Ramayana through the Jain lens

 

Like me, most of our generation has grown knowing Ramayana through the directorial efforts of Ramanand Sagar.  With further learning, we came to know that it was based out of Valmiki’s Ramayana. India has been a mystical country particularly in the domain of scriptures. With further learning we come to know that we do have many Ramayanas. Noted author, A K Ramanujam in his celebrated book, “Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translations” goes on to claim that we do have atleast three hundred Ramayanas written in various Indian languages and written over different periods of time. Among many, we do have “Paumacariya Ramayana” written by Jain monk Vimalasuri. This is one of the seventeen different Jain Ramayanas available for perusal. Though it is written in Prakrit language, the Sanskrit name for this text is Padmacharita referring to the “Life of Rama”. Lord Rama is mostly described as Padma in Jain literature alluding to the fact that his eyes were beautiful as lotus petals and hence his face was similar to a full-bloomed lotus flower.

Before we delve further into Paumacariya Ramayana, it is essential to show the right place of Rama in Jain thoughts. According to Jainism, there are sixty-three eminent people and they are twenty-four Tirthankaras, twelve Chakravartis, nine Balabhadras, nine Vasudevas and nine Prativasudevas. Rama is one Balabhadra, Lakshmaan is one Vasudeva and Ravana is one Prativasudeva. It is to be noted out here that each of the Balabhadra will have a step-brother in Vasudeva; both of them would be inseparable and there would be an anti-hero in the form of Pratisudeva. Each of the pair of Balabhadra and Vasudeva would rule half of the area of a Chakravarti. One such triad is Rama, Lakshmaan and Ravana.

Some of the stark differences that are observed in Paumacariya Ramayana in comparison to Valmiki Ramayana are as follows:

1 Ravana is described as a pious, handsome and just ruler who was busy in austerities. His only weakness was that of Sita. The clan of Rakshasas are mentioned to be highly civilised with super-natural qualities and Ravana was their king belonging to the lineage of Meghavahanas. This finds proof in the inscriptions of King Kharavela in modern day’s Odisha.

2 Sita is born naturally to Janaka and Videha unlike the Earth and farming linkage. She also has a twin brother namely Bhamandala.

3 Kaikeyi is shown as a sympathetic mother who asks for Bharat’s coronation as she was afraid that Bharat would become Jain monk renouncing the princely world. Rama voluntarily chose to go to exile as he knew very well that Bharat would not accept the throne when Rama was around.

4 It was Lakshmaan who killed Ravana and not Rama.

5 There is no reference of golden deer to trap Sita. Instead, we do have Lakshmaan’s voice being used by Ravana to distract Sita.

These are some of the minor differences. But this Jain Ramayana is rooted with Jain values and morality. The tale is too divergent from the Valmiki’s version. The last statement stems from the very fact that Paumacariya showcases all its characters as human beings rather than divine characters.

WhatsApp and AC

 Being in the service line gives me enough insights into people's minds through conversations. Two things have been intriguing me. I am no psychologist and hence my inference may be wrong but I do have a strong hunch that my logic and fear are not out of place.

1 Lack of patience

I observe the growing lack of impatience among common people. They are impatient while standing in a queue, executing a banking transaction, expecting delivery of an online good ordered, waiting in any & every service point and in many more circumstances where a wait is expected. To a large extent, I believe that WhatsApp is the villian. My logic emanates from the simple fact that people have grown used to videos / data points / messages being delivered in a matter of few milli-seconds even across thousands of miles. Besides, it is widely used as a communication mode across all strata of population and no WhatsApp user uses it in a limited manner. One must realise that every service cannot be executed at the pace of WhatsApp delivery. I am worried that incremental impatience might affect the health, inhibit thinking, curtail research and Improve chances of a fracas in the environment.

