Aliens’ contirbutions in morden science? September 6, 2008

Egyptian and Indian culture are the testimony of the power and intelligence that was with the people of these civilization thousands of years back. Perhaps the science was more advance then, than it is now. I was recently reading a book on Teleportation - the science of moving from one place to another with the blink of an eye, remember watching Star trek. Incidences related to teleportation are widely used in Indian mythology. Other few technological marvels like Pushpak Viman, Lost City of Dwarka, weapons like Bramastra (equivalent to today’s Atom bomb) are abundant in many of the Hindu epics as Ramayana, Mahabharata. Incidences related to Dwarka mentioned in Mahabharata are now scientifically proven to be correct.

I believe that more than 5000 years ago science was at its peak in these civilizations. If we were so advance then, than why do we have to reinvent the wheel? In all the famous & old civilizations, say Egyptians or Mesopotamian or Indian, people believed that the knowledge was passed to them by Gods. Who were these Gods? Where did they come from? Where did they go?

There are no answers to the above questions.

Egyptians are considered to be the source of birth of modern medical science. The Eye of Horus was believed to have healing and protective power, and it was used as a protective amulet, and as a medical measuring device, using the mathematical proportions of the eye to determine the proportions of ingredients in medical preparations) to prepare medications. The Egyptians did write prescriptions. Those prescriptions were first magical verses and then the real prescription. The Eye of Horus was an important part of the magical part of the prescription. With time the magical part became smaller, and the real prescription more important.  Eventually, all that was left of the magical verse was the Eye of Horus. The sign has remained in pharmacist’s shorthand to this day with Rx being the sign for a prescription! Archeologists have found many tools dated 4000 years old on bank of river Nile & other sights, which closely resembles modern surgical tools. These tools were made of volcanic glass, which on research have found to be much superior to surgical steel. Who gave all this knowledge to Egyptians and why did it all lost. If science was so advance then, than why do we have to reinvent all again?

Today’s science is still no able to find answers to many of the things. Like the iron pillar in Delhi that was built around 4-5 AD & still does not show any signs of rust and corrosion. It is testimony to the high level of skill achieved by ancient Indians. It was originally made in centeral India, but how it moved to Delhi 1000 years ago still remains a mystery.  It has been something of a riddle for people—historians, archaeologists, palaeographers, metallurgists, etc—for close to a century and a half.

“Nearly everything about the pillar is surrounded by acute controversy: For whom was it made? Exactly when? Where did it originally stand before it was moved to Delhi? What is the true import of the long inscription in Brahmi characters engraved upon it? Who placed the later inscriptions on it, and when? Who had the pillar moved to its present location, and why? What exact processes were followed in forging it into shape at that early a point of time, the 4th/5th century AD? Above all, from the scientists’ point of view, what is the secret, the great mystery, behind the fact of its being virtually non-rusting? There seems to be no end to the questions.” - Enigma of the Iron Pillar, B.N. Goswamy

 
Or consider magnificent pyramids built 4600 years ago. The three pyramids of Egypt were built at different times, the amazing fact is that the largest one is also the oldest and shows much finer work then the later two. It is still highly debatable who built the pyramids. Were they actually humans who designed and architected it or someone else designed and used humans as labors. Many people try to find answers of how it was build. You will find one of the links on my blog under “Great Mysteries”, which describes how the Great Pyramid was constructed. But given the time it was constructed, I doubt how 20000 people can complete the work in 20 years. Is it possible that the first pyramid was solely built by people from outer space and later the knowledge was passed to humans to built second and third and other pyramids?

These are just few of many mystries that show the grandure of science thousands of years ago. It is very likely that we have received help from somewhere in evolution of science.

Rock On!! August 31, 2008

Many times interval in a movie is a boon, because you can get out of a theater but not in movies like Rock On. It is one of the best movies ever made in India. The movie connects with your heart, with rock solid performance by all the 4 lead actors. The theme of the movie may seem to be similar as Dil Chahta Hai - friendship broken due to some misunderstanding but reunites in the end. This movie will remind you of “That thing you do” directed by Tom Hanks.

