Time and Tide Wait for No Man : श्रद्धांजली to my beloved Father who passed away on 31st December, 2018

 

The phrase “Time and tide wait for no man” whose origin is uncertain, yet almost certain that it predates modern English, played out its certainty and took away our beloved father on the last day of 2018. True to the spirit of the phrase, the year 2018 is now history and so will its highs and lows, the hits and misses and the triumphs and tribulations including the worst tragedy in our personal life of loosing our beloved - doting yet daunting- father (Retired teacher Shri Murugendrappa Sharabanna Khened), who left for his heavenly abode at the age of 94 years, on the 31st December 2018, at our native place in Raichur.

Though coming from a very rich land lord family, my father was completely and solely a self made man and studied at the Veerashiva maths, which offer free education, and completed his intermediate and went on to become a teacher and served for 37 long years until his retirement. He was one among hundreds of thousand young Indian teenagers who were jailed during the quit India movement in 1942. He however did not avail any of the benefits of freedom fighters with the belief that it was the least service that one could do to their motherland. In his long years of existence the little wealth that he made was a small house in Raichur and the best of education that he gave his children and the values of impeccable honesty and integrity and selfless service to nation, which he has passed on to us. He was an avid teacher who went beyond classroom teaching to educate innumerable informal students particularly the English language, which he was giftedly proficient.

My father leaves behind a very large grief stricken family of seven children - two daughters and two sons including yours truly (the youngest of the four children to his first wife, late Smt. Channamma Khened) who was just eleven months old when my mother passed away on the very day (14th April, 1962) when the legendary Sir M Visvesvaraya, bid good bye to this world. My father often used to remind me of this date. He also leaves behind his second wife Smt. Sharada Khened and her two sons and one daughter and four daughter in laws, two son in laws, eleven grand children and twelve great grandchildren. Both my wife and I were lucky that we had come to our native place on a two weeks vacation (22nd December to 4th Jan, 2019) and were by his side along side a vast majority of his very large family, during his last days.

My father, though not highly formally educated, was a prolific reader on social, religious and philosophical matters and was an ardent follower of Swamy Vivekanand and donated a small amount to the Ramakrishna Mission, for establishing a Vivekananda Memorial and Cultural Centre a copy of the receipt of which I accidentally discovered today. He was perhaps one among very few - in the little towns that he served as teacher - who had command over the Queens language - English. He was also an avid Yoga practitioner performing some of the most difficult of asanas until his advanced age. He was well known for his navali asana one of very difficult asanas. I vividly remember that in a place called Mudgal - a small town in the district of Karnataka, where I was born, - where he served as a teacher for more than a decade, his command over the English language was extensively used by the Christian Missionaries - two of whose names I remember even today, Father Evangelist and Father Kensington, as their official interpreter and also for learning the local Kannada language.

We finished all the rituals of the funeral rites of our beloved father in the Veerashiva traditions on the 1st of January, and the mortal remains of our beloved father was laid to rest in the traditional Veerashiva / Lingayat traditions at the Veerashiva rudrabhumi in Raichur in front of a large gathering of family, friends and his well wishers including the famous somwarmath seer - the mathadhipathi of Somwarpeth math. Today, while recollecting nostalgic memories of my father - who was to me both a mother and father- I was looking through some of the papers, which he had kept very close to him and found a write up on death that he wrote. He used to always script some thing or the other on scrap papers and one such brief write up was the note on death that I am sharing. The other images that I found with him include a photo of my son sitting on his lap when we celebrated our Sons second birthday in New Delhi. He also had with him one of my photos with the then PM Shri P V Narasimha Rao.

My father is one of those old timers who is stickler for his daily routines particularly his Yogasanas and meditation, and will listen to none to alter them. Even in the hospital, where he was recuperating and was almost out of danger and was to be discharged soon, he would insist on his meditation. With great difficulty we had just about managed to keep him away from some of his inflexible daily routines while he was at the hospital. On the 29th December evening, he insisted that during the visiting hours on the next day, he wishes to see as many of us as possible together particularly he wished to see all his four daughter in laws together. Fortunately I was with him for most of the day on his penultimate day (30th December) and most of his very large family including all the four daughter in laws and three sons and a grand daughter and grand son in law came to meet him on the 30th evening. He was exceptionally happy to see all his four daughter in-laws together. All his actions, should have prompted us to some bad omen, which unfortunately none of us realised. As per his inflexible routines he begged us to leave him alone for 30 minutes of meditation on the 30th December evening. He is normally used to doing 1 hour meditation in the morning and one hour in the evening. We left him for his meditation and came out of the room. And after about 45 minutes of his meditation he called us back and chatted with us until the visiting hours, after which most of us left him with one of his sons - the youngest among the four of four of us - Natraj, staying back. We all left the hospital in anticipation that he will be fine and be discharged on the eve of the new year on the first of January, 2019.

On the morning of the last day of the year 2018, 31st December, 2018, which will now remain etched in all our memories, my elder brother, who has recently retired as the Professor and Principal of the famous LVD college in Raichur, received a call from our brother from hospital who stated that the Doctor has asked the two of us to come urgently and that it was an emergency. My eldest brother and I rushed to the hospital and what followed is something which we are still grappling to come to terms with. As per the routine, after his cleaning and washing my father asked my brother who was staying with him that he will do his meditation. It was around 7 AM in the morning of 31st December when he informed our brother, who was staying with him, that he will go for meditation. Our brother as is the norm left him alone for his meditation. After about 40 minutes, our brother went back to the room to speak to him. My father appeared to be still in his meditation. At around 8 AM my brother called the nursing staff who tried to wake him but he did not respond so the sister immediately called for the Doctor on duty. The duty Doctor did some tests including an ECG and a torch test for dilation of pupils and asked my brother to summon us immediately. My eldest brother and I rushed to the hospital and were in for the rudest shock of our lives. We were informed that my father passed away while meditating. What baffled us is how could this happen, since all of us had spoken to him at length just the previous evening and were eagerly waiting for him to be discharged from hospital.

By then the Doctor who had spoken to us previous day informed us some thing which I can’t ever forget. He, although being an allopathic doctor, suggested that my father may have opted for what he called “Ichha samadhi”. My own personal thoughts and the area in which I work as a science communicator does not make me believe in such unscientific thinking. Another close friend of mine - who is also a medical Doctor and an eminent Laproscopic Surgeon who practices in Gulbarga and is also very close to my father - spoke to me and alluded to the reasoning of the Doctor that my father may have chosen an Ichha Samadhi/ Maran. The exact reason of his death - though officially attributed to aged related health issue- will never be known and will remain a mystery. We have no way but to accede to the phrase “ Time and Tide will wait for no man” and pray for our fathers soul to rest in eternal peace and pledge ourselves to living up to his ideals with utmost honesty and service to the nation.

