Friday, September 20, 2019

Is committing suicide a good idea?

"Life is so frustrating. I feel caged in a prison and not able to move. Why is the world around so suffocating? I don't want to live any more! I want to die." 

These are not the thoughts of a person suffering from depression, but of Joe, who is one of the most intelligent and innovative students at Imperial College of Engineering. Remember that guy from 3 Idiots who could not built the drone on time and Virus refused to give him even a small extension? Virus's attitude was surely despicable and he has himself paid a huge price for it (by loosing his own son), but thankfully he at least had a change of heart later on! Hopefully that saved a few young lives at least. But are all suicides caused due to such insensitive people around us? What about Raghav from Chhichhore? He seemed to have very cool parents and equally good friends. We also don't know of any such insensitive teachers, relatives or neighbours that he may have had. But still, he did jump off his friend's balcony after not being to clear the coveted JEE! As Raghav's father recollects later on, "I told him how we would celebrate once the results are out and he clears the exam. But I never said what we would do if he could not clear it". Raghav could not stand the fact that both his parents were JEE rankers and he could not clear the exam. That led to a complete loss of self-worth, which  then led to him taking such a drastic step! So seemingly cool parents and supportive environment could also not prevent it. Whether what Joe and Raghav did was right or wrong is hard for us to judge since no one else can truly understand what a person goes through in a given life situation, and why s/he is forced to take such a drastic step. But in general, is committing suicide a good idea?

Saturday, July 13, 2019

Mind-Brain Interaction

Essence of Quantum Mechanics :
What cannot be calculated, cannot be measured. What can be calculated, can be measured. And most importantly, not everything can be calculated.

Calculation : 
Write a mathematical equation to predict the future state of a system using information about the present and past history. Systems for which this is possible are henceforth referred to as physical systems.

Measurement : 
Take a classical system with a calibrated scale. Make it interact with a quantum/classical system, and note the change in reading. 

Essence of Physical Science :
This change of reading of a classical calibrated apparatus in a measurement is expected to agree with the theoretical calculation.

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Educational reforms for cultural and spiritual integration in India


Introduction

India is one of the most diverse nations on this planet where people from many different cultural backgrounds live and work together. Tamil Nadu in the south is very different from Kashmir in the north, and Gujarat in the west is very different from Assam in the East. Even people from neighboring states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala speak very different languages (Tamil and Malayalam, respectively) and have several cultural differences. Despite these diversities, there has been a civilizational continuity in India at least for the past few thousand years and the major unifying force has been the Vedic tradition. Great Vedic saints and scholars have been born in all parts of the Indian subcontinent ranging from Swami Rama in Garhwal Himalayas (north), Adi Sankaracharya in Kerala (south), Swami Vivekananda in Bengal (east) and Saint Tukaram in Maharashtra (west).

One teacher at a time


Ravi has been a school teacher at Indore since the last 5 years and is quite popular among the students for his lucid explanations and warm disposition. Though just in his late 20s, he exudes wisdom beyond his years while at the same time maintaining a boyish charm. When he enrolled for BSc in Physics at one of the most reputed college of India, his primary aim was to become a world-renowned scientist like CV Raman. However, interactions with some of the best teachers in college made him get seriously interested in teaching as a profession. Ravi thought that research is surely very attractive with the possibility of becoming world famous, but teaching could offer him a deeper level of satisfaction. Being able to positively impact the lives of young minds started looking very promising. Finally, in his final year of BSc, Ravi gave up the idea of research and decided to get into physics teaching. At first, he thought of doing a PhD and becoming a college teacher. But later, he started feeling that in order to groom students into becoming good citizens, one needs to start from the school level. Hence, he finally decided to do an MSc in Physics and then a B.Ed., so that he could become a school teacher. There was some reluctance shown by his parents initially, but they finally accepted their son’s idea after some discussions. Ravi was not just smart at studies but also good at convincing others, especially those he deeply cared about! 

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Allah : The manifestation of Rudra

Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 CE in Mecca at a time when the Arabian peninsula was manifested with warring tribes. Prophet was orphaned at a very young and spent his childhood with various relatives. After growing up, he started working as a diplomat, and around the age of 40, started getting very concerned with the prevalent social problems of his times. He began to spend a lot of time praying to God for guidance in a cave called Hira in Mount Jabal al-Nour, near Mecca. During one of these prayers, the angel Gabriel appeared before him and started revealing to him the verses of the Quran. These revelations continued till the end of Prophet's life. The Quran is a compilation of these revelations, considered to have come straight from God, and so unquestionable and unchangeable. Since the first revelation of the Quranic verses in 610 CE, the religion of Islam has spread far and wide, largely through the use of force, and as on today controls large parts of Asia and Africa, and is now making inroads into Europe and America, through terror financing and other channels. 

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Dealing with brainwashing in India

India is a unique country in many ways, one of them being its extreme diversity of language, culture, belief systems, food and lot more. Even within Hinduism, the number of Gods that people worship, the variety of processes of worship and the diversity of philosophies is mind boggling. And diversity is surely a good thing in general since it makes people living in the society be more open to new ideas and more tolerant to people who have divergent opinions. However, for a diverse society to function smoothly and prosper materially, it is also important that proper security and stability of its territory be maintained. Road accidents, fatal diseases and the like surely need to be curbed down since they cause a significant loss to the country's human resources as well as economy. But lot more problematic for India are those people and countries which make targeted attempts at causing chaos and disharmony in India by various ways. And the first step in neutralising them is proper identification. Who are these people and these countries?

Concepts of the Gita : A Starter Kit for College Students

Bhagavad Gita is a book that has been deeply transformative for hundreds and thousands of people around the world. However, almost all of th...