COVID 19, Hand Washing & Ignaz Semmelweis

Image Credits : Wiki Commons

Google is now an all pervasive lexicon, which has entered into the hearts and minds of most Indians and the Google home page is as strongly etched in our minds as the current COVID 19 pandemic. Therefore yesterday’s Google Doodle - which is continuing even today- an image that appears on the Google home page, conveyed a timely message for all of us -  ‘ Stay Home, Save Lives’. This message emphasises the need for us to be resilient for unitedly combating the global COVID pandemic by staying in our home to arrest the Covid spread. Hopefully it will help us in re-emphasising the need for all of us to strictly follow the guidelines of the government, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, World Health Organisation (WHO) and such other credible organisations in combating the Covid menace by staying in our respective homes. 

Most unfortunately, notwithstanding the unprecedented developments in science and technology, as things stand today, there is no cure  or a vaccine to the novel Corona virus and the best way to avoid the spread of this Covid pandemic is a good hygiene - primarily hand washing and social distancing. Washing hands is a simple act, yet such an essential step in halting the spread of the COVID transmission, which has now crossed the million mark and taken away more than 50,000 lives. Good hand hygiene protects us and those around us, and it is one of the most important contributions that we all can make to keep ourselves and our communities safe. Hand washing, mundane as it may sound now, needed a visionary Doctor, in the early nineteenth century, to visualise its efficacy in saving lives. Hand washing is now linked with its founder, Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian doctor, who introduced the concept of hand washing and hygiene in the 1840s while working in the famous Vienna General Hospital. In fact his colleague doctors and scientists thought it was unscientific to connect hand hygiene with medical care but then Semmelweis, who faced huge challenges in driving home his message, was proved right, though decades after his death. This blogpost of mine is therefore a tribute to Semmelweis, the father of hand washing. 

Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, unfortunately did not get the due recognition for his profound contributions to hand hygiene and its inextricable linkage to infection control and saving of lives, when he was alive. However, that mistake has now been amended and he is now universally known as the ‘‘father of infection control’’ and saviour of precious lives. He is now recognised as one of the leading scientists and his portrait hangs majestically at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, which I had the honour to visit during my participation in the World Science Forum in 2015. Many lives have been lost and are continuing to be lost due to what is called the sepsis, infections acquired by patients while in hospital. Incidentally this very sepsis, took away the life of my brother in law, Pramod Angadi (my wife’s younger brother) last year, that too at a very young age of 49 years. Most of the  infections, which are acquired by patients while in the hospital are called nosocomial infections and such infections are very common in countries like India. One of the causes for these infections is  contaminated hands of people including healthcare workers, who are responsible for spreading lethal infectious agents. It is now universally accepted that hand hygiene is noted to be the single most important factor for such infection control. Ignaz Semmelweis was the first physician in medical history to demonstrate that puerperal fever - a hospital acquired infection, also known as childbed fever - was contagious and that its incidence could be drastically reduced by enforcing hand hygiene on the medical care givers. Unfortunately, although his hand washing advisory was hugely successful and led to drastic reduction in the fatality rates during the delivery in pregnant women yet, it was rejected by the powers that be since Semmelweis’s discovery directly confronted the then held beliefs of medical doctors, who were in disagreement with Semmelweis.

Ignaz Semmelweis, the fifth child born to Teresia and Josef Semmelweis, Jewish immigrants to Hungary, was born in the formerly divided town of Buda - subsequently Budapest (in Hungary) from 1937, after its twin city Pest was merged with Buda - on 1st July 1818. The young Ignaz attended his school in Buda, and finished his primary education at the Catholic Gymnasium in 1835. On the advice of his father, Semmelweis left Buda in 1937, for studying law at the University of Vienna, in Austria. Fortunately, it so happened that Semmelweis became friends with a medical student in Vienna and attended one of his anatomy classes in the Vienna General Hospital. This aroused an interest in medicine in the minds of Semmelweis and thus ending his tryst with law studies. Semmelweis returned back to his home town Buda in 1840 for studying medicine.  He went to the University of Pest (later called Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest) and began studying medicine. Subsequently he once again went to the University of Vienna and obtained his doctorate in medicine (MD) in 1844, the graduation ceremony of which he could not attend because of the death of his mother, whose funeral he attended at Buda.

In the year 1847, Dr Ignaz Semmelweis was selected for an initial 2 year appointment as an assistant in obstetrics at the famous Allgemeine Krankenhaus teaching hospital in Vienna - now General Hospital Vienna. His primary responsibility at the hospital was with the ‘First Division’ of the maternity service of the hospital. The Vienna General Hospital ( Allgemeines Krankenhaus ) was a jewel amongst the European hospitals in the 1700s. This Hospital was rebuilt as an outcome of the visionary Austrian Emperor,  Joseph II. He Joseph II, was concerned with the growing need for institutional care for the sick poor and thus invested his personal fortune in building this magnificent hospital, which went on to be the leading hospital of the world. Joseph II, decided that rather than build a new hospital, it is better to reconstruct an existing almshouse. The reconstructed General Hospital in Vienna, was designed by the emperor’s private physician, Joseph Quarin and the final plan consisted of a 1500-bed, general hospital with lying-in facilities, an asylum and a foundling hospital. The design comprised a maze of 111 rooms, more than half of which were meant for men, and some private rooms. There were 15 physicians and 15 surgeons and 140 nursing attendants, who were appointed for running this hospital. The reconstructed hospital - Allgemeines Krankenhaus - was opened on 16 August 1784 and instantly became a tourist attraction primarily because of its majestic architecture. It also became a model for other hospital renovations in Germany and other countries. Although the hospital was known for its unique architecture and was also a famous tourist attraction, it soon became infamous for its medical services, since the mortality levels at the hospital was very high at 20% and therefore wealthy and prospective paying patients were frightened to turn up at this hospital. The conditions of the hospital remained much the same until the death of Joseph II. The hospital improved subsequently with the appointment of Johann Peter Frank as its director in 1795. It was in this very hospital that Semmelweis would go on to revolutionise the hand washing and hygiene theory, which has ever since been saving millions of lives across the globe and is now playing a pivotal role in the arrest of the Covid spread. 

