january 2015

MAGAZINE ON EDUCATION

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 8 January 2015

Managing EditorDr. Varghese Panthalookaran CMI

EditorJames Paul

Associate EditorDr. Prasant Palackappilly CMI

ColumnsK. L. MohanavarmaDr. K. N. RaghavanDr. Jos Cletus PlackalDr. Augustine ThottakaraSajit Malliyoor

Marketing ManagerVarghese Kachappilly CMI

ArtSajo Joseph

Contact:Rajagiri Media, Rajagiri Valley P.O,Kakkanad, Kochi-39.Phone : 0484 2973979Mob: +91 9497711010Mail : [email protected]

Overdose of informationInformation pollution is the contamination of information supply withirrelevant, redundant, unsolicited and low-value information. Thespread of useless and undesirable information can have a detrimentaleffect. It is considered one of the adverse effects of the informationrevolution.

As new technologies made it easier for information to reach thefurthest corners of the planet, we have seen a democratisation ofinformation sharing. This is a sign of progress and individualempowerment, as well as a positive step to bridge the divide betweenthe information-poor and the information-rich. However, it also has theeffect of increasing the volume of information in circulation, making itmore difficult to separate valuable from worthless material.

Media scholars are conducting research to promote awareness ofinformation overload. Kyunghye Kim, Mia Liza A. Lustria, DarrellBurke, and Nahyun Kwon conducted studies regarding people whohave encountered information overload while searching for healthinformation about cancer and what the impact on them was. Itdiscusses how health information should be distributed and thatinformation campaigns should be held to prevent irrelevant or incorrectinformation being circulated on the internet.

There are many books published to encourage awareness ofinformation overload and to train the reader to process informationmore consciously and effectively. Books like “Surviving InformationOverload” by Kevin A. Miller, “Managing Information Overload” by LynnLively and “The Principle of Relevance” by Stefania Lucchetti all dealwith the topic.

Information pollution can exist without technology, but thetechnological advances of the 21st century and, in particular, theinternet have played a key role in the increase of information pollution.Blogs, social networks, personal websites and mobile technology allcontribute to increased “noise” levels. Some technologies are seen asespecially intrusive, for example instant messaging. Sometimes, thelevel of pollution caused depends on the environment in which the toolis being used. For example personal e-mail is likely to cause moreinformation pollution when used in a corporate environment than in aprivate setting. Mobile phones are likely to be particularly disruptivewhen used in a confined space like a train carriage.

At a personal level, information pollution can affect the capacity of theindividual to evaluate options and find adequate solutions. In the mostextreme case it can lead to information overload and this in turn toanxiety, decision paralysis and stress. There are also some negativeeffects on the learning process.

Aside from its impact on the individual, some authors argue thatinformation pollution and information overload can cause loss ofperspective and moral values. This argument has been used toexplain the indifferent behaviour that modern society shows towardsscientific discoveries, health warnings or politics. Because of the lowquality and large quantity of the information received, people arebecoming less sensitive to headlines and more cynical towardsbreaking news.

FROM EDITOR’S DESKFROM EDITOR’S DESKFROM EDITOR’S DESKFROM EDITOR’S DESKFROM EDITOR’S DESK

ONTENTSCCCCC

0 4 Pallikkutam | January 2015

14COCOCOCOCOVER STVER STVER STVER STVER STORORORORORYYYYY

Information inflation

Pollution of thoughts and overflow ofinformation........................................................................ 16

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EXPERT COUNSEL 24EXPERT COUNSEL 24EXPERT COUNSEL 24EXPERT COUNSEL 24EXPERT COUNSEL 24

Dr. K.N. Raghavan

PERSONAL 27PERSONAL 27PERSONAL 27PERSONAL 27PERSONAL 27

Excess information and knowledgepolluting mind.......................................................

22Internet and inner net.............................................

PEDPEDPEDPEDPEDAAAAAGOGYGOGYGOGYGOGYGOGY 0909090909

We live in a world where unfortunately the distinctionbetween true and false appears to become increasinglyblurred by manipulation of facts, by exploitation ofuncritical minds, and by the pollution of the language.

Should the bard bein?

Jose K. C.

This is an imaginary chat betweentwo curriculum enthusiast in thewake of the removal of theShakespearean playsfrom the Bhutanese schoolcurriculum.

Lessons fromPhil Hughes tragedyThe tragedy that befellPhil Hughes is a warning to thecricketing communityand administrators of the game.

K. L. Mohana Varma

Thomson Skariah

P. Sasidharan

How can I controlanger ?A certain amount of anger,therefore, is necessary to oursurvival. However, the societyplaces limits on how far the angercan take you.

Sajit Malliyoor

05

JANUARY 2015

SUBSCRIBE NOWSUBSCRIBE NOWSUBSCRIBE NOWSUBSCRIBE NOWSUBSCRIBE NOW

TURN TURN TURN TURN TURN TTTTTO PO PO PO PO PAAAAAGE 65GE 65GE 65GE 65GE 65

NEWS..................................................................... 07NEWS..................................................................... 07NEWS..................................................................... 07NEWS..................................................................... 07NEWS..................................................................... 07

INSIGHTS.............................................................. 12INSIGHTS.............................................................. 12INSIGHTS.............................................................. 12INSIGHTS.............................................................. 12INSIGHTS.............................................................. 12

CREACREACREACREACREATIVE LIVINGTIVE LIVINGTIVE LIVINGTIVE LIVINGTIVE LIVING................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 42 42 42 42 42

INFO TECH........................................................... 38INFO TECH........................................................... 38INFO TECH........................................................... 38INFO TECH........................................................... 38INFO TECH........................................................... 38

REFLECTIONS REFLECTIONS REFLECTIONS REFLECTIONS REFLECTIONS ..................................................... 66..................................................... 66..................................................... 66..................................................... 66..................................................... 66

Pallikkutam | January 2015

POLICY POLICY POLICY POLICY POLICY WWWWWAAAAATTTTTCH 40CH 40CH 40CH 40CH 40

Never-endingprocess oftrial and error ineducation

Dr. D. Dhanuraj

YYYYYOURS OURS OURS OURS OURS TEATEATEATEATEACHERLCHERLCHERLCHERLCHERLY 52Y 52Y 52Y 52Y 52

STORIES OF LIFE 30STORIES OF LIFE 30STORIES OF LIFE 30STORIES OF LIFE 30STORIES OF LIFE 30

HEALHEALHEALHEALHEALTH MONITTH MONITTH MONITTH MONITTH MONITOR 33OR 33OR 33OR 33OR 33

My experience withEnglish

Dr. Jagath lal Gangadharan

Memory - theessence of cognition

Caught up in the net!

Dr. Jos Cletus Plackal

Rinjima Ravindran

Being a Malayalam mediumstudent to pass English languagewas a Herculean task.

INNOINNOINNOINNOINNOVVVVVAAAAATIONSTIONSTIONSTIONSTIONS.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 47 47 47 47 47

06 Pallikkutam | January 2015

More space for studentsPlease write about career guidance as youdid in the beginning. It was very useful forstudents like me. I like your articles aboutstudents’ achievements. The new column“Science Facts” is also interesting. Pleaseinclude more features for studentcommunity.

B Sudhakar, Delhi

Relevant cover storiesAppreciate your selection of themes. Ihave not seen any other magazinediscussing such themes. Cover stories giveus an in-depth view about the subject. Allthe topics are relevant. Health column isvery useful. Design is also good.

Smitha VK, Kochi.

Excellent expert counselI am a regular reader of your magazine. I like the observations of Dr. KN Raghavan. He is at hisbest while writing about sports. I still remember his article about Imran Khan. He was verycritical about Imran even though appreciating him as a capable cricketer. Features “Personal andStories of Life” are useful and interesting.

John Abraham, Kozhikode

Why are you so serious?Your magazine is dealing with serioussubjects. Please include some light readingmaterial also. Personal, Stories of life andKL Mohanavarma’s column are very goodand make good reading. Please includemore columns like that. Gurudhakshina isalso very interesting.

Suma Babu, Mumbai.

Keep it upI am a regular reader of KL Mohanvarma’scolumn. His language and style of writingis excellent. He is a good story teller. Hehas a good observation skill. All yourfeatures are insightful. Keep it up.

Sunitha Menon, Bangalore

More to improveI have been reading the online version ofPallikkutam for the last one year. I find itvery interesting. The language andpresentation is good. Even then lot moreto improve. Please include columns forkids also. Current issues needs to beaddressed. Please give more importanceto career, personality development andhigher studies.

Sanadakumar, Dubai

Pallikkutam helps me toimproveI am a teacher and I confess thatPallikkutam helps me to improve myteaching. The column “Your’s teacherly”is very good. Other columns for teacherslike Pedagogy and Gurudhakshina arealso interesting. I have asked mycolleagues to read the special edition ofPallikutam on teachers, “The goodteacher”. Your editorials are insightful.This magazine is a must read for allteachers. My wishes.

Bindhu KK, Kottayam.

Tribute to teachersThanks for the feature on Ramanathan sir. I was a student of Ramanathan sir. He is an excellentteacher and a role model. Appreciate your attempts to pay tribute to teachers like him. Pleaseshowcase the contribution of teachers in various schools and colleges in Kerala. My suggestionis to dedicate more pages for teachers. There are lots of magazines for general public, but a fewfor teachers. The society need to recognise the efforts of teachers to mould the next generation.I believe, Pallikkutam can do a lot for this.

K Ravikumar, Kochi

Inbox us to: [email protected]

Congratulations!

My hearty congratulations for the Pallikkutam team to make it a big success. It ishighly informative and readable. Your logo says: Express, Enrich and Entertain. Youreally did it. Insights, Innovation and InfoTech are up-to-date. I recommend thesecolumns to all teachers and students. Creative Living column is also interesting. Bestwishes to Pallikkutam.

Dr. Lydia Thomas, Kollam

LETTERSLETTERSLETTERSLETTERSLETTERS

IISc, IIT-B make it to top 100in varsity rankings

India’s performance inched up in aninternational ranking of universities inBrazil, Russia, India, China, South

Africa and 17 other emerging economies.In the top-100 ranks of the table preparedby the UK-basedTimes HigherEducation (THE),it has 11institutions, led bythe Indian Instituteof Science (IISc), ascompared to 10last year. Overall,retaining the top-two slots, China’srepresentationwent up from 23 institutions last year to27 top-100 entries this time, with PekingUniversity on the first rung followed byTsinghua University. IISc is ranked 25th,followed by IIT Bombay at 37th, IITRoorkee at 38th place, Panjab University

at 39th and IIT Kharagpur at 43rd. AmongIndian institutions in the study, IISc leadson the research front (39.5 score) whileJawaharlal Nehru University scores aheadin teaching (39.4), Panjab University in

citations (84.4), andIIT-Madras, inindustry (71.7).

The new annualrankings are basedon the same 13indicators used tocreate the worlduniversity rankings(WUR), coveringteaching, research,

knowledge transfer and internationaloutlook. “But they have been speciallyrecalibrated to better reflect the characterand development priorities of universitiesin the emerging economies,” says thepublisher.

India: an educational hub for SAARC countries

India has become an educational hub forstudents from the SAARC countries,including Afghanistan and Nepal.

The South Asian University in New Delhiis providing scholarship programmes invarious disciplines to the South Asiancountries. The varsity offers post-graduate and doctoral programmes invarious disciplines that include economics,computer science, biotechnology,mathematics, sociology, internationalrelations and law.

Out of 437 students from the SAARCcountries, 30 of them belong toAfghanistan and 27 students from Nepal.

The South Asian University was foundedin 2010 with an aim to promote peace,security and harmony in the SAARCregion.

South Asian University president KavitaA. Sharma, who was earlier associatedwith the Delhi University, recalled thatthere were special provisions for studentsfrom Bhutan and Nepal there. “And thethen Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hasrightly said that greatest aid perhaps wecan give to Afghanistan is to educate andso there were large number of studentswho came to Delhi University also. And Ithink it would benefit everybody ifeducation spreads in this region in a largeway,” she said.

The students from Afghanistan looktowards India for better prospects. OmarSadar, who is pursuing his PhD inInternational Relations from the SouthAsian University, said Afghanistan needsto invest in the education sector. “And asI mentioned before Afghanistan does nothave that much of capacity domesticallyto invest on. India is offering one thousandscholarships per year through differentchannels for Afghanistan. Besides that,many people come from Afghanistan withtheir own financial support to study inIndia,” he added. The Afghan studentspray for early return of peace andnormalcy in their country so thateducation and infrastructure can be built.“Peace is the main concern in Afghanistan.Every single person in Afghanistan theywant peace and security in Afghanistanthat’s the pivotal matter and once youhave that you can overcome other

challenges,” said Mahdi Frough, a second-year student of MA (EconomicDevelopment Studies) in South AsianUniversity. “Poverty is another problem.Human development, education sector,

health sector and infrastructure is lacking,”he added. India provides 1,000scholarships to students from Afghanistanevery year.

“I believe India has its role in buildingcapacity in Afghanistan through educatingthe young generation by providing somany scholarships annually and throughopening its gates and their hubs for theAfghan students,” said Jamal AhmadMahmood, a student of Masters in BioTechnology.

India not only provides education toAfghan students but also supports inbuilding up schools, besides assisting inthe development of medical education inAfghanistan.

India plays a major role in educatingNepalese students by providingscholarships to them. “The mainchallenges are political instability. Thereare a lot of loop holes in the educationpolicies otherwise. The other majorchallenge is that the youth are moving outfor higher education. There are otherstudents who have left Nepal for further

studies. The main issue is that the youth ismoving out of the country,” said VegshaGautam, a first-semester student ofMasters in Development Economics.

NEWSNEWSNEWSNEWSNEWS


IIT students turn down $125,000offers for domestic firms

Domestic offers seem to be gainingtraction among some IIT Delhistudents, who have turned down

international offers with over $125,000 perannum packages to work within the homecountry. As per details of the annualplacement drive shared by the premierengineering institute in Delhi, the first sixdays of placements have seen a 30 per centincrease in the total number of campusoffers by companies this year. Nearly 50per cent of the batch got jobs during thisperiod, said a statement issued by IITDelhi. “Some students rejected

international offers including those withover $125,000 per annum as base pay this

year opting to accept offers from either thecompany’s counterparts in India or other

FB offers Rs 2 crpackage forBombay girl

IIT-Bombay student AasthaAgarwal’s Facebook job offer withRs two crore package is perhaps the

highest offered to an undergrad. The 20year old Jaipur girl is a third-yearcomputer science student.

Her family has been celebrating eversince she broke the news. “Since I didtraining with Facebook in May-June inCalifornia, they were aware of my workand selected me during pre-placement,”said Aastha.

“I was supposed to develop software.They were satisfied with my work andoffered me the job right away. Later,when I consented, they sent me theconfirmation letter.’’

She said she was eagerly waiting tocomplete her fourth year to joinFacebook by October next year.

Aastha was earlier selected to representIndia at the Junior Science InternationalOlympiad in 2009.

Her mother, Shobha Agarwal, said heronly aim was to provide bettereducation to her daughters.

Five IIT-Bombay students had got apackage of Rs 1.42 crore during campusplacements earlier.

firms with domestic offers on campus,” itsaid. A number of technology companiesshowed up in the first week rolling outhigh packages of over $100,000 per annumas base pay for international positions. Afew core companies also rolled outinternational offers. Many Japanesecompanies visited the campus in the firstweek to recruit students. However, mostof the offers have been for India with anoverall increase in average packages fordomestic profiles for the first week in therange 20-30 per cent, the statement said.

Smriti Irani emphasizes ondevelopment of skills

The Union Minister of HumanResource Development (HRD),Smriti Irani emphasized the need to

develop skills in Higher Education whileinaugurating the Workshop on Skills inHigher Education organized by theDepartment of Higher Education of theMinistry in New Delhi.

She exhorted theStates and theUnionTerritories toadopt the CreditFramework forskills andEducation andthe ChoiceBased CreditSystem inUniversities.This would givechoices tostudents andalso providerespectability toskillprogrammes.

The Ministeradded that there would be teachers whowould want to bring about change in thesociety and there will always be students

talking about transparency and KnowYour College Portal created by theMinistry of HRD to strive towards thesame. The portal will help the studentsmake informed choices, she said. Not onlythat, Union HRD Minister informed thatsome 200000 hours of lectures have beenuploaded for students for various coursesand disciplines.

The Minister ofState for HRDUpendraKushwaha thatthe purpose ofthe Workshop onSkills in HigherEducation is tolink today’syouth withemployability.

The Secretary,Department ofHigher Education,Satya N.Mohanty saidthat Knowledge,Education andLight does not

accept fragmentation, they requireexpansion and that Skill Development andHigher Education should be seen inbroader perspective.

NEWSNEWSNEWSNEWSNEWS

Pallikkutam | January 201508

Should the bard be in?This is an imaginary chat between two curriculum enthusiast in

the wake of the removal of the Shakespearean playsfrom the Bhutanese school curriculum

A: Good morning. Last time our talk endedwith your wishful thinking thatShakespeare could be brought back to thenew English Syllabus of the high schools,which to me is a rare possibility.

B: I know mine is a wishful thinking. But Istill have the right to hold fast to what Ithink is right. But, I am really scared of thesuggestion that we shall come back withShakespeare after “a short retirement” assome educationists suggested. This guinea-pig treatment of a nation’s curriculum, Idread. Really I dread !!!! Do we have suchluxury of time?

A: Why don’t you get from thatsuggestion the overtones of Shakespeare’sexclusion permanently? Isn’t it becausethere is a learned group – a curriculum coregroup – who had read all the plays ofShakespeare and even watched many of hisplays live. Theirs should be an informeddecision that Shakespeare in the curriculum

has a weak standing in terms of itspotential for teaching and learning?

B: I do respect that ‘learned group’, (led bysome Canadian professors) who had thegeographic and ethnic advantage of havingread and watched Shakespearean canon.Frankly speaking, on this count I myselfwould stand a sorry below. But, some ofour Shakespeare supporters in Bhutan andIndia have at least the advantage of havingtaught the Asian student at least more thanhalf a dozen plays and read a couple more.This should have a legitimate weighting indetermining the relevance or otherwise ofShakespeare in the Asian curriculum.

A: I may be pardoned if I say that yourShakespeare – love is a vestige of yourpost-colonial psyche, not based on otherrelevant factors.

B: You are readily pardoned Sir, because itdoes not mean even a nut. Just now, when

you sounded the imperialist tones, thenonly – yes, only then – did I rememberthat Shakespeare is a British writer. Let memake it clear that I don’t think of thenationality of the writer of soul-touchingliterature. Nor do I encourage students torack their heads with the biography of anauthor unless it has some direct bearingson the text they are dealing with.

A: Isn’t it Shakespeare a part of theconcerted, ulterior motive to bring thecolonized countries to the westernfrequency of thinking, whereas thesecountries already had their ownindigenous, rich languages and literatures?

B: Perhaps it was, in the beginning. But,Shakespeare has something, whichtranscends these parochial imperialistgoals. It has survived the test of centuriesand it will in the millennia to come. Wehave treasured Homer, Sophocles andDante for more than two to five thousand

Jose K. C.

PEDAGOGYPEDAGOGYPEDAGOGYPEDAGOGYPEDAGOGY


years, not because we have GreekHellenistic leanings but because they standfor universal values that sustainedhumanity in the dark ages. By the sametoken, Shakespearean canon has alreadyblended in the cultural tapestries of manya nation.

A: But so does the modern canon. Plus,there is no proof that literature stoodmankind in good stead in times of crisis.

