International Women’s Day: Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow.

Since historic times, women in India have found a prominent place in society as evidenced in the artistic expressions depicted through paintings, murals, art, culture, iconography and so also in scriptures, which depict women’s power, importance, and reverence that Indian society has bestowed on women.

One of the oldest reference, which advances women’s position in Indian society can be traced back to the iconic dancing girl cast in bronze, which was sculpted at Mohenjo-Daro during the Harappa period. Harappa civilisation has also revealed many more evidence that has represented women in paintings, terracotta figurines, sculptures, gold figurines etc. These material evidence indicate that women had a life beyond the confines of the four walls of their home and they enjoyed a social status. It is also believed that the Mother Goddess - from the findings of Harappa - is an ancient version of Devi Lakshmi from Hindu religious beliefs. This tradition of representation of women and their reverence in society has continued for centuries from the Harappa times, which is evidenced all across India in temple art, architecture and iconography.

A shloka from the Manusmriti, exemplifies the reverence that women enjoyed in Indian society; “Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra Devata, yatraitaastu na pujyante sarvaastatrafalaah - meaning where Women are honoured, divinity blossoms, and where women are dishonoured, all action, no matter how noble, remain unfruitful. Unfortunately, although there is so much of a material evidence to suggest high stature of women in Indian society, yet it is paradoxical that women continue to face discrimination in our modern society. The situation so grim that even in the third decade of the twenty first century (2022) women have to demand for gender equality, which should have been a given by now, but unfortunately it is not. Notwithstanding the legal provisions, preference for a boy child is rampant in India, which also leads to female foeticide and discrimination by family members. It is in this context that commemorating the International Women’s Day makes sense and reinforces the need for introspection.

International Women’s Day (IWD), commemorated globally on this day- 8^th March -  is an important occasion for the global community to commit towards attaining the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, in which gender equality is one of the important goals. Therefore, it is no wonder that the theme for this year’s IWD is “Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow”. This year the IWD is celebrated with a beautiful universal campaign ‘Break The Bias’, which reminds me of a similar highly successful all India campaign, which was launched on August 15, 1988. After the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, finished his address to the nation from the Red Fort, a soulful melody took the nation by storm. For most Indians who watched the broadcast on Doordarshan, the opening lines of “Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, Sur bane Humhara” sung by the legendary Hindustani classical vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi continue to stand the test of time. Hopefully, this year’s IWD and the theme and its slogan touch the same chord that the Pundit Bhimsen Joshi’s eponymous “Mile Sur Mera Tumhara” touched us all in the years ahead and help in advancing the rights of the women’s issues for a gender-equal world: a world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination.

The genesis for the struggle for equal rights by women began in the early 1900s. The oppression and inequality were pushing women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change. Looking back in history, it was on this very day – 8^th March - in 1908 that the women labours movement started as a united march in which some 15000 women marched in an organised way through the New York City demanding shorter working hours and better pay and right to vote for women, who until then were treated unequally not just in US, but globally.  Encouraged by the response that the women’s march received, the Socialist Party of America joined hands and demanded for declaring the day as the National Woman's Day. The idea to convert this day into an international women’s day came from Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, who tabled the idea of an International Women's Day during the International Conference of Working Women held in Copenhagen in 1910. She proposed that every year in every country, there should be a celebration on the same day to press for change. The conference was attended by more than 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties and working women’s clubs and thus was born the International Women's Day was born.

In the very next year, 1911, this day was celebrated as the Women’s day in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. However, it was only in 1975 that the United Nations (UN) acknowledged and started celebrating this day as International Women’s Day. Unfortunately, women have always faced discrimination through centuries and the discrimination has spanned all areas of women’s lives and that includes my own field - science, as well. The women, through the centuries, have been afraid of social stigma in case they complained of discrimination or harassment and therefore they have preferred to remain silent both at home and in workplace. The social fabric of many countries, including India, have been biased against women.  Notwithstanding this inequality there are many exemplary women who have made profound contributions in every field - sports, science and technology, art, defence, medical, engineering, social sciences, political and what not. For increasing the participation of women it is incumbent that on we all join hands to promote education of girls and create that indomitable spirit in them to succeed in the field that they chose to pursue and help them in making themselves a priority of their own lives. We must create an ambience where women will learn to say No to all that is unfavourable to them and boldly face the challenges of life.

