Solar storm and eating beef

According to Astronomy Now, the most powerful solar storm was recorded in 1859. It was known as the Carrington Flare in honour of the English Astronomer Richard Carrington who observed it at the Colaba Observatory in India. Thanks to this solar storm, auroras (or the Northern Lights) were seen at latitudes as low as Madrid and even the Caribbean Sea. And more importantly, the solar storm caused power outages and fires at telegraph facilities all over Europe and North America.

Ever since, geomagnetic storms caused by the sun pose a serious threat to a society that is increasingly reliant on technology by directly affecting power and communication networks.

Recently (10 October 2015), NASA's orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory has mapped an enormous coronal hole – a gap in the Sun's outer layer and magnetic field – which is the size of 50 earths and is releasing an extra-fast solar wind in Earth's direction.

The gap lets out a stream of particles travelling at up to 800 kilometres per second that if aimed towards Earth, could result in a geomagnetic storm, a phenomenon that can affect power and navigation for satellites orbiting the Earth as well as radio communication. Newspaper reports don’t say how big the impact might be. Could it shut down the Internet or telephone networks?

But it says as the coronal hole continues its slow march westward on the sun's surface (to the right, from earth's perspective), solar winds will stay strong, according to US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

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As far as I can understand, our life is dependent on huge cosmic forces over which we have NO control. (And I don’t mean the positions of the so-called planets on your astrological chart). What would happen if the coronal hole was the size of 500 Earths instead of 50? What if it was 5000?

Surely, there is a tipping point. If the hole goes beyond that point, it might lead to the end of the world as we know it. And this is just one aspect of the sun. There would be thousands of other cosmic phenomena that might kill everyone on earth, everyone, irrespective of whether they eat beef, pork, or just vegetables.

India has been one of the oldest civilisations on earth that nurtured rationality and intellectual openness. It produced Boudhayana, who had propounded the "Pythagorean Theorem" 200 years before Pythagoras, the same Boudhayana and Aryabhatta who discovered irrational numbers, and finally, Brahmagupata, who introduced the decimal system with place values in 628 AD, the one revolutionary concept that changed the future of maths, accounting, and science – yet, in the same country, THE RAGING DEBATE TODAY IS WHETHER THE VEDAS APPROVE OF LYNCHING A MAN WHO MIGHT HAVE EATEN BEEF.

In the last fortnight or so, three innocent law-abiding Indians like you or me have been brutally murdered in three states in India merely on the suspicion that they had eaten beef or killed a cow. Shame and disgust are bloody inadequate words for what our ruling party, the BJP and its armies of goons are systematically doing to our polity, or even at a more fundamental societal level. If this violent march of unreason and hatred continues, India will be destroyed as a country long before any solar flare destroys the earth.

Let’s respect everyone’s right to eat what they wish, to do what they wish, as long as it doesn’t harm others. Let me accept that you have the right to have an opinion different from mine. Let everyone accept that intolerance to others’ views or beliefs or life-style is unacceptable in the civilised world. The moment we start tolerating intolerance, we too begin our inexorable journey towards being a Taliban or IS perhaps with a different religious tag.

And certainly, the time has come when everyone must stand up and protest against irrationality and bigotry that kill others. One must protest against the not-so-hidden agenda of turning India into a Hindu Pakistan.

PLEASE STAND UP NOW AND PROTEST!

If you agree with my views, the least you can do is to share this post and spread the message to a wider audience. Today. Because tomorrow may be too late.

If you disagree, you are welcome to enter a civilised debate here. Will you?

Bengaluru / Monday, 19 October 2015

Ghālib

1

It’s good that
You’ve broken your promise
I would have died of happiness
If you hadn’t

2

The news that you’re coming today
Has spread like wildfire
And on this special day
I don’t even have a mat to offer you

3

I gave my life,
But the life was His.
And the truth is
I’m yet to repay my debt.

