COVID 19 : Heightened Fear, Is it Warranted?

COVID 19 : Heightened Fear, Is it Warranted?

The Corona Virus (on which I have already written three blogs), first known by the name of Novel Corona Virus (nCoV) and subsequently renamed COVID19, has resulted in more than 4500 deaths and affected nearly 125000 people in 121 countries. Notwithstanding the fact that WHO has not yet classified it as a pandemic, the global fear of the virus is palpable and it is no different in India. As soon as I landed in Kolkata today late evening (11.30PM), I received a message from my colleague, Mr Umesh Kumar, who enquired whether we have to close some of our facilities at our science centre for public, namely Science Odyssey, Simulator and 3D shows, in line with the decision of the Kerala Government to close cinema theatres. Is this fear justified? Personally I feel it is not, but then we will abide by the health advisories.

The fear for contagious diseases are as old as human civilisation and the ongoing fear of the Corona virus is another example. Fortunately ever since the beginning of the last century the global community has almost always come together to combat such contagious diseases, some of which have even been eliminated from the face of the Earth. Take for example the crippling disease Polio, the very mention of this disease, not until long ago, would send spine cracking fear among people. But then Polio is no longer feared, rather it has more or less been completely wiped out, including from India, which has remained polio free for nearly six years. Therefore I personally feel that we must not fall prey to the unduly heightened fear that is getting played out in most national and international media, majorly on social media platforms. 

Speaking about fear mongering on social media, I am reminded of Dr Gagandeep Kang, FRS, an eminent scientist, who spoke recently in Delhi on the pandemic of infectious diseases, particularly highlighting the current Corona Virus outbreak. She spoke on a new phenomenon, which she described as an ‘Infodemic’, a fake information that becomes viral on the social media on matters pertaining to diseases like the Corona Virus. She stressed that ‘fake or false information on medical issues are as bad as the pandemic itself’ and appealed to the people to be circumspect. She was delivering a special talk on ‘Preparedness, Response, and Research when Epidemics and News go Viral’. 

Elaborating on the drivers that spread epidemics, she said, “Today’s world is deeply connected, and people are in direct contact all the time. In such a scenario, epidemics are and will continue to become more frequent, more complex, and harder to prevent and contain”. Current demographic transitions, driven by population growth, rapid urbanization, deforestation, globalization of travel and trade, climate change and political instability have fundamental effects on the dynamics of infectious diseases. She said that in a changing world, these drivers ensure that pathogens can and will cross barriers and spread in increasingly unpredictable ways.

Dr. Kang pointed out how, in the last two decades SARS, MERS, Ebola, and COVID-19 outbreaks have shown that our concept of epidemics must evolve from crisis response during individual outbreaks to an integrated cycle of preparation, response, and recovery. “For rapidly evolving, high-impact events, preparedness, and collaborations designed and defined ahead of the outbreak are essential to bring together communities, responders, and researchers who do not currently interact,” she added.

 “Preparation, as with platform technologies for vaccines and diagnostics for sharing data and samples, sequencing and capacity for new diagnostics, can be key drivers of rapid innovation for tools to protect our populations,”  She highlighted about the international Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a public-private coalition which is working by coordinating resources of academia, industry, and governments, prioritizing platform technologies and facilitating advanced developments for emerging infectious diseases to derail epidemics by speeding up the development of vaccines. She emphasised that confidence in our health systems, our agencies, and our scientists is vital in protecting our people and in advancing science to enable the development of technologies to protect the world. She cited the successful example of MenAfrivac, a vaccine developed by India, which completely eradicated the Meningitis disease from Sub Sahara Africa. She said that “We have a lot to be proud of but a lot more to do.”

WHO has on its website a short video, which explains what inspired global scientists to take up the challenge of developing a vaccine for meningitis ( MenAfrivac), which could potentially eliminate meningococcal A epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa. The film describes the initial search for a manfucturer willing to produce a vaccine at a price affordable for Africa and the interntational partnership that led to the vaccine's development within a decade. 

The MenAfrivac vaccine example, which eradicated the deadly meningitis, shows us how well the global community has come together in the hour of crisis to combat such situations. I am therefore certain that collectively we will definitely do so even now and in future as well with science and technology as our guiding force. We must therefore, instead of panicking, blaming and finger pointing, even worse, rumourmongering, re-emphasise that it is time for exhibiting exemplary global solidarity — political, financial and scientific - for collectively combating this menace. The current situation has once again provided us an opportunity for yet another global solidarity and a joint consolidated efforts by nations, which can set aside political, idealogical and other differences,  to fight this common enemy (COVID19) that has no respect for borders. 

It is also time for all of us - particularly our global leaders - to ensure that we collectively support all health workers and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to pool all possible global strength and resources to bring this outbreak to an end. And also collaborate in bringing together the best of global scientists for using all the scientific infrastructures that is at their command to produce their best science to find shared answers to all our shared problems, which in the instant case is this deadly COVID19. Hopefully the day is not very far off, when the collective efforts of global community will yield results and will lead to the development of a vaccine, which will not only help in preventing recurrence of this menace in future years, but also will wipe out this deadly virus. 

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International Women’s Day : Remembering Supermom - Sushma Swaraj

International women's day : Remembering Sushma Swaraj the Supermom, and opening of two new Shows at Nehru Science Centre.

Like most other institutions all over the world,  we too celebrated the International Women's Day today (March 8) by opening two new facilities and organising a special training programme exclusively for women. Ms Arundhati Bhattacharya, former Chairman State Bank of India opened these two facilities and addressed the audience briefly. International Women’s Day is celebrated globally by recounting and celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and reminding ourselves of a call to action for accelerating gender parity, particularly in the field of science. It has been more than a century since this day -  8th March - has been commemorated as a special day for women.  Interestingly it was on this very day in 1908 that  the women labours movement started as a united march in which some 15000 women marched in an organised way through the New York City demanding shorter working hours and better pay and right to vote for women who until then were treated unequally not just in US, but globally.  Encouraged by the response that the women’s march received the Socialist Party of America joined hands and demanded for declaring the day as  the National Woman's Day. The idea to convert this day into an international women’s  day  came from Clara Zetkin, who suggested this idea during the International Conference of Working Women, which was held in Copenhagen in 1910. The conference was attended by some 100 women from 17 countries, who unanimously agreed on her suggestion. In the very next year, 1911, this day was celebrated as the Women’s day in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. Therefore technically speaking, this year, we are celebrating the 109th International Women's Day.  However it was only in 1975 that the  United Nations (UN) acknowledged and started celebrating this day as International Women’s Day. Every year there is a theme for the commemoration of the day and this year the theme is ‘An Equal World is an Enabled World’. Interestingly enough the idea for an International Women's Day had no fixed date. However the Russian women went on  a war-time strike, in 1917 and demanded "bread and peace". This resulted in the Tsar loosing control over his reign and the interim government which was formed granted women the right to vote. The women’s strike in Russia started on a Sunday 23rd February of the Julian calendar, which was in vogue in Russia. But then with the onset of the Gregorian calendar, this day became 8th March.

Google is one constant that connects us globally and Google Doodle celebrates all such global events and this year’s International Women’s Day was celebrated by the Google Doodle with an animated video. The doodle features multilayered 3D paper mandala animation. As put by Google, "It honours women coming together throughout the world and generations."