B: Yes, my dear friend, any good literatureis easily absorbed to the national cultures.But, no other literature does that as bestas Shakespearean literature. I quote:

“…Many teachers believe thatShakespeare’s work conveys universalvalues, and his language expresses richand subtle meanings beyond that of anyother writer… Almost everyone agreesthat his works should be represented in aNational curriculum…” ( Lesley Aers’

Shakespeare in the Changing Curriculum,1989, chapter 7, para. 7.16)

As to the invigorating power of literatureand poetry, the Italian statesman,Machiavelli (1469) tells his prince that onecan restore and preserve life only bybringing back the drama to its originalglory. The poetry of Moses, Job, Davidand Solomon inspired Jesus, who in turnignited Shakespeare. P. B. Shelley’svehement Defense of Poesy (1821) is adefense against Peacock’s (1820 )“impious daring attempt to extinguishImagination” and “a parricidal and self-murdering attempt.”

Shakespeare, at least has, wonderfulpoetry. High poetry, to Shelley, is “as thefirst acorn, which contained all oakspotentially.” I am shocked that in someUniversities and School Boards, Poetry isan optional area of study. TheShakespearean dismissal from our

curriculum smells of a possible similarmove in not-so-distant-a-future.

A: But, didn’t even Dryden say in 1679,“many of his words, and more of hisphrases, are scarce intelligible”?

B: Dryden said it as a justification of hisrevision of Shakespeare. What we usetoday are mostly the revised versions.Besides, I have seen my Level IX, X, XIand XII students getting moved visibly,physically excited in my Shakespearelessons rather than in lessons on any otherwriter. I didn’t see here any language orcultural barrier. Once the studentsovercame the minor language barrier in,say, two weeks’ time(in Level IX wherethe bard is introduced), Shakespeare wasseen universal and literally swaying thereaders. This is true at least in Indian andBhutanese schools. I don’t know aboutschools elsewhere.

Many teachers believe that Shakespeare’s work conveys universalvalues, and his language expresses rich and subtle meanings

beyond that of any other writer



A: While nobody disputes the greatness ofShakespeare, one develops cold feet at thethought of burdening our school goers withthe heavy stuff.

B: Then are we going for the light stuff,which E. M Forster lamented: Bestsellers,electrical – organists, funny – faces,dream-girls, and mickey – mice…

The past is often uncongenial as far as itsstatements are concerned, but the trainedimagination can surmount them and reachthe essential. Dante seems to me a testcase. If people are gibing him up… willreach the further bank sans Dante sansShakespeare and sans everything. (para.4, 5 of Does Culture Matter?)

The “trained imagination” helps inShakespeare comprehension. After all, theBard said, “Light winning makes the fruitlight.”(The Tempest, 1.2.453)

A: But we can have a middle path – neithertoo heavy nor too light. What aboutmodern writers like Milan Kundera andGracia Marques etc. as suggested on theBO letter already referred to?

B: What’s the degree of heaviness you arecomplaining about in Shakespeare? IfShakespeare could move the Elizabethangroundlings for three hours, captivate thespectrum of spectators from the royalty tothe peasantry, how relevant is the hue andcry on his difficulty? That too, in thepresence of the trained teacher-facilitator?Most Shakespeare supporters warn usagainst a blind Shakespeare-phobiapurposefully created by, most often andinterestingly, those who haven’t taught atleast 3-4 plays to our students. I call it amalaise of “You stop who saw it; let mespeak who heard of it.”

A: But you didn’t comment on replacingShakespeare with modern writers.

B: Not replacing, of course. Yes, I adorepeople like Derek Walcott, Milan Kunderaand Seamus Haeney etc. They are great,but not as great as Shakespeare. Whichmodern writer can excel Shakespeareanbeauty, for example:

Macbeth: I am in blood Stepped in so farthat, should I wade no more,

Returning were as tedious as go o’er.(Macbeth 3.4.ll. 135-7)

How justified are we to shut the doors onour students on such wonders ofliterature?

A: Do you thereby assert that MilanKundera and other moderns are literarypygmies in comparison?

B: Not at all. Not that I love them less, butthat I love Shakespeare more. Kundera’sworks (‘Lightness of Being’ or‘Immortality’) can have independentstudy, divorced from the iron curtainimperialism just as Shakespeare’s playsindependent wholes. Kundera says:“Every novel, like it or not, offers someanswer to the question: What is humanexistence, and wherein does its poetry lie?”or Arundhati Roy’s “a funnel ofmosquitoes like an inverted dunce cap,whined over her head.” (p. 269 of TheGod of Small Things)

A: But your Arundhati Roy has a dig onShakespeare when her Comrade Pillai“tried to kick-start Shakespeare” (p. 274)

B: That’s the age-factor. At leastShakespeare came to his memory despitehis senile amnesia.

A: So, what is your objection to replacingShakespeare with these modern literarybeauties?

B: First, Shakespeare’s uniqueness: (a) theuniversality of themes, insights into lifeand characters etc. (b)the Shakespeareanrhythm catches on the readers like gradualignition (c) One Shakespearean play hooksevery one reader, catering to theheterogeneity as in a classroom.

And listen to Rey Buono (2009),Columbia, Thailand:

I have taught Shakespeare as literatureand directed Shakespeare productions. Inall cases, the challenging, rich, alive natureof his language, while difficult for studentsand actors at first, ended up enriching theireveryday English usage. Once they hadconquered their fear, they were far moreconfident as English speakers and writers.

I think of my own experience with Latin inhigh school. Reading Virgil, Cicero, Ovid,and other “dead white males” certainlyimproved my grasp of language, andenriched my own writing.

A: But in this 21 century the MiddleEnglish Shakespeare cannot further one’slanguage skills.

B: If we are driven by utilitarian standardsfor language and literature study, asStepehen Gosson did in 1579 in his Schoolof Abuse, and as you sound now, we areshort-sighted as academics. This academicuntilitarianism is a modern trend of theELT industry, particularly in the ESLcontext.

A: So, finally, what do you say?

B: Thou wast not born for death, immortalBard!

No hungry generations tread thee down.

And, I would enjoy Shakespeare’s beautywith as much passionate relish as MarkAntony would have Cleopatra’s:

Age cannot wither her, nor custom staleher infinite variety; other women cloy theappetites they feed, but she makes hungrywhere most she satisfies.

The author is Senior lecturer, College ofEducation, Samtse, Bhutan.

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety;other women cloy the appetites they feed, but she makes

hungry where most she satisfies.



INSIGHTSINSIGHTSINSIGHTSINSIGHTSINSIGHTS

A mathematicalmirage!

As it comes to mathematics, whatyou think you are may not matchwith what you really are, suggests

a research study published recently in theJournal of Personal and Social Psychology.About one in five people who say they arebad at math in fact score high in anobjective math test. But one-third ofpeople who say they are good at mathactually score low. People tend to mis-categorize themselves based on their skillsin mathematics. Those people who thinkthey’re good at math have a numericcompetency that may be helpful in somereal-life situations. At the same time, theymay get stuck with a difficult math task.On the other hand, those who considerthemselves weak in mathematics may justskip questions instead. This has importantimplications for everyday life. People whoare low in subjective numeracy may not dotheir taxes on time or they may not makethoughtful choices on their healthinsurance because they just give up whenfaced with a lot of numbers.

The study reveals different types ofnumerical competency. One is objectivenumeracy, which is what most peoplethink of when they think of “being good atmath.” This is the ability to work withnumbers and score well on traditional mathtests. The second was subjectivenumeracy, which is people’s self-reportson their ability and preference to workwith numbers. This was measured byasking people to answer questions like“How good are you at working withpercentages?” The third is symbolic-number mapping, which is the ability ofsome people to estimate numericmagnitudes quickly in their head and mapthem to a number line. This skill wouldallow a carpenter, for example, to quicklyestimate how much wood he would needto put in a hardwood floor in a complexroom with intricate corners.

Writing skills in the digital age?

Inundated with written words streamingacross smartphone, tablet, and laptopscreens the children of the Information

Age may lose interest to develop writingskills. However, anew study by TelAviv Universitypublished in EarlyChildhood ResearchQuarterly highlightsthe importance ofimparting thepreschoolers withsufficient writingability - even beforethey make their firststep into a classroom.The study assessedthe merits of earlyparental mediation of children’s literacyand language and recommended usefultechniques to that end. The studyrecommends a “grapho-phonemic

mediation” technique, where a caregiver isactively involved in helping a child breakdown a word into segments to connectsounds to corresponding letters. For

example, parents using ahigh level of grapho-phonemic mediation willassist their children byasking them to “soundout” a word as they putit to paper. Thiscontradicts thetraditional model oftelling children preciselywhich letters to print ona page, spelling it out forthem as they go.“Scaffolding,” orparental support, plays

a crucial role in developing early literacyskills. Only in this way one could usher achild towards the digital world, concludesthe study.

Gift card giving: versatility v/spersonalization

A University of Cincinnatiresearch on gift card giving hascome up with apparently

counter-intuitive results. It shows thatrecipients prefer more versatile, lesspersonalized gift cards, regardless of thegiver’s thoughtful effort. This result canhelp even the most thoughtful gift giveravoid the mistake of over-personalization and keep that card frombeing banished to the bottom of a purseor hidden deep inside a wallet for thenext six months.

The study suggests 3 important cluesfor effective gift card giving:

1. Don’t overdo it with personalization.For example, a giver might personalize agift card for a friend who loves sportsby getting him a gift card for his favoritesporting goods store or a local sportsvenue. However, the sports lover mightprefer a more general gift, as it wouldallow him to purchase sportingequipment, tickets to a sporting event oranything else that he might want orneed.

2. Think romantically, but shop forversatility. When it comes to choosinggifts for close others, like romanticpartners, givers try especially hard tobe thoughtful and demonstrate theirknowledge of their partner. Ironically,these attempts to be thoughtful canbackfire: We find that givers tend tochoose more specific, less versatilegift cards when shopping for romanticpartners than friends, but thatrecipients prefer more versatile giftcards regardless of how close they areto the giver.

3. Focus on what recipients wouldlike, not what they are like. Considertheir current wants and needs ratherthan their traits. When choosing giftcards, givers may focus on recipients’stable traits and choose gift cards thatare tailored to those characteristics,whereas recipients focus on theirvariable wants and needs and prefergifts with greater versatility.

Go for more versatile rather thanpersonalized gifts!


INSIGHTSINSIGHTSINSIGHTSINSIGHTSINSIGHTS

Pros and cons of peer supportto harassed youth

New study, published in the Journalof Psychopathology and BehavioralAssessment, looks at depressive

symptoms and delinquency amongharassed youth to evaluate thepros and cons to the support thatvictimized teenagers get from theirfriends. Depending on the type ofaggression they are exposed to,such support may reduce youth’srisk for depressive symptoms.

Adolescence is an important timeduring which youth establish theirsocial identity. Experiences of peervictimization can therefore have aneffect on their social relationshipsand lead to various psychologicaland social adjustment problems. Peervictimization may take several forms,including overt victimization, whichhappens when someone is physically

attacked or verbally threatened by a peer,and relational victimization, whichhappens when someone’s relationships are

manipulated through rumor spreading orsocial ostracism. Overt victimization ismore common among younger children,while relational victimization tends to

become more prevalent during adolescence.The support of peers generally influencesthe effects of peer victimization. However,

this moderating effect differsdepending on the form ofvictimization teenagers aresubjected. Among teenagers whosuffered from relationalvictimization, the more supportthey received from their friends,the lower their feelings ofdepression. Such support,however, did not have an effecton the moods of those who wereovertly victimized. This may bebecause relational victimization,as opposed to overt

victimization, damages relationships duringa time when youth are trying to establishtheir social identity within the peer group,observes the study.

Kids seldom tell truth under threatof punishment!

Children were less likely to tell thetruth if they were afraid of beingpunished than if they were asked to

tell the truth either because it would pleasethe adult, or because it was the right thingto do andwouldmake thechild feelgood,suggests astudyconductedby theMcGillUniversity.Theresearchersalso foundthat whileyoungerchildrenwere morefocused on telling the truth to please theadults, the older children had betterinternalized standards of behavior whichmade them tell the truth because it was the

right thing to do. “The bottom line is thatpunishment does not promote truth-telling,” says Victoria Talwar, the leadresearcher on the study. “In fact, the threatof punishment can have the reverse effect

by reducingthe likelihoodthat childrenwill tell thetruth whenencouragedto do so.”

This is usefulinformationfor allparents ofyoungchildren andfor theprofessionalslike teacherswho work

with them and want to encourage youngchildren to be honest. If you want yourchild to tell the truth, it’s best not tothreaten to punish them if they lie.

Distractions thatdo not damage

learning!

Maybe distraction is not alwaysthe enemy of learning. A newstudy by researchers at Brown

University published in the journalPsychological Science, challenges the ideathat distraction is necessarily a problemfor learning. According to the study,inconsistent distraction is the realproblem. As long as our attention is asdivided when we have to recall a motorskill as it was when we learned it, we’lldo just fine. Consistent distraction maynot distract as much! Most learned motortasks – driving, playing sports or music,learning to walk again after an accident –occur with other things going on. Giventhe messiness of our existence the brainmay be able to integrate the division ofattention during learning as a cue thatallows for better recall when a similar cueis present, observes the study. Thestudy distinguishes between twoprocesses: process of learning a motortask and that of recalling it.


Informationinflation

“We live in a world whereunfortunately thedistinction between trueand false appears tobecome increasinglyblurred by manipulationof facts, by exploitation ofuncritical minds, and bythe pollution of thelanguage.”

Arne Tiselius

COVER STORYCOVER STORYCOVER STORYCOVER STORYCOVER STORY


Pollution of thoughtsand overflow of

informationK. L. Mohana Varma

I’ve traveled the world twice over,

Met the famous; saints and sinners,

Poets and artists, kings and queens,

Old stars and hopeful beginners,

I’ve been where no – one’s been before,

Learnt secrets from writers and cooks

All with one library ticket

To the wonderful world of books.

The wisdom and information flow fromwritten words and words controlled ourthoughts. It was oral initially when it couldbe altered, adapted and updated to theneeds of time and place and almost rigidwhen it became written. When it was

printed and packed in attractive friendlybook form of our choice, there ended theflexibility.

Really the basics of thoughts originatedfrom the five senses of awareness andcommunication inherent in our bodyphysique. Eyes, nose, ears, tongue andfingers are the Panchendriyas whichidentified color, smell, sound, taste andtouch and guided our thoughts. Butgradually sound outwitted others andcreated a new version of its own, thewords, for interpretation. The result wasoral lingua and it started controlling us.The oracles and orators became intellectualsupreme. But the craving for lines andcopying it pictorially could not be stoppedand written formats for these spoken

words took shape. Written word had itsown advantage and disadvantage.

The first disaster, according to 21st centurythinkers, now in the midst of dream-liketechnological explosion in communicationarena, is that the words had in almost allcases not even distant resemblance to theideas conveyed and the whole thoughtprocess is therefore confined to andcontrolled by an elite minority, the literates.

Bill Gates of Microsoft has clear thinkingon the subject. The invention of alphabetsand words to express the already existingknowledge in a curious and differentunfriendly form numbed millions of braincells in every child permanently forcenturies. Whenever they read any writings,

The invention of alphabets and words to express the alreadyexisting knowledge in a curious and different unfriendly

form numbed millions of brain cells in every childpermanently for centuries.



all these cells are fully engaged only in theconversion process of lines to the realobject and thus it reduces the effectivenessof brain thus minimizing the originality ofhuman thoughts.

This written knowledge was capitalized bythe minority few literates and humanthoughts were controlled by them in allcivilizations. The result is that we are nowliving in a world where unfortunately thedistinction between true and false appearsto become increasingly blurred bymanipulation of facts, by exploitation ofuncritical minds, and by the pollution ofthe language crystallizing in pollution ofthoughts. This led generally to care for andlook for only the material pollution which

directly harms human life, animal life andplant life. It is like the material pollution inthe branches of a tree. We disregard theseed or root which was instrumental to thegrowth of the tree. The seed is really thethought pollution in the minds.

But the pollution is part of us. We read inOld Testament, Proverbs Chapter 23,verse 7, “As he thinks in his heart, so ishe”. Marcus Aurelius said, “Life isthought, our life is what our thoughtsmakes it.”

The history of human thoughts is a recordof only illusions and as Tolstoy sighed,“Man suffers from thinking than anythingelse.” Actually most of the wars and

struggles of mankind were very oftencaused by it. Darwin advanced his theoryof human existence wherein man is evolvedin a struggle for survival. This evolutionwas for the fittest just as in case of loweranimal species.

When the Machine Age began, thecommerce and industry based on sciencemade man almost a machine. Now theadvent of computer has revolutionizedevery sphere human activity. Theevolutionary struggle for survival andstruggle within the man-created politicalsystems, occupied human thoughts. Weface the really dangerous and heavypollutants in these areas.

The history of human thoughts is a record of only illusions and asTolstoy sighed, “Man suffers from thinking than anything else”.

Actually most of the wars and struggles of mankindwere very often caused by it.



Can an overflow of information andknowledge now accessible to all, bringsolace? Or will it increase the predicament?

Two stories, both real ones, gave me aninsight.

Aaron Swartz was a wizardly programmerwho as a teenager helped develop a codethat delivered ever-changing Web contentto users and he later became a steadfastcrusader to make that information freelyavailable. He was found dead in his NewYork apartment a couple of years back.Suicide or murder, in the existingconventional code, whatever it was, wasimmaterial. To me, the victim wastechnology at its best. At 14, Swartzhelped create RSS, the nearly ubiquitoustool that allows users to subscribe toonline information. He later became aninternet folk hero pushing to make manyWeb files free and open to the public. InJuly 2011, he was indicted on U S federalcharges of gaining illegal access to JSTOR asubscription-only service for distributingscientific and literary journals, anddownloading 4.8 million articles anddocuments, nearly the entire library. Hebuilt surprising new things that changedthe flow of information around the world.The overflow of information created acatastrophe which was really sociallymind-changing than WikiLeaks andAssange. There is no possibility of even

making a rough assessment of the pollutionhe might have created in the thoughtprocesses of the generation, present and

coming.

Now, the second one.It is a personal oneand still I wonderhow to deal it.

A few months back.A Saturday morning.I had a programme atKasargode in theevening and I wasgetting ready to catchthe morning train.Every Friday, myyoungest grandson,six year old Adwaid,pet named Duggoo,come and stay with

us. He woke up late that day since ourusual holiday ritual of feeding the hundredsof pigeons at Durbar Hall grounds in thecompany of 99 year old Justice KrishnaIyer was not possible due to my railway

trip that day. Duggoo woke up and I heardhim calling his grandmother in loud voice .

“Ammoomma, what is this packet?”

My wife might have been in the kitchen.She shouted back.

“It is some grapes somebody broughtyesterday night.”

There was a heavy packet of 10 kilos ofgrapes a friend of mine had brought as agift to me from his garden in Tamilnadu. Itwas late night when it was brought andDuggoo was already sleeping at that time.One minute. He was trying to open thepacket. Then his shout.

“Ammoomma, we will make grape juice.”

I became alert. Duggoo did not tell we willeat. In our childhood we had never heard ofgrape juice and we would never havereacted in this manner. We would havesaid: “Ammoomma, we will eat it. Diggoo,juice is not possible.” I don’t know how tomake it and even if I try it, it will not beOK in our mixie. Duggoo’s suggested.

Swartz helped create RSS, the nearly ubiquitous tool that allowsusers to subscribe to online information. He later became an

internet folk hero pushing to make many Web filesfree and open to the public.



“Ammoomma, don’t worry. I will makeit.”

“You? Do you know anything about it?”

“No. But there are people who do it.”

“Do you know them?”

“No, But one minute, I will find it.”

After a minute I came out from thebathroom. Duggoo was handling mymobile. I asked him. “What are youdoing?”

