What Are We Looking At ?

Hi,
well,
Last Night,
I was walking back to my rooms. There was a family walking a few paces ahead of me: husband, wife and their five-yr old son walking in between them.

Road ahead was a straight one. It was a clear night. A full moon had risen just above the horizon. It was a beautiful sight... and I was looking at it mesmerized.

The kid too must have seen it, because he exclaimed," Baba to bagha chaandoba !!"

The father murmured something, but the mother shouted,'' arre neeT khaali baghun chaal.... dhaDpaDshil naahitarr !!"

The Result
.. was that the kid never once looked up at the sky till they reached their apartment.

I felt a bit sorry for the kid, and a bit angry towards the lady. No doubt her reprimand had come out of concern for her child. but in doing so, she had prevented him from savouring one of the beautiful sights in the world.

What would have happened at most, the boy might have stumbled on to something and might have had a fall. But parents were there to take are of that.

Speaking Metaphorically
... when we are looking at only at the obstacles in our path, we often lose sight of our true goal.
But if we are focused on our goals, there is God with us to care our care.

Yours,
Gautam.

Kitchen ki Duniya mein pehla kadam !!

Hi,

Well, my shift from living as a PG to an independent residence has introduced me to an area with which I had not bothered to familiarize myself so far.

Swayampaak-ghar ... rasoi ... kitchen.

Being an Industrial Chemist, I set out with the air of a lab-student about to do an experiment.... setting up the apparatus , preparing the basic ingredients, following procedure step by step, and finally testing the product to confirm whether it turned out to be the one which was originally intended.

For first couple of days, I brushed up the basics... making tea and coffee, and fixing up an occasional limbu-sarbat. Next I moved on to the advanced topic... the meal. After a lot of trial n errors, I succeeded in preparing what I consider a minimal diet for me... varaN- bhaat, baTaTa bhaaji, paapaD, loNche and koshimbir. I can survive on this for years together. (paapaD & loNche are imported straight from Goa. I have not yet reconciled with their Puneri versions).

Earlier I had great doubts whether I would survive these experiments, or indeed whether I ought to bother myself in cooking rather than ordering a tiffin. But now, my attitude has changed !! In fact, I have begun to enjoy cooking.

Even simple things like the boiling of water, or the gradual forming of cream (saay) over hot milk, or the variation in the sounds of cooker as the steam cools down, is real interesting to note, if one only cares to do so.

Our Organic Chemistry professor, Dr Mallik once remarked to girls during an experiment, " Do not be scared of lab work... after all, your kitchen is nothing but a laboratory where you carry out complex organic reactions on a daily basis."

In my case, it's been the other way round... chemistry background has paved the way for an enjoyable time in kitchen... the only difference being that, I find giving foDNee a tougher task than carrying out nitration of sulphuric acid.

Here is a Chemist's approach to preparing a simple dish.

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Aim: To prepare KhichDee - E- Rice

Apparatus: kaDhaee (reactor vessel), a big spatula, a pair of tongues, Burner

Materials: Rice, Daal, Mirchee, Potato, Tomato, Onion, Oil,

Chemicals: Sodium Chloride (crystalline or amorphous), Liquefied H2O, Source of LPG.

Procedure:

1. Mix Rice & Daal in the ratio 3:1

2. Wash the above mixture with liquefied H2O. Remove any suspended impurities .Drain off the excess liquid.

3. Cut Mirchee, Potato, kothimbir, Tomato & Onion into small pieces.
4. FoDNee:

a> Keep reactor vessel on the burner. Switch on the source of Liquefied Natural Gas.

b> Add a small quantity of oil.

c> Until it boils, make a mixture of Jirre + Mohri + HaLad + Hing.

d> Add the above mixture to the reactor vessel as soon as oil begins to boil.

5. Immediately add the mixture of Rice and Daal and also the cut pieces of mirchee, etc. to the reactor.

6. Hold reactor steady with a pair of tongues( pakkaD) and stir vigorously the contents with help of spatula for 60 seconds.