Om Shanti.

Falling standards in medical professionalism : Hard reality or an aberration?

Falling standards in medical professionalism : Hard reality or an aberration?

I am one of those privileged ones who are friends with quite a number of medical doctors and have seen them work passionately and untiringly almost all times, some times at the cost of their own family and personal life. It was therefore but natural for me to firmly and convincingly believe that the Indian Doctors work true to the ancient traditions of the “Hippocratic Oath” - emanating from the Greek medical texts, which in its original form mandated a new physician to swear, by a number of healing Gods, to uphold specific ethical standards. Hippocrates - the Greek Physician dating back to 400 BC- considered as father of modern medicine (allopathy), laid down the criteria for a perfect physician as ; observant, humane, learned, orderly, thoughtful, purity of mind and ability to gain more knowledge for its application. The Hippocratic oath mandates the Doctors to work with “Dedication and honesty for the benefits of sick: With purity and with holiness I will pass my life and practice my art, into whatever house I enter, I will go in to them for benefit of the sick, will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption”. It further expects the Doctors to be “Proficient and deviate from evils, and that they will follow that system of regimen which, according to their ability and judgment, they consider for the benefit of their patients, further they will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked nor suggest any such counsel”. A noble thought, which perhaps rightfully equates Doctors the saviours of life with the almighty - the life giver.

Notwithstanding the reports - aplenty - appearing in newspapers highlighting falling standards and gross neglect of patients by hospitals and medical practitioners, and often used phrase of “kalyug” while describing the falling standards in medical practices, I was one of those who never alluded to this belief, rightly so I thought keeping in mind many ideal doctors that I am privileged to be associated with. But then the hard reality is “Doctors are many in title but very few in reality”. I came face to face with this hard reality recently at my native place, while I had to deal with a harrowing experience of utter neglect by a Hospital and the doctors associated with it, while providing treatment to the one who is a cause for my existence. I am forcefully restraining myself from naming and shaming the hospital and the doctor who most unfortunately work diametrically opposite to what their noble profession and the Hippocratic oath mandates them to do so. I am also restraining myself to make it personal against the hospital and the doctors, even though it rightly warrants. I am posting this as an introspection for the larger medical fraternity - who truly deserve admiration, reverence and respect- to isolate and name and shame those in their fraternity, who through their unbecoming act to make ill gotten money are bringing to shame the entire medical fraternity. Some hard facts to substantiate my hypothesis follows.

In one of the reports published in the reputed Lancet “the Indian healthcare apathy, and its poor quality of care, kills more than lack of access to treatment facilities”. The report adds that some 2.4 million Indians die of treatable conditions every year, the worst situation among 136 nations studied for the report. Poor care quality leads to more deaths than insufficient access to healthcare. A staggering 1.6 million Indians died due to the poor quality of care in 2016.

Providing health services without guaranteeing a minimum level of quality is ineffective, wasteful and unethical. It is therefore necessary to better measure the quality of our health system as a composite entity rather than be merely content with certifying hospitals and laboratories. It may be time to talk about the lack of mechanisms for monitoring quality of hospitals and doctors in India. It may be necessary that some elements of quality, as composite measures of the health system, are ensured and monitored, which most unfortunately are unavailable.

In yet another report “almost 122 Indians per 100,000 die due to poor quality of care each year, showing up India’s death rate due to poor care quality as worse than that of Brazil (74), Russia (91), China (46) and South Africa (93) and even our neighbours Pakistan (119), Nepal (93), Bangladesh (57) and Sri Lanka (51)”. The total number of deaths from poor quality care globally is 5 million per year, which is estimated to be five times as many as the annual global deaths from HIV/AIDS (1 million) and nearly three times more than deaths from diabetes (1.4 million). This was according to the study that was part of a two-year project that brought together 30 academics, policy-makers and health systems experts from 18 countries to examine how to measure and improve health systems’ quality worldwide.

These glaring reports perhaps substantiate my appeal for the medical fraternity to introspect and make efforts to have a robust regulatory mechanism to identify and name and shame those who bring disrepute to the most respected profession.

Nobel Prize 2018, in Physiology or Medicine

Nobel Prize 2018, in Physiology or Medicine

Dr. A P Jayaraman, (https://www.drapjayaraman.com/science) senior retired BARC nuclear scientist who worked with the likes of Dr R Chidambaram and Dr Anil Kakodkar, whose initials match with the legendary APJ Kalam, very kindly asked me if he could use my FB posts on the Nobel Prizes. It was an honour for me to honour his request. Dr. Jayaraman, post his retirement has been very actively engaged in science communication and is a great friend and philosopher of our science centre. He has received global acclaim for his inimitable style of science story telling and he is also a prolific writer on science and literature. Unfortunately I had missed out FB posting on the Nobel Prize in Medicine and had only posted write ups on Chemistry and Physics Prizes. I am making amends and am posting this write up on the Nobel Prize 2018, in Physiology or Medicine. Though very late some friends may still like to read it.

This year’s coveted Nobel prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to the two immunologists, Dr. James P Allison, from the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Centre, USA and to Dr. Tasuku Honjo, Professor at Kyoto University in Japan, for their path breaking discoveries of harnessing the power of the immune system to combat cancer.

There are moments in history of scientific achievements that herald the beginning of a new era. The significance of such achievements - the inflexion points - are sometimes very apparent like the General Relativity, which eclipsed the Newtonian classical physics to herald a new era of Quantum mechanics, or Neil Armstrong’s first step onto the surface of the moon, in 1969, which marked a new phase of space exploration. There are however several other advances in science which take many years for their significance to manifest, and this year’s Nobel winning works in medicine is one such example. Our immune system is nature equipped with the best of molecular mechanism to combat diseases. Over the past several years’ scientists, including this year’s Nobel laureates, have been researching to harness the power of our immune system to fight cancer. The very word Cancer, the lexicon of which in itself manifests a terror in the minds of the people, has plagued human society for several centuries and attempts to rid people of cancer dates back to the period since when the disease was first recognised sometime in 1500 BC. However, the idea of using cancer patient’s own immune system to combat cancer is more recent.

The first scientist to postulate that the immune system might control tumours was Paul Ehrlich, the Nobel prize winning German physician and scientist who worked in the fields of haematology, immunology, and antimicrobial chemotherapy. He shared the 1908 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov for their work on immunity. Ever since, researchers have tried to harvest the power of the immune system to wipe out cancers. This year’s Nobel Prize winning scientist in Physiology or Medicine, Dr. James P. Allison and Dr. Tasuku Honjo, have succeeded in discovering methods to inhibit negative immune regulation, thus providing a paradigm shift in the way cancer can be treated by stimulating the inherent ability of the human immune response to unleash an attack on cancerous tumour cells. Their research findings have led to new medicines that activate the immune system to fight cancers.

