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Saturday 25 April 2015

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Congratulations to all the winners of World Book Day Contest

Thursday 16 April 2015

World Book Day(23rd April 2015) - Events (Elocution and Poster Presentation)

 

Elocution: E books VS Printed books: Which is preferred now?

Scientist of the day -Johannes Kepler

Johannes Kepler  (1571 - 1630)

Johannes Kepler was a key player in a profound change in the tide of human thought: the scientific revolution. In Kepler’s lifetime:
Kepler reflected the times he lived in. Seen through modern eyes, he had somewhat contradictory ideas. He was:
    Such contradictions were not unusual during the scientific revolution. Isaac Newton, who lived in a later time than Kepler (1643 to 1727) did not work in the way a modern scientist would. Also a Protestant with unorthodox views, Newton spent more time investigating the true meaning of the Bible’s words and on the pseudoscience of alchemy than he did on mathematics or physics!

    Johannes Kepler’s Early Life and Education

    Johannes Kepler was born on December 27, 1571, in the town of Weil der Stadt, which then lay in the Holy Roman Empire, and is now in Germany.
    When Johannes was about five years old, his father, Heinrich Kepler, was killed in Holland fighting as a mercenary. His mother, Katharina Guldenmann, was a herbalist who helped run an inn owned by her father.

    Kepler’s First Law – The Law of Orbits
    Kepler tried to figure out the mathematical shape of Mars’s orbit. After about 40 misses, in 1605, he got it right. Mars follows an elliptical path around the sun.
    And now he formulated what would become Kepler’s first law: planets orbit the sun in ellipses, with the sun at one focus.
    Kepler’s Third Law – The Law of Periods
    Kepler never gave up his idea that regular polygons determine the orbits of the planets. As a fortunate result of this wrong thinking, he continued calculating and theorizing.
    In 1618 his continuing research led to his third law of planetary motion:
    The square of the period of any planet is proportional to the cube of the semimajor axis of its orbit.
    Restated crudely, this law means that if we square the time it takes a planet to complete one orbit around the sun, we’ll find it’s proportional to the planet’s distance from the sun cubed.
    Even more crudely: the farther a planet is from the sun, the slower it moves along its orbital path.

    The End

    Johannes Kepler died after falling ill at the age of 58, on November 15, 1630 in the German city of Regensburg. He was survived by a son and a daughter from his first marriage, to Barbara Müller, who died rather young. He was also survived by his second wife, Susanna Reuttinger, and two sons and a daughter from that marriage.

    Wednesday 15 April 2015

    Scientist of the day - Pierre Curie

    Pierre Curie

    Pierre Curie was a French physical chemist who discovered radium and polonium, while studying radioactivity with his wife, Marie Curie. Widely considered to be one of the founders of founders of modern physics, he pioneered the fields of crystallography, magnetism and piezoelectricity. Curie shared the 1903 the Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife for their work on radiation.

    Early Life and Education:

    Born in Paris, France on May 15, 1859, Pierre Curie was a childhood prodigy. He showed an extraordinary aptitude for mathematics and geometry. Curie completed the equivalent of a higher degree when he was only 18, but failed to pursue a doctorate due to some financial problems. He instead accepted a job as a laboratory instructor.

    Contributions and Achievements:

    Pierre Curie is widely credited to be one of the founders of modern physics. As a young researcher, his work had already brought important discoveries related to heat waves, crystals, magnetism and symmetry. He formulated the Curie’s law before he married Marie Sklowdowska in 1895. The Curies, the husband and wife, together discovered polonium and radium while conducting research in radioactivity.
    Together with Henri Becquerel, the Curies shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics for their revolutionary work on radioactivity.

    Later Life and Death:

    Pierre Curie died in a street accident in Paris on 19 April 1906. He was only 46 years old.

     


    Monday 13 April 2015

    Ambedkar Jayanti

    Ambedkar jayanthi 2015- April 14 (Tuesday)

    Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar or simply B.R. Ambedkar was born on April 14, 1891 at MHOW (Military Headquarter of War) in Madhya Pradesh. He was the architect of Indian Constitution and is also known as the "Father of Indian Constitution."
    He had dedicated his entire life for uplifting the deprived section of the society. Hence, many Indians and even people from other countries revere him as a great social reformer. He also played a significant role in India’s freedom struggle.

