Photonic AkashVani

2003-04-26T06:42:00.000-07:00

Seasons of life

I reveled in the sun
I splashed in the rain
I relished the winter
But as the sky turns violet
And dusk veils the heavens
I wish to return home
Just wish to return home

2003-04-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

Space Time...curved or not?

Accompanied Cypher to the library the other day, and picked up this book called “Einstein’s Universe” by A. Zee(quite a name)…its been a very slow read, what with the exams and all, in fact some people suggested “exams aane wale hain, abhi kyon le raha hai” but I was like, what the hell let me just issue it anyways…

Yeah so I have been reading this book, it generally talks about the theories involving the contemporary universe and how it came to be so…basically everyday phenomenon that we all observe but are too busy to think about, and then it just builds on these facts to go on to the more complex phenomena such as curvature of space time and black holes.
The phenomenon of curvature of space time really interests me, ever since I heard about it I have wondered “how can the space be curved?”, I mean then everything would be curved right? Very hard to imagine…but the author has given an excellent analogy, consider a drawing of a creature who lives in a 2D space, i.e. just take a piece of paper and draw and animal on it, now when you bend the piece of paper, in effect the creature’s space is curved but there is no way for the creature to actually jump out of its universe and observe it. I found this concept pretty intriguing…
And another thing, the very basis of the curvature of space time is that we use light to measure long distances and that light bends under the influence of gravity? Now I found this analysis very flimsy…what if there was a beam of particles with the same speed as light but at the same time did not undergo deviation under the effect of a gravitational field…wouldn’t that change the whole scenario then??? So we have not discovered any particle beam like the one mentioned above, but what if….
Another fact that surprised me is that it does not take rocket science, but simplest of the equations we learnt in XI and XII standard to deduce these theories…I guess it’s just the vision that is required. Here, I am in no way trying to belittle the efforts of all the scientists who have formulated these theories, I respect them duly.

What I particularly liked about this book is that the author has managed to put forward all these complexities in a relatively simple manner, using relevant analogies to convey his ideas effectively, all in all making it a pretty good read for the interested…

2003-04-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to my parents, who mean the world and more to me...

We are in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), its early morning; the snow fall from the previous night has cast a white shimmering blanket over the city. My mother is pulling me along on a sledge; I am lost in my own rhythm enjoying the warmth of the morning sun, watching the sledge cut through the snow. I am on my way to my Jyetskisad (Kindergarten School)

This is but one of the fondest memories of my childhood and I can't seem to remember any without my parents in it.

Since the time I gained senses I have known my parents to be always by my side, they have loved me, guided me, encouraged me, inspired me and have influenced my life in ways I cannot even out in words, what follows is a feeble attempt at this leviathan task ...

I will never forget how when I ask her "Mummy marble cake bana do, please", or "aaj khaane mein chhole bhature" my mother spends those extra hours in the kitchen to fulfill my request.
Neither will I forget how my father drove 13 Kms every alternate day after work to pick me up form my coaching classes, just so I wouldn't have to go through the ordeal of having to travel in the bus at the end of the day.

Even as I start to ponder over the question...
"What has been the role of my parents in my life?"
I am overwhelmed at how much my parents have sacrificed for me and my sister's sake.
Every bit of who I am today is because some where down the lane my father encouraged me to be so, every bit of my achievements can be attributed to the fact that my mother worked through sleepless nights with me, occasionally making me that wonderful cup of tea in the wee hours of the morning, I realize now that it was not the tea but the love and encouragement that came with every cup, which gave me the zeal to work.

"Mummy, even though she herself was not literate, always tried her best to give us the best possible education" my mother told me when I started preparing for IITJEE "and that's what I have worked for with you." Those words have had a very strong impact on me, probably for the fact that my grandma passed away when my mother was relatively young. True to her word my mother has never compromised when it came to me and my sister's education; she's always been there to help with the studies, whether it's the simple multiplication problem or the complex Ketone reaction, I still remember how she taught me the unitary method in her own way, I use it to date.

"Always look at the brighter side" my father tells. My father is my mentor; he's taught me how to look at everything form a rational, logical and practical perspective. His way of handling situations; his calmness even though the most heated arguments; his capability of analyzing literally anything, right to the roots, and putting down its pros and cons has never ceased to amaze me. Those evening walks with him, discussing just about anything and every thing have made me a wiser person.
"I can only talk from my experiences, you can choose to learn from them" that's what he maintains. He instills me a realistic approach, the rationale to rejoice victory but not drown in it and the power to accept defeat, and making a learning experience out of it.
"My dadaji was a poor man; he used to live in a village and ran a printing press for livelihood. My father managed to make it to Lucknow, a big achievement considering that Lucknow was the capital of the sate and a metropolitan. I made it to New Delhi
You are well on your way to continue the tradition"
Mentioned my father a few days before the JEE at the dinner table. These words will never cease to encourage and inspire me.

A shlok in Sanskrit talks about the troubles that one's parents go through in the upbringing of a child and that the child should serve his parents in any possible was possible, because he would never be able to repay his parents for their sacrifices, he is indebted to them for eternity.
Sometimes I spend sleepless nights questioning myself if I would live up to what my parents want me to be, this thought even scares me sometimes, I shudder at the thought of my parents dreams being shattered because of my failure. Because the best way of repaying, if that is what it can be called at all, ,my parents is to grow up to be what they wanted me to be. This is the driving force in my life, I try my best at anything I take up, because if nothing else I owe it to my parents, and that's reason enough.

So coming back to the original question, this is how I found an answer...

The panditji in the close by Hanuman Mandir asked me one day,

"Tumne kabhi Bhagwan ko dekha hai?"

