New Year 2022 - Spare a thought for the calendars, which helps us record history. 

Calendars have helped us record history including events that unfolded in the year 2021, which will soon be history. The new year 2022, which we will soon be welcoming, is an outcome of the modern day calendars that have evolved from the creation of human ingenuity that defines years, days and months, which are inextricably linked with our lives and our history. Calendars are designed based on scientific system to reckon time in periods convenient to the conduct of our day today lives and help us knit in sync with each other - cutting across time and space -  and in chronicling our collective history for posterity. As we inch towards scripting the end of the year 2021 and prepare ourselves to welcome dawn of the new year 2022, while wishing you all a very happy and healthy new year 2022, I am tempted to invoke Alfred Tennyson ; ‘Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.” - Alfred Tennyson. 

This saying is so very relevant when we look back at the tumultuous bygone year 2021, which continued to be plagued by the COVID 19 pandemic that rampaged the world taking away millions of precious lives, including the life of our class Buddy, Vice Admiral Srikant and our dear friend Dr Ratnashri, Director, Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi and million more lives. The year 2021 was also the year when I attained that important milestone of shasti purti ( 60 years) and retired from service - 31st May, 2021 -  after serving for 35 years in the field of science museums working with the National Council of Science Museums, Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

The two previous years, 2020 and 2021 will infamously go down the memory line as the years that were plagued by the Covid Pandemic. More than 5 million (5,445,249 to be precise as on 31 December 2021) people across the world have succumbed to the pandemic and India too has been adversely impacted with more than 38 million people affected by Covid and more than 4.5 Lac people have fallen victim to this dreaded SARS-COV2 virus. The Covid 19 has reminded the world of how fragile we are in front of the all encompassing nature and its attributes and how even a minuscule SARS- COV2 virus can rampage the world. We must  therefore learn to respect nature and not abuse it, which seem to be one of the plausible reason for the spread of this virus from the city of Wuhan, China, which is hiding more than what meets the eyes when it comes to sharing the actual data and reasons for the spread of this virus from the city of Wuhan. It is therefore an apt decision that the new year 2022 is befittingly declared as the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development. It is basic science that can help humanity and when this is applied for sustainable development it augurs well for the people and our planet earth, which seem to be under pressure from anthropomorphic impacts which has raised exponentially in the past couple of decades. 

As we prepare ourselves to welcome the new year 2022 by bringing down those ubiquitous old calendars to make way for the new calendar, let us all join in praying for all those precious lives lost due to the COVID 19 pandemic and salute our health workers and COVID warriors - including the foot soldiers who have ensured that more than 1.3 billion vaccine doses have been administered in India by reaching out to far flung areas - who are continuing to battle this out. This new year the world must once again stand united as one in combating this pandemic and pray that the Dawn of the New Year 2022, heralds a beginning of a kindly light, which once and for all vanquishes SARS-COV2 virus in all its variants, including the Omicron, and help us all to lead a normal life which was majorly disrupted.

Now that the year 2021 is behind us it is time to spare a thought for human ingenuity in creating calendars and how calendars have evolved over time. Calendars are inextricably linked with our lives and are designed based on scientific system to reckon time in periods convenient to the conduct of our lives. Calendar has its origin from the Roman word Calends or Kalends,  meaning a method of distributing time into certain periods adopted for the purpose  of civil life. The story of the calendar begins with the fascinating history of mans endeavour to organize our lives in accordance with celestial cycles. Three of these celestial bodies - the earth, moon and the sun - are central to the formulation of calendars. All calendars are founded upon some combination of the movement of these celestial bodies. Moon has always influenced the timing of different religious festivals, and seasons, and the Sun has influenced the time of sowing and harvesting. Calendars based on observations of moon are called the lunar calendars and those based on the observations of the Sun are called the Solar calendars and these two calendars have been used widely in different cultures of the world; Chinese, Hebrew, Islamic, Gregorian and our very own Hindu calendars. While each of these calendars are unique in how they are used, however, they all share a set of common features borrowing from each other.  Like all great efforts that require dedicated collective work of a group of people, the establishment of a standardised calendrical system was no trivial matter. It required knowing how to make observations, which observations to make, and how to keep records over a long period of time. 

One of the oldest calendar systems is our very own Hindu calendar, which is based on the lunar revolutions and included adjustments (intercalation/extracalation) to solar reckoning. It divides an approximate solar year of 360 days into 12 lunar months of 27 days each according to the Taitriya Samhita and Atharva Veda. The resulting discrepancy of 26 days, was resolved by the intercalation of a leap month every 60 months. The months were counted from full moon to full moon and were divided into two halves, Shukla paksa of waxing period and Krisna paksa of waning period. The new moon days were observed as Amavasya and full moon as Purnima and most religious rituals were performed around these two events. Each of the month has thirty days (tithi) and the day (divasa) thirty hours (muhurta). A new form of astrology that is in vogue today is based on the old Hindu calendrical system, which did under go a change in its classic form according to the Surya siddhanta around 4-5th century AD. The year was divided into seasons, ऋतु, spring (वसॉन्था) from mid March until mid May; summer (ग्रीष्म), from mid May until mid July; the rains (वर्शा), from mid July until mid September, autumn (सरद) from mid September until mid November and winter (हेमन्त) from mid November until mid January and the Dews (सिसिरा), from mid January until mid March.

Most calendars had some or the other discrepancy, which needed correction. The discrepancy in the Indian calendars and controversy associated with it can be traced back to the period of the great epic Mahabharata. The epic mentions two periods - the Vanavasa (period of exile) and the agnyatavasa (the period of incognito living) - which the Pandavas were mandated to observe in obeisance of Yudhisthar’s commitment to the Kauravas. The epic battle of Kurukshetra was fought with a consideration that the Pandavas, according to Duryodhana, failed to keep their promise to stay in exile for twelve years and in hiding for one year. However, Bhisma reckoned that the Pandavas adhered to their promise and observed the two periods. Bhisma substantiated his argument with the fact that the calendar adds an extra month every five years. The interpretation of the calendar or the complications involved in the calendar making are therefore legendary.

From historic times calendar makers have relied on the sunrise and sun set to determine the day, while the period between the full moon determined the month. Even in modern times celestial bodies continue to provide the basic standards for determining the measurement of the day, month and the year. The day can be measured either by the stars or by the sun. If stars are used, then the interval is called the “Sideral day” and is defined by the period between two passages of a star across the meridian. The mean Solar day is 24 hours, 3 minutes and 56.55 seconds long. The measurement of the month is determined by the passage of the moon around the earth. There are two kinds of measurements for the month, first, the period taken by the moon to complete an orbit of the earth and second, the time taken by the moon to complete a cycle of phases. The former is defined as the orbital month. However, the problem with this measurement stems from moon's orbit, which is elliptical and it will be travelling faster when closer to the earth (perigee) and slower when further away (apogee) and therefore it has anomalies. The Anomalistic month is the time between perigees (27.55455 days mean value). The second measurement of the month by the phases of the moon is called the synodic month (synod = meeting, in astronomy it means conjunction or lining-up) which measures 29.53059 days.The synodic month forms the basis of the calendar month.

Determining the length of the year also has its own problems. The Earth does not rotate whole number of times for each revolution of sun. The Sidereal year is the time for the Earth to return to the same position relative to the fixed stars, which measures  365.25636 days and its mean value increases by 0.00000012 days per century. Because it is slightly longer than the tropical,  the equinoxes will gradually creep westward around the ecliptic by 1 in 71.71 years or 360 in 25800 years. The common year is called the Tropical year meaning the time between spring equinoxes (365.24219 days mean value decreasing by 0.00000614 days per century). Because the Earth's orbit is elliptical it will travel faster at perihelion (closest, now early January) and slower at aphelion (furthest, now early July). This means that the season around perihelion will be shorter than the one around aphelion. Currently the gaps between equinoxes and solstices are, starting at the Northern Hemisphere Spring Equinox, 92.72, 93.66, 89.84, and 88.98 days. The southern hemisphere gets a few extra days of winter and the northern hemisphere gets a few extra days of summer. Choosing either of the years leaves the calendar maker in an awkward position of having the following New Year beginning in the middle of the day.