    Dr. Ambedkar was one of the first 'untouchables' to obtain a college education in India. He went on to United States and England to pursue higher studies, where he earned a law degree and multiple doctorates for his study and research in law, economics and political science.

    Returning home as a famous scholar, Ambedkar practiced law for a few years before he began publishing journals advocating political rights and social freedom for India's untouchables.

    Dr. Ambedkar spent his life fighting against the system of untouchability and the caste system. He is also credited for having sparked the Dalit Buddhist movement. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was the chairman of the drafting committee that was constituted by the Constituent Assembly to draft a constitution for the independent India; he was also the first Law Minister of India.

    He was honored with Bharat Ratna in 1990, India's highest civilian award. The day, 14th April is celebrated all over the country as his birthday (Jayanti) and it is also declared as a public holiday.

    Various Dalit organizations carry out huge processions on this day in the memory of this great soul. On this very day various organizations organize several activities including rally and cultural programs.

    Dalit Melas are held in various parts of the country. Ambedkar Jayanti is observed both in government and private organizations. Prayers, meetings and memorial speeches are organized in various state capitals.

    Contributions of B. R. Ambedkar
    • He worked to eliminate the social belief of untouchability for the lower group of people. He protested to uplift the untouchables in the society to enhance their social status during law practice in the Bombay High Court. He had organized an event called Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha to encourage the education among untouchables for their socio-economic improvement and welfare of the outcastes people of depressed classes. He also protected the Dalit rights by organizing various programs like “Mook Nayak, Bahishkrit Bharat and Equality Janta”.
    • He had started an active public movements and marches in 1927 against untouchability to remove the untouchability for water resources as well as enter to the Hindu temples (Kalaram Temple movement in 1930). He has demanded for the separate electorate through the Poona Pact to reserve seats for untouchable people of depressed class.
    • He was invited by the Congress government to serve as a first Law Minister after the independence of India on 15th of August in 1947 and appointed as a “Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee” on 29th of August in 1947 where he drafted the new Constitution of India which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th of November in 1949.
    • He had played his great role in establishing the Reserve Bank of India as he was a professional economist. He became successful in forming the Reserve Bank of India in 1934 after giving his ideas to the Hilton Young Commission through his three successful scholarly books on economics such as “Administration and Finance of the East India Company, The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India, and The Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Its Solution”.
    • He also played his role in planning the Indian economic as he got his Economics doctorate degree from abroad. He encouraged people for the growth and development of the industrialization and agricultural industry to enhance the economy of country. He had given ideas to the government for accomplishing the food security goal. He encouraged people for good education, hygiene and community health as their basic requirement. He had established the Finance Commission of India.
    • He had opposed the Article 370 in the Constitution of India in order to provide the special status to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, India.

    Jalianwala Bagh Massacre Day

    Jalianwala Bagh Massacre

    Massacre of Amritsar, also called Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre, Jallianwalla also spelled Jallianwala,  incident on April 13, 1919, in which British troops fired on a large crowd of unarmed Indians in Amritsar in the Punjab region (now in Punjab state) of India, killing several hundred people and wounding many hundreds more. It marked a turning point in India’s modern history, in that it left a permanent scar on Indo-British relations and was the prelude to Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi’s full commitment to the cause of Indian nationalism and independence from Britain.

    During World War I (1914–18) the British government of India enacted a series of repressive emergency powers that were intended to combat subversive activities. By the war’s end, expectations were high among the Indian populace that those measures would be eased and that India would be given more political autonomy. The Montagu-Chelmsford Report, presented to the British Parliament in 1918, did in fact recommend limited local self-government. Instead, however, the government of India passed what became known as the Rowlatt Acts in early 1919, which essentially extended the repressive wartime measures.
    The acts were met by widespread anger and discontent among Indians, notably in the Punjab region. Gandhi in early April called for a one-day general strike throughout the country. In Amritsar the news that prominent Indian leaders had been arrested and banished from that city sparked violent protests on April 10, in which soldiers fired upon civilians, buildings were looted and burned, and angry mobs killed several foreign nationals and severely beat a Christian missionary. A force of several dozen troops commanded by Brigadier General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer was given the task of restoring order. Among the measures taken was a ban on public gatherings.

