=======================================
Not infrequently I do ask myself why I indulge in this crazy daily blogging.
The answers are many:
Within months of my retirement in August 2005, my phy.iitkgp.ernet.in account was blocked and deleted.
With this I lost my umbilical cord with my students and well-wishers and became a non-person, sort of.
I enjoyed my freedom from e-mailing for sometime. But some of my junior faculty at IIT KGP, for reasons best known to them, expressed their wish to make myself available to them in the cyberspace with an internet-account. So, I asked my son to create one for me. He chose Yahoo (gmail being nascent then). He asked me what I would like to have as my login. Obviously it would be 'gps1943', because my students call me names by this gps moniker; and 1943 reassures them that this is the same old buffoon they knew at IIT KGP.
As Sam Weller would say: "It is just one step from drinking to debauchery; and e-mail to blogspot". My son asked me what should be my blogspot title: Obviously 'gpsastry', no pseudonym. And my 'Profile' should just have my Yahoo e-mail id.
Rest as they say is history.
I went crazier than usual.
An unemployed pensioner should invent some diverting employment for himself if he wishes to remain physically and mentally healthy and not bore people around him to distraction.
First I tried reading. But it can't be a full-time activity, since books are expensive to buy and are a punishment on the dwidnling eyesight.
Writing creative pieces on a daily basis is a dashed tough activity and is like the proverbial mental-iceberg: choosing a topic takes about 8 hours of 'pondering'; composing mentally the 'material' takes about a couple of hours. So, 10 hours daily are spent with no strain on the eye (other than the 'inner' one). Actual blogging at the keyboard takes a couple of hours. This too can be done almost 'blindly'.
And when the piece is posted, there is this Jim Corbett feeling: "Something Attempted, Something Done". A great sense of pseudo-satisfaction.
And almost at once the question arises; what next for tomorrow?
And the twelve or so hours of mental activity is no hindrance to daily household chores like dropping the daughter-in-law at her place of work driving the decade-old Maruti 800 (which requires no brain in Hyderabadi honking traffic that moves at snail's pace if ever it does), buying vegetables, playing with the granddaughter, teasing the wife, and filling the drums with erratic water from the dry taps etc.
So, it is a full-time activity, much more demanding of 'inventive powers' than just teaching Physics at IIT KGP.
The bonus is that one does get in touch with old students at the steady rate of one a month, for mutual benefit.
Apart from that, it is like the Selfless Action of Gita: "Blog and Forget".
And I had this longstanding illusion that I am a 'humorist'.
Now, ask any 'humor-writer': it is ten times more demanding than just writing clean good serious prose; it is a pain in the neck.
But humor being essentially a self-deprecating activity, one can score some brownie points on others: Calling your self a donkey enables you to call others by implication asses; unbeknown to them.
That is highly rewarding.
So, these are briefly the virtues of daily blogging.
Just try for 3 months and tell me how tough it is and so how pleasantly triumphal.
=========================================
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Thermodynamics & Marital Bliss
=======================================
Footnote on Page 77 of Bill Bryson's 'A Short History of Nearly Everything':
"The Chemist P. W. Atkins says: There are four laws of Thermodynamics. The third of them, the Second Law, was recognized first; the first, the Zeroth law, was formulated last; the First Law was second; the Third Law might not even be a Law in the sense of the others".
In the briefest terms, the Second Law states that a little energy is always wasted. You can't have a perpetual motion device because no matter how efficient, it will always lose energy and eventually run down. The First Law says that you can't create energy and the Third Law that you can't reduce temperature to absolute zero; there will always be some residual warmth.
As Dennis Overby notes, the three principal laws are sometimes expressed jocularly as:
(1) You can't win
(2) You can't break even
(3) You can't quit
*******************************************
A mild rewording would render these as the
"gps's Laws of Marital Bliss"
*******************************************
I read from this very readable book that most of the 18th and 19th Century British Scientists and Explorers were wealthy individuals of independent means free to pursue science as a hobby for pleasure.
And their 'wealth' came from the British Empire.
Before that there was hardly any British Science to speak of; or the means to keep the Empire down by the Guns propelled by these laws of science they discovered:
As it was put by Hilaire Belloc, in the words of the figure "Blood" in his poem "The Modern Traveler":
Whatever happens, we have got
The Maxim gun, and they have not.
========================================
Footnote on Page 77 of Bill Bryson's 'A Short History of Nearly Everything':
"The Chemist P. W. Atkins says: There are four laws of Thermodynamics. The third of them, the Second Law, was recognized first; the first, the Zeroth law, was formulated last; the First Law was second; the Third Law might not even be a Law in the sense of the others".
In the briefest terms, the Second Law states that a little energy is always wasted. You can't have a perpetual motion device because no matter how efficient, it will always lose energy and eventually run down. The First Law says that you can't create energy and the Third Law that you can't reduce temperature to absolute zero; there will always be some residual warmth.
As Dennis Overby notes, the three principal laws are sometimes expressed jocularly as:
(1) You can't win
(2) You can't break even
(3) You can't quit
*******************************************
A mild rewording would render these as the
"gps's Laws of Marital Bliss"
*******************************************
I read from this very readable book that most of the 18th and 19th Century British Scientists and Explorers were wealthy individuals of independent means free to pursue science as a hobby for pleasure.
And their 'wealth' came from the British Empire.
Before that there was hardly any British Science to speak of; or the means to keep the Empire down by the Guns propelled by these laws of science they discovered:
As it was put by Hilaire Belloc, in the words of the figure "Blood" in his poem "The Modern Traveler":
Whatever happens, we have got
The Maxim gun, and they have not.
========================================
Saturday, June 12, 2010
My India 17- 1950-55
================================================
In our childhood-home there was only one 'working' mirror at any point of time. That was a framed 'Table-Stood-up Affair', with a slanting and foldable back-stand. Its average life was about a couple of months, since it had to daily withstand seven female pairs of hands for their make-up and of my father for trimming his fancy mustache. Some kid or the other would drop it on the floor and the debris would be my property (since I had no use for 'working' mirrors).
As a matter of rule, it cracked into at least a dozen pieces of various sizes, ranging from a squarish 4" X 4" to a hexagonal miniature hardly 1" across. I preserved them in my toolkit and used to play with them all the time, in particular, wondering at the seven rainbow colors produced by their cracked edges, and fiddling with the shining red coating at the back (they called it mercury, but I doubt it).
My mother was and still is (at 88) a devotee of the Sun-God (my name is 'Prabhakar'). And she wouldn't partake any meal unless she had a look at the Sun going out the veranda, folding her hands up in salute and reciting 'Aditya Hridayam'. Since our Village in Southern AP was ever flooded with sunshine, there were hardly a couple of days per year when the entire day was Sunless. During the rainy season, it was the pleasant duty of her 7 kids to look out for the Sun and report His hide-and-seek with the clouds and drag her out into the open so she could pray and eat her lunch.
Once she fell down chasing away a monkey that invaded her kitchen and invited himself to a bunch of bananas. And fractured her leg. So, she was laid up (or down?) for six weeks unable to come out to view the Sun and pray. So, it fell to me to cast a reflected image of the Sun on the Wall of our Hall, using the mirror bits in my tool kit; something which even otherwise I enjoyed doing by way of play. This was about the first time when 'play' and 'duty' coincided happily (The 40 years at KGP was all 'play' with Physics doubling as 'Teaching & Research' Duties).
While playing with the mirrors and their reflected image of the Sun on the Wall, I discovered a strange thing which I couldn't follow why:
When I used the squarish 'big' piece of the mirror, the reflected image on the Wall was of the mirror (projected square). But when I used the 'tiny' bits, whatever their shape (hexagonal, triangular, trapezoidal etc), the reflected image on the Wall was always the perfectly circular (projected) image of the Sun.
I still remember my dismay.
Then there was this 'Touring Talkies' which pitched its Tarpaulin Tent for about 3 months or so every year in our Village before un-pegging it and relocating itself in a neighboring village. We kids used to go for the afternoon Matinee Show which had the subsidized rate of 2 Annas (1/8 th of a Rupee) for a 3-hour bonanza.
The 'Walls' of the tent were full of holes of all sizes and shapes. As the show starts, the 'doors' were all shut after everyone was in and seated on the floor (bringing their own mats), and the Cinema hall was darkened suitably so we can view the Movie projected by 'magic lanterns' and 'spinning reels'.
Since the Tent was by the roadside, as and when any cycle, bus, or cart used to pass by on the road outside in the Western sinking Sun, their reflected (sacttered)sunlight used to fall on the vertical Tarpaulin Walls of the Tent with its holes. And their moving inverted images used to be perfectly cast on the opposite side of the Tent Wall acting as a Screen. That was a bonus 'side-show'.