Dr. Allison’s research of over two decades has resulted in the discovery of a protein in the immune system - the T cell protein CTLA-4 - that functions as a brake on the immune response. Dr Allison looked at this protein from a completely different perspective to the one which most others followed of treating it as a target in the treatment of autoimmune disease. He developed an antibody that could bind to this protein and block its function. In the process, Dr Allison and his team found that the CTLA-4, protein blockade could disengage the T-cell brake and unleash the immune system to attack cancer cells, which they observed, could cure cancer while experimenting on the mice. Dr Allison worked on his research to develop a strategy called the immunotherapy for humans, which showed outstanding healing effects in patients with advanced melanoma. His clinical trials on humans showed remarkable results and in several of his patients signs of cancer almost disappeared completely. Allison’s work followed its logical conclusion eventually leading to the development of the drug Yervoy (ipilimumab), which is now used to treat melanoma skin cancer and some other cancers.

Working in parallel, Dr. Tasuku Honjo discovered that another protein PD-1, which is found on the surface of immune cells (T cells) also work as a check point protein. This protein, similar to Dr Allisons’s CTLA-4 protein, functions as a T-cell brake, but with a different mechanism. When this protein was attached to another protein, called the PD-L1 on cancer cells, it could prevent the T cells from recognising the cancer cells, as a result the immune system will not be in a position to destroy the cancer cells. The findings of Dr Honjo meant that blocking the PD-L1 protein on cancer cells, or the corresponding PD-1 protein on immune cells, will allow the immune system to recognise the cancer cells as foreign and attack them. Therapies, which were based on the discovery of Dr Honjo have proved to be strikingly effective in the fight against cancer.

These pioneering works of the two scientists, on the CTLA4 and PD1 immune checkpoints, have revealed that these pathways act as so-called ‘brakes’ on the immune system, and showed that inhibition of these checkpoint pathways allows T cells to more effectively eradicate cancer cells. This research has laid the foundation for the clinical development of immune checkpoint inhibitors, which have dramatically improved outcomes for many people with cancer. These revolutionary findings have established a landmark in the human fight against cancer. Over the past several years, tackling the body’s own immune system to fight cancer has been one of the main focuses of researchers and drugmakers alike. While conferring the two scientists with the award the Nobel committee, said “the immune checkpoint therapy has revolutionised cancer treatment, which has led to the development of several drugs which act as “checkpoint inhibitors”. These drugs when infused into patients, block molecules that put the brakes on T cells. By releasing these brakes, the body’s own immune system is able to fight cancer.

Dr. Allison and Honjo’s works have been pathbreaking that have revolutionised the human understanding of how the immune system recognizes tumor cells. Their works have led to a paradigm shift in clinical oncology, which is likely to alter how we treat cancer in the foreseeable future. Until now the best known tools in the arsenal of oncology doctors for the treatment of cancer have been surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Sooner than later the new found cancer immunotherapy is likely to equal, or rival, the impact of radiation and chemotherapy for patients diagnosed with cancer. Hopefully, in the decades to come and with more research, the prediction of the then US President, Bill Clinton, that Cancer “will be known to our grandchildren only as a constellation of stars”, may turn out to be truly prophetic.

The majestic Himalayas from my I Pad lens, on-board the flight from Guwahati to Delhi

The majestic Himalayas from my I Pad lens, on-board the flight from Guwahati to Delhi -11th December, 2018.

The second week end of December, every year, is the time when the heads of Indian science centres and museums, from across the country, meet for an annual conference and the 18th heads of science museums conference (2018) was hosted by the APSCTC, Arunachal Pradesh - on the sidelines of the opening of two new facilities - at Itanagar. I was privileged to deliver the key note address during the opening ceremony of the  conference at the Dorjee Khandu, State Convention Centre, Itanagar, in the august presence of the Hon. Minister, Mr Nabam Rabia and other distinguished dignitaries, Secretary, S&T, AP and other guests and delegates of the conference.

Five of us - the Directors of NCSM science centres- had to reschedule our return journey to make way for a meeting in Delhi, on the 11th December, for which we had to fortuitously take a morning flight from Guwahati to Delhi. My friend and colleague Srikant Pathak, Director, CRTL, was lightening quick to take advantage of the change in our travel to Delhi from Guwahati on the morning flight and he quickly blocked each of our five seats on the north east facing window seats to facilitate sighting the effulgence of the majestic Himalayas (derived from the two Sanskrit words Hima and Alaya meaning the abode of the snow), which our flight was to overfly. The date of our journey - 11th December (2018) coincidentally also happened to be the UN International Mountain Day and therefore it was a unique and memorable experience for each of us to commemorate this international day, (with the theme “Mountains Matter”), by looking at the the majestic Himalayas, which are home to precious freshwater resources not just for India but also to several other countries in South Asia. Some of the mighty rivers - the Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra etc., are born in the Himalayas. 

The Himalayan mountain range covers an area of approximately 600,000 square kilometers, extending over a range of 2,500 to 3,000 kilometers in a roughly east–west arc. With its subranges and extensions, including the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush, and the Pamir, the Himalayas, which are spread across parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Burma, and China, as well as all of Bhutan and Nepal, are one of the most magnificent and breathtaking natural structures on Earth that are the youngest and also the tallest range of mountains in the world. The Himalayas, which comprises of mountain peaks that include the majestic Mount Everest - the tallest mountain on Earth with a height of 8,850 metres, and other mountain peaks including the Kangchenjunga the tallest mountain in India, with snowy peaks rise over a staggering 8,000 plus meters to be aptly and befittingly called the snowy roof-tops of the world.

Some time during the Triassic period - some 220 million years ago- the Pangaea began to break apart. The landmass of India, which was part of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate, began its slow migration northwards towards the Eurasian plate on which the massive continent of Asia lay, and some 40 to 50 millions years ago it collided with the Eurasian plate, resulting in the creation and birth of the Himalayas. Neither plate gave way; the pressure of the collision moved the rock upward, eventually into the form of the jagged Himalayan peaks, which are continuing to increase in height, year after year. This dynamism is evident today and is witnessed in the form of frequent earthquakes, landslides, and avalanches.