Google-search. Ammoomma wants toknow the address of people who makejuice. I know if we gave grapes they makejuice and give you. I typed Kochi MGRoad Grape. Appooppa, what is thespelling of juice? I didn’t know how to

respond positively. I am still thinking. ButI am sure the coming generation will besuccessful even without groping to knowthe spelling of Kochi by intelligently usingthe overflow of information to create abetter society.

We have seen the end of world wars,capitalist and communist philosophies,Berlin wall, and apartheid. The endreligious fanaticism is around the corner.The high-brow intellectuals are becomingarchival attractions and a generation ofchildren finding out their talents andinventing new ways to better themselvesand the society is coming up. BarackObama, Pope Francis and Narendra Modi,the present powerful world leaders are thefirst three top in twitter and they are allpositive, friendly, accessible through

internet, responsive to ideas and above allcame up from lower strata of society. It is awelcome change which could not have beendreamt even 100 years back when airtravel, gramophone records, telephones,radio and films started the real thoughtrevolution.

Now it is on the cards. There will be toolscoming up in the system for instant andautomatic deletion of pollution ofthoughts! The world will be a happier one.

Barack Obama, Pope Francis and Narendra Modi, the presentpowerful world leaders are the first three top in twitter and theyare all positive, friendly, accessible through internet, responsive

to ideas and above all came up from lower strata of society.

The author is a Kochi-based novelist,short story writer and former chief editorof Malayalam daily, Veekshanam. He is aregular columnist and a highly regardedspeaker on contemporary politics,business, sports, literature and socialthemes.



Excess information andknowledge polluting mind

Thomson Skariah

That was a sumptuous meal! butenough, I can’t have any more.There is a limit to how much we can

feed ourselves. Besides watching our ownweight, we have a space constraint too -the stomach. We control what we feed ourbody, we control what we eat to stayhealthy and look fit. In short, we restrictour body from being “polluted” – we putfilters to what goes to our stomach in ourown way.

The world around us is pretty much anopen buffet, with a countably infinitespread – we know too well what happenswhen we take more than what the platecan hold – chaos. Not knowing how torestrict what to take on our plate is a

reflection of chaos in the mind, reflects aschaos in the plate; and translates to chaosin the stomach. Neither nutrition norflavour – just a superficial feeling of havinghad a meal. All we need to do is place acheck on what goes on to our plate andthus a check on what goes into ourstomach. Just as we place a check on whatgoes into our stomach it is imperative thatwe put a double check on what goes intoour mind. Our stomach is a finite space,but our mind is an infinite realm. There isno limit to what can go in and how muchcan go in. And once information has beenconsumed, there is no getting it out of yoursystem – forever. With every momentpassing, a variety of information channelsare being created, and with this increasing

verity and ever increasing flow, our mindsare just soaking it all up. So as they say inour times, there is an ever increasingvolume, variety and velocity of data. Onething that is crucial to gain control, comeswith the fourth ‘V’ – veracity; the mostimportant of them all. With a conformanceof opening our mind to only what isrelevant and not dwelling on the irrelevant;we will overcome the undesirable situationwhere all that is flowing around can sinkinto our minds and clog our purpose ofbeing.

When it comes to information, there is andwill always be an excess flow of it. Whilethe relevant ones you capture will feedyour mind, the irrelevant ones allowed to

Our stomach is a finite space, but our mind is an infinite realm.There is no limit to what can go in and how much can go in.

And once information has been consumed, there is nogetting it out of your system – forever.



flow in will feed on your mind; you will bestagnant – and there in your mind will bepollution.

If there is one single skill that we need totrain ourselves on and enable the nextgeneration to be ready with it isconformance check – filters for the mind.The point is that there was always excessaround, we have kept pace and have beenfiltering it. But today we are not givingpriority to filtering information, we are justgenerating it and broadcasting it! Everyperson is equipped to be an informationgenerating tool today; with new platformsin the social space and ease of access at anygiven time, most of us just are on a contentcreation spree. To participate to this

‘control of pollution’, lets be conscious ofwhat we broadcast, for it does echo prettywell. And to take care of ourselves, let usbe aware of the importance of filters forour mind.

Consciously, painstakingly choose to filterwhat our minds feed on, it is only difficultinitially. With practice you will filter theexcess of information smoothly. Once werewire ourselves right, then we can bewireless fine. With time, filtering out theirrelevant will become second nature, theexcess information that is out there willcontinue to flow around you; but thanksto your efforts and filters in place – youwill stop it from getting to you andpolluting your mind.

The realisation we need today is that thefilters are not there or they are broken; andwe need to get them, or get them fixed.Lets get the right filters fixed, in place andswitched on! When you enable only theinformation that is relevant to you to findyou, all the excess information that cancause pollution is blocked out – and theremy friend is a solution to have a mind freeof pollution.

The author is the CEO of ACELRTech Labs, a product developmentcompany focusing on contentmanagement, cloud computing andenterprise analytics.

If there is one single skill that we need to train ourselves onand enable the next generation to be ready with it is

conformance check – filters for the mind.



Internet and inner netP. Sasidharan

My friend wanted me to writeabout over flow of information ininternet which pollutes the

natural thinking process. As I am in linewith the same thought I agreed. Wrote,re-wrote and I was happy about theoutcome so to speak off. I then saw myone and a half year old granddaughterswiping the I pad and getting into herfavourite songs through Youtube. Thismade me a re- analyze the entire article.

Many of the old sayings get challenged, forexample we say the dog’s tail can never bestraightened. I saw a dog few days backwith a straight tail that too upwards; itwas swinging like the hump of a camel.Similarly, watching TV and usingcomputers are not good for children. Ifsomebody internet is bad, he will be

considered as primitive.

You call humans “bird brain” and youinsult the bird. I was attacked by a legionof pigeons only recently when I tried to

shoo away two of them from my window.An army of them landed within fewminutes and it was a sight to see. A birdformation. They took over the place as Ihad to leave next day. They knew theyowned the place and that is a flat I paidfor!

A cow is a domesticated animal. Sopeaceful and lovable. We won’t even thinkanything wrong when our little ones go infront of them. I have seen the most lovingcow which was eating from my hand turnso violent, only because it’s child wasbeing attacked by dogs. The cow literallyroared and chased away the dogs and cameback to comfort the child. You need to seeto believe it.

We should take care of our own childrenotherwise they will be directed by today’sinternet.

Barring all the puns let us face it. We talkabout inter planetary travel, imagetranspondation, material transmission etc.

but the discovery of computers followedby internet communication is here to stayand progress. The new generation babiesare internet - oriented and you wouldremember how one loved theadvertisement of a child born for internet.Information on internet is updated. Theinformation is useful at the same time thereare terrors on the other side also.

It is very much necessary to control theaccessibility of such information. India as acountry stands at 30th position incontrolling web accessibility in worldranking. There is pressure to remove suchrestraints. This is a dangerous move.Numerous examples of children and youthgoing astray and the societygetting criminalized. Today rapes,molestations, terrorism etc. are gettingrampant and a lot of it has directconnection with internet and chat rooms.The so called social media is completelycommercial and adds insult to injury. Therewas a time when you didn’t start the day

The new generation babies are internet oriented and you wouldremember how one loved the advertisement of

child born for internet.

Internet and inner net



without reading news papers. On thosedays, the front page of newspapersalways carries positive news. Today youdread to look at the paper or the TV fornews as it always project negativity. Eventhe cartoons for children are full ofviolence. One may not be able to get outof this situation as this world is and willremain a world of nets. I would like to tellstories to my grand children. But whenwe are all going to e-governance,e-commerce, e-tailing your expectationscould be categorized as nostalgia!

Where do we need control? Some timeback I read an article about the energywastage and pollution being created byunwanted usage of messaging vis a’ visforwarding messages. It was a surveyedinformation and stated that 75 percent ofsuch mails are totally mindless forwards,the power consumed can light up theentire Mumbai city for a week; no talkingabout the emissions or health hazards.The information available needs to be

segregated and monitored. Google is nowcoming out with an app for children only.How much it will work? Only time willtell. The mindless googling and surfingcurtails the need and wish for thinkingwhich automatically affects your creativethinking and power to dream. Allinventions came through dreamers. Theyalways read books which is becoming ararity.

With in the human body the only areaunused fully is our brain. Nature oralmighty doesn’t waste anything.Humans do. The brain is filled withelectrical impulses of knowledge similarto the internet. The only difference isthat few people had the opportunity tounlock the brain power as against theinternet which you can do with akeyboard. Activating the power of brainas against the computer doesn’t requireexternal power. Use the inner net moreand try to beat the internet. Ourancestors looked inside our soul to find

the inner net and created all the knowledgein abundance which helped to create eventhe internet. The world at large is talkingabout going back to yoga, meditation andholistic solutions for mind and body.Recently an American company owner andCEO who provides information 24/7stated that meditation is the best cure forstress, as if we didn’t know!

All of us cannot be Ramakrishna,Vivekananda or Mahatma Gandhi. Let usat least become an Obama, Narendra Modior Ambani!

I know you don’t believe me. Go Googleand live happily ever after. But findyourself first which will make yourdependence on outside information lesser.

Have a good laughter. Yes. Always.

The author is the CEO of ShamelInternational

The brain is filled with electrical impulses of knowledge similar tothe internet. The only difference is that few people had the

opportunity to unlock the brain power as against theinternet which you can do with a keyboard.

EXPERT COUNSELEXPERT COUNSELEXPERT COUNSELEXPERT COUNSELEXPERT COUNSEL

Lessons fromPhil HughestragedyDr. K.N. Raghavan



The tragedy of Phil Hughes has sparked a debate about thesafety aspects of cricket which has seen some experts andobservers even suggest that bouncers should be banned in

all forms of the game. Without doubt, what happened to PhilHughes was a grave tragedy, the likes of which has visited thecricket field only rarely and is bound to leave its mark for sometime to come. But we before one jump to conclusions aboutbanning bouncers and recommending better helmets one shouldtry and understand how the injury happened so that itsrecurrence can be prevented.

Bouncer, in cricket parlance, means a short pitched ball bowledat great speed, which after pitching is intended to pass above theshoulder height of batsman standing upright at the battingcrease. In other words the ball is not delivered with the intentionof striking the wicket of the batsman, but is instead aimed at theupper portion of the body of the batsman either to creatediscomfiture from fear of physical injury or to rush him intoplaying a shot that results in a catch. The batsman responds tothe bouncer by either leaving it all alone or by playing the“hook” shot which involves hitting the ball from the front of hisface. Without doubt, this is the most thrilling shot in the gameand nothing can excite spectators more than a well executedhook shot played against a quick bowler attempting to bully thebatsman into submission by bowling bouncers.

The fast short pitched delivery aimed at the body of thebatsman has attracted controversy from long back. TheInfamous “Bodyline” series where England’s captain DouglasJardine devised a strategy whereby his bowlers, led by HaroldLarwood, pummelled Australian batsmen, including thelegendary Don Bradman, into submission, by peppering themwith short pitched balls pitched on the leg stump and aimed atthe body, almost threatened to break of diplomatic relationsbetween the two countries. Though laws were introduced torestrict intimidatory bowling following this, Australian and WestIndian fast bowlers made use of the very liberal interpretationand application of the laws involved by home umpires whenmatches were staged in their respective countries and continuedto bowl bouncers aimed at the body of the batsmen, far in excessof what was permitted by the laws of the game. An example ofthis was the test match that India played against West Indies atKingston in 1976 where India had to declare their second inningsclosed after only five wickets had fallen as all other batsmen

The tragedy that befell PhilHughes is a warning to thecricketing community and

administrators of the game thatit is not wise to change the

fundamentals of the game tocater to the requirements of

television channels.



were injured by the bouncers and beamershurled at them by Caribbean fast bowlersled by Micheal Holding.

However one vital aspect that deservesmention is that despite this being the erabefore arrival of helmets and other goodquality protective equipment, no batsmenhad suffered the fate of Phil Hughes,though the bowlers of those times wereequally quick. This was becausethe batsmen of that generationwere technically more proficient,having honed their skills throughcontinuous practice in mannerprescribed in the coachingmanuals. The absence ofprotective equipment of the typethat is used today ensured thatbatsmen would have to relysolely on their skills andtechnique to avoid physical harmwhile facing fast bowlers. Thusbarring Nari Contractor, whosuffered bleeding inside the brainafter being struck on his head bya bouncer bowled by CharlieGriffith in a tour match in WestIndies in 1962, no other batsmenof the pre protection equipmentera had suffered grievous injurywhile facing quick bowlers.

Subsequent amendments to thelaws of the game bringingrestrictions on the no: ofbouncers and covering of wicketshave made the game more friendly towardsbatsmen. The advent of limited overscricket and its smaller cousin the T20matches, both of which have becomehugely popular in a short span of time,defanged the bowlers even more by placingrestrictions on the no: of overs and theplacement of fielders. The use of highquality protective equipment, which hasbecome commonplace since 1990’s, madethe batsmen less worried about theirphysical safety. This in turn made batsmenmore adventurous and innovative and new

shots such as upper cut, reverse sweep etchave become part of cricketing lexicon.Simultaneously, there has been an increasein the number of matches being played,mainly to cater to the demands of thetelevisions channels, who had startedpumping big money into the game resultingin its rampant commercialisation. All these,together with the success of money

spinning ventures such as Indian PremierLeague (IPL) has made cricket appear morelike part of an entertainment industry thana hard fought game between bat and ball.

Unfortunately, these developments led toone major casualty, which was the declinein the technical prowess one attached tobatsmen playing at the international level.In earlier days, it would have beenunthinkable for a batsman playing firstclass cricket to take his eyes off the ball,whereas these days, one sees batsmen

turning their back to fast bowlers even ininternational matches. It was one suchmoment of indiscretion that caused PhilHughes his life; had he kept his eyes onthe ball, it would have at worst hit his facewarranting a couple of stitches but wouldnever have taken his life. UnfortunatelyHughes took his eyes off the ball andturned his head, as a result of which the

ball hit on the back of the head,below the area guarded byhelmet, and the impact caused therupture of one of the arteries thatsupplied blood to the brain.Despite being rushed to thehospital and provided the bestmedical care possible, he couldnot recover. An injury of thisnature would not have occurredto a batsman of the yore, who didnot have a helmet in his cricketingkit, as he would not have takenhis eyes off the ball.

Thus, one comes to theconclusion that the villain of thepiece responsible was not thebouncer but faulty technique,brought in by too frequentchanges in laws and playingconditions and a false sense ofsecurity offered by theequipments. And the remedy liesnot in banning bouncers but inensuring that players develop theskills to tackle them. The tragedythat befell Phil Hughes is a

warning to the cricketing community andadministrators of the game that it is notwise to change the fundamentals of thegame to cater to the requirements oftelevision channels; commercialconsiderations, though important, shouldnot be allowed to override the spirit of thegame and its traditions.

The author is the Commissioner ofCustoms in Kochi, Kerala

Unfortunately Hughes took his eyes off the ball and turned hishead, as a result of which the ball hit on the back of the

head, below the area guarded by helmet, and theimpact caused the rupture of one of the arteries

that supplied blood to the brain.


PERSONALPERSONALPERSONALPERSONALPERSONAL

How can Icontrol anger ?

Sajit Malliyoor

Let me begin by drawing mybackground. I am a male, aged 19years, studying for a Business

Management Course. I am quite an athleticperson, having won several district andeven state level prizes in athletic events. Ilead a healthy lifestyle, maintain a healthyeating habit and exercise regularly. I haveseveral good companions and lovehanging out with them. My father is a strictdisciplinarian and he has brought us up inquiet upright ways. I take pride in myselfbeing always an honest and straightforward person. I usually don’t mince mywords when expressing my opinions,whether it is about situations or people.And I think that is where my problembegins. Sometimes, when I feel that theother person is not acting fairly, I get

uncontrollably angry. It happens mostlywith my friends and occasionally even withmy family members. But I would like toemphasize that I am not the explosive kindof person, I never go violent with angeroutbursts. But all the same, it does interferewith my relationships, occasionally. Arecent incident involved my girlfriend,whom I found out to be lying for notkeeping an appointment. I know it is only afrivolous incident, yet, at the moment I gotreally angry and hurt her with words Ishould never have uttered. When Idiscussed this problem with a close friend,he is of the opinion that one shouldn’t try tocontrol the expression of anger severely,lest it would lead to physical and mentalproblems. Is there any truth in it? Should I

try to reduce my anger and if yes, howshould I go about?

Often, we are judgemental about thenatural things that there are neither good,nor bad in it. The emotion of anger is onesuch thing. It is perfectly healthy andnormal to feel angry when you have beenmistreated or wronged. It is an adaptiveresponse to threat perceptions, bothphysical as well as psychological. Itinspires you to act powerfully, oftenaggressively, to fight and defend yourselfwhen you feel that you are being attacked.A certain amount of anger, therefore, isnecessary to our survival. However, thesociety places limits on how far the angercan take you. You are not expected to lashout at everything that annoys you. Thefeeling of anger isn’t the problem – it is

A certain amount of anger, therefore, is necessary to our survival.However, the society places limits on how far the anger can

take you. You are not expected to lash out ateverything that annoys you.



what you do with it that makes thedifference. Anger becomes a problem whenit harms you or the people around you.We adopt a variety of both conscious andunconscious processes to deal with thefeelings of anger. Psychologists speakabout three important approaches indealing with the emotion; namely,expression, suppression and calming.Expressing you angry feelings in anassertive – not aggressive – manner is thehealthiest way to express anger.Assertiveness is the skill of clearlyexpressing what your needs are and how tomeet and fulfil them, without hurting theother person. An assertive person isneither pushy nor demanding; he is onlyrespectful to himself and others.

Your question here is related to the secondmethod of dealing with anger, that is,suppression. Suppression takes place,when you hold in your anger, stopthinking about it and focus on somethingpositive. The aim here is to convert youranger into more constructive behaviourthan lashing out at the object of anger, andthereby avoiding the negativeconsequences. However, there is sometruth in what your friend opined aboutanger suppression. It can cause long termproblems in the person who is constantlysuppressing the natural outwardexpression of anger – that your anger canturn inward – on yourself. There isconsiderable evidence to prove that peoplewho constantly suppress outward

expression of anger suffer from problemslike hypertension, high blood pressure,digestive problems and even depression.

And these physical problems are bymeans, not the only danger of theunexpressed anger. A still more undesirableeffect is that it can alter your verypersonality and make you a perpetuallycynical and hostile person! This occursthrough a pathological expression of all thepent up anger; called passive aggression.You tend to get back at people indirectly,without telling them why, rather thanconfronting them head-on. People who areconstantly putting others down, criticizingeverything and making cynical commentshaven’t learned how to constructivelyexpress their anger. I don’t have to explain

Calming means not only just controlling your outward behaviour,but also controlling your internal responses by taking

steps to lower your heart rate, calm yourself downand let the feelings subside.




Send queries to [email protected]

how this is going impact your socialdesirability quotient!

Now, don’t mistake me that I amadvocating an intense expression of angerto avoid all those above mentionedproblems by restraining yourself! There isa third method of dealing with the feelingsof anger, that is to calm yourself downinside. This is the subject of most of the socalled ‘Anger Management techniques’,those self-help guides profess. Calmingmeans not only just controlling youroutward behaviour, but also controllingyour internal responses by taking steps tolower your heart rate, calm yourself downand let the feelings subside. The first stepin any effective Anger ManagementTechnique is developing the skills to beaware of your anger warning signs andtriggers. Since anger is a normal physicalresponse, it fuels the ‘flight or fight’system of the body and it comes with

several distinct signs and symptoms. Bybecoming aware of your personal signsthat your temper is boiling, you can takesteps to avoid it going out of control. Themost common signs are that your heartbeats faster and the breath rate quickens.You might also notice other signs such asclenching your hands or jaw, knots instomach, or tension in your shouldermuscles.

