Often we face certain situations in our life when our close and dear ones would hurt us, whether intentionally or unintentionally, but it happens.
How to deal with such a situation? It hurts. Right. Definitely, it hurts. We must try to compare such a situation with an analogy of "deposits and withdrawals" in a bank. All these friends and our dears deposit plenty of good memories with us in terms of sharing, caring, and trying to help us in needy times. They became so close to us because of their frequent deposits. So, what's wrong if one particular day, they made withdraw? Can't we keep such an unusual withdraw out of context and focus on their deposits? This analogy would help us in coming out of a negative ambience which can be easily turned positive. And if a person never had deposited anything, then why bother about withdrawal. Our mindset (bank account) must be too strong to remain unaffected by such transactions. That's how our mindset must be turned positive.
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Dear Friends,
In a couple of hours from now, we will be entering the new year 2021. I would like to share an impressive quote from Mr. Hunter S. Thomson: "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" --- Hunter S. Thomson As we prepare ourselves to welcome 2021, I would like to put forward my views on - "Before we welcome 2021, let us thank 2020 first" 1. COVID took away so many lives, and we survived ..... The year 2020 was a battle between life and death, and the sole cause that dominated this battle was COVID. Many of our close friends and relatives lost their lives, but we survived. Thank God for giving us the strength to sustain this battle. We accept your blessings and will do full justice to your blessings by helping mankind in the coming years. 2. COVID changed our way of lifestyle, and we are really thankful ... Half the year, we had to close ourselves within four walls. It was a tough decision, but God compelled us to do so. In other words, almighty had pressed the "RESET" button of Nature. We never bothered about this God-gifted Nature, but COVID forcefully pressed the "PAUSE" button and forced us to meditate among ourselves, which we had forgotten otherwise. 3. Life-time Lesson - Money is not the only thing...... In Hindi we say....Mulla-Masjid daud. All the years, we had been running behind the money, but during the lockdown period, we happen to learn that Money is not the life. Definitely Not. If we had two times meals with us, we need to thank almighty for the same. No one is richer than a person, who has two times meals. Rest of the things will come and go.... 4. Value of Money, a forgotten lesson...... Each one of us is well-aware of the value of money. But the year 2020 taught us in a very hard fashion, the value of money. Had this COVID not shown its presence, gradually the new generation was forgetting the value of money in lieu of luxuries. But 2020 taught us that luxury can not replace the food. Food is our primary requirement, so is Health. In this priority list, Money was not finding its presence in the top....truly a forgotten lesson. 5. No-One cares for what you earn. They respect what you give.... Social Media became more active than anything and people started spending more and more time on various platforms. And we might have circulated more posts on the name of big industrialists like Tata, who came forward in support of COVID victims. The Health Workers, who worked like God and dedicated their lives to this battle, the battle between life and death. But the bottom line of this lesson was - no one will care for what we have earned, but they will always remember what we could give to society. 6. Importance of Local Grocery Shop and Vegetable Vendor... Weekends were earlier made for an outing. And the homely kitchens were preferred to be closed during the weekends. But a compelling lockdown made us stay within four walls. Outside dining was almost written off from the diaries of 2020. It made us cook tasty dishes within our kitchens. And the so-called ignored local grocery shops and vegetable vendors were turned like a saviour. They were truly the bread providers to us, and we must thank them sincerely. There may be many more lessons that 2020 taught us. But we must be thankful to this year for teaching us many important lessons that otherwise were ignored and forgotten. It is true that COVID brought a lot of inherent problems, but it also gave a ray of hope. A hope of opportunity. A prayer that one day we shall overcome. Togetherness for fighting the battle. And if mankind decides to stay united, no pandemic can ever affect our society. Our lives might be fragile, but a united society can battle all the wars. On these lines, let me convey my best wishes to each one of you and your family members for a very very happy and prosperous new year 2021. Happy New Year 2021. With a lot of love and prayers: Dr. D. BALA SUBRAHAMANYAM Lockdown 1.0, then 2.0, then came 3.0.
