Sarnath, Christmas and Ashok Chakra

To all of you, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Few Days before when I was in Sarnath mere 15 km from Varanasi, I was not stonished to see four religious institutions just shouldering to each other. A huge stupa stands there praying and meditating. This was constructed by Ashoka, the original version of which was destroyed later by Mughalas and again repaired by British.

I met one young member of Mabodhi pracharini sabha shivshnkar Mukharjee(09335553783). He, in nuts and bolts told me the history of Buddha`s coming there and how the breed of Bodhi Tree was planted there by Sanghmitra who was in Ceylone at that time circulating the message of Gautam at the behest of her father Ashika.

Interestingly he indicated our attention towards one church and said that this church is not open for Indians except the foreign christens. This was quite susprising. Shivshankar was very kind to provide all the details very meticulously just like trained guide. He said, "We are devoted servants of Buddha...We read all the time literature related to Buddha. We are not much educated but we know what great things Buddha has adviced to all of us.

He told me that during his last moments Buddha had to eat meat and that was one of the reason of his deteriorating health.It has one jain temple also. One darga along with the walls of that temple.

There is a Museum at Sarnath and anyone landed up in Varanasi must go to visit that Museum. It has the India`s national emblem, the four lions, sorryly one of them destroyed...preserved. It also has partially recovered Ashok Chakra...

Different faces, moods of Buddha across the centuries...
Many of the important carvings in the museum were taken to the China for the exhibition.
For many times I have seen museums but every time I never enjoyed them.
But Sarnath museum, really made me to interact with what actually they want to say with their delicate engraves.

It was a such a treasure trove, Sarnath, a symbol of India`s diverse religious legacy and spiritual practises starting from Vipasyana to the Art of Living....
Really there are very few moments where you truly realise why you are so happy.

The we headed towards Ganga-Jamuna-Sarswati Ghat..Dashaswamedh Ghat...
We met Laxman Maazi....He told me that 90 percent of the total tourists have declined to travel to Varanasi who normally make city just like their second home. This was direct reference he made to the assult on India made recently by terrorists.

Now I remember what BBC`s voice in India for 3 decades, Mark Tully said few days before when he was in JNU to deliever Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture. India is a country which is being forced by secularists to wear the colourless clothes when actually no colour other than Orange will suit on them. And he continued, India is a unique country which has amalgamated all other contrasting colours of all religions into that orange shade. even then it is being labelled as Hindu country. Those were remarkable comments. Salute to you Sir Mark!

Varanasi and Sarnath were best to realise how Mark is right. We can understand Hinduism, India, Hindustan, Bharat all in one city....Shall we go once again....Let us start now!!!
(http://picasaweb.google.com/nandanupadhyay/Francesco?feat=email#5152352102767553490)

IIITA Science Conclave: Terrorism, Network Security, Bertand Russel

Today`s day turned out to be really epitome of the conclave.

Day was kicked off by state of the art topic "Intrusion Detection and Security Audit" lecture by Prof. Satish Chandra,General Manager of the Mitretek. Corporation, Washington, USA. It was really useful and precise talk as far as current security concerns are expressed by Intelligence Agencies about the increasing amount of white collar professionals being deployed by terrorists organizations.

Disgruntled employees can often be the reason for the information leak outside. The expenditure on biometric operations may be more but circumstances are that password based security system are no more reliable because sophisticated techniques of hacking are known to large number of people.

The smart thing about presentation was it addressed the core concern of networking professionals. The real time detection of intrusion of the network systems is going to be serious issue in coming future. Therefore India must pay attention as lot of E-governance initiatives are going to be in coming years.

Then came the great man Raj Reddy, recipient of Padma Bhushan, who is working in Artificial Intelligence for last forty years. He cited three definitions of the great streams of science-engineering.
Engineering, he said, is enhancement of human`s skills to do things more effectively. Medicine, he explained, is a science to repair and develop abilities of human body and Computer Science is program or machine scaling up the mental ability to analyze and interpret the research data and processes.

He traced the evolution of human computer interaction birth of internet and search engines, conceptual philosophy of search engines, the challenges ahead of Artificial Intelligence. He referred to defined term of intelligence for machines as: To learn from experiences, exhibiting adaptations, goal oriented, vast amount of knowledge with self awareness and should be able to operate in real time.