The Julian Calendar : Of the several calendars of antiquity, the Egyptian and the Roman calendars developed into the Julian calendar, which was used for more than 1500 years. The Roman republican calendar, introduced around 600 BC, was a lunar one, short by 10.25 days of a Tropical year. It included an extra intercalary month, every two years, which fell in late February. Nonetheless, by around 50 BC, the lunar year had fallen eight weeks behind the solar one, and it was clear that the Romans were out of Sync. There was total confusion when Julius Caesar came to power as the Roman’s 355 day lunar calendar was 80 days out of sync with seasons when Caesar took the throne. Julius Caesar, it is believed got acquainted with the Egyptian calendar on the same trip during which he got to know Cleopatra. He then came in contact with the famous Greek Egyptian astronomer, Sosigenes. In the year 46 BC, Sosigenes convinced Julius Caesar to reform the calendar to a more manageable form. Sosigenes' message to Caesar was that the moon was a nice god but knew nothing about when things happen. Armed with this information Caesar returned to Rome and made big changes. The old lunar system with intercalary months was abandoned and a new solar system was introduced with fixed month lengths making 365 days and an intercalary day every forth year in February which would have 29 or 30 days. To shift the equinox back to March 25 he added three extra months to 46 BC, making it 445 days long ('the year of confusion') and the Julian calendar began on 1st January 45 BC.  In recognition of his contribution to the calendar reforms the month of July is named in his honour.

Caesar’s nephew Augustus (originally named Octavius) also did some cleaning up of the calendar, details of which however are not very clear. One source (Britannica) suggests that the priests got the leap years wrong having one every third year for forty years so he had to skip a few until 8 BC. In recognition of this, they renamed Sextilis with August in his honour but had to pinch a day from February to make the month of August have the same length of days as July. The tradition has lasted until today and therefore contrary to any logic the immediate months of July and August have 31 days each.

Anno Domini : Things went smoothly for a while; the seasons were finally put in proper place in the year and festivals were happening at sensible times - almost. At the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, Easter was decreed to be the first Sunday after the full moon after the vernal equinox. The early Christians were keen to cleanse contrary ideas (like the spherical Earth) so in 526 AD; the Abbot of Rome, Dionysius Exiguus proclaimed that the birth of Christ should be the event from which years are counted. He also calculated the event to be from December 25 and asserted that it should be called 1 AD (Anno Domini = in the year of our Lord) and the year preceding it should be called 1 BC (now meaning Before Christ) with prior years counted backwards. The omission of a year zero was a dumb idea.  About this time the seven day week was introduced. Although it may have appeared earlier in the Jewish calendar and also in the Hindu calendar, it was tidied up in the fourth century. Cycles of four to ten days had previously been used for organising work and play. Seven was chosen apparently in acknowledgment of the Genesis story where God rested on the seventh day although there is a strong suggestion that it also reflected the seven gods visible in the sky as the planets, sun and moon. 

Pope Gregory XIII : By the middle ages the seasons had slipped again. Pope Leo X tackled the problem in 1514 AD by engaging a number of astronomers, including the famous Copernicus, who quickly recognised that there was a more fundamental problem than rearranging the calendar and suggested the rearrangement of the universe by putting the sun at the center as against the earth. The Church though did not accept the suggestions. Half a century later Pope Gregory XIII was sane enough to have another go to sort out the discrepancy and assembled a team of experts, led by the German mathematician Christoph Clavius(1537-1612) and Italian physician and Astronomer Aloisius Lilius who spent ten years finding a solution to the problem. By 1582 AD the Julian calendar was full 13 days behind the seasons. By then the Christian churches had scheduled certain of its feasts, such as Christmas and the saint’s days, on fixed dates. The Julian calendar, which was running 13 days behind the sun, had little or no effect on the lives of the ordinary folks, but it disturbed the functioning of the Church, because it pushed the holy days into wrong seasons. This prompted the church to issue clearance to Pope Gregory XIII to implement necessary changes in the calendar.

Gregorian Calendar : The change made by Gregory XIII to the calendar envisaged skipping ten days, sometime to bring the seasons back in line and skip a few leap years now and again. The extra day every fourth year is too much so skip the leap year at the end of the century. This is now a touch short so put back a leap year every fourth century. The leap year is therefore defined as a year if it is a multiple of 4. However if the year  is a multiple of 100 it is not a leap year. There is an exception to it. If the year is a multiple of 400 it will once again be a leap year. Since this still produces an error of a day in 3,323 years we will also be skipping the leap year in 4000 AD. Applying all these principles in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII, decreed that the day after October 4, 1582, would be October 15, 1582. And according to the prescribed rule 1600 was a leap year but 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not and the year 2000 AD was again a leap year.  

The changeover to the Gregorian calendar was not smooth. France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal changed in 1582; Prussia, Switzerland, Holland, Flanders and the German Catholic states in 1583; Poland in 1586 and Hungary in 1587. The Protestant countries weren't too keen to follow, so for nearly two centuries there were two calendars running in Europe ten days apart. Matters came to a head in 1700 when the Protestants had a leap year and the Catholics didn't, increasing the gap to 11 days. Denmark and the German Protestant states changed in 1700 and Sweden came up with the brilliant plan of simply skipping all leap years until they caught up in 1740. England and America switched over in 1752, skipping 11 days by making September 3 as September 14 and shifting the start of the year to January 1. There was much unrest in the US - 'give us back our eleven days' was a popular campaign slogan.  Many other countries were slow to adopt the standard and it was not until the early twentieth century that the entire world was finally synchronised. Japan changed in 1872, China in 1912, Bulgaria in 1915, Turkey in 1917, Yugoslavia and Rumania in 1919 and Greece in 1923. The Gregorian calendar is now recognised world wide although there are still many other calendars running alongside it, for religious purposes. 

In India calendar reform took place in 1957., under the chairmanship of Meghnad Saha, eminent scientists and a parliamentarian. The National Calendar of India is a formalized lunisolar calendar in which leap years coincide with those of the Gregorian calendar (Calendar Reform Committee, 1957). However, the initial epoch is the Saka Era, a traditional epoch of Indian chronology. Months are named after the traditional Indian months and are offset from the beginning of Gregorian months. In addition to establishing a civil calendar, the Calendar Reform Committee set guidelines for religious calendars, which require calculations of the motions of the Sun and Moon. Tabulations of the religious holidays are prepared by the Indian Meteorological Department and published annually in The Indian Astronomical Ephemeris. Despite the attempt to establish a unified calendar for all of India, many local variations exist. The Gregorian calendar continues in use for administrative purposes, and holidays are still determined according to regional, religious, and ethnic traditions. Years are counted from the Saka Era; 1 Saka is considered to begin with the vernal equinox of 79 AD. The reformed Indian calendar began with Saka Era 1879 AD, Caitra 1, which corresponds to 22nd March, 1957. Normal years have 365 days; leap years have 366. In a leap year, an intercalary day is added to the end of Caitra. 

We have no zero year hence the years that predate Christian Era ( now reclassified as Common Era) are chronicled as Before Common Era - BCE and those that come later are chronicled as Common Era CE.  Calendars have held sacred status, for they help us in maintaining social order, provide the basis for planning of agricultural, economic and industrial activities and so also in chronicling our collective history for posterity.  Calendars also provide basis for maintaining cycles of religious and civil events. As we prepare ourselves to welcome yet another new year, let us spare a thought for the makers of the calendars.