Semmelweis, while working at the maternity wards of the General Hospital, Vienna, observed a strange phenomenon - women whose pregnancy delivery was conducted by qualified medical Doctors (physicians) and medical students had a much higher rate of post-delivery death (9%), which was caused by ‘puerperal fever’ or childbed fever. In comparison other women whose delivery was conducted by the midwives or trainee mid wife’s at the same hospital, the fatalities were quite low, at about 2%. It was quite baffling an observation by Semmelweis and it would have been foolhardy of him to suggest that the number of fatalities during the deliveries conducted by professionally qualified physicians and medical students was much higher than those conducted by less qualified midwifes and trainee midwifes. But then Dr Semmelweis was prepared to risk his career and reputation for the search of scientific reasons, which was causing higher fatalities when Doctors performed deliveries. 

During his quest for finding answers as to what caused these higher mortality, Semmelweis learned about the death of a forensic Professor at the hospital. Jakob Kolletschka, a professor of forensic medicine at the General Hospital in Vienna, had died after a student had accidentally pricked Kolletschka's finger with a knife that was used in an autopsy. Semmelweis read the autopsy report of Kolletschka and noted  that the symptoms Kolletschka exhibited before his death were similar to those of the maternity patients who had died of puerperal fever. Because of the similarities, Semmelweis inferred that the two incidents had a common connect. After detailed examination and observations, he came to the conclusion that the medical students in the First Obstetric Clinic, who also dissected cadavers at the morgue, were actually transferring ‘cadaverous material’ from the dead bodies in the morgue to maternity patients and that the mode of transmission was their hands. He further established that the ‘cadaverous material’ was actually causing ‘puerperal fever’ and that it was this same material, which had led to the death of the forensic Professor - Kolletschka. He noticed that the midwives who were responsible for the deliveries in the  Second Obstetrical Clinic at the hospital did not work in the morgue and therefore he inferred that they were not transferring the ‘cadaverous material’ to their maternity patients thus the fatalities were much less at this clinic.

Semmelweis conducted further observational studies on this issue at the General Hospital and came to a compelling conclusion that it was the doctors unhygienic hands that were reasons for the increased fatalities. He was convinced that the exposure of physicians and medical students to cadavers resulted in an increased risk of  puerperal fever (childbed fever). Dr Semmelweis called his studies - Control Analysis.  Semmelweis spoke about his findings with some of his colleagues and medical students, while most were dismissive of his findings, some were quite positive. He was able to convince them to practice a ‘mandatory hand washing regime’ before carrying out the deliveries. He further conducted trials to see if improved hand hygiene by doctors and medical students could reduce mortalities. During these trials, of hand hygiene before delivery, Semmelweis advocated use of chloride of lime solution for washing hands. To the surprise of most of his seniors and also his fellow doctors and medical students, the death rate in all the deliveries conducted using the prescribed hand washing regime fell drastically from 9% to  2%. Semmelweis further advocated for washing of the medical instruments, which were used in the deliveries, and true to his expectations, the fatalities rate decreased further to about 1%. What his findings meant was that for all these years the unhygienic conditions practiced by his fellow doctors, including his seniors, was responsible for the increased number of deaths. As expected his findings did not go well with most of his seniors, who refused to buy his arguments and called them unscientific and aimed at stigmatising the doctors fraternity. Some of the senior Doctors even initiated a furious and vicious attack against Semmelweis.

Professor Klein, who was senior to Semmelweis, was among those who led an attack against Dr Semmelweis. Klein was a respected Doctor and was also a member of the highly respected and influential Academy ‘the Old Guard’, which also consisted of leading authors of the time. Professor Klein argued that the higher fatality was due to the faulty ventilation system and not the purported consequences of unhygienic ‘dirty’ hands of the doctors and medical students. Semmelweis was unconvinced. He was able to take on board a number of young faculty members, who supported him and practiced hand hygiene before the delivery. Some of these doctors went on to become leaders of medical profession who ensured that their hospital - the Allgemeine Krankenhaus Hospital in Vienna became the world’s greatest teaching hospital for the next half century. 

This findings of Semmelweis did not go well with Professor Klein and some of the senior staff at the Vienna Hospital and they all ganged up against Semmelweis and ensured that he did not get his assistant professorship renewed in 1849. Instead, Semmelweis was offered a clinical faculty appointment, which meant that he did not have permission to teach from cadavers, which was of paramount importance during those days. Semmelweis felt he was betrayed by his seniors, whom he accused as ‘murderers’ of pregnant women. He then fled Vienna by abandoning his supporters, and came back to Budapest. In 1851 he took up another assignment as the head of obstetrics at St Rochus Hospital. This hospital too had a high rate of puerperal fever, but with Semmelweis heading the hospital and implementing his policies, the rate of puerperal fever plummetted. In 1855, Semmelweis became head of obstetrics at the University of Pest. Semmelweis implemented the chlorine washing procedure and infection rates of puerperal fever at the university hospital fell.  By then Semmelweis’s obsession with hand hygiene had reached unprecedented proportions. Wherever he went he spoke of the ‘murderous practise’ of Doctors and medical students and this undeterred attack on the Vienna Doctors did not earn him any sympathisers. Rather, he created some more enemies in his home town.

Amidst all,his obsession with hand washing Semmelweis  married Maria Weidenhoffer, the daughter of a wealthy merchant in 1857, the year when India was fighting its first war of Independence against the British. Together Ignaz and Maria Semmelweis had five children. During this period Semmelweis wrote papers on puerperal fever and, in 1861, he published his book ‘Die aetiologie, der begriff und die prophylaxis des kindbettfiebers’ (The Etiology, Concept, and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever). Unfortunately, although his findings had a sound base, the book was badly written and therefore it was no wonder that it was poorly received by the medical establishment. By this time Semmelweis had become obsessed with his hand washing advocacy and wherever he went he spoke of the Doctors in Vienna as some kind of a murderers. He was began to be completely ostracised by his own medical community. However contrary to his own views that his own medical fraternity did not heed to his findings, there are evidence which suggest that the General Hospital in Vienna continued to practise the hand hygiene regime which Semmelweis was advocating. 