Politics is one area in which brilliance of women has been exhibited all across the globe and India has been no different. Mrs. Indira Gandhi, remained a very tall leader of India and the oldest political party in India -Congress party  - is headed by Ms Sonia Gandhi.  Although the number of women in politics and science and other major areas has always been relatively small, but even so their power now feels more tenuous than ever. 

On the occasion of International Women's Day, I wish to take this opportunity to remember one such important and powerful lady - Ms Sushma Swaraj - of the ruling party who won the hearts of many people, particularly as people’s external affairs minister. She died recently at a relatively young age and that makes it all the more necessary for me to be paying my respect to her.  Sushma Swaraj, at the age of 25, became the youngest state cabinet minister in India. At 27, she became the state president of her party (Janata Party). Later in her career, she became the first woman chief minister of Delhi, the second woman to become the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the first full-time woman external affairs minister of India.

The 6th of August, a special day globally, known for the bombing of Hiroshima and the subsequent peace that dawned and brought to close the deadly WWII, witnessed two historic moments in India - the passing of the Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill, 2019 in the Lok Sabha and the most tragic passing away of Peoples Minister, the Super Mom - Sushma Swaraj. The BJP unwittingly chose this historic day - 6th of August - to pass their Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill, 2019 in the Lok Sabha, which created a new destiny for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. What an irony and uncertainty of life, just a few hours before on the 6th of August, at around 6 PM or so Sushma ji had tweeted ‘प्रधान मंत्री जी - आपका हार्दिक अभिनन्दन. मैं अपने जीवन में इस दिन कोदेखने की प्रतीक्षा कर रही थी. ‪@narendramodi‬ ji’ to congratulate the Hon PM for the passage of the Kashmir bill and abolition of the article 370 in whose favour she had made a fiery speech in the Parliament as an opposition leader in 1996. In less than 4 hours of her last tweet, she bid adieu to the materialistic world for her permanent residence in the heavenly abode.

Hundreds of thousands of admirers of Sushma ji - the people’s leader - including the who’s who of the country; the Honourable President, the Prime Minister, the Vice President and most of the cabinet colleagues, opposition leaders - cutting across party lines - and innumerable other leaders and ordinary men and women had thronged to the BJP headquarters in Delhi, where her mortal remains were taken, to pay their last respect to Sushma ji. Unending number of people poured out their emotion, love, affection, admiration and reverence of unprecedented proportions to the departed leader. What a leader she was, the whole nation joined in admiring her contributions while paying their extraordinary tributes to Sushma ji,  the par excellence people’s politician, who truly epitomised what public service means for the empowerment of the people - whom they are elected to govern. 

Sushma ji even in her demise, in her inimitable style, she has served her country and contributed to the well being of the nation by shifting  the focus from the Kashmir issue to her untimely death. News of the demise of Sushma Swaraj diverted the attention of the people from Kashmir issue and the news of her death occupied the precious front page and prime time space in all media, which would otherwise have been filled with politicking news on the J&K bill, and may have caused unrest in the  country particularly in the Kashmir valley. Sushma ji served her country even in her death. She was one of those aberration few political leaders who remained a compulsive public servant and an extraordinary nationalist for whom public good and service to the nation and its citizens was paramount. Sushma Swaraj has carved a special place not just in the heart and minds of her party - with effective presentation of her views both inside and outside Parliament - but also among the rest of the countrymen. 

Sushma ji was an archetypal Indian women sporting that trademark big red bindi, कुमकुमon her forehead, wide bordered saris and that inimitable smile, which were all an embodiment of revered Indian womanhood, which Indians worship as maa Durga, Laxmi and Saraswati. A motherly outlook that she embodied all through her Ministership, particularly as the External Affairs Minister in the Modi 1.0 Government, rightly found a mention in the Washington Post article, which headlined her as ‘Supermom’. Notwithstanding the vilification she was meted out as saviour of Reddy Brothers, she continued to remain tall in her stature and firmly grounded with people, the evidence of which could be seen from the fact that she was one of those tall leaders, who received unprecedented appreciation from the Prime Minister for her contributions not just to the party but to the whole of India. She learnt Kannada - my mother tongue - while contesting in a loosing cause against Sonia Gandhi from Bellary. One may agree or disagree, she made a forceful point of pledging to shave her head, don a white saree and eat groundnuts (symbollically mourning) if Sonia, the Italian-born Congress leader, became Prime Minister, in 2004, when UPA surprised NDA to snatch a victory in the parliamentary elections. 

Born in 1952, she was elected as a Janata Party MLA in Devi Lal's government and became the youngest (25 - 26 years) Cabinet Minister of Labour and Employment (1977-1979) in Haryana. She joined the BJP in 1980. Under a combined Lok Dal-BJP government led by Devi Lal, she was the Cabinet Minister of Education, Food and Civil Supplies (1987-1990). She was judged Best Speaker of Haryana State Assembly for three consecutive years. She was the first official women spokesperson of BJP - a first for of all the political parties in India. She was a gifted orator, and her oratory skills matched those of stalwarts like Atal ji, Advani ji, and our PM Modi. Sushma ji was appointed as the the union cabinet minister for Information and Broadcasting in the Vajpayee government in 1996, which survived for a mere thirteen days. It was during this period that she took a revolutionary step of live telecasting of Lok Sabha debates, which have now become a norm. She served as a member of parliament for six terms during which she has held very important positions including serving as the leader of opposition in the 15th Lok Sabha. She was also elected as an MLA from Delhi in 1998 and in the same year - in October 1998 - she became the first woman Chief Minister of Delhi. She was that illusory अजतशत्र in the world of politics the evidence of which was played out in the outpouring of emotions and tributes by political leaders cutting across parties. Her political career graph is a manifestation of her role in Indian politics.

It was during her tenure as the External Affairs Minister that she transformed the hitherto known ministry for the higher echelons of society into a people’s Ministry by providing a human face to the External Affairs Ministry, for the first time ever. She was one compulsive troubleshooter for any Indian stuck anywhere in the world, and this act of hers is now a folklore story which played out extensively on the twitter post the news of her death. Sushma ji took personal interest in resolving minor issues which included apparently mundane issuance of visa to the needy, including those from Pakistan, and getting the much needed relief to Indians in distress across the globe. She helped in building an extraordinary image for her party among the expats and the response was an outpouring of support for the Modi government from the non-resident Indian community. 

Sushma ji, due to her ailments, had announced her retirement from electoral politics and did not contest the 2019 parliamentary elections. It was hoped that this much needed break and rest would nurse her back to better health but then destiny had a different role for her and she was untimely snatched from all of us at a very young age of just 67, by the almighty in to the abode that she now dwells. Sushma ji, you will ever be remembered for your extraordinary service to the nation. On this International Women’s  Day , once again I take this opportunity to pray for the Supermom to Rest in Peace.

Om Shanti.

Jai Hind and Jai नारि शक्ति।

Corona Virus : its Economic and travel Impact, including on our family.

Corona Virus : its Economic and travel Impact, including on our family.