Our flight took off from Guwahati at 7.45 AM and immediately rose above the clouds and in quick time reached almost 32,000 feet above sea level. We soon found ourselves flying high above the snow-capped mountain peaks, which appeared before us. For most part of our rest of the journey, spanning more than an hour, we could see one peak after another peak sighting almost the entire Himalayas through our windows. We were flying at almost the eye level with some of the highest mountains in the world and I could hardly believe my eyes. Hundreds of mountain peaks sprawled across my horizon, each of them standing high and mighty above the clouds, rising like sharp white daggers poking the skies. Puffy white clouds lay beneath us under a clear cloudless sky, creating a sharp contrast to the white snow that blanketed the mountain peaks. It was as though the peaks were floating in the sky and I felt as if I am in the mythical heavens.

I am not an enthusiastic photographer nor do I have an eye for this wonderful art but then the sight that I witnessed from the window is something, which tempted me to photograph the snowy mountains using my I Pad. I am honoured to share some of the images that I captured during our flight journey from Guwahati to Delhi, which will remain etched in my memory for ever.

Long live the Himalayas.

Out Break : Epidemics in a Connected World

Out Break : Epidemics in a Connected World (An exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution)

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 (inspired by Nandan Nilekani), which offers a level playing field for commerce to the global community, destined to economically benefit countries like India. But then this very advantageous level playing field -of a connected world- comes with challenges of infectious disease outbreaks.

This year marks the centenary of the 1918 pandemic -the Spanish Flu Outbreak-which rampaged the world and killed 50 to 100 million people an estimated 5 percent of the world’s population. India too paid a heavy price during this outbreak resulting in an estimated 17 million deaths, in two waves of this deadly flu that swept India in May and October of that year. A hundred years later, scientists know much more about how to prevent and treat such diseases. But the threat of a global outbreak is now far greater than ever. Understanding what happened during this major health crisis is therefore important, particularly in the current connected world and an era of humanity’s growing population and its ever continuing drift to crowded cities across the globe and the resulting cohabitation of limited space with animal kingdom, which aid in spreading of diseases. All it takes now is one plane ride for a few localized cases of a disease to become an epidemic.

It is with this point in mind that the Nehru Science Centre, (NCSM), Ministry of Culture, Government of India, will be opening the “Outbreak” exhibition, which has been developed by the National Museum of Natural History, a Smithsonian Institution, and brought to our centre with support from the Harvard Global Health Institute.

TB, Malaria, Dengue, Influenza, and such other diseases like AIDS, Ebola, Cholera, Plague, Nipah, Zika etc. terrorise our country and kill thousands every year. If this is not scary the modern lifestyles in a connected world and ever increasing migration from villages and smaller towns to larger metropolitans and to global cities, with ever shrinking space, and inadequate hygiene is sure shot recipe for disaster and the best way to arrest this is creating awareness on infectious diseases and outbreaks. We therefore earnestly hope that this exhibition, which under different sections and simple narratives will help in sowing a seed of public awareness with a hope that it will result in changing behaviour on an individual and community level to bring about the much needed difference. This awareness, we hoped, will go a long way in lowering the pandemic risk and also in the much needed education to the public, who visit our centre in large numbers.

November 11,

Engineering at the Speed of Light : From Cold Atoms to Hyperloop

Engineering at the Speed of Light : From Cold Atoms to Hyperloop

The Nehru Science Centre joined the world community of science centres and science Museum networks, who with support from the UNESCO and ICOM are commemorating this day (10th November) as the International Science Center and Science Museum Day (ISCSMD). In our continuing quest to educate our diverse audiences, we celebrated this year’s ISCSMD by organising a special public lecture, “ Engineering at the Speed of Light : From Cold Atoms to Hyperloop” that was delivered by Dr Anita Sengupta to a jam packed 300 plus audience in the 260 capacity auditorium that spanned an extraordinary age group from 5 years old to 80 years young.

Dr Anita Sengupta, an Indian American formerly with NASA, is very well known as the brain behind NASA's Curiosity landing on Mars as well as for her extraordinary feat of being the leader of a team of engineers who worked on the “Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL)” project for NASA. The CAL was carried by the Antares rocket and has been integrated into the International Space Station. She mesmerised the audience with her “rocket speed” lecture that emhasized the significant role that engineers play in bringing the benefits of science to people. She said “the human desire to understand the nature and complexity of the universe has been the mother of invention for all of recorded history”. She further added that “harnessing power of physics to provide prediction, technology, and the scientific method has shaped order to a society that is naturally born of chaos”.

Her richly illustrated lecture highlighted how the discipline of engineering, which she is so extraordinarily passionate about, is continuing to play a pivotal role to benefit human society. She narrated real life examples of her personal journey of leading the development of engineering systems that have travelled to the main asteroid belt, landed on the surface of mars, chilled matter to almost absolute zero, and is now working on a revolutionary form of transportation the Hyperloop, which is destined to revolutionise public transport the world over including in India.

This was her second lecture at our centre, the first of which she had delivered some time in August 2013 just after the success of the Curiosity rower landing on Mars. Dr. Anita Sengupta, an aerospace engineer, pioneered the revolutionary supersonic parachute system that was deployed during the incredibly precise landing of Mars Science Laboratory “Curiosity”.

The Cold Atoms Laboratory (CAL), which is now docked on to the International Space Station (ISS), uses lasers to slow atoms until they are motionless, cooling them to temperatures far below than what is possible on Earth. Incidentally, less than a month back the Nehru Science Centre was fortunate to host a Russian Cosmonaut, Michelle Kornienko, who spent almost one full year on the ISS. Highlighting the significance of CAL, Dr Sengupta said “the temperature in the CAL could be 10 billion times colder than the vacuum of space, creating the coldest spot in the universe”. The CAL will help researchers to study and understand the phenomenon of “Bose Einstein Condensate” (BEC), predicted by the work of our very own scientist Dr. Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein in the early 20th century, which occurs just above absolute zero in the microgravity environment. She added “the CAL is intended to provide one of the most sensitive instruments mankind has ever built, which will help scientists and engineers to develop future space-based quantum sensors, which could enable more precise measurements of gravity, magnetic fields and in-space navigation and even help in developing quantum computers”.

Expectedly, the most fascinating -almost sci-fi like- part of her lecture was on the Hyperloop, high speed transportation system, which is destined to revolutionise mass transportation the world over. It was not long ago - February 2018 to be precise- that the Maharashtra CM, Hon. Devendra Fadnavis, signed an MoU with Virgin Hyperloop One, the site of which he had personally inspected during his visit to US, to build the Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop track, which could traverse the distance in just about 20 - 25 minutes. Dr Anita Sengupta is currently working in this exciting frontiers of technology area of Hyperloop super fast public transportation. Dr Anita, stressed on the fact that there has not been a revolutionary change in the transportation system, post the invention of the Aeroplane (1903) by Wright Brothers more than 100 years ago, and the time is now for fast forwarding to the era of Hyperloop transportation. Dr Sengupta said “Hyperloop involves traveling through a vacuum tube/ tunnel in a magnetically levitating pod designed to accommodate 12 to 20 people. She added, “the Hyperloop travel will be smoother than riding on an airplane, which encounters air drag, and people won't be able to tell how fast they are going. She said at full speed, they could go faster than commercial airplanes and that they are aiming to get the pods up to 1100 kilometres per hour.

