Truth is stranger than fiction... (Part III)

Michael had a gut feeling his holiday in Germany was going to be cut short by another urgent investigation; nothing unusual. But then, he never complained. The phone was picked up on the other end after the first ring.
“Agent Smith, this is urgent. Project Firefly is in its last stages. However there…”
“Project WHAT?! I thought that was nothing more than a bunch of UFO-crazy groups churning out fantastic stories!”
“It does exist. Please, you must hurry. A plane is waiting for you at the private terminal of the airport. I’ll explain everything once we’re in the air.”
“Some hospitality I must say!” murmured Michael.
“And Agent Smith… don’t forget your little souvenir from Utah you’ve been carrying with you for the past two years…”
Michael was frozen solid. He could feel every hair on his body stand on end. The only person who knew about it was dead in a car accident, two days after the incident in Utah. The only person he thought who knew about it.

He stood up, changed his clothes, stuffed his belongings in his suitcase, took out his berretta from beneath the pillow, shoved it into its holster, put on a jacket, wore his watch and shoes, and was down in the hallway of the hotel; four minutes flat. The clerk at the desk was a little more than just surprised to see a guest at this hour. Michael reached for his wallet.
“Where can I get a taxi?”
“But sir.. is there a problem? Is everything ok?” The clerk asked in a heavy German accent.
“Yes yes.. just an emergency back home..”
“You can get a taxi round the next corner sir.. but there won’t be any flights out till..”
He was cut short by Michael who placed a few currency notes from his wallet on the clerk’s desk. It was more than twice the room rent. Obviously the clerk didn’t mind at all.
Michael hurried to the nearest intersection and started looking frantically for a taxi. Few cars sped by in the chilly night. After a few minutes a taxi slowed by. Michael climbed into it.
“Flughafen.. Eile..”
“Ja” The driver said in a heavy German accent.
The drive to the airport took longer than Michael had thought. He quickly paid the driver, didn’t bother for the change, and was already at the entrance of the airport before the driver even left the driveway.

He approached one of the guards.
“die Möglichkeit, den privaten Terminal?”
The guard directed him to the other entrance that led straight to the private terminal. On his way Michael noticed an old man in a wheelchair, in rich suiting, being pushed by probably his attendant, another lady in heavy makeup with her poodle walking besides her in a perfectly trained manner, a man with a fur jacket puffing on his cigar looking out through the huge glass panes which made up the terminal corridor. “Obviously this place is for the rich” thought Michael.
Just as he was wondering what next, or rather what his caller had in mind, the dark man with the cigar walked briskly behind Michael. Before Michael could turn around to take a closer look, he felt something poke his back in the lower region. From the feel of it, he could easily make it out as the end of a silencer; the silencer of a small firearm, similar to his own.
“Keep walking..”, a low voice whispered in his ear.
Michael could feel the warm breath on his ear. The man behind had cleverly concealed his weapon under an overcoat which he held over his right hand, the one holding the pistol. As they both walked towards the end of the corridor, Michael noticed the security officers screening every traveller’s baggage through an x-ray unit. However, he knew it was mere formality. One thing good about private travel was that you could carry almost anything onboard so long as you had the right paper work. Then again, it was your own plane, so it was not surprising to have such a relaxation of rules from commercial airline travel, where obviously a lot more lives were at stake than your own! Michael had just begun wondering how the officers would react to this man holding him at gun point, but instantly the thought vanished. As they came closer, one of the officers looked at the dark man, and as though in recognition of a higher authority, slightly nodded his head. The other officer didn’t pay attention once he got a slight whisper from his colleague.
“My host has obviously got novel ways..” thought Michael.
Just past the security counter, they turned left and an stood on an escalator that led them straight down on the tarmac, in the private side of the airport.

Michael noticed the twin propellers of a Super King Air B200 parked a distance away, come to life.
“That’s our ride?” he asked in a half surprised tone.
The man behind didn’t answer. He just kept prodding Michael towards the plane. As they came near it, the door swung open, as if by itself. Michael didn’t need to be told what was expected of him. He climbed in. The dark man followed. The cabin of the plane lit up with warm lights throughout the ceiling along the length of the plane. The interior was custom made with a plush sofa on one side and a mini bar on the other. The moment Michael was waiting for finally came – his phone caller was sitting at one end of the sofa. Michael turned to face him as he climbed in the plane. He stood still. His friend from the dead signalled him to sit down and buckle up for the take off. As the Super King’s engines roared, Michael’s heart was beating fast.