    On the afternoon of April 13, a crowd of at least 10,000 men, women, and children gathered in an open space known as the Jallianwalla Bagh, which was nearly completely enclosed by walls and had only one exit. It is not clear how many people there were protesters who were defying the ban on public meetings and how many had come to the city from the surrounding region to celebrate Baisakhi, a Hindu and Sikh spring festival. Dyer and his soldiers arrived and sealed off the exit. Without warning, the troops opened fire on the crowd, reportedly shooting hundreds of rounds until they ran out of ammunition. It is not certain how many died in the bloodbath, but, according to one official report, an estimated 379 people were killed, and about 1,200 more were wounded. After they ceased firing, the troops immediately withdrew from the place, leaving behind the dead and wounded.

    The shooting was followed by the proclamation of martial law in the Punjab that included public floggings and other humiliations. Indian outrage grew as news of the shooting and subsequent British actions spread throughout the subcontinent. The Bengali poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore renounced the knighthood that he had received in 1915. Gandhi was initially hesitant to act, but he soon began organizing his first large-scale and sustained nonviolent protest (satyagraha) campaign, the noncooperation movement (1920–22), which thrust him to prominence in the Indian nationalist struggle.

    The government of India ordered an investigation of the incident (the Hunter Commission), which in 1920 censured Dyer for his actions and ordered him to resign from the military. Reaction in Britain to the massacre was mixed, however. Many condemned Dyer’s actions—including Sir Winston Churchill, then secretary of war, in a speech to the House of Commons in 1920—but the House of Lords praised Dyer and gave him a sword inscribed with the motto “Saviour of the Punjab.” In addition, a large fund was raised by Dyer’s sympathizers and presented to him. The Jallianwalla Bagh site in Amritsar is now a national monument.

    Saturday 11 April 2015

    Mahatma Jyotiba Phule - Jayanthi

    Mahatma Jyotiba Phule

    Born: 11 April, 1827
    Passed Away: 28 November, 1890

    Contributions
    Jyotiba Phule was one of the prominent social reformers of the nineteenth century India. He led the movement against the prevailing caste-restrictions in India. He revolted against the domination of the Brahmins and for the rights of peasants and other low-caste fellow. Jyotiba Phule was believed to be the first Hindu to start an orphanage for the unfortunate children.
    Life
    Jyotirao Phule was born in Satara district of Maharastra in 1827. His father, Govindrao was a vegetable-vendor at Poona. Originally Jyotirao's family belonged to 'mali' caste, considered as inferior by the Brahmins. Since, Jyotirao's father and uncles served as florists, the family came to be known as `Phule'. Jyotirao's mother passed away when he was nine months old.

    Jyotirao was an intelligent boy but due to the poor financial condition at home, he had to stop his studies at an early age. He started helping his father by working on the family's farm. Recognising the talent of the child prodigy, few months later, a neighbor persuaded his father to send him to school. In 1841, Jyotirao got admission in the Scottish Mission's High School, Poona. There, he met Sadashiv Ballal Govande, a Brahmin, who remained his close friend throughout his life. Jyotirao was married to Savitribai, when he was thirteen years old.
    Movement
    In 1848, an incident took place in his life that later sparked off the dalit-revolution in the Indian society. Jyotirao was invited to attend a wedding of one of his Brahmin friends. Knowing that he belonged to inferior caste, the relatives of the bridegroom insulted and abused him. Jyotirao left the procession and made up his mind to defy the prevailing caste-system and social restrictions. He then started his campaign of serving the people of lower caste who were deprived of all their rights as human beings.

    After reading Thomas Paine's famous book 'The Rights of Man', Jyotirao was greatly influenced by his ideas. He believed that enlightenment of the women and lower caste people was the only solution to combat the social evils. Therefore, in 1848, he along with his wife started a school for the girls.