The Corona Virus, about which I have written two articles on my blogpost, the first on the 24th January and the second on the 7th February, is continuing to make global headlines and has once again made it to the front page of today’s Times of India, Mumbai edition. Its adverse effect on global economy including tours and travels is continuing to be experienced by most people that includes my family as well. The threat of the virus has adversely affected my nephew and his family’s travel back to US from our home town Raichur, where they had come for performing a religious ritual for their son Shreyas. Similarly, travel plan of my wife and my father in law, which was planned four months ago, for an organised 8 days tour to Japan, through the SOTC group, had to be cancelled. Both these events have costed our family and so we can imagine what the cost of this virus could be on the global economy. While all nations are busy combating and tackling this epidemic, the global economic cost of the coronavirus is estimated to be more than 1 trillion US Dollars. This price is estimated based on the workplace absenteeism, lower productivity, sliding travel, disrupted supply chains and reduced trade and investment, resulting from the global scare that the virus has caused. Hopefully the epidemic is controlled very soon failing which the cost is likely to increase substantially if it hits the most awaited event of the year—The Olympics. This crisis has prompted me to write this post on the Corona virus, which is now a world epidemic that is threatening to become a pandemic.

The live statistics of Corona virus (COVID-19), which is being put out on a dedicated website gives a figure of 86898 confirmed cases with 2977 deaths ( as on 1st March 2020, 11.26 AM) spread across 62 countries and territories around the world including the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was harboured in Yokohama, Japan, which also had on board few Indians, who have since been brought back to India.  Although number of deaths are constantly increasing and spreading beyond the Wuhan city and the Chinese boarder, fortunately there has not been a single fatal incident in India, notwithstanding the fact that there have been confirmed cases of patients affected with the virus. The government of India, the health ministry in particular under the leadership of Dr Harshvardhan ji must be credited for this achievement and also for aiding the people stranded in Wuhan and Diamond Princes Cruise to be brought back to India and for ensuring that the virus is contained. Of the 86000 plus people who have been infected with this virus, roughly half of them (39797) have already recovered and an estimated 43014 active cases are still being attended to, out of which 7818 (18%) people are reported to be serious or critical, which means the number of deaths may continue to raise in the days and weeks to come.

The best selling book “The World is Flat : A Brief History of the Twenty First Century." by Thomas Friedman, New York Times, columnist, uses a metaphor -World is Flat- to describe the 21st century’s connected world. The advantages that the connected world offers are more than offset by the most profound challenges of rapid spread infectious diseases, outbreaks, and antimicrobial fatalities in this connected world the impact of which we are now witnessing. The COVID-2019 epidemic, which has spread to more than sixty countries, exemplifies the pitfalls of a connected world. All it takes is a flight and an affected individual for the virus to spread from one corner of the world to the other in the shortest of time. And it is this fear, which has taken a toll on international  trade, commerce and travels and not surprisingly my family too has been affected by this.

My nephew, Chaitanya Khened, who works with Intel, San Jose, USA, had arrived in India with his wife and son (aged 18 months) for the ಜವಳ (मुंडन )ceremony of his son Shreyas, which was to be performed at our ancestral family’s Nandi temple on the shores of the lake at the historic town of Kanakagiri, on the 4th February. Kanakagiri, meaning ‘hill of gold’, is a historical place situated in Karnataka State, in Gangavati taluk of Koppal district. Our grandson, Shreyas’s  ಜವಳ ceremony was an opportunity for our family to get together and celebrate it at our ancestral temple in Kanakagiri. Incidentally Kanakagiri is a historic town, which came to prominence during the rule of the Vijayanagar kingdom. Hampi, the capital of the Vijayanagar exemplifies the architectural beauty and richness of this kingdom. While Hampi and Kanakagiri have a similar legacy, Hampi has found a prominent place on the world tourist map, while most unfortunately Kanakagiri has been completely forgotten that includes the famous Kanakachalapathi temple.

The Kanakachalapathi temple is a 16th-century Hindu temple dedicated to lord Vishnu. Legend has it that Kanakagiri was known in ancient times as "Swarnagiri" ("Hill of Gold"). Besides our ancestral Nandi temple, the town has several other ancient temples, which were built by the Naiks of Kanakgiri - the Palegars, who were ruled by the Vijayanagar kings. The Kanakachalapathi is the largest temple and is very well known for its architectural beauty, that is typical of the Vijayanagara times. The influence of Vijayanagar’s culture and architecture is evident in the town. There are many beautiful monuments scattered across the town. The principal deity of the Palegars of Kanakagiri was Kanakachalapathi and therefore they constructed this temple in honour of their deity. The Kanakachalapati temple has a rangamantapa in the middle, which is supported  by 34 pillars and the temple top portion, most elegantly, depicts colourful dolls and sculptures that narrate mythological stories from the epics. The temple has five gopuras, and the shrine houses a well ‘Venkatapathi Bhaavi”, which was meant for the use by the king’s family. This well was built by Venkatappa Nayak in 1586 AD. The Trimurti deities, Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma are found on three sides of this well, which is built in the Indo-Islamic style. The sculptures in the temple includes the mythological figures, which are carved in wood and pilaster while those of kings and queens in black stone. There is a local saying in Kanakagiri, which exemplifies the beauty of the temple; it says "people with eyes must see Kanakagiri and those with legs Hampi”, affirming that the Kanakachalapathi temple is a delight to the eyes, where as one needs to walk tirelessly to enjoy the architectural wonders of the city of Hampi, which is now a UNESCO World heritage cite. The Kanakachalapti temple fair, organised during phalguna, the months of February and March, attracts quite a large number of devotees. The carvings on the walls and roof of the temple are quite fascinating. There is also a seven-pillared structure in the temple complex, which produces music when you strike it, which is quite similar to the famous pillar structure in Hampi. The tragedy however is that while Hampi receives hundreds of thousands of visitors annually and so also tens of millions of rupees in funding for its restoration and development, Kanakagiri, which is equally rich in its architecture, has been mostly neglected.

A visit to the city of Kanakagiri and our ancestral Nandi temple in the town is a must for us whenever we are in our home town, more so since my wife is highly religious and she demands that we must visit the Nandi temple and perform pooja whenever we go to Karnataka. My Bhabhi and wife and so also all of my other relatives, are equally devoted to this temple and age old traditions of our family performing the Pooja at our ancestral temple. Following this tradition, our nephew flew all the way from San Jose, USA, with his wife and Son to continue this tradition, for performing the ಜವಳ ceremony of his son Shreyas at our ancestral temple in Kanakagiri, a glimpse of this Pooja are shared in the accompanying photographs. Unfortunately all his travel plans went for a six, since he had booked his return journey with his family from Hyderabad to Hongkong to San Francisco on the 20th of February and by then the fear of the Corona virus was so very scary, more so in Hongkong, that he had to cancel their journey in the last minute and instead booked a revised ticket from Bangalore to Delhi to San Francisco, which costed him dearly.

Similarly my Father in Law, who needed a major change post the tragic demise of his beloved wife and his eldest son, had planned for a eight day organised tour to Japan with my wife - his favourite daughter- who is now a major source of mental support for him. Their organised travel to Japan was booked through SOTC, a well know travel agency and they were schedule to leave Mumbai next week. Unfortunately since the spread of Corona virus kept increasing, there was no way for us but to cancel this trip and this cancellation too has costed us.

