Japan, We stand by you..

One of the worst earthquakes and tsunamis seen in the history of mankind had struck Japan last Friday. When we witnessed the shake on TV, the world too shook. Japan, having suffered from the nuclear bomb during the world war, recovered but saw several earthquakes being in the earthquake prone zone. Every time, they learnt a lesson and developed better technologies to withstand earthquakes. Nature proved it is supreme. Shendai is worst hit in the whole episode. Thousands have lost their lives and million lost their homes.

This is a time when there is a need for the whole world to stand with them. Even in the heart breaking scenes, there were a few observations which did not escape my eyes. Within a few days, people of Tokyo had resumed their work. During calamity too, they used restraint and calm. Unlike many incidences in other places of the world, where, people go on stampede for getting food or medicines or fight among themselves or a few go on looting, there was discipline. Another striking thing was their media did not show gory scenes of dead bodies and body parts to create sympathy or cash on the calamity. Anywhere else, media would have done this. I have seen this in TVs including many Indian TV channels. I bow to you Japan. I am sure that you will raise up again. Japan, we stand by you.

In any calamity and untoward events, we are carried away by emotion. A little after thought will raise several issues. If such events recur, what we need to do? Can country like India can take it? The answer is clear that we are not fully prepared for this type of eventuality. This type of event can only be tackled by many expert groups. Government needs to gear up first. Medical and paramedical forces, several types of engineers, police, army, social workers, people to provide food, medicines, water, sanitation workers and the list will go on.

What is the role of civilians?  Civilians need to raise up for the occasion. Training in the areas of first aid, fire fighting, simple rescue methods, communication methods, etc., need to be taught at the school level itself. Involving the youngsters is important. There was a time, Red Cross was active in schools, now it becomes a mere formality. Homeguards were also seen on night patrol and now they are probably the endangered species. Now, we need to realize the importance for raising a Civilian Task Force, who can raise up for the occasion. Can the NGOs, think loud on this? How many altruist persons are ready to stand up for this cause?



  

Wishes to the women all over the world

Let me wish all the women around the world a "Happy Women's Day!". I would extend my wishes specially to those in the third world countries who are discriminated in the name of gender and oppressed. Even a country like India which boasts that we are already developed nation, has not done much to the underprivileged women. How can any mature person accept female infanticide or a dowry killing?

I know today there would have been quite a many celebrations across our country too. This is the 100th Anniversary which is worth celebrating. Probably many a women would have accused men for all these and cursed them too? I am not here to argue with them. What is the need of the day is more important to us. To be very frank, I do not want to spend much time praising Indra Nooyi or Kiran Mazumdar Shaw or Pratibha Patil, for they have achieved their heights and no one can stop them. I know, in our society there are many privileged women who can achieve great heights and they keep moving ahead and many women's clubs are filled with them. My concern is about the underprivileged and those who do not know what they can and should do.

Very often I see the girls in Biosciences sacrifice their studies for the sake of marriage. About 70% of biotech students are women but among them only about 5 to 10 %  take up a career in biosciences. This is not just a loss for the women but also for the country. It is a type of Brain Drain. All education and money spent on them just go waste. Who is to blame, the students, parents, companies who do not give opportunities or our society as a whole?

On this special day, while wishing all of you, I do wish to give a few advises to the young women. Do not think, that all men are deterrent to your progress. Men and women are just part of the big humanity and they need to go together holding hands to achieve great things for the humanity. Nor, you think that all women who talk big on stages and have organizations which boast to bring changes, are going to help you ( I do have respect for the truly working NGOs who changed the life of many). Probably the men who show true concerns are also your great friends. More than anything, do not expect any sympathy or concessions and someone to come and rescue from the clutches, which many times you had put it on yourself. 

Believe in yourself and never think that womanhood is a curse. Also women should know the truth that many a times an enemy for a woman is another woman. Mother-in-law Vs. Daughter-in-law stories still sell even on TV shows but very few times you would have come across Father-in-law Vs. Daughter-in-law feuds. Yesterday's daughter-in-law is today's Mother-in-law and today's daughter-in-law is tomorrow's mother-in-law. Problems are many times due to what the society thinks as right. Illiteracy, superstitions, false religious believes and chauvinism are the cause for the problem.

To my fellow men too I need to give a few advises. Do not think in the same way as our forefathers have thought regarding women. Do not hesitate to be a rebel in opposing dowry even if you need to fight your own family. At the same time, you need not look at a woman treating them like a weakling or who needs your sympathy, but treat them as your equal.

Let us not wait for a society that great leaders and poets like Subramanya Bharathi dreamt of, but help build it.

Geomarinebiotech: Tribute to Sir. C.V.Raman

Geomarinebiotech: Tribute to Sir. C.V.Raman: "Today we celebrate Science day in India, rightly so on the birthday of the only Indian who lived in India and won Nobel Prize for Science (P..."

Geomarinebiotech: A Tribute to Thomas Alva Edison

Geomarinebiotech: A Tribute to Thomas Alva Edison: "Today we remember Edison who of course does not celebrate his birthday but the world does. He was born on February 11, 1847 and thus it is 1..."

