Ring Out the Old (2020), Ring in the New (2021)

 Ring Out the Old (2020),  Ring in the New (2021) and Hope that Covid 19 too will be history, sooner than later.

The dawn of a new year is time again to invoke Alfred Tennyson whose saying is so very relevant when we look back at the bygone year 2020, which completely rampaged the world. “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. At the dawn of each new year we roll out those ubiquitous old calendars hung on our homes and offices and everywhere to make way for the new calendar with a hope and aspiration that the new year dawns a better future for all of us. This new year every one of us, across countries and continents , are inextricably connected with the Covid pandemic which has spared none and therefore the world must stand united as one to pray that the Dawn of the New Year 2021, herald a beginning of a kindly light, which once and for all lightens up the darkness that the SARS-COV2 created in 2020, and may the Covid vaccines - collectively created by the genius global scientists and health workers and the extraordinary selfless service that the Covid warriors rendered during the pandemic, serve as a God sent ammunition to terminate the deadly virus. achieving this. Once agin wishing you all a very happy new year 2021. 

On December 31, 2019, while welcoming the new year 2020, I had cited it as a special year, which comes once in a century since such years come once each in a century (2020, 1919,1818 etc). Most unfortunately little did I ever imagine that my calendrical classification of the year 2020 as a special year, actually turned out to be prophetic with most part of the year 2020 going down the memory line as an infamous year which was plagued by the Covid Pandemic. Nearly two million people across the world have already succumbed to this pandemic and India too has been adversely impacted with more than ten million people affected by Covid and more than one Lac people, including our dear classmate Vice Admiral Srikant, have fallen victims 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, which has enough to meet the needs of everyone but not our greed. Just about 100 years ago the Spanish Flu had rampaged the world in 1918-19 and wiped out more than 50 -75 million people including 7-10 million people in India. Our Centre, Nehru Science Centre in collaboration with Smithsonian Institution and Harvard Global Health Institute had  organised an exhibition ‘Outbreak - In a Connected World’, in December 2018, which was based on the Spanish Flu of 1918-19. This exhibition was expressly aimed towards  educating the public and highlighting the concerns of Outbreaks and epidemics in a connected world. Most shockingly in just about 14 months after we organised the Outbreak exhibition, Covid struck the world and it is yet to be completely defanged. Hopefully with the promises of various vaccines that are knocking at our doors, including the Covid Shield vaccine of Serum Institute, which the Government has cleared yesterday, and so also the untiring efforts of global health workers, scientists and others I am optimistic that the dawn of the new year -  2021, will see the beginning of the end for this pandemic. I also hope that the lessons that we have learnt from this pandemic will help humanity to realise how vulnerable we are so that we learn to respect nature. 

Not everyone gets to experience first hand the ordeal of the pandemic, which we have all endeared and therefore let us all pledge and continue to be a responsible global citizen and take all prescribed precautions and follow Covid protocols while  celebrating the dawn of the new year 2021.  Now that the year 2020 is behind us it is time to spare a thought for human ingenuity to create calendars that have defined years, days and month, which are inextricably linked with our lives. The 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 also in chronicling our collective history for posterity. But then how did these calendars come about? Well here is a brief note on the evolution of calendars.

Calendars are inextricably linked with our lives and are designed by humankind 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 also Atharva Veda. The resulting discrepancy 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’s and most religious rituals were performed around these two events. Each of the months 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 in 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 the 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 is that the moon's orbit 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.  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 are chronicled as Before Christian Era - BCE and those that come later are chronicled as Christian 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 2021.

Remembering Vajpayee - the Ajat Shatru, on his 96th Birthday.

 Remembering Vajpayee - the Ajat Shatru, on his 96th Birthday. Merry Christmas 

Image Credits - Wiki Commons.

25th December - the birthday of Lord Jesus Christ,  the son of God - is an auspicious day, which is celebrated the world over - in more than 150 countries, as Christmas Day. It was on this pious day that Lord Jesus - God's redemption, mercy and Grace - was born in Bethlehem and his birth marks an important epoch in the measurement of history of humanity. The period after his birth is now measured by historians as the Christian Era (CE), and the period before his birth is measured as BCE ( Before Christian Era). it was on this auspicious Christmas day - 25th December, in 1924, that Atal Bihari Vajpayee - an outstanding parliamentarian, poet, orator, political stalwart, coalition builder and the recipient of Bharat Ratna and the man who has rightly been given an epithet ‘Ajat Shatru’ (enemy less), was born to a blessed parents in Gwalior. Although the Covid pandemic has disrupted the otherwise colourful and bright celebrations the world over, including the midnight Christmas mass that was so special in Mumbai, yet the spirit of the people to endeavour the long raging Pandemic has not dimmed, rather it has only further strengthened their resolve to endear it and hopefully everyone’s prayers on this holy occasion will be answered and the pandemic ends sooner than later. While wishing all my friends a merry Christmas and seasons greetings I also take this opportunity to remember Atal ji and wish him a very happy birthday and pray for his reverential  soul to continue to rest in eternal peace in the heavenly abode, which is now home to him. 

