https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly23yknjy9o

and my penchant for always wanting to know where I am. The news is of a car, going over a half built bridge over a river and crashing into the Ram Ganga river below in Uttar Pradesh, India. The car was following Google’s driving directions—(..100 M on….on the 3^rd roundabout, take the 5^th exit…)

I have travelled a lot, mostly by car. I also had to direct road travel by others in the course of my business. The products I made-for Engineering Institutions,  almost invariably had “Free Delivery at Site” & “Payment Against Delivery, Demonstration And Installation” as the commercial terms.. I used to have an Automobile Association of India, cloth backed, road map of India-measuring 4ftx4ft, tucked up on my office wall. The purchase order would list such and such equipment to be delivered to such and such Institutions in the States of say, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Gujrat and Assam. I would sprawl on the floor in front of that map, with a light focused on the map, adjust my spectacles and decide the allocation of the trucks and prepare a point by point road route for the truck driver.  (Used to travel mostly between Metro Cities, few transporters were ready to work for me.  My work required the truck to pause at small towns, and spend 2 days there for the installation, before moving to the next obscure town. So I hired trucks on “days’ basis). No goods were ever lost. No truck ever lost its way or hit a dead end or fell into a river.

When you go by a map, you know where you are.

I have driven long distances in America, the most memorable drive  being from Boulder(Co) to Boston, via Kansas, Chicago & Niagara falls during Christmas time, about 2000 miles. Here also the route was determined by a National Geographic Atlas and the signage that the American highways have. We did not fall into the Niagara’s and have lived to burden you with this post.

I am not as accurate as Biplab, a batch mate from IIT Kharagpur, who is always gazing at stars and knows where he is in relation to stars. But I do recognize at least the star that rises in the east, every morning. I take my directions therefrom. I feel at home when I know what is to my east, west, north, south and am very uncomfortable when that awareness is missing. In fact, I had panicked once, and started banging on its doors, when a lift had stopped midway and its lights had gone out. My spouse, had promptly declared-“I have claustrophobia”.

I am therefore amazed when I see people constantly blabber “लोकेशन भेज दो”, in response to my giving an address. With an address, you know a lot more. A whole lot of imagery comes to mind invoking a whole lot of feeling. People come alive in the mind. That quaint old house. That bridge over that river. That Rosogolla shop. That Paan wallah. That Neem ka tree. That old flame you knew, before the current one gave you arterial  inflammation. With the location, you are blindfolded. Like the Aadhar number, the location reduces you to a mere number.

Today’s drivers never know where they are. I am at loggerheads with these drivers all the time. Last monsoons, I was in Chandigarh with one such driver. He thought G is for Google, having learnt about the Goat from Google. We started back to Delhi from Chandigarh around sunset. There were no beautiful dusk colours. The sky had been overcast with monsoon clouds. Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed, drops had begun to patter on the wind shield.—it was like-you know Ramayana’s– “घण घमंड नभ गर्जत घोरा,  प्रियाहीन डरपत मन मोरा “. My fears were different—they were for the slave(driver) of Google. I told him not to follow Google but to follow me. This had happened during the day also. Now his mood darkened, like the clouds. Being from Haryana, I am not the one to be cowed down. I told him I will drive myself. He would not move from the driver’s seat. We argued. The drops turned to a downpour.  I called 24×7-the company that had supplied this driver. The company, was conscious that their check would be signed by me and not the driver. They told the driver: “जिस रास्ते से साहिब  कहते हैं, उस रास्ते से चलो.” Amidst pouring rain all the way, and unknown to us that time, rivers en route-Ghaghar, Tigri, Markandey, had all broken their banks, river waters had even entered the Ambala cantonment, we reached home safe. I knew the route that Google would have taken—it is the time optimal route and goes through detours & back roads. It passes over an old, dilapidated bridge. That is where I knew I did not want to be that rainy night.   The next day I read in the papers that there was a flash flood and that particular bridge had gone under water during the night.

It had been a good idea to know where I was.

As a technologist, I can’t speak against technology. But a thought bothered me on this cold winter evening:

डेस्टिनेशन डाली थी  अमन और प्यार

टेक्नोलॉजी ले आयी चाँद के पार

न आब, न हवा; स्पेस सूट में करें प्यार

क्या से क्या हो गया मेरे यार

The post WHERE AM I? first appeared on Anand Bhushan.

What a panorama unfolded in front of him !- standing against a background of lush green Aravalli Forest on the west there was the glorious orange Sun rising in the east over a shimmering emerald lake teeming with fish, blue lotus flowers and beyond an unending forest as far as he could see. Flocks of birds flew overhead while their chirping in the trees below, presented a natural ‘surround sound’ concert.

A sweet little girl gathering twigs, told him that every full moon, a tiger comes to the hill top and is seen, from the lake shore, silhouetted against the full moon—and sends its roar rolling down the easterly slopes.

There and then, Mam Raj Sanghi, decided to buy this hill as a gift for his 3 loving sons-Murai Lal Sanghi**, Bihari Lal Sanghi and Hazari Lal Sanghi. On 8th of Jaith, 1941 BK (1884 AD), He bid a sum of Rs 3225/- –then a princely sum—and won the auction. A photograph of the now historical, mutation document in Urdu appears here.  

He invited a few landless persons to settle on the shore of the lake, free of cost and thus the tiny hamlet, he named Muraripur came into being. 

He dreamt of a huge nature preserve around this lake in the heart of what was then PEPSU and is now South Haryana, a mere 10 kM from Delhi Jaipur’s NH-48, near Behror in Rajasthan.

It is on NH-148A.

DESPAIR

Alas, his dreams fell to the greed of humans, our neglect and the neglect of settlers! What was then a vast, perennial lake is now merely a muddy pond and the forest covered hill is denuded with barren slopes!! 

HOPE

We are descendents of that man, settled all over the world. We love nature and stand for nature conservation. We are fired by desire to restore the Hills and whatever is left of the foothills, from the onslaught of humans, to its pristine glory, by creating a bio diversity park, here. Govt of India, too, has recognized the adjoining western side of the hill, as a nature hot spot and planted 11000 trees there as part of internationally funded Aravalli plantation. Due to neglect, few trees remain there. Local politicians, attempted to make a 33 ft road through the forest and we fought it tooth and nail, at the Principal Bench of India’s National Green Tribunal and thanks to nature conservationist Honorable Justice Swatantra Kumar, orders for the protection of the forest on this Aravalli range, were issued.

Efforts to conserve and restore the area have met with resistance from land grabbers, colonizers and politicians who wish to  colonize the hills and it is hoped that law and wisdom will prevail and the restoration efforts will succeed and nature may yet find a rebirth and refuge here

We seek the assistance of all nature lovers and nature conservation organizations by way of their good wishes, prayers, encouragement, suggestions and letters of support, to help restore Sanghi*** Hills.

SMILE A WHILE

A farmer purchased an old, run-down, abandoned farm with plans to turn it into a thriving enterprise. The fields were grown over with weeds, the farmhouse was falling apart, and the fences were broken down. 

During his first day of work, the town preacher stops by to bless the man’s work, saying, “May you and God work together to make this the farm of your dreams!”  

A few months later, the preacher stops by again to call on the farmer.  Lo and behold, it’s a completely different place.  The farm house is completely rebuilt and in excellent condition, there is plenty of cattle and other livestock happily munching on feed in well-fenced pens, and the fields are filled with crops planted in neat rows. 

“Amazing!” the preacher says. “Look what God and you have accomplished together!” 

“Yes, reverend,” says the farmer, “but remember what the farm was like when God was working it alone!”

*Rajender Singh, was a modern Maharaja, father of the more well known Bhupender Singh) and  was the first Indian to own a car, in 1892 AD, as well as the first Indian to own an aircraft.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

FOOT NOTES

** Was Co founder of Narnaul Arya Samaj.

*** Sanghis hail from Narnaul. Some associated  places and names are Sanghi Temple, Hyderabad; Sanghi Mata, Rezri Khejri,Rajasthan; Sanghi Industries; Sh G D Sanghi, ex MP; Late Sh G LSanghi,Sr Advocate;Late Justice Naresh Sanghi, PHHC, Justice Vipin Sanghi, DHC; Justice Sharda Aggarwal (retd) DHC; Sh Satya Pal, Ch Engg.(retd) Eastern Rlw; Adarsh Dial Sanghi, Sr Adv; Steve Sanghi, CEO & Founder, Microchip Corporation, USA; etc.

The post SANGHI HILLS-NATURE RESTORATION first appeared on Anand Bhushan.