Once again wishing you all a very happy New Year 2022.

 Srinivas Ramanujan: Namagiri Gifted Math Genius for whom “Every positive integer was one of his personal friend”.

India celebrates 22nd, December, the birthday of the legendary mathematician - Srinivasa Ramanujan, as the National Mathematics day. The legendary Ramanujan was born on 22^nd December in Erode, Tamil Nadu in the year 1887 and in the brief period that he lived (1887-1920) he has left behind a legacy, which will perpetuate for generations to come not just in India but globally. The genius of Ramanujan and his goddess – Namagiri - gifted mathematics has remained an enigma, which is evidenced from the foreword that was written by CP Snow, friend of GH Hardy who was the mentor of Ramanujan. C.P. Snow, in his preface to Hardy’s remarkable memoir, ‘A Mathematician’s Apology’, writes; ‘Hardy did not forget that he was in the presence of a genius - Ramanujan’. GH Hardy, considered as one of the leading mathematicians of the world, had profound respect for Ramanujan’s genius in maths which is evidenced in another incident that Hardy narrates to his friend CP Snow. Hardy says ‘Ramanujan really had the natural genius. in the sense that the greatest mathematicians had it’. Hardy on another occasion modestly says ‘I have done one thing that most others could never have done, and that is to have collaborated with the greats like Ramanujan on something like equal terms’. The legend and the myth that surrounds Ramanujan and his Namagiri goddess gifted genius in mathematics, therefore, comes from such examples, which are seen from the statements and experiences of GH Hardy and other great mathematicians of his times.

 

Our admiration for Ramanujan grew exponentially while researching for curation and development of an exhibition on the life and works of Ramanujan, during his 125th birth anniversary - 2012. The government of India had announced celebration of the 125th birth anniversary of the great Srinivasa Ramanujan and while announcing the celebrations, the then Prime Minister of India, Shri Manmohan Singh, declared that the birth day of Ramanujan will be celebrated and commemorated as the National Mathematics Day, and ever since 22nd December - the Birthdate of Ramanujan - is celebrated as the National Mathematics Day.

 

The first thing that came to our mind when developing an exhibition on Ramanujan was the well-researched biography book on Ramanujan, which was published by Robert Kanigel entitled “Srinivas Ramanujan: The Man Who Knew Infinity”. During the early days of discussion on the curatorial concept and the approach that we should adopt for developing this exhibition, was to ensure that the subject of maths, which is considered abstract and hard to comprehend, must be made simple, experiential and interactive. We also felt that apt title for the exhibition would be the title of Robert Kanigel’s Book - Srinivas Ramanujan: The Man Who Knew Infinity. We therefore sought permission from Dr Kanigel for using the title of his book for our exhibition. Kanigel was very kind to permit us to use this title for our exhibition. We worked on a different presentation style for the exhibition and for the first time attempted some new digital interactive techniques to present the complex math that Ramanujan carried out in a manner which could be appreciated by our visitors, particularly, school students. This exhibition was successfully opened in December 2012 - the 125th birth anniversary of Ramanujan – by Padma Bhushan, Prof M S Narasimhan, FRS and a Member, National Committee, for National Mathematics Year, at Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Bangalore.

 

The exhibition received overwhelming response and appreciation, particularly the digital immersive experience and interactive presentations to present the life and works of the legend. The exhibition also had a lesson for our youngsters that failure is something which has not eluded even the great Ramanujan and therefore students must not be afraid of failures. In his authoritative biography of Ramanujan, Kanigel states that ‘Ramanujan appeared for the Intermediate examinations four times and failed in all of them’. “Except for maths he did poorly in all his subjects. … He would take the three-hour maths exam and finish it in thirty minutes.” T.V. Rangaswami’s Tamil biography (‘Ragami’) on which Kanigel’s account of Ramanujan’s early life is largely based, states that ‘Ramanujan appeared for the F.A. examination three times and failed’. Ragami, however, adds that in his last attempt, in 1907, Ramanujan got a centum in mathematics. David Leavitt in his book ‘The Indian Clerk (2007)’, underlines the repeated failures of Ramanujan in his intermediate examinations, a point reiterated by the Ramanujan Museum’s website: “Appeared privately for F.A. examination, secured centum in mathematics, but failed to secure pass marks in other subjects.” Our exhibition effectively communicated a lesson from Ramanujan that failures are integral to one’s life and that includes some of the greatest of scientists as well. 

 

Notwithstanding his multiple failures in intermediate exam one thing remained certain for Ramanujan. His love and passion for maths never attenuated, rather he pursued his passion for maths with that much more focus and managed to publish quite a number of papers in leading mathematical journals in India before managing to earn a job as a Clark in the Madras Port Trust. It was here that Ramanujan wrote that famous letter to his mentor, G H Hardy in the year 1913 and the rest what they say is now history. The letter of Ramanujan, though evoked mixed response from Hardy initially, it befittingly earned Ramanujan an invitation from Hardy to the Trinity College, Cambridge.  In just five years of his stay in Cambridge, Ramanujan, with mentoring from Hardy for being more structured in his approach to solving mathematical problems, made profound contributions in mathematics and that too during the most testing times of the World War 1.  Befittingly his outstanding contributions at the Cambridge University, won Ramanujan, the B.A. degree ‘by research’ in 1916. This was a momentous occasion for Ramanujan who had no formal college degree until this time. This was the first of many great recognitions and honours, which were destined to follow Ramanujan in the years ahead at England and in India. The Trinity College, London and so also the prestigious Royal Society conferred their prestigious fellowship on Ramanujan. Incidentally Ramanujan became the first Indian to be so honoured with the fellowship of the Trinity College when he was only thirty.

 

The legend of Ramanujan is now almost a household name in India and most students in India will certainly have heard his name, though not quite familiar with his works. Notwithstanding the inspiration that the great Ramanujan has provided for our youngsters, most unfortunately, maths has been overly segmented as a subject meant only for the so called intellectuals, distancing it from common folks. Hopefully declaration of the National Mathematics Day will help change this scenario in India. Mathematics is one of the most important subjects, which acts as a tool to solve problems of every other science subjects. It provides students an opportunity to think in her own way and seek solutions to the problems. It makes a student systematic and methodical and encourages them to make their lives orderly. It is perhaps for this reason that Mathematics is often called as the mother of all sciences and it is befitting that the birthday of Ramanujan, the greatest of mathematicians of India, is celebrated as the National Mathematics Day in India. 

 

Ramanujan was a non-traditional mathematician who has been befittingly hailed as an all-time great mathematician of India in modern times and is famously clubbed with the other international greats like Euler, by G H Hardy. It is very well known that Hardy was a diehard cricket fan and used cricketing parlance in every field, including in rating scientists and mathematicians in a scale he termed ‘Bradman Scale’. He included the likes of the great mathematician Euler and Newton in the highest scale - the Bradman scale, measured in memory of Hardy’s all-time favourite cricket player - Don Bradman from Australia. What his rating for Ramanujan would have been can best be seen in the quote of another mathematician, Bruce C Berndt, who says ‘Paul Erdos has passed on to us, Hardy's personal ratings of mathematicians. Suppose that we rate mathematicians on the basis of pure talent on a scale from 0 to 100, Hardy gave himself a score of 25, Littlewood 30, Hilbert 80 and Ramanujan 100’. From this yardstick of marks assigned by the great Hardy to different mathematicians including himself and Ramanujan it is a given that Ramanujan was a Bradman scale mathematician for Hardy and that Ramanujan fell in the league of the greats like Euler and Newton. It is so heartening to know that Hardy, who was one of the great all time mathematicians of his time and also the man who is credited to be the discoverer of Ramanujan, has rated his prodigy -Ramanujan, far higher than what he rates himself and his close associate Littlewood, another great mathematician of their time.