The memory of Atal ji as a great statesman and an exemplary parliamentarian and an extraordinary opposition leader is some thing, which the whole nation will truly look up to and remember. Stalwarts like Narasimha Rao and Atal ji are now most wanted in the utterly and viciously divided ruling and opposition parties. In the current era the political parties have translated their मतभेद ( difference/ division in opinions)  into मन भेद ( difference/ division of mind) and cannot come together on any issues, including on issues of national interest. I wish, our political leaders while paying respect and remembrance to Vajpayee ji on this day also take note and emulate what former Prime Minister, Narasimha Rao, and the then opposition leader in the Lok Sabha, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, collectively could achieve that triumphant diplomatic victory against Pakistan at the UNHCR session in Geneva in 1994. Narasimha Rao had chosen a team to represent India at this important UN convention  and the team was headed by the opposition leader,  Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.. Other members of the team included External Affairs Minister Mr. Farooq  Abdullah, the state Minister, Mr. Salman Khurshid and the Indian Ambassador to the UN, former Vice President, Dr. Hamid Ansari. Atal ji led a combative defense against the vitriolic and diabolical attack by Pakistan, who had got the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) to move a resolution at the Geneva session of the UNCHR to censure India for the alleged human rights violations in Kashmir. Atal ji and his team collectively came triumphant to heroes welcome back home in India. It was a historic occasion when India’s voice had to be heard as one voice and the ruling and opposition parties put their ideologies in the back burner to come together as one great nation to defeat the enemy. Will we ever be able to replicate this now or in near future? Time and and time alone will reveal and what you and I can do at present, is only to pray that such moment comes soon so that issues like the ongoing farmers agitation, which is threatening to further derail our economy that is already adversely affected by the Covid pandemic are resolved by the political parties together as one team India. in the interest of our nation and are not further instigated on political considerations. 

Bharat Ratna, Atal Bihari Vajpayee - former PM, Poet, politician, pragmatist orator and statesman- who passed away at an advance age of 93 on the 16th of August, 2018, after a prolonged illness, will truly be missed in current times. Although, after almost three decades of passing through an era of coalition politics, the ruling party - BJP -  has managed to get a back to back majority on its own, yet the need for coalition cannot be wished away, more so when the regional parties are getting stronger by the day across states. The BJP and the NDA leaders will know this better post the recent elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Atal ji was master of coalition politics and had the unique distinction of successfully running a coalition government with diverse political ideology for full term. It is firmly hoped that his political strategy and coalition धर्म can serve as a beacon in the current era of bitterly divided acrimonious ridden polity. Atal ji is the first and only person, since Jawaharlal Nehru, to occupy the office of the Prime Minister of India through three Lok Sabha (1996, 1998 -2004)

Atal Ji, fondly remembered as the Poet Prime Minister of India, was blessed with brilliant oratory skills. A liberal at heart and secular in practice, Atal ji was often described by opposition parties and the critics of BJP as “the right man in the wrong party”.  His words could easily sway hearts and minds of people. It was this oratory skill that attracted innumerable people to his election rally heralding a new era for his party. BJP is now reaping the benefits of  stalwarts like Atal ji who laid the foundation for his party, which has now managed to have a back to back majority on its own strength in the Lok Sabha. I was one of those millions of Indians who were swayed by the oratory skills of Atal ji, as an young adult. I vividly remember the very first time we heard Atal ji speak during an election rally in Gulbarga (Kalburgi now). We had endured an inordinately long delay of more than 4 hours along with tens of thousand others to listen to him. That was the year 1977, a watershed year for the Indian democracy, which was grievously wounded during the Emergency. Our impatient wait turned out to be one of the most rewarding one when Atal ji took to stage. His poetic articulation of thoughts to critic his primary opponent - the indomitable Smt. Indira Gandhi, the then PM of India - was tempered by the good will of geniality contrary to what we now see, not just in the electioneering but also in the parliamentary debates. Atal ji speech was as mellifluous as his inimitable oratory skills.