It has been taken for granted that humans beyond 75 are seated near the exit. Yet, less than a century ago, humans aged 35-45 filled this position, Useful life-not just life, has almost doubled with very early discoveries such as spectacles, early discoveries such as antibiotics, vaccines and recent discoveries such as anti-diabetics, statins, blood thinners, antivirals, immuno-suppressants, vascular interventions and organ replacements.
The technological advances so far, have tackled disease. Some of the diseases have been blamed on age-Atherosclerosis, Dementia, Arthritis, Parkinson’s; but ageing itself has been accepted as normal. Yet there are life forms that live much longer than humans. Bristlecone pines in California and Rocky mountains have lived to more than 3500 years. Bow head whales aged 200 years have been found. Jelly fish have been found to be immortal. At cellular levels, these life forms are substantially similar to humans-esp. the whales are mammals and are, practically, our twins in water.

AMRIT

Scientists have always searched for ‘Amrit’-the elixir of eternal life and for the touchstone that will convert any metal to gold. While the latter remains elusive, a glimmer of hope has appeared for the former-a glimmer that is bright enough for humans to begin to think of ageing as a disease to be cured and not a normal to be endured.

Technical details of the research are fairly complex and may not interest most readers. They have, therefore been relegated, to the last. However, I urge that they be read. It will help understand what is going on in the background and enable the reader to improvise and adjust longevity techniques on his own to his individuality.

GENOME

For the moment, let us just know that Genome is the name of the set of instructions encoded in a molecule called DNA and the genome is a complete blueprint for making an organism. DNA is a linear polymer molecule shaped like a double helix coiled around each other. It looks like a twisted ladder. The rungs of the ladder are a linear chain of 4 molecules called nucleotides and named A, C, G and T. The sequence of placement of A, C, T and G within a rung and the sequence of these rungs along the helix constitutes the genetic code. Strands of DNA are coiled together into structures called chromosomes. A chromosome if uncoiled could be a few cm long. Subset of a chromosome, read together, is called a gene. The human genome, if uncoiled, is about 2.5 m long and its sequence has 3.2 billion letters—printed 1 mm apart, it will extend to 3000 kilometer.

The genome is roughly like the hard wired, read only memory of a computer. It is so stable that DNA has been recovered intact from bones buried centuries ago. The memory must be read and instructions executed. RNA-a single helix polymer-is a part of the reading mechanism, with mRNA, t-RNA and r-RNA working as a team. The body mechanism doing the reading and the execution part is called Epi-Genome. Aging research appears to suggest that whereas the genome is stable, epigenome is not and tends to get corrupted causing information to be read wrongly, leading to defective execution. That causes aging. Research has further indicated that the corruption of the epigenome can be reduced and aging can be slowed and even halted. In animals, it has even been reversed.

This series of articles will take you through what we can do now to have a longer, useful life span, in a series of 7 steps.

1. Longevity and the Technical Stuff
2. Longevity and Exercise
3. Longevity and Food
4. Longevity and Psyche
5. Longevity and Habits
6. Longevity and Pills
7. References

Before doing that, let us just take

A WALK THROUGH A CELL

A cell is the fundamental building block of living beings. Body has trillions of them of various shapes and size. A human blood cell is about 7.5 micrometers. The cell is filled with a jelly like substance called cytoplasm which is enclosed in a plasma membrane. The command center of the cell is its Nucleus which has its own envelope and it tells the cell what to do. The Nucleus houses the DNA. DNA is looped around spools of Histones to form Nucleosomes. Nucleosomes tightly coil around to form Chromosomes. A chromosome looks like a handwritten small letter x. The arms of the x are tightly bound at the center by centromere and the tips of the x are sealed off by telomeres. Humans have 46 chromosomes. Genes are small sections of DNA within a chromosome. Floating around in the cell is Mitochondria which is cell’s powerhouse and converts food to energy. Mitochondria have its own, little stock of DNA. Ribosomes also float around the cell and their job is to read, via RNA, genetic instructions from the cell and make proteins. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures of a few parts of a cell we talked about therefore, follow:

WORKING OF A CELL

There are two processes going on in the cells. One is reproduction which is by division. The new cell formed is identical to the earlier cell if all is well. However the DNA within the cell is subject to damage, for example by toxins, X-rays or cosmic rays amongst other factors. A complex system called Epigenome in the body senses damage to DNA and sends a disaster team to the cell to repair the damage. At the same time, the epi genome instructs the cell to stop reproduction. When the repair is done, the epigenome gives an “all clear” and the cell begins reproduction. The trends in understanding aging at a genetic level, appear to show that faults in the epigenome degrade the disaster management and also prevent it from generating the ‘stop reproduction’ signal for the cell. Without the stop sign, the cell goes on dividing with the damaged DNA generating more cells with even more damaged DNA. The damage cascades because genetic instructions have come from defective DNA and like a bug in a program, the execution goes into uncharted territory, leading to cells with even more damaged DNA. This results, generally, in the cell gradually becoming a large zombie cell which ultimately is unable to divide but stays alive. Such cells, named senescent cells, accumulate in the body, yielding toxic secretions and interfere with the working of healthy cells. Disease and death follows. Very often, cells with damaged DNA, go into uncontrolled division and originate cancerous tumors. Either way, death follows.

LIVING LONGER & REVERSING AGE

Research has so far come to a point that we have available certain techniques which can keep our epigenome working longer. In fact in animal studies it has been possible to reset the epigenome, effectively enabling an animal aged 50% of its age to revert to an age which was merely, say, 30% of its age. In human terms it means reverting a man of 40 to when he was 24.

In the following articles, to be published, we will see how our current knowledge of the cellular processes is applied to help us live longer with good health.

Continued to Part 2

The post HOW to LIVE to 101 IN GOOD HEALTH first appeared on Anand Bhushan.

ORIGIN

Tulips are popularly associated with the Netherlands. It may be a surprise to learn that Tulips originated from and grew wild in the mountain ranges of the Himalayas, the Caucasus, the Tien Shan and the Pamirs. This covers a broad sweep of a belt through the Central Asia, slightly above the 38th parallel, including modern day countries like Iran, Afghanistan. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, the northern most tip of India and north western provinces of China.

HISTORY

Tulips were patronized by the Turkish empire that rose in the 9th century and there are references to this flower in the 11th century in the poetry of Omar Khayyam. The motif of the flower appeared on Turkish pottery, paintings & clothing. It adorned their so-called Turkish cap, the turban, called Tulipan and the word Tulip, probably has its origin there.

The first ever Tulip bulbs to come to Europe were brought in by a diplomat from Constantinople. Carolus Clusius, a botanist, planted the Tulips at Vienna’s Imperial Botanical Gardens. He subsequently directed Leiden University’s Botanical Gardens, Netherlands. This country became enamored of this plant and there was time (around the 1630’s) when a kind of “Tulip Mania” gripped its people. Tulip bulbs sold at exorbitant prices and were even traded on the stock exchange. This was probably in the 16th/17th centuries.

From wild Tulips then, to the Tulip of today, is a story of horticultural hard work, ingenuity and patience. From mostly reds and yellows in the wild, Tulips now come in practically all colours of the rainbow, including combination colors.

TULIPS IN INDIA

Tulips have grown wild in Kashmir for centuries. Srinagar in Kashmir now boasts of the largest Tulip garden in Asia, located on the shores of the Dal lake. named after Mrs Indira Gandhi, it has been developed as a major tourist attraction. The other gardens are the Lodi garden in Delhi, the Lal Bagh in Bangalore, the Garden in the President’s house at Delhi and the Rock Garden of Chandigarh. Currently, A huge tulip garden is being developed in the Himalayan state of Uttarkhand, over 50 hectares!

TULIPS IN DELHI

New Delhi Municipal Corporation has begun the practice of holding a Tulip festival in Delhi in the diplomatic area of New Delhi. This was held in the 2nd/3rd week of February this year. I spent half a day there and my take away of pictures follows:

It was a hazy winter morning, with chill in the air, and the Tulips shone through, like burning embers. Crowds thronged the place and the festival did have a festive air.

Children had a roaring time

The school teachers smiling rather than frowning.

Along with the flowers, Love also bloomed.

There were many who looked at the flowers through the cell phone.

The colours of the flowers ranged over the spectrum.

Red-a perennial favourite

Yellow-the perennial brightest

A horticultral labour of love

Much needed, but not so popular-the colour of peace

Pollen scatterred by the passing winds

A half opened beauty

(to be continued)

The post A TRYST WITH TULIPS first appeared on Anand Bhushan.

One man said to another that you have to wear the shirt of the same colour as mine or else I will kill you. He showed he is serious by showing his past record.

The other man laughed, taking it for a joke. He said that I love all colours, including yours. I love your shirt and I love mine too. 

The first man knifed the second who died-his wide open eyes after death, showing his disbelief.

There were many like the second who laughed the story away when they read about it in the media taking it for fake news. Some others said such things are stray events and yet others said the news is the creation of  colour blind  people who are jealous of people sensitive to colours.

