Saturday, January 31, 2009

Two Thirds

(x, y, z, t )

No………. this is not a blog on Mathematics. It is about an entity, which is oblivious, but everlasting: TIME.

Being the fourth dimension of the real world, time has intrigued philosophers, scientists, laymen and many more in many ways. There is a common notion that human beings spend whopping 'one-thirds' of their life sleeping. But, what really matters is the other 'two -thirds' !

 This 'two-thirds', in the present context is the stipulated time in which a person makes or breaks himself. The competence, efficiency and efficacy of a person depend on the way he manages this two thirds. On the other hand, limited by the same time constraint, one has to miss out and compromise on many things in life.

Now, let me ask a question -

Is there a way by which one can utilize this two thirds, not only by achieving goals one intends to, but also by deriving maximum out the life with out a single compromise?

It is a difficult tradeoff, isn't it? But, why is this a difficult tradeoff?

I have a vague explanation for this: It is because one does not know what one should expect out of the life, and one has never lived the complete two thirds before!! It may sound absurd, but it is intriguing too.

Again, two questions arise.

First: is it possible to experience something without really experiencing it? 

You may say, "LEARN FROM OTHERS"; this suggestion is applicable only for specific instances of the two thirds because you should remember that parameters of your life are characteristic of an individual, and this is proportional to infinity. So, one cannot experience the complete two thirds by comparing with others. It is as individual as a DNA, and individual’s psychology is no exception.

Second: what should one expect out of the two thirds one lives?

This depends on ones priorities in life. To know ones priorities, an individual should know himself completely, and this according to me is one of the most difficult tasks in life. Further, things get complicated because within a span of two thirds an individual changes, and that change is difficult to grasp by oneself. This reminds me of a quote by Nelson Mandela - "There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered." It would indeed take a large chunk of the two thirds to really know this change in oneself, and that chunk of time is priceless and worth grasping and living. Only after this, we can hope to strike the right balance and achieve a tradeoff between the concept of compromise and accomplishment.

Well….it is nice to go on and on with these philosophical issues but the question is:

does it really matter to mind over this or should one really mind over this matter?

 

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Snow of my mind

One Sunday morning life is all snow

white of  my eye reflects the melting glow

euphoric wind of thought on a wayward flow:

man  agnizes a child which is yet to grow.

 

Window of mind has opened the door

looking at snow that was never before

haze fills the moment by depleting candor

leading to the path with a strange furore

 

Bright I see, snow all around

with truth of nature as its background

Utopic sun rises spellbound

to melt  the snow, leaving mind astound

 

It’s now called water, in its droplet phase

flows through the mind with a different pace

Snow was history, now water is its face

same is the content, with a transparent grace

 

Window of mind now closes the door

telling the lie: snow came never before.

Droplets of water roll in my eyes

Snow is a mystery, I realize.

Monday, January 19, 2009

'MEDIA'CRE

also posted on ABHILEKH (APR'07)

A high signal to noise ratio (S/N) is one of the signatures of an efficient instrument. If by any means, we consider the present day "mass media" to be an instrument of human society, then it suffers from an infinitesimally small S/N. Further, if you examine the fidelity of this instrument, you will find that the rubber never meets the road. (For an instantaneous realization of this, refer to some 'spicy' newspapers ; a high dosage of nirvana is guaranteed). I agree that life should be made colourful, but the media is playing to the gallery by sailing under the false colours, which was never called for.

One of the fundamental priorities of the media is to educate the mass, but the present scenario indicates that the media is putting the carts before the horse. For instance, I listened to a recent advertisement on 'Radio City', in which a so- called 'numerologist' was correlating the atomic number of platinum to the position of Jupiter in the solar system, and then he talked about the influence of planetary motion on human life. You need not be an Einstein to realize that he was taking the listeners for a ride. If this is the way the media 'educates' us, then it is high time that we gather steam. Rather than selling its birthright for a mess of pottage, the media should help people separate the wheat from chaff.