2 My world

We are used to AC environments in offices, houses, travel modes and other points of engagements. The prevalence of AC usage is also increasing. A simple thing which accompanies the usage of AC is the closing of the doors, windows and other outlets. Excessive usage of AC may have an effect on developing a closed mind and limiting of thoughts. We may be developing a penchant for a feeling that me and my family / surroundings are well placed and this is my world. Nature however has well placed mechanisms around inter-connectedness. My well-being is a function of the wellness of all around me; this thought, I am afraid is reducing in its strength. Not thinking about others may bring in aligned problems in the society over a period of time.

Stay humble

 If God has given you more than you deserve, please be grateful for that and not indulge in showing off the wealth or insulting / humiliating others!

F1 beckons: Drive to Survive

 Drive to Survive is a series on Formula 1 racing; the people behind it, the behind-scene takes, the actions around it, the trophies, the money and tonnes of learnings for ordinary mortals. 

 

Season 1, Episode 1 starts with Daniel Riccardio, the Australian F1 champion. It shows the killer instinct, the desire to win, the actual man and the victories. It takes a peek into his childhood, the earliest strains of being a world champion, his struggles of leaving home young for the race circuitry.   

 

Inspirational Dialogue (ID) 1: “I do believe I can be world champion”; this statement says it all that I can, you can and everybody can for which you ought own the thought of “I can”. 

Infact, he starts with a handicap even in his home country (Australian Grand Prix 2018) as the top 3 contenders for the same are all non-Australian, still! The names against whom he was competing were Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes and Sebastian Vettel with Ferrari. 

 

It mentions the budgets involved in each race; whereas the big ones like Mercedes and Ferrari have budgets in billions, the other ones are not at all that lucky. It differentiates the smaller Hess F1 team from the biggies. 

 

ID 2: “You just gotta keep trying and trying and a lot of success in racing comes down to just being stubborn”. Its not the budgetary support that matters, it’s the individual strife. 

 

ID 3: “In a small team, we have less parts, less stuff. We need to do more with less”. It is easy to have a blame and sit tight holding on to it.  

 

ID4: “We are the underdogs. We are new in here. But, for sure, we’re not here just to make the numbers up. We are here to compete”. What visible strength and grit! 

 

We see peeks of the practice sessions before the final day of race; the accidents and some briefs of the racing history of this Prix.  

 

Another key point is the pedigree of the racing teams. While Mercedes and Ferrari are from the car world, Red Bull Team is a subsidiary of a company into energy drink, nowhere close to the business of cars and racing. 

 

ID5:”I wanna win, because its what I believe I can do and I have worked all these years to do it. So, no one’s gonna put more pressure on me than myself”. What a statement coming directly from the going-to-be world champion. 

 

We are told about the immense pressure that the drivers are under for qualifying. The aspirants must be string and not afraid of death. Drivers narrate their feelings of driving. 

 

ID6:”Everybody told us we will fail. But Gene (owner) supported me all the way and has put a lot of faith in me and failing in doing this is not an option.” This statement speaks volumes of the important of the leader and the way he handles his Team.  

 

Finally, we have the D Day where 21 cars arrive to test themselves. The tension builds up and we see management of tension and distractions. We also sneak into the thoughts of death raising in the minds of Daniel’s parents. That’s probably the importance of families. We might fight for money, position, toys and wealth but for our families, we are just a family member. 

 

We also see both the driver of Hess F1 Team come out of racing because of faults in their respective cars.  

ID7:”Its easy in my position to blame somebody, but then in the end, the buck stops with me.” What a powerful thought coming from the manager of the Team. It speaks volumes on leadership and the trait which is difficult to find.  

 

Being the fast things that they are, things change very fast’ one knows the starting point but no one knows where one will finish. 

 

If one episode was this much, then there are lots in store in the forthcoming episodes. 

Satyajit Ray through the mind of Professor Shonku!

The world celebrates the Indian genius and the mind of Satyajit Ray on his centenary birthday. We know him as a film maker who was meticulous and who toyed with every aspect of film making. He was a great story teller too; a trait which was in his genes.

