Earth Hour - We did it !

Last year in Dec 2007, when I came to know about Earth Hour and Mumbai Batti Bandh, I just blogged on it. Read here. This year when the mega event was announced I was determined not to let the day go by with just a blog post. 26 major world cities and 300 other cities and towns have signed to participate. Organizers of this event are expecting the participation of monuments, businesses and individual homes. The main idea is to conserve energy and reduce generation of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

I too wanted to be a part of the event very much. In fact I wanted it to be a group event which made some sense. I discussed with few friends and with lot of apprehension put forward a mail to our mail group suggesting, "We Silverwoodians should chip in to the event by switching off all electrical appliances." The response was overwhelming to say the least, mails after mails followed.

At sharp eight, most of my fellow residents assembled at the clubhouse, children were the most enthusiastic ones. Some ladies got them engaged in small games and antaksharis. Salarpuria Silverwoods of C V Raman Nagar, Bangalore went dark from 8PM to 9PM on 29th March 2008. Dinners were delayed; even the toddlers cooperated by screaming and screeching with happiness. Those residents who could not manage without lights lit candles. The entire common area lighting was switched off. Thanks to apartment association board members.

Everyone agreed we had the responsibility of passing on a greener world to the future generations. Many lucky children of this generation are growing in a lap of luxury. They don’t know what a power cut is. The moment BESCOM goes off, DG sets take over. Even that fraction of a minute when the TV goes off during change over to DG sets irritates them. Most parents agreed we should have more of this, at least once in two months.

The most popular search engine Google too went black for one hour in support of Earth Hour. The black page had just the words: "We've turned the lights out. Now it's your turn." Read here and here.

Lonar Crater (part-2)

This post is a continuation from Lonar Crater part-1

Curiosity couldn’t hold us and we were in fact rushing the last few steps to get to the banks of Lonar Lake. I wanted to taste the water there, as I had read before that the water tasted salty. One look at the water and I decided to be content with the visual treat of the emerald green water there. The water was not dirty, but it was green due to rich growth of algae in it.

There is no outlet for this water body other than evaporation, which may be the reason for its salinity. Some water birds were swimming at a distance, which indicated the water was fit enough for animals to survive in it.
Ishani on seeing the boys there commented wishfully, “How lucky they are to have a whole crater to play around and swim in”! The boys there filled a bottle with crater water for us. They were in fact encouraging us to taste it for its salinity but we didn’t dare to.
“Scientists suspect that the meteor is still embedded about 600m below the south-eastern rim of the crater.”- Lonely Planet South India. We spent about 15 minutes at the lake; it was cool in every sense of the word! And discovered a few more wonders around it: several temples, some of which dating back to 13th century or older.

There are many temples along the lake shore. Some are in ruins; the Shiva Linga of this temple in ruins is missing.
The extremely beautiful Shankar Ganesh temple… I stood here transfixed by the architectural beauty of this small shrine still maintained and preserved so well…
The wooden idol of Rama… “It has been here for centuries”, said the boys, who were constantly accompanying us from the time we landed at the base… the idol of Hanuman in the shrine just opposite to the Rama temple.


The Mor Mahadev temple, situated close to the water. Half of it gets submerged in water when there are heavy rains and Lonar water level rises.
Try and reach the place before 11am, after this the descent under the scorching sun can sap you of your energy. Take decent amount of energy boosters and water especially if you are traveling with children. We visited the place in the peak of winters, when the mercury read 32 degrees, it was HOT.
The temple on the other side of the lake…the view is hypnotic. Standing here I thought- "What if a meteorite hits us at this moment, but such things do not happen out of the blue. Actually they do happen, read here, you get all news of Near Earth Objects and their predicted paths and movements.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICS.

Arthur C Clarke 1917 - 2008

Arthur C Clarke the greatest Sci-fi guru is no more. I am sad.

I have this sudden urge to reread his books… Childhood Ends, 2001: A Space Odyssey… If it weren't for him what would science fiction movies be like...

As a young girl I remember getting hooked to his novel, “The Exploration of Space” more because of the environment I grew in. In the seventies and eighties, VSSC Trivandrum was most often in news because of its contribution to the launching of SLVs. Later in nineties series of GSLV too were launched.

It was Arthur C Clarke who conceived the concept of geostationary orbit. Today this orbit is named the Clarke Orbit by the International Astronomical union. "Sir Arthur C. Clarke's most famous prediction on the future is his proposal of geostationary satellite communications published in the Wireless World magazine in 1945. Not considered seriously at the time it became a reality within 20 years with the launching on 1965 April 6th of Intelsat I Early Bird the first commercial geostationary communication satellite. " Read more about it here.

The geosynchronous satellites in this orbit go around the Earth once in 24hrs and it is the same side of the satellite that faces the same point on Earth throughout. These satellites give the continuous information of weather and communication of that spot on Earth. Today this Clarke Orbit is crowded with communication satellites of many countries. The ISRO has launched one such Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) successfully. Read about it here.

