Today, 6 December, marks the death anniversary - Mahaparinirvan Divas - of the venerable Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, the Father of the Indian Constitution and a champion who advocated for the rights of the Dalits and marginalised in India. Millions of followers of Dr B R Ambedkar flock to the city of Mumbai at the Chaitya Bhoomi, the cremation place of Dr Ambedkar to pay their reverence to their iconic leader. His erudition and tireless efforts for the rights of his people and those of the marginalised section of Indian society have left an indelible mark on our nation, shaping the foundation for social justice and equality.
Wednesday 6 December 2023
Mahaparinirvan Divas: Tribute to Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar on his Death Anniversary
Today, 6 December, marks the death anniversary - Mahaparinirvan Divas - of the venerable Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, the Father of the Indian Constitution and a champion who advocated for the rights of the Dalits and marginalised in India. Millions of followers of Dr B R Ambedkar flock to the city of Mumbai at the Chaitya Bhoomi, the cremation place of Dr Ambedkar to pay their reverence to their iconic leader. His erudition and tireless efforts for the rights of his people and those of the marginalised section of Indian society have left an indelible mark on our nation, shaping the foundation for social justice and equality.
Thursday 23 November 2023
Birth Centenary Tribute to Late Shri M G Gore, the visionary founder of ADHAR
It was on this day a hundred years ago – 23 November 1923 – the visionary
founder of ADHAR (Association of Parents of Mentally Retarded Children), Mumbai,
the late Shri M G Gore, the man who dedicated his entire life to compassion and
understanding, was born.
Today two units of ADHAR at Badlapur and Nashik that serve as a home
away from home for 350 plus specially abled – Divyang – adults, who are
provided lifetime shelter and caregiving, stand testimony to his visionary dream.
As ADHAR begins celebrating the centenary of its visionary founder, a great
noble and remarkable visionary, born a century ago, we witness that this trailblazer's
legacy has been woven into the very fabric of benevolence. In a world often
indifferent to the struggles of the mentally challenged, Mr. M G Gore stood as
a beacon of empathy and understanding to the special needs adults and their
parents and caregivers by envisioning establishing an institute that would take
lifetime care, with love and empathy of special needs adults. The result was
the establishment of ADHAR www.adhar.org at
Badlapur in January 1994.
The journey of Mr. M G Gore and his dream of establishing ADHAR began
after he retired from the Children's Aid Society, a reputed institution where
he worked for more than three decades. The Children’s Aid Society was established as an outcome of the Bombay
Children's Act which was passed in the year 1924. In November 1926, Sir Earnest
Hotson, the then Home Member, Government of Bombay convened a conference of
Social Workers, which led to the formation of the Children's Aid Society in
March 1927. It was providential that Mr M G Gore, born around the time when the
Bombay Children’s Act was passed, served this institution for three decades and
it was here that he developed his profound commitment to serve the special
needs people.
The genesis for a vision to founding an institution like ADHA begins with
a news report that Mr. MG Gore read that disturbed him immensely and he had
sleepless nights thinking about it. The report was of a mother to a special adult
– mentally challenged 30 plus years – in the USA, who, it was reported, killed
her son and shot herself in the head leaving behind a note which said she took
this extreme step of taking the life her son and her own life to avoid a
situation as to who would look after her mentally challenged adult son after
her demise. Disturbed by this news, Mr. Gore thought about special needs adults
and their parents in India and realised that there are no institutions that are
committed to providing lifetime care and shelter for special needs adults in
India. He inserted an expression of interest advertisement in the local newspaper
and appealed to interested parents of special needs adults for a meeting to
explore establishing an institute that would provide lifetime shelter for such
adults. Some 40 parents turned up for the
meeting and from that humble beginning, around ten parents remained committed
to the cause and vision of Mr. M G Gore, who registered ADHAR as an organisation
under the title “Association of Parents of Mentally Retarded Adults in the early
1990s. Mr M G Gore, with the support of parents who believed in his leadership
and his vision, managed to crowd-fund initial finances and ended up purchasing a
plot of land away from Mumbai in Badlapur to establish ADHAR. It was in January
1994 that they admitted the first adult at ADHAR which was aimed at providing lifetime
shelter to special needs adults – mentally challenged adults. Today as ADHAR begins
the commemoration of the birth centenary of Mr M G Gore, this institution has
grown in strength from that humble beginning and it now has two units – one at
Badlapur, from where the story of ADHAR began, and another unit at Nashik -
where 350 plus special adults are staying in an ambiance of a home away from home.
ADHAR now stands testimony to the profound commitment of Mr. Gore and his
early supporter parents, like Mr. Chandavarkar ji, one of the Trustees of ADHAR,
who is now 95. One of the sons of Mr. Chandavarkar has been residing at ADHAR Badlapur
since its foundation and Mr. Chandavarkar ji will be sharing his reminiscence of
working with the visionary Mr M G Gore at the birth centenary commemoration program, that
is organised at ADHAR Badlapur today.