4

The wound has healed
But the bleeding hasn’t stopped
My work had petered out
Before it began

5

She trusts me as her only lover
But the sad story is
She’s angry with me
If anyone else sighs

6

I wished to be free
From the shackles of her love
But she wouldn’t even
Let me die

7

Every drop of my heart
Roars like the ocean
Should you even ask
If I am hers?

8

Every breath of mine
Is immersed in ecstasy
So how does it matter
If the saqi ignores me?

9

She’s neither understood me
Nor will she ever do, Oh God!
Please give her a new heart
Even if you didn’t give me a new tongue to talk with

10

She’s asking,
‘Who is Ghālib?’
Someone please tell me,
What I should say.

Translated on Monday, 05 October 2015 / Kolkata

Notes to my students and me: Life writing!

As a teacher, I often learn from my students more than what I teach teach them. My learning happens in many different ways and it usually it goes far beyond the classroom.

Last night, I was checking some papers – essays written by my students. It was an essay they had to write in 40 minutes and they had to write at least 250 words. I found two scripts where the writers wrote far below their capacity because they wrote too much. They seemed to be in a tearing hurry to write whatever they knew and had to say on the topic. Should you do this, particularly if you have to complete the task within a given time-frame?

The answer obviously is a big NO. If you tried something like that, you would commit avoidable errors and have no time to check the work in the end. Besides, since you were trying to cover far too many points, you wouldn’t be able to develop them adequately or offer evidence to prove them. So your essay could well be a hodgepodge of semi-developed ideas and taste like uncooked biriyani. Whatever great ideas you might have would be wasted. Just as the finest basmati rice would be, if it wasn’t cooked properly!

So dear Students, whenever you have to write an essay, do write slowly. Write only as much as you can within the given time. Give your brain the time to process and organise thoughts and give your fingers the opportunity to write neatly. First, decide what the most important points are, and then think: how many of them can you write down neatly in the given time, leaving a few minutes for checking in the end? In any exam, it is the quality of your writing that matters primarily. The quantity matters too – but that’s far too secondary.

*

When I opened my eyes this morning, I was thinking about these answer sheets. Suddenly, my long to-do list flashed before my eyes. And then the penny dropped. Don’t we commit the same mistake in life all the time? Aren’t we trying to do far too many things than what our time and energy would permit? Is everything that I think is important really important? Can I have less worries and more peace? Less junk and more quality?

How many of the things to do in my list really matter?  Let me strike off half of them, for good!

Kolkata

Wednesday, 05 August 2015

Writing on writing 3

Writing in paragraphs

In the previous essay on this blog (Writing on Writing 2, Notes on how to write articles or essays) we have seen how we should plan our essay – think of the readers, identify relevant points, and put them in a structure. In this essay, I am going to discuss how we can convey our message clearly by writing sleek paragraphs. But before I go on, let me ask you a question. These are two images of the same article. Which one of them would you prefer to read and why?

 I am sure you would vote for the second image. You would prefer to read it because it is easier to read paragraphs separated by a blank line in between. But is the issue only about comfort of your eyes?

The anatomy of a paragraph

The answer obviously is NO. If you write in paragraphs, it is a lot easier for your reader to follow your arguments. And that brings us to the question: What is a paragraph? It would be a good idea if instead of reading the definition you define the term yourself. Please write down the definition of “paragraph”, or write it in your head before you read ahead.

…

And once you’ve done so, you’ll see your definition is very close to this: A paragraph is a section of a piece of writing usually consisting of number of sentences that deal with a single idea.

So that’s it. A paragraph is a packet containing a single idea. When you write, make sure that you don’t put two different ideas in a single paragraph.  If you follow this rule, you will win half the battle. In order to win the other half, let’s ask ourselves the question: What is the anatomy of a paragraph? To put it simply, does every paragraph contain similar sections?

The answer is: not always, but usually they do. And often, a paragraph has four sections. The main section is the single idea on which you are writing the paragraph. You write a sentence or two to describe the central idea of a paragraph. In all, a paragraph usually has the following parts.