The Hyperloop high-speed mass transportation concept was floated by an American entrepreneur and innovator Elon Musk. The project envisages building a perfect tube in which the specially designed Pods run on the rail lines - in a near perfect vacuum tube - floating above the track using magnetic levitation. The near perfect vacuum ensures extremely low friction and hence high efficiency.

Dr Anita Sengupta ended her hour long lecture with some interesting anecdotes one of which included a monumental error in the statement made by Lord Kelvin who in the year 1895 had said that no machines, heavier than air, can ever be built which can be made to fly, other than balloons. In less than a decade the Wright Brothers working from the cycle shop proved the greatest of scientist to be wrong. She therefore is confident that in the years to come the hyperloop transportation could be a reality. Let us hope so. The lecture ended with an outstanding standing ovation.

Centenary of WW1 (Armistice): Remembering the countless thousands of Indian Soldiers who lost their lives.

Centenary of WW1 (Armistice): Remembering the countless thousands of Indian Soldiers who lost their lives.

It was on this date, 102 years ago, that the dreaded World War 1, also called the Great War of west, came to an official close, ending with the Armistice on the 11th of Nov 1918. The World War I, which started on the 28th July, 1914, took a heavy toll on humanity and Indians, who had nothing to do with this senseless menace  were not spared either. Indians were drawn into this deadly war courtesy our colonial rulers, the British.

More than a million Indian soldiers fought shoulder to shoulder alongside their colonial masters against the Germans and the Ottoman Empire in the unknown territories across Europe, Mediterranean, North and East Africa, Mesopotamia and so also in the deadly battle of the Gallipoli, which was fraught, in the most inhuman conditions and in the treacherous trenches, during the World War I. An estimated 75,000 of our soldiers died on the battlefield and many more were injured. Most unfortunately, not many Indians remember our soldiers who were part of this infamous battle. Unfortunately, the martyrdom and sacrifice of our soldiers during this war have been forgotten for long and therefore it is time that we remember them and accord the very same respect, reverence to our soldiers who were part of this Wat and made their supreme sacrifice fighting this bloody war for our colonial rulers. The Britishers had promised that post the WWI we will be given our independence and therefore our political leadership had endorsed the decision that the Indian army should join the British army and join this WWI. When the war ended the British went back on their promise and this served as an insult to injury and all that promise made by the Britishers for our independence were nothing but pack of lies perpetrated by the British on our leadership and luring them into joining the WWI. A soldier is always a soldier and his duty has always been to fight for the dignity and honour of the country and its flag and command under which they serve. 

A loss of life of even one of our soldiers in any of the battles is one too many and the nation comes together to salute the loss of men in uniform and unitedly pay our reverence to the martyrs and their family. However that was not to be for all those Indian soldiers who made the same supreme sacrifice fighting for the nation during the WW1. While the whole nation has rightfully been paying and will continue to pay respect and saluting our soldiers who fought in the various wars, both external and some internal (against the militants/terrorists) post our independence, most regrettably we have not given a fraction of that respect to the one million plus Indian Soldiers who fought the WWI and so also the WWII. As we commemorate the 102nd Armistice Day (11th November 1918) the anniversary of the end of WWI, it is time that we make amends and remember our soldiers who were part of this WW1 and pay our respect to them. Fortunately there are now scores of researched works, and books published that have chronicled in details the engagement of our soldiers in this war, which is helping us to remember the sacrifices of our soldiers during this war. Hope in the years to come, the role played by Indian soldiers during this war becomes a folklore and every Indians will learn of our soldiers participation in this war. On this day - the 102nd year of the Armistice, I join all my countrymen in paying my respect, salutations and homage to all our soldiers who are drawn in to the war of different kinds and pray that their sacrifice continue to be etched in the hearts and minds of every one of us. Hope that there will not be any more wars of this magnitude.

The world over the centenary celebration of the Armistice and the grand commemoration of the supreme sacrifice of the tens of millions of the soldiers, who fought this deadly World War1, ended two years ago on this very day with a hope and aspiration that the world will continue to remember this war and hope that there will never ever be another war of this kind. I also hope and pray that the WW1 has taught us an unforgettable lesson that such wars must be a big NO in future, irrespective of what the provocation is. The world over, particularly in those countries who were part of this deadly war, this day is remembered and commemorated with a hope and aspiration that the world will never face such wars in future. The day is also commemorated as a reverence day for the soldiers. Scores of published material is available on WW1 but there was not much research and published material available on the role played by the Indian soldiers during the WW1 and 2. Fortunately over the years many scholars have researched this subject, particularly the role of Indians in the war and now there are quite a number of published books and researched material available on this subject. This has helped in understanding and appreciating the role played by the Indian Soldiers during the WWI, which has now become more obvious not just to the Indians but also to the global community with several scholars publishing on this hitherto neglected issue.

I was one of those who were completely ignorant of the role played by the Indian soldiers during the WW1. Fortunately an exhibition’ Cricket Connects - India Australia’, which I was tasked to curate helped me to study and understand this subject. We, at the Nehru Science Centre, had the honour to curate two Cricket Connects exhibitions (India –Australia and India – England) in which we tried to connect the bonhomie between the Indian and British and Australian soldiers who fought together in this war. There are also records to suggest that the soldiers did partake in playing cricket during those rarest of the rare occasions.  We paid our homage to the Indian soldiers who fought to shoulder to shoulder with their buddies - the British and Australian soldiers during the WW 1 and 2. The Indian soldiers had an extraordinary connect with the British and the Australians, often times they played a side game of cricket for enriching the bond between the two. On the occasion of commemoration of the 102nd Armistice Day, it is again my honour to pay our homage to all those forgotten Indian Soldiers, who perished during the WW1. Accompanying archival photos of the Battle of Gallipoli, which were collected from Imperial War Museum in Australia and also from Turkey depict the role played by the Indian Soldiers during the World War 1 and 2. I am particularly tempted to write about the battle of Gallipoli which is one of the most legendary battle which has even been covered in the Hollywood films. 