Once you recognise the presence of thetriggers and warning signs, you can actquickly and take steps to prevent it fromspinning out of control. Simple relaxationtools such as deep breathing and calmingimagery can help calm down angryfeelings. Deep, slow breathing helpscounteract the rising tension. Breathe outlonger than you breathe in and relax as youbreathe out. Another method is to slowlycount from one to ten. Focus on countingto let your rational mind to catch up with

your feelings. You may also excuseyourself out the situation and take a briskwalk around. It would release the pent upenergy so that you can approach thesituation with a cooler head. Once youhave calmed down sufficiently, you canreappraise the situation by asking yourselfquestions like, how important is the issueand is it really worth getting angry aboutand ruining the rest of my day? Thesemethods we discussed here are by far notthe exhaustive armamentarium thatpsychologists’ possess to help you out ofthe problem. There are several books,courses and other resource materials solelydedicated to the topic of AngerManagement. If none of the methodsworked, you may seek professional helpfrom a competent psychologist.

Once you recognise the presence of the triggers and warningsigns, you can act quickly and take steps to prevent it

from spinning out of control.

STORIES OF LIFESTORIES OF LIFESTORIES OF LIFESTORIES OF LIFESTORIES OF LIFE

Dr. Jos Cletus Plackal

Caught up in the net!


Parents know too well about the potential dangers ofcomputer world. There are many instances where theunsuspecting, innocent youngsters are caught up in the

vicious jaws of the omnipotent computer. Manmade though,computers can have complete and comprehensive masteryover humans, leading to abject slavery, through addictiveconditioning of the worst sort. The momentary magicalexhilaration takes on a fantasy flight that even cuts the rootsof reality and releases one to wander endlessly in the infinitesky like a kite cut off from its line. Thus the virtual worldtakes over the harsh world of reality and carries the personover onto exhilarating fantasy world, leads to a state ofintoxication and ends up in pure toxic numbness! Let’s walkalong a young person who made this (horrendous) joyride tonowhere.

Jewel, 17 years, older of the two children, has one sister whois four years younger, is quite smart, sociable, athletic, aboveaverage in studies, much loved by all the members in thefamily, affable and good looking too. Jewel attends 11thStandard and, of late, has started feeling tired and disinterestedin studies. He himself asked his father to take him to acounselor. So Jewel was ready to meet a counselingpsychologist and the initial interviews went on very well.

Jewel presented a lot of problems that he was facing, includinghis younger sister who always complained to parents abouthim and invariably the parents would believe her! Thisongoing fight was quite upsetting to the boy and he roughedup his sister whenever he got a chance to. But then motherreported these, verbatim, to father, and he would get mad.Jewel also complained about the mistreatment he receivesfrom his grandfather. So, Jewel concluded that he was not the“jewel” of the family but a mere smoldering charcoal!

As for the parents, they didn’t have too many problems withtheir dear boy. The boy was not interested in study, he picksup some fights with mother, sister and grandfather. Theywere more anxious about his studies than anything else. Fromparents we collected some significant factors, such as the earlyseparation of the baby from father and mother, the blame gameby grandpa, “you are such a bad luck”, “Ever since you wereborn, our fortunes went topsy-turvy”, etc. There was a deathin the family at the time of Jewel’s birth. Early separation andthe relentless blaming messages eroded the child’s self worthand created a defensive front, an unhealthy position in life, “Iam not OK, You are not OK”. This indeed, is a very dangerousposition, psychologically.

The virtual world takes over the harsh world of reality and carriesthe person over onto exhilarating fantasy world, leads to a state

of intoxication and ends up in pure toxic numbness!


The author is licensed clinical psychologist(HRT), Jeevas Centre Aluva. He is alsoprovincial of Sacred Heart CMI Province,Kochi.

By now, Jewel began to trust thepsychologist deeply, and together we didsome deeper probing and sifting of factsfor discovering the missing link that wouldgive a vital lead for resolving life’s jigsawpuzzle. And then, Jewel dared to open hismost guarded secret, his addiction withvisual images in the internet and hisdistorted sexual habits. It was like aPandora’s box… No wonder, Jewel couldnot attend to his studies, he was carried offhis feet and the exhilaration of surgingsynaptic waves triggered by the gushing oftestosterone led him to another world, avirtual world of Narcissistic pleasure. Butit also cut his roots from the tree of life.Jewel felt disconnected from his family,friends and studies, he had difficulty facinggirls, uncontrollable emotional upheaval,guilt and what not. Jewel’s dear parentshad no clue as to what was happening in

the inner world of this young man. Two-pronged therapeutic strategy wasemployed. First, rapprochement betweenJewel and the family of origin, second, de-addictive behavior modification therapyfor regaining balance and emotionalfreedom. The first part was achieved bythe cooperation of the parents, and thesecond part, without the family everknowing about it. Jewel was verycooperative and it showed in the outcome.

In the follow-up sessions he showedremarkable progress in the addictivepattern of behavior. He doesn’t feel theurge to surf through the ‘bad n’ cites,caconcentrate on his studies, no fights withsister, etc. Contract for future behaviorwas made and Jewel has decided to takecontrol of his life. The family has beenalerted about the net-use and agreed to be

responsible users, keeping some checksand bounds for monitoring the same.

Netizens as we are, we must usecomputers and other gadgets for modernliving. Being computer literate is a mustfor all parents. Checks and bounds are amust. Age-specific controls andmonitoring structures must be worked outwith children’s involvement. A mutuallyagreed, workable contract will take intoconsideration the need and responsiblebehavior of the members. The house ruleson the use of computer, TV, mobile phone,etc., must be worked out when childrenare in the formative.


Jewel’s dear parents had no clue as to what was happening inthe inner world of this young man. Two-pronged therapeutic

strategy was employed. First, rapprochement betweenJewel and the family of origin, second, de-addictive

behavior modification therapy for regainingbalance and emotional freedom.

HEALTH MONITORHEALTH MONITORHEALTH MONITORHEALTH MONITORHEALTH MONITOR

Memory - the essenceof cognition

It was 5 pm on a Friday evening and theofficers were clearing their desk afteranother hectic day in the bank. Mrs.

Grace, the officer dealing with NRIaccounts was biting her nails as she waitedin front of the manager’s chamber. She wasoften rewarded for her sharp memory andability to recognize customers with thecredit they had with the bank. Nowadays,she has developed a habit of taking off onmost Saturdays when the bank washustling with activity. The reason for herdemeanour was Jonathan, her second childwho was studying in a top English mediumschool in the city. Her husband, Mr.Peterwas a busy sales executive and would mostoften travel in the weekends, forcing themother to attend all the parent- teachersessions in the school on Saturdaymornings. The class teacher was verycritical about Jonathan that he was notperforming like the other children in herclass. She often found his answer papersincomplete. He was quiet in the class, butshe was never sure whether he understoodanything that she was teaching. He oftenfound it difficult to answer a question

based on something that she had taught afew minutes back. She did not mincewords to call him the ‘dumbest’ studentshe had ever had. Grace was gettingfrustrated on this. She could not digestwhy a child who could recognize any songfrom the first few syllables of music orcould clearly narrate the whole story of amovie watched many years back be called

‘dumb’. She remembered that her daughter,Catherine, a medical student now, used tobe more systematic in her studies. Thoughshe was not as smart and playful asJonathan, she never had to attend a painful‘open house’ on Catherine’s behalf. Therebuke did not dishearten Grace. She tookJonathan to her best friend and

psychologist, Sicily. After hours ofanalysis, Sicily inferred that Jonathan wasborn intelligent but was not quite focusedon things he did, more so on his studies.She concluded that Jonathan had not gotinto the groove of learning. She suggestedsome simple tips and gave advice onimproving his memory and recalling them.Jonathan was quick to adapt and slowlystarted to improve. Grace’s prayersworked and her Friday evening excursionto manager’s chamber came to an end,much to the relief of her colleagues in thebank.

Our memory helps make us who we are.From fondly recollecting the time spentwith your childhood friends and family toremembering where we left our car keys,memory plays a vital role in every aspectof our lives. Memory is the process inwhich information is encoded, stored, andretrieved. Encoding allows informationfrom the outside world to reach the fivesenses in the forms of chemical andphysical stimuli. In this first stage theinformation must be changed so that it

Dr. Jagath lal Gangadharan

Our memory helps make us who we are. It is the process in whichinformation is encoded, stored, and retrieved.



may be put into the encoding process.Storage is the second stage of this process.This entails that information is maintainedover periods of time. Finally the thirdprocess is the retrieval of information thathas been stored. Such informationmust be located and returned tothe consciousness.

Human memory has three separatecomponents:

1. sensory register

2. short-term store

3. long-term store

Sensory Register:

During every moment of an organism’slife, environmental stimulus orsensory information is being detectedby sensory receptors and processed bythe nervous system. It lasts just longenough to be transferred to short-termmemory.

Short Term Memory:

Short-term memory, also known asprimary or active memory, is theinformation we are currently aware of orthinking about. As with sensory memory,the information that enters short-termmemory decays and is lost, but theinformation in the short-term store hasa longer duration, approximately 18–20seconds. People can store between fiveand nine items in short-term memory.

Working memory deals withinformation you need to “work” with,such as step-by-step instructions, thethings you need at the store, or aproblem you’re trying to solve.

Long-term memory

Try to recall what happened in the lastthree minutes in your life. You are ableto remember every detail of the eventsincluding what you felt in your mind. Nowtry to remember what happened in aparticular day in the last week. You mayremember some things like when you wakeup, what you had for breakfast, how youtravelled etc. but you are not able to recalleverything that went on. Those things that

you were able to remember were stored inlong term memory. This is a more or lesspermanent store. Later, this informationthat is stored here can be “copied” andtransferred to the short-term store whereit can be attended to and manipulated.

Semantic memory contains general factualinformation and knowledge related to yourworld. Examples are:

♦ The meaning of a word

♦ The concept of a book

♦ Understanding of multiplication

♦ Knowing the game of football

Episodic memory consists of our memoriesof personal experiences and specific

events that have happened in the past.Examples are:

♦ Remembering your first day in the newschool

♦ Remembering the last meal you ate

♦ Remembering the first time you metyour partner

♦ Remembering what happened at the lastfootball game you saw in TV.

Synapse formation

A synapse is a structure that permitsa neuron (or nerve cell) to pass anelectrical or chemical signal toanother cell. It is widely acceptedthat the synapse plays a role in theformation of memory. Asneurotransmitters activate receptorsacross the synaptic cleft, theconnection between the two neuronsis strengthened when both neuronsare active at the same time, as a resultof the receptor’s signalingmechanisms. The strength of two

connected neural pathways is thought toresult in the storage of information,resulting in memory. This process ofsynaptic strengthening is known as long-term potentiation. ‘Synaptic plasticity’ isthe term used for denoting the adaptationof neurons in the brain during the learningprocess. The basic mechanism for thisincrease in synaptic efficacy arises fromthe presynaptic cell’s repeated andpersistent stimulation ofthe postsynaptic cell. The theory is oftensummarized as “Cells that fire together,

wire together”

How do you strengthen yoursynapses?

♦ Avoid stress: Research has found thatextended exposure to stress canactually interferewith neurotransmitter function. Otherstudies have found that stress shrinksneurons in the prefrontal cortex andhippocampus.

♦ Avoid drugs, alcohol, and otherneurotoxins: Drug use and excessive

alcohol consumption have been linked tosynaptic deterioration. Exposure todangerous chemicals such as heavy metalsand pesticides can also cause synaptic loss.

♦ Get Plenty of Exercise: Regular physicalactivity helps improve oxygenation of the

A synapse is a structure that permits a neuron to pass an electricalor chemical signal to another cell. It is widely accepted that the

synapse plays a role in the formation of memory.



brain, which is vital for synaptic formationand growth.

♦ Stimulate your brainYou’ve probably heard the oldadage “Use it or lose it.” Well, itturns out there’s a lot of truthto that when it comes tomemory. Researchers havefound that elderly adults whoengage in mentally stimulatingactivities like chess, puzzle orSudoku are less likely todevelop dementia.

♦ Maintain a well-balanceddiet with natural antioxidants and optimumintake of water

The anatomical basis of memory – thehippocampus:

The areas of our brain involvedinmemory are the hippocampus,the amygdala, the striatum andthe mammillary bodies. They are thoughtto be involved in specific types ofmemory. In addition to this, the prefrontalcortex appears to be crucial for themonitoring and control of memoryprocesses, both at the time of encoding andat the time of retrieval.

The hippocampus is a horse-shoe shapedstructure of the brain that plays animportant role in consolidating informationfrom short-term memory into long-termmemory. It has a distinctive, curved shapethat has been likened to the ram’s hornsof Amon in Egyptian mythology. Thehippocampus is involved in such complexprocesses as forming, organizing, andstoring memories.

The amygdala is thought to be involvedin emotional memory or those associatedwith emotional events. We all know thatthe more emotionally charged an event orexperience is, the better it isremembered.This phenomenon is knownas the memory enhancement effect.Patients with amygdala damage, however,do not show a memory enhancementeffect. Following any learning event,the long-term memory for the event is notformed instantaneously. Rather,information regarding the event is slowly

assimilated into long-term (potentiallylifelong) storage over time.

Olfaction (smell) and memoryHave you ever noticed that a particularscent can bring forth a rush of vividmemories? The smell of ripe mangoesmight remind you of playing with friendsat your grandmother’s house duringvacation when you were a small child.Why does smell seem to act as such apowerful memory trigger?

First, the nerve concerned with smell(olfactory nerve) is located very close tothe amygdala, the area of the brain that isconnected to the experience of emotion aswell as emotional memory. The actualability to smell is highly linked to memory.Studying information in the presence of an

odor actually increases the vividness andintensity of that remembered informationwhen you smell that odor again. In order toidentify a scent, you must remember whenyou have smelled it before and thenconnect it to visual information thatoccurred at the same time. When areas ofthe brain connected to memory aredamaged, the ability to identify smells isactually impaired.

Failing memoryFunctioning of the hippocampus and

amygdala can also decline withage. Twenty percentage of theneuronal synapses in thehippocampus may degenerate asan individual reaches his eighthdecade of life! This can bereflected in their performance onmemory tests. Avoiding stress,leading an active lifestyle, andremaining mentally engaged areimportant ways to decreaseyour risk of memory loss duringold age. Having a strong sense

of self-efficacy has been associated withmaintaining good memory abilities duringold age.

♦ Transience stored memories candegrade with the passage of time. Itfollows a general pattern where theinformation is rapidly forgotten during thefirst couple of days or years, followed bysmall losses in later days or years.

♦ Absent mindedness Lack of attention(focus) can cause failure of memory.Without proper attention, the informationcannot be stored. It is impossible toretrieve information that is not stored.

Interference, which occurs when somememories compete with past memory, cancause a failure in memory. A teacher usedto constantly call one particular girl by awrong name in the beginning of a newschool year. This was because, the girl’solder sister was in the same teacher’s classin the previous year, and the two lookedremarkably similar. It is the memory of theolder sister that made it so difficult for herto recall the younger sibling’s name. Othercause of forgetting includes intentionallytrying to forget things associated with atroubling or traumatic event.

Amnesia is the term used to denote anyacquired deficit in memory. They are oftwo different types:

♦ Anterograde amnesia: This involves theloss of the ability to form new memories.This can be caused due to damage to bothsides of the hippocampus as in braininjury. ‘Ghajini’ was a recent Aamir khan

The actual ability to smell is highly linked to memory. When areasof the brain connected to memory are damaged, the ability to

identify smells is actually impaired.


starrer where this condition was clearlydepicted. The film explores the life of arich businessman whodevelops anterograde amnesia following aviolent encounter in which his love interestwas killed. Sanjay, his character loses hismemory every fifteen minutes.Systematically, he uses photographs, notesand tattoos to recover his memory andavenge for the loss.

♦ Retrograde amnesia: Involves losing theability to recollect past memories, althoughthe ability to create new memories mayremain intact. ‘Innale’ was a Malayalammovie directed by Padmarajan,in 1990, inwhich the character Gauri (Sobhana), thesole survivor of a tragic bus accident losesher past memory. She starts to move withcourage, towards her new-found self, afterstruggling within herself.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) accounts for60% to 70% of cases of dementia. It is achronic neurodegenerative disease thatusually starts slowly and gets worse overtime. The most common early symptom isdifficulty in remembering recent events(short term memory loss). As the diseaseadvances, problems with language, easilygetting lost, mood swings, lossof motivation, not coping with self-care and detachment from normal dailyactivities develop. As a person’s conditiondeclines, they often withdraw from familyand society.

Movie depicting Alzheimer’s dementiaThe life story of Ramesan Nair in Blessy’s‘Thanmathra’ masterly enacted by PadmaShri Mohanlal shows the plight of a middleclass family when the breadwinner of thefamily develops Alzheimer’s disease.Ramesan Nair was a sincere and honestsecretariat employee. His biggest ambitionis to see that his son gets into the IndianAdministrative Service, something hehimself had failed to achieve despite beinga brilliant student. But fate plays role of aspoiler in this loving family as Ramesanstarts to develop problems with hismemory. What starts as common placeomissions and absent mindedness, quicklygrows into handicapping cognitive and

behavioral impairments. How the familyadjusts to this Alzheimer’s patient formsthe rest of the movie. Some of the mostcommon causes of amnesia include:

♦ Trauma: A physical trauma, such as acar accident, can cause the victim to losespecific memories of the event itselfresulting in post traumatic amnesia.Damage to brain due to hypoxia ordiseases can also cause amnesia.

♦ Drugs: Certain medications can be usedto cause temporary amnesia, particularlyduring anaesthesia. Once the drugs wearoff, the individual’s memory returns tonormal functioning.

♦ Alcohol: Long term use of alcoholcompounded with vitamin deficiencies cancause various kinds of amnesia andcognitive deterioration.

A word memory recall test: In thefollowing demonstration, look at the list ofwords below for two minutes. Memorizeas many words as you can in this amountof time. Next, turn off your computermonitor and get out a sheet of paper. Giveyourself two minutes to write down asmany words from the list as you can.

How many words did you get correct?Despite having two minutes to memorize

the words, you may find it surprisinglydifficult to later recall even a handful of thewords. This experiment demonstratessome of the limitations of short-termmemory. According to researcher GeorgeA. Miller, the typical storage capacity forshort-term memory is seven plus or minustwo items. Let’s see how we cansignificantly increase memorization andrecall. Now, observe the following for twominutes after the rearrangement.

Again try to recall the words. You couldprobably remember far more of thesewords after organizing based on category.Chunking is the process of taking

individual units of information (chunks)and grouping them into larger units.Probably the most common example ofchunking occurs in phone numbers. Aphone number sequence of 4-2-1- 4-7-1-1-3-2-4 would be chunked into 421-471-1324. Chunking is often a useful tool whenmemorizing large amounts of information

How to study?

Learning effective study habits is one ofthe best ways to minimize stress andfrustration in students.

1. Study regularly in a place free ofdistractions such as television, music, andother diversions.♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ The Two Hour Rule: The generalrule is that for every hour of time youspend in class, you should spend twohours of your own time at home,studying the material.

♦ Plan your study time: You should setaside time each week for reviewing studymaterials. At the beginning of week,consider the material you need to coverand estimate how long you will need tocomplete your assignments, readings, andreviews.

♦ Schedule study time: You shouldschedule a specific period of time devotedto each subject, even when you are busy,to revise your class work. Research hasshown that students who study regularlyremember the material far better than thosewho do all of their studying in onemarathon session.

In addition to aiding in memory, sleep also plays and essential role inlearning new information. Recent research has shown that taking

a nap after you learn something new can actually helpyou learn faster and remember better.



2. Study actively

♦ Think critically: To study effectively,you need to analyze and understand thematerial than just reading the assigned textand skimming through your notes.

♦ Take notes: Read through yourmaterials slowly and write down keypoints. Write downany questions youhave about thematerials that you canlater discuss withyour classmates orteacher.

