Water on Mars

News of water being available on the Planet Mars has excited the world. From all the photographs sent from Mars’s robotic and reconnaissance missions it was felt for years that the finger like and stream like patterns observed on rocky surfaces one day would lead to a conclusive evidence.
This would mean that there could be life in the form of micro organisms which stirs up scientific emotions to the fact that man can inhabit Mars albeit the composition of gases or the gravity or atmosphere. That life can be inhabited under a whole set of parameters different than those on Earth is something to contemplate.
So who can inhabit. Definitely Americans first! Their knowledge of space today and the financial strength they have has no second opinion. Russia in the decades gone by were good but since they have lagged behind on the monetary front there is a huge gap between the two although the European Union is not far behind Russia. China need to cover a lot of ground and Japan, India and the lowly South Korea are there too. India has had a good mission to Mars and their future plans with exceedingly economic missions are good in the hunt.
Although everyone is unitedly looking at all space missions in a friendly manner and helping each other in developing technologies we don’t believe the scenario would remain the same it is today. 20/30 years hence when enough number of missions have taken place and humans are ready to move to Mars what would the political situation be like. If we look at history and the coming years of peace keeping measures it looks relevant that America, European Union and Japan to align on one side with Russia and China differing on matters and again a cold war like situation arising. India would be neutral and South Korea may go with America and Co.
We know it won’t be so easy for an entire country to shift to Mars but then taking peace keeping measures will be another view point. How many people can travel 9 months under pressurised conditions and shift to Mars. May be we develop better space saucers to travel.
What will happen to all the history or religious texts is something to ponder. And this is logic as we all know!

Anant Chaturdashi

From my window I heard distant drumbeats of the processions that carry the Lord Ganesha for immersion on the final 10th day of festivities. I was instantly attracted by the drumbeats and I thought let me have a close up view of the entire proceedings.
It was about 6 in the evening and I roamed on the western express highway and the inside lanes. The traffic was sparse, as well as, being a Sunday but there were no processions. The heavy bass sound of the drumbeats was probably the precursor to the procession and probably preparations were on for the late evening start as the peanut hawker suggested.
I lingered around to find a ball flinging out of a ground chased by a stout collegian and being thrown inside. My curiosity pulled me inside and fortunately for me there was an empty bench to sit on.
The ground was square about 400*400 ft with patches of grass at the periphery on the outside of which was a square jogging track where some elderly people sauntered. On the external edges of this were arrays of benches donated by people and NGO’s hence were cast out of concrete or iron and some were even wooden. Behind rows of ashoka trees with their leaves forming an umbrella guarded the football and cricket ball getting into any of the surrounding residential blocks and the road.
The ground displayed a fusion of footballers and cricket enthusiasts and when the football entered cricket territory there was an small interruption in that and vice versa. Things went harmoniously and slightly behind on the southern flank there was equipment generally associated with a fitness centre and where a small toddler hung around his grandfather who was trying to keep his knees in order on an equipment. Beyond that guarded by a brick wall was the children’s playing area and I could see young mothers take care of their tots. Having watched the hectic football game with now the score level at 1 all and having a lot of catches dropped by the cricketers I decided to have a round of the jogging track. At the south west end I came across a square intrusion in the ground and where there were swings and seats and where cuddled young couples in all sorts of combinations. I decided not to peek into their privacies and walked back without still finding any Ganpati procession on the road.

The Dalai Lama

In my school days there was a chapter in Marathi text book by the famous author Anant Kanekar. It was titled ‘Personnel and Social’. It was about how the personnel life of renowned persons affects the social fabric of ordinary people. People follow by example and they emulate the life of their idols. He had stressed the same by quoting examples of first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru and his relationship with female friends especially Lady Mountbatten and Gandhi being supported by two women alongside affected the general psyche of the public.
I was initially flabbergasted after reading in the newspapers today of the opinion expressed by the Saint Dalai Lama of his successor- ‘if female should be attractive’ which he reiterated to the interviewer. I have been following the Dalai Lama for years. In spite of living in exile from his beloved country Tibet he has led a very auspicious and spiritual life and his teachings have been broadly recognised worldwide. He has rapport with an entire gamut of luminaries who matter spiritually.
Why should he have made such a statement? The word Saint sounds more masculine in gender although there are several recognised feminine saints. There are many Indian Saints who are feminine and so not so attractive. Sainthood is a matter of holiness of the knowledge and wisdom of worldly matter. But what if a Saint is holy and attractive too? The Dalai Lama also said that due importance to should be given to women and they are better spiritual souls than men.
Yet it looks quite incomprehensible why The Dalai Lama chose his female successor attractive!

Its a scary world

If there is anybody claiming he was never afraid of anything in his lifetime should either be a saint or a coward not able to accept realities.
One of the early scares etched in my mind was during the Indo Pak war of 1965. I was then eleven years old. We underwent training in school in Pune (which had an ordinance factory manufacturing ammunition- a worthy target for the enemy which had sabre jet planes which could bomb the facility) about how to protect yourself in the face of an aero attack from the enemy. It was simple. Sirens were attached in different parts of the city and they would hoot a discontinuous sound in a up and down low and high frequency undulating tone on the arrival of signals from the border about possible infiltrations of fighter planes into Indian territory. Upon such a signal all the students in the class had to huddle below their respective desks and benches until as such time as another siren would hoot continuously which would mean that the fighter enemy planes were dog chased back into enemy territory. Imagine the bombs that fell on my head and shoulders during the time we went and came back from school. Playground PT and games were abolished during that period. I had a quaint deep dry throat about the dreams of my future loves being demolished by those devilish fighter planes. At home it may have been cosy in the warmth of the family but the glazed windows were stuck with newspaper shreds to avoid beams of light penetrating outside for the enemy aeroplanes not to notice a residential area and teams of patrolmen kept vigilance all throughout the night.
Similarly all those nuclear bombings during the cold war of Russia and America kept my tender mind in horrid tumult.
Recently there was a picture of a three year old curled up and washed on a sea shore showing the misappropriations of terrorists to appal the world. Terrorists are a most formidable threat to peace. Nuclear armaments may be used to terminate a whole world of peace loving people. Hiroshima and Nagasaki may be specs in such a scheme.
Our Earth which can last billions of years created by a coincidence of great cosmic events could be finished prematurely by the handiwork of a stupid thought. What can be created by humanity is still immeasurable. Our space probes have just passed Pluto, have not even reached the edges of the solar system and our telescopes have probed a few thousand light years in space. There are great mysteries to be solved Cosmic and Humane.
Let us be patient.

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh Chaturthi this year will be celebrated on Thursday, Sept 17. Lord Ganesha stands for anything new to begin with. He removes all obstacles and leads one to prosperity.
Lord Ganesha’s features are very unique. He has the head of an elephant planted on his neck with four arms and a generous belly. There are various tales to the elephant head he acquired including that he was born thus. His other features too are represented according to the myths and legends in Hindu mythological scriptures.
It is well known that sage Vyas recited the Bhagwatgita (the epitome of Hindu philosophy) and Lord Ganesha wrote it. It is believed that Lord Ganesha is a supercomputer who could write at immense speed forwards and backwards. But Vyasa wanted Lord Ganesha to understand the verses of the Bhagwatgita before he would type.
Lord Ganesha is revealed as a computer thus: The elephant head has two large ears. These are the speakers. The eyes are the web camera. The trunk is the CPU and has horizontal scars standing for different drives. The large pot belly is the monitor and Lord Ganesha rides a mouse.
It would be an interesting analogy to find the first birth of a computer!