7. Add a cup of liquefied H20 and a pinch of Sodium Chloride to the reactor vessel.

8. Stir again for about 120 seconds.

9. Allow the mixture to heat on medium to strong flame for about 10 minutes.

10. After the product is formed (indicated by spicy odour and fluffy nature of rice grains), the reaction is said to have reached the end-point.

Caution : USE ONLY A COMPLETELY DRY REACTOR VESSEL. PRESENCE OF DIHYROGEN MONOXIDE (H20) LEADS TO VIGOROUS INTERACTION WITH HOT OIL.

Precautions:

1. FoDNee is an exothermic process, accompanied by audio-visual effects. Keep children away from premises.

2. Do not forget to switch off the source of burner flame after reaction terminates. Failure to do so may prove hazardous to life and property.

3. Quality- assurance tests must be carried out before the product is sent for consumption by humans.

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Yours,

Gautam.

Book Reviews : Non Fiction

Krushna-Vivar

Mohan Apte

Rajhans Prakaashan
It explains the concept of black-holes in a great detail. Anyone who has done his/her 12th science and has read a bit about these stellar objects will not have any difficulty in grasping the concepts. Marathi needs more such books which give in-depth information without being too hard to language.
Some other books ( in English ) which I would very strongly recommend on blackholes are:
1. "Frozen Star" : George Greenstein

This is an excellently beautiful book, which explains all ideas right from novas, supernovas, neutron-stars, pulsars, black-holes, worm-holes.. A very, very, very good book...in fact I have a personal copy of it.
2."Mathematical Theory of Black Holes ": S. Chandrasekhar

I have glanced thru this ... It is very hi-funda, with loads of math equations.

3."Collapsing Universe": Isaac Asimov

Written in his impeccable style, the book makes an enchanting read.

4. A Brief History of Time: Stephen Hawking

Although not exclusively about black-holes, it is easy to understand. the entire book contains just one equation: E= mc^2.

5. Seven Wonders of Cosmos: Jayant Narlikar

A bit mathematically-loaded, it discusses some of the most exotic phenomena in outer space such as black-holes and quasars.

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The 9/11 Report

Thomas H. Kean & Lee H Hamilton

St Martins Press
It gives a complete report of the circumstances surrounding the terrorist attacks on WTC. It is supplemented with analysis and reporting by the New York Times . The language is matter-of-fact, clinical and without any added drama.

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Well, I came across this book and felt vindicated, since it provides a solid factual support for something I have been thinking all along.
Samagra Maate Narmade [Marathi]

- Dr Dattaprasad Dabholkar
This book gives an exhaustive account of the 'struggle' for Narmada Bachao Andolan... the socio-political as well as historical and geological background, the cause and effect and how it was lead by Medha Patkar, Sundarlal Bahuguna and other social activists, including Arundhati Roy. After reading the book one can't help but be dismayed by how a well-meant campaign has been lead astray by few people who are not ready to push up their ideological 'burkhaas' and look at the practical aspects without getting emotionally charged.

While in college, a debate broke out on this issue. Myself and another boy Sanath Barve were the only two who had taken a stand against Narmada Bachao Andolan. Rest of the entire class had rallied against us, crying hoarse in name of people dis-located from their homes and environmental hazards resulting due to such big projects.

I am not saying that projects should be set up at the cost of lives and property of innocent people. Indeed they ought to get more than sufficient re-imbursement for their troubles... but when the activists say that NO TO BIG DAMS, NO TO ATOMIC POWER STATIONS,.... well, someone like me begins to have serious doubts.

As mentioned in the book, Supreme Court of India, while rejecting the appeal of Narmada Bachao Samiti, remarked, "It was not a public interest litigation, but a publicity interest litigation."

As a person I have much respect for the social activists mentioned here.. Medha-ji, Sundarlal-ji, also our own Anna Hazaare-ji. These people are gold in themselves... but when they allow willy politicians to make use of them... well, that's when things begin to go wrong.