Music of the movie is amazing, may not be typical Bollywood music, but anyone above 25-28 will be able to connect with the movie. Wonderful lyrics and equally amazing music shankar-ehasan-loy will make you carve for more.. It will remind you of your school & college life, rock bands, jamming sessions, late night rock parties at a friend’s room with free flow of liquor and smoke!!

Well the life is good now, but it was better in college…

It is a must watch movie. My rating is 4/5.

ROCK ON!!

Bad roads and bad traffic is killing our economy August 28, 2008

I have been a strong advocate of following traffic rules. Indians have the best of brains in the world and I recently got a mail which tried to prove so by giving the statistics of number of Indian doctors in US, number of scientist of Indian Origin, or number of people who get H1B visa from India. And I don’t deny the fact that we Indians are sharp and are good learners.

That was the rosy side, but let’s faces this - other side of the story is not as beautiful. Rather I will say that it is too ugly to be shown to anyone. And we all should be ashamed of that.

Now, since I have given some vent to my anger and frustration, let’s talk about the actual subject. Over the last couple of months I have been observing a sharp increase in the traffic situation in Hyderabad. The city is close on its heels to becoming another disaster like Bangalore - Bad to worst roads and never improving traffic sense of hyderabadi drivers. The result is long traffic jams, rise in number of impatient people and above all loss of money.

Below are some key observations:
-    2 months back it took me 20-25 minutes to drive from my home to office, around 14 kms.
o    Today, the time has increased to 45 minutes
o    Even if I start as early as 8:30 AM, it takes 30 minutes
-    2 months back my car gave an average of 17 kmpl
o    Today it gives around 12 kmpl

Based on this if I calculate the loss of time than that comes to 40 to 60 minutes a day, which amount to roughly 20 hours a month.

Let’s see about the fuel – I am spending roughly around .5 liters extra everyday, which results in consuming an extra 10 liters a month. This doesn’t end here. Consuming more fuel also means that our contribution to global warming has also increased. This is the story of just me, imagine now for all the vehicles on the road.

So who is the culprit right now? Bad city planning, bad roads and worst drivers. Combine all three and you will find our new Hyderabad. All drains have been closed in the name of road expansion. Uneven roads with no proper slopes and water exits lead to water clogging. Potholes at some places are 1ft deep. After every rain, you may find a new pothole on the road.

And what are out local civic bodies doing? I guess enjoying mansoon and having samosa, mirchi bhaaji & tea.

According to one story, the world has roughly only enough fossil fuel to sustain for next 40 years. That study was done 5 years back. So what are we doing now? We are increasing the rate of consumption, why wait for another 40 years, lets finish it fast is the new mantra!!! Imagine a world without OIL in your lifetime. Life will be so calm, no traffic, no pollution. Back to stone age!

Review: Indiatimes Shopping - From bad to worse August 22, 2008

From my last blog on Indiatimes to this one, there is no change in the services. In fact, the quality of service has deterioted. My wife ordered a Rakhi hamper for her brother on 11th-Aug. The order was shipped on 13th-Aug, and till yesterday (21st-Aug), it was not delivered. Merchant has shipped the order via TNT, and the reason of non-delivery was cited as ‘bad weather conditions’. On digging into details I found out that the order was shipped on 21st-Aug morning.

So this is the state of online shopping with Indiatimes. When I called up customer care, Tapan responded to the call. He was polite and told all the details and offered that the order can be cancelled and mone can be refunded if I want.

All said, Indiatimes is decades behind in online shopping. Hope they learn something or if that is too difficult for them then they should close there shop…

Kashmir - A crown of thorns? August 21, 2008

I did not liked it when Arundhati Roy said that “Kashmir needs freedom from India and India need freedom from Kashmir”, but the fact is that Kashmir has been a cause of problem for us since Independence. There are two ways of looking at the problem:

First, in medical terms amputation is a common phenomenon. It has been practiced since ages.  If a body part cannot be cured, then it has to be removed so that it does not poison other parts of the body. We say that Kashmir is an Integral part of India. It is deceased and the government of India is trying to find a cure since 1947. 61 years have been passed and yet there is no sign of finding any cure in near future. The fact is that there may be no cure at all, mainly because of unwillingness to find the cure from both the sides. Religion and caste play a more important role in Indian politics than the welfare of people, state & country.