 

Although Ramanujan lived only for 32 years (22^nd December 1887 – 26^th April 1920) out of which he spent just five years in the company of Hardy and Littlewood in Cambridge, he has left behind a very large volume (4000 original theorems) of his works (including the famous works rediscovered in his ‘lost note books’) which continue to fascinate greatest of mathematicians of the world, even today.  Legend has it that Srinivas Ramanujan’s mathematical genius came from his goddess Namagiri - his family deity in Kumbakonam - in whose reverence Ramanujan had undying faith. It is often said that Ramanujan credited his ideas and solutions to Namagiri, his family deity, who helped him decipher mathematical theorems in his dreams. An evidence to Ramanujan’s goddess gifted ability to provide solutions to problems can be seen in another anecdotal story associated with the number 1729. G H Hardy, his mentor, in his memoir, says that he once went to see Ramanujan who was ill and lying in the hospital bed in Putney. Hardy rode to the hospital in a taxi with ‘dull and unimpressive number 1729’, and he hoped that it was no bad omen number for him. This so called dull and unimpressive taxi number has now been immortalised by the genius of Ramanujan’s goddess gifted ability to seek problems and find solutions. On meeting Ramanujan in hospital, Hardy informs Ramanujan of this ‘unimpressive number’, but then, lo and behold, Ramanujan turns around to say that it is not a dull number, rather it is a very interesting and quite a unique number. Ramanujan, with some mental calculations told Hardy that 1729 is the smallest number expressible as sum of two cubes in two different ways. He instantly gave solution to his thoughts; 1729 = 12cube + 1cube = 10cube + 9 cube.  (1³ + 12³ = 1 + 1,728 = 1,729 and 9³ + 10³ = 729 + 1,000 = 1,729. Because of this incident, 1729 is now known as the Ramanujan - Hardy number.  Such was his goddess gifted talent for numbers. It is therefore no wonder that, Littlewood, an associate of Hardy, who also collaborated and worked with Ramanujan, once said ‘Ramanujan could remember the idiosyncrasies of numbers in an uncanny way ‘courtesy Namagiri Goddess’ and for Ramanujan ‘every positive integer was one of his personal friend’.

 

Srinivas Ramanujan was born to a poor orthodox Tamil Brahmin family on the 22nd of December, 1887 in his grandmother's house in Erode, Tamil Nadu. His father, Kuppuswamy Srinivasa Iyengar, worked as a clerk in a sari shop in Kumbakonam and his mother, Komalatammal, was a housewife who sang devotional songs at a local temple. They lived in a small traditional home on Sarangapani Sannidhi Street in the town of Kumbakonam. When Ramanujan was just 2 years old, he contracted smallpox, whose marks were conspicuous during his childhood days. Ramanujan confronted a life of extreme poverty during his younger days. His early studies were in different schools in Kumbakonam from the age of five until entering the Town High School at the age of 11 years. From his childhood, Ramanujan had a huge passion for mathematics. So much so that at the age of 12 he had mastered trigonometry (SL Loney: Plane Trigonometry) and developed many theorems on his own with no assistance. Ramanujan was a precocious child and did very well in school and hardly evinced any interest in any other activities or games other than his studies in maths. While his friends played, Ramanujan engaged himself in nothing but academics. The first sign of his extraordinary talent in maths was noticed when he was 13 years. It was when he began to work on his own on summing geometric and arithmetic series, far beyond his class. He engaged himself in solving cubic and other fairly complicated problems some of which he failed. He would engage his teachers in some unorthodox questions. He once questioned a teacher, who was teaching the class that any number divided by that number equals one. He asked him whether zero divided by zero would be one.

A major turning point in the life of Ramanujan came when he came across a mathematics book by G S Carr called ‘Synopsis of elementary results in pure mathematics’. This book was simply a compilation of thousands of mathematical results, with most of the results not explained properly with adequate proof. This book was written as an aid to coaching English mathematics students facing the notoriously difficult Tripos examination, which involved a great deal of rote memorization. However, this book greatly influenced Ramanujan and it inspired him to pursue his passion in maths with vigour and at a feverish pace. He worked through the book's results and beyond at the cost of other subjects. The style and approach of Carr to write the equations and solutions without giving mandated proof for the problems and equations became a trade mark of Ramanujan, who had fallen in love with this book. He worked extensively on his slate trying to find solutions to the problems. It must be remembered that working on slate was a necessity for him since he could not have afforded pen and paper, which is one reason why we don’t know what went into the mind of Ramanujan while solving problems.

 

In 1904, Ramanujan joined Government Arts College in Kumbakonam. Unfortunately, by now he was completely engrossed in maths with Carr Synopsis, which left him no time for other subjects. The outcome was on expected lines. He failed in all the subjects in college except excelling in maths. The failure did not help his cause and he had to lose the much needed scholarship that he had managed to get while joining the college. Failure played on his mind and he ran away from home to Andhra Pradesh. On his return he enrolled at Pachaiyappa’s college in Chennai. Here, too, he engaged himself mostly in maths and couldn’t comprehend subjects like physiology and once again failed in the BA Fine Arts exam. He had no way but to leave his college, without attaining a degree. Failure in BA did not however deter him from continuing his independent research in maths.

 

Failure in BA Fine Arts exams, resulted in Ramanujan concentrating completely on his maths research and it was during this period, 1903-1914, that Ramanujan meticulously kept a record of the final results of his original research work in the form of entries in two large-sized Note Books. He worked extensively on his slate and recorded his final results in note books. With time his profound works in maths were beginning to be noticed and he was lucky that he could show some of his recorded notebooks to eminent citizens in the city; Diwan, Bahadur Ramachandra Rao, V. Ramaswamy Iyer (Founder of Indian Mathematical Society) R. Narayana Iyer (Madras Port Trust), and to many others to convince them of his abilities as a Mathematician. Fortunately, it helped him get an employment at the Madras Port Trust as a clerk, at a salary equivalent to about 25 Pounds a year. By this time, Ramanujan had already established himself as a fairly well recognised scholar in maths and reports of his unusual abilities had begun to spread far and wide. Fortunately, his talent in maths came to the notice of Dr. G. T. Walker at the Madras University and courtesy his influence, Ramanujan obtained a small scholarship, which relieved him and set him free for research.

 

During this period Ramanujan published several papers in influential Indian Mathematical journals. He also sent his long list of complex theorems to three academics of Cambridge. One of them was G H Hardy. Ramanujan had come across a book by Hardy titled ‘Orders of Infinity’ which motivated him to write his now famous letter to Hardy. Ramanujan’s life took a decisive turn in 1913, when his 10-page letter containing 100 statements of theorems on infinite series, improper integrals, continued fractions, and number theory, reached Professor GH Hardy. The letter was a collection of Ramanujan’s self-derived equations and unproven theorems. Hardy was perplexed to see this letter from an ordinary clerk from India who had professed to have discovered some infinite series and had posted some 100 odd findings in his letter. Hardy knew that the letter warranted some merit but was also sceptical. After his dinner he met his compatriot mathematician Littlewood. Hardy mentioned to Littlewood some of the claims he had received in the mail from an unknown Indian clerk who was working at the Madras Port Trust. Hardy opined to Littlewood that some of the assertions made in the letter of Ramanujan were well known, others could be proven, while some others they could disprove. Hardy and Littlewood decided to have a relook of the letter, which they did and agreed that many of the statements made in Ramanujan’s letter were not only fascinating and unusual but also impossible to resolve. 