"nahin...", I replied.

"Sach mein? Maine to dekha hai."

"aapne Bhagwan ko dekha hai?", I asked with obvious surprise

"haan, dhyaan se dekho tumhe bhi dikhenge"

I guess the quizzical look on my face, told him not to expect an answer.

"dekho woh rahe bhagwan..." he said gesturing to my parents.

I finally had an answer to my question; I see every form of god in my parents. Yes, that's the role of my parents in my life.

"Manhar ko bachpan se mandiron se bada lagaav hai, jo bhi naya mandir dekhta hai, us mein jana chahata hai",my mother often mentions.
I used to wondered, how could I possibly be fascinated by Mandirs even before I realised their significance.
But then I guess I saw my parent's reflection in the gods.

2003-03-12T22:17:00.000-08:00

ET - Day...?

So, this is what americans are upto, besides being hell bent on attacking Iraq for 'liberating its people' as Mr. Cohen put it, anyways thats not so important, what is important is that they are kind enough to consider designating day for Extra Terrestrials...

Dan Foley, a Republican from Roswell, New Mexico, the area where some say aliens landed, proposed an "Extra-terrestrial Culture Day" every second Thursday in February.

Mr Foley asked for the bill "in recognition of the many visitations, sightings, unexplained mysteries and technological advances... of alien beings" in New Mexico.

The legislation aims to "enhance relationships among all the citizens of the cosmos, known and unknown," he added.

So what is this about, i mean this goes way beyond the limits of sanity, as if a number of stupid, irrational 'days' were not enough people now have to deal with an ET day?
Characters made famous in sci-fi movies, such as E.T. in Steven Spielberg's 1982 film, would be honoured on such a day.

2003-03-03T21:27:00.000-08:00

Sphere of Engineering
ok...initially i thought that the concept of common engineering for the first year would be fun..but now as i see the situation it gets from bad to worse, i mean, i agree that an enginer should have basic knowledge about otehr fields of engineering and all, but here in NTU, its rather like doing half of other engineering fields.... for a person who aspires to be an electrical and electronic engineer has to study Life sciences, Thermodynamics, Fluid Dynamics and other totally unrelated subjects like Engineers and Society which neither contain stuff about engineers nor about society, all they aim to do is make to students go wierd places and question some queer people and come up with presentinos. seriosly...why would i as an electronic engineer bother to know about the biology involved in the various life processes or about changi prison or for that matter anything related to transfer of...i mean the closet an electrical engineer gets to thermodynamics is calculating the amout of heat realsed by an IC... why then do we have to go through these type of things when at the end they wouldn't matter one bit. Before coming to NTU i used to think that CBSE taught its students lots of useless stuff, now i realise that even NTU follows this kind of regime and to a much greater extent.

2003-02-18T01:29:00.000-08:00

Confessions of a New Spectator:-

I am pretty sure most of the indian bloggers have a post about India's performance in Cricket World Cup 2003, and one has read about it over and over again. However i feel it deserves a post on Akashvani, and so here goes...
i was never really very interested in cricket, if you are an indian you probably know that i am a rarity...however i am an indian all the same and and cannot help but be a part of all the enthusiasm that the indians show on the arrival of the World Cup. Likewise this time also we were realy looking forward to it... the only obstacle was that being on campus we would not be able watch the live telecast of the matches, it was sorted out when a senior (NTU grad) invited us to watch the mathces at his residence.. and so about two weeks before India's first match started talks about which temas our tigers could take on easily and where we would have to struggle... we speculated that Holland would be an easy victory and we could also take on Namibia pretty easily, and so we waited expectently for India Vs Holland, not know what was to follow. The first match as we all know was just short of a disaster... now i knwo my opinion is would be biased and so i find it hareder to admit that Holland played well(not that they didn't ) and much easier to to judge india's performance as a poor one.
And so we returned to the campus analysing india;s performance and what coudl be done to improve it. The unanamous decision was, that we had a bad bad batting lineup and a better lineup would have resulted in a much better performance...
Anyways so we finally came out the shock caused by the first match and got started talkgin about India Vs Australia, now any cricket follower woudl normally know that there was actually nothing to discuss taking into account Australias team and India's pathetic victory... however one who has been foloowing indian performance on cricket would know that its not uncommeon for them to deliver in the toughest of situations while faling at it in the simplest of ones. And so we trying to keep an optimistic view we went to see the match... but all in vain, india's performance touched a new low in India Vs Australia, with australia defeating india by 9 wickets. Ofcourse as expected indian response to this has been outrageous, with sms campaings to boycott all products endorsed by the players and wide scale protests... personally i am against all the rowdiness.. however i do feel that the cricketers are the only one to blame for their performance and are directly answerable to the public. Moreover Zimbabwe has come up with all new plans to give India a tough time... and its not something unexpected, i am prety sure all other teams must be eyeing their chances against the Indians. Well for the time being all we can do is hope that the new batting lineup works for us and we are able to make it to the Super Six...

2003-02-16T12:25:00.000-08:00

Kehete hain samay se pehle kuch nahin hota, well looks like samay ke baad bhi kuch nahin hota....so here i present Photonic AkashVani... though i still have to add other stuff.

One can look forward to...

i. Photonic Statistics
ii. Interesting Websites
iii. Fellow Bloggers

Well i have to leave it at that now... Its really late and i gotta get some sleep. As such i can't even hope of making it to the lectures tomorrow(rather today) , lets just hope i can wake up for my tuts in time.

2003-02-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

Pratham AkashVani:-
Hey... i am working on this thing for the time being and expect to come up with some stuff in a week or two's time...

Cheers
Photon