Today, we honour not only the birth centenary of Mr. M G Gore but a
century of unwavering dedication to a cause greater than oneself, it is so
heartening to note that Mr. Vishwas Gore, the able son of Mr. M G Gore, who was
a professional Chartered Accountant, left his thriving practice to mantle the
leadership of ADHAR post the demise of his legendary father.
May the vision of this extraordinary individual, Mr M G Gore, inspire
generations to come, encouraging us all to extend a helping hand to those in
need and to build a world where compassion knows no bounds.
Today as we celebrate the birth centenary of Mr M G Gore, it is ironic that
even with so many legislations and other bodies that profess to be the
guardians of Human Rights, it is unfortunate that a harsh terrain of societal
indifference continues to exist and more so for the mentally challenged adults,
who often find themselves navigating a landscape devoid of understanding and
compassion. In a world that often measures worth by conventional standards,
these individuals face the subtle cruelty of being marginalized and overlooked.
For parents tasked with the care of these special adults, the journey is a
relentless odyssey marked by both love and torment. The weight of societal
stigmas compounds the challenges, leaving parents grappling not only with the
practicalities of daily care but also with the emotional toll of navigating a
world that seldom comprehends the unique needs of their loved ones and
constantly worrying about what will happen to their child once they pass away. The
visionary we commemorate today recognized this poignant struggle. His creation
of a lifetime shelter was a profound response to a world that often turned a
blind eye to the silent struggles of these individuals and their families.
May the yearlong centenary programs, which have been planned by ADHAR to
commemorate the birth centenary of Mr. MG Gore, help create awareness and spark
a collective endeavor to foster a society that embraces the diversity of human
experience and extends a compassionate hand to those who need it most.
Long live the legacy and dream of Mr M G Gore.
Tuesday 19 September 2023
Ganesh Festival : A Religious Socio - Cultural Public Festival with rich history.
Wish you all a very happy Ganesh Chaturthi. May Bhagwan Ganesh remove all obstacles.
The ten-day Ganesh Festival in Mumbai is the most important festival which is celebrated by the devotees of Lord Ganesh – cutting across religion, language, region, caste, creed, etc. -, the god of wisdom and good fortune, to mark “his birth” during the Chaturthi of Shukla Paksha of Bhadrapada month. This year, the Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai will be celebrated today 19 September. This 10-day mega festival will end with the Visarjan – immersion - on the tenth day, Anant Chaturdashi, Friday, September 28. Ganesh is known by several names and his birth on this day is also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi and is celebrated with much enthusiasm and religious fervour across Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, and Kerala, among other states.
The festival's origins can be traced back to the Maratha Empire in the 17th century, when the great Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, a revered figure across India more particularly in the state of Maharashtra, initiated public Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations to promote unity and nationalism among his subjects. The festival took on a more organized and public character in the 19th century during the British colonial era.
This year’s Ganesh Festival has a special significance since it happens to mark the 350th anniversary of the coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who is known for his exemplary valour. Incidentally, ‘Wagh Nakh’ - an iron weapon shaped like tiger claws - a legendary weapon which was used by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj for killing the Bijapur Sultanate’s General, Afghan Khan, in 1659 was in the news all over Maharashtra. This weapon which was in the possession of Victoria and Albert Museum, London will return to India in November this year.
To mark this special occasion, the Lalbaugcha Raja, Ganesh Pandal, one of the most famous Ganesh Pandals, has created a special setting where the lord Ganesha will be seen seated on a specially designed throne, which resembles the decorated throne of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at the Raigarh fort. The design of the Ganesh Pandal with the Raigarh Fort in the background at the Lalbaugcha Raja Pandal was created by stage designer late Nitin Desai, who unfortunately passed away recently. Nitin Desai has been associated with the design of the Lalbaugcha Raja pandal since 2008. Two other Pandals – Mumbaicha Raja and Andhericha Raja – are also using the theme of 350 years of the coronation of Shivaji Maharaj and are decorating their pandal with the Raigad Fort as their main theme.
The Ganesh Festival has a rich history and holds significant importance not only as a religious celebration but also for its extraordinary role in the Indian freedom struggle. The Sarvajanik Ganesh festivals have played their role in the freedom movement by uniting all sections of the Hindu society to gather under one platform as devotees of Lord Ganesh and to seek his blessings for a free India. The Genesis for the celebration of the Ganesh Festival in public goes back to the nineteenth century – 1893 to be precise.