Now the Government is talking about 4.0. During the Lockdown Period, we talked enough on what the Government has done, and what the Government has not done? State Government Vs. Central Government. Should we take a break from this debate, and think about - what did we do to curtail the COVID spread? Interestingly, "(1) RIGHTS" and "(2) RESPONSIBILITY", both the words start with the same letter "R". The First word "RIGHTS" doesn't require anyone's preaching. We know more than what we are supposed to know. And we feel proud of spreading more about "RIGHTS". The Second-word "RESPONSIBILITY" comes together with the First-word. But, this is not discussed as much as the First-word. Can we sometimes share and post some messages related to our "RESPONSIBILITY"? Which side are you there ? "RIGHTS" OR "RESPONSIBILITY" ??? Social media is a hub of all sort of emotional outburst. Once upon a time when social media was not available for sharing and caring for our thoughts, people used to have personal diaries. They used to hide these Personal diaries somewhere in a secret place where no one else has access. Those were the days when we have to find an undisclosed location and alone time to write down our emotional outburst in our secret diaries. The most positive part of that era was our emotions would not harm anyone. Gone are the days now. Presently, no one has any secret diaries. Name of the girlfriends/boyfriends (in a way or other) have turned as passwords of social media accounts. Love and Hatred feelings are rather straightforward to pour to any available platform.
Presently, we are facing one of the scariest pandemics of recent time. Corona. A few days back, it was limited to one province of one country, but just like the INTERNET, now it has spread its wings all over the World. None of the nations (Literally) have remained untouched. All doctors and their team are working day and night to overcome this deadly disease. Whether it is a well-developed country or an under-developed country, the impact of Corona is harrowing. The entire globe is fighting this disease in all possible manners. Whether it is a Left Wing or the Right Wing, whether it is Government or Opposition, everyone wants to overcome this disease. And such a deadly disease can not be defeated without our united effort. We may disagree with a group of people; we may dislike the method of the approach followed by a particular party, but we must agree that all the parties are working towards the eradication of this disease. During this painful period, we all have to come out of our skins to behave like a responsible citizen. Our thinking may differ from another person's thinking. But this is not the right time to pour out emotions on social media against each other. We all must be united, and our focus must be only on - HOW TO OVERCOME THIS DEADLY DISEASE CORONA? Rest all emotional outburst can be limited to our old secret diaries. Because in my blog, I want to conclude by saying that: IF YOU CAN NOT ENCOURAGE SOMEONE DURING THE PERIOD OF GLOBAL STRUGGLE, YOU DON'T HAVE RIGHT TO DISCOURAGE ANYONE. YOU CAN NOT ENCOURAGE SOMEONE, IT'S FINE. BUT FOR GOD'S SAKE, DON'T DISCOURAGE ANYONE. Let us all pray together for the eradication of Corona from this World at the earliest. The Numbers are so alarming.
And, unfortunately the debate is going in a completely wrong direction. 1951 Cases as of now (01-Apr-2020, 2000 Hrs). Count-Up is still ON. No One Can defeat Corona, but by hiding the symptoms and hiding your travel history, definitely you can defeat the purpose of Government. We have a special task force which is chasing the probable suspects of Covid-19 in all the states. And on the other hand, we have a group of people who are running away from the missionary in the fear of being Quarantined. These groups of people are somewhere supported by a few illiterate and brain-washed people. The more they hide, the more the numbers are growing. The more they hide, the more they are transmitting the disease to society. It is the time for all citizens to remain united and fight unitedly against this Corona. Please expose your symptoms (if any). Please make your travel history transparent to Government. Being Quarantined is not a punishment, But this would be the best social service one can do, rather than spreading the disease everywhere. I am quite disappointed that a majority of social networking interactions are limited to: Who is Right, Who is Wrong ? Was it responsibility of the State Government or the Central Government ? "They" could have taken this step. "They" should have done it. So so so... Enough of such debates. We cannot fight this disease if we don't fight it unitedly. There is no LEFT or RIGHT wing in this battle. It is not about ruling front and the opposition. It is not about a religion, it is not about the timing. It is not about our individual problems. THIS IS ALL ABOUT OUR RESPONSIBILITIES. BE A RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN AND HELP GOVERNMENT IN FIGHTING THIS DEADLY DISEASE. If we don't fight this disease unitedly, this disease will eat all of us away. The growing numbers will keep growing. Unless we act now, we can't make the curve flat. If we succeed in this battle, we will be having ample of time to debate..Left Vs. Right, Government Vs. Opposition, State Vs. Centre. And if we fail...., THINK VERY VERY CAUTIOUSLY ABOUT .."IF WE FAIL ?".... One of the biggest democratic countries in the world - INDIA has finally chosen its new Government. Earlier days, the elections were done through ballot papers, but with changing and advancing technology, the process of election has gone DIGITAL, Now we have Electronic Voting Machines (EVM)s. The entire process of election is based on belief of billions of people. There may be versions that EVMs can be tampered with. But these machines are subjected to extremely tough review systems and are released only after taking into account of all probable pros and cons.