Truth is stranger than fiction... (Part II)

0250
Somewhere in the Mediterranian

It was dark in the control room of USS Abraham Lincoln. Only green lights from the display panel lit the smoky air. She was a fine Nimitz class supercarrier; any captain’s pride, currently Captain Anderson’s. He was at his pipe, as always. The First Officer and other men in the room watched closely along with him at the big round dials of the radar.
“How are they doing now?” barked Captain Anderson.
“Falcon 1 – report status” the junior at the com unit spoke with hesitation. Only ten minutes before the Captain’s arrival he had seen his panel showing data no officer had seen before.
“This is Falcon 1. We are on course, bearing zero niner zero, holding speed nine-two-five-zero. We have structural damage, but we are stable and in control. Please advise.”
“Holy shit! That’s over Mach 12!” One of the other juniors whispered.
“Bring them around on course three-nine and get them on deck”, the Captain ordered.
“Falcon 1 – you are instructed to change your heading to vector three-nine and reduce air speed for final approach. You are cleared for landing.”
“Roger that.”

The blinking dot on the radar screen began to change its path as ordered, and suddenly the speaker in the room crackled to life –
“May-Day May-Day! This is Falcon 1. We have a rupture in the engine casing. We’re going in a spin! I… can’t reach…”
“Eject-eject-eject!” shouted the Captain. He knew he didn’t have to; his best men were in there; but that made matters even worse – he couldn’t afford to loose them.
“The thrust.. can’t reduce.. yaw rate is..”
Everyone in the room knew the consequences of a sudden and uncontrollable yaw rate – it was when an aircraft spun around its vertical axis as though someone had whirled it rapidly. It was the most dreaded situation of a pilot; in many cases he was never able to reach his ejection handle right in front of him and pull it, due to the high g-forces pushing him back in his seat with a force many times his own weight. Here, it would have been much more.
“The throttle.. not resp.. we.. hydrau.. fail..”

There was a huge static in the communication. Then it was over. There was a final beep on the radar screen before the dot disappeared. The room fell silent. Dead silent. Captain Anderson took off his cap and walked to his cabin.
“Set course for rendezvous with the Admiral’s convoy.”
“I I Sir. Setting course. ETA – thirteen hours.”

The following morning Mrs. Andrew was awakened by a phone call.
“Mrs. Andrew?”
“Yes.. May I know who’s speaking?”
“I am Captain Briggs from the Naval Headquarters. I’m afraid I have a bad news for you. Your husband Flight Lieutenant Pete Andrew was killed in an accident during a
routine exercise last night. I’m sorry Mrs. Andrew. ”
“No! He was a very fine pilot.. He couldn’t have.. It’s got something to do with that secret operation now isn’t it? Tell me.. I want the truth!”
“Please calm down Mrs. Andrew. The truth is, your husband was a very fine pilot indeed, but accidents do happen. I’m sorry but I am unaware of any secret operation.”
“I knew it all along.. I had told Pete not to sign up for anything dare-devil.. Why can’t you just tell me?! He had told me he was working on a.. a different project.. but he wouldn’t utter anything more..” (she started crying)
“Mrs. Andrews please control yourself. We are all sorry for your loss. Please accept my deepest condolence. I shall get in touch with you shortly for the funeral service.”
Mrs. Andrew kept the phone down.

Truth is stranger than fiction... (Part I)

A telephone rang in the distance...
He woke up from a tired sleep, quickly glanced over the big fluorescent dial of his Timex. 0313 the watch displayed. Cursing slightly he picked up the receiver.
"Agent Smith.. hello? who's.."
"Stop. Read tomorrow's paper.. right now."
"Is this a joke? who the hell is.."
The line went dead.

Smith had had enough instances of silly pranks played by drunken teenagers; but something told him this was not it. There was a distinct urgency in the hoarse voice. Urgency or not, how does one read the next day's paper?! He stood up quietly and walked to the front door. Not to his surprise, a paper was half slid under the door before he came. He peered through the eye hole, then opened the door slightly, looked in both directions, picked up the half folded paper and shut the door behind him as he came in.