Wonderful that an oblong 'tear' in the Wall casts a perfect 'image' of a running bus on the road!
When my son was in his Class VII, their Science Book had this silly drawing of a 'Pin-Hole Camera' showing a really tiny hole and a screen casting an inverted image of a man with just 3 rays. So, I waned to investigate this topic further for the 'Science is Fun' Project for my son.
We entered our bedroom one night, shut all the doors and windows to make it a 'Dark Room' with a bulb on. We lit a candle giving its typical long tapering flame with its point upwards. We took a cardboard in which we can punch a hole with a screw driver, and placed it about 2 feet from the candle. This was our pin-hole. We then took a black Drawing Sheet as the Screen of our Camera. We at once found that if the hole is really tiny, the light allowed is so faint that one can't get any image at all. So, we punched bigger and bigger holes till enough light enters and the image on the black screen can be nicely seen when the electric bulb is switched off.
Here are our findings:
When the 'Screen' is next to the pin-hole in the sheet, the inverted image is that of the pin-hole (not of the candle flame).
As we moved the Screen gradually away from the pin-hole Sheet, the image gets distorted continuously and goes over to the perfect (aberrationless) beautiful inverted image of the candle 'flame' with its tip downwards and dancing as the flame does in the residual air currents.
I worked out the transition.
Result: Whether the Image is that of the Pin-Hole or the 'Object' depends on the ratio of the solid angle subtended by the Object at the Hole to the solid angle subtended by the Hole at the Screen.
Talking of solid angles, my son was given this challenging unsolved Project:
"Everyone knows that a 'Protractor' measures the 'angle' subtended by an arc.
Invent a Device that measures the Solid Angle subtended by a far-off Object at a point".
We sort of 'did' it.
Any takers?
*******************************************************************
We had Aniket & Pratik with their families for lunch today.
In all, many KGPians (me, my son, Aniket, Pratik) and their families.
As usual, I didn't let anyone else talk.
And Aniket wondered as usual, where I get the 'chatter-box' energy from at my age.
Answer: Pent-up (stored) Energy over 5 long years.
==================================================
In our childhood-home there was only one 'working' mirror at any point of time. That was a framed 'Table-Stood-up Affair', with a slanting and foldable back-stand. Its average life was about a couple of months, since it had to daily withstand seven female pairs of hands for their make-up and of my father for trimming his fancy mustache. Some kid or the other would drop it on the floor and the debris would be my property (since I had no use for 'working' mirrors).
As a matter of rule, it cracked into at least a dozen pieces of various sizes, ranging from a squarish 4" X 4" to a hexagonal miniature hardly 1" across. I preserved them in my toolkit and used to play with them all the time, in particular, wondering at the seven rainbow colors produced by their cracked edges, and fiddling with the shining red coating at the back (they called it mercury, but I doubt it).
My mother was and still is (at 88) a devotee of the Sun-God (my name is 'Prabhakar'). And she wouldn't partake any meal unless she had a look at the Sun going out the veranda, folding her hands up in salute and reciting 'Aditya Hridayam'. Since our Village in Southern AP was ever flooded with sunshine, there were hardly a couple of days per year when the entire day was Sunless. During the rainy season, it was the pleasant duty of her 7 kids to look out for the Sun and report His hide-and-seek with the clouds and drag her out into the open so she could pray and eat her lunch.
Once she fell down chasing away a monkey that invaded her kitchen and invited himself to a bunch of bananas. And fractured her leg. So, she was laid up (or down?) for six weeks unable to come out to view the Sun and pray. So, it fell to me to cast a reflected image of the Sun on the Wall of our Hall, using the mirror bits in my tool kit; something which even otherwise I enjoyed doing by way of play. This was about the first time when 'play' and 'duty' coincided happily (The 40 years at KGP was all 'play' with Physics doubling as 'Teaching & Research' Duties).
While playing with the mirrors and their reflected image of the Sun on the Wall, I discovered a strange thing which I couldn't follow why:
When I used the squarish 'big' piece of the mirror, the reflected image on the Wall was of the mirror (projected square). But when I used the 'tiny' bits, whatever their shape (hexagonal, triangular, trapezoidal etc), the reflected image on the Wall was always the perfectly circular (projected) image of the Sun.
I still remember my dismay.
Then there was this 'Touring Talkies' which pitched its Tarpaulin Tent for about 3 months or so every year in our Village before un-pegging it and relocating itself in a neighboring village. We kids used to go for the afternoon Matinee Show which had the subsidized rate of 2 Annas (1/8 th of a Rupee) for a 3-hour bonanza.
The 'Walls' of the tent were full of holes of all sizes and shapes. As the show starts, the 'doors' were all shut after everyone was in and seated on the floor (bringing their own mats), and the Cinema hall was darkened suitably so we can view the Movie projected by 'magic lanterns' and 'spinning reels'.
Since the Tent was by the roadside, as and when any cycle, bus, or cart used to pass by on the road outside in the Western sinking Sun, their reflected (sacttered)sunlight used to fall on the vertical Tarpaulin Walls of the Tent with its holes. And their moving inverted images used to be perfectly cast on the opposite side of the Tent Wall acting as a Screen. That was a bonus 'side-show'.
Wonderful that an oblong 'tear' in the Wall casts a perfect 'image' of a running bus on the road!
When my son was in his Class VII, their Science Book had this silly drawing of a 'Pin-Hole Camera' showing a really tiny hole and a screen casting an inverted image of a man with just 3 rays. So, I waned to investigate this topic further for the 'Science is Fun' Project for my son.
We entered our bedroom one night, shut all the doors and windows to make it a 'Dark Room' with a bulb on. We lit a candle giving its typical long tapering flame with its point upwards. We took a cardboard in which we can punch a hole with a screw driver, and placed it about 2 feet from the candle. This was our pin-hole. We then took a black Drawing Sheet as the Screen of our Camera. We at once found that if the hole is really tiny, the light allowed is so faint that one can't get any image at all. So, we punched bigger and bigger holes till enough light enters and the image on the black screen can be nicely seen when the electric bulb is switched off.
Here are our findings:
When the 'Screen' is next to the pin-hole in the sheet, the inverted image is that of the pin-hole (not of the candle flame).
As we moved the Screen gradually away from the pin-hole Sheet, the image gets distorted continuously and goes over to the perfect (aberrationless) beautiful inverted image of the candle 'flame' with its tip downwards and dancing as the flame does in the residual air currents.
I worked out the transition.
Result: Whether the Image is that of the Pin-Hole or the 'Object' depends on the ratio of the solid angle subtended by the Object at the Hole to the solid angle subtended by the Hole at the Screen.
Talking of solid angles, my son was given this challenging unsolved Project:
"Everyone knows that a 'Protractor' measures the 'angle' subtended by an arc.
Invent a Device that measures the Solid Angle subtended by a far-off Object at a point".
We sort of 'did' it.
Any takers?
*******************************************************************
We had Aniket & Pratik with their families for lunch today.
In all, many KGPians (me, my son, Aniket, Pratik) and their families.
As usual, I didn't let anyone else talk.
And Aniket wondered as usual, where I get the 'chatter-box' energy from at my age.
Answer: Pent-up (stored) Energy over 5 long years.
==================================================
Friday, June 11, 2010
My India 16- 1950-55
============================================
Reverting to the deadly grip of Rahu Kalam on AP folks, here are two aphorisms:
1. Converted Beggar (Blogger) Loses Time-Sense
2. Converted Theist Loses Sense
One of my learned relatives, R, was a Progressive Radical Atheist dedicated to rubbishing all miracle-claims of Godmen and such to lure ignorant folks to their Faith and Fold.
Those days I used to enjoy his company once in a while.
All of a sudden, some Miracle-Cure happened in his life, as it does in everyone's; Life on Earth itself being a Cosmic Miracle of sorts. Then and there he turned a somersault and became a Converted Theist falling head over heels into the gang of a famous Godman of the South. No problem. I just wished to avoid his company, knowing the unbridled enthusiasm of such Fresh Converts (3 decades on, he has sort of cooled down and is non-committal).
But while the going was great, he happened to be our Leader in a Wedding Party, in-charge of Transport. Myself and my wife were in a haste to start early so we don't miss our connecting long-distance train. When all the luggage and folks were uploaded and the driver was about to start the Van, he rushed in and announced that all of us are required to disembark and cool our heels for an hour.
I got down and asked him why. He replied that the Oldest Lady of the Group discovered that we are right in the middle of Rahu Kalam of the Day and she wouldn't get in come what may.