Tribute to Sir. C.V.Raman

Today we celebrate Science day in India, rightly so on the birthday of the only Indian who lived in India and won Nobel Prize for Science (Physics) unlike other Indians who went away from India and became citizens of another country before winning the prize.

His father was a lecturer of mathematics and Physics. Sir. Chandrasekara Venkata Raman, was born in Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu, India on 28th February, 1888. He studied his B.A. at Presidency College, Madras and won gold medal in physics for coming first. Later he obtained his M.A. Since jobs in science was not much those days he joined in Finance department. That did not stop him from his research and he spent his evening times in research in the lab of Association for the Cultivation of Science in Calcutta.

In 1917, he was offered professorship in Calcutta University in the department of Physics. He worked there for 15 years. He was elected to the Royal Society of London in 1924 and British government knighted him in 1929.

During his voyage to Europe, he was intrigued by the color of the sea which led him to discover the so called Raman Effect is a history many knows. In 1934 he was offered Directorship of the famous Indian Institute of Science, then known as Tata Institute. I remember when I was young I visited this institute several times. First time, when I went, I enquired many about IISc and to my surprise many answered in negative. Even when I expanded IISc, still it made no difference. Later a man explained that I should ask for "Tata Institute".

What makes a scientist if one asks, one answer could be the person's passion and the equally important one would be the keen observation. It is said when at 16 itself working with a Spectrometer in his college he observed a few diffraction rays and went on to publish his first paper. Therefore, I request the young researchers not to just look for what they are supposed to or asked to, but to go looking for unexpected things. His works were in many subjects such as acoustics, quantum property of photons, molecular scattering of X-rays, optics of colloids and physiology of vision.

Another important fact I would like to tell my young friends is, it is not very important to have great sophisticated instruments to work great things but work great things with even simple gadgets. It should be noted that even today we can construct a spectrometer with a few thousands of Rupees. It is with such simple instrument, he worked and discovered Raman Effect. For a genius, anything will become an instrument of research.

After his retirement from IISc, he established Raman Institute in 1949 where he worked till his death on November 21st, 1970. When I was yet a school boy, this news was broken to me by my father. This was one of the many inspirations for me in my career in science. It might seem crazy now, but this led me to talk of winning Nobel Prize in those childhood days. This of course made me look like a fool among my childhood friends.

Now as a mature person I know,  a scientist does not work for a Nobel Prize but it is a recognition that comes later for the contribution of great people.

This Science Day, we should remember great Indian Scientists such as him. Not just to stop at that but, to learn how we need to motivate our youngsters in science and also get motivated in doing things which will bring accolades to our Nation.

Once while addressing the youngsters he said:

"I would like to tell the young men and women before me not to lose hope and courage.  Success can only come to you by courageous devotion to the task lying in front of you and there is nothing worth in this world that can come without the sweat of our brow. I can assert without fear of contradiction that the quality of the Indian mind is equal to the quality of any Teutonic, Nordic or Anglo-Saxon mind.  What we lack is perhaps courage, what we lack is perhaps driving force which takes one anywhere. We have, I think, developed an inferiority complex. I think what is needed in India today is the destruction of that defeatist spirit. We need a spirit of victory, a spirit that will carry us to our rightful place under the sun, a spirit which will recognize that we, as inheritors of a proud civilization, are entitled to a rightful place on this planet. If that indomitable spirit were to arise, nothing can hold us from achieving our rightful destiny."

I bow my head to you, the great man on your birthday. I take this opportunity to invite youngsters who have great interest in science to do things that make our country proud and to uplift the lives of millions across the world through inventions and innovations. Please do write about your views or share your ideas here.

Geomarinebiotech: A Tribute to Thomas Alva Edison

Geomarinebiotech: A Tribute to Thomas Alva Edison: "Today we remember Edison who of course does not celebrate his birthday but the world does. He was born on February 11, 1847 and thus it is 1..."

A Tribute to Thomas Alva Edison

Today we remember Edison who of course does not celebrate his birthday but the world does. He was born on February 11, 1847 and thus it is 164th birthday. He had only 3 months formal education but rose up to a level that the history of science remembers. He had 1093 US patents besides many in UK, France and Germany. He started as a Newspaper boy. Who would have thought of hiring an old train coach to carry out scientific experiments at that age other than Edison? From there he rose up to become an entrepreneur who had many companies too including the present General Electricals. He is really qualified to be called an innovator because he knew how his inventions could be made into money. His invention of electric bulb, phonograph and kinetograph which is the forerunner of cinema are well known. However, he had laid his hands on many more such as fluorography, electric railway, etc. The interesting work in biology is he tried extraction of rubber from herbs and other small plants which yielded smaller amount of rubber. He has a patent on this too. though he did not succeed in finding a better substitute for rubber, his work did give an idea for people where not to look. After all he once said "If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward. Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless".

I had got inspiration from many scientists life in my childhood and Edison was one of them. I advise the youngsters who aspire to become an inventor should also know "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration" as Edison put it.

He has lighted up many people's life whether they knew him or not. Life is all about achieving and however small one's contribution is, if it makes some one happy and better placed in life, it is our happy moment. Let us all get inspiration from his life and achievements.

Dr.T.Charles John Bhaskar
Scientist & Social Activist