What intrigues me of such legends is the vision and the depth to which they can go in seeing the future. A very strong character of Ray namely Professor Shonku was a scientist who toyed with many aspects of science. Infact the versatility of Ray was echoed in this character. This person encompassed AI, genealogy, pharmacology, metallurgy, electronics, virology and alchemy among other fields of science. He also uses collaboration with fellow scientists which was hitherto unknown in India atleast to a scientist based out of a remote town called Giridih in Bihar and that too in mid 1960s.

Some of the creations and objects identified with Professor Shonku are enumerated below. Serious readers of Ray can add many more. Am sure, you would realize how far was Ray from his times.

• Air-conditioning pill – A capsule to be kept in shirt pocket that keeps the body temperature normal in extremes of climate.

• Annihillin – A pistol capable of annihilating (vanishing or vapourizing) anything that is living, invented because he does not like bloodshed.

• Artificial Diamond - Created along with Krol and Siddique following the process of Nefrudet.

• Bidhusekhar – A mechanical man (robot) with AI built with very cheap materials, programmed to answer any question asked to it.

• Botica Indica – A pill made from sap of Banyan tree to ward off need of food and water for 24 hours.

• Carbothin Fabric – A fabric which is non-conductor of electricity and saves from electrical shocks.

• Camerapid – Instant color photographs after snap.

• Ceribrilliant – Medicine to make brain function better way.

• Compu – A computer brain with 10 crore delicate circuit in it. Designed by Shonku along with Matsue, Dr. John Kenseli, Dr. Stephen Merivel, Dr.Stavs, Dr. Ugatti, Prof. Sttraton, Prof. Kutna, Prof. Markus Wingfield (as a replacement of S.Merivel) and the workers of Namura Institute of Japan, which later develops AI via an accident.

• Compudium – Short for Computerized Medium, a device to contact departed souls.

• EA (A small specimen of all evolution forms of human)

• Electric pistol – A pistol to fire 400 volts electricity.

• Evolutin – A drug that makes people evolve 10 thousand years in 5 minutes.

• Fishpill – Space food for cats.

• Intellectron – A device to measure intelligence.

• Linguagraph – A device that translates any earth language to any other. The translation capability is supposed to include animal languages, and works on cats, plants, ants and even viruses too.

• Luminimax – A small ball to give light of 200 watt power when ignited.

• Marjarin – Medicine for increasing life span of cats.

• Mangorange fruit – A delicious and nutritious variety of hybrid of Mango and Orange, it earned him a doctorate from Swedish academy of sciences.

• Miracurall – A drug that cures any ailment, the name is a short form of “Miracle Cure for All Ailments”.

• Neo-Spectroscope – A device to contact departed souls. Almost similar to Compudium.

• Nervigour – A tonic to steady nervous system.

• Omniscope – A combination of telescope, microscope and X-ray-scope which looks like and can be worn as spectacles.

• Ornithon – A device to educate birds. Professor Shonku was able to "educate" a crow named Corvus using this device.

• Oximore powder – Powder to help intake of Oxygen at higher altitudes.

• Pill for Nightmare – Causes sleep and makes the taker have terrible nightmares.

• Rocket – A rocket for space adventures.

• Tiraniam Phosphate – A very strong and dangerous acid.

• RememBrain – A device that makes people remember the things they forgot.

• Trishnasok – A thirst quencher pill.

• Turbolin – A sandal-scented fuel for Shonkoplane.

• Microsonograph - Machine to hear subsonic sounds and speeches.

• Shankoplane – A small hovercraft created using anti-gravity technology, capable of vertical take-off and landing and magnificent mileage.

• Shankovite – The anti-gravity alloy by which Shankoplane was made.

• Shonku – Frankenstein Formula – Along with other scientists, Shonku invented to bring back the dead to life without changing their brains.

• X and anti X – Drug to change nature of both human and animals.

One can only bow in reverence!