I collared him (metaphorically) and asked him since when he started believing in such mumbojumbo. He replied that he learned that Rahu is the worst of all planets, worse than even Shani, and he would take no chances with the safety of the Wedding Party. Unfortunately, though he was University First in his PG, he was not a student of Science. So, I had to ask him to locate this planet Rahu for me in the sky-chart. He said he had no idea, but since all planets have gravitational pulls on us, Rahu should also have a rather terrific pull.
I had to then tell him that there is no such 'Heavenly Body' called Rahu at all and that it is just a 'node'. He asked me what a node was. I told him rather pithily that it is just a direction in the sky. He quizzed me how then it could 'eclipse' such a Celestial Star like our Sun. I had to tell him the that it is not Rahu, but the placid, cool and velvety Moon that eclipses our beloved Sun. He was dismayed and was on the point of reconverting back to Rationality, but the 'gravitational pull' of his Godman was a thousand times more powerful than the pull of a 'mere' mortal's words.
We just about made the connecting train.
And there followed quickly this Total Solar Eclipse of October 1995, which was just grazing KGP. At KGP it was 99% but within 30 KM of KGP, it was Total, for as long as a minute perhaps. There was wild enthusiasm among the Science Societies of IIT KGP and they planned several Scientific Expeditions (like Eddington's) into the Jungles of West Midnapore, which were then free from the present-day Rahus, which are threatening to eclipse the LF.
Anupam was one such enthusiast, planning a Train Trip to Kolaghat. He met me a few days before and invited me to join. I said I can watch the Solar Eclipse beautifully sitting in my First Floor Balcony. He asked me if I would see through tainted glasses. I replied that I would see with no glasses at all, with naked eyes. He was solicitous about the UV and all that till I explained that I would be watching the Sun's 'image'. He asked if I have a telescope sort of a thing. I told him I have something better. For myself, I would watch the ground under our tall Bokul tree; but for my son's edification I also had arranged a Movie Show on our Bedroom Wall, using just a broken mirror.
He was curious and asked me to explain. I said end-October was just the time when our Bokul tree starts shedding its autumnal leaves, leaving a hundred gaps in the foliage, which would work as 'Pin-Hole Cameras' casting a hundred wonderful images of the eclipsing Sun on the ground. He couldn't swallow that 'odd-ball shaped' gaps in the foliage could cast 'true' images of the Sun. I told him to keep watching the ground during his Train Journey to Kolaghat and report to me the result of his observations the day after the Event.
He returned from his expedition, and the first thing he did was to rush to my Office excited beyond belief that he could watch the progress of the eclipse for free, and a thousand times, by just keeping a watch on the ground, while his team-mates were fighting for a place behind their sole reflecting telescope.
The first time I met Anupam was in an awkward context. He just joined IIT KGP Physics, renouncing his One-Year B. Tech in EE at BIT, Mesra (?), much against his parents' will; and was eagerly awaiting his first Physics Lecture Class. The teacher happened to be the then HoD, Prof K, making his wait all that much more keen.
Prof K, while a wizard at Experimental Physics, was not too keen on Theory and had a habit of 'entanglement' with unspoiled First Year kids. And I had to do the needful.
So, the door of my Office (C-229) had a violent knock. Opening it I found Prof K, hefty, red-faced, angry, combating a lean short fair but unmoving kid chasing him all the way up the Phy Corridor.
Prof K told me 'demolish' this upstart, who was claiming that a conducting sheet of charge can produce a 'uniform undiminished Electric Field' any distance away from it; which is clearly absurd, but the kid was buttressing his claims with pill-boxes and Gauss Law and stuff. The kid was eagerly looking at me and Prof K in turn. And I was doing the same; just as did Prof K (in all 3 pairs of eyes doing their ogling).
I then remembered my English Lesson from Class XII, titled 'Sir Roger's Judgments', a wonderful selection of episodes from Addison & Steele's 'Spectator', still alive and kicking.
Sir Roger was famous for his 'cat-on-the-fence' pronouncement: "Much can be said on both sides".
As it happened, I was sandwiched between the two contestants, so I was winking with the left eye to one and the right eye to the other and said:
"Both of you are right. The kid is 'Idealistic' while you are 'Realistic'. The Prof is talking about REAL Charged Sheets in the Lab. If you could produce an 'INFINITE' sheet of charge, then and then only you are right."
Prof K was very pleased and left victoriously (but doubtfully, perhaps); and Anupam and I became 'friends' then on for, let me see, the next 19 years [last I heard from him was from the Bohr Institute at Copenhagen, saying he found my SDM Homage very 'passionately written' (come on!)].
More about Pin-Hole Camera tomorrow. Exciting stuff!
==============================================
Reverting to the deadly grip of Rahu Kalam on AP folks, here are two aphorisms:
1. Converted Beggar (Blogger) Loses Time-Sense
2. Converted Theist Loses Sense
One of my learned relatives, R, was a Progressive Radical Atheist dedicated to rubbishing all miracle-claims of Godmen and such to lure ignorant folks to their Faith and Fold.
Those days I used to enjoy his company once in a while.
All of a sudden, some Miracle-Cure happened in his life, as it does in everyone's; Life on Earth itself being a Cosmic Miracle of sorts. Then and there he turned a somersault and became a Converted Theist falling head over heels into the gang of a famous Godman of the South. No problem. I just wished to avoid his company, knowing the unbridled enthusiasm of such Fresh Converts (3 decades on, he has sort of cooled down and is non-committal).
But while the going was great, he happened to be our Leader in a Wedding Party, in-charge of Transport. Myself and my wife were in a haste to start early so we don't miss our connecting long-distance train. When all the luggage and folks were uploaded and the driver was about to start the Van, he rushed in and announced that all of us are required to disembark and cool our heels for an hour.
I got down and asked him why. He replied that the Oldest Lady of the Group discovered that we are right in the middle of Rahu Kalam of the Day and she wouldn't get in come what may.
I collared him (metaphorically) and asked him since when he started believing in such mumbojumbo. He replied that he learned that Rahu is the worst of all planets, worse than even Shani, and he would take no chances with the safety of the Wedding Party. Unfortunately, though he was University First in his PG, he was not a student of Science. So, I had to ask him to locate this planet Rahu for me in the sky-chart. He said he had no idea, but since all planets have gravitational pulls on us, Rahu should also have a rather terrific pull.
I had to then tell him that there is no such 'Heavenly Body' called Rahu at all and that it is just a 'node'. He asked me what a node was. I told him rather pithily that it is just a direction in the sky. He quizzed me how then it could 'eclipse' such a Celestial Star like our Sun. I had to tell him the that it is not Rahu, but the placid, cool and velvety Moon that eclipses our beloved Sun. He was dismayed and was on the point of reconverting back to Rationality, but the 'gravitational pull' of his Godman was a thousand times more powerful than the pull of a 'mere' mortal's words.
We just about made the connecting train.
And there followed quickly this Total Solar Eclipse of October 1995, which was just grazing KGP. At KGP it was 99% but within 30 KM of KGP, it was Total, for as long as a minute perhaps. There was wild enthusiasm among the Science Societies of IIT KGP and they planned several Scientific Expeditions (like Eddington's) into the Jungles of West Midnapore, which were then free from the present-day Rahus, which are threatening to eclipse the LF.
Anupam was one such enthusiast, planning a Train Trip to Kolaghat. He met me a few days before and invited me to join. I said I can watch the Solar Eclipse beautifully sitting in my First Floor Balcony. He asked me if I would see through tainted glasses. I replied that I would see with no glasses at all, with naked eyes. He was solicitous about the UV and all that till I explained that I would be watching the Sun's 'image'. He asked if I have a telescope sort of a thing. I told him I have something better. For myself, I would watch the ground under our tall Bokul tree; but for my son's edification I also had arranged a Movie Show on our Bedroom Wall, using just a broken mirror.
He was curious and asked me to explain. I said end-October was just the time when our Bokul tree starts shedding its autumnal leaves, leaving a hundred gaps in the foliage, which would work as 'Pin-Hole Cameras' casting a hundred wonderful images of the eclipsing Sun on the ground. He couldn't swallow that 'odd-ball shaped' gaps in the foliage could cast 'true' images of the Sun. I told him to keep watching the ground during his Train Journey to Kolaghat and report to me the result of his observations the day after the Event.
He returned from his expedition, and the first thing he did was to rush to my Office excited beyond belief that he could watch the progress of the eclipse for free, and a thousand times, by just keeping a watch on the ground, while his team-mates were fighting for a place behind their sole reflecting telescope.
The first time I met Anupam was in an awkward context. He just joined IIT KGP Physics, renouncing his One-Year B. Tech in EE at BIT, Mesra (?), much against his parents' will; and was eagerly awaiting his first Physics Lecture Class. The teacher happened to be the then HoD, Prof K, making his wait all that much more keen.