Battle of Gallipoli: An Entente Most Remarkable

The Indian and Australian (ANZAC- Australia, New Zealand Army Corps) soldiers fought shoulder to shoulder during the World War I at Gallipoli. The extent of the Indian participation at Gallipoli is only now becoming apparent. The ANZACs landed on the Gallipoli peninsula on the 25th April 1915, and fought in the trenches and on the frontline and in the process thousands perished and several thousand more were either wounded or scarred for life. The Australians and Indian soldiers united fight during the war is something that would not have been countenanced in a “White Australia” during this period. While the battle itself was a defeat for the ANZAC, the soldiers were relentless in their heroic gallantry and displayed incredible valour, courage and endurance in the most hostile environment in which this battle was fought. This has led to the ANZAC legend which every Australian and New Zealanders celebrate on April 25. The Sikh community, who fought alongside the Australians, has proudly joined in this tradition of paying homage to their forefathers and since 2005, there has been a Sikh contingent in the ANZAC Day march in Perth, comprised of direct descendants of those who fell in Gallipoli and other campaigns.

The Gallipoli battle, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, or the Battle of Çanakkale (Turkish: Çanakkale Savaşı), was a British campaign of World War I fought with the aim of capturing the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern day Istanbul). The Indian soldiers, Sikhs and Gurkhas, fought shoulder to shoulder with the ANZAC and the respect of the Australians for the Indian soldiers is evidenced in a war record statement; “The [Indians] batteries did so well and gallantly that the Australians have metaphorically taken them to their hearts. All are the greatest pals imaginable, and the political effect of this cordial friendship should be good for both India and Australia.”

The best tribute for the battle heroes, the brave ANZAC - including the Indians -, who were martyred and buried at Gallipoli is evidenced in the famous words of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), an army officer who founded an independent Republic of Turkey out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. “Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives; you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well” Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Jain Jawan

Lt. Col. Ajit Bhandarkar (25 RR) : श्रधांजलि to the brave शौर्य चक्र Soldier.

Shaurya Chakra, Lt Col. Ajit Bhandarkar - श्रधांजलि to the martyrdom of the brave Soldier.

AJIT BHANDARKAR’s Wife and two Sons (both in defence services) during their visit to the Sainik School Bijapur for the opening of the Ajit Dwar.

This day last year - 30th October, 2019, was the twentieth year of the martyrdom of our dear friend Lt Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, who made the supreme sacrifice in service of his motherland on this very date in 1999. Colonel Anirudh Gudi, another classmate of ours (1970-77), from the batch of Ajit Bhandarkar, at the Sainik School Bijapur, posted his tribute to our dear friend Ajit in our Ajeet 77 group with some very nostalgic and memorable photographs of our dear friend Ajit and his family. I have therefore updated the tribute which I had posted last year in my blog. Here it is for all my dear friends who have been gracious to follow my blog.

Lt. Col. Ajit Bhandarkar (25 RR) : श्रधांजलि to the brave शौर्य चक्र Soldier

(My Blog post posted on 30th October 2019)

It was on this fateful day – Saturday the 30th October, 1999 - two decades ago, that our classmate, an illustrious alumnus of the Sainik School Bijapur (SSBJ 1970 - 1977 batch) and one of those India’s brave heart soldiers, Lt. Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, of the 25 Rashtriya Rifles (25RR), on deputation from his Madras Regiment and posted in Jammu and Kashmir, was killed in action while combating and trying to neutralise a group of terrorists at Surankot near Poonch, Kashmir.

Today, being the twentieth anniversary of Lt Col Ajit’s supreme sacrifice in service of the nation, Col. Pradeep Bhat, the crème de la crème of the SSBJ 1977 batch, started off our morning musings and interaction, on the What’s App group, with a sombre note by reminding the batch of the supreme sacrifice of our beloved chaddi dost, Lt Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, in whose memory the entire batch had  come together to construct a memorial - the Ajit द्वार - at one of the entry gates to our school, a year earlier.

The whole of the day, every single one of us - Ajit’s batch mates - kept pouring their hearts out remembering our beloved Ajit. The remembrance stretched back to the early seventies and to the days when Ajit joined the Sainik School Bijapur, with all of us, at an impressionable age of just about 9 years. The day - though started with a tragic note- was one of the most nostalgic of all times with everyone in the batch going back in time to sketch a memorable canvas of the immemorial deeds of our beloved Ajit, stretching right up to the period of his last days. While the nation will eternally remember the valour of Shaurya Chakra, Lt Col. Ajit and his other brethren’s - who have made supreme sacrifice in service of the nation - we, the classmates, the fellow Ajeets from the 70-77 batch of Sainik School Bijapur,  join millions of our countrymen in paying our श्रद्धांजलि to Lt Col. Ajit. All of us had got together to conceive to develop a Ajit Dwar, at the Sainik Sxhool Bijapur in memory of our dear Ajit Bhandarkar and the lead for this work was taken by two of our classmates Arjun Misale and our PWD Engineer classmate, Guru S Patil, who really worked hard to complete this beautiful gate as a mark of our respect for our classmate Ajit. This gate at SSBJ, the Ajit द्वार, was very graciously opened at the hands of Mrs Shakuntala Ajit Bhandarkar, the exemplary widow of the military hero in the presence of their two sons, who are very proudly following the foot steps of their illustrious martyr father and are serving are in the military.

Ajit was born in Mumbai,  the city where I am currently posted, on 31st December 1960 and from our school days we were aware of his leadership qualities, and his born leader attributes, the example of which he exhibited in our Sainik School many times. Only the best of the best students manage to get into the coveted Sainik School and our batch had about 90 students and were divided among the 5 houses. Lt Col Ajit was in Hoysala House, which was our  neighbouring house, which also housed Vice Admiral, Srikant among others from our batch. Ajit was one of the most well behaved, idealistic and brilliant all rounder student, nicknamed ‘Manav’ by our batch, his classmate, in memory of the idealistic character role that Dharmendra had played in the famous Hindi Cinema ‘Dosti in 1974. The role that matinee idol Dharmendra played in Dosti was practised in reality by our dear Ajit and hence he earned the epithet of Manav for his idealism. He excelled in most activities of the school and rightfully was chosen to be the School Captain. Sainik School Captain is the most coveted position for the school with only one among the 500 plus students getting this rear honour. In the true spirit of our alma mater Ajit joined the NDA and then the IMA and was commissioned into the Madras Regiment of the Indian Army. Ajit joined 59th Course at National Defence Academy (NDA) Khadakwasla Pune in Dec 1977 and was commissioned into 18 MADRAS on 19 Dec 1981. On successful completion of Staff course at DSSC Wellington, Ajit served as a Brigade Major in Military Secretary Branch of Army HQ, which were clear indicators of a bright future in Army hierarchy. He was promoted to the post of Lt Col and posted as the Second in Command (2IC) of 25 RASTRIYA RIFLES (MADRAS), which was deployed in Jammu & Kashmir to fight the insurgency in Kashmir.