Then came the real iconic lecture of Harold Kroto. Iconic in a sense he really set the benchmarks in front of audience, how one should communicate to hundreds of audience for two hours without a break about a complex issue of Carbon 60 means Bucky ball, his invention for which he got Nobel in 1996.

His main focus was on Science and Sustainability. He came, he talked, he conqured:

Confuscious said, "I seek not to know the answer but to understand the
question." He deliberated on what actually scientific method is...by
above quotation. "A scientist always holds on the opinions as long as
he/she is sure about it.But in the process he/she always knows not be
too sure about that."

Expressing concern about the various controversies related to newest forms of technology, he said, "These days, sarcastically enough, Knowledge is not guarantee for good decisions being made across the world. Sometimes guided ignorance of the communities and people like us give excuse to power players to move towards unscientific/irrational misadventure either to ban some kind of research or to continue illegitimate research."

When I asked him, does the debate surrounding nanotechnology, biotechnology including the negative implications of it on society is going in the right direction or not, he opened up wider angle of the human intervention in the scientific progress. He said that at one age of the history there are vested interests who sought the ban on Chemistry because it produces hazardous chemicals. This is irrespective Chemistry is equally responsible making our life much more livable than ever before. On the same lines, he asserted nano-bio technologies will create some hazard during the growth of that science. But we should not take it as a learning experience because we cannot afford this risk. What we can do is to have good people who carry foresight studies regarding these technologies so as to prevent the risk in premature time."

Number of questions were thrown at Korto regarding faith, luck, dream, belief, irrationality. He explained in splendid terms what exactly rationality is recalling Bertand Russel; 'Is man (and woman of course!) rational? I am still searching for the evidence..."

He has such a subtle humor and low melting point by which he gets easily amalgamated with the audience that you forget that he is teaching you and you are actually probing him to explain the things from your level of understanding. That is I think secret of science communication.

He was relentless, spontaneous and just like kid; talking with naughty analogies of the research realities to common day life and behavioral patterns of diverse scientists. "The evidence of the argument is the key to the progress of scientific thought, no doubt about that. This thought of Russel forms the ability to go ahead on research work, ideally."

"I really do not know research is enjoyable or not. It takes vast degree of hard work and unstoppable perseverance. Research is something more than mere enjoyment. We should be multidimensional to think beyond one dimensional phenomenon of enjoyment."

We were, in old days, were taking photographs, developing and printing those by mechanical ways. That gave us the space to understand the science behind it. Today in the world of convergence, everything is digitized and we rarely ask the questions to understand the micro processes of any system. The challenge in front of us is how to sustain the curiosity in young mind in time of sophisticated technologies so that we can unravel the step by step building blocks (even though complex by nature)of any machine or invention.


Dr. Kroto finally said, Science and research is all about fresh approach, young mind and ability to question the icons, role models, experts and establishment." He heralded all the INSPIRE Fellows and other young students to be aware that they are the real future of science. Whatever transformation is going to happen in science is to be done by these apparently innocent but inherently very creative. non obvious minds."

I cannot resist myself from humming the 1985 Michael Jackson and others` item:



We are the world

There comes a time when we heed a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying

And its time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all
We cant go on pretending day by day

That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We are all part of gods great big family
And the truth, you know, love is all we need

We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So lets start giving

Theres a choice were making
Were saving our own lives

Its true well make a better day
Just you and me

Send them your heart
So theyll know that someone cares

And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stones to bread
So we all must lend a helping hand

We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So lets start giving

Theres a choice were making
Were saving our own lives
Its true well make a better day
Just you and me

When youre down and out, there seems no hope at all
But if you just believe theres no way we can fall
Well, well, well, well let us realize that a change can only come
When we stand together as one

We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So lets start giving

Theres a choice were making
Were saving our own lives
Its true well make a better day
Just you and me

We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So lets start giving

Theres a choice were making
Were saving our own lives
Its true well make a better day
Just you and me
--------------------------------------

I am delighted by today`s events....
I wish every student get Dr. Kroto as teacher...
God bless all the students who are curious to work upon their excitement of
science!!!!!!!
-----------------------------------------------------

From IIIT Allhabad: Quantum Mechanics, Capitalism and Anandbhavan

"Along with my parents insistence, soon internalized, that I do very well in school, went my love of reading and my love of mechanics. I read everything: fiction, history, science, mathematics, biography, travel. There were two free public libraries within walking distance of my home; I remember taking six books home from every visit, the limit set by the library. This reading had only partial approval from my parents.