He was now wide awake. He sat on his bed and flicked the light switch on and started going over the headlines page by page. He had read the date on the paper while it was lying down in the door itself; the phone caller was not in a mood for pranks. The first page had a big photograph of what appeared to be the remains of a crashed airliner in some corn field, an article about US-Russia technology exchange deal, a photograph of the local rugby team with a trophy and some other news. Subsequent pages had an equally wide array of news, nothing that would otherwise catch the eye of the general reader. There was however, one pamphlet of a newly opened shopping complex which fell out of the paper as Smith turned pages. It had photographs of various items on sale the coming weekend, along with prices.

This was what he was looking for - the photograph of a mobile phone had been encircled; the exact same model that he owned, out of ten other phones in the advertisement. Someone had obviously done their homework well. In the pamphlet were encircled some letters out of seemingly unconnected words. Smith knew. He lifted the receiver and started pushing the numbers corresponding to each letter's number in the English alphabet.
Before he had finished, a recorded voice announced "Diese Zahl ist nicht mit dem nationalen Telefonnetzes...... This number is not listed with the national telephone network...... Diese Zahl ist nicht.." He hung up. "Not so easy Michael!" he murmured to himself. There were virtually endless possibilities with these letters. But first he had to be sure he was not going to scuffle the haystack with the needle right in his finger; he reached under his pillow. Feeling the familiar metallic touch of his Beretta he moved over to pull out his cell phone next to it. He started pushing the numbers in the same sequence again; only this time there was no message heard till the last digit. There was a tone; of a connected call. He smiled a little.

Happy Ending To A GREat anxiety...

Last week on this very day - Tuesday - I gave the GRE, and scored right on target; well, my personal target! Managed to get 800/800 in the quantitative analysis section, and 530/800 in the verbal section, thus scoring 1330/1600.. The analytical writing score will come a little later, but I'm pretty satisfied with what I have written there too..

Agreed my score in verbal is not a brilliant score as such, but considering I'm looking towards a PG in engineering, quant is what matters most. Also, considering last few years' median scores of top universities for my area of specialisation (Civil Engineering), I'm safe to apply. But GRE is just the first step - now I have to really keep good acads and keep doing good project work etc to boost my admission chances along with a good scholarship/financial aid..

To be very honest, now looking back a little, I sometimes feel I had aimed low.. From day one of my GRE preparation (which was really just a matter of last fortnight before the exam!!) I have had this subconcious comfort, that I do not need a very high score as such to get admit in a top univ. This further made me more lethargic to put in my hundred percent.. (I'm already a lot lethargic when it comes to study!!) To worsen things, I cannot mug up things for a fact; and its not a mystery that those who score high in verbal section are really great at by-hearting (ok I don't like to use the phrase "mugging up" here 'coz it has a little negative taste to it..) those thousands of words - words which many people rightly describe as "those which we have never seen, and will never use in future!" Agreed half of those are regularly used by people having decent command over the language, but there are still the dreaded "other half".

PS: all of the above is just a matter-of-fact record of my thoughts rather than some justification of my score; I look with sheer admiration to all those who have scored higher, and do not claim to be able to score as high as them. I "could have" and "would have" is all meaningless if I "did not"!!

Then again, who doesn't try to justify his deeds? Within us lies a great conflict - a conflict between the real us and a third person us. The third person is an inner voice, the good voice, inculcated within us through years of upbringing.. It is this voice to whom we try to justify every action of our perceived "us". We are only answerable to our inner voice; but more often than not we keep it locked in some corner of our heart and strive to answer all the voices outside its cage..

My father once told me something; that which I consider perhaps to be his best teaching to me - "Whenever you're in a state of chaos as to how to operate in a situation, ask yourself "Am I being fair to everyone involved? Am I being fair to myself?" and if both the answers are yes, just go ahead and He will be with you."
This perhaps was said to him by his father too.. and will definitely be passed on to my son/daughter..

My first pic in "Sky And Telescope"!!

This day, 2nd August, '08 will be cherished by me as the day my first astrophoto got picked in the gallery of "Sky And Telescope", a very well known and respected magazine in the astronomy circles; and it's photo gallery, a coveted place..