Adding insult to the injury, things have gone pear-shaped in news channels and websites, especially the ones owned by politicians, who are armed to the teeth. Unwanted emphasis is thrust upon covering news of celebrities and dime a dozen things (like people tying knots), which surely is a damp squib and makes you feel that the media is dead from the neck up. Many of the media tycoons and filmmakers, at least in India are barrack-room lawyers who run the show just because they have heaps of fortunes, and want to be in thick of things. It is better that these 'Sultans' beat their swords in ploughshares, rather than poke them into people's mind.

Unfortunately, there are very few journalists in the media who have the knowledge and courage to argue the toss of these tycoons and survive successfully. This poses a serious threat to the freedom of expression, and begs for discerning eyes and able hands to lead the media on the road to Damascus. After all, media should never end up as neither use nor ornament.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Mist of hatred

We are beads on a fragile human string,

fighting war in autumn, winter and spring.

I see the cry in Mumbai, Gaza and Iraq,

as hope shatters the vehicle of peace we embark.

 

Leaders we need, who stimulate the calm,

not the ones who emulate a storm.

Enough is enough – this blistering grief,

sing the end, and give us relief.

 

War ! what a mighty disgrace,

makes people’s heart displace.

Religion, language and race

are the barriers to shatter and erase.

 

Mist of hatred covers the innocent mind,

teach them the recipe to think and bind.

Better be late than never,

or the world continues to suffer.

 

Monday, January 12, 2009

CONTRAST

Perhaps, thinking about what one has to do in future is one of the foremost occupations of a working mind. Although living at the present moment may be a convenient albeit realist philosophy, especially in this fast moving world, it is difficult to avoid a thought about future. You many wonder why I write this…..well, I just read about Hayden’s retirement from International cricket, and for one moment I thought how times change for a man who himself had changed his times in cricket. The epitome of dominance is a weaker metaphor to describe Hayden. Looking back at the recent 2007 cricket world cup, nobody could have ever thought that Hayden will end his innings in jeopardy. When a man is exposed to the pressure of society via mass media, no matter how strong he is, he tends to give up the resistance. I was wondering what would have happened if he had scored a century in the last innings against SA. Perhaps, things would have been different. Now, however, the 37 year old ‘literal giant’ of batting has called it a day. Another Aussie cricketing career ends.

Sport is attractive and at its best when played in its prime quality, and the prime time of sportsmen depends on their age, which is a limiting factor.  In stark contrast to a career in sports, the scenario is just opposite in science. Outstanding scientists, in general, hit their primes in late 30s or early 40s, when they would have digested enough knowledge to blend it with enthusiasm and drive to come up with something offbeat, and perhaps end-up with an idea of their life time. The best thing is that they can take this “offbeatness” to next level, every decade from then on, and very few things can stop them to do so. S. Chandrashekar, the legendary astrophysicist was a wonderful example of this. He just improved on and on, year after year, and perhaps reached a stage where he was recognized as a JNANI in astrophysics. His working style was truly noteworthy. All along the path towards ultimate knowledge, competitiveness may also play a very important role. The inherent competition also brings out great discoveries, as in the case of Bose-Einstein condensate experiment. However, Harold Kroto, who was one of the discoverers of Fulleren – a bucky balled shaped molecule - has a very interesting philosophy regarding inherently competitive human efforts, like sports, and makes intriguing comment in his Nobel autobiography. He thinks one should avoid competition ! This was one of the strange things I have ever read, and needs a deeper thought, where a strange truth may be waiting to be unveiled…..

  

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Abberation of delight

Two mirrors I see,
facing each other in glee.
Both parallel and free,
yet smile and disagree.

Both reflect the light,
with an aberration of delight.
Mystery evokes the sight,
as wrong reflect the right.

Escape from a 'Black hole'

also posted on ABHILEKH

In 1903, Pune was in danger of getting submerged in water. Kadakvasla was the closest water reservoir, but had a major problem: It was too small, and lacked the capability of storing water for a long time. To wipe the vale of flooding f(t)ears in Pune entered Sir M. Visweshwarayya, who designed and constructed a system of 8 feet high, automatic gates that opened when the water levels were too high, and closed when the floods receded. This technology was indigenous, and became one of the milestones in the history of Indian engineering. From this example, it is plain as pikestaff that an engineer can really make difference to our living. If industries are the backbones of a country, then engineers are the collagen of these backbones.