The Science and Technology community owe him a lot. A visionary… he will be sorely missed. Read more about him here.

Lonar Crater

Yet another amazing place we visited while at Aurangabad was the Lonar Crater.

Many interplanetary bodies move around in space. Some of these outer space bodies enter the Earth’s atmosphere; we call them shooting stars when we see them at night. The small ones get burnt off and when a giant one hits the Earth’s surface we get Craters like that at LONAR. This place was hit by a meteorite 52,000 years ago and it has left a dent in the surface of the earth like a huge saucer.

From where I was standing it was not possible to capture the entire crater in one shot. I have put two shots of it here.


“This is the only hypervelocity impact crater in Basaltic rock” mentioned on a plaque there. Many millions of meteorites must have hit the earth’s surface; of them many have got eroded and erased by the ravages of time. Today only 140 craters in the surface of our world are in records. The Lonar Crater is one in the list and is situated in Buldhana district of Maharashtra. It is 165km. from Aurangabad.

There is mention of this crater in ancient scriptures like Padma Puran and Skanda Puran. There are references of it even in Aaina-e-Akbari. It was sort of rediscovered by C J E Alexander in 1823. The first opinion about it was that it was a volcanic crater.

Geological Significance and Scientific Studies
This crater was declared as an impact crater after a lot of study and debates for almost a century and half. The initial confusion was over whether it is a volcanic crater as it was situated in the volcanic region of Deccan plateau. In 1952, a geologist C A Cotton, in his work stated that there has been almost nil volcanic processes in the Indian subcontinent, and so he stated that Lonar crater has meteoritic origin.

Two other scientists N. C. Nandy and V. B. Deo surveyed the crater site and checked for volcanic remains like cooled lava. In 1964 Eugene C Lafond and Robert S. Dietz too came to the conclusion that it is an impact crater and estimated its origin to be about 52,000 years ago. This crater is thus stated to be one of the youngest craters in the world.

Geographical features
The crater is circular in shape and the depth to diameter ratio is typical of an impact crater. The raised rim of the crater is 20m above the surrounding. The surrounding rock dips away from the crater edge at angles of 14 to 27 degrees. These factors are indicative that the Lonar crater is of impact origin. See more here.

The crater is 150m deep and the diameter is 1.8kilometers. The crater floor is flat and is filled with saline water. The descent was steep, just rocks cut at some places and uncut for most part. Trekking here in monsoons can be a real challenge and adventurous one.

Flora and Fauna there
As we descended the rim and reached the banks of the crater we found ourselves in a thick forest. I had read that the dense cover housed birds like peacocks, partridges, long beaked Green Bee Eaters and also animals like deer, iguana, and rabbits. We strained ourselves if we could spot any and all we could see there were a few langoors.

After that strenuous descent in scorching sun, the forest cover provided us the well deserved shade and cool breeze. The sounds of the birds, butterflies and the sights of scampering squirrels refreshed us a lot. We kept walking and then all of a sudden there was this clearing among the huge trees and the lake was visible.


(... to be completed in next post.)

Update: Lonar Crater Part - 2

Happy Pi day, 2008

Today 14th March is Pi day.

Rational celebration of an irrational number!

3/14, this American date format corresponds to the roughly rounded up value of Pi i.e. 3.14. Even those who have abandoned Maths as a subject after school days must be definitely having this figure clearly etched in their minds.

My association with pi began when I was in grade 7 (or was it in grade 6?), 2 Pi r and Pi r squared gives the circumference and area of a circle… It followed me right until my college days, those complex theorems and formulas. It used to give me immense pleasure when the irrational number used to get cancelled during derivations and solving problems. It has been a long time since... an association of the last century!

Check the Wiki entry: Pi Day

"The “ultimate” pi moment occurred on March 14, 1592, at 6:53 AM and 58 seconds. When written in American-style date format, this is 3/14/1592 6:53.58, which corresponds to the value of pi to twelve digits: 3.14159265358. However, considering this was well before any kind of standardized world time had been established, and the general public had no concept of π, the occurrence likely went unnoticed. "

People have Pie for lunch on this day :) In case you are not sure how to celebrate the day, click here: How to Celebrate Pi Day

Pi day also happens to be Albert Einstein’s Birthday. Today is his 129th birth anniversary.

Click here: For a million digits of Pi.

Self cleaning clothes

Here is one more nanotechnology wonder. The daily load of drudgery and laundry will not be the same few years from now. Researchers have developed a nanoparticle coating for your protein based fabrics that has self cleaning properties. Your most prized woolens and silks will not require dry cleaning as they will clean themselves of odors and stains.

The chemical composition of the coating titanium dioxide photocatalyst is such that when the stained clothing is exposed to sunlight, the self cleaning action is triggered. All the dirt, stains, food particles and harmful bacteria are decomposed and destroyed. Even the toughest stain vanishes with few hours of exposure to natural or simulated sunlight. The non-toxic coating is bound to the fabric in such a manner that the texture of the fabric remains the same.

