Calcutta Police's contribution.

Perhaps the biggest contribution of Calcutta Police, to the world, is in the field of high-end sound systems and advanced auto suspension technology the BOSE!

The story begins in 1920.

Mahatma Gandhi had declared the non cooperation movement. There was excitement and fervour in the air. A lot of young Indians took part in peaceful demonstrations across India.

One of those young Indians was a boy studying Physics in Calcutta University. His name was Noni Gopal. Young Noni took part in a small but loud demonstration against the British rule, near Elgin Road in Calcutta. He was also the person who wrote the pamphlet, against the British Rule, distributed by the protesters that day.

Young Noni had his final exams in two weeks. After the peaceful protest, he returned to his home and was studying in his room when the Calcutta Police decided to change the history of Audio Industry for the rest of the humanity. They came to Noni's house and arrested him. He was duly presented to a Magistrate the next morning and sent to prison.

He missed his exams. A few days later, while being taken to the court for a subsequent hearing, along with a few other under-trial revolutionaries, Noni managed to escape and run away. With the help of a few friends, relatives and well-wishers, Noni reached Madras and managed to board a ship sailing to America.

Young Noni Gopal reached Ellis Island near New York with an equivalent of $5 in his pockets and no identity papers. Those were different days - he was welcomed in. There was an active community of Indians including the likes of Haridas Gayadeen, Sailendra Nath Ghose, Sarat Mukherjee and the famous Taraknath Das of the Ghadar Party in North America who helped young Noni settle down in Philadelphia.

Noni started a small radio repair shop and fell in love with a local school teacher by the name of Charlotte. She was an American of French-German descent and was interested in the Vedanta philosophy. They got married. Life went well - Noni continued to support the activities of the Indian revolutionaries back home in India. Nine years after Noni had escaped from the Calcutta Police, in 1929, Noni and Charlotte had a son and they named him, Amar.

Amar grew up in a household that valued education - as a kid, he loved tinkering in his father's radio repair workshop. Amar went on to study at MIT and became an assistant professor, thereafter completing his PhD. As a professor, Amar was granted a few patents in areas including loudspeaker design, which eventually became the basis of his new start-up.

This small start-up founded by the son of an Indian fugitive and revolutionary with virtually no money, went on to become a global brand, directly employing over 11,000 people, making Amar the 271st richest man in the world. His brand was loved by the likes of Steve Jobs and his products are used around the world in Concert Halls, Music Studios and even public institutions like NASA, The Vatican, the American House of Representatives and the Parliament of India.

This is the story of the Indian Revolutionary, the late Shri Noni Gopal Bose and his son, the late Dr Amar Gopal Bose of the Bose Corporation.

Had the British-controlled Calcutta Police not jailed a young student of the Calcutta University in 1920, perhaps, the world would have never got this! Thank you, Calcutta Police!!

- Leslie Pereira.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by a quarter to 10. Took part in a webinar in which a "PN Panicker National Eco Intelligence Mission" was proposed by Dr Pamposh Kumar of the DST, Government of India. It sounded interesting but needs fine tuning. 

Saline water in Mars?

In mid September, researchers found evidence of phosphine - a life harbouring gas - on Venus. Now, a new research published in Nature Astronomy suggests the existence of not just one super salty lake but three such water bodies near the Red Planet's south pole.

Milestones

Mars Express * Launch date 02 Jun, 2003 * Arrival at Mars Dec 2003 

Major goals * Image the entire surface at high resolution (10 metres/pixel) * Produce a map of the mineral composition of the surface at 100 metre resolution * Map the composition of the atmosphere and determine its global circulation.

Mars Express Data - Researchers made the new discovery using radar data from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars-orbiting spacecraft, Mars Express.

MARSIS help * Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS), a radar instrument on Mars Express helped researchers to probe the planet's southern polar region * The instrument can send radio waves that bounce off layers of material in the planet's surface and subsurface * The reflected signal suggests the kind of material that is present at a particular location.