The first battle of Indian independence fought in 1857 - dubbed the Sepoy Mutiny by the British - had given an impetus for the freedom movement in India. After a communal flare-up between the Hindus and Muslims in 1870 and the fear that it could adversely affect their governance, the British Government, in the year 1892, imposed a ban on any gathering of native Indians, more than 20 in number. This made it difficult for the nationalist leaders and reformers to create awareness and awakening of public for
freedom and for creating socio-political awareness among the masses. The ban, however, allowed only public gatherings in the form of Namaj or Muharram processions by the Muslim community, who are known for offering their prayers in public. The British were clever not to hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslims and in a way also create a division between Hindus and Muslims. They were at their worst when it came to dividing the Indians on religious lines, the deep fissures which they created between the two communities- Hindus and Muslims - in undivided India, ultimately led to the bloody partition in which millions were displaced and hundreds of thousands of people were killed and that bloody divide continues even today aided and abetted by vested interest people.
Realising how adversely the 1892 ban was impacting the public gathering and how impartial the ban was towards the Hindus, Bal Gangadhar Tilak conceived an innovative idea to bring Lord Ganesh out of individual homes and onto the public space. Moreover, Tilak needed a platform where he could bring together all Hindus, who were divided on caste lines - this division was aided, abetted and encouraged by the British who believed in the policy of divide and rule.
Tilak was aware that Lord Ganesh was a God of the masses in Pune and Maharashtra and that Lord Ganesh was worshipped by all sections of the Hindu community. The city of Pune, from where the movement for the Sarvajanik Ganesh festival started, was ruled by the Peshwas who served as the Prime Ministers to the Maratha kings. Peshwas worshipped Ganesh as their kul devta - God of the family. Therefore, it is no wonder that Poona is surrounded by the Eight Temples of Ganesh - Astha Vinayak. Incidentally even today the Ashtavinayak Yatra or pilgrimage covers the eight ancient holy temples of Ganesh, which are situated around Pune. Each of these temple has its own individual legend and history that is distinct from the other.
The history of the annual worshipping of Ganesh - by consecrating the statue of lord Ganesh and offering Pooja in individual houses - dates back to as early as 16 Century in Maharashtra. However, in early days the Ganesh Festival was mostly observed in the aristocratic individual households of the Peshwas - the Prime Ministers in the Maratha regime, who were also responsible for making Ganesh the God of the masses. In 1892, the year when the British imposed a ban on public gatherings, Bal Gangadhar Tilak wanted to defy this order but lawfully. He knew how intricately Lord Ganesh was connected with the people of the region. Taking advantage of the British allowing the gathering of Muslims for their prayers, Tilak conceived of an idea to bring Lord Ganesh out of the individual royal households and onto the public space to channelize, unite, and ignite a divided Hindu society for a larger national sentiment against the oppressive British rule.
Incidentally, this movement also helped lord Ganesh to become Lord Ganapati, the God of the masses. Bal Gangadhar Tilak had commissioned two newspapers, Kesari, in Marathi and Mahratta in English, which were published from Kesari Wada, Pune. Tilak used the loophole in the 1892 ban imposed by the British, which exempted the Muslims from their Friday prayers, to appeal to his readers to start the Sarvajanik Ganesh Festival. He was sure that this being a religious festival the British would be afraid to ban it. More so since the British had permitted the Friday prayers for the Muslims. Tilak used his Kesari Marathi paper to drive home this message among the Hindu community and he appealed to the people to organise community Ganesh Festival.
This was a well-thought-out strategy. Tilak knew how religious the Indian society was. He was therefore sure that the British, who were successfully managing to crush the freedom movement - particularly gathering of large number of people on the streets with that inhuman and barbaric force that is associated with the colonial rule in India - would not succeed in disrupting a religious gathering of people. He knew that the call for the Sarvajanik Ganesh Festival would serve two purposes, first, it would unite the divided Hindu community under a single platform and second, the platform could be used to strengthen the freedom movement by creating a sense of cultural unity among the people. The Ganesh festival provided the much-needed impetus for the freedom struggle and ever since the Ganesh Festival has come on to the public space in Mumbai and Maharashtra and has also spread across different cities and towns in India. The Ganesh Festival, particularly in Mumbai, connects people of all faiths and is considered more of a cultural worship space. One can witness this across different sections of society in Mumbai, which I have been privy to for several years.
The first Public Ganesh Mandal - Keshavji Naik Chawl Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal at Girgaum - in Bombay, as it was known then, was commissioned in 1893, and ever since the Ganeshotsav Mandal in Girgaum has been celebrating this auspicious Ganesh festival in the same traditional way each year. The statues of Lord Ganesh, the elephant god - there are several mythological stories associated with the birth of Ganesha, the son of Bhagwan Shiva and Goddess Parvati and his appearance - come in varying sizes and in different shapes and styles, which depend on where the lord is commissioned for worship. The Girgaum Ganesh pandal does not use loudspeakers, expensive lights, or any of the modern-day style pooja traditions, which are observed in most of the Ganesh Pooja pandals across Mumbai and other cities in the country. The Keshavji Naik Chawl Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal in Girgaum has continued the simplistic tradition of the Ganesh Pooja tradition for over a century now. However, there are other public Ganesh Pandals, across the city including the famous Lalbaug ka Raja and so also in various other cities in India - Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, etc.- which celebrate the Ganesh Pooja and the festival with modern-day fanfare with DJs and lights, sound and crackers and what have you.