I am not writing any details on whether or not these EVMs can be hacked. No, my intention is certainly not to drag the discussion in this direction. So, I will take a help of a small story. In my village, we had a small Ganapathy Temple on top of the mountain quite close to my school. My Hindu friends invariably will visit that temple and offer their prayers. We had so many friends from other religion as well, even though they would not visit our temple, but they will respect our faith and belief. Whether to visit temple or not is just the matter of belief. Nobody can / must question that belief. Afterall, none of us have seen any God moving around that temple. It is just our belief and we pray that Lord Ganapathy resides in that temple. WE offer our prayers with full belief. Being a Hindu, how will you feel if somebody questions your belief ? FAITH doesn't have any evidences to be proven correct or wrong. So is the case with EVMs. For all said and done, if a voter is made to believe that these EVMs can be hacked. What would be your view on a person standing in the hot Sun, waiting for his turn to vote. A old lady, who stood in the voters' que till late night to get her turn to vote. Or a first-time voter who went all the way in the morning itself to cast his vote ? Are we here to make fool of all these voters to convince them that EVMs can be hacked ? If the philosophy of EVM hack is trust-worthy, then why is it that about 65% to 80% of voters still cast their votes standing in que ? Are we not questioning the belief of these voters ? When a certain party WINS an election, the EVMs are functioning correctly, and when they loose, the entire blame on the EVMs. The group of people who are very well convinced that the EVMs can be hacked .... they must completely boycott the election, and when their number increases by more than 50%, then only it can be believed that EVMs are faulty. As long as a large population of voters have belief in voting (as seen through the percentage of polling), the EVMs must not be looked with suspicion. Voters have their views very very clear.......they believe EVMs, and that is why they are casting their votes. But to a great surprise to me, several leaders who question EVMs, they never boycott election. They never exit the election. They actually contest the election, they cast their votes, they do all possible things to win the election, and when nothing works in their favour, they question EVMs. These leaders are called the NEGATIVE LEADERS and I am quite happy that 2019 elections has taught a convincing lesson to them. Having attached to the Indian Space Research Organization for more than two decades, I happen to associate most of our day-to-day activities in terms of the Rocket Launches.
Today, one of my students Mr. Freddy P. Paul made me proud as he received the YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARD at NCSAS Conference, Kolhapur. Well done Freddy. Hearty Congratulations. It was quite heartening that many of my colleagues intentionally or unintentionally congratulated me too. I duly appreciate and accept your blessings. Having said that - if I look at the TEACHER-STUDENT relationship (particularly PhD Guide and a Research Scholar), I can very easily compare this relationship as very similar to our Three-Stage GSLV Rocket Launcher. To make the terminology more simpler, let me mention that GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) is a three-stage rocket launcher. The First stage of the rocket is a SOLID ROCKET MOTOR which is capable of providing a thrust of about 4700 kN. We use VIKAS ENGINE, a liquid engine as the second stage which is derived from PSLV's PS2 engine. The second stage provides a thrust of about 800 kN. The third stage of the GSLV is a CRYOGENIC UPPER STAGE, which was initially imported from Russia, but over the years ISRO has started developing this stage ingeniously. Third and final stage, the CUS has potential to provide thrust of about 75 kN. The first stage burns for about 100 to 110 sec, whereas the second stage burns for about 150 seconds. The third and final CUS burns for about 720 seconds. The GSLV is also equipped with strap-on motors which burns for about 160 seconds. If we very carefully look at the growth of a child from a toddler to Pre-KG, LKG, UKG, Primary School, Middle School, High School, Higher Secondary School, Graduation, Post-Graduation, and so on.....we can categorize them in different stages. FIRST STAGE (MOTHER): Starting from the conception of a child, as the fetus begins its journey in a mother's womb, the baby undergoes guidance and navigation through mother. Once the baby is born, the MOTHER feeds him the first MILK, as the baby finds the new world not a comfortable zone as against the WOMB, he CRIES, he CRIES A LOUD. The enormous LIGHT appeals to his eyes, the sound, the surrounding, everything appears new to him. And He prefers to CRY, and MOTHER'S caressing nature makes him comfortable. Isn't it the same work done by our FIRST STAGE OF THE ROCKET ? It works against all the gravity. It provides maximum possible thrust to the rocket. A MOTHER also works against all the ODDS