    The orthodox Brahmins of the society were furious at the activities of Jyotirao. They blamed him for vitiating the norms and regulations of the society. Many accused him of acting on behalf of the Christian Missionaries. But Jyotirao was firm and decided to continue the movement. Interestingly, Jyotirao had some Brahmin friends who extended their support to make the movement successful.
    Jyotirao attacked the orthodox Brahmins and other upper castes and termed them as "hypocrites". He campaigned against the authoritarianism of the upper caste people. He urged the "peasants" and "proletariat" to defy the restrictions imposed upon them.
    In 1851, Jyotiba established a girls' school and asked his wife to teach the girls in the school. Jyotirao, later, opened two more schools for the girls and an indigenous school for the lower castes, especially the Mahars and Mangs.

    Viewing the pathetic condition of widows and unfortunate children Jyotirao decided the open an orphanage. In order to protect those widows and their children, Jyotiba Phule established an orphanage in 1854. Many young widows, from the upper-caste spent their days in the orphanage.

    Satya Shodhak Samaj
    After tracing the history of the Brahmin domination in India, Jyotirao blamed the Brahmins for framing the weird and inhuman laws. He concluded that the laws were made to suppress the "shudras" and rule over them. In 1873, Jyotiba Phule formed the Satya Shodhak Samaj (Society of Seekers of Truth). The purpose of the organization was to liberate the people of lower-castes from the suppression of the Brahmins. The membership was open to all and the available evidence proves that some Jews were admitted as members. In 1876 there were 316 members of the 'Satya Shodhak Samaj'. In 1868, in order to give the lower-caste people more powers Jyotirao decided to construct a common bathing tank outside his house. He also wished to dine with all, regardless of their caste.  
    Death
    Jyotiba Phule devoted his entire life for the liberation of untouchables from the exploitation of Brahmins. He revolted against the tyranny of the upper castes. On 28 November, 1890, the great reformer of India, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, passed away.

    Friday 10 April 2015

    Scientist of the day - Charles Darwin

    Charles Darwin

    Charles Darwin, widely considered as one of the greatest and most revolutionizing scientists in history, was the British naturalist who formulated the theory of evolution. Pre-Darwin, it was thought that each species of life on earth came individually and that none had ever changed its form. He confuted this notion and demonstrated from his research that evolution is the law of nature and all living things on earth have descended from common ancestors who lived millions of years ago. He proved that animals and plants have evolved in an orderly manner and keep on evolving even today.

    Early Life:
    Born at Shrewsbury in 1809, Darwin was raised by his eldest sister from the tender age of eight. Young Darwin had a passion for gathering up even insects and minerals and he used to experiment with them. When Darwin was 16, he joined Edinburg University to study medicine. However, he was too gentle and tender to become a proper physician. Anatomy, in particular, sickened him. He hated the surgical operations, because they had to be performed without any anesthetics at that time. This made Darwin a great failure as a medical student.
    Darwin said goodbye to Edinburg in 1828 and sought admission in Cambridge to study Theology. There, he also disregarded his studies and was more interested in beetles than theology. He was lucky to attain his degree anyhow. At Cambridge, he managed to make valuable friends, even befriending the professors of botany and geology.

    Contributions and Achievements:

    Darwin got his big break in 1831. A naturalist was needed to travel along on a scientific expedition – a voyage around the world in the brigantine HMBS Beagle under the supervision of Captain Fits Roy. Luckily, some of his Cambridge fellows also recommended him for the place. The voyage took around five years.
    Throughout this voyage, Darwin collected bones of extinct animals. He was curious about the relationship between the extinct animals and the existing ones. The unusual marine iguana, the tortoises and the finches on the Galapagos Islands in the pacific made him perplexed, since similar, yet rather distinct, forms of the same animals were found on separate islands. These observations led to his legendary ideas on evolution.
    After the return, Darwin moved to London for a while and compiled an account of his travels. Darwin got married to his cousin Emma Wedgowood in 1839. The coupled moved to Downe House in Kent in 1844. There, Darwin got a letter from the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, who had made similar observations about evolution separately. A collaborative report by Darwin and Wallace was published in 1858. Darwin publicized the theory of evolution in his famous book, “The Origin of Species by Natural Selection”, in 1859. The book, which asserted that all the varied forms of life on earth could, in the course of time, have evolved from a common ancestry, was a huge success. Darwin also commented that in the struggle for life, only the ‘fittest’ creatures would survive while others fail.
    The book became controversial due to its conflict with the religious belief about the creation of the world. However, in later years, it was embraced by all biologists. Darwin’s another book, “The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication”, came out in 1868. It is considered to be his second most significant work. The book maintains that man, by selective breeding, could make rather different breeds of pigeons, dogs, and some species of plants also. His work also included “The Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilised by Insects”, “Insectivorous Plants”, “The Power of Movement in Plants”, “Descent of Man”, and “The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms”.