The conventional view, which is suggested by Semmelweis's own account, is that his contemporaries were skeptical of his results, that he was marginalized and that once he was no longer directly responsible for caring for maternity patients, puerperal mortality returned to its former high levels. However the situation appears to have been quite different. Although Semmelweis went hammer and tongs to criticise the Doctors at the General Hospital in Vienna and call them murderers, who by refusing to look inwards are continuing to commit avoidable deaths at the maternity. Evidence suggests that his successor Doctors maintained a relatively low mortality rate at the Vienna Hospital, roughly consistent with the rate Semmelweis himself achieved. This suggests that the chlorine washings, which Semmelweis was advocating were probably still used conscientiously even after he left Vienna and that the opposition he encountered at the hands of the Doctors had other sources than doubts about the effectiveness of the chlorine washings. All this continued to play on the mind of Semmelweis. 

His mental health began to deteriorate after the publication of his book and he suffered from severe depression. By 1865, Semmelweis's abnormal public behaviour started affecting his professional life and he spent much of his time away from his family. Unfortunately when his behaviour turned from bad to worse, his wife and some of his colleagues in the year 1865, admitted him to an insane asylum in Vienna. Semmelweis tried to escape from the insane asylum and in the process he was beaten up badly. After two weeks in the asylum, post his bearings Semmelweis died on 13 August 1865 in Vienna, Austria. His autopsy revealed that he had died from blood poisoning in a wound that could have been sustained during the beating. He was just 47. 

It must be noted here that although Dr Semmelweis was the first healthcare professional to demonstrate experimentally that hand washing could prevent infections, it was not until 1885 or so, two decades after his death that his work was caught the attention of the Doctors and experts. This happened primarily because by then Pasteur, Koch, and Lister had produced fair amount of material evidence of the germ theory and antiseptic techniques. All these findings helped in establishing the importance of the value of hand washing and Semmelweis was given his due albeit after his death. Many countries have issued stamps honouring the contributions of Semmelweis. A university named after him ‘Semmelweis University’, has been established in Budapest, for medicine and health-related disciplines. Many other honorary establishments have been were established in his name, which include among others  The Semmelweis Klinik, a hospital for women located in Vienna, Austria and The Semmelweis Hospital in Miskolc, Hungary. His house in Budapest is now a historical museum and a library called the Semmelweis Medical History Museum.

While the whole world is combating the global COVID 19 Pandemic, hand hygiene and social distancing are two measures which are playing major role in arresting the spread of COVID pandemic and for which we must all eternally remain grateful to Semmelweis. Long live Semmelweis and RIP.

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Ugadi : New Year Prayers for end of COVID 19 Global Crisis

Ugadi ( Gudi Padwa) - New Year and the First Day of the 21 day National Lockdown : Will this be the Beginning of the end for the CORONA VIRUS (COVID 19) in India? I earnestly hope

Yesterday was the first day of the nationwide 21-day shutdown, announced by the Honourable Prime Minister, and this coincidentally also happened to be an auspicious new year day, celebrated as Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra and as Ugadi in Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. While announcing the national lockdown, during his second televised address to the nation on the COVID 19 pandemic that is raging across much of the world, the Honourable Prime Minister Modi ji, in his inimitable style of connecting with the people, used a crowd sourced poster to simplify the essence of national shutdown due to Corona by holding a poster, which read क़ो रो ना ( Corona) - कोयी - रोड़ पे - ना निकले (nobody should get on to the road).

Most parts of the country followed the clarion call given by the PM and  in Mumbai a city which never  sleeps, the streets of Mumbai, India’s largest metropolis, remained mostly empty, notwithstanding the fact that it was the new year : Gudi Padwa - a major festival for Maharashtra. Like most Indians holed up in homes, I too was glued to the news channels to ascertain what the response of the people will be. From various television news reports, I  could see shuttered shops, empty train tracks, closed airports, idle factories all across the country, meaning the shut down was largely successful barring some scenes of people rushing to grocery and vegetable shops for buying essential items. There were also few aberrations. In Kolkata a lady was shown arguing with the Police and resorting to a most atrocious act of licking the hands of the Police on duty and rubbing her mouth on his uniform. There were some scenes of people attacking the Police, who were doing their job of enforcing the law and in one case a Policeman has been seriously injured and admitted to the hospital. Notwithstanding the monumental problems in implementation of this national lock down, the Police were mostly seen exhibiting exemplary behaviour in trying to convince people to stay home and not to break the law. I was one among those 1 plus billion people, who abided by the law and remained at home in our staff quarters in worli.

My first day of the lockdown at home, which incidentally was the  Ugadi / Gudi Padwa  day - a New Year - began with a diktat from my wife, who first refused to entertain my request for a morning coffee and insisted that I take oil bath with neem leaves mixed in water and join her in doing the Ugadi Puja. She also urged me to get some neem leaves and neem flowers, which were to be used for the Ugadi Puja. We are among those few lucky ones who are staying in office quarters in worli in a lush green campus of 12 acres with lots of trees and plants including neem trees. Neem leaves are used in preparation of a special culinary that is prepared during the Ugadi festival and is offered as prasad to the family God during the Ugadi Puja. Ugadi, is an auspicious New Year’s Day for us, Kannadigas, and so also for others in the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. Since my childhood days I am privy to the oil bath and other rituals followed during Ugadi in which neem leaves are mixed with water that is to be used for morning bath, prior to the puja and white flowers of the neem tree, which are used for preparing a special Ugadi cuisine ‘Bevu Bella’ - a mixture of neem flowers, crushed leaves and jaggery with mixture of other ingredients and some other condiments. Though not a religious person, I support my wife in the pujas - who dare not to, not even the former Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. Moreover, this year I voluntarily and with full faith took part in the puja and my primary prayers for the almighty was that the auspicious new year Ugadi be the beginning of an end to the dreaded Corona Virus (COVID 19) scourge, which has rampaged the world and is continuing to do so at exponential pace. I hope,  not just mine and my wife’s prayers but also the prayers of all humanity, which is suffering across the globe who are uniting in this suffering, is answered and by the end of the 21 national lockdown we will see the results of the end of the pandemic starts kicking in. Until then all we need to do is have trust in our leaders and all those untiringly working Corona Rakshaks (warriors), who are trying to battle it out even as our immune system, which is ordained to take on such lethal viruses has not been able to combat them effectively. 