♦ Test yourLearning: Quizyourself on thematerial you have justread. If you strugglewith certainquestions, make noteof these areas foradditional study.

♦ Summarize: Once you have studied,identify the main conceptscovered by the material.Think of your ownexamples of each theory,problem or concept. Trygrouping similar conceptsand terms together and usemnemonics.

3. Be Active in Class

♦ Make Effective ClassNotes: Practice takingbrief, effective notes thatsummarize the key pointsof what was discussed inthe class.

♦ Prepare for theClass: Reading theassigned chapters beforeclass will help you toparticipate in classdiscussions in a better way.

♦ Visualize Concepts: Pay attention tothe photographs, charts, and othergraphics in your textbooks. Draw chartsor figures in the margins of your notes or

use highlighters or pens in different colorsto group related ideas in your writtenstudy materials.

4. Study alone initially and then ingroups

♦ Individual Study: Your initial studysessions should take place alone. By doing

this, you will concentrate on the materialin a better way and focus on correctingyour deficiencies. Focus your attention onthe materials you are studying. Elaborateand rehearse the information you are

The author is Consultant and Head,Department of Neurosurgery, RajagiriHealthcare and Education Project, Aluva,Kerala.

studying. Relate new information to thingsyou already know.

♦ Group Study: Once you have a goodgrasp on the material, utilize reviewsessions with classmates or study groupsto refresh your knowledge. Educators havealso discovered that having students

actually teach newconcepts to othersenhances understandingand recall.

Sleep andpotentiation ofmemory:

In addition to aiding inmemory, sleep alsoplays and essential rolein learning newinformation. Recentresearch has shown thattaking a nap after youlearn something new

can actually help you learn faster andremember better. One study found thatsleeping after learning something new

actually leads to physicalchanges in the brain. Ithelps to build synapses inyour brain and consolidatewhat you have learned.

In one study, researchersfound that deprivingstudents of sleep afterlearning a new skillsignificantly decreasedmemory of that skill up tothree days later. So thenext time you arestruggling to learn newinformation, considergetting a good night’s sleepafter you study.

Finally, a little planningnow can save you from alot of last-minute stress.

Educators have also discovered that having studentsactually teach new concepts to others enhances

understanding and recall.



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PM Modi most searched personality onYahoo India in 2014

Prime Minister Narendra Modi andindustrialist Mukesh Ambani featureamongst the most searched

personalities online this year, according tosearch engine Yahoo.

According to the seventh edition of YahooIndia’s ‘Year in Review’, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi led the list of ‘High andMighty: The Political Top 10’ in 2014,followed by his aides Arun Jaitley(Finance and I&B Minister) and BJPPresident Amit Shah.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, CongressPresident Sonia Gandhi, RailwaysMinister Suresh Prabhu and BJP GeneralSecretary Ram Madhav have also beennamed in the list.

The review is based on users’ daily searchhabits and an editorial selection of whatthey read, recommended and shared moston Yahoo in India.

“The slew of reforms and Modi’s effortsto improve diplomatic ties were of ongoinginterest to Yahoo users. ‘Make in India’made it to the top of the list of BiggestFinancial Events of the Year,” Yahoo said.

Industrialist Mukesh Ambani made asecond appearance at the No. 1 spot as thenation’s most influential people, followed

by Tata Group boss Cyrus Mistry andGautam Adani, chief of Adani Group ofIndustries. This year’s top financenewsmakers include Apple CEO TimCook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella,Infosys CEO and MD Vishal Sikka,

Flipkart’s Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansaland Snapdeal’s Rohit Bansal.

Two high-profile deaths in the corporateworld – the mysterious plane crash ofFrench oil major Total’s CEO Christophede Margerie’s in Moscow and the death ofTata Motors’ MD Karl Slym in Bangkok –were among other top searches in thiscategory.

Sachin Tendulkar, with his much talkedabout autobiography, topped the cricketersof the year list, followed by Phil Hughes,MS Dhoni and N Srinivasan. Sunny Leonewas the most-searched celebrity for thethird year in a row, along with names likeDeepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, HrithikRoshan and John Abraham.

In the tech category, Yahoo users searchedfor Apple iPhone 6, Samsung Galaxy S5and Galaxy Note 4, Microsoft XBox One,Amazon Kindle Fire, Sony PlayStation 4and Microsoft Surface Pro 3. Mostpopular cars in terms of online search wereHyundai Xcent, Tata Zest, Hyundai Elitei20, Maruti Ciaz and Diesel poweredHonda City.

Sony working one-paper watch

Sony Corp is developing a watchmade out of electronic paper forrelease as soon as next year in a trial

of the company’s new venture-styleapproach to creating products. Thewatch’s face and wrist band will be madefrom a patented material that allows theentire surface area to function as a displayand change its appearance, sources said.The device will emphasize style, ratherthan trying to outdo more technologicalofferings like Apple Inc’s watch andSony’s own Smart Watch. At stake ismore than a win against Apple andSamsung Electronics Co. A decade of costreductions and job cuts has soured Sony’sculture of innovation, once celebrated forthe Walkman and the Trinitron television.CEO formed a business division this yearunder his direct control to fast-trackpromising products, and the watch is oneof the effort’s first results.

Free Wi-Fi launched at New Delhirailway station

Close to five lakh passengerstravelling via the New Delhirailway station, the busiest in the

country, will now be able to connect to theInternet through the Wi-Fi service, whichwas launched at the station.

Terming Internet as a “new necessity”,Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu saidefforts are on to make maximum use ofscience and technology, particularlyinformation technology to provide betterfacilities to passengers. People throngingthe station can now access Wi-Fi Interneton any of the 16 platforms free of cost foran initial period of 30 minutes after whichthey would be required to register for thesame using their mobile phones.

Beyond 30 minutes, the user would haveto purchase scratch cards costing Rs.25for 30 minutes and Rs.35 for an hour andvalid through 24 hours, which will be

made available at 24X7 Wi-Fi helpdeskson the concourse at the Paharganj andAjmeri Gate sides of New Delhi railwaystation. Prabhu said Railways isplanning to provide the facility at allmajor stations, and trains also to connectthe common man.

“Our Prime Minister’s dream is thatthere should not be hi-fi but Wi-Fi. Itshould not be limited to only a fewpeople but to common people also. Weare trying to provide this facility tomore and more stations as soon aspossible”. “We are finalising an actionplan for this and besides stations, wewill provide it on trains also. This is abeginning today, but it will not beconfined to one station only,” he said.The project is being implemented byRailTel, a railway PSU which ismandated to provide the service.


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Indian Telcom want tosuppress WhatsApp

The Telecom Regulatory Authority ofIndia (TRAI) apparently wants totry wringing money out of

messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Viber,Skype andWeChat on behalfof itself andmobile serviceproviders whofeel that theyhave the right tobe compensatedfor revenues lostwhen people usesuch appsinstead of makingphone calls andsending SMSmessages.

This is the samesort of logic thatleads certain countries and municipalitiesto impose taxes on home solar panelsbecause local coal-fired power plants arelosing business.

One issue here is that service providers arebanding together to try to extract moremoney than they already get because theysense an easy target. Another is thatthey’re trying to use a neutral governmentagency to ‘regulate’ their own competition.More importantly, the ideal of networkneutrality is now under threat, becausecertain services might be burdened withsome sort of tax or fee just for the privilegeof being able to conduct business as usual.

TRAI’s plans are similar to recent movesby Internet service providers in the USAto lobby for the ability to set up Internet‘fast lanes’ and charge those companiesable (if not willing) to pay more forpriority (read: non-degraded) consumerexperiences. Web startups and smallercompanies would have a tough timesurviving if they had to pay ISPs in orderfor consumers to be able to use them -regardless of the fact that ISPs are alreadybeing paid fees by users who should beable to use their bandwidth quotas in anyway they like.

There’s no question that handing serviceproviders the ability to throttle certain

services is bad for everyone involved –Internet users, entrepreneurs, and the techeconomy as a whole. We need to be evenmore concerned that these service

providers are trying to put themselves in aposition of power over their competitors.Yes, long-distance telephony revenue hasfallen thanks to VoIP, and people send

Smart app brings 4,000 govt servicesto your fingertips

Karnataka MobileOne is the newmobile app launched by Karnatakagovernment to connect to the

people of the State. This mobile-governance tool provides citizens access toover 4,000 services - both public andprivate - through handheld devices.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi spokeabout mobile governance, we haveresponded by making it a reality.Karnataka will be the flag-bearer for digitalIndia. Digital India commences fromBengaluru and it is our hope it will beemulated in other states too,” chiefminister Siddaramaiah, who also holds e-governance portfolio, said during thelaunch of mobile governance in thepresence of President Pranab Mukherjee.

Citizens can access 632 government-to-citizen services and over 3,500 business-to-consumer services at their fingertips bydownloading Karnataka MobileOne app,

available on Android and iOS platforms, ordialling 161. Be it applying for a passportor driving licence, paying income tax orutility bills, access to healthcare or gettingprior information about water supply orpower cuts, this app touches every aspectof a citizen’s life.There’s also a unique appM-Power to make women feel safer.

During emergency, a woman can sendalerts through the app with location tags.The alerts will be forwarded to the nearestpolice station. Another app, i-Care,promises to bring citizens closer togovernment in resolving civic issues.

“Soon, Metro Rail users will be able topay for their ride from their phone itself.Once the legal formalities are completed bythe judiciary, we can even consider filingFIRs from the comfort of your home oroffice. Today, presence of the citizen isrequired to sign documents in front of apolice officer,” Siddaramaiah said.


fewer SMS messages because free Webmessengers are available. So what?Business landscapes change all the time.

Everyone needs to adapt, not cling to thepast. Cellularoperators arenot expectedto compensatelandline phonecompanies forthe reducedusage ofpublic pay-phones.

Besides, theoperatorsdon’t provide2G/ 3Gconnectivityfor free; there

are monthly charges as well as data usagecharges, and they aren’t particularly fast,reliable or cheap.

POLICY POLICY POLICY POLICY POLICY WWWWWAAAAATTTTTCHCHCHCHCH

Dr. D. Dhanuraj

Never-ending process oftrial and error in education

It will not be an exaggeration when Isay, ‘the Union HRD Minister and herministry are always caught in

controversy’. The decision to end GermanLanguage learning in KendriyaVidyalayasand impose Sanskrit in its position wasimperious to a secular and democraticnation. In betweenthere weresuggestions tointroduce commonsyllabus at thenational level. Evenin the case of UPSCexams there werecontroversiestowards the end ofUPA tenure. Manyare settled for thetime being butvulnerable forinconsistent policydecisions and thedesired outcomes.

India, according tomany experts couldbe one of theworld’s leadingeconomies (amongthe first four) in another decades time.Everyone is pleased to hear this wheneverand wherever the jubilation is around. Butmany forget to understand that for anygrowing economy, one of the keysupplementing factors is the‘qualityeducation’ provided to the younggeneration. In this country, as statedabove, most of the times the discussions,debates and controversies are around theimposition from the above and least aboutthe flexibility and innovation that couldbring a sea change in the sector. I startedusing internet by 1998 and the mobile

phones by 2005. It was expensive to useboth of them and luckily others werefunding me on these at that time. But theneither so called funders nor theeducational institutions of that timebothered to teach me how to use them. Ibelong to the generation that witnessed

the growth and development of desktopcomputers to Laptops to Tablets. In thephone segment, we have experienced thebasic bar phones to smart phones ofdifferent features. I remember one of myfriends presenting a note on the future ofcomputer taking the photographs of theusers in the early years of development ofdesktop computers. At that time we didnot understand his arguments but today Iuse my tablet to document all the eventsand functions that I attend ignoring thecostly camera I had bought a few yearsago. This teaches me the valuable lesson ofinformed choices and access to opt them.

Imposed learning is not always the rightchoice to many. How did this happen;there is an element of spontaneous order inthe whole business of evolution, adaptionand maturity. It takes time but withinteresting results at the end. Why notapply the same logic in a modified way in

the school educationprovidingopportunities to thestake holders toinnovate and beflexible? Where arewe missing the link?In the schooleducation sector inIndia, manyconsider and it is afact that there is adivision on thequality of educationreceived in rural andurban areas.Students who comefrom the urbanmiddle class are sentto elite schoolswhere they aretaught the

prerequisites of reasoning, analytical skills,interpersonal skills, mental ability and allthat is required for management andengineering education. What about those inrural areas and the backward regions; theyare catered by the government schoolswhich are normally dysfunctional and theteachers do not show up. The students ofthe government schools are mostvulnerable to the trial and error processesin the education sector that the variousGovernments follow.

In the state of Kerala, these issues arelargely addressed through a systematic

The students of the government schools are most vulnerableto the trial and error processes in the education sector

that the various Governments follow.


POLICY POLICY POLICY POLICY POLICY WWWWWAAAAATTTTTCHCHCHCHCH

reform in the education sector. Density ofthe schools is very high in Kerala wherethe competition among the government,private and aided schools ensure thequality outcome, transparency andaccountability among the stake holders.But this is not true for many other states.The kids are forced to study in educationalinstitutions/government schoolsas theycan’t afford the education in privateschools. While the philanthropy in schooleducation system in various forms (whichalso played a major role in thedevelopment of the sector) are known formany decades, the eco systems are not soencouraging at other parts of the country.

Most of the times, more than the syllabusand the content, it is the class roomenvironment and teaching methods botherthe parents. While the choice and optionare still out there, the poor and rural folksfind it difficult to send their kids to thebest quality schools around for the lack ofmoney and support systems. While thestate governments offer scholarships andgrants to the needy students, the work andeffort to get them on time which areconfined to the benefits ofgovernmentschool do not help theaggrieved parents.

In the case of the United States ofAmerica, the education sector has tried tooffer many innovative solutions to thesechallenging problems. One early proposalwas that of ‘Vouchers’. A school voucheris a coupon or certificate awarded toparents or to a private school on behalf ofa parent so that a child can attend a privateschool. This has raised protests from theteachers union across the states. Also itdenied opportunities for the special needstudents. Further innovation in the domainhas led Arizona Governor Jan Brewersigning education savings accounts (ESA,officially called “EmpowermentScholarship Accounts”) into law on April12, 2011. A critical feature of the accountsis that they enable parents to purchase avariety of educational products andservices.

With ESA, parents can choose from a widevariety of online classes, personal tutors,

educational therapies, textbooks, andprivate schools. In fact, parents do nothave to send their children to privateschool at all. For example, they can use acombination of homeschool lessons, virtualschool classes, and individual public schoolclasses1. ESA allows individuals to depositup to $2,000 per year in an educationalsavings account for an eligible beneficiary(child) without being taxed on earningsfrom interest, dividends, appreciation, etc.– as long as the child uses the funds beforethe age of 30 for qualified educationalexpenses. The account must be started andall contributions made before the child is18. The age 18 and age 30 limitations arewaived if the beneficiary has special needs.This waiver allows the ESA to be fundedafter age 18 and allows the assets to remainin the account after age 30. This systemhelps the corporates and the individualswho fund for the kid’s education can

monitor the progress and the qualityimparted. This in fact made it verycompetitive informed choice for theparents and kids to choose from amongthe different practices.

Let us hope the trial and error processesthat our ministries follow start focusingmore on the actual issues in the EducationSector that are stumbling blocks to ourdevelopment. Let us hope for an Indiawhere all children, irrespective of whetherrich or poor or from urban or rural areasare empowered to have umpteen optionsto choose from, for their education.

Footnotes:

1http://goldwaterinstitute.org/article/new-day-school-choice-education-savings-accounts-turn-3-years-old

The author is Chairman, Centre forPublic Policy Research.

Let us hope for an India where all children, irrespective of whetherrich or poor or from urban or rural areas are empowered to have

umpteen options to choose from, for their education.


CREACREACREACREACREATIVE LIVINGTIVE LIVINGTIVE LIVINGTIVE LIVINGTIVE LIVING

Churn the ocean of informationfor creative outcomes

Dr. Varghese Panthalookaran


Mythical Samudramanthan

Bagavata Purana of Hindu Mythology describes the episode of“Samudramanthan” or “Churning of the Ocean of Milk”. Thestory goes like this: As a punishment for his uncontrolled ego anddisrespect of others sage Durvasa cursed Indra, the King ofDevas (Demigods) and together with him all the demigods(Devas) to be bereft of all strength, energy, and fortune.Consequently Devas were defeated by Asuras, the demons, underthe leadership of King Bali, who gained control over the universe.At the advice of Vishnu, Devas entered into an alliance withAsuras to jointly churn the ocean for the nectar of immortality(Amrita) to regain their lost fortunes. Against the agreement thatthe amrita shall be shared equally among them, Vishnu assuredDevas that He would ensure that amrita does not reach the handsof Asuras, which would impart them with immortality.

The churning of the Milk Ocean followed an elaborate procedure.It required a churning rod and the Mount Mandara agreed to bethe churning rod. It required a churning rope and Vasuki, the kingof serpents, who abides on Shiva’s neck, offered himself to be thechurning rope. The demigods and demons pulled Vasuki back andforth causing the mountain to rotate and the ocean of milk gotslowly churned. However, once the mountain was placed in theocean, it began to sink. Lord Vishnu came to the rescue. Heassumed the form of a turtle Kurma and supported the mountainon his back. And the churning of the Ksheeresagar (ocean of milk)continued.

During the churning process different things popped up fromwithin the sea of milk, both useful and harmful things. One amongthem was a lethal poison known as Halahal. This terrified boththe gods and the demons alike because the poison was sopowerful that it could destroy all of creation. Gods approachedShiva for protection. Shiva volunteered to consume the poison inan act to protect the universe. But his wife Parvati rebelled andpressed her hand on Shiva’s throat to save him. As a result, thecolor of Shiva’s neck turned blue. For this reason, Lord Shiva isalso called Neelakanta (the blue-throated one; “neela” = “blue”,“kantha” = “throat” in Sanskrit).

Today is an age of information,characterized by the whirlpool

of information fluxes. The internetis an ocean of information. Multi-

billion bits of information getdeposited in the internet daily.



All kinds of herbs were cast into the oceanto make it clean and to recover the originalgoodness of the ocean. Consequently,fourteen Ratnas (gems or treasures) wereproduced from the ocean, which weredivided among demons and demigods.There also emerged Goddesses from theocean. They accepted the gods or demonsaccording to their tastes and inclinations.For example, Lakshmi, the Goddesses ofFortune and Wealth, accepted Vishnu asHer eternal consort. Similarly the Apsaraschose the demigods as their companions.Varuni or Sura, thegoddesses and creator ofalcohol took demons ascompanions. Somesupernatural animals alsoemerged from the ocean.They were appropriated bygods or demons according totheir taste and attitudes.Kamadhenu, the wish-granting divine cow wastaken by Vishnu. Airavata,the elephant was taken byIndra, the leader of devas.The Uchhaishravas, thedivine 7-headed horse, wastaken by demons.

Finally, Dhanvantari, the heavenlyphysician, emerged with a pot containingamrita, the heavenly nectar of immortality.A fierce fight broke out between demigodsand demons over the nectar of immortality.The demigods appealed to Vishnu, whothen took the form of Mohini, a beautifuland enchanting damsel. Mohini distractedAsuras with her enchanting dance andtook the amrita, and distributed it amongthe demigods, who drank it. The storyends with the rejuvenated Devas defeatingthe Asuras.