    Later Life and Death:

    Charles Darwin died at 74 and he was buried in Westminster Abbey, fairly near to the tomb of Sir Issac Newton. Out of his 10 children, of whom seven survived him, four became prominent scientists. Three of his sons went on to become fellows of the Royal Society, just like their legendary father.

    Wednesday 8 April 2015

    Scientist of the day - John Ray

     John Ray
    John Ray was a highly influential English naturalist and botanist whose contributions to taxonomy are considered groundbreaking and historic. He is also well-known in the world of botany for the establishment of species as the ultimate unit of taxonomy.

    Early Life and Education:

    Born in 1627 in a small village of Black Notley, Essex, John Ray’s father was a blacksmith. Ray entered the Cambridge University at the young age of sixteen.

    Contributions and Achievements:

    John Ray was selected a Fellow of Trinity College in 1649. However, he lost the position thirteen years later when, in 1662, he declined to take the oath to the Act of Uniformity after the Restoration. With full support of his former stundent and fellow naturalist, Francis Willoughby, Ray made several trips throughout Europe with him, carrying out research in the fields of botany and zoology.
    Ray formulated the fundamental principles of plant classification into cryptogams, monocotyledons and dicotyledons in his landmark works “Catalogus plantarum Angliae” (1670) and “Methodus plantarum nova” (1682). Other major publications of Ray include “Historia generalis plantarum” (3 volumes, 1686-1704) and “The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation” (1691), both of which became quite influential during the time.
    The zoological contributions of Ray include the developement of the most natural pre-Linnaean classification of the animal kingdom. He was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1667. Ray endorsed scientific empiricism as compared to the deductive rationalism of the scholastics.

    Later Life and Death:

    In his later years, Ray moved to his native village, where he remained until his death in 1705. He was 77 years old. The Ray Society was established in his honor in 1844.

    Tuesday 7 April 2015

    World Health Day 2015: Food safety

    World Health Day 2015: Food safety

     

    Background


    Unsafe food is linked to the deaths of an estimated 2 million people annually – including many children. Food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances is responsible for more than 200 diseases, ranging from diarrhoea to cancers.

    New threats to food safety are constantly emerging. Changes in food production, distribution and consumption; changes to the environment; new and emerging pathogens; antimicrobial resistance - all pose challenges to national food safety systems. Increases in travel and trade enhance the likelihood that contamination can spread internationally.

    The topic for World Health Day 2015 is food safety


    As our food supply becomes increasingly globalized, the need to strengthen food safety systems in and between all countries is becoming more and more evident. That is why the WHO is promoting efforts to improve food safety, from farm to plate (and everywhere in between) on World Health Day, 7 April 2015.

    WHO helps countries prevent, detect and respond to foodborne disease outbreaks - in line with the Codex Alimentarius, a collection of international food standards, guidelines and codes of practice covering all the main foods and processes. Together with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), WHO alerts countries to food safety emergencies through an international information network.

    Five keys to safer food


    Food safety is a shared responsibility. It is important to work all along the food production chain – from farmers and manufacturers to vendors and consumers. For example, WHO’s Five keys to safer food offer practical guidance to vendors and consumers for handling and preparing food:

    • Key 1: Keep clean
    • Key 2: Separate raw and cooked food
    • Key 3: Cook food thoroughly
    • Key 4: Keep food at safe temperatures
    • Key 5: Use safe water and raw materials.

    World Health Day 2015 is an opportunity to alert people working in different government sectors, farmers, manufacturers, retailers, health practitioners – as well as consumers – about the importance of food safety, and the part each can play in ensuring that everyone can feel confident that the food on their plate is safe to eat.