The process repeated at several places and over several years, until the few people left found it safer to wear shirts of the desired color only. Gradually they got used to it and began to do in Rome as the Romans do. People adamant on wearing a colour with a difference had all been knifed. Watching the rainbow had been banned. 

Centuries passed. Children were taught that once upon a time a great race lived upon earth that believed in tolerance of all colours of the rainbow.

An innocent kid wanted to know who such people were and how they were wiped out. The history teacher answered:

“They were called secularist-

 They died practicing secularism without protecting it”

SMILE A WHILE

A little old lady went into the headquarters of a large national bank one day, dragging a large bag behind her. She insisted that she must speak with the president of the bank to open a savings account because, “It’s a lot of money!”

After much hemming and hawing, the bank staff finally ushered her into the president’s office (the customer is always right!). The bank president then asked her how much she would like to deposit. She replied, “$165,000!” and dumped the cash out of her bag onto his desk.

The president was of course curious as to how she came by all this cash, so he asked her, “Ma’am, I’m surprised you’re carrying so much cash around. Where did you get this money?”

The old lady replied, “I make bets.”

The president then asked, “Bets? What kind of bets?”

The old woman said, “Well, for example, I’ll bet you $25,000 that your balls are square.”

“Ha!” laughed the president, “That’s a stupid bet. You can never win that kind of bet!”

The old lady challenged, “So, would you like to take my bet?”

“Sure,” said the president, “I’ll bet $25,000 that my balls are not square!”

The little old lady then said, “Okay, but since there is a lot of money involved, may I bring my lawyer with me tomorrow at 10:00 AM as a witness?”

“Sure!” replied the confident president.

That night, the president got very nervous about the bet and spent a long time in front of a mirror checking his balls, turning from side to side, again and again. He thoroughly checked them out until he was sure that there was absolutely no way his balls were square and that he would win the bet. The next morning, at precisely 10:00 am, the little old lady appeared with her lawyer at the president’s office. She introduced the lawyer to the president and repeated the bet: “$25,000 says the president’s balls are square!” The president agreed with the bet again and the old lady asked him to drop his pants so they could all see. The president complied. The little old lady peered closely at his balls and then asked if she could feel them.

“Well, Okay,” said the president, “$25,000 is a lot of money, so I guess you should be absolutely sure.” Just then, he noticed that the lawyer was quietly banging his head against the wall. The president asked the old lady, “What the heck’s the matter with your lawyer?”

“Nothing,” she answered, “Except I bet him $100,000 that at 10:00AM today, I’d have the president of this bank’s balls in my hand.”

The post THE RAINBOW first appeared on Anand Bhushan.

LOCKED DOWN?

“Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage,

Minds innocent and quiet take that for an hermitage;

If I have freedom in my love, and in my soul I am free,

Angels alone that soar above, enjoy such liberty.”

2020 was a unique year, ruled by the Covid virus. Many of us fell to the virus, there were others who recovered. Many homes were left in the dark aftermath of death, there are many which came close and learnt to value life and yet others who live in its continued fear.

When we would fall sick, my Dad would often comment that it is nature’s way to force us to rest. The virus had that effect on mother Earth. Earth came practically to a standstill and got the much needed rest it needed from human frenzy.

The virus accomplished what money had failed to do. It is said that the virus set the world economy back by several years. Looked environmentally, the virus accomplished one of the most economical environmental clean-ups. An IIT Roorkee study found that the waters of the Ganges became drinkable within 2 months of the Indian lockdown.

People in Jallandhar(Punjab) and Muzaffar Nagar(UP) woke up one morning, to see snow capped Himalayan peaks-a view, for which they used to travel to Himachal and Uttarakhand. Crocodiles came out of lakes in which their existence was not even suspected, and basked on its beaches, the virus leaving them devoid of bikini clad beauties.

Locked up in homes, there were many who fought with spouses or developed depression or committed suicide and made news. Yet there were many more who did not make news but who found the beauty of solitude and sang to themselves:

“What was this life, if full of care,

There was no time to stand and stare.”

I had all the time, not just to stand and stare, but to make a number of trips in car and enjoy the clean air and the blue skies. This blog is about some of these trips and the pictures I could take.

TRIP TO KAJRA, RAJASTHAN

Kajra is a village in Tehsil Suraj Garh, District Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, about 200 kM from Delhi. This is the place where the temple dedicated to our Kul Mata (Mother of our Clan) is located.

The story goes that sometime in the 12th century, an ancestor of ours was a Minister in the Court of a Muslim King. The King was unjust and cruel and this Minister tried to explain things to the King, without any effect on him. The Minister rebelled, lost and had to flee for his life, with the soldiers of the King in hot pursuit. At a place called Rejdi Khejdi, located in Kajra Village, the fleeing Minister hiding, behind some bushes, found there the statuette of a “Mata”. He prayed to the Mata to bestow him his life and promised that all his descendants in time to come will worship her.

The soldiers poked around and could not find him. A temple dedicated to the “Mata” was constructed by the Minister. From that day to this, all descendants of that Minister, known as “Sanghi” offer homage to the Mata by taking their children there for their first hair cut.

This temple has since been reconstructed and expanded. It has a park and a comfortable guest house attached. Once in April, every year, Sanghis from all over collect there for a reunion. I visited the temple this year as I wanted to establish a modern Library, networked with IIT Kharagpur, as an addition to the temple-a project now postponed to 2021.

Rajasthan presented beautiful road side scenery. Pictures below tell their own story.

The Sangri/Khejri tree is the state tree of Rajasthan. It is worshipped in Rajasthan, especially by the Bishnoi community. This tree can with stand extreme draught, and both frost and loo(hot winds of the Indian summer). It sheds its leaves in winter and is covered by leaves in the rest of the year, allowing sun shine and shade when needed. All its parts are edible. It is also also known by the names of Shami, Khijro, Jhand, Jat, Khar, Kanda, and Jammi and bears tiny, scented, pretty flowers.

Leafless Kejri made a striking contrast to Sarson (mustard) blooming with abandon.

The area was dotted by Brick manufacturing units-the so called Brick Kilns. Chimneys belching smoke looked like cannons shooting into the blue skies above, in a murderous assault on the serenity of the skies.

High voltage lines seemed to pierce into the heart of nature as human development makes its way.

TRIP TO DATIA, ORCHA, MADHYA PRADESH

Datia is a picturesque town located in Madhya Pradesh, about 500 kM from New Delhi. Datia is famous for Shri Pitambera Peeth- seat of Maa Baglamukhi-an incarnation of Maa Durga.

Maa Baglamukhi is held in awe. For victory in battles, subduing enemies, winning over evil-she is the one to worship. I was amazed to see the respect which the local people have for her. She wears yellow and is worshipped with yellow flowers and yellow coloured sweets. The devotee must also wear yellow. I bought the yellow clothes from a local shop to wear, before I could go in for worship. I was told that I must do all morning chores before donning the dress. Further, after donning the dress, I was not allowed to go to toilet or urinal, until after I was done with the puja. There was a printed book containing Sanskrit verses to be recited. After glancing through it, I was going to put the book on the table and was stopped just in time-the book has to placed in a cloth which the Pujari was carrying-the table might be impure.

Little known stories about her are: When China attacked India in 1962, Pandit Nehru had Yagna performed here. On the 9th day of the Yagna, China declared ceasefire and the last day of the Yagna had co-incided with the withdrawal of the Chinese troops. Atal Bihari Vajpayee had similar Yagna performed as the Kargill war broke out and the Indian victory came on the last day of the Yagna.

50 kM from Datia is the scenic town of Orcha . It is located on the banks of Betwa river. It is a beautiful place, full of Hindu forts and temples and scenic beauty.

Orcha has a quaint air of peace about it. I wish to return to this town again and again. If such a town had existed in Germany, the entire world would be going ga-ga over it. Sadly, we remain hung over Taj Mahal alone. Some scenes from Orcha follow.

DACOIT LAND-This route passes through the famous ravines of the Chambal river. Dacoits have been replaced by dacoity of a different kind and it plunders nature. Pictures follow:

TRIP TO VARANASI

Varanasi, the holiest cities for Hindus, located on the banks of the mighty Ganges, is about 900 kM from Delhi and connected by a modern Highway. It takes about 13 Hours of driving and I covered it in two laps, by stopping overnight at Lukhnow.

The journey to Kashi served to fulfill a desire of mine-a pre-mordial desire of every Hindu–to have a dip there in the holy Ganges, on a day of the full moon. It also gave me a chance to see the great job the Govt of India is doing in transforming this town into a magnificent, modern megapolis.