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Baaraala Dahaa Kami [ Marathi ]

( Ten Minutes to Twelve O'clock)

- Padmaja Phatak, Madhav Nerurkar

Rajhans Publications

The book gives a detailed sketch of efforts leading to developement of the atombomb ( the Manhattan Project) as well as the developement of the hydrogen bomb (code-named the "Super").It discusses in detail the life-histories of the leading scientists like Robert Oppenheimer, Edward Taylor, John von Neumann, Leo Szilard, Enrico Fermi, Hans Beta,Otto Hann, Enrico Fermi and scores of others, whose contribution in these two projects has been rather unknown to the general public.It's a wonderful book, one of the most well-researched in Marathi (at least in my humble opinion ) and a must-have for every well-equipped library.Do read it...Apart from imparting scientific & historical knowledge, it also makes us aware of our conscience and our collective responsibilty towards the humanity.

There is another book, "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns" By Robert Yung, on the same subject. I have not read it, but just gone thru and found it equally interesting.

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ManWatching

Auhtor : Desmond Morris

Publication: Triad Grafton

Category : Anthropology

The book is about human actions, how actions become gestures, and how gestures transmit non-verbal messages.

It describes a whole range of our day-to day actions, gestures, movements, signs & signals-- most of which we perform sub-consciously. He explains how people from different communities behave in public and in private, and also analyzes the fundamental patterns which govern typical actions-reactions. Packed with almost a hundred diagrams, sketches and photographs, the book makes us aware of the fact that as a species we may have advanced technologically, but we have not yet entirely shed our 'animal' traits of being bodily active.

After reading this book, a big change has come over me. Now whenever I meet a person, my attention gets focused on firmness and duration of the shake-hand, the way he is folding his hands, distance between his legs, body tension, inclination of his head, the number of times he scratches his head or touches his nose, whether he gives a hearty laughter or a political smile, and such bizarre details.

So if anyone among you happens to meet me (I very much doubt this), don't feel uneasy. I am just putting the theory into practice, ha!!

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Here is a book on the probability theory.

A Matter of Chance

- K. D. Pawte

Publication of Information Directorate, C.S.I.R.

Probability theory has wide-spread applications in almost all spheres of human endeavor. Pure Science, Technology, Industries, Military, Management and HR.... all fields make extensive use of a number of mathematical techniques and models to achieve optimum efficiency.It is also has ample significance in our day-to-day life, esp in sports.

The book gives an introductory approach to various concepts in this expanding field. It begins with basic definitions such as sample point/space, chance, reliability, relative frequency, randomness, events, permutations & combinations, operational curve, tree diagrams,....etc.; moving on to advanced concepts such as conditional probability, Bernoulli Trials, Pascal Distribution, Binomial distribution, Poisson distribution, Gaussian distribution, Markov Process, and so on. Next come thevarious applications of the probability theory, such as applications in Newtonian Physics, Sensitivity studies,MTBF, MTTF, PERT, Queuing theory, and Operations Research. The last part is devoted to applications in cutting-edge fields such as Genetics and Quantum Theory.

Although the book does require some background in mathematics and statistics, with a little effort any one can make the subject matter easy.

A Marathi translation of this book is also available and is as good as the original one.

Sambhav- Asambhav

Translated byDr Pramod Joglekar

Mehta Publishing House

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Aswastha dashakaachi Diary

- Avinash Dharmadhikaari

Mehta Publishing House

It details musings and wonderings.. his hopes and aspirations about India. The book makes a thoughtful reading, it make you pause and think.

It is abt gritty common man and dirty politicians

......... abt failed policies and wrong decisions.

......... abt burning Punjab and explosive NEFA..

The book is abt the REAL INDIA and it sends shivers down the spine.

If you haven't read this, grab it at the earliest.I had known Dharmadhikari-ji as able IAS officer, PA to CM, and of late as founder of Chanakya Mandal. after reading his books, you come know a different facet of the man.You may also read "1,Vijaypath" by the same author. It is a must-read for every civil service aspirant.

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Aisi Prameye Rasike ( Marathi)

- Ravindra Bapat

Rajhans Publications

This is an informative as well as intersting book about Math. it discusses almost all significant branches of modern mathematics and is full of puzzles, games and problems. Those who find math interesting are sure to like this one.

Yours,

- Gautam.