    Monday 6 April 2015

    Mountains retained its favourite child




    Malli Mastan Babu

    Malli Mastan Babu, one of India's top mountaineers who grabbed the global spotlight by climbing the seven summits in the seven continents in record time, was found dead in his tent in the Andes on Friday. He was 40.

    The IIM-Calcutta alumnus was trying to scale solo Cerro Tres Cruces Sur, the second highest mountain of Chile, at 6,749m. He had been missing since March 24 after the weather turned ugly in the area.

    Babu's friend Satyam Bheemarasetti told  on Saturday that the body was located by fellow mountaineers in a tent "without life", surrounded by snow. "From what we have heard and seen in photos, the tent was blown open and destroyed," says Apoorva Prasad, founder of The Outdoor Journal, an active adventure magazine which had been tracking Babu's disappearance. The mountaineer probably froze to death.

    In 2006, Babu became the fastest "7 summiteer" in the world by climbing the peaks - Aconcagua (South America), Denali (North America), Elbrus (Europe), Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mt Everest (Asia), Vinson Massif (Antarctica) and Kosciuszko & Carstenz (Australia & Oceania) - between January 19 and July 10 in a record 172 days.
    "Challenge is what enthrals me and free spirit is what I exhibit. Never give up, never give in - is a phrase that works miracles for me," Babu wrote on his website, 1stindian7summits.com.

    "Solo climbing is fraught with extra danger if the weather turns bad. Babu was an enterprising spirit and climbed many peaks in unusual countries, something Indians normally don't do," says fellow mountaineer and explorer Mandip Singh Soin. In that sense, Babu was a trailblazer who didn't get as much acclaim and attention as he deserved.

    Of late, Babu was scaling peaks in Latin America. He had climbed the tough Aconcagua (6,292m) three times from the Argentinian side; Huascaran (6,768m) in Peru; Sajama (6,542m) in Bolivia; Chimborazo (6,310m) in Ecuador and Ojos de Salado (6,800m) in Chile, retired diplomat and former ambassador to Argentina, R Vishwanathan posted in a blog last week.

    A report in The Outdoor Journal's website, says Babu had left for the mountains with friends on March 22. He left the base camp alone to climb Cerro Tres Cruces Sur, which borders Chile and Argentina, from the Argentinian side. The last contact was on March 24 when he told friends that he would come down the same evening as the weather had turned foul.

    Efforts were made to rescue him from both sides with the Indian embassies in Chile and Argentina involved in the process. The local Chilean government was preoccupied with the flash floods that had rocked the region. By March 26, rescue teams were out, according to Babu's friend Hernan Augusto Parajon, a Chilean mountaineer who had accompanied him to the base camp. On March 29, Hernan told The Outdoor Journal that a team of 8-10 mountaineers were trying to locate him. But the aerial search began only on March 31.

    "RIP #MalliMastanBabu. With his friends & family we are working with authorities in Argentina and Chile on next steps in a difficult situation," tweeted MEA Friday night. There is an outpouring of grief on social media.

    Babu came from a modest family of agriculturists. His sister says he got seriously interested in mountaineering at IIM where he became the founder of adventure club. "He raised money for his trips delivering motivational talks and conducting adventure camps," says Dorasanamma. In his blog Viswanathan writes that Babu told managers during his talks that a CEO is like the man on top of the mountain peak.

    The retired diplomat also narrates an interesting anecdote. "When Babu went to climb the Cristobal Colon peak in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of Colombia, the local Indians would not allow him to go up. They consider the mountain sacred and would not let outsiders on top of it. But Babu did not give up. He stayed on and established dialogue with them over several local drinks. He told them that he is also an Indian and that the people from India too worship many mountain gods. This made the Colombian Indians relent," he writes.

    Viswanathan also explains why Babu preferred to go "solo." The mountaineer told him he "likes the privacy of his one-to one dialogue with the summits and treasures this intimate conversation." Asked how he overcame the language problem in South America, Babu is supposed to have smiled and said, "Mountains all over the world speak the same language."

    Now, as his friends who had started a Facebook page, Rescue Malli Mastan Babu, posted after the news of his death came through, "Mountains (have) retained its favourite child...RIP Mastan Babu."