The entire city was in a state of flux-with massive construction of flyovers, ghats, temples, markets, parking spaces, connecting links going on. What had been completed and was absolutely wonderful-was the highway connecting the city to New Delhi and it was comparable to any American expressway. The expressway provided great views.

With the sky, a Kaleidoscope of clouds, there never was a dull moment, until, late in the evening, we reached Delhi.

TRIP TO THE USA

I made this trip in the beginning of November-a bad time to go as you miss the beauty of the American autumn as also the beauty of its snowy winter. With restrictions placed by the virus on airlines, it was a choice made not by will but by default, determined by constraints.

America is a beautiful continent, and Colorado a beautiful state and Boulder, perhaps the prettiest city. That is where my grandkids live and, a man’s grandkids are his most coveted destination. I thought I should make it, while life lasts, in these days of virus dictated uncertainties.

Luck favoured me on this trip. I could see some remnants of a glorious autumn and a snow fall gave me the fun of its winter also.

TRIP TO FLOWER LAND

The virus threatened the human species, but all other species loved the clean air, the blue skies, the glorious sun, the sparkling springs. Everywhere, the Earth became a nature lover’s paradise-a photographer’s dream. Pictures below testify.

WELCOME 2021

What will 2021 bring?-Hopefully the vaccine but may be a new Virus, this time not from Wuhan but Amazon! In the meanwhile, we can…

SMILE A WHILE

The post 2020-THE YEAR OF THE VIRUS first appeared on Anand Bhushan.

What is intuition?-I have explained it by narrating a personal story, which is an appendix to this article.

I expect that Xi, Kim, Putin, Bolsonaro constitute the beginning of a new evil axis. With all the refugees, the Europian Union will become an Islamic State. The USA will Trumpit-meaning Trump plus Split. Canada will fracture. The liberal remains of the USA and Canada, India, Australia may be left holding the baby of the free world.

Africa, Asia, Arctic and Antarctic will become a battle ground, with the former’s human resources and the latter’s land & resources, a cynosure of conquering eyes. The Chinese will be the first contenders at all these places. They will be looking to subjugate other people.

A few words on slavery are in place here.

Human resources often become slavery in subtle forms. Many believe humans have progressed so much and communication has become so easy & advanced that slavery in modern times is not possible. It is my view that not only it is possible but it is much more feasible now. The same means which are believed to empower people are the weapons of the state. (e.g. the Govt of India can delete one entry in its Aadhar system and the corresponding person is simply switched out of existence).

Looking back for a moment, countries that acquired wealth over short periods (in historical terms) have done it by availability of cheap labor. Money was the driving force behind slave trade that enabled Europe and America to become rich. Cheap labour was obtained by some or the other form of coercion.

The low price of China’s product and China’s economic prowess has been acclaimed by all. Few realize that their “success/economic miracle” has been achieved by using her own people practically as slaves. Having reached this point, that China has reached, any country will like to give a release to its own people by substituting them with aliens.

The Chinese thus need and have much to gain by subjugating alien populations. Immediate neighbors are the obvious choice.

This is where the Himalayas come in.

The Himalayan Mountains, India’s traditional protection will have their role reversed-they will and have perhaps, already become an ideal springboard for attack on it.

This mountain chain on the north, north west and north east and the Indian Ocean on the South, protected the Indian sub continent so well that peace and progress prevailed for tens of thousands of years. Science & Art flourished. India became rich beyond dreams & came to be known as the Golden Sparrow.

This protection came with a downside. The Indians were conditioned to be inherently peaceful people, so much so, that, they proved to be sitting ducks when the Western Himalayas were breached through the Khyber Pass and the Muslims invaded India in the eighth century, leading to 1200 years of slavery. It was a fruit ripe for the taking, made an easy picking and was picked.

Mohammadan conquest of India is the bloodiest story in world history and the western Himalayas were renamed Hindu Kush mountains in the 8th century-the word Hindu Kush standing for ”Hindu Slayer” after thousands of enslaved Hindu men, women, children perished in these mountains on their way to be taken to Islamic countries as slaves.

73 years of independence (1947 to 2020) is too short a time in history for the character of a people to change. On the other hand, 1200 years of brutal slavery has resulted in a diminution of those genes in the Indian population’s DNA, which lead to desire to be independent and fight for liberty. Both the Islamic Conquerors and the Britishers, punished those who raised their head or hand in protest, by cutting them, in the most merciless manner imaginable. Children were bricked into walls alive, men were boiled in oil alive, bodies were left to rot, hanging from trees in every village, eyes were gouged out, women burnt themselves alive in self built fires, women who could not, were raped, forced into prostitution and killed. People who submitted or co operated or became informers or converted to Islam were left alive and rewarded. This process carried over centuries naturally left a population richer in people bearing servile and traitorous genes. I hate to say it but no evolutionary scientist will disagree-it is a sad fact. It has happened in America, in recent history, where you find the blacks bigger & taller–a consequence of selective breeding.

Perhaps with this background or for whatever reason, the Indians forgot Khyber Pass and failed to anticipate the dragon from the North. They let the Himalayas be breached from the North as also the North East and let the Chinese walk over the Tibetan plateau as also many parts of Northern Himalayas-a land where, in the words of the then, pacific Indian Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru, “not a blade of grass grew”.

With the intervening Tibetan plateau gone and transformed into a springboard, the Chinese simply have to dive down to New Delhi. Its fighter aircraft have an average head start of 20000 feet and that much is the handicap for the Indian fighter. Its radar will look down to a sweeping view of the entire North India. The Indian forces will have to climb up long & steep supply lines, through circuitous routes and in treacherous weather to defend its plains, whereas the enemy will be walking downhill. A look at the picture below shows the Indians face a steep wall and the Chinese face a gentle slope.  

With climate change & deforestation, Himalayas will be bereft of snow, its glaciers and trees. The Vindhyachals in central India, bereft of forests will not soak & store water and the north flowing rivers, like Chambal & the Narmada will become seasonal rivers. The Indo Gangetic plains, are sandwiched between the Himalayas and the Vindhyachals. Relief map above shows that the Indo Gangetic plains are like a mere channel, dwarfed by mountains on the north and the south. They will turn into a desert. The desert will be flooded & be under deep water for a couple of months during the monsoons and dry thereafter. It will become the Serengatti of tomorrow.

Sea level rise often draws our immediate attention to coastal areas. Most people remain focused on oceans & the coastal towns. I feel that the real hit to India, will come on the so called Hindi heart land-the Indo-Gangetic plains, in the manner as above.

The climate change will help the Chinese. The Chinese will take control of head waters of all Himalayan rivers. They will dam all the rivers and use the power generated to pump the waters northwards into Tibetan plateau and beyond. Because of the high efficiency of hydro electric energy conversion, the additional power requirement for this will be minimal-may not be more than 10% of the power generated by the dam.

A desert now, where “not a blade of grass grows”, the Tibetan plateau, will turn into a granary for China. And the belt road will carry the goods to and from it.

The Himalayas have been formed by the world’s largest collision of continents-the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates and the subduction of the Indian plate below the Tibetan.

The Himalayas have a fragile geology. The weight** of the water held back behind all the Chinese made dams will upset this fragile geology. There will be more frequent and more severe tremors and earthquakes which will weaken the roads and the dams. Development activity in the mountains will also contribute to instability of the land mass. There will be consequential landslides of mammoth proportions. The debris will cause formation of new unstable lakes contained by weak barriers, which will give way, from time to time. A major earthquake will bring one of the dams down. As there is a series of dams on the same river (and that includes dams on its tributaries and distributories), a single failure will trigger multiple failures.

If this sounds like doomsday, it may be recalled that there have been 200 dam failures in the ten years preceding 2000. Failure of Banqiao Dam in China led to failure of 62 dams, >10 million refugees and >200,000 deaths. In 1975, when hit by typhoon Nina, China bombed & breached multiple dams to relieve pressure on their dams, to drain water and avoid a build up to the failure point.

China will reap all the benefits of the Himalayan dams, but, the failure of the dams will bring misery to India by unimaginable flooding and devastation. The then Chinese rulers will as much care about the misery of the Indians as the English cared about their hunger during the Bengal famine.

The Indians will be subjugated and enslaved and just as they fought the 1^st and the 2^nd World War for the Britishers, they will end up doing the labor jobs for the Chinese. The Rajas/Rai Bahadurs/Sirs of pre-independence years are already the Ministers of today’s independent India-they will seamlessly meta-morphise to become Provincial Administrators for China tomorrow.

The English had taken some time to realize that it would help educate the Indians and teach them English. Then they had braught Lord Macaulay in. The Chinese have already made mandarin language compulsory in Nepalese schools. Its implications do not need any extra ordinary intuition but will be lost upon the Indian politicians, squabbling over what language to teach their own people, sunk in making money and drunk with its power.