I have clicked many photos before, both general and astro; however, never submitted one anywhere. I used to, and still do, look at friends with photos in this gallery with respect; though always thought I had sometime before I could get to that level of expertise, or rather creativity more appropriately. It indeed takes a lot more than just a fancy camera to take a good photograph. I don't consider myself much more than an amateur photographer, in both earthly and heavenly matters!

Yesterday we (members of college astro club) had great fun viewing and photographing the eclipse. (previous post on this blog) I (I'm sure greysith and others who took photos too) sat up till late last night editing (minor touching up to compensate for over exposure etc) and more importantly discarding some 470 photos in all of the event, and finally keeping 48 of them in my personal archive!

Today morning, I decided I must submit a couple of those supposedly good photographs; by my personal standards of course! to "Sky And Telescope", or SnT as it is popularly known. Ten minutes later, and with a lot of enthusiasm and hope, I had finally picked my entries from my collection; two photos which I thought were up to the mark. I logged on to the site, and went to the submission area - oh my god! to my pleasant surprise, greysith's photo was already there!! The fact that he hadn't called me to tell of this could mean only one thing - he didn't know himself that his photo was chosen!! Was this possible?! I decided I shall submit my photos and call him to congratulate. I submitted my photos, and as he was online, started chatting. I congratulated him, and as expected he asked me dumbfounded "how do you know it's picked??" Dolt fellow didn't even know his pic was selected in SnT!! he asked me to link him, so I promptly clicked on the link to the gallery page in my browser - oh my god again! One of my submitted photos was also there!! This was just crazy - my photo was in SnT's gallery!! Just five minutes after I had submitted it!! I quickly copied the link and pasted it for him to see, and frantically typed in, no literally punched in my keyboard "my pic is also picked!!" By now he had seen it, and at that very moment, I could just "feel" it, we were simultaneously overjoyed!! Both of us were thrilled for our photo was in this gallery, and both of us were equally jumping in the air because of each other's photo being picked too!! It was somehow like a combined effort, though not technically, but more so.. emotionally.. yes; I'm sure he was surged with emotions too..

here's the link to my proud little recognition:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/gallery/skyevents/26053689.html

This has really made me and greysith both resolve with even more determination to go all the way to Surat for viewing the 22nd July '09 eclipse, which would be seen as a total one from there.
Earlier opportunities of eclipse viewing (and of course photographing) include the 26th January '09 solar eclipse; and the lunar eclipse on 16th of this month, both of which would be seen as partial ones from Pune.

Hoping to get some good pictures of these events too..

Total(ly) cool partial solar eclipse!!

Once again we get to ask ourselves a question, asked by many others, many a times - is there a superior entity beyond our current understanding, which seems to interfere in things happening around us? only this time, it is in a magnificent way - an eclipse. Think of it - each one of us learns in high school that solar eclipses are caused due to the moon coming in between the earth and the sun etc etc.. what we don't learn is that how well "manipulated" or similar as it may sound, this phenomenon really is.. Now by some sheer dum luck, the apparent size of the sun in the sky is very close to the apparent size of the moon (hardly 5% here and there, and there's some added bonus due to this as well!) and so when the moon comes in between the earth and sun, it appears to cover the entire disk, or a part of it, depending upon the place on earth from where it is seen. But this is all when the moon comes in between.. in reality, the moon can come in any plane in between the earth and sun, and so the three may not be always colinear; in fact, as it turns out, most of the time they are not! In one of the few occassions when they are in a line, we have a solar eclipse!! Remember the "added bonus" because of the non-exact apparent sizes? Well first of all the non-exact apparent sizes are due to the non-uniform earth-sun distance, and the non-uniform earth-moon distance.. What it translates into, is a rare phenomenon call an annular solar eclipse, where only the inner disk of the sun appears eclipsed, with a ring of light surrounding it!! This is simply because now the moon's apparent size is slightly smaller than that of the sun.

After all this discussion, just ponder on this - why in the blue should a planet have a moon, whose diameter is 400 times smaller than its parent star, and it's distance 400 times smaller than that of the star??!! (this is the reason for the apparent size of sun and moon to be equal in sky - about 0.5 degrees) And why in the blue should that lucky planet have life, an even rarerer possibility, which astronomers are trying to disprove day after day, with no luck as yet!