Staying positive in this negative world

 

There is a huge quantity of negativity around each one of us. No one has any clue till what time this pandemic shall continue. The media, social networking, society charlatans; many of them are throwing high-decibel dialogues, spinning negative stories and predicting doom. Whats more, its taking a toll on each one of us in terms of health, stress, and loudness of our dialogues. Thus, it becomes essential that we need to stay alert; some uncanny ideas can help

 

a. When was the last time you wrote a letter and had it posted. Trust me, it is difficult to write a letter; one needs to have an aligned mind and the soul to scribble the same. Do go the difficult way to seal it, affix postage stamps and send it. You have no idea, how happy the recipient shall also be.

 

b. Try teaching the kid a new thing every day (atleast as many days). It could be doing algebra together, doing a painting together, sharing a story which you might have read on your i-phone as a forward, a new word picked up from the mail of your company’s Chief Economist, teaching the origins of simple words, scribbling a limerick together et al.. You might be your company MD’s blue-eyed boy, but it’s difficult to pick up new things.

 

c. Share as many positive things with your Whatsapp and social media friends. Suggestive things in this regard are music and inspiring speeches.

 

d. De clutter, delete and remove any negative things that come your way vide mails, Whatsapp forwards and social platforms.

 

e. Compulsory reading vide physical books is another suggestion. This will not only make you calmer but also ensure all around see that you are positively engaged. You may choose Kindle because that it indicates you reading. However, please refrain from reading on your slate or tablet as others may confuse it with browsing. Trust me, a regular silent reading time has a wonderful effect on the kids; it’s a very good thing for them to imbibe. You may update your progress in www.goodreads.com, a site for bibliophiles.

A pointer attached to it: Book shelves make good background too for selfies and normal frames.

 

f. Pickup as many new things; it could be rangoli making, a blog on daily things, descriptive conversations instead of customary wishes to the recipients, detailed comments on photographs on fb / insta et al..

 

g. List out all people who have been part of your personal and professional lives and thank them profusely for enriching your persona over the years or decades. You could reach out to them by telephone, over mail, over letter; if you are shy mentioning the gratitude, you can just ask their well being. The fact that you are remembering them will do the magic.  

 

h. While you are into writing or commenting, it is basically a focused assembly of thoughts. If you deem fit, you can extend it further to a book, an academic journal publication or an article for a newspaper. I am game for any partnership.

 

I am not competent to get into suggestions around health and diet; so, will not venture into that space. Each of these are being practiced by me and I am terribly engaged. Hope you reap the benefit too.

Tomorrow in history @ 15 Jun

What a day @ 15 Jun

People who graced the earth this day: Indian actor & singer, Suraiya, activist &  Gandhian Anna Hazare, steel baron Lakshmi Mittal, Friend’s star Courtney Cox, Chinese politician Xi Jinping, apparent human behind Mona Lisa, Lisa La Gioconda, among others.

Stephen Hawking laid to rest between Darwin and Newton in Westminister in 2018, Ronaldo scores a hatrick in Portugal vs Spain World Cup Football in the same year, “Lagaan” premiered in 2001, “Lion King” premiered in 1994, the first “Operation Alert”, an attempt to assess USA’s readiness for nuclear war starts in 1955, Don Bradman got out for a duck in his last innings of Ashes Series in 1948, Ford manufactured its 10 millionth unit in 1924, Boeing’s first product Boieng I flies for the first time in 1916, Tabulating Computing Recording Corporation (later IBM) was incorporated in 1911, Mary Mallon famous as “Typhoid Mary” officially declared the first typhoid patient in 1907, world’s first moving picture attempted by using 12 cameras in 1878 by Eadweard Muybridge, Charles Goodyear patented vulcanization of rubber in 1844, Magna Carta signed in 1215.

So many important things, what a day, what a day!

We don't use our clothes long enough, and that is contributing to global warming.