Prof K, while a wizard at Experimental Physics, was not too keen on Theory and had a habit of 'entanglement' with unspoiled First Year kids. And I had to do the needful.
So, the door of my Office (C-229) had a violent knock. Opening it I found Prof K, hefty, red-faced, angry, combating a lean short fair but unmoving kid chasing him all the way up the Phy Corridor.
Prof K told me 'demolish' this upstart, who was claiming that a conducting sheet of charge can produce a 'uniform undiminished Electric Field' any distance away from it; which is clearly absurd, but the kid was buttressing his claims with pill-boxes and Gauss Law and stuff. The kid was eagerly looking at me and Prof K in turn. And I was doing the same; just as did Prof K (in all 3 pairs of eyes doing their ogling).
I then remembered my English Lesson from Class XII, titled 'Sir Roger's Judgments', a wonderful selection of episodes from Addison & Steele's 'Spectator', still alive and kicking.
Sir Roger was famous for his 'cat-on-the-fence' pronouncement: "Much can be said on both sides".
As it happened, I was sandwiched between the two contestants, so I was winking with the left eye to one and the right eye to the other and said:
"Both of you are right. The kid is 'Idealistic' while you are 'Realistic'. The Prof is talking about REAL Charged Sheets in the Lab. If you could produce an 'INFINITE' sheet of charge, then and then only you are right."
Prof K was very pleased and left victoriously (but doubtfully, perhaps); and Anupam and I became 'friends' then on for, let me see, the next 19 years [last I heard from him was from the Bohr Institute at Copenhagen, saying he found my SDM Homage very 'passionately written' (come on!)].
More about Pin-Hole Camera tomorrow. Exciting stuff!
==============================================
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Class of '96
==========================================
This is all about a batch of M Sc Physics students whom I taught in 1995, 2 Semesters of Theory and 2 of Lab concurrently in 1995.
There were many batches like this; it just turns out that I happen to have their Roll List with me after 15 years.
But, this batch is rather special. For one thing, they were the only one that made me 'write' a Lecture Notes on the fly and distribute them in every Lecture Class.
I didn't use to write up a pucca Lecture Notes ever (till the Jumbo of 2000, which I got printed). For good reason: once you have a well-written thing, you tend to repeat it and not improvise and improve. For another I was too lazy to do it.
But I did one better: I used to watch which student in the Class is attending all classes and taking down Notes diligently and legibly. Then I used to 'steal' it from him or her at the end of the Semester; and use it later on as a breadboard.
There was this student of II Year B. Tech (Electrical Engg) by name Umakant Chowdhury around 1980. He was the topper too. I snatched his Physical Optics Notes. It came to much use to me 20 years later. He met me in his Final Year and asked me if he could borrow 'his' Lecture Notes for a week. I asked why. He said he was preparing for IAS (lots of dowry) and taken Physics as one of his papers. I gave it to him and chased him till he returned it.
Then there was Dahlia Datta, whose EM II Notes was my staple till 2002 when I gave the course up to Sayan. Sayan borrowed Dahlia's Notes for a week and still sort of pesters me mildly to write it up as a Book (he doesn't know me since he was never my student).
Then there was Indrajit Mitra (who called me 'shameless' in print, and I am proud of it). It just happened that one night before the Semester started, Prof AK (the Time Table Prof) met me and ordered (from above) that I had to take their QM-O Course in their III Year. I never did this earlier. But was raring to go. IM took the Lecture Notes and gave me a Xerox Copy. I wanted to refine it and build it up over a few years. But, Prof AK came to me next year and said: "Thank you", you don't have to teach it anymore. This one-off thing alienated me; and in hindsight I wish I never accepted the original offer. But 'greed' prevailed.
Then this '96 batch. They were quite happy apparently with my EM Course. And came to know that my QM II Course next semester would be weird, since it didn't follow any text book in the market. So, they met me before-hand and requested that I write up a pucca Notes before every Class and give it away to them for copying and returning the original. Somehow I liked this batch and also liked the idea. In the end it turned out to be a 100 page closely written affair. I got it bound and used it for the next five years.
Each student of this Class is as different from the others as possible. Whatever their interpersonal relations, each of them established a cordial 'friendly' relation with me by the emd of the Year.
And I also happened to be their Professor-in Charge of Training & Placement. I thought that since they made me 'work' usefully, I should throw them an @Home Dinner. My wife agreed. Instead of inviting them in the Class Room, I sent a T & P Notice:
--------------------------------------------------
"T & P Emergency Meeting will be held this Friday:
Venue: Qrs B-140
Time: 7 PM Onwards
Agenda: Tea + Delta Tea
Attendance is compulsory"
--------------------------------------------------
I gave this Notice to Didi in the Office asking her to kindly circulate it urgently, take their signatures and return it to me.
While going home for lunch I noticed that they had all ganged up in the Office and were fooling around, with Didi smiling broadly at me. By the evening Didi returned me my Notice, with not only their autographs against their names but also 'Finger-Prints'. That was what they were doing in the Office: stealing Didi's 'Stamp Pad', inking it and letting themselves go.
It so happened that in the last Lecture, Anupam presented me a gift in the Class Room. Opening it, I found a wonderful 'Rangoli' done by him on a black Drawing Paper in white paint, with Tagore's figure at the Center. I came to know that his paintings were exhibited in the Soviet World and won him prizes. He showed them to me later.
So, it just took a minute for me to decide to get it framed with glass on both sides. On the reverse of the painting, I pasted the Notice containing their signatures and thumb impressions as a batch-memento.
My son Sonoo preserved it and it is hanging on my wall now. I took it down today and spent an hour Googling to find out what happened to each of these kids.
Here is the output of my Research:
**********************************************8
1.Sougato Bose: Professor, University College London
[Campus kid. Knew him from his age 3. Dead-set for a career in Theoretical Physics from Class X. Fought with his parents and gave up a seat in EE at IIT to take up M Sc Physics. My co-author. Went to UK on Inlacs Fellowship, pursued Quantum Optics and never looked back]
2.Sandeep Tyagi: Morgan Stanley, United Kingdom
[Quiet smiling kid. Went to Pittsburgh (?) for Ph D. Thoroughly enjoyed doing Spacetime Software in my Lab. Also a wizard at JEE Problem-solving]
3.Anupam Mazumdar: Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
[Gave up EE after one year and joined Physics. Born to do Cosmology. Did Project with me. Like Hanuman, who brought the whole Mountain when asked to fetch a Herb, he did all higher Metrics when asked to do Kerr-Metric from ABS]
4.Palash Banerjee: Boston University, Mass
[With Ashish he barged into my room in his Final Year, thrust a Table from Kittel listing the ground states of all the Rare-Earth Elements and asked me to 'get' them using Hund's Rules, all 3 of them needed. Ugh! Had to recall what I did 30 years ago while dabbling in NQR. Lost his Degree Certificate, when his 'cottage' burned down at Boston. Took my help in getting a Duplicate, filing an Affidavit from a Gurgaon Notary stating that it was 'stolen' from his home!]
5.Biplab Pal: Lead Engineer, Ciena Corp. Baltimore, Maryland
[True to his name, he was the Revolutionary of the Class. Shifted to ECE for a Ph D at KGP and ran away to the Land of Gold, to start a Revolution there (?)]
6.Tania Chakrabarty: Sr.Scientist at Arryx, Inc. Greater Chicago
[Campus girl. Know her from her birth. Talented Actor. Father, Professor in Geology, my batchmate, well-known humorist and Bengali and English TDS patron. Shifted to Biophysics at UIUC and never looked back]
7.A. Ramakant Sharma: North Carolina State University at Raleigh
[Campus kid, silent, son of Math Prof. Got back to Acads after doing some Banking job]
8.Ashish Bhardwaj: University of California, Santa Barbara
[Born with a silver spoon. Son of IPCL Boss. Terrific talent in Eastern and Western Music. Liked holidaying at odd places like Ladakh, Andamans, Hawai Islands. Disgusted with Formal Theory. Went to Ph D in Experiments at Caltech. After some hiccups got many Patents in addition to Ph D. But challenged the Professors there and took 'Theory Classes in QM' while doing TA, successfully!]
9.Subhashis Ray: GMRT
[Taught me 'Breadboard' in the Lab. Instrumental in revolutionizing IV Year Lab by throwing 'soldering irons' out of the window, much to the dismay of Tarapada-da]
10.K. V. Shajesh: Saint Edward’s School, Vero Beach, Florida
[Fighter. Fighter. Did 2 wonderful papers with DB in JMP. Kept in touch with me till my retirement. Born teacher. Gifted a wonderful book on EM written by his Ph D Guide at Oklahama!. Too late. By then I gave up this Course. Happy for him]
11.Subrata Bal: Royal Bank of Scotland, New Delhi Area, India
[Sweet character. Dedicated to DB, his Project Guide. Did 2 papers with him in JMP. Met me just before my retirement. Lovable chap, but idealistic. Great that he settled down. I urged him to get married, hope he did it]
12.D .P. Acharya: National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (?)
