Sunday, June 29, 2008

Pt. Nehru watches Incredible Hulk 2008

These days I am reading "Discovery of India" written by the first Prime-minister of India Mr. Jawahar Lal Nehru. Discovery of India covers every aspect of artistic, intellectual and philosophical attainment of India through ages. Through out reading the book I have been amazed to see perspective of a Prime minister towards Indian History, Hindu as a religion, Hindi as a language and also about the impact of science on the Human race.
Last Friday, I went to watch movie Incredible Hulk, a movie which is second in the Hulk series. The movie talks about a crazy scientist who makes himself a test subject for his discovery towards human immunity towards diseases and it involves gamma radiations. and This guy while an experiment becomes a subject for a miracle and turns in to a monster which grows enormously in size whenever his heart beat rises. I had also heard about a Gizmo movie Love story 2050 and that thought was also there in my mind.
On Friday after watching the movie I had a dream where I saw Pt. Nehru watching Incredible Hulk which is screened as a Science fiction movie with name "The Incredible Hulk in 2008". And he is perplexed while watching the movie. Pt. Nehru Lived in a period of history when there was a universal optimism towards technology. This was a period of time when technology was growing. Atomic Physics, communication, electronics and various branches of science had started to create their impact on Human race. On major factor was a focus on "Why" in perspective of people in general. In this period of time Human was growing capable of controlling natural factors and forces and subverting them according to his own wish. and thats why Pt. Nehru says that his period was a unique period of Human civilization where human had attained those capabilities. In my dream I saw that Mr. Nehru is awestruck to see the destruction caused by technical progress. In Movie an Army officer ( General in US army) infuses his man with some radioactive radiations so as to turn them in to weapons. and then by mistake another Monster is created who is similar in size to that of Hulk. and He starts disrupting life in New York.

Mr. Nehru in my dream is rethinking about his optimism towards technology. In brilliant universities of America, which are temple for science, all these Destructive experiments take place. The Human has reached to the extent of creating Human Weapons, genetically infusing human. The blood of hulk itself is so destructive that a sheer drop of it could lead to enormous destruction. and above all there is this cruel desire of human to conquer everything. Mr. Nehru is thinking if he should check all the technical progress in India and should campaign against it through out the world. He is thinking if it is really useful to create IIT's at all. He is thinking if actually advent of technology a boon for Human race or it is a bane. He is thinking if he should follow a path which will lead India to a country which guides world to Live with out technology and to live in Harmony with nature. Mr. Nehru with his Farsightedness is able to see that a day may come when war are fought with Atomic bombs which may exterminate Human race with all its roots. He is confused.

We are today living in a period where there is still a optimism towards technology. We foresee a lot of progress both at science and technology fronts. But somehow a pessimism towards this progress is also creeping in. I was today reading about some scientific mission of India which is touted as dream mission of ex-President of India Mr. Kalam and I was surprised to see its mention under title "Science or tigers". The article said -

"the best kept secret in India is that we are at the verge of ecodisaster to happen."

Seeing all this I also sympathize and have the similar feelings to that Mr. Nehru had in my dream. When I think about it more, I Find that in my dream it was Vice versa as Mr. Nehru was having Feelings that I have somewhere in me.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

An Inconvenient Truth

I was only slightly informed about Global warming. Even when I read articles about it, I never understood it to its true extent. Actually we Human beings are subconsciously so self involved that we never ever agree to existence of anything until unless it directly effects us. There have been Katrina,Tsunami but our consciousness towards these events is only limited to merely consider them as news. Only some weeks ago near the World Environment day 5th June we had Environment week at ST Microelectronics. There Movie "An Inconvenient Truth" by Mr.AlGore was Screened. The movie has won an Oscar and Mr. AlGore has won Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. I personally was deeply moved to see the movie and so were many others.
One very interesting in the movie was this frog analogy, which says that if you put a frog in to a jar of boiling water it jumps out instantly. But if you put the frog in to a jar of cold water, and then start boiling it frog never comes out . Similarly we human beings even after being alarmed to the risk of global warming never work to alleviate it, because ironically its a problem which is slower in its impacts than the pace required for us to get in to action.
I was appalled to see the factbasedness of the movie. There were graphs. And Some graphs like that of CO2 levels, Temperature levels showed that we are in trouble big time. Everywhere there were facts like that of level of shrinking Ice caps, that of Sea waves direction changes. Even more facts like the calculation based predictions which had alarmed about Katrina. But C'mon, Nobody believes all this crap. We guys are too smart and self involved to accept these facts. And Katrina Devastated America. There is a Quote in the movie which says:

"What changed in US with Hurricane Katrina was a feeling that we have entered a period of consequences."

I mean its all fact, mathematics, science behind every prediction that alarms us about global warming. I mean its like if x happens and y increased, z is bound to happen. and We know that x has happened, Y is increasing and we sit comfortably !!!

We have risked earth for our comforts and self involvement. Those who dont believe me, PLEASE WATCH MOVIE : AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. Please vist website
www.climatecrisis.net


I personally tried to mail many people about it but everybody seems reluctant. I dont understand why? I think Its that frog analogy that explains it. We just don't understand that working to avert Global warming is inclusive NOT EXCLUSIVE to everything else that we do. I appeal here to you to rise to the challenge. After all we are a race which has changed earth most than anybody else, this is what is special about Human beings that we can usher changes in and have done so in the past. Who else could have sent something to moon from earth, could have done something as complex as Heart Transplantation surgery.

I just appeal to you to watch the movie "An Inconvenient truth" at least once and to take small steps to try to save energy wherever it is possible.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

"The Rain"

As a kid my heart used to sing. There used to be songs. Everytime It rained, the first cold drops of water, the peculiar smell coming from mud, The sound of leaves from Bunyan Tree, The hopping frongs, everything used to make the sound even rythmic. Even later at Almora this song was internalised by me even more. The distant mountains in rain looked as if they are saying, "Hey kid, Look I have watched you play many times, Now see here I Play". I always wished to stay at mountains for ever and never leave them. But then I grew, reached cities, heard creeks of vehicles, people shouting at and hating each other. My heart became afraid, It stopped singing. The sound became mum. The time passed by and now there was no song. Mind had grown over heart. It was, it is, career consciousness, a mad race, a target somewhere to achieve always, even logical problems those made the sound even feeble. Here I am, seeing the first rain of this season want to go back to time, want to feel the sound of leaves, that feeling of joy again. I want to run fast and want to listen to that "chap chap" sound again. Some where some how I have lost it. But I want to go back. And I think see I think again. I just dont want to think, I want to feel. I want to feel.