Infectious diseases like the current COVID-19, TB, Malaria, Dengue, Influenza, AIDS, Ebola, Cholera, Plague, Nipah, Zika etc. terrorise most nations including India and kill tens of thousands people every year. It is no wonder they also create a havoc on the global economy, including adversely affecting travels, just as it did for our family. Some experts say the current global health crisis could cost few trillion dollars for the global economy. This is based in the study of the cost of the economic impact of SARS in 2003. International companies have started sounding alarms over the likely economic impacts of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in China, warning that reduced flows of goods and people into and out of China - the second-largest economy - will have a tangible impact on business and product availability throughout the world. The fact that the world's manufacturing hubs in Asia have become the epicentre of the epidemic has worsened the impact.

Let us hope that the collective efforts of global community will help in combating the Corona virus menace and hopefully sooner than later all things become normal.

Dr Gagandeep Kang, FRS, an Extraordinary Women in Science

February 28, when Sir CV Raman made public announcement of his discovery of the scattering of light - a scientific phenomenon which is now named after him and called the Raman Effect - in 1928, which won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930, thus making him the  first Asian to be conferred with this prestigious prize for sciences, has been rightfully declared as the National Science Day (NSD). The celebrations of NSD started from 1987, the birth centenary of Sir CV Raman. Ever since this day is celebrated all across the nation with much fanfare. Unfortunately until very recently, this day coincided with the announcement of the annual budget, and therefore the NSD was completely eclipsed by the media who used to cover only the budget news and this important day remained at most on the foot notes of most media. Fortunately ever since the change in the budget announcement day and time to 1st of February, 11 AM, the NSD has been getting some attention in the media as well. With this expectation I tried browsing the printed editions of the Times of India and Economic Times that I subscribe, and was painfully saddened to see that not even a cursory reference to the NSD was covered, notwithstanding the fact that the first citizen of India, the Honourable President of India presided over the NSD function at the Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi and internationally acclaimed Dr Gagandeep Kang delivered a lecture. It is therefore no wonder that the percentage of women in science, which incidentally was the theme for this years NSD, is as low as 15% less than half the world average of 30%. While it is the prerogative of the media what to cover and what not to, but then the neglect of science news is so very visible that it is no wonder that science does not appeal to young students. Hope the media introspects. Every one of us reap the benefits of science that accrue to us from the unending applications that science provides us as technology, which has led us to the present era of knowledge society, yet when it comes to coverage of science in media there is lot that is expected from the media. 

On the occasion of the NSD, theme-based science communication activities are carried out all over the country, particularly in science centres across India and also in scientific institutions. Most of these research institutions throw open their doors to the public to see the research that they do in their labs, which were mostly considered as ivory towers.  We at the Nehru Science Centre have been celebrating the NSD event annually and of all the events that we organise on this occasion, the prime attraction is the Raman Memorial Lecture, which is organised on this day. The Raman Memorial Lectures have been delivered by some of topmost Scientist’s of our country, which include among others Bharat Ratna Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and Prof CNR Rao, and so also other equally distinguished scientists ; namely Prof MM Sharma, Prof Mashelkar, Prof Narlikar, Dr Kakodkar and others. This year the Raman Memorial lecture was delivered by a nonagenarian and one of the prime movers of nuclear energy programs in India, Padma Vibhushan Dr MR Srinivasan. Even at his advance age of 90 plus he enthralled the audience with his lecture that highlighted the success of Indian nuclear research besides covering general science subjects. He side stepped our request asking him to deliver his lecture seated on the chair, by standing near the podium to deliver his lecture for almost an hour until taking his seat for answering several audience questions. The entire family of Dr MR Srinivasan, his wife, daughter and son joined us for the lecture to make it a memorable event.  The auditorium was jam packed and we had several students who were squatting on the floor. Dr Srinivasan, notwithstanding his tiredness was so overwhelmingly accommodative of requests from several students and teachers for a selfie. 

The main celebrations of the NSD however happens at the National capital. This year, the National Science Day was celebrated in Delhi under the theme ‘Women in Science’ at the Vigyan Bhawan. The Honourable President, Ram Nath Kovind ji presented several awards for science communication and popularization as well as for women scientists. In all the Honourable President gave 21 awards under the categories, National Science and Technology and Communication Awards, Augmenting Writing Skills For Articulating Research (AWSAR) awards, SERB Women Excellence Awards and  National Award For Young Woman Showing Excellence Through Application Of Technology For Societal Benefits. Other dignitaries present on the occasion included Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Science and Technology and Smriti Irani, Minister for Women and Child Development. The program also included a special NSD lecture, which was delivered by renowned women scientist of India, Prof Gagandeep Kang, Director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad. Dr Kang was recently elected as the first women FRS of India. It was an apt choice of the speaker, specially considering the theme for this years NSD - Women in science - which has been chosen for the purpose of increasing public appreciation of the scientific issues involved and motivating young girls to peruse science as their career. Dr Kang spoke on the pandemic of infectious diseases particularly highlighting the current Corona Virus outbreak and spoke on a new phenomenon which she described the ‘, Infodemic’, which is a fake information that becomes viral on the social media on matters pertaining to the diseases like the Corona Virus. She said that fake or false information on medical issues are as bad as the pandemic itself and appealed to the people to be circumspect while dealing with microbial pandemics. 

Prof. Gagandeep Kang has become the first Indian woman to be conferred with the prestigious fellowship of the Royal Society and in the process she has joined the illustrious company of the greatest of scientists who have been conferred with this honour and that include among others, Isaac Newton (1672), Charles Darwin (1839), Michael Faraday (1824), Ernest Rutherford (1903), Albert Einstein (1921), Francis Crick (1959), Srinivasa Ramanujan (1918), J C Bose (1920), C V Raman (1924), M N Saha (1927), H J Bhabha (1941), Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1944) S N Bose (1958) etc. The first Indian to be conferred with this honour, however is Ardaseer Cursetjee Wadia.

The Royal Society, the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence, is a Fellowship of many of the world's most eminent scientists. Founded on the 28th, November 1660, the Royal Society was created on the 15th July, 1662 and it now boasts of some 1700 plus fellows - including the latest entrant Dr Gagandeep Kang, who has been conferred with the honour recently and will be allowed to use the post nominal title FRS (Fellow of the Royal Society). True to the spirit of this prestigious scientific body and central to its philosophy, the motto of this institution is ‘Nullius in verba’ meaning ‘Take nobody’s word for it’. Announcing the new members to its August body the current President of the Royal Society, Dr. Venki Ramakrishnan said “It is our Fellowship that has remained a constant thread and the substance from which our purpose has been realised: to use science for the benefit of humanity”.

Prof. Kang has not been new to extraordinary acclaim that she has been receiving in the recent past for her groundbreaking work. Some of the awards that Dr. Kang has been conferred with recently include; Woman Bioscientist of the Year, from the Government of India (2006); election to Fellowship of the American Academy of Microbiology (2010), the Indian Academy of Sciences (2011), National Academy of Sciences (2013), Ranbaxy Research Award (2014), the Faculty of Public Health in the UK and Dr. SC Parija Oration Award, Indian Academy of Tropical Parasitology (2015), and the Fellow of Indian National Science Academy and the Infosys Prize in Life Sciences (2016). The latest addition, the FRS, is another befitting honour for Dr Kang.