Confirms lake identified in 2018 - Italian scientists reported their findings on 28 Sep, two years after identifying what they believed to be a large buried lake. In the latest study, scientists provide further evidence of this salty underground lake and also identified three smaller bodies of water surrounding the lake. "We identified the same body of water but we also found three other bodies of water around the main one" - Elena Pettinelli, Planetary Scientist, University of Rome.

Strong evidence

The 2018 find needs further evidence for confirmation of the existence of any water body. But the current study comprises 134 observations made between 2012 and 2019. Scientists estimate the lake to 20 km to 30 km across and buried 1.5 km beneath the icy surface.

The new discovery increases the possibility of finding microbial alien life on the Red Planet.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by a half past 9. Washing machinex of bed linen completed well before the power interruption from 0925 - 1725 hrs, for maintenance. This was the second in this electrical circle. 

Spoke to my cousins Kala, Sindhu, Kannan and Leela chittamma and caught up with all of them; they were interesting interactions! 

News views.

A day of happenings. News that have grabbed the headlines shall be gone through and analysed. So, without much ado, let me press on.

(a) Babri verdict is out.

The special CBI court has finally handed over the verdict on the Babri Masjid demolition case after 28 long years. It was investigating as to whether there was a criminal conspiracy in pulling down the monument. After going through a mountain of evidence, mostly circumstantial and interrogating about 130 witnesses, the court has concluded that there was no proof to show that there was a criminal conspiracy to bring down the structure.

It was a spontaneous and emotional action that was beyond the control of the leaders like LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and others. Consequently, all 32 accused were acquitted.

The tortuous case has finally found closure. However, parties aggrieved with the verdict can appeal to a higher court as is the usual legal procedure. The Congress and the CPM want to appeal, while Mamata Banerjee's TMC has asked the aggrieved party to go for appeal - an action clearly dictated by the forthcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal.

There are a couple of points to ponder * It took 28 years for the verdict to arrive * Was there a connivance by interested parties to make the demolition look as part of a conspiracy?

(b) The gang rape at Hathras, UP.

A 19 year old Dalit woman of Hathras, UP was brutally gang raped and strangulated by four upper caste men on 14 Sep. She was taken to New Delhi as she had spine injuries, cuts and bruises and a bitten tongue. She passed away at the Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday but what has whipped up passions is by the news that the UP Police showed undue haste in carrying out the cremation of her body during the unearthly time of 0230 hrs, last night.

The natural query that comes up is as to why the UP Police showed such haste to dispose off the body. Was it to destroy evidence? Whom are they trying to help?

The PM had contacted the UP chief minister to fast track the investigation to bring the culprits to book. Accordingly, a special investigation team has been formed to look into the case.

The details of the case will be discernible once the fog of the charges and the counter charges are cleared. 

Here's wishing that the culprits be hanged for their heinous act....and that too, without delay.

(c) A case against the CBI.

The 'Life Mission' case is the flagship project of Kerala's LDF government for the providing housing to the poor - the landless and the homeless. An FCRA case has been filed by the CBI against the project, in that, necessary clearances that had to be taken from the central government were not taken. The head of the Unitac Builders - which had landed the plum project - has been taken taken into custody and interrogated by the CBI.

The state government has filed a case in the Supreme Court and also requested for its disposal tomorrow itself. Why is the state government worried? Or is it that the central government is unnecessarily poking its nose in this case? The outcome of the case, tomorrow, should clinch it.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by a half past 9. The KSEB had called for a power interruption from 1000 to 1700 hrs to carry out maintenance. Otherwise, it was a quiet Wednesday and the last day of September.       

Every brand has a story.

 Here are how these 30 famous brands were christened.

  1. Nike. Name for the Greek goddess of victory. The swoosh signifies her flight.

  2. Coca-Cola. The two main ingredients were Coca leaves and Cola berries.

  3. Pepsi. From the digestive enzyme 'pepsin' though pepsin is not is not an ingredient in the drink.

  4. Google. Derived from 'googul' which means 1 followed by 100 zeros. Signifies owners Larry Page and Sergey Brin's mission to provide innumerable information to all users.