The oratory skills of Atal ji was first noticed by the then prime minister Shri Jawaharlal Nehru way back in 1952. After his maiden speech in the Lok Sabha as a first time Member of Parliament in 1957, in front of Pandit Nehru, the whole of India and the world took notice of Atal ji’s oratory skills and greatly admired him as a witty and humorous orator with spark. There is also an anecdote that Nehru ji had once introduced Atal ji  to a foreign dignitary as the ‘future prime minister of the country’. It took time (4 decades) for Nehru’s prophecy to come true and Vajpayee became the head of the state on three different occasions – the first time  for just  13 days, the second for 13 months and his third and last stint, which he interestingly commenced on the 13th May, 1999, lasted the full term of five years, thus becoming the first non-Congress leader to complete a full term in office of the Prime Minister in 2004.

Atal ji, notwithstanding his political wit, humour and niceties, was a seasoned politician and an outstanding parliamentarian. Contrary to what some may feel, Atal Ji was known for his cultural moderation, liberal views and political equanimity. Vajpayee ji will ever be remembered for his contribution in ushering in the coalition era and stitching disparate alliances to form a government. The coalition era and the alliances - be it NDA or the UPA - that we are witnessing today, largely vow their genesis to Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was the master of coalition politics who steered his party to garner regional political party’s support that ultimately became the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Atal Ji deservingly became the first non-Congress prime minister to complete a full five year term in office, a historic accomplishment considering the failed earlier attempts of the non congress governments. Atal ji’s never say quits attitude (फिरसुबह होंगी the film that he and Advani ji saw together post Atal Ji's defeat in the by-election), complemented with the efforts of his 65 years friend and fellow compatriot Advani ji, and hundreds of thousands of his party workers has perhaps paved the way for BJP and his protégé, Shri Narendra Modi ji, to form the BJP led Government with a majority of its own, just over a decade later. Vajpayee’s legacy and his contribution in ushering in the coalition era and proving that even disparate alliances could serve and survive the entire tenure of a government will continue to be celebrated.

Born into a middle class family in Gwalior on the 25th December 1924, Vajpayee’s first brush with politics came at an young age in 1942 when he joined the Quit India Movement against the British. After completing his education, he became a journalist and then joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), a fore runner of the BJP, formed by its founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee in 1951. From being political secretary to Mookerjee, to raising to the pinnacle of Indian democracy of becoming the PM of the largest democracy of the world, Atal Ji has endeared all of it in his long political career, during which he was elected nine times to the Lok Sabha and also served two terms in the Rajya Sabha. He led his party (BJP) to its first national electoral victory in 1996, but his government lasted just 13 days before he resigned as the PM of India in the face of a no-confidence motion. In his famous speech in the Lok Sabha, while facing this no confidence motion against his government, Atal ji made an extraordinary speech before announcing his decision to submit his resignation to the Honourable President. I distinctly remember those words which have been etched in my memory. I am loosely translating the gist of his concluding remarks “Governments will come and go, parties will come and go parties will be elected to power or made to sit in the opposition but then he said "Desh Rahna Chaiye, Is Desh ki Loktantra rahna chahiye”. What a profound statement which must reverberate and touch the hearts and minds of the political parties so that the disruption which we see in parliament and outside comes down. 

Atal ji was returned to power in 1998 to once again form the Government and ruled for another brief tenure of 13 months forging an alliance with 22 parties, mostly regional parties, with disparate local appeal. It was during this period that India successfully conducted the nuclear tests at Pokhran and he famously rephrased Lal Bahadur Shastri’s quote जय जवान जयकिसान with जय जवान जय किसान जय विज्ञान। Conducting the Nuclear test was one of the historic moment which needed an extraordinary courage and conviction for the political leadership. Narasimha Rao Government had considered this option but before it could succeed the news had leaked out to the US and Narasimha Rao came under pressure from US President and other international leaders and the plan had to be abruptly halted. Although Atal ji succeeded Narasimha Rao as PM in 1996, his government could last just for 13 days and between 1996 and 1998, two successive prime ministers, HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral could not muster the courage to even think of any nuclear tests. After the 1998 mid-term elections, Vajpayee once again got an opportunity to form his government heading a coalition NDA government. The first thing he did was to order nuclear tests at Pokhran, which were conducted on May 11 and 13, 1998, a delicate task which the Indian scientists accomplished with great precision putting India in the elite global nuclear club. Dr Anil  Kakodkar, who was then the Director of BARC and part of the Pokhran 2 team, has written about this exercise and also the Indo - US nuclear deal that followed, in his recently released book. India’s successful conduct of the nuclear test was something which the Americans could never take it lying down. It was therefore no wonder that Atal ji’s government collapsed within a year of the Pokhran tests during India had to face severe economic sanctions by most western powers. But then riding on this success Atal ji was once again elected to form the Government in the 1999 elections and this time his government lasted for its full term (1999-2004) and Atal ji became the first non congress PM to serve a full term in independent India. Most unfortunately although the BJP fought the 2004 elections under Atal ji’s leadership, the shining India campaign could do no help and UPA came back to power and stitched an alliance to form the government under the leadership of Dr Manmohan Singh. 