Today as we celebrate the International Women’s Day it is time to recall those extraordinary women of substance and indomitable spirit who have made their mark and have distinguished themselves admirably. Take for example Marie Curie, one of the greatest of scientists who has won two Nobel Prizes - one in Physics which she shared with her husband and one in Chemistry. She should be one of the icons whose trials and tribulations, before attaining her extraordinary achievements, even in times of extreme gender insensitivity, must become an inspiration to our youngsters. The COVID 19 pandemic has impacted the world and even in these trying times the medical doctors and health workers have played a stellar role in saving millions of lives. Speaking of health workers one must not forget the Nurses (Sisters) whose selfless service has been exemplary. The year 2020, when the COVID pandemic started, was the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the par excellence nurse. On the occasion of her the bicentennial birth anniversary, the year 2020 was befittingly declared as the ‘International Year of the Nurse and Midwife’ by the World Health Organisation. There are innumerable other women who have made such extraordinary contributions to human society.

In the field of sciences FRS is a coveted fellowship, which has 400 plus years of history and some of the greatest of scientists - Newton, Einstein, Darwin, CV Raman, Srinivas Ramanujan etc are all FRS. A couple of years ago Dr Gagandeep Kang, one of the leading microbiologist of India, was elected to this coveted fellowship. Prof. Kang is a physician scientist, who for many years worked as a Professor of Microbiology and Head of the Division of Gastrointestinal Sciences and the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory at the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore. Prof. Kang has made pivotal contributions to understanding the natural history of rotavirus infections as well as other enteric infections, which are important causes of mortality and morbidity in India. She was also involved in the development of vaccines. Similarly, we have many more examples of extraordinary women achiever’s in India in almost all the fields. Women in India have donned almost all the key positions Prime Minister, and President included. Women have excelled in sports, particularly in Olympics where they have won many medals for India. We now have women who are heading Space missions as project directors and are involved in satellite launches and so also in missile launches. Women are now flying the fighter planes and are excelling in every field that men have had their dominance for centuries.

Does this mean that it is an equal world that offers equal opportunities for women, unfortunately not, rather it is far from it. Yet, women have achieved excellence and for this they have had to perform many times more efficiently than men, which is a hard reality in many parts of the world - India included, where women play multiple roles, as home makers, mother, wife and as a successful professional and that too in an unequal society. Women have made profound contributions in social, economic, cultural and political life of the country and today as we celebrate the IWD it is time to salute women who are contributing to the society in equal measures and remember some of distinguished women like Madam Curie, Sarojini Naidu, Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Kalpana Chawla and many more including the unsung heroes like Roslyn Franklin, Margret Hutchinson and many more whose extraordinary contributions have gone unheralded.

This is the day to salute womanhood and propagate against gender discrimination, domestic violence and to empower them to excel in all walks of life. It is also the day we must reverentially remember that women have been bestowed with that God gifted power of motherhood, a natural gift of multitasking and consensus building, which have enabled women to become transformational leaders in their own right.  

On this occasion, I would like to appeal to all young girls to persevere to excel and look up to those innumerable women achiever’s as your role model and demand and command respect in an unequal society and hope that the theme for the IWD - Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow will truly be a reality sooner than later. Jai Nari Shakti Jai Hind.

Wishing you all a very happy IWD.