On the 30th of October, 1999, Lt Col Ajit’s unit (the 25RR) had received intelligence inputs about the presence of Kashmiri terrorists - who are disgracefully and most unfortunately referred to as militants - in Faizalabad village in Poonch district. The inputs were properly analysed and the situation was assessed and a decision taken to launch a operation. Our dear friend, Lt Col Ajit, was chosen to lead this operation. Ajit and his men launched a cordon and search operation with an objective of eliminating the five dreaded, hardcore terrorists who, like cowards, had taken refuge in the midst of the innocent civilians and were hiding in the village. Lt Col Ajit led his men from the front and managed to spot the terrorists who were trying to escape towards a नल्लाह. Ajit chased them, shooting down one terrorist. The second terrorist, who was hiding inside the nullaha  fired indiscriminately, and injured Lt Col Ajit grievously. Despite being injured, he moved ahead and lobbed a grenade on the terrorists. He then crawled forward and shot down another one. His daredevil action and that of his men resulted in the elimination of all the five hardcore terrorists. Most unfortunately, Lt Col Ajit later succumbed to his injuries and was martyred. Three other Jawans were also killed in the encounter along with him. For this act of exemplary courage and supreme sacrifice, Lt Col Ajit Bhandarkar was awarded the “Shaurya Chakra” posthumously.

I vividly remember that darkest day for the batch of 77 Sainik School Bijapur. I was then posted at Delhi and was working as the Curator at the National Science Centre and staying in Timarpur office campus area. The telecom revolution, led by the visionary Shyam Pitroda, had just about begun to yield its fruits, the genesis for which was sown by the CDoT company, which had tested the revolutionary RAX (acronym for the Rural Automatic Exchange) the forerunner for the telecom revolution in India at a place called Kittur in Karnataka. Thirteen of the officers and staff working at the National Science Centre were staying in the residential quarters in the campus and we had just one common phone, whose number I vividly remember even today (2523737), which was kept at the security and was used as an emergency means of communication for all the thirteen families. My door bell rang at around 2 AM on the night of 30th October, 1999, and the guard knocking on my door informed me of an emergency call from a friend. When I rushed into take the call the man on the other side was Col. Neeraj Roy, our class mate from Sainik School, who was posted in Delhi. He broke the tragic news of our martyred friend and asked me to join him and others to receive the mortal remains of our hero. I joined him and several others at the dead of the night and all through this period Neeraj with his army friends and colleagues successfully planned for taking the mortal remains of our beloved friend to his native place, Bangalore, which he succeeded. The plane carrying the mortal remains of our hero reached Bangalore on Sunday the 31st October, 1999 and thousands joined Mrs Bhandarkar, the exemplary role model widow of Ajit in paying their last respect to the great son of India.

Lt Col. Ajit, Bhandarkar is survived by his wife Shakuntala and two sons Nirbhay and Akshay. Shakunthala Bhandarkar, having gone through the personal experience of being a martyr’s wife, is passionate about helping other martyrs’ families and is engaged in conducting various programmes for the welfare of the families of martyrs. Like her illustrious husband, Shakuntala too has inherited the undying passion to serve the nation. She has bought up her two sons, who were just 7 and 5 when Ajit was martyred, in an ambience of service to the nation and as a result both her sons are now treading the path of their illustrious father and are serving in the army and navy. Whilst the elder son Capt Nirbhay Bhandarkar has joined his father’s unit in the army, after passing out from OTA Chennai, Sub Lt Akshay Bhandarkar has joined the Indian Navy after graduating as an Engineer. Mrs Shakuntala Bhandarkar is now working tirelessly to publish a memorial book on our dear friend Ajit, her beloved husband, with rich visual and archival images. I take this opportunity to wish her all the very best in this extraordinary endeavour and assure her of all our assistance. I also wish to thank Col Anirudh Gudi.

I am posting this श्रद्धांजलि on behalf of all of Ajit’s class mates, the SSBJ 77 batch and I am sure we will be joined by millions of our countrymen in saluting our beloved Lt. Col Ajit Bhandarkar and countless other brave soldiers, who have made the supreme sacrifice in service of our nation.

जय हिंद । जय जवान

The Russian Cosmonaut, Mikhail Kornienko

The Russian Cosmonaut, Mikhail Kornienko, who was expected to visit us at 12 noon today turned up 2 and a half hour early to attend the opening of the Rosatom Festival of Science & Culture. The programme started with the formal opening of the Festival. There was not one media person present, it was not expected as well more so we had announced that Mikhail Kornienko will be addressing the students at 12 noon. We had a series of events including art demonstrations by Sir JJ School of Art, courtesy my friend Prof Sable, the Dean.

I just took a chance to enquire if Mikhail would spare 30 minutes for his on the spot portrait painting, which one of the JJ School of art student volunteered to do in front of large number of students and audience. Truly grounded, incomparably humble, an extraordinary human being that Mikhail is, accepted our request in less than blink of an eye. Unfortunately the spot chosen by the artist where a chair was placed for Mikhail to sit had no fan and was relatively hot, yet Mikhail sat through his committed 30 minutes intermittently asking how was his portrait painting progressing. In the promised time the artist could complete the painting, which Mikhail very happily signed and this painting rightfully will adorn the office of the Director Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai once it is duly framed.

Mikhail addressed the jam packed auditorium supported by several video clips of his stay at the International Space Station with his compatriots and innumerable stunning images of Earth from the space station. He took several questions from the students and media. Although no where near to the 70 plus media team that we had encountered with tens of cameras during the visit of Sunita Williams visit to the centre, courtesy the hype that NASA had created and our very own efforts of trying to rope in as many press as possible reaching them through PIB, the Press Club etc, yet for the Mikhail’s visit, we had about 12 media persons including the die hard compulsive space correspondent, Srinivas Laxman in attendance. We also had 3 TV reporters who along with other journalists had a special closed door interaction with the Cosmonaut. Mikhail was at his diplomatic best during the press interaction. When pinned by Srinivas to comment on what his relationship was with his American counterpart Kelly, Mikhail surprised Srinivas with his master stroke answer. He said “ I could mix with him and chat with him much more than his Russian fellow cosmonauts” and added “ that at the ISS all the astronauts (for the Americans) or Cosmonauts( for the Russians) irrespective of whether they are from Russia, USA or Japan we are all one small family in a confined space”. He patiently answered every question. The challenge of avoiding collision with space debris was some thing that press may pick up. He said they came so very close to one of the space debris, which at the speed at which it was travelling - 30metres per second- would have wiped out the ISS had they not avoided the collision.