Having said this, let's come back to the question we started with.. is it realy impossible for any such external entity to exist? or can such an entity exist in the extreme possibility of our understanding of this world, and the one beyond it?

As for our "scientific" minds, lets just assume someone has set up a very long, precisely predictable, yet amazing slideshow of solar and lunar eclipses - on the curtain of the sky, with the biggest projector known - our sun! And also for these very minds, lets assume this "someone" is our friendly "luck" or rather "probability"!

Lucky for us at the astro club, we could enjoy the solar eclipse today, in spite of a very cloudy sky, which ironically, I'm sure most present would agree, added to the beauty of the event. The eclipse was seen in a partial phase from Pune, with 38.5% of the sun's disk being covered by the moon during the maximum phase of the eclipse. Humble attempts of recording this event with light, ie photographing it, can be seen here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/adb291088/SOLARECLIPSE1STAUG08

(comments and suggestions on pics are welcome)

"In order to improve the quality of instruction at the college and university level, all faculty should be required to spend time working outside..."

Complete tittle:
"In order to improve the quality of instruction at the college and university level, all faculty should be required to spend time working outside the academic world in professions relevant to the courses they teach."

Quality of instruction or teaching at any college or university is governed mainly by the qualification and teaching skills of the faculty. The later is more important, since teaching skills can be honed only by people who are dedicated towards teaching, and don't look at it merely as another money making profession. On the other hand, qualification of the faculty is a result of his or her personal passion to acquire more knowledge on the subject. Hence, as evident from personal experience, a highly qualified faculty may not always be the best teaching staff.

Having said this, there is another aspect to teaching - the practical approach. Students, at some point of time, are bound to feel the burden of heavily loaded syllabi. This prods them further to think whether the knowledge they are trying to grasp is of any use in real life. This is where the talent of teachers comes into picture. A faculty member with good industrial or professional experience, can teach his subject better, with a view towards its application. This way, students will not blindly mug up theoretical knowledge, but will appreciate its value. This will drastically help change the attitude of students towards study, and improve the overall level of the course.

Further, today it is not just enough to have bookish knowledge of a subject, which is far away from actual practices adopted in the professional world. As an example, consider this - during my sophomore year, we had to take a course in "concrete technology". Now in theory we were taught to calculate proportions of different ingredients of concrete on a weight basis. However, in India, even today, for minor works concrete is prepared on a volume basis. Our professor, having a good experience in professional field as well, could teach us this method, beyond our regular coursework. In short, it is always beneficial for the students to have little exposure of the kind of work they are likely to encounter in their future years. This is why many colleges and universities have student-industry interaction of some sort, like an internship.

Along with student internship, in my opinion, all the faculty should also be placed in the relevant field, outside the academic world. This will enable them to bring to the students the practical intricacies that the students fail to comprehend due to their limited prior knowledge of the subject. Moreover, the faculty going outside for such work, will also be well equipped to instill in students, the interpersonal skills, and management qualities that are required along with technical knowledge, to get any job done effectively.

Hence, I feel it is absolutely justifiable that all faculty be required to spend time working outside the academic world in professions relevant to the courses they teach, in order to improve the quality of instruction at the college and university level.

"To be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards."

In modern society, in majority of the cases, the government is of an elected nature. The people of the state elect representatives, who in turn elect the leaders of the nation. The progress or development of a nation depends heavily on the capabilities and qualities of its leaders, working at all the levels in the system. Public officials are the ones who are in direct contact with the common masses. Hence, it is in the best interest that these officials carry out their duties at the best of their capacity, and maintain high ethical and moral standards.

Having said this, at times reality is quite different. Right from the time of nomination of candidates and voting by people, to the election of chosen officials, there are elements in society which indulge in malpractices. Even for appointment to government posts, it is not totally uncommon for people to seek illegal influences or dealings. If such people manage to get appointed to public posts, their ethical and moral standards would be really doubtful.