This Ugadi is the beginning of the New Year 2077 of the Vikram Samvat (calendar) and also the beginning of the 21 days of our national lockdown for combating the global enemy, Corona Virus (COVID 19). By now it is universally well known that there are no vaccines or medicines or any other medical curative measures to contain this deadly virus, except for social isolation. COVID 19 is a global health crisis in which even the most developed countries with the best of health infrastructure are facing the worst of casualties. The epicentre of the disease  has now shifted from China to European countries. There has been an unprecedented and exponential rate at which the number of COVID cases have been increasing day by day, particularly in highly developed countries with the best of medical facilities. Italy, Spain, USA are all suffering from COVID and have resorted to locking down their countries to contain its spread. Not even Prince Charles, has been spared from this deadly virus. Just yesterday it was widely reported that Prince Charles has tested positive. ‘Top Chef Masters’ winner of the world, Floyd Cardoz, a celebrated Indian American chef in New York City,  who made a huge impact on the international culinary world, was also tested for COVID 19 and yesterday after suffering for one week, Cardoz succumbed to the COVID 19. The situation has been the same in several countries and most world leaders are deeply distressed. A look at the global statistics of the Corona impact (Worldometers info)reveals that as of now (26th March, 13.30hrs) total number of confirmed COVID 19 cases are 4,72,527 with 21,304 deaths and China (81,285 cases and 3287 deaths), Italy (74,386 cases and 7503 deaths), USA ( 68489 cases and 1032 deaths) and Spain (49,515 cases and 3647 deaths) are showing unprecedented casualties. Iran and France too are not far behind with 3647 deaths and 1331 deaths respectively. 

Under such serious COVID 19 global crisis, the 21 days national lockdown and its adverse economic impact, including human sufferings, appears to be a just price to be paid by India. India has more than 1.3 billion people and we are densely populated with far higher number of people per square metres than any other country. And therefore any slip at this critical juncture, in trying to combat the pandemic with social isolation measures, will be too heavy a price to pay later, which cannot even be fathomed. India, as of today, is showing 678 confirmed cases with 13 deaths and these numbers in comparison with  most other countries are relatively less depressing but then we can’t be complacent and the national lockdown for 21 days is perhaps the only way forward in avoiding the Himalayan crisis, which countries like Italy, Spain and US are currently suffering. 

Hopefully, with prayers from a billion plus Indians, on the auspicious occasion of the Ugadi, and so also those extraordinary measures taken by the central and all the states and union territories, India will overcome the COVID 19 global crisis with as minimum a casualty as can be possible under such extreme pandemic crisis. This global crisis as it stands today, is more scary than the two world wars and for India this crisis and its social economic impact may be worse than the three major wars that independent India has fought against our enemies in 1962,1965 and 1971, the Kargil conflict and for that matter even the mass migration crisis, which the nation witnessed just after the Independence. I earnestly hope that all our Gudi Padwa / Ugadi prayers are answered. Though not a scientifically minded statement, I feel a billion plus prayers of a highly religious country like India, which has often been referred to as the leader of spirituality by world leaders, cannot and will not go unanswered by almighty or nature or whatever one calls the supreme force, which governs the nature that encompasses all humans and their current enemy - the Corona virus. 

Ugadi, the new year, is celebrated every year on the first day of the first Hindu calendar month ( Chaitra) of the 12 month cycle and it usually falls in the months of March or April of the Gregorian Calendar. Legend has it that the great king, Vikramaditya of Ujjain established the Vikrama Samvat era after defeating the Sakas. The Hindu calendar is one of the oldest calendar systems, which is based on the lunar revolutions and included adjustments (intercalation/extracalation) to solar reckoning. The word Calendar has its origin from the Roman word ‘Calends or Kalends’, meaning a method of distributing time into certain periods adopted for the purpose  of civil life. The current National Calendar of India is a formalized lunisolar calendar in which leap years coincide with those of the Gregorian calendar (Calendar Reform Committee, 1957). However, the initial epoch is the Saka Era, a traditional epoch of Indian chronology. The reformed Indian calendar, post independence, began with Saka Era 1879 AD, Caitra 1, which corresponds to 22nd March, 1957. 

The ‘Ugadi’ term originated from the Sanskrit word “Yugadi” where “Yuga” means  a new period  and “aadi” means the beginning. As per the Hindu calendar, Ugadi marks the beginning of a new year and it falls on the beginning of the Indian month of Chaitra. It is believed that Lord Brahma created the universe on this day and therefore this day is considered as one of the very auspicious days of the year. Ugadi also marks the commemoration of Chaitra Navratri, which leads up to Ram Navami, Lord Rama’s birthday, which is celebrated on Mahanavami (ninth day). Among other things, Ugadi is observed by drawing the traditional rangoli, decorating the house with mango leaves, buying new clothes and donating food or clothes to the poor and needy and also with special oil bath in which neem leaves are mixed with water, which was what I did yesterday. Let us all hope and once again pray that this Ugadi is special and that the prayers of not just Indians but all of humanity is answered and let this be the beginning of the end for the COVID 19, which has rampaged the globe. 

Once agin wishing my countrymen a very happy new year - Ugadi/ Gudi Padwa and hope that this crisis too will pass sooner than later until such time let us all continue to stand united lay behind all the Covid Rakshaks who are battling it out for us.