Clothing sales have been increasing faster than world GDP. In 2015, 100 billion garments were sold worldwide, as against 50 billion in 2000. But as prices have fallen, we don't wear each garment as many times as we used to. This has created mountains of waste clothing. About 73% of discarded garments are either landfilled or burnt. Since 63% of the raw material for clothing is derived from petroleum, millions of tonnes of petroleum is wasted every year. While the industry is trying to remedy the situation with increased recycling and newer fibres that last longer, you can make a difference by using each article of clothing a few more times.

From a TOI piece!

Fear of misplaced bookmarks...

There is a fear of removal of the bookmark from the currently read book by the lil' one. To tide over this, I have to remember the page number when I close the book. At times, I used to remember and at times I used to forget.

Now I have started a new practice of associating the page with the roll numbers of my academic friends. In todays' world its difficult maintaining contact but I found this unique way of connecting with old pals atleast in my thoughts. Thats a different story that I have started dialing new numbers after decades; much to the pleasant surprise of the other party.   

Double movie...

It was "First Man" for Sambhab and myself. For the other two it was "Badhai Ho".

Piece from Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

Throughout history, most gods were believed to enjoy not omnipotence but rather specific super-abilities such as the ability to design and create living beings; to transform their own bodies; to control the environment and the weather; to read minds and to communicate at a distance; to travel at very high speeds; and ofcourse to escape death and live indefinitely.  Humans are in the business of acquiring all these abilities, and then some. Certain traditional abilities that were considered divine for many millennia have today become so common place that we hardly think about them. The average person now moves and communicates across distances more than the Greek, Hindu or African gods of old.

From Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

Samis...

a. Average temperature being -40°C around. At night, the temperature could fall 50°C in just 30 mts.

b. Snow all around; most part being soft snow which makes walking through the same very difficult. At some points,  the snow could be of chest height of the common man.

d. Walking without any load could burn as high as 1000 calories in a hour.

e. The land is full of rivers, tributaries and rivulets. Even the next step cannot be predicted whether it would land in water or not.

f. The only animal found in plenty is reindeer; they remain in herds of hundreds.

g. The stay is usually in snow houses called lavvu. This is based on a frame created through birch tree branches. It is conical in design with a place for fire at the centre.

h. There is always a fear of wold animals namely wolverine and lynx.

i. Lichens are consumed by locals and guests. This contains 80% carbohydrates and is the staple diet of reindeers and humans.

j. The other favourite food are Artic game birds like ptarmigan. These love birch twigs and simple hand made wire traps are placed to catch them.

k. The technique for making fire there has not changed for thousand of years. Birch bark is sheared into as thin strips and then struck through shapely rocks. Once these strips catch fire, leaves, twigs and wood ate placed on it.

So much for being a Sami, a tribe which has been the same, seen the same environment and lived the same life for the past 10000 years. To visit them you require either Swedish or Finnish visa.

Anyone interested to say hello to them?

Book Review : : Eleventh Hour by Zaidi Hussain

Amazing book; absolutely un-put-down-able till one completes the same. The thrill is there in every page and every chapter. The same can become a great movie. The author has taken meticulous care of abridging true facts. His command over the Indian system and administration is appreciation-worthy.

Life goes a full Circle!

As I enter the movie hall to be with my son for seeing Jurassic World, my mind goes 25 years back when my father has taken me to show Jurassic Park at Deepak Talkies, Rourkela.

Life goes a full Circle!

Learnings from a driver @ Darjeeling

It would have been a normal drive of 3 hours in a SUV had it not been for the driver who kept 4 supposedly educated, professionals from metros engaged with his conversations. The verbal association included wise sayings, sharing of elite associations, life-changing experiences gained through travails and some unique perspectives of life in general and hill-life in particular. Some pearls of wisdom, some known, some fundamental, yet simple were thrown in. Each one of them demanding a public mention as an acknowledgement of the wisdom and a deep sense of my personal regards for the driver named Raj Rai (atleast that's what he called himself). Some excerpts:

a. A colleague casually mentioned: "Your Darjeeling is clean and good". Pat came the interjection that the town was as much his as much of all others. It was one Gandhi's nation, he commented.