to make the baby comfortable in the new world. The FATHER, SIBLINGS, ALL RELATIVES AND FRIENDS are like the Strap-On motors. They stay with the baby, but only provide additional support through Mother to the Baby. Nobody other than a MOTHER provide the maximum possible thrust to the Baby, hence I have found a MOTHER equivalent to the first stage of rocket in all the possible means. SECOND STAGE (PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS): Once the baby attains a reasonable intelligence and is declared FIT for primary schooling, the required thrust is provided by the Primary School Teachers. Unlike the first stage, this is a liquid stage, and so are the teachers. They adopt all kids in an uniform fashion. They provide the seed of education to the baby. Since a baby is already learned talking and speaking, they need not provide as much thrust as the first stage, but they must perform. A failure in this stage can lead to disasters. Therefore, the burning stage of second motor is larger than the first stage. During this stage, the teachers take whole responsibility of carrying the student from Primary schooling to Graduation and still Higher-Studies level. The process is naturally lengthy, but the student is provided with all possible comfort (similar to the heat shield), and is taken to a more challenging place. Thus, in all the means and in all the analogous comparison, I find PRIMARY SCHOOL AND HIGH-SCHOOL TEACHERS very much similar to the SECOND STAGE of the Rocket. Having described the FIRST AND SECOND STAGE of the rocket, not all the students opt for Doctorate. So the explanation of third stage differs in case to case. THIRD STATE (OUR CAREER MENTORS): During the lengthy process of our education, all the students develop a certain compassion towards one fields, or one discipline of career. Choice of such decision is mostly done under the influence of a ROLE MODEL or A MENTOR. The main purpose of this THIRD STAGE is to take the student out from the Schooling and to expose him/her to a zero gravity field where he/she can sustain on its own. And under the influence of proper navigation and guidance, the student (satellite) attains its real ORBIT. THIRD STAGE (PhD Guides): Now, let me come back to the primary objective of my blog .... Teacher - Student, or to be more precise (PhD thesis supervisor - Research Scholar relationship) can be very perfectly compared with the CUS stage of the GSLV. For the foremost reason, the burn out period of CUS is about 720 seconds, almost 6 to 7 times more than the FIRST of SECOND stage. Apparently, a PhD student does not spend 6 to 7 times more than the schooling, but following the Einstein's relativity principle, these years of PhD apparently become equivalent to decades. Each month of PhD period appears like years (Until the PhD is over). Burn out of CUS never gets over, so is the iterations of PhD research work. It keep on undergoing changes and frequent modifications. And Unfortunately, all the burn out period of CUS is not measured against its performance, the ultimate goal of the CUS is to take the satellite from second stage to the final orbit. Till the second stage, the weight of a student is carried by the 1st and 2nd stage motors, but as the first and second stage burn out is over, both the stages cut themselves OFF and leave the rest of the responsibility on the CUS. So is the responsibility of a PhD supervisor. Being a PhD supervisor, you can not expect to throw away the satellite (student) anywhere, first because the lengthy burn out time is a time, where the process of lifting the student from the level of Post-Graduation to a Doctorate is carried out. The process of burn out of CUS may certainly sound long, but it need to be immaculate and too precise in ejection of the satellite in final orbit. A PhD Guide must shield the satellite from the rest of the atmosphere and disturbances for the whole burn out period. And finally, when the burn out of CUS is over, the satellite is ejected to its desired orbit. Now, let us also discuss some valid points: 1. Assume a rocket launch is failed, do we ever pin-point that the mission failed because of this particular module ? Answer is NO - We take collective responsibility and try to correct the faulty module. And in real life too, we must follow the same doctrine. 2. If a Satellite fails in its orbit, do we ever blame the rocket launcher ? Answer is NO - Hence, being a student we must learn to perform on our own. Try to grab the maximum possible knowledge from each of the stages, and go to your desired orbit with maximum possible knowledge. Your sustenance will be judged by your own performance, and not by the launcher's performance. 