There are many anecdotal reference to the wit and poetic skills of his articulations when it comes to facing tough questions particularly on his political ideologies of which he was very proud of. However, many veterans have said even during his times that Atal ji is a good man in a bad party. The genesis for this goes back to the writing of Sardar Kushwant Singh who in one of his books had made this statement. In one of his interview with Rajat Sharma in his Ap Ki Adalat  programme when confronted by Rajat Sharma with this question, Atal ji in his inimitable style says " I love Kushwant Singhs writings, but I do not agree with his opinion. He further gives the reason for his disagreement by stating " I am good I cant be in the wrong party. If I am in wrong party, I cant be good person."  Interestingly this very case came up once in the parliament. Atal ji in one of his speech in Parliament had said that he has heard voices in the house saying Vajpayee is good but not in the right party (BJP). Vajpayee responded, ‘SO, what is it that you intend to do with this good Vajpayee’ (“To is achhe Vajpayee se aapka kya karne ka irada hai). The whole house left the whole House reeling in laughter.

There is another interesting anecdotal incident of his wit. During his bus diplomacy visit to Lahore, before the Kargil conflict, in one of his interaction with the Pakistani journalists he was confronted with a Pakistani female journalist, who told him that you are still a Batchelor, so I am ready to marry you, but with one condition that you have to give Kashmir in the customary traditions of giving gifts to the newly wed bride for showing her face. Atal Ji, in his poetic style, replied in such a way that the journalist's was silenced. He said that I am ready to marry you and also agree to your demand but you have to give the whole of Pakistan to me in dowry. 

Atal ji went into oblivion suffering from medical ailments. He finally gave up his battle for life and breathed his last on Thursday 16th August 2018. It was a truly solemn and emotional moment througout the country, as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former prime minister of India and BJP icon, finally passed away at 5.05 pm at AIIMS Delhi, surrounded by top national leaders from all parties across the country amid tight security. The funeral procession of Atal ji witnessed some of the most moving moments with waves of humanity joining the nation to mourn his death. 

लौट के आऊँगा, कूँच से क्यू डरूँ - Laut ke aaunga, kooch se kyun daroon - (I will come back, why should I fear leaving), one of Vajpayee’s  poem was selected by the party top brass to be put up on two large flex canvasses along with a smiling portrait of Atal ji on the gun carriage, which was carrying his body. The lines sum up the emotions that many who turned up from across the country felt for their leader. Every Christmas day, when the world celebrates the birthday of the merciful Jesus, in India, Atal ji will be remembered on this auspicious day with immense love, affection, respect and gratitude. 

I am tempted to quote a statement of Atal ji, which he made while addressing one of the Indian Science Congress, where he cryptically alluded to the circuitous and procedure intensive methods, which the scientists working in Government funded scientific institutions are expected to follow. He said ‘ Our scientists are becoming prisoners of procedures rather than achieves of excellence’. Can this issue be one aspect of Good Governance, which the Honourable Prime Minister, Modi ji, has announced to be commemorated on the birthday of Atal ji? Let us wait and see.

Once again wishing you all Merry Christmas. Long  live Atal ji, you will continue to live in the hearts and minds of people of India and I earnestly hope that our political class will emulate your ideals in the larger interest of India. 

The Great Conjunction of Jupiter & Saturn - 21st December 2020 ( A rare celestial spectacle last seen in 1623) 

The year 2020 is inching towards its closure and hopefully the Covid 19 pandemic, which has rampaged the world and taken away millions of lives including that of our dear friend, Vice Admiral Srikant will begin to fade away with the ever increasing number of vaccine candidates lining up to be introduced into the health care system. Fortunately there is a rare celestial spectacle - The Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn - that is now getting played out in the evening sky and hopefully it helps us in diverting our attention from that singularity of Covid focus and lifts our spirits from the depressing news of Covid 19 pandemic. This celestial spectacle of the great conjunction of the Jupiter and Saturn,  which is getting enacted on the south western skies in most parts of India, is scheduled for its climax on the 21st of December - the winter solstice day. This will be one of the rarest of the rare celestial events that one can’t afford to miss more so since the last time such an incident happened was way back in 1623 and even this incident may not have been witnessed by people since the two planets were too close to the Sun. In that sense and realistically speaking the earliest previous instance of such a spectacular celestial event, which we will be witnessing on 21st December, occurred only in the year 1226. Therefore brace ahead and look up to the evening sky to get a glimpse of this spectacle.