We were all taken aback but we had some more coming up.

b. Its common to pass through clouds as one meanders through to the hilly roads. These clouds which one sees, possess some uniqueness. Though it might seem gloomy with no imminent chance of rain at the spot, it shall cause rainfall sonewhere else.

c. A gang of seemingly worshippers passed us ganged up in mini buses. From the signs we could make out that they were headed towards Ghum monastery. We were told that this is the typical practice in the hills to join together in a group prayer before the onstart of agriculture.

That was all right till the time we heard the next sentence coming in. In hills, people just do not pray for themselves but they pray for the welfare of all around. This was the primary reason of the colourful masts on the roofs of many houses.

d. A question was posed to him regarding ghosts (actually in Hindi, bhoot). The dimensions he gave to this otherwise ordinary question was unique:

1. Bhoot in Hindi also refers to past and hence they have nothing to with the present and
2. Nowadays, with the age being kal-yug, there are more ghosts of live people one has to actually bother about & deal with and hence these poor spirits do not get the attention.

e. All teas coming from Darjeeling are the same since they grow with the same sunlight, get the same air, are placed under the same temperature and they draw nutrients from the same soil. Hence the output (first leaves,  quality of buds et al) is almost similar. It is the marketing which decides the range of rates that are visible in the market.

f. Films are deceptive: theses  dialogue came when the point of Darjeeling being a film location was brought up. Basis his experience of handling (read driving from airport and local touring) actors, it came out that he saw them being mere puppets in the hands of directors and producers though onscreen we get to see them as demigods.  This revelation shook him so much that he decided not to see any movies.

g. By virtue of his job,  he gets to see and handle tourists from all across the country. Regarding tourism of Darjeeling,  he had one proud comment: I have seen people coming here but I have never seen people of Darjeeling going anywhere. Profund!

All these during the 3 hours journey from Darjeeling to Bagdogra. Have always believed that sources of learning / wisdom can be anyone and everywhere; probably today, he was destined to be the spark for me.

Billionaires galore...

Was going through an old issue of ET Panache (dated 18-Apr. 2018) today. It spoke of an article on billionaires (by USD) terms; the article pegged the figure at 2208. The article did not mention the date of the statistics but what kept me wondering was the following:

a. Wow, there is so much money around with so many guys and I do not know more than 10 of them. Infact the list of my acquaintances (not relatives) whom I admire and are famous are not billionaires.

b. If someone could advice atleast 10% of them to keep a billion and donate the rest to their respective governments. I know that poverty and issues related to human kinds are not country specific.

Milestone day for me...

Courtsey my Central Office posting and the well wishes & support of seniors and colleagues, I managed to have an audience of 1 hr 20 mts with the MD, DMD, one President, one GE and the Strategic Head of the bank.

It may seem normal to many but for a lad of Rourkela with modest beginnings, it is a milestone.

Today in history @ 12 Mar

Famous birthdays

a. German physicist Gustav Kirchoff (b. 1824). contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects. He coined the term black-body radiation in 1862, and at least two different sets of concepts are named "Kirchhoff's laws" after him. The Bunsen–Kirchhoff Award for spectroscopy is named after him and his colleague, Robert Bunsen.

b. Famous Indian playback singer Shreya Ghoshal (b. 1984). She has received four National Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards including five for Best Female Playback Singer, nine Filmfare Awards South, three Kerala State Film Awards, two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and many other awards. 

c. Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat Gianni Agnelli (b. 1921). As the head of Fiat, he controlled 4.4% of Italy's GDP, 3.1% of its industrial workforce and 16.5% of its industrial investment in research. He was the richest man in modern Italian history.

d.  Russian, Ukrainian and Soviet mineralogist and geochemist who is considered one of the founders of geochemistry, biogeochemistry, and radiogeology Vladimir Vernadsky (b. 1863).

e.  First Chief Minister of Maharashtra after the division of Bombay State and the fifth Deputy Prime Minister of India Yashwantrao Chavan (b. 1913). He advocated social democracy in his speeches and articles and was instrumental in establishing co-operatives in Maharashtra for the betterment of the farmers.

