RIP : Supriya

Although a bit late, this one is in memory of Supriya, the only tigress of the Byculla zoo that died end of December 2005. As can be seen from the reports (and here), she died of kidney failure.

As far as I could see during my visits to the zoo, she was very popular among all age groups of visitors. Indeed, she was aptly named "Supriya" (meaning the most beloved). She had a fairly large enclosure by Byculla-zoo standards and the enclosure had a couple of "small caves" and a water pond where she would laze about in the hot summer months.

Here is a photograph of Supriya that I had shot sometime in April 2005. Now only if I had that SLR instead of the stupid compact digital camera...

Vesave Koli Food Festival 2006

As part of the Mumbai Festival 2006, several events were held in various parts of the city. One among them was the "Vesave Koli Food Festival" at Versova. This "sub-festival" was held on January 20th to January 22nd. I decided to visit it on the last day. The timings were 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Being a Sunday, I expected some crowd, but as the time passed by, the crowd only increased multi-fold much beyond my expectations. I reached the Versova bus stop at about 6:45 p.m. and decided to walk the rest of the way. It took me some time (and the guidance of a native co-worker, whom I happened to meet by chance in the "village") to find the way to the actual place.

Several stalls were put up where the local fishermen could cook and display their food items. (See the local church in the background. A temple was also present on the grounds, but I could not photograph it.)

The decoration was quite interesting with real boats, fish, nets and oars thrown in.

A stage had been decorated where dance performances by the local fisherfolk were to be held.

Versova (or Vesave as it is called by the natives) was a "real village" till some time ago. As time progressed by, the local fisherfolk have lost quite a bit of their business because of various reasons. Lack of carrying on the tradition by the new generation is also one of them. (I guess the reasoning is as follows: why would someone sweat it out on the rough seas, when one could be comfortable in a call-center office? Heh?). One could now see three to four-storeyed buildings where small houses once stood. Proliferation of other communities (noticably from the North of India) could also be seen.

But, the seniors are still around. One can see them wearing their tradtional attire (a lungi that forms a triangle near the ankles). Their skin tanned from the hot and UV-filled rays of the sun and those reflected off the water. These seniors, I guess, still go in to get the "catch". Typically, it is a night duty, since that is the time when the catch is more. These boats typically come in ashore at 5 a.m. or so.

Coming back to the festival, the Kolis (as the local fisherfolk are called), must have had it quite good. They were all smiles and why not. Looking at the crowd eating up everything they had to offer, they must've made quite a much-deserved fortune.

Dr. Amar Bose @ Techfest

This year's Techfest at IITB featured a lecture series that included (among other luminaries) a lecture by Dr. Amar Bose. The lecture was held on Saturday 21st January at 08:00 a.m. Indian time.

Since I was keen to attend this lecture, I had to rush to attend the lecture. Nevertheless, I reached 10 minutes ahead of 08:00 a.m. and took my seat. It was only then that I realized that the lecture was not a "live" one, but a kind of "video conference" with Bose being seated in the U.S.A.

The lecture began on schedule and except for a discontinuation ("line drop") after half-an-hour into the lecture, it proceeded quite smoothly and went on for about 1hr and 45 minutes.

Dr. Bose began with a question to the co-ordinator (on the IITB side) as to what he must talk about. Finally, after asking about the composition of the audience, he said he would speak first about education (since the audience mostly comprised off under grad and post grad students).

Some key points from the lecture:

• Dr. Bose was primarily a professor and mathematics seemed to be his core, but he got interested into acoustics because of a shoddy music system that he had obtained.

• He stressed that quality education was very important. Also important is the way in which education is being imparted.

• He pointed out that some of his research took place over a span of 25 years. In response to a question as to whether such long-term research made sense in today's past-paced world, he said that such research woud not be possible in a public company (because of the pressure of the stake holders). This was one reason for making Bose Corporation a private company.

• One of the reasons why he formed a separate company instead of continuing research at MIT, where he claimed to have a lot of freedom, was because of the lack of time and lack of long term people. Most people (students) in a university stay for a period of 2 to 4 years and hence, continuity of these people in the research project could not be guaranteed.

• He emphasized that Bose Corp does research only in areas that would result in a technology that common people (laymen) could understand being superior without getting into the technical details. As per his example, the new shock absorber technology from Bose Corp would make even one's mom feel that the car ride in such a car is much superior.

• Parents shape their children's character and influence them more than they think.

• According to Dr. Bose, one should work in a company where one feels like going to every day and not for the money. (Never choose a company by the money they offer!).

• He disappointed a few people in the audience when he stated that he was a core techie with no business skills or interest. He even went on to say that the salaries of everyone (including himself) at Bose Corp. are decided by a third-party (outside agency) purely based on that person's achievements in the past year.

• In response to a question on his biggest blunder, he said that he would rate the design and manufacture of a few pieces of a "spherical" loudspeaker that would occupy the corners of a room. The design of the technology was as per the acoustic theory, but when it came to selling these pieces, they realized that very few American homes had corners free of furniture. That meant that the speakers would have to be kept elsewhere and that was not what the speakers were designed for.

• Dr. Bose came close to talking about spirituality when he recalled an incident where he talked to a swami from the Ramakrishna mission. It seemed that he and his family had known the swami for some time and when Dr. Bose visited India, he made it a point to visit the swami. It was then that he asked the swami about the difference in the spiritual and academic sessions. According to Dr. Bose, academics and scientific research relied heavily on proofs, whereas the swami could not offer any proofs of the spiritual theories.
  