     

    Saturday 4 April 2015

    Scientist of the day - James Dewey Watson

     James Dewey Watson
    James Dewey Watson was an American geneticist and biophysicist. Noted for his decisive work in the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA, the hereditary material associated with the transmission of genetic information. He shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins in 1962

    Early Life and Education:

    James Watson was born in 1928 in Chicago, Illinois and his father was a tax collector of Scottish ancestry. He attended the University of Chicago, Indiana University and the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge with Francis Crick. He was appointed a faculty member at Harvard University, and a few years later, the director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

    Contributions and Achievements:

    James Watson gained worldwide fame and prominence as the joint author of the four scientific papers between 1953 and 1954 (which he co-wrote with fellow scientist Francis Crick) that laid down the double helical structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a megamolecule that is the fundamental substance in the process of genetic replication. This discovery won Watson and Crick (with Maurice Wilkins) the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1962.
    During the 1960s, Watson became one of the most celebrated science writers, as he published his textbook “Molendor Biology of the Gene” in 1965, and his best-selling autobiographical book “The Double Helix” in 1968. Watson became the undisputed leading voice in the whole of American science. He epitomized the scientific creativity in 20th century science, giving rise to molecular biology and its two applied offsets; biotechnology and the “Human Genome Project”.


    Thursday 2 April 2015

    Mahavir Jayanthi

    Mahavir Jayanthi
    Mahavir Jayanti is the most important Jain festival. It celebrates the birth of Saint Mahavir in a small town called Vaishali. The importance of the festival owes to the fact that Saint Mahavir was the founder of Jainism as a religion. It is a peaceful religion that cherishes simplicity. Their core values are such that they do not believe in killing even an insect. The mood of this festival is also without any kind of drama, just a quite celebration with respect to their saint. There are dominantly four types of Jains: Digambars and Svetambaras, Deravasis and Sthanakvasis. The worship rituals of Jains are not very elaborate or striking as their leader Mahavir was against idol worship in its ideal sense. Out of the four sects only Deravasis go to temples, while the others regard their ideal faith to be purest when internalized.
    History/Significance
     
    Mahavir Jain was born in the 5th century B.C. He was born in a palace of Vaishali to King Siddhartha and Queen Trisala. During the pregnancy, the queen is said to have had dreams of auspicious nature. The number of dreams varies in belief of each sect. After running his kingdom faithfully till 30 years of his age, the great saint gave up all luxuries and comforts of palace for penance. For twelve long years the saint had been under penance. At this time he was enlightened. He was known to be the 24th and the last tirthankara to have received enlightenment. He gave up all redundancies of life. He would eat on his palms refusing to use a plate. He also gave up wearing clothes. Getting rid of these rudimentary materials he focused on the real things and the real meaning of life. He preached the importance of truth and non-violence along with the message of not owning anything and not stealing. He later formulated all his teachings into a religion that he names Jainism.

    Celebrations And Rituals
     
    The festival is celebrated throughout the country among Jain communities. Although they believe in simplicity and avoid grandiosity, there are some significant ceremonies that they uphold. One of the most significant traditions of this day is the visit to various tirthankar statues and temples. There are processions with pictures and images of Mahavir. The temples have varied pujas to honor the statue of Mahavir by flowers, rice, fruits and abhishek it with milk. There are places of gathering or temples where the core values and message of Mahavira is preached. Some places his life history is also told. Some of the believers also observe a fast on this day. Kheer is prepared in most houses as a sweet dish.

    Commonly Celebrated
     
    Lord Mahavira, as it is believed in Jainism was born somewhere around the 5th century B.C. His birth date according to Lunar calendar is on the thirteenth day of the month of rising moon called Chaitr. According to the Gregorian calendar it falls somewhere in the month of April. The most important places of celebration of Mahavir Jayanti are Gujarat and Rajasthan. Gujarat is said to have to maximum number of Jain shrines. They are also the states where highest numbers of Jains reside. In India, Gujarat holds the biggest fair for this festival. Palitana and Girnar are some of the most significant places of worship of the state. Yet Vaishali, in Bihar, being the birth place of Mahavir, has its own importance and also celebrates this Jayanti significantly.