Post-independence, the festival has undergone a change and during these 10 days of celebration, the economic activity gets accentuated leading to increased employment, income, and production of a variety of goods and services. In that sense, the Ganesh Utsav has become a ‘cultural product’ of the city, which has great economic and market value. Today, the Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav is the most celebrated festivals of Mumbai. One of the primary reason for the success of the auspicious Ganesh Festival in Mumbai is the Mumbaikars - the rich and mighty, the powerful and powerless, the poor and the insignificant, the lettered and unlettered, sheltered and unsheltered, the males, females and the transgender, the believers and non-believers, Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, the religious and non-religious, young, middle-aged, old and the very old. That undying spirit of unity in diversity in India is exemplified during this festival in Mumbai.
The economic impact of the Ganesh Festival is also seen in the opportunities for employment and income generation that this festival offers for the Mumbaikars around the ten days of the festival. This festival creates demand for the music industry - in terms of the composition and production of devotional music albums. It creates market opportunities for Gold, silver, and gems & jewelry - both for the purpose of offerings to Lord Ganesh as well as for personal use. The flower and decoration markets will experience a much larger turnover during these ten days. The sales from the food industry – primarily sweets -will increase many more times than regular. The city enjoys a higher number of offers for sale and discounts from the real estate sector and financial sector.
Whether a sombre pooja or an ostentatious collective celebration, one thing remains central to the Ganesh Festival, which every Mumbaikar and Maharashtrian celebrates - the festival is celebrated with Shradha and Bhakti. This in essence is the very spirit of India - the socio, cultural, religious and spiritual land that is home to most religions of the world. The administration and all other stakeholders, including the public, who ensure that this extraordinary 10-day Ganesh Festival passes off peacefully with the immersions of the Ganesh murtis and the festival becomes a grand success time after time and festival after festival, must be saluted for their efforts to make this grand festival successful.
The Ganesh Festival has a special significance for our family. It was on the Ganesh Chaturthi day in 1958 that my elder brother Dr Sharanabasava was born and ever since our family has been celebrating the Ganesh Festival bringing home Lord Ganesh and offering Pooja to the God.
May Ganapati Bappa bless us all and may he guide this nation to ever-increasing heights with peace and prosperity and may the people living at the bottom of the pyramid and all other disadvantaged sections of the society be blessed to lead a happy life, devoid of obstacles.
Ganapati Bappa Morya.
Saturday 12 August 2023
Tribute to Richard Ernst - Nobel Prize Winner Scientist and a diehard collector of Thangka Paintings, on his 90th birthday, 13 August.
Professor Richard Ernst, the 1991 Nobel Prize, Chemistry winner, who
we had the honour to host at the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai in 2013, would
have been 90 today, if he was alive. Dr Ernst was born on this day, 13 August,
1933 in Switzerland. Unfortunately, he passed away on 8 June, 2021 in the very
city - Winterthur, outside Zurich, Switzerland, where he was born.
Prof Ernst was a frequent traveller to India, particularly because of his
love for the Thangka paintings. Although, science was his first love, Dr Ernst
was equally in love with his second love, Art – evidenced in his collections
and research on the Tibetan Thangka paintings. In that sense he was an
exception to the “Two Cultures” concept, which CP Snow articulated.
In April 2013, just two months after I assumed the charge of Director
of Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, I was privileged to host Dr Ernst at the Nehru
Science Centre. He was on a visit to the TIFR and we used the opportunity to
request Dr Ernst to spare his precious time to interact with the school
students at Nehru Science Centre, which he so very kindly agreed. He delivered
an outstanding lecture to an over packed auditorium with several more students
sitting in the adjoining hall witnessing the event on a close circuit TV that
we had to organised for an additional 200 plus students who had turned up for the
lecture in addition to the nearly 400 students who had already over populated
our auditorium. Dr Ernst mesmerised the students and had extraordinary patience
to take so many questions and patiently interact with students, a rare
attribute for a scientist of his high calibre.
Here is a link to a blog tribute which I had penned on 10 June 2018,
when he passed away. https://khened.blogspot.com/2021/06/prof-richard-ernst-1991-nobel-prize.html
This blog covers the scientific contributions of Dr Ernst and so also
touches upon his interaction with the students at the NSC Mumbai, while leaving
out his second love – Thangka paintings. Therefore, I will therefore be
confining this tribute to Dr Ernst and his love for the Thangka paintings.
Although Science was his first love, Dr Richard Ernst was equally in
love with his second love, Art, which is evidenced from his outstanding
collections, research and publications on the Tibetan Thangka paintings. In
that sense Dr Ernst was an exception to the “Two Cultures” which CP Snow spoke
about.
In a 1959
lecture by a British scientist and author C. P. Snow, titled "The Two
Cultures and the Scientific Revolution”, Snow articulated his thoughts about an
apparent divide that exists between the two main intellectual cultures of the
modern world: the literary or humanistic culture and the scientific or
technological culture. Snow observed that there was a growing gap between these
two cultures, with intellectuals from each culture often having little
understanding or appreciation for the other. He argued that this divide was
harmful to society, as it hindered an effective communication and collaboration
between scientists and those in the humanities and other areas of creativity.
In my
career spanning 37 plus years in the field of science museums, I have experienced
first-hand, this divide which exists between scientists and artists. As a
science museum professional and a science communicator I have been privileged to
interact with many scientists and fortunately for me I got another opportunity
to work and interact with artists when I was given an additional charge to be
the Director of the NGMA Mumbai for nearly six years. During this period, I also had an opportunity
to interact with many renowned artists at NGMA, Mumbai and this interaction and
experience has made me to affirm to the Two Cultures, which C P Snow spoke
about, with no disrespect to either the scientists or the artists.
Dr
Richard Ernst is an exception to the “Two Cultures”, like our very own scientist
Dr Homi Jahangir Bhabha, who was both a scientist and an artist and a great art
connoisseur who helped TIFR collect and build some of the best collections of paintings
and other art works. Post my retirement, I am engaged, in a way, with creative
people in the field of arts and humanities at the CSMVS where I am currently
working as the Advisor. Among the nearly 70 thousand plus encyclopaedic collections
of objects which the Museum has, couple of the collections are the famous Thangka
Tibetan paintings, which are on display in the Tibetan gallery of the museum. Whenever
I see these paintings at the Museum, I am reminded of Prof Ernst and his enormous
collections of the Thangka paintings and so also his study and research on
these unique paintings. In my tribute to Dr Ernst I had not written much about
his second love – Tibetan Thangka Paintings and therefore in this write up I am
briefly writing on his works as an artist or an art lover.
Sotheby’s
catalogue, “HIMALAYAS – The RICHARD R. & MAGDALENA ERNST COLLECTION OF
IMPORTANT TIBETAN PAINTINGS AND OTHER HIMALAYAN WORKS OF ART” published during
the Paris auction in December 2022, exemplifies the passion and love of Dr
Ernst for the Thangka paintings. The catalogue carries an excellent essay by Dr
Ernst, where he articulates his thoughts on how he fell in love with the
Thangka paintings. He says “Human beings are “collectors” by nature. They want
to preserve their glorious history forever. They try to leave indelible traces
of their past. But not everybody is a creative artist and most humans depend on
the creativity of others to design a worthy tombstone or a respectable monument.
Naturally, this is true also for me”.
Dr
Ernst’s interest in chemistry started with his curiosity to explore an old wooden
box full of chemicals, which his grandfather had stored in their attic in their
old house away from people. It ended in a disaster when the young tried
experimenting with the chemicals leading to an explosion. Fortunately, no one
was injured. This disastrous beginning of experimenting with chemistry,
however, did not deter him from the subject, rather it kindled an interest in
chemistry for Ernst. He quotes “Fortunately, our house and I survived (from the
explosion), nurturing my decision to study chemistry at ETH Zürich. In
particular, spectroscopy became my preferred tool of exploration. My thesis
advisor suggested that I acquaint myself with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR),
an upcoming analytical method that was “worth investing a lifetime”. And the
rest is history, winning Dr Ernst the coveted Nobel Prize singularly in
Chemistry the details of which I have described in my blog whose link has been
shared above.
During
one of his early travels in 1968, from California back to his home in
Switzerland, Dr Ernst and his wife began their tryst with the Thangka
paintings. His wife Magdalena and Dr Ernst were exploring the market of
Kathmandu when they first encountered the Thangka paintings in a store. It was
love at first sight for Dr Ernst who says “I was struck by their fantastic colourfulness”.
Although Dr Ernst was initially unaware of the spiritual messaging that these
paintings carried, and his love for these paintings was primarily because of
the vibrancy of the rich colours - the chemistry of which was a major
attraction to the scientist in Ernst, it did not take long for Dr Ernst to understand
and appreciate the socio religious spiritual messaging that the Thangka
paintings carried.
Thangka
Paintings serve as a window in to the spiritual realm of Buddhism, which was
one of three main religions of the world that originated in India, a land where
Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism was born. Thangka paintings are a
distinctive form of religious art originating from Tibet, which hold a profound
significance within the realm of Buddhism. These intricate and colourful scroll
paintings serve as more than mere artistic creations; they are windows into the
spiritual and philosophical world of Buddhism. With their intricate detailing,
vibrant colours, and portrayal of deities, mandalas, and sacred scenes, Thangka
paintings play a significant role in conveying Buddhist teachings and guiding
practitioners on their spiritual journey.
The Thangka
paintings have a rich history that dates back centuries. They have served as
instructional tools for conveying complex Buddhist spiritual concepts to a
large population using vibrant visual means. In monasteries and homes, these
paintings became tangible manifestations of Buddhist philosophy and devotion,
allowing practitioners to connect with the teachings of Buddha on a visual
level. Thangka paintings are not merely artistic creations; they are
meticulously crafted visual representations of Buddhist beliefs. Every element
in a Thangka holds symbolic significance, often rooted in the teachings of the
Buddha. Deities, bodhisattvas, and mandalas are rendered with precision to
convey specific qualities and attributes. The symmetry and geometry within the
paintings reflect the cosmic order and the interconnectedness of all things –
central tenets of Buddhist thought. One can witness the reverence that the Buddhist
monks and the followers of Buddhism have for these paintings at the Himalayan
Gallery at CSMVS, where two of these paintings from the collections of CSMVS
have been displayed. Incidentally the National Museum, New Delhi and also Bihar
Museum, Patna also have a large Thangka Paintings in their collections.
Dr Ernst fell in love with these paintings primarily because of the rich and vibrant colours, chemistry to Dr Ernst, embedded in these paintings that lend them their unique aesthetic beauty. But then deeper study and understanding helped Dr Ernst learn the significance of these paintings for Buddhists and very soon he became a collector of Tibetan scroll paintings, whose passion he carried all through his life.
Dr Ernst established from
his research findings of the study of the Nepal and Tibet Thangka paintings
that Nepalese paintings contain a green colour, which is a mixture of indigo
(blue) and orpiment (yellow) pigments, while Tibetan uses malachite which is a
bright green pigment. Although there were some objections to the study of these
paintings using Raman Spectroscopy by some sections of the art conservators –
due to the risks of using Raman spectroscopy is that holes can be burnt into
the painting if the laser power is too high, Dr Ernst, convinced the conservators
that the holes created during the object examination are so small that if he
looks at another area and then returns, he can't find the holes again. Later in
his career, Dr Ernst established a lab for investigating the Thangs paintings
in his home. Dr Ernst has delivered many lectures around the world on the
Thangka paintings to art audience shedding new light into these paintings.
Ernst's
collection of thangkas is one of the most important collections in the world.
It includes thangkas from all over Tibet, as well as from other parts of Asia.
The collection is on display at the Ernst Museum in Basel, Switzerland. Ernst's
interest in thangkas was more than just a hobby. He believed that thangkas were
important works of art that deserved to be preserved and studied. He also
believed that thangkas could play a role in promoting understanding between
cultures. His collection serves as a valuable resource for scholars and
students of Tibetan Buddhism and helps us to remind ourselves of the importance
of cultural preservation, more so when Tibet is now under the control of the
Chinese and there is a heightened fear of this culture getting lost once and
for all.
Dr Ernst
has also authored several essays and books on Thangka Paintings. His book, Thangkas: Tibetan Sacred Art, is a “comprehensive
overview of thangka painting”. It covers the history, symbolism, and techniques
of thangkas. In his scholarly article “Arts and Sciences. A Personal
Perspective of Tibetan Painting”, Dr Ernst highlights the “relationship between
the arts and the sciences from the standpoint of a scientist and passionate art
lover”. He says that these “two playgrounds of human creativity have much in
common and have cross fertilized each other over centuries”. He has subjected
his own collections to scientific study and analysis of pigments and also the
dating.
Dr Richard
Ernst truly defied CP Snow’s concept of “Two
Cultures”, which is exemplified in his interest in thangka paintings, which
ultimately led to his appreciation for beauty, his love of learning, and his
commitment to cultural preservation. His collection of thangkas is a lasting
legacy that will continue to inspire and enlighten people for generations to
come.
CSMVS Collections of Thangka
Monday 31 July 2023
Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT): A Noble Diagnostic Biomedical Imaging Tool & my Tryst with it.
A fortnight ago, I had written about my right eye ailment and how it got aggravated due to a delayed diagnosis, which later turned out to be what is medically termed as ‘Anterior Uveitis’. Fortunately, the doctors could accurately diagnose my eye condition courtesy a biomedical engineering diagnostic tool – the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). Modern advancements in OCT and Raman spectroscopy hold great promise in providing new insights into the retina, which can serve ophthalmologists in saving many vision losses for their patients.
Uveitis is a serious eye condition characterized by
inflammation of the uvea - middle layer of the eye, iris, ciliary body, and choroid.
If left untreated, Uveitis can lead to disastrous consequences, a glimpse of
which I had begun to experience with blurred vision and other complications.
Uveitis can be classified based on the part of the uvea that is affected and,
in my case, it was the Anterior uveitis (iritis): Inflammation of the front
part of the uvea, including the iris and ciliary body. The technology that
helped my Doctors - Dr. Jaydeep Walinjkar, Dr. Hitesh R Sharma, Dr Smit and my
good friend Dr Natarajan - at the Aditya Jyot Hospital diagnose my symptoms -
red eye, pain, light sensitivity, blurred vision - as Anterior Uveitis, was this
noble biomedical diagnostic tool - OCT. I have accordingly been advised a
proper regime of treatment for the Uveitis, which I am undergoing and hope to
recover completely.
Now that I have been making the rounds to the Aditya Jyot
hospital and my Doctor, Dr Hitesh Sharma, and so also my good friend
Doctor Natarajan - the man who founded the Aditya Jyot Hospital - have been
very kind to discuss about my medical condition with me in some simple scientific
terms, including showing me on screen OCT images and explaining how they are
seen and interpreted, I am assured that by the time the six week Uveitis treatment
regime - with the corticosteroids - are done with, my eye can come back to near
normalcy - fingers crossed, they murmur. Having spent most of my professional
career in science museums, I have learnt the skill of communicating complex
science subjects in an easier to understand way with the public by interacting
and learning the subject from experts. The challenge that I was facing with my
eye provided me an opportunity on a platter to know more about Uveitis and how
science and technology has helped its diagnosis. Therefore, I decided to use
this opportunity to try and create an awareness about Uveitis and how early
diagnosis can save patients from a possibility of permanent loss of vision and
how technologies like the OCT help in early detection of such eye
disorders.
Doctors have helped me to understand the importance of OCT
in early diagnosis by showing me and explaining the OCT images of my eye and
how the data from these images can be interpreted for better understanding of
the retina. OCT and such other medical diagnostic tools have resulted from
harvesting the knowledge of science of nature that serves as an underpinning
for development of any technology, including the medical tools that serve human
society.
Just a couple of days ago the Times of India reported of a
very high prevalence of conjunctivitis in Mumbai. In fact, I too was under the
impression that I was affected with it. But then, it turned out to be something
completely different and my experience has motivated me to appeal to all my friends
and family that if you or any of your near and dear one’s experience symptoms
such as eye redness, pain, light sensitivity, blurred vision etc. don’t neglect
it as a conjunctivitis or some un harmful infection, it could be Uveitis or
something else and therefore you must not delay in seeking professional medical
advice as early as possible.
There has been a paradigm shift in the
advancement of medical diagnostics, thereafter. After the World War, biological
medical diagnostics research has witnessed unprecedented development with the
efforts of many scientists and engineers who have helped in creating a new
armamentarium of biophysics instruments- Electron Microscopes,
Ultracentrifuges, Mass Spectrometers and new agents such as radioactive
isotopes. A revolution in microelectronics and semiconductors initiated during
the War together with the development of high computing devices, that can
crunch elephantine data, have led the way to new fields of biomedical imaging
such as Ultrasound, Computerized Tomography (CT), Positron Emission Tomography
(PET) scanners, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (MRI) and the instrument which helped in diagnosing my eye
problem, ‘Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). This essay will
however, be confined to OCT.
The importance of OCT as a marvel engineering technology
for benefitting medical professional can be seen from the fact that the
National Academy of Engineering (NAE), a premier American institution that
provides engineering leadership to the nation for advancing the welfare and
prosperity of the people has awarded a highly prestigious Fritz J. and Dolores
H. Russ Prize (2017) for Biomedical Engineering to a group of scientists and
engineers - James G. Fujimoto, Adolf F. Fercher, Christoph K. Hitzenberger,
David Huang, and Eric A. Swanson - for their contributions to the invention of
the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). This $500,000 biennial prize -
considered as prestigious as the Nobel Prize in the field of Biomedical
engineering - recognises a bioengineering achievement that significantly
improves human condition. The citation for the prize reads; “leveraging
creative engineering to invent imaging technology essential for preventing
blindness and treating vascular and other diseases." The recipients of
this Prize “personify how engineering transforms the health and happiness of
people across the globe," said NAE President C. D. Mote, Jr, while making
this announcement. The creators of OCT have dramatically improved
the quality of life for people with diminished eyesight.
As the name suggests the OCT works on the principle of
optics - interferometry, where a beam of light is split into two arms - a
reference arm and a sample arm. In the sample arm, the light is directed
towards the tissue being examined. Some of this light is reflected back, while
some is scattered or absorbed by the tissue. The light that is reflected back
from different depths within the tissue is then combined with the reference
light in the interferometer. By comparing the time delay of the reflected light
with the reference light, OCT creates a depth profile of the tissue being
examined. This information is used to construct a detailed cross-sectional
image of the internal structures, allowing doctors to visualize and diagnose various
medical conditions non-invasively. OCT is majorly used in ophthalmology for
retinal imaging and in other medical fields like cardiology and dermatology for
examining various tissues and organs.
OCT has now grown to become one of the most widely used technologies
for imaging the human eye and is an essential tool for the treatment of
blinding diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic
retinopathy. It has helped doctors in diagnosing millions of patients with eye
disease at early treatable stages, before irreversible loss of vision can
occur. Infrared light is used in OCT because of its relatively long wavelength,
which allows it to penetrate the scattering medium. The concept of OCT was
first introduced in the 1960s, but significant progress was made in the 1980s
and 1990s when several researchers independently developed different OCT
systems.
The first two-dimensional picture of the fundus - inside, back surface of the eye made up of retina, macula, optic disc, fovea and blood vessels - of a human eye in vivo ( Latin word for ‘within the living’ ) was created by Adolf Friedrich Fercher, using white light interferometry. Fercher’s visionary ideas laid the basis for the development of OCT and the first in vitro OCT images were published by German and United States researchers in 1991. Fercher began his works in this field in late 1960s, while working for a private company. Post his graduation in physics, in 1968, Fercher had started working at Carl Zeiss, Germany, on optical testing, computer holography and holographic interferometry. In 1975, he became a professor at the University of Essen, Germany. Thereafter, he served as professor of medical physics and chair of the Department of Medical Physics, at the Medical School of the University of Vienna. Fercher published his first paper on the biomedical applications of optics while he was still working for Carl Zeiss, by calculating light scattering in a simplified model cell. He showed that the scattered signal oscillates as a function of scattering angle and that the oscillation length is related to particle diameter. It was during his time at the University of Vienna that Fercher and his colleagues worked on low partial coherence and white light interferometry for in vivo imaging of biological tissue. Their focus was on the human eye. Although the image quality of Fercher’s 2-D interferometric depth scans of the fundus was poor compared with modern standards, the retinal thickness and the excavation of the optic disc were visible. His works created a spark for advances in this field of biomedical optics.
The next major development in this field came in the United
States of America. In the late 1980s,
a team of researchers, led by Dr. James Fujimoto at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT) and assisted by ophthalmologists Joel Schuman, David Huang,
and Carmen Puliafito, worked on this concept by using low-coherence
interferometry for the measurement of corneal thickness. Unfortunately, they
had limited success and therefore the group decided to test its potential in
retinal imaging. This decision proved to be providential and
in 1991, leading to a widely acclaimed publication by Huang and others on the
very first retinal OCT images of an ex-vivo human eye. Dr Huang named
this new diagnostic technique ‘optical coherence tomography.’ Soon thereafter,
the first commercially available OCT device was launched by Humphrey
Instruments in 1996.
One of the earliest OCT systems was time-domain based OCT
(TD-OCT), which used a low-coherence interferometer to measure the echo time
delay of backscattered light from tissues. However, TD-OCT had limitations in
terms of speed and resolution and therefore it gave way to a Spectral-Domain
OCT (SD-OCT). In the early 2000s, the advent of SD-OCT dramatically improved
imaging capabilities. SD-OCT employs a spectrometer to measure the entire
spectrum of backscattered light simultaneously, allowing for faster acquisition
rates and higher resolution. This technological leap significantly enhanced the
utility of OCT in ophthalmology, enabling more detailed visualization of
retinal layers and facilitating the diagnosis of various retinal pathologies.
Another significant advancement in OCT technology was the development of
Swept-Source OCT (SS-OCT), which uses a tunable laser as a light source. SS-OCT
offers superior imaging penetration, making it especially valuable for imaging
deeper structures such as the choroid. Additionally, the integration of OCT
with angiography techniques has enabled the visualization of blood flow in
retinal vessels, enhancing diagnostic capabilities for vascular conditions.
The future for the OCT would be facilitated by added
functionality of biochemical analysis, which can be provided by Raman
scattering. This could provide critical molecular signatures for clinicians and
researchers to understand the intricacies of the problems at the cellular
level. OCT microscope for ex-vivo imaging combined with Raman spectroscopy will
be capable of collecting morphological and molecular information about a sample
simultaneously. Raman spectroscopy - spectroscopic method based on inelastic
scattering of photons - allows the intrinsic biochemical composition of a
sample to be identified. Although there are challenges in the
development of this dual-mode instrument and so also certain limitations for
future in-vivo retinal imaging using such a dual mode instrument, however,
looking at the pace with which science and technology develops the future seems
to be brighter. The combination of OCT and Raman spectroscopy could provide new
insights into the retina helping shed light into the lives of darkness that
many people lead due to blindness and vision loss.
May the benefits of science and technology continue to
benefit society.
Jai. Vigyan.
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