1.       The main idea in a sentence or two, which is/are called topic sentence(s)

2.       Sentences leading to the topic sentence(s) or the main idea

3.       Supporting ideas – very often, they are evidence in support of the main idea.

4.       A sentence to establish a link with the following paragraph.

Please remember: this is only a general pattern. Every paragraph doesn’t have all these elements and neither do they always come in the above order.

Also note that the fourth element above is an essential ingredient of fine writing. It makes the difference between lucid writing and boring writing as it creates “curiosity” in the mind of the reader to continue reading and find out what lies ahead. If you don’t bring in this element consciously, there is every chance that your reader won’t bother to continue till the end.

Dissecting a paragraph

We are going to read a report on a cricket match between Bangladesh and South Africa. Here is the first paragraph of the report:

Of late, I’ve hated watching cricket primarily because rather than sport it’s now more of showbiz. An awful lot of hoopla is created around the game (at least in India) and public opinion is manipulated to ensure enormous TV viewership. And just as any business has ruthless practitioners who would break any rules – moral or legal – to maximize profit, cricket too has its share of con-men, a well-known fact that has just become official thanks to the recent indictment of some big names who ran the business in India. But last night, I loved watching Bangladesh destroy the mighty South Africans in Chittagong. And this is how it unfolded.

Can you identify the four elements in this paragraph? Here is my take:

Topic sentences	Of late, I’ve hated watching cricket primarily because rather than sport it’s now more of showbiz. … But last night, I loved watching Bangladesh destroy the mighty South Africans in Chittagong.
Introductory sentences	There are no introductory sentence in this paragraph
Supporting sentences or evidence	An awful lot of hoopla is created around the game (at least in India) and public opinion is manipulated to ensure enormous TV viewership. And just as any business has ruthless practitioners who would break any rules – moral or legal – to maximize profit, cricket too has its share of con-men, a well-known fact that has just become official thanks to the recent indictment of some big names who ran the business in India.
Connecting sentence	And this is how it unfolded.

Let’s now move on to the next paragraph of the story.

While returning from my workplace, I saw on my phone – South Africa was at a little over hundred for four. I didn’t think much of it as I expected them come out of the hole. After coming home, I casually switched on the TV. And was astounded to see the way the game was panning out!

As you can see, this paragraph has only two of the four elements, three introductory sentences and then the topic sentence, which is in bold. You will also notice that here the topic sentence is also performing the role of a connecting sentence as it creates a curiosity in the mind of the reader to check what happened next.

Your turn

Now identify the four elements of the following paragraph:

The softer sub-continental pitches are not friendly towards fast bowlers and Bangladesh had never produced awe-inspiring seamers. Yet, last night, Rubel Hussains and Mustafizur Rehmans of Bangladesh looked more like Mitchell Johnsons or Morne Morkels. They had such a vice-like grip on the South Africans – the batsmen seemed to be shaking in their boots. At one time, it seemed they wouldn’t last the 40 overs. And in the end, they scored only 168 for nine. I thought maybe, there is some demon in the wicket that is evading my untrained eyes.

Please scroll down to check the answer at the end of this article.

So as you can see, by following a few simple rules, you can write beautiful paragraphs that are not only easy to follow, but also make an impact. In the next essay of this series, we will discuss how to connect different parts of a piece of writing to improve coherence.

Cheers!

Kolkata

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Key to the task:

Topic sentence	They had such a vice-like grip on the South Africans – the batsmen seemed to be shaking in their boots.
Introductory sentences	The softer sub-continental pitches are not friendly towards fast bowlers and Bangladesh had never produced awe-inspiring seamers.
Supporting sentences or evidence	Yet, last night, Rubel Hussains and Mustafizur Rehmans of Bangladesh looked more like Mitchell Johnsons or Morne Morkels. … At one time, it seemed they wouldn’t last the 40 overs. And in the end, they scored only 168 for nine.
Connecting sentence	I thought maybe, there is some demon in the wicket that is evading my untrained eyes.