The term Conjunction in the current context is used to describe the meetings of planets in our solar system. And when two of the largest planets in our solar system - Jupiter and Saturn, meet it is called the ‘Great Conjunction’, and on the 21st December we will be witnessing the Great Conjunction in our south western sky immediately after the sun set. The great conjunction happens thanks to the orbital paths of these two giant planets coming into alignment, as seen from Earth. It is well known that the Jupiter orbits our Sun every 12 years or so, while Saturn's orbit around the Sun takes nearly 30 years. This means that approximately every 20 years the two planets - Jupiter and Saturn, come into an alignment to form the Great Conjunction. However, it must be noted that although the Jupiter and Saturn planets will align about every 20 years and that the last such Great Conjunction in this century occurred in 2000, the Great Conjunction that will happen on the 21st December, 2020, will be the most spectacular of most of such Great Conjunctions between the two planets. Primarily because it is the closest observable great conjunction of the two planets for almost 800 years.

Therefore, let us all lift our spirit from that Covid conundrum, now that there seem to be light at the end of the tunnel both in terms of the falling rate of Covid cases and fatalities in India and so also the fact that scientists have managed to develop more than one effective vaccine candidates to combat this  pandemic.  Let us all, for the next week or so,  divert our attention from Covid to the Great Conjunction and focus on the rare celestial event and look to the South West sky every evening -  after sun set, from today to watch the two prominently visible giant gaseous planets - Jupiter and Saturn, of our solar system, inch closer and closer to each other until the D day - 21st December. On this day - 21st December, at around 11 PM Jupiter and Saturn will apparently appear as twin planets, which will be separated by a mere .07 degrees apart. This astronomical phenomenon, as stated above, is called the Great Conjunction, a relatively rare cosmic event. So please don't miss this opportunity to keep tracking these two planets in the evening sky every day, until December 21, 2020, when you will notice that Jupiter and Saturn will be a mere 1/5 of the moon-diameter apart. What an exciting moment it will be to watch this rare spectacle and hopefully the clouds will cooperate and not play spoil sport and deprive us of this unique opportunity. 

Like most planetariums and science museums and such other like minded institutions from across the globe, our Centre - Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, too has been webcasting live telescope observation of this event for our esteemed audience, and has also organised two lectures on this subject and a very successful workshop. If any of you are priveleged to have a telescope, you can see in one view both Jupiter and Saturn and the three moons of Jupiter and one moon of Saturn in one single window of the telescope. This will truly be a momentous occasion for any one of us to see the Jupiter and its three moons and Saturn and one of its satellite in one window. To see this rendezvous, you will have to look towards the southwest sky immediately after the sunset to locate the more prominently visible planet Jupiter first and to its left will be a relatively less bright object -  the Saturn. 

The Brihaspati - Jupiter, the fifth planet in our Solar system, as stated above, takes nearly 12 earth-years to complete one full orbit of the Sun and the Shani - Saturn, the sixth planet in our Solar system, takes nearly 30 earth-years to complete one full orbit around the Sun. This means that both these giant gaseous planets - Jupiter and Saturn, come close to each other every 20 years. The next time these two planets will come close to each other will be in 2040. This celestial event is also called heliocentric conjunction. The super proximity between Jupiter and Saturn will be again visible after 60 years, i.e. 2080. When Jupiter overtakes Saturn while orbiting around the Sun, the two planets will be separated by more than a degree. But this December, the event will be different as they will be separated by just about one-tenth of a degree - almost nil.

Jupiter or Brihaspati is considered as Guru in Indian Astrology and is the largest planet in our solar system. Guru means one which is vast and great. In Hindu mythological texts all the major planets are called Navagrahas. The planet Jupiter - Brihaspati, has its own legend. The Navagrahas are worshipped as  Surya - Sun, Chandra - Moon, Mangala - Mars, Budha - Mercury, Brihaspati - Jupiter, Sukra - Venus, Sani - Saturn, Rahu and Ketu as Gods. There are dedicated temples for each of the Navagrahas and Alangudi temple in Tamilnadu is famous for Lord Brihaspati, where the lord Dakshinamoorthy is propitiated for Brihaspati and moola Shivalingam as the celestial power source for the temple. In this temple Lord Brihaspati is seen riding on a chariot pulled by eight horses and these eight horses are representing eight branches of knowledge.  Brihaspati is known as the Deva Guru of all Gods and also he is praised in Rig Veda.  Sani or Saturn is considered to be the son of Lord Surya and brother of Lord Yama. He has a chariot, or a buffalo or a vulture to ride. Sani has three hands holding an arrow, bow and javelin but the fourth one is in Varada Mudra. There is a famous Sani temple in Shingnapur, Maharashtra close to Nashik, where Lord Sani is worshipped in all his grandeur. 