Second, remember movie Majboor in which Amitabh Bachchan suffers from a terminal brain tumor and doctor tell him that there is very less likelihood of operation to be successful, and he may die if the tumor is removed. The same is the case with us - and I am reiterating it - Kashmir is an Integral part of India. Separating it from the country is not the part of the solution. More importantly, if it is separated, than it may set a trend for others to follow - Today Kashmir, tomorrow North East, than some other state. And we will again find us in same situation as pre-Independence.

So what is the solution? Remove our neighbor from the map?

Skoda recalls Fabia Petrol August 10, 2008

In my earlier posts I mentioned about the problem with Skoda Fabia. Today, morning a Friend of mine who knew about the problem with my car, called and told me to go thru the news on Times-of-India. This proves that were some serious problems with the car.

Anyway, I m not emphasizing on the problem. What I do want to emphasize is that Skoda is professional & bold enough to accept the problem. In fact, when I first raised the concern, which was few month back, with the dealer they actually went ahead and replaced the car with the Fabia Diesel. The best part of this was that they only gave the option of changing the car.

Replacing a car may be a new phenomenon in India, but across Europe and US, that has happened in past. The good thing is that the manufacturer is accepting the fault and is ready for fix it.

I have been driving Fabia Diesel since last 1 month without any problem. In fact, it is a really nice car meant for city driving, with an excellent millage. I am getting 16 kmpl in city conditions. So no regrets on buying it… Its the best in this segment!

http://alienworld.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/skodas-promise/
http://alienworld.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/letter-to-skoda/

Participating in our electoral system August 5, 2008

Friends …. it is high time that we should start participating in building our country. The very first step to it is selecting the right candidates for the parliament. After watching the ‘no confidence’ motion on TV last month, I cursed all politicians but when I gave a thought I felt myself equally responsible for the situation. For many of us, election day is a national holiday. A large percentage of us are not even registered as Voters. On any election day we plan to take a vacation, go out and relax. We have to change this attitude and have to understand our responsibilities as a citizen. Also, at the same time these politicians should not take us for granted, there politic majorly rely only on religion, regional and caste.

The more we actively participate in the electoral system, the more we will rise above all these issues.  Every state has it’s office of ‘The Chief Electoral Officer’, also for each state there is separate website from where you can get more detailed information and forms to get your voter i-card. If you google “The Chief Electoral Officer of <state name>” you will find that states website. Below is the list of forms that you need to fill in order to get your name registered in voter’s list and for voter’s i-card.

Form 6	Application for inclusion of name in electoral roll after draft publication of draft roll (if your name is not included in the draft roll).
Form ID ECI-EPIC-001B	Submission of photograph (Optional) for preparation of Elector Photo Identity Card & Photo Electoral Roll.

The above forms are links to Electoral Office of AP, but the forms are same across India, so you can download from anywhere.

Also read: Parliament or Fish Market

Skoda’s Promise July 25, 2008

In one of my earlier post, I have told you that my new Fabia petrol had a sever flaw - “Breaks don’t apply in slow speed”. Skoda acknowledged the problem and tried to fix it. The car was with them for a long time, but the car still had problem after it came back from the workshop.

This was when I went to meet the owner of Mahavir Autos (Skoda Dealer). He was very polite and professional and straight away gave an option of replacing the car. Not only did they replaced the car, they also upgraded it to a higher diesel version.

My experience with Skoda has been really good, not exactly in term of the car, but with the interaction I had with all the people at the showroom. They have truly lived up to their name. I doubt any other car manufacturer or dealer would have been so professional in dealing with replacing the full car.

Read “Letter to Skoda“