Unfortunately, in the present scenario, when a euphoric India seems to be growing (if not, shining) economically, there is still a dearth of high quality engineering. We still lack manufacturing capabilities (even the small lasers I use are from China!), high quality control and management, and most importantly - people interested in design and engineering, in its truest sense. Added to this, not many are interested in research on engineering either (atleast, I am fortunate enough to have engineer friends who do not belong to this category). What is the reason behind this?

Out of the many, one obvious reason would be 'black holes' like software companies, BPOs, and call centers; which have their 'Schwarzschild radii' spread over a million minds. These cannibals, gobble up most of the engineering brains at their prime, and polarize them to perform specific tasks, which will push their companies closer to the holy grail of 'Fortune 500'. I agree that humanity has been benefited by the emergence of these companies, but it doesn’t mean that all the engineering work force should be confined to it. There are umpteen challenges in various aspects of engineering, like constructing canals, building machines, understanding weather, and many more which cannot be solved by software companies, and demands for specialized skill and trained personnel.

It will be illogical if 'the pot calls the kettle black', as part of the blame has to be taken by the society; for we are the people who get attracted towards these black holes. The parental and the peer pressure on a student to earn a bigger living (in terms of economy) is more than to lead a life that is intellectually appealing to him. This has led to false goals and unnecessary competition, which changes the attitude and aptitude of an intellect from the sublime to the ridiculous. We need to realize that the money making primrose paths would lead to catastrophic results.

India is now termed as 'transforming' nation, and is no more categorized as 'developing' nation (in fact, USA has reduced grants towards India due to this!). For this transformation to be effective, engineers have to play a fundamental role. 

I hope, the next Thomas Alva Edison will emerge from India.

Graphene : Queen of Materials ?

also posted on CHEMCOS blog


One of the best things about science is that it remains faithful either you do it at CERN or at your kitchen. Will Wright, who is one of the hi-tech gurus of Electronic art, has an interesting philosophy regarding his work and to quote him: And so from that, I've always been fascinated with the idea that complexity can come out of such simplicity. Indeed a truth; simple things, especially in science, can exhibit and reveal complexity. This philosophy has again come ture, contemporarily in a new (or should I say old) form of carbon called Graphene.

         If you ever wondered how a simple, single layer of carbon atoms can give rise to complex scientific phenomena, then meet the current Princess of Materials: GRAPHENE. Ever since 2004, when Novoselov, Geim and their co workers at University of Machester came up with experimental evidence for two dimensional atomic crystals of carbon [1], there has been a revolution in material science, and what a turn around it has been ! Graphene is a one-atom thick sheet of carbon which stacks up to form graphite (tip of your pencil). This single layer of carbon, if isolated without flaw, then can conduct electricity better than any known material at room temperature. It has also been shown that in certain conditions, it is the strongest material on earth. Apart from being highly conductive and strong, graphene has made name as a simple and ideal test bed to venture various complicated phenomenon like table top QED, room temperature quantum Hall effect, TEM grids for light atoms etc [2,3]. You may wonder what’s so special about graphene ? Currently, the research communities all around the world are unveiling the secrets of this wonder. If you google for papers on graphene, you will observe that all the elite journals online have at least one paper per issue which has something to do with graphene. At present in terms of its property, we can confidently say that graphene has atypical electronic structure compared to other materials, i.e., the electrons in graphene are massless Dirac fermion ( a hi-tech jargon which needs deeper understanding of Quantum mechanics, please see references), which makes it unconventional, and hence exhibits amazing phenomenon. The question now is whether this Princess can replace the aging Queen: Silicon.

The coming time would reveal….

 

Reference:

Graphene web links:

1. First paper on graphene isolation

2. Publications from Geim’s group

3. Major breakthroughs in Graphene