Prof. Gagandeep Kang is a physician scientist, who for many years worked as a Professor of Microbiology and Head of the Division of Gastrointestinal Sciences and the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory at the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore. Prof. Kang has made pivotal contributions to understanding the natural history of rotavirus infections as well as other enteric infections, which are important causes of mortality and morbidity in India. Dr. Kang is known for her interdisciplinary research of enteric infections among children. She has played a significant role in developing indigenous vaccines against typhoid and rotavirus in India.

Rotavirus is a leading cause of childhood morbidity and mortality, with India being one of the hardest hit countries. It is estimated that the rotavirus kills approximately 453,000 children under five years of age worldwide every year, which includes an estimated 98,000 from India. The WHO describes rotavirus as a major threat to the health of children across Southeast Asia. It is for this reason that India has launched the rotavirus vaccine as part of the national immunisation programme, inspired by the works of Dr Kang.

Dr Kang’s fellowship is pathbreaking in many ways, particularly because women in science, a domain that has largely remained patriarchal, is something which is hard to come by. This recognition for Dr Kang is sure to motivate women scientists to dedicate their lives to research and be instrumental in changing our lives, for the better. It is also hoped that the NSD with the theme Women in Science, and the celebrations that happened across the country including the lecture by Dr Kang will immensely benefit young girls to peruse science as a career. 

Prof. Kang is currently serving as the Executive Director of the Translational Health Service and Technology Institute (THSTI), an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.

Jai Hind Jai Vigyan.

Delhi Riots : Time to remind ourselves of unity in diversity

Delhi Riots: Time to remind ourselves of irreparable damage that riots can cause and to re-emphasise on multitudes of our diversity amidst which united we must stand. 

The communal flare up, which spread like wild fire in north east Delhi starting with the clashes between pro and anti CAA protestors in Maujour and Jaffrabad has claimed 22 innocent lives and injured more than 200 people. Better sense must prevail among the citizens of Delhi, particularly political parties - leaders included, who must unitedly stand together, momentarily setting aside their political differences, to appeal for unity and peace. If not, it may not be unfair to remind ourselves of what the consequences could be by remembering the dark days of the partition and the communal flare up that followed. The Jaffrabad incident, coming as it did on the backdrop of the much publicised visit of President Trump to India, has  now spread to other areas of north east Delhi and has resulted in petrol pumps being torched, number of houses, shops and large number of vehicles burnt and damaged leading to loss of tens of crores of rupees, besides the immeasurable loss of human lives. Expectedly this incident was raised by national and international media during the press interaction with President Trump,  who showed his statesmanship in not stigmatising India, while handling some of the highly opinionated questions from some of the international media. 

‘At the stroke of the mid night hour’ when India attained independence - on the 15th of August, 1947 - the Britishers, the colonial rulers who ruled us unjustly for nearly three hundred years and left us high and dry in every aspect of our lives, finally deserted the subcontinent. But then before leaving, true to their character and nature, which was impregnated in their DNA to divide and rule, they engineered the partitioning of the country into two independent nation states - Hindu majority India and Muslim majority Pakistan. The result was the biggest ever human migration in the annals of human history. Nearly fifteen million people, who were displaced from their land on either side of the boarder, moved from one side to the other segregated purely on religious lines and in the process  more than a million people were killed in the deadliest of communal violence that erupted and several more were maimed for life. The Indian partition perhaps is one of the worst instance of human casualties, which was man made based on religious identities and therefore what we are now witnessing in Delhi communal riots is some thing that India  should never ever tolerate and everyone involved in this heinous crime, irrespective of their identity must be identified and exemplarily punished, named and shamed in public. 

India has moved on from those darks days of communal riots engineered by partition on religious lines and is now the largest thriving democracy in the world, where nearly 1.3 billion people with widest of diversity in religion, language and what not, live happily together as one single nation. Notwithstanding some of the aberration few communal riots that the country has very tragically witnessed post our independence including the current Delhi communal rights - India continues to be globally recognised for its democratic traditions and secular credentials, unlike our twin brother Pakistan. A closer look at the religious demographics and census in both the countries, and its comparison with what it was when we attained our independence, exemplifies our true secular democratic traditions. The percentage of the population of minorities in India has not adversely changed  rather it has increased.  On the other hand the Muslim-majority Pakistan is now a theocratic state and is constantly tagged with the terror networks by the international community, which is borne out from the fact that Pakistan continues to be in the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force, the global anti terror funding watch dog, for the insufficient steps taken by Pakistan to curb terror funding. The percentage of the minorities living in Pakistan has shrunk at alarming levels.

 India, continues to be a thriving democracy, which over the past 7 decades has become, kind of a role model to several nations for its democratic traditions.  Notwithstanding the debate that rages on in the country on the current status and definition of a secular state, depending on which side of the ideological divide people are, remarkably our credentials as a truly secular state is unparalleled and diversity is one constant, in all its variety, which thrives in India. Therefore what has transpired in Delhi for the past four days is something which all of us should be ashamed of. It is not the time to for us to continue politicking and scoring brownie points, rather it is time for all of us, the citizens of this great nation of ours, to put our individual likes and dislikes and our predisposition to ideologies and political affiliations aside and follow one dictum - nation and its people first. This makes it mandatory for all of us, particularly the people of Delhi, to join hands with the security forces who are tasked to maintain the law and order and ensure that we don’t fall prey to rumour mongering and spread messages, which might incite people and create hatred for one group against the other. Let us trust our judiciary to bring to justice the fall guys whose mischief led to this communal clash. 

Let us remind ourselves of how tolerant,  law abiding, secular and democratic society we are by remembering how the entire Indian society reacted so peacefully to the recent apex court judgment, which laid to rest the two warring communities - Hindus and Muslims on their respective claims to the disputed Babri Masjid. The landmark 1045 page judgement by the bench, which was unanimously delivered by the Supreme Court on the 9th November 2019 comprised of the Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi and his brother judges, justices S.A. Bobde, D.Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer, resolved once and for all the centuries old dispute between the Hindus and Muslims. Similarly we may have difference on most issues including the CAA, which should and must be settled using the democratic means and not resorting to violence. 

The CAA and most other so called contentious issues will have to stand the test of judicial scrutiny and therefore it is not fair that there should be agitations either for or against, which may inconvenience others and lead to the kind of situation that is witnessed in Delhi. It is the bounden duty of all Indians to resolve our disputes, if any, through democratic traditions and in the most peaceful manner. And  all such differences which cannot be resolved amicably can be taken to the judiciary for adjudication. The judgments, irrespective of each of our prejudices, likes and dislikes must be honoured and respected to uphold the rule of law, which must bring finality to the divisive litigations. What was most heartening to see was that post the Babri Masjid judgment barring a few aberrations, the whole of India showed poise and maturity and an outstandingly nation first stand was taken by the people to avoid any communal or other disturbances. What was more pleasing was the fact that all the leading political parties and their leaders and so also other leaders and influencers of Indian society, the litigants, media etc accepted the Supreme Court Judgement, and more or less collectively took a stand to respect the decision of the Supreme Court and appealed to their followers to maintain unity and harmony in the country. It is time for all of us to look beyond the religious prismatic view and strive that much harder to exemplify the ‘Unity in Diversity’ for which this great nation of ours is known for thousands of years. The plurality of Indian democracy lies not just in the multi-religiosity that is integral to this nation, but so also the diversity that is seen in language, traditions, food, culture etc., which is what India is made of.