  The swami asked him to recall any of his "discoveries" and patented technologies and asked him whether those came about by methodological proofs or was it just a flash in the mind. Indeed, Dr. Bose admitted that all of his patents came about without proofs. It was only later that he worked backward to prove the theory.
  
  His key point was that irrational thoughts are usually at the forefront in leading to newer discoveries and ideas.
  

Pandharpur calling

Pandharpur beckons.

I feel I must visit it once, if only to see what inspired the saints to write so many beautiful songs (abhangs) about it. Something magical...something inspirational...definitely something too important to miss out.

When the time comes, I will go there. But, right now, I'm just trying to find out enough to plan a trip. I am being told that it is not the best of places to stay in (?). Its just a small village and (maybe) not yet commercialized. But, then it has always been said that Lord Vitthala was the "poor man's God". I am being told that this is one of the few places where ALL people could actually touch the Lord's feet. If poverty is judged by spiritual wealth, then definitely all of our types are below the poverty line.

Onto Solapur, by God's grace, we shall soon see what is special about this.

Stinging the stingers

Conducting sting operations is in vogue. Over the past few years, media (television in particular) have resorted to these to "expose" the alleged misdoings of some of the important people. Some people claim that the media is doing this to get audience attention. With so much competition, there might be some truth in it.

So how about "stinging the stingers"?

I was told about a few people connected with the media who were using their "clout" to run small illegal businesses. Also, some guys told me that during the July 2005 deluge, television news channels were asking a group of school-going kids to walk through the knee-deep water. This, inspite of the fact that they had other drier roads to travel on. It was just to film them and ask them how they felt walking through the water and other crap that these channels usually dish out. (Aap ko kya laga paani se chalne mein? Maaza aa raha tha ya darr lag raha tha? Thanda paani tha ke garam? )

Time to sting the stingers, I say.

Confusion over Lord Ganesha's Shloka

I have not studied this matter in depth but these are some lingering thoughts in my mind that I should find out more about. Given that Lord Ganesha is Mumbai's "favorite" God and that half of Bollywood and even "telewood" go to the Siddhivinayak temple, I thought it might be time to pose this question.

I've heard at least 2 versions of the famous Lord Ganesha's shloka. Mind you, this is the same "mantra" that is recited at the beginning of every auspicious ceremony. The 2 versions differ by only a single word, but the change seems significant to me.

Here are the 2 versions, side by side:

Vakratunda mahakaya Koti soorya samaprabha Nirvighnam kurume deva Sarva karyeshu sarvada

Vakratunda mahakaya Koti soorya samaprabha Nirvighnam kurume deva Shubh karyeshu sarvada

These are 2 separate versions that I've heard or read. The difference is a single word. In one version, it is "Sarva", while in the other it is "Shubh". "Sarva" means all, while "Shubh" means auspicious.

Thus, the first mantra is probably meant for all tasks (auspicious or otherwise), whereas the second one seems to seek blessings before beginning an auspicous task.

I wonder which one is the original one and whether both mean the same. If you have to start a not-so-legal task, you now know which one to use.

Indian Mathematicians

I came across an article that outlines the contributions made to mathematics by Indian mathematicians. One of the things that caught my attention was a contribution by a mathematician called Kaprekar.

"Kaprekar Constant" is 6174 and works as follows:

Take any four digit number in which all digits are not alike. Arrange its digits in descending order and subtract from it the number formed by arranging the digits in ascending order. If this process is repeated with reminders, ultimately number 6174 is obtained, which then generates itself.

Safety of Volvo buses

In the recent accident involving a Volvo bus, as many as 30 passengers were charred to death. It seems (from reading various reports) that the passengers who were occupying the front seats managed to escape death; those passengers who fled to the back of the bus were trapped in what became a "burning coffin".

It was also mentioned later that the emergency exit of the bus was jammed and therefore the people were trapped. (This jamming of the locking system had also happened earlier in the July 2005 deluge when some people died due to suffocation in their cars).

Volvo claims to have a high safety record and I was told by some people in the US of A that Volvo cars also get a better insurance rate there because the cars are very safe. When Volvo entered the Indian market, they also claimed that all the other Indian "buses" were in fact "trucks". Their contention was that the Indian "buses" were built on the same chasis as that meant for the trucks. So, the comfort level would be higher in a Volvo (which claimed to have a different chasis for the buses than the trucks).

Having experienced a Volvo ride myself, I thought the journey was quite comfortable. It also seemed to me that even the driver comfort had been thought of. The panels (dashboard) seemed to be designed quite well, the driver seemed to enjoy the power steering. The height and position of the driver seat seemed to offer the guy quite a nice view of the road. The driver also had the pleasure of enjoying driving in air-condioned comfort. The seats for the assistant ("cleaner") were thoughtfully foldable.

The Volvo bus is a rear-engine vehicle (probably to reduce the noise inside the bus). But, maybe that's the problem too. Indians are mostly accustomed to finding the emergency exit at the back of the bus. Since Volvo buses have rear-engines, I guess that's the reason they do not have an emergency exit at the back of the bus. Yes, that's true. Take a look at a Volvo bus the next time and compare it to a BEST bus.

I do not know if the Volvo bus has any emergency exit. The emergency exit does not seem to be located at the "usual" place. Maybe that's why the people got trapped - they thought the bus had to have an exit at the back. Maybe its time to do what is done in an aircraft flight - tell people about the various emergency exits at the start of the journey.