[Fighter of a kind. Don't know much about him]
13.Pinaki Saha: Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada
[Great guy! Calcutta-based Lateral Entry. Very helpful. Never wanted to apply abroad. Changed his mind at the last minute and went to RENO in Atmospheric Physics']
************************************************
I guess with this I have completed my duties as Professor-in-Charge ot Training & Placement.
I would have done this gladly with all batches, but I don't have their Roll List and finger-prints.
I do hope I can auction or sell these finger-prints (depending on whether one of these gets the Prize or a Red Corner Notice).
When I brought down the framed Rangoli today, I found that it has 13 signatures. Western superstition of 13 made me blink.
But there is one girl-disciple.
And Jesus is yet to be crucified!
==============================================
This is all about a batch of M Sc Physics students whom I taught in 1995, 2 Semesters of Theory and 2 of Lab concurrently in 1995.
There were many batches like this; it just turns out that I happen to have their Roll List with me after 15 years.
But, this batch is rather special. For one thing, they were the only one that made me 'write' a Lecture Notes on the fly and distribute them in every Lecture Class.
I didn't use to write up a pucca Lecture Notes ever (till the Jumbo of 2000, which I got printed). For good reason: once you have a well-written thing, you tend to repeat it and not improvise and improve. For another I was too lazy to do it.
But I did one better: I used to watch which student in the Class is attending all classes and taking down Notes diligently and legibly. Then I used to 'steal' it from him or her at the end of the Semester; and use it later on as a breadboard.
There was this student of II Year B. Tech (Electrical Engg) by name Umakant Chowdhury around 1980. He was the topper too. I snatched his Physical Optics Notes. It came to much use to me 20 years later. He met me in his Final Year and asked me if he could borrow 'his' Lecture Notes for a week. I asked why. He said he was preparing for IAS (lots of dowry) and taken Physics as one of his papers. I gave it to him and chased him till he returned it.
Then there was Dahlia Datta, whose EM II Notes was my staple till 2002 when I gave the course up to Sayan. Sayan borrowed Dahlia's Notes for a week and still sort of pesters me mildly to write it up as a Book (he doesn't know me since he was never my student).
Then there was Indrajit Mitra (who called me 'shameless' in print, and I am proud of it). It just happened that one night before the Semester started, Prof AK (the Time Table Prof) met me and ordered (from above) that I had to take their QM-O Course in their III Year. I never did this earlier. But was raring to go. IM took the Lecture Notes and gave me a Xerox Copy. I wanted to refine it and build it up over a few years. But, Prof AK came to me next year and said: "Thank you", you don't have to teach it anymore. This one-off thing alienated me; and in hindsight I wish I never accepted the original offer. But 'greed' prevailed.
Then this '96 batch. They were quite happy apparently with my EM Course. And came to know that my QM II Course next semester would be weird, since it didn't follow any text book in the market. So, they met me before-hand and requested that I write up a pucca Notes before every Class and give it away to them for copying and returning the original. Somehow I liked this batch and also liked the idea. In the end it turned out to be a 100 page closely written affair. I got it bound and used it for the next five years.
Each student of this Class is as different from the others as possible. Whatever their interpersonal relations, each of them established a cordial 'friendly' relation with me by the emd of the Year.
And I also happened to be their Professor-in Charge of Training & Placement. I thought that since they made me 'work' usefully, I should throw them an @Home Dinner. My wife agreed. Instead of inviting them in the Class Room, I sent a T & P Notice:
--------------------------------------------------
"T & P Emergency Meeting will be held this Friday:
Venue: Qrs B-140
Time: 7 PM Onwards
Agenda: Tea + Delta Tea
Attendance is compulsory"
--------------------------------------------------
I gave this Notice to Didi in the Office asking her to kindly circulate it urgently, take their signatures and return it to me.
While going home for lunch I noticed that they had all ganged up in the Office and were fooling around, with Didi smiling broadly at me. By the evening Didi returned me my Notice, with not only their autographs against their names but also 'Finger-Prints'. That was what they were doing in the Office: stealing Didi's 'Stamp Pad', inking it and letting themselves go.
It so happened that in the last Lecture, Anupam presented me a gift in the Class Room. Opening it, I found a wonderful 'Rangoli' done by him on a black Drawing Paper in white paint, with Tagore's figure at the Center. I came to know that his paintings were exhibited in the Soviet World and won him prizes. He showed them to me later.
So, it just took a minute for me to decide to get it framed with glass on both sides. On the reverse of the painting, I pasted the Notice containing their signatures and thumb impressions as a batch-memento.
My son Sonoo preserved it and it is hanging on my wall now. I took it down today and spent an hour Googling to find out what happened to each of these kids.
Here is the output of my Research:
**********************************************8
1.Sougato Bose: Professor, University College London
[Campus kid. Knew him from his age 3. Dead-set for a career in Theoretical Physics from Class X. Fought with his parents and gave up a seat in EE at IIT to take up M Sc Physics. My co-author. Went to UK on Inlacs Fellowship, pursued Quantum Optics and never looked back]
2.Sandeep Tyagi: Morgan Stanley, United Kingdom
[Quiet smiling kid. Went to Pittsburgh (?) for Ph D. Thoroughly enjoyed doing Spacetime Software in my Lab. Also a wizard at JEE Problem-solving]
3.Anupam Mazumdar: Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
[Gave up EE after one year and joined Physics. Born to do Cosmology. Did Project with me. Like Hanuman, who brought the whole Mountain when asked to fetch a Herb, he did all higher Metrics when asked to do Kerr-Metric from ABS]
4.Palash Banerjee: Boston University, Mass
[With Ashish he barged into my room in his Final Year, thrust a Table from Kittel listing the ground states of all the Rare-Earth Elements and asked me to 'get' them using Hund's Rules, all 3 of them needed. Ugh! Had to recall what I did 30 years ago while dabbling in NQR. Lost his Degree Certificate, when his 'cottage' burned down at Boston. Took my help in getting a Duplicate, filing an Affidavit from a Gurgaon Notary stating that it was 'stolen' from his home!]
5.Biplab Pal: Lead Engineer, Ciena Corp. Baltimore, Maryland
[True to his name, he was the Revolutionary of the Class. Shifted to ECE for a Ph D at KGP and ran away to the Land of Gold, to start a Revolution there (?)]
6.Tania Chakrabarty: Sr.Scientist at Arryx, Inc. Greater Chicago
[Campus girl. Know her from her birth. Talented Actor. Father, Professor in Geology, my batchmate, well-known humorist and Bengali and English TDS patron. Shifted to Biophysics at UIUC and never looked back]
7.A. Ramakant Sharma: North Carolina State University at Raleigh
[Campus kid, silent, son of Math Prof. Got back to Acads after doing some Banking job]
8.Ashish Bhardwaj: University of California, Santa Barbara
[Born with a silver spoon. Son of IPCL Boss. Terrific talent in Eastern and Western Music. Liked holidaying at odd places like Ladakh, Andamans, Hawai Islands. Disgusted with Formal Theory. Went to Ph D in Experiments at Caltech. After some hiccups got many Patents in addition to Ph D. But challenged the Professors there and took 'Theory Classes in QM' while doing TA, successfully!]
9.Subhashis Ray: GMRT
[Taught me 'Breadboard' in the Lab. Instrumental in revolutionizing IV Year Lab by throwing 'soldering irons' out of the window, much to the dismay of Tarapada-da]
10.K. V. Shajesh: Saint Edward’s School, Vero Beach, Florida
[Fighter. Fighter. Did 2 wonderful papers with DB in JMP. Kept in touch with me till my retirement. Born teacher. Gifted a wonderful book on EM written by his Ph D Guide at Oklahama!. Too late. By then I gave up this Course. Happy for him]
11.Subrata Bal: Royal Bank of Scotland, New Delhi Area, India
[Sweet character. Dedicated to DB, his Project Guide. Did 2 papers with him in JMP. Met me just before my retirement. Lovable chap, but idealistic. Great that he settled down. I urged him to get married, hope he did it]
12.D .P. Acharya: National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (?)
[Fighter of a kind. Don't know much about him]
13.Pinaki Saha: Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada
[Great guy! Calcutta-based Lateral Entry. Very helpful. Never wanted to apply abroad. Changed his mind at the last minute and went to RENO in Atmospheric Physics']
************************************************
I guess with this I have completed my duties as Professor-in-Charge ot Training & Placement.