 

Hardy and Littlewood continued their discussion on this letter over the next couple of days and soon they were convinced that the clerk who wrote this innocent letter must be a genius. Hardy therefore replied to Ramanujan, encouraging him on his works. This was the beginning of a series of letter exchanges between the two of them. Although Hardy by now was sure that Ramanujan was an exceptional mathematician, however, in spite of his amazing feats in mathematics, Hardy realised that Ramanujan lacked the basic tools of the trade of a professional mathematician. Hardy knew that if Ramanujan was to fulfil his potential, he had to have a solid foundation in mathematics, which are normally possessed by the best of Cambridge graduates. For this Hardy extended an invitation to Ramanujan to come to Cambridge. Hardy was completely taken aback when Ramanujan could not make up his mind to accept his invitation to come to Cambridge. He later realised that as a Brahmin, Ramanujan was not expected to cross the ‘seven seas’. His mother was totally opposed to the idea of Ramanujan’s sea voyage. But fortunately Ramanujan could manage to convince his mother by invoking Goddess Namagiri to get his mother’s consent. Hardy soon swung into action. He asked E.H Neville, another fellow of Trinity College, who was on a trip to Madras, to secure Ramanujan a scholarship from the University of Madras. Neville’s wrote in a letter to the university that “the discovery of the genius of S. Ramanujan of Madras promises to be the most interesting event of our time in the mathematical world ..."

 

What followed next is now a legend that has entered into the annals of history. Courtesy Hardy and Neville, Madras University offered Ramanujan the first research scholarship of the University. Hardy also ensured that Ramanujan was offered a scholarship of 250 pounds a year for five years with 100 pounds for passage by ship and for initial outfit to go to England in 1914.  Ramanujan, at the age of 26 years, set sail to England and reached Cambridge, just before the outbreak of World War I. In the very first year of his stay in Cambridge- 1914 - Ramanujan made some path breaking contributions. However, his journey to success faced major hurdles in the initial part of his stay in Cambridge. Ramanujan who was majorly influenced by Carr’s style of summing up his end findings and stating the formula for an infinite series or such other mathematical problem, without assigning any deductive solution, was something which did not please his mentor Hardy nor any other mathematicians. This incident has been so beautifully depicted in a scene in the film “Ramanujan The Man Who Knew Infinity”. The scene shows the excitement of Ramanujan to publish his new findings and in his discussion with Hardy, Ramanujan presents to him two of his note books adding to the 100 formulas, which he had already sent to him and other problems which he had been corresponding with Hardy.  One of this was an interesting series which was mind boggling for Hardy to comprehend how Ramanujan could even visualise it. The very equation looks quite deceptive and it goes as follows; 1+2+3+4+5...... = -1/12. Interestingly Hardy immediately had recognised this to be the theory of analytic continuation (Riemann Zeta Function) from complex analysis. Hardy was convinced that Ramanujan must learn to produce mathematical solutions for the answers that so naturally come to Ramanujan so that other mathematicians take him seriously. The scene shows a brief argument that ensues between the two in which Ramanujan- role played by Dev Patel, is seen arguing with Hardy, a role played in the film by Jeremy Irons. Ramanujan expresses his desire to publish while Hardy insists that he must first learn to communicate his mind in the exacting standards that befit the standards of Cambridge. Hardy advises Ramanujan to take some basic lectures to learn a more formal language in maths which he could use to communicate his findings to his fellow compatriots in Cambridge.

 

With great difficulty and with support from his compatriot Littlewood, Hardy manages to convince Ramanujan of his need for a formal learning to be recognised in Cambridge. The scene in the film beautifully depicts Hardy taking Ramanujan on a walk through the famous library of Cambridge. He says to Ramanujan that if area of maths are to be challenged you must give proof to the formulas and that too in a manner which are understandable to the other mathematicians and for that structured learning in maths is mandated for Ramanujan. The scene shows Hardy leading Ramanujan to the hall where Newton’s Principia book is preserved. Hardy says Newton produced this monumental findings, which took long time for the people to understand. Hardy further says to Ramanujan that if you provide proof to your formulas, which you have noted in your note books, the time will not be far when your note books could find a place in this very precinct of Cambridge where Newton’s book finds his place. Hardy’s prophetic vision has been proved right. Ramanujan’s lost note books have finally made their way to Cambridge and are in the prized possession Cambridge even today. The scene so beautifully and with that artistic elegance, which beholds the Hollywood, depicts the dichotomy of relationship that existed between Hardy and Ramanujan.  

 

Ramanujan and Hardy had one of the most productive collaborations ever and during his five years of stay in Cambridge, Ramanujan wrote some 30 papers some on his own and some jointly with Hardy. Most of his works transformed the field of mathematics. On his way to achievements in maths, Ramanujan had to overcome severe hardships, sense of racism, difficulties of the World War 1, effects on his uncompromising vegetarian habits and many more. Hardy was no doubt a great mentor for Ramanujan but then there is an argument that he may not have shown that much needed humanitarian considerations for Ramanujan, which may have ensured a better living condition for Ramanujan in England. But then these thoughts are an afterthought, which have little or no meaning.

 

Ramanujan’s contributions were soon recognised by his compatriots in Cambridge and he was befittingly elected ‘Fellow of Trinity College’, Cambridge, even though he didn’t have a formal college degree. But unfortunately his stay at Cambridge was the harshest for Ramanujan. He was a strict vegetarian and he remained uncompromising about his dietetic observance. The World War 1 too did not help his cause, which made availability of choice materials for Ramanujan very scarce. Ramanujan always cooked his own food and most often neglected his health. During his five years stay in England, Ramanujan was constantly mentored by Hardy and he cemented a long outstanding partnership with Hardy. It was during this stay in England that Ramanujan was awarded a BSc (later renamed PhD). In 1918, Ramanujan was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), as a Research student in Mathematics, Distinguished as a pure mathematician, particularly for his investigations in elliptic functions and the theory of numbers. A rare honour for the not so formally educated, that too at a very young age. Ramanujan was also elected to the Trinity College Fellowship, in Oct. 1918 (a prize fellowship worth 250 pounds a year for six years with no duties or condition). Most unfortunately he was not destined to make full use of this fellowship.

 

His health kept deteriorating in England and Ramanujan was often times admitted to hospital. When his health improved slightly he preferred to return back to India. Ramanujan returned to India in 1919, after World War I, as a highly acclaimed mathematician. But years of stay in an unfamiliar climate in England clubbed with his uncompromising life style, had taken a heavy toll on his health. On his return to India, Ramanujan was diagnosed with tuberculosis and the disease had already taken a heavy toll on his health and he was continuing to be very weak and fragile. All through this period, Ramanujan continued to be associated with his works and exchanged letters with Hardy. In January 1920, he wrote the last letter to Hardy about his discovery of “Mock Theta functions” another master class contribution from a man who was almost in his death bed. In his last letter to Hardy, Ramanujan speaks of a class of very interesting functions, which he describes as "mock theta functions". In his quintessential style Ramanujan gives 17 examples of the mick theta functions but provides no precise definition. However, we now know that by "theta function" Ramanujan actually meant what we call today a "modular form" and by "mock" something "whimsical". His 17 functions, which he described in his last letter, Ramanujan had described properties, which are analogous to those of usual modular functions, which do not belong to any known class. The mystery Ramanujan’s Mock Theta function was later solved in 2002 by Sander Zwegers in his Ph.D.

 

Ramanujan succumbed to his long standing ailments and died on 26th April, 1920. In his small lifetime Ramanujan compiled more than 3,000 results on equations and identities, many of them have been posthumously proven right. His ‘Lost Notebook’ was found in 1976 by Prof. George Andrews of Pennsylvania State University, and its facsimile edition was brought out by Narosa Publishing House in 1987, on the occasion of Ramanujan’s birth centenary. Besides his published work, Ramanujan has left behind several notebooks, which have been the subject of academic discussion and study even today.