Jai Hind 

Image Credits

1. Chef Floyd - Hunger Inc Hospitality
2. Ugadi Pachhadi - Wiki Commons
3. Ugadi/Gudi Padwa Greetings - Getty Images
4. COVID 19 India Map - Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
5. Prince Charles - Wiki Commons

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Janta Curfew on 22nd March 2020

Janta Curfew on 22nd March 2020 : A timely clarion appeal from the Hon PM of India for the COVID combat 

Yesterday was an extraordinary day when it comes to our collective endeavour to fight the deadly Corona Virus, which has now become a global pandemic. The Honourable PM of India addressed the nation on the Coronavirus scare and appealed to fellow countrymen for their cooperation and support, including for a self imposed  people's curfew - जनता कर्फ़्यू, in combating the deadly virus, which India has until now managed to keep it, just about under check, relatively. Yesterday was also the day when the number of Corona deaths in Italy surpassed the deaths in China, the country of the origin of  this pandemic, from where this virus has spread globally and has been declared a pandemic by the WHO. It was also the day when not a single new incidents of the COVID 19 was reported from Wuhan - the epicentre of this dreaded virus - which after the initial blunder had quarantined itself from the rest of China and the world for containing the spread of the virus. There are lessons to be learnt from China and the city of Wuhan for handling of this pandemic, notwithstanding their utterly tragic and shoddy handling of the case when it all began, some time during end of November / early December 2019. At the time of writing this post the number of Coronavirus cases have now reached a staggering 2,55,201 and 10,456 deaths with India accounting for 223 cases and four deaths. While commending our leaders, untiring health workers and all other concerned countrymen for their extraordinary efforts in moderately containing the spread of this virus in India, we can’t be complacent that India is safe. We must not put our guard down and we must mandatorily prepare ourselves for a long drawn battle that is staring at us and continue our efforts to monitor and arrest the spread of this virus. We must constantly remind ourselves that it took nearly three months for the Coronavirus cases to reach a figure of 100,000 but then it took just 12 days for adding another 100,000 cases and the virulent tentacles of the virus have now spread to more than 175 countries and such has been the exponential rate at which this dreaded virus is spreading that if we slip now we will be driven on the Italian path, which for an high density populations like ours, will be a disaster that we can ill afford. 

There could be debates on what the social impact of the shut down, which has been imposed by several states and the central government including the जानता कर्फ़्यू that the Honourable PM has appealed, will be on a majority of our brethren, who work in the non formal sector and 

depend majorly on daily wage for feeding their family. But then we must appreciate that desperate times call for desperate actions and this is one such time, which warrants desperate actions including complete shut downs announced by different governments. Hopefully the Hon. FM under whose chairmanship the Hon PM has constituted a committee to formulate an economic package, which can mitigate the hardship of those whose livelihood is adversely affected, will be able to address this issue efficiently including taking lessons from the Government of Kerala. What is now of paramount importance is that we must all collectively strengthen the hands of our Honourable Prime Minister and heed to his appeal to impose the ‘janta curfew’ on ourselves for all of Sunday the 22nd March 2020, from 7 AM to 9 PM and be ever prepared for a long drawn battle against this menace in future as well, should the situation warrant. It is also a timely appeal by the PM to applaud and appreciate the unending Corona warriors who have put their own safety at stake to save us from this dreaded disease. This will need the support of every countrymen, primarily our leaders, irrespective of their political ideology, to ensure that the spread of the virus does not enter the next stage - third stage -  of community transmission.

We need to learn lesson from the failures of Italy and Iran and so also China to ensure that we as citizens do our best and support our leaders and all those heroes - the army of selfless medical doctors, the indefatigable health workers and innumerable others who are right on the ground fighting this battle risking their life to save our lives. While the virus in itself is novel and continues to create mayhem but then the Chinese have shown us the path that if there is a proper collective willingness and preparedness to combat this virus, this dreaded virus too can be contained. However if there is slackness in addressing this issue, with an ostrich like mentality, the results can be catastrophic as can be seen in the cases of Italy and Iran. The Wuhan province in China the epicentre of this virus is now limping back to normalcy and not one new case was reported yesterday, which gives us a ray of hope that the virus can be contained subject to the condition that we all are collectively responsible for it.

Peoples curfew’ in my opinion was disruptive at its best, converting the very dreaded word ‘curfew’ into a peoples movement, an attempt to prepare the nation for (God forbid) scarier days to come. The PM did well to dwell in to the past and remind the nation of its preparedness for the blackout during those war times, which in my opinion was a great example for preparing the nation, for possibly much harder times to come. This reminded me of our Sainik School training, during which our physical training teachers and those other tough no nonsense trainers, while draining us out of breath would often say ‘the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war’.  An apt example in present times. As we  inch towards that dreaded stage 3 of the COVID 19, the fear is palpable. Can we avoid the Italian or an Iranian experience? Will india get sucked into the dreaded corona tentacles of the virus and enter into that the exponential growth curve?  The Corona virus is unsparing of all those who don’t realise it’s dreadful effect or for those who are taking  it lightly. While the whole nation is praying that we flatten the Corona spread curve and never enter into that dreaded phase three - a result of the spread of virus from community - it is also time that we collectively listen to the clarion call given to us by the Hon PM, no matter how difficult the path is. We must remind ourselves that the first Corona case in Italy surfaced a few days after the first case was noticed in India and both of us were at about the same numbers (3) for quite some time and then things changed and Italy took that dreaded exponential path crossing from stage 2 to the next stage in quick time and the disastrous result is there for all to see. We must mandatorily avoid this path and for this we the citizens of this country must voluntarily support our PM. 

The novel Corona Virus, which was later named COVID 19, was first identified in Wuhan, China in a market selling live poultry, seafood and wild animals some where in end November or early December 2019. It has now spread globally and has impacted more than 180 countries accounting for more than 10,000 deaths and 2,50,000 people globally. Viruses, such as the Corona virus, are highly contagious and spread rapidly. The Corona virus is named so due to the spikes that protrude from their membranes, which resemble sun’s corona. It was initially called the novel Corona virus nCoV and it could infect both animals and people, and can cause illnesses of the respiratory tract, ranging from the common cold to severe conditions like the SARS - Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - which had earlier affected thousands of people around the world and killed nearly a thousand people during its 2003 outbreak. Most unfortunately the Chinese authorities had hidden the information of an outbreak of this new virus until Dr Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist by profession, talked about it and thus became the whistle blower against the virus. 

Li Wenliang, aged 34, raised concerns - on December 30 - about a possible spread of a new virus, in the city of Wuhan. Dr Li had posted a social message in a chat group for his fellow Doctors about his experience of attending to a series of patients with flu-like symptoms that resembled SARS at his hospital. He had  urged his group members (mostly doctors) to wear protective clothing, while at work, to protect themselves from a possible virus attack. As luck would have it Dr Li’s message went viral. He thus became the whistleblower in the case of reporting the virus epidemic, which later came to be known as the  novel Corona virus (nCoV) and subsequently as COVID19, which the world is now talking about. Until then the Chinese authorities had concealed the spread of this virus in Wuhan, from the public and also from the international community. Most unfortunately Dr Li succumbed to the very disease, on the 6th of February. His mortal remains may have been buried but his contributions in raising an alarm against the Corona virus will remain eternally etched in the annals of history.  

For most Indians the past few days have been unprecedented. We are seeing City shutdowns, schools, colleges, offices closed, exams postponed, stock market collapses, quarantines, empty streets and bazaars, mass panic buying, and tragic tales of human suffering are fast becoming a norm. And it seems that there is no end to this in the near future. It looks like the most aggressive campaigns of social distancing may help in arresting the spread of the virus in the next weeks or months but the virus and its fallout will almost certainly get much worse before it gets better.

The Indian society has been compelled to engage in what is termed as social distancing, a far fetched concept for us familial Indians, for whom societal bindings are inextricably linked to our very life. But then tough times demand tougher measures, which must also include such other measures as self quarantine and stay at home discipline. How long are people willing to take this path is a moot question.  A month? Two months? More? The longer one imagines society living with this virus, the more likely it appears people may be willing to submit to once-unthinkable ways of living, which is what is mandated and that is what the Honourable Prime Minister expects from all of us. Let us be inconvenienced for a cause which is millions times more detrimental than the inconvenience that some of the measures that we are now compelled to be a part of. 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. I am also certain that by then scientists, working over time all across the globe will have found a solution to combating this dreaded virus with vaccine and such other measures. Until then let us all be united and resolve to fight it out collectively.

जय हिन्द, and जय हिंद की नागरिक।

Heritage on Wheels Exhibition & the COVID 19 Lockdown of Nehru Science Centre.

Heritage on Wheels Exhibition & the COVID 19 Lockdown of Nehru Science Centre.

Amidst an unprecedented heightened fear and dime a dozen information   - most of which unfortunately is infodemic - that is getting played out in the social media and so  also in the electronic and print media on the COVID 19, which has been declared a pandemic by the WHO,  authorities across India have been compelled to take precautions including shutting down public spaces and museums. Our centre too has been closed for visitors from today. Just a couple of days ago -  on 13th March  - silently, without much fanfare, we had opened an exhibition on CoronaVirus and another new exhibition ‘ Heritage on Wheels’, with a hope that these two exhibitions will help us in compensating the fall in  visitors to our centre, post the COVID scare. Unfortunately COVID -19 has played spoilsport and we have been compelled to close our centre for the larger interest of the public health safety of our visitors. Hopefully the COVID scare will pass and we will soon open our centre and the Vintage Cars exhibition to public at the earliest.  

Heritage Automobiles - vintage cars - exhibition has always attracted huge eyeballs and this has been our experience in the past two ‘Heritage on Wheels’ exhibitions, which we had organised at our centre. The artistically crafted, elegant moving beauties, painstakingly restored and maintained by their respective passionate owners, have no parallels in contemporary auto market. Even while most modern car manufacturers announce new range of cars every year, the craze for ageless beauties of yesteryears remains unparalleled. It is with this premise that the Nehru Science Centre, in collaboration with Vintage and Classic Car Club of India (VCCCI), has been organising the "Heritage on Wheels: Vintage Car" exhibition for the past three years and this year this exhibition got off to a soft opening, on the 13th March in the presence of several proud owners of these ageless beauties and other guests.

On display in the exhibition  are  40 (27 cars and 13 motorcycles)  ageless beauties, manufactured during the period from 1900 to 1950s. The assortment of cars on display include the Jaguar, Rolls Royce, Cadillac, Bentley, MG, Premier, Triumph, Shelly Cobra, Volkswagen, Austin, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Ford, Chrysler, Rover, Lincoln, Morgan etc. These cars belong to the period referred to as the golden age of design in which most of the cars were aesthetically designed with artistic flavour and were exquisitely engineered to transcend transportation to become a work of artistic creativity. The artistic elegance of these ageless moving beauties can be compared with the best of rolling sculptures, and to see them is to think, “these cars belongs to an art gallery.”

Automobiles have always fascinated Indians. The biennial Auto Expo, which was last  held at Noida, from Feb 9-14, 2018 had attracted more than 6,00,000 visitors.  When one goes back in history, we will notice that automobile industry is a marker to the design ingenuity and creativity of mankind. This industry is now destined for a paradigm shift with an ever increasing brain power that is continuing to be machined into the modern automobiles (cars) by their makers to make the next generation cars - the thinking cars.

Notwithstanding an unprecedented pace at which newer and newer developments are taking place in the Auto industry, there has never been any reduction in the curiosity and interest among the people, in wanting to see the vintage cars - ageless beauties. It is for this reason that the Nehru Science Centre has joined hands with Vintage and Classic Car Club of India (VCCCI) to present some of these ageless beauties to the visitors in the form of an exhibition "Heritage on Wheels”. This is the third consecutive year that we are organising this exhibition, which unfortunately has been temporarily closed due to COVID 19 scare and we hope to open it to the visitors as soon as the situation improves.

The automobile design has not evolved in a vacuum. It has also stood on the ‘shoulders of the giants’ and  borrowed ideas and thoughts from other industries and from popular culture, to adopt these ideas in the design of the automobiles. Whatever was handy, trendy or so called sexy, was fair game for the designers to incorporate in their designs. Automobile designers incorporated aspects of Art Deco and Art Moderne into their styling in the 30's. Streamlining, a catchword that had much less to do with aerodynamics than with shapes, was also incorporated in these beauties, besides incorporating design influences from nature. 

The “Heritage on Wheels” exhibition presents a range of artistically designed models of cars that were produced by creative team of designers, inventors, manufacturers and engineers who combined to create these early automobile beauties, which continue to attract people. The end-product reflects the marriage between the beauty of line and mechanical ingenuity. These vintage cars of yesteryear’s come with speed and elegance clubbed with a perfect combination of line and curve that makes these cars so very beautiful and aesthetically stunning. The delicate ness with which these cars are transported for the exhibition shows the extraordinary care that each of the owners have for their classic cars.

The early carmakers at the turn of the 20th century, not only cared for their cars to be reliable but were equally concerned for the look of their machines. The cars of the last century looked more like the horseless carriages. It took a while before these mechanised buggies sprouted fixed roofs, and very much longer before many of the exposed parts were pulled together in one, more or less, smoothly integrated designs. The book “Moving Beauty: A Century in Automobile Design” by Musee Des Beaux-Arts De Montreal chronicles the excellence achieved by the early car makers. 

The importance of art, which was exemplified by the early car designers, continue to remain relevant even in modern times. The overwhelming success of most of Apple products owe their genesis to the artistic looks that are embedded in the apple products, which was the mantra of its founder Steve Jobs. Perhaps Steve Jobs likened himself and his employees to the automobile designers who were as good as artists. Jobs deployed his mercurial personality in the ruthless way that artists sometimes do to incorporate a perfect combination of line and curve, which  the  early  car manufacturers had used, in his Apple products, the results of which are there for everyone to see.

Long before it became a trend in Europe to own the trendy vintage cars, India’s maharajas were collecting cars – mainly because they bought so many and never really got around to selling any of the cars, which they bought. Although these vintage classic cars have an extraordinary market value and are measured in monitory terms, in India however, they continue to be a pride of ownership primarily because  most of these vintage classic cars come with history sentimentality and nostalgia. 

Most Maharajas in India were extravagantly rich and preferred to buy large numbers of premier cars - Rolls Royce (RR) and such other cars particularly during the period 1921 and 1939. The Indian Maharajas accounted for about 25 per cent of RR’s global production. Since the maharajas were very fussy and demanding buyers, Rolls-Royce had a special production line for them, called the Maharaja specials. There is also an anecdote of an Indian King, Jai Singh, Maharaja of Alwar,  who was snubbed at Rolls Royce showroom in London, compelling him to  buy 6 of these luxury RR Cars, which he subsequently shipped to India. When these vehicles arrived in India Jai Singh ordered the Alwar municipality to use the luxury cars to transport and collect garbage around the city. The word of Rolls Royce cars collecting garbage in India spread like wildfire. People who used to drive their Rolls Royce cars with pride and joy were now embarrassed to drive them knowing the same luxury cars were being used to collect garbage in India. The reputation of Rolls Royce dropped rapidly all over the world. The people at Rolls Royce finally realized their mistake and sent a telegram to Jai Singh rendering their apology for the way he was treated at the London showroom. They also offered him six more cars, for free. The Maharaja accepted this gesture and his municipality stopped using the luxury cars for collecting trash.

Most owners of the vintage cars that are part of the ‘Heritage on Wheels’ exhibition at the Nehru Science Centre have their own stories about their ageless beauties, which accentuate the beauty of these cars. Hope the COVID fear dies down soon so that we can throw open the doors of our science centre to our visitors and enable them to enjoy this exhibition during their visit to our centre.

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3/14 - The International Mathematics Day (Pi (π) Day) : In remembrance of Aryabhata and Madhava.

14th March, declared as the International Pi day, is an interesting date, particularly when expressed in the way the Americans describe the dates - 3/14. A closer look at the date (month and day) reveals a combination of numbers that represent an approximation that constitutes the commonly used constant value for π (Pi) - 3.14. Coincidentally, this date also happens to be the birth date of one of the all time great scientists, Albert Einstein, who was born on the 14th March, 1879, in Germany. In recognition of this 14th March is celebrated as the international Pi day. Pi is perhaps one of few symbols, which has evoked extraordinary human curiosity, mystery, romanticism, misconception and interest, the evidence of which goes back in time.

Since historic times one of the profound challenges faced by mathematicians has been a precise calculation of the ratio between a circle's circumference and its diameter - which has come to be known by the Greek letter π (Pi) - whose history is as old as human desire to measure. However, the symbol for this ratio, known today as π (Pi), dates from the early eighteenth century. It was in the year 1706, a little-known mathematics teacher, named William Jones, first used the symbol π to represent an ideal that in numerical terms can be approached, but never reached. The value π (Pi) is a constant that we get when we divide any circle’s circumference by its diameter and its value is approximately 3.14. The beauty of this enduring mathematical constant lies in the fact that if one were to keep calculating π’s digits with more and more accuracy, you will discover that the fraction goes on and on, literally forever, with no predictable or periodic pattern to the fractions. It is this unpredictable nature of the unending fractions that makes π (Pi) a special constant, which has interested mathematicians for several centuries.

From ancient India, Babylonia and to the Middle Ages in Europe to the present day supercomputers, the mathematicians have been constantly striving to calculate this mysterious constant Pi. They have tried to search for exact fractions, formulas, and, more recently, patterns in the long string of numbers that start with 3.14159 2653........ to represent the unending value of this enchanting mathematical constant - an irrational number. The discovery of this interesting mathematical constant Pi (π), has unending applications in various fields of science and engineering. Notwithstanding the fact that there perhaps are quite a number of tall and illogical claims of ancient Indian achievements in the fields of aviation, cloning etc., which have been confused with mythology that are despised, rightly so, by the likes of Nobelists Venky Ramakrishnan and others, we must also admit that India did contribute immensely in the field of science and technology with discoveries and inventions in certain areas of science, mathematics, arts and culture. Of the numerous areas in which India has made immense contributions one of the unparalleled contributions is the discovery of the value of Pi, which dates back to the period of Sulbha Sutra, and more precisely to Aryabhata’s times.

Pi - the ratio of the circumference to the diameter - was of extraordinary significance for ancient Indians, primarily because of the exacting standards of measurements that were necessary for the construction of the sacred fire altars for performing religious ceremonies, primary among them the हवन. One of the practices that existed in India during the early times (so called Vedic times) was that each of the households were supposed to have three different shaped fire altars in the form of a circle, square and a semicircle, for performing the sacred हवन. The primary conditions of these three different shaped fire altars was that their areas had be equal. This perhaps necessitated a precious measurement and calculation of the value of Pi.  Professor Ramasubramanian, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Bombay, is an expert in this field and has so thoughtfully explained the rich history of calculation of Pi in India in a video, the link for which is appended at the end of this article. He says the necessity to construct equal area fire altars in the shape of square, circle and semicircle warranted a precise measurement and discovery of the value of Pi. However, it is said that Archimedes was the first to suggest a specific number for the value of Pi, which he represented as 22/7, a value of which is continuing to be used even in modern days.

Several Indian mathematicians, including eminent mathematician and astronomer Aryabhatta (476- 550AD) worked on the problem for attempting to find a precise value of Pi. Primary among them was Aryabhata, who worked on the approximation value for Pi (π) and his value 3.1416 is far more accurate as opposed to the value 22/7, which was suggested by Archimedes. Aryabhata also came to the conclusion that Pi is irrational. In the second part of the Aryabhatiya (gaṇitapāda 10), he writes : “चतुरधिकम् शतम् अष्टगुणम्द्वाषष्टि तथा सहस्राणाम् अयुत द्वय विष्कम्भस्य आसन्न वृत्त परिणाह” (caturadhikam satam ashtagunam dvāṣaṣṭi tatha sahasrāṇām Ayutadvayavi kambhasyasanno vṛttapariṇāhaḥ), meaning ; “Add four to 100, multiply by eight, and then add 62,000. By this rule the circumference of a circle with a diameter of 20,000 can be approached.” When you calculate this value, the answer comes to 3.1416, which is very close to the modern value of Pi to the fourth fraction (3.14159). You will also notice that Aryabhata very interestingly uses the word आसन्न āsanna (approaching / approximating), to mean that the resultant value of the ratio of circumference to the diameter of the circle ( Pi) is an approximation. He further adds that the value is incommensurable (or irrational). Aryabhata’s seminal work  ‘Aryabhatiya’ provides an insight into his works. 

Aryabhatiya is a compendium of mathematics and astronomy, which has survived till modern times. It reveals beyond doubt that Aryabhata had indeed discovered and worked on concept of Pi long before the Western world was even aware of its existence. The Aryabhatiya, written in Sanskrit consists of 108 verses divided into 4 padas or chapters. The second pada called the Ganitapada (Ganita, meaning mathematics) bears a reference to the concept (and approximate value) of Pi. Considering the period when Aryabhata calculated the value of Pi, around 499 AD, one can definitively state that he had a sophisticated insight into this enchanting constant. The profoundness of his insight can best be understood when we look at the period when the irrationality of Pi (π) was proved in modern times by Johann Heinrich Lambert, in 1761 almost 1300 years later. The works of Aryabhatiya was translated into Arabic (some time during 820 AD) and this approximation was mentioned in Al-Khwarizmi‘s book on algebra, through which it reached Europe.

The oldest recognised representation of infinite series for the value of Pi, is now ascribed to Gregory and Leibniz. But then almost three hundred years before Gregory and Leibniz’s formulae came to the fore, there was a series which was codified in the typical Indian traditions and form of a verse by one of the greatest mathematicians of a India - Madhava from the Kerala School of Mathematics. Mādhava of Sangamagrāma (1340 - 1425), a renowned mathematician and astronomer from Kerala is also considered to be the founder of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. Madhava was one of the greatest scholars of mathematics that Kerala produced during the medieval period. He was the first to use infinite series approximations for a range of trigonometric functions, which is hailed by many as a profound contribution in moving from a finite series to treat their limit-passage to infinity. Madhava also made pioneering contributions to the study of infinite series, calculus, trigonometry, geometry, and algebra. Some scholars have also suggested that Madhava's work, through the writings of the Kerala school, may have been transmitted to Europe via Jesuit missionaries and traders who were active around the ancient port of Muziris at the time. As a result, it may have had an influence on later European developments in analysis and calculus.

Madhava was followed by equally famed mathematicians in Kerala, primary among them include Parameshwara and, Neelakantha, in whose works citations are available to establish Madhava’s marvelous achievements in mathematics. Some of these are the values of π correct to 10 places of decimals, imposing corrections to infinite series after certain terms for quick and better results, derivation of Sine & Cosine power series for computing better Sine and Versed- sine tables, which are unique by contemporary standard. In an article published in the Indian Journal,of History of Science, an INSA publication Dr A K Bag says ‘Madhava’s value, as quoted by by Neelakantha and Shankara, is far better than others and considerably much closer approximation. And he adds that from one of the works of Shankara an evidence is provided to Madhava’s more precise measurement for the value of Pi. In four verses (atra–ha ma–dhava), Shankara says that Madhava had actually suggested a method for finding the circumference of a circle by means of constructing a number of regular polygons, for the sum of the sides of the polygon, which would almost be equal to the length of the circumference of the circle. Step by step procedure was adopted to compute the side of a square- polygon for a circle, then half-side of the square- polygon (octagon), then half-side of the octagon (hexadecagon), then half side of the hexadecagon (32- gon) and so on indicating that the number of regular polygons had to be large for considerably accurate value. Thus suggesting a solution for an infinite series. Madhava’s π series was later rediscovered, about 250 years later, in Europe by scholars —Wilhelm Leibniz (1673), Newton (1675), De Lagney (1682), De Moivre (c.1720), Euler (1748) and others. 

Indian mathematicians interest in the value of Pi continued into the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The great Indian mathematician, Ramanujan, about whom I have written a blog, had a great obsession for Pi and this obsession would follow him until his last. His note books contain hundreds of different ways of calculating the approximate values of Pi. In just the two notebooks he wrote, before arriving at Cambridge, are found 400 pages of formulas and theorems. Courtesy the theoretical foundations that Ramanujan laid a century ago, powerful computers can now calculate the first 10 trillion decimals of the number Pi.

Such has been an intense interest in the value  of Pi by not just Indian mathematicians but also globally,  that it is no wonder that the approximate value of Pi - 3.14 - which is mostly used in ordinary calculations, has been declared as the international Pi day. The Pi day has an interesting connect with the science centres across the world, particularly in the US. Founded in 1988 at the Exploratorium - the pioneer in the evolution of interactive science centres in the world including the science centres in India (NCSM) - the Pi (π) Day has become an international commemorative event that is widely celebrated all around the world, and my colleague Mr Ramachandran, Director of the Mother museums of NCSM, Birla and Industrial and Technological Museum, Kolkata sent us an image of their celebrations of this day with the students in Kolkata, which is also appended in the article.

Wishing you all a very happy international Pi Day and may the excellence of achievements of Indians in the field of mathematics, continue to inspire generations to come.

https://youtu.be/zKlKzau_bsE