Climate change will hit India on other fronts also, even more seriously.

Much of Bangla Desh will go under rising sea water as also a large part of the India’s coast resulting in a huge migration and population jam. As Bangla Desh goes under water, India will bear the weight of its Islamic population, go the European way and turn into an Islamic state, but not before a battle between Islam and Communism. Burma (Myanmar) will also feel the heat, but will be saved because its Buddhist priests have learnt to hit the hand which smites their left cheek, rather than turn the right cheek also. India will remain mired in its inner contradictions.

River levels will rise as the sea levels rise. The Indo Gangetic plain is remarkably flat and narrow from the coast to the base of the Himalayas. The back flow will be felt a long way back. One of the manifestations will be the toilets, the gutters, the sewage drains (the so called ‘gunda nullahs’) backing up, during the monsoons. The effects of back flow will be supplemented by the deluge of precipitation on denuded mountain ranges. There will be a scramble for land and higher ground such as never been witnessed before. The govt, the municipalities, used to looking so far as the tip of their nose, will fail.

Data is a much respected word today. It is said that modern society is data driven. Everything is backed up by teams of well funded scientists conducting multiple studies, collecting data and processing it on super duper computers armed with hi-fi tools of artificial intelligence.

I have none of those resources.

It is just my intuition and I pray the future proves it wrong.

APPENDIX

Science is a product of intuition. But the mechanism of intuition has not been explained by science. THEN WHAT INTUITION IS ?

A true family story, will illustrate what I mean by intuition.

The story dates back to 1973 and it centres around my Nani-maternal grandmother.

She was past 75 at the time of this incident, very hard of hearing, with poor eye sight and in pain all the time. She passed away in 1975. 

One cold winter night, we-my Father, my elder sister, my younger brothers, my spouse-8 months into family way, and Nani* were returning in our Fiat car from a wedding in New Delhi on way back to our home in Model Town, Delhi. Those were the days when the gear shift was fixed with the steering, no air conditioning, you kept the windows down in summer and up in winters, no arm rests serving as dividers in the seats and a whole lot of family could pack itself in a single car.

It was the wedding of a cousin, nick named Shuntie (name changed) and it was roughly the middle of a foggy night.

Shuntie’s mother was my aunt, commonly addressed by us as “Chachi”

My sister, in front seat, accosted my Nani, who was in the back seat: “Nani, how did you like Shuntie’s bahu?” (Bahu is Hindi for bride)

Nani couldn’t hear, the question was relayed and repeated.

She finally understood and answered:

“There has been a mistake. This Bahu will pull all the hair out of your Chachi’s head”.

After a stunned pause, we laughed and said:” Nani, you haven’t talked to her. You have barely seen her amidst all the crowd and loud music!”

She simply said:”You will see.”

Nani had never seen her earlier, nor talked to her and at best, she probably had a fleeting glimpse of her, that night. At least, thats what we think.

We all had found the bride perfectly normal and likeable. She had lived in the USA for long, was pleasant and educated.

It proved to be the stormiest marriage I would ever see. There were fisticuffs in the house, clothes torn, police every now and then, legal battles, divorce proceedings, threats, counter threats-the works. Everybody  was compelled to take sides.

It went on for several years.

All that fighting, over things like  jewelry, marriage expenses, division of properties, gifts, household belongings and more than that, over, nothings, like you said this and I did not say that and I meant that and you ought to have said that-endless bla-bla-bla-broke the back of most of the elders involved.

Finally relief-or that is what we thought-divorce order was obtained from a Court of Law.  

One would think that was the end. 

After separation for a few years, romance bloomed all over again-they both remarried,………………………….

…………………….to each other!

The only exception was my Nani.

She went to heavens in 1975 and was smiling down at us:

“I told you so”

How could my Nani-who could barely see, hear, walk, was in pain all the time, had no introduction to the girl-foresee it?

THAT WAS INTUITION.

*Nani is a Hindi word meaning maternal grandmother.

**Science has established that the weight of water held by dams in the Northern hemisphere has tilted the axis of the earth a little bit.

*** All the pictures have been taken from the public domain on the net. The pictures are not essential to the narrative and have merely a decorative value. Inadvertently, I might have taken some pictures which required permission from its owners. I beg to be forgiven by them and place my gratitude to all the respective picture owners on record.

The post INTUITIONS first appeared on Anand Bhushan.

ABOUT THE FEATURED IMAGE

This image from the Garden of Sculptures, located at Princeton, New Jersey, the USA. Except me, all other persons seen in the picture are mere statues. The food and flowers are artificial. It is a great fun place and a great artistic place to visit

A BRIDAL BICYCLE

Young men, give up the car-
Bring your bride home on the handle bar-
(But not before Corona has gone)
(Photographed in 2013)

Many readers wanted to know, who the bicycle decorator is?

There is no decorator. The bicycle is a piece of art.

The picture above was taken at : The Garden of Sculptures, Princeton, NJ, USA, in 2013.

FACE BOOK May 2, 2020

POLLUTION LEVELS

Dr Vishwa Lochan, is M.D. & Pro Chancellor, of Arunachal University of Studies, Namsai, India-792103.

He posted the picture below showing how high pollution levels, sustained since 2016 came down within a month of the lock down, caused by Covid-19.

Dr Vishwa Lochan commented:
“We are intimately interconnected with nature, whether we like it or not. If we don’t take care of nature, we can’t take care of ourselves. And as we hurtle towards a population of 10 billion people on this planet, we need to go into this future armed with nature as our strongest ally.”

FACE BOOK May 2, 2020

BUDHA JAYANTI

Today is Budh Poornima-anniversary of the day Gautam Budha is said to have received enlightenment

Murli-my batch mate from IIT Kharagpur-an avid stamp collector, has kindly provided the scanned image of a commemorative stamp, from his prized and perhaps priceless collection. That day-24-5-1956- was Gautam Budha’s 2500 th anniversary.

FACE BOOK May 6, 2020

LEANING ON LIQUOR

70% SUPER CHARGE ON LIQUOR ?!

If a citizen overcharges, he is greedy, opportunistic- Jailed for profiteering.

If Govt overcharges, it is being generous, it is for charity, Praised for its sound business sense!!

What kind of algorithm an AI code writer will follow, when asked to implement the aforesaid logic?- I wonder.

And how would Father of our Nation have reacted ?

FACEBOOK May 5, 2020 (Cartoon By Dhiraj Mohte)

WORK 60 HOURS a WEEK

Sh Narayan Murthy announced his advice for people to work 60 hours a week, post lock down.

With due respects to our great founder of INFOSYS, Sh NARAYAN MURTHI, I feel, the primary lesson from COVID-19 is to learn to respect and conserve nature, slow the rat race down, introspect & let life have an element of peace.

Without mincing any words-better be a man than a donkey.

Dr Shiv Charan Puri, Asst. Prof. Department of ECE, Asansol Engineering College commented: “Very well put “

FACE BOOK May 2, 2020

TAGORE ANNIVERSARY

PRESENTING A REMEMBRANCE:

On Tagore’s B’day Anniversary, yesterday

(courtesy: Murli-my batch mate from IIT Kgp-an avid stamp collector)

FACE BOOK May 8, 2020

A CASE FOR A PLANET MONTH

REPORT FROM IITR:

Water Of River Ganga From Devprayag To Haridwar Now Drinkable For First Time In Decades, Reveals IIT Roorkee Study

Covid lock down has cleaned the Ganga in a month. This could not be done in 30 years by endless money spent on the projects to clean it. Here is a case for reserving a “PLANET MONTH” with planned shut down, every year, to allow nature to rest and recover.Read more at the link below:

Sunil Dalal, educator with Govt of Haryana, has commented:

”Self imposed lockdown throughout the world is not a big price to pay for saving our planet. Nice share supporting your earlier post Anand Bhushan Sir.”

https://swarajyamag.com/insta/water-of-river-ganga-from-devprayag-to-haridwar-now-drinkable-for-first-time-in-decades-reveals-iit-study

Head of Department of Environmental Engineering, IITR, Prof Absar Ahmed Khan has been quoted as saying “Tests conducted by our scientists and experts revealed that water of the river Ganga from Devprayag to Har ki Pairi falls under ‘A’ category defined by Central Pollution Control Board. This means that water is fit for drinking. The water also contains no faecal coliform bacterial in MPN/100 ml sample and has a low concentration of biochemical oxygen level below 3 mg/Litres.”

This has been a result of 22 drains which otherwise passed effluents in the water, being sealed due to the lockdown.

FACE BOOK May 10, 2020

PRIME MINISTERIAL HUMOUR

CAN YOU CALL A INDIAN PM A FOOL?

Perhaps it depends on who the PM is. Mr Modi may treat it as a joke. He had recently said:”cartoons do not hurt but heal“.