  5. Adidas. Named after owner Adolf Dassler whose nick name was Adi. Adi Dassler became Adidas.

  6. Intel. Short for integrated electronics.

  7. Canon. Adapted from Kwanon (Japanese name of Buddhist Bodhisattva of Mercy). It was changed to Canon for easier acceptance worldwide.

  8. Lego. Derived from Danish words "Leg Godt', which means to 'play well'. Lego also means 'put together' in Latin, which they claim is actually a coincidence.

  9. Nintendo. Transliterated from Nintendou. Nin in Japanese means 'entrusted' and and Ten-dou means 'heaven'.

10. Amazon. CEO Jeff Bazos wanted a name starting with 'A'. He chose Amazon because it is the biggest river in the world, just what he wanted his company to be.

11. Skype. Originally the idea was 'Sky peer to peer', which later became Skyper and finally, Skype.

12. Adobe. Named after a creek that ran behind the co-founder, John Warnock's house, called Adobe Creek

13. Nokia. Started as wood-pulp mill, it expanded its business to producing rubber products in a city in Finland called Nokia.

14. Sony. Derived from the Latin word, 'Sonus' (meaning sound) and an American slang 'Sonny' (Meaning bright youngster).

15. Vodafone. Voice, Data and Telefone.

16. Volkswagen. Means 'People's car' in German. There was a time when only very expensive cars used to ply on German roads. Volkswagen was a revolution.

17. ebay. Originally called Echo Bay. The domain echobay.com was already taken. So it was shortened to ebay.

18. IBM. Founder TJ Watson Sr wanted to be a step ahead of his former employers 'National cash Register', so he decided to call his company 'International Business Machines'.

19. Nikon. Short for Nippon Kogaku, which means 'Japanese Optical'.

20. Reebok. Derived from the Afrikaans spelling of an African Antelope, 'Rhebok'.

21. Starbucks. Named after a character in Moby Dick, Starbuck. Originally the name 'Peqoud' was suggested, the name of the ship from the novel. When it got rejected, they settled for 'Starbuck', the chief mate of that very ship.

22. Virgin. Because the business was new and the team members were virgins at business. This was suggested by a girl in Richard Branson's team.

23. Durex. Durable, Reliable and Excellence.

24. Fanta. The head of the German Coca-Cola team asked them to use their 'Fantasie' to come up with the name. That did not take long though.

25. Nivea. Derived from the Latin word 'Niveus', which means snow white.

26. HP (Hewlett Packard). William Hewlett and David Packard flipped a coin to decide whose name would come first.

27. Toyota. Named after founder Kiichiro Toyoda. The name was changed to Toyota because Toyoda literally means, 'fertile rice paddies'.

28. Microsoft. A combination of the words Microcomputer and Software.

29. Cisco. Not actually an acronym. They just removed San Fran from San Francisco.

30. Budweiser. Beer has been brewed in Budweis, Bohemia, since 1245. Budweiser means 'of Budweis' and was developed as a 'Bohemian-style' beer. Founder Adolphus Busch was inspired to create the beverage after a trip to the region.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by a half past 9. An additional step has been added to the process of pulling out money from the ATM. After one has punched in one's requirement, an OTP that's generated for realising the transaction, is sent to your registered mobile phone. It's only after you feed in this number that you would get your money. So kindly carry your mobile phone to the ATM to carry out a transaction.

The Ashoka Syndrome.

 An interesting article by a retired army officer!

* In India, it's never about ideology. It is only about civilisation.

* And to put it on record this is why PM Modi faces a massive smear campaign from a powerful lobby.

* But this did not start in 2014. It started long ago, we have to go back by centuries to understand this.

* India wasn't born in 1947 because unlike many other countries we got independent and were not created afresh. Therefore, what happened before 1947 is as important as to what happened after 1947.

* The most underrated event in our history is the Kalinga War of 265 BC.

* The war changed Ashoka, the famous Mauryan ruler but it would also change India for centuries to come.