 

In his short life of little over 32 years, Ramanujan scaled unimaginable heights. What is so very unique is that his mathematics, done over a hundred years ago, finds applications today in areas other than pure mathematics, which were not even established during his time. Two among these are signal processing and Black Hole physics. What could have been the contributions of Ramanujan if conditions were more conducive to him and if he had lived longer is something which will continue to remain in the realms of speculation. It was a befitting tribute that the legendary Ramanujan’s life and works were chosen for making of the Dev Patel starrer Hollywood film ‘The Man Who Knew Infinity’ (2015), which has perpetuated his genius to the world audience. May he continue to inspire millions of Indians and global students. 

Rest in Peace Ramanujan in the heavenly abode of your Goddess Namagiri.

16th December, Vijay Diwas - The Indian Victory in the Blitzkrieg Battle & the Liberation of Bangladesh

Vijay Diwas - The Indian Victory in the Blitzkrieg Battle & the Liberation of Bangladesh

Today, 16th December, 2021, marks an historic day for it commemorates the Golden jubilee of the Indian Victory against our arch adversary Pakistan and is marked as the Vijay Diwas. This day has therefore been eternally etched in golden letters in the annals of the Indian history, which heralds the crushing defeat that the Pakistanis received at the hands of the Indian Army who were ably supported by the highly motivated Mukhti Bahini soldiers of Bangladesh who were fighting their oppressors. The Indian victory, which was followed by the surrender of a massive 93000 plus Pakistani soldiers ensured the liberation of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) from the barbarian acts of atrocities committed by the West Pakistan, against their own countrymen – East Pakistan. The vivisection of Pakistan into two parts and the resultant liberation of East Pakistan and formation of an independent Bangladesh, negated the two nation theory, which was advocated by Mohammad Ali Jinnah. This war is fondly remembered in India as the nation’s finest battle victory in the post Independent India and this serves as a testament to our military prowess and superiority, and also it serves as some kind of a divine intervention against Pakistan and its founder Jinnah who had broken India in 1947. Today while celebrating the Vijay Diwas and the liberation of Bangladesh, the whole nation must stand united - setting aside all our differences – and must raise in attention and salute our war heroes, particularly those who made the supreme sacrifice - in the likes of the young officers and Param Vir Chakra winners, Second Lieutenant, Arun Khetrapal and Flying Officer, Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon, who made their supreme sacrifice on way to the Indian victory.
The Indian victory in the 1971 war and so also the liberation of Bangladesh from their oppressors was made possible by the extraordinary political leadership of Smt. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, who was rightly and befittingly supported by all the political class and the nation, which is evidenced from the description of Indira Gandhi as Goddess Durga by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The whole nation had stood united in supporting the Indian army and the political leadership, who stood in solidarity with the Mukti Bahini and the people of Bangladesh, during this 13-day war to liberate Bangladesh by inflicting a crushing defeat on Pakistan. 
Ever since 16th December is commemorated as the Vijay Diwas, which heralds the surrender of Pakistan’s armed forces, who laid down their arms at a surrender ceremony in Dhaka before the joint command of the Indian armed forces and Bangladesh’s Mukti Bahini. It was the finest hour in both India and Bangladesh’s military histories. Today, while we herald the Golden Jubilee of that historic Indian Military victory against Pakistan and recall that immemorial scene of the surrender by Lieutenant General Abdullah Khan Nazi - the commander of the Pakistan Eastern Command - with his 93000 plus Pakistani armed forces and the signing of the instrument of surrender by Gen Nazi at that historic Ramna Race Course in Dacca, which was graciously and with humility accepted and signed by Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Arora, it is time for us to stand in attention and salute all the three forces of our armed forces – Army, Navy and Air Force - who under the leadership of General Sam Manekshaw (later Field Marshal Manekshaw) created history by crushing the enemy in an blitzkrieg battle, which has become a case study for war historians. What is even more pleasing for us (the Ajeets – students of Sainik School Bijapur) is that we had our very own Ajeets (Col BGV Kumar and Captain Gopinath) who were part of this historic battle.
The genesis for this war started with the struggle for Bengali rights by the people of East Pakistan who were being oppressed by the West Pakistan. The partition of India into India and Pakistan by the British, on the lines of religion based on the strong advocacy by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, resulted in the formation of Pakistan as a country with two incontiguous territories known as West Pakistan (today’s Pakistan) and East Pakistan (today’s Bangladesh). The East Pakistan had their own language Bengali and culture, which was more aligned to the Bengali culture and was distinct from West Pakistan. The refusal to accept Bengali as a state language of Pakistan in the early years after Partition and so also the economic disparity between the two parts of Pakistan and so also the hegemony of the West Pakistani ruling elite over Pakistan, martial laws, and a demeaning attitude towards Bengali culture and the Bengali population had soured relations between the East and West Pakistan to a breaking point. The tension reached a crescendo in December 1970 when the Awami League party, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was based in East Pakistan, won the national elections. Unfortunately, notwithstanding the victory by Mujibur Rahman, which mandated a due democratic process for handing over of the power to Mujibur Rahman was not followed and the West Pakistan parties, primarily the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), refused to hand over power to Mujibur Rahman. This led to further tension between the native Bengalis and the Urdu speaking Bihari Muslims in East Pakistan. The Urdu-speaking Bihari Muslims had migrated to East Pakistan from different parts of India after Partition and all these men were seen as pro-West Pakistan. The refusal of the political establishment in West Pakistan to rightfully hand over the leadership charge to Mujibur Rahman, who had won the elections, resulted in the attack by his supporters in East Pakistan on some Bihari communities in different parts of East Pakistan. 
The unfortunate attack and violence by the supporters of Mujibur Rahman on the Bihari Muslims, was used as a major excuse by the West Pakistan Army, who came in full force in March 1971 to stem the growth of nationalist sentiments in the East Pakistan who were supporting their leader Mujibar Rahman. The West Pakistan military effectively created a bridge between the Bengalis and non-Bengalis and also recruited local pro-Pakistan Bengalis and non-Bengalis, including members of the Islamic organisation like the Jamaat-e-Islami for its operations against Bengali factions. With the violence against the local Bengalis increasing by the day and the atrocities, including rape, of the Bengali speaking local population by the West Pakistan soldiers and their supporters created an unprecedented situation, which led to the migration by large number of refugees into Indian territory. When millions of refuses crossed in to India, the Indian leadership in New Delhi– Prime Minister. Smt. Indira Gandhi – had no option but to use this refuse crisis, which was taking a major toll on India as a just cause to use military option to try and solve this crisis, when all other efforts went in wain.
The Prime Minister summoned Sam Manekshaw and sought the assistance and intervention of the Indian army to solve the refugee crisis. However, with the monsoon looming large and also given the riverine terrain of Bangladesh, Manekshaw was quick to inform the Prime Minister that it will not be possible for the Indian Army to enter into action until the end of the monsoon. It was also incumbent on Smt Indira Gandhi to ensure that she uses all her diplomatic skills and her charm to ensure that China would not intervene on behalf of Pakistan. Therefore, on the advice of Indian Army Chief, General Manekshaw, Indira Gandhi decided to use the intervening period, when the Indian army would prepare for an onslaught at the opportune moment just when it started snowing in the winter which would preclude Chinese movements through the mountain passes, to canvass with the international community for supporting India and the cause of the Bengali speaking East Pakistanis who were migrating in large numbers. The Indian army used this period to reposition forces from the west to the east and construct necessary infrastructure to support military operations while seeking diplomatic support from Russia and imploring the United States to counsel Pakistan to end what was clearly ethnic cleansing in East Pakistan.
Unfortunately, the US President, Richard Nixon and his National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, were unmoved by India’s request. Moreover, Nixon had a personal, visceral, and deeply misogynistic hatred for India’s Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. Besides, the Nixon administration was unconcerned about the mounting atrocities because it was contemplating commencing a diplomatic overture to China, and for this Nixon chose Yahya Khan to be its mediator. Lack of support from Nixon and his hatred for her did not deter Indira Gandhi. Rather it made her more determined to achieve her objective. Indira Gandhi travelled extensively and met world leaders in the west to seek their support for the rightful liberation of East Pakistan from their oppressors, who by then had already killed a million plus East Pakistanis and so also had raped women in thousands.  India began its military conflict against the Pakistanis on 3rd December, 1971, immediately when Pakistan’s Air Force conducted pre-emptive strikes on forward Indian airbases and radar installations. The primacy of Indian military and its extraordinary valour can best be appreciated from the fact that the war was won by the Indians in just 13 days (16 December 1971) with extraordinarily united fight by all three forces of the Indian Military – Army, Navy and Air Force. Pakistan learned the most dangerous lessons of the war. When the war ended on 16 December 1971, Pakistan was vivisected with East Pakistan emerging as an independent nation - Bangladesh. Some 93,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered to the Indian Armed Forces and were taken to India as POWs. Pakistan lost more than half of its population and about 15 percent of its territory. The humiliating defeat ensured Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to ruthlessly rule Pakistan until General Zia-ul-Haq ousted him in a coup in July 1977. Unfortunately, it was during this period of the rule by Zulfikar Bhutto that India kind of a snatched defeat from the jaws of victory when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi signed the 1972 Shimla Agreement with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. On August 2, 1972 – eight months after the 13-day India-Pakistan war ended on December 16, 1971 – the two countries signed the Shimla Agreement under which India agreed to release all the 93,000 Pakistani prisoners of war (POW) its army had taken during the course of the war. India treated the Pakistani POW with utmost dignity and had kept them in conditions of comfort that went over and above the provisions listed in the Geneva Convention.
The Shimla agreement formally concluded the war. Despite being the clear victor, India most unfortunately, acquiesced to most of Pakistan’s demands, including relinquishing 5,800 square miles (15,022 sq. km) of the territory it had captured in the west, the repatriation of the 93,000 Pakistani prisoners of war, assurance that Bangladesh would not conduct war crimes trials against Pakistani military personnel. The Shimla agreement however, ensured the safe release of Mujibur Rahman from Pakistan and becoming the founding Prime Minister of the new nation Bangladesh for a brief period until his assassination.  
Shockingly, even after the humiliating defeat and the signing of the Shimla accord, Pakistan has never abided by this agreement. Rather Pakistan has emerged from the 1971 War and has strategically positioned itself to extract advantages by collaborating with the United States on occasion while actively furthering its own agenda at the same time. Unfettered by the humiliating defeat Pakistan was able to seek financial, diplomatic, and political support from the Gulf State Monarchies, which, in turn, helped Pakistan to strengthen their terror objectives, which are continuing to haunt not just India but globally.
Today when we are celebrating the golden jubilee of our victory it is time to recall the main architect of this conflict. General Sam Manekshaw. There is an interesting anecdotal reference that Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw had told the Pakistani general explicitly "You surrender or we wipe you out" on December 13. And in just three days the Pakistan Army crumbled due to India's sustained ground and air assault in the western and eastern front and finally surrendered on 16th December. Manekshaw who was the Army chief during the 1971 operation was the first Indian Army officer to be promoted to the rank of Field Marshal. Manekshaw was also involved in the Kashmir affairs during those precious moments of 1947, when the Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession. He was appointed as the eighth chief of Army staff on 8 June, 1969. "Sam Bahadur" as he was known in the Army, especially among his troops, will ever be remembered for the stellar victory that he achieved for India.
Jai Hind
Jai Hind Ki Sena
 