Lata Mangeshkar – Goddess Sarasvati Gifted Legendary Breathes her Last

 

The day started with the obituary messages pouring in the groups on WhatsApp, for the one and only nightingale of India, Bharat Ratna, Lata Mangeshkar, the legendary singer, who was blessed with Goddess Sarasvati gifted voice, which became a house hold name not just in India but globally. In her demise the nation has lost a voice, headlined many channels. Lata Mangeshkar, the cultural icon and a national treasure and her Goddess gifted, once in several centuries, melodious voice will continue to remain immortal and be etched in the golden letters in the history of India. Gulzar, prophetically and befittingly scripted a song for the film Kinara, which was sung by Lata Mangeshkar that read नाम गुम जायेगा, चेहरा ये बदल जायेगा मेरी आवाज़ ही, पहचान है गर याद रहे. So true it is today. The mortal remains of Lata Mangeshkar will soon be confined to the holy fire on the cremation grounds at the Shivaji Park in front of ocean of grieving people but her voice will ever remain immortal. For generations to come she will be remembered through her 30000 plus songs and her melodious voice will get eternally etched in the annals of Indian history and her voice will continue to be heard across the nation for decades to come. The legendary Lata Tai, Lata Didi, as she was fondly referred to, died this morning at the age of 92 years after a prolonged illness at the Breach Candy Hospital, where she was admitted, on January 8 after she was diagnosed with Covid-19 and pneumonia.

Yesterday the medical bulletin of the hospital did sound pessimistic about her medical condition but the statement from Lata Mangeshkar family that she is endearing her treatment and is recovering had created a hope in the hundreds of millions of her fans across the nation and abroad who were all praying for that miracle, which could save her. But then destiny had different plans for her and unfortunately even after recovering from COVID, Lata Didi had to be put on a ventilator support when her condition worsened on Saturday and she breathed her last this morning. Leaders and prominent people from across the nation, cutting across political and other ideological lines, film, theatre and other fields, have all joined in paying their respect to the legendary singer and as a befitting tribute, the government has decided to cremate her with full state honours in Mumbai's Shivaji park and in attendance will be the honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and innumerable other dignitaries, film personalities and tens of thousands of her admirers, who accompanied her last journey from her home in Peddar Road to Shivaji Park in Dadar.

The best nostalgic tribute to Lata ji - in our Sainik School group - came from the America settled Madan Kulkarni - our school Buddy - a diehard art and culture aficionado who promotes Indian art and culture in US and has organised unending performances from many of the artists from India. He posted his remembrance of Lata Didi who he had hosted her on her 70th birthday in Chicago. He wrote that he had driven her all through the city of Chicago post her dinner till 3 AM and posted a photograph remembering this incident, which I have shared. Every one of us, the school buddies of Sainik School Bijapur, reminisced listening to her songs in some of the best of films that were shown to us during our school days. She is befittingly described as the nightingale of India, whose mesmerising voice had the power to put to tears the Prime Minister of India late Pandit Nehru, when she sang that soulful melody’ यें मेरे वतन पे लोगों ज़रा आँख में भर लो पानी …. a tribute that she paid to the fallen soldiers who had made that supreme sacrifice in service of our nation during the 1962 China war. This is one song which continues to inspire millions of Indians to be reverential in their respect to the Indian soldiers, and every Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations across the country witness this song being played across the nation, bringing in tears even today. Lata Didi enthralled her listeners with her Sarasvati gifted melodious voice for over seven decades.

The “nightingale of Bollywood" remained the most sought after play back singer, which every top actress wanted her to be their play back singer. From yesteryears heroine, Madhu Bala in the 1940s to Kajol in the 1990s, she sang for all the leading heroines for nearly five decades and her duets with celebrated play back singers like Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh and others continue to be played across households in India. She also worked with almost every leading Bollywood director, starting from the legendary Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt to Modern day Mani Ratnam, Karan Johar and others. Tens of thousands of her songs have been sold across the country and she has to her credit singing in 36 languages spanning numerous genres. In my mother tongue – Kannada - she sang for the film Kranti Veer Sangolli Rayanna way back in 1967. Lata Mangeshkar will continue to be an Indian cultural icon and national treasure for generations to come.