Just as there is corruption at the grass root level, corruption is present at all rungs of the government ladder. This is not out of public eye, since it is the public, which is responsible to a great extent, for corruption to take roots and grow in a system. By indulging in corruption, a public official compromises the standard of work, or at times gives undue advantage to the person offering bribe. This totally defeats the purpose of an unbiased constitution and its functioning. In short, the official is no longer effective in upholding the law of the state.

Ethical and moral standards, however, go beyond just refraining from corruption. To be an effective leader, a public official must voluntarily strive to perform better, and motivate others under him to do so. He must take full responsibility of the work alloted to him by his superiors. Moreover, based on his personal discretion, he should discharge duties to his subordinates, and at times the general public, which forgets that along with rights, come duties.

After all, an effective leader is one, who has complete overview of a situation, and guides the people based on this. Hence, unless his or her conscience is clear of any guilt, the sheer existence of an organised administrative system is jeopardized.

It's my life!!!

Just listening to that great song by Bon Jovi gets you high - one of the best songs of our generation, this one is sung with unparalleled passion!!

What is it about beats, music, lyrics and everything involved with songs that distinguishes it from "beautiful" and "energizing"... or "peaceful" and "violent"?? The answer to this is not exactly what you would call "simple". Yet we so easily define our tastes and like or dislike a song merely by listening to it once or so. At times after just listening to the initial music and beats you can tell whether your going to enjoy a song or not.

Anyhow, whatever be the case, thank god humans have such a great capacity to create and enjoy such a beautiful thing as "music". What "genre" or type is totally irrelevant here, and of course - IT's MY LIFE!!!

(PS: if you think this post is totally senseless, never mind - like I said in the start, just listening to that song is like getting high!)

"Such non-mainstream areas of inquiry as astrology, fortune-telling, and psychic and paranormal pursuits play a vital role in society..."

Complete tittle:
"Such non-mainstream areas of inquiry as astrology, fortune-telling, and psychic and paranormal pursuits play a vital role in society by satisfying human needs that are not addressed by mainstream science."

Man is a weak animal at heart. He seeks comfort in large and complex social structures, the rules of conduct of which, vary widely as per different traditions. He needs the support of his peers, partner, and other fellow people. This being said, man also seeks, or rather prefers to have some "outer" entity, to which he can connect in desperate situations, and seek advice when there are no visible paths in front of him. This entity, we call God. Very closely linked to this entity is the concept of "destiny" or the belief that everything happening around us has a purpose, and is predefined. The means of knowing this very purpose, or path laid down, are astrology, fortune-telling, psychic and other paranormal pursuits.

As science progressed, man became more aware of his surroundings, and the explanations as to why many phenomena occur the way they do. Having said this, there are still many questions unanswered today, and man's curiosity constantly strives to "fit in" pieces of the puzzle. But nevertheless, we are forced to ask ourselves today, has man really progressed inspite of his understanding of nature?

Thousands of years earlier, he looked up towards the heavens, and prayed for fertility of his land, rains and other feared elements of nature. Today it has become second nature to predict and plan cultivation and harvesting. However, the most disturbing fact remains, that only the focus of seeking help or assurance has changed. In this modern and fast world, people are constantly in an effort to outperform each other, and also themselves. "Stress" and "strain" have become the key words in day to day life. In such an environment, there are times when man breaks down and mainstream science cannot answer his helplessness. We don not have medicines, and perhaps will never have such, which will ensure a peace of mind. For this very purpose, people are forced to resort to unproven techniques of astrology, fortune-telling and the like.

These techniques depend heavily on statistical probabilities, but have not been tested and proven extensively, to establish a clear understanding of the truth behind it, even if such a truth exists. For all we know, these areas of inquiry may simply serve the purpose of pacifying people in dire need of it. For example, it has now been established through extensive research that if a critical moment in the decision making process of a person willing to commit suicide is somehow passed or the person is guided through the situation, there are strong chances that he will not commit suicide at all. Similar may be the case with these non-mainstream areas.

Such techniques of astrology and fortune-telling have roots in all civilisations, and have been passed on through one way or the other. No doubt they play a vital role in moder society, one should not have blind faith in them. We must remember that "psyche" or "mind" is a very complicated subject, and hence we should not follow practices involving the same, till their credibility is proven beyond the shadow of doubt. On the other hand, having belief in some form of superior entity, inculcates a sense of humbleness within us, and gives us "someone" to look up to in times of mental chaos.