International Day of People with Disability

 

International Day of People with Disability – 3^rd December, 2021 – An Appeal to support the cause.

Images - Courtesy United Nations and ADHAR

International days, proclaimed by the United Nations, are primarily aimed with an express objective of educating the public on social issues that are of great concern to the world we live in. They are also aimed at mobilizing the much needed social and political will and so also the financial power and other resources to address these global problems. The UN has spearheaded and embraced the commemoration of these days, which serve the purpose as a powerful advocacy tool.

Today, 3rd December, is commemorated as an International Day of People with Disability and the theme chosen for this year is "Leadership and participation towards an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 world". Today is the day when all of us must spare a thought or two for the people who live with one or other forms of disabilities. As per the WHO estimate, more than one billion people in the world live with some form of disability of whom nearly 200 million people have considerable difficulties in normal functioning. In the years ahead, disability will be an even greater concern because its prevalence is on the rise. It is because of the continuous increase in the ageing populations and associated higher risk of disability in older people as well as the global increase in chronic health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and mental health disorders, which are of major global concern.

Notwithstanding the commemoration of the International Disability Day and so also the seriousness and magnitude of the disability issue, most unfortunately it was observed that the awareness on disabilities and scientific information on different types of the disabilities were found to be lacking. There was also no general consensus and agreement on definitions and statistics of internationally comparable data on the incidence, distribution and trends of disability. There were also not adequate documents providing a compilation and analysis of the ways countries have developed policies and responses to address the needs of people with disabilities. In order to address some of these issues and so also in consideration of the World Health Assembly (resolution 58.23 on “Disability, including prevention, management and rehabilitation”) requested the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General to produce a World report on disability based on the best available scientific evidence. Accordingly, a World Report on Disability was brought out which suggests “steps for all stakeholders – including governments, civil society organizations and disabled people’s organizations – to create enabling environments, develop rehabilitation and support services, ensure adequate social protection, create inclusive policies and programme, and enforce new and existing standards and legislation, to the benefit of people with disabilities and the wider community”.

The promotion and commemoration of the International Day of People with Disability began with the patronage of the United Nations, since 1992. It was during the 37^th plenary meeting of the UN held in Canada that the commemoration of the International Disability Day was proclaimed. It was noted in the meeting that the “United Nations decade of disabled persons had been a period of awareness raising and of action oriented measures aimed at the continued improvement in the situation of persons with disabilities and the equalization of opportunities for them. The UN with an awareness of the needs for more vigorous and broader action at all levels to fulfil the objectives of the Decade and the World Programme of Action concerning disabled persons, and realizing the importance of carrying out concrete long-term strategies for full implementation of the World Programme of Action beyond the Decade and with the aim of achieving a society for all by the year 2010, the UN welcomed the International Conference of Ministers Responsible for the Status of Persons with Disabilities to the 37^th plenary meeting of the UN, which was hosted by the Government of Canada at Montréal, Canada on 8 and 9 October 1992. Noting with appreciation the high-level participation in its plenary meetings held on 12 and 13 October 1992, marking the conclusion of the Decade, the plenary session invited all Member States and organisations concerned to intensify their efforts that aimed at sustained effective action with a view to improving the situation of persons with disabilities and proclaimed, 3 December as the international Day of disabled persons and urged Governments, as well as national, regional and international organisations, to extend their full cooperation in observing the international Day of Disabled.

The genesis for the Disability Day started nearly five decades ago in 1976 when the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 1981 as the International Year of Disabled Persons. It was during this period that a plan of action was decided at the national, regional and International levels. The period between 1976 to the 1981 – a period of five years between the making of that decision and declaring the actual Year of Disabled Persons - were spent contemplating the hardships of the disabled, how the opportunities of the disabled could be equalized, and how to ensure the disabled take part fully in community life, enjoying all of the rights and benefits non-disabled citizens have. Some of the others issues which were addressed during this period was how world governments could go about preventing disabilities from touching people in the first place and going beyond the much of the talk cantering around the viruses and other illnesses that lead to various kinds of disabilities. The decade between 1983 and 1992 was later proclaimed the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons, and during that time, all of the concepts previously created became parts of one long process that was implemented in order to improve the lives of disabled persons the world over.