They wanted me to play more sports because they were acutely sensitive to their children being one hundred percent American, and they believed that all Americans played sports and loved sports. They felt that too much reading interfered with my going outside to play sport. I loved rainy days when I did not have to go outside, and to the present I still feel very content on a rainy day."

These are the anecdotal evidences of 1995 Physics Nobel winner Martin Pearl who was speaking at Science Concalve at IIIT Allahabad todday. Advocating for simple models to understand difficult and complex concepts of quantum mechanics he wondered innocently that who knows these decades old laws may prove false one day.

Reacting to the question about the outcomes of the LHC experinement in progress at CERN, he exclaimed "Nobody knows what will come out of it."

Earlier in morning I happened to be in Anandbhavan the historic home to Indian National Congress proceedings and Nehru Gandhi family...The one of the insulated library of Pandit Nehru there was hiding one book named "Britain without capitalism." Later in the day, Prof. Pearl opined that more and more the research funding for particle physics and accelerators is going down and people are finding it less interesting than before to work upon particle physics. The 1990 Nobel winner Friedman also had expressed same views a day before it.

Nehru in his will said that my ashes be submitted to Ganga-Yamuna sangam. He asserted that he is not viewing sangam from religious point of view but from a approach of vast life. As someone has said "Knowledge grows when it flows!!" This was perfect note for the science conclave I am attending. Eventhough very less world renowned scietists are here looking at the excitement on young students face, it makes you convince about the need of more and more such programes throughout the country.

IIITA Conclave Report: 16/12/ 08---Don`t do science for sake of awards

"As I very much liked to draw and paint as a child, I entered a special art program in high school, which was very much like being in an art school imbedded in a regular high school curriculum. While I always had some interest in science, I developed a strong interest in physics when I was in high school as a result of reading a short book entitled Relativity, by Einstein. It opened a new vista for me and deepened my curiosity about the physical world."

These are the revealation of Prof. Jerome Friedman who delievered a inspiring lecture on second day of the Nobel Conclave meet here in IIIT Allahabad.

He was key person in a research team which in a series of investigations found clear signs and traces of therotically proved existence of an inner structure in the protons and neutrons of the atomic nucleus For more details kindly go to http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1990/press.html.

In a really interactuive and friendly way unlike to the most of the scientists who find it difficult to convey the complex research findings in easy way, he really mastered the articulation of the understanding of the fundamental principles in simplest way. (The discussion regarding this has been done in Scientists Must Speak: Bringing Presentations to Life(Routledge)by D. Eric Walters and Gale C. Walters. Friedman urged the new emerging students to work on the fundamental questions raised by his reaserch.


There was a rare dissert for students where five nobel laurets were present on the dias...Answering a question related to what kind of model for science communication must be adopted, other veteran scientists were equivocal about creating more and more centre of excellence and retaining the best tallent of the country by facilitatiing the finest of the infrastructure and facilities.

One student identified the the bone entangled in the throat of the polcymakers: Why talented students are running away from the fundamental research area to other streams? Yesterday


Questions about why we cannot tap the most of the somlar energy was also very very urgent in the all of the agenda across continents.

The personal biographies of the scientists can tell us lot of about the reasons of discovery, progress...

Research Managers must know the technology. Unless and untill they know the techniques and mechanism to work out perticular process you cannot lead a successful innovation. This was the reply from one Nobel Laurete to the wise question that how ideas are transformed to innovation.

Students asked all the scientists their worst moments of their life. One scientist said that he was on the verge of making suicide because his paper was not published in Nature for five years. This paper eventually turned out to be driving force for him to recieve Nobel.

Yesterday gudiing the Physics studnets Dr. Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (Winner 1997) was answering to one innocent but wise question how we can make research interesting. There he said interest will come if we really do it for the sake of science and not for the sake of any rewards.

Nobel Laurets Conclave Indian Inst.of Information Technology Allahabad

Curiosity and excitement about research drives the interest in research said the 1997 Physics Nobel Laurete Claude Cohen-Tannoudji addressing the dense gathering of students and teachers at IIIT, Allahabad where Nobel Laurete Conclave was ignited with wonderful speeches today.