Hence, this rather soothing approach is a better one to adopt, in my opinion, than trying to devise means of foretelling and changing our future. Ironically, the very believers of "fate" and "destiny" struggle to know the future, and change it, when these two are defined by very such people, to be things predefined and out of our hands! I strongly feel that eventhough in today's world such paranormal areas of inquiry play a vital role in society, it is unreasonable, and these should be best left to pages of thriller novels!

"The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries."

The greatness of a person is a rather general opinion, more or less. Except in a few cases, society by and large proclaims an individual as great, or notorious. Greatness of an individual is the society's perception, based on that individual's qualities or achievements. There is a wide spectrum of opportunities, in which an individual can prove himself to be distinguished. These include scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs, sportspersons, and performers of various arts; to name a few.

As an observation, the graph of such distinguished persons generally rises at the onset of their career, reaches a peak after a great struggle to prove themselves, and culminates with an acknowledgment of their achievement. The contemporary society has seen the entire struggle, and is in itself a catalyst for the performance of these individuals. Moreover, when it comes to arts or the manufacturing industry, the contemporary society is the one which is most benefited or has the greatest impact. As a result, these masses can truly confer the greatness upon the individuals responsible for the impact. For example, the society which witnessed the liberation of slaves brought about by Abraham Lincoln, were most likely to understand its value, and hence were the best judge of his greatness. No doubt even today we salute this man as the founder of the basic right to freedom of an individual, we have more or less taken this right for granted. Another apt example is of literary figures like Rossoue and Voltaire, whose satirical writings were an inspiration during the French Revolution.

On the other hand, in areas where the impact of the work of individuals comes at a much later stage, their greatness is appreciated more by those who live after them, rather than their contemporaries. To better understand this, take the scenario of research and its application. Generally, scientists in various fields discover and lay down the fundamentals of science, but it is only much later that technology is actually developed upon these researches, to fully understand and utilise their potential. Today we consider Newton and Einstein as the pioneers in the laws of physics, because based on these laws, we have developed technology that enables us to revolutionise the way we live on earth, and also enable us to embark on missions that unravel the secrets of the universe.

Then again, there are individuals who carve a place for themselves, during their era, and for a long time after them. The work of art performers, for example, is witnessed by their contemporaries no doubt, but also enjoyed by many, decades after their time. The taste of people keep changing, but distinguished art is always passed down through generations, and such individuals become immortal in the memories of the masses. There are many such Indian singers, who were at the pinnacle of fine arts during their time, but are equally, if not more, cherished by a large audience today.

Hence, in my opinion, the work of an individual is the best criteria of his or her greatness, rather than who decides it. Also, an individual must be duly credited for his or her work, and more so when he or she is alive to receive that recognition. The greatness of individuals can thus be decided by people who live after them, as well as their contemporaries.

"Money spent on research is almost always a good investment, even when the results of that research are controversial."

Technology is application of science, which in turn is the fundamental knowledge of how natural phenomena occur, and why they occur. Research is establishing this very knowledge, and bringing out pure facts, beyond the shadow of doubt. It involves rigorous experimentation, modelling or simulation depending on the field involved. At times, research also includes gathering data and analysing it for specific trends, for example surveys done by various companies before designing a new product.

Research depends on two key factors, one being highly qualified personnel and the other being the required equipments or testing facilities. Both these factors being expensive, the overall cost of research is very high. Also, there is no guarantee as regard to the outcome, since it is an uncharted territory. Money, effort and time has to be continuously pumped in, to keep the wheels rolling. Many a times, research in one field leads to simultaneous breakthroughs in the related sectors, because of their inherent correlation. Also, while progressing towards the principle target, often smaller yet useful inventions are created in the wake. An excellent example of this is the microwave oven, which was an outcome of early space research!

As with any new proposal, research also has its own share of controversies. The biggest of this is probably the one surrounding stem cell research. If successful, it could one day allow us to simply "grow" a required organ, thus eliminating the entire process of organ donation and the lengthy waiting period involved. On the other hand, what it also translates into is the possibility of human cloning, which is considered unethical by many. Another burning example of the recent past is the research surrounding the origin of man - which is now widely accepted to be as per the Darwinian Theory of evolution.