Read below how a British PM took it.

During WW II, a man was arrested in London for calling Winston Churchill a fool.The next day in the House of Commons, the opposition members were ready to roast the government for this.

“Are we living in a police state”, they shouted, “where we cannot call the PM a fool”?

The PM replied- “The man was not arrested for calling the Prime Minister a fool”, he said, “but for letting out a state secret at a time of war”.

Please come out with your guess of how Nehru, Indira, Morarji, Atal might have reacted.

I have assumed that Narsimha Rao and Manmohan Singh would not have heard somebody say it. Atal might have come out with a poem, after a pause, long enough for us to think that he was going the Manmohan way. Others?

HUMOUR OF LINCOLN

THAT ABRAHAM LINCOLN defined DEMOCRACY:…..government of the people, by the people, for the people,…. is well known. Less known is that he was a lawyer & a great joker.

An incident from his court room life:

Abraham Lincoln was sitting in a court and whispering something to the person next to him, while waiting for his case to be called. Another case was being heard. All of a sudden, Lincoln’s neighbor burst out in uncontrolled laughter.

Judge (banging his gavel): “How dare you laugh in the Court?”

The Man: “My Lord, (pointing to Lincoln), he told a joke and it was so funny, I could not contol myself.”

Judge(sneering): “Non sense, You could not control yourself! You are fined 10 Dollars. Sit down, before you are hauled for contempt.”

Judge (turning to Lincoln) haughtily: “What was the joke, anyway?”

Lincoln repeated the joke.

The Judge went into un-controlled laughter.

Judge (after regaining composure): “The fine is waived!”

Laugh your covid blues away!

(Picture Courtesy: US Govt)

FACE BOOK May 18, 2020

FACEBOOK COVER PICTURE

A STUDY IN CELLS

L to R:-Prof Sanjeev Sanghi, IIT Delhi, Prof Aizaz Mir, NIT Srinagar and Dr Vikas Khatkar, IIT Delhi.

FACE BOOK May 20, 2020

A STUDY IN CONTRASTS

Mercedes a luxury vehicle or Sanyas-giving up worldly things: is a hard choice to make.

23 May, 2019, in my 1988 Mercedes, Mercedes starts in a revolution, is ready to sprint.

23 May, 2020:-I am rehearsing for Sanyas-Retire or follow the Mercedes?

FACE BOOK May 24, 2020

SENIOR CITIZENS & LOCKDOWN

RENT, WAGES, CORONA & SENIOR CITIZENS-LAW to RESCUE

While tons of tears have been shed for migrants, everybody has ignored his own parents & grand parents. While they face medical bills and fatal risks, their 3 sources of income: Rent, Interest & Stock Market have all been hit.

Thankfully, JUDICIARY, HAS COME TO THEIR RESCUE, and quashed most orders issued by The Govt of India, in this matter.Politicians, always aware of their vote banks, losing nothing from their own well lined, pockets; had taken no time to announce that tenants need not pay rents and factory owners must pay wages. Govt orders in both these matters stand quashed.

DELHI HIGH COURT ON LIABILITY OF TENANTS

Delhi High Court has upheld the liability of tenants to pay rents, if they continue to occupy the premises.

APEX COURT ON LIABILITY OF FACTORY OWNERS

The Supreme Court has quashed the order relating to payment of wages for the period offices remain closed.

The orders are not in senior citizen context. But the rental matter affects a lot of senior citizens. Likewise, the wages issue affects a lot of senior citizens running small businesses. This post concerns them alone. So far as the humanitarian angle is concerned, the Courts have left it for the parties to mutually settle.

FACE BOOK May 25, 2020

THE CHINESE RIDDLE

WRITTEN IN THE BACKGROUND OF CHINESE ARMY POSITIONED ON INDIAN BORDERS

The world is speculating as to whether Covid was intentional, whether China will attack & so on.

The answers about the mind of the Chinese sphinx can be found by a mere reading of the book “THE ART OF WAR” by Sun Tzu, written 500 years before Christ.

Pandit Nehru was too busy writing letters to his daughter & he paid for it, on this day of 1964, with his life. Most of our successive leaders have been too busy earning money, to have read it.

I had gifted this book to my son on one of his birth days and family thought it was a stupid thing to give. Those who read this will be wiser & understand that the Chinese are not stupid, we as a nation might be.

PUNAM LADE-an IIT-ian from IITD wanted to know the name of the seller of the book. Sanka Subra Naskar-a student of Polymer Science, has provided the answer: download e-book from :

https://www.pdfdrive.com/download.pdf?id=28283867&h=97eb0926281a5d638de46009fd002aef&u=cache&ext=pdf

FACE BOOK May 27, 2020

COVID DEATH-STATISTICS GETS PERSONAL:

An IIT Kgp class mate, Sh Ashok Singh, sent me the story as quoted verbatim, below: At his wish, I am posting it, for people to know.

Quote: “I lost my beloved father-in-law to COVID-19 on 22nd May. He was 64. Let me share some facts which are very critical for the govt. and the public in general to know so that no other precious life is lost.

Chain of events:- 11th/12th May: He got fever of 98-99 (mostly normal) – 13th/14th May: Fever increased to 100+ with mild sore throat (we got a bit worried)- 15th/16th May: Fever increased to 101+ with mild throat.- 17th/ 18th May: This is when we decided to get the tests done. However someone told that if fever >100 persists for 5 days or more, only then the test should be done. We were hesitant but since dad insisted we waited till 18th May. In the meanwhile, fever remained the same.

Since he was in Delhi and we were in Chandigarh, we tried umpteen number of labs (including some big names like lal/SRL etc) for home collection (since we didn’t want to expose him to others in case he had covid). No lab was ready to come home.

Then came the much glamorized Arogya Setu app from where we got a lab “City Xray and Scan, Tilak Nagar” who were kind enough to come and test at home. – 18th / 19th May: He was tested and it was “Negative”.

Big sigh of relief! But the fever didn’t go down. In fact, it wasn’t going down even after having Crocin ! – 20th May: Fever persisted and we consulted a doctor who told us to get other tests done to check the cause of fever. At night, he started feeling heaviness in breathing but he didn’t tell us. –

21st May: Fever persisted and breathlessness remained. This is where he told us and was shifted to a hospital. Hospital was hesitant to take him since he had covid symptoms but since we had a negative report, they took him and started examinations and tests (including covid test again). His sugar levels were abysmally high and were out of control.-

22nd May: He was put on ventilator. Covid reports this time was “Positive”. – 22nd May: Since he was a covid positive, the hospital wanted to shift him to a covid hospital for which they asked “us” to find a hospital. Challenge doesn’t end here, we also needed an ambulance with ventilator which wasn’t there. We tried almost all hospitals including govt hospital LNJP and got only one answer that ventilators are not available!! –

22nd May (9.45 pm): We went to the ICU to check on him and got to know that we lost him! (heartbreak for all)-

23rd May: We couldn’t see him for the last time also! My mom in law is in quarantine alone!! So are we!

In this time of grief.The central govt. was saying how well they have managed covid. State CM, PMO India PMO India Arvind Kejriwal said in a press conference that Delhi is well prepared as it has 250 ventilators and no hospital can deny covid patients.

I don’t know about 250 ventilators but we couldn’t find even a single one that night!!!”

Unquote

(PICTURE: picked up from Google Images)

FACE BOOK May 28, 2020

FB COVER PHOTO

TAKE YOUR PICK for FB COVER PHOTO:

Picture of Poppies taken by me in 2005

OR

Picture of a painting made by Claude Monet in 1873, named-“The Poppy Field’

FACE BOOK May 31, 2020

SMILE A WHILE

Three engineers and three accountants are traveling by train to a conference. At the station, the three accountants each buy tickets and watch as the three engineers buy only a single ticket. “How are three people going to travel on only one ticket?” asks an accountant. “Watch and you’ll see,” answers an engineer.

They all board the train. The accountants take their respective seats, but all three engineers cram into a restroom and close the door behind them. Shortly after the train has departed, the conductor comes around collecting tickets. He knocks on the restroom door and says, “Ticket, please.” The door opens just a crack and single arm emerges with a ticket in hand. The conductor takes it and moves on. The accountants saw this and agreed it was quite a clever idea. So after the conference, the accountants decide to copy the engineers on the return trip.

When they get to the station, they buy a single ticket for the return trip. To their astonishment, the engineers don’t buy a ticket at all. “How are you going to travel without a ticket?” says one perplexed accountant. “Watch and you’ll see,” answers an engineer. When they board the train, the three accountants cram into a restroom and the three engineers cram into another one nearby. The train departs. Shortly afterward, one of the engineers leaves his restroom and walks over to the restroom where the accountants are hiding. He knocks on the door and says, “Ticket, please.”