Central to the beauty and vibrancy of the Indian democracy are the diversity of the people of India -  Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, religious and non religious, the rich and mighty, the powerful and powerless, the poor and the insignificant, the lettered and unlettered, sheltered and unsheltered, the males, females and the transgender’s, the believers and non believers, young, middle aged, old and the very old - who cohabit  this nation and stand as equal citizens. This vibrancy of our democracy and the unity in diversity gets played out during the dance of democracy- the elections.  The Indianness of our people and our unity in diversity is an age old tradition, which was best exemplified in the Cricket team that represented India, when it made its debut in the international test cricket in 1932.  The Indian team was a team of contrast with diversity in socio, religious and cultural practices. The 18 players, who were selected to represent India, spoke eight to ten different languages among them,  and belonged to four or five different castes. The team was truly multi-religious and consisted of six Hindus, five Muslims, four Parsees and two Sikhs. The players also had their own contrasting beliefs and cultural traditions and practices. 

The extraordinary unity in diversity, which was witnessed among the Cricket players who were divided by religion, culture, traditions and language is what must become a beacon for the whole of India today.  In the context of the narratives that may get played out by some divisive forces, in the days and months to come that may try and divide us on religious lines and create violence, it is hoped that the extraordinary unity in diversity spirit that team India exhibited in 1932,  repeats all across the country, particularly in Delhi.

Jai Hind 

Long love our diversity. 

POTUS visit to India : Buzz in Social and Digital media and its impact on climate change - A Disruptive thought.

POTUS visit to India : Buzz in Social and Digital media and its impact on climate change - A Disruptive Thought

                                  Image Credits : Timothy Greenfield - Sanders/Corbin/Getty

Ever since the announcement of the 2 days schedule of POTUS (President Of The United Staes, Donald Trump), FLOTUS (First Lady Of The United States, Melania Trump) and PDOTUS - (President’s Daughter Of The United States, Ivanka Trump) visit to India (Ahmedabad, Agra and Delhi),  googolplex amount of data (energy guzzling medium) is being created, generated and consumed by the Oceanic amount of space that is finding it’s place in various print, electronic and social media, which is getting finally stored in those unending farms of energy guzzling data centres across the world. There will be scores of articles, analysis, discussions and debates by experts and policy makers, which will span the print and electronic media that will analyse what the benefits and pitfalls, if any, of the visit of Trump will be for India. I am no expert in the diplomatic relations between the two of our countries to comment on this issue, therefore, this post of mine will be on what we data consumers can  responsibly do in the current era of energy guzzling data consuming society.

Dime a dozen amount of forwards - some with heavy images videos and data - are getting circulated in the social media and we Indians are majorly present on these digital platforms. Latest data reveals that there are an estimated 400 plus million users of WhatsApp and another 350 million users of FB in India and add to this other platforms like Instagram, you tube, twitter etc. we can imagine how massive is the Indian data consumption. The exponential growth  of internet and the anti inflationary pricing for consumption of data that most cellular operators provide for the users, and the resultant rapid increase in data consumption by Indians, augurs well for bridging the gap of the digital divide that exists between us and the developed economies. But then  what does it do to the already stressed planet earth? As a growing number of organisations seek to become major players in today’s data-driven economy, the business of data centres have become one of the most important pieces of modern digital infrastructure growth. However, as we continue to face the fear of the the ice caps melting at an alarming rate due to an alleged climate change, is it really possible to sustain energy-guzzling data centres whilst trying to save the planet?

One can majorly observe the role  played by most climate change activist, which are primarily focused on limiting emissions from industries that include automotive, aviation and energy sectors. But then we rarely come across activists proactively speaking on what the communications industry and we - the users of this Industry, are contributing, directly or indirectly,  in generating more carbon emissions like most other sectors. Let me explain what I mean by this. Every day an estimated 400 plus millions of us in India are consuming huge amount of data most of it is for gossip mongering and lighthearted jokes and such other things and not really meant for education and empowerment. All of us partake in those ritualistic social media forwards of unending amount of data (videos and images)transmission and reception and generation, which have no education value whatsoever but get stored in those energy guzzling data centres.

A recent report published in 2016, has stated that the Worlds data centres use huge amount of energy - 416.2 terawatts, which was significantly higher than an estimated 300 terawatt hours of energy that United Kingdom consumes. The data centres are believed to be consuming about three percent of the global electricity supply and are accounting for about two percent of total greenhouse gas emissions. It is said that the data centres have the same carbon footprint emissions (about 3%)as that of the aviation industry. By 2040, storing digital data is set to create 14 percent of the world’s emissions, around the same proportion as the US does today. This is the scenario under the current situation when only about half of the world’s population is connected to the internet. Imagine what happens to the data deluge when this number increases, which of course is mandated for an equitable and just growth of human society. This means the need for data centres and server farms is only going to increase as time passes and more people join the internet. This, in addition to the fact that the amount of data that each person creates is expanding exponentially, means that the pressure for data centres will increase by manifold as this industry keeps growing. The launch of 5G, the new wave of IoT devices, and a thriving use of mobile devices for almost all uses will only compound the problem. As more devices become connected more data will be needed to be processed than ever before.

We can all contribute incrementally to this cause, by avoiding generating those unnecessary data, including the ones each one of us are ritualistically and routinely sending and receding on Trumps forthcoming visit. And it is these small -delta- measures which can work like the proverbial song in the famous Kannada film Bangarada Manushya which says ‘:  ಹನಿ ಹನಿ ಗೂಡ್ದ್ರೆ ಹಳ್ಳ, ತೆನೆ ತೆನೆ ಗೂಡ್ದ್ರೆ ಬಳ್ಳ’, that will help in reducing our individual carbon foot prints, which will collective help in reducing the burden on our Mother Earth.

Long live planet Earth

Sainik School Bijapur: Nostalgic memories of yesteryears.

Sainik School Bijapur: Nostalgic memories of yesteryears.

I am blessed to be among those very few privileged alumni from one of the prestigious chain of residential schools in the country - the Sainik School Bijapur. Very recently I joined the  ‘All India Sainik School Alumni Association (AISSAA)’ group, which has motivated me to write this post to introduce the Sainik Schools in general and the Sainik School Bijapur (SSBJ) in particular with special emphasis to our batch (1970-77) to other members of the AISSAA and to all others, through this blogpost.

The Sainik School scheme was launched by the government of India (Ministry of Defence) in 1961 to bridge the gap that existed in the rank of the military officers from  certain sections of the Indian society.  The scheme was conceived by V. K. Krishna Menon, the then Defence Minister of India, with an aim to rectify the imbalance caused by religion, class, and creed among the Officer cadre of the Indian Military and to prepare students for entry into the National Defence Academy (NDA). This scheme was a god sent scheme to most of the lower and middle class parents, who aspired for giving the best of education to their wards at almost no cost. I am one of the beneficiaries of the vision of Krishna Menon. My father, a primary school teacher, with a large family (seven children), could not have afforded education in such schools had it not been for the free scholarship, which covered all our expenses. During my time, when I joined the Sainik School Bijapur in class 5, in the year 1970, at an young age of 9 years, our education was completely free and we had a scholarship of ₹ 2400/- per annum, which was quite substantial, later it was enhanced to ₹ 4800.  Most of the Sainik Schools, during our time, provided 100% scholarship to the students who were selected through entrance exam. These residential schools were meant primarily for boys and aimed at imparting quality education with majorly military bias. 