Among all the disabilities Mental health is one of the most problematic issue in our country, the gross lack of awareness and stigma associated with the mental health, particularly those who are mentally challenged, make it an even more frightening scenario. The prognosis for mentally challenged is so very poor that most such afflicted adults end up getting locked or confined to homes and asylums and many may even end up committing suicide. Considering the extreme challenges which confront this issue and its management, there are limited opportunities and organisation who take up the rehabilitation and empowerment of such mentally challenged adults. ADHAR and Om Creations, the two organisation with which my wife and I are associated with, are working in this area for empowering people with mental disabilities.

The aim of the International Disability Day is to encourage a better understanding of people affected by disability. This day also helps in reemphasising and helping to make people more aware of the rights, dignity and welfare of disabled people and so also in creating an increased awareness about the benefits of integrating disabled persons into every aspect of life, from economic, to political, to social and cultural. Disability Day encompasses all known disabilities including mental disabilities that include Autism to Down Syndrome to Mental retardation etc.

Disability has impacted our family as well. In our own humble way, my wife and I have been closely associated with the two organisations - ADHAR (Association of Parents of Mentally Retarded Children) and Om Creations - and we assist them in furthering their noble cause of working towards empowering people with mental disabilities. I would therefore like to dedicate this post to these two institutions while specifically making an appeal to support ADHAR, an organisation which has tasked itself an onerous responsibility of rendering a yeomen service of providing life time shelter with empathetic and compassionate care for some 300 plus mentally challenged adults in the two residential care centres, which they are running at Nashik and Badlapur.

Some 200 plus dedicated staff who are in service of the residents at the two ADHAR residential centres, 24x7, 365 days a year, strive hard to empower the inmates and so also provide an ambience of socio cultural inclusion for the 300 plus differently abled, which they persevere to achieve all days with care and compassion and thus help in providing the much needed respite to the parents of these mentally challenged adults from that deadly and diabolical thought - what after us? which not only haunts the parents of such children but also drain them  physically, financially  and mentally.

On this occasion, I would like to use this opportunity to appeal to one and all, my friends, colleagues, and family and all others to consider donating benevolently to the institution which are working in the area of disability. Since I am very closely associated with ADHAR – recently I have also been inducted as a Trustee -  ( www.adhar.org), which works 24x7x365 days a year, in providing life time shelters to the severely mentally challenged adults. Mental health is a major concern worldwide and India is no different. Dr. Brock Chisholm, the first Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), in 1954, had presciently declared that “without mental health there can be no true physical health”. Nearly seven decades later, the scenario has not altered substantially. The situation is more serious for the severely mentally challenged, and their family and care givers, who may mandatorily be needing residential shelters for life.

Unfortunately, there are very few institutions who work in the most neglected area of providing care and life time shelter for mentally challenged who need life time support and have very poor or no prognosis for improvement. Adhar, is perhaps a lone shining star, that has been providing life time shelter to the severely mentally challenged for more than three decades. Adhar - an organisation of the association of parents of the mentally retarded adults - was founded by the visionary founder Chairman of Adhar, Mr. Madhav Gangadhar Gore, with support from few hapless parents, in the year 1993. Ever since Adhar has toiled hard, and continues to do so, often times struggling to meet both ends, to provide respite to the 300 plus severely mentally challenged adults and to their care givers. The compassion, empathy and commitment that Late Madhav Gore ji had for Adhar, which he established, has  rubbed on to his son, Shri Vishwas Gore ji, who sacrificed his own professional career for the cause for which his reverential father Shri Madhav Gore ji strived all his life, to take on the Chairmanship of Adhar  and take this NGO to a greater height and winning several awards including the best parents NGO award from the Government of India.   

Adhar, passing through period of trials and tribulations has been able to bring smiles on 300 plus parents and custodians of the mentally challenged adults for whom Adhar is now a life time home away from home, where they can live a life of respect and dignity in an ambience which is made lively with the passionate commitment of the workers who take care of the inmates. Adhar in a way has also empowered the inmates by training them to engage in vocational activities and such other engaging activities. Managing the two residential places in Badlapur and Nashik is a continuous challenge, struggle and often times mere hysterical, yet the institution has moved on undeterred even during the extreme challenging times of the Covid 19 pandemic. Under its current dynamic leader, Mr. Vishwas Gore the Chairman of Adhar and the son of the founder. Adhar has dared to dream big and has befittingly developed yet another facility for providing life time shelter and care for the aged parents of such mentally challenged adults. This new facility which was opened in November 2021 provides an excellent amenity for the senior citizens and parents of the mentally challenged adults to spend their twilight years under the care and shelter of Adhar care givers at their new facility in Nashik.

Covid 19 pandemic has brought unending challenges, which Adhar faces particularly with its finances, specially the mandatorily required recurring expenses that come with managing the 300 plus residents 24x7x365 days a year. The parents of the inmates of Adhar are unable to cope up with the ever increasing expenses leading to a huge widening gap in the budget, which can only be bridged from benevolent contributions from individuals, well-wishers, and from corporate houses. Shri Vishwas Gore ji and his fellow Trustees are untiringly working with commitment to somehow manage to keep Adhar afloat and they have left no stone unturned in continuing to keep the facilities that are extended to the inmates of Adhar at its best.  

Even the staff of Adhar who look after the inmates like their own wards, have been working passionately with commitment and have also made sacrifices by not demanding the scale of increase in the salary that they truly deserve. Although Adhar has been lauded and has won national and international awards and recognition yet financial debts have continued to increase and the struggle to keep this great institution running is continuing unabated.

Through this post, I am appealing to all my friends, family and contacts to please join in this noble task of spreading awareness about the needs of Adhar and join me in contributing to Adhar in any which way either through donations or promoting Adhar by creating awareness about Adhar. Every single act of benevolence and contribution, howsoever small it may be, will immensely help in benefitting this great institution which is badly in need of continuous support and patronage. Your benevolent contribution and creating awareness about the institution among your friends, relatives and contacts will go a long way in continuing to bring smiles on the faces of the residents and their caregivers.

There is definitive global data driven evidence, which suggests that Persons with disabilities are more likely to experience adverse socioeconomic outcomes such as limited education, poorer health outcomes, lower levels of employment, and higher poverty rates. The COVID-19 pandemic - which is plaguing the world including our country with yet another variant - Omicron- making its entry into India, has wreaked havoc on the economies of the world and has adversely impacted the lives and livelihood of the people and this impact has been that much more severe on people with disabilities, who are uniquely impacted by the pandemic, including health, education, and transport considerations.

On this International Disability Day, it is time for the people to think about how we can create a society that is inclusive and caters to everyone’s needs. This day encourages people to think about how we can create a community that is inclusive for everyone. This day also gives us the perfect opportunity to further our knowledge and awareness about disabilities and to voluntarily help the organisations which are involved in providing support to such institutions.

I am giving here with the details of ADHAR, one such NGO, with which I am closely associated (www.adhar.org). Adhar provides a plethora of ways and means by which one can support Adhar. Incidentally ADHAR also has 80G tax exemptions for the donations that it receives and also has a FCRA clearance for receiving foreign donations.

The bank details of ADHAR where the donations can be made for the welfare of the 300 plus mentally challenged adult inmates at the two residential shelters in ADHAR are given on the website for those who wish to donate for this noble cause.

May this International Disability Day help in motivating people with ability to understand the importance of this day and may it motivate people to join the international efforts in bringing in smile on the faces of the people who differently abled.