I would have done this gladly with all batches, but I don't have their Roll List and finger-prints.
I do hope I can auction or sell these finger-prints (depending on whether one of these gets the Prize or a Red Corner Notice).
When I brought down the framed Rangoli today, I found that it has 13 signatures. Western superstition of 13 made me blink.
But there is one girl-disciple.
And Jesus is yet to be crucified!
==============================================
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
My India 15- 1950-55
=========================================
Before again ranting against the vice-grip of planetary superstitions on South Indians, let me post the latest addition to my vocabulary (2 days young):
A decade ago, a Campus Lady at KGP told me off: "What if my son couldn't make it to the 'Double IT'; he has got admission into the latest 'Triple IT' at Hyderabad".
That there was a new IIIT, one 'I' better than the old and unkempt IITs was news to me. Upon inquiries I came to know that the extra 'I' stood for 'Information'. Since I had already digested 'Information Technology', I forgot about it.
The other day, I had an invitation from a 'University of Knowledge Technology', named after you know who, to do something or the other. I got to know that 3 of the Triple IT's have now been clubbed together to form this newfangled 'University'. To me 'Knowledge' has always been associated with the Tagore poem which we had to mug up in our Class XI ("where knowledge is free").
I felt sorry that it is sinking into a buzz-adjective.
All at once (like Wordsworth and his Daffodils) my mind ran riot and could clearly see the new Babu who took over this Ministry ringing for the poor Registrar and taking a Viva on the difference between 'Information' and 'Knowledge'; the Registrar giving a weak smile in answer, upon which the Babu triumphantly announces; "Knowledge is Processed Information".
The word Information is peremptorily scratched and replaced with Knowledge forthwith: 'Information University' wouldn't ring true for the Babu.
I suppose the opposite of 'Knowledge' being 'Ignorance', the old IITs should take appropriate steps to rechristen themselves.
Regarding 'opposites' I have this true story: Our 'Complex Variables' young and snobbish Tutor at AU, in his very first Class posed this question: "What is the opposite of a Positive Number?" All of us nitwits echoed: "Negative Number". Upon which he gave a wise smirk, shook his head, and said; "Non-Positive Number". The crook meant that you have to include 'Zero' too. Then the smart-aleck of our Class stood up and declared that his Course should be called: "Unreal Variables". Our Tutor's face grew red when all of us joined in uproarious laughter.
Reverting to astro-pathology, the days of our AP week are divided into: 1. Inauspicious, 2. Chalega, and 3. Auspicious.
The 'Inauspicious' set has two entries: Tuesday and Saturday. Nothing can be started on these two deadly days. I fell sick on a Saturday and had to be admitted to the Best Hospital at my mother's town as an emergency. In an emergency, all rules are relaxed (I might die of dehydration). It turned out to be a Hospital for Labor and Pediatrics. The Surgeon examined me but couldn't find anything wrong with my womb. So, he kept me on Saline thinking that I would be ok like any other child in his Ward. Didn't bother to mix any medicine in the Saline. On Monday night, my mother and her learned daughters and their local husbands were in a hurry to get me discharged that night itself, the next day being the inauspicious Tuesday. Against my will and my wife's (who is a Doctor of Microbiology and knew that the bacteria haven't given up their hold on me yet). They didn't relent. I was wheeled home; and promptly readmitted the next morning. Then my Madurai Wizard Doctor rang up the Pediatrician and asked him to mix some Metrogyl and Ciprofloxin in the drip, kindly. I got ok in 24 hours. And had to pay for 60 bottles of costly Saline and two vials of cheap Antibiotics.
Regarding Saturday, even my Bihari Dhobhi, Rasoi Lal at KGP had his Theory. Just before I quit the KGP Campus for good in October 2005, there were a series of unending 'Katrina' type downpours and inundations, first in Bombay, then in Calcutta and finally in Madras. I was caught literally with my pants down. My luggage left for Nellore by road and I was stranded at KGP. That was a Saturday when the Calcutta thing started. Raosi declared that such cataclysmic heavenly events that start on a Saturday would last a full week till the next Saturday. He was pretty close. For, the Madras thing was taking shape and the two joined hands and formed what the Meteorologists gleefully termed the rare phenomenon of 'Earthworm-Cloud System Formation', with picturesque Satellite evidence to support them. Although I was sinking myself into a Deep Depression of a non-heavenly variety, I smiled at the Pilgrim's Progress of Meteorology (Remember ours was a Department of Physics & Meteorology, even now); naturally, they upgraded their own 'Science' into an 'Atmospheric' one. My Dhobhi was a wee bit away from his prediction: the thing cleared by Friday next.
3. Auspicious: This set has only one member: 'Thursday'. I am happy for it. Because it is named for Brihaspati, the Guru of Gods. Being in the teaching profession, I am tickled all over by the respect shown to Teachers.
2. Chalega: The other 4 days.
That is not all: Each day of 24 hours is split into first two: Night and Day. All nights are inauspicious (but for emergencies like you know what).
That leaves the 12 daytime hours. Here one is not supposed to start any business in these categories: 1. Rahu Kalam, 2. Yama Gandam, 3. Varjyam, 4. Vaarashula, plus sundry things like Chndra Balam and Tara Balam.
Obviously, if all these are eliminated, nothing survives and one had to stay indoors day and night and make merry. That being unpractical, all have agreed that only Rahu Kalam need be taken seriously. This lasts for 1.5 hours each day of the week. I happen to know the uncanny Rule.
In mid-May a couple of years back, I was tending to my 86-year-old mother, who has an iron will, when she fell ill and got bedridden, something that happens rarely. And, in the hot and humid Gudur, there were unpredictable and insufferable power-cuts. The fans in the afternoon would suddenly come to a grinding halt. I implored her to let me install an 'Inverter'. She declined saying that it was an unwonted luxury and she doesn't deserve such a hi-fi expensive gadget at her age. No one can argue with her when she gets into that mood. So, when she goes to sleep and the power goes phut, I used to take up a hand-fan (plastic punkha) and keep the sweat away from her face. Whenever she woke up, she used to look at me doing the Casabianca business and felt shy. The third afternoon, she said: "Ok, get the damn thing installed, because I feel too shy to be served by you".
I jumped up, before she changes her proverbial female mind, and ran to the Electrical Bazaar. There was just one piece left with the shopkeeper, the demand being heavy. I bought it at once paying Rs. 12K cash down and asked the chap to send his best 'contract' Electrician forthwith to our house.
In half an hour the chap came and as expected, he was a Nazeer (they dominate plumbing, electrical, tailoring, tinkering etc skilled labor jobs), with a full beard and a skull cap. As I said repeatedly, I easily make friends with them. Both of us went to the Electrical hardware outlet and bought all the wires, switches etc. Coming home, Nazeer kept aside all his tools and sat on the cement bench. I was getting impatient and asked him why he wasn't starting the wiring. He promptly replied; "There is another half an hour to go before the Rahu Kalam of the day ends". I was surprised that even Muslims of AP observe this unholy Kalam. And I told him that I don't believe in this stuff, so he should go ahead and I would risk it. He then said quietly that the risk was not mine but his: "Electrical works with 220 Volts can be fatal, so we wouldn't take chances".
I was suitably chastised for my uppishness.
I then offered that we both go to the Tea-Shop to while away the half hour. He politely declined saying that it was the month of Ramzan.
I was again rebuked.
By the evening he finished his work beautifully, tested it and was going away. I asked him how much was his 'payment'. He said: "Whatever the shopkeeper says". I rang him up and he quoted; " Rs.300 should do sir".
But I felt he deserved more and paid him Rs. 400. He took it somewhat reluctantly and left.
Within ten minutes, he was back: "Sir, my wife asked me to at once go back and return the extra hundred: It is the Holy month of Ramzan".
I had to take back my extra hundred and pocket my impious gesture.
No comments.
Anupam and his batch tomorrow.
============================================
Before again ranting against the vice-grip of planetary superstitions on South Indians, let me post the latest addition to my vocabulary (2 days young):
A decade ago, a Campus Lady at KGP told me off: "What if my son couldn't make it to the 'Double IT'; he has got admission into the latest 'Triple IT' at Hyderabad".
That there was a new IIIT, one 'I' better than the old and unkempt IITs was news to me. Upon inquiries I came to know that the extra 'I' stood for 'Information'. Since I had already digested 'Information Technology', I forgot about it.
The other day, I had an invitation from a 'University of Knowledge Technology', named after you know who, to do something or the other. I got to know that 3 of the Triple IT's have now been clubbed together to form this newfangled 'University'. To me 'Knowledge' has always been associated with the Tagore poem which we had to mug up in our Class XI ("where knowledge is free").