Famous death anniversaries

a. German-born diarist Anne Frank (d. 15-Feb. or 15-Mar 1945 aged 15). One of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust, she gained fame posthumously with the publication of The Diary of a Young Girl (originally Het Achterhuis; English: The Secret Annex), in which she documents her life in hiding from 1942 to 1944, during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. It is one of the world's most widely known books and has been the basis for several plays and films.

b. American-born violinist and conductor Menuhin Yehudi (d. 1999). He had one of the longest and most distinguished careers of any violinist of the 20th century. Throughout the last twenty years of his life, Yehudi Menuhin continued to engage in every aspect of musical work. As a performer, a conductor, a teacher, and a spokesperson, he spent his seventies and eighties as one of the most active musicians in the world. He was a constant contributor to religious, social, and environmental organizations throughout the world.  

c. German industrialist, engineer and inventor Robert Bosch (d. 1952). He is the founder of Robert Bosch GmbH (world's largest supplier of automotive components measured by 2011 revenues).

d. American entrepreneur and engineer George Westinghouse Jr. (d. 1914).  He invented the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, gaining his first patent at the age of 19. 

e. Serbian American physicist and physical chemist Mihajlo Pupin (d. 1935). is best known for his numerous patents, including a means of greatly extending the range of long-distance telephone communication by placing loading coils (of wire) at predetermined intervals along the transmitting wire (known as "pupinization"). Pupin was a founding member of National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) on 3 March 1915, which later became NASA.[5] In 1924, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his autobiography.

f. Swiss mathematician Johann Jakob Balmer (d. 1898). He discovered a formula basic to the development of atomic theory. In 1885 Balmer announced a simple formula representing the wavelengths of the spectral lines of hydrogen - the Balmer series.

Famous events of the day

a. 1894 Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

b. 2011 A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant melts and explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after Japan's earthquake.

St. Andrew's Church, Bandra @ 18-Feb. 2018

Takes of a different kind @ from the land of the dead!

It was a different experience altogether today. The trip was to St. Andrews Church at Bandra. What struck me more than the features of the 402 year old holy place was the graveyard attached to it.

Flowers had a significance & importance different from what we normally know them for. All types of collection were there; there were silly handmade nosegays, elaborate bouquets, the large wreaths, there were garlands and there were single roses too all around the place. Probably because of Sunday, the quantities were large. Some of them were accompanied by candles (some were white and some were of red wax, some burning and some burnt).

There was an eerie silence in the air. The serenity disturbed only by the visit by the near-and-dear ones. Some strolled to the place where their acquaintances were buried and went back after making a silent prayers, placing flower(s), lighting a candle (or a combination of these activities) and taking a bow. While some others chose to stroll through the entire open space like us.

The remembrances section had its own importance. Imagine thousands of names of those who have long departed have nothing to claim on this Earth but for a 1 ½ ft by 3 ft. space with their names engraved / carved out on them. Some seemed to be neglected (read: not many remembered them) as was evident from the quality of their etchings while some seemed to have been remembered regularly who also took the pains of taking the pains of ensuring the names are clearly visible by any onlooker.

There was a family section (reserved in advance by the family), a normal section and there was one which had infants. With passage of time, the space is getting limited with each passing day. Interspersed among them were the graves of some of the ex-priests of the same Church. Needless to say, because of the 4 centuries of age, we had death days well spread throughout the last few centuries.

Felt bad trampling on the graves with names written on them; but could not help despite the best of our abilities because of the proximities of the same. Even the entrance area to the Church is also cluttered with many a names.

