'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.