The divinity of Lata’s voice can best be seen in the famed story of a letter, which is believed to have been received in the All India Radio office in Delhi from Lahore. The letter written by a Pakistani fan of Lata Didi read ‘India could have Kashmir if they could give Lata Mangeshkar to Pakistan’. There are several such other apocryphal stories of her legions of fans from Pakistan, who were in love with the magic of Lata Mangeshkar’s voice.

Lata Didi was an ardent cricket fan and there are several anecdotal stories which reveal that she often took breaks from recordings to watch Test matches. She was very proud that she owned a signed photograph of Don Bradman. She was all in awe of Sachin Tendulkar with whom she had very close relation and Sachin was in reverence of Lata Didi. She also was very fond of Sunny Gavaskar. It was this admiration that Sachin and Lata Didi had for each other that prompted me to use Lata Mangeshkar and her connect with Cricket, Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar to weave a story of how Cricket connects us all Indians, while curating an exhibition Cricket Connects - India - Australia. In the section - The God and the Gods God (Bradman and Sachin) I used the connect that Lata Didi had for the legendary Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar. It is therefore no wonder that the Indian Cricket Team, who had the honour to be always followed and blessed by Lata Didi, is wearing black armbands today, while playing their historic 1000^th ODI, to pay their respects to Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar.

Lata Mangeshkar was born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh on 28 September 1929. She was raised in Kolhapur in the family which was grounded in music. Her father, Master Dinanath Mangeshkar, was a musician from Gwalior gharana who ran a drama company that produced Marathi plays. Lata Mangeshkar was the eldest of five children, with her siblings. Her father was her first guru. She was unschooled in the formal sense. In one of her interviews Lata Didi has stated that she went to school only for a day, when she was five. She had taken her younger sister, Asha Mangeshkar (later Asha Bhosle) along with her. However, the school did not allow Asha to attend the school hence Lata decided never to go back to school. She remained home schooled and listen to her father teaching his students and learnt her first music lessons in this indirect way. It was only after her father noticed Lata correcting one of his students that he realised how gifted she was with music that he decided to teach her the nuance of classical music. Most unfortunately, Lata Didi lost her father at a very young age. The untimely death of her father, overnight turned young Lata - the eldest child of the family - to start working at age 14.

In those trying times when Lata was passing through trials and tribulations, she was helped by Master Vinayak, her family’s close friend and owner of Navyug Chitrapat movie company, who took care of the family and helped Lata to become an actor and singer. Lata’’s first song was Vasant Joglekar’s Marathi film Kiti Hasaal (1942), although it never saw the light of the day. Lata continued to sing some more songs for some Marathi films and even acted in the films before deciding to move to Mumbai in 1945. In Mumbai too she passed through trying times and could not succeed, She was even rejected by Filmistan Studio citing her voice to be too thin to appeal to the audience. However, her mentor – Haider – was undeterred to proclaim, “Music composers would beg Lata to sing for them.” Haider gave Mangeshkar her first significant break in the film Majboor in 1948 in which Lata tried singing this song in Noor Jehan’s nasal style. This song remained unheralded.

Her first tryst with success came with the song “Aayega aanewala…” which she sang for the film Mahal (1949). This song established her and sealed her supremacy in the Indian film industry for decades to come. This was the time when Radio Ceylon was the leading radio channel which appealed to most Indians. Lata’s song broke all records at Radio Ceylon. There has never been a looking back for her for all of seven decades. All through the day every single channel has been playing Lata Mangeshkar songs which have entertained the nation that we have heard all through our living.

Interestingly despite her Indian grounding, Lata Didi also enjoyed listening to the western music, particularly Mozart and Beethoven. She also loved seeing Hollywood movies, particularly the James Bond films and her favourite James bonds were Sean Connery and Roger Moore. She also loved cars and many of her dogs, which she proudly owned.

Lata Didi had a fan following cutting across party lines and every single leaders of the political party be it Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi, the Thackeray Family, Pawar family, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Narendra Modi and innumerable others had the highest regard for Lata Didi. She was a great patriot whose patriotism is seen in her song “ye mere watan pe logo”. She also supported Marathi theatre and films and sang many songs for Marathi films at almost no cost. She also produced some films and it is said that she was too good to be a producer since she was indulgent for every single demand of the stakeholders of her film, which no producer can ever follow. She endeared through difficult times, when play back singers were not recognised and they were even not considered for the Film Fare Award nor was their names included in the credits. She changed all this and ensured that all play back singers are given their dues. She was also the first Indian to perform with the Wren Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, London in 1979.

Lata ji was forthright in expressing her opinion and was not a hypocrite and was not afraid to take sides with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for whom she had highest respect and admiration, which was mutual. There were many in the film industry, media and political leaders who not only did not endorse her admiration for Mr Narendra Modi, but were also critical of her praise for the Prime Minister, but then she never was apologetic nor was a hypocrite, an attribute which is dime a dozen in the industry, particularly when it comes to endorsing any of the leaders who are from the ruling dispensation - BJP party, more particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
 
She was very fond of cooking and her penchant for red chillies is legendary. She also had passion for photography. She had great sense of humour and regaled her guests with unending jokes. She loved taking photographs and possessed quite a number of camera. Rolleiflex camera was her first camera, which she used for clicking photographs. Wherever she travelled, she made it a point to click pictures. Interestingly she even enjoyed playing in the Casinos in Las Vegas while holidaying in the US.

In her death she has brought together all the warring sections of the political leaders who were seen so very well knit, expressing bonhomie in paying their homage to Lata Didi at the historic Shivaji Park, where her mortal remains will soon be confined to the holy fire.
Lata ji true to the slogans that were continuously chanted all through your final rites, “ jab tak suraj chand rahega, Lata ji aap Amar rahenge”. Rest in peace Lata ji in the heavenly abode which will ever be your home.

Jai Hind

 

25 January, National Voters Day – Hailing the Great Indian Democracy.

The Miraculously Successful Indian Democracy owes its genesis to the Voters, let us hail them all on the National Voters Day today. Today as we celebrate the 12^th National Voters Day, which is commemorated every year on January 25 – the foundation day of Election Commission of India, which was established on January 25 1950 - to encourage the voters to participate in the electoral process, it is time to look back and commend ourselves – the voters – who have helped make Indian democracy a celebrated global success and may the national voters day help in continuing to keep the Indian democracy thriving with more and more people going out to exercise their all-important voting rights.

The success of the Indian democracy owes its genesis to we the people of India, particularly the main stakeholders of Indian democracy – the electorates, political parties, election commission of India, and everyone else. If we look back in time and see what our status was when we attained our independence, not many would have predicted – including the optimists - that India as a democracy would survive for more than few decades or so. The position in which we were left behind, when we attained our independence, after centuries of colonial rule and exploitation by the British is best articulated, so thought provokingly, by Shashi Tharoor in his famous book “The Era of Darkness –The British Empire in India”. Therefore, it was no wonder that there was no optimism in the future for Indian democracy when we attained independence.  

What the odds were for India succeeding as a thriving democracy, when we attained independence, can best be seen when we juxtapose Indian democracy as a start-up company in 1947. Not even the most adventurous and risk taking venture capitalists would have considered investing in the Indian democracy. More so since there were many dooms day predictions made by the British, an evidence of which can be best seen from the last British commander in chief of the Indian Army, Gen. Claude Auchinleck. He wrote “The Sikhs may try to set up a separate regime. I think they probably will and that will be only a start of a general decentralization and break-up of the idea that India is a country, whereas it is a subcontinent as varied as Europe. The Punjabi is as different from a Madrassi as a Scot is from an Italian. The British tried to consolidate it but achieved nothing permanent. No one can make a nation out of a continent of many nations.”

 

Gen. Claude Auchinleck was not the sole voice to make such dooms day prediction for India, which was a nation within nations with as many as 565 princely states and many more divisions when we attained Independence. Helped by Sardar Patel India was united to carve out its geographical and political map that we see today. Dooms day predictions for India and Indian democracy were dime a dozen in the early years of independence. India could not survive as a single nation, was one common observations by most western observers, let alone becoming a successful democracy. One of the former British official, who witnessed the first general elections in India in 1952 wrote “a future and more enlightened age will view with astonishment the absurd farce of recording the votes of millions of illiterate people.” From such negativity and dooms day predictions, Indian democracy has passed through periods of trials and tribulations to emerge triumphant and today when India is commemorating the 12^th National Voters Day, while commending ourselves and patting us on our back, we must resolve to spread the message of the importance of voting in a democracy and each of us must go out to exercise our democratic rights without fear or favour.

The forthcoming state elections including the elections in the most important state of Uttar Pradesh and that too during the Covid times is a time for us to pay respect to the people’s mandate and hail the electorates, the Election Commission and its paraphernalia that include the faceless hundreds of thousands of foot soldiers of the Election Commission who work tirelessly making the Himalayan task of conducting the elections in India a grand success, time after time and election after elections. Democracy in India has gained from strength to strength and has made much progress over the decades. When we attained independence and declared ourselves Republic in 1950, our erstwhile rulers the British and the rest of the world were highly cynical about our survival, let alone our democracy. From the first elections in 1951-52 to the 17th general elections held in 2019, we have come a long way and our democracy has grown from strength and the world now treats Indian democracy as a triumphant role model. Let us cherish this.

The continuing success of the Indian democracy is borne out from the statement made by our former President Dr Pranab Mukherjee, who praised the voters and the Election Commission for conducting the 17th Lok Sabha polls in a “perfect” manner. He went on to say “If we want to strengthen institutions, we have to keep in mind that institutions are serving well in this country, and if democracy has succeeded, it’s largely due to the perfect conduct of elections by all Election Commissioners starting from Sukumar Sen to the present Election Commissioners”. So irrespective of who wins the coming state elections, we must all collectively respect the result as a true mandate of the voters, who must go in large numbers to exercise their voting rights.

Ever since the era of TN Seshan, in the early 1990s, the EC, like the Indian Army, has arguably become our most respected institution. The respectability of the EC can further be appreciated when we realise that the EC has helped several other nations run their elections better. EVMs have played a significant role in this transition, which has seen a drastic reduction in voting malpractices.

Central to the beauty and vibrancy of the Indian democracy are the Indian electorates - the rich and mighty, the powerful and powerless, the poor and the insignificant, the lettered and unlettered, sheltered and unsheltered, the males, females and the trans gender’s, the believers and non-believers, Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, religious and non-religious, young, middle aged, old and the very old - all standing as equals, each rubbing shoulders with one another, in the true spirit of equality and humanity first, who make our democracy thrive. While we celebrate the National Voters day today, let us reemphasise the significance of voters for the success of the Indian democracy.

A look back on the percentage of voters who exercised their franchise during the general elections reveal that in the very first general elections conducted in 1952, India recorded an impressive 61.2% of votes and this number continued to be quite impressive hovering around 60% or so (62.2% in 1957, 55.42 in 1962, 61.33 in 1967, 55.29 in 1971, 60.49 in 1977, 56.92 in 1980, 63.56 in 1984, 61.95 in 1989, 56.93 in 1991, 57.94 in 1996, 61.97 in 1998, 59.99 in 1999). The voting percentage fell abruptly to below 50% for the first time in the fourteenth general election held in 2004, to 48.74%.  This was the time when it was realised that efforts are needed to create an awareness among visitors about the importance of voting.  

The first-ever National Voters’ Day was celebrated on January 25, 2011, to encourage more young voters to take part in the electoral process. The then Union government, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved a proposal of the law ministry to declare a National Voters Day. The then information and broadcasting minister, Ms. Ambika Soni pointed observed that new voters, who attained the age of 18, were showing less interest in getting enrolled in the electoral rolls. To address this issue, the Election Commission decided to launch a nationwide effort to identify all eligible voters who reach the age of 18 on January 1 of each year in all polling stations across India. All such new voters were to be enrolled and given the Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) on January 25 every year.

 

The National Voters Day seem to have had some positive impact. The 16^th general election held in 2014 witnessed 66.40% voting and in the 19^th general election, held in 2019, the voting percentage witnessed a record 66.40%, the highest ever in the history of Indian general elections. The theme for this year’s National Voters' Day is ‘Making Elections Inclusive, Accessible and Participative’. I earnestly hope that the National Voters day helps in continuing to increase voter’s participation in the Indian democracy.

 Jai Hind, Jai Indian Democracy and Jai Indian Voters. 

 

National Science Centre, New Delhi turns Thirty - Recalling My Tryst with this Centre

It was on this day 9th January, 1992, 30 years ago,  that the National Science Centre, Delhi (NSCD) was dedicated to the nation by the then Prime Minister of India, Shri PV Narsimha Rao. While wishing the Centre all the very best, I am inclined to recall my close association with the NSCD, where I worked in two innings for nearly 17 years ( August 1988- April 2001 and March 2007 to December 2010) and narrate two interesting  anecdotes that I had the honour to experience. 

The first incident of course relates to the inauguration and its arrangements. The NSCD was successfully opened on 9th January, 1992, by the then Prime Minster Shri Narasimha Rao in the presence of a galaxy of dignitaries including the then HRD Minister Mr Arjun Singh, Prof HY Mohan Ram, Dr AP Mitra, Dr Saroj Ghose and all the founder Directors of the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM).

A couple of days before the NSCD was to be opened, a major goof up had happened at the Siri Fort Auditorium, where the public address system had failed when the Honourable President of India was addressing the gathering. This was all over the news and had caught the attention of Dr Saroj Ghose, the then Director General, NCSM.  Dr Ghose had therefore camped himself in Delhi and was personally overseeing all arrangements for the PM Visit to the NSCD and its inauguration. He had tasked key officers with specific duties and responsibilities and that included yours truly as well. I was tasked with the arrangements of all audio visuals and PA system arrangements inside the auditorium, where the inauguration was to take place. Besides me he had also tasked other key officers with different responsibilities. All of us had burnt our mid night oil and had put in all possible efforts to make the opening a grand success. Dr Ghose was privy to the hard work we had all put in. On 8th January late evening around 8 PM or so Dr Ghose called us to take final stock of the arrangements for the opening of the NSCD by the Prime Minister next morning. 

After all briefing was done with and when we were about to break for the day, Dr Ghose showed a small piece of white paper and asked us if any one could guess what is written on the paper. No one hazarded a guess. Dr Ghose was such a towering personality that even senior Directors and officers like, Mr RM Chakraborty, G Nagarajan, IK Mukherjee, PK Bhaumik, S Goswami , TK Ganguly, Amit Sarkar etc. hardly ever ventured into such acts, so how could the junior mortals do so. When the silence was getting eerie, he announced in his inimitable commanding voice, it is his resignation, which is dated 10th January, 1992. When we were trying to come to terms with the situation, he told us that he is very confident that everyone of us has worked very hard to make the event a grand success and so will it be. However, he said, if anything untowardly happens and some thing or the other fails, he would own up the entire responsibility of the failure and would submit his resignation, which he had prepared and brought to show it to us. He asked us do you want that to happen? We unitedly and with one voice shouted no Sir. Dr Ghose jokingly said, if so keep all your resignations in your pocket ready like what he has done. He then created a relaxed situation for all of us by sharing light hearted moments in the making of the centre including showing that rare face of his to crack jokes to ease our tensions. He left us all by telling that tomorrow’s program will definitely be a great success. We went completely motivated and geared up for the opening. Here I learnt my first lessons in leadership at NCSM - to lead from the front.

The second experience that I wish to share is something which I called ‘ From Denial to Discovery’. Incidentally I presented a paper on this subject to other fellow museum professionals in a workshop presenting a case study of the NSCD and how it managed to double its visitors in the year 2007-08.  

Ever since the opening of the NSCD on 9th January 1992, barring one year, the average visitors to the centre had hovered around 2 Lacs per year until the year 2007-08. In fact the visitors had gone far below 2,00,000, from the year 1999 or so onwards primarily because the backside entry to the centre from the Trade Fare exhibition from Pragati Maidan had closed down. The only time the visitors to the NSCD had come close to 4,00,000 was in the financial year was in 1996-97, when we had organised that famous ‘Dinosaur Alive exhibition’, which was a roaring success and in just 45 days we had receive more than 2 lac visitors and tonnes of gate entry. 

I was posted back to NSCD from Mumbai in  March 2007 and this time I was tasked to be the Director of the Centre. Since I had worked in Delhi before and had also known all the curators and other officers of the centre, I was expecting a smooth run and so it was. Immediately on my taking charge I organised a officers meeting to brain storm on various issues, which could benefit making the centre more popular and  how we could increase the foot falls. I took the liberty that I knew all of them for many years, and announced to them a challenge that I had tasked ourselves with - to double the visitors to NSCD in the financial year 2007-08 and make it 3,50,000.

Little did I realise that being a colleague is completely different than holding a post of a Director to the colleagues. I was in an illusion that my challenge and the brain storming meeting that I had with my colleagues, would have energised them. But then, contrarily, I learnt that there were discussion among the officers that how Tughalaqi and stupid was my target. I got this feedback from those channels, which are dime a dozen in most government offices, who are always there to report such matters, whether you want or not, to scurry favours. I overlooked the feedback and kept speaking again and again about the target and held innumerable brain storming meetings to find ways and means to meet this target. The education officers and curators concerned worked very hard on whatever we discussed to try and translate that into visitors. One such non visitors were students from the Madrassas who came in large numbers, besides of course many others. We had organised meetings with the Maulvis of these Madrassas and highlighted the role played by great Arabian scholars like Alkhworizmi, Al Jebr and others in the field of science and how the Arabs translated many of the Indian works into Arabic and took them to the Europeans. Though the task was quite tough the Maulvis over a couple of meetings found sense in what we were suggesting and ensured that their students visited the NSCD. 

We organised many Principals meet, teachers meet, NGOs meet and also met the top people in the Delhi Government, including the the then CM of Delhi, Mrs Sheila Dixit, and things started falling  in place and the visitors gradually started increasing. The first quarter showed increased numbers which further motivated the team. By the time we ended the third quarter in December,2007  the foot fall had touched 3,00,000. By early February, 2008, we had achieved the target of 3,75000 and when we crossed 4,00,000 by end of February the very officers who had clubbed my vision as tughalaqi, joined hands and made personal contributions to purchase sweets from the market for distribution to all staff members when the visitors to the centre had crossed 4 Lacs. I called this moment a moment of ‘denial to discovery’, a great learning lesson ‘that together we can achieve’ an impossible. The target to double the visitors to the centre was not only achieved but it was surpassed by more than 50,000 as we ended the year 2007-08 with an annual visitors of 4,28,000 visitors. The success was truly and befittingly that of the team and I was just incidental to this achievement.

Ever since that year the NSCD has never looked back ( barring the current Covid times) and has consistently crossed foot falls of 5 Lac every year and even touched a magical figure of 7 Lacs before the pandemic set in. I am so very honoured to have played an incremental role in this spectacular achievement.

So very proud of you all my dear colleagues at NSCD, both past and present.  Wishing the National Science Centre Delhi  a very happy birthday and may the NSCD continue to scale newer and newer heights and be etched  in the hearts and minds of all the people of Delhi, who truly are it’s stakeholders.

Images - Courtesy Biswarup Ganguly and Wiki Commons.

Jai Hind

Jai Vigyan Jai 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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