Today in history @ 14 Feb

Famous birthdays

a. Japanese inventor and industrialist Sakichi Toyoda (b. 1867). The son of a poor carpenter, Toyoda is referred to as the "King of Japanese Inventors". He invented numerous weaving devices. His most famous invention was the automatic power loom in which he implemented the principle of Jidoka (autonomous automation). The principle of Jidoka, which means that the machine stops itself when a problem occurs, became later a part of the Toyota Production System.

He is the founder of Toyota Industries Corporation.

b. Indian film actress Madhubala (born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi, b. 1933). She is also considered to be one of the most beautiful actresses to have worked in the industry, and is highly regarded as "The Venus of Indian Cinema" and "The Beauty with Tragedy”.

c. Leading industrialist Sir Biren Mookherjee (b. 1899). He established the steel making facilities at IISCO, Burnpur 

d. American businessman, author, politician, and philanthropist Michael Bloomberg (b. 1942). Bloomberg is the founder, CEO, and owner of Bloomberg L.P., a global financial services, mass media, and software company that bears his name, and is notable for its Bloomberg Terminal, a computer software system providing financial data widely used in the global financial services industry. 

e. British businessman Sir Martin Stuart Sorrell (b. 1945). He is the CEO of WPP.

f. American economist Eugene Fama (b. 1939). He is widely recognized as the "father of modern finance” and is best known for his empirical work on portfolio theory, asset pricing and the ‘Efficient Market hypothesis’. He is the 2013 Nobel laureate in economic sciences.

g. German born mathematician Edmund Landau (b. 1877). He worked in the fields of number theory and complex analysis. Landau studied mathematics at the University of Berlin, receiving his doctorate in 1899 (aged 22) and his habilitation (the post-doctoral qualification required in German universities) in 1901 (aged 24). His doctoral thesis was 14 pages long.

h. American inventor Christopher Latham Sholes (b. 1819). He co-invented the QWERTY keyboard

Famous death anniversaries

a. British explorer, navigator, cartographer James Cook (d. 1779). Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.

b. English author and one of the most widely-read humorists of the 20th century Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (d. 1975). He wrote more than 90 books and more than 20 film scripts and collaborated on more than 30 plays and musical comedies.

c. Italian-American mobster Vito "Don Vitone" Genovese (d. 1969). He was known as Boss of all Bosses from 1957 to 1959 when he ruled one of the most powerful, richest and dangerous criminal organizations in the world and maintained power and influence over other crime families in America.

The Genovese crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the Mafia (or Cosa Nostra). The Genovese crime family has been nicknamed the "Ivy League" and "Rolls Royce" of organized crime. 

d. British evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, and internationalist Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (d. 1975). He was a proponent of natural selection. He was secretary of the Zoological Society of London (1935–1942), the first Director of UNESCO, a founding member of the World Wildlife Fund and the first President of the British Humanist Association.

e. Leading American ornithologist James Bond (d. 1989). He was an expert on the birds of the Caribbean. His name was appropriated by writer Ian Fleming for his fictional British spy of the same name.

f. American physicist and radio engineer Karl Guthe Jansky (d. 1950). He first discovered radio waves emanating from the Milky Way in August 1931. He is considered one of the founding figures of radio astronomy.

g. British machine tool innovator, tool and die maker, and inventor Henry Maudslay (d. 1831). He invented machines of fundamental importance to the Industrial Revolution; of these the metal lathe is perhaps the most outstanding. He also invented methods for printing calico cloth and for desalting seawater for ships’ boilers, and he perfected a measuring machine that was accurate to 0.0001 inch. He was the first to realize the critical importance in a machine shop of accurate plane surfaces for guiding the tools; he produced for his workmen standard planes so smooth that they adhered when placed atop each other and could be separated only by sliding. 

Famous events

a. 1924 Thomas J. Watson renames the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) as International Business Machines (IBM).

b. The Knesset (Israeli Parliament) was established in 1949.

c. 1989 Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini issues a fatwa calling for the death of Salman Rushdie and his publishers due to his novel "Satanic Verses". A bounty was also place on his head.

d. Youtube founded in 2005.