What was most amazing was the humility and simplicity of Mikhail Kornienko the National hero of Russia. He patiently posed with innumerable students and visitors for a selfie, and signed several autographs. While we expected him to spend an hours time at the centre he ended up spending more than 5 hours. The experience was truly memorable, which we will remain etched in our memories. A big thank you Mikhail and the Rosatom team.

THANK YOU NGMA and every one associated with the institute.

THANK YOU NGMA and every one associated with the institute.

My 6 plus long years of association as the Director, NGMA, (Director, NGMA Bangalore for 4 months, from October 2012 to January 2013, and Director, NGMA, Mumbai for 5 years and 8 plus months, from 13th October 2013 till today) ended today with my signing and exchanging of the “Certificate of Transfer of Charge” with my successor, Ms. Anita, Roopavataram, who has taken the charge of the regular Director of NGMA Mumbai.

I take this opportunity to thank a whole lot of stakeholders of NGMA starting from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, to the staff of all the three NGMAs, particularly NGMA Mumbai, the respective past and current advisory committee members of NGMA, Dr Pheroza Godrej, Dr Suhas Bahulkar and Mr Sudhakar Rao (the former two chairpersons of NGMA Mumbai and the later the Chairperson of NGMA Bangalore) and a whole lot of outstanding creative artists, art connoisseurs, visitors and art lovers, for your extraordinary support, encouragement and well wishes, which made this unexpectedly long tenure a memorable experience.

Handling responsibility of two national level museums - one a Art Museum and another a Science Museum - has been challenging and often times too taxing requiring burning of midnight oil more so for the NGMA works. I have tried my best to do full justice to the additional responsibility of the Director NGMA, and that has been possible primarily because of the support that I got from art community and the members of the advisory committee both past and present of NGMA.

While I say good bye to NGMA, I must place on record the untiring work of my colleague Mr Ajay, my personal assistant at the Nehru Science Centre, who had to bear the major brunt of my additional responsibility and often times had to work very late hours with absolutely no financial or other rewards, whatsoever.

Last but not the least my special thanks to my beloved wife and life partner, Vidya, Khened, who had to endure quite a lot of hardship and had to majorly take care of our home affairs because of my two responsibilities.

A big thank you to one and all and wishing my successor all the very best.

I will continue to be the Director of the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai.

All are equal but some are more equal

“All are equal but some are more equal” is a proverbial statement, which most of us have learnt to live with in India. This unwritten edict cuts across different fields and professions and perhaps explains why some get the due that they truly deserve while others fall in the category of also ran - and going into oblivion blaming their fate to destiny - may be because they do not know how best to market themselves or be practical. History is replete with such instances, cutting across areas and countries, of some making it to the headlines globally while others do not even find a mention in the subtexts. This perhaps sums up the reason why we are not finding the kind of a buzz or hype among the media or student fraternity for the visit of Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko to the Nehru Science Centre, that is scheduled at 12 noon on the 25th of October.

I am reminded of the extraordinary hype and buzz that we had experienced, at the Nehru Science Centre, when we hosted the visit of Sunita Williams, NASA astronaut with part Indian roots, in the year 2013. We had the highest ever contingent of media both print and electronic including at least 9 OB vans the first for the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai. The Russian space achievements, which until that historic moment of “One small step for man and Giant leap for mankind” was achieved by Neil Armstrong for the Americans, had always pushed the Americans to the second position. But then when it comes to remembering the achievements most of our younger generations will hardly remember the Russian contributions in Space sciences. After all who can beat the Americans in marketing themselves to glory while almost obliterating the achievements of others. So no wonder that the Nehru Science Centre’s hosting the Russian Cosmonaut, Mikhail Kornienko’s visit on the 25th October, is yet to get even a fraction of the attention that we got when we last hosted Sunita Williams.

Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai with support from the Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, Russia, is organising the ‘Rosatom Festival of Science & Culture’ at our centre during October 25-26, 2018 and the special attraction of the event will be an interaction with the Russian Cosmonaut, Kornienko, flight engineer on International Space Station(ISS) who with NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, served Expedition 43-46 and spent a whopping 340 days on the International Space Station (ISS)during their yearlong flight. The "one-year crew" mission—which began on March 27, 2015 and was the longest by any astronauts aboard the ISS and seen as a vital chance to measure the effects of a prolonged period in space on the human body. This, almost a year long stay in space of Kelly, was also the longest period for any American astronaut. Russia however continues to rule, though not known very well among the public, when it comes to long-duration spaceflight. The world record of 438 days was set by a Russian doctor during the mid-1990s more than 25 years before the achievements of Kelly.

The Soyuz capsule carrying Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko and his 340-day roommate, Scot Kelly, landed back on Earth on the 1st of March 2016. The Russian and Americans duo had travelled 232 million kilometres through space, circled the world 5440 times and experienced 10,880 orbital sunrises and sunsets during the longest single spaceflight by an American. The news of Kelly returning back to planet Earth after spending almost a year in space made media headlines across the globe while his companion Russian Cosmonaut was pushed to the subtext. Leading the marketing for the American Astronaut, Kelly, was none other than the President of USofA, Barack Obama, whose tweet “Welcome back to Earth, @StationCDRKelly! Your year in space is vital to the future of American space travel. Hope gravity isn’t a drag!” did not find the mention of two of Kelly’s fellow travellers from Russia including Micheal Kornienko.

During the mission, the ISS crew conducted almost 400 investigations to advance NASA’s mission, of preparation for mans landing on Mars by 2035. Kelly and Kornienko particularly conducted research into how the human body adjusts to weightlessness, isolation, radiation and the stress of long-duration spaceflight, the knowledge of which are expected to guide future missions to deep space destinations.

Space missions have always been the turning point in the history of supremacy of nations. However with the onset of the global era the space missions have now become a global cooperation with more and more countries joining hands in the spirit of true humanity for the good of science and humanity. This global cooperation was aptly articulated by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden who said “It’s incredibly important that we all work together to make what is seemingly impossible, possible.” For NASA, that mission possible is its gearing up for human expeditions to Mars in the 2030s. Radiation will be a top challenge, along with the body and mind’s durability on what will be a 2-year journey round trip to Mars. He added “With his one-year mission, Kelly has “helped us take one giant leap toward putting boots on Mars,”.

While Kelly made it to the headlines, on the 1st/ 2nd of March 2016, globally the time is here and now for those of you who wish to meet the man who was Kelly’s room mate, Mikhail Kornienko, for all of 340 days in space on-board the ISS, in flesh blood at the Nehru Science Centre on the 25th of October at 12 noon. Come one come all don’t miss this unique opportunity to meet the Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko.