Visiting School Kids in Bagalkunte as a part of the Children's Day Celebration

IISc is indeed a place where you experience something new and exciting everyday, be it inside it or around it(even Bangalore is such an interesting city!). So given the oppportunity it is really a memorable experience to venture out into different locations and make the best out of the opportunity. And the same thing reflected when we visited a school in Bagalkunte on for the Children's Day Celebrations of the 'Notebook Drive' of IISc, to bring out the hidden talents in the students and to encourage them.
Around 10 of us along with the school teachers conducted different activities like "pick and speak", "poster presentation", "debate" and "skit" throughout the morning, stretching upto noon.
We were amazed to see the active participation by the students who tried their level best to express their talent, creativity and bubbling enthusiasm in each of our activities.
In the "pick and speak" event where I was actively involved it was really amazing to see young children speak on unfamiliar topics on the spot with confidence and courage, something which is a feat in itself. The activities were followed by the prize distribution ceremony wherein prizes were awarded to the winners in each activities along with the students in their 10th standard who had scored well in their midterm examinations. It was followed by the midday meal of "Pulav" and "Sweet Rice" which we really enjoyed while chatting with the students.
It was really a very memorable experience to be a part of the programme and indeed an enjoyable one too.      

IIScમાં "ડાંડિયા ધમાલ "

'ગરબા' અને 'ડાંડિયા' એ આપણા ગુજરાતની અસ્મિતા છે. કેવળ ગુજરાતમાં જ નહિ, પરંતુ દેશભર તેમજ વિશ્વભરમાં આ ઉત્સવ ધૂમધામથી ઉજવાય છે. આ ઉત્સવનો લ્હાવો માણવા લોકો નવેનવ દિવસ આનંદભેર ગરબા ગાય છે અને રાસ રમે છે. IIScમાં પણ આ ઉત્સવ ૧૫મી ઓકટોબરે ઉલ્લાસભેર ઉજવાયો. મા અંબાની ભક્તિમાં લીન બનેલા IIScના નવયુવકો અને નવયુવતીઓએ ગરબાનાં અનેરા આનંદથી આચ્છાદિત થઇને કાર્યક્રમને ચાર ચાંદ લગાવી દીધાં. ત્યારબાદ ડાંડિયાની સોનેરી મિજલસ જામી જ્યાં ડાંડિયાથી અજાણ્યાં લોકો પણ સમગ્ર માનવજાતિને એક જ સુત્રમાં પરોવતા આ તહેવારમાં જોડાયાં .

સાચે જ, ગુજરાતથી આટલા દૂર હોવા છતાં પણ ગુજરાતમાં જ હોવાનો અદ્ભુત અનુભવ મને મળ્યો.

જય જય ગરવી ગુજરાત!!                         

Discovering the Microcosm in the World of Algae

Our world is a vast multitude of diversities-ranging from the primitive viruses to the most advanced and complex humans. Among them algae denotes one of the most complex group of organisms. Studying the diverse world of algae and the scope of their use stands out as one of the most exciting career options in biology.
Today we got a hands-on experience of this in our lab when we looked at various species of algae through microscopes, getting a sneak peek into the dynamism present at magnitudes much smaller than what an eye can actually see.
One of the most fascinating things about algae is the tremendous variation in their sizes-from a few microns to several meters, sometimes looking like a normal plant which we see everyday! Also it was a great experience watching some of these organisms vibrate and move like snakes, intruding into others' domain. The shapes of these algae too varied-ranging from small round dots to thin filaments, each as if brimming with an inherent uniqueness. The most intriguing of them all was perhaps the slide containing the diatoms which had intricate designs and patterns on them, giving an insight into their fairly complicated world.  
The session really helped us appreciate the infinitely diversified world which is beyond the imagination and perception of most human beings in this world.
 

Talk by Justice Santosh Hedge on 'Corruption Free India'

A prevalent notion about IISc is that it is a home to the best researchers and scentists in India and the world. But something is missing in this statement-it is also a home to renowned orators, inspiring speakers and great thinkers form the whole of the world.
This fact showed up clearly when the former judge of the Supreme Court of India and former Lokayukta of Karnataka, Justice Hedge gave a talk in the Satish Dhawan Auditorium, IISc on 'Corruption Free India' to a enraptured audience comprising of faculty, students and the honourable director and associate director of the institute.
 The notion of omnipresent corruption, especially in our country, in itself is a grave issue and Justice Hedge , through his fluent oratory elaborated on the plight of the nation due to the negligence of the public and the domination by a select group of people who claim to be the 'rulers' of our country.
Being one of the foremost 'Lokpal' activists in the country he also described the role of 'Lokpal' in keeping a tab on the vice of corruption. Justice Hedge, throughout the lecture kept the audience mesmerised through his delightful anecdotes and witty replies as he faced questions from the audience in the end.
Indeed the lecture was a real eye opener and gave momentum to the awareness against corruption in the minds of the audience.

Workshop at S-VYASA, Bangalore on 'Scientific Spirituality'

In today's world, we find people distraught from spirituality considering it something unscientific and not related to science. Pandit Shri Ram Sharma Acharya was a noble soul whose entire life  was dedicated to the alleviation of such muddled mentalities prevalent among people. As a part of his birth centenary celebrations a workshop was organised at the lush green campus of S-VYASA-an autonomous body actively involved in research on the variegated field of  "योग", which is a highly commendable deed for preserving the ancient mastery of our beautiful country India in this revered field, on 11/09/2011.

                 The programme was suffused with several enlightening and inspiring lectures by IITians and IIScians, who have themselves felt the transformation in their lives through spirituality free from orthodoxy and blind faith, generally referred to as "scientific spirituality". Yet the icing on the cake was the lecture by Prof. Swamy, former director, IIT Madras who almost eradicated all the misunderstandings from our minds through his words which were mingled with the essence of science along with spirituality and the tremendous power gained from experience and deep study. I would like to quote a line from his lecture which indeed definrd the essence of this workshop-"There is an eternal question in the minds of all people regarding the origin of everything-this question can be answered in 2 ways-one is through science, which is rather complex; while the other is quite simple, which is given by 'वेदान्त'."

        The programme concluded with a novel 'दीप-यज्ञ', where we pledged and purified ourselves through the immense power of the 'गायत्री मन्त्र' along with lighting lamps to commemorate the occasion. Indeed the entire workshop was a major breakthrough in the novel idea of "scientific spirituality".

हिंदी समिति द्वारा आयोजित "हिंदी रसावली" कार्यक्रम

भारतीय विज्ञान संस्थान में अक्सर लोग अंग्रेजी भाषा का ही प्रयोग करते हैं| विज्ञान में हिंदी का महत्तम उपयोग और कर्नाटक के लोगों में हिंदी के ज्ञान का अभाव इसके मुख्य कारण हैं| इसलिए भारतीय विज्ञान संस्थान की हिंदी समिति हर साल हिंदी दिवस का रमणीय उत्सव मनाती है| इस साल भी इस उत्सव को १४ सितम्बर के दिन धूमधाम से मनाया गया| 

इस कार्यक्रम के मुख्य भाग थे स्वरचित कविता पठन और अन्ताक्षरी| स्वरचित कविता पठन के अंतर्गत हम सभी लोगों ने श्रेष्ठ कविताओं को सुनने का अभूतपूर्व आनंद उठाया| न जाने कितने भाइयों और बहनों ने सभी उपस्थित लोगों को मंत्रमुग्ध कर दिया| कार्यक्रम के मुख्य अतिथि- भारतीय विज्ञान संस्थान के प्राध्यापक  श्रीमती थिलगम मैडम एवं श्री रूद्र प्रताप सिंह साहब भी इन उन्नत कवियों और कवयित्रियों की दाद देते हुए फुले न समाये| इसके पश्चात अन्ताक्षरी का दौर शुरू हुआ जिसमे १६ छात्रों ने भाग लिया| चारों दलों-पनवा चबा, दिल जले, मिलेंगे मिलेंगे, उद्घोष ने बहतरीन और विनोदमय प्रदर्शन के साथ कार्यक्रम पर चार चाँद लगा दिए| श्री रूद्र साहब ने भी कार्यक्रम के उपलक्ष में कहते हुए अपने वाक्-चातुर्य से कुछ ही शब्दों में सभी हा मन हर लिया| सचमुच, यह कार्यक्रम इस उत्कृष्ट संस्था में बिताये गए यादगार पलों में से एक है|

Lecture on the Feasibility and Ambiguity of the much-hyped UID 'आधार' Scheme

It is a well-known fact that many eminent personalities are frequent visitors of IISc. Owing to this fact,
I got the golden opportunity to attend the lecture by Dr. Usha Ramanathan, a renowned and internationally recognized expert on law and poverty, based in Delhi on the  much hyped "UID-'आधार' project", involving a rigorous propaganda by the government of India. The lecture was organised by 'Concern'-an IISc student-body which invites eminent people from various disciplines to deliver lectures on topics of national as well as social importance and concern.
The lecture was held at the Materials Engineering Seminar Hall on 6th September, 2011, with audience completely filling the hall(I had to sit on the floor to hear the lecture) comprising of a uniform cross-section of the diversified intelligentsia at IISc. The lecture mainly dealt with the ambiguities and lack of foresight among the top brass involving the 'आधार' project. The key words of Dr. Ramanathan regarding the plan of the UIDAI and the government were that that the UID claims to be made 'universal', 'ubiquitous' and 'unique'. As said by Dr. Ramanathan there are various loopholes in the UID system, which have not been addressed till now.  One of the main problems is the technology and measures which are being implemented under this scheme. The biometrics have not proven to be a viable option in case of the highly variegated population that our country has. The implementation too could not reach out to the masses effectively. Throughout the lecture Dr. Ramanathan sifted through various possible threats in the long run due to the project and its implementation which most of us were probably unaware of. She indeed set a long-lasting impression on our minds through her prompt expression of thoughts and ideas and excellent oratory. Her expertise in the subject too added a unique flavour to the enlightening lecture on a subject about which we could have hardly thought of as laymen. Her lecture is a great masterpiece in my gallery of instances of excellent delivery of views and ideas and enrapturing oratory.

The Experiment on 'Ant Taxonomy' as a part of our Biology Practicals

Biology, till now was a subject about which I did not know much, not even at the 10+2 level. Now in IISc we are indeed not just learning, but exploring biology. And this process is amazing and enrapturing, in every literal sense one might think of.
         Recently, we performed a novel experiment in biology-a novel experiment, not in terms of some complicated use of a principle, but in terms of the approach, the feeling of enjoyment in terms of doing something different and pleasant(in terms of Prof. Gadagkar, rather we played a game!). We identified the genera of the dead specimens of ants through a key based on the external morphological features prepared by Dr. Thresiamma Varghese, a distinguished research associate with Prof. Gadagkar at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, who guided us through our experiment(actually as entertaining as a game) through a binary key prepared by her dealing with 10 of the around 45 odd genera of ants in the IISc campus. The twist in the game came when we were told that the genus of one of the 6 dead ant specimens given to us could not be found through the binary key. We had to isolate that odd ant, through the sheer power of carefulness, which added a distinct flavor to our game. In all, the experiment, though short, was thoroughly amusing, entertaining and enrapturing along with being informative and enlightening.

Lecture by Dr.Prakash at the Faculty Hall, IISc organised by IISc Alumni Association

One of the privileges the IISc students are always proud of is being able to see great people from all areas of science and technology frequently. I too attended one of these lectures(indeed, one special lecture happens everyday in some corner of IISc) at the Faculty Hall given by the well known Dr.Prakash, director of the CFTRI(Central Food Technological Research Institute), Mysore, organized by the IISc Alumni Association, moderated by Prof. Apaji Rao. The topic of Dr. Prakash's lecture was regarding the role of food and nutrition in providing national security in a situation where masses die of malnutrition everyday.
    The lecture covered the dos and don'ts that need to be followed for maintaining a healthy life and society in the whole, through efficient management and policy. His example of  the commendable work done by CFTRI was indeed a touching one, which introduced us to the humane aspects of this movement. I particularly liked the term 'carbon food-prints' used by him for describing the environmental compatibility of the food that we grow.
     The lecture, as a whole inspired us to think scientifically and rationally about a problem that has been prevalent in our country for so many years, thanks to the visionary attitude of Dr. Prakash.

Talk on 'Nuclear Energy'-an Indian Perspective by Dr. Bharat Karnad

Generally we youth seek for fiery oratory-whether by a fellow youth or a distinguished intellectual; oratory that arouses the sleeping enthusiasm within us; which racks our brains and compels us to think and contemplate.
Exactly that was the thing that happened in those 75-80 minutes at the Satish Dhawan Auditorium, IISc when Dr. Bharat Karnad, a respected policy maker and critic delivered his ideas on the various facets of nuclear science and technology and its defense purview with respect to our country.
               In the sea of lectures by eminent speakers, which are held almost everyday(or maybe thrice a week, perhaps) in/around the campus one has literally to strive hard everyday to keep track of the time and venue of each lecture, all of which are unique in their own respect. Indeed I was lucky to attend this lecture organized by Prasthutha-a students' concern of IISc at 6:00 pm on 30th August, 2011.
              In his entire talk, Dr. Karnad described the "nuclear"scenario in India as well as abroad and the adversities India is facing due to not testing our nuclear weapons. What really bothers us is not Pakistan but China. He also stressed on the need of preparedness for this fallout arising due to lack of weapon testing systems in our country. In all it was a memorable experience anyone would like to cherish throughout his/her life.  
                

'IISc ગુજરાતી પરિવાર' દ્વારા બધાં નાવાગન્તુકો માટે freshers partyનું આયોજન

            શનિવારે ભારતીયવિજ્ઞાનસંસ્થાનમાં નવાગંતુકો માટે "Choksi Hall "માં freshers partyનું આયોજન કરવામાં આવ્યું. અમારા નાના છતાં વ્હાલા "ગુજરાતી પરિવાર"માં નવા લોકો જોડાયા તેની ખુશીમાં આ આનંદોત્સવની ઉલ્લાસભેર ઉજવણીના ભાગરૂપે અમે સૌ ગુજરાતી ભાઈઓ અને બહેનોએ સંગીત, નૃત્ય અને હળવી ટીખળ-મસ્તીથી આ કાર્યક્રમને એક યાદગાર સ્મૃતિ બનાવી દીધી. 

            કાર્યક્રમની શરૂઆત સંગીતખુરશીની રમતથી થઈ. નવાઈ પમાડે એવી આ શરૂઆતનો લ્હાવો તો કીન જુદો જ હતો. બધાં નવાગંતુકો જેમ જેમ રમતમાંથી બાહર થાય તેમ તેમ તેઓને પોતપોતાનો પરિચય આપવાનો હતો તેમજ પોતાના ચયન મુજબ કોઈ એક પ્રસ્તુતિ આપવાની હતી.મજાક મસ્તીના આ દોરમાં સમય કેમ વહી ગયો એની ખબર જ ન રહી. છેવટે અમે બધાં લોકોએ સાથે મળીને સ્વાદિષ્ટ ગુજરાતી ભોજન લીધું. ખરેખર, આ કાર્યક્રમ હંમેશ માટે મારા સ્મૃતિપટ પર અંકિત થઈ  ચુક્યું છે(ખાસ કરી ને ત્યાંનું ભોજન!).  

  બધાં ગુજરાતીઓને મારી શુભકામનાઓ,

  પ્રણવ ગુપ્તા.

My Excursion Into IWST-AWTC

The only drawback of having a full fledged campus having all facilities within a campus is the fact that if you are too lazy to wander outside the campus you tend to have no interaction with the outside world and eventually in case of IISc the final result is evidently clear-students having very little knowledge of Kannada language as they move out of IISc even after a long duration of 3 or 4 years.
Hence it is also important for us to interact with the outside world of the majestic city of Bangalore, which is a hub for various other great institutions like IIA, NCBS, BHEL, etc.[Citing my own example, I have spent almost a month in Bangalore, still I don't know even 10 words in Kannada, which is shameful for me. I can't imagine the day when after 4 years one of my relatives will ask me about the amount of Kannada I have learnt during my stay and I will answer-"Kannada Goti Illa", that means that "I don't know Kannada".] So as a part of my visit to an acquaintance of mine I actually got to see a great institution just beside IISc, which is known as the Advanced Woodworking Training Center(AWTC), an integral part of the Institute of Wood Science and Technology(IWST), a collaboration of Indian and Italian advanced woodworking institutions. Though my visit lasted for a very short time, I was amazed a great deal when I saw the enormous number of gigantic machines in their workshop. There were computer-automated devices for accurate wood cutting. There was a huge machine of the size of a washing machine which was just used to drill a 1 cm hole into wood, a task which would seem trivial and uninteresting to us. Students were learning to use that machine, for which they first studied the physics behind accurate and perfect drilling. This indicates the fact that even trivial things have a lot of science and technology going into their making and the continuous efforts by experts in those fields; which was evident from their extraordinary woodwork as seen in their prototypes and models and the variety of machinery used by them. 

An Insight Into The Research on Bats at IISc

In IISc, roaming is a favourite pastime for mainly two reasons-the first one is the pleasant atmosphere of the place and the other is that you get to explore new things and learn a lot from the events happening around you.
Well, I also got to learn something yesterday as I wandered past the JRD Tata Memorial Library and saw a team of biologists from the NCBS(National Center for Biological Sciences), a premier institute in biological sciences which was based in IISc a few years ago, working on bats-a rather unusual thing for a novice like me. I was amazed by their coordination in recording the data about the bats' physiological characters and the novel character of their work, as one of them was measuring the various characters of the bat, a lesser seen animal while the other one was recording the observations. One of them was taking samples of the skin of each bat while the penultimate person was tying a beaded string around the bat's neck and releasing it into the lap of Mother Nature.
For the first time I got to see the real structure of a bat, thanks to these people who conducted the job with passion and keenness, unperturbed by the bats' adamant nature as they were being studied, which is a clear witness to the greatness of their body of work and the excitements of the world of biology.

Lecture on 'Life-A New Beginning' by Dr. Prabhakaran at the SAC, IISc

On 20th August, 2011, we had a wonderful lecture by Dr. Prabhakaran at the Student Amenities Center(SAC) on the Gymkhana Ground at IISc over a beautiful, interactive session including games, devotional songs and lots more. We were also served 'high tea'(that is what initially attracted me to the programme, for which I skipped the performance ofn the famous music band-RYTHMICA of IISc!) and were briefed about our new beginning at this institute and the way we need to prepare ourselves for the upcoming challenges in life.
 The programme was organised by the Bible Study Forum of IISc, which holds talks and fellowship sessions every week. They frequently invite eminent speakers from the world of religion and spirituality who offer lectures and talks. First and foremost, they study the holy Bible regularly and organise several charity works too.
The programme, delayed by some time due to non-availability of electrical power started with a welcome address by a member of the group. It was followed by delightful performances by members on the guitar as well as on the microphone on various hymns dedicated to Lord Jesus. Then came the enjoyment part where we had a fun game in which we interacted with each other to know maximum number of names of other people who were present in the hall. To make the task more interesting we were assigned labels depicting different birds,one to each person at the beginning of the programme, followed by a short quiz on the four main gospels of Christianity-Mark, Mathew, Luke and John . Then came the main part or gist of the programme-the enlightening lecture by Dr. Prabhakaran from the Bible Society of India on the topic which I have already stated above. He talked about various situations of life where we think of God only momentarily. All the members stressed about the role of Lord Jesus in maintaining us in a sound condition throughout our life, and that reflected in the lecture too. He stressed upon the need of believing in God and his creations on the earth. The programme drew to an end with two beautiful hymns sung even more beautifully by the singers and expressed fantastically by the guitarist. In all it was a very well-planned and spiritually enlightening programme any individual would seek forward to.

Janmashtami Celebration by Hindi Samiti at IISc

Yesterday was an auspicious day for all IIScians as we celebrated Janmashtami at midnight, due regards to the sincere efforts and excellent management by the Hindi Samiti. Though I myself could not contribute to the preparations, I derived enormous pleasure by just attending the worship ceremony of Lord Krishna. The ceremony consisted of a झांकी, an enchanting भजन संध्या, Lord Krishna's आरती, the most awaited जन्मोत्सव at midnight and प्रसाद वितरण when the programme drew to an end. The entire atmosphere was set reverberating by joyful devotional songs, sometimes formally in a chorus, otherwise by dedicated volunteers who used to chant them in groups out of sheer devotion to the lord, which made the programme further successful in every literal sense.

The entire programme reflected the fact that we at IISc are united at heart, in spite of being superficially divided in terms of language or religion.

"हाथी घोड़ा पालकी, जय कन्हैया लाल की |"     

Exploring Biology in a Different Manner

Today we did a unique experiment-watching the behaviour of an "ant" colony.
The quotes put by me indicate the immediate reaction-"Students of a first semester biology course studying ants? Had all the plant and animal cells vanished or what?
Cell is the most basic structure-not an ant."
Well, as our great Prof.R. Gadagkar puts it-"The process of learning biology(or any other science) doesn't involve just learning facts and principles. You need to develop ways to observe things and describe them honestly and precisely."
Generally our high school texts render biology as a subjective and monotonous subject and generally school students are repelled by biology. But such a holistic way to study biology actually incites interest in the subject within a student from any field.
Coming to my toady's experiment, we made a random observation of a colony of ants initially kept covered inside a petri dish. The organisation of ant and bee colonies may be quite similar, but the ants don't give special treatment to their queen unlike the bees. Quite interesting, isn't it?
Though previously I also did an experiment on training bees to differentiate colour, the bees were quite random in their motion and the experiment was done in open space where external factors could easily affect our observations(and they did, actually causing one of our testing sessions to go in vain, bereft of any observation in particular of a bee entering any one of the 2 tubes which were coloured differently).
Hence, I would just describe today's experiment(moreover, the experiment on bees was done more than a week ago) which consisted of ants differently coloured using a 3-combination colour coding which is very difficult to apply on all the ants in practice, courtesy to the constant efforts by Prof.Gadagkar and his dedicated team of our teaching assistants who help us extensively during laboratory and lecture sessions(more importantly, they don't frown at our stupid questions).
The experiment consisted of 3 portions-observation, description and quantification.
During the observation phase, we had to patiently observe the behaviour of different ants, looking to the colour codes applied to their body for their unique identity and note their visible behaviour on being suddenly exposed to the external environment for an hour in all possilble ways.
The second phase is to describe the observations honestly and precisely.
The third phase consists of quantification of the collected data.
In this way, we did this experiment which indeed helped us to get a hang of the approach we should use in order to

भारतीयविज्ञानसंस्थाने संस्कृतवर्गाः

 भारतीयविज्ञानसंस्थाने अगस्तमासस्य द्वादशमात् दिनात् संस्कृत संघेन संस्कृतवर्गाः प्रारब्धाः | अस्माकं शिक्षकवर्यः आनन्दाचार्यः| अत्र वयं भाषोपयोगीसंस्कृतस्य प्रयोगः कुर्मः भाषायाः च मूलप्रयोगमपि जानामः | संस्कृतभाषा खलु भारतीयानां जननी | तस्याः रक्षया वयं विज्ञाने शास्त्रेषु च निपुणाः भवामः | अस्माकं कृते संस्कृतभाषायाः मूलरूपजागरूकता आवश्यकमस्ति  इति सत्यम् | लसतु संस्कृतं चिरं गृहे गृहे च पुनरपि |

Cultural Week at IISc-'Swagatham-2011' for freshers

Today we were given an informal welcome by the Students' Council of the Indian Institute of Science-which is an active organisation of the students, for the students and by the students of IISc, for almost 50 years as of now, at the famous JN Tata Auditorium in front of the main gate of IISc.
The another great thing about this institute, apart from the unmatched scientific ingenuity of the people here is the fact that we have a strong network of student representatives who are  always ready to solve problems and add life and vitality to the campus and its infinitude of events which are mostly due to their efforts only.
The programme, commencing with some refreshments, consisted of a multitude of brilliant performances by various cultural groups at IISc. The contribution on behalf of undergraduate students was a wonderful effort by Abhinav(on the guitar) and Shashank(on the microphone) who prepared their item at an extremely short notice. The programme consisted of classical and western dance performances, which included hip-hop, Kuchipudi and Bharatnatyam in particular. The programme also included a stellar performance by 'Rangmanch'-the dramatics club of IISc. However, the show-stealer was the captivating performance 'Jugalbandi' by the musical wizards of the institute. I need not stress upon the fact that we were once again addressed by the distinguished dignitaries at IISc quite similar to yesterday's welcome. In all, it was really an enchanting programme which touched one and all present at the auditorium.
Best wishes to all the readers......

My first experience with a photogate sensor and a force sensor(physics lab)

Today was the first physics laboratory session of my college life......
Yet the thing which attracted me more to publish my post was the joy of using new electronic devices like the photogate sensors and force sensors.
These small, compact yet highly accurate devices are able to ease various problems regarding precision and accuracy faced by scientists and physicists. This draws my attention to one of the most productive targets of science and technology which is to lessen people's burden and make their lives easier along with driving a nation to unparalleled progress in the long run. This is why engineering and technology, though not purely science but a highly esteemed part of it, is an extremely important ingredient in the recipe for a self-reliant nation which can BELIEVE in itself.
For example, the photogate sensor used in our laboratory works on the principle of an object cutting a weak laser beam and the sense of impact felt by a body when it touches the falling object. Though I just measured g with it, the device had the power to propel various experiments regarding velocity, uniform acceleration and many more things.
The force sensor too is a wonderful device for a new undergraduate student like me who has not yet explored the real world of science. It uses concepts of electronics and wonderfully combines it with simple mechanics(the statement is quite ambiguous, as actually electronics is the acronym for "electron mechanics") to measure a quantity like force, which may seem trivial to students who have not used a force sensor. Still the construction and the principles and results of physics applied behind such a sensor could be really a very enrapturing and intriguing thing(obviously for students of my age, or mental capability rather, as the undergraduate students of IISc whom I have seen and noticed are far more intellectual than I am at this stage, thus intimidating in spite of being a source of newer and newer information and ideas), compelling us and challenging us for entering into this beautiful and vast world of science.  

'India Against Corruption' Campaign

Today members of our students' council at IISc actively protested against corruption at the Freedom Park in Bangalore. Many students of IISc participated in the 'Skip a Meal' campaign against corruption to voice their protest.

Well, from a neutral perspective I would appreciate the effort made by one and all in this regard, not because they are protesting, but because they are concerned about the nation which is dear to them above all other material desires.

जय हिंद.........

अन्ना हजारे जिंदाबाद..........  

The 'High Tea' at the legendary Indian Institute of Science for freshers

Today was a historic moment(well, every day is historic as we are the 101st batch of students at IISc:1911-2011) for all the new students in IISc when we were cordially welcomed into this iconic birthplace of first class research in our country, which has produced and is still producing leaders who have revolutionised almost each and every area of science and technology over some tea and snacks.
We were greeted by the honourable director of IISc Prof.P. Balaram, our associate director Prof. Balakrishnan, our undergraduate studies dean Prof. Dasgupta, chief hostel warden, students' council chairman and many other important dignitaries at IISc.
Eventually after an enlightening session as we reached the conclusion of the programme we had to encounter the ferocious Meghraja, the ever persistent entity, particularly for 8 months in Bangalore, who probably disliked the fact that our honourable associate director rather warned us to be prompt in facing him at unexpected times.
So personally I would look forward to these life-changing 4 years of my BS course at IISc with a balanced scientific temperament, vigour and unfathomable curiosity.