3. When a satellite is ejected properly, do we give credit to CUS ? Answe can be YES or NO. But my take-home message from this question is - the CUS is expected to launch a satellite in the desired orbit. Neither the satellite must be ejected in an early orbit, or in an elevated orbit. The CUS must take a balance to make the ejection of satellite in correct orbit. More over, irrespective of the credits or blame, the CUS must perform its duty to the best of its limit. Eventually, it gives enormous pleasure to me to receive good words from all whenever my student performs well. But I always take it as my responsibility to do my job. The profession of teaching is the most respected profession and it comes with lot of responsibility too. We must maintain a good balance between the anger and the love, the right and the wrong, emotions and the decisions, knowledge and the pride, politeness vs. acceptance. Writing a long blog is my inherent quality. Some of you may get bored, and some of you may enjoy. But I certainly enjoyed sharing my philosophical thoughts. Good Luck and Happy Reading.... "Some time ago I received a call from a colleague. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physics question, while the student claimed a perfect score. The instructor and the student agreed to an impartial arbiter, and I was selected. I read the examination question:
Question: show how is it possible to determine the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer. The student had answered, "Take the barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rope to it,lower it to the street, and then bring the rope up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of the rope is the height of the building." The student really had a strong case for full credit since he had really answered the question completely and correctly! On the other hand, if full credit were given, it could well contribute to a high grade in his physics course and to certify competence in physics, but the answer did not confirm this. I suggested that the student have another try. I gave the student six minutes to answer the question with the warning that the answer should show some knowledge of physics. At the end of five minutes, he had not written anything. I asked if he wished to give up, but he said he had many answers to this problem; he was just thinking of the best one. I excused myself for interrupting him and asked him to please go on. In the next minute, he dashed off his answer which read: "Take the barometer to the top of the building and lean over the edge of the roof. Drop the barometer, timing its fall with a stopwatch. Then, using the formula x=0.5*a*t^^2, calculate the height of the building." At this point, I asked my colleague if he would give up. He conceded, and gave the student almost full credit. While leaving my colleague's office, I recalled that the student had said that he had other answers to the problem, so I asked him what they were. "Well," said the student, "there are many ways of getting the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer. For example, you could take the barometer out on a sunny day and measure the height of the barometer, the length of its shadow,and the length of the shadow of the building, and by the use of simple proportion, determine the height of the building." "Fine," I said, "and others?" "Yes," said the student, "there is a very basic measurement method you will like. In this method, you take the barometer and begin to walk up the stairs. As you climb the stairs, you mark off the length of the barometer along the wall. You then count the number of marks, and this will give you the height of the building in barometer units." "A very direct method." "Of course. If you want a more sophisticated method, you can tie the barometer to the end of a string, swing it as a pendulum, and determine the value of g at the street level and at the top of the building. From the difference between the two values of g, the height of the building, in principle, can be calculated." "On this same tact, you could take the barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rope to it, lower it to just above the street, and then swing it as a pendulum. You could then calculate the height of the building by the period of the precession". "Finally," he concluded, "there are many other ways of solving the problem. Probably the best," he said, "is to take the barometer to the basement and knock on the superintendent's door. When the superintendent answers, you speak to him as follows:'Mr. Superintendent, here is a fine barometer. If you will tell me the height of the building, I will give you this barometer." At this point, I asked the student if he really did not know the conventional answer to this question. He admitted that he did, but said that he was fed up with high school and college instructors trying to teach him how to think. The student was Neils Bohr and the arbiter was Ernest Rutherford. "Truly Amazing Story" Indeed an amazing story. I am sure, many of us might have come across this story either through a forwarded e-mail or through some other source. But we have got many lessons to learn: (1) If you are sitting on a position where many people report to you, then you should keep your mind open. Lets remember that - there is not a single solution to any problem. Solutions can be many. Do welcome all of them. (2) If you are being asked to solve a problem. Do not follow just a traditional approach always. There may be many more ways. Explore them. --- SUBBU. |
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