The post RANDOM THOUGHTS May, 2020 first appeared on Anand Bhushan.

In order to help the needy, orders have been issued to the effect that rent may not be demanded & wages paid.Prime facie, it is a great social welfare measure but it ignores the payer, who is often a senior citizen.

The income of almost all senior citizens is from rent, bank interest and stock market.Interest rates have been hit and the stock market has collapsed to the extent of causing heart attacks.The senior citizen is often physically challenged and almost always paying medical bills and insurance premiums, If his premium is missed, his policy will not be renewed because of his age.If he is unable to pay utility bills, utility company will waste no time in disconnecting.Thereafter, he may find re connection physically impossible.

It is a matter of deep regret that not a single utility company or insurance company has declared a moratorium on payment of bills.

In the event of getting the virus, the senior citizen will most likely die and he is the most stressed person today. With all the existing constraints, the senior citizens are attempting to tie up loose ends. It is a mistake on the part of the Govt to burden them with a cut in their current income. In fact, the Govt should come out with a re assuring package for them.

The young politicians and the administrators should remember that they too have to see this day, one day. .

FACEBOOK Apr 1, 2020

EMERGENCY

A STATE OF EMERGENCY:-PRECAUTION IS NOT PANIC
I feel it has become advisable to declare a state of emergency, impose a curfew, enforced by the Army/CRPF, in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities of our country, and in certain, more congested localities of these cities, they need to have ‘shoot at sight’ orders. Tier 3 cities and the rural areas can well be policed, as being done now.Prospective mischief makers should be taken into preventive detention.Home guards should be called in.
Soft pedaling at this stage, will lead to a free for all situation, threatening our civilized order and the very existence of our nation. We are facing a situation as serious as the one Britain faced in the years leading to 1939.Let us not be Britain under Neville Chamberlain or the USA under Donald Trump..
We have the precedent of many countries doing this currently..Even otherwise, unprecedented situations call for unprecedented measures and the time to dither and soft pedal appears to have gone.–It is my personal opinion without any intent to create panic.I want my country to live on safely.
A STITCH IN TIME WILL SAVE NINE.

FACEBOOK Apr 2, 2020

JALIAN WALA BAGH

LEST WE SHOULD FORGET
101st Anniversary of Jallianwala Bagh is coming up in 10 days:

FACE BOOK Apr 4, 2020

MINI NIZAMUDDIN

FOUND NEXT TO IIT DELHI Picture below has been posted on the Whats App group of an adjoining colony, located opposite to IIT Delhi.The ” Mini Nizammuddin” is separated from IIT Delhi only by NCERT .
Metastasis? Room for complacence??

FACEBOOK Apr 4, 2020

OUTGOING TEAM of GERANIUMS

With winter on its way out, my winter games are closing and the teams are leaving my “stadium”, making way for summer “olympics”-not postponed but bettered by the virus induced environmental cleaning.
Bye, bye-will miss your fragrance more than your colours.

FACE BOOK Apr 5, 2020

SHIT FOR SPIT

This is in the context of the news about Pakistan inspired Corona infected Jamatis in India spitting in face of Doctors & Policemen.

Pakistan gets Chinese underwear as N95 masks
The worst moments have their lighter sides!
Laugh and be merry, friends.
हंसो और हंसाया करो
Laughter boosts immunity

FACE BOOK Apr 6, 2020

SHARING FROM A IIT K BROTHER

WORSHIP OR HYPOCRISY?
China is not the only one-This is Japan-where they worship Budha. In Mid 2019, they withdrew from the International Whaling Commission and had resumed commercial whaling also after 30 years, despite protests from the world over.
What a tribute to Budha!

FACE BOOK Apr 7, 2020

VENTILATORS

ABOUT VENTILATORS-a PATIENT’s STORY :
A ventilator has become a household word. Governments are ordering it in thousands. Ph.D.’s to school kids; IIT’s to Tinker Labs, have thrown them selves at it. Recipes for DIY ventilators abound. TV comperes have become its production co-coordinators.
Be that as it may be, read below, a patient’s point of view to appreciate what it means to be in a ICU on a ventilator.
(The article includes a small video on intubation & ventilation).

FACE BOOK Apr 8, 2020

DIMORPHOTHECA

DIMORPHOTHECA-more commonly known as AFRICAN DAISY
Makes a lustrous bed of white or yellow or pink or peach or light mauve.

FACE BOOK Apr 8, 2020

PASSION FLOWER

Apart from beauty, Passion Flower is said to be useful in treating anxiety, insomnia & nervous disorders. Planted 2 years ago, it didnt bloom, and I had thought of cutting it down. As if it read my thoughts,it has begun to bloom profusely. Probably, the blooms have arrived to help cut corona induced anxiety.

FEATURED IMAGES

A GIFT

LOCKDOWN CONTINUE OR NOT:

Only Option:Continue
Read also: posts of April 2, 2020 and March 24, 2020

CORPOCRACY or DEMOCRACY-TIME to WORRY

We should campaign for and the Supreme Court should enforce a law disqualifying our Corporate Honchos from Board Rooms for violation of a prescribed code of conduct, similar to the laws passed for elected representatives. If this is not done, our democracy will very soon degenerate to what I shall call “CORPOCRACY”. Left to legislators, it will never be done because the two-corporators & legislators are hands in glove.

https://www.ndtv.com/…/kapil-wadhawan-dheeraj-wadhawan-deta…

Facebook 10 Apr, 2020

A SNOW WHITE PEA COCK

We are aware of our national bird-the Pea Cock. Here is another avtar of the same.
1st Picture:-photographed by me in “The Garden of Sculptures”, Princeton, New Jersey, a few years back.
2nd Picture:-courtesy-Puji Parwati.

FACE BOOK Apr 13, 2020

ABOUT FORESTS

EXTENSION OF LOCK DOWN?

LOCK DOWN EXTENDED
Greater Strictness Advised
WELL DONE MODI
Earlier Posts on the subject are dt Apr 10, Apr 2 and Mar 24, 2020

CORONA WEDDINGS

IN LOCK DOWN-SUMMER WEDDING ALLOWED–
Terms & Conditions Apply

FACE BOOK Apr 14, 2020

TAKE OUR SNAP!

These kids were passing in front of my home, while I was taking pictures.They stopped, requested I take their picture and jumped with pleasure at my ‘come on” Luckily, I caught them before they settled into a formal pose.

A BASELESS PIZZA

INSPIRED BY the NEWS of a CORONA INFECTED PIZZA DELIVERY BOY:

‘
Seeing the news (upper picture), I am posting my recipe as below-It might interest a few Pizza lovers:-
Step 1-Take a microwave tolerant quarter plate (about 20 cm across)
Step 2-Spread raw Spinach leaves all over it and repeat until you have 4 layers of the leaves
Step 3-Take a couple of boiled potatoes and cut them into flat, circular slices. Spread the slices onto the spinach to form one or two layers.
Step 4- Take a slab of Amul butter and grate about a quarter of it using a hand grater-sprinkle the grated butter, here and there on to the layer of potatoes. Qty of butter is upto you..
Step 5- Take a couple of onions and cut them into circular slices.Spread the slices onto the spinach to form one layer.
Step 6-Take Tomato Sauce or Chilli tomato sauce (as per your liking) and sprinkle it onto the layer of onions,
Step 6- Take raw Ginger,Raw Garlic, Raw Green Chilies and Raw Coriander leaves, cut them all up into small pieces and sprinkle the mix onto the layer of tomato sauce.
Step 7- The pile on the dish should be about 20 mm thick, measured from the surface of the plate
Step 8-Put the plate in the Microwave Oven and cover it. Heat it with full heat, for 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
Step 9- Take Mozzarella cheese-also called Pizza cheese, grate it using a hand grater, keeping the grater over your semi cooked dish so that the grated cheese covers the entire dish. Quantity is again up to you.
Step 10- give the assembly full heat in the microwave oven for about 40 seconds.
You will now have what is shown in the lower picture,
It is ready to eat.
No base, no delivery of corona with the delivery boy..
Footnote:
1.If you are not an engineer, ignore the milli metres-measurement is our life, pizza no exception
2 The product is ISO certified by my spouse.