Every Sainik School was affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi and had a common curriculum, system of selections and examinations. The primary aim of the Sainik School was to prepare boys academically, physically and mentally for entry into the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla (Pune) and also to be the leaders in other walks of life. Currently there are 31 Sainik schools in India where an estimated 3000 students join every year. Currently the entry into the Sainik Schools is through competitive entrance exams for admission to 6th class and few for 9th class. Every year, entrance tests are conducted all over India for entry into any one of the 31 Sainik Schools and over 8-10 Lakhs of children from across India appear for the Sainik School Entrance Exams. The premiership of the Sainik schools can best be seen when compared to the internationally acclaimed Indian Institute of Technologies - the IITs - in India. There are a total of 23 IITs and for the session 2019, they offered 11289 seats. The number of students who appeared in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for the entrance test for the IITs is around 10 lacs each year. 

It is almost 43 years since most of my batch mates (Ajeets of 1970-77) and I passed out from our beloved alma mater - the Sainik School, Bijapur ( SSBJ) - yet the bonding that exists between each of us, our school and fellow Ajeets, is so very alive, full of life - burning eternally bright like the अमर जवान ज्योति at the India Gate, Delhi. The  four plus decades of bygone years has never faded my memory of those seven eventful years that we spent together in Sainik School Bijapur as cadets. We - all Ajeets - experience this feeling of cadet comradeship each day every day and for eternity. Ever since my passing out of the school and settling down with my chosen career as a science communicator, I always wished to experience those nostalgic feelings at our school, house, barracks and every other place, which was integral to us for all of seven long years in school, from age 9 to 16. All of us joined the school at age 9 or 10, as innocent boys to be shaped and reshaped, polished to shine like the quintessential diamond that gets shaped, from the hard cuts and rough and tough polishing that the original charcoal receives before getting reshaped as diamond. The roll number that each of us, including yours truly, was assigned and so also the house to which we were admitted, when we first joined the school, gets etched for life and in my case the number 505 and Vijayanagar house, remains my Ajeet DNA code and identity when connecting with fellow Sainik School friends and so also with other Sainik school alumni across the country. Each of our batch mates are  in contact with each other and through this blogpost I am making an attempt to write reminiscence of the batch.

Just the feeling of writing a reminiscence of our batch takes me four plus decades to experience those nostalgic feeling filled with emotions, brotherhood, triumphs and tribulations cut across the vast canvass, as if our togetherness has never ended. Courtesy the technology platforms like the WhatsApp, the group is continuing to be well knit even today sharing and multiplying our joys and dividing our sorrows in the very essence of brotherhood, which the school has imbibed in us. That is what the spirit of Sainik School has always been and will continue to be so and it is this feeling of oneness that separates all of us - the alumni of the Sainik Schools - from many other equally reputed schools.

There will be stories that every batch from Sainik schools will have to narrate about their stay in school and so also their achievements  in their respective batches and our batch is no different. However, there are two unique things, which we feel separates our batch from the rest. The first of course is our batch mate Pradeep Bhat (roll number 500) who went on to break academic records wherever he went, be it in our school, the NDA or the IMA and subsequently in the military and so also while he worked with IBM. He is known to every Ajeet (all SSBJ students are referred to as Ajeets) and it is our privilege that we are from his batch and it becomes easy for our batch to identify itself with the batch of Pradeep, when connecting with other Ajit’s. While Bhat himself was an institution all by himself specially in academics, but then there are some interesting anecdotes, which Pradeep too must have felt embarrassed about. Although, he came first in all academics, most often the house that he belonged to (Chalukya) was infamously known for coming last in almost every event including academics, and every one of us - the  70-77 Ajeets - vividly remember the infamous announcement  “Chalukya House Fifth”, which used to be called out by our head master after each of the competitions.

The second uniqueness (infamous) about our batch, was that we were reduced from a strength of 96 strong, when we joined in 1970, to just about 50 when we passed out in 1977. Our batch, when it came to mischief and naughtiness, was no different than others but then what separates us from others is that even in the last days in school, notwithstanding the NDA preparation time or the HSC exam preparation, the mischief remained unabated with some unprecedented mischief played out in class X with catastrophic consequences. While the mischievous act in itself may have raised the bar of mischief to an unprecedented level, its consequences on the batch are best left to history. But then as they say in military “when the going gets tough, tough gets going” and so has it been for most us who are now very well placed and contributing in our own little ways not just to the school but also to the society.

There is another incident that needs to be mentioned for it evidences an indefatigable approach of the cadets - students of Sainik Schools. Almost every batch had the honour to partake in two NCC camps during our stay in school, outside the state and so was it for our batch. We too participated in the two NCC camps, one at Jagannath Puri and the other at Ramgarh Cantt. The former camp is something which will remain etched in the memory of some of us and this also shows the grit and presence of mind that the school teaches the young cadets to cope up with, when facing adverse situations. One designated railway coach was hired and was earmarked for all of us - including the teachers - for travelling from Bijapur to Puri and Back. We completed our NCC camp in  Puri (1974) and were to return back to school. We left Jagannath Puri along with our teacher, Mr G D Kale and our special coach was attached to a train that took us to Khurdha Road Junction from Puri. The coach got detached from the train in Khurdha Road and we were to travel to Hyderabad by another train to which our coach was to be attached in Khurdha Road Junction. We had couple of hours to spend at Khurdha Road by when our connecting train, which I now know was the “East Coast Express”, would arrive and our coach was to be attached to this train to take us to Hyderabad for onward journey to Bijapur via Solapur. All of us were informed by Mr Kale that we can roam the outskirts of the station and be back in 2 hours for taking the next train. But then mischievous that some of our batch mates were, they  did not abide by the instruction ( I was one of them). All but 3 students returned back in time and most unfortunately, our teacher forgot the count and the East Coast Express train departed from Khurdha Road for Hyderabad, leaving back the three of us. Lo and Behold, when  the three of us came to the platform, we could find neither our friends nor our bogey and we learnt that our friends have already left. We were all at sea and were left with just the uncouth NCC clothes,  which we were wearing (with the NCC and SSBJ Tag) and no money with any of us.  But then the rigours the Sainik school teaches to confront adverse conditions, came in handy and the three of went and met  the Station Master and narrated the entire story and requested him to help.

Looking at the demeanour of the three crestfallen young students and listening to their impeccable English the Station Master took pity and assured help. He decided to put the three of us in a train, which was to go to Madras (now Chennai) and that this train was to reach the Waltair Junction before the scheduled arrival of the East Coast train, by which our friends had all gone.  The station master had advised us that we should ask the TC and get down at Waltair station. He also had informed that our train will reach Waltair before the East Coast Express so we should wait for the East Coast train on the platform on which it would arrive. The Station Master personally waited for the “Coramondal” express to arrive and put the three of us in a reserved coach by connecting us to the TC. The East Coast Express by which our friends had departed for Hyderabad was a fast train but then the Coramondal express by which we were travelling was a super fast train travelling from Howrah to Madras. Our train as scheduled reached Waltair Junction (Vishakhapatnam), one full hour before the East Coast express. The three of us were waiting on the platform, where the East Coast arrived, and our overwhelming joy of reaching before our friends  was too short lived. As soon as the East Coast express stopped at the platform Mr. Kale came dashing with the NCC cane and spared no time in beating the three of us left right and centre, in front of all the on lookers. This is one scene which will remain etched in our memory. The lesson though was the rigours of school lets you overcome any hurdle. This positive attitude serves all Sainik School students very well in their career all through their lives.