Churning of the ocean compares well withthe process of definite integration ofdifferent realities to create somethingunseen, unheard of or unexplored. Peopleget connected to these mined gifts in lieu oftheir attitudes, orientation and life-vision.Some of them are truly poisonous andharmful like the Halahal, which coulddestroy the entire creation. They need to

In the year 2014, it is estimated that 2.3 zettabytes (2.3×1021) of dataare created in the internet on a daily basis. They are collectively

called Big Data. It is the modern Ocean of Milk, the Ksheerasagar!

be safely segregated from the sphere oflife. Some others are truly valuable, valuesof which are perceived differently bydifferent people. According to their tastesand inclinations, people would accept orreject them. Those supernatural gifts willalso choose and possess the right andappropriate people. Some other giftsemerging from the sea of milk are ratherinvaluable, like Amrita, the nectar ofimmortality. Everybody values it.Everybody is after it. But only fewdeserve it, who will eventually inherit it.

Churning the Big Data: the modernSamudramanthan

Today is an age of information,characterized by the whirlpool ofinformation fluxes. The internet is an oceanof information. Multi-billion bits ofinformation get deposited in the internetdaily. In the year 2014, it is estimated that2.3 zettabytes (2.3×1021) of data arecreated in the internet on a daily basis.They are generated by meteorology,genomics, connectomics (comprehensivemaps of connections within an organism’snervous system), complex physicssimulations, and biological andenvironmental research, etc. Added to it arethose information gathered by ubiquitousinformation-sensing mobile devices, remotesensing, software logs, cameras,microphones, radio-frequencyidentification (RFID) readers, and wirelesssensor networks. They are collectivelycalled Big Data. It is the modern Ocean ofMilk, the Ksheerasagar! Big data can be

described by the following characteristics:Volume – the quantity of data that isgenerated; Variety – the category to whichBig Data belongs to; Velocity – the speedof generation of data; Variability – theinconsistencies hampering analysis;Veracity – the quality of the data beingcaptured; and Complexity – due tomultiple sources involved. It is a newgeneration challenge to capture, cure,search, share, store, analyze, transfer andvisualize the Big Data, keeping in view therequirements of inviolable privacy. It can

be mined to develop creativeideas and novel concepts. It isa big deal. Mining of the big-data can be, for example, usedas a powerful tool to analysemarket behaviour and todevelop suitable productstailor-made to the taste of thecustomers. It facilitates, forexample, spotting of businesstrends, preventing diseases,combating crime and so on.

As we explore the Big Data inthe Internet using theprominent search engines like,Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask.com,

AOL.com, Blekko.com, Wolframalpha,DuckDuckGo, archive.org orChaCha.com, we are actually churning thelarge ocean of Big Data. The challengingquestion of the day is: “How to derivesomething creative by churning the BigData?” “How could we make sense out ofthe world of information and derive usefulconcepts to make a new world?”

As with the churning of the Sea of Milk,objects of different values and preferencewill pop up during such efforts. Some ofthem may be extremely harmful andpoisonous just like Halahal, the deadlypoison that popped up duringSamudramanthan. It could poison yourminds and adulterate your attitudes andannihilate your vitality. They may leadyou to unethical conclusions and illegalpractices. The new generation seekers needto be equipped with the skills of extremediscretion and right judgement to overcomesuch situations. There should be measuresin the Internet also to safeguard the fickle-



New generation creative minds shall be equipped with powerfultools of analysis: the tools of integration. They shall be equippedto integrate pieces of information and develop new knowledge,

new concepts and new insights.minded from harmful influences ofvenomous ideas, like Neelakandas of themyth.

Integration of ideas: the key tocreativity

When Albert Einstein conceived the idea ofLASER, he did not identify somethingwhich is totally foreign and totally new.He writes in his letter to his friend MicheleBesso on August 11, 1916. “Es ist mir einprächtiges Licht über die Absorption undEmission der Strahlung aufgegangen. Eswird Dich interessieren.” (Translated: Asplendid light has dawned on me about theabsorption and emission of radiation. Itwill be of interest to you). That “splendidlight” was LASER. In fact, the theory oflaser was hidden within Plank’s theory ofblack body radiation, which described thefundamental interaction between matterand radiation. Matter absorbs radiation andit also emits radiation – all based on theQuantum Theory developed by MaxPlank. But as Einstein revisited Plank’stheory and reflected over absorption andemission of radiation once again, thereemerged a new concept – the concept ofstimulated emission of radiation, thereason for LASER emission. It required the

intuition of Einstein to integrate ideas andto provide an engineering insight to buildthe LASER. The first LASER, the RubyLaser was eventually made in 1960.

The same happened to Denis Gabor, anEnglish engineer, when he ventured tomake the first Hologram. He made use ofthe well-known phenomena of interferenceof light to record the whole of informationcontained in a light beam on to a recordingmedium. Holography [Holos (Greek) =Total (English) + Graphe (Greek) =Recording (English)] means the “CompleteRecord”. Denis Gabor decoded theencrypted information from within ahologram by reconstructing the originalscenario using the well-known phenomenaof diffraction (the bending of light byobstacle on its path). Nothing is really newin theory, except for the integration of twowell-known concepts to provide insight toa new engineering marvel.

A similar observation could be made withrespect to William Lawrence Bragg, whodeveloped the theory of X-ray diffractionby crystals. Based on the principlesinvolved in a reflection from a planemirror, he could develop a powerfulmethod of crystal analysis using the X-ray

Spectrometer developed by his own father.Both the son and father Bragg togetherwere awarded with Nobel Prize in 1915 fortheir scientific contributions. The excellentsynergy between generations added to thepower of integration of ideas, aided theBraggs to pave way for a new andpowerful method of X-ray-based crystalanalysis.

Different examples cited above allude tothe key skills required of a creative mind tosurf internet, the modern Ksheerasagar,the ocean of milk. New generation creativeminds shall be equipped with powerfultools of analysis: the tools of integration.They shall not be overwhelmed by themagnitude of information defining the BigData. They shall be equipped to integratepieces of information and develop newknowledge, new concepts and newinsights. They shall install internalfirewalls to filter out lethal information.They shall also wear right attitudes, valuesand discretion, to be able to choose theright things that emerge out of theSamudramanthan. They shall rather churnthe ocean of information for creativeoutcomes!


Don Quixote

What can anyone say about DonQuixote that hasn’t been said?The book’s been around for four

hundred years, has inspired virtuallyevery literary movement from theeighteenth-century picaresque to the mostobscure works of twenty-first centurypostmodernism, and has provided theimpetus for critical works by everyonefrom Thackeray to Ortega y Gasset.

How do we approach Don Quixote?

Don Quixote is one of the few books thatmerits casual references with the definitearticle (“The Quixote”), and additionally isone of the few books to spawn auniversally-recognized adjective(“quixotic”). How to even approach abook like Don Quixote, a book that hasbeen, at some time or other, all things toall people? How to evaluate a culturalmonolith?

Sure, there are rough patches, yet: themini-novels that interrupt the narrative ofthe first part for a hundred-odd pageswould have been easy targets for somemodern publisher’s blue pencil, the longessays on arms or piety can ring strangelyto reader sensibilities, the descriptions aresometimes a vague mess, and SanchoPanza’s brief solo adventures read like thewinners of a “Find-The-Best-Tired-Fable”competition and are best forgotten. Andyet the basic story, the basic conceptholds up: even the irascible Nabokov, inhis Lectures on Don Quixote (intended asa six-lecture trashing of the novel), isforced to admit that there might besomething to the central character after all.

It’s hard to stay mad at Don Quixote: asfrustrating as the plot can be at times,some archetypal lure lurks within theworld of Cervantes’s Spain, some magicthat draws us in, much like the world ofchivalry that continues to draw Quixotehimself through the progressively morepainful wringer of situations.

The concept of the novel is simple: AlonsoQuijano, landowner from La Mancha, isobsessed with his library of chivalrousbooks. Driven mad by the inconsistenciesof plot, character and philosophy that filleach volume of these seventeenth-centuryprecursors to the fantasy novel, Quijanoresolves to restore dignity to the lostprofession of knight-errantry, assembles a

rudimentary sword, suit of armor, andhorse (the eternally-suffering-and-spavinedRocinante), and sets out into Spain in hisquest for glory.

In return for this act of hysterical faith, hefinds violent innkeepers, malevolentthieves, cynical shepherds, sadisticnobility, and even (due to Avellaneda’sfalse sequel to the book’s first volume, oneof the most famous pieces of fan-fictionever written) an inferior (and, in the novel,invisible) Quixote impostor.

The first few scenes involve Quixote aloneagainst the contemporary world, butbefore a hundred pages have elapsed

Cervantes introduces Sancho Panza,Quixote’s gullible, bloated and homily-spouting squire, who in conjunction withQuixote provides the spark for endlesslybizarre discussions in which Quixote’sheightened, insane conception of the worldis brought crashing to earth by Sancho’ssly pragmatism (discussions whichoccasionally end with Quixote threateningto pummel Sancho in order to shut himup).

The original comic duo: Don Quixoteand Sancho

Once joined together, it’s very difficult toimagine Don Quixote and Sancho everbeing split apart: the two are the originalcomic duo, locked into perpetually andmutually exclusive views of the world, andin and of themselves – whether Sancho isbeing asked to give himself hundreds oflashes in order to disenchant Quixote’sswineherd love interest, Dulcinea, orwhether Quixote is mixing a potion basedon olive oil and bitter herbs that will, intheory, cure all of Sancho’s Quixote-causedearthly wounds – the Knight and theSquire personifies the thematic conflictthat propels the work.

In general, this is why Don Quixoteremains one hell of a read – even today.The reader faces, in the same moment, anideal view of the world (the world asenchanted, antiquated, idyllic) and thebrutal facts of the actual world (the worldas material, modern, loath to believe inknights.)

Quixote hacks at the belly of ogres in aninn basement, and is rewarded by a jet ofwine in his face and a hefty bill fordamages. He tries to rid the land of giants,and is spun, lance-first, by a powerfulwindmill he spears in the attempt. Heattempts to liberate a statue of the VirginMary, which he believes to be a damsel indistress, from her captors, and in return isbeaten up by priests.

Don Quixote is one of the few books that merits casual referenceswith the definite article, and additionally is one of the few

books to spawn a universally-recognized adjective

BOOK SHELFBOOK SHELFBOOK SHELFBOOK SHELFBOOK SHELF

BOOK SHELFBOOK SHELFBOOK SHELFBOOK SHELFBOOK SHELF


Throughout, Sancho is there to say exactlywhat the reader is likely thinking – thosearen’t giants; Dulcinea isn’t beautiful; noneof this can be real – only to be rewardedwith a lecture from Don Quixote abouthow he is beset by enchanters, whofrustrate his every move by replacing thefacts of his world, at the last moment, withdevil’s illusions that bear an uncomfortableresemblance to our own reality. It’s a singlejoke repeated across a thousand pages, andyet it’s strong enough to bring a laughevery time.

Measured Madness: Don Quixote

Quixote’s insistence on his own madnessin the face of innumerable arguments to thecontrary, many of which take the form ofcat scratches, cracked bones and missing

teeth, makes him an interesting characterbecause we know – or we think we know –that Quixote is just wrong. Yet, despite allof the pain he suffers in pursuit of thatwrong, he continues to believe that he’sright. So we read on page-after-page,waiting to see how much more the manwho believes himself a knight is able totake before he gives in – whether, in theend, Quixote will give in at all.

We read not only for page-after-page, butfor year-after-year, century-after-century,pulled by the cognitive dissonance thatsurrounds the knight like his own cloud ofmalicious enchanters. In the process, justas Quixote builds his castles from inns andcriminal campfires, so we build castles ofspeculation from what we find inCervantes’s Spain, at once so brutally real

and so dream-like, the realm of archetypeand myth founded on dreary life. We, likeDon Quixote, are driven to hallucinate bywhat might be, in the end, just a very goodstory.

With Don Quixote, Cervantes hasaccomplished an enduring act of literaryalchemy: just as Quixote is combined withSancho, so is fantasy combined withreality, the eternal with the everyday, andlike the combination of matter and anti-matter, the explosion of aesthetic power is,in magnitude, infinite, propelling readersfrom the earth – at first facing inward atwhat was left behind on the page, then,forgetting the earth, outward into meaning– farther and farther toward the dream-likestars.

We read not only for page-after-page, but for year-after-year,century-after-century, pulled by the cognitive dissonance

that surrounds the knight like his own cloud ofmalicious enchanters.


Climate change drivesnorthward exodus of species

A new study from University ofBritish Columbia published inProgress in Oceanography

predicts that climate change will pushmarine species from sharks to salmonnorthward an average of 30 kilometers perdecade, shaking up fish communities andshifting fishinggrounds. The studypredicts an exodusof species leading tothe disappearanceof species fromsouthern regions ofthe world. Thestudy anticipateswarm-water speciessuch as threshersharks and chubmackerel becoming more prominent in theGulf of Alaska and off British Columbia.Some predators such as sea lions andseabirds, which rear their young in fixedrookeries or colonies, may find the fishthey usually prey on moving beyondpredators’ usual foraging ranges. Shifts inmarine communities may be mostpronounced in high-latitude regions such as

the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea, whichthe study identifies as “hotspots” ofchange. Cold-water species such as salmonand capelin have narrower temperaturepreferences than warmer water species,making them more sensitive to oceanwarming and likely to respond more

quickly. Theresearchers usedestablished globalclimate models toproject how thedistribution of thefish would shiftby 2050 asgreenhouse gaseswarm theatmosphere and, inturn, the ocean

surface. Some species shifts are alreadybeing documented as West Coast watersare warming: predatory Humboldt squidfrom Central and South America haveinvaded the West Coast of North Americain recent years, albacore have shifted tomore northerly waters and eulachon havedisappeared from warming waters at thesouthern end of their range.

The return ofGermanium

World’s first transistordeveloped by the Bell Labs in1947 used the purified

germanium semiconductor provided by alaboratory at Purdue University. NowPurdue researchers are once again on theforefront of a new germanium milestone.The team has created the first moderngermanium circuit – a complementarymetal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS)device – using germanium as thesemiconductor instead of silicon. Theresults are presented in 2014 IEEEInternational Electron Devices Meeting.

Germanium was superseded by siliconas the semiconductor of choice forcommercial CMOS technology.However, the industry will soon reachthe limit with regards to the size of

Silicon transistors. Germanium enablesthe industry to make smaller transistorsand more compact integrated circuits.Compared to silicon, germanium is alsosaid to have a “higher mobility” forelectrons and electron “holes,” a traitthat makes for ultra-fast circuits.

In new findings, Purdue researchersshow how to use germanium to producetwo types of transistors needed forCMOS electronic devices. Germaniumhad previously been limited to thedevelopment of P-type transistors. Thefindings show how to use Germanium tomake N-type transistors by developing adoped N-type contact. The findingsannounce the return of Germanium incomputers and electronics.

Wearable organic medicalsensors

The engineers at UC Berkeley havedeveloped a new technology,which future fitness trackers

would love to use. They have developeda cheap and wearable medical sensor,pulse oximeter sensor, to measure levelsof blood-oxygen levels. The devicemeasures arterial oxygen saturation andheart rate as accurately as conventional,silicon-based pulse oximeters. Thefindings are reported in the NatureCommunications. UC Berkeley engineershave created a composed of all-organicoptoelectronics that uses red and greenlight. The red and green organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) are detected bythe organic photodiode (OPD). Byswitching from silicon to an organic, orcarbon-based, design, the researcherswere able to create a device that couldultimately be thin, cheap and flexible

enough to be slapped on like a Band-Aidduring that jog around the track or hike upthe hill. The engineers put the newprototype up against a conventional pulseoximeter and found that the pulse andoxygen readings were just as accurate. Aconventional pulse oximeter typically useslight-emitting diodes (LEDs) to send redand infrared light through a fingertip orearlobe. Sensors detect how much lightmakes it through to the other side. Bright,oxygen-rich blood absorbs more infraredlight, while the darker hues of oxygen-poorblood absorb more red light. The ratio ofthe two wavelengths reveals how muchoxygen is in the blood. For the organicsensors the researchers used red and greenlight, which yield comparable differencesto red and infrared when it comes todistinguishing high and low levels ofoxygen in the blood.

INNOINNOINNOINNOINNOVVVVVAAAAATIONSTIONSTIONSTIONSTIONS


INNOINNOINNOINNOINNOVVVVVAAAAATIONSTIONSTIONSTIONSTIONS

Plight of Taj Mahal

The iconic marble dome and soaringminarets of the Taj Mahal graduallyloses its dazzling

appearance. The scientistsnow know why. Researchersfrom the United States andIndia are pointing the finger atairborne carbon particles anddust for giving the gleamingwhite landmark a brownishcast. Knowing the culprits inthe discoloration is just thefirst step in cleaning up theTaj Mahal. Scientists nowmust determine where the particles arecoming from to develop strategies forcontrolling them. The results are publishedin the journal Environmental Science &

Technology Built in the 1600s by Mughalemperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third

wife, Mumtaz Mahal, the structure is amausoleum that includes a massive marbledome 115 feet high and minarets that reach

130 feet. Attracting millions of visitorseach year, the Taj Mahal became a

UNESCO World Heritage Site in1983. Beginning in the 1970s,observers noted a brownish cast tothe white marble that makes upthe structures.

Now that researchers know what’sdiscoloring the Taj Mahal, the nextstep will be to identify the sourcesof the particles and plan controlstrategies. The sources could belocal - and the government has

already taken steps to reduce vehicle andindustrial emissions in the area - or theparticles could be coming from longerdistances away from the region.

Potato extract tocurb obesity

The rate of obesity rise unbridled.Obesity increases the risk ofcardiovascular disease and cancer.

Now the scientists at McGill Universityhave discovered that a simple extract ofIrish potatoes may limit weight gain froma diet that is high in fat and refinedcarbohydrates and reduce weight gain toa surprising extent. It is also found that itcould be a solution for preventing bothobesity and type_2 diabetes. The teamplans to patent the potato extract.

Popularly known for its carbohydratecontent, the potato is also a source ofpolyphenols. In the famous French diet,considered to be very healthy, potatoes –not red wine – are the primary source ofpolyphenols. In North America, potatoescome third as a source of polyphenols –before the popular blueberries. Potatoeshave the advantage of being cheap toproduce, and they’re already part of thebasic diet in many countries.

The researchers chose a cultivatedvariety that is consumed in Canada andespecially rich in polyphenols. The dailydose of extract comes from 30 potatoes.The investigators made an extract tomake it available as a dietary supplementor simply as a cooking ingredient to beadded in the kitchen.

Golden Ratio offers a unityof science

Researchers at the Universities of theWitwatersrand and Pretoria suggestthat the “Golden Ratio” -

designated by the Greek symbol “ (letterPhi) with a mathematical value of about1.618 - relates to the topology of space-time, and to a biological species constant(T). Theyhave identifiedthe GoldenRatio withinthe spiralstructure ofthe cochleaear-bone in a2-million-year-old fossilhominin fromthe Cradle ofHumankindWorld HeritageSite in South Africa. They correlate it tothe logarithmic spirals of inter-stellargalaxies, the structure of DNA, the growthof many plants, and even in the PeriodicTable of the elements.

The study investigated questions mainlyrelating to the mathematical number(1.618) in the context of chemistry,physics, space-time, relativity andquantum mechanics. Meteorologists also

recognize the number 1.618 in the spiralstructure of hurricanes, whileastronomers claim that the structure ofcertain spiral galaxies can also beidentified with Phi. They also haveidentified remarkable cosmic occurrenceof this number with reference to space-

time,relativityandquantummechanics.He claimsthatconceptsassociatedwithrelativityandquantummechanics

can be integrated, through the number1.618.

The researchers say that the “time hascome to recognize that relativity andquantum theories can be integrated, andlinked numerically to the value of amathematical constant - whether in thecontext of space-time or biology”. It ishoped that the Golden Ration wouldunify different sciences.