* The emperor became pacifist. Whatever be his own ideology, it is very easy to confuse reluctance to wage war with a senselessly defensive mindset.

* For years to come, the Indian civilisation became utterly defensive.

* Succeeding Indian dynasties and emperors would avoid expansionism.

* But their ability to perceive and pre-empt threats also went down.

* Compromise and forgiveness became the keywords of our civilisation.

* The Ashoka syndrome would soon become the Prithviraj syndrome.

* Indians have been valiant warriors but the issue is that of excessive magnanimity. Prithviraj Chauhan defeated Muhammad Ghori in the 11th century but let him go. Later, Ghori defeated Prithviraj and blinded him.

* In the course of this thread, you will realise how we would keep getting betrayed just like Prithviraj Chauhan another 10 centuries later.

* Anyway, Prithviraj Chauhan's unnecessary magnanimity allowed Islamic conquest of India.

* This, of course, led to centuries of plunder.

* After the Kalinga war, we never achieved a system that would match up to the aggression against Indian civilisation.

* The unnecessary defensive regime would give way to Islamic conquest and Islamic conquest would give way to the British Raj.

* Needless to mention, the social thinkers and commoners also became timid/defensive about their own civilisation.

* Britishers made us believe that we were misogynist and archaic.

* Some of our most celebrated social thinkers relentlessly promoted British education as a panacea.

* As I told you, everything is about civilisation. Every successive regime shamed anyone who tried to stand up for civilisational pride.

* British era gave way to the Nehruvian era. India's political leadership again ordained that India would adopt strategic restraint.

* China entered our territory. So, India's first PM said, "Not a blade of grass grows" in those barren mountains.

* Of course, no one in the intellectual lobby protested. Nehru was doing what they wanted him to do. Be magnanimous to the extent of being self-harming.

* Nehru was only continuing what started with the Kalinga war. Then came Indira. She suffered from the Prithviraj syndrome. Won the 1971 war but gave away the exploits in Simla Agreement.

* Pakistan turned another Ghori. ISI came up with a doctrine - bleed India through a thousand cuts.

* This doesn't end here. Vajpayee faced the wrath of the ecosystem for many reasons. The only thing that they don't criticise him for is not crossing the LoC during the 1999 Kargil war. This is again a manifestation of extreme generosity. Pakistan could cross the LoC but India would not.

* The Parliament attack happened, we didn't retaliate. Operation Parakram never materialised into anything.

* A few years later, 26/11 happened but India's, then, PM Manmohan Singh chose "strategic restraint".

* No one in a powerful lobby criticised him.

* As long as you don't go beyond the Lakshman Rekha that has been drawn by centuries of timidity, no one will rebuke you.

* But PM Modi went a step further. Pakistan attacked in Uri, so the Para special forces caused damage to terror launch pads across the LoC.

* With the Balakot airstrikes, he still went several steps further.

* Of course, he is hated.

* After several centuries, India is pre-empting threats.

* We had stopped pre-empting in 265 BC, how come we could pre-empt now.

* Modi-hate is not about ideology, it's about civilisation.

* I wish and I hope that this Modi succeeds in transforming our mindset for the other Modis to follow suit because one Modi will not be sufficient enough to clear the rot accumulated through centuries.

- Siddharth Gautam.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by a half past 9. Suma had to leave early because of a death in her family. Bunty and Babli had called up to invite us for there son's wedding at New Delhi on 27 Nov.

   

The ignominy.

23 Oct 1975

Location : Tulung La on the LAC in West Kameng of Arunachal Pradesh.

Event : On 20 Oct '75, the PLA crossed over the LAC at Tulung La and shot 4 men of 5 Assam Rifles. They had perhaps captured two of them alive and tortured them to death. They had established a post on the LAC, post the incident.

Col BR Shah, CO 3/1 GR located at Sela, with a group of 19 men, was tasked to get back the dead bodies of our soldiers. The decision to release the dead bodies was arrived at after a third country prevailed on China, most probably the USSR and the government of India agreed to the terms of release.