Despite this, money spent on research is not a waste - it almost always bears fruit, if not directly, indirectly. Even if the results are controversial, there are still more than one interpretations, and therefore paths to choose for further study. The thinking process of the people involved, and likely to be involved is stimulated, and more people may actually be inspired to pursue research, to find the truth behind the controversy! In addition, when there are big controversies involved, organisations or even nations are ready to pump in more man power and money into that research, just to prove their point. Although the motive of research should not be sheer ego or pride, but these more often than not end up being the driving factors in controversial cases.

Looking at it from a different perspective, a controversial research has actually opened up new facts and direction of thinking, from the mere fact that the subject involved became a controversy based on the research in question! Hence in my opinion, money spent on research is almost always a good investment, even when the results of that research are controversial.

"Sea" my humour!!!

Firstly, for all those new to reading my blog, just to give you an idea of the utter foolishness i can commit at times by just opening my mouth, i would direct you to my dear friend's description of a superbly humorous yet spontaneous and totally unintentional "self cracked joke" if it even qualified for the same, which you can happily enjoy here.
oh and for the record, I'm the mighty "Abba" if it hasn't dawned upon you yet!!

Ok now I'm dead sure all of you have been to that page and back, and yes, "seamen" hahahah!!! lol... let me share the aftermath of that incident which surprisingly my buddy hasn't covered there!! So, this great incident takes place, and what do you know - couple of days later, a friend of mine, totally irrelevant to the club (astro club, remember, from buddy's blog?), my college, or anyone in it (I had thought so till then), calls me up and he doesn't say "hi" or anything, but is laughing on the other side and greets me with a cool "tu kay mhane trip la mhanalas - "my seamen have deserted me"???!!! ho ka?!!" - now just for a formal translation, it means "it seems you said on a trip "...." ??!! really?!!" Oh my god, my disgrace (FICTIONAL totally, I am "in all respects" fit and fine!!) was out in public!! who could have... or rather, HOW could have!!! lol.. I didn't bother to explain him the intricate happenings of the incident till date - on the phone I just laughed (as if to show a good sense of humour.. hehe) and asked him how in devil's name did he know!! and just trailed the convo of with a "ok look I got to go now bye.." Oh my god - that was like humiliation to the bone!!!! lol...

But yes I must admit, the one person who enjoyed all this - the doomsday like event and the aftermath, was..... don worry Anu it's not you for persuading buddy to post about it on his blog!! but it's ME!!! I was in total laughter and my day just went cool - all I had to do when I got anything upsetting me was take a flashback of the incident!! till date I can have a hearty laugh - my utter dumbness, buddy and enthu getting all hyper, and my savior-VRD, with his ingenious "pleeease vs pls" analogy to finally crack open the nut around my brain!!

So much for my "fellow sailors" - won't EVER try to put those two words into one!! lol...

Off to a new beginning...

With exams finally over, it's now possible to concentrate time and energy towards one thing that I've been looking forward to so much - research project - my very first attempt at a major one... My thoughts at this time - I should get a supportive mentor... I should try and channelize my project to an area of my interest... things should fall nicely in place and this summer should really be spent in a fruitful manner...

This is the opprtunity that'll allow me to think "out of the box" and play with my imagination - try out new things - without the fear of failing...

Fear of failing - it's indeed a big factor that holds us behind.. while we study, while we socialize, it's one factor that everyone wishes to overcome... We are more often than not engaged in projecting ourselves the way we would like to see an "ideal" person.. In the process, at times, we may tend to loose our own individualism... Each person is different.. there is nothing "absolutely ideal" in this world.. it should not even be sought after.. Else we may just be a collection of "by the book" behaving animal rather than beautiful humans with beautifully different characteristics...

My First Blog...

This is my genuine attempt at maintaining a blog... just a place to put down all my day's thoughts... To start with, today was no specific occasion to start blogging, apart from the fact that I read one of my friend's blog (ok Gautami you get a special mention here on my first blog - lol..) n said hey, even I should keep writing, n who knows - someday I'll feel nice just going through pages of my experiences.. I also thought of searching around the net for some nice "only I can read what I've written" type place, a sort of online personal diary, but the thought soon vanished..

Off until next time...