CAREERCAREERCAREERCAREERCAREER

Open world formechanical engineers

Rahul Raj K

Oxford Dictionary definesEngineering as “A field of study

or activity concerned with modification or development in a particular area”. Thisarea defines each branch of engineering.Mechanical Engineering is a branch inengineering which deals with basic physicsto complex designing using engineeringskills.One who pass out from a recognizedinstitution as a mechanical engineer will becapable of applying his knowledge inalmost all fields ofengineering,including IT. Thereare a plenty jobopportunities onoffer for skilledmechanicalengineers which isonly because of itswide diversity. Thebasic problem wenotice in a fresher isthat he/she is notaware of this opportunity.

Branches

Talking about mechanical engineering,many of us may think about automobile.There is much more than automobiles inthis beautiful field of engineering. Itincludes automobiles, space research,aeronautical, energy and utilities, airconditioning, bio-mechanical industry, oiland gas, defence and many non-engineeringinstitution like banking, teaching, etc. Inthe government sector, mechanical havepositions reserved in Public WorksDepartment (PWD), Public Transports,Defence, Space and other technologicalresearch departments. These engineers can

also handle high managerial positions ingovernment as well as non-governmentsector according to their field of expertiseand educational qualifications.

Industries of employment formechanical engineers

Mechanical engineers can work on allstages of a product, from ideation to finalfinishing stage, research to design,manufacture and to installation and finalcommissioning. There are employment

opportunities available in a wide range ofsectors, such as the manufacturing, power,construction and medical industries. Skilledand experienced mechanical engineer can beinvolved in the management of people andresources, as well as the development anduse of new materials and technologies.Even though mechanical engineers have awide opportunity let’s look at the presenttrend after degree.

Situation of Mechanical Graduates

Roles:

Mechanical engineering (ME) is consideredas the mother of Engineering. In this viewthe roles and responsibilities of a

mechanical engineer is different and dependon the area of specialisation and theindustry they are working for. In broadterms, the job profile of mechanicalengineers may be classified as followingfunctional segments:

• Research and Development (R&D): Engineers whose role is to do research andthen plan and propose new productiontechnology, process for production,machines and their constituent parts, etc.

• Design: Designengineers areresponsible to drafttechnical drawings,manually or with thecomputer aidedprogrammes.

• Production: Themanufacturing ofmechanicalcomponents andmachines are done

under the control of a production Engineer.

• Analysis and testing: The majorproblem in an industry is regarding thefailure in production line due to variousreason. Mechanical engineers analyse andtest different types of machines and theirparts to ensure that they functionflawlessly.

• Installation: Mechanical engineers areresponsible for the installation of machinesand mechanical parts at the client location.

• Maintenance: Maintenance engineer, amechanical graduate whose primary role isto ensure that machinery is working as perspecifications.

Mechanical engineers can work on all stages of a product,from ideation to final finishing stage, research to design,manufacture and to installation and final commissioning.



Public Sector Undertakings andMechanical Engineers

As of now there are around 250 PSU’s inIndia, candidates can write variousgovernment entrance examinations aftercompleting B.Tech or any equivalentgraduation in Mechanical engineering,which are conducted by State PSCs, SSC,UPSC, Postal departments, Railwaydepartments, Defence, etc. And also canappear in GATE exam conducted by IIT’sduring their final year of course. ManyPSU take GATE score as a criteria.Graduate engineers can even apply forvarious public sector bank officers’examination. The aspirants can also writeexams of Indian Air Force, defence sector,etc. Another option for theseprofessionals are to take up jobs invarious government universities andcolleges. As a fresher, the professionalscan join as Junior Engineers. Graduallythey can go up in positions of AssistantExecutive Engineers and higher withexperience.

Public Sectors hiring mechanicalengineers based on their GATE score:

Among the 250 PSU the following publicsector undertakings havesigned Memorandums ofUnderstanding (MoUs) with the GATEorganizing committee, for using GATEscore as a screening tool for recruitingengineers at entry level positions:

• Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

• Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

• Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.

• National Fertilizers Ltd.

• Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd.

• National Hydroelectric PowerCorporation Ltd.

• National Thermal PowerCorporation Ltd.

• Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.

• Vizag Steel Plant

• Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL)

• Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd.

• Mazagon Dock Ltd.

• National Aluminium Company Ltd.

• Rail India Technical and EconomicServices Ltd.

Many other PSUs are also processing theMoU and these are in progress, no doubtthe list will only expand.

Payment

The average monthly pay for mechanicalengineers who are new to this field isapproximately between Rs.10,000 andRs.25,000. Campus placements can fetcheven better packages for skilled and capablestudents. Mechanical engineers who have apost-graduate degree from any reputedinstitute has a chance to get better offersthan diploma and graduation degreeholders.

The annual pay packet depends on anumber of factors such as the skillpossessed, experience, expertise, theemployer, nature of roles andresponsibilities, etc. Highly skilledmechanical engineers can easily commandpay packets as high as Rs 40-45 lacks perannum.

About a post-graduation in Mechanical

Before coming to the topic, many studentswho are pursuing there under graduation inengineering, especially the final years, thenext thing they would think is whether togo for a PG in management or carryforward the technical qualification with anM.Tech. It is a fact that both the optionsoffer good career opportunities. But thedecision of what to study is never an easyone. That goal is purely based on the goals/aspirations of the candidates in thequestion.

Continue in technical field…

Post-graduation after a degree in mechanicalengineering is a better option than enteringinto an industry just after your degree.Those who are willing to continue in the

field of science and technology can opt forM.Tech, M.E or M.S after a B.Tech orB.E.

Some of various branch of master’s degreeafter Mechanical graduation are

1. Mechanical engineering

2. Mechanical Design

3. Nanotechnology

4. Micro Electro Mechanical Systems

5. Structural Analysis

6. Kinematics

7. Computer-Aided Design andManufacturing

8. Production Engineering

9. Turbo machinery and CombustionSystems

10.Mechatronics and Robotics

11.Computational Fluid Dynamics andAcoustics

12.Rapid Prototyping

13.Mechanics

14.Thermodynamics and Thermo-Science

In India or Abroad ?

The eligibility criterion for pursuing amaster’s degree in mechanical engineeringin India, is to hold a bachelor’s degree in(B.E/B.Tech) in mechanical engineering orany other equivalent degree, given by anyapproved university. And for studying inany of the primer institute and most of thecollege in India a candidate should appearfor Graduate Aptitude Test inEngineering (GATE) and should haveappreciable score.

GATE is conducted jointly by the IISc andseven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITBombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IITKanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IITMadras and IIT Roorkee) on behalf of theNational Coordination Board – GATE,Department of Higher Education, Ministryof Human Resource Development(MHRD), Government of India.

Highly skilled mechanical engineers can easily command paypackets as high as Rs 40-45 lacks per annum.


Graduates who are interested to pursueM.S. must take exams like TOEFL/IELTS(English proficiency tests) and GRE to getscholarships. Now a day most of theforeign universities are offering graduatecourses at affordable costs and manybanks are providing loans for doing higherstudies.

GRE: The Graduate RecordExamination is a standardized test that isan admissions requirement for manygraduate schools in English speakingcountries. It is created and administeredby the Educational Testing Service. Thepercentile scored in this exam willdetermine whether you can do M.S inforeign nations. The GRE revised GeneralTest measures verbal reasoning,quantitative reasoning, critical thinking andanalytical writing skills.

TOEFL: The Test of English as aForeign Language evaluates thepotential success of an individual to useand understand Standard American Englishat a college level. It is required for non-native applicants at many English-speaking colleges and universities. ATOEFL score is valid for two years andthen is deleted from the official database.

IELTS: International EnglishLanguage Testing System, is designed toassess the language ability of candidateswho want to study or work where Englishis the language of communication. TheIELTS tests candidates in writing, reading,listening and speaking sections.

Management Degree

A degree in Management is primarily forhonouring up the management skills whichis needed to prepare for generalist roles invarious Non-technical industries offeringnew opportunities for an otherwisetechnical person. MBA opens up avenueslike consultancy, finance, banking etc…which are not technology driven. The mainadvantage that the student feels inchoosing a course in management is thatthere are wide number of careeropportunities as compared that of goingfor an M.Tech. It is also known that the

difficulty levels and rigours (strictness) arelesser with MBA degrees as compared tothat of M.Tech. The number of openingsin any industry for an MBA grad is morethan the career openings for an M.Techgrad, because in a Technical industry thecompanies would like to prefer anexperienced candidate. The next a studentcan go for after completing an MBA iseither they can go for an PhD or anyCertificate course according to the Interestof the candidate.

However, if one is more interested inworking in the management aspect ofcompanies rather than engineering line, oneshould go for the MBA degree. The focustoday is on acquiring multiple skills andcross functionality rather thanspecializations. MBA will enable to workfrom the management front where they canmanage the resources for the benefits ofvarious aspects of the business.

A B.Tech. from an IIT with an MBAfrom an IIM is the dream combination aswidely approved. And it need not be a B.Tech from an IIT too; any student passingout from IIMs can get up to 15-20 lakhsper month. In addition, one takes an MBAafter M. Tech too, but it is the getting intotop B-Schools that matter. CAT conductedby the IIMs (Indian Institute ofManagements) is considered as the world’stoughest exam even though the syllabus isjust the portions up to standard 10 inschool. Some of the B Schools areconducting their own entrance examinationand some are conducting common entrancelike MAT.

Entrance exams:

CAT: Common Admission Test: TheIndian Institutes of Management willconduct Common Admission Test foradmission into PG programs inmanagement in all IIMs. The exam isdesigned with 65 questions in twosections: Quantitative Ability and DataInterpretation and Verbal Ability andlogical reasoning.

MAT: All India Management Association(AIMA) conducts Management Aptitude

Test (MAT) for admission to MBA andAllied Programs of over 414 Businessschools. Test consists of 200 questions onLanguage Comprehension, MathematicalSkills, Data Analysis and Sufficiency,Intelligence and Critical Reasoning andIndian and Global Environment.

The author is final year mechanicalstudent at Rajagiri School ofEngineering and Technology.

A B.Tech. from an IIT with an MBA from an IIM is the dreamcombination as widely approved. And it need not be a

B. Tech. from an IIT too; any student passing outfrom IIMs can get up to 15-20 lakhs per month.



How I became a teacher

My experience with EnglishRinjima Ravindran

To me, teaching was not a passion buta fascination during childhood. Likeany other girls who are born in

conservative families, me too imitated theteachers who were long haired andbeautiful.

Me along with my girl cousins wore oldsarees of my mother, tied one end of thebath towel to our head as the rest coveredour backs touching the ground as long hair.Children’s magazines were our teachingmaterial.

We could play this no ‘enact’ this (I shouldsay) without sarees or even without thefalse hair but it was unimaginable withoutthe ‘cane’ as it was the inevitable part ofour teaching .We rejoiced ourselves bybeating the plants and trees of our garden.

Its leaves were the stretched out hands andwe asked ‘them’ not to do many things likeour parents who said ‘no’s and ’don’t’s tomost of the things we did at that time.

Once during the vacation I got enough frommy mother with the same stick as wedestroyed the whole garden by beating butall my companions had left the place and Iwas the one who suffered the consequence.I cried my eyes out and looked at thegarden. Through my blurred eyes I couldsee the forcefully fallen leaves and blooms.All my fancy for teaching ended up there.

This is only a memory of my childhoodand of course it has nothing to do with mebecoming a teacher.

Once an old lady of about sixty, aforeteller came home and proclaimed that I

will be teacher in future. My motherlaughed hearing the same and I was surethat she was laughing at. My face grewpale as I myself knew that I was not anoutstanding student to become a teacherbut just an above average. Even though Icould score good marks in all othersubjects the total remained 60 to 70percentage as my second language acted asthe villain. Being a Malayalam mediumstudent to pass English language was aHerculean task. Yes, I hated this languageand it got revealed through the advice givento my friends “we should not learn thislanguage, it is the mother tongue of ourborn enemies – the Britishers”.

The situation remained the same even afterme reaching 8th std. During that academicyear one of the teachers of English taught

Being a Malayalam medium student to pass English language was aHerculean task. Yes, I hated this language and it got revealed

through the advice given to my friends “we should notlearn this language, it is the mother tongue of our

born-enemies – the Britishers”.

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us the story of ‘The Prince and the littleswallow’. I could follow it but the dilemmaoccurred when the class test wasconducted. Even though I knew theanswers I couldn’t write a single sentencein English as it was alien to me. A solutionwas found soon. I wrote all the answers inManglish!! You can imagine the rest.

The very next day when the teacher cameto the class, I examined her face. There wasno tinge of an expression than usual. Still Icouldn’t relax. Added to my tension shestarted giving away the answer sheets oneby one. Then it was my turn. She‘cordially invited’ me to the front and toldto read the answers to the rest. I staggered.She read the question and asked them tolisten to an ‘intelligent’ answer. There wasno hope to escape. I started reading theManglish answer. The whole class went

into a loud laughter. Tears were rollingdown my cheeks.

You may think that this incident was theturning point to make me a teacher ofEnglish. But it was not. This hatredremained for two more years till I reach thehigher secondary level.

Meanwhile I have started reading booksand gradually it became a passion. The factthat I read only Malayalam books is out ofquestion. I confronted with a new ray oflight when I was sixteen. The teacher ofEnglish was a priest and he proved to beworthy of shaking the stone. He unveiledthe soul of poetry and fiction. In pursuitof this new horizon a change over occurredand I started reading English books. Withthis interest I joined for B.A. Englishliterature and scored good marks whichbrought me to the third position. My

mother called me aside and told that I amworthy to become a teacher and it was herwish too. Thereafter it is the tale of hardwork . Now let me tell you proudly that Iserve as a PG teacher of English in Sreesankara vidyalayam senior secondaryschool, Vaikom. Whenever I meet with anew batch I share this experience withthem because it helps me to vanish the gapbetween my students and myself.

I am not sure whether my experiencemakes someone inspired but I assure, wecannot make miracles unless and until weare determined.

The author is teacher of english atSree Sankara Vidyalayam SeniorSecondary School, Vaikom.

I am not sure whether my experience makes someone inspiredbut I assure, we cannot make miracles unless

and until we are determined.

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O tempora! O mores!(Oh what times, Oh what morals!)

Following the carnage in Peshawar School

Morning hours on Dec 17, 2014and innocent students preparefor their classes peacefully,

comes in armed killers shooting themindiscriminately on a mission of vengeance.The whole world froze to this dastardlyact of pure barbarism. Still more devilishwas an underground group of cold bloodbuddies taking credit for that “bold” act asif murdering is sacred, honorable or valiant.

Such insanity of the wildest order and welament with the Great Cicero: O tempora,O mores!

Whether we are aware of it or not, suchsatanic acts are what protracted hatredbreeds ultimately. A series of such isolatedacts going upstream and then it is a warfrom where there is no going back possibleanyway. Hatred is like fuel. Spread it

round and around. And some ignitionsomewhere by someone’s fault and it isfuming hell fire to live on and last long.

Let us wake up to the realization thathatred, howsoever mild or innocent, isnascent war. War is a devastating wild firethat the bon fire of hatred could trigger.Check hatred and its spread, war has beenchecked effectively.

Adv. PKG Tharakan

No war has ever settled any issues, on the contrary everywar has created more damaging issues crippling

human culture and world’s future.

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History has it that war waged anywhereanytime, has been the end product of hateand mistrust among individuals,communities or nations followed by a willto subdue the hated lot and a surge ofgreed to take absolute control over such.The second world war was theculmination of hatred towards Jews. Anti-Semitism had spread far and wide theworld over for almost 200 years preceding

WW2 to such great an extent that someworld leaders believed the only optionwas to shave off the entire community ofJews from the planet. The Holocaust –annihilation of Six million Jews and fiftyfour million non-jews in all – is what yearsof such “hate philosophy” could naturallyand eventually deliver.

Today, with blunt ‘like’ for a Faith andabsolute ‘dislike’ for apostates, infidelsand the rest of the world, stage is onceagain as at the old ignition point of thatdeadliest war in human history that ranamok long six years and the difference isthat any war triggered now will neverlinger on; it would end in no time, withinmicro seconds - thanks to the he\hugecache of atomic and nuclear arsenal in thehands of the advanced and rich nationsthat vie for power and supremacybe thateconomic, political or spiritual. Danger oftotal extinction could be any moment.

In WW2, the head of Third Reich Hitlercould capture space and time to commitsuicide comfortably. It won’t be so anymore. The IS, the Taliban, Al Qaeda andsimilar fundamentalist outfits thrive onhate philosophy and it is sad they takecover under their Faith System. Rightfulfollowers of that Faith unfortunately haveto carry the blunt of the filth such deviantgroups perpetrate on them as well as overhumanity. Maybe they could decry louder.

Violence begets violence more severe andmore than disastrous. That is theprognosis. “There is no problem on theplanet that can’t be solved withoutviolence”, said Andrew Young. Gandhijiproved yet more that non-violence canwin better than fighting and killing wouldever. Gandhiji’s opinion that strictadherence to the principle “eye for aneye” would make the whole world blind is

intriguing indeed demanding a paradigmshift. Similar goes the principle after akafir. Cherishing charity to all as Lincolnsaid may not go beyond our lips butharboring malice to none should becomereal, factual. Bertrand Russell said it all“either co-existence or no existence”. It istime the conscious and the sober raise theirvoice against “hate philosophy” in anyform, in any creed or in any place. We needto re-write human attitude the world overagainst hatred and war. “Those who wantpeace, let them prepare for war” does notdefend any de facto war, it says ofpreparedness just, not of waging a physicalwar. No war has ever settled any issues,on the contrary every war has created moredamaging issues crippling human cultureand world’s future. Wars subvert life andinvert progress. Checking insurgency has tostart with checking for the elements hatredwithin hearts, individually. Every effort hasto be made to control teaching andpreaching of hate philosophy from grassroot level, be that in the name of almightyor almightiness. Check hatred and itsspread in human hearts and war has beenconquered.

A review of the series of horrors WW2 putlife throughout the globe and of itshorrendous aftermath that tarries on stillnow could scourge belligerency trends fromerring minds. Call it the just war or themoral war that takes place within humanhearts – a war without arms andammunitions, without disasters ordestructions, without cries and wails, onethat builds up never ever wraps up.

Every effort has to be made to control teaching and preachingof hate philosophy from grass root level, be that in the nameof almighty or almightiness. Check hatred and its spread in

human hearts and war has been conquered.

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The author is presently heads thepanel of a Corporate Consultancyfirm in Kochi. He is also into socialactivism, public speaking, HRtraining and column writing.


INTERVIEWINTERVIEWINTERVIEWINTERVIEWINTERVIEW

Dr. Sanjit Mitra is AssistantProfessor (Scientist E) at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy

and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune. He hasdone researches in the areas ofGravitational Waves (GW),CosmicMicrowave Background (CMB),Computational Astrophysics andCosmology. He was awarded fellowship byNASA, USA for Planck postdoctoral ,LIGO thesis prize - Honorary mention,2007 post-doctoral fellowship awarded byCNES, France and 2001 - 2006 Junior andSenior Research Fellowship awarded byCSIR. He visited SH Colleges Thevera toparticipate a seminar recently and Dr. JoeJacob, from Department of Physics,Newman College, Thodupuzha interviewedhim.

Could you please tell us whatAstronomy is all about?

From the very beginning of mankind,human beings wanted to understand thenight sky. They interpreted it in their own

ways. They wanted to predict where theygoing to see the next planet. But that isnot all about Astronomy. It is morefundamental. Because we wanted tounderstand how nature works. That is notjust predicting where the planet is going to

be tomorrow, but why is it there. It is notabout planets only. Initially it was aboutthings which we can see with our naked

eye. But with the development oftechnology and computers, we are goingdeeper and deeper in our understanding.Previously, with our naked eye, we werelimited to few light years. Now we canreach to a few billion light years. Eventhen we don’t have a full picture of theuniverse. Astronomy in general has verybig impact in the society. It was an ancientscience, it did not require any experimentto start with. There is lot of socialactivities associated with it. It plays abigger role in the society like medicine.The satellites, CCTV’s, GPS etc aredirectly or indirectly motivated byAstronomy. The whole humanity isworking to find out why we are here andwhat is going to happen to us. Astronomyhas a much bigger role to solve thisproblem.