I felt sorry that it is sinking into a buzz-adjective.
All at once (like Wordsworth and his Daffodils) my mind ran riot and could clearly see the new Babu who took over this Ministry ringing for the poor Registrar and taking a Viva on the difference between 'Information' and 'Knowledge'; the Registrar giving a weak smile in answer, upon which the Babu triumphantly announces; "Knowledge is Processed Information".
The word Information is peremptorily scratched and replaced with Knowledge forthwith: 'Information University' wouldn't ring true for the Babu.
I suppose the opposite of 'Knowledge' being 'Ignorance', the old IITs should take appropriate steps to rechristen themselves.
Regarding 'opposites' I have this true story: Our 'Complex Variables' young and snobbish Tutor at AU, in his very first Class posed this question: "What is the opposite of a Positive Number?" All of us nitwits echoed: "Negative Number". Upon which he gave a wise smirk, shook his head, and said; "Non-Positive Number". The crook meant that you have to include 'Zero' too. Then the smart-aleck of our Class stood up and declared that his Course should be called: "Unreal Variables". Our Tutor's face grew red when all of us joined in uproarious laughter.
Reverting to astro-pathology, the days of our AP week are divided into: 1. Inauspicious, 2. Chalega, and 3. Auspicious.
The 'Inauspicious' set has two entries: Tuesday and Saturday. Nothing can be started on these two deadly days. I fell sick on a Saturday and had to be admitted to the Best Hospital at my mother's town as an emergency. In an emergency, all rules are relaxed (I might die of dehydration). It turned out to be a Hospital for Labor and Pediatrics. The Surgeon examined me but couldn't find anything wrong with my womb. So, he kept me on Saline thinking that I would be ok like any other child in his Ward. Didn't bother to mix any medicine in the Saline. On Monday night, my mother and her learned daughters and their local husbands were in a hurry to get me discharged that night itself, the next day being the inauspicious Tuesday. Against my will and my wife's (who is a Doctor of Microbiology and knew that the bacteria haven't given up their hold on me yet). They didn't relent. I was wheeled home; and promptly readmitted the next morning. Then my Madurai Wizard Doctor rang up the Pediatrician and asked him to mix some Metrogyl and Ciprofloxin in the drip, kindly. I got ok in 24 hours. And had to pay for 60 bottles of costly Saline and two vials of cheap Antibiotics.
Regarding Saturday, even my Bihari Dhobhi, Rasoi Lal at KGP had his Theory. Just before I quit the KGP Campus for good in October 2005, there were a series of unending 'Katrina' type downpours and inundations, first in Bombay, then in Calcutta and finally in Madras. I was caught literally with my pants down. My luggage left for Nellore by road and I was stranded at KGP. That was a Saturday when the Calcutta thing started. Raosi declared that such cataclysmic heavenly events that start on a Saturday would last a full week till the next Saturday. He was pretty close. For, the Madras thing was taking shape and the two joined hands and formed what the Meteorologists gleefully termed the rare phenomenon of 'Earthworm-Cloud System Formation', with picturesque Satellite evidence to support them. Although I was sinking myself into a Deep Depression of a non-heavenly variety, I smiled at the Pilgrim's Progress of Meteorology (Remember ours was a Department of Physics & Meteorology, even now); naturally, they upgraded their own 'Science' into an 'Atmospheric' one. My Dhobhi was a wee bit away from his prediction: the thing cleared by Friday next.
3. Auspicious: This set has only one member: 'Thursday'. I am happy for it. Because it is named for Brihaspati, the Guru of Gods. Being in the teaching profession, I am tickled all over by the respect shown to Teachers.
2. Chalega: The other 4 days.
That is not all: Each day of 24 hours is split into first two: Night and Day. All nights are inauspicious (but for emergencies like you know what).
That leaves the 12 daytime hours. Here one is not supposed to start any business in these categories: 1. Rahu Kalam, 2. Yama Gandam, 3. Varjyam, 4. Vaarashula, plus sundry things like Chndra Balam and Tara Balam.
Obviously, if all these are eliminated, nothing survives and one had to stay indoors day and night and make merry. That being unpractical, all have agreed that only Rahu Kalam need be taken seriously. This lasts for 1.5 hours each day of the week. I happen to know the uncanny Rule.
In mid-May a couple of years back, I was tending to my 86-year-old mother, who has an iron will, when she fell ill and got bedridden, something that happens rarely. And, in the hot and humid Gudur, there were unpredictable and insufferable power-cuts. The fans in the afternoon would suddenly come to a grinding halt. I implored her to let me install an 'Inverter'. She declined saying that it was an unwonted luxury and she doesn't deserve such a hi-fi expensive gadget at her age. No one can argue with her when she gets into that mood. So, when she goes to sleep and the power goes phut, I used to take up a hand-fan (plastic punkha) and keep the sweat away from her face. Whenever she woke up, she used to look at me doing the Casabianca business and felt shy. The third afternoon, she said: "Ok, get the damn thing installed, because I feel too shy to be served by you".
I jumped up, before she changes her proverbial female mind, and ran to the Electrical Bazaar. There was just one piece left with the shopkeeper, the demand being heavy. I bought it at once paying Rs. 12K cash down and asked the chap to send his best 'contract' Electrician forthwith to our house.
In half an hour the chap came and as expected, he was a Nazeer (they dominate plumbing, electrical, tailoring, tinkering etc skilled labor jobs), with a full beard and a skull cap. As I said repeatedly, I easily make friends with them. Both of us went to the Electrical hardware outlet and bought all the wires, switches etc. Coming home, Nazeer kept aside all his tools and sat on the cement bench. I was getting impatient and asked him why he wasn't starting the wiring. He promptly replied; "There is another half an hour to go before the Rahu Kalam of the day ends". I was surprised that even Muslims of AP observe this unholy Kalam. And I told him that I don't believe in this stuff, so he should go ahead and I would risk it. He then said quietly that the risk was not mine but his: "Electrical works with 220 Volts can be fatal, so we wouldn't take chances".
I was suitably chastised for my uppishness.
I then offered that we both go to the Tea-Shop to while away the half hour. He politely declined saying that it was the month of Ramzan.
I was again rebuked.
By the evening he finished his work beautifully, tested it and was going away. I asked him how much was his 'payment'. He said: "Whatever the shopkeeper says". I rang him up and he quoted; " Rs.300 should do sir".
But I felt he deserved more and paid him Rs. 400. He took it somewhat reluctantly and left.
Within ten minutes, he was back: "Sir, my wife asked me to at once go back and return the extra hundred: It is the Holy month of Ramzan".
I had to take back my extra hundred and pocket my impious gesture.
No comments.
Anupam and his batch tomorrow.
============================================
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
My India 14- 1950-55
===========================================
I now conclude (happily) the Rural Health Care(less) Systems in our Village:
(5) Ayurveda & Astrology:
Let me state at the outset that I have very little against Ayurveda and very much against Astrology.
We had no dedicated Ayurvedic Outlet in our Village. Our Telugu Pundit, a learned poet, also doubled as Ayurvedic helpmeet (non-profit).
He was very fond of my father (his HM) for his unworldliness, and equally fond of HM's hapless 7 closely-knit children. He himself had half a dozen talented sons, one of them my classmate-cum- topper (I as usual a close runner-up; he scored in 'presentation').
When everything failed, my mother used to trust him with his knowledge of Ayurveda. He would be summoned to our home if it was a Day-Care thing; if it was a midnight emergency, I, the lone male child would be woken up rudely and dispatched to his house for 'medicine'. It appears that sometimes, I lost my way in my sleepy state and ended up at our playground only to discover that no one had turned up yet, before I woke up fully and woke him up equally rudely. He would then fetch a tin or two of his remedies from his tool-kit, take a few chits from his stack of news-paper cuttings, pour some powder into each, fold them up typically and ask me to get lost.
The powders used to do overnight wonders. When he arrived next morning to do a possible 'post-mortem', my mother would thank him and ask him what was that wonder-drug that cured us so miraculously, he would smile and let it out that it is the same 'Pachan Churan', the tin that we already had bought from Nellore on his advice. My mother would then wonder why it didn't work till midnight. Then he would recite: "Shankhecha Tirtham" (which meant that water would be Holy Water only when it is poured out of the Holy Conch); and let it go at that.
Other than this white powder which, happily, had to be mixed in honey before administering it to its poor victim, he had only one other called; 'Bhaskar Lavan' (which is blackish and salty. I later discovered in Bengal, that Dabur used to market the same stuff in goli form called 'Hajmula' in its various avatars; the latest I am told is a 'candy' isotope).