Many in India are enamoured by these two giant planets - Jupiter and Saturn, now that there is an opportunity to look them up closely and literally as one, don’t miss it walk out and look up the sky to watch the great conjunction on the 21st December. Happy viewing.

Eulogy for our School Buddy and a Jewel of our batch, Admiral Srikant, AVSM, DG, Project Sea Bird (Karwar Naval Base)

Just three months ago, 16^th September, 2020, during the foundation day of the Sainik School Bijapur (SSBJ), Vice Admiral Srikant was invited by the Principal and management of SSBJ to be the Chief Guest and to deliver the 57^th Foundation Day lecture at our school, which he did so admirably. Srikant in his outstandingly motivational address to the young Ajeets, highlighted the significance of education in one’s life and he emphasised the role that Sainik School Plays in shaping the lives of the students and that he is one of those lucky ones to have been an alumnus of this great school. His speech was full of motivation to the young cadets who listened to him with rapt attention and looked up to him as their role model. It was such a great honour and privilege for all of us - the Ajeets of 1970 to 1977 batch, that our very own buddy classmate – Srikant, was invited to be the Chief Guest for our school foundation day. Here is link to my blogpost which I wrote on this occasion.

 

 https://khened.blogspot.com/2020/09/sainik-school-bijapur-celebrates-its.html

 

All of us – Tigers77, the SSBJ classmates of Admiral Srikant, and other Ajeets – SSBJ alumni, would never ever in our wildest of dreams imagined that the phrase “time and tide wait for no man” would play out its cruelty to snatch away our beloved school friend and buddy for seven years – Vice Admiral Srikant, AVSM, who bid good bye to this world at 12.45 AM today, 15^th December 2020. The Raksha Mantri in his tweet paid his homage to Admiral Srikath and said “The MoD and the Indian Navy will always remember his stellar contributions and remarkable service to the nation” Srikant was serving as the Director General (DG) of the most prestigious Navy project - Project Sea Bird (Karwar Naval Base), and was scheduled for his superannuation on 31^st of this month but then destiny had different plans for him in the heavenly abode, which is now home to him. He leaves behind his beloved wife Mrs. Sudha Srikant and his doting daughter, Shraddha and the entire Ajeet family (Alumni of the Sainik School Bijapur of which he was one) and friends and our countrymen in whose service Admiral Srikant served the Indian Navy with extraordinary distinction for nearly four long decades.

At the time of his demise Srikant was holding the most prestigious and pivotal position of the DG of the largest naval infrastructure project for India, Project Sea Bird - the 21^st Century Smart Naval Base, which is being developed at Karwar, Karnataka, which is spread over 11,300 Acres. This project when completed will provide the Indian Navy with its largest naval base on the west coast. Incidentally this will also be the largest naval base in the east of the Suez Canal. This project will be able to support several major warships and submarines and yard crafts besides housing specialized dockyard repair and maintenance facilities (with piers, wharfs, revetments, quay walls, etc.), covered dry berths for ships and submarines, new technologically advanced security and communication systems, a Naval Air Station, which would include multiple runways, hangars, housing, ordnance handling areas, services, personnel support infrastructure, etc. are some of the other facilities that are a part of this prestigious project of the Indian Navy and our dear friend, Admiral Srkant was heading this prestigious project. This is one of the many responsibilities, which Admiral Srikant shouldered admirably in his long and illustrious career of nearly four decades in the Indian Navy, in which he was commissioned in January 1982.
 
Vice Admiral Srikant is an alumnus and our batch mate of the Sainik School Bijapur – SSBJ, our Alma mater, an extraordinary residential school where we studied from 1970-77. Srikant was born on 1^st January 1960 in Bangalore and did his early education in Bangalore before his admission into the Sainik School, Bijapur in 1970. He studied at the SSBJ from class 5 to class 11 and was selected for the prestigious National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Pune from where he completed his Bachelor of Science and was Commissioned in the Indian Navy in Jan 1982. He then joined the Submarine Arm of the Indian Navy in 1983. Admiral Srikant has held various operational appointments on three classes of conventional submarines of the Navy and commanded the first indigenously built submarine INS Shalki.  His large Surface Combatant Commands have been of Destroyer Ranvijay and larger Destroyer Delhi. He held various Staff and Administrative appointments at the Naval Headquarters, New Delhi, during his long career with the Indian Navy.
 