Can you differentiate theoreticalAstronomy and observationalAstronomy?

95% of the universe isstill unknown

Because of several reasons, the most popular theory regarding theorigin of universe is Big Bang theory. It says the universe stared with

a Big Bang i.e., a big explosion.


INTERVIEWINTERVIEWINTERVIEWINTERVIEWINTERVIEW

I personally do not agree with thisdifferentiation. But generally astronomyhas two parts: first we see something andto explain it. Both require expertise fromthe same set of people. Some people putmore effort in getting the observations andothers spent more time in explaining that.The observers need a good idea about thetheory and a good theorist need very goodobservation. Then only it works properly.

How do you evaluate the role of Hubblespace telescope in Astronomy?

Hubble telescope played a crucial role. Itshowed us up to a distance which wecould not even think of at the time of itsinstallation. It showed us galaxies whichare extremely far away. We knew aboutdark energy now. Astronomy hasimmensely benefitted from Hubbletelescope. But it is not the only telescopewhich contribute to astronomy, there areother instruments helped the growth ofthis science.

You mentioned about dark energy. Canyou elaborate on it?

Over the last 20 years we have performseveral experiments and then we haveentered into an era, which is known asprecision cosmology where manyparameters are measured with highprecision and we had a very goodunderstanding of cosmos. But on the otherhand, very good understanding is far froma complete understanding. We understandonly about 5% of the constituents of theuniverse. We have no idea about darkenergy which is about 75% of universe.

Please tell us more about Cosmology.

Cosmology is about how study of theuniverse as a whole from a very early stageto the present era where we see galaxies,stars etc. It is the study of cosmos. Incosmology we have to observe differentobjects of recent times, pictures of olderuniverse and universe of our time. Then wedevelop a theory about universe.

Is there any widely accepted theoryabout the formation of the universe?

Because of several reasons, the mostpopular theory regarding the origin ofuniverse is Big Bang theory. It says theuniverse started with a Big Bang i.e., a bigexplosion. The space and time suddenlystarted expanding. even though it is themost popular theory, we have absolutelyno understanding of certain majorcomponents of it. We don’t know howthe Big Bang happened. But if there wasBig Bang, we can put theoreticalassumptions and models to extrapolateto the current scenario. Even then thereare missing links. For example, we need aphase which the universe expandedextremely rapidly and ceased to inflatefurther, without which the big bangtheory cannot be complete. Big Bangtheory absolutely has no idea about whathappened before that. So we can’t sayBig Bang theory is the correct theory ofthe origin of universe, even though it isthe most popular one.

Big Bang theory absolutely has no idea about whathappened before that.


Dr. Augustine Thottakara

Animals and birds as teachers:The Story of Satyakama Jabala

The story of Satyakama Jabala isnarrated in Chandogya UpanisadIV.4-9. Satyakama was a smart and

intelligent boy. He lived with his motherJabala. He had no father. The boy slowlydeveloped taste for spiritual life and questfor knowledge, and wanted to go to a gurufor education. He said to his mother:“Mother, I desire to live the life of acelibate student of sacred knowledge in theteacher’s house. Of what lineage am I?”(IV.4.1) He wanted to know his familylineage. Jabala said to him that she did notknow the lineage, and that he was born toher in her youth. Presumably she hadrelationship with many men, andSatyakama was born out of wedlock. Shetold her son to tell the guru that he isSatyakama, son of Jabala. The boyapproached the famous guru HaridrumataGautama, and requested him to initiate him

for Vedic studies. Guru asked him aboutthe lineage. Satyakama replied as hismother has instructed him. “Sir, I do notknow of what lineage I am. I asked mymother; she replied: ‘I, who was engaged inmany works and in attending on others,got you in my youth. Having been such, Icould not know of what lineage you are.However, I am Jabala by name and you arenamed Satyakama’. So Sir, I amSatyakama Jabala” (V.4.4). The teachersaid: “No one who is not a Brahmana canspeak thus. Dear boy, bring the sacrificialfuel; I shall initiate you as a brahmacarin,for you have not deviated from truth(IV.4.5).” He duly initiated Satyakama forVedic and Vedantic learning.

The guru, however, did not give the newdisciple any instructions. On the contrary,he selected four hundred lean, weak and

frail cows, and asked Satyakama to tendthem in the forest. The boy willinglyobliged and drove the cows to the forest.He vowed that he will not return toteacher’s house till the cows become onethousand. He lived in the forest with thecows for a long time. Then one day thechief bull addressed the boy: “Satyakama!’“Yes, revered Sir”, thus he responded.‘Dear boy, we have reached a thousand;take us to the house of the teacher”(IV.5.1).

The bull then said: “Let me instruct youabout one foot of Brahman also (IV.5.1).”The bull said that there are four quartersfor Brahman. The first quarter (foot)consists of the four quarters of theUniverse. One who meditates on this firstquarter, that is, on the four quarters of theUniverse, will win the radiant regions in

The teacher said: “No one who is not a Brahmana can speak thus.Dear boy, bring the sacrificial fuel; I shall initiate you as a

brahmacarin, for you have not deviated from truth.” He dulyinitiated Satyakama for Vedic and Vedantic learning.

ASPECTSASPECTSASPECTSASPECTSASPECTS


the next world. In the evening, afterpenning the cows, he kindled the fire. Thenthe fire volunteered to instruct Satyakamaabout the second foot of Brahman, whichhas also four parts, namely, the earth, thesky, the heaven and the ocean. One whomeditates on this quarter with four partswill win the endless and undecayingregions. Satyakama continued his journeywith the cows to the guru’s home. On theway the swan flew to him, and said that hewill instruct him about the next foot(quarter) of Brahman. The third footconsists also of four parts, namely, fire,sun, moon and the lightening. One whomeditates on this quarter obtains effulgentregions. The fourth foot of Brahman wasexplained by the Madgu bird (a kind ofdiver-bird), which, again has four parts,namely, prana, eye, ear and mind. The

result of this meditations is the attainmentof extensive regions in the next world.

All these things happened on the way tothe teacher’s house as he was driving thethousand cows. Finally he reached thehouse of the teacher. “The teacheraddressed him, “Satyakama!” “Yes,revered Sir”, he responded. “Dear boy, youshine like a knower of Brahman; who is itthat has instructed you?” Satyakamaassured him, “Beings other than men. But Iwish, revered Sir, that you would teach itto me (IV.9.1-2).” The teacher then taughthim the same doctrines, which werealready imparted to him by the bull, thefire, the swan and the Madgu bird.

Observations:

♦ The issue of family lineage: The casteHindu families belong particular Vedic

tradition and particular Dharma-sastratradition. Thus there are Rgvedic families,Black Yajurvedic and White Yajurvedicfamilies, Samavedic families andAtharvavedic families. In the same wayfamilies belong to specific Dharma-sastratradition. According to sage Yajnavalkya,there are twenty Dharma-sastras. In fact,the actual number of Dharma-sastras ismuch higher. Some of the importantDharma-sastras are: Manu, Yajnavalkya,Apastamba, Gautama, Vasistha,Baudhayana, Parasara, Narada, Brhaspati,Katyayana, Kautilya, Harita, Angirasa,Daksa, and Visvamitra. The cast Hindufamilies belong to one of these traditions.When a man or a student introduceshimself to an authority or to a teacher, hehas to mention his family name with theVedic and Dharma-sastric lineages.

“Dear boy, you shine like a knower of Brahman; whois it that has instructed you?”

“Beings other than men. But I wish, revered Sir,that you would teach it to me”



♦ The guru of Satyakama wasHaridrumata Gautama. We could discerntwo important characteristics in thebehaviour of the guru Gautama. Hiscompassion outweighed the dictates oftradition and scriptural injunctions. Theeligibility for the learning of a particularbranch entails two things: Firstly, thegenuine desire to learn this science . In thecase of Satyakama it was there. Secondly,freedom from impediments and worthinessto enter into this sacred realm (samarthya).To learn Vedas and Vedanta, one should bea male member of one of the three uppercastes. Only these are eligible for initiation,and only the initiated can take up thesacred Vedic and Vedantic studies. Thoughthe parentage and lineage of Satyakamawas unknown, and though itwas known that the boy wasthe son of a woman of badreputation, the guru wascourageous and generousenough to initiate him for thesacred studies. He might havesaid to himself ‘one becomes aBrahmin not by birth but bydeeds’. More than eruditionand eloquence what a gurureally should possess iscompassion. The all-pervasivecompassion and benevolencehave precedence over themerits and demerits, talentsand stupidities, eagerness andmediocrity of the student. Guru is like thesun. The sun shines on the virtuous andwicked, on the intelligent and idiot alike;it’s shining rays make no distinctionbetween the palace of the king and the hutof the beggar. Like that ‘good preceptorshow mercy to even useless beings’.1

Sankaracarya in his Vivekacudamani makesthe guru utter the following words ofconsolation: “Fear not, O learned one,there is no danger for you. There is ameans to cross over this sea of existence Ishall show you the very way by which thesages have traveled to the other shore.There is a way to put an end to your fearof samsâra Through that way you will beable to cross the ocean of existence to thesupreme bliss” (vv.43-44). In the sametext Sankara qualifies a guru as the ‘best of

the knowers of Brahman and an ocean ofmercy’ (v.15).

♦ The discerning power of the preceptorstands out. He intuited that the boy isstainless and earnest and his desire isgenuine and intense. He saw in thisaspirant for spiritual perfection a genuineseeker of the knowledge of Brahman, and afuture guru. In fact, later he became a greatguru, and Chandogya Up. IV.10 ff. depictSatyakama as an eminent Upanisadicteacher. It should also be noted thatGautama did not instruct Satyakamaimmediately. He tested the candidate’swillingness and bodily and mentalpreparedness by giving him some arduoushousehold duties (tending the cows of the

teacher in the forest). Then only heimparted the sacred knowledge.

♦ The most important message of thisstory is the fact that sources other thanhuman can impart knowledge and wisdom.The teachers of Satyakama were five: thebull, the fire, the swan and the Madgu birdand the sage Haridrumata Gautama. Howdo we know objects? According to Indianphilosophy there are four main means forright knowledge (pramana). They are:Perception (pratyaksa): direct knowledgeof objects through senses; inference(anumana): knowledge arrived at byreasoning and arguments; verbal testimony(sabda or sastra): knowledge gained by themedium of spoken or written words; andanalogy (upamana): knowledge throughanalogy and comparison.2 Knowledge

comes to the seeker not only from thesacred scriptures, not only from the mouthof the teacher, not only by perception andinference, but also from different objects ofthis wonderful world. Life and vision oflife of modern world have lost contact withthe nature and its wonders. We need toreinvent and re-establish this salutaryrelationship with the nature and elements.

♦ Brhadaranyaka Upanisad narrates adebate between Yajnavalkya and anotherUpanisadic philosopher named Uddalaka,the son of Aruna. Uddalaka askedYajnavalkya about the inner controller ofall beings. Yajnavalkya replied byenumerating a long list of things and saidthat Brahman is the inner controller of all

and that all these things formthe body of Brahman. Hebegins with the earth and said:“He who dwells in the earthand is within it, but whom theearth does not know, whosebody is the earth and whocontrols the earth from within,He is the inner Controller; Heis your Self, the Immortal”.The philosopher then repeatsthis sentence and says thatGod is the inner Controller andinner Self of water, fire, mid-space, air, heaven, sun, all thedirections, moon and stars,ether, darkness, light, allbeings, vital breath, speech,

eye, ear, mind, skin, intellect and semen.Yajnavalkya concludes his long discoursewith the following statement: “He is neverseen, but is the seer; He is never heard, butis the Hearer; He is never thought of, but isthe Thinker; He is not known, but is theKnower. There is no other hearer than He,there is no other thinker than He, there isno other knower than He. He is the innercontroller – your own Self and theImmortal. Everything else besides him issorrowful”. In short Yajnavalkya wassaying that all the great elements by whichthe universe is constituted, all the senseorgans of knowledge, all the organs ofactivity, and finally all the individualselves, all these things, form the body ofGod. God is the inner Self of everything,beginning from the non-conscious,

“He who dwells in the earth and is within it, but whom the earth doesnot know, whose body is the earth and who controls the earth from

within, He is the inner Controller; He is your Self, the Immortal”



changeable matter and ending in theconscious, immutable individual selves.

I am tempted to quote a beautiful passagefrom Mahabharata the great Epic poem ofIndia:

The father of all creatures, God, made thesky. From the sky he made water andfrom water he made fire and air. From fireand air the earth came into existence.Mountains are his bones, earth is the flesh,sea is the blood, sky is his abdomen. Air ishis breath, fire is his splendour, rivers arenerves. The sun and moon which arecalled Agni and Soma, are the eyes ofBrahman. The upper part of the sky is hishead. The earth is his feet and directionsare the hands.

♦ Eco-spirituality tries to seek and findGod in and through nature and creation. Ittells us that the way to God is not onlyprayer and meditation, sacraments andscriptures, rituals and rites, but also this

universe in which we live, move and haveour corporeal existence. All religioustraditions of this world unequivocallyconfess and declare God’s presence inthis cosmos, and no religion preaches useof violence against nature. God is presentin cosmos, some said, through his powerand knowledge. ‘God pervadeseverything in nature’, says theUpanishad: isa vasyam idam sarvam.The pantheists would say God iseverything and everything is God. Somesaid that cosmos is the ontologicalextension of God. It is his body, etc. Allreligions attribute also, in varyingintensity, sacredness to water, fire, wind,mountains, rivers, trees, etc. and use themsymbolically in their religious worship.We may call these elements and elementalobjects as cosmic symbols used in areligious and cultic context. Therefore,acknowledging God and his supremacy inand through nature is a matter of fact and

a concern of every religion. It should alsobe noted that much before God revealedhimself to humanity through scriptures, or,long before God inspired human agents towrite down his messages and instructionsto the world in written texts sacred torespective religions, he personally wrotehis own scriptures, namely, the nature, andhe keeps this sacred book always open sothat the humans may read it and imbibeinspirations and insights from it for theirown happy existence and for thehappiness of all beings. Our ancestorswere better disposed and eminentlyinclined to respect and safeguard thissacred book of God. Unfortunately ourage has miserably failed to recognize thesacrality of nature, and the fact that thisplanet is the locus where we have to bringabout the eschatological goal of ourexistence, and we are reaping the outcome.

All religions attribute also, in varying intensity, sacredness to water,fire, wind, mountains, rivers, trees, etc. and use them symbolically in

their religious worship. We may call these elements and elementalobjects as cosmic symbols used in a religious and cultic context.



Physics Facts

Science facts

Check out these fun physics facts .Learn about a wide range of cooltopics such as gravity, electricity,

light, sound and much more. Enjoy theworld of science with our amazing physicsfacts.

♦ Because of differences in gravity, a 200pounds person would only weigh 76pounds on Mars.

♦ Electric eels can stun bothpredators and prey with electricshocks of around 500 volts.

♦ Energy from food is usuallymeasured in joules or calories.

♦ Light from the Earth takes just1.255 seconds to reach the

♦ Sound travels at a speed ofaround (1,230 kilometres perhour).

♦ When traveling at 80kilometres per hour, carsuse around half of their fueljust to overcome windresistance.

♦ Water can work against gravity, movingup narrow tubes in a process calledcapillary action.

♦ A magnifying glass uses the propertiesof a convex shaped lens to magnify animage, making it easier to see.

♦ A scientist who studies physics isknown as a physicist.

♦ Uranus is the only planet in our solarsystem that rolls on its side like a

barrel, while Venus is the onlyplanet that spins in theopposite direction to Earth.

♦ The fastest land animal inthe world is the Cheetah,clocking a max speed of around113 km per hour.

♦ 1921 Nobel Prize inPhysics was won by AlbertEinstein for his work in thefield of photo-electroniceffect.

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Quiz1. When light bends as it enters a different medium the process is known as what?

2. A magnifying glass is what type of lens?

3. Electric resistance is typically measured in what units?

4. A person who studies physics is known as a ...........?

5. Metals expand when heated and do what when cooled?

6. What is the first name of the famous scientist who gave us Newton’s three laws of motion?

7. What state of the art computer technology is used to train pilots when wanting to copy the experience offlying an aircraft?

8. Electric power is typically measured in what units?

9. The most recognized model of how the universe begun is known as the ..........?

10. Who is the Hubble Space Telescope named after?

11. The wire inside an electric bulb is known as the what?

12. Theoretical physicist James Maxwell was born in which country?

13. Infrared light has a wavelength that is too long or short to be visible for humans?

14. What kind of eclipse do we have when the moon is between the sun and the earth?

15. True or false? Iron is attracted by magnets.

16. What is the earth’s primary source of energy?

17. Conductors have a high or low resistance?

18. Electric current is typically measured in what units?

19. What scientist is well known for his theory of relativity?

20. Earth is located in which galaxy?

Chemistry Quiz Answers

1. Hydrogen

2. A nucleus

3. True

4. Nitrogen (around 78%)

5. False

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6. Chemistry

7. Au

8. Potassium

9. Electrons

10. Mercury

11. True

12. Nuclear fission

13. Water

14. Argon (around 1%)

15. Reactants

16. False

17. Base

18. Isotopes

19. True

20. Carbon


The Pain Passes, but theBeauty Remains

Jose Panthaplamthottiyil

REFLECTIONSREFLECTIONSREFLECTIONSREFLECTIONSREFLECTIONS

Printed and Published by Fr.Varghese Panthalookaran CMI on behalf of Rajagiri Media, Rajagiri Valley PO, Kakkanad, Kochi-39Ph: 0484-2428249. Printed at Five Star Offset Printers, Kochi. Editor: James Paul

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)grew up in a working class family inLimoges, France. As a young man he

started his work in a porcelain factory.Pretty soon he enrolled in an art schooland started painting. Initially he was notfinancially successful. But slowly his“impressionist” painting in full color madehim rich and famous. The fact that in1990, his two paintings – Bal au Moulin dela Galette and Montmartre – were sold for$78.1 million shows how well respectedand admired his works are.

By 1892, Renoir was afflicted with severearthritis. However, he continued to painton a regular basis even when it caused himstabbing pain. Once his artist friend, HenriMattise asked him, “Why do you paint

when it causes you so much pain?” ThenRenoir replied with a smile, “the painpasses, but the beauty remains.” WhatRenoir said about his painting is also trueabout our life. There is so much pain andsuffering in our life. The pain passes, butthe impact of our suffering will last. Thinkabout the troubles and the sufferings theparents go through in bringing up theirchildren. Their troubles and sufferingsdon’t last. But the impact of the sufferingsthey undergo will last. That is the beautyof suffering.

During the Indian Independence StruggleMahatma Gandhi and other national andlocal leaders had to go through muchsuffering and pain. Many of them werearrested and put into jail for many years.

However, their suffering brought usfreedom. If we are enjoying the fruits ofpolitical freedom now it is primarilybecause of their commitment to face anyamount of suffering for the cause offreedom. Look at the suffering and deathof Jesus. Jesus underwent excruciatingpain during his death on the cross. Hesuffered so much as well depicted in themovie, Passion of the Christ, produced anddirected by Mel Gibson. His sufferingbrought so much beauty to our life, givingus hope in an everlasting life after death.No suffering is meaningless. It always hasa redeeming value. Let us always try tolook at our own sufferings in the context ofits redeeming value.

Once his artist friend, Henri Mattise asked him, “Why do you paintwhen it causes you so much pain?” Then Renoir replied with asmile, “the pain passes, but the beauty remains”. What Renoir

said about his painting is also true about our life.

january 2015

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