The batch of 1970-77 was perhaps the largest at the time of joining (around 96), roll numbers beginning from 491 to 587. The batch consisted people from most parts of Karnataka, including few from neighbouring state of Maharashtra and a handful from North India as well. Our school was spread across a massive 500 acres and ours was the first batch to join the fifth house in school - the Wodeyar house. The other four houses included the Chalukya, Hoysala, Adilshahi  and Vijaynagar. Our school was witnessing widespread construction when we joined and most of the buildings were on the verge of completion, which included the Wodeyar house, swimming pool, auditorium, Gymnasium and the horse stable. Our batch was lucky that most of these facilities were completed and thrown open for use by the cadets within one year of our joining, enabling us to enjoy every single of these facilities from almost the very start of our school days. Our batch also had the highest number of sons/wards of the school staff, but not all of them were day scholars. Pradeep Bhat (Colonel, who is now settled in Delhi) Prahlad Subbannnachar, TV Rajashekaran, Milind Deshpande, Luke Lobo and Christopher Mathias.

While Pradeep Bhat is known to many for his brilliance, our batch also had couple of other geniuses who were unfortunately partially eclipsed by the brilliance of Bhat. They included Anirudh Gudi (Colonel who did his Masters in Engineering from IISc, Bangalore) late Lt. Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, (Martyred in action) and Vice Admiral Shrikant from the defence, and Sudhir Phadnis, Manjunath Tambakad IFS, Late. Dr. Sanjeev Kumar among the civilians. Our batch also had a unique distinction that two of our class mates were directly selected for the most sought after, coveted bachelors engineering degree in the IITs. Sudhir Phadnis joined the BHU (Varanasi) and Bilagi joined IIT Chennai. Our batch had entertainers, dramatists and singers that included the great Madan Kulkarni (now in USA) who is now a big name for organising the best of shows in the field of art, culture and music in USA. Others include Promod Deshpande (Wg Cdr.), Krishna Mardur whose voice regaled many and reminded of Kishore da, Satish Kavishetti, a master theatre boy, and quite a lot of story tellers that included Neeraj Roy (Colonel) who continues to practise it even today, Upendra Katti, Dr. Narasimha Prasad and RG Kulkarni. RG-510, was also a typical “Rancho” of “Three Idiots” fame from our batch who always loved science and experimentation. He is now a highly successful serial entrepreneur. We also had our own bunking heroes who mastered the art of bunking to see films and several of them succeeded many a times without getting caught and their leaders included Shirish Patil, Arjun Misale, Dr. B.C.Koti, Satish Kavishetty, Srishail Deginal, Chandrakant, Upendra Katti among others. There were pitfalls too in this misadventure and 10 of us got caught for bunking to see “Kalla-Kulla” and the rest was history with punishments that followed, which included among others shaven heads, no movies and rifle drills.

The batch had its share of excellent sports persons, (whose records, we understand, are yet to be broken in School) like Kalyani Biradar a truly masterclass sportsman, who continues to excel even today in athletics. Mulgund was another achiever in sports and he had the company of Ramdas Ghadge, who too excelled in sports often at the cost of studies. Then there were the naughty and mischievous types like Chandrakant, Pradeep Talikoti, Upendra Katti and Rajeskhar Gabbur. Achyut Tiwari, was a terror for juniors. We had two Prasad’s Narasimha Prasad and yours truly - Shivaprasad - the former is now in academics and doing exceedingly well and the latter, works for the Science Museums. We also had innocent guys like Milind, Masgi, Badami and others. The results of class X were one of the worst experiences for our batch with quite a few of our batch having to leave the school, as they could not make the academic cut to the 11th Standard. Rachappa Talikoti, one of those who left school at this stage is now a respected District Judge of high reverence, and Milind Kulkarni, rubs shoulders with the best of CEOs and is more in Germany and Europe than in India, to promote make in India. Basavraj Nagur, is with a gas company in Abu Dhabi. There are two Chartered Accountants, Mukesh who is now the CFO of a prestigious multinational company and Pradeep Talikoti, who is in to stocks and brokerage. I may have missed out listing the achievements of some of the friends but one thing is certain every one of them are fairly well settled, in the true objectives of the Sainik Schools. 

We had some excellent teachers Mr. PC Thomas (fondly nicknamed by us as Pinching Commander Thomas), Mr. Kesnur, Mr. Krishnaji Rao, Mr. Velu, Mr. Bhat, Mr. KS Rao, Mr. Shukla, Mr C V S Rao, Mr. Hiremath, Mr. Pathak, Mr. Nambiar, Mr. Balbir Singh and Mr.Pawar and D.P. Pushkarna, who taught us Hindi. The matrons also deserve a mention. Our batch has faced the worst of bereavements with our classmates Lt.Col Ajeet Bhandarkar, who made the supreme sacrifice for the country, Lt. Dileep, who too made the supreme sacrifice while on duty that too at a very young age of just 24, VG Nazare, MC Ravi, Sanjeevkmar Patil, NS Dhawalgi, Ramdas Ghatge and Basappa Sulibhavi abandoning us enroute their heavenly abode. We all miss them a lot.

In the true spirit of the SSBJ, our batch too has almost 20% of the Ajeets, who have served/serving in the armed forces in different capacities which include among others, Vice Adm. Srikant, Pradeep, Gudi, BJ Hiremath, Prahlad, Ajeet Bhandarkar, Kalyani Biradar, Mulgund, Chand Nadaf, Pramod Deshpande, Deginal, Ishwar Pavate, Rajesh Malhotra, Neeraj Roy, Raju Nadaf, among others. Quite a few of our friends are engineers and some in teaching, some have their own business, couple of the are working with major corporate houses, in legal profession, banking and so also in government service. Five of our classmates have settled in US and one has come back from US, after a very successful career. Like most of the Sainik school students, who are very successful in their career, our batch too  has been very successful and true to the objectives of the school they have turned out to be good citizens of this country serving the nation very well in some or the other capacities. 

As a mark of our remembrance our batch came together to construct a separate entrance dwar, the Ajit Dwar, in memory of our classmate Lt Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, Shaurya Chakra, who was martyred in service while fighting the terrorists in Kashmir. We were expecting our classmate Vice Admiral Srikant to scale the pinnacle to become the. His for the Navy but unfortunately that was not to be. He however went on to become the Commandant of the prestigious National Defence College in Delhi. 

 On behalf of all my batchmates I take this opportunity to place on record our profound respect to all our teachers and other stakeholders of the Sainik School Bijapur who have been responsible in shaping our careers and ensuring that all of us succeed in life. Long live SSSB and all other Sainik Schools and continue to shape men out of boys who can contribute to nation building.

AJEET HAIN ABHEET HAIN