There was of course, the Amla-based 'Chyavanpras', a very tasty addiction. Unfortunately, its marketed version was too expensive for a family of seven kids and once in a while, my father when he was in the mood to sweeten his ever-testy HM temper. And all efforts to make it at home came to naught. Everyone knew its ingredients and proportions, but the making it up is a trade-secret (like a popular teacher who teaches from the same damn book, but it turns out quite different). In Jalgaon, they had an avatar of pure amla in the from of the usual supari, but hardly a substitute either to supari or Chyavanpras.
The trouble with Village Ayurvedic Pundits was that they used to dabble in Astrology too and mix the two up into an incestuous concoction.
I have nothing against pure occult practices, like palmistry, numerology, face-reading, planchet etc, but I have a grouse against Astrology. Because it an Impostor. A Pretender. It masks itself as a Science. It invokes well-known planetary positions that are part of observational astronomy and could be found in any good almanac. Then it ascribes to planets all sorts of occult powers over poor human beings and their mundane affairs. Confuses them with godlets. And uses simple astronomical computations to 'predict' the future of inane individuals, and also prescribe 'japas', 'homas', and rings with appropriate stones to please the planet-gods on one side and its practitioners on the other. It is no good if you buy the stone in the pavement-market. It has to be delivered by the astrologer after performing innumerable but strictly 'countable' chants to 'holify' it.
The great Urdu Poet, Ghalib Saheb is reputed to have sung: "Duniya me ******yonki kami nahi; udhar dhoondo, yahin miltey hain".
I have a running battle with all my AP kith and kin about this pathology. Every AP Brahmin kid is born free...but the Family Astrologer takes over soon after and dumps on it a 'kundali' which it has to wear like an albatross around its neck till Death and Beyond. It is chained forever and forever...most importantly during searches for alliances. I have known kids born under some 'unholy stars' prohibited to marry into normal families (one shouldn't have mom-in-law, the other pop-in-law, another brother-in-law et al) and ever left to fend for themselves. Nothing can be more cruel than kundalis. I fought against it bitterly in my father's family, but to little effect. I am completely alienated, but I am happy for it and don't repent.
Such is the cruel impact of smuggling Physics (Astronomy) as God.
But I find recently a much worse tendency to smuggle God into Physics, starting from Einstein downwards or upwards depending on your position of observation.
I had a neat thing with God all through my life. Many used to ask me point blank if I am a Theist or Atheist. I would say I am an Escapist. The Ram Bhaktas of IIT KGP used to pin me down and demand: "Do you believe in Raam as God or no?". I used to answer; "Sometimes". When asked to elaborate, I would say: "When convenient", such as promotion or marriage or worse its consummation happen to crucially depend on it. (Believe it or not, it is true!).
I see no reason why anyone should try to pin me down on a thing on which I happen to have no opinion.
Once I was reciting some very beautiful slokas from Brihadaranyak Upanishad to DB. Then he tried to pin me down if the said Upanishad resolves the Problem of Evil and injustices such as infant mortality.
I replied that they are not the subject matter of the Text.
Being a physicist, he immediately understood and appreciated what I meant: like asking his Gel'fand's books what they say about Ayurvedic drugs.
Anyway, so much about God.
I have a thing or two to say about Solar Eclipse, Anupam Mazumdar's quirky Batch and pin-hole camera....which is deferred to tomorrow's Blog as Volume II of this Post (if I and my intermittent net-connection survive till then...
So long!
===========================================
I now conclude (happily) the Rural Health Care(less) Systems in our Village:
(5) Ayurveda & Astrology:
Let me state at the outset that I have very little against Ayurveda and very much against Astrology.
We had no dedicated Ayurvedic Outlet in our Village. Our Telugu Pundit, a learned poet, also doubled as Ayurvedic helpmeet (non-profit).
He was very fond of my father (his HM) for his unworldliness, and equally fond of HM's hapless 7 closely-knit children. He himself had half a dozen talented sons, one of them my classmate-cum- topper (I as usual a close runner-up; he scored in 'presentation').
When everything failed, my mother used to trust him with his knowledge of Ayurveda. He would be summoned to our home if it was a Day-Care thing; if it was a midnight emergency, I, the lone male child would be woken up rudely and dispatched to his house for 'medicine'. It appears that sometimes, I lost my way in my sleepy state and ended up at our playground only to discover that no one had turned up yet, before I woke up fully and woke him up equally rudely. He would then fetch a tin or two of his remedies from his tool-kit, take a few chits from his stack of news-paper cuttings, pour some powder into each, fold them up typically and ask me to get lost.
The powders used to do overnight wonders. When he arrived next morning to do a possible 'post-mortem', my mother would thank him and ask him what was that wonder-drug that cured us so miraculously, he would smile and let it out that it is the same 'Pachan Churan', the tin that we already had bought from Nellore on his advice. My mother would then wonder why it didn't work till midnight. Then he would recite: "Shankhecha Tirtham" (which meant that water would be Holy Water only when it is poured out of the Holy Conch); and let it go at that.
Other than this white powder which, happily, had to be mixed in honey before administering it to its poor victim, he had only one other called; 'Bhaskar Lavan' (which is blackish and salty. I later discovered in Bengal, that Dabur used to market the same stuff in goli form called 'Hajmula' in its various avatars; the latest I am told is a 'candy' isotope).
There was of course, the Amla-based 'Chyavanpras', a very tasty addiction. Unfortunately, its marketed version was too expensive for a family of seven kids and once in a while, my father when he was in the mood to sweeten his ever-testy HM temper. And all efforts to make it at home came to naught. Everyone knew its ingredients and proportions, but the making it up is a trade-secret (like a popular teacher who teaches from the same damn book, but it turns out quite different). In Jalgaon, they had an avatar of pure amla in the from of the usual supari, but hardly a substitute either to supari or Chyavanpras.
The trouble with Village Ayurvedic Pundits was that they used to dabble in Astrology too and mix the two up into an incestuous concoction.
I have nothing against pure occult practices, like palmistry, numerology, face-reading, planchet etc, but I have a grouse against Astrology. Because it an Impostor. A Pretender. It masks itself as a Science. It invokes well-known planetary positions that are part of observational astronomy and could be found in any good almanac. Then it ascribes to planets all sorts of occult powers over poor human beings and their mundane affairs. Confuses them with godlets. And uses simple astronomical computations to 'predict' the future of inane individuals, and also prescribe 'japas', 'homas', and rings with appropriate stones to please the planet-gods on one side and its practitioners on the other. It is no good if you buy the stone in the pavement-market. It has to be delivered by the astrologer after performing innumerable but strictly 'countable' chants to 'holify' it.
The great Urdu Poet, Ghalib Saheb is reputed to have sung: "Duniya me ******yonki kami nahi; udhar dhoondo, yahin miltey hain".
I have a running battle with all my AP kith and kin about this pathology. Every AP Brahmin kid is born free...but the Family Astrologer takes over soon after and dumps on it a 'kundali' which it has to wear like an albatross around its neck till Death and Beyond. It is chained forever and forever...most importantly during searches for alliances. I have known kids born under some 'unholy stars' prohibited to marry into normal families (one shouldn't have mom-in-law, the other pop-in-law, another brother-in-law et al) and ever left to fend for themselves. Nothing can be more cruel than kundalis. I fought against it bitterly in my father's family, but to little effect. I am completely alienated, but I am happy for it and don't repent.
Such is the cruel impact of smuggling Physics (Astronomy) as God.
But I find recently a much worse tendency to smuggle God into Physics, starting from Einstein downwards or upwards depending on your position of observation.
I had a neat thing with God all through my life. Many used to ask me point blank if I am a Theist or Atheist. I would say I am an Escapist. The Ram Bhaktas of IIT KGP used to pin me down and demand: "Do you believe in Raam as God or no?". I used to answer; "Sometimes". When asked to elaborate, I would say: "When convenient", such as promotion or marriage or worse its consummation happen to crucially depend on it. (Believe it or not, it is true!).
I see no reason why anyone should try to pin me down on a thing on which I happen to have no opinion.
Once I was reciting some very beautiful slokas from Brihadaranyak Upanishad to DB. Then he tried to pin me down if the said Upanishad resolves the Problem of Evil and injustices such as infant mortality.
I replied that they are not the subject matter of the Text.
Being a physicist, he immediately understood and appreciated what I meant: like asking his Gel'fand's books what they say about Ayurvedic drugs.
Anyway, so much about God.
I have a thing or two to say about Solar Eclipse, Anupam Mazumdar's quirky Batch and pin-hole camera....which is deferred to tomorrow's Blog as Volume II of this Post (if I and my intermittent net-connection survive till then...
So long!
===========================================
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