These recent developments in the self cleaning technology in textile industry promise a hygienic future. The nanoparticles prevent the spread of infections by the pathogenic microorganisms; which are potentially active for at least up to three months. The other advantages are reduced consumption of chemicals, expensive detergents, and dry-cleaning solvents.

The next question that comes to mind is will it be expensive ? Well you can be sure of this: Titanium is the 4th most abundant metal on earth so the chances of it being too expensive are less. Titanium oxide is easy to make, this is what makes white paint white and is used in your toothpastes. The product is likely to be launched as soon as the ongoing industrial testing and mill trials are over. Aren’t we leaving a easier world for our daughters ?

You can read more about it here.

Sometime back the researchers had come up with self cleaning glass which has this same coating. Read about it here. What do we look out for next... self cleaning lavatories ?

However much this invention may seem welcome I have one serious concern… what effect will these nano-particles have on our respiratory system ?

International Women's Day

International Women’s Day, March 8th is a day to celebrate women’s achievements and inspire them to achieve greater heights in life.

A brief history: IWD has been celebrated since 1900s. Revolt against oppression and inequality towards women drew attention towards women’s conditions. The first National women’s day was observed on 28th Feb 1909 in US. Later in 1917 a massive strike for four days by Russian women for bread and peace led to granting women the right to vote by the Czar. Since then the date on which the strike commenced i.e.8th March in Gregorian calendar (23rd February in Russian Calendar) has been recognized as the International Women’s Day.

Read more here: International Women's Day.

Today society has shown a major attitudinal shift with regards to women's equality and freedom. In my opinion, no woman is ordinary and each is blessed with an indomitable spirit which makes them special in their dear ones’ lives. Some women are well known in society for their contributions in this field; while there are many unsung heroines in our society who have made a tremendous difference to the quality of their own lives and also of those around them.

My salutations to those wonderful women who are quietly contributing their might in a silent manner!

On this occasion I would like to quote two articles of my blogger friends:
1. The poor Girl Child... by Happy Kitten
2. Mahema by Raji Muthukrishnan

Aurangabad Caves

The less known Aurangabad caves is a worthy prelude to the well known Ajanta and Ellora caves. Situated at a distance of nine kilometers from Aurangabad, they can be easily accessed by the local modes of transport there.

The thirteen caves lie scattered on two sides of a mountain and are in two sets; the eastern set and the western set, separated by a distance of one and half kilometers. These caves too are not natural caves, but carved out of mountains with primitive tools. The Buddhists chiseled these cave temples between 6th and the 8th centuries.

The caves here have sculptural works which ranks with the best in India. Unfortunately these set of caves are not in the UNESCO world heritage list. So nobody is pouring in money for the maintenance and that explains the pitiful state of the caves here.

The pictures below …Bodhisatva Padmapani (Lotus in Hand), a demi-god with a crown encircled by snakeheads, and female figures… there are many such figures with elaborate head dresses, necklaces and some are with garlands in hand.













This picture is the world famous sculpture panel of a dancer with her troupe.

Thousands of wooden constructions in our country have yielded to decay, while sculptures of the time-defying rock have withstood decay for centuries. But will these stone compositions be able to withstand the vandalism and looting that is going on here unchecked?

The cells which may have served as the living quarters of the monks, one of them had a stone bed too.
This was the most common theme in these caves, Buddha seated in a preaching posture flanked by Boddhisatva Vajrpani (thunderbolt in hand) on the right and Padmapani on the left and celestial beings hovering over his shoulder. I found this in two other places too.

Other impressive sculptures were these.













Richly carved columns...


With time these precious sculptures will vanish...but until then everybody should visit these timeless wonders at least once.

I came across an interesting blog on Aurangabad. I enjoyed reading every line of it. I am sure you too will. Click here: My Aurangabad vacation by Narendra Shenoy

Google Talk Chatback

For most of you whose blogs are very popular and have scores of site fans, Google has launched a new feature Google Talk Chat Badge. Well the comment box is there no doubt but what if your reader wants to clarify with you on a specific issue or what if the reader doesn’t want his or her query to be made public and what if you have disabled anonymous comments. Also those shy and lazy readers, all taken care of once you embed this live chat window.

Read: Add Live Chat To Your Blog.

The advantages are many.
1. This feature enables you to chat with your live blog readers.
2. The blog chat add ons are done in Macromedia Flash, hence your readers don’t have to download or install any feature to get started.
3. Set the Google Talk status as busy, the Google Talk Chat Badge will be disabled.
4. You can chat with more than one of your readers at a time, as each session will open in a separate tab.
5. Place them on a pop-up window. It will open when the reader clicks on the hyperlink.
6. This feature is useful for your other service oriented web pages too.

Just take care to see that you will be able to manage all chat requests.