Admiral Srikant also holds the distinction of graduating from the prestigious United States Staff College, New Port, Rhode Island in 1995 with Distinction, standing First in the Order of Merit. He is also a graduate of the Naval War College, Mumbai (2004) and the prestigious National Defence College, New Delhi (2009) where his thesis ‘China’s Nuclear Capability’ was adjudged worthy for a prestigious Book Prize by the Ministry of Defence. One of the prestigious posting for the serving officers in Defence is a posting in Pakistan and Admiral Srikant has that distinction. He served as the Naval Adviser at the Indian High Commission, Islamabad, Pakistan during the most sensitive period from 1998 to 2002. This was the period when Operation VIJAY and Operation PARAKRAM were conducted by India and the relationship between India and Pakistan were at their lowest and the post which Srikant held in Islamabad was very sensitive and quite risky as well. He served this period admirably and his contributions during this challenging Diplomatic Tenure in Pakistan were duly duly acknowledged by the Navy, Ministries of Defence and External Affairs.
Srikant was also involved in the Nation’s Strategic Submarine Programme from 2004 to 2015.  As the Project Director, he managed the large Manpower inductions and positioning in various Technical Work Centres spread across the country. He was elevated to the position of an Admiral in 2011 and he held the Appointment of the Submarine Class Authority at Visakhapatnam dealing with Doctrines, Safety, Training, Indigenization and HR aspects of both Conventional and Nuclear Submarine Forces of the Indian Navy.  He was promoted to a Vice Admiral in April 2015. Srikant has served as the Inspector General, Nuclear Safety of Naval Nuclear Platforms and Assets. Aspects related to Nuclear Submarines’ Acquisition, Training, HR aspects, Contract conclusion with the Foreign Consultants and large scale Infrastructure development were both initiated and steered by him and the Nuclear Submarines, Arihant and Chakra were commissioned into the Navy under his direct responsibility.
 He also served as the Commandant of India’s Highest Institution of Strategic Learning, the prestigious National Defence College, New Delhi from 2018-19.  A “Draft” National Security Strategy Document was prepared under his guidance for consideration by the Govt. of India.  During the two years as the Commandant, he led High Level Delegations to South Africa, France, Republic of Korea, Australia, Nepal, Japan, Bangladesh, UAE, Israel and Singapore to reinforce the Institution’s footprints and mandate of Nation-building efforts. It was during this period that I invited him to open a new Science Odyssey Show “Aircraft Carriers – Guardian of the Sea” at our centre, which he was very kind to accept. This new show was opened by Admiral Srikant on 30^th June 2018 at the Nehru Science Centre and three of my classmates – Milind, Arvind and Pradeep Talikoti and four other Ajeets from Mumbai joined me in greeting and welcoming Srikant to Mumbai. For his meritorious service of nearly four decades, Admiral Srikant has been conferred with Commendation Medal by the Chief of the Naval Staff, and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) by the President of India. Srikant held sensitive posts in Defence, which mandated that he keeps away from public and therefore although he was a member of our TIGERS 77 SSBJ group, he was always a silent spectator who always never forgot to each of us on our birthdays and such other occasions separately.
 
Srikant was always very adventurous and a compulsive optimist and never spared any effort to achieve any goal set out to him. He exemplified this trait from school days. He was in my neighboring house - Hoysala House and this made it that much more possible for cadets in Vijayanagar house (my house) and Hoysala house cadets to meet very often. While at school he was known for his dare devilish acts one of which included his penchant for catching snakes alive. Our school was spread over 450 acres and there were too many snakes in the campus and whenever he saw one irrespective of whether it was poisonous or not, he made it a point to catch it alive and give it to biology lab. He also caught scorpions and one of the incident will remain etched in my memory. He had caught a scorpion with some babies and he was playing with the baby scorpion in his hand. One of the seniors asked him to eat it. Lo and Behold Srikant swallowed the baby scorpion live. That was our Srikant the dare devil boy from his very young days. He was one of those who came from a very poor family background. There is another incident which comes to my mind which speaks of his daringness and his compulsive optimism. This was narrated to me by Sudhir Phadnis our classmate.
 After passing his NDA exam and clearing his SSB (Service Selection Board) interview, Srikant was called for the medical examination at the Pune Military Hospital. Sudhir, who was studying in 12^th class in the Garware College in Pune recalled that one fine day Srikant landed in his hostel and that too barefoot. He had run out of all his money and wanted Rs 200/ for travelling to Delhi to challenge the medical report of Pune which had declared him unfit. Srikant, a diehard optimist was convinced that he will never be medically unfit and therefore had preferred to challenge the medical report of Pune. He travelled all alone to Delhi, where he was once again medically reexamined and declared fit and rest is history. He joined the NDA and rose to a very high level office of the Vice Admiral a three-star General.
 