FACE BOOK Apr 16, 2020

A FARE WELL GROUP PHOTO

Summer is at my door steps……..
All my friends & companions of winters, have faded
And alas, they are going.
(Left to right, Top to Bottom)
Row 1
Pansy, Rose, Petunia, Begonia, Poppy
Row 2
French Marigold, Cineraria, Geranium, Antirrhinium, Lilium
Row 3
Gerbera, Salvia, Calendula, Dahlia, Gazania

FACE BOOK Apr 19, 2020

PIZZA RECIPE FEEDBACK

FROM SUNIL DALAL: Today in the category of Lockdown Special, tried my hand at Baseless Pizza. The idea was given by Anand Bhushan Sir through a facebook post. You can get the recipe from his timeline. Really sumptuous, healthy and safe in these days when Corona is reigning supreme and one delivery boy contaminated a lot of people in Delhi, as was in the news.
आप सभी भी प्रयास करें।ह्रदय को संतोष और परितोष की अनुभूति होगी।Boredom से भी बचे रहोगे।

I liked his plain speaking.At least educated, intelligent people will understand the situation.Richard Charles Horton, FRCP FMedSci, (born 29 December 1961) is editor-in-chief of The Lancet, a United Kingdom–based medical journal.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

FACE BOOK Apr 21, 2020

CHIEF EDITOR OF LANCET SAYS:

GIST OF INTERVIEW Re CORONA
Here is my take away from a talk Richard Horton, Chief Editor of Lancet gave over the Times of India Channel:
1. No vaccine is likely to be in the market before Dec 2020 and
this date is the optimist’s optimistic best.
2. Hydroxychloroquine doesnt work. Nothing else works.
3. All news of medicines doing wonders is experimental.
4. Social distancing works
4. Lock downs work but should be minimum 10 weeks-that is-for
India-upto 7th May minimum. If lifted before hand, there is a
rebound & the results will be worse than before.
5. 10 weeks period is prescribed because it takes that long for
case numbers to go down to a level that causes a
manageable rebound
6. What can be done-it is God sent disaster like a Psunami or
Earthquake. You educate people to cope and learn to
live with it.It will take its toll.
He was very, very positive that the choice before mankind is between the Devil and the Deep Sea. Extended lock down has its issues but the alternative will land you in a worse scenario. Men better not be deluded into a false sense of wellness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Horton_(editor)?fbclid=IwAR3DCXPFliUHq3cL2YtrDSruHyDJQVXgMQk3DRLcBtwNajy_Ds3ZTA3b-m4

FACE BOOK Apr 23 , 2020

DRAGON FLY

LIVING JEWELLERY
Picture of a DRAGON FLY photographed by and shared from JERILYNN COLEMAN

FACE BOOK Apr 24, 2020

GARDENING WHILE LOCKED DOWN

FACE BOOK Apr 24, 2020

A WARNING FROM 200 YRS AGO

Sharing from Pankaj Verma
Valid today, allthough, Jefferson said that 200 years ago. Voters should remember it always.

FACE BOOK 26 Apr, 2020

VENTILATORS & CORONA

Earlier I had posted a true life story on 8 Apr 2020, 05:49 ; Entitled “Story of a Patient on Ventilator” The idea behind posting that story was to bring out a realization that it takes much more than a VENTILATOR to save a life, in the context of the on going scramble for ventilators. That realization seems to be coming now as the link below reveals.
The link is shared from Luiz Mantovani-Many thanks to him.Click on the link:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-ventilators-specia/special-report-as-virus-advances-doctors-rethink-rush-to-ventilate-idUSKCN2251PE?fbclid=IwAR0mLujUJ-4SlVDoXD_n6JsED9zn8KX5rq3ENkx5qoUthWYFl1xDk10LbUk

FACE BOOK 26 Apr, 2020

मोदी जी इनको समझा दें तो मानू

They want LOCKDOWN EXTENSION to 31-3-2021!
Will Modi comply?
(Translation: Can Modi explain to the things pictured below?-Modi is the Indian Prime Minister)

FACE BOOK 27 Apr, 2020

PLANET MONTH-EVEREST FROM DELHI

I suggest that mankind agrees to-perhaps through the United Nations-designate a month as PLANET MONTH and every country in the world shuts down as it has done so under Covid compulsions. The month after the planet month can be designated “NATURE TOURISM MONTH” so every body can holiday and see for himself, the benefits of the shut down.

Mankind is hurtling towards a precipice in its mad rush to “DEVELOP”.
In this race to nowhere, such a pause, is necessary.

MAY BE THEN WE COULD SEE THE EVEREST FROM DELHI

SMILE A WHILE

SURPRISES AWAIT AS WE RETURN TO WORK AFTER LOCKDOWN

The post RANDOM THOUGHTS Apr, 2020 first appeared on Anand Bhushan.

KITCHEN

Many planting materials are available right in your kitchen and with the vegetable seller, the latter being open. Read on to know what and how to grow.

POTATOES

Potatoes are great to grow in beds as also in pots.They will yield not only greenery and potatoes itself, but pretty flowers, too, though not as showy as our regular summer flowers.

TO BEGIN

I am sure you have built up an emergency stock of potatoes for the lock down period. Just take it out and have a look. Many of the potatoes would have sprouted and look like the picture below. Left to itself, each sprout would grow up into a plant. But why use the entire potato when we just the need the sprout.

DIVIDING THE POTATO

So, you take a knife and scoop the bud out of the potato.

See the picture above and below. Following this method, you could make four or 5 plants out of one potato and will still be left with enough of the potato to make potato curry.

Bury the sprouted bud about 2 to 3 inches (50-75 mm) in prepared soil in pot or in bed as you want. Sprinkle water very lightly. In 3 to 4 days, the plant will show up.

Potato plants yield, cute small sized flowers too, as seen in the picture below.

WHERE ARE THE POTATOES

You need to dig the potatoes up. The small sprout you put in should give you a bunch of potatoes.

CILANTRO/CORIANDER

Coriander seeds are an essential part of any Indian kitchen. In North India, they call it “Dhania”. The seeds are the seeds (or the fruit) of the plant named “Cilantro”. Take a cup full of the whole seeds, as shown in the following picture. If you have powdered “dhania” only, you can get the seeds easily from your local grocery shop.

Take a few seeds in the palm of your hand and pressing the palms of the hands together, give a rubbing motion. Most of the seeds will split into two halves. See the picture below.

Do this for all the seeds. After you are done, your bowl of seeds will look as below.

Sow the seeds now, as you usually sow any other seed. You can put into pots or beds. as you like.

Cilantro germinates very fast, requires good sunshine and you know what to do with its fragrant leaves,

GINGER

Ginger is another veggie of daily use and its planting material is available right in your kitchen. It grows underground and and loves to proliferate.

The two pointed things you see on either side of the ginger pieces above are its buds. These are going to grow into full plants, above ground, while Ginger that you use, proliferates underground. All you need to do is to bury Ginger pieces, like above, about 2 to 3 inches (50-75 mm) below ground, water regularly and wait and watch your Ginger plant come up as depicted in the picture below. Again you can grow in pots or in beds.

RED CHILLY

Red chilli is an easy and great plant to grow. It provides the chilli for your food and the plant has great decorative value too, provided you dont pluck the chillies and let them turn red.

For planting material, again, you need to go so far as your kitchen and find what you see below:

Take a bowl of these things and crush them. Return the red shells to your kitchen for use in curries and retain the seeds. You have now chilli seeds without having to go out of your home.

Sow the seeds as you would sow any other seed, give it water and sunshine, until you have the wonderful plants depicted below.

MINT or “PUDINA”

Just in case, you didnt know, the so called ‘green chutney’ is made from leaves of ‘mint ‘plant’. It is really easy to grow.

Buy a bunch of fresh looking “pudina” from you veggie seller. Separate the stems as shown in the picture above. Using a sharp knife, remove the 5 to 6 leaves from the lower end of the stem. Take care to cut the leaf about 2 mm away from the stem.

Put the stems in a glass half full of water. Keep it a partially shady location. In a few days (3 to 5), the cuttings will throw roots. They would be visible through the glass. You can then, take the cuttings out and plant them into soil=again in pots or beds, as you like. Plant 2 cuttings for every plant you want, because cuttings developed in water have high mortality.

With plenty of sun and fair amount of watering, you should get loads of this fragrant and tasty herb.

TOMATOES-to be added

SMILE A WHILE

A Man Worked at a Gardening Factory

At this gardening factory, at the back, there was a large pile of dirt. All the employees were told they could have as much of this dirt as they wanted or needed.

This specific man would take on wheelbarrow of dirt out of the factory each day. The security guard began to get suspicious, thinking that this man was hiding something in the dirt. On the 7th day of this, the guard confronted him. The man happily allowed the guard to search the wheelbarrow. This continued for years, the guard just absolutely *sure* this man was stealing something. Every day, he’d search the man’s wheelbarrow, and every day, nothing.

After 20 years of working for this gardening company, the man retired. As he left for the final time, the guard made a final plea.

“Look man, I won’t get you in trouble or anything, but If I don’t know, it will haunt me forever. Please, tell me. What are you stealing?”

The man looked up at him and smiled before speaking a single word.

“Wheelbarrows.”

The post GARDENING WHILE LOCKED DOWN first appeared on Anand Bhushan.