Blogs

I feel happy about the big old man - the man - RMS - Richard M Stallman. I feel happy that I am born in times when he was there.

Here is what Ankita, a volunteer of Sankalp had to say on the event of 7th Anniversary of Sankalp.

Many economists, leaders and intellectuals of today believe that the development rate India being close to 9% is a curse for India. They are partially right in saying so as their concern is the 'have-nots' of the nation who neither neither contribute nor benefit from our spiraling GDP. Life for these people becomes difficult day bay day. These people have strong concern for equality. But believing that high GDP is a curse, the right thing?

Many of my friends claimed that the revolution in Egypt was a Facebook or Twitter revolution. This belief has spread so far that many Indians have notched up their participation on social networking sites in hopes of revolution (revolution who?) Well, as a matter of fact, 17% of Egyptians have internet access which was severely blocked during the revolution. Egyptian revolution was 'not' a social media-inspired revolution.

Kumar Gandharva, Basavaraj Rajguru, Puttaraj Gawai, Mallikarjuna Mansur, Gangubai Hanagal, Bhimsen Joshi, Venkatesh Kumar... The list of musical supremos from Dharwad is endless. But how did Dharwad, a small poor man's town in Karnataka become the hub of Hindustani and Carnatic music?

Recently a friend complained that the sky looked pink to her in even at 10 in the night. Reddish sky in the evening is a common phenomenon due to refraction of sunlight, which I can understand. But I couldn't understand why at late in the night the sky looked pink? I Googled and the results depressed me.

Father of medicine, Sushruta was born near Bihar. In an era when the world didn't know a bit about medicine, Indian sages were masters of ayurveda. Sushrata was the first man to practice surgery, rhinoplasty or nose job, and cataract surgery.

Mathematics today owes its existence to the discovery of zero. For the purpose of calculation, it needed a short symbol. India for ages has denoted this number 'sunya' by both a dot (.) and a small circle (o). Let's look back at the journey of this magic number- the number that represents absence when placed independently, and fullness when placed among other numbers!

Ever wondered why Jantar-Mantar is named so? Jantar means "instrument", and Mantar means "formula", or in this context- "calculation". Therefore Jantar-Mantar means 'calculation instruments'. These astronomical wonders are age old observatories and have scientific as well as religious significance, since ancient Indian astronomers were also Jyotisa masters. The instruments in Jantar Mantar are the pride of our nation and a must know for every engineer!

Have you ever wondered why Indian astronomy consists of Navagrahas which has many differences with the western classification of 9 planets? Indians consider 5 nearest planets to Earth, along with Soorya (Sun), Chandra (Moon), Rahu and Ketu as the 9 grahas. Earth is not considered as a graha. Did you ever discard this theory without going into the roots of it? Here is the answer to all your questions.

There is no doubt on the fact that Bihar is moving forward. The promise and expectation of good governance has aroused the native entrepreneurial instinct. Although Nitish Kumar's government has a long way to go, it has shown positive signs. The signs of awakening in Bihar should ideally, ripple developmental activities in the rest of eastern India, particularly in West Bengal and Jharkhand.

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.