Sudhir, recounted that Srikant returned the money in an envelope containing 10 numbers of 10 Rupee note and 5 of 20 Rupee note. Srikant kept in regular touch with most of our classmates including yours truly. I used our acquaintance and ensured that he accepts my invitation to open a science odyssey film Aircraft Carrier. He delivered such a wonderful inaugural lecture. Subsequently during one of my visits to Delhi, I visited Srikant in the prestigious National Defence College of which he was the head – The Commandant. Notwithstanding his pre-occupation he personally showed me the entire campus, known for its name and fame. He even asked me how he could improve the aesthetic ambiance of one of the rooms in the NDC. I guided him to the Archaeological Survey of India and suggested that since the NDC building and the proposed room is historical in nature, he may use the vintage and rare photographs of the archaeological sites of Delhi to embellish the room. He always wanted to do the best wherever he served and in whatever capacity he served.
 
There are innumerable other instances, which were shared in our batch group chats which has revealed that Srikant has always made it a point to wish everyone of us on special occasions. He also tried to find time to attend social gatherings and functions. He has attended the marriages of some of our classmate’s children for which he used to fly down and return on the same day. In one instance quoted today Srikant flew down from Delhi to Bangalore to meet our class mate V S. Patil, who is presently in US, during the funeral of V S Patil’s father. Srikant had great vision for the School, he was discussing as to what he could take up post his retirement, which was just 15 days away. He was also invited as the Chief Guest in one of the most reputed schools in Ooty – The Good Shepherd International School by one of our former teachers Shri P. C. Thomas. Just before the Covid-19 lockdown Srikant had flown to Mumbai for an official meeting in the month of February, 2020 and he was to go back on the same day. It so happened that while he was crossing the Bandra Worli Sea link, he realised that he was about 15 to 20 minutes ahead of his schedule and therefore he called me and asked me if we could meet for about 15 minutes. Accordingly, we met at the Nehru Centre and had wonderful nostalgic memories. He remembered that Satish Maneshinde, one year senior in Sainik School, has an office in Worli and asked me about it. Satish’s office was just on the other side of the road. He expressed how he had more time so that we could go and meet him. He also told me that he will come once again and that all of us meet Satish in his office. But then almighty had other plans for him.
 
Srikant took the lead role in our batch meeting to construct a memorial Ajit Dwar in memory of our batch mate Colonel Ajit Bhandarkar, who was martyred in Kashmir not before showing exemplary valour to exterminate three terrorists and in the process he was awarded the coveted Shaurya Chakra. In memory of our martyr friend Ajit all of us had united to raise the requisite funds to construct the AjIt Dwar at the SSBJ. Srikant co-ordinated entire event and he was supported by all of us particularly Arjun Misale, GS Patil, Jagdish Nandi and A N Gudi.  The Ajit Dwar was opened by Srikant himself in the presence of the Principal of the Sainik School and several of our school mates were present for the opening including Smt Shakuntala the wife of our Martyr friend Col Ajit and so also two of his sons who are now both in armed forces. Most unfortunately, I could not be one of those lucky ones to go to Bijapur for this occasion.
 
There is so much to write about Srikant that words fail to come to my mind due to the shock that we all received this morning.  On this occasion, while paying our reverential salutation to Vice Admiral Srikant, I wish to state that the whole nation and our classmates and the entire Ajeet fraternity join us in paying for the noble departed soul of our dear Srikant to rest in eternal peace in the heavenly abode, which will now be home to Srikant for eternity. Our prayers are also with Sudha Srikant, the wife of Srikant who stood by him every moment, and his doting daughter Shraddha. We pray that God give that indomitable strength and courage, which he bestowed on Srikant to Mrs Srikant and his daughter to tide over this colossus irreplaceable loss.
 
Mrs. Sudha Srikant is a home maker and is a Graduate in English, Sociology and Public Administration, who always took keen interest in various Naval Wives Welfare Association activities.  Their Daughter Shraddha holds a Master’s degree in Development Economics from the London University and presently she is working for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) at New Delhi.

Srikant was given a ceremonial cremation in the true traditions of the Indian Navy including the firing of volleys and wreath laying ceremonies and his mortal remains were confined to the holy fire at 1300 hours this afternoon at the Brar Square Crematorium.
 
Srikant, my dear friend you will continue to remain in the hearts and minds of all of us.
 
Rest in peace my friend.