He was part of the team which developed methods of cooling and trapping atoms by using laser light. Their research is helping us to study fundamental phenomena and measure important physical quantities with unprecedented precision.

Following is the extract from his speech when he actually was awraded Nobel in 1997.

"We were a small group, but the enthusiasm for research was exceptional and we worked hard. Brossel and Kastler were in the lab nearly day and night, even on weekends. We had endless discussions on how to interpret our experimental results. At the time, the equipment was rather poor and we did what we could without computers, recorders and signal averagers. We measured resonance curves point by point with a galvanometer, each curve five times, and then averaged by hand. We were, somehow, able to get nice curves and exciting results. I think that what I learned during that period was essential for my subsequent research work and key personalities such as Alfred Kastler and Jean Brossel certainly had a significant role in it."

Primarily it was understood that this gathering will project 18 Laurets as communicated. With the organisers confirming the participation of 12 scientists, I further enquired and came to know that only 5 are coming. Even world class scientists are scared of the distant Mumbai attacks.

I wondered looking at the pioneering research institutes in India who facilitated to melt the inferiority complex in Indian minds by achieving partial self reliance why this conclave has not considered invitation to emerging scientists from Indian laboratories.

They are apparently failed to convince world class ambassodors to come to IIIT and on the contrary failed to recognise and felicitate the bright spirit of the Indian youth who has taken new challenges of research in recent times in India and abroad.

Mobilisation of the masssful bunch of students towards this type of programes has remained the obcession of the government. Right now this programe has no specific agenda. It only speaks about interaction with world renowned sientists.

It will be not schocking to learn that many of the reactions I recieved from the serious particpants that IIIT has arranged this week long programe only to spend the allotted funds by the ministry.

Shall we give them benefit of doubt?
Certainly not?

There has to be central, nodal instituion for the motivating students for fundamental science having definite scheme knowing the exact delicacies of scheduling, expertise of science communicators, empanneld scientists for talks, dedicated research and documentation team commited towards the progress of science-technology and social-psychologists analysing the trends of the students interests in the country.

This is a part of wider culture who knows the significance of the quest of knowledge and really knows how to respect that....

Interaction has to be bidirectional and informal. On the first day, I felt as if I am in stereotypical college class. These are the events where no opportunity should be left behind to stress importance of science in our life....

It is said that greatest discovery of science in 20th century was how to study science and not the inventions in actual. We never bother about that.

Please wait for next report of tomorrow!!!!

Bye

I am me

I am me.
In all the world, there is no one exactly like me.
There are persons who have some parts like me,
But no one adds up exactly like me.
Therefore, everything that comes out of me
Is authentically mine because I alone choose it.

I own everything about me
My body, including everything it does;
My mind, including all its thoughts and ideas;
My eyes, including the images of all they behold;
My feelings, whatever they may be...
Anger, joy, frustration, love, disappointment, excitement
My mouth, and all the words that come out of it
Polite, sweet or rough, correct or incorrect;
My voice, loud or soft.
And all my actions, whether they be to others or to myself.

I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears.
I own all my triumphs and successes,
All my failures and mistakes.

Because I own all of me I can become intimately acquainted with me.
By doing so I can love me and be friendly with me in all parts.
I can then make it possible for all of me to work in my best interests.

I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me,
And other aspects that I do not know.
But as long as I am friendly and loving to myself,
I can courageously and hopefully, look for solutions to the puzzles
And for ways to find out more about me.

However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think
And feel at a given moment in time is me.
This is authentic and represents where I am in that moment in time.

When I review later how I looked and sounded, what I said and did,
And how I thought and felt, some parts may turn out to be unfitting.
I can discard that which is unfitting, and keep that which proved fitting,
And invent something new for that which I discarded.

I can see, hear, feel, think, say and do.
I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive,
And to make sense and order out of the world of people
And things outside of me.
I own me, and therefore I can engineer me.

I am me and I am okay.

--- Copyright © 1975 Virginia Satir

Age of Creativity

+ Believe in your creativity
+ Stimulate your perceptive abilities
+ Find inspiration in the world around you
+ Get over creative blocks and the fear of failure
+ Engage your curiosity
+ Recognize and use your creative instincts
+ Give yourself the time, permission, and nourishment to do creative work
+ Develop a daily practice to accomplish these goals
+ Work collaboratively