What was humiliating about the task assigned to the CO was that they were to go unarmed to the PLA post, where the enemy was fully armed. The party had to carry a blue flag 6 ft x 4 ft and under no circumstances were they to enter into any argument with the PLA. Col Shah later describes the state of the dead bodies which bore several torture marks. He had to return with the mortal remains without uttering a word. Worse still was the fact that the Tulung La incident and the torture of our men were never raised with China in a worthwhile manner. No Galwan type meetings ensued.

Even by 1975, the humiliation of 1962 had not worn off from the government in power and consequently, the army. It was evident in the manner in which the terms and conditions of releasing the dead bodies were agreed to.

Much water has flown under the bridges in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh.

On 15 Jun 2020, in one eventful and bloody night, Col Santosh Babu and his brave men made the supreme sacrifice and washed off the humiliation of 1962 and 1975. 15 Jun and thereafter, China and PLA have started seeing a new Indian resolve and its unrelenting army. India's firm stand can be seen in all the military level talks too after 15 Jun.

PS. But for two photographs clicked by Col BR Shah's party, no official pictures exist of the event. That's the level of secrecy (fear) which ensued after the humiliating incident of 1975.

- Satish Padmanabh. 

Got up at a half past 6, the chores and was ready by a half past 9. It was a quiet Sunday except for the fact that Suma had turned up for work and so, we didn't feel like it was a holiday! Spoke to Mini and Ammu around 12. My Master Chief saab Sajith Kumar, at the MCO, Kochi had called up and it was nice to catch up with him. He has said that he'd come by after the Corona phase subsides. 

Watched a good Malayalam movie, "Maniyarayile Asokan" in the evening. It has been produced by Dulquer Salman (Mammootty's son) and he plays a cameo in it as a naval commander! 

Interesting statistics.

The current population of Earth is more than 7 billion. The statistics can tell us the numbers, the distribution, various races and other information about the population.

As the population is so large, a purely statistical report, for most of us, would not make meaningful sense. Therefore, someone has produced this set of statistical report condensing the 7 billion in the world into 100 persons and then into various percentage statistics. The resulting analysis is much easier to comprehend.

Out of 100 : 

(a) * 11 are in Europe * 5 are in North America * 9 are in South America *15 are in Africa * 60 are in Asia.  

(b) * 49 live in the countryside * 51 live in cities. 

(c) * 12 speak Chinese * 5 speak Spanish * 5 speak English * 3 speak Arabic * 3 speak Hindi * 3 speak Bengali * 3 speak Portuguese * 2 speak Russian * 62 speak their own language.  

(d) * 77 have their own houses * 23 have no place to live.

(e) * 21 are over-nourished * 63 can eat full * 15 are under-nourished * 1 ate the last meal but did not make it to the next meal.

(f) The daily cost of living for 48 is less than US $2.

(g) * 87 have clean drinking water * 13 either lack clean drinking water or have access to a water source that is polluted.

(h) * 75 have mobile phones * 25 do not.

(j) * 30 have internet access * 70 do not have conditions to go online.

(k)  * 7 received university education * 93 did not attend college.    

(l)  * 83 can read * 17 are illiterate.

(m)   * 26 live less than 14 years * 66 died between 15-64 years of age * 8 are over 65 years old.

If you have your own home, eat full meals and drink clean water, have a mobile phone, can surf the net and have gone to college, you have little reason to complain.

Among 100 persons in the world, only 8 can live or exceed the age of 65.

If you are over 65 years of age, be content and grateful.  

Source. What'sApp.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by a half past 9. Ramesh and Appu had come by to clip the grass patch, clean up the interlocking tiles - paved on the courtyard - with high-pressure-water-jet, remove the weeds from all around and to augment soil, provide manure for the potted plants and the vegetable-garden-in-grow- bags, tended by Lekha and her assistant, Suma.

Participated in the Foundation's 484th session of the 'Aazhchakkoottam' (Weekly Interactions) which was an interesting lecture on 'Diabetics and Corona Environment' by Dr Sreejith Kumar between 1500-1600 hrs. It was an enlightening interaction!