full. Fortunately, we got a slot in a higher floor to park our car. That floor led us to the Food Court; it was overcrowded with people gorging food of all varieties – North Indian, South Indian, Chinese, Indian version of Chinese, American, etc.

We went to a regular restaurant on another floor to have a buffet lunch, each costing some Rupees three hundred. All the tables were occupied excepting one, which we occupied.

After lunch I strolled around the various sales outlets. I had no money in my pocket; I don’t have a credit or debit card either. I saw hundreds of people just milling around, buying and buying; most, I thought were impulse purchases. Tens of thousands of rupees were getting exchanged.

Is this the true face of India? Are we not sitting on a social volcano waiting to burst? Hope I am proved wrong.

S. Gopal

…. Keying in is better than idling